Star Child: A SciFi Alien Romance (Brides of Alluvia)

  STAR CHILD

  A Sci-Fi Alien Romance

  © 2016 Juno Wells, Trina Novak

  All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.

  Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.

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  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  The sky was inky black, and the stars glittered above me like diamonds. It was late, nearing close to midnight, as I walked the quiet suburban streets of my neighborhood in Georgia. My dog Pepper pulled me along by her leash, eager to sniff every blade of grass and every shrub that we passed. I’d just returned home from another in a long series of bad blind dates, and as I stopped to let Pepper check out a neighbor’s mailbox, I decided to call my friend Beth and fill her in on all the gory details.

  “So how’d the date go? This was the fireman, right?” Beth asked. I could hear the hopefulness in her voice, and hated to have to disappoint her with the truth.

  “It was horrible,” I admitted. “He was a total meat head. All he wanted to do was brag about how much weight he could bench press. I don’t think he asked me a single question about myself the whole time.” I sighed, and pulled Pepper along by her leash. “I’m so tired of bad dates, Beth. Where are all the good guys?”

  “There’s someone out there for you, Ava. I promise. I mean, I met Andy after he spilled coffee on me in a café. It was fate; I really think it was. So you just have to wait for fate to bring you a man too. It’ll happen.”

  “You know I don’t believe in fate, Beth. Fate only happens in fairytales and fantasy stories. It doesn’t work in the real world. If I wait on fate, I’ll end up a lonely spinster with a lot of cats.” I crossed over onto Elm Street, and Pepper pulled so hard at her leash, barreling down the street, that it almost knocked my cell phone out of my hand. “Easy, Pepper,” I whispered.

  “Well Ava, you might not believe in fate, but I do. And it’s gonna happen for you. Mark my words. Right when you least expect it, the planets will align and the universe will bring you a guy that’s just perfect for you, I know it.”

  Beth was always so optimistic, but then again, she’d already found the love of her life. It’s easy to be optimistic when things work out for you. But I’d been on enough bad dates to give even the most optimistic person a cynical streak. “I don’t need the planets to align. I don’t need some grand fated romance. I just need…” What exactly did I need?

  “You need to get laid,” Beth deadpanned into the phone. And I couldn’t help but laugh. She was right, as usual. It had been way too long since I’d been with a man, and I knew that wasn’t helping with my cynical attitude. But there was no way in hell I was going to sleep with any of the lame guys I’d met on Internet dating sites. I wasn’t that desperate, not yet at least. “Aren’t there any hunky guys down at the police station you could go out with?” Beth asked.

  “I’m a private investigator, Beth. Even when I do work with the cops, we don’t really get along. It’s an antagonistic relationship. They think I’m trying to do their job. No, what I want is…” I looked up at the sea of stars twinkling above me in the night sky. “I want someone different. I want someone interesting. I want someone who will show me new things, who’ll take me on adventures. I want—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, Pepper started wildly barking and pulling on her leash. She was straining to get near a row of hedges, and even though she was a small dog, I could barely pull her back. “Pepper, what’s gotten into you? Chill out, girl!” I hissed. But Pepper wouldn’t back down. She barked and snarled and lunged at the row of hedges. She was just a little Pug, but in that moment it was like she’d been possessed by the spirit of a Doberman. Then the hedges began to shake, and Pepper’s barking reached a fever pitch.

  “Beth, I think I’m going to have to call you back later. Pepper is losing her mind. She must smell some kind of animal in the bushes,” I told her. We said our goodbyes, which I could barely hear over Pepper’s manic barking, and I slid my cell phone back into my pocket.

  As I turned my attention back to Pepper, I began to hear a strange low hum in the air. It seemed to emanate not just from the hedges but from everywhere, as if the entire neighborhood was suddenly humming. And there was something about that hum – something that felt eerie, and dangerous. I didn’t know what was happening, but my body could sense the danger. My heart began wildly beating in my chest, and my hands started to tremble.

  Pepper felt it too. Just a moment earlier, she’d been madly barking, but now, as the eerie hum washed over us like a sick wave, Pepper began to whimper and cower near my feet. Seeing Pepper this scared only made me more frightened, and I picked her up and cuddled her tiny body close to mine. “Let’s get out of here, girl,” I whispered. “I’m spooked.”

  I backed away from the shaking shrubs, carrying Pepper in my arms, and the strange hum began to fade as I moved down the street. I turned my back on the shrubs, and as soon as I did, I had the strange sensation that I was being watched. Goosebumps popped up on my skin and I began to walk faster and faster, eventually breaking out into a run. Pepper still whimpered in my arms as I ran, faster and faster, my feet pounding on the sidewalk and echoing out in the still night air. All I wanted to do was get home, to get away from… Whatever it was that had scared me and Pepper so badly. I knew it was probably nothing – just a possum in the bushes, and probably a noisy air-conditioner, or something like that. But still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something more.

