Alien Tryst (2 page)

The stranger’s gaze fixed on a spot inches above her right shoulder.
“My name’s Kane and I’m volunteering for the
Orogone
experiment.” His
deep voice rumbled, the sound exciting her already agitated souls.

“And what is the
Orogone
experiment?” She tapped her
index finger against the handle of her gun, clinging to her reasoning, her
brain fighting a losing battle with her body. She wanted, needed to touch him,
to join them and ease the pain inside her.

Kane’s mouth flattened.

“Exactly.” Eshe blew out a breath, relieved that he hadn’t
lied to her. “You don’t know. You should go, forget about this place.”
If he
leaves, maybe these feelings will also go away.
“Go.” She pushed on his
left shoulder, the contact soothing her agony.

Kane grasped her wrist, his hand blurring as he moved, his
response inhumanly fast. Her gun dropped to the ground, metal clinking against
concrete. “I’m not leaving, not until I get some answers.”

“What are you?” She stepped backward, surprised by his
aggression. He wasn’t human as he was too fast, too powerful. He wasn’t an
Orogone
as
Orogones
could sense each other. He wasn’t an off-worlder as they
could sense those species too…the species that they knew of. She studied him,
her scientific curiosity piqued.
What is he?

“I ask the questions.” Kane pulled her to him, easily
overwhelming her considerable strength, his hips smacking against hers, his
chest flattening her breasts, his body hard and muscular and devastatingly
male.

“I-I-I…” Eshe stared up at him, shocked and stimulated,
entranced by the connection between them, by the power in his fit physique.
Kane hooked one of his arms around her waist and pressed his palm against her
back, his fingers splayed over her spine, his heat felt through the layers of
clothing.

“Will you give me some answers?” His gaze flicked down to
her identification badge. “Eshe?” He breathed her name, brushing his thumb over
her wrist, back and forth, back and forth, in a sensuous caress. “Will you tell
me what
Orogone
is?” He dipped his head, his mouth nearing hers.

Eshe lifted onto her toes, wanting, needing to taste him. He
didn’t close the distance between them and she darted her tongue over her
bottom lip. Kane tracked the movement, his eyes dark with passion, yet he
didn’t move, didn’t kiss her.

“Kane?” Her voice was husky with need.

“Tell me what
Orogone
is.” His lips curled into a
smug smile, cunning and calculation reflecting in his countenance.

Her One, the male she was destined to desire for all
eternity, sought answers. He didn’t want her. Eshe blinked, returning to that
harsh reality. Kane wasn’t
Orogone
. He didn’t feel the instant need, the
craving to join, as she did. She lowered her body until her feet were flat on
the ground.

“Go away.” She tugged on her arm. “You’re not authorized to
be here.”

Kane didn’t release her, his strength surpassing human capabilities.
“I’m not letting you go until I get some answers.” He met her gaze, his face
hard, his body harder, his pants-covered cock pushing against her stomach.

Eshe stared at him. He stared back at her. He wouldn’t let
her go until she answered his questions. She read that truth in Kane’s handsome
face.

“We can’t talk here.” She glanced up at the cameras. Others
were watching them, listening to their conversation.

Kane followed her line of sight. “Then where can we talk?”
He pulled away from her body, cool air swept into the space, and Eshe trembled,
her nipples painfully tight, the mark over her right breast protesting the
distance between them.

I’ll tell him, he’ll leave, I’ll return to my experiments
and this pain will stop.
“Come inside.” She stepped to the left, allowing
him to pass her. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.” As he entered the
underground bunker she swept her fingertips across his cotton-covered stomach,
the contact easing her pain and feeding her arousal.

Kane shuddered, his shoulders shaking under his tight black
T-shirt. “What is your position here? You don’t act like military.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Eshe wanted to alleviate
the sexual tension between them.

Kane grunted, his bearing distinctively military. He
constantly scanned his surroundings, no doubt absorbing every detail,
evaluating threats and considering escape routes. Her warrior brother did the
same thing.

“On this planet I’d be considered a medical doctor or a
scientist.” She walked beside Kane, feeling small and dainty next to him.

“On
this
planet,” he repeated, his intelligence
pleasing Eshe. “And on your planet? Where
is
your planet?” Kane prowled
down the corridor as silently as an
Orogone
, his hand brushing against
hers, his scarred knuckles grazing her skin, sending shockwaves of pleasure up
her arm.

