Authors: Milly Taiden
TWELVE
Liv’s head pounded. She opened her eyes and blinked at the soft lighting and soothing sound of crashing waves. They were at the beach. She sat up slowly and watched the shades roll up the windows, letting light in. The walls, previously a pretty yellow-flower print, changed to a sandy white in color and texture.
Her jaw dropped open as the room transformed before her eyes. “I died. I had to have died.” She shoved off the incredibly soft covers, noticing she no longer wore the same clothes, but a super-soft yellow pair of shorts and tank top.
She stepped on the warm stone floor and frowned. She had only seen stone like that in castles she’d visited when she’d traveled with her grandmother. Where on earth were they? The air felt crisper, cleaner than usual. She scurried to the large window and gasped.
“This is some kind of joke.”
“Good morning!” She whirled around to find a very pregnant woman standing at the bedroom door.
“I’m Bella. Welcome to Aurora.” Bella peered at the hair at the bottom of Liv’s ponytail. “Is that purple? I love it!” Bella’s gaze roamed Liv’s sleeveless arms. “Oooh! What pretty ink you have.”
She blinked and glanced out the window again, watching the crashing pink waves hit the sandy white beach. “Thank you. Are we in Europe?” she mumbled. “I’ve never heard of a pink ocean. Ever.”
Bella laughed and shook her head. “No, that’s what I’m here to explain to you.”
“Where’s Karel?” she asked, worried that something happened to his mother and things were worse.
Bella’s smile dimmed. “He’s making arrangements for you both to see his mom. He is the chief of security here, but with me pregnant, Alyx, my husband, had Karel on babysitting duty watching over me like I’m going to pop any second.”
Liv nodded. She hated to tell Bella, but she did look like she was ready to pop any moment. “Where am I?”
“So you know how they say aliens don’t exist and there’s no life on other planets?”
A knot formed in the pit of Liv’s stomach. “Yes.”
“It’s not technically true.” Bella smiled.
“Which part?”
“All of it. You’re currently millions of light years away on a shifter planet called Nova Aurora. This planet is inhabited by shifter aliens.”
She glanced out the window again, noting the purple trees surrounding the area, and a sea of rainbow flowers moving with the wind, creating a soft wave of multicolor. If she wasn’t on another planet, then she’d been brought to some undiscovered part of earth. Highly unlikely.
“Have you been mentally evaluated, Bella?”
Bella grinned. “Trust me, I would have been the first person wondering what the hell kind of joke this is, but I used to work for Gerri and I came here wide awake. It is probably harder since you passed out mid-travel.” Bella shrugged. “I won’t ask you to believe me, because it’s something you have to see for yourself. Just look outside. The oceans are pink. The forests are purple. Snow is blue! I can go on and on, but this room alone should show you how far advanced this planet is,” she said, pointing to the walls. “Mood walls. Everything changes based on your feelings and what you want.”
Okay, yes. That was unarguable. She’d seen the damn thing change in front of her eyes.
“This is kind of hard to believe, you understand. I was in my bed a few hours ago.” After the most amazing orgasm of her life, she left unsaid.
“I come from earth, too.” Bella walked in and sat on a chair, sighing as she did. “I fell in love with Alyx and this is now my home.” Her gaze pierced her with curiosity. “You obviously feel strongly for Karel or you wouldn’t be here.”
That was true. She’d gone on blind faith where Karel was concerned; something she’d never, ever done. She hadn’t even bothered to send her grandmother a message she was going away. Their last argument left a bad taste in Liv’s mouth and all she wanted was to keep her grandmother at bay for a while.
“I’m just having a hard time with this other planet thing.”
Bella nodded. “Well, think about it. Karel is probably taller and beefier than any man you’ve ever dated. His eyes are a distinct color and he will do anything to protect you. Anything.” Bella raised her brows. “Met many men like that on earth?”
That was easy to answer. No. She shouldn’t ignore common sense. Her mind told her Bella spoke the truth. But
how
and
why
were answers she probably wouldn’t get until she spoke to Karel, and even then, she might not be in agreement with what he said. But she was on another planet. Another planet!
