Alpha's Howling Desire (BBW Paranormal Romance) Page 14

  Caden nodded slowly. “This isn’t making me feel better, Umi.”

  “It’s not like this yet,” Umi said. “There’s at least a handful of ways to stop it. One of those ways involves going down into the crust of our planet where only machines can go, in order to destabilize a pocket of energy that is threatening life.” He hesitated. “But the machines get too hot for us to pilot, and remotes stop working at a certain distance.” He gazed at her, apparently unwilling to go on.

  Caden frowned, wondering what it was that he wasn’t saying. Then the answer came a moment later. “You need us to go down for you,” she said slowly. “You need cyborgs to pilot the machines.”

  Umi nodded. “But I won’t make you, or anyone else, do anything you don’t want to. I won’t make anyone do anything until they’re informed.”

  “I’ll help,” Caden said quietly.

  “What?” Umi’s voice was laden with panic. “Caden, it’s dangerous. We don’t even know how dangerous. A cyborg has never done this, not on this planet.”

  Caden smiled impishly at Umi. “You mean I get boldly go where no cyborg has gone before?”

  Umi blinked his lovely blue-green eyes. “That’s not from comics.”

  “Star Trek had comics, too,” Caden insisted. “That’s not the point. I want to do this.” Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she took hold of Umi’s hands as she spoke. “I’m awake now. I can do this. For the first time ever---even though I was created for a specific task—I feel like I have real purpose.” She pulled him toward her and kissed him gently, and she felt him soften against her lips. When she pulled back, he was smiling, too. “Let me do this for you,” Caden said. “Let me help. I’ll do whatever the council agrees is best in the end. What do you say?”

  Umi seemed to battle with his emotions for a moment, and his eyes closed again. When the opened, they were clear and decisive. He smiled, and Caden’s hear skipped a beat. “My hero,” he said, and leaned forward to pull her into his arms.

  Saving The Alien Star Lord

  Alexis tossed down her spade and stared up at the sky, groaning to herself about the intensity of the sun that afternoon. As soon as the thought left her mind, she gave a mirthless laugh. After nearly two years she was still thinking about the sun. The blazing star above her was the same concept, providing illumination and heat to the tiny planet, but she had left what she considered the true sun, the sun she knew, so far away it was now only a glimmer of a star in the distance on the darkest of nights.

  Of course, this star and the second one that followed its path were suns in the most basic of meanings, but when she looked at them, Alexis still felt a tug of homesickness in her chest. Joining the mission to colonize this planet seemed like the perfect way to continue her service as a military medic, and she had been filled with hope when they first arrived. Along with her father, the commander of the mission, and more than thirty other people she set out to settle the planet, one that as of yet still had no name other than the string of numbers and letters that identified it as one of the military's most secretive and well-guarded secret missions.

  Nearly two years later, however, only a handful of people remained with Alexis and James. The others were too frightened of the unknown expanses of the planet and too weathered by the extensive work it took just to make a small area inhabitable enough to sustain them as they tried to cultivate and nurture the hot, dry planet into something that may once be the salvation for the overpopulation and pollution of Earth. James told them that in no uncertain terms if there were not strong enough to withstand the challenges that faced them, and courageous enough to remain a beneficial part of the mission, they were to go home.

  Within six months, half of the crew that arrived with them were gone. At the end of the first year, a third of those who remained had also heeded James' harsh recommendation and were on a shuttle back to the nearest space station where they would board a ship back to Earth. Just 12 colonists remained, but Alexis refused to give up hope. Even in her moments of longing for the familiarity and comforts of Earth, she was determined to do as she had sworn to do when she joined the mission.

  Now as she hacked away at the hard-packed ground in what would hopefully be their next garden, she willed herself to think through all of the ways that the mission had been a success even as the prospective colonists left and her loneliness crept higher and higher.

  It had taken several months of still sleeping in the original ship for them to build suitable housing for the different members of the mission, but once they were up, Alexis found hers to be nearly as welcoming and comfortable as the one she left on Earth. Two suns meant there was precious little darkness, so she outfitted her home with heavy curtains to block out the light and surround her like a peaceful cocoon when she gave herself the time to actually sleep. The rest featured mostly items built from the sparse but sturdy foliage they found on the planet and a few, treasured items she brought on the ship from home.

  James lived in his own, tiny shack at the top of a hill that overlooked the rest of the village the colonists built. Most leaders of his power and influence would have insisted on the grandest and most luxurious of houses possible, but her father was the complete opposite. As the leader, he told them, it was his responsibility to be the strongest, most courageous, and with the greatest perseverance. He was to concern himself with the rest of the crew before himself. So he threw together a small home with just enough space for his basic needs and devoted the rest of his time and energy to keeping the struggling little colony alive.

  It was toward that little shack, which James had yet to update or expand at all in all the time they spent on the planet, that Alexis was headed when she heard the explosion. The ground shook with the sound and for a moment she was dazed, trying to figure out where the massive sound came from and what it could have been. She took off running in the direction where she thought it originated and pushed herself up the steep hill that bordered one side of the village.

