by Sue Lyndon
As we leave the stall, Kenan says, “He’s going to make you a new wardrobe. I sent a servant to town early this morning to fetch this ready-made dress for you, but you need a sizeable wardrobe with perfectly fitted dresses, and you shall have it. You are, after all, a princess.”
I nod, but I don’t feel like a princess, and my heart goes out to the naked women on the street whose mates, for whatever reason, aren’t allowing them to wear clothing. It’s probably best my voice is gone, because I long to express my outrage for the other females.
We travel through a crowded square, and Kenan pulls the leash so close to him, I’m almost walking beside him. I avert my eyes from the other females.
Will Kenan ever parade me naked through town? Or flog me until my back bleeds?
When we make it through the horde, the dock comes into sight. It’s crowded, too, but not as busy as inside the town. My hair sticks to my neck under the heat of the sun. Tallia is as sultry as Florida in August, though, back home, I typically kept my hair in a ponytail.
Back home. I’ll never see home again. My throat tightens.
We board a boat not much larger than a two-person canoe, and Kenan releases my leash after I sit down. He sits across from me and presses buttons on a panel next to his seat. As the boat drifts off, I dip my hand into the cool water and give an inward sigh of relief. Wherever we’re headed, I’m grateful for the breeze and to have finally escaped the crowded town.
Mourning the loss of my voice, I gaze at him as the boat travels by a larger vessel whose occupants are pulling a net bulging with crab-like creatures from the water. Will I really be unable to speak for days? Before I try to test my voice again, Kenan breaks the silence.
“Despite what you saw in town, Kleaxian males do indeed treasure their mates.”
Like hell they do. I shake my head in a show of disagreement.
“Only a handful of the females you saw had been beaten recently, and, yes, those who were took a hard beating. When one of our mates errs or disobeys in some way, the honorable thing to do is punish the female. To leave her unpunished, would mean the male cares nothing for her behavior. The recently punished females you saw today were not unhappy in the least. Most of them chose not to wear clothing in town because it’s honorable to publicly admit their mistakes to make atonement for their transgressions. I doubt any of the males forced them to walk about without their clothes. Rather, it’s the female’s choice.”
I feel sick. How can this be the world and the culture I’m now part of? I glance away from Kenan and focus on the water rippling by the boat. A group of tiny fish flits across the surface and tickles my hand still dangling in the water. I gasp and cradle my hand in my lap, ever aware while tiny fish on Earth aren’t usually dangerous, that might not be the case on Tallia.
Kenan scoots closer and reaches for my hand. He stokes the water droplets off my palm and smiles at me. When he’s smiling, he looks ten years younger than…however old he is.
“Relax. Those are called novostos, and they are completely harmless.”
Compared to mine, his hand is huge and so very red. Sweat trickles down my temples, and for a moment, I fear I might burn out in the middle of the lake where I’m unprotected from the sun’s rays, but then I recall the ozone of Tallia is thick. The brochures said most people never got a tan, let alone suffered a burn, even if they spent day after day in the sun.
The breeze picks up and I inhale the salty air that holds a hint of seaweed and a fresh, fragrant aroma reminiscent of tulips. Most of the lakes on Tallia are salt lakes and contain as great a variety of life as an Earth ocean.
Had my life gone according to plan, three years from now I would be helping to catalog hundreds, if not thousands, of new species. While I hadn’t been terribly excited by the prospect of such tedious work, I had looked forward to making Tallia my home. Now I must rely on tidbits of information from Kenan regarding the plant and animal life of this world.
He guides the boat toward the shore on the other side of the lake, still keeping my hand in his. He rubs soft circles on my palm, eliciting little shivers from me despite the blazing heat and humidity.
If he hadn’t stolen my voice, I would ask what the large blue birds soaring overhead are called. I might also ask more about his station as a prince on this mountain. Compared to the last remaining royal families on Earth, he seems quite hands-on and approachable to his people. Rather than call a dressmaker to his home, he visited the market himself, and he strides through the town without any kind of entourage.
