by Luna Voss
No complaints from me. "It sounds like Nerkesh is in the garage," I whisper. "I was just down there with Pullman. It's where he parks his hover-cart. Do you think he knows we're here?"
"He must have heard the commotion," says Rukkarr. "For all we know, he's been waiting outside the house listening. He probably doesn't know that it's us, but he knows something is going on."
"What do we do?"
"I'll jump him when he gets to the top of the stairs," he hisses, tiptoeing quickly over to the steps and crouching behind the back railing. "Quick, hide in the corner of the room so he doesn't see you."
I scurry over to the corner of the room behind the staircase, where I won't be visible to anyone coming up the stairs. I wait there, my heart pounding, listening as the sound of heavy footsteps grows louder. The stairs start to creak, and I make eye contact with Rukkarr. He flashes me a reassuring smile, although his eyes remain completely focused on the task at hand.
Through the wooden bars of the railing, I see the shiny, spiked metal helmet of Chief Nerkesh appear. It gets bigger as he walks up the stairs, and then stops as he pauses, taking in the scene. I hold my breath, not wanting to make a sound.
Nerkesh takes another step, his foot reaches the top of the staircase, and that's when Rukkarr attacks. He charges forward and tackles the other Kyrzon, throwing him to the ground and landing on top of him. Nerkesh snarls and struggles against him, managing to push him off and get back to his feet. Rukkarr's eyes narrow, and he raises his fists in a fighting stance.
Nerkesh smiles at him, and instead of raising his own fists in response, he reaches behind his back and pulls a small dagger out of his belt. I see fear flit across Rukkarr's face as he eyes the weapon.
"It doesn't look like you have one of these," comes Nerkesh's voice through his mask. He raises the dagger, as if to gloat. "Lucky me."
And then he runs at Rukkarr, blade outstretched.
Rukkarr is only barely able to get out of the way in time, stepping to the side and shoving Nerkesh against the wall. He dashes to the other side of the coffee table, putting some distance between them, and his eyes scan the room, looking for a weapon.
The other Kyrzon dives across the table with his dagger outstretched. Rukkarr dodges again, swinging his fist as he does so and managing to land a glancing blow on the side of Nerkesh's head. The masked alien stumbles, turning to face Rukkarr as he finds his footing.
But Rukkarr is already on the other side of the room, a couch and a coffee table once again in between him and his opponent. He dashes over Pullman's fallen body as he separates himself from the other Kyrzon, fists raised. I watch this combat unfold, horrified and deeply concerned for my mate. It's clear that he's good at dodging Nerkesh's attacks, but without a weapon of his own, I don't know how he's going to be able to win this fight.
Nerkesh charges again, and this time, he only barely misses, his dagger embedding itself in the wall. He pulls it out and swings again, the blade coming so close that it slices through some of the fabric at Rukkarr's sleeve. Rukkarr takes this opportunity to lunge forward and tackle him again. The two Kyrzons tumble to the ground, struggling for control of the dagger.
Nerkesh ends up on top. He mounts Rukkarr, snarling as he tries to force the dagger down into his face. My husband grabs onto his wrists, muscles straining, using all of his might to keep the blade away from his head.
"Run!" Rukkarr shouts at me. "Christy, get out of here!"
As fucking if.
As though possessed by some new sense of purpose I didn't even know I had, I begin to sprint across the room. I know exactly what I have to do. Pullman's stun gun is lying on the floor next to the wall only a few feet away from where the two Kyrzons are grappling, and I rush over to it, picking it up and finding the trigger button with my finger. I plunge the stun gun into Nerkesh's neck as hard as I can and squeeze the trigger.
The alien screams, his body twitching and jerking. Rukkarr manages to wrest the dagger out of his hands and throw Nerkesh off of him. Unfortunately, this means ending the contact between the stun gun and Nerkesh's skin, which allows him to recover partially. He pushes me backward and starts to get up.
Rukkarr roars and charges at him full sprint. Nerkesh manages to avoid the blade, but gets pushed back, through the broken glass door, onto the balcony, and finally, over the railing.
My mate yells in exertion as he pushes the masked chief over the edge. For a split second, I hear Nerkesh yelling too.
And then with a wet crunch, the yelling stops.
Rukkarr looks over the railing for a moment, his shoulders heaving, as though to confirm his enemy's defeat.
