14. Amanda

Chapter 14

Amanda

I woke snuggling into the side of a big warm body with my leg hitched up, lying across his thighs.

And with Xax's hard-on bumping against his abdomen.

I carefully eased up onto my elbow and couldn't hold back my smile. He was so cute when he slept, as if all the worries that churned through him when he was awake disappeared, leaving only a sweet, soft alien dude behind. As an alien made up of hard edges and endless muscles, let alone a strong will, he was anything but soft, but it was fun seeing him this way.

I wiggled backward until I could slide off the bed— one bed, I noted. Glaring at the ceiling and silently cursing the shroom god, I padded around the big structure and into the bathing area, where I shut the door and leaned against it.

Ten tampons appeared on the floor by my feet.

"Okay. Thanks." I shook my finger at the ceiling. " That was sneaky, Alexa. Very sneaky. I distinctly remember there being two separate beds before I fell asleep. I laid in one and Xax was on the other." Sometime during the night, she must've rearranged the furniture and slid us onto the same surface. "Don't play matchmaker. I decide if I want to be with Xax, not you."

A low hum echoed in the room, pulsing along with a soft glow throbbing in the ceiling, but I couldn't tell if that meant she was agreeing with me or snickering.

"He's a nice guy," I said.

The hum rose in volume.

"But I barely know him," I added. "Give me a chance to do that before you thrust us together again, would you please?"

Silence echoed around me, and the lights dimmed.

I washed and when I requested pants and a shirt, plus underwear, everything appeared on the floor nearby, along with a comb and six tampons.

"I don't need more of those, though I appreciate it." After placing them in a pile in the corner of the room, I pulled my hair back in the stretchy band Alexa provided. Holding the sneakers had Alexa left for me, I padded out into the living area.

A peek inside the bedroom showed Xax hugging the pillow I'd slept with. Now, that was adorable. With a smile, I eased the door shut, leaving him to sleep. I dressed my feet on a created chair in the living area and strode to the kitchen.

It didn't take long to see that Xax sorely lacked breakfast food, let alone extra bergamot earl grey tea .

"Hey Alexa, I don't suppose you could provide some tea," I asked.

None magically appeared, but Xax told me the house god only did some things for the Zuldruxians, not everything, and that food was one of the things the Zuldruxians handled themselves.

I pawed through the cold box, pulling out a slab of meat and some vegetables. I'd have to ask Xax if he had flour. Sugar. I was no chef, but I knew how to make a few basic breakfast items, including pancakes. Without a waffle iron, I couldn't make those, and I suspected cooking items would not be produced by Alexa no matter how much I begged.

She nicely lit the burner upon my request, however, and while I had no clue how the flame was fueled, I opted to just go with it. After slicing the meat thin and chopping the veggies, I sautéed everything in the pan and slid a generous portion onto a plate for Xax, taking a decent-sized amount for myself.

Turning, I found him leaning against the doorway.

"What are you doing?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck. His yawn stretched out.

No male should look this good in the morning, from his rumpled silver hair to his ruddy blue cheeks with a hint of stubble, to his brawny body almost glowing in the sunshine streaming in from a clear panel above his head.

He wore only a fresh loincloth loosely bound around his waist .

Swallowing hard, I tried to force down the lust curling inside me.

"I made breakfast." I lifted the plates, showing them off. "One table and two chairs, if you please, Alexa."

That girl delivered, and we sat, eating in companionable silence.

"I looked for tea, but I didn't find any leaves," I said as I scooped up the last bite and popped it into my mouth. It wasn't pancakes, but it filled my belly.

"We can collect and dry leaves if you'd like," he said, laying his eating implement on his empty plate.

"They'd need to be edible of course."

"Most in the area are."

"I don't suppose . . ." Wait. I wasn't seriously contemplating this, was I? "Does anyone run a tea shop in your village?"

"You mean commerce where a person offers goods for sale and others buy or trade for them?"

"Yes. Specifically for tea and other assorted goodies." I'd planned to buy bakery goods from local suppliers, plus candy and other sweets my customers might enjoy. Perhaps I could pursue my dream here. Was I foolish to even contemplate such a thing?

"We trade with the Veerenads for anything our god doesn't provide, or we can't take care of ourselves. I could ask them about tea leaves, though it'll be at least a month before I travel to the city."

"Have any of the Veerenads opened a tea shop here?" I hadn't seen any lizard people around the evening before, but maybe they were tiny or inside their homes like most of the members of his village.

