Chapter 4
“So you do touch the water.”
Autumn jerked with a start, spinning around to find Soulara, the beautiful creature of her hauntings, staring right at her. “Who the hell are you?”
Fuck.Autumn didn’t need to go down that train wreck of a conversation again. Soulara was her name, and she never seemed to actually answer a question. Because she was a hallucination. She wasn’t real. Autumn’s stomach flipped and then flopped.
“Scratch that.” Autumn put her hands on her hips, her weapon nowhere on her person. She should have known better, but the call of the water on her feet was too strong. She really wanted to dive in, feel the cold against her skin as she sluiced through it. Except she couldn’t swim, and that was just a dream. “Just…go away.”
“Go away?” Soulara stepped closer, her feet touching the water’s edge. Her damp skin glittered in the fading sunlight.
Autumn frowned at it. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?” Soulara stepped farther into the water, the waves licking at her strong calf muscles.
Autumn’s entire body tingled and her breath caught in her throat. Soulara was stunning, and she knew it. There was no doubt that she had a deep confidence in her physical beauty that Autumn never had. Autumn’s hair was mousy and brown, barely tamable, especially with the humidity here. Her eyes were beady, her lips thin, her body too muscular. Any woman she’d been with had told her as much. Soulara wasn’t here because of her looks.
“Do what, Autumn Walton?”
That snapped Autumn back into reality. “Glitter in the sunlight.” Fuck, now she sounded like a complete loon. She sounded like she’d completely lost her mind to the sea.
Soulara’s lips quirked up to the side, and her cheeks flushed a gentle red. Well, at least that was the same between whatever the hell alien Soulara was supposed to be and humans. She was even sexier now than before. Autumn had to pull herself together.
“It’s a reaction of the water and my skin. See?” Soulara knelt down and then sat. The water all around her legs glimmered in the light. Every inch of skin from her webbed toes to right between her legs and to her hips. Where her hair touched the water, it floated around her as if it belonged there.
Autumn furrowed her brow. “Do you…live in the water?”
“Do you live on land?” Soulara canted her head to the side, smoothing her fingers through the waves as she continued to bask in the shallows.
“Yes.” Autumn jerked her head back, confused. “Do you live in the water?”
“Yes.” Soulara winked and then lay fully into the water, spreading her arms out around her and swishing them again. It was as if the water amplified the shimmer, making her glow. Autumn had to squint just to continue looking at her, but she didn’t want to stop. “But I like to come to the land when I can.”
“When you can?” Autumn’s mouth was so dry. She’d never been so desperate for a drink. “Is that why your toes are webbed?”
Soulara sat up immediately, the water dripping off her in a cascade like the waterfalls Autumn had read about. She raised her foot out of the water and wiggled her toes. “Are your toes not webbed?”
“No.” Autumn lifted her own foot in comparison.
Soulara came closer, reaching out and taking Autumn’s foot in her hands, sliding her fingers across the wet skin. Autumn’s breath caught again. Her heart hammered. Soulara was so close. Her fingers were warm, nearly hot to the touch, and Autumn wanted to melt into her, to get down on her knees and press their mouths together with abandon.
“Do you…” Autumn gasped when Soulara’s wet fingers slid up the back of her leg, maneuvering higher. She completely lost her train of thought. “I need to sit down.”
Her head was so light that it spun. She needed to catch herself before she collapsed in the water and drowned. Stumbling back, she was so glad to have her foot away from Soulara. She reached the first dry sand and tripped, falling right on her ass. She dropped her shoulders to the ground and closed her eyes, throwing her arm over them to block out even more sun.
It was too hot.
She shouldn’t have done this.
Could hallucinations actually touch?
Holy fuck.
Was Soulara real?
Autumn’s heart thudded hard three times before she dared herself to open her eyes and look up. Soulara sat next to her, bending down and looking over her, concern littering her features. Autumn wanted to whimper. She wanted to cry. She wanted to crawl into the forest and back to the base and fall asleep and pretend like this never happened.
“You’re real.”
“Real?” Soulara’s brow pinched.
“You’re not a hallucination.”
