“But you didn’t,” Simone said.
“No.” He sniffed. “But I am still a product of their deeds.” He met her eyes and she saw maturity there. The kind of maturity born from a child growing up too fast and seeing too much evil from an early age. “Do not fight with him because of me.”
“I won’t.” She promised. “But I will never stop fighting for you.” Simone held his hand. “My family was horrible too and I turned out sorta okay.”
“Sorta?” Chozo tilted his head.
Simone smiled.
Just then, Zar coughed and began to sit up. She rushed to help him. There were still burn scars on his back and his movements were hesitant, but at least he wasn’t dying.
Zar mumbled something in a hoarse voice.
Chozo translated. “He wants to know what happened.”
“You fainted.” Simone pointed to Chozo. “And he healed you with this.” She lifted the needle. “Chozo saved you.”
Zar scowled when Chozo repeated the words to him. Instead of thanking them, he seemed angry. Simone resisted the urge to smack the stubborn alien warrior. One near-death experience had done nothing to calm his anger. He’d come out from his unconsciousness grumpier than before.
Zar got up and headed straight for her. He inspected her hands and legs, stroking his fingers down her tunic as if he wanted to start something.
Simone eased back. “Hey, big guy. We have an audience.”
Zar grunted.
Simone’s body melted with each brush of his hands and her voice got breathy. “You wake up from getting fried in acid rain and suddenly, you’re handsy.”
“He’s checking to make sure I haven’t hurt you,” Chozo explained quietly. “He’s also accusing me of poisoning him with the Zahranian serum.”
“Oh.” Simone froze. And then she narrowed her eyes at Chozo. “Did you?”
Chozo balked. “No. It’s a healing serum. The only one I had.”
Simone nodded.
Zar pressed a soft, tender kiss to her head and pulled her into a tight hug. Immediately, Simone’s frustration, fear, and panic melted. She closed her eyes and the world drifted away, leaving her tethered only to Zar.
Eighteen
Zar
In search of privacy, Zar stepped deeper into the cave, making sure not to venture too far. He intended to stick close enough that he could hear the female call for him if she needed to.
His interface glowed, alerting him to a comms from his tribas. As he slid his fingers over the device to awaken it, he thought of what the Heronas had done.
Chozo saved you.
Saved him? Zar wanted to laugh bitterly, but he kept his mouth shut. There was no universe, no reality, where a Heronas would help a Plutonian. Hate ran through their venas. They were trained in bitterness and war, just as Plutonians were trained in the ways of honor, commitment, and integrity.
The Heronas were incapable of good.
Si-Moon must be mistaken.
She had helped him on her own.
She’d promised to protect him and she had.
Zar made a decision in that moment. He cared not what Korben would do to him. He cared not if he were banished from his tribas and sent away to live on his own. The female stayed with him.
Zar lifted his interface and saw that there was a new message from Lans. Lans was Korben’s right hand. Whatever he said came directly from the terros himself. His comrade probably wanted to know the status of his mission.
I have a female, but I cannot hand her over to you. Could he truly say those words? Zar thought of the way Korben, Pin, Tiegan, Lans, and Clavas had all rescued him that fateful day. He’d joined their tribas because he saw their honor. They would never turn their back on a comrade.
And he’d responded to that.
Longed for it.
They’d welcomed him and given him a place to belong.
And now he was sealing Clavas and the Healer’s fate.
Zar ran a hand through his hair and breathed deeply. A memory of the Heronas footage showing Clavas bound and naked in their clutches burst through his mind.
Since he had also been taken prisoner by the Heronas and subject to torture and mistreatment, he knew what Clavas was experiencing.
Horror. Pain. Hope.
Hope that someone would save him.
Hope that he would make his own escape.
And yet, Zar was choosing his own heras over that of his comrade.
He lifted his other hand and tugged on his hair in frustration. What would his father have done? Would he choose the female or his tribas? Would he follow his heras or his duty?
Zar turned the comms off and slipped it back into his pocket. The storm raging outside would scramble the comms’s frequency anyway. Even if he wanted to, he would not be able to speak to Lans clearly.
Just then, he heard footsteps. Turning, Zar found Si-Moon stepping into the cave. The purple torchlight flickered over her brown skin and dark eyes.
She clutched her hands in front of her, moving with shy, uncertain steps. Zar blinked in surprise. He was used to his female charging into any space and taking it over. She had been fearless and assured even when strapped to a cot and faced with unfathomable circumstances. But now, she seemed delicate.
He strode to her and took her into his arms. “Si-Moon.”
“Iz okah.” She patted his arm as if to reassure him. “Zar, okah.”
Eyes narrowing in the direction of the cavern entrance, he seethed. The Heronas had done something to her. Had he threatened her? Spun lies?
Zar hated that the Heronas brood was the only one who could understand Si-Moon’s language. He longed to speak to her. To understand and be understood in return. Without his mortal enemy translating the message.
He did not trust Chozo with one bone in his body. It was strange that a Heronas knew how to speak the earthen tongue. Why would he even download such a language onto his translator chip? Most species did not bother because humans were so rare on this planet.
