My rational mind took over. This wasn’t the time to say or do anything rash just because I felt insulted. If I didn’t mate with the prince, I had no value to the Naxians, and neither did my crew. They might look harmless enough in their bright colors, but those guards toted serious weapons.
We went inside, trailed by the six temple maidens, a handful of palace guards, and goodness knew how many of the servants. I wondered if they’d all been assigned to the project of getting me presentable enough to meet the prince, or if some of them were tagging along so they could tell their friends they’d seen the alien bride in person.
I told myself the change in temperature from the hot, sunny garden to the cool stone interior of the palace caused the shivers running up and down my spine. The truth was, now that we were here, I was scared. All my old romance novels talked about the bride having wedding-day jitters, but at least the heroines in those books knew they were marrying a human. I already knew these aliens had kinky sex practices, but I had no idea of everything in store for me. Were we going to do it in a tree out in the garden with everyone watching, like the scene on those big doors in the temple?
Bride. Wedding day. Who was I kidding? I’d fantasized about my wedding day. What little girl hadn’t? But I wasn’t going to be saying my vows to the love of my life. I was nothing more than a vessel where a stranger could deposit his sperm and then hopefully collect an heir nine months later. For all I knew, they’d get rid of me once I served my purpose and assured the royal bloodline would go on. Or put me to death long before that if I didn’t deliver the goods. I didn’t even know if I could make a kid with a non-human, but the high priest hadn’t concerned himself with researching interspecies breeding before he proposed this deal.
I was still processing all of this in my head when the vizier finally stopped. We’d wound our way through a series of corridors and up at least two flights of stairs. The place was a blur. I’d been so caught up in worry that I hadn’t paid attention to my surroundings. I was completely lost.
He opened a heavy wooden door and stepped aside so I could enter.
“Your quarters. I trust they will be…satisfactory.” He paused just long enough for it to come out as a veiled insult. Now, I was really annoyed. He acted like I was some kind of filthy alien species that crawled out from under a rock.
My gaze traveled around the room, and I gave him a dismissive nod. He walked out and shut the door.
I may be a prisoner here, but at least I’ll be in a gilded cage. I had no idea why these archaic phrases kept popping into my head. Maybe it was a good thing I’d be taking a break from romance novels.
Still, I couldn’t help smiling. The room was beautiful. Wide windows overlooked a rainbow of colorful flowers in the gardens below, and whoever had chosen the furnishings carried the theme inside. Thick rugs in mouthwatering pastel shades padded the floor, and woven tapestries softened the stone walls. Unlike those in the temple, the wall coverings here were abstract designs, whirls of apricot and honey and ochre that kept the focus on the incredible view outside.
There was an intimate seating area in front of the window, a pair of upholstered chairs with a small table between them. Perfect for two lovers to enjoy a glass of wine at night and a cup of tea the next morning. A huge bed covered with a thick white comforter stood in one corner, angled so the occupant would wake up to sunrise over a range of deep purple mountains in the distance.
It was a room fit for a princess. Wait a second… I was about to be mated to a prince. Did that mean I’d be a princess here on Naxos?
Most of my retinue had dispersed, except for two guards who took up places on either side of the door outside in the hall. The temple maidens followed me in. They’d obviously been here before, because one of them opened a door on the far side of the room to show me a luxurious bathroom, complete with a raised tub set under a domed ceiling covered with glowing crystals and jewel-toned translucent stones like the ceiling I had seen in the temple. She touched a dial, and a miniature waterfall poured into the tub over a stack of flat rocks embedded in one end.
Two of the other maidens came over and started pulling on my clothes.
I waved them off and tried to muster up some dignity as I stripped. Normally, I wasn’t self-conscious about being naked, but they all had such perfect bodies.
Sturdy. That’s how the high priest had described me. He was being tactful. I’m muscular, and I have big tits but they droop a little now that I’m over thirty. Fortunately, my ass hasn’t sagged yet, and it’s curvy.
One of the maidens gestured to the tub. “Please.”
