Teasing Tilly (17 page)

“With pleasure,” Torin responded, bowing.

* * * *

Tilly didn’t know what to think when Torin returned for her and the prince left.  First they were bristling like cur dogs with one bone!  Then the prince claps Torin on the shoulder in a friendly way and hands her over!

She dismissed her confusion and pique when Torin, instead of walking her back to the hotel, took her for a walk through the village.

That was when she discovered that the human women weren’t the only females in the colony.  They reached an overlook that allowed them to look down at the structures under construction and she saw that the only building that had been completed other than the town hall and the hotel—where most of the men slept when they weren’t working or screwing the Earth women—was a very large and elaborate design with a walled garden.

Strolling along the walks or lounging on padded benches were women that clearly hailed from the same race of giants.

As if they felt her gaze, they turned and stared.

The problem was, they seemed a lot more interested in the man she was standing with than Tilly liked.  And she left wondering, if they decided to bestow their wonderful selves on the men, would the men be quite as pleased with their toys or interested in them?

Or would the alien women demand that they be piled back into the ship and taken to the slave market for sale to the highest bidder?

She thought it was possible.

She didn’t
think
the men would simply dispose of them as if they were garbage and of no value.

Chapter Twenty One

Almost a week passed before she had an actual face-to-face confrontation.

The Earth women, to their delight, discovered they had the freedom to wander about the colony as they pleased in the afternoons.  They were occupied from breakfast to lunch servicing the needs of the men who were able to break away from work.  And they were very occupied after the evening meal until well into the night.

But they were free to roam and tease the men throughout the afternoon.

The Merkdar women, feeling the heat of competition, although they clearly thought they were so far above the Earth women as to hardly fit into the same category (female) decided to remind the Merkdar men that they had a dozen women of their own that they should be vying to impress and court.  They began to leave their ivory tower in groups of three and four and stroll about the growing city—approving of the work being done and sometimes giving the men pointers about what they could do to make the structures more comfortable and appealing.

For the most part, the men seemed to view them with adoration and complete indulgence.

Emily made a gagging motion when a group swept past her group with their noses in the air, however, and the men who happened to catch it chuckled—a little uneasily, granted, but they didn’t immediately throw down their tools and beat them.

Well actually, Tilly corrected herself, they might well have done just that because they did put their tools aside and sweep Emily’s group back to the hotel.  And they were gone a very long time.  And Emily looked very pleased with herself when she reappeared.

So did the other women for that matter, so although Tilly was well aware of Emily’s penchant for violent sexual torture, either all of the women were—doubtful in Tilly’s book—or it wasn’t the sort of punishment the Merkdar women seemed to think it had been.

Tilly’s confrontation was way worse in some ways.

Commander Torin had sent his navigator, Aron, to collect her, although she didn’t actually know there was a purpose to it at the time.  She thought he’d merely arrived to walk with her—escort her.  Unlike the other women, she was always escorted either by Prince Rafe, Commander Torin, or his second—Kane, or one of Torin’s other crewmen—Max, Aron, or Lucien.

There was definite purpose to the walk, however.  They headed straight down the main street when they left the hotel and directly to the very fringes of the village. 

The woods crowded close to the village at this point, but there was a fair sized clearing to one side and six beautifully muscular, sweating men—stripped down to trousers and boots only—working on clearing more.  Well five.  The sixth, who was also sweating as if he’d been working with them, was seated on a freshly cut log with one of the trio of Merkdar women also present went Tilly arrived with Aron. 

The women sniffed and curled their lips as if they smelled something rank, but none of the three actually acknowledged Tilly’s presence otherwise.

Torin didn’t even glance at them.  He stopped when he noticed their approach and motioned for Tilly.  Ignoring the provocation—both in the insult and the way the one was fawning over the prince, Tilly set her jaw and stalked across the clearing.

She nearly tripped on the debris.

The women snickered.

Aron caught her and kept her from falling and Torin strode quickly to her.  Catching her chin and tipping her face up, he shook his head.  “Careful!  Fall and hurt self.”

Slightly mollified, Tilly sucked in a breath and released it slowly.

Then Torin slipped his hand down and cupped her belly.

She glared at him.

To her surprise, his lips curled up at one corner.  He settled a hand heavily on her shoulder and turned her to look as he gestured with his other arm and spoke to her in his language.

She didn’t have a frigging clue what he was talking about, but she got the impression he was explaining his plans for the place.  He looked down at her and grinned abruptly.  Leaning down, he brushed his lips across her crown.  “House here for mama and baby.”

Tilly’s head bobbed up so quickly she almost bumped his nose.  “Really?” she asked, thrilled beyond measure. 

“Yes,” he assured her.

She squealed with excitement, threw her arms around him, and squeezed him tightly.  “Thank you!”

He stroked her head, tightened his arms around her for a moment and then shifted away from her.  “One for all,” he said, nodding toward Kane with his chin.  “All make this.”

