Alien Romance: RAYER: Space Warrior's Mail Order Bride (Space Beasts Book 2) (14 page)

She felt more than heard the noise.  It thrummed through her body, making her bones vibrate.  For a moment, Simone didn’t know where she was or what was going on, but her eyes suddenly snapped open and she found herself looking up at the star laced canopy of night. 

She must have fallen asleep, she realized belatedly.  Reaching into her bag, she found her phone and glanced at it to check the time.  The phone was lifeless, its blank screen completely unresponsive.  The noise came again, a deep seismic moan that sent a chill through her heart.

Frightened, she sat up abruptly knocking over the open bottle of wine that was near her foot.  “Damn it!” she hissed as the alcohol poured onto the grass.  Picking it up, she got to her feet as the noise ran through the parkland again.  It sent a thrill through her chest and made her go weak at the knees.  The noise seemed to be calling out to her, beckoning her toward its source.

Putting the bottle down upright on the ground, she started to walk towards the forest on the left side of the lake.  Some instinct told her this was where the noise was coming from and she felt compelled to find out what it was, pulled along by some nebulous compulsion.

As she entered the woods, the noise came again more frequently and louder.  It was like the heartbeat of some colossal monster, and Simone wanted to turn round and run back to the pick-up truck.  She didn’t though.  An unseen force kept her feet moving forwards and her gut told her she had to find out what was making the sound.

Moving deeper amongst the trees, she suddenly spotted a scintillating golden light just off to the left.  The noise was even louder now, more insistent and coming from where the light was.  Leaves and twigs crunched underfoot as Simone moved towards it like a moth attracted to a flame. 

The light grew brighter as she approached, reaching out tendrils of energy toward her, as if beckoning her to join it.  The sound filled every cell of her being now, consuming her and filling her skull with its tenebrous thrum.

“What’s happening?” she called out to the light, her overwhelmed senses telling her that the light was somehow sentient.  “What are you?”

The light suddenly flared brighter and she had to look away.  As she did so, the tendrils reached her and wrapped around her waist, taking on a physicality that was impossible.  They grabbed her tightly and dragged her toward the blinding light.

“No!” she screamed, “let me go!”

The light did not respond.  It became an all-encompassing presence and swallowed her whole.  Simone screamed before tumbling into unconsciousness.

Chapter 2: The Beast With The Burning Eyes

She stood in an endless white void, lost and alone.  Fear gripped her and she stared around in confusion, trying to make sense of what was happening.  Then, from out of the vast emptiness, a man dressed in a white robe walked towards her.  He looked strangely familiar, and Simone’s eyes widened in shock as she suddenly realized who it was.

“Dean,” she gasped.  “Dean, is that you?”

Dean gave her a beatific smile as he reached out to hold her hands.  “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered.

“Oh Dean!” Simone sobbed and wrapped her arms around his neck.  She crushed her lips against his in a wild all-consuming kiss.  He held her tightly, taking away her pain and grief before slowly moving free of her fierce embrace.

“I have to go now,” he said, smiling sadly.

Simone’s eyes widened with horror.  “No!  You can’t leave me again!”

He slipped away and started to turn.  Like a wildcat, she lunged forward and grabbed his arm. 

“Please!” she moaned.  “Please stay!”

He looked at her and ran his fingers through her short, red hair.  “It’s not my time anymore.  You have to accept that.  Don’t worry though.  I’ll always be with you.”

“Don’t go!” Simone begged again.  “Please!  Take me with you!”

Dean shook his head.  “You have a different path.  Be happy.”

She was about to plead with him some more when an invisible force suddenly grabbed her from behind.  She screamed as she was pulled backwards away from his smiling face and sad eyes, and everything went black again.

* * *

Simone woke with a half strangled cry, sitting bolt upright.  “Dean!” she exclaimed, before realizing no one was there.  Just a dream, her mind told her as she was stabbed by a knife thrust of despair. 

Bitterness seeped through her and then the dream was abruptly forgotten as she gazed around without comprehension at her surroundings.

She was no longer in the nature reserve.  She was sitting on a strange looking mat in a room that looked like nothing she’d ever seen before in her life.  Smooth walls of glittering quartz swept upwards to a majestically vaulted ceiling where glowing orbs of vibrant amber light gliding serenely around each other in a stately, languid dance. 

The floor beneath the mat stretched out around her like a shimmering vista of living mandalas of ever changing multi-coloured light.  Simone stared at the hypnotic patterns, lost in their brilliance.

