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My glowing white hallucinated alien isn’t leaning against the wall anymore. No, now it’s a human man. Again, he’s a strange human man, but he doesn’t creep me out like the other one does.

Underneath the weird human disguise that he’s wearing is my white, glowing alien.

It doesn’t matter that now he’s some generic-looking white guy with cropped blonde hair and dark brown eyes.

It doesn’t matter that I can’t seem to stop myself from letting my eyes roam all over his body to take in exactly what his human skin looks like.

None of that matters because underneath, I know who he is.

Underneath the weird disguise, the doctor’s coat, and the— wait?

“How’s the patient?” the new alien asks as he walks toward my alien. My teeth grind together to keep myself from asking questions because I’m almost positive that now isn’t the time for questions.

“She woke right before you arrived. I was about to come get you when I heard you down the hall,” my alien says.

His eyes never leave mine, even as he speaks to the other alien.

“Her vitals are normal, and there’s no permanent damage that I can see.

It was smart of you to set up crowd control points to stop this from happening to more of the females. ”

The word female leaves a weird taste in my mouth, and a frown forms on my lips as I try to let it sink in. The doctor seems to notice this and tilts his head to the side in question but doesn’t voice one.

Maybe it’s a normal way to address women where he’s from, even if I think the whole thing is gross. I can break him of that habit. I mean, I’m his fated, right? I should be able to ask him not to call me a female ever again.

“Some of us were curious when we saw how quick you were to offer her aid,” the other alien says as he looks over to me.

My frown is still on my face after hearing myself called a female, which is a perfectly good way of describing an animal.

Wait, am I an animal to these aliens? Like, obviously humans are mammals or whatever.

I remember some stuff from high school biology.

Does this alien guy think he’s fated to an animal? Is that bestiality?

I shake my head, forgetting about the two aliens staring at me. The new one looks confused, but my alien is staring at me with amusement flickering in his eyes. I can see the white of his true form flashing underneath his irises, and it does something in my belly to make butterflies erupt.

“It’s nothing that interesting,” my alien says with a noncommittal shrug.

He turns his attention away from me for the first time since I’ve been awake. As soon as his eyes aren’t on me, I want them back. I tick my jaw back and forth, eyes narrowing on him.

I can’t decide if I hate him for making me like him so much in such a short amount of time or hate him because I’ve never been a woman who falls so fast for a stranger.

In fact, this is the first time I can remember feeling this safe around anyone who wasn’t my mom.

I don’t like that he gets that trust without earning it.

“Not that interesting?” the new alien asks.

“No, I saw a female who looked like a good candidate for Unit A12 and didn’t want to lose one to something so reckless. If repopulation is the will of the Creator, it should be handled with the utmost urgency.”

“Hmm.” The other alien mulls over his words for a moment and then gives my alien a stiff nod. “Very well, see that she’s placed in the correct unit. I believe we already have other candidates there as well.”

“Wonderful,” the doctor says with an expression that makes me think it’s anything but.

The other alien leaves and the room grows eerily tense. My alien doesn’t turn to face me. He doesn’t even shift his posture.

I open my mouth to say something, but he holds up a hand, motioning for me to stay quiet. I do as he says. As much as it pisses me off that I trust him so easily, I can’t just make myself not.

So, I cross my arms and try to give him a look that says, ‘I might trust you, but it doesn’t mean I like it.’ The way his lips kick up in the corner makes me think he’s not getting the full effect of what I’m trying to do.

His human disguise is gone all at once, and he’s kneeling on my bed next to me.

He leans over me until our faces are close.

One of his hands is on my lower back, trapping me.

Or it’d be trapping me if I wanted to get away, which I do not.

The other cups my cheeks, and I close my eyes to feel the safety in it.

Things shouldn’t be this easy. Things are never this easy.

“What’s your name?” I ask, not liking that I keep having to refer to him as my alien or weird glowing energy man. “Mine’s Simone.”

“Vexarionaxnoryndrik,” he says, his light growing brighter as a chuckle escapes his lips. “You can just call me Vex.”

“No, just repeat it a few times and tell me when I mess it up,” I murmur, noticing that his face seems to come nearer and nearer to mine with each word. “I want to learn it.”

“What else do you want to learn?” he asks me, his words more seductive than curious.

I’ll kiss him. I know I will, but first, I need to make something very clear.

“First, I think you need to learn something.” My words are rough as my need fills them.

My hands clench at my sides, wanting to touch him, but I don’t know if I can yet or if I’m touching his naked body.

Is he naked right now? Yeah, that’s all part of what I need to learn, but first, the whole female thing.

“I’ll learn anything, tell me,” Vexarionaxnoryndrik murmurs so low that I inch my mouth closer to where I imagine his is.

The need boiling inside me is all-consuming, but I somehow manage to keep my priorities straight for one more second. Or at least I think I can until his lips crash into mine. And yes, they’re lips, soft and inviting.

He explores my mouth as I explore his. My hands move up to cup his head. It’s more solid than it looks. His energy wraps between my fingers and ripples around me as I try to pull him closer to me.

We kiss for long moments until we’re both out of breath. Well, I’m out of breath. I don’t know what he is.

When he pulls away, I know neither of us wants to stop, but instead of asking him to keep going, I blurt out. “Don’t call me female.”

He throws his head back, a laugh erupting in the room. “No more calling you female. It’s easy enough when it’s just the two of us.” He doesn’t explain more before his lips are back on mine, and we’re learning a lot more about one another in a very hands-on way.