Chapter 16
Blair
Automatic doors slipped open before the bindings of the chair released all at once, and I was unceremoniously dumped on the floor of an office room.
I fell to my hands and knees on the beige carpet.
Righting myself, I looked up to find the last man I wanted to see was bound and gagged on a suede couch in the center of the room.
The Dulba king with his broad shoulders and jet-black hair was completely immobilized, yet still managed to look absolutely murderous.
Metal shackles were clamped firmly around his wrists and ankles, while his hands were bound even further with the glowing silver wire.
My gaze traveled from his ankles to his waist where a black strap bound his lap to the couch.
His mouth was covered with another strap, but it didn’t stop his fierce eyes from promising painful retribution to the mirror that took up most of the wall.
If I had to guess, it was probably a two-way mirror. Those freakish birds spent so much time yapping about how much they needed this guy and me to mate that we were probably under constant surveillance.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out why the mighty king was bound and gagged to the furniture.
Scorch marks littered the desk in front of him.
Knickknacks were scattered to the floor next to an obliterated shelf.
His hateful gaze turned to me for a split second.
He jerked on his restraints and nodded to them pointedly.
A smirk flitted across my face. “Oh my, how the tables have turned.” I sauntered up to him and placed my hands on my hips. Tilting my head, I asked, “What was that, darling? It couldn’t quite make it out.”
Rage, white and hot, rolled off the large man in waves, but a lot of good it did him in that position.
Feeling mischievous, I plucked the bindings on his hands, considering my options.
A wiser, more rational woman might just forgive and forget.
He may be a complete asshole, but so were the Biwban that had us both captured.
If I freed him now, he might just be able to blast our way out of here.
Seeing how tightly the muscles were bound in his neck, I imagine he was jumping at the chance to finish what he started before they had captured and bound him to the couch.
But what the fuck was the point of being rational when you were trapped on an alien planet? A better time to be a bitch might never exist.
“I suppose I could try to untie you,” I said, tracing my finger over his knuckles, before pulling slightly at the bindings wrapped around his fingers.
His skin was hot, and I knew that the silver wrapped tightly around his hands was the only reason sparks weren’t flying.
Bindings dug into his swollen muscles, and the sight of it sent a delicious flutter to my lower belly.
Never considered myself a BDSM girly, but something about your enemy bound and gagged did something for me in a way I did not expect.
The king stilled, eyes fixed on where my fingers met his. A muscle jumped in his jaw, and I got the naughtiest urge to lean down and lick it. Judging by the bulge in his pants, the king would let me. Instead, I pulled away and inspected my nails.
“But I just had my nails done right before I was abducted. I’ve already lost two, mind you,” I said, inspecting the broken off nail on my middle finger. “You know, if I remember correctly, I think I actually lost this one when you threw me in that fucking cage.”
The king reached up to grab me, but I only had to tilt away slightly before his bindings put me out of his reach.
“This is a good look on you,” I said. Putting my hands on both sides of his head, I leaned down until my lips teased the shell of his ear, relishing the way his breath stuttered. “Pathetic.”
“Ah, Subject 12, I see you’ve arrived a little earlier than I’d anticipated.
” The door opened, and another sparrow-colored Biwban flew in.
She sat herself behind the desk and shuffled the stack of papers on them, paying no mind to the fact that half of those pages were singed.
Flicks of ash littered the desk with each movement.
“Please take a seat, we have much to discuss.”
I did as instructed, laying my legs over Osid’s lap as I made myself comfortable. He shot me a scathing look. I winked back at him.
The Biwban cleared her throat and introduced herself as Dr. Hilt and informed us that she was here to help ease the transition into our new bond.
“Subject 12, seeing as your species is new to mate bonds, I’m sure you’ll have several questions for me.
Do you have any you’d like to ask before we get started with the evaluation? ”
“I’m so glad you asked,” I chirped in my best customer service voice. “There is one question in particular I’ve been dying to ask since you flew in here.”
Dr. Hilt sat up straighter in her seat, bright-yellow eyes gleaming with interest. “What might that be?”
“Why are you using paper when you’ve got holographic computers plugged into your wings?
