Kyro: A Sci-fi Alien Abduction Romance (Captured by Aliens Book 5) Page 4

  “She isn’t here alone,” a familiar voice said. “She’s with me.”

  5

  Raising her eyes to the owner of the hand and voice, Evren felt something within her relax with relief.

  Kyro.

  Tall, bald, and gray, Kyro was standing there, looking thunderous.

  The edges of his narrow nose flared in anger as he glared down at the male in his grasp...and heaven help her...this wasn’t the moment to be considering this but...bald was suddenly very, very sexy.

  Shive released her wrist just as he was pushed away from her by a pissed off Kyro.

  And he was really pissed off. She’d never seen him with such annoyance etched in his features before.

  His large shoulders were hulked and tensed. The muscles in his arms seemed to pulse. His gray eyes spit fire and his handsome, sculpted face was transformed into a murderous look.

  Forgetting about the chitinous alien almost immediately, Evren gaped up at Kyro.

  Where had he come from?

  She hadn’t seen him approach, but perhaps in her preoccupation with Shive, she hadn’t noticed.

  “Didn’t know you were so involved with the rescues.” Shive laughed. “Good old, Kyro.” His laugh was deep and could have been nice to listen to but after what he’d just pulled, it only made her skin crawl.

  Kyro took a threatening step toward the alien and Shive seemed to shrink a little, even though he remained standing firm in the same spot.

  Evren’s eyes followed Kyro as he moved. She couldn’t help herself.

  He was tall. Menacing.

  He was...impressive.

  And this vibe he was giving off...fuck her. It was making her think all manner of things she shouldn’t be thinking.

  Sure, she’d noticed before that he was attractive. But not like this. This time, it was different. He’d always been aloof and serious...never angry and, dare she say, protective?

  Maybe it was because he was here, like some knight in shining armor—or rebel in modified vests and trousers, really—why she was having these thoughts.

  “She is off-limits.” Kyro came up so close to Shive, he was breathing down the male’s neck. She could see Shive shiver and even though she was standing right there, she had to strain her ears to hear Kyro’s next words. “Never set foot near her again. Do not even breathe the same air she breathes.”

  She watched as Shive’s tail swished behind his body for a few seconds before he grinned—the type of grin that said “fuck you. I really hate you but I’m smiling like I don’t.”

  “Just a simple misunderstanding,” Shive muttered. As Kyro released him, Shive’s gaze flitted to her just once before he moved away and disappeared into the crowd.

  Kyro watched him go, his back turned to her and Evren found her eyes roving over his wide shoulders. When he finally turned to face her, she found she had to pull her gaze up to his face.

  “Thank you.” Please God, don’t let her look like Thirsty Betsy right now. For she was sure her eyes were displaying her every emotion.

  Kyro looked down at her, his silver gaze meeting hers and she was surprised that the hostility that had been in his eyes just a second before was no longer there.

  “Have you been hurt?” he asked, taking her arm into his as he turned her wrist over in his hand.

  His touch was warm and smooth and after what just happened, it made her lady bits tingle.

  Sue her. She loved a good show of masculinity.

  “No. It was just uncomfortable,” she answered as he let her hand go to take up her basket and hand it back to her. “I didn’t expect such a thing to happen to me all the way on another planet.”

  “Shive is a slimy fool.”

  His utterance was so sudden and so blunt that it made her huff out a small laugh.

  She could agree with that.

  “There are not many like him on the base. But the few that are present prey on newcomers like you.”

  “Well,” her smile came easily, “I was quite lucky you came along, wasn’t I?”

  Something passed within his gaze that she couldn’t determine and then he looked out over the crowd.

  “Heading somewhere?”

  Crap. She’d forgotten that she had been shopping. The disturbance with Shive had completely unsettled her.

  “Uh, yea. I was heading to buy some fabric.” She glanced around them, eyeing the stalls close by in case any of them had cloth for sale. “I just can’t find any.”

