Mated on Hades Read online

  The first thing she saw was a purple alien headed right towards her. From the waist up, the apparently female alien (Jules' guess based on the alien's large mammary glands on her chest) looked almost human other than her lavender skin color. However from the waist down she was basically a mass of tentacles sprouting from underneath the tunic-like dress she was wearing; there were far too many of them to count, especially while they were moving so quickly to propel her across the ground.

  Podelian - Jules' shocked brain supplied the species, recognizing it only from books since they almost never came to Earth.

  "You must be Juliette!" The Podelian trilled. Now that she was closer, Jules could see the deep indigo of her eyes as she beamed at Jules, apparently thrilled to see her. "Oh, I'm so happy to meet my new daughter!"

  Her words pinged through Jules' brain as her two arm tentacles wrapped Jules in a firm hug. Automatically, Jules lifted her arms to hug the alien back.

  Podelian! My mate's mother is Podelian! Did that mean he was going to have a whole bottom half of tentacles too? She knew from her research on the ship that Hadesians often picked up one or two physical traits of their matrimonial line, and the picture that had been provided of Tarrik had only shown him from the waist up. That had look totally normal for a Hadesian but…

  Oh no... my love of hentai and La Blue Girl has come back to bite me in the ass! That was just a phase, dammit!

  She didn't actually want a mate that was all tentacles... Right?

  "Sirilla, love, let the girl breathe." The deep voice belonged to a Hadesian male who was now walking up, an amused expression on his face. He was tall, broad-shouldered and had the wings that the vast majority of the population was said to possess. The red of his skin, red-flecked dark hair, and reddish black horns made him look almost like the Earth depictions of the devil, but he was incredibly handsome. He was also fully humanoid, which was a relief. So there was a chance her mate was too.

  Not that Jules wanted to be speciest but... she didn't have that much sexual experience. One night stands with strangers scattered over the years and one early relationship that failed in an epic manner did not equate to being able to handle full-on tentacle sex. No matter how intrigued part of her brain might feel about the idea.

  "Hello," Jules said shyly when Sirilla had moved back, although she still kept one delicate tentacle wrapped around Jules' hand. It was warm and dry, without any suckers, so not at all like an octopus, even though that was how Earth books had described Podelians.

  Sirilla beamed at her. "It's so nice to meet you, Juliette," she said. "I'm Sirilla and this is my mate, Tobik."

  "Actually, I go by Jules," she said, a little apologetically. It was hard to correct someone who was so immediately warm and friendly to her. Jules actually hadn't thought at all about what her mates' parents might be like, but even if she had she doubted she would have expected Sirilla.

  "It's a lovely name, and my mate is correct, we're very pleased to meet you," Tobik said, still smiling down at her.

  "And um..." Jules looked around. She didn't want to be rude and ask what they were doing there instead of her mate, but it really was a little odd. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Latherian re-boarding the shuttle. Guess that was goodbye then.

  "My son is running a bit-"

  "MOTHER!" The shout rang out across the busy shuttle yard and Sirilla immediately perked up, turning in the direction of the deep voice. Jules turned with her.

  "Ah, there he is!"

  Jules recognized him immediately from the picture Celestial Mates had provided, although it hadn't really had the same impact as he made in person. Big, red, muscled, winged, with the same horns as his father and - three legs? No, two legs and a tail. The tail lashed back and forth behind him as he strode furiously toward the small group and Jules found herself watching it with fascination. Was that a tail or a tentacle? It did look kind of like his mother's, even if it was just the one.

  Her insides clenched.

  Well being sexually attracted to her mate definitely wasn't a bad thing. She could get laid for the first time in months and maybe distract him from her shitty personality with sex for at least a few weeks. The required Earth implant was good to go for at least another year, so she didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant for at least that long.

  Behind him, another Hadesian was following at a slightly slower pace. He looked similar to Tarrik, but was lacking a tail.

  "A human? You let them pair me with a garking useless human?!" Despite the fact that he was a lot closer than he had been, he was shouting just as loudly as he had before and his voice carried across the yard.

