I woke up slowly, eyelids fluttering. Where am I? It was dark and I was disorientated. I couldn't hear the steady breathing of the other 36 people asleep in the games room, and I started to panic, worried that my deepest fear had come true and the seekers had come for my human family. My breathing hitched and stuttered as my weak and inexperienced body struggled to cope with the rolling maelstrom of emotions washing over me. Slowly the fear cleared the fog around my mind, I could feel Ian's arm draped over my waist. He would never let the seekers get him. He'd promised we'd never be apart again.

His hand on my hip was burning through the material of my shirt. Heat spread over my face. I gingerly eased myself to sitting and gazed up, and as I saw the distant shine of two stars through a gap in the ceiling, I realised I was in the room Ian had shared with his brother Kyle. Our room now. The heat in my face was now a wild fire. I had forgotten that yesterday Jeb, Ian, Kyle and Jared had gone around the caves to check the sleeping areas were safe to move back into. I must have fallen asleep last night and Ian had carried me here.

I was glad Ian wasn't awake to see my blush, he would laugh in the adorable way he did whenever he found something I did amusing.

"Wanda?" mumbled a voice.

I had spoken too soon.

"Oh Ian, did I wake you? I'm so sorry, go back to sleep."

"It's fine I need to get up soon anyway, Jeb wants us to harvest the carrots in the main field today and prepare the soil so we can replant tomorrow."

"Can I-"

"Shhh…" He silenced me with a kiss… "We already decided you, Lily and Trudy are washing clothes today- I don't want you getting hurt."

I grumbled under my breath, but my heart wasn't in it, I couldn't be mad at him when he was just trying to protect me out of love. Suddenly Ian grabbed me and pulled me onto his chest and a quiet gasp slid out of my lips. He was so sweet when he was like this in the morning. His lips reached up and touched mine gently, sweetly at first, but quickly deepened into a passionate, slow burning kiss. I grabbed his hair in my fists and tried to melt my body into his. A soft moan escaped my mouth, which was greeted by a groan from Ian's mouth as he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. This is what had happened every time things started to heat up. I tried not to take it personally, I knew he thought I wasn't ready to take things to the next level, but I wanted to be his, and him mine: mind, soul AND body.

As if he was reading my mind, and sometimes I thought he actually could, he sighed and kissed me tentatively on the lips.

"Wanda… You KNOW I want you…"

Did I? Whispered the small insecure part of my mind I tried to ignore.

"There's no rush." Except my out of control teenage hormones… "You're not even 18 for weeks."

A blush started creeping up my cheeks, threatening to give away my lie. I struggled to keep my face blank. Ian looked at me knowingly with his deep sapphire blue eyes, but he didn't say anything more. Did he know I had lied about my age? Why didn't he say so if he did? Did it matter? I would have to ask Mel later, she had already confronted me about my age…

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. The pale pink light of dawn had started to creep into the cave through the crevices in the ceiling and I could no longer see the stars. Ian chuckled as he saw the torn look on my face. It was time to get up and start chores, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the warmth and comfort of his arms. You're being selfish, I told myself, but as I tried to peel myself off of Ian, his arms tensed around me like a vice, trapping me where I was.

"Iaaan…" I said exasperatedly. The mischievous gleam in his eyes pushed at my will power, trying to get me to stay where I was. I gave him a Mel look, one eyebrow arched sardonically. Chuckling to himself again he let me go and stood quickly, pulling me up with him. I broke away and started rummaging through the clothes sprawled haphazardly around the room, looking for something relatively clean to wear. It was just as well we were doing laundry today… As I picked up a shirt and jeans, I turned to see Ian looking at me, with a look on his face that could only be described as pure unadulterated love. Noticing I'd caught him looking at me, a slight pink tinged the edge of his cheeks. It was my turn to laugh for making him blush for once. Smiling slightly, he grabbed his own clothes and started to strip off the dirty ones he was wearing.

I started to look away, embarrassed, but then paused as he pulled his shirt over his head and I saw his lean midriff and the taught muscles of his bare chest. I knew I should look away, but I was spellbound. As he started unbuckling his belt I flushed and forced myself to turn away, berating myself for being so selfish and watching him without him knowing. I looked down at the clothes in my hands and a shudder of shyness went down my spine. I couldn't get changed with him looking at me, he'd never seen me undressed, or even partially undressed, as I always slept in pyjama shorts and a baggy top. But if I wanted to take our relationship to the next level, I had to prove to him I was ready…

Noticing my dithering, Ian spoke up:

"I'll umm, go… grab us a spot… for breakfast..." He stuttered out, saving me from having to make a decision.

