Dante’s Command: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Survival Wars Book 1) (6 page)

After a certain point the tunnels leveled out and would go
no higher. Also at that point, there were no longer any offshooting branches.
Mariella noticed that with interest. Intentional design?  The Queen couldn’t
have been any safer than she was, secluded up over her people like this.

Although, the closer they got now, the more nervous she
grew. Would the Queen be able to understand her? Would she even want to
understand? Dante did undermine her authority. What if this was all for
nothing?

She reached out and grabbed his hand, meaning to give it a
reassuring squeeze, but he flinched and pulled away while keeping his warm eyes
straight ahead. The rejection hurt but she forced herself to get over it. This
just wasn’t the time to try to make a home, after all. There was also the matter
that she didn’t even know if they were going to have compatible parts.

Suddenly, a bend in the tunnel revealed an actual door. It
was heavy and actually resembled a boulder more than anything, but it was the
first door she’d seen that wasn’t disguised as a wall. Two lights blasted onto
it from either side, meeting at an angle to drip over the rough, carved
surface.

Mariella studied the carvings but they weren’t pictures or
even anything resembling a language –as far as she knew, anyway. If these
Drones buzzed and hummed, who knew what symbols they would use to portray the
sounds? She could very well be looking at an anthem, or a very important oath…

However, Dante said nothing to her and she kept her mouth
shut. He motioned for her to stay back, and then approached the door with his
arms outspread.

And he hummed.

Mariella clamped her hands to her ears. The sound was
shatteringly loud, piercing straight through her ears and into the core of her
brain. She closed her eyes to try and block it out, shoving her fingers in her
ears harder, but nothing she did made any difference.

If any of the others had joined in, she thought she might
have to bash her head against the wall until it ended. It was maddening,
infuriating.

But, it only lasted for those few seconds before Dante
clamped off the sound and backed up. His shoulders relaxed and he cleared his
throat, then glanced shyly at her. “Sorry,” he murmured.

She said nothing, still shaken and with the sound still
rattling in her skull. Obviously that had been their version of knocking, or
some kind of formal request to enter what was a essentially a throne room.
Damn, if only she had one of those bracelets…

The door opened, splitting in half with a horrendous sound
as a man from inside shoved it open. She gasped, unable to help herself. Up
until now, she hadn’t seen anything like him.

Even compared to Dante, this man was immense. He wore even
brighter colors, and his clothes were strikingly clean. His hair was loose and
untamed, longer even than hers, and his whole body bulged with an inordinate
amount of muscle.

A guard, obviously. A real, true guard.

The guard grunted at Dante, his dark brown eyes sticky with
flatness. Dante hummed back politely, gesturing around as he spoke. Explaining
himself.

She thought about trying to hide, but that was probably the
wrong thing to do. So, instead, she just lifted her chin and stared down the
guard when he looked right at her. And, after a moment, he placed his hand on
his chest and backed away from the entrance to allow them in.

For everything that she had seen so far, this throne room
threw it all out of the water.

For one, it was not just a room. It was a hub, with dozens
of thin tunnels all conjoining here.

At the same time, it was a treasure room.

She should have suspected it, due to Venus’s abundance of
pressure and volcanic activity, but for some reason she was astonished at the
diamonds. The walls were streaked with natural veins, and the throne itself was
a single molded piece of shining glory. The steps too, were nearly pure
diamond. The sconces on the wall, which held a great deal of burning light
compared to what she’d seen thus far, were silver and studded with gems.
Everywhere she looked, whether it was from the design on the floor, to
meaningless inscriptions on the walls, to the frames of color around each
tunnel mouth, there were diamonds and silver and gold, and very occasionally a
scattering of more colorful stone.

And here too, were the people.

Like the clean-faced and well-dressed guard, these Drone
women were far different from the others she’d seen on her way here. And they
wore jewelry, the first sign of physical decoration that she’d seen. They
lounged against the walls, or walked through the tunnels, or lay and sat upon
silky cushions with weird rabbit animals in their laps. Here and there, a
female child dressed in gold scampered around.

So, these must be the breeding stock,
she thought.
Obviously these people weren’t
really
bees. One woman couldn’t hope to
provide enough progeny to keep her colony afloat, but these upper-class women
certainly could.

And actually, she saw some slender men in their midst, too.
Current favorites, she guessed.

Dante stood there, waiting for her to get her fill of the
sights before he ushered her on. And it seemed like the Queen was doing the
same, when Mariella finally looked at her.

She was slight and round, with her hair laced through
strings of diamond bead. With her hands neatly holding a gemstone scepter in
her lap, and her tiny body drowning in a silver gown, she would almost have
been adorable if not for the chill in those amber eyes. Her face was stiff,
impassive.

Oh!

But, there was a bracelet on her arm! Mariella’s hopes
soared.

But, she was flanked on both sides by six of those burly
guards. This could go very bad in a hurry, if she decided not to have patience
today.

But, Mariella clung to her hope with both hands and stepped
forward with Dante until there was room for the twenty-four crewmen to fill in
behind them. And once the last man was through, the door was pushed shut by the
guard who had allowed them to enter in the first place.

Silence fell, but for the curious hums of the royalty women,
who had no idea what was going on.

Eventually, Dante spoke in English. “My Queen, I…”

“Bow,” the Queen replied shortly.

So, her bracelet was more than just decoration.

Without any hesitation at all, Dante bowed and lowered his
head. His men did the same. Mariella was about to join them when the Queen
hissed, catching her attention. “So,” she said in that crackling voice, static
at the edge of her words, “my men risked their lives for you? And what are you,
then?”

