Page 1

Chapter 1

Rhea

I pick Alaska because it’s the farthest point from home I can find. I wonder if anyone notices I’m missing? Doubtful.

I need to get away from that small town life.

I want escape, adventure, something to live for other than working at the diner until I die.

The nature magazines didn’t exaggerate. I’ve seen so much wildlife roaming around. It's picturesque and incredibly peaceful. An elk crossed the road in front of me with two calves, causing me to slow down, earlier today. And let’s not talk about the caribou that came out of nowhere and tried to assault my car.

The thing I worry about most is seeing a grizzly bear. What do I do if that happens? I’d read all the travel guides and Alaska books I could get my hands on prior to the trip, but there’s just so much to know.

The compound I just drove past coming down the hill looks like it came out of a book full of wizardry. Tall fences surround it, but if you look closely, the inside is a utopia. Neon colors every aspect of the facility from the glistening glass buildings to the landscape and the outlying buildings. A beautiful array of colors shimmer and dance in the sunlight.

Imagine walking through a forest where everything has a luminous glow. Fairytale sounding, right? Or something like you’d see in Avatar on the big screen?

A complete contrast to the dreary clouds and cold rainy weather I had the pleasure of driving through. Which begs the question… how is it so pretty inside the compound when they’re having the same weather we are?

I wonder who lives there.

I want to check it out, but the fear of the unknown scares me, so I press the gas and keep on moving.

A few miles down the road my car starts jerking like it’s running out of oxygen. No, this cannot be happening.

I had a half tank of gas last time I checked.

A sigh escapes my lips. Yep, it’s definitely happening . The horror of running out of gas and being stuck in the middle of nowhere sits heavy on my mind. I look down at the odometer and realize my fuel light is on. Wonder how long it’s been on? I knew I should have stopped at the last gas station.

My car comes to a stop, one final puff of life before it dies. “Shit!” I pound my hands on the steering wheel before getting out.

Nothing is familiar as I look around. Just gotta start moving somewhere, I suppose. Clearly this road is one less traveled, and it definitely looks like it hasn’t seen any other people in quite some time.

I backtrack, despite my trepidation, and head toward the compound I saw earlier on my drive. It’s the only thing I’ve driven past in miles and they’re the only ones who would be able to help. Maybe I could use their phone to call a tow truck or something? Taking one last glance at my car, I hit the lock button and continue on.

The scent of fresh pine tingles my senses as I walk past the incredibly tall trees. It’s eerily quiet, not even rodents seem to be scurrying along the forest floor. A breeze passes through the ends of my hair causing a shiver to run down my spine.

With each lingering step, my heart starts to churn more and my gut flip flops. I hope whoever lives behind those silver gates is friendlier than any grizzly bear I could run into out here on my own.

I’m not prepared for this, and I berate myself for not thinking to bring more protective gear. It’s entirely possible that someone will find the remnants of my body chewed up and spit out along the side of the road.

Luckily the air isn’t frigid as I make my journey into the unknown; that’s the good thing about deciding to come in the summer months, I suppose. At least I won’t die from frostbite.

The sound of footsteps through the dense forest and crackling tree branches have me spinning to the left, looking anywhere and everywhere, hoping someone saw me and is coming to provide me help. My eyes dart over every branch and leaf looking for the killer of my peaceful silence.

Something is out there. I can feel it. An uneasy feeling spreads throughout my body and goosebumps rise on the back of my neck as if I’m being watched. The gaze of whatever is out there heats the back of my neck. My nerves bundle into the pit of my stomach. My fight or flight instincts should be kicking in… why aren’t they?

My feet are planted as I stare toward the woods. One minute, two minutes, maybe a good three minutes pass before I give up searching for something that may have just been a figment of my overly active imagination. I turn to keep onward toward my destination, but a loud rustling sounds again from deep inside the woods. Spinning in a circle, I take a quick look at my surroundings. I expect some sort of wildlife—elk, caribou, grizzly… the list goes on and on. What I see almost stops my heart mid-beat.

Not even fifty yards away stands a man, but not just any man. He’s shirtless with a rugged set of green pants covering his bottom half. His skin is an iridescent blue and silver color that twinkles in the light as the sun hits it, exposing a dash of purple. He almost sparkles against the sunlight as if he possesses some type of magic.

It is a magnificent creature. Tall, gallant, and utterly beautiful. It looks masculine, leading me to believe that it’s a male of whatever species lives in these woods.

