4. Lofy

She wakes up.

I decided to ask her servants to provide her with proper clothing since she wasn"t taking so well to being naked in front of me.

She looks around, getting acquainted with her new surroundings.

"Is that how you plan on winning your woman? By watching her through the cameras?" Cilonicrux steps forward and I turn to face him slowly. "Your Majesty." His words may be respectful but his tone is playful.

"Little brother," I acknowledge him. "What are you doing here?"

He was bound to come and welcome me back home but I don"t like him in here, in the watch room, standing next to me, watching my future wife too. It feels awfully intrusive.

Cilonicrux points at the camera and I fight the urge to snap his finger in half.

"She is pretty. Is she as beautiful in real life?"

I glower at him and he snorts, removing his finger and standing to attention like the good little prince he is.

"Even more beautiful. And she"s mine!" I can"t help the threatening hiss, but my brother is not deterred.

"Don"t concern yourself with me, Your Majesty," he says. "My heart belongs to another."

I narrow my gaze and inspect his face. He"s grown up fast. I remember just like it was yesterday when I sent him to his first brothel and he became a man and now he has his heart set on someone.

"Would that be your beloved author?"

"Waverly Jones. The best pen in the Milky Way."

"And do you intend on expressing your intentions for Ms. Jones and abducting her any time soon?"

He shrugs.

"We shall see. We have far more pressing issues right this moment. Like retaining the peace on our planet." He turns away and glances at the monitors again only this time I don"t feel as lethal. He has a mate in mind, which means his heart and body are taken.

"My upcoming wedding shall take care of that. I will finally be a wedded king and Ayla will be my queen."

"Let"s just hope King Atraxius finds that enough to stop his attacks on your person and the war on our islands."

The king of Minos was ruthless. In human terms, evil, but since we are Vyperians it"s in our blood, to conquer, to spread, to defeat.

He"s been trying to weaken my hold on my country and my people for decades, whether that was through spreading misinformation through his press or performing a number of surprise attacks on Leviathar territory.

"King Atraxius won"t stop, however our people will be put at ease. A mated king is a strong king. Which will make our country stronger to defeat the enemy."

Cilonicrux shifts his position to face me and tilts his head.

"Brother, you do realize you won"t win her over if you don"t spend time with her, correct?"

I glower at him.

"I"m aware, Cilonicrux. I"m just giving her time to feel more comfortable around me."

"She won"t feel comfortable if she doesn"t get to know you and I"m afraid to be the bearer of bad news, but time is everything you don"t have.You only have a month. That will be gone in no time. And you have to guarantee an affirmative response from her on your wedding day or all of this will be for nothing and only further ammunition for Atraxius."

I take a deep breath and process his words. He is right, of course. I don"t have much time and I need to ensure a positive outcome for our wedding ceremony, but I"ve been admiring this woman for so long, I"ve been wanting this woman for so long, I don"t want to try my Vyperian ways on her only for her to reject me. I don"t know whether my heart can take it.

But a coward, I am not.

"Prepare a feast for the future queen. I shall join her promptly." I let go of the comms button and glance at my brother. "You are correct. I need to court and satiate her. And that"s what I plan on doing. I trust you will take care of all other matters in my absence?"

My brother winks and punches my arm.

"Go get your queen."

I give him a firm nod and have him follow me out of the watch room. I make sure to lock it behind me. The only one that should be laying eyes on her is her future husband and king. No one else.

I descend to the servant quarters and make sure they follow my instructions to the letter. There is no room for error here. I won"t accept any mistakes, especially if they breach the distance between Ayla and me.

When it"s time, I let them go first setting everything up and I enter her chambers once they"re all gone.

I find her by the table, taking in all the delicacies prepared just for her. There"s all kinds of Malbec wine from everywhere around her world. A cheeseboard as big as our heads. Belgian chocolate truffles by the kilo. Three different kinds of salad—Ceasar, Greek, and Papaya, her favorites. A big, self-warming bowl of salted popcorn with sugar-coated chocolates, and chargrilled corn-on-the-cobs. Water and fruit juices are also available as is a selection of dishes from all over Asia.

"What do you think?" I ask her and stand by the end of the table as she slowly turns her attention to me.

"What is all this?" she asks.

"A feast tailor-made for you."

"For me?" She glances at the contents of the table again and after moments that feel like centuries she turns back to me. "These are all my favorite things. How did you get these?"

I smile and take a step forward sensing joy emanating from her like rays of the Earthly sun.

"I had scouts prepare for your arrival."

Her face appears perplexed and her eyes search mine, for what I do not know.

"But...how do you know all these things? Did you read my mind?"

"As I have stated previously, I am one of the biggest fans of your work. I have watched all your interviews, read all articles. There"s not a thing written about you I have not seen."

Even all the nasty comments from pathetic little humans with nothing better to do than attack a thing of beauty like Ayla Kyle.

Oh how I wish I could squash each and every one of them. Because I know where they live. They may think they"re anonymous, but that"s only to their fellow Earthens. To me, they"re as easy to track as pieces of the comet Deux that adorn our skies ever since we destroyed it before collision.

"You did research on your victim then." Her face is marbled and if it weren"t for my empathy I wouldn"t have been able to read it, but the strands of blackness thrumming through her mind to mine give her deepest thoughts away.

"Not a victim but a bride. And I"ve been doing my research for the last fifteen years, not because I planned on abducting you, but because I fell in love with you."

She huffs.

"How can you be in love? You don"t even know me?"

I take another step, and when her emotions don"t deteriorate, one more.