  “Fah-brik?” Kyro lifted an eyebrow. Well, he lifted the skin where his eyebrow would have been. From what she could see, there wasn’t even the semblance that hair used to be there.

  It was just smooth, gray skin. It caught her attention and she wondered what his skin felt like there.

  “Yes, fabric.”

  He didn’t look as if that made it any clearer.

  “Fabric? Like cloth?” Evren continued.

  Kyro blinked at her.

  “To make clothes?” She pulled at the brown piece of clothing she was wearing. “I want to make clothes, so I don’t have to wear this anymore.”

  Kyro’s gaze fell, moving down her shoulders then down the brown dress with such slow intensity, she felt like squirming.

  Swallowing hard, she released the dress and put her hand behind her back.

  The way he was looking at her almost made it seem as if he wasn’t seeing the article of clothing at all. It looked as if he was stripping her naked.

  Or maybe it was her lingering horniness that was talking. Probably she’d inhaled some of those fumes at the weed stall for when he spoke, nothing of the sort was betrayed in his voice.

  “You were seeking clothing material in the pleasure market?”

  At that, she felt her cheeks warm immediately.

  She hadn’t purposely gone into that section of the market. It had been a mistake!

  Opening her mouth to answer him, she was cut off as he continued speaking. “Is it clothes for pleasure you seek to make? Pleasure clothing?”

  He was tilting his head as he regarded her now, as if the thought confused him a little.

  “I thought humans removed clothing when copulating.”

  Evren’s eyes widened.

  My, oh my, the conversation had gone in a direction she had not anticipated.

  “I, uh, well...” She scratched the back of her neck. “I wasn’t looking for fabric to make ‘pleasure clothing,’ okay.”

  He didn’t look as if he believed her.

  “The Restitution has clothing you can wear. The standard kit. Like what I am wearing.” He motioned to himself with his hand. He was wearing a simple white vest and dark pants.

  Quite a few of the aliens around them were wearing the same thing.

  “Oh. I didn’t know I could get those.” She bit her bottom lip in thought. “I guess, I just wanted to try making my own...you know...something to do. It gets a bit lonely here.”

  Something moved within his gaze and, once more, she couldn’t determine what it was. But he seemed to jerk his head awkwardly in a nod.

  “I will show you where the fah-brik merchant is.”

  That made her burst into a smile. Finally, after wandering so aimlessly, she was getting somewhere.

  “That would be much appreciated.”

  He was staring at her smile for so long, she was about to ask him if there was something in her teeth.

  “This way,” he finally said, and she saw his eyes change again, almost as if his pupil contracted completely before dilating again.

  As she followed behind him, Evren narrowed her gaze on his back as a thought hit her.

  She hadn’t told him she’d been in the pleasure section of the market.

  He had been following her.

  The number of people in the market seemed to have increased from when she’d been walking alone.

  Now, it was hard to even keep up with Kyro, though she was quite sure he was walking slowly just so she could keep pace with him.

&nbs
p; When she had to increase her pace for the seventh time so as not to be separated from him, she reached forward and snaked her hand around his elbow.

  She felt him stiffen beneath her grasp and, for a second, she expected him to snatch his arm away, but he didn’t.

  Instead, he glanced down at her hand holding on to him and she could swear she saw him smile a little.

  Just a little.

  She would have surely missed it if she hadn’t been staring up into his face like she was still awestruck.

  They were walking for about three minutes when Kyro suddenly stopped in front of a stall with bales, upon bales of colorful fabric.

  “Wow.” Still holding onto his arm, she moved over to the first bale, Kyro in tow, and ran her fingers over the material.

  “It’s so soft.” She touched another. “Pretty sure this isn’t cotton though.”

  “You wish for cotton only? I believe that material is only found on your planet.” Kyro’s eyes followed every single bale that she touched, watching her hand move over the fabric as if he was noting every movement her fingers made.

