Page 14 of Wanted by the Alien Warden (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #4)

14

TENN

“ W hat are you smiling at?”

I’d dismounted outside my office, and was about to help Tasha down as well, when I saw her pleased expression.

“What? Oh, nothing.”

“You’re smiling at nothing?”

She lifted her hand. In it was her small human tablet. “I was just chatting with Darcy and the others.”

“About what?”

“Um…” Her cheeks, already pink, darkened further. I’d learned about this in the book last night. Blushing, it was called. It could be due to all manner of things. Heat. Embarrassment. Anger.

Arousal.

Blast. Just because I’d spent most of the ride back here half-hard and dry-mouthed didn’t mean that Tasha was experiencing anything similar. That was rather pathetically hopeful thinking.

I supposed her easily-reddened cheeks were a bit like a Zabrian’s eyes going white. It told me she was feeling something. But whether that something was simply a result of the summer weather, or something else, was entirely a mystery to me.

“Nothing,” she repeated.

“Ah. And thus, you smile at nothing.”

Her smile returned. And for a moment, I felt very unsteady in my boots.

“Exactly.”

I lingered for a moment, absorbing her expression, her face. She looked good in the garments I’d given her. The brown tones complemented the warmth of her skin tone and the burnished depths of the dark parts of her eyes.

“Unfortunately,” Tasha said, “I recognize that I actually do need help to get down from Rabbit, here. So…?”

“Of course.” I gripped her waist, revelling in the perfect shape of her beneath my hands as I lowered her to the ground. I released her at once, before my hands could have a chance to disobey my brain and continue holding her the way they desired to.

“If you need rest, we can stay here tonight and leave at dawn tomorrow,” I told her as I took hold of Rabbit’s reins and led her behind the building towards the stall she shared with my other shuldu, her brother, Lapin. Tasha followed quickly, needing to take a full two steps for every single step of mine.

“That’s alright. I’m fine with a short rest while we get packed up. I’d like to get going as soon as possible.”

This did not surprise me. Everything I’d experienced so far had shown me that Tasha was someone who cared deeply about her work. It made sense to me that she would not want to delay her duties for long.

“Fine,” I said, removing Rabbit’s saddle and reins. Lapin whinnied at her return, tossing his white head. “Feel free to go do anything you need to do. I have to make sure these two have enough water and supplies for the days we are gone.” As I spoke, I began to brush down Rabbit while simultaneously snatching up the hose with my tail. I cranked the tap at the side of the shuldu stall, and aimed the hose into the first of several buckets I would fill.

“Thanks,” she said. She dipped her head then began to walk swiftly away, heading first for the main building of my station, then veering off to the side when she noticed the outhouse. I watched her the entire time, unable to stop myself. I was fascinated by the way her short human legs propelled her body over the land. I only tore my attention from the sweetly generous curves of her tailless backside when the bucket I was filling overflowed. Water crept up to the soles of my right boot.

“Blast,” I muttered under my breath, shaking water from my boot and aiming the hose into another empty bucket nearby. “That wasn’t my fault,” I told Rabbit defensively. “She distracted me.”

Rabbit snorted loudly before she lowered her head to drink.

Once I’d filled ample containers with fresh water and inspected Rabbit and Lapin’s fenced-in pasture to ensure they’d have enough grass to sustain them while I was gone, I went in search of Tasha. Even that brief time away from her felt uncomfortably wrong. I was her guardian here. Her guide and protector. I couldn’t let her wander all over the property on her own.

Luckily, she had not gone far. After visiting the outhouse, she’d made her way onto the porch at the front of my building. There was a chair upon the porch, and she’d settled herself into it. She’d removed her hat, and her head was tipped back, her eyes closed.

I want to suck on her neck.

The perverse need jolted through me. My cock had had some time to calm in her absence, but its flesh was sent instantly stiffening once more.

An absurd desire, to be sure.

But I couldn’t shake it.

Her creamy neck was arched back, slender and so exposed. Her pulse fluttered at the base of her throat. I wanted to taste that place. Take the tempo of her heartbeat with my tongue.

And then suck on her.

By the blazes, you’re a warden , I reminded myself fiercely. A good warden should always be in control, held tight and strong with the force of nothing but his own power.

Surely Warden Hallum would not be standing here, hard-cocked and desperate to discover the taste of a delectable human’s neck, as I was. No, he was a good Zabrian male, one who’d achieved enormous respect in the Zabrian Guard before choosing to come here of his own accord.

