Dante’s Command: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Survival Wars Book 1) (7 page)

Mariella took a step closer, sliding over the floor. “Why
don’t you just tell me where you live?” she breathed. Her lips trembled
with…something. Something so strange and warm.

He cleared his throat and looked away, twisting his lower
body away from her. “You would get lost trying to find me. It will simply be
easier if I come to you…Mariella? What are you?”

She couldn’t think. Her nostrils were full of the musk of
his sweat, and the odor of something terribly sweet.

Closing the distance between them, she lifted up her head,
grabbed his shoulders, and stood up on her toes to press her mouth to his.

He couldn’t deny how attracted he was to her. After spending
so much time with her, how could he not be? She was brilliant and strange and a
pure delight, with that odd human sense of humor.

Her honey-colored hair was merely a bonus on top of that, as
was the curves of her form which he thought might cradle him much better than
the comparative flatness of his people. So many nights recently, he wrestled
with himself while trying to sleep in his captain’s chair. She excited him so
much throughout the day but at least he could distract himself with his men and
his duties, but at night? She filled his mind, so exotic with that light skin
and those unnatural eyes…

But, he was a male. He did not have the breeding privileges
that females had. He could not simply choose his own mate. He had to be chosen.
And as a lowly male, the lowest of the low who was now in a position of
punishment, his likelihood of ever being chosen to mate with anyone was
astonishingly low. Though he was aware of the difference in parts between him
and a female, and the essential basics, he had never even touched a female
before meeting her.

And now she was here, her body pressed close to his, her
mouth on his. Her lips were so hot compared to his, although he certainly felt
a great deal of heat gathering in his member. He was throbbing, so hard he
feared she could feel it, so hard that he worried he would burst straight
through his clothes.

“Mariella,” he tried to say, weakly, but his lips only moved
soundlessly against hers. She took the encouragement, and gripped his shoulders
harder. He very nearly lost control of himself, his hips trembling on the very
edge of bucking himself against her….against her…

This temptation went against everything he had ever known to
be good and right. But, neither could he shove away the advances of a female.
Females were everything, were the future of his kind, and no woman had ever
been more key to that future than Mariella. He dared not offend her. He dared
not resist.

And she felt so nice…

His control weakened. But he didn’t know what to do,
reaching weakly out to her, but not knowing where to grab. He couldn’t think,
not through the magic of what her silky-wet lips were doing against his. All he
could do was shudder.

After an excruciating eternity, she stopped and looked up
into his eyes. Rather, she tried to. He closed them immediately. The sight of
those gorgeous blue jewels would surely make him…

“Dante? What’s going on?  Don’t you…Oh. You don’t like me,
do you?”

He opened his eyes then, just in time to see rejection flood
across her face. Her grip on him loosened and she was about to step away,
clearly hurt and disappointed.

“No!” he burst out, and grabbed her wrist so she couldn’t
leave. It was the first time he’d grabbed someone, and he was terrified of
hurting her but he couldn’t let her leave like this. “Mariella, no! I do like
you! I like you very much! I just don’t…know what to do.”         

“What do you mean?” she asked. He saw some of her curiosity
return, and took a deep breath to try and combat the pang of sexual attraction
deep in his loins. “I mean that you…That I…This isn’t how we do things!” He
struggled to explain. “The female chooses a male who is worthy. I am not.”

She just looked at him. “But, I’m choosing you!”

“But I’m not worth it!” he pleaded, so embarrassed and
confused.

And then he was nothing but surprised, her finger pressing
against his lips. “Isn’t that for me to decide?”

And then, there was nothing else to say as she replaced her
finger with her lips again. He held still, shaking and about to shatter apart,
as her lips moved over his, rubbing and caressing. Her breasts pressed to his
chest, and he felt hard points dragging friction against his clothes. Hands
roamed, touching all over him, from down between his legs, around to his butt,
caressing up his back muscles…

Parting his lips to gasp, Mariella took advantage of it and
slid her tongue into his mouth. Her tongue burned, filling his mouth, so
strange and so moist. And when she found his, he couldn’t help but to moan.
Something was happening inside him, his mouth moving of its own accord.
Frustration filled him as he struggled to keep up with her motions, everything
going too fast and yet not nearly fast enough.

I can’t be doing this,
he thought, but his will was
broken. There was nothing he could do but try to hang on as she broke away,
grabbed his hand, and led him over to the bed.

The touch of silk on his skin distracted him. He looked
down, reaching for the blanket which bunched up against his leg. Never before
had he ever had a blanket, or even a pillow.

Then, Mariella lay her hand on his thigh. He snapped his
gaze up, looking into her face. “Just let me do this,” she whispered, and
placed his hand right over where his member was.  A surge of warmth from his
base to his tip shot through him. He groaned, tossing his head back and
clenching his muscles tight to try and control it.

