Riv's Sanctuary: A Sci-fi Alien Romance

by A. G. Wilde

  But she did.

  At the moment she did, and her eyes widened some more. Her gaze on the outline of his cock in his trousers only made him harder.

  “I came to check your hands,” he managed to get out, his gaze falling to her arm tucked between her legs.

  She seemed flustered, her cheeks were growing pink and her eyes widened even more.

  “Um, my hands are okay now. Thank you for the bandages.”

  Riv grunted and grasped her hand.

  He wanted her to protest. He needed her to send him away. He needed her to scream for him to leave.

  But she didn’t.

  He couldn’t move his gaze from her face as her hand slipped from between her legs and the scent of her juices filled the air.

  She’d been pleasuring herself.

  And phek, it was the hottest thing he had ever seen in his life.

  Unashamedly, he wanted to see more.

  Would she cry out when she brought herself to a climax?

  Would her juices coat her fingers?

  His cock jerked in his trousers.

  He needed to let go of her.

  He should let go.

  But did he want to?

  No.

  He couldn’t help himself, and phek him, but she wasn’t resisting.

  A part of him really, really wished she would.

  Maybe if she did, it would break him from this trance.

  Instead, her large brown eyes were focused on his as she blinked at him, probably as confused about what was happening as he was.

  Lifting her hand, the air grew thick between them as he brought her fingers closer to his face.

  Phek.

  Her musk was thick and he’d be lying like a fid on a pole if he didn’t want to bring her hand closer to his nose.

  Raxu knew he wanted to.

  As he brought her fingers to his nose and inhaled deeply, she made a soft sound in her throat as she watched him and he had to fight to not pull her closer.

  Instead, he settled for her hand, moving it to his lips and hesitating only slightly before he pulled a finger into his mouth.

  Phekking hell. She tasted divine.

  The moan that rumbled through him vibrated against the digit in his mouth and he watched as her gaze waned a bit, her lashes dipping. When she looked at him again, the lust had returned to her gaze.

  “Riv,” she breathed. “What are you doing?”

  Phek if he knew, but it felt good.

  It felt so phekking good.

  “Do you want me to stop?” He cleaned that finger and took another into his mouth.

  She tasted like nothing he’d tasted before, something bordering between hijh spices and sweetness, and as he licked her, he knew he’d made another critical mistake, for there was no way he was going to be able to turn back after this.

  He’d gone too far.

  “No…” came her breathless gasp, so long after he’d asked that he’d forgotten what she was answering and for a moment he paused, thinking she was rejecting him.

  “Don’t stop. I—I like this…whatever this is.”

  He moved closer to her then, his other hand holding onto her arm to steady it.

  A soft sound left her again and he wished she would stop that. She had no idea how close he was to forgetting everything he’d been repressing for so long and just taking her back to his bed where he’d ensure she’d feel every inch of the frustration he’d been nursing for days.

  As he finished cleaning her fingers, he looked down at her, licking the remnants of her scent off his lips. Her hand rested lightly on his chest as she looked up at him, her gaze searching his.

  “You’ll probably come to your senses and leave, but…”

  But what?

  She raised upright, then, her face coming so close to his he was sure she could smell herself on his lips. Then she did something he didn’t expect.

  She pressed her lips against his.

  It was a soft, insistent sort of mouth-pushing he’d never experienced before.

  At first, he thought she wanted to take air from him and at that point, he felt as if he’d let her do anything if it meant she’d stay close to him for just a little longer.

  But when he felt the smooth wetness of her tongue against his lips, when he opened his mouth to her and her tongue brushed against his, rubbing and stroking, he knew this wasn’t a sort of air stealing. It was a sort of mouth phekking.

  A precursor to the real thing?

  He groaned and pulled her closer and she opened up to him, the mouth phekking growing more intense as he tried to match her tongue movements with his own.

  But it ended all too soon.

  All too quickly, she was pulling away, her eyes downcast, refusing to meet his gaze.

  “La-rehn?”

  What had he done wrong?

  Had he not mouth phekked her properly?

  He could try again.

  Phek.

  He wanted to try again.

  “We should stop,” she said, pulling out of his grasp.

  Her arms were folded now, her back turned to him.

  “You should go.”

  Deep rejection.

  Rejection of the sort he’d inflicted on her in the past.

  It hit him like a hovercar at full speed.

  She didn’t meet his gaze. Her head was hung, her breaths coming ragged.

  She wanted him to leave and he would.

  He’d never force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

  And she didn’t want him.

  As he walked away, he knew right then.

  There was no way his life would return to normal after he’d tasted her.

  That one taste had pushed him past a barrier he’d been standing behind for so long.

  Now, his world as he knew it was shattered.

  27

  Lauren stayed in the room for most of the next two days.

  She couldn’t exit.

  She could still feel his lips against hers and her body responded every time she thought about it.

  She couldn’t allow herself to fall for a guy who didn’t want her in his life.

  Life out here on a new world was complicated enough.

