“Don’t fret, Aldvirion,” Wexxon started. “I won’t be taking any female to bed who isn’t my wife from here on out.”
“Your wife?” Aldvirion shifted his attention toward me, as if he was just noticing my existence for the first time. “You…you’ve married? And she is exotic?”
“Hi.” I awkwardly waved a hand over at Aldvirion. “I’m Rachel. Rachel Waters.”
“And where do you hail from, Rachel Waters?”
“I’m from—”
“It doesn’t matter where she hails from,” Wexxon interrupted our conversation. “She hails from me now. And I hail from her. She is mine.”
“She is yours, indeed…” Aldvirion’s words trailed off as he mused. “So, shall I alert the rest of the castle? Or would you prefer for it to remain a secret for the night? Before the consummation?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you alert the castle or not,” Wexxon replied. “The circumstances are not going to change.”
“…Then, I choose to alert the castle.” Aldvirion grinned. “You know how poorly the people of Xelxar deal with surprises, and there will be nothing more surprising than our greatest warrior returning from his daily travels with a wife at his side.”
Aldvirion then nodded over toward me before he spoke. “It’s been an honor to meet you, Rachel Waters. You must truly be worthy to be chosen by Wexxon the Great.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow morning, friend,” Wexxon replied as he took me by the hand, gently leading me away from the castle’s front room. A few seconds later, we dipped into what looked like a deserted hallway. There wasn’t another soul in sight, each of the rooms and doors that lined the hall seemingly sealed shut.
“Where are you taking me?” I murmured, a small panic threatening to overtake my frame.
“This is only a shortcut,” Wexxon answered. “I’d like not avoid repeating our little run-in with Aldvirion.”
“But you told him that it doesn’t matter if the castle knows about us or not—”
“That’s because it doesn’t,” Wexxon interjected. “But…there are some…particulars that must be handled before I ever let you out of my sight.”
“…The consummation.” I whispered the phrase under my breath. “You don’t want anyone else seeing me before it’s official.”
“Correct.”
“…Why not?” I pressed. “Is there some kind of Xelxar code of combat about new marriages? Can someone challenge you to a battle and win me for the night?”
“Is this how you treat all new cultures to you?” Wexxon snarled as he turned around to look me in the face. “You’re disrespectful of what you don’t understand?”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, a terrified shiver running through me. “I wasn’t trying to insult you or upset you. I just…I don’t understand yet. I’m sorry.”
“It is okay, Rachel Waters.” Wexxon sighed, his body seeming to relax with the motion. “I apologize for raising my voice at you. A male does not treat his mate in such a way.”
“It’s okay, Wexxon.” I smiled back at him. “I think…in a weird way…we’re both having a surprisingly stressful day—”
“Here,” Wexxon interrupted me as he pulled me toward an even darker hallway. Although our trek into the darkness only lasted for a minute or two, because soon we were bathed in nothing but bright lights. As we walked through the brightness, I instinctively held my hands up toward my eyes, trying to shield them from the light.
But another moment passed, and the bright lights were gone, now replaced with lights of a softer tone, ones that didn’t hurt my eyes when they caught their glow.
When I realized my eyes were safe, I moved my hands away from my face, taking a second to glance around at my surroundings.
Holy shit.
This must’ve been Wexxon’s bedroom at the castle. The room was so huge it looked more like the foyer of a large mansion in and of itself, the ceilings seeming to go on forever, the windows so large there was a view of the planet clear from the other side of the room. My breath caught in my chest when I spotted the decorations on each of his walls, swirls of color that seemed to move on their own, changing into different shapes and figures each time I blinked.
“This is…” I struggled to find the right words as I continued to look around the room, feeling like I noticed something for the first time each time my head moved in a different direction. “Wexxon, this is beautiful.”
“It is for us,” he said, matter-of-factly before he gently wrapped an arm around my waist. “This is all yours now, too, little warrior. This is your home.”
“Wexxon—” I started to speak again, but this time I was interrupted by Wexxon’s grip getting even tighter around my waist. Soon enough, he’d pulled me up into his arms, the robe that’d been wrapped around me easily slipping down to the floor as he walked toward another side of the room.
Fuck.
I was naked and an alien was clearly carrying me off to bed.
I quietly whimpered as the mark on my forearm slightly throbbed with pain. This wasn’t just any alien carrying me off to bed for the night. This was supposed to be my husband. And even though a part of me wanted to make a run for it, wanted to kick and scream as hard as I could if he even laid a hand on me, the more rational part of my brain already knew the truth.
If it wasn’t Wexxon in bed, it was going to be Wexxon in the arena.
And I knew that I didn’t stand a fucking chance in the latter.
When we finally reached his bed, I couldn’t help the soft gasp of surprise that escaped my lips. I hadn’t known what I’d been expecting, worried that the people of Xelxar slept in swamps or upside down like vampire bats. But when I spotted the large, plush mattress, complete with what looked like feathery pillows at the head of the bed, I nearly leapt away from Wexxon’s frame, my body soon landing on the soft-as-clouds mattress.
Fuck.
Maybe it really was made out of clouds. It was obvious that Xelxar was miles ahead of Earth when it came to technology, so for all I knew, they’d figured out a way to make it work.
Although, even as I admired the softness of the mattress, I knew what Wexxon was going to be expecting of me. A good night’s rest was going to come at the price of my body, and I briefly wondered if it was going to be short and painful or long and torturous.
“Are you a virgin?” Wexxon asked, his voice low. He was standing beside the bed, pulling off the cloth that’d been wrapped around his waist, its color nearly identical to his skin.
Is it camouflage?
I would’ve sworn that the cloth had been his skin all along, that all of him was just muscles and scars. But it was obvious that I’d been wrong in my assessment, now realizing just how woefully incorrect I’d been as I spotted Wexxon’s huge cock hanging between his thighs.
“I’m not a virgin,” I murmured as I shook my head, my eyes still lingering on Wexxon’s shaft.
“When was the last time you took a mate?”
“Six months ago,” I admitted.