Return: Nomadican Mates Series 4 Read online

  Outside the front windshield, we hurry toward a sleek looking ship lingering on the far side of a moss-colored moon. Not the spacecraft I had picked out of the hundreds that I had deemed to be Xuel’s when I was first stolen, and the monster launched us from that golden cloud planet.

  No, this spacecraft was much bulkier, streamlined but with more heft. As we draw closer, I can see it’s skinned in a strange pattern. Almost a honeycomb design, reminding me of solar panels.

  A bright, blinding light reflects off the surface of Xuel’s ship. A terrible explosion sounds out behind us and I imagine it’s the monster’s ship being blown to bits.

  My happiness over the destruction of the monster’s spacecraft is short-lived. We are hit from behind with a mighty shove, propelling us forward on a reckless course toward Xuel’s ship. It doesn’t feel that we will be slowing anytime soon.

  Natu shouts something back at Xuel. I jump when an answer is shouted back from beside me. I don’t know how he’s managed it, but Xuel’s hand swings around and grabs onto the empty seat next to mine, dragging his body forward despite the force pushing against us. He pulls his body up and into the seat, yanking in place the seat’s straps.

  He doesn’t look over at me, just stays focused on what’s happening through the windshield. We don’t slow down but continue to barrel headlong toward an opening on the underneath side on Xuel’s ship.

  Holy shit! We’re coming in too fast.

  Chapter 5

  “Drop the barrier, Rios,” Natu speaks quickly. “The shuttle’s controls are not responding. We are unable to slow.”

  I wish I hadn’t lost my translator. Something is definitely wrong, and a quick glance at Xuel white-knuckling his seat tells me I’m right.

  “Brace for impact!” Natu hollers out.

  “Avay,” Xuel’s shout snaps my head around. “Press the button on your left.”

  With no translator available, Xuel demonstrates what he wants me to do. Touching a button on the side of the seat deploys additional straps that slap across his wide chest, across his belly, and over his legs. Natu is doing the same.

  I locate the button on my seat and do the same. My fingertips are sore from the cuts of prying off the metal panels from the monster’s spacecraft, and my shoulder screams out a protest when I move my arm. From out of nowhere, three wide straps cross my body and hold me firmly in place.

  Xuel gives me a decisive nod before facing forward. I know we’re going to crash when the bay’s entrance comes at us in a breathtaking rush.

  The shuttle clears the bay, hurtling toward the wall. We’re going to hit hard… Some kind of glistening net captures us like a fly in a spider’s web. Our seat’s straps hold us in place as our heads backlash from the sudden stop. The shuttle doesn’t seem to want to stop as the nose continues to push against the netting.

  Xuel wastes no time, tearing out of his seat’s strap and lunging for the section of the hull he already opened. His huge hand punches inside and pulls out a clump of clear wires. The shuttle gives a violent shudder before dropping like a lead weight, hitting the deck with an ear-splitting, metallic clang.

  Natu visibly goes limp in his seat as Xuel slumps forward, catching himself on one arm.

  Both males turn to me. All of the pain from my injuries momentarily forgotten, and I’m left trembling from my first space shuttle crash landing. My fingers have become embedded in the seat where I’m still clinging for all I’m worth.

  Natu begins releasing the straps that hold me in the seat. The door to the shuttle dissolves without a sound, but I jump as if it were a thrown open with a blast.

  What strolls in is like nothing I’ve ever seen before and after all the strange beings I’ve seen in two marketplaces on two totally different planets, that’s saying a lot.

  Blinking with two sets of eyes, one pair set upon the other, I decide the odd creature with tan skin is a male. He doesn’t pay any attention to me. What he does appear concerned with is the bundle of wires hanging from Xuel’s closed fist.

  “Xuel, you could have simply pulled the accelerator filament.” The tan male grumbles out some bizarre whirrs and buzzes that Xuel understands. “That would have stopped your forward momentum. There was no need to take out the entire relay circuitry.”

  Xuel hands the mass of wires over to the tan male and gives his shoulder a pat. “Apologies, Rios. I was in a bit of a hurry.”

