Breaking Bonds: An Alien Romance Adventure

by E J Darling

  Earlier, when he’d snuck out of that warm bed next to Maeve, kissed her forehead and tucked the blanket around her, he told himself he was doing it for a good reason. When he’d climbed down the pillars which held the home up above the water, and out into the dark night air, Teak didn’t have the slightest idea on what he was going to find. His journey, which had begun with hope he was going to follow through with his promise to Maeve, had been abruptly changed.

  The beautiful port city Maeve loved, the wild and untouched paradise that was the capital city Purabora, was a different world than the one he was in now. There were Humans everywhere. Sick and starving females and children. It was known the Humans had been accepted on this planet when theirs had been destroyed, but he’d not known the why’s of it. He’d never seen so many in one place.

  Slaves.

  Every adult he saw was a slave, their bars giving them away instantly. How could the beings that cared so much for the natural beauty of their planet, not care about living beings such as Humans?

  His rage and hatred for Vint, the male that owned not only Maeve’s life, but his as well, grew with each dirty face he saw. He had power. He had a reputation of upholding laws and being a high ranking official for this planet, this much Teak knew. So, why the fuck were there living beings here that weren’t being taken care of? His people never would have allowed such a thing to happen.

  Why? Why did his planet have to be destroyed but this place was allowed to thrive on? Ascena Pura was built on lies and deceit. It was built on the backs of Human slaves, and Teak could hardly stomach it. This slum was hidden from the world around it. He’d never journey to this place if he hadn’t been given the directions by Wilsit. Did anyone know? How could they not?

  He finally found the empty building that, upon further inspection, was just a front to one of the entrances of Subterranea. At the same time, he caught a glimpse of a shadow in the corner of his eye. By the time he looked in that direction, the figure was gone. He was being followed.

  He should have been more paranoid about that prospect, but he would never put a thing past Vint. There was little doubt the male had him followed. And why wouldn’t he? Teak was currently Zekekiel’s biggest threat and he knew it.

  Behind a metal sign, rusted with age, salty air, and humidity, there was a hidden staircase. Teak looked around to make certain the one who followed didn’t see him enter the passage, but they were gone and out of sight. Possibly to go tell Vint all about where and what he was doing. He’d deal with all that later on.

  He climbed down a thick stone stairwell, lit by only dim blue lights from above, and left the morbid scene behind him. There was nothing he could do for the Humans. The only ones he could help now were Maeve, and himself.

  The stairs ended at a thick metal door. Vibrations came from the other side of it, and Teak cocked his head as his ears picked up the beat of music. The thick turn spindle on the door gave easily and when he pulled it open, he was met with every single thing he’d been pining for on this purified planet.

  There was no hallway, only an expansive open cavern system. There were lights, creatures, and the pounding beat of music reverberated over his every cell. It was his natural habitat, his element. It was somewhere someone like him could disappear and never be found unless he wanted to. Subterranea felt like home, like all those places in the galaxy that pulled him in.

  Teak stepped inside and secured the door behind him before weaving himself through the crowd. The clothing Maevelin had gotten him, which he would need to thank her for again, and again… and maybe again until he decided he was done thanking her, made him blend in seamlessly with the crowds of Tallek, and other random species of alien. It was sleek black material, with extra fabric over his shoulders to use as a hood, and the pants resembled those he’d worn on the ship. His boots were soft and fitted seamlessly with the pants. She’d gotten the sizing perfect.

  A quick glance around the main entrance and Teak knew the type he would find here. It was the same type that thrived in places like this and it didn’t matter what planet he was on, or what the home population thought of themselves, there were terrible beings everywhere. Wealthy, corrupt, the two almost exclusively went hand in hand by Teak’s accounts. He was no better on his best day, but at least his morality kept him from being someone like Vint.

  Pulling the hooded material over his head, Teak stayed to the walls and the crowds, weaving himself seamlessly through them. He kept his head down and eyes open, ensuring that anyone he saw wouldn't see him.

