Zaureth_A SciFi Alien Romance Read online

  “Technically, the dog belonged to her, but he didn’t like her any more than I did.”

  Amy slapped a hand over her mouth as more laughter bubbled up. She swallowed the bite she’d taken and felt around for a napkin.

  “Here you go,” Glenn offered, handing her a napkin. “What about you? You ever been married?”

  Amy wiped her mouth. “You’re kidding, right? Who would want to be saddled with me?”

  “Why would you say such a thing?” Glenn scolded, brushing his arm against hers once more. “You have a lot going for you. You’re beautiful and funny. And—”

  “I’m blind,” Amy blurted, effectively cutting him off. “I have nothing to offer. I can’t cook or drive. I can’t even clean my home without assistance. I mean, I can do some of it, but I’m certain dust bunnies have no fear of my skills.”

  “Housecleaning is way overrated, if you ask me.”

  Amy grinned at Glenn’s response. “That’s what I’ve been saying for years.”

  “See? We do have something in common.”

  A knock sounded on the door.

  “I’ll get it,” Glenn insisted, getting to his feet. “Finish your lunch.”

  Amy listened as Glenn moved across the room and opened the door. “Can I help you?”

  There was no mistaking Zaureth’s voice. “I am here to see Amy.”

  “We’re in the middle of lunch,” Glenn answered in a low tone.

  Amy’s heart skipped a beat. “It’s okay, Glenn. He can come in.”

  “I would speak with you alone, if I may?” The deep rumble of Zaureth’s voice did strange things to Amy’s insides.

  She stood on trembling legs and wiped her hands on the napkin she held. “Glenn? Would you mind giving us a moment?”

  “Sure thing,” Glenn muttered. “I’ll be down in the lobby if you need me.”

  “Thank you for lunch, Glenn. I really appreciate it.”

  Amy waited for the door to close behind Glenn before turning to face Zaureth, who now stood next to her. It took everything she had not to throw herself into his arms. “What brings you here?”

  His hand brushed her cheek. “You.”

  Butterflies erupted inside her stomach. “M-me?”

  “I need to tell you some things about myself. Things that will hopefully help you to understand why I am the way that I am.”

  “I’m listening,” Amy replied in a soft voice. She didn’t care what he talked about as long as he didn’t leave.

  Zaureth took a seat on the couch and tugged her down beside him. “I was found in the gulf, as an infant, by King Klause’s mate, Laurel. When my parents were unable to be located, the royal family took me in and saw to my needs.”

  Amy listened with rapt attention as Zaureth laid out the details of his life. “Saw to your needs? You mean, they raised you?”

  “In a manner of speaking. They arranged for my food, shelter, and education. I was trained with the best of the Bracadyte warriors and given free reign of the catacombs.”

  Amy held up a hand. “Catacombs? Isn’t that a cemetery or underground tombs?”

  “It is where the Bracadytes entomb their dead. It also holds the ancient scrolls of our ancestors. Our entire history is held there.”

  “Wow,” Amy acknowledged, her heart fluttering in excitement. “Go on.”

  “Once I began to mature, it became increasingly obvious that I had certain gifts. Gifts that other Bracadytes did not possess. I was able to heal with a touch, move objects with a thought. One day during training, I was bested by a kid that did not play fair. I harmed him out of anger.”

  “What did you do?” Amy questioned, hanging on Zaureth’s every word.

  “I lifted him into the air, using only my mind, and threw him against the rock wall. His head took most of the impact, nearly causing his death.”

  “Oh my God, Zaureth. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thankfully, he lived. Word spread quickly throughout Aukrabah of the orphaned child’s curse.”

  Amy’s heart ached for the child Zaureth had been. “What happened after that?”

  “Out of fear for my safety, the king sent me to study in the catacombs. It was there that I learned of the old ones, the healers, and the land walkers. And while in the catacombs, I discovered a higher power than myself. I learned of our creator and found forgiveness as well as acceptance. That is where I vowed to serve my fellow Bracadytes. I pledged to heal. To comfort, and to never place myself above another.”

