by Zara Zenia
I had a perfectly beautiful woman who was smart and sexy and funny sleeping in my bed at that very moment. Why couldn’t I just continue to get to know her and make love to her and see where the ebbing and flowing tide drifted us?
In a hasty huff, I plucked the key from the safety box on the side of the wall and turned it inside the lock until the drawer housing the scanner popped open. I sighed with relief when I noticed that it was still right where I had left it before, untouched and untampered with.
I spun around, hearing a crackling sound as if someone was shuffling around outside in the hallway.
“Who is there?” I called out in a demanding roar. My ears prickled and my senses heightened as I awaited a response.
No one answered. Grumbling with frustration, I spun back around and glared down at the genetic scanner. It was ruining my life, and I had yet to even turn it on or use it on anyone, let alone Rose.
I yanked it from the bottom of the empty drawer and spun back around, noticing the noise sounded closer than it did before.
“Who is there?” I exclaimed again. “Reveal yourself.”
My eyes trailed to the floor where a flash of purple whirled past me. In an instant, Slith was sitting in my office chair. His tongue was sticking out and he stared up at me with huge expectant eyes.
“Oh.” I placed my palm to my chest to pacify my racing heart. “It’s only you, Slith.”
I walked over to pet him as he sat up in the chair. His eyes closed as soon as I began to stroke his leathery skin that was as smooth and resilient as a snake’s. Slith loved it when I rubbed his head. It relaxed him.
“Tell me something, Slith,” I began as if I expected him to give any real verbal answer. I paused. “What do you think of Rose?”
Slith’s eyes remained closed. Either he didn’t hear me or wasn’t in a particular mood to appease me by providing an opinion.
“Dr. Rose Rand?” I declared again as more of a question than anything else. I didn’t know whether I was trying to get some kind of reaction out of Slith or I just loved the sound of her name rolling off my tongue.
Slith opened his eyes and they began to glow a radiant purple color, something I hadn’t seen before. I began to get excited. “Dr. Rose Rand?” I asked again. “Do you like her, Slith?”
His eyes illuminated through the room, creating a canvas of lavender that made me feel peaceful as if I were walking through a valley of lilac flowers. I imagined being in a field with Rose, naked and full of hope and a heart full of love.
“You like her, don’t you?” My lips curled into a euphoric grin. I gave him one last pat, grabbed the scanner, and jogged back up the stairs two at a time, using bountiful strides to reach my private quarters even faster.
As soon as I reached the door to my bedroom, I paused. I didn’t know where the hesitation was coming from, but my bravery was fleeing as fast as my heart was beating rampantly in my chest.
Was I prepared to turn on the scanner and use it on Rose? I highly doubted it, but another part of me, a deeper yearning, just longed to get it over with. It would be like ripping off a bandage, I tried to convince myself. Soon, it would be over.
I could know and be done with it. I could either feel the rush of exceeding happiness and euphoria, or I could crash and burn with the results if she wasn’t a match. Either way, I needed to get on with my life. I was so distracted with unnecessary worry over the results that I didn’t know how to process anything or focus on living my life in the moment.
I pushed the door open and wandered over to the bed. Rose was lying on her back, fully naked and exposed to me. Her perky breasts were round and bouncy-looking. I wanted to squeeze them, to suckle on her tender pink nipples.
I held the scanner in a death grip, white-knuckling the On button. My thumb hovered over the edge, too afraid to press down for fear of what results might come with it. I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t want to live in a world where I couldn’t bond with Rose or make love to her or pursue her on a romantic level.
My mind became flooded with dread and fear of the unknown. If the scanner didn’t light up, it would mean the end of my relationship with Rose, and I wasn’t ready for that yet. I wanted her to be the woman I made gorgeous babies with. If I had to live in an oblivious state of mind for the time being, then so be it.
She must have been able to subconsciously be aware of my staring down at her, because she began to stir, making sexy movements and stretches in the bed. Then, her eyes peeled open and she gave me a tantalizing, ethereal stare. Her brow stretched and furrowed in confusion.
“Darbnix?” she asked. “What are you doing up?” She glanced at the bedside clock. “It’s late. Come back into bed with me.” Her voice was seductive and making me throb again.
I had been holding the scanner behind my back ever since she opened her eyes. I didn’t want her to see how close I had come to actually turning it on and using it on her. It was an insane amount of pressure to put us both under, and right now, I just wanted to make love to her again. I yearned to feel her warm skin sliding across mine in a sweaty, blurry mess of sexual bliss.
“I’m right here,” I reassured her, subtly moving the scanner to the end of the bed where I neatly tucked it underneath and out of sight. It couldn’t hurt us in this moment. I climbed on top of her as I began kissing her creamy, smooth skin.
Chill bumps appeared on her skin, sending her on a euphoric ride already. I was pulsing with desire as I removed my pants, listening to her quiet moans become more intense by the second. Every time I touched her in a new way, she sighed with approval and pleasure. She arched her back as I rubbed her inner thighs.
I craved to be inside her. I used my index finger to slide inside her, to feel the surge of wetness as it took over her body and formed a puddle on the sheets between her legs.
