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  I leaned forward and hugged her. “I’ll come back. I love you, honey.”

  “I love you too.”

  Chapter Two

  Quillan

  “My King.” Teo bowed low as he entered my private quarters. I made an irritable snort before gesturing for him to sit down.

  “What is it?” I stared out the window at the dark sky.

  “Your new mate arrives tomorrow. Have you even looked at her file?”

  “No.” I stood and, my tail swishing angrily, stalked across my private quarters to the kitchen. I grabbed a gallberry juice from the cold storage unit and drank half of it in three large gulps. I didn’t need it. I was in top form despite my sparring with Galan this morning, but I welcomed the rush of energy it gave me.

  “You need to look at it,” Teo said.

  “Why?” I grumbled. “I don’t care to know anything about her.”

  “She will be your mate, my King!” Teo said in exasperation.

  “Only in words. You know I have no interest in a mate, Teo.”

  “Yes, but you do want to be a father,” he said.

  My advisor had a point. I did want to be a father – desperately in fact. My paternal urges had kicked in nearly two moons ago. It was the only reason I had even agreed to a mate. Of course, if I wasn’t king, I could breed and have children without the necessity of performing the mating ritual and binding myself to a female.

  I drank the rest of the gallberry juice and tried not to noticeably shudder at the thought of being bound to a female. Not just a female, but a human female.

  “Stop looking like that, my King,” Teo said dryly as if he read my mind. “Do you know how many of your men would gladly take your place for the chance to be bound to a human female?”

  “Then perhaps I will trade places with them.” My voice was sulky and not at all king-like.

  Teo sighed. “I know it has been difficult for you since your brother died, Quill. You never expected to shoulder the burden of ruling. I wish I could help you with that, but you have no choice. The kingdom is yours now and your people want you to have an heir. It makes them nervous that you do not.”

  “It will be a half-human heir,” I said.

  “Just as most of our children are now. Your people believe that a half-human heir is better than no heir at all,” Teo said. “They are right.”

  “I do not see why I need to be mated.”

  Teo rolled his eyes. Only he would dare be so blatantly disrespectful to me. “It is custom for the king to have a queen. The human is a good choice for you. She is meek and quiet in personality and very strong and healthy. More importantly, she tests very high in compatibility for breeding. She will have no trouble carrying and bearing your young.”

  “Does she have other children?” I asked.

  “No, my King. We thought it best that you marry a human woman who has no other children or family on Earth.”

  I had a sudden thought and gave Teo a horrified look. “She is not an innocent, is she?”

  He shook his head and I stared at him suspiciously. “Are you certain? I have no wish to deflower a virgin. Human females are difficult enough to fuck when they have experience taking cock.”

  Teo frowned at my crudeness, but I was speaking the truth. I had made many trips to earth before I became king, and I’d slept with plenty of human women. The number of them who chose to move to our planet and breed with us was still too low as far as I was concerned, but that didn’t mean they didn’t want to fuck us with no commitments required. It was ridiculously easy to bed human women, even without the lure of the gallberry plant or speaking their language. Simply buy them one of their foul-tasting drinks at the entertainment establishments they called bars, and they were yours for the taking.

  None of the human females I’d fucked knew of my stature as royalty, and I always used the human’s ridiculous looking but effective rubber contraception method before sleeping with them. I loved the softness and curves of human women as much as the next Draax did, but it was occasionally a lot of work to fuck them. It could take forever to get them wet enough for me to enter them and even then, not a single one of the human females I’d fucked could take my cock in its entirety. Still, beggars could not be choosers as the humans liked to say.

  “I am certain.” Teo’s green skin was darkening as his irritation with me grew. “Read the file, Quill.”

  I nodded but it was for show. I didn’t care about the woman I was about to be mated to. As long as she was quiet, didn’t question me and accepted both my cock and my rule over her, we would get along just fine.

  “She realizes this is permanent, does she not?” I said. “That she will not be allowed to return to earth even after she bears me a child.”

  “Yes. It was made very clear to her and she accepted the terms of the agreement.”

  “Why?” Very few women willingly agreed to stay on the Draax planet when they first entered the breeding program. Of course, nearly a hundred percent of them changed their minds once they got here. Most Draax men were eager to mate permanently and they were excellent mates to their females. Females were precious on our planet and they were treated as such.

  Once a human female realized that, they were loath to return to the human men who did not revere them the way they deserved. Of course, there was an exception to every rule, and I supposed in this particular case, that was me. While I understood just how precious females were, I lacked the yearning that other Draax males did to be mated to one. I wanted children, not a mate.

  “Does it matter?” Teo asked. “We got lucky in finding a female who agreed to be mated permanently to a male she has never met. Do not question it.”

  “How much gallberry juice did she ask for?”

  “Only a small amount. A human measurement of a gallon.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I am,” Teo said.

  “A gallon of gallberry juice in exchange for altering her life forever.” I mulled that over for a few moments before asking, “Is she ugly? Small?”

