His Naughty Little Mate (3 page)

He squeezed her shoulders. “I don’t know, but I want you to promise me you’ll calm down. No more temper tantrums. So far they haven’t harmed me. If anything, they seem to be studying me, and I anticipate they’ll try to study you too. I’ve spent the last hour taking what I believe are intelligence tests. At one point they gave me a drawing instrument, and after I drew a picture of you, Spike brought me here.”

“Spike?”

“The male alien. His hair is short, but it sticks straight up.”

Carmen couldn’t help but smile at the nickname. “I was going to call him Blondie, but Spike sounds better. I’m calling the woman Blue. It’s amazing how similar they are in appearance to humans, don’t you think?” She glanced at the table to find it set to rights, no trace of splattered food. Spike waited next to the closed door, and Blue stood at his side, her head turned to him and their eyes connected as if they were speaking, but their lips weren’t moving.

“Cute diaper,” Erik said, winking.

She felt her entire body flush under his rude comment. “How dare you. This isn’t funny. None of this. Blue wouldn’t even let me hold a spoon to feed myself, so—”

“So you became impatient and tossed a plate in her face?” he interrupted, dropping her shoulders and taking a step back.

She itched to wipe the smirk off his face. Or toss green, orange, and red goo at him. “Why do you have real clothes, anyway?” she asked.

“Because I was patient and didn’t resist them when I awoke. I used hand gestures, calmly, to show them I was capable of feeding myself and going to the bathroom by myself. Yes, I will admit it was humiliating at first, but once I proved I could handle the basics, they brought me some clothes and some strange puzzles, and several of the creatures observed me while I worked on them. Think about it, Carmen. If humans captured a pair of aliens, we’d sure as hell study them. They are simply curious about us, and right now we’re at their mercy, so we’d best play along.”

“Fuck playing along. We need to escape.” She glanced at Blue and Spike, still engaged in a weird telepathic conversation next to the door. “Let’s try right now. I’ll take down Blue and you can force Spike to open the door for us.”

“No,” he said firmly, gripping her arms. “I swear to God, Carmen, if you don’t behave I will spank you myself. Think about this: Once we complete their tests and prove we are an intelligent species, they will make a better effort to communicate with us. It’s the logical next step. Keep fighting them and you’ll only set us back. They saved us after the accident and brought us to a habitable planet, a planet that’s obviously far away from Earth. Our only way off this planet is with their help. We must play along and earn their trust, and try to impress them with our intelligence.”

Sighing, she relaxed in his grip. Damn him, he was probably right. About everything. “Okay,” she finally said. “I will try to be patient.”

He tipped her chin up and stared into her eyes. His masculine scent overwhelmed her, and loneliness panged in her chest at the thought of sleeping alone tonight. Despite her dislike for the close quarters and having to share a bunk on the Dastok 22, she’d grown used to hearing his steady breathing all night. On the nights she had a nightmare, he’d been there to rouse her and rub her back until she calmed. He’d never been arrogant enough to tease her the next day for needing comfort, and she’d always been grateful for his discretion. Butterflies flapped in her stomach, her pulse quickening as she held his gaze. The warmth in his dark eyes made her heart swell with emotion.

“I-I’m glad you’re here, Erik.” Her face heated with her admission, her entire body flushing as her vulnerability deepened. “And I’m glad you’re all right. I was worried you hadn’t survived.”

He brushed a thumb over her cheek, and tingles followed in the wake of his gentle touch. Endorphins rushed her head, leaving her lightheaded. Though she fought his dominance every chance she got, it never failed to thrill her. And now his tenderness left her quivering, aching to be alone with him. She broke away from him, needing to clear her thoughts. She glanced around the room. Blue was gone, but Spike stood by the door, obviously waiting for Erik.

“I meant what I said, Carmen.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll be patient and take the stupid tests, or puzzles, or whatever.” She felt the pressing urge to go to bathroom and spotted what appeared to be a toilet in the corner of the room. A translucent wall stood in front of it, and a small doorway made of the same translucent material cracked to reveal the toilet, a sink, and a bathtub, all constructed of a sleek silvery material.

