The table, which was always scrubbed clean, held a variety of herbs that Kilma had been preparing. She was the local herbalist, or healer, or witch, depending on whom you spoke to. Although Tiana had never seen her use any powers, she wasn’t convinced things like that even existed, so she settled for her aunt being a wise woman who could cure most things with a strong tonic, brewed specially for what ailed a person.
“Can you make a tonic for me? Well, for someone I know,” Tiana asked.
“For Mak?” Larka asked.
“Yes, for Mak. It seems the least we can do for him.”
“And who is this Mak?” Kilma asked, her voice filled with curiosity.
“The man who helped rescue Larka, and brought us here.”
“Tiana likes him, and he likes Tiana,” Larka said in an exaggerated whisper, still clinging close to her mom.
“Yes, because when he takes me back to my father, he will get a large bounty.” She raised her eyebrows at Kilma’s questioning look. “He’s a bounty hunter. I gave him my mom’s jewelry so he would help me. So don’t look at me as if he did it for any other reason. The Virdian will do anything for money.”
“Then why do you want to help him? If you paid him, then his injuries are just collateral damage from him doing his job.” Kilma smiled at Larka and winked. “Or does he think there’s more to it?”
Larka nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but Tiana cut her off. “I don’t know what he’s thinking. My father has no doubt already got my future, including my husband, all mapped out for me. I don’t need it complicated by a bounty hunter in tight pants.”
“Tight pants, is it?” Kilma laughed. “Come on, tell me what ails him and I’ll brew him a potion, you can take it back to his ship, with my compliments. I am thankful he saved my daughter. You may have paid him, but I did not.”
“You make the potion, I’ll make the tea,” Tiana said, deciding she really did not want to talk about her feelings for Mak anymore. “Then I’ll take it back to him, while you pack.”
“So soon?” Kilma asked. “Surely we have time.”
Tiana shook her head. “A ship is already on its way here. Mak’s ship, Stellia, jumped to warp, which is why we beat them to it. It’s not safe.”
“Then I’d better get this tonic made,” Kilma said, her hands shaking as she spooned herbs into a pan and set it to boil.
***
An hour later, Tiana was heading back to the ship. Stellia had set herself down about a mile from the small inlet where Kilma lived. The small village consisted of a group of about twenty houses, which were scattered along the headland, looking down on the River Yellit, about two miles from where it reached the great sea.
The land was fertile, and hay meadows ran down to the banks of the river, in which the herbs Kilma harvested grew. The peace and quiet of the open countryside appealed to Tiana. Here there were no rules of court to uphold; the people were free to do as they wanted, as long as they did not break the laws by stealing from, or hurting, other people.
A simple life. Or at least it had been. Tiana looked back to the small cabin where Larka had lived her whole life, sheltered from the world. It was about to come to an end. They all knew it as they sat around drinking tea, while Kilma stirred the simmering herbs to make a tonic for Mak. But they didn’t speak of it. Those words could wait, the future put off for an hour or so more.
When she left them, they had begun to pack, a sadness settling over the small cabin, and Tiana knew it was the right thing to do, leaving them alone to say goodbye to their old life.
Weaving her way through the trees, she caught her first glimpse of Stellia’s hull, and her heart beat a little faster. Mak consumed more of her thoughts than was appropriate, and Kilma’s words as she pressed the tonic bottle into Tiana’s hand had not helped to rid her of them.
“Don’t waste this opportunity. We are all forced to do what we would rather not. I know from experience, just as your mom knew. She went to your father for love, even though she knew it would kill her in the end. But you have the chance to choose a small piece of happiness, right now, with this Mak.”
“But it will be so brief, so fleeting,” Tiana had answered.
“The smallest, brightest flames often burn for the briefest of moments.”
“And then they are gone.”
“But at least they existed, and are remembered by those who see them. Take this opportunity, make the most of it.”
As Stellia opened the ramp for her, that was what she intended to do.
Chapter Fifteen – Mak
“Mak.” A voice came to him, and he fought to surface from the sleep that had claimed him. But it was persistent, as was the hand on his arm, shaking him.
“What?” he murmured in response. His body ached to move, and that included his eyelids, and his eyes, and every part of him, even the hairs on his head.
“Are you awake?” It was Tiana. That made him feel a little better, knowing she had come back to check on him when she could have stayed with Larka and her family.
“I am now.” He opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but she placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Has the Maraki ship arrived?”
“No.”
He relaxed back down, relieved he didn’t have to force his poor aching body into action. “Then why are you here? Or did you think I might die on you?”
She laughed softly. “I think it would take more than a scatter gun to take you out, but I’m thinking you feel like shit.”
“You would be right.” He closed his eyes briefly, hoping that when he opened them again he might be able to focus on her face. There was something about her that he wanted to lie here and stare at all night, and for once it wasn’t in a sexual kind of way. Instead, he found she soothed him: her smile, her voice, her touch, everything about her made him feel light and happy.
“I took Larka home, and her mom made this for you. To say thank you for bringing her daughter back home.”
