Page 71 of Holiday with the Aliens

“What is this place?” Stella asked the question that had been turning over in Arest’s mind for some time. “I’ve never felt so lost before.”

A word floated up in his mind, a piece of the puzzle of who he’d been. “Maze,” he said. “Challenge.” A challenge for him. Or a job. Were they being watched now, entertaining fodder for the people of this planet? Or was this one of his darker missions?

Stella caught on to part of his thought, taking it down a different path. “If this is a maze, then we need to find the center. That’s the goal, right? Maybe there’ll be a control room or an exit or something. If we find that, we can get out. We can go home.”

“I’ll get you out,” he promised. “I’ll get you home.” For him though? There was no home for him to go to, and no place where he was safe.

Chapter Seven

Stella didn’t know whether to rejoice at his improving speech or tear up at the bleak tone. He’d told her, hadn’t he? That he was bad, that he’d been made into a beast, made by someone on a faraway planet. Taken from his home and the life he knew. Erased until nothing was left but a monster.

If she got free and if this planet didn’t turn out to be hostile, she could go back to the civilian fleet and the life she’d been living. If he got free, he only had a life in chains, and that was no life at all.

“When we get out, you can come with me,” she said, the offer springing out without conscious thought. But the rightness of it lay easily in her bones. “I’m not anyone special back home, but I know people. I’ll get you out.”

Behind her, Arest stiffened and his hand flattened against her stomach. Ooooh, it felt good to be touched by him, even as they contemplated that these might be their last days. When the food ran out, so would their time. And if monsters lurked by all the sources of water, every drink would be a risk.

“Not safe. Trainers would find me.” He bit out the words, fighting something in himself to speak. The longer they weretogether, the more clearly he talked. Stella wondered why. Perhaps he’d been treated like an animal for so long that he’d forgotten how to be a person.

She scowled. If someone put her in a room with the people who’d done this to Arest, she’d be the only one to make it out alive.

Violence didn’t live in her thoughts like that, not normally. And the intensity terrified her. The fleet appointed therapist that she had to see every six months would tell her that this was a bond formed through trauma, that her emotions were all keyed up because of disaster and none of it would last beyond the danger.

But Stella knew what a relation born of trauma felt like, and this wasn’t it. Arest had sunk deep into her skin and grabbed hold of her soul, and the thought of letting him suffer, of letting him go, caused that soul to rebel. She turned in his arms, letting her shirt drop back to the ground. She’d deal with it later.

She placed her hands on his cheeks, cupping his head and looking deep into those intense blue eyes of his. “We’re in this together,” she said. “Got it? And I’ll fight anyone who tries to take you back to that hell you were trapped in. No more.”

His pupils dilated and his nostrils flared. Her breath caught as he narrowed his intensity on her, one hand cupping her elbow, the other hidden. “Not safe,” he insisted, but he didn’t push her away.

Stella moved even further into his space, coming up on her knees until only centimeters separated them, her forehead hot with the heat coming off his. “You’ll be safe with me.”

Confusion dimmed the intensity for a moment until something hot and human and easily recognizable flared. She’d seen that look, the narrowed gaze, intent on conquering. The lips, open just the tiniest bit as if he could taste her on the air. Desire, hot and hard and all for her. Yes, Stella had seenit before, but no one had ever looked at her quite like Arest did. The mantle of want fit him like a glove, and he moved so smoothly that she didn’t see it until his lips covered hers.

Her hands slid up and around until she hugged his neck, pressing herself close. His lip were warm and soft from the water they’d drunk and Stella felt a little lightheaded, drunk on Arest, and she never wanted to sober up.

When his fingers curled in her own knotted hair, she groaned and lit up, an endless well of want showing her just how empty she was inside. On her knees next to him, maneuvering closer was a bit difficult, especially since she refused to stop kissing him even for a second. But Stella managed, finding an angle that let her throw one leg over his hip, and feel the hot press of flesh between her legs.

Arest took her bottom lip into his mouth and nipped at it, the mix of pleasure and the smallest hint of pain a wild aphrodisiac.

His tongue met hers again and Stella squeezed her eyes tight, her fingers curling even more. She needed him, wanted him, couldn’t do without him for another minute. And if she could just get her damn pants off she’d take all of him.

But undoing the buckle meant letting go of him, and there was no way she was taking her hands away from his hot skin and hard muscle, not now when she could have her fill.

She let her fingers trail down his back, bumping over ridges she wasn’t sure were human. His shoulder blades were harsh points of bone and muscle, each a tight reminder of his strength. Stella felt no softness in him, only heat and muscle.

His claws scraped lightly down one of her sides and if she’d been sane, she might have been afraid. But her shiver had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with desire. All the danger in him lit her up even more, making her hot and wet and aching.

That claw found the strap of her bra and only when he dug under one strap, tantalizingly careful not to nick her skin, did the barest hint of sanity intervene. “Don’t cut it,” she whispered against his lips. “It unsnaps in the back.”

Arest stilled. Even his lips froze, and Stella feared that he’d pull back, call an end to the flame that rose between them. Instead, she carefully slid his claw back and reached around, the pads of his fingers light against her spine. She held her breath as her skin pebbled under his careful fingers. And then her bra sagged and slid down, constraining her arms a bit but freeing her breasts to Arest’s hungry gaze.

Stella swallowed. Hard. The beast was back, and this time his entire focus centered on her. With deliberate, tantalizing slowness, he leaned forward and took one nipple into his mouth, lapping at the stiff peak and swirling his tongue around until Stella’s mind turned to goo and she let out an inhuman moan.

She clutched him close, afraid that if she let him go, he’d dissolve into nothing more than a dream. Because now he was all fantasy, his strong body and skilled tongue dedicated to bringing her to heights of pleasure she hadn’t known she was missing.

His fingers delved lower, pressing against her abdomen, the points of his claws a pricking reminder of the danger he carried within. But Stella arched into him, spreading her legs, wanting,needing, more. Given the choice between rescue and another five minutes with Arest, she couldn’t be certain that she’d make the right choice.

She wasn’t certain which choicewasthe right one.

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