Sold to the Alien Outlaws

by Cain, Corin

  I wince. “I know. I couldn’t believe it myself, but… Here I am! But Jenna… I don’t just want to be some… Some breeding chattel.”

  Jenna nods. “So, do you want to leave? I can get you out of here. We can find some way to stop the Bond from working, or whatever, so they can’t follow you.”

  I open my eyes wide, not sure if she’s serious or not.

  As I look up at her, I can tell from Jenna’s face that she is – deadly serious. If I say the word, she’d find a way for me to get far beyond the reach of this Aurelian triad. She’d do anything for me, and I feel so lucky to have her on my side.

  “Jenna, where did my father find you?”

  She laughs. “Let’s just say I left out some things on my resume when I applied for the job. Look, I was going to tell you… But we’d started becoming friends, and I didn’t want anything to get between us and…”

  Confusion fills me. “And what? What do you mean?”

  “Your mom knew she was dying when you were fifteen. She knew you’d need someone on your side. I… I was trained not just to be a servant, but to protect you. I never knew who my parents were, but your mom took me off the streets and hired the best soldiers and strategies to make me a good bodyguard for you. She was a really smart woman, your mother.”

  I suddenly see Jenna in a new light. “I don’t get it! Why did you keep this a secret?”

  She shrugs. “I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to think I felt like I had to take care of you, like you couldn’t do it yourself. I’m sorry I kept that a secret from you.”

  There’s too much new information to process. In a world in which I’d just been Bonded to three huge, hulking alien warriors, I couldn’t let anything get between me and the one person I’ve trusted ever since my mother died.

  I make the choice. I don’t care that she hid things from me. I’m just glad to have her as a friend.

  “Jenna, I honestly don’t care. There’s been so much going on that…”

  Jenna nods. “I get it. You’ve been through a lot. But I mean it. If you want to get out of here, I’ll find a way for you. Your mom gave me a life. I would have been living on the streets like a rat if she hadn’t given me a purpose. I owe her everything, and I owe you everything.”

  I turn and pull myself from the pool. I’ve been naked in front of Jenna so many times that I don’t feel the same self-consciousness as normal. I shudder as I realize that I haven’t felt self-conscious with the Aurelians, either. There’s something about being too turned on to think that does that to a girl!

  “I don’t know what I want.”

  Except I do.

  When she told me that I could leave, I felt a tinge of sadness and grief. Imagining living without these three warriors – Bonded to me, against all the odds – would be a lonely prospect.

  I realize exactly what I want. I want to be with them, and to feel their adoration for me growing and blossoming. I want to bear them their sons – but not until I’ve found out exactly what else I want from my life.

  I smile at Jenna. “I want to be with them. Maybe… Maybe you can help me figure out what else I want from my life, though. I don’t want to be defined by being Bonded to Aurelians. I want to make something happen in my own life, without them.”

  Jenna cocks her head to one side, considering what I’d said. She pats me on the thigh. “I get it. You’re a fucking amazing person, Lezena. You’ve got a lot to offer.”

  I stand up, and Jenna walks to the side of the room where towels are laid out. She grabs one and hands it to me. It’s luxuriously soft, and already warmed up. I pull it around myself and sit down on one of the many chairs in the “bathroom”. I’d call it a poolroom, except that the manor has a second, much larger pool in a different section of the house.

  What do I want to do?

  Then it hits me, like a slap to the face.

  I want to help people who were in situations just like me. I want to find a way to help girls who are wedded off to men they don’t want to be married to.

  It’s not just nobles, low and high, who are forced into bad marriages. The women of Tear were sold into slavery just to appease three Aurelian warriors. I need to find a way to make sure nothing like that happens again, anywhere in the universe.

  “I want Tear to be better for girls like me,” I say softly, trying to figure out how I could make that happen.