  I waited anxiously for Teo’s response. So many human females were too thin. Galan had told me that most human males preferred their females bony. I would never understand that. What male didn’t want a female with lush, heavy breasts to suck on and wide hips to grip during fucking? I had never thought to ask my best friend what his preference was, but the females Galan and I had shared over the years were always on the curvy side.

  “I do not know,” Teo said. “The file has images of her. Look at it.”

  I just shrugged. “Does she speak Draax?”

  “No, of course not. You know it’s very difficult for the humans to speak our language.”

  “Perfect,” I muttered. “Mated to a woman who cannot even speak to me.”

  “I would think that would make you happy. You have no interest in speaking to her, remember?”

  I glared at Teo. “I still need to communicate with her from time to time. I need to correct her if she is disrespectful or tell her how to raise my young properly.”

  “She will have a translator embedded just like every breeder does,” Teo said. “The ship should be here at dusk tomorrow. It would be good if you were there when it landed.”

  “No.”

  “It would show your people that you are serious about being mated and producing an heir.”

  “No,” I repeated as my own green skin darkened. I scrubbed a hand through my thick black hair as my tail flicked back and forth. “You and Galan can meet her and bring her back to the palace. I will meet her then.”

  Teo didn’t reply and I picked up my sword and made a few experimental swings with it. “Did you ready guest quarters for her?”

  “Yes, but she should be sharing your private quarters.”

  I gave Teo a look of horror. “No. She is not allowed in here, Teo. Do you hear me?”

  A shudder went down my back and my tail drooped to the ground at the thought of another person living with me. As king, I was a
round others constantly. My personal quarters were my sanctuary, and I only allowed Teo and Galan to join me here for extended periods of time. I would not extend that courtesy to my new queen.

  “It will be hard to mate with her if she is not in your bed,” Teo said.

  “Fine. She can mate with me and then return to her own bed,” I acquiesced.

  “Those who work in the palace will tell others that you do not share a bed with your mate.”

  “I do not care.”

  “You have always been stubborn,” Teo said with a low sigh.

  I grinned at him before flicking my tail out and smacking his thigh with it. “You enjoy my stubbornness, old friend. It makes your job more exciting.”

  A gust of wind rattled the windows. I moved to the closest one and stared at the setting sun. “A storm is coming.”

  “Yes. The elders predict it will last at least a moon length.”

  I groaned loudly. A moon of being confined to the palace. I would go mad.

  “It will give you plenty of time to breed your new mate,” Teo said. “If you are very diligent in your duties, perhaps she will carry your young before the storm even ends.”

  “Hmmph,” I snorted as Teo stood with a small groan. He rubbed at his back.

  “Take some gallberry juice with you,” I said.

  He shrugged. “It does not help like it used to, my King.”

  A little spike of fear went through me. I shook it off and grabbed two bottles of the juice to hand to him. Teo was aging, but he still had many years left.

  “Drink both,” I demanded.

  “Yes, my King.”

  I hesitated and then hugged him roughly. “Thank you, Teo.”

  He returned my hug. “For what, Quill?”

  “Everything,” I said with a grin. “I will see you in the morning, all right?”

  “Yes. Good night.”

  “Good night, old friend.”

  I retired to my bedroom when he left and stretched out on the bed. I stared at the empty space next to me. By this time tomorrow, that spot would have a warm female in it. Despite my apprehension, my cock stirred in my pants. I had not fucked a female since becoming king nearly a sun cycle ago and I was growing tired of my own hand.

  I thought briefly about looking at my soon-to-be mate’s file but turned on my side and closed my eyes instead. Hopefully she wouldn’t be ugly or small, but if she was, it didn’t matter that much. I would just close my eyes when I was fucking her.

  If she was ugly or we weren’t compatible in bed, I only needed her to give me one heir. After that, she could do whatever she wanted, and I would slake my needs with other females I found more appealing.

  * * *

  “You are slowing down, Quill.”

  I bared my teeth at Galan and attacked with renewed vigor. He parried each of my blows, our swords gleaming in the light as we sparred. My best friend and I had always been even in match when it came to battle, but Galan was right. I had slowed down a little. My duties as king prevented me from sparring as often as I’d like, and I was downright forbidden to engage in battle.

  We backed away from each other, both breathing heavily. “Perhaps you would like to take over the duties of king while I return to my former position as head of the Guard?”

  Galan laughed. “Definitely not, Quill. You know I would be a terrible king.”

  I lowered my sword and stretched my other arm above my head, loosening the tight muscles. “I fear I am not much better.”

  “You are a good king,” Galan said.

  “No, I am a good warrior. I was meant to lead my people in battle, not from the throne.”

  Galan gave me a sympathetic look. “The Guard misses you as well.”

  I shook off my melancholy. It didn’t matter that I had never wanted to be king, it only mattered that I was. “Ignore me. I have a duty to my people and I am proud to do it, I am just feeling sorry for myself. Come, let us begin again.”

  “I cannot.” Galan hung his sword on the wall. “I am leaving to pick up your mate.”

  I grunted disinterestedly before hanging my sword next to Galan’s.

