KEK: An Alien Romance (Pleasure Invaders Book 2) Read online

  “Behind you!” Julia hissed, and Kek whirled, bringing his fists up to block whatever attack the human male had planned for him. Something sharp sank into his forearm, and he roared as he wrenched his arm away, then hauled back and punched the foul human as hard as he could.

  The foreign object still lodged in his arm sent searing pain all the way down to his fingertips, but he did not care. Fumbling for the handle of the blade, he yanked it free.

  “You have hurt her,” he said, his voice a low growl. “I will rip you to pieces.”

  “You’re both gonna die screaming,” the human replied, but his words were slurred, and the stench that had clung to him outside Julia’s dwelling was so much stronger now. What had Clancy called it? Al-key-haul? “That bitch ruined my life.”

  “Kek…help me...” Julia’s plea was so quiet, fear gripped Kek’s heart. The scent of her blood was strong in this place. Too strong. Stronger than it had been even in her mangled wreck of a car. If he could not heal her soon, she would die.

  The human lurched at Kek again, wrapping his hands around Kek’s throat and squeezing, hard. Kek swung his entire body, sending the male careening into the wall where several bones cracked, and Julia’s attacker made a high-pitched whining sound and then lay still.

  Kek shoved down the need to tear the male limb from limb and leapt for his Julia. As soon as he touched her, he felt her heartbeat. Too slow. Too weak. She was no longer crying or making any noise at all. Her skin was slick with her blood, and Kek found the ropes holding her up and ripped at them until they snapped.

  With his mate in his arms, he sank down to the floor and cradled her to his chest. “Julia? My sweet one, please stay with me.” He touched his forehead to hers, and thank the ancients, her breath still warmed his cheek. But it would not for long.

  He found her hand and slid it under the fuzzy sweater until it rested over his heart. Then he pressed his own fingers to her breast. In his native language, he said, “My life sustains you. My heart beats for you. My soul aches for you.”

  Julia took a ragged breath, and heat flared between them. A bright light hurt his eyes, and he squeezed them shut as he buried his face against her neck. “Julia. My Julia. Use my strength. My life means nothing without you.”

  The light flared, so intense now, it penetrated his shuttered lids. Kek growled with the pain of it, and Julia screamed his name.

  “Kek! Oh God. Kek!”

  “I...am...here,” he managed through the agony of a thousand suns beating down on him. And then, everything was dark and quiet once more, only the sound of Julia’s breathing and heartbeat in his ears. “Julia?” Pulling back, he risked opening his eyes, and the most beautiful sight he had ever imagined greeted him.

  His mate. Blood still covered her skin. Blood he could see. Her hair fell in gentle waves, a light brown. And her eyes...almost gray-green...were open. She peered up at him, tears glistening on her cheeks.

  “Kek?” she said softly. Trembling fingers caressed his cheek. “Can you see me?”

  “Yes. I do not know how. But healing you has healed me as well.” Kek held up his arm, marveling at how quickly the muscle had repaired itself. A light blue scar was all that remained.

  Julia tensed, her eyes widening as her fear snaked its way into Kek’s heart. “No!” she screamed and lurched out of his arms, diving for the blade on the floor.

  Kek sprang up, then dipped his shoulder and charged the overweight slovenly male who had hurt his mate. As he drove the air from the man’s lungs, a loud crack reverberated through the entire dwelling.

  The male went limp with one last quiet gurgle, and Kek dropped his body to the floor. Blood pooled underneath him, and his eyes stared up at nothing.

  As one, Julia and Kek turned towards the door of the cabin to see Clancy leaning against the wood with a long-barreled weapon braced against his shoulder.

  “Well, I reckon someone ought to have taught that man years ago that mistreatin’ a woman is never good for your health.”

  Chapter 12

  Julia

  The thick quilted blanket helped fight off the cold but it did nothing to ease her shivering. She’d nearly died. Again. And the man responsible lay dead on the floor with a hole in his chest.

