Choosing Rose (Other World Series Book Six) Read online

  CHOOSING ROSE

  (Other World Series Book Six)

  Ramona Gray

  Copyright © 2018 Ramona Gray

  Published by

  EK Publishing Inc.

  e-ISBN: 978-1-988826-46-2

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be reproduced, scanned or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy.

  Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Adult Reading Material

  Cover Art by

  The Final Wrap

  Edited by

  L. Nunn Editing

  CHOOSING ROSE

  (Other World Series Book Six)

  By Ramona Gray

  Rose Morris likes order and routine and science. What she doesn’t like is being sucked into the glowing orb she and her team have been studying. Unfortunately, the big blue alien named Vida who appeared out of the last orb doesn’t care. He’s forced Rose and the rest of her team through the latest orb with him, and now she’s on another world where chaos rules and science might as well be witchcraft.

  Vida is determined to return to his home world, even if that means jumping through every orb he comes across. If he must drag a tiny human and her companions through the orb with him, so be it. The new world - an island surrounded by a vast ocean - may be perfect for his needs but it isn’t home. He’ll do what he’s always done, survive in the new world and wait for another orb to appear.

  When Rose is separated from the rest of her team, dangerous animals, killer vegetation and angry locals force her to rely on Vida for protection. As he teaches her how to survive in the new world, their mutual attraction is difficult to resist. Rose knows Vida wants to return to his world, so why does she keep hoping he’ll choose her instead?

  Note: This is Book Six in the Other World Series. It is a stand-alone book in the series and you DO NOT have to read Books One to Five before reading this one.

  * * *

  To read about more worlds, check out the Other World Series.

  To learn about Ramona’s new releases and read excerpts of upcoming books, sign up for her newsletter here.

  Chapter One

  “Crap, crap, crap…CRAP!” Rose banged her hands on the steering wheel of her useless car before climbing out. She slammed the door shut and locked it. A pointless gesture considering the damn thing wouldn’t even start. She hurried across the parking garage toward the elevator.

  She ran through the lobby of her apartment building and out to the street. It was pouring rain and she stared up at the dark sky as lightning flashed. She covered her head with her arm and stood at the edge of the sidewalk. A taxi was careening down the street and she waved frantically at it as the rain soaked her long, blonde hair.

  The taxi screeched to a halt in front of her and she climbed into the back seat. The front seat was separated from the back with a thick layer of plexiglass and the driver’s disembodied voice floated out of the speakers hanging haphazardly from the ceiling.

  “Where to, lady?”

  “The Franklin Center, please.”

  The driver pulled out into the street and Rose rapped on the plexiglass. “By air, please.”

  “It’ll cost ya extra.”

  “I know, that’s fine. I’m in a hurry,” Rose said with an impatient sigh.

  She clutched at the door handle when the driver flipped a switch and there was a loud grinding noise below her feet. The car shivered wildly and lurched sideways as Rose quickly buckled her seat belt.

  “Can this thing even handle air?” She wondered out loud.

  “Don’t you worry, lady. Baby might be showin’ her age but she’s still got all the tricks,” the driver replied.

  There was another painfully loud grinding sound and Rose made a breathless shriek when the car lurched upward. Her stomach dropped to her feet and the driver grinned cheerfully at her through the rearview mirror. “Can you handle air, lady?”

  “Yes,” Rose flapped her hand at him, “I’m fine.”

  “There are bags in the seat pocket in front of you. Use ‘em if yer gonna puke.”

  “I’m not going to puke,” Rose said. “Just get moving, would you? I’m really late and I - ”

  She shrieked again as the cab rose another hundred feet then took off in a burst of speed. The driver honked his horn and cursed at the car hovering next to them. “Get the hell out of my way, ya miscreant!”

  Rose peeked out the window and immediately wished she hadn’t. The people standing on the street below them were the size of ants and her stomach made an unpleasant heave. God, she hated travelling by air in well-maintained cars. Doing so in one that looked like it might drop from the sky at any moment made her want to vomit. She didn’t have much of a choice though. She started work in exactly seventeen minutes and with the morning rush hour, she’d never make it by ground. She jumped when a loud crack of thunder made the car shake and a jagged streak of lightning lit up the sky. She closed her eyes and clung to the door handle as the cab made another unpleasant sway.

  * * *

  “I know, I know. I’m late.” Rose scurried into the lab. She hung her coat on the hook and grabbed her lab coat, slipping into it as she tucked her purse under one of the tables.

  “Relax, the orb isn’t due to appear for another three hours and Solomon isn’t even here yet.” Brody was studying something under one of the microscopes and didn’t notice when Rose frowned.

  “He’s not here yet?”

  “Nope.” He adjusted the dial on the microscope before typing a note on the tablet sitting next to it.

