by Regine Abel
Why couldn’t he have been a hybrid? From the first time I’d laid eyes on Anton, I’d known my mate would likely have Braxian blood. After I’d sorted things out with my father’s inheritance, Varrek’s clients list, and freed my younger sisters, I’d planned on taking a trip to Haven. The sanctuary planet was home to many half-breed Braxians who had fled the persecution against them on their home world. I’d hoped to find myself a nice male, who shared the human values of the local population, which promoted acceptance and gender equality.
The clip-clop of Grace’s insanely high heels drew me out of my musing. After a quick shower in the guest bedroom that had been assigned to me, I’d put on one of the dresses I’d bought during our little shopping spree. Like me, Ravik had black hair, obsidian eyes, and seemed to like dressing in dark colors. I’d initially planned on wearing a black dress again, but Grace had insisted on me wearing a short, backless, white dress that flattered my coppery complexion. While comfortable with heels, I’d refused to wear the sky-high stilettos she’d suggested. Nevertheless, the silver sandals I settled on had respectably high heels.
At Grace’s request, once dressed, I went to her room so she could fix my hair. She made an elaborate bun that wouldn’t hide my exposed back. Next, she wanted me to wear one of her pairs of earrings.
Sitting at the elegant vanity in the left corner of the room, I watched her reflection through the mirror as she made her way to an imposing dark wood dresser. It occupied a large section of the wall at the right of the massive bed, also built with dark wood. Grace rummaged through the top drawer, which contained a large collection of jewelry. I shifted on a cushioned stool while glancing around the room. Elegant and sparingly decorated, the light grey walls made it look even more spacious. But the walls, which also served as giant screens, held my attention. Currently, they’d been set to resemble windows looking out into luxuriant gardens from the exotic planet Kigamot Sek.
“These are just perfect!” Grace said, returning to me with the precious baubles cradled in her palm.
Each earring consisted of a large, tear-shaped Pleusian pearl, artistically wrapped in a silver coil which spiraled around it. She hooked them in my pierced earlobes, then took a step back to admire her work.
“Up, up,” she said, waving her hands for me to rise from my seat.
I complied, my heels making me tower over her even more. She bit her plump, bottom lip, painted in the same blood red as her nails, and gave me an appreciative once over.
“Ravik is going to swallow his tongue when he sees you,” she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “You’re smoking hot even without makeup!”
My face heated. I was aware of my own beauty and never cared much for makeup aside from the occasional lipstick or lip gloss. And tonight I wanted Ravik to see me, not artifices to enhance me.
Coming from one as stunning as she was, the compliment felt even more flattering. She had not been at all what I’d expected. Beautiful females marrying wealthy, unattractive men—by ‘normal’ standards—were often social climbers or cold-hearted bitches. Grace was sweet, always eager to help—and to please—and genuinely appreciative of any act of kindness or display of friendship. She was easy to love.
She lured me in front of the mirror to admire her handiwork. The white dress was deceptively demure, tying around my neck in the back like a halter dress. The nude back cut so low it could have been taken straight from the Guldan traditional Free Woman dress. Despite the mid-thigh length of the skirt, it still had slits on each side, almost up to my hips. My exposed arms and legs flaunted my Veredian markings. Grace had twisted some strands of my hair, wrapping them around my head like a crown and knotting the rest into a bun.
“How in the world did you manage to make my hair hold like that with only two long pins?” I asked, amazed by her masterful work.
“When you are married to a man who wants quick and easy access to everything, you learn some tricks. Anton loves my hair down,” she said, twirling a reddish-brown lock of it. “He only agrees to me having buns because he can undo them by pulling out a single pin. But yours is way too long to get away with just one.”
Grace turned around, the flowy skirt of her red Grecian dress swirling around her. The long slit on her right side gave a glimpse of her shapely leg with each step. Cinched at the waist, the chest consisted of two straps of luxurious fabric covering each breast in a plunging neckline.
