Entered in the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (best large ebook reader TXT) 📗

Tiziani held her down with his forearm and flipped her skirt up to expose her round butt. She wore nothing but a scrap of underclothing, a choice I assumed had been made by the Games Administrator for their prurient appeal.

Tiziani raised his hand, and a growl began rumbling deep in my throat. He brought his palm down against her ass, his bright yellow hand making contact with both cheeks at once. A loud crack sounded through the room.

Natalie screamed in pain and redoubled her struggles. The growl that had been working its way up my throat burst out as a full-blown roar.

A haze of purple clouded my vision, and I realized I was standing without having any recollection of getting to my feet.

Tiziani raised his hand again. “You will behave in a manner befitting my mate,” Tiziani thundered. “The mate of a royal guardsman!” His hand cracked down again.

Natalie was right. This was barbaric—at least the way Tiziani was doing it.

I will not allow him to hurt my mate.

“Cav, where are you going?” Drindl’s high-pitched voice followed me as began moving. I ignored her and strode to the door, throwing it open and breaking into a jog as I headed toward the game rooms.

Drindl and Plofnid gave chase, scampering around me like buzzing, squeaking, irritating insects—until I turned and snarled at them both. They both skidded to a stop and stood frozen in fear.

“Do not follow me,” I ground out.

They didn’t.

Good, I thought. No more interference.

Chapter Thirteen

Natalie

I could not believe this was happening to me. As they had coaxed me into wearing this ridiculous outfit and tried to tame my riotous curls, Plofnid and Drindl had assured me that the spanking ceremony would be fun. Entertaining. More a game than a punishment.

But here I was, bent over the knee of Banana-Man, enduring the most painful, humiliating thing that had ever happened to me.

Yeah, I had figured out his name. But after this bullshit? He was going to be Banana-Man forevermore. The next time Vos put me on camera, I was going to announce the obnoxious windbag’s name to the whole universe.

And I was going to make sure this motherfucker never touched me again. Just as soon as I got away from him.

His huge hand slapped down on my ass for a second time, and an unwilling scream ripped from my throat. Tears sprang to my eyes and I fought harder than before to get away from him. But my torso was pinned against his legs and no matter how hard I kicked, I couldn’t reach him with my feet.

Yeah. I was definitely going to have some choice things to say to Vos the next time he interviewed me. I couldn’t believe the Khanavai Bride Games Administrator had arranged to have me locked in a room with this monster.

Still, though, I was more angry than frightened. It would be bad PR for the Khanavai to allow me to be injured permanently.

Or worse.

Wouldn’t it? Surely they wouldn’t let him take this much farther.

Banana-Man’s hand lifted high above my stinging ass, preparing to deliver yet another blow. My shoulder brushed against his lap as I tried to push my way free, and I realized I had just felt his erection.

Bile rose in my throat, the acid taste of a sudden wash of true fear running through me.

The Human-Khanavai Bride Alliance Treaty said that no woman could be forced. Not to marry, not to have sex. We could only be convinced, either by individuals or during the Bride Games.

I was being convinced of something all right, but it wasn’t to have anything to do with this beast ever again.

I was trying to figure out if I could reach myself around to get my mouth close enough to any exposed skin to bite him. Preferably hard enough to draw blood. The threat of being hit again momentarily outweighed my revulsion at the idea of putting my mouth anywhere against Banana-Man. If I could bite him hard enough to distract him, maybe I could get away.

And go where?

I ignored the mocking voice in my head and kept fighting. I was still struggling, trying to find a way to get my mouth to his exposed calf above the top of his military boot when the door to the spanking chamber crashed open with the screeching sound of tearing metal.

I turned my head to the side to discover another pair of Khanavai military boots standing in the room.

“Help!” I screamed, before I even realized who it was. Some part of my mind remembered that in an emergency people responded more to cries of Fire! than they did calls for help, so I even threw that in. “Get me out of here! Fire! Help!”

That’s when I realized it was Cav. I followed the line of his legs up to his enormous muscular torso, until I met his gaze with my own, my eyes pleading.

The blue Khanavai warrior let out an inarticulate bellow. He dove toward me and with one hand, snatched me off of Banana-Man’s lap. With the other hand, he lifted Banana-Man out of the oversize chair and tossed him all the way across the room. The yellow alien hit the wall with a giant, metallic bang that echoed around us. His head snapped back and hit again, and Banana-Man slid down into a crumpled heap on the floor.

I wanted to cheer. Instead, I threw my arms around Cav’s neck and began babbling, alternately begging him to save me and pleading with him not to hit me. “Get me out of here. But don’t do the spanking ceremony. Please, don’t do that. I can’t take it. No more. That is not foreplay. Get me out of here.”

Cav lifted me to cradle me in his arms like a child. With one hand, he gently rubbed my back. “Don’t worry, little one, I will never let anyone hurt you again.”

He strode out into the hall and away from the scene of my degradation. To my utter humiliation,