Alien Revelation Page 9

  “Makes sense.”

  Conall wanted to continue asking about Brogan’s profession, but the shapes taking form in front of them caught his attention. He pointed. “Is that it?”

  Brogan nodded. “Yes. In a couple of hours, after the sun sets, the city is even more spectacular when it’s all lit up for the night.”

  Conall sat forward, his eyes glued to the scene that was revealed. Other transports began to converge on theirs from all sides, joining in their trajectory towards the looming city. Conall had the urge to take the wheel to avoid them, but there was no wheel.

  The transports all lined up, neatly and safely, removing the element of operator error. Conall realized that this was probably far safer than driving back on Earth through the one-lane country roads. He sat back and tried to breathe easy, as more and more vehicles joined their line of traffic.

  Brogan began pointing out the various tall buildings to Conall, but he was more interested in the autotransports. Since they flew, the city’s traffic wasn’t limited to cement roads. There were lanes of vehicles traveling at at least a dozen altitudes through the maze of buildings. Brogan’s steady voice eventually encouraged Conall to focus on what he was pointing out.

  Unlike Earth’s rectangles and squares of iron and glass, these buildings were a wide variety of shapes, and were either covered in vegetation, or were textured.

  “What’s on the glass?” Conall asked, pointing to the nearest skyscraper they passed. It looked as though, if he were to touch it, the glass would have a texture to it.

  “It’s a solar mesh, just like what’s on the autotransports.”

  Conall looked at the vehicles surrounding them, and saw the same texture on them as well, albeit with smaller geometric patterns.

  “What does it do?”

  “It captures the sunlight and turns it into energy, which is used by whatever it covers. Look up there.”

  Brogan leaned forward in his seat and pointed to the tops of various buildings. On the roof of each were poles with huge flags attached.

  “Those are solar sails. Each one of them gathers enough energy to supply their attached building.”

  It was renewable energy like Conall had never seen.

  “Amazing,” he replied in awe.

  At the next intersection, their transport turned down a small side street, then pulled into a wide alcove in the side of the nearest building. Brogan opened his door.

  “Ready?” he asked, but rather than wait for a reply, Brogan exited the vehicle. Conall followed suit, and was unpleasantly surprised when their transport began pulling away without them.

  “Oy, we need that!” he called to Brogan.

  The male held up his wristunit. “I’ll call it when we’re done. Come on.”

  He walked off, forcing Conall to follow him. They passed through some sort of artificial barrier, and the wind from outside suddenly stopped. Brogan went on, until they entered a very large open space in the center of the building. It was a dozen stories high, brightly lit by skylights, and full of plants and people. It resembled a park… if a park were in the middle of a skyscraper.

  “What is this place?” Conall asked.

  “This is where I grew up.”

  Conall turned towards Brogan and waited for him to continue. The man looked all around them with a fond expression.

  “My fathers were in service to the royals for much of the year, but my mother and I lived here in one of the many apartments. This is the communal area.”

  They began walking down one of the paths that led through the park. If he didn’t know better, Conall would think that they were outside in a neighborhood. There were adults clustered together talking, while children of various races ran together and played games. It was the time of day between work and dinner when everyone was out socializing.

  They passed people, both Arathian and otherworlder, who only gave them fleeting glances. Conall wasn’t stared at as he’d feared. He looked different than the Arathians, but so did a quarter of the people living there.

  He saw individuals with blue, green, yellow, and black skin. Some had horns, others had fur covering their bodies. Some were tall and thin, while others looked like round balls with stubby appendages. What surprised Conall the most was how normal it all was.

  Brogan found an empty bench by one of the playgrounds and sat, relaxing in a casual posture, one arm thrown over the back of the bench. But Conall knew it was partially a rouse. His eyes never stopped taking in their surroundings. Conall sat as well and watched the children play. They were the same interracial mixture as the adults, and seemed to be doing just fine.