“Let’s go mess with the men’s heads,” Grace said with a giggle, leading the way to the living room.
I followed in her wake, my heart fluttering in anticipation of Ravik’s reaction. The men rose to their feet upon our entrance. Anton purred, a smoldering look descending upon his features as he gazed upon his mate. Grace blossomed under his approving gaze and walked up to him, her hips swaying. Anton wrapped an arm around her, his hand resting on her behind as he pressed her against him and captured her lips in a searing kiss.
Ravik’s onyx eyes burned right through me, his thick lips twisting in a half-snarl. The naked hunger on his face had my inner walls clenching and my skin heating. He prowled towards me, his tight shirt hugging his bulging chest muscles that rippled with each movement.
My mouth went dry as he stopped a couple of steps in front of me. Even with the heels on, he still dwarfed me.
“You look stunning, Ravena,” he said, his gravelly voice making me shiver.
I loved the way he said my name, as if he tasted and savored every syllable while picturing it was me rolling over his tongue. Although I didn’t sleep around, I wasn’t prudish and had no qualms taking my pleasure when and with whom I saw fit when the fancy struck me. But until today, never had I burned so fiercely for a man. Had Anton and Grace not been present, I’d already have torn Ravik’s clothes off.
“Thank you,” I said with a teasing smile. “I’m glad you approve.”
He snorted. “I most certainly do.”
“Let us be on our way,” Anton said, leading his wife to the elevator, his hand resting on her hip.
Ravik gestured for me to proceed before shadowing me. The lift chimed seconds before the door opened. We entered, Ravik filling up the space, the top of his head almost touching the elevator’s ceiling. He stood close enough for me to feel the warmth of his body. I wanted to lean against him and feel his hands on my bare skin. The elevator came to a stop, its doors opening. As if he’d heard my unspoken wish, Ravik placed his callused palm on the naked small of my back to give me a gentle nudge to exit the cabin. A bolt of lust exploded in the pit of my stomach, and my nipples pebbled.
His thumb gently caressed my skin before he removed his hand, leaving me feeling bereft and needy. Exiting after us, Anton and Grace quickly took the lead. Two massive Braxians awaited us at the entrance; Ravik’s security detail. I couldn’t imagine why in the world someone as fearsome and powerful as he would need them, but then again, he was the ruler of his planet.
It took us ten minutes to walk from the penthouse to Risqué. The walkways bustled with activity; many of the patrons making their way to their place of choice to have their meal—some casually strolling, while others hurried through the crowd. Despite a dominant number of humans, no doubt due to the large number of Terran colonies nearby, a wide variety of alien species commingled. While the dress code in public areas was fairly strict, masters were allowed to have their pets on a leash. So far, all of the ones we’d encountered—but one—had been human pets.
Where patrons nodded respectfully in greeting upon seeing Anton, most of them cowered and made way for Ravik. My man was a behemoth. When one patron almost bumped into me, Ravik placed his hand on my hip to pull me to him.
To my delight, he didn’t remove it, even after the ‘danger’ had passed.
By the time we reached Risqué, his hand no longer rested on my hip but on the bare skin of my back. A bit of a hush fell over the crowded place upon our entrance. Many eyes widened and mouths slightly parted in shock as the patrons took in the giant by my side. Unl
ike Grace, I wasn’t an exhibitionist. Yet, the bewildered stares of the crowd lingering on Ravik’s possessive hand on my back did weirdly delicious things to me. I loved knowing that the mere sight of my man set such fear in them. That I would be the one to tame that fearsome beast.
We reached Anton’s private booth, located on an elevated dais against the back wall in the center of the dining room. Circular in shape, it offered a perfect view of the stage and of the dance floor before it. There, a handful of couples swayed to the soft ballads played by a small orchestra. Grace and I slipped onto the seat covered in dark red leather, her from the left and me from the right, before our men took their places at our sides. I let my gaze roam over the room. The beige walls made it look immense, the color sharply contrasting with the shiny, dark brown, wooden floor. Wall lamps, propped at the top of pillars strategically placed so as not to obstruct the view of the stage, provided a soft, ambient light.
