Close Obsession (12 page)

Walking up to Korum, he touched his shoulder with his open palm. “Korum, it’s such an honor to have you here,” he said. His manner was somewhat deferential, and Mia realized that it was probably a big deal for him – having a member of the Council in his house.

Korum smiled back and reciprocated the gesture. “I’m glad to see you too, Arman. Thank you for the invitation.”

While the two Ks were greeting each other, Mia examined her surroundings with a great deal of curiosity. This was the first fully Krinar dwelling she had been to – with the exception of the arena – and she was fascinated by its almost Zen-like aesthetic. There was absolutely no clutter anywhere; in fact, there didn’t seem to be any furniture with the exception of two large floating planks. Mia guessed those were meant to serve as places for the guests to sit. The outside walls were fully transparent, while the rest of the interior was a beautiful shade of cream.

“And you must be Mia,” Arman said, turning and addressing her directly.

Mia smiled at him. “Yes, hi. It’s nice to meet you.”

To her surprise, Mia realized that she liked this K. There was a kind look in his eyes, and something almost gentle in the way he spoke that made her feel very much at ease in his presence.

“Oh, it’s very nice to meet you as well,” Arman said, his smile getting wider. “Maria has been looking forward to meeting you ever since we learned about you yesterday.”

At that moment, a human girl walked into the room. Dressed in a beautiful halter-style white dress that showed off her slim, curvy figure to perfection, she was strikingly pretty and bore a strong resemblance to a young Jennifer Lopez.

Smiling hugely, she swiftly came up to Mia and warmly embraced her, brushing her lips against Mia’s left cheek. Some kind of exotic perfume tickled Mia’s nose. Slightly startled, Mia awkwardly hugged her back.

“Oh my dear, how are you?” she exclaimed in Spanish, pulling back to look at Mia. “I’m Maria, and I’m so glad to see you! What a lovely necklace! How are your first couple of days here? Did Korum show you around already? You poor thing, you must be so overwhelmed with everything right now! I remember I didn’t even know how to use the toilet at first!”

Mia blinked, overwhelmed only by the girl’s enthusiasm. She was like a pretty tornado, sweeping along everything in her path. “I’m good, thanks,” Mia answered in Spanish, inwardly still marveling at her new language abilities. “I haven’t really seen much of the Center yet – I only arrived yesterday.”

“Oh, you haven’t gone to the beach yet? It’s so nice, you really should!” Turning to Korum, she frowned at him, her smooth brow furrowing slightly.

Korum laughed. “Hint taken. I’ll show Mia the beach tomorrow.”

“Maria!” their host exclaimed. “Please be nice to our guests!”

“I’m always nice,” Maria retorted, grinning. “That’s why you love me.” Coming up on tiptoes, she kissed Arman on the cheek, and Mia could almost see him melting on the spot, unable to withstand the potent force of the girl’s charm.

With a big grin on his own face, Arman turned his attention back to Mia and Korum. “She’s incorrigible,” he said, and there was such happiness in his voice that Mia could only gape at him in open-mouthed amazement. “Please ignore her and follow me. The dinner is all ready.”

They followed Arman into another room. In the middle of the room was another large floating plank, oval in shape, surrounded by four floating seats. Why all K furniture seemed to float, Mia had no idea. On the large plank – which Mia assumed functioned as a table – there were about twenty different dishes, ranging from familiar tropical fruits and vegetables to some exotic-looking salads, dips, and stew-like concoctions.

Sitting down on one of the chairs, Mia felt it adjusting to her body and smiled. All K inventions seemed to be designed with a focus on maximum comfort and convenience.

The dinner flew by, dominated by light conversation and amusing stories about the Costa Rican flora and fauna. Mia learned that Arman was an artist, and that he came to Earth to study human culture and the arts. He had met Maria shortly after his arrival. Her family used to own land in the area where the Ks had built their Center, and Arman had been one of the Krinar responsible for making sure that the displaced humans were appropriately compensated. Theirs seemed to be a love at first sight.

“From the moment I saw him, I knew I wanted him,” Maria confided, her dark eyes sparkling. “I didn’t care that he wasn’t human, or that everybody was scared of them. I knew he couldn’t be as bad as they said – he was far too nice for that.” And reaching out, she squeezed his hand, beaming at Arman with a megawatt smile.

Observing the two lovers, Mia felt a strange pressure in her chest that was very much like jealousy. They seemed to be genuinely in love, despite the obstacles Mia had always viewed as insurmountable. And Maria was far too happy for someone who had so few rights in the Krinar society. Clearly, her formal status as a charl had very little bearing on her relationship with Arman. If anything, it seemed that her K lover was quite content to let her take the lead in many things, his own laid-back personality complemented by her outgoing nature.

By the time the dinner ended, Mia found herself forgetting many of her concerns and simply enjoying the company of this likable couple. They were sweet and tender with each other, and Maria didn’t seem intimidated by either of the two Ks. She even reprimanded Korum again for not giving Mia a proper tour of the Center, for which Korum laughingly apologized. It could’ve been a regular double-date, except that two of the participants were from a different galaxy.

Finally, Mia reluctantly said goodbye to them and headed home with Korum, mulling over the strangeness of what she’d just seen, her heart filling with hope for things she rationally knew had to be impossible.

* * *

The Krinar replayed the results of his latest experiment, watching the recording over and over again.

Everything seemed to be working as he’d hoped. Soon, he would be able to implement the next part of his plan. It was unfortunate that the Keiths had failed, but it was ultimately just a minor setback.

Now he wanted to look at his enemy again . . . and that little charl of his.

For some reason, he found those recordings to be particularly fascinating.