I sank into the tub, sighing. I hadn’t realized how much I hurt all over after hours of trudging through the jungle. The maiden in yellow filled a jug from the waterfall and motioned for me to tip my head back. She poured it over my hair then began massaging my scalp with a pale purple cream that smelled like lavender, working it through my hair all the way to the ends. She filled the jug several more times to rinse my hair, running her fingers through the strands.
I sighed again and closed my eyes. I hadn’t been treated so well since I gave myself a day at an expensive spa back home as a birthday present. But my eyes popped open again when two others started washing me all over.
“No no no. I’ve got this.” I grabbed the furry ball from the one in front of me and started rubbing it on my body. Oooh. No wonder these Naxians all had such glowing complexions. The fur stimulated my skin, making it tingle all over, and whatever lotion they’d soaked it in cleansed and soothed.
When I finished, one of them handed me a huge piece of fabric to wrap myself in and motioned for me to take a seat on a padded bench nearby. She and the female in green patted my hair dry and then started brushing it. I could get used to this whole princess gig.
“I can see none of you are into girlish confidences but if we’re going to be so intimately acquainted, at least you could tell me your names.”
The one in yellow smiled. “Aya.” She went around the room pointing to the others. “Gera. Yenne. Sarit.” She rattled off a couple of other names. They all look so much alike I tried to commit their names to memory by the colors they wore. I’d be screwed if they switched gowns tomorrow.
Still, I was making progress. Those six names were the most words I’d heard out of her. “Can you tell me about the prince?”
She shook her head.
Okay, I’d try it another way. Frame everything in yes or no questions. “Is there…” How could I put this delicately? “Is there anything wrong with him? Physically?”
She shook her head no immediately. That took care of one fear. The high priest hadn’t chosen me because the prince was hideously deformed and no Naxian female would have him, even if it meant she got to live in the palace.
“So he’s handsome?”
Big nod and a smile.
That led to my next fear. “Is he kind?”
She hesitated for a fraction of a second then nodded again but not as emphatically as before. I got the message, even without words. My future mate was a prick.
Meanwhile the two fussing with my hair – I think they were Gera and Sarit – finally finished. One of the others had been rummaging in a huge wardrobe along one wall. She came over and held up a gown like the ones they wore. Soft, silky folds of fabric meant to drape over one shoulder, leaving the other one bare. It was creamy white and would have looked beautiful on any one of them against their bronze skin tones. On me, the gown would accent how pale I’d gotten after spending months in space.
They insisted on dressing me, ignoring my protests. Slipping the gown over my head, fussing with the way the folds draped, fastening a gold cord around me to define my waist. When they were finished, Aya led me to a full-length mirror on one wall to take a look.
My hair looked fabulous. Shiny golden waves framing my face and falling to my breasts. But my face was a pasty white against the rich cream of the gown. I glanced around but didn’t see any jars of cosmetics. Not even a
tube of lipstick. Of course, these females didn’t need artificial enhancements. They were all naturally beautiful.
The gown was tailored for a Naxian female. Tall, with a slender frame. Despite their best efforts, the fabric stretched tight over my boobs. And it puddled on the floor around my feet. I turned around to look at the back and frowned.
“It’s torn. Or unfinished or something.” I twisted, grabbing the fabric in back to point out a large opening from the floor nearly all the way to my waist. I was bigger around than these females and since Naxians apparently didn’t believe in wearing underwear, my bare ass was peeking out of the slit.
Aya giggled. “For the…” She made a wavy gesture with her hand, kind of swishing it back and forth.
I’d been so overwhelmed by all the preparations, I’d forgotten the point of all this. Outside the window, dusk had fallen. In a few minutes, I’d be meeting my mate. I was about to get fucked by an alien – right after he played pin the tail on the princess.
They led me through another doorway off the bedroom and down a short passage. Aya opened a door and motioned for me to enter the room. As she exited, I heard the ominous click of a lock.
