Grav

 

I’m not a nice guy.

I’m a murderer and an ex-con and an all around son-of-a-bitch, ask anybody who knows me.

But I’m also a Protector.

I took an oath to guard the females I take as wards with my life, and I take that oath very fucking seriously. That’s why, when I see someone I’ve sworn to protect in danger, I take immediate action, even if the female I’m acting for doesn’t know I’m assigned to protect her.

Of course, it helps if she knows I’m watching out for her—helps if she knows she can trust me. Because, unfortunately, I’m not the kind of male females trust on sight.

I’m one ugly bastard, is what I’m trying to say.

Half Braxian and half Vorn—the two most hated and feared of the Twelve Peoples the Ancient Ones seeded the galaxy with. I’m not smooth like an Eloim or pretty to look at like a Majoran. I have bluish-gray skin, black curling horns, and white-on-black eyes that can see every spectrum of light.

And don’t forget my prison tats.

But it doesn’t matter what I look like—I get the job done. And at the moment, my job was getting planetside to save one of the Earth females who had been put under my protection.

Only she didn’t know me—didn’t know I was watching her. And she sure as hell didn’t know I was trustworthy. I mean, what would you say if a seven foot tall blue alien with horns and freaky-as-shit eyes showed up at your door?

Exactly.

But none of that mattered—she was in danger and I had to save her.

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning…back when I first came aboard the Commercians’ space station, which was circling in low Earth orbit, spying on Earth females for their Alien Mate Index. A site which claims they can hook up any alien male with the perfect Earth bride or concubine—for a price.

I wasn’t looking for either. I just wanted to serve and protect, no matter what it took…

* * * * *

“Can you tell me the sort of female you are interested in?” Char’noth S’roth, the lead Commercian asked me in his high, silly voice. “We have all sorts, my Lord…”

“Grav,” I said, frowning. “And I’m not a ‘Lord,’”

“Ah yes, forgive me, my Lord” Char’noth squeaked, rubbing several of his hands together.

Commercians look kind of like dark blue worms with multiple limbs. They have the most ridiculous fuckin’ voices imaginable, but they’re shrewd in business and almost always the first to exploit any kind of commercial situation. It didn’t surprise me a bit that they had discovered Earth, once a closed planet, was finally opening up. Or as they put it, “ripe for harvest.”

“As I was saying, my Lord Grav” Char’noth continued, “We have all kinds. Some tall, some short, some thin, some thick…”

“I’m not a Lord,” I said again, interrupting him. “And I don’t wanna look at any you have for sale. In fact, I’m interested in two that aren’t for sale. Or they’d better not be—their contracts were bought and paid for with the understanding that they were to be left strictly alone.”

“Ah…you must be referring to the two La-ti-zals whose contracts were bought by Lord Sarden, whom I am told has recently ascended to the throne of Eloim?”

“That’s right,” I said, glaring at the little worm. “Which means he’s got considerable clout—so you’d better be keeping those two off your fuckin’ database.”

“If you have been sent to see if we are honoring our agreement with Lord Sarden, you can put your mind at ease.” Char’noth’s high, piping voice sounded offended. “We Commercians do not renege on business deals. In fact, another customer has already come asking to see them and we refused all his offers, though they were quite considerable.”

My protective senses went on high alert.

“What? Why didn’t you say so? Was it a male about this high?” I showed him with my hand level to my chin. “With a smooth, pink face—only slits for eyes and a mouth?”

Describing him left a bad taste in my mouth. The freak show of a Doloroso was disgusting—he even managed to make my ugly mug look pretty in comparison. I had killed him though—I’d felt his neck break in my hands and seen the life leak out of his slitted eyes. Still, Lady Zoe, Sarden’s bonded mate, was certain the bastard had somehow come back to life and was stalking her friends. That was what I was there for—to check up on them. I had never expected Lady Zoe to be right but here we were. Apparently Doloroso was already on the prowl…

But Char’noth was shaking his little blue head.

“No—it was a Grubbian merchant. He said he wanted something extra-special for a client. A La-ti-zal.”

La-ti-zal is the name for a female who has been extra-blessed with talents from the Ancient Ones. Lady Zoe was one and so her friends likely were too. It only takes one female with those latent abilities to start them growing in her closest friends and female relations. So it stood to reason that Lady Zoe—who was an Opener—would have friends who were also La-ti-zals, though what kind they would be, only the Goddess of Mercy knew.

