I turn a corner, where another clothing booth meets an alleyway. I’m shocked to find another group of Genurians right in our path. These ones are even uglier than the ones I was keeping an eye on. They recognize the girl instantly, pointing at her and screeching about how I stole her from them. Apparently I assumed wrong earlier, and in seconds I’m sprinting away from them, practically dragging the girl behind me. The Genurians give chase, and soon we’re wildly dodging in between booths to avoid them. They split up, trying to corner us before we reach the edge of the marketplace.
There’s an alley nearby. After carefully navigating around the stalls, I duck into it, Earth girl in tow. There’s an old water well facility here, and with a couple kicks I’m able to get the door open. I toss the girl inside, and follow her, nervous that she might have dropped the precious liquor from earlier. I look through a small opening in the door. The Genurians have lost us, looking around for any sight of us. I barricade us in with some heavy metal crates, then grab the girl’s chain and tie it to a nearby beam. She’s not happy about this, but I don’t care. All I can think about is the sweet relief of finally being able to lie down after walking and running for miles.
I didn’t realize I had slept so long. I wake up to the not so cheerful face of the Earth girl, her body curled up, half covered in the tunic I got her because her arm is still chained up.
“Rise and shine,” she says, clearly annoyed.
“Sorry I fell asleep,” I tell her. “I only had to track down a group of Genurians for several hours just to save your ungrateful ass.” She catches onto the sarcasm quickly, and matches it with her sass.
“Are you finally going to answer my questions?” She asks, “Or are you going to keep up this weird secretive ninja thing you have going on?”
I realize she hasn’t had the chance to meet me face-to-face. Now that we’ve got quite a journey ahead of us, I think I’d better be polite and show her what I look like. I remove my hood; frankly, I’m a little worried about how she might see me. I mean, this girl has never left her planet before. To best describe myself, I’m an alien, no surprise there. To be more specific, I’m a purple alien with green eyes and spiraling tattoos covering my skin, not exactly an Earthling’s type I’d say. I unwrap the cloth from around my mouth, slowly, so I don’t terrorize her, revealing my two bottom teeth that stick out a little from my bottom lip. Oh; and there’s my nose piercing, but that’s more of a fashion statement than an alien feature. It was a dare. Surprisingly, she doesn’t flinch, probably because she’s seen some real crazy shit over the past several hours.
“Alright,” I begin, “Get comfortable.” She does, the chain rattling against the beam. “I’m Falax,” I say, stretching out my hand to her, a classic Earth gesture. I figure that would make her more comfortable. She takes it, hesitant at first.
“Becca,” she says quietly. “So, Becca, here’s the answers,” I tell her, “I’m a hired guy. On a normal day I’m an independent smuggler. Well, I was one for a second, but that’s another story. Since my king specifically requested my service, I’m obliged by law to help him.”
“Help him do what exactly?” She asks. This part is never fun to answer. “Every year, King Mezzias of my planet, Kellion, seeks out a mate from all corners of the universe,” I explain, and I can already see her eyes widening.
“A mate…” she says, as if this is all a big joke. Spoiler, it’s not. I cross my legs as I continue.
“He picks a planet at random, and then he goes through a list of single females from that planet, until he finds a suitable choice. You’re the lucky lady of course, and I’ve been sent to retrieve you, and deliver you to Mezzias, where you’ll live happily ever after.”
Becca did not take this well. I have to wait a few moments for her to stop thrashing her chains at me before I can continue.
“Are you serious?” She screeches in between thrashes. “I want you to take me home, now!” She demands. I sigh, trying to get through the rest of this speech.
“We were en route to Kellion, when we hit the asteroid field,” I continue over her, ignoring her steaming glares, “Thanks to your heroic stunt, you’ve crashed us onto a different planet,”
“Gemma Six,” she says bluntly.
“Yes,” I say, “but Mezzias doesn’t know you’re on Gemma Six. He thinks we’re on Gemma Seven. In an amazing stroke of luck, I’ve managed to get my tracking system working for my escape pod.” I pull out a tablet, showing her a small blip at the end of a long trail in the desert. It flashes green displaying that the pod is in tact.
