Venomous: (Alien Warrior Book 1)

by Penelope Fletcher

  Pierced with golden rings, medallions and intricately knotted thread wreathed the onyx mane, yet the sides of his scalp were smooth.

  Slinky cords grew in a strip down the middle of his head, hung to mid back and cascaded across his shoulders.

  His skin, if you could call it that, was a sheathe of serpentine scales plating his epidermis.

  The armoured shell lay as an intricately interlocking pattern that grew in dimension to protect his joints and overlapped vulnerable areas such as his throat and groin.

  Mottled bronze, mixed with shades of olive and yellowish-brown, they had a faded lustre, as if supple, or slicked with the barest misting of mica.

  Stalking closer with predatory grace, he knelt.

  Two of his hands pressed to the ground for balance, the other two hovering in the air before me mere inches from touching.

  He released a string of growling hisses then he cocked his head, expectant, waiting.

  Expecting what exactly?

  Me to respond in kind?

  My nostrils flared as my breathing quickened.

  Was I supposed to prostrate myself and beg for his beastly compassion?

  “I....” Stalling, hoping I didn’t court death attempting to communicate, I licked my lips. “I can’t understand you.”

  He snarled and glared.

  Blanching, I whispered, “How am I to know what you want?” Fierce was my need to survive. “Am I to be quiet? Submissive? Prove myself by being aggressive? Keep spitting nonsense until you get me?” In a moment of madness, I thrust my face forward to get in his. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Raising his lower fists from the floor to rest on the wall either side of my head, he reached out.

  To touch me.

  Touch me with those horrible, bloody talons.

  Cry for help strangled by fear, I jerked my knees to my chest and reared back so fast I bashed the back of the skull against the rock.

  A burst of pain exploded from the impact and radiated across my cranium.

  Hissing, angrier, he moved with inhuman speed to grab my chin.

  He twisted my head to the side and his other, bloodier, hand lifted.

  Scrunching my eyes shut, I braced for pain.

  A heartbeat later my eyes popped open. I stared at the grubby bedding in shock.

  A gentle trace of claws on skin.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I studied his other hand resting on the apple of my cheek.

  Claws were the same shade as his scales, but lustreless, and his fingers seemed dexterous, his thumb as long as his fingers.

  During the brawl he’d used his talons to rend, hack and sever.

  He could shred my flesh to ribbons with a flick of the wrist yet he rubbed the skin behind my ear with the lightest of pressure.

  The juxtaposition of claws and tenderness baffled me.

  It also gave me hope.

  Had I met my first civil extraterrestrial?

  He looked like a barbarian, fought like a demon, but first impressions could be deceptive, couldn’t they?

  I mumbled, “They put a translator there so I could understand them,” as said machine shifted under his touch. I again braved his wrath to communicate. “They had questions about me. Well, about my species. Humans.” My hands lifted to push him away. I dithered, not wanting to touch him and make him cross when his claws were on me. Heat from his chest beat against my palms. “I can’t understand you though,” I finished on a whisper as my gaze wandered up to his face.

  Darker scales underlining a sloped forehead implied slashing eyebrows and the curvature of a flattened nose bridge.

  High cheekbones lent his rugged features an arrogant cast and just softened a feral visage all too predatory.

  His lips had a leathery look, as did the pale spaces between his scales.

  Though unlike mine, his mouth was sensual with a spiky cupid’s bow, the crease on the bottom lip shallow enough so as to suggest softness yet not be pouty.

  Afraid he’d be offended by my blatant stare, I licked my own lips, gaze darting away only to be drawn back as if to a loadstone.

  Lying almost flat to his head, he had external ears, pointed at the helix and serrated around their curve.

  Lobes connected to the upper camber of a rough-hewed jaw gave him an appearance of stealth.

  Gold studs lined both pinnae, and the ivory tooth of an animal etched with glyphs speared through his left tragus.

  His forked tongue flickered as he ‘spoke’ again and my gaze zeroed in on the ball piercing just before the split in the thick muscle.

  I ogled it with wide eyes.

  He shook his head in apparent irritation.

  Thick dreadlocks tumbled over his shoulder as he did, a grouping of burnished beads and gold clinking and glinting in the light.

  Releasing me, he leaned back and swept his gaze over me again.

  The distance gave me the opportunity to take in more of him in scattered, twitchy glances.

  Wide shoulders cut a sharp line under his thick neck, no weak slope to their structure, and supported upper arms roped with adamantine muscle.

  After the winding journey, I knew the rugged dimensions of those shoulders well.

  Magnificently crafted, a band of gold curled below bulging triceps and above an iron-hard bicep and was engraved with a language I couldn’t read.

  A sinuous torso narrowed to a trim waist making his physique an eye-catching mesomorph.

  He had no nipples, just broad pectorals.

  Slabs of muscle defined his ribcage, where lower just as muscled arms attached, and swelled as he breathed.

  I counted eight abdominal rows before the strips bracketing his groin distracted me.

  Unsettled, my gaze flitted over his genitals.

  I quivered.

  The sticky-looking protrusion grew larger under the harried look.

  A ribbed sac beneath didn’t dangle, but bulged and throbbed to the naked eye.

