The Krinar Eclipse: A Krinar World Novel Read online

  Her long blonde hair was so unlike the dark shades of brown of his own people, and her eyes were almost a jade-like green with a hint of hazel. This was not an eye color one would see on his planet, Krina. They all had brown eyes, which sometimes warmed to gold whenever they experienced strong emotions.

  Bianca Wells. He pulled up her course schedule on the Princeton servers to review the details. Her classes were all biology or zoology related. She would be obtaining her degree in a few weeks. If he understood the college servers’ information correctly, she wished to become a marine biologist.

  Interesting.

  He leaned back in his chair, thinking. Earth had developed differently than Krina. His home world had but one giant land mass surrounded by a vast ocean. It was too dangerous to live closer than twenty miles from the shore because the strong tides were comparable to tsunamis on Earth. But here on the little blue planet with its separate continents and its many seas, they had the safety to explore it, to plumb its depths and swim alongside its creatures.

  What would Bianca think if he showed her Krina and the frightening dark pull of its dangerous waters? But he couldn’t, wouldn’t. He had to keep his distance. The last thing he needed was to find himself in charge of a charl, or what his people called a human companion. While the idea teased him with arousal he hadn’t felt in years, he could not take the US president’s daughter as his human pleasure companion. It would be seen as an act of war by President Wells, a violation of the Coexistence Treaty, and it would give the anti-Ks all the more reason to redouble their efforts to oust the Krinar from the planet, no matter that the Krinar were here to help them, to keep them from foolishly destroying their gift of a healthy planet and the young sun in their solar system. His people on Krina were on borrowed time. Their own sun in their system was dying, which had driven them to desperation, but fortunately this move to Earth had been eons in the making.

  Soren turned off the screen, removing the temptation of Bianca from his mind for now.

  “Soren?” Arus’s voice came through the tablet on his desk. He waved a hand, activating the small implant in his palm that was connected with his mind. He could turn things on and off as well as perform other tasks in his home with thought alone.

  Arus’s face appeared on the screen.

  “Arus, what may I help you with?” he asked the Krinar Council member.

  “Two of our scientists have been accepted by several universities to start teaching Krinar history and basic science. I have a list of universities I would like them to visit. I’d like you to introduce our two teachers to the first university they will be teaching at this fall. Is this acceptable for you?”

  “Of course.” Soren didn’t ask Arus why he wanted Soren to essentially babysit a couple of scientists, assuming Arus must have his reasons.

  “Thank you. I’ve sent you the list of universities and the personnel files of our team members who will be meeting with you. They will arrive tomorrow morning.”

  “Very good,” Soren replied. He was about to sever the connection when Arus spoke again. “I understand President Wells’s daughter is attending one of the schools. Princeton. I believe you should request her to accompany you on the tour. It will provide good publicity if the campus sees Bianca Wells walking around with our people.”

  Soren cleared his throat, his blood humming with forbidden desire. “Are you sure?” He had just promised himself that he would leave Bianca alone, and now Arus was serving the delicious little woman to him on a platter. It would be impossible not to have a small taste of the pleasure she would give any male who took her to bed. He’d gone too long without a companion, had even gone too long without sharing his bed. He and his people had no sexual taboos the way humans did. They viewed sex as a thing to be shared and enjoyed, which made his relative celibacy rare. One did not need to have a partner or be in a lasting relationship to indulge. In the last five years, Soren’s hungers and desires had been dormant. Seeing her tonight had brought his hard-edged arousal back to the surface.

  “I’m certain. Bring Wells’s daughter,” Arus confirmed. Then his face vanished as he severed the connection.

  Soren closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. It would take everything in him not to take Bianca tomorrow, take her and taste her. He entertained the thought of contacting an old female friend, someone to come and satisfy his urges, but that would not take the edge off the hunger that had stirred to life after seeing Bianca in bed tonight. He remembered how she had turned and kicked off her covers, revealing sleek, curvy legs and a bottom he wanted to sink his teeth into. And then there was the delicious curve of her neck and the slopes of her breasts beneath the loose cotton T-shirt she wore. What he wouldn’t give to strip her bare and fuck the life out of her until her throat was raw from screaming in pleasure.

  In eight thousand years, he’d never known a temptation like Bianca Wells.

  2

  “That’s weird…” Bianca stared at the inbox of her school email on her phone before putting on her short black ankle boots and pulling her jeans down over them.

  Claudia lounged on her bed, a fat biochemistry book open in front of her and a fleet of slender Post-it notes scattered like brightly colored flower petals around her. “What’s weird?”

  “The university president just emailed me. He has some special guests coming on campus today. He wants me to join them on a tour.”

  “You are the president’s daughter. I’m surprised Ackerman even kept his promise not to trot you out like a prized pony this long.” Claudia highlighted something in her book, still not looking up.

  “I know. Mr. Ackerman has been pretty low-key up till now.” She remembered her interview day, when the only question she’d had for him had been whether she would be able to feel like a normal college kid and not have her life on display to entertain big donors and that sort of thing. He had promised her that he would let her have a quiet, completely normal experience.