Tilly was more relieved that he’d given her permission to thank them all with the same warmth than she was dismayed or uncomfortable.  She turned and rushed to Kane, nearly tripping and falling on him.  He caught her and lifted her up and squeezed her in a bear hug and popped bones before he let her go with obvious reluctance.

Her enthusiasm held until she’d made the rounds of Torin’s crew and then nosedived when she turned to look at the prince.  To her surprise, he excused himself, rose and approached her with his arms out.  She threw herself at him—almost literally.

“Well, now that I have seen one of the creatures up close, I can’t say that I’m especially impressed.  But then I don’t suppose one can expect a whore to behave any better.”

Prince Rafe stiffened and turned to look at the woman who’d spoken. 
“My little Tilly cannot understand you, but I can
,” he said in a low, threatening voice.
  “These little Earth women were taken from their home and people without their consent and they have been used shamelessly by ours because of our desperate need.  You will not use that term about my Tilly—or in fact any of the Earth women—when they have given hope and joy and a future to our people.  They have saved us from the misery of mere survival.

“I have chosen Tilly to bear my heir when she has borne Commander Torin’s and I will expect her to be treated as my woman—my mate—should be.  Is that understood?”

The women paled and quickly bowed.

Tilly had no idea what they’d said, but it had been clear enough that it was insulting just from their expressions of contempt and the tone of voice.

It was also clear that the prince had taken them to task for it.

But the looks the women shot at her when they bowed to the prince also made it clear that they were a long way from conceding defeat and she had enemies.

She was able to mostly put the uncomfortable confrontation from her mind once they’d left, however, primarily because the men made it clear that they were expecting the baby she was carrying to be a first.

She hadn’t counted on that!  She hadn’t even completely digested the fact that she was pregnant.

But then Prince Rafe pulled her close to him and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. 

“Mine next.”

Tilly pulled away and looked up at him in confusion.  He slipped a hand between them and settled in on her rounding belly.  “Commander Torin’s here.  Den Prince Rafe’s.”

Tilly felt her jaw sag as that sank in.  She whipped a look at the other men and discovered they were grinning.  “Uh oh.  I’m in trouble.”

* * * *

It almost seemed as if everything began to happen in fast forward after that.  The men brought gifts—all sorts of things—and she wasn’t the only one being showered with every treasure the men could think of to please them.  Before long all of the rooms were crowded with offerings.

The one gift all of the women loved most, though, was a machine that made clothing!

Granted, it was only capable of producing simple designs—well, one. It could make a t-shaped tunic length piece or a t-shaped ankle length robe/gown.  After they’d played with it a while they managed to make simple trousers with it, as well.  And the machine created the cloth, so there was no limit to the wardrobes once they figured out which plant fibers worked for weaving.

Tilly thought they were fairly unanimous in having had no real domestic talents, or much interest for that matter, before they left Earth, but they were also unanimous in being extremely interested in the machine.  They began to squabble over it, in point of fact, until the prince put a stop to that and gave them one day each to use it.  They had to contain their impatience after that and wait their turn, but at least they knew they
had
a turn and no one to dispute it when it was their day.  Tilly spent her time experimenting with different fibers and dyes and patterns while she waited.  And she didn’t focus entirely on herself.  She made things for her new home and the baby she was expecting.

The home was completed, thankfully, several months before the baby’s arrival.  It wasn’t an easy first experience for Tilly.  She was frightened for one thing.  For another, she’d discovered about half way through that there wasn’t a doctor among the group.  There were a couple of nurse/medics, but no doctors—no hospital and very little in the way of medicines.

To her relief, the men had been planning the ‘project’ instead of leaving it entirely in her hands as an Earth father most likely would have.  She had a special birthing chair and the nano-suit was there to help control the pain and the contractions.

Which was a good thing because it was a whopping
huge
baby!

Tilly was surprised she couldn’t walk and talk upon arrival!

The men were absolutely ecstatic!  Torin looked a little faint part of the time and a little green part of the time—during the delivery—but the others crowded around and fought over who would hold her.

That was … downright shocking.  She hadn’t expected the men to pay much attention to an infant—particularly a female!  But
she
got more attention than her mother!

Well, her mother was mostly jealous because they were so busy taking care of her that she had to demand to hold the baby. 

As she drowsily studied the men gathered around the baby, she realized just how lucky she was that she’d been kidnapped so long ago and taken to another world by alien slavers.  If that hadn’t happened, she would’ve had a very boring life and
might
have found a good partner and had children—and might not have.

She had purpose here, though.  She had love.  She had security.

She had a lot of freaking enemies, too—because the Merkdar women totally despised her—but what the heck?  She had her guys and they were
bootiful!
  Besides being hung like rogue elephants and really, really good with their trunks!

The End.

Be sure to watch for the next book in the Alien Slavers series!