” Every time I saw the intern write something down, it was always in the little computer he kept in his wing.
Even when I was rushed through the halls of the research center, every last little alien was glued to their screens worse than teenage girls.
Her feathers fell flat. After a moment, she cleared her throat and shuffled the papers again. “Perhaps I should have been more clear, do you have any questions about the X serum or—”
I cocked my head and asked, “Are you shuffling those papers around because you think it makes you like a human therapist?” When I stopped to really pay attention to the room, with its beige walls and almost uncomfortably open seating plan, the whole thing looked like it was decorated with the first Google results of “therapist’s office.
” On closer inspection, the picture of the smiling family hanging on the wall had a little too many teeth.
The little girl was fist pumping for some reason, but her fist was misshapen, and I didn’t know what was going on with her neck, but it couldn’t have been anything legal or good.
Dorothy mentioned the complete lack of research the Biwban put into this project. I’d yet to see the nonsensical AI billboards they’d apparently scattered around the planet, but looking at the clear guesswork thrown into this therapist’s office, I doubted her rage was unjustified.
With her lies exposed for the room to see, little miss therapist shrank farther into her seat and shuffled those damn papers again.
“Why don’t we go over your match with Subject S 52?
From what I’ve gathered, you two have had a rather unpleasant start to things.
If you are amenable to it, we could wipe your memories and orchestrate a more suitable meet-cute? ”
“I’m sorry…did you say ‘orchestrate a meet-cute’?”
Her crest feathers twitched. “That is the proper term for a couple’s first meeting, yes?” she reached a hand toward the long feathers on her wing, then paused and flipped through the papers in front of her.
“Show me the papers.”
“What?”
“The papers,” I said again slowly. “Show them to me.”
“I…there’s no need to—”
I crossed the room and snatched the papers out of her hand.
Raising them far above her head so she couldn’t snatch them back, and flipped it over, my eyes scanning for anything—scribbles, doodles, heck, even a coffee stain.
But nope, nada. Just a blank stare from a piece of paper as empty as a politician’s promises.
“I knew it, empty.” I turned the papers around to show Osid.
The king merely blinked, unimpressed. I rolled my eyes and tossed the papers over my shoulder. “What’s your real job, Dr. Hilt?”
“I have been appointed to fulfill the role of human couple’s therapist, your guide on this journey of…emotional enlightenment.”
“Emotional enlightenment?” I echoed, my brows climbing up my forehead. “Sounds like a bad self-help book you’d find in the bargain bin.”
She looked me over for a moment, then softened her gaze. “Subject 12, I completely understand how you may be feeling, and I want you to rest assured that we don’t expect you to be able to fall pregnant without your particular human needs met.”
Directing my attention to the screen, she played a video where a pink T.
rex was strapped to an operating table. A Biwban held a long-feathered stick close to her snout while a large collection cup was shoved beneath her mouth.
The Biwban tickled at the T. rex’s mouth until the beast grew frustrated and bit into the top of the cloth of the collection cup.
“As you can see here, we’ve managed to isolate the serotonin in the T.
rex’s venom and cross it with phenylethylamine derived from seaweed to re-create the mood-boosting effects of chocolate.
It will take more time to perfect the exact taste, but our research team is well on its way.
And you’ll be happy to know that our researchers did find a coffee plant in their scans.
Subject 4 has already instructed us to make it available throughout your environment. ”
Dorothy, you clever bitch. I would follow you into battle.
Sighing, I returned to my spot on the couch and let my body sag into the soft cushions. “Just tell me what you want.”
This caused her to brighten. “Excellent! As I was saying, this session is meant to open a dialogue between you and Subject S 52. Why don’t we start by removing the bindings from his mouth? There should be a blue button on the back of his wrap—”
“Nah, he’s fine,” I interrupted.
Osid’s tail whipped against my legs as he growled something unintelligible from behind his gag.
Chuckling, I pointed to the offending tail. “You see? Can’t trust this one. Say, what are the odds of me getting a second mate like Dory did?”
The body beneath my legs heated to a fever pitch as teal eyes tried to incinerate me on the spot.