I can’t…

He was on his back on the bed, with Mariella’s mouth on his.
She kissed him again, and he finally lost himself.

Grabbing her rear in his hands and whimpering at how soft
she was all over, Dante shoved his lips against hers, crushing them together.
Their mouth met savagely, tongues flicking out to ravage the other now.

As they kissed, she slid her sweet body up on top of his and
spread her legs, straddling him. Very slowly, she reached up under the hem of
her shirt and started to slide the garment up and over her head. His breath
caught as he watched, the hem clearing her bra and bunching up around her
shoulders.

She took his hands and set them on her breasts, letting him
feel the softest part of her yet. Her nipples were velvety and peaked, and he
delighted in running his thumb over the turgid tips. His stroking wrenched
shocked, delighted purrs from her throat. And where her most secret, feminine
of places was, she started to get wet…

Dante looked down, trying to see. “What is this?” he asked
faintly.

Mariella swallowed hard, and then closed her eyes. “It means
I’m ready. It means I want you.”

As one, they shifted onto their knees. Mariella let him slowly
help peel the rest of her clothes off and he gasped to see his first womanhood.
It was pink and lightly, cutely furred just above a long, deeply-colored slit
between her legs. She was slick with moisture, and there was a small nub of
needy flesh throbbing just at the top of that slender, swollen parting.

That’s where I go, he thought.

Mariella reached for his clothing now.

At the same time, he reached for her pussy. Curiosity drove
his need, and he slid one finger down deep through her womanhood. She was slick
as she looked, moist and burning. Her pussy started to tighten around his
finger at the same time as she grabbed his manhood again.

With a start, he came back to himself and realized who he
was, and what this was.

“No!” He cried out again, leaping off the bed and collapsing
on his back. The trip and the fall stung, but nothing hurt more than his pride
right then. His self-image was shattered. He was a disgrace, led by temptation.

This woman deserved better than his fallacy.

“I’m sorry,” he said, turning his head away. She just sat
there on her bed, naked and despondent. Her breathing was labored. Excitement,
disappointment, the general lack of air? “I am so sorry, Mariella. I will do
anything to make this right. I will do anything you ask of me at anytime but
please, do not force this upon me.”

She looked alarmed. “Wait a minute, you thought I was trying
to punish you?”

“You weren’t?” he asked, sounding accusing and not meaning
to. Had he thought wrong all this time? He knew her customs were different,
but…

“No!” she protested, and then shoved some of her hair out of
her face. “Dante, I’m not that experienced either! If you wanted, we can try
again and go slower. I didn’t mean to scare you away.”

“You weren’t trying to punish me?”

“Didn’t you want to?” she asked, confused.

“Yes, but…”

“Then come here,” she begged him. “Please?” Her arms rose,
beckoning to him.

The dilemma dragged out before him, the want to go to her so
ferocious that he almost gave in; however, he just knew he couldn’t. When he
tried to take a step forward, she was suddenly further away. Another step, and
he was out in the hallway.

Mariella called after him, starting to get out of bed.

Dante turned and ran.

His member wilted so rapidly, so suddenly that he went numb.
How had he ever dared feel anything for that woman? Had he gone mad?

I must have,
he thought, gasping breathlessly.
I
must be completely insane to have done something like that. And it does not
matter if she was serious or not. She will hate me for falling for her trap, or
she will hate me for rejecting her.

Either way, it was best to just have done nothing.

She wasn’t following, but he kept running. He stumbled
constantly, suddenly so depressed and tired that he would have collapsed to the
floor right where he stood, but the downward slope of the tunnels propelled him
on and on, lower and lower. His room, which he shared with two other such
worthless men as himself, was nearly at ground level.

Either way, he would have to get there eventually, so he just
kept running. But as he did, he couldn’t help but to wonder why, if this was
the right choice…

Why did it hurt so much?

She cried herself to sleep like a teenage girl instead of an
adult nuclear scientist. She couldn’t help it though, everything was much too
confusing and she just felt so sorry that such a brave man should feel so
inadequate about his own self-worth. Just because he was a lower class, that
meant he should never have access to a basic human need?

But, she really hadn’t known how inexperienced he was.
Stranger romances had happened before than of a secret bout of love between
upper and lower classes, so she simply assumed he had at least kissed.
Apparently not, with his lips so still and confused against hers.

I’ve made such a horrible mistake,
she thought
miserably, her face buried in one of the many pillows on her bed. Despite being
made of rock and having only thin sheets, she never wanted to get out of it
again.

Sadness dragged the corners of her mouth down, and she
pressed herself deeper in amongst the pillows. Something was so dreadfully
wrong here, and she was powerless to fix it.

She wanted to get up and go to him, to explain that she knew
she was in the wrong, and beg for another chance, but it was too soon. He
wouldn’t have had a chance yet to spread the word to his people that if they
saw her, to take her to him; and there was just no way she could find her way
around on her own, stumbling around in the dark like this.

