Romance: Military Romance: Protected by the SEAL (Contemporary Hero Bad Boy Navy SEAL Romance) (New Adult BBW Alpha Male Virgin Protector Short Stories) (71 page)

As soon as the ship landed on stable ground, I swung hard at the small glass part of the door. It shattered into pieces. Hurriedly I reached outside and tried to grope for the lock which Andrew had positioned. "Shit, where is it?!" I said in frustration. As I fumbled, my hand accidentally got cut on a broken piece of glass. Blood seeped out.

Perhaps I needed to try something else to get out. Stepping back, I took one of the loaded weapons I’d found, aimed it, and shot at the door repeatedly. Bullets rained on it, but only created insignificant dents.

I tried another weapon. Fire burst out from it, and seemed to slowly melt the metal. Renewed hope rushed inside of me, giving me a boost of energy. When some of the metal had liquefied, I gathered every ounce of strength I had left and kicked the wrecked area. It gave way, causing the door to swing open.

Harsh sunlight welcomed me back. With my feet pounding hard on the cement-like surface, I ran as fast as I could toward the direction of the main base.

The sight that greeted me at the entrance of the computer lab was horrendous. Several of my team members had been gravely injured. A few of them had retreated while others were hidden behind metal columns. The exchange of laser and fire was at its peak, with a monstrous, horrible-looking Zil alien leading the combat from the opponents’ side. He too looked battered but was still giving a good fight. Behind him were two dead bodies of humans.

My heart skipped a beat as I came closer and tried to decipher whether any of those lying on the floor was Andrew. I couldn't really see well.

Suddenly, the Zil alien gave out a loud, garish cry, his bulging red eyes directed toward me. Without any second thoughts, I charged toward him with the metal-dissolving weapon I had on me before he could fire at me. He fell down with a sickening thud, gooey blood oozing out in all directions.

At that instant, about five or six US Space Police officers dashed forward and hurtled toward the door of the lab. I caught a glimpse of Kent, but there was no time to have any chitchat. I cautiously moved forward behind them, all of us ready to fire at the sight of any enemy.

Quickly we scuttled across a narrow hallway where a couple of genetically engineered humans fought us. Kent and I were able to dodge them and continue going forward with two more from our team.

Not long after, a Zil alien came out and blocked our way. The two officers with us immediately started shooting with their laser guns. Kent grabbed my hand and we ducked underneath the alien and kept running. The enormous alien turned around and tried to go after us, but he was stopped by our teammates.

As soon as we got to the rows of computer servers, a human soldier suddenly turned up in front of us. Kent instantly pulled the trigger on his weapon, but I managed to shove the machine so the laser hit the wall instead. "Nooo!" I cried out. "He's not an enemy!"

"Are you crazy?" Kent yelled at me, looking at me as if I had absolutely lost my mind. But I ignored him and rushed toward the man I truly loved.

"Please, Kent…" I pleaded, blocking Andrew.

"Tasha, what the—" Andrew started, obviously shocked to see me.

"He's my husband! We need to save him!" I shouted in despair.

A wave of understanding appeared in Kent's face. His eyes shifted to the man behind me and then back to me. "Listen to me, Tasha," he started, looking anxious. "Do not believe what he says. He is different now. He can hurt you—"

"No, he hasn't hurt me," I argued. "He hasn't been injected with the formula for many days now, so he has returned to normal. He can help us. We can save all the remaining humans on this planet!"

Unexpectedly, another human soldier appeared beside us and tried to grab me. Andrew pushed him away, but he lunged back at him. My eyes widened as I caught sight of the large syringe in his hand which he injected onto Andrew's neck in a split-second.

As a reflex, I pointed my weapon at the other soldier and fired away, causing him to drop dead at once.

Kent was about to seize me, but more soldiers came to fight and prevent him from completing the original mission. Meanwhile, I went to Andrew and shook his shoulders. My hands went to either side of his face and forced him to look at me. There was a blank expression in his eyes that filled my body with fright. But I did not step back, even as he stared at me with sudden hatred.

"Andrew, it's me. It's Tasha, your wife," I hurriedly said. Without thinking, I threw my arms around him. But instead of hugging me back, he snatched my weapon and tossed it to the other side of the room. Then he lifted me and threw me toward a nearby wall. I felt a searing pain surge into my arm as it hit the solid metal hard. I clutched at it as I quickly scrambled to my feet.

