Page 26 of An Alien for the Future

I look up into her beautiful face, and I’m struck breathless. Her laughter, so rich and uninhibited, fills the air around us, wrapping me in a cocoon of pure joy. Never have I felt such peace at seeing another being’s happiness. It’s a strange sensation. Enough, thank the gods, to distract from my quickly hardening shaft.

I look up into Donna’s eyes, those mesmerizing brown orbs sparkling with happiness, and I know I would give anything to witness her laugh like this each sol.

A strange thought to have for a stranger. A female I didn’t know existed till a few sols ago. But the feeling is there anyway. Solid. Sure. As if it had always been there and was only waiting for me to become aware of it.

Despite the mud streaking her skin, or perhaps because of it, Donna looks utterly radiant. Even her hair, uninhibited by any head covering, is loose and wild, mud-streaked coils framing her face like a halo.

As her laughter subsides, her smile remains, wide and genuine. It’s a smile that could outshine Hudo’s star. Even thinking that is absurd. But it is true.

I’ve never been this close to her. She’s pressed against me, her entire body settled on my frame, and I can see all of her. Every bit.

In this moment, covered in mud and pressed against me, she is the most perfect being I have ever laid eyes on. And as I gaze up at her, drinking in every detail of her mud-splattered perfection, I feel something shift inside me. A realization, as inevitable as the rising of the star: I am falling for this human. Hard and fast and with no hope of stopping.

She’s mine. This is mykahl.

My kahl, my true mate, the female who my soul has yearned for over eons, she is here. My core-rhythm is silent but I know. Donna is my kahl. The thought should ground me. Anchor me to this point in time.

Instead, as I continue to gaze up at this treasure, all I feel is terror.

Donna’s laughter slowly fades, her entire body stiffening on me as she becomes aware of our position. Probably because I’ve gone so still, like a cold slab, not even breathing.

She makes a sound in her throat as she eases off me and I have no choice but to release my hold on her arms, despite that I don’t want to. Rolling onto her knees, she diverts her gaze as she wipes some mud from her arms.

“That was…” She releases a breath from her nose. “Not something I usually do, to be honest.” She wipes more mud away but she won’t look at me, almost as if she’s too ashamed to. Or perhaps she feels what I do and doesn’t know how to say it out loud.

My silence is what makes her glance my way once more. “Is everything alright?” Then she freezes. “Oh God, your leg. Thatwas really stupid of us. Not only have I gotten mud into my hair, but we’ve probably definitely made your foot worse.” She grunts, rising from her knees. “I’m not sure what came over me. I…” She trails off, blinking as she stares into the…

Still on my back in the mud, I open my mouth to respond, but no words come out. How can I explain this to her? How can I tell her that in the span of a few core-beats, with everything in me, that I’m sure she’s mine. It’s ludicrous.

“Well, I should get Gertrude out and go clean up.” She still doesn’t face me. That resigned look she’d had after she’d left me in that outbuilding is returning. She’s locking me out again. I can’t have that. I—

“You’re mykahl.”

The moment the words leave my mouth, I want to snatch them back. Donna goes utterly still. Her back is turned to me, but I can see that she’s suddenly frozen.

“Your…what?” Her voice, usually so rich and warm, is now barely above a whisper.

I close my eyes, cursing myself for my lack of control. When I open them again, Donna is staring at me now, a look in her eyes I can’t quite determine.

“Mykahl.” My courage returns. I’ve already crossed a line. I can’t stop now. “My true mate. The one I’m destined for.”

She says nothing, and that feels like a judgment in itself.

I sit up slowly, mud squelching beneath me. Donna steps back, putting distance between us, and each inch feels like a physical blow.

“I apologize,” I continue. Words right now are all I have. “I shouldn’t have said anything. But…for my kind, there’s someone out there who’s perfect for us. Our other half. We call them ourkahls. And when we meet them, the paths of our existence shift .”

She’s still silent. Still unmoving. I’m not even sure if she’s breathing.

When I rise to my feet, we stand there together in the mud, my chest heaving slightly with the gravity of all this as we face each other. Behind Donna, the troublesome ooga bays, somehow freeing itself from the mud-hole and ambling away to go find the rest of its herd. Not even that draws Donna’s attention. She’s wholly focused on me, that once expressive face hiding everything from me now.

“It’s a feeling. An instinct.” I run a muddy claw through my hair, at once frustrated and fearful at the same time. This isn’t how I expected it to happen. When I saw the Korruk brothers with their mates, they were aligned. Right now, with that unreadable look on Donna’s face, it feels like a chasm has opened between us.

But then she makes a sound in her throat. A laugh—or at least, I think it’s supposed to be laughter, except there’s no mirth. It’s harsh. Dry. More like a mockery of laughter than anything else. “You must be kidding me.”

I shake my head. Either my translator is acting up, or she thinks I just made a jest. “I am not. I cannot explain it, but you are mykahl. I am sure of it. You are my true mate.”

“Stop.” Her lips pull back in a curl filled with derision. A snarl. Far displaced from the comforting generosity, the kindness that had shone in her eyes before. She huffs a laugh through her nose, another mirthless mockery, before she shakes her head. A look crosses over her features, so similar to that moment when I’d complimented her about being so gentle with the ooga and younglings, that I stand frozen again.

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