Aliens….

The word drops into my brain and my thoughts spin. There’s no way…

I know aliens exist outside of the sci-fi romance stories I’ve read for the last few years, but never had I thought I would meet one in person.

This creature is definitely not human, not with those color patterns and scales.

Perfect amethyst eyes dipped in silver rings stare back at me. I wave, but the creature only furrows his brow. Okay, so maybe they don’t know what a wave means? Shit, I really hope I didn’t just give him a sign that meant something different from what I think it means. I’ve heard stories of aliens and most of them haven’t been good. Were they true or were they embellished stories about creatures we didn’t truly understand? The creature keeps its eyes focused on me and fear causes my heart to beat double-time. This situation is taking me back to the stalker I’d had in my hometown. The true reason I’d left, hoping Alaska was far enough away that he couldn’t find me. Or at least it’d take him a while. Steve … the name still gives me uneasy chills.

All thoughts speed away from me as he edges closer to where I’m frozen in place. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. My breath picks up, and my heart pounds faster with each step he takes. My breathing is rapid, and I’m growing light-headed. It’s the last thing I remember as everything fades to black.

I rouse with the feeling of footsteps below me. Hazy neon colors are blurry in my vision, like when you get those drops in your eyes at the eye doctor.

Am I being carried? Entirely too out of it to fight, I burrow into the rich masculine smell surrounding me. At this point, even through my haze, I instinctively know it’s a male. The smell of sweet pine wraps around me tightly. No female alive can smell as good as he does.

He jostles me as he reaches his destination, and I realize I should probably wake up and figure out where I am, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’m too comfortable in his arms. If this is a dream, I want to enjoy it for just a little while longer.

I’m gently placed into something warm and cozy, soft on my fingertips, and I curl into it before falling asleep once more.

A few hours later, I blink rapidly as I try to remove the sleep dew lining my eyes. I’m disoriented, yet still fully clothed. Good. At least I didn’t get picked up by a psycho. Well, I’m not sure I would rule psycho out yet.

Sitting up cautiously, I look around the room, taking in my surroundings. Not entirely sure what I’m looking for… maybe someone to jump out and tell me I’m on Candid Camera and this is all a big hoax. I’m truly just having a far-fetched dream.

The room is very tidy, yet sparse. All of the colors from the compound are brightly displayed all over the walls. Pinks, blues, greens, and turquoise make up the color pattern splayed throughout. The turquoise bed I’m currently laying on is floating above the ground. The utopia not only exists outside, but inside as well. I wonder what else this beautiful place has to offer.

The bed feels otherworldly. It’s nothing like a human bed. For one, it’s huge. And I’m not talking about king size huge. An incredibly tall and broad dude probably sleeps here, and it ultimately leads me to wonder where in the heck the person who generally occupies this space is hiding.

I have a brief flashback of the creature I’d seen earlier and wonder if it’s the same one who’d brought me here. I appreciate the fact that I’m still clothed. He hadn’t done anything unsavory while I was unconscious. Not something I could say about the guys back home. They either ridiculed me for being overweight or tried to pressure me into things I wasn’t ready to do. A shiver tears through me again, but I shake it away.

I dip my feet off the side of the bed, and they don’t even touch the ground. With a hop down from the bed, I stroll to the dresser, and my gaze travels over the photos lining it covered in a smidge of dust. Some of them are of him with another type of alien, similar to him, yet different in its own way.

What I remember of him before passing out was more blue and purple, but these aliens have green scales. I get lost in snooping around his room when a loud, high pitched chirping sound garners my attention.

My feet are frozen in place as I watch the metal door slide open, grinding as if it needs a good coat of WD40. It’s him - the alien from the woods. Seven-feet tall, incredibly intimidating, yet sexy as hell. My gaze scours every inch of him, and I’m sure my mouth is hanging open in shock waiting for flies to catch. He is covered in blue and purple shaded scales. He has a shock of dark hair on his head, a scruffy beard, and rippling arm muscles.

So this is who the room belongs to? Okay… I could get used to this.

My core tingles, and I’m embarrassed over this instant attraction to him. I press my legs together to help ward off the strange feelings happening and hope that he can’t smell my arousal.

His gaze wandering over my body in appreciation tells me he likes what he sees, and the quirk to his lips as his nostrils flair says that my attempt to hide my arousal was futile.