Azul

AZUL

T here’s a strange scent in the air of the Starlight Brides hub. I lift my head to better draw it over the olfactory organ at the top of my mouth.

“ of Gylcon, so pleased to have you here.”

My scenting is rudely interrupted by a Kraken who gives me a deep bow.

Starlight Brides insisted I attend their large and luxurious space station, currently orbiting an ice moon which makes my reptilian blood chill simply looking at it.

I glare at the Kraken. All I want is to get the female I ordered and leave. The sooner this job is over and done with, the sooner I’m done with my bounty hunter life.

“My name is Piet, and I am your Starlight Brides liaison.” He smiles, his tentacles wriggling.

My tail tap-taps on the floor. “I’m in a hurry, so can we get on with it?” I growl out past fangs which are beginning to ache, causing a dull throb through my head and making my hood want to rise, which I don’t understand.

Inside my slit, my cocks are stirring. This situation should not be making me horny. I’m not interested in the female I am obtaining for any other reason than the need for a fake bride to take to the pleasure planet.

“There are some formalities before the ceremony,” Piet says, pulling out a vid-screen and handing it to me. “A simple contract to ensure you and your bride get the best from your union.” He smiles.

I find I’d quite like to kill him for some reason. And while I often get ‘dead or alive’ contracts, my preference has been for alive, so this is new too.

“If you’d like to follow me, I will make you comfortable while you peruse the contract. Perhaps some refreshments?” hae suggests, gliding away across the large atrium with its view of the stars.

Fak! I am thirsty beyond belief, my scales tighter than ever. Annoyed with myself, I follow him into a comfortable side room where I can coil up and guzzle down a pitcher of water like I haven’t drunk in a nova-year.

“That’s good.” I wipe my hand over my mouth.

“We try to accommodate all our guests’ tastes.” He smiles indulgently at me. “I believe your species likes a hint of uborka?”

I look at the empty pitcher. “I haven’t had uborka in…” I muse before the reason I’m on this fakking station overtakes me again.

I snatch up the vid-screen and scroll through the contract. It’s standard galactic legalese and has nothing untoward within it.

“If you can use the DNA scanner to complete, please,” Piet says evenly.

I press my thumb on the scanner, and it chimes.

“Perfect! I will see if your bride is ready. Feel free to have some more refreshments,” he says, taking the vid-screen from me as several more pitchers rise out of the low table next to me. “Once she is prepared, we will start the ceremony.”

He slides towards the door.

“Wait! Don’t I get to see her first?”

“You are compatible. You don’t need to worry,” Piet tosses back over his shoulder before the doors snap shut behind him.

The growl I release is one I’ve dredged up from the absolute depths. Having coiled and uncoiled myself a few times, the draw of the uborka-flavored water is too great, and I drink the rest. I’ve never been so thirsty in my life.

It doesn’t mean I’m not ready when a door slides open on the opposite side of the room. I already have my plasma pistol in hand, tucked behind my back.

“Your bride awaits,” a Xnosson female says, lowering her horns and gesturing for me to come through the doorway.

I tuck the pistol back into its holster.

Just as the scent hits me full in my olfactory organ.

I can’t move. All I can do is sway slowly from side to side, tasting the scent, rolling it over and over in my mouth.

“, your bride needs you.” The female flourishes her hand once again, and it seems to break the spell somehow.

The second room is long, with a set of shallow steps to a raised area at the far end. Like the entrance atrium, it has a clear, high ceiling and the stars blink outside.

I see her immediately. She is all I see, her long dark hair and her delicious figure sheathed in a long, tight dress the color of my eyes. She is not a Glycon, but it matters not.

She is mine.