Page 27 of Wanted by the Alien Warden (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #4)

27

TENN

I woke to the rather unnerving sensation that a shuldu had stomped – and stomped several times – on my right shoulder, chest, and neck.

When the blazes had I gotten under an angry shuldu’s hooves?

I cracked my eyes open, and found myself groaning with the effort.

Even the groan hurt. The sound felt as if it throbbed out of the side of my neck before it reached my throat.

It was agony. All of it.

“Tenn?”

Except for that.

“T…sh...” I mangled her name. Not enough breath in my lungs to fully shape the syllables.

But when my tired eyes blearily focused in on her, she was smiling anyway. Smiling like I’d just completed the most impressive feat she could have put before me. Like I’d just passed every possible test. Like she was proud of me.

Sunlight spilled in from a window I thought I recognized. Only, I was certain I’d never seen it from this angle before.

I was certain I’d been on the outside looking in.

“We’re at Warden Hallum’s,” Tasha said. She was sitting in a chair beside the bed I was lying in.

Her bed. The one she’d been sleeping in while I’d spent my nights outside in the tent.

I wanted to reach for her. But when I tried to lift my right arm, there was no corresponding movement. Nothing but an alarm blaring through my nerves.

My arm… Did I lose it?

“You’re in a splint. Your shoulder and collarbone were both injured.” Tasha leaned forward and gently patted what I now realized was my right arm, strapped sideways against my chest.

“Don’t try to talk,” she said. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. There are stitches and bandages on your neck. Just… rest. OK? And listen.”

Her hair was down. I watched the way the sun adorned each strand. Beads of light gathering like brambles.

“Yesterday, we went to Rivven’s saloon. Do you remember that?”

I couldn’t verbally say yes.

But I could drag my tail up and put it into her lap.

She grasped my tail. And held it tight.

“Yes? Yes. OK. And you told me… You told me about Silar. And we were fighting. But there was a storm.”

It all came back like thunder. The rain and the sky and the look of betrayal on her beautiful face.

I told her that I loved her…

And then…

There was nothing.

“The roof collapsed. On top of you.” Tasha’s eyes glistened. “You saved me.”

I remembered it. A mere sliver of it, anyway. The dread I’d felt when I’d heard the beam’s ominous crack.

And the white-hot panic when I had realized she was directly beneath it.

Empire, let this be real. Let this not be a dream.

Let her be safe.

She clutched my tail against her stomach. Her hands felt so warm. So real.

“You also asked me to marry you.”

Now that, I did not remember.

“Well, you didn’t actually ask. You kind of ordered me to. It was very you .” She chuckled, her gaze softening. “Very warden-esque. That was the moment I knew you’d be alright.”

I blinked and raised my brows at her, as if to silently say, “Alright?”

I did not feel alright. I could not speak. Could barely breathe. Pain was everywhere.

I’d never felt so weak.

But Tasha was here with me.

I’d succeeded in saving her.

Alright…

Yes. I supposed I was.

“You should get some more rest.”

I stiffened, but she quickly soothed me with a sound like the one in the middle of her pretty name. “Shh. I’m not going anywhere.”

I believed her, up to a point. As sleep began to drag me down, I tried desperately to do the math. To count up how many days were left in the month she’d agreed to spend here.

I could not come up with the sum before I fell asleep.

When I woke next, the sun appeared to be just as bright as before. As if no time had passed at all.

But Tasha, when I saw her in her chair, was wearing different clothing. Her hair was pinned back now.

Plus, I didn’t feel nearly as badly as I had before. I swallowed, and only felt the echo of an ache in the side of my neck.

“How long was I out?” My words came out a little croaky, but intelligible.

How long had I been asleep? It had to have been several days.

“Less than a day,” Tasha said. “We spoke around this time yesterday.”

“I… I do not believe it.”

She grinned.

“Believe it. That’s some fancy Elora Station magic you’ve got floating around in your veins right now. And by magic, I mean some kind of new nano-particle… Something.”

“Medicine?”

