‘Are there a lot of species that look similar to us?’
‘In this part of the universe? There are four you would consider similar.’ He glanced at her. ‘That can breed with you.’
With a hum of interest, she nodded, wandering over to a bush clinging to the side of the mountain. ‘What’s this clear gunk over here?’ She stuck her finger into the sap before he might caution her against it. Nose wrinkling at the viscous texture, she lifted her fingers to her nose and sniffed. ‘Whew.’
‘It is one of eight resins we use. This one we use as a bonding agent. Others we use as biofuel and building materials. Several are suitable for medical applications.’
Her eyebrows scrunched. ‘Building materials? For your spaceships?’
‘Yes. And simpler tools. Instruments and other such entertainments.’
‘Instruments?’ She bounced. ‘As in musical? Tell me you play something.’
Concerned the resin would glue her fingers together, he took hold of her wrist to immobilise her hand. He unhooked the waterskin at his waist. ‘I may claim some skill with the luneflute.’
His thumb pushed aside the stopper, and he poured a thin stream across her fingers, encouraging her to wiggle them clean.
‘Will you play for me?’
Satisfied there was no adverse reaction causing her harm, he swiped the last traces of the resin free of her delicate skin. ‘Perhaps.’
Clasping his hand, she tugged him over to a swathe of short grass not covered in snow and flung off her cape. She smoothed it into shape then urged him to lie down.
‘Are you tired?’ he asked.
‘No, we’re stargazing.’ She paused as she joined him, head rocking side to side. ‘Except for once there’s a heavy cloud cover. Just my luck.’ She hummed. ‘See that cloud there?’ She pointed straight up. ‘It looks like a gorilla. A silverback.’
Bhyr did not know what animal she spoke of, but he understood the game. He moved her arm, so it pointed at a cloud further away. ‘That one looks like an oceanic raptorbeast diving for krill. Their beaks are like spears.’
‘You have oceans?’
‘An ocean.’
‘What colour? The water on Earth is blue.’ He remembered, but was content to let her roll over, gaze roaming his exoskeleton. ‘Like this shade here.’ She rubbed over his ribs, then peered at him, showing teeth with her smile. ‘Is it the pink colour of your hot springs?’
‘Red.’ He envisioned the coast. ‘Red waves and black pebbled beaches. Very pleasing. Hunting is good in the deeper waters.’
Propping her head on his shoulder, Indira fell quiet.
Clouds scudded across the ever twilight skies, and she brushed her hand along his side or walked her fingers across his chest.
Unfamiliar with lying around outside and doing nothing, Bhyr tucked both hands under his head. He closed his eyes. He flared his nostril slits to wallow in his breeder’s scent. The wind whispered across his flesh. This combined with the rustle of the tall grasses, the dry crunch of the goodbeast chewing, and even his female’s steady breathing relaxed him.
‘This is good,’ he mumbled.
Indira sighed. ‘It really is.’
Her hand flattened on his chest. It caressed down his abdominals until it slid over his stiffening barb.
Tense from the faint pain, Bhyr opened his eyes to slide his gaze over his female.
‘What are you doing?’ He kept his tone mild, but she’d roused his instincts.
‘Who? Me?’ Her voice was light and sweet. ‘Nothing.’
His suspicions increased when she leaned on her side to stare at him with wide, innocent eyes. ‘Liar.’
21
Bhyr
Indira lowered her head. She mouthed his body, biting at the sensitive creases between his exoskeleton.
She reached his groin, and he tensed when she pulled him free of his breechclout.
Her lips grazed his barb.
Bhyr tried to roll his hips before he distended, but she flattened on his legs, dipping to lick the tingling bifurcation.
He hissed and surged into her waiting clutches.
Indira clasped his stiffened shaft in her soft palm and ignored when he made a noise of alarm. She slid her hand as close to the base of him as possible, lowering her mouth to breathe over the flared heads of his swollen daulm.
Every molecule of his flesh quivered. ‘In your mouth?’ His voice sounded strangled.
‘That’s the idea.’