  Jenna tuts. “The whole arranged marriage thing – strategic coupling, you could call it – is never going to end. That’s steeped in tradition. But before your mom pulled me out of poverty… I can’t tell you how many of my friends, who were lucky enough to have families, as poor as they were, got sold off to older men. They didn’t call it slavery – but when an eighteen-year-old girl marries a fifty-year-old businessman who just happens to give the mother and father a significant dowry… Well, that’s almost as bad as slavery to me.”

  “I had no idea what your life was like before I met you.”

  Jenna laughs. “I made sure you didn’t. Every time you asked me questions about it, I’d change the subject. It’s not your fault.”

  I wince. “But how could I possibly help women like them?”

  Jenna shrugs. “I don’t know. But I know you’re an amazing person, Lezena, and you’ve got three strong men who want to make you happy. If you snap your fingers, they’ll start working to do whatever you ask of them.”

  I laugh. “I don’t think so, Jenna. They aren’t the kind of guys to get bossed around.”

  Jenna smiles, then looks me dead in the eye. “I’ll teach you some tricks.”

  * * *

  Ten years later

  * * *

  There’s been no official pardon, but unofficially? We’re off the Aurelian Enforcement hit list, as long as we stay out of their territory.

  My escape from Tear was ironically the best thing that could have happened to my father. The stores of Liquidium were sixteen times bigger than expected – which the Dulloth and Kala families had known long before they offered to marry Kendrick to me.

  Now the two houses couldn’t con or swindle him out of those reserves, my father reaped the benefits of them himself. He became richer than he could possibly have imagined - and is now a fully-fledged noble himself.

  I watched a holo-feed video when he accepted the title. He’d never looked so proud. There wasn’t a hint of sadness that we hadn’t spoken in two years.

  But that’s the past.

  Jenna winks at me while the production representative drones on in the holo-screen. She’s dressed sharply in a grey and black stripped dress that stops just short of her knees, with a pink blazer thrown seemingly haphazardly over the top.

  The look is effortlessly stylish, while I still have to ask her for advice on what to wear.

  Jenna doesn’t care that the bright colors aren’t normally suited to the manager of a company. I wish I could feel so carefree. My stomach has been churning for the last two weeks while my triad is off working for Korgath, providing security by killing and clearing Scorp nest after Scorp nest from the outskirts of the mining colonies.

  They’ve been doing it for ten years now, and it makes me sick with worry every time.

  Jenna puts up a finger as she speaks to the representative through the holo-screen.

  “That’s great, and we’re happy with the prices and the timeline, but we need you to commit to a living wage for your workers. We did the numbers. 68% of your factory workers are women, often from the poorest sectors of Tear. If you want to do business with us, you’ll need to increase their wage by… 24%.” Jenna reads the number off the sheet in front of her, and then adds an additional percentage point to them.

  The production agent looks flustered. He was prepared for us to fight for a lower price on the first line of clothes in our factory on Tear, but he wasn’t prepared for us to fight for higher wages as well.

  It takes an hour to convince him, but eventually we get the deal done. I’m glad I have Jenna
on the frontlines. She’s like a wraith-wolf, tearing into whatever is in her way. I would have offered more money per garment, but she got our initial price and everything else we wanted.

  In the last decade, the 185940AB Foundation – named generically, as I can’t exactly put my own name on it – has been quietly working to improve the condition of low-class and impoverished women on Tear.

  These things take time - and I have plenty of it. But will I still have my triad, when they refuse to stop going out into danger?

  I feel a pang of sadness. We’re the same age, but Jenna looks thirty while I still look twenty. The Bond has slowed my aging. I wish she could live for thousands of years like me. It isn’t fair, but it’s reality.

  I shudder as it pulses again.

  The Bond.

  It’s been growing stronger. I’ve fought it back for ten years, and now I’m finally ready to give in. I’ve built up something of my own. Now it’s time to build something with my triad.

  Jenna beams and gives me a huge high-five after the video feed cuts. “You’re going to do it tonight, right?”

  I nod. “It’s time. I’ve proved I can withstand the urges of the Bond and make my own damn decisions.”

