by Sue Mercury
“But, I’m naked.” Her eyes shot open wide. “Don’t open the barrier!”
He smiled at her. “You’d best get under the covers then, little human.”
She made a flustered sound and cast a mournful look at her torn dress on the floor, muttering something about him being a barbarian before diving under the fur covering.
Chuckling, he deactivated the barrier just long enough to carry the many packages inside. He stacked them on the wall next to the bed.
“It is the female’s job to open and put away wedding gifts,” he announced.
“Is that so?” He delighted in the look of excitement in her eyes as she approached the piled up gifts. “I must confess, I’ve never seen so many presents in one place before. It’s very nice of your people to leave all these for us. I’m touched by their generosity, especially considering none of them have met me yet.”
“I told you our females were treasured, little human. You are here, on New Protemeda now, and you are mine. That is enough reason for them to welcome your presence with a joyful spirit.”
Her cheeks reddened, then she gave him a questioning look. “Naad, I, um, wanted to ask you something first.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Last night, and this morning, when we, um, made love.”
His cock came to attention at the reminder, and he resisted the urge to adjust the growing bulge in his pants. He cleared his throat. “Yes? Please, go on. You can ask me anything, Ally. Don’t be shy.”
At this, she blushed a deeper red. “Your skin. You turned bright red while we were joined together, and you didn’t change back to your normal color until after…” Her eyes went wide and she pressed her lips firmly together.
“Until after I spilled my seed into your tight little pussy, Ally? Is that what you are trying to say?”
“We-well, I-I, not ex-exactly,” she said, fumbling and stuttering. “I wasn’t going to say it like that, with those words, but yes. Why do you change color?”
This time it was Naad’s turn to flush. “Ally, last night was the first time I’ve changed color, but it’s normal. It happens every time a Protemeian male joins with his mate.”
“You mean…” She stared at her feet for a moment, then her gaze flew up to his. “Oh my God, you were a virgin too! Why didn’t you tell me, Naad?”
His face had never felt so hot, and he had to force himself to answer her. “Well, I didn’t want you to think I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Chapter Five
Seven blissful days had passed since Ally’s arrival on New Protemeda. She enjoyed spending time with Naad, but she was growing anxious to leave the cave and glimpse the rest of the mountainside. She’d seen several Protemeian males, as well as some females from different races, pass by the entrance to their cave, but she hadn’t so much as said ‘hello’ to another person besides Naad since her arrival. They were getting along all right, and damn, despite having been a virgin, he really did know what he was doing.
Heat suffused her cheeks at the memory of last night’s escapades. He’d straddled her on the bed and pressed his huge cock to her lips, beckoning her to open and suck. She’d taken him into her mouth, opening her throat to allow all of him inside.
At first, she had gagged a little, but after a few minutes of his thrusting into her, she became accustomed to his girth. His salty essence had spurted down her throat when he came, and moments after he emptied himself in her mouth, he had thrust into her pussy and fucked her hard and quick, before coming again with a deep growl.
She hadn’t known much about sex before her arrival on New Protemeda, but she’d heard enough whispers in the village to know Protemeian males had a lot more stamina than human men. He never seemed to need more than a brief pause in between their lovemaking sessions before he was ready to take her again. Fortunately, no matter how exhausted or sore she was, she still craved him like a drug. Despite his massive size, she was always wet and aching for him, always ready to be claimed long and hard.
She gazed around the cave, wondering when he would return. He’d left her alone this morning for the first time, promising to return by nightfall. He hadn’t told her where he was going, and she’d been too annoyed to ask after he’d announced she was to be locked in. Worry seized her when she glanced at the dimming sky.
What if he’d gotten hurt? What if he’d gone hunting and had met with trouble in the forest?
She sighed and tried to calm down, but calming herself proved difficult when she was accustomed to fretting over every little thing. Back home, she’d constantly worried about the Hanz gang, her father’s health, the weather, the food and water supply, and whether or not another war or a plague was imminent.
A knot formed in her stomach. What would happen if Naad didn’t return? Her throat suddenly burned, the thought of losing him weighing her heart down. She shouldn’t care about him so much. His family had bought her. He’d locked her in the cave, not trusting her to remain put.
Would she have tried to run away again? Probably not, she decided, her chest tightening at the prospect of spending life anywhere but in Naad’s arms. He treated her well, made her feel cared for. Hell, he acted like he worshipped the ground she walked on. He prepared her meals and seemed to take great pleasure in watching her eat. He massaged her back and told her she was beautiful at least ten times a day. After learning she’d left all her belongings behind on Earth, he’d made sure she had everything she needed.
But locking her in was wrong. He should trust her. Though she’d come to New Protemeda very much against her will, she had come to realize this was a far better place than Earth. Her home planet was a polluted mess, not to mention violent and disease ravaged. At the memory of the Hanz gang’s missiles, she wrapped her arms around herself, fighting off a sudden chill. Any children she would’ve had on Earth would’ve known war and utter heartbreak.