Soulara rubbed her lips together, trailing her fingers down Autumn’s forearm. Her fingers were still wet, and they left a trail of damp against Autumn’s skin. If she needed any more proof than that, she’d turn herself in to the base commander immediately for lunacy. Autumn didn’t move except to look up into Soulara’s pale blue eyes.
“You’re not a dream,” she said again, realizing Soulara hadn’t understood the word.
“Oh, no, I’m not a dream. I’m very much real.” Soulara moved her hand up Autumn’s arm to her shoulder. “What are these things covering your body?”
“My uniform.”
“Like for a soldier.” It wasn’t a question.
Autumn rolled that around in her mind. Soulara and she were speaking without the need of a translator, which meant there was most definitely magic afoot. Soulara’s to be sure, but how deep did that magic run? She was in such a vulnerable position right now, and she had no idea what to do next. She should report this to her commander. She should tell Marshall that she was damn sure those things they saw that were attacking the ship weren’t just fish. Soulara must have something to do with that.
“Yes, for a soldier. Or a worker,” Autumn finally answered. “We’re here to collect water.”
“You’re not from the land?”
“Not this land.” Autumn’s head finally stopped spinning, and she dug her fingers into the sand to push herself upward into a sitting position. Soulara didn’t move like a normal human would. She didn’t shift away and back up to give Autumn more space. Why Autumn expected that was stupid. Soulara clearly wasn’t human. “What species are you?”
“I’m not sure I understand your question, Autumn Walton.”
Autumn winced. “Just call me Autumn. You don’t need to say my full name every time.”
“Autumn,” Soulara repeated, grinning immediately. “I like the way that feels on my tongue.”
There was something else Autumn would like to feel with that tongue.
Nope.
She definitely had to stop that train of thought. Relations with aliens while on a tour to a non-acquired planet were strictly forbidden. Then again, there wasn’t supposed to be life on this planet, which meant that according to the commander, Soulara simply didn’t exist. Unless he’d lied to them all.
Autumn swallowed that thought down hard. He wouldn’t lie to her. She knew he was completely capable of it, but to have her commander lie meant that she couldn’t trust him. And she had to trust him. Her life, and the lives of all her comrades, depended on it.
“How old are you?” Soulara asked, spreading out her legs so one was behind Autumn and the other was curled up against herself. They were so damn close. The way they sat would look so intimate to anyone who happened upon then.
“Twenty-six.”
Soulara shook her head. “Twenty-six what?”
“Years.” Autumn locked her gaze on Soulara’s. “How do you measure time?”
“In seasons.”
“Which is how long?”
Soulara shrugged slowly. “One season is four spins of the moon.”
“Four spins…” Autumn trailed off. Astronomy had never been her strong suit. She’d nearly failed that class in school as well. She wasn’t built to be smart. She was built for grunt work and nothing more. It was why she’d never had aspirations of being an officer. “I don’t know how to compare your time to mine.”
Soulara shrugged slightly. “I’m only thirty-six seasons.”
“I still don’t know what that means.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Soulara put her hand back on Autumn’s and everything was about that touch. What they were discussing didn’t really matter in the long run, did it? “You’re an adult, right?”
“Most definitely.” Soulara’s gaze was full of mischief. “You as well?”
“Yes.” Autumn grinned, digging her fingers into the sand even more to keep herself from leaning in and pressing her mouth to Soulara’s full lips. What was this? A siren’s song she couldn’t hear? “So do more of your people live here?”
“I’m not alone, if that’s what you’re asking. There are many tribes.”
Autumn nodded. “Where we grow up tells you a lot about us too. I’m from the largest and most northern continent. What that means is not a whole lot anymore. But two hundred years ago it would have meant a lot.”
“So you’ve come together as one tribe?”
Shrugging slightly, Autumn nodded. “Since the drought continued, there aren’t really continents anymore.”
“Drought.” Soulara frowned and played her fingers in the sand. “You don’t have any water?”
“No. It’s why we’re here. It’s the only reason we go to new worlds.” Everyone knew that. Their planet wasn’t unheard of, and they were always trying to barter for water with any alien species they met. Surely Soulara should know that.
