by Rena Marks
“The water-people are smooth,” I point out. “Must be from all the water they’re in.”
“Yes. Our children learn to swim immediately. It keeps them occupied, since they don’t go upground until they’re teens and only then with adults,” Eretar says.
“Why do you live underground?”
She shrugs. “We always have.” Her eyes dart at the darkening sky. It’s evening now. “How late do you stay outside?”
“We can stay out all night. The gates will close soon, and nothing can get through. You are safe,” Drakar says.
She nods, though she still looks nervous. Poor Eretar looks like her mind is about to blow.
“Who was Hekran—the guy that was showing us around your underground area?” I ask her.
“Our chief. He is my brother, and the leader of our people.”
“So like Drakar,” I say. “His second is Rayhaan.”
She looks over to Rayhaan. “I am second in command.”
“Apparently, you all have that in common then. There’s a first and a second here. Drakar is called king, though.”
She nods, testing the word.
“And the baby that was born?” I ask.
“That was horrible. She was in labor for so long, and the ekseta wouldn’t break. We knew the infant would die, and simply waited for the tragedy to be over. Then you came in and calmly cracked it! We were stunned when she delivered immediately upon rupture. And on her own. Where did you learn to do that?”
“I delivered babies back on Earth,” I murmur.
Reverent mother makes her way through the crowd, holding a cup of tea for Niki.
“This is Drakar’s mother. She is our healer.”
“Nikolee isn’t filtering properly,” I say. “And since infants here don’t use the benefits of the sun until they’re older, we’re trying to dose Niki with herbs to transfer into the breastmilk.”
She nods. “We frequently give new mothers a tea of marysk root. We gathered some, remember?”
“We gathered so many,” I reply ruefully. I can’t remember theirs.
Atareek brings me my backpack and I carefully unravel the dried herbs.
“This one,” she says, pointing to some of the herbs that we gathered from the root. “If you grind the white portion, it is much stronger than the herb. You use a tiny amount to your tea, less than a pinch. It is very beneficial.”
“Have you ever had an infant whose color is slightly off from the blue?” I ask her.
“No. But then our women drink the tea immediately after delivering. It’s tradition. We call it Mother’s Milk tea.”
Reverent mother and I look at each other. “Perhaps that’s why they don’t get the jaundice,” Lachlana says.
“Human babies get jaundiced frequently. It makes them get a yellowish color, so on a mixed baby it actually looks green.”
“I saw that,” Eretar says. “But I do not know what mixed babies look like, so it seemed normal to me.”
“I’m sure the tea will work,” Lachlana says. “But I will go grind these roots just in case.”
She takes my bag, and heads inside. From across the way, I notice Diont and Atan watching Eretar carefully. The men had dated Miranda once, back when several human girls decided to play the field. Of course, Miranda was just trying to keep Aschero, her mate, at a distance so she wouldn’t fall for one guy. She’d been sold to the alien space vessel by an Earth boyfriend, and wasn’t too trusting.
Sadly, it gave a few Blaedonians false hope. There aren’t a lot of females, so when the humans landed, we were a novelty. But now, as they stare at Eretar, I realize we weren’t such a novelty. Any unattached female will do.
I hide my grin, and motion them over. Miranda sees her ex lovers, and scoots onto Aschero’s lap to make room. Aschero’s a great guy. There’s no jealousy on his part as the two men move in close to them, but why should there be? His mate is sufficiently knocked up and curled in his lap.
Miranda’s baby will be the second mixed-breed baby born.
“Eretar, meet Atan and Diont. They’re hunters. I hope maybe tomorrow they can take you out with them and show you how we do it here. It will be great information for you to take back to your people, just as it was when Atareek went hunting with your tribe.”
She nods. “That is a great idea. Now I wish more of us had come. There will be so much knowledge for me to take back. I hope I can remember it all.”
“Photographic memory like yours? I’m sure you will,” I say. “I saw those hundreds of jars of herbs organized.”