  The tan male looks at what has been dumped in his arms. Shaking his head, he gestures with a tilt of his head toward the opened panel in the wall. “This will take cycles to repair, Xuel. That does not include the damage to the hull from the ion capacitor residue from the implosion of the Wetokian ship.”

  “I trust you can repair it.” Xuel leaves the male with his mouth hanging open, shaking his head.

  Natu carefully collects me in his powerful arms and quickly carries me through the bay and onto the elevator with Xuel jogging to catch up. Up three floors to an area of the ship I’ve never been, my shock from the crash landing is beginning to wear off and questions that need answers start to emerge.

  The damage to my jaw is so great, when I try to speak, all that comes out is a garbled-up mess. Not that my males would understand me without a translator.

  “Rest now, Avay.” Natu makes a shushing noise.

  “We need translators, Natu,” Xuel comments as we move swiftly down the corridor. “Avay will be frightened when the sorcerist begins to treat her injuries.”

  “I created an extra one, plus we have yours. Those should suffice until I can program more.”

  Xuel stops and touches a panel on the wall, speaking into it in clipped tones.

  Natu carries me inside a room with a single cushioned platform and lots of odd machinery. The royal blue alien that healed me after Agris and Orius hurt me when I was first brought aboard all that time ago, is inside waiting for me.

  “Avay is badly injured, Viela,” Natu says to the royal blue alien and settles me onto the cushioned platform.

  Natu steps away, going to stand with Xuel out of the way of the alien who begins to assess my injuries. Cold and afraid, I begin to shake uncontrollably. With the touch of a thin finger, the alien pops open a drawer in the wall and covers me in a warm sheet. The material is thicker than what I’m used to, more like a blanket, and I snuggle into its comforting heat, alleviating my tremors.

  I recognize the gray, circular disc Nulis gave me what seems a lifetime ago. The royal blue alien lays it in the palm of my hand, however, I’m not in the mood to play with the thing, so I let it drop from my hand.

  Natu steps up and replaces it in my palm. Taking ahold of my thumb, he encourages me to swirl it over the surface. Just like the first time, the more I rub the strange disc, the less pain I feel, and then I’m floating on a cottony cloud of relief, my eyelids grow incredibly heavy.

  With eyeballs that float, I watch as one of the shark-toothed creatures enters and gives something to Xuel. Huge watery pink eyes turn to me before the creature ducks its head and leaves.

  Xuel’s rugged features come into view as he gently places a translator in my ear before doing the same.

  “Avay, do not be afraid. Viela is going to take good care of you.”

  I understand Xuel’s words perfectly, and now I have a name to go along with the royal blue face, the one that healed me before and is preparing to do so again.

  Gratitude wells within me. I never thought I’d ever see my males again, much less hear and understand their words. But here I am, and all because of an epic rescue that is worthy of movie rights. I have Xuel and Natu to thank for saving me from that monstrosity for a second time.

  There is one missing. Stricken with an aching void, my selfishness is unavoidable. Blessed with two wonderful males, I yearn for the one that’s been unjustly taken from me. Tears flood my eyes and spill out over my battered face.

  “Should she be in pain?” Xuel’s switches to a different language that the translator doesn’t pick up.

>   Viela pauses in her manipulation of my injured shoulder to lay a flat, glowing stick on my forehead. A beep sounds out.

  “Her pain is nil,” Viela returns.

  Xuel gathers a tear from my cheek. Turning his wet finger to me before placing it over his breastbone. “Why do you cry, soweesis?”

  That’s the second time Xuel has called me that. I long to know what it means, but I’m too broken inside and out to ask, so I cry out for my lost love.

  “Nuuuis,” my crooked jaw mangles his name.

  “Nulis?” Xuel peers done at me with a pinched brow.

  My nod is slight, but he sees it.

  “He is recovering from his injuries in the next room.”

  Xuel’s words wash over me in relief so profound I shut my heavy eyes and give myself over to the darkness.

  Chapter 6

  I lie awake too comfortable to open my eyes. Burrowing down into the plushness beneath me, I pull what’s covering me up higher around my neck. Nothing hurts when I move, and I wonder if anything of what happened to me was real.

