by Erin Raegan
Uthyf’s scowl deepened. “I am not as helpless as you and the assassin may believe.”
“Truth,” Killian nodded. “You are formidable in your own right, but make no mistake, if the assassin wants your life, it will be his.”
“Chyn is our friend,” a female voice called sternly.
I wasn’t following most of their conversation, but I clearly recognized the woman for what she was as she stepped into view of the screen. A human.
Uthyf’s eyes lit up on her and he pulled her into his lap.
Killian bellowed a laugh. “Little human, Chyn is friend to no one, save me,” he winked. “But his own little human will keep him in line. Befriend her and Chyn will be far more amenable and less stabby.”
The woman wrinkled her nose. “We love London, she is our friend.”
“Then you have nothing to fear.”
“I am not afraid,” Uthyf seethed.
The woman kissed his chin. “He’s just teasing you.”
“I am not,” Killian said around a grin. “You should fear the new master of the Juldo. He nearly took my own head a time or two, but a great bond can be forged through a good match to the death.”
I looked at him, my mouth pressed tight. I didn’t like to think about some scary assassin, or master, or whoever this Chyn guy was trying to take Killian’s head.
He looked at me over his shoulder and winked.
“Oh,” the woman said. “Hi.”
I looked up at her and waved weakly. “Hi.”
“I’m Mona,” she said to me, her eyes tilting curiously.
“This is my Theo,” Killian stated grandly and held his hand out to me.
I walked slowly toward him, not wanting to be rude in front of these strangers. A king.
“Your Theo?” Uthyf asked, something like shock in his voice.
“No.”
“Yes.”
I glared at Killian.
Uthyf smirked. “Suddenly things become clear.”
Killian scowled at me. “Yes, so do not call me whining again. As I’ve said, Chyn has the removal of the humans at hand, the Xixin will not recede until the last of the survivors have been moved as they are far too fascinated by their potential,” Mona looked at him warily. “Though I’d say any human those beasts get their paws on will be far more comfortable in the tropics of Xidia than your ice ball of a planet, and I will deal with the Veel problem myself.”
Killian leaned forward to press a button.
“Wait,” Mona cried. “What is he talking about? The Xixin are taking humans for themselves?”
Uthyf glowered at Killian. Who just winked and pressed the button with a flourish, blacking out of the screen.
“What was that all about?” I asked him warily.
Killian stood and stepped into me. Backing me toward the door. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
“Killian,” I warned him with a bite.
He flashed his glittering fangs at me. “Not now, Theo. I’ve been waiting for you to cease with your silent treatment of me and now that you have, I intend to take full advantage of you having dropped your guard.”
“I haven’t dropped my guard. I’m still mad at you,” I stumbled as he herded me toward the door, dark promises in his eyes. “I want to talk. Just talk.”
“No.” He licked his bottom lip, grinning. “I’m done doing this your way.”
“My way?”
Killian lunged, tossing me over his shoulder. I yelped and held on as he swung toward the door, marching out and into the big navigation room.
“Yes, dear,” he mocked loudly, grabbing the attention of every Kilbus in the room. “I’m done with fighting. It’s time we make up now.”
“There will be no making up! Not until you swear not to hit Noah again.”
Killian sighed long and heavily. “You drive a hard bargain love of mine. But I will accede to your terms on one condition.”
It was my turn to sigh. “What are your terms?”
“Just one, sweets.” He slapped my bottom sharply. “You give up your door.”
“My door?”
“Yes, I will have it removed so you cannot lock yourself away when you grow cross with me.”
“I need my door, Killian,” I said on a drawn-out groan.
“You do not.”
“No? You want Oren watching me get dressed?” I smiled triumphantly. “Lahn and Kayd?”
Killian spit a curse. “Fine, then you lose your room. I will give you my door.”
“I’m not moving in with you.”
He marched through halls. Inviting too many alien ears to yet another argument between us.
“Then I will break Noah’s nose.”
I gasped in outrage. “You asshole!”
“I’ve never claimed to be anything else.”
I wiggled, straining against his grip. He smacked me again and I yelped smacking his backside in return. Problem was, it was taught. Firm and perfectly globed. My hand may have gotten away from me.
Killian chuckled wickedly, returning the grope.
“Everyone can see us,” I seethed, balling my fists and glaring at them for betraying me.
“That they can,” He stated happily. “and as their king, it is good they see me claim my queen.”
Quandary
Kil
“I am not their queen,” she continued to declare as I entered our rooms.
“You are,” I told her proudly. “And what a fine queen you are.”
She sighed heavily as I pulled her upright.
I waved my hand down, drawing her eye to my chest and hard cock. “And you, my queen, have chosen only the very best of kings.”
She tried to stay firm. Keep tight of her anger, but her eyes could not hide her interest from me. They strayed to my straining cock, reaching for her as it ached. Her little tongue peeked out, wetting her plump lip and my gaze grew hungry, my palm rubbing down my length to soothe it’s want of her.
Her pale breasts shuddered and strained against the tight confines of her shirt. In moments I would have it in shreds if she continued to look at me in that way.