‘You will get seed in your mouth.’ The words made him hot and shaky and needing.
‘In my mouth. On my tongue. Down my throat….’
He swallowed, arrested, and apprehensive. ‘We could mate the right way.’
Her on her belly and him over her back.
‘We could.’ She flicked her pink tongue over him, a molten lash that sent bolts of pleasure and pain up his spine. ‘But the wrong way feels so good.’
He gasped and dropped his head back. ‘I... it is....’
‘Bhyr, I’m going to put you in my mouth now.’
He groaned.
‘You’re going to play with yourself.’ She leaned up to lace her fingers with his, her other hand working his sex. She stretched and brought their joined hands to his lips. ‘Put your fingers in your mouth.’
He jerked upright. ‘I cannot do that.’
‘Why not? You let me.’
‘That is different.’
‘Is it?’ Her voice lowered. ‘I kissed you. I put my lips on yours. Remind me what you call it again?’
‘Mouth matings,’ he muttered and eyed her mouth.
‘This is just another kind of mouth mating. When you touch yourself, think of my tongue licking your tongue.’
He shuddered. ‘This is forbidden.’ Another shudder worked across his flesh.
‘No, it’s not,’ she coaxed. ‘Not if you don’t want it to be. I’d do it myself, but I can’t reach up there when I’m down here sucking you.’ She nuzzled his shaft, making a pleased sound.
He made another strangled noise and fell back.
She glanced at him and nodded.
Bhyr stroked his thumb against the tip of his tongue, half amazed, half despairing of how thrilling this immoral deviancy felt.
Praising his actions with soft, sexual noises of pleasure, his female curled over between his spread thighs. She braced herself on his hips and ran her tongue over her lips as if greedy to devour him.
Bhyr threw an arm over his eyes, so tense, his spine might snap. Hot and wet pressure enveloped his sex.
Chest heaving like bellows, Bhyr vibrated like a tuning fork.
Then his barb struck the back of her throat.
He arched off the ground. Snarled. He flung out a hand to scrunch the fur and give it a vicious twist, expelling a fraction of the energy thundering through his body.
Indira retreated, creating a tight suction with her lips until she freed him with a slurp.
‘I want… that noise….’
‘This one?’ she asked, and then his barb hit the deepest depth of her mouth.
She made a harsh sound that vibrated his groin. Her nails dug into his hips, fiendishly close to his submission points, her lips stretched around his shaft.
He whinnied agreement.
‘You want to me choke on your cock?’
He snapped a nod, too titillated for words.
‘Whatever you want. Just don’t stop touching yourself.’ She went back to sucking until he was near delirium.
Thank his gods, she didn’t tease him for long, his need too raw. She worked him hard, until his free hand developed a mind of its own. It landed on the back of her head to hold it steady as he thrust. Faster. And harder. Until his entire body attuned to the rock of his hips and the glide of his shaft between her spit-slicked lips. He wasn’t gentle, but she’d been ready and adjusted enough so he choked her, but didn’t block her airway. He thought in some distant part of his mind of other males using his female’s mouth.
His fingers fisted in possession and warning as the seed building pressure in his sac splashed over her tongue, and his first release blotted all thought but of her.
She hummed, pleased, and swallowed with him lodged at the back of her throat.
It was ecstasy, oblivion, and he growled, torn between pulling her off and shoving her back down. Reluctant to move to his hands, he eased up and Indira pulled back. She laved his twitching barb before popping a kiss on the bulging vein pumping it to turgidity.
Bhyr fought to come back to himself, releasing his clutch on her hair. ‘Now I put you on your belly?’ He started to rise, body howling its hunger for her, his eyes fever bright.
His female planted a palm on his chest. ‘No.’ She stood and rucked up her fur tunic to expose her lower half, leg wraps tied in place around her thighs. She kicked a leg over his body to straddle him. ‘Stay.’
She lowered onto her knees and sheathed him inside her channel. It took slow gyrations of her hips to fit him inside.