  “Maybe since I’m only a few weeks away from graduating, he felt he could break his promise.”

  Claudia made a noise as though she was listening, but Bianca knew better. Claudia was deep into prepping for her biochemistry finals and couldn’t afford any distractions. Bianca left her roommate alone and met her Secret Service agents, Mike and Scott, as she left her dorm room.

  They’d been with her for the last four years, and were more like overprotective brothers than armed agents. They wore dark sunglasses and had the telltale little radios plugged in their ears.

  Mike put his hand to his mouth, whispering as he communicated with another team off campus. “Hummingbird on the move.” And then they were off, like a three-part machine, moving in tandem across campus. The agents didn’t wear suits—they wore street clothes to keep attention to a minimum—but it was hard not to notice the two grim-faced men trailing close behind her.

  When she was sixteen, she had hated the agents following her everywhere, but now she had grown used to them. They really weren’t that bad, and they didn’t completely destroy her social life. In recent years they’d eased up on her detail, probably because the threat to her life had decreased after K-Day. When the Krinar invaded, politics had changed on the global scale. The Ks were the real threat, and the rebellious factions of humans across the globe had become more united against them.

  “Slight change in plans, guys,” she told the agents as she steered away from the student union and headed toward the administrative building.

  Scott frowned. “Oh?” He didn’t like change because it could put her in danger if he couldn’t clear a room or a setting before she arrived there safely.

  “Mr. Ackerman wants me to join him on some tour around campus. He must have some heavy donors he wants to impress.”

  “He should’ve cleared that with the security detail last night” Mike began. Bianca put a hand on his arm and sighed.

  “It’s not a big deal, okay?” She trotted up the steps to the administration building and went inside.

  Mr. Ackerman’s office was on the first floor in a corner suite. Bianca smiled at his receptionist while she called the president on the phone. She listened to whatever he said and then nodded eagerly.

  “Just have a seat, Ms. Wells. They’ll be right out.”

  Bianca sat down, and the two agents hovered nearby, one at the door and the other in the hallway. She summoned a polite smile as the door opened and President Ackerman stepped out of his office, but her smile faltered as she noticed who was behind him. Two Krinar, one a svelte female and the other an attractive, muscled male. Then her heart stopped as she caught sight of another Krinar male leaving the office.

  Ambassador Soren is here. She felt dizzy with a sudden spell of vertigo.

  “Ms. Wells, such a delight to have you accompanying us today…” Ackerman continued speaking, but she could barely understand him. Her head was buzzing as she drank in the sight of the man who’d starred in far too many of her dreams and nightmares. He wore a fitted light-gray pair of trousers and a black sweater that molded to his body enough to indicate his muscled physique. Other than his clothes, he hadn’t changed one bit since she’d last seen him. The Krinar didn’t age, she knew that, but she didn’t know how that was possible. But he was an alien, and there was much humans didn’t know about the Krinar. They kept their science and technology incredibly secret.

  Soren was the creature of her nightmares, but he was also the only man she’d ever had sexual fantasies about, intense ones—sometimes dark ones that made her wake shivering and hungry for things that filled her with shame. Yet she couldn’t deny the raw passion that thoughts of him could incite in her. It made it hard to take other men seriously when they asked her out because the only man she could think about was him.

  It wa
s messed up, but it was the truth. And it was something she wanted to bury out of sight. But that wouldn’t be possible today. Not with the simmering heat coming from Soren as he looked into her eyes.

  “Ms. Wells?” Ackerman’s voice broke through the chaos of her thoughts.

  She blushed. “Sorry, President Ackerman.”

  “This is Jaks.” He nodded toward the male K, who smiled pleasantly at her. “And this is Driana.” The female’s smile was also warm and genuine. “You are familiar with Ambassador Soren, I believe?”

  All she could manage was a nod.

  “Good. Well, Jaks and Driana are going to start lectures this fall at Princeton. Ambassador Soren knew you attended here and believed it might be beneficial to share your experiences with our new professors.”

  Knowing this was not a time she could turn and escape, she had to grin and bear the situation as best she could. She stepped up to Driana, and Driana trailed the backs of her knuckles down Bianca’s left cheek in greeting. Bianca returned it. “It’s nice to meet you.” She had learned the Krinar greeting years ago. She stepped toward Jaks to do the same, but he gave a slight shake of his head when Soren made a low sound that sounded suspiciously like a growl. Was he honest to God growling? Jaks didn’t look Soren’s way, but his smile was still warm as he nodded in greeting instead.

  Soren didn’t approach her, and for that she was thankful. If he had touched her, she honestly didn’t know what she would have done. He continued to watch her, his eyes giving her body an invisible caress that made her break out in goosebumps.

  Ackerman cleared his throat. “Well…er…shall we start the tour?”

  For the next two hours, she and Ackerman worked together to present the prestigious history of Princeton and answer any questions the Ks had about the university and college life. Jaks and Driana were polite and clearly interested in the human college experience. Soren remained silent except when the other Ks asked him something. The entire time, his focus remained fixed on her. Her blood heated beneath her skin each time she glanced his way and found him intensely watching her. This was so different from five years ago. She’d been dismissed so quickly then, but now she had caught his attention and couldn’t shake it.