  “Are you sure you do not want to come with us?” Galan asked.

  “Positive.”

  “Quill…”

  I clapped Galan on the back. “Speak your mind, Galan.”

  “Will you ask me to join you?”

  I shrugged carelessly. “Of course. If the female is willing, that is. But why would she not be?” I grinned at Galan. “Human females always find two cocks better than one. Why would you even ask? You know you are always welcome to join me.”

  “You are king now, Quill, and she will be your mate, not some random female we seduce into fucking. You will be trying to actively breed her, remember? Your people do not want a bastard child in line for the throne.”

  “She is my mate only by ritual. And as far as the breeding – we have plenty of the human’s,” I paused as I tried to remember the word, “rubbers here at the castle. You can use them.”

  Galan made a face. “I hate them.”

  “As do I, but they are sometimes a necessity. Listen, if the female is willing then we will both fuck her. Simple.”

  “Simple,” Galan repeated with a doubtful expression.

  “Yes.” I clapped him on the back again. “Why must you make things so complicated, my friend? Now, go and collect your future queen and try not to fuck her before you return to the palace.”

  Galan laughed. “Yes, my King.”

  * * *

  Sabrina

  “Sabrina, wake up.”

  I blinked rapidly and stared at the blonde woman in the lab coat who was hovering over me.

  “Where am I?” I stared groggily at the unfamiliar white walls.

  “The International Space Station.” The woman walked to the cot next to me and shook the woman lying on it.

  “Evelyn, open your eyes, please,” she said in a loud voice as I sat up and rubbed at my forehead.

  The events of the last twenty-four hours rushed over me and I ignored my immediate rush of homesickness. My old life on Earth ended yesterday afternoon when I boarded the ship that carried me to the International Space Station. It was late when we’d finally docked, and myself and the other woman on the ship were ushered to a room with a dozen narrow cots. Thanks to a combination of nerves and grief over leaving my sister, I hadn’t slept at all the previous night and I was exhausted. I’d fallen asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow.

  Now, I smiled tentatively at the woman sitting up in the bed next to me. We looked strikingly similar with our chubby bodies and dark hair. Although, she was about twenty pounds lighter than me and she had green eyes rather than blue. I also didn’t sport the large, purple bruise I could see on her shoulder where her top had slipped down.

  The woman gave me a nervous look and pulled the shirt up to cover the bruise. A little embarrassed to be caught staring, I said, “Hi, I’m Sabrina. I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself yesterday. It was pretty loud on the ship.”

  She smiled at me and said in a soft voice, “I’m Evelyn. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you too.” I glanced at the empty cots around us. “Not many volunteers on this trip, huh?”

  “Are you in the breeding program?” Evelyn asked tentatively.

  I shook my head. “No. I have a job as a nanny. You?”

  “Breeding program.” A look of fear crossed Evelyn’s face and I reached across and touched her arm.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes. Just, uh, a little nervous.”

  “Understandable but I hear that the Draax treat their females very well.”

  She gave me another scared little smile and I reached out and squeezed her arm. Her timid nature reminded me of Carrie, and it made me feel connected to her in a small way. “I’m sure it will be fine.”

  “Yes,” she said but I could hear the fear in her voice.

  Before I could reassure h
er again, the woman who had woken us came bustling back into the room. I studied Evelyn’s fabric-covered shoulder for a moment. “Hey. Do you have any gallberry juice she can have?”

  The woman scowled at me. “Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.” She had a harried and distracted vibe, and she yanked a very large syringe from the left pocket of her lab jacket as she approached me.

  “Whoa,” I held up my hands, “what is that for?”

  “It’s your identification chip,” she said impatiently. “It has all of your details as well as the details of the Draax male you’re breeding with.”

  “Not breeding,” I said in alarm, “nannying.”

  “Yes, yes,” the woman said irritably. “Lift your sleeve.”

  I lifted my sleeve and tried not flinch when she injected me in the upper arm with the syringe. It stung, and she wiped it with a cotton ball before taking another syringe from her right pocket and moving to Evelyn.

  “Arm please,” she said as the flag emblem on her lab jacket glowed brightly. “Oh for…”

  She sighed and slapped her hand against it as Evelyn pushed up her sleeve.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  A man appeared in a hologram behind Evelyn. “Are they ready for transporting? A storm is brewing on Draax, and we want to get them there and drop them off before it gets too bad and we end up stranded.”

  “I’m just chipping them now and then I need to put the translators in,” the woman said.

  “Well get a move on it,” the man said irritably. “We’re leaving in ten.”

  “Shut up, Gary.” The woman slapped the emblem again. Gary disappeared, and she injected Evelyn with the syringe.

  “There,” she said. “If you get lost, they can scan you and know who you belong to.”

  “Oh perfect,” I said, “we’ve been microchipped like stray dogs.”

  The woman scowled at me as Evelyn gave me a horrified look. I grinned at her as the woman in the lab coat said, “You might want to watch your mouth when you’re on Draax. They like the women they sleep with to be submissive and quiet.”