Si-Moon gripped his chin and forced his head in her direction. A smile tugged on her plump lips. “Iz nod Chozo.”
“You trust him when you barely know him?” He growled.
He saw the brightness return to Si-Moon’s eyes. His heras relaxed a little. Whatever mood she had been in seemed to have passed.
“Chozo slepen,” Si-Moon said.
He arched an eyebrow nub, confused.
Si-Moon pressed her fingers flat against her cheek and tilted her head. Thick lashes fluttered closed and she parted her mouth, mimicking one in the deepest sleep.
Zar nodded. The Heronas was resting. How the brood felt comfortable enough to do so knowing Zar wanted him dead was a testament to how much Chozo trusted Si-Moon. And how much confidence he had in Zar’s obsession with his female’s happiness.
As long as Si-Moon stood in his way, Chozo would be safe.
But there would come a time when Si-Moon would not be around…
Si-Moon stroked his cheek, pulling him from his thoughts. She said nothing, but her eyes were glassy. The torchlight highlighted a wild emotion that Zar could not name.
“Abut Chozo…” She smiled softly. “Denk yu.”
Was she pleased with him for not popping the Heronas’s head off?
Her approval made his heras jump for joy.
Zar sighed heavily. “You have me under your spell, Si-Moon.”
She batted her thick eyelashes.
“What am I going to do with you, hm?” He glanced at the entrance again as his body throbbed with need. His female seemed in a good mood and he wanted to taste her sweet places again, but they had no privacy. And she could not be quiet.
Zar thought of the way Si-Moon had whimpered and screamed as he tasted her in the foliage. She had moaned his name over and over, the sound of which had probably drawn the Heronas to their location.
At that time, Chozo had seen nothing of the way he’d invaded her with his fingers and tongue. This time, Zar wanted to
do more to Si-Moon’s body. He wanted her to feel every inch of him. But there was only a few steps to walk before Chozo would come upon them. Zar did not want the Heronas stumbling on something he was too young to see.
Si-Moon did not seem to share his concerns. She stared at his lips and edged closer.
Zar stepped back, his voice a dark growl. “My heras, you must restrain yourself.”
She pouted slightly, unbothered by his warning. Zar stared at her lips. It was in the perfect position to be sucked and nipped. Did she know this? Did she do it intentionally?
Si-Moon glanced up at him beneath her lashes, the picture of seduction. She slid her fingers behind the waistband of his pants, flirting with the hardness that saluted her.
Zar’s eyes bugged.
This female…
Unable to contain himself, he swooped down and captured her lips. Si-Moon’s little gasp of surprise made him suck on her harder. Zar pushed her against the wall, holding her chin up with one hand and grasping her waist with the other.
His pants tightened so hard he could not breathe. This female had captured his heras completely. He would die for her. He would lay his life down to make her smile.
I want her as my mate.
Zar struggled to control himself, but Si-Moon wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body flush against his. Her head tilted and she opened her mouth immediately, almost begging for his tongue’s invasion.
He smelled her desire rising on the air. Her hips bucked against his hardness. She dug her fingernails into the nape of his neck and met his passion with unbridled chaos.
His female was ready for him.
Zar’s hand slipped beneath her tunic and slid over her thighs to spread them apart. Desperation made his touch harder and rougher. Her moans filled the air and he used his tail to muffle her groans.
Si-Moon shuddered and bit down hard on his tail as her back arched and her pleasure spilled from her body. Zar captured the female’s mouth, swallowing every gasp she made until they were muted.
Blood pumped through his chest.
Instincts clamored for more of her. For all of her.
Must claim her heat.
It wasn’t enough to taste it on his tongue.
To tease it with his fingers.
He wanted inside his female so badly.
His mind rushing, tilting and whirling, Zar forced himself back. Si-Moon looked at him with eyes full of trust. He felt the weight of it and knew in his heras that she had chosen him as he had chosen her.
Over Clavas.
Over the Healer.
Over his tribas.
Zar would find some other way to save his species. He would stop at nothing to wage war against the Heronas who had Clavas and the Healer in their clutches.
But he would take his female.
Because she was Si-Moon.
Because she was his.
He would protect her with his life. He would put her above all others. He would stay true.
He would make her his mate.
Her chest heaved as Si-Moon studied him. In one fluid motion, she tore her tunic off her body. The light gleamed against her flawless skin. The valley of her chest. The dip of her small waist. The heat that lay hidden between her thighs.
Zar licked his lips that tasted of her essence and pressed a button to release his pants.
Nineteen
Simone
Her back hit the wall with every thrust and she wrapped her arms around Zar’s neck, holding on for dear life while trying her best not to make any noise. Simone’s heart crashed into her ribs as the alien spoke a rough, guttural refrain in her ear.
She had no idea what he was saying, but it sounded important. It sounded final.
He kept staring at her as he said the words, like she should be able to interpret them. Like she should consent to them.
So she did.
And then she suffered for it.
He punished her.
He rewarded her.
He broke her and made her new.
Zar held nothing back, pumping at a speed that would have driven her up a wall if he wasn’t already thrusting her against one.
