Remington strode off in the direction of his cabin, elated and frustrated at the same time. It was a curious sensation.

Back on Aerie there was always a correct course of action.

But here on Earth there were endless ways to do the right thing by acting wrongly - or the wrong thing when trying to act rightly.

Kitt said it was chaos, but Remington felt it was something more complex.

The interaction with Addy at the pool was a perfect example of this confusion.

He carefully traced over the whole event in his mind again, trying to make sense of it.

But the more he puzzled over his choices at each interval, the more he was sure he could not have done any differently.

Yet he had ended up in a difficult position.

Addy was his friend.

Addy needed help.

He tried to help Addy.

Instead he kissed her.

That part might have been an error, but he could hardly be blamed for following the demands of his heart and body.

And now he had offered to help her again.

It was right to help her.

And his heart sang at the thought of spending more time in the magical pool with her this evening, with the stars watching overhead.

But the more time he spent with her, the closer he felt to dedicating himself to her as her life’s mate, whether she wanted him or not.

Even though it might just kill him in the end to click with her if she didn’t return his feelings.

And to make it worse, each time he tried to stop thinking about it, the demands of his body consumed him.

The close contact with Addy had turned his blazing lust into an inferno. It was almost too much to just watch her pull away, when her warm, wet body was pressed to his.

He had felt the corresponding hunger in her kiss, and it had nearly derailed him. Thank goodness Addy had the good sense to put a stop to it.

But not before the demands of his body had risen to epic proportions.

He had just reached the men’s staff cabin when he decided to keep walking. His restaurant shift wouldn’t begin for another two hours. Maybe he could explore the woods, and find a truly secluded spot to release some of the tension in his loins.

His cock throbbed eagerly at this idea, and he began to walk more briskly.

The lawn ended and he began to climb up the slight hill, along the path that led to the senior women’s staff cabin, where Addy lived with her roommates, Honey and Nikki.

Above their cabin, the larger staff commons cabin stood atop a steep cliffside, its screened room overlooking the lake and the island below.

Beyond the cabins was nothing but miles of empty forest.

Remington had seen movies of forests, and he knew there was one back in Stargazer, but he had never explored one on his own.

He stepped into the woods and felt instantly transported to a fairytale.

It was cooler in the shade, and the trees reached hauntingly for the sky.

He knew the trees were alive. But they lived longer and more slowly than humans. So much so that the humans seemed to disregard them as life forms, though they shared the same environment.

Remington walked between them, allowing his hands to caress their knobby bark. He tried to picture their roots, as large beneath the surface of the ground as their branches were above it.

They reminded him of Addy, who seemed careless and hedonistic, yet beneath that, she vibrated with a hidden sense of responsibility that must run as deep as these tree roots.

Responsibility that did not include falling for him.

Or maybe he was only thinking of her that way because he was attracted to her. Perhaps she really was the carefree girl she seemed to be, and she simply didn’t want to get involved with an alien.

Remington pictured her biting that pink lip in frustration. He pictured her biting his lip. He pictured her naked on a bed, arms outstretched like when they were under the water.

Save me, Addy…

His head was practically spinning with need by the time he reached a section of trees so dense that it was almost fully dark.

He leaned against a tree, slid a hand down his abs, and unbuttoned his jeans.

His rigid penis pulsed eagerly.

He slid his hand inside the drenched fabric, wrapped his hand around his bursting organ, and pulled up an image of Addy in his mind.

The pleasure was so intense he drew in a sharp breath.

“What was that?” The voice came from no more than twenty feet away.

“I don’t know,” another voice whispered.

No, no, no, please, no…

But he let go of his frantic cock and buttoned up his jeans. He pressed himself to the tree and tried not to make a sound.

A few minutes later he saw a naked couple, clothing in hand, dashing through the trees.

He must have caught other staffers who wanted some alone time together.

The trees went silent again except for the calls of the birds.

But the planet’s rotation had inched the sun a degree higher in the sky, just enough to shed light between the branches. All he could think of was the fact that someone else could easily come along. The woods weren’t as private as he had hoped.

He wasn’t going to get relief this morning after all.

Remington ran a hand through his hair and waited until he was sure the couple he’d interrupted wasn’t coming back. Then he headed resolutely out of the trees.

This won’t go on forever. Sooner or later something has to give.