Stolen By the Alien by Ashlyn Hawkes

16

Omur

Atrembling Hannah has me stirring. I wrap my arms around her, but she continues to shake.

“What’s wrong?” I murmur, not opening my eyes. I rub her back, doing my best to console her as I try to wake up. “Did you have a nightmare again?”

“No. Yes. A living nightmare.” She sniffles.

I open my eyes. Poor Hannah. She’s been crying hard again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I was trying to make things better, but I made them worse.”

“How so? What happened?”

“Your maestro called.”

“He called you?” I ask, dumbfounded.

“He called the ship. The module. I answered. He… I told him you died, that I was stranded here, that we crashed. I thought he would leave us alone, but no. He’s sending someone to… He was going to send someone here to wipe my mind and return me to Earth, but I pissed him off.”

“What is he planning on doing to you?” I growl.

She won’t look at me, and she won’t answer.

“Hannah, please,” I beg. “Tell me. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

“He wants me as a sex slave,” she whispers.

“That ovian bastard. If he so much as looks at you, I’ll rip out his eyes, and if he touches you, I’ll cut off his hands and his cock.”

“As I said, you’re so very violent,” she jokes weakly, her smile just as weak.

“Don’t you worry,” I assure her. “I’ll fix this.”

“How?”

“You don’t have to worry about how. I’ll figure out a way.”

She slowly shakes her head. “I never should’ve answered him.”

“It’s just as well that you did. I’ve been ignoring him since we landed. He would’ve sent someone anyhow even if I never answered him.”

“To see if you were dead?”

“And to salvage the module if possible.”

“Because the module is more important than a Garrux.” She shakes her head bitterly.

I kiss her temple and then call up my brother. “Rumus.”

“Omur! You’re alive! I figured the maestro had to be batshit crazy if he thought you were dead. What’s going on?”

“You tell me.”

“I’m heading your way as we speak.”

I nod slowly. “I was hoping that would be the case.”

“Hoping what?” Hannah asks.

I forgot she couldn’t overhear Rumus.

“The maestro is sending my brother out to, ah…”

“He wants to see your mate,” Rumus says.

I make a face. “He doesn’t just want to see her.”

“He wants to what?”

“He wants to have her as his personal sex slave.”

“Ovian,” Rumus breathes. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. Hannah and I need to talk.”

“I was already out and about, scouting. I’ll be to Harrock in three days.”

“That’s more than enough time for us to figure out what to do.”

“Good luck.”

I disconnect the call. “Three days. We have three days until Rumus arrives.”

“To collect me,” she says miserably.

“We have options.”

“We do?” she asks skeptically.

“Yes. You can go to Earth. I’ll take you there myself. Mind not wiped.”

She wrinkles her nose.

“Or I take you to Earth and wipe your mind.”

She scowls.

“My brother could disobey the maestro and take you to Earth.”

“What about you?”

“If you do not wish for us to be mates, then we must go our separate ways,” I say firmly.

“But your people… I should’ve kept my big mouth shut. All of the Garrux are going to think you’re dead.”

“I can find a planet to live on.”

“But you wouldn’t have your mate or your people,” she protests.

“I will survive.”

“Are you petrified?” she mumbles.

“Yes.”

“Omur, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have answered him, and I never should’ve said you were dead, but I just… I wanted him out of my life, out of your life. I wanted him out of our hair, and all I did was make things worse a thousand times over. Can you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

“Everything I touch, I turn it into a disaster,” she mumbles.

“That is not true.”

“No?”

“Not at all. My cock still works, thank you very much. My cock is hardly a disaster, and for right now, my love life is very fulfilling.”

She snorts. “Omur…”

“For this very second, you are in my life, and that’s all that matters to me.” I take her hand in mine and bring it up to my mouth. My lips press against her knuckles.

“Omur…”

“We have time to decide what to do. My brother won’t be here for three more days. Let’s forget about Maestro. Forget about my brother. Forget about everything and get lost in one another.”

Hannah collapses into my arms, and we are so very tender and sweet and gentle and loving.

For the first go-around, that is.

After that, we are as wild and fierce and possessive as can be, biting and scratching and pulling and tugging on one another. We leave marks all over each other’s bodies, laying claim to one another, and it’s so utterly hard for me to draw back, to not meld with her.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, breathless.

“I want to be your mate.”

She says nothing.

“I know that terrifies you, and I understand that. After everything with Luca, how can the idea of being mated to a man for the rest of your life not terrify you?”

“I don’t want to live in fear,” she whispers.

“Then don’t. Live with no regrets.”

She takes charge then, mounting me, going hard and furious. My cock vibrates deep inside her, and I can tell she’s almost there.

I’m long gone.

* * *

When we wake, we eat. Hannah keeps biting her lower lip, and I lean over and kiss her, taking that lower lip of hers into my mouth, sucking and then biting it. She moans, but when I go to reach for her and pull her onto my lap, she places a hand on my chest and touches her forehead to mine.

“I’m scared,” she murmurs.

“How can I alleviate your fears?”

