He turned back around with two sleek mugs in his hands, a faint hint of steam rising from the tops. Her eyes widened. It smelled heavenly, like espresso on steroids.
“What is this?”
“This is what I drink every morning,” he answered with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s called Tyaq, a drink popular on Chronos. I thought you would like it. Maybe it is similar to your coffee. Try it.” He slid into a small banquette consisting of a table and two chairs built into the wall of his room, opposite the bunk. She sat down, too, and he handed her the drink. She took a sip. It was warm and it tasted sweet, probably a little sweeter than she would normally like, but it was good.
Her lips curved. “Not bad.” This could be a substitute for coffee, because dear God, a life without coffee—would that even be possible?
Rayzor handed her a tray of food. They sat together in companionable silence and ate. There were no utensils, so Rebecca used her fingers to tear at her food as Rayzor did with his claws and fangs. He smiled at her attempts and tried to joke around and model for her, exaggerating his biting and tearing the tough chunks of some sort of meat he was devouring. Normally she’d be cracking up at this, but there was no way the guy who’d kidnapped her was getting a smile.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
On her tray was a heavy piece of dark bread with something like honey to dip it in and unidentifiable purple fruit that tasted like mango. He passed it over and encouraged her to try it. She ate it all, delicately, with her smooth, little teeth.
Rebecca did her best to remain calm during their meal, but as she watched Rayzor clean his hands and face after his Fred Flintstone breakfast routine, enough was enough. Finally, the pressure inside her had to blow. She set down her mug. “Okay, we’re done eating. We need to talk.”
Rayzor leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, his hazel eyes narrowed, every inch the badass alien warrior. “We will have this discussion, but the outcome remains the same. You are my Bride.”
Momentarily distracted by the movement of his bulging biceps, Rebecca shook her head, took a deep breath and continued, “You keep talking as if you own me, like I’m your property and you get to decide where I go and what happens to me.”
He shrugged. “You are my Bride.”
As if that explained everything.
Her jaw clenched. She was getting angrier by the second. “I’m not leaving with you to go to some strange planet and live there until the day I die. Oh hell no, that is so not happening.”
He leaned forward and all that magnificent dark skin, those forehead ridges she wanted to touch, his clawed hands…all of it leaned in, large and imposing, and her heart skipped a beat. “You’ve already left with me,” he said. “You are on my ship. We’ve left Earth’s orbit. We’ve left Earth’s solar system. We are en route to my home world. You are my mate and you have already bred with me. You carry my offspring. The time for debate and choice on this issue has passed.”
His words hit her with the weight of stones. “Bullshit. How can the time for choice have passed if you never asked me if I wanted on this ship in the first place?” She stood up and took a few steps with her back to him and furtively wiped at the tears forming in her eyes. How could this be happening? At first she’d thought she could talk him into turning around, or that he hadn’t been all that serious. He was a gorgeous man. Rayzor must have half the Xylan women panting after him. He was probably the most eligible bachelor on his home world. So why would he want a human? And specifically, why would he want her? It didn’t make sense. She’d always thought of herself as pleasant-looking, but she wasn’t model material. Out of all the billions of women on Earth, she certainly wouldn’t be the first choice the people of Earth would elect as, “yes, take her, this girl represents the best of us.”
She heard him take a deep breath. “You know there is no asking when the claiming strikes,” he said. “It is a physical need that cannot be denied by either male or female. There is no ‘discussing.’ There is only mating.”
She turned back and pegged him with a hard stare. “So you want me only because your body is making you want me?”
“I want you because you are my Bride.”
