by Regine Abel
“Are you sure you don’t want anesthesia?” I asked Duke for the hundredth time.
He squeezed my hand and smiled. The confidence in his eyes gave me a measure of strength, but the thought of losing him robbed me of breath.
“Kiss me, my Kira,” Duke whispered. “Soon, it will be over, and all will be well.”
Blinking back the tears that pricked my eyes, I leaned down and kissed him.
“Don’t you dare die on me,” I whispered against his lip. “I just found you. Don’t you fucking dare leave me.”
I crushed his lips again, this time our kiss screamed with desperation; my despair. Zak discreetly clearing his throat forced me to end it. I rested my forehead against Duke’s for a second before straightening.
“Are you ready, brother?” Zak asked.
“Yes,” Duke answered without breaking eye contact with me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Zak’s hand reach out for Duke’s heartstone. A series of clicking sounds and a hiss released the hooking claws holding it in place. The heartstone came out with a soft snick, and with it, all life fled Duke’s eyes.
A cold chill ran down my back staring into those dead eyes.
“Duke?” I called out, my voice uncertain.
“Yes,” he replied.
Emotionless.
“Do you know who I am?”
“You are Kira Lindberg, from the Concord. You are my female.”
An artificial intelligence would show more feelings than this. They had warned me that removing their heartstone robbed them of emotions.
“Do not fear, Kira,” Zak said. “All will be well.” He turned to face Duke. “Prepare for the casing removal.”
“Ready,” Duke said after a couple of seconds.
The skin around his casing had taken a whitish hue, as if he’d turned the flesh in that area to ice. Zak’s fingers elongated into flat plaques that he slipped beneath the edges of the casing before pulling it out. I wanted to avert my eyes. Only my surgical nurse training kept me rooted in place. A gaping hole with light blue flesh greeted me. Tiny holes along the frozen flesh indicated where the heartstone connected with the rest of his system.
It looked healthy within and Duke didn’t appear to be in any pain. Still, I didn’t want to delay any longer than necessary. While Zak applied the Creator cream along the walls of the hole in Duke’s chest, I slipped on surgical gloves, and fetched the sterilized casing.
It felt slightly heavier than the template we had used. I handed it over to Zak who carefully inserted it inside Duke’s chest. I released a shuddering breath when the casing slipped snuggly into the hole.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” I asked, caressing Duke’s bald forehead.
“Yes, Kira. I am fine. There is no pain or discomfort.”
His neutral tone and demeanor set my teeth on edge. There was something inherently creepy about it all. I now fully understood what he meant when he said it contained their souls. How had Lydia managed in the hours it took before she gave Ky his heartstone back?
“Release your frost so that I can return your heartstone,” Zak said.
The skin around Duke’s casing lost its whitish tinge and returned to its usual dusky blue. Zak slipped the heartstone back in. Duke winced, his hiss of pain almost covering the clicking sound of the seat of his soul locking back into place.
Duke flexed his chest muscles and rolled his shoulders to verify the fit. He smiled at Zak before turning towards me, his glowing eyes filled once more with warmth and deep affection.
“I told you all would be well, my beautiful Kira.”
With a choked sob, I threw myself into his arms.
Chapter 11
DUKE
My Kira... I had hated the fear in her eyes, and yet it had made my spirit soar. I no longer doubted that she held true feelings for me. I wanted to run outside and scream it to all of Sonhadra. With much effort, I kept the urge in check and remained seated while my mate ate.
The other humans talked and laughed loudly while eating their own meals. Many cast grateful glances our way, even though Millia and Zak held all the merit. While they slept, the three of us would finish polishing the bones and build both traps and weapons with them for the humans. In the morning, we’d teach the humans how to build them as well.
For criminals, most of them didn’t seem like bad people at all. But then, like my Kira wisely said, they’d been given a chance at a new life. Maybe coming so close to death had been enlightening and inspired them to change their evil ways. Regardless, seeing them in such high spirits lifted my own.
