Prey For The Tedoleran (Tedolerans Book 5) Read online

  It is not a bad habitat, I have to admit that. Spacious and far away from everything on a nicely maintained piece of land. Slowly, I push the door open and sneak inside. There are strange sounds coming from ahead, as if someone is working out and panting heavily, only to sound like a victim of torture shortly after. It is odd, to say the least. Even if I was not sure to find Brackon there, I would go there just to find out what the source of those weird sounds is. Maybe a strange alien female in heat? One that is not fucked properly judging by the mewling I am hearing.

  I find my brother in the cooking area, the smile on my lips freezing as I stand in the doorframe. Brackon is fucking . . . something from behind over the table. Something naked, fleshy, and whitish pink with brownish hair. Whatever it is, it is clearly producing those noises I have never heard before. They sound pained and pleased at the same time, and something in me is deeply intrigued, even though parts of me tell me I should be horrified.

  I cross my arms and lean against the doorframe. "Interesting."

  Brackon turns around to face my way quicker than I had anticipated, his eyes glowing, extending his claws. He stops just a fraction away from my throat, yet I do not flinch.

  Smiling, I say, "That is another point for me, brother."

  Over his shoulder, I look at the fleshy creature, and the fleshy creature is looking back at me. It is clearly female and anything but unsightly, but it looks angry, and it is covering up parts of its upper body with the left arm and parts of the crotch area with the right hand.

  "So you got yourself a nice little pet for fucking? What is it? Something from Hibernia? I heard they have developed and produced a lot of new AI-driven pleasure bots."

  "Don't you dare call her pet." Brackon sounds annoyed as he turns away, the claws disappearing again. "Her name is Noemi. She's a human, and she's smart and wonderful."

  "A sex pet with a name? How adorable."

  "The 'sex pet with a name' can understand you and talk for herself, you ah'tze impolite idiot! So keep your condescending bullshit to yourself," the female hisses.

  I am actually surprised she is able to understand me. She turns to my brother. "Who the ah'tze is that?"

  It is only now I see her full profile—and a suspicious bump around the belly area. Even if she is a different race, that can only mean one thing . . . But can it be? My brother? With what he called a human?

  Brackon sighs. "That's Tausav. My brother."

  "Are you . . . ?" I ask and point at Noemi's belly. "Is that . . . ?" I am so confused I cannot even string cohesive words together.

  Before any of them can answer, I hear squeaking and babbling from the chamber across the hall. I am closer than them, so I do not wait for an answer and immediately go there. I just have to see myself. It cannot be. Brackon? No way.

  But it is what I thought it was. A tiny creature. Not as pale as my brother's companion but clearly not as red as a Tedoleran would be. The tiny wiggling thing is orange.

  My brother procreated. That is offspring. I repeat the words to myself in my head, and still, they do not make sense. My brother has never been one to even speak about settling down. He works, fucks, drinks, and moves on. That has been the ever-repeating process for him.

  I knew that something was wrong when he told me about moving to Jittania Prime. But offspring? No way.

  Behind me, I hear Brackon slowly coming closer. He is wearing pants now. Looking at him, I point at the crib. "Offspring? You have offspring?"

  He lifts the tiny creature, stroking its cheek and then presenting it to me like a trophy.

  "Ruby, meet my brother. Tausav, meet Ruby, our daughter," he says with a smile.

  A tiny female, moving her tiny hands, staring at me vigilantly with a little smile on her pudgy face, which is clearly a genetic cross of Tedoleran and human.

  Noemi follows us into the room, wearing a big shirt that is clearly not hers. Despite that, I can still see the round belly.

  "And you are pregnant with another one, yes?"

  "Impressive deduction," she answers without looking at me, taking Ruby out of Brackon's hands and immediately leaving the chamber again. I am quite certain she just insulted me.

  I cannot blame her. Maybe I should have contacted my brother ahead of time instead of disturbing their coitus. It sounded as if she was working herself up to a climax, and since I am pretty sure I ruined that for her, it is no wonder that she is a little bit hostile toward me.

