CHAPTER SIX
Raze's entire body had sadness written all over it. Affina knew she'd only caught a glimpse of his power in the last shop. Within him it was like two beings were at war. The one that wished to be dominant- and the one that knew he was to be submissive to her status. He'd never once shown an ounce of dominance back home, but then he'd been a servant and not a lone male in a new world. She wondered what it would be like to see him as a dominant male. The thought made her saber lift her head and pay attention.
It'd been a funny thing between Affina and her saber since coming to earth. Affina wasn't one hundred percent sure what was going on, but she had the feeling it had something to do with being around Razor.
The vehicle pulled to the curb in front of another shop. This one showed off dolls in various sizes and shapes as opposed to the last one that looked like they only dressed premature females.
Again Razor exited the car and held out his hand for her. She allowed his large soft palm to caress hers. The last time she'd held his hand on Aurora it had been blistered and broken from training.
She stepped from the car her mind plagued with memories of putting the salve over his raw skin and wrapping it in strips of linen to heal. She looked up into his handsome face. He'd turned out so much bigger and stronger than she had imagined.
His body pressed into hers. "What is it?"
"I was just thinking how striking you have become. I figured you might grow to be as tall as me, possibly. But you're so much more."
She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down several times as he tried to form words.
He cleared his throat. "Thank you Highness. That is a great compliment."
"We mustn't kid ourselves. I'm just Affina now."
Raze stared deep into her eyes. "Just because your kingdom is lost to another doesn't make you any less than you are. You were born a queen and always will be."
He closed the car door and led her into the store. Clothing in blacks, whites, reds, and an assortment of bright colors hung everywhere. But instead of them being half her size, most looked like they might actually fit.
"Hello. How are you today?" A short woman with skin the beautiful shade of deep mahogany and dark hair pulled neatly up into a tight updo, in a bright pink dress crossed to them and held out her hand. "I'm Raya."
Raze shook with the woman. "I'm Mr. Edge. We are in need of some clothing for my friend."
Raya smiled at Affina and held out her hand. "A pleasure to meet you Miss."
Affina took the woman's hand and held it. "Affina."
Raya patted Affina's hand and pulled her smaller plump one away. "It's nice to meet you Affina. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?"
"Affina is new in town and lost her luggage. She needs a bit of everything." Raze pulled out a leather book and removed a small black square card and showed it to Raya. "Whatever the lady wants, feel free to put it on my card."
Again Raya smiled. "Of course Mr. Edge." She took Affina by the arm. "If you'd like to come with me I can help you get started."
Affina looked to Raze and he nodded. His phone chimed. "This is Raze... Mr. Yoshimoto, thank you for calling."
Raya pulled her away.
"So," asked Raya. "Are you looking for formal? Casual? Intimate?"
"I...uh... I don't know," said Affina. "Something to keep people from staring at me."
Raya burst out laughing. "You're funny. I like that. But let's see if maybe one of these black cocktail dresses might fit you because girl, with the knock out body like yours there's reasons people should be staring at you. Jealousy!"
Raya thumbed through the rack and stopped on a sleeveless, short and curvy dress. She held it up to Affina and cocked her head to the side.
"This one would look amazing on you. With your buff legs and arms, you'd be a knock out."
Affina looked down. "But I can't run in it."
"Of course not. This would just be for a date with your man over there."
"I don't know what you mean by date."
Raya's mouth dropped slightly. "Date. Go out? Eat together, talk, see a show?"
"So this is for eating in?" Affina asked.
Raya nodded. "Yes. At a nice place, like a restaurant. Where are you from honey?"
Affina looked over her shoulder at Raze who was still talking. "Uh... a different planet."
Raya laughed again. "Sometimes we all feel that way. Let's get you a dressing room."
Raya showed her to the back of the store and opened the first in a series of small doors in a room surrounded by mirrors.
"Okay. You try this dress on and I'll see what else I can pull for you."
Affina stepped into the tiny room and Raya closed the door. She looked at herself in the mirror. How embarrassing. Just a year before she'd been a princess destined to rule an entire species. But now... now she stood in Razor's pajamas, in a new world that she didn't understand.
A knock sounded on the door. "I found you a few more pieces, Miss."
A hand flew over the door and clothes whipped her in the face. Affina stepped back and looked at them. A top and some long black pants. A skirt and another top that looked almost see through. Affina grabbed them and set them down on a chair.
"And these I think will be your size as well," said Raya. Two small lacy pink see through items hung on the door. Affina took them and held them out in front of her.
"What do I do with these?" she asked.
"They're for under your clothes," Raya replied.
"Bra," she muttered.
Affina held the cupped lacy wire in front of her and looked at it. It didn't look comfortable.
****
"That would be agreeable," said Raze. "I'll have my attorney draw up the papers. Thank you Mr. Yoshimoto."
"Is this a jest?" Affina's voice rang out from the dressing room, sending a chill down Raze's back.
"I have another appointment coming in. I need to go." Raze hung up just as Affina rounded the corner in nothing but the pink bra and panties that Raya had picked out for her.
"What is the purpose of these contraptions?" Affina asked. "This one doesn't even cover my rear end." She promptly turned around showing off her peachy round cheeks and the strip of thong that all but disappeared between them.
Without thinking Raze rushed to the nearest clothing rack, grabbed something off it and wrapped it around Affina.
"What? Is this something else I'm supposed to wear beneath my clothing?" she asked.
Raze fought for words. Her beautiful tanned face so close to his that he could taste her breath in his mouth. His erection kicked into high gear and he fought to hold back his inner saber as it clawed its way to the surface to mark her all over.
