Alien Tryst Read online

  Alien Tryst

  Cynthia Sax

  While investigating some mysterious disappearances, Kane uncovers two secrets that change his world. He’s not entirely human. He’s also dangerously close to death. His alien grandfather has broken a sacred rule, putting his entire bloodline, including Kane, at risk of termination.

  Eshe, a sexy blonde scientist with lush lips and a hot body, is Kane’s only hope to save his family. He’ll do anything to keep her safe, including fighting alien warriors, crossing vast galaxies and giving his woman the pleasure she craves again and again, using every inch of his fit physique.

  In this world, passion is power and love is necessary for survival.

  A Romantica® futuristic erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

  Alien Tryst

  Cynthia Sax

  Chapter One

  “Look at that magnificent being.” Raff circled the artificial replication of his Earth form. Both males had blond hair, chiseled chins, perfect tans, their faces and bodies identical.

  That was where their similarities ended.

  Eshe’s brother merely looked human, as his two souls were Orogone. Their species had arrived on Earth many generations ago, charged by the council with the task of monitoring off-worlder activity on the small blue-and-white planet. Gifted assimilators, they’d kept their presence and activities secret from most of the human population, working only with the humans’ primitive military personnel.

  Simulator Raff, in contrast, resembled a human to his core, having a single manufactured soul and that species’ unique transferring challenges, challenges Eshe was determined to overcome. Once she solved that biological mystery she’d prove her worth as an Orogone, earning her place in their world. She’d continue to be viewed as different, that wouldn’t ever change, but her abnormal behavior would be embraced, not ridiculed.

  “I’m a handsome son of a bitch, aren’t I?” Raff strutted around her laboratory, displaying no concerns about his self-worth. He was one of Orogone’s top warriors, spending his days transferring law-breaking off-worlders back to their respective home planets.

  “I’ve seen handsomer human males,” Eshe replied, her voice lilting with humor. Their repartee had been honed over Earth centuries of companionship, her over-protective brother following her from assignment to assignment.

  “Liar.” Raff’s laughter filled the small space.

  Eshe didn’t say anything as she had lied. She’d been locked in the underground bunker since her arrival on the planet, her exposure to human males limited.

  She preferred being isolated from the natives. It allowed her to focus on her tasks undisturbed by the species’ fickle mating habits. Human males joined with any available females, while Orogones were monogamous, joining only with their Ones, living their lengthy lifespans as mated pairs.

  Eshe touched the mark on her chest. Her two souls were serene, her skin cool. If her destined mate were near, her souls would fight to escape their physical bonds, heating her body.

  But she hadn’t yet met her One, if he even existed. Science was her sole passion. Science didn’t judge her and science didn’t care that she didn’t think or act like a true Orogone.

  Eshe loaded a tube of formula Earth 54X2 into the injector, preparing the sample of blue-and-red essence. This will work. Her lips flattened.

  Raff continued to prowl around the laboratory, fiddling with precious specimen containers and irreplaceable equipment. Her fashion-conscious brother wore a black leather sports coat over a red shirt. Driving gloves covered his hands, and his military-style boots were silent on the gray metal floor. “How many times have you killed me off?” he asked.

  “You don’t want to know.” She’d failed thousands of times before achieving success and the results of those failures had been grisly, the manufactured beings arriving mangled, their body parts incorrectly arranged. She’d crafted Simulator Raff as a visual reminder that the next human being Eshe transferred might be someone’s brother, son or father.

  Her heart pounded as she pumped the dosage into the simulator male. Please let the results of the last trial not be a fluke.

  Simulator Raff showed no signs of reacting to the injection, standing motionless on the pod, his face blank of all expression.

  “I could accept you experimenting upon simulator me, Sis.” Raff gazed at his artificially created twin. “But giving him that hair?” The warrior ran his fingers through spiked tuffs a shade blonder than hers, his hair an amusing vanity of his. “That hurts.”

  “If I recall correctly, and how could I ever forget,” Eshe teased, “you wore that exact hairstyle three decades ago when you followed me to Earth.”