Heads turned and gazes followed their progress. Access to
the joint Earth-
Orogone
facility was restricted to cleared personnel
only. “My planet is far from here.” She directed him toward her office as her
laboratory remained occupied by her nosy brother. “You’re not surprised that
I’m an off-worlder?”

“During my investigations, aliens were mentioned too many
times for me to discount their existence.” Cotton-clad muscles rippled as he
shrugged his shoulders, the movement captivating Eshe.

She pulled her gaze away from his finely honed physique and
frowned up at him. “What are you investigating?”

“My grandfather has disappeared. People are vanishing and no
one remembers they existed.” Kane held a door open for her, a human custom she
found quaint. Her strength rivaled any human male’s. “Are you responsible for
that? Are you stealing people?”

“I wish that was possible.” She moved medical machinery off
the guest chair and piled it on a clean corner of her desk. “Unless people
vanishing are off-worlders, we aren’t responsible for their disappearances.”

“How can you be certain of that?” Kane scowled, standing on
the threshold. Eshe’s lips twisted. He was a warrior, right down to his
distrusting single soul, unwilling to venture too far into enemy territory.
“One of your associates could be abducting humans without your knowledge,” he
baldly stated.

“Then this associate is much more intelligent than I am,”
she snapped, the possibility that someone could find the solution before she
did making her irritable. “Because we haven’t perfected human transfers yet.
That’s what I’m testing with my experiments.”

She sat behind her desk, in the captain’s chair she often
slept in, her pants-covered ass smacking against the black leather seat. “If
your grandfather is human we had nothing to do with his disappearance. Is that
the answer you needed?” Would he leave now, allowing her to return to her work?

“I need to know where my grandfather is.” Kane gazed down at
her, appearing even taller, broader, more delightfully masculine. “All of my
leads mentioned
Orogone
. As you’re
Orogone,
you’ll help me find
him,” he declared, his arrogance rivaling Raff’s.

Eshe removed her sunglasses and set them on a broken
extractor, the parts saved for future repairs. “Will I?” She met Kane’s gaze.
Moments stretched, neither of them relenting.

Her destined mate finally broke the stalemate. “Doctors are
supposed to help others,” Kane grumbled as he lowered his big body into the
guest chair.

He gazed around the crowded room. Eshe assumed he was
assessing his enemy, a tactic her brother would have approved of. She followed
Kane’s line of sight, seeing the space through his human-looking eyes. Every
spare inch was covered with paper and broken machinery, the remnants of decades
of hard work.

“Are you building or dismantling a spaceship?” The corners
of his grim mouth lifted, the skin around his eyes creasing with laughter
lines.

Eshe’s face heated. “If I need any of this I can’t easily
replace it. My resources are severely limited and I’m far from home.” She
rubbed the mark on her chest. The pain, caused by not touching him, by not
joining with him, fogged her thoughts.

Kane picked up two of the broken guns. “That’s what all
hoarders say.” He studied the
Orogone
weapons, his eyes glinting with
intellect. “Help me find my grandfather, Eshe,” he pled rather than told her,
his tone tugging at her heart.

Eshe sighed, unable to resist him. “Tell me what you know.”
She caressed her mark, seeking to lessen her agony.

“He looks like me, only older with gray hair and a unique
tattoo on his right pec.” Kane quickly dismantled the guns, spreading the
pieces over a red file containing the results of failed formula Earth 34X4.
“The man who saw him the day he disappeared had the same tattoo.”

“He had a tattoo?”
His grandfather has the Orogone mark?
She stopped stroking her skin.
That’s impossible.

Kane pieced together a gun, using the working parts of the
broken weapons. It wouldn’t be functional as key components were missing but an
enemy wouldn’t be aware of that. Eshe tilted her head in approval. Her mate was
a clever being.

“The tattoo is of blue waves surrounding a red sun.” Metal
clinked against metal, his fingers flying, his gaze fixed on her.

That can’t be.
“Did the tattoo look like this?” She
yanked her collar down, revealing her mark. The vivid ink rippled as her souls
slammed against the barrier of her skin, struggling to be free.

Kane stuffed the gun into the waistband of his
military-style pants. He carried the weapon in the same place her brother hid
his spare gun. They were both warriors, beings Eshe understood.

