by Maren Smith
Chapter Two
Bryice
After showering and changing my clothes, I headed for the control room to talk to Jayx. I could only imagine all the questions he had swirling around in his mind right now. As if he could hear what I thought, as soon as I stepped into the area, I was assaulted with his questions.
“What were you thinking? Our mission was to get our planet’s goods back, not further a woman’s kidnapping experience. If we would’ve waited, reinforcements were on their way, and they could’ve handled the girl. Have you even thought about what you’re going to tell her when she wakes up? You know how our planet effects those who are native to Elara. Do you really think she’s going to take kindly to those effects?”
“You done?” I asked, not wanting to get started with answering if he had more.
He nodded. I took a seat in my chair and ran my hand over my jaw, trying to figure out the best way to explain this. I didn’t fully understand it, so I didn’t think he’d be able to.
“All I can say is I saw her and an overwhelming feeling of needing to protect her came over me. I know what I did was out of line with protocol and my character, but I couldn’t let her get hurt again. Not after everything she’d been through.”
Jayx took the seat next to me. “You think she’s your mate?”
“You know I don’t believe in that.”
“Sounds to me like it’s exactly what happened to you. When a male finds the female meant for him, it doesn’t matter the situation or what species she is. He’ll stop at nothing to take care of her.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t believe in it. All I know is I couldn’t leave her there, especially with the Liborth bidding on her.” If I hadn’t taken her, she’d be on her way to a fate worse than death.
“All right. Have you thought about happens once she wakes up?”
“I’m working on it,” I said, as I thought about the effects Kaibos had on Elaraians. Due to the fact our planet was so much closer to the sun than theirs, gravity was stronger. After two-to-four weeks, their body would adjust, and they’d be back to normal. But until that time, they didn’t have the ability to walk or talk well. Their muscles couldn’t handle the extra weight. Furthermore, they lost control of their bodily functions. So, in essence, they regressed to babyhood.
In all honesty, I was excited for this. My sudden desire for an age-play relationship was becoming a reality. Though, I wasn’t sure how the female was going to feel about all of this. For all I knew, she was a prude who would hang me out to dry for bringing her to my planet where these effects would take place. Then again, it was either this or be tortured and have her blood sucked out by a vile creature. Bringing her back to Elara would’ve been way too risky. She’d probably get snatched up again within minutes – the Latovians would be too afraid she’d tattle on the authorities about them.
Jayx whistled, and I was pulled out of my thoughts by him for the second time within a click.
“What?” I asked, curious as to why he had a huge grin on his face.
“You have the same expression right now that I had when I first set eyes on Aelani.”
Aelani was Jayx’s spouse. I remembered when they met and how hard he had to work to get her to return his affections. She had been against dating anyone at the time because she had gotten hurt by a string of bad boyfriends and didn’t want to risk her heart again.
Jayx was persistent as ever, never giving up on his one love, and after weeks, she finally saw the sweet guy he was and agreed to one date. One date turned into another and, not too long after, they were married. They were the couple who got the closest to making me believe in mates.
“Whatever you say, man,” I said, shrugging. Truth be told, I didn’t want to get my hopes up that my relationship with this female would go the way his did. With my luck, she’d blame me for everything and hate me. No use getting excited about that.
He didn’t say anything, instead he kept smiling like a know-it-all.
“I’m going to go clean her up. When she wakes, I don’t want her to freak out seeing herself covered in dirt.”
“It’ll also give you time to think of ways of explaining exactly what happened to her and what’s going to happen when we arrive at Kaibos.”
“Yeah, that, too.” I got up and left the control room. “Lord, help me,” I muttered as I headed for the medical unit while I racked my brain trying to figure out precisely what I was going to tell my beautiful passenger.
Hannah
I woke up with possibly the worst headache of my life. What the hell had happened? One minute I had been on a research mission obtaining different minerals naturally occurring on Earth’s moon and the next I felt like I was in a dream state.
Opening my eyes, it took several moments to adjust to the brightness of my surroundings. Once I did, I deduced I must be in a hospital of some kind – everything was so sterile, a machine was charting my vitals, and I could feel what must’ve been a cannula in my nostrils.
What didn’t make sense to me though was why it felt like extra weight held me down. Carefully, I pushed myself up into a seated position as a man walked into my room. He looked fairly normal for a human male – brown hair, brown eyes, and a great tan. But he was also at least eight feet tall, so something told me I wasn’t on Earth’s moon anymore. Again, I wondered what the hell happened?
“Hello there. I’m Bryice. How are you feeling?” the stranger asked, plopping down in the chair next to my bed.
“Okay. My head hurts, and I’m confused. What happened?”
“Let me give you something for your headache, and I’ll explain afterward.” He stood, walked over to the machine monitoring my vitals, pressed a few keys, and then took a seat where he had originally been.
I suddenly smelled a sweet scent. “What did you just do?”
“You said you had a headache, so I gave you some medication through the careolax to cure it.”
As he spoke, the pain around my temples disappeared. I was so going to need to find out what he dosed me with and take it back to Earth. It was a miracle drug!
