Alien Skin Market by Lizzy Bequin

CHAPTER 15: TRISTN

Tristn was starting to think humans were more trouble than they were worth. He had just spent a small fortune to win this one her freedom, and what repayment had she given him?

A swift kick to his organs of generation, that was what.

Tristn took a deep breath, gathered himself up, and with a grimace of pain, he followed after the fleeing human, chasing her through the crowded streets of Gilaa Spaceport. The damnable little creature was surprisingly fast and agile, but at least her bright, naked rump made it easy for Tristn not to lose sight of her.

He was seriously considering giving that rump a sound thrashing as repayment for her defiance. Once he had her securely back on the ship, of course.

But why had she attacked him like that?

Perhaps Tristn’s uncontrollable arousal had been the cause? His traditional silken breaches did nothing to conceal the massive erection he was now sporting. It was not a problem he’d ever had before. Normally, a Raksha male was only supposed to become aroused in the presence of a mating globule. Tristn had been wholly unprepared for his body’s reaction to the human.

It was her scent that had done it. Oh sure, the curvacious shape of her body had excited him plenty too. It was hard to take his eyes off her. But it was her mouthwatering scent that had truly made him hard as a diamond down below.

If only his poor balls were that hard too.

With a groan, Tristn charged ahead, shoving aside alien spacers who shouted drunken curses at his back. Ahead of him, the human darted around a corner and disappeared from sight.

Damn it.

Fortunately, Tristn did not lose her trail completely. He still had her scent to guide him, an invisible banner of fragrance unfurling behind her as she fled.

He rounded the corner and growled as he realized where she was fleeing to.

The skin market.

The little fool was heading straight back to the very place Tristn had just rescued her from. What in the Goddess’s name was she thinking? Hadn’t she heard a single word he had said to her a few moments ago? He was trying to save her.

Perhaps the translator device was in need of recalibration. Tristn made a note to check that after he got the human back to the ship.

Ifhe got her back.

The human had just reached the entrance of the skin market. One of the Arranian auctioneers was posted outside, and he tried to catch the running human, but she deftly ducked between the creature’s spindly legs and disappeared through the door.

Despite his anger, Tristn had to admit he felt a flicker of admiration at her physical prowess.

A moment later, Tristn reached the entrance himself. He shoved the befuddled Arranian out of the way and charged back into the auction house to reclaim his human prize.

He had lost sight of her again, but he was still able to track the human by her scent, and it was clear where the crazy little creature was heading. Tristn barged down the side aisle of the auction hall, roughly shoving spacers aside and causing quite a commotion in the process. Normally such rudeness was beneath him, but right now he didn’t care. He would let nothing stand between himself and the human. He was driven forward by twin desires to protect and punish the troublesome little female.

The human emerged from the crowd at the front of the theater and scrambled up onto the stage. Tristn was right behind her, shouting for her to stop.

Hoots and laughter and shouts of surprise exploded from the audience.

Tristn’s face fired with anger. First, the wild little human had kneed him in his gonads, and now she was making a fool of him in front of an entire crowd. There would be repercussions.

The human darted down a narrow corridor at the side of the stage and headed for the backstage area.

One of the Arranian auctioneers scuttled after her, pincers extended to apprehend the female.

Tristn’s rage intensified.

Despite his desire to punish the human female, Tristn would not allow anyone else to lay a finger on her—or a pincer, as it were.

He seized the Arranian by its hind legs and yanked it backward. The creature tumbled back onto its carapace, flailing its many legs and chittering unhappily.

Tristn vaulted over the fallen Arranian and continued his pursuit of the human female.

He finally caught up to her at the end of the corridor, which opened onto a large chamber where the various alien animals were held behind bars until it was their time to be brought on stage and auctioned. There were no other exits from the room. The human had no means of escape. She had cornered herself. But she had been inside this room before, of course. She must have known it offered no way out.

Tristn realized he had been wrong in his earlier assessment.

The human wasn’t crazy at all.

She was just plain stupid.

How this creature could be from the same species as the famous author Beh’thani was beyond all comprehension. She had fled straight back to her place of imprisonment. It made zero sense.

Tristn lunged for the human, but before he had a chance to grab her, she tapped a sequence into the glyph-panel on the wall, and a gap appeared in the row of bars holding the animals in confinement.

With a blood curdling growl, a shaggy beast catapulted out of the cell.

“Rrraawwnnn!”

Tristn’s blood ran cold in his veins. The foul beast was not overly large, but it was obviously ferocious, and it was flying straight for the human. No doubt it intended to rip her throat out with its sharp fangs.

Tristn threw his arms out to stop the attack, but his reflexes were not quick enough. The snarling tangle of fur slipped through his grasp and pounced upon the human.

“Nooo!” Tristn roared.

All thoughts of punishing the human departed, and he was overcome with mortal fear for the female’s well-being.

He had failed his mission. After everything he had been through to find this human female, she was going to be mauled to death by a wild animal.

But to Tristn’s surprise, the human actually caught the animal in her arms and hugged it tightly. Meanwhile, the animal did not savage her as Tristn thought it would, but instead covered the human’s face in a succession of sloppy kisses while she laughed and smiled.

For a moment, Tristn just stood there dumbfounded.

Was this the reason she had come back?

There was no time to question this. Already, the other animals were beginning to flood out of the open cage in a stampede of feet and tentacles and flapping wings.

It was time to go.

Tristn grabbed the human and slung her naked body over his shoulder. This time, she offered no resistance. At the same time, her own arms held on to the furry creature, who was now barking and snarling at the onrushing tide of escaped animals behind them.

“Rawn! Rawn-RAWN!”

Tristn raced back down the corridor that led to the stage. The Arranian was still sprawled on its back, legs writhing. Tristn hurtled over it and kept running. A moment later, he heard the Arranian’s screams as it was trampled by the freed animals.

Tristn felt no pity for the bastard. Still, he would much prefer to have avoided all this mess.

With the human and the mysterious shaggy animal flung over his shoulder, he burst from the corridor and out onto the stage, followed by the flood of escaped animals.

The theater exploded in an uproar.

Audience members tried to flee, but the aisles were too densely packed to move.

With a roar, Tristn leaped from the stage and hopped across the heads and shoulders of the crowd. He was chased by screams of panic and pain as the stampeding animals overran the audience behind him.

Goddess, this was a disaster.

Tristn no longer thought humans were more trouble than they were worth. He was absolutely certain of that fact. The first human, Beh’thani, may have been the savior of his species. But this new human was going to be the death of Tristn. The Arranians would be out for blood after this affair. He needed to get as far away from this place as possible.

With his free hand, he raised his wrist-comm to his mouth.

“Jrayk, this is Tristn! I am returning with a human in tow! Whatever you are doing, get back to the ship and fire up the engines! We need to get off this Goddess-forsaken rock as fast as we damn well can!”