Alien Fascination (The Shadow Zone Brotherhood Book 3) Read online

  Jessica

  Becoming an alien biologist was a risk. Everyone knows there’s only one way to get your hands on a sian male, and that’s to give yourself up in exchange. My sister is proof that doing just that can be bliss, but I’m not about to sign away my future. So, when I get the once in a lifetime opportunity to spend a month on the planet, studying sian men, and maybe even the monsters my sister told me about, I’m not going to let go of it for anything.

  Trench

  It’s basically a babysitting job. A human woman shows up, I keep her from getting eaten by a monster or accosted by someone not-in-the-know.

  Easy.

  I didn't expect her to be interested in my work… or so damned interesting herself. It’s only a month. I can keep my hands to myself for a month…. right?

  Alien Fascination

  Book 3 The Shadow Zone Brotherhood

  By Elise Jae

  Table of Contents

  DEDICATION

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  THANK YOU!

  BOOKS BY ELISE JAE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT

  DEDICATION

  For those who want everything. You deserve it.

  ONE

  JESSICA

  There are twenty-nine problems with being an alien biologist stuck on Earth.

  The most pertinent, of course, being that there are no aliens on Earth.

  But I’ve just been given the opportunity of a lifetime.

  Round trip tickets to the sian home world are hard to come by—though the one-way version is pretty easy—and I have no idea who finally granted my proposal, but I’m on the next ship.

  I need to freaking pack.

  I hurl my sweater toward the open bag on my bed, and my youngest sister only just manages to dodge it.

  “Holy hell, girl!” Chris says, catching the garment that sails on right behind it.

  “Sorry. They gave me like, no time.”

  “How little time is no time?”

  “I have to be at the spaceport in an hour and a half.” Throwing a glance at the clock, I realize I’m down to an hour and twenty. “Less than!”

  I dig back into my drawers as she sits on the bed.

  Chris starts folding and rolling the things I’ve piled up. “How much did you have to pay?”

  “I haven’t gotten the bill yet.”

  She snickers and arranges a row of socks down the inside of the bag’s flap. By the time I’m certain I’ve got everything I need, the room is in shambles, but the bed is a tidy little halo.

  If you didn’t know better, you’d think that Chris was a professional organizer.

  Together we manage to get the rest of my stuff packed away. I’m allowed two bags, and I stuff the first full of my clothing and other personal necessities.

  Chris smuggles a bundle in amongst my sweaters. “You can deliver this to my niece.”

  “We don’t know it’s a girl.”

  “I live every day in hope.” Chris says, her smile the most peaceful genuine thing I’ve ever seen.

  The second bag… heavily padded and highly specialized… has my gear.

  I sling the former over my shoulder and release the telescoping handle of the second one out. “What am I forgetting?”

  Chris looks me over. “Nothing… except that those are my pants.”

  I look down, staring at the denim for too long.

  “I’m just messing with you, Jess. You’re good. You’ve got this. If there was anyone in the world I’d trust to send off into the wilds to study an unknown and potentially hostile creature… it wouldn’t be you. But the sian aren’t hostile and from what Laurel has said, you’ll be kept comfortably housed.”

  Our middle sister lives on the alien planet with her sian bondmate. And her experience might be the only reason I’m not scared as hell to get onto a ship headed across two galaxies.

  Chris hands me my shoes, spins me around and zips my bag closed. “You’ve wanted this forever. It’s time to go get it.”

  She drives me to the spaceport and waves a cheery goodbye.

  She has more faith than I do.

  The women around me are excited, some a little scared… but they are all headed to the same place I am, for a completely different reason.

  There are only twelve of us waiting to board the ship. The Agency recruitment hasn’t been amping up its numbers, and that’s probably the main reason they’re letting me come—why I included it in my field of study. They’re hoping that I do my research and bring home the right kind of information.

  The kind that will entice more of the single women of our world to sit in a chair exactly like this one, with one destination in mind.

  An alien cock.

  The thought hits me off guard and I strangle a laugh so I don’t draw attention.

  The boarding lights ping, and we’re all invited to step on to the transport ship… into what looks very much like another waiting room.

  The trip takes a little more than an Earth day, so there should be beds hidden somewhere. But the oddity is in the normalcy. No plane seats, no belts…. Like we won’t shortly be punching through the Earth’s atmosphere and hurling across two galaxies.

  I put my things beside one of the plushly tufted chairs and move to the long counter.

  Others are getting drinks, and they offer almost any food imaginable.

  The bar is run by an Agency employee who smiles—a laugh in her eyes as she confirms that yes, they can provide each of the more outrageous requests of the women headed to meet their bondmates.

  I get a coffee and go back to the chair I’ve claimed as my own.

