You're Mine (Planet Double Dick #3)

Part One

Part Three

Rachel

I step from the spaceship I now know to be called Vortex One and take my first deep breath of alien atmosphere, but the air doesn’t go right to the base of my lungs, it thins out, ribbon-like. I’d been told the atmosphere was thinner and I really do feel that straight away.

I cough and blow out a shaky breath. I’ll get used to it…hopefully.

The other space-traveling women stand all around me, my three best friends, Sophie, Mel, and Tammy are close and wearing the same purple dress as I am. For a moment there is a collective freezing of movement as we all, fifty of us, take in the view.

A huge set of wide white steps leads down to what appears to be some kind of formal town or city square.

The steps are lined with softly billowing ferns that have a mixture of orange and purple leaves.

The square is surrounded by tall buildings, not unlike that of an Earth city though the sparkling shapes are unfamiliar; conical, pyramid, domed at the top.

They poke at a lavender-hazed sky that is blotted with several darker clouds skimming past not one but two dazzling purple suns.

But it is what’s in the square that has snatched my attention.

Men.

Alien Men.

They stand to attention military-style, fifty of them I’d guess, one for each of us.

They do not turn our way, instead they face a huge golden throne, atop it a broad-shouldered alien with a dark beard who I recognize as King Athos.

He grips the arms of the throne and tilts his face toward us. The plush red robe he wears is long and trails on the floor beside him, and some kind of creature, their version of a dog perhaps, sits obediently to his left.

“That’s the king,” Mel whispers.

“Yeah, we saw him on that video,” Sophie says.

“Now what?” Tammy asks.

I keep quiet, I’m sure the king has a plan. Or at least I hope he does.

Slowly the king stands and as he does I appreciate just how tall he is, how tall all of this species are. He walks forward, passing the row of waiting aliens and approaches us. When he is at the base of the steps he throws out his arms.

“Welcome Earth Women of Project Hope. We have awaited your arrival eagerly and now finally you are here on Planet Hade.” He draws his hands together and claps. “And I hear everyone is intact which is always a bonus.”

“What the hell? How did I get here?”

I turn at the sound of a panicked voice. It’s Visha, the woman who’d had a change of heart at the last moment so had been forcibly taken on board Vortex One.

“It’s okay,” says the redhead next to her. “The journey is done.”

“But I…” Tears flow down her cheeks. “I thought I was going home, I said I wanted to opt out and—” Her eyes dart around manically.

“It’s too late, you are light years from Earth. But stick with me, I’ll help you, I’m Candice.” The redhead links her arm firmly with Visha’s. “Quiet now, the king is speaking.”

Visha appears to hold in a sob and then grips her new friend.

The king moves his attention from the two women.

“Here on Planet Hade you will find that everyone speaks your language, it is something I’ve insisted upon to make you feel at home and to ensure all of your needs are met.

There are already fifty Earth women here who are thriving and breeding and they will be your guides just as you will guide the next pod of women who are due to arrive in one of your Earth years.

I say one of your Earth years because our years are eight months longer than yours, just one of the many things you will get used to.

” He points at the sky. “As are the two suns, Andri and Gorthin, Gorthin is the child of Andri, created after a meteor collision many millennia ago.”

The doggy creature walks past him and sits to observe us. I see it has two sparkling horns, just like all the men standing in the square.

“And now,” the king says, “It is time for you to meet your designated matches. Before you are some of Planet Hades finest soldiers, scientists, engineers, space travelers and medicine men. They are all virile, fertile, and strong and chosen to produce excellent off-spring as well as being excellent…what is the word you use…” He frowns and circles his right hand in the air.

“Partners. Yes, partners, or husbands if you wish.”

“Goddamn,” a woman to my side mutters. “Virile, fertile, and strong, yep they sure look it.”

She was right; the rows of horned men looked like a band of well-manicured pale purple Vikings.

Their barbarianism only just disguised beneath long plaited hairstyles, shaved heads, and what appears to be their version of ink on their faces and forearms. Several have piercings and without exception they wear purple tunics similar to our long gowns, paired with dark pants and boots.

“I hope I get a hot one,” Sophie says quietly.

“They’re all fucking hot,” Tammy adds. “Lord help us.”

“Have you seen their tails?” Mel whispers. “That’s just insane.”

“Insane freaky or insane sexy?” I ask, looking at one of the guys nearest to me. Protruding from his tunic is a long mauve tail. I can’t tell what the texture is like from this distance but it appears smooth and tapered.

