by Renee Rose
Veck, he’d known that human male was trouble. Or, rather, Cambry had known. He’d seen her size up and assess the danger that night the male had casually put his sleeping pad beside hers. The death pod had been filled with humans headed for their execution. While there were many innocent, there were probably just as many dangerous criminals. Lundric should have protected his female. He had himself to blame for this incident.
They didn’t have a doctor on the pod, and he didn’t want to bring her to the sick bay where she’d be ogled by others, so he took her directly to Rok and Lily’s chamber. Lily had been acting as the de facto nurse for the pod.
He knocked on the door.
Cambry lifted her head from his shoulder, and, realizing where they were, kicked in protest.
“Who is it?” Rok bellowed.
“Lundric. I’ve killed a human, and Cambry requires assistance.”
A curse sounded behind the door and a few moments later, the panel swished open, with both Rok and Lily appearing as if they’d dressed in a hurry.
“Set her on the bed,” Lily said immediately.
“Who did you kill? What happened?”
“I left the body in the north corridor.” He laid Cambry down as gently as possible.
“I’m all right.” Her voice still had a terrible raspy quality from being choked. Angry red welts on her neck would soon turn to bruises. Another lump swelled at her temple. Seeing those marks on her made his fists clench all over again. “Go.” She waved him off.
He hesitated, but Rok propelled him out the door. He explained what happened briefly to Rok as he led him to the mess, which—thank the stars—hadn’t been found by any being.
“You should have called for backup immediately. You can’t just leave a corpse like this,” Rok snapped, hauling the body off the floor. “Do you know what this is going to do to refugee relations?”
“I’ll report to Prince Zander and Master Seke now.”
Rok scowled. “Do it. And call in one of your guards to clean up the mess, for stars’ sake!” He stalked away with the body.
“Yes, Captain,” he muttered. Lundric hit his communicator to call both Master Seke and Prince Zander.
Prince Zander’s device answered, but both males’ heads sprang up. They’d been together when he called. “What is it?” Seke asked sharply.
“I killed one of the humans,” he admitted. Guilt at the trouble he’d caused his superiors warred with the remaining anger at the threat on his female.
“What happened?” the prince demanded.
He swiped his hand across his cheek, sensing the human’s blood there. “He forced himself on C—one of the females. I ended it.”
Seke raised his brows. “By killing him?”
His nostrils flared. “Their necks break easily.”
“And the female?” Zander asked.
“Cambry. I want her.” There. He’d said it. He needed to secure the female as his. If he’d done that sooner, she might not have been threatened.
“Excuse me?”
Veck. That had come out all wrong. He cleared his throat, marshaling his manners. “May I take a female slave, as you both have done?”
They stared at him.
“Please, my lord?” he added.
“You are not in a position to beg any favors of me, Lundric,” the prince snapped. “We need the strongest allegiance possible from these humans or they’ll never serve as an army for us. Right now, you’d better be thinking about how to control the damage you’ve done to Zandian-human relations on that pod.”
Veck, of course the prince was right. He’d failed his ruler and Cambry both, this planet rotation. He bowed. “Yes, my lord.”
Zander moved to end the hologram transmission, but desperation made Lundric try again. He needed to secure Cambry as his own—for his sanity and her safety. “What about the female? What about Cambry?”
“I’ve granted you nothing. If you want the human female, cultivate a bond.”
Did he mean to court her like he would a Zandian female—if any of mating age were still alive? Relief poured through him. That meant the prince granted Cambry her own sovereignty to choose. No one else, presumably Prince Zander included, would have the right to take her from Lundric. He need only convince Cambry. He squared his shoulders and nodded, once. “Thank you, my lord.”
~.~
Cambry sat up too fast, forgetting the bruise on her temple. It throbbed, making her wait until her vision cleared to stand up. She’d refused any analgesic from Lily the previous planet rotation but had accepted a cold pack before locking herself in her room to sleep.
