Kayzon's Wish Read online

  Kayzon routinely prayed three times per planet rotation.

  The gods did not care that his father was Banished or that his scar ran deep. He walked beside them and he dwelled in their inner sanctums. The multigods brought him the gift of peace and serenity. They took his anger, his guilt, his frustrations and most of all…his shame…and they crushed those burdens like soft metal.

  Kayzon took deep breaths.

  The gods had shown him the true path toward personal honor.

  The meditation ran deep. His mind wandered to the past, the present, the future. He relived old hurts and created paths to absolution and honor. Finally, the gods threaded through the troubles of the present.

  His Bride.

  And the decisions he would make, the words he would use became clear.

  He would offer her an opportunity to go back to New Earth and her family. The offer of review and possible disavowal would be made formally.

  She was human. She’d mated him only because he’d accidentally forced mating compatibility on her.

  According to the Scales of Xylan Law, whenever a mating compatibility was forced, this meant the female was given the option to break the claim, and if there was offspring, to discontinue the pregnancy. She would be able to decide for or against termination. If she went back to New Earth without him, termination of their offspring would be the only option. A Xylan warrior of his line, with royal pigment, could not be raised on a planet of humans on New Earth, amongst species who did not understand Xylan biology or customs.

  He would give her the opportunity to stay with him as his Bride and continue their line, or termination and passage back to New Earth. No matter how much the thought of his offspring being terminated gutted him and brought him to his knees, this was only fair according to the Scales of Xylan Law.

  A lump formed in his throat. No matter what happened he would never think of his offspring as a mistake. He would mourn its loss for the rest of his short life.

  Because, of course, when given the choice of review she would choose disavowal and termination. This was clear.

  Yes, she had agreed to the marriage ceremony when she ran. But had she known it was a ceremony? Had she known she was agreeing to take his seed and carry his offspring? Carry the offspring on an unworthy warrior?

  He bowed farther, his head bent, and prayed harder.

  Kia awoke.

  At first she smiled, because thoughts of last night flittered through her mind. Of a battle-hardened warrior who had taken her virginity. She grinned and wiggled her ass, loving the residual feeling of soreness between her legs. That stamp of possession. The place where his hard cock had pounded against her and all the pleasure that resulted. Warmth blossomed in her stomach at the thought of how he’d chased her in the forest and the river, how he’d thrown her to the ground and claimed her.

  His tongue in her pussy.

  Wow. Wow. Wow.

  Just amazing, epic, the most beautiful thing that—

  Then images of her hungry and desperate family exploded within her mind.

  She gasped and sat up, pulling sheets over her naked chest.

  This wasn’t her bed and she wasn’t at home. What time was it? How long had she been gone?

  Oh fuck.

  She closed her eyes and pursed her lips and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes again and looked around the room. This was his quarters. The Xylan warrior she’d had sex with last night. It was small. She was sitting on a bunk that would barely fit the both of them. On the other side of the room was a table with benches on either side, built into the wall. There was a dresser with drawers, a cabinet and two doors. One door looked like the exit. The other she desperately hoped was the bathroom.

  The man who’d taken her virginity on the side of the river lived here. This must be his ship. Her belly fluttered. She bit her lip. Last night had been an epic battle. He’d chased her and conquered her, and she’d made him work hard for it, using all her considerable strength, and he’d still won their wrestling match and brought her to the ground. It had been the best experience of her life. She’d been able to be herself. Hold nothing back. And he’d taken it all. Just thinking of his overwhelming power, of his cock pounding into her pussy, caused the area between her thighs to throb with heat.

  He was stronger than any man she’d ever known. She suspected he was stronger than even her father. And that was saying a lot.

  He’d saved her from the Hurlians. And they’d fought back to back when the soldiers had poured from the sky. Then they’d chased and fought again in the forest. The way he’d treated her roughly…she’d loved every minute. She glanced down at the bruises of his fingerprints on her body and smiled at the display of his possession.

  But where was he? This mystery man who’d saved her life, kissed the hell outta her, tranqed her and taken her away to that forest. Was she really on his ship? Were they even still on New Earth?

  But first things first. She had to pee.

  Kia stood up and tugged the top sheet off the bunk in order to wrap it around her and tie the top together. She walked over to the other door in the room that she hoped was the bathroom, delighted when the door opened and inside there was an object that looked like a toilet. But it was the brightest, most technologically advanced toilet she’d ever seen. She spent some time playing with the multitude of buttons and chose a heated seat and for it to play a bit of dark Xylan music while she used the facilities.

  Hilarious.

  Then finally it hit her and she looked back at the toilet, at the tiny symbols written in the Xylan language, which she had been able to read. She’d understood him last night, too. In the market he’d been speaking English, her language. But last night the ritualistic words had been Xylan and she’d understood it all. She frowned. He had to have implanted a translation device in her head, right? Weird.

