More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“It’s a lot to take in,” Beatrice said, and I nodded absently, blowing out a breath. In more ways than one.
Oh, you design buildings and shit? Pft, well, I can crochet a mean cardigan, how’s about that?
“We were snatched from our lives and sold to aliens on a planet we’d never heard of. Of course we were pissed off. I actually decked a guy when I got here. It was how I first met Fiona, ’cause I broke my wrist.”
“Sorry, hun, but I gotta disappear for a sec,” she said as she stood with her mate’s careful assistance. “TMI, but I need to pee for the hundredth time this morning. The little critter gives me no peace.”
I needed to find a new outlet, or I’d explode. Either that, or I’d find the king and ride him until we both cried. No preference.
Consent, what a wild concept, right? Honestly, I was touched that he was learning, but at this point, I’d probably worship the guy if he pinned me down and used me like a toy. I was that desperate.
“Roo-bin, yes?” he asked, and the branches slithered to a stop as if waiting for my answer—consensual trees, how refreshing.
Funny how this dude could barely string a regular sentence together, but sex talk? No problemo. Ten out of ten. Couldn’t argue with his priorities.
It was savage. A proper mating. I tucked my head into the crook of his neck, shaking with how much white-hot, overwhelming pleasure expanded inside me. It was like one continuous orgasm. A stream of energy lit up my blood, my veins, my nerves. My skin was hypersensitive, and I could feel every hair follicle on my scalp, every trickle of sweat.
I’d asked to go with her, just to scope out more of the planet, but since it wasn’t a quick jaunt, Vo’ak had refused to be separated from me that long. Apparently, his instincts would’ve demanded he hunt me down, make sure I was safe, and mount me in the middle of the forest, so that was that. Low-key filing that away for future reference, though.
The big idiot had still grumbled, then shot two loads all over my face for good measure, but he’d agreed, and that was definitely a major boost in trust.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I rushed out, shuddering when the beast chittered at me. There was no way in hell I was surviving an abusive ex, crippling addiction, and alien abduction just to end up in the jaws of a fucking chocolate-factory reject. Nope. Not today, Satan.
“They’re sacred beasts, but are slain before a mating for good luck. Its fur is gifted to whomever takes up the submissive role in the pairing.” I sent her a dry look, recalling the furry gray toga I’d worn on our wedding day. “Let me guess,” I deadpanned, “I got the fucking alfalfa skin.”
“Dacks-ur, his incompetent youngest son, who seems to have spent his whole bitter life waiting to be a thorn in the Vo’ak’s side.” Alright, Fi, leave a few prisoners.
I stalked closer, preparing to take over for the hoo-man’s fingers, but I was stopped by a small foot in the center of my chest. “No,” Roo-bin said, unyielding. “Watch.”
I relished each twitch of his body, the gleam of want in his eyes, and imagined my cock plunging between those parted, pouty lips, locking my knot behind his teeth and muffling his moans.
The reason I wanted to leave this place was because of my fixation with the past, with erasing the parts of my life that I hated, but this idiot had burst in and added another player to the field.
“It was my ex-boyfriend.” “Eh-xs bouy-frendah?” Vo’ak parroted, clearly having no clue what it meant, and I couldn’t help my soft snort at his garbled attempt. “Past lover,” I tried again, and that apparently resonated as he tensed beneath me, fangs bared in a slight snarl. “Easy, tiger. He’s dead.”
first few times, it was a slap across the face,” I said with a faint shrug. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. But then it progressed to fists, a belt, a fucking spatula, whatever he could get his hands on. He said he was just ‘correcting my behavior,’ punishing me for being ungrateful. I should’ve left the first time I woke up in the ER, bones broken, wishing for death, but… I dunno. Guess I was scared? I had no one.
Why does he have to be everything I’ve ever wanted?
That’s why I so badly want to go home, to fix things, because without that happy place, if I end up trusting someone like that again, I won’t be strong enough to pull myself up when they inevitably leave me behind.” There. I’d said it out loud, and all I could do was sob and shake as if I’d uncorked a wine bottle filled to the brim with a whole year’s worth of sucking it up and coping.