She threw her hands up. “Ugh, stop saying I’m your Bride. That’s ridiculous. If you don’t take me back, I’ll never forgive you. Do you hear me? Never. You won’t be touching me. I won’t be acting like your girlfriend. I’ll be acting like a captive trying to escape.” It didn’t matter how many fabulous orgasms he gave her, she couldn’t leave her planet without choice and live on some other world with an alien she barely knew and a culture she knew nothing about. “How long has it been since you kidnapped me? If you take too long to return me, everyone will assume I’m dead or lost out there on that road.” Or would they even know that was where she’d been lost? All it took was for Eric and his friends to keep their mouths shut and to throw away her purse and no one would know she’d even been there. She hadn’t told anyone about her date. Her mom had passed away from cancer two years ago, and she’d never known her father. Her roommate and best friend, Lily, who’d moved from their small town to Fresno with her for college, was a few years older than her and recently graduated and moved out to take a job offer across the country.
There was no one to tell. But still, Earth was home. Earth was where people like herself, the humans, lived. She belonged there. And who knew where Rayzor was taking her. What kind of fucked up planet would she end up on? What if “Bride” meant “sex slave” on his world? She had no idea.
“Becca, our offspring—”
“Stop saying that. I. Am. Not. Pregnant.”
“You are.”
They glared at each other, quiet for a beat. She spoke first. “I know. I have a compromise. I bet you could take me to your fancy medical bay and it could scan me and we can find out for certain if I am pregnant. And if I’m not, then you can take me back home.”
“That won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“First, because you are pregnant. There’s no need for medical confirmation. And I’m keeping you, no matter what. You’re my Bride.”
“Stop saying that!” she shouted. “I’m not your…your…Bride. I’m not. I’m Rebecca Gimble, an Earthling who needs to be returned to her planet to live out her life in relative peace away from a crazy alien that thinks he owns her after knowing her for exactly two point five seconds.”
“We are mated.”
“You think we’re married, don’t you?”
He appeared to consider that for a moment and nodded. “Yes, this is the equivalent to Be’Ih or mating, so yes, we are married.”
“I didn’t agree to marry you.”
“Yes, you did. During the claiming last night. I spoke the words of the ritual. You ran. That was your acceptance. The ritual is legal and binding.”
Oh no. She could literally feel the blood drain from her face. She’d run. He’d told her she could run and she had. At that moment, she’d known something momentous was happening, but couldn’t understand, couldn’t peg it. He’d talked during the beginning, almost chanting, saying words from the ceremony that she hadn’t been able to comprehend.
“I couldn’t understand a word you were saying.”
“You knew. You felt it, too. When I’m in the suit I can check your pulse, your heart rate, your body’s responses and arousal. I could smell your female musk. You were ready for me, wanting me in the way a Bride longs for her mate.”
Rebecca blushed. He’d known exactly how she’d felt. Oh, wow, please let the floor crack open and take her now.
She swallowed. “Okay, I’ll give you that.” But she couldn’t possibly be pregnant. They weren’t the same species. It was impossible. He was bullshitting her. That was why he’d refused to have her scanned. “But I’m not staying. I don’t want this and I don’t want you.”
“You don’t want me?” He stood up. “Do I need to show you again why you need to stay? Prove to you our mating bond?”
> “Don’t touch me!” she shouted as he moved closer. If he touched her, her composure would shatter. If he kissed her, she’d be back in his arms, begging him for more. She glanced around, frantic, and eyed his extra pair of boots on the floor. She picked one up and ran to the other side of the tiny room, around the corner of the bunk, as far away from him as she could. “Stay there,” she ordered.
He stepped closer.
She reached out and threw the shoe. Her aim was terrible, but she had to try. She heard a thump and a grunt from the alien.
“Becca…”
“Don’t touch me,” she repeated.
He visibly tried to control his anger. “You are staying here. I’m locking you in because you aren’t thinking clearly. I don’t trust you to roam around the ship and not do something that will harm you. I will be back in a few hours. I need to take care of a few things. While I’m gone I want you to rest and think about what has happened. You need to accept this situation, accept that you are my Bride, my mate, and that your life has changed and you are never returning to Earth.”
She flipped him off.
“I don’t know what that human gesture means, but I can tell you are angry. I think we both need time alone.”
And he left.
Rebecca sat on the bed and dropped her head in her hands.
“Incoming message,” the computer noted.