  As she crested the hill, she saw flames shooting up into the sky and a pillar of black smoke darkening the horizon. A few hundred yards away a mass of tangled metal smoked and burned. She felt her heart drop in her chest when she realized that she didn't see or hear anyone around the crash site.

  Alexis started running again, pushing herself as fast as she could toward the crash and praying that somehow she would get to whoever was inside in time. The heat of the fire was intense as she grew closer to the crash and she pulled down the sleeves she had pushed up to her elbows in an effort to protect her skin from the searing flames.

  Behind her she could hear James's voice calling to her, but she didn't pause to acknowledge him. She could see where the door to the mangled ship used to be and ducked down to run inside. Tugging the neckline of her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose against the acrid black smoke filling the space, Alexis ran through the inside of the ship looking for any members of the crew. Around her all she could see was the technological carnage of the crash.

  Panels hung from the walls, the internal components sparking and hissing. An eerie red glow from the emergency lights cast shifting shadows on the floor and made the twisted metal of the damaged structures look monstrous. Still she pushed forward, following hallways and dipping her head into rooms as she called out for any survivors in hopes they would hear her and call back. Finally she came to the end of the large main hallway and found a set of heavy black sliding doors.

  The doors stood partially open as if someone inside had given a command for them to open but they had failed partway through. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of one of the doors and pulled, trying to force it the rest of the way open, but it wouldn't move. Finally she stood and directed a hard kick in the center of the door. The impact shook the door, but didn't open it. She kicked again and again, grunting with the exertion, until finally she heard the mechanism in the door give way and was able to push it aside.

  Beyond the doors was a compact control cabin. From the siz
e of it Alexis wondered if it was not the main control area, but a panic room designed for emergency control of the ship if the main room was compromised. The large screens on the wall in front of her were all shattered and some were spitting bright sparks onto the floor. She squinted deeper into the darkness and saw that beneath that shower of sparks was the form of a man.

  ****

  Alexis dropped to her knees beside the man on the floor, ignoring the twinge of pain as bits of glass and metal bit through her pants and into her skin. The man was contorted on the floor, twisted so that his chest and face were pointed away from her. She grabbed him by the shoulder and gently shook him, speaking loudly to him. Around her she could hear a series of smaller explosions as other components of the ship submitted to the flames. She knew she didn't have much time to get out.

  Calling into use all of her military training, she tucked her shoulder under the man's arm and climbed to her feet. She dragged him along behind her as she moved as fast as she could down the main hallway and back out of the broken door to the ship. James caught her as she stumbled out into the sunlight. He took over half of the weight of the man and together they pulled him to safety away from the ship.

  "Put him down here, Dad," she commanded when they reached the foot of the hill.

  "We need to get him further away from the ship. It could explode."

  "We need to make sure that he doesn't have any severe injuries that need to be stabilized before moving him any further. Put him down and let me examine him."

  James complied, lowering the man to the dirt and stepping back so that Alexis could quickly look over him. She knew that if the man had any neck or back injuries they could have made them significantly worse the way they carried him out, but in the few moments they had there had been no way to take better precautions.

  At first glance there were no obvious severe injuries, but when she carefully pushed a lock of pale brown hair away from his face she realized it was damp underneath. Moving the hair further, Alexis discovered a large cut along his head, stretching from his forehead to behind his ear. She touched it gingerly and her hand came back wet with a hot green liquid. Alexis pressed her hand to the cut again and more of the liquid seeped through her fingers.

  "Dad," she said, not looking away from the man's face.

  "What is it? Is he hurt?" James asked, rushing back toward them from the top of the hill where he had gone to look and see if more of the colonists had heard the crash and were coming to help.

  "I think so."

  James crouched down beside her and Alexis held her hand out to him. It shook slightly and her father grabbed onto it to look at it more closely.

  "What is that?" he asked, examining the green liquid that stained her fingers and dripped onto her palm.

  "I think it's his blood."

  On the ground the man suddenly groaned, writhing in the dirt as if waking up.

  "We need to get him somewhere safer," James said, leaning down to lift the man again.

  "But what is he?" Alexis asked.

  She had encountered other species before, but not like this. The man now draped across her father's strong back looked completely human, and breathtakingly beautiful.

  "I don't know, Alexis, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is that you are the only doctor on this planet, literally, and therefore the only one who can help him."

  Alexis nodded, knowing that what her father said was true. She had had little opportunity to use any of her medical training since arriving on the planet, but this was exactly why she had come.

  "Bring him to my house," she said, "We never finished the clinic and I wouldn't be able to take care of him properly there."

  James nodded and carried the man over the hill and down toward Alexis's house. She followed behind them, one hand on the man's back to keep him steady. When they got to the house, James carefully lowered the man onto Alexis's bed. The stranger groaned again and stretched against the covers.

  "I'm going to go back to the ship and see if I can find anyone else. If you need me, use your messenger."

