by Rena Marks
All except for my darling Atareek, whose eyes shine with stars when he looks upon me. He’s so getting lucky again later.
“Good lord,” Lucie says. “I had no idea.”
I shrug. “It was a long time ago. I was taken care of.”
“Time to care for you before bed,” Atareek announces, scooping me into his muscular blue arms as Lucie reaches for my empty plate. “Let’s get you bathed.”
He moves down the cave and from behind us, I can hear the others as hunters are picking up human girls and following us.
He sets me on my feet and drops his loincloth. Then he peels the clothing from my body, reaching behind me to untie the leather strip I use as a bra. When my breasts fall out, his beautiful dark eyes grow sultry and his cock begins to harden. I look down at it and gasp. Then I look at the others gathering around us.
He laughs at my modesty, and then picks me up again, brushing me against it. Slowly he walks into the water. Hooboy, do I wish we were alone instead of with a group of other couples. For once, though, there isn’t a lot of talking in the pool. Instead, the couples are focused on each other. There’s whispering back and forth, and soft giggles.
Lucie and Rayhaan are sitting close to us. “Are you still breaking away tomorrow?” Rayhaan asks Atareek.
“Yes. We’ll go a short distance—toward the dark zone—to find some special herbs for reverent mother. She was excited when she learned we were looking for supplies that way. I think we will find everything we need there.”
“Do you want to meet up with us at the north point or back at the village?”
“It shouldn’t take us long, maybe a couple of days. Three at most. So we may just meet you at north point and head back home with you all.”
Rayhaan nods. “We’ll wait for you.”
Even though everyone has freedom to come and go as they please, with this planet’s harsh conditions and the fact that you have to take cover each night from the creatures that the prowl the planet, we’ve slipped into a routine of letting others know where we are on the outside. It didn’t help that several months ago some of our villagers were caught in a freak eclipse. Thankfully it was close to the village. Now, we all travel with glow rocks for emergencies.
“Do you want to head out to the main cave?” Rayhaan asks. “The light is brighter and I have a project for us.”
We nod, and the four of us get out of the pool to dry. I shiver slightly, because it’s not as warm as the middle of summer yet. It’s not cold, but wet skin takes getting used to. I’m warm as soon as I’m dry, however. We dress and head to the main cave. Rayhaan pulls out some twine and a bag of glow rock chips that he’d gotten from our last expedition to the cave of origins.
“We’re going to make necklaces,” Lucie says. “We think they’ll be much lighter to carry this time of year than the belts and headbands we made. This way, everyone will have at least one necklace to wear.”
“It’ll be just like stringing popcorn at Christmas.” Lucie winks at me.
“How will we get the holes into the chips?”
“Some chips have small holes already. We’ll sort out those chips and set them aside.”
Rayhaan nods. “I brought a tiny tool to punch more holes into chips, but it’s slow work and they crack easily.” He produces a narrow bone-looking thing that’s long and thin with a flat end and one end pointed. I imagine we’re going to do the caveman thing and pound the bone with a rock. Back to basics.
Near the fire, Rayhaan dumps out the pouches of chips and sets a couple of glow rocks next to me and Lucie. We begin sorting them while the sounds of the others filter down the hall.
“We’ll see you in two days. If you can’t make it, we’ll head back to this cave for another couple of days before heading home. That should give you three or four days total.”
I have a feeling Rayhaan would send out a rescue party if we don’t make it to either location. He was one caught outside during the eclipse, and it was a scary time.
Then the others approach, and everyone begins making necklaces. It’s going to be a long night, because I notice Kalki pulling Jillian onto his lap. Naag is giving Cammie soft strokes up her arm, dangerously close to her breast.
When I begin to yawn, we start to unroll the furs we use for bedding. They are left hanging in the caves, so it isn’t as difficult to travel. We used to run into times when there were not enough furs, but now that everyone bunks up, it’s no longer an issue.
* * * * *
The others stay in the cave for breakfast, but Atareek and I decide to nibble on trail mix and jerky and head out at dawn. We’ll eat a large lunch or dinner later, and this will give us some extra time to catch up with the group later.
We wave goodbye to the others, and head in another direction from where the cave is.
I love when it’s me and Atareek together. He points out small animals native to his planet. He tells me stories of long ago. The origins of ancestors is particularly fascinating. It’s an underground cave dwelling that was flooded long ago. The Blaedonians, probably little more than cavepeople at the time, had to make their way to shore. That alone was fascinating, since none of them could swim when we landed. To make things more difficult, they had to find strange food and shelter before the predators of the night arose. Their diet in the underwater caves consisted of seaweed and fish. It must have been terrifying, but they persevered and today, they’ve built the village like a fortress to withstand the creatures of the night. There are huge rock walls surrounding it and now their diet consists of meat and vegetables grown in the home gardens.
When exploring the cave of origins, we’d discovered a new section deep inside. There, we found glow rocks. Now we keep as many as possible with us when we travel, in case we’re ever caught in the night. No one wants to test how long the glow rocks will keep the night predators from us, but at least it’s a bit more protection than we had before.