  “You enjoy living in these dormitories?” Jaks inquired as they paused before one of the many housing structures on campus. “They seem…small.”

  “College students enjoy being around people our own age. Sometimes it can be like a party. I like the quiet more, but my roommate, Claudia, is fun.”

  Driana lifted her head back as she studied the tall red brick dorm. “In our settlements, we prefer a little more space. We spread out rather than live on top of one another.” Her observation was not made with condescension but rather with curiosity.

  Soren spoke up. “We are highly territorial, aren’t we, Jaks?”

  Bianca’s gaze darted between the two handsome men, and she thought she saw amusement in Jaks’s eyes before he replied.

  “Certainly some more than others.”

  President Ackerman watched the exchange, clearly puzzled, before he clapped his hands together. “Right, well, the library is next.”

  They headed to Princeton’s Firestone Library, and the Ks murmured among themselves in appreciation at the modern blend of stone and glass. Giant circular chandeliers that Claudia called “the glowing doughnuts” illuminated one of the main study areas.

  “Why don’t I show you our oldest archives? We have some impressive first editions of some of the greatest human literature.” Ackerman led the way. Bianca knew they would come back eventually to leave, so she remained by the entryway closest to the stacks. She hoped it would give her a moment to avoid Soren while he joined them in the archives portion of the library. Only he didn’t move around her, didn’t go with the other Ks. He stayed right there behind her, the heat of his body so close she could feel it. Mike and Scott shifted restlessly from their positions fifteen feet away, but she didn’t call for help.

  “It has been a long time, Bianca,” Soren said, his voice low and soft, dangerously sweet. Bianca knew better than to trust that voice, no matter how much she had fantasized about it over the years, albeit in a very different context.

  “It has.” She moved deeper into the stacks, not wanting any students to see them talking. Her security detail kept a discreet distance.

  “And you have been well?” he asked, still in that soft, dangerous tone that made her shiver, and her thighs tightened. “When I meet with your father, he rarely speaks of you. He focuses only on business.”

  “Yes, he’s good that way,” she replied. “I don’t like him to talk about me.” Especially to you, she thought.

  Soren leaned against the stacks to her left, blocking her exit. She looked up at him. She was not short by any means at five feet six inches, but Soren was six foot seven and made her feel tiny. A shiver rippled through her, and it didn’t escape his notice.

  “Are you cold?” He removed a device from his pocket, no bigger than a computer mouse, and before she could stop him, he pressed a button. A beam of light shot into the air, and she was shocked to see a thin pale-gray jacket materialize in front of her. He slipped the device back into his pocket and retrieved the jacket, which still hung suspended in the air, then slipped her arms into it. She knew from her father’s meetings that what he used was called a fabricator. The Ks had such advanced technology that they could produce almost anything they desired using such a tiny device.

  His hands lingered a moment longer on her shoulders than was appropriate for two strangers. But they weren’t strangers, were they? And how often had she dreamed about him? Fantasized about those hands on her body, stroking, caressing, teasing her? Too many times. Her screams of fear all too often had turned to screams of pleasure as she’d awakened in the dark, her body dewed with sweat and her panties wet with her desire.

  It always filled her with shame, to be turned on by an alien, especially the one who’d put her father in his place like a trained dog and had taken over the running of Earth so smoothly. But there was no denying the power Soren had over her in the realm of dreams. How he would trap her beneath him on a bed, pumping into her over and over, his teeth sinking into her neck, and how she’d obliterate into a thousand pieces as a primal, overwhelming climax rocked her to her core.

  The way he was looking at her now, as though he could read her thoughts, made his eyes flash gold and his lips part slightly. His warm breath fanned her face, and she trembled at the heat building between them. It was as though they were at the heart of a dying star, spirals of light spinning outward from them. She’d seen that once on a science show, and she’d never forgotten the beautiful image. Now she felt as if she were living that within that moment.

  He slowly released her but didn’t move away.

  “You…you didn’t need to do that.” She wished she could shrug off the clothing made by his alien technology. But the jacket fit perfectly. Of course it did. Everything the Ks did was perfect, right down to controlling the lives of humans. She was all too aware of the fact that right now he could do anything to her that he liked, and it wouldn’t be against any of the laws because Ks were above human laws. They were in charge.

  “There’s far more pleasure in doing what one wants than what one needs, don’t you agree?” He brushed his knuckles down her cheek in greeting, but unlike with Driana, it was not an innocent gesture. His touch left a burning sensation on her skin that made her head spin, and he leaned down until their faces were a few inches apart. His brown eyes swirled into honey gold again, and his dark, masculine scent surrounded her. He repeated the light caress to her other cheek, and she couldn’t stop herself from reacting. When she leaned into that touch, he stopped breathing for a few seconds, and so did she.

  Her eyes locked with his, and her desire for him, the thing she hated most about herself, seemed too strong to fight.

  “You tempt me, Bianca. Tempt me to break my own rules.”

  She stared at his full lips now, fascinated by the sensual curve of them as he smiled. “What rules?”