Page 49 of Captured By The Alien (Starbound #2)
Kara stood at the entrance to the Grand State Room, her dress fanned out behind her and her bridesmaids on either side. Her heart was hammering so fast she thought it might leap clean out of her chest.
Her mother hesitated, then gave her a hasty peck on the cheek. It was the first kiss she’d given Kara since she became an adult. Then she went in to take her seat among the officials and noble families who had been deemed important enough to watch the ceremony first hand.
Everyone else would watch it courtesy of the holographic vis-screens which had been erected in cities across Vraxos in honor of the occasion.
“Don’t throw up, don’t throw up,” Kara muttered to herself. Vysh leaned over.
“If you do, it’ll certainly be a wedding to remember.”
“Not helping.”
“You’ll be fine,” whispered Hespia. “And if you screw it up, no-one will blame you. They’ll just think it’s because you’re a nedek human.”
“Still not helping.”
Chords struck the opening notes of the otherworldly, lilting Vraxian music she’d come to find oddly enticing. It was her signal to step through the door and into a sea of faces.
She gulped down her fear and kept her eyes trained on the distant dais where her future husband waited. And when she saw him, her heart lifted.
He, too, was dressed in silver. A billowing robe flowed round him like mercury and at each hip he carried a ceremonial dagger to symbolize his warrior status.
The camouflage gene in his DNA had activated, giving his scales an argent sheen. That, plus his long white hair, made him resemble a silvered god.
Kara couldn’t take her eyes off him.
When she reached the front of the room, her bridesmaids dropped back and she was left alone with Vahn. She twisted her hands nervously, unsure what to do with them. There wasn’t even a bridal bouquet to hold. Evidently they weren’t a thing on Vraxos.
But then Vahn entwined his fingers through hers and smiled down at her as if she was the only person in the world, and suddenly everything was okay.
More than okay.
She honestly didn’t remember much of the ceremony. She must have spoken at the right times, bowed her head in the right places. There were moments of ritual which they both had to enact; he presented a sword to her, she presented a cup of water to him. Much of it was a blur. But in the months to come, whenever she looked back on that day, the thing that stood out most for her was Vahn’s calm reassurance whenever she fumbled or stuttered.
The officiator, a rather portly Vraxian with head ridges that put Kara in mind of a polled bullock, wrapped a shining silver strand round their wrists to represent their unity.
And just like that, they were married.
The audience rose to its feet in thundering applause, something Kara imagined was being replicated across the planet. She looked up at her new husband.
“Aren’t you going to kiss the bride?”
“Is that the custom on Earth?”
“Isn’t it a custom here?”
He grinned.
“Let’s make it one.”
And he bent her backwards in his arms and kissed her shamelessly.
The rest of the evening passed in a whirl. Kara remembered later she had never felt more happy. She had wed her kalehshun , she was surrounded by well-wishers, and she was closer to her mother than she had been in years.
She even caught the President smiling – smiling – during the festivities. And when Kara inquired as to whether she was having fun, her mother revealed she was rather enjoying the melamak.
Kara was about to warn her to go easy but then thought, what the hell. It was about time the President let her hair down. And anyway, she wouldn’t get a hangover.
If weddings were meant to be one of the best days of your life, then this was definitely up there in her top three. It only got better when Vahn snared her for a slow dance.
He wrapped her in his serpetri and lifted her so that her face was level with his. Then he swayed to the music, holding her firmly against his hard body. His cloak swirled around them like a silver cloud.
“I can’t believe this is really happening,” she said. “I feel as though I’m in a dream.”
“It’s fortuitous then that Vraxians can’t dream. If we dreamed like this we would never wake up.”
“Mother says the negotiations are going well. Will the accords be signed soon?”
“There are just some minor details on personnel swaps and tariff rates to settle. But yes. All being well, they should be ratified in a matter of days.”
“That’s got to be some kind of record.”
“There was tremendous will on both sides. It helps that the leader of Earth is now my kalezeinba. ”
“ Kalezeinba ?”
“Roughly translated, it means ‘creator of the mate’.”
“Yeah, I think she’d prefer ‘mother-in-law’, darling.”
“Whatever you want, beloved.” He stroked a thumb over her cheekbone. “Whatever you want for the rest of your life.”
She kissed his lips softly.
“You look amazing, by the way. I love your silvery scales.”
“And you look…” he shook his head, unable to find the words. “Is it wrong that I want to admire your dress and tear it off you at the same time?”
His eyes darkened to amber and his searing gaze sent a shiver of a primal need through her body.
“Is it too early to go back to our room?” she asked huskily.
“You are the Zhaalini of the Vraxian Empire. You may do whatever you wish.”
“In that case, what I wish to do is…” she whispered into his ear and he gave a low rumble.
“I can make that happen. Several times, in fact.”
“Don’t speak too soon. I have no idea how to get this dress off.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
They made their way to the exit, nodding to guests but deliberately not stopping to chat. Kara did a double take as she spotted Rhyn leading Ela to the dance floor. She desperately wanted to watch what happened but decided she wanted Vahn more.
By the time they reached the entrance to the Emperor’s quarters they were making out like teenagers. He leaned her against the door to their chambers and started kissing her neck. Kara giggled when she caught sight of the stoic expressions on the faces of the guards following them.
“They never react, do they?”
“They are trained not to. The royal bodyguards see and hear things that are never to be repeated to anyone.”
“I hope they haven’t seen you make out with too many other women,” she said indignantly.
“Hundreds,” he laughed, fending her off as she tried to smack him. He held her wrists behind her back and nuzzled her throat. “But none as beautiful, passionate, sexy, smart or impressive as you, kalehsha. ”
He moved his mouth to her cleavage and licked the inviting valley between her breasts. She shivered as a serpetrus coiled its way up her leg.
“Vahn, let’s go inside where it’s private.”
“We are married, kalehsha. You are mine to kiss wherever and whenever I want.” He paused in his ministrations and frowned. “What is this?”
“It’s my underwear,” she said breathlessly, as the tip of his appendage nudged between her thighs.
“I thought I made it clear you were not to wear such things?”
“I’m not going commando to my own wedding.”
“I can see you need a lesson in the futility of wearing undergarments.”
There was a sharp rip and her silky briefs were no more. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
“That’s better,” he growled. “I will not tolerate any obstacle to the filthy and depraved things I intend to do to you tonight.”
He ravished her with a kiss that was both firm yet tender; sensually exploring her mouth with his tongue while at the same time caressing her beneath her dress. A brazen promise of things to come.
“Take me to bed,” she whispered when she was able to speak. “And leave the guards outside.”
He scooped her into his arms and nudged open the heavy doors.
“You’re carrying me over the threshold?” she teased. “You’ve done your research.”
“I wanted to do everything right.”
She reached up to cup his face.
“You always do everything right. I love you, Vraxian.”
“I love you too, kalehsha. ”
He could barely contain bis happiness. All he could think about was laying his wife on the bed and making her as delirious as he was.
He carried her across the floor, turning to kick the door shut.
And the room exploded.