  The cabin was a nightmare, and no matter how crass the winter wind was outside, she couldn’t bear to stay inside another second. She needed air, needed to get out into the open where the rough-hewn cabin walls and low-hanging rafters were no longer pressing in on her.

  Flashes of her torture peppered her mind, but Kek held her tightly and his warmth forced them away. With him she was safe and loved.

  Her body was sore, but intact. Kek had healed the worst of her injuries, somehow healing himself too, and now that his sight had returned, he refused to look away from her.

  “You are so beautiful, mate,” he said, his voice only a whisper. “I never imagined…”

  “I’m covered in blood,” she protested.

  “But I see you.” He leaned closer and brushed his lips to hers. “And you are whole. That is all that matters.”

  Clancy had left to pull his Buick closer to the door, and Julia was alone with her blue alien angel once more. Twice he’d saved her life, and she loved him more for it.

  The porch swing creaked as they snuggled together, moving slightly in the harsh wind. It was almost peaceful. Until the sound of a police scanner blared from inside the cabin. Kek jumped to his feet and ran inside while Julia, still unable to bring herself to enter—listened from the door.

  “All units. This is dispatch. Wellness check on McStan yielded a suicide note and threats against the female who filed a complaint against him. Proceed with extreme caution to his cabin by the river. He is armed and dangerous.”

  “Confirm,” another voice replied. “Unit C53 on the way. ETA ten minutes.”

  Two more units quickly followed, listing their arrival times as between ten and twenty minutes.

  Julia’s heart squeezed in her chest. No! They couldn’t come. Not now, with Kek here. Discovering the scanner in a corner of the cabin, he ripped it from the wall and slammed it down on the floor, shattering it into pieces.

  “You have to go,” Julia begged, overcoming her fear of being indoors to rush to his side and squeeze his hand like her life depended on it. Because in some ways, it did. If being on the brink of death had taught her anything, it was that she didn’t want to live without him, and she absolutely wanted to live. “You can’t let them see you. You’re too different, Kek. They won’t know what to do.”

  He shook his head. “I will not leave you.” Defiance shone bright in his eyes as he cupped her cheek. “The last time we were parted, that animal took you. I could not bear it if such a thing were to happen again.”

  “You have to! If you don’t, they could take you away!”

  Kek flipped around and shoved Julia behind him when the screen door slammed shut. Clancy stood there, keys in hand. “What did I miss? You two seem awfully upset, and after what’s happened, that’s sayin’ something…”

  “The scanner just went off. Three police units are on their way. I guess that creep detective left a suicide note telling them where he’d be.” She shivered. “And what he planned to do to me.”

  Clancy’s already pale skin went white, and he turned to Kek. “You need to get out of here, son. Ain’t no way you go unnoticed.”

  “No.”

  Julia clutched his arms, only then realizing what he was wearing. “You have to. A big blue alien wearing one of my sweaters and skirts? If they didn’t want to lock you away to study you, they’d arrest you for just being...different.”

  “Remember what I said about listening to your lady, my boy? This is one of those times,” Clancy said while shaking his boots free of snow.

  “The foul human that took you was also called a...police, no?” Kek asked, jaw stiff. “What is to say that these males will be any different?”

  Clancy picked up the rifle he used to save the
m both and patted it. “Oh, Betsy here will take care of them if it comes to that. Ain’t no one going to touch our Julia, son. I may be old, but I can shoot a tick off the ass of a deer.”

  Kek frowned and turned to Julia. “I do not understand. This is a valid reference, or no?”

  “It means he’s an accurate shot with the weapon in his hands,” Julia said, cupping his cheek. “He’s trying to reassure you that I’m safe while he’s here and no matter what happens, those men won’t hurt me, or he’ll shoot them.”

  He covered her hand with his. “You feel safe with him, mate?”

  Julia lifted up on the tips of her toes to kiss him, ignoring the dull pain in her hip. “I do, but only if I know you’re nearby.”

  She knew Kek didn’t like the idea of separating from her, but she hoped he could feel her determination and her need to protect him. She breathed easier when he finally agreed.

