The Alpha King (10 page)

"How horrible!" Tal gasped before stepping into fully into the massive bathroom. "That's not how we're going to do things. There will be no nanny. No one raises our children but us. I guess we'll just have to start a new tradition."

Blaze stood looking at his mate in amazement, the thought they could just do that, raise their own litter and change tradition, had never occurred to him. Perhaps he could start a new way of living, create a new standard of rules and practices. Perhaps they could. They were the royal Alpha family now and they could practically change any law or tradition they wanted. No better place to start than with their own family. Things would be different, be better for the people of Tumaro, but also for their family because they would make things better.

He and his Alpha Queen.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Tal had been too busy being fucked by his mate the night before to take much notice of their bathroom but this time his eyes took stock of all the details. The room sparkled. The tiles were gleaming silver and the walls shone as if covered in diamonds. Upon closer inspection, Tal realized they were indeed, covered in gems. Then again, diamonds were in abundance on Tumaro, unlike other planets. Against the right wall rested the largest tub in history… well, the largest one he'd ever seen. Big enough to fit five adult Tumaron shifter males and their mates. Opposite the tub stood a large shower with three nozzles on every side, one at the top, one waist high, one at ankle height. A small door in the center of the left wall led to the toilet and 'his' and 'her' vanity counters, overlaid in black and silver granite built on either side of the doorway.

"Holy shit," Tal breathed, his eyes wide when he took in the luxury of the room, drifting down until they fell on the emblem of a wolf carved into the floor. "This is a fucking palatial bathroom," he whispered, shaking himself mentally when Blaze chuckled.

"Of course, this is a palace. Where else would a king live?" Blaze asked. "Now, about the whole issue with the nanny."

Tal gave him a brief scowl before returning to their earlier conversation. "I don't care how they used to do things, but if I am going to have to give birth to our children, then I'm damn sure going to have the pleasure of raising them the way I want them to be raised, to have my influences and nuances. No ifs, ands, or buts about it," he declared emphatically before turning towards the shower and stepping inside. "I don't care if you are the damned Alpha King. I'm the Alpha Queen and that makes me the Queen Bitch."

Tal laughed, sure if Josie had heard that statement she would have been quick to agree whole heartedly. Sobering at the thought of his still missing sister, he turned to the many different nozzles surrounding him and made a promise that before he even thought about settling down into his new role as the Alpha Queen, he would make sure he fulfilled his role as 'Tally, younger brother to Josepire'.

"Now, come show me how to work this damn shower so we can meet this Elder, and you can show me around my new home before we go find my sister," Tal commanded, determined not to think about the fact he'd been fucking and orgasming, sleeping, eating, and learning about his new mate, while his sister might have been suffering through god knew what.

Josie would never let him live it down.

If they ever found her.

* * * *

Blaze nodded and without another word stepped forward to shower with his mate.

He admired Tal, feeling pride at the firm stance he'd taken on the rearing of their children, and Blaze's cock grew hard at his mate's commanding tone and unflinching declaration. Damn, but his little Vermithian could be sexy as hell. He knew Tal worried about his sister and Blaze hesitated to tell Tal the news he'd been given when he'd gone to get their breakfast tray earlier. There had been no one else among the wreckage of the shuttle. He didn't think his mate had lied about his sister being with him, a wolf shifter could smell a lie on a non-shifter a mile away, but he thought maybe his mate probably didn't remember everything, which meant his sister either died in the crash… or she'd never made it to Tumaro in the first place.

* * * *

Josie groaned and opened her eyes, looking around. What the hell happened? And why did her body feel like a hover-craft had landed on top of her? Slowly images of Tal flooded her mind, their conversations, the space storm that had arisen, being thrown out of warp into the pull of the Tumaro atmosphere. The crash landing. The. Crash. CRASH?

Tal!

Pushing herself up, she clawed her way through the plants and overgrowth of bushes and flowers, glad Tal couldn't see her killing all of nature's beauty around her when she pushed her way free and up onto her feet. Swaying, the blood rushed to her head and as she struggled to regain her equilibrium. She put a hand to her temple and groaned again. She had to find Tal. He had so much beauty, if she didn't find him quick some big, ugly puppy shifter would discover and claim him for his own sex slave or something. She hesitated in taking a step, her mind flashing with images of papers she'd found in her father's office. Papers about a sex slave ship and two young Vermithian boys onboard. She didn't think her father had any interest in purchasing the boys, the guy defined straighter than straight. And he'd always been a fine, upstanding member of the GPA and Edifician community. But he'd been investigating that particular ship with those particular boys for a reason, and she'd wanted to know why.

Turning to the left, she saw the remains of the shuttle and a sob caught in her throat. What if she found Tal among the rubble? How would she feel if she discovered her brother dead? She shook her head and stumbled towards the debris. She wouldn't think that way. She'd search for her bag with the files in it and the hidden vid disc that had been made for Tal by his secret benefactor, AKAR—she'd love to know the real name of said benefactor—and then she'd worry about the rest.

Pulling with all of her strength, she lifted and pushed aside wires, charred metal, destroyed seating, panels, door fragments, and motherboards until she saw jewels, gems, Malui, and the food they'd brought on board. Holding open the velvet-lined box that Tal used to keep his most prized treasures in, she filled up the bottom of the box with the items. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed Tal's pet flower, lying safely on its side underneath an arch of debris as if it had rolled under the twisted metal to hide itself. Tal would tell her the flower had done that exact thing.

