Enemy of the Alien Bride Lottery

by Margo Bond Collins

  “Yes, but there will be a lot of questions about us, I fear.” Under me, his body went perfectly still. “And I have a few more things I need to tell you.”

  My throat tightened, but I managed to say, “I have a couple of things I need to tell you, too.”

  “Do you want to go first?” he asked.

  I shook my head mutely. I wanted to hear everything he had to say first—that way, if he decided to walk away after he heard what I needed to tell him, at least I wouldn’t have to wonder about his secrets.

  He inhaled deeply, clearly preparing to spill his guts. “First of all, I need you to know that I never wanted to testify against you during your trial.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “But also…the only reason the prosecution even had the information about our conversation is that I told Zont. I wanted him to use it to exonerate you, to show that you were trying to help Amelia heal him.”

  I shrugged. “But I wasn’t. Really, I was helping Amelia—the fact that she wanted to save Zont is the only reason I had anything to do with him at all.”

  “So you can forgive me for that—for telling the truth when I was called to testify?”

  I took his hands from where they rested on the ground beside him and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Absolutely. You didn’t mean to hurt me.”

  I heard him swallow. “The next one might not be so easy to forgive.” He paused for so long that I began to wonder if he was going to speak again.

  “Well? Spit it out. You’re beginning to make me nervous.”

  “I’m the one who reported your fraudulent marriage.”

  I froze, considering his words. “So that’s how they figured it out?”

  “Yes. As soon as I got back to Station 21 from the hunt for Amelia, I looked up everything I could about you. That’s what I found.”

  “Why did you report it?”

  He dropped his head down onto my shoulder, muffling his voice. “Because I wanted you for myself.”

  “Is there anything else?”

  He raised his head again. “One more thing. Vos Klavoii drafted me into the Holiday Special, and I manipulated the outcome—I got Drindl and Plofnid to tell Lola how she could make sure she ended up with Valtin.”

  I started to say something, but Wex patted my arm with his hand, then rubbed against it with his thumb, sending little shivers through me. “There’s one more thing.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Your name was not drawn in any kind of blind lottery.”

  For the first time since he started talking, I turned my head to stare at him in surprise. “So it was a set-up?”

  He nodded. “It was. But not to punish you. I wanted you here to give me a chance to convince you that we belong together.”

  I nodded thoughtfully. “So that was the reason for the “second-chance grooms” theme?”

  “Yes—I convinced Vos to find a way to include me in the games again.”

  “Is that everything?” I asked.

  “I think so—for now, anyway. If we’re going to be together, I don’t want it to be based on lies and deception.”

  He sounded so earnest that it nearly broke my heart. “Then I have something to tell you, too.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Somehow, it was easier to do this when we were not facing each other, but were touching. “I stole your wristcom yesterday. I used it to sneak into the control center and upload some spyware. I also downloaded your personnel file. But I haven’t looked at it yet. I was afraid to open it in case my room was bugged.”

  A bark of laughter escaped Wex. “Good call. There are cameras in all the brides’ rooms.” He paused. “Who was the spyware for?”

  I swallowed. “An anti-Bride-Lottery group on Earth.”

  “Are you a member?”

  “Not exactly.” Now I slid off his lap and turned to sit on the ground facing him. “But you have to know, I sympathize with their views. Even if you and I end up together, I can’t be okay with the Bride Lottery. Not as it is now.”

  Wex nodded slowly. “I agree.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” He leaned forward, holding his hands out, inviting me to place mine in them, and when I did, he curled his fingers around them. “But…how would you feel about beginning to change the way the Bride Lottery works from within?”

  I blinked. “How do we do that?”

  “One step at a time. I do believe that Khanavai males and human females often belong together. I’m certain we do. If you and I work together, maybe we can change the Lottery and Games from this old-fashioned, barbaric system and turned it into something beautiful. Something that doesn’t rely on stealing human females from their home planet.”

  I nodded slowly, and a smile began to spread across my face. “You mean, a way for Khanavai warriors and human women to meet and decide if they like each other, even without ridiculous, set-up games?”

  “Something like that, yes.”

  “I like that idea.” Rising onto my hands and knees, I leaned forward and kissed Wex again.

  For the first time in a long time, I was certain that my life was about to get a whole lot better.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Wex

  “There’s one last thing,” I said as I stood and held my hand out to Dee to help her stand as well. “Well, two, actually.”

  “What’s that?” she asked as she brushed leaves off the back of her clothing—another green dress.

  One that matches my skin, I realized, wondering if Drindl and Plofnid had chosen that color on purpose.

  Of course, green does look good on her.

  I grinned at the thought.

  “You look like you’re thinking all kinds of wicked thoughts.” Deandra raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh, I am. But that’s the second thing on my list.” I took her hand in mine and began leading her back toward the path that would take us out of the garden.

  “What’s the first?”

  “Why don’t you like to be called Deandra? It’s a beautiful name. It suits you.”

