Page 8 of Alien Prince (Alien Abductions and Seductions #1)

Chapter Eight

Kyron

“A nightclub? Really, Ronny?” Gemini asks in disdain, our gaze drifting around at the dimly lit space. Loud music bumps from the live synth band in the corner, the air slightly warm from the amount of bodies crammed in the main lounge. I can't help but smirk. The putrid smell of alcohol, bodily fluids, and sin swirling around us usually is a calming experience for me. In the chaos, the noise, I can blend in; dissolve into the desire that plagues these human skins. It’s less chaotic, despite the crowd, for me to relax and think freely without distraction. Here in the shadows of these hallways, under the neon, there are no expectations, no responsibility to uphold some stupid tradition. Here, I can just… exist.

I try to get a read on Gemini’s reaction, but she’s put up another flimsy barrier between our minds, effectively keeping her thoughts a murky low whisper from me and I find that more than irritating.

Does this bother you? I ask, if only to garner some semblance of how she’s feeling, and what her emotional state is. It’s difficult to tell when I can’t hear her, when she isn’t speaking out loud with bite and venom.

“It’s not really my style,” she says, her voice low.

I notice that while she keeps me from accessing her thoughts, I seem to have free use of our body for the moment.

Now I know she can’t focus on blocking me from both at the same time. That I can use.

I need to provoke her, to instill fear in her so that she not only resists me, but also provides me with an excuse for one of my skins to disappear. I hope that pretty little Gemini will grasp my implication as I approach a random dragonkin soldier at the bar, lean in close, and whisper in Gemini's voice, “Buy me a drink?”

I anticipate that she will falter and be outraged by such a request, at the use of my dismantling her autonomy, but instead, I am met with a loathing grunt. I do not sense disgust in her, only pity.

Don’t embarrass yourself, Ronny, she chastises. Her scoff is somehow both refreshing and annoying as hell.

I am intrigued.

I feel the claws of Gemini’s mind tearing away at my control of our body. She gets the upper hand for a split second, and as the dragon-like face of the soldier starts to smile, he responds drunkenly with an elongated, “Yesss, my dear.”

But before he can say anything else, Gemini flips him the bird and turns on her heels. She pushes me back once more into my subconscious time out.

“What the fuck even was that?” she asks as she marches towards the opposite side of the bar, her resolve dissipating.

At least I know I can piss her off.

“What I enjoy doing with my free time,” I reply, aiming to remain aloof and uncaring, but I can’t tell if the shaking hands are her doing or mine.

“You could at least play a little hard to get. I mean, where’s the fun in just cruising up to someone and asking for it?” she says, her voice bordering on irritation.

Ah, a woman who likes to play games, are you?

Gemini rolls our eyes.

“I’m a woman who knows her worth. Why go after a bottom of the barrel dick, when I can please myself better than any man?”

I scoff at her insinuation, though if I had a cock at the moment, I would bet it would be twitching from all this… stimulation.

I find the direct approach much more… satisfying. Especially when it comes to the men.

“Sad, really. I wouldn’t have pegged you as a manwhore with poor taste, but here we are,” she retorts.

What would you do if I released you, right here and now?

I ask because I need to hear her say she’d run and never look back. But she doesn’t answer, and for a moment it’s almost like she’s gone, her mind silent and the claws of her constant fighting for control disappear.

My heart pounds in my chest and I know she feels it, but what she thinks is the reason behind my question, I’m not sure.

Too long the silence in my head echos, even though I know it has only been seconds, somehow it still seems like hours until she finally responds.

“You'll never let me go. I’ve seen the closet, I know—”

Y ou know very little, I say.

Gemini scoffs and drops our ass down on a sticky stool at the edge of the bar. I take a moment to look around to see if anyone notices this woman talking to herself, but in Night’s Hollow, someone conversing with themselves is the least interesting thing. Gemini flags down the bartender, and before I can stop her, she orders a drink.

“Don’t even think about telling me what to do,” she snaps as she takes a sip of the dark pink liquid. It’s shockingly tart and bitter on my tongue, but the way Gemini’s shoulders and muscles relax, I can tell she’s accustomed to whatever it is.

Has she been here before? Perhaps she has, and I have never noticed, too entranced in the other bodies I liked to be buried in.

I don’t enjoy wearing other people's bodies, you know, I say, confessing to her.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you because you’re wearing my body right now and trying to get laid,” she bites as she tosses back the drink in a single gulp, signaling for another one. A man notices us, waving his glass as Gemini forces a smile on our lips. She smirks as the bartender notes her order.

I decide to show her my word is as solid as the ground she stands on. So I do the only thing I can think of. I give her no choice as I disconnect and step away from her body, mind, and soul. It’s a risky thing to do, right now at this moment, but I know no one else can truly see me. No one but her.

Still, something tells me that is dangerous enough.

The instant void I feel when I’m no longer connected to Gemini is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. A pit grows in my proverbial stomach at the loss of her presence, at the loss of her being. I see her gasp and blink several times, understanding dawning on her.

I hear a man’s voice break the spell and see Gemini's face go from surprise to panicked, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. Instinct takes over, a strong need to possess her, protect her, overcomes me and I’m immediately back inside her. If there's one thing I’ve learned about this woman in the short time I’ve known her, it is that she’s not afraid of anything, and the look on her face was full of worry, concern. Terror.

“Get the fuck out of my head,” she bites as she tries to slam me back out, but her emotional response makes her walls waver. She can’t decide which part of us to control, our mind or our body, and the answer comes to me as Gemini’s mental locks falter and I am inundated with slivers of her past. His arms around her, her head on his shoulder, a gun and her blood—

“Do I know you?” Gemini says sweetly, turning to face the man who shot her, pretending she doesn’t know this monster from her past.

“Gem—” he pauses, then looks at her, at me as I take the driver's seat and stand, pushing him with more force than necessary.

He's a friend. Please don't harm him...

Gemma pleads in my head, the fear fully fledged now as her memories flash like solar flares. Images of this man and her take front stage in my mind. She cares for the person who shot her, for the man responsible for the metal in her, for the title she will forever bear as a cyborg and no longer fully human.

“I'm sorry,” the man says, putting his hands up and backing away. “I thought you were someone else.” He walks away, slowly, his eyes full of pain and sadness. The sight causes our heart to lurch, our stomach to twist into knots, and I put as much distance between him and us as I can.

I get up from the bar, watching as he backs away, feeling the sharp claws of Gemini’s mental fight for control slicing away at my consciousness.

You said you’d let me go , she screams inside our head trying with every ounce of herself to not show her emotions outwardly but shaking and shattering the glass in her hand.

“You lied! You leave me, and then you jump back into me like you can’t make up your damn mind!” she cries, garnering looks from some of the men around us as the man who shot her disappears into the crowd.

“I told you that you wouldn’t let me go,” she whispers with hatred, barely containing her rage.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I say loudly, overtaking her vocals, not giving two shits if anyone hears us, and head for the door.

“Then so have I,” Gemini says and slams her consciousness into control, grabbing the man nearest to us and crushing her mouth to his.

My anger burns as I fight to regain control, but it’s no use.

You said I could leave, and you chose to leave me. Let. Me. Go. She screams into my head while still plastered to the drunk who can’t even keep up with her, sloppily kissing her face more than mouth. Her own disgust punches through the walls and I stop fighting. She seems to torture herself enough with the saliva covering her lips and chin. Finally she relents. I push away from the man and we storm out the door, leaving the slurring lowlife swaying on his feet behind us.