She smiles at me. “I have two girls I train for my absences. They have not reached their mating call. Of course, many women do not mate.”
“Why not?” Atareek asks.
“Did you not see the amount of females compared to men? We outnumber them. In the past, it was acceptable for another woman’s mate to impregnate a single woman to keep the tribe going. However, in the last decade our females have become rather jealous.” She shrugs. “I do not understand it. We treat the child as a separate entity, not as a new family unit.”
“When did the jealousy start, exactly?” Rayhaan asks.
“It was during my parent’s generation. There was a male who impregnated a female, but chose someone else as his mate. She grew bitter. She had two infants who passed, and he began to help raise the boy who was the other woman’s son. It was perfectly casual, all village males took boys under their wings. But it was too much for the distraught wife. It caused great division, those who sympathized with the boy and thought he should have his father’s direction. And those who sympathized with the woman, who’d lost so many children. She grew harsh and more bitter, until one day she left the village, never to return. Many believed she sat out all night for the night creatures.” Eretar shivers at the suicide story. “Naturally the husband grew closer to the single mother of his child. This created even more controversy, as many wondered if his wife’s suicide was because perhaps encouraged by him. It wasn’t a fair accusation, but there are still some to this day who swear he didn’t do all he could to soothe his wife after her tragic losses.”
We were all stunned into silence. On this side of the planet, the Blaedonians are almost superhuman. There’s not a lot of jealousy, and what they do have is dealt with swiftly. We’d banished a couple of people for interfering with matings when jealousy was sparked during the human’s integration into society.
“That’s horrible,” Miranda says.
Eretar shrugs. “It was a long time ago. But yes, it set a new way, a new tone for our tribe. I would love for things to go back to the way they were. Where we do not have such jealousies, especially since there is an imbalance of sexes.”
Her gaze drops briefly to Tessa, who has two mates cuddling her. Like Miranda, she sits on Tijar’s lap, but holds Jeroc’s hand, and frequently leans over to kiss Jeroc’s bare shoulder. The relationship between those three completely works and has since day one. Tessa is careful to show equal affection to both men.
“Perhaps instead of a few people taking Eretar back,” Drakar says, “we can have the entire second shift of hunters return her. They can stay as long as they wish, even help prepare for the cold season. Or, if others want to return with them and learn more about our way, they can bring some back and forth.”
Eretar looks excited. “I think many are wary about leaving. They couldn’t believe I was willing to come. But having others in our cave will help.”
Drakar nods. “It is decided. We have enough hunters to support the village while the second shift heads out. And with several of our mated couples taking vacations outside the gates, they bring back supplies from their outings. Salt, herbs, seasonal plants, glow rocks. So we are not lacking anything.”
“We didn’t even know glow rocks existed before several seasons ago,” I say to Eretar.
Her eyes are huge. “You’re kidding. How have you survived during the nights? The cold season?”
“We light fires and remain lo
cked into caves beyond the village at night. Now, we’ve stocked the outer caves with the glow rocks. I wonder how those first settler Blaedonians made it this far without them?”
“I think perhaps the larger party of the two groups became land dwellers. They had more hunters and providers. Maybe they even began with glow rocks, but something happened to them over time?” Rayhaan says.
“There was a flood, wasn’t there?” Niki asks, sipping the tea that reverent mother has brought her. “Maybe the flood is where they lost their own share of glow rocks. And they had no idea how to get back to the underground caves for more. By then they’d lost their swimming ability.”
“That’s a possibility,” Lachlana says. “I do not remember glow rocks in my generation. My parents had never mentioned glow rocks before the flood took their lives.” She strokes Rayhaan’s arm, obviously remembering the loss of his parents in the flood also. He leans down to kiss his surrogate mother.
“You have this many people and you lost many in this flood?” Eretar asks.
Lachlana nods.
“You were definitely the larger of the parties to escape from the original caves,” she says. “I still can’t believe you stay outside during the dark.”
“I assure you, it is quite safe,” Drakar says.
