Servant For An Alien Leader by Roxie Ray
Rita
Isat on a table in a room at the healing center, grinning stupidly at Urul as he hovered, fretting as the healer worked on my leg.
He was clearly concerned, his face pinched with worry, which was ridiculously adorable and endearing. Here he was, a massive giant of a man—a Raider warrior who was born and bred to fight—with a squishy soft side for animals that made it all too easy to like him.
There was nothing soft about that warrior’s body, though. I could now attest to that. Even as the healer cleaned out my wounds and applied antiseptic tinctures and healing salves, I was still lightheaded and tingly—and it had nothing to do with my injury.
That kiss…I’d never felt anything like it before. The intensity, the passion, the raging desire that had surfaced in a matter of seconds. David had been the only man I’d been with, the only guy I’d ever really dated before we got married, so I didn’t have a lot to compare it to. But that was the thing. I didn’t think anything could compare to that kiss.
My entire body had ignited, come to life in a whole new way. It was as if my very being recognized Urul at a primal level. I was drawn to him in a way I couldn’t quite describe. All I knew for sure was I wanted him, desperately, and that kiss had only added fuel to the already raging inferno of desire I’d been trying to ignore since I first stepped off the spacecraft and laid eyes on this gorgeous, strong, kind and caring man.
But I didn’t want to ignore it anymore. Not now that I knew he obviously wanted me too. The mere memory of the hardness of his body as he’d wrapped himself around me to keep me safe had my heart thundering again, and I lifted my gaze from the wound to find him staring at me, raw hunger in his eyes.
Just like when he’d kissed me earlier, everything else ceased to exist. There was only the two of us and the undeniable draw between us, an awareness that defied explanation. I hadn’t even felt the pain of my cuts, that was how all-consuming it had been.
“Almost done,” the healer said, her reddish-brown hair obscuring her face as she pulled out a device similar to what I’d used on the rapuse pup yesterday. “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, just fine,” I said, too quickly, and jerked my eyes away from Urul’s distracting gaze. “Do you think I’ll be all right to go back out today? We really need to find the rapuse pups.”
If we waited too much longer, I was afraid they might not make it. Especially if any of them were injured like the one we’d already found.
“You’ll be as good as new when I’m done with you,” the healer promised with a kind smile, “but I don’t know that you should head out again now that it’s already dark. With a wound like this, it might be best to wait until tomorrow and make sure all the poisonberry has cleared out of your system, even if you’ll barely be able to tell anything happened from the outside.”
“Oh.” My shoulders slumped and I dared to look back at Urul again. “Do you want to go out on your own?”
Urul hesitated, and the healer chimed in again. “I know this is your area of expertise, but have you thought about taking a tent and going out overnight? From what I know of rapuses, they usually come out more at night.”
“She’s right,” Urul said, “but it’s too late for that now.”
“Tomorrow evening then?” I lifted my brows, hoping he wanted to take me out with him again. I’d understand if he wanted to take care of it sooner himself, without me tagging along, but I really wanted to help if I could. Plus…the prospect of an overnight scouting mission with Urul was pretty damn attractive.
“It’s a plan,” he said, his gaze never leaving mine.
I would have sat there staring at him for hours if the healer didn’t speak up.
“Okay, Rita, I’m just going to apply a little pressure with this device, and it will seal your skin back together.”
“No stitches?” I asked her.
She shook her head with a small smile. “Trust me, this is way better.”
There was slight pressure and a flash of warmth on my leg where she set the device, and when she removed it, I stared down in awe. My leg was perfectly sealed together as if the skin hadn’t just been split wide open. There was no redness or pain. In fact, the only evidence anything happened was a faint pink line that looked like a tiny, healed-over scar.
“The discoloration should fade by tomorrow,” the healer said, “and then you’ll never be able to tell anything happened.”
“Wow, thank you so much,” I gushed, marveling once more at how advanced their technology was. The tinctures, salves, and machinery had fixed me right up.
“Of course.” She smiled. “You’re good to go. Good luck with the rapuses.”
Urul helped me off the table, and even though I didn’t need assistance, I let him anyway so I could feel the warmth of his skin brush against mine.