Despite the chic décor and refined clientele, the presence of more pets kneeling at their masters’ feet surprised me. The one closest to our table appeared to be a human male. However, a set of straight lines on his skin, above his collar, reminded me of gills. From a distance, I couldn’t tell whether he possessed webbed hands and feet to confirm my assumptions he was a human-Jalunian hybrid.
A pretty, blonde waitress in a second-skin of a white leather dress with matching blood red lipstick and high heels, came to ask what we wanted to drink. Her green eyes flicked a few times towards Ravik. I had to bite the inside of my cheeks as her expression alternated between fear and awe of his brutish face and massive, muscular arms. I realized then that Ravik’s guards had made themselves scarce, although I didn’t doubt for a minute that they lurked well within intervention range.
After the waitress left to fetch our drinks, we consulted the menu and finally settled for The Train, a degustation option with wine pairings in which we would receive samplers of every single item on the special menu until we begged for mercy. It offered well over one hundred specialty dishes from twenty-three different planets, and an extra forty dessert choices.
The evening proved quite delightful with the food being as exquisite as the company. Learning about Grace’s singing career, and all the work that goes on behind the scenes, fascinated me. Discovering more about Anton’s immense pleasure barge empire had my head spinning. Running Venus Hive alone seemed like an impossible undertaking. And yet, he had six more stations scattered throughout the Eastern Quadrant.
However, Ravik turned out to be the most pleasant surprise. Having witnessed the wonderful relationship of many couples who had experienced the Tuning, I hadn’t questioned Ravik being the perfect match for me, being my soulmate. But behind his rough, barbaric exterior, the Magnar hid a keen intelligence, an impressive breadth of knowledge in art, culture, and obviously politics, but best of all, an irreverent sense of humor like me. Except, in his case, he liked fucking with your mind and making you wonder if he was serious or not.
Grace gave up somewhere around dish sample number twenty-one. I plowed through an additional seven before yielding as well. The men chowed down on at least double that. Anton conceded first. Although Ravik stopped at the same time he did, I suspected he could have gone on much longer.
Nevertheless, appearing sated, he leaned back against the leather seat, and spread his right arm on the backrest behind me. While he didn’t touch me, the heat of his skin had me tingling and craving for greater contact.
Anton gently brushed Grace’s hair from her face before caressing it with his fingers. She turned her luminous, amber eyes towards him and smiled. He leaned forward and kissed her gently.
“Let’s dance,” he whispered to his mate.
She nodded. They excused themselves and slipped off the couch, Anton leading Grace by the hand. I envied the easy love and obvious devotion between them. Without going into details while she’d done my hair earlier, Grace had given me a glimpse of some of the hardships she and Anton had faced before finally finding happiness together. The haunted look on her face that I’d caught in her reflection in the mirror hinted at far more terrible times than she’d let on. While she clearly wanted Ravik to find the same kind of happiness, and also appeared to like the idea it might be with me, Grace had given me a clear warning that a difficult road awaited us ahead.
Anton pulled his wife into his embrace. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as they began to move to the music. His movements, incredibly fluid for someone so big and muscular, impressed me. I turned to face Ravik and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Aren’t you going to invite me to dance as well?” I asked.
“No,” Ravik said, his voice devoid of any emotion.
My brows shot up. “Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Why? Are you afraid to step on my toes?” I asked, taken aback.
Seeing how he appeared to want to devour me for dessert, I had expected him to jump at the opportunity to hold me close.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” he said, his deep voice rolling over me like a rumbling purr.
My lips parted in shock. I’d meant to tease and taunt him. This brutal honesty left me speechless.
