Nicolas: Love me Harder - Alien Paranormal Romance (19 page)

Chapter Twenty Four

Janis hummed as she worked on preparing dinner for her guests. She’d never done this before and she decided she liked it. It was stressful, though, coming up with a menu. She hoped everyone would enjoy the meal.

“Hi, Janis.”

Janis turned around to see Lorali standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

Lorali looked as good as ever, with her slender body and those pretty blue eyes.

Janis sighed and reassured herself Nicolas loved her just like she was. Immediately, she received a mental picture of Nicolas with his head buried between her legs, which then changed to him nuzzling her stomach and sighing in appreciation.

“Angel, if the bathroom, game room, and the big swing on the back porch isn’t enough to convince you, I’m more than willing to start over again from the top and work my way down.”

Blushing hotly, she kicked him out of her mind.

“Lorali I’m so glad you came.”

“I’m glad you issued the invitation.” Lorali smiled, looking slightly uncomfortable.

They walked into the seldom used living room. The family always congregated in the game room.

Janis stopped and stared at Nicholas, not saying anything to him verbally or mentally, and waited.

He sighed and turned to Sergey. “Would you mind if I spoke with Lorali in the other room? That is, if she’s willing?”

Sergey looked at Lorali who shook her head yes.

Nicolas walked into the kitchen with Lorali on his heels. “Take a seat.”

Lorali sat and waited.

Nicolas ran his hand through his hair. Why did talking to females have to be so hard?

“Lorali, when Sergey brought you here, one of the things he said was that you were ex-military and agreed to watch the females and keep them safe when you were around them. I was a little hesitant at first, but you proved yourself quickly. You have the ability, skill set, and the drive to watch others while taking care of yourself. When you saved Sergey’s life, any doubt I had disappeared. I still have no doubts about your ability.”

Nicolas walked to the other side of the counter she was sitting at to look directly at her.

“Janis being taken was a combination of different factors, the main one being she left the safety of the network you provided for her. She knows this and I know this. Knowing this didn’t mean I could communicate it when I was in such pain. I want you to know I never blamed you and continue to trust your skills. Now I also trust that Janis understands what real danger is and will follow whatever you say for her protection.”

Really, he thought, earth men should have written more about how to apologize to your brother’s female.

“Lorali, you’re family and the Created stick together no matter what happens. If the outcome had been different, you’d still be family and always will be. Do you understand?”

She nodded her head yes. “Basically, even if I mess up, you guys may be upset with me, but you will never disown me or leave me on my own.”

Nicholas nodded briefly before catching Lorali as she slid off the chair and ran around the counter to hug him.

“I’m so glad to have a family again.”

Sergey’s growl could be heard from the living room, followed by Janis’s laughter along with her muttered ‘oh get over it.’

Janis walked into the kitchen all smiles. “I think dinner is done.”

“Good,” Sergey said, walking in behind her. “I was beginning to think you were never going to feed us.”

She tossed them a smile. “I could use some help with setting the table.”

Nicholas and Sergey went to work setting the table while Lorali helped Janis in the kitchen.

“Is this better than you thought it would be?” Lorali asked her.

“I never dreamed my life could be like this, that one day I would have family who were just as strange as I am.”

“Hey, we heard that,” Sergey yelled from the dining room.”

Laughter erupted as they brought the food out and continued through the delicious meal.

Janis watched the interactions happening at the table. Nicholas and Sergey kept up the friendly banter of brothers trying to one up each other in the eyes of their mates. Sergey would reach out without thought and touch Lorali occasionally, as if making sure she was still there. She noticed Nicolas did the same to her, almost as if his eyes weren’t enough. He seemed to need physical contact to assure himself.

“Janis I’m glad you’re back and well. For a while there, I thought we may have to lock Nicolas up.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” Nicholas mumbled.

“Shall I give you a play by play of you going after Hale?”

Janis’s eyes got big as she watched a little bit of color creep up Nicolas’s throat. She had no idea the Created could get red.

Sergey sat back, ready to tell his story, when his phone rang.

“Sergey.” He picked the phone up on the first ring. Not even a minute later he put it down.

Lorali looked at him, but didn’t ask any questions. They finished the night early, with Sergey pulling Nicolas to the side before he left.

“The caller earlier asked if I wanted to know why Janis was chosen, then he gave me an address. We will all meet there in an hour.” He mentally supplied the address before walking away.

“What was that all about?” Janis asked after she wished everyone goodnight and made sure they were off safely.

“I believe we are going to get our answers. Let’s go change clothes.”

Janis felt her stomach churn as she changed into a cute army outfit she bought for playing the role of a spy.

She was wearing green camouflage pants, paired with an army green cami and a matching jacket to go over it. She looked good.

Unfortunately, her looks weren’t making the acid in her stomach calm down. Logically, she knew whatever decisions had been made about her life had nothing to do with her. She’d been an infant, no, worse than that, she had not even taken her first breath.

That didn’t stop the irrational fear that somehow it was all her fault. She followed Nicolas out to the car breathing deeply and praying she would keep her dinner down.

“Janis, there was nothing you could do about what was done to you.”

“It’s easy to say when you’re not the one living the nightmare.”

He nodded. She was right.

The ride was long, giving her a chance to relive her life in pictures. At the end of a lifetime of pain and longing, she finally came to terms with a few things. The only real thing she regretted about her life was not finding a way to stand up for herself sooner. Even with that regret, she had to acknowledge life was about growing into the woman you were to become and she’d done that.

Instead of longing for another’s life, she would continue to make her own the best it could be. She gave herself a smile. She’d either go see her mom or have her mom come for a visit. She needed to hug her mother.

