He tossed his head in an up and down motion. It was the closest thing he could get to a nod in his animal form.
Talking to her while in tiger form was out of the question—at least until they were mated—if she ever agreed to a mating. The joining would tie them together in such a way that he would be able to talk to her, even find her over a long distance, through a mental link.
Tentatively, she reached out and placed her small hand on his large head, her fingers curling into his fur.
“It’s not as soft as I thought it would be.” She bit her lip. “You have such big teeth.” She stared at his incisors as though he planned to eat her.
Instead of attempting to communicate, he lowered himself to the ground and rolled over onto his back with a short chuff.
“Does that mean you won’t hurt me?”
She stroked his stomach and he closed his eyes with a sigh. He didn’t know how much he would like that until she did it. He loved the feel of her fingers sinking deep in his fur and stroking him. His stomach muscles contracted as she continued to thrust her fingers through the thick, coarse hair of his beast.
“You kind of look like a saber toothed tiger. But I don’t think they had that weird thing on their tails and…” Her gaze traveled lower and she whispered, “Do you have three balls?”
Just as quickly as he’d changed into his beast, he shifted back to his human form and grinned up at her sheepishly. “It doesn’t show while I’m in this form, but it does while I’m in the shape of my beast.” He sat up got to his feet.
“Why?” She tilted her head, and glanced toward his crotch, her cheeks rosy. “I think it would be cool if you were a little different down there.” She waggled her brows. “If you know what I mean.”
“I am a little different,” he whispered as he held out his hand. “Now, if you will just come with me, I will show you how much I differ from your human men.”
“Holy moly!” Birgit fanned her face before placing her hand in his. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Chapter Thirteen
Birgit let Reno lead her to his car. Once sitting in the passenger seat, she closed her eyes and rubbed her face.
“What’s going on here?” She’d hoped the sound of her voice would make her feel better, but it didn’t. She peered through the windshield as Reno rounded the front of the vehicle and opened his door.
For a tall man, he managed to slide into the seat with smooth grace. It made her think. What if he told the truth? What if he had some sort of magical power and held it over her? Would he keep her here as his slave? Could he?
She stole a glance at her companion and licked her lips as she wondered if he’d bewitched her somehow. Being his sex slave might not necessarily be a bad thing. The man was hot, not to mention the fact that he was also a gentleman.
If he was an alien, she’d take an alien over an Earth born human male any day. At least she would if they were all like him. She hadn’t been treated with such deference and respect in a long time, and damn it, it felt good.
A few minutes later they pulled up in front of his house situated a few blocks down from the garage. He shoved the gearshift into park and turned to her.
“This is my place. My brothers live in a house a little closer to the garage.”
“Why don’t you live with them? It seems as though you’d be more comfortable if you lived with people like you, especially if they’re your brothers.”
“I can see you’ve never had brothers.” He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re very trying at their best, and major pains in the ass at their worst. But I do enjoy their company… usually.” He glanced up at the large home before them. “They insisted that since I am the oldest, I am destined to be the new patriarch of our family unit. Our father is still on Zolon with our two youngest brothers. They are twins and not yet old enough to set out on their quest.”
“Quest?” She shook her head. “I don’t think I’m following you.”
“When a Zolonian male reaches manhood, he is sent out among the stars to raid planets and bring home whatever resources he finds.”
“You’re a raider?” She leaned away, holding one hand to her throat and the other on the door handle. “A thief?”
“It sounds bad when you put it that way. However, the planets we raided were almost always uninhabited by anyone or anything that could make use of most of what we took.”
Our planet is dying. We’ve been doing our best to live there while we try to bring it back to life. We don’t want to leave.” He paused. “Well, the elders don’t want to leave. They say we have nowhere else to go.”
“So everyone just goes along with what the elders say? They don’t voice their opinons?”
“Of course we do. However, in our system of government, we vote on everything and the majority wins.”
“Yeah. That’s the way it’s supposed to be here, too. But it hasn’t been. Ever since the invention of Super Delegates, the election is no longer determined by the majority vote of the people. I hope you don’t have something like that on your planet. Otherwise, you’re all screwed.”
“One man equals one vote.” He led her up the porch steps. “I’m not sure what the condition of the house will be. I haven’t been here in a few weeks. I almost always stay at the garage or with my brothers.”
“One man, one vote, huh?” She stopped on the last step, and rested her hands on her hips. “Don’t the women get a vote?” She wasn’t about to go anywhere with him if his people subjugated women.
“What women we have get a vote, yes.” He slipped his key into the lock and opened the door. “However, our planet has less than ninety women and over sixteen-thousand men.”
“Wh…what did you just say?” Her stomach did another little flip. “If you think you’re taking me home to play wife to more than one man, you, mister, are out of your cotton pickin’ mind!”