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he responded and smiled at me. My insides felt like they were turning to Jell-O. Whoever this guy was, he was handsome and smart. Dating other species had never been my thing – not that it wasn’t a common occurrence on Earth – but I was starting to reconsider my decision.
“I’m Hannah, by the way,” I said, thinking it’d be rude to not introduce myself.
His smile widened even more, showing off pearly white teeth. “It’s nice to meet you. Now, to answer your question, long story short, you were kidnapped by a group of Latovians. Do you know about their species?”
I nodded. They enjoyed stealing and pawning off all their stolen goods rather than working for them. I had been under the impression they weren’t involved in human trafficking, only taking naturally occurring goods from planets, but guess I was wrong.
“The Latovians brought you to the planet Yigawa to sell. That’s where our paths crossed. My partner, Jayx, and I work for Kaibos’ homeland security department. We were tracking an amount of stolen keneron and kibbalica. When we got to the auction where our intel said they would be sold, we found you.”
His story seemed plausible, and my gut feeling was I could trust him. Another point for the interspecies relationship.
“I couldn’t let you – who had obviously been drugged – be sold to anyone, especially not the Liborath bidding on you.
I shivered as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over me. Those creatures were the stuff of nightmares. Growing up, I had heard countless horror stories based on them feasting on innocent humans for their blood and torturing them.
“Based on your expression, you know how much danger you’re in. That’s why my partner and I made a diversion, scooped you up, and are heading back to Kaibos. We’ll alert our authorities, as well as Elara’s, to what is going on.”
“Wait, what? We
’re going to Kaibos?” I asked, suddenly not liking this guy as much as I did a moment ago. Humans who went to Kaibos had to deal with the humiliating period where their bodies adjusted to the increased gravity on the planet, leaving them basically as helpless babies.
“Yes,” Bryice said as his face fell into a look of concern. “I know how humans feel about our planet and their weeks of having to adjust, but I assure you, it is the safest option, and you have nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about?” I asked in astonishment. “I’ll have to rely on you for everything – to feed me, bathe me, hell even to change me!” My cheeks heated. No one had done any of those things for me since I was a baby and, if I was being real with myself, my awful parents stopped doing them much earlier than they should’ve. I had to mature really fast.
“I don’t understand what the issue is. I will be more than happy to care for you during this time. I’ve heard some Elaraians even enjoy getting to regress back to this stage of life.”
Thanks to my best friend, Leanne, I knew what he was referring to. Age play – the type of kink where one partner took on a parental headspace and the other regressed to a younger mindset. It was a growing form of therapy as well. Therapists believed if one could basically recreate and replace their poor childhood experiences with good ones, it would help them heal from any trauma or neglect they had experienced in their formative years. My therapist, in fact, had recommended it for me. Of course, I had balked when she suggested it, and she hadn’t brought it up since. Sure, my parents had cared more about themselves and their careers than their child, but I was an adult. The past was the past.
“Hannah?” Bryice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Take me back to Earth, or Elara as some of you aliens in the outer rim call it. I don’t want to go with you.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, but that isn’t an option. I can’t risk taking you to your home world and having the same people who kidnapped you once do it again. I’d never be able to forgive myself.”
“I give you permission to forgive yourself. Please. I’m asking you nicely.” I hoped he would get over his nobleness and let me do as I wanted.
“I’m sorry, Hannah. No is my final answer.”
I clenched my teeth. There was no way I was going to let him get away with this. Ripping off the nasal cannulas, I went to stand, but Bryice was quicker. He put a hand on either of my shoulders and pushed me down onto the bed.
“Let me go! I want to go home!” I attempted to kick my new captor.
Without warning, he flipped me onto my stomach and gave my ass a few spanks. I paused, stunned. No one had ever punished me before, not even when I was an actual child. I always guessed I wasn’t worth enough to my parents for them to correct any misdeeds I might’ve done.
Bryice turned me to face him, took a seat on the side of the bed, and released his grasp from my shoulders. His lips were pursed as he gave me a determined look. “I understand you don’t want this, Hannah, and I will take full responsibility for forcing this on you once you regain your normal functions. Until that time, I am in charge. You may be okay with pretending like your kidnapping isn’t a big deal and if you die it doesn’t matter, but I disagree. Your life is as important as anyone else’s in our galaxy, and I’m going to be damned if I leave you defenseless on your planet to be taken and killed so the Latovians don’t get in trouble for the crime they committed.”
To my utter embarrassment, tears pricked at the corner of my eyes. No one, let alone a stranger had ever cared about me so much. Sure, I had lots of friends, but I didn’t think any of them would go to this length to protect me.
I tried to wipe them away with shaky hands, but it was getting harder to move. My attempt to escape seemed to have drained most of my energy. Plus, we were getting closer to Kaibos based on my partial loss of control of my body, so, in no time, I would have the motor control of an infant.
“Please don’t cry, sweetie. I promise, this won’t be as awful as you think it’s going to be.”
“It’ll be humiliating,” I muttered.