“Yes. I ordered it from Elora Station using Warden Hallum’s comms tower signal. It came straight here. Sonic freight. Zohro had to leave to check on his herd after being away so long, but Warden Hallum was able to administer it intravenously while you were asleep.”

I was not entirely sure I liked the idea of Warden Hallum injecting me with things while I was asleep.

I was definitely sure that I did not like the fact that Tasha and Warden Hallum had been alone together this entire time.

But I was alive. And healing far more quickly than I ought to be. So, really, did I have any grounds for complaints?

“Who paid for it?” I asked. Gingerly, I tried sitting up, and when I found it did not hurt beyond the feeling of someone pressing on a bruise, I continued until I was propped mostly upright against the bed’s wooden headboard.

Tasha watched me closely for signs of pain. When she was satisfied I wasn’t about to pass out from the simple act of sitting up, she cleared her throat, tucked a non-existent hair behind her ear, then mumbled, “I did.”

“You did? Sonic freight? That must have cost a fortune!”

“Well, I’m saving quite a bit now that I’ve given up my lease on Elora Station. So it all balances out. Besides.” Something sparkled in her eyes. Mischief. Or maybe wickedness. “I’m sure my husband’s got some credits to help get me through.”

Her husband.

The agony was back. But this time, it was not physical.

“You’ve… You’ve taken another husband.”

A wealthy one, it seemed. Did she do that simply to pay for my treatment?

I would have rather spent the rest of my life in pain than that.

“I haven’t taken another husband, you dope,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m talking about you.” Tasha rose from the chair, then came to sit on the edge of the bed.

My tail went ’round her waist. Just as it had so many times before.

Husband , she’d said.

You , she’d said.

I pulled her against my chest.

“Careful!” she gasped. “Your collarbone!”

“It’s fine,” I growled, pressing my nose to the top of her head and inhaling deeply.

“Are you sure? Zohro said that it was badly broken.”

“I’m sure.”

It really didn’t hurt much. In fact, everything hurt less now than even a few moments ago, when I’d first awoken.

“I’m so glad,” Tasha breathed. “I got you the good stuff. Obviously, it’s working. It’s repairing everything from the inside out. Rebuilding bone. Creating new blood cells. Repairing tissue. Before it arrived, we thought we might need to do a blood transfusion. Warden Hallum was able to check your blood type in some files.”

Tasha nuzzled closer. My body buzzed at her proximity.

“Out of everyone in the province, Xennet was the only match,” she said. “He offered to donate right away.” Her voice quietened. “Those three saved you, you know. They got the beam off you. Carried you inside. They did everything Zohro told them to, without complaint. They really made a great team, all in all.”

“Remind me to thank them,” I murmured against the top of her head.

“Oh, I think I’ve thanked them enough for the both of us.” She drew back so that I could see her face. “I’ve decided that the bride program will go ahead. When I saw how they all jumped in to help you without a second’s hesitation… I mean, Xennet was literally about to open his freaking veins for you!”

She plopped herself back against my chest.

“They’re good men. Now, we are going to make some changes to the program. We’re going to be operating on a province-by-province basis, with Warden Hallum’s men being next in line. Nobody’s going to get a bride without any sort of screening. And I’m going to bring the next group of potential brides here for some kind of social event. To meet Oaken, Zohro, and the other three men before they decide if the want to marry. Plus a few other things, like weekly wellness check-ins for the first few months after a wedding takes place, completed in person by the wardens.”

“It seems you and Warden Hallum have made many plans without me,” I grumbled.

She raised her head once more. Brought her face close to me.

“Are you jealous?”

“Yes,” I growled miserably.

“You shouldn’t be.” Her lips brushed mine. “Because he’s not the warden I’ve fallen in love with.”

Love. The word lit small fires inside me. I wanted to shelter them. Afraid that even the smallest wind would blow them out. Make all of this less real.

“I was about to tell you that,” Tasha whispered. “When we were out in the shed. I was literally right about to do it when… Well, you know what happened.”

“You love me?”

“I do.”

“And you’ll marry me?”

“I will.”

Glorious elation. Like pure sunlight in my veins.

Like Tasha’s hair in my hands.

“But your life on Elora Station. Your career,” I said, remembering with a sinking heart why this never would have worked.

