GalacticFlame (3 page)

After long seconds, she accepted his clasp. “Just how many
people live under your rule?” she asked, pushing aside her fears and putting on
a brave face.

He drew her toward the door. “Unfortunately my people were
hit by the virus harder than other provinces.” He swung a glance toward her, as
if reading her reaction. “Not counting Trasean and Auron but including the
children born here from Earth women, there are twenty four of us remaining.”

“Twenty four! That’s all?” she asked.

“I’m afraid so.” He shrugged. “Well, twenty-five if you
count my father, but he’s busy in the central lands, ruling
Carèche
along with the other kings.”

She drew in a steadying breath. At least she didn’t have to
worry about the other royals. And it was…exciting knowing there were a few
other Earth women residing here. More than exciting. She’d known no one else
other than her family, and suddenly she was hungry to meet the other women and
learn more about them and their lives on Earth. Not to mention their life here
on
Carèche.

She stepped outside the craft, her joy dimming and her face
pulling into a frown. She looked over the harsh landscape. Surely no human
would be happy living in such desolate conditions?

A long whistle that was joined by another dragged her
attention to the bare-chested men sitting loosely on their
cercannes.
Both sported a leather choker with an odd, glass-like bauble. Both exhibited
stark admiration in their eyes.

The long-haired man raised a hand in what seemed to be a
universal gesture of greeting.
“Eckn’a sa sheehar.”

Genesis raised a brow and interpreted, “Trasean says,
‘Welcome, our princess.’”

Auron repeated the welcome and she gave them a tentative
smile, feeling all kinds of a fraud. “They speak no English?” she asked
Genesis.

Auron laughed, his expression lazily amused. “We most
certainly do, Earth
sheehar
. Thanks to our new queen, it is now our
second language.”

Genesis drew her forward. But the moment her bare feet
touched the baking ground she lurched back onto the step with a startled gasp.
It was surely akin to walking on hot coals?

Genesis bent and lifted her in his arms as though she
weighed no more than the fruit from a
lekkle
plant. His mouth curled
with wry humor. “Your feet are as thin-skinned as any pure-blooded human’s.” He
glanced at the two men on their
cercannes
. “You might like to remember
that for future reference.”

Trasean grinned and jumped nimbly from his two-wheeled
vehicle. “Since we’ll be sharing our intended, I doubt she’ll have the time or
inclination to walk anywhere.”

The two aliens laughed even as Eden swallowed past her dry
throat. Trasean and Auron were going to share the next Earth woman? Her hands
curled into fists. She couldn’t let her sister suffer such a fate! She glared
at Genesis, but at the gentling look in his eyes she turned her ire to Trasean.

The long-haired alien mounted the rear of the two-wheeled
vehicle before he turned and met her eyes. He grinned and with a shrug,
explained, “I’d drive, but I can’t have Auron swallowing my hair now, can I?”

She could give a stuff who drove and if one of them choked
on the other’s hair. Did they seriously have no conception how wrong it was to
joke about sharing their future human women in front of her?

Yes, but they have no idea it could well be my sister.

Genesis strode to the motorbike—
cercanne
—and settled
her onto the seat, diverting her attention. Just the same as the chairs in the
craft, the long seat of the
cercanne
was covered in a red pelt.

Breath squeezed from her lungs. Now that her pussy was bare,
the fur underneath tickled and rasped, heightening the ever present ache
building in her womb. She squirmed, wishing only to alleviate the throbbing,
even with her own hand.

Instead she forced interest on the machinery between her
legs. The
cercanne’s
wheels were huge and spiky, eliminating the need
for a side-stand. The webbed handlebars were long and high, the undercarriage
little more than the seat itself.

She sidled backward as far as she could when Genesis swung a
leg over and sank onto the seat. The aliens really were tall, she could swear
she was ten feet off the ground.

Genesis clasped the handholds overhead and the
cercanne
came to life beneath them with a throaty hum. He swiveled a little in his seat,
his stare connecting to hers. “Ready, Princess?”

If only I was the princess…was your rightful intended.

He smiled, “Or perhaps I’ll call you
Sheehar
now.”

