It was well into the afternoon when Domingo Rodriguez finally left the hospital, his ribs taped and his left arm in a sling. Bandages were taped to his forehead and his neck and his left eye was swollen shut. His jaw ached from a bone bruise and he wanted nothing more than to go home and go to bed.

That would not be his fate.

Vasquez was waiting for him when he emerged, sitting in the back of an unmarked black sedan. The colonel’s driver opened the door for him, and Rodriguez reluctantly slid into the seat beside the man who was the source of all of his injuries.

“Call her.” Vasquez handed him his cell phone, already primed with Sera Cooper’s number.

“How did you – ”

“Don’t ask questions. Just call her.”

Reluctantly, he hit the ‘send’ button and brought the phone to his ear. Cooper’s phone rang several times, but finally she answered, sounding groggy.  “Hello?”

“Are you safe?”

He could hear her take a deep breath, and she said, “Who is this?”

“This is Rodriguez.”

He thought for a moment that she wouldn’t remember him, but then she said, “Yeah. We are.”

“Where are you? We need to talk.”

She hesitated, and then said, “You can’t come here. There’s nothing to say.”

Vasquez scowled at him, and he began to sweat. “I have information that your friends need to here. I can only deliver it in person. Please… where are you?”

“We’re in Texas,” she finally said. “And I can’t tell you the address or how to get here, because I don’t know.”

His companion – or was that captor? – gestured to him to pursue the point, and he pressed, “Then can you find someone who does? This is very important.”

She sighed, and he could hear rustling and the creaking of bed springs. Even though it was the middle of the day, he had apparently woken her up. “Hang on.”

There was a long silence, and Vasquez hissed, “If you can’t convince her, this will go very badly for you.”

He wiped a hand over his brow, and then finally Sera’s voice came back on the line. “189 McCallister Road, Laredo, Texas.  Do you need the zip code?”

“No. I’ll see you as soon as I can. Whatever you do, don’t leave.”

She hesitated again, then said, “I can’t promise anything. I’m not running this show.”

Rodriguez frowned. “Are you in trouble?”

“No. Nothing like that. Listen, be careful. You’re probably being watched.”

He suppressed an urge to laugh and bit back on his burgeoning hysteria. “I’m sure I am.”

“Well, don’t bring them here, whatever you do.” She sighed. “I have to go. But… thanks for all of your help.”

“You’re welcome.”

The call ended and he handed the phone back to Vasquez, who pocketed it. “Driver, did you hear the address?”

“Yes, Colonel.” He punched the destination into his GPS and the car began to move.

Rodriguez slumped in the seat, feeling like a traitor and a chump. The colonel chuckled. “Don’t feel so bad. You’re only a glorified office worker. You can’t hope to stand up to a man like me.”

He rankled. “When we get to America, you won’t have any jurisdiction.”

Vasquez smiled. “I’ve already taken care of that.”

***

Sera shut off her phone and pulled on her dirty clothes before she started drifting through the house. It was large and open, like she’d always imagined a ranch house would be.  There was a cozy family room, an airy kitchen, and a veranda that surrounded the house. The front door opened onto a circular driveway, and on the other side of the drive was a long, low building like a bunkhouse. To the right was a stable, and beyond that was a massive barn. The green field beyond the barn, fenced in with white-washed wooden slats, was filled with cows who drifted aimlessly, grazing and chewing their cud and doing whatever it was that cows do.

It was all so normal, so uncomplicated. It seemed so at odds with the reality that she was finding herself in now.

In the kitchen, she found coffee and filters and set about making a fresh pot. She sat at the kitchen table while she waited and put her head on her folded arms. She felt so tired.

In this quiet moment, when she finally felt a moment of peace, she was astounded by the things that had happened in her life. She had gone from being an archaeologist with a career-making find to being a fugitive on the run with aliens…actual, honest-to-God space aliens. She never believed in extraterrestrial life before. She had laughed at people who believed in it. Now she had to eat her words, and she was finding that the meal was giving her indigestion.