“That’s not it at all.” He stepped into the house with a chuckle. Turning on the light, he stepped aside and waited for her to join him before closing the door. “Our laws only recognize two men at most in any relationship and they must agree to share their woman. Most of the mated are only pairs. One male, one female. Once we find the woman destined to be with us until death, we do not share easily.”
“Are all the women on your planet mated?”
“All but a few females who are too young.” He held up his hand with a short laugh. “And no, we do not force them to marry anyone. The choice to mate, or not is theirs.”
“Why do you have so few women?”
“There was an illness.” He walked to a bar, poured two glasses of what appeared to be orange juice and held one out to her. “The virus attacked something in the female DNA and the women died.” He splashed a large amount of vodka into his glass and took a long drink. “Some say Zolon had enemies who targeted our women to bring us to our knees. “Others say it was the lack of foresight of our own scientists who are to blame.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. Every woman born on Zolon dies before her twenty-fifth birthday.”
“Then you shouldn’t even have ninety women on your planet. Shouldn’t they all be dead, too?”
“They weren’t born on Zolon. They were brought from other planets. Some men brought women home after raiding quests, and others brought wives home after a mate quest.”
“You… you kidnapped them!”
“No! No, we would never force a woman to come home with us. It was her choice to accompany her mate to his world to help him rebuild it.”
“Yeah, as long as she wants to watch any daughters she has die before she turns twenty-five.”
“In the last few years, we have even managed to find a way to work around that, as well.” Reno moved from behind the bar and took a seat on the sofa and gestured for her to sit, as well.
“When a woman is with child, her husband takes her from Zolon as soon as she finds out. They spend the remainder of the pregnancy on another planet, eating ot
her food, breathing other air. When the child is born, they pack up a few months worth of food from that planet and head home. As long as the female isn’t born on our world, she does not have the curse of dying young.”
“Then there must be something in the water or in the soil that a girl child is exposed to during gestation that attacks her chromosomes, or something.” She took a seat on the sofa next to him.
“Perhaps,” he said with a nod. “But our scientists have not been able to find what it is.”
“Well, whatever it is, I hope they find it before you find your mate and take her home.”
“My brothers and I cannot go home. Our ship crashed here three years ago and we are stuck here until we die, or until someone from our world finds us. Though, to go home now, empty handed, after failing to complete our quest, we would return in disgrace.” He shook his head. “I believe we will be staying here. We like it.”
“You’ve told me about your planet, but you have yet to show me that you’re an extraterrestrial.” Birgit sipped her juice and then set it on the coaster provided on the end table beside her and then looked at him, her arms crossed.
“That was why I wanted to bring you here. It’s easier to shed the glamour in our own homes. We can shed it anywhere, obviously, it’s just that, for some reason, it’s easier when we’re at home.”
Reno closed his eyes and he shimmered a bit. Gone was the handsome man with the tanned skin that had attracted her. Reno still stood before her handsome as ever, but he’d changed. His hair was still white blond, but his skin had taken on a blue tone, with darker blue stripes.
She gasped when he opened his eyes and met her gaze. His eyes had changed from a beautiful sky blue, to a sliver blue that seemed to glow from within.
“What happened to your eyes?”
“It’s the glow of the beast. We have always known we’re predators. Though, our beast doesn’t appear until we’ve matured. It usually doesn’t appear until we’re mated.”
“But yours has.”
“Yes.” He pinned her with a stare. “It has.”
“Um…” She cleared her throat before continuing, “Is there anything else I should know about you?” She squeaked when he partially shifted, his barbed tail wrapped around her and drew her close.
Chapter Fourteen
Reno swallowed while Birgit circled around him, as though inspecting his body. It was much the same as his human form. The blue skin and darker blue stripes identified him as non-human, yet he prayed he was human enough to claim her as his—and that she would allow it.
“This is your complete alien form?” Reaching out, she stroked her fingers along his spine.
Her fingers moved lower and lower until they brushed against the base of his tail and he shuddered. She had no idea what that did to him, nor how much he wanted her. The light stroke of her fingers on his flesh only served to inflame him more.
“I’m sorry!” Birgit immediately withdrew her hand and met his gaze, her brow creased and eyes wide. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It didn’t hurt,” he assured her. “The base of our tail is a rather sensitive spot. I hadn’t known how sensitive until just now.”
“Then I did hurt you!” she wrung her clasped hands hard enough to make him wince.
“No.” He shook his head, grasped her upper arms, and drew her close. He stared down into her upturned face for a moment before lowering his head to hers. He moved slow, giving her the opportunity to pull away. “You definitely didn’t hurt me.”
She stood firm, her gaze holding his until he glanced down to her succulent lips. They opened a bit just before he took them in a kiss so heated, he was certain his body had gone up in flames.
Cool fingers rested against his chest and Reno feared she would push him away. A rejection from a potential mate was the thing his people feared most. Females had been known to bring even the most fearsome of raiders to their knees. He found he was no different.
