I didn’t need to hear more.
The moment I heard him talking about me as a ‘thing’ that he ‘owned’, I tuned out. It made sense. Varon had no idea on how to genuinely connect with anyone, and it was obvious he only saw me as a trophy he could show off to others.
Now, my suspicions had become facts.
“I’ll have one of these.” Reaching out, I grabbed a glass from the tray of a passing waiter. There was a purple liquid inside it, but it actually tasted nice. Three glasses later it started tasting even better.
Varon left me alone for most of the night, leaving me free to roam the casino floor. Some of the aliens stared at me as if I were some kind of exotic animal, part of Varon’s collection, but I no longer cared. After all, that was exactly what Varon wanted to happen.
Tired, I ended up wandering onto the balcony. It overlooked the gardens, perfectly trimmed hedges lining the perimeter, and I found some solace in the landscape. For a moment, it almost felt like I was back on Earth.
“How’s the party going?” I heard someone ask me, and my heart skipped a beat as I recognized that voice.
Turning on my heels, I smiled as I found Razar standing beside me. He wore an all-black suit similar to human formal wear, but instead of a tie, there was some sort of smooth knotted fabric that fell from his collar. He looked even more handsome than usual.
“Well, you know,” I replied, shrugging while I waved at the crowd inside the room. “Everyone seems to be having fun, all with the exotic Earthling wandering among them. Do you think Varon is planning to start selling tickets?” Mimicking Varon’s voice with an exaggerated tone, I started waving my arms around. “Come and see, a terrifying creature from Earth. She can balance herself on high heels, and is even more delicate than a precious gem!”
“That bad, huh?”
“Not everything’s bad, I guess.” Sighing, I placed my hands on the railing, and allowed my gaze to wander over to the garden. “Varon’s priority is to show me off, so at least I don’t have to worry about building an intimate relationship, or whatever it is the government wants me to do. I just have to strut around for an entire month, behave like a role model for all trophy wives in the galaxy, and I’ll be free to go.”
Clearly, the alcohol was making my tongue looser than usual. I didn’t really mind. I felt comfortable around Razar, and I appreciated the fact that he was genuinely listening to me. He seemed to care. If only he had been the one chosen as my mate, maybe the situation wouldn’t have been as horrible as it was.
“I get it, Alicia,” he said, closing the distance between us. He laid one hand on my shoulder and smiled. “For what it’s worth, I’m right here if you need—”
He was interrupted by a loud sound coming from inside. He spun around fast, his hand darting to the gun strapped to his waist. Inside the room, Varon seemed to be berating a young waiter, his voice growing louder with each passing second. Spittle flew from his mouth, then he slapped the tray out of the waiter’s hands, the sound of exploding glass like that of a gunshot.
“Shit,” Razar said, but he didn’t sound too surprised. “I’ve gotta take care of this.”
Without a word more, he marched into the room and whispered something to the waiter, who dutifully retreated while Varon kept on hurling all manner of obscenities at him. Then, still acting cool and collected, Razar started talking with Varon, one hand on the purple Jorkan’s shoulder as he led him out of the room.
I sighed.
With each passing day, Varon just kept on revealing how much of a bastard he truly was. How was it possible that a man like him had been identified as my mate? Could genetics and fate get any more messed up than this?
Razar
This was routine.
Whenever there was a public event, it seemed like Varon always found a way to make a fool out of himself. He never knew when to stop drinking—or when to stop popping all those synthetic drugs down his throat—and that usually resulted in him making a spectacle.
That, of course, meant that I had to intervene. My job was to protect Varon, and I meant to do it as well as I could, even if that meant I had to protect the bastard from himself.
“I want that incompetent fired,” he kept on shouting as I led him through the foyer. Apparently, the waiter hadn’t seen Varon, and had gently bumped him with the edge of his tray. Varon’s abrupt reaction had caused drinks to be spilled, and small splotches of purple now covered his tunic. “I want him more than just fired. I want him blacklisted. Make sure that he can’t get a job anywhere on Tarkun IV, or any of the other moons. If that bastard wants to put food on his table, make him travel to the other side of the galaxy.”
“Of course, sir,” I said, trying to remain as polite as I could. I didn’t intend to do any of that shit. Come morning, Varon wouldn’t even remember that any of this had happened, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to ruin a young kid’s life.
“My night has been ruined,” he complained, using his tail to scratch the back of his neck. His speech was slurred, almost too much for a regular Jorkan to understand him, but I was well-versed in drunken-Varonish. “Ruined, you hear me?”
“I hear you.” Pushing him into the elevator, I input the access code for the penthouse. “Let’s just find you a new tunic, sir. I’m sure the night is still salvageable.” It was a lie, of course. Varon was so damn drunk that, once I pushed him onto his bed, it’d be lights out for him.
“Yes, yes…” he muttered. “You are right.”
“Let’s just get you changed, and you’ll be back as if nothing had happened.”
“I don’t know if I want to go down there again,” he said as we ambled into the penthouse. “I’m tired of all those pissants trying to curry my favor. Right now, I think I’m in the mood for something else. Go fetch me Alicia.”
