Chapter Nine

 

 

By the time we return to Kenan’s house, night has fallen.

Stars sparkle across the velvet black sky, the two orange moons making a grand appearance on the horizon before rising overhead. The forest buzzes with the activity of nocturnal animals and insects, but I feel completely safe at Kenan’s side. Given his size and strength, I have no doubt he could defeat any predatory creature who calls this planet home, and I don’t even flinch when an occasional growl rumbles out from the trees.

He’ll protect me from every danger except himself.

As we cross the patio, I reflect on our day. After lunch in the lakeside restaurant, he’d taken me on a long tour of the waters of Carmuit. There were several large islands, all thick with vegetation but with inviting beaches. Several times, Kenan paused to speak with the occupants of passing boats, even introducing me to some of his warriors who were apparently patrolling the lake. He patiently translated the words of his men, not making me feel stupid in the least for not understanding his tongue. To my astonishment, the soldiers had smiled at me and welcomed me to Tallia. None of them seemed surprised when I didn’t give an audible reply and simply nodded in response to their salutations.

Had I been a human male, they would have slaughtered me on the spot. But I’m a female, and lucky me, instead of being taken as a slave—as Kenan mentioned some of the females would be used for—I’ve been taken as a mate. I don’t ask why some human females will be taken as slaves rather than mates, but I suspect those who are past the point of bearing children will be forced to serve the Kleaxians in other ways.

This thought saddens me, but the battle is over and the humans have lost. There’s nothing to be done now, but hope and pray and try to obey our new masters.

Kenan removes the leash before we enter his house, and I rub my neck, grateful to be free of the slight weight reminding me of his ownership. He tucks the leash in his pocket and guides me into a sitting room, where he gestures for me to sit on a large, plush velvet couch.

“Dinner will be served shortly,” he declares, standing over me. “You will wait here until I return for you. Do you like music?”

His question catches me by surprise.

“Music,” he repeats when I take too long to respond. “Do you enjoy listening to music?”

Since I can’t yet speak, I nod, then think of the latest albums I’d downloaded on my phone on Earth and wonder what kind of music a Kleaxian enjoys. I haven’t the faintest idea.

He strides to a table against the far wall and touches a small clear box that glows to life. From my spot on the couch, I think I glimpse symbols on the box, or perhaps it’s his language. After tapping the object a dozen times, a soothing melody fills the room, the acoustics surrounding me, though I don’t see speakers anywhere in the walls.

It’s a mournful song with string instruments, and in the background a female voice sings in the Kleaxian tongue. Though I can’t discern a single word, I know she’s sad. She’s lost something.

I’ve lost something. Well, not just something.

Everything.

Kenan moves to the doorway, pausing for a moment with his mouth open, as if he’s about to speak. But he quickly clamps his lips together and departs the room without another word. I wonder what he’d been about to say.

By the time the song ends, I’m almost in tears. The woman’s voice is so intensely heartbroken, and the accompanying tune of the strings so alluringly sorrowful, that I imagine she must have lost every last person she loved. I imagine she dwells in a darkness from which there is no escape, a darkness no light can penetrate. A place where all hope is dead.

More songs play, though none of them affect me as much as the first one. I stare at the sconces lining the walls, needing the illumination to ground me in reality. If I close my eyes, I think I’ll forget where I am, the music has carried me so far away from myself.

I think of the trendy albums on my phone, most of it rock or dance club music. None of those songs have ever carried me away like these Kleaxian compositions.

To think a race of aliens as barbaric as Kleaxians are capable of producing such wondrous music gives me a glimmer of hope. They aren’t human. But they feel. They breathe. They bond. They love.

Oh my God.

Is that why Kenan is playing this music? To help me understand the intense mating bond he supposedly feels for me? I wish I knew. God, how I wish I knew.

I hug myself, overwhelmed by the possibility.

He returns to the sitting room, and the fierce possessive look he settles upon me makes my knees go weak. If I wasn’t already sitting down, I would collapse to the floor. He moves his hand over the clear box and the music ceases.

The abrupt silence is deafening.