Her dreams had been a twisted mix of all the scenes in her life where she’d been in grave danger, except Lundric always showed up, protecting her with the fierceness of an animal. The memory of what he’d done to the male who’d attacked her should make her sick. The level of violence was greater than she’d seen before. And yet it didn’t.
It made her feel safe.
Thoughts of Lundric made her reach for the bottles of cosmetics Lily had given her. She uncapped a lightly fragranced oil for the skin. It smelled of fruit, citrus, perhaps, not that she’d ever had the pleasure of eating the Earth-based food the Ocretions cultivated on agrifarms. She undressed and rubbed it over her body, imagining Lundric’s hands massaging her instead.
Hearing the breakfast bell, she quickly redressed and unlatched the door. It wouldn’t budge.
“What gives?” she muttered and tried again. It stuck, then abruptly slid open, and she immediately saw the reason. Lundric had been leaning against it. He whirled, drinking her in like a starved man.
“Did you stand here all night?”
His eyes traveled to her temple then the bruises at her throat, and he clenched his fists, scowling.
“If you keep glaring at me like that, I’ll have to stay away from you until my bruises heal,” she said lightly, trying to brush past him.
He lunged, caging her against the door without touching her. “You won’t stay away from me,” he growled, brows dipped low on his forehead. His irises had turned purple, the way they did when he was turned on, but this time she thought it was more out of anger.
It was odd how she wasn’t the least bit afraid of the giant, angry warrior. The one she’d seen crush a man’s skull as if it were a cracker. Her body reacted to his aggression like it was a come on, nipples steepling her tunic, a steady thrum starting up between her legs.
“How would I keep you safe?”
Her laugh sounded husky. She reached up and gripped the lapel of his white uniform. “What would you do if I...ran?” She ducked under his arm, laughing as she bolted, not surprised when he caught her around the waist and hauled her back against his front. His hot breath feathered across her ear.
“You don’t vecking run from me.” He bit her ear then inhaled deeply. “What is that scent?” He dragged his open mouth down her neck, jerking away when he touched her bruises.
“Veck. I’m so afraid I’ll hurt you,” he choked.
To hear the fearsome warrior say he was afraid—of hurting her—made every bone in her body go soft.
“M-maybe you’d better punish me for running.” She thought she sounded breathless. Excited.
A growl rocketed from his throat, and he dragged her backward into her chamber, slamming the door shut and locking it. “Clothes off,” he commanded, but before she could obey, his hands tore at her tunic, helping her strip. He sat on the cot and pulled her over one knee, her torso lying on the cot.
“Why do you smell so good?” Already she heard the urgency in his voice, the notes of desperation, as if her scent drove him so wild, he couldn’t control himself.
“It’s the oil Lily gave me.” She could hardly make her tongue form sounds because his huge palm was stroking her bare ass and it felt... So. Incredibly. Good.
The palm retreated and then fell, harder than she expected. She jerked and bit her lip, humming a little in her throat as the pain bloomed
across her skin, heat racing over her buttocks and pooling at her core where her clit pulsed with a persistent throb.
He slapped her again.
“Ow. Not so hard,” she gasped.
Lundric gave a dark chuckle. “Oh, no, little female. You don’t get to tell me how you get spanked. You asked for this. Now I’m in charge. I’m going to turn this pretty little ass of yours bright red. Do you want to know why?”
Her belly twisted with mingled fear and excitement. She pushed her tiptoes against the floor to lift her ass.
Another hard slap.
“Why?” she gasped.
“For scaring the vecking daylights out of me last night. For driving me mad at all times with those beautiful long legs, this juicy ass.” He slapped said anatomy again, hard. He worked his other hand under her hips and stroked a finger along her dewy slit. She pushed into it, forcing the tip of his thick digit inside her entrance, but he pulled it out and spanked her even harder.
“Who’s in charge, Cambry?”