I froze. “Alicia?”
“Alicia, yes,” he repeated thoughtfully. “That stupid official is always harping about ‘mating bonds’ and ‘intimacy,’ isn’t he? Maybe it’s time for me to take care of it. I mean, you’ve seen her, right? She is something else.”
“Yes, she is.” I pushed those words past gritted teeth, my fingers twitching as the urge to grab my gun welled up inside me. Right then, all I wanted was to pistol-whip Varon’s drugged-out smile off his face.
“I tell you, Razar,” Varon continued, “I’ve fucked women from all known species. With some, I had to pay an arm and a leg for the privilege. Isn’t it ironic that Alicia looks even more fuckable than all of those put together, and that I won’t have to pay a single credit to have her in my bed?”
Right then, I no longer wanted to pistol-whip him. I wanted to grab my gun and put a round between his eyes. I felt my blood simmering with anger, the way he spoke of Alicia made me feel a kind of rage I had never experienced before.
“Just have a drink to take the edge off,” I said, watching as Varon stumbled toward the master bedroom. The moment he was out of sight, I quickly went into one of the bathrooms and opened the cabinet. Varon was a hypochondriac of sorts—which was ironic, giving the copious amounts of drugs he took every day—which meant that his apartment was always fully stocked with all kinds of stuff.
I grabbed a bottle with sleeping pills and snatched two of them. Quietly, I returned to the living room and started mixing him a drink. Opening the capsules, I emptied the fine powder into the glass, then stirred it all so that there’d be no trace of the sleeping pills. This went against everything I believed in, but it couldn’t be helped.
There was no way I was going to let Varon lay his hands on Alicia.
“Here it is,” I announced, strolling into the master bedroom with the tall glass in my hand. Varon was sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking back and forth as he tried to focus on the wall in front of him. He probably wouldn’t even need the sleeping pills, but it was better to play it safe. “Just drink it up, and you’ll be ready for the night.”
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he mumbled, taking the drink from my hand.
He downed it with a couple of greedy gulps, then let the glass roll from his fingers to the floor. In less than ten seconds he was lying flat on his back, snoring so loudly it seemed like an orbital spaceship was about to take flight.
Sighing, I left the penthouse and made my way back to the casino. Now that Varon was gone, his guests seemed to be mingling more freely, the atmosphere more relaxed. Apparently not even Varon’s acquaintances enjoyed having him around. I couldn’t blame them.
I found Alicia still on the balcony, her red hair flowing down her shoulders. The gentle breeze made locks of it dance around her neck, and the sight made me feel as if I had become so light I could float. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was standing beside her, looking at the stillness of the garden below.
“What happened?” she asked me, tucking a stray lock of hair behind one ear.
“The usual,” I replied, shrugging. “If there’s an event, there’s always a chance that Varon will make a scene. You don’t have to worry, though. He’s not going to come back down.”
“Oh,” she merely said, and her lips turned into a pale white line. She was struggling with something, I could tell. “Am I really supposed to sleep in that apartment? Is there no other option?”
I clenched my jaw.
I didn’t want to face reality.
“I’m afraid not,” I replied, each word feeling like a sharp stab in my chest. “The government’s guidelines are strict when it comes to your sleeping arrangements.”
“There are other bedrooms in the apartment.”
“They’re locked” I grimaced. “Varon ordered the staff to do it.”
“Oh, God.”
Don’t do it, Razar, my rational side tried to say, but I had already decided to ignore all logic and common sense. After knocking Varon out, I had crossed a line, and now I was aching to cross one more. Don’t fucking do it.
“This goes against guidelines and the Protocols I’ve been given, but…” I hesitated, my heart picking up the pace.
“Well, it’s not like Varon has been following the Protocols either, right?”
“Right,” I nodded, then forced myself to say it. “I can offer you my room for the night, if you want a place to rest. It won’t be as luxurious as the penthouse apartment, but at least you’ll be able to relax. Then you can head to the penthouse before Varon’s up, and he’ll be none the wiser.”
There was a second during which she said nothing, and that second seemed to stretch into eternity. For a moment, I even thought she was going to flat out refuse my offer, but then the unthinkable happened.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’d like that.”
Alicia
“You can take the bed.”
Smiling, Razar grabbed a pillow and some blankets from the drawers beside the bed, then started laying them out on the floor. His studio apartment was the size of Varon’s master bedroom, and it had little more than a large bed and a holograph terminal. It was located right below the penthouse, though, and that meant the views were just as good.
“The city…” I whispered. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Tarkun IV is one of the most beautiful moons in the galaxy,” he said. Standing by me, he leaned against the floor-to-ceiling glass panel, his red skin reflected there. I pretended I was still looking at the brightly lit city below us but, in truth, I was now focused on the powerful outline of his shoulders and arms. “There’s more to it than the city, though. Remember the cabin we visited after getting here? Yilap runs a resort there, and the beaches there are something else entirely. You’ve seen it.”
“You seem to know this place pretty well.”
