Protected: Alien Mate Index Book 2: (Alien Warrior BBW Paranormal Science fiction Romance) (The Alien Mate Index) (7 page)

“Fuckin’ gorgeous,” he remarked.

“No, it’s silly.” I tugged at the skirt, wishing I could make it about two feet longer.

He raised an eyebrow. “So females on your planet don’t usually dress like, uh…” He made a motion at me with one hand. “Like that?”

“Only in porn,” I said, still tugging at the skirt.

“Porn?” He frowned.

“You know—pornography? Things you look at or watch just for, you know, sexual gratification?”

I could feel myself blushing as I said it. I looked up and saw that he was studying me, those strange, alien eyes considering and intense.

“So the Commercians gave you clothes only a pleasure girl would wear?”

I wasn’t exactly sure what a “pleasure girl” was but I could guess.

“Yes, I suppose so,” I said, tugging again, this time at the blouse so my nipples wouldn’t be so visible through the thin, white fabric.

“I’ll kill them,” Grav growled, his face gong hard. “Fuckin’ worms, disrespecting you that way. I’ll—”

“Please, don’t!” I put a hand on his bicep and felt the tension thrumming through his muscular form.

“They insulted you,” he rumbled, frowning. “As a Protector, I don’t just watch out for my ward’s physical safety—I protect her reputation too.”

Wow—he really took his job seriously! Still, I couldn’t let him go back and pound the talking blue worms into paste just because they’d given me a slutty Halloween costume to wear instead of proper clothes.

“I’m sure they didn’t know what they were doing,” I told him. “Please, I…” I lowered my eyes. “I’ve had enough violence for one day.”

The thrumming tension in his big body seemed to ease considerably.

“All right, darlin’,” he murmured. “I understand—the Commercians get a pass.
This
time.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, looking up at him.

“Look…” He shifted. “Before I heard you screamin’ in the shower, I was coming to tell you that we already made the first hop and we’ll be making the next one soon.”

I frowned. “The first…hop? What does that mean?”

“Oh sorry, forgot your people don’t know much about interstellar travel. My ship’s a space-hopper—a design that lets you leap-frog through the space-time continuum and get to your destination a hell of a lot faster than if you just flew in a straight line.” Grav explained. “It’s based on wormhole technology—creating new holes and destroying them the moment you hop through and start creating the next one.”

“Wow…your ship makes
worm holes?”

He nodded. “Uh-uh. Right now we’re out by the star system I think your people call Alpha Centauri but the next hop’ll take us further in, to the interior of the galaxy.” He frowned. “Of course, I wouldn’t want to go
too
far toward the interior.”

“Why?” I said. And then, remembering something I’d seen on a science program once I said, “Is that because you don’t want to get sucked into the super-massive black hole in the center of the galaxy?”

He laughed, sounding surprised. “Hey! So you humans
do
know a little about where you live. But no, that’s not the reason. It’s just that the closer you get to the center—to Femme 1, and the inner ring planets—the more, ah,
bureaucracy
you find.”

“Bureaucracy?” I shook my head. “Why is that a problem?”

“Well, maybe that’s not the right word. I should say, the closer you get to the center, the more government you find. You know—authority?” He cleared his throat. “Let’s just say that Imperial Peace Keepers have a long memory and leave it at that. Okay?”

“Sure, I guess.” I didn’t really understand what he was saying—maybe that he had a problem with authority? Looking at his huge, muscular form and the swirling black tattoos that decorated his blue hide, I could certainly believe that.

“So it’s just fifteen hops to Eloim,” Grav said. “The ship has to take a little rest between hops—especially the longer ones because of the size of the wormhole it has to create. But we’ll be there before you know it. It’s only a couple of thousand light years from Earth.”

“A couple of
thousand?”
My mouth felt suddenly dry when I remembered that a light year wasn’t three-hundred and sixty-five days, the way we measure a year. A light year is the distance it takes a beam of
light
to travel in one year. And light is pretty much the fastest thing in the universe. I was going to be so far from home it was mind-boggling. At least, it boggled
my
mind.

I’ll be gone—so far away from Earth I might never get home,
I thought.
And I never even told Mom I was going!