  Amy couldn’t wrap her mind around Zaureth’s words. “So, you gave up ever having a life of your own? I don’t know what higher power it is that you serve, but I can’t imagine a god that would make you a slave to your guilt.”

  Zaureth shifted in his seat. “I do not know what to feel any longer. I am tormented with confusion and doubt.”

  The emotions coming from Zaureth were raw and unsettling. Amy decided to lighten the subject. “I would give anything to be able to see your home.” Her lips twitched. “To see anything for that matter.”

  “I can show you,” Zaureth whispered, his hands coming up to rest on either side of her head.

  Amy’s breathing accelerated at his touch. “Show me, how?”

  “Will you trust me?” he rumbled, caressing her face. “I will not harm you.”

  Amy took a deep breath, inhaling the masculine scent of Zaureth. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  Zaureth stood, tugging her up with him. “Then come with me.”

  Amy allowed Zaureth to lead her across the room. “Where are we going?”

  He suddenly stopped and positioned her in front of him, her back to his stomach. “Amy?”

  Zaureth’s voice inside her head pulled her in, lulling her into a dreamlike state.

  “Look at me,” he gently coaxed. “See through my eyes.”

  Amy focused on Zaureth’s voice as it slid through her psyche in a soft, seductive pull.

  Something bright flashed behind her eyes, and Amy bit back a gasp.

  “Do not fear it, little one. Embrace it. Seek it out.”

  Amy squeezed her eyes shut, pushing through the darkness in search of the light she’d caught a brief glimpse of. And she knew it to be light. It was the complete opposite of the never-ending darkness she lived in.

  The flash came again, brighter this time, and with it a swirl of colors that Amy had no name for.

  Zaureth’s arms came around her to hold her tight. “Look at me.”

  Amy’s heart beat so fast she thought for sure it would explode inside her chest. She slowly lifted her eyelids to a sight she would cherish beyond the grave.

  Tears filled her eyes, and her entire body began to shake. If not for Zaureth’s arms holding her up, she feared her legs would collapse.

  “Is this what I think it is?” Amy mentally cried, not caring if Zaureth witnessed her fall apart.

  “Do you see how utterly beautiful you are, little one?”

  The images in front of her came into focus. Tears of joy slid down Amy’s cheeks as she stared in wonder at herself through Zaureth's eyes.

  She reached out to touch herself.

  “You cannot touch it, sweet Amy. For you are seeing through my eyes.”

  Amy didn’t care how she saw it; she only knew that she did. And the emotions consuming her in that moment surpassed anything she’d ever imagined in her wildest dreams.

  And then she saw Zaureth…

  Chapter Eleven

  Tears filled Zaureth’s own eyes as he witnessed Amy’s miracle. He saw everything she saw, felt everything she felt, but nothing prepared him for her reaction to seeing him for the first time.

  She slowly turned in his embrace. Gratefulness pouring from her that he remained facing the mirror, allowing her to look her fill.

  He lowered to his knees before her.

  Amy’s trembling fingers traveled up his arms to his face. She traced the lines of his jaw, his nose, his eyelids…stopping on his lips.

  The tears spillin
g down her cheeks tore at his heart. She openly cried, touching him everywhere at once. “I never knew that you would be this beautiful, Zaureth. If this is the only time that I will ever see, I will carry the memory with me always.”

  Zaureth couldn’t respond for the lump in his throat. He swallowed several times and blinked back his own tears. “This will not be the last time, precious Amy. As long as we have a connection, you can always see through my eyes.”

  She reached up and ran her thumbs over his eyebrows. “Your eyes are breathtaking. What is this color called?”

  “Most Bracadytes have green eyes in different shades. Mine are green, only a very pale green.”

  “And mine?”

  Zaureth stared into her sightless eyes. “Yours are the most stunning light blue that I have ever beheld.”

  “Your hair!” Amy excitedly exclaimed. “Your hair is different.”

