Chapter
One
LAMIA
"Did you even read this thing before signing it, Lam?" Porcha asked me, her nose wrinkling as she looked up from the holographic scroll that hung in the air in front of her, projected upwards from the small device the freaky spider aliens had given me to take with me back down to Earth. A group at a table near us glanced over repeatedly at the contract. We were starting to see more and more alien tech here on Earth, but it was a pretty distracting sight to see alien tech dressed up with a touch of medieval style. The font on the contract even looked like some fancy-pants handwrote it with a quill and plenty of time to practice swirling finishes.
A couple of Norratar strolled into the bar, and then the group of people weren't paying attention to us at all, instead staring at the newcomers' general alienness.
"I skimmed it," I said, taking another sip from my tall, blue drink with a rim coated in sugar. I couldn't taste even the slightest bit of alcohol in it, which was exactly how I liked my drinks: tall, sweet, and deceptive. I licked the sugar from mylips as I smiled at Porcha's horrified expression. "I read all the important bits."
The important bit was the guy's picture and the fact that, afterwards, he would become completely and utterly dedicated to me. I was down for a little kink to be treated like a Queen for the rest of my life.
I was done with guys who thought that strip clubs didn't count as cheating.
"Lam!" My best friend put one hand on her forehead, covering one of her eyes with the heel of her hand, before she remembered her eye makeup and lifted it up away from her face. We'd gotten all done up for a girls' night out at the new place that had opened up because I wanted to celebrate signing it, and I'd brought my copy of the contract along because I knew Porcha would demand to read it.
"I knew you'd read all the rest of it for me," I grinned, knowing exactly what kind of reaction my words were going to get out of her.
"LAM!" Porcha groaned. "You already signed it! How many times have I told you not to sign things without letting me read them first?"
And she was right, I shouldn't have signed it without her.
But at the same time, this felt right. Sometimes I was just so impulsive, and when things felt right, I just ran with it like a pigeon trying to get through a shut window, smashing up against the barrier, certain it would give way at any moment, and it often did. Life worked out well for me. When they flew me up to the moon, I was so excited, thinking I was going to get to go see the movie sets, but the contract negotiation office wasn't even connected. They showed me a picture of my potential mate, and I was sold, even if his species was considered unsuitable to get to roam around Earth.
Apparently, species that had conflicts with humans in the past weren't allowed to come to the planet to seek out mates. I had no idea why that didn't apply to those naga-like aliens, but Porcha had an entire episode that I could watch later.
"Like a bajillion times," I said, taking another sip. "But this is different. They don't even have the whole scenario set up yet. I have to wait."
"How is this different? This is worse!" Porcha demanded. She lowered her voice, leaning forward and hissing at me as quietly as she could. "Lam, this is a BDSM contract!"
At the bar, one of the Norratar flicked an ear so it was pointed in our direction.
"Don't eavesdrop," I sang out softly, glaring across the room at the Norratar. He turned his head and flashed me a closed-lipped smile. I bared my teeth at him, definitely not smiling. He turned away, flicking both his ears pointedly back at his friend as his tail twitched in a jagged, agitated motion.
Porcha's forehead wrinkled, then smoothed with understanding as she followed my gaze to the aliens standing at the bar.
"I can understand why you signed up in the first place," she took a sip of her hot tea as she stared at the aliens for a little bit longer before glancing away. She always brought her own tea bags with her, ordering hot water. She didn't do it to save money; she made plenty. She used to work for a huge law firm before her streaming videos took off when she switched from explaining human law to breaking down about the new laws that came with our alien overlords. She quit her job to run a full-time channel, choosing a life over an office. In terms of Norratar law, she was the one I trusted the most. "But this isn't the normal program. This contract is... intense. Tell me what you understand about it so I can fill in the blanks."
She brought her own tea bags because she was particular about what she liked.
I always wondered why I fell into the category of people she liked.
"Well, first, the money isn't bad," I said. "And there is a strict guarantee that he has to take care of my needs for the rest of my life to a standard of living that is pretty great, and provide for my integration into galactic society as well if we move off planet."
"Lam, I know you didn't sign up for this for financial gain," Porcha said. "You have a trust fund, a good one. You aren't doing this for the dowry, which is a questionable practice in the first place, especially with a contract like this."
"He isn't buying me," I said. "I can leave at any time. The money is there to ensure the human's financial freedom and choices."
"Lam," Porcha said. "He is buying your peace of mind. Did you even read what you have to put up with for the courtship? He wants to frighten you."
“It didn’t read that way to me,” I said. “He isn’t even allowed to choke me. I actually asked the spider lawyer about that one, because it didn’t say anything about that and you know how you can get brain damage as quickly as thirty seconds from being choked.”
"They're called Chyrriths, not spider lawyers," Porcha corrected. “What did they say?”
“I think they were concerned?” I said. “It was hard to tell. They pointed out the clause about me not being harmed at all covered that, but they added in a specific no choking section as well.”
“Not being physically harmed,” Porcha said. “But what is outlined in this contract can be psychologically damaging.”