I rubbed harder, nearly begging her to open her mouth for me.
“You’re touching yourself,” she said breathlessly, squirming and watching my palm with avid eyes.
“I am,” I returned smugly. But my hand was a poor substitute for the sweet warmth I knew awaited me between her squirming thighs. I unbuttoned my pants, reaching inside and sliding down the swollen length. My mouth parted as hers did, my lids growing heavy along with hers.
“You don’t fight fair,” she whispered in a near plea.
I shook my head solemnly. “Kilbus never do.”
She shut her eyes tight, blocking my want of her. But I could read every titillating desire that ran through her mind and it was a true test of my control that I did not toss her down where she stood and take from her what we were both wanting.
“Anything else,” she begged. “I’ll give you anything else but my room if you leave Noah and what happened in that mountain alone.”
Those words were the only thing that could have cooled my lust. Just the mere thought of what I already knew went on in that vile place—what her own blood allowed to happen to her—chilled me. I released myself and turned away from her.
She asked too much of me. I wanted to rip that bastards head from his shoulders and mount it on a spike. But this was my Theo, and too much or not, I would always give her what she wanted. Anything she wanted.
Almost. “You are mine, Theo. I left you once, I will not again. It is time you accept that.”
“You’ll leave it be?” She asked, shock in her voice.
I chuckled grimly. This female. This human female had me on my knees. The Kilbus Lord on his knees prepared to grant her the universe and everything inside it. And she was completely blind to it.
“Yes. Stop fighting me, and I will leave your precious brother to his own devices.” If he should fall at the
hands of a trusted crew member, or find himself walking blindly into the den of a hungry Geroun below decks, well then, who am I to claim ownership of his death? But it was mere fate the male was to die of stupidity.
Theo glowered at me, as if the devious minx could herself read my every cunning thought. I grimaced and trudged up every last ounce of conviction I could muster. “He will be safe from harm from me and any on my ship, love. Give me the chance to court you as you once did and I will protect him with my own life.”
Even if it killed me to do so. She was worth it.
Her eyes, blessedly, softened. The sweet look of surrender I craved to see again for so long peeking through her towering walls.
Stars help me, but I really would protect that fuckwit if it earned me a look like that again.
Hope, like a burning sun, seared through me. I stepped closer, taking her beautiful face into my palms. I bent, my mouth watering to taste that look from her lips.
Her chin tilted. An invitation.
I hardened painfully. I would have her. I would lay claim to this female. This human woman. My cock would sink into her and all would know that she belonged to me.
Theo whimpered, a sound so low and captivating my cock jerked, reaching for her again.
I growled, breathing in her broken sweet breaths and I licked at that quivering lip. Wanting to lick between her thighs once more nearly as bad as my cock did. Nearly.
Her chest pressed into mine, her hands reaching for my hair, tugging on the beads that proclaimed me as my stature but would soon adorn hers for all to see and I tensed, savoring the moment. The moment that would bind us together for all eternity.
She whispered my name. No, she whispered Killian. A name I gave her in trickery but she now breathed life into.
I grinned against her mouth, savoring her surrender.
And then a blasted knock came to the door.
I seethed a curse. Not removing my hands or gaze from her. “It better be a gods damned Veel freighter attacking or I will—”
“It’s a gods damned Litsipith Overlord calling,” Oren drawled from the doorway.
Theo turned, looking to him, and I swore then and there Oren would meet me in the sparring ring later where I would rip his cock from him so he might feel an iota of pain I was feeling in this moment.
He grinned unrepentantly, enjoying my suffering.
“You have to go?” she asked me.
My cock wept. I may have even shed a tear myself if not for the genuine pain she wore on her own face, the sweet paradise between her thighs reaching for me as Oren watched on.
“I do,” I cursed again. “I am going to slaughter that vile Marcovin for calling.”
I let her go, my hands fisting at my sides.
“Marcovin.” She muttered, shaking her head, the lust washing from her eyes. “It’s hard to keep up with all the different aliens.”
“You get used to it,” Oren told her, a softer look in his eyes than he used to wear all those days ago. She was his queen. There was no denying her now, but Oren truly had regretted his behavior.
This new habit of his, I would make sure was burned from him as well.
His gaze said he knew what was coming to him and was resigned to it.
“I’ll be back soon, love.”
She nodded absently, a trembling hand touching her chin as she watched me.
Worry was working through her again. All that work for naught.
On my knees I would be once more when I returned. Only this time, I would bar that door until I could have her on hers as well.
“What does he want?” I asked my second, scowling at every one of my crew in my way. Some sped away, clearing a path in the halls for me, others, used to my plummeting moods recently, paid me no mind.
“He’s heard rumors of the Veel tracking us.”
Oren needed to say no more. Klader—the Marcovin and overlord of Litsipith—was a wary sort. He would not like us invading his flight space and bringing a possible Veel attack to his doors. He would need coddling before he opened his gates to us.
Coddling easily frightened rulers seemed to get in the way of claiming my Theo far too often as of late.
