She entered their bedroom and traipsed to the closet, wondering if perhaps once she had all the clothes put away, Tarrz would come upstairs to seek her out. His desires were already deeply attuned to hers, and sometimes, only moments after she physically felt the quickening of her own arousal, he would give her a dark primal look, as if knowing exactly what she’d been thinking that had brought on the abrupt slickness between her legs.
She finished hanging her new dresses in the closet, then headed for a dresser against the far wall of the room, to place all her new undergarments—sheer, soft pieces of fabric, really—into the top drawer. The sound of a floorboard creaking behind her brought a smile to her lips, and she took a deep breath before turning around to face Tarrz and give him her most seductive look.
Except it wasn’t Tarrz.
There was a stranger, a huge Tar-quan she’d never seen before, blocking the doorway of the bedroom. She felt her eyes go wide, just as her throat dried up and her heart commenced pounding an erratic rhythm in her chest. She backed up against the dresser and gulped hard as the strange alien stepped inside the room, striding toward her with a predatory grace that made her shudder.
“Who-who are you?” she demanded, forcing a boldness into her tone that she didn’t quite feel. Inside, she was shaking and scared. She thought about yelling for Tarrz, but a lot could happen in the few seconds it would take him to bound upstairs. The stranger didn’t look happy, and she didn’t wish to anger him further.
“I am Hethron. Your mate’s family owes mine a blood debt,” replied the Tar-quan, looking her up and down with a lewd expression, “however, I think I’m inclined to keep you alive. At least for a little while.”
Horror clutched her heart and she opened her mouth to scream, but he lunged forward and clamped his hand over her mouth. She pushed at him and fought with all her might, but it was no use. He easily subdued her, moving behind her and holding her tight against his chest, while keeping her mouth covered. She felt dizzy after her exertions and the lack of air—she could scarcely inhale through her nose, as his hand was partially blocking her nostrils as well.
Panic swirled and her vision darkened, as she blinked hard and fought to remain conscious. She wasn’t sure if she was on the verge of fainting from pure terror, or if it was only the lack of oxygen leaving her weak. Thankfully, he shifted his hand a bit and she was able to get a few much needed breaths of air. She glanced at the doorway, praying for a sign of Tarrz. She could hardly think or hear over the pounding of her heart in her ears.
Then two things happened in quick succession.
Tarrz appeared in the doorway.
And the cool sharpness of a knife pressed against her throat.
Lana’s stomach dropped and she ceased all movement. Her captor uncovered her mouth and chuckled, while she gasped for breath. Tarrz growled, a deadly sound, and his muscles tensed as he directed a dark, menacing glare at Hethron.
“Nice of you to join us, Tarrz. As you can see, I’ve come to collect the blood debt your family owes mine.”
“My family owes yours nothing, Hethron. Now let my mate go, or it will mean your death.”
The blade pressed harder to her throat.
Oh, God. No, no, no. Her heart pounded. Had she arrived on this planet, only to meet her demise not long after? Tears burned in her eyes and her throat became clogged with emotion.
She looked desperately at Tarrz, wishing he would meet her gaze, but he kept his stare steady on Hethron. Look at me, she thought. Look at me, so if I die, your dark handsome gaze will be the last thing I see. It was ridiculous to wonder if Tarrz would miss her when she was gone in this moment, but such thoughts entered her mind unbidden.
She’d once heard when a person was about to die, their life would flash before their eyes. But instead of her life flashing before her eyes, all the things she would never have flashed before hers. Watching yet another sunrise in Tarrz’s arms. Both of them smiling down at their first baby. In a few years, the laughter of children as they ran around the house.
Yet none of these events would come to pass. Not if she died. Not if Hethron used her to exact some kind of vengeance against her mate. Vaguely, she wondered about the so-called ‘blood debt.’
Had Tarrz harmed one of Hethron’s family members? She studied her mate, and it wasn’t hard to imagine him killing another male. He certainly had the strength, but she didn’t think he would murder anyone in cold blood. Whoever had died that Hethron cared about enough to avenge, Lana supposed the perished male had invoked the wrath of her mate, perhaps trying to kill him first.
