by Naomi Lucas
Why is the head not working? Her troubles are no more.
“I-It doesn’t fit?” she asks. “Don’t answer that!” She shudders, pivoting to the bathroom as if she could hide from me. “I can’t believe you brought me a head!” The door begins to close, and I swipe out my tail to jar it. She hitches from within, a sound of annoyance. “I need to—”
I snap to the threshold, thumping my palm on the door, stopping her from tugging the door closed. She startles and meets my eyes. “Need to what, Daisy? Relieve yourself? Wash? I have been away for over a day. I am not ready for you to be gone from my gaze.”
Sliding into the doorway, I block her in. She cannot get away from me, my limbs are too big.
She steps back, continuing to hold her nose and eye me warily. Steam fills the space between us. The golden mountainous rocks that make up the walls begin glistening with humidity. I suck in the heat, letting it bloom inside me as I sneak my tailtip into the room and circle it around her.
“Zaku,” she says. “I… want to thank you… for not—” she stops and shakes her head. “I can’t be this way with you.”
Hmm. “What way is that?”
Her soft, flimsy clothes drape her curves enticingly, showing off hints of her body beneath. Even dirty, she is enticing in them. I catch her human nipples peeking through, and I hold in a groan. I’ve always been fascinated by human breasts. They are large compared to the females of my kind. They also appear softer, rounder, and easier to grab, grope, or play with. I read once that human females can produce milk for their offspring.
Human females are always covering their breasts in the images I’ve seen, and I never understood why. Naga women wore no clothes, remaining as free as their males.
Humans do not have scales to guard their flesh…
That must be why she covers herself. For protection.
“Well, I’m a human, and you’re not? I mean, half of you looks human… You speak my language…” A blush deepens her cheeks as her eyes shoot to my member and dart away. “We’re not compatible. Humans have tried being with aliens in the past. It doesn’t work. And that,” she says, indicating my swollen shaft, “is a lot…”
“Compatible?” I ask, not quite understanding her meaning. I enter the bathroom and she stumbles back. I catch her with my tail. Why is she trying to get away from me? She pushes out of my limbs and dodges deeper into the room. I close in, pulling the door shut behind me.
I am a large male, and my den was not built for one such as me, still, I fit. I make myself fit. My tail coils up the walls. It wants to coil around her.
“Well,” she says, “humans are much, much smaller than you.”
“And?”
She guffaws. “That should be reason enough!” Her eyes flick back to my member, and I shoot out a jet of spill just knowing her eyes are on it. She brings her hands up to her mouth after taking a deep breath. “Zaku, I’m not ready. You’ve been reasonable, you’ve… cared for me. It took me time to realize this. But this is never going to work. I’m not staying. The first chance I get...”
“Not staying…?” My eyes narrow upon her. “Where else would you go? If you try and leave me for another,” my voice lowers, “I will kill every male, human, and naga in the land until I am all who remains.” Daisy’s eyes go wide as I say this. “You have seen the skulls out front. I have many kills. I am unbeatable—I am king. And you… you are the most beautiful female of all, and that means you’re mine. My queen.”
Her mouth opens and closes several times. My tongue licks my teeth, imagining her lips moving over my scales, her hair fanned out across my tail as I bend her body for me.
“You…” she whispers.
“Me?”
“You are—” she straightens “—really thick-headed.”
I consider her words and decide she’s right. My skull is rather thick. The cartilage of my cowl is heavy. “I am,” I agree.
She sighs, but the hand covering her nose still remains.
Do I smell bad?
“How was I ever afraid of you?” She clutches her brow. “Because he’s a headhunter, Daisy. You’ve been caught by a headhunter.”
This word pleases me, and I pet her ankle with my tailtip. “I do collect the heads of my enemies,” I say. “You have begun noticing things about me... I like this. I would decorate our den with them except the house robots...” I trail off. “You fear me because I should be feared, little female. I will be a good protector to you, the best protector. There is no other who is better.”
