Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas

by Grace Goodwin

  Yet here she was, unable to keep smack after horrible smack from landing across the whole of her backside. And “childish” punishment aside, it hurt! “Stop it!” she demanded, completely unaccustomed to any type of pain, particularly on her bottom. “Stop!”

  “My dear bride,” Braun growled. He didn’t stop his assault; the palm of his hand landed firmly across her bottom again and again with a steady, relentless pace. “I think you misunderstand what we expect of you. We do not expect experience. We don’t even expect you to like us immediately. We do expect respect. We have laid siege to every planet in the whole of your kingdom, and we took you rather than everything. We are your conquerors, and we are now your husbands. If you spit at me or swear at me, you can expect a good dose of discipline. My brother and I will simply not tolerate it.”

  “You can’t treat me this way!” Kayla squealed, kicking her legs and trying to scramble up from his lap, though squirming only seemed to make him hold her down more firmly.

  “If you act like a spoiled, silly child, then you’ll be treated like one.” It was beginning to feel like it would never end, and she couldn’t help but sob noisily. She could only imagine what the servants and guards in the hallway thought about what they were undoubtedly overhearing...

  When it ceased, Kayla took in a shuttering sigh of relief. Braun’s hand covered her bottom still, but now it was rubbing the flesh there in a soothing, circular pattern. She cringed with embarrassment; not just at what he had done, but at what he could see and had seen the entire time he was punishing her. He could see everything; he could touch everything. His fingertips were only centimeters away from her womanhood now; he could surely feel the heat emanating from it.

  And as she was wondering that, she wondered why there was heat emanating from it to begin with! She had no idea where this state of arousal was coming from, why in the galaxy she would be feeling it now, when both her bottom and her pride throbbed with agony.

  “Are you in a better frame of mind now?” Braun scolded like a schoolteacher.

  She nodded and sniffled. Presently, he released her and stood up gracefully, pulling her up with him despite the lower half of her body being put on display. She pulled up her panties as quickly as she could, but her pants were split down the back, now completely useless.

  “Just step out of them.” He put his hand gently on her elbow and guided her down the steps. “Trousers are unbecoming on women, anyway. The women back home wear dresses.”

  This puzzled her, as this was all her people wore. The men wore slightly more flowery clothing here, but everyone wore trousers. The only time women wore dresses was during royal ceremonies, and that was simply because of tradition. “I don’t have any... anything to wear.” She closed her hands around herself and looked at the ground as she stepped out of her pants and stood to the side of them.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Nole said, stepping forward. “We’re walking straight to your chambers, anyway.” He put his hand out for her to take.

  She accepted, feeling shaky on her feet and very vulnerable, and he wrapped her arm around his, supporting her weight. “Lead the way, princess,” he told her with a wave of his hand.

  With Braun on her other side, walking outside of the throne room and towards her own wasn’t a quiet business. Their boots seemed to tap too loudly on the stone floors, and it didn’t help that their heavy footfalls both came at the same pace. She prayed that they could make it down this immensely long hallway and down two more exactly like it without running into a single soul... but she simply wasn’t that fortunate.

  A few maids and nearly a dozen guards saw her shameful march down the hallway. Neither Braun nor Nole seemed to mind who saw her in her undergarments, and she felt like shrinking into a puddle when she put her hand behind her, still bothered by the heat radiating from the bottom, and realized immediately that her panties in no way covered up even half of the territory that was now red and swollen. She knew this would answer anyone’s questions as to what all her noisy fuss in the throne room had been about.

  “You take delight in humiliating me,” she seethed when they passed yet another servant on the way to her chamber.

  “Well, I’m not going to lie; this is giving me a raging cockstand,” Nole replied without guile. “A little humiliation helps drive the lesson home. You are undoubtedly beautiful, and I admire the tempest behind your eyes. That being said, you will be a queen of a whole federation of planets, and you must learn to control your temper, little bride, or else you’ll embarrass us.”

