Page 9 of Alien Prince’s Fake Bride (The Tentacle Throne #1)

- Mareliux -

I swear the alien woman was born in weightlessness. She moves so elegantly, it’s like a dance or an acrobatic display.

“She’s a limber one,” I comment to Bellatriz as I dive through the air. “But she’s doing exactly what I thought she would.”

“ You don’t think she’ll reach that door before you?”

I straighten my body to minimize drag, using the tendrils on my head to do fine adjustments. “At least she’ll be on the ground then and you can activate the artificial gravity in here.”

“ You must be the most considerate abductor in history,” the sword groans. “ Making sure your quarry doesn’t fall and sprain a fingernail.”

“Hey, if she’d fallen from the ceiling, she would have broken that thin little neck.” I’m satisfied with my course. I’ll hit her perfectly.

“ You think Caret’ax will fare better when the gravity comes on?”

“Make sure he’s holding onto something up there before you turn the gravity on,” I clarify. Then I yell a warning to my bodyguard. “Hang onto something, Caret’ax! Turning gravity back on!”

The woman and I are slowly converging. She went for accuracy over speed, so I did too.

She’s wearing a bulky spacesuit with a helmet hanging down her back.

Her face is pale and round like everyone’s face is when weightless, but I have no problem seeing the beauty there.

Even her suit can’t hide her rounded shape, especially around the hips.

Hmm. This could actually get really interesting.

She’s focused, gauging the distance between us and already having pointed her feet towards me.

I focus to send a thread of Syntrix out to her, wanting to turn her around so her feet will be no threat. But I don’t think I’m concentrating enough, because nothing happens. I can’t even sense the Syntrix at all.

When we crash together, I curl up to dampen the small force of the impact. The alien kicks both legs ferociously at me. She connects, but I’m prepared for it and grab hold of one of her feet. Together we tumble towards the open door.

“ Caret’ax is climbing down on the wall,” Bellatriz says. “ He’ll be fine.”

“Then get ready,” I seethe, holding onto the female’s foot for all I’m worth, while she kicks and writhes and struggles to get out of my grip.

We’re tumbling in a weird bundle of arms and legs. I make sure that I’m on the bottom and that her head won’t hit the ground.

“Bellatriz, now, ” I order.

Immediately the gravity is back, and I slam into the ground as if falling from a low bed.

I keep hold of the female, despite her kicking and spitting and yelling.

“She’s a wild flin, ” I groan, keeping her at arm’s length while she punches and chops at my forearms. I can’t help but admire the way she fights to the last.

Her eyes are dark, but they shoot furious lightning. “ Leggo omi ya manstr,” she hisses between clenched teeth.

“It’s all right,” I tell her. “Calm down— oof . We just wanted to look at you. Are you typical of your kind? Ow! Are they all this fierce? ”

“ I almost hope not, for their sake,” Bellatriz says. “ Imagine living in a society where they’re always fighting. But this one does have reason to fight. You’re not going to keep her, are you?”

I think about it. She’s much more attractive than I would ever expect from an alien species. She’s almost scandalously feminine, and that’s while wearing a sack of a spacesuit. Her hair is very alien and exotic, much finer and smoother than Caret’ax’s messy head.

There’s also something about her that I can’t identify. Something right, something that makes me want to spend more time with her. Something that feels like a dull buzzing in my mind.

She lands a hit on my shin.

She’s beyond fierce. Now there’s a spirit we could use. But I suspect she’d sooner burn the whole Empire down than work for me.

“I might,” I state. “What are her friends doing?”

“ I ’ ll check the sensors… looks like some of them have put on their space suits and are coming this way. Without craft. Just in their spacesuits.”

“A rescue mission? In only their suits? You are all this fierce, little alien. But let us be on our way before they hurt themselves or they do something that forces us to hurt them.”

“ All right,” Bellatriz says. “ I’ll take us to a safe distance from this station. But we can’t leave this planet just yet.”

“Oh? We have one of their females, which is why we came here.”

“ No, we came here so that you could gather a selection of them,” the sword reminds me. “ A single cavewoman is not a selection.”

Caret’ax comes into the hallway from the hangar, sweat shining on his skin. “Let’s never do that again, sir.”

“Not a fan of weightlessness, Caret’ax?” I tease. “You clearly never went through the officer’s course for the Imperial Navy.”

“I never said I did, sir. Shall we put her back where we found her?” He stares at the female in my hands. She’s still yanking at her arms, trying to get free.

“No, we’ll keep her. I have plans for our surprisingly spirited pilot.”

“Keep her, sir? Surely you’re not planning to marry this one? The first Earth female you see?”

“I’m considering it,” I tell him. “Are we moving away from the station, Bellatriz?”

“ Yes. We’re on the other side of the planet from them now. So you are keeping this female?”

“I like her,” I inform them both. “It’s time the Khavgren Empire had an Empress who knows how to put up a fight.”

“ I see,” my sword says coldly. “ We will be leaving this planet with this Earth woman. Prince, shall I assume that you want her to be safe?”

I frown. “What kind of question is that? Of course! We will do everything to keep her safe from herself. We certainly won’t cause her any harm.”

“ You allow me to do anything to keep her safe?” Bellatriz persists. “ Anything?”

“The safety of this Earth woman is a high priority for the Empire,” I decide on the spot. “Of course she must be kept safe without harming her in any way. I sense you being sneaky, sword. What are you up to?”

“ I just had to be sure,” Bellatriz says from her scabbard.

“ This is the first female we’ve abducted.

I wasn’t fully aware of the procedure. But you made it clear, Prince.

I recommend you take her to a cabin and that you keep her company for a while, making sure she won’t do silly things when alone.

How about the Executive Officer’s cabin?

It’s a good size and quite comfortable.”

The alien female has stopped struggling, but her eyes are as defiant as ever.

I point to myself. “Mareliux,” I state very clearly. “Prince of the Khavgren Empire. Caret’ax.” I point at my bodyguard. “Of unknown origin.”

The alien simply glares. For a woman this small, it should be adorable. But she’s a fighter, and I can’t let her appealing looks blind me to the fact that she could still do some damage.

“ Her name is ‘Hadley’,” Bellatriz says. “ That thing on her chest is a name tag, I think. Those symbols read as ‘Hadley’. Can you show me her helmet?”

I have my hands full just holding the female in place. “Caret’ax.”

The bodyguard carefully lifts the alien helmet and turns it so it’s visible for Bellatriz. I notice it also has symbols on it.

“ Shadow,” she says. “ Shadow Hadley, using the most common name conventions of her people. Though it may also be a callsign, judging from some of the visual transmission I’ve gone through. It means ‘shadow’.”

“A woman named Shadow,” I ponder. “Ominous. Well, come along, little shadow. I’ll show you your home for the next couple of days.”

I half carry, half drag Shadow through the ship up to the XO’s cabin. Now there’s only Caret’ax and me onboard the Gladiux , we could choose any cabin.

But I want Shadow to have a good one. An idea is taking shape in my mind, one that could solve most of my problems. And it involves Shadow in a key role.