  The boardroom on our huge transport ship is spartan, but functional. The conference table was made of the minerals of an asteroid we’d stumbled across during one of our many flights. My triad has been working on and off as security for Korgath. Every time they go out, it breaks my heart. I know they’re vicious and unstoppable in combat, but thinking of their perfect ivory skin being pierced by the ravaging claws of a Scorp warrior makes me sick with worry every time.

  They’re going to hate me for what I tell them.

  “Did you talk it over with Ella?” Jenna asks, and I hear the slight tinge of jealousy in her voice. It’s not Jenna’s fault. Ella is Korgath’s mate, and though she outwardly looks like she’s in her mid-twenties, she’s lived for over a hundred years already. It’s not Jenna’s fault that it’s easier to relate to someone going through the same urges as I am, and someone who has already sired a dozen of the huge Aurelian babies.

  Though it feels wrong to admit it, there’s also the fact that she’s made it possible for my foundation to exist. I might have the Albright name, but I don’t have an ounce of the family fortune – not anymore.

  “She thought your idea was perfect,” I reply, and I wince inwardly, knowing how much the three proud Aurelian warriors will fight what I’m going to tell them. It’s lucky I’m the one Bonded to these Aurelians, and not Jenna. She’s got such a strong will and such powerful self-confidence that the Bond might end up bringing out even more assertiveness and power in her.

  There’s a thud as the Reaver lands in the ship’s hold. I can feel the three warriors in my mind. Their auras are always tense after they clear out a Scorp nest. This one was particularly bad, and was hounding the miners of the nearby asteroids with near-constant waves of attacks. I felt a jolt of fear when Leon took a wound – feeling it even thousands of miles away, through the Bond – but he seems fine now.

  This time.

  I know how close my beloved warriors come to death every time they fight.

  “I’ll give you some privacy,” says Jenna, grabbing a file and leaving the boardroom. I sigh. I wish I didn’t have to face this alone.

  She leaves, and the front double doors swing open as my victorious warriors finally return. I’m filled with pride. The three Aurelians are so tall and certain – like three rocks of stability in my mind. Not once have I ever felt a pang of jealousy with them. Not once have they so much as looked at another woman, or ever made me feel anything less than perfect in their eyes.

  Raekon still has blood on his forehead. “I took the head off the Scorp Queen, but Leon said you would not appreciate it as a present.” He laughs, confident and cocky.

  Leon shrugs, and pushes forward to kiss me deeply. He feels my restraint, and gives me a long look. “Something is troubling you. Don’t worry, my sweet. Scorp will never be quick enough to… Ah!”

  He gasps out in pain as I give him a big hug, purposefully squeezing the cut on his arm that he’s hidden beneath his armor.

  Leon winces, and that’s enough to tell me the tale. Aurelians hate to show weakness. If he’s unable to stop the sound of pain, it means it was bad.

  Leon steps back, anger clouding his eyes. “That was not fair, my love.”

  I breathe in deeply. “Well, this will make you feel better. I’m ready. I’m ready to have children with you.”

  It’s been ten years of seed spilled on my breasts, ten years of never having the deep satisfaction of feeling their spurts deep inside of me.

  Instant, deep joy suddenly floods the Bond as the three Aurelians look at me with adoration. Leon’s anger disappears instantly under the avalanche of satisfied happiness. They’ve been stone-faced for ten years. I know deep inside they’ve been hoping each and every day that I will grant them their true purpose – of procreating their species.

  But they’ve remained reserved and respectful, never pressuring me though the Bond has been driving them insane with need.

  It’s insidious. I’ll receive constant images of becoming pregnant blossoming in my mind, put there by the Bond. It took me ten years to fully get a hold on these images and know that this decision is mine, and mine alone.

  I’ve chosen this, and haven’t been pressured into it by the Bond.

  Besides, until now, there have always been other… benefits to the Bond.