  "Did you ever plan on telling me?" I sound more outraged than I wanted to let on.

  "Of course, I did. It just . . ." Again, Brackon sighs deeply. "Time passes so quickly sometimes. So much has happened."

  It really has been a while, and the both of us hardly check in just as much as we used to. "I am just overwhelmed. You settle on a boring planet to produce offspring immediately, with another one on the way?" I shake my head because I cannot believe it.

  "What can I say?" He shrugs, but there is a grin on his face that tells me how pleased my younger brother is with himself.

  Then it hits me. "Gordan has a human female too, does he not?"

  Brackon only nods.

  "No one tells me anything," I mumble.

  "We definitely would have," Brackon responds. "At a more fitting point in time than . . . the one you chose."

  I notice that I have started following Brackon, who walks through the hall towards the front entrance, and I cannot help but laugh. It seems that I am being thrown out again.

  "Do you need to stay?" Brackon glances at me.

  From the back, I hear the human yelling, "He's not staying!"

  I smirk and shrug. "Even if I wanted to, I know when it is best not to prolong an awkward situation. I will be back, though, because I really want to get to know that human female of yours—and Gordan's too for that matter. Tell him that. I promise I will call ahead and announce my arrival this time." Looking past my brother, I yell to the back of the habitat, "Sorry for ruining the fuck, female!"

  She does not answer, so I say to Brackon, "Please contact me if you need anything. We are family."

  "I will," Brackon answers. "See you soon, brother."

  I walk back to my ship. I am an uncle. A soon-to-be double-uncle. Why that makes me weirdly happy and proud, I do not know, but it does, so I simply accept it.

  I am an uncle. How unexpected.

  The moment I enter my ship, I see that I have a message originating from New Choce. I hardly know anyone there, which means it has to be from Bruul. Sitting in the pilot seat, I press play.

  "Remember the favor you owe me?" Bruul's eyes are gleaming, and I am rolling mine. It was only a matter of time before he was going to cash it in. A Boral never forgets. "And just because I like you, I have the perfect task for my favorite Tedoleran bounty hunter. I bought a slave, and that slave ran away, which does not make me happy. Thankfully, I'm smart enough to always think ahead. My new pet is wearing a tracking collar. Return the slave to me—intact—and we're even." With that, the message ends.

  No greeting, no send-off. Bruul can be one rude Boral, but I owe him. He helped me find the rare irydiam compensator for my ship when I was stranded on Helox, so it is only fair that I find something for him in return.

  Bruul even attached proof of his slave purchase to the message. In contrast to the murky areas and sketchy aliens Bruul was forced to deal with to get my ship part, this job is entirely legal and legit. I am getting off easy.

  I confirm the job, enter the tracking collar's specs into my ship's navigational system, and start the engines.

  3

  Kate

  Groaning, I try to stretch, but my lower back screams in protest. I'm not designed to sleep on the ground for extended periods. Maybe I shouldn't have run from Bruul, but I felt it could only go downhill from where we were. My stomach still clenches when I think about those tiny wiggling creatures on that plate.

  I feel horrible. Plain and simple. I don't know where I am, and I haven't eaten since the slaver fed me for
the last time. The night was cold, and I barely slept because any sound—no matter how low—woke me up again and again and again.

  I am tiptoeing through the forest, trying to be as quiet and sneaky as possible. Since I have no idea how far I am from Bruul's mansion, I am extra careful. I always lurk before I duck under the next bush or go around the next tree. It would be horrible to have suffered through last night only to be stumbling into Bruul's garden. I can't imagine him overlooking the little detail that I ran from him.

  There's a tiny tree with mouthwatering-looking berries, round and juicy red berries, but I'm too afraid to eat them. I could try one and wait a couple of minutes before I eat more. But what if they are only poisonous in a high dosage?

