Текст книги "Wed To The Alien Prince"

Автор книги: January Bell

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

He’s hard and huge. Huge, hard, and… weird. Not bad weird, just… not-human weird. His dick is covered in smooth, scale-like bumps, and like the rest of him, is a shade of green. A small nub sits above his dick, and as I stare, it vibrates, just slightly.

My insides clench on nothing. I can’t look away.

“You like it already,” he crows, pleased at my reaction.

“It looks like a sex toy,” I say, finally tearing my gaze away. “That looks…” I bite off my observation. Because as much fun as his downtown cityscape seems, it wouldn’t be just an amusement park.

Nah.

It would mean babies.

Alien babies.

His cock would already be a lot to take in. I’m not sure about the whole package it comes with.

Still, I have an IUD. Maybe I could take him for a whirl without any alien spawn. What would our baby even look like? I squeeze my eyes shut, banishing the thought.

I thought I gave up that dream, the idea of a family. It’s too much now to even consider it. Too painful. I know all too well how much hope can hurt. It’s easier to ask why not instead of why. It’s easier to push people away. To be prickly and keep everyone at arm’s length.

Kanuz walks into the depths of the clear pool, sparkling with the firelight. He sinks deeper and deeper into the water, his tail lashing behind him and propelling him forward.

He has a tail. A tail!

I can’t really be thinking about having sex with him, can I?

Why not?

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CHAPTER EIGHT

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KANUZ

Gen occupies nearly all my thoughts. I cannot seem to stop about the way her ample breasts heaved as she stared up at me, about the feel of her soft skin against my lips, her brow furrowed in consternation.

Cool water sluices around me, and I surge through it, aiming deep, where I know the fish keep to the dark recesses. Sure enough, the white scales flash in the darkness, but I strike before it can swim away, my talons spearing it. I give a mighty kick and launch myself towards the surface.

Gen will be pleased. I am pleased. These fish are a delicacy, the white flesh tender and delicious. From the looks of it, there are plenty to feast on while we search for the many-faced goddess’ treasure.

Air bursts around me as I reach the surface, and I draw in a great lungful, the fish squirming fruitlessly against my hold on it.

“That was fast,” Gen says, and there’s a note of appreciation in her voice.

Pride fills me. “I am a good provider and protector.”

“And so humble,” she says, but a hint of a smile offsets the biting sarcasm in her voice.

“A prince has no need to be humble. I was raised to rule, not raised to meekly follow. I was raised for command.” I stride from the pool, water streaming down my naked body, and I notice as Gen’s gaze dips to where my cock stands proudly between my legs. “Look your fill,” I purr, “soon I will be the one filling you.”

She snorts, raising one eyebrow before examining the fish in my hand.

She does not contradict me, however, and for that alone, triumph fills me.

My wife is considering it—taking me fully as her husband. I cannot wait to complete our mating, even though a small part of me still hears my father’s voice in my head.

That I am not ready for the crown, ready for rule. That I am not enough for Sueva.

How can I be enough for this feisty human female, a leader amongst her people?

I give my head a little shake, as though that will shake loose the negative thoughts rooted deep in my brain.

I don’t want them there. I want her there, I want her to fill my thoughts, her light banishing the darkness threatening there. I want to lose myself in her completely.

She’s a dangerous thing, this human female.

“You’re looking at me strangely,” she says, her adorable nose wrinkled, her hair drying in golden waves across her shoulders.

“I want you,” I tell her simply. There’s no need to pretend otherwise. I’ve never had to work this hard for a female, and this one is already wed to me.

“Food,” she says, carefully enunciating the word. “Tell me how to eat this thing.”

“You’ve never had fish before? Do they not have fish on your planet?”

“I’ve had fish. Do you eat it whole? Raw?”

I squint at her. “Are you joking? Do humans eat it whole and raw?”

“Uh, sometimes we eat it raw. It’s called sushi.”

“If you would like to eat it raw, my flower, that is up to you. I would recommend using the fire to cook it, though.”

“Right.” She stares at the fish in my hands.

“Here, my prickly flower, sit and I will serve you.”

She grumbles something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like an insult, and I laugh softly, slicing a talon through the soft flesh of the fish. “It has been a long while since I cleaned a fish, but I have many fond memories of my father, the king, taking me out when I was young. Before my mother died.”