  “But he left the apartment early this morning,” Rose said. “He said he was going to the lab.”

  Brody shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you, Rosie-girl. He’s not here.”

  Rose checked her phone. There were no messages from Solomon and she sent him a quick text before slipping it into the pocket of her lab coat. “What are you looking at?”

  “Another skin sample from Subject Blue Balls.”

  “Don’t call him that,” Rose replied.

  Brody glanced at her. “What else should I call him? Subject 10387? If the big guy won’t tell us his name, I gotta call him something.”

  “Is there any change?”

  “No. He’s getting drier by the day. If he keeps this up, he’ll be completely dried out within the next couple of days. His internal organs are starting to show signs of shutting down.”

  “Crap,” Rose said. “I can’t believe he’s been with us for a month and we still can’t figure out how to rehydrate him.”

  Brody gave her an odd look. “We do know.”

  “We know what?”

  “How to rehydrate him. Figured it out the second day. Didn’t Solomon tell you?”

  “No, he – I had no idea,” Rose said.

  Brody gave her a thoughtful look. “Weren’t you on holidays when the big guy came in?”

  Rose nodded and he smiled cheerfully at her. “That’s why you didn’t know.”

  “But I specifically talked to Solomon about rehydrating him and he said they were still wo
rking on it.”

  “That’s weird,” Brody said. “We rehydrated him a few times the first week.”

  “How?”

  “Just plain old water. Dunk the big guy in some water and his body starts to rehydrate. Makes sense considering the gills behind his ears. Did I tell you that Solomon had me put a piece of the big guy’s flesh in the haloden liquid? I don’t know why. He’s crazy if he thinks we could grow another one just from the flesh. I mean, I know haloden liquid can regenerate human limbs, but this guy isn’t human. The haloden didn’t do anything at all. Rose? What’s wrong?”

  Rose squeezed the edge of the lab table. “I asked Solomon if he tried water and he said yes. He said it didn’t do anything. He lied to me, Brody.”

  Brody gave her an uncomfortable look. “Rose, listen – I know Solomon is your fiancé but he’s also the boss. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff he doesn’t tell a couple of lab monkeys like us.”

  “He lied to me,” Rose repeated.

  Her head snapped up and she stared at Brody. “If he’s so close to dying, why aren’t we rehydrating him?”

  Brody cleared his throat. “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t start lying to me as well, Brody.”

  The short, redheaded man sighed. “Solomon wants to see how long he can go without being rehydrated.”

  “Are you kidding me? He does know he’s dying, right?” Rose said.

  “I gave him the report yesterday. He looked it over and told me to leave things the way they are.”

  “Son of a…”

  “Rosie, where are you going?”

  Rose stormed out of the lab. Using her keycard, she accessed the elevators that led to the lower level. She tapped her foot impatiently as the elevator took her down fourteen floors. When the doors opened, she hurried down the hall and used her keycard to open the last door on the left.

  Subject 10387 was lying motionless in the bed. Both of his arms were strapped down as were his legs. He stared up at the ceiling as she approached the bed. She studied him silently. His skin was a dusty blue colour and it was so dry and cracked that she could see blood seeping through the hospital gown that covered his massive chest. She studied the small black horns growing from his temples. His thick black hair had lost its sheen and clung listlessly to his scalp. His eyes were the colour of warm amber. When his gaze shifted to her, she felt a weird almost painful cramp of pleasure deep in her belly.

  His lips were a slightly darker shade of blue, as were his nails. She touched his arm, wincing when flakes of skin shed away. There was a cup with a damp sponge sitting on the table next to the bed and she swiped the sponge across his dry lips. His mouth opened a little, enough for her to see the tips of his fangs, and his tongue flickered out to lick at the sponge. She set the sponge down and poured water into a glass before holding it to his mouth. He drank eagerly, and she gave him a second glass of water before returning it to the table.

  She cleared her throat as he continued to stare at her with those unnerving amber-coloured eyes. When her hand tightened on his arm he winced, and pain flashed across his face. She crossed the room to the sink that was in the corner, filled a jug with water and marched back to the bed. She hesitated only briefly before pouring the water over his left arm. His skin sucked up the moisture and she poured more, watching with disbelief as the skin began to heal.

  “Holy moly,” she breathed before emptying the jug over his entire forearm. She traced the now smooth skin with the tips of her fingers. “It works.”

  She gave the silent, blue man a look of regret. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  He didn’t reply. In the month he had been here, locked up like an animal, he hadn’t spoken a single word. She didn’t know if he spoke English or if he could even understand a word she said to him. Despite that, she talked to him almost every time she came into the room.

