Alien Read online

  A thousand Yessat Years could tick by and a wimpy man like that would still fail to arouse her. That acknowledgment was more than a little depressing so she thrust it from her thoughts and resumed her open-mouthed marveling of the surroundings.

  The decadence and sparkle of Crystal City had no rival. She was going to make the most of her three moon-months here and enjoy every Nuba-second of the experience. She smiled as she walked, excited by the prospects this new undertaking presented. Exploring Crystal City, if nothing else, would be an adventure unto itself.

  She spotted a bartering stall where the most beautiful zokas she’d ever seen were on display. Kari picked up her pace, making a beeline straight for it. The gold zokas would make perfect gifts for Klykka and Dorra, while the sparkly one spun from black gemstones would look great on her. If nothing else, Kari thought, staring at it, the black zoka provided an interesting contrast against her porcelain skin—great for her upcoming performances on stage.

  “You don the dress of a Galian warrior, but ‘tis a certainty you haven’t the look of our kind.” The owner of the stall gave Kari the once-over. “Nor the height.”

  “I’ve been here seventeen Yessat Years, though. My Mistress sent me to Crystal City to wait tables and perform.”

  The Galian inclined her head. She implicitly understood the underlying implication. Namely that Kari was a warrior in training.

  “You are galishi?”

  Galishi—the Galian term for what amounted to a naturalized female citizen with full rights. The word was more meaningful than that though because it also denoted that Kari had been taken in by a High Mystik and raised as her own. “I am.”

  “From which sector?”

  “Gy’at Li.”

  The owner looked impressed. “I herald from the Zha’Ri sector.” She waved a hand toward the array of zokas. “’Tis an honor to trade with you. Purchase what you will.”

  “Thank you. I already know what I want though.”

  A minute later the three G-strings and their matching sandals were wrapped in a vesha pelt and handed over to her. Kari held up the palm of her hand so the Galian tradeswoman could laser-scan it, which would automatically transfer the credits from her account to the stall owner’s.

  “Next time.” She waved the proffered credits away. “Tell your Mistress ‘tis a gift from Nyoki whose allegiance is sworn to The Zha’Ri.”

  “I will. It was a pleasure to meet you, Nyoki. I am Kari.”

  “Likewise, Kari. Do you find yourself in need of aide, you have an ally in me and any warrior of the Zha’Ri sector.”

  Kari smiled. She inclined her head then resumed her stroll down the main path of the city centre. Lost in thought, she was too busy wondering over Nyoki’s parting words to care about sightseeing. It wasn’t so much what the Galian female had said as the manner in which she’d said it. Were there warriors in Crystal City from sectors hostile to The Gy’at Li? She would put the question to Klykka the next time they spoke.

  A tingling sensation zinged through Kari’s body as an odd feeling stole over her. Her senses instinctively kicked into hyper vigilance mode. Someone was watching her. No, watching was too weak a word for this feeling, she decided. The jolt of apprehension and awareness that was causing the hair at the nape of her neck to stand on end was what she expected a hunted animal felt like when trying to evade a large predator.

  She came to a standstill and looked around. “Always trust your instincts,” she knew Klykka would instruct her if she were here. “’Tis a gift from the goddess bestowed upon women, this is.”

  Kari’s gaze darted around, looking for the one who was causing the gift to kick in. Just when she was about to give up and resume walking, certain that her instincts had failed her and she was reacting in an overly sensitive manner because of her conversation with Nyoki, her silver-blue gaze honed in on a massive, muscled chest.

  Holy. Shit.

  Kari’s breath caught in her throat. They were separated by the street, yet she was still forced to tilt her head back to look up at the largest giant of a man she’d ever before seen. His hair was black as the night, his skin and eyes as golden as finely aged whiskey. Standing nearly eight feet in height, his four hundred to five hundred pound frame was carved of solid, unyielding muscle. She swallowed roughly. This was no Galian male. Even had his eye color been violet, which it wasn’t, his gaze was too commanding to belong to a male native to this planet.

  He’s a Trystonni warrior…

  There went the gift again, telling her the one alien species of male she least wanted to interact with was watching her like a cheetah stalking a gazelle. Her gaze flew to his forehead where a skull had been tattooed into his skin, then down to the necklace he wore.

  A Trystonni bridal necklace.

  The gift hadn’t lied. There was no question about it. She’d heard the stories of those necklaces, knew that if a Tryston warrior removed the one he wore and placed it around a woman’s neck, she was bound to him forever—literally. The necklace made him able to track her should she flee and wouldn’t unclasp until death, if even then.

  Kari’s breathing grew heavy, causing her breasts to heave and jiggle. The giant’s gaze flicked down to study them. His eyes narrowed in arousal.

  Kari’s body responded against her volition, her pink nipples hardening and jutting out. Her heart rate picked up, causing her breathing to become impossibly more labored.

  For seventeen Yessat Years she had worn the zoka; for more than sixteen of those years she’d grown so accustomed to near-nakedness in public that she no longer felt the vulnerability that went hand-in-hand with nudity back on Earth. Or at least she hadn’t, Kari conceded, until this moment.

  Standing in the heart of Crystal City, surrounded by more people than she’d ever before encountered, the silver zoka and turquoise sandals she wore provided no shield from the giant’s covetous gaze. His golden eyes flicked back and forth between her painfully erect nipples and the G-string hiding her pussy from his view. The gift was screaming that he found the zoka a nuisance as it kept him from seeing what he most wanted to be inside of.

  Kari blinked. She shook her head slightly, as if forcing herself to snap out of a sorcerer’s spell.

  Their gazes clashed again. The warlord’s possessive, hungry eyes were at once arousing and frightening.

  Kari dashed away, running as fast as her feet would carry her. She could feel the giant’s gaze following her, branding her…

  And promising her that they would meet again.

  * * * * *

  “This place is incredible.” Kari stared in amazement at the penthouse she’d be calling home for the next three moon-months. “And the technology? Whoa!”

  “Whoa? This is another one of your Earth words?”

  “Yeah.”

  “’Tis not translating in my mind, that word.”

  “Because there’s no Galian equivalent.”

  “I see.”

  Kari realized she was being rude. She forced herself to stop examining every inch of her new, temporary home so she could give The Gy’at Li’s hologram her full attention. She plopped down on a purple crystal chair—then immediately shot back up to her feet. She gasped.

  Klykka smiled. “You assumed a seat carved from crystal would feel hard and cold, aye?”

  “Of course!” Kari frowned as she eyed the chair suspiciously. “But it felt like the softest vesha hide on the planet.”

  “’Twill not eat you, child,” Klykka teased. “Be seated.”

  Kari hesitantly prepared to sit. She didn’t really have a choice. An order was an order.

  “For the love of the goddess,” Dorra grunted, her hologram appearing next to Klykka’s, “The Gy’at Li did not send you to Crystal City to kill you, sister. Leastways, she would have done so long before now did she not find your primitive reactions bemusing. Sit.”

  “Primitive reac— Now listen here, Dorra!”

  “Remember the time you gave shelter to the visiting Tu