  Any sense of sexual interest Jules had had in her mate abruptly dissipated.

  Worse, she felt a pang of disappointment in her chest, a sharp ache of rejection that stabbed near her heart. She'd let her guard slip a little because of the warm welcome from Sirilla, but she should have known better. That wasn't how her life worked - this was. Drawing in all her defenses - because who cared if her mate thought she was useless? It's not like she wanted to stay here forever - Jules glared at the big oaf.

  As if suddenly spotting her, his forward motion ground to a halt a few feet away from them and he frowned down at her. Beside Jules, Sirilla huffed in obvious annoyance at her offspring.

  "What are you doing here?" Tarrik asked, looking perplexed.

  Jules stared at him blankly. She'd like to have a snappy reply but the question was so inane that she couldn't think of one. "Uh, well I was here to be your mate-"

  "You're not due till tomorrow," he interrupted her and Jules glared at him again. And people called her rude! Compared to this twit, she was the peak of politeness.

  "No, dear, she's due today," Sirilla said firmly, wrapping her tentacle around Jules' arm and pulling them together. Jules got the impression Sirilla was afraid she would run - and if the Celestial Mates shuttle hadn't taken off while Tarrik was storming towards them, she would have been tempted to do just that. Unfortunately, she no longer had a place to run to. She also doubted she'd be able to break Sirilla's death grip on her arm. "You're a day late."

  "I am no-" He cut off mid word and frowned.

  "We are," said the other Hadesian coming up beside him. He smiled at Jules in a friendly manner. "Hello there, you must be Tarrik's mate, Juliette."

  "Jules," she replied firmly.

  "Jules, it's a pleasure. I'm Mrik, Tarrik's first mate," he said, not at all put off by her less-friendly answer. "Hello Sirilla, Tobik." Stepping forward, he brushed a kiss over Sirilla's cheek.

  "Hello scoundrel," Sirilla said fondly. "Are you coming to dinner tonight?"

  "Oh yes," Mrik said, grinning. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

  Before Jules could ask exactly what he thought he might miss, Sirilla was using their joined arms like a rudder and turning them around. "Come on, Jules, we can show you to your new home. I can't wait to get to know you!"

  Mrik fell into step on the other side of Jules as Sirilla rolled right along, and Jules was too busy trying to make sure she didn't accidentally step on any of Sirilla's tentacles to protest or try and prevaricate.

  "Tarrik, make sure to bring your mate's bag," Sirilla called over her shoulder.

  ******

  Staring at the retreating backs of his mother, his best friend, and his supposed mate, Tarrik turned to look at his father, utterly aghast. Surely his father would be on his side... but the expression he received in return was one of exasperation.

  "Are you blind?" his father asked.

  "What? No-"

  "Then why would you insult your mate's entire species when she was standing right in front of you?"

  Guilt rose up inside of Tarrik. He'd been upset the entire trip back, annoyed by Mrik's and his crew's ribbing, frustrated by the whole situation, and honestly hadn't even realized the petite human was standing beside the much larger frames of his parents until he was nearly on top of them. He could be a little single-minded someti
mes. Even if he didn't want a useless human as a mate, he wouldn't have intentionally insulted the entire species in front of one of them. That was just rude.

  "I'll apologize," he mumbled.

  "You'd better. This is not a great way to start your mating," his father scolded.

  Tarrik's head came up and he stared. "I can't mate her. She's a human. They have nothing genetically special to contribute that I don't already have. I need a mate with retractable claws, or fangs, or psi-abilities... something." The human was attractive, as such things went, with tanned skin, dark hair, and big brown eyes, not to mention some very nice feminine curves, but it wasn't like any of that would be useful to pass on to his son.

  His father's black eyes rolled skyward for a moment before returning to settle on Tarrik again. "Tarrik, what exactly do you think your mother contributed to our mating?"

  "Her tentacles, of course," Tarrik said immediately. His tail lashed out, as if for emphasis. It was extremely useful.

