by Gabby Dark
We came together, panting, our lips together.
“Anik?” I asked, after our breathing returned to normal.
“Mak?”
“How does one choose?”
“What do you mean?”
“How does a free woman choose a mate?” I asked.
He smiled. “You’ve never had a boyfriend?”
I blushed. “Boyfriend isn’t the same as mate.”
“That is true. To answer your question, how does a free woman choose…” He picked up one of my curls and then brushed it back away from my face. “She submits. She submits to her chosen in the presence of her people.”
“As in, on her hands and knees type of thing?”
“Sort of. She kneels.”
“All of this is done while the people watch?”
He nodded.
“Does he have to accept?”
“Oh, yes, he does. It is a quite intimate. He takes her with his kuvak. It is also an honor for the people to witness. It is an old custom. An ancient one. More alien than human ways. More beastly than human ways.”
“I see…”
He kissed my lips again. “Do not fret over such things. Which reminds me. I have something else for you.” He stood up with my legs still wrapped around him.
I giggled and slid down until my feet touched the ground.
He picked up his satchel and pulled out something wrapped in a pastel cloth.
“For me?”
He nodded, grinning.
“I feel so bad. You’re loading me with parting gifts and I don’t have anything for you.”
“You can fix that…with this…”
My heart filled with joy when I saw what the gift was. A bundle of paintbrushes and tubes of paints. “Oh…thank you.”
“You paint. I want to see what you paint.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and he embraced me about the waist. “It’ll be a surprise.” I bit my lips while in thought thinking about all the scenes I would paint. Maybe I’d even sneak out of the pod house at night to capture a moment with the red sun.
“Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone, tiki pa.”
“Tiki pa?”
He diverted his gaze and his ǔre began to glow. He was blushing. Zunatorians did not physically change colors when they blushed, but the pulses of their ǔre gave them away all the time.
“It means my love.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ryleigh
* * *
Four days later…
“Oh, have you had nuwi wǔp yet? Vrex’un says it’s a cocoa treat. It’s so damn good. It’s just like chocolate cake,” Andara squealed as we walked together in the marketplace.
“No. I’ve haven’t had that. I’ve had fruit literally every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They taste amazing and they’re so appetizing. I used to hate fruits and vegetables as a child, but these are so good,” I said.
“Next week, Vrex’un will bring in a chef to help me learn to prepare meals for him. He brought in a dead…I don’t know…duck last night and told me to cook it. I accidentally vomitted on it. He thought I was sick again.” She giggled.
I laughed. “They must be rethinking their decision now. Human women who can’t cook. I guess they can’t have everything.”
“I saw some of the other girls,” Andara said. “Most of them are happy. Another one got split up from her sister. She says she wishes she could go back to get her and bring her to Zunator so they could be together again.”
I sighed. “I feel sorry for her then. It’s different here. But we’re safe.”
Andara gave me a tight squeeze. “I’m so glad we’re together again.”
“And I’m glad that you’re well. You worried me when you went into that med clinic.”
“They said I had some new strain of flu and that I must have contracted it on Earth right before I was captured. Anyway, they gave me something similar to antibodies and crystal meds and I’m all better now. I feel like I can do anything. I’m not as strong a fighter as you, but maybe I’ll be able to convince Vrex’un to at least let me go to yoga sessions with you.”
I looked behind me at Andara’s mate. He was possessive indeed. I had a hard time convincing him that it was okay for me to give my friend a hug. I didn’t have room to talk. There were three of the King’s guards lurking around here somewhere watching me.
“Lucky for you, the Zunatorian males can be convinced rather easily,” I said, with a wink.
Andara giggled behind her hand. “Oh, my God. They all have knotted cocks.”
“I know.”
“How? You said that Anik and you had not had sex, and that they had freed you from the obligations of the auction.”
I shrugged. “We haven’t. That doesn’t stop us from playing around. I’m not entirely free from those obligations though. Like all women here, I must at least attempt to bear children.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing. I mean the sex. Their kuvak…it vibrates inside. Vrex’un…he’s so big I can feel him right next to my womb whenever he comes. The pain is gone in a flash, but the vibrations are very soothing. I can feel him knotting in me, locking himself inside. And they can reach climax without sex or jacking off,” she said. “A human male’s cock doesn’t even measure up.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said, meekly.
“I forgot you were a virgin. It doesn’t matter now. You weren’t missing anything before. I once had a boyfriend…he was a terrible fucker. Like, ten seconds, and then boom, it was over. So disappointing. But Zunatorians can go on for hours if you beg them to.”
I blushed.
“I think I might be pregnant. The doctor did another round of testing but she wouldn’t tell me anything. But then she handed me a vial of capsules and said I was to take them once a day. I think they’re prenatals.”
I smiled. “That’s amazing.”
“Vrex’un wants lots of children. I’m not ready, Ryleigh. I’m so scared.”
“I’m sure you’ll have plenty of help. Including mine.”
Suddenly, there was some commotion at the entrance of the market. Zunatorians ran from the lines at the market and rushed to see what was going on.