“I’m not talking about the tests,” he said, leaning forward to wrap an arm around her.

Surprise froze her in place as he patted her bottom. Her eyes widened and she stared at him once he drew back. Another smirk eased across his face.

“I was referring to my comment about you in a diaper, Carmen. You look adorable right now. And I bet your bottom is still very red after the sound spanking Blue gave you.” He left the room on that departing comment, looking far too pleased with himself.

Carmen hoped to be left alone for a while, but Blue returned to the room and grabbed her by the arm. The alien woman nodded toward the bathroom area and began walking Carmen over to the enclosure. Her face heated as she realized Blue’s intention, and she put up a struggle as the woman tried to pull her diaper down. Fighting proved useless, because Blue was much larger and stronger than Carmen, and she soon found herself sitting on the toilet with the diaper resting at her ankles while Blue glared down at her expectantly. The urge to pee became too much and it was all Carmen could do to hold it in.

“Get out!” she hissed at the alien.

Blue responded by crossing her arms over her chest and glaring harder.

This can’t be happening
. Unable to wait a second longer, Carmen covered her face and released her stream. Blue patted her shoulder in a gesture that felt like praise, but Carmen still couldn’t find it in her to uncover her face and meet the alien’s eyes. She felt the diaper around her ankles being removed, and Blue helped her stand up in the next moment. A dry warm cloth was pressed between her legs, and Carmen nearly lost her balance due to the surprise of the woman’s touch in such a private place. She held onto the woman to steady herself, feeling her face becoming hotter as her humiliation over being tended to as if she were helpless soared.

* * *

Erik found it difficult to concentrate on the latest puzzle Spike had shoved in front of him. His thoughts kept wandering to Carmen. Naughty Carmen. He smiled as he recalled the bright pink color her face had flushed after he’d said she looked adorable in a diaper, and his cock hardened each time he replayed the spanking he’d witnessed in his head.

The tall blue-haired alien woman had taken her to task, and he’d stood there, watching and probably drooling, for a few minutes before she’d noticed his presence. Spike had escorted him into the room just as the plate went flying in Blue’s face, allowing him to witness Carmen getting her bottom smacked from start to finish. He’d seen her backside turn from milky white to crimson under Blue’s firm discipline.

He doubted the aliens intended to harm them, and after his experiences demonstrating that he was capable of everything from walking to feeding himself, Spike had stopped hovering over him. Then the puzzles had appeared, one by one, some of them on a handheld screen that resembled an iPad, and others solid with tiny blocks and strange patterns. One of the tests had been similar to a Rubik’s cube, and surprise had lit in Spike’s large blue eyes after he’d completed it.

Erik understood the structure of command. He’d joined the military as a young man and had quickly risen in the ranks to become one of the youngest test pilots in the history of the United States Air Force, not simply because of his flight skills, but because he knew how to take orders. He hadn’t liked all of his superior officers, but he’d still obeyed them and respected their position of authority. Here, on the aliens’ home world, he had to be smart and follow their lead. By following their lead, he could advance his standing in their eyes. Carmen could do the same if only she listened.

With a deep sigh, he wondered if she was still fighting Blue. His cock stirred as he also wondered if she’d earned herself another spanking yet. His hands itched with the desire to feel the warmth of her bare, well-punished bottom, to squeeze her mounds and caress her flesh.

A night had passed since he’d seen Carmen, and Spike had brought him an early meal, rousing him from a deep sleep after he’d set a tray on the table in his room, a room almost identical to Carmen’s. Judging by how tired he was, he decided a day on the alien planet was shorter than an Earth day. Shorter nights, shorter days. Perhaps in time he’d become accustomed to the different sleep schedule.

Spike entered, wearing the same white clothing he’d worn yesterday. All the male aliens wore the same outfit, white pants and a white shirt, and their females wore white dresses. He wondered if everyone on this planet dressed in a similar fashion, or if these aliens were simply in a work uniform. That would make sense and explain the black pants they’d given him. He ran a hand through his hair and nodded at Spike as the alien took away his breakfast tray.

