Rule (The Draax Series Book 2) Read online

  I watched Candy lovingly stroke Roden’s face before studying the backpack at my feet. What I was about to give them would change both their lives.

  “Mama, can I watch the hologram screen?” Roden asked.

  Candy nodded. “Yes, but we only have three chits left. Are you sure you want to use up one today? Mama doesn’t get paid again for another week.”

  “I’m sure. I wanna watch Discovery World. They have a special on the Draax, and how they grow the gallberry plant.” The young boy twisted in his seat to stare at the sad and drooping pink plant sitting in the windowsill. “I’m gonna figure out how to save my plant.”

  “All right, baby.” Candy picked him up and smiled at me. “I’ll be right back.”

  She carried Roden back into the bedroom. I stared at the gallberry plant. It was given to Candy last week by a Draax male who had visited the bar she waitressed at. It was robust enough when she’d brought it home to Roden, and he had planted it in a small pot of soil and carefully watered and tended to it, but the plant was dying. Many people, from qualified agricultural specialists to hobby farmers, had attempted to grow the gallberry plant to no avail. I’d been doing a lot of reading about the Draax race in the last few months and in the History of the Draax, I had read something about the gallberry plant not growing in our atmosphere.

  Didn’t stop the humans from trying though.

  “Sorry about that.” Candy had returned, and she poured us both more tea.

  “What was the medicine that you gave him?” I asked.

  “Just a cheap cough medicine I got at the pharm-aid. It helps ease the cough a bit, but…”

  She blinked back tears and cleared her throat. “He’s getting worse. The lung infections never really clear up, you know? Even with the bit of juice I can get him.”

  She gave me a pleading look. “Hey, do you think you could come by tonight? Roden’s regular sitter can only stay until eleven and normally I would be home by then, but I’m, um, gonna try and get some juice tonight.”

  Her face turned red and I could see the shame in her eyes. My stomach ached for her and even though the Draax males she slept with in exchange for a bit of juice always treated her well, I hated what she had to do for the juice.

  She won’t have to do that any longer.

  No, she wouldn’t. Before I could show her the juice I was carrying, Candy squeezed my hand. “I know you disapprove of it, sweetie, but I have no choice.”

  “I don’t disapprove of it,” I said. “I just worry about you. If you get caught, you’ll go to prison. What the Draax are doing is illegal. They’re not allowed to give gallberry juice in exchange for sex, unless you’re in the breeding program.”

  “I know it’s a risk, but I’m not breeding compatible. I really have no choice, Evie.”

  Only about seventy percent of Earth females were breeding compatible with the Draax. I knew that Candy had applied for the breeding program when Roden was only a year old, but she’d been incompatible.

  The breeding program and the gallberry juice were all strictly regulated, but like all things of value, a black market for the juice had quickly sprung up. Candy couldn’t afford the juice even on the black market, but there were more than a few Draax males willing to risk imprisonment by handing over a bit of gallberry juice in exchange for a night of sex.

  I’d been to the bar where Candy worked and there were always Draax there looking to convince a woman to sleep with them. Even with a language barrier, the Draax were amazingly good at seducing females.

  Hell, Candy had told me once that half the Draax didn’t even need to bribe the women with a bit of juice to sleep with them. They were strong and handsome, if you didn’t mind green skin and tails, and lots of women were willing to at least give sleeping with a Draax for fun a try. Apparently, their bedroom skills were legendary.

  “I hate to ask because I can’t pay you for it, but I really need to get him even a little bit of gallberry juice. If I don’t, I don’t think he’ll make it past the month.” Candy’s voice hitched, and tears slipped down her cheeks. “I should be home by five or six in the morning by the latest.”

  I bent and opened my backpack. I pulled out the jug of gallberry juice and set it on the table in front of Candy. “I don’t mind staying the night, but you don’t have to do that anymore.”

  She stared at the jug of pink liquid. “What – is that what I think it is?”