  Basically, there was a lot of giant, alien maleness flaunting its ability to break me in two right up in my space.

  Humanising failed.

  A deep rumble escaped his chest and his nostrils flared.

  He pointed to the blankets and snarl-growled something that in no way could be perceived as anything but a commandment.

  I glanced at the rumbled bedding, no, I stared at the bedding.

  The world spun as I connected the dots.

  He’s dizzy and confused in the head if he thinks I’m going to climb in there and let him have at it.

  My gaze clashed with his. “No.”

  Wet with liquid, his solid black orbs gleamed an opalescent sheen.

  I could see his cunning stirring, taking my measure.

  Those large ovals, tilted at the corners and cast into shadow by his brow ridge, and high, plated forehead, were both mesmerizing and terrifying.

  Stark and direct, they watched me watch him.

  I quaked as if stricken with palsy.

  It was easier to think of rebellion than actually act on it yet I found the strength to shake my head and repeat, “No.”

  Clicking his teeth, he stood.

  I relaxed, thinking I’d gained a measure of control.

  Long arms shot out and snatched me from the floor.

  Squeaking, I flailed, bowed my back and violently kicked out my legs to try and break his ironclad hold.

  The alien dropped to his knees on the bedding then lay me down.

  He didn’t toss me.

  He lay me as a bride on her bower then slinked down to cover me.

  Had I been less alarmed, I might have noticed the care with which he handled me, but to my fear-warped perspective it was a savage descent that ended in imprisonment.

  Kneeling, he planted two hands either side of my head.

  Another two clamped down on my thighs and spread them.

  He easily subdued my bucking body, his knees bracketing my hips then squeezing to secure me under him.

  F
ear blindsided my earlier bravado, and it shrivelled into a mindless female panic.

  I twisted in the cage of limbs remembering what the L’Odo guard Morpo said to Sorkbhal about the slaves ripping me apart from the inside.

  Ripped apart from the inside.

  My throat closed and I couldn’t breathe.

  Screaming proved impossible.

  You need air to scream.

  I scratched at his face with my broken nails.

  Grunting, straining, seething at the unfairness of it all, I smacked his chest and punched his side.

  Thinking, fuck it, I bit him.

  My rounded teeth glided off his tough scales.

  Squirming lower with my wild movements, the alien lowered until I was pinned by his brawny chest.

  Murmuring, his forehead pressed mine.

  I didn’t like this closeness, this forced intimacy meant to pacify me for the violation to come.

  I turned my face away and cringed when his lips rubbed and bumped at the back of my neck trying to gain my attention.

  I fought.

  Victory was impossible, but I’d be damned if I’d lie and take it.

  No more.

  I could not do it anymore.

  No more giving in with the hope I’d not get hurt.

  I tired as I pounded his shoulder and tried to gouge his freaky eyes out.

  My legs were just useless, flailing and kicking at the air as he straddled me.

  Exhaustion claimed me, I’d been stressed for too long and gone without nourishment other than terror-induced adrenaline.

  All my effort ended in cries muffled by the musky softness at my back, a furry hide of some nameless beast this barbarian had probably slaughtered with his bare hands.

  The alien lifted his bulk.

  He paused, waiting to see if I had a reserve of energy left to attack.

  Drained, I did nothing as defeated sobs shook my body.

  “Fuck this place,” I blubbered. “And, seriously, fuck you.”

  The alien lowered his head and nudged the underside of my jaw with his flattened nose.

  He hissed, a gruff, staccato noise that vibrated against my skin.

  A hot tongue slithered over my throat.

  Recoiling, I pushed at his weighty chest.

  Making another pitiful attempt to break free, he let me struggle before clasping my wrists and yanking them over my head.

  He made a pained noise.

  Shuddered.

  He licked at the hollow of my neck in frantic lashes of his tongue, lapping up beads of sweat.

  The rough texture of the barbed muscle was a scratch against my pulse.

  Head rising, his black eyes locked with mine then he lowered his face until our breaths mingled.

  He slowly spoke in his strange language.

  He made an effort in holding my gaze and modulating his voice, roughened with what I suspected was frustration.

  The cause became apparent when his hips shifted.

  A sizeable lump of heat pressed at the juncture of my thighs.

  “No,” I shouted right in his face. “Get off me, you animal.”

  I screeched soundlessly until I was hoarse and my throat bled, the metallic tang of blood coating my tongue as I bit it yelling an incoherent plea for him not do what he wanted.

  Silent, unmoving, the alien didn’t press the issue.

  He waited until my protest reduced to harsh whimpers that puttered to noisy gasps for air.

  Releasing my wrists, he pushed onto all fours.

  His attention diverted from my face to my body then his hand touched my side in a tentative encounter that drew a haunting noise from low in his throat.

  As I did nothing but flinch, his claws dragged across my skin, pressed until the rough calluses on the pads of his fingers rasped my straining flesh.

  I couldn’t find the energy to give more than a squeak of protest when his textured palm covered my breast.

  The hand remained there, a searing heaviness that melted the brittle frost coating my bones.

