Venomous: Erotic Science Fiction Romance (Alien Warrior Book 1) (35 page)

His head lifted to consider the newcomer, and he confused me when he asked, “Again?”

“I could say the same. The nest is but ten paces from you.”

Arching my back, I strained my neck until the crown of my head touched the floor.

I blinked at the upside down vision of Fiercely.

He stood with his powerful arms crossed over his chest, expression closed, but his eyes....

I pushed at the heaving chest shrouding me in warmth.

Venomous bounded upright with an agile swiftness that belied his immense size to extend an arm.

Covetous eyes locked onto my back like laser beams, and boy, I felt that burn.

The nape of my neck prickled as I wrapped an arm over my breasts then clasped the proffered hand.

Venomous pulled me up then drew me into his earthy heat.

He wrapped his lower arms around me, covering my front, and most of my back.

He hadn’t gotten around to ripping off my softsuit, so my backside was, at least, concealed, not that nudity mattered.

Rä culture viewed the bare form differently to my own.

They saw it as beautiful to decorate with gold.

I was grateful Venomous cared enough to respect my sensibilities when it came to nakedness around others.

He no longer viewed Fiercely as a stranger, but as part of our clan, and thought nothing of me being seen this way by his ‘nest mate’.

However, he was sensitive to my needs.

He wanted me to feel comfortable with the other male, so he didn’t push.

Venomous kneaded his hands into my curly hair to hold it off my face.

Ebon eyes stared at me with a questioning gleam.

I gave him a brave smile, as if my pounding heart didn’t batter heat against him.

I had to get used to Fiercely.

For all our sakes, I needed to stop unintentionally pitting them against each other.

Venomous’ attention moved. His gentle hands never stopped petting. “Nest mate, you are needing us?”

My grip tightened then relaxed with a twist of my lips.

No, Venomous didn’t push me, but he’d made it known Fiercely was ours.

He acknowledged the male as my second mate even though I had yet to.

Fiercely didn’t speak, seemed unable to.

Tension corded the muscles in his face and neck, his desire to close the distance and hold me suffocating.

Back becoming ramrod straight, his shoulders squared as if preparing to suffer torture, and his hands fisted as he glared, but the surface anger failed to hide the yearning.

Forcing myself to meet his hot stare, the lump in my throat grew from a pebble to a boulder.

I offered him a conciliatory smile, nothing more.

It left me feeling like a bitch.

The male wanted what he’d been told his whole life would be the other half of his soul.

Against the odds he’d found her, but not only was she already taken, she told him she didn’t want him.

I was sympathetic, but I couldn’t bring myself to go along with what he decreed without serious consideration on my part.

I felt as if I didn’t have a choice in what happened with my body.

Fiercely had to be patient.

I needed room to breathe.

Too much had happened too fast.

One alien mate was enough to keep me busy.

Taking on another?

Madness.

The silence lengthened.

I considered breaking away and returning to the nest, so they might talk alone, as him seeing me and my mate undressed, and in each others arms while his were empty seemed needlessly cruel.

I tugged to free myself.

Venomous resisted. “Fiercely?”

“Krait that Shines eases us into orbit around home world as we speak.” His gravelly voice filled with effort as he restrained himself from saying what he obviously wanted; pleas for me to consider him worthy, demands asking why I spurned him.

Fiercely’s fiery gaze swept over me.

It cooled as it wandered back to Venomous, but genuine respect resided there.

It relieved me to see it.

My actions might cause strain, but they weren’t causing irreparable harm.

Fiercely’s lower arms uncrossed and landed on his narrow hips.

His upper limbs hung loose at his sides, but large hands fisted betraying how hard he found the situation. “The communications feed will be updated shortly.” He cleared his throat then spoke at a louder, more confident volume. “I thought to give you early warning, so you might prepare.” His gaze slid to me. “Does this please you?”

Krait was a navigator turned pilot meaning we were landing, landing on Rök, my new home planet.

