Crystal

What the hell? He bit me and now I'm married to him?

Drelix delivers his ultimatum and then stalks into the rear of the ship without a backward glance, leaving me in WTF mode.

I don't really know what came over me when he bit me (although I do know he came over…everywhere), and my body's reaction to him is not one I'm completely disappointed with. But after what happened when I was abducted, I'm not sure I'm ready for any intimacy.

Even with my alien husband.

Yep, that sentence sounds as bonkers as it is. I can't be married to Drelix surely? And he took my refusal to take things further in a way I did not expect, with a growled suggestion I'll go begging to him, eventually.

What he doesn't know is I've spent enough nights wide awake because the memories, however hazy, however garbled, of my initial abduction plague me. Drelix is going to be waiting a long time for me to beg him for anything. I have intimacy issues he can never know.

Even if he does kiss like he was born to it. The thought of his tongues flickering inside my mouth sets my body off again. It's only when I touch my neck and feel the healed puncture wounds that my self-preservation kicks in again.

Whatever Drelix wants from me, if it's a relationship or supposed marriage, I don't think I can give it to him and all this despite the orgasm which is still tingling every part of my anatomy, including my lips which miss his kiss.

I give myself a mental shake. Clearly there was something in his venom which has sent me silly. I look down at my leg and have to rub my eyes.

Where there was, frankly, the most hideous wound, surrounded by snaking, nasty black, blue, and green bruising, there is pink skin and a gash which looks mostly healed. I give the limb an exploratory stretch, and amazingly, other than a pinching feeling, it feels good. Almost normal.

"Pants, I need pants." I mutter to myself, wrapping the blanket around my waist as Drelix has already seen (and heard) too much of me given I only met him a few hours ago.

Being mobile means I can look around the ship while he rattles somewhere in the rear. I continue to marvel at the cleanliness of the place. I did my best with my quarters, but there was something about Station X42 which meant after an hour or so of cleaning, everything was covered in a thin greasy film again.

I spot a set of storage lockers up the steps behind the cockpit. Smooth metal gives under my fingers, and while the first three lockers contain only Drelix's belongings (he does have more pants, by the looks of things) the fourth one reveals my trousers and boots.

I check he's still not around and pull them on as quickly as I can. I fold up the blanket and notice how much it smells of Drelix, smokey and spicy. I put my nose to it and inhale, closing my eyes.

"When you're ready." His sexy growl means I've been caught out.

"Ready for what?" I ask, dropping the blanket nonchalantly like I've not been caught out sniffing it.

Drelix is now wearing pants too, which is a relief all round. I might apparently be his wife, but hopefully clothing means he isn't going to push the issue. He ambles past me, eyeing the blanket, and goes over to the carcass on the floor of the cockpit, where he blows out a lungful of smoke.

"To go back to the station."

"You really want to go back?"

I had hoped he might not want to take me up on my offer.

"I have a contact who has promised me weapons. I need to get these back to my ship. So, yes, I need to go back," Drelix says as he starts butchering the six legged deer.

If he's hoping to gross me out, it won't work. I've seen a Belek eat, and the big mounds of purple blubber are disgusting before they open their mouths.

"Weapons trading on the station is forbidden," I reply.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't happen." Drelix looks up from his work. "And given you're trouble, you'd know."

I put my hand on my chest and feign outrage. "I am not trouble."

Drelix grins at me and fucking hell if it doesn't go straight to my treacherous lady parts.

"Only a female who is trouble would say she wasn't."

I snort.

"Do you want to get back on the station or not?" I growl, folding my arms, then noticing how it pushes up my breasts in the top I'm wearing and how Drelix's eyes follow the action with a hungry interest, so I drop them again.

"I want to get back on the station," he says with a sexy smile. "And you're my ticket, like you said, trouble."

He hoists a large haunch of the alien deer on his shoulder and walks towards the open cockpit.

"Where are you going?" I call out, my heart flipping in my chest, suddenly concerned at his desire to leave.

"Unless you want to eat this raw, I'm going to cook it," he calls over his empty shoulder, stepping out of the ship and disappearing into the jungle.

My stomach growls, even with the remains of the bloody carcass on the floor in front of me. There's a muffled roar and the green gloom of the forest lights up with flame and it's followed by the scent of cooking meat.

"Sorry." I direct my apology at the dead alien deer as I skip past it.

Pushing my way through the thick vegetation, I follow my nose and find myself in a small clearing where Drelix is chewing happily on a large chunk of meat, somewhat rare.

"Hungry, mate?" he asks.

The haunch is cooking merrily in a bed of glowing embers. Drelix puts his meal aside and reaches out to the meat.

"Wait! It'll be hot!" I call out, but he simply laughs and swipes out his claws, carving the perfect Chrissy-sized piece.

He holds it out with extreme reverence. "For you, my szikra."