One eye opened, and he made out the shape of her nose and her smile. Damn, how he wanted to kiss those lips. “What is it?”
“A pick-me-up. She’s an herbalist.”
“Is she? The last time someone made me anything with herbs, it was to try to knock me out, not pick me up.”
“You obviously have an effect on people.”
“I do.” He sat up, and took the small bottle from her. “Is it safe?”
“Want me to drink some first so you know we’re not trying to kill you? Because of course, with the Maraki due to arrive here in the next day or so, killing you is the most sensible thing to do.”
“You sound like Stellia. Have you been taking lessons?”
“No. But that should be my next point. If I hurt you in any way, Stellia wouldn’t let me leave the ship alive.”
“True.” He lifted his hand, first sniffing the bottle, and then opening his mouth and swallowing it down. He figured that no matter what was in it, he could not feel any worse than he already did. “Damn, that tastes disgusting.”
“All the best medicines do.” She took the bottle from him and placed it down on the table next to the bunk. “It should only take a few minutes to work.”
He closed his eyes and relaxed, wondering if he was imagining the sense of deep relaxation that crept over him. “That feels better already.”
“Good.” He flinched as her fingers touched his face. She stopped, about to withdraw her hand.
“I like it.” He opened one eye. “Works nearly as well as the tonic.”
She smiled, and he was glad his eyes were coming into focus; he would have hated to miss the way her full lips turned up at the corners and her eyes sparkled with life. She was beautiful, even for a princess. He chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Her fingers trailed down his face, a fingertip tracing his top lip, and he pursed them, kissing it lightly. It was her turn to flinch.
“I won’t bite,” he said, mustering the strength to sit up. His body no longer ached, a
nd the sense of every nerve ending being on fire was beginning to fade.
She leaned forward, and pressed her lips to his. Mak responded, kissing her back, wanting her to know how much he liked her, wanted her. And then she nipped his bottom lip, which made him less relaxed in certain parts of his body. He groaned in frustration, he really did not think he was up to having sex right now. The potion was good, but not that good. He doubted he had the stamina to take her as she deserved to be taken. And he wanted to make a really good first impression.
“Tiana,” he said, kissing her once more, his tongue stroking her lower lip and then asking for, no, demanding, access to her mouth.
“Hmmm,” she murmured in response.
“Tiana, we need to talk.” He pulled back, looking into her eyes, searching for the truth of her feelings towards him. Was this lust, or something else, something deeper?
“And it can’t wait until later?” she asked, her left hand cupping his cheek, while her right hand moved lower, a lot lower, to stroke his cock. “I think we have more pressing things to think about. If you have your strength back.”
The pressing thing was her hand squeezing him, until he thought he would explode right then. Now, that would be a good way to prove his prowess in the bedroom. “We have to talk.”
“Don’t you want me?” she asked, her mouth covering his ear, her teeth nipping the lobe, while her breath tickled his skin.
“Did you drink a potion too?” he asked, his sense of doing the right thing slipping away with each movement of her body and word from her mouth.
She giggled. “No. This is all me. Aren’t I allowed to show you how much I appreciate your help? Before you take me back to my father, aren’t I allowed to experience wanting something for me, not for anyone else? He’s probably going to marry me off to some old Maraki trader, and I’d like my first time to be with someone of my choosing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His resolve disappeared and he grabbed her roughly, turning their bodies so their positions were opposite, with him on top and her firmly underneath him. Pressing his lips to her neck, he worked his way down, until he grazed her hard nipples through her clothes.
“Damn, I want to see you naked.”
He sat up, and began to undo her shirt, the potion making him feel better by the minute. When he met Kilma, he was going to kiss her, and promise to take her wherever she wanted to go. If it wasn’t for her, he would be flat on his back, with no energy, instead of unveiling Tiana’s beautiful breasts.
He sighed. They were beautiful, her skin pale and soft, encased in a silk bra, which was about to be unclasped and discarded along with her shirt.
“Damn, you are amazing,” he said, his hands caressing her skin, fingers tweaking her nipples until they were hard buds, just ripe for sucking into his mouth.
“Do you say that to all your women?” she asked, her hand covering his cock, which was painfully hard in his pants. Her touch was like magic, just the right combination of squeezing, and stroking.
“I don’t have that many women,” he admitted, lifting his head from where he had been nursing on her breasts. “I want a wife. My biological clock is ticking. I want an heir, I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, but I want a child.”
“To teach them everything you know.”
“Not everything,” he said seductively, undoing her pants, and then moving down her body, taking them with him, until she was naked before him. Placing his hands on her knees, he spread her legs wide enough for him to nestle his broad shoulders between them. “Some things have to be learned by experience and experimentation.”
His mouth covered her clit, his tongue flicking over it, making her writhe beneath him. Using his strong hands, he held her in place, even when she fisted his hair and tried to drag him away from her sensitive bud. The moans coming from her mouth told him she liked it, but couldn’t handle the intense pleasure his mouth was giving her.
