by Lisa Lace
I huffed. "Fine."
"Your anniversary's coming up," Neesa said. "What are you going to do?"
"I have a surprise planned for Quinn," Airik said. "We're going to have a romantic dinner."
"I hope it's after the dinner Mom's planned. She'll kill you if you don't let us celebrate it with the entire family."
"The whole family?" I said, remembering all the people who had been at the wedding. I still didn't remember every name.
"Just the immediate family," Neesa corrected herself.
"Oh, sure. That's fine," I said. There were enough brothers and sisters and their offspring to keep me frantically remembering names. As long as it wasn't the extended family too, I thought I could handle it.
"Don't worry, sis. I'll take care of you," Neesa said. She winked at me. "I got your back."
AIRIK
I checked to make sure everything was perfect and then waited for Quinn to come home. When she finally walked through the door, I jumped up and went to her.
"Surprise," I said, helping her take off her coat. "Why are you late? I was expecting you an hour ago."
"I had an errand to run."
"Are you ready for our private anniversary celebration? Yesterday's dinner at Mom and Dad's was for everyone else. Tonight is for us."
"Oh," Quinn said, and she flashed a beautiful smile at me. Her bright blue eyes twinkled. "It smells good in here."
"I made dinner."
"Sounds great," she said and followed me into the dining room.
After we finished eating, we moved to the living room and sat on the couch. "I have something for you, Quinn," I said. "It's not a traditional anniversary present, but I hope you'll like it."
I held a package out to her. She took it carefully.
"What is it?" she asked.
I gave her a look that said, as-if-I'd-tell-you.
"Open it."
She tore open the box and looked at me in confusion.
"Are these my wedding rings? Why are you giving them back to me?"
I had asked her to give them to me. I told her I would have them cleaned, buffed, and shined. I did all that and something extra. "Look inside," I said.
She picked them both up and rotated them in the light so she could read the engraving.
"Stronger. Together," she read. "Wow. That's beautiful, Airik."
Her eyes filled with tears, and I wondered if the writing had been a good idea. I wanted to explain myself.
"It was supposed to symbolize how we can augment our powers when we're together, and how you and I make each other stronger when we're a couple." I scratched my head, feeling foolish. "I thought it would be romantic. We can have them engraved with something else if you like."
She cut me off with a kiss. When she finally pulled back, I gave her a smile.
"I love them. They're amazing. Now I have two presents for you," she said, handing me a similar box.
When I opened it, I saw my wedding rings, which I hadn't been wearing for the past week. My hands got so dry in the winter that I couldn't stand anything touching my skin.
"You took my rings?"
"I might have gotten them engraved, too."
We laughed.
"Great minds think alike," I said.
"Fools seldom differ," she finished. "We both know I am a fool for you, Airik. Just read them, okay?"
I squinted, turning the rings to make out the words. It took me a minute to realize they weren't written in Standard, but English.
"I love you," I read, pronouncing the foreign words slowly, trying to pronounce them correctly.
"How about the other one?" she said.
"Saransho belava," I said.
"That's 'I love you' in your language, right? It doesn't say your cat has green socks or something?" she joked, repeating my words back to me.
"It is," I said, tears coming to my eyes. I quickly blinked them back but not before she saw them.
"Do you like them? Or should I have gotten you a gift card?"
"I love them," I said. "It's thoughtful."
"So were yours," she said.
"Do you know what I have next on the schedule?"
"I can guess," she said, starting to unbutton her blouse.
"You read my mind."
"Maybe I had a vision," she said, capturing my lips and kissing me.
We had been together for one year, but I knew — even without a vision — it was only the beginning.
Chapter Nineteen
QUINN
"Come here, sweetie. Daddy's trying to do some work. You and I didn't finish the puzzle," I said, scooping up my daughter and swinging her around until she squealed. She loved being with Airik. Whenever he tried to get some work done at home, Lalla always was stuck to him like glue. She didn't like separation from her father, but she would come with me because she loved puzzles.