Desolation swamped through her. She’d never be the woman he
wanted her to be.
Bloody hell
. Did she want to be that woman, anyway?
She lifted her chin, fighting back a maelstrom of crazy emotions. But when she
answered, there was little conviction in her words. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Something flickered behind his stare before the other
cercanne
thrummed into life beside them. His expression reverting to neutral, he said,
“Then I suggest you hang on.”

She wriggled forward. His stretchy, formfitting pants
provided nothing to hold onto and she had no choice but to clasp his shoulders.
Warm skin and hard muscles bunched under her hands, and she couldn’t help but
admire his inherent strength, his power.

This wasn’t a man who sat around on a throne and expected to
be waited on hand and foot. His was a power borne from physical labor and
exertion.

And he’s all mine.

In that moment it no longer mattered that she wasn’t meant
to be with him. All that mattered was…she was.

Her belly crunched, her nipples tightening almost painfully.
She had no doubt she’d soon be underneath all that rippling power, experiencing
the intimate act that Earth women had once taken for granted.

His thumbs brushed the underside of the handholds and the
webbing glowed green before the
cercanne
lifted a little, almost
airborne except for the spikes on the wheels resting on the sand.

“Hey Genesis,” Auron shouted, “want to practice for your
cercanne
title? I’m betting you’d be a little rusty since your absence.”

“Another time,” he answered. “I have my intended—”

Eden glowered and leaned forward to whisper harshly, “You
think I’m afraid?” Something wicked had her thrust her pussy tight against his
rear, her damp inner flesh opening to his steely lower spine. She gulped back
insidious need and instead added, “My father was once the
cercanne
champion. Do you doubt I have his need for speed in my blood?”

He looked back, his expression intense, hot. Passionate. A
promise of things to come. “No
Sheehar
. I have every confidence you’ll
be addicted to the speed high.”

She shivered even as a hot flush coursed through her body,
but the sensation was as much from hearing his husky
Carèche
translation
of princess, than any excitement for the coming ride.

He released his clasp of the overhead handholds for a moment
to reach down and catch her feet before bringing them up. At her startled hiss
of breath, he murmured, “But if we’re to race, I’ll need you to place your feet
in the safety stirrups.”

She nodded, allowing him to guide her bare feet through the
red-furred loops that were seemingly part of the pelt itself. Except, her pussy
pressed even closer to his ass, causing her womb to feel honeyed and weak, her
insides ready to dissolve.

She sighed, eyelids drifting half-shut. The dreams she’d had
of being with a man were nothing compared to the reality—and she hadn’t yet
even shared a kiss!

Genesis clasped the overhead handholds one again, his
knuckles white, his jaw tight. Clearly he wasn’t immune either.

Seconds later the
cercanne
powered forward. Her eyes
snapped wide open, her sharp cry whipped away into the wind. She sank against
him fully, taking short, sharp breaths of the too-hot air as the red-orange
sand blurred beneath.

This must have been how the Earth passengers of a jet plane
had once felt, with the runway flowing by just before takeoff.

She scrunched her eyes a little against the wind and looked
down. The spikes of the wheels almost cleared the sand, only the tips digging
in then releasing hold, puffs of the powdery sand dissolving into the air.

She looked behind. The aliens on their
cercanne
were
keeping pace. She narrowed her eyes, peering hard. The craft that’d brought her
to
Carèche
was all but invisible. Was that intentional? Did Genesis keep
the craft out in the desert to keep it secure?

The aliens were drawing close when she twisted to face the
front. Her eyes widened. Ahead, a wall of red rock jutted from the sand, now
all too noticeable.

Auron and Trasean whooped and veered their two-wheeler away
even as Genesis pushed his
cercanne
faster.

What the…?

Her shriek was lost in the wind as Genesis flipped the
vehicle onto its back wheel. Spikes screeched against rock. Then the ground
gave way to air and they abruptly dropped. Genesis leaned forward, pushing the
cercanne’s
front down.

They landed on two wheels with a bone-jarring thud. Coming
to a standstill, he twisted around and asked, “You okay, Princess?”

I couldn’t be better.

She laughed, her shoulders shaking and her
spinning-out-of-the-stratosphere insides coming back down to melt like warmed
butter. She really hadn’t felt this alive, this exhilarated. Ever. “That was
some shortcut.”

His eyes alight with satisfaction, he said, “You really must
be just the same as your dad.”

She stared, mesmerized. His once arctic eyes glowed hot as
his head lowered as if it was in slow motion. She didn’t withdraw. She reached
up and met his mouth with her own, her lips softening under his.

