Claimed for the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📗

a bed of purple Earth heather. I stretched out over her, tucking one hand under her hip and the other under her head to pull her into a kiss.

As always, she met my touch with equal passion. My cock hardened at the feel of her under me, and she whimpered deep in her throat as she felt it brush up against her through my chavan.

Within moments, though, she was pulling away from me—as she had done every time I had kissed her. “That green paint on your skin makes you look like Christmas,” she murmured, reaching up to run her finger through the paint on my chest, drawing an Earther’s representation of a heart.

I glanced down at myself. “With some interesting purple smudges where it touched the paint on your chest.”

“On my shirt,” she corrected.

“We could change that. I would love to rub this paint all over your skin,” I murmured as I ducked down to claim her lips again.

The more time I spent with Mia, the more certain I became that she feared taking a mate at all. It wasn’t me—I was certain of it.

She responded to my kisses, but she feared her own response.

I must find a way to change that.

A ding from my wrist interrupted us, and I pulled away from Mia to check my com, groaning aloud when I saw the message. “Vos Klavoii wants us to meet him in Medical in an hour.”

She wiped her hair from her brow and frowned down at her soiled clothes. “That should give me time to shower and change, then. I’ll meet you there.”

Chapter Thirteen

Mia

Back in my room, I took a quick shower, then pulled on a bright red dress that swung around my legs.

As I made my way toward Medical to meet Eldron, I considered how well the day had gone.

Not just the game, though I had to admit I enjoyed that part even more than I had expected to.

No. The game hadn’t actually been my goal. I had spent all day wandering around Station 21, ostensibly to gather up supplies for the impromptu paint gun game.

Really, what I had been doing was figuring out how to get away. And also determining whether there were any sneaky methods of getting weapons. Not to use on anyone here—at least, I didn’t plan to. But if I could get some kind of weapon off the station and down to Earth with me, I might be able to use them to protect myself and Josiah, if I ever needed to.

I had gotten the information I needed, too.

It had been easy to pretend to be turned around, lost in the station. And I had watched everyone as they had gone about their day, using their wristcoms in place of typical Earth ID badges.

So that was it. All I had to do was steal an official wristcom and use it to make my way off the station.

A bitter laugh echoed in my head. Like that’s going to be easy.

But at least it was a plan.

Eldron was waiting for me outside Medical, where he took my hand to lead me inside, where Cav and Natalie stood with another Khanavai male with skin the same hot pink shade as Thorvid’s nose-braid. They all gathered around a medbay gurney holding a human woman.

It took me a second, and I did a double-take when I realized the Khanavai male was Zont. That meant…I glanced over at the woman on the gurney. Yep, that was Amelia Rivers, the runaway bride.

My stomach sank at the reminder of how difficult it was to get away from the Khanavai.

Cav was already speaking, introducing us to them. “Zont, Amelia, I’d like you to meet Commander Eldron Gendovi and his bride, Mia.”

I stiffened at the description and Eldron glanced down at me briefly. “Only a prospective bride thus far,” he said mildly.

“Nice to meet you, Sir,” Zont said, doing that chest-thumping salute thing of theirs, but ending with a flourishing bow.

Eldron gave an abbreviated version and did not return the bow. I wondered if that had something to do with their rank.

“The commander specifically asked to meet with you and Amelia,” Cav said. “Especially since he and Mia are about to have to go through a round of Bride Games themselves.”

I turned a startled glance toward Eldron. I didn’t know he had asked to meet them.

Then again, I hadn’t even known they were on the station.

Can I really get away from these guys?

“You think they’ll make us go through the Bride Games?” Zont was asking.

“Probably.” Eldron nodded. “I wasn’t able to get us out of it. No matter how many favors I tried to pull in.”

Something else I hadn’t known.

If I had even the slightest plan to end up marrying Eldron, I would be insisting on having him practice some better communication skills.

Lucky for me, I had absolutely zero intention of sticking around.

Zont looked fairly panicked and grabbed Cav’s arm as if to say something, but Vos Klavoii’s human assistant, Anthony, bustled into the room.

“Oh, good. You’re all here. Please follow me to Mr. Klavoii’s office.”

“Not us,” Eldron whispered to me as Zont helped Amelia off the gurney and the other two couples followed Anthony.

“What was she in here for?” I asked once they were gone.

“Amelia? Implant replacement. She and Zont spent the last week on Earth unable to even talk to each other.”

I chewed on my bottom lip. That meant that Medical had replacement chips in stock? I wondered if I could snag one of those before I left, too.

“What are you so thoughtful about, my vanata?” Eldron’s question snapped me out of my plotting.

“Nothing. Just wondering why Vos would have us come down here then immediately drag everyone else away.”

He shrugged. “Almost certainly some scheme that will bring him more viewers.”

With a snort, I agreed.

“As long as we’re here, though,” the commander continued, “why don’t we go get something to eat?”

No. I couldn’t spend any more time with him—not if I wanted to keep my sanity when it