"Wait, Quinn," he said, his eyes still on his screen. "I just got the results of the intervention you foresaw. The one you didn't tell me about because it happened before I knew you were a Precog. The little girl got hit by a car, remember?"
I looked at the ground silently. I couldn't stare at him.
"Don't worry. We saved her. The Precogs on the scene are foreseeing a long life for her. She will be an old woman someday."
"Really?" I asked, relief filling my chest. "Thank you so much for telling me, Airik." He winked at me, and I smiled back. I carried Lalla out of Airik's office and felt as light as air.
"One more thing, Quinn." I turned back to him. "Rob and Deerva have invited us over for dinner next week."
"Sounds great." After their adventure together, Rob and Deerva started dating almost immediately. They recently moved in together. No one was happier for them than I was. Especially since it meant that Rob wasn't interested in me anymore.
Airik and I had been together for three years. Lalla was fifteen months old. I thought we conceived her on our first anniversary, but I didn't have any proof.
Everyone else had been shocked that we quickly got pregnant, but it didn't surprise me. They thought it was because I was human. I knew we would have a big family like Airik's. I never had any family except my father. It pleased me more than anyone knew to have many people around who loved us and loved my daughter.
It made me happy to see her with all her cousins, aunts, and uncles. Her Nana and Papa were over almost every day. Their place was like her second home. She loved them all.
I carried her sturdy little form into the living room, giving her a kiss or two before I set her down in front of our puzzle. She didn't need my help, but she liked it when I watched. After she was asleep and I was in my pajamas, reading in bed, Airik came into our bedroom.
"Is Lalla asleep?" he asked, giving me a kiss.
I nodded.
He pulled his T-shirt off, giving me a view of his well-muscled chest. I lifted my eyebrows at him. He gave me a sexy smile that I loved. Then he took off his pants and crawled into the bed wearing only his boxers.
I tingled when I saw the look in his eye.
"Do you remember what it was like before our mission, Quinn? Before I knew I loved you?"
"Yes," I said, dropping my eyes at the memories of the sadness.
"You know what?"
"What?" I asked, playing along.
"I don't. I feel like there's never been a time when I didn't love you. I can't imagine being with anyone else. I'm glad you're the mother of my daughter and future children."
I smiled and put my hand on his cheek. "Future children? That sounds optimistic. Isn't the birth rate on Koccoran something like 1.4 children per couple?"
"I don't know how people manage to have a half a kid, but I'm glad we have one whole little munchkin."
"She's enough of a handful as she is, never mind an extra 0.4. I can't imagine having as many kids as your parents. How did they manage that on this planet?"
"They're an anomaly."
"Maybe it's in the genes," I said, raising my eyebrows.
>
"It's definitely in the genes. I think a brother or sister for Lalla wouldn't be a bad thing."
"Of course not," I said. "It's just improbable."
"Lalla herself was improbable. I don't believe in limiting ourselves."
"What are you suggesting, Airik?"
"We should get started on a sibling for our little darling."
"I want at least two years between them." His eyes lit up at my acquiescence.
"We should start practicing." He took the computer from my hands and set it on the bedside table.
"I love you," he whispered into my ear. His English made me smile and shiver simultaneously. He trailed his fingers down my shoulder until he came to the thin spaghetti strap of my blue silk tank top. He drew it down slowly. Baring my shoulder, he kissed it, then did the same on the other side.
I slid down until I lay on my back. He sucked on my nipple through the fabric, driving me crazy. The sensations of his mouth through the silky material aroused me, and I moaned.
"Babe, you are smoking hot," he said, pulling the shirt off me to reveal my breasts. His hands covered them and massaged them, making me writhe under his touch.
"Airik," I whispered.
He knew what I needed, and his hands slid into my shorts, pulling them off along with the panties I wore underneath. He disposed of his boxers as well, lying beside me and sliding his hand down my inner thigh. As his hand brushed my sex, I gasped. He reached to cup me, letting one finger slowly open my folds.
