Chapter 4
Chapter Four
DOREN
Doren was late again. It’s not that their parents would be angry, but Doren hated when they worried, and they worried so often. It was Doren’s fault, but there was no helping it. The world of the surface called to them. They loved their human form, and they loved speaking with people. With humans.
They also loved peppermint lattes, but that wasn’t the top priority. Maybe third or fourth, but not the top.
It was the thought of their parents’ anxiety that propelled Doren so swiftly.
Doren’s true form—the form they took outside of the suspicious gaze of human eyes—could move quickly through the water, although they were no speed demon.
They were smooth and aerodynamic, shaped somewhat like a giant squid.
But other than the tentacles and the long body, they shared little else with the creatures. Doren’s skin was a rainbow of iridescent colors, all of them spiraling into a screwlike shape that allowed Doren to move faster than any indigenous marine animal.
Doren themself was not as fast as the rest of their family. That thought lingered even as they wove in and out of a large school of bluefin tuna. Any of Doren’s siblings could beat them in a race, and Bard left them all in the dust.
Bard would have been most of the way home by now. Bard wouldn’t have wasted time talking to the handsome stranger. No, not stranger. New friend!
Doren had spoken to many a human as they popped in and out of Linwood Falls, and none had intrigued them like Jake had. Doren didn’t understand what was different about him.
Part of it was his looks, sure. He was shorter than Doren’s human form and had the most gorgeous brown eyes, with almost otherworldly lashes.
The rest of his face was cute, too, covered by a dashing short beard with just a hint of gray here and there.
Jake’s hefty form was solid, with some substance to him, and Doren found that delicious.
The way his flannel shirt stretched over his belly, the way his jeans seemed about to give up the ghost because his round ass couldn’t be contained, made Doren tingle. The sensation was faintly alarming.
They’d never been attracted to a human before. Of course, they also hadn’t been attracted to one of their own kind, either. On Earth, the only beings from Doren’s planet were their family, as far as they knew. They’d never met another “alien,” as the humans called them.
But the images that sprang into Doren’s mind when he thought of Jake were unexpectedly sensual.
Undoing the buttons on his flannel shirt to let the chest hair and belly free.
Caressing that gorgeous ass. Some of his fantasies even involved using tentacles.
Doren had never even considered his appendages might be used sexually.
But the thoughts weren’t only erotic. Doren also fantasized about holding Jake. The man had kept Doren at arm’s length, which made sense—they were strangers—but behind the protective layers, Doren sensed a deep hurt. And maybe beneath that, a spark of hope?
They weren’t sure. But Doren wanted to find out.
Almost ramming straight into a craggy underwater outcropping of rock, Doren was wrenched back to the present. They had to get home! Ruminating on Jake wouldn’t ease their parents’ worries.
They shot down deeper, moving at an angle in order to catch the one thing able to speed this journey up.
The Gulf Stream.
Doren dove straight in, the current sweeping them along. In some ways, riding the Stream was akin to surfing up on the surface. It didn’t go all that fast on its own, but using it as a boost to Doren’s own rate of travel meant they could shoot forward and cut the time of the trip in half.
It was also thrilling. A school of dolphins watched from just beyond the edge of the current as Doren swept by. They were smart little guys, those dolphins, but they could be such assholes.
Doren was booking it now, finding a focus even as coral reefs and a few giant lobsters flew by, their shells the color of dark caramel.
It was meditative, the water rushing by, centering them and allowing them to calm themself.
Their parents would be fine. No one would be angry.
Maybe Doren would have the chance to know Jake a little better.
Between the speed of the water and their ruminations, they almost missed the entrance to the submarine canyon where their family lived.
Doren probably would have missed it, except for the tentacled creature waiting for them there.
A spitting image of Doren, with one fundamental difference: their body wasn’t an iridescent rainbow. Instead, it was a rich midnight blue.
Bard.
If Doren could have sighed in this form, they would have. This was a bad sign. Doren slowed to approach the crack in the continental slope.