I still didn’t trust them, but they fascinated me. I’d never seen a single species come in so many different colors and shapes. They were incredibly expressive, communicating deep meanings with mere sounds, grunts, hand and body gestures, or facial expressions. The Northern Valos gestured little, content to clearly state our meaning with words. Less risk of misinterpretation. Still, being the minority in such an eclectic species put things into perspective.
Kira’s eyes snapped to mine again before glancing down at my heartstone when I shifted on my chair. It would take some time before she felt reassured all was well, although it did feel odd with the casing being a little heavier. It would take some getting used to. All that mattered, though, was that it worked. I’d continue to wear this new casing for at least a week to see if any swelling occurred. If not, one more week would see our people freed.
Finally sated, Kira pushed back her plate, a satisfied smile on her face. Her meal had been prepared with human spices. And while she enjoyed our food, it had pleased her to get a taste of home. After bringing her empty plates to the washing device, we returned to the medical bay and locked the door. It contained five sealed bedrooms reserved for patients that could contaminate others. With all of them empty, we had chosen one of those rooms for Kira. With it having its own lock and the one on the main door of the medical bay, I felt less worried about Kira’s safety during the night.
Although I’d taught Kira how to cleanse herself in seconds the way valos did by summoning a thin coat of frost over our body to trap any dirt and dead skin, then shed it, she still enjoyed the feel of water over her when she bathed. Not that I minded. The shawur stall as she called it couldn’t fit both of us, so I made her keep the door opened, summoned an ice seat for myself, and watched. She complained at first that it was embarrassing, which I found silly. I had seen, touched, and tasted every part of her naked body. Why be self-conscious now? Or ever, for that matter?
Humans were strange with their irrational need to hide specific parts of their bodies.
Once she got over the bashfulness, she began taking pleasure in the experience. Slowing the movement of her hands, she soaped her body in sensual gestures, teasing her own erect nipples, and rubbing the pink nub between her legs. A growl rose from my throat as my rod stiffened, making my loincloth tent. Continuing to feast my eyes on my female, I discarded the annoying covering.
With the water raining down on her, Kira’s long, white hair took on a slightly darker, plastered to her skin in almost artistic swirls. Turning her back to me, she pressed her palms against the sides of the shawur and swayed her hips from side to side. Kira then bent down until the pink petals of her folds peeked at me. Slipping a hand between her thighs, she circled the engorged little nub with her fingertips.
My rod throbbed. I wanted to march right over, and take her from behind with all the passion that had my heartstone all but burning a deeper hole in my chest. Fisting my sex, I stroked it slowly with a firm grip akin to my female’s tightness.
Kira continued to touch herself for a short while longer before straightening and facing me. Her eyes darkened when she noticed the movement of my hand. She licked her lips, staring at my shaft with a hungry look that made it jerk in my palm. Turning off the water, Kira wrung her hair to shed the excess clinging to it and prowled towards me, heedless of the water pooling at her feet—not to mention the large amount that had sprayed onto
the floor while she cleansed herself.
Pushing my frost into both the water clinging to her and on the floor, I crystallized it before shedding it from Kira’s body, drying her instantly. As she closed the distance between us, I made to stand, but she pointed a threatening finger at me, ordering me to stay still. Before I could react, she dropped to her knees before me, shoved my hand aside, and buried her face in my crotch. A feral growl rumbled in my chest as she rubbed her face against my rod, her dainty fingers not long enough to fully circle my girth.
When her tongue, warmer than the rest of her body, touched the base of my sack before sliding its way up my length, I thought my heartstone would burst into flames. My fingers found their way through the softness of her long hair while her mouth explored, tasted, and teased. Her lips closing around me engulfed the head of my rod in the most excruciatingly sweet inferno. My chest vibrated with my moan of pleasure. Out of fear of hurting or choking her, I resisted the urge to thrust my hips forward, my stomach muscles contracting painfully with the effort.
