Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

LUCA

Whatever you do, don’t scare off the human.

I wasn’t concerned about Erich’s potential reaction to my ‘superpowers’ or his discretion. He was sufficiently tied to Wolfgang as an ancillary member of the Suarez clan, and one of the many things my first-born ‘son’ excelled at was legally-binding contracts.

I truly hope there isn’t a clause against fraternizing with an extended clan member…

A clan leader’s blessing was the least of my concerns when it came to this strange situation. While Erich was better-versed than most with the world I supposedly belonged to, his knowledge was still limited.

This normie may have earned a position as one of Wolfgang’s trusted few—and witnessed superpowers in action on occasion—but he didn’t know about Doc’s research in Argentina on the origin of supes on Earth.

He doesn’t know what I am.

My own children—both biological and otherwise—hadn’t known I was a Stellarian until fairly recently. I’d hoped to tell Wolfgang first, especially with me suspecting Simon was partially made of similar ‘star stuff,’ but I wanted to first see how my twins fared on their mission.

That situation certainly turned out differently than planned…

While I was overjoyed that Andre and Gabriel had manifested Stellarian features beyond their advanced mind-control ‘superpowers,’ the way my heritage came to light wasn’t ideal.

Wolfgang especially had been negatively affected by my deception, understandably so after believing he was the trusted keeper of all my secrets. Luckily, we’d reached an understanding after I said my piece, but the last thing I wanted was to hurt him like that again, so these feelings I had for Erich were… inconvenient.

Yet, here I am—eagerly pretending to arrive on the 19:30 train to Bludenz.

No one was more surprised than me by my interest in the human. I’d been among the first wave of Stellarians to arrive on Earth some time in the Upper Paleolithic period, but it was less about its inhabitants than its invaders.

The Lacertus.

Our society had yet to be militarized at that point, but we still had our intergalactic enemies, including the large, lizard-like species from an aquatic planet near our own.

So, it was partially thanks to this established rivalry that we intervened. Mostly, we wanted to determine why these winged beasts of war had taken such an interest in a helpless planet with many of the same resources as their own. To this day, that question still hadn’t been fully answered, but I often wondered if fate had been involved.

The Lacertus may have been what brought us here, but Earthlings proved to be the perfect vessels for us to merge with. Their minds were malleable enough to provide inspiration without needing to take the wheel, and they shared our natural affinity for creation.

Which, unfortunately for them, included fertility.

By the time we arrived, countless had died from the Lacertus’ failed attempts at breeding. The biological laws governing fragile Earthling forms were to blame, but many of my fellow Stellarians responded with an experiment of their own.

Namely, to see what would happen if the Lacertus were to breed Earthlings while we were inside their skinsuits.

And we all know what the result was.

Astrum Force Command didn’t exist yet, so there were no requirements for my kind to reproduce. However, the primal urge to create was in our blood as well, and that often manifested as the desire for sex in whatever vessel we currently inhabited.

For most of us.

Just not me.

Of course I’d tried sex—quite a few times, in various forms—but it simply didn’t do much for me besides irritating an itch nothing seemed to fully scratch.

I also discovered I needed to connect with my partner on a deeper level to be interested in more, and the last thing I was interested in was allowing a Lacertus, of all things, to stick their ridged cock into any one of my orifices in any form.

Especially as our plan was to erase them from the planet once we were done with them.

Which we did.

Of that original expedition, only a handful of Stellarians beside myself chose to remain on Earth and, as far as I knew, we’d been here ever since.

I stayed because humans—their society in particular—fascinated me. When I first arrived, they were peak hunter-gatherers focused on survival, but they still felt compelled to leave their artistic mark on cave walls, depicting the animals they’d formed a natural coexistence with.

Along with the nightmarish aliens who invaded their world.

Since then, I’d watched Earthlings evolve into complex, creative beings I wanted to emulate. I was eventually able to carve out various niches for myself among them, and before I knew it, countless years had passed since I’d last knowingly encountered another Stellarian.

It wasn’t until I met Simon Alarie that I felt that familiar taste of cosmic power. It was a subconscious pulse—different from what supes purposefully did to size each other up—like a live wire looking for a conduit.

Like a resonance looking for its match.

Of course, I didn’t match with Simon, as he was Wolfgang’s inventus and, as usual, sparked nothing within me. In fact, in all my years, I’d never resonated with anyone, and that had always been perfectly fine with me.

Until now.

Until a powerless normie created my resonance with nothing but primitive ‘modern’ technology.

Yes, I’d noticed Erich Nachtnebel at Wolfgang and Simon’s wedding, as he was exceptionally pleasing to look at.

He was nearly as tall as me, with golden-brown hair that fell to his shoulders and glittering gray eyes that reminded me of the North Sea on a cloudy day. His face would have been perfectly symmetrical if not for his strangely crooked aquiline nose. Such a slight discrepancy in an otherwise flawless appearance bothered me so much, I’d needed to limit how often I glanced at him, to resist the overwhelming urge to straighten it by force.