The shore grows closer and I squint as a new dock comes into sight. Smaller than the first one, it also isn’t as crowded. Only about a dozen Kleaxian males are walking to and fro, hauling large nets of fish and other lake creatures over their shoulders, off the waiting boats. I shoot Kenan a surprised look when we pass the dock.
“We’re having lunch at a lakefront restaurant owned by my friend, Marsalit,” he explains.
An excited flutter stirs in my stomach when he squeezes my hand before releasing it to carefully guide our boat to a tiny dock in front of the restaurant. A young Kleaxian boy runs up to secure our boat to a post, and Kenan rises with the end of my leash in his hand. Kindness gleams in his eyes and he gives the length a playful tug.
“The sooner you accept Kleaxian ways, Laylah, the happier you will be.”
I want to believe him, but I also don’t want to surrender to a way of life I find fundamentally wrong.
He helps me onto the dock and then steps in front of me, once again guiding me by the leash. After all I’ve seen in the town, I’m not as sullen and outraged as I was several hours ago, when he’d first pulled the leash from his pocket. At least I don’t have to wear it at home, and though I’ve only been with Kenan for two days, it appears I’m allowed to have the run of the house.
“Come, my mate, and I’ll take you to my usual table.”
Chapter Nine
By the time we return to Kenan’s house, night has fallen.
Stars sparkle across the velvet black sky, the two orange moons making a grand appearance on the horizon before rising overhead. The forest buzzes with the activity of nocturnal animals and insects, but I feel completely safe at Kenan’s side. Given his size and strength, I have no doubt he could defeat any predatory creature who calls this planet home, and I don’t even flinch when an occasional growl rumbles out from the trees.
He’ll protect me from every danger except himself.
As we cross the patio, I reflect on our day. After lunch in the lakeside restaurant, he’d taken me on a long tour of the waters of Carmuit. There were several large islands, all thick with vegetation but with inviting beaches. Several times, Kenan paused to speak with the occupants of passing boats, even introducing me to some of his warriors who were apparently patrolling the lake. He patiently translated the words of his men, not making me feel stupid in the least for not understanding his tongue. To my astonishment, the soldiers had smiled at me and welcomed me to Tallia. None of them seemed surprised when I didn’t give an audible reply and simply nodded in response to their salutations.
Had I been a human male, they would have slaughtered me on the spot. But I’m a female, and lucky me, instead of being taken as a slave—as Kenan mentioned some of the females would be used for—I’ve been taken as a mate. I don’t ask why some human females will be taken as slaves rather than mates, but I suspect those who are past the point of bearing children will be forced to serve the Kleaxians in other ways.
This thought saddens me, but the battle is over and the humans have lost. There’s nothing to be done now, but hope and pray and try to obey our new masters.
Kenan removes the leash before we enter his house, and I rub my neck, grateful to be free of the slight weight reminding me of his ownership. He tucks the leash in his pocket and guides me into a sitting room, where he gestures for me to sit on a large, plush velvet couch.
“Dinner will be served shortly,” he declares, standing over me. “Y
ou will wait here until I return for you. Do you like music?”
His question catches me by surprise.
“Music,” he repeats when I take too long to respond. “Do you enjoy listening to music?”
Since I can’t yet speak, I nod, then think of the latest albums I’d downloaded on my phone on Earth and wonder what kind of music a Kleaxian enjoys. I haven’t the faintest idea.
He strides to a table against the far wall and touches a small clear box that glows to life. From my spot on the couch, I think I glimpse symbols on the box, or perhaps it’s his language. After tapping the object a dozen times, a soothing melody fills the room, the acoustics surrounding me, though I don’t see speakers anywhere in the walls.
It’s a mournful song with string instruments, and in the background a female voice sings in the Kleaxian tongue. Though I can’t discern a single word, I know she’s sad. She’s lost something.
I’ve lost something. Well, not just something.
Everything.
Kenan moves to the doorway, pausing for a moment with his mouth open, as if he’s about to speak. But he quickly clamps his lips together and departs the room without another word. I wonder what he’d been about to say.