“Oh,” Gen’s face crumples, then smooths out. “I’m sorry to hear that, about your mother.”

“The same virus that kept our species from producing females also caused many of them to die. My mother was one of many to suffer from it.” It was awful at the end, watching her slowly waste away, in pain. It was nearly a relief when she finally succumbed to it. “I miss her every day,” I tell Gen.

“My parents were killed in the Roth invasion. Niki’s were too. Niki is our captain,” she says quietly. “Most of us were orphaned that day. Mine were civilians, though—a lot of the women in our crew grew up military.”

She goes silent, her eyes clouded with painful memories. I want to reach out and touch her, to offer her the small physical comfort, but since I’m currently eviscerating a fish, I refrain. I do not think she would like to be covered in fish muck.

“I am sorry for you, too. The Roth are a blight on the universe,” I say instead. “There are rumors that the Roth are to blame for the virus.”

“They killed hundreds of thousands of my people. They didn’t need a virus. Just their superior weapons.” She picks up a pebble from the floor, running her fingers over it. “I had to join up after what they did. Everything changed after that week.”

“Why did they leave Earth?” It’s a question we could never figure out; why the Roth would invade and then abandon such a primitive planet, ripe for the picking.

“We repelled them. Not at first, obviously, but we destroyed enough of their ships that they left.”

I frown, slicing the fish meat into bite size chunks. “That’s not like them.”

They should have sent more. It doesn’t add up.

“Why didn’t you help? If Sueva was concerned about the Roth, then why didn’t you step up?”

I blink at her, surprised at her line of questioning. “We are helping now,” I answer cautiously. “We are sending the interplanetary defense system your Federation asked for.”

“Did you know they would attack Earth?”

“We were busy defending settlements on other planets. They are a vicious species.” Memories churn through me, memories I’m certain she shares too. If not the exact same, then the same flavor of destruction, of blood and of pain.

“We have video of Suevans attacking Roth at your settlements. We had to reverse engineer their tech to get it, but their invasion advanced what we could do exponentially.”

“That is good, for a primitive species.”

She gawks at me for a minute. “Primitive? You’re the one gutting that fish with your bare hands.”

I hold the carcass out to her. “Would you prefer to do it?”

“With what?” She holds up her blunt fingers. “It’s just—we’re not… Okay. I guess we are—were—primitive.”

“My prickly flower, could it be that you are agreeing with me?”

“No.” She squints at me. “You really think we’re primitive?”

“Did you Federation tell you the true purpose of your mission here?” I still can’t quite wrap my head around their lies. “That you were to marry into our race for breeding purposes? You tell me that they did not allow you this choice, and in the next breath claim that your species is not the primitive one? We never imagined the females that came to us would not know the reason why.” Anger rises in me, and I stand abruptly, leaving the fileted fish on the smooth stone.

Her lips purse, and she throws the pebble into the pool beyond, where it splashes against the surface. “You have a point.”

“Ah, my sweet Gen, are you feeling feverish? You are agreeable. You must be famished indeed.”

“Shut up,” she grumbles, then snorts a tiny human laugh.

I smirk at her faux ire. The roots of the zitsu tree that’s claimed this temple sprout several branches, and I trek over to where they are, snapping them off cleanly while Gen glowers at me from her curled up position near the warmth of the ancient’s puzzle wall.

I may have oversold how easy it will be to solve the mystery of this place, but I am nothing if not confident in my ability to find this treasure. I must be, because only one who is worthy of the treasure will find it. Such is the way of the goddess.

The branches snap easily, and I send up a silent prayer of thanks as I walk back to my mate and our meal. Though I have never been truly religious, it seems best to err on the side of piety when searching for the goddess’ treasure.

I skewer the meat on the green boughs, then singe it over the flame in the wall.

“How long will it last?”

“I assume we will eat some now and fish again after resting. Are you not hungry?”

“No, I mean the fire.”

“It should burn for the next eight days or so, if I remember correctly, giving us enough time to find the treasure and find our way out of the maze.”

“It’s a maze?”

I sigh, handing her the first skewer full of meat. “It is like a puzzle box, this temple. There will be more traps and riddles, and likely dangers along the way.”