She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer. Thank you God, for giving me a kind father who made sure I was taken care of. Please let him be at peace. Please watch over him in heaven, and my mother too. She brushed away a few fallen tears and peered at the mountainside beyond the clear barrier. She looked at the panel of buttons Naad pressed to activate it, wondering if she might manage to break through. How hard could it be? She’d seen him press four buttons each time.
She moved closer and examined the control panel. Each button was labeled with a unique marking, like an odd shaped letter. His language, she supposed.
She began pressing random four letter sequences. The control panel lit up as she pressed at the buttons, and each time the sequence failed to open the barrier, a high pitched beep hurt her ears.
Running a hand through her hair, she blew out a breath and concentrated. He always pressed one of the top right buttons first, then his hand moved down to the bottom row. She tried again and again, ready to give up, until finally the control panel flashed and the barrier shimmered open.
Her heart pounded. Oh my God. She’d actually opened it!
She rushed to put on her shoes and smoothed out the skirt of the gorgeous blue dress one of Naad’s friends had given her as a wedding present. Then she peeked out of the cave, looking up and down the gray stone street. She spotted several children walking away from her, headed to a large cave entrance where the street curved around the mountain. Taking a deep breath, she walked out into the open, her heart racing faster with each step.
How angry would Naad be if he discovered she’d gone exploring without him? She swallowed hard and continued on, determined to see a bit of the mountainside before she returned home.
A few Protemeian males passed her, nodding and smiling as they walked by. She said ‘hello’ to each one, hoping none of them realized she was traveling the street without permission. She didn’t want anyone alerting Naad just yet.
She reached a turn in the street and paused to admire a large painting on the side of the mountain, near the entrance of another cave, an image of the sun surround
ed by trees and flowers. It was lovely. In fact, this whole settlement was beautiful. The air was clean and fresh, the weather warm, and the caves spaced evenly up and down the stone street. It was a nice change from Earth.
Firefly-like insects flitted here and there, their numbers increasing as the sky grew darker and darker, and the air slightly cooler. She turned to look down the street, wondering if she should return to the cave before Naad discovered her missing. She wanted him to trust her, no matter how she’d come to be his mate. The more the days wore on, the less she cared about being purchased with gold his grandfather had painstakingly mined on another planet.
You could be working in a Hanz brothel. You could be running from the Hanz’s dogs as you tried to bypass the bridge and escape the mountain.
She gasped at the sudden clanging of a bell reverberating in the darkness. The marriage bell? Had the Protemeians gone on a raid?
She turned around and hurried for home, but when she came to the area of their cave, she didn’t know which one to enter. Oh God.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
They all looked the same.
*
Naad walked ahead of the group. During today’s raid, they’d caught five women on the neighboring planet, Tafaina. As the organizer of the hunt and the pilot, he had waited on the ship while others beamed down for the hunt, and his men had been successful. Five females at once was a good catch. Beside the women, their prospective mates stayed close, ready to give chase should one of them run off.
One woman didn’t have a mate yet, however, as Naad had only taken four men on the hunt. Apparently, she had been captured while trying to save her friend, the pink-haired female walking behind her. Naad was now responsible for giving her to the single Protemeian male of his choosing.
The paired mates had already passed under the white stone arch, and as they filed off into their respective caves, Naad took the protesting female by the arm and guided her down the street. He longed to return to his cave and Ally’s sweet presence, but first he had to deliver a surprise to his friend, Callom.
“Where are you taking me? Get your hands off me!” The girl, an odd looking but beautiful blue-haired female, thrashed in his hold.
“I am taking you to your new mate. His name is Callom, and he will treat you kindly.”
“Kindly? Kindly?” She kicked at his shins and put up such a fuss that Naad had no choice but to throw her over his shoulder.
“You will settle down, female. You are to be a treasured mate of a Protemeian male. You have nothing to fear.”
“You can’t just go around stealing females and then tell them not to be afraid!” She pounded on his back, the same way Ally had pounded on his back just seven days ago, when he’d escorted his reluctant bride up the mountain. The memory made him smile.
“You were unprotected. If your males wanted to keep you, they should have protected you better. Not one of your males showed up to stop our raiding party. Not one.” He hurried for Callom’s cave, anxious to deposit this feisty female with his friend. With a grin, he thought Ally and this woman might make good friends one day. He would have to outfit Ally with a language implant since most of the other females, including this one, did not speak her tongue.
“What is this?” A stunned Callom asked from the entrance of his cave. He’d obviously heard the ruckus and had come to investigate.
Naad dropped the female to her feet in front of his friend. When she tried to run off, he grasped her arm. “A gift.”
Callom’s eyes widened and he grabbed the woman from Naad. “You honor me, friend.”
“Pass with her under the white stone arch, and treat her well until the end of your days.” Naad inclined his head at Callom before hurrying off in the direction of his cave, anticipation filling him at the prospect of spending another evening with his sweet little human.
But when he reached his cave, the barrier was deactivated. He rushed inside in a panic.
“Ally! Ally!”
She wasn’t here. She wasn’t here.
