by Laney Kaye
I stared at Stella, releasing her breasts to cup her sweet face between my hands. In her deep blue eyes I could see the image of a tiny child, her hair as bright as stardust, her golden limbs spiraled with skin maps that matched my own. She skipped between her parents, holding their hands.
A permanent link between Crasasi and Earth.
The realization hit me with the force of a Drogue’s war hammer, stealing my breath and cramping my lungs.
Not only was I reluctant to allow Stella to leave, but I wanted to breed with her.
I wanted her by my side as we traveled the stars. I wanted to show her the galaxies and universes that would sate her search for excitement.
I wanted to be her adventure.
But that was impossible. She was consigned to Daorheris. And I had a destiny to fulfill.
I was not permitted a choice, and she had made hers.
Instead of dwelling on what could not be, I pushed Stella gently back onto the soft pillows. I flicked the fastener on my leggings, and they burst open. Settling between her legs, I guided the head of my yakeet along her hot slit. “I promise you will be satisfied, beautiful Stella, even without the final mating.”
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Stella moaned. Apparently, humans were very fond of their deity. It seemed odd that they only had one, considering how often they called on her. “Tennn, that’s so good.”
I took her ankles one at a time and encouraged her to wrap her legs around my back. Still on my knees, I held my yakeet in check. Both it and I wanted to plunge deep within my woman, but I wouldn’t allow that. Instead, I stroked my yakeet deep along her slit, then rubbed it against the tight bud at the top of her cunnusk.
Her heels dug into my back, her fingernails drawing blood from my shoulders as she tried to lever her hips up closer to me. “More,” she gasped.
Gods, I couldn’t risk giving her more. I wanted her so desperately, I wanted that final union, the utter bliss of feeling her star-splash mix with my own.
Tears clung to her lashes. “Please Tennn, please.”
I lowered my weight onto her, carefully trapping my yakeet in the valley of her thighs. I could never give her all she wanted — all I wanted. But I could show her the stars.
I ground against her, using the thickness and weight of my yakeet to press against her hot slit, rotating each thrust as I contacted the exquisite bundle of nerves at the top of her cunnusk.
“Yesss,” she breathed. “Yes. Now. I’m going to—” Her head pressed back into the pillows, she kept her eyes open, though her pupils were dilated with lust. “Yes. Cum with me Tennn. I need you to.”
I shouldn’t. I’d already marked her once and had no idea what to do about that.
I clenched my jaw. By all the gods, Stella of the Stars was mine. There was no denying what I felt. “Now, my Stella, now.” I ground my shaft hard against her and she arched toward me.
“Now!”
I was right with her. As her star-splash bathed me in warmth, my own sprayed across her soft belly, instantly shifting into the intricate pattern that permanently marked her as my mate.
“Oh, my God,” Stella moaned. “That was so good.”
Her fingers moved to trace through the star-splash, but I rocked back onto my knees and caught her wrist. “No, you must leave it to dry.”
“Why?”
“Like Yanno said, it marks you. As mine. But if you smudge the patterns, like on your face, it is not clear to whom you belong.”
“So this,” she waved a hand at the glitter on her stomach “Is like your signature?”
“Signature?”
“Your mark. One that is unique to you only.”
“It is. It marks you as not only claimed by a Crasasi, but claimed by me.” Gods, what was I saying? I had no right.
“Claimed by a Crasasi?” she smiled. “Ridiculous that I kind of like the sound of that. But what exactly will that mean?”
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because, although I wanted no other man to have her, still I couldn’t keep Stella for myself. She longed to bear children and I was not permitted to give them to her. Even if I squared everything up with the flesh-traders and the ASS records, it would be cruel of me to suggest Stella remain as my secondary-mate, knowing that meant abandoning all her dreams.
We each had our own star paths to follow.
Rather than answer, I shifted down the bed, lifting her hips to my mouth to inhale the fragrance of our togetherness. All of this, each minute detail, I must remember.