“I believe you. It’s just that…we have never done so.”
Atan speaks up. “Perhaps one night if you would be brave enough to sleep outside, Diont and I would be willing to show you.”
Eretar laughs. “Perhaps one night I will be brave enough,” she agrees. “Definitely not tonight, though.”
I yawn. “We’re heading to bed. We had a long travel day, along with Eretar.”
“We will make sure she gets to bed safely this night,” Atan says. “If you and Atareek would like to retire. If that is all right with you.” He looks at Eretar.
But I’m worried about leaving her stranded. “Eretar? Would you like to stay up longer?”
She nods. “I’m wide awake and excited. Everything is so new and different here.”
“Wait until you go to bed.”
“What? What is different?”
“We don’t sleep in water-beds,” I say. “We sleep in nests of furs.”
It starts a new slew of conversation with people sounding shocked. “How do you sleep?” Byndi asks.
Eretar begins telling the story as Atareek pulls me to my feet.
Once we’re in our cave, he sits me in a chair and grabs a giant skull we use for hauling water. He whispers to me to sit tight, and then he slips out to fill the bucket.
He’s oddly quiet when he returns.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“Nothing. We’ll just bathe quickly and bunk down. You can fall asleep. Later I’ll get up and see if Eretar is ready for bed.”
“Why? Don’t you just want to crawl over here with me?” I’m thinking sex, and by the size of the stiffie he’s sporting, I know he’s not opposed.
“I’m between a rock and the water, here, Vee,” he says, and his face looks pained. “I want you, but I know Eretar needs to be with us in our cave.”
I get up to go to him. “I know, baby. I know.” I drop my head onto his chest, and listen to the thundering of his heart. “The others will take care of her. She’s okay. Let’s just focus on you and me.”
I reach up and unfasten an arm band, and pull off his vest. Sometimes he wears the vest because it has lots of pockets. But we don’t need it right now, so I part it by sliding my palms underneath it, over his warm skin. His chest trembles underneath my hands. Very slowly I drag them up, tugging the ends of his vest over his shoulders. I walk slowly around him, pulling it off his back. From behind, I encircle my arms around his waist and press a kiss to the smooth skin stretched tautly over the muscles of his back.
Just because I can’t help it.
He groans and by the time I work my way around to the front of him, his eyes are clenched shut.
But I know what will get him to open them.
My fingertips trail down to the front of his loincloth and I untie the drawstring. It falls from his body, and sure enough, his eyes are slitted open, the darkness of his eyes sultry as he watches me.
“Sit down,” I whisper. When he sits, he’s more at my level, and I crouch low to untie his moccasins. Once I bare his feet, I stand back up and reach for the washrag. The water is steaming, and I dip it quickly and wipe the back of his neck and shoulders. I run the soap over his skin, and then use the rag to wipe it off.
His muscles tighten underneath my touch. He’s magnificent, sinewy and graceful. From behind, I wash under his arms, and then I use a clean rag to dry him off.
Now it’s time for the front. He lifts his head so I can wash his neck, and then I wash his chest and arms. I scrub between his fingers, when I just want to suck them clean. I rinse the soap off and dry him, and then I move to his face.
Very, very gently I wipe his face, marveling at the beauty of him. The dark, almond shaped eyes that tilt very gently in the corners. The high cheekbones, and the narrow nose. His full lips.
When I’m done, I kiss his lips gently, and then I squat down to wash his feet and legs. By the time I’m done with that, I need him to stand. I tug his hands to get him up and of course, he’s fully erect and jutting straight out. I wash his entire groin area, tender with his balls, and move behind him to wash his sexy behind.
Once I get him dry, I toss the rag in the skull of still-warm water.
“Now, I’ll quickly wash me and you can take this water away.” His black eyes appear glossy as I quickly pull off my halter and skirt. I’m okay with bending over to take off my shoes, and oh yeah, his eyes show his interest.