  It wasn’t easy being a rare commodity that was easily recognizable, and the last thing he needed was to be dragged in front of Vint, fresh out of the most illegal part of the city. He needed a reason to keep breathing. He knew Vint was capable of all the things he’d threatened Teak with. He’d dispose of him and never think twice. A small lie to Maeve about how he’d escaped off planet on some merchant ship, abandoning her forever, and Zeke would never have to answer another question about it. No one cared about slaves on this planet or any other planet, that was obvious. No one would care if he lived or died. But there was one person that did, one person that had already risked it all to save his life, and he wouldn’t let her down.

  No, he couldn’t be seen here until he wanted to be.

  Teak went over the facts he’d been able to dig up on the Tallek. It wasn’t much but it was better than nothing. Thirteen council members, all pure blooded, cold hearted emotionless reptile like species. Teak could never get past the pale, oddly textured skin. The subspecies of the planet, while obviously and undoubtedly sentient, were much more reptile like. Though, for some reason, neither the Tallel nor the Ballek held seats at the council. There were reports on where Vint sat on the hierarchy of that council, but they hadn’t been confirmed. With his reputation, and the seemingly untouchable status of all that was his, Teak could guess it was high up there.

  A holographic female, wearing absolutely nothing over her three small breasts, stepped through his body, pulling him from his recount of information, and gave a flirty wave over her shoulder as she kept walking–more like hovering–through the party. Teak knew if he followed, he’d be taken somewhere a male’s every desire could be and would be filled, but the pull and desire wasn’t inside him like it used to be. His body, he realized then, was beginning to fade for any female but Maeve. It was happening faster than Teak realized and it startled him.

  Soon, even the smell of a female would turn him off instantly, not to mention the sight. It didn’t scare him, but it should. If she didn’t want him, if she decided that someone like him wasn’t what she wanted for her life, then his soul and his life would be nothing and he would cease to exist. If deep down she harbored the same opinions of him Vint did, there was no hope for them.

  The hologram faded into the crowd and out of Teak’s memory in the same moment. He’d been too focused on the fact that she, and any others like her, now meant nothing at all to him. He kept his eyes down and turned his attention on the paper still in his hand, as the moving lights flashed a multitude of colors over everything.

  The cavern fed into several microcosms transformed into strip clubs, bars, dance clubs, everything the world above lacked desperately… everything the Tallek above had deemed illegal. Subterranea was a city beneath a city. One that belonged to the Tallel and the Ballek it would seem by the crowds.

  Finally, he made it to his destination. A bright glowing red sign above a ten foot hole, that didn’t bother having a door fitted to it, read The Pit. He thought that’d been just an offhand description, but the place was a real club, a private one if he had to guess.

  Teak stepped inside behind a Jifferent, its broad shoulders were covered in gray skin with thick raised areas of purple all over like tattoos. It stood just a few inches shorter than him, but what he lacked in height he made up for in bulk. A Ballek male working the front entrance searched the male’s clothing for weapons and pulled a knife out of his boot. The Jifferent snarled as the male
tossed the blade into a pile of other blades, and shoved the Jifferent off to join the rest of the guests gathering just inside.

  It was Teak’s turn.

  He stepped forward, glad he hadn't brought a weapon and trusted his skills in hand to hand combat enough to not need one. The Ballek patted him down thoroughly and abruptly spun him around. He was about three inches taller than Teak, a deep brown color with thick scales covering everything Teak could see, and gave no impressions of enjoying his job. When he found nothing of consequence, the creature hissed and bared the hundreds of tiny teeth in his wide mouth. Teak answered with a cocky smile and the male shoved him off to move on to the next one in line.

  Once inside, Teak rounded the bar and followed the loud screams and chants up a few steps, then crossed the narrow walkway to a cave twice the size of the bar. A railing was the only thing keeping back the hordes from the true pit, their screaming and cheering fueling the four males fighting below.

