Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (18 page)

Frustration heats my blood
as I watch him walk into the living room were the men are seated.
Why do zaphinians have to view nudity so loosely? If the beings
weren’t so damned huge, I’d rebel. Seeing so many tough looking
males in one place makes me nervous. I was taught to avoid groups
of men, especially, groups of huge males. And these are by far the
biggest males I’ve ever seen.

Biting my lip, I turn and
get to the task I’ve been given. I pour four glasses of stros and
place them on a serving tray. I breathe the way Din Zar has taught
me. After my nerves are a touch calmer, I enter the living
room.

The size of the four men
causes panic to crawl around in my chest. With shaky hands I offer
them their drinks. I don’t stare into their eyes because I’m smart
enough not to challenge wild animals.

Are they wild? My heart
says
no,
but I’m
not so sure. Holding the tray in front of me as though it’s a
shield, I start to back out of the living room.

Din Zar smoothly stands
and catches my arm. “Not so fast, little seema. It’s time for you
to be introduced to my brother and friends.”

Brother? I didn’t realize
my male had a brother. What else don’t I know about him?

After setting his glass
down on a nearby table, Din Zar gestures toward the male sitting to
his right. “This is Din Von TocGar, he’s my brother. The next one
is Din Ryk WavTe and next is Din Lor OcanTi. You will be seeing a
great deal of these men here and at the club.”

I take a quick peek into
each males’ eyes. Recognition slams into me. Din Von and Din Ryk
were the ones with Din Zar when I was brought here. Din Lor seems
familiar as well. I can’t figure out why just yet, but I’m sure it
will come to me.

The memory of Gayle and
Megan being dragged off flashes through my mind. I tremble and grip
the tray tightly. Aliens are bad.
Not all
of them
, my logical side says.

“
This is Hallie Mead, my
seema.”

Din Zar’s voice jerks me
back to the moment. I’m not on the platform from hell. I’m in a
safe place. My gaze darts over the males. Scratch that—I’m in a
relatively safe place.

CHAPTER

21

~
Hallie ~

♥

Fear burns across my
nerves. This is not a safe situation. Not safe at all.

Din Zar cups my chin and
raises my face so that I’m looking into his amazing eyes. “You are
going to be fine, seema. To properly address each zaphinian you are
going to look him in the eye and wait for him to nod. His nod will
free you to do as you’re told. In this case, it’s to address each
male and then go to the kitchen, put the tray up, and then come
back in here and take a seat in the blue chair. Your job is to stay
in here in case one of them needs more stros. Go ahead, look at Din
Von.”

My stomach twists into a
knot. I’ve been trained not to look predators in the eye. My
warrior squeezes my hand encouragingly.
You’re not on Earth anymore
, my
logical side points out.

Knowing she’s telling the
truth, I look over at Din Von. His gaze captures mine. I don’t see
any sign of meanness in his eyes but I do see a hint of teal
threads along with two shades of silver. His neatly trimmed beard
doesn’t cover the small white scar on his right cheek.

He reminds me of Din Zar.
Not completely though. A picture of him walking away from Gayle
after she spit at him reminds me that Din Von’s capable of walking
away from a person in need.

More like, the man’s smart
enough to walk away from a lost cause. That bitch was hateful
and
dumb
, my
logical side ruthlessly points out.

My shoulders sag when I
realize that she’s right. Din Von, didn’t do anything wrong. The
male’s vents flare and then he nods.

Fuck! Silver Eyes just
smelled my emotions. A small smiles plays across his masculine
lips. Din Zar clears his throat causing me to jump. Damn, the nod
meant I was supposed to move on to the next male.

I shift my gaze to Din
Ryk. He’s the tallest of the males and his icy blue gaze causes my
heart to skip a beat. This one I don’t know anything about. I only
briefly saw him when I was brought onboard the
spacecraft.

As I look into his eyes,
some of the darker blue striations begin to stand out. I don’t see
evil intent in his gaze at all. Relief splashes across my nerves. I
notice he has a white scar above his right eyebrow and that his
black hair curls around his ears. His vents flare and then he
nods.

Fuck! He just scented my
emotions as well. I move my gaze on to Din Lor. His silver gaze
ensnares mine. I look deeply into his eyes. Surely, this one has to
be mean.

All I see is kindness in
his eyes. So far, all of the zaphinians I’ve met have caring
three-toned eyes. I note that Din Lor’s eyes have a hint of
blue-gray in them. Yep, his eyes are as pretty as the others. I’m
relieved to see that I may have been wrong about him having to be
the mean one. Are the majority of zaphinians nice? I realize that
as they are reading me, I can read them too. Maybe not as well as
them but I can get a hint of who they are on the inside.

A smile crosses his lips
and he winks at me right before he nods.

My eyebrows shoot up
causing the large male to laugh. I grin as I realize he’s a
flirt.

Din Zar clears his throat
again and I jump as I realize the nod means I’m supposed to move
on. Sheesh, how am I supposed to keep up with all of these rules?
Living in the woods was never this difficult. I hurry to the
kitchen and set the tray down.

When I return to the
living room, the men have already started talking. My male is
sitting on the couch next to his brother, while the other two are
sitting in chairs across from the couch. I go to the blue chair
close to a window and sink down into it. My emotions are starting
to crash. I’ve gone from content, to frightened, to confused, to
relieved in a very short amount of time.