Then I dip an arm into the skull-bucket and get it wet. I squeeze water all the way up to my shoulder, and soap myself. My arm looks tanned and slick, and I flex it. I have slim muscles up and down it that I never noticed before. But quickly, I do the other arm, and my neck and breasts. His breathing deepens a bit as he watches me clean my girl parts, and then I wash my feet and legs.
I gather my hair in my hands and hold it up on top of my head, then turn away from him. I look back over my shoulder. “Can you do my back?”
His touch on my back and neck is heaven, and I’m glad I washed the rest of me quickly, because it would be way too easy to lose myself in his touch. He’s gentle, and his hand seems to shake a bit. All these seasons later, and he still quivers when he touches me.
Then it’s my turn to catch my breath when his hand dips low, into the crack of my ass. Naughty man takes his time cleaning there, and now that our chores are done, I allow myself to become aroused. He dries me tenderly.
I reach down and grab his loincloth, tying it loosely around his waist. “Okay, you can dump the bucket.”
I know I’m going to seduce him, but I need him out for a minute so I can sprawl out on the nest. And while most Blaedonians would head anywhere naked, I don’t want a woman catching a glimpse of his magnificent erection.
Chapter Ten
Atareek:
The fire is burning bright when I return, the smoke spiraling high into the hole at the top of the cave.
Vee sits on our nest of furs, knees pulled to her chest. She parts her ankles and gives me a view of her pink cunt.
Lust whips through me, how could it not? Striding over to her naked body, I kneel between her legs. She is so beautiful that I reach out with a shaking hand, landing on her soft leg. As I’m down on my knees, she lifts herself and pulls her skirt down her long legs, so I help. Her creamy pussy is bared for me.
Blood surges to my cock, and I feel like growling at the feast spread before me. Then I’m distracted when she pulls her top off, and her beautiful macciacas spill forth. Her nipples are swollen and as beautiful as ripe berries. Her nipples are perfect, always have been—large and made for sucking.
I rip my loincloth off, because the material is tented anyway.
Then I spread her creamy thighs with my pal
ms and study the beauty of her. She’s various colors, deepening inside. She has always preferred to remove the human hair from the lips of her cunt and I enjoy it. It gives me quite a view.
“Like what you see?” she asks, and her voice is sultry.
I’m afraid to speak, because it is not manly to have your voice crack. Instead, I run my finger down her glistening folds.
She shivers at my touch so I put my hand over her cunt. It’s warm beneath my touch. She moans softly. My finger delves in and I begin stroking her inside, using just the first third of my finger, curling it inside her.
“Atareek,” she says, and I love the way my name sounds on her lips. It has never before sounded so sexy.
“You are so wet for me, my mate,” I mutter. I am a lucky man. Her musk is delicate and delicious, and her liquid coats my finger. I spread some up to her small button of pleasure, and smear it around. She squirms and raises her hips, moving with my finger.
“That’s it, baby,” she moans.
She spreads her legs even wider, and I bend down to lick her. One swipe, from her bottom up to her bundle of nerves, pausing to dip my tongue into her cunt, of course.
She gasps, unable to help herself.
I open my mouth onto her entire cunt, sucking fiercely. She shouts out and places her tiny feet onto my shoulders. I cup my hands underneath the curve of her ass, lifting her slightly and hooking my thumbs underneath to spread her fully. Then I repeatedly stab inside with my tongue, pointing it to spear her cunt. I can feel when she is close to an orgasm, because her body tightens inside and she is uncontrollable, begging and pressing harder to my mouth. I latch onto her swollen nub, sucking it into my mouth and she comes, her entire cunt clenching and releasing in waves of endless pleasure.
After she comes, she is too tight to enter, her cunt nearly swells shut with its quivers.
But my Valencia is still somewhat frantic, squirming at me to let go. I move back a bit, and suddenly she is up and pushing me to lean against the wall.
And her tiny nose lines up with my crotch. She sniffs deeply and moans, and I growl. Then her tiny, wet tongue touches me and I thank the goddess for this sexy mate.
