by Celia Kyle
She didn’t say a word as she passed by Pach once and then twice, neither of them uttering a sound. Which gave her a chance to roll her situation through her mind again.
Kidnapped by her purple alien lover. Oh, and he’s a prince.
She had no idea how Zyriq’s mind worked. How the hell had he thought kidnapping her was a good idea?
Then something he’d said tickled her memory… tradition of Morea.
Bless the stars, that couldn’t mean kidnapping was a customary practice on Morea, right? She didn’t want to believe it, but something in her gut told her that was exactly what Morean males did when they found the woman they wanted.
She rubbed her temple, head throbbing with a growing headache. This was how the universe repaid her for throwing caution—and good sense—to the wind. A little passion and a lot of bliss and then boom, baby.
Zyriq had been so foreign and mysterious, his blatant craving for her obvious in his every look, his every touch. She’d sensed his wanting of her and it’d made her feel powerful, beautiful, and like a temptress. He’d traipsed through ASZ as if he owned every inch of the station and expected his every need to be met. Then he’d looked at her and it’d taken that single glance to know he was nothing like the station master—the true leader of the station.
Zyriq wanted but didn’t make threatening demands. And that simple fact had turned her on. Had made her eager to crawl into bed with the dominating alien. He’d been both fierce and tender, his passion demanding yet careful as he explored her body. By the time he’d left her bed and returned to his ship, she’d been well-sated and ached in all those deliciously right places.
Then there was the one part of her that hurt, but not in a good way—her heart.
Baila eased down into a heavenly cushioned seat, her feet aching and the tightness in her ankles warning her to stay seated for a little while. At least until the swelling receded. So she relaxed into place, sighing as she found a comfortable position that cradled her ever-increasing body. She must have dozed off at some point, her eyes fluttering open when the recognizable whoosh of the doors drew her attention.
She lifted her head and spied Zyriq now standing near Pach, his larger body nearly dwarfing the younger guard. “You may go. I will remain.”
Pach pressed his fist to his chest in a salute. “Yes, War Captain.”
As soon as Pach disappeared behind the doors, Zyriq’s attention rested on her. His lips split into a wide smile, his genuine happiness at returning to her obvious in his open expression. There was another emotion—a hunger—that both excited and unnerved her. Desire and lust swirled in his gaze, a longing that resided in his spirit and revealed itself in his stare.
Even large and pregnant, he still craved her. She turned in her seat and lowered her feet to the ground, wiggling forward until her butt reached the edge of the bench. But before her toes touched the floor, he was there, scooping her into his arms and holding her against his chest.
A smile teased her lips and she raised a single brow. “Why do you always feel the need to carry me? This isn’t exactly a normal thing for humans.”
Zyriq grunted, his expression turning serious. “I have been waiting for you all of my years, Baila.”
“All of your years? You mean your entire life?” She shook her head. “We’ve only spent a handful of days together.”
He shrugged. “Time does not matter. Now that I have found you and our young, I will do everything in my power to care for you and provide you with all your wants and needs. You are my one for all eternity.”
She huffed, any hint of her grin vanishing. “Put me down.”
To her surprise, Zyriq actually honored her demand, not uttering a single objection before gently lowering her until she stood at his side. At least for a split-second. She felt her frustration and anger rising, scorching her blood while his words tumbled through her mind.
Baila padded away from him, falling into a steady rhythm as she paced. “Your one? For eternity?” She flicked a glance at him and then refocused on her pacing. “How can you put that kind of label on this?” She waved her hand back and forth between them. “On us? Can we even call it a relationship?”
She snorted. Not so much.
“I do not understand.”
She had to remember he was an alien. She placed her hands on the back of a chair, using it to keep her upright. “I mean, yes, I’m pregnant with your child. I get that. But you can’t just make it sound like we’re destined to be together for eternity. Like I’m your ‘one and only someone.’”
Zyriq’s expression hadn’t changed so she tried again. “I can have your baby without turning this thing between us into a permanent relationship. We don’t have to be tied together. Do you really want to take this kind of step when we know next to nothing about each other?”
He had to see her point.
“The young is mine.”
Or not.
“I know,” she reaffirmed his claim. “I’m not disputing that. You will always have a place in his life,” she reassured him, wanting to make it clear that she’d never stand between a father and his child. “But we’re in the twenty-fifth century, not the nineteenth. Humans don’t get married because of accidental pregnancies anymore.”
“You are not human. You bear my young. You are my bonded. You are of Morea now.”
Zyriq sounded like he believed every word, too.
She mentally sighed and decided she needed to approach this from a different angle. “Zyriq, you can’t deny that my presence and pregnancy is causing bitterness and resentfulness to grow within the crew.”
He shook his head, denying her words.
Stubborn alien.
Baila rolled her eyes and lowered herself to a nearby padded bench. “Come on. Adhoe hates me. If a well-respected, honorable healer is looking for any way to get rid of me, you can’t tell me the people on your planet won’t feel the same way.”
He took the seat beside her, cradling one of her hands within his while he used his thumb to nudge her chin higher. He forced her to make eye contact, his dark purple eyes colliding with hers.
