He grunted. “I’ll tell you my tragic story after you tell me the reason why you were so desperate to leave New Earth that you hid on my ship.”
She took a deep breath. Oh gods, confession time. “It’s a long story,” she warned him.
He opened his claws. “As you can see I’m not busy. You may begin. I am ready to listen.”
She looked away because his eyes, his features, his voice…even though she barely knew him, his gaze was causing strange feelings to creep across her stomach and into her chest. She shifted in her seat because the area between her thighs was uncomfortably hot and wet. Never had a male affected her this way. It was strange.
She reached down and fisted the fabric of her robe, twisting it in her fingers. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll tell you the truth. First, I want you to know that when I hid on your ship, I didn’t know you were a Bounty Hunter and I’m sorry if that complicates things… Look, I live on a remote farm with my family and I’m not used to big cities or space ships. We grow Salphalfa. Lots and lots of Salphalfa, because it’s the number one source of grain on the planet. That’s what we do and that’s what my family has done for generations. I’m just a farm girl who was trying to live her life. But I was being pressured into a marriage I didn’t want by my family with the eldest son of the neighboring farm.”
A growl rumbled in the warrior’s chest. “You were going to test mating compatibility? Were you proven compatible with this eldest son? Did he claim you?”
“Mating compatible? No. And he didn’t claim me. I don’t even know what that means. His name is Dale Cheung and he’s my brother’s best friend, but we weren’t in love. I think he felt pressured into marriage too. We never tried to make sure we were alone to talk about the wedding. Never. That’s not good, right? You shouldn’t marry a friend. Actually, I’m happy for Dale, because now that I’ve left, he’s free to find someone else to marry. He can finally find a woman he really loves.”
The Xylan nodded in agreement. “You left your planet in order to avoid mating with the eldest son of the neighboring farm?”
“No, that’s not why I left, I wouldn’t have left New Earth over that. I left my friends and family, my whole planet, because that safe marriage with Dale had been cancelled and I was instead being forced into marriage with a man I despised. A man who I thought might literally kill me one day. I snuck onto your ship in order to escape from him.”
“Tell me,” he growled.
“One day I was discovered”—she used air quotes to emphasize the word—“by Gurpreet Singh, the richest, most eligible bachelor on New Earth. He’d been on a world-wide tour to discover the female he considered to be the most beautiful virgin on the planet, and when he found her, he was going to marry her. I was accidentally pushed into a Bridal Tour line-up and introduced to him against my will. Even though I had no wish to be his bride because I didn’t know him and also I was about to be married to Dale—Gurpreet took one look at me and declared that I was the most beautiful girl on the planet and I was going to be his bride.”
“You were being forced into testing of compatibility?” the warrior said with a shocked expression on his face. “Isn’t this illegal on your planet?”
“The public didn’t know I was being forced. I said I didn’t want this but no one heard me, and then the Singh family’s guards were there to escort me to their Palace and there were lots and lots of bribes to make officials look the other way.”
The warrior shook his head, clearly having trouble accepting this part of her story. Hell, it was hard for her to accept too.
“The problem,” she continued, “was that when I got back to his Palace, I discovered Gurpreet Singh wasn’t simply a man I wasn’t sure of marrying because I didn’t know him and his lifestyle at the capital city was completely foreign to me. It turned out he had a secret harem of women and children hidden there—his own children—who he regularly beat and sometimes killed. And that was when I ran away. If I stayed and married him this would be my future. Marriage to a murderer.”
His eyes were hard and flinty. “You ran away from this lazhul who wanted to make you his bride?”
“Yes,” she answered, assuming lazhul meant something bad in his language.
A muscle ticked on his jaw and he gave a curt nod. “Perfect,” he answered.
“Perfect?”
“Yes, because when I entered this room, I inhaled your scent and realized the probability of you and I performing a positive testing ceremony was ninety-nine percent.”
What was he even talking about? “I don’t understand.”
“I am requesting your hand for testing of compatibility.”
“A testing of what?”
“I am requesting your hand,” he repeated. “I am proud of how you escaped from those two inappropriate mating situations. You did the right thing, coming here.”
“I did?”
“Yes, because you will now mate with me instead.”
5
“What?” she shrieked.
Holy crap she was out of the frying pan and into the fire.
She stood up. “You want me to mate with you?” she raged. “Oh hell no, there’s no way I’m marrying you, or anyone else. Do you not see I’m standing here in the dress from the wedding ceremony I ran away from! The whole reason my brother put me on this ship was because he thought I’d be safe with you, that you’d treat me honorably. I shouldn’t have to worry about any of this shit.” Darcy choked back hot tears. Holy crap, wasn’t there anywhere a female could go and be treated like a person and not a commodity? Why couldn’t people just leave her the fuck alone to make her own decisions?
The warrior stared at her, obviously processing what she’d said, and then he nodded to himself, seeming to come to some sort of conclusion. He moved off his chair and she gasped with surprise as he bent before her on one knee. He fisted one claw and pounded it against his massive chest. “Due to your previous forced testings I understand your concerns in this matter, therefore I place my honor before yours,” he announced with a deep rumbly voice. “I vow to you that while you are on this ship no harm will come to you and all decisions about your welfare will be based upon your consent or request.”
