The treasure is the key.

It’s the only real chance at a future for any of us.

The fire still flickers when I wake, casting the same warm light. I blink a few times, confused about where I am, and it takes a moment for me to remember. In the ruined temple. The glossy wall and the pool both reflect the living flame in the wall, and it dances across Gen’s sumptuous fall of hair.

She’s so beautiful, so unlike any female I’ve ever seen, that I nearly stop breathing as I drink her in. My golden flower will be safe. I may not have been raised a warlord, but I am a prince, and I am confident in my ability to see us through the trials that the goddess and the ancients will have in store.

Her eyelashes flutter, and her eyes open wide, that crystalline blue piercing right through my heart as she gives me a long, sleepy look.

“Hi,” she finally says, stretching long and languid. My eyes follow the curve of her breasts, the taut muscles of her abs, before tracking the plump curve of her ass and muscled thighs. I ache with the need for release.

“How did you sleep?” I ask.

She yawns, covering her mouth with a delicate hand, everything about her so fragile in the dull morning light. “I slept fine. How did you? Did you… Did you hold me all night?” She scoots away from me, her eyes wide with mortification. “That could not have been comfortable. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course, I had to hold you all night. I could not have my wife, a princess of Sueva, sleep on the cold stone floor.” I shake my head, then tilt it, working out some of the knots that have, indeed, formed during the night. “It was my honor to hold you. It will always be my honor to hold you.”

She blinks at that, her mouth round with surprise. “Ah, okay. Well, thank you. For, uh, holding me. All night.” Her hands rub against her bare arms and she casts her gaze around until it lands on her shirt, dry on the rocks next to me.

I pick up the flimsy material and hold it out to her.

“You know, when we get back to Perzivor, I will have the finest garments made for you. Blue, I think, to match your pretty eyes.”

“That’s really not necessary,” she says, plucking the shirt out of my hands and tugging it over her head. She pulls her hair out of the neck hole.

I snort, incredulous. “You would wear that every day? If you insist, I can have our tailors make you more pants and shirts, I suppose. But I would like to see you in the clothes of our people.”

She pauses, tugging on the hem of her shirt, picking at a loose thread there, before narrowing her eyes at me.

I grin. I have grown to like that expression, like the challenge in it, and I ready myself for the barbed words I’m sure are on the tip of her tongue.

“I’m not a doll or a pet to be dressed up. I’m a First Officer of the Federation, and I’m here to…” She clears her throat. “I was here to make sure that Earth got the tech we need to protect ourselves from further Roth invasions, as you know.”

“You are here as my wife.” I stand up slowly, stalking toward her. She holds her ground, and my smile deepens further. “The tech is on the way to Earth. And what you wear has nothing to do with who you are to the Federation. You are also a Princess of Sueva now.” I tilt my head, studying her. “If you do not want to wear our garments, that is your choice. You are stunning no matter what you wear. Or what you don’t wear.” I flash some fang at her, and her throat bobs.

“I just…” She rakes her hand through her golden locks, and her fingers snag on the tangled ends. I frown. I should have combed it for her. I haven’t cared for another in a long time. Sure, I have been with my choice of females, but that was different.

I want to care for this prickly human.

I want her to look to me and see safety, see comfort.

To see her future. Our future.

And for that future to be safe, we have to keep moving. We have to solve the riddle of this place, and get to Edrobaz, then move on to Perzivor, where our home and future await.

And in the meantime, she will fall in love with me, and accept her place by my side.

I remember the way her lips felt on mine last night, and I take another step closer.

“Do you want to kiss me again, wife? Would that convince you that you might like being mine? I can think of other places to kiss, if you need even more convincing.”

She makes a strangled noise, pinching the bridge of her nose.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER ELEVEN

OceanofPDF.com

GEN

Why does he keep offering to eat me out?

The better question is, why in the world am I considering say yes?

I’m in a freaking pit, in a ruined temple, on an alien planet with angry dinosaurs outside, and part of me is like, sure, yeah, let’s get down and dirty with the alien prince who keeps offering oral like it’s a party favor at the universe’s worst party ever.

All I can do is stare at him.

The queen of comebacks is all out of witty repartee.

He laughs quietly, like he knows I’m thinking about it, goddammit, and he probably does know it, considering he can oh, I don’t know, scent my arousal?!

I would like to do a big scream, but I’m too afraid something gnarly and alien is going to pop out of the water behind me and chomp me like a mid-morning snack.

“No, thank you,” I say stiffly. Look at you, Genevieve Durand, making good choices, and so polite, too!

“Do humans not like that?” His tail lashes behind him.

I rub my face.

“You never did tell me about human mating rituals.”

“It’s too early for this conversation. I need coffee. Food.”

“I do not know this kaw-fee.” He shakes his head, forlorn, and it’s adorable.

I mentally smack myself. No. He is not adorable. I cannot think about him like that! I can’t catch feelings for this alien. I can kiss him, I can appreciate his ability to keep me safe, I can appreciate his ridiculously hot body, but I cannot catch feelings.

No. I cannot stay here. I cannot be a princess. I’m at least ninety-nine percent sure. I am one hundred percent sure that these are also problems for future Gen. Current Gen just needs to get the fuck to safety. I keep rubbing my face, trying to sort myself out.

“Are you all right, my flower? You are going to hurt your eyeballs if you continue to rip at them with your tiny claws.”

My hands fall away from my face, and I stare up at him. “Tiny claws?”

“Perhaps I was wrong,” he shrugs. “They do not look fearsome, after all.”

I frown, staring at my fingernails. I never thought I would feel insulted by someone saying my nails weren’t capable of savaging eyeballs, but here I am. Just chock-full of new experiences!

“I will catch you something to eat, my cactus flower. Then we will set off on our great adventure.”

“Ah—” Before I can finish whatever I was about to say, Kanuz strips his pants back off, diving into the pool.

Sudden fear trickles over me. What if something happens to him in there? What if there is an alien monster in there, and it chomps him for second breakfasts?

“Potatoes,” I moan, backing up from the pool. Why didn’t I disobey orders and bring a damn weapon to that stupid ass ceremony? The ceremony where I wound up married?!

Well, at least I know now why the Federation was so fucking weird about us participating in their ceremony fully.

My hands fist at my sides, a fresh wave of hot anger washing over me. Those slimy motherfuckers.

Kanuz pops up a second later, a whitish-translucent fish in either hand. “Look, my flower! We will have enough to bring some along.”

“Yay,” I manage. “Any chance of po-tay-toes down there, too?” I laugh at my own joke, but it’s a high, strained sound.