“I am?” She laughed, surprising herself. When was the last time she’d laughed?
A flurry of spanks rained down on her burning ass and the backs of her thighs at the same time his finger rubbed her clit. “You are not, my little rebel. And I’m not going to stop spanking you until I’m sure you’ll remember who you belong to as you sit through flight lessons all morning.”
The combination of sting and his possessiveness stole her breath. She wriggled under the onslaught. “Lundric...Lundric!”
He stopped spanking her, and flipped her over onto the cot before he dropped to his knees on the floor to cup her heated cheeks in his hands. “Open for your male, Cambry.”
She let her knees drop open, her breath going still at the reverent way Lundric drank in her pussy. He parted her nether lips with his thumbs, still doing nothing but staring.
“Lundric,” she protested.
He lowered his head and dragged his tongue from anus to clit, sending her into spasms of pleasure. “Where do you want my tongue, little female? Show me.”
Her inner thighs trembled, her chest rose and fell in short pants as she reached down between her legs and tapped her clit “Here,” she gasped.
His eyes gleamed. “Yes, that’s a good place to start.” He flicked his tongue over the sensitive bud.
He suctioned his lips over it and sucked as his thumb pushed into her pussy, his middle finger tapped her anus. Her hips jerked into the air. She grasped both the horns on his head and squeezed.
He shouted, eyes flying wide, and the horns thickened and pulsed in her palms. “Vecking stars, Cambry.”
She released his horns like hot coals. Had she hurt him?
“If you touch my horns again, I’m going to lose it before I ever get my cock inside you.” His irises were pure violet now.
Her mouth widened in a naughty grin. “Is that so?” She stroked the horns, hooking them in the crook of her thumbs and forefingers and circling their bases.
Lundric groaned. “That’s it, beautiful female. Now you’re getting my cock.” He stood up and shoved his uniform pants down, letting his impressive length spring free.
She licked her lips, leaning up on her elbows to watch him climb over her. The moment his head was in reach again, she went for his horns.
“Veck…” He dragged the head of his cock through her dripping pussy.
She moaned with pleasure. “Yes, Lundric. Please.”
He plunged into her tight channel, and she bit her lip on a gasp, squeezing his thick horns with a pulsing grip. “You must want to be vecked hard, little female,” he growled, but she could hear his loss of composure in his voice, sense it in the jerky plunge of his cock in and out of her. He drew in shuddering breaths.
She arched into him, rubbing her nipples against his skin, hooking her ankles behind his back.
He stopped moving and shook his head. “Feet down, baby. You don’t get to control.”
She whimpered but released her legs, dropping her feet back to the cot. His grin was wicked as he braced one palm against the wall behind her head to shove in balls deep. “I’m going to veck you so hard, you won’t walk straight for the rest of the planet rotation, pretty female.”
“Take me, Lundric,” she moaned.
He pulled out, flipped her onto her belly, and lifted her up to her hands and knees. He entered her again, holding her hips steady for his hard pumps, flesh slapping flesh as he pounded in and out. Apparently still not satisfied, he picked her up by the waist and walked forward on his knees until they reached the wall. “Hands on the wall, sweet female.”
She obeyed.
He braced his hands beside hers.
Oh veck, yes.
This was their position. The head of his glorious cock hit the sensitive tissue on the front wall of her channel with each thrust.
Lundric dropped one hand between her legs and slapped her clit.
She screamed and tumbled over the edge into orgasmic explosion. Her muscles tightened around his cock, squeezing in quick bursts.
Lundric roared his approval and vecked her even harder, slamming in another four, five times until he came, filling her with his hot seed.
When they both had finished, her body turned to rubber, and she fell against the wall. Lundric scooped her into his arms and sat on the cot. His lips found hers, the most gentle of probing.
She answered it, kissing and nibbling, opening her mouth to his tongue. When they parted, he looked down at her with something akin to wonder.