“Apparently it landed several miles away from where we originally crashed,” I say. “Someone, I assume you, must have tampered with it beforehand. It’s a bit of a hike from here, but once we get there, we’ll just head on over to Seven and drop you off with your new husband.” I muster a wide grin, maybe a little too wide, and maybe a little too phony.
“How dare you even chain me up like this. This is a horrible joke, and I demand that you take me back to my planet!” Becca screams. I lean over and shush her violently. She bites down on my hand, really hard I should add.
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” I say as I take my mouth covering and tie it around her mouth. I almost enjoy the quiet, until her muffled screams disturb the silence. I can definitely see where she’s coming from, but then most of them are not pleased when I have to tell them all of this. The only thing I can do is get comfortable while Becca thrashes her chains at me, her curses muffled by the gag.
Like I said, this part is never fun.
CHAPTER 5: A HIKE
BECCA
It’s been hours now since we’ve left the water pump hideout, and the boots Falax gave me keep filling up with scorching hot sand. He walks several paces ahead of me, the heavy chain separating us; occasionally brushing against the dunes. This is the perfect definition of an absolute nightmare, and just when I think it can’t get any worse, it does. The unexpected dust storms are horrible, and Falax has to set up a weak tarp over us in hopes that we don’t suffocate.
He also hasn’t said anything since we started walking for the day. How can he be so casual to me when he knows that I’m about to be handed over to some random stranger to mate with him? Doesn’t he have a conscience at all? Still, we’ve been walking silently for hours, which is almost driving me to the point of insanity. I’ve spent the past hour-and-a-half trying to come up with a plan of escape from this planet, mixed with small intermissions of replaying old sci-fi movies in my head from memory, just to keep me sane. I would have taken the chance to sneak out last night, but Falax stayed up the whole time I was asleep. He has the ears and eyes of a hawk.
I decide that if we’re going to be hiking like this, I better try to drop my attitude and make some small talk, as much as it’s going to kill me. At this point though, anything is better than silence.
“So, how’d you end up being a bridal delivery boy?” I ask him, my dusty dry mouth barely forming the words. He keeps quiet, an infuriating trait that he’s exhibited quite a lot since I’ve met him. I hate him, to be quite honest. I hate that he’s brought me here. I hate his stupid smirk he gives me whenever I get mad at him. I also hate how cute he is, I mean, for an alien man of course. Damn it, if he wasn’t so cute…What am I saying though? He’s absolutely the worst company on this hike.
“Hey,” I try again, really fed up at this point. “I asked you a question!” Falax turns to me, his mouth covered again, so I can only make out his eyebrows knitting into a scowl.
“Would you quit trying to talk to me?” He says gruffly. “I hate the ones that talk so much. It only makes the job more difficult.”
“Oh sorry,” I say, waving my free hand. “Just trying to make some decent conversation since we’re the only people out here for thousands of miles.”
“I can always trade you back to the Genurians,” he warns. I don’t like this idea very much. I use my free hand to pull the chain against his grip. He senses my mo
ve, and wraps his end of the chain firmly around his wrist. I try to pull away but he feeds the chain through his hands, pulling me closer until I’m inches from his face. “I’m not kidding,” he says sternly, his eyes dead serious, “I don’t have to do this, you know. I can leave you out here in the middle of the desert to shrivel up or get eaten by desert hounds. It would actually be more entertaining that trying to make small talk with you right now.”
“Why don’t you then,” I counter, “leave me behind. Lighten the load a bit?”
“Because you’re my paycheck,” he says almost through his teeth, even though I can’t see them. He drops the chain so it relaxes, still holding onto his end of it as he continues to walk ahead. We stay silent for a while.
He eventually turns to look back at me, I guess after he’s had the chance to cool down. He reaches into a bag on his back and throws me a canteen. I take a hasty sip, careful not to spill any, as the cool water relieves my throat.