I sat heavily back in the chair before the comm screen. I was back here so soon after she came looking for me. I was not a ruler that worked tirelessly, always hounded by unending reports and problems at my feet as was the way with most in my position. Uthyf rarely took a breath to savor in his mating life. No, Kilbus were not that way.
We valued every moment of life, never taking any difficulty too seriously. As their ruler, I set a precedent for my crew in this way. Them seeing me with my Theo, playing with her, loving her, was yet another way in which I inspired their enjoyment.
But as of late, that was no longer the case. From the moment Uthyf sought me out and called on our tentative alliance to save the humans from the Vitat, it seemed I was becoming more and more hardened down by responsibility. If I was truthful, that had become the case the bright day I found my Theo in that small town what seemed now like so very long ago.
But now here she was, on my ship, roaming my domain. In my arms. It was time we Kilbus returned to our way of life. Beholden to nothing and no one.
But for me, I was now beholden to my Theo. It was a place I was gladly bound.
But first, this sniveling overlord.
“Marcovin,” I greeted blandly, unimpressed by his anxious energy. “Calm yourself and open your gates.”
Klader snorted from his reder, the thin skin flapping indelicately. His ruddy face angry and restless. “Kilbus,” he spat like a curse. “Why have you returned so soon? We are not due for your demands for yet another few sunspins.”
“I seek your aid,” I placated him. “I shall pay you handsomely for the inconvenience.”
“You still owe me for the damage you and your kind caused last you visited,” he sneered, his eyes shifting from mine to hide his unease.
This vermin, so boldly defying me when he damned well knew he had no choice.
I grinned. “We are a rowdy bunch.” My Kilbus visited Litsipith rarely, when our desire for solid ground and a taste of the depraved drove us from our star faring. My crew, the largest vessel this side of the sector, as stouthearted as any other, relished in all Litsipith had to offer, driving the poor overworked overlord to the brink. Just another enjoyment of taking over the floating concourse in my opinion. “Do not over tax yourself, Klader, this is a rare occasion. We will take what we need and be on our way before you can muster to heave your bulk from that throne of yours.”
He bared his stubbed tusks in frustration. “And the Veel? You would draw them here and then leave us to fend for ourselves.”
“The Veel have no interest in your precious hunk of metal,” I drawled. “But the longer you deny me, the longer it will be before I indulge your fears and draw them away.”
Klader spat in his ancient tongue. Cursing me to an angry star’s destruction.
I grinned, unrepentant.
“Make it fast, Kilbus,” he muttered, obstinate, and I watched as the gates of Litsipith opened for me.
“Don’t test me,” I warned him darkly and left him to simmer in his frustration.
Litsipith may be a floating cesspit, falling apart for lack of proper care over the eons, but it called to the most deprived of souls. The most reckless and dangerous of creatures. It was not safe here any longer. Not now that I carried precious cargo.
If any got even an inkling of what we carted on board, I would be taking all of Litsipith on even as I fought the Veel stalking my back. I could not allow the humans to be discovered.
“Oh, but my lord,” Klader called in a tone he had yet to use with me in all my dealings with him. I tensed, reading that tone. Rage, clean and hotter than a young star, seared through me. “I look forward to meeting your new queen.” He t’sked, a clumsy sound with his massive tusks. “Please allow me to introduce myself to the human female that has brought the fierce Kilbus Lor
d to his knees.”
He flinched as I turned back to him. “Who betrayed me?”
He swallowed hard, not regretting his idle threat, but still with enough sense to fear me. I would make him beg for my mercy when I was through with him.
“I have not seen a human in too long, not a single slaver has passed through with one, my curiosity is peaked.”
I shook my head solemnly. “Klader, you fool, you better run as fast as your hefty stubs will carry you when I land, or you will pay the price of the traitor long before he screams for my mercy.”
He swallowed tightly and clicked off.
Fuck.
Crowned Queen
Theo
“I don’t understand,” Bets fretted as she fumbled with the buttons on the gown. “I thought Killian said it was too dangerous for any of us to set foot out of the ship here.”
Out of the room, he’d actually said.
Yet here I was, dressing in some elaborate gown to do just that. It was full length. A lacy silk that went from my shoulders to pool in a puddle at my bare feet. I was covered completely from neck to toes, but it was so damn tight you could see every dip and line of my body underneath. I rubbed my injured arm thoughtfully. It still ached but it had healed lightning fast. The lace was soft and beautiful but it hinted at the skin it hugged, making me squirm. Only thin belts of silk around my breasts and pelvis covered the most important parts of me.
It was a perfect fit, so long as Killian meant to show off every one of my curves. Kilbus had no females on board. Not a one according to Oren. I couldn’t even listen to his explanation of it. It was so chauvinistic and arrogant, that only males were allowed on Killian’s crew, I wanted to punch him in his proud nose. Iris nearly beat me to it. It wasn’t that they had no mates, many of the Kilbus did all over the universe, but the little women stayed at home while the men did the pirating apparently.