And then he turns around and looks at me. With blazing intention on his face, he strides over to me and picks me up in his arms, lifting me off the ground and squeezing me tightly.
"Christy, I love you," he gasps, burying his face in my hair. "I love you so fucking much. You don't know what I just went through thinking they might take you from me. I would have done anything to keep you safe. Fucking anything."
I squeeze him back with everything I have, almost shaking with relief. I want to answer him, but I barely have the words, and so I just kiss him deeply, tears welling up in my eyes. I can't express how lucky I feel to have him as my mate.
"Do you think we should tell somebody?" he asks me finally as we break apart. "About Pullman and Nerkesh, I mean. So that the humans understand what happened. You used to be in city government. What's the best way for us to handle this?"
"I'm sure one of the neighbors will have reported the noise by this point," I tell him. "So the human authorities should be on their way. The real question is, do we want to wait around to explain everything to them?"
On the floor next to us, Pullman twitches.
"I think we should," says Rukkarr. "Unless we want this lying bastard to find a way to talk himself out of this. He could easily pretend he just got attacked out of nowhere."
"You're probably right," I sigh, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Okay, we stay."
Rukkarr takes my other hand in his and pulls me into a long, slow kiss. I have to get on my tiptoes to reach his face, and even still, he can't quite meet my lips without bending over slightly.
"Thanks for buying me, Rukkarr," I whisper as the kiss breaks.
He puts his arm around me, and we wait there together for the human authorities to arrive.
Epilogue
"Hey, this place is pretty swanky," I say, looking around the throne room of the castle and taking it in.
"Swanky?" Rukkarr repeats, raising his eyebrows. "Kyrzons do not use this word."
"It means— Oh, never mind what it means, I'm saying the place is nice." I laugh, leaning against him. "In a knights-in-shining-armor sort of way," I add, spying the ornate, fancifully-adorned throne at the back of the room.
Rukkarr frowns at me. "How can armor shine at night?"
It takes me a good minute to stop laughing after that one. He and I are still clearly getting used to some of the cultural differences in our relationship.
"It's something from a movie," I giggle. "We have this collection of media from the planet our species came from, and—" The Kyrzon cocks his head, looking utterly baffled at my words. "You know what, I'll save it for another time," I say, nuzzling him. "Let's go check out that throne!"
After a long journey, Rukkarr and I are finally home in the Far Territories. We've been back for three days now. But this isn't Rukkarr's castle that we're checking out:
It's Castle Nerkesh.
Or, the castle formerly known as Castle Nerkesh, now that Rukkarr is in charge. Much to my embarrassment, he has insisted on renaming it Castle Christina.
Two groups of armed Kyrzons follow behind us as we make our way into the throne room. One is made up of Chief Rukkarr's men, and the other of warriors from the former Clan Nerkesh. Technically, they're all supposed to be clanmates now, but it's still pretty clear that they don't entirely trust each other yet. Rukkarr tells me this
is normal behavior when one Kyrzon clan absorbs another, and that they'll get over it.
"This throne is gigantic!" I exclaim as we get closer. I'm still getting used to how big everything is in Rukkarr’s world. He just smiles at me. I have moments like this about ten times a day now that I'm starting to get settled in Kyrzon Territory. I'm just glad that my mate finds it cute.
After the showdown with Nerkesh, Rukkarr and I left for the Far Territories as soon as we could, making only a brief stop along the way to visit Julia and Chief Gurrak. We had no more reason to linger. Rukkarr still intends to push for more Brides in the future, but he doesn't believe that it will be politically feasible until the current scandal has passed.
The authorities in New Byzantium weren't exactly thrilled when they showed up that night at the governor's mansion to find Pullman out cold and a Kyrzon in the living room, but the fact that I was there really helped to smooth things over. It also helped that everyone was scared shitless of Rukkarr, and that the members of the City Council all vouched for my integrity.
As far as I know, Pullman is currently sitting in a jail cell in Human Territory awaiting trial. Knowing him, I wouldn't be too surprised if he managed to wiggle his way out of it, but I hope not. New Byzantium doesn't need a leader like that.
Either way, though, it's not my problem anymore. Not now that I'm the Queen of Clan Rukkarr. I have my own leadership situation to deal with: specifically, that the chief has named me the head of the newly assembled city council in the Clan Rukkar capital. The whole thing was his idea, and honestly, I couldn't love him more for suggesting it. I adore how much he cares about doing right by his people, and I'm excited to continue the type of work I've always loved. I have all sorts of plans for how I'd like to run things, including putting human Brides on the council and making sure that they have a role in the decision-making.
