Amari's Adored - A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (The Quasar Lineage Book 3) | eBook

I'm trying to fall asleep, but the crickets are so loud. The cool breeze floats across my skin, and I shiver. My knee length nightgown won’t protect me from the chilly air. Outside the window, I hear the sheep milling around in their pen. It’s only fifty feet away, and my bedroom faces it.
It’s hard to relax after having such a fun day. My father let me spend the day with him. We were out in the pens while he and my uncles did the shearing. It was nice to spend the day helping relax the sheep as they’re shuffled from one area to another. It's stressful for them to be manhandled for their wool.
I know my presence and touching calms them. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been able to share my feelings with them and influence them. At eleven-years-old, I know I have a lot to learn, but eventually I may be able to figure out how I’m able to do what I’m doing. But for now, I’m content to be able to help.
Shearing is traumatic for the sheep. They don’t have any idea what’s happening. With all the extra men around them, they’re freaking out at every little noise. Even the sound of the shears can startle them. I weave between their fuzzy bodies, touching and stroking as they shuffle and wedge against one another. My favorite, Dumpy, follows me from one area to the other. I’ve been taking care of him since he was born. He’s been special to me for almost a year now. When he was born, I watched. There isn’t anything more amazing than seeing them take their first hesitant steps. He pulls on my shirt from behind me, chewing and tugging,
“Let go, silly beast.” Giggling, I yank my shirt away and crouch down to kiss his fuzzy head. Soulful eyes watch me with trust, and I can’t help hugging him.
Yes, one of the best days ever. For whatever reason though, I’m having a hard time falling asleep, and I haven’t felt right since dinner. It feels like a storm is coming. The air feels prickly against my skin, and the anticipation makes me nervous. The butterflies in my stomach are waging war with my insides. When I told my parents earlier, they laughed. They said it was just from the excitement of the day.
My stomach starts to roll, and I wonder if I’m getting sick. As my heart begins to speed up, the discomfort in my stomach intensifies, and I wonder if I should make a trip to the bathroom. Quietly, I slip from my bed and tiptoe across the cool hardwood floor to my bedroom door. It creaks slightly as I open it, just wide enough to slip through and into the hall.
My eyes have already adjusted, so I don’t bother turning on the light. Lifting my nightgown to sit down, I hear screaming. Blood curling screaming!
My parent’s bedroom door crashes open. It’s the next room over, and the door slams into the wall that backs onto the bathroom where I am, shaking the wall. Goosebumps break out on my skin as I stand and rush to the door, just in time to see my father taking off down the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” His retreating back disappears. The door downstairs slams before his heavy weight echoes across the porch.
“It’s just the animals.” I barely hear my mother over the noise! My gaze swings to the left to see her standing in the door to their bedroom with her robe pulled snugly around her body. The screaming is starting to taper off, but I’m already moving. “No Rachel. Don’t…”
Ignoring her, I run out the door and toward the barn without thinking. Crashing down the stairs and out the front door, I jump from the porch and land on the lawn. The dew-covered grass squishes between my toes as I sink into the damp earth. I don’t have any trouble seeing the barn getting larger in front of me. I'm distracted from it as I trip over an animal that cuts across my path ten feet from the door.
Skidding on my hands and knees, I feel fur brush my lower legs as I narrowly miss face planting in the dirt. My hands are inches from my face as I flip them over and try unsuccessfully to see if I’ve scraped them. Using my forearms, I transfer my weight back onto my knees.
The barn lights flick on right as a low, rumbling growl makes me freeze. Slowly, I swing my gaze to see a wolf less than an arm’s length from me. He’s bigger than I ever imagined a wolf would be, although that may be partly because my face is only a foot from the ground.
Never breaking eye contact, I take in his dark coat and incredible eyes. Two different colored orbs stare back at me. One is light blue and the other deep brown. His low growls never stop as he inches away, and I realize that the wet, darker hair around his mouth is from blood.
Spinning, he takes off into the shadows of the barn, and I shakily get to my feet. I know I’m lucky, but I’m more worried about my fuzzy friends. Stumbling and shaking, I enter the barn as my father starts to mill between them in a pen. Blood is everywhere. On the sides of the pen, on them and even in the mud, created from their wet blood mixing with the dirt. He doesn’t see me as he starts slowly herding out the animals who can walk into the pen further down. I realize he's separating the injured from the unharmed.
It only takes a moment for me to spot Dumpy, twitching helplessly. I stumble over to him and sink onto my knees. His frightened eyes roll toward me, and I fall upon him crying. There are no words for the way I feel. The holes in his throat are slowly pouring blood into the dirt under him. As his breath wheezes in and out, it seems to speed up and then slow. Instead of watching, I wrap my arms around his belly, resting my head on him as I comfort him. His breathing stops, slowly tapering off, but my tears have just begun.
Father rips me from Dumpy’s body, picking me up and carrying me back into the house as I weep.
I knew! I knew something bad was going to happen. Something that was going to be terrible! No one listened.
The screaming has stopped, but I hear something different now… screeching. Metal?