Her jaw dropped open.
“Do you see my honor and accept my vow?”
He was vowing to let her make her own decisions? Placing his own honor before hers? That was a big deal for a Xylan, wasn’t it? She stared at him and thought about it for a second, then answered, “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, of course I accept your vow.” Who wouldn’t? Although, she was still uncertain about his sincerity in this matter.
“At the same time, I also formally request your hand for testing of mating compatibility,” he added.
Her eyes widened. Aha, here was the loophole. She glanced down, hiding her hands amongst the folds of her robe and dress. “No,” she answered. “No, I don’t understand what that means, but I’m sure it has to do with me marrying you. So, no, you may not have my hand.”
He gave a curt nod and then stood back up to his full sky-scraping height, easily lifting all that heavy muscle and bone from the floor. Then he returned to his seat. After he sat back down, he leaned forward, bracing both elbows on his knees, giving her his undivided attention. “What are your concerns with testing of mating compatibility?” he asked with all seriousness.
She threw her hands up. “Well, how about the easiest concern…I can’t marry you because I don’t even know your name.”
“That is easily fixed. I am Daxon of Seven, a former Illibrium miner and now a Bounty Hunter. If we prove compatible and you are my Bride, then you will also become a Bounty Hunter and we will work together. This is how my colleague Joyzal and his human Bride function, we can do the same.”
This guy was crazy. He had everything all planned out.
“How can you be saying this? You’re planning a future with me and you just met me. You don’t know anything about me. You don’t know my name either. And what if I�
��m lying to you? Maybe you’ll mate with me and then end up hating me.”
“That won’t happen.” He smiled and tapped the side of his nose. “Your scent tells me all I need to know.” Then he leaned forward again. “Tell me your name.”
She let out a puff of air. “My name is Darcy Chopra.”
“Darcy,” he said slowly, pronouncing her name slightly different than how it was said back home. His accent was very nice. “Hmm…my future Bride is named Darcy of One.”
“I am not your future Bride,” she gritted, determined to keep on message here. She was not marrying this male. She wasn’t marrying anyone. She was so done with weddings it wasn’t even funny.
He crooked an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed with her denials.
“I’m telling you, I won’t change my mind. I don’t know you. I can’t possibly marry someone I don’t know. Because…because maybe you hurt women.”
His jaw clenched and his fists tightened. “Do not question my honor. I am nothing like that lazhul from New Earth. You heard my vow and accepted it. We should now be past accusations such as this.”
“But maybe you’re lying to me right now, about everything.”
He bared his fangs and his nostrils flared, looking genuinely angry and a bit scary. “Darcy,” he growled, “you do not ever question a Xylan’s honor. The honor code is everything. I follow it implicitly.”
She took a deep breath, trying to calm down and think. “Okay then, what is this testing you keep talking about? I understand how your species is unable to pleasure mate and I know that you discover your mate through the clasping of your hands. I know that part. But I don’t understand what it is you want me to do, explain it to me.”
“Xylan follow a very strict set of rituals when it comes to finding our mates,” he explained. “The largest amount of mating receptors are on our palms, so as an unmated male I typically wear the gloves of the unmated when I am among other unmated Xylan, in order to avoid accidental contact. When the two palms of unmated Xylan come into contact, the testing for compatibility occurs. Sometimes it is positive and the two Xylan are confirmed as mates and then they move on to the official claiming ceremony, but often it is not positive. This is why testing of compatibility is performed so often, because this is how Xylan find their mates. I have requested your hand in order to test this compatibility. Normally, I would go to the Manager of my line and request a testing, then the Manager would arrange this with the Manager of your line and we would perform the ritual in the altar of my line on Timbor.”
“Wow, that’s a lot. This is not how it is done in my species. We get to know each other, maybe have sex first and then decide over time if we’re compatible. Everything doesn’t have to be decided all at once. Well, normally it’s like that, except with me and how I was being forced into two different marriages so swiftly. But those were unusual circumstances, usually humans have time to decide if they are compatible.”
He shivered with disgust. “Humans can pleasure mate?”
“Yes, and because I’m human there’s no way I’m testing mating compatibility with a male I don’t even know. I’ve gotten out of two different situations where I was being pressured to marry men I didn’t want and the last guy turned out to be a murderer. I’m not doing it again.”
A growl rumbled in his chest. “Female, I cannot pleasure mate with you like humans do in order to confirm our compatibility, I can only pleasure you after you become my Bride.”
Her face heated because her clit was throbbing at the idea of this male pleasuring her. This was crazy, why was she reacting like this? Her body was betraying her. She shouldn’t be lusting after a male she didn’t know, right after she’d run away from her wedding to another man.