  There was a nice shower in the bathroom, too, but she didn’t really need it. She still felt perfectly clean. She stopped to examine herself in the mirror. She was fine. Still clean.

  She remembered that she’d bitten his chest.

  Oh gosh. What had possessed her to do that? She hadn’t held back, she’d let him see all of her. Her strength had still been no match for his. Back on New Earth she had to be careful, she could hurt somebody. But this warrior had been turned on by the strength. He hadn’t been gentle either, not in the least…and she loved it.

  Last night was just so crazy. So awesome and yet so strange at the same time. She wanted to see him to talk to him about it, but at the same time she was nervous to see him. And maybe a little embarrassed.

  No, she really did need to see him. Her mom would need the currency that had been in her pockets when she’d left that morning, plus the addition of her weekly pay from her job at the marketplace. Without that, her family could literally go hungry. And who would be there to protect them if the unigod enforcers arrived unexpectedly?

  The door swooshed open.

  Chapter Five

  Kayzon expected to find her asleep in his bunk, and instead his new Bride was standing in the middle of his cabin with a sheet wrapped around her naked body, dangerously close to exposing her nipples to his hungry view.

  He took a step back, rocked by the instant lust that slammed his body.

  They were both quiet. He stared, trying to decipher her thoughts. Her flat features held more expression than a Xylan face. The grooved ridges of a typical Xylan female were gone, allowing more movement, and her black eyes sparkled with definition. Her lips were softer and her teeth were small. But that gap in between her two front teeth still mesmerized him. He loved it when his tongue brushed against her teeth. The way she tasted.

  His cock was hardening again. By the gods, he had no self-control around this female. His whole life, he’d never felt this. He’d been around females of a variety of species and felt for them no more than he did for males. It was the same for everyone, a familial relationship, a co-working relationship. Never lust. Never.


  “What is your name?” she asked.

  “I am Kayzon of Twenty-Six,” he answered as he strode forward, finding it impossible to stay away.

  She took in deep breaths, her cheeks pink, eyes bright. “Twenty-Six? Is that your last name? A number?”

  “I am the twenty-sixth Kayzon in my line.”

  Oh fuck. He could smell her arousal. Despite his rough treatment, his scar and cybernetic eye, she still desired him. This would prove more difficult than he’d anticipated. He closed his eyes for a moment.

  A warrior without honor has nothing. Honor first. Loyalty second. Line third.

  “Oh…I am Kia Cho.”

  He opened his eyes and stared back at her, his lips a hard line. “I know. I apologize that I will not be able to give you the special nickname a warrior gives only to his Bride, but there appears to be no way to shorten your name, it is already very short.” He had no idea why he was speaking of this. She was his temporary Bride. She might desire him, but when she found out the truth, of course she would choose to terminate their bond, their offspring. Why implement the special customs that existed between mated pairs? It would only bring more pain.

  “Okay.” She was staring at his lips.

  His double hearts raced in his chest.

  “Is there a nickname you would like to give to me?” he asked.

  Her gaze was now upon his chest and dipping lower. “Um, no…”

  He tried to hide his disappointment. Although, why was he still speaking of this? This was ridiculous, this talk of nicknames. She would not be on his ship long enough for it to matter. He wanted the very thing he should not want. He was the weakest of warriors.

  She tugged the sheet up higher and shook her head. Her chin lifted, and she met his gaze. “What happened yesterday?” she asked, her forehead making tiny ridges that were adorable. She sat down on the edge of the bunk and tightened the sheet around her breasts and looked up at him. “I don’t understand. I remember seeing you in the marketplace. You were dragging your target through the crowd. They were parting for you. I tried to talk to you, but you told me to go away.”

  “Yes I did.” If only she’d listened to him. “It is not appropriate to address a warrior without bowing your head in deference, formally signaling request for an audience.”

  “Are you kidding me? That’s how I was supposed to ask, like you’re some kind of god?”

  He frowned. “I am not a God. I am Xylan. All beings behave with deference when approaching a Xylan warrior.”

  “All of them?”

  “Yes.”

  She crooked an eyebrow. Her forehead curved again into those tiny Xylan-like ridges, which were insanely attractive. Somehow, her brazen disobedience of Xylan customs only inflamed his lust. He shifted, feeling his cock growing hard within his trousers.

  “So you were brushing me off because you thought I was rude?”

  He shrugged. “Yes.”

  “Oh.” She paused and bit her lip. “You don’t still want me to talk that way to you now, right? Because it seems kinda silly considering what we did last night by the river.”

  He was amazed by the color deepening her cheeks. He’d never spent so much time around a being with so little color. His line had been of royal pigment, and even his adoptive line had been of a lighter shade of royal pigment. Most other species were blue or green or scales. He hadn’t ever spent time around another species with similar skin type as a Xylan but with so little pigment. And he’d never spent any significant amount of time around a Margol. “No…no. That is etiquette for how other species approach a Xylan. It is my tribute as a warrior. As my Bride, you are considered Xylan.”

