Her Alien Savior (13 page)

His mouth opened again. “Marissa. Can’t let her get hurt.” His eyes were still closed.

Did he know what he was saying? More importantly, what was he saying? What did he mean? Save her from what? Couldn’t let what hurt her? Was he reliving the attempted mugging?

So you’re going to leave this man who just saved your life?

She rubbed her temples, took a step closer to her purse, keeping her eyes on Finn. Not taking her eyes off him for more than a second.

Wait a moment. Man who saved her life? Man? Who said this was a man? He wasn’t like any man she’d ever met before. This changing skin thing. That—that couldn’t be good.

She was torn. Half of her wanted to get the hell out of there. The other half felt like she owed this injured man—being—thing—whatever he was—

She owed him something.

When he sat up she thought he was reaching for her. She sidestepped to the right, closer to the mirror and television. His eyes were still closed, his skin doing that undulating thing and shifting colors. His moans were low, and he didn’t say anything else.

“Finn?” She kept her voice to a low whisper. She didn’t really want to wake him if he wasn’t awake, but she also didn’t want to walk past him if he was awake and pissed that she was trying to escape.

Are you really trying to escape?
Damn her inner voice. She didn’t need the pressure.

She took a couple of steps closer to the door. She was almost in front of him. He was still moaning, but now he shifted slightly.

Suddenly he bolted upright to a sitting position. His eyes were still closed. Behind him something moved, then there was a flutter sound, almost imperceptible.

Marissa jumped back.

He had wings.

Or something like wings. No, no, no. It was definitely wings. They had spread out, these white, almost opaque things—wings—whatever.

Making sure his eyes were still closed, she leaned in for a better look. Those wings looked like a diaphanous fabric.

This couldn’t be. How could she have missed that? What the hell was he? Why was she still here? That did it. She needed to be out of here. Gone. Done. Over it already.

She glanced at the door, then back at him. Curiosity was getting the best of her, but mostly because she’d always felt so safe around him. She let a breath out she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Maybe he was a demon. Or an angel. Screw this, she was out. She was done. There was no reason to find out what he was. This wasn’t something she wanted to be involved in. Whatever it was. Whatever he was. She clutched her purse to her chest and tiptoed toward the door. She didn’t get two steps before a hoarse whisper called her name.

Finn’s voice was tortured. Great. Just what she needed. Because she was a sucker.

“Where are you going?”

Disbelief froze her feet. “You ask me that when you have those—those—wings? Or whatever those things are.”

He shrugged, but it was more like a shrug to figure out if something was there. As if to determine that the wings were there, not as if to say ‘I don’t know.’

He nodded. “That’s what they are.”

She folded her arms over her chest. Was this guy for real? Jeez, was he even a guy? Not as in male . . . her mind didn’t want to go there because he was definitely all male, but more like was he even human? “How can you be so nonchalant?” Oh boy, she was getting more and more pissed by the moment. She fought the urge to stomp around the end of the bed. Or maybe to throw something. “And what world do you live in that you don’t think you should tell a girl—Ugh!—” She didn’t want to say it out loud, what could she say though? “We did
things!
Naked
things
—and—are you even human?”

“A quarter.” His wings folded back. Or he folded them back.

Who the hell knew at this point? She sure didn’t. “What? Quarter . . . what? What are you talking about?” She had to struggle to keep the hysteria from making her voice rise. She wondered if she should be scared. But this was Finn. She couldn’t fear him. There was something innate about the trust she felt around him. But right now, the anger overrode all other emotions. “Well? What?”

“I’m a quarter human.” His voice was calm, his words enunciated clearly, as if he was talking to a dull-witted person. “Three quarters Asazi. My grandmother. She was human.”

“So she’s real? Because I was starting to wonder if anything you’ve told me is the truth.”

“She was very real.”

“So you’re only a quarter human and three quarters . . .?”

“Asazi.”

“Which is what? And from where?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got some time.”

“You look like you’re leaving.”

