Page 17 of Jewel of the Alien Bandit
I panicked, because the terrifying truth was that I wanted that. I wanted him.
But I had my clan to think of, and now it was more important than ever that I sneak upon his ship without him knowing. If he never let me go, then how was I to barter or steal the information from the necia to find that planet’s technology. I had to know whether what Vareo said had any truth to it.
Tearing a piece of my long skirt, I wiped the juices from my thigh and threw the cloth to the floor before entering the garden. I’d pick it up later, but I’d be damned if I let Trent get any ideas by seeing my arousal drip down my leg while I spoke politics. Because that was all we would be doing, speaking, I assured myself. But part of me worried about how my mating loh responded to him earlier. The look on everyone’s faces told me enough to know my mating display was more than the usualattraction. I refused to matebond with a krelin warrior. Mating was one thing, bonding was too risky. I didn’t trust myself enough after what I allowed to happen in the library with a stranger, ready to throw myself at him just to relieve myself of this heavy feeling inside.
Mabel said it would be easier to control after I mated, but I came all over that bounty hunter’s hand, and I still had an overwhelming sensation to have his cock fill my throbbing sex, and pulsate on my pleasure center. More than when I started. What would happen being alone with the male that ignited my mating loh to begin with?
I walked away from the bounty hunter. I could do the same with the krelin, I reassured myself.
I’d talk about our trade, and the increased demands on our jewels. That was all.
Then why was I so uncertain?
My heart was racing, and the heat within my loh was not normal. And he was waiting for me, there, smelling the buds from our rose algae, a hardy and sweet odored bacteria growth that only liked to grow deep in the tarnpul pits, but seemed to flower now that it’s been transplanted to the gardens.
“You like the blackpul rose algae?” I asked him, and his back muscles rippled like his wings would emerge again.
“It’s sweeter than Krel Nectar.” He turned to face me, his honeyed eyes glowing and that blonde hair swept back. “I like it very much,” he admitted.
“Estreldez has many types of algae plants,“ I agreed, “the blackpul is the sweetest of them, but not until they flower. Before that, they are quite bitter. They still smell nice, though.”
“I can only think of a few things sweeter.” A teasing tone to his husky voice told me he wasn’t speaking of plants any longer. I pulled at my skirts as if to hide my scent.
Could he smell me? Somehow that felt much more invasive than I could have imagined.
His eyes, the color of the honey they bring to trade, followed the movement, and as they lingered I felt the growing need to move. I stepped forward, and continued the conversation to bring his attention back to a discussion less physical, something I was more adept at dealing with.
“Have you been sent here to discuss trade?” It was direct and to the point, but krelins were not usually ones to mince words. They took what they wanted, and assertiveness was the only way to do business with them.
“I’ve been sent to assess other assets that might be agreeable to Krelis.”
I flinched at the way he referred to assets. That wasn’t normal for me to be so on edge, and he made me that way. Instinct told me that he was again not referring to the various quarries our planet had to offer, but perhaps our clan itself.
“You wish for more krelins to participate in our mating ceremonies?” My throat dried anticipating his response. Did I want him to say yes, or was I nervous he would say exactly that.
“Your females are strong, and our males are fertile with more men than there are available mates,” he said matter of fact. I appreciated that he thought my clan’s females were strong, and that he worded things in such a way that implied he wished to help solve an issue of contention for Estreldez, but was joining our populations with more krelin wise for the future of our clan? I didn’t know.
He saw my hesitation and continued, “Our warriors are harsh, they spend their time defending our trade, our planet, and fighting outlaws without the comforts of a clan to soften them. Entitlement has them rebelling, causing tension between our treaties. Something must change, and that change couldbe the Estreldez people that soothes the souls of our krelin warriors.”
“Are you not a warrior yourself? You seem soothed enough to control yourself,” I clipped, not fully believing his calculated words. How was I supposed to believe that the krelins wouldn’t take mates and still extort our trades, and even worse than that… invade.
Take what they want when they have a firmer hold within our land.
His smile broadened showing the sharp row of teeth that lined his molars, and I knew they trailed down his throat to help mince and grind their preferred food, the bones of their very own people. I couldn’t let his attractive exterior make me forget what the krelin were capable of. Before our trade for our jewels, they were a cannibalistic hive. There was no guarantee they weren’t still.
“I am as possessive, and greedy as my hive,” he shocked me with his ease of admission, "and I feel the restlessness within them even now, but I had something to focus on that they do not.”
He stopped there, and it begged the question of, what did he focus on? But, I already knew the answer. His wings flared out from his back, leathery golden wisps that were majestic and sparkled in the light of the moons. My breath caught, and those honeyed eyes glowed as they stared into my very soul. My loh buzzed as he stepped closer, and my heart hammered in my chest.
I was in control, I repeated to myself, but I was anything but.
The only thing that came out of my mouth in a rasp was, “What do you focus on?” Say anything but me, I begged internally.
“You.” His arms snaked around my waist, pulling me in. There was no resistance from me as I breathed in his headyscent. His fingers trailed my lower back and my mating loh burned to release. He was the cause for my display earlier, I knew he had to be.
“You only just met me…” my voice was barely a whisper as he pressed his forehead to mine.
“You are the Jewel of Estreldez, and the only way my mother will accept a union between our species.”