“Sib, where have you been?” Bard’s voice echoed in Doren’s mind. In their true forms, Doren’s race had no organs to create sound. Instead, they communicated through telepathy. It was convenient, but also meant that Bard couldn’t hide how frustrated they were.
“A human moved into the house by the beach where I surf.” Doren slid closer to Bard, although they kept enough distance in case Bard’s anger boiled over into something physical. They’d been known to tousle on occasion, and tentacle slaps were no joke.
“You had to find a new place to surf?” A hint of hope rode along with the words, and Doren winced inwardly as they squashed it. They couldn’t lie to each other, not telepathically.
“His cat ran away, and I saved her from her ignoble fate.”
Bard growled in their mind. “Doren!”
“He was nice! I liked him. Plus, I performed an act of heroism, so I’m certain he was grateful and found my company pleasurable.”
Bard didn’t answer for a long moment, just staring at Doren with their unblinking eyes. Lacking eyelids, Doren’s species could look very intimidating when circumstance called for it.
Finally, Bard turned away, speaking as they did. “Mom and Dad are waiting for you.”
A shiver shot down Doren’s body, and they followed behind Bard, the excitement draining away. This couldn’t be good.
The canyon opened up into an enormous chamber.
Doren’s family had carved it out in the first years after their arrival on Earth.
A bioluminescent coral bathed everything in a gentle green glow, and although they had no need of buildings under the ocean, their species loved art.
It filled the huge expanse, sculptures and paintings and more.
Each family member had their own little area, and even the sleeping platforms were decorated with ornate designs.
At the center of it all were Doren’s mother and father. Doren pushed out a train of bubbles as they shot over to them, doing their best to approximate a human sigh.
The first thing Doren noticed was their mom’s shaking tentacles. A wave of guilt hit them, like a harsh acid deep in their stomach.
Doren’s father was still, almost unnaturally so. That was worse.
“Child.” Their mother’s voice was a cauldron of melancholy, and Doren cowered in the face of it. They would have preferred to be lectured or even shouted at. That would be far preferable to this.
“Mother,” Doren said, forcing their tentacles to calm by their side.
“You were to have been home hours ago. Your father and I worried. We were about to send Landis after you. Bard had volunteered to go speak to him.”
At her words, the bright colors of Doren’s skin faded to less vibrant shades. Landis coming to the surface would have been a disaster.
The great majority of Doren’s race were some form of nonbinary—many agender—and stayed so until they had children.
Parenthood came with gender differentiation for most members of their species, although a thriving minority stayed nonbinary even after that point.
Landis, on the other hand, was one of the few of their kind that manifested their gender early.
Not that there was anything wrong with that, but because of that, he was larger than the rest of them by a good bit.
Doren didn’t understand the scientific reasons behind it, but it was almost as though the biological followed identity.
So sure of who they were, the sex characteristics manifested long before they had children, when they would typically appear.
It made them large and powerful creatures, regardless of whether they presented as male or female. On Earth, that meant Landis’ human form was a bit of a giant.
Not impossibly so, but at seven feet tall and with thick, heavy muscles, Landis stood out in every human setting. He was the definition of conspicuous.
“What? Were you going to have him drag me back here if I wouldn’t go?”
Humans would probably have trouble interpreting the physical signals of their alien species, but Doren had no such issue. That was a definite look of guilt his mother and father had shared.
“You were!” Doren exclaimed. “What is going on?”
Doren’s father, covered in distinguished silver skin, floated forward a bit.
“We are concerned for your safety, and the safety of our home. Humans grow more violent by the second. Bard has told us that Maine is on the brink of self-annihilation.”
Doren laughed into his parents’ minds. “Maine? The state of Maine? Maine is fine. Yes, it’s a difficult time in the larger nation. Humans are arguing. The world is scary. But no one is going to blow up a tiny tourist town in Maine!”
“My sibling Ren has said many governments have horrific weapons—”
“No one’s going to use them! Probably. Ren is just paranoid.”
Doren’s mother drew herself up straight in the water, her tentacles wrapped closely together, and Doren’s heart sank. Here came the proclamation.
“You need to spend a few decades away from humans. A little solitude won’t hurt you. Your father and I forbid you to go back up there.”