All the things she had worked so hard for. All the things she treasured.

Even as I said the words to remind her of what she really loved, my tail was tightening around her waist, as if to keep her here even if her own better judgment tried to make her go.

“I don’t want that life anymore.” Her eyes were calm. Clear. And so brilliant. “I don’t think I ever really did. It’s been empty for a long, long time. But here, with you…” She took my left hand in both of hers. “It doesn’t feel empty now. Oh! And I still have my career! I’ve been allowed to continue my work from Zabria Prinar One. I might have to travel to Elora Station every once in a while, like to meet the next batch of brides, but otherwise…”

“Otherwise?”

“Otherwise, I’ll be here. I’m staying.”

“Don’t… Don’t tease me, Tasha,” I begged her. “I know I lied to you when I kept things from you before, and I am so, so sorry for that now. But if I find out you’re not being truthful with me now… Blazes, I think that it will break me.”

“No more lies,” she whispered. “What’s between us, Tenn? It’s the truest thing I’ve ever known.” Her mouth was a breath from mine. Emotion infused her voice when she added, “I’ve already seen you broken once. Never again.”

And then, she was doing that kiss thing again, the thing I’d fantasized about dozens of times since we’d first tried it. Her lips a silken slide over mine. She sighed into my mouth, her entire body relaxing.

I, however, was not relaxed. Desire slammed into me like a bracku, like a boulder, like the lethal weight of a falling beam. Within moments, I was rock-hard, my cock straining. Blood rushed, surged, swelled.

Groaning, I opened my mouth, desperate for more of her. Her little gasp, like I’d somehow caught her by surprise, pleased me more than I would have thought possible. Between my tail and my one good arm, I moved her until she was no longer lying against me but straddling my lap. I broke from the kiss, looking right into her face, making sure she saw me, making sure she knew, as I ground my hard cock upwards against her backside.

“Holy…” she breathed. “That nano-medicine has really helped with the blood flow.”

If anyone was an example of excellent blood flow right now, it was Tasha. Hot crimson bloomed in her cheeks.

And she was so lovely. So painfully, perfectly sweet. Above me in the sunshine, her face flushed, her lips damp and slightly swollen. Swollen because I had made them that way with my own.

Raising my left hand, I dragged my knuckles along the curve of her cheek. Her expression became pinched, then crumpled. She turned her face into my hand and kissed the palm.

I let her have my hand for a moment. But just a moment. I only had the one hand available, and I had many tasks for it to complete.

Starting with taking down her hair.

My fingers slipped around to the back of her head. One by one, I began to pull out the pins. She remained still, watching me, letting me do it. By the time I was finished, I was rocking rhythmically against her, rutting upwards as her hair sluiced down.

“Let me see the rest of you,” I breathed.

Her lips parted. She grasped the hem of her shirt, then pulled it up over her head, tossing it to the floor.

I bit back a moan when she removed the second, smaller piece of clothing underneath, baring her abdomen and chest to me. I knew my eyes were terribly white as they took in her enticingly soft flesh, with those strange, heavy curves at the top, tipped with dark points as flushed as her face.

“Have you gotten to… to the sexual anatomy part of the book yet?”

“Not yet.”

Blast. Would she tell me I had to go read it before I kept touching her?

That beam didn’t kill me, but stopping now actually might.

“I guess you’ll just have to learn from the real thing, then,” she murmured. She swept my hand up in hers, then pressed it against one of the curves on her chest. Breathing in sharply, she arched into my touch.

“Sorry. Does it hurt?” I gritted out. I remembered how she’d flinched when I’d measured this part of her back at Fallon’s.

“No,” she replied shakily. “It’s just sensitive.”

“Sensitive in a good way?” I rasped, moving my hand to explore that little pinkish-brown nub at the tip.

“A very good way.” She moaned, and I nearly came right then.

“Let me see the rest,” I said, fighting for calm, for control.

A warden should always be in control.

But I felt it unravelling. Fraying.

I’d wanted her for so long.

From the very first moment I saw her.