  The sex has always mind-blowing with the Aurelians, but the Bond takes it to the next level. Pain turns to pleasure, humiliation to arousal, submission to the purest pleasure. Every time we fuck, I lose count of how many times I cum hard, losing my mind with these gorgeous warrior men.

  Raka leans forward to kiss me, but I put my finger up to his lips. “On one condition.”

  “Anything, my sweet,” he says, his lips hungry for mine.

  “You stop fighting Scorp. You stop this whole… fantasy of being a soldier. You three don’t need to work anymore. I know you don’t. Ella told me all about it. Korgath views a Bonded triad as the only thing that matters for our species, and he’s willing to give you as much money as you need. Your species is dying out, for Gods sake! There’s no reason for any of you to put yourself at risk.”

  Raekon growls. He wipes the blood from his forehead, and his anger flairs through the Bond. “We don’t take charity. We earn our keep through blood.”

  I force back the tears from my eyes. I’ve been trying for ten years to get them to stop going out there into danger, without any success. Every time the warrior triad goes into war, my heart is practically scared to beat again until they’re back.

  “I’m not going to raise your children myself! I’m not going to raise them with a hole in my mind where one of you should be! If you can’t do this for me, I don’t want to be yours,” I gasp, breaking down.

  Raka grabs Raekon by the shoulder, and pulls him back, looking into his eyes. “What is pride, compared to sons?”

  Raekon snarls. He pulls himself back. “I won’t have my sons born to a father who sits at home while the real men fight! I won’t have my sons learning that others will take care of you.”

  He pulls away, leaving the room, his shoulders up.

  Leon and Raka pause. For a moment, I think they are going to come to me. Instead, they follow Raekon out.

  I’m left alone.

  The triad’s aura suddenly mute. I’ve learned how to do it, as well - it’s the process of cutting off your emotions from the rest of the Bond. Instead of feeling their anger, joys and sorrows, I am left with a dull greyness. I shudder. It’s horrifying, imagining that they would might ever be completely pulled from my mind.

  But that’s what I risk, every time they go out killing. Every time, they risk their lives to keep miners, merchants, and transport ships safe.

  I hate that I’ll be pulling them away from their joy in life, but I hope they
understand that it’s not their purpose. It’s not fair that they go out and risk their lives to save strangers, when they’ll have a family to protect.

  Even through the muted Bond, I can feel my triad leave. They are on their Reaver, flying away, probably to go take the next assignment Korgath has for them. It’s pretty fucking clear what their answer is.

  Grief hits me.

  I love these three men, but they’ll never change. They will never put me before their own identities as warriors and protectors. I feel guilty that I ever wanted them to deny their true selves – but at the same time, I could never bear the sons of men who could be snuffed out in an instant. The thought of having to raise Aurelian sons alone, without the guiding presence of their own species, is horrific. It would not just be unfair to me – but also unfair to our offspring.

  I always thought of marriage as a beartrap. I always thought I’d be the one forced to become whatever the man I married chose me to be.

  Now I’m on the other side of that predicament.

  If the Aurelians can’t change – then I’ll remain with them, because my love for the three of them will never falter…

  …but I will not be the mother of their children. I’ll resist the Bond no matter what, for the next thousand years if needs be.

  As if thinking about the Bond is enough to make it aware, I feel a sudden surge of need between my legs. It’s torturous. I want so deeply to feel their hot seed between my legs. I’ve learned to fight the urges back – the waves that become more powerful by the second – but now they’re so strong I know I’ll be a whimpering puddle of need if I hold out too much longer.

  I gasp as cold water is suddenly splashed on my face. I open my eyes to see Jenna standing in front of me. “I saw them rushing out and knew things went bad. Urge wave?”

  I nod, biting my lip. She’s seen me like this before – so often that she’s coined a term for it, the ‘urge wave.’

  It’s when images flash through my mind, put there by the Bond. All I can think of is that moment of pure submission, as I am filled deep with the hot seed of my triad. I imagine their hands gripping and groping at me, three sets of mouths licking and slathering at my body as they drink me up, body and soul.