His smile broadened at my stunned expression. “Braxians do not dance as couples. Females perform erotic dances to entertain the males. And the males perform tribal dances, usually as part of ceremonial rituals or as a challenge before a battle. The latter hasn’t happened in decades.”
My eyes flicked towards Anton and Grace tightly wrapped around each other as they danced amidst half a dozen other couples.
I pointed at them with my chin. “As you can see, it’s not that complicated, even if you don’t have any sense of rhythm.”
Ravik tilted his head to the side, a lock of his black hair falling over his left eye. “I never said I didn’t have rhythm.”
“Then you have no excuse,” I replied. “As you won’t invite me, I’m asking you to dance and will take any refusal as a personal rejection.”
Ravik snorted, and his lips stretched further. Unlike Anton, smiling didn’t soften his features but made him look even more feral, like a hungry beast baring its teeth at its prey.
“Are you so eager to find yourself in my arms, little raven?” he asked, his eyes smoldering.
“What if I said yes?” I asked.
His gaze roamed over me with a possessiveness that made my stomach clench.
“Then it would be rude of me to deny your desires. Come on, then, little bird.”
His massive hand swallowed mine as he led me to the dance floor. His grip, gentle yet firm, reminded me how easily he could crush my bones just by squeezing a bit. My stomach fluttered, and my breath quickened with anticipation. I didn’t know him well enough to have any actual emotional attachment towards him, but the purely animal attraction between us overwhelmed me. I’d never responded so strongly to any male.
He stopped near the left edge of the dance floor and drew me to him. His right arm wrapped around my bare back, his hand slipping under the fabric on the side of my dress, his fingers resting on the naked flesh above my waist. His other hand rested on the small of my back, holding me tightly against him. Rough and callused, they felt like burning irons on my skin. I nearly moaned when my breasts, and then my pelvis, pressed against his hard body. My palms found their way to his shoulders and trailed over the rippling ridges of his muscles to rest on each side of his thick neck. The top of my forehead brushed against the side of his chin as I leaned in to inhale his earthy, male scent.
Ravik began to sway to the music, and I followed his lead. His movements didn’t have the fluidity that Anton had displayed, but he clearly had rhythm. I shivered as his thumbs began to draw slow circles on my skin. His chest vibrated against mine with a low chuckle. He knew very well the power he held over me. That should have irritated me, but it didn’t.
I lifted my head, and our eyes locked. Goddess, he was ridiculously tall and broad. Unless he bent forward or I got u
p on my tippy toes, my arms couldn’t reach far enough to clasp behind his neck.
Ravik lowered his head towards me. “You are playing a dangerous game, little bird,” he whispered.
“I can be reckless and bold, but some things you don’t play with.”
He held my gaze as if attempting to read my mind, then it dipped to my lips. They parted in response, inviting. A nerve ticked on the side of his square, jutting jaw, and he clenched his teeth. I couldn’t decide if I felt more frustrated by his restraint or elated by his obvious struggle to resist his attraction to me.
“I hear you are coming to my home world,” Ravik said. “Why?”
I stiffened at the sudden change of topic. His hand on my side moved up. If he’d stretch his fingers further they would brush against the side of my right breast.
“Personal business,” I said noncommittally.
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I barely resisted the urge to squirm. That response shocked me. Aside from my father’s stern stare, no one had ever made me feel like this before.
“I have reason to believe my brother was trying to set up a slave ring on Braxia,” I continued. “I’m going there to shut down whatever he’s started and hopefully retrieve something that will help me find my younger twin sisters, who were sold over thirty years ago to a bounty hunter.”
Ravik frowned, then nodded slowly. “What proof do you have of this slave ring?”
“In our family home on Guldar, I found documentation on equipment he ordered and construction work he had commissioned on Braxia,” I said, my thumbs tracing the rock hard curve of his sizeable trapezius muscles on each side of his neck. “I believe he also planned on setting up a lab to refine and distribute Bliss.”