  James rushed out of the house, leaving Alexis alone with the stranger. He thrashed again and she worried that he had injuries she could not see. Trying to keep her focus on his medical needs rather than his unworldly beautiful face, she brought her hands to the buttons on the front of his thick green canvas jacket and released them. She moved quickly, removing the jacket and tearing away the shirt he wore under it so she could examine his torso.

  His body was equally as beautiful as his face and she let her eyes drift across it, searching for wounds even as she drank in the planes and curves of the muscles beneath his golden-tinted skin. She didn't see any signs of other injuries, and turned her attention back to the cut on his head. The bright green blood was matting in his hair and she went into the bathroom to fill a basin with water.

  Setting the basin on the table beside the bed, she dipped a cloth in the water and gently dabbed the cut. The blood loosened and washed away, revealing the extent of the cut. Alex dried the area carefully, then opened her medic kit to retrieve a needle and thread.

  ****

  The needle plunged into the stranger's skin and his eyes snapped open. Expanses the color of honey with streaks of blue met hers and Alexis's breath caught in her throat. He was most certainly not human.

  Placing a hand on his shoulder, Alexis gently pushed him to counteract his attempts to sit up, pressing him back down into the mattress.

  "I need you to lie still."

  "What's happening?" he asked, his voice powdery and strained.

  "You were injured in a crash. I'm a medic, and I need you to calm down while I fix you up. Just relax. It will be over in just a minute."

  The man nodded and Alexis went back to work stitching together the long, jagged cut. She was nearly finished when she heard him draw in a sharp breath and felt his hand reach over the edge of the bed and grab onto her thigh. His fingers dug into her, but she kept stitching, drawing his skin together and closing it. When she finished, she snipped off the thread, knotted it, and tossed the needle into the basin.

  He had his enticing eyes squeezed closed and kept them that way as she wrapped a strip of gauze around his head to protect the new stitches.

  "I'm finished," she said softly to him when she secured the end of the gauze and tossed her scissors onto the bedside table.

  "Who are you?" he asked through gritted teeth as if trying to distract himself with the words rather than focusing on the pain.

  "My name is Alexis. I'm the colony medic."

  He opened his eyes and looked at her questioningly.

  "Colony?"

  "We traveled here from Earth almost two years ago to colonize this planet. My father is the commander of the mission." She paused, trying to choose her words carefully, and finally deciding to go with the ones he had used with her, "Who are you?"

  "I'm Tyrok."

  He stopped without elaborating any further and she looked at him.

  "Are you…." she trailed off, not wanting to offend him.

  "Human?" he asked with a hint of laughter in his voice and she nodded, "No, just a stunning facsimile."

  He laughed but Alexis found her heart beating a little faster. Stunning was absolutely right.

  "Where did you come from, Tyrok?" she asked, fighting the urge to look at his bare chest again.

  "A planet not too far from here. You've likely never heard of it."

  "Where were you going when you crashed?"

  Tyrok didn't respond and Alexis turned her attention from the medical kit she was organizing in her lap to his face. His eyes were wide, his mouth partially open. The color had drained from his skin and his body was shaking.

  "Tyrok?" she said, reaching out to touch his arm, "Tyrok? Are you alright?"

  His convulsions became more intense and Alexis dropped the kit to the floor. She took Tyrok by his shoulders and looked down into his eyes. They stared blankly back at her and she heard faint gur
gling sounds coming from his throat. This was something she had never seen before, but had studied in her intensive training program before leaving on the mission.

  Leaving Tyrok on the bed, Alexis scrambled out of the house and ran as fast as she could toward the partially completed clinic on the other side of the village. It was a small building she had insisted they build in the first few weeks of being on the planet, but one they had used only a couple of times to handle the illnesses and minor injuries they had encountered. It was not equipped to handle the severity of what Tyrok was facing, but she knew that somewhere in the containers that filled the back room were the supplies she needed to hopefully get him through.

  "Alexis!" James's voice called to her from outside the clinic.

  Alexis dug through the dust-covered containers, desperately searching for the small black box she knew was on the inventory list. She heard her father call out her name again and she screamed back at him without removing her attention from her task.

  "What are you doing?" James asked, coming into the room.

  "He's crashing."

  "What?"

  "Tyrok, the man I found on the ship. He's crashing. I stitched him up and he was absolutely fine, and then he started convulsing and is unresponsive."

  "What does that mean?"

  Alexis finally wrapped her hand around the black box and brought it out of the storage container with a sigh of relief.

  "It means that I need to get this to him as quickly as possible if he is going to have any chance of survival. Then I need you to come back to the ship with me."

  "I didn't find anyone else."

  "Exactly."

  Alexis pushed past her father toward the clinic door.

  "What do you mean?"

  "The ship wasn't burning anymore, was it?"

  "No."

  She nodded.

  "Just wait for me."

  James nodded in agreement and she ran out of the clinic and back toward her house. She could hear Tyrok gurgling in the bedroom as she ran through the kitchen.