Rayzor cursed, putting down his tools. “Who is it?” He’d been almost done anyway with the improvements to the slip drive. He had to make sure all systems were in tip-top condition. The ship was on autopilot, working its way back to Zamarian Prime, but in between there was a minefield of Xylan and Bounty Hunter bureaucracy to navigate. He had to be ready.
“Joyzal of Six.”
Rayzor hung his head for a moment, clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He had his claws full, trying to handle his disobedient human Bride. She was angry that he had taken her from her home world. He needed to convince her they were a mated pair and she would be happiest living as his Bride on Zamarian Prime. So far, this wasn’t going well. She’d cursed at him in her Earth language and thrown a shoe at him. He was stunned at her reaction. This was nothing like a typical mating and at the moment he had little patience for Joyzal’s arrogance.
“Accept message here.”
“Confirmed.”
A vid screen lit up in the tight confines of the belly of the ship. Rayzor crouched in the corridor. This setting was as good as any. There were no clues for Joyzal to pick up from the nondescript panels and wiring that lined the tubing behind him. The familiar grim facial expression of his chief competitor for first place on the Bounty Hunter Leaderboard blinked to life.
“I know you took a human,” his best friend said without preliminaries.
Rayzor’s heart raced at light speed. Of course Joyzal would know; he made a habit of monitoring Rayzor’s missions closer than the Hunter Union. Joyzal was a loyal friend, but he was known to take the Xylan warrior spirit of competition to the extreme. Rayzor kept his features carefully flat, his breathing even. He wasn’t giving Joyzal anything to use against him. “You know nothing,” he gritted.
Joyzal grinned. “That S’quil game face of yours isn’t going to work this time, my friend. You fucked up. Finally. I win. Bite your number one standing on the Leaderboard goodbye.”
The screen blacked out.
Rayzor cursed. What was Joyzal about to do?
Then the corridor blacked out, too.
A ringtone sounded, disrupting Rebecca’s unsatisfying search of Rayzor’s room. So far she’d found a hair comb, food tray and a pillow as the only possible weapons of any use. She straightened and blew a strand of hair off her forehead. She’d spent the last hour learning every screen command for the food dispenser, then systematically opening and closing drawers and cabinets, going through all of Rayzor’s simple possessions, which were few.
She frowned. Except for that one locked cabinet. She couldn’t get the damn thing open.
The ringtone chimed again. She turned around, searching for the source. “What is that?”
“An incoming video call,” the computer responded. “Would you like to accept the message?”
“Y-yes. I guess so.” Although, who the hell would be sending her a message? Was Rayzor calling her? Was this the aliens’ form of texting? Maybe he was still pissed she’d thrown a shoe his way? She put her hands on her hips. Maybe he wished for an apology? Yeah, well, he could spit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one filled up the fastest.
A screen lit up against the wall and a Xylan appeared. At first Rebecca thought it was Rayzor. The unfamiliar face looked very much like Rayzor, but if Rayzor were meaner. It was those same Xylan characteristics—the long dark hair and skin, the full lips, the hazel eyes, and the ridges on the forehead, but reconfigured. It was amazing how much he looked like Rayzor but didn’t. She’d thought her own Xylan had to be the meanest, the fiercest in the universe, but looking upon this male, she realized this might not be true.
“Is this the human Rayzor kidnapped?” the alien snapped.
Rebecca blinked. Shit. Abrupt, wasn’t he? But what else could she say? It wasn’t like she could bluff her way out of the situation. He could see she was human. “Yes,” she answered carefully. “Rayzor took me from Earth. Who are you?”
The Xylan snorted. “Good, he gave you a translator. This makes my work here easier. My name is Joyzal. I am also a Bounty Hunter and I’m here to help you escape.”
She put a hand to her throat. “Escape? Why would you help me to escape? If you’re a Bounty Hunter, shouldn’t you want to help Rayzor keep me?” Who was this guy? She’d take the Xylan she knew over the one she didn’t any day of the week.