“It’s time for dinner. Come.” He holds his hand out, waiting for me to rise up and accept it. The air between us crackles with tension.

After a deep breath, I stand on weak legs and reach for him. The moment our hands touch, his eyes flame with an urgency that makes my heart flutter.

I’m so preoccupied by the music echoing in my mind and Kenan’s reasons for playing it, that I float through dinner on a cloud. The food served is similar to last night, with a few different dishes.

“Did you enjoy the music?” he asks once the servants have cleared the table. We’re both sipping one last glass of wine, my second and his third.

I swallow hard. If I had use of my voice, I would tell him I’d never heard anything like it and thought it was beautiful, but very, very sad. I finally nod.

“It’s a collection of ancient Kleaxian folk songs.”

I long to understand the woman’s heartbreak, and I’m delighted when he starts to explain the music.

“The first piece was a calling song, a prayer female Kleaxians sing to call their mates home from war, whether they are alive or dead. In this particular calling song, the female suspects her mate has perished in battle, and she prays for his return so she can bury him by the sea they call home.”

Why did he want to share this particular music? His eyes gleam dark purple under the light of the chandelier. The music still echoes in the recesses of my mind, whispering of the depth of emotion of which his race is capable. Whispering that he’s not really a monster.

I pray the whispers aren’t lies, but I want so badly to believe in an ending that’s not tragic. I want to believe he’ll apologize for all the hurt he’s inflicted and vow to find a way to return me to Earth, even if it tears him apart because we’re mated. Maybe he’ll redeem himself completely and I’ll invite him to remain on Earth with me. Maybe…

Stop it, stop it, stop it.

What the fuck is wrong with me? How can I ever entertain the possibility of willingly remaining with Kenan? If I stay at his side, it’ll be as his captive and nothing more.

He rises from the table, so tall and forbidding and exuding raw masculine power, and rounds the table to pull my chair back.

I think he intends to hold my hand, but he instead scoops me up in his arms. His long dark locks tickle my neck. He smells divine, an intoxicating mix of earth, sea, and his natural male scent. I inhale deep breaths against his chest and shudder, as if he’s the drug I’ve been craving and I’m about to get my fix.

The world around us fades as he carries me upstairs. The echo of the sorrowful music lingers in the background, a testament to what could bloom between us if only I were able to accept his culture and his ownership. For now, I don’t want to think about it. The future is the future, and right now he’s about to kiss me, and I’m helpless to form another coherent thought.

He brushes his lips gently across mine as the bedroom door glides shut behind us. It’s sensual yet electric, this first kiss of ours. I don’t fight him when he deepens the kiss, sliding his tongue inside to tangle with mine. He tastes like wine and the little sweetcakes we enjoyed for dessert.

What happens next isn’t rough. It isn’t violent. It’s the opposite of his first claiming in every way. Though his kisses are thorough and leave me breathless, his touches are tender and loving. He’d been in a rush to take me the first time, to seal his legal status as my bonded mate, and what happens next feels like the sweetest apology.

He strokes me to orgasm twice before thrusting his cock into me, and when he does enter my pussy, the lingering soreness from last night coalesces with the heated pulses ravaging my center, making me writhe beneath him. I open my mouth to moan, but of course no sound escapes. My nipples harden to painful peaks, and, as if sensing my discomfort, Kenan suckles each rosy summit for several long moments before pulling back to gaze upon me, his eyes ever intense.

When he stares at me unblinkingly, he looks like a predator sizing up his prey, ready to pounce and devour. Despite this thought, I spread my legs wider while he increases his pace, inviting him to devour me, as pressure coils tighter and tighter in my throbbing wet center.

“Mine,” he says, our lips mere inches apart. “You are mine, Laylah.”

Our bodies shine with perspiration, and the primal sound of fucking, flesh slapping against flesh, fills the cavernous room. I close my eyes, letting the rapture build inside me, my whole body tingling with earthshattering pleasure.

“Come. Fucking come right now, Laylah,” is the last thing I hear before I’m suddenly propelled to the stars.