  A soft shuffling sounds out close by. My muscles go tight with fear. I send out feelers to test my environment, but nothing feels off. I know I’m back aboard Xuel’s ship. There’s just no way I can un-remember my last abduction by that disgusting monster.

  My instincts tell me I’m safe, so I settle back into my place of comfort with a heavy sigh… that’s when I scent the exotic musk that is uniquely Nulis’.

  My eyes fly open to see him lying on a platform opposite me.

  My Nulis!

  I throw back the covers and start to get up. Several machines at the end of my platform beep out an alert, but that doesn’t stop me from weaving my way over to his side.

  Clutching the platform he’s lying on, I bobble on unsteady legs and take note of how pale his face and shrunken his body appears. None of that matters. He’s still the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.

  On wobbly knees, I reach out a hand to touch his cheek just to make sure I’m not imagining him. My palm lands on the solid warmth of his flesh.

  Nulis is slow to turn his face toward me, even slower to pry open tired eyes. Just a sliver of his pupils show beneath a thicket of dark lashes, not the vibrant green of health, but the dim version of illness.

  How close to death had he come? I wonder with an anguished moan.

  “Do I look that bad, shoulsis?” Nulis asked in a strained voice.

  “No,” —I burst into tears— “you look perfect.”

  “I do not understand your words, but judging by your tears, I must look worse than the ass end of a Dreelian Hote, and you are as beautiful as ever,” he mutters, and I notice Nulis’ lack of a translator. “I am glad you are returned and safe.”

  “I never thought I’d see you again,” I cry harder, knowing this is a one-sided conversation, but I can’t stop the fall of my words. “I can’t believe you’re alive!”

  My hand rubs at his face and along his impossibly square jaw before I lean down to place a kiss on his compressed lips. Nulis stiffens before his flesh loosens under mine. New to the custom, he doesn't return the kiss and I didn't expect him to. I pull away and catch a sparkle of mischief that brightens his once lifeless gaze.

  Before I can ask what illicit notion has brought about this new spark of light, something soft bumps just under my backside. I look back to find the royal blue alien, Viela, who has moved my platform closer to Nulis’ and shut off the beeping alarm.

  Viela pats the platform for me to return and I do as I’m told, too tired to argue. Once settle on my side to face Nulis, Viela, pushes my platform the remainder of the way up against his, forming one large platform for two.

  Nulis’ face, thin and drawn, and as harsh as ever softens to accommodate the tug of a smile. I grab onto the hand he offers, entwining my fingers with his. Lying side-by-side with my male who I thought I had lost forever, nothing could make this moment any more perfect.

  Movement beneath the covers at his side draws my attention away from his hooded gaze. Carmel colored fur peeks out from under the edge.

  Nulis’ voice is low and encouraging as he tries to coax out whatever it is that’s hiding. Small, round, and fluffy, the powderpuff on four squat legs reveals more of itself. I suck in a breath and blink not believing what I’m seeing.

  “I managed to save your snack. Oveelian used to be my favorite delicacy. Their meat is especially tender when marinated in Morabella juice. I have grown attached to this one that is keeping my leg warm.”

  I extend my free hand and the tiny ball of fur toddles over to nuzzle my palm.

  “Nulis, how?” Damn, I wish we both had translators. “Thank you for saving him, or her… How do you tell the sex?”

  Nulis’ smile widens at my laughter, then falls into a worn grin. My soul fills with guilt over his many injuries.

  Nulis took as good as he gave battling it out with that enormous monster. Now he heals from severe injuries on top of the loss of blood from the field of blood grass he was hurled into while trying to rescue me from that monstrosity who ultimately stole me away.

  I avert my eyes away from his, and swallow back a heavy dose of guilt. It’s my fault he’s hurt and nearly died.

  I know it isn’t my fault I was abducted from Earth by those slinky, gray aliens and sold to the trolls on Tirstiu to become part of their sex-slave inventory, but I shouldn’t be here. And my presence has placed all of my males in danger.

