Page 39 of Alien Prince’s Fake Bride (The Tentacle Throne #1)

- Umbra -

It’s like a firestorm breaks loose all around us, with white flashes and terrible bangs. The noise is tremendous, and I press my hands to my ears, my spear long since forgotten. Clenching my eyes shut, I still see the bright flashes through the lids.

The hellfire stops as suddenly as it started. There are only strange, wet thuds as something falls to the ground around me.

When I open my eyes, there are silhouettes around me. Big ones.

“In the nick of time, Colonel,” Mareliux says somewhere above me. “We were about to become casualties.”

“I’m happy we were not too late, sir,” comes a flat, robotic voice that I still think I recognize.

Mareliux bends over me. “Are you all right, Umbra?”

“Can we not do this again?” I ask weakly. “Ever?”

He takes my arm and helps me up. “Agreed. I hope we will never have to.” He embraces me, hard. “I thought that was it for us.”

The five big shapes are wearing mirrored armor and carrying big, black guns. Five ropes hang down from above the trees, and I hear the deep whine of big engines somewhere up there.

Sigise takes her helmet off. “Greetings, Princess Umbra. We would have done this in a less dramatic way, but we saw you surrounded by enemies, and it was becoming urgent.” Her voice is no longer distorted by her helmet.

“I’m not complaining,” I assure her as I check myself for damage. I seem fine, except for all the leaves and debris in my hair. And the still shaking limbs.

The ground is littered with dead flying dinosaurs that look like they were fried to a crisp in mid-air. That’s how they smell, too — like rancid lard burning.

Caret’ax comes sliding down one of the ropes. “They wouldn’t let me come down with them, sir,” he growls before he lands on the ground. “They were worried I’d get in the way.”

“I think this was an enemy that should be fought with guns and not swords,” Mareliux says. “I certainly got nowhere with that. Even you might have struggled.”

Caret’ax kicks at a dead dactyl. “Perhaps. Taking down even one of these is the mark of a greatly skilled swordsman. I see you dispatched several. Well done, sir. Now, there’s no reason to stay. These woods are full of dangers, some worse than these.”

“I must say I agree. With your permission, sir?” Sigise talks to the AI on her chest, and there’s another terrible crash from above as a black gunship descends through the canopy above us, its armored hull breaking trees in half.

“The Gladiux is in orbit,” Caret’ax says. “The Vyrpy were dealt with before they could do much damage. I wonder how long they were hiding there.”

“Since the fight on the Kerberux ,” Mareliux says, still holding me tight. “There’s no way they could have sneaked aboard on Grefve.”

“Sir, allow me,” says a squad member as she opens a first-aid kit that’s much bigger than the one in the escape pods. “You have several cuts.”

“Very well,” the prince says.

The medic gets busy with his wounds, treating them in a quick and efficient way that tells me she’s done this many times before.

The big gunship comes to a rest, hovering a few feet over the ground. Sigise’s squad helps me in, then Mareliux and finally Caret’ax.

“I’ll fly us up,” Sigise says as she walks to the cockpit. “The AI is good at hovering and landing, but I prefer to hold the controls when we take off.”

The door stays open as we leave the ground. Air whirls into the gunship, blowing my hair all around.

We’re about to break up through the canopy when someone walks into the fresh clearing the gunship left.

He looks up, and I recognize the big shape I think I spotted before.

His hair and clothing are being blown wildly by the hard downdraft from the gunship’s engines. He looks a lot like someone I know.

I’m about to alert the others when the gunship powers through the leaves and I lose sight of the ground.

The door closes, and I push myself closer to Mareliux, wanting to embrace him but worried that that’s not princess-like behavior. And the four other girls in Sigise’s squad are right here.

Mareliux has no such worries. He grabs me, sets me on his lap, and buries his face in my hair while he embraces me so I can just barely breathe.

“Thank the gods they came,” he growls. “That was really close.”

I rest my head on his chest. “I was so scared,” I whisper, my voice trembling against his bare skin.

His arms tighten around me, a solid, comforting embrace that chases away the lingering fear. I relax into his warmth. The jungle and its horrors are behind us, and all that matters is his presence.

- - -

The gunship enters the Gladiux ’s hangar so smoothly it impresses me. Of course they have the help of AIs, but still the process is so fast and accurate that I want to take notes for later.

We disembark, and after escorting us to the control room, the squad insists on doing a final sweep of the ship. They want to make absolutely sure there are no Vyrpy left onboard.

Mareliux gets busy laying in the course to Khav, discussing technical issues with Bellatriz.

I glance over at Caret’ax. “That was an interesting planet.”

Bellatriz is busy, so Vera translates to Khavgrese.

“Not really, ma’am,” he replies tightly. “Just deadly. Most planets will try to kill you. This one just tries harder than most.”

“Does it remind you of your home planet?” I ask softly, not wanting Mareliux to hear.

The bodyguard sends me a hard stare, confirming that he understands what I’m really saying: I think that was your home planet.

He looks away. “It does. I did come from a jungle, much like this one. And being in a jungle again put me in mind of something that happened when I was a boy.”

I lean back in my seat, legs dangling. “What was that?”

The caveman adjusts his belt. “I was walking in the jungle, all alone. It was not something boys are supposed to do, because it is extremely dangerous. But I was a reckless child, and I sometimes broke the tribe’s rules.

