"I'm your shotgun, baby, for the long run
Don't you know I'd die for you?
I ride for you."

Passenger Princess - Nessa Barrett

Spice - O - Meter: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

👑

The desert air cooled my club-dampened skin.

It was the one thing I couldn't hate about the planet.

The three colored moons glowed brightly in the deep, purple sky turning the orange desert a pearly silver. Strange creatures simmered in the distance, croaking and calling out into the night.

The air smelled of freshly cut aloe, spice, and him.

"It's beautiful here, isn't it?" Jimin asked, for once not looking at me.

Even from his profile, I could see him fill with pain. I knew it very well, like an ice cage around my own heart.

I didn't have to pretend to give him sympathy.
"How young were you when you left?"

He shook his head, looking down. "About ten of your years. My father made us wait until we couldn't survive any longer. My mother was the first casualty. I haven't been back since." he rambled, shedding some of his collected elegance. "My mom was unusual for our kind. She only wanted my father. I've always wanted what they had."

My heart plummeted. I turned fully to face the male, "I am so sorry that happened."

Jimin faced me, his eyes glassy. He covered his sadness with a devastating smile. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. You don't really know me yet."

I leaned against the saloon wall, swallowing the lump in my throat. It was dangerous to feel sympathy. Sympathy led to caring. Caring could prevent me from fulfilling my duty.

"You're right I suppose. I guess you could start with how you know Juliette." My voice sounded cutting to my own ears.

I didn't understand why. And God, I wish I never found out.

But if I were to examine those moments that he saw her, and cracked that shell of his with a raw emotion, I would find something akin to (not jealousy, never jealousy) insignificance.

I was his supposed mate, but another person could make him that angry?

He let out a low hum, his lips lifted at the sides. His skin shone like a seashell under the moon lights, "Does it bother you?"

I gritted my teeth. Play the part. "Should it?"

He let out a twinkling laugh that rose all the hairs on my body.

"Like I said, she's one of my own people. We were friends since childhood, nearly family. After the matching ceremony she left on her family's ship to go journeying for more resources. I communicated with her frequently so I never thought she would end up here."

"Matching ceremony? Nearly family?"

Jimin stepped closer, invading my space. I had to crane my next to look at his frame. "We have a ceremony when Ir'Kons come of age to calculate who will be their match. Obviously females on our planet have several matches. Juliette didn't like the fact I wasn't one of hers. In fact, I had no matches above 90% on my own planet."

"She loves you." I bit out. This guy was just like human males.

Jimin shook his head, "No. Loved, maybe. She's just a spoiled noble who is used to getting her way. My best friend still, but not my lover. She knows it too."

My heart fluttered, a shamed moth. "So you've never..." He angled his head in confusion. Oh fuck how do I say this... "Did you ever um, sleep with her?"

"Many times." My chest heaved. "We were children together, of course we had night sleeps!"

I held my hand to my chest. Damn translations.

"I mean sex."

"Copulating?"

"Whatever you want to call it!"

"Why are you so flushed?" Jimin asked softly amused, his pearly fingers brushing over my cheekbones. I moved away, ducking my chin to hide my blush. "We never were together like that. I've been with females before, but never her. Do you see what she did to your friend? It never worked on me."

Of course the alien wasn't a virgin. A person that exudes that much sensuality just couldn't be.

I looked at him fiercely, "What did she do to Jeongguk?"

He looked annoyed all over again. Placing his hands on his narrow hips, he explained. "In order to attract mates, an Ir'Kon female secretes a hormone that um, dazes her chosen target. She never paid attention, so she likely doesn't know it's unethical to do to a species that isn't aware of our abilities."

"Wait, so you can't do that to me?" I asked, disappointed.

I could've blamed all my reactions for him on whatever siren-powers this species had. But it was only the females, and I wasn't prey like Jeongguk.

I was just me, with a wildly fucking strange and barely controllable attraction to the alien before me. How embarrassing.

"Eden, I wouldn't have to." He said, his eyes going soft as he took in my panic. "And I would never, even if I had the power to."

His decency pissed me off. It had to be an act. He couldn't steal me without my permission and then say it was all my choice.

"Why? It would be so much easier for you to brainwash me so that I could be yours. You'd have your mate, and if we are biologically compatible, an heir. Just like your father and mother, just like you always wanted."

His expression grew severe as he closed me in, my back pressed entirely against the wall behind me to avoid his touch.

"Other than the fact that it would be blatantly wrong, I am not a coward." He showed off his teeth, and I realized in this moment their canines were slightly sharper than ours. It should've scared me, but it did quite the opposite. "If I am to have you, I want you willing and ready for me. Understood?"

Play the game. Play the game.

I lifted my hand slowly. We both watched as it rested gently on his nearly exposed chest.

His muscles twitched under my touch, his jaw clenching as he peered between us. His pool-like eyes ignited with a fire I had no ability to douse.

