Pushing back up to her feet, she placed her hands on her hips and looked at her own cell and the bed innocuously standing against the wall in a pretense of humane treatment.
“Might as well just be on the floor,” she muttered as she stalked out through the door into her own cell.
At least on the floor they could stretch out a bit.
Aware of Kehtal’s curious gaze watching her, Lori grabbed the side of her mattress and gave it a hard tug, pulling it off of the platform. Even with its small size it was just big enough to be a pain in the ass as she dragged it the short distance across her cell. The door, however, was the worst. How was it so difficult to maneuver a narrow mattress through a doorway of roughly the same shape?
It seemed that no matter how she turned it, the mattress was determined to catch on something as she walked it through. Cursing under her breath as a side caught on the door frame, she gave the mattress a final tug and stumbled back a few steps when it finally pulled free, sliding the rest of the way into Kehtal’s cell. She dropped it on the floor beside him and crouched down level with him once more.
“Come on, big guy, I’m going to help roll you onto this mattress here so you’re a little more comfortable.”
His eyes blinked at her, and he shook his head. The movement was small, but she was happy to see more signs of what they gave him wearing off.
“I will not take your bed,” he mumbled in protest as she reached for him.
“I’m not giving you my bed, so to speak. I’m moving you onto my mattress and then snagging yours to put down here with it, so you have enough room to lie down.” Her lips curved at the look of shock crossing his face. “Don’t worry, you’re not getting it all to yourself. You’re going to have to put up with me squeezing in and sharing with you.”
Shock turned to horror, and he shook his head again, his tail slowly, painfully, curling up around his body as if to blockade her.
“You cannot,” he hissed.
She raised an eyebrow. “And why exactly is that? Are you afraid I’m going to attack you or something just because you’re all out and exposed?” She gestured to his cock.
His crests seemed to flatten even more than usual, and he shook his head. “Not you… me,” he mumbled, but his wings dropped in surrender allowing her to grab ahold of his shoulders and assist him to the bed.
It took some doing because for an airborne species he was heavy as fuck, but Lori grinned victoriously when one more shove rolled him the rest of the way onto her mattress and he dragged his tail excruciatingly across the floor to coil on the other side of him. Unlike Slengral, who preferred to curl against her side or lay flat on his belly, he sprawled in an uncomfortable position on his back, his cock pointing at the ceiling. She ignored it, not wanting to make him even more uncomfortable, and grabbed the other mattress, letting it fall to the floor beside him.
Brushing back the damp hair sticking to her face, she met his eyes patiently.
“Now, what exactly are you worried about happening here?”
He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Seshanamitesh… we never extrude unless the female prepares us to breed,” he rasped. “For a female to prepare a male with the intention of breeding him and then not… it is extremely painful. You are not Seshanamitesh. You have no way to protect yourself.”
Her eyebrows flew up. “Protect myself? You’re lying there weak as a newborn.”
“Not for long,” he grumbled. “You are not safe. When the pain gets bad enough, I will try…” He turned his head shamefully into the mattress.
Lori blew out a breath. “Okay, that doesn’t sound like a fun time. Can’t you… you know… take care of it?” She circled her hand and made a few jerking gestures.
He stared at her hand in confusion and lifted his own. The long claws, which felt so good when Slengral dragged them gently across her skin, curved dangerously inward when he circled his hand in the same manner. The angle of the claws was good for weaving with as she watched Slengral do many times, ...but on his unscaled vulnerable dick… she winced at the image of him shredding himself. She dropped her hand and pursed her lips.
“Okay, never mind.” She twisted the hem of the tunic she was now wearing. After her testing, they had put her in a standard-issue off-white tunic and leggings set. If she didn’t tear them to shreds with her constant plucking and worrying at the fabric. “Maybe I can help.”
His eyes widened and gaped at her in shock as if she had just offered to suck him off.
“Manually… with my hand,” she clarified. “You can just close your eyes and imagine that you are breeding a female. We can just g it over with and then we’ll never speak of it again.”
