I Married An Alien by Emma Daniels
Chapter Eleven
"No!" I screamed, turning to see who had shot Jordan, but the Human male was already tumbling down the ramp out of the space-craft, no doubt stunned by one of Jordan's companions.
Another Terron male was already running past me to check if there were any more aboard the ship. He looked vaguely familiar.
I reached Jordan at the same time as another woman did. "Dana!" I gasped, recognition dawning. The man who had entered the craft had to be her mate.
"Yes, hello Anita. I think I had better get the medical kit!" She followed my gaze down to Jordan's leg, which he was now clutching in both hands, trying to staunch the blood flow.
"Who said they would only shoot to stun? That blast was lethal, damn it!" she added over her shoulder as she began to jog back to her own hover. I hadn't noticed it until now, parked beneath overhanging branches on the other side of the clearing. As I watched her, two other vehicles shimmered into view as if by magic. I rubbed my eyes, not believing what I was seeing.
But I had no time to ponder them further because Jordan groaned, and I crouched down beside him to slip my arms around his shoulders and bury my face against his wide shoulder. I was so relieved to see him again and realized just how much I'd come to care about him in the short time we'd known one another. I strongly suspected the bond he claimed only to affect him really was a two-way thing, because all I longed to do was kiss him all better again.
It wasn't until Dana had returned carrying a rather large kitbag that he let go of his injury to return my embrace. He crushed me against his big body, and covered my mouth with his, kissing me hard and fierce. It felt like heaven to be back in his powerful arms and feeling his lips and tongue mesh with mine. His wonderful masculine aroma clouded around me, infused me, and for a moment I forgot that we were sitting in the middle of a dark forest with him bleeding all over the place, and other people running everywhere.
"Thank the lord we got to you in time," he murmured against my lips. "I am so damn happy to see you… owww."
We both glanced down to see Dana place something against his wound. It looked like a square piece of clear gel. To my amazement I watched the blood flow ease and the wound begin to close underneath the jelly-like substance. Another amazing piece of twenty third century technology, I couldn't help thinking. Just like the invisible hovers.
Within minutes Jordan's leg was healed, but his trousers were still a mess. Another minute later, he set me away from him, and scrambled to his feet, testing his leg.
"Good as new," he declared, grinning at each of us in turn. How I loved that big, bright smile of his. "Now, that is a Terron ship, Anita." He motioned to the craft. "Mind telling me why you couldn't tell the difference?"
"I've never seen one before," I admitted, wondering why it should be such a big deal.
"With an influential father like yours, and prospective in-laws who own the biggest damn oil refinery in the southern hemisphere? Somehow I doubt that."
"I already told you the reason," I muttered, knowing it was probably not a good idea to reveal too much within Dana's hearing. But she didn't appear to be too interested in what we were saying, already carrying the medical kit back to their waiting hover.
"Yes, you conveniently left the story open on tablet for me to see." He pulled something from an inside pocket of his jacket and handed the flat oblong device back to me.
I accepted it, glancing briefly down at it, but the screen was blank. "Maybe now isn't the time to talk about it," I said, as Dana's mate made his way back towards us from the space ship.
"One pilot disabled," he asserted, patting his blaster. He waved over a group of soldiers who had emerged from the other hovers. "Take them into custody and question them." He thumbed over his shoulder, then continued to us; "I think we had better take you two back to Administration and find you a safe room until the morning. Tomorrow looks like becoming a very interesting day indeed."
It wasn't until Jordan and I were sitting in the back of Dana and Derek's hover that my exhaustion finally hit me. Once the excitement was over and the adrenalin rush had eased off, I sagged against Jordan and closed my eyes, relieved I could finally rest.
But it was difficult to relax with Jordan beside me, stroking my hair, his breath warm against my forehead, making me all too aware of his big solid presence.
"You are such an enigma, my dear Anita," he murmured against my skin. 'But I suspect we shall get to the bottom of everything tomorrow when you don't arrive back on Earth as they had hoped."
Yes, tomorrow was going to be another action-packed day, but right now I was too exhausted to think about it.
I did doze off eventually, Derek obviously a far more experienced hover pilot than Mr Brown. I didn't even feel the landing, not until Jordan scooped me up into his arms and began carrying me like a child into another monstrosity of a building. It seemed to stretch up into the sky forever.
"I can walk on my own," I protested as various people greeted us in a vast foyer that was so shiny and bright it hurt my eyes.
"I know, but I like holding you in my arms," Jordan remarked with a grin.
"Aren't I getting heavy yet?"
"You weigh practically nothing at all."
"Stop showing off what a great big hero you are and put me down," I urged, not used to be coddled like a child, or being told I was a lightweight.
"Yes, I suppose I'd better, since we seem to have a welcoming committee." With that he set me down, but still held me close against him, like he never wanted to let me go again. Several tall Terron men wearing official-looking robes over their loose pants and shirts, strode towards us from a bank of elevators.