I was already wet for him, and he rubbed me, focusing on my hard nub.
"Please," I said desperately.
He rolled onto his back. He knew I liked to straddle him. There were no artificial barriers between us, of course, since it was against the law to have protected sex on Koccoran. All babies were desired, even if the parents didn't want to raise them.
I lifted myself and carefully positioned my opening, letting myself down an inch at a time onto him until we joined. My breath was coming in short bursts. He reached up and twisted my nipples, making me even more aroused.
"I love how you look when you're sitting on me, Quinn. You're a sex goddess," he said, his eyes cloudy with lust.
I didn't answer him. I lifted myself up and took him deep inside me again. Oh, fuck that felt good. I rode him slowly until I couldn't stand it anymore.
"Now?" he asked, and I nodded. I was so close to orgasm that I couldn't speak. He rolled us over, being careful to keep us coupled together. He pinned me under his hard, hot body and began driving into me wildly, the way I liked it at the end.
The pleasure built until I couldn't stand it any longer. When he dipped his head to take one of my breasts into his mouth, I cried out and came. He put his hand over my mouth to stifle any more sounds. He was always paranoid we would wake Lalla. My hips moved against him as he continued to pound into me, looking for his release.
After another minute, I felt him stiffen and fill me with his seed. His orgasm sent me off into another round of aftershocks until I finally lay in a state of bliss. He kissed my chest, lifting his dead weight off of me. Then he gave one of my nipples a suck, making me spasm again. I moaned, and he smiled, lying down and pressing his body against mine.
"I love you," I whispered to him in English.
"I love you, too," he said in his language.
A vision rocked the both of us, showing our fiftieth anniversary, surrounded by children and grandchildren. We saw ourselves kissing like we were still young.
I looked at him for confirmation that he had seen it as well.
"I counted five, at least," he said, kissing my forehead.
"At least five what?"
"Kids," he said proudly.
"Well," I said. "I'll give you an hour's rest, but then we'll have to practice some more. Five children will be hard work."
"An hour," he snorted. "I'm not an old man yet."
"Oh, really?" I said, grinning. "Why don't you show me?"
And he did.
Auctioned to the Alpha
A TerraMates Novel
Chapter One
"Hybrids, galaxy passport holders, and gentlemen of all species. Welcome to the Intergalactic Femme Matrona Exchange!"
As Thiago Arris swirled a golden liquid in his goblet, his ears perked up at the sound of the nasal voice behind him. He craned his neck towards the makeshift stage centered in the underground tavern. A single shaft of blue light illuminated the Mercurian standing at the podium.
The speaker was too small for the platform; his three-foot frame stood on a tower of stone slabs. The diminutive creature's row of beady, red eyes blinked sluggishly in turns. He had the bored expression of someone who spent innumerable hours working at a dead-end job. With his stumpy, trumpet-like ears twitching, his spindly fingers pressed down on the button of his choker, amplifying his voice across the seedy space.
"Please lower your ocular appendages to your screens and ensure your have preloaded your account with the 10,000 credit starting fee. The bidding will proceed in precisely five minutes."
The room of bidders had crowded into booths and segregated by choice into clusters of single species. Thiago's nose wrinkled in disgust. He counted about three dozen sleazy lowlifes assembled on the floor. They had traveled to this sleazy event from all corners of the Cassiopeia Galaxy. Most of the clients had a similar profile - wealthy older alien males looking for a good time.
Grunts of approval rumbled around the room. A few men fidgeted with the translation devices strapped around their ears. They were obvious first-timers, here to pop their bidding cherry. The ones that sat slumped in their seats with hands hovering over their screens, gazes narrowed and minds ready to bid....those were the clear veterans.
In the front of the room, Thiago recognized Admiral Izra. The Noxx were one of the most feared species in the galaxy. Izra was a high-ranking official with an incurable gambling addiction and a penchant for squandering his dirty money at intergalactic brothels. Though several other intimidating parties surrounded the mighty creature, including a table of twelve-foot grumpy Gigan businesspeople with their heads awkwardly tilted against the ceiling, he stood out like a hungover soldier reporting for duty.