“Niluvǔ ngǔnu!” the crowded chanted.
Andara’s eyes widened. “Niluvǔ ngǔnu! That means crown prince. It must be Anik and his crew returned from Crenxiate.”
Before I could responded, Vrex’un took her hand, urging her to follow. “Tiki pa, t’ux. Niluvǔ ngǔnu. Kuvir tam an’a.”
“He has arrived.” Andara grabbed my hand too and we all raced to the front of the marketplace.
Along with Anik and his crew, were five gray-skinned little boys and two bright blue aliens. They were all surrounded by the crowd, who were wishing them a warm welcome. They brought more than people back with them. The guards unpacked loads of stuff from the Zuna Fleet Magna Apʼay Baku onto a trolley.
I felt awkward as all the attention remained on Anik and his returning crew up until the moment when his eyes met mine and he left the excited crowd to come join me.
I was so glad that he was back. I wanted to leap into his arms. I wanted to go back to our pod house and spend the rest of the night in bed with him where he was certain to tell me stories of his travels to Crenxiate.
“It’s good to see you, Ryleigh. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too, Anik.
Anik took my hand and then brought his arm around my waist. Moments before his lips landed on mine, a Zunatorian female announced her presence. She cleared her throat and folded her delicate hands right in front of her. She was stunning with pleasing Zunatorian features. Her skin was slightly lighter than Anik’s. She wore jewels on her ankles and wrists. Her long silk tunic was blue, the same color as her eyes and her ǔre. The crown of her black hair was pulled up into a top knot and braid and the rest of it was left to flow down her back.
The woman gave me a brief look before she quickly dismi
ssed me and greeted Anik. “Anik.”
“Hello Qesir,” he said.
“It’s pleasing to know that you have returned safely with your brothers,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“Please, if I may ask, we haven’t gotten word of Tor’ena’s fate. You traveled along the Barb lands and through the Zannakians valleys. Have you not heard word on where she might be? Surely she is not dead.”
Anik’s demeanor had changed. He was uncomfortable. His ǔre had even dimmed in color.
“No one has heard from Tor’ena probably because Tor’ena does not want to be heard from. She threw herself to the Barbs. That is her fate. There’s no need to dwell on that now.”
“No? But surely there is need. She chose you, Anik. The only thing you gave her was dishonor.” Qesir rose her voice and had captured the attention of some of the guards. Upon seeing her angering the Prince, they came up and spoke to her in Zunatorian language.
“Why should I remain quiet on this? Tor’ena committed herself to him! She—” Before she could utter another word, the guards took her.
When Qesir was gone, the people who had seen the incident whispered behind their hands.
“What was that all about?” I asked Anik.
“Nothing.”
I took a step back. “That wasn’t nothing. Who is Tor’ena?”
“She was a free woman. She’s gone now. Left Zunator by her own choosing.”
I swallowed. “Was she your…did you have something going on with her?”
“I…Tor’ena chose me. She wanted to mate me.”
“Then who was that woman?” I pointed after the guards taking away Qesir.
“Tor’ena’s cousin.”
I held up my hand, suddenly unable to breath or think. “Give me a minute.”
Anik didn’t heed my warning. He came and wrapped his arms around my waist anyway. “She and I never came together.”
“But you were supposed to mate her?”
“Mak. I was. Only I declined her at first.”
A raw, unpleasant knot twisted in my belly. “At first?”
“Yes, when she submitted, I declined. Shortly after, we learned of the plague limiting our women’s ability to bear children. My father brought her to me again and told me I would have to mate Tor’ena. That there was no other option. I was a Prince and I had to set an example for our people. I agreed eventually, but, I guess by fate or some odd anomaly, we were being attacked by our enemies regularly. I was in battle almost always. Either way, I was not in love with Tor’ena. Because Tor’ena was…untouched, we assumed she was not affected until the doctors discovered a way to diagnose it. She found out she was. The next few times when I returned from battle, she acted strangely. Oddly enough, I realized that she had figured out that I wasn’t happy about our pending mating ritual. It was true. I kept putting it off. She grew angry. Disgruntled. She was also bitter over being told she may not be able to bear children. She left. No one’s heard from her.”
I exhaled, but my heart was still racing. The feelings I had…I couldn’t identify them. Certainly I was not jealous of a woman that Anik was supposed to mate before I was even in the picture.
“You could’ve told me…” I said.
“What difference would it make? It is not Tor’ena who I want.”
I took off, and started walking in the direction of the pod house without another word. I knew he would follow. Where else would he go? The only place I had left to seek solitude was the house of the man I was now angry with.
“Ryleigh!” He caught up with me just outside the door.
I put my hands over my face and blurted. “I cannot stay here. I can’t stay with you.”
“Yes. You can stay here. You will never be without a cot to lay your head on, do you understand?”
I wanted to cave into his embrace. I really did, but I needed time to process all of this.
“Qesir seems to believe that Tor’ena is still alive,” I said.