She glanced out the window again and gasped when she saw a dragon fly by. “Holy crap!”
“Yes, we also have dragons in this world. Very real dragon shifters.”
She was on another planet. Now was not the time to explore, even though she wanted to. They were there to see Karel’s mom. She wanted to support him. He’d looked so torn when he’d told her.
Someone knocked on the door and a tall woman entered with a tray.
“Ah, there’s our tea and cookies.” Bella sat up, eyeing the platter like she was going to consume it all with her eyes.
Liv guessed the woman was a family member from the adoring smile she gave Bella.
“Enjoy,” said the woman as she left the room.
“Come on.” Bella turned to the table next to her where the tray had been placed. She grabbed a thin bite-sized square and munched.
Liv’s stomach growled. She was starving. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but figured probably longer than shorter. “Let me go to the bathroom.”
Bella nodded, chewing on a green cookie. “There’s toiletries in there. Just wave your hand in front of the lower part of the mirror by the sink.”
She rushed to the bathroom and noticed how bare it was. Wave a hand? She did, feeling stupid until the glass slid open and a tray popped out with a brush, toothpaste, and a full grooming kit. It was like the coolest five-star hotel ever.
Once she’d brushed her teeth and washed her face, she returned to the bedroom where Bella sat, drinking tea.
“Great, you’re here. I was hoping you’d return before I ate everything. That was going to make me feel all kinds of guilty.” She grinned.
Bella’s happy personality was hard to dislike. She had an infectious smile and made Liv feel welcomed in the insanity of what was going on.
She took a seat on the other side of the small table and picked up a green cookie. It felt soft, like a freshly baked oatmeal cookie. It smelled like one too, but it was green.
THIRTEEN
“Try it,” Bella encouraged. “I promise it won’t be bad. I had to teach one of the cooks to make my favorite oatmeal cookies. Alyx tries to make me happy however he can so he watched me make a mess of the kitchens until we got them right.” She shrugged and the material of her top shimmered. “The only thing is that flour here is made of green seeds. It was weird at first, but if it tastes good, I don’t care about the color.”
Liv bit down and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor. It was better than an oatmeal cookie. The fruit was sweeter and the dough softer, yet crunchy. “This is really good.”
Bella nodded and picked up another. “You’ll be hooked on these. My best friend, Charlotte, lives in the ice mountains with her mates and she comes here just to eat my cookies.” She opened her eyes wide. “That didn’t sound right, but you get the idea.”
Liv laughed and picked up a teacup. She sniffed, a bad habit she had, and tasted. The drink was like lemon tea with a hint of honey. It was nice.
“So there’s other humans here?”
“Yes. There’s me, Charlotte, and her sister Rebecca, and now you,” she said excitedly. “Becca and I are the only ones pregnant though.” Bella eyed Liv with interest. “For now.”
“Do you like it here?” she asked, changing the subject. No way she was getting into any baby talks when she had no clue what the hell was going on.
“I love it,” Bella gushed. “Although, I’d love anywhere as long as I was with Alyx.” Her eyes filled with love and a happy smile curved her lips. “It will suck when Alyx goes away in the next few days. He’s got a big meeting with a bear clan on the other side of the planet and that means I get to stay here with other guards but none as nice and friendly as Karel. I’ll miss him.”
A buzzing sounded had Bella reaching into her pocket. “Oooh! It’s Gerri!”
Bella pressed a button and a holographic image of Gerri showed up by the wall.
“Liv? Are you okay?” Gerri asked with a frown.
“Hi! I’m great. Well, now that I understand more or less what’s going on.”
“That boy is just as bad as Alyx,” Gerri muttered. Liv was sure she referred to Karel. “I told him to give you time to get to know him. To talk to you first and explain the whole shifter planet situation before dragging you off to Aurora. Did he listen? Hell, no.”
“To be fair,” Liv said, coming to Karel’s defense for some reason. “I don’t think any explanation would have helped. I mean it sounds crazy unless you’re actually here seeing things yourself.”
“I know, darling. But in his haste to take you to his home, he forgot to make arrangements for your stuff and your belongings.”