  “Looks like a great place to grow up,” Conall observed.

  “Sure was.”

  “Why did you bring me here?” Conall asked several minutes later.

  Brogan’s answer was slow in coming.

  “Talavera is more than just high-rise buildings, and the center of commerce and politics for Arath. This,” he swept his hand out to encompass the park, “and other buildings like it, is the heart of the city. I wanted you to see this aspect in the hopes that you’ll realize how un-alien-like you are.”

  Conall chuckled at his choice of words.

  “I’m serious,” Brogan countered with a smile. “You and your family may not have been born on this planet, but that doesn’t make you ‘less,’ or abnormal. It puts you among the several-million otherworlders that call Arath home.”

  Conall’s eyes slowly wandered over the park. These people all lived in a tight-knit community, no matter their backgrounds.

  “You’re right; this was the perfect place to bring me. No one has given me a second look.”

  “Are you kidding?” Brogan asked incredulously as he turned in his seat to face Conall. “Hell yeah they’ve been looking at you.”

  His comment took Conall completely by surprise. “What? Why? You said that I wouldn’t stand out as an Earther here.”

  “You don’t, but you do stand out as an attractive male.”

  Brogan didn’t sound happy about that, but Conall’s mind was more focused on the fact that he’d just been called an attractive male.

  “No, I don’t,” he denied.

  “You absolutely do,” Brogan argued.

  “But… but,” Conall stammered. “There’s no way!”

  Brogan laughed that time—a deep throaty sound that quickened Conall’s pulse.

  “Take another look around before you tell me I’m wrong. I’ve counted five males and two females giving you appreciative appraisals.”

  Conall scanned the area again, this time looking for something completely different. His eyes landed on an Arathian male towards their left, who was sitting on a bench with a woman next to him. The man was looking at him.

  Their eyes met, and the other male smiled, holding his gaze. Conall’s stomach flopped. He gave a half smile in return, before he broke eye contact and cleared his throat uneasily.

  “See? I told you,” Brogan stated, a bit unhappily.

  Conall had no idea what to say. He hadn’t had anyone flirt with him in a long time (a very long time), and never a man. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

  That was a lie. It felt nice to have someone interested in him. It was flattering, and something that hadn’t happened in too long.

  Brogan shifted forward in his seat, his forearms braced on his thighs. His jaw was now tense, and his eyes sharp. Something had made the man irritated.

  “What’s wrong?” Conall asked, assuming that there was a threat nearby.

  “I don’t like them looking at you like that,” Brogan declared.

  “Like what?”

  “As if they’re calculating how best to get you into their beds.”

  “No they’re no’,” Conall denied. It was one thing for a couple of people to be interested in him—he was exotic, by their standards—but it was quite the leap to think that these people wanted to be with him intimately.

  Brogan’s eyes swung his way and st
ared right at him.

  “They most certainly are. I know people. It’s my job.” He turned back towards the park and told him, softer than before, “Maybe it was a mistake to bring you here.”

  Conall wasn’t sure how to react. Knowing that people were lusting after him? It was a new, strange concept, but he was fine with it. Brogan’s reaction to the attention he was getting? What the hell was he supposed to do about that?

  “I can handle myself,” Conall lamely replied.

  Brogan’s eyes shot back to him. His look was intense. “Good. Because here’s your chance.”

  Conall didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant because two Arathian men stopped in front of their bench. They both bowed at the waist politely.

  “Afternoon. I hope we’re not being presumptuous, but my mate and I would like to offer to take you to dinner.”

  Conall stared at the male with his mouth agape. They were asking him out on a date?

  “Ahhh, we’re sort of in the middle of something,” Conall replied as he gestured to Brogan. He looked at his companion to see him watching him closely, not saying anything.

  The Arathian looked at Brogan then back to Conall. “My apologies. Your mate is welcome to come as well, of course.”

  My mate? Conall cleared his throat to cover the punch of air that left his lungs.

