Chapter Eight
Alek’dar
Waking up with Mallory in my arms another morning was pleasant. I could get used to the feeling of her supple backside pressed firmly against me. I spread my fingers on her hip, molding my palm against her hip, in awe at the feeling of supple flesh under my fingers. I didn’t move my hands past her navel to preserve her modesty. Part of me was tempted to just lay there and bask in the feelings she awoke within me, but the subtle sound of wings told me that we wouldn’t be alone for much longer.
I hadn’t been expecting anyone this early, not with Mallory being so sick last night. I was thankful when she stopped ailing late into the evening. She didn’t pull away as soon she started to feel better, which thinking back on it made my heart feel tight in my chest.
I surmised that she might be finally getting used to my embrace.
Grunting I pulled away from my bride to greet the intruder. It didn’t take them long to enter our home.
To my surprise it was Qui’da.
The younger Striss male paused in the doorway before striding inside once I waved him in. I crossed the room in a few short strides to join him. My voice low, I questioned, “Is everything okay?”
He wouldn’t have come by so early, nor looked so off-put if it wasn’t something serious. “There has been a meeting called for later this morning about your fitness for the title of Chief.”
“Are you serious?” I demanded a growl building low in my throat.
How dare they question me over something such as this. The urge to destroy something flooded through me, but I tapered it down. Knowing the war council as I did meant I would likely need to defend my title as Chief. And I could put my anger to good use against them.
It wasn’t enough that they questioned me upon my appointment though, I had bested them in battle. Now, this.
“Unfortunately.” Qui’da sighed, eyeing the nest where my mate lay, seemingly dead to the world. Such a deep sleeper, she was. “While I might not agree with this recent decision, I am not one for underhanded tactics.”
“Thank you for informing me.” I clasped his shoulder.
He nodded. “So I take it, you shall be there?”
I snorted. As if I would miss it and rub their treacherous faces in defeat? “Yes. I will defend my appointment with their blood if necessary.”
“I thought as much.”
Hearing Mallory beginning to rouse from sleep, I informed him, “I will leave shortly.”
He nodded. “Then I will take my leave.”
He was gone in haste. I stood there, arms crossed while watching as he took flight. I was grateful that while we didn’t always agree on things, I could always count on my brother to watch my back.
“Is everything okay?” Mallory inquired from the nest. I glanced over my shoulder to see her propped up on her elbows to get a better look at me.
“Yes and no.” She frowned at my cryptic response sitting up fully.
With a deep yawn she asked, “Who was that?”
“My brother.”
I crossed the room to stand before her, holding out my hand to help her out of the nest. She hesitantly reached out, my fingers taking hold of her dainty hand. I was able to help her up without any effort on my end. “I apologize that I will not be able to have the full time off to spend with you, though I should have expected this.”
“What do you mean?”
She lifted her arms over her head, stretching to rid her limbs of slumber. The flimsy white gown that covered her bare flesh from me rose with the motion to give me a peek at her silken thighs.
While a traditional Striss woman would only sleep with a sarong—if anything at all—the hidden aspect had a certain… appeal to it. But from what Bel’an informed me, the clothing wasn’t just for pure modesty. It also helped trap necessary body heat to regulate their core temperatures. And with the temperatures beginning to fall as the season changed, it meant I would need to acquire some furs of some sort for the long nights.
I mentally added that to my list of things for requisition when we visited the Vrun.
Averting my eyes from the tantalizing figure of my aashra—my beloved—so I didn’t lose my self-control, I murmured, “Tradition is that a newly blessed couple would have ten rotations to spend time together without having to focus on other matters.”
It had already been interrupted by planning the festival, but that was a necessity that couldn’t be rescheduled.
“Oh, like a honeymoon!” She exclaimed, resting her hand on my bicep. From her reaction and enthusiasm, it appeared that she was not feeling any lingering effects from her illness. Thank the heavens above.
Bel’an had recommended letting the alcohol burn out of her system naturally, so it was rough watching her deal with the after-effects.
“I am not familiar with that term.”
She shook her head, the loose strands of her brown hair shifting with the movement, and I fought the urge to grasp a few of the strands and see if they felt as soft as I thought they might.
“It’s something humans do too or did anyway. Back on Earth,” she murmured, eyes somewhat distant. “Unless you have a lot of money, they don’t really do that at the colony.”
I nodded, “Ah.”
“Sorry, I hope I’m not boring you with my ramblings,” Her response was almost a whisper, waving her hand at me dismissively.
“You did not. I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about you and your people.” That received a flushed smile in response.
It pleased me to entice a blush into her cheeks. I made a mental note to learn more about her people and the planet her species might have come from.
***
Mallory
Alek’dar took me to his mother's home while he had to take care of some things, and while she seemed pleasant enough, I still wasn’t too sure about how my union with her son made her feel.
I knew that there weren’t many too pleased with the union if last night was anything to go by. And while his mother didn’t seem too put out by it, that didn’t mean anything.