Especially not in front of Slengral. Given the way he reacted to Daskh just lying beside her, she doubted that he would be feeling charitable at all toward Kehtal for receiving a bit of manual assistance.
His ear ridges pinned back. “I have never…” He lapsed into an embarrassed silence.
Her mouth rounded in understanding. He was a virgin. A virgin whose first introduction to sex was going to be a quick handy in a cell.
“Okay,” she said in a light voice, not wanting to stress him out or embarrass him further. “No problem. So, I guess… try to relax. This won’t be so bad. We will start with a massage to get you comfortable and… uh… go from there. It’s just tissue.”
The last part was spoken to reassure herself as much as him. He gave her a skeptical look, but she merely smiled as if she were unconcerned. As if she didn’t have a hundred butterflies flitting around in her belly at what she had just offered to do.
Sure, there were some few spa attendants who offered such services for tips, but that had never been part of her repertoire. Even if some of the looks she had gotten over the years when she told people her profession suggested that everyone assumed otherwise. It made her cringe every time someone called her a pleasure girl because she always worried that they were looking at her that way, just waiting for her to offer a hand job.
She rubbed her jaw as she considered where to start. She couldn’t have him roll on his back where she would normally start a massage through the shoulders. Lying on his cock probably wouldn’t be tolerable.
She took a deep breath and let it out as she sank down to her knees beside him. Kehtal stilled completely, his eyes following her every move as she leaned forward and ran her hands in a soothing motion against his shoulders and the sides of his neck. Slowly she worked her way down, feeling out and isolating impressively developed muscle groups. His abdominal muscles flexed beneath her hand, exhaling on a sigh. She was certain she felt him shift his hips up into her touch.
Although it was strange touching him in this manner, she felt a little relief—and, to her embarrassment, pride—when she felt his reaction. He was nervous and untried, but she was actually getting somewhere when it came to helping him.
A glance down at his cock confirmed that he was well on his way. The shaft was thicker, the pale skin at the head darkening to an orangey cast. Precum dribbled from the slit.
Trailing her hand down his pelvis, she curled her fingers around the root of it and dragged her hand up before adding the necessary second hand to the job. Unlike their scales, a Seshanamitesh cock felt like a silk purse in her hands. A strangled sound accompanied the movement. It was almost like one of his velociraptor barks but fragmented.
She stroked it, twisting her grip slightly at the tip, her eyes glued to his face. Every pass made his muscles coil tighter, including the tail that had wrapped firmly around her waist, with every ragged pant. Something hard dragged back and forth across her belly where his tail had disappeared partially beneath her worked up tunic. She ignored it and continued to her rhythmic stroking, the precum seeping from his cock becoming more plentiful and creating the perfect amount of lubrication.
He was getting close. She was sure of it. On another pass, she gently dipped her finger into the slit to gather more of his precum and his hips jerked violently wi
th a muffled shriek. She increased the pace, his hips now thrusting against her hands eagerly, his claws scraping the bedding on either side of him. Just once he had reached for her, his claws grazing her hips, until he remembered who she was and dropped his hands to grip the mattress instead.
Another flick of her wrist was all it took, her fingers compressing around his length as he bucked and hissed, his cum spurting over her hands and forearms. Against her belly, she felt another warm spurt. Surprised, she pulled her shirt up from her belly and saw his secondary cock retreating back into his sheath.
Heat rushed into her cheeks at the sight. She had forgotten about that.
Gently releasing him, Lori stood, making sure to keep her tunic away from the mess on her belly, and walked over the sink to grab a small towel left hanging on its side. She wetted it and swiped off the mess from her belly, forearms and hands before rinsing and wringing it out again to return to Kehtal.
His eyes, glazed with the remnants of lust, watched her as she approached. He did not protest, however, when she settled beside him and gently began to clean him up as his cock began to soften so that it could slide back within its slit. Once she was sure that he was clean, she took the rag to the sink and rinsed it before returning to flop down on the mattress at his side.