  “Yep. I looked up gallberry juice requirements for kids with CF and while the exact amount varies, they never need more than half a gallon of it. I got a gallon though, just in case.”

  “Oh my God…” Candy’s voice was a whisper. “You got Roden some gallberry juice?”

  “I did.” I grinned at her.

  “How? When?”

  “I told you I got a new job.”

  Candy stared at me. “You said it was with the government.”

  I shrugged. “It sort of is.”

  “You got picked for the nanny program?”

  I shook my head. About ten years ago, a secondary program had opened up. Women who were breeding incompatible could sign up for the nanny program on the planet of Draax. Nanny positions varied in length from a year to five years, and three months ago, I had applied to the nanny program. I hadn’t been picked yet and probably never would. I loved kids, but I didn’t have much experience with them.

  “Then how…” Candy gave me a shocked look. “The breeding program. You signed up for the breeding program?”

  “I did.”

  “But you said you would never do that, you said you didn’t want to pop out alien babies while living on a strange planet with an alien you didn’t love.”

  I shrugged. “I changed my mind.”

  “You changed your mind.”

  “Yes. Give Roden a glass of gallberry juice.”

  She stared at the juice for a moment. “I – this is an incredible gift, Evie, but I -”

  “You’re taking it, Candy. No arguing.”

  “Fucking right I’m taking it. What I was going to say is that I’ll never be able to pay you back for it.”

  “You don’t have to. Give him a glass of juice.”

  Candy stood and quickly poured a glass of the juice before hurrying into the bedroom. I pulled the jug closer and sniffed the opening. It smelled vaguely of strawberries, and I pushed the jug away before I was tempted to try some for myself. I was pretty sure that a gallon would be enough to heal Roden completely, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

  Candy returned and gave me a delighted grin. “You should have seen the look on his face when I gave him the glass.”

  I laughed as Candy bent and threw her arms around me. She hugged me hard. “Evie, you have no idea what you’ve done for me. I will never forget this.” She leaned back and cupped my face as tears ran down her cheeks. “You’ve saved Roden’s life. You know that, right?”

  She wiped away the tears that were running down my cheeks with her thumbs before giving me a loud, smacking kiss on the mouth. “Now, let’s talk about fucking the Draax.”

  I burst into laughter as she returned to her seat. “Are you serious?”

  “Dead serious. Wait, maybe you should tell me first why you joined the breeding program. Did you do it solely for Roden? Because, sweetie, I -”

  “I’m glad I could help Roden, but I didn’t join the program because of him.”

  “Then why?”

  I traced the worn wood of the kitchen table with my fingertip. “Alex is going to force me to marry Troy.”

  “Fuck.” Candy scowled. “That fucking son of a bitch.”

  “Yeah.”

  She paused and then gave me a delicate look. “I thought that because you weren’t a virgin anymore, Troy lost interest in you.”

  “He had at first, but apparently changed his mind.”

  “Well, shit. So, you gave up your v-card to some random guy for nothing.”

  I winced, and Candy gave me a look of chagrin. “I’m sorry. I sh
ouldn’t have said that.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “It isn’t okay.” Candy grabbed my hand and squeezed it again. “None of this is okay. You shouldn’t have had to find some guy at the bar and sleep with him to avoid that asshole Troy, and you definitely shouldn’t have to give up your life to keep from being married off to that scumbag.”

  I didn’t reply, and Candy sighed. “I’ve heard that some Draax are allowing the women to come back to Earth with their children. That they either stay on Earth with them, or they visit like once a month or something.”

  “You know that’s not true,” I said. “If a woman joins the breeding program, she rarely returns to Earth. Besides, it doesn’t matter. I signed up for the lifetime program.”

