A Soldier in Love (29 page)

“No, what do I have to
do? I just want this all to stop. I’m so sorry, Serik,” she cried out.

“I would have to mark
you,” he replied. His voice was low and quiet.

“OK, just do it,” she
replied as the blue haired one pushed her in the middle. She stumbled forward
as the trio formed a circle around her.

He shook his head. “You
don’t know what it means. You don’t understand. There’s something I haven’t
told you...”

“Whatever it is I
don’t care.
I don’t want you
possibly getting hurt because of my foolishness,” Michelle replied with fearful
eyes.

“We become one as soon
as I do this, Michelle. You don’t know what that means…” he trailed off.

“It means I love you,”
Michelle said boldly.

“No, Michelle it means…it
means you will hate me,” he said in a cool tone.

“Enough. Just do it,”
she snapped. She was terrified at the thought of him being hurt or killed
because of her. A fight to the death over her seemed unbelievably barbaric and
animalistic. In that moment, she missed Earth dreadfully. She missed the safety
she used to know. She missed humanity.

“Kneel down and offer
me your neck,” he instructed her.

Michelle dropped down
to her knees and tilted her head to the side.

Serik kneeled down
beside her and gently brushed her hair to one side. He gave her neck a soft
kiss that caused
goosebumps
to pop up all over her
arms. Her stomach turned as she watched in horror as two sharp fangs retracted
from the top of his mouth.

“It’s OK, baby. I won’t
hurt you,” he whispered as she felt the sensation of sharp pinpricks on her
neck.

Who knew I was with Count Dracula all this time?
her
mind raced. It
was a
side
of Serik she had never seen nor had he thought to mention. What did he mean
they would become one?

What am I getting myself into?

“I can’t believe she
chose to be with the evil one,” the dark blue haired male exclaimed.

“Better get away before
he causes us anymore bad luck,” the darker male replied.

Michelle put a hand to
her neck trying to soothe the stinging sensation. She watched as the two males
left as quickly as they had appeared.

“Serik, I’m so sorry,”
she said looking up to his angry gaze.

Serik remained silent.
He knew the words he had to say but that didn’t make what he had to do any less
difficult. He had to tell the female he loved that he was something that she
hated.
 
 

“I’m sorry,” she began
to sob. “I’m an Earth Army soldier for Christ’s sake. I thought I could handle
myself.”
 

“Michelle, those males
they would do anything to mate you,” he replied in a low voice.

“Ugh, I don’t
understand why. I don’t exist like that I’m a soldier,” she replied.

“Do you not understand
how beautiful you are, how strong you are, how fierce? Do you not understand
how enticing your scent is?”

He let out an angry
blow against the metal frame of the ship causing Michelle to jump back.

They were both silent
for a moment. Michelle stood shifting her weight, unsure of what to do or what
to say. Serik wouldn’t even look at her.

“Look, let’s just,
let’s just go inside,” he said opening the door the shuttle.

***

Serik grumbled and
grabbed the prasna bottle and sat down at the table. He didn’t even bother to
get a glass instead he took several giant gulps straight from the bottle.

I almost lost her again,
Serik shuddered at the thought of his life without
Michelle. He did not want to go back to that lonely existence. She was
everything to him; without her, his life would be meaningless. He took another
gulp of the prasna. He took another, and then another, but his anger just
wouldn’t dissolve. He hated how the other males had looked at Michelle. They
were so close to taking her away from him.

Possessiveness swept
over him; she was his and his alone. They would be one now but that also meant he
would have to tell her. Would she hate him? Would he be bound to the woman he
loved only for her to despise him?

He took another drink.

Surely, she would.

***

Michelle let out a few
tears as she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She splashed a few
handfuls of cold water on her face.

She stood back and
looked over the mark on her neck. To her, it was reminiscent of a hickey.

A large Dracula hickey,
she added.

She took a deep breath
and grabbed a tube of ointment. She slid the door open and made her way to the
kitchen to find Serik.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“Hey,” he replied.

Michelle moved in closer
as her face aligned with his.

“What are you doing?” Serik
questioned.

“Dressing your wound,”
she said.

“It’s just a scratch,”
he replied.

Michelle shook her head
and applied a dab of ointment to the side of his face. He had a cut from the
scuffle.

“I’m sorry for being
angry with you. I just don’t know what I’d do if I were to lose you,” he said
quietly.

“I’m sorry, Serik. I
should have listened,” she added.

“I love you more than
anything and everything. I would gladly lay down my life for yours,” he replied
his golden blue gaze meeting her deep green one.

And the truth was he
had already proved that twice now.

“Michelle, sit down,”
he ordered.

Michelle followed his
direction and sat down at the table across from him.

