Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the big Kindred watching her, though he was trying not to be obvious about it. Was he looking at her breasts? Surely not, she thought—she wasn’t his type, she was certain of that. He was probably just thinking what a clumsy idiot she was, spilling wine all over herself like that.

Oh, this trip was turning out to be one big embarrassment! When were they ever going to land on Ma’shorka Centra?

At last, she determined that she’d soaked up as much of the spilled wine as possible. Her shirt was still damp and cold and miserable, but she couldn’t do anything else at the moment but try to tuck her sweater around her and keep warm.

“Thank you,” she said, offering the stained cloth back to the dark Kindred, who had been pretending to study his screen all this time, while he was actually looking at her. “That was…nice of you. I’m afraid it’s kind of stained,” she added, as he took the cloth back from her.

“That is of no importance to me,” he said, nodding at her. “You’re very welcome.”

His face was no less stern-looking, Selena thought, but at least he was being polite.

“Are you traveling to Ma’Shorka Centra for business?” she asked tentatively.

But just because he was being a tiny bit more polite, didn’t seem to mean that the dark Kindred wanted to strike up a conversation.

“Yes,” he said shortly. “And I really must study for my upcoming deposition.”

“Oh, of course. I won’t bother you,” Selena said frostily.

“Thank you.” He nodded and then looked around her and frowned. “But I see your seatmate has encroached again. Damn Torpids.” He scowled and reached one long, muscular arm behind Selena’s head to shake Oatmeal face roughly by the shoulder. “Hey, you! Wake up!” he demanded. “You’re taking up over half of this lady’s seat! Wake up!”

But rather than waking him up, this demand seemed to have the opposite effect on the Torpid. He gave a mighty snore—like a buzz saw, Selena thought—and suddenly expanded again—in a big way.

She had been sitting forward and facing the big Kindred and she had leaned even more towards him when he reached behind her to shake the oatmeal alien’s shoulder. Now she felt as though a huge hand made of damp concrete was shoving her violently forward.

With a gasp, she bent over at the waist and—because there was no armrest between them—her face was shoved directly into the big Kindred’s crotch.

She had two thoughts almost at the same time:

Oh my God, this is so embarrassing! And, Holy crap—he’s huge! What is he doing—smuggling a salami in there?

Both thoughts were true—she could tell exactly how big and hard the Kindred was because her cheek was pressed firmly against his shaft, which was straining against the tight black fabric of his trousers. He smelled really good too, she noticed distractedly. A warm, spicy, masculine scent which would have been really pleasant if she wasn’t currently face-planted right in his crotch.

She wanted desperately to get up—to jerk away from this embarrassing position—but she couldn’t. The damp cement of the Torpid’s expanded mass was pressing her down against the Kindred, keeping her pinned in place so that she couldn’t do more than wiggle uselessly as she tried to free herself.

“Hold still, for the Goddess’s sake,” she heard him growl hoarsely. “I’ll get him off you, but you’re only making things worse! Hey—hey, you, Torpid—wake up! Get up!” he shouted at Oatmeal face.

After a moment, Selena heard the attendant shouting too.

“Sir? Sir, you have to wake up now! Sir, you’re taking up the entire aisle and you’re hurting the lady beside you! Sir, wake up!”

Between the two of them, she and the Kindred, whose crotch Selena’s face was presently mashed against, finally managed to wake the Torpid. He made that, “Hhhhhnnngggh,” sound again and at last, Selena felt the pressure against her shoulders and the back of her head lift slowly away.

The minute she could, she sat up, cheeks flaming. Oh God, what a horrible, humiliating ordeal! She would never, ever live this down!

“Sorry about that,” she heard the Kindred say gruffly. “I never meant for you to have to, er, endure that.”

“I didn’t mean to…to do it, either. I…I would never…I…”

She shut up when she heard herself babbling and looked down at her hands, since she absolutely could not look him in the eye. She had just gotten up-close and personal with a complete stranger’s cock—could there be anything more embarrassing?

Selena didn’t think so.

“I…I’m just going to read my book,” she said quickly, fumbling for the paperback, which she had dropped on the floor during her trip into Mr. Tall, Dark, and Irritated’s crotch.

“Let me help you.” He reached down with one long arm and snagged it for her. Lifting it, he looked for a long moment at the cover. A tale of forbidden love?” he read, frowning as he handed it back to her. “What does that mean? And why is the woman on the front wearing a leather collar and leash like some kind of a pet? Is that a sort of Human mating ritual?”