I whipped my head to Prothy, who was in charge of our translators. “Are we not speaking her language? What land mass are we on?”
Prothy grimaced. “I may have made an error.”
Gorald groaned as Horvul growled.
Prothy, the smallest of us, took a step back with a wince. “I might have only modified our input. Our output remains what it was from our last landfall. We can understand her, but she can’t understand us.”
“Aliens speak French,” the human mumbled, her eyes wide and unseeing. “Who knew?”
Heat raced up my neck, and I knew my beard was darkening with irritation.
“Oh God,” the human murmured, staring right at me. “Now he’s pissed. The French alien dragon is pissed.”
I wasn’t sure what pissed meant. That wasn’t translating well for me. But she began to tremble, and her eyes watered, which I knew was all a sign of fear. So much for explaining I meant no harm.
“Take.” Horvul reached for her.
“No.” He paused mid-reach at my command. I strode toward her. “I’ll take her.”
As I drew closer, she made a small squeak and attempted to turn and run. But she tripped over her feet and nearly fell flat on her face if it wasn’t for me. I scooped her into my arms, and while she struggled weakly, she seemed most concerned about protecting her spawn from injury. She covered him with her hands, cradling his small head. “Don’t hurt Donut. Or me. But please don’t hurt Donut.”
Donut? What an interesting name. I was sure it meant something noble in her language.
We’d been sent on a scouting mission by our Prema to research Earth as a mining source for compatible females for breeding. This hadn’t been an acquisition mission. No humans were meant to return with us, but now that she’d seen us, we had no choice. That and she was the first human who seemed capable of carrying our young. My heart pounded with excitement. I stared down at the creature in my arms, marveling at the way my hands glided over her soft skin and curves. She was a beauty, the first human—and the first female—to stir my blood in many orbits. Our Warnex population had been declining rapidly, our females birthing only one spawn in their short lifespans. More were dying than we could replace, and Prema had heard of humans on Earth, an overpopulated planet with poor defenses.
The mission had been important, but I’d never intended to take a female for myself. I’d committed to a lifetime of warrior duties. Until I saw her. Now I only had to convince her to be my mate. As soon as we were back on our ship, I’d get Prothy to change my output. Surely she’d want me, a decorated Warnex warrior to protect and care for her and her spawn. Who wouldn’t?
As soon as I explained who I was, she’d be impressed. I was sure of it. For now, she only looked terrified, her big watery eyes staring up at me. Something in the vegetation stretching above us made a hooting sound and she seemed to snap out of a trance. She began to struggle, kicking her legs and twisting her body until I nearly dropped her.
I hadn’t wanted to do this, but I couldn’t let her get away or cause any more humans to see us. I didn’t want to have to kill any of them. And I would in order to keep her.
Horvul met my eyes and I nodded at him. He reached for the pouch attached to his belt. Screwing off the cap, he held it over the human’s open mouth as she let out a few shrill shrieks. The liquid dribbled into her mouth and she went nuclear, sputtering and spitting. But it was too late. Her panicked breathing slowed, her movements grew weaker, and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp in my arms.
Such a pretty, pretty human. Her shirt had a hole in it, and I caught a glimpse of the creamy, pale skin of a breast. I longed to rip the offending cloth off. It wasn’t soft enough, or expensive. With me, she’d be dressed in only the best.
I smiled to myself as we trudged onward. She’d see. Being with a Warnex warrior of my stature would be the best thing that ever happened to her.
Billie
At first my eyes wouldn’t open, and I thought maybe I should panic, but I was too comfortable to start hyperventilating. For real. My entire body was cushioned on a cloud, like the most luxurious pillow top mattress I could buy. And that let me know right away, I was not at home on my lumpy futon, and I was also not on my sister’s couch.
I opened my eyes to a soft, muted light. Above me were riveted panels of metal sheeting, and that was when I registered a low-grade humming. No, not humming, vibration, like a… plane.
