I was just about to pass out, all the fight drained out of me, when he abruptly let me go. I flopped to the floor, squishing several of the blueberries underneath me as I fell. Footsteps sounded behind me.
“Pick her up and bring her here,” the blonde haired Vepar snapped. I felt myself being picked up by the waist and something that almost felt like a caress across my hair calmed me as I walked. Had that been in my imagination?
The black haired Vepar set me down in a chair way more gently than I thought he was capable. Still trying to recover from my momentary strangling session, I stared at my surroundings, keeping the two Vepar who were now both watching me in my sights as I did so.
It was clear I was in some sort of home, and not just a house, the nicest place I’d ever been to. There were at least five doors leading from the kitchen alone now that I looked more closely, making it unlikely that I would have been able to find a way out of this place quickly even if the Vepar hadn’t appeared. The mansion looked enormous.
“Hungry?” the blonde asked, setting down a giant stack of pancakes with strawberries on top in front of me. I stared at the food, my stomach growling and making me achingly aware once again that it had not had proper food in a while.
“How long have I been out?” I finally asked as I picked up my fork to take a bite, figuring that I needed to keep up my strength if I was going to get out of here. I also figured that it probably wasn’t poisoned since they had gone so far out of their way to kidnap me.
That first bite had me letting out an involuntary groan. It was one of the best things I had ever tasted. Looking up at the two Vepar, I dropped my fork with a clatter. Both of their eyes seemed to be glowing as they looked at me in a way that made it seem like they were more interested in eating me than they were the pancakes. I racked my brain trying to think if I had ever heard rumors that they liked to eat humans. I couldn’t think of anything I had heard, but their looks didn’t seem normal.
“Make that noise again,” said the black haired Vepar, and all of a sudden, I realized what that look was. It was hunger all right...hunger for my body.
I began to eat again, pretending not to notice the way their eyes were still glowing. This time I ate quietly.
Laughing as if I’d made a joke, the blonde turned back to the stove where he was flipping pancakes.
“You cook?” I blurted out as he expertly tossed one in the air, catching it on his spatula smoothly like he was a circus performer.
“We got rid of the help before you woke up,” he said dryly, turning to look at me. “I didn’t want you scaring them with your antics.”
I flushed, cold rage seeping into my veins. “My antics,” I said in a low voice. “You mean the fact that I acted like any normal human being would when they were being stalked and then kidnapped by aliens,” I snapped.
The black haired Vepar threw back his head and started laughing boisterously. Apparently, I amused them. “The little lamb has some bite after all,” he said through his laughter, sounding almost proud of me. Even the blonde was looking at me with a different glint in his eyes. I could tell that it took a lot to faze or impress him, and for some reason that glint gave me a warm feeling inside that I did my best to ignore.
I set my fork down after I realized I’d consumed my entire plate. “What are your names?” I asked, trying to continue the brave front I had briefly put on. “I think it’s only fair that I know who’s been stalking me for the past few weeks.”
“I’m Thane and pretty boy here is named Derrial,” the black haired Vepar responded, gesturing to the blonde. It was a relief to have names to attach to their faces. I couldn’t keep identifying them by their hair color forever. Though the idea of calling them hottie one, hottie two, and hottie three had crossed my thoughts.
“And the brunette guy who liked to stalk me in the gardens...What’s his name?” I asked, knowing he had to be around somewhere. Thane looked like he wanted to laugh but he kept himself in check. “Wonder boy’s name is Corran,” he said.
“Wonder boy?” I asked.
“He’s the lead scientist for the Vepar on Earth,” said Derrial. “One of the most brilliant scientists to be born in our society in over a millennium.”
I had a million more questions to ask based on his statement alone, but I kept myself in check, trying to focus on the essentials. And it also made sense now why Corran had said that weird stuff about plant species and that Russian village. He’d done his research on Earth and knew a hell of a lot more than I did.
“Why have you been following me?” I asked.
Derrial set the spatula down and leaned back against the counter. “A little bet at first. Who could sleep with the scared, beautiful human first...but after we had all watched you for a while...it just became more. And there’s something about you that makes us need to find out why you’ve got us so curious. So, we knew we had to have you.”
I pushed my chair back, standing on legs that were once again trembling, pushing a loose strand of hair behind an ear.
“You started to stalk me as a bet?” I asked in a whisper, my pulse racing and my knees weakening. “I’ve been terrified. I haven’t slept in weeks. I left my whole life behind to try and escape you. What kind of monsters are you?”
“I told you that it changed for us eventually,” said Derrial in a nonplussed voice. He began to stalk towards me in a way that left me feeling like prey he was about to catch. At the same time, Thane walked out of the room.
“Stay away from me,” I whimpered, backing up until I hit the wall and couldn’t go anywhere else. I desperately looked around, praying that someone would appear to help me. But there was no one around. Even the lady upstairs had evidently been sent home.
He didn’t stop approaching me until he was pressed up against me. I hated myself when heat spread all over my body from his close proximity.
He was tall, so tall that the top of my head only came to his shoulder despite the fact that I’d never been considered a short girl. And his scent… I swallowed hard, burning up at how sexy he smelled. A combination of muskiness and the crisp freshness of the outdoors. It was a pleasant scent that in a strange way calmed me and slowed my racing heart.
“You’re safe with us,” he murmured as if struggling to find his words while we were pressed together. I was no fool to know what he struggled with. The bulge in his pants nudged against my lower stomach... He was huge. The corners of his mouth tugged upward, well aware of what I felt.
I wasn't sure if I should be scared or turned on as I pictured him naked and what something that size could possibly do to me in the bedroom. An inferno climbed through me, but I pushed the vision away alarmed at my thinking. It was wrong and distracting when I was here as their prisoner, not their lover.