“Do you recall the moment we met? You were not to interact with customers while you worked and yet you spoke to me. You agreed to spend time with me after your shift. Conversation turned into a private spacewalk.”
She gave him a subtle nod, unable to deny the truth. Zyriq’s intense stare and low words pulled flashes of memory forward. Her belly flipped and heart raced, those thoughts dragging her buried emotions forward. She didn’t want to recall how quickly she’d fallen for the Morean male.
“Then I gave you a flying lesson and you nearly destroyed part of the station. Do you remember that?” He chuckled, and a giggle escaped her lips.
“We shared dinner and an intimate night, the most beautiful night of my life. Then breakfast the next morning before I was recalled.”
Baila nodded in agreement, her smile growing with each memory that flashed into her mind. Even still, she refused to be baited into agreeing with him. A few days of knowing one another followed by night of the horizontal tango shouldn’t result in a lifetime commitment. “We spent less than a week together.”
Zyriq gently cupped her stomach. “This young one took a single night to create,” he murmured. “We have not spent much time together, that is true,” he tilted his head with his agreement. “However, that does not diminish my feelings, and I know you feel the same.”
Baila nibbled her lower lip, staring at him as she sought to read more into his expression. Yet he revealed nothing new. “Are you… Are you in love with me? Is that what you’re saying?”
And how did she feel about that.
Zyriq shrugged as if the idea wasn’t off the wall or outlandish. “There must be love between us, however small. The light of that love burns brighter each moment I spend in your presence.”
“But how can you love me already?”
He flashed her a smirk, his eyes dancing with a self-satisf
ied confidence. “You should look inside yourself, yabi. If you did not love me on some level, you would not be bearing my young.”
Baila rolled her eyes. “Yeah, pretty sure your purple sperm did that job.”
“No,” his voice dropped, all hint of teasing now gone. “A Morean male cannot impregnate a female he does not love. And not if he does not sense—on some level—that his feelings are returned.”
Her lips parted, mouth falling open as shock suffused her. He couldn’t mean… She tried to deny his words and the way they made her feel, but… couldn’t. Some part of her sensed the truth in his words, no matter how shocking. “If you weren’t in love with me, and if I hadn’t been in love with you, I couldn’t have gotten pregnant?”
“Yes.”
Chapter 9
One word that said so much but not enough. Then again, what more was there to say. Whether Baila had known it or not, the baby they’d created had been born of love—no matter how small the glimmer at the time.
Love. Baila already loved her baby. As for Zyriq… the emotions that still lingered after their short time together surged once more. Yes, she could find the sparks of love for Zyriq in her heart. It’d started as attraction—his strength, his presence, his overwhelming dominance and control that floated around him like a cloak. There hadn’t been a question of her desire for him, but she hadn’t wrapped her mind around being married—bonded—to a purple alien from another planet.
Now she saw a new future for herself. A future where she had a happy family on Morea. She was leaving ASZ with its constant grime, frigid temperatures and hostile aliens behind. She was abandoning her tiny quarters that were hardly big enough for Baila, let alone the baby. She was deserting a hard life for one surrounded by love.
For her. For their baby.
“Zyriq,” she whispered, awed by the love he admitted so freely. No hesitation. No doubt. No fighting the truth. He simply… said it. He’d loved her when they’d made love. And some part of her had felt the same.
That truth floored her, flooding her with a mixture of disbelief and… hope. Hope for her, them, the future.
“You really…”
Zyriq cupped her cheek, his work-worn hand a tormenting roughness against her skin. He gently gathered her hand and pressed her palm to his chest. “I was unable to breathe while we were apart. With your presence, I am complete. That you carry my young…” Baila found her own emptions reflected in his gaze. “The stars have truly blessed me. I have my bonded and will soon have the perfect young.”
“He won’t be completely Morean, Zyriq.” That still troubled her. She was giving birth to the planet’s next ruler. How would the people react to him being part human?
“He will be completely us, yabi.” Zyriq brushed his lips across hers. “He will be perfect because he will have my strength and your heart. He will be perfect because he will grow in a world of love—yours and mine.”
Baila closed her eyes and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Ours. Our love.”
His lips returned, lingering against her mouth and teasing her with the softest touch. He repeated the alluring kiss—another brush, another taunting connection. With the third pass, he deepened the caress, lips parted as he flicked his tongue out to sample her. It was a temptation she couldn’t refuse, mimicking his ghostly touch while she gathered his flavors.
Hot. Sweet. Smoky. Utterly Zyriq. She’d almost forgotten his taste, almost forgotten how his nearness affected her body—her heart. She lost herself in their kiss, relaxing and letting her desire rise higher and hotter. Her nipples pebbled within her bra, tightening into hard nubs that ached to be caressed. The nubs that ached to be captured by Zyriq’s mouth and tormented until she came, screaming his name.
Baila’s pussy clenched, core aching and clit now throbbing in time with her rising heartbeat. She squeezed her thighs together, squirming in place to ease some of the need that flared to life.
Because of his kiss.
She curled her fingers against his chest, stroking his hard flesh, and memories assaulted her. Memories of sweating bodies, cries of passion, and desperate need flaring to life. Memories of his mouth exploring her before she did the same to him.