“Like dinosaurs and giant snakes? Or… like angry aliens who want to murder me because you want to knock me up?”

Aghast, I stare at her, my own skewer of fish meat burning where I hold it against the flame. “I would never hit you. Is this something men from your planet do? It is unthinkable to strike one’s mate.”

Her eyes go wide, and she shakes her head before laughing, the sound loud in the quiet of the temple, echoing off the hard surfaces. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. Although, that’s good, good. Yeah. No, it means to get pregnant.”

My cock grows immediately hard again, and I groan with the need to slake my lust. “Do not speak of it unless you are ready to take me.”

“Is it really that exciting for you? The thought of that?” Her brow quirks, and she bites into the meat. Her expression changes instantly as she chews, and the meat disappears into her pretty mouth. Satisfaction fills me. I did that. I provided for my female, and now she makes happy, contented noises as she chews.

“It is more than exciting,” I tell her. “I can scent that you are ready to swell with my child.”

“That’s… ah, humans can’t do that.”

“Suevan women can only orgasm when they are ready to be mated, and your scent tells me that you are ready to be pleasured.” I chew my own fish, lust roaring through me as I watch her through heavy lids.

“Well, I can tell you this, my scaley dude, that is not true of humans. Not at all. We can come any time, any place, and orgasms aren’t just for babies.” She laughs, then eyes the rest of the fish. I take her empty skewer and refill it, charring the fish just so.

“You would not speak of your orgasms if you knew what it did to me, your dude.”

When I hand it back to her, she’s watching me with a careful, curious expression. “Thank you. For catching the fish and cooking it.”

“Tell me more about human females. It seems I have much to learn.”

“You know who would love this conversation?” she asks, smiling as she bites into her second helping of fish. She seems relaxed now, the firelight dancing over her golden skin, her hair as bright as dawn in the sky. I like her like this.

I like her very much.

“Our crew’s tech, Bex, is probably thrilled to be married to an alien. She is probably having the time of her life right now explaining female anatomy to her scaley husband.”

Disappointment wrecks me, and the succulent taste of the fish turns to ash in my mouth. “I am sorry that this was not what you wanted, my prickly flower. I am sorry that I am not who you would choose, even though I would choose you one million times over. And not just because you are beautiful, not just because I would pick your face out of all the others in the galaxy, but because you are strong, stubborn, and resilient. You look delicate and fragile, and you are because you are human, but underneath that? You have as much mettle as any Suevan warlord on the battlefield.”

It's more than I meant to say, but the Suevan language is meant for truths, and I will speak mine.

She stares at me for a moment, her eyes wide. “You know,” she says conversationally, between bites, “we have a flower on my planet that’s on a very thorny plant. It’s called a cactus.”

“It sounds formidable.”

She shrugs, and there’s a charming awkwardness to the gesture.

I realize something important about this human female.

She doesn’t like the compliments. She doesn’t like to be thought of as a flower or as fragile or as anything but a survivor—a fighter—which she is.

I grin at the realization. Because now? Now that I can understand her, now that I see a little more of who she is under that guarded wall… I can truly begin to woo her.

A sly smile spreads across her face, and she stretches languidly, her back against the wall, fire still flickering above her head.

“So, you wanted to know about human females, is that right?” Her voice is slightly husky, whether with exhaustion or something else, I do not know.

My attention hones in on her. “There is nothing I would rather know about, at the moment. About one in particular.”

She laughs quietly, arching one eyebrow. “Then I’m going to tell you all about how to please one.” There’s a challenge in the statement, and I flex my muscles, meeting her stare.

“I very much like that idea.” I am aroused and curious and my desire for this woman burns through me.

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CHAPTER NINE

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GEN

Kanuz gaze is avid on mine, focused on me in a predatory way no human man has ever looked at me. It devours me, sending a tingling awareness through my body.

I clear my throat.

Maybe this isn’t the best idea, discussing human anatomy with this alien. Maybe teasing him like this is ill-advised. He’s not human, after all.

With him staring at me like that, the light-hearted and flirty lesson I had in my mind suddenly takes on a whole new dimension.

“Well, my cactus flower, are you going to speak on this pleasure, or are you going to simply stare at me and make me guess?” The question comes out on a growl, and a little shiver shakes me.