“So this Grubbian asked for a La-ti-zal and you showed them the two girls?” I growled. “Even though their contracts had already been paid for by Sarden?”

“For demonstration purposes only!” Char’noth took an alarmed step back. “We had recently added special scanning equipment to the Alien Mate Index which enables us to pick out those females who are specially gifted. The two that Lord Sarden paid for shine the brightest of all.”

“Shine the brightest?” I said. “What in the Frozen Hells of Arnoth does that mean?”

“See for yourself.”

Char’noth made a motion with two of his blue, clawed hands, causing a light-screen to appear in front of us. It was split into two and each part showed one of the females I was assigned to protect.

I had seen them before in Lady Zoe’s memory cube but I had to say, her memories, while beautiful, didn’t do them justice—especially not the little morada who she called “Leah.”

She had pale skin and big brown eyes and long, silky brown hair my hands itched to touch. I could imagine the soft texture of those strands, sliding over my fingers. Braxian women usually have extremely short hair. Any female with hair past her shoulders is considered exceptionally beautiful and this little one called Leah had hair that went down to the curve of her lower back.

You’re only here to protect and serve, I reminded myself sternly, reeling in my libido. And even if you weren’t, a female this gorgeous—not to mention a Pure One and a La-ti-zal—wouldn’t want anything to do with an ex-con murderer like you. Also, she’s already got a mate. So get a grip, Grav.

Yeah, I’d like to get a grip, whispered a lustful little voice in my brain, completely ignoring my stern self-warning, as Leah bent over.

She had full hips and a lush ass too, which was good. I don’t like females that are too skinny—nothing to hold on to. I saw she was surrounded by young ones, some playing and some sitting quietly. She seemed to be concentrating on one in particular—a small male with thick oculars covering his eyes. Hadn’t Lady Zoe told me something about her working with them? Young ones with some kind of disability, I thought, but I couldn’t remember what exactly. Something that made them non-responsive at times. But the small male seemed to be responding to Leah well enough. In fact, she seemed to really have a way with him.

It made my heart ache as I remembered my last ward, Teeny. She had been older than the young ones I saw surrounding Leah on the light screen, but her beloved grandmother had been killed right in front of her. Then she had been captured and kept in a cell by the infamous gangster, Tazaxx of Giedi Prime. Sarden and Zoe and I had managed to rescue her but her big eyes were haunted and she had cried and cried when her grandfather canceled my contract with her and decided to send her to an all-female planet for school instead.

I wondered how Teeny was doing now. In all probability, I would never find out since her grandfather was a fuckin’ idiot. Poor kid needed counseling and to be with people who cared for her—not to be shipped off to some ridiculously expensive finishing school for the ultra wealthy of the galaxy. But what can you do? Though I had sworn my oath to Teeny, her grandfather had revoked it. Still, she would always be in my heart, even now that I had two new females to guard.

“Do you see the glow?” Char’noth said, motioning to the light-screen.

I dragged my eyes away from the little morada’s curvy behind and looked at both females with clear eyes. It was true that both of them had a kind of aura around them. Leah’s was a pale, lovely translucent blue. But the female named Charlotte—well, her glow was something special.

Most males with Vorn DNA can only see colors when they meet a female they could call as a mate. But though I am half Vorn, my eyes favored my Braxian side And, as I told you that Braxian eyes can see every spectrum of light—even those invisible to most other species.

The female called Charlotte was putting out rays that would have blinded a normal male. A golden glow suffused with every color of the rainbow surrounded her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Clearly she was something special.

It was fucking amazing and yet…my eyes kept getting drawn back to Leah with her big brown eyes and pale blue aura.

“The glow, right,” I said, frowning. “So did the Grubbian merchant offer to buy them?”

“Of course he wished to purchase them,” Char’noth said. “Especially this one.” He pointed to Charlotte. “She has the brightest and most complex glow we have yet seen. Clearly she is extra-blessed by the Ancient Ones—a La-ti-zal’s La-ti-zal.”

“Whatever that means,” I grunted. “So what did you tell him?”

Char’noth drew his little wormy body up to its full height of around three feet.

“I told him no, of course. That these females were already paid for and were unavailable for anything but display purposes.”

“As of now, they’re not available for that either,” I snapped. “Except by me. I’m here to make sure they’re safe and you’re honoring your end of the bargain.”

“But how will we show that our equipment can spot a La-ti-zal?” he demanded in his high, squeaky voice. “No other females shine so brightly!”

