Chapter 18
18
P ari’s eyes fluttered open. She closed them, unable to take in what she saw, then opened them again.
What she saw the first time was still there. Shimmering gold curtains spilling down a high wall and coming part way around the bed. Or was it?
Her eyes widened. She was not alone.
Pari slowly turned her head to the man next to her. They were shoulder to shoulder, and she moved her left foot. It touched his leg, somewhere below the knee she guessed. His leg was clad in some sort of soft silk pants.
Pari looked around some more, afraid to move. Where were they? She looked around again and discovered her left arm was wrapped around his right, and that her hand rested on his forearm.
Her breathing picked up as the first twinges of panic hit. But… was there any reason to be?
Pari looked at Bondrah. He slept. At least she thought he was asleep. He could just as easily be sedated. At this point, how was she to tell?
She blinked her eyes a few times, to make sure her vision was clear, then slowly sat up. A wave of dizziness hit, and she shook her head to clear it. Then she looked around.
“What…?” The room was incredible, large, and like something out of a movie. There was ornate furniture, colorful cushions strewn around a couple of low, round tables, and a wall of sheer gold and silver curtains fell from a high, wide archway. She had no idea what was behind those curtains, but the archway had to be at least twenty feet high.
She looked at Bondrah again, and carefully extracted her arm from his. He didn’t move a muscle. His breathing was even, and… “Oh, my gosh…”
His ears were pointed! In fact, the rest of his features weren’t quite the same. His forehead was a little higher, as were his cheekbones. If she thought he was gorgeous before, he was absolutely jaw-dropping beautiful now.
Pari stared at him in awe. He was the real thing. A man not of this world. She looked around again. “Where am I?”
Curiosity was getting the best of her. She should be terrified out of her mind waking up next to a real honest-to-goodness alien, but she wasn’t. Instead, she felt… safe.
She eased off the bed and stood. She was hungry, thirsty, and didn’t know if there was any food or water around.
She studied the large room. A huge ornate wooden door was to her right, across the room in front of her were the tall, shimmering curtains, and to her left was another arched doorway with curtains. But this set was pulled apart, and she could see dark wood paneled walls and part of a tapestry of some sort hanging from them. She decided to see what was behind the shimmering gold and silver curtains first. What could it hurt? Besides, she didn’t want to try the door and find Dr. Charles’ men on the other side. What a horrible disappointment that would be.
She scooted herself to the end of the couch or whatever they were on, and took a few tentative steps toward the curtains and stopped. Bondrah moved an arm. She hoped she didn’t wake him.
Pari tip-toed across the room and got halfway when her stomach growled. She cringed at the sound and shut her eyes tight.
Clickety, clickety, click, click.
Her eyes went wide. What was that? She looked around, then faced the curtains. Instead of moving forward, she found herself backing up.
Click, click, clickety, click…
Pari froze, a scream lodged in her throat as a giant… something , poked its huge cat-like head through the shimmering curtains. It was furry and white with a sort of brindle pattern of soft grays, and its head was big as an elephant’s if not bigger… and it was grinning at her!
Pari stared at it, unable to move. A tiny squeak escaped her, but nothing more. She was paralyzed.
That is, until the rest of the creature came through the curtain.
“Oh, heck no!” she turned on her heel and ran.
The eight-legged beast came after her.
Pari didn’t know why she ran straight for Bondrah. He was out cold as far as she knew. But she knew what he could do, so she dove right over him, grabbed his left arm, and tried to pull him onto his right side.
The beast stopped just short of the bed, or whatever it was they were on, and grinned again.
Pari let out a yelp when she saw its razor-sharp teeth, and with a surge of adrenaline, pulled Bondrah onto his side and tried to bury herself beneath him, using his body as a shield.
“Please go away, please go way, please, please, please…”
She was trembling with eyes squeezed shut. The only thing between her and the monstrous spider-like creature was Bondrah’s unconscious form. Or was he unconscious? He softly moaned and wrapped his arms around her.
Oh, great, now what was she going to do?
He moved his left leg over Pari as well, pinning her.
The beast drew closer and sniffed at them.
Pari’s breathing picked up, and she tried to burrow as close to her shield as she could. “Don’t eat me, don’t eat me, don’t eat me.”
“You’re awakesssk!”
Pari’s breath came in short pants, and she tried to get closer to the man holding her. She didn’t care if he was an alien.
Clickety, clickety, click, click, click…
Pari trembled against Bondrah and shut her eyes tight again. Was the thing going away?
Wait a minute. Her eyes opened. Did it just talk?!
There came a soft thud, and she wondered if the thing had wandered off.
She lifted her head, still wrapped up in a tangle of Bondrah’s limbs, and tried to see where the thing had gone. There was no sign of it. Had it gone behind the curtains again?
She looked at the door. It was wide and tall and probably big enough for the beast to go through. Is that where it went?
Pari slumped in relief. It was gone, and that’s all that mattered. She rested her head in the crook of Bondrah’s arm and tried to calm her breathing.
She picked up a scent, sniffed once, twice, and realized her unconscious protector smelled… she sniffed again. Like cookies?
Her eyebrows shot up. “What?”
He made a male sound, deep in his throat, and held her tighter.
Pari was trapped. “Oh, no.” She tried to squirm out of his hold, but he held her fast. “Bondrah?”
He didn’t move.
“Bondrah Miah?”
Nothing.
She sighed. Now what was she going to do?
Pari tried to get comfortable. She could attempt to wake him, but if this was a drug-induced sleep, that wasn’t going to work so well.
“C’mon, big guy, let go.” She tried to extract herself from his hold again, but he made another sound, and pulled her tighter against him with his leg, his arms tightening at the same time.