  “Oh. That.” She stopped and blew out a breath, then bent down to pluck a beni flower from its spot on the ground. As she began walking again, she stroked the soft petals. “It was what my mother called me.”

  “Your mother?”

  “Yes. She died when I was ten. Before that, she used to call me her beautiful princess. Princess Deandra.” She gave a sad smile but didn’t meet my eyes. “After she died, my father turned inward. He started preparing for disaster, forcing me to join him in learning how to survive without technology.” Her voice dropped. “Without other people.”

  “Did he not call you Deandra?”

  Her laugh was bitter. “No. Dee was his nickname for me.”

  “So no more Princess Deandra?”

  “No. No more princess anything. Hell, I think maybe I was barely even a person to him.”

  When she turned her eyes up toward me, they were tear-filled. “He didn’t come to my trial. He never even came to see me when I was in prison.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from taking her in my arms. “That will never happen to you again. I will be by your side always, if you’ll have me.”

  Her watery smile pierced through my heart. “Could I call you Deandra? If I promised no one else would ever use the name.”

  She paused, and I took the flower, its petals now shredded, from her hand. “It’s a name given to you by someone who loved you. I would like to keep it alive.”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I think I might like that, too.” She sniffled for a moment, then brushed her tears away, forcing herself to suppress her feelings.

  That will never happen again, either, I vowed silently.

  “So what’s the other thing on your list?”

  “It’s about that information I had Drindl and Plofnid pass on to Lola.”

  “About how to make sure Vos didn’t try to break up her and—what was his name?”


  “Valtin.”

  “Right. Valtin.” She nodded. “What did you have them tell her?”

  “That there was only one way to be certain that Vos would have to officially register them as a mated pair.”

  “And that is?”

  “They had to have sex.”

  Her gaze stayed steady on my eyes. “Do you think we’re in danger of being split up by Vos?”

  I repressed a grin. “There’s always that chance.”

  A smile spread slowly across her face before her expression turned mock-serious. “Well, then. I think we should definitely follow Plofnid and Drindl’s advice.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dee

  We made it to Wex’s quarters without running into anyone official. Once inside, he locked the door behind us, and I turned to face him, drawing him into a kiss.

  When I pulled away, I rubbed my fingers over his gorgeously sculpted chest, and then stood on my tiptoes to draw one of his nipples in my mouth, sliding my tongue across his sensitive, naked flesh before biting down lightly.

  Wex breathed in sharply, exhaling on a quiet moan. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me. I stretched to wrap my legs around his waist, feeling his hard cock pressing against the fabric of his kilt-like chavan between us.

  He was every bit as big all over as Zont had been when I saw the other alien’s naked form in the hotel back on Earth. Linking my feet at the ankles behind him was more difficult than I expected, and I reveled in how protected he made me feel—without making me feel small in any way other than physically.

  How beautiful he makes me feel.

  I saw myself reflected in his emerald-green eyes, and for the first time since my mother died, I truly believed I deserved to be loved, fully and completely.

  “You are perfect,” he whispered, almost as if he were answering my thoughts.

  I slid my hands up and over his shoulders, then twined my arms around his neck, winding my fingers into his hair at the nape of his neck and as I dropped tiny kisses across the side of his throat. “No. That’s you. You’re the perfect one.”

  “I’ll have to teach you not to contradict me.” His voice was dead serious, but when I pulled my head back to gauge his expression, he was grinning, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

  “You are terrible,” I said, lightly smacking his shoulder.

  “See? You are the better one.” He laughed aloud and carried me toward his sleeping platform, where he set me down carefully.

  Kneeling on the floor at the end of the bed, he reached up under my skirt and hooked his thumbs under my already-soaked silk panties. “You need these for anything?”

  His words sent another wave of heat through me, and I shook my head mutely, unable to speak past the need tightening my chest.

  Holding me captive in his heated gaze, he gave a sharp jerk and ripped the panties off me. Tossing the shredded scrap of fabric over his shoulder, he ran his giant hands up my thighs, pushing my skirt up as he leaned down to inhale. “God, you smell good.”

  I whimpered, unable to stop myself as I tilted my hips up, silently begging him to taste me.

  Never breaking eye contact, he bent forward even as he grasped my hips and brought me to his mouth. Slowly, he reached out and flicked his tongue against my clit.

  I would have thought I couldn’t get any wetter, but every stroke of his tongue proved me wrong. Within seconds, I was writhing under his touch, begging him incoherently for more.

  Wex lifted me higher until my legs draped over his shoulders. His hands slid up under my back until he cradled me in front of him, giving him more access to my slick flesh.

  When he sank his tongue deep inside me and then drew it up and out to flick it across my clit, I cried out.

  “Oh, God, yes,” I said hoarsely, and Wex pulled my clit into his mouth, gently sucking before releasing it to start all over.

  My hips pulsed against his mouth as he made love to me with his tongue, until I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but feel the strength of the connection between us.

  Throbbing heat pooled at the center of me, cresting in a wave that crashed over me, shattering me into countless pieces.

