Chapter 10
10
P ari sucked in a breath. He was looking right at her with those glowing blue eyes of his. He slowly tried to rise, failed, and fell back onto the bed.
“Don’t try to get up,” she advised. Pari swallowed hard. She didn’t even know if he spoke English.
He tried again, his eyes brighter than before, and fixated on her.
“No, really, you should… rest,” she begged. Could he even hear her?
She studied her cell, noticed the one-inch holes in the wall separating them near the ceiling, and presumed he could.
He rolled off the bed onto the floor, but made no sound, even though she heard him land with a soft thud.
“Please, you shouldn’t move… okay… you’re moving anyway.” She watched as he crawled across the floor army style toward her, and for a moment, she was glad for the thick wall between them.
He ignored the tray of food, the bottle of water next to it, and went straight for her.
Pari left her bed and slowly crouched near his tray of food. “You should eat something.” She got on her knees and watched him change course and head her way. When he reached the wall, his eyes met hers, and she was immediately drawn into them. “Wow. What… what are your eyes doing?” Pari took note of the slight swirl around the iris. The phenomenon was mesmerizing, and she couldn’t look away even if she wanted to.
A loud thump, startled her, and she let out a yelp.
The man had smacked a hand against the glass wall.
She stared at it. His hand was large, the fingers long, but looked human. She studied him, and other than his otherworldly good looks, he appeared human in every sense. But what did she know?
He spread his fingers slightly, his eyes darting from his hand to her.
Pari’s head tilted, and she slowly raised a hand to the wall. She put it up to his, her curiosity getting the better of her. She wanted to see how much bigger his hand was compared to hers.
A lot.
Her hand next to his, he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, then another. Was he trying to clear his head of the drugs they’d given him? She didn’t know how long it would be before they wore off, and she noted their captors hadn’t so much as touched him unless he was knocked out.
That meant they were afraid of him. She cocked an eyebrow at the thought.
The man coughed, drawing her attention. He tried to sit up but couldn’t manage it, so remained where he was.
“Don’t try,” she advised. “You’ll just land flat on your face.” Her heart went out to him. Dr. Charles didn’t care if they lived or died. She might be dead tomorrow for all she knew.
Tears filled her eyes at the thought. “I’m sorry they took you. And I’m sorry they used me to do it.” Her eyes went wide. “They did, didn’t they? I was bait.” She looked at the lab, the tables, the medical equipment strewn about the large room. “We’re nothing but a couple of guinea pigs.”
He looked at her, his eyes intense, and she wondered if he was angry they’d been imprisoned.
“Eat if you can.” She put her free hand to her mouth and realized her left hand was still plastered against the wall, lined up with his. She lowered it, and his eyes took on a desperate look. He slapped his hand against the wall again, the look in his eyes intensifying.
“Okay, okay, I’m not going anywhere.” She put her hand against his again, and he closed his eyes, his shoulders slumping as if in relief. But why? There was nothing special about her. She was a nobody, a loser, when she really thought about it. What interest could he possibly have in her?
“I don’t understand,” she thought aloud. Pari sat cross-legged and watched him. She pointed at his food and brought her right hand to her mouth again.
He looked at the food and pushed it toward her with his free hand.
“No, I didn’t mean I wanted it. I’ve got my own.” She got to her feet to get her tray to show him, and he tried to climb up the wall after her.
“Okay, okay, I’m sitting back down, see?” She put her hand against the wall and picked up her sandwich with the other. “Food?” She took a bite.
He watched her, one hand against the wall, opposite hers. It took him a few minutes, but he managed to sit. He never removed his hand, nor did he ever take his eyes off her.
“Wow, what is it with you?” Pari shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t understand any of this.” She took another bite of her sandwich and nodded at his. He slowly looked at it.
“That’s right, food. Eat.” She held up her sandwich again for emphasis and took another bite. “Good.”
He leaned toward the tray and sniffed.
Pari nodded encouragement. Did aliens like pastrami?
He picked up the sandwich, unwrapped it with his teeth, then took a generous bite.
“That’s it, big guy. You have to eat. I’m counting on you to break us out of here.” She cocked her head as he chewed. “Can you… talk?”
He didn’t say a word. Instead he kept staring at her with those beautiful blue eyes of his with such intensity, she thought she might faint. His eyes said it all. He wanted her. Not like in a sexual way. No, this was more of a, I’ve been searching for you all my life and finally found you, way. It made her chest warm and sent tingles up her spine.
