Chapter 8

The tall alien stalked toward her, causing her to reflexively swallow. This regent guy makes me so damn nervous. Nervous and... curious.

She hadn't expected to be taken to his quarters and fed. Nor had he seemed the type to answer questions, and yet that is exactly what he had done.

The Supreme Regent was a handsome creature, she had to admit that now. His eyes were striking, his body in peak form. His smile caused her stomach to flutter.

Snap out of it, Doc, she told herself. You're mixed up in something big here. You've got to keep your wits about you.

He moved back toward her, his skin yellow as a canary.

"Your time’s up," he said, bending to lift her up by her shoulders.

"Put me down!" Her legs dangled, but this time she didn't bother trying to kick him.

"Are you working with the Hareema? Yes or no?"

"For the last time, I don't know any Hareema!"

His features tightened, and his hands gripped her harder. "This is going to hurt."

"What?"

A wave of light started at his chest and flashed down his arms. Before she could blink it was flowing through her. A burst of electricity.

Sylvie screamed, her body twitching as the shock burned through her. She went limp, her head lolling on her shoulder as her mind rebooted. Pain lanced her, running along her nerve endings and burning the tips of her fingers and toes.

"I'm sorry," she heard when she was able to focus again.

"Bastard," she managed to whisper. She felt herself being lifted into his arms. She watched the ceiling as he carried her through an opening into another room. The chamber was a series of purple stripes that again reminded her of a seashell.

He placed her on a soft surface that moved ever so gently, like the smallest of ocean waves. His hand pushed back the hair that had fallen into her face, his action gentle and almost loving. It was too much.

"Go away," she muttered, having only the strength to bat at his arm ineffectually.

"I had to be sure," he said. "Now I know you're not Hareema."

"Of course not. I told you my name was Sylvie."

She caught his smile and wanted to curse him for being so handsome and so cruel. He was no longer yellow, but a dark green, almost blue – like the ocean or the sky.

"The Hareema are able to impersonate any living creature, including humans. I had to make sure you hadn't been replaced."

"You could have just asked me."

The bastard laughed. "This was the quickest way. I don't have much time, so expediency was required."

He continued to stroke her hair, his eyes moving along her face as if memorizing her features.

"Now that you know I'm not a replica, will you let me go?"

The muscles in his face grew tense. "Not yet. Just because you aren't Hareema doesn't mean you and your species aren't working with them."

"I swear to you, I know nothing about these shape-shifting aliens. My flight was perfect until we hit the atmosphere of your planet. Something happened, and my ship crashed. Your men picked me up and put me in a cell, and that's all."

"I wish I could believe you," he said, leaning closer. His voice was smooth but firm, like polished stone.

"Then believe me." The words were whispered because of his closeness. It was so damn hard to catch her breath with him staring into her eyes.

"How can I risk it? The fate of my planet depends on my actions here. If you're lying to me..." He sounded conflicted, an emotion at odds with his normal demeanor. It showed in his skin, which was swirling with greens, blues, and purples.

"Trust me. Please." That's all she could think to say. His nearness made her weak.

"You tempt me so. I just have to--" He leaned in the rest of the way, pressing his lips against hers.

His kiss was soft, so soft. He teased hers lips, coaxing her to open her mouth just before his tongue slid across hers, setting off little sparks that made her moan. Without realizing it, she'd reached up a hand on the side of his thick neck, his skin smooth like a human male. Her fingers tangled in the tendrils that flowed down his back past his shoulders, which was softer than she could have ever dreamed.

The regent deepened the kiss, his tongue probing farther. She closed her eyes and sucked on it softly, not sure if her willingness to let him kiss her was in hopes of surviving or to fill her own sensual curiosity. He pulled back and nibbled softly on her lip, a groan leaving him that sent desire straight into her core. She'd never experienced a kiss so right, so good. It was over much too soon, the effects of it leaving her panting like a silly schoolgirl.

Opening her eyes, she watched as the regent's color shifted. Deep purple flashed into yellow before she could blink. He pulled her hands from around his neck and flung them to her sides, then pulled her up once again by her shoulders.