  He watched as his father turned around shaking his head as he began to walk off, following the others. "An idiot. My offspring is an idiot," he muttered, just loud enough that Tarrik could still hear him.

  "I am not an idiot!" Tarrik shouted after him.

  Although he was now standing alone in the middle of a shuttle field like one. Growling under his breath, Tarrik grabbed the human's bag and hefted it over his shoulder. It looked like he was stuck with her for at least a little bit.

  But not for long if he had anything to say about it.

  Chapter 2

  If it wasn't for the fact that her life was in imminent danger if she returned to earth, Jules would probably already be trying to sneak away and call Celestial Mates back up... as it was, she was pretty torn. Being mated to Tarrik obviously wasn't going to work, but it seemed like Sirilla wanted her to stay and try to make a go of it. Doing that might be annoying, because she'd have to put up with the obnoxious jerk, but it would also give her much-needed time away from Earth.

  "He's been traveling all over for years as the captain of one of his father's ships," Sirilla was explaining. "He's had wanderlust ever since he was a little boy and he just loves being in space. We knew it would be hard for him to come back and settle down, but his father wants to retire and we need him here to run the business."

  In other worse, he was a big man-baby who didn't want to buckle down and attend to his responsibilities, so he kept doing what he was doing and made his father keep working. Still, it seemed like Sirilla found it a reasonable explanation, so Jules pretended she did too.

  "I see, so... he did know about Celestial Mates, right?" she asked. Sirilla seemed like the well-meaning interfering type, maybe she'd sent the application in without telling her son? In that case Jules might be able to muster up a little more sympathy for him.

  "Oh yes," Sirilla said, beaming back at her and scrapping that conjecture. On the other side of Jules, Mrik was just ambling along, listening and occasionally murmuring an agreement whenever Sirilla asked it of him. "He agreed that when he had a mate it would be time to return here and settle down. So now Tobik and I will be able to travel and Tarrik will run things from headquarters."

  "He's gonna love that," Mrik murmured, soft enough that Sirilla couldn't hear him but Jules could. This mating was already off to a great start.

  She did want to go back to Earth, but not right now. Jules had no idea how long it would take for The Masters Group and the Representative to forget about her but she figured at the very least she needed a month off-planet - several months would be better.

  Sirilla kept chattering about the places she wanted to visit (half of which Jules had never heard of) and reassuring Jules that she and Tobik would return frequently to help with any grandchildren Jules produced (Ha!), as she escorted Jules and Mrik to a hover car. It was similar to Earth's cars, although rounder in shape.

  By the time Tobik and Tarrik caught up with them - the latter looking incredibly grumpy as he carried her bag, which Jules took a kind of odd delight in - Sirilla had moved on to asking Jules about herself. She answered as best she could, only half paying attention as the car started moving and she got her first good, close-up look at Hades.

  Everything was not a uniform red, as it had appeared from the shuttle. There were a lot of other colors mixed in, although a lot of the plant life was still mixed with red - reddish-orange, reddish-purple, reddish-green. The buildings were a lot lower to the ground than on Earth and there were a lot less of them. She supposed that was due to the lower Hadesian population, whereas Earth was definitely over-populated and growing more so every day. If it wasn't for the intergalactic trade networks, the entire planet would have already collapsed, as they couldn't produce enough resources for their population. Which was why there were so many rich leeches at the top, gaming the system and making their money at the expense of the poor.

  From what she'd read about Hades, they didn't really have slums - they needed their whole population and, from the sounds of it, they really needed more of a population. Unfortunately for them, they weren't really popular as a destination for other aliens who weren't mated to them. Their planet was out of the way, didn't have any specialized resources, and whatever biological issue had affected their birth rate seemed to affect anyone who spent any amount of time on the planet. Although, not as much if only one partner had been to Hades.

  Since Jules doubted she'd ever find someone who even wanted to have kids with her anyway, she didn't really care about that, but a lot of others would.

