BAELAN: Fantasy Romance (Zhekan Mates Book 4) by E.A. James (30)

Taken by the Alien Dragon

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

The space ship shuddered as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

 

“Keep it steady,” Bane said, putting his hand on Hocus’s shoulder. The pilot was good at handling the ship but they hadn’t been sure what they would find. Earth had looked like a good option. The readings had told them that the air was breathable and the atmosphere was similar to PAX217.

 

Bane closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His fingers felt numb. His stomach was hollow even though he’d been taking in what his body needed. Space ship food, the stuff that tasted like cardboard, just wasn’t the same as a good meal.

 

Bane turned his attention back to the window of the space craft and Hocus’s steering. The planet was rich, green and browns splattered across a canvas of ethereal blue. He was scared it was a dream. Since PAX217 had been destroyed he’d had so many dreams about homes that could give him what he’d lost. Give him a place to belong.

 

“There,” Bane said, pointing. Hocus shifted direction and they headed for a medium patch of Earth compared to the others. The US of America, the Internet had told him. They’d made an effort to tap into the Earth’s resource system to learn more about the place they hoped to call home.

 

The flight down to the surface was quick. Compared to the time they spent in hyper sleep when they’d traveled through space, their time awake felt surreal. The space ship touched down and the door opened with a suction sound and warm air rushed in. It was the first time Bane had felt anything other than the constant room-temperature interior they’d existed in on their quest to find the new world.

 

“What do you think?” Mage said, coming up next to Bane. Her hair was long and blond, hanging well past her hips. She would stand out in a place like this. He’d seen the pictures. Females seemed to have lost their classic look about a hundred of their years ago.

 

“I think that this might just work,” Bane said. He looked over the vast stretch of yellow sand, the formation in the distance that created a jagged line between the sky and the horizon. “One we establish that this is the place we can send for the others.”

 

Bane stepped out of the ship and his feet sank a little into the sand. It was warm, baked by the sun that sat high in the sky. Just past noon according to the daylight cycle on Earth. He walked a couple of steps and then his feet hit a harder surface. He knelt down and inspected it. Hard, it seemed to be formed out of many tiny rocks. A road, he believed it was called. He’d downloaded so much into his system that it was hard to sift through it all in one go.

 

He got up and turned around, waving to Mage.

 

“This will do,” he called out.

 

“Watch out!” Her voice was accompanied by a humming that started up, loud and intimidating. The sound of rubber on this road, spinning faster than fast. The wind whistled around the iron beast coming at him at lightning speed. White, with eyes that looked angered and a broad black mouth, tilted in a grimace.

 

Bane jumped out of the way, just in time. The beast made a whining sound and then charged on; leaving Bane behind in a cloud of dust that made him cough and heave for air.

 

“What was that?” Mage asked.

 

Bane leaned down on his knees. Hocus appeared in the doorway and raised his eyebrows. He had brown hair, slicked back against his scalp and curling around his ears.

 

“Their mode of transportation, I believe,” he said.

 

Bane nodded. “Stay off the narrow strips of tar. They run on them.”

 

It was strange being on Earth. The planet felt like home, but it was alive with energies that hadn’t existed on PAX217. Their planet had been a peaceful one. This one felt like it was constantly moving, spinning not just around the sun, but with a power of its own, something that drove the humans onward.

 

It was unsettling and addictive, all at the same time.

 

“We shall camp toward the north,” Bane said and pointed. Mage and Hocus both turned and looked. Bane had chosen a spot some distance from this road that spelled out his death.

 

They moved the ship. It wasn’t easy moving over the land that had a stronger gravitational pull than their home planet. Bane felt tired quicker. He would have to adjust if they were going to survive here. Fight here. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, but they had to be prepared.

 

They barely had their living spaces erected when a thunderous noise sounded from above. It didn’t stretch along the vast skies as it did at home. Instead it came from a singular spot in the heavens, a machine with blades that sliced the atmosphere into pieces of tension.

 

“They’ve noticed our arrival,” Hocus said. “Perhaps we could—”

 

A spray of bullets came from the flying machine – helicopter right? – And bit into the earth all around them. Bane ducked for cover.

 

“They’re shooting at us!”

 

Mage screamed. Hocus swore and then a crack sounded like lightning had hit rock. It was the sound of Bane’s own temper, taking over. They were here in peace, dammit! They didn’t ask for war. They had not done anything to instigate it.

 

There was no time to think as the beast ripped out of him. Anger, fear, possession, they all had the same effect. They set the beast free.

 

Bane felt as the animal rose out of him. His skin hardened, stretched across his growing body in a thick span of scales. He heard a roar and another pop to his side. Hocus had lost it, too. Only Mage held onto her humanity. Maybe it would be better for her that way. The males could take care of the war.

 

Hocus’s dragon was red and orange with touches of yellow and black. When he moved the sun fell on the scales and it looked like he was pure fire. He blasted sprays of fire at the helicopter and it looked like molten gold.

 

Two strikes and the helicopter went down. It exploded in a pathetic display on the ground.

 

Another two suddenly appeared around Bane’s head, irritating like flies. They drew Bane’s attention away from Hocus, who seemed to fight with more machines that had arrived.

 

Bane breathed fire at the helicopters around him. Another spray of bullets, this time down his back. He roared. It stung like a bitch. His own scales were blue and green, with white and black streaks that shimmered like water when he moved. The downside was that he showed blood where Hocus’s injuries went unnoticed.

 

There was no time to think about what was happening. Canons appeared from the helicopters and fired at Bane. They left much more of a mark on his skin than the bullets. He managed to take out one helicopter with a blast of fire. Fury made his vision white, but the edges were tinged black. He was losing blood.

 

He fell. They’d underestimated the humans, expected they wanted peace with all their speeches about it. They should have brought more soldiers. They shouldn’t have come at all.

 

When his head hit the ground they were on him. There were so many humans it made his mind spin. They were all around him, scurrying like ants around his colossal dragon’s body. Bane lifted his head. Hocus was back in human form, limping, leaning on Mage as they headed to the ship.

 

As long as they got away there was still a change. Bane watched as Hocus looked back, but they kept going. Good. If the humans had him he would survive. And if he did die he would know that his race was till safe.

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

Washington D.C. looked just as it always did, but everything was different. Hannah sat on the little bench in the lobby; legs crossed one over the other, long nails tapping on the file in her lap. She glanced down at her shoe. It was one of those fashionable things with the sharp toe and the glaring finish that looked great and felt like hell to walk in.

 

She should have worn something else. But Mr. Stirling, president of Technico Industries, wouldn’t approve of anything else. Hell, it was hard enough just to get him to approve of the fact that she was his daughter.

 

“Mr. Stirling will see you now,” the secretary said. Her hair was graying at the roots like she’d been trying to hide her true age and her watery eyes were empty and cold. Perfect for the job of her father’s PA. No one with a heart could work with a tyrant and survive.

 

The office was big and spacious, and looked nothing like his office at home. Here it was all business. There were no pictures of Hannah and her mother. There were no plants or any other semblances of life. There was a desk, a bookcase and a coffee station that only the PA used to serve her father on her hands and knees.

 

“Are you ready for this?” he asked, getting up when she walked in. He glanced down her body, taking in the women’s power suit she’d chosen to wear. He frowned at her shoes and walked past her.

 

Hannah pushed her hands into her hair, fluffing it a bit, and trotted after her father.

 

“I’m going to introduce you to Mr. Doyle. He’s head of the Foreign Lifeforms Department.”

 

Right. The idea that there might be life somewhere else out there, other than earth. Hannah had been preparing to work at Technico Industries her whole life. Her father wanted her to walk in his footsteps. His were damn big shoes to fill.

 

“Don’t blow this,” he said over his shoulder. She was just a pace behind, flanking him instead of walking at his side. Such was life with Mr. Stirling. Hanna would never be seen as an equal.

 

“We have a few specimens we’re working on and I want you to take the reins on this new project.” Mr. Stirling pushed open double doors. The staff all stood up when his presence spilled into the room. It was like he was king in this little domain.

 

A man with gray hair and little round glasses on his nose stepped forward and introduced himself as Mr. Doyle. He was friendly-looking. Hannah wondered how he managed to stay that way in a world that had no space for character.

 

“Please come with me,” he said. Hannah looked at her father. He nodded. Hannah followed Mr. Doyle and the old man started talking. They walked through a metal door into a narrow passage with more doors on either side that resembled the one they’d walked through. Doyle stopped in front of the first and gestured for her to work through.

 

“What am I looking at?” Hannah asked, speaking for the first time.

 

“What do you think you’re looking at?” Doyle asked. Hannah looked over her shoulder and realized her father wasn’t there. He’d stayed behind the door. She relaxed, feeling the tension slip out of her body. She turned her attention to the creature and watched it move in a bizarre, jerky fashion. Tentacles. A slippery body. And it hovered.

 

“No…” It couldn’t be.

 

“Yes.” There was a smile in Doyle’s voice.

 

It couldn’t be. Hannah had thought they were still in a speculative stage, but this? This was very real. And impossible.

 

“Aliens,” she breathed.

 

When she turned her eyes back to Doyle he had a ghost of a smile on his face.

 

“I think you’ll come to enjoy your work here with us. There’s a lot to learn. Of course, it’s all classified stuff, and all that implies.”