  Wex held me steady as my orgasm shivered through my body. And when it faded away, he set me gently back on the bed and slid a finger inside me. “I think you’re ready.”

  I nodded, still shaking from the power of his touch. “Yes,” I said, then smiled as I realized it was still the only word I could think to say. “I am,” I added, raising up onto my elbows. “But there’s something I’d like to do first.”

  Surprise flashed across his face. “Something else?”

  “Mm-hmm. Trade places with me?”

  He blinked, but stretched out next to me. “Here?”

  “Perfect.” I sat up and began undressing him, fumbling for a moment with the closures on the chavan strap across his chest before giving up and simply flipping the skirt up and out of my way.

  I paused at the sight of him, huge and hard and ready. “Do the Khanavai not wear underwear?” I asked, momentarily distracted.

  He laughed aloud. “Not when we’re planning to take a mate, no.”

  “Good,” I murmured. “I wouldn’t want anything in the way of me doing this.” I stretched out on my stomach, sliding my body down his enormous leg until I was in the perfect position to wrap my mouth around the head of his cock.

  I quickly realized I couldn’t fit all of him into my mouth—I couldn’t even get past the first ridge of his Khanavai cock. But when I sucked on the head, pulling back the skin and running my tongue around the tip, he groaned and closed his eyes.

  His hand hovered above my head, occasionally dropping down to stroke my hair, then fisting in the loose curls as I found the most sensitive spots.

  Finally, he growled, “Enough.”

  I lifted my face to meet his gaze, and he let out another growl, wordless this time, as he lifted me to face him. “Please,” he whispered. “Let me fuck you.”

  I nodded. “Now.”

  In one motion, Wex sat up, picked me up, and set his cock against my pussy, his gaze locked with mine.

  “Oh,” I exhaled as his shaft pressed against me. “Yes. This.”

  Once again, I wrapped my legs around him, this time to give him more access to the deepest part of me. Slowly, he settled me partway onto him, then lifted me again, allowing my slickness to coat him.

  He held me as I slowly sank onto his shaft, giving me time to adjust to his sizable girth. When his cock was completely seated inside me, I began to rock, using my leg muscles to move against him.

  Soon, he began moving, too, starting slowly, but picking up momentum as we learned our rhythm together.

  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered.

  I shivered in response, and he moaned as my pussy tightened around him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he began fucking me in earnest. Soon, I could only hold on as he thrust into me, his hands on my hips lifting me up and slamming me down again, until I came so hard, I screamed his name, stars sparkling behind my closed eyes as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through me.

  With a moan, he plunged into me one last time, his cock swelling, so that I felt it jerking against my inner walls as he exploded inside me. At the same moment, he claimed my lips with his, invading my mouth with his tongue, so that he filled me completely.

  We clung to each other as the tempest subsided. As it passed, I realized that tears ran down my face.

  Wex pulled back far enough to see them, too, and when I tried to tuck my face into his neck, he took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and used his other hand to gently wipe the tears away.

  “You don’t ever have to hide from me,” he said. “No matter what.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Wex

  “These aren’t sad tears,” Deandra explained, reaching up to grasp my hand with hers, giving it a little squeeze.

  “Humans have different kin
ds of tears?”

  “Sometimes, yes. We cry when we’re sad, but sometimes we also cry when we’re angry, or happy, or really, when we’re hit with any strong emotion.”

  I pulled our clasped hands to my mouth and licked the dampness on my fingertip. “It doesn’t taste different from Khanavai tears.”

  She laughed aloud. “You can’t tell what kind of tears they are from tasting them, silly male.”

  “Then how?”

  Leaning into my chest, she captured our hands between our bodies. “We just know.”

  “So what kind were these?”

  “I think maybe they were orgasm tears.”

  I peered down at the top of her head. “Is that really a thing?”

  “It is now.”

  “So…is it a good thing?”

  “Most definitely.” She sighed happily and nuzzled her face against me, sending tiny sparks racing through my body from the contact.

  Still inside her, my cock twitched—and then my mating cock began to harden as the outer ridges of my primary cock folded out of the way, revealing the more sensitive skin beneath.

  Deandra’s head jerked up to meet my gaze, and she blinked rapidly several times. “Wait. Are you ready to go again? Already?”

  “That’s my mating cock. And it will always be ready for you.”

  She wriggled on my lap. “Really?”

  I let out a small groan. “And the more you move, the readier it is.”

  “It feels…different.”

  “Yeah, for me, too.” I could barely get the words out, distracted as I was by the way she had begun bouncing lightly up and down, her perfect, pert breasts brushing against me.

  “Deandra,” I moaned, trembling as she rose up high and then slowly sank back down onto me.

  As I filled her, Deandra’s lips came to my shoulder. She bit me lightly, and suddenly, I could take no more. Wrapping my hands around her so they supported her perfect, heart-shaped ass, I flipped us both over until she was under me, and then pulled almost entirely out.