by Rie Warren
The circular bands had grown from last night to this morning, and sometimes the lines seemed to pulse with the same spectacular color as his eyes.
“Those, once complete, will connect.” He lifted my hands to draw them behind his sturdy neck. “Symbolizing our union.”
My breath hitched as I stared up at him, and new heat coursed through my body. “They appear spontaneously?”
One corner of his full mouth tilted up. “Mmmm.”
Then he caught me up in his arms, caught me with his kiss.
With luxuriant slowness, he eased his tongue between my lips and forayed alongside mine. I pulled down on his broad shoulders, seeking to get closer, his cocks rigid and weighty between us. My nipples domed immediately, and Zane angled his head further, dipping his tongue deeper as it swashed all around my mouth.
I panted deliriously as he pulled away with a wet sucking sound that went straight to my primed nipples and wet sex.
“Now let’s get you clothed before I show you exactly how much of an animal I want to be with you.” Swatting my ass with the flat of his hand so I yelped, he chuckled in that deep masculine tone of his.
****
Magnar stood just outside the doors of Zane’s rooms when we exited. I tried not to think about everything he’d heard during the night, but he made it impossible with his first words of the day.
“Get much rest last night?”
Zane guffawed loudly, quite smug about his indisputable prowess.
I stomped ahead. “Men. No different than on Earth.”
Quickly catching up with me, Zane clasped my hand in his strong grip. “Beg to differ.”
I sent him a withering glance, but he just laughed harder, and of course Magnar snickered behind us.
Ugh.
I didn’t know how Zane produced clothes that fit me—it appeared he was capable of conjuring items from thin air, which meant I had little choice in how he outfitted me. Although last night I’d felt like a sensual goddess, today there were finely woven leggings that stretched down to my calves, a soft sleeveless tunic belted at the waist, and flat sandals.
Before leaving the room, Zane had bent his head into the sheaf of my loose hair, breathing deeply.
“Like a blonde waterfall, meehri.”
His gentle compliment and tender touch had set my belly trembling.
Remembering his sweetness, I decided to forgive him for his rude male behavior, and once we stepped outside, I forgot everything else altogether.
What I’d seen last night was now showcased in full broad sunlight. No—a gasp punched up from my chest—four suns. I spun in a circle on the beautiful terrace, taking in the scenery in all directions.
“No moat or drawbridge?” Behind us, the royal palace spired up into the sky like a magical prismic vision and, below, a gently sloping lawn led toward a woodland area.
“The palace has its own secrets.” Zane winked.
“Such as?” I couldn’t help it. I was insatiably inquisitive.
“It’s imperceptible to most, but the layout of the royal quarters changes every day for security reasons.”
I cocked my head back at the crystal-like structure, astounded. “Okay. I’m not even gonna ask how in the world that’s possible.”
“I couldn’t tell you if I knew.”
Somehow I doubted that. But there was too much to discover, and a gleeful impatience made me bounce on the balls of my feet. “Where do we begin? Where’s everyone else?”
I’d noted no other people in our vicinity besides the ever-present Magnar.
“I’ve ordered all others to keep their distance for now.” He seemed to mull something over before adding, “You know, after what Prairie mentioned last night about being overwhelmed.”
“Of course. The prince can do that.” Then I frowned. If Zane truly were taking me on a tour of the surroundings, I wished I had my iPad with me so I could record detailed notes in my usual meticulous manner.
As if he’d anticipated my desire, Zane produced a gadget that was almost transparent and looked nearly weightless held in his big palms. He demonstrated, swiping a thumb across a screen that really only materialized when touched. Then he pointed the gadget at me, and the screen morphed into a 3D rendering of me, complete with my vitals.
“As you can see, the zPad is highly intuitive.”
I’d never witnessed such evolved technology—not even at NASA—and I wondered how many more times I’d be thunderstruck today. I couldn’t wait.
“Unbelievable.” I’d be able to effortlessly document flora and fauna and anything else that caught my fancy.
