Текст книги "The Alien's Handler"

Автор книги: Gemma Voss

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Chapter 7

Ella

My face is hot, and Kila is clutching my sweaty palm. It feels surprisingly nice, this connection. Almost as nice as when he boxed me against the wall with his massive body, causing my face to press against his hard chest. That sudden physical contact made me clam up like an idiot and start blathering. Now, I am absolutely dumbfounded to find that Kila doesn’t hate me at all.

“A strange effect?” I repeat. The words remind me of what he said on Monday, when I assumed he meant that he had a boner. I don’t want to jump to conclusions here.

“I cannot stop looking at you. It is shameful,” he tells me. His expression is full of pain, and he squeezes my hand as he admits to this.

It feels like boiling water has been poured all over my head, because I’m pretty sure this alien is trying to apologize to me for thinking I’m attractive. I am such an idiot. Maybe he hardly ever sees women. Maybe the women he knows at home cover themselves from head to toe. Should I have done some more research? Man, I really thought I was doing a great job but now I’m wondering if I am screwing up big time. Do they find my presence to be distracting? Is this why Pakka refused to look at me while I spoke to him? I thought he was just trying to mask what he knew about Kila. I decide it’s best that I pull my clammy hand away from him. We are still dangerously close, and my back is against the wall.

“So, you find me attractive. On Earth, that’s considered completely normal, Kila. There’s no need to apologize,” I say. “Is there some way I can respect the Kar’Kali way? Do your females cover themselves? Do you usually not work with females at all?”

He blinks, in momentary confusion. “No, females and males wear the same uniforms befitting their rank. Females and males are equal in all things on Kar’Kali. It is a great pride of our planet, this fact.”

“That’s nice,” I say. For the first time since that day we met, he is allowing himself to really look at me, and the change is jarring. His eyes flicker from my own, down to my lips, and then to my now empty hands. Then, he is back to watching my face, as if searching for something.

“I would be unfair of me to ask you to make a change when I am the one at fault here,” he says. “Maybe it is normal for humans, but it is not normal for Kar’Kali. I fear there is something very wrong with me, but do not worry. It will be resolved.”

I guess being attracted to me is a real hardship for him. This realization makes me want to laugh, but I decide it’s better to hide that, since he is so serious about all this. I don’t know how to react; I’m completely in shock. I’ll have to talk to Jen and find out how the heck to navigate a Kar’Kali crush without causing an intergalactic moral panic. Kar’Kali that succumb to sexual desires are excommunicated, so for Kila there is real reason to be fearful, even if the whole situation would be comical to any human.

The worst part is that Kila is easily the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on. Especially now, when he gazes at me like my words might break him, with stray black hairs falling over his brow. There is no doubt in my mind that if he felt like exploring the world of ‘deviance’, I’d be happy to lead him straight to the dark side and release the inner temptress.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I assure him. “I’m sure you’re right, and you’ll figure it out. It’s okay if you want to ignore me. I won’t let it bother me now that I understand.”

I turn to go, but he grabs my wrist and stops me. My heart pounds. “—Kila?”

“Ella, you are too good,” he groans with darkened eyes. “I will avoid you once again. It is for the best. But first I must know something because I am a weak male.”

“What is it?” I ask.

“Tell me if you feel it too. I need to know,” he says.

I let out a deep breath. “I don’t know that my answer will be helpful to you. Are you sure it’s such a good idea to—”

“No, it is not. But I am a male gone insane and I need to hear this answer, if only to soothe my addled mind.” His eyes are pleading me. He wants me this badly? I am flooded with heat at the thought that I’ve driven him mad. He can’t possibly be aware of human movies and romantic words, and yet he speaks just like a Casanova determined to convince me I am the only antidote to the poison of his desire. Can it be true that he earnestly feels that way towards me, just by looking at me? We hardly know each other.

I can’t lie to him. But I can’t let this situation get worse.

“You’re a very handsome guy, Kila. What do you want me to say? Of course I find you attractive. Of course I feel something. But if you’re determined to ignore me, then its best we don’t talk about it, don’t you think? Besides, we have to work together,” I say the words as evenly as possible, and I pull my wrist out of his hand. He stares at me as though I slapped him.

Just then, Pakka pops his head into the hallway and barks, “Kila! I must speak with you immediately.”

I slip further away from Kila and call over to Pakka. “Hey, do you have things under control for the rest of the day? I’ve got to speak to Jen before I head out.”