I finger the necklace I wear now, and make sure it isn’t tangled in my halter top. Originally we wove them into belts, which works well, but for long trips they can get a little heavy.
The air smells salty as we trek on. “Are we near the salt stores?” I ask. That’s what they call the ocean, where they mine for salt.
“No, this location is different,” he says.
As we turn the corner, I see why. It’s not an ocean, but a lake. I guess it would be a salty lake. So many odd things on this planet, like the fact that most water is warm. In fact, we’ve only found one place where a body of water is cooler.
“Up near the water are the bones of the creatures you need.”
“Seashells?”
“Yes. Like Lucie had back home? Like Jeroc keeps his face paints in?”
I nod eagerly.
We remove our moccasins to walk along the shore, and Atareek straps both pair to his belt. My toes squish in the soft, warm mud. It’s swirly with a fluorescent green color. Quite pretty.
“Your mud,” I exclaim, bending down to wave my fingers in it. It looks alive with spirally tendrils of greenish glow.
“Hmm,” he says, unimpressed. “The color comes from a fish that swims in the…lake. It’s blood stains.”
“Eww,” I stand suddenly, wiping my finger on my leg. “This is blood?”
“Yes.” His lips curl up as if he fights laughing but can’t keep the smile from emerging.
Just ahead is exactly what I’m looking for, only better. There’s a collection of seashells and I find out that is the perfect shape. It’ll cover the ears, but I can make that work.
“This is the shape,” I say excitedly. “See if you can find these?”
He finds a few more and I carefully wrap them. One of them has a piece of rubber around the edge. This would be perfect if we could find more of it.
“What is this?” I ask, tugging the rubber piece to see how it’s attached.
He leans over my shoulder, and kisses my neck as he does. “It’s a piece of the creature’s body. It anchors t
hem inside. Then when they outgrow the shell, they release that piece of themselves and grow a new one. Then they find a larger shell and attach themselves to that.”
“I need it,” I say. “It will cling to my ears and drown out all the other noise in the room.”
I look down at the shells I’ve already collected, frustrated. None of them have the piece.
“Then we shall hunt for the creatures,” he says. “They’ll be our dinner. We’ll push their tiny rear ends into the shells you have, and they will swell and harden into them.”
“Really?” I’m excited, because it sounds perfect.
“Really,” he says. “See up there? The reef? It is where they collect when they are without shells. Perfect place to hunt dinner.”
“Do they taste good?” I ask, a little worried. I have no idea what they look like, after all.
He nods. “You like seafood, my love.”
“Yes, but if they leave a rubbery piece of themselves discarded, is the rest of them rubbery?”
He laughs. “No. Perhaps that is why they discard that circle of…rubber. So we can eat the rest of their tender, moist little bodies.”
We walk up to the reef, and there are hundreds of tiny, pink, naked creatures squirming all over each other.
“Happy hunting,” Atareek says, spearing a few larger ones and stringing them along his blade.
“This is hunting?” I tease. “I was always so impressed with snagging a hunter. I had no idea it’s actually harder to sew than to hunt.”
“We like to keep you women fooled,” he says. “These pair well with the leaves of the triskor trees. We will wrap them, and the leaves will get crunchy from the fire.”
I know what leaves he’s talking about, they remind me of large spinach leaves.
We build our fire right there in the open. He uses his knife to clean the creatures, and slices off the ring at their bottom. Then he stuffs the ring into the shells carefully, pinching the edges.
I go and gather leaves from the triskor tree, and bring them back. He rolls the small pieces of meat into them and tosses them to the edges of the fire.
“Now let’s go wash these,” he says, and we grab my shells. We rinse them at the edge of the water and bring them back.
“Now lay them out around the fire to dry out. The rubber piece will swell and cover the edge of the shell. It will become soft and pliable and will mold to your ear.”
“And then we’ll find a tube piece to go into this little hole at the bottom. My stethoscopes will be complete.”
“That’s the breathing hole. For the creature, that is.”
“What are the little creatures?”
“They’re called eteppewa.”
“Hmm. We’ll call them E-Teps.”
He grins again. “You’ll forget that soon enough.”
I grumble a bit, but he’s right.
He jabs at the spinach rolls with a stick, turning them slightly.
“Where will we sleep tonight?” I look around. There are no caves here.
“Definitely not here,” he says. “But we are not far from the dark zone. Beyond the dark zone is a small series of one person caves. They’re not our level caves, so they are not stocked with supplies. But they’ll do for us to camp in for the night. In the morning we can head back here to bathe and spend time on the beach, dry out any herbs you collect. We can even explore the dark zone again before we head to the north point to meet with the others.”
“Why is it called the dark zone? It sounds ominous.”
He grins. “You’ll see.”
Then he begins forking the little spinach rolls, removing them from the heat and placing them on a bit of fur so they don’t get sandy.
“I have a surprise,” he says. He produces a bag of saghsha.
“You stole liquor?” I gasp in mock horror.
“Yes. I know how you tiny females like it.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet.” Especially when we have an afternoon to enjoy.
I take a swig, and he takes a drink after me. We have to wait for our spinach-wrapped meat to cool.
