Page 5 of The Bride Contract (Princes of Xaavia #1)

5

Chapter 5 - Kiahn

Before meeting that little human female, I had been cursing to all four Goddesses that I was ‘blessed’ with such a wayward brother. I had scoped out a few of the other clubs and entertainment establishments along the way, but my search had kept me going lower and lower on the levels of this wretched station. I had passed many a brothel and briefly wondered if that is where I might find him, since I know he is here to lay with females in the flesh. But, even while I disagree with a lot of my brother’s decisions for his life, I do know that he would not force a female to mate for money, no matter how safe he claims he can make the experience for her.

Which is ironic, because I had been the one who ended up paying a female, and it definitely wasn’t safe for her to trust me like that. Not with the way she felt, and how she moved against my body like she’d wanted me to bend her over that disgusting table and breed her then and there.

The Yoxxarii scum were not too difficult to track down after we realized they had left. They had descended a mere three levels and were getting escorted out from a gambling house when my brother and I had spotted them. The plan had been to follow them, and wait for the opportune moment to drag them into the dark of the service tunnels and dispose of their miserable lives there. It really would not do for a Prince of Xaavia to be seen committing murder at a space station.

Luckily we did not have to wait too long because not an hour after they’d entered a euphoria peddler’s tavern, did they stumble back out again, as high as shooting stars but nowhere near as pretty. It was easy for Zann and I to herd them somewhere quiet and finish the job.

When we returned to ‘Star Pleasures’ the club was closed, and my human was gone.

The slave trader marked on her arm was not yet open for business, either, so I had no choice but to return to our second level lodgings and wait for the nearest sun to rise. Sleep did not come easily. I could still feel the press of her warm body against mine like she was still there, leaning against me - trusting me not to hurt her. The image of her uncovered throat danced behind my closed, sleepless eyelids. It made my fangs itch.

Luckily, I managed to leave our rented suit this morning without detection from Aunt Zalora. Goddess of Wisdom only knows how she would react if she ever found out the kind of place her eldest nephew had visited last night. Zann? We’ve come to expect these types of things with the youngest of my two brothers - what with his curious heart and talent for getting into trouble… and the sleeping quarters of various females.

But I am not Zann. I am Kiahn, Prince of the Northern Principality, and as I stand here waiting for a vertical level pod to arrive, I cannot quite believe that I am about to go and … purchase a female .

Save.

I’m going to save her, I tell myself, brushing imaginary dirt from the shoulder of my shirt and checking how clean my horns are in the reflection of the glass in front of me.

Another face appears in that very reflection, standing a few paces behind me, leaning his shoulder against a pillar as he wears the most smug expression I think I’ve ever seen.

I pause, my hand halfway on its journey to brush over my left horn before I drop it and turn.

“What are you up to , brother?” Zann asks, biting into the flesh of a pukpuk fruit. “Going for some early morning shopping ?”

I just about manage to rein in my snarl. “I thought you’d slunk off to some female’s bed again last night. Isn’t it too early for you to be awake?” Honestly, Zann hardly ever stays put in our suits wherever we visit, and I don’t think he’s spent one single night in his rented bed during this trip. He normally comes swaggering back during the afternoons to check that he’s not missed anything vitally important during morning meetings - meetings that he should really be attending in person. I’d only gone looking for him last night to drag him back because father wished to speak to us all this morning over comms.

My brother grins and shoves himself away from the pillar, casually throwing the half-eaten pukpuk fruit over his shoulder. One of the small service bots this station has bleeps and blinks as it rolls its way over to clean up the mess my brother had made, and I’ve never related so much to a piece of machinery before in my life. There is a waste receptacle maybe three dozen paces away, and yet he has to make work for something else to clear?

“Oh, Kiahn ,” he laughs, coming to stand beside me as though he intends to ride the level pod with me. “It’s never too early to start annoying you. You should know that by now.”

Unfortunately, I do know that.