 

Right. This meant that if Hannah mentioned a word to anyone outside of the facility – hell, outside of the room – she was going to be in trouble. She nodded. Sure, she could keep a secret.

 

Doyle walked down toward the next door and motioned for her to follow him. Hannah did as she was told. At the next window, she peered in again, this time with her mind wide open.

 

The cell was occupied by a gelatinous square that sat right in the middle. It didn’t look like anything special, just a colossal waste of space.

 

“And this?”

 

Doyle looked at Hannah. The intensity of his stare made her look at the cell again. She became aware of a very deep sound, a bass drone that vibrate through her core.

 

“Oh.”

 

Doyle walked on without saying anything. Hannah followed. Everything she knew about life and what was supposed to be real was changing in front of her eyes. Aliens didn’t exist. The science was still unstable. And yet, everything she saw now proved that she’d been wrong. The world was wrong.

 

The next cell had a creature in it that would definitely not be mistaken for something inanimate. It resembled a gorilla except it had scales rather than fur. It sat with its back to the door, but even so, Hannah felt like it was watching her. She shuddered and stepped away from the door.

 

“Your gut is accurate,” Doyle said behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. “Knowledge is great but if you can’t feel it in here,” he put a fist just under his ribs, “then you’re not cut out for this job. It’s the difference between the academics and the heroes.”

 

It felt like an immense compliment. Hannah tried not to beam and they walked to the next door together. Yellow caution strips was taped across the door in a cross. She peered through the window. A man sat on a bed, his hands in his hair. His cell was a hall compared to the other cells.

 

“What’s this?” she asked.

 

“The most dangerous one of them all.”

 

“A man?”

 

The moment she said it he looked up. He had ice blue eyes that pierced her soul. She felt him in her head like he was digging around in her mind, and she shivered. The hair at the back of her neck tried to crawl down her spine.

 

“He’s human,” she whispered, and at the same time she knew it was a lie. Humans didn’t have eyes like that. While she watched him he got up and walked toward her. On the way over his body started changing. A loud pop sounded and it was like something ripped free. A moment later green scales covering a colossal monster was in front of the door instead of the man she’d watched walk closer.

 

Those same eyes blinked at her from rubbery lids. It blinked, and then fire consumed the creature and shot out like a wave. The glass shattered, fragments of glass spraying across the corridor and the heat of the fire seared Hannah’s face.

 

There were shouts behind her but they sounded muffled. Everything suddenly felt far away. Hannah felt lightheaded. Her legs became wobbly. The edges of her vision blurred and then darkened until everything was black. The shouts came closer but she was already spiraling down into the blackness.

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

When Hannah opened her eyes again she looked into the smiling face of a nurse. The woman had dull brown hair and brown eyes and face that looked like kindness was part of her job description.

 

“There we are,” she said. Hannah pushed herself up and a wave of dizziness hit her. “Not too fast, miss.”

 

Hannah lifted her hand to her head. Doyle appeared in front of her.

 

“You okay?” He looked concerned. What had happened?

 

The images hit her in quick succession, her memory rebooting slower than her body. Her new job, the aliens, the handsome man. The dragon. She could almost feel the flames on her face again. She could feel him in her head again.

 

“What happened?”

 

“You fainted. You’re not the first one.” The nurse sounded like she didn’t approve.

 

“It’s an occupational hazard,” Doyle said dismissively. Hannah looked around the room. There were three other beds like her in the small medical room but she occupied the only one. Her shoes had been removed and her stockinged feet looked out of place in the crisp white room. Her father was nowhere to be seen. Did he know what had happened? Maybe better he didn’t. She would just be a disappointed, passing out first day on the job.

 

“Are you ready to try it again?” Doyle asked.

 

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea…” The nurse’s voice trailed off when Doyle waved a hand in her direction and looked at Hanna. His eyes were full of questions. And full of secrets, Hannah realized. Secrets she wanted to know.

 

“I’m ready.”

 

The nurse rolled her eyes. Hanna hopped off the bed and found she was stable. Her dress suit was slightly creased and she felt like leaving the shoes off. What had Doyle said? Occupational hazard. Doyle nodded and the corners of his mouth tugged up in a smile that spelled approval. Hannah felt a surge of pride. A little acceptance was all anyone needed.

 

“Put this on,” he said. He handed her a white coat, the kind everyone else in the building wore – the people that had the titles. It was a compliment. She shrugged into it and decided to put up with the shoes, after all; it wouldn’t be professional to walk around without them and she wanted to be worthy of the coat.

 

“Come on. I need you to get used to this one so that we can sample him. It’s the most complex one and if we don’t understand it we won’t be able to deal with more of its kind.”

 

Hannah nodded. More of those dragons? One had seemed more than enough. If it could knock her out with that kind of power… and she was sure she’d been knocked out. Hannah didn’t just faint. That had been power with the fire, power that worked magic in other ways.

 

When they were back in the corridor Hannah cleared her throat.

 

“I wanted to apologize for passing out. It’s not the best impression on my first day.”

 

Doyle waved his hand in much the same way he’d done with the nurse. “Don’t think about it. The first day is usually the worst for everyone.”

 

Not Mr. Stirling, Hannah though. His first day of anything was just as efficient and seamless as any other day. She didn’t say it.

 

When they reached the door again Hannah took a deep breath and tried to calm the nerves that had knotted in her stomach like an iron fist. She swallowed hard and tried not to show her fear. She had to make her father proud in the end. Fainting was already bad.

 

When she glanced through the little window again he was back on the bed and back in human form. The man leaned his elbows on his knees, head hanging low. His back muscles bulged where he supported himself and his arms were big, too. He had a spectacular build.

 

It was deceiving that he looked so human.

 

The moment she thought it he looked up as if he’d heard what she’d been thinking. His eyes found hers again and she felt an echo of him in her mind. It wasn’t as bad as it had been before – just a remnant, but it was enough to make Hannah think that he really did know what she was thinking.

 

His eyes were striking. Diamond eyes that threatened to suck her in. She tried to look away but found she couldn’t.

 

“Careful,” Doyle said, but honestly, it was a little late.

 

He got up and Hannah realized he was naked. Of course, how else would he shift? The clothes would rip, anyway, and it wasn’t like the lab would keep paying for new outfits if the alien was going to rip – or burn – everything off him.

 

He walked closer to Hannah and her first reaction was to get out of the way. But he held her there with his eyes. Her second reaction was to let her eyes slide down his body. This wasn’t his doing, and she knew it. She felt her cheeks flush, her ears burn. He was the one that was naked and she was blushing.

 

“This is specimen four five one,” Doyle said and Hannah finally managed to peel her eyes away from the naked man with the eyes that captivated her body and soul. “We need to get you acquainted with him and able to read his reactions so that you can sample him.”

 

Doyle started unlocking the door, working with keys and pin pads until it clicked open. Hannah stepped back.

 

“He won’t bite.” Doyle sounded irritated. Sure, he wouldn’t bite, but he could incinerate her. Or worse. She swallowed her fear and stepped through the door, following her superior. She’d already fainted. It would look terrible if she ran now, too. She forced herself forward even though her body and her mind protested.

 

“Another one,” he said. Perfect English.

 

Hannah looked at Doyle.

 

“He can talk?”

 

Doyle nodded. “He’s referring to you.”

 

“And I’m right here,” four five one said.

 

“You get acquainted and I’ll get the equipment,” Doyle said and locked Hannah in with the specimen. Hannah whipped her head around. Had they not seen what the dragon had done? How could they leave her with him? She wanted to run to the door and pound her fists against it, screaming and shouting until they let her out. She was an employee for God’s sake.

 

She didn’t do any of that. Instead, she turned her eyes back to the specimen. If he was going to come at her again she wanted to see. She wanted to look into his eyes if her death was going to come.

 

“I’m not a monster” he said.

 

“Right.”

 

She was being sarcastic with him. Smooth move, Hannah. How to make friends and influence people. Dragons. Whatever.

 

He stepped forward. Hannah fought the urge to step back. His eyes pierced her again and she expected him to climb into her thoughts, but this time it didn’t happen. Instead, her body heated up. Warmth flushed over her body and pooled between her legs.

 

“What are you doing?” she asked and took a step back.

 

He grinned. Dammit, he was gorgeous.

 

“That’s all you,” he said. He was reading her mind. And her attraction to him was all self-generated. Fantastic.

 

The door opened behind her. The specimen stepped away. Doyle glanced at her, disapproval behind his eyes. He’d seen him that close. Dammit. She glanced down. He had a silver suitcase in his one hand and a gun with a long silver needle in the other.

 

“You’re using that?” she asked. “On him?”

 

Doyle nodded. “Samples.”

 

Of what? Hannah though, but she didn’t say it. She looked back at the specimen. He was reserved now, his eyes that ice blue it had been before. He glanced at the needle.

 

“This is what you’re going to do,” Doyle said. “Come on, four five one.”

 

Bane, the name bounced around in Hannah’s head. Bane. That was his name, she realized. Four five one wasn’t a specimen, he was alive. He had humanity. And this was going to be torture.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

“I’m sorry I scared you. You’ll understand its not easy being a test subject. The samples hurt every time.”

 

Bane was alone with this woman in his cell now that the superior had left. He’d shown her the first shot. She looked horrified. This was a good sign – there were humans with sympathy after all. He hadn’t seen anything of the sort since he’d arrived.

