Interstellar Brides® Program Boxed Set

Chapter 2-2

Goran nodded and grabbed the doctor’s arm, tugging him away. With one last narrowed glance over his shoulder, Bron was led out of the tent through a flap on the far wall. I briefly saw the shapes of other tents, but the view was quickly blocked once again.

Now alone with me, Tark turned to look down on me, a towering warrior hungry for his bride. I couldn’t believe this man was my mate. While I’d dreamed of finding someone special, it was quite different to know in advance that he was the one. There was no dating, no courtship to discover common interests and compatibility. It was actually very unnerving. Add to that, I was on a new planet halfway across the galaxy!

the one.I could hear things through the thin walls: voices, odd mechanical noises, unusual sounds that had to come from animals. Perhaps horses? What kind of animals did they have on Trion?

“What Bron said is true. You are not to speak to him in such a way.”

My eyes widened. “He wasn’t acting as a doctor should,” I countered.

He took a moment, as if considering. “You are new here and therefore I will take that into account regarding your punishment.”

“Punish—”

He raised a hand and cut me off. “Impertinence is not allowed.”

I frowned. “He was the one who was impertinent.”

He Tark rolled his shoulders back and appeared to have grown an inch. “Who is being impertinent now?”

He took two steps with his long legs to a simple, short bench. It appeared to be made of wood, but I had no idea if that was true. Did they even have trees on Trion?

When he sat down, he held out his hand. “Come.”

I looked at his fingers, long and blunt, but did not move. “Why?”

“I will give you your first lesson about Trion.”

That seemed reasonable considering I had only been on the planet for about five minutes. I closed the distance between us. Before I knew what had happened, he grabbed me about the waist and placed me over his lap. I was not a small woman and he did the maneuvering as if I were a petite waif.

My hips were over his hard thighs, my upper body bent toward the gray flooring, my breasts hanging down. The chain that dangled between them brushed against the floor. My toes touched the floor and I tried to push up.

“What are you doing?” I cried, the blood rushing to my head. “Let me up!”

Tark placed a warm hand at the small of my back to hold me on his lap and as I tried to kick, he hooked my ankles with one of his legs.

“Settle, gara. I expected you to have a punishment lesson soon enough, but not this quickly.”

gara.“Punishment?” I shouted. “I thought you said you were going to teach me about Trion!”

“I am. Starting with this.”

I heard the c***k of his hand against my bottom before I felt it. The sharp sting of it sizzled across my bare flesh.

“Tark! Cut it out, you overbearing… jerk!”

He s*****d me again. And again. Each time his large palm struck, it was in a new spot. Soon enough my skin felt as if it were on fire, stinging and hot.

I was breathing hard, my hair falling down over my face and I swiped to get it out of the way. On one decidedly hard smack of his hand, I reached back and tried to cover my bottom. Instead of deterring him, he only circled my wrists in his free hand and continued.

“Are you ready to listen… with your mouth closed?” he asked, stroking over my heated skin. Surely it was bright red and swollen.

Afraid to say a word, I just nodded my head, then slumped down across his lap.

“Ah, gara. Your submission is a pleasure to see.” Before I could even begin to think about that statement, he continued. “We speak with deference here on Trion. I believe it is also referred to as manners.”

gara. I tugged a strand of hair out of my mouth as I realized Tark considered me mannerless. What did he think, that Earth was full of heathens?

“It is not for you to argue with the doctor. It is my job to do so in your stead. He was impertinent, as you said, but it was my job as your mate to defend your honor. To defend your position as a woman in this society. To protect you. When you spoke out of turn, you took that from me, thus dishonoring me as well.”

It was a tad antiquated, but I could understand the logic. I stroked my fingers over the smooth flooring. Having a conversation with my face near the floor was odd, but so was being s*****d. Well, so was being on Trion for that matter. “You mean that I am to defer to you?”

“Are you familiar with the ways and customs of Trion?”

I shook my head.

“Are you familiar with me?”

I shook my head again.

“Doctor Bron or the examination he was going to give?”

“No,” I replied.

“If I were to appear on Earth, wouldn’t you wish to speak for me, to help guide me as I learned my way?”

I clenched my teeth again and hated that his reasoning was not unfounded.

“Yes.”

He released his hold on my wrists and helped me to stand before him, close enough to be situated between his spread knees. My bottom was hot and stung from the s******g. His size was great enough that his eyes were not in line with my breasts. That did not mean that I did not feel any less exposed and vulnerable, even more so now that he pointed out the error of my ways.