She was pulsing. It was time. I gripped my hardened erection and pushed the tip of myself inside her. She gasped at my girth. I was thick, filling every part of her.
She grabbed my shoulders and dug her nails into my back, clawing at me in ecstasy. “More,” she begged. “Please,” she purred into my ears, sending me on a wild ride.
Being inside her was like putting myself into an electrical socket, only the outcome was that of erotic passion.
I grunted, filling her as I pumped harder and faster, our bodies rocking in unison under the moonlight. She was intensely sexy, erotically charged. She took my breath away. She moaned into my ear with mischief twinkling in her eyes. Her stare was intoxicating. Her lips curled into a breathtaking, awe-inspiring grin.
She buried her heels into my back again as I held her hips in place. After a few short minutes, she began to breathe heavier than normal, panting hard as her cheeks flushed in the height of sexual passion. She was positively glowing, radiant beneath me.
Her body began to shake, and then in an instant, she went limp in my arms, succumbing to her passion as her orgasm sent her into oblivion. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she sighed with contentment.
I wasn’t far behind her. My body began to shake too, the warm and creamy sensation burrowing within my body and threatening to explode inside her. Euphoria rocked through my core and I groaned as I spilled my seed inside her, warm and sticky.
I collapsed beside her, panting hard as we interlocked our fingers. I never wanted to let her go. I moved closer to her as we lay beside one another in silence, staring up at the ceiling. The only sound in the room now was that of our breathing as we came down from the ecstasy of the moment. It was official. I was addicted to her and I didn’t know how I could ever function or survive without her by my side forever.
Chapter 10
Rose
“I don’t want to do it.” Darbnix’s eyes were weary and full of sadness.
“Do you have no choice in the matter?” I rubbed his back as we lay in bed together, furrowing my brow as I scrutinized his conflicted features.
“My brother says the show must go on,” he grumbled, sighing a
s he rubbed his temples.
“I’m sorry. I wish there were something I could do,” I whispered gently into his ear.
The truth of the matter was, I hated the situation as much, if not more than, Prince Darbnix. I didn’t want him to be put back on the market, presented like a piece of meat to desperate women who would undoubtedly spend their night fawning over him and trying to impress him.
Though Prince Gardax is the eldest brother in the Trilyn clan, Darbnix knew that his obligations and responsibilities would chase him until they eventually caught up to him. They were to hold another public gathering tonight, complete with lavish spreads of decadent foods and people in beautiful expensive outfits as fancy as money could buy.
I was uncomfortable with the pretentious lifestyle, but in my eyes, even though Darbnix was a prince, he didn’t fit the description of being huffy and demanding or behaving entitled in any way.
He made me feel wanted, important. He gave me a sense of purpose, and he treated me with kindness, dignity, and respect. He nurtured me, both emotionally and physically, and I privately swooned under his handsome stare. I watched in awe as he moved across the bed, his bulging muscles presenting a spectacular view, a feast for my eyes.
“Just try not to worry about it.” My words were weak and hollow. I was becoming rattled by the idea of watching other, prettier women flirt with Darbnix right in front of me.
“I want you there.” He turned to face me. His expression was stoic, solemn.
“At the party?” My heart raced. Was I going to be able to handle that kind of pressure? Would I just fall apart if I watched his scanner light up in the face of a girl other than myself?
“Yes.” He nodded as a flash of kindness flickered in his eyes.
“Oh . . .” I trailed off, uncertain of how I should tread the waters of this conversation. “I guess I could—”
“Please, Rose.” His expression faded into a plea that I couldn’t resist.
“I’ll be there.” I took a deep breath and did my best to enhance my smile to convince him I was onboard even if it was only halfway.
“Thank you.” He embraced me, circling his enormous arms around my body. “I will make sure to have my staff provide you with the most elaborate and gorgeous dress that money can buy,” he jabbered excitedly.
“Oh, no, that’s not necessary—”
“I insist.” He smiled, beaming at me as if he already considered me his trophy, but in an adoring way, not as if I were his property to own.
If only I could be his one true love . . .
Unfortunately, that was not our decision to make. The scanner held both of our fates under its cold, gray, plastic cover.
“Are you sure I look okay?” I did a half-spin in my elegant black cocktail dress. My movements were laced with self-consciousness.
“Are you kidding me?” Darbnix said enthusiastically. “You look absolutely stunning.”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned in to give me a kiss that made me ripple with desire.
The sound of Gardax’s disapproving throat clearing behind us was a distraction.
Darbnix pulled away and glanced behind his shoulder, giving his eldest brother a perturbed stare. “May we help you?” he hissed.
“We are going to be late,” Gardax insisted, pointing to the watch on his wrist as a reference.
“Fine,” Darbnix snarled aggressively, clearly annoyed. “Come on.” He took my hand and gave me a soft glance of fondness. “Let’s go.”
“You can’t walk into the party with her on your arm!” his youngest brother proclaimed, pointing to us as if we were both crazy.
“He’s right,” Gardax said. “It will confuse the guests.”
“I don’t care what it looks like or whom I puzzle in the process,” Darbnix protested.