Pakka nods, eyeing Kila suspiciously. Oh, he knows. “See you tomorrow, Ella-vi,” he says.

“Bye,” I squeak out before turning to hustle down the halls. There is shouting coming from Jen’s office, so I wait outside by her secretary’s desk and get myself under control. Hassan, her over-worked twenty-year-old minion, just glances at me.

“You alright?” he asks. “You look like you sprinted here.”

“Fine, fine,” I pant. He watches me with narrowed eyes for a moment and then swivels away in his chair, apparently deciding he doesn’t have time to discover what the heck is wrong with me.

“The next time you come in this office, you better have a goddamn good reason why, Miikra!” Jen calls out as her door swings open. The Sciva that nearly squashed Kila and I moments ago in the hallway emerges looking extremely disgruntled. Well, they usually look disgruntled, so I can’t be sure.

Once he’s gone, his thumping steps receding, Jen notices me lurking outside the door. “Ella? What is it?”

“We gotta talk,” I say.

“Oh, great,” she mutters, and waves me into the office.

I follow her and shut the door.

“What is it?” she asks. “I thought things were going alright. Are they still not accepting the idea of having a Handler around? Just say the word and I’ll go in there and kick some gray Kar’Kali ass.”

“No, that’s not it. Something… Well, something weird is going on.”

“Something weird, huh? Tell me something I don’t know. Miikra is up my ass because his lab is across from a Verguli lab, and he’s claiming their natural scent smells like Sciva piss. But I can’t move either of them, because they’ve both spent weeks setting up equipment and arranging samples in their spaces. The Scivas can’t stand to be there, and the Verguli seem to think it’s hilarious, so they go stand in the lab while the Scivas are on lunch just to get a laugh.” She’s waving her arms around like a lunatic. “So go ahead, tell me what weird shit is going on with you.”

“Uh, how do I say this? One of the Kar’Kali guys… He has a little bit of a crush on me. And I think it’s freaking him out. Like seriously freaking him out.”

Jen blinks, dropping her arms. She stands like that for a beat, and then bursts out laughing. After she’s gone on like that for a moment, she coughs a bit and then says, “Wow, and I really thought when I took this job that I’d be focusing on important scientific discoveries. But okay, let’s talk about the repressed alien that has a boner for you.”

I summarize what happened for her, and she juts out her bottom lip thoughtfully.

“The thing is that Kar’Kali have these suppressors implanted in infancy. I’m not sure what could possibly cause his to stop working, and I know for a fact there’s no way any Earthly factors could disrupt them. The technology is insanely advanced. The controllers on Kar’Kal that monitor the population-wide hormone fluctuations can transmit data across many galaxies,” she explains.

“How do you know?” I ask, feeling like an idiot when compared to Jen’s encyclopedic knowledge.

“The Azza have taken Kar’Kali prisoners of war before, and ended up transporting them deep behind enemy lines. Apparently, they’ve conducted experiments before, trying to remove or tinker with the suppressors of their prisoners. But until the suppressors are destroyed or the prisoner is killed, the Kar’Kali back at base are still able to track the location and hormone levels of the soldiers. It allowed them to pin-point some enemy targets for a while, a couple hundred years back, but the Azza have learned their lesson and they don’t take many Kar’Kali prisoners anymore.”

I shiver, wondering what other horrible things the Azza have done.

“Moral of the story,” Jen continues, “Is that it might be a pretty bad sign that your little Kar’Kali boyfriend is able to get a boner for you.”

Goosebumps spread over my skin. “You mean something bad happened? Something happened to the Kar’Kali base that controls their suppressors? You’re sure there’s no way it’s just… acting up? You’re sure it’s not normal for them to have a little mishap every once in a while?”

“Ella, I’m going to have a plaque made for you. Because you are without a doubt the first being in thousands of years to cause a Kar’Kali erection. Deviants not included, mind you.” She fumbles around her desk drawers until she finds a glass bottle full of amber liquid. It’s a bottle of whiskey. “I know it’s not Friday yet, but I have a headache and I am trying not to panic.”

“Panic? Should we panic?” I run my hands through my hair shakily.

The office door rattles open, shaking from the force of Pakka’s fist. He practically vibrates on the threshold. “Do not panic, females, but something is very, very wrong.”

“Pakka,” Jen says firmly, “Sit the hell down and have a drink.”