***






Pounding and metal tearing sounds make me try to open my eyes.
My head hurts so bad though, and my stomach rolls again, just like it did that night almost a dozen years ago. I hate that memory. Hate feeling out of control and at the mercy of others.
Still trying to open my eyes, I swallow hard. A metallic taste on my tongue registers, and I realize its blood right as everything fades to black again…




***






My mother’s face floats across in front of me. “Stop that, Rachel!” Her sneer is burned into my memory. “You can’t possibly have known that. Just settle down."
Pointing upstairs, she adds, "Go back to your room until you can finish crying.”
Neither of my parents want to hear me berate myself for not doing something for the sheep that night. I’m inconsolable after losing Dumpy. Especially since I knew something bad would happen. But when I bring it up in the days and weeks that follow, my mother always shushes me and tells me not to talk about it.
I’m not sure if she knew and believed me and my “knowing”, or if she thought I’d flag someone that I was different. I never did find out, because she died two years later having my little sister.
To this day, I feel guilty because I mourned Dumpy more than her. I missed him more too, even though we only had the one year together. My mother wasn’t a loving and maternal figure in my life. Father was even worse. Cold and strict, he raised my sister and I with the motto, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”




***






I’m jostled as warm breath hits my face. The rest of my body aches and every injury comes into focus as I’m lifted carefully, but painfully, from where I was.
“Ahh.” The moan slips from my lips. As my eyelids flutter, I see the jaw of someone I don’t recognize.
Ducking for a moment, he steps into dim sunlight that makes me slam my lids shut. Lifting my arm to cover my eyes, my shoulder protests and my chest aches. What the hell happened to me? I don’t remember anything.
Was it a car accident?
I move my arm slightly to look back up at my rescuer, and the timing is perfect for me to see his tan features as his gaze drops to meet mine. My childhood flashback comes back to me in full force as I gaze into one blue eye and one brown.
It’s like the murdering wolf has become flesh. Dark hair stands out around his head in a Medusa-style halo. It's like he's underwater, but his lips are in a snarl, exposing large canines as he growls at me.
Mercifully, I pass out.