  “I’m sorry, but we already have dinner plans tonight,” Conall told the duo. “But thanks for the offer.”

  Both males nodded before walking off, hand in hand. Conall didn’t want to look at Brogan. He wasn’t sure what he’d see in the other man’s expression, and avoidance seemed like a good idea at the moment.

  “Are you ready to head to dinner?” Brogan asked after a moment of silence.

  “Aye,” Conall replied, getting up from the bench. He was ready to move on and pretend like the encounter with the two Arathians had never happened.

  Together, they walked towards the exit, got into their transport, and rode in silence to the restaurant.

  CHAPTER 10

  Conall acted strange throughout dinner.

  His eyes kept scanning the room, flitting from patron to patron in an anxious perusal. Brogan had theorized that maybe the male had been uncomfortable to be in such close proximity to otherworlders, but he’d dismissed the idea. Conall had been fine when they were at the park surrounded by others. Something had changed since then.

  “What’s the matter?” Brogan finally asked, tired of assumptions.

  Conall’s head whipped towards him, and he fingered the rim of his tall glass. “Nothing’s the matter.”

  “Is it about the two males at the park?” Brogan guessed. “You could have gone to dinner with them instead if you’d wanted.”

  “No!” Conall answered firmly, then continued softer. “I’m fine.”

  Brogan didn’t believe him. “Normally I’d let it go, but I need to know. Is it the restaurant? We can go somewhere else if you’d like.”

  Conall fidgeted in his seat. “It’s not the restaurant. Nothing’s wrong, exactly. It’s just that I haven’t done this in a while.”

  “You mean going out on a date?” Brogan clarified.

  Conall laughed humorlessly before he took a long drink of his ale. “A date? Is that what this is?”

  Brogan shrugged. “That’s what it is to me. But if that makes you uncomfortable, we can just be two friends who are sharing a meal.”

  Conall sat silent for several minutes before speaking into his glass. “I haven’t been on a date since Mary died in a car accident.”

  His voice had turned somber, and it cut through Brogan’s chest. He knew what it was like to lose someone you love.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Brogan told him sincerely. “How long ago was that?”

  “Three years.”

  “That’s a long time to be alone.”

  “Aye.” Conall took another long drink from his glass, and his eyes finally met Brogan’s.

  “Mary and I met in secondary school when I was seventeen. I had only dated two other girls before her, neither of them seriously. Once I met Mary, I knew she was the one.”

  “She must have been an amazing woman.”

  Conall nodded. “Aye, she was.”

  “And how many males?”

  “What?” Conall’s expression was one of complete confusion, so Brogan clarified.

  “How many men did you date before you met Mary?”

  Conall coughed and shook his head. “None. No men. I only dated women.”

  Brogan’s eyebrows creased. “Why was that?”

  “Damn it, Brogan,” Conall cursed softly, shaking his head low. “I never wanted to date another man. I was only attracted to girls… women… I was only attracted to women.”

  “And now? Are you still only attracted to women? Or has that changed?”

  “Yes. No. I mean… after meeting your people and living on Arath, I have no idea anymore.”

  Conall’s eyes skirted the room again, so Brogan followed suit, trying to see the scene from the other male’s perspective.

  The patrons were all either eating, talking, drinking, or a combination thereof. There was only one table that had a male and female eating alone. All of the others had two or three males and one female, or multiple males together. Nothing was out of place; everyone was acting completely normal for a Arathian restaurant. He didn’t see a problem, nor anything to have caused Conall to be confused and anxious.

  “This is not normal on your planet?” Brogan asked to clarify.

  “No! I mean, groups of people go out to eat with one another as friends, but that…” Conall gestured to his left where one male was kissing his way along another male’s jaw, while a female watched with a dreamy smile from their side.

  When Conall spoke again, his voice was pitched towards frustration. “That has me confused. You have me confused.”