  I'm screwed, and the realization makes me want to bawl my eyes out.

  Leaves are rustling behind me, and I turn around, squinting to see if I'm in danger. I can't see anyone. Maybe it was the wind.

  My heart is beating a mile a minute, and I extend my arm behind me, to find the nearest tree. I need something to lean on since I'm shaking, and my legs feel like Jell-O. My hand touches the bark, and it's unusually warm and way less sticky than any other tree I have touched so far.

  My throat constricts, and my mouth is dry. Slowly, very slowly, I turn around and find myself staring at a muscular chest covered in black fabric. This guy is huge with an upper body like a barrel packed with muscles. His arms are equally thick, and I lift my head to look into his face. He cocks his eyebrow, looking all smug and handsome in an alien way.

  His hand shoots forward and grips the damn collar around my neck.

  I want to scream and kick, but I'm frozen with fear. The Boral who bought me is a tall guy, but this one? He is freakishly big and looks like a machine ready to kill.

  First of all, he is red, an angry and alarming red. Then he is at least eight feet tall and built like a tank. I don't even consider running because I just know he would catch me. Besides, he is holding my collar, and there is no way I am able to shake his grip. Not with his bulging bicep right in front of my eyes.

  He pulls a comm device from the pocket on his pants and starts scanning my collar. His smile deepens. "Look what I have found."

  Without any word of explanation, he starts dragging me along with him as he walks through the forest with huge steps. I can barely keep up and stumble more than I walk.

  Apparently, I am not fast enough because the big guy stops abruptly so that I crash into his side, before he lifts me and throws me over his shoulder. The protest that I'm too heavy is already on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow it. Maybe if he collapses under my weight, I can run away from him.

  He doesn't even struggle and marches on with big strides. I'm amazed. The alien is so huge I almost feel dainty and small. It's a nice feeling—and totally not appropriate for the situation.

  From here, I see the ground beneath his feet and his tight ass that flexes with every step. Panic makes my belly flutter. Where is this guy taking me? Back to Bruul? To the slaver? Or is he one of the aliens interested in my literal meat? A tiny whimper escapes my throat.

  The alien mumbles something I can't make out, and I'm not brave enough to ask him to repeat it. Instead, I notice that his shirt has a lot of holes in it. Tiny holes that look manufactured and not like the alien version of moths has gotten to his wardrobe. Why would you do that to your clothes?

  His shoulder stabs uncomfortably into my belly, and I try to shift before I start puking all over him.

  He swats my ass, and the burn is real. "Stay still," he grunts.

  I gasp and have to press my lips together not to scream. Did the motherfucker just smack my glorious booty?

  He slows down, and I hear a mechanical hiss. Craning my neck, I see that we're standing in front of a spaceship. The hatch is down, and the red guy enters the ship like he owns the place. He probably does, now that I think about it.

  The hatch comes up behind us, and there's another sound, like a lock bolting shut. That's it with running away, I guess.

  He takes me into a room that seems to be the bridge. Putting me down into one of the two seats in the front, he starts strapping me down.

  "Where are we going? If you don't mind me asking?" I know that he should be able to understand me, and although aliens have been visiting Earth on and off for the past two hundred years, it is really weird talking to an actual alien for the first time.

  He almost flinches, takes a step back, and looks at me like I've grown a second head. "Ah'tze. Can all human females talk?"

  4

  Tausav

  This human female is way more appetizing than the one my brother has, and I catch myself staring at her ass and hips way more often than I should. Her form is more voluptuous than Noemi's. She is . . . thicker. Rounder. Juicier.

  Until the day before, I did not even know humans looked like this, and now I am attracted to one myself? Is it because I heard and saw how Brackon treated Noemi that I am suddenly aware of the fact that at least one human female clearly likes physical enjoyment and that our races are sexually compatible?

  The appearance of this one makes my thoughts circle back to offspring and the process of creating it, and it is anything but unpleasant.

  What is wrong with me?