“Oh, come on,” she squeaked.
If he was shorter, she might be able to escape. But she was wrapped against a seven-foot-tall powerful alien male who obviously, even though unconscious, had no intention of letting her go. Any girl would kill to be in her position. Unfortunately for her, her current predicament didn’t lend itself to her immediate need.
“C’mon big guy, I gotta go. Where’s the ladies room? I promise I’ll come right back.”
No such luck. He wasn’t listening. Didn’t matter how much she talked anyway. He didn’t speak her language. Well, she’d just have to try something else and hope she managed to free herself. That spider monster about scared the pee right out of her, and if she didn’t get free soon, she was going to have a real problem on her hands.
“Please?” Pari tried again by attempting to pry one of his arms off, but it didn’t work. He frowned and tucked her against him tighter still.
“Oh, really?” she groused.
She tapped her toes against one of his legs.
He smiled in his sleep.
She tapped him again.
His smile grew.
Pari smiled back. “Are you awake?”
No response. “Bondrah Miah?”
Nothing.
Pari let go a long sigh, then froze at the sound of the big wooden door opening.
“Pari?” a familiar voice whispered. “Pari, are you awake?”
She struggled against her handsome captor. “Over here!” She didn’t care if she wasn’t whispering. “Raina!”
“Pari!” but Raina’s voice was still low.
Raina hurried to the bed, Halden right behind her. She stopped up short, took one look at Pari’s predicament, and smiled. “Oh, I see the two of you are getting along nicely.”
Pari gaped at her. “He won’t let me go!”
Halden put a finger to his lips. “Shhh, do not wake him.”
Pari tried to struggle out of his hold. “He’s drugged or something, I don’t think he’s going to wake up.”
“He will eventually,” Halden warned in a whisper. “Now hold still.” He took Bondrah by the shoulder and pulled him onto his back.
Pari rolled with him, and now lay on top of him. “Oh, this is so much worse.”
Raina giggled.
“It’s not funny,” Pari hissed. “I’ve gotta go!”
“What?” Halden said.
“To the bathroom?” she shot back.
“Here, let us help you,” Raina said through another giggle.
Between the two of them, they managed to pry Bondrah’s arms off her, and she rolled free, almost falling off the couch, bed, or whatever it was.
Halden grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. “Are you all right? Are you injured?” His eyes flicked to Bondrah, and he slowly backed away pulling Pari with him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He looked at her. “Take care of your business, then let’s get some food in you.” He looked at Bondrah again. “Don’t worry, I think we have time.”
She looked at the handsome alien. “What… what are you two doing here? What is this place?”
Raina took her by the arm. “Come with me.” She gave her a tug and pulled her toward the open arched doorway on the other side of the room.
“But…” Pari began.
“Let’s get you taken care of, then we can talk. Thank goodness this place has great plumbing.”
“But where are we?”
Raina didn’t answer. She pulled her through the arched doorway, down a richly paneled hallway, through something resembling a walk-through closet, and into an equally rich looking bedroom. “Wow,” Pari breathed as Raina kept going.
“Most of everyone’s private quarters look like this. Only his is bigger than most.”
“Bondrah’s? You know him?”
Raina stopped. “Bondrah?”
Pari looked in the direction they’d come from. “Yes, the alien.”
Raina gave her a heartfelt look. “Melvale.”
Pari frowned. “Who?”
Raina started off again. “Come along, I’ll show you where the bathroom is.”
Pari’s bladder chose that moment to let her know she needed to empty it. “Good idea.”
Raina led her down another short hallway, through a set of curtains, and into a huge room filled with plants and flowers of all shapes and sizes. “What is this place?”
Raina let go her arm and swept a hand at their surroundings. “This is a Muiraran bathroom.”
Pari stared at her. “What did you say?”
“A Muiraran bathroom. They do love to be clean.” She pointed at a large pool with an elaborate fountain in the middle of it. “That is the bathing area.” She nodded to Pari’s right. “But behind that screen is what you’re looking for.”
Pari took one look at the ornate dark wood screen and headed that way. She’d ask questions later. Right now, she had a more pressing matter.
She hurried behind the screen and for the first time noticed what she was wearing. “Never mind that,” she muttered and studied the odd-looking commode.
She took care of business and came out from behind the privacy screen, a hand over her belly. “Thank you.”
Raina smiled and pointed to a small basin to Pari’s left. “You can wash there.”
Pari approached it, and when she got within a foot, water shot up from a spout creating a small fountain. It bubbled and frothed, indicating that there was some kind of soap in it.
“I think I want one of these,” Pari said to herself. She washed her hands, dried them on a pretty silver and blue towel that hung from a peg near the fountain, and looked around. “This is beautiful.”
“Yes, it is,” Raina agreed. She gave Pari a heartfelt smile. “Now, let’s get you something to eat.” Raina looped an arm around one of Pari’s.
She looked at Raina then hugged her. “I thought I’d lost you.”
Raina hugged her back. “No, the people that rescued Halden and me rescued you too.”
Pari drew back. “But who are they?”
Raina gave her another smile. “Eat first, then we’ll try to explain.”
Pari nodded, her heart picking up. Something was wrong, she could tell by the look on Raina’s face, but was afraid to ask. Instead, she let Raina lead her back into the main room, where Halden waited next to a low table now laden with food.
Pari ignored it and stared at Bondrah, still out cold on the bed. “Thank you, whomever you are,” she whispered. After all, he was the one they showed up to save. She just happened to be there and got saved too. Otherwise, she’d no doubt still be in the clutches of Dr. Charles.