 

“If they knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t do it.”

 

She still kept her distance. Her hair was honey colored, her eyes were evergreen. The attraction and the fear mixed into a toxic cocktail that pinched Bane’s nose. The fear bothered him but the attraction underneath that? It was interesting.

 

“They don’t see you as someone who’s alive,” she said. Bane knew that was true but that didn’t make what they were doing any less wrong. “It’s hard not to see you as a threat when you’re a fire breathing dragon.” She shivered as if she remembered what Bane had looked like.

 

“I wasn’t just talking about me. I was talking about the others. They can handle one dragon but when the rest come it will be war.”

 

“There are more of you?”

 

Her fear spiked when he mentioned war. He didn’t like it when the fear overruled her attraction. He liked that her body wanted to be closer to his. He wanted her closer, too.

 

“What do they want?”

 

“Peace.”

 

“How ironic.”

 

Her voice was stern despite the fear. These humans were complicated, layered creatures. Still, her resolve wavered. She didn’t know what he was saying was the truth. He had to tell someone and so far no one had listened. No one but her.

 

“You don’t have to believe me. We just need a new home. We’re not here to start a war. But if the humans bring it to us we can defend ourselves. We won’t roll over and die.”

 

He pinned images of the dragons in her mind, blue and green scales that shimmered like oil. There were more dragons in this picture. Orange and red. Green and red. Brown and black. He pinned them onto her frontal lobe one by one. After a few images, she grabbed at her temples like it was painful. While he was in her mind he searched for something of hers. Something he could hold onto. Hannah. They called her Hannah.

 

“Stop it,” she cried.

 

He withdrew them. “Sorry. I needed you to understand.”

 

She dropped her hands and she was breathing hard like she’d been running. He moved closer to her. Heat radiated from her skin, drawing him further. There was something magnetic about this one. His body stirred in response. She glanced down at his sex. She’d noticed. He expected more of the fear, but the attraction spiked this time.

 

Very interesting.

“Why don’t you show them, then, if it’s so important?” Hannah asked. She was keeping on track.

 

“You’re different than them.” Hannah didn’t just see him as a test. She saw him as a person – a person she was attracted to, apparently – and that was why he could show her the things he had. Her mind was the only open one he’d encountered so far. The same heat washed through her again, the attraction.

 

He raised her hand and touched her cheek with his fingertips. Being in contact with her was like touching a live wire. His body tingled all over. He parted his lips. She looked at his face and blushed.

 

“It’s hard to persuade those who believe beyond conviction that they are right. Even with images.”

 

Hannah nodded slowly. He hoped she was starting to understand.

 

“I have to do the rest of the tests,” she said. Her voice was breathy, hoarse like she’d exerted herself. Bane took a deep breath. This was going to hurt, but if she failed she wouldn’t come back. There had been others that hadn’t come back. That had been a blessing.

 

“Do what you must,” he said, holding out an arm to her and turning his head away. He kept his attention on her even though he wasn’t looking at her. The first shot hurt like hell. He bit his cheeks, closed his eyes, breathed in through his nose. The anger was just under his skin. If he wasn’t careful the dragon would break free again.

 

He didn’t want to do that to Hannah. Not this one.

 

“I’m sorry I’m hurting you,” she said. She sounded genuinely sorry. The pain cut him off from her emotions, but he believed her just by the tone of her voice.

 

“You keep doing what you need so that you can come back.”

 

The words were out before he’d thought about them. But it was true – he did want her to come back. He liked being around her. Despite the pain she was causing him her fingers were soft on his skin. Her voice was calm in his mind. Her presence was good for his soul.

 

When she didn’t prick him again he turned to look at her. She looked at him. Her face was soft and gentle, her eyes a lighter green now. There was a mixture of compassion and sorrow on her features. She smelled like the forest after a rainstorm. She smelled like freedom. When last had he had a taste of that?

 

“You’re attracted to me,” he said. A statement that would deflect from his own attraction.

 

Her face colored, her cheeks going rosy, making her that much more beautiful.

 

“I have to report this,” she said, taking a step away. The heat went with her and Bane wished she would come back.

 

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

 

She nodded. “As long as there’s a job to be done and I don’t fail him, I will be back.”

 

Him? Who? He tried to reach into her again but she was shut off from him now. Somehow she managed to hide her true emotions, her thoughts, and Bane couldn’t reach them. Cunning human.

 

She left the cell. Bane retreated back to his bed. The anger was suddenly uncontrollable inside of him. There had been nothing on this planet justifying their mercy. Not until now. He had intended to tell the war council that the earth didn’t deserve survival. The humans were merciless and selfish, out to gain and willing to risk nothing. But if there was one human like Hannah, there was something worth saving.

 

He couldn’t reach his superiors. He wished he could. He would ask them to spare her; to search for humans that were like her and to spare them the fate that the others deserved.

 

He paced around his cell. Hall. The place was gigantic to accommodate the beast. And it had come out a lot lately. He felt the animal bristle under his skin, aching to get out and cause havoc as much as it could. He held it in. If he caused too many problems, they might execute him. If he was too dangerous she wouldn’t come back. He needed to see her again. Not just because she was good, but because there was something about her that made him want to be good, too.

 

There was something about her that made him want her.

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 

“Hannah!” Doyle’s voice ripped her out of her focus. She had her eye against the lens of a microscope, studying a sample taken from the gorilla-type monster.

 

When she looked up Doyle’s mouth was turned down. It had been one week since Hannah had started working at Technico and Doyle’s pleasant demeanor had changed as the time passed. She didn’t see him now as the kind man she would rather answer to than her brash father, but she saw Doyle in the same light.

 

He demanded results. He expected them. When she didn’t deliver he wasn’t scared to go to Mr. Stirling. Being the boss’s daughter had a lot of downfalls.

 

“Yes, Mr. Doyle?” She tried to sound innocent but her stomach sank. She must have made a mistake again. She was going to get in trouble. She could see it by Doyle’s thinly pursed mouth, his disapproving eyes. The way the other employees glanced at her like something dramatic was going to happen.

 

“The samples you took yesterday are no good. Again.”

 

Doyle’s voice was stern and she flinched. Hannah had been trying to do them right but it was hard being so heartless when she knew that she was hurting the subjects. Bane was the only one that could tell her how much it hurt. But the others had to be secured when she took them which was saying enough.

 

“I want you to do them again.”

 

Hannah closed her eyes for a second. It was bad enough that she had to hurt them every day. Doing it an extra time seemed downright cruel.

 

“Your performance reports are being logged today,” Doyle added. Hannah cringed on the inside. She was going to have to answer to her father for that, and that was never pleasant. But she had survived him until now – she could do it again.

 

“I’ll make sure that I do it right this time, Mr. Doyle,” she said.

 

He nodded. “I want you do to it at sunset.”

 

Sunset. That meant she was going to stay late again. It would be the third time this week. Staying overtime had never bothered Hannah – she was a hard worker and she wasn’t scared to exert herself. She always had to go the extra mile for Mr. Stirling, anyway. But staying behind alone in the lab after the other employees left wasn’t her favorite thing to do.

 

The day dragged on. The employees started leaving one by one. Some of them glanced at Hannah before leaving. None of them really spoke to her – no one wanted to be involved with Stirling’s daughter.

 

The last man left and Hannah was alone. The sun was on the horizon, the last rays reaching through the narrow windows against the ceiling. Shadows formed in the corners and under the testing stations. The lab got colder, the temperature falling more than it should have with the lack of light.

 

Hannah shivered. This place was downright creepy at night. The darkness came alive as soon as night fell as if it was another creature in one of the cells. It was as if the darkness was bitter, out to get her.

 

She picked up the kit with all the needles and punches that she had to use to take the samples. Her stomach sank, dread filling her. This was horrible. If she wanted to be a biologist, someone worth mentioning at all, she had to endure this. Honestly, if she knew that this was what it entailed to be a biologist she would have chosen to be something else.

 

Not only that, it was a shock to know that her father was doing something like this behind closed doors. Then again, nothing should have been a surprise for a man who didn’t have a heart. Hannah had grown up being dominated by him. He was cold and incapable of feeling. The only thing he offered when he bothered to speak at all was verbal abuse. She shouldn’t have been surprised that pain was his way of life.

 

Hannah unlocked the cell where the little squid-like creature was pacing out a track that always had the same pattern after dark. It was almost like it was trying to communicate or send signals. No one else bothered to find out what it was doing, and Hannah couldn’t figure it out.

 

She worked fast, taking the samples as quickly as she could so that the pain would be over. The squid squirmed under her fingers, a silent scream, and Hannah died a little inside. This little creature’s mute agony was almost worse than the screams of distress the gorilla-like creature made, or the liquid that seeped from underneath the blob like it was wetting itself every time.

 

This job was going to gnaw away at Hannah’s conscious unless she lost her sense of compassion. And that wasn’t going to happen. Every time she hurt them a little bit of her was being tortured as well.

 

She finished with the samples and left the cell again. When she peeked through the glass window the creature was in the corner, shuddering as if it was in shock. This happened every time she visited it. Sometimes it lasted much longer than others. She hated being seen as the enemy.

