Stolen By the Alien by Ashlyn Hawkes

2

Omur

I’ve been flying for so long now that I don’t know what day it is, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever find what I’m looking for. Honestly, this all is kind of crazy. I still can’t believe I’m doing this, flying all across the universe, trying to find… It’ll never happen. The universe is far too large. There are so many inhabitable planets, some of which don’t even have any humans living there yet, just animals, and I’m supposed to find—

What’s this? There’s some kind of feeling welling deep within me. I can’t quite explain it, but I never felt it before. Something is tugging me, pulling me toward this planet that I originally planned to bypass.

A quick scan reveals the planet to be Earth. It’s a rather backward planet. According to the database, Earthlings don’t know about the existence of other humans living abroad in the final frontier of space. How they can honestly believe that they’re the only humans in all the world is unfathomable to me.

That’s just one of the many reasons why I thought I wouldn’t have even thought to swing by closer to the planet. I intended to zoom on by to the next planet, but that tug is becoming so very insistent that I don’t have a choice but to go with it.

A few flicks of switches and pushes of buttons, and my command module swings around and heads straight for Earth’s atmosphere. The closer I approach the surface, the stronger the pull I feel until I have to take control of the steeror and manually guide the module. Over to the right more, even more…

Earth, up close, is a rather beautiful planet, I will say that. I've burst past the initial clouds high up yet to see lovely swirling blue and green areas. The blue must be the water, the green the landmasses. Not all planets have blue water and green vegetation, of course. Back on Garrus, the water is more of a purplish shade, the grass orange. The animals tend to be shades of red or brown, and the blue and the green make me wonder if the animals on Earth tend to be teal.

The nagging pull has me scrambling to fly down lower and lower, and I flip on the invisbrator. It renders the module invisible to any eye, whether human or animal, and given the limited tech on Earth, the command module should not be picked up by any of their satellites or radars, which makes my approach a lonely, isolated affair.

Gradually, I can start to see buildings, tall rectangles reaching toward the skies. There's a lot of black material on the ground that is covered by their vehicles and a lot of whiteness, too, in the area I'm heading toward. The white are flakes falling from the sky, a watery precipitation that is in solid form. Snow.

I’ve never seen snow this up close before. Garrus is much too warm a planet for it to ever snow. We get a lot of rain, though, and sometimes, in the driest season, we will have dust devils, desert tornadoes essentially, and lots and lots of dust storms that will coat everything with—you guessed it—dust.

Now, I’m close enough to see the individual buildings and even the people walking on the street. My heart is racing, and I know—I just know—that the reason behind the pull is right here, right here beneath me. One of these people is the reason why I’m drawn to this planet, to this very spot.

And then I spot her. A woman has been walking along with purpose. She gradually slows and then stops, lifting her chin to stare up at me.

Not at me. She can’t see me.

But I can see her and the snow falling onto her face, melting on her cheeks, getting caught in her eyelashes…

I react without thought, slamming my palm against the ascendor. A beam of brilliant white light steaks down and captures her, stealing her away from Earth and into my possession. The flight upward only takes about thirty seconds, and I fly out of the cockpit to greet her on the landing pad.

She stands there, glancing all around, and when our gazes meet, my heart stops.

That strange desire and pull that I never felt before, the drive that had me coming to Earth… it’s something I learned about from other Garrux, but honestly, I thought it just a fairy tale, a myth, an excuse to send out their healthy young males to explore the universe some before living out the rest of their lives a bit wiser than they had been before they set out.

Once Garrux males reach a certain age, if they have not found a mate among their own kind, they are sent out to find their mate and bring her back home.

I’ve talked to many Garrux extensively about mates and how to find one, and all of them assured me that I would just know. I thought they were pulling my arm, that they were holding out on me.

But no.

They were right.

And I do know.

This woman is my mate.

“What the hell is all of this?” the woman asks.

I grin. My panlanginator is working perfectly. I’m not sure what language she’s speaking, but my device does, and it’ll also serve to have me speak in her language so that we can communicate.

My gaze roves over her body. She’s beautiful, a fine specimen with full lips, breasts, and wide hips. Her blond hair has darker strands underneath, and her dark eyebrows are lifted in perfect arches above her dark blue eyes. She bites her bottom red lip and glances all around as if she’s prey and I’m the predator.

I’m more than willing to be the predator. I’m more than willing to be anything and everything she needs.

“Who the hell are you?” she demands, hands on hips. Her coat is a bit bulky, although unfastened or maybe unzipped. I’m not sure how it closes, but it looks fairly warm. She must be roasting in the command module.

“I am Omur.”

“Omur,” she repeats.

My cock stirs at the sound of her voice saying my name. I want her to scream my name as I pump inside her, spilling my seed deep within her, over and over again until her belly is swollen with our child.