  “And don’t forget that these people don’t matter,” Braun said just as she was opening her mouth to protest the need for her to be tamed. “You’ll probably never see them after we leave. They are not part of your federation. They are no longer your people. We are.”

  “You wouldn’t let me visit my family again?” she charged.

  A line formed in the middle of his forehead, just above his eyebrow. Braun turned to her. “Would you really want to? I imagined that there was some bad blood between you. I’ve seen people less apt to give up a family pet to complete strangers.”

  She found herself sighing at this. So her parents hadn’t even pretended to be annoyed by being forced to give up a daughter. She lifted her chin, inwardly reminding herself to be thankful that, despite everything, she wasn’t giving up a whole lot. As embarrassed as she felt, at least she didn’t have sadness that one of her sisters might have felt upon leaving their home forever. “People tend to spend time with their pets.”

  “Well, have no fear of the same being true of your future. We are busy men, but we’ll always make time for you.” She turned her head and looked up at Nole, considering how confident he felt that he would continue to enjoy her company enough to even want to spend time with her. It was strange; he’d just met her, after all, and then moments ago saw her chastised. What sort of person had he drawn her as inside of his mind? Who did he think he was taking as his wife?

  She had never been happier to be nearing her room, as this pants-less march seemed like it was taking an eternity. Even Braun, who she was now beginning to suspect was either having a lousy day that made him grouchy, or grouchiness was his main characteristic, grumbled, “Where the hell did they put your room? On a different continent?”

  “I have a lot of siblings,” she reminded him frankly. She had been so used to walking down the same hallways all her life that until today she had completely forgotten to be annoyed about how unnecessarily long the walk to her room was. No wonder why her parents never visited her there; they’d have to work their way up to that much exercise. She pointed, with an excited jerk of her arm, towards a door. “There,” she directed.

  “I think their stables are closer to them than this room,” Braun said as he pushed the door open with the flat of his hand. When Nole and Kayla followed him in, she noticed that Braun was looking back and forth around the room, almost as if he expected an assassin to pop out at any minute.

  Although there was usually always a maid milling about her chambers, cleaning, now it was blessedly empty apart from a platter of food that had been set up at the table in the middle of the room, laden with cold meats, fruits, cheeses, and three bottles of wine.

  “This will definitely do,” Nole said, breaking the silence between them all with a chipper tone. He let go of her arm and reached down to unfasten the belt that held onto his gun and a small bag. “You wouldn’t believe how long we’ve been on-ship,” he looked back at her as he spoke conversationally. He didn’t seem to appreciate silence. “The whole war. It’s strange to breath non-generated oxygen again.” He eyed his brother and added, “He’s not immune to land, either. He’s in a better mood than he’s been in months.”

  She found that hard to believe...

  “I am not in a good mood,” Braun grumped, but then he looked out of the window and it appeared to Kayla like he was enjoying the view. Snowcapped mountains loomed over the lake in the distance; she always thought the view made the r
oom feel cozier. “This planet is always freezing. I don’t know how they live here.”

  “What’s your planet like?” she asked, and then found herself blushing. She didn’t want to seem stupid to them, at least. She knew they only saw her as some sort of pleasure slave, regardless of what they claimed. “I mean, the planet that you have as your... main...”

  “Our capital is tropical,” Braun surprised her by answering. “It’s nearly always warm there. You would like it; you wouldn’t have to do so much of your research in hothouses.”

  “You know my research?” This nearly made her forget that she wasn’t wearing any pants.

  “I’d say. He’s read everything you’ve published so far,” Nole responded with a laugh. “That’s something you’ll have in common. Braun has a passion for botany as well, he just hasn’t been able to go for much advanced schooling in it. It’s not exactly the family business, but he’s made it into quite the hobby.”

  Her mind couldn’t have been any more blown by this. In fact, she wondered if her brain had stopped working altogether for a moment because she had no idea how long she had been staring at Braun.