  Evren glanced back at him, a grin forming on her face.

  “It was a joke.”

  Kyro frowned. “Ah. I am acquainted with human humor. Your jokes are...”

  He seemed to be thinking of how to describe it without hurting her feelings and that made the grin that was forming on her lips come forth to spread across her face.

  “Come on, give it to me.”

  Kyro stopped dead in his tracks and Evren only realized when she felt resistance in his arm as she continued walking.

  “What is it?” Apprehension flooded through her immediately as she looked around them, expecting to see Shive.

  Kyro shifted, glancing down at her hand holding on to his arm then to her, his gaze somewhat confused, somewhat surprised, and...somewhat turned on?

  “You want me to ‘give it to you?’”

  Evren tilted her head as she eyed him, slightly confused. “Huh?”

  “Copulation?”

  She could see herself in his eyes as his pupils dilated. She hadn’t known he knew that much about human phrases or she wouldn’t have spoken like that.

  But the way his voice had deepened as he said it, it made a little shiver of something run down her spine.

  At the look on her face, his pupils went back to their usual size and he jerked his head toward her. “Another human joke?”

  Evren caught herself and cleared her throat.

  Before she could respond, a voice came from behind them, causing her to jump at the sudden intrusion. She’d forgotten they weren’t alone. They were inside the stall, which actually went back a fair bit.

  “M’Agunt at your service. Do you need assistance?”

  Evren turned to see who was talking and found a stocky character of a male in extravagant shimmering clothing. His long dress was designed to fall just above the ground.

  He was not what she expected when she’d imagined a fabric merchant. He looked as if he was dressed to go to a fancy party, not to sell in a crowded market such as this.

  “M’Agunt,” Kyro began, “we are seeking material for clothing.”

  “Ah,” M’Agunt grinned at them, his eyes focused on her as he showed his set of jewel-encrusted teeth. “The occasion?”

  Kyro glanced down at her, his pupils dilating.

  “For coitus,” he said without missing a beat. “She wishes coitus clothing.”

  6

  M’Agunt’s eyes seemed to light up while hers were growing large in her head as a result of shock.

  Mouth agape, she looked up at Kyro, but before she could say anything, the vendor piped up.

  “I have what you need.” M’Agunt’s grin deepened on his rounded face. His face was almost caricature-like, with overly pronounced features. He was shorter than them both, but his features looked so similar to a human’s, she found herself staring.

  With a twirl of his shimmering clothing, M’Agunt headed into the back of the store, but not before she saw a tentacle snake behind him to close the door.

  Not human then.

  Definitely not human.

  Never mind that. She had a bone to pick with Mr. Tall and Gray.

  “I do not want sex clothes!” Evren pressed herself into Kyro’s side and whispered so harshly it was barely a whisper at all.

  Kyro looked down at her, his pupils still dilated.

  “It was a joke,” he smiled slightly. “I informed you. I am acquainted with human humor. I have been delving into your comedy shows.”

  Taken aback a bit, Evren moved so she could look up at him properly. “You’ve been watching our sitcoms?”

  “Reading them.”

  “And because of that, you think you get our humor?”

  “Surely.”

  “Tell me a joke then.”

  Kyro turned slightly, running his hand along one of the bales and Evren found herself watching his arm flex.

  “This is one I found,” he said after apparently giving it some thought.

  Evren smiled, waiting for him to continue. This was going to be good. There was no way he could pull off a joke. Serious, aloof Kyro and comedy weren’t a combination she thought would work.

  “Sleep in tranquility boiling water,” he finally said.

  Evren’s brows furrowed slightly as she tried to predict where he was going.

  “Is that it?” Evren blinked a few times. “Sleep in tranquility boiling water?”

  “Yes.” Kyro jerked his head in a nod. “For it will be mist.”

  Evren blinked.

  “It will be missed...?”