Joyzal bared his teeth and snarled, looking even scarier than before. “Rayzor is my top rival on the Leaderboards. If he can bring THX238 in with zero errors and no marks against him, he’ll be so far ahead of me on the Bounty Hunter Leaderboards I’ll never get caught up. He’s won every year for the last ten fracking years, and this was going to be the year I finally won. Until this ridiculous job came along. No one else wanted this mission. Chasing after THX238 was a death sentence, an impossible job. Everyone declined except for Rayzor because I think he saw it as a one-and-done-for-life type of mission, and the crazy fucker was actually going to pull it off until I discovered he had you.” He smiled grimly. “Now he’s going to lose. But I am here to see to your safety.”
“What does it matter if he has me? And why do you care about my safety?”
“I don’t condone the kidnapping of females.” Joyzal stared at her, quiet. She saw a muscle work in his jaw. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Don’t know what?”
“Open the cabinet behind you, the large one that takes up the whole wall. I’ll show you why you need to escape.”
“I know which one you’re talking about. I’ve tried it. It’s locked.”
She heard a click.
“Try it again,” he said.
6
Where was the fucking escape pod?
Rebecca’s breath burst in and out of her chest, eyes desperately scanning the corridor in front of her. Joyzal told her to run for the damn escape pod and get out as fast as she could. But where the hell was it?
“Come on, I’ve seen every episode of Star Trek the Next Generation, twice. And most of Deep Space Nine. I can do this.”
She ran barefoot down the hall. On her way she saw the cargo bay where the scary alien with six arms was being held in lockdown stasis. She palmed the door to check out the area for a possible escape pod and let out a soft squeal, seeing the alien’s vicious face through the glass of the lock down stasis unit. He was out cold, but dammit, still scary as hell. She ran back out as quickly and as quietly as she could, returning to the main corridor.
She stopped for a moment, catching her breath, and checked out a map posted on the wall. The translator in her ear must be plugged into her brain, because not
only could she understand spoken Xylan, but she was reading it, too. Being able to read the directions in the signage sure made escape on an alien ship that much easier. She immediately swung to her left and sprinted down the correct hall.
Jeez, why was Rayzor’s ship so big? Shouldn’t it be a tiny, fast ship like the Millennium Falcon or something? Although, really, how small was that ship? She’d originally assumed Rayzor’s ship must be about as big as the fighter ships she’d seen in Star Wars, because what else did she have to compare space ships to? But this was bigger than she’d thought.
Finally, the hallway terminated in a small alcove. “Yeeees,” she hissed, thrilled to see the all-important escape pods. Rebecca palmed the button to open the first pod. The doors accepted her command. Good, he hadn’t thought to lock out her access to the ship. His loss. People always underestimated her. Aliens, too.
Rebecca ran inside, her breath ragged. Joyzal said she’d only have a few minutes before Rayzor discovered her absence. He’d be back in the room to check on her any moment now. She had to get away from here fast.
It turned out the man who had claimed her, who had touched her so intimately and told her she was the only woman for him, who’d gazed at her with caring and told her she was his Bride, his mate, was a butchering maniac with a Blackbeard reputation and a cabinet full of shiny blades and inventive killing tools he’d collected for just this task. He’d told her he was a virgin. That had been a lie. He’d been married many times before, and all of his wives had “disappeared.”
Motherfucking asshole liar.
She’d known in her gut that something was wrong with this. She’d been right.
Joyzal had told her the whole story and he was freeing her so she wouldn’t end up like the rest of Rayzor’s women. He explained that he’d remotely unlocked her room and would manufacture a distraction for Rayzor, but it wouldn’t last long. If she could get far enough away on the escape pod, she hoped she could program it to take her back home to Earth. She had no idea if her desperate plan would work, but it was better than staying with an alien that kept her locked in his room, treated her as his own personal sex slave and planned to kill her at his leisure. At least this way she had a chance. If she stayed on the ship, she was simply dead.
The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8 Page 10