“I don’t know what the future will hold. You opened my eyes to the possibilities of exploring and see new planets and meeting new people and now…”

“You’re afraid of what my brother will do.”

Her eyes flash. “I actually would like to meet your brother,” she says, “and I don’t think you would allow him to take me away to be with your maestro as his slave, but… What are we going to do?”

“What do you want?”

“I… I don’t know.”

I draw her into my arms and hug her tight against me, rubbing her back.

“We can’t run, can we?” she murmurs.”

“No. He can track the command module. He would know wherever we would go.”

“There’s no means for you to get rid of the tracking?”

I shake my head.

“I didn’t think it would be that easy,” she murmurs. She captures her lower lip again between her teeth.

“All you have to do is decide where you want to go, what you want to do with your life?”

“I… I don’t know,” she wails. “A few days ago… God, was it just a few days ago? I can’t believe how quickly my life has changed, on a fucking dime, but… A few days ago, I had a fiancé. I thought I still had a chance at moving up at my work, but my eyes have been opened. I’m never going to get a promotion. I… I was stuck in a rut. I couldn’t let Luca in entirely, and that might be partially why he ended up cheating on me, but his cheating is on him. I’m not going to provide excuses. If I truly loved him, I would’ve been willing to give him all of me, and I hadn’t. I kept some of me back in reserve. I don’t know if it’s because I subconsciously knew that we weren’t meant to be together forever or if I was just too scared to be with him wholly and completely, but he was never going to be my forever.”

I say nothing, letting her work through everything.

As she made her speech, she had been glancing off into the distance. We’re on the module, in the eatery. Now, she shifts her gaze to me.

“What about you? Why does everything hinge on me and what I want?”

“You know what I want,” I tell her simply.

She swallows hard. “Omur…”

“I stole you away from your life. I can return you to it.”

“It’s not that simple, is it?” she murmurs. “You said you don’t think my mind can be wiped, and if it’s not…”

I remain silent.

“Omur, I’m afraid.”

“Do you want to return to Earth?”

“It should be something simple and easy to decide, shouldn’t it?”

“You’ve had your eyes opened, and it’s a huge thing to take in. The Earth isn’t the only planet capable of sustaining life, and there are thousands of different humans living throughout the entire universe.”

“The thought of never going to Earth again… I don’t know. I have friends outside of Brea, but… I mean, no one will truly miss me. My parents are dead. There shouldn’t be a reason for me to want to return.”

“But you want to.”

"I'm scared, and when people are scared, they tend to cling to what is familiar."

“I will fight my brother if I have to,” I say firmly. “It won’t come to that.”

“I won’t risk your brother becoming caught up in all of this,” she warns. “I won’t have him be hunted by the maestro.”

“My brother… He’s mated, and his mate is pregnant,” I say slowly.

“You think that will be motivation enough for him to do what the maestro wants of him? What he wants for me?”

“Rumus will not bring you to Maestro Shule.”

"Then why did you mention that his mate is pregnant? That gives him the motivation to do what the maestro demands of him! And I will not allow the maestro to have a reason to go after your brother or his pregnant mate."

Her eyes are flashing, and she's breathing heavily. My mate might be worried and uncertain about her future, but she's a fighter, a true survivor.

Why won’t she just accept that she’s my mate already? What is holding her back? Is it because she does not trust me because of that ovian bastard Luca? If I ever return to Earth, I will have to pay him a visit…

“What are you thinking about?” she asks, her eyes wide. Her hand gently rests on my arm.

“Nothing important.”

“You looked ready to tear someone limb from limb. The maestro?”

“Luca, actually,” I say sheepishly.

Her eyebrows lift. “Don’t worry about him. He’s not worth your time.”

“I agree, but he hurt you.”

“So you want to hurt him?” she asks dryly.

“Is that so wrong?”

“Luca is the least of our problems.” She rubs the back of her neck. “I think I need to go for a walk and try to clear my head.”

“Whatever you need.”

She stands but hesitates. “Harrock is safe?”

“Yes. There are not many carnivores. More omnivores and the predators do not go after the Rockians. I doubt they will go after you, but if you are concerned, I can give you a weapon.”

“No thank you.”

She lingers yet, and I have to add, “If you wish for company…”

“I need to go alone, I think,” she murmurs.

I stand and cup her face, rubbing my thumb on her cheek. “I will support you no matter what decision you make. You must decide what you want your future to look like, and whatever you pick, I will accept.”

“Thank you for not pressuring me,” she murmurs. Tears fill her eyes, but she does not cry. “I have a lot to think about, but I… I think our relationship is not based solely on sex. I mean, the sex is fucking amazing, but it’s not just sex. Not anymore.”

“You’re afraid of a lot of things, aren’t you?”

She nods and swallows audibly.

Then, she ducks out of the eatery. I can hear her swift footsteps, and then, she’s gone.

I can see it in her eyes. She’s afraid to love me.

She’s afraid to be with me.

She’s afraid to be my mate.

And after everything she’s been through, I honestly can’t blame her.