“It was exactly like that.” Kane reached out and traced her
mark, his calloused touch pleasing her souls. She arched into his hand, needing
to be nearer to him, to feel his rough fingers cover more of her skin.

“Then your grandfather is an
Orogone
.” Eshe closed
her eyes, striving to gather her fragmented thoughts.
Kane is an Orogone yet
I can’t sense him.
An excitement, a wild, reckless hope filled her.
He’s
different, as I am.

Kane stared at the beautiful blonde woman sitting in front
of him. Her body tilted toward his and her white blouse gaped open, revealing a
lace bra and luscious curves.

“You’re saying my grandfather is an alien?” While he
struggled to absorb this astonishing theory Kane drifted his fingertips over
her unusual tattoo. Her skin lifted, pushing against him, as though seeking to
touch him as he was touching her.

Eshe winced. “We prefer the term ‘off-worlder’.”

Words didn’t change the situation. His grandfather wasn’t
from Earth, wasn’t human.
Holy Shit.
This means I’m not one hundred
percent human either.
Kane’s mind spun, a lifetime of not fitting in
suddenly making sense. He’d always been stronger and faster than his
classmates, his senses more acute. He knew things other people didn’t, such as
how to put together the space gun he’d tucked in his waistband.

His abnormalities had scared others, prompting questions
from teachers and coaches, questions his physician mother would manufacture
lies to answer. Kane had learned quickly to mask his differences, to avoid
detection, living a lie, unable to trust anyone.

He trusted this alien woman and he didn’t know why. Kane
continued to caress the scientist’s soft skin. He should stop—she was a
stranger—yet he couldn’t pull away from her. While contact with other women had
always felt wrong to him, touching Eshe felt right, as necessary as breathing.

Because we’re both aliens, off-worlders
, his brain
rationalized.
Because she’s mine
, his heart insisted, both explanations
allowing him to continue stroking her.

Their connection must have felt right to Eshe also. She
covered his fingers with hers, pressing his palm against her tattoo. “Did your
grandmother have the same mark?”

“My grandmother didn’t have any tattoos.” Kane’s skin heated
to a sizzle, the pain flowing into exquisite pleasure. His cock hardened,
pushing against the zipper of his pants. “She died years ago.”

“Shit.” A small frown pulled at Eshe’s lips, the
blue-and-red fires in her coal-black eyes burning, the flames hypnotic. Silence
stretched as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth.

“Hmmm…” she hummed. As Kane watched with amazement, his sexy
scientist grew larger, her curves expanding to fill the chair. “
Vasa baka je
umrla prije vaseg djeda jer je bio covjek s ljudskom kratkom zivotnom vijeku.
”

He didn’t know what the hell she was saying. “You’re turning
green.” Kane splayed his fingers over her morphing body. Hard bone formed under
her soft skin. “And your body is changing. Is that normal?”

“
Lejno.
” Eshe stared down at her hands, at the small
ridges formed on her knuckles. “I’m on Earth, not
Sila
, Earth.” She
folded her fingers in small fists and her appearance returned to normal.

“
Orogones
take on the appearance of their host
species.” Eshe peeked at him through lowered eyelashes, her cheeks pink. “And
sometimes I forget where I am.”

Great. My sexy alien is crazy
. “About my
grandfather…”

“He’s
Orogone
,” she confirmed. “Your grandmother died
before your grandfather because she was human with a human’s short lifespan.
Your grandfather broke protocol.” Her voice was edged with disapproval.

Kane raised one of his eyebrows, having no knowledge of
their protocol.

“He joined with someone other than his One, the female he
was meant to share one of his souls with,” she explained. Lines appeared
between her fine blonde eyebrows, her beautiful face scarily grave.

“And that’s bad?” Kane prompted. He lowered his hands and
cupped her breasts, savoring their weight. He expected her to protest the
intimacy.

Instead Eshe arched her back, pushing her curves farther
into his palms. “That’s very bad.”

“Why is it so bad?” Kane leaned forward, enchanted by her
parted lips. Would she taste as sweet as she looked?

“When
Orogones
are transferred back to our planet.”
Her voice swept over him, as potent as any touch. “All memories of them,
everything they have created, are erased.”

Everything they’ve created is erased?
Kane froze, his
body temperature dropping. “Including people?”

Eshe met his gaze and nodded, her blonde ponytail bobbing.