“You’re taking the water.” Soulara’s face fell. She turned her head and stared out at the sea, the waves crashing. Her flirtatious countenance from before was suddenly gone and her face had become gloomy. It was almost as if the sky darkened around her, the light in her soul dimming.
“To survive. We have none, and our world needs it.” Autumn reached out, covering Soulara’s fingers with her own. It was the first time she initiated the touch, but something about the way their fingers slid together felt so right. Autumn’s chest tightened, her throat constricting. This was the most she’d talked to anyone in as long as she could remember, the most she’d opened up. But she hadn’t said anything personally revealing. “I need water to live.”
“So do I,” Soulara whispered. She tilted her chin up, and their eyes met.
A shock ran through Autumn’s body, a lightness followed closely behind by a fire, until it consumed her. She dropped her gaze to their joined hands, realizing far too late that Soulara was doing some kind of magic on her. The pull was threatening. Autumn despised the fact that she wanted to lean in even more, that she wanted to take Soulara’s lips in a kiss that would be brutal and pure passion and desire and nothing else.
“I don’t sense hostility from you,” Soulara murmured.
As soon as the words were out, that fiery inferno was gone, and Autumn was back to normal. Her brain spun from the intrusion. What was real and what wasn’t? She couldn’t tell with Soulara in front of her. She couldn’t find herself.
But the last thing she wanted to do was have sex with an alien. The last thing she would do was fall in love with someone who would use magic on her to get information. Soulara had already proved multiple times that she would do that. Autumn pulled back, putting space between them. She couldn’t let herself get lost in the fantasy of a beautiful body and some pitiful attention.
Pulling her knees up to her chest, Autumn wrapped her arms around them and stared out at the horizon. She’d already revealed way too much, and she needed to stop it. She needed to think first and keep everything hidden like she always had.
She was about to make an excuse to leave when Soulara curled her fingers around Autumn’s arms. Sucking in a sharp breath, Autumn let her eyes flutter shut and focused just on the feel of Soulara against her.
“What’s it like to be in the water? I mean completely in it. Covered. Encompassed. Surrounded. Embraced.”
“Embraced is a good word for it.” Soulara moved her fingers up Autumn’s arm to her chin, turning Autumn’s face so they were looking each other directly in the eye again. “It’s like the warmest and safest place I’ve ever been.”
“Then why leave it? Why come here?”
“It’s not the water I’m escaping,” Soulara answered. There was a tension between them, a pull from Soulara to Autumn, from Autumn to Soulara.
“Then what are you running from?” Autumn’s breath was dragged from her, straight to Soulara. Everything about this moment was about Soulara, hand against Autumn’s chin, lips slightly parted, pale blue eyes that seemed like an impossible color to see in the real world. But this was the real world, and Autumn had to remind herself of that, repeatedly.
Soulara was real.
This tension was real.
This world was real.
“More than I can share in one conversation.” Soulara moved in, a breath away, but she stopped suddenly.
A loud splashing noise reached Autumn’s ears, but it was so hard to make out behind the loud ringing and rushing wind she swore only she could hear. She dragged in a deep breath, and Soulara backed away shaking her head.
“I’m so sorry,” Soulara said.
“Sorry?” Autumn frowned, already missing the closeness. “For what?”
“I need to leave.”
“Leave?” Autumn gripped Soulara’s arm. “Where are you going?”
“I…” Soulara stopped, looking out at the water. “I need to go. Will I be able to see you again? Talk to you?”
Kiss you?
The question was implied even though it wasn’t asked.
“Yes.” Autumn’s voice wavered with emotion. “Yes. When?”
“In two suns from now. Right here. Same time.”
“I’ll be here.” Autumn winced. She would have to sneak out, and that would be hard, but she couldn’t tell Soulara no. That pain that she’d sensed before in Soulara’s person was back.
“I’m looking forward to it.” Soulara winked. She stood up, brushing the dry sand from her body. But she didn’t walk toward the water. She moved into the dense forest behind them, disappearing into the shadows.
Autumn watched her until she couldn’t see Soulara anymore. Then she looked back out across the waves.
What had she just agreed to?
Because this went against everything that Autumn wanted.
She wouldn’t fall in love with an alien.
She wouldn’t fall in love period.
But fuck, she wanted to taste those salty lips.