He wolfed down his food, then twisted the cap off the water bottle with his teeth and drained it. That done, his eyes darted to her own bottle, and he frowned.
“What?”
He looked at her, then the bottle still sitting on her bed.
“Oh, you think I’m thirsty?” Pari looked at their hands. “I’ll have to get up to grab my water. But only for a few seconds. Don’t freak out, okay?”
He looked at their hands at the wall but made no other move.
Pari slowly got to her feet, doing her best to keep her hand at the wall, and tried to reach for her water bottle with her other hand. “Nope, not going to work.” She used her left hand, breaking contact with the wall, and grabbed her water. At least he didn’t freak out this time.
She sat again, bottle in hand and opened it. No sooner than she did he put his hand to the wall again with a loud thump.
Pari held up a finger as she drank. She was thirstier than she thought. She didn’t drain it though and screwed the cap back on. Who knew when they’d give her more?
He slapped his hand against the wall again and gave her an impatient look.
“Okay, okay.” She got comfortable and put her hand against his. “There, happy?”
He sat, his eyes still a brilliant blue, and cocked his head, studying her.
Pari ran her free hand over her head. “I know I’m not much to look at. In fact, you’d better not judge other human females off me.”
His head tilted the other way as he took her in, his eyes going to her hair. They narrowed.
“They cut it,” she blurted. “Jeffrey’s friends. It was… horrible and scary, and…” Good grief, she wasn’t going to cry, was she? But then, she had been drugged, kidnapped, strapped to an examination table and recently told she might be killed tomorrow, so she had a good excuse, right?
She looked at the man on the other side of the wall and let the tears fall. “I’m sorry, I… I can’t help it.”
He slapped his other hand against the wall and got to his knees. The look on his face was beyond desperation.
Pari stared at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she said through her tears. “L-like…y-y-you care.”
He pressed his forehead against the wall.
Pari stared at him, and not knowing what else to do, got to her knees, and mimicked his position. He was so much taller than her, even on his knees, that he had to lower himself down to put his forehead against hers.
He kept looking at her for a moment or two, then closed his eyes.
She closed hers too, not knowing what else to do, and to her surprise, she was comforted by his actions. He… he was trying to comfort her! But why?
She was nothing special. Not like him. And once the doctor and his cohorts figured it out, they’d kill her. She might have only hours to live, with no chance of escape. What was she going to do other than cry?
Pari didn’t know how much time passed. Nor did she remember slumping to the floor and falling asleep. When she opened her eyes, she was facing the wall, one hand still against it. The slumbering alien was facing her, one hand at the wall against hers. She smiled. How long had they been like this?
She should move, see if anyone was in the lab, but didn’t want to disturb him. She also didn’t want to put that desperate look in his eyes again. He’d looked so… so… agonized. But why? What reason did he have for wanting to be so close to her? She just didn’t get it.
Pari noticed the lights in the lab were still dimmed and could only assume it was nighttime. Why else would they have left the two of them alone?
No one had come to check on them, and no one had tried to administer the alien a sedative. Were they really going to allow him to become fully awake? Somehow, she didn’t think so but wasn’t sure how to warn him. He must not speak English. He still hadn’t said anything.
Pari lay there studying him. He was, in a word, beautiful. And as Dr. Charles put it, magnificent. His face was like something Michaelangelo had carved. A Greek god of… well, something.
She frowned. “What’s with the fangs?” she whispered to herself. Good grief, he wasn’t a vampire, was he?”
Her eyes widened at the thought, but she still didn’t move away from him. She sensed that if she did, he’d wake up and have that desperate look in his eyes. The one that confused her.
Pari’s own eyes ran down the length of his body. His knees were slightly bent, and she absently wondered if his heiney was as muscled as the rest of him. She reached back and tried to cover hers with the hospital gown. Apparently, their captors didn’t care about their prisoners’ modesty.
Pari went back to studying his face. He looked so peaceful, and she wondered at the destruction he could wreak when fully awake. Is that why they kept him so heavily sedated? Good grief, the poor man couldn’t even stand yet. How he managed to get to his knees earlier she didn’t know. But they’d both stayed in that position until they sank to the floor and fell asleep.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
He opened his eyes, startling her.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He stared at her, and she noticed his eyes weren’t as bright blue as before. In fact, they looked almost gray.
He blinked back sleep, his face an expressionless mask as his eyes raked over her. When his eyes locked on hers again, he smiled.
Not a big smile, but a smile, nonetheless. And he looked pleased for some reason. But for the life of her, Pari couldn’t figure out why.