  “I will remain close. And if those males try to hurt you…”

  Clancy cocked the rifle. “Then I’ll take care of them like I did the McStan boy.”

  Kek and Julia held each other until the sirens started to wail. Then Kek slipped out the door, and Julia returned to the porch swing and huddled under the blanket that still smelled like her Kek, watching as Clancy covered Kek’s tracks with his own.

  Dirt and slush flew as three police cars sped up the winding path and then came to a stop. Six officers ran towards them, guns drawn. Four of them fanned out to search all corners of the property, while the other two approached the porch.

  One was a woman, dressed in a brown sheriff’s sweater with a bullet proof vest strapped over the top. She approached Julia hesitantly, her voice low, her eyes expertly scanning for threats. “Where is he?”

  “Dead,” Clancy said from the screen door with his hands up. The gun was propped on the inside of the frame and as another one of the officers approached the door, he stepped aside so they could collect it.

  “Clancy? That you?” the female officer asked. “What in hells bells are you doing all the way out here?” She dropped her gun and relaxed when he walked out slowly. “Oh, put your hands down, you old goat, and tell me what happened.”

  After taking six hours to process the scene and photograph her, the officers sealed the door with crime scene tape and left Julia and Clancy sitting in the warmth of his car. They didn’t speak for several moments, waiting until the last set of tail lights disappeared. When they were alone, both took off toward the trees.

  “Kek!” Julia yelled in one direction, while Clancy took off in another, but her alien didn’t answer. He’d promised to stay close. Where was he? Fear took hold, and Julia started to shake. He wouldn’t have left her. Had something happened?

  “Clancy, I can’t…” she said as she leaned against the car, “I can’t find him…”

  “I am here, mate,” Kek said from above her. Wait. Above? Julia tilted her head back and gawked as Kek slid from a small attic window and landed on the ground with a thump.

  Julia’s eyes narrowed. “You hid upstairs the entire time? That was a bit risky, don’t you think?”

  “The humans did not check it thoroughly, and I grew cold waiting.”

  When Julia turned to Clancy, expecting him to join in her disapproval, she found him bent over laughing and slapping his knee. “Tarnation,” he managed. “Kek, my boy. Never a dull moment.”

  “Men,” Julia sighed and climbed back into the car. It was freezing, and she just wanted to go home. After Kek settled in next to her, he pulled Julia close, and Clancy got behind the wheel. The old Buick roared to life and all three of them made their way out of the woods.

  Clancy’s phone rang to the tune of You Are Beautiful by Joe Crocker, and he chuckled. “There’s my bride. Took her long enough. Would you two like her to throw on some stew? I’m sure you’re both starved.”

  “That would be lovely,” Julia whispered, eyes closed, tucked against Kek’s broad chest. Finally away from that horrid place, her fatigue had set in, and his warmth felt amazing. So much so, she almost didn’t notice the way he tensed. First, his abs, then a few minutes later he cleared his throat and shook his head.

  Julia peered up to get a better look at him. His eyes were darker, his face strained. “Kek, my love. Is everything all right?”

  “There is something…a strange pull inside that I cannot name. I have felt it before, but the memories escape me.”

  “Is there something I can do to—Kek!” Julia screamed as her alien doubled over in pain, clutching his chest. He threw his head back suddenly, his eyes flashing red, then gasped.

  “Handon... he’s dying.”

  Julia lurched forward and cradled his face, catching him before he doubled over once more. “Handon? I don’t understand. What’s a Handon, Kek? Tell me, please!”

  A pulse of power exploded out of him and rattled the car, causing Clancy to swerve. “What in tarnation is going on back there?” he yelled as he fought to steady the wheel.

  “I don’t know,” Julia wailed. “Something’s wrong with Kek.”

  Chapter 13

  Kek

  For thousands of moons, Kek had felt nothing of his brethren. No connection, no spark of life. And now, Handon’s energy was reaching out for him, desperate, alone, and afraid.

