by Lily Graison
The tingles racing laps through her limbs slowed as he stared down at her. He was still hard and solid against her hip. She’d never slept with anyone she’d just met, but if he could make her come that hard with only two fingers, she could only imagine what he could do with the long length of flesh pressing into her hip. Would it make her a total slut for sleeping with an alien on her third day? Probably, but at the moment her nerves were still firing little shocks through her body and—she didn’t care. She could wallow in shame tomorrow.
Those fingers he’d used to get her off with traced a circle around her nipple before he leaned down and licked it again. “I like the taste of your skin on my tongue, Sarra.” She swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry throat. “I liked tasting your cunt even more.”
Rational thought fled as her brain stopped functioning, images of his head between her legs filling her mind. He licked a path up her neck, kissed the spot just below her ear, then whispered, “I want to be inside you.”
Every nerve jolted at the words and she tried to clamp her knees together but encountered his leg instead. His teeth grazed her earlobe, his tongue snaking out to lick inside her ear and she shivered. He sat up suddenly, his eyes wide as he stared into the darkness, his body gone rigid before he jumped to his feet and was racing for the trees before she had time to realize something was out there.
Grabbing the material he’d been covering her with, Sara sat up, covered her breasts and tugged the bottom of her dress down before leaning back against the rock wall.
Those screeching things she’d heard earlier started screaming again, the branches overhead swaying, the limbs groaning. Were they in the trees? Clouds blocked the light of the moon so she couldn’t see much of anything, but she saw those branches moving as a deep roar of something she hoped wasn’t headed her way had her heart pounding. She could only imagine what it was and from what she’d seen of the aliens here, her imagination wasn’t providing her with anything pleasant.
The sounds grew in volume, the screeching more frequent until a roar loud enough to wake half the forest shook the trees, those noises dying almost instantly. The eerie hush falling over the forest caused her heart to race again, anxiety making her dizzy.
What was out there large enough to roar that loudly? And where was Toren?
Nothing moved now, the forest gone silent. Sara watched the trees for long minutes but Toren never came back. What if—whatever that was out there roaring had injured him—or worse—and she was now completely alone?
Dread caused her stomach to ache as fear started to take hold. She knew next to nothing about Toren but he’d saved her from a fate worse than death by capturing her, and even though he didn’t understand a word she said, she still liked the guy. She felt safe with him.
Loud shrieks and screams filled the air, anxiety making it hard to breathe, and as she sat there listening to the noises the things that lived here made as they echoed through the trees, she realized if he didn’t come back, she was as good as dead.
Chapter Seven
The scent of an ogthath this close to where he’d made a nest for his Sarra tore every bit of pleasure he’d found when his mate came in his hand right out of his head. Her scent, as strong and pleasant as it was, was overpowered by a creature stealthy enough to get too close. The stink their furry hide held was the only way one had to know they were near. The beasts were deadly fast, talons long and sharp enough to pierce skin, and a mouth full of teeth strong enough to chew bone in half.
He spotted it near the river’s edge, all four of its feet on the ground. He watched it long enough to know it didn’t know he was there. He roared at it, then charged. Instead of running away, it stood up on its hind legs, talons out ready to strike. As deadly as the ogthath was, he was at the top of the food chain and he’d protect what was his any way he had to. He roared again, shifting enough his claws broke free of his skin and used them to clamp down on the thing’s head. It roared in pain as he dug his claws in deeper, blue-black blood coating his hands as he twisted, then jerked on its head until it pulled loose from its body. It fell into the river, the water current dragging it away.
Toren tossed the head into the water and surveyed the surrounding forest, then the sky. Clouds hung heavy, blocking out the light of the stars and the glow of the moon. Would he be seen if he took flight under the cover of darkness? One of the orbs that captured every movement on the planet shot over the trees. He hunkered low and watched it hover, scanning the area—he had no doubt—before it flew away.
He pushed his hair from his face and looked at the river. They couldn’t stay here. They were too close to the black forest and the creatures that roamed there were deadly and the food scarce. Come first light, he’d move Sarra someplace safer. Somewhere he could provide food enough to fill her belly and keep her hidden from view.
He headed back to where he’d left Sarra, trying to remember all the places he and his brother had played. There were ground level caves in the mountains. If they could make it that far on foot, they could rest, eat enough to restore their energy, then continue on to the mountain range his lair was hidden. He’d risk shifting and carrying Sarra up to his lair once they made it. He could defend it well and no one would be able to take her from him then.
Fear crawled along her skin and left goosebumps in its wake by the time the trees near the waterfall moved. Sara sucked in a breath and shrank back against the wall as a figure moved toward the water. Shadows hung heavy where it squatted. The moment it stood, the clouds shifted enough a shaft of moonlight lit its features. It was Toren. She released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and sent up a thankful prayer he’d come back.
He stalked the distance between them, the moonlight creating shadows across his skin. He was completely naked and didn’t look hurt. Not a mark marred his muscled torso or arms. She looked him over head to toe, pausing briefly on his groin. The shadows concealed him enough she couldn’t see much.
“I won’t let anything harm you.”
