The Alien Who Fell to Earth Read online

  Dr. Painter added, “Even without the results from both tests, which would be helpful, I should still have you return first thing tomorrow morning just to be safe. I had set aside an appointment for mid-morning for the test results anyway. Instead I can do a cursory final checkup. Will you at least consider it?”

  “Sure,” Holden answered. “We’ll come back in the morning before we head back home, okay, honey?”

  “Sure, fine,” Victoria said, but she didn’t mean it. “Tomorrow morning.”

  “Ten o’clock,” Dr. Painter said.

  “Ten o’clock,” Victoria repeated, only slightly disturbed she was telling yet another big fat lie. She turned away to hide the heat in her cheeks, a telltale sign of her fib.

  Victoria was already planning a late-night mission to retrieve the renegade blood sample they’d taken along with the outlawed CT image, in case it hadn’t been destroyed. This time maybe she’d bring along her Defender, just in case anyone caught her doing it. It didn’t work on the supernatural folks, but this was an earthling hospital.

  The Defender had been made for earthlings and this was the perfect kind of mission to use it. Plus, Cam would likely insist.

  <^><^><^>

  Holden followed his gorgeous wife out of the hospital and to a large black vehicle he didn’t recognize, but wanted to learn how to operate the moment he saw it. Victoria moved to the side where the operational controls were and opened the door.

  Reluctantly, he opened the opposite front door and seated himself, watching closely for when she started this vehicle so he could learn to do it, too.

  “Put your seat belt on,” she said. “It’s required here.”

  “Seat belt?” he said stupidly.

  “Seat belt.” She grabbed at something hanging over her shoulder, crossed a flat gray piece of fabric over her body and snapped a small built-in silver square into a waiting receptacle at her hip. He mimicked her with the device over his shoulder, wondering why everything seemed so, well…alien.

  “We’ll have to stay one more night here, of course,” she said, pushing a button on the console before her, and engaging a motor of some sort. She grabbed a lever between them, bringing it straight down and suddenly launching them forward. He so wanted a chance to operate this vehicle.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Nothing, but next time I want to drive this.”

  “Not a chance,” she said with a grin.

  “Why not?”

  “Lots of reasons, but mostly because you don’t have a license.”

  Holden crossed his arms and remained silent for the duration of their journey. At first it looked like she was leaving town, but Victoria pulled into a lot and parked next to a dubious-looking building with a sign that read, Pinehurst Inn.

  “You’re staying here?” he asked, unable to keep the shock out of his tone.

  “Just temporarily,” she said, shutting off the engine of the large black vehicle he planned to find a way to operate one way or another. “I stayed with the sheriff for a few weeks in a place called Wolf Creek, but they just had a new baby and I felt out of place, so I moved here several days ago to give them space.”

  Holden remembered Bridget mentioning that her brother was the sheriff and then the other words she’d thought. I’m a wolf shifter. You’d better not be my mate. I really like Sam. Luckily, Holden really liked Victoria, his wife. If Bridget was a wolf shifter then her brother was probably also one and they lived in Wolf Creek? That was kind of funny. Perhaps he’d misunderstood her thoughts and shifter wasn’t what she’d said. Maybe shifter meant something else, like dweller. No. Why would she want to hide where she lived? But being able to shift into a wolf was definitely an interesting secret. Either way, Bridget didn’t have to worry. Of course he’d also never share her secrets.

  “Let’s go,” Victoria said, interrupting his unreliable memories.

  “Okay.”

  The clothes Victoria had brought for him to wear out of the hospital were also very odd. The fabrics, while comfortable, did not seem familiar at all. The blue fabric of his pants, she’d called them “jeans,” was soft, comfortable and seemed very durable. The black T-shirt with the Howlers logo was also made from a strange material, but at last he recognized the place. And he’d even been there. Now he had a souvenir to take home. He just wished he remembered where his home was and the gorgeous spouse who went with it.

