Free Star Kissed by Lizzy Ford

cousins or find her a new place to stay, probably in the slave quarters. Based on their discussion earlier, he sensed sending her there would involve him in an emotional exchange he didn’t want. He needed some rest after his day, preferably in his own bed, but wasn’t about to provoke an argument with someone whose sense of logic was inferior.
    He shook his head. Did he really not want to deal with her, when he negotiated treaties with creatures that had no sense of logic? Or was there something more?
    Akkadi started forward to wake her, blaming his exhaustion for the purely human thoughts.  
    “Visitor.” The guard at his door told him. The whisper came from the device at the base of Akkadi’s neck and was just loud enough for him to hear. “Hichele.”
    Akkadi glanced around, sensing the sight of a woman in his bed wouldn’t go over well with his betrothed. He left his quarters and joined the guard and the Naki woman in the corridor in front of his quarters. He acknowledged her bow with one of his own.
    “You have broken protocol,” he chided quietly.
    Hichele’s features were bright, marked by the high cheekbones and firm chin of his race. From there, the differences between her and the human in his quarters were pronounced. The Naki race largely took on the characteristics of whichever galaxy or planet they came from. Hichele’s skin was translucent, her hair and eyes blacker than space. The result of the contrast was facial features that looked small and too close together, with no real beauty in them. She stood a few inches shorter than him and was slender in the way of most Nakis.
    “Forgive me, my prince,” she said with another bow. “My father informed me of your decision. I came to express my gratitude and assure you I will perform my duty as required.”
    Finally , he almost said aloud. He was at the end of his patience after dealing with emotional humans like his mother, Urik and Mandy.
    Akkadi motioned for them to walk down the hallway. Hichele’s hand had been offered to him years before, and he’d refused, claiming it was customary in his family to await the twenty-fifth year or beyond to take a mate. She’d gone to every station he went to, following him around the galaxy, waiting for her chance. If nothing else, Akkadi knew she was loyal. As a Naki, she also maintained the ability to use logic above emotions.
    Most importantly, her family had the energy supply Akkadi needed as the head of operations for the human’s planet.
    Glancing at her again, he recalled part of the reason he’d folded to his mother’s insistence that he open the star gate first instead of accepting Hichele when he turned twenty-five. He felt nothing for her, and he’d had a moment of human weakness that made him hope there was someone more compatible out there. Someone more like his mother, whose affection was out of place in his society but had helped mold ten of the strongest Naki leaders in history.
    When he saw Mandy on the planet, he was drawn to her beauty first and her raw human expressions second. He found himself needing to comfort her despite being taken aback by the emotional mess she was. For a split second, he thought she was the mate he was waiting for. Unfamiliar warmth had bloomed within him.
    It was that warmth – clearly a sign of human emotion – that made him take a step back and realize what it meant to be with a human like Mandy. It meant he couldn’t be Naki, and being Naki was all he had ever striven to be.
    His attention slid back to Hichele. He wasn’t sure how he should regard her, but even basic attraction would be tough with a bride like this. He didn’t want to feel the connection he did with Mandy, and he was certain he could never return Hichele’s apparent happiness about their future together. He took no pleasure in accepting her as his wife. In fact, he felt nothing towards her.
    It was beyond her plain looks, though, that kept him from wanting to accept her earlier, for