She jerked initially, then stilled, her gaze trained on his face.
Korum smiled, some of the tension inside him easing because she allowed his touch. “We’re lovers, Mia,” he said gently, watching her reaction. “You don’t remember me because you lost some of your memory. It’s June now, and we’re in Lenkarda, our Center in Costa Rica.”
Chapter 8
Mia stared at the gorgeous Krinar male who was now softly rubbing her hand. What he’d just told her was pure insanity. They were lovers? She’d lost her memory? Out of all the crazy scenarios running through Mia’s mind, this hadn’t even been on the list of possibilities.
Was he toying with her? If so, why, and what was the real story? Mia tried to control her panic long enough to think, but it was like a part of her brain was filled with fog. Even recent events – spring break, the exams – seemed blurry in her mind, as if they’d happened long ago instead of in the last couple of weeks.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” the K asked, his amber-colored eyes watching her with unsettling warmth.
“No, of course not.” Her voice was surprisingly calm. All things considered, Mia felt like she was handling this reasonably well. She wasn’t crying or screaming, and she was actually carrying on a conversation with an alien who had most likely kidnapped her. An alien who might or might not drink human blood – and who was now stroking her wrist in a way that made her belly tighten with strange excitement.
Why wasn’t she more afraid of him? Everything she knew about his kind suggested she should be terrified for her life.
But she wasn’t.
She was freaking out because she didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there – or why she was with a K who claimed to be her lover – but she wasn’t truly afraid. If anything, she found his presence oddly comforting, his touch both soothing and electrifying. Had he done something to make her react this way?
“Of course not,” he repeated, giving her an understanding smile. “How could you believe something so crazy without proof, right?”
Mia nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from that smile. The dimple in his left cheek fascinated her; it was so boyish, so incongruous with the rest of his appearance.
“All right, my darling.” His voice was disconcertingly tender. “Let me show you proof.” And still holding her hand, he gestured to the side, where a three-dimensional holographic image suddenly appeared in mid-air.
Mia gasped, startled, and then she saw that the image was of herself and the K beside her. They appeared to be walking on the beach, talking and laughing. The K reached down and picked up the girl in the image, lifting her as effortlessly as if she was made of air. She laughed again, then wound her arms around his neck, kissing him with such passion that Mia’s cheeks heated up.
“What is that? Where did you get this video from?” Mia felt herself furiously blushing as the K kissed the girl back, holding her up with one arm and using the other to reach underneath her dress.
“It’s just a recording from one of our satellites,” the K named Korum explained, watching her with an unusual golden gleam in his eyes. For some reason, Mia could feel herself getting turned on by that look, her heart starting to beat faster and her nipples hardening underneath the thin fabric of her dress. She desperately hoped the K didn’t notice; it would be embarrassing – and potentially dangerous – if he knew how much he affected her.
And then she realized what he just said. “Wait, your satellites were spying on us?”
“Our satellites are always recording everything,” he explained, those sensuous lips curving into a smile. “But don’t worry, my sweet, only our computers get to see it, unless someone places a specific request – the way I did.”
Mia’s pulse quickened, this time from anxiety. “Are you saying we never have any privacy from you?”
“Of course not,” the K said casually. “You don’t have much of it from your own government either. You know that, right?”
Mia blinked. She did know that. GPS and cell phones had made it practically impossible for a person to hide, and she knew that various government agencies used all the means at their disposal to track down terrorists and other criminals. As a law-abiding citizen, she’d never thought much about the fact that all her activities – from browsing the Internet to placing a phone call – could be monitored if necessary. She’d just accepted it as a part of life in the twenty-first century. But, for some reason, the idea of Krinar satellites watching her every move was more than a little disturbing.
Frowning, Mia realized she was acting as if the image being shown to her was real. There was absolutely no assurance of that; as advanced as the Krinar were, surely it would be child’s play for them to conjure up whatever video they wanted, three-dimensional or not.
“How do I know you didn’t make this up?” she said, gesturing toward the image where the couple were now engaged in a full-blown make-out session. Her blush deepening, Mia looked away again.
“You don’t, of course,” the Krinar said. “I could make this up if I wanted to. I have hundreds of other recordings I could show you, and you’d be smart not to trust any of them.”
Mia laughed nervously, surprised by his frankness. “Okay then, how can you prove any of this to me?” She couldn’t believe she was even entertaining the idea that this could be real. How could any rational person believe this? Surely she would remember if she’d had sex with a gorgeous alien . . . or even just had sex in general.
The K smiled again. “There are a number of ways,” he said. “Let’s start with the fact that you understand me right now, even though I’m speaking to you in Krinar.”
Mia gaped at him in shock. She had definitely understood what he was saying, even though he’d said the last sentence in a language she was sure she’d never heard before. “Wait, what?” Her words came out in that same language. “You’re talking to me in Krinar?”
“Yes, and you’re answering me in Krinar too,” he said, his smile widening. “And now I’m talking to you in Italian. You still understand me, right?”
Mia nodded, her head spinning from the impossibility of it all.
“That’s because you have a tiny implant that acts as a translator,” the K explained, this time in English. “I gave it to you as soon as we came here, to Lenkarda. It allows you to speak and understand any known language, both human and Krinar.”
“But –” Mia didn’t even know where to begin. “How do I know you didn’t just give it to me now? And wait, did I hear you say before that it’s June? The last thing I remember is in March. How would I have lost a chunk of my memory? This makes no sense –”
The K sighed and raised his hand, gently tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “I know, Mia,” he said softly. “I know this is going to be difficult for you to accept. Let me tell you a little story, and then I’ll demonstrate to you that I’m not lying. Okay?”