Upon standing up, I was faced with the stone-faced Andrew, his eyes burning with loathing. He was fast closing in on me even as I begged for my husband to come back to the surface. "I know you're in there, Andrew. Our love is greater than any formula, than any genetic code..."

He moved in but then suddenly paused, his eyes gazing at something on my neck. I looked down and saw that I was actually wearing the heart locket necklace. Quickly I opened it and showed him my wedding ring.

He blinked once, twice. And I saw his rigid face softening and recognition dawning in his eyes.

"I love you so much, Andrew," I whispered, whimpering as I watched him struggling against the effects of the formula. "Please come back to the earth with me and we can start again."

His brown eyes gazed into mine in understanding. "Anything is possible," he murmured.

I cried with relief. My husband was back. But just then, his eyes suddenly widened. He fell back, revealing Kent who had shot him.

"Andrew!" I shrieked, dropping down to the ground and watching my husband struggle with life for the second time. Agony and panic hit me as I looked around for something that could save him. But I was left with no choice when Kent lifted me on his shoulders and dragged me out of the computer lab. Even as I thrashed about, he kept running.

The last thing I saw as we headed out was two uniformed officers of the US Space Police attaching the last of the bombs. They ran out too and locked the entrance, trapping some of the human soldiers inside--- including Andrew.

I screamed for Kent to stop the explosion, but he wouldn't listen to me. The moment we stepped outside of the main base, I heard the deafening blast. I closed my eyes shut, tears running down my cheeks.

*****

The scent of the old books in the local library somehow gave me a sense of peace, which is why I often sat on one of the tables in that stale, dimly lit corner amongst the outdated shelves of books that hardly anyone reads or uses anymore.

It had been almost a year since that unforgettable space mission in Planet Zil. Yes, we had completed our mission. But I'd come home completely broken. It had been so traumatic that I'd taken a year-long leave of absence. I had wanted to resign, but Chief Collins had not let me. He understood me and told me that I could take as long as I wanted to recover from the immense pain of losing my husband the second time around.

I broke up with Kent. He'd been nothing but apologetic, sweet, and understanding since we came back to Earth. I told him I understood why he did what he did, but I wasn't ready to forget. I realized that I’d never actually loved him. He'd made me happy in his own way, but my feelings for him never really surpassed or even equaled what Andrew meant to me.

I had not seen him in more than six months. I had spent the past year just being with my family, absorbing their love for me, and trying to pick up the pieces little by little. I wasn't sure if I was making any progress. I kept waking up in the middle of the night screaming. Sometimes my sister Stacey would catch me staring off into space. There were moments when I would suddenly break down or even find myself wandering aimlessly in the streets.

During the past month, though, I seemed to be getting better. The memories were still as vivid but I was beginning to accept the truth – about what had happened and what would never be.

From time to time, I visited the local library where we'd first met and where he'd proposed to me. Stacey kept telling me to avoid places that reminded me of him. But somehow I found solace in here.

"Excuse me," a soft voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up from the book that I was pretending to read. It was a young girl about the age of ten. She handed me an old thick hardbound book with the title
A New Journey to Tomorrow
.

"What's this?" I asked curiously, fingering the dusty cover.

"It's for you," was all she said before leaving me in wonder.

I turned the book over in my hand. Then noticing that there was a folded page somewhere in the middle part, I opened the book to that page. My heart jumped to my throat as I saw a dried rose inserted inside. With trembling hands, I lifted it. And that's when I saw the small printed words on the page circled in red.
Anything is possible.

I gasped, my heart racing like crazy. I looked up and perused the area. There was nobody else in this part of the library.

Standing up hastily, I went to the tall rows of shelves surrounding the reading area where I had been seated. Walking fast across the aisle in the middle, I looked left and right, not sure what I was expecting to see… or rather,
who
I was expecting to see.

Hope gushed into my heart and my throat constricted with unshed tears. I reached the end of the aisle, but did not find the only person I yearned to see. Maybe it was all in my mind. Perhaps I was losing my sanity already.

I leaned against the wall in dejection and torment, covering my face with my hands as my shoulders heaved back and forth with my quiet sobs. At that moment, I felt strong hands wrap around my own hands. They slowly and gently pulled my hands away from my face. And when I saw the familiar brown eyes gazing into mine with great love and passion, I stopped crying and just looked on in disbelief.