He had rolled over by the time she returned, his eyes slit with obvious exhaustion. Only the occasional flick of the tip of his tail showed that he remained alert. There was a certain peace that felt strangely comfortable as they lay together. She wasn’t surprised at all that it didn’t last long before Patricks returned, frustration and anger evident in every line of his face.
Kehtal stilled, even his chest moved only just barely with his breaths beneath her hand as they both watched the commander staring at them—sizing them up. After a time, those merciless eyes turned to Lori.
“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” he drawled.
She shrugged a shoulder, but held her tongue.
His eyes swept over Kehtal before returning to her and he nodded toward the male. “I know you can speak their language. That your translator has adapted to it. I suspected as much when you said that you learned what you knew from these serpents, but I did not fully believe until I saw it with my own eyes. Therefore, I know you can translate this for me—” His eyes turned to Kehtal so that the male would know that he was speaking to him. “You will breed her. It will happen eventually, whether you like it or not, so you might as well make it easy on yourself. Every time you fail, I will return with orders to give another dose, and another. There will only be so much that you can suffer through. And if you still fail me, then I will kill you and put another male in here with her who won’t have problems fucking her.”
His eyes shot over to her, waiting as she repeated back what he said, her voice low. As she spoke, she felt Kehtal stiffen, his tail circling protectively around her as his upper gavo and crests rose with hostility as he glared back at the commander.
Patricks smiled and nodded. “Good. Glad to see we understand each other.”
Chapter 40
Daskh adjusted his grip on Hashal as he glided down the northeastern shaft, his eyes trained on the ledge jutting out just below him. He let out a series of barks to announce his presence as he dropped lower, giving Ehsash plenty of time to meet him. It was a courtesy only, to prevent any hostile feelings from developing if he had to break the male’s bones for attacking him. Surprise guests were not welcome among most hunters, and so everyone observed the courtesy no matter how much of a hurry they were in.
And he was in a hurry. Kehtal had failed to appear before the suns rose. Daskh had tried to waylay his concerns and tell himself that he might have to burrow into the sands to avoid the sun if he was caught outside of the caves, but when he had still not arrived after the sleeping cycle, Daskh knew that he could not wait any longer. He was at least fortunate that Ehsash’s nest was not too far away from the connecting tunnel.
A little tension drained from him when he saw the male he sought emerge from his tunnel, stripes glowing softly, marking his presence. His expression was wary until his eyes fell on Daskh and the nestling he was carrying. At the male’s gesture to approach, Daskh descended gratefully to the ledge and exchanged greetings.
Ehsash’s flicked toward Hashal curiously. “What brings you among the rejects in the northeastern shaft?”
“I need you to watch the nestling while I search for Kehtal. I was told to bring him to you if he did not return,” Daskh grunted as he offered up the small male, trying to ignore the way Hashal’s tail twisted around his wrist.
“Kehtal has a nestling?” Ehsash inquired, his brows rising.
“I do not need it!” Hashal squeaked furiously. “I can stay in the nest alone.”
Daskh gave a snort of disbelief. “You tell me that again when Slengral carves into your tail for knocking over the stack of baskets and ruining more than one in the process.”
“He will not,” Hashal countered, his eyes gleaming with all the confidence of a nestling with a mother.
The kapan knew that Lori would protect him. Not that Slengral would truly harm the tiny male. Daskh suspected that his friend was becoming equally as soft with the little one as he was. Hashal’s jaw jutted out with a silent hiss that made him roll his eyes skyward, praying to Higthar for patience.
“Now Slengral has a nestling? Whose nestling is this?” Ehsash interrupted.
Daskh cocked his head, considering the question.
“He is ours. A foundling. Slengral’s mate took him in and now, because of that, we all care for him.”