With his pierced snout, a gnarled crown of feathers surrounding his head, and slippery, ghost-white scales covering his entire body, he was an impossible sight to overlook. Coupled with the retractable webbed wings of the Noxx, Izra looked like an evolutionary mistake.
"Please refrain from resting your tentacles against the cushions. Bodily slime is a nasty stain difficult to remove!" the auctioneer yelled, glaring at a group of Thesbians in the back row. Turning to the curtains behind him, he called out to an unseen subordinate. "Maliah. Bring out the items from Batch 799!"
A stout Mercurian hobbled out from behind the curtains, dragging a line of nude women shackled together in heavy iron chains. In single file, they stumbled onto the stage behind him, sickly and shivering. Thiago winced, finding it almost unbearable to look at them. But he kept his face a stoic slate.
He didn't flinch as bidders erupted in chaotic slurs around him, catcalling and propositioning the women in their native languages. Deep scrapes and infected gashes adorned their joints and limbs from nonstop hard labor. The women appeared resigned to their fates, blinking at the boisterous crowd with glazed, unfocused eyes.
"First, we have number 28749," the auctioneer announced, slamming his fist down and pushing a button on the control pad of the podium.
The woman on the far left yelped in pain. She jumped when the collar around her neck started to emit sparks. Her scraggly, dishwater-blonde hair shielded her face as she rubbed helplessly at her throat. The woman didn't look up; her deadened eyes stared at the ground. Metallic sounds echoed around the room as creatures pounded on their screens. The prices were accelerating at an alarming rate.
"43,000 credits is currently the highest bid," the auctioneer declared rapidly, retrieving a set of spectacles that accommodated all his eyes. "44,000 –
going once, going twice...sold to the gentleman in Booth 14."
The bidders in Booth 14 broke out in celebratory whoops; the rest of the crowd moaned in disgust. A pair of Noxx guards ushered the blonde woman down the steps towards her new husband, a southern Vishyan flaunting flashy jewelry and thick patches of chest hair. The gravity of her situation finally registered in her mind. She shook with fear. With a wobbling bottom lip, she sandwiched herself between the blue-fleshed, four-armed creatures.
One by one, the women onstage were swiftly auctioned off. When every woman in the first group had a buyer, the auctioneer introduced the Special Collection. The only thing special about the collection was the price. The opening bid was a hefty 750,000 credits. A large screen descended from behind him, stopping short of the floor. A projector opposite the room noisily crackled as it turned on and displayed the profiles of the new imports.
Files were transferred containing physical descriptions and photographs of Earth women from different countries. The Company treated the Special Collection women differently. Their pictures showed carefully arranged hairstyles and beautiful faces painted with make-up. They appeared cheerful, blissfully unaware of their impending fates.
Thiago swigged down the rest of his lunar brandy and slid his empty goblet back to the bartender, paying for his drink. He made it halfway toward the back exit when he caught sight of one of the women on someone else's computer. He stopped abruptly, clutching a throbbing mark on his forehead.
He had to have her.
He turned back toward the bidding pit. He paused, studying the woman shown on the screen. She had untamed, coppery-red hair and vivid green eyes. Her pouting lips were slightly parted. Thiago cracked his knuckles and pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, concealing his features in the shadows. Grumbling under his breath, he moved undetected into an empty booth in the back row.
Izra would be the only competition for his mate. The creature bared a set of gritted, jagged teeth as he tapped on his screen intently. Logging in, Thiago pressed the bid button on his screen. He watched with a satisfied smirk as Izra's wings flapped out in rage, knocking his goons onto the floor on either side of him. Izra whirled around, snarling furiously with a maddened look in his eyes as he tried to figure out who was bidding against him. Thiago used Izra's distraction to his advantage, finalizing the bid on the girl.