Thunderstruck, I stared at nothing, face slack.

“Our gratitude,” Venomous said as I balked.

Fiercely’s shoulders tightened, dissatisfied.

Venomous took advantage of my distraction to shuffle us forward.

It put me within touching distance of the other male, but as I was distressed about our arrival on their birth planet, the furtive move didn’t bother me.

No matter how frustrated, Fiercely would
never
harm me.

Honestly, his reticence allowed me to keep him at arm’s length.

Enslaved and with nothing to lose, Venomous had claimed me on the slave planet, his hold on me set in stone.

He’d smashed through my emotional barriers with his blameless need for affection.

Even when we communicated with the second-rate translators, and I made it known I didn’t appreciate his Neanderthal behaviour, he dismissed my knee-jerk reaction to hold back emotionally, leading and guiding our relationship as I wavered.

He had forced me to bend, or be broken by his superior will.

It chafed.

I sometimes felt as if my acceptance of his heavy-handed dominance was an outbreak of itchy hives I’d never cure, but hadn’t I ultimately towed the line when it counted?

Why then was I being stubborn in my refusal of Fiercely?

I struggled not to compare the two, yet I kept thinking that Fiercely accommodated everything I did without question.

I set a boundary, and
he
towed the line, no arguments.

He did as I bid, and I carried on as I pleased.

In essence, Fiercely endorsed my running roughshod over him.

Realising this, I began to understand why Venomous acted so aggressively to get me to submit to his claim.

He’d recognised the likelihood of my resistance, and decided early on to lock me down tight.

Converse to this tactic, Fiercely backed off, and sought my approval, something in my past life I believed I’d respond positively to.

Ironically, Fiercely Comes the Night wouldn’t get what he wanted acting as he did.

His hesitant courtship and Venomous’ assertive one taught me about myself.

I didn’t want any male I fell in love with to crush my spirit.

Equally, I didn’t want to be the aggressor in my relationships.

Perhaps giving me time to mull over and dissect the situation had me
over thinking
it.

Did Fiercely expect in time his passive courtship would wear me down?

That in the end I’d roll over and let him in?

If he took the time to really look at it, at
me
, he was already
in there
.

Fiercely saved
my life
.

He’d protected me when the circumstances prevented Venomous reaching me.

That alone earned him a lifetime of devotion if not my affection.

That didn’t mean I’d pretend to feel what I didn’t.

I liked him, a lot, and I was attracted to him physically, but what red-blooded woman wouldn’t be attracted to a fierce warrior with an eight pack, killer smile and the noblest of intentions?

I wasn’t
in love
with him, though, and I refused to call him my mate when I didn’t feel that way, and hadn’t taken some time to take stock and make the right decision.

It would cheapen the budding friendship between us, and lessen what grew between Venomous and I.

Could I fall in love with him?

Scary as it was to admit, yes.

After talking to Venomous about it, I developed an understanding my love wasn’t diminished by numbers, and he would not see me as unfaithful.

The riot of emotion I felt around Fiercely did have the potential to settle into me loving him.

Based on how he reacted to displays of affection between Venomous and I, would he be comfortable with the physical manifestations of my love?

I worried he looked on my relationship with his guild kin, and expected the connection between us to be the same.

Our personalities would bring forth a relationship of a distinctly other kind.

“Did you hear, my Lumen?” Venomous asked with a caress of knuckles to my hanging jaw. “Soon you will be forever safe, sheltered by our kindred. Are you pleased?”

My mind was stuffed, but I focused long enough to work up a panic over what was to come.

What if the Rä couldn’t see past my occasional neurosis to my better qualities as Venomous did?

“Was it not thoughtful of your second to go out of his way to bring this news so you can prepare?” he coaxed rocking me side to side.

I mumbled, “Sure,” not really paying attention.

Would the Rä forever see me as an offworlder?

An interloper who didn’t belong?

An ugly alien?

Considering the amount of controversy I’d be inviting into his life, aside from the biological tie, why Fiercely wanted to be mine I didn’t know.

