The Alien’s Reward by Luna Kingsley
Chapter 6
Vah’all
The elders have givenme what I want…Sarah in my home and in my bed…but they can’t force her to accept me. They can’t force her to feel the way for me that I feel for her. But I won’t give up on her. Not when I have a chance at something I never thought was possible for me.
As she continues to defy me and asks me to take her somewhere I can’t follow, I let my urges win as I lean down and taste her lips. They’re soft, just like I expected them to be, and warm. They’re sweet against my tongue like the ichreet berries when they’re first ripe on the vine. She’s too shocked initially to back away, so I pull her closer and deepen the kiss. My heart is pounding like our tribal drums against my chest as my arousal for her spikes. Her scent changes and her breathing shifts so I know she’s affected by me even if she denies it.
“Vah’all,” she says, pushing me away by flattening her palms against my chest.
“My apologies,” I say, stepping back. We stare at each other for what seems like an endless amount of time. My body is alive with adrenaline, like I’m charged to the maximum and then some, the excess moving between us in waves, creating an unbreakable bond.
Eventually I force myself to break the spell we’re under. “This way,” I say, moving toward the house. Once inside, I lead her directly to the shower at the back of the house. “Take your time. I’ll bring you something to wear and fix something for us to eat.” Before I leave, I turn on the shower so it’s ready to go. She has a lot to learn but I want to make things as easy as possible tonight.
She steps inside without any argument like she’s still in shock from my unexpected kiss outside. Or maybe she’s reached her point of exhaustion after everything she’s endured. Whatever the reason, she closes the door to shower so I head to my bedroom to find something that might work for her to wear until we have a chance to get her a more suitable wardrobe. And then I need to think about feeding her.
For as long as I’ve lived in this location, it has just been me. My parents died when I was young, I have no siblings. I’ve survived for a long time on my own, relying on the kindness of my friends and their families while I was an orphan growing up. I haven’t had to think about the needs of someone else before. And I don’t know if I really expect the elders to agree to allow the females to remain here, but the thought of finally having someone all for me…the start of my own family, I’ll do anything to keep her. Now that she’s staying, I’m going to need to figure out food, clothes, and everything else.
The temperatures drop at night on Bameh so I flick on the fireplace set into the brick wall, wanting Sarah to be warm and comfortable for her first night here. I’ve just finished setting a few different options of clothes just outside the shower door when there’s a knock at the front.
It’s Kraal so I invite him inside where we sit in front of the fire. “The other three females are resting comfortably at the medical center,” he says. “They all sustained wounds from the crash and needed to be treated for dehydration and nutrient loss. By the morning, they’ll be functioning like normal again. From what we’ve been able to figure out from the short time we’ve had the humans to examine, our medicines work incredibly well on them. This is a good sign.”
“It is. I’m relieved they responded well to treatment. Did you hear what the elders decided?”
Kraal is already smiling, and I have a feeling I know why. “News travels quickly in this place. We’ve already heard you’ve been granted permission to keep your prize. The other females will be allowed to stay?”
“For now. The elders are very interested to see if humans are compatible enough to carry our young. If Sarah and I prove it is possible, the other women will be allowed to stay. They are mostly interested in the continuation of our species. My desires? Not as much.”
“Their priority has always been making sure we survive. It is why you’ve been tasked with such missions over the course of your life. You do what needs to be done, whether you’ve wanted to or not.”
“I’ve grown tired of these missions. Finding Sarah was the first time I’ve experienced such calm for as long as I can remember. All of these deaths weigh on me.”
“They do. And it is why you’ve chosen Sarah as your reward. It is something you never would’ve done five years ago.”
I glance back toward the shower but the door remains closed, though she has taken the clothes. I’m used to being on my own, living on my own but having Sarah in my home fills me with excitement. When I started running these missions for Stux’an, I was honored to fulfill my duty to my tribe. Our safety has always been a concern, so I considered these missions to be important for my friends and military brothers. Over time, these feelings have changed with every life I’ve taken and every ship I’ve destroyed.
“We all have our designated tasks on Bameh. After all this time, I’m ready for something different.”
We talk a little while longer until it’s late enough that Kraal needs to return to the medical center and I’m beginning to wonder if Sarah will ever emerge from the shower. “The females will leave the medical center tomorrow as long as they’ve recovered but I haven’t received word as to where they’ll stay,” he says once we walk outside.
“Sarah will want to see them. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”
Kraal walks down the hillside and I’m just about to step back inside when movement off to the side of the house catches my attention. It’s in the shadows and anyone without my eyesight wouldn’t notice. Then I catch her scent on the air and know she’s gotten out. My initial reaction is to swoop down and grab her and then haul her back to the safety of my house. But curiosity gets the best of me, and I decide to follow her and see where she’s headed.
She’s more resourceful than I expected. But she has no idea where she’s going.
She’s following Kraal. That works for a while until he decides to take flight and fly the rest of the way to the medical facility. She watches him while I watch her, not sure if I should be angry or impressed.
She follows the light from the orbs, heading in the general direction where Kraal went. She’s going after her friends. It’s admirable but even once she finds them, they have no way of getting off Bameh unless we allow it. She’ll learn this sooner or later.
After everything she’s been through, I didn’t anticipate her escape. While I was getting ready to prepare her food, and thinking about where she’ll sleep, she was biding her time until she could slip out. But once again, she’s proving that I don’t know anything about her aside from the way she makes me feel. Not that I know anything about females beyond the pleasures I’ve experienced from having them occasionally visit my bed.
She stays away from the woods, keeping instead to the center of fields or along the riverbank when possible. It’s as if she knows enough about survival training to avoid where animals would hide if she’s being hunted. At one point, she passes a small farm where three males still roam around outside, bringing tools back to the house for the night. She keeps to the shadows and only moves when they’re making noise.
She’s in the clear, walking through a quiet patch full of small bushes and vegetation when she makes her first mistake. Her stomach rumbles, her body revolting after going an entire day without food. She stumbles upon an osrotus bush. The fruit hangs from thorny branches and it smells sweet and enticing, but it’s poisonous if ingested. It’s grown and used for medicinal purposes. As she reaches for it, I lunge forward, pushing off the ground with my legs to engage my wings so I’m in front of her before she has a chance to put the poison in her mouth.
My sudden appearance surprises her, making her screech as I knock the fruit from her hands.
“Hey!” she says, her mood switching from surprise to annoyance so quickly. “I was going to eat that.”
“I know—but it’s poisonous.”
I watch as an array of emotions passes over her face. First, surprise at my sudden appearance followed by annoyance that I knocked her food source out of her hand. Then she realizes I’ve found her and her plans for escape are over. There might even be a bit of relief that I’ve saved her life, but I’m not sure about that last one.
“I’ll be honest, Sarah, I didn’t expect this from you tonight.” I wrap my arms around her in order to take her home.
“You thought I’d just fall into your bed?”
It takes all my self-control to get that image out of my head. “I thought you’d want a meal and a good night’s sleep.”
We take flight while I do my best to ignore how good it feels to hold her in my arms.