Oh, shit. She thought she’d be on vacation a few days. Not living here. On one hand, she’d always despised the judgmental bullshit from the people in earth’s society, and by being on another planet, she wouldn’t be subject to that anymore. On another hands, she would never see Monica or her kids again. Or could she?
“Could I go back to earth to visit, if I wanted to?” she asked.
“Of course,” Gerri reassured her. “You’re not a prisoner in Aurora. You can come back whenever you want. You will find the time difference will make things harder for you. But you should never feel like you can’t return to earth.”
Would she want to, though? Maybe, maybe not. It was nice to know she had the option. Still, she wasn’t as torn up about leaving her home planet as she thought. Her grandmother had always acted like Liv was a bother. Her sperm-donor never made a move to get to know her. And even Monica went months without calling, at times. The only person she’d miss was her neighbor. “Damn. I have no idea what to do.”
Gerri grumbled, “I swear I will stop catering to shifters if they don’t start listening to me. I’ve never met a more hardheaded bunch.” She rubbed her temples and shook her head. “I can handle your stuff. Anyone you want me to contact?”
Liv thought about her grandmother but decided against it. “Give my stepsister Monica a call. She can have someone get my things.”
“And what would you like me to tell Monica?”
“That I decided to live off the grid and will figure out when I want to get in touch with her.” She glanced at Bella’s raised brows. “I always joke about doing that, but she never really thought I’d do it.”
“Anyone else?”
“My neighbor Cassie. She will worry when I don’t show up for our weekly spa session.”
Gerri nodded. “Okay. If you think of anything else, contact me. And for the love of my remaining hair, please try to control your men,” she eyed Liv and Bella. “I know it’s not an easy task, but if you two don’t, I will be forced to start smacking people upside the head.” She grinned at them and blew a kiss. “I’ll be in touch.” Her holo-image blinked out.
Liv didn’t get a chance to ask further questions. There was a slight knock on the door and it opened slowly. Karel peeked his head into the room, scanning the bed and then the rest of the space until he found her sitting, biting into another cookie.
“Hi,” she said between bites. There was a lot she needed to discuss with him, but Bella being in the room stopped her.
“Karel, I tempted Liv into eating with me. Are you ready to go?” Bella asked.
He gave a short nod. “Yes. I came to make sure you were feeling better.” He scanned Liv’s face, his eyes filled with concern.
She nodded. “Are we going to see your mom now?”
“Yes.” The ominous tone of his voice made Liv’s belly ache and the cookies taste like sawdust. It had to be hard for him to be away from his mom when things were so bad. Not that she had any clue how sick she was, but he’d said she was dying. That was as bad as things could get.
“Let me shower and change and we can go.”
FOURTEEN
“No,” Liv said emphatically. “I’m not teleporting. I’m sorry but there has to be another way.”
Karel glanced at the device in his hand and then back at her. “There is. We can take a transport vehicle. I use mine for rare outings, but I keep it here at the castle.”
She smiled in thanks. “I just don’t think I can handle going through another one of those machines again.”
“I understand. This will take longer, but we’ll manage to get there.”
She bit her lip. She shouldn’t be slowing them down, but if he wanted her to go with him, then he’d have to change how they traveled. Her nerves were still jittery from the previous earth to Aurora travel.
After a stop at the kitchen to gather packaged food stuffs, they went to a back wall of the castle. He pressed his hand on a rock and suddenly the stone wall disappeared. She gaped at the massive opening. It looked like an under-castle garage. There were very cool looking bikes with no wheels on tripod type bases. The bikes were covered with a glass dome with openings on both sides for people to get to the seats.
“That looks very cool but really fragile,” she told him, feeling the material under her fingertips. The glass felt cool to the touch but really thin. She worried a strong wind would make the whole thing fall to the side.
“It’s a lot sturdier than you think.” He smiled. Her gaze was riveted on the back of the bike where he pressed at the glass and it slid open to show a compartment for their bags. That was one of the coolest and weirdest thing she’d seen in her life.
After loading items from around the garage, he offered her a hand and helped her up the base steps. “Let’s get you seated.”