Obviously pleased with himself, Zane handed the tablet over, and I decided he’d be my very first subject.
The screen captured his likeness and immediately evolved into a small hologram of him. I studied the readout, which appeared in English . . . higher core temperature, same basic musculature and skeletal makeup, a few fascinating differences in the DNA sequence and . . .
Two heart chambers?
My eyes shot from the three-dimensional image to Zane.
“Holy crap!” There on the screen, on each side of his chest, two organs clearly beating. “Two hearts? Is that just you because of the . . .”
“All Zenithians.”
“Holy crap,” I repeated, stunned.
Then I glanced lower at the image. Zane’s diphallia was visible. More than visible. Both cocks showed an even higher temperature than the rest of his body, and I grew flustered, my cheeks heating.
He laughed, looping an arm around my shoulders. “Come.”
I practically skipped ahead, motioning a fingertip over the gadget so his image was recorded and banked. From the terrace, we strode onto a path, Magnar trailing behind, ever vigilant even though I’d never felt safer than with Zane at my side.
The pathway glittered, paved as it was with what appeared to be multicolor mineral stones when I used the device to scan the pebbles. Remarkable colors, more vibrant than any seen on Earth, dazzled me in every direction as we entered a forest.
“X and Kerta and I used to play here when we were children.” Zane reached out to touch the leaf of one of many trees that rose, gargantuan, around us.
When brushed against, the leaf gave off a tinkling noise, nothing like the rustle of leaves moved by a breeze in the woods on Earth.
These were no ordinary conifers, that was for damn sure.
I continued to study what was in front of me as well as what showed up on the tablet. The tree’s foliage wasn’t green at all. I marveled at the warm almost autumnal red and awed even more over how delicate the leaves looked. But when I tried to break one free to keep as a sample, Zane stopped me.
“Uh uhn. The tree won’t like that.”
CHAPTER NINE
Astrid
“WAIT? WHAT? ARE you telling me the tree is sentient?” I halted with his hand circling my wrist.
“Isn’t everything?”
“But you eat fruits and vegetables,” I countered. “And meat.”
“Only what we’re given to take.”
A vast new world was opening up right before my eyes.
“Flowers!” I rushed around a bend in the path, Zane’s long stride easily keeping up with mine.
I bent my head, ready to take a giant sniff of the lemony scent when he cautioned, “Careful. These ones are carnivorous.”
I backed away from the giant unfurled blossom, landing right against Zane’s chest.
“Kidding.”
“That’s not even funny!” I whirled on him.
“A little bit?” He swept me up and swung me around, and I forgot Magnar stood watching over us as Zane’s warm firm lips swooped down for a toe-curling, breath-stealing kiss.
“Don’t mind me.” Magnar’s low whistle dragged us apart. “Just out for a stroll here.”
“Remind me not to thank X for putting you on Astrid-detail.” Zane cut a glare to the warrior.
“I’m rather enjoying my detail. And the new scenery.”
A warning growl rumbled from Zane, and I looked back to see Magnar checking out my ass.
A flirty feminine feeling compelling me, I slowly bent at the waist to smell the fresh tangy fragrance of the flower.
Zane’s next warning rumble was aimed at me.
Flicking back my hair, I carried on through the forest, but there was an extra swivel in my hips.
Flocks of birds flittered overhead, Zane smiling beside me as I watched the colorful creatures zip across the sky.
“Wait until you see the glecaws,” he mentioned.
“Glecaws?”
“Birds of prey. Much bigger than an eagle.”
“Prairie said something about unix?”
“Ah. The unix. They’re her favorite. She wanted X to try to tame one for her.”
“He said no?” I couldn’t imagine the king denying Prairie anything.
“Unix aren’t pets.” He laced his fingers through mine. “He gave her a vehicle to rival her Ducati instead. Trust me, she didn’t complain.”
“She doesn’t seem the type to complain about anything.”
“No. But she is—”
“Sassy.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Magnar added, ambling behind us.