“I would be erased? My mother would be erased?” He read the
verification in her expressive eyes and cursed under his breath. “Then
Grandfather can’t be transferred to
Orogone
. Ever.” His grandfather
couldn’t return to his home planet. “That must be why he disappeared. They
found him.”

“They’ll find him again.” Eshe covered his hands with hers
and moved his grip higher. Her strange tattoo pulsed, the rhythm erratic. “We
exude a signal other
Orogones
sense. Eventually they’ll track him down
and transfer him.”

“When they transfer him I’ll die and my mother will die.”
Fuck,
this is bad.
Kane reluctantly released Eshe and stood, putting more
distance between them, his withdrawal from her feeling unnatural, wrong.

“I can’t allow them to kill my mother.” He paced the small
office, needing to take action, to do something. “She’s a doctor, like you. She
saves people, makes the world a better place.” She was his mother and he would
protect her.

Eshe watched him as he moved. Grooves were etched between
her eyebrows. Her straight white teeth worried her bottom lip, a lip he wanted
to suck, to soothe. Kane’s fingers twitched, the urge to return to her side, to
caress her soft skin unnervingly strong.

“I can’t think.” She walked toward him, beads of sweat
forming on her skin. “Touch me so I can think.” She reached out to him.

This need for physical contact must be an alien thing.
Kane pulled Eshe into his arms, crushing her curves against his muscle. She fit
perfectly and some of the tension inside him eased.

She sighed, her lips curling upward, her fingers spreading
over his back. Kane breathed in her warm, womanly scent, savored her heat. She
belonged with him. He felt this in his soul.

“We could…” She nibbled on her lip, her gaze unfocused. “No.
I’m not ready.”

Kane cupped her chin, raising her gaze to his. “My
grandfather could be transferred today. My mother and I would no longer exist.”

Eshe’s grip on him intensified. “I would rather you no
longer exist than subject you to the pain of a transfer gone wrong.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” he muttered. “You’re not the
person dying.”

“No, it’s not easy for me to say.” The flames in her black
eyes blazed. “I’m the equivalent of a human doctor, sworn to ease suffering, to
prevent death. And—”

She paused and her mouth snapped shut.

“And?” Kane gazed down at her, sensing she was holding back
a significant piece of information.

“It was nothing.” She twisted in his arms, trying to free
herself, her wiggling exciting his body even more. “Let me go.”

“You’re not going anywhere until you finish your thought.”
Kane held on to her. “I need to know everything you know. That’s the only way
we’ll solve this problem.”

Her jaw jutted.

“Eshe,” he growled, his patience strained. His mother was in
danger and he had to safeguard her from harm.

“You’re my One, okay?” She glared up at him, confirming what
he knew in his heart to be true. She was his. “You’re the male I must join
with. If you no longer exist I die.” Her body shook, her passion escalating
his. “So I want to solve this problem as much as you do but I won’t expose you
to the excruciating pain of a faulty transfer.”

“You won’t
expose
me.” Kane’s mom was a doctor. He
knew how careful doctors tended to be, especially with experimental medicine.
They required trial after trial before moving to human subjects. “Is there a
possibility you can transfer humans successfully?”

Eshe’s gaze slid from his. “I’ve transferred two simulated
humans successfully,” she murmured. “Only two.” She held up two fingers,
emphasizing that number. “That’s not an adequate trial.”

Hope filled Kane. “That’s adequate enough for me.” He had a
plan, a plan they could act upon. “We—”

The office doors slid open, a tall blond man strode into the
room, and Kane straightened.
I’ve seen him before.
The man’s smile
didn’t reach his flame-filled eyes. One of his hands rested on the handle of a
space gun.

Kane reached behind him and drew his own pieced-together
gun, pointing it at the newcomer. “You and your friend were looking for my
grandfather.” He moved in front of Eshe, protecting her. “He called you
Rafe…Ralph…”

“Raff.” The alien warrior curled his fingers over his gun
handle. “This is your One, Essie? The council sent a message you’d found him.”
His lips twisted. “Only you would join with a mystery species male.”

“We haven’t joined yet.” Eshe placed her small hands on
Kane’s back, her touch soothing him. “We have things to do before we’re
transferred.”

“Damn right, we have things to do,” Kane rumbled. “I’m not
going anywhere, not until my mother is safe.”

“You’d delay the joining and cause my sister pain?” Raff
stepped forward, all of the humor disappearing from his face.