  “That was the style,” Raff muttered.

  “You told me your hairstyle looked bangin’.” Eshe set down the injector and picked up a gun, the lights in the underground bunker reflecting off its barrel. “And then you mocked me for not knowing that Earth word.” She handed the gun to her brother.

  “You deserved to be mocked.” Raff automatically covered the trigger with his thumb, his familiarity with the weapon reflecting centuries of combat duty. “You’re the only Orogone I know who has trouble with assimilating.”

  Eshe jutted her jaw. She knew she wasn’t a normal Orogone, a species known for assuming the physical forms, the mannerisms, the languages of any other being. She didn’t need her brother to tell her that. “When I concentrate on a problem, I forget where I am.”

  “During our previous placement, you shifted into the body of our host species’ sworn enemy.” Raff shook his head. “If I hadn’t been there to remind you where we were you would have caused an intergalactic incident.”

  “I would have remembered.” Her cheeks heated. “Eventually.” Eshe checked the readings on the monitoring machines lining the silver metallic wall of her small laboratory. All of the simulator’s specs fell within human ranges, the trace levels of Orogone essence undetectable.

  This has to work. She clutched her hands together, her skin cool to the touch. “Why don’t you make yourself useful, Raff, and transfer him?”

  “Transfer me, you mean. You’re asking me to shoot myself.” Raff cocked his head, examining his clone. “You’re a sick female, Essie.” She winced, hating that awful nickname, and her brother grinned. “A human female would never—”

  “I’m not human and neither are you.” She glanced toward the closed doors, conscious that they could be interrupted at any time. She needed the results duplicated and verified before anyone discovered what she’d done. “Please just do it.”

  “Can you instruct Simulator Raff to run?” The blue-and-red flames in Raff’s black eyes flickered. “I like it when they run.”

  “Raff.”

  “Okay, okay.” Raff aimed the gun and Eshe held her breath. Let this work.

  “Transfer well, you handsome beast of a male you.” He tapped the trigger and a thick blue current coursed from the muzzle. The energy wrapped around the manufactured male, shaking him. Simulator Raff faded from view and Eshe exhaled, relieved.

  “Transfer successful,” the monitoring machine chirped, relaying the information from the Orogone-based system.

  I have another success. Excitement zinged through Eshe, the natural intellectual high derived from performing groundbreaking research lightening her two souls.

  “Fuck me.” Raff stared at the space where his simulator twin had stood. “You did it. You actually did it.”

  “Yep.” She read the statistics, ensuring there were no deviations. The relayed image was perfect, Simulator Raff’s eyes and hands and feet being where they should be, his body whole. Unlike Major MacLean’s results. Eshe shivered, remembering the brave human soldier her predecessor had partially transferred half of a century ago. The video
footage from that mistake haunted her dreams and drove her long hours at the laboratory.

  “Mom and Dad will be so proud,” Raff joked, her brother rarely serious. “This might even make up for the lack of grandkids.”

  “Ha.” Eshe ignored that jibe and palmed an extractor, eager to start the second stage of the trials. “Open your shirt.”

  Raff unbuttoned, revealing the mark all Orogones sported, the blue waves radiating from the red sun positioned over his heart. “Should I ask why you need me naked?”

  “I need you shirtless, not naked, and you don’t want to ask why.” She pressed the extractor to the center of his natural tattoo and slid a lever. Raff, that big baby, grimaced as the needle pierced his skin. “I have to try this with a sample from someone else. That’ll ensure my essence isn’t an exception.”

  “Your essence?” Raff’s gaze met hers. “What the fuck are you doing, Essie? If the council finds out you plan to inject Orogone essence into humans—”

  “I’m using trace amounts and they should burn off during transfer.” Eshe waved her hand, dismissing his concerns. Raff was a tight-ass about protocol, and her experiments definitely didn’t adhere to any Orogone rule. “No one needs to know. I—”

  The doors slid open and Hewitt, one of the military humans responsible for guarding the compound, entered, a large gun in his hands and a scowl on his scarred face. “I’m looking for Doctor Eshe,” he barked. As he was human, his memory was wiped clean of her presence after every encounter. This precaution kept their presence on Earth a secret.