 

The gorilla was next. She had to take care of this one as soon as possible. It was aggressive and it had to be secured with manacles. She pressed the button that had metal clamp down around the gorilla-like creature. The moment she opened the door it started screaming. The sound was so close to a human scream it shattered through Hannah.

 

The creature was furry. It was built like a gorilla but it had shorter legs and longer arms. A long face with red eyes glared at her when it didn’t scream and a mouth with fangs that elongated along with its emotions opened and snapped at her.

 

She tried to take a sample but despite the manacles it fought too much. She couldn’t get an accurate sample.

 

The manacles rattled dangerously. Hannah wanted to run and hide. She wanted to stop being the bad guy. She wanted to go home and crawl into bed. She wanted one night where the eyes of these creatures – filled with pain and agony – didn’t haunt her dreams.

 

One of the manacles broke. The creature, realizing was getting somewhere, starting fighting with renewed vigor. Hannah realized she was in trouble. Fear rippled through her. She packed up her sample kit as fast as she could. This would have to wait. She would rather face her father than die – although which one was worse was debatable.

 

Hannah turned for the door. Before she reached it the other manacle broke and the monster was free. She ran for the door and tried to close it, throwing her weight against it.

 

The creature was much stronger. It shoved open the door with no effort at all and bellowed a roar that echoed through the lab and came back at Hannah threefold. She started running but the creature caught up to her and hit her on the neck with a clawed hand. She fell and tried to scramble away but her vision was starting to blur.

 

This was the end. She knew it. She looked into the red eyes, now fiery and blazing, and in it, she saw her death. It was going to be painful. Hopefully, it would be quick.

 

Her vision went black. The hit on the back of her neck had done more damage than she’d thought. With her vision gone she focused on what she could hear. A terrible noise like the creature was destroying the lab, squealing and shouting and crying in way that wasn’t human. And then another hit on her body, her legs this time. Hannah wasn’t going to make it. Her head already felt like it was full of air. She was floating. The pain was lessening. She was drifting away.

 

She heard another crash, the sound of metal ripping. It sounded far away like she was removed from it all. A roar that didn’t sound like the creature that had attacked her. They were all escaping. Hannah had really messed up.

 

Good thing she wouldn’t be around for her father to be upset about the destroyed lab.

 

Heat on her skin snapped her out of the sinking pit. Fire?

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

The alarms were an incessant whining in Bane’s ears. He wished he knew where to switch them off, but Hannah was on the floor in his cell and there was too much blood everywhere. His head swam.

 

When the creature had broken free and attacked Hannah, Bane had lost it. He’d barely made it through the human-sized cell door – which he’d torn off without thinking twice – before his dragon had broken free. He’d run into the labs breathing fire and fury and killing that creature.

 

He’d had to shift back into human form to make sure she was okay, and the shift had been too quick – he’d forced the change and it had taken its toll on his body. He wasn’t as strong now. But she was safe.

 

He was possessive over Hannah. He would kill for her, no matter what or who it was. The thought struck him only as he was staring at her, unconscious and drenched in blood. He hadn’t felt like that about someone in a while. In fact, he couldn’t remember feeling that strongly about anyone, ever.

 

Her eyes fluttered and he felt her come round before her eyes opened. She looked confused for a moment, her eyes flitting around, not settling on anything. Then they settled on Bane. The blue was dimmer, a summer sky instead of cerulean as they’d been before.

 

Beautiful as ever. Bane sat back on his legs. She was alive.

 

“Where is it?” she asked, terror tackling her. The creature. She remembered.

 

“You’re safe.”

 

“You killed it?”

 

Bane swallowed hard and nodded. Her body sagged with relief, then, and he knew he’d done the right thing saving her. She was someone worth saving. She was a human worth his time. Her face twisted in pain and she reached for her shoulder where the blood seemed to be coming from.

 

The smell of blood was thick in the air – not only hers but what remained of the creature he’d killed as well. The metallic smell was thick in his nostrils. Hannah tried to sit up. She groaned.

 

“Don’t, you’re hurt,” Bane said, leaning forward and easing her down again. His face was only inches from hers, and when he was this close he could see the outline of her irises. Dark. Midnight.

 

Her eyes slid down to his lips and her emotions spiked again, attraction rather than agony or fear. Bane’s body responded, something inside him lurching. This woman would be his end.

 

As if she knew what he was thinking – which was impossible for a human – she blushed. Her cheeks had that color that made her look like a vision. He let himself look at her lips, too. Plump. Kissable. He shouldn’t be doing this.

 

Bane lowered his lips onto hers. Her eyes were open for a moment, surprise traveling through her body, but then she gave over and closed her eyes. Bane relaxed when he felt her letting go of the idea that it might not be the right thing to do either. Her reserve was pushed aside but passion that surged through her. Bane stifled a growl that started low in his throat, a guttural sign of possession. He had to keep himself in check around her – he didn’t want to look like a monster.

 

Her hands lifted and her slim fingers pushed in his hair. The feeling on his scalp made his skin tingle down his neck and his and his spine.

 

When he finally broke the kiss her eyelids were half drooped. Her face had a soft glow. If it weren’t for the blood on her ripped lab coat or the squealing alarms that created the wrong backdrop for this scene it would have been perfect.

 

A crashing sound came from the lab. Bane snapped his head up and listened. Footsteps. Dozens of them.

 

“They’re coming,” he said, but it was too late. Suddenly there were humans in his cell, streaming in with fire arms pointed at him. Someone had shut of the damn alarm, finally.

 

“No, don’t shoot!” Hannah cried out. It looked bad, Bane knew that. He was a specimen from a foreign country, a dragon that was deemed dangerous. Hannah was on the floor covered in blood. It definitely didn’t look good.

 

“He saved me,” Hannah said. That seemed to get their attention, but there was a lot of tension and nervousness in the air. It was so thick Bane could draw his fingers through it.

 

The guns were all trained on him. He could taste the gun powder on his tongue, a toxic mix with the smell of the anger and the fear and the shock in the room. Emotions were running high. Dangerous.

 

The soldiers moved slowly. They all wore protective gear and kept those guns trained on Bane. In the circle they were forming he couldn’t see all of them at the same time. The ones in front made a move to come closer. Bane took a step forward, but they jumped on him from behind. They’d tried to distract him and succeeded. He should have known better.

 

“Stop it!” Hannah’s voice rang through the cell but they weren’t listening to her. The butt of a gun came down on Bane’s head, sending him to his knees. They started hitting him with their guns, blows raining down on him. The anger pushed to the surface. If they didn’t stop soon he was going to lose it and a lot of them were going to die.

 

He didn’t want to kill in front of Hannah.

 

“Leave him alone!” Hannah was crying now and the sound of her distress pushed Bane so close to the edge he saw red. He was going to lose it in a second and then there would be chaos.

 

“That’s enough,” a deep voice boomed from the door behind the soldiers. The attack on Bane stopped abruptly. He curled into a ball on the floor, trying to cradle himself. He hurt everywhere.

 

“Mr. Stirling,” one of the soldiers said. There was reverence in his tone and a touch of fear, but it felt different from the fear that had ruled until this man had come in.

 

“Dad,” Hannah said in a thin voice. There were no more tears, but her fear was apparent, too. She feared this man that she called father.

 

“Have you all lost your minds? That thing,” he pointed at Bane, “has the ability to kill all of us. Secure him.”

 

“Daddy, no,” Hannah pleaded. She hoisted herself up even though it obviously caused her pain. “He saved me. He isn’t here to cause a war. They just want peace. The only reason he’s fighting is because we’re pushing him.”

 

“Be quiet, Hannah.”

 

His tone was dismissive. Bane got the feeling she usually complied. But something was resolute inside her now, something hard and icy in her gut.

 

“You can’t keep doing this,” she said. Her voice had taken on a stern quality of her own. Bane wondered if she knew how much she sounded like him. It was apparent she hated him, but they were similar in their stubbornness. “You’re not going to beat everything by acting like you rule the universe.”

 

Stirling looked at her. His face twisted in a snarl and for a moment it looked like he was going to agree. He lifted his hand and slapped her across the face instead. Her blond hair, tangled from the struggle, fell over her face.

 

Bane wanted to run to her but the soldiers grabbed him. He wanted to fight but the struggle with the creature had drained him and he wasn’t angry now. There was so much pain in the air – Hannah’s pain – and it drained him. They forced him to his knees.

 

Hannah wiped her hair out of her face. There were no tears. Her face was an expressionless mask. If only she knew what a clear map her emotions were to what was really going on inside her head. Pain, anguish, fear, fury. It was a dangerous mix. She looked at Bane with eyes that flashed with something – the fury? She walked out of the cell, following her father.

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Hannah was a disappointment. Part of her had always known it – her father reminded her whenever he thought maybe she would be able to forget. But there were times when it was worse. She’d let the gorilla-creature escape and now it was destroyed.

 

Months of research – pointless. Money and time – gone. And it was all because of her. She wasn’t cut out for this job. She made him look bad. She did everything wrong. What would her mother say if she were alive?

 

Maybe her mother would have asked her if she was alright after she’d nearly been killed by an alien. Maybe her mother would have asked about the handsome man in cell four. Maybe her mother would have understood.