The pod arrives with a chirpy-sounding ‘ding’ and I enter with a grunt. Of course, my little brother follows me inside and waits for me to key the destination level into the control pad. He leans back against the glass wall, watching me, but I say nothing.

“You know, if you finally wanted to start fucking in the flesh, there are hundreds of gorgeous Xaviann females back home who are dying to enter breeding contracts with Prince Kiahn. Just ask Aunt Zalora, she’s got at least a dozen lined up ready for you to choose from. No need to purchase a bed slave.”

“I am not purchasing a bed slave,” I grumble, as the pod starts its descent into the belly of the station.

Zann scoffs. “You’re buying a human,” he says simply. “And humans, believe it or not, are one of the few species I’ve not been able to cross off my fuck list-” he taps on the personal comm strapped to his wrist to project a large image in front of us. A list with images of all the known sentient, sexually explorative species from various galaxies. There are crosses through the ones my brother has managed to bed. A few of the images of females are left with no mark through them, including one of a very plain-looking human.

“Why?” I grunt, half wincing because my brother’s mating habits are not really something I’m keen to learn about. But humans are a very attractive species, and I cannot imagine Zann turning his nose up at the prospect of taking one to bed.

He taps on his comm, making his ‘fuck list’ disappear. “Because, dear brother, they are almost always slaves, and I’m not buying some poor female for that purpose. It would feel morally wrong. I do have some standards, you know.” Zann straightens himself and stands beside me, looking forward at the pod doors displaying the levels we’re rapidly passing in huge, lit up numbers.

I cannot help but fidget beside him. “That’s not what I’m doing,” I say, sounding a lot more defensive than I’d intended.

“I never said it was.”

Goddess of Wisdom! Give me strength not to murder my own brother right here, right now .

“I’m saving her, actually.”

“Uh-huh.”

I turn and glare at him. “Don’t you have someone’s bed to warm?”

“Do you want me to help you find someone’s bed to warm so we can forget this whole fiasco?” he asks, just as the pod comes to a stop and doors slide open with a ‘whoosh’. There’s a family of the frail-looking green people waiting to use our pod. I forget the species name, but their multiple eyes widen at the sight of two Xavianns. The male - presumably the father - makes a squeaking noise and runs away, leaving his wife and two pubescent offspring. I force a smile on my face, but I’m pretty sure they consider that to be even more terrifying so I just nod my head and walk out of the pod with my brother following.

“No, I do not want to find someone’s bed to warm,” I growl under my breath as I walk the level, heading toward ‘Mama Z’rykby’s Ethical Companion Trading Company’ - the most pretentious and false business name anyone could give a slave trader. “That would be too dangerous.”

Zann stops me with a hand to my arm. “So take these,” he murmurs, opening his other hand to show me half a dozen orange pills.

I roll my eyes. “ You shouldn’t even be taking those. You know the laws.” I’m not stupid, everyone knows my brother takes the bite suppressants so that he can bed females more safely - so that the risk of him biting them becomes as minimal as they can be without the drastic decision of fang removal. But the last time male Xavianns messed with the nature of our species with suppressants, it affected all the generations preceding them. We are still dealing with those consequences now, hence the laws against suppressant use.

Zann huffs. “Those laws don’t extend to different planets… or space stations. We’re not on Xaavia now, brother. You do not have to resort to the simulators for your pleasures here. You can experience the touch of a female, freely given without fear.”

The mental image of my female’s face swims before my eyes, and I swear, I can feel the press of her soft little body against mine. She did not know what species I was, and I do not think she was aware of just how dangerous it was for her to rouse me the way she had last night, but it was exhilarating to have her in my lap and for her to let me touch her without going rigid with apprehension.

I start walking again, ignoring my brother’s offer of suppressants and the pleasures of the flesh with some unknown female. “As the third-born, you can get away with such proclivities, Zann. But I am Prince-born, you know I cannot be seen to do such things.”