Chapter 8

On the short ride back, Mia couldn’t help thinking about the other couple. A human and a K, so happy together – it seemed to go against everything Mia had been told by the Resistance and everything she’d learned about the role of charl in Krinar society. How did they manage such a feat? And wasn’t Maria worried that she would ultimately lose Arman when her beauty faded and he remained the same?

Of course, Arman was as different from Korum as anyone she’d ever met. It was difficult to believe that he was a member of the same predatory species. He seemed far too kind and gentle to be a K, and Mia couldn’t imagine him holding Maria here against her will. Indeed, it seemed like Maria had been the one to initiate their relationship. Clearly, there were just as many varieties of personalities among Ks as there were among humans.

And Mia had managed to meet one who wouldn’t have been out of place in the primeval Krinar forests of billions of years ago.

Korum would’ve been a very successful hunter, Mia decided, with his blend of ruthlessness and sheer smarts. His ambition had propelled him to the top of the modern Krinar society, and she had no doubt he would’ve been successful in any type of environment – it was just the way he was. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he didn’t hesitate to go after it.

And for now, he wanted her.

Sighing, Mia looked at the floor as they landed in the clearing right next to Korum’s house. The ship touched the ground softly, and one of its walls immediately disintegrated, creating an opening for them.

Getting up, she exited the aircraft and followed Korum to the house. “Are we far from the beach?” she asked, remembering Maria mentioning it earlier.

“No, it’s actually walking distance,” Korum said as they entered the house. “I’ll show you the way tomorrow, if you’d like, so you don’t have to be cooped up in the house when I’m not around. Just don’t go into the ocean without me – the surf can be very strong here, and the currents are unpredictable.”

“I’m a good swimmer,” Mia told him. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Korum stopped and gave her a strict look. “You either promise me you won’t go into the water alone, or you don’t go to the beach without me at all.”

Mia mentally rolled her eyes. The dictator was back. “Fine. I won’t go into the water by myself.” Having grown up in Florida, she knew exactly what to watch out for in terms of rip currents and rogue waves, and the ocean didn’t scare her. Still, she didn’t want Korum preventing her from going to the beach, so she decided against arguing with him further.

“Good.” He sounded satisfied. “Then I’ll take you there tomorrow morning.”

“What about the trial?”

“It doesn’t start until eleven in the morning. If you wake up before then, we can take a walk to the beach, and I’ll show you some of the nearby sites. Later on, I’ll give you a more thorough tour.”

“That would be nice, thanks,” Mia said. “Can I observe the trial again tomorrow? It was really fascinating . . .”

He smiled at her. “Of course. It will be Loris’s turn to present – that should be particularly interesting to see.”

“Why does he hate you so much?” Mia asked, curious to learn more about Krinar politics. “Did you have some kind of differences before his son was accused?”

Korum’s lips twisted slightly. “Differences is one way of putting it. He had a company that competed with mine a few hundred years ago. His designs were far inferior, though, and he ultimately ended up having to close it down. His son – Rafor – worked with him at the time as one of his lead designers, and he lost a lot of his standing in society when the company went out of business. Loris had other ventures at the time, and he was deeply involved in politics, so his standing took a much smaller hit and recovered quickly. His son’s, however, never did.”

So Rafor was the Keith with the design background, the one who had provided the Resistance with K gadgets. It all made sense now. His designs had never been as good as Korum’s; it was no wonder that the Resistance had failed.

“And Loris hates you for that? For Rafor losing his standing?” Mia wasn’t sure she fully understood the standing concept, but it seemed to be quite important for the Krinar.

“He does,” Korum said. “He hates it that his son wasn’t good enough as a designer, and he blames me for Rafor never doing anything else productive with his life. And now that Rafor has also proven to be a pathetic traitor . . .”

“He blames you for that as well?” Mia guessed, staring up at Korum with a slight frown. “Is that why he intends to seek revenge?”

Korum nodded, his eyes glittering with something that looked like anticipation. “Indeed.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” Mia asked, trying to understand her lover better. He looked almost as if he were relishing the other K’s hatred. “That someone hates you so much, I mean?”

“Why should it bother me?” He looked amused at the thought. “He’s hardly the first, and he won’t be the last.”

Mia stared at him. “You don’t care if people like you? If they are your friends or your enemies?”

Korum laughed. “No, my sweet, why would I? If someone wants to be my enemy, it’s their choice – one that they will ultimately regret.”

“I see,” Mia said, another piece of the Korum puzzle clicking into place for her. She knew that there were people like that, individuals so confident in themselves – or arrogant, depending on how one looked at it – that they seemed to lack the usual drive to please others. And her lover appeared to be one of them. If anything, it looked like he thrived on conflict. She wondered if it was a K-specific trait or simply a part of Korum’s personality.

Before Mia could finish fully analyzing that thought, Korum stepped closer and lifted his hand to brush her hair back from her face. “That’s enough talk about politics,” he said, cupping her cheek with one large warm hand, his eyes beginning to gleam with familiar golden undertones. “I can think of far more pleasant things we could be doing right now.”

Mia’s heartbeat immediately quickened, and the muscles deep within her belly tightened, reacting to his touch and the unmistakable sexual intent in his voice. Such a Pavlovian response, the psychology student in her noted wryly – her body was now fully conditioned to respond to him this way, to crave the pleasure that only he could provide. The lack of control over her own flesh bothered Mia on many levels, making her feel even less in charge of her own life, her own decisions.

Bending down, he wrapped one arm around her back and placed the other under her knees, effortlessly lifting her up into his arms. Mia closed her eyes, burying her face against his shoulder as he swiftly carried her toward the bedroom.

As he’d said earlier, the labels placed on their relationship didn’t matter – at least not when it came to this.

* * *

When they got to the bedroom, he placed her down on the bed and straightened for a minute. Bemused, she watched as he placed a small white dot on his right temple.