  Brogan knew his eyes were wide with Conall’s acknowledgment. “Me specifically?”

  “Aye,” Conall sighed. Now he sounded tired. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  Brogan wasn’t sure what to think either. He’d done research on Earth when Lukas had mated Jayda, mostly to avoid accidentally insulting the new monarch. Now he was thankful he understood a little of their culture, especially the fact that Earthers only mated in pairs. It was clear that Conall wasn’t used to seeing multiple people together, but Brogan knew it was more than that.

  If he had to venture a guess, he’d assume that Conall was tempted by the idea. The suggestion that it was him, specifically, that had ignited those thoughts, made Brogan very happy. But as high as he was feeling, Conall was feeling the opposite. He sat with his shoulders slumped, nursing his glass of ale, and trying to not look at the public display.

  “Maybe you’re thinking too much,” Brogan proposed.

  Conall’s eyes leapt towards him. “What do you mean?”

  Brogan had the sudden urge to push Conall. Not hard, but enough so that he could see that it wasn’t wrong—two males together wasn’t wrong. But this wasn’t the place.

  He gestured towards the nearly-empty glass in Conall’s hand. “Finish that first, and then I’ll show you.”

  Brogan called their transport before he accessed the bill on the nearby console, and waved his wristunit in front of the sensor to pay. Then he stood and grabbed his jacket from the hook nearby. Conall was right behind him.

  When they stepped outside, Conall’s transport was waiting for them. Silently, they climbed in. Brogan raised the tinting on the windows and set them on a course for the MacLeod house… the long way.

  When the transport slid into traffic, Brogan turned his body towards his companion. Conall looked uneasy. He wiped his hands down his thighs and watched Brogan’s every move.

  He was panting through open lips. Brogan’s eyes caught on those lips. So badly did he want to taste the male’s mouth, but not yet. Conall needed a lot of slow and easy.

  “Relax,” Brogan told him. “I’m not
going to accost you.”

  Conall gave a nervous chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. “What are you going to do then?”

  Brogan slid a few inches closer, until their thighs touched on the bench seat of the transport. “I’m going to gently lay my hand on you, and you tell me if the touch feels wrong.”

  Conall gave a silent nod, and Brogan let out an anxious breath. He’d been unsure about this idea, and didn’t quite know what he would have done if Conall had said no. As it was, he reminded himself to go slowly.

  He placed a hand on Conall’s shoulder. Conall’s eyes didn’t leave Brogan’s as he slid that hand down his bicep and back up, feeling the muscle under the shirt.

  “You good?” Brogan asked.

  Conall nodded, so he continued sliding his palm down to his wrist, then grasped his hand. It wasn’t a manly handshake kind of hold. Brogan was gentle, like a lover would be.

  He took Conall’s hand and slowly raised it to his lips. Their eyes still locked, he kissed Conall’s knuckles once then waited for the male’s reaction. He braced himself for a punch to his face, but instead, Conall’s pupils flared, his breathing hitched, and his heartbeat increased; all good signs.

  Brogan smiled at him, and one side of Conall’s lips quirked.

  “Still good?” Brogan asked.

  “Aye, still good,” he replied with a nod.

  Brogan smiled at him again, then ran his hand back up Conall’s arm and onto his chest. His fingers traced one pectoral muscle before sliding to the other one. Conall’s chest was muscled from his previous life on a farm, and Brogan couldn’t help but run a flattened palm over the planes. The man’s nipple beaded under his button-down shirt, so Brogan concentrated on the small pebble.

  Conall’s breath let out in a rush that sounded close to a moan, and his eyes closed for a brief moment. Brogan was sorely tempted to see if his touch was arousing Conall, but he didn’t want to break their eye contact. He knew that if Conall were to check now, he’d see a bulge in Brogan’s own pants. There was no question that this exploration was turning him on. The fact that Conall had never been touched by another male in his life? That he was Conall’s first? Fucking best aphrodisiac ever.