She climbed into the back of the tandem unit, admiring the view inside the glass dome. He sat in the front seat. The weight of his body made her seat tilt forward and she gasped as she curled her arms around his narrow waist. His ab muscles contracted under her hands. Lord, he was fine and warm. She rubbed her nose on the back of his shirt, happy to press herself against him.
A low groan sounded from the front. “Stop wiggling so much back there, or we won’t be going anywhere except the floor.”
She tried to sit still, but it was damn hard. How often did she get on a futuristic bike with a guy who brought back the meaning of sexy and wanted to rip her clothes off? Not ever.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “We can go now.”
The bike lifted from the base and she tightened her hold on Karel. Oh good god. They were hovering over the base, the bike rising higher into the air.
“This thing flies!” she squeaked.
“Yes,” he said and pressed a hand to hers around his waist. “It’s fine. You won’t feel a thing.”
No. But she’d see it. They shot out of the big room and into the forest so fast, she scrunched her eyes closed, fear alive and well in the pit of her stomach.
“How are you doing back there?” he asked. “I sense your tension and it’s driving my jaguar wild. This is going to be a long ride if you don’t enjoy it.” He sighed. “Open your eyes, my love,” he said softly. “You’ll like what you see.”
She blinked one eye open and then the other, her gaze scanning the passing trees. Rows of what looked like birchwood in multiple purple hues dropped light pink flowers over the ground. It was like being in a magical land. The farther they went, the thicker the trees became. The ride was seamless. Without wheels on the ground, there were no bumps. In fact, there was no noise at all. If she’d kept her eyes closed, she wouldn’t have known they were moving.
“This is amazing,” she said to herself. “All the colors.”
“Just wait,” he said and veered to the left, taking a sharp turn which put them over a beach. She saw the pink waves flowing onto the shimmery pale-yellow sand. Her fingers itched to touch it.
She glanced at the ocean. It appeared calm, but waves pushed to the shore with powerful glides. She wanted to strip off her clothes and dive in. Or dip her toes. She wasn’t stupid. She had no idea what the hell was in that water, and as pretty as it was, it scared her too.
They flew over the beach for a while. She was so mesmerized by the water and glittery sand, she didn’t bother making conversation. She wasn’t fond of the beach unless she went somewhere like the Caribbean. She loved beaches with trees by the water. She’d spent a lot of time in her childhood visiting the Dominican Republic with her grandmother. She had a beach house in one of the most popular resort destinations and took Liv often.
Many hours passed, sitting on the beach, watching the waves come in and the sun go down. Liv didn’t know how to swim, but she still made sure to get in the warm tropical waters.
Her fear of drowning kept her from learning to swim properly. She glanced at the pink waves again. She wondered if the water was very deep or at her knees like the beach in Tahiti.
Her grandmother loved to travel and being in charge of Liv meant she took her along. Tahiti was like the Caribbean but a lot less commercialized and calmer. The water was crystal clear and her love of wading to her knees had been fulfilled.
“Your oceans are so pretty and pink,” she told him. “I thought oxygen in water made the water blue on earth.”
“I don’t know a lot about earth, but here, our seas are pink because of a mineral that lives in the sand. When combined with water, it lets out this color.”
“That’s amazing.” She pressed the side of her face to his back, loving the strength of his muscles and how good he was about answering her questions.
“I’m glad you like it,” he replied. “We’re going to be spending the night close to the beach.
“Why?” She frowned. “I thought you said we would get to your mother’s fast?”
“We didn’t teleport. That would have gotten us to her within moments. By driving, we are forced to a slower speed. It will take lots of hours before we get there and night is approaching.” He slowed the bike. It didn’t feel like they’d been going that long, but she noticed the light that had been high and bright before, had lowered to a soft dusky glow of the descending suns.
That was another thing. They had two suns. Both moving in tandem, giving the planet a bright and light feel. She’d thought with twin suns, the temperature would be scorching hot, especially since they looked to be way too close for comfort, but she’d been wrong. The weather was nice. The breeze helped to make the area feel incredibly tropical. One of her dreams as a kid was to live on a tropical island.
Karel stopped the bike near a bushy trail. In stunned amazement, she watched the bike descend over a flat patch of land, to rest on the ground.