But she couldn’t help from staring yet again at his veiny forearms, the bulging biceps and those sexy fangs peeking out from his perfect lips. But, he was right, they couldn’t have sex just to scratch an itch, his body wouldn’t allow it and there was no way in hell she was marrying anyone right now. “Daxon, you have to understand what I’ve been through,” she tried to explain. “First, my family had it all planned out that I was supposed to marry so I would be safe from Gurpreet, and then Gurpreet Singh tore me away from my family, days before that wedding to Dale, and announced he was marrying me instead. And then, just before the ceremony to Gurpreet I ran away. And now you want to marry me too? No way. Not happening. You know who chooses who I marry? Me. I choose. And right now, I choose no one. I just want to live my life without having to make some kind of fateful decision. All I’m asking for is a ride to the nearest space station. You can drop me off there and you’ll never have to see me again.”
He frowned. “How can I let you go without ever confirming whether you’re mine or not? What if I’m letting my future Bride leave me forever? You are possibly my whole future. My line will only continue through you.”
Her stomach dropped at that pronouncement. He made it all sound so terrible, like her actions had repercussions for him. Darn it. She didn’t even know this guy. “I…uh…”
He let out a heavy sigh. “I would never force testing of compatibility on you, that is against the Scales of Xylan Law. Also, I will not break my vow. The only way we will ever clasp claws, or hands, is with your consent. You will have to request the testing. And because you are declining for now, our testing is temporarily cancelled until you request it.”
“Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.” It actually was good to know it was against Xylan law for him to just grab her hand and force this testing. And it wouldn’t happen unless she specifically asked for it to happen. She liked that.
“You will stay on my ship and return with me to the Bounty Hunter station. And then we will decide the next steps. Meanwhile I will continue to try and change your mind and prove to you that we have much in common and that this testing is appropriate.”
She supposed this was the best concession she’d get from him. Hopefully she’d be able to find transport from the Hunter station to Omega 9. “Okay,” she answered. “But I still don’t understand how you think we will end up having a positive testing. We don’t have anything in common. You’re a Xylan and I’m human. We aren’t even of the same species and were raised on different planets and you’re” —she gestured to him—“so huge and I’m tiny compared to you.”
He grinned, reached out with his enormous claws and pulled her down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her, his claws carefully avoiding bare skin.
She squeaked with surprise.
His hot breath brushed against the back of her neck, sending shivers of delight down her spine. He was so close now, his lips so close. “You fit perfectly in my embrace.” He leaned in close and breathed against her ear. “Do you see how this makes us right for each other?”
She had to admit that she did. She so did.
And she squirmed in his lap, secretly wishing there was a hard ridge digging into her ass through the layers of skirt. He wasn’t touching her bare skin and she felt his heat only through fabric. But she knew right then if circumstances were different she’d love to turn in his arms and throw her arms around his neck and… Godsdammit, in order to simply kiss him she’d have to marry him, and she wasn’t marrying anyone. No matter how sexy he was and how terrific he smelled—no funny business.
6
Darcy scrambled off the sexy Xylan’s lap and into a shaky standing position. Her eyes skittered away and her hands trembled as she smoothed her skirts out. His touch, his nearness, even through ten layers of fabric, was masculine concentrate.
“That was cheating,” she said.
“I didn’t touch your bare skin,” he reminded her.
And then at that exact moment her stomach growled loudly with hunger. Her face heated yet again with embarrassment.
“Are you hungry?” he grinned. “I can fix that.”
She placed her palms over her jewel-encrusted bodice and nodded. “I’m starved,” she admitted.
“I will take
care of you,” the warrior said. Then he stood and kicked clothing aside, making a path that led to his tiny kitchen area. He began tapping the screen of the food dispenser. “Sit back down,” he said to her over his shoulder. “This is the start of the sleep cycle. We will eat a meal together and then sleep. Can you sleep again even though you just woke up?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” she sighed. “I can sleep again.” In fact, she could sleep for a whole week. She’d slept terribly in the Palace, always terrified she’d hear her door creaking open and find Gurpreet striding in, ready to start the cycle of rape and abuse.
She took another deep calming breath, her hands busy rearranging the annoying white skirts and the robe as she again sat on the edge of his bunk, waiting for the food to be ready. She wanted nothing more than to eat, get out of these heavy, uncomfortable clothes, and then sleep. This sounded heavenly.
She inhaled more of that awesome scent that lingered in this small space. The scent that seemed to be a calming aromatherapy. She felt safer here, in this cluttered room, than she ever did at the fancy Palace. “By the way,” she told him, “I love the air freshener you use. I smelled it right away when I first entered your room.”
“Air freshener? What is that?”
The food dispenser chimed, letting them know the meal was ready. And now a mouth-watering smell of seared meat in savory spices also drifted through the air. She licked her lips. Basically, this room was a cornucopia of to-die-for smells.
“Air freshener is…it’s…you don’t use anything to make this room smell so good?”
He swept a claw out. “Do I look like someone who’d be concerned with making their quarters smell good?”
She laughed. “True. Then why does your room smell so nice even though you’re a total slob and this place is a mess?”
He shrugged. And then he stepped over with a plate of food in each claw. He sat across from her in his favorite chair and handed her food over. They both now had a plate of mystery meat on their laps. No napkins or forks.
The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8 Page 62