Night of the Zandians (Zandian Brides 1)

“Don’t worry, sweet human. You can trust us to make it good for you. We love to hear your moans of pleasure. See your face when you crest the peak.”

She ducks her face and hides it against my shoulder and I chuckle, reluctantly lowering her feet to the shower stall and slipping out of her.

Her arms drape around my neck and she doesn’t drop them, which rearranges my heart in my chest. “You will get to keep me, right?”

Damn. She overheard our conversation. “Yes,” I say firmly.

“Even if—”

When she stops, I disentangle her arms so I can look at her face. Something’s bothering her and I need to know what it is so I can fix it. “What?”

“What if I’m not the best breeder for you? Not the right gene match? What if I don’t get pregnant at all?”

I want to follow up with more questions—figure out what has her worried, but her beautiful golden eyes fill with tears, and my priority becomes comforting.

I pull her against my chest and burrow my fingers in her wet hair, massaging her scalp. “We don’t care if you’re the best gene match, Riya. We’ve already chosen you. And you’ve accepted us. You’re wearing our crystals, lovely. The king won’t deny our claim on you. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Her body shudders as she drags in a breath, but when she pulls away her eyes are dry. She gives a brave nod and steps out of the washtube, which has been standing open.

I give her ass a slap, just because it’s irresistible. “Go eat the food I brought you and report for duty. We’ll see you this afternoon in the plaza for King Zander’s announcement.”

“Yes Master,” she murmurs. It’s an automatic reply, one conditioned into her by a lifetime of slavery, but it goes right to my dick. I know it’s wrong—I should tell her I’m not her master, we’re her mates, but I love the submissive reply too much.

I watch her naked form sashay into our chamber and have to bite my knuckle. My cock’s standing erect again already.

I’m never going to get enough of our little mate.

Riya

I can’t find my mates in the crowd—there are too many beings thronged in the plaza and I arrived late, because one of the humans was in critical condition and required a surgery. Dr. Daneth is unaccustomed to performing surgeries—apparently Zandians don’t require much medical care—so it was a stressful shift with all of us standing at the ready to assist him.

King Zander turns to his gathered subjects and raises his hands, and every being falls silent in respect for their leader.

After sharing a special smile and nod with his mate Lamira, who holds his infant son, Zander clears his throat and activates a voice amplifier. It carries the sound all the way across the broken plaza. “My loyal subjects and honored guests.” He makes eye contact with each Zandian and human in turn. “I am proud to stand before you this planet rotation to announce we are ready to engage in the next phase of Zandian rehabitation, repopulation, and renewal.”

Cheers break out, and Zander holds up a hand for silence. “In order to protect our planet from a new invasion and be sure we have rooted out all infestation of the Finn, we must settle the entire planet. It is a daunting task considering our current numbers, which is why we are implementing a homesteading plan. Our engineers have tested and are satisfied with the DomePod systems, which will allow us to quickly and easily create homesteads. Teams will be assigned an area of land in which to erect a dome.

Each dome will be comfortable, with all the luxuries you deserve. Some of the lands of Zandia were untouched by the Finn and remain pristine. Unfortunately, these are not the areas we are concerned with. Where we need help most is in the over-mined areas. You will be responsible for replanting native plants as well as food crops from Earth to sustain our human population.”

Again, the king sends a special look to his bride, and my heart constricts. Perhaps the Zandians truly are willing to partner with humans rather than rule us.

“Each team will manage crops and make the land fertile. They will also leave their homestead to help create roads, and other infrastructure for our soon to be growing population.”

The area buzzes with low chatter and questions.

How will you pick the teams? Can we choose the location of our dome? Will we get mates? Will we find more Zandians for our planet?

Zander holds up a hand and the crowd instantly falls silent. “You have many valid questions. We believe there are pockets of Zandians around the galaxy who are either trapped, enslaved, or unable to reach us. We will continue to search for them. However, on our planet, repopulation is critical to our survival. As you can see,” he gestured around the room, “Of our unmated females, we have no Zandians, and few human females, compared to many Zandian males. This is not ideal for growing our population.”

Even though I know this is coming, my stomach tightens.

“And therefore,” the king continues, “I have worked with my advisors to develop a new plan. Zandian males who are interested may volunteer for the homestead project. Groups of two to five Zandian males and at least one female mate will be teamed up and each will be assigned their own dome to manage, protect, and enhance the area. Those who stay for a minimum of five solars will then own the land on which they settled.”

He pauses for emphasis. “We will use a new DNA matching program to select the best possible genetic matches for healthy offspring. The female will mate with all of her males, and, star willing, bear many healthy young over the years.”

The chatter grows louder, every being looking around, exclaiming in surprise, and, like the previous gathering, eyeing all of the unattached females with great interest. Even though I’ve been claimed, I cross my arms over my chest and begin to breathe rapidly.

Zander stands taller, and there is silence. “I will say this, to both Zandians and humans. In an ideal society, you would get to choose your mate, or mates, yourself, and at some point in the future, I am confident that we will achieve that again on Zandia. At the moment, you are our valued pioneers, our soldiers, our explorers. You are the ones whose hard work and sacrifice will be listed in the history holos that generations of Zandian children will view hundreds of years from now. You are our heroes. And the hero’s path is not always easy. Know that I, and the future of this planet, honor your sacrifice.”