Defying Gravity Read online

  He should hate her.

  But he didn’t.

  “Does that stuff they feed us make you feel sick too?”

  His stomach lurched from their liquid diet and felt extended, as if he’d swallowed stone.

  “Yes, it does,” he said, “but I don’t suggest vomiting again.”

  “I know.” She laughed. “One dose is quite enough.”

  “Definitely.” A smile curled his thin lips. Only she could make him smile in such dire times. His soft breath blew against the crevasse and cleared a little bit more dirt from it.

  “How do you think we got here?”

  “Wormhole, I guess. My planet isn’t near the Milky Way.” He paused. Should he tell her who he was? No, not yet. “What about your crew? Did any of them make it?”

  “We’re not from this galaxy either.” Her voice grew teary. Was she crying? He cringed at the thought of making her cry. “No, my crew was d-dead before my ship crashed. I don’t know how it happened. Did you have any crew?”

  Her entire crew. Dead. How? Why? If he could take her in his arms, he would. No matter what he thought of her people, he did not wish such tragedy upon her crew, upon her.

  “No, I was in a small cruiser. I don’t think any of my team passed through the wormhole.” His breath brushed away more dirt. Could he make the crack bigger? He scrapped his nails against the opening. Maybe he could see her?

  “What are you doing,” she asked.

  “Seeing if I can make the hole bigger.”

  “Oh.” He heard her shifting the dirt too. For a second, he noticed a few strands of her hair. A tiny crease of light flickered in and out.

  “I can almost imagine I see you,” she said.

  “The dirt is clear, but the rest is rock.” He stopped scratching. A glimpse would be all he would get, but he felt it would never be enough. “I’d like to see you, but the only way it’ll happen is when they take me.”

  “I’m scared, Alezandros.” Her slender finger pressed through the crack, and he brushed his own against it. He heard her gasp as if electricity had flowed through them from a mere touch.

  “Me too,” he said more to himself than her.

  “Have you given any more thoughts to escaping?” She sounded so close, as if the wall had parted and allowed them to see each other.

  “No. Linia, it’s no use. We must accept our fate.” He cringed with each word that left his mouth. How dare he take her hope? He drew closer. “If I could cause a distraction, I would.”

  “We’ll figure some way to get out of this mess.” Her belief amazed him. She was unlike any woman in Medusa, except perhaps his sister. She was stronger than he gave her credit.

  “Do you have any ideas?” He was interested to hear them, especially since he had none.

  “I don’t know. Let me think.” A blue light illuminated through the crevasse, disappeared, brightened and darkened.

  “What’s that light?”

  Several moments passed before she spoke. “It’s me. Perseans are born filled with pulsing electricity. The gemstone on my collar regulates it so we don’t accidentally kill someone.”

  “Really?” Her abilities were the stuff of legends. The stories were correct about the Perseans, and they could use that to their advantage. “That’s fascinating.”

  “I don’t know if I can use it in such a way. It’s against our rules to take a life.”

  “Even if it could save us?” His voice filled with hope for the first time since their capture.

  “I just don’t know. Let me think on it, please.”

  “I don’t want you to do anything you can’t. We have hope now. Don’t give up.” He shuffled along his side of the wall. If she used her power, it could save them, especially added to his own. Death was a terrible thing, and he didn’t want to turn her into a killer, but what choice did they have?

  “Do you really think we can make it out of here and to your spacecraft? Can we get off this planet?”

  He rested his palm against the wall and imagined her hand touching his, inches apart by stone. “We’ll have to try, won’t we?”

  “Yes, we will.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Time stood still within the small, earthen prison. Beyond the feedings and the scent of burning flesh, Linia couldn’t tell the passage of day and night. The lack of her normal cycle drained her, and she slept for long bouts when she wasn’t conversing with Alezandros. She studied the darkened rock ceiling. It’d been hours since they killed another creature. Who was next on their dinner menu? She needed to think of something else, anything else.

  Her mind went to her companion. A rock wall might separate them, but she felt so close to him. What did he look like? She peered through the crack. It was wider now, thanks to their efforts, but she still couldn’t fully see him. The area was darkened, so she assumed he was there.

  When they had briefly touched, it was unlike anything she’d ever felt. His gentle caress against her fingertip reminded her of home and gave her strength to believe. He was unlike anyone she’d ever met, and a thousand times better than the jerks on Persea, including Griffon.

  “Do you have family back home,” she asked.

  “My sister and two nephews. You?” His voice sounded soft, almost in her ear. Although she knew a wall separated them, a pleasurable shiver went up her spine. If only things were different . . .

  “My parents.” Thoughts of them caused her soul to ache. She remembered their goodbye, possibly a final one. They didn’t want her to go, despite being proud of her. She had been too flippant about leaving, too excited at first. How could she let herself be embarrassed by them when they saw her off? She was a terrible daughter. Now she’d never see them again. One solar year had metamorphosed into a lifetime. “I miss t-them.”

  “I miss my family too.” A faint chuckle rose from him. “My sister told me to settle down, but I liked adventures. If I had listened, I wouldn’t have been here.”