What would Bex say? Bex, no doubt, would be bold and sassy and hilarious, as she always is, and would probably leave the alien staring after her in awe and fear.

“We can orgasm many, many times in a row. Not all of us, of course, because everybody is different. But it’s not too unusual for human females to come more than once with a skilled partner.” I shrug, trying to appear unaffected.

I’m not.

Heat spreads across my chest, and I squirm a little against the ground, pressing my palms into my knees.

“Is this true?” he asks, delight and desire dancing across his face. “More than once a mating season?”

“Wait,” I say, momentarily dumbfounded. “Did you say once a season? Suevan women can’t come more than once a season? I must not be hearing you right.” I shake my head.

“Only when they are breedable.” He continues to stare at me as though I’ve grown three heads.

I gape at him. “That’s awful.”

“That is Suevan biology.” There’s a note of finality in his voice, and I realize too late I’ve insulted him somehow.

“Sorry,” I say, rubbing my hands over my thighs. Next to me, my Federation issue tank dries slowly, and I feel exposed. “I am sorry for what’s happened to the Suevan women. I didn’t mean to offend you.” The apology comes out easily.

Because it’s true. It’s not the sort of mealy-mouthed crap people say to one another when there’s nothing else that comes to mind to fill the silence.

“I know what it’s like to lose people you love,” I say, unexpectedly emotional, my chest tightening. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to think you’re on the brink of extinction.” I hate feeling like this, all emotional. I clear my throat again, and he regards me carefully.

“Thank you,” he finally says. “Now—” His handsome smile reappears. “—I think you were telling me about human anatomy before we got off track.” He edges closer, so close our knees touch.

My breath catches at the contact, and I know at once I’ve bitten off more I can chew by teasing this massive Suevan. My body goes tight and loose all at once at the thought of him acting on the promises he’s made me, the blunt way he talks about being between my legs.

What the hell had I been thinking?

“Are you losing your nerve, little human?” he purrs, his eyes alight with humor. He licks the edge of one fang, and I toss my hair back, leaning my palms behind me.

“No, of course I’m not. I’m just figuring out how to describe it.” Inhaling deeply, I scrunch my nose up and close my eyes. The sharp gravel chafes against the soft skin of my palm, and I focus on it, on the gentle lapping of the water against the walls of the pit.

“You seem tense,” Kanuz whispers.

My eyes fly open at the warmth of his breath across my face. He’s moved closer, his huge, muscled shoulders dwarfing me where I sit.

“I know what could relax you,” he adds, but instead of smiling, his face is totally serious. “And though my species has suffered from the virus, I have had plenty of experience pleasing others. Tell me what to do.”

His voice rings with command, and for once, for fucking once, I’m thankful for my stubborn, contrarian nature. Because it’s a hell of a lot easier to say no when he uses that tone.

“I’ll tell you what to do,” I say, smirking up at him. My arms cross over my chest, and I’m all too aware of the fact my tank is still drying out on the rocks beside me.

His gaze flits to where my cleavage presses together under my sports bra, his tail flicking back and forth.

“But you’re not going to touch me unless I tell you to. And it’s not going to be tonight.”

“Then I will have plenty of time to imagine how I will tear moans of pleasure from you, my prickly flower.”

“Right.” I try to keep my face blank and expressionless, but inside? Inside, I’m anything but blank. Who would have thought a huge, scaled alien dirty talking to me would be like my own personal catnip?

Bex, probably. A wave of sadness washes over me.

“What is wrong, Gen?” Kanuz’ brow wrinkles slightly as he lifts his brows, tenderness plain on his brutal face. “I did not mean to make you uncomfortable, my flower. I truly did not.”

“No.” I shake my head. “It’s not that.” It’s sweet though, truly sweet, that he thinks he’s made me uncomfortable even though I’m the one who started to play with fire only to immediately get burned. Affection wells in me, and I smile up at his unblinking face.

“Then why are you sad, Gen? Tell me. You have our words now. If you will not let me bring you to orgasm, then let me bring you solace. It is the very least I can do for my chosen female, for my princess.”

A hoarse laugh rips out of my throat at the reminder that I am, in fact, a princess, and then I sniffle a little.