She stepped out of the car before Nicolas could open the door for her. Looking around, she saw everyone was here, including Rena, who was looking much better than the last time she’d seen her.

She dashed at a tear of gratefulness before it could fall.

“No matter what we find in there, we are family. We stand together or we fall together.”

Aran’s voice was low, but went through them all as if he’d shouted the words.

“Ash and Hale will take point.”

They nodded and allowed the two brothers to blend in with their surroundings as they approached the building. The rest of them fell back to a defensible position.

Janis stayed behind Nicolas who blended in with his surroundings and somehow managing to create a barrier for her, as long as she stayed still and stood behind him.

“All clear.” Nicolas whispered in her mind.

Moving from behind Nicolas, but waiting for him, she allowed herself to imagine what she’d find inside. The touch of his hand on her arm let her know it was time to move. She knew better than to make the same mistake twice. No running ahead and leaving the safety of the group.

From the outside, it looked like an abandoned house on the outskirts of the city. The inside told a different tale. This was a research facility. The rooms were filled with pictures of her and other young women from birth to just a few months ago.

The shock of what she was seeing made her sit. To know her life had been chronicled in that way felt like more than an invasion of privacy. There were pictures of the burns she’d received from others and a journal chronicling how she received each one and their severity.

“I found it,” Nicolas said softly.

He took a seat behind a computer screen with Hale hovering over him, guiding him.

“What did you find?”

“The why.”

“May 1, 1954.” Nicolas proceeded to read aloud. “Today a small group of high level clearance government agents were called together. We were immediately told this meeting never occurred, which is the government’s way of letting us know if we slip up, we will never be heard from again. We were each given a chance to walk out of the room and turn our backs on any real threats to our country. We all stayed.”

Nicolas stopped reading and looked at his brothers before continuing.

“The earth has been invaded by aliens. We laughed long and hard. When we were done, the General who spoke said again, the earth has been invaded by aliens. This time no one laughed. He proceeded to tell us they had been here longer than I had been alive and I’m forty five at the time of this journal entry. They have lived here peacefully, having caused no damage and, at times, having even helped. I sat there slack jawed. How could the government condone an alien race on our planet?

March 30, 1960. I have banded together with other concerned government officials and scientists. We have now started testing, using unusual methods to see what, if anything, can kill this alien menace.

April 1, 1970. Today I turned sixty one; I’ve decided to turn the program I founded over to a promising young doctor who plans to test our new theory on unborn children. I was against this at first, but when I listened to his reasons they were sound. They’d only use children of parents who tested abnormal. Some of them displayed an advanced mental capacity outside of the normal range and some of them proclaimed themselves to be physic.

Our working theory. If we can make it so the test subjects are unable to be touched by human hands without severe pain, we may be able to use the same tests on the aliens making them unable to communicate with the animal they harbor inside.

This is the last entry in the journal. It isn’t dated. Finally I’ve received word that the experiments have borne fruit. The first child with supposed powers was born today. When touched, her skin burned and her mother cried. Soon we will have a way of not only eradicating our world of the alien invaders, but we will eliminate all abnormal humans. I can finally die, knowing my job is done.”

Chapter Twenty Five

“Janis?” She had been silent since she’d come back to Nicolas’s house.

“My mom didn’t have any special powers, unless being a mother is a special power. She excelled at baking cookies and listening to me, because she couldn’t touch me. She continued to tell me to believe one day I would meet the right man for me. She played with my sister and went to her soccer games and cried the night she went to the prom. She also cried the night I couldn’t go to the prom. Tell me, what special powers did she have?”

“People make excuses for the things they do. Government officials and scientists are no better. They are just people. Powers or no powers, your mom was unlucky enough to be chosen. You just happened to be the child she carried. It could’ve been your sister. The scientist who started all of this was scared of something he’d never seen. He was scared of us, even though he didn’t know us. Fear makes people do strange things. Many times the wrong things.”

“So I what, just accept it happened and move on with my life? Do I tell my mom? Answer her questions of why her and why me?”

Nicolas just looked at her, allowing her to work out her own answers.

“Wanting to change the past won’t change it. I know that. Guess I just wanted it to be some big spectacular reason for screwing up my life. I wanted more than you were convenient, so we picked you.”

Nicholas opened his arms and she walked into them. “Make love to me. I want to forget everything that doesn’t make sense and focus on what does. You make sense. You loving me makes sense.”

Picking her up, he carried her up the stairs. He laid her on the floor in front of the fireplace that was never used and walked over and turned it on.

“The Created can regulate their body temperatures, but I hoped, when I had this feature added, that one day I would lie here with my mate.”

He smiled at her while the fireplace roared to life. The feel of the heat on her skin warmed her. The knowledge he’d prepared for her well before he met her caused the chill in her soul to dissipate. Her life had brought her right to where she was meant to be.

She reached up with loving arms when he leaned over her. His kiss was soft and gentle. She pulled him down on top of her and kissed him back. The feel of his mouth as he made love to her warmed her heart.

He loves me was the thought she kept repeating in her mind. There was no rhyme or reason to this. He simply loved her and she loved him.

He stripped off her clothes one piece at a time, kissing every inch of skin he bared.

“Angel, I love your breasts. They are so soft and respond with eagerness to my fingers and mouth.” He proved his point by sucking one hard nipple into his mouth while pulling on the other one.

The gush of liquid she felt between her legs had her twitching that much harder.

“Nicolas, please.”

“Nice and slow, Angel.”

He continued to kiss down her torso, stopping to sample a bit of skin on her side and on her tummy, sucking it in his mouth and making her twitch with renewed desire.

“So soft, yet so firm.” He caressed her stomach, stopping and worshipping it as if she were the goddess of love.

She needed him. Her body was going up in flames and he was taking his sweet time finding the mark.