She turned her head and looked at me over her shoulder.
The look of longing, of passion, and intense heat, was painted plainly on her face.
She turned to face me, her breasts hanging just inches from my lips.
She perched her head on her hand. She kept her eyes focused on mine and didn’t remove them as she lifted her leg, opening herself to me.
I could see the sprigs of hair around her slit were already damp.
My cock rested just inches below on her thigh.
Her breath was heavy. So was mine.
I thought about her fiancé and how distraught he would be to see us.
But he wasn’t here.
I was.
He was millions of miles away on a distant planet.
He might as well not exist.
He didn’t exist.
Not to me.
I wanted her.
She wanted me.
I slid forward and pressed my lips against hers.
She let out a shuddering breath and sucked on my bottom lip.
“Mm,” she said. “I wondered what that tasted like.”
I pressed myself against her. My cock rubbed against her wetness. I still hadn’t entered her yet, but I would.
Boy, I would.
I took her nipple in my mouth and flicked at it with my tongue. I squeezed her other breast with my hand and pinched the nipple hard.
She ran her hands through my hair.
“Do it,” she whispered in my ear. “Take me.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice.
I took my cock in hand and leveled it at her opening.
Chitter.
Chitter. Chitter.
I froze.
Please no.
Please not now.
“What’s wrong?” Hazel said.
“Nothing,” I wanted to say, and slam inside her, but I couldn’t.
Not if I was right about that noise.
Please tell me I’m imagining things.
These Changelings were seriously going to pay for this.
I got to my feet and approached the wall. I peered through one of the tiny holes. I angled for a better view.
That’s when I saw them, tucked inside that tiny spotlight circle.
The farmer led a pair of armed Changeling soldiers toward the barn.
He murmured something to them and pointed at the loft.
Our loft.
I turned to Hazel. She clutched the blanket to herself.
“What is it?” she said.
“We have to leave,” I said. “Now.”
Hazel
Fiath tossed me my clothes and I hastily put them on.
I couldn’t believe it. Of all the times for the Changelings to discover us, why now?
“How did they find us?” I said.
“The farmer,” Fiath said, pulling on his pants. “He’s leading them right to us.”
“Why would he do that?”
“He probably has no choice. When there’s no one there to support him and his family, he’d have felt forced to turn to anyone who would.”
Still, you did not betray your own species, I thought. But I left that argument for later.
“How do we get out of here?” I said.
It was a barn. There was one way in and one way out.
Fiath lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Follow me,” he said.
He climbed down the ladder and waited at the bottom while I followed after him. He took me by the hand and led me in a low crouch toward the cow-like animals sleeping and stamping their feet. I double took the udders hanging down with a dozen different teats.
I sure wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
Fiath tugged me so our backs were against the wall and we were face to face with the sleeping cows. Their eyes were shut and they snorted loudly.
Fiath’s plan was a simple one.
The changing soldiers would come in, assume we were in the loft, and head up the ladder. Once they reached the top, we would make our escape through the barn door and out into the forest.
Fiath placed his finger to his lips for me to be silent as the Changelings eased the barn door open and stepped inside.
I could only make out their legs through the gap beneath the sleeping cow-like creatures. Their long spindly legs stepped slowly, carefully. I imagined them clutching their weapons close, aiming up at the loft.
I caught only one glimpse of them head to toe as they passed between two cows. They looked identical to my eyes. Their bodies were encased in a hard brown outer shell and a dozen black eyes stared, unblinking. One nodded to the other.
While one of the soldiers maintained his position in the middle of the barn, the other approached the ladder.
They weren’t both going up the ladder.
One was remaining down here.
I panicked. I could see the situation playing out right before my eyes. The one heading up the ladder would learn we weren’t up there. He’d warn the other creature below. Then they would search the barn.
It wouldn’t take long for them to discover us.
Fiath reached for an empty metal bucket that sat to one side and held it by its wooden handle. It had twelve different sections, one for each udder. The farmers must use it to milk the creature with.
What was he intending on using it for?
I saw the determination on his face and got a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach.
He was going to use it as a bludgeon.
I rested my hand on his arm and shook my head. Don’t do it.
They had advanced weapons. He was reduced to swinging a bucket. He would get hurt.
He placed his hand on mine and smiled reassuringly at me.
I melted beneath his caring expression and I relented.
He stood and raised a hand to me. Stay here, it said.
I hated letting him go by himself but what could I do except get in the way?
Fiath eased up into a crouch and placed a hand on the nearest cow-like creature, soothing them to keep quiet as he edged toward its rear-end.
The first Changeling took one step at a time up that rickety old ladder. If we were asleep up there, he didn’t want to wake us.
He was already two-thirds of the way up. And he didn’t need to take every step to see we weren’t there. The bed was empty, the blankets hastily tossed aside. There was little else we could hide behind. I cursed myself for not thinking to make up the bed with random items. It would
