Page 2 of His Human to Chase

“We have already been using it on you and the rest of A12. The creatures you are being sent to have different bloodlines and some of them have genes that are triggered when being in the presence of their true mate. We didn’t realize this species mated so intensely, but it appears humans are able to pull out their primal instincts and create bonds that haven’t been seen in a long time within the world.” The doctor starts spouting some more bullshit that I’m barely listening to after telling me I’ve been the guinea pig for who knows how long. “Something is happening on the planet, something bad, and the Creator has told us that your tribe will need to be protected. We do not go back on our word lightly, and that means we do regret not being able to keep our word to you, A12-22. You will be sent tomorrow with two others if you are receptive to the male’s pheromones.”

“How long have you been testing their pheromones on us?” I ask, walking toward him as I try to calm my nerves.

I haven’t been feeling completely myself in a few weeks. I’ve been having dreams where I’m running through the woods naked and so aroused. I know it should be considered a nightmare to be running from something in the woods, but it only heightens the arousal I’m feeling. Someone is chasing me. Someone faster, stronger than me, but they’re tracking me, hunting me, like I’m their prey.

I shake my head to think about the other things that have felt off. A weird hollowness in my chest and a cold that never seems to go away. The only time there’s even a flicker of something I’d consider joy or happiness is when I think about leaving this planet. No, it’s not even a flicker. It’s like an all consuming desire to get off this planet and move on to the next. I’m not meant to be here on Earth. I’ve known that since before I was feeling off, but it’s still strange to think about how my feelings have probably only been amplified thanks to whatever the Hands have been exposing me to.

“I won’t answer any of your questions,” The doctor says as he grabs a few swabs and starts collecting sweat from my brow and neck. He motions for me to lift my arm, and I do it without question. “You are needed on the planet early because we have made an error in trying to find ways to identify mates. We triggered the warrior gene in two of the males without realizing, and the side effects of them not mating can be disastrous if not deadly.”

I nod my head, somehow coming to terms with what the doctor’s telling me, even though I know it’s completely insane. A weird calm settles over me, knowing that wherever I’m going, there’s someone there who already wants me. Maybe that’s desperate, but like how could a girl not want some warrior man to want her? I shake the thought from my head as quickly as it pops in. I can’t be thinking like that. Not before I know what they look like or if they’re even kind.

“We don’t know the names of the males that have begun their transition.” The doctor seals my swabs in little plastic baggies and sets them on his desk. He grabs another vial and holds it tightly between his fingers when he faces me again. Concern mars his face, but he covers it quickly. “You won’t be sent alone. The other warrior’s mate will be sent as well as Simo— A12-05.”

My brows rise when I hear him almost say one of our names. I didn’t know the Hands even registered that we tell them our names since they ignore us completely every time we try to say something.

He narrows his eyes on me like he’s daring me to mention it at all because we both know he’s going to deny doing it. We’re in a staring contest, much like the one he was in with the other Hand before she left. I break eye contact first. Him being a Hand still means eye contact is weird.

His lip twitches upward like he’s amused that he won our staring contest. He pops the cork off the vial he’s holding, not warning me of what it is. My body lights up as soon as it’s open, and I don’t even need to inhale it very deeply. It coats me in warm fuzzies and has me groaning in pleasure when it feels like all of me is being softly caressed. The doctor corks the vial, a horrified look on his face when I start to flush from my face down to my chest.

“Much less,” The doctor mutters to himself. He places the vial back on the counter and types something in the computer. “A12-22, could you please describe to me what you’re feeling? I understand this might be uncomfortable to discuss, but it will help us with humans sent later or if we ever need to assist these creatures again.”

His words cut through my arousal like a bucket of ice water being thrown over me. I close my eyes and frown, trying to think of the best way to describe what I’m feeling without admitting to this alien that I’m ready to have sex with whoever those pheromones belong to. I guess that’s what they want, though. We’re supposed to be mates, so I should make him feel the same way I just felt, right? I don’t ask because I know the doctor won’t tell me.

“Warmth all over was first,” I say, not meeting his eyes because I don’t want him to see how much not in-depth I’m going to go. “Then a happiness or like a dopamine high is more like it. After that was the arousal and all of the things that come with that.”

“Sensitivity in your breasts and groin?” The doctor doesn’t look up from his computer as he asks but still somehow catches the slight nod I give him before typing something else. “Sorry about this.” He at least sounds somewhat uncomfortable at having to ask. “Would you be willing to smell it again at a lower concentration to see if it is just as effective?”

My eyes go wide, and I shake my head. “No offense, but I’m not trying to edge myself with just a smell.”

The doctor coughs slightly and then clears his throat like he wasn’t expecting that as my answer. “Sorry, I don’t think I realized the intensity of the feelings.”

I nod again, my fingers interlocking as I shift my weight from one foot to the other, waiting to see what the doctor wants from me next. We stay in silence as he types some more information into the computer, and then he clicks a few things before finally, the computer screen goes blank, and he’s looking up at me.

“I can show you back to your room now, A12-22.”

I furrow my brows. So many questions are running around in my mind, but I can’t focus on any of them. No, I can, but I know I won’t be getting any answers. “I’ll be sent tomorrow?”

“Yes,” The doctor nods. “Probably with A12-14 and A12-05. Neither of them will know anything I have told you, and you can only tell them when you are off of Earth.”

“What time tomorrow?”

“As soon as there is an opening in the storms that have been raging on the planet. They’re electrical storms, so we’re unable to teleport you until there is a clear opening.” The doctor looks at his bare wrists like there’s a watch on it and then frowns. “You will look for the younger of the two brothers. His are the pheromones you react to. You need to get him away from the tribe before you mate. The warriors can be possessive and territorial during their claiming, and A12-14 is not one we would have chosen to send, but she reacts to his pheromones, and hers triggered his changing.”

“So, I need to get a horny alien out of his safe tribe and away from his brother so he can have sex with me?” I say the words slowly, not believing it’s a sentence I have ever needed to mutter, ever. It’s only made so much more ridiculous when the doctor gives me a smile that doesn’t reach his inhuman eyes and nods.

A12-22

So, I’m not allowed to tell A12-14 anything I know, but I am allowed to see her. Actually, I don’t know if I’m allowed to search her out, considering I’ve never done it before, but it wasn’t forbidden, like telling her that we’re being sent to another world to find our mates. I shouldn’t be giddy just thinking about the word, but my mind and body are lost to my heart as it beats hard and fast with so much warmth that fills me when I think of having a mate.

I control the smile plastered on my face like a madwoman and say, “Knock, knock,” When I get close to A12-14‘s part of the unit. Our rooms are made of cloth partitions, so there isn’t really anything to knock on, but I’m not about to just bust in on her.

“You can come in,” A12-14 sounds like she’s been crying, and my good mood immediately plummets.

Here I am pretty much elated to go to a new world to be with some alien man that I’ve never met before, and A12-14 is not feeling the same as me. Maybe I should be more like her. There’s nothing rational about how I’m acting, but at the same time, I’m happy that I’m not upset about it. I push all of my confusion for myself and my feelings aside and walk into the room.

“So, there are some things we should talk about, but I have to be kind of vague,” I flop down in a chair she has next to her bed, and she watches me with a frown. She has no idea who I am. Yeah, we’ve spent two years in the same unit but had friends outside of it. Had being the keyword there since all the women in the stadium seem to hate us now. “I know you’re being sent tomorrow. I am, too.”

A12-14 sucks in a breath, and her bottom lip wobbles as fresh tears fill her eyes. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it before shaking her head and wiping her eyes.

---