by Tempest Luna
Ro picked up another roll of healing wraps. “These will absorb into your body. As they do, they will mend your bones. You will be healed in a day. Perhaps two at most.”
“That’s not…ah…possible.” She writhed as Ro tightened the wraps around her bruised torso. “Nothing can heal that fast.”
“These can. Tell me, does your neck hurt anymore?”
“N-no.” She reached up and touched the remains of the wrap he’d used half a cycle ago.
“Did the Sypians give you these bruises?”
“Sypians?” She blinked away her tears, and curious, bloodshot eyes stared up at him.
“The…what did you call him? The big, green, scaly…guy?”
“When I woke up…there were two of them. I think one was some sort of doctor. Nyx. He called the big guy ‘my liege.’ They looked at me,” she sniffled, “like I was this prize they’d won. Until Nyx said I was damaged, and the ruler guy told him to sell me. That’s when he ripped out my chip.” Trembling fingers touched the wound behind her ear. “They wouldn’t tell me where I was or how they’d found me. Or if they’d found my friends’ bodies…”
“The Sypians—led by Supreme Ruler Trexu—came to this realm six revolutions ago. They had fast ships, deadly weapons. Balrovians are peaceful. The most advanced weapons we had were useless. Now, the Supreme Ruler controls the entire planet. We are hidden behind a wormhole—one of his making. Only his ships can travel to the other side. You must have been very unlucky to find a way through.”
“We should have been thousands of miles away…” Tessa’s eyelids drooped, and Ro buttoned her shirt, then pulled the blankets up to her shoulders.
“Enough questions. You should rest. I will not let anyone touch you again.”
Her breathing changed before he finished speaking, and he smoothed a hand over her soft locks. Though he’d bought Tessa so she could be free—or as free as one could be on this gods-forsaken-planet, Ro might never escape her magnetic pull. Even in the short time he’d spent with her, the bond had started to assert itself.
Fuck.
* * *
Tessa
Darkness surrounded her. Strong hands molded to her breasts, and her body came alive.
“More!” she cried, arching her back and thrusting her hips towards what she needed. What she wanted. Her alien.
Her arousal slicked her thighs, and she parted her lips, desperate to taste him as her nipples tightened into hard nubs and scraped against his sculpted chest.
“Claim me,” she murmured.
“Tessa. Please stop.” Ro’s harsh words cut through her dream, and she jerked, a weak gasp escaping her lips.
“Oh God.” Her skin flushed, the heat from his body branding her wherever they touched. “I was…dreaming.”
“I know.” His words were thick and awkward, and he released her and rolled over with a half-sigh, half-growl. “Do…did…you have a mate back on Earth?”
Longing and sadness filled his tone, and Tessa sat up, wriggling until she was braced against the wall. So much pain. Not hers. But…Ro’s. She could feel him.
“N-no. I’m not exactly…what you’d call ‘mate material.’”
“Why not?” In the dim glow of dusk coming from the skylight, she thought she saw his brow furrow.
“There’s something wrong with my head. I get…uh…” Her breath hitched. Her visions. The vague familiarity she’d felt around him. The way he moved. Could it be? “Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Tessa pushed the blankets away and threw her legs over the side of the bed, facing away from him as her chest heaved. “I…have to ask you something.”
Ro was up and around the bed in a single breath, then knelt in front of her, resting his hands on either side of her legs. “Anything. If you tell me why you are upset.”
“Do you have…a scar…here?” She reached for him, sliding her fingers into his hair, then down to the back of his neck. When she found the rough, raised line of tissue, she stifled a sob.
“Vrax—my brother—pushed me off the roof when we were young.” The words scraped over his throat. “How—?”
“I know you.” Tessa swiped at a fresh tear that tumbled down her cheek. “You sing when you work, doing something with a pickaxe, digging into the soil. You look at the moons when you’re sad. And…your brothers… One has wavy hair. Almost the same color as yours. But his eyes are golden. Not silver.”
“Vrax.”
