War Games (Alien Instincts) (4 page)

“They are diplomatic missions. We try to find species to form allies with.”

Rae had heard that before. “I know that, but
why
do you want to find new allies? Why go to all the effort of discovering new life?”

Markar looked confused. He seemed to think about his answer. “Other than traveling throughout the universe for the pure sake of discovery? We don’t remember. It has been millennia since our ancestor’s ancestors gave the First Directive. We have long since forgotten why we were given this mission, we only strive to complete it.” Markar looked off into the distance, as if he was remembering something from long ago that he couldn’t quite grasp. “Every Morian citizen is tasked with the edict of searching the stars for other civilizations. It is the basis of our culture.”

Rae pondered that. Having travel be the basis of a culture was hard to imagine. She thought it would be very lonely, but perhaps the Morians weren’t such social creatures as humans. “How long do you have to travel?”

“I do not know how to put it in measurements you would understand. Suffice it to say it is a long time. I am not nearly done with my Directive’s time.”

Rae wasn’t sure about wandering around space for the rest of her life. “So you will take me to a couple of planets that you plan to visit, and then you’ll return me to Earth?” she asked apprehensively. Since Rae was paying careful attention to Markar’s face, she was able to see the first signs of dishonesty he had shown throughout their entire conversation. For some reason, every time she brought up returning her to Earth, Markar would show blatant reluctance. Rae watched as he frowned and his eyes began to dart all over the room, finally landing on her and slowly making their way down her form. They stopped at her chest, and remained there.

Rae shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she waited for Markar to answer her question. As the seconds ticked by, her anger grew. “What? You’ve never seen boobs before?” Rae said defensively, as she self-consciously crossed her arms.

“No, I have not. What are they? What purpose do they serve?” Markar asked as he frowned and once again glanced at her chest in utter confusion.

“Oh no you don’t! We’re not getting into that again! It’s my turn to ask the questions!” When Markar finally lifted his eyes from her chest, he saw that she seemed to be very angry. Rae shifted further away from him. Widening his eyes innocently, he pretended as if he had never brought the subject up.

Communication

Rae had been with Markar for a while now on their way to the next planet on his list, and each day she was finding herself more and more aware of him as a male. It was making their interactions that much more awkward and tension filled as the days went on.

She knew a lot of her feelings had to do with the fact that he was the only man she had been around in a long time, even if he wasn’t actually a
hu
man. But Rae knew that wasn’t just it, and that knowledge made her nervous. She was more aware of Markar on a primal physical attraction level than she had ever been any man in her life. He was undoubtedly handsome by human standards, and Rae was surprised to find herself thinking that it was a shame his species wasn’t interested in females. It was at these times she realized she was crazy.

She tried to get rid of all her tension by keeping up with her workout routines, and not just because it was one of the only things she had to do on Markar’s ship. It was after one of these workouts that she was making her way to the showers and happened to see Markar. He had just bathed and his hair was dripping down his bare chest. He only had a towel wrapped around his waist, and seeing him half naked stopped Rae dead in her tracks. There was nothing to distinguish him from a human male, just a few light scars and a whole lot of muscle.

He spotted her and time seemed to slow down for Rae. Markar never took his eyes off of her as he walked purposefully down the hallway. Rae held her breath as he neared. She felt like prey being stalked by a predator with Markar’s unblinking golden eyes never leaving her. But when he reached her frozen body he only gave her a small nod and brushed by her. After he passed, Rae was finally freed from her spell. Remembering to breath, she quickly made her way towards her cold shower, still feeling the heat on her skin from where he had brushed against her.

Furiously scrubbing at herself, Rae realized she had a problem. Her mission was compromised. She was definitely lusting after her target. There must be some way she could salvage this. At least she couldn’t
fail
to get information out of Markar while living with him. That was just bound to happen, and to be honest, she had already connived way more truths out of Markar than whole teams of espionage specialists put together.