"What if I'm ready now?" I pretended, while being the exact opposite. But I needed him like clay between my hands, to mold him into a vessel to get us the fuck out of here.

It didn't seem like it would be hard.

My hand snaked further down, resting against his sinful abdomen, giving way under my touch. To say he didn't feel fucking amazing under my palm would be a lie. His scales were undetectable, his muscles like hardened steel under the smoothest skin. He was warmer than me, like touching a cooling stove.

His scent swarmed me as he stumbled forward, one hand finding stability on the wall behind me.

The graceful, beautiful alien brought to a halt because of me.

"Eden." He said softly, his plump lips swollen from biting them.

I tilted my head towards him, preparing for a kiss. It wouldn't be torture, but it would be for Taehyung. Because this was my sacrifice.

Jimin's face snapped like a rubber band, toughening.

At an in human speed he grabbed my lingering hand and fastened it by my wrist to the wall behind us. With his other hand, he pressed me flat to the wall with my upper chest above my breasts.

I was pinned, caged even. I didn't even attempt to move because I knew I wouldn't be able to against his strength.

We were breathing hard against each other. Me out of fear and something I wouldn't like to name, and him with...

"You think I'm a fool like your human men don't you?" His lips curled, enraged and somehow softer than I've ever heard.

My blood boiled in my veins, making me twist against him. That stopped when he placed his thigh between my legs, and slightly lifted me from the ground. The pressure made my throat close.

He leaned down, his eyes darkening. All of that polite swagger gone, replaced with something panther-like in his prowess.

The male drew closer, inspecting my face. Before bringing his mouth to the shell of my ear, and biting. I felt the tingle of it all the way to my toes. "Yes, my Eden, I am affected by you. But I told you, I can feel everything." His breath was deliciously hot against me, and I nearly cried when his tongue took my lobe into his mouth and sucked. He laughed softly, letting me go. "I can feel your plot against me, hoping to bend me to your will. You want to take me down, and you'll use any means to do so. I think it's fucking impressive, and it makes me want you even more. But do you know what's making me lose my mind around you?"

I could only breathe. Words were lost on me, as my heart was lodged in my throat. His lips pulled away from me.

Leaning back just enough, he wanted to see every reaction on my face. He lifted his knee higher, placing just enough pressure on my center which now ached and throbbed in time with my heartbeat.

I knew he could feel it. I knew it was the reason for his self-satisfied smile and slightly flushed cheeks and bed-room eyes. The feeling only heightened with the slight cruelty that flickered across that desire-drenched expression, like he was above it all.

"What I crave most is that sick desire you keep pressing down deep within your soul. I can feel it.  Beneath your plotting is that curling emotion within you, that you can't hide from me. The one that makes your heart beat and your thighs ache and your center wet for me. It fuels your hatred and your nightmares." His eyes were silver flames, hypnotizing me. Mocking me. "You are tired of being in control. It's fun for you, but deep down you know it bores you to have all that you want and when you want it. You want someone that makes you crave, that makes you bend and break. You think you can use your whims to make use of me?" Jimin laughed dark and low, his lips lifting to reveal his teeth as he pressed harder into my chest. His lips were a breath away from mine, as I felt his hard-on pressed against my stomach. "Yes, I want you Eden. Badly. But I am waiting for the day you expect me to bow to you, and instead you come crawling on your knees for me. Maybe I'll send you home out of pity without fucking you, like you humans say."

He released me instantly, pushing away. His expression still enraged, but I could see the evidence of his want clearly, after it has been pressed against me. Angry and turned on.

His lips curled, "Never threaten me with our bond."

I didn't know what to feel. I was shamed and embarrassed at being caught, embarrassed I could barely walk. Embarrassed I wanted his hands on me and instead he wanted to punish me.

I lifted my hand back, and slapped him square in the face. "Never threaten me with my home!"

The man laughed, his tongue running across the inside of his cheek. He placed his hand over the reddened flesh.

"I am in love with your idea of foreplay."

"You wouldn't know what love is if you smacked you in the face, clearly." I breathed harshly, like I had just run a marathon. He took one step towards me and I yelled, "Get away from me!"

He held up his hands in surrender and faced the facility where he would be staying. I could feel my heart being tugged towards him even know, and I pressed a fist into my chest and beat it to a pulp.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said, that all-knowing smile back on his face.

"What?" That didn't make sense. We were going out as a squad to catch the invaders.

"I'm hunting with you all, of course."

He was gone within seconds, and I let my body slide down the wall and into the dirt.

I had underestimated him, and he caught onto my strategy from a thousand miles away.

My mind was enraged. But my body was fucking enthralled.

I lost and I needed a new plan. I needed to bring him to his knees, like he refused to believe I could.

But the prince would fall for me. I was damned sure of it.

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(A/N: i love this chapter hahahahah

If alien bad kidnapper, then why so hot??

My favorite this about Eden is that she is smart, and brave. She always has a plan. What she can't stand about jimin is that he catches on 😭😭 but she's like damn....damnnnnn.