  He followed his beautiful wife to a nearby door with a lopsided number seven at eye level. She unlocked the door and led him inside to another unfamiliar space. There was one large bed against the wall and a desk with a single chair opposite the bed.

  Holden looked at Victoria’s lovely backside and then at the bed. He had a sudden and ferocious vision of rolling around the soft-looking surface kissing, hugging and loving her until they were both satisfied.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked.

  “Yes.” For food and for you.

  “Let me make a quick phone call and then I’ll run out and get us some food—” He didn’t let her finish. He turned her around, took her in his arms and kissed her the way he’d been wanting to since they left the hospital.

  She melted into his embrace, fully participated in the passionate kiss for about five seconds.

  Then Victoria startled in his arms. “Wait. Stop.” Her voice wavered like she didn’t want to stop.

  “Why? I’ve missed you.” He’d dreamed about her while he’d been in the coma. She was the first memory he had when he woke up. Holden gently put his mouth on hers again. She didn’t resist. She kissed him back, but then her hands came up to his shoulders, pushing him away.

  “What are we doing?” she asked. Her tone was husky and seductive, thoroughly intoxicating.

  “We are getting reacquainted. I have missed you, Victoria.” He kissed her again, just on the corner of her beautiful mouth. Saying her name didn’t seem familiar, but perhaps he had a pet name for her. Honey? Sweetheart? Sizzle Britches? Okay, maybe not that one.

  This time, she didn’t kiss back. But she didn’t correct him, either. “What are you talking about?”

  Before he could respond, a buzzing sound at her waist took her focus away from him.

  She unclipped a small device from her waist and lifted it to her mouth. “Hello,” she said and exited the room into a small bathroom, closing the door behind her, leaving him alone to wonder why she pulled away from his overture.

  Did they not have an amazing marriage? Were they not completely in love with each other? He didn’t remember her at all, but he didn’t remember anything. Or perhaps they’d had an argument before he left?

  Had he left her in anger because they were having a fight? No. That didn’t seem right. He had been buckled into a craft of some sort before falling to the grassy ground. Had she been with him and left to go find help and he was gone when she returned? Could she be angry about that? Didn’t she understand about his memory being faulty? What else could it be?

  He wished he could remember anything else from before that single image in the spacecraft.

  A twinge of pain flared acutely at his hairline near his temple. He threaded his hand into his hair and felt a raised, tender knot. The throbbing ache only came when he tried to remember anything about his past. Curious. He rubbed the sensitive spot again, wishing he could do something to aid his memories in coming back.

  Holden moved closer to the door Victoria had disappeared through. If he put his ear flat against it, he could hear most of her side of the conversation fairly well through the door as if it had no barrier properties whatsoever. The thrill spike at the idea of getting caught eavesdropping on his wife certainly didn’t stop him from doing it.

  He heard, “—didn’t see any tests in his chart from when he was admitted and ordered some.” She stopped talking for a moment as if to listen. He could even hear the low, agitated male voice at the other end of the line, just not what he was saying.

  Who had called her? Why was she ta
lking to another man? Am I jealous? Maybe. He pulled away from the door for a moment when he didn’t hear anything, but that didn’t last long.

  Ear to the door, the rest of the conversation sounded like she was answering questions Holden couldn’t hear. She said, “Yes, unfortunately. No, not yet. I don’t know. Of course. Okay, what? I understand. Right. I don’t think so. Okay. I won’t. I will. Bye.”

  Holden backed away from the door right before it opened. He didn’t want her to think he didn’t trust her. Then again, he didn’t have a basis for that either way. Could he trust his wife, the woman he didn’t truly remember? That was up for debate, given that she’d just been conferring with another man in private.

  “Who was on the phone?” he asked, unable to stop himself. He watched her answer, looking for any deception. Would I be able to determine that? A twinge in his head came with the effort.

  “Oh,” she shrugged. “That was just Cam, my boss. He wanted an update on when we were returning.”