I sat straight up with a jerk and bright lights turned on immediately, blinding me for a minute before my eyes adjusted. “What the…?” I was alone, but the lights must be motion censored. The only other option was that someone was watching me and turned them on… I shook my head. No, I wouldn’t go there.
Wait, where was I? I held my head, as it still felt a bit fuzzy and groggy like a weak hangover. The last thing I remembered was being in that French alien’s arms. I widened my eyes, remembered the nasty stuff they’d poured in my mouth. And then I couldn’t remember anything after that.
I lay on a massive bed, like twice the size of a California King. I bounced a little, and the entire thing wobbled like a cross between an air mattress and a waterbed. But it wasn’t either, as far as I could tell. It was something else.
“Donut!” I gasped to myself, suddenly remembering my charge. No matter what happened to me, I was still dedicated to protecting the little guy. That was when my gaze landed on a massive wall of glass that took up nearly the entire length of the room. Lights shone directly overhead, shining off large leaves, sticks, rocks, and a layer of sand covering the bottom. That was when I spotted Donut perched on a massive grass hammock sunning himself without a care in the world.
I relaxed when I caught sight of him. “Well good to know you’re doing great,” I muttered.
As I slid to the edge of the bed—which felt like it took a million years—my skin rasped along something incredibly soft. I tore off the blanket covering me and swung my legs over the edge. I wasn’t wearing my clothes. Gone were my ripped jeans and faded T-shirt. I wore a gauzy skirt in a light purple color with slits up to the top of my thigh. Up top, I wore a bra of the same material, so sheer that I could see the darkened outline of my areolas. “What the hell?”
I didn’t do lingerie, and that was exactly what I was wearing. Lingerie. Except the material was unlike anything I’d felt before. When I ran my hand over it, the color shimmered and sparkled. I didn’t want to admit it, but it was beautiful. Luxurious.
My bare feet touched the floor, and I braced for the coldness of metal, but instead the panels were heated, like a luxury kitchen in a penthouse. I stood up, one hand on the bed as I spun around and took in the room.
Metal walls the color of wheat surrounded me, with lights recessed into the ceiling. A table and two chairs sat in the corner and a table beside the bed with a glass of clear liquid. Yeah, they could fuck off with that. I wasn’t drinking anything ever again.
Speaking of … Who was they? I assumed I was still in the care of the dragon men, but they were nowhere to be seen. I was alone. In lingerie. In a room with a bed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out I was meant for some alien anal probing.
“This wasn’t what I meant by wanting some fun butt stuff,” I murmured. I probably should have been panicking, but it wasn’t like I was shackled. I was alive and relatively unhurt. Donut looked to be in bearded dragon heaven. So I told myself to stay calm. I’d been in worse situations if I was being honest with myself. I wasn’t known for making the best decisions.
A slight buzz sounded in the room a second before one of the large plates slid open. Taking up all the damn doorway so I could barely see outside was one of the lizard aliens. From his darker markings and wrist cuffs, I recognized this as the one who’d carried me, right before the massive one with two fingers missing from his clawed hand had poured sleepy juice down my throat.
I instinctively took a step back, his massive size at once awe-inspiring and terrifying. I was alone, wearing
lingerie, in a bedroom with a decidedly male member of whatever species he was.
He stopped short, and raised his clawed hands, palms out. “I won’t hurt you.”
For a moment, I swore I was imagining things. Had he just spoken English in his raspy deep voice? I wiggled my finger in my ear. “I thought you spoke French?”
That was my first question. To a lizard alien who’d drugged me and dressed me in see-through fabric. Maybe those drugs were still in my system.
He grimaced. “That was a mistake by our tech.”
I couldn’t help a snicker. “There’s always some duds in the IT department.” I clapped my hand over my mouth as soon as the words were out. Was I flirting? What the fuck was wrong with me?