“I’d better go,” she murmured. “I don’t want to miss breakfast.”
Lundric immediately stood and set her gently on her feet. “I would never allow you to go hungry,” he said with the solemnity of an oath. He used the corner of his tunic to clean her of his seed, which was...rainbow hued. Whoa. Well, alien sex delivered, that was all she knew.
She grinned. “Thank you, warrior.” Her legs wobbled as she attempted to dress herself. Lundric didn’t help, cupping and rubbing her ass with a satisfied growl.
She twisted to look. “Yes, you left your marks on me. Feel better?”
His grin was all satisfied male. “Much.”
5
Lundric finished installing the metalwork he’d bent to hold the Zandian crystal up against the window in his bunkroom. There weren’t many windows in the pod, and apart from the cockpit, this room had the biggest. Plus it held the greatest number of beings, so they could all benefit.
Since Lily had given it to him, his wound had completely healed, and his energy had returned. He was relieved he wouldn’t need to return to Zander’s palatial pod—he didn’t want to leave Cambry. In the last few planet rotations, he’d grown to admire her even more. She’d picked up flying faster than any other being, and every time he was with her, she let down her guard a little more.
Still, despite his constant assertions she belonged to him, he could see she didn’t take him seriously. He headed now to the big meeting room, where they were practicing hand-to-hand combat. He vecking hated that Cambry was there. The thought of her in a fight made him want to crush another skull. Yet, he had to admit the need for the practice. They were training the humans to be warriors, after all—male and female alike. And despite the fact it made him want to rip beings limb from limb, she would probably see combat. They all would.
He entered the room, scanning quickly for the flash of red hair that made Cambry easy to spot. There. Rok had them paired off with partners, and they were practicing with long staffs, swinging and blocking each other. Cambry moved with grace, a natural at battle arts, striking out as she circled her older male opponent.
Brilliant female.
He didn’t move, not wanting to miss a single moment of watching Cambry.
“She is fond of you.”
He startled at the voice just below his elbow and looked down to see Mierna, Rok’s elderly Venusian crewmember. Venusians were known for mind reading and intuition, but every time Lundric had seen Mierna, she’d
been drunk on brownbeer. He looked down at her big watery eyes and unkempt hair with a mixture of pity and annoyance.
“You wish to possess her, but you don’t know the secrets of her heart.”
He barely restrained the urge to roll his eyes. Fortune-telling wasn’t an art he had any appreciation for. He managed a noncommittal grunt as a reply.
“Do you know what she seeks?”
“No,” he said, barely keeping the exasperation from his voice.
She touched the side of her nose in a gesture meaningless to him. “You cannot keep her until you learn.”
Her words were meaningless, too.
He forced a smile that probably looked more like a grimace and stalked away, not toward Cambry, though every cell in his body pointed in her direction, but to Rok, to receive his orders.
Rok tossed him a staff and swung his in an arc, lowering into a ready stance. Though Rok had no formal training like Lundric and Zander had received from Master Seke, he was a natural warrior who clearly had spent a lifetime fighting. His other crewmates—the two Stornigians who were Rok’s foster brothers—tumbled and wrestled each other in a gleeful tussle.
Rok came at him quickly, swinging the staff at Lundric’s head. He ducked and swung for Rok’s feet. Rok had swung for the place where Lundric held the staff, and he had to drop it to avoid getting his hands smashed. He stopped it with his foot and flicked it back into the air, catching it and swinging it toward Rok’s exposed middle.
Rok grunted with approval, dropping into a backward hinge to avoid the strike. He grinned. “You and me. Before your shift tonight.”
Lundric shook his head. “No offense, but I’d rather be wrestling with a different being when I’m off-duty.”
Rok smirked, glancing in Cambry’s direction. “Who could blame you?”
Lundric growled, and Rok chuckled. “Easy, warrior. I have my own human to contend with. Just don’t let your practice slip.”
