Page 14 of Alien Prince

I am intrigued.

I feel the claws of Gemini’s mind tearing away at my control of our body. She gets the upper hand for a split second, and as the dragon-like face of the soldier starts to smile, he responds drunkenly with an elongated, “Yesss, my dear.”

But before he can say anything else, Gemini flips him the bird and turns on her heels. She pushes me back once more into my subconscious time out.

“What the fuck even was that?” she asks as she marches towards the opposite side of the bar, her resolve dissipating.

At least I know I can piss her off.

“What I enjoy doing with my free time,” I reply, aiming to remain aloof and uncaring, but I can’t tell if the shaking hands are her doing or mine.

“You could at least play a little hard to get. I mean, where’s the fun in just cruising up to someone and asking for it?” she says, her voice bordering on irritation.

Ah, a woman who likes to play games, are you?

Gemini rolls our eyes.

“I’m a woman who knows her worth. Why go after a bottom of the barrel dick, when I can please myself better than any man?”

I scoff at her insinuation, though if I had a cock at the moment, I would bet it would be twitching from all this… stimulation.

I find the direct approach much more… satisfying. Especially when it comes to the men.

“Sad, really. I wouldn’t have pegged you as a manwhore with poor taste, but here we are,” she retorts.

What would you do if I released you, right here and now?

I ask because I need to hear her say she’d run and never look back. But she doesn’t answer, and for a moment it’s almost like she’s gone, her mind silent and the claws of her constant fighting for control disappear.

My heart pounds in my chest and I know she feels it, but what she thinks is the reason behind my question, I’m not sure.

Too long the silence in my head echos, even though I know it has only been seconds, somehow it still seems like hours until she finally responds.

“You'll never let me go. I’ve seen the closet, I know—”

You know very little,I say.

Gemini scoffs and drops our ass down on a sticky stool at the edge of the bar. I take a moment to look around to see if anyone notices this woman talking to herself, but in Night’s Hollow, someone conversing with themselves is the least interesting thing. Gemini flags down the bartender, and before I can stop her, she orders a drink.

“Don’t even think about telling me what to do,” she snaps as she takes a sip of the dark pink liquid. It’s shockingly tart and bitter on my tongue, but the way Gemini’s shoulders and muscles relax, I can tell she’s accustomed to whatever it is.

Has she been here before?Perhaps she has, and I have never noticed, too entranced in the other bodies I liked to be buried in.

I don’t enjoy wearing other people's bodies, you know,I say, confessing to her.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you because you’re wearingmybody right now and trying to get laid,” she bites as she tosses back the drink in a single gulp, signaling for another one. A man notices us, waving his glass as Gemini forces a smile on our lips. She smirks as the bartender notes her order.

I decide to show her my word is as solid as the ground she stands on. So I do the only thing I can think of. I give her no choice as I disconnect and step away from her body, mind, and soul. It’s a risky thing to do, right now at this moment, but I know no one else can truly see me. No one but her.

Still, something tells me that is dangerous enough.

The instant void I feel when I’m no longer connected to Gemini is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. A pit grows in my proverbial stomach at the loss of her presence, at the loss of her being. I see her gasp and blink several times, understanding dawning on her.

I hear a man’s voice break the spell and see Gemini's face go from surprise to panicked, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. Instinct takes over, a strong need topossessher,protecther, overcomes me and I’m immediately back inside her. If there's one thing I’ve learned about this woman in the short time I’ve known her, it is that she’s not afraid of anything, and the look on her face was full of worry, concern. Terror.

“Get the fuck out of my head,” she bites as she tries to slam me back out, but her emotional response makes her walls waver. She can’t decide which part of us to control, our mind or our body, and the answer comes to me as Gemini’s mental locks falter and I am inundated with slivers of her past. His arms around her, her head on his shoulder, a gun and her blood—

“Do I know you?” Gemini says sweetly, turning to face the man who shot her, pretending she doesn’t know this monster from her past.

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