  None of the women here know I’m not a blushing bride-to-be. But I have no intention of leading them to make the assumption that I am.

  I pull out my tablet and pen and begin to sort through my notes.

  One of the nervous ones sits beside me and glances curiously at my work.

  “You’re not headed to a mate, are you?”

  “No, I’m a biologist.”

  The others look at me when I say it.

  “So,” A woman with perfect brows says. “You’re here for the Alien dick too.”

  We all laugh.

  “I just won’t get to keep the ones I’m here for.”

  Others giggle and start talking about what they know. About what they hope their bondmate will be like.

  I listen, wondering about similar possibilities.

  Because like them, I’ll be handed over to a sian man when we land.

  I can’t go around unsupervised. And that’s why they’ve assigned me a keeper.

  I’m more than willing to accept my bodyguard. There are rumors of ravenous beasts killing swaths of their populations—rumors I happen to know are very true. And, if I’m up close and personal with one for the month I’m there… I’ll have an even better chance of understanding them.

  TRENCH

  They’ve told me her name is Jessica, and I double check… three times. The last thing I want is another incident like Richter had. But even if I didn’t know her name, I’d have known it’s her,

  She pauses at the top of the
dock ramp, surveying the port with a scrutiny that would make many a man squirm at the idea of her turning her eye on him.

  And it’s not an agent who leads her to me. She’s not shoved into my arms as so many around us are.

  She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

  I shake that thought away. She’s not here for me.

  “Milord,” The government liaison says, dropping his head in a sharp, staccato bow. “This is Dr. Jessica Ardem of the Iverstaad University on Earth. I believe you have been briefed.”

  “I have.”

  “Good… well then.” He glances sharply between us, swallowing too loudly, turns and leaves.

  “Is it always like that?” Jessica asks, watching him go with a scowl.

  “No, usually, it’s like that.” I tilt my head toward the others who’ve been paired up.

  I don’t look when she does, so I get to see the arch of her brows, the way her eyes widen, and see her straighten her shoulders. Was that a shiver?

  The least flagrant reaction of the men who’ve united with their bondmates is still an act children shouldn’t witness.

  “Well then.” She taps something into a small hand-held device before shoving it into her pocket. “It’s very nice to meet you, Trench. Should we get out of here before people start to stare?”

  She’s joking... I think.

  The only women I’ve had the opportunity to observe at length are bonded to my brothers. But the brotherhood is spread across the Shadow Zone, and my only real interaction with them is when we meet, so that observation has been limited.

  Perhaps, when this is over, I’ll understand the way the others have adjusted to their new lives.

  I’ve been told she’s here to “figure us out”, whatever that means. So, I expect her to start asking questions right away. But she doesn’t.

  She doesn’t even really seem to be interested in me.

  It shouldn’t irritate me. I’m too used to not being who other people want. But still….

  The drive back to my compound is long, and silent, save for the occasional click and clatter of her fingers on a tiny keyboard.

  She barely says a word as I lead her into the house.

  The bedrooms are upstairs, while the three lower levels hang, all but suspended, over the snow sloping beneath.

  Like the others. My compound was built to house a family.

  There are more than enough rooms to choose from. I lead her up to the master suite.

  This one seemed like the right one to give her.

  It has an unobstructed view of the icy white valley between us and the inner caldera.

  I’d spent far too long deciding where to put her… which is why I only finished moving to one of the smaller rooms an hour before I left to collect her.

  She drops her bag on the floor with a heavy thunk, and I roll her suitcase to a stop next to it. She doesn’t look at the bed, or the bath… or me.

  It’s possible she’s forgotten I’m here.

  Eyes wide, she walks to the window, placing her palm against the glass. “It’s absolutely beautiful here.”

  I bite back my knee-jerk response.

  The unending glitter of the snow is only pretty until you see it painted red.

  Instead, I try to see it from her point of view. The craggy rim of the inner caldera. Steely gray against the crisp white. Hard and cold.

  Drift told me to be nice, but fawning over that isn’t something I can fake.

  Clearing my throat to chase away those thoughts, I say, “I’ll leave you to get settled. Anything you need, just let me know.”

  As I walk away, I listen for her to ask me for anything, but she’s silent. Retreating back downstairs to the kitchen, there are a dozen things I could do right now. But food feels like a higher priority.

  I check the list on the side of my cold box again and remind myself I got rid of the things they told me she was allergic to. I’m not going to kill her within hours of her setting foot on the planet.

  When she joins me again, I’m setting a plate on the table at the seat that will now be hers. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. I’m famished.”

  I don’t know why her smile as she settles into the chair across from me is so gratifying. I shove that thought away and settle into my food.

  The sooner I get used to her, the better.