But whatever I said must have been okay, because his shoulders relaxed, and his eyes turned a warm orange in contrast to the piercing yellow they’d been when he walked in. He took a step toward me, and his gaze coasted down my body to my bare toes before traveling back up. And they must have been pumping some aphrodisiac in the air system because my nipples tightened at his possessive appraisal.
“You are the most beautiful human I’ve ever seen,” he said softly.
“You clearly haven’t traveled enough,” I murmured, distracted by my body’s reaction. “Um, I have a lot of questions.”
He continued to prowl toward me in a way that made me feel hunted. One foot in front of the other while keeping his upper body still and his gaze locked on me. With every step he took, I had to take two, until the back of my knees hit the bed and I couldn’t recreate any further He stopped right in front of me, his chest nearly brushing my hardened nipples. He was so utterly alien and yet so masculine at the same time. My body reacted despite my brain’s confusion. He was hairless, with very round eyes, a flat nose, and high cheekbones. The spikes around his jawline didn’t look quite so scary anymore. If anything, my hands itched to touch them. He wore only a pair of pants, and I had a hard time not fixating on his broad chest.
He cocked his head, those orange eyes like embers heating my blood. With one claw, he stroked the side of my neck, from behind my ear lob to the base of my throat. My heard pounded, my pulse so loud in my ears that he had to hear it too. “Questions?” he hissed just as I caught a glimpse of a thick tongue with a slit at the tip.
What was this? Was he trying to seduce me? “Yeah, um questions?”
His claw descended down, slipping over my clavicle before rounding the top of my breast. Right as he reached the darkened edge of my areola, he stopped. “What are your questions?”
What were my questions? Oh right. “Um, who…who are you?”
“My name is Loprok, and I’m a Warnex warrior from Trazian 2 in the Pulsar galaxy.”
I blinked at him. I knew approximately half of those words. I focused on learning one thing. “You’re… intelligent life. From a galaxy and a planet that isn’t Earth?”
He seemed more interested in my tits than answering my questions. “Yes.”
“You’re not fucking with me? This isn’t some weird reality show where you kidnap women and pretend to be aliens?”
He blinked at me. “Reality show?”
I blew out a breath. “Where am I?”
He squinted. “We will soon be entering the Pulsar galaxy. We will stop for fuel at the Urzian station before continuing home to Trazian 2.”
I was going to throw up. Or faint. “I’m sorry. I’m in space right now? Like outer space? Like zero gravity?”
He stepped away from me and hit a censor on the wall near my bed. A small window opened, and I looked out. Pitch blackness was dotted with pinpricks of white light. A reddish planet hung in the distance, its atmosphere swirling with gray and black gases.
I sucked in a breath and stumbled to the bed where I sank down. “I’m sorry, what is…why am I… what the hell?” I held my head with a groan as the room seemed to spin around me.
Large warm hands settled on my knees. “You’re safe here,” Loprok said in a soothing rasp. “We’re going to my home planet, and you’ll love it there. I’ll have Prothy bring us some food.”
I groaned louder. The thought of food had my gorge rising in my throat.
“But I don’t understand, I was safe on Earth. Why—?”
A buzzing cut me off, and a slightly smaller version of Loprok entered the room holding a tray in both hands. His gaze darted to me and back to Loprok as he took careful, measured steps to the table. After placing the tray down, he folded his hands in front of him and took a small bow. “Hello, human.”
“Billie,” I blurted out.
Loprok turned to me. “What did you say?”
I scowled at him, realizing he hadn’t even asked me yet. “My name is Billie. Billie Grant.”
“Billie,” he echoed.
“I’m sorry for the language mistake, human Billie,” said the smaller alien who I assumed was Prothy.
“Just Billie.”
“I’m sorry, Just Billie.”
I groaned. “Whatever.”
“Thank you for the food, Proth.” Loprok said. “Anything to report?”
He shook his head. “On course.”
“Good. Head back to your station.”
Prothy did something with his lips that looked like a smile attempt before fleeing the room like his tail was on fire.