“I need to check your implant.”

His words stirred me from my thoughts. I was surprised that he could switch to another topic so readily. He’d meted out my punishment and it was time to move on?

“I assume your neuroprocessor is working properly, since you seem to understand everything said to you.”

I frowned. “What?” What was he talking about? What neuroprocessor?

“Do not be afraid, small one.” I was average height and at least two dress sizes bigger than the medical charts on Earth said I should be. I was not small, but standing in front of my new mate, I felt almost tiny, and very, very female.

small Tark lifted his hands to my head and ran his fingers up the sides of my face to the top of each temple, just above my eyes. He must have found what he was looking for because when he applied a very small amount of pressure, I felt two foreign bumps pressing into the bone of my skull. It wasn’t painful, but definitely odd.

“What is that?” The moment Tark removed his hands, I lifted my own shaking fingers to the same spots and felt the small bumps beneath my skin.

“They are advanced neuroprocessing units, or NPUs. All advanced member races of the Interstellar Bride Program have them implanted at birth. The NPU increases your brain’s ability to process and learn language and mathematics, and improves memory. We are speaking now in my planet’s common tongue, which was downloaded to your NPU before you arrived.”

Holy s**t. I was a cyborg or something now?

“I have alien technology implanted in my head? Are there little wires running to my brain cells? How did the NPU system integrate and communicate with the organic tissue?” My medically trained mind had a hundred questions and no answers.

Tark’s eyes widened and his lip quirked. “Aren’t you the curious one?”

Instead of answering my questions, he glanced at the table in the middle of the room. “Lie down again, Evelyn Day.” His voice was still deep, but lacked the biting edge he’d had when s******g me.

I couldn’t avoid my mate or what he planned to do to me. I could try, but decided against it because my bottom was very sore and still suffering the consequences of my previous actions. While the doctor had pricked my ire, Tark made me feel something else entirely. I wasn’t happy that he’d s*****d me—absolutely not—but he did make a clear argument and I had been in the wrong. I liked that he’d given the punishment, then moved on. I, too, felt I should move on from it as well. Learn from it, of course, for I didn’t wish to go through that again. I reached back and gently rubbed my hot skin.

had Odd. There was something about him, his power, his protectiveness—he had protected me from the doctor—and his dominance that was very appealing. Looking at how well his large body was defined in his dark clothes, I wanted to please him. Besides that, I itched to run my hands over his arms to feel his biceps, over his broad shoulders, down his chest. Surely his abdominals would be hard and well defined. And lower…

I went over to the table and Tark followed. With his hands at my hips, he lifted me up onto the metal surface and I hissed at the cool contact with my overheated bottom.

“Lie back,” Tark told me.

Licking my lips, I settled back onto the table as I watched his eyes rove over my body. Unlike the doctor, Tark looked at me with arousal, definitely, but also something like reverence. I keenly felt the heated slide of his gaze, as if his fingers were actually tracing the curves of my flesh.

“As I said, you must be examined to ensure you are well. I have plans for you, gara.”

garaI could do nothing but lick my dry lips at the raspy sound of his voice.

“I will touch you now.”

I gasped when his hand cupped my breast, for the touch was gentle, yet I felt rough calluses on his palm.

He watched as my n****e tightened, then rubbed his thumb back and forth over the taut peak, shifting the gold ring.

“Why… why the rings?” I asked, my voice soft. I shivered at the idea of a stranger—who was also my mate—touching me.

“We adorn our women and find the rings both beautiful and arousing.” He watched my breast as he replied. “All of our mates have rings placed in their n*****s. It is a sign of claiming and respect.”

“They don’t hurt,” I said.

He smiled then. “I hope not. My touch should bring you pleasure, gara, nothing else.”

gara .No, they didn’t hurt at all. Instead, the soft tug and pull of the metal felt incredible. My n*****s had always been sensitive, but now, I arched my back to press into his palm more fully.

“You were processed according to our social customs. It normally takes several weeks for the rings to heal and I had no intention of waiting that long before I touched you… here.” He flicked the ring and I gasped. “A perk of the transfer… for both of us.”

“And the chain?”

Tark lifted the chain and I noticed a small crest had been stamped into several tiny golden disks that were woven into the shining strand. “This symbol is my birthing mark, and the mark of my line. It signifies that you are mine. Until I claim you and mark you permanently, it is also your protection.”