She was elbows deep mixing something, and after going through what little small talk there was to be had, I finally gathered the courage to ask her about what she was currently making. It looked a lot more appealing than the roasted vegetables I was currently snacking on.
“I was hoping you could maybe…” I trailed off, unsure of how to exactly word what I wanted to say.
Rinna looked up from the mixture she was currently kneading eyes wary. “Spit it out, sweetie.”
I huffed, muttering, “Well, could you maybe teach me how to cook some of your dishes? With Alek’dar gone most of the day, I don’t really have much to do. And I need to learn how to make something… edible.”
At that, the older woman burst out laughing at me, bent over the table, holding her abdomen.
After she got through her giggle fit, she smiled at me, “I don’t blame you. Those don’t really taste all that good when you roast them,” she informed me, nodding at the bowl of vegetables in my hands.
“I just don’t want to end up poisoning myself. After all, we’ve only been planetside for about fifty years or so now.”
“True. You humans are a fragile lot,” she mused.
I gave her a small smile. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right.”
She grinned, winking at me. “Of course I am sweety.”
“I am glad, though, that I am a third-generation settler because the first people had it rougher than we do now. They could barely eat anything. Most of our crops are hybrids now, and we’ve gotten to the point where it won’t outright kill you to eat the flora or fauna here.”
“Well, I can’t have my daughter starving, now can I?”
“Daughter?” I whispered.
“Yes. Since you’re now my son’s mate, you are my family,” she replied, her eyes twinkling with unsaid emotion.
“Oh.” I swallowed hard before giving her a teary smile. “I hope one da
y I might come to call you mom… if that’s okay?”
She nodded solemnly. “I look forward to that day, sweety.”
I was barely able to choke out, “Thank you,” before she was changing the subject. Thank the Lord for that. Too many overwhelming emotions came with that title.
“Let’s start with something simple. Come,” she instructed, motioning towards me with her hand. I skirted around the table to stand beside her careful not to brush against her wings.
The afternoon flew by quickly but was most productive. She’d shown me how to bake a simple bread, and how to properly cook the veggies that we had at home. She also informed me of the ones that I was absolutely under no circumstance to consume in any way because if it wasn’t prepared in a precise manner, it would kill me—Striss might just get food poisoning, but there would be no coming back for me. So it would be better to be on the safe side and just completely forgo those.
By the time Alek’dar came back for me, it was getting dark, but it wasn’t like I was in bad company. Thankfully I was able to hit it off with his mother. At least, that’s what it felt like. I hoped Rinna might feel the same.
It was getting much easier to step into his embrace to travel back and forth through the village. My heart still raced; how could it not? He was one of the most attractive men I had ever come across in my life, alien or not. And it wasn’t like he wore shirts. None of the men I’d come across did. Even the women didn’t!
I was forced to feel his muscles flexing constantly. Every single time we went anywhere. It was a wonder I didn’t just fling myself at him because the attraction was definitely there. Those thoughts had me kicking myself—he was more than that, and I shouldn’t be sexualizing him.
The flight home didn’t take long nor was it anywhere near as terrifying as it had once been.
When we landed, I found myself lingering in his embrace studying the feeling of my palms laying flat against his bare chest.
“Mallory.” God, his voice was so deep. The sound of it went straight to my core. “We’ve arrived, aashra.”
“Hmm? Oh, sorry!” I stepped back almost off the landing and to my death.
Thankfully Alek’dar quickly pulled me to him before that happened.
My cheeks felt as if they were on fire. “We really need to get some rails installed.”
“Yes.”
His eyes bore into mine, almost as if trying to see into the depths of my soul, making me swallow.
After a moment of standing there with his arms around me, I murmured his name. “Alek’dar…”
He asked with a cocked brow, “Yes?”
“You can let go of me now.”
The smile I received in response was almost predatory in nature. It sent chills down my spine in a deliciously good way. After a moment, as if thinking about it, he nodded. Holding my hand and guiding me closer to our home and further from the ledge before releasing me. “... I suppose I could.”
I shivered, taking a step past him and into our home Alek’dar hot on my heels.
I headed for the kitchen area, really unsure of what to do with myself between now and when we finally would go to sleep for the evening. I mean, I knew what I would like to do, which was to strip him bare and finally know what it was like to make love, but I was definitely not going to just out and say it.
“I had a lot of fun at your mother’s home today.”
He came to a standstill in front of me, eyes dark and unreadable. “Mmmm.”
“She taught me how to make a few different things,” I informed him, feeling my breathing hitch as desire coursed through me.
“Did she?” He asked, closing the distance between us with a single step. I could feel the heat radiating off of his chest, penetrating the flimsy fabric comprised of my top.
I nodded enthusiastically unable to look him in the eyes. “Yes. So I don’t have to worry about starving anymore.”
He frowned, gently cupping my chin with his fingers bringing my gaze to his. “I didn’t know that was a concern.”
I let out a snicker at his response.“I’m just joking, Alek’dar. I just didn’t know how to prepare any of it properly. After all, we don’t eat anything like you guys do.” I worried my lip between my teeth, my body feeling like it was on fire.