“Did anyone notice you swipe the booze?” I ask.
“Yes. But I mentioned that Rayhaan has a drinking problem.”
That makes me spit my saghsha, and he rubs my back as I cough. “You’re going to get us banished from the village.”
“Would that be so bad?” He leers, looking down my halter. My nipples pebble as he watches.
I squirm. “Damn saghsha.”
“It’s not the saghsha. It’s the fact that you have a huge crush on me. I am nothing but a boy-candy for your fantasies.”
“Boy-candy? You’re older than me,” I sputter.
“Do we really know that for sure? We never counted our seasons before you humans showed up with your holidays and seasons and such.”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m only twenty three. You went baby shopping.”
“I chose well then.” He sets the saghsha aside, and crawls atop me. He’s holding his weight on his forearms, but I feel the hardness of his body. It’s sexy where it touches.
Even sexier is the giant bulge that presses against me.
“Wow,” I say softly, as the saghsha courses through my veins. I’m instantly turned on.
“Wow, as in you like the saghsha?”
“Wow, as in I like you.”
He presses his hips to mine, mimicking thrusting. Then he swirls his hips like a dancer.
“This reminds me of a profession on Earth.”
“Oh? Tell me more.”
“It’s every woman’s fantasy. You’d be called…a stripper. A dancer.”
“So I would strip my clothes and dance against you?” His enormous cock is pressed right on top of my clit, and he’s grinding his hips against me.
“Yes,” I moan.
But then he moves, kissing the tip of my nose and rising from me. “Let me get your needs fed, little one.”
He pulls me up to sit again, and I’m aware of slick moisture that’s gathered between my thighs. I suddenly feel alone when he leaves, but he plops the bladder of booze in my hand so I can take another swig.
“I almost forgot,” he says suddenly. “I brought salt.”
“Salt? You always bring salt.”
“Yes, but this is more salt. When you ladies were cheering up Lucie during your Midnight Margarita party, you fell asleep early. When I picked you up to bring you home, I saw the others do this.” He licks his hand, sprinkles salt on it, licks it off and takes a drink.
I laugh as he shakes his head to clear it.
“It’s an acquired taste. On Earth, we have these little sour fruits called limes that we take a bite of after the drink. We haven’t found anything here quite like it.”
I’m feeling happy, and a bit giggly. Not to mention horny.
He brings a piece of the spinach wrapped meat to my lips. “Take a bite.”
The flavor bursts as soon as I do. The meat is moist and light, and the spinach wrap is crunchy. He’s sprinkled salt over it and I have to admit, it goes really well with saghsha.
“That’s good,” I say, savoring it and licking my lips.
He takes his own bite, right where I’d bitten. “I forgot how delicious eteppewa was. Too bad this is the only place we can get it.”
“Don’t you travel here? It’s not that far.”
“No, but we don’t typically head in this direction. It’s a bit…taboo,” he says.
“Taboo? Why?”
“The dark zone isn’t safe. It’s a very different place than the rest of the planet. Most people wonder if it is haunted with the spirits of angry dead Blaedonians who did not survive the flood.”
“Seriously? You’re taking me to a haunted zone?”
He grins. “Well, yes. I knew you could find everything you needed—at better quality—in one spot. The dark zone. And you do not need to worry,” he says, leaning in to kiss my throat. “I will protect you with my bulging muscles.”
“I have no worries there,” I say, running my palm over the bulging muscles of his thigh. It ripples under my touch.
“You don’t seem very worried about the haunted forest anymore.”
“That’s the furthest thing from my mind.”
“Then have another bite, my love.” He brings another piece up to my lips, and I eat the entire piece. He picks up another, and takes a bite out of it.
We chew in silence for a bit, and I know better than to reach for the meat myself. Blaedonians love feeding humans. It makes them feel like grandiose protectors or providers or something.
Chapter Six
When we take the last bite of scrumptious spinach rolls, we wash our hands off in the lake. The fire is going out, but it smells deliciously smoky. Wild and untamed. Like my beautiful blue guy.
I pull Atareek toward me, and run my hands up the bulging muscles in his arms. He groans, and then drops his head to kiss me. He hauls me up against him, and I wrap my legs around his waist. His face looks different as he grows aroused, more intense. His eyelids look heavier, his lips fuller.
And he looks at me—greedily. Possessively. I find I like the feeling.
Who would have thought, a year ago, that I’d be on a completely different planet with a blue lover? An alien species? A year ago I thought I was content with life. Now it feels like I’ve woken up.
His tongue traces my collarbone. He’s warm and sensual, and mine. All mine.
“You make me feel good,” I sigh.
“I love you, Valencia,” he rumbles. His voice is deep and sexy, and full of emotion. I place the palm of my hand against his cheek and tilt his head up. Then my lips capture his. I use my mouth to open his, and then I glide my tongue against his.
Atareek crawls his fingers down underneath my skirt, carefully parting the folds of my pussy, and delves inside with a thick digit. He’s not deep, and it feels amazing, with my slickness coating him. Goosebumps prickle all over my skin, and I yank my mouth from his to moan.