“And the other—”
“Zaden.”
“His eyes are just like yours. But his hair is white. Silver. Long.” Her lower lip wobbled, and she scooted back on the bed and pulled her knees up to her chest, shivering. “I know you.”
Her entire body trembled, and she wanted to curl inward, to scream or cry or rail against the universe. All universes.
Ro slid closer, covering her chilled fingers with his. “I do not understand.”
“I’m…damaged. Something in my head…it’s broken. I have these ‘dreams.’ Except…they’re not dreams. Sometimes I see the past. Other times, the future. I never know which one—not really. But for a year or so, a lot of my visions…have been about you.”
“My father used to see things in his dreams. Things that would then come true. Is this what you speak of?”
He looked so lost. So forlorn, and Tessa wished she could snap her fingers and make him understand. Hell, she wished she could make herself understand.
“Sort of? I never saw your face. Not even the color of your skin. You were always this dark…blur. But I got to know you in my visions. The way you moved. Your…heart. Your…” she swallowed hard over the lump in her throat, “other things.”
Her cheeks heated as she remembered the rasp of his cock, the way he’d taken possession of her. Totally. Completely.
“Shit. How did I end up ‘sold’ to the one alien in the galaxy I’ve been dreaming about for years?”
After a long silence, Ro peered up at her. “The ancient gods are tricksters. They play with us, I think.” He leaned forward, inhaling deeply. “I want you, Tessa. I have wanted you since the first moment I saw you. So defiant. Even in the face of such terror and pain. So strong.”
Her alien. She knew him now. Even though she’d been with him for less than a day. She knew him. He would never leave her. Never do anything but protect her. She’d sensed it the first moment he’d held her. Sliding her hands up his arms, she laced her fingers behind his neck and pulled him close. When her lips parted, he rolled her on top of him, fisting her hair and angling her head before slanting his mouth over hers.
He tasted so fresh and clean. So…perfect. Her tongue darted out and traced the seam of his lips, and Ro growled. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t feel anything but the overwhelming need to claim. To become one with this alien she’d loved for so very long, even though she hadn’t believed he was real.
But when he shifted her and she tried to wrap her legs around his waist, a bolt of pain ripped through her, stealing her breath.
Ro froze, gathered her in his arms, and held her close. “I am sorry, little one. You are still healing. You need to rest. We will talk more about what is between us…later. For now,” he pressed a tender kiss to the top of her head, “I will be close. Always.”
Chapter Seven
Ro
Ro tossed and turned on the well-worn hill beast rug a few feet away from the bed. Tessa’s scent surrounded him, and his cock ached. When the twin suns started to tinge the sky a delicate pink, he rose and struggled to tear himself from the bedside. Her color had improved, but dark circles braced her eyes. She was so delicate. So precious, and he’d only known her for a little under a single suns cycle.
A lock of hair had fallen over her pale cheek during the night, and he brushed it away, a burst of warmth settling over him when she turned her head towards his touch.
A soft sound, almost a moan, escaped her lips, and unease skittered along his spine, replacing the contentment he’d felt only a moment earlier. How cou
ld he protect her from the evils of this gods-forsaken world?
The rapid clicks of his perimeter alarm set his entire body on alert, and he raced out of his sleeping chamber, grabbed his chest harness, and yanked it on as he headed for the door. His female would be safe if he had to kill every last male on this planet.
Outside, a Balrovian male hovered at the edge of his property, a speedster parked a short distance away. “Ro, son of Soren?”
Pulling the black drape closed, Ro strode across his small yard. “Yes. And you are?” He did not recognize the male, but before the Supreme Ruler had come, Ro and his brothers had not traveled far from their parents’ home.
“Jov. Son of Damu.”
Ro scanned the skies. “If the Supreme Ruler’s drones see you here, we will both be punished.”
Jov rested his hand on the gate surrounding Ro’s parcel. “I have studied the drone patterns. We are safe…for now.”
