The Evolution Conspiracy

"What do you mean you haven't finished the draft for editing?!" A few octaves above a dog's hearing, Jill's shrill rant drilled into my skull. Luckily, I'd been drinking and there was a nice thin fuzzy film between my eardrum and my brain.

Perspiration dotted my face and neck like a pebbled beach. Doing my best to ignore the sweltering heat of the midday sun beneath the shade, I expended as little energy as possible. I'd been cruising the media about Weyland Industries prior to Jill's call. Not that I expected a multi-billion dollar conglomerate to leave helpful clues or incriminating evidence flapping in the wind, but admittedly, I'd hoped for some kind of "Ah-ha!" defining moment. No such luck. There was an amorphous mental picture squirreling around my brain, wreaking havoc on my cognitive processes and it had something to do with Weyland Industries. I couldn't shake it, nor could I ignore it. There was simply more here than I was seeing.

I wonder how Angie went about finding information...

I winced, chastised by a pang of guilt for not thinking of my stepmother other than in the capacity for information gathering. She'd been a sweet woman, but I barely knew her. Now, I wished I'd paid more attention to her methods of deduction. She'd never divulged much about her investigations which of course made her a good PI, but I realized she hadn't shared anything at all. Ever.

"Nina! Are you listening?"

My big toe caught on a notch in the wood porch and I pushed, sending the swing into a gentle rock where I perched with a notepad and pen and zero inspiration. I sipped at my beer before answering. "Jill, I told you writing a general fuck scene is easy but writing about sex between two emotionally developing characters is not all that simple. The readers need to see the change in character dynamics. How did they feel at that moment of their coupling? How did they look at one another? What drove the characters to finally act upon their feelings and how did the act of sex change their relationship? Because sex always alters the behavior of the characters. Furthermore, these sensations... reactions... impressions... and perceptions were all instigated by a completely different species. So are they more perceptive than humans when it comes to seeking a desirable-"

Danny's peel of laughter as he raced through the sprinklers beseeched my attention. But the sight of Pakkun implored my eyes to stay. Pakkun crouched beneath the spray, the sunlight angled perfectly so that a rainbow arched in the mist. Water beaded down his skin, each a glittering star in the constellations formed by the natural swells and dips of his gladiatorial physique. My heart hammered as my eyes mapped the pinpoints. Unbidden memory flickered... his body pressed into mine, the towel a thin guard against the onslaught of heat and the towering fortress of masculinity... it had been over twelve hours since that two-minute encounter, and my skin still remembered the impression of every hard sinewy ridge and plain of his body. It conjured visions of unexplored promise and sent them to dance behind my eyes. More memories fluttered like shaken snow trapped inside a glass globe... the mattress dipped, and Pakkun's warmth a silent avowal to protect me...

The chains suspending the swing rattled in my brisk departure, the wooden seat brushing the backs of my legs. An unknown force lay siege to my body. I had to go to him. Had to. And before I even fully realized what I was doing, I'd taken several steps toward the rail.

"-mate," I concluded numbly, mouth suddenly parched. What the hell had I been about to do?

"Oh, I see what you're driving at. It takes humans months sometimes years to decipher their feelings. But aliens? Pfft. That's a whole new set of natural rules you as the writer have to interpret. Sucks, to be you, honey, but we've got a deadline." Jill continued, her voice taking on a trombone quality of wah-wah-wah.

Clak! Clak!

The pen fell through the slats of the swing behind me, the sound barely audible over the weird hum in my veins. It drew the attention of the hunter. Both of them. Lobomon hung in the shadow of my periphery near the steps. I hadn't noticed him before and briefly wondered how long he'd been there. Pakkun's gaze sizzled, raking me in a blistering sweep before cutting sharply to his brother. Lobomon eyed me too, his razor-sharp scrutiny leeching away the warmth as quickly as a dip in liquid nitrogen.

Numb, I stared at Pakkun. Eyes of iridescent gold returned to me and a knife blade of conflicting emotions plunged into my heart. Yet through it all, the strange desire remained, urging me to go to him. What the hell was wrong with me? Uncomfortable with the direction my thoughts were headed and untrusting of my body to behave, I forced myself to turn away from the hunter's gaze and headed for the relative safety of the house. At least there, I could lock myself in.

The cooling interior of the house gave me a little jolt of surprise. Saints be praised! The powers back on! I closed the door and considered locking it before realizing how dumb it would be to try and lock myself in when the deadbolt was on the inside too. Plus, Danny would eventually come in for a snack or to pee or to tell me he's discovered yet another freaking alien.

"-ina! What the hell? I can still hear you! Did you take me to the toilet or something because if so then- EWE!" Jill screeched, the earbuds speakers popped ominously.

Cripes almighty had she been talking this whole time?

