Page 9 of Forbidden Desires

Zylar was speaking in a low voice. It was sort of singsong, like he was calming a child. There was no way that was a child, but she was falling under his spell, and she couldn’t understand the words. It roared and tried to stand even taller. When Zylar got too close, it lashed out at him making Amelia scream. She didn’t have to like him to want him to live. If he lived, she lived. She assured herself that was all she cared about.

There was a sack around his shoulder. One she hadn’t seen because his ass was in the way. That was her story, and she was sticking to it. He drew out what could have been an extremely large bunny if it didn’t have two heads and claws where its paws should have been.

He swung it back and forth, gaining the attention of the dino. When it started getting closer, he ran, holding onto it. She watched as the animal followed him. He was yelling at her and none of it made any sense, but when they were far enough away, she scampered down the tree and made a beeline for the lift. There was no way she was staying in this garden of Eden with the dino.

When the lift came into sight, she almost wanted to cry even as her feet faltered. What if he died saving her life? Is that what Jenna was supposed to do? Die so she could live? Had she thrown another person under the bus by not accepting her fate? Was her death always meant to be? There was another yell, and she still didn’t understand, but it felt like a force along her back pushing her forward. She was in the lift before she knew it. Her finger was punching at every key, making her painfully aware that it wasn’t moving.

It’s okay, she assured herself. It would start moving soon and she’d be out in the open. She didn’t tell everyone that she was claustrophobic. The few who knew were no longer alive to talkabout it. Her eyes misted as she thought of her mother and father dead in a senseless tragedy. It felt like the story of her life, one senseless tragedy after another. Was it getting hot in here? No, that was just her imagination. She backed against the wall, facing the door. Soon it would open, and she would laugh, stepping off like a well-adjusted woman and not a demon child afraid of the dark.

The seconds passed until she started counting the minutes. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, dripping into her eyes. Her heart started pounding fast as she made up stories of never getting off the lift. She would live here for days slowly dying of starvation, stomach twisting at the memory of food. She’d be judged and hear voices telling her welcome to hell, where her kind belonged.

Amelia slid along the wall until she wedged herself in the corner. Two walls were always better than one. How long had she been here? Slowly, without thought, she slid down the wall until she was sitting on her heels, and then, after hours, she moved to her behind. This is what she deserved. It was a soft reminder that what comes around goes around. She lay on the floor after being there for a day, curling up in a ball. Fear was in control of her mind and tears came. It was only justice that in the end; she cried for her sins, those committed with her knowledge and without.

She would have been a better person if someone had thought of giving her a second chance. Her eyes closed and her heartbeat slowed, fear killing her.

***

Zylar stepped onto the lift to find Amelia tucked into a corner unconscious. He leaned over her, noting her heartbeat was too slow for a human. A touch to her arm confirmed she was unconscious and not sleeping. He picked her up, cradling her against his chest, and barked out orders. The lift started movingas he listened to junior crew members trip over themselves with why Amelia wasn’t being monitored and he wasn’t informed of the situation. They were about to understand what happened when he felt disappointed.

The door slid open as he made his way to the med bay. The healer who took care of the crew was waiting for him.

“What’s wrong with her?” Healer Bly asked.

That was an excellent question. He spent the entire time on the lift thinking about it.

“Fear and preconceived notions.” Healer Bly stared at him with his black eyes. “I know, but humans are different. I think she’s scared of small places.”

“The lifts aren’t small.”

“But it contained her, and she couldn’t leave this one.” I think her fear and the surety that she would die came together in her mind and body, lowering her heart rate and preparing her for death.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t allow her to die?” A low growl came from Zylar. His long deadly nails grew, taking Healer Bly by the neck before the healer could back up.

“What did you just say?” His words were a rumble of gravel around his suddenly long and sharp teeth. One wrong word and the doctor would be dead.

Dr. Bly gulped, trying to breathe as Zylar’s hand tightened around his neck.

Chapter Six

Amelia was warm. She’d been so cold for such a long time; the warmth was a shock to her system. Her heart started beating faster and her mind sluggishly woke as she tried to figure out what was happening. What was the heat source? Had she died already and been granted a boon? The heat felt good, but not like the raging inferno of hell. Not how she thought hell would feel like, anyway. What did she know? This was her first time going there. Her eyelids felt like concrete sealed together with super glue. It took all of her concentration and force of will to open them until there was a small slit letting in light to her retinas.

“Ah,” was the only sound she’d been able to make. Zylar was holding her with one arm, the other was beside his body. Amelia needed to be held in both his arms to soak up the heat that only he seemed to have. She flailed at the arm not holding her and then it was there, pulling her body securely against his. She took the heat from his body deeply into her. Her head nestled against his chest, and she stopped fighting. Just for a minute,she assured herself, but now she needed whatever protection she could get from him.

He placed her on a bed. She assumed by the white sterile walls and the machine she couldn’t make heads or tails out of that this was a hospital room. She prayed it was, anyway. Forcing her eyes the rest of the way open and shivering now that Zylar wasn’t holding her, she looked around the room. Her eyes landed on someone she thought might be a doctor because he was looking at numbers over her head.

“Are you a doctor?” He replied in a language she couldn’t understand.

Was her life worth her pride? If you had asked her a day or two ago, she’d have said yes and kept running. Now she didn’t feel the same way. She was in a foreign land, even if it was just a spaceship that she didn’t understand. Not speaking the native language, especially when all she had to do was allow them to implant a disc in her wrist, didn’t make sense anymore. It wasn’t a hill she was willing to die on.

Her cousins also had another thought coming. She wasn’t going to march willingly to the gallows. One fight with death was enough for her.

“Please give me a translator chip.” She held out her wrist. Did that sound apologetic enough? She snorted. Zylar would assume she was playing a new game, rightly so.

The male looked at Zylar, who nodded his head. One point for her. She hid her smile but saw his eyes shining. Okay, it was a draw, a point for both of them. She threw that point out; they were both back to zero. She ignored that he was one point ahead since he kidnapped her and then saved her life.

The doctor worked fast, wiping her wrist and then injecting it with the translator. How long would it take for it to attach and start working? She gave a slight wince.

“There won’t be any more pain,” the healer said.

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