But perhaps that was a good thing. Because if another male was imagining doing to Tasha’s skin what I was now, there was a good chance I’d have my stunner aimed at his heart before anyone – including my own good sense – could stop me.

Which, frankly, did not say good things about my current mental state.

I left Tasha to her rest, stepping into the building to collect the things we’d need. Tent and bedroll. Food supplies. Waterskins. A few basic tools and knives. Extra clothing for me and fabric in case I needed to make more for Tasha while we travelled.

By the time I had a large pack ready to add to my smaller travel pack from the previous night, Tasha had roused herself. She pulled herself out of the chair and put her hat back on.

“Sorry,” she said. “I must have dozed off a bit there. I promise I don’t normally sleep on the job.”

“Take your rest whenever you need it and do not think of justifying yourself to me,” I told her. “Anyone with eyes can see you’re good at your job.”

“Oh. I…” She swallowed, blinked, and looked away. “That’s a lovely thing to say.”

You’re a lovely thing to see.

I sighed internally, wishing that this new Tasha-worshipping voice inside my head would kindly shut up.

“Do you need any help?”

“No. I have retrieved anything. Unless there is anything else specific you will need to travel.”

“No, I’m good,” she replied. “Darcy already gave me a few supplies.”

“Then, if you are ready?”

“I am.”

“This way.”

I hoisted the large pack onto my shoulder, retrieved the smaller travel pack and Tasha’s bag from the shuldu stall, and led her around the other side of the building to the open-walled garage. My hands full of bags, I used my tail to grasp the large tarp and rip it off the slicer. Dust exploded into the air. Tasha covered her mouth and coughed.

I placed our bags in the storage compartment at the back of the slicer. Once the dust had mostly settled, Tasha came closer to inspect the vehicle.

“What’s this called again?”

“A slicer,” I explained. “You’ll ride behind me.” I indicated the padded seat in the centre of the long, narrow vehicle. “It’s solar-powered with hover capabilities. It’s much faster than travelling by shuldu. It will be a few days of travel to Warden Hallum’s province at most.”

“Wow,” she said softly, walking slowly around the slicer. Her fingertips brushed one of the handlebars, then curled experimentally around it. My cock gave a hot leap in my pants at the sight.

This was going to be a very long month, if I was going to get hard every time I noticed her bare neck or she deigned to touch something even remotely phallic in shape with those pretty fingers.

I was sensing a rather pathetic amount of masturbation in my future.

Maybe I could make her a big scarf. And some very thick mittens.

Yes, Tenn. Because that makes sense in the dead heat of summer.

Masturbation. That is truly how I would have to survive.

Masturbation and suffering.

My suffering only increased when Tasha hopped up, hitching one thigh over the seat until she was straddling it. She placed her palms flat between her spread thighs for balance, her back arching.

I’d never been envious of an inanimate object, like a slicer’s seat, before.

I was now.

As Tasha wiggled her delightful backside and got into a more comfortable position, I occupied myself with fantasies about what it might be like if she were straddling me that way. My lap. My cock.

My face.

“What should I do with my hat?” she asked. “Will it go flying off?”

“It would, if you were wearing it,” I answered belatedly. “You’ll be wearing my helmet.”

I detached said helmet from the side of the slicer.

“Your helmet? What will you wear?” she asked as she removed her hat so I could put it in the storage compartment. I placed the helmet on her head and got to work adjusting it so it would fit.

“I’ve got a hard head,” I murmured, giving the chin strap a final tug. Tasha’s face looked very small beneath the round, black case of the helmet.

“So I’ve noticed,” she replied. As far as I could recall, she hadn’t actually touched my head, but she seemed very certain. An observant female, to be sure, if she could tell such a thing just by looking at me.

Feeling rather exposed, I snapped down the helmet’s protective face visor before getting into the seat ahead of her. It had been many cycles since I’d had someone on the slicer, and even then it had only occasionally been one of the convicts.

Never a female.

“You’ll have to hold on to me,” I told her, my voice roughening. I distracted myself from her proximity by pulling two lengths of hide from inside my hat and securing them beneath my chin so I wouldn’t lose it on the ride.

I flicked my claws over the controls, starting the engines. The slicer lifted off the ground, causing Tasha to gasp and throw her arms tightly ’round my waist. I allowed myself one tiny moment to revel in her touch.

Then, we took off.