by Sue Mercury
Her stomach flipped and she stepped back, holding the blanket tightly around her. Her heart pounded against her chest, her pulse thumping in her ears. She knew nothing about this huge muscular alien named Zurron, save that Mail Order Human promised his race treated their females well and the planet of Norina was beautiful.
But what if they’d lied to entice more human women to leave Earth? After the attack on the Starship Matchmaker by an unknown race of aliens and her subsequent sale to Four Arms, she didn’t know who to trust anymore.
“Come, my human, and I will heal your wounds and find you something to wear before we leave this wretched place.”
She nodded and allowed him to guide her into a narrow corridor. His ship was spotlessly clean compared to the dirty marketplace, the air surprisingly fragrant. She flushed. It was Zurron she was smelling, not the ship. His scent reminded her of a garden with seductive undertones of maleness.
She inhaled deeply, seeking more of him.
Every few seconds, the ship rocked, and after she almost fell down, Zurron scooped her up in his huge arms. Again, she had to blink back tears. No man had ever displayed such deep concern for her, let alone carried her.
He brought her into what appeared to be a medical bay. As she stared at the foreign contraptions that hung from the ceiling and the scent of antiseptics, she couldn’t restrain a shudder.
Zurron sat her on a high table and started pushing the blanket off her. When she protested, and shrank away from his probing hands, annoyance flickered in his gaze. But he finally stepped back and allowed her to cover herself back up, his irritation vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. He offered her a reassuring look.
“I will not harm you, my human. I only wish to examine you quickly to ensure you don’t need more than your ankles healed. We are short on time. My ship cannot withstand the winds of this great storm for much longer.”
She huddled within the confines of the blanket, thankful it was so large and thick. “Please just tend to my ankles. I promise I don’t have any other injuries, Zu-Zurron,” she said, testing his name on her tongue for the first time. Warmth filled her to say it aloud, and a slight smile touched his lips as he peered down at her, his gaze a mixture of concern and affection.
For a moment, she thought this was how her real father would’ve looked upon her if she’d skinned her knee as a child, if he hadn’t died right before she turned three. She swallowed hard. Her memories of her him were vague.
In fact, the only concrete memory she possessed was a time she sat on his lap during a loud thunderstorm. Flashes of lightning. His strong arms around her. It felt like a thousand years ago. Strange, how she recalled that moment in time, yet she couldn’t remember the day he died.
Zurron placed a finger beneath her chin, forcing her to meet his stare. Heat suffused her cheeks, and she wondered if he would tear the blanket off her, despite her protests. As large as he was, she wouldn’t be able to fight him. She gulped.
“I will heal your ankles now, Riley, and you may keep your blanket, but please stay very still.” He moved away and retrieved a small circular device.
He kneeled in front of her and held the device, now glowing blue with intermittent flashes of red, to her ankles and suddenly the burning pain caused by the manacles vanished. She gasped and peered down, stunned to find no markings left on her ankles.
“How-how did you…” The ship rocked again, cutting off her speech.
He stowed the device in a cabinet and then grabbed a pile of clothing before shutting the doors. Passing her the garments, he said, “These clothes will be huge on your little body, my human, but they must suffice until we return to my planet. I have already acquired proper attire for a human female, but I departed Norina in a rush and did not bring any along.”
She clutched the oversized pants and white shirt to her chest, staring at him pointedly. “Um, could you, you know, turn around for a second, please?”
Humor glinted in his eyes, but he turned around like a gentleman.
She sighed with relief. At least he wasn’t pawing at her and demanding they mate right away. Or did she have the storm to thank for that?
As she hurriedly threw off the blanket and donned the huge pants and shirt he’d provided, she stole glances at her mate from behind. Thick black hair hung about his shoulders. He wore form fitting leathery pants, not soft trousers like the pair she was now wearing. She couldn’t help but admire his muscular form. Even the largest, fiercest men on Earth—the sort of men who usually made a living as mercenaries or fighting for money in the death pits—weren’t built like him.
“Are you dressed now, Riley?”
“Yes, I’m all set. Thank you,” she said, hopping off the table.
He caught her mid-hop though and placed her down on the floor himself. She flushed all over at being so near to him again. His masculine scent drove her wild, an aphrodisiac to her senses. As she stared at him, she couldn’t help but wonder what he looked like shirtless. Or better yet, pants-less.
Oh God, get it together, Riley.
A few minutes ago, she’d thought she was about to die, and now she couldn’t stop mentally stripping her big green rescuer.
He cupped her face and leaned down to press his forehead against hers.
Too stunned to move, she reveled in the tenderness of his action. He took a deep breath, as if savoring the scent of her, before pulling back to stroke her hair behind her ears.
Goosebumps rose up all over her flesh and she felt delightfully breathless.
“Come, my human. I will find you something to eat and drink, and you can sit in the co-pilot’s seat while I navigate us out of here, as long as you promise not to touch any of the controls.”
Her stomach rumbled at the prospect of food. “Thank you, and I promise.”