"No. No. I'm here. I just got distracted by Danny is all." Of course, I lied. Aside from being my cousin, Jill and I were best friends. She was the only family who hadn't turned her back on Danny and me when things went to hell. Even at the severe disapproval of her own parents', she stayed in constant contact. She'd even lived with us for a short time after dad and Angie died. I loved the woman to bits. Unfortunately, as much as I trusted her, if my cousin/editor found out I wasn't just writing a freaking Sci-fi romance but living it, she'd be on the next plane out of Kansas.

My heart gave a wailing bubba-thump. Did I just admit there was a romantic aspect to this nightmarish Space Opera?

Don't go romanticizing his amorous advances, Neens. Because that's all it is. The dude's just horny... My inner cynic could be a real bitch when let off her chain.

"You know what your problem is?" Jill intruded, twisting the serrated blade of irony in my gut just a little harder.

That the schizophrenia in my genetics has finally manifested and the last few days have been unshackled delusions plucked from the darkest corners of my psychosis? But of course, psychosis hinged on the unshakable belief in something untrue, and the mere fact that I was (gasp!) deflecting with morbid humor only revealed the depth of my denial. So then what truth was I running from?

"Sure," I collapsed against the kitchen island. "Enlighten me." I parried, masochistically forcing myself to listen. Couldn't be any worse than the carnival of fun going on inside my head. Now, if only we were talking about the same thing.

"You need some inspiration." Now that was a loaded suggestion if I ever heard one. Jill chuckled and continued, "I've got just the thing. Let me send you some short stories I use when I need to feel... inspired."

I made a gagging face, tempted to pull the phone from my back pocket and end the call. But I didn't. Like I said, masochist. "I need romantic motivation, not porn."

"Can't it be both?"

I sighed and rubbed at my temples. "Fine. Do me a favor though woulda? Send a few with actual substance."

"Can do. I'll shoot you the link in a bit. Got a meetin' to get to. Let me know if it helps, m'kay? Bye, Neena-beans."

This time I did gag. Neena-beans? Oh, for fucking out loud! I'm not a cat!

I rang off and yanked the buds from my ears. Cripes talking to Jill left my head spinning faster than a Zero-G ride. But I had to admit, what she said got me thinkin'. Of course, Jill had been referring to a fictional character but her view on the matter was multifaceted and could be applied to real life. My life. In terms of a species gap, I'd say there was a sizable cosmic rift between humans and Yautja. So, what drives a species to interbreed? Was it nature's divine intervention? Had to be something like that, right? Why else would a predatory species of alien who hunted humans for sport choose...

Needles of awareness pushed beneath my skin, his feral attention sank heat into my joints.

...me.

Pakkun's mere alien presence was a manifestation of a thousand predators. Danger incarnate. Yet I felt safer within it than a thousand familiar embraces. And if this was nature's divine intervention, then did it matter what I wanted? Hell, what did I want?

I turned to meet his stare, confronting all that it contained. Hunger ignited the flecks of fire dotting his irises, streaking them gold; a fever so unyielding it rippled outward from his body to collide with mine and lodged itself between my hipbones.

It takes humans months, sometimes years to decipher their feelings... but what about aliens driven by primordial instincts?

The five fingerbreadths of air separating us felt charged, and once again an external force took hold of me, a physical phenomenon I had no name for and couldn't resist. Neither could Pakkun apparently, for he met me halfway. My stomach muscles bunched at the contact, my skin sizzling where he touched. Pleasure erupted from his chest, the sound throatier than a motorcycle's purr. Emanating a vibration so powerful it left my pinkest parts drunk on the resulting friction. I closed my eyes against the overwhelming sensation that sound caused. A desperate attempt to corral the alien impulses capable of smashing my control over my baser instincts.

Sensing his prey's intent to flee, the predator struck. Seizing my hips, Pakkun easily lifted me off the floor and set me on the island. Good. Otherwise, I would've needed grappling hooks to scale him. Talons whispered a path over the vertebra in my neck, the touch every bit as sensual as it was frightening. I bit into the firm muscle of his pectoral. No rhyme or reason for the naked desire bolting straight to my core... the animal all that remained of me...

A feral growl ripped from his throat, the utterance so demanding it was a wonder my clothes hadn't caught fire. Distantly over the rumbling roar in his chest, I heard the clinking shiver of the ornamental plate armor attached at his hips to drape betwixt his legs cast aside. And had I not already been sitting, the hot distended flesh thrust into the apex of my thighs would've stolen the bones from my legs. Oh, yes, our races were definitely sexually compatible. The fabric of my shorts and the god's honest loincloth straining to contain his blatant, aggressive, magnificent arousal all that separated us.

Pakkun reached for a hose on the side of his mask and a thrill of abandon speared me so deeply my breath caught.