Sturdy furnishings in dark wood, a couple of jewel-toned rugs on the stone floor – the prince’s chambers didn’t have the feminine touches of the room I’d been assigned to. Someone had made an effort to soften the atmosphere with candlelight, but all it did was throw the corners of the huge room into darkness. For all I knew, the prince might be lurking in one of them right now, watching me.
I took one look at the enormous bed dominating the room and gulped. That’s where we’d be doing the dirty deed.
I headed for the window, trying to distract myself with the view. Darkness had fallen. Thousands of tiny lights twinkled in the gardens below. If I had to be held captive on an alien planet, I could have done a lot worse.
“Even the fucking monkeys here are gorgeous,” I said aloud, trying to console myself. “This view is really beautiful.”
“Yes, it is.”
The deep voice sent a shiver down my spine – just as it did the first time I heard it. I whirled around. A tall figure strode toward me.
The handsome prince – a prick, if I’d read Aya right – was none other than my Tarzan.
Chapter Five
Jalen
I’d been pacing the floor like a caged harudu, waiting for darkness to fall. I had no idea why my father came up with the outrageous scheme to have me mate with the alien. Perhaps he meant to punish me for refusing to bed any of the Naxian maidens he’d been parading in front of me for months now.
“It’s your duty, both to me and to your people. I want to know our line will continue after I’ve gone to be with the ancestors. If anything were to happen to you, your idiot cousin Vedo would claim the throne. Gods help Naxos if that ever happens.” He’d begun repeating the same refrain every time we were together, in the hope that guilt would work where lust had not.
“Nothing is going to happen to me.” The words didn’t ring true, even to me. I knew I’d been taking foolish risks. Hunting tri-horned harudu with only a knife and a bow, free-climbing Mt. Rijai. It seemed I needed more and more dangerous pursuits just to feel alive.
Tonight I would do my duty, as my father had commanded. But I’d be damned if I’d like it.
I’d seen the alien. Sweaty, bedraggled, making her way through the jungle with her makeshift bag of stolen rana fruit. She was no prize, even if she did have a plump, firm ass.
Said ass was the first thing I saw when I opened the door to my bedchamber. Poking out the back of the traditional Naxian mating gown she wore. Naked, in the candlelight, it looked even better than it did in the sweaty gray pants that had clung to every curve.
Despite my resolve, my traitorous cock swelled at the thought of sliding a tail between those sweet cheeks. Seating it deep inside her, then tugging on it as I pumped in and out of her pussy. Would an alien female get as hot when I did that as a Naxian female does?
I’d soon find out.
She’d been staring at the landscape outdoors while I stared at a much more appealing view. In the past, the look of stunned surprise on her face when she whirled around and saw me would have had me laughing out loud. I hadn’t felt like laughing in a long time.
No one had bothered to school her in Naxian etiquette. Otherwise, she’d have dropped to her knees and bowed her head submissively when I entered the room. Maybe they figured an alien wouldn’t be intelligent enough to grasp the complexities of our culture.
She was tough as a tamina, I had to give her that. I’d hunted those sleek jungle beasts. The females were far more dangerous than the males. When cornered, they’d hiss and lash out with their sharp claws. From the look in her eyes, this alien wanted to do the same.
“Come here.”
She took a few steps toward me then stopped, head held high
“On Naxos, it is customary for the female to kneel before her mate.”
“On Earth, it is customary for the male to get to know a female and then ask that female’s permission before he fucks her,” she shot back. “Oh, excuse me…before he mates with her.”
“Fucks. Is that what you call mating?”
“Mating. Fucking.” She held up one hand again, the way she did in the temple, ticking the terms off her fingers to make her point. “Mate, fuck.” She pointed to me. “Fucker.”
“Fucker.” I rolled the word around on my tongue. “Fucker. I like it. It sounds raw and virile.” I could tell by her tone she’d meant the word as an insult. Her eyes flashed with anger when I refused to rise to the bait.
“Very well. Let me put it in terms you’ll understand. I’m the fucker and I’m going to fuck you now, as the king has commanded. Bend over the bed.”