Mariella stammered, suddenly aware of all the eyes on her.
“I…” Her voice locked up, and she berated herself. This was no different from all
the speeches she’d been giving lately!

So, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady
herself. When she opened them again, the Queen was still watching.

“My name is Mariella,” she said. “Dante came to Earth to get
me.”

“No. What
are
you?”

“A human,” she said, confused. And then it clicked. Her
stature. Of course. It was very important to them. “I am a scientist. I study
forms of energy.” And though she never would have said such a thing at home,
she continued with forced pride, “I am known all over Earth. I’ve changed
everyone’s lives by revolutionizing the fuel industry.”

“Ah,” the Queen sighed appreciatively, the harshness fading
from her voice. “An ambitious woman, then. Not royalty, but rather important,
aren’t you? I see. Dante, stand and explain why you abducted this woman –this
Mariella.”

He obeyed, standing but keeping his head low. “My Queen, I
know it was an awful risk, but we had already been watching Earth because their
people and planet are so similar. When I intercepted some broadcasts that spoke
of Mariella, I had to do it. We are dying, and we all know it. She can help us
prosper again.”

“And did you ask her if she wished to help?”

His fists tightened a little. “She accepted.”

“But, that is not quite what I asked.” The small Queen
turned her gaze back to Mariella, eyes narrowing. “Did you wish to help us when
Dante came for you?”

I’m going to have to lie with a truth.

“I want to do everything I can to assist you.”

The Queen nodded. “Very well. But, I must warn you that we
will unfortunately not be able to offer you much in the way of comforts and
safety. The Mites have been scanning our landscape, searching for us. Very
soon, they may attack again.”

A quiver of fear ran through her stomach, but she pushed it
down. There was no turning back. “I’m sure about this, my new Queen,” Mariella
said softly. “I will do everything I can, but I’ll need accommodations.”

“Then, if you are able to accomplish this, we will be ever
in your debt. Until then, I am certain that we can spare a lab for you.” The
Queen lifted her scepter, and one of her guards loped past Dante and exited the
throne room. “We do not have much in the way of scientists of our own anymore,
but I will see to it that you are assisted as you need.”

“Thank you. That’s very generous.”

And she would need as much help as she could get.

“Now, as you are an important member of our society for the
moment, and the victim, what say you as for Dante? How might he be punished?”

Mariella was startled. “Why should he be punished?”

The Queen tapped her scepter on her knee as she listed out
each point. “Abandoning his station. That is desertion and endangerment. He
took you against your will, and that is unauthorized abduction. That is
strictly against many laws that govern the galaxy, not just our planet. He
wasted our fuel, and crashed our last vessel. So, what say you?”

She hesitated. Dante looked despondent, his head very low. Obviously,
he thought that he deserved anything she could think of, but tenderness flooded
her heart for him. For some reason, ever since she’d met him, all she felt was
the urge to protect him, so she wracked her brains for a solution.

“I think Dante should be one of my assistants,” she said,
glancing at him again. “That way, he can help give back what he took away.”

“And so it shall be,” the Queen declared, gesturing grandly.
Her people buzzed excitedly and Dante lifted his head a little to look at her
out of the corner of his eye. She quirked that side of her mouth in a smile,
hoping he would understand.

And then, that was it. They were done. The Queen shooed them
all away and they would up out in the hallway again.

Mariella waited while Dante dismissed his men. They all
groaned, though some of them looked more thankful than grumpy. They filed down
the tunnel, and she heard buzzing as they talked amongst themselves.

“Well,” Dante sighed, “that could have gone better.”

Mariella laughed a little, surprised. “Are you kidding me?
All of us are still alive, aren’t we?”

He hesitated, and then nodded. “I suppose so. Are you truly
going to punish me?”

Very lightly, she laid her hand on his shoulder. This time,
he didn’t leap away from her. “No,” she murmured. “I’m not.”  He sighed with
relief and she continued. “Look, I’m exhausted. We all are, right? Is there
somewhere to sleep and I’ll see my lab after a nap, or something?”

“Of course,” he murmured, and then seemed to think to
himself for a moment before nodding. “As you are an important guest, we will
house you as a moderate royalty. I feel the Queen would approve of this. Come.”

His voice was so low, so accidentally sultry, that it was
all she could do to control herself. The fact that he seemed to have no idea
what he was doing to her only made her even more excited.

Stop it,
she scolded herself, but the motion of her
thighs pressing together as she walked rubbed around her shy clit. Tingles
formed in her lower stomach, trailing down even lower still.

Pretty soon, her thoughts were filled with a very different
kind of buzzing. Her blood pumped harder, searing through her veins. Every step
became a tortuous heaven, thighs sliding past each other with beautiful
friction. Despite herself, she was starting to pant.

Dante flashed her a worried look and then hurried the rest
of the way, gesturing her down the mouth of a tunnel, which revealed itself to
be actually a rather nice room. The bed was a rock shelf, but it was fully
decked out with blankets and cushions, and there was a reflective diamond
mirror over a counter sort of area. And there was light, controlled by a
twistable knob set into the wall.

At any other time, this would be when she started pressing
him for answers about their current power source. Unfortunately, all she could
think of right now was something very unscientific indeed.

The alien man stayed in the entrance, his head lowered
respectfully. “I wish very much that you will have a good rest,” he said
softly. Was it just her, or was his dusky skin tinged just a bit darker with a
blush? “When you wake, just walk until you find anyone. I will already have
spread the word that I am to be your assistant. They will help you find me.”