  “After our bath, you should take him down to your hothouse,” Nole said, gesturing outside.

  “How are you even sure I have a hothouse?” she asked, shaking her head.

  “You’ve written about it,” Nole reminded, but she still couldn’t quite take in the idea that they would have actually taken the time to read her work. For some reason or the other, she had decided that life as she knew it had ended... but if they—or at least Braun—had similar interests, maybe she had been completely wrong about that.

  She gave a few nods. “Right. Wait—” her head jerked up, snapping out of her dreamlike state. “What do you mean our bath?”

  “I mean we’re cold, we haven’t had a real, proper bath on land since the beginning of the war, and we want our new bride to enjoy it with us.” Behind Nole, Braun was already pulling his shirt silently over his head, as if he didn’t care about her reaction.

  “I don’t think so,” she told them flatly, putting her arms in front of her chest. She wished she had a small tub like hotel rooms sometimes had. Instead, her bathroom came equipped with a small pool, which until now she had appreciated. She didn’t want to argue; she just wanted to say it was impossible and hope that whatever they were planning for her would simply never occur.

  “I promise, little bride, that we’re not going to do anything against your will, except maybe kiss you—”

  She pointed her finger firmly in Braun’s direction. “He spanked me against my will!”

  “Well, that was a punishment. Don’t spit at us the next time.” Again, Nole gave one of his don’t-care shrugs. “But let me continue. We’re not going to force you into sex.”

  She dropped her arms, relieved yet untrusting somehow. She thought about this, but then remembered how she felt during his earlier kiss. “Well, it seems like kissing just brings my guard down,” she continued to argue.

  “You’re our queen,” he said, rolling his eyes, “and our heirs aren’t going to make themselves, you know, so pardon me that our kind has aphrodisiac qualities that come naturally.” His tone was a little defensive. He was already exasperated by her, apparently. “But you can fight those effects if you really want, obviously, as inconvenient as that is to us.” He turned and followed his brother into the adjacent bathroom. “Disrobe and come to us when you have gathered yourself.”

  As soon as they left, she collapsed on her bed in a weary heap of nerves. As she listened to the water fill the pool in the next room, she wondered how she was going to get out of this situation.

  She wasn’t, she reminded herself. She wasn’t going to get out of this situation, and although she wished she was used to just maintaining a stiff upper lip and making do with what she was provided, she couldn’t help that she felt in over her head.

  Sure, she had planned to lose her virginity eventually. She was twenty, and most people she knew had lost theirs by now. But although she knew that there were gentle lovers and rough lovers, she had no delusions that either of these men would be gentle. They were both large and exuded power from their every pore. Even Nole, who seemed to have more personality or at least a calmer demeanor, would have looked foreboding to anyone planning on fighting him; he was even taller than Braun and just as muscular.

  She looked up at the lighted doorway they had disappeared into, trying her best to relax, but her body tensed again when she heard Nole call her name. How was she ever going to get up the courage to go into that room?

  * * *

  Nole was certainly taking his time, as usual. Braun couldn’t imagine why; they didn’t have to woo Kayla. Something within him wondered if she was even a girl who could be wooed. She wasn’t a girl they had met in some bar. She wouldn’t fall for soft words or a new jeweled necklace to warm up her loins. No, Kayla was different. She was special.

  She was also extremely stubborn, as it turned out.

  “Are you worrying?” Nole asked him from across the small pool. He had his glass of wine and looked like he was in a bathhouse, on vacation. “Don’t worry. She’ll come.”

  “I’m not worrying,” Braun huffed. “I just think she’s not one of your normal fare. She’s going to be harder to tame.”

  “Maybe. Unlike my normal fare, as you call it, she doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Which I don’t like either,” he flicked the water as if restraining himself from openly pouting. “I feel like I’m hunting caged game. What type, do you think, would she marry if given her druthers?”