As I heard him move the red door out the way and rest it back gently, I sighed quietly. This host was not used to these strong emotions, the most burning desire and the most crippling shyness. I quickly got dressed and ran up the tunnels towards the sounds and smells of everyone congregating for breakfast.

I got there just in time to see Ian grab his brother in a headlock and I must have made some kind of sound because they both looked up, took one look at my face and Kyle burst out laughing, whilst Ian was obviously trying to restrain himself, but his chest was shaking from suppressed laughter. Befuddled I ignored them, and seeing Jamie waving at me frantically, I headed over to where he was sat saving seats for me, Ian, Mel and Jared.

I slid into the seat next to Jamie and embraced him quickly.

"Good morning Jamie, how did you sleep?"

"Not bad, Aaron and Brandt are better roommates than sharing with Jeb and his snores, or sleeping in the game room with everyone's snoring!" He exclaimed.

I smiled fondly at him, just as Ian sat in the seat on my other side and pushed a plate with a Kyle sized portion of eggs and bread in front of me.

"Are you trying to fatten me up?" I asked him jokingly, but he looked at me seriously and simply stated:

"There is nothing anyone could want to change about you, you are absolutely perfect the way you are. Both your host and you are the most beautiful beings I've ever had the fortune to lay my eyes on."

I gaped awestruck at him, astonished even now that he could see me that way, that a human could love one of the parasites that stole their planet and their loved ones. All I managed to stutter out was "I love you Ian, heart, body and soul…"

He smiled at the pun. "I love you my Wanderer, more than anything, more than my own life".

I started to protest, to tell him that his life was much more important than mine, that having had 9 full lives, I'd had more than my fair share, but he stopped me with a kiss, another thing that had become a regular occurrence. The kiss went on longer than was really acceptable considering we were surrounded by people, and I was sat next to Jamie. Jamie!

Blushing, I apologised to Jamie "I'm sorry, that was… Sorry" I finished lamely.

Jamie was blushing too, and staring down at his empty plate. It was just as well we had a distraction at that moment. Mel came bursting down the tunnel into the room, teasing Jared in a sing song voice "I told you I'd beat you, I'm way faster than you!"

Seconds behind her, Jared's pounding footsteps became louder as he too came barrelling into the room laughing, and then grabbing her up into his arms when he reached her. The sound of their laughter bounced around the room like music.

"Why are you two so late?" Kyle leered from the corner of the room where he sat with one arm wrapped around Sunny's shoulders.

"SHUT UP KYLE!" yelled Melanie, as she twisted out of Jared's arms to glare at him. Jared just smirked, causing most of the men in the room to laugh, including Ian. I sat there confused, until I noticed their ruffled hair and haphazardly thrown on clothes, then I blushed on Mel's behalf. As Mel tried to storm away, Jared grabbed her hand and pulled her close, stroking up and down her arms until she calmed down. She could never stay mad at Jared for long. Beaming at each other they came up and sat on the other side of the table to us.

We sat eating our breakfasts listening to Jamie chatter about school, and how it was so unfair that Sharon had given him detention again. As if summoned by Jamie talking about her, Sharon appeared near the table, telling Jamie he had to leave to go to lessons straight away. Jamie got up grumbling and left, waving over his shoulder to our group. As if some silent trigger had occurred, everyone started to get up to go about their chores. Standing, I went to grab the plates from our table, only to have them snatched away by Ian.

"I'll take these", he said. I rolled my eyes, a very uncharacteristic action for me, which made Mel snigger. When Ian got back from the kitchen where he'd left the plates for the people on washing up duty, he hugged me close to him, his big hands pressing me up against him and kissed me on the tip of the nose.

"I'll see you at lunch, don't let her do too much Mel" he asked.

I thought about making a snarky comment, but it just wasn't me. Instead I waved him goodbye and turned to Mel, waiting for her to finish saying goodbye to Jared. They were kissing deeply and passionately, as if they weren't surrounded by people. In the end, Jeb yelled down the tunnel: "Get a move on all of ye, there's work to be done!" Jared and Melanie finally broke apart, and Mel informed me she was on washing up duty so she'd walk with me to the bathing room where we washed the dishes and the clothes.

Lily and Trudy had already left, taking all the dirty washing with them. I volunteered to help Mel carry the dirty dishes but she just stared at me until I gave up.

As we were walking down the long tunnel, I worked up the courage to ask her about the strange moment with Ian this morning.

"Mel… Do you think I should tell Ian this body is 16 not 17?"

She paused for a second, considering her answer.