Yes, do that! desire screamed. I needed to see all of him.

Vapor escaped with a soft hiss at the point of disconnect. His fingers were already working on the second attachment when Pakkun suddenly froze. Eyes further away than the distant stars, his attention stolen from me, I watched in horror as the opti-shields blazed red. The pleasure rumble that had been teasing my breasts, exploded into a growl of intense fury. Tearing himself away from me so quickly I was nearly yanked off the island in the vortex he created. The last glimpse of him disappearing beneath a stealth field, and then distantly the door clanged open, and I found myself suddenly alone. In the wake of his abrupt departure, the room seemed to pressurize and oxygen returned to my lungs. I sat there for several seconds too stunned to move, trying to relearn how to breathe.

Pakkun left in such a hurry that a stain of hot embarrassment climbed up my neck. Luckily, no one was there to witness it. Naturally, the petty side of me wanted to hunt him down and find out why he'd left- cause really?! What the fuck could've been so damn important in that instant?! But with distance, common sense reasserted itself, not to mention a semblance of sanity. Whatever his reason for leaving, I was grateful, because non of this made sense.

And that attraction? What the hell was up with that?

Not the physical one, there was no denying at this point I could get past the species gap, but the pull between us. It's as if my desires were not my own but imparted to me by some otherworldly force. Otherworldy sounded silly, but there was simply no other word for it. I understood want but this had been need. A clawing, desperate need. And I didn't much care for the idea of being dragged around by some neurotic compulsion to be with Pakkun.

But this feeling...

It rushes in and sweeps away all doubt, and abandon takes control and... and... there was something bigger at play here than ourselves. And if I was wrong, then why were my knees still shaking? Moreover, would I have the strength to fight it? And...

...do I even want to?

I scowled at my pathetic attempt at self-analysis, deciding to squirrel away this nut of sheer folly for later. First things, first. I needed to find my brother. Second thing, invest in a shock collar. For me, not my brother. If I ever found myself in that position with Pakkun again, I wanted to make sure it was on my own terms.

Slowly, cautiously, I slid off the kitchen island. Legs a little shaky, I momentarily marveled at my ability to stand after what transpired. There'd been so much heat transference it was a wonder my bones hadn't liquified.

"Nina!"

Danny's shriek was a frightening punch to the heart. Kids scream about everything, and the younger they are the more shrill the sound, but there'd been a telling pitch of anxiety in his voice that had me finding my equilibrium in an instant. I spun toward the screen door leading to the back of the house.

"Nina!" His cry only slightly dampened by the walls standing between us, Danny's frantic face appeared behind the screen. "NinaNinaNina-" He pointed wildly in the direction of the front of the house, the words jamming together as he spoke. "-outsideoutside! Meninblack! Meninblack!"

I came around the island. "Slow down, Danny. What're you-"

"Nina!" He jerked the door open. "Men in black!"

Of course, the movie nut that I am thought he'd meant Men in Black with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but then recollection stirred and overheard conversations at the Swill and Trotters surfaced. "Strange folk abroad..." "Men all done up in black..." "Askin' folks funny questions..."

A bizarre apprehension pulsed in my veins. What could they possibly want?

Divine intervention, maybe?

"Where are the brothers?" I asked, quickly ushering him inside. Snatching my phone, I shot Trey a quick text. In all the emotional hubbub yesterday, I'd forgotten to ask the deputy what he knew about the sightings of the men in black. Hopefully, that slipup wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass even though I was certain it would.

"I dunno! They cloaked or something!"

Fantastic!

Surely, they wouldn't do anything stupid. I couldn't imagine they would risk exposure for me and my kid brother but...

"...Pakkun likes you..."

... well, stranger things have happened...

A/N: Thanx for reading :)

angel897: Thank you, angel. You stay safe too. :)

EverWondering14: Lol, thanks. I don't think Nina stands a chance though XD

Arbitrator11: Gah, I'm never going to get that image of Lobomon out of my head now XD Lol, thanks so much for reading!

TabKinesis: I've been considering it for a while. But the chapter I have planned for a POV switch doesn't take place for quite some time, and I haven't completely committed to POV switching yet. Thanks for reading :)

NeverNeverLady: She's a magnet for all sorts of trouble XD Lol, but that's one of the things that makes her character fun to write. I'm happy you're enjoying it. Thanks for reading :)

Blackstorm1447: Thank you so much! Your review pleased me to bits, lol. I worked really hard on Nina's forest encounters. Eeeek! I can hardly wait to sink you further into the plot! XD

thefightingbull: It is always a delight to read your reviews. It gives me such a bump in pride to know that I have improved. And it thrilled me to pieces that you sighted the Easter Eggs! Thanks for reading the original and for coming along on Nina's new journey :)