“Let’s see. A guy I was—
SEXUAL!
—with sprouted wings and has skin that’s a cross between a dragon and a chameleon. You’re not seriously asking why I’d consider leaving, are you?”

He looked down. “I guess not.”

“So what’s your story? And make it the short version. I get bored easily.” She wondered if she was being too bitchy. Nah, he—he lied. Or at the very least, he misrepresented himself. Then again another part of her asked,
what was he supposed to say? Don’t freak out but I have wings and this cool skin that ripples different colors?
Like he would have said that? Like she would have believed it. She uncrossed her arms and leaned back on the dresser, trying hard not to look as pissed and as confused as she felt.

“Short version. I’m from another planet. We used to live on Earth, but were banished. We came to get resources. Our wings don’t work.” He stopped, bit down on his lip, then released it and stared at her. As if he were waiting. As if it were up to her. As if anything were up to her.

She sucked air in, then heaved a breath out. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked for the short version.”

His face was somber, open, and vulnerable. A look she’d never seen on him before.

“Do you trust me?” His voice was just as somber, open, and vulnerable.

She didn’t pause to think. If she were to spend any time thinking of the answer to that one, she wasn’t sure she would be completely honest. So she dove right in. “That’s a strange question. But my answer may be stranger because I don’t think I understand it completely. I trust you not to bring me physical harm.”

A question was forming in his expression, a brief frown. “As opposed to?”

“Lying to me, Mister Headhunter.” She hoped that her statement stung as much as the lies he’d told her did, or as much as the truths he didn’t reveal stung.

His color shifted to a bluish shimmer.

“Wait. Wait a damned moment. Why did your color just change?”

“It matches our emotions. We cannot lie in our own skin. It’s different in human skin, that masks our emotions.”

She had to know. She had to know because for some stupid reason she had begun to feel
something
for him. “How do you become human?”

“Adjust our heart rate, then draw our skin over our wings and transform our skin’s appearance by adding a human layer.”

“So, are you in your true form right now? Not some in between form? I mean, because except for the wings and the color changing thing, you look very human.” She didn’t add, very hot and sexy and very human. Some things shouldn’t be said, especially not at a time like this. “And you said your wings don’t work? Meaning you can’t fly?”

“Yes, this is my true Asazi form. And that is correct, we haven’t been able to fly since the Banishment.”

“Banishment—what?”

His smile was rueful. “I told you it was a long story. You said you wanted the shortened version.”

“Wait. What happened to your wounds?” She approached, reached for his leg, put her hand on it. The wound had sealed. “What the hell is going on here?”

“We heal fast.”

“We is who?”

“Asazi people.”

“You say people, but people don’t have wings, don’t do that skin color thing. And people live on Earth. Why are you on Earth again?”

“We are having problems with procreation.”

A blush warmed her cheeks as she thought of his body. “What do you mean you can’t procreate? You have the equipment. And you didn’t look like you have problems to me.”

“Our females.”

“Have you people thought of e-mail brides?”

“We need something. I’m not sure what. I’m a soldier, not a scientist. I deliver the females.”

“And I’m one of them.”

“You were. Now I’m . . .” He hesitated.

She wondered what he was going to say. “So your grandmother dying is bullshit? Is she even human? Not that I believe this, but shit, you have wings. So I guess something’s true. Maybe you’re an angel.”

“My grandmother. That’s not bullshit. And she really died. And she’s human. And I’m part human.”

“And my meeting you really wasn’t an accident. You really are hunting me?”

“Not hunting. But you aren’t an accident. You were my first target.”

“I am?”

“No. I rearranged the order.”

“You’re allowed to do that? Why did you do that?”

“No. And I don’t know. There’s something about you. So I picked up 42. Kal said she was home after they were done with her. But she wasn’t. She’s missing. They ordered me to return back to the ship. But I didn’t go. I left. I ran away. And then you.”

“Me. Yeah. Me. Drunk me in the bar. Easy pickings.”

