Alien Interludes Read Online Free

that’s the only time anyone ever got over on you.”
    “You must have studied and planned for awhile. You did very wel covering your tracks and setting up false ones. I had to backtrack twice. You are very cunning prey.”
    “Flatterer.” She glowed under his praise, though she doubted he’d had any trouble folowing her. Breft was an expert tracker.
    “You know I don’t lie, little one.” He kissed her and held her tighter than ever. She sighed to be kept warm and safe in his strong arms. For al his ferocity, Breft made her feel secure. Amelia closed her eyes, thriled to have made him happy.
    “You know, it’s going to be a tough year ahead,” he rumbled.
    She looked up at him, concerned at how his brows drew together. “Why do you say that?”
    “Because you’ve never been mountain climbing before, and it’l take a lot of training for my next fantasy—” Amelia punched her mate in the chest.

    Abduction

    “Look what I brought you today, Narpok.” Jessica McInness, Empress of Kalquor, lifted the cover off the dish she had brought into the woman’s room. “Nelus, fresh from Plasius. You’re overdue for a treat.”
    Narpok’s dul purple eyes stared unseeing at the padded wal across the room. The Kalquorian female managed to look smal and shrunken despite her Amazonian proportions. She huddled in one corner of her sleeping mat, her knees drawn to her chest beneath the shapeless white hospital gown that concealed her statuesque body.
    The size difference between the two women always made Jessica feel little-girlish. It wasn’t just the eight inches that separated them in height either. Her frame was slight, almost elfin in appearance as opposed to Narpok’s generous curves. It struck her as odd to think of how they could be the same gender yet so different physicaly.
    Seated next to Narpok and looking up into her blank face, Jessica stifled an unhappy sigh, her thoughts far from their disparities. She tucked a wayward lock of her long chestnut hair behind her ear. Since Narpok’s breakdown nearly three years prior, Jessica’s former rival hadn’t spoken a word. She rarely moved. The once would-be empress was an empty shel, occasionaly animating to scream and tear at her lank black hair if an unfamiliar man was around. No one knew if the once-proud beauty would ever regain her mind.
    Jessica picked up one of the round, ripe berries and pressed it to Narpok’s parted lips. The Kalquorian accepted the red delicacy, chewing and swalowing automaticaly with no hint of pleasure. Jessica couldn’t help but feel a stab of pity for the other woman’s inability to enjoy them. To her the berries tasted bright and joyful like liquid sunshine. They were the empress’ favorite food.
    It was hard to look at the dark-skinned Narpok, so Jessica looked around her smal room instead. She’d done al she could think of to make the quarters as homey as possible, but with the humming containment field over the windows and soft padded surfaces, there was no disguising the trappings of a mental ward. The plushest bed linens along with calming landscape scenes displayed on the wal vid did little to aleviate the industrial feel that came with a hospital room.
    As Jessica fed Narpok the last nelus berry, her com unit beeped from the pocket of her demure yelow dress. The flouncy little frock was cute, an ode to the robust sunshiny day outside, but it made her feel she looked even more childlike next to the Kalquorian. Jessica had an idea that the dress, with its schoolgirl ruffles at the hem, wouldn’t inspire serious regard from her alien subjects. The empress had worked hard to earn her adopted planet’s respect, and she weighed everything, including something as seemingly insignificant as clothing, with great thought as to how the people of Kalquor might perceive it.
    Jessica decided this would be the last time she wore the dress, even if its color and style did make her feel happy.
    She stood and smiled at the unseeing