Smiling at her success, she remembered that they were nearing another planet. When she returned to Earth her superior officers were going to trip over themselves to hear the results of her mission. That’s if she ever returned to Earth. Markar didn’t seem to want to take her back anytime soon, but Rae was confident that she could convince him if she had to.

Finishing her shower, she put on the clothing Markar had given her to wear. She didn’t know how the hell he got any clothing in her size. Maybe he had hand stitched it. Rae snorted at her own joke as she made her way to the kitchen.

As she was eating her meal Markar walked in, fully dressed this time. He was about to say something to her when a video screen popped up covering one of the walls. Rae gaped at it in surprise and was able to see a man on it that looked very similar to Markar before she was knocked flat on her face and her meal was splattered all over the room. Markar had moved quicker than lightning and thrown her to the floor. Rae grunted as she tried to push her battered body up, but the asshole was now holding her down with one large foot on her back.

“What the fuck, Markar?” she mumbled as she tried to access her injuries without being able to get up. Once she realized she didn’t have any sort of brain damage, Rae noticed she could hear the man on the video talking, because it was definitely not Markar’s voice. She froze, straining to hear his words, but it was useless because it was another language he was speaking. Markar actually snarled at the man in reply. His violent reaction startled Rae, and she began to fear that he would somehow squish her in his anger.

Markar’s foot was still pinning her to the floor and the conversation didn’t seem to be going good for him. Rae couldn’t see the man on the video screen’s reaction because she was stuck behind the large island that they ate at. She was glad the other guy couldn’t see her, and she began to wish desperately that she could just crawl out of the room and leave the two men alone to fight it out.

After what seemed an eternity of angry comments back and forth, Markar finally lifted his foot off of Rae’s back and crouched down to look at her. “I am so sorry Rae. Are you hurt at all?” Markar skimmed his hands over her body looking for injuries. Rae noticed his hands were shaking and the worry she saw in his eyes seemed disproportionate to the situation.

“Other than getting my food in my hair and your damn boot digging into my back? I’m fine.” Rae tried to brush his caresses away, but at her words his brows furrowed and he gripped her more firmly. Flipping her back onto her stomach, Markar lifted the hem of her shirt. “What the hell are you doing!” Rae shouted as she tried to struggle out of his hold. Markar released her immediately and Rae scrambled to get up. Before she could move away from him he grabbed her again and pulled her back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and just held her there.

Rae put her hands over his, about to pull them off of her, when she felt a tremor move through his body. Still holding her, Rae let out a gasp as Markar stood up and quickly shifted her so that he was cradling her to his chest. Rae looked at Markar warily for signs of what he could possibly be thinking, and for clues as to what the whole video incident was about. It was obvious that it bothered him a lot, whatever the conversation with the other alien was.

Markar carried Rae all the way into the room with the couches, where he sat down with her in his lap. Rae tried to shift away, but he only held on to her tighter. “What’s wrong, Markar? What is going on?”

He was staring into the distance, but at the question, Markar’s head snapped in her direction. His eyes were frightening in their intensity. Rae leaned as far away from him as she could while being caged in by his embrace. She wanted to put as much distance as possible between her and the man holding her that looked eerily like a crazed animal.

“You are mine!” Markar finally declared.

Rae felt immediate anger at that comment. “I am
no ones
!” she corrected. “I am not a
thing
you can own, Markar!”

Her response seemed to snap him out of his rage. “I meant that you are mine to interview.” he said as if he was only testing out how the words felt on his tongue, not as if he actually meant it. Rae raised one eyebrow at him, but decided not to argue when he seemed so emotional.

Rae wanted to figure out what was going on. “Who was that you were talking to? Was that another Morian?” At her words his grip tightened on her again and his anger seemed to return. “You know, I can sit on my own.” Rae tried again to shift out of Markar’s hold, but he refused to let her.