Pakka looks incredulous, but the power of Jen’s intensity seems to work on him. He shuts his mouth, stalks over to the seat beside me, and sits down. Jen finds three glasses and starts pouring whiskey for all of us.

“Is this mind-altering?” Pakka asks before accepting the glass.

“Just drink it,” Jen demands, “And then tell me what you know about Kila’s suppressor issue.”

He stares at her as though she has mind-reading abilities, and then gulps down a sip of the whiskey. His scrunched-up face says everything about what he thinks of the bitter alcohol.

“Kila’s hormones are wild,” he says hoarsely. “I have finally been able to scan him with the new scanner. I am certain there is something very wrong with his chip, but I will not be able to examine it. It could seriously harm his brain, especially considering that none of us are skilled surgeons. I came here to immediately request access to the building’s call system. We need to link with the Kar’Kali authorities as soon as possible.”

“Authorities? Kila won’t get in trouble, will he? He didn’t do anything wrong,” I say quickly.

Pakka sighs. “Do not worry yourself, Ella. I know this.”

Jen shifts forward in her seat and takes a long swig of her whiskey. “Have you scanned the others? Have you scanned yourself?”

He shakes his head. “I asked the others to escort Kila back to our living quarters, so that he cannot do any harm. It is best he does not attend work tomorrow.”

“He’s not a prisoner,” I argue. “You’re going to lock him up because he likes how I look? Don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction?”

“You do not understand,” he snaps. “His levels today are well out of range for a properly suppressed Kar’Kali male, but they are nowhere near historic mating call levels. He cannot see you, or any other female until this is resolved. If he experiences the full mating call response, there is no telling what he will do.”

“This is wrong,” I say, pushing away my untouched glass of whiskey. “He’s obviously already in pain over it. You’re going to make him feel even worse, cooping him up like that. And anyways, if it’s been thousands of years then how do you even know what the historic levels are?”

Pakka opens his mouth to angrily reply, but Jen cuts us both off. “CHILDREN!” She snaps her fingers in front of our faces. “Both of you need to get a grip.”

“Pakka,” she shouts, and he jolts to attention. “I agree Kila might benefit from a day off tomorrow, and he shouldn’t leave the complex. But Ella is correct– don’t go treating him like a prisoner. It’s not going to help matters. Tomorrow you should scan the rest of your team, including yourself, and I’ll send Hassan when I have an opening at the comm center for you to contact a Kar’Kali base.” Pakka is nodding at her like an obedient puppy.

“And Ella? Pakka makes the final decision when it comes to the welfare of his teammates, okay? Just do what you can to help the others tomorrow. We reconvene on this topic come Monday. Dismissed.”

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Chapter 8

Kila

The world is strange. It is objectively clear that I am in a dangerous situation, brought on by potentially grave circumstances. And yet, I feel like I am floating above it all, simply because I know that Ella feels the same as I do. I should be panicking, but instead I feel nothing but warmth in my heart when I think of how shy she looked when she said, “Of course I find you attractive. Of course I feel something.”

When I smile, Mori looks at me like I am a warrior returned from the ashes. “Kila, I worry for you,” he says.

Mori, Kiva, and Vala walked me back to our living quarters, all the while watching me like I was a mountain feline poised to strike them. Soon after my encounter with Ella in the hallway, the truth of the matter came out. The scan system had been completed and Pakka immediately sent me inside to get a read on my hormones. The results? I am at abnormal levels, dangerously abnormal. Now we sit in the living area, and heavy silence fills the air. My colleagues eye me warily. We are waiting for Pakka to return with a plan.

“Oh, this is terrible, just terrible,” Kiva cries out, breaking our quietude. “Great Ka, we should have all been scanned. What if I’m next? What if this polluted Earth atmosphere has tampered with all of our chips?”

Vala slaps him on the back. “Kiva, be still. Panic does not solve problems. We will discuss it when Pakka is here.”

We return to sitting in silence until Pakka returns. Kiva is fidgeting, Mori stares at the ceiling in misery, and Vala is his usual self– completely at ease.

“Tomorrow, we will all be tested,” our leader announces upon entering. “Kila, you must stay here and relax. It would be best if you meditate and try to stay in control of your emotions. Jen said she will make arrangements for us to contact the planet base as soon as possible.”

“There,” Vala says to Kiva. “You see, there is a plan.”

“Stay here?” I demand. “And do what? No, I must be there when you contact home. Won’t they want to speak with me?”