And now, she was here, wriggling out of her trousers and underthings. A flurry of pulling and kicking, and then she was naked. So gloriously naked.

My tail and my left hand seized her plush waist.

“Closer.” My voice did not sound like my own.

She moved forward, slowly, shyly, on her knees. A patch of golden-brown hair was nestled between her perfect thighs.

Groaning, I lurched forward, pressing my face to that place.

By the empire, how I loved her hair.

All of it.

“Oh!” Tasha cried. She flinched backwards, but I held her in place. I dragged my nose through the curls, following the musk of her scent until I encountered wet, petal-soft flesh.

Her cunt.

And then, I was kissing her there, even though I had no idea if that was an acceptable practice to a human or not. All I knew was that I wanted to do it. That I had to. Like I might die if I didn’t.

Tasha gripped my hair in her hands, though she did not try to push me away as I touched my lips to that exquisite wetness. But lips were not enough. Breathing raggedly, feeling a hot, early spurt of semen soak my pants, I let loose my tongue to taste her. She trembled, and I gripped her backside fiercely, pinning her against my face as I explored every part of her.

There was no cock tail, but there was a swollen place near the front that made her spasm and shake every time I touched it with my tongue. I was a student of her body, every sound and move she made, every panting reaction, my guides.

I hadn’t taken the time to read the blasted book before.

I would take the time now.

But, really, it did not take so much time at all. Even with the intoxicating novelty of what was happening, I felt that she was already becoming so entirely known to me. With every swipe of my tongue, every glide of my lips, I learned. Like she was a map I could memorize, I devoted myself to the terrain of her pleasure.

“Oh, Tenn, I think…” Her fingers clawed at my scalp. “I’m coming!”

I came, too. Not fully, but enough that it would have embarrassed me if I had not been so brutally aroused by her. I ignored my own spasming cock, focusing entirely on the keening moans coming from her mouth, the quivering of her muscles, the new gush of wetness against my face.

I sucked it down like a starving man.

“Let me… Let me, for you… I want to…” She writhed in my grip until I finally, regretfully released her. She shimmied down, kneeling between my legs, her fingers falling to the strained fasteners at my crotch.

Maybe this really was a dream. It had to be. Never could I have in my waking life deserved to see Tasha like this. Naked and kneeling, her slender fingers so devoted to freeing my cock. The slight pressure of her touch there was nearly enough to make me come again. I was still hard, my cock throbbing terribly, as if it were a wound that needed healing.

Much like I’d done with her hair pins, she worked the fasteners one by one, until they were pulled apart and my cock was free. I wondered, my chest heaving, if she’d stroke me again, like she had that day before we’d come here.

But she didn’t. She drew herself up higher on her knees, adjusting her position until…

Until the slickness of her cunt pressed down upon my tip.

“Blazes, Tasha,” I swore, my hips already surging hungrily up to meet her. She sank down, and I lost myself to the magma squeeze of her insides. My cock tail went wild, snapping like a feral thing.

Moaning, Tasha reached for it, offering it her finger to entwine with. It wrapped fully around her finger at the same moment that she drove her sweet body further down onto my cock.

“God,” she groaned, rocking her hips, sliding just a little further down, “you’re so big.”

“And you’re so beautiful,” I choked out. I gripped the curve of her hip, obsessed with the way my purple fingers sank slightly into her flesh.

“Tenn,” she cried, “I can’t get all of you in me!”

“You don’t have to,” I promised. Even like this, even with only half my shaft encased in her milking heat, I was about to come again. “You’re perfect. You’re doing such a good job for me.”

Whimpering, she began to bounce on her knees. Her slick inner walls clamped around me, squeezing, sucking me from the inside, until there was nothing I could do but explode. My cock gave a great throb, then spewed.

“Oh! Oh! There… I… Again!” Tasha gasped between frantic spasms of her hips. And she spasmed inside, too, convulsing around my twitching, coming cock. I held her there as she fell apart in her pleasure, grinding through my orgasm, keeping our bodies connected for as long as I possibly could.

I’d waited so long for this moment.

I would not let it end too quickly now.

Even if we still had hundreds of these moments ahead of us.

A whole lifetime of them.