God, he tasted good. Nutmeg and vanilla and a dash of
something wholly masculine. And damn, did he know how to kiss, his mouth
pressing over hers and the tip of his tongue stroking, tasting. He led the
dance and she followed, learning the act, loving it.

He pulled back, his stare hotter than hades. “We’ll continue
this…later.”

She swallowed, a little dizzy, her body hyperaware. If this
was lust then she had it bad. “Okay.”

She held his smoldering stare. Only when his attention
dropped, to where her thighs were spread apart by the stirrups either side of
the
cercanne,
did she experience a true rush of need, her imagination
going wild.

“Soon,” he promised thickly, “I’ll take full advantage of
you like this. But for now, let’s get you home, to my bed.” His eyes snared
hers once more, his smile all carnal possessiveness as he smoothed back a long,
errant piece of her hair. “Guess there’s more than one reason now to win this
race.”

Chapter Three

She smiled, unable to repress the fuzzy sensation deep in
her belly, her womb. Her heart shouldn’t be stuttering with excitement. Her
pussy shouldn’t be contracting with anticipation.

Somehow she didn’t give a damn.

As his supposed intended, their coupling was inevitable. Why
not enjoy the few pleasures this world would bring?

When he turned forward again and pushed the
cercanne
into motion, she no longer pretended she didn’t want him. She flattened against
him, breasts pressing into his back. Her hands dropped low, just below the
lightly rippled musculature of his belly.

Her fingers twitched. What would he do if she clasped his
cock? Stroked and fondled?

She didn’t get a chance to explore the idea. The land
beneath the
cercanne’s
spiked wheels dropped off sharply, and as he
pushed the two wheeler even faster downhill, she surrendered instead to the
rush of adrenaline charging through her body, trusting Genesis’ obvious ability
even as the world blurred around her.

She squinted. At the end of the seemingly endless descent, a
big blue body of water glinted under the harsh trio of suns. And in the far
distance, the gold-red peak of a mountain reared into the rosy sky.

The excitement that curled through her belly came from a far
different place as she scanned up high. The airwave transmitter tower would
surely be on the mountain summit? Only when they were closer to the lake did
she drag her stare away to see a row of tentlike structures strung along the
shoreline of the water.

She frowned. Was this where Genesis and his people lived?

Movement caught the corner of her eye. Auron and Trasean
cleared the ridge to their far right and hurtled toward the mini tent city,
powdery plumes of the fine red sand trailing beneath their
cercannes.

Even above the wind she made out Genesis’ shout of victory,
which sounded more like a war cry from some battle-hardened warrior.

She clung to him all the harder, her imagination running
riot at what it would be like to have him as her lover, experience his skill
firsthand.

Thank the lord her mother had taught her daughters to read.

Though Eden might never have been with a man, she’d read
books, even climaxed to them on occasion when one of her hands had crept
between her legs to ease the ache burgeoning within.

The land abruptly leveled out beneath them and within
minutes the encampment loomed ahead. A pair of long-snouted creatures the size
of Rottweilers appeared from between two of the tent structures and loped
toward them, their short, round ears flipping back and forward, their red and
white fur seemingly rising and falling along their backs.

Genesis pulled the
cercanne
up in a one-eighty, the
spiked rear wheel sliding out from beneath them, a cloud of red pluming up and
around them.

She laughed, exhilarated and turned-on all at the same time.
She pulled her legs free from the stirrups, before a wet, sticky slide along
her foot caused her to suck in a startled breath, all joy cut short even as
Genesis’ deep chuckle filled the air.

“Don’t be afraid,
Sheehar
. You’ve just been greeted
by Ty.” He nodded toward the other creature, which emerged through the red
dust, its fur standing on end. “That one’s Maie. They’re brothers. And our camp
guardians.”

She allowed Ty to sniff her with his long snout before Maie
approached and gave her a sticky swipe of his tongue on her other foot. With
their fur sinking back down, she didn’t move her foot out of their tongues’
way. She guessed this was the creatures’ way of getting to know her. Besides,
she wanted to gain their trust.

She glanced back to Genesis. “What exactly are they?”

“
Mallakwats
. One of the few animals on
Carèche
that have any chance of defeating a
caltronian
.”