“Tell me, my flower,” the Suevan prince says, then curls his big arm around me, pulling me into his lap in one fluid motion.

I’m tense at first, all that scaly green muscle caging me in, but he’s warm, so warm, and his touch isn’t searching or gross—it’s comforting.

It catches me off guard, and I do as he says and speak my worries. “Do you think the rest of my crew is safe?”

“I will not lie to you, Gen,” he says gravely, and my heart sinks. “I do not know if they are well or not, and I would not give you false hope. But what I will tell you is that each of your crew will be treasured by their mates, who are among the fiercest warlords Sueva has ever produced. If I had to guess, I would think that most are already safely ensconced in the myzas of Edrobaz. You are unlucky, to have been chosen by me, when another warlord may have been able to get you to safety sooner. As a prince, I did not receive the same training they did.” His smile lacks humor, and his fingertips run over the bare skin of my arm. Carefully, he tucks my feet under his arm, frowning.

“You are cold.”

“I’m okay. Food and fire for the win.”

“I won something?” he asks, confusion curling his lip. The expression is so human, so at odds with the alien planet and the thick armored scales I’m resting against, that I can’t help but laugh a little.

“It doesn’t mean that, but you know what?” I sit up suddenly, and his hands slide against my stomach as I twist in his lap, kneeling against his thick thighs and taking his face in my hands. “How about this as a prize?”

I hesitate for a split second, knowing this is a bridge I can’t uncross.

But right now, with his obscenely muscled chest pressed against mine, he’s too tempting a distraction.

Why not?

His gaze captures mine, curious and as warm as the rest of him. The chill seeps from me the longer I spend with my skin against his, and for a moment, it’s enough. It’s enough to be held, to feel the thrum of his heart against my chest, to hold his warrior prince face in my hands.

And for some reason, it makes me heady with power, with the knowledge that he has had every opportunity to prove himself less than noble. But he isn’t, and he’s waiting for me to decide how far and fast I want to move.

So I brush my lips against his, my eyelashes fluttering shut. His hands tighten on my waist, then slip to my hips. His talons stroke gently across my skin, and I lose myself in the simple sensation of his touch. Of the feel of his full mouth against mine.

And suddenly, it’s not enough.

I tease my tongue against the seam of his lips, and he opens his mouth with a groan. Desire rushes through me at the simple power of it, the tension radiating from him so at odds with the gentle pressure of his hands on my body. He’s keeping himself leashed.

I’m not sure I want to see what happens when that carefully honed restraint finally cracks.

I pull away, and he sucks in a breath as I study the firelight flickering over the planes of his face.

“What was that for, my prickly flower?” he says.

Satisfaction rolls through me as I note how hoarse his voice is, further proof of how the chaste kiss affected him prodding against my ass as well.

“Because I felt like it,” I say, and then confusion hits me again. This isn’t some one-night stand with a Federation base boy-toy, this isn’t even one of the semi-serious relationships I had before the Roth attack. I shouldn’t play with the alien prince, not like this.

Any fun diversions we might get up to here, in this ruin, mean something much more than I wish they did.

I like the big alien prince, and as much as he’s annoyed me, he’s also saved my ass more than once.

But am I ready to be his wife? To have his babies?

I squirm, dislodging myself from his lap.

Or, at least, I attempt to, before he tugs me back.

“Ah-ah, my little human female. You are not going anywhere.”

This time, he kisses me, and I melt against him, despite my reservations. His thick, rough tongue rasps against mine as he deepens the kiss, sending shivers of pleasure down my spine.

I turn away after a few seconds, feeling disheveled and frustrated and so confused about what I want.

“Now you will sleep, my wife, while I hold you and keep you warm. Because tomorrow will bring us many new challenges…” He runs a talon down the column of my throat, and there’s a vicious victoriousness in his eyes that makes my blood sing. “…and you will need your strength for all of them.”

I yawn then, the urge taking me by surprise. But what surprises me even more is how easy it is to relax against Kanuz, to let the lapping of the water on the walls and his steady breathing lull me to sleep.

And when he hums a low, haunting melody, my eyes drift shut, and I let sleep carry me away as the alien prince runs steady, gentle fingers through my hair.

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