“Why are you here?” With his arms crossed over his chest, Ro let his fingers rest on the handles of the blades strapped to his ribs. In six revolutions, not one single male had sought him out, and now, the morning after he’d purchased Tessa, he had one at his doorstep.
“I left before the auction. I was not aware there was a female available to be purchased. I can pay you. I have seventy-three credits.” Jov held out his hands, and the silvery credits reflected the glow from the suns.
“The human is not for sale.” Taking a step forward, Ro pulled out one of his blades. “Leave. Now.”
“Eighty credits,” Jov said sharply.
In one fluid move, Ro jumped the fence and pressed the blade to the side of Jov’s neck. “Do not make me harm you. The female is not now, and will never be, for sale. She is mine.”
Jov sputtered, but Ro held his gaze. For six revolutions, he had been scared. He had avoided all conflict. Any semblance of resistance. But now, he had something to fight for. Tessa. He would not let any other male harm her. Not now, not ever.
“My apologies,” Jov finally managed. He shoved the credits back into his pocket and backed away, his head bowed. “I will not bother you again.”
“Tell everyone you see,” Ro warned, “that the female is mine, and I will not allow any other male to touch her.”
Jov nodded and sprinted for his speedster.
Sheathing his blades, Ro glanced back at his home. Or…the home he was assigned to live in. It was not his. The Supreme Ruler had burned the home Ro had shared with his brothers. No, this had been another mated pair’s home before the Sypians came. But the Supreme Ruler insisted that all “free” Balrovians live far from one another—to ensure they could not collude and rise up against the Sypians. So now Ro made another’s home his own.
If he had only fought harder. He and his brothers. If all Balrovians had fought harder…perhaps the planet would still be free.
* * *
Tessa
Someone was pounding on the dorm wall. “It’s too early,” Tessa complained. “Shut up!”
The pounding continued, and Tessa rolled over, her body sore, her throat dry. Forcing her eyes open, she gasped. Dark wood walls with a slight pinkish cast greeted her. A thick brown blanket covered her aching body. She wasn’t back in the dorms.
Balrov. I’m on an alien planet. Sold. Safe?
Ro’s scent surrounded her, and the blanket was so much softer than her bed on Earth. For a second, her vision wavered, and she held her breath. Maybe this was all a dream.
But when the room steadied, reality came flooding back to her. Despite the fuzziness that dogged her thoughts, she had one clear memory. Ro. His arms around her. His hard cock pressing to her hip.
“Ro?” she called weakly. When he didn’t answer, she sat up, only then noticing that the thin gauze he’d wrapped around her ribs looked to be dissolving, and the sharp agony from her injuries had faded to a dull ache. Touching her neck, she found the electrical burns from the collar gone, and her wrists only bore a slight reddish tinge.
Tessa’s knees buckled when she stood, and she braced her hands on the bed until the room stopped spinning around her. Shuffling out into the main living area, she took in the simple, but functional space. She ran her hand over the weathered wood countertop, her cheeks heating as she remembered her last vision of him…how he’d fucked her on this counter.
Despite being on an alien planet, Ro’s main room didn’t look all that different from the pictures she’d seen of Earth homes from a hundred years ago. A long, low cushion lined one wall, with books arranged neatly in a small cubby. Next to the countertop, a metal plate looked to be a cooking surface.
The thudding continued from somewhere outside. The front door was nothing more than a heavy black drape, and Tessa peeked out through one side. A heavier, thick, wooden door was bolted to the wall. Like the old storm windows her grandmother used to talk about.
A large pink sun shone down on her massive alien, his back glistening with exertion as he swung an axe, cleaving large pieces of stone from a boulder.
Admiring the way his muscles shifted and the tight curve of his ass as he bent over to toss the fallen pieces into a small pile, Tessa licked her lips. She’d never seen a being so massive and perfectly sculpted. Her visions hadn’t done him justice.