  Every decision she made now was going to affect her future and God knew she didn’t want to be nursing heartbreak while trying to navigate a new world.

  It wasn’t until the late evening when she heard voices in the main room that she thought of leaving the room after her two-day absence.

  Thinking it must be his brother, Sohut, that returned from his mission, she slipped on her trousers and put a smile on her face.

  She had to exit her room some time. Better to do it when there was someone else there to absorb some of the tension, which she knew was bound to fill the room.

  Silent barefooted steps took her toward the main room when she slowed her pace.

  There were more than two voices and she didn’t recognize them except for Riv’s.

  Not wanting to interrupt his meeting or eavesdrop on his conversation with whomever, she turned around and was about to tiptoe back when she heard the next line.

  “We have intelligence that you may have a human at the Sanctuary.”

  Lauren stiffened.

  That didn’t sound like a meeting with friends.

  It didn’t at all.

  Peeking as far as she could without being seen, she could only make out a long reptilian tail and her heart stopped beating for a second.

  It was one of those guards—the alligator-looking ones. It had to be.

  The same ones that had helped abduct her. The same ones that had been on the alien ship.

  The same ones she’d seen at the market.

  THE ONES THAT HAD KILLED THE CHILD.

  Plastering herself against the wall and out of sight, she dared not even breathe lest they hear her.

  “I don’t know what the phek a human is,” Riv said, his voice cool.

  “It is a female. Pale skinned.
Light colored hair,” one of the guards said.

  “If something like that was hiding among my animals, I think I’d see it,” Riv quipped.

  Lauren bit her lip as she listened, her palms closing into nervous fists.

  “Looks like your species,” another guard spat. “Not one of your useless animals.”

  Riv released a mirthless laugh. “Do you see how lonely it is out here? If I had a female like that,” he stressed the next words, “I’d tell her to hide away and don’t come out.”

  That was a message for her to stay out of sight.

  She was sure of it.

  Well, message received.

  She wasn’t a fool who wanted to die.

  She hadn’t been planning on making her presence known, anyway.

  One of the guards piped up, “The Merssi with no tail having a woman?” The guard guffawed. “Humorous.”

  Lauren tensed.

  These guards were real douchebags in every sense of the word.

  However Riv had lost his tail, it must have been traumatic for him.

  To be making fun of Riv because of something he had no control over, something he could never change…they were real dicks.

  The other’s joined in the laughter and she wished she could see Riv’s face.

  He didn’t reply to their jeering.

  “Looks like we chose the wrong farm,” one of the guards said. “There’s another close by, we should search it.”

  “If we find you have somehow hidden the human from us, Merssi, you will face the wrath of Ambassador Klupengi,” said another.

  “If you come willingly with information, the Ambassador will be quite generous.”

  “Yes,” Riv said, “I know. I have seen the Tasqal’s generosity firsthand.”

  There was a pause and Lauren held her breath.

  Then one of the guards laughed. “Phekking idiot. Let’s go check the other farm. I do not wish to be caught in these barren lands when the day ends.”

  With that, she could hear footsteps and shuffling as the guards left.

  Still holding her breath, she remained plastered against the wall till the room grew quiet once more.

  Even then, she was afraid to move.

  It wasn’t till, minutes later when Riv walked into the corridor, that her shoulders finally sagged with relief.

  Riv’s eyes fell on her, a stone coldness there.

  “Were those who I think they were?”

  “Hedgerud fighters working for the Tasqals, yes.”

  “What were they doing here? How did they find me?”

  “I don’t know, but you aren’t safe here anymore. Not unless you get registered.”

  Lauren swallowed hard as Riv turned and headed back to the main room. She followed him there and found him punching in a code into his comm unit.

  The other line picked up immediately.

  “Riv?”

  She didn’t recognize the masculine voice on the other line.

  “Ka’Cit. No time to explain. Hedgerud fighters are on their way to your farm. I need you to stall them for me.”

  There was a pause, then a curse on the other side of the line.

  “What are they doing so far out? Nobody comes out here.”

  Riv’s eyes met hers.

  “They’re looking for someone.”

  “Who tha’ phek would they be looking for so far out here?”

  Riv’s eyes never left hers.

  “I’m looking at her right now.”

  Riv took the next few moments explaining to his friend, she supposed, of her existence and why he needed to stall the guards.

  No doubt they would return to search his Sanctuary again once they realized she wasn’t at Ka’Cit’s.

  Ka’Cit agreed and they ended the call.

  Lauren stopped pacing and looked at him.

  “They searched the Sanctuary?”

  Riv nodded.

  “Then how did they not find me? I was in the room.”

  Pointing behind her, Riv moved forward and took up a small cube that was hidden behind some gadgets on the floor.

  He pressed a button on the top and the corridor that led to the rooms disappeared. Only a smooth wall stood there.

  Lauren could feel her eyes grow in her head.

  Moving forward, she touched the space and her hand went through.

  It was just a hologram.

