drag him closer and beg him to fuck her, too, his wife and their audience be damned. But the woman was already touching her, caressing Cindy’s oversensitized flesh. She shocked herself by moaning in appreciation.
Embarrassed by her own reactions, Cindy pulled away, jumping in fright when both the bride and groom looked startled and moved to hold her more tightly.
The words, “What the fuck?” escaped her lips before she could censor them.
“Earth Ambassador Cindy Richards,” the man whispered in her ear, “you appear to be upset. Did you not know of this part of the ceremony?”
“This is part of the ceremony?” she asked in a voice too high and too hoarse to be normal.
“Do humans prefer to consummate the relationship in private?”
“What?” she yelped, even though she was trying to whisper. Consummate? What the hell had she’d gotten in to? Bridesmaids did not fuck at the wedding. Well some did, she thought with a hysterical giggle, but they sure as shit didn’t do it with the bride and groom in the church in front of the guests.
“Perhaps,” the woman said, her hand caressing Cindy’s back in soothing circles, “we need to speak to our chattel in private.”
The word chattel scared the hell out of her. Surely the translator had interpreted that incorrectly. She wasn’t property. She was an important, hardworking diplomat for the Intergalactic Ambassador Corp’s Earth division with an excellent history of successful missions.
But the words, the heat, the fear, and the confusion all combined to drain the energy from Cindy’s overwrought body, and she felt her knees buckle a moment before the black abyss engulfed her.
Chapter Two
Eric of Riley, Firstborn Son of King Adekai caught the Earth woman as she fainted at his feet. She was beautiful—even more so now that her skin showed the painted symbols of their union—but the deep-blue patterns were stark against her suddenly pale skin.
He lifted her high into his arms, his beautiful mubella , Loukie, nodding in silent agreement as he carried the human female from the ceremonial room and into the chamber where they had earlier anxiously waited for their mubellabina to arrive. The room didn’t have a bed, so he lowered himself into one of the large, comfortable chairs and held the woman close to his heart.
Loukie entered the room a moment later with Eric’s father’s personal physician in tow.
“What happened?” the doctor asked in an irritated voice as he unpacked equipment from the silver case he’d carried in with him. “I told your father that a human wouldn’t be able to cope with the claiming ceremony.”
“Nothing happened,” Eric said, trying to keep his anger in check. The doctor wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t thought himself since the woman had collapsed, but the accusation that he and Loukie might have somehow hurt the woman stung. “She seemed confused when we kissed her, and then she lost consciousness.”
“So the final part of the ceremony was abandoned before the mubellabina claiming began?”
“Yes,” Eric said through tightly clenched teeth. If he hadn’t known the doctor for most of his life he might have let his temper explode at the inference that they would continue with the ceremony even with the woman unconscious. Fortunately the doctor finally realized how his words were being taken and quickly corrected himself.
“My apologies, Eric of Riley, Firstborn son of King Adekai.” The doctor glanced up from his equipment to give him a quick nod before dropping the formality. “Eric, it was not my intention to offend you. I know that you and Loukie would never harm anyone—human or otherwise.”
Eric dipped his head in acknowledgement, not trusting his voice at that moment. It had been a long day. First the annoyance that his and Loukie’s fathers would collude behind their backs and choose their mubellabina for them, then the excitement he’d felt upon first meeting Earth Ambassador Cindy