Page 17 of Secretly Abducted
"You're doing fine."
"This isn't... I haven't..."
"I know. It's okay. We don't have to do anything. You can just touch."
So he does. For the next hour, while the storm rages, he maps my skin with careful fingers. My shoulders, my arms, the curve of my waist. He's fascinated by the differences—the way body hair feels, the temperature variations, the places that make me shiver.
I stay still, letting him explore, watching his face cycle through wonder and desire and confusion. His bioluminescence never calms, just shifts between different patterns of gold and blue.
"You can touch me too," he says eventually. "If you want."
"Yeah?"
He nods, and I raise my hand to his chest. His skin is cooler than human normal, with a subtle texture like silk.When I touch him, his bioluminescence follows my fingers, brightening wherever we make contact.
"That's amazing," I breathe, tracing patterns on his chest just to watch the light follow.
"It's involuntary," he says, embarrassed.
"It's beautiful."
We stand there, touching and being touched, until the storm finally begins to calm. Neither of us mentions it. Neither of us moves apart.
When the shelter's emergency beacon changes from red to yellow, indicating it's safe to surface, Vel'aan looks almost disappointed.
"We should go," he says, but doesn't step back.
"Should we?"
"The storm is passing."
"I know."
"Others will be checking their sections. They'll see us."
"So?"
He looks at me, confused. "So they'll know we were together."
"Is that bad?"
"I don't know. I've never... been together with anyone. Not like this."
I smile, running my hand down his arm one more time, watching the light follow. "Well, now you have."
His bioluminescence does that sunrise thing again—soft gold spreading slowly across his entire body.
"Yes," he says quietly. "Now I have."
Chapter Five
Vel'aan
The storm has passed, but I cannot move.
Alex is still standing close enough that I can feel his warmth radiating against my skin. The shelter's emergency beacon has shifted to green—safe to surface—but neither of us has acknowledged it.
"We really should go," I say for the third time.