  “How did they not realize this was there?” she whispered, still eyeing the space in awe.

  “Easy.” Riv shrugged. “I stood in front of it.”

  Fuck.

  She turned her gaze back to him.

  If it hadn’t been for his quick thinking, where would she be right now?

  But before she could thank him, he was moving again.

  “I saw them at the perimeter. Knew why they were here. Set up the holo box.” He grabbed his blaster from somewhere underneath the table and checked it. “Couldn’t deny them entry. It would look too suspicious.” He glanced at her. “Grab your cloak. We have to go.”

  Lauren nodded, moving back to the bedroom for the garment without question.

  When she returned with the cloak over her shoulders, she asked, “Where are we headed?”

  “To the exchange.”

  “Why?”

  Riv’s eyes met hers. “To get you your freedom.”

  As the hovercar sped across the plain, Lauren couldn’t help but keep glancing over her shoulder.

  She half expected to see the alligator guards in pursuit and it was making her anxious.

  When she glanced at Riv, he had a look on his face she’d never seen before.

  She knew his anger. His rage. His annoyance.

  But this look was pure, raw, fury.

  “Riv? I—” She didn’t know what to say and when he turned to glare at her, flashing fangs, she grew silent.

  Glancing behind them again, her brows furrowed.

  It was getting late but she couldn’t see the lights of another hover vehicle at least.

  “They won’t catch us. We’ll get to the exchange and have you registered before they even realize your location.”

  Lauren swallowed hard.

  He was doing so much for her; she didn’t think he understood just what it meant to her.

  “I’m sorry for inconveniencing you with all this…trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble.”

  She paused, watching him.

  His voice was deceptively soft for the furious look on his face.

  “Why are you angry with me, then?”

  His gaze moved to her and she swore his eyes softened a little before he sighed.

  “I’m not used to people…females…being the way you are,” he said after a while and her brows furrowed.

  “What do you mean?”

  Riv let out a breath.

  Those few words were more than he’d ever said to her about himself and he paused as if he wasn’t sure if he could continue.

  “You haven’t tried to use me,” he finally said.

  Shocked, Lauren leaned back a little.

  “Why on earth—why do you think I would want to use you?”

  Riv swallowed, his gaze flicking away from her.

  “I thought you were like them…the others.” He sighed.

  “Like who?”

  He zoned out. She could see him do it, as if he was remembering something a long time ago.

  Reaching forward, she touched his cheek gently and his gaze flicked to her again.

  “What happened to you, Riv?”

  It was almost as if she could feel the panic rising within him. Never since she’d met him had Riv ever been as vulnerable as he was right now.

  “When I was a chid,” he began, “my mor sold me and Sohut to the Tasqal mines.”

  His knuckle turned a light-blue as he held on to the hovercar’s controls. “I can still remember crying, reaching for our mor, but she’d turned and walked away, leaving us there in the hands of strangers.”

&n
bsp; Riv gulped and inhaled deeply. “Tasqals. She sold us to a Tasqal for woogli smoke.”

  She didn’t know what woogli smoke was but she sure could guess. It sounded like some kind of drug.

  “The female Tasqal my mor sold us to had a harem of many males,” Riv continued. “She’d use them for phekking, one after the other till they expired. I still remember her clearly. She had a circular headdress with gold trimming that she alone wore. She’s the one who removed my tail.”

  “Oh my God…” Lauren covered her mouth, staring at him as his eyes grew distant again.

  Riv didn’t meet her gaze, but his jaw clenched down hard.

  “How old were you when she took you?” she breathed.

  “About two hands.”

  “Ten?! You were ten?” A bowl of anger overflowed within her suddenly. “You were ten?”

  “Eight.” He held up his hands and Lauren blinked. “Two of my hands, not yours.”

  Lauren blinked again, her face contorting. “That doesn’t make it better, Riv.” Her voice went soft. “How could a mother do that to her own child?”

  For a few moments, Riv didn’t reply. Then he released a breath. “I stopped asking myself that a long time ago.”

  A sigh left him as he continued. This was obviously hard for him and she couldn’t believe he was telling her about it.

  She valued the fact he trusted her enough to share such deep details with her. It was difficult speaking about something so harrowing.

  “Sohut was two orbits younger. The Tasqal put us in the mines to work. We were too young for the harem.”

  Lauren’s nostrils flared.

  “But the mines weren’t any better. They reeked with sweat, death, and sex.” Riv let out a labored breath. “I can still smell it as if it was yesterday.”

  “That sounds… I can’t imagine what that must have been like.” She reached out and touched his shoulder. Her heart was bleeding for him. “I mean, I was taken from home and thrown into a glass cage, but…it’s nothing like what happened to you.”

  He managed to smile a little, a sad one. “I guess we’re not so different. Your life was ripped apart and there was nothing you could have done about it.” He focused in front once more. “There was nothing I could have done about it.” He paused. “For many years I blamed myself. If I’d been a better chid, maybe my mor would have wanted me.”