My skin prickles with unease as I shift the empty makeshift backpack between my legs. The past few days waiting here is the closest I’ve been to the prison dome in a long time. I don’t know exactly how long. It’s not something I ever dwell upon.
Nothing from my time before is worth remembering.
I didn't leave either. I broke out.
After many long years of torture, I was able to escape. I got out of the prison along with three others. All of us had very good reasons to leave. Only two of us made it.
I do remember I came to the prison when I was twelve rotations. It was my promised year. The time I was supposed to transfer from my family’s home to the care of my promised. I was considered fortunate. My promised was only ten years older than me.
With my family’s agreement, I was to transfer from their home to hers. I would be trained by her three other males until the promise ceremony. It would take place in four more annual rotations. Not having met her was my undoing. Until that fateful day, I didn’t even know that she could set me aside—let alone send me here.
The new markings on my body tighten and then brighten on my arms where I can see them. It distracts me from my negative thoughts.
Things change and there’s no reason to dwell upon the past. But sitting here waiting lets my mind wander too much.
The prison’s domed shield has a distortion effect from where I’m sitting in the trees. I’ve picked an elevated position. It mimics closely the visions I’ve been seeing in my daily reflections.
It took a little work, circling the area. I went up and down the slope many times. I’m sure it will be worth it, and really, what else do I have to do?
When I shift my position, I can see the sun’s reflection between two mountains in the distance. They are behind the glittering dome. I come here every day at this time. Prepared as I know I need to be. I don’t know if or when my vision will occur, but I’d rather be ready. It’s better to believe it will occur than to miss out on the opportunity it’s presenting.
I know it’s getting closer. There's something different in the way I feel. A physical pressure that can not be attributed to just the new markings that cover my body. It’s more of a knowing.
I’ve seen many beautiful things over the years in my daily reflections. I’ve felt relaxed and loved. Something almost entirely unknown to me.
Certain things from your childhood never seem to disappear. But I’ve never seen anything like the beautiful face of the female in my visions. She looks different from anyone I’ve ever seen.
Not that I’ve seen many women. My mother and sisters. There were a few miscellaneous cousins and aunts over the years. There are no women here.
I rarely see other people. Usually, there’s no one, and I like it that way. I don’t want to have to worry about fighting for what I have or competing for the food in the area. Those of us who’ve managed to escape the prison dome, spread out.
But even as wary as I am of others, I can’t help thinking about her. The features that are so fine in her tan face. Her soft, light-brown hair that flutters around her features. Her bright blue eyes.
I close my own eyes and think about how the idea of her makes me feel. The only word that comes to mind is tight. Tight with anticipation. I tingle not only on the marks but in other areas of my body that I usually ignore.
The sun’s rays don’t reach me here, but it’s still warm. This planet is much lusher and more vibrant than Quasar. To be honest, I now prefer it. On my home planet, our time outside is limited by the pollution. Here, even in the shade, the heat makes the sweat slowly trail down the back of my neck.
Opening my bag, I pull out a flask and take a long drink of the cool water I collected by my dwelling. This side of the dome is the supply area for the water that is utilized inside. It’s fresh and clean.
Closing my eyes, I relax and let the soothing sounds of the water make my mind settle. I feel different all of a sudden. It’s almost as if something has cracked open inside me. I’m flooded with extreme anticipation and need?
My eyes open, and I look directly into the sky just above the mountains across from me.
Yes!
There. It’s tiny. Just a dot in the sky as the large sun reflects off the hull. The ship is coming in fast, and I can see it’s small and compact—exactly as I saw in my visions.
Now, if everything else is as I saw too…
My heart’s racing in excitement. I know I’ll only have a few minutes alone in the clearing in front of me.
Standing, I throw on my backpack. Picking up the two-sided tool beside me, I’m grounded by the weight and familiar grip I have on it.
Striding quickly down the slope, I know I won’t have any trouble intercepting the craft. It’s going to land exactly where I envisioned it would.
Crouching in the tree line, I watch as it comes in fast and doesn’t appear to be slowing. It looks like it’s going to slam into the ground.
At the last second, it breaks and bounces. The landing gear tears off, and it skids across the earth, ripping up small bushes and grass.
A nertel and its young break for the trees as the spacecraft continues to slide toward me. While it slows, I sprint from the tree line so when it stops, I’m waiting for it.