“They will understand why we have decided to take precautions,” Pakka says.

I clench my fist, knowing it isn’t wise to mention how I still wish to see Ella, even just for a moment. “I am of no use to anyone here. At least lock me in the lab so I might make some contribution—”

“Kila, that is enough. This decision is final. I do not trust your actions in this state, I hardly know who I speak with. You are on lockdown until further notice.” Once he has delivered these orders, he sucks in a deep breath and retreats to his own room.

The rest of the evening is tense. We do not speak very much, but I fear none of them trust me anymore. I may as well be an Azza spy to them. Sadly, I cannot even trust myself. My mind is filled with Ella– the feel of her body against mine, her kind way of speaking, the soft dark waves of her hair. Once I have eaten, I head to my own room and lay flat back on the bed.

Meditation is the best course of action, so I reach for my tap-pad and set it up on the bedside table with a white noise loop. The breathing exercises come to me easily, from passings and passings of practice. When I complete one exercise, I start up again, slowing my mind and clearing my thoughts until they are nothing. My body finally gives up and allows me sleep.

And then I dream of her.

She is naked. Since I have never seen her without clothes, her nakedness is rather blurry but the feeling is there. The excitement of having her against me, skin on skin, is palpable. Her face is flushed, and she lets out one of those ringing little laughs of hers. She says my name– “Kila,” she sighs. “Yes, oh yes, Kila…”

Then I am seeing the video we showed her, of the human couple fucking like wild animals. Except it is me there, stripped down to nothing and humping the female. And it is Ella that has her face pressed against the floor, while I slam my cock into her from behind. She cries out, saying my name over and over again.

When I wake up, my cock is hard and I am on my stomach, grinding my hips into the blanket beneath me. As soon as I am aware of what I am doing, I jolt upright and roll right off the bed frame. I reach down to touch between my legs, utterly alarmed. Sure enough, my cock is engorged and aching with a sweet pain I have never felt before. I stare at the clock. It is almost noon and the rest of the team has left me here as promised.

I rub against my pants, trying to relieve the pressure, but that pressure only seems to build. Do I ignore it? Or must I do something about it? My imagined version of Ella dances in the back of my mind, still fresh from my recent dreams.

I am already being treated like Deviant, am I not? I push down my pants and grip my cock as I think of her face. What would she look like if I had her undressed before me? I rest my head back on the ground and recall the shape of her in that black dress she wore. Then I mentally push the fabric up slowly. Perhaps she would laugh a little bit? That seems right… She likes to smile and laugh…

I begin working my hand over my cock, pressing harder until it feels right, bucking my hips into my own grip and imagining I am between her thighs. I groan as a rewarding feeling starts up. A feeling like I am get closer to something very good. My motions become more furious and my mind becomes even more depraved. What must it feel like to be inside her? This causes me to shudder and fist my cock even harder until my pleasure peaks for an indescribable, extended moment of sheer ecstasy. Seed shoots from the tip of my cock and coats both myself and the floor.

Panting, I just lay there for a little while. Great Ka, I feel I’ve crossed a strange barrier from which there is no return.

When I eventually come to some sense, I curse aloud and search for something to clean myself off. All the while, my sick mind is ticking away, plotting. I must see her. I must talk with her. I must make a plan to get to her.

When I pull myself together and dress, my own reflection is a startling sight. My skin has taken on a rosy undertone. I stumble to my small box of toiletries and retrieve a sewing needle. I stab my arm and sure enough, I bleed red rather than blue. I want to laugh or cry, or maybe just lay down and rub my cock again like a lunatic. It seems the Kali’Ka has chosen a mate for me like a Great House warrior from Archaic Kar’Kal. Ella Sacco will be mine, or I will surely lose what little sense I have left. I must see her, and all other factors are of little consequence to me.

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Chapter 9

Ella

On Friday, the atmosphere in the lab is tense. Kila is gone, and the others wear grim expressions. Thankfully, they don’t seem to blame me at all, but rather speak of Kila as though he has lost his mind completely or even as if he’s dead. Their first order of the day is to test themselves in their weird giant microwave box.

“We would like to test you as well, if that’s alright,” Kiva says politely. “I am so very sorry that this has happened to you Ella-vi. I can’t imagine what you think of us.”

“Yes, that’s fine, I don’t mind,” I tell him. Mori is currently in the box, lying down while Pakka processes the computer’s readings. “And it’s not anything to apologize for. In fact, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Kila was very kind to me when he expressed his attraction. I’ve had human men scream at me from the other side of the street, so I’m not sure why Kila has to be locked up.”