"They sent you to do a job, and by Marivagia, you're gonna do it."

"Mary who?" Her brain wasn't working after the kiss.

"Marivagia, goddess of wandering women." The regent scowled at her. "Never mind. You're going back to your cell."

The seductive timbre of his voice had become cold steel. She'd upset him, and she didn't know how. Had he hated the kiss?

"Look, Your Majesty, I'm sorry."

"Stop calling me that. My name is Xivthar."

"Ok, Ziffer, I'm sorry."

"Xivthar. X-I-V-T-H-A-R."

"Right. How about I just call you X?"

He ignored her, pulling her behind him, out of his chambers and into the rounded hallways. Once again she was being dragged along to the lab. She wasn't eager to return to staring at the opaque walls.

"Look, X, I think I've upset you. I'm sorry if you didn't like what we did back there."

He snorted. "It wasn't that I didn't like it, Sylvia. It's that I liked it too much."

Liked it too much? "Then why are you doing this? And it’s Sylvie. Stop using my full name!"

He stopped suddenly, spinning around to grab her face with his overly large hands. "Fine, Sylvie. If I were the Hareema and I got word that the leader of my enemies has an attraction to Earthling females, don't you think I'd use that information to my advantage?"

"But you can't mean me? I volunteered for this mission. No one recruited me."

His eyes narrowed. "A human female, the object of my wildest fantasies, is dropped into my lap and I'm supposed to believe she doesn't have an ulterior motive? That she's so willing to seduce me right after I just shot five milliamps through her?"

Sylvie's jaw dropped. "You kissed me!"

"And you responded. You can't deny that."

This conversation couldn't be more surreal. Sylvie pushed past the regent and stalked down the hallway.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to my cell. Four blank walls are better company than you."

She heard his footsteps behind her but didn't slow down. It didn't take long for him to overtake her.

"I wouldn't be so eager to return if I were you," he muttered, his black eyes glowing against yellow skin.

"Why is that? Are you gonna lock yourself in there with me and keep pestering me with your amazing Taser trick?"

"I didn't expect human females to be so sarcastic. It isn't an attractive trait."

Sylvie almost stopped, but decided not to engage. She wouldn't give the Supreme Shithead the satisfaction. Soon the membrane comprising the laboratory door came into view.

"Home sweet home," she said as the regent pulled her into her cell.

"You still have questions to answer," he said, his lips pulled back in a scowl.

"I suddenly don't feel like talking," she said and walked to the cushion, sitting down and picking at her nails as if he didn’t matter in the slightest.

"That's too bad, female, because--"

"Xivthar, I need to talk to you." Another alien had entered her cell. A familiar alien. The Minister from earlier.

With the Supreme Regent and the Minister of Defense crammed into her space, the cell felt exceedingly tight.

"What is it, brother?"

The Minister eyed her with distrust. "Not in front of the Earthling."

He jerked his head toward the cell opening then proceeded to exit. The regent looked her over, his skin producing another swirl of colors before settling on a lime green.

He's still upset.

Sylvie was learning to read Zanthar mood cues, and yellow definitely meant "bad mood."

His mouth opened to say something, but before he spoke, he closed it again, giving his head a shake. He turned away from her and walked out of the cell as she let out a big exhale. Being in the Supreme One's presence was stressful. Yet, now that he wasn't here, the cell felt very empty.

It didn't stay that way for long.

The scientist that had first taken her captive entered the cell. His coloring was the lightest purple, like a lilac that almost verged on pink. When last she'd seen him, after her thwarted escape attempt, he'd been aquamarine.

Sylvie's heart rate increased at the sight of him. He'd been the one who'd gotten permission to do his tests on her. Did that have anything to do with why he was in her cell now? Best to find out. Not knowing was worse.

"Here to run your experiments on me?" she asked, hoping her voice came out as flippant as she wanted it to.

"Afraid not," the scientist replied.

"Why not? Lost interest in me?"

"Hardly."

Sylvie didn't like the sound of that. But what she heard next she liked even less.

"No time for experiments. You've been scheduled for dissection."