Simone blinked and pulled her gaze away abruptly.  Where the hell was she?  Gingerly, she got off the mat and set her feet onto the ever-swirling floor. 

As soon as she did a chime rang out across the strange room making her almost jump out of her skin.  She froze in her tracks waiting for something bad to happen, but nothing else stirred in the room.

Cautiously, she started moving further across the floor.  As she did so, she spotted a huge chunk of white crystal set against the wall to the left of her. 

It began to pulse with light and opened outwards revealing a doorway behind it.  Simone stared at it warily and her heart jumped into her mouth as a man came to stand in the frame and gazed over at her.

“Good, you’re awake,” he said in a deep, low voice that made her skin pebble with goose bumps.  In the dim light from the orbs he was a vague outline, a broad silhouette that showed him to be tall and sleekly contoured.  A flare of irrational hope surged through her.

“Dean?” she called out as her legs turned to water.

“No,” his voice came back, flat and edged with regret. 

She frowned and glanced around for another means of escape, but finding none. 

“Who are you?” she demanded, refusing to let her gnawing fear get the better of her. 

“Where am I?”

The mysterious man stepped further into the room, helping her take a better look at him.  As his outline had indicated, he was finely toned and well developed physically. 

He was clad in a pair of tight pants made of buckskin, along with a matching open vest that showed off the sculpted muscles of his smooth bare chest and his broad arms. 

Simone’s heart quickened and her breath caught in her throat as her eyes lingered over his finely chiselled contours and sleek bare ankles just visible above the soft moccasins that covered his feet. 

As he got closer, she saw strange elegant tattoos on his arms that flowed over and around the ghostly lines of vicious looking scars.  His face was hidden by a hood that was attached to the vest, and he kept his head bowed.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, stopping a respectful distance from her.  “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Simone balled her hands into fists and planted both feet firmly on the floor.  She’d done a self-defence course quite a while ago, but she didn’t favor her chances if she had to fight him off.  It was best to keep his talking and figure out what the hell was going on.

“Who are you?” she demanded again.

“My name is Storm Kar,” the man said.  “I am your friend.”

“I have enough friends already!” Simone retorted, “And they are all pains in the ass.  I don’t need any more!”

“Please, Simone, you are distraught,” Storm Kar said, raising his hands in a calming gesture.  “I will explain everything.  You must calm yourself.”

“How do you know my name?” Simone yelled his move to calm her having the opposite effect.  “What is this place?”

Her eyes fixed on the open doorway behind him, and instinct screamed at her to run.

“I will explain everything,” Storm Kar said softly, edging closer.  “You don’t know how long I have waited for this moment,” he added, the ache of desire clear in his deep voice.  He lifted his head a little and she suddenly saw two burning red orbs that served as his eyes.

Simone let out a strangled gasp and her body tensed.  This Storm Kar, whatever he was, was not human.  Without a second thought, she bolted for the still open door.  As she shot past him, he lashed out and grabbed her arm pulling her back.

“Get off me!” she yelled and her hand went up to his hood.  As she struggled to break free, she pulled the covering clear off his head, revealing his face underneath.

For a split-second, both of them froze in place as Simone stared at his features.  Eyes of burning red stared down at her, set in a fearsome snarling visage, terribly scarred and almost feline. 

His long hair was jet black with a streak of white running through it, and from which protruded cat-like ears.  His mouth hung open, revealing long canine fangs and he suddenly looked away from her, loosening his grip in the process.

Simone’s brain kicked back into life, and fighting against confusion and terror, she pulled away from him and made for the doorway again. 

He didn’t stop her this time, and she plunged down the long triangular shaped corridor beyond.  It was made of quartz, like the room she’d woken up in, and cubes of shining yellow crystal were set into the walls providing her light to see her way. 

Directly ahead of her was another pair of thick crystal doors and to her relief they stood open allowing passage through the wide archway beyond.  With no real plan of what she was doing, save to get as far away from that beast as possible, she drove toward the archway and rushed through it.

The sight on the other side made her stop dead in her tracks.  She stared ahead of her, completely at a loss what to do next.

The archway opened onto a wide, spacious balcony overlooking the world outside the strange building.  During her conversation with the monstrous Storm Kar, she had hoped and assumed that she was still in the nature reserve. 

