Page 4 of Orri

Wait a second. I can’t move!

The beginnings of a panic attack start to take hold. Memories and sensations filter back in, reminding me just how very screwed I am. An urgent beep comes from somewhere outside the pod. That’s probably not good.

Craning my head back and forth, I can’t see a lot. My breaths come in short gasps that fog up the clear viewport and blur the world beyond. There aren’t any other pods in here that I can tell, but there’s a huge light above like what used to be in our dentist office on Earth. Its blinding glare gives me tunnel vision, and only through the corner of my eye do I see a door open and a figure walk in.

They’re standing right next to the pod, tapping at something — maybe the controls? Then the beeping stops, and the lid of the pod whisks open, the slimy gel draining away.

“Oh, good.” A voice says. All I can see is a stark silhouette. “You’re healing up nicely.”

Footsteps. Another voice, this time one I can recognize: Orvox, the head ambassador of the Intergalactic Surrogacy Agency. If she was here, that meant…

A new wave of fear washes over me. If my alpha — it feels so strange to call him that — was dead, what would happen to me now?

Would they send me back to Earth? Would they match me with a new male?

There’s that rising panic again. I can’t go back to Earth. I just can’t. I’m a sitting duck down there. Good as dead. The police didn’t seem to care. Adik was too much of a smooth talker and never left evidence for them to find. At least up here I have a chance.

And there’s something else there, too. Something I did not notice before in the wake of the panic and confusion. A sweet, subtle scent that lingers just outside my periphery. The scent of an alpha.

It is not like the stagnant, rotting smells of the men that captured us. It’s pine, cinnamon, and the starry sky on a clear summer night.

Visions of a different sort float through my consciousness, looking for an anchor. Strong, golden arms holding me against a wide, flat chest. Fierce eyes like embers, threatening retribution on my captors. Tenderness and caring as the compound and the kidnappers faded into the distance…

“Bjornick…?” I mutter, still half out of it.

I turn to one side and see the kindly face of Orvox blinking down at me.

No. Not Bjornick. Her.

“How are you feeling?” She asks, holding out a kind hand to help me up. I’m still bleary headed and the throbbing heat pounds between my legs, but I’m not in pain anymore. At least, not physical pain. Not of that kind, anyway.

“Um.” There’s too much on my mind to pick a single thing to focus on.

“You’ve been through a lot. It’s all right.” She helps me over to an exam table and pulls a blanket out of a nearby cabinet, handing it to me. It’s a small gesture, but my fingers work their way through the chunky stitches and the softness comforts me. Too bad it can’t come even close to wiping away the violent images that crop up every time I close my eyes.

“Thanks,” I mumble, holding the blanket close. I’m hot and cold at the same time. Too alone and not alone enough. I need to be touched. No, I need to stay in my safe little shell and ride this out.

Ugh, who knew heat was so confusing?!

“Can I get you anything? Some water, perhaps?” Orvox has the same serene, motherly look she always does, but this time it’s a little unnerving. The man who was supposed to protect me was murdered before my eyes. I was kidnapped, injured, and then subsequently rescued by yet another alien alpha. Then they stuck me in that med pod for who knew how long, and I was supposed to becasually okaywith all of that?

“Water sounds good.” My throat scratches and burns with each word. I have a million questions, and I’ll need my voice to ask them.

But where do I even begin?

* * *

One cupof electrolyte-infused water later, I’m feeling a bit more human, but just as confused as ever. Orvox is still talking, trying to explain something about the fine print in the ISA contract, but I can’t focus no matter how hard I try. That stupid, lingering scent is still there, just out of reach.

I may as well just tell her to leave. All I want to do is be alone at this point. But then again, that’s not totally the truth either.

What I really want is whoever has that delicious scent to take me to bed and fill me so thoroughly I can’t walk…

To make me scream out until my voice breaks and there are no thoughts left, just wave after wave of ecstasy…

“Isabella? Are you listening?” Orvox’s voice jolts me out of my fantasy. I blink and look up at her, mouth agape like an idiot.

“I, uh, zoned out for a moment there.” I admit. “Sorry.”

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