As I lowered my head, my tongue tracing the edge of her slit, Stella tried to squeeze her thighs together, her fingers winding in my hair to pull me away. “You can’t do that!” she gasped.
“Why not? Does it not feel good?” It certainly tasted good. Stella was sweeter than anything I’d enjoyed in my life, and knowing that sweetness was just for me added the final spice.
“Oh, it feels good, all right. But you just…” she waved a hand toward her hips. “You know. Down there.”
“But there is no law against it.” Or was there? These humans seemed to have any number of odd habits. I bent to the beejus perfume of her cunnusk again and took a long swipe, allowing my tongue to dip in where my yakeet had not been permitted.
“Oh, so you totally are going to do that,” she moaned. Yet she did not seem in the least displeased as I tasted the mingling of our juices. In fact, her hips bucked toward me, lifting her beautiful, plump mound closer to my mouth. Gods, I wanted to thrust my yakeet deep into her well. Instead, my tongue worked until my jaw locked and Stella trembled and whimpered in my arms.
Although I could never have this woman in the way I truly wanted, I knew I could also never have enough of this woman.
Chapter Five
Stella
I stirred sleepily in Tennn’s strong embrace.
No.
Wait.
Sleepily? What the heck, we only had two lunar cycles, yet I’d fallen asleep? How could I be so stupid!
I tried to sit up, stiff from the unfamiliar positions Tennn had bent me in as he made me cum time after time. Never using his yakeet, though. Although it had instantly grown hard again after he’d signed his name on my belly, he’d fastened it back into his pants — with some difficulty. Almost as though he didn’t trust himself not to shove it into me.
Dammit, why did I have to hook up with the responsible alien? Shouldn’t he be ravishing me with no thought for the consequences?
Even if those consequences included a miniature version of him.
Sudden tears pricked my eyes. The thought of holding his baby in my arms stirred an unbearable longing within me.
“What is it, my Stella?” His deep voice startled me. I hadn’t realized he was awake.
I shook my head. “N-nothing.” As I moved, the tears splashed free. Brilliant. Every guy liked a girl who turned on the waterworks after sex. Not.
“No, no. What are these?” Tennn shifted up onto one elbow, leaning over me as he chased the tears from my cheeks, his forehead furrowed in consternation. “I did not make you happy my Stella? I did not satisfy you?”
“Oh, I’m happy,” I lied, and more tears splashed free. Seriously, it was a drought back on Earth; this waterfall could have been useful there. “I mean, you more than satisfied me.” Maybe the truth would dry up my fountain.
“Then why do you make the wetness of sorrow?”
“Wetness of sorrow? Oh, these? I waved a hand at my face, taking the opportunity to rub my fist under my nose. No doubt it was red and I was turning into a soggy snot-factory before his eyes. “Oh, no. Humans do this when they are happy, too. My friend Sybil says sometimes tears are like confetti; the more of them, the better.”
“Then I wish to give you much confetti, Stella, although I do not know what it is.”
“Tiny pieces of colored paper,” I muttered inanely.
“Where can I get this for you?”
“On E-e-earth,” I stuttered. A sudden wash of homesick
ness swept me. I’d never see Earth again. Or Sybil. Or, most importantly, my sister.
Tennn sat up, pulling me into his arms. He pressed his lips to my eyelids, one after the other. “It seems you have much confetti, but I do not know how wise this Sybil friend of yours is. You do not seem happy, my Stella. I feel your hearts hurt.”
He placed his fingertips above my left breast, then my right.
“Wait, hearts? You have two?” The guy had a tail. And yet, two hearts surprised me? Go figure.
“You do not?” He seemed shocked.
I shook my head.
“That is dangerous, my Stella.” He held me slightly away, his eyes dark with concern. “What if your only heart is damaged?”
Oh, it was damaged, all right.
Breaking, in fact.
I didn’t want to go to Daorheris, as exciting as interstellar travel sounded. I wanted to stay with this handsome, exotic alien. I wanted to lie in his arms, to have him adore me. I wanted to watch the skin maps appear on his pale flesh as we traveled the galaxies together, always anchored by his Kalex.