A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up into Theyn’s shining blue eyes.  He was standing beside her, dressed only in his underwear. She was struck again by how kind his face was, and how gentle he seemed. She wondered if that was the truth, of if he and Beno were running some sort of elaborate scam. How well did she know them, anyway? Why did she trust them so much? She felt her cheeks burn. How could she have slept with them on the first day she’d known them, when they were in control of her and had kidnapped her? It was sick.

 

Theyn’s forehead puckered. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” she lied.

He sat across from her. “What’s troubling you?”

How could she tell him that her concern was whether she should be trusting him? If he was on the up-and-up, he would be hurt; if he was lying, he’d double down on the lies and then possibly he would step up his game. She didn’t know what to say, so she stayed silent.

The coffee pot finished percolating, and that gave her an excuse to get up and move. She could feel Theyn watching her, puzzled.  The longer he was here with her, the more she was filled with conflicting emotions and confusing, contradictory urges. She wanted to run away, grab one of the vehicles in the drive, and make a break for freedom and the life she’d known before this whole mess started. She also wanted to grab him by those broad shoulders and fling him down on the table, showing him what a human woman could do to a body like his. Neither impulse squared with the person she thought that she was, and she felt overwhelmed by the storms inside her.

With a shaking hand, she grabbed a mug from the cupboard and began to pour a cup of rescue. Theyn rose from the chair he’d taken, and he took one step toward her. Her trembling increased, and the coffee dumped over her hand. She hissed at the scalding burn and rushed to the sink, where she threw on the cold water and ran it over her injured skin.

Theyn came to her and gently took her burned hand in his.  He looked into her eyes and asked, “Will you let me help you?”

She was distracted by the pain from the burn and snapped, “Get away from me!”

He released her and stepped back, a look of obvious disappointment and hurt on his face. She turned her back on him and ran more cold water over the coffee burn.

“Damn it,” she swore, and her frustrations cut through the maelstrom of her emotions, bursting like a dam. Tears began to fill her eyes, and she was unable to stem the flow. She wiped at her face with her good hand, embarrassed and annoyed. “Damn it!”

“Sera,” Theyn said softly.

It was the first time he had ever said her name. Beno had spoken it in her mind once, but there had been no weight on the word, no hidden meaning. Theyn said it almost with reverence, like a prayer. 

He took her burned hand again, and he covered it with his own. His scales twinkled in the morning light, as if he was covered in diamond dust, or as if his skin was untouched new-fallen snow. He looked into her eyes, and then his hand, the one covering her burn, began to glow.

It was a soft golden glow that started almost imperceptibly at first, but it steadily brightened until it was almost too bright to look at. It reminded her of the way that Beno’s hand had glowed over Theyn’s chest in the hospital.  Beneath his touch, wrapped in the glow, the pain in her hand was vanishing, the heat dissipating into nothingness. Her mouth fell open as he gently pulled away, revealing her skin untouched and flawless as if the coffee had never hit it.

“You’re a healer,” she said. “Not just a botanist.”

He nodded. “I am an empathic healer, to be precise. I am also the son of the Empress of Ylia, the late Kina.”

She took a deep breath. “That makes you Emperor now.”

No. Beno’s voice touched them both in their minds, and he was standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.  He was naked as a newborn, his heavy manhood hanging dormant against his muscular thigh.  She couldn’t believe she was looking at his crotch and tore her gaze away. Beno knew that she’d been peeking, though, and he gave her a sly smile. Ylia is a matriarchy. There are no Emperors. The heir to the throne was Theyn’s sister, Thena.

“So you’re royalty,” she said. Theyn nodded.  “No wonder you’re the pair lead.”

Beno spoke aloud. “I’m his bodyguard. That’s the true nature of our pairing. I was assigned to be his companion and protector for life. We were born in the same season, and our energy is compatible. That is why Theyn can trigger our merging.”

She thought about their lovemaking, when they had somehow joined their bodies together into one spectacular member.

“Yes,” Theyn said, nodding. “That merging.”