“And buying a slave is a good look for you, is it?”

This time I do snarl as I spin to face him once again. I’m pretty sure a few people nearby gasp and one of them scurries away “ Saving . I am saving her. She can come to live in the palace as a guest. It has to be better than what this Mama Z’rykby will force her to endure.”

Zann offers his hands up, palms facing me as he knows he has pushed me too far. “Alright, alright,” he acquiesces, before adding, “just remember I can get you the suppressants for when you feel like saving her real good .”

I shove him in the shoulder, but Zann just laughs.

He is blessedly quiet as he follows me through the rest of the level, weaving between traders and tourists. This level does not have as many facilities as the higher levels - facilities like cleaning bots. Although, I would not call this place as filthy as the lower level that ‘Star Pleasures’ can be found on, nor quite as dangerous.

At one point, I turn to check that Zann is still with me and hasn’t slunk off to go and amuse himself. He hasn’t. I am his amusement today, apparently.

Mama Z’rykby’s storefront is lit up as we approach it this time, so I know they are open for business. The two windows feature rotating images of the females they currently have ‘in stock’, and a scrolling script about how terribly ‘ethical’ they are, like these females volunteered to be sold by them or something. The store is flanked by an adult mating toy shop, featuring replicas of all manner of genitalia for personal intimate use, and an exotic pet shop on the other side.

The door chimes optimistically as I enter the premises. The front area for customers is draped in heavy red fabrics with strategic lighting. There is a comfortable-looking seating area facing a small, raised stage, presumably where the flesh-peddler parades her poor slaves for her customers to view. I march straight past, and head for the counter where there should be a staff member to help me take my female away from this wretched place. Although I loathe to give these people any of my money, it is the quickest way to ensure my female’s safety.

But… There is no one here.

The counter houses a small plaque stating ‘customer service desk’, a small bowl of fifth galaxy candies, and a metal bell. I slap my hand down to make the thing ring and wait for assistance.

Ding!

When that does not come as quickly as I would like, I ring it again.

Ding!

And again.

Ding-ding!

And again, in quick succession this time.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

It is Zann who stays my hand - an act that makes me glare at him.

“It is still early,” he reminds me, casually taking a handful of candies and shoving them in his mouth. “Someone will be along soon, I’m sure.”

“If they are not ready to serve me, they should not be open at this hour,” I growl, just as a bony-looking Sectarix male appears from behind a draped-off area.

“Good morning, gentlemales,” he greets, his antennae twitching. “My name is Yix, how may I serve you today.”

“I need the female who was working at Star Pleasures last night,” I demand, my finger tapping on the counter.

I ignore the scoff I hear coming from my brother behind me.

This ‘Yix’ blinks his huge eyes at me and his mandibles open a little before closing again. “The-… uh… did you happen to know her name, sir?” he asks, picking up a tablet screen before he starts tapping away at it.

Her name?

No, much to my chagrin, I did not learn her name.

The Sectarix looks up at me from over the top of his screen. “Sir, we have lots of human females in stock currently, if you do not know her name-”

“ You know who I am speaking of ,” I tell him, feeling a prickly heat rise up my body. “There was only one human working in that place last night, and she was branded by this trading company. Get. Me. My. Female .”

Yix pales and starts frantically tapping at his screen while I wait, my jaw clenching so tightly, I think I may shatter some teeth if I don’t get her to safety soon.

“Ah, yes,” he chirps, still tapping away. “Here we are.”

The relief I feel is palpable. She is here, and she will soon be walking away from this level and all its dangers.

And walking straight into the jaws of new ones , a little voice murmurs at the back of my head. I shush the voice, vowing that I will not touch this human - she will simply be under my protection. I activate my wrist comm, readying it to transfer whatever amount of money they deem to charge for that little Goddess of a female.

Yix looks up at me, and I go cold as he says, “ I fear she has already been purchased, sir .”