And that could never happen. I was his sixty-nine, his trade goods. I’d made an agreement in exchange for the adventure I’d always craved.
In any case, Tennn was only entertaining himself with me for the duration of our trip. Chances were, he did it with a different alien breed each mission. Once we reached Daorheris, I’d be all alone.
The enormity of that seeped into me, and I shuddered in his arms.
“My Stella, my Stella,” he crooned, rocking me slightly. He pressed kisses on top of my head. “I do not like this confetti. I would talk with your friend Sybil, as I do not believe she understands you.”
“I wish you could talk with her,” I sniffed waterily. “Anyway, I’m just being silly because I’m tired. And hungry.”
Tennn released me and stood up. He still had his tight pants on. He could not have slept comfortably, no matter how short the duration. Though, had he slept at all? “I apologize. I have not catered for all your comforts. I admit, my focus was…narrow.” As he spoke, he inclined his head toward my body, a slightly lecherous grin tipping one corner of his mouth. “And if you continue to lie there naked, I cannot promise I will do any better in the future.”
I’d totally give up food to go another round with him. Even Tim Tams. But my legs really ached from the unfamiliar positions he’d moved them to as his fingers, tail, and tongue spun me to the stars more times than I could count. Why did people bother with gym memberships? Oh, yeah, that was right; not enough available men to produce the required effect, back on Earth. That’s why I was headed to Daorheris, right?
I needed a hot shower to ease some of the ache. And, let’s face it, to freshen up. So we could get right back to where we left off. “Okay, on it.” I scrambled to my knees and started to clamber across the bed.
Awesome.
A huge bed to romp on seemed very sexy in theory but when you had to crawl across it, naked ass flashing in the breeze, it was no longer so glamorous.
“Stella,” Tennn groaned, his strong hands catching my hips and dragging me backward, so my ass pressed against the hard bulge in his pants. “You must stop tempting me.”
This guy was…everything. It wasn’t like I was presenting my best face, and I must be disheveled, tear-stained and, well, ravished, though that word conjured a far more attractive picture than I suspected I presented. Yet still he wanted me.
And, incredibly, the ache between my legs told me that I wanted him.
His hands slid from my hips to search between my folds.
I shifted back, my knees spread wide apart to give him access, the back of my head resting against his shoulders. My eyes shut, he kissed and licked at the side of my neck, his yakeet grinding against my ass as his fingers swiftly brought me to the peak yet again.
“Ah, my Stella. Nothing in all the galaxies compares to your beauty when you reach for the stars,” he murmured into my ear as I moaned. “Cum again for me, my love.”
My breath hitched in my throat, my nerves tightening as I climbed higher and higher. My thighs quivered, and he wrapped one hand around my waist, his tail finding my nipple. His words were enough to tip me over the edge.
“Tennn,” I arched back against him, letting his fingers take me to the stars again. “Oh God, I love—”
Wait.
Words.
What had he called me?
I needed to focus but I was powerless beneath his touch, it was all I could do to remember to breathe.
As my…star-splash…gushed over his fingers, Tennn lifted his hand to his mouth, tasting me hungrily. As though he’d not spent hours devouring me.
My tummy rumbled.
Fabulous.
“Ah, yes,” Tennn traced his glistening finger across my lips, his cold breath sending goosebumps down my neck. “This beejus is not enough sustenance for you, is it?” His thumb pressed insistently against my lips and I parted them. His in-taken breath was sharp in my ear. “Yes. Taste yourself, my Stella. I promise you, there is nothing sweeter in all the galaxies.”
Okay, so I wouldn’t go quite that far, but the muskiness was certainly not unpleasant.
And neither was the fact that, as I sucked on his finger, I could feel Tennn’s yakeet, thicker and harder than ever, even through his leather pants, pressing against the crack of my ass.
I ground back against him, deliberately matching the rhythm to my sucking on his thumb.