"They're not interested in living in shrooms or with our clan. They have their own city, and they're happy there."

"What if . . ." I sucked in a deep breath and released everything inside me with a gust of hopeful air. "Back on Earth, I'd planned to open a tea shop where people would come not only to buy tea and other assorted goodies but to sit on cozy furniture or at cute little tables while they sipped their tea. I'd planned to offer Wi-Fi and a free library full of donated books. If things went well, I planned to offer food for the lunch crowd. I didn't expect to remain open for dinner. There's only so much a girl can do in one day, but breakfast and lunch? Sure. I'd planned to hire staff and—"

"I'll help you with this."

My breath caught. "Really?"

He gave me a lopsided grin. "Really. If this is your dream, something you want to do more than anything, I want to help you."

"That's really sweet of you, Xax."

"I want you to be happy. That's what truly matters to me."

"Aw, thanks."

I was going to have to be very careful, or I'd fall in love with this big burly alien.

After taking care of the dishes, we left, riding down through the shroom stem and stepping outside to bright sunshine. It was warm enough already I could feel it coasting across my skin, but not so hot I worried about getting a sunburn, though I'd make sure I didn't remain out in it for long. The air smelled amazing here, like the forest around us, warm grass, and with the subtle hint of flowers. No pollution. No noise from vehicles.

If I wanted, I could stay here forever.

I nipped the thought before it bloomed inside me.

"There you are." Three males almost as big as Xax strolled over from where they had been standing in the shade beneath a shroom. When they stopped in front of us, their wide-eyed gazes locked on me. All three had Xax's same skin and hair color, plus equally gorgeous teal eyes, though none of them were quite as muscular as Xax. They also wore loincloths and nothing else. I could get used to this view as much as the beauty of the surrounding forest.

"This is my mate, Amanda," Xax said with a hint of pride in his voice.

I couldn't remember when a guy had been this happy to stand by my side.

"Amanda, this is Efendest, Julop, and Vessak." He waved to each.

Efendest was the cutest of the bunch. Julop's hair was cut close to his scalp, and Vessak had a cute dad bod belly, though, without mates, he probably wasn't a dad.

"Where did she come from?" Julop asked, studying my frame in a pleasant way without a hint of ick. So far, none of the males had looked at me like I was fresh meat, a welcome surprise. Back home, I'd be getting catcalls already. I was a big woman, and my curves went on for miles. A lot of guys appreciated that.

Guys such as Xax—who wasn't an Earth male, I reminded myself.

"The gods sent her to me," Xax said. He shot a tusky smile my way. "The craft she arrived in fell into the lake." His chest puffed. "I rescued her, and then the gods impaled a plant in front of me. When it bloomed, I knew she was mine."

With hope on their faces, the three guys tipped their heads back and studied the sky.

"Are there more like her?" Efendest finally asked, his gaze returning to me.

I frowned, trying to remember. "There were other women on the ship." I explained what a ship was. "We were kidnapped from Earth, which is my home planet. We were brought here and . . ." Everything in between was hazy. "They gave us something that made us sleep, and when we reached your planet, they put each of us inside a smaller space craft and sent us to Zuldrux."

Vessak's eyes lit up, and he nudged Julop with his elbow. "We need to look for the others. There could be a mate for each of us among them." He dipped his head my way. "Thank you, lovely Earth female. Welcome to our village. I hope you and Xax are very happy."

"Thank you." He was sweet, but . . . "We're not here to be your brides." My words came out more shrilly than I liked. "If you find a woman, you need to bring her here, not . . . try to claim her as your own."

"I will do so." Julop pressed a fist against his chest. "I would treasure a mate above any other. If I brought her here, I could woo her until she succumbed to my many charms." His bright smile grew.

"Don't push this. If you find someone, she'll be scared. She won't be thinking about mating with any of you."

He nodded sagely. "That's understandable. I'd still tell her she'd be treasured. Adored for the rest of her days. Wanted."

He seemed sweet. They all did. With so few females, I didn't doubt that they'd welcome each and every woman here. But none of us deserved to be forced into a relationship we didn't want.

"I imagine most of them will want to go home," I said.

Most? Why didn't I include myself in that statement? When my gaze fell on Xax, I knew. I was already liking him and Zuldrux too much.

Julop's face fell, but he sucked in a breath and stiffened his spine. "I will prove to any god-given mate that her place is here with me."

I welcomed him to try.

"Come," Efendest said to the other two. "We need to search the area. Our mates could be in danger."