 

Hannah shook off the thoughts and focused on the microscope. She’d been assigned to testing only. Sampling had been taken away because it was obvious she’s been given too much responsibility too quickly. Not even Doyle had disagreed with Stirling. Whether that was because he agreed or because he was too scared to challenge the man was a different story. Either way, she was almost like an assistant now. Hannah wasn’t a true biologist.

 

The upside was that she could stay late now without there being any questions asked. Her work piled up during the day. She was expected to stay late most evenings, anyway. When the other employees left – some of them ignoring her, some shaking their head in pity, which was worse – Hannah had the lab to herself.

 

She didn’t take samples anymore which meant she didn’t have to hurt them anymore. And when she was the only one left she could spend time with Bane even if she didn’t go in there to take her samples. It was a win-win even if she’d lost her dignity.

 

“You’re late tonight,” he said when she opened the door to his cell with her keypad. He sat on his bed, blankets dragged over his lap to hide his nakedness. Hannah was relieved. He didn’t seem to think that being naked was a big deal, but it made her nervous around him and he seemed to understand that. Maybe he’d read her mind. With Bane, anything was possible.

 

“I had to finish work. There’s a reason I stay late, you know.” She couldn’t help but smile. The sexy alien with his pitch black hair and diamond eyes uplifted her mood the moment she saw him, no matter how bad her day was.

 

Bane patted the bed next to him, invited her to sit down. When she did she pulled a cloth and disinfectant from her pocket. When they’d beat him they’d caused damage – his skin was split in various places. Hannah had been taking care of him.

 

She couldn’t bandage him, which would make it obvious that she’d been with him, but she could make sure that there were no infections.

 

At first, the open wound had fascinated her. It was like he had silver scales just under his skin. The dragon, he’d explained, but it didn’t make sense. Very little about him did. It was part of what she liked about him. He was unpredictable, a breath of fresh air.

 

“What are you working on?” he asked.

 

“You, actually. I have to study the samples. Your blood. You tissue. That kind of thing.”

 

“And what did you find?”

 

He didn’t sound upset. He sounded curious like maybe something interesting would come up.

 

“I found out that even if you look like us you’re not like us at all.”

 

“Does that scare you?”

 

She looked at him. His eyes were the color of ice and dead serious. She shook her head. She was sure he would be able to tell if something scared her – he always seemed to know what she was thinking or feeling. But he wanted her to say it.

 

“It doesn’t.” And it really didn’t. In fact, being with him was wonderful because he was nothing like anything she knew. Which meant the chances that he would be as horrible as the rest of her life was slim. “In fact, I like it.”

 

He looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

 

“Your dragon scares me, though,” she said, her mouth tugging into a smile. She was joking, but deep down a small part of it was true. She knew that Bane would never do anything to hurt her, but the dragon had a feeling of dread that surrounded it. Long teeth, scales, fire, and those diamond eyes that had no humanity in them when Bane shifted – it wasn’t a party.

 

“It’s supposed to be scary. I’m a warrior. It would do no good if I looked like your kittens.”

 

Hannah chuckled and finished with the wounds. They were healing. Slower than she would have liked, but healing.

 

“What does it feel like to fear nothing?” she asked.

 

Bane leaned back on the bed, stretching. The muscles in his arms and shoulders rippled under his skin. Hannah stared. Heat washed through her body. She couldn’t help it. When he looked at her she forced her eyes back to his and blushed, caught in the act.

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Don’t be,” he said. His lips were slightly parted, eyes dilated, and he had a feeling he was thinking about something entirely different from what they were talking about. He breathed in as if he smelled something.

 

“I fear things, just as you do,” he said. His face still didn’t match the topic.

 

“Like what?”

 

“Losing loved ones. It’s a fear of anything with a life force.” He looked down at his lap, shifted the blankets. “And when they attack, I fear that I will lose you.”

 

Right. The pending war. Hannah still had made no progress warning her superiors about what Bane was telling her. She believed him with her heart and soul, but they all said that any prisoner would try to threaten to buy freedom. They weren’t falling for it. They told her it was her weak heart, her soft soul, which caused her downfall in the industry. More criticism.

 

“I try,” she said. “I’ll keep trying to warn them.”

 

“I know.”

 

His voice was husky when he said it. His mind was definitely not on the conversation. The blankets were bundled in his lap, hiding his body. The effort to conceal it made it that much more obvious.

 

Hannah felt more heat. It rushed through her body, pooled between her leg. She wanted Bane. She ached for Bane. She didn’t know why an alien was so attractive to her, but in the week after the attack, she’d come to feel that he was the only creature in the universe that understood her, the only one that actually cared.

 

Hannah swallowed. Her mouth was dry. Her breathing came in erratic bursts. She rubbed the palms of her hands on her jeans.

 

Bane looked at her and his eyes flashed. His eyes slid down to her lips. It made her look at his, too. Everything about him was strong and able. His face was masculine, a square jaw, a straight nose, and deep thoughtful eyes. He was a prime specimen for a GQ model.

 

He shifted closer to her so that they sat side by side. His shoulder lightly touched hers and a current flew through her body. Since he’d kissed her after the attack – almost a dream she’d been so out of it – they hadn’t touched again. She’d been scared he would regret it. She hadn’t known why he’d kept his distance.

 

He didn’t keep it now. He lifted his hand, put it on her cheek and turned her head toward him. He lowered his mouth onto hers and this time, she gave herself over to him. His lips were soft and supple, and raw and powerful, all at the same time. He parted her lips with his and slid his tongue into her mouth. It was hot and slick and she moaned into his mouth.

 

Her body was flushed with heat. Her nipples tightened in her bra and she scissored her thighs together, drying to get rid of the energy build up that would be the end of her.

 

Instead of letting go of her, letting her deal with what she was feeling, Bane slid his hand onto her leg and moved upward. When he touched her sex she shuddered. He didn’t waste time making it clear what he wanted, and God, Hannah wanted to give it to him.

 

Bane knew when she knew. He might have read her mind. Maybe it was just the sexual charge in the cell. Either way, he made short work of getting her undressed. He peeled off the coat, pulled her shirt over her head and made work of her bra like he’d dealt with one before. He pulled down her pants and her underwear, and then she was as naked as he was.

 

The blankets had slipped down, revealing his lust and his hunger and it seemed to match hers.

 

He touched her again, his hands on her breasts this time, making her gasp. Her body melted into his hands and she lay back on the bed, unwilling to keep herself upright again.

 

Bane crawled over her. He was all muscle and raw sexuality and in his eyes she saw the promise of sex and pleasure and closeness like she hadn’t felt before. Her skin was alive with an electric current that could only be coming from him and no matter where he touched her, a jolt traveled through her.

 

He positioned himself between her legs and her thighs fell open as if they had a mind of their own. He was at her entrance, and the next moment he slid into her and erased everything that she could be thinking about but him. He was everywhere. In her mind, over her body, all around the cell, deep inside her. She gasped and moaned as he started moving, and she gave herself to him completely.

 

This was what she wanted. She wanted him to have every part of her. Not just her body, but her heart too. He pumped in and out of her, pushing her closer and closer to an orgasm. Her body was hot and the sexual heat filled her up like a cup being filled with hot water. Any moment now she was going to spill over.

 

She’d just thought it when Bane put his lips on hers and pushed her over the edge. The orgasm shattered through her in a white light and she cried out against his mouth.

 

When she came down again he was right there with her, and she had the strange sensation that she was falling.

 

He would catch her. She didn’t know where the thought had come from, but it was right there. She could fall, and he would catch her. Every time.

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

They were on their way. Bane could feel them, inching closer to this planet, bringing their wrath and their vengeance with them. Hocus and Mage, his travel partners, had seen him captured. They had seen him taken by this planet’s cruel race and they’d gone back to the others to rally a rescue team.

 

Bane knew because it was what he would have done. You don’t leave a soldier behind. That was how they were trained; it was how they cared for each other.

 

They were going to destroy this planet. Most of the humans deserved it. What he’d seen of them was heartless and merciless and they deserved to suffer for the pain they’d caused him. At least, that was what he’d thought until Hannah had come along.

 

She was different. She was the kind of person that made him believe that there could be life without war. There was hope for peace when he looked into her eyes. But not for people like her father, and Bane got the feeling that the earth consisted of more people like him than like her. There were the few that were worth saving, but they didn’t outweigh the bad that Earth had to offer. It was hard to believe they could coexist with such cruelty, that there were people out there who believed it was acceptable.

 

“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked. She’d gotten dressed again after he’d taken her. It was the most powerful emotional response he’d ever had with someone. He’d never felt like that with anyone, not even of his own race, and he hadn’t felt like that about someone, either. Hannah was different. It was almost impossible to think that they were worlds removed from each other. It felt like she was the missing piece to Bane’s life and it had only been a matter of time before he’d found her.

 

It was the sex that had opened his feelings to the pending doom. He was troubled because he knew that if they arrived and he didn’t do something about it, everything Hannah loved, everything that made up her life, would be destroyed. He didn’t want to be the one to cause her such pain. He could tell by how her father treated her, by the pain and the distance she created when he was around, that she had grown up in a home of abuse.

 

She looked at him now with eyes that felt like they looked right into her soul, even though Bane knew that she couldn’t sense emotions or read minds the way he could.

 

“The others. They’re close now. If we don’t do anything they will destroy the earth and everything in it. It will be for me, for how I have been treated.”