Rounded buttocks plumped on his lower abdomen. He ogled her sweeping curves as they glistened with perspiration. Bhyr made a trilling purr low in his throat, the force of the vocalisation startling him. His girth filled her to bursting.
The tremors of her sex as it stretched made him writhe, the natural curve of his shaft rubbing against her from an unexpected angle. It caught his barb in a thrilling new way.
His hands flew to her waist. ‘Indira....’ He panted in desperation. ‘Do I move you?’
‘Keep touching yourself.’ She rose to smack down.
His gut clenched and heated in blissful agony.
She mated with him, fiercely, grinding on her downward plunges, broken cries escaping her mouth from the force.
He reached to stroke his prickling tongue and brought her musk to his nose. His mouth watered. He grew obsessed in an instant.
The idea of putting his mouth on her slit and thrusting his tongue into her molten depths brought him to spill inside her rippling channel. He grunted as the climax eased. Already the creep of his prime seed threatened his equilibrium. ‘Let me taste you.’
Her movement stuttered. ‘You want to lick me?’
He nodded and groaned. He realised she couldn’t see him. ‘I do.’
‘God, yes,’ she breathed and with uncanny agility, straightened her legs, hopped back and sat on his face. ‘Please? Yes.’
He spread the plump flesh to expose the vivid pink core shiny with their mixed fluids.
The first swipe of his tongue whipped up a frenzy, a primal part of his nature awakening, ravenous.
He buried himself in that small blossom of heaven and devoured. Bhyr flicked his tongue over the bud he knew his breeder liked touched with rapid and light flutters.
She screamed, tossing the fall of her mane down along her spine in a dark cloud of satin that made him harder.
She rode his face as if he were her beast steed, legs clasping his head. A hand braced against his thigh, while the other jerked his shaft. She curled over to suckle feverishly at his tip, and it felt as if the bottom dropped from beneath his world and left him falling.
The orifice that looked too tiny to accept the brutal matings he’d pounded inside it quivered. He thrust a finger inside. Curled it. Indira moaned, babbling words that sounded more blasphemous than was her usual bent. He ignored them, choosing instead to add another finger and lick faster, hungry for all she had to give. Each stroke of his tongue heightened his own pleasure.
Indira stiffened. Lost cohesion as her mouth dropped down on his shaft, screaming as her channel clamped on his fingers and her body shook in convulsions.
Sweet heat flooded his mouth.
Bhyr’s eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Back bowing, he pumped his prime seed into her belly, the release of pressure near torturous. She pulled back and he shot into the open air, a geyser of cream that painted his female’s lips and chin.
They collapsed.
Indira melted over his torso, limp, her breaths puffing against his shrinking erection.
Bhyr felt her wipe off the mess he’d made. He grappled her around and up, so he could wrap his arms around her.
After shoving her fur wraps back to rights, she stroked his head, murmuring soothing words until he felt able to look her in the eye.
‘Is your mind blown?’
He nodded.
She bumped her cheek against his. ‘Let’s continue this inside. I’m not done with you.’
He opened his mouth, eager to agree, but then shook himself. ‘I wish we could, but I called a Hunt earlier. I must prepare to leave. Soon.’
Her face fell. ‘A hunt? Now?’ She looked at the dusky skies. ‘It’s getting late.’
‘The Horde and I will be gone from nightfall to nightfall. We hunt a beast to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood then share the food and conversation. They may ask my council or demand I explain my reasoning for certain decisions.’ He shrugged, unenthused now he would be missing a rut. ‘I call a Hunt whenever I wish my word to be known.’
‘So… what did you call this one for?’
He nipped her chin. ‘To discuss our human breeders.’
She stilled. ‘Oh?’
Amused by the attempt to curtail her rampant curiosity, he slapped her rump. ‘Up. I will see you safe inside my nest before I go.’
They left the steppes.
‘What am I supposed to do when you’re gone?’ Indira asked. ‘How will I contact you if something bad happens?’
‘Nothing will happen to you.’ Bhyr glowered. ‘You will stay inside the nest, female.’
She sent a cutting look over her shoulder.