"But I do, Ayla. How could I not? You"re beautiful, sexy, kind, affectionate, funny, talented, vulnerable and compassionate. You"ve never said one bad thing about anyone even though we both know you"ve been harrassed and bullied your entire career for one thing or the other. The question is, wouldn"t anyone fall in love with such a being too?"

She leans against the table, and with cautions takes a couple of popcorn kernels in her hand.

"You still put me to sleep. You abducted me. Wouldn"t you ask first, if you loved me."

I take another step. I"m only a meter away from her now. If I reached out by hand or tail, I could touch her, but I don"t.

"Forgive me. I"m simply following Vyperian customs."

"Your customs are to abduct people and invade their thoughts?"

"Invading your thoughts is not my choice, but abducting you was. Vyperians believe abduction is a show of strength and courage."

She glowers and eats the popcorn in her hand.

"Abduction is neither of those things. It"s a crime."

"In your home world, indeed. I won"t apologize for the ways of my people, but I will apologize for not explaining better, for not taking it slower with you."

Ayla stares at me, and I feel the heat of her stare and her mind infiltrate every inch of my body. It"s the effect she"s always had on me, only it is much much stronger now that she is here, in reality, so close to me, within reach.

"The ways of your people are brutal and misogynistic. I can only imagine how unhappy your women are."

"I do not have other women although some of my people choose to take multiple. But the women in our country are happy, I can guarantee."

"How can you say that? Have you asked them? Have you asked them if they like being stolen from their families, forced into marriage with someone they don"t love, having no choice?—"

"Oh but the choice is the woman"s only, my Ayla. We take the first step. We proclaim our intentions by abducting you and prove we are worthy mates during your captivity. The decision rests with the woman on her wedding day."

She crosses her arms and readjusts herself, looking so much more comfortable dressed in a silk robe that covers her body. It"s a crime against nature if you ask me, but that is the Earthen way. If I want her to accept Vyperian customs, I have to respect hers too.

"How so?" she asks.

The sparkle of intrigue in her floods my mind and tickles the back of my neck. The sensation sends shivers all the way to my dick and I feel it harden slightly against my thighs.

"On the day of our wedding, our priestesses will ask you if your suitor offered you a satisfactory captivity and if you believe him a worthy mate. If you accept we are forever each other"s. If you refuse, you"re free to go."

Her eyes turn to slits, crow"s feet appearing at the edges.

"Just like that?"

I nod.

She taps her chin with a finger, watching me, inspecting me with her silver gaze and I feel the attention throb through me that I inevitably grow bigger before her very eyes. The ridges on my cock swell and her throat tightens at the sight.

Slivers of desire emanate through her head and as if I need any more excuses to awaken, they spread so much warmth to all the corners of my body that I leak.

"I see," she says and straightens up. She turns her back to me but I don"t miss the quick glance at my cock. "I guess I better make the best of this captivity, then. What else have you got planned for me?"

It"s so hard to focus on her words when her robe embraces her butt and hips so perfectly, but somehow, I manage to.

"I have abducted a ballet ensemble for you and they can put on a show for you at a moment"s notice. My chefs are also preparing you a true Vyperian feast if you decide you"d like to taste our local cuisine."

"Okay. I"ll park that abducted ensemble for now because you don"t get it. But no. Please. No more food. I can"t even eat a quarter of all this. You keep feeding me." She shakes her head as if clearing a frustrated thought and stares at me.

"Food is part of our love language," I tell her.

"That"s great. But I can only eat so much, you know. This is excessive."

"This is a royal banquet. If you"re to be my queen, you will get used to it."

She shakes her head and for a moment a darkness of my own clouds my mind but it soon dissipates when she vocalizes her actual objection.

"That"s a lot of food to waste. I thought you were at war. Don"t you need to protect your provisions."

"We"re always at war, my Ayla."

She sighs.

"Ok. Let"s park that too. Oh and please return the ballet people home. I do not need anyone else abducted for my entertainment."

"But you enjoy ballet."

"Yeah, I do. When the performers are paid for it and are not under duress on an alien planet."

"They wouldn"t be under duress. They"re drugged."

Ayla jumps back and closes her eyes while shaking her head.

"Oh my God. There"s so much wrong with that sentence. Please, if you truly...love me or whatever just take the poor people home."

"I will see to it that they"re immediately returned." I purse my lips into a smile and bow my head.

"Thank you."

She stares at me and I keep my gaze to her feet. I don"t like that I disappointed her and I vow not to look her in the eyes again until her mood improves.

"Which ballet was it, anyway?"

"An ensemble going by the name of The Royal Ballet."

She gasps.

"Damn. I really wanted to see that." There"s a tint of excitement in her tone that I feel in my head too but she brushes it off just as quickly. "But I won"t have them perform while they"re abducted."

"I will respect your decision," I tell her.

"What else have you planned for me?"

Still looking at her feet I give her a breakdown of all the other pleasures she can indulge in, like the Vyperian movies that can show her more of our planet and our ways, or the gladiators that can fight to the death in her honor—a statement which doesn"t please her in the slightest.

"There"s also a team of royal masseurs at your disposal. They can work wonders on any body, Vyperian or not."

The rays of sunlight peek through her mind once more and I dare look up at her again.

"Lofy, darling, you just said the magic words. Massage. Please."

Lofy.

No one has called me that before. And no one would if they wanted to keep their heads, and tails.

But I know Earthens like to use pet names on their people.

Perhaps she is growing soft for me.

Perhaps I can earn her heart and body, still.