  Zaureth slowly lifted his hand and pulled his hair free of its restraint before doing the same to Amy’s.

  Taking a handful of her silky strands as well as his own, he held them up side by side. “Your hair is as bright as the sun, while mine resembles the night.”

  Amy ran her fingers through Zaureth’s long hair. “You have some bright hair also.”

  “That is gray. I do not know from whence it came. The scrolls tell of a leader buried in the catacombs many moons ago that carried the same markings in his hair as I do. There are no records to indicate its meaning.”

  “It’s lovely,” Amy whispered, inching ever closer.

  Zaureth couldn’t move. He knew he should end the connection and get out of there before he did something he would regret. But he couldn’t seem to look away from her innocent eyes. “Amy…”

  Amy was so tiny, that on his knees, they were the same height. She leaned in and timidly kissed him.

  Fire flew up Zaureth’s spine. There was no other explanation for the heat burning up his insides.

  His arms went around her without conscious thought, crushing her against him as his lips slanted across hers.

  He couldn’t seem to get enough of her taste, her scent.

  Her hands were in his hair, gripping him tightly while her delicious moans spilled into his mouth.

  She sucked on the tip of his tongue. “Zaureth…”

  Zaureth lost his hold on reality. Without breaking their kiss, he slipped out of his sharkskin vest and went to work on unbuttoning Amy’s blouse.

  He reluctantly broke off the kiss and coasted his mouth down her chest to the perfectly round globes of her breasts.

  His breath caught as he took in her pink, straining nipples. Zaureth had never touched a female in a sexual way. And though his conscience screamed at him not to do it, he closed his lips over one of Amy’s rosy tips.

  Passion unlike anything he could have imagined exploded inside him with the first suck of her nipple into his mouth.

  A primal sound came from deep within her throat, and her body shuddered in his arms.

  She pulled him more tightly against her, silently begging him for more, until everything faded from his mind but the impending release now throbbing in his sex.

  He switched to her other breast, loving it with the same amount of passion.

  “Zaureth? I ache…”

  Amy’s whispered plea through their mental link was Zaureth’s undoing.

  He broke the suction on her breast, licked his way to her navel, and tugged her cotton shorts to her knees.

  She quickly stepped out of them.

  His hands shook as he coasted them up her thighs and nudged her legs apart.

  The sight of her sweet sex would have brought Zaureth to his knees were he not already on them.

  He gently slid a finger through her incredibly wet slit. Zaureth couldn’t think beyond the feel of Amy’s hot, wet heat. He now knew what other males lost their minds over. He wanted her bad enough to kill for her.

  Applying a small amount of pressure, Zaureth attempted to slip a finger inside her.

  A gasp escaped her, and her nails dug into his shoulders.

  Zaureth stilled, more than a little surprised at his discovery. Though she’d been born without sight, it didn’t take away from her stunning beauty. How could she have made it to her age without knowing the intimacy of a man? Surely other males had courted her? “You are untouched.” It wasn’t a question.

  Amy broke the connection she had with his mind. “I’m sorry, I figured you knew. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

  Zaureth gently removed the tip of his finger from her body and rose to his feet. “It pleases me that you have not known a man before. But I am far too large for you.”

  “I trust you not to hurt me,” she whispered, embarrassment and determination seeping from her in waves.

  “But I will hurt you, precious Amy. My body is much bigger than yours.”

  She stood completely still, tears once again swimming in her light blue eyes. “I want you, Zaureth.”

  Zaureth cupped the sides of her face in his big hands. “And I want you. More than I have ever wanted anything in my life. And that scares me. I cannot stay away from you.”

  “Then don’t.”

  An explosion rocked the building beneath Zaureth’s feet, followed by rapid gunfire.

  He immediately scooped Amy up into his arms, taking her clothes with him, and placed her terrified body in the shower. “Get dressed, and do not leave this spot until I return for you.”

  “Wait,” Amy cried, gripping his arm as he turned to go. “Don’t leave me.”

