Page 14 of Alien Knight Steals the Bride

Torrin ran his hands over her hips. Her bottom. Squeezing and molding her curves. His heart ached. “This mission is dangerous. Without my cloaking armor, my weapons, it could prove my last. If I am successful, I must find someone before I can come back to you,” he said, weighing the risks of trusting her against his desire for her to know the deepest parts of him.

Instinct told him she was the one person in the world who would protect his secrets. “My twin brother. Everyone thinks him dead, but he is very much alive. He is in trouble and I must find him when my mission is complete.”

Torrin’s heart thundered. He’d never told anyone about Sevron. “I would bind you to me forever in traditional Caldorian fashion, now, today, but you must know the risks before you agree.”

“Hold on,” she said, raising her hand and leaning back in retreat, pushing at his massive shoulders. The move was purely symbolic, as she was still held securely in his arms. She secretly thrilled at being held so easily, and for so long. He didn’t even seem to notice her weight.

“First, of course you have to find your brother. I understand the pain of losing someone. I’ll help. I’m good at finding things. And, I understand you have to finish your mission. My father was the same way. He was a rescue pilot, shot down three times before he went missing,” she confessed sadly. The memories still pained her.

For some reason, she wanted to share details she’d never shared with anyone else. She trusted him. Wanted him to know her. This was so unlike her. She wasn’t normally the type to share her true feelings. There was just something about Torrin that pulled at her. Made her want to be near him. Share everything with him. Trust him.

She took a deep breath, her hands shaking as she combed through her long dark hair. “I was just a kid. I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t watch my mom walk around like a ghost day after day, heartbroken. She looked right through me. I had to leave. I-I ran away.”

Juliette’s heart twisted painfully at the thought of Torrin dying. “So, don’t make promises. I don’t need forever.” She paused, her throat so tight she nearly choked on the words, “I don’t believe in it anymore.”

Torrin used one hand to tenderly brush a wayward strand of hair from her cheek. “You have been deeply wounded. I understand your pain, your loss. And you’re right. No one can promise forever. But I vow that if you give yourself to me, only death will keep me from you. I will never abandon you or leave you for another. This is an Earth concept. I am not human. You do not fully comprehend what that means yet, but I do. You have no reason to fear our binding.”

She was fire and ice. Beauty and strength. He’d never needed anything as much as he needed her. Needed. Craved. Ached to be inside her. Bound to her. “Your body already knows it belongs to me,” he added persuasively, carrying her through to the sleeping room, laying her in the middle of the large platform bed. “This is the Caldorian way. Bind yourself to me. Become one with me. Trust me to care for you and protect you as my own.” He put his hand over her abdomen where his child might someday grow, leaning down to kiss her soft flesh. “I want to give you everything.”

Juliette arched to meet his wandering mouth. She couldn’t help herself. “No. No binding. No claiming. I was briefed back on Earth before I signed on to work for the Caldorians. Binding is like marriage. Claiming is even worse! Who purposely gets pregnant before getting married just to prove they can have children together? Give me today. That’s all I have to give. I want you today.”

Torrin leaned back, scowling heavily, ignoring the sudden pain in his chest. “I would bind you to me forever. Claiming isn’t only about fertility. Many men on Caldor are not fertile, so knowing early is desirable but not required.”

Juliette snorted inelegantly. “I’m pretty sure there’s a test for that. Even we have ways of testing fertility on Earth, as primitive and technologically challenged as we may be.”

He sighed. “Since Caldorian men only become fertile when they actively want to conceive, your testing methods are ineffective. You judge our traditions without an understanding of them.” He rolled his shoulders to relieve the growing tension, then grabbed her ankles and pulled her from the center of the bed to the edge.

Juliette squealed in surprise, twisting from his loose grip and sitting up, pulling the sarong that had come loose haphazardly around herself. “I know that I mean whatIsay. I’m not judging you or your people. Our cultures are very different. We don’t marry strangers where I’m from or agree to have their babies. Not unless they’re from Crazy Town, anyway.”