"Am I dreaming?" I whispered, my eyes sweeping from his tousled brown hair down to his handsome face.

"No," he answered quietly with a gentle smile. He then released my hands and brought his hands to my cheeks. He tenderly wiped away my tears. "It's me, Tasha baby… I'm back."

"B-but… how?"

"Anything is possible, remember?" he said, his smile widening and his eyes twinkling. "Guess I'm like a cat with nine lives. Or maybe I was just lucky enough to have put on a laser-proof vest underneath my suit at the last minute then ran out the hidden back door just in time."

My mouth dropped open. I couldn't quite process what he was telling me, but I was so damn glad.

"That back door is known only to the computer experts who'd been assigned in that lab for many years--- like me."

Understanding hit me as what he was telling me started to make sense.

"I got out along with some others," he continued to explain as he caressed my cheeks. "But just barely. Many were injured, including me. The explosion released us from the hold of the Zils. But it took us a long time to heal from our injuries and also to repair the only spaceship left on the planet, our only hope of going back home to Planet Earth."

"But you did it," I whispered unbelievably.

"Yes," he answered joyfully. "We never stopped fighting, driven by the hope of reuniting with our loved ones."

"Oh, Andrew!" I gushed, throwing my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. We savored that moment in silence, just holding each other and letting our hearts communicate with one another.

When we pulled back, he smiled and said, "I love you, Tasha… until death do us part."

I smiled back through my glistening tears. "I love you too, Andrew… until death do us part."

He then leaned forward and gave me a long, passionate kiss that I eagerly returned. With an impish grin, he said, "Come on and let's make some babies."

THE END

Bonus Story 15 of 17

The drunk guy next to me leaned over to blow his beer-laced question in my face. “So who do you think’ll win, huh? Nets or Celtics?”

I scrunched up my nose and leaned away slightly while he wobbled in his seat. He had a leathery face from many days working out in the sun. His eyes were an unfocused soupy green color and pointed in my general direction. He wore a black trench coat over a blue work shirt and jeans. His muddy boots kept slipping from the ledge under the bar. I chuckled and then pointed to the flat screen directly in front of us, hanging over the bar.

“The Nets man. All day,” I said. A few New Yorkers within earshot cheered, and the drunk guy grinned.

“Nah. So what they’re up this quarter, all the Celtics have to do is catch up in the last two minutes and they’ve got this,” the guy said, slurring his words. The Brooklyn crowd at the bar heard him, and he got booed and pelted with peanuts. I chuckled again.

“They’re going to catch up twenty points in two minutes?” I said. “Not a chance.”

“I got a huge bet ridin’ on this, I can’t afford to lose it,” said the drunk. I shook my head apologetically.

“You shouldn’t have bet on the Celtics man. The
Celtics
? Really?” I said in disbelief. The guy groaned while he gulped down the rest of his fifth beer.

“Guy is gonna get iced,” the man on my left said with a laugh. I patted the drunk on his back.

“I suggest you start running now guy, maybe you’ll be able to hide from your bookie,” I suggested. The drunk guy looked up with wide eyes that were surprisingly alert and he slapped two twenties on the bar top before he bolted out of the door. Three seconds later three huge guys ran out after him. Half the bar was loud with laughter.

I snorted and then paid attention to the screen once more as I brought the bottle of lager to my lips. Got to love this city, there was a never ending supply of entertainment if you knew where to look. With the life I had, I’d just about seen it all.

I’ve been nearly everywhere on the globe, but had no frequent flier miles to show for my kind of travel. I had the ability to teleport. Create my own wormholes and jump through them to any point on the globe. Often the cracks I created in space and time close right up after I travel through, but sometimes I create large pathways that lead not only to a different place, but a different time. I’ve sometimes gone full years back and forward in time; it was wild. Of course I used my gift with as pure intentions as possible. After I set myself up financially I only jump for largely recreational reasons or if I see that someone truly needs help. Like the drunk guy who made the wrong bet.

I haven’t done a good Samaritan act for the week yet, so I figured I’d let him get his beating and then jump back in time to stop him from at least making the
wrong
bet. He left his wallet in his seat before he bolted from the bar and as I looked through it I found his address. It wouldn’t be difficult to fix that guy’s mistake. I’d leave a note on his refrigerator telling him to bet on the Nets or don’t bet at all. I sat and watched the rest of the game and celebrated with the bar as the owner came out and bought every patron a beer when the Nets won.