Head bobbing over my groin, both hands stroking the base of my shaft, Kira was driving me to the brink of madness. Her tongue teased the ridges along my length. She adored them, saying they gave her the most insane sensations. Apparently, human males didn’t have ridges on their rods and had smaller sacks than us, but two instead of one like the valos.
Kira suddenly took me deep—the head of my rod rubbing against the back of her throat—and began humming. Fire and lighting struck me, sweeping me away in a tornado of sensations. I couldn’t hear my shout of ecstasy through the roaring blood in my ears. My vision blurred as my seed burst into my female’s mouth. She sucked and licked while tremors still shook me. If not for the wall at my back, I would have toppled over.
As the fog of bliss dispersed, Kira rose to her feet and straddled me. Her taut breasts pressed against my chest, and her slick, burning core rubbed against my reawakening shaft with each slow gyration of her pelvis. I grabbed her bottom with both hands, holding her tight against me, and moved my hips in counterpoint to her movements. In seconds, my rod stood at the ready, eager to dive into her wet opening.
Summoning my frost, I lengthened the ice bench beneath me, long enough to allow me to lie on my back if I chose to, but narrow enough that Kira’s legs hung on each side. I wanted to lay her down on it, bury myself deep in her heat, and pound into her until we both fell apart, but the frozen surface would be too hard for her. However, I could still use it to reciprocate the wonderful gift of her mouth on me. Before I could proceed, Kira grabbed my rod, rubbed its head against her slickness, and then lowered herself onto it.
My long, rumbling moan rose in unison with hers. By the Ancestors, I would never get enough of her. The tightness of her walls around me already had me on the brink of spilling again. She rode me with a wild fury, her ivory hair bouncing around her. Under the bright artificial light of the room, her luminous skin glowed like freshly fallen snow under a glaring sun. Lying down, I pulled her to me and captured her lips.
My fingers gripped her bottom tightly, holding her still as I thrust up into her. I unleashed my passion, taking her hard and fast, spurred on by her ecstatic moans and the way she chanted my name.
“Yes, Duke! Harder! Harder! Yes! Just like that!”
I growled my assent and increased both the strength and tempo of my movements. ‘Gentle lover’ didn’t really apply to me. With her delicate bone structure, I had feared Kira would get hurt if I surrendered to the fire that raged within, but she kept pace with me, meeting me stroke for stroke, thrust for thrust. Her dainty nails clawed into me, her blunt teeth biting on my shoulder as she crested. She threw her head back, shouting my name as she fell apart.
That was another sight I would never tire of. I kept pounding into her until she came unraveled once more, and only on the third time did I show her mercy by filling her again with my seed as searing bliss had me shouting her name. Drawing her into my embrace, I held her close while she trembled against me, gasping for air.
“You are mine, my Kira,” I whispered in her ear.
Too weak to respond, she pressed her lips to my neck. I purred in contentment and let my female recover. As I caressed her damp back, I found myself hoping that my seed would take root.
IN THE TWO DAYS THAT followed, I reluctantly agreed to let Kira treat the sick humans. How could I deny her doing for her people what I sought to do for my own? I spent most of my time teaching the humans as much as I could about fishing and even dug a small canal for them from the river to the wreckage. I made it narrow enough that no underwater predator could go in but large enough for various small and medium fish to venture in, especially if the humans dropped some bait in. The bigger basin near the wreckage would give them easy access to fish. I even added a sliding door to trap the fish inside the basin once they entered it through the canal. It wouldn’t be enough to feed them all but would provide a steady addition. Riverfruits could even get dragged into the basin from the river they usually fell into.
Millia and Zak outperformed themselves, returning every other hour with either two large kills or multiple smaller ones. Six humans had cast aside their fear of the forest and accompanied the Hunters on most of their outings. Scarlet and a handful of other survivors had been diligent in applying the techniques we had taught them in butchering the kills in a way to not waste anything. Between the fish basin, the meat reserves we had provided them, and the foraging and hunting techniques they had learned, the humans would be able to thrive if they put them all to good use. We’d even shown them how to build alarm traps to warn them of approaching beasts so they could take cover or prepare to fight.
