The Alien’s Reward by Luna Kingsley
Chapter 18
Sarah
Three smilingfaces greet me the next morning when I finally wake up. All three women staring at me, waiting for the details on my late-night rendezvous. I haven’t moved yet but my body feels like I’ve taken part in a triathlon. Muscles are sore that I didn’t even know I had but it’s my womb that’s absolutely aching. The aphrodisiac worked wonders last night because the sex wasn’t painful…at least not really. Definitely not enough to make me want to stop when my entire body was crying for release. But I’m realizing now that it was all due to the fluid he produced before things really got started between us.
“What’cha thinkin’ about?” Maren asks. All three of them exchange knowing glances as I grumble and try to roll over on my small cot.
“It looks like you’re pretty sore,” Trinity adds with a smirk. “To be honest, I’m jealous. We’ve been stuck in this room for days and you just arrived and they’re already sneaking you out.”
“Did he make the bad dreams go away?” Maren asks again but it’s Willa who breaks out in a fit of giggles.
“What is the matter with you three?” I ask, forcing myself to sit up no matter how much it hurts my bruised crotch. “You’d think we’re on a vacation instead of prisoners in an alien compound.”
Trinity shrugs like I’m overreacting about all of it. “We’re just trying to take our mind off our current situation. There’s not a whole lot we can do about it at the moment.”
“Yeah—if we keep dwelling on getting out of here, we’ll all end up in a deep depression,” Maren says.
Willa’s eyes agree, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs while they’re pulled tightly to her chest. A distraction is necessary before we’re all sucked into the rabbit hole of despair. So, I do what any good friend would do and tell them all about my mating with Vah’all last night.
“Wait, wait, wait…” Trinity says, waving her hands around in front of us. “Tell me more about this liquid. You’re telling me these aliens release their own lube for ‘her’ pleasure?”
“Basically, yes. Like a tingling lube that feels good wherever it touches. And it smells amazing. He said it’s an aphrodisiac and I believe him. It felt so good last night. The soreness didn’t kick in until today.”
“Now that it wore off,” Maren says. “You need another dose.” Giggles break out around us, and I flush with embarrassment. Not only do the other girls know what I was up to, but Stux’an knew exactly what was going on in that cell, too. There’s no way he couldn’t know if he was giving us time to do our thing. He must care for Vah’all if he’s willing to break the rules and bring me to him down in confinement.
Eventually the giggles die down and they run out of questions…at least for the time being. “You know…we can use this situation to our advantage,” Trinity says, lowering her voice and leaning closer to my cot. “If they take you to Vah’all’s cell again, it’s the only time they actually open the doors. It could create an opportunity for us to escape.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Maren says, the wheels turning in her head. “This is a military compound. If there’s going to be any kind of ship, they’d have it here, wouldn’t they?”
“Did you see anything on the walk to your alien’s cell, Sarah?” Willa asks.
There’s an unexpected lump in my throat at the thought of leaving Vah’all behind. I can barely get the words out to participate in the conversation that would lead to our escape. “I didn’t see anything,” I say eventually. “But they’re keeping Vah’all down in the confinement cells. Wouldn’t you think any ships they’d have would be up high?”
“Who knows. You can ask Vah’all the next time you see him, can’t you?” Trinity asks.
She makes it sound so casual like I might just pass him on the street. Instead, it’s the next time they allow me to leave my locked cell in order to be escorted down to his locked cell. Nothing is as simple as the next time I see him. Especially trying to figure out how I would explain such a question to him. There’s only one reason we’d want to know where the ships are kept.
“He’s not dense, Trinity,” I finally say.
“I know but what if they decide not to let us out of here? He wouldn’t want that either. What if escape becomes our only option?”
I didn’t think that far ahead. I was too busy being completely consumed with pleasure when I should’ve been concerned about my future. We need a plan to fall back on even if the thought of leaving Vah’all behind leaves more than just a bad taste in my mouth. At this point it gives me all the feels—the twisting of my stomach and the aching in my chest. I should’ve done a better job protecting my heart, but he made it impossible. He wormed his way inside even when I thought I was being careful.
Operating under the assumption that things won’t go as expected, we create a backup plan that relies heavily on getting out of this room again in order to visit Vah’all. Stux’an escorted me down to him in the dead of the night so it’s possible he’ll do this again. Betraying his trust doesn’t sit well with me but I’m torn between my friends and my growing loyalty toward Vah’all. After Sam, I don’t want to disappoint anyone close to me. And I’ve known Trinity, Willa and Maren a lot longer than Vah’all at this point. So why does it sting so much to think about leaving him?
It would be foolish to stay. I’ve been planning and working toward being a medical doctor for a long time. The trip is supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime. Not only to travel and see sights I’ve never seen before, but also to learn valuable skills that could save lives someday. I can’t be set off course by a sexy alien who manages to make me feel like I’m the only girl who matters on this entire sky island. His possessiveness is like a potent drug sending me on a high that leaves me floating in the clouds.
Later that night, dinner arrives, carried on a large tray by Kraal. Maren takes the opportunity to see what information she can learn about what progress is being made on our release.
“Has the council met to decide our fate?” she asks, giving him a smile she must reserve for moments like this when she wants something.
“The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow,” he says.
Before he can escape, Maren casually slips into a conversational tone. “Hey, Kraal. You don’t happen to keep any kind of ships here at the compound do you? I mean, I know you guys can fly and all, but what happens if a large group of you needed to transport somewhere together?” She starts picking bites off her plate, attempting to give the impression of nonchalance while getting vital information.
“We have cargo ships for when we need to transport shipments.”
“Interesting,” Maren says, taking another bite of food. The rest of us are trying not to pay too much attention to this conversation. I keep my head down on my plate with only the occasional glances in between them. Kraal does stare at Maren with quite the heated gaze, his forearms flexing every time his hands tighten into fists. “They can travel distances or just short trips on the island?”
I forget to breathe while I wait for him to call her out on her line of questions. She was too obvious and took it too far. Now they’re going to make sure to add extra security to wherever it is they keep these cargo ships.
“They can travel wherever we need them to go,” he finally says.
“But you don’t leave this island, so you’ve never really gotten in one and just let loose, have you?”
“Right.”
Tension hangs in the air between them, their eyes never leaving one another. My lady parts start to tingle just from the memory of how it feels to have Vah’all’s eyes on me like that. These alien warriors are intense and not into hiding their feelings when it comes to their interest in a woman. Why do I find that so appealing?
It isn’t until the door clicks shut again that I realize I’ve drifted off into my own thoughts about Vah’all. Kraal left and it’s just the girls again with valuable information we didn’t have before dinner was served. Once my stomach is full, I’m left with the growing ache in my chest that can only be eased by Stux’an’s arrival to take me down to Vah’all.
Thankfully hours later, I get my wish.