“Stella, my Stella,” Tennn groaned, using his free hand to pull me against his groin. “If I could just have you once—”
“Cum for me, Tennn. Prove you want that,” I gasped, the leather of his pants slippery against my buttocks. Hopefully, he’d had them waterproofed.
“Ah, I would give you my star-splash a million times over.” He grunted sharply, his arm around my waist tightening, his teeth nipping against my neck. “Oh, gods, Stella,” he groaned, his body spasming against my back. “Gods, I want all of you. So bad.”
As his breathing returned to normal, though his heart — no, hearts — hammered against my back, I leaned my head on his shoulder to look up at him.
He flickered both sets of eyelids open, one after the other, and smiled down at me.
“That’s only one storage unit, right?” I grinned. “You have more for later?”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Always, for you. But first, I shall feed you. Perhaps after changing, though. Why do you not make use of the sanitation facility here, and I’ll go back to my command quarters to retrieve my uniform.”
“I could just come with you?”
“If you do that, I can promise we shall never reach the sustenance pod. I will be only a short time — though you are welcome to take longer in the sanitation unit. I have no issue with watching.”
He shuttered his inner lids, and desire and excitement immediately trembled through me.
Down, girl. Pace yourself.
And, y’know, maybe time for a little personal hygiene, too.
I unwound his arm from my waist and awkwardly clambered off the bed. “You’re right. I’ll take a shower here and wait for you. Is it okay if I grab something clean to wear?” I pointed toward the closet.
“Everything I have is yours, my Stella.” For some reason, a shadow of sadness flashed across Tennn’s face. “I would give you everything I can.”
*
How could twenty minutes in the sanitation unit make the guy look even more handsome? Though he still wore tight leather pants, Tennn had discarded the long, heavy coat. Instead, he wore a fitted, soft undershirt that highlighted his ripped abs and stretched tight over his biceps. But it did hide his beautiful, iridescent, skin maps.
I’d spent most of the last half-hour trying to, well, plug the dike. A lack of orgasms over the decades had now resulted in a dam-busters effect on my girl parts. No matter how much I toweled, I still oozed star-splash. How was it I’d never read of that potential side-effect of a good roge
ring?
I guess, because the chances of such a happening were so rare, the effect was undocumented. But now I only had to imagine Tennn’s reaction to my current situation for the leak to turn to a deluge.
I sighed as I faced the open closet. No tight pants with their giveaway wet-spot for me, then. I chose a dress, instead. Nipped in below the bust — although my boobs did spill over the low-cut neckline — then floating loosely down to a ragged knee-length hem, it was made of some unfamiliar fabric that somehow flattered each of my many curves.
“I do prefer you out of clothes, but you are most beautiful in that, my Stella,” Tennn said, leaning against the door to the suite. “I would have you again, now. But first I shall feed you.”
He pressed a remarkably chaste kiss against my cheek, as though he didn’t want to muss me, then threaded his fingers through mine, guiding me from the room.
The corridor was quiet now, with no sound of distressed abductees. Thankfully, the kitchen — um, sustenance unit — was close by.
As we entered, I realized Xander was in the room, and I drew back a little, trying to give Tennn time to disengage his hand from mine.
Instead, he tightened his grasp, drawing me forward.
Xander glanced up. “Stella! I am happy to see you. I cannot find that which donkey-cat — I mean Ol’ Gray — wishes to eat.” His gaze darted frantically from me to Donkey, who sat on a long metal preparation bench with a smug look on his face. Plates of unfamiliar food surrounded him.
I moved forward, though Tennn seemed reluctant to release me, and chucked the cat under the chin. “Don’t worry about it, Xander. Gray will eat if he wants to. He’s just awkward.”
“He will not starve then?”
“No chance of that.”
Xander’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Good. I was worried one lunar cycle was too long for him to survive without sustenance.”
“A lunar cycle? It’s already been that long?” Horrified, I darted a look at Tennn.
He nodded, his jaw tense and expression tight. “It has.”
Oh no. Only one lunar cycle left. Then, as Yanno had explained, we’d refuel at Farisank and go into stasis for the leap to Daorheris.