She reached for him with her other hand, sliding her palms across his body and relearning the hills and valleys of his hard muscles. Zyriq’s hands wandered as well, stoking her fiery craving for him. He deepened the kiss and she fell into it happily—licking, nipping and tasting. So hot. So desperate.
Fingers tangled in his long purple strands, she leaned into him, savoring the feel of his firm body aligned with hers. Yet clothing still covered them—still separated them. She fought with the fabric, fingers moving to his shirt and tugging. She wanted his uniform gone. Hell, she wanted her clothes gone, too. Nothing but slick skin and writhing bodies…
“Baila… Yabi…” Zyriq pulled his lips from her mouth with a gasp, but she fought to recapture them. “I did not come here…”
She slipped one hand between them, palm sliding along his thick hardness at the juncture of his thighs. “Zyriq?” she whispered against his mouth while giving his dick a squeeze. “Some pregnant women have very specific needs.”
She pumped his length and then scraped her fingernails up his hard shaft, drawing a deep moan from his chest.
“Needs?” His voice dropped.
“Needs,” she murmured. “Sexual needs. They need their man.”
Zyriq growled, the vibration making her tremble, and her clit twitched. She shuddered, pure desperation overtaking her, and she whimpered in response. Fuck, she was craving him more than her next breath.
“You need your bonded, yabi.”
Baila’s breath caught. “Zyriq…”
He pulled away, dark purple eyes boring into hers, and she was powerless to look away. “You are my bonded, Baila Dar’toren, and I will claim you as such. I will claim your body. I will claim your heart.”
She tightened her grip on his cloth-covered cock, squeezing just the way he liked. “You can’t claim my body with all these clothes on.”
This time his breath caught, and his stare grew even more intent. “I cannot, yabi. If I bring you pleasure with my body, we will be bound. There will be no going back. It will be forever, and I do not wish to rush your decision. I do not wish to take any other choices from you.”
“I thought we were already bonded?”
“I have been able to hold myself back, but if I taste you again, if we come together, you will be mine. Irrevocably. Already your body changes due to our young. Sharing passion will cause more of our biological material to exchange.” Zyriq pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “If I were to take you, I would never let you go.”
She kissed his lips. “I don’t want to be let go. I want you. I want this. I want to have forever with you, Zyriq.”
Silence descended as if the universe held its breath. “Then I believe you are wearing too many clothes, yabi.”
“I think you are, too.” Her lips twitched with the beginnings of a grin. “I say we take care of that.”
He didn’t have to be asked twice. He started with her clothing first. His hands slid over her body, releasing buttons and peeling the layers away. Piece after piece was discarded, left in a pile on the floor of the observation deck until she was nude.
And he was still dressed. She reached for his uniform, fingers tingling with the need to reach his skin.
“No, Baila. If you touch me…” he shuddered and pressed her back against the cushioned bench. “Do not move or I will never make it inside you, yabi, and I have ached for you.”
She licked her lips, eyes locked on Zyriq’s every movement. His strong fingers tore his uniform from his body, exposing inch after inch of rich purple flesh. She even managed to stay still… for a while at least.
But then his pants hit the deck and she couldn’t take it. Couldn’t stay in place when the alien she’d been dreaming of was right there—within reach and hard… for her.
Ba
ila stretched out a hand, fingers sliding over his cock, tips gliding over his silken flesh. She slid her palm up and down his length, gathering the pale liquid that dribbled from the tip. Purple like the rest of him, his arousal added a slickness that made her mouth water. She recalled the sweetness of his cum and licked her lips, anxious for another taste.
“If you continue, I will not be able to stop, Baila. I will spill in your fingers, but I ache to be inside you.” He panted, fighting for breath.
She struggled to decide between having him in her pussy or mouth. Then she let her attention drift to his face, and the decision was easy. He was a wild alien craving his bonded, and she wanted to experience the full weight of his passion.
“Then come inside me, Zyriq. Take me. Claim me. Bind me to you.”
Zyriq hesitated but only for a moment. The briefest hesitation while he processed her words and then tried to figure out how to make love to Baila without harming their young one. He glanced around their private observation deck, searching the furniture and desperately hunting for an idea.
Yet finding none.
“Come, yabi, we will return to our quarters. Our bed—”
Baila shook her head, denying him, and his heart ached. Had she changed her mind in such a short time? Perhaps now was not the moment for them. She was large with his young one. He should wait until they reached Morea.
“No, right here, right now.” She grasped his wrist and tugged. He allowed her to move him as desired, falling back against the cushioned bench when she pushed. Then she granted him every male’s dream—she climbed atop his lap, knees bracketing his hips. “You’re going to claim me here with the stars as witnesses.”
She rose up on her knees, grasping his shoulder for balance, and he gripped her hips to hold her steady. Then she… Then her…
Slick, wet heat engulfed his length and sent a shudder of pure pleasure through his body. Ecstasy danced along his spine and scraped his nerves, the overwhelming bliss snatching words from his mouth. He could do nothing but moan as she took more and more of him within her. She lowered, gradually drawing him in until her hips rested on his.