As my tail touches her, she finally drops her hand and dances farther into the bathroom. I smirk, beginning to enjoy her now that it’s not fear that keeps her from me. She just said so herself. She curses me and scampers around the bathroom as I follow her with my tail. When she climbs up on the sofa, shouting at me to stop it, I hook it around her and snag her around the middle, bringing her back to me.
“Zaku!” she pushes at my limb, legs kicking, feet straining to remain on the floor. “Let me go!”
When I have her in front of me, I arch my brow. “Never.”
I carry her into the shower.
She fights, hitting me with her fists, her curses growing louder. She could never hurt me.
“I am not something that can be man-handled! I’m a military pilot, I know how to snipe, I should be feared too—” I put her under the water. She blubbers, stops fighting me and swipes her soaked hair out of her face.
I move her back toward the other shower faucet, slipping under the first, while shifting my tail behind her to keep her from escaping out the other side.
“How dare you!”
She starts struggling harder while I find the soap spout hidden in the crevices of the mountain rock, pumping the liquid in my palm. I lather it between my hands until it’s bubbly. She’s pushing at my tail some more but not nearly as hard as she could be; she’s watching me instead. I think she likes the warm water. When I bring my hands toward her hair, she jerks back.
I pause. “I will wash you.”
She shudders, then glances at my member again. “I can’t give you what you want, Zaku,” she whispers. “Even if you spoil me, take care of me, even if what you say is true… it can’t be.”
“It can. You are mine now. That’s all that matters.”
Her tongue peeks out to swipe at her wet lips. She’s so stiff that I’m afraid she’ll break if I move my tail too quickly.
“Submit?” she asks with hesitance. Water droplets gather in her lashes. She wipes her brow as water continuously showers her from above. I span out my cowl and rise higher, trying to shield her eyes, touching the ceiling.
“Yesss, female. I will take care of you, and your worries. You only need to let me. I can be your king too.”
Her eyes flick to my soapy hands, then back to my face. “What happens if I submit? Will you… will you listen to me?”
“Listen to you?”
She glances behind me. “I don’t want to be hurt again.”
“I will never hurt you.”
“I don’t want to be locked up anymore either… I want freedom. I don’t want to be left in the room alone with that…” she trails off.
“With what?”
She shakes her head.
“With what?” I demand.
“The head!”
I nod. If that is all she needs to give me what I want, then that is easy to grant. “You will have access to my den, and I will not bar you from any room, though the entrance will remain locked. I will not budge on that. You will not go outside without me.”
“You said the land is safe, didn’t you?”
I hiss. “Until it is not.”
My logic is sound.
She searches my eyes, and my nostrils flare, waiting for her to finally accept me. My spine stiffens as the seconds lengthen, and my tailtip presses into the floor. Water continues to drench us, and the humidity thickens with the steam. The heat on my skin doesn’t diminish the throbbing of my member as I
hoped.
I know she is small. I know I am large.
That won’t stop me from lodging inside her, from spilling my seed within her. From filling her womb with many litters.
“I want one more thing,” she says slowly.
“Anything.”
Anything. I will give her anything; I will give her everything except her release.
“I want to decide when we first mate.”
“Fine,” I snap, bringing my hands to her hair.
She startles. “Fine? Wait, what?” She tries to tug my hands off her. “You’re not going to argue that? Wait—”
“No,” I rasp. “No more waiting.” I know she fears mating me. The Python made her fear it. I do not want to wait, even though I must for her sake. There are other ways to find relief until then. My mood sours despite my excitement. “She’s mine, finally mine,” I whisper to myself, awed.
Daisy winces. “I thought…”
Gathering the rest of her long yellow hair, I bring it closer to me, liberating it from the water, and soap it up. The feel… I groan as it catches on my claws. Daisy grows even tenser, holding her limbs close to her body, but she’s no longer trying to get away. She looks deep in thought.