‘I will return by nightfall,’ he said. ‘You know where to find food and water. You know how to warm the cave.’
‘Yes, yes. I’m not helpless despite what the disaster yesterday suggests. But what will I do? You won’t be there to talk to. I can’t read your language. There’s no television or internet or phone or anything.’ She threw her hands in the air as she stomped down the mountainside. ‘I’m not used to being idle. It’s not like I can clean. Its a rock cave with a living floor.’ She looked baffled for a moment. ‘Bhyr? Are you listening to me?’
Mind elsewhere, he nodded, gaze locking onto her back. ‘Rest while I am gone, Indira. You have been through much these last rotations. You may not feel pain, but your body is adjusting to the alterations from the healing pod.’
Arms flying out, she spun, then wobbled as her foot slipped off a loose stone.
The sheer drop beside her seemed far more dangerous than it had moments before.
‘You expect me to sleep all day?’ she demanded.
Chuffing, his racing heart slowed. He scooped her into his arms. She squealed. ‘Yes.’ He nuzzled her neck. ‘All day.’
Back in the nest, Bhyr ensured she had enough food to last a rotation without him. He brushed his mouth against hers. Even when not rutting, it was as arousing yet comforting as he remembered.
‘I will return.’
She dropped back onto the mattress, hair rumpled, skin soft and sweet smelling, a little grimy from their trek.
She trailed her fingers across his jaw. ‘Okay.’
Outside, Bhyr mounted his goodbeast and rode to the meeting point. Last sun sank below the horizon as he tethered the sweating steed to the post amidst a hundred others.
The goodbeast dropped its snout into the stream to lap thirstily. Its peaty musk dispelled the last of Indira’s scent in his nose.
Crooning praise, Bhyr loosened the saddle straps around its heaving belly then gave it a lavish rub in thanks for bearing his weight.
Chirring insects and nocturnal birds harmonised as the moon rose large and pale in the indigo sky.
A warrior rode from the darkness and dismounted.
Ohx dipped his chin in respect. ‘First. Good Greetings.’
He set about caring for his own animal with efficient grace that tipped into outright fondness
as he fretted and muttered at the furred beast.
Pulling his hunting spear free from from its saddle loop, Bhyr leaned against his mount. A radical idea bloomed. ‘Ohx.’ He waited for the male to finish and approach.
‘Clear skies, little wind, fresh snowfall.’ He rumbled. ‘A good night for a Hunt.’
‘Agreed.’ Turning to stroll from the stables, Bhyr thought of how to phrase his request without inciting alarm. ‘My breeder is a curious creature.’
The male’s broad face brightened so dramatically, Bhyr slowed his stride.
‘So is my Ashleigh. She has many questions. Mostly philosophical, but more recently her interests run to practical considerations.’ His gaze grew distant. ‘How does this work, who built it, why build it.’ Ohx grinned. Joy looked odd on his brutish face. ‘I like it. Better than the silence I endured before I found her.’ Realising how his words might be construed, his face settled into sombre lines. ‘I beg forgiveness, First. You have no interest in my female.’
Shaking his head, Bhyr clapped his shoulder and walked on. ‘Your contentment gladdens me. May your son be strong.’ Realising too late the blessing would not be welcome due to its morbid connotations, Bhyr stiffened, thinking of how to address it.
Ohx nodded as if by rote, expression closing. ‘You spoke of your breeder.’
‘You collated our knowledge of human female physiology?’ They had gathered much and stolen the rest.
‘I followed your directive.’
Bhyr ignored the defensive tone. ‘Are the holosphere implants compatible with their neural network?’
A hitch disturbed the male’s gait. He spoke with quiet hesitation. ‘With a slight modification, I see no reason why it would not. Humans are much like us in many ways.’
‘Adjust one for my breeder.’ He frowned. ‘For my Indira.’ If Ohx shared the name of his breeder, so could he.
‘Knowledge is power. Is this wise? Considering what the reaction of the elder warriors will be?’ Ohx flinched at the sharp look Bhyr flicked him. ‘As you will it. It will be done.’
Bhyr Page 19