  Leaning over the edge, a small part of Teak told him to turn away and run back to Maeve, to the warm bed she wanted to share with him. But he couldn’t even if he wanted to. His mind had turned back to the darkness the instant he’d left her room and snuck out of the home of one of the most notorious males in the galaxy, and until he won some credits, he couldn’t go back.

  “Mister Kade.” A voice spoke through the crowd, and a Ballek male he vaguely recognized cut through the masses. He’d been at the tavern on the surface yesterday, held Teak back after laying out the male Wilsit called Bith. “I am Lissor. Wilsit is this way. Follow me.”

  Just then, Teak noted the subtle differences in the three species. It wasn’t common to have a single planet with three sentient species on it, but Ascena Pura was full of things Teak didn’t understand.

  Tallek, Tallel, and Ballek. Pale white, green, and brown. Ranging from least reptile-like to most reptile-like. Tallek spoke normally, with no drawl on any of their speech patterns, but hissed and made similar sounds to their subspecies counterparts. The Ballek, for certain, had a drawl and emphasis on S sounds, but also spoke slower, and took their time. He knew hardly anything about the Tallel, only that they were mostly green and didn’t speak with any sort of drawl.

  Teak silently nodded his head at Lissor and followed.

  After a walk around nearly the entire pit, they came to several alcoves chiseled out of the cave wall. In the first one, a male was getting his credits worth of a prostitute where anyone and everyone could see. He was surprised to see the Vallina female, a petite magenta colored creature with just one overly engorged leaking breast and a sharp horn protruding from the top of her head, able to accommodate the shaft of a Palpian so… expertly. Teak blinked a few times, trying to wash the sight of the Palpian suckling while thrusting out of his mind, but it didn’t work. There were just some species that never did it for him, despite his body’s current change in hormonal necessity.

  He followed Lissor down five more alcoves, all with varying degrees of aliens in other precarious positions, until they stopped at one. It was smaller than the others they’d passed and accommodated four males and their company. Once his eyes landed on Wilsit, though, Teak had to hold his ground and not spin on his heel like his body was telling him to do.

  The male was clothed in nothing but an open robe, his shaft buried deep inside a Human female as he fucked her slowly and thoroughly… in the open. Her long pale hair nearly stopped Teak’s heart. For a moment, he’d seen Maevelin in her eyes and her creamy soft skin. That could have been her life, nothing but a vessel for a male’s pleasure. But that wasn’t her and would never be her. He’d make sure of that until his last breath.

  He’d made his vows.

  “Misster Kade. Nicce of you to join uss.” Wilsit gestured to the three other couples, one of which were the two other males, Teak had consciously been ignoring. “Won’t you… join uss?”

  In his life and in his line of work, Teak had seen it all. From the odd and extreme, to the simply disturbed, there wasn’t much that shocked him anymore. This offer of an orgy in a public place wasn’t his first.

  Teak shook his head once. “I am here to make credits and return to my master. I will not partake, thank you.” Definitely before he’d been a slave, before he had met Maeve and his life had changed, he’d been one to taste the fruit. Orgies were common practice on some planets and with some communities that he visited. Turnish males rarely, if ever, were turned down for their desires.

  But the thought of that now, with some whore that meant nothing, made his stomach turn. Though, the thought of that with Maevelin, her body at his command with all manner of eyes watching them, was creating a painful tightening in his pants. He wondered if she had any voyeur tendencies, wondered if she would like it if females watched her get fucked by him. Slowly, thoroughly, and completely sated by his touch.

  “I heard a rumor lasst night,” Wilsit added, while he continued fucking the Human. The female looked him in the eye, a smile curving her lips.

  Teak turned his attention back to Wilsit, though he didn’t care for the chit chat. “Oh?”

  “That three wealthy creaturess on a sspecial little gambling sstation, have been murdered.” Wilsit smiled. “By a Turnissh male ssome ssay. It wass a bloody messs I’m told.”