Suddenly what I was doing hit me—hit me hard like a sledgehammer between the eyes. I wasn’t just leaving the house I shared with Gerald, or even the town we lived in. I was leaving the whole
planet
and the people I loved, who still cared for me, would be worried sick. Just like Charlotte and I had been worried sick about Zoe!

How can I do that to my mom? To Charlotte?
I thought.
To Taggard? He depends on me! I can’t do this—I can’t!

“You can’t what?” Grav asked and I realized I’d spoken the last words aloud.

“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I just…just realized what I’m doing. I’m trying to run away from my problems in the most extreme way possible—by leaving the whole freaking planet! But I can’t.” I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. “I can’t just disappear without telling my mom and my friends and family. I can’t
do that.”

Grav regarded me gravely for a moment, then nodded.

“Yeah, I understand. It was kind of a split second thing, the idea of taking you to Zoe.”

“It’s a
crazy
thing,” I said. “I just…can’t do it. I think I must have been in some kind of shock to even consider it.”

“It’s possible.” He nodded again. “You just went through a fuckin’ traumatic experience. But, Leah…” His strange eyes grew serious. “What are you gonna do about that asshole mate of yours? I’ll turn the ship around and take you back to Earth but I won’t put you in harm’s way. He
has
to be dealt with.”

My mouth was suddenly dry.

“Dealt with…how?”

He shrugged. “Put out of commission. I need to make sure he can’t hurt you again. Not won’t—
can’t,”
he emphasized.

“You…you mean…” I had to lick my lips before I could continue and I winced as my tongue ran over my wounded bottom lip. “You mean you want to
kill
him?” I asked at last.

Grav shrugged again as if it was no big deal.

“If you want me to, I got no problem with that.”

“No, no!” I put up a hand as if to stop him, though he was still just standing there. “No, you can’t do that! He’s horrible and controlling and abusive but you can’t just
kill
him.”

“Okay.” The big alien appeared to consider the options. “There are other ways. I can break his spine.”

“What?”
This was sounding more and more gruesome. My big protector suddenly seemed more like a mob hit-man than the sweet teddy-bear of a guy who had held me so gently after my awful shower experience.

“Or I can just break his arms or his legs. Or both if you want,” Grav offered as though it was no big deal. “There are plenty of ways to do permanent damage—ways that he’ll be in too much pain to ever lift a hand to you again.”

“You…you’re talking about maiming or disabling him permanently?” I asked, my voice a dry whisper.

“Maiming—that’s an idea,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. “I can cut off both his hands, if you want. Do your people have the tech to grow back a major limb?”

“No,” I said, feeling sick. “No, we don’t.”

He nodded. “Maiming it is.”

“Wait—no! I didn’t meant I
wanted
you to maim him!” I protested. “Can’t you just, I don’t know—
scare
him into leaving me alone?”

“Scare him?” He frowned. “I punched him out and he still popped up mouthing off. A male like that won’t scare easy, Leah. And unfortunately, I won’t be here to watch over you forever—this is a temporary assignment. That’s why I haven’t given you my oath.”

“Your oath?” I asked, shaking my head.

“A Protector’s word is his bond,” Grav said seriously. “If I swore my oath to you, to never leave you and protect you forever, then we could get away with just scaring your mate. But that would mean I would have to stay with you, by your side, until one of us died. Do you understand?”

He looked so serious I felt my heart squeeze in my chest.

“I, uh, understand you’re not up for that kind of, um, long term commitment,” I stammered at last. “But you still can’t go back down to Earth and kill my husband. No matter how much he deserves it.” I had a sudden thought. “And I bet you
could
scare him into staying away from me. He hasn’t seen you like this—the way you truly are, I mean.”

“Right.” Grav gave a short, barking laugh. “I forgot you Earthlings have never met anyone outside your own species. And I
am
one ugly son-of-a-bitch. Maybe I
could
scare him into submission at that.”

“You’re not ugly,” I said, frowning. “You’re…different. And different is good.”

