6. Adella

6

ADELLA

I shake my head to clear it and make myself focus. Jax runs as fast as any athlete I could possibly imagine. It becomes more than a little unreal when he bounds over the fences separating my neighbor’s yards in single bounds all while carrying me and landing with barely a jar.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“My ship,” he says. “I wanted time to ask you. To explain,” he glances over his shoulder before continuing. “But there isn’t any left. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” I ask.

He darts a look at me and he’s frowning deeply.

“Safety first,” he says, a strange look on his face.

I can’t argue with that because below the shield of numbness that I’m still cowering inside of there is fear. Fear that is so deep and so strong I know if it pierces my protection I’ll be overwhelmed. Probably lie in a curled up ball and cry or something equally useless.

Instead of being dumb I do the only intelligent seeming thing I can think of. I wrap my arms a little tighter around his neck and bury my face in his hair. The wind whips past us as he carries me to what I can only hope will be safety.

When he slows at last I lift my head and look. We’re in the Cricketts’ woods. The woods no one goes into because everyone knows they’re dangerous. He had to slow to navigate his way through the trees but he’s still moving fast enough to make my stomach lurch as trees loom and disappear.

He bounces around the trees until ahead there is a soft blue glow. As we get closer to the source of the light and I see what’s causing it my heart speeds up. My stomach clenches with a surge of fear.

It’s a ship. An honest to god flying saucer like all the UFO enthusiast go on about. It sits in a clearing and pulses as if greeting its masters return.

Jax makes a click tick sound with his mouth that I’ve never heard before in my life and a door opens. A ramp extends down and he barrels up and into the ship. He sets me onto my feet as the door closes behind us.

“I have to get into orbit, we’ll be safer there, for a little while,” he says quickly.

I follow him through the narrow corridors into a cockpit that reminds me of the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars. Jax slides into one of the seats and not knowing what to expect or do with myself I take the one next to him.

He does… something. I don’t know what it is. His hands fly across the console in front of him then my stomach drops and for a moment it feels as if I’m lifting out of the chair only to push down into it. We tilt forward, then back, then I feel the acceleration but there are no outward signs of it.

All of it happens in minutes. Jax is watching a screen that rises out of the console. He frowns, does a bunch more things, then he leans back in the chair and exhales heavily.

“Okay,” he says. “Now we have time.”

“Okay,” I agree as if I know whether we do or not.

I have probably two million questions but all I do is say okay. Lovely. I’m so good at this. I’ve been kidnapped by an alien. What’s next? Am I going to be probed?

I have missed his probing… if he uses the right tool.

Of course my brain goes there. Yet it has been a really, really long time since I’ve gotten laid. Exactly as long as its been since he disappeared. Which makes me angry. I cross my arms over my chest and fix him in my glare.

“Explain,” I demand. “All of it.”

He looks remorseful as he nods. He touches something on the side of his chair that lets it spin freely and he turns to face me. I arch an eyebrow and he knows me so well that he knows I want to do that too. He reaches over and my chair releases then turns easily. I shift until it clicks into place when I’m facing him.

“Ads, I’m sorry,” he says, raising his hands and dropping them.

“I got that,” I say, shaking my head. “And it doesn’t explain a damn thing. Jax, I need to understand. You disappeared. And I’ll be honest, it broke my heart.”

I’m proud that I manage to contain the sob that tries to slip out as I admit the last.

“Me too,” he says, hanging his head and staring at the floor. “More than you can know right now, but me too.”

“Good!” I exclaim. “I want you to hurt too. I don’t want to be alone in this. I want to know that you cared, like I thought you did. I thought we’d be together, damn it. Then you’re gone, without even a word. Not even a fucking note Jax!”

The hurt that I thought I’d gotten over is as fresh in this moment as it was when I realized he wasn’t coming back. Apparently it was just scabbed over and all this has done is rip that scab off and left the raw, festering wound exposed with all the pain exploding from it.