I will take it. It doesn’t matter that she’s holding herself prone and away from me. I don’t care.
“I will let you decide when you wish to mate, but I will decide the rest. Right now, I will wash you, and you will wash me. Afterward, you will lead me to our nest and lie with me while I sleep. I have earned this. I will have you naked when I want, I will touch you when I want, you will touch me when I want. You will allow me to prove to you that I will protect you, that I will destroy your enemies. And you will stay and be my beautiful queen.
“You will help me rule these lands, and I will remain the envy of every male in our world.”
“Zaku… You really are thick-headed.”
“Yes. It is thick.” I squeeze her gently with my tail. “If you try to leave me, I will know.”
I will know.
Because from this moment on, she’ll never be away from my side again. I tremble at the thought.
Fourteen
Life Isn’t Fair
Daisy
He’s so naïve it’s almost painful.
Only there’s a fire in his gaze that I can’t ignore. His claws gently scrape my scalp, making my skin prickle. It’s a lot. He’s a lot. It feels good and I wish it didn’t. Biting my tongue, I didn’t expect him to so easily accept my terms, hoping his swollen cock would give me more time to figure something out.
Who can think straight when they’re horny?
I’m not the craftiest person. I’m not creative. I’m reactive, living in the moment, with seemingly every instance ruled by my annoying emotions, so being trapped by a massive, turned-on male covered in gore has not been an easy moment for me to wade through. Not without appreciating the specimen who’s trapped me.
If circumstances had been different, I’d be more open to Zaku’s advances… Maybe. I like men who know what they want and aren’t willing to manipulate others to achieve their goals. I like kind men. But I’ve given up thinking those types of men existed. I’ve been manipulated my whole life. I’m sick of it. Only, Zaku’s not like any male I’ve ever known, stiff, cold, keeping his thoughts and feelings closed off. Seeing me as a means to an end, and then not seeing me at all after they got what they wanted. Which is usually something I never planned to give in the first place.
No, Zaku’s an open book. Too open for my comfort.
It makes me nervous. I’ve never dealt with anyone like him. He’s so blatant and forward about what he’s thinking that I almost think it must be a trick. It has to be, right?
He doesn’t seem like the type to be tricky, though.
He believes that by catching me during some cultural mate hunt, we’re destined to be together. I get that now. Sleep has helped. Also, his insistence that he won’t hurt me—over and over again—has helped a lot as well.
I believe him. I’m beginning to, at least.
He should keep his thoughts to himself… Zaku would never survive on a ship like The Dreadnaut.
But it means I can get free of him if I’m patient enough.
I inhale, remembering the rotting head in the bedroom, how he thrust it in my face, and the stench of decay coming off of it. I don’t want to become what I hate. I don’t want to manipulate Zaku, even if it means my freedom. I also don’t know him very well. He's the reason I’m in this situation to begin with.
He’s the one who came to the facility and brokered an agreement with Peter.
Thankfully, the water has taken Zaku’s scent away. It was muddling my thoughts. houghT I find I’m missing it, hoping for another whiff. I’ll have to be patient. He’s reactive too. He’s willing to kill for me.
What else is he willing to do?
My belly flutters.
He’s waiting for me to respond… His hands tug and grip my hair, lathering it, making my body warm. The water feels good.
“I won’t run,” I lie. I will, but not now. I can hold him off for a while, though I’m certain I won’t be able to forever.
His tail coils tighter around me. He’s watching me. Bubbly soap trickles from my over-lathered hair, soaking my shirt.
“I know you won’t,” he rumbles, his voice heating. His eyes go to my breasts again, as if he could stare so hard that he’ll see under my arms and through my shirt.
“I will have you naked when I want, I will touch you when I want, you will touch me when I want... And you will stay and be my beautiful queen.”
An idea forms. His claws softly graze my scalp again, and I stop the moan that wants to leave me.