The cargo hatch is right in front of me as I slam the flat side of my tool against it. My tool, shaped like a large hammer on one end, caves the metal next to the hatch, effectively denting it.
That worked better than I anticipated. The adrenaline running through me is making me strong.
Throwing the handle side into the cracked area I’ve created, I use the leverage to pull. It opens up an area about half my body width with a hiss. The moaning inside has me picking up my pace.
Dropping the tool lower, I widen the hole by putting it into the crack again. One more good solid hit, and I’m able to easily slide my body inside at an angle.
The last time I was in a transport vehicle, it was to bring me here. Not a good memory. Pushing it aside and ignoring everything else, I sprint across the hold and stop next to the weapons locker. I can’t believe that there really isn’t anyone here to stop me. The access to it isn’t even locked!
Within a minute, I’ve cleaned out the area of all the weapons there. It wasn’t a lot, but more than I had. Technically, I don’t need any of it, but it’s much better for it to be in my possession than any of the other prisoners.
Or the guards. The ones coming for the transport now are the worst. They’re the ones that run the facility and with evil and dangerous intent.
Now that I’ve taken care of loading myself up, I move to the door from the hold to the ship. I don’t see anyone as I start down the short hall. It opens up into a larger area that must be transport seating.
My body slows down of its own accord. I’m not even thinking now. I’ve carefully avoided dwelling upon this moment. There are a few reasons, but the easiest for me to identify is fear.
I’m petrified.
But as I turn to the right and spot the female from my visions, all my worries and hesitation disappear. She’s tiny. So small and helpless looking. She couldn’t hurt me if she tried. That alone helps me forget any concerns I had. She won’t even be that hard to keep fed. How much can a creature her size eat?
She twitches as I watch, and it reminds me to start opening the compartments in the walls all around us. No, no. Yes! The medical kit for the shuttle is there. It's small and not any more awkward to carry than the weapons.
I drop my backpack between my legs to shove it on top of the collection I recovered. I may need all of them to keep her.
Her hair covers part of her face, but it’s short, only coming to the tops of her shoulders in fine layers.
Popping the latch on the stasis pod, I wonder how long she has been traveling? I’m not familiar with planets and space travel. But I do know that usually these chambers are reserved for long passages.
Her scent hits me as the door slides open, and I pause, overwhelmed. She smells like hope. Something I’ve never had and didn’t even realize until recently I wanted. Seeing her in my daily reflections and now in person, has made me have desires I didn’t know were possible.
Taking a blanket from the area where I found the medical kit, I reach inside. It's not hard to efficiently unbuckle the harness around her. She isn’t in any crumpled areas of the shuttle, so I shouldn’t have any trouble with broken bones.
I don’t know why she’s here. I can't imagine what she was being brought here for. But I do know that she’s mine.
I don’t acknowledge how ludicrous that idea is. Why would I want another person to harm me in my life but seeing her size has made all those worries disappear. I can keep her. Take care of her.
As I wrap the blanket around her, tucking it tightly around her entire body, I feel again how small she is compared to me. I don’t have time to study her, but I take a moment to gently run my finger across her forehead, moving her hair to the side.
The brown of her hair is lighter than mine, and the fine strands are limp as I slide them carefully away from her face. They don’t lift up around her or respond in any way. I hope that doesn’t mean she’s sick. Could it be an indicator of her health?
My own hair reaches forward to stroke her eyes and hair. I ignore it as my fingers register how soft and smooth her forehead is. Her light skin has darker spots sprinkled across her nose. She’s as endearing as a baby nertel, whose spots fade in the first few rotations after their birth.
I’m out of time. Sensing others on their way, I thread my arms under her and carefully tuck her into my chest. I’ve created a sling for her, and I realize at once it’s much bigger than I needed. She’s almost lost inside it. I don’t even have to prop her upright to make her as narrow as my body.
She’s completely hidden, too. Working my way out of the shuttle, I slide my body around corners and out the crumpled hull I’ve destroyed. As I glance over my shoulder, I enter the tree line. I still can’t see anyone coming.
That’s good. They don’t have many heat seeking drones, and they rarely send them outside the dome shield. Probably because they rarely come back. I’ve personally taken down dozens of the tiny, flying devices over the years. But when they come out, they may have more with them. The guards will start searching the area, especially when they realize that the shuttle was broken into.
I have to get her back to my home and hidden right away. Taking off at a sprint, I pin her to my chest and move as smoothly as possible. Elation makes her light as a feather as I sprint over the rough terrain.