“Pain?” Kane frowned. “How am I causing her pain?”

“His grandfather is
Orogone
, Raff.” Eshe pushed
herself under his arm, neither of them answering his question. “He joined with
a human female, someone other than his One.”

“Fuck.” The alien male raked his fingers through his spiked
hair. “He broke protocol. How many beings are affected?”

“My mother and myself are in danger,” Kane answered.

Raff slipped his right hand into his black leather coat.
Kane tensed, lowering his body and coiling his muscles, prepared to defend Eshe
if her brother posed a threat.

The alien warrior extracted three lollipops. “Essie.” He
tossed a red lollipop to her. “I suppose you’d like one too.” He grinned at
Kane.

Kane said nothing. His energy was waning and he needed sugar
but he’d be damned if he’d admit that to Eshe’s brother.

Raff’s grin widened. “You’re as stubborn as she is.” He
lobbed a green lollipop to him, Kane catching it easily with one hand. Raff
unwrapped a purple candy and licked it twice, his face reflecting a joy Kane
felt, a joy he shouldn’t be experiencing.

My mother is in danger and I have to protect her.
But
hot damn, he needed the sugar rush. Kane sucked on the sweet treat, the
green-apple flavor filling his mouth.

Raff tilted his head, studying him, and Kane straightened to
his full height, meeting his gaze squarely. If he was looking for weakness he
wouldn’t find any. Years in the armed forces combined with his alien abilities
had honed him into the ideal soldier.

“When you join with your One, he should be safe, Sis,” Raff
shared, talking about him as though he wasn’t there.

Kane lifted his chin, unaccustomed to being ignored.

“You don’t know that,” Eshe murmured, her cherry-scented
breath flavoring the air, teasing his nostrils. “I’ll feel better when we’ve
transferred.”

“I’m not transferring before my mother does,” Kane insisted.

Raff sucked on the lollipop, furrows forming on his
forehead. “Does his mother have
Orogone
essence?”

I’m standing right here. Damn it.
Kane scowled.

“She might as she’s one half
Orogone
.” Eshe cocked
her head, mimicking her brother’s stance. “But I won’t chance it. She’ll be my
first trial, one half human.”

Her brother’s face darkened. “The council won’t allow that.
Protocol—”

“All experiments break protocol.” She appeared so adorably
fierce, Kane wanted to lick her all over. “And the council won’t know about
it.” She grabbed a large military-issue duffel bag. Her hands shook. “Not until
after she’s transferred.”

“If you’re away from the compound for more than a couple of
hours they’ll send a warrior after you,” Raff warned.

“I’ll deal with the warrior.” Kane stroked Eshe’s back. Her
spine was straight and proud.
Strong
, a voice inside him rumbled.

“
You’ll
deal with an
Orogone
warrior.” Raff’s
laughter held no humor. “You don’t know what our capabilities are.”

“You don’t know what my capabilities are,” Kane drawled.

Raff’s smile faded. “That’s true.” He nodded, his alien eyes
reflecting a begrudging respect. “Essie, get what you need from your lab while
I have a talk with your One.”

Eshe glanced at Kane and then Raff. Her gaze returned to
Kane, where it belonged. “Kane—”

“Go,” he urged as they didn’t have any time to waste.
Orogone
warriors could be tracking his grandfather while they spoke. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” She rushed out of the office, the doors sliding
closed behind her.

Kane missed her presence, her touch, scent, warmth
immediately. Which was foolish because he’d known her for mere minutes and he
should be focused on his mission, on saving his mother.

“I love my sister more than life, more than protocol.”
Raff’s voice was deathly soft. “If you kill her I’ll kill you and your beloved
mother.” His face was hard, all semblance of the carefree jokester vanishing.
“I don’t care where you are, what planet you’re on, I’ll hunt you down and kill
you slowly, painfully.”

“I understand.” Kane nodded curtly. They were similar, two
cold-blooded killers determined to protect the women they loved.

“I hope you do understand, for your sake.” Raff smiled, his
expression lightening. “
Orogones
normally join with their Ones
immediately. To delay the joining causes extreme pain.”

I cause Eshe pain?
Kane frowned, not liking that
thought.

“If you delay the joining too long, you’ll kill her,” Raff
continued. “Joining without joining will buy you more time and ease her pain.”