not want her.
Chapter Ten – Rikka
So this was the female he was matched with. It was the one he had spoken to on the space station; she had not left a good impression. She had not left an impression on him at all.
“We will wait for the others to leave and then we can return to my cruiser. I would like to get out of here, get some fresh air, and feel the wind on my face. It has been a long day,” Rikka said. In truth, he didn’t feel comfortable being in an enclosed space with her. Thoughts of what they were supposed to do, of how they were supposed to join together , were unnerving him.
“Can you show me your planet?” she asked. “Can we go and take a closer look at the arunda?”
“If you want.” He stood in silence, watching as the others departed, and let the quiet settle around him before he walked to his ship, expecting her to follow. She did. Suddenly she looked alone and vulnerable, but he did not allow his softer side to appear. No, these humans needed to be treated with a firm hand.
Beside him, she shivered, despite the heat from the two suns shining down on the sheltered courtyard. She was scared. He allowed his senses to roam beyond his body, to pick up her scent, sweet, like a flower, but he could not tell what kind of flower. He was a warrior, not a gardener.
Then he let the heat of her body reach him, the hairs on his arms reaching out towards her as if they were willing him to touch her, to feel her skin against his. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he leaned closer to her, drawn by these new sensations, which wanted to wash over him. These human females were more dangerous than he thought. She was captivating him with no words, no touch.
He turned his head, taking in her profile, and then his eyes dropped from her face, down over the rest of her body, the curve of her breasts, the roundness of her stomach, the way her pants clung to her thighs. Rikka had a sudden urge to see her naked, to see how she compared to the sim, and if, just as Okil had said, he would become smitten with a creature whom at this moment he found somewhat distasteful.
“We should go.” He strode off, with Gaia, her pack hitched on her shoulder, having to jog to keep up. His long legs took him up the ramp in three strides, and he had to wait for her at the top as she clambered aboard, looking shaken. He longed to know what was going through her head. What she thought of him.
It didn’t matter. She was his to do with as he pleased. Her sole purpose was to breed with him. If she wasn’t happy then she could amuse herself in between submitting to him in bed. He had to be strong, and make sure she knew the boundaries of their relationship. Her behaviour would reflect on him, and if he ever found her taking stims or showing the distasteful behaviour of the other two females, then she would be whipped.
Yet as she moved past him, his nostrils catching the scent of her sweetness on the air, he knew his hard façade would crack at the moment she cried. Part of him, a part he had never known existed, wanted to cherish and protect her. Maybe an innate part of the Karal had become dormant over the last few generations and now these human females were waking it up from deep within them.
“Where shall I sit?” she asked.
This space cruiser was smaller than the one they had journeyed in from Earth. It made little sense for her to sit in the cramped seats in the hold area, so he pointed to the control deck. “Through there. The seat on the left.”
“OK. I’ll try not to touch anything,” she said with a slight lift of her mouth; she was trying to lighten the mood between them. Or was she trying to seduce him with her feminine wiles, wiles no Karalian had experienced for centuries, until these humans had come to their planet. Perhaps they were hoping no other planet would be needed and that if they seduced enough Karalians, his species would allow them to live here amongst them and bring their families. Until