Finally, Erik solved the puzzle and pushed it away. He rose to his feet and headed for the window, growing restless in his solitude. He longed to leave the confines of the building and go exploring in the exotic forest, or soar over the treetops in one of the alien crafts that occasionally zipped by. He remained at the window until another ship flew by, and his chest tightened with worry as he thought about the future and wondered if he’d ever fly again, let alone make it back to human civilization. Whether on Earth or Mars.

Asteroid mining ships had a higher accident rate than regular space shuttles. He’d known the risks before he’d boarded the Dastok 22, but he’d decided to travel to Mars anyway. Pilots were needed to transport scientists back and forth from Mars’ surface to the space station orbiting the red planet, and many former astronauts were being hired to fill the vacancies. Best of all, the US government had asked him to remain for the duration of the terraforming process and assist with the first air base on the planet, once the red planet was no longer red. While that was years away, if all went according to plan, he was still excited.

Earth held nothing for him anymore. Well, nothing but pain and memories he longed to forget. After his fiancée had left him, cleaning out his bank account before disappearing, the idea of putting over thirty million miles between him and Earth seemed like a good plan. He ground his teeth together, thinking about how Heather had used him, and how he’d been stupid enough to ignore all the warning signs. In preparation for their wedding, he’d gone ahead and put her name on all of his accounts. A few days later she’d up and disappeared, leaving him with a mortgage on their new house in the mountains of Colorado and only a few hundred bucks in his checking account.

He’d sold his house and moved into a small apartment in Florida, close to NASA as well as the Manning Flight School that his two younger brothers now ran. Heather had talked him into Colorado, and he’d been willing to take the long air commute to Florida each day, just for her. The fucking love of his life.

Some love. He wasn’t sure he even knew what love was. Obviously he’d read her wrong, and he hadn’t been able to trust another woman since. In his anger, he’d tried to track her down, but to no avail. Even the most expensive private investigator couldn’t locate the thieving witch.

Three sleek, alien crafts suddenly zipped by, one after the other, and Erik stood on his tiptoes as he peered out the window. He longed to get behind the controls of one of their ships. When he was flying, he knew nothing but the exhilaration of the speed. It was a thrill, and the intense concentration flying required helped mute his thoughts.

A noise behind him startled him from his depressive musings, and he turned, half expecting it to be Carmen. If she was behaving herself as she’d promised, perhaps the aliens would allow her to visit him as he’d visited her yesterday.

It wasn’t Carmen though, nor was it Spike or Blue or any of the other aliens who’d come to observe him since he’d awoken. Instead, a tall male alien with shoulder-length black hair stood in the center of the room with his hands clasped behind his back. Compared to the other aliens Erik had seen, this one had more character. His hair was mussed and frizzy, and his eyes, the same light blue as his counterparts, danced with unabashed curiosity.

Erik smiled and nodded, ready to play more of their games and follow more of their orders. “Hello,” he said, even though he knew his greeting would fall on deaf ears, literally.

The alien moved to his bed, now devoid of the railing that had been there when he first awoke yesterday morning. A flourish of the tall creature’s hand indicated he wished for Erik to lie down on the bed. As Erik moved closer, the alien nodded and smiled at him, though his smile seemed strange, as if it was forced. Or mimicked. Perhaps the alien was trying to better understand him, or to establish trust. Either way, it was a good sign.

Big Hair, Erik thought with a smile. That’s what he’d call this alien. If Carmen had already met him, she’d probably already given him a similar name.

The moment he lay down on the bed, Big Hair produced a device from his pocket. After pressing a few buttons, the alien held it over Erik’s head, drawing it from side to side.

A brain scan.

Erik gulped, reminding himself to trust the aliens before assuming they meant to harm him. Besides, if they’d wanted to cause him harm, wouldn’t they have strapped him down on the medical unit in the corner of the room again? Or sedated him?

The door opened, a faint whooshing noise, and Blue entered with Carmen by her side. Carmen’s eyes were red-rimmed and she had one hand behind her, trying to rub her bottom. Blue shook her head and drew Carmen’s hand away. She was still wearing the nightie and a diaper, evidence that she hadn’t cooperated enough to earn the privilege of real clothes and unchaperoned trips to the bathroom.