  Zaureth opened his mind to her once more. “This is the only way that I can take you with me. Stay down and keep quiet. I will be back for you as soon as I can.”

  “Please be careful. I couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to you.”

  With a quick kiss to her lips, Zaureth pulled the shower curtain closed and ran from the room.

  Chapter Twelve

  Amy slid down the wall of the shower and hugged her knees as gunfire continued to echo from the ground floor.

  She’d never heard anything as loud and horrific in all her life.

  Zaureth had opened his mind to her, allowing to see through his eyes. She hovered in the tub, watching with rapt attention as he ran through the hall and into the stairwell.

  Most of the things she saw were confusing and foreign to her normally sightless eyes, but she soaked them in as best she could and attempted to stay strong for Zaureth.

  “I will not let any harm come to you,” Zaureth sent through their connection. “Remain where you are, and open the door to no one that you are not familiar with.”

  Zaureth arrived at a door Amy assumed led to the lobby. He slowly cracked it open and glanced around the room.

  Amy could see people lying on the floor, their hands over their heads, while three men held something long and dark in their hands. Amy could only assume they were guns.

  And then the unthinkable happened. Zaureth pushed the door wide and emerged into the chaos.

  More of the armed men burst through the front doors, yelling and waving their weapons in the air.

  “Hand over Nicho, and no one has to get hurt.”

  Two more giants appeared in Amy’s line of sight. She assumed them to be Bracadytes.

  Zaureth stepped forward. Amy could see his hands rise up in front of him. “I do not want to harm you.”

  One of the men laughed before pressing the tip of his weapon against the back of someone’s head that lay on the floor. “Produce Nicho, or this man dies.”

  “I am here,” a deep voice announced, stepping through the side door.

  Amy watched in stunned silence as a tall dark-haired man sauntered across the room.

  “Is that Oz?” Amy mentally inquired of Zaureth.

  “Yes,” came his solemn reply.

  “Nicho, it is good of you to join us,” a short balding man addressed Oz.

  “It’s always a pleasure, Acosta. Too bad your daddy couldn’t be here to
see your grand entrance.”

  The one known as Acosta lifted his weapon higher. “That’s far enough.”

  Oz slowly raised his hands out to his sides. “What do you want? Carlito?”

  “I want the diamonds. Now. Or I’ll start picking your guests off one by one.”

  Oz took a step forward. “The diamonds are not here.”

  Acosta nodded to one of the men standing near him, obviously ordering the termination of one of the hostages.

  Amy watched in horror as a shot rang out, and the man on the floor was struck in the back. His body jerked in reaction.

  And then all hell broke loose.

  Zaureth stalked forward, his hands open in front of him, his gaze on the man that pulled the trigger.

  The goon dropped his weapon, his mouth opening in a silent scream while blood trickled from his eyes. He grabbed the sides of his head and dropped to his knees.

  Zaureth continued forward, throwing bodies through the air without touching them.

  Amy couldn’t look away from the carnage, the cries of anguish from anyone unfortunate enough to be in Zaureth’s path.

  She caught glimpses of others fighting throughout the room, but her focus remained solely on Zaureth.

  Another shot rang out, louder than the one before. Zaureth’s pain echoed inside her mind in tormenting finality. Amy opened her mouth to cry out to him, just as her vision returned to black.

  “Oh my God,” Amy gasped, scrambling from the tub and pulling on her clothes. She didn’t care if her shirt was inside out or if her shorts were on backwards. She buttoned up her shirt as best she could and stumbled from the bathroom. All that mattered was reaching Zaureth.

  She continued to call out to him, searching her mind for any evidence of their connection. But all that remained besides the deafening silence was the never-ending darkness.

  Amy fell several times in her haste to reach the door. After several attempts at finding the knob, she jerked the door open.

  “Thank God, you’re all right,” Mallory breathed, wrapping Amy in a hug. “Something is happening down stairs, and—”

  “I have to get to Zaureth,” Amy cried, breaking her sister’s hold. “He’s been shot.”