Obviously Not Human - Paranormal Sci-Fi Alien Romance: Alien Integration Book 4

Chapter One

“Ican’t believe we’re back here,” I mutter, my eyes tracing the familiar mountains surrounding us. Now that I”m outside, free for the first time in days, our captivity feels like a fast-fading dream.

I know right where we are. Even though I’ve only been on this side of the military base once before, I recognize the housing. Each of the medium-sized homes has a classic multi-level floor plan, set up at this secret military location for the upper brass.

“Feels like walking back into a lion’s den, doesn’t it?”

The voice behind me belongs to Jamie, a woman I shared a cell with, and her tone is edged with the same disbelief that’s crawling under my skin.

“More like slinking back to the scene of a crime,” I reply, keeping my gaze still locked on the scenery.

I can almost envision the ghost of myself being dragged out of the medical center after those shots, kicking and screaming, before everything went black when they gassed us.

“Except this time, we’re not the victims,” Jamie points out, nudging me with her elbow.

I know she’s trying to lighten the mood, but I didn’t even feel this freaked out while we were locked up together. Shayla, the other woman who was in the cell with us, is just walking out the back door of the base home along with a few others.

“Right. We’re the survivors.”

I can hear my mother saying the same thing to me years ago.

Survivors. Exactly.

“Survivors with a side of paranoia,” I add, forcing a smirk as I shove my hands into the pockets of my fatigues. “I swear, it feels fucking awesome to be outside.”

The sky is a picture-perfect blue without a cloud in sight, and after three days or so of being locked up, it’s heaven. Everything looks so… colorful.

“They’re sending a bus for us.” Shayla waves from a few feet away. “We’re supposed to wait at the end of the driveway.”

“Okay.” Jamie takes a few steps toward Shayla before turning back to me. “Coming?”

“Right behind you,” I say, though my feet feel heavy, rooted to the spot.

I think my body knows. It’s not just my surroundings that are unchanged—it’s the dread. Fear coils in my stomach like some dormant beast, waiting to spring.

Fuck. I hate feeling like this.

I watch the other survivors. Some are hugging, reunited with the people that were in cells further away. We couldn’t see who was there since it was so dim and they kept empty cells between us.

Are we really just going to go back onto the base like we weren’t grabbed out of a medical examination and hauled off somewhere and locked up? Someone has some serious explaining to do.

I spin in a slow circle, trying to get my bearings. This house backs up into the forest, and it’s Yosemite National Park. That’s about all I know as far as the precise location. After all, it’s a “top secret” military location.

The perfect place to conduct top-secret experiments.

Is that what this was? But that still doesn’t explain the aliens. The scaly, wide-mouthed, forked tongue monsters that the doctor turned into during my inoculation.

I remember it like it was yesterday. My vision was blurred for a heartbeat after getting the shot. Probably because I tend to squeeze my eyes shut.

But when my vision cleared, I was staring not at the familiar face of the base’s doctor but at something monstrous. His skin was a mottled brown and green texture, and his eyes... those eyes were a burnt orange color, cold and calculating.

“Are you alright?”

The concern in the deep voice snaps me back to the present, but then I can’t tear my gaze away from the man masquerading as a human. He’s not ugly like the scaled ones and we owe him our lives since he’s one of the people that showed up in our cage and then just zapped us out. Sunlight dances across his pale skin, almost like a prism.

I have to know. “Are you an alien?”

“Yes. I’m sorry we weren’t able to introduce ourselves properly. I’m Desin, one of the Sinth Guar—”

“Come on,” a commanding voice calls from the back end of the yard. “It may be only one more trip.”

The alien man grins at me as he swings around to follow his friend, and I kick myself mentally.

Right.

They’re still getting others out. I shouldn’t distract him.

When they came and took Jamie, Shayla, and me out of our cage, I thought they were human. Maybe the military with a newfangled transporter. Some technology that isn’t shared with the public. But when you see a group of them outside like this… there’s no way they’re human.

They’re bigger and paler, and most of them have long dark hair. Not military regulation short.

I watch them fade out, twinkling briefly like fireflies before disappearing. Wild.

I should go join my new best friends. In the icy darkness of our captivity, we forged a connection that no one can sever. Our shared trauma has become the bedrock of an unspoken pact, one that went deeper than mere survival.

But Shayla and Jamie just seem happy to be back.

I’m not.

I want accountability. Trials. Court-martials.

Suddenly, the air where the Sinth aliens disappeared shimmers like a mirage, and shapes materialize from nowhere. They flicker into existence with a mystery that defies logic. Their pale skin glows with an ethereal light, and there are four of them carrying unconscious men.

A rescuer moves closer, his outline becoming clearer, solidifying from the light show into a man—or something like one. Crouching, he lowers the figure he”s cradling onto the ground and the others follow his lead, spreading out the bodies across the grass.

I take a step forward, wondering if they’re dead. “Everyone okay?”

“Yes.” The alien named Desin still has his back to me, but as he turns, I see he’s holding a handheld device. “They’re all beat up, but recovering.”

That’s a relief.

I let my gaze drift toward the group of men who are sprawled on the lawn.

I take a few steps closer, circling them. One looks native American. Don’t know him. The guy closest to him is your typical tan, sandy-haired meathead who looks like he’s straight from the military. Except for his shoulder-length beach bum haircut. Even the guy with a crew cut is not anyone I’ve ever met before.

The darkest one is practically naked. Well… technically, they all are. It’s just that the tidy whities they’re wearing make his rich, dark skin absorb the sunlight.

My breath hitches at the sight of him. He’s an impressive figure. His muscles are coiled with restrained power, and his chest rises and falls rhythmically even in unconsciousness.