“Okay,” Mia agreed, mesmerized by the warm look on his beautiful face. How could someone that gorgeous be her lover? Maybe this was all just an unusually realistic dream. Could she even now be sound asleep, with her unconscious creating this stunning creature? If he was indeed her lover, then she was the luckiest girl in the world – though she still didn’t see how such a thing was possible.
“Good,” he said, his golden eyes gleaming. “Then let me tell you about us starting from the beginning . . .”
And for the next twenty minutes, Mia listened in shock as he went through their initial meeting in April and detailed the tumultuous affair that followed as a result. When he began to explain about her involvement with the Resistance, Mia’s jaw simply dropped.
“I was spying on you?” Where on Earth had she gotten the courage to do that? Although he was being gentle with her now, Mia had a feeling this particular K could be quite dangerous if provoked. In general, his kind weren’t known for their forgiving nature, their violent streak amply demonstrated during the fights of the Great Panic.
“You were,” the K confirmed, his jaw tightening a little. “But I was at fault too, because I knew you were doing it and fed you false information.”
Mia gave him an incredulous look. “And you’re saying we’re lovers? After all that?”
“We’re more than lovers, Mia. You’re my charl.”
“Charl?”
He nodded. “It’s our word for what you are to me. The best approximation would be something like human mate.”
“Like a wife?” Mia could hear her own voice rising in disbelief.
He smiled. “Not exactly, but you could think of it that way, yes.”
Mia stared at him. “But you said I met you in April and it’s only June now. When did we have a chance to get married?”
He hesitated for a second. “It doesn’t work like that, my darling. There is no formal ceremony in a charl-cheren relationship.”
“So then how
does
it work? How is this different from just being boyfriend and girlfriend?” Not that she could even picture this beautiful creature as her boyfriend. But a husband? Her mind boggled at the thought.
“It’s different, Mia, because I couldn’t give a mere girlfriend what I gave you,” he said quietly. “Because by claiming you as my charl, I have brought you fully into our world, with all that it entails.”
Mia’s heart started beating faster again. “And what does it entail?”
“A much longer lifespan,” he said softly. “Freedom from aging and disease. Immortality, as you like to call it.”
* * *
Korum could see her eyes widening, skepticism warring with excitement on her face. The curl that he’d just tucked away behind her ear came loose again, refusing to be contained. He loved that rebellious curl; it always lured his fingers to her hair, making him want to touch its soft, thick mass.
In general, he was both surprised and pleased by her reaction thus far. She was naturally cautious, so some wariness was to be expected, but she was far less frightened than he would’ve expected her to be. She didn’t cringe away from his touch, nor did she seem to object to his nearness. Somehow, despite her lack of conscious memories, she must still recognize him on some level, must still trust him not to hurt her.
“You have the ability to make humans immortal?” she asked, a small frown creasing her smooth forehead.
Korum sighed, not wanting to go down that path again. “We do,” he said patiently. “But not all humans – only those that become a part of our society. I’m currently trying to get an exception for your parents and sister, though –”
“You know them?” she interrupted. “You’ve met my family?”
“I do, and I have,” Korum confirmed, glad that it was the case. It would’ve been much worse if she’d lost her memory before their Florida trip. “And that’s how you’re going to know I’m telling you the truth, my sweet. You’re going to speak to Marisa and your parents.”
Mia looked startled at the idea, and then her face lit up. By now Korum knew her well enough to understand that he’d just managed to dispel whatever fears she harbored over being separated from her loved ones.
Her strong attachment to her family was one of Mia’s main vulnerabilities, and Korum had not hesitated to exploit it in the past – to use it to bind her even closer to him. It had been surprisingly easy to win over both her parents and her sister. He had carefully researched everything about them before their meeting, and they had reacted exactly as he’d hoped, their initial distrust fading as they saw that Mia was happy and loved.
And that made Mia even happier and more attached to
him
.
Rightly or wrongly, Korum knew that he would do anything to keep her that way. She might not remember it now, but she had loved him once – and she would again. For now, though, he needed to prove to her that he was neither crazy nor playing a trick on her.
“Here, use this,” he said, giving her a new wrist computer he’d made a couple of hours ago. This time, he’d added visual capabilities to it, to make it even easier for her to stay in touch with her family. Showing Mia how to operate the device took another minute, and then she was connecting to her parents’ Skype account, her mother’s voice and image appearing in the room.
Smiling, Korum walked across the room and sat down in the corner, giving the two women some privacy. He could still hear everything they were discussing, however, and he listened with a great deal of curiosity.
As usual, his little charl seemed very concerned with not causing her parents any worry. Instead of letting on that she lost her memory, Mia kept the conversation light and generic, inquiring about her parents’ health and asking how Marisa was doing. Grinning, Korum listened as Ella Stalis blithely chatted about the latest developments in Marisa’s pregnancy (three pounds gained!) and how much they’d enjoyed having Mia and Korum in the area.
Though her sister’s pregnancy had to have come as a shock to Mia, she gamely oohed-and-aahed at the right moments, acting as if everything was normal. She even managed to laugh and promise to come for a visit again soon, as though she remembered the last trip perfectly. Korum couldn’t help admiring her for this; he knew how lost and anxious she must be feeling right now, and he was more than a little impressed with her composure.
Finally, Mia finished her conversation and looked at him. “Do you want this back?” she asked uncertainly, indicating the wrist device he’d given her.