  His Julia was speaking, but Kek could not understand her words. Not with Handon’s call consuming him. With the return of his sight, he could at least lock eyes with his mate, and the fear churning in her gaze urged him to fight his way back to her.

  “Handon...is...another,” he grunted. “From Pleasuros. By the ancients, I thought the rest had perished.” A wave of agony hit him again, and he pressed his forehead to his Julia’s, letting her unique energy calm him slightly.

  His skin was on fire, burning him from the inside out, and Julia stroked her hands up and down his arms. “You’re scaring me, Kek. Your eyes are red and you’re burning up.”

  “I am taking on his pain. But I cannot save him from this distance.”

  “Where is he?” Julia asked.

  As quickly as the burning pain had started, it faded. “I do not know. Far from here.” Kek took a deep breath and drew back. “He has either passed on or found a way to survive. Something has shifted, and I no longer feel him. But if he lived, there could be others as well.”

  “How can we find out? What do we have to do?”

  Kek stared at his mate. She was so strong. After all she’d just survived, she was more concerned with him and his brethren than herself. As he’d held her on the porch swing, their connection had flared and her memories had flooded him. All her fear and pain. It had been all he could do not to crush her in his arms with how tightly he wanted to hold her, to keep her safe and protected.

  “I need to rest and restore my strength, sweet Julia. To couple with you and use our connection to enhance my own abilities. Perhaps then, I will be able to sense him.

  Clancy looked back at them in the rearview mirror. “So that’s a no on the stew then?”

  Kek frowned. “Julia needs sustenance. As do I.”

  “Clancy,” Julia said, “we’ll come to dinner. After we both change clothes. Otherwise, we’ll get blood all over Lonneta’s cushions.”

  “Well, I’ll tell my little lady that y’all might be a little bit. You take your time.” He winked at them, and Kek turned to Julia. The glint in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

  Now that he could see, he took in Julia’s neatly kept dwelling. She favored soft colors, and he grimaced as his bare feet tracked dirt over her wooden floors. “I am sorry, mate,” he said, hanging his head as he followed her into her bedroom—and up those troublesome steps where he’d fallen. “I am not honoring your home.”

  Julia snorted, a sound that managed to be both delicate and irreverent at the same time. “Kek, we both almost died. I don’t give a lick about a little dirt.”

  “Give a lick?” He did not understand this phrase. “Do you wish me to—“

  “Oh
God.” Her cheeks flushed the most appealing shade of pink, and she slapped one hand over her mouth while using the other to pull him into her bathing area. “No. I mean, yes, I definitely do, but that’s not what I meant.”

  “There is much I have to learn about humans. And your unique words and phrases.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said as she turned a handle and water started falling from the ceiling in an enclosed area off to one side of the room. “I’ll teach you.” His Julia brushed her lips to his, and his cock twitched under the—what had Clancy called it?—the skirt he wore. “‘I don’t give a lick’ means that I don’t care about the dirt. It’s not important. You are important. We are important.”

  She tugged the belt on her blood-stained robe, and it fell open, revealing her breasts. They were the perfect size to fit in his hands, and a low growl escaped his throat. She wore nothing under the thin material, and he tried not to think of how close the now-dead human had come to being able to touch the places meant only for him.

  As if she’d just remembered he could now see, she turned away from him. “I...um…” Shame tinged her emotions, and Kek pressed himself to her back and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Mate, you are beautiful. Do you not think so?” Steam started to fill the bathroom, and Kek led Julia to the falling water, gently pulled the ruined robe from her shoulders, and helped her under the spray.

  Her sweater tore under his large hands as he yanked it over his head, and then removed her skirt so he could join her.

  “You have not answered me,” he said in her ear. With his hands, he explored her body, tracing every curve as he washed away the blood and dirt that covered her.

  “I’m…” She shook her head. “You’re the most perfect male on this planet. Those muscles...your amazing skin. You even have great hair.”

  “This is a bad thing?” Kek pressed his lips to the pulse point of her neck, enjoying how her heartbeat quickened for him.