Sara raised her eyes to his face as he approached and she tried not to look when he sat down beside her, his back to the rock wall. He didn’t sound winded, so she didn’t think he’d encountered whatever had been out there.
They sat in silence, staring out at the darkened forest. She wanted to ask what he’d seen but knew he wouldn’t understand her. Besides, she wasn’t at all sure she really wanted to know what was out there. She’d seen enough science fiction movies to know what sort of things might be lurking in the shadows.
She remembered the cloth Toren had worn around his waist—that she now clutched to her chin—and lowered it, tossing it over his lap. The shadows were deep where they sat but it still felt weird sitting beside a naked alien. Why, she had no clue. It wasn’t like she hadn’t just ridden his hand into a screaming orgasm. Her face burned and she was glad it was too dark for him to see.
Toren picked the cloth up and tucked it back around her shoulders. “You keep it.”
Sara opened her mouth to protest but Toren tugged on her shoulders until she was again lying down. “Sleep. I’ll keep watch. Nothing will harm you, my Sarra.”
He stood and walked a few feet away. Was he really going to stand there while she slept so nothing would get into their shabby little camp? He took a dozen steps to the left, then came back, his head turned to the forest. She wasn’t sure how much sleeping she’d be doing with a naked alien pacing a few feet away.
She watched him make short laps, the moon’s light chasing those deep shadows away when he turned and gave her a clear view of that bit of flesh that had been biting into her hip. It wasn’t hard now but even soft it was impressive. They certainly didn’t make them like that at home. Well, none she’d ever seen anyway. If whatever had come too close hadn’t shown up when it did, she had no doubt she’d be on her back, her legs thrown over Toren’s shoulders and that massive cock filling her to bursting.
A shiver raced up her spine. She hadn’t missed it when
Toren said my Sarra before walking away. He’d already staked claim on her. For reasons she didn’t want to examine at the moment, the thought wasn’t as unappealing as it should have been.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in centuries. Toren shifted from where he was squatted down in front of Sara and pulled the length of material he’d taken off one of the others back up over her shoulders. It took her a long while to fall asleep and knowing she’d done so with him there told him she trusted him and filled him with hope. He’d been alone for so long, finding her made the ache in his chest ease a bit. The loneliness he’d felt when he crawled into the temple ruins forgotten in her presence. He pushed a lock of her hair away from her face and tried to memorize every inch of it.
Looking at her made him long for things that would never be and filled his heart with a sorrow so profound the pain was a living thing in his chest. His people were gone. Those that were left—if there were any—now in hiding, and the life he’d once known was over. This new world he’d woken to was ugly and harsh. The mountain he’d once called home, a paradise of lush vegetation, food enough to feed hundreds of Draegon, probably gone as well. The cave entrance had been hidden when the war started and giving away its position by entering from the top of the mountain was the only reason he hadn’t been back. If their oasis still stood and the clouds ringing the crest were thin enough, those orbs flying over would see it and like everything else on the planet, they would destroy it and anyone they found there.
Sara shifted in her sleep, a soft sigh escaping. She would like Dra’lera. If there was any chance of getting in without being seen, he’d take her there and live out the remainder of his life with her. She wasn’t Draegon but it did not matter. He’d take her as a mate and do so with pride.
Legend told of lost souls finding one another and many claimed they’d found their match but he’d never believed it. He’d hoped to find a mate willing to have him without some mythical connection to tether them together. He wanted a mate who wanted him for him, not because some unseen force told them they were destined to be together and he could have that with Sarra. Her hungry kisses and the slick dew he’d found between her legs told him she found him pleasing. He could still scent the musk clinging to the inside of her thighs. The small taste he’d licked from his fingers hadn’t been enough. Had the ogthath not come so close, he would have tasted her properly by now, her slick juices coating his tongue.
He hardened just thinking about it and had he not been worried something would come to close, he’d take himself in hand and relieve the pressure. It had been too long and the sight of Sarra—his chosen mate—caused the longing to ache more fiercely.
Chapter Eight
The sun in her eyes woke her, the bright shafts of light breaking through the tree branches above to shine directly in her face. Sara blinked and turned her head. The bed underneath her made a soft crinkling sound when she moved and opening her eyes, it took her a few moments to remember where she was. On the outer fringe of the dark forest. On an alien planet. A prison moon, to be exact.
She sat up and yawned, stretching until her back popped. She spotted what looked like soft melons the size of mangos not far from where she lay. There were three of them, all varying in size and were a deep ruby red. She picked one up and smelled it, her mouth watering the moment the sweet scent registered.
A splash of water brought her head up. Toren was climbing out of the stream, water sluicing down his body as he climbed back up the bank onto the grass. The small beads of water glistened in the sunlight as they raced toward the ground and she followed them down, stopping when she reached his cock. It had looked big the night before, hidden in shadows but now—
She swallowed to moisten her throat. Maybe she was a slut at heart because the sight of that much meat made her thighs damp. His body was free of any hair and those strange tattoos on his arm and side ran down his hip to the top of his thigh, the swirling pattern reminding her of flames the more she looked at them. It took her a few seconds to realize he’d stopped walking. A glance at his face told her why. She’d been with enough men to recognize the lust in their eyes when they wanted her and the look Toren was giving her made her pulse leap. Her breath caught and she gave another quick glance to his cock before looking away, reaching for the melons. “I suppose this is breakfast.” She didn’t expect an answer from him but saw him continue walking toward her out of the corner of her eye. The cloth he’d covered her with was lying by her knee. She gathered it and held it out to him. “Thanks for this, even though it wasn’t really necessary.”