“She may be. The night Tor’ena left she was taken by a Barb. A hybrid, we think. Not one of the mindless. It slipped past our borders during a celebration for one of the elders. We thought the thing would go on a rampage and attack. We were about to kill it with an arrow. But, Tor’ena, in front of the whole crowd, went right to it and stood there while it sniffed around her. She was trembling. She was afraid, but something else was going on there. The Barb bowed low to the ground, she mounted its back, and then it ran off with her. There have been some sightings of our women with Barb hybrids. After all, the Barbs will rape any woman they can find. This is the reason Qesir thinks Tor’ena is still alive. In either case, she made her choice. She went with the Barb willingly. There have been others before her that have done the same. Gone and never looked back. Even if I did love her, I would not drag her back.”
Anik’s gaze were a swirl of emotions when they met mine. I knew he was reading my thoughts. I didn’t care. But if he had unfiltered access to my deepest desires, my fears, and everything else he wanted, I, too, wanted him to open up to me in the same manner.
“Anik?”
“Mak?”
“Do you ever wish to be mated? Is that something you never desired?”
“Of course. It is fated,” he said.
“Fated? But is that what you want?”
He kissed my forehead, my cheek, and my lips before saying, “The truth is, Ryleigh, I want you.”
I sighed. “I’m not so sure, Anik.” I traced the outline of his face, his hardened jawline. “I think maybe you are heartbroken. I sense that you’re holding back.”
His face showed signs of guilt for a flash and then the expression dissolved. Right then, I knew it was true. Even though he may not have loved Tor’ena, the whole thing still affected him.
I dropped my hands from his face and opened the door. I slipped inside.
I didn’t even care if he came in with me or not. I just wanted to be alone. To think. Without someone intruding my thoughts.
He must’ve perceived my wishes, by thought or otherwise, because when I looked back, the door to the pod house had been closed. I heard the familiar clanking of chains from the metal tunic vests that my guards wore and I knew that they were here and that Anik had gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Ryleigh
* * *
The next morning, Anik sent me breakfast with a small gift. An anklet made of fine jade gems from the Crenx lands.
I’d never worn any jewelry before aside from a pair of earrings my mom gave me when I was eight, but I’d lost it somewhere on Earth.
I hooked the anklet onto my ankle pleased with the way the gem sparked to life against my skin.
Now I was deep in thought, with a paintbrush in my hand in front of blank canvas. My picture was in my mind but sometimes I had issues with where to begin.
Before I could dip the tip of the brush into the blue paint, there was a soft knock at the door.
“Anik? Is that you? Why do you knock on your own door? Come in.”
I was still at odds with what I learned, but I wasn’t selfish or spiteful and would never keep a man out of his own home.
There was silence on the other side. I propped my paintbrush on the stand and went to the door. I lost my breath when Taz’ul’s big form folded out in front of the door. His ǔre blazed bright. A deep red. Just like his brother’s—the alien I had killed.
Taz’ul tilted his head to one side and threw me a warning stare.
I looked out behind him, but there were no guards to be found, but then I remembered that King Crencik had sent them away thinking that since Anik was back that I was being protected.
I swallowed.
“Hallo,” he said. He pronounced the hello like it was forced. Of course it was a forced greeting. He was angry. I could see it written all over his face.
“Are you looking for Anik?”
Taz’ul shook his head. “Anik is not here.” Without warning, he pushed himself into the pod house
and slammed the door.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to be punished for killing my brother.”
“I’m sorry about your brother. He killed a human woman. He was going to kill me if—”
“Yǔvim! Bak’ku!” Silent, bitch!
I walked backward into the small space until my back hit a wall. “You cannot punish me. I am a free woman.”
Taz’ul spat on the floor and said something in the Zunatorian tongue. He closed the distance between us like a predator on its prey. I didn’t know whether I should beg for my life or fight for it. I was straining toward the latter. Even though I was on a different planet with different laws, my will to live would not die. It was either him or me. I would not die today.
“Please…” I mumbled.
He inched closer, grabbed the front of my silk tunic and tugged until it was ripped in two.
I placed my hand in front of my body to shield my breasts. “Anik will come back!” Hopeful thinking. Anik had already said in the note that he wouldn’t get back until nightfall. I was alone and the guards were gone.
Taz’ul clenched his teeth together, put his mouth against my face and rasped, “You have not been fucked into submission, bak’ku.”
“You cannot!”
“Laws have already been broken, pet. That’s what you are. Anik’s pet. Like a little doggie that rolls over on his back with legs in the air whenever his master comes home.”
The insult stung like salt in a fresh wound. I wanted to cry, but I would not give this bastard the satisfaction. I looked at the floor.
He yanked me by the hair, twisted me around, and pressed my face into the wall. I heard the familiar sound of ropes being pulled from a loin cloth.
Taz’ul smashed his mouth to the back of my neck and said, “I hear human woman leak an endless supply of lubricants. Sweet like berries. Is this true?”
“You’re going to die!” I panted, jerking against him.