If she could get to freedom she had intended to try and find her way back to the lake and the waiting pick-up truck.  Now she was on the balcony, that strategy turned to dust.

She was high up in the structure, far too high to jump down to the ground, and even if she could she wouldn’t dare.  The landscape she was looking at was like nothing she’d ever seen before in her life. 

Beneath an aquamarine sky, a huge undulating forest spread out before her, consisting of thousands of balloon shaped ‘trees’ the color of cinnabar.  Each of these trees had rudimentary faces emerging from their boles and their branches were like sinuous antlers of sparking diamond. 

The diamond branches swayed rhythmically, and from the trees’ elongated mouths came a wordless melody that caressed Simone’s ears.  It was without doubt the sweetest, gentlest sound she’d ever heard, a calming lullaby that draped like silk upon the air.

Amidst these singing trees, she spotted spindly, long-legged creatures as tall as an apartment block, ambling serenely around.  They seemed to be carved from an inorganic purplish mineral and their tiny faces were incredibly wrinkled.  Two stubby arms jutted from the sides of their craggy heads to complete their strange appearance. 

One of the creatures was strolling close to the balcony and paused to look up at her.  It was smoking a long clay pipe, and as its beetle black eyes met hers, it gave her a wide toothless grin along with a friendly wave.

Simone backed away, her mind reeling.  “I’m hallucinating,” she murmured numbly to herself.  “I must be!  This is just a dream!  It’s just a dream!”

She was suddenly aware of a presence behind her, and she spun round to find Storm Kar standing on the balcony.  An unreadable look was on his deeply scarred, inhuman face, and his burning eyes had dimmed a little.

“Welcome to my world, Simone,” he said with just a hint of a sardonic smile. 

“Welcome to the Vision Land.”

Chapter 3: The Call of Destiny

This time Simone did not resist as Storm Kar gestured for her to follow him back inside the building.  Going back down the triangular corridor, Storm Kar paused by a smooth amber panel that Simone had missed first time around.  He touched a small white switch next to the panel and it slid open. 

“This way,” he said, mustering a gentle tone, or as much of a gentle tone that a scary ass alien could muster, Simone reflected.  Now that she had seen for herself that she was not in the nature reserve, or, as Storm Kar asserted, not even on planet Earth itself, she had no other choice but to go along with this insanity.

She followed him down this second corridor and they came to a small chamber made of a smooth, dark reddish wood.  A circular table was in the centre of this chamber and an older woman in a buckskin dress was setting out two wooden bowls.  The woman looked up and made eye contact with Simone. 

Simone couldn’t help but stare back, noting that though she had a similar distinctive Native American look as Storm Kar possessed, her face was not fierce or beast like.  She appeared to look a lot like humans.

“Ah, Grazing Elk Woman, you are preparing some refreshment for our guest.  I knew I could rely on you,” Storm Kar said.  He shot a hopeful look back at Simone.  “When you have eaten something, you will feel better.”

“I doubt it,” Simone said sullenly.  “For some reason, I’ve lost my appetite.  It must be the fact I’ve been kidnapped by a crazy monster and taken to some freaky ass planet!”

Grazing Elk Woman paused in laying the table and speared Simone with her mica bright eyes.  It was the same look Simone’s mom gave her when she was being a stroppy little bitch.  The look had the same effect, and Simone cowered inside.

“He is not a monster!” the old woman snapped in a flint hard voice.

Simone flinched at the severity of Grazing Elk Woman’s tone and felt suitably cowed. 

“Come, tempers are frayed.  There is no need for hostility,” Storm Kar said giving his partner in crime a meaningful look.  “Let us sit and we can talk properly.”

He gestured with his hand and two comfortable looking easy chairs glided seamlessly up out of the floor on either end of the table. 

Despite her instinctive need to show defiance, the chairs looked really inviting and after what she’d just seen, Simone could do with sitting down for a little while.  She didn’t resist when Storm Kar beckoned her to sit down while he settled down in the chair opposite.

With a steely expression on her face, Grazing Elk Woman finished off putting out wooden spoons before heading over to what looked like a squat iron stove where a cooking pot was resting.  Bringing the pot over to the table, Simone caught a whiff of something delicious before she began ladled out what looked like thick orange colored soup. 

Simone’s mouth started to water and her stomach moaned from lack of food.  Despite her craving to eat though, she remained motionless as the soup was presented to her.  A thought crossed her mind and she shot Storm Kar a reproachful look.