By the time the song ends, I’m almost in tears. The woman’s voice is so intensely heartbroken, and the accompanying tune of the strings so alluringly sorrowful, that I imagine she must have lost every last person she loved. I imagine she dwells in a darkness from which there is no escape, a darkness no light can penetrate. A place where all hope is dead.
More songs play, though none of them affect me as much as the first one. I stare at the sconces lining the walls, needing the illumination to ground me in reality. If I close my eyes, I think I’ll forget where I am, the music has carried me so far away from myself.
I think of the trendy albums on my phone, most of it rock or dance club music. None of those songs have ever carried me away like these Kleaxian compositions.
To think a race of aliens as barbaric as Kleaxians are capable of producing such wondrous music gives me a glimmer of hope. They aren’t human. But they feel. They breathe. They bond. They love.
Oh my God.
Is that why Kenan is playing this music? To help me understand the intense mating bond he supposedly feels for me? I wish I knew. God, how I wish I knew.
I hug myself, overwhelmed by the possibility.
He returns to the sitting room, and the fierce possessive look he settles upon me makes my knees go weak. If I wasn’t already sitting down, I would collapse to the floor. He moves his hand over the clear box and the music ceases.
The abrupt silence is deafening.
“It’s time for dinner. Come.” He holds his hand out, waiting for me to rise up and accept it. The air between us crackles with tension.
After a deep breath, I stand on weak legs and reach for him. The moment our hands touch, his eyes flame with an urgency that makes my heart flutter.
I’m so preoccupied by the music echoing in my mind and Kenan’s reasons for playing it, that I float through dinner on a cloud. The food served is similar to last night, with a few different dishes.
“Did you enjoy the music?” he asks once the servants have cleared the table. We’re both sipping one last glass of wine, my second and his third.
I swallow hard. If I had use of my voice, I would tell him I’d never heard anything like it and thought it was beautiful, but very, very sad. I finally nod.
“It’s a collection of ancient Kleaxian folk songs.”
I long to understand the woman’s heartbreak, and I’m delighted when he starts to explain the music.
“The first piece was a calling song, a prayer female Kleaxians sing to call their mates home from war, whether they are alive or dead. In this particular calling song, the female suspects her mate has perished in battle, and she prays for his return so she can bury him by the sea they call home.”
Why did he want to share this particular music? His eyes gleam dark purple under the light of the chandelier. The music still echoes in the recesses of my mind, whispering of the depth of emotion of which his race is capable. Whispering that he’s not really a monster.
I pray the whispers aren’t lies, but I want so badly to believe in an ending that’s not tragic. I want to believe he’ll apologize for all the hurt he’s inflicted and vow to find a way to return me to Earth, even if it tears him apart because we’re mated. Maybe he’ll redeem himself completely and I’ll invite him to remain on Earth with me. Maybe…
Stop it, stop it, stop it.
What the fuck is wrong with me? How can I ever entertain the possibility of willingly remaining with Kenan? If I stay at his side, it’ll be as his captive and nothing more.
He rises from the table, so tall and forbidding and exuding raw masculine power, and rounds the table to pull my chair back.
I think he intends to hold my hand, but he instead scoops me up in his arms. His long dark locks tickle my neck. He smells divine, an intoxicating mix of earth, sea, and his natural male scent. I inhale deep breaths against his chest and shudder, as if he’s the drug I’ve been craving and I’m about to get my fix.
The world around us fades as he carries me upstairs. The echo of the sorrowful music lingers in the background, a testament to what could bloom between us if only I were able to accept his culture and his ownership. For now, I don’t want to think about it. The future is the future, and right now he’s about to kiss me, and I’m helpless to form another coherent thought.
He brushes his lips gently across mine as the bedroom door glides shut behind us. It’s sensual yet electric, this first kiss of ours. I don’t fight him when he deepens the kiss, sliding his tongue inside to tangle with mine. He tastes like wine and the little sweetcakes we enjoyed for dessert.
