Alien Commander’s Reluctant Bride Page 13

  17 Frenemies and Enemies

  Tabor

  I have a beautiful mate who desires to mate with me. She makes jest with me about all the things that are difficult in our life. Her playful and positive attitude takes the sting out of even our worst day. I would never put my pleasure before the lives of people in need. The only positive aspect to this situation that I can think of is the longer we delay joining, the more intense the experience will be.

  I have never known the touch of a female before being chosen by my sweet mate. I wonder what her pale soft form looks like and how it will feel when our skin touches. I’ve felt a fierce loyalty and admiration building in my chest for her over the last couple of solars, but this new feeling of need growing in my gut is fiercer still. I will never take being at her side for granted. She will be my everything until we are old and her hair turns white. Eventually, my wings will droop and I will lose my strength. Somehow I know deep down inside that she will still stand by and think no less of me. I will become an elder, valued for my wisdom.

  Seeing her weaving between tables, talking and passing more food to the clan who are both friends and enemies, I see her devotion to her people. I admire so many things about my queen that I cannot begin to name them all. I reach over and order more food to take with us, because I feel there is always need for delicious Earth food when we have so many humans about. I wonder about hiring on human cooks to keep the kind of food our queens like fresh and available. I send out a message to the general posting on this world for cooks willing to work on a Draconian ship. I begin to get replies right away.

  Suddenly, a large man is standing over me. “You want a cook. I’m a cook. Hire me.” He’s wearing white and has his arms crossed over his chest with a cooking implement in one hand. He is older but seems as capable as any of his kind.

  “Sit and we will talk.”

  He drops down into the chair in front of me with a little more attitude than seems prudent for the situation. I try to explain my thoughts about having a cook on board. “As you read in my message, my name is Tabor. I am Takadon to Queen Kearney.”

  “I am Samuel Patterson. People call me Sam.”

  “I am pleased to meet you, Sam. We have many human females on our ship. We would like to hire someone to cook for us full time so they can have their choice of foods. Are you willing to work aboard a trade ship?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you work at this establishment full time?”

  “I have worked here for ten years. All the others answer to me. I am head cook.”

  “You can make every food served on the menu at this eating place?”

  “Of course. I teach others to cook as well.”

  We are shooting questions and answers back and forth rapidly with very little small talk. This is my preference, but I did not think humans acted like warriors. “I do not know how much cooks earn.”

  One side of his mouth tilts up. “We make a million kabillion dollars a year, and we get paid in advance.”

  Reaching to the side of my belt, I pull out a small bag of gemstone. “I do not think that is correct information, but will this be enough for you to get cooking utensils and enough food for a six-month voyage? We have a hydroponics bay so we will be growing most of our own green food.”

  He scarfs it up from the table and pulls the bag open, peering inside. “I do not know. Maybe it will be enough.”

  Frowning, I pull a second pouch out and lay it before him. “This should certainly be enough. You will be feeding about a hundred and eighty people a day. If you need assistants you have my leave to hire them.” Giving him a stern look, I explain. “My queen intends to become a proper trader, so we are looking for someone willing to make a solid, long-term commitment. We’ll stay on our new home world between trade runs. I will see that you and your crew have a place to stay there.”

  “I have a family. They will come with me. The other cooks might have family as well.”

  “I’ll see to your accommodations myself. Use some from the gemstone allotment to purchase household items, for we are carrying more queens than we expected, so we have little to spare. Can you tell me how many assistants you will hire? I need to have my crew prepare quarters for them.”

  “I will need at least four. They will expect private rooms. When do you want us to be ready by?”

  “Be ready as soon as possible. We hope to begin our journey within the next week. If you can come earlier to set up your cooking space, I will pay you another pouch of gemstone.”

  I will message you when we are ready,”

  “I must give you a final word of warning, Sam. Do not bring people who will upset our queens or cause chaos on our ship. The penalty for harming a queen is death among our people. All the females are to be respected at all times.”

  “Even my female?”

  “Every female is to be cherished and protected. Any who touch your female will end up vented into space. We have no jail or time to waste with males who hurt females.”

  “We are of the same mind. I will see you in two days’ time.” Standing, he held his hand out in the strange human custom of shaking. No one has ever tried to shake my hand before but I have seen it done. I place my palm in his and he moves his hand up and down. Before I can blink he’s gone. This human moves fast for one so large.

  My sweet queen sits across from me and pushes a drink my way. “What was that all about?”

  “I secured a cook to make human food.”

  “Wow, that’s so nice. Wait, did he sign on as crew?”

  “I nod. Our queens should not be forced to eat food bars or the food a warrior makes.”

  “I’ll tell you a little secret, handsome.”

  I lean over to hear this secret, curious about what she is thinking.

  “The more people we can get off this rock the better in my opinion. So I say good job. How much is he charging us?”

  “So far, only two bags of gemstone, though I did promise him a bonus bag if he stocked the kitchen with food and cooking implements.”

  “You got robbed, hot stuff. It doesn’t matter. We’ve got enough gemstone for something this important.”

  “I did not think you would see this as an important expenditure. Therefore, I spent my own gemstone.”