He sighed. “You have every right to feel the way you do. Just know, Hannah, I assume your care as the highest honor and importance. This isn’t something Kaibosians do lightly. On my planet, having this task bestowed on us is one of the greatest forms of trust another species can give to us because Elaraians aren’t the only ones it happens to. I promise you will be well taken care of, and I won’t make fun of you during your period of adjustment.”
His statement did make me feel a bit better. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about pictures of me in my future state being leaked on the Internet. If they ever were, I’d never be able to show my face on Earth again. I wasn’t sure if Bryice even knew about our Internet or how to take pictures with an iPhone.
“Okay. Since it looks like I don’t have a choice in this situation, I guess we’ll do it your way.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes as he wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I promise, you won’t regret it. Who knows? It could be fun. Some people, after they experience the care given to them during this period, want to stay in their Little headspace.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him. “I promise you; I won’t be one of those people.”
“You never know is all I’m saying.”
Oh, I knew. Once this time was up, I was going to leave Kaibos and try to scrub the memory from my mind. No matter what this guy or my therapist thought, age play would not help me with any of my so-called childhood trauma.
Bryice
“How is she?” Jayx asked, as I returned to the control room. Hannah had drifted off to sleep soon after our talk. Her failed escape attempt had knocked the wind out of her. To make sure she’d stay asleep, I put the careolax back on her and gave her a sedative.
She’d had enough stress for one day. Plus, since we were getting closer to Kaibos, I had to prepare her, and I didn’t think she’d want to be awake for it.
With extra care, I took off her dirty and sweat stained clothes then gave her a quick sponge bath, promising myself I’d give her a proper washing when we got settled at home. Lastly, I applied some powder onto her bottom, put a diaper on her, and then dressed her in a pair of extra soft and warm pajamas. I knew there was a good chance she’d sleep through the night, so I didn’t want to have to change her a second time when we got to our unit. I was grateful the Kaibosian council had mandated all ships be prepped with the supplies needed if a human was being taken to our planet. If they hadn’t, it would’ve made this situation much more difficult for Hannah.
“She’s understandably angry at me. She thinks she can take care of herself and wants to go back to Elara.”
“You did tell her if we did that the Latovians would find her in a click, right?” My partner furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief.
“Of course. She was being stubborn and insisted she could take care of herself.”
“I hope you talked some sense into her.”
“I did.” I remembered the swats I’d delivered to her backside. The stunned look on her face had made my cock rock hard. I couldn’t imagine how she’d look if I was able to give her a proper spanking.
Shaking my head slightly, I cleared those thoughts from my mind. She was under my protection. I was to care for her, not seduce her. Besides, on Kaibos, it went against everything to take advantage of another species while they were physically adjusting to our planet.
Furthermore, if we ever were to partake in a romantic relationship, I would want her to be in her adult mind. Something felt icky about having sex with another person, while they were in their Little headspace.
Not that anything was wrong with it. I knew a few couples who very much enjoyed it. Personally, though, I didn’t.
“So, she’s okay with everything?”
I shrugged. “Okay is a relative term. I’d say more like she realizes she doesn’t have any other choice, so she’s going along with our plan.”
Jayx s
miled. “It was nice knowing you, buddy. As soon as she’s back to her normal self, that woman is going to kick your ass.”
He was right, and I was fine with it. If we could catch and lock up the Latovians who had done this to her, she could do whatever she wanted with me.
Chapter Three
Bryice
“Permission to land, sir,” Jayx requested into the intercom as we hovered over the Kaibos Protective Building.
“You two have a lot of explaining to do,” our boss, Omear, bellowed through the communication device as the doors to the landing area opened.
“This is going to be fun.” Jayx carefully parked our ship. Powering the engines down, he turned toward me. “Why don’t you get Hannah, and I’ll take the heat?”
I shook my head. “No. I was the one who bid on a woman who we had no attachment to. I want to be there to explain. Besides, the sedative I gave her should keep her asleep for the next several clicks.”
A click was about an hour’s time on Earth, considering humans slept for several hours, I didn’t worry about her waking up.
“Okay. It’s your funeral,” my partner joked as we disembarked.
“What in the blazins happened out there? You were supposed to go to Yigawa to reclaim our stolen spices, not steal a different planet’s treasure and request backup because you decided to be greedy!” Omear approached us, shaking a ball of crumpled paper.
Slightly shorter than the average Kaibosian, he couldn’t be more than seven foot eleven inches, Omear had graying hair, but was still in pretty decent physical shape. I found myself second-guessing my choice of not staying back to be by Hannah.
“Treasure? I know I was discrete in my transmission when I requested help, but we didn’t steal any treasure. What did those idiots tell you?” Jayx asked, before I could say anything.
With his nostrils flared and his face red – a difficult task for us because we had such tan skin – he read from the paper in his hand. “Attention! Two Kaibosian homeland security officers infiltrated a private auction on Yigawa, placed a false bid on the most sought-after treasure, and stole it. Please cooperate with our efforts to capture these two criminals so the treasure can be returned to the rightful owner as soon as possible.”