 

Hannah nodded, looking at her hands. The tension in the air, the loaded sexual atmosphere, had changed into something more serious and quiet.

 

“What can I do to help?” she asked, looking up at him. The question caught him off guard even though he could usually sense what was going on in her mind. This was something else. This was genuine – her heart speaking to his.

 

“What would really help is if I can escape this facility. I can meet the troops and stop them.”

 

He looked up at her. Her face was closed and her emotions were too. He’d learned that she switched herself off when she was in deep thought or when she retreated into herself.

 

“I’ll help you,” she said, emerging again from some deep place inside her. “Tomorrow night.”

 

Another unexpected response. Sometimes she managed to say something he couldn’t guess at. Those were the times when it meant so much more.

 

“Really?”

 

She nodded. “You’re not just a specimen, and if I have to be honest with you, to hell with my father and his testing. I have spent my whole life aspiring to be good enough for him, and to do that I’ve realized I have to become a monster. No more.”

 

Bane wanted to take her face between her hands and make love to her again. He wanted to make her his own the way he had almost an hour before. He wanted every inch of her for himself because she made his life complete in ways it had never been before.

 

“I have to go. The night guard will start his rounds soon. I will be back tomorrow night, and then you’ll get out of here. We’ll make sure everything works out.”

 

Hannah leaned forward and kissed Bane. It was the first time she made the move, and a first of warmth glowed in his chest, a feeling that slowly spread through his body and felt nothing like the consuming fire he’d felt while they were naked together. This was different. This was a kind of force that could sustain him through his lifetime.

 

He cared for her, he realized. Very much. She was someone he’d come to need in his life, and leaving her behind would create a hole that hadn’t been there before – a hole that only Hannah could fill. It was dangerous being that dependent upon someone’s existence, but that was the truth and it had happened without him being able to stop it.

 

Hannah got up, straightened out her clothes, checking that she looked decent in case she ran into someone out there. The last thing anyone here at the facilities needed to find out was that her relation with the specimens – with Bane – was much more than just an interest in species. That was much more than friendship, in fact.

 

She stopped at the door and turned to look at him. “Tomorrow night,” she said, and there was promise in her voice. She was going to be back for him, and he believed her. Hannah didn’t break her promises. She was pure and kind and true.

 

She turned and pulled the cell door shut behind her. Bane heard it click. He waited for the soft click of her shoes on the linoleum as her feet carried her away from him to a home he could only try and imagine. She was almost gone when something occurred to him.

 

He reached out, hoping it wasn’t too late. He found her, dim and fading as she moved further and further away, but he could still read some of her. He looked for something that resembled his own feelings, something that mirrored the shape of his heart. And he found it. It was the smallest flicker before she was out of range and it disappeared completely, but Bane hadn’t imagined it.

 

He felt complex feelings for her, and she felt the same for him. It wasn’t strong yet – uncertain – but it was there. Love was what she called it. Bane didn’t know how to describe it in his terms, but here there was a word for it. Love.

 

That was definitely it. He closed his eyes and lay back. Hannah would come for him. He knew now without a sliver of a doubt.

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

Hannah waited until the other employees left. The day had never felt as long or dragged on as slowly as it had that day. Two of the employees who always left at five on the dot decided to work late. It was as if everyone was set on finding some way to ruin her plans. Bane had to get out that night if they were going to stop a war from happening, and nothing was going Hannah’s way.

 

She’d sat with a fist of nerves turning in her stomach every couple of minutes. She hadn’t been able to focus, hadn’t been able to eat. At least none of the employees spoke to her which meant that it wasn’t strange that she was keeping to herself. She produced less work than ever before and Doyle had to ask her to rewrite reports twice.

 

He hadn’t seemed to think that there was a problem, thank God, or he might have gotten suspicious.

 

Finally, when it was well past six, the others left and Hannah was left alone. She hurried, finding the keys she’d jacked from her father’s office. She’d volunteered to take documents to him and the bio engineer whose responsibility it really was had been relieved. No one liked going face to face with Stirling, but it was a small sacrifice. Getting the key had been easy – he ignored her most of the time and started a phone call while she was still in the office.

 

Hannah walked to the cell. Bane was waiting for her on the other side. He looked strained, wrinkles of worry fanning out from his icy eyes.

 

“I couldn’t get them to leave,” she breathed, opening the door. He stepped through. He was naked, still, and they had to fix that. Hannah took only a moment let her eyes slide down his body and then she turned to the closet with all the coveralls. She found the biggest one and offered it to Bane. It was a little snug around his shoulders and his thighs but it would have to do.

 

“We have to leave through the loading dock. The night guard is posted at the front until his rounds are due.”

 

Bane nodded and Hannah led the way. They moved through corridors that she didn’t know very well. Hannah prayed they wouldn’t get lost. Every now and then she had to peek over her shoulder to see if Bane was still behind her. He moved on cat feet, so quiet that if she didn’t know he was there she would have sworn she was alone. He was a soldier, he’d said. It was apparent through the way he moved and the way he looked around him, listening for sounds.

 

Now that Bane was out of his cell a different side of him came to the fore. Hannah hadn’t seen him like that before – able and in his element.

 

They found the door – thank God - a garage door that rolled up to almost two stories high, made for the cages with the massive creatures they brought in from time to time. Creatures like Bane’s dragon.

 

To the side a smaller door was carved out of the big door and Hannah pushed against it. It was locked and none of the keys she had taken from the office worked. She cursed under her breath. A sense of urgency pressed her on. It was getting urgent. She realized that it came from Bane. He needed to get out there.

 

Bane tapped her shoulder lightly and she stepped aside from him. He placed a hand against the lock. Hannah watched him intently. She expected fire, brute strength, something violent that would break through the door and they would be out in the open, free. Instead, he concentrated on the lock, staring at it hard for a moment, and then it clicked open.

 

Well, that worked, too.

 

Hannah stepped through first. She would scan for people and when it was safe she would signal for Bane to step through. They couldn’t afford being caught just yet – the quieter they could slip away, the better.

 

Hannah had just stepped through the door when a hand clasped over her mouth and a thick arm wrapped around her body, lifting her off her feet so she had no leverage. She tried to squirm, screamed, but it came out as a mumble and her squirming didn’t help at all.

 

The attack forced her back down onto the ground, holding her at an angle where she had no strength. His hand was still clasped over her mouth. He looked at her and his eyes blazed like fire. They bore into hers. His face was pure menace and Hannah knew right away that he wasn’t from this world. She didn’t know how she knew it – she just knew.

 

He had brown hair. He looked human. But she was dead certain he came from Bane’s planet.

 

“Filthy scum,” he said and his voice left his throat in a hiss. He smelled like charred wood. It was strange, coming from someone that looked human. “Take me to him.”

 

She tried to speak but his hand was over her mouth, still.

 

“Scream for help and you’ll die,” he hissed again, and Hannah believed him. He took his hand away from her mouth, slowly, and she gasped for air.

 

“You’re looking for Bane,” she said. The fiery alien narrowed his eyes. “I’m helping him escape.”

 

“You’re lying.”

 

“I’m not. Read my mind. Reach into me and see that I speak the truth.”

 

He narrowed his eyes. “You know much about Bane. It is his rare talent to read a creature’s grid like that.”

 

A creature he called her.

 

“I’m telling the truth. He’s inside. I’m just—“

 

“Silence, human!” he cried out, cutting her off. He spat out the word like it tasted bad. “You will die.”

 

He raised a hand and it was the second time in so many weeks that Hannah saw the face of death.

 

“Hocus,” Bane’s sounded behind her. Calm and full of authority. The alien that held onto her froze.

 

“Bane, you live.”

 

“I do. And she is saving me.”

 

The alien called Hocus glanced at Hannah and for a moment it looked like he was willing to believe Bane. But horror crossed his face instead and he threw her to the side.

 

“You will side with a human?”

 

Hannah fell to the ground and scrambled back. There was anger in the air, and Hannah knew what happened when anger was thrown into the mix.

 

“She is not to be harmed,” Bane said. “Or you will have to face my wrath.”

 

“You will die for a human?”

 

There wasn’t an answer. A pop sounded and Hannah covered her eyes. Bane was shifting. He’d lost his temper. With his own. For her.

 

Another pop followed, and a moment later roars filled the night sky. When Hannah opened her eyes the night sky was bright with shooting flames and two dragons fighting it out.

 

The one was Bane, blue-green and beautiful, like water on its scales. The other – Hocus – was orange, red and black, and he looked like the fire he represented. The fight was furious and the crashed into the building.

 

Alarms went off.

 

“Bane!” Hannah shouted but her voice was lost between the roars and the alarms. The authorities were going to arrive and they were going to find a full on extra-terrestrial war if the two men didn’t do something about their fight.

 

As if on cue, a whole fleet of ships appeared, lighting up the night sky as if it was daylight with floodlights. Everything was illuminated.

 

The sound of helicopters and fighter jets filled the air. The military had been alerted. Perfect.

 

“Bane!” Hannah shouted again. Her voice was again drowned out by a fighter plane that flew over them, highlighted against the backdrop of alien lights. It dropped a missile that aimed straight for Bane. The missile hit him in the neck with an explosion the size of a car.