She blushed. “You must think I’m such a slut,” she said, pulling her hand back and drying it with a dishtowel. She looked away from them. “All I can do when I look at you is think about sex or look at your junk or… Jesus.” She tossed the towel onto the table, and Beno chuckled. “This is funny to you?”

“A little,” he admitted.

She ground her teeth in annoyance. “Thanks.”

Theyn smiled. “It’s perfectly normal for you to have those reactions to us. The energetic effects of the stunner that Beno used on you sometimes make females more receptive than they would otherwise be.  That’s part of why those weapons are mostly banned on Ylia and rarely if ever used. Only the royal bodyguards possess them.”

“We do not kill,” Beno said. “Not if we can help it.”

“In the memory you showed me, you were carrying long weapons, like rifles,” she objected. “What are those for if not for killing?”

Theyn glanced at Beno. You showed her?

Beno only nodded.

Theyn sighed. “He was in the military while I was at school. I was protected by the palace guard at that time, and he was free to pursue his own education or interests. He chose to enter the Outer Guard, and he became one of our best soldiers. I believe you call them ‘special operators’ here.”

She chuckled. “You were the alien version of the SEALs?”

The brunet looked puzzled. “Seals are amphibious mammals,” he said. “I do not see the comparison.”

“SEALs. Sea, air and land. They’re one of my country’s elite military units.”

“Ah.” He smiled. “I wondered what you were talking about.”

Theyn chuckled. “Yes, he was our version of a SEAL, but not the kind that feeds your sharks.”

“You hope,” Sera quipped. “Anyway… you were in special ops…”

He nodded. Theyn continued. “They were on a deep reconnaissance mission in an unpopulated sector of space near our world, making sure that the area would be safe for us to send scientists into, when they encountered a ship that had been disabled. It was emitting a strong and disruptive frequency that interfered with their ship’s navigation systems, so Beno and his squad were sent on board to investigate the source of the transmission and to stop it if possible.”

Beno took up the story. “It was a trap. The ship had belonged to another population, one we had intermittent communication with, called the Evriag.  We thought the ship was deserted. The memory I showed you was when we had isolated all biological traces to the cargo hold, and we were moving in to investigate.”

“The cargo hold wasn’t empty,” Theyn said. “It was where the Taluans where hiding behind the corpses of the crew.”

“The distress signal from the Evriag ship was a trap. They wanted to see who would come to offer assistance, because then they could determine if our bodies and our technology offered them the sort of elements they needed.” Beno sighed. “We did.”

“And so they came for us,” Theyn finished for him.

“Only because I told them where they could find us,” Beno said bitterly.

Theyn closed his eyes. “No. We have discussed this. Ylians are not equipped to withstand the sort of tortures that the Taluans have devised.”

It’s kind of you to make excuses for me.

They aren’t excuses, Theyn objected. It was clear that Beno wasn’t agreeing, and the blond clucked his tongue and sighed. You are the most stubborn creature…

Look who’s talking.

“You two argue like an old married couple,” Sera interjected, sitting down with a less lethal cup of coffee.  The two Ylian men looked at each other, non-plussed.

“Good morning,” Joely said, walking into the kitchen from the other direction, coming in off of the porch. “Did you know – oh, hello!”

She was looking directly at Beno’s displayed genitalia, and her eyes were wide.

“Good morning,” he greeted, completely unfazed.

Sera put her head in her hand.  “You should probably put on some pants or something.”

“I, uh…” Joely burst into a wide, naughty smile. “Don’t rush on my account.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Theyn advised. “He’s already egotistical about his body.”

“Do you blame me?” his partner teased, spreading his arms out to the side so everyone could get a good look.

“Nobody could blame you there,” Joely agreed.

Sera sighed. “Asa might not appreciate walking in here and seeing you like that. It might make him uncomfortable, and he’s our host, so…”

Go get dressed, Beno, you exhibitionist, Theyn ordered.

He turned to leave and cast a naughty smile over his shoulder at Sera and Joely, then sauntered back to the bedroom where his clothes were waiting. As he walked, there was a faint shimmer around his back, and his scars were invisible. He was concealing them somehow, perhaps with a variation on his camouflage ability. Apparently, there were some parts of his body he was not as eager to share.