We walked in silence to the rover parked outside, and he opened the clear panel and helped me climb in. It wasn’t a long ride back to our houses, but the tension was thick. I wanted to bring up the kiss, maybe even do it again, but Urul remained quiet. I couldn’t get a read on him, but I also wasn’t sensing any regret, so I let it be.
Once the rover landed and we hopped out, he came around to my side. “I’ll walk you home. Do you need any help getting settled?”
I looked at him, aware of every millimeter of space that separated us, and the heated look in his eyes told me he was thinking about the kiss too. But neither of us mentioned it. Maybe it was a good thing.
I should get to know him better first, see what was actually happening between us before figuring out where we went from here. So as much as my body railed against it, I said the words I knew I should.
“I’ll be fine on my own but thank you.”
I wasn’t sure, but I thought disappointment flashed in his eyes for a split second. If it was there at all, it was immediately replaced by an easy smile.
“I’m just across the street if you need me,” he said with a wink.
I was all too aware of that fact. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to sleep tonight knowing how close he was.
“So…camping tomorrow then?”
“It’s a date.” With another quick grin, he turned and headed to his house, calling over his shoulder, “Sleep well, Rita.”
Yeah, right.
* * *
It’s a date,he’d said yesterday. I tried to tell myself it was just a phrase, that it wasn’t actually a date—because really, it wasn’t—but my mind didn’t want to listen.
All day, as I went about my duties in the fields and in the barns, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Urul and I were going out together in a tent to spend the night. It would be just the two of us, in the dark, all night…
Pull yourself together, Rita. But chastising myself didn’t help. I didn’t see much of Urul until late afternoon, and by the time he appeared in the doorway of the barn, I had worked myself up with all this nervous energy that I didn’t know what to do with.
“You ready to go save some pups?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and his muscles bulged as he crossed his arms.
With no small amount of effort, I dragged my eyes from his carved body to his twinkling blue eyes and I smiled back at his relaxed smile. So different from the man who had shown me around the place a few days ago.
I wanted to believe he felt the same way I did—that the inexplicable pull was affecting him as well—but I didn’t want to get carried away.
“Ready when you are,” I replied. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“I already loaded the supplies and packed the rover with the camping equipment. Just bring whatever you need for yourself.”
I grinned and grabbed my backpack from beside the door. “Got it.”
We climbed into the rover, and Urul programmed in the coordinates, then we zipped over the landscape. I still didn’t bring up the kiss, even though it was on my mind. Instead, I thought this would be a good chance for me to get to know him a little more, to figure out if this was just a physical attraction or something else, stronger, meant to last.
“Do you have any family back home on Raider?” I asked.
Urul shifted to face me, leaving the rover on autopilot. “My mom is back there, and I have a couple brothers as well. They’ve both married and have children, so yeah. Lots of family back home.”
“Is it hard being away from them?” I wasn’t sure I would have left Earth if my parents were still alive.
“It can be,” he said, angling his head, his lips parted in a half-smile as he stared at a point over my shoulder. “But I like what I do here, I love this planet. Plus, there’s always pressure when I go back home.”
I furrowed my brow. “How so?”
Urul chuckled. “Apparently my brothers marrying and having children isn’t enough for my mother. Every time we talk, she mentions how much she wants to see me with someone. She’s even gone so far as to threaten to arrange a match and sign me up for a Raider breeding battle.”
“Breeding battle?” That sounded more like the stories of Raider that I’d heard. “What’s that?”
“It’s a long-held tradition on my home planet. Outdated, in my opinion, and our leader—Kain—has worked hard to do away with a lot of the old customs. The breeding battle has remained, though, in a slightly different form.” Urul settled back in his seat, and I did the same, eager to hear more about the place he’d grown up.
“How does it work, this breeding battle?”
“On Raider, the number of men far outnumber the women. The majority of Raider men don’t find a match without going off-planet or securing a breeder contract through the IEP—yes, I’m aware of how that sounds,” he said before I could comment.
“I’m not judging,” I replied with a small smile, trying not to let the ache in my chest show. I would never be a woman chosen for a breeding battle. My infertility was something I often thought I’d come to terms with, but then I would have random moments like this where it punched me in the gut.