"You... don't have to wear the underclothes if you don't want to," he managed. Behind Affina, Raya tried to keep a straight face.
"If she's tried them on, I'm afraid you have to pay for them," she said.
"I'll pay." Raze looked down at Affina. "But she doesn't have to wear them if she doesn't want to."
The look in Affina's eyes and the desire wafting off her skin almost made him ruin his pants right there.
Damn. He hadn't been around another saber in so long and of course it had to be the one saber that he'd dreamt about for years after coming to Earth. The one he'd envisioned every single time he'd taken a human into his bed. The one who'd trained him, taught him and protected him back on Aurora.
"Do you like them?" Her voice came out husky.
Raze cleared his throat. "I'm sorry?"
"Sorry for what?"
"No, I mean, I don't understand your question."
"I asked, if you like these uncomfortable pieces of itchy cloth that I've bound very little of my body in."
How the hell did he answer that? Raze swallowed hard. "It's customary here for women to wear them."
"Yes, but do you like them? On me?"
Did he like them on her? Hell, he liked them so much he wanted to see them tangled in his own clothes on the floor at the foot of his bed.
"Yes." He'd never been able to lie to her before, and apparently he still couldn't.
She stepped out of his grasp and turned to Raya, showing him again her curvy rear.
"I will take several. Different colors." Affina's regal command struck a familiar chord. She strode back to the dressing room and Raya hurried over to the lingerie section and pulled a collection of underwear and bras from the racks.
Raze dropped into a deep plush chair. Every nerve ending lit on fire. His pants pulled so tight against his erection that he feared he'd burst the zipper. For years he'd thought of her, awaiting the day she and the rest of their clan would come to Earth for good. He'd expected her to have found a mate, but instead it was just the two of them now – and his saber had determined she was to be his mate.
Affina remerged from the dressing room in a pair of long black slacks and a peachy chiffon blouse sheer enough for him to know that she still wore the lacy pink bra underneath. The black heels that had been paired with the outfit lengthened her long legs even further. She towered over Raya, once again reminding him of how superior his saber race truly was.
Her ebony locks cascaded over her shoulders and down her back just like her saber mane did when she shifted.
"Doesn't she look amazing?" asked Raya.
Raze stood and nodded.
"We'll keep her sizes on file for you so if you need anything in the future we can grab it and have it sent over immediately."
"I was told I was a sixteen," said Affina.
Raya smiled up at her. "Oh we don't go by numbers here." Raya walked to the counter and began ringing up the items.
"What do you go by?" asked Raze.
"We have standard sizes of petite, lovely, beautiful, gorgeous, perfection. And then we custom create any sizes our beauties may need."
"What am I?" asked Affina.
"You my dear are gorgeous," Raya replied.
"She sure is."
Both women looked at him and Raze fumbled in his pocket for his wallet. He hadn't meant to say that out loud.
Hell. He needed to keep it together. Less than a few hours together and already Affina had him acting like a dopey lovesick teenaged slave again.
****
Affina stared out the window at the millions of people as they hurried from place to place. Lights flashed on giant boards making her squint. Why had she said that to him? Why had she cared if he liked the underthings on her? Stupid, Affina. Stupid. What was getting into her? First she'd been possessive of him over the girl Bethany. Now she was asking his opinion on the underwear she chose? She berated herself for her juvenile reactions toward him. Surprisingly though her saber remained happy as ever.
"How do you deal with so much... so much?" she finally asked.
"Earth is different from Aurora that's for sure. But you come to love certain things about it."
She turned and looked at him. "Like what?"
"Like the food and conveniences. I can get everything I need just by using my phone."
"Back home we got what we needed by going outside and getting it. Or by asking a slave to get it for us."
"Yes," he nodded. "I remember." The tone of his voice belied resentment. It struck her in the gut. She'd never heard him speak like that before.
"Did you not like your place in my father's clan?"
He snorted. "Being a slave wasn't quite what I'd hoped for my life."
"And this is?" she asked. "Fancy clothes and little squares that you can pay for things with? Was it really so bad back on Aurora?"
"You did what you wanted, when you wanted. You weren't considered lesser. Always at someone else's beck and call because your father made a stupid arrogant choice that ended in either you joining him in death or becoming a slave."
Affina stared at him for a moment and shook her head. How had she never seen this side of him before? "I must have been truly blind then. I never remember treating you that way."
Raze swallowed. "I didn't mean to-"
Her saber told her to shut up but she couldn't let it go. "How did you get here?"
"I told you. Your father sent me to find a place for our clan."
"So he trusted you? Trusted you enough to send you here. Obviously he didn't send you empty-handed or you could never have sustained yourself. And after all that trust you still wanted more. Tell me Razor's Edge, when did you ever see my father give me so much or entrust me with so great a responsibility? The most he did was to push me through a portal and tell me to have babies. Not to let his name die out."
He stayed silent.
"While you were here on this planet buying and getting, we were fighting to survive. Losing family and friends. Struggling to eat and spending every last piece of value we had just to buy an orb to get here. So you will excuse me if I have no sympathy for you while you were in my father's service. Sleeping in a warm bed, being fed whenever you wanted."
She turned back to the window as anger rose within her. Her fangs lengthened as did her nails.
"Highness-"
She whipped back to him and growled. "You spent five years in my father's service, but you've spent more than double that amount of time living like a king."
He swallowed hard and dropped his gaze.
He'd become soft in his time on Earth. If that's what she had to look forward to, she'd rather go back to Aurora and take her chances with the other clans.