“Are you not going to help her out with the food?” she asked, arching an eyebrow, “or are the men on this planet just as chauvinistic as they are on Earth?”

“Ha!  I’ll not have this one cluttering up my kitchen!” Grazing Elk Woman interjected.  “I need no foolish man to slow me down, now eat your soup.”

Simone smirked, beginning to like this formidable woman.  Doing as she was told, she took a spoonful of soup.  It was the tastiest thing she’d ever eaten in her life and she took several more spoonfuls feeling her belly fill up.  Grazing Elk Woman looked on approvingly. 

“This one has a good appetite,” she said to Storm Kar.  “Maybe you did not make such a bad choice after all.”

Simone looked up from her bowl.  “What does she mean?  What choice?  What is she talking about?”

Storm Kar shifted uncomfortably in his chair and glowered at Grazing Elk Woman with his crimson eyes.  “Thank you, you can leave us now,” he said in a clipped tone.

The old woman barely hid her sneer, but bowed her head.  She shook her head in despair as she left the chamber.

Simone was suddenly alone with Storm Kar again, and the tension returned.  His eyes came back to rest on her.  He left his bowl untouched.

“I think I deserve an explanation,” Simone said, trying not to let him make her feel intimidated.

“Yes,” he said, sighing heavily.  “You do.”

When he didn’t say anymore, she started digging.  “You called this place the Vision Land,” she said.  “Is this really another planet?”

Storm Kar nodded.  “We are precisely eighty million light years away from Earth, on the edge of the Celestial Raven Galaxy.”

Simone tried to take in what he was telling her.  “We’re that far away from Earth?” she exclaimed.  “How long did it take us to get here?”

“Actually, it only took a few seconds,” Storm Kar replied.  “The portal I invented to bring you here allows us to travel across vast distances of space and time in the blink of an eye.  It took a long time to develop the technology of course, but the results were worth it.”

He looked at her meaningfully and a shiver ran down her spine.  Despite his demonic eyes and ruined face, he exuded a dark attractiveness, a strength and intellect that she responded to on a purely emotional level.  She pushed aside those feelings as hard she possibly could.  She was in no mood to let her hormones make all her decisions.

“That brings us to the million-dollar question then,” she drawled.  “Why have you brought me all this way without my consent?”

He flinched at her words and dipped his eyes, seeming to be ashamed of what he had done.  “If I had come to you directly, like I am, and asked, would you have been willing and ready to come with me?  Like you said before, I am a crazy monster.”

She tasted the bitterness in his tone and suddenly felt guilty for tearing into him like that.  Though he had kidnapped her, he hadn’t harmed her in any way, and in fact was being rather hospitable.  That didn’t chance the hard truth that he had kidnapped her.

“But why?” she pressed, making an attempt to be more diplomatic.  “I just don’t understand any of this?”

“Isn’t it obvious,” he said giving her a hooded look.  “I brought you to my world because . . . I love you.”

The words were like a bowling ball straight in her stomach.  For several moments, she couldn’t think of anything to say.  The only other man to tell her he loved her was Dean.

It felt strange to hear the words being said by somebody else, especially from a . . . creature like him.  A surge of anger went through her.  “How can you say that?  We don’t even know each other?” she demanded roughly.

Storm Kar kept his eyes on the table, his face closed and grim.  “I do know you,” he said in a muted tone, “at least I know that you are my destined mate.  Please, you must believe that this is meant to be.”

“What are you talking about, destined mate?” Simone demanded.  “Meant to be?  How is that possible?”

“You were shown to me by the Great Spirits,” Storm Kar replied, his own voice rising.  “I will try to explain as best as I can.  I am the Chief Shaman Scientist among my people.  It is an important role and when I was of an age, it was time for me to find a mate.  Unfortunately, there was nobody compatible either on a physical or intellectual level for me, and no female amongst my tribe really attracted me, or, as you can imagine, vice-versa.”

Simone could well imagine that.  She felt a pang of recrimination for judging him on his looks.  It was extremely shallow of her, she knew that, but she just couldn’t help herself.

“I became greatly despondent,” Storm Kar went on.  “Though I am committed to my work, I also feel loneliness and crave companionship.  Confused and miserable, I did what all my people do when they need answers.  I entered a dream trance to commune with the Great Spirits who guide the destiny of the Vision Land.”

Simone narrowed her eyes.  “I don’t fully understand all that, but it sounds suspiciously like you got high.”