She frowned. Her dad had explained the dreaded
caltronian
was a bearlike creature, only twice the size. Though using a generator was a
precious commodity, her mother had insisted that she and Aline watch the many
documentaries available on Earth animals. So she had a fair idea on a bear’s
power, and could only imagine the brute strength of a
caltronian
.

Before she could ask Genesis how something so small in
comparison to the
caltronian
could possibly win, Auron and Trasean tore
toward them, then pulled up close-by in a cloud of red.

Auron waited for the dust to settle before he focused on
them with a disarming grin. “Looks as if our crazy prince wins again.”

Trasean cuffed the back of Auron’s head. “You forget who you
speak to, my friend.”

Auron’s smile only broadened as he bowed to Genesis and
rephrased, “My Prince, I knew you would win.”

Genesis acknowledged him with a nod and a wry smile,
apparently not taking offense to the other man’s audacity. “I imagine my
sheehar
lent me speed.”

Auron swung his leg forward then dropped onto the ground.
“Yes. And no guesses for why you wanted to bring her home so fast.”

Trasean pulled free from the stirrups and placed his feet on
the long-furred seat, forearms resting on his bent knees. His biceps bulged,
the suns glinting on his black hair. “We’ll get our own intended soon enough. I
feel it in my heart.”

Feel it in his cock, more like, Eden thought furiously. Her
sacrifice would not have been for nothing. She wouldn’t let her sister be put
through the same ordeal.

Ordeal?

She ignored the mocking inner voice. Her chin lifted. She
knew Aline like none other. Her sister’s carefree spirit would be crushed under
the demands of the two carnal aliens, her joy for life withered on the barren
planet.

Genesis disembarked in much the same fashion as Auron. He
turned to her then and held out his arms, gesturing that she jump.

She didn’t hesitate this once to do as he asked. Her feet
definitely weren’t equipped to deal with the tremendous heat of the baking-hot
sand. She leapt, grateful for the steady strength of Genesis’ clasp that
settled around her waist and drew her close.

“Are you ready,
Sheehar
?” he said into her ear.

Another hot shiver ran through her body at the odd-sounding
name on his lips.

Don’t lie! It’s the fact he’s about to make you a woman
that makes you burn!

She managed a nod, feeling featherlight in his arms and as
though nothing and nobody could harm her.

The
mallakwats
followed them as Genesis strode past
half a dozen smaller tents, which appeared to be of a similar fabric as her
dress and Genesis’ pants.

“Tents?” she asked, nodding toward them.

“Donyas,”
he corrected, “easily moved if need be and
as long-lasting as one of your Earth homes.”

As they approached a larger domed
donya
, she knew it
was Genesis’ dwelling right away by the bright red hanging shield that parted
to allow them entrance.

At the doorway, he twisted around to face the doglike
animals before he uttered a few words in his lyrical language. The
mallakwats
trotted off obediently, evidently doing their guardian rounds.

She frowned. How she wished she knew the language of
Carèche
.
Though she recognized some words from when her father had spoken it on
occasion, she knew very little and felt at a distinct disadvantage. She chewed
her inner cheek. Then again, if Genesis assumed she knew nothing of his
language, perhaps he’d be the one at a disadvantage?

More lies?

Genesis looked down at her, his expression watchful. “I
imagine your dad has spoken of our shields, and how they protect us from
intruders?”

She felt the blood drain from her face and he smiled
reassurance at her undoubtedly chalk-white expression, explaining, “You have
nothing to fear. As my intended, the shields will recognize who you are.”

Except I’m not your intended!

“Okay.” Her heart pitter-pattered wildly. “Ah, what exactly
does the shield do to anyone who…intrudes?”

His smile widened into a grin. And even with fear bubbling
just below the surface, she couldn’t help but be caught out by his stark
beauty.

“Let’s just say an intruder wouldn’t be acting normally once
the sharp cells of toxin have entered his—or her—bloodstream.”

She kept the shudders of relief all on the inside. At least
the red shield wasn’t fatal. She exhaled slowly. What she wouldn’t do now to
have listened more closely to her father’s comments about the hanging shields.
All she really knew for sure was that each color did a different deed.

Genesis carried her inside his home, where cool air brushed
her heated skin. Withholding a relieved sigh, she stared. The
donya
mightn’t look all that big on the outside, but on the inside it was far more
spacious than his craft that’d brought them to
Carèche
.