But that will have to come later. Right now, we're on what I guess you could call our honeymoon.
You know, if exploring a freshly-conquered alien castle is your idea of a romantic getaway.
It is mine.
Rukkarr’s, too.
"I would like to breed you now," the chief whispers in my ear, one of his hands resting on my belly and the other finding my breast. I blush, very aware of the other Kyrzons in the room.
"I think you would have a bit of an audience," I whisper back.
"Everyone out!" Rukkarr yells to the room at large. "You will wait for us outside."
Both groups of Kyrzons around us scurry out of the room, their eyes trained on the ground. I'm only just getting to the point where I no longer laugh at behavior like this. The way these aliens interact with each other is so funny to me.
Now that Rukkarr and I are alone, he eyes me hungrily, as though carefully considering how he wants to enjoy me first. I feel my cheeks redden, my lower body responding to his gaze with a pleasurable twinge. Sex is still so new to me, and yet already, I can't imagine how I ever lived without it.
"Sit," Rukkarr orders me, pointing to the throne. I comply, hopping up onto the very tall seat. My heart is pounding. I know that there are warriors waiting just outside the room, but I don't care. All that matters is the chief, and whatever he's planning to do that's putting such a delightful gleam in his eye.
Rukkarr gets down on his knees in front of me. For the first time since I was back in Human Territory, I'm wearing a skirt, having finally unpacked my bundle of clothes. It makes me look super girly next to all these armor and leather-wearing Kyrzons, but I kind of enjoy the contrast. It makes me feel extra feminine and cute.
My husband, on the other hand, enjoys the easy access that the skirt provides. Something that becomes abundantly clear when he flips it up, revealing the fact that I'm not wearing any panties. He grins as he notices this, making eye contact with me.
"You are not wearing that piece of fabric. The one that I hate."
I giggle. Rukkarr's battle with my underwear is a constant source of amusement to me. The bra, I can kind of understand, but the panties? It really isn't that hard just to take them off. I guess it's harder when you're in the moment and possessed by a healthy Kyrzon libido. Still, I happily took the excuse not to wear them today, looking forward to the moment when Rukkarr would begin to undress me and notice their absence.
"I thought you'd like it if I didn't wear them," I admit shyly, holding my thighs together. I'm still getting used to letting him see me naked.
"I do like it," he whispers back, spreading my legs apart with his hands. "I like it very much."
He begins to kiss up and down my thighs, from my knees all the way up to the crook of my legs. I whimper as I watch him, my clit starting to burn with desire.
"Lick me," I beg as his lips pass over my pussy, teasing me. He grins and begins to kiss his way back down my leg.
"You may be a queen," he says between kisses, "but I think we both know how much better this is going to feel if I make you wait a little longer for it."
This earns him a glare. But when his lips finally land on my clit several minutes later and pleasure explodes through me, I can't deny that he's right.
Author’s Note
Dear reader,
Wow! Four books down in the Kyrzon series! You can grab the next book here on Amazon.
I’ve been so amazed by how many people are reading and enjoying these books. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you for sticking with me! I’ve got lots more books planned for the future, so stay tuned.
Make sure you join my VIP newsletter to stay up to date! I’ll also send you a free copy of The First Kyrzon Bride, a short story only available to my newsletter subscribers.
You can also find me at the Galactic Smut Club, a closed Facebook group where readers can hang out, share pictures of Jason Momoa, and get insider details about my upcoming books.
Lastly, if you liked the book, please consider leaving a review! Reviews can make a big difference in an author’s success, and I deeply appreciate every single one. Just a few sentences makes all the difference.
Thanks so much for reading!
Until our next adventure,
Luna Voss
Also by Luna Voss
Kyrzon Breeding Auction series
The First Kyrzon Bride (Sarah and Kawag)
Sold to the Babymaker (Cleo and Drokal)
Claimed by the Babymaker (Lily and Ragga)
Property of the Babymaker (Julia and Gurrak)
Auctioned to the Babymaker (Christy and Rukkar)
Captured by the Babymaker (Selena and Karsh)
Standalone books
A Curvy Gift for the Alien Warrior (Tessa and Borrik)
Copyright © 2020 by Luna Voss
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