The zidalpham did its job, tying him to her so completely he couldn’t wait to make her his. Emotions swirled within him. Feelings he hadn’t known existed rushed through him as he took her lips with his own.
He pulled her close, fitting her body to his as he ravaged her mouth. Reno thrust his tongue inside when she opened for him. He groaned when her hands slid up his chest to his shoulders before combing her fingers through his hair, drawing him near.
He cupped her fleshy rear with one hand, the other splayed over her back, holding her to him as though her little sounds of pleasure were the very air he breathed.
With slow precision, he moved his hand over her hip, to the hem of her blouse. Pushing his hand beneath the soft material, his fingers skimmed over the smooth skin of her side.
“Yes…” Trembling, she inched closer, pressing her body tighter against his with a little whimper. “Please, Reno.”
Needing no other coercion, he unhooked the front clasp of her bra and groaned as her breasts spilled out into his hands. Raking his thumbs over her nipples, he caught her moan as he thrust his tongue into her mouth.
Every kiss, every exchange of fluid between them only brought them closer together. The zidalpham worked its chemical bond between them, ratcheting their need higher and higher.
His scent, his taste, locked her to him, just as her heady aroma had done the same to him. Nothing could stop them from completing the ritual once they tasted each other and no one could ever come between them once they consummated their claims.
Their tongues tangled together as they each seemed to attempt to crawl inside the other. He couldn’t get enough of her, nor she him, it seemed.
Spinning around, he slammed their bodies up against the wall. Birgit wrapped her legs around him as she thrust her fingers through his hair and pressed their mouths together, tighter still.
They plundered each other’s mouths as though they couldn’t get enough. Perhaps they couldn’t. It was possible the chemical reaction brought about by their matching chemistry and the changes caused by the zidalpham in him, made them need each other with a passion that left them breathless.
With great effort, he drew back, his breathing ragged.
“Tell me,” he said before he ripped her shirt open and took one hard nipple into his mouth and drew hard. “Tell me you want this. Tell me you want me to carry you to my bed and claim your body for my own.”
“Please…” She wriggled against him, fitting her warm cleft over his rock hard shaft.
It took every bit of strength within him, not to take her on the floor where they stood. Instead, he took several deep breaths and rested his forehead against hers and shook his head.
“You must tell me you want it. I cannot force this upon you.”
“Yes. I—“
“As much as I want to hear you say that,” he rested his finger against her mouth, “you must know what you are agreeing to do.”
Reno took a deep breath, knowing he could lose her forever. Still, the choice must be hers or their union would never be fruitful and she would eventually come to hate him for it.
He stared down into her lovely green eyes and knew he never wanted to see her look upon him with loathing or disgust. The choice must remain hers.
“I want this.” She reached between them and squeezed his cock through his jeans.
“As much…” He groaned when she brushed her fingers over the swollen head. “As much as I would love to claim you here and now, you have a right to know that it will tie us together for all time. We will be mated for life.” He took a deep breath. “You will never want another man, and I will never want another woman, as long as we both live.”
She stared at him in silence, her expression blank. Reno’s gut clenched at the thought that she could refuse him, forcing him to live through the excruciating pain of his system ridding itself of the zidalpham—a punishment he’d brought upon himself, if she refused. He should have told her of the repercussions before he’d kissed her and effectively mixed his chemically enh
anced DNA with hers.
“So what your saying is,” she licked her lips, her gaze darting to the front door, “is that if we do this, we will basically be husband and wife for the rest of our lives?” She backed away, her hand in the air.
“No offense, but I don’t even know you.” She shook her head as she backed toward the entryway, her hands fumbling behind her as she searched out the knob and opened the front door. “No matter how sexy I might find the idea of sleeping with an alien, I’m just not ready for that kind of commitment. I—I need to know I love a man before I even think about a lifelong happy-ever-after.”
Birgit waved her hand in front of herself when he would have spoken. “Nothing you can say will change my mind at this point, Reno. I have no idea who you really are.” She gave a hysterical giggle. “Other than you’re not human and I find you insanely attractive. I just can’t think of any reason a relationship between us will work. I don’t love you and I would never believe you if you said you loved me.” She backed through the door and closed it while he watched.
Reno clenched his fists at his sides, his beast roaring with both pain and rage at his poor handling of the situation.
He did love her. The zidalpham had seen to that. It was up to him to see that she got to know him and realized the chemical introduced into her system by their kiss made it possible for her to care for him in such a short time, as well.
He had moved too fast and now she feared him. He scrubbed his face with his hands and sighed.
What have I done?
Chapter Fifteen
Birgit ran down the steps, through the yard and into the deserted street. She spun around, and realized she had no idea where she was.
Her view of the road took an abrupt turn from innocuous, to an intimidating feel. The lights didn’t illuminate the entire street and the many shadows appeared almost menacing. Especially when her mind shifted back to the scene at the restaurant where the men in black had attempted to make her their prisoner.
Magic, New Mexico: Bewitching Birgit (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6