  “I wanted to explore the universe.” She smiled at those dreams, yet they had turned into nightmares, with one exception. “If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have met you.”

  “That would’ve been a shame.” His words sounded genuine but tinged with regret.

  “Yes, it would have.” She shifted closer to the crack in the wall while wishing she could see him, just once.

  “Linia, I have something I need to—”

  Footsteps clomped through the tunnel and grew louder. She stiffened and froze. It wasn’t feeding time, so it could mean only one thing: time for the Earthlings to choose their next victim. Three men halted in front of her cell, and her entire body quivered all the way to her antennae. The rush of blood thumped in her ears while she scrunched herself up to appear smaller, less appetizing.

  She hoped.

  “She’s not ready yet,” one man said. The others laughed and shifted out of view.

  They didn’t travel far. Unlike all the other times, the jingle of keys and grating of bars were too close.

  “Alezandros!” She gasped. Her only companion was the main course.

  A scuffle broke out, followed by a scream and a dull moan. Linia bolted forward. Her fingers wrapped around the cold bars, and she pressed her face against them. Two men dragged Alezandros between them, but she still couldn’t see Alezandros’s face. When the third man followed, she seized his arm. Her dirty nails dug into his flesh.

  “Let him go,” she whispered the warning.

  “Why would I do that?” The Earthling laughed and focused his gaze upon her. With a slack jaw and amused eyes, the man didn’t seem concerned by her.

  His arrogance infuriated her. “Because I said so,” she said, speaking in crisp English.

  The other Earthlings twisted around, and Alezandros lifted his head. Her eyes met his emerald green ones. Thick strands of his hair writhed around his head like tiny black slitherings. His nose was slender, his lips thin. A forked tongue darted out.

  “A Medusan!” Her eyes widened in surp
rise, and she almost lost her grip on the Earthling. Her Alezandros was her people’s deadliest enemy. Why didn’t he tell her?

  “Help me.” His eyes darted to her choker.

  The man was slipping from her grasp.

  “Please.” His voice hissed in Medusian. His eyes were wide, scared. How could she deny him?

  She knew what Alezandros wanted her to do. Her chance of freedom could also be sliding through her fingertips. She thought of her family, his family. They would never know what happened to them. The peaceful linguist lifted her left hand and knew she was not only breaking the Persean code with her actions but also her heart in taking a life. With a flick of her fingers, she rotated the gemstone on her necklace.

  Neon blue light filled the tiny cell and seeped into the tunnel. The man she touched went rigid. Her electricity may save a dead man, but it would kill a live one. His eyes rolled back in his head. Foam escaped his mouth. His body shook.

  Shouts erupted from the two men. One reached out, brushing his hand against his friend, and the electrical current jumped to him. His hair stood on end. Burnt flesh permeated the dank air, followed by the strong scent of urine and fecal matter released in death.

  Alezandros had his tight, muscular arms around the neck of the third captor. Within seconds, the man slumped over, and the Medusan released him.

  Linia let go, and the two electrocuted corpses collapsed to the ground. Guilt twisted her stomach, and she felt ill while she turned the jewel in place. The light vanished.

  “Thank you, Linia,” Alezandros said in his language. Their eyes briefly met—was there more between them?—before he yanked a weapon and the keys from the man’s belt. With a curt nod and no backwards glance, he sprinted down the tunnel.

  “Wait, come back, don’t leave me here.” Fear roared through her body, and her knees weakened. She lost her balance, stumbling to the ground. Tears streaked her pale blue cheeks.

  How could he leave her?

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Leaving her behind was the hardest thing Alezandros had to do. If he’d released her and other Earthlings were close by, their death would’ve been imminent. He scurried through the nearby tunnels and listened for the men. When he heard no one, relief flowed through him. Perhaps they could still escape.

  Did she really hate me because I’m a Medusan?

  The thought floated unbidden into his mind before he could stop it. Just because she was a Persean, just because she looked at him with surprise and hurt in her eyes at his omission, he wouldn’t stop trying to gain her trust again.

  His feather-light footsteps neared her cell, but she didn’t look up. The clinking of keys and sliding of bars didn’t even faze her. Was all lost?

  “Are you going to sit there all day or come on?”

  She passed her hands over her face before looking at him. “You came back.”

  “I had to check the corridors before freeing you. If others came . . .” He shrugged before grasping her hand and yanking her to her feet. Tingles flowed to his fingertips at the touch again, and he wondered if it was the residual effect from her previous electricity or something more. He took a weapon and placed it into her hand. “We might need this.”

  She looked at the gun, as if it would bite her. “Alezandros, I don’t think I—”

  “Point this end, aim, and press this lever. It’s simple, and we don’t know who we’ll meet.” They didn’t have time to wait around. This was their only chance. He motioned for her to follow him while he raced down the tunnel.

  He’d had little training in combat during his time with the Medusan Army. His eyes darted from side to side. Any second they could stumble upon the Earthlings. He had to be ready, to protect each other at all costs.

  They traveled the gradual, uphill slope toward the surface. Twice they used the guns to silence a stray guard. He was quicker with the weapon than Linia, but he didn’t want her to have to kill anyone else.