He paused, his eyes searching mine, then seemed to relax slightly. “So anyway, when a woman comes of age and is eligible to marry, there’s a giant ceremony where any Raider man can participate and fight to win the woman’s hand.”
“What if she doesn’t like the man who wins?” I asked, my eyes round. Maybe I had a little judgment after all.
“That’s how it used to be in the old days, before Kain came into power. But things have changed. She doesn’t have to marry the winner. She must give her consent.” The adamant tone in his voice was enough for me to know where he stood on the matter, which further confirmed my opinion of the type of man Urul was. “And often, the man she loves will fight the hardest and win anyway, for the sake of honor.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “And your mother wants to sign you up?” I couldn’t imagine wanting my own son to fight to the death in an archaic battle.
Urul laughed loudly. “Yeah. Says I’d be able to win any woman I wanted.”
I didn’t doubt it. Urul had such an effect on my body—to the point where sometimes I couldn’t even think straight. Of course, there were plenty of women who’d be more than happy to have him fight for their hand. “So why haven’t you done it?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t found the right woman yet.” His gaze lingered on me as he said it, and I wished I had the courage to ask him what kind of woman would inspire him to do so, but I was afraid of what he might say.
“It’s an interesting custom for sure,” he said after a moment, “and a couple of my friends have participated in it—some of the ones who are coming to visit. Though they’re really more like family than friends.”
“I don’t want to pry,” he continued. “But you mentioned your parents yesterday—that they’d passed on in an accident. Do you have any other family on Earth?”
I shook my head. “I was an only child. And living out on the farm like we did, I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up. David’s family owned the farm next to ours, and I guess you could say we were best friends growing up.”
“Then you fell in love,” Urul commented, looking out the window now.
“I don’t know.” I’d always cared about David, he was my best friend. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I’d ever truly been in love with him. “It just kind of seemed like getting married was what we were supposed to do. I was young and I never really questioned it. Once my parents died, though, I started questioning everything—my career, my marriage, my entire life.”
“Which is how you ended up here,” he said softly. His gaze was back on me now, intent and captivating, and I was willing to talk about anything at all as long as he’d keep looking at me like that.
“Exactly. I’d gotten to the point where I felt trapped. Stuck. Like my whole life had already been written out for me. I needed a change. And since I love adventure and love helping, coming here has been perfect for me.” I smiled, feeling the truth of my words. It wasn’t just the job that was perfect, though. I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. Yes, he was my boss, but that kiss had been so damn good that I was starting to wonder if it even mattered. But I couldn’t tell him that, so instead I said, “Honestly, all of this is more than I ever could have dreamed up for myself. It’s beautiful. Everything feels so alive—including myself.”
Urul stared at me in silence, and I fell into those eyes, edged closer as he leaned in, until—
Abruptly, the rover shut off. I hadn’t even realized we’d landed. I blinked, shaking myself out of the trance he so easily inspired.
“Looks like we’re here.” Urul pushed a button to slide the window back, then we climbed out and started gathering the camping equipment. “I scouted out this spot earlier, and I think we might be in luck. It’s close enough to the trail we can hike out and back.”
I glanced up at the sky, which was already deepening to a Kelly green. Before long the sun would be gone. “Should we set up camp first?”
Urul grinned like he had a secret, like he knew something I didn’t. “You’ve never been camping on Macros. I think you’ll like this.”
As I watched him move—because watching him move was my new favorite thing—every muscle of that hard body engaged and rippling with pure masculine strength, and he took two small, thin rectangular fabric panels from the back of the rover and carried them to a clearing a few yards away. He set them down about ten feet apart, then flipped the latches on both before stepping away.
“Now, watch this,” he said, pulling out his Holopad. He tapped on the screen, then the panels on the ground began to expand, stretching and reshaping vertically. Once they’d expanded to ten-foot squares, they begin to stretch upward. In a matter of moments, two white tent-like domed structures stood before us, fully erected and ready to go.