And because every time I peeked, he was looking at me.

After the wedding, I returned to my council duties in Geneva, using the amusing dramatics of supes to distract me from the odd pull I’d felt toward Erich that day.

I mistakenly thought that would be the end of it, but then, Wolfgang invited me to the twins’ graduation celebration at their Berlin gallery. Erich was DJing the party—a fact I didn’t discover until I star hopped to the adjacent alleyway, only to be hit by a series of notes so familiar, I almost dropped to my knees.

My resonance.

A Stellarian’s resonance was a tricky thing. Part identifying feature, part family greeting, part mating call, it was a unique set of notes in our musical native language that was impossible for other species to imitate.

At least, I’d always believed it was impossible…

Thanks to our symbiotic nature, Stellarians excelled at staying hidden—at flying below the radar. To hear my resonance being sung so openly made me equal parts terrified and uncontrollably aroused.

By the time I got inside, I was ready to mate with whoever was producing the sound, but then, Gabriel bounded over, followed by Andre’s confident stroll, and I’d forced myself to calm down for the sake of appearances.

It wasn’t until after my twins had proudly shown me their art—a series of paintings inspired by NASA photography—that I located the source of my angst. Tucked behind a pillar was Erich, his gaze fixed on a laptop screen as he fiddled with a control panel set beside it on the bar.

He must have sensed he was being watched, as his gaze snapped to mine, his eyes widening in surprise. When a tempting blush crept over his pale cheeks, I was done for. I considered forcing myself to leave the celebration—to star hop back to Geneva and never look back—but then, Erich walked around the bar to approach with a smile so bright, I almost evaporated.

“Hallo, Luca. I didn’t expect to see you here?—”

“How on Earth are you making that… that noise?!” I’d demanded as my brain short-circuited from the unfamiliar sensations coursing through my system.

Apparently, that was the wrong question to ask, as a distinctly sour expression flickered over Erich’s handsome face before he smoothed it away.

“I’m a self-taught noisemaker,” he coolly replied. “But most people seem happy to pay me for it, so…” He shrugged before spinning on his heel and returning to his task of rearranging me at a cellular level.

Watching my mate walk away from me forced a growl from my throat that was decidedly inhuman. I nearly unleashed some tendrils to yank him back into my personal space where he belonged when Wolfgang appeared at my side.

The newly-promoted Suarez clan leader wanted to discuss his suspicions that Theo Coatl was Simon’s father and whether I felt the twins could take on a supe of indeterminate power by themselves. Of course, I knew they could handle any supe on Earth—even if they didn’t yet know their heritage—but I welcomed the distraction the conversation provided.

Anything to stop me from doing something stupid.

Like dragging an unsuspecting human into the nearest supply closet to mark and claim.

By the time Wolfgang and I had finished masterminding the next phase of his supremacy, Erich had packed up and the twins were demanding he take them to Benediktion for the afterparty.

Or, in Berlin speak, the start to the night.

Wolfgang was somehow convinced to join them, but I declined the instant an invitation was extended. A glimmer of what I hoped was disappointment flickered over Erich’s face, but he simply spared me a curt nod. Clearly, he thought he was done with me.

If only that were true…

I’d told the others I had an early flight to catch before making a show of climbing into a taxi and speeding away. The confused driver dropped me off around the corner, and I wasted no time star hopping back inside the gallery to examine Erich’s equipment for myself.

All I accomplished was discovering it wasn’t the technology but the skill of the man behind the controls who was to blame for my fractured state. I also learned Wolfgang had installed a high tech security system, as when I finally moved across the vacant space to take a closer look at a piece titled Starshine, a piercing alarm sounded, nearly causing me to jump out of my stolen skin.

When it was Erich who showed up to investigate, I disassembled my cells until I disappeared into the shadows, lingering long enough to take a final look at his near perfection before star hopping back to Switzerland.

What followed was months of me setting off the gallery alarm in a shameful bid to see the unwitting object of my obsession as often as possible. When we officially crossed paths again at Xander and Butch’s wedding last month, I knew there was no way these fleeting encounters would be enough to sustain me.

Before I could concoct a valid excuse to visit Berlin, Erich texted me, and nothing on Earth or in all the galaxies could have stopped me from accepting his invitation.

His invitation to take a train to the Alps.

How pedestrian.

It was easy enough to time my star hop so I seamlessly blended in with the Earthlings arriving at Bludenz on the 19:30. No one noticed the unassuming man exiting the last car at the tail end of the throng carrying two weekender bags stuffed with appropriate outerwear for a short stay in the Alps.

Despite it being quite balmy here compared to outer space.

And when I spied the handsomest man standing beside the rustiest Volkswagen—waiting for me— I smiled wider than I ever had.

Aside from when Wolfgang ascended the throne.

And who could blame me? As inconvenient and inexplicable as it all was, as determined as I was to unmask this celestial sorcery through logic alone, the newly-awakened beast inside me had decided Erich Nachtnebel was destined to be mine.