I can ingratiate myself to him, give him what he craves—within reason—and maybe by doing so, he’ll want me so badly that he’ll give me whatever I want.
He says I will touch him when he wants, though he can’t make me do that against my will. As far as I’m aware, neither the Lurkers nor ancient humans had developed tech that could control another’s mind.
God, I hope.
If these nagas are anything like the Gestri...
Feeling empowered suddenly, I desperately want to hold onto the feeling.
Slowly, I uncoil my arms from my chest and place my hands on his tail.
His eyes glaze, and his kneading, tugging hands halt in my hair, tightening into fists. My chest constricts as a hungry fervor etches across his face. The water from above trickles down his cheeks, and I catch a glimpse of his forked tongue sliding over his fangs. His scales glisten, wet.
“I will touch you when I want,” he says, as if reminding me of our agreement, his voice a mumble.
I shudder, and it’s not because I’m scared.
It’s because I want him to touch me. His hands in my hair feel good. I recoil at the thought and strain back. Only his hands untangle from me and cup my breasts instead. I go still, shocked. His hands are huge, his fingers having to curl inward to cup me better, covering the entirety of my torso. Every fiber in me is on edge. I don’t know if I’ll bolt or give in—my thoughts war. What I should want and what I really want are refusing to align.
He gently squeezes my breasts, and I’m still waiting to react. To run. To burst into tears.
I don’t.
A low, guttural, and deep hissing fills my ears, blending with the patter of the shower. I press the pads of my fingers into Zaku’s tail, testing, feeling the velvety grooves of his scales. His eyes flick to mine as I do so, and my fingers lift from his hide.
Without saying anything, eyes locked on mine, his tail around me loosens, and I bare down on my feet, able to stand on my own once again. The pressure between my legs diminishes from the loss, and my sex clenches, hoping to bring it back. I reach up and grab his wrists.
I can’t even curl my fingers around them.
His hissing lowers even more. Suds trickle from my hair and down my body, gathering over his hands on my chest
. They slip down his wrists, slickening them. I slowly, damnably slide my palms up over his hands and press them into me.
Giving in, just a little.
“Daisssy.”
His fingers find the top of my thin sweater and the shirt beneath it, gripping the material of both. His claw grazes down, drifting down from my neck, ripping the fabric. I gasp. He grins and, with new vigor, tears both open, baring my breasts completely to his view.
He pushes me backward into his tail and puts his mouth on one of them, lapping wildly. I cry out, straining from the abrupt assault of his tongue. I grab hold of his cowl and arch my back, trying to find purchase—anything to help me when everything is slippery—but then the thick part of Zaku’s tail pushes my legs apart, sliding between them.
This is more than a little!
Straddling him, half-lying backward upon his tail, Zaku’s upper half rises over me, his mouth suckling my left breast, then my right, and then back to my left. He laps at me like a man starved, and I’m too stunned to do anything but let him do what he wants.
He hisses my name again, licking up and down, the fork of his tongue flicking my nipples. I hitch. His tail writhes under me like a wave, each undulation putting pressure on all the right spots.
I whimper.
It’s not fair.
It’s really not.
I turn my thoughts off and close my eyes with a moan. For a final moment, I glimpse the Python’s head in my mind, then Peter’s awful smirk, and finally Zaku’s hungry eyes. His tail comes next, his enormous cock—that will never, ever fit. The images can bring me back to reality—
He pushes my breasts together and thrusts his tongue up and down my cleavage, forcing my eyes to snap back open. The spray of the shower dews my lashes, and I blink rapidly to clear them.
He looks at me as his tongue whispers over my breasts again.
“Oh, hell,” I moan, digging my nails into his cowl. It’s thick and hard, like the rest of him.
I can give him this. I can—
Zaku flicks my nipples faster. I squeeze his tail with my thighs, pushing up into his face. This is wrong, Daisy.
