Alien's Bride: Lisette Read Free

in an
equitable marriage with someone who looked like Hor-Denay,
especially if he was a fellow scientist. Playing dumb her whole
life would be a burden. She could actually reveal her smart self to
this other scientist. The prospect excited her.
    Dugan was talking loudly to the
hundreds of slaves following her out. Many of her peers gasped with
shock to learn she was scientist. Then they halted at the gate to
scream goodbye to her tearfully. Lisette knew they were sadder for
themselves than for her. They were anguished to learn that at any
time one of them could get carted away like this. She turned back
to wave at all of them. Hugs weren’t required.
    Just a wave was all she needed to leave
the colony behind her forever.
    ***
    “ Damn it,” Jorenkis
said.
    Prax-Denay had just exited the lab into
the corridor. He intended on going to the kitchen for his midday
meal. Hearing Jorenkis muttering gave him pause. He nudged his
young boss’ door open. On the large console screen before Jorenkis
was a small dark-haired human woman walking in the middle of a
throng of robots. The boxy metal units with long glowing cylinder
heads blocked her on all sides from any potential threat. It was
unnecessary. She appeared to be at their spaceport, and even though
this was their second most populous home world there were only two
or three hundred Dak-Hiliah in residence. The odds of them meeting
anyone were slim.
    Jorenkis darted a look back at him.
This made him fluster. Yes, he was mildly curious about the human,
but not enough to give Jorenkis an opportunity to call him
nosey.
    “ Hey. Come here,” Jorenkis
said to him.
    Prax-Denay grumbled. If it wasn’t for
the chance to get a closer look at the woman he would have swore at
Jorenkis and continued to lunch. Instead, he pushed his door all
the way open and stood next to him before his console.
    “ She’s not that old, is she?
Does she look old to you?”
    Prax-Denay examined the woman walking
meekly between the robots. One of the units had had its visual
receptor tapped for Jorenkis to obtain live footage. Prax-Denay
leaned in. It occurred to him that Jorenkis was an idiot. The
female looked young and healthy—pretty even.
    “ She’s young enough to
breed,” he said.
    Jorenkis slammed his hand on his desk.
“Young enough to breed, but probably older than me! I mean, look at
her.” He gazed back at his monitor and groaned.
    “ Are you truly such a
shallow simpleton?”
    Jorenkis grabbed his horns with both
fists, pulled himself forward, and gave a loud nasal sound of
frustration. Prax-Denay saw him do this often.
    “ She’s here to work. She was
never meant to be your sparkling bride trophy.”
    “ Just shut up. I don’t why I
bother to talk to you.”
    “ I’m sure any other male on
this planet would gladly take her if you don’t want
her.”
    He bolted upright in his seat again.
His eyes were wide. “Oh—I still want her. Make no mistake. She’s a
woman and she’s mine.” He fumed and looked back at the screen.
“We’ll do some beauty enhancements. Maybe I can go to the surgical
building while she’s getting her languages implanted and have them
do a youth treatment at the same time.”
    “ Are you insane?”
    “ No! I mean—ugh. Fine, I’ll
wait. But she’ll get better clothes and we’ll do something about
her hair.”
    “ You sound so
asinine.”
    Jorenkis stood and snatched his
flamboyantly long coat from off the back of his chair. “I can’t
watch anymore. I’m going to lunch and I’ll be gone for the rest of
the day. She’s not going to be delivered to us until tomorrow
anyway.”
    With that his young boss strode out of
his office and exited through their building’s ornate glass doors.
Prax-Denay sat in his seat. The robots had ushered the human into a
hover car and were flying her toward the surgical
building.
    The woman sat hunched over with her
arms close to her body. She nervously picked at some dry skin on
her lower lip with her