Earthlings are hearty stock, even if their technology is lacking compared to the rest of the universe.

“Will you tell me your name?” I ask.

“Why is your skin… green?” she asks skeptically.

I grin and push up the sleeves of my shirt. Then, I hold out my hand to touch it. She eyes me but doesn't move.

“I’m a human, like you are.”

She shakes her head. “No, humans are—”

“Only orange like you?”

The woman—my mate—flushes, her cheeks turning an adorable pinkish shade. “No. I’m not orange.”

"A dull pale orange," I say. "Or would you prefer off-yellow?"

She makes a face. “Dude, you’re green!”

“Dude,” I repeat.

“You don’t like being called dude?” she asks, crossing her arms, making her bosom lift.

“You can call me whatever you like, but I would prefer to know your name.”

“Well, what if I don’t want to tell you?” She cocks her head to the side.

In response, my cock jumps. My pants are growing uncomfortably tight, and I shift slightly, wishing I could adjust myself.

Her gaze falls to my tented pants, and I have to fight the urge to strip right here and now and take her for my own.

Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “No way, buddy.”

“Your name.”

“No!”

“Fine. Mate, we will be heading back to—”

“What did you just call me?” she asks, her tone suspicious.

“Mate.”

"You mean… like a friend?"

“No.” I throw back my head and laugh even though this is hardly a joking matter. “You are my mate.”

“I’m not your anything,” she hisses.

I wearily rub a hand down my face. I’m going to have to pleasure myself tonight, aren’t I?

Just how backward are Earthlings that they claim to be ignorant of mates?

“Do you not know about mates?” I ask. “When a man and a woman—”

“Dude, we aren’t even the same species of whatever.”

"We are both humans. Yes, you are from Earth, and I am from Garrus, but we are both humans."

“Your skin is green!”

“Are all Earthlings the same color as you are?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Do you judge other people based on the color of their skin?”

“I don’t, but…”

“Some do?” I ask, disgusted. Another knock against the Earthlings.

“I cannot and will not speak for everyone,” she says haughtily.

“And you will not tell me your name, so I will have no choice but to call you Mate.”

“I am not your mate,” she sputters.

“You are.”

“How can you make that claim? How can you have a straight face? Mates aren’t—”

“Mates are real,” I say quietly. “If Earthlings don’t realize and understand about mates, then that is a shame, but I can feel the connection between us.”

“There is no connection between us!”

“There is.”

“Take me back.”

“To Earth?” I ask, shocked. “Why would you want to go back to where people will judge you based on your skin color? You claim you don’t judge others for their skin color, and yet you will not even—”

“You stole me away from Earth!”

I grin. “You are my mate. You must be with me.”

“There is nothing I must do,” she hisses.

Her anger confuses me. Why is she so adamant about there not being mates?

“Tell me about love on Earth,” I demand. “Do Earthlings marry for life?”

She hangs her head for a moment, but I saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes. Then, she lifts her head, a curious, strange little smile on her lips.

"No, Earthlings do not always marry for life," she says. "Sometimes, they don't even marry the one they pledge to marry. Some people get married and then divorce and marry someone else. Some marry, get divorced, and then get married again to the same person. Some people get divorced many times."

“Divorced,” I repeat.

“It’s when a marriage is no more,” she explains.

“A marriage can just… end?” I ask, flabbergasted.

She nods.

“But why?”

"Oh, lots of reasons. Realizing you married an asshole. Realizing you have nothing in common. Money issues. The loss of a child. Disagreements about anything at all. Maybe one wants children, and the other doesn't. Or maybe he's a fucking cheater or cheats on you before you even get married, so fuck him." Her eyes are a bit wild, but when she stares at me, she slows her breathing a bit and settles down. "My name is Hannah Porter."

“Hannah Porter,” I repeat. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“And you think I’m your mate,” she says slowly.

“I don’t think. I know.”

“How do you know?” she whispers.

I tap my fist to my chest several times. “I can feel it. Can you?”

She shakes her head. “I can’t. I feel nothing.”

“Maybe if you give me a chance, you will,” I say.

Hannah bites her lower lip, and I suppress a groan. She looks so damn vulnerable when she does that, and I just want to eat her up.

“I just got burned,” she murmurs.

I’m not sure what she means by that, but the pain is back in her eyes.

“I will never burn you,” I promise.

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, okay. I don’t believe you, Omur.”

Her mocking tone infuriates me, and I want to…

What do I want?

Her to never talk to me like that again.

Her to never have that look of pain in her eyes again.

Her to accept that we are mates.

Her to accept that we are meant to be together for the rest of our lives.

Her to love me.

And me to love her.

None of that is too much to ask for, right?