Brianna (15 page)

“Hmmm.” The lack of sleep was finally beginning to take its toll on him.

She traced it again.
A tattoo. I always wanted to get one but
never had the courage. This is a bit more than a rose on the
ass cheek or a butterfly in the small of my back. Oh well, what
the hell. When in Rome…
“Can I have one?”

Char stilled his caressing hand and began to laugh, first lightly, then more loudly. Brianna jerked herself out of his arms.

“Well, you don’t have to laugh at me,” she sniffed, unsure whether to be angry or burst into tears from what seemed like rejection. “If I’m not supposed to wear a dragon, just say so!”

Reading her emotions correctly, Char pulled her back down onto his chest. “I am not laughing at you, love, but at myself.

The sooner a dragon rides your shoulder the better. Once you wear one, no one dare harm you.”

She pursed her lips. “Does it have to look like yours?”

He yawned. “If you want, but most of us design our own.”

Brianna wanted to say more, but his exhaustion was obvious. Reaching over to the nightstand, she dimmed the lights.

Soon his deep breathing filled the room.

“At least you don’t snore
,”
she muttered as she eased out of the bed.

Returning to the other room, Brianna found where her shirt had fallen and slipped it over her head. It fell to the middle of her thighs so she didn’t bother with the pants. Her makeshift cuffs had kept falling down anyway.

The door toned. Brianna looked at it dubiously, but then she shrugged. Walking over to the opening mechanism, she palmed the door and stepped back as it opened to reveal Beti with her arms full of clothing.

Pushing past Brianna, the Aradab dropped what she carried on the sofa. Looking around the room, she noticed where the plates and tray had fallen on the floor. For the first time Brianna detected emotion on an Aradab’s face when Beti smiled briefly.

She left the room with out a word, only to return in a few minutes with supplies to clean the mess.

She finally spoke before she left the second time. “Princess Merilinlalissa sent clothing. If you ever wish to come out, you will have something to wear.”

After those few short words, Beti left, taking the dirty dishes and cleaning supplies with her.

Brianna shook her head, and then went to look through the things Meri had sent. Finally, clothes!

Sighing happily, she pulled on a pair of panties and soon found the green pants and tunic she’d worn the day before.

Grabbing the brush that she’d laid on the end table earlier, she brushed and rebraided her hair. Then she began to sort through her borrowed finery.

Once she had everything sorted, she decided against putting it in Char’s closet before he woke. He needed his sleep.

She could, however, take a quick bath.

Moving quietly through the bedroom, she sent a quick glance his way. He had rolled onto his stomach, and sprawled across the middle of the bed. His tail dangled over the side.

Pausing, she reached towards it then stopped. He did need his rest. But, if it was the last thing she did, she was going to find out what that tail was good for.

Closing the door to the bathroom, Brianna shrugged out of her clothing and turned on the water in the tub. After it was adjusted to a comfortable temperature, she stepped in, being careful not to wet her hair.
Too bad I don’t have any bubble
bath. Oh well, I don’t have room to stretch out anyway.

Leaning back, she relaxed, enjoying the warm water, contemplating what design her dragon should be…and arguing with herself.

What were you thinking, Brianna, to ask for a tattoo? You
just got married, for God’s sake—to an alien yet. Now you want
to get his clan tattoo? You don’t even know if this marriage will
last. What if you can’t get it off?

She shook her head.
Tattoos come off. It’s painful, but
possible. And it will help protect me.

Brianna leaned her head back against the edge of the tub and closed her eyes.
Oh, why didn’t I just call in sick that day!

Her conscience answered.
If you had, Miklan and Cindar
would be dead. Then their planet would probably want to make
war on ours. Where would we be then?

“If we were home, I’d get in there with you.”

Brianna opened her eyes and stared at her husband.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I will climb in with you, and you will turn your lovely shade of pink when someone comes to dismantle the tub to get us out.”

As Char had known they would, his words brought a rosy blush to her breasts and face.

Brianna exacted her own subtle revenge, however. As she rose from the tub, the water cascaded from her body.

His eyes narrowed as she turned coyly and turned on the air jets. Running her hands slowly down her body, she smoothed water drops from her glistening skin. When he stepped over to the tub and reached for her, she stepped out and slipped past him.

“No you don’t. You told me yourself that you had to get back to Control. Touch me, you know very well that you’ll be late.”

Char’s eyes glowed. “Minx. I’ll exact my revenge for this.”

As he turned to adjust the shower for himself, Brianna reached out, grabbed his tail, and gave it a good yank.

Char yelped. “When I get you…”

“You have to catch me first!” floated through the door as it slid closed.

Char could only laugh. No woman had ever had the audacity to pull his tail.

Brianna was in the process of placing the clothing Meri had sent to her in the closet when he walked out of the bathroom, naked as usual. He leaned against the closed door as he watched her bustle about. Then, walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest.

She squirmed in his arms. “Let me go. I haven’t finished rearranging your closet so there will be room for the things Meri gave me. Besides, you have to go to Control. I put a clean uniform on the bed.”

“Married barely a day and already you sound like a wife,”

Char grumbled in an amused tone. But he did release her and don his uniform.

“Don’t you ever wear underwear?”

“Underwear?” he asked as he slipped his tail through the small sleeve in the back of his uniform. The sleeve was approximately two inches long and provided protection for the base of his tail. Brianna hadn’t realized it before she’d pulled it, but his tail was covered with fine yet thick hair.

“You know, small clothes worn under your outer clothing next to your skin, like the panties I wear.”

“No.”

She snorted. “Well, that cuts down on laundry bills.”