I left the bar and stepped out into the cold New York night. The city was never quiet that was for sure. I walked around to the side of the building and leaned against the brick façade as I pulled a cigarette and lighter out of my pocket. I lit the cigarette and inhaled the bittersweet taste of tobacco smoke. I watched people walk by on the busy sidewalks as I savored my cigarette. I only allowed myself one per week to keep the cravings at bay.

As I blew out a plume of smoke I caught sight of a shock of red hair. She stood out, like in one of those cheesy romance films; caught under the moonlight all ethereal in her pale-faced beauty as the background melted into indistinct watercolors. She had a small smile on her lips as she walked along the sidewalk, seemingly lost in a sweet memory. She wore a long red pea coat and had a cream colored scarf wrapped loosely around her neck. One strong winter wind and the thing would fly away. Then, as if I had summoned it, a sudden cold breeze swept the scarf from her shoulders and blew it into the empty street. She looked up, her bright blue eyes startled and she went after it. Even I stepped forward to help her get the scarf. Because hell, I needed to find out who she was.

Before I could step out into the street I saw the huge semi turn the corner. It was going just as fast any other city driver, and the woman had no chance to get out of the way. I froze and watched the macabre scene in slow motion.  She skipped out into the middle of the road and bent to pick up her scarf and looked up just in time to see the grill of the semi before it slammed into her, sent her flying twenty feet into the air before she landed on the street with a thud. All traffic stopped. The entire block stopped all movement as everyone looked at the horrible scene and took it in. After the two seconds of tense silence, people started screaming and yelling at the driver who wasn’t paying attention to the road.

I could faintly hear the sound of sirens and that’s when my body burst into motion. I could save her; I
would
save her. I’d simply go back and stop her from ever stepping out onto the road. I’d change her future for the better. I ran over to her fallen, broken body. I moved faster than the other bystanders and was by her side in the blink of an eye. I wasn’t aware of having jumped the space until I was holding her head in my lap. She was still alive, but just barely.

“Wh-what’s your name?” I asked her, and her eyes fluttered open. She looked at me as if she knew she was dying and was resigned to her fate. I had to jump back before she actually died or I’d change things too drastically, and only disasters would amount from that. The woman’s body was twisted at an extremely odd angle and before she answered she coughed up blood and it trickled down her chin.

“Melina…” she whispered. I nodded and then gently laid her down on the ground once more.

“I’m going to save you Melina,” I said before I ran and disappeared into the crowd that was forming around her. I sprinted to a nearby alley and then took several deep breaths before I held out my palm and summoned the familiar resonating power that started with my pulse and quickened into a sort of magnetic pull. The air in front of me wavered as if vapor was rising from the cold ground. The familiar thundering sound echoed through the alley as the wrinkle in space gained too much energy and ripped through time to create a pathway into the past. The thunder sounded once more and I felt the air charge as a flash of lightning nearly touched down right next to me. That was my cue to step through. I took a step, and was sucked into the other side of the rip I had created.

*****

Three Weeks Before…

The bright sun pierced my eyes and I squinted as I let my body recover from the jarring feeling of being sucked through a really narrow tunnel. I took a few deep breaths to stretch my lungs and then opened my eyes. I was back in the alley I hid in to jump back. I looked up and saw the sun directly overhead. I knew it was midday. I needed to know the exact time and date. I hadn’t been focusing and I didn’t time how long I let the rip in created charge up. The longer the charge, the farther back or forward I jump. It was an inexact measure but I was much better now at it than I had been in the past.

It was still cold so I couldn’t have gone that far back. I jogged up to the street and rounded the corner. The sports bar was just opening. One of the bartenders was wiping down the storefront outside. I walked up to him and smiled politely.

“Hey, can you tell me the time and date?” I asked him plainly and he glanced at me before he pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Yeah it’s noon on the dot, November eleventh.” The bartender went back to wiping down the glass and I wondered how I would ask him the year without freaking him out.

“Hey uh, you guys gonna show the Nets—Celtic game here?” I asked innocently enough and the bartender looked at me as if I was stupid.

“Of course we are man. We’re in the heart of Brooklyn. But that game is like three weeks away. What, did you place a bet on it or something? My boss don’t like to have bookies in the bar.”