Laughter bubbled from my throat, and I breathed in the scents of the forest—earthy loam and luscious flowers. “Everything’s so remarkable here, Zane.”
Insects and lizards creeping in the underbrush caught my attention. Each life form decidedly foreign, most larger than anything I’d encountered on Earth, but nothing looked extraordinarily dangerous.
More fascinating than anything else.
Every time I stopped to crouch down, quickly imaging new unimaginable creatures or awesome colorful vegetation, Zane cocked his head in interest. So tall and muscled, he sometimes blotted out the suns’ light, but his warmth spread to me, from his body to mine.
After leaving the woods, we approached a plain; its short-cropped flat fields the truest blue I’d ever seen.
“I still can’t believe this is all real.”
“You have the proof you sought now.” Zane spun me toward him.
“But why me? Why a female from Earth? Why Earth at all?”
He cupped my chin tenderly, flicking through strands of hair that curled around my neck. “As for Earth, we’ve always ventured there. Homo sapiens are the most like us as a race, although subpar in terms of abilities, strength, and technology.”
“Are you insulting humans now?” I reared back.
“No.” Chagrined, he stifled a laugh. “No. I mean . . . Zenithian females are fine to bed when they’re agreeable—”
“If you call me a wench or anything like that right now I’m gonna smack you.”
Zane’s laugh roared up to the sky. “I wouldn’t dare. Our females are not so—”
He stopped when Magnar made his own warning sound, and I wondered what Zane had been on the brink of admitting.
“Take Prairie for instance.” He shrugged. “She is perfect for my brother. I wanted what they have. As for you . . . well,” looking out across the indigo blue fields, he slid his hand to my neck then to my shoulder, “your intelligence enthralls me, and your beauty beguiles me.”
My heart melted beneath his searing look. I was about to pull him to me for a kiss when the ground beneath our feet started shaking with such force I grabbed onto his forearm.
“Is it an earthquake?” Wild-eyed, I peered up at Zane.
His chest shook as much as the ground as laughter tumbled from him. “Tazek.”
“Tazek?” I heard deep lowing noises and leaned over to look beyond him. “Tazek!”
The massive furry beasts stampeded closer before Zane threw a hand back and the herd of animals stopped, en masse.
They milled, hundreds of them, ten feet away, mouths to the ground, blunt teeth tearing at the blue grass.
“They’re docile beasts mostly.” Zane ranged behind me and ringed me in the circle of his arms.
“Exactly what X said about human females,” Magnar drolly commented as he stepped beside us.
“I’m not docile!”
“I had noticed, meehri.” Zane nuzzled the side of my neck, which made me melt back against him . . . just like a docile creature begging for more of his touch.
It would take me a lifetime to make a detailed study of this planet—two lifetimes even. Then I remembered what Prairie had said, and Zane had admitted, about a Zenithian’s lifespan. And how human aging also slowed dramatically.
This civilization was quite simply nothing short of extraordinary.
“One more thing I want to show you.”
“Only one?” I asked.
“Two.” He smirked knowingly. “But you’ll get those later.”
We ventured in a different direction, bypassing the roadways that shimmered and glimmered and twisted, vehicles I couldn’t even begin to describe zooming past at such high speeds I was dizzied just watching.
Before long, Zane delivered me to the white sandy shores of a sea so vast I couldn’t detect an endpoint beyond the far horizon.
He kneeled down in front of me and unlaced the sandals from my feet, tossing them aside.
He likewise rid himself of boots, and I sunk my toes into the sand that seemed to glow.
“It’s so warm.” I bent my head back and the temperate heat of the suns washed across my face.
Zane’s hand curled around my collarbone before drifting between my breasts, down my center.
He tugged the belt at my waist, drawing me with him. “So is the Idris Sea.”
Air filled my lungs like oxygen. The salty briny scent of the ocean teased my nose. And I tiptoed across the sand to the foamy verge of waves. Waves that crested then seemed to curl back over in reverse?