  “Hmm.” Teak mumbled, faking being uninterested. He didn’t give two shits about rumors, or those wealthy assholes that thought they could do anything to anyone and get away with it. But, Vint hearing the rumor was one thing, it reaching someone like Wilsit was something else entirely.

  For a moment, Teak’s heart raced. If enough people knew about what happened on Hydron-5, would Vint’s power hold enough sway to keep him alive? He’d never say safe but alive was good enough for him right now. Still, Teak played it off. “Must be more of us walking about than I thought. We are survivors after all.”

  “Indeed.”

  Once the male finished, and his friends got their fill, Wilsit slapped the female’s ass as she gathered her robe and padded out of the alcove. “Wave me down later,” she whispered as she passed by. Her fingers lingered on his arm for a second too long and a growl escaped his throat as he bared his long canines. She padded off quicker after that.

  “When do I fight?”

  Wilsit closed his robe and sat down on the red tufted bench which lined all the alcoves. Teak didn’t want to know what kinds of bodily fluids were on the surfaces of this place and made a mental note not to touch a single thing while he was there.

  How was Subterranea still running? How had the authorities not closed it down?

  His question, though, was answered as three Tallek males, all in thick robes looking too expensive and regal to be anything but the real deal, walk in and sit at a large alcove. A female detached a curtain from a hook and allowed it to fall across the opening, creating the smallest bit of privacy, but not enough to protect them from Teak.

  Official council members in the illegal bowels of the most placid city in the galaxy? Interesting. It appeared even the law makers liked to dabble in the illegal from time to time. It would explain several things. Like how that place was still running.

  Oh, Teak knew what the council members looked like, it had been his job once to know such information and it was hard to forget such pertinent things. If he had to guess, from left to right it was Sertain Hallis, Goonde Gintiel, and if he wasn’t mistaken at all, and he hardly ever was, the highest member on the council himself sat with a Human female in his lap, Nathenian Kilper. Interesting indeed.

  He wondered if Zekekiel frequented the Pit, or even Subterranea as a whole. A male like him could get lonely, despite the power he could wield over anyone he wished, especially over the one that entered his bedroom. He didn’t use Maeve in that capacity, but even the most conservative males need an outlet every once in a while.

  “Have you heard me, Misster Kade?” Wilsit’s hissing voice pulled Teak from his mind.

  “No. Sorry.”

  “Ah,” Wilsit said with a
wide smile that made him look more villainous than he was. His attention on the same group of council members Teak watched. “The frightful three. Mind your head with them, boy.” The reptile warned. “They don’t take kindly to thosse that sstare. Besst to forget you ssaw them at all.”

  “Do any other council members frequent Subterranea?”

  “Not many no.” Wilsit sighed. “Those three are about it. You’d think they’d have more classs than uss”

  “You’d think.”

  Teak watched the males, tried to home in his senses and watch their pale lips move as they spoke. “Vint” wasn’t hard to read, and neither was half their conversation. He walked closer, keeping himself hidden in the deep shadows. He kept his eyes on the pit before him so he wouldn’t draw their attention, and his ears on their conversation.

  He’d heard enough of it to know they were the worst kinds of males, and the female in there with them wasn’t going to earn her credits easily. He didn’t condemn her, but he did pity her. It was down here with them earning enough to feed herself and her family, or up there to starve. There were no choices here, only happenstance. All he could do for the female right now was hope her next clients were kinder.

  A male approached him from the side. “Your time to fight.” Bith whispered with a glance to the alcove in question. He hissed low in his chest and turned on his heel. He shook his head once in obvious disgust. “Filthy Tallek.”

  Teak’s brows rose in surprise at the male’s candor. To be a subspecies of the Tallek and think so little of them meant something to Teak. Maybe the world below wasn’t the bad place on Ascena Pura. Perhaps the ones that dwelled below had a better grasp on morality than those did above. Or maybe, it was just that they accepted the dirty parts of life and didn’t need to pretend to be better than they were. Either way, Teak was intrigued.