  “What?” Candy’s mouth dropped open. “Why would you do that? You can’t ever come back now, Evie. Not without the Draax’s permission.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “I don’t want to come back. Once I leave, if I even step foot back on this planet, Alex will track me down and kill me. You know he will. Hell, I’m lucky he hasn’t killed me yet. I need to get out of here before he beats me so bad that he puts me in a coma. I joined the lifetime program because if I didn’t, knowing my luck, I’d end up with some Draax who only wanted me for one kid and then would force me back here without my baby.”

  “I don’t think so,” Candy said. “The Draax are actually pretty nice, and they love and respect females.”

  “How do you know that? You don’t even speak their language,” I said.

  “Yeah, but,” Candy glanced at the bedroom and lowered her voice, “I’ve fucked plenty of them and they come across as really nice.”

  I laughed, and Candy blushed. “I know that sounds stupid but it’s true. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’ve already signed the contract for the lifetime program. If I try and back out, I’ll go to prison.”

  “When do you leave?”

  “The agency is picking me up at eight on Tuesday morning.”

  “What? So soon?”

  I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “Apparently, I’m what they call a guaranteed breeder. My bloodwork returned as highly compatible.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “Yeah, and get this. I’m being, uh, mated to a king.”

  “Shut the hell up!”

  “It’s true.” I was terrified of leaving everything I knew, but I couldn’t help but grin at the look on Candy’s face. “I’m to be married or mated or whatever the heck they call it, to the King of the Western Province. His name is Quillan or Killen…something like that.”

  “You’re going to be a queen,” Candy said.

  “Yeah. Weird, huh?”

  “I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more, sweetie. Even before you saved my son’s life.” She gave me a giddy look of excitement. “He’s not going to die, Evie. He’s going to grow big and strong, and live a good life.”

  “He is,” I said.

  “Because of you.” She was starting to cry again.

  “Don’t cry, honey.”

  “You really have no idea what this means to me. I love you, Evie.”

  “I love you too, Candy.” We sat in silence for a few minutes. “Anyway, the king needs an heir and thanks to my superior baby making abilities, I was matched to him.”

  Candy grabbed a tissue and blew her nose before staring solemnly at me. “Listen, I know it’s going to be difficult to leave Earth, but I promise you that your life will be better with the Draax.”

  I picked at the fraying hem of my shirt sleeve. “Yeah, I know.”

  “Are you anxious because you’re leaving Earth, or is there something else?” Candy asked.

  “What if the Draax king is like Troy or Alex?”

  “He won’t be,” Candy said.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just do. I’ve been with a lot of them and they’re all very…kind in bed and out. They can be demanding and dominant during sex, but they would never hurt you, Evie. Women are special to them, you can tell.”

  “Do they think we’re special? So many of them come to Earth just looking to fuck a woman.”

  “I know, but can you blame them? The breeding program has saved them from extinction, but it’s not like women are just walking around on their planet, available to date or whatever. Women that are on the planet are already claimed by a Draax, so of course they’re going to come to Earth to get laid. They have high sex drives.”

  I must have made a face because Candy smiled a little. “That’s not always a bad thing.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No. Listen, your one and only experience with sex wasn’t that great, so don’t judge all fucking by that, okay?”

  My cheeks were heating up. “It wasn’t that bad.”

  “You didn’t even cum, Evie.”

  Now my face felt like it was on fire. “He tried to make me cum. I was just too nervous and uptight.”

  “Yeah, because the guy was a stranger and you were only fucking him because you needed to get rid of your virginity in a hurry. Of course, you were going to be nervous. It’ll be different with the Draax, I promise.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I do,” Candy insisted. “The Draax love women, and they love making you cum. This king will be the same, I promise.”

  “I’m basically going to be fucking a stranger again. What if I can’t relax enough to, uh, climax?”

  “You’ll have an orgasm, even if you are nervous. Trust me, sweetie. The big green dudes have skills in the bedroom.” She grinned at me.

  “I can’t believe I’m about to sleep with an alien,” I said.

