Grumpy Alien King by Celeste King
Xxuric
The Sanax are not a weak people, and I was not a weak man. I’d fought in battles that made this one look like a day at the playground. Scars still remained from blaster shots and blades that had come this close to ending my life. I’d fought with spacecraft, on land, in water, and had even once crushed an enemy’s windpipe as we hurtled to the ground from a second-story balcony.
I was a warrior, borne from a legacy of warriors, and I had to twist my hands together to conceal their trembling.
What was happening to me? Immediately after my prior battles, I had been energized with the glory of a good fight and the thrill of victory.
This had been a hell of a fight, with worthy opponents. Stories would be told of this day for years to come.
But I felt no pride, only cold, dark fear. I had almost lost my son, who had just discovered love. We had almost lost his mate, which would have plunged him into a depression so deep I’m not sure he would have climbed back from it.
I had almost lost my own mate.
She’d almost died without knowing how much she meant to me.
“I’m surprised you seem so okay with them together.” Heather was still talking about Dahrial and Rulora. I forced myself back into the present. “Dahrial thought you’d try to separate them.”
“I might have, before.”
It pained me to concede this, but the class differences between the two were great. Dahrial would lose a lot of honor marrying a Florian. If I hadn’t known the strength of their type of bond, I would have forbidden the match and sent her away. The fact that they’d concealed their relationship for so long, under my own roof, should have sent me into a rage.
But now I knew it wouldn’t have mattered.
Dahrial would have chased her to the ends of the galaxy if he had to.
“What changed?”
“Me.” My hands still shook. I dug them into my pockets. “Now that I know how strong a genetic match can be firsthand, I know there’s no point in denying or granting permission. They’ll do anything it takes to be together.”
“What do you mean, ‘firsthand’?”
“I’ll show you.” I’d never been so great with words. I kept hinting at our match, hoping she would make the connection because saying it out loud still felt surreal. Maybe it would be easier if she saw the match information for herself. If the situation had been reversed, I would have settled for nothing less than physical proof, no matter what feelings I’d developed.
I extended my elbow, and she looped her arm through mine without hesitation. Something inside me settled now that our skin was touching. My heartbeat calmed, and my hands steadied.
“Lead the way, big guy.”
We walked through the hall to my office, and despite her diminutive size, she kept pace with me well. She always did, didn’t she? In every way, walking, fighting, or…
“So. Did you also get genetically matched with a Florian?” Her index finger jabbed at my chest and I had to look down. “Or maybe a Ploddat. Although I suppose all the spikes could be irritating in bed.”
“Oh no.” I opened the door for her. “Someone much more annoying. Would you like to see?”
She made a face. Did she really think there was anyone else on or off-planet I could be referring to? I decided to have some fun.
“She’s beautiful, my match. Very well-educated. A decent shot. A not-so-decent pilot, but I think she’s learning. She’s aggravating, impulsive, and thinks she can handle every situation on her own. It’s lucky for her that she usually can, but not so lucky for me, because the thought of her in danger is the only thing in this galaxy that terrifies me.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Have I met her?”
I picked up the folder of her dossier and waved it at her. Her breath caught as she read her own name in capital letters. “I think you might be acquainted.”
She said nothing as I plucked her vitals information from the cylinder and fed it into my genetic reader. The system hummed and beeped as it compiled the information.
Regret that she didn’t know about our match had dogged me during the entire battle, but now I began to have second thoughts. Did she want to be bound to me? Had she ever suspected? Her anxious face didn’t do much to reassure me.
She almost looked like she were about to be sick, which worried me both about my carpet (it was imported from Sanax, which had been an expensive and elaborate ordeal I did not care to repeat) and about our future together.
What if she decided she wanted nothing to do with me, match be damned, and hopped on her shuttle back to Teshie’s to pick another husband more to her taste? We’d been mated when she hopped on her shuttle and tried to run away. She was the most stubborn creature I’d ever had the pleasure to know. What if she decided, fate or not, she would rather run off again?
I didn’t know if I could take it if she left.
She wouldn’t. You’re just as much her match as she is yours.
This entire business had turned me into a schoolgirl yearning for their crush. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms and tried my best to look foreboding. I didn’t want to look like her reaction meant the world to me.
Still, as the beeps and humming slowed, I found myself holding my breath.
There would be no going back, once she knew.
I didn’t want to go back.
Ding.