Pleasure exploded through her body, tearing a moan out of her that she couldn’t control. Zar slanted her a dark look and Simone clamped her lips together, trying to remember to be quiet.
Quiet.
Silent.
But she’d never felt anything like this.
Like him.
Her body had never been shaken like this. Pleased like this. Aroused like this.
White lights exploded behind her eyes and she bit down hard on Zar’s shoulder to empty the scream balling in her throat. It got muffled by his thick blue skin and he only grunted slightly, pinning her flatter against the wall like she was some kind of human trophy.
Her breath escaped unsteady and rattled. Her thighs loosened from around his waist, but he didn’t set her down.
Instead, Zar slipped his hands down her thighs, hooking her beneath her knees. Keeping himself inside her, he pressed sweet, gentle kisses over her face. She lifted her head and accepted them all like a flower soaking in the sunshine.
Simone’s fingers rasped over his back and into his hair. She massaged his scalp, smiling when the alien made a low, pleased sound in his throat.
Zar rubbed her cheek. “Si-Moon.”
It sounded like he was praising her. For what? Taking him to the hilt? Or doing so without screaming too loudly.
To be honest, she had barely kept herself from falling apart. At first, Simone had been too shocked to scream. The alien, as gentle as he’d tried to be, was far too much for her body to handle. And when he started to move…
Pain and pleasure had knifed through her, pounding into her body with such vehemence, she was sure she would die. Just sprawl out on the cave floor and expire.
No. It wouldn’t be the crazy lion aliens that did her in. It wouldn’t be the evil aliens who locked her in a dungeon. It wouldn’t be the acid rain that melted her skin off and turned her bones to syrup.
It’d be the sexy alien warrior who did it. Whose heated touches and hungry, wild kisses finally stole this human’s life right out of her hands.
The sounds their bodies made…
The ways he invaded her…
It hadn’t taken long for Simone to unravel and Zar knew it. That beast of an alien. He slapped his hand over her mouth seconds before the first groan tore through her. He kept it there as he ripped another scream out of her.
Letting him take her body while Chozo was in the next room had probably not been the best route, but it wasn’t like Simone had been thinking clearly. Not with the way Zar had been staring at her. Not with the way she was feeling.
Lust. Yes.
Desire was there. Hot and heavy. As heavy as his hand on her thighs. And his body crushing her to a rock. Denying that would be like denying the sun’s existence or the drenching of her essence as it slicked his face and between her thighs.
But it was more than just physical.
She had never been the sole receiver of someone’s attention before. She had never felt what it was like to be the center of someone’s universe. To be their top priority. To be the only thought in their mind.
Sure, the feelings that pulsed between her and Zar were overwhelming. Her body longed for the alien like she had been created for his invasion. Like she’d waited all her life to be stretched and smacked and stroked against an old cave wall in the middle of an alien desert.
But that wasn’t what made this moment so sweet.
She trusted Zar.
Trusted him to hold her heart and keep it safe.
Trusted him to be there for her when she needed him, no questions asked.
Trusted him to lay his life down for hers.
Had anybody been willing to die for her?
Hell no.
This was the first.
How could she not respond to that? How could she not kiss those firm blue
lips and rake her fingers down that blue skin? How could she not tear her clothes off and open her legs wide to accept every dangerous inch of him as far and as deep as he could go? Straight to her heart, to her soul?
Simone felt like she was falling off the edge of a cliff. Someone had pushed her. Or maybe she made the leap for herself. Maybe she’d been desperate to dive off for a long time but just hadn’t found the right person to take the plunge for.
She felt like her arms were spinning and flailing. Like gravity was grabbing her by the neck and dragging her down just as Zar had grabbed her by the neck and kissed her until she nearly passed out.
Control was gone.
Disappeared.
She had only enough common sense to see in front of her. To see Zar.
Simone rested her forehead against his and soaked him in. The alien smelled of a now-familiar musk. Stardust and sweat. And her.
He smelled like her now.
Like them.
She inhaled it deeply, smiling in spite of how exhausted and sore she was. Zar grunted and pulled his hips back, allowing her legs to fall a little. But it was strange. Simone could still feel him inside her. Could still feel him pressing into her. Piercing her to her stomach. To her heart.
What was this?
Why did she feel so connected to this alien?
For a second, Simone began to panic. She opened her eyes, saw herself free-falling and wondered if she would be able to handle the consequences when she hit the bottom.
When gravity demanded its pound of flesh, would she be able to find her footing? Had giving her all to Zar stolen any chance of keeping her head on her shoulders?
Zar stepped toward her, his hard body hitting her chest. He tilted her chin up and made a soft, comforting sound to her. She grabbed hold of his wrists, sucking air through her nose and breathing as calmly as she could.
She’d let the alien take her fully and it would be alright.
She’d be alright.
There was nothing Simone had faced that she hadn’t survived. Nothing.
Zar kissed her again. His lips captured hers like he owned them and Simone caved to his urgent strokes. Zar didn’t kiss gently. He always sucked on her as if she were the sweetest fruit and he wanted to drag all the flavors from it until there was nothing left.
The Alien Warrior's Heart : A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Plutonian Warriors Book 3) Page 9