She held her breath, praying for a miracle. Tarrz was strong and larger than Hethron, but would he be able to reach her in time, before the knife was drawn across her throat?
* * *
Tarrz seethed with fury.
How dare this male touch his mate? He owed Hethron nothing, least of all a blood debt. Worry for Lana echoed in his heart, but he pushed the vulnerable emotion away and focused on his wrath for Hethron. The Tar-quan would pay dearly for threatening the life of his mate, as well as scaring her. Fear glimmered in her tearful gaze, her hands shook at her sides, and her lips were trembling. The sight of her visible fear strengthened his building rage.
He concentrated on the hand that held the weapon, as his peripheral vision blurred and swirled with bright colors. Pressure built behind his eyes, interspersed with sharper pains, but he didn’t dare blink or glance away from the blade.
“What are you doing?” Hethron’s tone wavered. His fingers began to uncurl around the knife.
Tarrz increased his mental energies on the weapon, willing it toward him and away from Lana, and far from Hethron’s reach. Sweat trickled down his temples. He walked further into the room, careful not to break his concentration as he approached Hethron and Lana.
“What are...” Hethron’s voice trailed off as he watched the knife float out of his hand, his grip on the weapon now entirely loosened. “You-you’re an aberrant!” he eventually said in shocked disbelief. “I thought they were all dead.”
“Not all of us.”
Once the knife was close enough, Tarrz reached out and plucked it out of the air. Hethron’s arms began to open up, again under the force of Tarrz’s focus, and Lana soon fled out of his hold and hurried to stand behind Tarrz. Relief swept through him, to have his little human safe again. He longed to hold her and soothe her fears, but he couldn’t comfort her yet. First, he had to deal with the intruder who’d threatened her life. He would show no mercy.
The instinct to lunge forward and throttle Hethron to death, or perhaps stab him with his own knife, pressed at the forefront of Tarrz’s mind. But he couldn’t commit such a violent act in front of Lana. Not unless it was a matter of life or death. In this particular moment, it wasn’t. He could vanquish the enemy by shifting his focus to Hethron’s throat.
And that’s exactly what he did. He glared at the man’s neck and imagined it collapsing on itself. Not long after, Hethron started making wheezing noises. He clutched at his throat and fell to his knees. Tarrz reached one hand behind him and urged Lana to leave the room, and thankfully, she didn’t argue. By the time her footfalls hit the creaky board on the bottom step of the staircase, Hethron was sprawled motionless on the floor, no longer making a sound.
He was dead, and Tarrz wasn’t sorry for it.
If not for his powers of the mind, abilities his ancestors had passed down to him and his father had helped him understand as a young child, Lana might have gotten injured. The very thought of any harm coming to his mate, no matter how small, left him seething with rage all over again. He took a few deep breaths and willed himself to calm down. He didn’t wish to frighten his little human any further. When he went to find her, he wanted to offer her nothing but genuine comfort.
He set the knife down, turned, and ran downstairs. “Lana!” he called. “Lana!”
“I’m here,” a small voice whispered from a darkened corner of the living room. He fou
nd her curled up on the other side of a sofa, hugging her knees to her chest. She peered up at him, her expression a mixture of fear and curiosity. “Is he dead, Master?”
“Yes, little human.” He knelt before her and looked her over, making sure no blood had been drawn. Fortunately, she didn’t even have a scratch. He reached for her hands and gave them a squeeze, and to his relief, she didn’t flinch or pull away from him.
“Why did he want to hurt me? What is this blood debt he spoke of?”
Tarrz lifted her out of the corner and carried her to the large sofa on the other side of the room, beside a window that had a perfect view of the forest and mountains. When it wasn’t overcast and storming, that was. In the distance, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, and a moment later, thunder rumbled so loud, the walls of the house rattled. She snuggled deeper in his embrace, and he reveled in the feel of her in his arms, safe and unharmed.