“There’s something I
have to tell you…”

Michelle furrowed her
brow. “What is it?”

“It’s a shameful secret
that I’ve kept from you and I’m sorry,” he said with a pained look on his face.

Michelle reached for
his hand but he pulled away.

“Don’t,” he shook his
head.

“Serik, I know I was
foolish…” Michelle began.

“No,” he interrupted.

He sighed. “Michelle,
just listen.”

She nodded.

“My father raped my
mother; it is considered a higher crime than murder on Baat. She chose to keep
me, I’m not sure why but there I was, a product of both good and evil with the
looks to match. I chose rather to be an outcast in good than accepted in the
evil. I chose to be a Baat.”

Michelle remained
silent unsure of what he was saying.
 

“I don’t understand,”
Michelle admitted.

Terror gripped Serik as
he tried to find the words. His heart raced. Finally, he released the beast
from its makeshift cage of his soul, “My father is Cabaka.”

Michelle’s stomach
dropped. They both remained silent for what seemed like an eternity.

“You’ve been keeping
this from me all this time,” Michelle replied softly.

“I thought you would
hate me… you probably do. I thought you would want to kill me. I was going to
leave you on Sora, to be with your people, far away from me. I am what you
hate, Michelle. I am no good for you,” Serik hung his head low unable to look
at her. “This is never what I wanted. I wanted badly to leave you and not have
you hate me but I’m weak for you, Michelle. I’m so weak for you.”

“Kill you? Hate you?
After you saved my life?”
Michelle stammered.

Serik remained quiet. His
eyes were sad.

“Serik, no.
No, it can’t be,” she said in disbelief.
 
“I can’t let them take you away too. I
won’t.”

“Let who take me?” Serik
asked.

“The Earth Army,” she
said. “They’ve taken everything. I won’t let them take you too.”

“Michelle, I’m sorry…
I’m just so sorry,” he said with a shamed look in his eyes. He reached for her
hand. “I love you, Michelle. I love you more than anything and everything. I’m
not sure you can accept me for who I really am and I understand that. I will
take you back to Sora, there is still time before our bond is complete. I never
meant for this to happen but it just did,” he replied in a serious tone.

Michelle shook her
head. She realized she had a choice to make. There were only two options. The
options were two extremes; it was either love or hate with no gray area in-between.
What he had told her had been shattering but in the end she realized none of
that mattered.

“Serik,” she began. She
went quiet for a moment trying to steady her voice. “Things are what you
interpret them to be. That’s what life is. Most of the time things are
ambiguous and they are
both good
and evil, light and
dark. You just have to choose how much light you seen and how much dark you see
in the other person.”

What difference did it
make what he was? Her planet was gone. What mattered was he loved her and cared
for her. The man that stood in front of her would never harm her and he would
never harm anyone without just cause. He was good and she could accept him for
whatever he was. This was the man who saved her life and risked his life in the
process. He had nursed her back to health, this was the man who loved her and
nothing could change that.

“I have something to
show you,” she said as she took his hand and led him to the bedroom.

He sat down on the bed
and waited. Confusion swept over him.

“Wait here,” she said
softly.

“OK, but…” he began. He
was incredibly confused.

“Just wait. I’ll only
be a minute,” she said firmly as she grabbed the bag that
Rina
given her on Sora. She quickly made her way to the bathroom. She slid the door
shut and took a deep breath in. She was going to have to be brave, a different
kind of brave than she had been in the past. Memories of being a woman on Earth
filled her head.
 
She remembered in
college when she had drunkenly slept with a guy in his dorm room. The sex had
been tolerable but it was lacking in passion. Mostly, she was drunk and wanted
to experience what all the other girls had been talking about. It had felt
somewhat mechanical and awkward. She shook her head and pushed the memories to
the back of her mind. It would be different this time.

She unzipped the bag
and laid the makeup, lingerie, and lotion out. She stepped in front of the
large mirror and opened the tube of mascara. She applied a thick coat to her
eyelashes as well as a stroke of rouge to her cheeks. She stepped back and
looked at herself.

I am a woman after all
, she smiled weakly.

She disrobed from her
jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt. She felt the silkiness of the thin g-string
over her womanhood. She adjusted the lacy black bra to push her cleavage up.

A little lotion, soft skin…

She squirted the lotion
onto her palm and worked it into her skin. She inhaled its fragrant vanilla
scent. She felt nervous as she reached for the door handle to slide it open.

I can do this, I can do this.

She made her way back
into the bedroom and she felt the heat rush to her cheeks when Serik looked up
to her almost naked form.

“
I,..
I can’t stop myself. We will truly be one if we do this, Michelle. You will be
part of what you hate,” he said as he made his way over to her.