 

Hannah screamed. Bane roared and tumbled to the ground. Hocus would have attacked if he hadn’t had his hands full with fighter planes that targeted him too. Hannah ran to the dragon on the floor. As she watched, Bane’s dragon started shrinking. The scales gave way to skin, and a few moments later he was a man again. Naked, bleeding from his neck, and unconscious.

 

“Oh, my God, oh, my God,” Hannah muttered. The war suddenly raged overhead, the aliens opening their own fire. If Hannah didn’t get Bane out of there they were both going to die.

 

She grabbed one arm and flung it over her shoulder, trying to get leverage. She got her feet underneath her and hoisted his limp body up. It was hard to drag him, unconscious and heavy, but there was no choice and adrenaline gave her the strength she lacked. Somehow she managed to get him back through the door and closed it behind them.

 

The war raged on outside but the sounds were muffled now that they were on the other side of a wall. There was only one place to go where she could take care of him and keep them safe for the time being.

 

Hannah moved again, her body sagging under Bane’s weight. She limped to the other side of the loading dock and pushed through a door. Everyone knew the pin code for the metal door and she opened it. A set of stairs led down into a pit of darkness. Hannah struggled, tried to get the door shut, nearly failed.

 

She hit the switch and lights flickered to life in intervals all the way down and into the bunker.

 

Step by step she went down, dragging Bane with her. They fell down the last four steps, Hannah unable to bear his weight any longer. She hoped she hadn’t caused more damage. At least here in the underground bunker – built for alien invasions like this – they would be safe.

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

The war was in full swing up above. The muffled sounds of explosions and roars penetrated the thick ceiling of the bunker every now and then. Hannah and Bane were safe for now but she didn’t know how long it would be before the authorities came to search the bunkers as well.

 

There were more dragons. A lot more. It wasn’t just one dragon that she heard now. She suspected that many of the soldiers from Bane’s planet had the ability to shift. Hell, for all she knew they all had the ability to shift into monsters of some kind. After the few short weeks of research Hannah only learned one thing: there was so much out there that they didn’t know anything about.

 

Humans had been arrogant, thinking that theirs was the only planet with life on it. Humans were arrogant to think they could beat the aliens with weapons when their personal skill was next to nothing.

 

Hannah swallowed, tried to shut out the sounds of war and turned her attention to Bane. It had been almost ten minutes and he hadn’t come to yet. What if the injuries were worse than she’d thought? What if it was her fault? What if she lost him?

 

Think positive. She had to stay positive if she wanted to get out of there. There was no turning back after she’d made her choice to help Bane. It was do or die. Literally.

 

Bane’s eyes fluttered and then opened, the diamond irises focusing on nothing in particular. Hannah was at his side immediately, leaning over him so that he could see her face. His eyes focused on her and there was a flicker of recognition.

 

The bleeding in his neck had stopped but there was dried blood all over his neck and chest and when he’d been unconscious he’d looked like a casualty.

“Are you alright?” she asked. Stupid question. He didn’t look alright at all.

 

“Where are we?” His voice was hoarse and when he swallowed he grimaced like it hurt him.

 

“In an underground bunker. When the war broke loose I brought you down here. I didn’t know if you were…”

 

She stopped, her voice catching in her throat. Bane’s face softened and he lifted a hand to her cheek. His touch was warm despite his pale features and she leaned her cheek into his hand, grateful for the fact that he hadn’t died.

 

“It takes a lot more to get rid of me.”

 

She sat back onto the cold floor just as another explosion shuddered through the ground.

 

“It sounds terrible up there,” she said. Bane nodded, closing his eyes.

 

“This is what I was afraid of. We were too late. There is death and destruction everywhere, innocents that are getting hurt for someone else’s war.”

 

Hannah nodded. She could hear the sorrow in Bane’s voice, see the pain in his face that was caused by what was happening up above and not by his injury.

 

“What can I do to help?” Hannah asked. She was at a loss. She felt like she was a failure. Her attempts to fix everything had resulted in a war that was going to kill so many, if not all of the soldiers.

 

“The war is dying down,” Bane said. His eyes were still closed. Hannah listened. The explosions were fewer and there was more time between bombs. The roars were halfhearted when they took place.

 

“Many are wounded. On both sides. Many have died.”

 

The words sliced through Hannah. Many have died.

 

“The rest of my people are waiting for me,” he said. “They’re in a place called Virginia. I can see the map in my mind’s eye. I will show you.”

 

Bane pushed himself up. He grimaced again but waved Hannah off when she wanted to help him. “I will be alright.”

 

He found paper and pens on a desk in the far corner and limped a little when he walked back to her. He sat down on the cold floor next to Hannah and drew what he saw. Hannah stared at the map as he drew, and a few moments later she recognized it. It was indeed Virginia, and the point that he drew was in a rural area.

 

“I know where this is. I can take you there.”

 

How she was going to do was a different story, but where there was a will… right?

 

“When I meet my people I will have to leave,” Bane said in a quiet voice. Hannah stilled She hadn’t thought about that – she hadn’t once considered losing him. She’d pushed it away because she hadn’t wanted to think about it.

 

“I’ll never see you again?”

 

He shook his head. She looked into his eyes, and her heart broke.

 

Bane touched her cheek again, ran his fingers into her hair.

 

“I know what you feel.” He clutched his hand to his heart. “I feel it too.” He breathed deep. “My people aren’t like yours. If you come with me, they will accept you.”

 

Hannah frowned. “What are you saying?”

 

“I’m saying I want you to come with me.”

 

He was asking her to give up everything she knew – her life, her family, her world. Her planet. Was that something she was willing to sacrifice for him? How much did she have here on Earth to live for? She had a father she would never be able to please, a mother that was long dead, no friends and other family she was really attached to, a job that was a disaster.

 

“Okay,” she said. She closed her eyes and jumped. Why not?

 

“Hannah,” Bane said, and his eyes were diluted again, his face had that sexual quality that turned her body into heat and want in an instant. There was war raging above, they were running for their lives, Hannah had just chosen to give up everything she knew. And she wanted him. Badly.

 

“I haven’t seen you dressed since you arrived,” Hannah said. Her voice was husky.

 

“You prefer me naked.” A statement, not a question. And with the heat in the room, the truth. “We can fix it.”

 

Bane unzipped his coveralls and let them fall to the floor. He stood before Hannah in all his naked glory, his body taut and muscular and ready. He wanted her. She could see it by every hard muscle in his body, his parted lips, and his erect sex.

 

Hannah did the undressing herself. She peeled off her own clothes and stepped out of them, leaving it all in a bundle on the floor. She took a step to Bane so that their bodies were pressed against each other.

 

Bane ran his hands down her naked back and she shivered. His body was warm, such a contrast to the cold, stale air in the bunker. He kissed her and everything fell away. Her botched up life, the war raging, the bunker all around them, her unsure future. Bane’s mouth on hers was electric. He slid his hands down her back, over her ass, and onto her thighs. He picked her up like she weighed nothing.

 

She wrapped her legs around his waist. He walked her over to the wall. She gasped when the cold wall pressed against her back, but then Bane was against her, pushing inside of her, and she forgot all about it.

 

He held her up, balancing her between the wall and his body, and moved in and out of her. She closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and let the sensations take her.

 

Their bodies were slick with sweat where their skins touch and the sounds of sex filled the bunker, moaning and gasping. A moment later an orgasm rocked through her, coming out of nothing and hitting her full force. Her body contracted and released and she curled around Bane, digging her nails into his shoulders.

 

Just as her orgasm faded his overtook him. She felt him spasm inside of her and then he pumped hot liquid into her, filling her up even more than he already did. She gasped again, feeling every tiny movement until it was all over. It all ended with a shudder that traveled from his body to hers.

 

“I love you,” she said. It was the first time she’d voiced it, but if they were going out there and something happened, she wanted him to know. His eyes were soft and gentle when he looked at her, the sex draining out of them.

 

“We don’t give emotions as strong as this a word for fear of toning it down, but I have learned that what I feel is called love here. And I feel it for you, too. I love you.”

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

Bane slipped into the coveralls and watched Hannah dress herself. It was like a dance, even when she was in a hurry. The way she took care of herself was fascinating and Bane felt like he could watch her all day.

 

When she was dressed she looked at him and her cheeks were flush. It wasn’t just because of the speed she’d used to get ready. Sex looked good on her.

 

“We have to see if we can get to my car,” Hannah said. “As soon as we’re away from the facility we can go to Virginia and we’ll be okay. I think it will be about three hours’ drive.”

 

Bane nodded. He was skilled as a soldier but he knew little of this world and even though he would be able to find it – his mind was powerful after all – it was easier when Hannah helped him. He was amazed that she was willing to do so even though he was alien to her. He was amazed that she’d developed feelings for him. He was amazed that he felt the same about her. He’d searched for a mate for years, and now he’d found one a foreign life form.

 

They climbed the stairs. Hannah paused at the door, listening. The war was over. Bane could feel it in his bones. There were many humans out there but none were fighting.

 

He nodded at Hannah who typed in a code and the door clicked open. They emerged in the same loading dock where they’d been when the war had broken loose, and they crept to the small door once again. Bane wasn’t nervous but his heart fluttered in his chest nevertheless. He was feeling Hannah’s emotions and her nervousness bordered on fear.

 

“We will be alright,” he said to reassure her. The nervousness lifted slightly. Not a lot but it was something.