“Rest assured, my friend, if I had not found my Roo, you would be my fifth choice.” “Fifth?” he growled, before catching himself and donning his mask of indifference once more.
He is your perfect match, through and through. He is stubborn and has an attitude befitting a Great Leader’s mate. Would you not react the same if you had not been shown a choice?” I reeled as if slapped. “Have I not given him one?” “Truthfully? No.”
He was not exaggerating, was he? Roo-bin had arrived on my planet against his will, been mated within hours, and settled into a new life without any choice in the matter. I had not thought about it that way before.
It was actually laughable how such a big, arrogant alien could barely understand a word I said, but understood me perfectly. Better than anyone.
The dam broke, gut-wrenching sobs shredding their way up my throat as my whole body shook, my breath now coming in short, pathetic gasps. Distantly, I heard the tent flap whipping open, and Nie’tr was in my space, hands fumbling over my shoulder, my arms, expression pinched with concern. He was trying to soothe me, to calm my swelling panic, but he didn’t know how. No one knew. Only Vo’ak.
I obviously didn’t deserve my happy-ever-after. Or, once again, I’d chosen the wrong one—taken the selfish option of love instead of forgiveness. Either way, this was to be my punishment. The worst one yet. I had to watch my mate die—the only being in this shitshow of a universe who had made me feel like I was worth something—and know that I was the reason for it.
I had not expected to ever lay eyes on his delicate, pale features again, but lying there, seeing the obvious worry on my hoo-man’s face as he rambled in a language I did not fully understand had my lips curving into a joyous smile. It flustered him. “Stop smiling, you jah-ck-ah-ss.”
Against my will, my tail swished in agitation, not in anger, but the thought of my hoo-man still being unhappy here was heartbreaking. For the first time, I did not know what to do. “Doh-nt you dare thump your stump at me, Meest-ur.”
“Please leave, my Roo-bin,” I said, lowering my voice. “Talk later.” Those seemed to be the wrong words also. I could not win. “Fuck you,” he seethed, pointing his finger at my chest. “You doh-nt get to tell me what to do. Yew-r not my king!”
I couldn’t survive on my own on an alien planet. I could barely survive on Earth, and it had takeout and electricity.
There was one thing I hated more than vegetables, feet, and doing anything that took effort, and that was being told what to do outside of the bedroom.
But why should Vo’ak be let off so easily? He should be given the chance to grovel, to explain, and be told, in no uncertain terms, that if he ever tried to shut me down again, I would cut off his… fingers. Not his dick. That shit was way too important.
Abducted by aliens twice in one lifetime? Fuck me. I’d just wanted five minutes peace.
“Sooo, you gonna let me go? Since I’m not who you want, there’s no point keeping me here, right? I’ll just get in your hair. I’m pretty annoying.” He huffed a short laugh. “You have humor. How cute.” “That a no?”
“What is funny?” “Nothing,” I lied. He studied me, eyes narrowed, suspicion clear on his haggard face. “I do not appreciate being lied to.” “And I don’t appreciate being tied up like an animal, yet here we both are.”
“Your contentment matters more. I was selfish, keeping you at my side against your will, barring you from exploring all that is yours, but my feeling for you is greater than any bond. I am your servant, c’karuucha, I will do as you ask. Anything.”
“What happens now?” Vo’ak brushed one last kiss over the tip of my nose. “You will rest, my hoo-man, then we return home, where I shall worship you and attend to your needs until the end of time.” Fucking charmer.
How come everything this brute did for me had my belly fluttering? It was a pest.
“I am used to your mood swings by now, little human. It is one of your many endearing traits.” “Well, that’s promising. Would have been pretty awkward otherwise.” “You are awkward,” he said, and I wasn’t sure whether it was meant as sweet talk or an insult. “And I love you.” The former, then. “Yeah, yeah, I love you too, you big lump.” He smirked, probably hearing the word ‘big’ and nothing else. I kissed the arrogance away. “Let’s get to the ravishing part already.”
“Such a good mate,” I said as I started riding him like I had rent to pay, moaning loudly. “Filling me so fucking good.”
His tail slithered and coiled like a snake, jerking me off as two hands would, stroking and twisting in the same punishing rhythm as his hips, rendering me nothing but putty in his capable… appendages.
