Page 12 of Claimed By her Alien Prince

"It will all be explained in a few minutes. I understand you must have hundreds of questions, child. I promise you will soon understand."

It was the empathetic, apologetic look in the older man's blue eyes that made me back off. It was a look that spoke of worse news to come than an alien invasion.

"Where are… my parents?" I asked, feeling my throat suddenly choked.

"They are safe dear, don't worry about them."

"Safe?" I asked out loud. "How can any place be safe now that—"

"They are in an underground bunker. No harm will come to them," Ben said in a derisive tone, while the old man looked at him sharply.

"I'm Homer." The man introduced himself instead of railing on Ben, which he clearly seemed to be wanting to do.

"Homer…?" I fished for his last name.

"Just Homer will suffice. Now come, you must be melting in your outfit."

Homer took my arm, and I threw a panicked glance at Ben, who thankfully followed. Even though I didn't know him, and so far, he had irritated me more than anything, I was thankful for his presence. At least he was somewhat familiar.

We entered the temple, and I was instantly greeted by much cooler air, despite the flickering torches lining the narrow corridor. The walls were decorated with carvings similar in style to those I had seen before from the Mayan culture, except these depictions were more detailed, with many representing what I had seen only in Christian history. Which should be impossible, since this temple must have been built before the first Christians set foot on the South American continent.

I wasn't an archaeologist, had no carbon dating equipment, and even if I had, I wouldn't have known how to use it, but I had seen enough artifacts and ancient buildings to suspect that this was one of the oldest temples in human history. Possibly even older than the Aguada Fenix, which was estimated to have been built 1000 BC.

A shiver went down my spine as we moved through the narrow corridors to a larger room, where four other women about my age stood huddled off to the left, whereas four men stood off to the right, each dressed and armed like Ben.

Two of the four women had red hair like mine, albeit in other shades, one lighter, one darker. The third was black and I recognized her, "Azubah!"

The woman turned and her tense face took on a look of surprise, "Lillian?"

"Lilith," I corrected, moving closer and hugging the young woman I hadn't seen in five years.

The fourth woman was Italian, and I knew her as well. "Andrea."

"Lil!" She hugged me.

Andrea, Azubah, and I had trained together in self-defense for a year or so and kept in contact via Instasnap.

"What is going on?" I asked.

"Let me introduce you. Judith and Dina," she pointed at the other two redheads. "And this is Lilith, Lil."

Without a word, Ben moved to where the other four men stood, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed them greeting him like an old friend.

"Will you tell us what this is all about now?" Azubah addressed Homer.

"Patience, my dear child, just a little bit more patience. The others will arrive shortly, and then I will fill you in."

"Fill us in on what?" I wanted to know.

"Everything," Judith stated, making a dramatic face to point out her exasperation.

"I want to go home," Dina whined in an English accent.

"Me too, but let's just wait a little longer," Azubah soothed her.

Homer slipped from the room before we peppered him with more questions. I turned to Andrea. "How long have you been here?"

"All of us arrived during the last hour or so," she said. "Azubah was the first one here."

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