Koop's Spark Read online

  May grinned from ear to ear. “The isle of course.”

  Maggie laughed. Not just a chuckle but a real, long belly laugh. She loved her mischievous sister with her… She would say with her whole heart, but glancing up at Koop, she acknowledged that he now owned half of it, while May had the other half.

  Koop placed a hand on Maggie’s cheek and planted a sweet but brief kiss on her other cheek. Pulling back a touch, he smiled at Maggie. “Let’s head to the pod then. It would seem May will be taking her first ride.”

  May squealed in delight before spinning around and running from the room. Her heavy, stomping footsteps were heard running along the hallway and then up the stairs.

  “Where are you going?” Maggie called after her sister.

  “Getting work clothes on. I need to look like I know what I’m doing.”

  Ten minutes later, May returned, looking like the professional she was, in a blue pencil skirt and white silk blouse with her hair pulled into a bun at the base of her neck.

  “Ready?” she asked, excitement once again filling her voice.

  Chapter 8

  Five hours later, with signed documents in hand to prove they had purchased Mermaid Island, Koop landed the six-man pod back in May’s garden. Maggie couldn’t believe things had moved that quickly. She had been expecting weeks, maybe a month or two to find somewhere, let alone buy it.

  The island had several small houses on it along with one very large, twenty-odd bedroom mansion that had already been cleared out and cleaned by the previous owner. Their small group had managed to get a good glimpse of Mermaid Isle from the air and ground before the owner turned up with two of his lawyers in tow.

  The sale had gone through quickly because the owner’s lawyers had the required papers needed to allow them to buy the island. He was pretty eager to sell the place. With the use of the pod’s replicator, the Gracians had also come prepared, several million in cash, along with a case to carry the money in.

  Maggie was more than glad when the pod landed. She was so tired her bones felt heavy. May and Nim had traveled back with Maggie and Koop. Teclis and Coil had volunteered to stay behind.

  When the deal had gone through, and the three human men had left the island, Koop had contacted Trian. He’d informed his captain that with the buildings already on the island, there was no need for anything else except for security to be put in place. Several pods with the needed equipment were already on the way to the isle. Damn, these Gracians moved fast.

  “You seem tired, me unum.” Koop slid an arm around Maggie’s waist.

  Raising her head, Maggie looked deeply into Koop’s eyes. It was weird seeing the contacts in his eyes, she was so used to seeing his eyes swirl with his emotions.

  “I am.” Maggie nodded. “It’s been a rather emotional day.”

  “Maybe you would like to sleep for a while?”

  “Yes, I would like that very much.”

  Stepping inside May’s house, Maggie was about to excuse herself when May excitedly asked a question that stunned her.

  “So you have your island, when are we heading to your ship?”

  “Umm, for a visit?” Maggie asked.

  “No, to stay!” May exclaimed.

  Before Maggie could say anything, Nim stepped forward and interjected, “I think it would be unwise at this time.”

  “What? Why?” May asked, her smile disappearing off her face as she stared at the Gracian, whose blue eyes were swirling faster the more he gazed over May.

  Nim had taken his contacts out in the pod, complaining they irritated his eyes. Being he wasn’t heading into the human population, no one said anything. But seeing his eyes now, Maggie wondered why Nim’s emotions were suddenly so intense. The answer seemed just out of reach, on the tip of her tongue.

  “Your sister has already been reported as missing. If you were to disappear as well...” Nim said, not finishing his sentence, allowing them to draw their own conclusions.

  “But…” May pouted.

  Nim reached a hand out to calm May when the answer to his powerful emotions suddenly hit Maggie like a ton of bricks. When Nim hadn’t been scanning the areas he’d been in, he’d stared at May like a hawk. His intense look was one of intrigue and curiosity, similar to that of a stalker watching its prey. Could it really be that May was Nim’s spark? Over the last few months, Maggie had grown to seeing the raw emotions from the Gracians in their swirling eyes. But with their human contacts in, it was hard to tell what they were experiencing.