As soon as Beno was gone, Joely slapped Sera’s shoulder.

“Lucky girl!”

Theyn chuckled.  “Unfortunately, he has very good hearing. You’re only going to encourage him.”

Joely poured herself some coffee. “There are worse things!” She gestured with the pot and asked Theyn, “Do you want some?”

He smiled. “I have no idea what it is. It smells very… strong.”

“It’s called coffee, and it’s one of the vital elements of life.”
Sera shook her head. “No, it’s not. It just feels that way once you start drinking it.”

Joely filled a mug and put it down in front of the blond. “It totally is. It’s the answer to life, the universe and everything.”

“That’s 42,” Sera said, stirring some sugar into her own mug.

Theyn smiled. “Ah. Douglas Adams.”

“You know about The Hitchhiker’s Guide?” Joely asked, astounded. “No way! So, is Earth really categorized as mostly harmless?”

He smiled. “Asa had the books in his car. I read them on the way here. They were… amusing. Unlikely, but amusing.” Tentatively, he took a sip of the black fluid in his mug, and he promptly grimaced as the bitter dark roast ravaged his tongue. “Oh! This is…”

“Horrible?” Sera helpfully supplied.

He took another sip and grimaced again. “Amazing.”

Asa’s voice reached them from the living room. “I hear you talkin’. Everybody up?”

“Looks like it,” Joely responded. She pulled out another chair and sat at the table with Sera and Theyn.

Asa strolled into the kitchen, scratching his short brown hair. “I don’t know about all y’all, but I’m starvin’.” He opened the refrigerator and poked his head inside. “And since ain’t nobody been livin’ here for an age, there’s no food. I think we’d better go to the store.”

“Good idea.” Joely winked at Sera. “I think you and I should go and let these three have a little privacy.”

“That’s not - ” Sera began.

Theyn interrupted smoothly. “That’s very kind, and much appreciated.” He smiled.

Asa snorted. “All right, then. Just don’t break anything, hear?”

“Yes, sir,” Sera said, embarrassed.

The cowboy pulled a pair of travel mugs out of a cupboard, filled one with coffee and handed the other to Joely. She poured the contents of her cup into the plastic container and snapped the lid back in place. 

“Okay,” she said, smiling wickedly at Sera. “We’ll be back in a while. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Asa turned to Theyn.  “Is there anything you need in particular in terms of food, or anything that you can’t have?”

The alien shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m just starting to get used to living here on Earth. As far as I know, we have no special requirements.”

“Good to know. You eat meat?”

“I don’t. Beno does.”

“Right.” Their host’s mouth twitched in a moment of barely-concealed judgment. Sera had heard him railing on against vegetarians in the past, as she would expect from a cattle rancher. He covered his disapproval and continued. “Well, we’ll bring a variety of stuff and hopefully there’s nothing that’ll make you sick.”

Beno rejoined them, fully dressed. He leaned against the counter, his hands on the countertop behind him. It seemed to Sera that every position he took must have been calculated to make him look as appealing as possible, because she had yet to see him look anything but devastating.

“What is that smell?” he asked.

Theyn offered him his mug.  “Coffee.”

Beno took the mug and sniffed at it. He frowned and handed it back to his partner. “No thanks. That smells like used sanitation fluid.”

Sera chuckled, and Joely said, “You say that now. Wait until you taste it.”

The brunet Ylian smiled. “Then I can confirm that it tastes like used sanitation fluid?”

“Something like that.” Asa grabbed some keys from a wooden rack next to the door. “All right, Joe, let’s go.”

The two humans left the house, and Sera was alone with Theyn and Beno again. She fidgeted with her mug, then finished her coffee and put it in the sink. Theyn finished his own drink and did the same.

There was an awkward silence, and finally Beno broke it by saying, “Let’s explore. I want to see what this place is all about.”

“The ranch, or Earth?”

He smiled. “Maybe both.”  He led the way to the door and held it open for her. “After you.”