  “I am considered Xylan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait, you said I’m your Bride?”

  He took a deep breath, readying himself to formally say the words that would let this female go. “Yes, you are my Bride.”

  Her mouth opened in shock. “Okay explain this to me. What does that mean exactly? And when did this happen? After I was talking to you the Hurlians dropped from the sky at the marketplace for a snatching, and I told you to get the hell outta there, but you didn’t.”

  He growled. “No, I didn’t. I transported my target to my ship, and I defended you.”

  She grinned. “That was epic.”

  He felt his lips twitch at the corners, as if he were about to smile. But he hadn’t smiled in so many years, he wasn’t sure. “The Hurlians cannot control a planet of species they kidnapped from their original home world while also keeping them as specimens. It is not ethical.”

  She sat up straighter, and her eyes flashed. “No, it’s not,” she agreed. “It’s fucking horrific.”

  He nodded. “This we agree upon.”

  She held a palm up, as if she trying to stop something, an odd human gesture. “Hold on, let’s get back to the important part where you explain to me again how I’m your Bride.”

  “I pulled you back from the Hurlians, and in so doing I touched your hand, skin on skin contact. At that moment we tested mating compatibility and I knew you were my Bride.”

  “You rescued me,” she said, a huge smile on her face. The space between her teeth enticing him like the rarest of fruits

  “Yes, I did,” he agreed.

  “Yeah, after we fell down, you were still holding my hand and I felt something at that moment, too, a rush of energy. It was weird. Like something was flowing between the two of us.”

  He bowed his head for a moment, reliving the majesty of the mating bond. This was supposed to be a momentous moment in a Xylan’s life, and for him it would be taken away. This was the pattern of his life, though, wasn’t it? His family had been taken away. Why not his Bride and offspring, too?

  His heart was stone within his chest.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I did not intend to force mating compatibility on you,” he rasped. “I touched your skin because I was trying to save you from the Hurlians.”

  “I know. That was a crazy moment. You were just trying to pull me back, to save me.”

  He lifted his head and met her steady gaze. “Whether my intention was pure or not, the outcome is the same. Mating compatibility was forced because I am removed from the Xylan mating database. I am not allowed a Bride, so a mating compatibility performed by me is considered automatically forced. Forcing mating compatibility is against the Scales of Xylan Law. I would never force mating compatibility on an unmated female. I thought I was pulling you, allowing our skin to make contact because it was an emergency situation in the middle of battle, and also because I never thought that a human and a Xylan could be compatible for mating.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Wait, there’s a lot you said there… First, when you touched me, how did you know I was your mate?”

  “My cock grew hard for you.”

  She sucked in a breath and her cheeks remained as pink as before. “What? For me?” She glanced down at his crotch as she said this and swallowed.

  He clenched his jaw.

  His cock was jutting out from his trousers. She was his Bride, he was fighting his breeding lust to the best of his ability, there was not more he could do.

  Her eyes lifted up and met his again. “You felt that, right away? Just from my touch?” she said hoarsely.

  He looked away. “Xylans do not feel any sexual urge until the moment they meet their mate. Mating is signified by skin on skin contact.”

  “So from just that touch, when you grabbed my hand, you knew I was your mate?”

  “Yes. You said you felt it, too. You are human, but I knew you were feeling the mating call. With my Hunter suit I was able to check your physical reactions.”

  He watched her again. She sucked in a breath, and her eyes looked pained. He found himself enjoying all the colors and emotions that swept across her skin. He ached to touch her.

  “Yes, I felt it,” she admitted. “I felt it as much as you did.”

  He clenched his fists,
his jaw hard as a rock of Collumdrum. He couldn’t stand it, having her so near and yet not being able to touch her. The madness would take him soon. He had to start this review without delay. “Now that you know and understand the situation, it is time for you to make your decision.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “Computer, record and report the following to Xylan Imperial Command, attention, mating compatibility judgment.”

  “Confirmed. Judgment is recording.”

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He spoke to the computer. “Kayzon of Twenty-Six a Xylan Bounty Hunter, designation Banished and non-compatible, inadvertently tested mating compatibility with a human female during mission log THX690. Compatibility was confirmed. Mating occurred immediately according to custom.” He bowed his head, wishing he’d been able to hold back and not claim his Bride, but he’d been blinded and trapped by the hormones flooding his body, the hormones that still throbbed within. “The customary one planetary cycle of determination by the female for disavowal will start…now.”

  A chime sounded within the ship. A countdown clock floated on the wall above. “Message sent and received.”

  “What the heck just happened?” his temporary Bride asked, her eyes wide. He analyzed her features, trying to memorize them before they were taken away. The way her husky voice sounded and that delicious space between her teeth. He’d almost forgotten the sound of his mother’s voice these last ten years; he didn’t want to forget his Bride’s. He might not have much life left, but what he had, he wanted her sound, her touch, clear in his memory.

  “I’ve given you the choice of review, which is customary in a contested mating.”