"I think… that if he found out too late, he'd feel incredibly guilty."

"What do you mean too late?" I replied, confused.

"Sometimes I forget you're practically a child in the time you've been on this planet. I mean, if you slept together and he only found out after that you're younger than you told him, he would feel like he'd taken advantage of you. I'm assuming you haven't already…?" She trailed off at the end, turning her statement into a question.

I blushed beetroot red. "No… no we haven't… But… He always… I mean… He has too much self-control!" I blurted out, "He always stops things from going further, but I don't want him to stop…"

She eyed me with interest … "Have you told him you don't want to wait?"

"I… No. I don't want to force him into doing something he doesn't want to do, just because I want to."

At this she burst out laughing.

"Oh Wanda," she choked out, "That's probably the most naïve thing I've ever heard you say! Trust me he wants it too, badly. Have you not noticed the way he looks at you? He was making the eyes at you all morning!"

I scrunched up my nose, was it really obvious? I'd never noticed. Maybe she was just saying it to make me feel better. No, we were sisters, she wouldn't lie to me.

"Wanda, I think you should tell him tonight. Tell him how old your host really is, and tell him you're ready; anyway you never know he might decide he doesn't want to wait any more." She winked at me and somehow I managed to blush an even brighter red.

As we rounded one final corner, we reached the cave where Lily and Trudy were already scrubbing clothes in one of the streams in the corner of the room.

"Oh I'm so sorry! You've already started!" I apologised.

"It's okay", "You work too much anyway" they replied.

We past the hours to lunch doing our chores and making small talk about the other groups of humans we'd been in contact with.

"Jeb's arranged a visit for some of Nate's group to come here", Trudy informed us. That was news to me, and by the look on Mel's face it was to her as well.

"Why didn't Jared tell me!" she demanded.

Lily and Trudy exchanged a quick glance then Trudy laughed and said "Well it was only arranged late last night, and I think the two of you were probably occupied with other things than talking!"

"Still…" she grumbled, "He could have mentioned it…"

I smiled at her, trying to cheer her up.

"We should go see if we need to help with lunch now", I suggested.

"Great… More chores." Was Melanie's unhappy response, only partially joking.

As we walked back, I let Lily and Trudy go ahead, wanting to talk to Mel in private again.

"Are you okay Mel? You haven't seemed quite yourself lately."

"I'm okay Wanda, I think I'm just a little under the weather, I'll be fine, ignore my grumping."

We arrived at the kitchen just as the group from the fields arrived, covered in dirt and sweat, but still laughing and joking with one another.

"Why are you all in such a good mood?" Mel joked.

"Jeb's given everyone the afternoon off for working so hard this morning!" someone called from the back of the group.

I tried to protest that I really didn't deserve an afternoon off after having arrived late to do the washing, but my protests were quickly shot down.

"Meet in the games room in an hour!" Yelled Jeb.

Our usual group all sat together eating lunch, but this time Kyle and Sunny joined us, instead of sitting alone like they had this morning. I felt strong arms wrap around my waist, and I twisted round to face Ian, throwing my arms around his neck.

"I missed you!"

He smiled, "I missed you too Wanda."

Later that afternoon after several games of football, in which I'd managed to score a goal, people started drifting off in small groups and pairs to go wash. Soon it was just me and Ian. All of a sudden his arm reached down, scooping my legs up, and catching me around the shoulders with his other arm just before I hit the ground. A girly giggle sneaked out my lips, something my host had an annoying tendency to do a lot. He started off down the dark corridor towards the bright main field.

"I can walk Ian, I'm not that tired" I said whilst trying to stifle a yawn.

"Sure you're not," he chuckled, "that's why you're trying to hide the fact you're yawning right now."

I decided to let it go and snuggled my head against his firm chest.

Sooner than I would have liked we reached the bathing rooms, where we passed Aaron just leaving the pool room.

"It's all yours", he said with a wink.

Ian put me down, and looked at me intensely for a minute.

"Do you mind coming in with me?"

I prayed that my body wouldn't betray me by making me blush.

"No, I want to."

We walked nervously into the pitch black room, and I stepped straight into the water, so that I could wash my clothes too. I heard a splash as Ian entered too. I lathered up with soap quickly, and after a quick look around, even though it was impossible to see in the darkness, I stripped off my clothes to wash them as well. All of a sudden a thought occurred to me, we didn't have any clean clothes.

"Ian…?" I asked tentatively, "we don't have any dry clothes to put on."

"Well then we'll just have to run back really quickly" he replied.