“Scream at you?” he repeats, bewildered. “In an attempt to mate with you? And you still feel safe walking down the street?”

“I can’t very well stay in my house forever,” I joke.

He shakes his head. “Do these males ever have success with this tactic? Screaming at unknown females in a public space?”

“Probably not.”

He’s perplexed to say the least and turns to scribble this as a note on his tap-pad. “Then why do they do it, I wonder…”

“Look, Kiva,” I say, lowering my voice. “You guys weren’t hard on him, were you?”

“I am not sure what this means. Hard on him?”

“You weren’t mean, right?” I ask, running my fingers through my hair. “Did you make him feel bad about it? It seems like he was really beating himself up over this, and I just think his feelings might be hurt if his friends didn’t give him support, you know?”

“There are no hurting of feelings on Kar’Kal, Ella-vi. Kila is not well, and we are going to fix him,” he states as though this were the simplest fact in the world.

“And Kila, he accepted the fact that he has to stay inside until he can get fixed?”

Kiva looks uncomfortable as he attempts to process what I’m getting at. “No,” he admits. “He was angry, but that is because he unwell. He is not in his right mind.”

I purse my lips and let it go before I make the guy sweat. I sit back and watch as the rest of the Kar’Kali take their turns in the box. By the end of the day, they’ve analyzed the read-outs twenty times over and have come to the conclusion that none of their suppressors are working. While Kila’s levels are the only wild ones in the bunch, none of their hormones are being suppressed at the low level that their home system expects. They all act as though they’ve received a death threat from the mafia.

“Ella, you must now be the only woman we encounter,” Pakka says once they’ve come to terms with the facts. “Considering the Kali’Ka has clearly marked you as Kila’s mate, I can assume the four of us are safe in your presence. Please notify Jen that we cannot communicate with her in person until further notice. I propose we wait until the building has emptied before we head to the comm line this evening.”

His teammates are nodding their heads. “Woah woah woah,” I say. “What do you mean? Marked? As mate?”

“I’m sorry, but the damage has been done. Kila is obviously experiencing the ancient mating call. And you are his mate. In fact, Mori, get your tap-pad now and message him an update assuring him that we will be running late and that Ella is safe. If he thinks for a moment that something is wrong, he will seek to ensure Ella is physically protected, like a barbarian.” Pakka paces the room, eyes roaming the walls as if searching all the possible outcomes.

I breathe in through my nose to make sure oxygen is still getting to my brain. “What? WHAT?!”

“In fact,” he adds, ignoring my sudden panic. “Call the security center and ask if they can have a guard posted at our building. He might even now be planning how to get to her.”

Mori chuckles. “One guard? Do you forget that Kila was once left behind by forces in an Azza mining city and managed to return to Kar’Kal by crossing their desert, stealing a shipping freighter on the opposite side of the planet, and then bombing their base to down their mission control?”

Pakka pauses. “As many guards as they will spare.”

“Hold it!” I shout. “You are really skipping the part where you just accept the fact that I’m Kila’s mate?”

“What did you think was happening?” Mori asks, like I’m an idiot. “Did you think that we lied about our planet’s history? This is why we are who we are. Without the suppressor, Kila will stop at nothing to be with you. If you had a human mate, they may as well find another. That is what we are telling you. He is a Deviant now, and you’re his breeding mate.”

“Mori!” Kiva hisses. “You are scaring her.”

“Just send her home now,” Vala suggests. He tilts his head at me. “Go ahead, go home, and hope we have solved this by Monday.”

“That is a fine idea,” Pakka agrees. “Go and rest, Ella.”

“Right,” I manage to say. “I’ll see you on Monday. Just… tell Kila I hope he feels better.”

They react to this statement as though I’ve grown five heads, and simply mumble their goodbyes as I pack up my bag and leave.

Leaving before the commuter rush means I have to face the crowd of protesters in the parking lot alone. On the bright side, they are pretty low energy in the face of one person exiting the building. As I pass their signs, one particular message jumps out at me like its written in flashing neon letters. It says, “ALIEN FUCKERS”. I bow my head and walk as quickly as I can across the parking lot to the transport wait station. I am about to make it when I hear someone calling to me: “Ella! Ella, is that you?”

I whip around and squint at the eager face in the crowd. “Vic?”