Her eyes widened, and she took a step back.
* * *
Aya was right. He’s handsome – and he’s a real prick.
He was dressed the same way he’d been in the jungle. Bare chest, the animal-hide sarong slung around his narrow hips. Instead of leather, squares of hammered gold linked together made up the belt attached to his tail. A smaller hammered gold chain supported a jewel-encrusted medallion around his neck.
Candlelight played over his body, light and shadow accentuating the powerful muscles in his chest, the chiseled abs. His skin gleamed, and I caught a seductive scent. I’d had a retinue of temple maidens preparing me for this night, rubbing me all over with fragrant oil after my bath. Apparently, he’d been subjected to the same treatment, since I couldn’t picture him slathering it on himself. I wondered if he had female servants to bathe him, too.
He was staring at me with a stern expression on his face. “You don’t kneel before me, and you don’t obey my commands. It’s clear I’m going to have to teach you how to behave like a proper Naxian mate.”
Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and dragged me to the bed. Instead of bending me over it, he sat on the edge and yanked me facedown over his lap. I shrieked when his hand came down with a resounding smack. Thanks to the slit up the back of my gown, he hadn’t even had to pull up my skirt. It just fell open, framing my bare ass for him.
“Let me go!” I started kicking and squirming, but it was no use. He trapped both my flailing legs between his and smacked me again. Harder.
“On Naxos. Females are subservient. To their mates.” He punctuated his lecture with firm swats after every couple of words.
“Fuck you, asshole!”
“Ass hole. I assume that is not a term of endearment by which one addresses one’s mate on Earth.” He spanked me again, falling into a rhythm. Left cheek, right cheek, left cheek, right cheek.
I clenched my teeth. It hurt, but I’d be damned if I let him know. I’d heard of spanking. An archaic form of disciplining children once practiced on Earth, long ago outlawed as barbaric. Maybe these Naxians weren’t as civilized as I’d thought they were.
The initial shock wore off, and I felt the burn. A s
tinging lick of fire every time his hand connected with the tender skin on my ass. I cursed him out loud, cursed this savage planet. He ignored my protests, spanking me steadily. I struggled to get away, but he laid one huge hand across my waist, holding me in place.
I froze when I felt the bulge under his loincloth pressing against my mound, suddenly aware that every time he smacked me, the hood of my clit rubbed against that hard cock. Like I said before, it had been a long, dry voyage. To my shame, I started getting turned on. I mean, really turned on. I felt a gush as my pussy flooded.
He figured out what was going on when my curses turned to moans. He slid a finger between my legs and found the evidence.
“So, little human, it seems Naxian discipline arouses you. Are you ready to receive your shimba tail?”
Tail. Oh yeah. Give it to me. Then fuck me good.
He didn’t have any pockets in that loincloth. I don’t know where he got the damn thing but a moment later, I felt his fingers spreading the cheeks of my ass apart, teasing the tightly puckered opening with something slick and smooth.
He slid it in slowly, inch by inch. It felt like the shaft was getting wider, stretching me until I wanted to beg him to stop. I clawed at his bare legs with my fingernails, and he started working it in and out.
Sweet goddess! I’d never had my ass played with before. I started panting and rocked against his iron-hard cock. I could feel the heat of it, even through the clothes we both wore.
He made a rough sound deep in his chest, one I didn’t need my tellex chip to translate, and ground it against me. Digging his fingers into my stinging ass cheeks, he slid the tail shaft deeper. I let out a strangled cry as it stretched me even wider. The shaft narrowed again, and my ass tightened around it, trapping the widest part inside me. I squeezed my muscles experimentally and shivered as a bolt of lust rocketed through me.
Jalen felt my body quiver and lifted me off his lap. He perched me on the edge of the bed, still facedown. Nudging my legs apart with his knees, he got between them, grabbed the end of my tail, and wrapped it around the palm of one hand, giving it a gentle tug every now and then.
Her Savage Mate_A Sci Fi Alien Alpha Romance Page 3