“Now that’s what I call camping,” I said with a laugh, utterly amazed. Back home I’d still be struggling to piece to tent poles together. “I almost expect there to be a fully functioning kitchen and bathroom inside.”
Urul laughed as well, the deep sound of it igniting a flame low in my belly. “Not quite, but the outdoor shelters are climate-controlled and quite comfortable.”
He tapped his Holopad again, and the shelters shifted from bright white to a dim, glowing green. “Now we can find our way back, and it will keep wildlife away.”
“Pretty impressive.” One more thing I liked about this planet. At this rate, I would never have a desire to leave this amazing place.
“You ready to hit the trail?”
I could think of a hundred other things I’d rather be doing inside that tent contraption right now than being outside it hitting the trail, and all of them centered around that glorious warrior body, but we did have rapuse pups to save.
“Let’s do it.”
We both had small hiking packs we’d brought along, and we grabbed them before making our way to the dimly lit trail we’d been on yesterday. It didn’t take long at all before we found similar tracks to what we’d seen before, but these were much fresher. The rapuses had likely been through here not long ago.
Urul’s footsteps were silent as he led the way, and he lifted a finger to his lips as we crept further along the trail where the underbrush thickened. Not ten minutes later, he stopped, crouching down and pointing to the ground.
I stooped beside him, squinting, and then saw what he’d found. Two sets of footprints—one leading into a bush, the other continuing ahead.
“It’s a poisonberry bush,” he muttered, grimacing.
“What do we do?” I asked, eyes wide.
“Not much we can do. I’ll just have to deal with it.”
Without warning, he stretched his arm in between the thorny branches. He hissed out a curse and pulled his arm back. Immediately, large raised blisters appeared on his skin.
I gasped. “Are you okay? I can go get the antidote leaves and crush them like you did yesterday.”
“That would be great,” he said. “I’m going to keep trying to get this little guy, though.”
I hesitated as he reached back into the poisonberry bush. “Are you sure?”
He nodded, his face pinched. “I saw some leaves on the trail just a few moments ago. Should have thought to just bring some along.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself. You can’t remember everything. I’ll go get it,” I said quickly, already backtracking, my eyes peeled for signs of the leaves he’d told me about yesterday. It was a pink plant with large leaves, I remembered that much.
There, that one. I spotted a cluster of pink plants. There were a couple different kinds here, and as I reached for my knife, I tried to decipher which one was the right one.
Urul had told me about the poisonberry bushes, the similar-looking plant with the antidote, and the plant that was an aphrodisiac. I wracked my brain trying to remember what he’d said. I recalled him saying the one with the biggest leaves was the antidote.
I reached out and sliced through several thick stems of the blue-veined pink leaves, then tucked my knife away and made my way back up the trail, crushing the leaves in my hands as I went. He’d want this antidote to soothe his skin right away.
When I saw him again, he was squatting by the bush, frowning. He looked up at the sound of my footsteps. “I caught it, but the little guy slipped away. I think the best thing to do is wait until it relaxes. I set up the trap. Maybe the babies will be drawn to it on their own.”
There on the ground next to him sat a small camouflaged cage with food inside. It would lure the pups in without causing any harm.
“We can head back to the campsite and wait it out, if you want.” He rose to his feet and walked toward me.
“Let’s get this antidote on you first,” I said, reaching for him with the leaves in my hands. “I’ve already crushed the leaves.”
He opened his hands, palms facing upward, and I spread the wet leaves all over them, then started to massage it in, moving upwards to coat all the skin that had been exposed to the poisonberry bush.
But I had to take a deep breath and gather all my concentration for what should have been an easy task. Because the sensations rocketing through me at the simple act of touching this man had my entire body reacting.
My heart hammered, and my blood rushed through my veins, creating a roar in my ears. My core throbbed and ached with a sudden irresistible desire that coursed through me, and I felt so lightheaded with need I could barely breathe.
I paused when he shuddered, his muscles vibrating beneath my hands. And when I looked into his crystalline eyes and the raw hunger there reflected mine, time stood still.
There was no denying it—something powerful existed between us. And it demanded I act on it, right fucking now.
So I did. I wrapped my arms around his neck, then crushed my mouth to his as if my life depended on it.