There among the crazy conspiracy theorists and desperate alien-haters is Vic Williams, a guy who went to my high school and used to be friends with my brother. It’s strange to see him with a mustache and beard. He’s holding a sign that says, “Government Subsidized Dissection.”

“Hey Ella, how’s it going? You work at this dump?”

Well, that’s aggressive. I anxiously glance over my shoulder to make sure the next bus hasn’t arrived. “It’s not a dump,” I say. “And yeah, I do.”

The rest of the crowd runs back to the entrance when three more workers emerge, but Vic stays to subject me to more awkward small talk. “What do you do in there?” he asks. “You wouldn’t be willing to be interviewed, would you? Anything freaky going on?”

I want to say, Why, yes! In fact, I’ve just been selected by a mysterious planet spirit as bride-to-be for a virgin Spock from a warrior race who’s about to Hulk out from his spiking hormone levels! Instead I just shrug and say, “Not really, Vic… I just help some alien species navigate Earth situations. You know, grocery stores and ordering equipment on the Internet. Real eyebrow-raising shit.”

He doesn’t hide his disappointment. “If you ever encounter something suspicious, you should contact me. You need to keep your eyes open in there, Ella. You might think it’s innocent but you have no idea the stories I’ve heard. There are women working there that have started sexual relationships with these freaks. And there’s the disappearances. They claim they left for another planet… but where did they really go?”

“I’m sure it’s not like that—”

“Ah, you’ve always been too nice. But I know these guys, they called themselves the Exile Squad, and they’ve been collecting loads of information on the secret goings on around here. They’d be real interested to talk with you. They do exposé interviews.”

“Exile Squad? Sounds like a bad 80’s action film,” I mutter.

He shrugs. “You know, you look really great. Did I say that before? I still see your brother around but how come he’s never mentioned you? Because he’s hiding you from me?”

I don’t say anything because I know where he’s going with this and I don’t want to encourage it.

“Why don’t we, uh, get together sometime?”

“Sorry, Vic, I gotta catch a bus,” I say when I hear the hissing sounds of the transport. I’ve never been so thankful for the smell of a waste-powered metal box full of un-washed bodies. I rush on and grab a seat. I peer at the security center and the guards that pace up and down the perimeter of the research facility. They all look calm, chatting in pairs like normal. At least Kila is safely contained in the complex. If what they told me about him is true, I hope to God he won’t hurt himself doing something crazy.

With the bus only a quarter of the way full, I find that I’m the only one to exit at my stop. By the time I get off and make it a couple blocks towards my apartment building, I realize just how exhausting this week has been. An entirely new team, a wild situation, and a handsome alien that thinks I’m his hormonal soul mate. I sigh, knowing there’s no easy way to explain this one to the girls over drinks tomorrow. I am so deep in my thoughts that when a dark figure emerges from the bushes, I don’t even think to grab my pepper spray– I just freeze and scream.

One large gray hand claps over my mouth, and suddenly Kila’s warmth is pressed against me. “Calm yourself, Ella. It is Kila.”

I punch his arm without hesitation, but find it’s like punching a brick wall. I cringe. “Jesus Christ! Kila, you scared the fucking shit out of me.”

He laughs, actually laughs, at me. I’m so dumbfounded by the sight of his amused face that I lose all sense of the anger I felt a second ago.

“Scared shit out of you? What an absurd phrase,” he comments.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I hiss, looking around me as though the research facility guards will descend from the trees and tackle him. “How did you get out of there? This is stalking, you know. Your friends think you’ve gone crazy and now I’m wondering if they were right.”

“I had to see you, Ella. Will you give me the chance to speak with you?”

“Answer my questions,” I say.

He waves his hand dismissively. “That building is like a child’s first play-fort. I simply exited through the window, crawled the roof to the opposite end where they did not expect me to emerge, and then scaled the wall. They are not staffed to pen a warrior. From there it was made easy by the vehicles in the lot, which provide cover. I waited beneath one such vehicle, and watched you get on the bus. Before it departed, I was able to slide underneath and ride on the undercarriage.”

“Okay, Mission: Impossible,” I mutter, picturing him belly-crawling through the parking lot.

He lets out another laugh. Have I ever seen him smile before this moment? God, it’s sexy when he does. The happy crinkling of his eyes transforms his face. “Impossible mission? No, no, this was likely the easiest mission I have encountered. If only Azza bases were so poorly manned.”