  The fact that I even think like this is probably nothing but a momentary lapse in judgment, a temporary fascination based on novelty. Yet it feels like something is resonating deep inside me, and I would really like to know why that is—apart from her gorgeous body and face. At the same time, it is the last thing I want to think about. She is not more than cargo. I have to drop her off and forget all about it.

  "Of course, we can talk." She sounds offended like Noemi did. Apparently, I am not very good with human females.

  "Apologies, female."

  "My name isn't 'female.' It's Kate." She looks expectantly at me. "Now would be a good time to tell me your name."

  "Tausav." I focus on the instruments in front of me, entering the necessary coordinates to Bruul's mansion.

  "Tausav," she repeats in a low yet bright and slightly coarse voice.

  Her voice is every bit as beautiful as her body. Kate. What a pleasant-sounding name. Just as pleasant as this backside of hers . . . I force myself to stop thinking like that. She makes me forget that I have to maintain a professional distance, and I do not like it. I also should not care what her name is.

  This is a job. I just have to get it over with. A couple of hours of self-control, nothing more. Bruul wants me to deliver her to his remote estate on Catana 2 so no one notices his embarrassment because his slave ran away. Also, from there, it is highly unlikely that she will run again since Catana 2 is pretty small, and there is nowhere to go.

  I have my back turned to her, but I can clearly hear how she unhooks the straps. Before she can get up, my arm shoots out. I grab her shoulder, forcing her upper body back. Her tits bounce with the sudden movement, and I can smell her. This is not a good idea.

  I should probably give her some clothes and bring her somewhere else. She is too much of a distraction. "Stay," I snarl.

  "You can't just take me."

  "But I did, did I not?"

  Her eyes are amazing, full of fire and passion—and a little bit of hatred toward me. That should not turn me on, but it does.

  "Let go of me!"

  "Will you sit down?"

  "Yes," she murmurs.

  I suspect that she is lying, and I am right. The moment I take my hand off her shoulder, she darts from the seat and starts running to the door. With the press of a button, I lock her in with me. "Naughty female."

  Instead of answering me, she lifts the cover of the control panel next to the door and starts ripping out cables. With a low hiss, the door slides open, and Kate makes a run for it. She is smart; I give her that.

  I cannot hold the chuckle back as I tap on my comm device, locking down corridors and opening up hallways and doors to lead the female exactly where I want her.

  To
her untrained eyes, it probably looks like she is standing at the end of a corridor when I arrive at her destination. Little does she know that she ran straight into the holding cell. I touch the panel on the wall and lock my pretty captive into her cage.

  She turns around, glaring at me through the force field. "You can't do that."

  "There is no escape, female. Take this as a lesson."

  "My name is Kate."

  "Your name does not matter. You are a slave."

  "I am not. I have been abducted from the transport to New Terran."

  "Do you have a work permit?"

  She nods. "Yes."

  "Where?" I eye her naked body to make her feel insecure, but I regret it instantly because it also makes me feel a lot of things.

  "Not on me! But I have a job waiting for me on New Terran."

  "What kind of job? Massage therapist? Pleasure companion? Whore?"

  "No. I'm a pharmacist."

  "You deal in medicine, yes?"

  "Yes, exactly." She seems relieved that I know her supposed profession.

  Propping my arm against the wall, I lean forward. "Sounds like you will still have the same job—curing men of their problems."

  Kate balls her little fists. "You are an asshole!"

  "Maybe. But I do not care what you think. I have seen the documents of your purchase, and all of this is legit, so you will have to learn to live with it, female."

  "None of this is legit. You have to let me go."

  "Say please."

  The glare from her eyes makes my cock twitch. I wait, but she says nothing. With a smirk on my face, I return to the bridge and contact Bruul.

  He picks up the call immediately. "Tausav. Any problems?"

  "Not at all, not at all," I respond, leaning back in the pilot chair. "I already have the female. She is in the holding cell."

  "Very good. So you are already en route back to me?"