I gave up investigating altogether in favor of sheer fun. Laughter spilled from my throat, bubbles of it burbling like the white suds the wavelets delivered to shore. Splashing my toes, I kicked a spray of water at Zane as he waded beside me with the most breathtaking smile, mirroring my effervescence back at me.
Oh my, but the man was all that and a couple big cocks. I snickered again, imagining Prairie saying such a thing.
Scurrying along the edge of the water, I hunted down a spiral-like shell similar to a prehistoric ammonite and just as massive.
I squatted down. “Don’t tell me. You have giant squid too?”
He hunkered beside me. “I can’t tell you all the secrets on your first full day.”
Launching myself at him, I toppled him onto the damp sand. I straddled his hips, my hands caging his wrists beside his head.
Electricity thrummed between us as my pussy aligned with his groin. With a moan, I leaned down, stretched on top of him. My wet lips sampled his, and he could’ve easily broken my hold but he didn’t.
Zane lay beneath me, apparently lax, but his body flexed, and his cocks thickened wickedly. I gave him another unhurried kiss, grinding down on the two poles of flesh that stimulated my rapidly swelling sex.
Easing back from his mouth with a gasp, I swiveled my pelvis more quickly.
Zane growled and tore his hands free. Done with being dominated, he flipped me to my back. My gurgling laugh turned into a throaty moan when he drove his shafts against me. His tongue plumbed the depths of my mouth, and I wondered if he’d try to breed me as his mate right there and then.
I might not even complain.
A loud whoosh—a flapping sound stronger than my moans and the sea’s crashing waves—interrupted our kiss. Zane’s head bent upward, and I followed his gaze.
Above us, giant birds flocked and dipped.
I pressed Zane off me, jumping up.
The unix!
“Oh my God!”
“Gods,” Zane muttered.
“They really do look like a cross between a phoenix and a unicorn!” There they were, enormous colorful griffon-like creatures.
“Indeed.”
White spiraling horns ro
se from the red-gold plumes on their heads. And they had tufted hindlegs with big clawed feet. They were large and loud and dazzling.
Several of the stunning oddities flapped slowly to the sand nearby. I gingerly approached, ignoring both Magnar and Zane who tried to caution me.
Their bright beaks looked sharp enough to tear flesh from bone, and their bright feathers fluffed up as if in threat, but I couldn’t stop myself. I bent my head in submission, not a predator.
The first unix lifted its beak, and beady eyes fixed on mine. It quirked its head with a curiosity I recognized.
Forgotten was the tablet.
Forgotten was my life back home.
Forgotten was everything but this one breath-stealing moment with a new species.
“Hey, gal. I’m not going to hurt you any,” I soothed, stepping closer.
The bird-mammal hybrid dipped its beak back down, neck feathers like a coxcomb, and remained majestically still as I touched the very tip of the very sharp horn rising from its forehead.
Petting the creature, I laid my cheek against her neck, feeling her preen beneath my hands.
“Fuck.” Zane raked a hand over his face. “Next thing you know she’ll have one tamed.”
“Like she’s taming you?” Magnar’s sardonic words drifted toward me.
Another noise, more like a quiet supersonic whir, startled the flock, and the unix ran shoreward before lifting up as one, the arrowed formation strangely similar to Canadian Geese.
I watched them fly off as Zane appeared at my side.
“Ah, shit,” Magnar mumbled, pointing in the opposite direction.
I followed his aim then stumbled against Zane. An entire fleet of . . . starships—sleek silver starships!—whizzed overhead.
“We must go now.” Zane herded me toward the palace, his voice harsh, his hold on my elbow unforgiving.
No matter how many times I asked him what was going on, he refused to answer me. And when we arrived at the very bottom of the palace—an area that seemed formed from the cliff overlooking the Idris Sea—X appeared.
The king, who’d been formidable yet good-humored the night before, now looked as grim as his brother.
“All right. Someone tell me what the hell’s happening,” I asked, all three men surrounding me immediately tense.