  The silky fur of the tiny creature, Nulis calls my “snack”, tickles my chin as it finds a place to snuggle in the hollow of my throat. For the first time, I marvel over my rapidly healing injuries. My jaw is a little sore, but rocks back and forth with ease. My bite is back in-line as it should be. Giving my shoulder a roll, there’s a pang of residual ache, but it seems to be working fine. Whatever Viela treated me with is a miracle. If I’d sustained damage like this back on Earth, I would be laid up for weeks, maybe even months. There’s nothing else that ails me, only exhaustion tugging me toward sleep.

  Fresh tears press the backs of my eyes as I scan Nulis’ sunken features. Gifted with a strong, square jawline and high cheekbones that rival any supermodel, his too-perfect features are sharpened with dark shadows from his near-death experience.

  I swallow back a heavy dose of guilt.

  Still turned toward me, his lips are parted in sleep. His breathing is even and deep, and with every passing second, his pale skin deepens with the golden tan of his species.

  I ponder the attachment of his sleek, black horns. Protruding from his temples, they follow the curve of his head and are as much a part of him as his fangs that peek out from the slight part of his full lips. As beautiful as he is foreign, I refuse to list the differences between Nulis and men of Earth.

  I want to ask about Mont’clure —yet another male my mere presence caused harm— except I don’t want to disturb Nulis’ healing repose.

  The tiny creature under my chin repositions itself, pivoting in a tight circle, before wiggling its slight body as it settles down. With the cadence of a cat’s purr, a soothing rhythm fills the silence of the room.

  Nulis called the adorable creature my snack. Unexpected sarcasm from my gruff and grumbly Nulis curls my lips. What a complex male he has proven to be. Not the one-dimensional sex fiend I’d originally pegged him for, but a male of many facets. And a caring one at that.

  On the sly, Nulis shocked me with his ingenuity redirecting and changing my fear of the marketplace on Letrutose into anger directed at him. He knew tossing me over his shoulder like a sack of grain would get me riled up, and it did. I was so filled with rage, I forgot to be afraid as I walked the marketplace sandwiched between my males. Nulis knew exactly what I needed to shirk my anxiety.

  Unfortunately, the outing hadn’t gone as planned. I found myself a captive once again at the hands of the very monstrosity that Xuel and Natu had first saved me from on Tirstiu.

  Nulis fought like a berserker to free me from the c
lutches of that monster only to land himself in a field of blood grass. Despite the odds, he made it out alive.

  Nulis has gotten to know me way better than I have him. He’s even more of a stranger to me now than when I first laid eyes on him when I was first brought aboard. I feel like I’m treading water with my head just above the level of drowning as I wade through the many layers that comprise him.

  His wry humor has been the most surprising. With a face made for scowls and sneers, his quick-witted sarcasm is one of my favorite traits.

  Snack, I chuckle to myself. I think Snack is a perfect name for my new fur baby.

  Chapter 7

  I leisurely stretch my heavy limbs, disturbing Snack from slumber. The caramel-colored ball of fluff eases out from where it rested in the hollow of my throat and does some stretching of its own.

  Stubby legs jut out this way and that. With a wide yawn that nearly turns its entire body inside out, I have to wonder at the head to body proportions of this tiny creature. And those rows of jagged teeth? This tiny puffball is like a piranha with fur.

  “Wow! If I’d known you had all that in there, I would have been more cautious about sticking my fingers in your crate,” I comment to Snack who’s wobbling around as if taking in its surroundings before hopping to the end of the platform and jumping off.

  I suck back a breath and pull myself to the edge.

  “You need to be more careful,” I exhale when I see that Snack is perfectly fine and hopping over to where someone has set out food and water.

  A thick arm reaches around my middle and drags me back. Pressed into my backside is a hot erection pulsating for attention.

  “Are you well enough for me to make use of your silky cunt?” Nulis’ version of sweet nothings is laden with concern.

  “How can you be gravely injured and yet aroused?”

  “I’m nowhere near death, shoulsis, and even if I was, I would still crave you.”

  My surprise over his understanding of my words is shattered as soon as his fingers find and strum across my clit. Nulis must have been given a translator sometime while I was asleep. That thought is erased as one leg is hefted up and hooked over Nulis’ bent knee. Spread for his use, a fat finger fills me with a perfect rhythm, and I’m lost to all else except the heat unfurling in my belly. Another finger finds its way inside and a third, my sex pleasantly stretched.