“This is so confusing,” the male sighed, his eyes slitting as he regarded Hashal. Not with any sort of threat, but an expression that Daskh found unusual on a Seshanamitesh. “I did not know that any female of the shinara would take in another female’s offspring. For that matter, this does not explain, if the male has so many caretakers, why you require me.”
Daskh shifted uneasily. “Slengral’s mate is not Seshanamitesh,” he admitted.
At the male’s flinch, he then hurriedly explained how Slengral found his mate, and the possible threat she now faced in addition to the absence of Slengral, and now Kehtal. As he talked, he watched the male’s expression become grave, his crests flattening.
Ehsash snarled quietly, his head shaking in a distinctly human way that gave Daskh pause. When had the male encountered a human?
“The colony,” Ehsash spat. “They are fools of the worse kind. Not only for the damage that they are doing to Seshana, but for the danger they place their own females in.”
The vehemence in the male’s voice took Daskh by surprise. Although most Seshanamitesh viewed humans simply as violators, and little more than labor beasts, that sort of familiarity with the human nest was not something many among their people would have.
“How do you know all of this?” Daskh asked, wary that the male he was dealing with could easily be one of those killing and stealing humans.
Ehsash barked an angry laugh. “I know because half of the males who now occupy the northeastern shaft are hiding human females. And before you get indignant, no, they are not the ones who stole them.” He paused. “One stole his female,” he amended. “But it was from a male who was abusing her. He killed the human and stole the female so that he could better protect her. The others have taken the females from their Seshanamitesh captors.”
That made it clear how the male came into contact with the human gestures. If the mates of the females were doing it as much as Daskh was, it was reasonable that it would eventually pass along to other males. Especially a protector who had regular contact with the males of his cave.
The male scraped his claws along one crest and huffed, meeting Daskh’s eye. “The females have told their mates many things of the colony, and these have gradually come down to me as protector of this shaft. I can tell you right now, from the things I have heard, that if they have your friends, you will not be able to get them out of there alone
. You will require assistance.” He stretched his wings, his head tipping back to look up the shaft. “We will need to fly into the northeastern upper tunnels and then…”
“I hate to interrupt,” Daskh growled, his limited patience fleeing as he thrust out the nestling again. “But who will watch Hashal when we are doing this?”
Ehsash paused and blinked once again at the nestling as if he had completely forgotten about the small male.
“I will ask my mother,” he muttered reluctantly. “Come with me.”
Daskh’s brows rose, but he followed after the male, his tail whispering over floors that were remarkably smooth. Ehsash must have put considerable work in to have even his tunnels so pleasant.
“I would rather not take him to the shinara,” he growled, clutching the nestling closer.
The females had already rejected the nestling once after his mother’s death. Even the slightest scent of a human female on him could be enough to drive them to kill him in the current state of things. He would not risk it.
Ehsash shook his head. “I prefer not to return to the shinara at all if that were feasible. It is no matter. My mother is not there. She… would not be welcomed in the shinara.” His expression grew wary. “My father knew that and hid her here. He protected her until the shinara grew insulted when he refused to attend them. Eventually, their males killed him. She only survived because my father had the forethought to build his nest among the rejected males. They took turns hunting for her and feeding her, and me as well.”
Daskh nearly dropped the small male he was carrying. “She remains with you? A Seshanamitesh female?”
The male laughed again. “My mother is… unique. You will see.” As they traveled through the tunnel, Ehsash’s voice echoed slightly as he spoke. “My father carved this nest just for her. It is unique because it is the only place in this part of the Aglatha where there are great pools of water. Like I said, my father was very intentional with where he built his nest. My mother loved my father, her hithana, and so never chose another mate from among the males who watched her in his absence. When I became a juvenile, my mother chose to remain with me in our family nest rather than see me leave and live isolated. Now she keeps her own level here below mine as in the ways of her people.” He hesitated. “They live in tight clans still, as once the Seshanamitesh did. She will be pleased to have a nestling in her arms again.”
Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2) Page 28