  At the entrance, he halted, and she bumped into him. Heat singed his spine as her breasts pressed against his back. When laser beams illuminated the area, her gun clanked upon the ground. He swallowed as he counted the five guards firing toward them.

  He knew what he had to do.

  He spun around, grabbed her, and pushed her against the tunnel’s wall while the beams blasted the stone and showered rocks and dirt upon their heads. An alarm blared through the tunnels.

  “We have to get out of here.” She screamed over the sound and threw her hands over her ears.

  He met her gaze—beautiful golden eyes—and yelled, “Close your eyes, Linia, and don’t open them until I tell you otherwise.”

  “Are you going to leave me again?” She shivered as goose bumps erupted over her body. He caused that fear, and it crushed his heart.

  “No, trust me.” Never again would he leave her.

  When she closed her eyes and buried her face against the wall, he turned toward the Earthlings. Cold anger burned within him. The ice seeped through his veins. The siren continued to bleat like an injured animal. He stepped forward and blinked away the third transparent eyelid from his eyes.

  Each Earthling he stared at froze, as if metamorphosing into stone. When he had taken care of the five blocking their exit, he blinked again, covering his deadly gaze with the inner eyelid.

  “You can open your eyes now.” His words pierced through the high-pitched warning.

  The alarm’s wail covered her gasp. Her jaw dropped open, and she stared at him with wide-eyes.

  “We have to hurry.” He slipped his cool hand into hers. Their fingers entwined and locked together as if they’d done it a thousand times before.

  Shutting her mouth, she nodded.

  They burst from the entrance in the green woman’s head.

  The planet’s pale sun rose in the east and cast dark shadows across the land. The air neared frigid temperatures, and he could hear her teeth clinking together. Her feet dragged upon the rocky terrain. He clasped her hand tighter, so she wouldn’t fall.

  They scampered across the wide, barren landscape from the statue lady to the city’s ruins. Garbage hills and yellow-white mounds of bones greeted them. Linia hesitated at them, but he pulled her along. As terrible as this was, they couldn’t stop. They climbed over these mountains, their breath pluming in short puffs in front of their faces.

  “W-where did you c-crash?”

  He paused and looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. She barely could stand, since she was shivering so much. It dawned upon him that it wasn’t fear flowing through her veins. “You’re cold.”

  “We Perseans aren’t made for these temperatures.” She laughed and rested her hands on her knees as if the action drained her energy further.

  He cocked his head to the side and studied her. She squirmed under his scrutinizing gaze. They had to keep going, find his spaceship—wherever it was—but he could tell she was almost done. Without another thought, he scooped her up and sprinted down the garbage heap.

  “I can w-walk.” Her insistence was feeble at best, and she trembled in his arms.

  “We’ll go faster this way.” He just didn’t want to release her. Her hair tickled his face. Her heat enflamed his heart, and he shifted her closer to him. He’d never been so warm before. His pace didn’t slow as they crossed into the city.

  The buildings blocked the frigid winds. These forgotten relics, frozen in perpetual disrepair by some terrible disaster, made him ache for Medusa. How could the two planets be so similar yet so different?

  “I wonder what happened to this city, this planet.”

  “Probably the same thing that happened to Medusa,” he said, lost in the memory of his land.

  “What happened to Medusa?” She reached up and stroked his cheek. His breath hitched as he looked at her.

  “An asteroid hit it and tilted us farther from the sun. The plants and animals died, and we had to move underground to live.”

  “How terrible!”

  H
is throat tightened. It really was horrible. He wouldn’t wish it on any planet. Focus on the situation. His gaze peered at each building. Where was the square of dead grass?

  “We can’t be too far.” Uncertainty entered his voice while he slowed down. He searched for anything familiar before focusing upon her. She was so pretty, so close. He’d wanted to hold her in his arms, and now he was. She tilted her face toward his. Her fingers brushed against a strand of his hair, almost tugging at him to move closer, or so he hoped. His lips neared hers. He could feel her breath upon them, inviting him in.

  One kiss could change everything.

  In the distance, a soft, rumbling drone increased. Her hand dropped to her lap, and he jerked to look behind them. Down the long street, Earthlings pursued them.

  “They’re coming.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The crumbled buildings ceased at the rectangular wasteland, and Alezandros and Linia paused to determine where to go next. Nearby, a stone, headless girl perched upon a fungus. Dead trees extended spindly branches toward them. He set her down, and she brushed away withered vines from a sign: Strawberry Fields.

  It must’ve been a long time since any strawberries had grown here.

  “Do you know where we’re going?” She wanted to wrap her arms around him, cling to him, but she couldn’t. She had to be strong.

  “It’s not far.” He studied the flat terrain. A pounding roar crescendoed behind them, and the ground trembled. In the distance, a gleam of metal protruded from the ground. “There!”

  When he moved to lift her like a lovemate again, she shook her head, fearful she would slow him down. If something happened to him because she couldn’t keep up, then she’d never forgive herself. “No, I’m fine.”

  Several meters behind them, the pavement showered them with debris. Shouts filled the air. The Earthlings sprinted down several passageways before gathering en masse to pursue them.

  “Run.” He snatched her hand, dragging her with him.