A crude table and chairs graced the center—for her? She knew
the aliens didn’t favor furniture the same way Earth people once had. In one
corner, beside a large
sylak
plant inside a shell-like pot, another
red-colored hanging shield separated the room from the one they were in.

“You still use
sylaks
for cooking?” she asked. She
had a couple of the amazing plants in her Earth garden, which could cook food
like the microwaves of old apparently could. He nodded. “We stick to the early
ways where we can to preserve the integrity of our planet.”

If only Earth people had thought that way.

On the other side of the room she spied two large,
reddish-pink shells.
Panka lamoras
. That explained the cooler air
temperature. Her father had once told her the
Carèche
people used the
shells as not only refrigerators to store food, but air coolers too.

In the wild the
panka lamoras
were deadly, their
lemetia
,
or tongue, could haul an unsuspecting animal into their shell, before injecting
them at leisure with enough chemicals to kill them. But they could also be
domesticated easily enough and kept happy as long as they were fed
caltronian
meat from time to time.

The floor was covered by the same fabric as the walls, and
he placed her on her feet ever so slowly, so that her breasts scraped down his
bare torso, the bulge of his cock along her belly.
Oh hell
. She could
have been naked and rubbed slick with oils for the first time for all the acute
sensations that prickled through her body.

She looked up at his groan. And at his heated gaze, she
sucked in an unsteady breath. “You do know I’m not experienced at this sort of
thing, right?”

“Being that there is no men on your planet, I’d assume not.”

She flushed. “Of course. Right. Yes.”

His husky voice gentled. “Relax
, Sheehar
. I’m not
going to hurt you. I’ll never hurt you.”

You say that now, but if you ever found out who I really
am…

With no words able to make it past the lump in her throat,
she instead nodded. “Just, go slowly.”

He slid a hand along her cheek. “Oh, I’m not going to rush
it,
Sheehar
. I’m going to savor every second of our first joining.”

His free hand outlined the other side of her face, before he
brought her gently toward him. His lips brushed hers, the touch of butterfly
wings, except there was steel beneath the tenderness, purpose beneath the
restraint.

She didn’t know how long they stood there, exploring with
lips and tongue in an exploration that deepened and became more intense. All
she knew for sure was that desire beat its drum in her chest and reverberated
in her womb. A desire heightened by his fingers that moved to the back of her
head, kneading, rubbing.

Genesis pulled back first, but not to stop. Quite the
opposite. His eyes fairly blazed when he looked down at her and said, “Let me
pleasure you,
Sheehar
.”

She nodded, anxiety and anticipation tying a knot in her
belly. Her breath shuddered from her lungs when he peeled her dress down from
her shoulders, exposing her breasts, her belly and then her pussy to his stare.

She stepped out of the slip of fabric before he sank to his
knees. Her whole body trembled at his face so close to her thighs, her hands
clenching and unclenching at her sides.

He looked up, his gold-brown hair drifting across his bare
shoulders. “Trust me,” he said hoarsely.

She nodded, realizing it was bizarre that in such a short
time she actually did trust him.

His back pointed fangs—an alien attribute, which she didn’t
share—glinted in his opened mouth. Then he closed his lips on her inner thigh
and she threw her head back with a gasp, eyes closing at the exquisite
suctioning sensation, his hot breath goose-bumping her skin, his tongue
swirling.

When his mouth worked its way up, around the outer V of her
pussy and onto her other thigh, she was all but panting with need. Her brain
mightn’t wholly understand what she wanted, but oh, her body so did!

“Maybe not…quite so…slow,” she whimpered, her fingers
curling through his hair, desperate for something more.

He pulled back and looked up once again, passion stamped
onto every crevice of his face. “It gets much better than this,
Sheehar
.”

Her voice quavered. “It does?”

“Yes.” His grin was all too wicked as he bent to task again,
suckling her sensitized skin. Somehow she was glad the alien side of her
birthright meant she was unhindered by the pubic hair she knew her sister and
all Earth women sported.

When Genesis’ hot breath fanned over her labia, she groaned.
An ache built and built between her legs, an ache that needed something,
anything to relieve it.

A long, hard lick at the center of her folds caused her body
to jerk, her knees to weaken. And all her fantasies surge into life.