No, there was nothing at all she could do but cry it out and
go to sleep for a few hours. If she did that, she would wake up and be prepared
to face him again.

It didn’t happen like that, however.

Holding her sobs in until they quelled into low whimpers,
exhaustion crashed down on her like a suffocating blanket. It wasn’t a restful
sleep, but a turmoil of whirling thoughts and images. She relived flashed of
the crash over and over again, the impact puncturing through the darkness every
time she started to drift away.

And there wasn’t really a way to measure the time passing
while she slept, but judging by the state of her bladder it had been
considerably longer than she planned. Still, as she crouched to relieve
herself, she marveled at how little she ached. After all that climbing and then
her rocky sleep, only her thighs were worse for wear.

I must be in better shape than I thought. It’s hard to
tell sometimes, just sitting inside in a lab all day.

And that would be exactly what she was doing here, if Dante
had kept his word. Although, she wouldn’t blame him if he hadn’t. She couldn’t
blame him for that. Not after…

Her thoughts shied away again, and she let them. No, she
couldn’t concern herself with that. Not today. The only way to do this was to
consider it part of a completely different day, and to completely start over.
No more schoolgirl crushes. No more flirting or putting herself into awkward
situations. This was silence, and the day she started her mission.

Actually, had her lungs stopped aching a little overnight?
The human body was so remarkably complex that she wouldn’t be surprised if she
was already adapting –or if her brain was adjusting to the stimulus and just
blocking it out. Either way, she felt like she breathed a little better and was
glad for it. Without that extra bit of distraction, she might be able to do
better.

As she walked through the tunnels, quickly finding a guide
who immediately gestured for her to follow and started to lead, she took notice
of how different the activity was today. All fanfare and standing around was
over as the Drones readjusted to their daily lives. Work had to go on and so
she frequently passed men carrying pick axes or other devices which resembled
thick drills.  Then men spared her only a glance before lowering their heads
and shoulders until she was out of sight.

She saw less women than before, and practically no children.
Maybe today they had all been ushered back into that nursery he spoke of. Or,
was today a school day?

Did they even have school?

As she walked, she pondered. For such an advanced people
capable of space travel and these invisible wall-doors, she saw very little
sign of that in their day-to-day life. There were no machines and no screens
here, and the lights were really the only sign of a high-functioning society that
she could determine.

It's due to the Mites,
she realized.
Dante said
everything was changing. Maybe this is what he meant.

If the enemy’s siege had forced a darkening of the
technological level of this society, it was an even worse situation than merely
running out fuel. She would need to build this Hive up from the ground again.

For a moment, she thanked herself for her African village
experience with the Zenith Grid, but her thoughts were broken by her guide
wandering away. She turned, poised to ask him where he thought he was going,
when soft footfalls from the other direction caught her attention.

Dante approached, his face impassive. “Greetings,” he said
dully. “Are you ready to be taken to your work station? I can assist you.”

“You sound like a robot,” she murmured. He just blinked with
confusion. “Dante…”

He interrupted her, waving one broad hand. “I have had quite
enough of this for now,” he said. His eyes darkened a little. “I do not want to
speak of what transpired. I am here to be your assistant. Nothing more.”

“Of course,” she said quietly, and he relaxed a little.
“Where is it?”

He gestured her further down the tunnel, and they started
off. The silence between them was very near awkward, though not entirely. It
was more like both of them just didn’t know what they were going to say.

“Science is considered not very subtle of a skill,” Dante
said finally. “It is often time-consuming and laborious, so it is a man’s job.”

Time-consuming and laborious yes, but not like mining,
surely? “What are some examples of women’s jobs?”

“Childbirth,” he said simply, and that was all.

Honestly, in her opinion, it didn’t seem like either males
or females were having a particularly nice time here. Was that how things had
always been?

There was still more time as they walked, so Mariella asked
him to explain their current methods of energy production.

Eight minutes later, she still had no idea what he was
talking about. The whole process was ludicrous and absurd, involving methods
and materials which she couldn’t even begin to fathom. And from what Dante was
telling her, the daily mining operations only brought back a tiny fraction of
the necessary material each day. Their supplies here were depleted, but they
very well couldn’t move on to a different one without being blasted to pieces.

Just as they were about to enter her new lab, she asked,
“What about the miners do all day, then? If there’s nothing of value down
there…’

“We continue to mine for the diamonds and such,” he answered
absentmindedly.

All this considered, she would have to keep in mind where
their priorities lay.