  She leans over and drops a chaste kiss on my lips. “It’s important because we’ll have children along on this voyage. They’re notoriously picky eaters. Do you know human children will sometimes starve themselves rather than eat unfamiliar food?”

  Shock tears though me at the thought of children being unable to tolerate our food. “No, this I did not know. I will message him right away that we have children that need fed.”

  “Thanks for looking out for us, handsome. Between the two of us, I’m beginning to think we can do anything.”

  As I look around at the people we have to come to help, I begin to see that my queen is right. It seems that when we work together, none can stand against us. Yet, it seems that everything is moving forward on his human world so fast that none of us can be certain our course is true.

  This is about the time I notice not all the people dining in this establishment are human. I spy the one male I want nowhere near my queen. The Strovian, L’tam De Artor is sitting with a group of human traders. My ire is piqued when I realize his attention is on the queens in our group rather than his own business. I glare at him with as much malice as I can force into my expression, but he does not notice. The unstable male is far too focused on the young queen who happens to be sitting near him. I stand to interrupt his wandering eye, when I realize that beings are allowed to look at other beings on this world. I’m sure the humans have some law that precludes me from removing the offending male’s eyes.

  Thankfully, the Grayson clade appears to be finished with their food and the extras I ordered arrive, packed neatly in containers. I make haste to get my group moving towards the door. It seems my irritation knows no bounds when he stands to leave as well. I wish I coul
d call my shuttle to land right in the middle of the bio dome but that is prohibited. Therefore, Artor gets to walk along side of us to the front exit. He’s brazen as any male I’ve ever known, talking to our queens and pretending to be charming. I hate it when villains disguise themselves as warriors of worth. I keep my queen tucked under my wing and my eye on the Strovian and his crew.

  The small beauty tucked under my arm tugs on my uniform. “Calm down. You’re getting wound pretty tight over Captain Artor. He’s not done anything out of the way, so Earth Gov won’t look kindly on you tearing his head off.”

  Again my smart and beautiful queen uses to jest to artfully navigate this stressful situation. She disarms me with a few words, a bit of understanding and a sweet smile. Though I am able to calm myself an infinitesimal bit, I do not take my eye off the object of my frustration.

  Pulling her close, I human kiss the top of her head and whisper reassurances. “Though I sense great danger at this moment, I will control my urge to separate him from your kin.”

  The walk to the front exit is uneventful. However, when we separate to board our separate shuttles, Artor’s eyes find mine. I freeze in mid step. The look on his face is a one of unmitigated glee. I look around, trying to figure out why he is so smug. I see nothing and this seems to please him even more. The sense of danger is so strong that I can almost taste it. I wish Timric were here with us. Perhaps he could better discern where the danger lies.

  I insist the shuttle be inspected prior to lift off, but we find nothing alarming in our search. Kearney pats my chest and encourages me to lift off. Against my better judgement, I give the order to make for our ship.

  18 Love and Kisses

  Kearney

  Finally all my family and the Grayson clan are safely on board our ship. The church elders accepted our offer of relocating their charges and the children needing homes. I think at the end of the day, they couldn’t deny them the opportunity to relocate to a pristine new home world, and they had enough trust in us to keep them safe. We’re all just trying to save as many as we can. That’s the bottom line.

  Tabor has been a real mess since we got back. He’s acting like we brought a ticking time bomb back with us. He’s got no call to be so paranoid. Virgil may be a gigantic ass in a lot of ways, but he’d never do anything to sabotage the ship or hurt anyone. It’s all good because I’m about to distract him by using my womanly wiles.

  He’s pacing back and forth in my quarters. So I grab his hand and pull him over to the settee. It’s an alien version of a sofa, except it doesn’t have a back. Though no one’s ever said, I think it doesn’t have a back so their wings don’t get crushed.

  “Come sit with me. Your queen needs attending to. We’re having our little throw down now, and if another emergency pops up, Scarn and my mother will have to deal with it.”

  He comes willingly, and I can tell he’s slowly switching gears, becoming less paranoid and more aroused. He drops into the seat, clearly expecting me to sit on his lap like before. Instead I step back. His response is immediate. “What can I do to earn the favor of your touch, my queen?”

  I slide my hands up to my throat, gently tugging open the magnetic seal on my uniform. “I have a word of advice for you, my takadon.” I pull the seal open, exposing the fact that I didn’t wear underwear today. His wings click open and I can’t help but smile at his loss of control. “You might not want to bargain for the things you can have for free.” I peel the top of the uniform from my body and shove it right down my thighs.

  Tabor stares at me with his mouth hanging open for about three seconds and then he’s on me so fast that I can’t think of what to say. When a hot guy tosses you over his shoulder and heads for the bed, you’re supposed to say something clever, but I got nothing. The way his dark eyes darkened yet again with lust literally took my breath away. My uniform is still down around my ankles, cause I didn’t remove my boots before I tried to be all trampy and sexy.

  He lays me gently on the bed and squats on the floor in front of me. His expression is all want but he takes his hands off me and holds them palms out. “I did not mean to over step my bounds with a queen.”