A ray of sunlight sliced through the air only two feet in front of her. She’d never felt the sun on her skin. Only heard how wonderful it used to be. Earth was covered in a permanent gray haze—fog, clouds, and ash from endless fires that burned outside the cities. As part of her training, the government had taken her and her classmates to the top of a mountain once, but even there, only faint warmth seeped through the cloud cover.
She slipped beyond the curtain, intent on reaching that sunbeam.
As if Ro felt her, he stopped, breathing heavily. The axe fell to the ground, but he didn’t turn around. “The rocks are sharp, little one.”
Tessa looked down, her bare toes curling around the edge of a large, flat stone next to the doorway. Just beyond, tiny shards poked up from the dirt.
If she tried… Reaching out, she smiled as her fingers broke through the warm, pinkish light. Her skin tingled, the tiny hairs on her arm standing up as if they craved the sun.
“Tessa?” Ro was suddenly right in front of her hand, a puzzled look in his eyes. “Are you all right?”
“Sun,” she whispered. “I never imagined…”
“You look better. But still weak. You need to rest.” Ro wrapped his arm around her and tried to lead her back inside, but she shook her head. “What is it?”
“There’s no sun on Earth.” Tears burned her eyes as she stared out over the pink, purple, and aquamarine landscape. Bluffs surrounded Ro’s home, white caps of snow and ice glistening in the vibrant rays from not one, but two suns. “It’s so…beautiful.”
Ro’s expression softened, his silver irises almost glowing in the shadows. “Wait right here. Do not step off the rock.”
He disappeared behind the drape for a moment, returning with the blanket from the bed. Once he’d wrapped her in the soft, brown material that felt a lot like wool, he lifted her in his arms and carried her over to a large, flat stack of logs.
Once he’d tucked the blanket around her, he cupped her cheek. “You need more rest. I will be done soon. Then I will cook for us. Will you eat? I do not know how much food humans require.”
The sun warmed her skin, and she had to squint to see his face haloed by the brilliant glow. “Other than what you gave me—what? Yesterday?—I don’t remember the last time I ate.”
“Tessa…” Ro growled.
She sat up a little straighter and met his gaze. He might be huge, and imposing, but she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her. “This is the first sunlight I’ve ever seen. I’m not going back inside yet. What are you doing out here?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his long, ebony hair. “The ice storms will come soon. We may be cut off from the rest of Balrov if they are as bad as they were the last revolution. Th
ese crystals,” he stooped and picked up a yellow shard the size of her fist, “will keep us warm.”
As he placed the crystal in her hand, Tessa gasped. It warmed her, almost like a mini-flame was trapped inside. “How does it work?”
“The crystals absorb the energy from Balrov’s suns. After a sun cycle, they are charged.” Ro gestured towards another building across his yard. A table outside held hundreds of the yellow chunks. “When charged crystals come in contact with water, they produce heat. I have a small boiler under the main room. With the ice from the storms, we will have plenty of water—and warmth—to last us until the thaw.”
Something in his voice worried her. Or…no. She wasn’t hearing his worry. She was feeling it. “What aren’t you telling me?” Tessa shielded her eyes with her hand as Ro lifted the axe again.
“Tomorrow, we will need to go in search of food.” He swung, and a large rock split into four pieces, a mustard-yellow crystal the size of her head tumbling free.
Suddenly it all made sense. “You don’t have enough food for both of us. You weren’t counting on me.”
“No, little one. But we will survive. Do not worry.” Again and again, Ro placed huge rocks on the platform and brought the axe down on top of them. Small chips flew up and hit his bare chest, and Tessa winced as a small drop of purple blood mixed with his sweat and trickled over his sculpted muscles.
He didn’t react to the injury, but Tessa felt the stinging pain as if it were her own. What’s happening to me?
As if Ro had heard her, he stopped and frowned. “There is much I have to explain to you, Tessa. About this world. About Balrovians.”
“No shit. I’m on alien planet. With an ice storm coming. And two days ago, I was locked in a cage with a shock collar around my neck.” Her voice shrilled, and she started to shake. Fuck.