  Holden nodded. If that was a lie, she was very good at it. How do I know that?

  “Okay,” she said, passing by him and the foot of the bed, heading for the outer door. “I’ll go pick up some food for us.”

  “Great. Why don’t I go with you?” He tried to remember any other instance in his past where he and Victoria had gone out together for something to eat.

  He grabbed the side of his head with his palm. Suddenly it hurt, a lot, enough to bring tears to his eyes. He wiped them away, but not before she saw him do it.

  “No. You need to rest. I shouldn’t have taken you out of the hospital so fast, but it couldn’t be helped.”

  “I’ll be okay,” he said, sounding even to himself like he was about to go right back into a coma. “You don’t need to wait on me like I’m homebound. I can help out.” He was useless.

  “No, no. You stay here and sleep. I can see you have a headache from here. It won’t take me long to get us a bite to eat.”

  The pain finally answered for him. “Okay. Fine.” He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted to talk about her call, her boss, and their life together. The amazing one that she’d talked about at the hospital. Not the secretive one where she ducked into the bathroom to have a conversation with another man, even if it was her boss.

  “We’ll eat when I return, and then I have a quick errand to run.”

  “Are we going to keep the doctor’s appointment in the morning?”

  A grin surfaced on her face. “I don’t expect to, but we’ll head back tomorrow morning, okay?” She pointed to the large bed. “Please. Take a nap. I’ll be back before you know it. Any food requests?” He tried to come up with a single food he liked and failed.

  Holden shook his head. The pain increased to a level he wasn’t certain he could bear. “Whatever you bring, I’ll eat.”

  “Okay.” She eyed a backpack, resting on the desk, but didn’t take it with her. “I’ll be right back.”

  He smiled, managing not to move his head. The moment the door closed he sat on the edge of the bed until the pain faded to a manageable level.

  Holden looked at the door, then walked over and opened up her backpack. The first thing he saw nestled in with her other things was the Defender. That strange word just dropped into the forefront of his mind. Like seeing the vehicle they drove here in, he had a sudden urge to take this device apart and see how it worked. Curious. Why would he want to do that? He cast his memory back to discover if he was an inventor or something.

  The agony of trying to remember exactly what a Defender was, and what it did or really any old memory brought Holden to his knees. His consciousness wavered like heat waves rolling across a mid-day desert.

  Space potatoes.

  Don’t fall into a coma.

  Chapter Seven

  <^><^><^>

  Victoria got some food to go from Mummy’s Diner. It wasn’t time for breakfast, but she wanted one more meal of blueberry pancakes before leaving Nocturne Falls. In the past weeks, she’d tried several of the other restaurants in town, but her two favorites were Mummy’s and Howlers. She also ordered a triple side of chewy, thick bacon. She could eat one order all by herself; based on the size of her “husband,” she ordered him two. If Holden didn’t want his, she’d help him finish. If wasting bacon was not a crime, it should be.

  She entered the motel room to find him sitting on the foot of the bed with his head in his hands.

  “Headache still?”

  “Yep.” But the moment she opened the bag he sniffed and sighed. “Smells great. Food might cure me.” He got up and helped her put the white to-go boxes on the room’s small round table. There was only one chair, so they pulled the table to the corner of the bed, where he sat back down.

  If Holden cared about eating blueberry pancakes for an afternoon meal, he didn’t say anything. He wolfed down his food, including the two sides of bacon, and didn’t once complain, but Victoria could tell his head was hurting.

  Dr. Painter had given him a few pain pills when he was released, but they were to be taken only once he’d eaten.

  “Hilda said you regaled her and the rest of the nurses with romantic stories about us.” He licked syrup off his bottom lip.

  “Did she? Well, I felt like I had to tell them something to fill in the silence, since you didn’t talk much.”

  “Tell me what you told them.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “What if I run into someone at the hospital tomorrow and they ask me a question?”