He didn’t verbalize a response. Rather, his thumb tugged my lip from between my teeth, gently brushing against it as his hand palmed my cheek.
My breath hitched as his dark eyes flickered towards my slightly swollen lips, his face slowly lowering towards mine. I think he was waiting for me to pull away, and while part of me wanted to because of how my heart was beating away at my ribcage, another part of me couldn’t.
When his mouth closed over mine, I think I stopped breathing.
Chapter Nine
I leaned up and into the gentle pressure of his kiss pulse thumping wildly in my throat. I had to step onto my tippy toes to close some of the distance between us so he wasn’t bent practically in half to reach me. My palm rested flat on his chest and I could feel his heartbeat through my finger tips.
His arms snaked around my back to pull me into his embrace my body flush against his.
Feelings I couldn’t quite give a name to swelled as his tongue brushed tentatively against my bottom lip. I could feel my desire for him building, coiling low in my belly like a snake—my body clenching with want.
I sighed into his kiss reveling in the taste of spice on his breath.
He pulled away after a moment, and I felt my body almost weeping at the loss of his touch. Without giving it too much thought, I closed the distance between us again initiating the kiss this time, hooking my arms around his neck.
He hesitated as if surprised before his passion renewed with vigor.
His hands moved lower past my hips before grasping my thighs, and in a sudden movement lifted me up flush against him. I was made very aware of how this was affecting him by the hardened cock jutting against my belly. I broke the kiss with a gasp at the feel of it pressed so firmly against me, mortification causing me to bury my face against the hollow of his throat.
“Mallory.”
“Mmm,” was all I could manage.
To be honest, I was surprised I could hear him over the thudding of my heartbeat echoing in my ears.
“Do you wish to stop?” He inquired. His deep voice sent shivers down my spine. “I don’t want to pressure you, aashra.”
Feelings flooded through me squeezing my heart in a tight unrelenting fist. How was I so lucky to have gotten someone so considerate to be my husband? I had come into this a bit unsure about how it would work out, but every time I found myself questioning my decision, he proved to me that it was the right one.
Unshed tears stung my eyes.
“Mallory?” He questioned, loosening his grip but not enough to drop me. In response, I tightened my grip around his neck.
“Please.” It came out as a whisper, so I was surprised when he was able to hear me at all.
“Please what?”
“Don’t stop.”
I wanted this.
I wanted him.
I could tell he was still a bit hesitant, so I carefully slid out of his grip until my feet met the solid flooring in our home.
Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart and strengthen my resolve, I grasped his hand in mine before pulling him to our bed.
He allowed himself to be led without any resistance.
“Are you certain Mallory?”
“Yes,” I informed him with as much conviction as I could muster. His mouth stretched into a lopsided grin before covering mine and pulling me into his open arms.
I melted into the warmth of his embrace.
He grasped the makeshift top that covered my breasts in his hands shortly before a tearing sound made its way to my ears, and I was further exposed to the open air.
While a flash of annoyance came and went at the fact that he’d ruined a perfectly good top, it still sent a pang of desire straight t
o my core that completely enveloped everything else.
Before I knew what was happening, I was on my back with Alek’dar leaned over me, his eyes lidded and stormy with barely tamed desire.
His mouth led a trail of kisses down the side of my throat and past my collarbones before taking the hardened peak of one of my breasts into his mouth.
“Alek’dar!” I gasped out with a strangled moan, my hands diving into his hair.
Instead of a reply, he suckled harder, rolling my other nipple between his thumb and forefinger before switching to administer the same treatment to my other breast. Sensations I’d never felt before began to build up my body ached as if it were on fire within. Unable to take too much more of the slow torture, I pulled at his horns and brought his mouth back to mine, my tongue brushing against the seam of his mouth. I was able to coax his own tongue out to mingle with mine causing my body to ache with desire for him.
I could feel my hips beginning to move almost involuntarily against him causing him to still.
He broke the kiss to look me in the eyes, murmuring, “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I want you,” I answered without hesitation, kissing his jawline.
Nodding his assent, he shifted to untie my skirts and tossed the fabric from our bed. He did the same with his own sarong before settling back over me. My thighs parted with ease at the delicious weight settling between them, warmth radiating from my core spreading throughout the rest of my body.
His hands kneaded my thighs as he pressed open mouth kisses to the hollow of my throat.
With everything happening so fast and no time to myself really, I hadn’t had the time to touch myself in a while. And while I was a bit nervous about doing so in front of Alek’dar, I knew I would need as much stimulation as possible if I was going to be impaled on his thick and lengthy girth.
I might be a virgin, but I wasn’t stupid. Those last few years of my mothers’ life—when she’d turned to prostitution to help feed us—had taught me at least that much.
Reaching down between us, I brushed against myself ever so lightly tensing at the touch before pressing down a bit firmer with two fingers. At the movement and my panting, Alek’dar glanced down watching me for a brief moment before pulling my hand up and placing my fingers in his mouth lightly sucking them.
The Alien Chief's Bargained Bride Page 5