He cleared his throat, preparing to tell her of the reason behind the attack. He had thought the matter long settled, though, and Hethron’s appearance in his home had come as a shock. Had he suspected he had any enemies at all, he would have kept the security system active during their trip out of the house today, to prevent anyone from entering without his knowledge. Guilt settled on his shoulders for using it only to keep Lana from running away. He should have been more cautious, and he vowed to be even more protective of his mate in the future. He would die before he let anything happen to her.
“Hethron’s younger brother, Zon, was in my mining unit. Not only that, but we shared a bunk and often paired during work. We worked fast together and between the two of us, we usually managed to mine triple or more of the materials as the other males in our unit, on a daily basis. He was my friend,” Tarrz said, his grief over the loss of Zon lending an extra darkness to the stormy afternoon. He gazed at the trees blowing in the wind, then returned his eyes to Lana before continuing in his story. “Unfortunately, one day his oxygen tank was struck by debris. Before we could get back to the ship, he ran out of air and stopped breathing.”
“And Hethron blamed you for Zon’s death?”
“He accused me of cold-blooded murder, insisting I must’ve damaged Zon’s oxygen tank myself in order to claim all the materials we had mined together, but a formal inquiry into the matter proved my innocence. A judge dismissed Hethron’s accusations against me, and I never heard from him again. Not until today. It’s unheard of for a Tar-quan to disregard a judge’s decision. I am sorry for Hethron’s family, for now they will grieve the loss of another son, but I am not sorry I killed him.” He tightened his hold on her, a deep, low growl rumbling in his throat. “No one touches what’s mine.”
Chapter Six
The storm had passed as quickly as it had rolled in, the dark clouds dispersing and the Tar-quan sky returning to its normal brilliant shade of aqua blue. Lana sat on the patio that faced the forest, watching as the sun glittered on the droplets covering the trees and underbrush, while the authorities removed Hethron from the house and talked to Tarrz.
She blew out a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. A lot had happened this afternoon. She’d been attacked, had a knife pressed to her throat, and believed she was about to die. But then she’d been saved by Tarrz, who could apparently make objects, and even people, move with his mind.
In all her years of studying the Tar-quans, she had never learned anything about them that might explain Tarrz’s unusual powers. The word Hethron had called him translated as aberrant. She wondered what other abilities he possessed and if their children would inherit them.
She looked down and realized her hands were shaking in her lap. She twisted her fingers together and focusing on breathing in and out. Everything would be fine. She was still alive. Hethron hadn’t harmed a hair on her head, let alone managed to nick her throat in the slightest.
Why then, did she feel so uncertain about the future and her mate?
She’d been on Tar-qua with him for a full week now. He’d told her all there was to know about his family and his past, but he’d omitted his supernatural powers. As she’d fled the bedroom, he’d been in the process of choking Hethron without even laying a hand on the man.
“Lana?”
She turned at the sound of her mate’s deep voice. He entered the patio and sat down beside her, placing an arm around her and drawing her close. She leaned her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in his presence, even if he had been keeping secrets from her. Was there anything else important he hadn’t told her yet, about himself or about this world? During the last week, she’d begun to feel at home on this planet, and with Tarrz, but now she once again felt as uneasy as she had the moment she’d stepped off the Zenallia. Once more, she felt like a stranger in a foreign land. Would she always be an outsider looking in?
“The authorities are gone, and Hethron, too.” He ran a hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. His woodsy masculine scent enticed her to snuggle closer, and he responded by lifting her into his lap and cradling her against his chest. “I am sorry for the fright you endured, little human.”
She gulped hard and withdrew partially from him to stare up into his dark gaze. Her heart squeezed with emotion at the tender yet possessive gleam in his eyes. Despite his secrets, she felt safe in his arms and secure in the knowledge that he would protect her from any danger that came their way. But was he hiding anything else?
“Master?”