“Sexy as hell,” Sophie says. “Do you think they’ll let us play with their tails? Could be interesting.”

I giggle, so do a few women around me.

“You will find,” the king says, “that your match will know you instinctively, they have studied your face and your data for many months, so please, I invite you to come down the steps, carefully please you have not used your legs for some time, and be claimed.”

“Claimed? Oh fuck.” A strange sensation goes through me, half thrill and half terror. Which one is mine? Which big badass alien will claim me?

My attention skims the men as we descend.

My heart is thumping. Will it be him with the beard full of beads and silver?

Or the one with the braids pulled back into a thick bunch on the top of his crown?

Perhaps the one with the golden horns or him with the ink on the side of his purple cheek that goes right down his throat?

I reach the base. Mel’s shoulder nudges mine and Sophie grips my hand. We stick together, the four of us, until an alien man—steely gray eyes, clean jaw line, and thick pendant around his neck—grips Tammy’s shoulder.

She gasps and looks up at him.

He stares into her eyes with an intensity that makes my stomach do a strange flip.

“You’re mine,” he says. “From this moment forth, Tammy Marie Kennedy, you are all mine.”

She makes a strange squeaking sound and turns to Mel.

“It’s okay,” Mel says, though her voice is as tight as a violin string, “This is why we are here.”

He doesn’t take his attention from Tammy and his nostrils flare.

I cannot see a softness to him, just strength and determination and that scares me.

“You will come this way,” he says, wrapping his huge arm around her slim waist.

“I’m not sure this is quite right or what we were expecting in this first instance and—”

His gaze has swung to mine. “Your friend will never fear harm from me, El-Frankin, or anyone else, ever, that is my promise to you, friend of Tammy’s.”

“Are you sure?” Mel asks, holding Tammy’s wrist as though she also doesn’t want to let her go. “Do you swear, she is my sister you know. I love her more than anything else in all of the Universe.”

“I swear on the Sky God Butan, she is safe when she is with me.” He dips his head and presses his hand to his chest. “Always.”

“You’re mine.” A huge purple hand clamps down on Mel’s shoulder and a figure looms behind her.

She gasps, releases Tammy and spins around coming face-to-chest with another huge alien. This one has long sleek hair, somewhat metallic in color, like an oil spill, that hangs to his shoulders. His horns protrude from the strands and his dark beard is similarly smooth and shiny.

“I am?” Mel manages, her hand pressing on her chest. “Yours?”

“Yes, Melanie Anne Kennedy, you are now belonging to Ar-Hagan, Planet Hade’s Ambassador with Earth.” He tilts his chin and studies her. “Your new life starts here.”

“Well, Ar-Hagan, it is very nice to make your acquaintance.” Mel holds his gaze. If I didn’t know her better I’d say she was confident but the tell tale twitch of her bottom lip and her pinched finger and thumb tell me otherwise. “I hope we can be friends as well as breeding partners.”

The right side of his mouth twitches, almost a smile. “I hope for that too.” He wraps his arm around her waist and before Sophie and I can say goodbye she is gone. Tammy has disappeared too.

All around us aliens are claiming their human mates with efficiency. The crowd is beginning to thin.

“Maybe they’ve forgotten us,” Sophie says. “Maybe we didn’t go on the list or something.”

“Are you hoping for that?” I ask my mouth dry with nerves.

“No…I don’t think so…but they’re huge, imagine what their dicks are like and we’ve been sent here to fuck them, what if we can’t take it? What if our little Earth pussies just can’t cope?”

I don’t have time to respond because a thick press of body heat appears at my side.

I look up, and up some more. He seems taller than the rest and his face is more angular, his shoulders broader.

“You’re mine,” he says in a gruff, scratchy voice and cups my chin in his warm palm. “Rachel Victoria Talbot.”

I gulp. His velvety blue eyes are unblinking as he stares into my soul.

His hair is shaven over his slightly pointed ears and then pulled back in a braid, his horns protruding. There is no stubble on his jaw line just a swirl of ink, some intricate design that reminds me of a string of molecules.

“Hello,” I say in a squeaky voice. His bulk has made me feel both small and the center of his world.

“You’re mine,” he repeats. “If anyone asks you belong to Tr-Argan of Soldane.”

“And are you mine?” I ask, not breaking eye contact.

He lowers his face until our noses are almost touching and I breathe in the sweetly spiced scent of him. “I am yours until the day I die, Rachel. That is how it is here, when we match we commit until the last breath.”