  “Wait!” Maggie shouted, her arm outstretched to reach between Nim and May. But it was too late.

  She watched as a single, blue line of energy left Nim’s hand and entered May’s. Maggie was sure the surprise on both Nim and May’s faces was a picture image of her own. Then May’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she went limp. As her body folded, Nim caught her before she hit the floor and lifted her close to his chest.

  “She’s mine?” Nim said in awe. “I have a spark.” He turned his head toward Koop. “I didn’t think, I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have...” Nim shook his head as he stuttered.

  Taking several large steps, Koop was across the room, placing a placating hand on Nim’s shoulders. “Stop,” Koop ordered the floundering male. “It would seem May will be heading to the stars anyway,” he said to his officer with a smile.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I… We were told not to touch the human females, but she seemed so distressed, and I just wanted to comfort her.”

  Koop patted Nim’s shoulder in an effort to calm him a little. “Potest solum unum.” Koop bowed his head briefly and smiled.

  Maggie walked up behind Koop to look over her sister. She wanted to make sure she was okay. She’d been on the end of that small energy spark herself, but had yet to see it happen. Seeing May sleeping peacefully in Nim’s arms, Maggie smiled.

  “You’re going to have an interesting life with her. I’ll give you one piece of advice you’re going to need.” She placed a hand on her sister’s arm. “If she has her mind set on something, I wouldn’t say no. Because no matter what, she will find a way to do it. Just go with the flow, Nim.” Maggie chuckled.

  “Did you not feel anything toward the female before you went to touch her?” Koop asked Nim.

  Nim shook his head several times before answering. The bewildered look on his face was still intense. “Initially, I didn’t really pay much attention to her. I was more aware of everything around us. It wasn’t until we were on the pod that I really felt…” Nim frowned as if he sought words to describe how he felt. “Her face, her curves, her voice. It all seemed to come into focus. I have never felt such feelings and was unsure what they were. The sudden need to keep her protected had me wanting her to stay here away from the Lesh. The possessiveness had me wanting to keep her away from the other men on the ship. She could have been any one of their sparks, instead of mine. I am sorry, sir. If I had just taken a few moments more before…”

  Koop glanced at Maggie. He still had the human contacts in his eyes, and Maggie found herself both annoyed and upset that she couldn’t see his Gracian orbs swirl. “It happens, Nim.” He gave Maggie an all-knowing smile. He turned back toward the security officer. “I suggest that it’s time Maggie see the stars she so much wants to see. Take her home, officer. I’ll inform the captain that you’re on the way back and explain why. And don’t worry, I don’t foresee any problems with you returning to the ship. Trian will simply send another in your place.”

  “What of you and your spark?” Nim asked.

  “Maggie and I will pack a few personal things for both women until the pod returns. Then we will return to the island where we will work on our plans for the ship and see our men settled. We will be fine. We have some work to do before we return to the Gemorph.”

  Nim nodded before returning his gaze back to the woman in his arms. Already Maggie could see the love Nim had for her sister. Had it been the same for Koop?

  “Yes.” Koop cupped her nape in
a domineering manner and kissed her forehead.

  Maggie raised her eyebrows in question. How had he known what she was thinking?

  Koop ran a finger over her cheek. Small wrinkles appeared at the corner of his eyes when he smiled. “You have a very expressive face, me unum.”

  “If you wait a moment,” Maggie said to Nim, “I’ll pack a few things May might want to have with her.”

  Nim bowed his head, his gaze never leaving May’s face.

  Maggie rushed up the stairs and began packing some things for her sister. She couldn’t help the smile on her face. Her sister was a Gracian’s spark. Who would have thought it? And what were the odds that one of the security team on their first trip to Earth would be the one?

  These alien men had been searching the stars for many years. Some had given up their fight to survive when they began to flare. Not that they had a choice. If only they had found Earth sooner. But then life offered no ifs, just what was.

  Maggie carried a small backpack downstairs containing a few items that would have her sister starting her life on the Gemorph with a little more from home than Maggie had done. Nim hadn’t moved from the spot he’d been in when Maggie had left the room. Koop, however, was in the kitchen area, talking to someone on his comm.

