Chapter 7

Paige

I ’m pulled from the dark depths of a dream by the softest of touches to my forehead. It’s like a feather, brushing lightly across my sensitive, slashed skin. Another touch and I feel something cool and slimy on my skin.

My eyes flutter open and I lock eyes with a gray-skinned alien woman hunched over me.

Her dark hair is long, coiled and braided well past her delicate shoulders. Delicate for an alien, I suppose. Her cheeks have a rosy tint to them and her warmth is contagious.

Wait.

I jolt upright, nearly tumbling out of the hammock again. I throw a foot down to steady myself as the woman takes a few steps back, startled by my reaction.

“I mean you no harm.”

“I know,” I snap. “It’s just that I’m not used to all this and I—”

Wait…

I stare at the female in front of me, her hands covered in a luminescent poultice. She watches me with wide eyes as I process everything.

“Did I just understand you?” I ask.

Yesterday, I couldn’t understand anything my alien captive was saying. Or any of the other gray beings for that matter. Everything was like guttural noise in one ear and out the other.

But this female… her words are as clear to me as if she were speaking English.

“Are you… human?” I ask her before she can respond to my previous question.

It’s silly, I know. She’s definitely not human, but I can’t wrap my head around any other alternative.

She shakes her head, easing back down and kneeling next to me. “No. I’m Vrut.”

“But I can understand you. I mean, why can I understand you and no one else?”

She shrugs.

“And how can you understand me?”

Her lips press into a firm line as if she hadn’t thought about that either. “I’m not sure. I just can. You said something about hu-man. Is that what you are?”

“Yes. I’m not supposed to be here. Our—” I trail off, realizing the girls are still back at the ship and I need to keep their existence a secret. “My ship got sucked through a wormhole and I ended up here.”

“And then Varek found you.”

Varek. I tumble his name around my head and nod. “He stole me. Took me from my ship.”

I shake my head, my temples throbbing as I process everything. “I couldn’t understand him yesterday. All his words sounded like garbled sounds and now, with you, everything makes sense. How is that possible?”

She purses her lips. “I do not know.”

That makes no sense. Magic? Is it something in the air?

The woman smirks a little bit and hesitantly reaches up to touch my forehead again, spreading more of the poultice on the gash. It instantly eases the soreness and after finally getting some sleep, I have a bit of my strength back.

“What’s your name?” I ask her.

“Selvara.”

“Selvara,” I repeat her name, practicing the syllables. “I’m Paige.”

The woman smiles as she finishes with my cut. “Leave that on your skin. It will help with healing.”

“Okay.”

She wipes her hand off the inside of an animal hide, placing the jar of luminescent poultice back into a pouch around her waist. Her clothes are similar to Varek’s, leathers wrap around her torso into a dress that leads down to her knees. Maybe she’s some kind of healer. Maybe she can help me escape this place.

“So, I was brought here against my will,” I say softly, eyeing the entry arch to Varek’s quarters. I half expect him to come bursting through at any moment. But as of right now, Selvara is the only one who can understand me. She’s my only hope. “Can you lead me out of here? I need to get back to my ship.”

Selvara stills.

“I mean, I don’t even know where I am but I don’t belong here. I just want to go home.”

She slowly shakes her head. “This is your home now.”

I hold back a scoff, biting the inside of my cheek to play nice. “No. It’s not. I don’t even know what planet this is and you guys definitely are not my people.”

“This is Nyxara and we are your people now.”

“Why?” I snap back at her. “Because one of your males kidnapped me and dragged me here? That’s a crime where I’m from. He doesn’t just get to keep me!”

Selvara stands, her hands squeezing tight around the pouch of her supplies. She frowns down at me as if I’m being a petulant child and my blood boils.

“Please. I don’t belong here. Can you just point me in the right direction? I’ll find my way out.”

“No. And I suggest you do not ask this of anyone else.”

Selvara turns to leave me alone but I stand, feeling restless to get out of these four rock walls. Suddenly, I can’t breathe and I need answers. “Why?” I call out after her.

Just before she dips below the leathers forming the door to the room, she sighs. “You will have to ask Varek. It is his place to tell you.”

And then, she’s gone.

“What?” I whisper to myself. What the fuck is going on in this place? Am I still dreaming?

Will I even be able to understand him?

A second later, Varek is ducking inside, his shoulders sagging as he looks for me. The second our eyes meet his chest and upper arms light up bright green.

He takes a step in my direction but I back up. “Don’t come near me.”

Varek’s brows knit and his lips part.

Oh no, did he…

“Say something else,” he commands in the deepest, most delicious voice I have ever heard. A flutter settles low in my belly.

I do understand him.

“Um,” I stutter. “You can understand me?”

He licks his bottom lip, the movement sending a surprising thrill down my spine. “I can.”

“How is that possible?”

His brows knit. “I don’t know. Tell me your name.”

I scoff. Um, can we focus more on the fact that I’m understanding an alien language for a minute?

He cocks his head, pressing me for an answer.

“I’m Paige.”

“Paige.” He tastes my name. When he says it again, it rumbles from deep in his chest as the patterns there glow. “My Paige.”

“ Your Paige?” I ask, taking another step away from this alien. A Vrut as Selvara called herself. “I’m not yours.”

Varek’s hand finds his chest, his long fingers spreading out over the glowing lights. He closes his eyes and says my name again, this time like a prayer like he’s giving thanks.

I watch him, struggling to make sense of all this. I just want to leave. I want to go back to the ship with the rest of the girls and find a way home. To hell with Mars. I’ll go back to my boring life in Chicago and I won’t complain for a single second.

I just can’t stay here.

Varek’s eyes open, the amber depths pulling me in.

“You are mine, Paige. You are my mate.”

My heart stalls in my chest. His what?

“And I am y0urs.”

I shake my head. This can’t be happening. I seriously have to still be dreaming.

He takes a step toward me and I throw up a hand to stop him. “No, Varek.”

His lips twitch into a smile. “Mmm. Yes. I am your Varek.”

“No, that’s not… Don’t come closer,” I order him. “And I’m not your mate.”

He points to his chest, the glowing thrumming as fast as my own heart. “The glows have chosen us. Honored us. It is fated. You are my mate, Paige. And sooner or later you will be begging me to come closer.”

My cheeks burn as his eyes rake over me, his leathers tightening.

“But for now, I must bathe you,” Varek says casually as if the suggestion isn’t wildly inappropriate. “And no more punching my throat, little troublemaker.”