What happens next isn’t rough. It isn’t violent. It’s the opposite of his first claiming in every way. Though his kisses are thorough and leave me breathless, his touches are tender and loving. He’d been in a rush to take me the first time, to seal his legal status as my bonded mate, and what happens next feels like the sweetest apology.
He strokes me to orgasm twice before thrusting his cock into me, and when he does enter my pussy, the lingering soreness from last night coalesces with the heated pulses ravaging my center, making me writhe beneath him. I open my mouth to moan, but of course no sound escapes. My nipples harden to painful peaks, and, as if sensing my discomfort, Kenan suckles each rosy summit for several long moments before pulling back to gaze upon me, his eyes ever intense.
When he stares at me unblinkingly, he looks like a predator sizing up his prey, ready to pounce and devour. Despite this thought, I spread my legs wider while he increases his pace, inviting him to devour me, as pressure coils tighter and tighter in my throbbing wet center.
“Mine,” he says, our lips mere inches apart. “You are mine, Laylah.”
Our bodies shine with perspiration, and the primal sound of fucking, flesh slapping against flesh, fills the cavernous room. I close my eyes, letting the rapture build inside me, my whole body tingling with earthshattering pleasure.
“Come. Fucking come right now, Laylah,” is the last thing I hear before I’m suddenly propelled to the stars.
Chapter Ten
On the morning my voice returns, there’s a visitor on the mountain.
Kenan has already left for town, and I’m seated on the patio when a face appears from the undergrowth of the forest. I gasp and jump to my feet, but soon calm after remembering the force field will keep all danger out. Besides, it’s an elderly woman. Nothing to fear. My heart thuds as she steps from the trees and closer to the patio.
An elderly human woman, to be exact.
“Don’t come any closer,” I say. “There’s a force field. It won’t hurt you, but it will keep you out, and I can’t be certain, but it may alert my mate to your presence.”
The wrinkles in her face deepen as she smiles. Her blue eyes twinkle with kindness and a bit of
mischief. I instantly like her.
“I’m Joanna,” she says, gazing around cautiously.
“I’m Laylah. It’s nice to meet you, Joanna. Don’t worry, my mate has gone to town. I’m not expecting him back until dinnertime.” Thank God my voice returned this morning. If it hadn’t, I would have missed my only opportunity thus far to converse with another full-blooded human. I worry Kenan wouldn’t approve of me speaking with a random old woman who emerged from the forest, but I’m not about to send her away.
I notice a short pale alien a few steps behind her, a Ghessan like Heggal, almost hidden entirely in the greenery of the forest, and she turns briefly to look at him before returning her eyes to me. “Oh, that’s just my chivalrous protector, Getta. Apparently, there are bears and large cats on the mountain to worry about, though I’ve yet to see any, so he accompanies me into the forest to keep away the beasties. Master’s orders,” she says with sarcasm.
A faded bruise is visible on her left cheek. When she notices me looking at it, she shrugs and chuckles. “You should see the other guy.”
I return her smile, though I suspect she’s lying. Someone beat her. Her master, perhaps. Given her age, I doubt she’s been claimed as a mate. If I had to guess, I would say she’s in her late sixties. Around the same age as my grandmother when she died in the car accident.
“I wish I could invite you inside for a drink, but I can’t deactivate the barrier. I can’t, um, walk through it myself either.”
“Your mate must be very protective.” Her tone is inquisitive, and there’s a calm aura about her that I’m drawn to. Maybe it’s only her age and her pretty blue eyes, but she reminds me very much of my grandmother.
“Well, yes.” I pause and study her further. Her hair is done up in a tight bun, with white wisps escaping the sides. Smudges of dirt cover her arms, and her dress is tattered, barely wearable. “Are you all right? Are you running away from something?”
My stomach flips. She’s mentioned something about master’s orders, but what if she doesn’t have permission to be here right now? Also, even though she’s accompanied by a Ghessian, I must make certain she’s not a runaway slave, and if she is, I can’t let Kenan find out. I glance at the stone path that winds through the forest, just to ensure he’s not on his return home early. The path is empty, but unfortunately I don’t have an extended view of it, because it twists through the trees.