I sink deeper into the
large chair I’m curled up in. From the corner of my eye, I see the
yellow petals of the purrdot plant move closer to me. I hold out my
hand so several of the flowers can get a good whiff of my skin. I’m
now used to the plant and enjoy giving it the small pleasure of
smelling me. I like giving Din Zar pleasure too. A shiver runs
through me at that thought.

A chuckle from Din Von
draws my attention to the men. Covertly, I check our guests out.
They all emanate power and confidence. My fingers worry the hem of
my sheer clothing. A touch of fire blooms across my cheeks as I
realize I was standing in front of them the whole time in this
scrap of material.

It dawns on me that I
hadn’t seen lust in any of their eyes. Relief runs through my veins
as I acknowledge that Din Zar was right. These men are used to
seeing females dressed the way I am. Feeling a bit bolder, I glance
at our guests through the strands of my hair.

All of them are around
seven feet tall. I feel like an ant compared to them. Even the
female zaphinian that came over and talked to Din Zar was their
height. I’m definitely an ant.

Yeah, but what
if the ants here on Zaphin are so well cared for
that they live long, happy, healthy lives?
my logical side asks.

Hmm, I’ll have to ponder
that later. As I watch them, I realize that Din Lor is the male
that crowded me the day I arrived. He’s also the one that quickly
stepped back and apologized for scaring me. Damn, he must have
smelled my fear that day. That was sweet of him to back out of my
personal space and to apologize. Din Lor has a length of cord
attached to his pants. I wonder what he needs that for. Since he’s
nice it’s probably used for something good.

I rub my thumb over my
lower lip as I think about how I’ve been treated by the zaphinians.
They do have some strange ways. My sheer clothing is proof of that.
But they are also kind. Then I remember the way Din Zar orders me
around. Okay, they’re also dominating.

Not in a mean way,
my heart whispers. That’s a fact. The beings that
took Megan and Gayle were horrible creatures. I shiver as I
remember them. Not wanting to go there, I push the memories to the
back of my mind. After three tries, the memory stays in a shadowy
corner.

My male laughs at
something Din Ryk says. I like the way his laughter slides over my
nerves. The word Din stands out in my mind. If they are all called
Din but not blood related, what does the word mean? Is it some kind
of status thing? I need to ask Din Zar about it later.

I enjoy listening to the
murmur of their masculine voices. I’m no longer trying to keep up
with what they’re talking about. As time slips by my eyelids feel
heavier and heavier. It’s getting later and my emotions were highly
tested tonight.

Through my drooping lids,
I look at Din Zar and smile when I see how relaxed and happy he is.
Contentment soothes my soul. With good feelings circling through
me, I close my eyes and snuggle deeper into my chair.

~ Zar ~

I’m sure my draw to Hallie
is stronger than the moon’s need to circle Zaphin.

My heart almost bursts
from relief when I see that she’s fallen asleep. In her resting
pose, she’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The
only thing that tops the sight of her right now, is the sight of
her flushed and calling my name as I make her come.

The mere thought of
pressing my base bulge into the pink jewel between her legs has my
cock twitching. She shifts causing her uniform to rise up exposing
the luscious curve of her ass. I love the soft curves of her body.
My gaze travels up to her plump breasts. They move slightly with
every inhale and exhale.

Lor’s voice draws my
attention back to my friends. I turn to see all three of them
standing. Smiling, I stand as well. I’m not embarrassed to be
caught staring at my seema. I’ve already told them that she
intrigues me as no other has.

“
Thanks for coming over and
helping with her training.” I look back at her sleeping form and
then back at each of them. “Tonight was successful.”

Von smiles as he looks
Hallie over. “That it was.” My brother looks back at me with
curiosity in his silver eyes. “Are you going to bring her to the
club soon?”

“
In about a week. I want to
give her more time to adjust to being here on Zaphin.” I’m not
quite ready to share her with the club members just yet.

“
The club should be an
interesting place to her. I look forward to seeing it through her
eyes,” Lor says.

Ryk shakes his head. “The
first time she goes, I don’t know if she’ll see the club as a good
or a bad kind of interesting.”

“
I know. I plan on going
easy on her the first time she’s there.” I look over her sleeping
body and hope she instantly loves Club Release.

“
That’s good. She’s a
skittish one,” Von says before he drinks the last of his
stros.

I wave a hand in her
direction. Her sleeping form looks peaceful. “At least we know
she’s adaptable.”

“
True,” Ryk
agrees.

“
We better head out. Some
of us have to train early in the morning.” Lor’s gaze roams over
Hallie and then comes back to mine. “And I don’t mean the fun
kind.”

“
She has been interesting
to teach,” I confess. “I’ll be back there with you guys soon
enough. Thanks again for coming over and helping me out.” I walk
them to the door and then close it quietly when they’re
gone.

I walk over to Hallie and
look down at her slumbering form. Pride in her progress sinks into
my bones. That she’s able to let her guard down enough to fall
asleep in front of me and my friends is wonderful. She’s only been
her for two weeks and she’s grown a lot.

A grin curls my lips as I
look at the purrdot flowers leaning in as close to Hallie as they
can. I silently agree with them. Her scent is unique and wonderful.
I take a deep breath and just enjoy the feel of being one with her
essence.

I gently pick her up and
carry her to my room. As I place her on the bed, she mumbles
something but doesn’t wake up. I shed my clothes, climb in beside
her, and then cover us up.

When she shifts and puts
her leg on mine, I know I’m in trouble. It only gets worse when she
adorably snuggles closer to me and presses her face to my chest.
With her soft breaths caressing my skin and warm body cuddling to
mine, I bravely acknowledge that she’s just stolen a big piece of
my heart.