"Did you need anything from me?" Xax asked, worry flitting through his eyes.

"We were going to tell the traedor we were going hunting, which we'll still do while we search for mates," Efendest said. "Now we've told you. "

Xax nodded, the concern remaining in his eyes. "Where is Tribon?"

Efendest frowned, glancing around. "He was here not long ago. He said something about swimming in the river. I'm sure you'll find him there." He gave me a quick bow before pivoting and striding over to one of the shrooms. A spear leaned against it, and he hefted it, laying it across his shoulder.

The other two males grabbed weapons as well, and in no time, they'd jogged across the village and disappeared into the surrounding forest.

"I doubt there were enough women on the ship for every male on this planet," I said, worrying my lower lip with my teeth.

Did that mean the Zuldrux "gods" planned to steal more? I needed to have a long talk with Alexa about this and see if she had any influence with the island gods who'd masterminded this plan.

"If they're like me," I added, "they won't want to be randomly claimed by any male who finds them."

"You must trust Alexa and the other gods," Xax said. I struggled not to grin because he was using the same nickname for his god as me, though he didn't seem to realize it. "They wouldn't have brought you here if you weren't as fated for us as we are for you."

"I love how certain you are about this." I, however, was not. I liked him. He was sweet and cute and his kiss . . . But that didn't mean I was ready to call him my mate.

He placed his fist against his chest, which was apparently a common way of making a vow. "How can I do anything else?"

"Xax," a gruff voice called out from the woods on our left. "Who do you have with you?"

An alien male with dark streaks in his silver hair emerged from the forest with a huge haunch of meat draped across his shoulder. He strode right up to us, sending a scowl my way.

"This is Amanda, Tribon," Xax said, his arm going around my shoulders. "My mate. Amanda, this is Tribon, our clan traedor."

The stern clan leader? My skin prickled with unease.

"Mate?" Tribon's scowl deepened, and his gaze swept up and down my frame. "She's unlike any female I've seen before." I took in his thickly muscled chest coated with blood that I assumed was not his own. Like all the other males I'd met so far, he wore only a loincloth that barely covered his groin. The fabric was equally bloody. With a grunt, he hitched the enormous hunk of meat off his shoulder, tossing it to the ground between us.

My belly churned. I was used to buying my meat in neat little packages at the supermarket. I couldn't remember if I'd ever seen a slab like this outside that one time my parents took me to a butcher when I was little. Back then, I'd thrown up and waited outside in the cold while they made their purchase.

I suspected vomiting would get me in trouble, so I swallowed back the bile roaring up my throat.

"The gods sent a sign," Xax said plainly, though I heard an edge in his voice I couldn't define. His arm tightened around my shoulders.

Unsure what to make of this, I remained beside him, not minding his proprietary demeanor.

"What sign?" Tribon peered around.

A few flies soared over to buzz around the slab of meat. If we were going to eat this, we needed to cut it up, package it, and put it in cold storage soon.

Maybe it was time I became a vegetarian. The local gods would approve.

"A plant plunged into the ground in front of me shortly after I met her," Xax said.

Tribon huffed. "That's not a sign."

"You deny the will of our gods?" Dismay came through in Xax's voice.

"You're not our clan traedor," Tribon said. "You don't need a mate." His steely gaze met mine. "I do." He held out his bloody hand. "Come with me, female. I'll claim you, and you'll warm my bed furs tonight."

"No thank you," I sputtered, easing away from Xax's arm and taking a few steps backward.

"Come with me." He rushed toward me.

The moment he thought to grab me, I swept to the side. As he barreled past, I kicked, sending him onto his belly. "I said no."

Xax growled. "Stop, Tribon. Don't do this."

Tribon snapped to his feet and raced toward me again. I latched onto his hand and with a twist, sent him flying over my hip once more. He smacked onto the ground on his back this time .

"Amanda," Xax breathed, and I couldn't tell if he was dismayed or impressed. Maybe a bit of both.

I put distance between me and Tribon, watching his every move. My self-defense skills were coming in handy, but this was a huge alien male with anger brewing in his eyes. He was used to battling all sorts of creatures in the forest, maybe other males who thought to take over his rule of the clan. He wasn't going to let me tell him no.

When he jumped up again, I crouched, preparing myself for round three.

"Tribon, stop," Xax barked, thrusting himself between us. "The gods sent Amanda to me, not you."

"I'm traedor," Tribon roared. "I challenge you for her."

Hurtling forward, he slammed into Xax, dragging him away from me.

The two males slammed onto the ground.