  “I’m Doctor Eshe.” She tapped the identification card clipped to her white lab coat, a garment the humans expected her to wear.

  Hewitt reached out.

  “Touch my sister and you’ll die, human,” Raff warned, a cheerful smile on his handsome face. “Peace agreement be damned.”

  Hewitt dropped both his hand and his gaze. “There’s an unauthorized civilian at the street entrance.” He spoke to Eshe’s breasts, an uncomfortable experience she’d learned to endure. Human males appeared fascinated by that part of her anatomy. “He’s asking about Orogone. He wishes to volunteer for the experiments.”

  “Not again.” Eshe glanced at her brother. He was the reason for their last unauthorized visitor. He’d allowed an Orogone’s One to breach the compound.

  “Don’t look at me.” Raff raised his palms. “I have no retrievals outstanding.” Eshe narrowed her eyes, not at all fooled by her brother’s innocent expression, and his smile widened. “That I’m aware of.”

  “This isn’t funny, Raff.” Eshe shook her head, having no time for his jokes. If the council found out what she was doing, they’d shut down her experiments and terminate her dreams of finally proving her worth. “You know I have work to do.”

  She shifted her gaze to Hewitt, disgruntled with him also. “And you should know we’re no longer accepting volunteers, Sergeant.” She tugged her lab coat closed, trying to conceal her breasts from the leering human’s view. “I put that information in your file months ago.”

  Hewitt’s gaze slid upward. “I don’t report to you, Doctor.” He shifted his big gun from his right hand to his left. “Until I receive official word, I follow protocol.”

  “At least, someone here follows protocol,” Raff murmured, tapping an injector tube filled with her essence. Blue and red streams of energy moved within the container.

  “All great scientific discoveries break the established rules.” Eshe set down the extractor, annoyed that her great scientific discovery would be delayed because Hewitt’s superior hadn’t bothered to get off his lazy ass and approve a change in his file.

  “However, those scientists likely didn’t have to take precious minutes out of their endless days and answer the door.” She put her sunglasses on, concealing her distinctive Orogone eyes. “It’s not as if I’m trying to change both of our worlds or anything.”

  “I’m coming with you.” Raff rested his hand on his gun. “I have lots of time to spare,” he teased.

  “Don’t you dare move from this laboratory. I need you to guard these.” She indicated her precious injector tubes. “If anything happens to them I’ll have to take more samples.”

  Her brother grimaced, rubbing his chest. “You shouldn’t have taken these samples, Essie. Protocol—”

  “Forget about protocol,” she retorted, her temper frayed from worry and exhaustion. “When I’m successful, the council won’t care which rules I’ve broken.”

  Raff opened his mouth.

  “I don’t have time to argue about this. Stay here.” Eshe stomped along the corridor, leaving Hewitt and her brother in her laboratory. Her ugly black boots rang on the metal floor tiles as she passed military commanders, human and Orogone, sitting undisturbed in their comfy offices, offices they didn’t have to sleep in because they were so damn busy finding a way to transport humans to Orogone without scrambling their fragile unchangeable bodies.

  The human waiting at the compound’s entrance didn’t know what he was volunteering for. Eshe drew her gun and swung the heavy metal door open. A jolt of awareness surged through her, and the mark on her chest pulsed to life, her two souls pressing against her skin.

  Not a human. She groaned, instantly recognizing the life-changing signs, an awakening of her body that could only be brought about by her destined mate. I can’t have a fickle human for my One. The timing bit the big one, as Raff would say. Eshe was close to solving the transference problem, and joining with her One would result in an immediate transfer home. She’d return to a planet where she didn’t belong, where she had no perceivable worth, mated to a male she couldn’t trust.