  She clears her throat after finishing about a quarter of what was on her plate. “They told me you’d be willing to answer questions. But if there’s anything that you’re uncomfortable with… just tell me and I’ll back off.”

  Statements like that usually mean a person has something uncomfortable in mind. Swallowing my food, I consider what she could possibly ask.

  TWO

  JESSICA

  Trench’s agreement is wary, but immediate.

  He’d been told before I got here, I know, so it doesn’t surprise me. And I figure I’ll start him off with something easy.

  “Do you always eat this much?”

  He pauses, looking first at my plate, and then at his which holds about three times what mine originally did—and it’s still a hefty portion. “Yes. But I am much larger than you.”

  “True enough.”

  We lapse into silence, but his brow pinches. Maybe he was expecting more questions, or at least something more invasive.

  He asks if I’m done, but instead of taking the plate to the kitchen when I say I am, he drags it across the table and finishes it himself.

  I take short notes and study him more, happy to see he’s not shying away from my scrutiny.

  There is a lot to study.

  His musculature is impressive. “Do you have to work out multiple times a day, or are sian men physically predisposed to… this?” I gently poke his biceps, despite knowing I probably shouldn’t touch him at all.

  His skin is soft, the muscle beneath it relaxed.

  Instead of giving me a real answer, he points to the stairs. “One floor down, third door on the right.”

  Curiosity gets the better of me, and I skip down the spiral, counting doorways before I step into a gym that would have jacked up facility fees on any Earth apartment into the outrageous.

  “Some of us,” he says from behind me as I step through the door. “Are genetically predisposed to a denser musculature.”

  “Humans too.”

  “But… we cannot rely on our daily routine to maintain it, without supplementing focused physical activity.”

  “Again, humans too.”

  I weave through the weights, glancing at the numbers queued up for his next work out. Tap a few of them in, so I can pull up the conversions later.

  He hasn’t stepped inside with me. That might just be his thing though, looming in doorways. Like he did in the bedroom….

  “And being out in the snow and ice, often means we have to eat more, just to deal with the cold.”

  “Not so different from humans after all.”

  “But you already knew that. How else would we be able to mate?”

  Something about the way he said it has my neck hot.

  I’m sure I just imagined the slight stress on the word “we.”

  If he notices, he doesn’t say, he just steps out of the way, letting me back into the hall.

  Clearing my throat, I step back and turn my heel to survey the rest of this level.

  It’s a mish mash of utilitarian rooms. The sort of spaces you only ever enter into if you plan to use them.

  Trench stays with me the whole time, but it doesn’t feel like he’s here to keep me away from anything. More like he’s just waiting for my next question.

  “How old are you?”

  “Somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five of your earth years.”

  “I can do the conversion if you give me sian years.”

  “I don’t know it.”

  That makes me pause. Glancing over my shoulder, I consider calling bullshit. But something in the way his jaw is set
tells me, it’s not a joke. And the reason he doesn’t know is a sore point.

  “Okay then.” I file that away for later. “Do you know any of your family history? Anything that might make you different from the normal sian man?”

  His mouth twists when I say the word normal.

  “I just mean, you and the rest of the brotherhood have a job that necessitates certain differences, not just in musculature.”

  That seems to appease him, and he scowls for a moment before moving past me, down the hall to a dark doorway. He ushers me in as the lights flick on.

  It’s like a hospital room—another difference between the brotherhood and other sian homes, I would assume.

  He moves to a large piece of diagnostic equipment. “Can you read our language?”

  “Yep, it and Latin are a staple of my field.”

  Stepping out of the way, he leaves the enormous monitor open to me.

  It’s his medical records.

  All of his medical records.

  I don’t know why I’m suddenly uncomfortable.

  “Um… thank you. This will be helpful, but I’d still like to talk things through with you, if that’s alright.”

  “Anything you need. As long as it’s within my power.” Again, his face shifts with discomfort. “I don’t know my age, but I do know that I have one brother, he is probably a year younger. Our parents died when we were very young, both were murdered.”

  He says it so calmly, as if there's nothing strange at all about his past. A past I don’t need many more details on, but I desperately want to ask for.

  “Are you always this straight-forward?” I ask as he leads the way back upstairs.

  “When I can be.” He pauses, eyes narrowing at the far corner of the ceiling. “It is possibly why they put you with me. Unlike others of my kind, I’ve never felt the need to shield my opinions or bare facts from others.”

  “Then I think you may be the perfect man for me.”

  He blinks, eyes narrowing, and I realize how that might have sounded.

  “For my purposes, I mean.”

  “I’ve set the permissions to let you have access whenever you need it.” He nods toward the front door. “Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, let me know, and I’ll make it happen. But the monsters are a very real threat. Please don’t go outside alone.”