Page 26 of Married to the Beast

After eating, they stopped at a public trash receptacle so that she could throw away her old clothes and breast netting. When Aleena saw them disappear down the chute, she looked up at her new husband and smiled gratefully.

“You’ve been so good to me, my Bear,” she said, really meaning it. “Thank you so much, but you shouldn’t have spent so much on me!”

“What else should I spend my money on?” He grinned down at her and put an arm around her shoulders to pull her close. “Besides, you look gorgeous in that new breast cover—anditkeeps other males from looking at my wife,” he added with a possessive look at her chest.

Aleena felt her cheeks heat with a blush.

“I always was embarrassed to wear that old breast net out in public,” she admitted in a low voice. “So many men would shout and call at me, asking me awful questions—like what price it would be to change the color of my eyes.” She blushed harder as she spoke, dropping her gaze.

“Bastards!” There was a low growl in her new husband’s voice. “Why couldn’t you just wear a scarf or something to cover up?”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that!” Aleena protested, looking up at him. “An unmarried female is never allowed to hide her assets. All males must be able to see her, to judge if she would make a good wife or not.”

Bear growled again.

“Fucking ridiculous!” He seemed angry but Aleena didn’t think his anger was directed at her.

“I don’t have to worry about it anymore, though,” she pointed out. “Now that I’m a married woman, I can hide my breasts behind the beautiful new nets you bought me.” She smiled up at him. “Thank you again, my Bear. You’re more than generous.”

“I just want you to look decent when we go out in public,” he grumbled, but Aleena saw an expression in his golden eyes that seemed to say he liked the way she looked in her new breast net and the other new clothing he had purchased for her.

That look sent a tingle through her entire body and for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to have him change the color of her eyes without a twinge of fear.

I suppose I’ll find out once we get home,she thought. It had been a long day and the shadows outside the hovercoach were growing long. Surely when they got home her new husband would want to take her and make her his completely.

Aleena just hoped she could please the big Kindred and that taking him into her body wouldn’t hurt too much. He was, after all, so verylarge.But she would do her best to accommodate him, she told herself.

She wanted him to never want to leave her and to love her as she was already beginning to love him.

15

ALEENA

Aleena had expected her new husband to want to change the color of her eyes as soon as they got home. But to her surprise, after carrying all the bags and boxes up to the sleeping chamber for her, he told her he was going to work in his study a little while longer.

After cleaning the kitchen and getting rid of the ruined roast, she went to check on him—only to find him still working. So she selected a Salana book and took a long soak in the tub while she read it.

The book turned out to be a spicy one with lots of kissing. Reading the scenes made Aleena feel hot all over and her nipples throbbed.

Looking down at her naked body, she noticed her new nipple bands and she wondered when her new husband would decide to take them off. The special gold and silver alloy they were made of was specially designed to react only to a woman’s husband—she couldn’t take them off herself and she didn’t want to wear them all night. Maybe she ought to go ask Bear about it and see what he said.

That gave her a new idea—maybe he waswaitingfor her to ask him about removing the nipple bandsandabout changingthe color of her eyes. That wasn’t the way things were done here on Karpsian Sigma, but maybe it was the way of things with his people. She already knew the Kindred didn’t believe in punishing their wives—maybe they also waited for the woman to initiate intimate relations?

The thought grew in her mind and she began to feel restless and worried. What if Bear was sitting in his study right now, wondering why she hadn’t come to offer herself to him yet? Might he be waiting for her and all the while, she was lounging in the tub and reading a naughty novel? That would be inexcusable behavior!

She got out and wrapped herself in a towel. She’d been half afraid he might already be waiting for her in the bed chamber, but it was empty when she went in.

Aleena dug through her bag once more, feeling glad she wouldn’t have to wear most of what it contained. All of these old clothes could be thrown away now that she had the lovely new outfits Bear had bought her. But there was one special garment that she still needed—her Joining night outfit.

It was something she had scrimped and saved to buy back when they still had money. She had hoped that one day she would get Joined, and she wanted to be ready. And now, years after she had bought it, she would finally get to wear it.

Aleena pulled it out and held it up to admire the scrap of fabric in the soft, golden luminescence of the wall glows. It was a short little dress that barely reached her thighs and it was made of white, nearly transparent lace. Thin straps at the shoulders held it in place and there was a deep V neck-line that tied at the throat with a silk string. Once untied, it would fall open, revealing her bare breasts completely to her husband.

She had a tiny pair of lace panties that barely covered her pussy to go with the little lace dress and she slipped them on, feeling naughty when she saw how little they covered. Why, thesoft mound of copper curls and the top of her slit were visible above the little triangle of lace! She wondered with a shiver that was half fear/half anticipation if that would tempt her new husband to take her.

Well, there was only one way to find out. Taking a deep breath, she left the bedchamber and went to knock on the study door.

16

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