  “We probably won’t even go.”

  “But if we do, just in case…” He smiled and her tummy plummeted to her knees. “Seems like I should know what stories you’ve been telling about me while I was sleeping.”

  “Okay, fine.” She told him the general history of their life together that she’d stuck to faithfully for almost a month. Then Victoria called up the top three fabricated stories she’d repeated to the nursing staff at Nocturne Falls General Hospital to add some authentic-sounding details.

  “I told them the very cute story about how we met.” She related the spur of the moment tale about meeting him in a parking lot in the rain and how gallant he’d been to try to shield her from the downpour only to have his umbrella flip inside-out in the wind, drenching them both.

  “Then I told them about running away to get married because we just couldn’t wait for a big production of a wedding, even though my mother has never truly forgiven us and talks regularly about an elaborate renewal-of-our-vows ceremony.” She certainly didn’t want to call up—or invent on the fly—the fine details of wedding party names, dress colors, cake flavors or honeymoon destinations.

  He laughed, but Victoria could see the pain shadowing the amusement in his eyes.

  “What else?” he asked.

  “I told them how our first apartment was so small we could barely both be in the same room at the same time. And about the orphaned gray and white fluffy cat that came with the place. We called him Fluffy, until a new family next door officially adopted him, renamed him Bob, and then he never called, he never wrote…”

  Holden laughed again at her foolish conjured stories, but then stopped and put a hand up to his head. A few minutes later, he yawned. She convinced him to rest, and in minutes he was asleep, but not before she’d shared a few more stories about their fake life together. They always held hands when they went anywhere, whether on vacation or to the grocery store. He liked to go places and do things on the weekend when she wanted to curl up, stay in and be cozy, so they split the difference and one day they went out and the other they stayed in.

  She really needed to stop it. Just because she thought it would be a good life didn’t mean it was going to happen. He lived on another planet, for heaven’s sake. Rolling her eyes at herself, Victoria made a mental plan for what she’d do at the hospital tonight.

  She watched Holden sleep peacefully and waited for the sun to go down. At dusk, she got ready to leave for the hospital and carry out he
r special mission to ensure the forbidden blood test and CT image had indeed been destroyed.

  She didn’t want to leave without telling him, so she kissed his forehead. His eyes opened, although he didn’t seem very aware.

  “I’ve got to run an important errand at the hospital,” she whispered.

  “What? Why?” he asked, but obviously wasn’t completely awake. The pain pills must have made him super sleepy.

  “You know why. No evidence of aliens can be found here on Earth.”

  He blinked very exaggeratedly, but his eyes were closed when he said, “What? I’m an alien? How did I not know that?”

  “You’re very funny.”

  Without missing a beat, his eyes popped open and he said, “Well, you’re very beautiful, wife of mine.” His eyes closed halfway. He was very sensuous, very sexy.

  I wish you really were mine.

  “Kiss me,” he whispered. Victoria lowered her mouth to his for a quick kiss that turned very passionate for a few moments. But then his medicine must have kicked in again, because he slowly withdrew and relaxed back against his pillow.

  Victoria inhaled deeply and exhaled, trying to get her heart to slow down. Whew, boy. Kisses like that didn’t help with dispelling her “I want a life with this man” fiction. She didn’t get to keep him. She knew that. She silently exited the motel room, closing the door behind her.

  As she did every time she left her motel room, Victoria searched around for the rumored giant cockroach that supposedly lived here. Luckily, she hadn’t seen it and didn’t again tonight. She didn’t want it to jump out at her, especially not on her last night here.

  Victoria traveled on foot to the hospital, not wanting anyone to see her big black SUV near the scene of the crime she was about to commit. The new vehicle brought to her all the way from Alienn at the same time her fake IDs had been sent. Sheriff Merrow probably would have helped her, but she didn’t ask for the same reason she’d moved out of his home. He and Ivy had a new baby and he should spend time with his sweet little family.