“Why is your skin turning red?”
The heat filling her face exploded at his words, her neck and ears burning as she blushed. “Probably because you’re completely naked, have a body hot enough to stop traffic, and have the biggest dick I’ve ever seen in person, which is only inches from my face, and for once I’m extremely glad you have no idea what I’m actually saying.” She shook the cloth at him until he took it from her hand and wrapped it back around his hips. When he was covered, she peeked at him through her lashes just to make sure he wasn’t still flashing her. He wasn’t. She lifted the melon in her hand. “How do you eat this?”
He came to her side and squatted, then took the melon. The cloth around his hips, thankfully, fell in just a way she saw nothing beneath it but dark shadows.
“You have to peel the skin off. It’s too bitter to eat.” He bit into the melon enough to get an edge to pull on and started peeling the dark red skin away. It peeled like an orange and the fruit underneath was pale pink and smelled a bit like pineapple. “These are called adreca fruits. They grow on the kau’tar tree near water.” Toren handed it to her once he’d pulled away all the skin and picked up another, biting into it and started peeling. “When they’re this color, they are good to eat but once they darken to almost black, they’re no good. The fruit turns soft and liquid. But you can’t pick them too soon, either. When they’re the color of the fruit inside, they’re not ripe enough and taste bitter like the skin.”
The fruit filled her entire palm and without anything to cut it with, she had to take a bite out of it. The moment the sweet juice hit her tongue, she groaned. It was indeed as sweet as pineapple but there was a slight lemony sourness to it. The texture was a bit tough and she’d never had a piece of fruit with so much juice inside it. The liquid spilled into her hand and dribbled down her chin. She wiped away what she could and leaned over to take another bite. Toren shifted slightly and she looked up to find him staring at her breasts. The sorry excuse for a dress was gaping open and giving him a clear view clean to her knees. Holding it closed kept her from flashing him but every bite she took soaked her from mouth to breast.
Popping the last bite into her mouth she sat up on her knees to head to the pool but Toren grabbed her before she could get to her feet. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close. She froze when he licked up the column of her throat. It took only seconds of his warm tongue on her flesh for her to remember the night before and wanting his tongue in places she shouldn’t even be thinking about. He licked and kissed her chest clean, pushing the wet material of her dress away to lick her breasts and a chill shot up the length of her spine. That lick turned into small kisses, her nipples aching and that stupid voice of reason in the back of her head was screaming, you dirty slut, as loud as it could.
“Why are you so stiff?”
She relaxed a bit and tried to ignore the heat flooding her body and pooling between her legs.
“Do you not enjoy my attention?” Toren pulled back far enough to look at her and his nostrils flared as he inhaled. “You do. I can smell the musk between your legs.”
Musk? Ohmygadh. He smelled her…
She clamped her knees together as her face flamed. So maybe him licking her had turned her on a bit. It was a natural, bodily response. Nothing slutty about it. Anyone would react that way if an intensely gorgeous male was licking them like she was his favorite treat. Ther
e was no need to be embarrassed.
Except she was.
“Would you like me to lick the juice from you there as well?”
Her knees went weak and she reached out, holding on to his shoulders to keep from falling. “You have no idea how tempting that idea is but I’m trying to resist you so stop talking about licking …”
He kissed her, that tongue he wanted to use on her slipping inside her mouth and damn it all to hell her body lit up like it was on fire. The arm around her waist tightened, Toren’s other hand sliding up the back of her leg and under her dress to cup her bottom and everywhere he touched her, heat followed and the scent that clung to his skin grew stronger.
She pulled away and held him at arm’s length, that ache from the night before returning to pound between her legs. Those violet eyes of his held her own, the hand on her bottom sliding down, long fingers dipping between her folds. She groaned and pretended she didn’t just shift her hips so he could stroke the full length of her.
“Toren—”
He kissed her again, silencing her words, his fingers and tongue leaving her bone weak. He touched her clit and she closed her eyes and arched her back. Toren dipped a finger inside her, sliding in slowly before pulling back out and doing it again. It was torture. She bit his lip and as she had the night before, she shushed the voices in her head and pushed back against his hand. He grinned against her mouth, stuck his tongue between her lips and inserted another finger into her depths, her hips bucking as she rode his hand until stars flashed behind her closed eyelids and tiny zaps fired in her muscles. When she could breathe without gasping for air, Toren pulled his fingers out of her and licked her bottom lip.
“I would make you mine, Sarra.” He cupped the side of her face, leaning in until their foreheads touched.
She ignored the obvious question in his eyes. “You’re not going to stop trying to get into my none existent panties, are you?”