We got along well enough before his wanting to mate me, but his decision to push for more confused me.

I knew why I liked him, but what did he like about me?

Was it all biological?

Would it offend him if I asked him to explain what he felt in detail?

Venomous cooed, “And you are pleased by his actions?”

“Mmm.”

“Good.” My male was tenacious in carrying the discussion. “This is wonderful.”

“A most joyous event,” Fiercely ground out.

He sounded anything but happy.

Oddly, it was
that
which pulled me into the conversation.

Sensing my attention had engaged, Venomous pressed on, determined to make the vision of family he had in mind work. “This is a chance for us all to have a new beginning. Returning home to build a new life. Together.”

Repressing the urge to run off boohooing because I was so bloody
stressed
, I faced Fiercely and deliberated forcing a smile.

I decided against it because likely it’d appear more a grimace.

For all my dithering, I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea by thinking I didn’t want him around.

Was that healthy?

To want his attention, yet hold him at arm’s length until I was sure he wouldn’t ruin what I already had?

Would it be better to bow to the inevitable and give in, but then wasn’t I just sure a passive courtship wouldn’t win me?

Biting my lip, I eyed him.

He stood before me seeking approval, so could I really call it passive?

Was I being unreasonable, setting a standard he’d never meet because I was unsure of myself?

Should I not give the male a break?

Fiercely Comes the Night wasn’t just impressive to look at, he was gorgeous by any standard of masculinity.

Tall and muscled with strong features that were handsome in a softer, more symmetrical way than Venomous’.

The gold in his septum, ears and brow scales verified his prowess if one acknowledged the Rä way.

The reality was physical looks mattered little.

Gazing at the beautiful face of a soulless brute wouldn’t make me happy for the rest of my life.

After losing my world, my way, I needed to laugh and feel joy.

I needed true desire for the mind, body and soul of my mate, or mates, as the case might turn out to be.

Nothing less would satisfy.

So, I waited for Fiercely to give me a sign.

A sign that made accepting him as my second mate beyond doubt the right thing.

He needed to join my clan and enhance it, not cause friction or foster negative vibes that might destroy what Venomous and I built.

So, yes, he did have to meet a standard.

I had ones to meet myself, acclimatising to a new world and its culture without losing my mind.

I had to put
other people
first.

It was a frame of mind I was inexperienced with having lost my family young.

Even as he put the happy median I’d achieved at risk, Fiercely
had
proved he’d protect us and respect Venomous’ place, had he not?

He’d demonstrated a willingness to give me space, took my emotional welfare into account, all at his own expense, giving me time to adjust.

Taking a breath, I asked, “You come from the Eastern province, don’t you, Fiercely?”

It was the first time I’d spoken to him since our confrontation.

“Yesss,” he replied and edged closer. He ran all four hands down his torso to smooth out nonexistent wrinkles in his hardsuit
.
“It is warmer. Flatter.” He angled his face towards me. “Flowers of red and blue grow from the sands. Our Zýt do not rattle. They have beautiful hoods like Grandfather. Shapes and patterns and colours like you’ve never seen.”

I scrunched my nose at the unfamiliar term. “Zýt
?”

The males shared a short, perplexed look.

“Creatures that live in our home,” Venomous said.

“Distant cousins that did not evolve,” Fiercely added.

It sounded as if they were pets. “It sounds lovely.”

He bent until our faces were level, voice lowered as he grinned. “It is.”

“Is the North as pretty?”

“Better,” Venomous assured. “Nowhere on Rök is as scenic.”

“The East is more bountiful,” Fiercely boasted his eyes narrowing.

“But the Northern Warriors Guild is undefeated, and our Hunters Caste superior.”

“They have to be. There is hardly any prey.”

Venomous’ lip quirked, ceding the verbal joust. “Truth.”

Body vibrating joy, he gave me a squeeze.

It told me without words how excited he was to return home after years of slavery.