She picked up the pet and set it alongside everything else in the box she had placed just outside the broken shuttle remains. Wiping away the tears that had somehow managed to escape, no doubt spreading soot and grime on her cheeks, she turned back to her search. Giving a small cry of triumph at the sight of her bag, she pulled it free of the piece of shuttle it had been trapped under then opened it and exhaled slowly when she saw everything still intact. Thank the gods for a small favor. Turning back to the box, she started to lift it up, but decided at the last minute to cover it with a blanket previously twisted around the column of the shuttle's destroyed roof frame, keeping it from the elements and prying eyes of others

She turned to leave and hadn't taken two steps before she heard shouting and the pounding of what sounded like a pack of animals rushing towards her. Bracing her feet, she reached into the bag slung over her shoulder and pulled out her electron phaser, hoping had enough charge to do some serious damage.

"Halt, in the name of Alpha King Blazell! Who goes there?" a loud voice yelled out.

Josie turned to look at the man who stood before her. Over six feet, broad shouldered and tan, with long, black hair, he was be gorgeous and she would be flirting with him, if he weren't holding a GPA-issued molecule phaser aimed directly at her. She glared. She wouldn't tell him anything, not until she found her brother.

"What's your name and what planet do you come from?" he asked and stepped closer to her.

She lifted her head to maintain eye contact and maintained her glare. "Did you find anyone else out here with this shuttle?" Her voice sounded raspy and scratchy from smoke inhalation and thirst.

The taller man hesitated for only a second before leveling the phaser on her more directly. "You are within the walls of the palace of the Alpha King of Tumaro. You are a trespasser. You don't get to ask questions. I do. Now, who are you?" he asked again.

Josie wouldn't be deterred. She didn't know this man from the next one, but he could have Tal or know something about him. And he didn't need to know her name. Besides, if she told him, he might kill her to get information out of Tal. She didn't know much about the shifter race but she'd heard stories about their rages and violent tendencies. And her ex-boyfriend, while not Tumaron, but a different kind of shifter, used to explode in anger at the slightest provocation. And Tal did a lot of deliveries for the GPA, which meant he possessed a wealth of information about other planets. She wouldn't do anything to put her brother in further danger.

She'd keep it simple. "Did. You. Find. Anyone. Else. Here?" she asked through gritted teeth.

When they remained still, their expressions angry and low growls emanating up from their chests, she answered with a growl of her own. "Where is he? Where's my brother? He was with me! Where is he?"

She hissed when the man in front of her grabbed her arm furiously, nodding to one of the other guards to take the box and her bag. She yelled out and tried to keep her possessions, but her arms were forced behind her back and magnetic cuffs restrained her wrists. She struggled harder and yelled obscenities at the backs of the guards when they led her away from the rubble and to gods knew where.

"Give me my fucking bag, you godsdamn puppies!" she spat.

Had Tal been there, he would have said her mouth would get her in trouble again. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she felt the sudden zap from the phaser, and promptly passed out.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Torqran grunted when his orgasm swept over him, biting down on his lip when the top of his aching erection exploded with the white liquid of his release. Lorthander's cock jerked and then spewed its seed deep within Torqran's bowels and he groaned, enjoying the feeling of the other man inside him. Sometimes he wished he and Lorthander could be together officially in front of everyone but it would never be possible, because that would make him gay—something unacceptable in their society. Being gay on Strawxig would be grounds for incarceration or execution, depending on if the offense had been committed before.

If he and Lorthander were caught, they'd both be executed, they'd been having sex every single day for the last twenty-five years; since the day they both turned eighteen and discovered their feelings for each other. But a public relationship between them would be seen as wrong and the fact they felt as if they were mates put them in an impossible situation. So they stole away to enjoy each other's bodies, to enjoy each other, and then they went on to the rest of their lives. Back to their wives and children.

He grinned when Lorthander collapsed over him, the larger man gasping for breath. Torqran closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before coming to his senses at the sound of his communicator beeping. He and Lorthander hissed when the other man pulled out of Torqran and he reached for his communicator, placing it on his ear before answering.

"Go," he said.

He didn't need to introduce himself. As the head of the GPA, he didn't need a fucking greeting or introduction.

"Master Torqran, it's Nortuvious," the man on the other side of the communicator answered.

Torqran tried not to show his distaste for the vampire. The vampires and snake shifters were distant relations after all, but Torqran just couldn't stomach them. They were always so much stronger than they appeared and Torqran couldn't tolerate people whose appearance belied their reality.

"Update," he replied tersely.

He wanted the call to end quickly. He needed the call to end quickly. He shivered and held back a groan when Lorthander kissed up his spine. He loved how insatiable his bigger mate always proved to be for him. Lorthander stood at six foot eight inches with muscles on top of muscles, gold snake eyes, short brown hair, closely cropped to his head, a square jaw, dimpled chin, and a crooked nose that hadn't healed properly. He'd gotten it the day he and Torqran had slept together the first time. It had been a major fiasco and an almost dismal failure, but they'd gotten better at it over the years. Lorthander also happened to be hung like a bear shifter, long and wide, and he'd been teased about having some bear in his family tree during their years at the Academy.

Lorthander had merely smiled and called the other guys jealous, and they had been. Lorthander had enjoyed telling a then twenty-year-old, thin, red-haired Torqran about how many guys had asked to suck his cock or asked to have Lorthander fuck them. It had always made him laugh when Torqran would leap on him and rip the clothes from his body in an effort to reassert his claim over the other man.

Torqran remained thin, still had red-hair, but he'd left twenty behind a long time ago. He never felt the need to reassert his claim. Lorthander belonged to him.

Torqran bit his lip when Lorthander's tongue traced its way down his spine to the middle of his ass cheeks. About five seconds away from hanging up on Nortuvious, he jumped slightly when Lorthander gave him a small bite on the top of his right ass cheek. Okay… two seconds.