“Come eat.” Loprok gripped my hand and led me to the table.
I tried to tell him I wasn’t hungry but before I knew it, I was plopped on his lap and his fingers were lifting something delicious to my lips. He held me captive with a firm hand across my hips and those glowing orange eyes. His black pupils were large and round, nearly taking up his whole eye.
“Open your mouth, beautiful Billie,” he said in a low rasp, and I did. I opened my lips and let him feed me like I was his pet. Because I’d gone insane and they were pumping some drug through the air system. That was my only explanation.
He placed a square of some sort of fleshy fruit on my tongue and flavors exploded in my mouth, like a ripe peach crossed with a red velvet cake. “Oh my God,” I moaned at the taste, and Loprok’s stare blazed.
He didn’t eat at all himself, only fed me the rest of that fruit plus some sort of spongey cake that tasted like sweet butter. We had nearly finished the tray when I had to push his arm away because I was full. He gave me a drink of liquid that looked like water but tasted like red Gatorade. I guzzled it and then leaned back in his arms.
I felt comfortable here, too comfortable. Loprok lowered his head and began to nuzzle at my neck, and that was when I finally came to my senses. A little.
I went stiff in his arms, and he lifted his eyes to study me. “We need to talk,” I announced, sliding off his lap. He let me, but then rose himself to crowd me into a corner where I couldn’t flee. I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t understand why I’m here.”
“You’re beautiful and you’re perfect for me,” he said.
I blinked at him. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I hadn’t intended to take a mate, but I saw you and knew you were for me. Especially when I noticed who well you protected your Donut.”
Confusion swamped me, and I waved my hand in front of my face. “So you wanted me and just took me?”
He nodded easily, as if that was perfectly acceptable.
“You can’t just… you can’t just take people!” I fisted my hands at my sides and tried to look intimidating.
He frowned. At least, I thought it was a frown. Wrinkles appeared between his eyes. “But life on Trazian 2 when mated to a Warnex warrior is coveted.” He pointed to his chest. “I’m a top commander, in charge of my own squad and fighting fleet.” He gestured around the room. “No one would turn down that opportunity.”
Cocky much? “I’m guessing I’m supposed to care about those things, but I had it pretty good on Earth. I mean, not great per say, but I had my own apartment and a job and friends and family—”
“Did you have a mate?” He took a
step closer, and I swore his body seemed to swell.
I held back a squeak. “What?”
“A mate? Did you have a male in your bed?”
I blinked. “Um, not…presently?”
His lips stretched into a predatory grin. “If my position and fleet does not impress you, then I know what will, beautiful Billie.”
I wasn’t sure if I liked the sound of that or not. “Umm… okay?”
He took another step closer, and some self-protection instinct kicked in because I made an inelegant squeal and ducked under his arm, running to the safety of the center of the room. Away from his massive body and heated scales.
That didn’t matter though, he only spun on a heel with surprising grace and stalked toward me, that damn grin still on his face. “Before we reach the refueling station, you will learn all the benefits of what it is to be mine.”
Billie
I backed up until my knees hit the bed. “I…will?”
He didn’t stop moving once he reached me. With a bend of his knees, he wrapped an arm under my butt, lifted me in the air and then deposited me on the soft mattress in one fluid motion. He rose over me, clawed fists braced on either side of my thighs.
Frozen, I waited for his next move. I thought about kicking him, but he’d just lifted my size fourteen ass with ease. He had claws. I wasn’t winning that fight, and I wasn’t into pain.
“Billie,” he hissed with his wide mouth.
“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out,” I said under my breath, because again, I was insane.
He shifted his weight and ran one massive palm up my calf. His claws just barely scraped my flesh, sending tingles shooting up my leg to pool in my core. Oh My God, was I… getting turned?
It was his gaze, and the careful way he handled me. And maybe a little of it was the fabric on my body. The slinky material was decadent, and the entire room was scented like that sweet fruit I’d just indulged in.
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