*
“Remember,” he said sternly, “Do not touch anything.”
She swallowed the last of the meal rations, her eyes bulging when she glanced at the co-pilot controls in front of her. “Don’t worry. I haven’t the first clue how to fly your ship.” She took a sip from the canteen of water, then sighed with contentment.
He wondered when she’d last eaten a full meal and once again entertained thoughts of torturing the four-armed creature to death. The warrior inside him raged to pummel the alien bloody.
“Would you like another packet of rations?”
“No, thank you. It was delicious, though.”
“If you think that’s delicious, wait until you sample the cuisine on Norina.” He couldn’t wait to spoil her on his home planet and make up for her horrible experiences since the attack on the Starship Matchmaker.
He directed his gaze straight ahead. Nothing but black clouds were visible in the front viewscreen. He wasn’t familiar with this planet, but he was glad the weather on Norina was much fairer, due to a planetary weather control system.
Riley quickly described what had happened below just before he beamed her aboard, and his blood boiled knowing the four-armed creature left her to drown. When he returned to seek his vengeance, he would make her former captor suffer greatly. There would be no quick death for the four-armed creature.
His anger cooled a bit though when she expressed her relief that none of the aliens below had physically harmed her or even tried to touch her, instead viewing her as a curiosity and nothing more.
He thanked the Star Gods that she hadn’t been assaulted. Some of the women taken from the Starship Matchmaker wouldn’t be so lucky. The message about his brothers’ return to Norina had been brief, and he hoped his brothers’ mates hadn’t been harmed by their temporary masters.
“Thank you for finding me in time, Zurron. I never imagined anyone would be looking for me.” Her shy smile made his cock twitch, and he had to force himself to concentrate on navigating out of the raging storm.
“A Norinan male will die to protect his mate, Riley. We cherish our females.”
She gave him an inquisitive look that was laced with
sadness. “Is there a shortage of females on your planet? Is that why you wanted me?”
Her question, though innocent, hurled him into a dark place. He tensed and focused on escaping the storm.
The silence in the bridge became uncomfortable, and she leaned away from him, as if sensing the rage pumping through his body.
Once they were in open space, the planet of her imprisonment growing smaller behind them in the reverse viewscreen, some of the tension drained from his limbs, though he was still angry. He would always be angry over the loss of all Norinan females. Not a day passed that he didn’t question the Star Gods, the creators of all life, for allowing such a tragedy to occur.
“Zurron,” she said gently, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m sorry if my question upset you.”
“It is all right, my human.” He set the ship to autopilot, inhaled a calming breath, and turned to face her. “Many generations ago, some of our females caught a virus from the inhabitants of a supply outpost in a sector near our planet. The disease didn’t affect our males, though males could carry the disease, and the illness went on to ravage our female population for the next few generations. For a female to become infected meant certain death. Every time our scientists discovered a cure for the illness, it would mutate and go on to claim more and more females, until the last of our females died. I was a child when our last females perished. I lost my mother and a sister, as well as several aunts and cousins. My father and uncles kept our family high in the mountains of Norina, in hopes of keeping the females in our family safe, but one day…”
Riley reached across the space between them and grabbed his hand, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “But one day the disease found your family and you lost those you cared for most,” she finished for him.
“Yes.” He squeezed her hand briefly, and then she commenced rubbing her thumb along his palm.
Her touch and her compassion was a blast of pure light, a consoling force as the dark memories washed over him. He was so stunned by the incandescent rush that for a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
“A trader came up the mountain with his wife one day. Not long after they left, all the females in my family became ill and perished. One by one, they departed this life.”
“I’m so sorry, Zurron.”
He glanced at the reverse viewscreen. The planet diminished to a speck of blue light behind them, until finally disappearing amidst the stars.
With his free hand, he reached for the hyperspace controls, unwilling to part from Riley’s touch. The softness of her hand enthralled him. Norinans had much rougher skin. As the ship jumped to hyperspace and the stars became a blur of white streaks in the front viewscreen, he couldn’t help but rub his fingers against the smooth palm of her little hand, tracing the intricate lines.
“We will arrive on Norina soon. My two brothers have rescued their stolen human females as well, and I recently received a message that they have already returned home. There will be a grand celebration once we land on the mountain, for we have females in our family once again.”
An anxious expression tightened her face. She stared ahead at the white streaking stars and swallowed hard. He hadn’t glimpsed a female, let alone spoken to one, since he’d been a child, and he couldn’t imagine what had her upset in this moment.
“Do your ankles pain you, Riley?”
“No, the pain is completely gone, thank you.”
“Why are you shaking again, my beloved? And why are your eyes filled with worry?”
When she turned toward him, her face was frighteningly pale.
“Riley?”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She pointed at the front viewscreen and covered her mouth.
Of course. He berated himself for not having considered that she was unaccustomed to hyperspace travel sooner. “Close your eyes, my beloved. I will take care of you.”
Chapter Three
True to his promise, he took care of her.
Riley snuggled in the bedsheets, inhaling his delicious scent, as she slowly awoke. She’d been asleep for an indiscernible amount of time, but now she felt completely recovered.