“It’s part of the job,” he replied. “I follow Varon everywhere, and that means I have to be aware of all threats that may possibly arise. Wherever we go, I always make sure to acquaint myself with the place.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Why are you here?” I asked. “I mean, I get it—this is your job. It’s just that you have nothing in common with Varon. He doesn’t look like the kind of guy you’d respect and follow around willingly.”
“That’s...complicated.” He sighed, then gave himself a little encouraging nod. He was about to tell me something he hadn’t shared with anyone before, that much was obvious. “When I left the military, I was out of sorts. I had seen and done a lot of shit, and I was stuck in a rut. Varon’s father was the one to get me out of that rut. He offered me a job, and waited for me to get back on my feet. He was everything that Varon isn’t—smart, generous, and a hard worker. When he passed away, I simply couldn’t leave. If I left, Varon would run the entire company, and all of his father’s legacy, into the ground. That’s why I’m still here. I attend as many board meetings as I can, just so I keep abreast of what’s happening, and try to nudge Varon in the right direction.”
“That’s noble of you.”
“Noble?” He chuckled sadly. “Maybe, but I can’t say that I’m making a difference. Varon only listens to himself and, the more time I spend around him, the more I realize that maybe I’ve made a mistake by sticking around. He’s not...” he hesitated for a moment, and forced himself to hold my gaze. “He’s not what you’d call a good person, Alicia, but I figure you already know that much.”
“I do.” I didn’t hesitate. The words slipped past my lips before my brain could filter them. “He’s despicable. I have no idea how I could’ve been matched up with someone like that, but there’s no way in hell that I’m ever going to have anything with him. It’s just as you said—I’m going to bide my time, then get the hell out.”
“I’m sorry.” He turned to face me and reached out, his fingers caressing my cheek. “This was supposed to be a good thing, the whole Earth/Jorkan Protocols, but you’ve been thrown into a nightmare.”
“If only it had been someone else,” I whispered, my eyes never leaving Razar’s. The meaning behind my words was as obvious as it could be: had Razar been my genetically assigned mate, I wouldn’t be living a nightmare. Far from it. “If only it had been you.”
“We shouldn’t,” he whispered.
“No, we definitely shouldn’t.”
Slowly, I went up on tiptoes, and allowed my eyelids to flutter closed. Placing my hands on his shirt, I pulled him toward me, then held my breath as I felt his lips crashing against mine. Just like before, it felt like two matching pieces of a puzzle had been placed side by side. It was absolutely perfect.
Our tongues danced for a moment, and I let out a soft little moan as his hands ran down the sides of my body, his palms nestling themselves on my hips. I pushed myself against him, and my heart tightened as I felt a hard shape straining against the fabric of his pants. Behind him, his always immovable tail was now whipping around with excitement, its tip tracing wide circles in the air.
Suddenly, he stopped kissing me.
He rested his forehead against mine, and looked into my eyes. “Alicia, I don’t think that—”
“Let’s not think,” I cut him short, placing my index finger over his lips. “Just for tonight, let’s not think of anything.”
With that, I pulled him against me once more and we stumbled our way across the tiny apartment until we found ourselves in bed. He knelt between my legs, his eyes burning with lust, and he tore the dress off my body with quick movements.
The straps on my shoulders came down first, revealing the outer edge of my bra, then he just kept on tugging at the fabric until I was wearing nothing but my underwear. I felt exposed but, at the same time, more excited than I had ever felt before. The warm tingling I always felt whenever I stood close to him had now turned into a raging inferno, and all of its maddening heat seemed to be concentrated right between my legs.
“How can you be this perfect?” he whispered, his right hand sliding between my back and the mattress. He unclasped my bra and pulled it off me, my breasts spilling out, and the hard shape hiding under his pants seemed to become even larger. I felt a knot
in my throat, only then realizing just how big he was.
For a moment, I wondered about the mechanics of it all, but it didn’t take long before my thoughts were derailed—all Razar had to do was flatten the palm of his hand right between my legs, and all of my thoughts fled from my mind.
“That feels so good,” I breathed out, arching my back as he pressed down against my wetness. Slowly, he pushed the wet fabric to the side and caressed my drenched inner lips with his index finger. He only stopped once he found my clit, and he started massaging it in the most perfect of ways, the pressure he was applying leaving me completely crazed with lust.
“You have no idea how much I want you,” he said, his voice dipping into a low growl. Moving fast, he hooked the fingers of his free hand on my thong, and pulled it against my outer thigh. I heard the fabric ripping apart, and the cool air in the apartment lapped at my nakedness.
“Then that makes for two of us,” I threw back at him, throwing one arm around his neck and pulling him toward me. He kissed me wildly, his tongue no longer dancing but wrestling against my own, but he didn’t linger there. His lips kept on traveling downward to my breasts, and he only stopped that hike of his when he found one of my nipples.
Sucking it into his mouth, he twirled his tongue around it, and I felt an electric tingling shoot up my spine. I became a complete wet mess, my blood boiled inside my veins, and I could no longer think straight. All I knew was that I desperately wanted him—no, I needed him.
“Oh, God, yes,” I moaned, the tip of his tail suddenly finding its way between my legs. Replacing his finger, it pressed down hard on my clit, and I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming.
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