  I was out of breath and my hairline was damp with sweat by the time I finally made it back home. I shut my front door with an extra-hard slam and clicked the deadbolt in place, and only then did my nerves start to settle. Pepper seemed calmer too; she scurried over to her water bowl and had a few sips, then got comfortable on her spot on the couch.

  “Yeah, I could use a drink too,” I said. I walked into the kitchen and poured a little whiskey over ice for myself, then joined Pepper on the sofa. I made a mental note to make sure to bring my gun the next time I went out to walk the dog, then I switched on the TV.

  Before the picture on my television had even come into focus, Pepper was up again, jumping around and sc
ratching at the back door. She wasn’t acting aggressive, and she wasn’t scared the way she was earlier – instead, she seemed weirdly excited. She really wanted to go out into the backyard, even though just minutes earlier, out in the dark, she’d been so scared she’d almost peed herself.

  “What the hell is it now, you crazy girl?” I said to her. She kept bouncing and making little cute yipping noises, looking at me with those big brown eyes, practically pleading for me to open the door. “Fine,” I told her. “We’ll go out there. Just give me a second. Mama’s got to get her gun.”

  I grabbed a flashlight out of the junk drawer in the kitchen, then slid my pistol into the waistband of my jeans and headed back to where Pepper stood anxiously by the back door. There was a part of me that knew it was stupid to go back outside after the creepiness I’d encountered earlier, but I couldn’t help myself. I was a private investigator, so curiosity was kind-of my middle name. And I had to know why Pepper was suddenly so desperate to go in the backyard.

  I opened the back door and stepped out into the yard. After being inside with the lights on, I could barely see my own hand in front of my face. I switched on my flashlight just in time to see Pepper scamper through the backyard, past my little vegetable garden, heading toward a pile of brush next to the oak tree. I followed her, my flashlight’s beam cutting through the blackness of the night. Just in case, I put my right hand on my gun, which was sitting snug in my waistband. But Pepper wasn’t afraid, and I didn’t feel afraid either.

  Pepper stood by the brush pile and pawed at a tree limb. She whimpered, but it wasn’t a frightened whimper. I knew my dog as well as I knew myself; I knew how to gauge all of her little moods. And the noises she made were sweet, gentle noises. “What is it, Peps?” I whispered.

  I trained my flashlight onto the brush pile, and that’s when I saw it. A hand. A man’s hand, lying atop a pile of leaves.

  Chapter Two

  Instinctively, I grabbed for my gun. But then I realized that whoever this man was who was lying face down in a pile of leaves in my backyard, he wasn’t someone who was in any shape to hurt me. In fact, I realized with horror, he looked dead.

  I crouched down and felt for a pulse at his wrist. His skin was warm, and his pulse was thready and erratic, but at least that meant that the man was alive. I ran my flashlight over his body, looking for signs of injury. I couldn’t see his face, but above his ear, near his temple, I saw that his dark hair was matted with blood. I reached into my pocket to grab my cell phone and call 911, but right at that moment the man stirred, and I heard him take in a deep, heavy gasp. He rolled over onto his back, and as my flashlight found his face, I gasped too.

  This man, whoever he was, was beautiful. More beautiful than any man I’d ever seen in my life. His eyes, even in the harsh light from my flashlight, blazed a brilliant indigo blue. His skin was pale, bordering on luminescent, and his hair was as dark as the darkest night. I stared at him, open-mouthed, my heart fluttering like a butterfly, and for a moment I forgot everything. I forgot where I was, I forgot who I was. I forgot my own name. Our eyes locked together, and it was like the world around us disappeared. And as we looked at each other, I felt as if something was passing between us: a recognition, a knowing, an understanding. I could’ve looked into that man’s brilliant indigo eyes all night long. And I probably would have, if Pepper hadn’t started pawing at my leg.

  Pepper snapped us out of our strange reverie, and we both blinked a few times as if we’d just regained consciousness. “Hi,” I finally muttered.

  Hi? There was a gorgeous bleeding stranger lying in my brush pile, and ‘Hi’ was the first thing that came out of my mouth? Was I brain-damaged or something?

  “Hello,” the man said, his voice rich and deep, like velvet.

  “Are you hurt?” I asked, but didn’t wait for him to answer. “Of course you’re hurt. You’re bleeding. I’m going to call for an ambulance…” I reached again for my phone, but the man grabbed my hand and stopped me.

  “Please, don’t. Don’t call anyone. I’m fine.”