Zurron.
At the thought of him, her heart commenced pounding. He’d carried her to the medical bay where he’d given her a sweet-smelling mist to inhale that had instantly alleviated her nausea. He’d been so gentle and caring as he tended to her. The side effects of the medicine were fatigue though, and she had soon succumbed to sleep in his arms.
She smiled. He must have carried her to his bed. Turning over, she gasped to find him standing above her, staring down at her with an intensity that made her pussy spasm with heat.
Her heart pounded faster. He was so handsome and so sweet, she half-wondered if maybe she had perished in the flood. Surely, this couldn’t be real.
He sank down on the bed beside her. His hand went to her hair at once, and tingles raced up her spine as he stroked her long matted locks. She probably looked a mess, but he didn’t seem to mind. He gazed at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the universe.
“Thank you for the medicine and for allowing me to sleep. I feel much better now.” Her face heated. “Sorry for the trouble I caused you.”
His eyebrows lifted, as if he was censuring her for something she’d said. “It was no trouble, my human. I vowed to keep you safe, did I not? Your wellbeing is my responsibility and I am honored to care for you.”
Riley couldn’t imagine any of the men she’d known on Earth saying such a thing or holding their women in such high esteem, especially her stepfather or his sleazy friends. She’d been called pathetic and stupid and ugly so many times that she’d started to believe it.
They’d met but hours ago and Zurron couldn’t truly have fallen in love with her already, but his commitment to her based on his culture’s apparent regard for women left her awestruck. She hoped all the women who signed up for Mail Order Human over the years were as lucky.
Then a thought struck her and her spirits darkened.
“What will happen to the women from the Starship Matchmaker who weren’t destined for your planet? Only about half on the ship were headed for Norina, the other half were headed to other planets.”
“The aliens who attacked the Starship Matchmaker were slavers, Riley. Every female taken will have been sold by now. I trust all the females destined for Norina will be rescued, but whether or not the females intended for the other planets are rescued is up to the aliens of those worlds. The Norinan High Council has transmitted a wide message in this sector about the attack, and all the other planets that were supposed to receive a delivery of human females should learn of the attack soon, if they haven’t already.”
“It happened so fast. One second we were eating breakfast, and the next second the alarms went off and the ship took hit after hit. Before the slavers boarded the Starship Matchmaker, the air filled with a strange blue mist. It made us all very groggy. I remember being carried off the ship, too fatigued to fight back. The drug seemed to last for days, and it wasn’t until I’d already been sold to Four Arms that I regained my full awareness.” She paused and stared into Zurron’s dark bottomless depths, feeling thankful all over again to have been rescued, especially by such a kind and handsome alien. The very alien intended as her mate, no less. “I hope all the women are found. I thought I had it bad on that planet with Four Arms, but I know it could have been a lot worse.”
She tried not to think about what would have happened if the aliens on that planet had been interested in her sexually. She fought down a surge of panic. Too many times she had worried one of her stepfather’s friends would find their way into her bedroom after drinking too much. More than once she’d seen the knob turn in the midst of one of his parties, only to be stopped by the deadbolt lock she’d installed. After her stepfather discovered the lock, he had removed it in a rage, forcing her to make do with shoving a dresser in front of her door just to feel safe.
But she had
never felt entirely safe, not even when she had the door blocked and slept with a knife under her pillow. She’d dreamed of running away countless times, but she’d never had the courage. She would’ve been too exposed living on the streets, so she had bided her time until a representative from Mail Order Human arrived in her town with promises of a better life.
“Tell me about Norina,” she said, wanting to get her mind off Earth.
Zurron’s face lit up. “It’s the largest planet in the sector. It has twenty-seven continents, vast blue oceans teeming with life, green fertile land with rolling hills, and beautiful mountains. The mountain areas are my favorite, like the place my family calls home. There are also many large lakes in our mountain regions. Our entire planet is regulated by a weather control system, so you will not need fear any terrible storms or floods. There are no large cities like you might find on other planets, but rather small villages, as Norinans do not like to live crowded together. My family makes a living mining for gems in the mountain caves.”
“It sounds lovely. I can’t wait to see it.”
“You won’t have to wait much longer. We’re almost there.” He rose from the bed, and she mourned the loss of him as he backed toward the door. “Stay and rest while I land the ship.”
Riley nodded, excitement churning in her tummy. Soon she would arrive at her new home, a place far away from the uncertain future she’d faced on Earth. She sat up in bed and tried to comb her fingers through her knotted hair, but without much luck. At least the flood waters had washed most of the grime off her, she thought wryly.
Despite her eagerness to start her new life, she chided herself for daring to harbor such high hopes.
The planet might not be as wonderful as Zurron promised. The other Norinans might not like her. Zurron might not always be so kind and gentle toward her. He’d promised to kill Four Arms, so he had a violent side.
What if she became infected with the same illness that had killed off all Norinan females? Zurron had mentioned males could carry the disease. Her stomach lurched at the prospect.