On this occasion, I found a flower. It was as big as my head and immensely beautiful.

It shimmered in many colors, seeming to shift as I looked at it.

The smell was also incredible. I’d never seen anything so wonderful.

” His gaze goes distant as he remembers.

“And then?” I prompt.

“The discovery gave me a choice,” he goes on.

“I could either cut it off from its stalk and bring it to my tribe’s village, so that everyone could see it and enjoy it and admire it, praising me for finding it.

Or I could leave the flower where it was, and simply go to see it once in a while to enjoy its beauty and its scent.

It was fragile, and I knew that cutting it off would kill it.

Leaving it on the plant, it would last longer, but only I would enjoy it.

I have later found that this choice applies to many other things in life. Even quite big things.”

I get what he means, too: I don’t want others to know where my home planet is, because it would ruin it.

“I understand,” I tell him. “Many things are like that. Even whole worlds can be better left alone.” I hope he gets what I’m really saying: I won’t tell anyone.

“Exactly.” A little smile of relief passes his face. He looks a lot like the man I saw in the clearing as we left the planet, except that one had stripes of a different color than Caret’ax. But they both have swords and caveman-like features. That was his home planet, no doubt about it.

“What did you do?” I ask. “With the flower?”

He shrugs. “Oh, I cut it off the stalk and brought it to the village. The shaman liked it and placed it on the totem pole. I was very proud. That same afternoon, another tribesman threw the flower on the fire to check if it would make a nice scent when burned. It didn’t. I never saw another flower like that.”

Mareliux turns in his seat and looks back at us. “What’s all this about flowers? Are you both losing your minds?”

“Yes,” I confirm, dangling my legs. “We’ve gone crazy. We think we’re flowers and now we need to be watered.”

He stands up and stretches, a remarkable display of muscles and power. “You may not need to be watered , but I think we all need some food. This time, without the drugs.”

“Oh, you’re no fun,” I say as I jump down from the seat. “Everyone knows emergencies are better with drugs.”

The prince comes over and lifts me into his arms. “That may be, but this is not an emergency. This is lunch .” He kisses me deeply.

We eat a good amount of food, and it all tastes delicious after a couple of days of only eating alien fruits and that bland ration.

Back in the cabin we strip off your immensely dirty clothing, dropping it all to the floor.

The shower room glows with a soft light.

Its built for beings far larger than me.

The waterfall shower looms overhead, and Mareliux turns it on.

A torrent of warm water cascades down, not as deafening as a true waterfall but loud enough to cocoon us in its rhythmic roar.

I step under it first, and the water hits me with its warm weight, washing away the jungle planet’s grime—mud, sweat, monster blood and the still lingering weight of stale fear.

My hair plasters to my shoulders, and I close my eyes, letting the flow soothe the jagged edges of my memories: the dinosaurs, the near-death escapes, the fear is never being able to leave the jungle.

Intimacy can drown those terrors, overwriting them with pleasure that burns brighter than trauma. I need this. I need him.

Mareliux joins me. His towering form fills the chamber like a giant carved from dark sapphire.

His gold threads shimmer under the water, and my breath catches at the sight of his arousal, already straining, massive and unapologetic.

His cock is ready for me, its flared tip glowing faintly blue, pulsing with his heartbeat.

It’s exotic, alien, and impossibly hard, a beacon of his desire that makes my core ache.

Yes, this will work. That will take away the memory of terror and make it distant and unimportant by comparison.

“Umbra,” he murmurs, his voice a low rumble cutting through the water’s thunder, tender and laced with worry. He reaches for me, brushing wet hair from my face with a charming clumsiness because hes still new to the hair thing. “Let me care for you.”

“Please do.” I step closer until my skin presses against his, my soft curves molding to his hard, warm mass.

The water pours over us, dulling the jungle’s horrors.

His hands, always so gentle despite their size, start at my shoulders, lathering cleansing gel into my skin.

His palms glide down my arms, then up my back in slow circles, and I sigh, leaning into him.

My fingers explore his chest, tracing the warm, intricate patterns of his scales.

“I hated that planet,” I whisper, my voice nearly lost in the water’s roar, “I need you to make it smaller in my mind. Make me forget the dangers.”

He nods, and his red eyes glow with understanding.

“Let it go,” he says softly. “We will replace it with us. ” He lifts one hand to cup my breast, thumb circling my nipple until it hardens, sending sparks through me.

His other hand slips between my thighs, finding me slick with need despite the water.

I gasp and arch into his fingers as they part my folds, stroking my clit with a precision that makes my knees weak.

My hand finds his erection, wrapping around its impossible girth, feeling the heat, the subtle vibrations of those alien features.

I stroke him from base to glowing tip, marveling at how he grows even harder.

“It will be like the jungle never happened,” I murmur, my voice thick with arousal.

“This… this is stronger than the terror.”

His breath hitches, a sound of pure want.

“You are my strength,” he growls, his free hand cradling my head as our mouths meet in a tender, hungry kiss.

Our tongues dance under the relentless pour as water streams down our faces.

I grind against his fingers, moans swallowed by the shower’s thunder, but it’s not enough.

I need him inside me, need to erase every last shadow with ecstasy.

“Please,” I breathe against his lips. “Now.”