  The streets were mostly filled with Hadesian males and non-Hadesian females, although there were a few non-Hadesian males scattered throughout as well. The array of differences between the Hadesians was pretty fascinating. Some had tails, some had horns, most had wings - she even saw one with four arms!

  "What kind of work did you do on Earth?" Sirilla asked. The pace of her questions had slowed somewhat as she'd noticed Jules looking out the windows, obviously curious about Hades and its inhabitants.

  "Computers," Jules said, deliberately keeping her answer vague. "Mostly."

  Tarrik made a noise she couldn't quite interpret and she shot him a look, but he was looking away from her and out of the window. Maybe he'd seen something in the street that he'd reacted to.

  "Mrik does a lot of work with the computers on our ships," Sirilla said, shooting the Hadesian a fond look.

  So far Jules liked Mrik a lot better than her actual mate. She smiled at him and he grinned back at her.

  "Did you get the new Trans-Mat upgrade?" she asked - that was the upgrade she'd helped the Latharians with on the way to Hades.

  "We did," Mrik said, making a face. "So far I haven't been impressed."

  "Oh, we're here!" Sirilla said, interrupting Jules' next question. "This is our house."

  She looked up and her mouth dropped open at the size of the dwelling they'd come to a halt in front of.

  "Just you live here?" she heard herself asking in near-disbelief. "Just you and Tobik?"

  "And Tarrik, the few times he's here during a cycle," Sirilla said cheerfully. "It's seldom enough it didn't make sense for him to get his own place yet, but don't worry, you two will have plenty of privacy in the south wing."

  South wing. Jules mouthed the words because she couldn't quite bring herself to actually say them. A whole wing. Only the wealthiest of the wealthy on Earth would be able to afford a house this size, and even then most of them lived in smaller homes than this. A whole wing, when she was used to living in one room and a shared bathroom down the hall, which was how most Earth apartments currently operated.

  History told them that most people had once lived in houses or large apartments, but that wasn't how things were anymore. Jules felt completely out of her element as she stepped out of the car and looked up at the three-story monstrosity. Granted, three stories wasn’t impressive – the fact that Tarrik’s family lived in all three stories was.

  An old earth saying flitted through her mind. I'm n
ot in Kansas anymore.

  ******

  The expression on the human's face just proved to Tarrik that this was an ill-fated match.

  Humans were grasping, selfish, stupid creatures who had ruined their entire planet. They'd have died off - or killed each other off - if it hadn't been for other species stepping in to help them out. There were valuable resources on Earth, not the least of which was their high population, but Tarrik didn't just want a mate who could breed, he wanted one who was useful. Worthwhile. Not just a bed buddy, which was how many in the universe considered humans.

  And he definitely didn't want a useless mate he'd have to take care of, one who was obviously already realizing that life on Hades was going to be much better than life on Earth. From the vids he'd seen, it was likely she'd never seen anything as grand as his parents’ home - and it was rather moderately sized for Hades. Thankfully. Hopefully she wouldn't realize that his parents could have afforded an even larger one, otherwise they'd probably never get rid of her.

  They weren't exorbitantly wealthy for Hadesians, but they were well off. He'd done enough research on Earth, however, to realize that their modest living arrangements would seem grandly palatial to a human. The expression on Juliette's face proved it.

  Feeling as sour as a chaki fruit, Tarrik came to stand next to his mother, still holding the human's bag. At least his mother wasn't expecting them to share a room.

  That was about the only upside over the next few hours.

  His prospective mate was settled into the room next to his, and when she rejoined them for dinner - freshly washed and dressed, Tarrik was more than a little annoyed to find himself even more attracted to her than he had been before. She smelled good, her hair looked soft and fluffy, and his tail kept trying to creep along the floor to wrap around her ankle. It was like he had no damned control over the thing.

  Not that she seemed to have the same awareness of him, however. Despite being seated next to him, she mostly ignored him while he glowered beside her, but was perfectly happy to converse and smile with Mrik. Tarrik told himself he wasn't jealous, because he didn't want her to smile at him anyway.