“I used to be in the military,” he says, his voice a little calmer now, “There was an accident during a mission. The ships we use are built pretty cheaply, which means we have a lot of them, but they go down pretty quickly. We were flying over enemy territory when we lost our navigation and our shields. The ship went down. The reinforcements rescued me, but my best friend and my copilot, Traz, wasn’t so lucky. They found his body miles from the crash.”
I never expected such a heavy story from him, then again, it may explain why he’s so bitter. My heart aches for him a bit, and suddenly I feel a little bad for being rude earlier.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, and I mean it. I’ve lost people in my life, but never like that.
“It’s alright,” he says, a little disappointed. “After my time during the big war, I got caught smuggling goods in and out of Kellion. It was during my first gig of all things. It was supposed to be my big break into a new career. Instead of punishing me, though, the King decided to give me this job instead. And here we are…”
“Do you like what you do?” I ask him. I see him shrug through his cloak, and he waves his arm dismissively.
“Money is money, no matter how I have to get it,” he says. My heart sinks after he says this. I guess it makes sense coming from an alien smuggler. Still, it doesn’t exactly feel great to be referred to as someone’s paycheck.
After we walk without water for a few more hours, we see something up ahead. Falax lets out an exhausted cry of relief. There are towering palm trees, and clay houses in the distance. I can just make out the bright sparkle of water shimmering over the horizon, but I can’t tell whether it’s just the waves of heat that have been battering at us all day. A second look though, and I can safely say that it’s water! I desperately hope it’s not just one of those mirages you see in cartoons all the time, an empty promise in such a cruel climate. I still don’t really believe it’s there until Falax confirms it.
“It’s an oasis!” he exclaims, nearly dropping my chain, to quickly hobble over to it. The heat has really gotten to him too.
The oasis is actually a desert inn, the clay buildings acting like a motel around the enormous pools of dark-blue water. Visitors laugh as they splash and bathe in the makeshift waterfalls. They purposely lay out in the sun, occasionally dipping their feet into the water. It takes all my strength to not throw myself into it. I’d drink up the entire thing if I could.
Falax gets us a room for the night. Separate beds of course. We wait for everyone to clear out in the evening before taking a dip in the bathing pool, since Falax is trying to keep my existence on the low. Gee, who would have thought that stealing brides from other planets was so frowned upon?
We’re the only ones around the water tonight, and I feel a nervous excitement for some reason. I don’t even know why I feel this way, maybe it’s because I haven’t been alone with a man in a while, I mean, aside from hiking with one in the desert for hours, but I’m sure that doesn’t count.
However, Falax keeps me chained up, to my dismay.
“How am I supposed to get clean?” I say, looking at him expectantly. He looks at the water, then does something I don’t expect. He gets closer to me and kneels down, pulling off my boots, dumping the sand onto the tiled floor. “Hey! What are you doing?” I ask him, a little worried, but feeling a little jump in my chest as he moves up to unbutton and pull my pants down over my ankles.
“Calm down,” he says shaking his head, “I’m just trying to help. You’re incapacitated. Don’t worry, if it’s any consolation, you’re not my type, and I definitely don’t see myself having sex with you anytime soon.” He rattles the chain mockingly, as he slides his hands, just barely, under the edge of my tunic.
His fingertips make me shudder, but I try to compose myself. He unbuttons the tunic slowly, slipping it over my head and threading it through the chain. I’m still wearing the horrible bikini from the auction underneath, and he slips his finger under one of the straps, raising an eyebrow at me as if to say, “This too?” My heart pounds through my chest. How is he allowed to look so cute, when I hate him so much? I’m startled by a sudden wave of wanting, as it spreads over me. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve been touched like this too.
“Sure, why not,” I say softly. He unties the strings, revealing my breasts in the pale light of the moon.