  “Here, Nim.” Maggie gave the backpack to the tall Gracian warrior. “From what I have heard and experienced so far, I know you will look after her. But if for any reason, she is harmed by you, not only will she have your balls, but I will too.”

  “As will I,” Koop said, suddenly appearing behind Maggie. He bent low and whispered in her ear. “Have I not asked you before, me unum, to not be thinking of any other man’s balls but mine?”

  Maggie chuckled as yet again an image of her cupping her mate’s heavy balls in her hands came forth.

  “Take her home, warrior,” Koop ordered. “We will see you after your seclusion.”

  Nim turned and took a step, but then halted, looking back at Koop. “A question, sir, if I may?”

  Koop nodded.

  “Our sparks look very much the same, so why is it they have different males?”

  Maggie nearly chuckled at the look of confusion on both of the warriors’ faces. The Gracians really did have a lot to learn about humans, especially about identical twins, it would seem.

  “I feel no attraction to your mate. And I am sure if I touched her, I wouldn’t feel a thing.” Koop shook his head. “I do not have an answer to your question.”

  “Just because we look alike, doesn’t make us the same. We are still different people,” Maggie said, deciding to clear up the men’s confusion.

  “But is the genetic code not the same for...” Nim twitched a finger between Maggie and May.

  “Twins?” Maggie asked.

  “Twins, yes.”

  “To be honest, I’ve never looked into it. Maybe that’s something you would like to ask Hover,” Maggie replied. She was an identical twin, her sister her soul mate. But in her thirty-eight years, the science stuff behind it had never really crossed Maggie’s mind.

  Nim bowed his head toward Koop and Maggie before turning and heading out the back door to the cloaked pod. Maggie watched as he seemingly disappeared into thin air with her sister still in his arms. Besides some strands of grass standing back up in their raised positions, there was no indication of sound or movement that the pod had left.

  “What now?” Maggie asked, shutting the back door.

  “Now, my little spark, we have some free time before another warrior brings a pod down so we can leave the area and head to the island.”

  Maggie glanced around the house where she had lived for a short while with her sister. She realized that everything around her was nothing but material goods. Nothing was hers either. Tears prickled her eyes. Nothing was hers. She was thirty-eight and had nothing but a closet of clothes to show she had lived here. Koop’s finger appeared under her chin and raised her head up. Her eyes met his.

  “What is wrong, Maggie? I see such sadness in your eyes.” Koop ran a thumb near her right eye, wiping a tear away that was forming. “May will be fine with Nim. He will care for her like the precious treasure she is.”

  “I know. It isn’t that.” Maggie curled herself into Koop’s hard, muscled body and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tight. “I fought so hard to return to my sister and my life here. With May heading toward the Gemorph with Nim, I realize that there is nothing here anymore to hold me back from spending my life with you. Besides her, there never was. You could have died because…” Maggie couldn’t seem to say her next words aloud. The ones that said she’d nearly given up Koop for a life she’d thought she’d been happy with. For people who worked for her, for a business barely making any money. “It all seems so futile.”

  “Not futile, my little spark. Your sister means a lot to you.”

  “It wasn’t just her though. I had other responsibilities, the people I employed. To plan a building for an obnoxious client who never seemed happy. To make Todd pay for the years I wasted on him.” Maggie sighed heavily, releasing the burden of what had been her life. “And yet, with it all gone, I feel…liberated. Free to do as I please and not have the pressure of everyday life. I want to enjoy myself, Koop.” She lifted her head and sought his eyes out again.

  “I am sorry that is gone, my love.”

  “I’m not.” She smiled up at her mate. “I’m free to have some fun now, Koop. With you. To maybe start that family I have wanted for so long?”

  Koop didn’t need to answer her question with words, the smile on his face said it all. “Show me where you sleep, my little spark. Let’s go start on that family.” He grinned.