Laughing as he pulled his suit up onto his shoulders, he fastened the seven buttons that rode diagonally across the inverted golden vee on his chest to the top of his right shoulder.

He certainly cut a trim figure in the forest green and gold uniform that molded itself to his body. Her gaze was drawn to the distinct bulge at the juncture of his thighs.

“It will become much larger if you keep staring. Then, I promise you, I won’t get to Control at all.”

Brianna’s face flamed, but she lifted it defiantly. “If a little look is all it takes, it’s a wonder your race conquered space at all.”

Still grinning, he crossed the room and planted a swift kiss on her forehead. Her pert tongue was becoming a constant source of amusement. “Begin thinking about your dragon. I’ll send Lorilana to you.”

Brianna sighed. “Is there anything she doesn’t do?”

“I wouldn’t trust anyone else to mark your flesh,” he said as he left the room. “Think on the design. Lorilana is a very capable artist.”

Brianna’s mouth snapped shut. “Mark my flesh! Will this
hurt
?”

Char’s laughter floated back through the closed door.

“Men!” she mumbled as she carried borrowed clothing into the bedroom.

She had just finished rearranging the closet to her taste when the outer door chimed. She left the bedroom and discovered Lorilana waiting outside.

“Char certainly didn’t waste any time readjusting the door commands, did he?” Lorilana commented peevishly as she entered.

Brianna blushed but chuckled all the same as she sat down on the sofa.

“You and Char seem to be getting along very well.”

Brianna shrugged and said nothing. She didn’t trust her voice.

A devilish grin on her face, Lorilana sat down. “Char said you wanted me for something. From what I observed, he was doing just fine by himself.”

Brianna’s face flamed red and she began to stutter.

Lorilana reached over and placed her hand on Brianna’s arm. “I’m sorry, my dear, but it was impossible to resist. Char’s never shown so much interest in a woman.”

“He’s never been married before, either!”

Lorilana’s perfectly formed eyebrows rose. This girl had a temper. Backtracking, her tone became more neutral. “What would you like?”

“A dragon.”

Lorilana froze.

“Char explained that a dragon will make it that much harder for Bakom to claim me.”

Speechless, Lorilana nodded her head. The marriage itself and the discovery of the dols and orcs would keep Brianna out of Bakom’s grasp. Why did Char tell her she needed a dragon?

“Did Char tell you how important the clan symbols of Drakan are, Brianna?”

Brianna thought back to the declaration of fidelity he had made to her. “Yes,” she answered simply.

Lorilana was glad she was sitting down because she wasn’t sure her legs would have been able to support her. Char would compromise his clan for no one.

Lorilana voiced her concerns. “Do you understand what wearing a dragon means? You’ll be irrevocably Alalakan.”

Brianna stared at the darkness outside the large window.

“Char said having a dragon tattoo is the last step in becoming Alalakan.”

Lorilana stared at Brianna until she wanted to squirm. “Very well. Did Char explain you are expected to design your own?

Did he tell you a clan tattoo can’t be removed once it’s been applied?”

Brianna froze, her thoughts turned inward.
Can’t be
removed? Do I really want to do this?
Gritting her teeth, she glanced back to Lorilana.
The tattoo makes me Alalakan. The
entire clan hates this Bakom guy. If it keeps me from becoming
a biology experiment, it’s worth it. Besides, you only live once.

She nodded at the older woman, who listened silently as she then explained exactly what she wanted.

Lorilana said nothing about the implications of the design the younger woman outlined. Perhaps this girl from across the galaxy was what Drakan needed. She’d certainly make life more interesting.

*

Brianna yawned again and tried to stay awake until Char returned. He’d sent a message and an excellent meal, but that meal combined with the dullness of the historical video she was watching slowly overcame her determination to stay awake.

Her eyes closed and she jerked them open.

Her head nodded and her eyes closed again.

She dreamed of Lorilana and dragons.

Brianna stood behind Lorilana as she lectured a green and gold dragon about clan etiquette, something about how the majority of wives or husbands didn’t adopt their new clan’s totem for at least a year after marriage. No tattoo meant a marriage was much easier to dissolve.

The dragon shouldered Lorilana aside. Grasping Brianna gently with its forepaws, it enfolded her in its soft, leathery wings.

The lights were completely dimmed when Char entered his quarters. He’d been forced to stay in Control much longer than planned because Bakom tried to tap into and manipulate the master computer to disguise the fact that he’d sent a message.

The major programs hadn’t been affected, but there were small idiosyncrasies that had to be corrected. It had taken him and his officers hours to correct the damage.

The prospect of seeing Brianna again had taken most of the edge off of his anger. Burying his face in her hair and his hardness in her soft body would diffuse the rest. Moving confidently across the darkened room, he palmed open the door to the bedroom unbuttoning his uniform as he entered. The lights there were also dimmed, but the viewing screen provided enough light for him to see that his wife was sound asleep. A program detailing the early history of Drakan moved ponderously across the screen.

Char glanced at it skeptically. It would have put him to sleep, too.

Tossing his uniform on the room’s only chair, he made a quick trip to the bathroom. Then he joined Brianna on the bed.

She was stretched out on her stomach with her hair strewn about her. Tomorrow, he’d indulge himself and brush it. At this moment, however, he was more interested in other parts of her body.

Pulling the hair away from his wife’s neck, Char kissed her behind the ear. Stretching out beside her, he kept nibbling until he received a response. Mumbling something unintelligible, Brianna rolled onto her back. The light from the viewing screen was strong enough to illuminate the dark triangle between her thighs and the rosy nipples of her pert breasts—and the dragon on her right shoulder.

Though not as large as Char’s, a fully rampant dragon of deep red and gold with fully extended wings rode her shoulder.