“Too fuckin’ bad,” I growled. “Stop displaying them now. As much as possible, they need to be left alone to live their lives. Well…” I cleared my throat. “Except for one thing. I need to go down to the planet’s surface and deliver these crystal message cubes.”

I extracted them from my pouch, both square cubes cupped in one palm like an oversized pair of dice.

“It will not be possible,” Char’noth said, hissing disagreeably. “Our transport facilities are only able to send living tissue. Unless you are able to conceal these communication devices somewhere inside your body, they will not be able to travel with you.”

“Fine,” I growled. “Then I’ll go down myself in my own ship.”

“Negative.” He hissed again. “The Earthlings have extremely primitive technology but they are able to detect foreign ships entering their atmosphere and they have the weapons to blast them out of their sky. Why do you think we have hidden our station amongst their space junk? We cannot allow you to risk our commercial operation by exposing our position.”

“You don’t own this planet,” I pointed out. “You’re just harvesting the females. Which I don’t fucking approve of, by the way. Females should be protected and cared for—not sold like chattel.”

“We have first rights to this planet.” Char’noth was getting really upset now. “And we have every right to harvest it. Though it was locked by the Ancient Ones, the inhabitants of Earth foolishly dissolved the protective barrier left in place, tearing a hole in their own ozone layer. Thus legally opening themselves to outside contact with other species.”

Okay, this was getting us nowhere. Clearly I couldn’t fly down to the planet in my ship—the Earthlings would detect it and might shoot me out of the sky. But I was also not going to be cramming the memory cubes—and everything else I needed to bring, including clothing—up my ass just to bring it with me through the Commercians’ transport.

“Try this,” I said to Char’noth, whose little blue back was still up. “Can you send living and non-living creatures separately? Could you send the cubes and my other things down in one shipment and me in another?”

He paused, apparently deep in thought.

“You ask the same question the Grubbian merchant did.”

“And what was your answer?” I growled impatiently.

“That it is possible,” he squeaked reluctantly. “Though the tranporter must be reconfigured between each transport. Do you wish to send your possessions down first and then go yourself, or go first and wait for us to send your possessions.”

“Seeing as how a naked blue alien appearing out of nowhere might startle the Earthlings, I prefer to send the fuckin’ things down first and follow after,” I said. “That way I can get myself together as soon as I’m down there instead of waiting naked in the bushes. Or whatever kind of vegetative cover they have down there.”

“Very well.” He nodded. “We shall reconfigure. But it will take some time.”

“Reconfigure away,” I said, making a sweeping gesture with one hand. “I got time.”

He made a motion as though to dismiss the light screen with the two girls but I stopped him.

“No—leave it. At least, leave the one with the morada—the long haired female,” I said. “I’ll watch while you work.”

“As you wish, Lord Grav.” Char’noth bowed stiffly and turned to go, but I called him back.

“What poor female did you end up selling to that Grubbian merchant, anyway?” I felt sorry for her, whoever she was.

He shook his wormy head. “None. He wanted no females if he could not have the two you came to watch over. He did, however, order a male.”

“A male?” I frowned. “But they can’t be La-ti-zals, can they?”

“Assuredly not,” Char’oth said. “But he requested a male anyway. A powerful, rich male with all of his personal accoutrements, actually. Though I do not know why he wished such a thing.”

“And you found him one?” I asked.

Char’noth nodded. “We found a rich and well recognized one—though I am not certain how respected he is. The Grubbian left most pleased and said he might be back for a female later.”

“Let me know if he returns.” Of course the Commercians had no chairs that would hold my weight, but it didn’t matter. I settled myself on the floor in front of the light-screen, watching Leah as she worked with the little ones. I was used to waiting patiently when I warded females. And watching the little morada work was a pure pleasure, though I knew well enough she wasn’t for the likes of me.

I wondered what I would say to her when I brought down the cube—or if I would speak at all. It might just be best to leave it in a place where she would find it. I didn’t want to scare her, after all. And even with the saphorr juice to change the color of my skin and the smart-fabric mask which would make me appear more or less human, I wouldn’t be able to disguise my size or musculature.

Well, time enough to decide the details. In the meantime, I watched the sway of her hips and the way her long, silky hair fell around her shoulders and dreamed.

***Want more? You can preorder Protected --it's coming out on July 19th, in plenty of time for more hot beach reading!***