  It took her a few moments before her eyes widened.

  “Sleep in tranquility...Do you mean ‘rest in peace’?” She mouthed the words to herself a few more times before her eyes widened some more.

  In the next moment, her shoulders began to shake uncontrollably.

  “I get it,” she said, as her laugh came out loud in the quiet stall. “Because it will be mist.” She cackled. “I get it. I totally get it. Rest in peace boiling water for you will be mist. Ha!”

  She was laughing so hard now; her eyes became wet with tears.

  Kyro seemed to be watching her with intense interest, watching how she held her belly as her shoulders shook and how she wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “Wow...that was unexpectedly good,” she finally breathed when she composed herself.

  “I am glad to see it made you happy,” he said, his expression changing to thoughtfulness. “It is nice to see you...happy.”

  His words struck a chord within her and her smile slowly died.

  It did feel good, didn’t it? Laughing. Actually, truly, laughing again.

  When was the last time she’d laughed so easily?

  Back on Earth, that’s when.

  The thought picked her up and plopped her back into reality and an awkward silence enveloped them only to be broken as M’Agunt swayed back into the room.

  “Oh...my...” Her cheeks began to grow warm at the look M’Agunt was giving her and Kyro. His red painted nails slowly stroked down the fabric he was carrying.

  “This,” he said, “will make the pleasure experience heightened. Each strand of fiber will awaken every pleasure receptor in your being and between your thighs...” he moved his gaze to Kyro “...or your thighs.”

  She was sure she saw Kyro grow red too.

  M’Agunt’s smile fell as he tilted his head in thought. “You do have your intimate parts between your thighs, don’t you? I once met a Ghurgi whose intimate parts were in his mouth.”

  M’Agunt’s eyes grew hooded. “The things he could do...”

  Kyro cleared his throat.

  “The clothing is not for pleasure together. It’s not for copulation between us.”

  Evren glanced at him. “He’s right. And I want cloth for normal, everyday clothing.”

  M’Agunt’s face dropped. Literally.

  His skin sagged with w
hat she could only assume was disappointment.

  “So...you are not mates?”

  M’Agunt’s gaze drifted to her hand still holding on to Kyro’s arm and realizing where he was looking, Evren pulled her hand away.

  “We are not.” They answered together, glancing at each other as they did.

  M’Agunt didn’t miss a beat.

  Outstretching a tentacle, he circled her waist and pulled her closer to him. “Well, then...let’s see what we can find.”

  If she wasn’t still a bit shaken and embarrassed, she’d have protested having a tentacle around her waist, but she followed the merchant into the store without complaining.

  As M’Agunt began leading her deeper into the store, Evren glanced back in Kyro’s direction. He wasn’t looking at her. Instead, his jaw was clenched as he stared at the tentacle around her waist.

  “What about this one?” M’Agunt used another tentacle to pull out a bale of red material. Touching it, Evren realized it felt like silk.

  “This would feel really good on sheets. But I don’t want to walk around in silk all the time.”

  M’Agunt made a sound as if he understood and searched for something else as Evren looked around.

  “I have heard of your kind,” M’Agunt suddenly said, giving her a side-eye as he continued searching for whatever material he was looking for. His voice changed from being pleasant and sort of cooing to something else that made her a bit wary.

  “A very...sought after species. You are far from home, aren’t you?”

  “I am,” Evren replied, glancing behind her once more.

  Kyro was trailing them, ignoring the clothing material, his focus on M’Agunt completely.

  When she turned to glance in M’Agunt’s direction, she found the alien’s face so close to hers she had to stretch her neck backward a little to give them some space.

  “A human could use some friends,” M’Agunt said.

  Without missing a beat, Kyro answered, “She already has friends.”

  M’Agunt glanced in Kyro’s direction and she was sure annoyance registered on his face but that was quickly covered with a bejeweled grin. “What about this?” He pushed another piece of material towards her, right in her face.