Dipping his head lower, he plunged his tongue in and out of her sex, bringing her close to her orgasm, and then switching back to torture her clit, sending her over the edge. She screamed, calling out his name and filling the air with words of profanity a princess would never learn in court.
“I should wash your mouth out,” he said as he kissed his way up her body, giving her time to collect her senses before he guided himself into her slick, wet sex.
Chapter Sixteen – Tiana
He filled her so completely, she thought he would split her in two. This Virdian was huge in every way, and his cock was in proportion with the rest of his body. Yet his size didn’t matter, he was so gentle with her, moving slowly, stroking her skin, making certain she was ready for him.
Tiana wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close as he inched his way deeper into her. Pulling back, and then thrusting deeper, slowly filling her, slowly driving her arousal higher, until her senses were overwhelmed.
“I have never been with a princess,” he said, kissing her neck.
“I have never been with a bounty hunter,” she said, her voice rising as he thrust harder, deeper.
He chuckled. “You are so tight around me, I would say you had never been with any man.” He bit her neck, and her inner muscles clamped around his cock even tighter.
“A princess never talks of such things.” She ran her hands across his back, feeling the broadness of his torso, the strength of his muscles, and she wanted him to consume her, to make her forget she was a princess and that one day she might have to lie with a man not of her choosing.
“I could make you talk.” He thrust into her harder, but not enough to hurt her. “I could make you tell me all the secrets of your kingdom.” Mak lowered his mouth, kissing the swell of her breasts, and then capturing her nipple between his teeth, tugging it gently, before licking it with the flat of his tongue.
“And I believe I could do the same to you, Mak of the Virdian.”
“T’Makizomo of the Virdian. I think you should at least know my full name if I’m making love to you.” His mouth went back to sucking her breasts, his left hand moving under her bottom, holding her close as his thrusts became harder.
“And are we making love, T’Makizomo?” she asked, raising her knees and circling his thighs, tilting her pelvis. At this new angle, with each thrust, his body skimmed her clit, and she knew she would not hold on for long. “Or is this sex?”
She raked her nails down his back, sliding her hands down until they were on his ass, and then she urged him to take her, and he did. Long lunges, in and out, he drove them both to the edge of the precipice and then threw them off it.
Tiana cried out as her orgasm hit her. It was as though he had captured her very essence and then pulled it apart strand by strand, leaving her in a million pieces. Then he kissed her and brought her back together again. “Definitely making love,” he said, smiling, his eyes catching hers.
Then their beautiful new world was shattered by Stellia’s voice. “Maraki entering Rilan air space.”
“Damn it!” he cursed.
“I thought they weren’t supposed to get here until tomorrow sometime,” Tiana said, grabbing her clothes, while Mak pulled his pants on, dressing quickly.
“Stellia, do you have any answers?” Mak asked the air.
“Recalculating.” As the computer fell silent, Mak pulled on his boots and they both made their way to the weapons locker.
“Listen, we need to go and grab Kilma and Larka and leave Rilan with them. Whatever you have to say, whatever you have to promise, we have to make them leave. Now the Maraki know they are here, they will never leave them alone.”
“I’ve been giving it some thought, and the only thing I can think of is for us to smuggle them onto Kalisov,” Tiana said, buckling a laser to her belt. “Unless you have any suggestions.”
He looked kind of sheepish, averting his eyes as if he had something to hide. It looked as if he did have a suggestion, one she was not going to like. Taking his
time, he removed a large laser rifle and something that looked big enough to blow a hole in a space ship, before closing the locker and looking at her.
“We don’t have a lot of time, but this is what I think we should do.” He nodded, as if encouraging himself to talk. “There is a psychic on Trealian; it’s a small planet on the outer edge of this sector.”
“I’ve heard of Trealian, but not of the psychic.” Why was he being secretive about her? “Is she like your girlfriend, or something?”
He laughed and shook his head. “She’s old enough to be my grandma. Seriously, I have no idea of her age, she’s one of the last, if not the last, of her kind. But she could take them in. She runs a tea shop, herbs and stuff. Kilma could probably work there. You know, making these tonics. It’s the perfect place. Well, apart from the fact that there is a princess offering a bounty on her for information on her whereabouts.”
“If she’s psychic, will she be able to protect them?” Tiana asked. “They may be safer on Kalisov.” Apart from the way her father felt about them.
“You tell me. I know Kilma is your aunt, but Larka said your father doesn’t like them.”
“They argued when my mom died. They ended up blaming each other for her death. I don’t know the details, and neither of them have ever talked to me about it. They kept a dignified silence, I expect so they didn’t alienate me from the other.”
“That makes a change. Usually people are only too happy to sway others to their cause.”
“All I know is when my mom got sick, Kilma wanted to bring her home to Rilan, and my father said no. I think my mom wanted to come here, but she would never go against my father’s wishes. Maybe Kilma thought her herbs would save my mom. The argument made my mom worse… At least that was how it seemed to me. As if my mom was tired of being stuck between two worlds.”
The Princess and her Bounty Hunter: Alien Romance (Fated to the Alien: The Psychic Matchmaker Book 2) Page 8