“I couldn’t,” he says, his voice low and tight. “It was too dangerous.”

“You’ve said that, but…” I trail off unsure what but there is to put there.

“Yeah,” he says heavily. “Let me explain.”

“Right, you’re a Prince… or something,” I say.

“Yes,” he nods, lifting his eyes up at last. “I am but I was never supposed to be in contention for the throne. I thought… I came to your planet, I was drawn here, looking for my Paritella, looking for you.”

“Your what?” I ask.

He flashes a smile, it’s gone as fast as it comes but damn if it doesn’t make my heart beat faster.

“It’s a word from my language,” he says. “In your tongue the best translation, though it’s not exact, would be soulmate.”

My heart is in my throat and my body is physically betraying my need to be angry at him. I’m wet. Really, really wet and so damn turned on. This is what I’d thought we had, but I’d never said it to him before. I couldn’t because that was crazy. A fantasy from reading too many romance novels.

“Soulmate,” I whisper.

“Close, yes, but more,” he says and he reaches over to take my hands. “This is not my natural form. Not entirely. Can I show you the real me?”

“Are you going to be all gross with pustules or like… I don’t know, a gray alien or something?”

He chuckles and shakes his head.

“No, I am not that race,” he says.

“You mean they are real?”

“I do,” he says. “How do you feel about blue?”

“You know I like blue.”

And you have blue blood…

He lets go of one hand and touches his left collar bone. He shimmers and then he’s different. It’s still him, especially the white, flowing, luscious hair, but it’s not him. He’s a little taller and his skin is a soft blue color. Then he smiles and I’m taken aback. He has fangs. Like vampire fangs.

“Uh…”

“This is my natural form,” he says. “I used an illusion generator to blend in with Earth.”

“Uh…” I mutter again, taking it in. He’s still him and in truth, I do like blue. This particular shade is one of my favorites. I feel drawn to it. To him. “That’s how you did the sword thing.”

Stupid. The sword? Seriously?

He smiles and nods. “Yeah.”

“Oh,” I say, unsure what to say or do next. “You said.. Pari-uhm-tella?”

He nods.

“There is so much to tell you,” he says. “We Alvans, we only mate with one person, ever.”

“You said that, but mate with? I mean, we slept together, but we didn’t…”

“For us, that is the same. Once I give my…” he trails off and looks suddenly abashed. I cannot understand how incredibly sexy he looks when he blushes. The soft blue becomes richer and deeper and I’m sure that’s what’s happening. It’s fascinating, beautiful, and sexy as anything I’ve ever seen. “My… seed.”

He finishes at last after searching for the word to use.

“Your… seed?” I snort. I can’t stop myself then I’m giggling. “Seriously Jax, that’s so… I don’t know. Formal? Clinical? How about… ridiculous.”

His skin flushes and even deeper shade of blue but he smiles and he’s laughing too. It’s just like we used to be. Natural and comfortable with each other.

“You’re right,” he says, pushing a stray strand of his long white hair away from his face. “I’m sorry.”

Then he’s laughing louder and I can’t help myself. I wrap my arms around his neck and I kiss him.

Our lips meet and it’s electric. The jolt of it races through my body straight into my core. I want him. I want all of him. I want to meld into him and him into me until we are one being. I never want the kiss to end. As our lips move together he drags his fangs over mine. I dart my tongue out and lick them, testing their sharpness, which they are surprisingly so.

We kiss and time slips past but then he puts his hands on my shoulders and pulls back. We’re both breathless. My cheeks burn with unsatisfied desire.

“Not… yet,” he says, panting. “Damn, I’ve missed you so much.”

“Then lets?—”

“No,” he cuts me off. “Not until I’ve told you everything. You will have to make a decision Adella. One that will decide your fate for the rest of your life and I will not have you make it without knowing everything.”