I’m drawn to him, inexplicably, a magnetic pull of attraction that surprises me. But worry gnaws at me too, because they’re not waking up. The other three lay motionless beside him, their faces etched with the remnants of pain or fear—I can’t tell which.

I can’t pry my eyes away from the scene, curiosity threading through my veins alongside the fresh surge of adrenaline.

“Can you keep an eye on them?”

Desin straightens before one of his Sinth alien friends adds, “Yeah. We’re going back… just to check.”

“Sure,” I agree, feeling a flush creep up my neck. As long as I can keep from ogling.

It’s more than his appearance, though. It’s the sense of strength he emanates, even asleep. There’s a silent promise of protection that contradicts everything my mind screams to beware of. The fear of being locked up again or of discovering unconscionable truths about the military’s experiments wages war with the compelling allure he holds.

I try to shove the attraction into the back of my mind, locking it away where it can’t cloud my judgment while the Sinth aliens disappear.

No sooner are they gone, than the injured men are stirring. Opening their eyes slowly, glancing around before they move.

I have a hard time believing they were unconsciousness. One by one, they push themselves up on unsteady arms, blinking rapidly as if the sunlight is too much for their eyes.

“Hey,” I call out, reaching toward the nearest man. “Are you guys okay?”

But they don’t seem to hear—or maybe they just don’t care.

They sway on their feet, taking in their surroundings with quick, jerky glances. It’s like watching newborn animals testing their legs for the first time, deliberate and careful. There’s an innate strength in their frames despite their disorientation.

Then I realize the men are moving with purpose now, their steps gaining confidence as they head toward the treeline.

“Um… guys?”

But it’s useless. They’re sprinting, receding into the woods until they’re nothing but shadows swallowed by the forest.

“Damn,” I curse under my breath, my fists clenched at my sides. A part of me wants to chase after them, to demand answers or at least offer help.

Fuck.

I was supposed to be keeping an eye on them. My feet take off, not wanting to be there when the Sinth guys come back and ask where they went, but as I step into the woods, a hush settles over me, slowing my steps.

Glancing around, I’m surprised to see the dark figure blending with the shadows to my left.

“Wait!” I sprint, cutting through the undergrowth as quickly as I can. Small branches and shrubs block my view of the man before I break out into a small clearing where a large electrical pole is planted in the middle.

Panting as I catch my breath, I realize just how alone I am with him. Alone and away from the others.

Shit. I didn’t think ahead.

Straightening my spine, I feign nonchalance as I say, “Hey. I’m Summer. What’s your name?”

I don’t think he’s going to answer. We stare at each other for a few moments before I decide to explain, “I was locked up there too. Are you okay?”

His dark eyes drill into me as he studies me. His full lips part, but it takes a moment before he grates out, “Why are you here?”

“Here?”

I don’t get it.

“Yes. Why haven’t you taken off with the others?”

Crossing my arms, I take a step to the side, shading my eyes from the sun. “You mean those other guys?”

He blinks slowly, sliding his hand up the electrical pole before he glances up toward the sky.

“My friends are actually waiting to get picked up in front of the house. We have some kind of debriefing—”

“Ray.”

I pause, taking a step closer. “What?”

“My name. My name is Ray.”

“Oh,” I smile, kicking myself as butterflies burst in my belly. “Nice to meet you.”

Nice to meet you.

I definitely need to get laid. Why does he make me feel like this? Even his voice is attractive.

“They will keep looking for you.” The ominous tone lets me know exactly who he’s talking about. Our alien captors. But I can only hope he’s wrong.

“Why aren’t you running, then? Your friends left you?”

“They’re not my friends.”

I scratch my head, wondering if he means it. Sure, I wasn’t friends with Shayla or Jamie before, but now we’re as close as sisters.

“And I’m not running. Those cells they cleared out were only a fraction of the men trapped there.”

Huh. I”m not surprised. But...

“So you’re going to try to get them out? How do you know where we were kept is around here?”

We could be thousands of miles from where we were held. Once they rounded us up after our shots and put us all in a locked room, they gassed us before we woke up in the cold cell we lived in for days.

“I just know,” Ray responds cryptically. “It’s underground.”

Okay.

We stare at each other awkwardly until a familiar voice booms, “Summer!”

I turn around, looking back through the trees toward the house. When I swing back to look at Ray—he’s gone!

Fucking hell. He”s quick.

I take a step to the side, glancing into the trees on the far side of the open area around the electrical pole.

Nothing. For such a big guy, he sure is quiet.

“Summer!” Jamie’s closer and sounds worried.

“Coming,” I call out, heading back toward the house.

“There you are. I was starting to worry.” The tears in Jamie’s eyes send a spike of regret through me. She’s pretty unstable and has cried on and off almost the whole time we were in captivity. “Where’d you go?”

“Jamie, come on,” I urge, swinging my arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go wait for the bus.”

“It’s here.” Jamie glances over her shoulder before falling into step next to me. “That’s why I came to find you.”

“Right,” I mutter, but my thoughts are still in the forest where the men disappeared. Did he mean it?

Does Ray really plan to try to stop them? It’s a death sentence…

My heart races with the possibility of revenge. I want that too.

Jamie latches onto me around the waist, squeezing me as she admits, “I’ll just be glad when I’m back to my place and safe.”

“Safe,” I echo hollowly. “Yeah.”

The word tastes like ash on my tongue. Safe means closed doors and windows that hide the truth. Safe means turning your back on questions that claw at your insides.

Even as we turn the corner of the house and the bus comes into view, I can’t shake the feeling of opportunity slipping through my fingers. Being here—back on our base for the moment—might be safe, but it’s not where answers lie.

And I have so many questions.