"Welcome back, Jordan Demantena," the first man intoned, not looking the slightest bit welcoming. His blue eyes remained cold, and his mouth compressed into a thin hard line as he stopped in front of us. His long blonde hair was braided at the sides, like the officials who had presided over our wedding ceremony.
Jordan bowed from the waist, and I wondered if I should do the same, but his arm around my shoulders kept me in place. "Thank you, Chancellor Badwana. May I introduce my mate, Anita DeBurgh?" he said as he straightened back up.
"Ah yes, the young Earth woman who has caused all the fuss. Welcome, Anita." His tone became even icier. I realized I really was not welcome in the slightest.
"I didn't mean to cause so much trouble," I blurted out. Jordan nudged me with his knee and I realized I had probably said the wrong thing.
"Those who speak before they think are often the root of all troubles," the Chancellor said harshly, and returned his attention to Jordan. "Well, you should be familiar with your old mentors, but for Anita, allow me to introduce Mark Fontura and Brian Lantana, Logan's big brother."
For a moment I wondered why he'd called Brian Logan's big brother, when he looked a good fifty years younger, until I remembered that poor Logan had Aged before he could find a mate.
The other two men greeted me politely enough, inclining their heads and welcoming me as Jordan's mate.
"Where's Logan?" Jordan asked once the introductions were out of the way.
"We organized a transport to bring him here. We didn't think he'd be any safer than you after what transpired tonight," Brian explained. He seemed to be the most casual of the three, wearing his dark brown hair unbraided. I wondered if this was how Logan used to look. Despite his grey hair and seamed face, he was still distinguished, almost regal. I suspected it came with the territory. The Terrons seemed to be an incredibly serious bunch, formal and stiff, not inclined to find much humor in anything. I supposed with their race risking extinction they probably didn't have too much to laugh about. "He's staying in the guest quarters, the same as you will be. If you'd care to follow me, I'll see you settled so you can get a few more hours’ sleep. The night is almost over."
Jordan bowed to Chancellor Badwana again, and then we followed Brian and Mark to the bank of elevators.
The set of rooms we were shown to were nowhere
"Logan is right next door, actually, and Dana will be spending the night across the hall with her mate," Brian explained. "Too late to send them home, and Dana thought you might like some female company over breakfast. This place can be quite daunting for newcomers."
"Thanks," I murmured. "This whole planet is quite daunting."
"Well, it is three times larger than Earth, so I could imagine it would be," he added with a small smile, and then he let himself out of the suite, the door hissing closed behind him.
Three times larger? I thought incredulously. Obviously it must be nowhere near as dense as Earth, otherwise the gravity would be crushing. Or perhaps the gravity was heavier and I didn’t notice because I was in someone else’s body, a form that could have been specially treated to survive on the Terron world. But then, as I beheld the tall, slender Terrons, I thought perhaps the reverse was true. They wouldn’t have grown so big on a heavy gravity world.
"They are good men, Anita," Jordan said as he came to stand in front of me.
"I never said they weren't. It's just that they are so terribly formal."
"They are unsure of how to act around you."
"Even that icy Chancellor? He looked at me as though I was some kind of insect he wanted to squish under his boot," I said rather tartly.
"You present so much danger, and yet you act so innocent of it all…" He sighed. "If it wasn't for our ability to mind-link and the wonderful way we fit together, I would question your motives too…" Suddenly he pulled me into his embrace, and I melted into him, already feeling like I belonged there.
"If only you would believe me," I murmured against his shirt as I slid my own arms around his lean waist.
"Tomorrow we will find out what wiped your memory. Now it is time for bed." Once again I found myself lifted into his arms, as he carried me across the floor, and deposited me on the bed.
I lay there and watched him shrug out of his shirt and slide out of his damaged trousers. He wore nothing underneath. No underwear whatsoever. I have never been one to admire a man's body, but I could stare at Jordan's naked form all night. His body was so perfect. But he was quick to climb onto the bed beside me.
"If only I had the energy to make love to you right now," he said as he pulled back the sheets, so we could both slip under them together. "But that injury and the energy it took to heal me has really exhausted me. So let me just hold you so we can fall asleep in one another's arms."
I had no arguments with that, and snuggled against him, infused by his warmth. "Well, at least you believe that I can't remember being Anita," I acknowledged, glad we were at least getting somewhere.
"For you to forget something as simple as an insignia and the shape and style of a spac craft must mean some kind of brain trauma. Not to mention some of the other strange comments you've made." He yawned hugely. "We can talk to someone about all that tomorrow too. But right now I need some…"
When he didn't finish his sentence I knew he was already out for the count. Since I had dozed off in the hover, it took me a bit longer to nod off, but soon the welcoming folds of sleep enfolded me into its embrace, just as Jordan always welcomed me in his.