I held my hands up innocently. I said, “Just wondering is all. You have a nice day.” I nodded my head to him before I walked off down the street. Great, how was I going to find Melina in a city as huge as this one with nothing but her first name? It wasn’t like I could jump forward again because I might overshoot and she could be dead in that instance. I just had to wait it out and hope for the best. If worst came to worst, I’d simply camp out on that damn sidewalk and wait for her to happen by again. I sighed heavily. For the time being I would simply come by that spot where the accident took place every day around the time I saw her that night, and wait until I found her again.

I started walking towards the nearest subway. I had an apartment in the city for when I time jumped, so that I wouldn’t bump into myself, and I kept careful document of the times that I stayed in each one so I wouldn’t overlap.

I took the C train to Fourth Street and then caught a cab into Midtown, where my apartment building was. There I’d sync my phone with the date and time and I’d be able to regroup. Gathering that much energy to break through time wiped me out more than simple jumping through a shortcut in space did. I hardly remembered the doorman greeting me or the elevator ride up to the top floor. All I remembered was finally collapsing onto the soft couch cushions in my living room and knocking out.

* * *

When I opened my eyes the room was dark. I bolted upright and hurried into the kitchen to look at the time on the stove. I sighed with relief, as it was only six in the evening. I still had time to get to the bar in Brooklyn and wait for Melina to walk by. I shrugged off my coat and tossed it over the back of the couch. I went over to the clipboard on the fridge. My last visit was a month ago; there hadn’t been any recent entries so I was clear to stay.

I quickly showered and then dressed in a green turtleneck and jeans with a pair of brown boots. As I combed through my curly hair while in the closet I quickly changed the date and time on my phone. Since it was difficult to jump back considerable lengths of time in the past I usually kept it recent. I had houses and apartments all over the globe and only just thought to dedicate a few to when I time traveled. Especially after what happened that one time…I couldn’t chance messing with the whole butterfly effect thing too much. I checked myself in the mirror. My hair was the same shoulder length curly brown locks that they always were. My jaw just as square, brow just as intense. My nose had that familiar little crook in it from when I got into a bar fight in Istanbul.

I ran my hand over the day-old stubble on my jaw and chin and decided to shave the next day. I needed to find Melina.

*****

I didn’t go into the bar, I simply stood outside and leaned against the brick wall. My eyes met the face of every person that passed by and they were especially sensitive to any hint of fiery red hair. It was already nearing midnight and I was losing confidence that I would find her that way. Just as I was getting ready to turn tail and head home, I saw her. She was crossing the street and heading towards me. Her head was down so she didn’t notice me staring at her.

“Excuse me…is your name Melina?” I asked when she got close enough to hear me. Melina’s head snapped up and her eyes widened as if she recognized me. They were so much bluer up close.

“Yes…who are you?” she asked suspiciously, though her voice was beautiful and musical sounding. After all I
was
the stranger who knew her name and approached her on the street.

“I’m Caleb. We, ah, met briefly at the…” my mind moved at a thousand miles an hour as I tried like hell to think of a general venue where we could have met. Melina captured her bottom lip in between her teeth and she studied me a moment. I had become completely distracted by the small gesture.

“I think I’ve seen you before, yeah. You always get coffee at the bagel shop on Madison right?” my eyes widened. She was
right
. I always went to get bagels at O’s, they had the best damn lox in Manhattan.

“Yeah, yeah I do. You go all the way out to Madison for bagels?” I asked her and she smiled.

“I work at the Lincoln Center so I pass by it every morning on the way to work.” I rocked back on my heels as I slipped my hands into my pockets. I tried to appear causal.

“So what brings you all the way out to Brooklyn?” I asked her conversationally and she smirked.

“Visiting a friend, what about you?” I wondered if this
friend
was a guy.

“I’m kind of fond of this sports bar so I come here for a drink every so often,” I said, evasively. Melina nodded and she looked like she was getting ready to make up some excuse to leave. “Um, so I know you’re going to visit a friend and stuff. I’d really like to…maybe go out with you sometime?” I asked hopefully. Melina kept chewing on her lip and then she shrugged as if to say, ‘why not.’

“Sure, that would be great. Let me give you my number and then we can set something up,” I handed her my phone and she quickly programmed her number. I couldn’t believe this was already turning out to be an easy save. I must have jumped back to the past just in time before she died in the present. The cycle wouldn’t repeat itself, I could still save her! She handed me back my phone. She registered the glee in my eyes, and gave me a lopsided smile. She even had a dimple in her left cheek.