Standing proudly, he crossed his arms, his look supremely confident. “I submit to you that we are not strangers. Adversity strips away all pretense and lies. I have seen the truth of who you are, just as you have seen me. I sense that you are right for me,” he said earnestly. “Call it what you will. An instant connection. An instinct. A feeling. There is no point in waiting as my feelings will not change. I never thought to have children, but now that I’ve met you, I find that I am as other men in this regard. I’m glad you’ve been briefed on Caldorian ways, so there will be no misunderstandings,” he rumbled, “I mean what I say. Do you know people from this Crazy town? You could use the ship’s communication system to contact them. Ask for their advice if you do not trust mine. They will tell you there is nothing to fear.”

“Call Crazy town for advice?” Juliette couldn’t help herself. She laughed so hard she snorted, covering her face with her hands to hold it in. The harder she tried to stop, the harder she laughed, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. Finally, at long last, she calmed, taking a few cleansing breaths. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh.”

Turning back to him she saw the dark, brooding scowl on his face and promptly choked on another bout of laughter. “I think your translator is a bit off,” she gasped through her laughter.

“Perhaps.” Torrin’s scowl slowly turned into a grin. His woman wasn’t going to make his life easy. She was feisty. Very well. He loved a challenge. She wanted nothing permanent? No strings attached, as her people called it? That wasn’t going to work for him, but he need not share that with her again. He was a master strategist. Trained to adapt. Solve problems. He wanted her. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. He wasn’t going to give up just because she was afraid.

Standing at the foot of the bed, he worked out a new plan. He would keep her so full of what she wanted, full of his cock, she would come to him on her own. Belong to him. He would chip away at her defenses. Make her laugh. Earn her trust. Already he was feeling possessive. He wanted everyone to know she belonged to him, and vice versa.

Juliette pulled her long hair forward over her shoulders, feeling defensive for the first time, confused by Torrin’s abrupt change in mood from angry to content. She looked at him suspiciously. He was up to something. She could feel it in her bones. “I just think we shouldn’t rush into anything permanent. We’ve only known each other for a few days. Sex doesn’t have to lead to marriage, or binding, as you call it. How about dating each other first?” she offered.

Torrin nodded thoughtfully, considering her words, crafting his own response carefully. She was smart. Stubborn. Wounded on the inside. He wanted to hold her forever, fix every shattered dream. Make her laugh. His eyes began to twinkle as he rubbed the scruff on his cheek, his plan solidifying in his mind. “Allow me to address your issues one at a time. I suppose ‘dating’ makes sense. Caldorians are long-lived but not immortal. I have recently entered my third decade. Young for my kind, but not a child. As we do not have a machine on board to verify our ages, I will trust you to speak the truth. How old are you?”

Juliette blinked once, twice, before bursting into laughter again. “How old? Apparently old enough to need carbon dating.”

Torrin looked at Juliette with eyebrows raised ever so innocently, a small smile edging up the corners of his mouth. “Was this not your suggestion? That we ‘date’ each other first?”

“Uh, no. Not by a long shot. I said ‘dating,’ as in dinner and a movie,” she clarified, trying not to laugh again. “Talking. You know, so we can learn about the little things. I don’t even know your favorite color. As I was saying, we hardly know each other.”

“I fail to see how color preferences establish knowledge. And I know you much better than you realize,” he said earnestly.

“Okay, this should be good,” Juliette said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts. “Please share. What exactly do you think you know?”

“Well, princess, let’s make a wager,” he smiled confidently. “If I can tell you ten things about yourself, will you agree to light my markings? I noticed you brought some maju paste on board along with the maju water while I was unconscious.”

“Maju paste? I wasn’t sure about taking it from those goons, but the guy included it in the deal, so I brought it along. Doctor Jorvin told me only the maju water would be strong enough to heal you. No one on the base said anything about lighting any markings. What significance would that have?” Juliette asked suspiciously.

Torrin was obviously very intelligent. Was he planning a trick of some kind? Marry them without her knowledge or consent? He didn’t seem like the type, but then, an old homeless woman she’d befriended, with scraggly gray hair and missing teeth, used to tell her that one never really knew another person until they’d been married and lived in the same house together. There was just something about Torrin, though, that pulled at her. Everything in her wanted to trust him. Juliette tracked him with her eyes as he left the room.

---