The seriousness in his voice and on his face are like a weight pressing onto my shoulders. I sit back in my chair and he moves back to his own. He clasps his hands in front of himself, staring at the ground for a moment.

“Well, go ahead,” I say.

My voice sounds more annoyed than I intended, but I am frustrated. My body is demanding a whole different thing than a bunch of talking. And making a decision? Right now? How about no, thank you very much.

He grimaces, shakes his head, then looks up and meets my steady gaze.

“I’m sorry, you’ll understand when I finish.”

I frown too. “Okay, let’s get it done.”

“ Paritella or soulmate as you might say, it’s the one we resonate with. The one who completes us, but we don’t always find them. If we don’t… well we can still mate—” I giggle at his word and he smiles. “Have sex, if you prefer, but it won’t produce any offspring.”

“What? How does that work?”

He shrugs, raising his hands and dropping them.

“I do not know,” he says. “I know that it is true. It keeps our bloodlines pure and limits our ability to reproduce.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“You, Adella, are my Paritella. ”

“How? I’m not Alvan.”

“I do not know,” he says. “I agree it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I know it is true. I knew the moment I met you. My heart sings when I am with you and… I think… you feel the same.”

I stare at him for a long time. My head is a swirling crazy mess of conflicting thoughts. One thing crashing into the next without reason. Above that, though, is a feeling. Or more than a feeling. A certainty.

He’s right.

Every date, every attempt since he left spins around with the rest of the mess below the certainty.

He’s the one.

I compared every other man to him. I rejected everyone of them for not being him. I had taken none of them as a lover. Not a one. Because they weren’t him.

“What did you mean my fate?” I ask.

“There is a ritual we Alvans must do, when we find our Paritella. But if I do it, you will be marked. You will be mine forever.”

“But you’ll be mine too,” I say.

“I am yours no matter what you decide,” he says.

“What are you saying?”

“If you reject this, it is fine. You must choose freely. But if you do reject me, I will never mate again. I will… die alone.”

“Oh, so no pressure,” I say.

He chuckles. “No, no pressure.”

“But that doesn’t explain my fate…”

“No,” he says, staring into my eyes. “I am now third in line for the throne. The wars continue and the Royal Family, all of us, are targeted. I do not know what fate awaits me when I return home and I am asking you to come with me.”

“Come home…”

“Yes, to Alva,” he says. “You do not have to. I will not complete the ceremony. And if we do not win this war, well it will not matter anyway.”

“What are the odds? Of your side winning?”

“I do not know,” he says, sighing heavily. “We are not doing well right now, but there is a plan. If it succeeds… it could turn the tide of the war.”

I nod as if I know a damn thing about winning a war.

“And what is my role in all of this?”

“You would become my Consort. In your culture it would be wife.”

“You’re asking me to marry you?” I ask, eyes widening with surprise. I don’t know why I’m surprised, but I am.

“Yes,” he says. “If you would do me the honor I would spend the rest of my life with you. I will never again leave your side.”

“Even to go to war?”

He frowns. “Unless you ordered it so, I would keep you with me.”

My heart is in my throat for an entirely different reason but as it leaps up there I look at my life. My boring, empty, pointless life. I have no one. No real connections to anyone on my home planet and I’ve kept it that way. As if some part of me knew. Knew this was coming and it would be easier to walk away.

What was that movie with De Niro and Pacino? Heat. It comes and the one line that stuck out to me from it. “Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat…”

“Yes,” I say, without another thought.

“Yes?” his eyes widen in surprise and he blinks rapidly. “You are sure?”

“Yes,” I nod. “I’ve been waiting for you. For ten, very long, very lonely years. I tried, but no one could compare to you. Nothing. I know you are the one for me. And if that means we have to fight a war, then so be it. Though I know nothing of how to, I trust you. I love you.”

He leaps to his feet so fast it’s a blur.

“Yes!” he exclaims pulling me to my feet and into his embrace.

We kiss.

Then an alarm sounds.