“Sorry. I won’t stare” he says slyly. I roll my eyes at him, but I don’t feel weird at all being topless in his presence for some reason. It’s almost a weird comfortable feeling. I don’t mind so much that I even let him untie the bottoms, his fingers brushing slightly against my hips as the fabric falls to the tile, his eyes averting the most intimate areas.
He gently guides me into the pool, lowering me into the crisp cool water, still holding onto the chain as he stands on the edge. The water feels incredible, and my skin prickles with goose bumps as I duck my head under, feeling completely refreshed. I’m almost tempted to pull him in with me, but instead, I let him get closer to the edge.
He hands me a bar of sweet-smelling soap, and turns away as I rub myself down with it, rinsing off the grime of the day. It’s hard to do with one hand though, and the bar keeps slipping from my hands, plopping down into the water, making me constantly have to fish it out. Annoyed, I have no other choice but to ask for help. “Excuse me,” I tell him, holding out the soap. “Do you mind?” He doesn’t hesitate to take it, and gently lathers the rest of me up, the suds gathering around my chest. His hands are strong as they firmly grip my arms.
He navigates towards my breasts, and I can feel both of us breathing a little more heavily as he gently starts to cup them.
“Hey, watch it,” I say mischievously, splashing away. He moves his hands, looking suddenly guilty for touching me.
“Oh, sorry. I don’t know what…” he trails off, his mannerisms changing as he sits in a seat nearby to supervise the rest of my skinny dip.
Later, when I’ve finished, I watch Falax from the cutout window in our room. He takes off his clothes near the pool, and for the first time I can see his entire body covered in tattoos. He’s also amazingly ripped. I didn’t see that his arm muscles were so well-defined when they were hidden under his cloak this whole time. He stretches, his shoulders relaxing and contracting as he bends down to touch his toes. I wonder if he’s showing off his tight ass on purpose. Either way, it’s definitely doing something to me. What am I thinking? Wasn’t I just bashing him a moment ago?
I keep watching as he jumps in and swim a couple laps, cutting through the water with ease. He sits on the edge of the pool and for once I notice something else about him. He seems upset - deep in thought about something…
CHAPTER 6: EVEN
FALAX
I felt something after last night, and I had to swim it out; hopefully, to clear my head. I’ve seen Earth girls before on the pleasure systems, but nothing like Becca. When I touched her, it was as if something had fried my circuits. I mean, if I had any. If I hadn’t held myself back, I would certainly have taken
her myself. Of course, I have no right to feel this way about the King’s future property, and I’ve spent the rest of our walk suppressing whatever it was that came out of me last night.
I bring Becca to a marketplace. This one is much larger than the last city we were in. I’ve been checking my tracker for the escape pod, and if we keep up our pace, we should reach it by tomorrow evening. I don’t want to make the same mistake of not bringing enough water, so we’ve come here to stock up. Becca is no use to the King or me if she’s dead from dehydration.
We’ve just stopped at a stall advertising melons, when I feel a tiny yank on my wrist. I look down, and realize…it’s empty. The chain is gone somehow, and Becca with it. I feel another weight missing, the bat from my waist. Damn it! Where the hell did she learn to pickpocket? Or was that not even her that did it? My body reacts almost automatically, and I’m hardly processing how I’m moving through such a large crowd at such a fast pace. I’m jumping over carts, dodging around women with their crying babies, and jewelers trying to pawn of their wares. I look for any sight of Becca, for a hint of her golden hair, anything. But she’s gone.
Devastated, and trying to think quickly, I run into a beaded curtain, stumbling over the knit rug on the floor. I hear a bunch of voices gasp as I hit the ground, and look up to see a wall of half-naked women of all shapes and species staring down at me, their mouths agape. I stand up and brush the dirt off of me.
“Excuse me,” I ask them, trying not to stare at their exposed skin. “Have any of you seen a human girl? Blonde hair? Kind of annoying?” The women look silently at me. A strange cunning aura radiates from them. Finally, one of them giggles and steps forward. “Nobody like that here,” she says with a playful shrug.
Forbidden Delivery (Galaxy Smugglers Book 1) Page 3