The lab was actually rather nice, showing true signs of a
scientist’s playground. There was a cabinet made of stone, and any number of
prepared microscopes and other pieces of equipment lined up on the plentiful
counter space. In addition to even that, the walls were covered in
scientific-looking inscriptions she could make neither heads nor tails of.
Those would be useful if she could ever figure that out, but as she stepped
into the room she finally decided something: adapting onto their current fuel
wouldn’t work. Neither would solar power, at least for now. However, Venus did
have one thing in abundance that most places on Earth were rather lacking in.

“Dante?” she asked.

The alien man looked up with a dutiful buzz.

She spoke slowly, forming the idea even as she talked.
“These tunnels started out as lava tubes, right?”

“Yes,” he nodded cautiously, examining her face. She saw
that calculating look and knew that he was trying to follow her train of
thought. “They were formed during extensive activity during the childhood of
our planet. Venus is covered in them.”

Lava rose to the surface, not the other way around. “So that
means, thee tunnels have to still connect to the source, right?”

“Yes, but do not fret. We have safety measures in place to
ensure that sudden activity will not cost us our lives.”

Probably in the way of a ton more doors,
she thought
absently. Or, perhaps the Drones had created run-off tunnels of their own that
would redirect the flow outwards instead of upwards. She had no idea. But what
this meant as that somewhere beneath her feet, the solid rock grew very
treacherous and liquidy –and burning hot. And heat was very nearly the same as
solar energy, practically identical but for the source in a situation like
this.

Mariella turned to him, placing her hands flat on a tabletop
and leaning over them in her excitement. The alien backed away, but only took a
single step when he realized that she wasn’t trying to invade his space like he
feared. “Look,” she said. “I know that you knew all about my projects on Earth,
or else you wouldn’t have picked me out. My Zenith Grid won’t work here. The
sun isn’t going to be consistent enough for you. I mean, I can make you some if
you get me some of the right materials. It’ll be a start so you guys can start
protecting yourself again, but it’s not a long-term solution.”

“Then what do you suggest?” he asked icily.

“Heat.”

And she watched with pride and bubbling hope as realization
dawned on his face. “Of course! That very well might work. Our mines lead
straight down to the source, though we have completely drained that area of
materials. But, what do you suggest that you will build for such a thing as
that?”

“I have no idea,” she admitted. “Is it okay if I make you
some lists? And a couple other people? We can get them started on building the
solar panels for the Grid while I try to figure out how to adapt them for
heat.”

“Of course. Let me find…”

The alien turned and wandered over to the countertop, and
bent over to open and study a drawer beneath it. Mariella tried very hard not
to stare at his butt but wasn’t entirely successful. It was not round but it
looked like a firm handful of succulent flesh…

“Mariella?”

She dragged her gaze back up to him, not having realized
that she was daydreaming. Her loins trembled a little but she quelled it as
best she could while scribbling on what appeared to be a pad of leather
leaflets. The writing utensil he handed her was an odd thing, pure solid
material which bled thin, inklike tendrils of liquid behind it. “Do you have
some sort of silicon here, or something similar?”

“Yes.”

“Solar panels are made of various kinds, so I’ll work with
whatever you’ve got. Let’s see…I need…” She started mumbling to herself,
listing various common elements which she desperately hoped Venus might have
–or at least some sort of workable equivalent. Her mind raced ahead of her
hand, making her writing grow jagged and confused, but she hoped he would still
be able to read it. This was her element, this stage of figuring. It was more
difficult to figure out what she might need for a heat-powered Grid, but she
threw down some suggestions and thought that she would make sense of it all
when everything was physically within her grasp. Of course, the heat would need
to be converted in a different manner than she was used to, so she wrote down a
small selection of various catalytic compounds, and then offered him the list.

Dante took it, squinting a little. “You have impeccable
writing,” he said blandly.

She laughed a little, watching him take stock of the entire
list. Finally, he said, “Very well. We do not have some of this but I will
bring replacements, if I can find them. We are quite low on everything, so securing
the supplies would ordinarily be difficult. Hopefully, word has spread to our
supply keepers.”

“I hope so,” she said quietly. “And actually, could you grab
a little bit of everything else that I might not be familiar with? If you
could? I’m going to have to adapt the plans to work with heat, but I’ll have to
do it in two stages: one based on what would be available on Earth, and the
next would be converting it to what’s available here. That’ll go faster if I
can do some small experiments.”

“Yes,” he said, nodding again. “I will do this, and grab you
some more assistants along the way so they may help me carry it. And if you
have any questions, even the smallest child here could answer them. This is
where we live, after all.”

“I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone else,” she pointed
out. “It looks like you and the Queen are the only ones who have bracelets
left.”

Dante blinked a little, and then waved his hand in the air
at waist-height as if to get her attention to something he’d just thought of.
“If I have spare time, might I make
you
a bracelet? You will be able to
communicate with anyone, anywhere.”

She was relieved. “That sounds great! Thank you so much,
Dante. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

The alien turned away with a pained little laugh, his
shoulders slumping. “You would still be happy and successful on Earth.”