Suddenly his arm reached around me as if to lift me out the water, but it quickly dropped away when he realised he was touching the bare skin of my back.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

I heaved myself out the water and put my wet clothes back on, shivering slightly despite the warm air. I heard him get out as well. Blindly I reached out to find his warm hand, and we walked back into the better lit cavern, where he immediately proceeded to lift me up into his arms again and started jogging towards our living quarters.

I must have fallen asleep in his arms because when I awoke I was lying on our mattress wrapped up in blankets. Noticing my stirring Ian said: "Sorry if I woke you, I just went to get us some food before it ran out for when you woke up". Belatedly I realised it was the sound of the red door being pushed open that had woken me.

"I never mind being woken up when I get to see you" I blushed.

My face was warm, but the rest of my body still had a chill to it. I shivered involuntarily. He moved towards me, opening his arms to pull me into a warm embrace.

"Oh god, sorry you must be freezing. I didn't want to wake you so you could get changed into dry clothes, and… I didn't trust myself to do it for you."

I gave a nervous giggle, this was the perfect time to talk about what Mel had told me to tell him.

"Ian… I have something to tell you," I started, "I lied about my age. I'm 16, not 17, but my birthday really is in a few weeks! I'm so sorry, it's just…" I trailed off, embarrassed.

"Just what?" He asked, he didn't sound angry, just curious.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter…"

"My Wanderer, if it's bothering you, it does matter, you can tell me anything."

"Okay, well I just I remember from Mel's memories that when she first met Jared he thought she was too young for them to be together physically, he thought he'd be taking advantage of her, and she was so frustrated and I didn't want that so I lied and I'm so sorry!" I blurted out, nearing tears by the end, sure that he would be mad at me for lying.

His response startled me.

He laughed.

"Oh Wanda, I'm flattered that you would lie just to be with me, and I'm surprised and kind of proud that you thought of yourself for once, and you managed to lie quite convincingly! I had my doubts, but I didn't know for sure that you had lied. Come here, I love you so much."

He pulled me up against him and lowered us both down until we were laid facing each other on our sides on the bed. I still couldn't look him in the eyes.

"My dear sweet Wanderer, what's wrong? Is there something else?"

I tried to lie convincingly… "No?" But he knew me too well.

"Wanderer?"

I sighed and the rest of it rushed out.

"Every time we kiss, you stop before it goes any further, but I don't want to stop, I want to be with you in every possible way, and this is only one you deny me. When I'm near you, when you touch me" I blushed, "I feel a burning inside me, melting me, and I just want everything with you."

I'm too embarrassed to go on. Please Ian, say something.

I looked up and he was staring at me, an obvious battle with his emotions swirling in his eyes. He was torn between wanting me, and wanting to protect me. In the end he sighed and closed his eyes.

"Wanda, I know you think you're ready to have sex, but it's a big deal for humans. I want it to be special for you. I want you to be old enough that your body is ready for it too. I don't want to hurt you."

My face must have fallen because guilt instantly swept over his face. He hastened to make up for hurting my feelings,

"We don't have to go all the way, we can take it slow and build up to it over time."

My ears perked up. That sounded better than not moving further at all.

"Okay." I smiled, "could we start now?"

Ian's eyes burnt into me, as if he was looking for the true me, the silver soul, and he'd found it and liked what he'd seen.

He thrust his lips against mine, and I started kissing him back equally passionately. His tongue swept into my mouth, making me gasp. I could feel him smiling against my mouth. In return I sucked on his lower lip, and bit gently. This was about when he would always pull away and smile ruefully. But he didn't. He rolled me over so that he was on top of me, but ever so carefully so he didn't crush me. My hands found the hem of his shirt and tugged gently. Our lips broke apart so I could pull his shirt over his head. Instead of returning his mouth to mine, his lips trailed down my jaw, down my neck and over my collarbones. My back arched, pushing me closer against him, and a groan crept out of his mouth. His hands were running up and down my spine over my shirt. I was getting impatient with the fabric between us, so I yanked my shirt over my head. He stopped. Oh god was he going to stop now?

He stared down at me with awe.

"This host was truly meant to be yours, as beautiful on the outside as you, the soul are."

He rolled me over again so that I was pressed on top of him, our bodies touching in all the right places, my softness against his hardness. His hand traced circles across my collarbones, spiralling downwards over my breasts. I moved to unhook my bra, and finally, he pulled away.

"Enough," he panted, "Or I won't be able to stop."

The more selfish part of me wanted to keep going, knowing he wouldn't stop me again, but in the end I couldn't do that to him. He wanted, no, needed to stay in control of himself and I wanted him to be happy.