“Yes, Lana?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your... abilities? I’ve never heard of a Tar-quan who can move objects or people with their mind.” A sudden unnerving thought struck her. What if he could read her thoughts? She stared at his chest, awaiting his answer as a ball of worry tightened in her stomach.
“An aberrant—that is what my kind have been called for generations—only uses their powers in matters of life and death. I am sorry I did not tell you of my abilities sooner, little human. I had intended to tell you when I felt the time was right—I didn’t want to frighten you—but it did not occur to me that I would have need to use my powers so soon.”
“I see.” She supposed it made sense. Had he told her on her first night here that he possessed special mental powers, she would have been even more anxious on their wedding night, and she certainly would’ve been downright terrified when he punished her. Her bottom clenched involuntarily at the memory of his hand, and then the leather strap, cracking down on her ass cheeks. “Master, how did you get these powers? Were you born with them, or did you learn them?”
“All the males in my family have psychokinetic abilities. Our sons will have them as well, though it will take them some time to develop them fully, with the proper training, of course. Once, during the time of my great-grandfather, a rogue group of Tar-quans known as the firebloods set about slaughtering all the aberrants on the planet, but a few managed to escape their notice, before our government rounded up the firebloods and executed them.”
“You didn’t answer my question yet. About having other abilities. Can you do more than move objects and, um, choke people?” she asked, repressing a shudder at the image of Hethron, his eyes bulging and his face bright purple, that flashed in her mind.
He looked thoughtful for a second, then said, “No. That is the extent of it.”
“So, you can’t read thoughts or anything like that?”
“No, little human. Nothing like that. I can’t read your thoughts any more than you can read mine.”
She sighed. “Well, that comes as a relief.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her, his teasing serving to lessen her anxieties. “Why is that, Lana? Do you have a habit of entertaining naughty thoughts?”
She laughed and playfully tapped his chest. “Never. I’m quite pure, in fact. I came to you a virgin, did I not?”
“Ah, you did, and I must confess I have enjoyed breaking you in.” He reached underneath her to squeeze her bottom.
She peered at him, suddenly breathless and aching, despite the s
eriousness of what had happened upstairs. The sorrow that had befallen her when she feared she might die, when the images of the life she would never live flashed in her mind, returned and left her needing to reassure herself that she was still very much alive. She leaned up to press her lips to Tarrz’s, and he grasped her face in his hands and growled, kissing her back with the same urgency.
After a while, he withdrew from her mouth without warning and grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her head back. “You’re my mate, little human. My sweet bride. I will never let anyone hurt you. I swear on the Gods.” He released her hair and stood up to unfasten his pants, pinning her with a feral look that made her flush all over. He gave a command for the clear walls of the patio to darken, leaving the walls black all around except for directly overhead, where the sun still shined down upon them, affording them complete privacy. Her heart raced as she realized his intent.
She rose up, slipped her panties off, and started to remove her dress, but he turned her around, pushing her dress up to her waist and then forcing her to kneel on the loveseat. He guided her to bend over the back of it, the position leaving her bottom jutted up, her thighs spread, and her center oh so vulnerable to his ministrations. He plunged two thick fingers in and out of her pussy, and she clutched onto the sofa and as the pleasure built and built, a maddening quickening of blissful sensation that left her panting and spiraling closer to the abyss of her release. But just before the wave of ecstasy could crash over her, he pulled his digits from her core and replaced them with his cock. She shuddered and arched her ass, eager to meet his entrance.
“I need to be inside you right now,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “I want you just like this—bent over with your pussy offered up to me, wet and aching to be filled up by your mate, your master.”
He surged inside her, the force of his entry taking her breath away.
* * *
Tarrz pounded into her like a man possessed. He gripped her hips and plunged deeper, faster, the urge to claim her thoroughly and fill her with his seed dominating his every thought. He hadn’t entered the patio with the intent to fuck her, but when he’d detected her arousal and sensed her desire to be taken, it had been as if a beast had awoken inside him.
Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas Page 4
