Jenna

JENNA

I am very hot. Far too hot in this dress and next to the vast chunk of muscle which is my soon to be husband.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Piet says with a huge smile. “You may kiss the bride.”

My husband looks down at me. His huge hand comes up and cups my face.

“If you will permit me, my goddess,” he rumbles in his death by chocolate voice. “I don’t normally conclude a contract with a kiss, but the occasion calls for it.”

I should be running. I should have carried on running. Azul has a mouth filled with fangs and eyes which stopped me in my tracks. I should say no. Everything about him screams predator.

Instead I nod my head, and his lips hit mine in a demanding kiss made all the more incredible by the way his tongue flicks around my mouth. A forked tongue.

When he releases me, some parts are even hotter than before.

Nope. He might be handsome, with his glittering scales and beautiful eyes, along with muscles which go on for days, but this is not happening between us.

I have a mission. I have a life to reclaim, only better than before. I can’t let a delicious piece of eye candy get in my way.

I pat him on his chest.

“Thank you, um, husband,” I say, forcing a smile because my stomach is in knots… and I just patted him on his chest .

He was warmer than I expected, the scales smooth and silky under my touch, his defined muscles hard.

“We should be going, wife ,” he responds, his mesmerizing eyes dancing with an emotion I can’t quite place.

“Oh?” For some reason, despite the fact that Starlight Lottery, which is clearly not a lottery, has duped me, and presumably many other hapless females, I look over at Piet.

He gives me a megawatt smile which is somehow out of place.

“Enjoy each other and your new lives,” he says. “Azul’s planet is beautiful. You’ll love it,” he adds.

I look up at my new husband and see his brow has drawn down.

“We will not be going there immediately,” he says in a way which almost sounds rehearsed. “I have some business to conclude elsewhere first.” He turns to me, his features softening. “If you will permit me, my goddess?”

“Um…” I’m going to have to up my game if I’m not to end up tongue tied every time he turns his stunning gaze on me. “Yes?”

Azul’s face splits into a fanged smile. “Then let me escort you to my ship.”

Without any warning, I’m lifted up into his arms with a squeak, and he moves sinuously out of the ceremony room and into the central atrium.

“I can walk,” I protest.

“I am aware of your ability to walk,” he responds. “But I wish to carry you.”

“I’m aware you can carry me, but I wish to use my legs.” I glare at him.

A look of confusion rushes over Azul’s face only to be replaced with what I’m starting to see is a mask he puts on for everyone.

“Very well,” he says and allows me to slither down his body until I’m on my feet. Whereupon he sets off across the atrium again, and I realize the dress I’m wearing is very much constricting my movement.

After tottering after him as he increases the distance between us, I stop, hike up the stupid fabric to thigh height and stride to catch up.

“See, I can walk,” I say as I skip over his tail and join by his side.

Azul gives me a side eye and stops dead, his gaze raking down my body to my bare legs. His throat bobs and the tips of his forked tongue poke out between his lips.

“I see,” he says, his deep voice cracking strangely. “I see very well.”

“Are we going then?”

Azul’s throat shifts, and he drags his eyes away from me to the exit on the far side of the atrium.

“Do you have…any other clothing or belongings?” he rasps.

“Starlight Brides told me my stuff would be taken to your ship.”

Azul looks relieved. “Good,” he says and sets off again.

This time I notice he avoids looking at me until we pass through the airlock and into an atmosphere which reminds me of Britannia , the scent of star fuel burning the inside of my nostrils. It’s busier in here than the atrium, with a number of, I presume, other couples, setting off on their new lives together. Most of them look blissfully happy.

I wonder how Azul and I look.

“My ship is this way, my goddess,” he says gesturing to the left where there are a number of sleek looking space craft waiting.

He glides alongside me until we reach a matte silver ship, and I think he’s going to come to a stop, but instead he undulates past, and I see an absolute hunk of space junk behind the silver one.

“Your ship, my little sunray,” he says with a bow.

I repress a grimace. It looks like I’ve forsaken one floating rust bucket for another one. Azul leans in close.

“What she lacks in looks, she makes up for in speed.” He hitches up the corner of his mouth to reveal a fang.

What have I got myself into?