  She spent more time in here than was probably necessary, but she was fascinated by the giant blue man who had appeared from the orb. The woman that was with him was human and a real pain in the butt. She had told them all about her version of Earth. It sounded remarkably like their world. Solomon kept her for only two weeks and did minimal testing on her before turning her over to the Eternity Corporation. Rose wished she had thought to ask the woman if she knew the blue guy’s name before Solomon tossed her out of the lab. She certainly had no problems with talking. In fact, she never shut up.

  She got more water and sponged his face, paying careful attention to the cracked and bleeding skin around the horns. The relief on his face as she sponged him with water was palpable and another surge of guilt went through her.

  “I really am very sorry,” she said. “Solomon lied to me, said he didn’t know how to help you. If I had known I wouldn’t have let it get this far. I’m so sorry.”

  She sponged water over his throat and the top of his chest. “I’ll talk to Solomon and we’ll - I don’t know - get you into a bath or something, okay?”

  She brushed her hand over his cheekbone. “Is that a little better at least?”

  He nodded, and her eyes widened. “You understand me.”

  His eyes shifted to the sponge she held in her hand and she quickly swiped it across his throat again before sliding it under his hospital gown. She squeezed the sponge, letting water drip over his chest and he made a soft hissing sound.

  “I’m sorry. I know that hurts.” She used her other hand to rub his arm. “Gosh, I feel so awful about this.”

  She brushed his hair back from his forehead and dipped the sponge into the water before squeezing it across his chest again. “Can you speak English? Will you tell me your name?”

  He remained silent and she sighed before dipping the sponge into the jug. When she turned back to him, he was staring directly at her.

  Her mouth dropped open when he said in a low, hoarse voice, “Vida. My name is Vida.”

  She closed her mouth with a snap. “It’s nice to meet you, Vida. My name is Rose. Like the flower. Do you have roses where you come from?”

  He shook his head.

  “Do you have flowers?”

  A nod this time. She sponged more water onto his chest. “Why didn’t you tell us before that you could speak English?”

  He gave her a look that clearly suggested she was an idiot. She kind of was. They had basically been torturing him since he came out of the portal. Why would he talk to them?

  “Where am I?” He asked.

  “You’re in a lab in a city called New Eston. Where are you from?”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “Almost a month. Can you tell me how old you are or where you’re from?”

  “Where is the woman that was with me?”

  “Vida, I get that you don’t want to tell us anything, but giving us something means getting something in return. If you cooperate, they’ll be more…generous with you. You would be rehydrated, maybe even allowed outside to get some fresh air.”

  She shouldn’t be making these types of promises. Truthfully, she had no idea what they would do for Vida if he started cooperating. She’d only been working at the lab for six months now, and this was the first time something had come through an orb since she started.

  She knew there had been other creatures to come through orbs, but they were no longer at the lab. The Eternity Corporation gave Solomon three months to do testing before they swooped in and took the subjects to who knew where.

  “Where is the woman?” Vida repeated.

  “She’s, um, not at the lab anymore.” She checked her watch. “I’m going to find Solomon and talk to him about rehydrating you, okay? In the meantime, think about what I said. It’s in your best interest to cooperate with us.”

  Chapter Two

  The woman’s low laugh stopped Rose from barging into Solomon’s office. She slowed and then peeked in through the open door. Marissa, the newest lab tech, was standing next to Solomon. Solomon’s office overlooked the portal room and they were both staring out
the window at the lab technicians preparing for the portal’s opening. She supposed Marissa was standing a little closer than necessary to Solomon. She decided she should feel more jealousy than she did.

  She leaned against the doorway. Solomon was a good looking guy and lots of the women in the lab flirted with him. Besides, she wasn’t the jealous type – never had been.

  “So, explain to me again how the portals work, Dr. Markel.” Marissa’s voice always sounded like she was on the verge of an orgasm.

  “I’ve told you, it’s okay to call me Solomon inside the lab too.” There was a warmth to her fiancé’s voice that she hadn’t heard in a long time. “I don’t know how the portals work. It’s not my department, is it?”

  “No, I guess not,” Marissa replied. “Thanks so much for letting me watch the portal opening. I’m really excited.”

  “Of course.” Solomon held a tablet in his hand and he swiped across the screen. “After the portal closes, you can come with me while we analyze the data.”

  “What if something comes through?”

  “It won’t. This portal is one that sucks in people, not spits them out.” He grinned at her. “Maybe next time.”

  “Is the blue guy dead yet?” Marissa asked.

  Rose shook her head at the woman’s callousness.

  “Not yet,” Solomon said as he scanned his tablet.

  “Can I see him?” Marissa asked.

  Solomon shook his head. “Only certain personnel are allowed in.”

  “You let Rose see him.” Marissa’s voice was thick with jealousy.

  Solomon glanced up at her and grinned. “No need to be jealous, Marissa. You know you’re special.”