 

She led the way around the side of the facility. Rubbish bins lined the wall and the stench was overpowering. A moment later they were in a parking lot and Hannah walked toward a black car that looked a lot like the machine that had nearly run Bane over when he’d arrived on the planet.

 

“Get in,” she ordered and Bane complied. He opened the door on the other side she got in and slid into the leather seat. The inside of the vehicle looked a little like a space ship. There were controls everywhere.

 

“Does this fly?” he asked.

 

Hannah shook her head, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “We’ll drive there, but we can make good time. A lot of it is open road.”

 

She started the car and turned into the road. There were people everywhere, bright lights flooding the war scene. Bodies were littered across the grounds, humans and his own people alike. Dragons were twisted in unnatural ways, and scorched patches of land showed where there had been fire from a dragon’s mouth.

 

Sorrow grabbed a hold of Bane when he saw his people slaughtered. The humans had reached a similar fate but somehow death was too final for the destruction and pain they had caused.

 

“We have lost so many,” he said. His voice sounded hoarse. Emotion flooded him and pricked his eyes. He felt the war inside Hannah, how she fought to find the right words. Eventually, she spoke.

 

“If there was any way I could make this right…”

 

Bane nodded. So pure of heart was his Hannah. She had lost as many of her race as Bane had lost of his, and still, justice was important to her. His affection for her only grew the more he got to know her.

 

“You already are.”

 

She looked at him and smiled. He reached to her hand on the stick she kept shifting and held it. She made her way through three gates, holding her breath every time, and then she turned into a road that seemed to stretch to the horizon both ways.

 

“We’re out,” she breathed and I felt the relief coursing through her veins. “Three hours and we’ll get you home.”

 

Bane looked out the window. The night was completely dark, pin pricks of light stretching across the vast span of darkness above them. This world was beautiful. It was difficult to see how the creatures that lived here could take it for granted. It was impossible to know how much cruelty existed here, side by side with the beauty and the harmony.

“I don’t understand your race,” he said after they’d driven in silence for a while, linked by their hands.

 

“To be honest with you, very few people understand. They’re always talking about peace and they’re always finding new ways to kill each other. We’re a walking contradiction.”

 

Bane nodded and looked back out of the window to his side. She was right. The fact that she agreed with him made him warm inside. They were of different species, but they spanned the universe by agreeing and he knew that if she came with him she would fit into his world. She wasn’t like the rest of them.

 

“Tell me about your life,” he said. He knew so little about her and her life, about the world that she grew up in. He was leaving soon, and he found he wished he knew more about what she was leaving behind. About what she was choosing to leave behind for him.

 

She took a deep breath and once again her emotions were conflicted. There was passion, nostalgia, but also pain and regret.

 

“My father is very strict. He has very high standards and it’s impossible to please him.”

 

“But still, you try?”

 

Hannah shrugged. “Being a disappointment seems so much worse. I lost my mother when I was very young and my father makes it clear that I will never be like her. The alternative is to be like him. Apparently, I failed at that as well.”

 

Bane frowned. She seemed to regret her inability to please her father.

 

“Being your own version of yourself is not an option?”

 

She chuckled but there was no humor, only sadness. “You make it seem so simple. It’s hard to be yourself when no one wants you to be.”

 

Bane thought for a moment.

 

“I want you to be yourself.”

 

He looked at her. She glanced at him before she turned her eyes back to the stretch of road they drove on and her mouth curled up in a smile. “It’s all I want you to bring with you when we leave. Yourself. Nothing else. No expectations.”

 

Hannah nodded. The thought of leaving brought on a spike of sadness, a touch of fear, and something else that felt a lot like excitement. Bane focused on the first two.

 

“Do you want to stay?”

 

He would respect her wishes to stay behind if he left. It would tear him apart to leave her behind and he doubted he would ever heal from such a wound, but if that was what she wanted she deserved it.

 

Hannah hesitated. “No, I don’t think so. This world is all I know but life here hasn’t exactly been fun. It’s been hell, actually, until I met you. How much worse can it really be?”

 

Her last sentence was meant to be humorous, but it sounded grave.

 

“If you’re unhappy I promise to return you to your home.”

 

Another side glance from her. She nodded.

 

When they were close Bane felt it.

 

“We’re here, aren’t we?” he asked. Hannah nodded and turned off the road. They were in the middle of nowhere, but his people were here. He felt alive again. She parked the car and got out. He followed. She turned in a circle, looking.

 

“There’s nothing here.”

 

“Wait.”

 

As he spoke the place lit up. A wind started blowing, whipping her hair, and then his ship appeared. It had been cloaked until his arrival.

 

Hannah gasped.

 

“That’s it?”

 

He looked at the ship as if it were strange, from another world. It was spectacular. Smooth metal, oval shaped and larger than the facilities where he’d been held.

 

“It’s amazing,” she breathed. It really was. The door opened with a swish and Mage stepped out. Her hair hung loose over her shoulders.

 

“Bane, it has been too long. We feared you were dead.”

 

“I’m alive.”

 

Her eyes slid to Hannah. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t have a chance to speak. Light flashed and the roaring sound of a helicopter cut her off. There were spotlights on both of them. Lines and lines of trucks and cars pulled into the field.

 

“Oh, no,” Hannah said and there was genuine fear. It was like a cold rush. Bane followed her eyes and saw them trained on a man in the front vehicle. The man who had ordered them to stop in the cell when he was beaten. Her father, he realized. Her fear of him was painful. No one should feel that way about the person that raised you.

 

“He’s brought the entire army,” she said. Her voice was high pitched.

 

“We will make sure you are free,” Bane said. He looked at Mage who nodded. She was on his side, less suspicious than Hocus had been. Was his friend alive? He didn’t know yet.

 

“Stay behind me,” Bane said. Hannah stepped onto the ramp that led to the ship. Mage stepped forward so that she was in line with Bane.

 

“There are others around,” she said. “They will help.”

 

Bane nodded and believed her. He heard a pop and he knew Mage was changing. He looked at Hannah. She was wide-eyed and scared but there was determination coming from her, too.

 

Bane turned his attention to the army and brought his own dragon to the party. This was ending here and now.

 

It happened very fast. They all opened fire at the same time. A moment later more dragons appeared and the war was back where it had been at the facility. It was impossible to think that the humans were willing to do the same again after they had lost so many lives. Bane fought, spraying fire, trying to eliminate the weapons and not the people. Sometimes it failed.

 

At one point a sharp pain penetrated his chest. Bane checked his body but there was no sign of blood. He turned and looked toward the ship. He felt like he was dying, his body suddenly weak. He saw Hannah lying in a crumpled heap, blood pouring from a wound in her chest the same place he was hurting.

 

They’d hurt her. That bastard had hurt his own daughter. Bane turned back to them and saw red.

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

Hannah opened her eyes. She was surrounded by white. She couldn’t tell where she was or why she was there. A sharp pain in her chest made her wince. The rest of her body felt numb.

 

Where the hell was she?

 

A face moved into her line of vision.

 

“Where am I?” she asked. It was a woman and she wore white. Her skin was pale, her hair virtually colorless, so that she looked like her surroundings. She checked Hannah’s vitals without looking her in the eye once or speaking.

 

“I asked you a question,” Hannah said. Breathing made her chest hurt. “Where’s Bane?”

 

The mention of his name caused a flicker of recognition on the nurse’s face but she carried on ignoring Hannah.

 

Hannah tried to push herself up. The nurse didn’t try to stop her, but the pain did her work for her. Hannah fell back, whimpering. She remembered the shooting, the dragons, and her dad’s empty eyes. God, the way he’d stared at her it was like he’d disowned her as his daughter. It had been apparent what she’d done, whose side she’d chosen.

 

And he hated her for it now. If he came in here she was going to get it and bad.

 

“Please talk to me?” she asked in a polite voice. It didn’t help any more than demanding or pleading had.

 

She closed her eyes and tried to figure out if there was pain anywhere else. Other than her chest, though, she seemed okay. Her chest and her heart. Where was Bane? Where was her father?

 

The doors to the white room slid open and Bane walked in. His black hair and diamond eyes were in stark contrast to all the white.

 

“Thank you, Fern,” he said. The nurse nodded and moved away.

 

“You’re alive.” Bane looked like he’d been scared she wouldn’t be.

 

“I am,” Hannah said. “Hurting, but alive. What happened with the war?”

 

Bane shook his head. She wasn’t sure what that meant.

 

“We got away. We’re in the ship now, on our way to the next planet that might be habitable.”

 

Hannah looked around. “We’re in outer space.”

 

Bane smiled and nodded. “You’re in our medical facility. You were caught in the cross fire. I felt the bullet when it penetrated your chest.”

 

Hannah gasped.

 

They were silent for a while, Hannah taking it all in.

 

“Do you still want this?” Bane asked.

 

“Leaving with you?”

 

He nodded. Hannah didn’t have to think about it.

 

“I do. I saw my father on the front of that truck before they started shooting, and the truth is I didn’t recognize him. That man can’t be the person I aspire to be.”

 

Bane leaned forward and kissed her lightly before pushing his hands into her hair.

 

“It’s going to be uncertain from here on out. We don’t know what we’ll find. We’re still searching for a place to call home.”

 

Hannah nodded, her hand sliding up Bane’s until she reached his chest.

 

“It will be an adventure.”

 

***THE END***