  She shrugged. “It’s really no different from sleeping with a human. Well, except for the green skin and tails, I guess. But it’s not like the tail comes into play during sex, so you won’t even notice it. They do a lot of the same things that human men do.”

  “Like what?”

  Candy grinned again. “Fall asleep and start snoring immediately after sex, rub their cum all over you, make -”

  “Whoa, they do what with their cum?”

  This time Candy laughed out loud. “Okay, so I rarely use condoms with the Draax I sleep with -”

  “Candy!”

  “What? They don’t have the sex diseases that we can get, and I’m breeding incompatible so it’s not like I have to worry about pregnancy, right? Anyway, after sex, almost every Draax I’ve been with will rub their cum on my stomach and tits.”

  “What? Why?”

  “For the same macho bullshit reason that human men like to smear their cum on us.”

  “Gross.”

  “It’s not really. They’re almost sweet about it, to be honest. At least they don’t shoot their load in my face when I’m giving them a blowjob, like most human males do. The Draax respect us too much to do that.”

  I stared into my now cold cup of tea. I knew Candy was trying to help, but she was actually making my anxiety worse. My biggest fear was that I would never be able to truly enjoy sex. The Draax loved fucking. What if my inability to cum, my inability to just relax and enjoy the ride, so to speak, made the Draax angry? What if my frigidness infuriated him and made him lose his temper?

  I cringed inwardly. Alex wasn’t that big of a man, and his kicks and punches hurt like hell. What would happen if I was punched by a Draax? They were massive in size and built to maim and injure.

  Candy was talking again, and I forced myself to focus on what she was saying.

  “Just be prepared that your king might invite a friend to join you.”

  I gave Candy an uneasy look. “Those are just rumours, aren’t they?”

  She shook her head. “Girl, seriously, have you never watched Draax porn?”

  “Of course not. We rarely can afford chits for the hologram screen and when we can, we watch what Alex wants to watch.”

  “Right. Well, it’s not just rumours. The Draax like
to share.”

  “He’s a king. He’s not going to share his queen with someone else.”

  “He might,” Candy said. “Most Draax love threesomes.”

  My unease was growing by leaps and bounds. What if I had to worry about pleasing two Draax males?

  “Have you been with two Draax?” I asked.

  “Yeah, quite a few times. They’ll give you extra juice if you take two of them on at once.”

  I swallowed. “Uh, how was it?”

  “Amazing,” Candy said. “Like, change my life amazing.”

  I gave her a doubtful look and Candy nodded. “It’s true. I mean, at first, I was a little worried because their dicks are so friggin’ big, but they always go slow and use plenty of lube. Honestly, if the king does invite a friend, you’re gonna want him to keep inviting a friend. Two is always better than one.”

  I didn’t believe her for a second, but I kept my doubts to myself. It didn’t matter if I was nervous or afraid, I had signed the contract and I was about to be mated to a Draax male. It was too late to back out now. If I couldn’t relax enough to cum, I would just have to fake it and hope the Draax didn’t notice.

  Chapter Three

  Evelyn

  I woke slowly. My lower back and side were throbbing, and pain was radiating up and down my shoulder. I rolled onto my side, staring blearily at the wall of my small bedroom.

  I was lying on the cold floor. Why wasn’t I on my mattress?

  I sat up, groaning at the agony it caused in my lower back, and tried to focus as I rubbed my aching kidneys. Why did I hurt so much?

  The memory of last night came rushing back, and I pinched my lips shut against the moan that wanted to escape. Alex had come into my room late at night, drunk and looking to fight. He’d taunted me about marrying Troy and when I refused to respond, he’d started punching.

  I rubbed my shoulder and slipped my top down to stare at the bruise blossoming across it. I climbed to my feet and grabbed the wall for support when a wave of dizziness swept over me. Hot and intense pain shot through my side, and for a moment I thought I would vomit all over the floor. I swallowed grimly and bowed my head, pressing my hand against my kidneys and waiting for the pain to subside.