  I reach out and cup his chin with one hand. “Oh, you didn’t overstep. Human women like males to take charge when it comes to mating.”

  “Explain this take charge.” He is so serious, and I know it’s because he’s never been with a woman and is looking for me to set boundaries.

  “I would be all kinds of thrilled if you explored my body. It’s a great way to learn what I like. You’re really smart so you’ll be able to tell by my reactions what excites me. I’ll tell you immediately if you do anything I don’t like. I have to get really excited for the sex between us to be good. If you go slowly, you can have me any way you want. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes.” His voice sounds rough and almost inhuman. Logically, I know he’s not human. Yet, sometimes I totally forget, because to me he’s just the man I love.

  I smile encouragingly. “My body is made to stretch. As long as you don’t use your full strength against me, I won’t break. I want your touch and give you full approval to do whatever you like with me.”

  His tongue comes out to run along his bottom lip, and his hands come out slowly to grasp the uniform around my ankles and tugs with one hand, while removing my boots one at a time with the other hand. His eyes zero in on my sex, and I know he wants me to open my legs. He doesn’t say anything, so I drop him a clue. “You can demand I do things when we’re intimate. If you do, I promise to obey.”

  “Spread your legs. I wish to see all the gods have given you.” Again, something about his deep voice has me dropping my legs open almost immediately. “You have the same delicate strands on your sexy as you do on your head.”

  Maybe for him it’s an idle observation, but for me it’s embarrassing. “I normally shave it off, but I’ve had more important things to worry about lately. I didn’t think you would want to examine my queenly parts quite so closely.”

  A smile flashes across his face. He thinks calling my pussy queenly is funny. A strong scent reaches my nostrils. It smells like musk, old leather, and hot sexy male. I find myself sucking in a lungful of it before I even realize what I’m doing. “You smell nice, my takadon.”

  I can’t quite describe his pleasure at being called by that title, but I can see it on his face and his chest puffs up with pride each time I use it. This time, he also reaches out to run the backs of two fingers over my mound, toying with the triangle of soft curls. The next words out of his mouth blow me away.

  “I like that you enjoy my mating scent, but know this. Every tiny strand growing here now belongs to me, and you will not remove any of it.”

  Shifting my legs, I wiggle with pleasure. “Yes, sir.”

  “What is this ‘sir’? The language program does not translate it well.”

  “Sir is an honorarium we use for males. When a woman says it during intimacy it means she submits to the male’s authority.”

  “I like this sir word. I wish to use if often when we’re together.” The sentence kind of trails off towards the end because he gets distracted tracing his finger up and down my body. I suck in a sharp breath when he circles one breast. I never knew the underside of my breast was so sensitive. I state breathlessly, “You’re supposed to take off your clothing as well.”

  His hand freezes, and he glances up to catch my eye. “Seeing me without clothing would be arousing for you, would it not?”

  “If you only knew how many nights I thought about your body, you wouldn’t need to ask that question.”

  Coming to his feet, Tabor pulls roughly on his uniform and is naked within seconds. Rather than appearing embarrassed or unsure of himself, he stands with his hands on his hips and flares his wings out. I have to admit, he is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen. Besides the miles and miles of gorgeous muscles, he has those dark brooding eyes and a somewhat more human face than most of the other warriors. He’s
just straight-up handsome. I notice his horns are throbbing slightly. Another woman might find that off-putting, but it just makes me want to handle them. An image of holding his horns while he licks my pussy pops into my mind. It makes me throb with lust.

  My eyes travel over his body, landing on his long thick cock. He’s so hard it practically plastered to his stomach. When he kneels between my legs, I’m more excited than I’ve ever been in my whole life. I probably should tell him this is my first time, but since it’s likely his first time as well, it seems like unnecessary conversation. We’ve both had the same problem getting laid. There were practically no available men on Earth and everyone is aware that most Draconian males never got sex since there were usually a thousand warriors and one queen on their ships.

  A huge hand comes up and cups my shoulder and the other lands on my hip. I stare at him wide-eyed as he drags my body down to the edge of the bed. When he leans over me, all I see is broad shoulders and horns. I must be the naughtiest woman in the ‘verse, cause it flips all the right switches, sending my body into overdrive.

  “Do not fear me.” That’s the last thing I hear before he leans over me and seals his lips to mine. I’m on sensory overload when his skin slides over mine, making my nipples draw into sharp points. I should have known my guy wouldn’t let something like that slip his notice. Pulling back slightly, he inspects my breasts before cupping one in his hand and squeezing slightly. When he swirls his tongue around the tip I writhe beneath him. “You are small, and you move around when you’re excited.”

  “Get back to work, you chatty devil.” My voice sounds eager and needy, even to my own ears. Much to my absolute amazement, he does just as I ask. His hands wander over my body as his mouth teases one nipple then the other until I’m keening with need. Only then does he kiss his way down to my belly button. I remember he doesn’t have one, cause he was hatched from a shell. He seems thoroughly fascinated by mine though. He fingers it, swirls his tongue inside and then licks me over and over, until I push his head down a bit. I know, that’s really brazen, but I ache for him.