  “I don’t think she’s the type to marry on her own druthers,” Braun replied easily. “She’s twenty and nearly has her Ph.D. She’s a scientist, Nole. She probably hadn’t looked at a man properly before. This is all foreign to her.”

  “You fancy yourself a scientist, but you have looked at plenty of women properly,” his brother quipped, waggling his head like he was happy to argue with him.

  Braun snorted. “Well, yes, but I’m not like her. I wasn’t able to focus on my studies like she was. She and I were on a different path from the beginning.”

  Nole gave a small laugh, surely thinking that Braun was making the world’s largest understatement. Since they were six, they’d had to train in military tactics or physical combat for six to eight hours a day. There wasn’t much energy left afterward to do much except eat. But Nole wasn’t stubborn, nor was he even prideful. “Well, then, what do you suggest?”

  Braun was out of his element here. He didn’t woo. Either the girl in question would throw herself at him or he would pay for his satisfaction. He didn’t feel he had time for any other endeavors. “I’m just warning you that she might be more stubborn than what you’re used to.”

  Nole raised an eyebrow and drank his wine. “Did you notice the hips on her?”

  That they were wide, he supposed, was what Nole meant. Nole had been obsessing about finding their queen for years. He was a man who was looking forward to impregnating his mate, not just having sex with her. He had been fixating on that concept for years. He complained about how hard he’d get even if a beautiful pregnant woman was to walk into the same room as them.

  “Of course I noticed,” Braun replied, nearly smiling about it. Spanking Kayla had given him a deeper thrill than he felt comfortable admitting. There was nothing unpleasant about it for him, except maybe the worry that she’d hate him for it. Spanking was a frequent punishment for women in the Grerian Federation, and even newly acquired planets quickly adopted the idea. He had seen probably a hundred spankings given out to wayward wives in his life, and each one of them had made his blood hot with desire, but not like spanking his own bride had back in the throne room. There was something about her being so ashamed, so dominated, and even the red hue of her exposed bottom. “I’d fight the war again for that one.”

  That being said, that one was sure taking her sweet time! “Kayla!” he barked, knowing that at this volume she
couldn’t claim to not hear him.

  “You know, some women don’t like being shouted at...” Nole reminded him.

  “She’ll get used it,” Braun replied. He usually yelled at everyone. It was how he communicated. He led men, and men, unlike women, seemed to respond very well when orders were shouted at them. He didn’t possess the honey-tongue his brother had developed for himself.

  They continued to wait until, with a groan, Nole began to get up to go look for her. “No, if she doesn’t come, I’ll go and get her,” Braun grumbled. “She’s trying my patience. In another couple of minutes, I’m going to assume she’s testing whether or not I’m the type of man who would spank her again so soon after the first time.”

  That’s when she appeared. To his surprise, not to mention extreme delight, she was dressed in only a silky red bathrobe that stopped just above her knees. “I heard that!” she sneered, stomping her foot impatiently at the pronouncement.

  “I wasn’t talking quietly,” Braun assured her, stifling another grin and rolling his shoulders back as he relaxed and appreciated the view of her.

  “You can’t threaten to spank me all the time. I’m not a child.”

  “We can see that,” Nole assured her. Braun noticed that he was also looking his bride up and down, still seeming extremely pleased. Deciding on a bride, knowing that it was tradition for brothers to share a queen, had been something they’d been trying to do for the last ten years. Braun had been the holdup; most of the girls Nole had liked and offered as potential mates Braun thought looked too taken up by their own celebrity statuses.

  But with Kayla, they had instantly fallen for her when she was presented on a program they had been watching. She had a very calm, quiet, and contemplative look about her at all times, and a seemingly keen interest to keep out of the public’s eye. She was one of the only royal children in the galaxy that had even bothered to get a college education. Despite coming from a family full of conniving ingrates, prima donnas, and harlots, she had made her own life, her own image, without following in her family’s footsteps, which most would have done.