Page 17 of Her Alien Hero
Nodding, I breathed out a long, cleansing breath. "Does this mean I’m still your prisoner?"
Brax laughed, revealing his sharp teeth and forked tongue. "You’ve never been a prisoner, even if Vor believed otherwise."
Voren grunted.
"Then why did you treat me like one?"
"He’s a bit of a bully." Brax put an arm around my shoulders and led me to the door. "You’re our heroine, whether he admits it or not. And I must confess, as much as I wanted you to be my mate, it’s clear you are better suited to Vor. Brother, you are one lucky son of a bitch.”
Voren raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
Shaking my head, I let them lead me into a different section of the ship. My brain and body needed rest, and I’d sort everything out later.
I want to wake in my own bed.
But if I did wake up from this nightmare, something deep inside of me had changed. The hole in my heart didn’t seem as large or as dark.
For the first time in two years, I found myself speculating about the future, about what and who was out there in the universe and what it all meant.
The hallways were a blur, and it was all I could do not to stumble.
Voren led me into a darkened room smelling of sandalwood and snow. "Here." He stopped in front of a bed covered by a thick, charcoal-colored blanket. "Sleep. We’ll talk about things when you awaken.”
I was tempted to argue, but instead, I crawled under the smooth blanket and pulled it to my chin, mumbled something that sounded like goodnight, and fell into sleep.
Chapter 4
“It’s about time.”
The deep voice startled me, and my eyes flew open.Where am I?For a brief second, my heart thumped in panic.
Voren lay stretched out on the bed, his huge frame creating an indention on the covers. With one arm propping up his head, he stared at me with those liquid, golden eyes.
“Did you sleep with me?”Wait. That’s not what I mean.
A large grin softened his features. His teeth peeked through, and he licked his lips with exaggerated slowness. “No, but would you like to sleep withme?”
“What? No. No.” My cheeks burned. “I just…I thought…”Shut up, Lilly.“It’s just weird you’re in the bed with me when I thought you hated humans.”
He broke his gaze from mine and glanced around. “I do still hate humans, but notall. I’m learning not all humans are the same. There are those who are capable of compassion and logic.”
It was my turn to prop up my head. I stared at his broad, muscled chest. This close, without fear dictating my every move, I had time to truly inspect his skin. The purple tone had a tiny sheen of gold near his nipples. Farther down, where his waist tapered, a thin, long, silver scar ran from his navel to under his pants.
“It’s where your people cut and experimented on me after I crashed.” Vor reached out and gently took my hand, extending my finger and pulling it closer. “They didn’t use anesthetic, only a paralytic to keep me still.”
“Jesus. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
He pressed my fingertip to his skin and traced the wound. “You had nothing to do with it.”
“Still. It doesn’t mean I can’t apologize.” The sensation of his skin on mine and his eyes on my lips sent a tingle through my nerves and straight to my core. “Torture is unforgivable.”
“Their goal wasn’t torture in the beginning. They wanted to create super soldiers by combining human and Volderen DNA. Though, they did spiral down into hurting me and my team when they realized they didn’t have the technology or knowledge to successfully carry out their vision.”
I traced his abs, my fingertip scratching his skin as I explored his obliques. “Those people in your med bay. Is that what happened to them?”
Voren nodded. “We’ve had them in stasis for decades, looking for the one human in a billion who carries the messenger gene that will allow us to splice their DNA, repair the damage, and save our own people.”
“Why didn’t they just impregnate the human women and raise an army? Not that I approve of that, but it seems much easier.”
