WILD SHORT READS - PARANORMAL ROMANCE FLASH FICTION

COSMIC SUMMONS

"Hello?"

No answer. The vivid word—boldly painted on the desert sky—was already fading into obscurity. With a scoff, I ground the sputtering sparkler underfoot and stripped off. The indifferent Milky Way winked innocently as I stripped and lay back on the picnic blanket.

Midnight crawled ever closer. A thousand needles pierced my nervous system. Sweat appeared on my brow as the infernal compulsion zinged like a homing beacon between my thighs. Calmly peeling a banana, I clenched my thighs tighter and ignored the tattoo pulsing insistently on my forearm.

When the summons first appeared—complete with date, secret star maps, and clandestine coordinates—it'd felt profound. Thrilling, even.

Come alone and come ready, mate. Together we will journey amongst the stars.

The illicit rush had soon been drenched in a cold chill as I'd watched the marking in horror. At the stroke of midnight, the date clocked over to a new year and the coordinates twisted painfully underneath my skin until they settled on a new destination.

Well, tonight was the last fucking night I let my future be dictated by some cosmic joke. I took a large, satisfying bite out of the banana.

"Aren't you going to share your divine spread?"

The amused rumble shattered my illusion of solitude. Flinging the banana away, I leapt to my feet and grabbed the only weapons at hand—the open packet of sparklers and lighter. Something sinewy, like a lasso, snatched the flying fruit mid-air and brought it up to a smirking mouth.

"Delicious," the stranger allowed. "But not quite the Earth delicacy I was hoping to sample."

Pulse thundering, I peered into the shadows and the male waggled his eyebrows. A chorus of chuckles rose from his hidden companions.

"You scared her, Ezrahelle." I whisked around to face the newcomer who raised his hands in surrender. "I am Triuth. We have fought many battles to reach your side, mate."

My jaw dropped as he bowed.

Triuth was breathtaking, the naked hope on his raw features only made him more so. My gaze floated down to the bare chest on display. Muscular, textured and midnight blue. In the dancing light, scales slid just beneath the skin while his tail swished back and forth. Yeah, this male was definitely not human. Nor were his equally stacked, equally aroused—if their straining leather coverings were anything to go by—companions.

I shivered at being surround by all of this alien manmeat. The silence became gloopy and the air crackled between us expectantly. I felt strangely powerful as the rush of adrenaline transmuted into something much more dangerous. Want.

My feet lurched forward a step until I locked them in place. In response to my defiance, the summons sent a vicious shock straight to my sex. As I fell to my knees, the four aliens closed in, their movements graceful and inexorable.

"What's—happening?" I panted.

"Drustane," cautioned Ezrahelle, the banana stealer. "We're out of time. The summons—"

"Not by force," barked Drustane. "She must choose."

I groaned. The leader's tone was smoky and entirely fuckable. I needed him issuing sultry commands, not this cryptic bullshit. A giant fist gripped my ovaries forcing me to curl in on myself as Triuth took my chin in his huge hand.

"We have to give you relief now, mate. Do you understand? The summoning magic is potent. You sent out an urgent call to the stars. And, as your fated mates, we are bound to respond."

"Me?!" I gargled through the pain. "I didn't ask for this."

"Yes. You did," growled Drustane. I glared at the bossy male but my sex only clenched all the harder as his breath spilt over my feverish flesh. "Allizaar will begin the mating chant as soon as you admit to your actions, mate."

The silent member of the group nodded obediently and began to hum. The melody sent my strange tattoo into an ecstatic frenzy.

"I didn't ask for this," I repeated through clenched teeth. Drustane dark gaze held mine as he pressed a challenging kiss to my bare shoulder. I screamed at that merest brush of lips. "Fuck. Me!"

"Yes, mate," Ezrahelle chuckled, drawing a cramped foot onto his lap to knead the tortured flesh. "That is the plan."

"S'good," I slurred, leaning into that heavenly touch. "Don't stop. More." Hands—many hands—began roaming the curves of my skin. "One of you fuckers better start s'plaining."

With a sexy smirk, Drustane bent to take a puckered nipple in his mouth, swirling his rough tongue around the tip. I growled and thrashed as he pinned me in place with a firm hand on my chest.

"Only the most potent word witch can cast this spell." Triuth gently pried my fingernails free from the mark to lick along my flesh, tracing the lines of the spell. "You are one of the most powerful my kind have encountered." He groaned. "We must obey your compulsion and bring you respite. Please, mate?"

I nodded. Relief sounded good. Allizaar's humming broke into a potent chanting while Drustane's tail wrapped around my neck, tugging my attention back him. "Say it, mate."

"Say what?"

The Milky Way beat down from above. Each alien touch sent me spiraling higher. A keen erupted from my lips, twining its way into Allizaar's song. The final male came to kneel between my legs, carefully draping one thigh over each shoulder.

"Say what you need from us, mate," coaxed Triuth. "Tell us how to alleviate your great suffering."

The answer came to me, startling in its simplicity.

"You." I whispered, licking my cracked lips. "All of you." My tone, painful and vulnerable, soon built into a fierce growl. "Right fucking now."

With a roar, all four males fell to their task. When the bard's song connected with my sex, I screamed in astonishment as my fated mates—and, yes, the entire fucking Universe—bent to my will for one perfect moment. Effortlessly transforming my soul into a shooting star.