  He sat up, but didn’t let go of my hand. I looked down at my hand in his, and I felt a weird surge of happiness run through me. Obviously Beth was right. I really did need to get laid. Just a smidge of physical contact from a hot guy, and I was suddenly turning into some kind of cheesy teenager. This man was bleeding in my backyard, and here I was, excited that somebody was holding my hand. Okay, not just somebody. The sexiest guy I’d ever seen in my life. But still, I needed to get it together. I slid my hand away from his and trained my attention toward his head wound, which was the only thing about him that wasn’t drop-dead sexy.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Did you get mugged or something?”

  “Yes,” he said, nodding. “Yes, mugged. I was just trying to… to… get home. I must’ve passed out.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t want me to call a doctor or something? The police? Should I take you to a hospital?”

  “I promise, I’m all right. Just out of sorts, that’s all.” He started to get up, but his legs buckled underneath him. “Could I trouble you for a glass of water, Miss…?”

  It took me a moment to realize he was prompting me for my name. “Oh, Ava. My name is Ava. Ava Clarke.”

  “Ava Clarke.” The man’s accent was so strange, and I couldn’t place it. It sounded like he was just from everywhere: Alabama, Scotland, California, Russia. “I’m Asterion.”

  Woah. Strange accent, and even stranger name, I thought to myself. “Listen, Asterion, let’s get you inside. I’ll get you some water and clean that cut on your head.” Under normal circumstances, I would’ve thought it was crazy and reckless to invite a strange bleeding man into my home in the middle of the night. And it was crazy and reckless, but it also seemed somehow like the right thing to do. As I looked into Asterion’s brilliant blue eyes, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I could feel it in my bones.

  “Thank you Ava,” he said, slowly getting to his feet. And as he stood, I realized for the first time just how tall he was. He was at least six foot six, and he absolutely towered above me. I felt so tiny next to him, so dainty, which was a feeling I wasn’t exactly used to. I wasn’t tall myself, but I had curves – plenty of curves. Butt, boobs, hips, the whole shebang. Sometimes all my curves made me feel big, and I had to remind myself that my body was healthy and beautiful, and not to feel self-conscious. But I didn’t feel big next to Asterion’s towering frame, not at all. Though I did feel self-conscious.

  Because, man… The way he stood, towering over me, taking me in with his eyes… It was intense. I felt suddenly naked as he stared at me, his indigo eyes moving over my body. There was a hint of a smile on his face – a sexy, slightly naughty smile – and I felt the corners of my own mouth turn up, smiling back at him. And as we looked at each other, again I felt the world drop out from underneath my feet, and there was nothing left but the two of us.

  I thought of what Beth had said to me on the phone earlier in the evening: Right when you least expect it, the planets will align and the universe will bring you a guy that’s just perfect for you. As I lost myself in those eyes – those amazing blue eyes – I had to admit that the planets seemed to be aligning for me. I mean, here he was, basically my perfect dream man, standing in my backyard, staring at me like he wanted to rip my clothes off. I didn’t believe in fate, but it did seem like it was my lucky day.

  Chapter Three

  I took Asterion inside my house and gave him a glass of water. He drank it down in three seconds flat, like he was dying of thirst. “More?” I asked him. He vigorously shook his head yes. He drank down five more glasses of water in quick succession, and with each glass he drank, his skin began to brighten and the dark hollows around his eyes began to go away.

  “Wow, you must’ve been really dehydrated,” I told him.

  “Water is… Very important to me. I drink a lot of water. I get dehydrated easily.”

  “Well, speaking of being t
hirsty, I think I could use a drink myself.” I found my glass of whiskey by the couch, and topped it off with a fresh splash. “This has been a strange night. I was out walking Pepper earlier – that’s my dog’s name, Pepper – and we had an odd encounter. I don’t know why it was odd, I mean, I probably overreacted. But the hedges were shaking, and there was a weird humming sound that completely terrified Pepper. I don’t know, maybe that was your mugger, hiding in the bushes?”

  “Yes, perhaps,” Asterion said. He suddenly looked a bit nervous, and I figured it was because I brought up the mugging. “Is that alcohol you’re drinking? Might I have some?”

  “Yeah, of course.” I left Asterion sitting on the couch and went into the kitchen to grab another glass and the bottle of whiskey. When I returned, I found him gently touching the wound on the side of his head. “Does your head hurt?”

  “A little,” he said, taking the glass of whiskey from my hand.

  “You stay right there,” I told him. “I’m gonna go get some stuff to clean your wound. I know I have some gauze or Neosporin or something like that. Take a few sips of that drink. It’ll take the edge off the pain. I’ll be back in one shake of a stick.”