Fear gripped him and he raced outside, calling her name and praying to the stars he would find her unharmed.
“Ally!”
Had she guessed the security code? Had someone taken her?
On instinct, he headed down the mountain. Please be safe, little human.
Chapter Six
Ally felt like an idiot for crying. But God, Naad’s betrayal cut deep. During the past few days, she’d actually started believing they might indeed find happiness together.
Until she’d seen him carrying another woman over his shoulder, not even two minutes after she’d heard the clanging of the marriage bell.
The two timing asshole.
She wiped away her tears and hurried through the darkness. She never wished to see Naad again. How could he?
Did he have another cave somewhere? Or had he been planning to take that woman back to their cave? She hadn’t stuck around long enough to find out.
To hell with him. She would find a safe place to hide out at the bottom of the mountain until dawn broke, and then she would move on. Into the frightening forest. She was strong. She could survive. She would pick berries and maybe find a stream to fish in. Naad had served her fish several times. There had to be a stream nearby.
She would find her way back to the landing site, and when the Starship Matchmaker returned, she would demand to be taken back to Earth. Or she would sneak aboard. The details could be ironed out later. For now, all that mattered was getting away from Naad and his people.
She cursed fate. Her father had gone to a great deal of trouble to arrange this match for her, and what a mistake it had turned into. She thought of him up in heaven, watching down on her with sorrow.
Glancing up at the starry sky dominated by two large moons, she said, “It’s okay, Dad. I’m going to be fine. You’ll see.”
Would she be fine? The night insects buzzed and screeched louder here than on Earth. And every few minutes something in the distance howled or growled or yelped.
She swallowed her fear and kept moving, stumbling over rocks and scraping her hands as she descended the mountain.
Naad had fooled her into thinking he treasured her. How could that be if he wanted to share her with another female? From inside the cave, she had spied on various couples walking down the street, and she hadn’t noticed any males walking with two females at their sides. Obviously, Naad was a pig.
Her throat burned and her feet felt heavy, yet she kept going, determined to make the best of her situation, just as she’d done in the village on Earth.
Another growl rumbled through the night. This time it was so close it vibrated through her insides. Oh God. Something that sounded very hungry, or perhaps very angry, was closing in on her.
She broke into a run on the rocky path that led down the mountain, the bright starlight and moonlight guiding her way. Footsteps sounded behind her. Closer and closer.
Her breath caught and her stomach flipped. She picked up the skirt of her dress and ran at full speed. The pounding of her heart in her ears drowned out the sound of the encroaching footsteps, but not the persistent growls. She didn’t dare pause to look over her shoulder.
Oh God. This was the end. She was going to die, and all because Naad was a pig.
He was no better than the men who visited the brothels owned by the Hanz gang. Tears blurred her vision and her sides ached. She was out of breath, but still she continued on, fear driving her faster and faster. If she died now in the clutches of a wild New Protemeian beast, all the shit she’d gone through would be for nothing. She would have survived the bombing on Earth for nothing, grown up motherless for nothing. She would have lost her father and Heath for nothing, and come to this strange alien planet for nothing.
A snarl sounded directly behind her, and something huge snatched her up.
Something with hands and arms.
Something that smelled like pine needles and cinnamon. Fuck.
She screamed
and flailed in his arms.
“You have some nerve coming after me, Naad! You can go fuck yourself!”
Ignoring her pleas, he tossed her over his shoulder and stomped back up the mountain, intermittently growling and mumbling in his native tongue.
*
“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to venture down the mountain after dark? There are massive cats lurking in the rocks, bears in the forest below, and snakes so large they often manage to kill those very same cats and bears.”
Ally sat on the bed, hugging herself and shaking. She stared at the floor, refusing to meet his gaze. How could she have left him? After the last seven days, he’d hoped he could trust her to venture outside the cave on her own soon. Though he hadn’t had much experience with females before her arrival, other than helping to catch them during the raids, he’d thought she was happy here. Or at least happier than when she’d first arrived.
They’d laughed together. They’d talked about their upbringing and shared tender moments of mutual grief when speaking of loved ones lost. Both of them had lost their mothers at a young age. His to an illness, and hers during a war.
Naad had also taken Ally upon every surface in his cave, including the floor, and she had seemed most willing and eager for him to mount her each time. Had she been pretending?
Oh dark stars. Had she been fooling him into leaving her alone so she could finally escape? He growled again and strode forward, snatching her by the chin and directing her eyes to his.
“You will look at me, Ally.”
Fire blazed in her visage. He sensed her absolute loathing, and beneath her anger, a terrible heartbreak that she struggled to hide. Her bottom lip quivered and she bit it, as if she wished to prevent him from knowing the depth of her sadness. He dropped his hand from her chin and knelt in front of her, taking both her hands in his.
“Why, Ally? Why do you wish to leave?”
“As if you don’t know,” she muttered, shaking her head as her gaze danced to the ceiling. “What would you do if you saw me kissing another man, or letting him carry me back to his cave?”
