He’d be a good dad.
What the fuck was that? Woah, we’re not seriously thinking of having kids with our kidnapper, are we? Who knows if it’s even possible, you know, biologically?
I mean sure, before I left Earth, I always wanted a big family. Losing Mom made me feel like I lost out on that whole experience. That and the fact that my cousins were always afraid they might piss off Pops.
I redirect my thoughts away from the weird family planning blip. Even though it seems out of nowhere to my mind, it doesn’t feel that out of place in my heart.
Shit, am I falling for him?
“Raf’ere?” It’s like I’m asking myself if it could be true, but he thinks I’m trying to get his attention. He turns to me, his blue eyes finding my own. In one hand he holds a plate. Nubbins sits on the floor, drooling at whatever Raf’ere is holding over Nubbin’s head.
The smell of sq’aurks clears my mind slightly.
“Don’t you dare give him one of those! You don’t know if it’ll upset his tummy.” I yawn. I’ve been catching the duke feeding our little alien pug all kinds of things that probably aren’t good for him.
“Just one more,” he says sweetly, if not a little defiantly, as he drops the puff ball into Nubbins’s greedy mouth. “I’ll be back soon, Marta. I’m going to take Nubbins out in the reefs for a bit, let him stretch his sea legs. Get some rest, I’ve got a surprise for you later today.” He smiles.
I realize I’ll probably never win the battle of overfeeding the kahne’ah. Raf’ere likes to show his love with what he can provide the space puppy, and Nubbins isn’t going to argue with that.
“Okay, if you insist.” I yawn again and recline back into the pillow.
Big plans? Maybe we’re going somewhere new. As exciting as that thought is, I push it to the back of my mind. I stretch, pressing my thighs together. I’m still a little sore, and only half hope the surprise isn’t another alien sex toy.
But when my eyes shut, I see his face as he came last night. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to see him vulnerable like that again.
* * *
“You have to be f’teeing kidding me!” a shrill female voice shouts. “It’s you?”
I snap my eyes open and pull the covers protectively up to my neck. Hovering over my bed is a tall, elegant alien woman. She’s dressed in a stiff, high-necked dress. Its gold foiled texture is extravagant and expensive looking, but the fabric barely moves with her body. Her posture is stiff and rigid.
“Excuse me?” I ask her dubiously. “Who the hell the are you?”
“Me?Who am I?” she yelps. “I was a shoo-in for Duchess of the Liin’gan Reefs before you showed up!” There is nothing but rage behind her eyes. If it were possible, it would be easy to see how steam might stream from her ears.
She grabs the blanket and rips it off my body.
“This can’t be what the goddess has decided for Raf’ere!” She grits her teeth as she appraises my naked body with her eyes.
I snatch the blanket back from her grip and wrap it tightly around me while jumping off the other side of the bed.
“Don't fucking touch me!” I yell. “Jens’i? Raf’ere?” I call out for help.
“Don’t bother you stupid human, noise doesn’t carry through the estate. I’ve screamed my head off in that very bed before and not a person came running.” As the implication of her statement sinks in, she cracks a devious sneer.
“What do you want?” I ask, backing toward the closet door. Maybe if I can get inside, I can barricade myself from this lunatic.
“I want what you have. I want what I’ve been working for. All the hours I’ve wasted submitting myself to the duke’s every whim, hoping it would snap our mating bond into place. I want him, you insufferable little alien!” She screams like a child whose favorite toy was taken away. “I deserve to be the duchess—not you!”
“What? I’m not the duchess, are you fucking high?” I have no idea what she’s on about.
“Oh right, like Raf’ere wouldn’t wed his fated mate? This isn’t f’teeing fair!”
“His fated mate? You’ve got the wrong girl.” I shake my head.
It’s not me, it couldn’t be me—we’re not even the same species. He would have told me, wouldn’t he?
“I very much wish I did. In fact, I thought Far’ep had lost her mind when she told me Raf’ere’s mate was a human. It made more sense that he was keeping you locked in the estate that way, though. How embarrassed he must be to have you as who the goddess has chosen for him. I knew something was amiss when he hadn’t returned my calls. We had something together—something primal. It could have been beautiful. There’s no way the goddess would be so cruel as to pair two branches of the royal fi’len house with human trash. As if our human queen wasn’t insult enough. Why did you have to takemy Raf’ere?”