In a single day, Kira had treated all the humans needing care and shared her knowledge of the facility. With Kira alone in the medical bay printing more casings, I would check up on her regularly, allowing no more than two hours to go by without a visit. With no witnesses around, one out of two such visits would turn into what my female called the ‘hiding the one-eyed snake’ game. While I understood how such a parallel could be drawn, I wasn’t sure that I appreciated my rod being compared to a poisonous predator. Either way, we both enjoyed the game.
However, as much as I loved becoming one with my mate, I rejoiced that we were finally leaving this place. I didn’t want my relationship with Kira to be limited to a sexual bond. With this insufferable heat, we couldn’t even take a lovers’ stroll outside. In a few hours, we’d be back in E’Lek, in our beautiful frozen city, among our people, and beneath the dancing lights of our northern sky. I couldn’t wait to show her the wonders of our region and of the new life that awaited her... that awaited us.
With our leather bags filled to bursting with the precious casings, we headed for the exit of the wreckage. As expected, the six humans Kira had told us about waited for us outside, looking nervous, small bags at their feet containing what belongings they hoped to bring with them. Still a little reluctant to bring them with us, I understood the predicament of the four females and two males who wished to come to E’Lek. The younger of the two males was mated to one of the females, and apparently spent much time sheltering her from the unwanted advances of the other males. All claimed to not be concerned with the cold. It explained why they had been so active in assisting us with all the tasks we performed for them. Wise of them to attempt to prove their worth and willingness to work hard.
As northern hospitality demanded, we accepted. The teary gratitude in their eyes made me realize it had been the right decision. As the six humans accompanying us bid their farewells to the other survivors, Millia, Zak, and I watched with fascination the excessive display of emotions, with hugs, tears, and plenty of kisses on the cheeks. For some reason, the male survivors seemed determined to provoke the two joining us by slapping them hard on the back of the shoulder. But instead of the expected anger, the two males smiled and thanked their aggressors.
They were truly a strange species.
Distracted by their bizarre farewe
ll ritual, we didn’t notice Shon and his friends creeping up on my mate who stood near me. Her startled scream alerted us. Turning around, I saw Shon, pulling away quickly from me, dragging my mate by a fistful of her hair, the metal weapon Kira called ‘gun’ pointed at her head.
Blind rage took me over. With a roar, I shifted to my battle form.
Chapter 12
KIRA
Eyes watering from the sting of my hair, I struggled not to give in to panic. I’d never had a loaded gun pointed at me before, and in this instance, I feared the psycho holding it didn’t bluff.
Shaun yanked my hair back, sending a sharp, stinging pain to both my scalp and neck.
“Tell your E.T. boyfriend and his buddies to calm the fuck down if he doesn’t want me to explode that pretty face of yours,” Shaun barked in my ear. “You try to double-cross me, I’ll shoot your aliens, and then I’ll fuck you raw before shooting you, too.”
Unable to control the trembling of my voice, I begged Duke not to do anything. Fear nearly choked me, and tears ran down my face. Duke’s eyes darkened. He could not only see, but also smell my terror. Even in his battle form, eight feet tall, his body covered with ice plate armor and spikes, his armored face remained recognizable and expressive. Whatever the outcome of this stand-off, Shaun was a dead man walking.
“So here’s what’s going to happen,” Shaun said. “The aliens can fuck off with their printed shit. They kept their end of the deal, we’ll keep ours. But the humans stay here, including your tight cunt. There are too few of us already without fucking Dr. Manhattan taking our women.”
“He’ll never leave without me. You really don’t want to piss him off,” I said, hoping to reason.
Shaun twisted his fist gripping my hair. I shouted in pain and reached behind me to stay his hand. My scalp felt this close to tearing right off my skull. Through blurred vision, I saw Duke’s hands extend into sharp blades.