Storm Kar pursed his mouth.  “There are many ways to open the mind to the higher frequencies, but it is true I used certain herbs to bring about this state.  When I had ascended to the realm of spirit, I called out to them and asked if there was anyone for me in my life path.  They answered by showing me your planet along with an image of you.  I knew in my heart there and then that you were the one meant for me.”

“That’s sweet, but don’t I get a say in all this?” Simone said in a snarky voice.

Storm Kar looked pained.  “Of course, but you are so defensive, so closed off from happiness, you do not seem to want to accept the will of the Spirits.”

Simone bridled at his words.  He sounded just like mom when she kept nagging her to move on from Dean.  This jerk had snatched her from her world and was giving her a guilt trip for not being grateful.

“Okay, I get that you were inspired by a vision,” she said.  “So what happened then?  You opened your little portal to Earth and here I am?”

“If only it had been that easy,” Storm Kar replied wistfully.  “It took many of your Earth months to even locate your planet and much longer to find a means to create the portal to bring you here.  You cannot imagine the sacrifices that were made to bring all this about.”

Storm Kar fell silent, and his burning eyes became unfocused.  Simone felt a deep sadness radiating from him, and she was curious as to what kind of trials he’d gone through, but she remained steadfast. 

He might have had a mystic vision telling him that she was his one true love but she was still to be convinced.  He might feel in his heart he’d found his one true love, but she knew in her heart she’d already found her own true love and he had died four years ago.

“Your people, what are they called?” she asked; now needing to break the oppressive silence that had fallen on them.

“We are the Mystic Folk, that is the name of our tribe,” Storm Kar said, rousing from his quiet brooding.  “We share this world with other . . . peoples, collectively we are known as the Noble Kin, but the details are of no concern right now.”

“Okay, and that Grazing Elk Woman, is she your mom, or housekeeper or something?”

Storm Kar barked a laugh.  “Don’t let her hear you say that,” he said chuckling.

“Grazing Elk Woman is the Chieftess of my tribe.”

Simone didn’t hide her surprise very well because he laughed again.  It was like rolling thunder and made her shrink in her seat.  “And you accuse me of chauvinism,” he drawled.  “In my culture, the females act as our leaders.”

Simone nodded.  “I’m beginning to like the sound of your tribe.”  She shot Storm Kar a covert look.  “From the way you talked, I’m guessing you are not exactly like the rest of your people.”

“If you mean they are not all hideous monsters, then the answer is yes,” Storm Kar said sardonically.  “My people look more like Grazing Elk Woman, and by that I mean, they are humanoid in appearance rather than being a race of grouchy old females.”

Simone smiled wryly.  “I get it.  Sorry if I offended you.”

Storm Kar’s fiery eyes met her gaze and a chill went through her.  “You could never offend me,” he said, his voice heavy with meaning.

Simone started to feel uncomfortable again.  She didn’t like where this was going or how she was going to get back to Earth.  If, as he claimed, the portal worked in only a matter of seconds that might prove her only viable means of escape.  All she had to do was find it and figure out how to use it.

As she turned over ideas in her mind, she absently reached up to touch the skin behind her ear.  In fact, behind both ears, she had been feeling a strange tingling sensation for a while now, though she’d been too preoccupied to think much about it.  When she touched her skin now though, she felt a small rough bump.

“What the hell!” she exclaimed and reached up to check behind her other ear, finding a similar swelling.

Storm Kar looked like he wanted the world to open up and swallow him.  He looked down at his bowl and studied the uneaten soup there.  Simone knew men well enough to know that this had something to do with him.

“What are these things behind my ears?” she thundered.

“Before you get angry, you must be aware that it was necessary,” Storm Kar replied in a gruff voice.  “The genetic modifications were necessary for you to be able to breathe my planet’s atmosphere and understand our language.”

Simone rose to her feet, fury swirling like a vortex inside her.  “Genetic modification!”

“Do not become emotional,” Storm Kar countered.  “The process is reversible.”

“Show me!” she almost bellowed.

Scowling, the alien went over to a cabinet set into the nearby wall and took out a small crystal pyramid with reflective surfaces.  She snatched it from his hand with a ferocity that made him take a step back, and using it as a regular mirror, managed to examine the small red bumps merged to her skin. 

Okay, they weren’t as grotesque or as obtrusive as she feared, she was still fuming.  She thrust the mirrored pyramid back at Storm Kar.