  As if unsure what to do with it, the alien palpated the soft mass, intrigued when my nipple responded to the experimental petting and puckered.

  He ran a claw tip over the crinkled nubbin.

  I shivered and pressed my face deeper into the furs.

  My confused body relaxed under his weight, the sensations of warmth and pleasure it understood too well.

  It felt like forever since I’d had simple humane contact.

  Hideous as it was, the alien gave the touch my soul cried out for, even if it lacked the compassion I craved.

  He snarl-hissed as his dry lips nuzzled my jawbone.

  He inhaled.

  Purred.

  His heaving chest pushed against mine.

  Again, I was struck by how heat pulsed from him in waves, his scent a spritz of hot, fragrant ginger.

  A clawed hand gripped my hip and he leaned back to stare straight into my eyes.

  Holding my gaze, he waited for me to accept it, and in his strange eyes I saw the truth.

  There is no going home.

  No one was coming to rescue me.

  There was only this alien and enslavement.

  He was aggressive, brutish, but there was no anger or violence in his touch, and I’d yet to feel pain of his making.

  During my struggles, he restrained me when he could have beat me, hell, one good punch and it would be lights out so he could have his way with my body without the bother of deflecting my blows.

  I didn’t get the impression my terror pleased him.

  Looking into his face, I decided the opposite.

  My heighted fear disturbed him.

  Most significantly, we couldn’t understand each other.

  He could be communicating all sorts of things, could be undergoing some ritual native to him but frightening to me, so as much as I begged and pleaded, I knew he was going to listen then carry on as he pleased.

  That is what people did when faced with something strange.

  They did what came natural, what gave comfort.

  I didn’t think he was cruel in my sense of the word though his actions to me were barbaric.

  He isn’t hurting me.

  My inner turmoil stilled, and I ran the comforting thought through my mind again, and again.

  Other twisted notions tumbled into the mix.

  I’m safe here.

  He just wants my body.

  My mind screamed death was better than what he planned to take, but my infallible human spirit strived to survive.

  So, I gave up, and I didn’t struggle when his claws dipped under my panties and yanked them down.

  I lay supine, fuzzily wondering if I was the weakling the L’Odo declared me.

  Satisfied I wasn’t going to go into another mindless rage, he dragged them off and tossed them away.

  He lifted fully off me and rested on his heels.

  Now is the time to run.

  Where was I running to?

  How would I move the boulder blocking the exit, and again, just where the fuck was I running to?

  Conquered, I peered at the ceiling.

  Maybe if I don’t watch him on top of me once it’s over I can forget.

  There was a long, awkward pause and a lengthy bout of joint breathing.

  At his reticence, hope surged within my breast.

  Maybe he doesn’t like what he sees and my human sex is repugnant to him.

  Cool air hit my pussy as two fingers spread my lower lips.

  Horrible heat rushed to my face.

  I thought I’d past the brink of tears, but another managed to gather and roll down my temple into my matted hair.

  A finger brushed my clitoris.

  Choking sounds escaped my throat.

  My legs tensed, and a sharp inhalation of air rushed past my dry lips.

  Just relax, relax, relax.

  He paused then slowly did it again, his stare intent on my face.

  When
another touch elicited much the same reaction followed by an undeniable softening in my spine, his body shifted.

  He pushed at my hip, coaxing me to turn over, I did, and he quickly pressed his groin against my behind.

  My teeth pushed together so hard biting back a scream my jaw ached.

  Again, his face rubbed against the back of my neck.

  The head of his cock pressed against my asshole, an orifice distinct in its virginity.

  Before I uttered a protest, he shifted to align with my tensed entrance.

  I breathed out and fisted my hands.

  Everything turned hazy and I realised more tears wet my chin, throat and chest.

  I expected pain, braced for the savagery of it.

  Nothing happened.

  Struggling to sustain a mental distance, a mounting irritation he took so long to get on with it had me glaring over my shoulder, mouth tight, expression pinched.

  My eyes went wide when I saw uncertainty and frustration stamped across his unusual features.

  Twisting, I pushed his hands away when he tried to stop me then flinched expecting a hit for the defiance.

  He did nothing.

  I peered into his strange face, confused, uncertain.

  He was stronger than me, much stronger, and had no reason temper his touch yet I felt his restraint.

  He radiated frustration in his inability to join his body to mine, not anger at me for resisting.

  It was stupid to feel it, to hope for more from a barbarian moments from ravaging me, but my heart thudded in understanding.

  In contrast, my body stiffened.

  I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel, but there was one certainty at the forefront of my mind.

  I am done with pain.

  Giving my body to the creature wasn’t what I wanted, but void of choice, I chose to accept what would be.

  Making the experience as pain free as possible was as good as it was going to get.

  Resigned, my gaze dropped to his groin then froze there in abject horror.

  Throbbing veins ran the length of his penis and his glands was so swollen it seemed to pulsate.

  There is no way that thing is going inside me when I’m dry.

  So I decided to do something about it.

  Chances he’d fuck me once then let me scrounge off him for the rest of my life for food, shelter and safety were marginal to nonexistent.

  This wasn’t a one time deal.

  I needed to make clear what he had to do to take me.