  * * * *

  Koop loved seeing the dancing eyes of his mate. In a matter of a few hours he’d seen her relax more than she’d ever been on the Gemorph. She lay boneless in his arms as he carried her through May’s house, along the small hallway, and up the stairs. Lowering his head, he placed brief kisses on her lush lips as his fingers stroked her skin where he held her. He breathed in her sweet-smelling aroma. Pure Maggie.

  “Last room on the left,” she said with a knowing smile that made his cock harder than before.

  He had been stiff and uncomfortable each time he gazed upon his mate since landing the pod. Seeing May in Nim’s arms only made his body crave his mate more, knowing full well that May had been the last thing holding Maggie back from enjoying her life aboard the Gemorph with him.

  Koop nudged the door open to what he assumed to be Maggie’s room. There weren’t many items inside that he would say belonged to his spark. He’d gotten to know a little about her in the time they had shared long bouts of sex. He didn’t need as much sleep as Maggie did, so instead he’d enjoyed watching her as she slept.

  Koop released Maggie onto her bed, then bent down and covered her mouth with his. He ran his tongue over her lips, urging her to open to him. Satisfaction thrummed through every cell in his body when she did.

  The kiss quickly turned heated, their tongues meeting and stroking along each other with passion. Maggie released a soft, throaty moan which had his cock twitching in the tight, blue, human trousers he was still wearing. How did human men cope with their phalluses pushing against the metal of the zipper?

  Pulling away from his spark, Koop tugged his shirt up and over his head. Then, with a curse in his own language, he tried to release the damn zipper and button that held the jeans up.

  “Here, let me.” Maggie pushed his fingers away, and he sighed in relief when he felt the cool air of the room hit his shaft.

  “Those things are torture. Our men are going to have a hard time with them.” Koop frowned.

  “We can try other forms of trousers until we find a good fit for you Gracians.”

  “Good,” Koop muttered, pulling the jeans the rest of the way down his legs.

  “But of course...” Maggie grasped his dick, squeezing it a little between her fingers. “...not all human men go commando.” She
chuckled.

  The word commando brought images of human soldiers to his mind, and he briefly wondered why men would put warriors in their pants. But that thought dissipated when Maggie started pumping his cock in her small fist. He couldn’t stop himself from closing his eyes and relishing the sensation. He also couldn’t stop the occasional thrust of his hips at the delicious feeling she was causing to his body.

  “Koop.” Maggie’s voice had a throaty huskiness to it.

  Opening his eyes, Koop stared down at his luscious mate who was still fully dressed.

  “Take your contacts out please,” she requested softly. “I want to see your eyes, not those things. I wish to see your Gracian orbs as they swirl faster when you take me.”

  Koop could almost hear the love Maggie had for him in her voice. She hadn’t yet said those three words, but deep down he knew she would. And he was patient enough to wait.

  Koop stood beside Maggie’s bed and pulled his contacts out one by one and placed them on the small bedside table. With a smile, he asked, “Better?”

  “Oh yes, much.”

  Maggie knelt up on her knees and proceeded to take off the white shirt she was wearing, then she lay down on her back and undid her jeans. Koop grabbed the end of her jeans by her feet and pulled the trousers off her legs, bit by slow bit, watching with mouth-watering interest as her skin was revealed.

  Placing one knee on the bed, Koop went to climb up his mate’s body when something dinged in the background of the house. Maggie sat up so quickly, it was only Koop’s swift reflexes that stopped him from headbutting her nose.

  “Shit!” Maggie swore. “May never said she was expecting anyone, although it could be someone from her work being she hasn’t gone in.” Maggie’s looked up at him with worried eyes.

  “Expecting someone?” Koop asked with confusion. “Are you saying someone is here?”

  “Yes, someone is at the front door.”

  Koop went on alert, listening for any movement in the house. “Can you not ignore it?” he asked.

  “I could, but with me going missing and May not at work, someone might get a bit nosy, and the back door isn’t locked if whoever is here tries it open it. We don’t want them panicking, thinking that May might be missing too—not with us in the house.”