“Yes, that was another Morian. When our Directives happen to take us near one another, we often arrange to visit to break up the monotony of space travel.”

“That didn’t seem to be a pleasant conversation.” Rae pointed out.

“He might be visiting us.” Markar looked awfully angry for someone talking about a friendly visit between coworkers. “You must stay near me at all times.”

Rae raised her eyebrows at that. “Am I in danger?” She had only just begun to let her guard down with Markar. She was surprised that he would suggest she was unsafe around other Morians. He hesitated to answer her.

“He could show up at any time, and I have no control over his actions. He showed great interest in you, and I fear he will try to take you from me if I am not vigilant. Therefore, you are to never leave my sight.” Markar watched Rae intently, as if trying to will her to obey. He didn’t have to try that hard. She had no desire to leave him. She was certain Markar would return her to Earth if she demanded it of him, but there was no way in hell she was going to trust any old alien that came along.

“Sounds reasonable enough. I don’t want to be kidnapped… again. Am I going to have to worry about this sort of thing happening a lot? Other aliens dropping in unannounced to steal me away?”

Markar winced at that. “It is a very rare occurrence when two Morians are close enough to communicate on a private channel, let alone see each other. Which is why I am certain that despite my refusal, he will still board my ship. So from now on, you must remain by my side at all times.” He looked over at the makeshift bed she had made on one of the coaches. Markar swallowed hard. “You may move your things to my room. You must sleep with me as well, until this is over.”

Rae’s eyes widened in shock at that. “Is that really necessary?”

“Yes!” Markar glared at her. “It is mandatory until the threat has passed!”

Rae glared back at him, but she could see his point. She didn’t want to leave her current mutually beneficial relationship with an alien, to be taken into an unknown situation. At least the bedroom issue wouldn’t be too awkward since Morians didn’t have the whole female/male dynamic. Shrugging her shoulders at Markar, Rae simply said “Okay.”

The Visitor

Rae glared at Markar over their morning meal. This was the third night in a row she had hardly gotten any sleep. The big alien was a damn furnace. Every night the bedroom was so hot it was almost unbearable, and he kept tossing and turning whenever she finally started to drift to sleep. The only thing keeping her from chewing him out over the whole scenario was the fact that Markar looked even worse than she felt. It was obvious neither one of them was getting the kind of sleep they needed to stay on top of their game for the possible surprise guest.

Sighing in disgust, she leaned back in her chair and waited for Markar to finish his meal. He was taking the whole never-leaving-her-side thing a little too seriously for Rae’s liking. The only way she got any alone time was when she went to the bathroom, and she had to fight for that right. There was only one more situation that she would demand being alone for, and that was showering. She had been putting it off as long as possible for the fear that Markar would insist on tagging along for that too, but she couldn’t stand another day without feeling clean.

“I need to take a shower.” At her statement Markar paused mid-chew to glower at her. She watched as he slowly finished his meal. Rae didn’t want to push him further. They were both on edge lately, and she was saving all her fight for arguing for bathing alone.

When Markar was finally done they both got up and headed for the bathing facilities in silence. Rae entered the room and turned around to see Markar enter it as well. She put one hand up to stop him from coming any further. “I don’t want you in here while I bathe.”

He scowled down at Rae, but to her great surprise, Markar turned around and left without comment. It was a sign of how strained their relationship had gotten that they both could hardly stand talking to one another.

Rae went over and checked to make sure the door was shut. There was no lock on it, but she peered out the small window to see that Markar had settled himself a little down the hallway. As if he could sense her gaze, he looked up at her and they exchanged one final glare.

She took her time showering. She wasn’t sure when she was going to get another one with their whole situation. She was also just too tired to move fast. When she had finally finished, dried, and dressed herself, Rae turned to leave. Markar’s face was plastered to the small window in the door. It was such an invasion of her privacy, that Rae didn’t think before she stormed towards him and slammed the door into his voyeuristic face.