  Perhaps he’s not an average human male. A muscular torso clad in a black t-shirt blocked her view. Perhaps he’s loyal, trustworthy, faithful. Eshe tilted her head back and her mouth dropped open. Her human male had a square, determined chin, skin tanned from time spent outdoors, hair darker than the vast expanses of space, and fierce brown eyes. The burning over her right breast spread south, lighting fires in a body she’d previously thought a temporary shell.

  “Yes? You wanted something?” she demanded, her desire tempered with dismay. The mystery male was too handsome, too appealing, too normal. He’d have his choice of available human females, have no reason to bond permanently with one being, an alien who didn’t even fit into her own culture.

  The stranger’s gaze fixed on a spot inches above her right shoulder. “My name’s Kane and I’m volunteering for the Orogone experiment.” His deep voice rumbled, the sound exciting her already agitated souls.

  “And what is the Orogone experiment?” She tapped her index finger against the handle of her gun, clinging to her reasoning, her brain fighting a losing battle with her body. She wanted, needed to touch him, to join them and ease the pain inside her.

  Kane’s mouth flattened.

  “Exactly.” Eshe blew out a breath, relieved that he hadn’t lied to her. “You don’t know. You should go, forget about this place.” If he leaves, maybe these feelings will also go away. “Go.” She pushed on his left shoulder, the contact soothing her agony.

  Kane grasped her wrist, his hand blurring as he moved, his response inhumanly fast. Her gun dropped to the ground, metal clinking against concrete. “I’m not leaving, not until I get some answers.”

  “What are you?” She stepped backward, surprised by his aggression. He wasn’t human as he was too fast, too powerful. He wasn’t an Orogone as Orogones could sense each other. He wasn’t an off-worlder as they could sense those species too…the species that they knew of. She studied him, her scientific curiosity piqued. What is he?

  “I ask the questions.” Kane pulled her to him, easily overwhelming her considerable strength, his hips smacking against hers, his chest flattening her breasts, his body hard and muscular and devastatingly male.

  “I-I-I…” Eshe stared up at him, shocked and stimulated, entranced by the connection between them, by the power in his fit physique. Kane hooked one o
f his arms around her waist and pressed his palm against her back, his fingers splayed over her spine, his heat felt through the layers of clothing.

  “Will you give me some answers?” His gaze flicked down to her identification badge. “Eshe?” He breathed her name, brushing his thumb over her wrist, back and forth, back and forth, in a sensuous caress. “Will you tell me what Orogone is?” He dipped his head, his mouth nearing hers.

  Eshe lifted onto her toes, wanting, needing to taste him. He didn’t close the distance between them and she darted her tongue over her bottom lip. Kane tracked the movement, his eyes dark with passion, yet he didn’t move, didn’t kiss her.

  “Kane?” Her voice was husky with need.

  “Tell me what Orogone is.” His lips curled into a smug smile, cunning and calculation reflecting in his countenance.

  Her One, the male she was destined to desire for all eternity, sought answers. He didn’t want her. Eshe blinked, returning to that harsh reality. Kane wasn’t Orogone. He didn’t feel the instant need, the craving to join, as she did. She lowered her body until her feet were flat on the ground.

  “Go away.” She tugged on her arm. “You’re not authorized to be here.”

  Kane didn’t release her, his strength surpassing human capabilities. “I’m not letting you go until I get some answers.” He met her gaze, his face hard, his body harder, his pants-covered cock pushing against her stomach.

  Eshe stared at him. He stared back at her. He wouldn’t let her go until she answered his questions. She read that truth in Kane’s handsome face.

  “We can’t talk here.” She glanced up at the cameras. Others were watching them, listening to their conversation.

  Kane followed her line of sight. “Then where can we talk?” He pulled away from her body, cool air swept into the space, and Eshe trembled, her nipples painfully tight, the mark over her right breast protesting the distance between them.

  I’ll tell him, he’ll leave, I’ll return to my experiments and this pain will stop. “Come inside.” She stepped to the left, allowing him to pass her. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.” As he entered the underground bunker she swept her fingertips across his cotton-covered stomach, the contact easing her pain and feeding her arousal.