Taming the Giant Read online

  “What…what is that?” she whispered. “Did you hear something?”

  “The voice of wisdom,” Bram said. Opening the door of the shuttle, he came around to her side and reached for her to help her down. “Come on, little one—it’s time for our joining ceremony. Let’s go get married.”

  * * * * *

  “Married? You still want to get married?” Alanah looked at him, uncomprehending. She’d just told him there was no way he would be able to take her—to make love to her. Why would he still want to marry her?

  “Yes,” Bram said firmly. “I swore I would join with you before our Claiming Period so you wouldn’t feel we were doing anything wrong and I stand by that.”

  “But…didn’t you hear what I just told you?” Alanah demanded. “I won’t…won’t be able to bloom for you, Bram.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t believe that’s true. But even if it is, I don’t care, little one. I want you—want you more than any female I’ve ever known. Please…” He knelt on one knee before her, putting them almost on the same level. “Will you join with me, Alanah? Will you be my bride?”

  Alanah bit her lip. “I…I want to. But I don’t want you to be disappointed, Bram. I…I know that physical love is very important to men. And if you’re unable to…to penetrate me…” She couldn’t go on but she didn’t have to.

  “Alanah,” he murmured, stroking her cheek gently with his big fingers. “Don’t you know there’s more to physical love than penetration? Even if my shaft won’t fit inside you, I can still caress you with my fingers and taste you with my tongue.”

  “With…with your tongue?” Alanah felt her breath catch in her throat. “I…I never thought about that.”

  Bram’s sapphire eyes went half-lidded with lust.

  “Didn’t the males of your people like to taste their females?” he murmured.

  “No, I…I never heard of any such thing.” It sounded scandalous to Alanah—shocking and wrong. And yet…the idea of her giant’s head between her thighs lapping her flower—what he had called her pussy—made her heart beat faster for some reason.

  “We Kindred love it. More than that, we need it,” Bram stressed gently. “So you see, little one, I have much more to look forward to during our Claiming Period than just penetration.” He took her hands in his. “Now will you be my mate? My bride?”

  “I…yes.” Alanah drew a deep, trembling breath. “Yes, Bram, I’ll marry you. If you really still…still want me.”

  “Nothing could make me stop wanting you,” he murmured and kissed her hands. “Come with me—our ceremony awaits in the Sacred Grove.”

  Chapter Nine

  Feeling somewhat better about the situation, Alanah allowed him to lead her from the huge, echoing chamber which housed a great many more small ships like the one he’d brought her here in. Of course small was a relative term, she thought wryly. Everything here seemed impossibly large to her, built as it was on a scale for the Jor’gen Kindred.

  Though Bram seemed to be one of the tallest of his kind she couldn’t help noticing that almost none of his shipmates were under eight feet tall. Most of them wore their hair as Bram did, in long, thick braids either loose or gathered in a club at the back of the head. They dressed in tight black leather trousers and long sleeved shirts of some heavy, silky fabric which clung to their wide shoulders and broad chests.

  Seeing the giant Kindred in these uniforms, Alanah knew that Bram had only dressed as he had on her planet in order to put her at her ease. She liked him in the loose blue peasant trousers but she longed to see him in the clothing of his people too. She was certain one of the deep red or blue shirts she saw the others wearing would look wonderful with his dusky skin tones and glowing blue eyes.

  Walking among the giant warriors, Alanah felt like a child in a room full of adults or maybe a kitken in the company of very large doggens but it wasn’t frightening—just strange. She tried not to stare at the Jor’gen Kindred and got the feeling they were trying not to stare at her as well but there was no shortage of curious and envious looks as she and Bram walked hand and hand through the vast Kindred Mothership.

  “My Brothers all wish to have a female of their own,” Bram explained. “They envy me the beauty of my bride.”

  “Beauty?” Alanah put her hand to her still sleep-tousled hair and looked down at her wrinkled blue dressing gown and bare feet. Suddenly she knew she couldn’t do this—not yet, anyway. “Bram, stop.” She pulled on his hand and he came to a halt obligingly.

  “What is it, little one?”

  “I…I can’t get married like this.” Alanah motioned down at herself. “I need to fix my hair and change my clothes to something proper. And…” She took a deep breath. “I need to let you know what you’re getting before…before we go through with this.”

  “I know what I’m getting—you,” he said gently but Alanah shook her head.

  “Please, is there a place we can go? Someplace private? I need some time to prepare.”

  At last he relented. “All right, I’ll bring you to my suite—our suite,” he corrected himself. “And I’ll have the simulator take some measurements to make you some new clothes.”

  “Thank you.” Alanah smiled up at him. “I appreciate it.”

  “Come.” Still holding her hand, he guided her down another shiny silver corridor and into a tall box-like room with buttons on a metal panel as large as her palm.

  “Is this it?” Alanah looked around in confusion. It seemed a small living space for such a large man.

  Bram burst out laughing. “No—this isn’t my suite—it’s the lift. It will take us to the deck where my suite is located.”

  He pressed one of the buttons, which lit up, and the little box whizzed upwards, moving with what felt like an alarming speed to Alanah. But before she could even get frightened, the doors of the small moving box whooshed open and they found themselves in yet another long, shiny metal corridor.

  They walked down it until Bram stopped in front of a tall door and pressed his palm to it. This door also opened by itself in a way that seemed to be magic but Alanah supposed was not. When she walked inside, though, she wasn’t so sure.

  “This is amazing,” she breathed as she turned around and around in the center of the large, clean, warm room. She was used to the rough gray stone walls of the castle, only some of which were made brighter and softer by hanging tapestries. In contrast, this room had smooth tan walls with no stone or mortar or wood or plaster showing at all.

  There were no hard, cold flagstones beneath her feet—instead some kind of warm furry carpet covered the entire floor. It felt soft and silky to her bare soles, cushiony and giving, as though she was walking on a cloud. And instead of the rough, hand-made wooden and stone furniture she was used to, there was a large, puffy looking chair that appeared to be wide enough for ten people to sit abreast.

  Or maybe big enough for one person as tall as Bram to stretch out, she told herself.

  The long, padded chair was in front of a fireplace where a fire with blue and green flames burned, sending heat and light to the entire room.

  “Is this where you sleep?” she asked Bram, thinking it would be a very pleasant bed chamber.

  But he shook his head. “This is just the living area. I see the fire droids were in and made up the fire. That’s good—Ren must have sent them.”

  Alanah frowned. “Droids?”

  “Mechanical servants,” Bram said. “Remember I told you that all the onerous chores you’ve been doing all your life would be taken care of?”

  “Yes, but—oh!” She gasped and took a step back as a sleek sliver thing that looked a little like a doggen came smoothly up to her. “What…what is this?” she asked Bram.

  “This is Rooter. He’s my personal droid, aren’t you boy?” he said.

  The silver doggen sat up on its hind legs attentively and gave a low, friendly bark.

  “He looks a little like a canis so I programmed him to act like one,�€