Grav laughed again. “It’s all right, darlin’—I don’t mind not being the prettiest one at the ball. Ugly’s good in the Protection game. All right.” He sighed. “I’ll take you back to Earth and we’ll have a sit down with your mate. I’ll give him a good
talking
to.” His black-on-white eyes flashed for a moment. “But I warn you, if he doesn’t seem willing to leave you alone, I’m gonna have to break
something.
Maybe not his spine but at least his arms.”

His big hand reached up and brushed against my bruised cheekbone—the touch as light as a butterfly’s wings.

“It’s the very least he deserves after what he did to you,” he rumbled.

My heart skittered in my chest. How could he talk about doing such violence and yet touch me so gently?

“Fair enough,” I said. I’m not a violent person but I
did
think that Gerald deserved some kind of punishment, not just for the way he’d beaten me, but for the way he’d been making my life miserable ever since we had gotten married.

And if I was honest, the abuse had started even before that. Only it was mental and verbal abuse then which was easier to ignore or excuse. I always told myself he was just having a bad day or a rough time at work. Now, light years from Earth, I had a flash of clarity—I had been unhappy with Gerald for
years.
It was time to end this and never see him again.

Looking at Grav, I had no doubt he could help me make that happen. I was grateful that Zoe had sent me such a loyal and strong guy to protect me. If I ever
did
get to Eloim to see her, I would tell her so.

But for now, I had to get home.

“Look, I’ll go reconfigure the flight-path,” Grav said, breaking my train of thought. “It’s going to take it a little while to get the new destination calculated and moved into the algorithm. But in the meantime, I have last meal prepared. Will you eat with me, Leah?”

“Oh, of course.” I smiled at him. “I’d love that.”

“Thank you,” he said gravely and held out an arm for me. “If you’ll come with me, the food-prep area is this way.”

“All right.” Still feeling surreal, I took his arm and let him lead me out of the small, Spartan bedroom that wasn’t going to be mine after all.

I felt a little twinge of regret at the thought. Part of me would have loved to go on an interstellar adventure and get away from it all. But you can’t run from your problems—they’re just there waiting for you when you get back.

At least, that was what I told myself as Grav and I left the room and walked back down the long central corridor of his ship, my ridiculous shoes clumping on the metal floor and his muscular arm warm under my hand.

Grav

I was sorry she wasn’t coming to Eloim.
Damn
sorry. But it was probably for the best. I hadn’t even known her a whole solar day yet and already I was getting too attached to her. When I had talked about giving my oath, I’d actually had the urge to drop to one knee and give it to her right there!

Which was fuckin’ crazy.

I mean, you
can
put a time limit on it—in Teeny’s case, her grandfather had wanted me to give my oath only until she came of age. But when it’s given to an adult ward, the Protector’s Vow is almost always a lifelong oath. I couldn’t pledge my life to a female I’d just met—right?

Right.

This is temporary,
I reminded myself again.
It’ll be over before you know it. So just keep things cool, calm, and collected.

But even as I lectured myself, I couldn’t help remembering the feel of her in my arms. The soft crush of her delicate body against mine. Her sweet, feminine fragrance and the electrical tingle I felt when we touched which meant she was, indeed, a
La-ti-zal.
Of course it also meant something else…but I pushed that thought away.

Gods, she was gorgeous. And sweet and kind and caring, from the scenes I’d watched on the AMI. Was it any wonder I wanted to protect her? And to seriously fuck up the male who had dared to lay his hands on her?

I cast a sidelong glance at her as we walked down the corridor, headed for the food-prep area of my ship. Her lovely face was still battered and the places that asshole had hit her were bruising up pretty badly. I wondered again if she would let me heal her.

Sarden had told me that Earth males didn’t have the power to heal orally so she might think I was crazy if I asked. But damnit, I couldn’t help at least
wanting
to ask—she was so beautiful. I hated to see her beauty marred by that bastard’s violence.

Better not,
I told myself as we stepped into the food-prep area and I motioned her to have a seat.
She’ll think you’re crazy or worse, looking to take advantage. She’ll heal naturally, even if it does take some time. She’ll be okay. Just leave it be.
And then I heard myself say,

“Leah, before we eat last meal, will you let me heal you?”

I’m such a fuckin’ idiot.

Leah

“Excuse me?” I looked up at him, not understanding.