Chapter 30

Finn

Marissa’s touch on his thigh, near the almost-healed wound felt like his flesh was on fire. Not from pain, but from desire. The need to have her touch him radiated from her fingertips to his loins, traveling, searing his entire body. Finn rubbed his head. “I’m confused. My body’s been acting—feeling—strange, different. My mind too. Everything seems off sometimes. Makes me wonder why. If it’s the human food.”

“How can that be?”

“Not sure. I’m a soldier. Not a scientist.”

“Now I’m the one who is confused.”

He took her hand in his, bringing her nearer. Her face showed the conflict she felt at his betrayal. And it showed something else, he wasn’t sure he could diagnose it, but—

He pulled her even closer, at first her body resisted, holding back, but he didn’t relinquish his hold or the pressure.

When she was leaning over him, he took her other hand in his and settled her next to him on the bed. Her leg was lined up with his, bare thigh against hers. His skin was aware of her body heat like he’d never felt before, his breathing shallower.

He raised his eyes from their legs and looked into hers. Her pupils dilated, then contracted. She cleared her throat in a way that he’d already become familiar with. She licked her bottom lip, driving him over the edge—almost.

“Finn.” Her voice was throaty, lingering on every nerve in his body, pressing him with the need to have her. “I’m confused. And I know I should be worried, pissed, frustrated, betrayed—I should feel all those things, but I can’t—don’t.”

“I never meant to hurt you. If I could have avoided deceiving you, I would have. If I could have stopped you from thinking I was something I’m not, I would have.”

“I know. But where does that leave us now?”

He pressed his lips against hers, inhaling her scent. All woman. All human. His tongue touched her bottom lip. She moaned and his shaft filled with urge, pressed against his briefs. She’d see it. Then she’d think—

Chapter 31

Marissa

She was more confused than he was. Or was she? This beautiful man with dark predatory eyes and wings—jeez don’t fucking forget the wings! How could she?—was on this bed in a very—

—she avoided looking down at his state of arousal again. Avoided it because it made her want him so much more. And she didn’t want to want him. She didn’t understand wanting him. Was it okay that he lied to her? Did he? Was it self-preservation? It didn’t seem or feel the way it did when Joey lied. Not at all.

Finn’s face was honest, his eyes clear, and it was obvious it pained him to lie to her.

“What are we doing?” She couldn’t keep the whisper back, though she didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer to that. If she could handle the answer.

He put a finger on the button on her shirt, then under it, slipping beneath the fabric. His fingertip brushed her skin lightly, nothing more than a graze, sending a typhoon of sensations throughout her body. Her breath held hostage in her lungs, burning now, while she waited for his next move.

He unbuttoned a button, two fingers slipped into her blouse, then another. He raised his hand, almost delicately tracing the contour of her breast. Her nipple pressed against the fabric, seeking freedom from its satin encasing. Seeking the warmth and roughness of his hands. Confusion battled desire. Anger and frustration no longer factored in the equation.

“I don’t want to do something you don’t want.” His breath was warm on her cheek.

What she wanted was to feel every inch of him on and in every bit of her. What she needed to do was run away from this man who wasn’t even human. Who was much more than human. A being she didn’t understand.

“How can you seem so real, and yet be so surreal?” Her thoughts flowed from her mind to her lips. She couldn’t have stopped saying that if she’d wanted to.

“How can you?” He unbuttoned the next button, never taking his eyes off her face. Then he moved to another and another. The room’s airflow cooled her flesh. Marissa closed her eyes as he pushed her top off her shoulders. She fought to control the pure yearning that flowed through her nerves, blood, tendons, and coursed throughout her body.

“Look at me.” His voice brooked no hesitation.

She opened her eyes. His face had the faintest greenish hue that vacillated with a purple shade.

“Do you want me to convert? I can make my skin human and the wings can completely vanish.”

Good grief. She’d forgotten about his wings. One minute they were there, stretched out and now, they weren’t. “What did you do with them?”

“Nothing. They’re furled. You know, wrapped up.”

“I want to touch them.” Yeah, she did say that, didn’t she?