“No . . . really.” I was the first to unlatch my hand from his. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” I’m sure my smile was pitiful, but it was the most I could muster for the moment.
Poor Darbnix looked torn, but in the end, he relented and agreed to walk into the horde of waiting people alone, into a shark tank of hungry women ready to devour him at every turn.
Right before he walked out into the spotlight, entering the ballroom, Slith walked up to me on his four purple legs, hissing.
“Is he all right?” I asked, concerned.
Darbnix turned around and eyed his pet companion. “He seems protective at the moment,” he mentioned.
“Let that beast go.” Gardax rolled his eyes. “He’ll be fine without you for an hour.”
“I’ll watch him,” I offered.
Darbnix’s eyes were relieved. “Thank you,” he breathed. “Slith really likes you. He trusts you.”
“Great,” Prince Rawklix, the youngest of the brothers, droned on in a bored voice. “Let’s get this over with. I have ladies to meet and charm with my sizzling personality.” He gave me a wink.
“The only lady you need to be pursuing is the one who lights up under the point of your scanner,” Darbnix quipped back in a lecturing tone.
Rawklix gave him a sneer. “I could say the same thing for you, Brother.”
I blushed and glanced down at my feet. I wasn’t used to the attention or wearing such an elegant dress that flowed like silk down to my feet. My feet were strapped into a pair of six-inch silver heels. I struggled to walk in them. I was feminine, but I’d never considered myself to be the girlie girl type.
As far as Gardax was concerned, he still gave me attention and gazed at me as if he adored me, making me blush even further.
I forced myself to bravely watch as he shuffled through the crowd, mingling with various women. To my relief, it appeared as if he was bored, just robotically going through the motions because he had no choice in the matter.
I noticed as he eventually stood in the center of the room along with his brothers. His facial features were hidden as he scrutinized the device in an attempt to turn it on. I held my breath as the first woman approached him with a deep and respectful bow.
Her eyes were dazzling and flirtatious. She had a self-confidence that I envied. I didn’t even realize that my jaw had been tensed for several minutes until I began to feel the throb and ache.
I unconsciously began to rub my cheeks while my eyes rooted onto the woman, my heart pounding in anticipation. I was sweating as I aggressively stroked Slith’s scaly purple back, unintentionally making him uncomfortable because he slinked away for a few moments. Then he returned and sat in a different position, sitting proudly beside me as if he took the liberty of being my noble sidekick and accepted his role with diligent seriousness.
“It’s okay,” I whispered to him in a soothing voice as if the animal was the one who really needed the consoling. “It’s going to be okay.” It made me feel better to chant the words over and over again to myself.
It would all be over soon. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Perhaps I was overreacting. There was a chance that the match for Darbnix wasn’t even in this room at all. Maybe he’d strike out tonight, and I would have a chance to prolong this relationship for a little while longer, clinging to the desperate hope that I might be his biological soulmate.
Darbnix pointed the scanner at the woman who was waving her hips seductively in his direction, swirling in elaborately sexy twirls and batting her eyes at him as if she wanted to undress him with her stare.
I clenched my jaw again as envy threatened to consume me and swallow me whole, right into the center of the floor. My eyes were rooted to the scanner, which to my relief didn’t light up. It remained blank, empty looking, with no flashing lights or sounds coming from the device in any way.
My shoulders relaxed and I allowed myself to breathe again. I watched Darbnix’s expression change from dull annoyance to relief as he realized the woman was not his match.
I couldn’t hear him, but I noticed as his lips formulated the words, “I’m sorry, you aren’t a match.” He looked smug as I watched a subtle smile curl at the edges
of his lips.
The woman slinked away, a look of bafflement enhancing her features as if she wasn’t expecting that kind of outcome to have happened to her. Darbnix continued to scan several other women, each of whom came up empty, to my smitten joy.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Slith as I stood up to walk into the party. He blinked up at me with a curious gaze but otherwise didn’t move away, remaining in the same position as if he was perfectly happy with observing the crowd from a safe distance.
“You are probably smarter than I am,” I mumbled to the watch-lizard as I wandered away.
I wasn’t hungry but decided to mingle through the crowd in order to busy myself with something. At the very least, I could place some food on a plate and pretend to be eating. I drifted over to the food tables.
In a last-ditch effort to save my sanity and calm my rattling nerves, I plucked a martini glass filled to the brim with some kind of aquatic-colored beverage inside. I didn’t care what kind of drink it was, as long as it contained alcohol that would pacify my screaming mind.
“Having fun yet?” Darbnix walked up behind me and cupped his hand gracefully over my shoulder.
I startled for a moment, yelping as I spun around to give him a saucy grin. “That is not funny.” I smirked playfully.
“What are you talking about?” Darbnix gave me an expression of mock-innocence.
“You scared me silly.” I giggled and placed my palm on his chest.
There was a moment where an electric current surged through my hand at the touch of his rock-hard chest on my skin. We gazed at each other with passionate longing. I wished I could form the words to tell him to point the scanner at me instead of the other women, but I knew neither one of us would be courageous enough to get the job done.
“You are the only radiant light in this room,” he finally whispered softly into my ear for only me to hear. The private moment between us made my heart pound.
