Tongue flickering, he tried to understand it but got nothing.
He rubbed his check against hers. “Now, we sleep.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Venomous woke with the dawn.
Even trapped in darkness, his body acclimatized to the stirring deep within the planet.
He needed not sun nor moon to track time passing.
A slender arm was tight around his waist, clutching his side with feeble strength.
Another tucked to his side by his lower arm as a small body huddled closer into his heat, and a stumpy leg was flung over his own, toes anchored on the inner knee of his opposite leg.
Lumen’s head lolled on his chest, puffs of breath wheezing from her pouted lips.
He shifted and she snuffled, burrowing deeper, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder like a newborn Zýt seeking warmth.
Without thinking, he touched her silken filaments.
Hair, he thought with a touch of wonder.
Rä took great pride in the shape of their skull.
Females were admired for having a smooth, rounded head whereas males let quills grow from their cranial ridges, as he had, braiding them into intricate cascades pierced with gold, and silver, if you fancied the old-fashioned ore.
Venomous shaved the sides of his head for practical reasons, to keep his sensitive hearing unobstructed and let the rest grow unchecked.
Though she kept it covered by hair, the trait masculine, yet unreasonably suiting her daintiness well, what he felt of his Rä’Na’s skull was perfect.
The texture of her skin was different, but the shape wholly sublime.
She had no cranial ridges, her scalp exquisite in its flawlessness, yet inexplicably, he delighted in the wild coils that covered it in a glorious halo.
It reminded him of the blue-black night at third moon on Rök.
How strange her differences embody my home world.
The heavy mass was soft on his palms, and he longed to thrust his hands in the kinky spirals while his lower appendages roamed the many delights of her lush, rounded figure.
Madness that she can be so unlike me yet so appealing.
He brushed damp strands from her clammy cheek, made an affectionate noise in the back of his throat.
Poor thing.
She was always leaking.
During the sunless hours, salty liquid seeped from her flesh as she slumbered.
It smelt divine, tasted out of all worlds.
His tongue was sore from its constant flickering to lap up drifting stray molecules.
Her cold scent saturated their lair, and made his seed stem throb.
Venomous recalled their whisperings from the night as they lay snuggled in their nest, her head pillowed on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around her, legs tangled.
Lumen had come to embrace him willingly, and not because she was chilled, or scared, but because she enjoyed his handling.
He had asked, “What is your world like?”
“Many different peoples. Traditions.” Her eyes were faraway, the striations in the light brown circle flecked with green that darkened with her emotions. “Buildings of stone, wood, and metal. Orange sun and one moon. Trees, flowers, concrete and glass. Much pain yet much beauty.”
“My planet is different. Sweltering under the red sun, but the sand is fine, like powder, and water from underground caves flows everywhere, even on the quartz buildings. Such structures you have to see to believe.”
He slapped at the barren rock in abhorrence, brille sweeping over their musty, tattered blankets, and his mate’s second-hand rags.
She deserved diaphanous softsuits in vibrant colours.
“Nothing so primitive as this,” he finished.
Biting her lip, she’d stroked his cheek. “Sounds nice.”
After learning more of her species, he understood how wrong and startling his actions seemed.
Human mating rituals were much different to Rä.
They only had two genders, and courting for affection occurred before a union not after.
It unsettled him to realise what had been the most important event in his lifecycle was one she would forever look on with terror and loathing.
She had leaked as she spoke of her treatment at the hands of the slave trader and the L’Odo master who purchased her.
She warily confessed meeting him had frightened her out of her wits, and told him she considered clutch to be a violation of her body until she’d understood why he acted as he had.
Saying this she had looked expectant, as if waiting for him to declare something, but he had no words to covey his shock at her perception of the encounter, he was still baffled by it.
Venomous did not understand how the joy they shared could be misinterpreted into an abuse of the body.
He empathized with her frustration at being helpless at the hands of their captors though, and for his part, he swore he’d try to take her feelings into account before acting in future.
As they spoke, she had touched him often, running her fingers over his scales in awe as his anima reacted to her affection.
They grew to care for each other.
His patience and perseverance brought him much in return.
It would be easy to use his strength to bring her to heel, but a broken, vacant-eyed mate who despised him didn’t appeal to Venomous as it did other males.
He wanted his female to enjoy his presence and seek out his company.
He wanted her to care for his opinion, and wish to build a good future for them and their offspring that would weather the hurricanes of life as the rocky mountains resisted the brutal sandstorms that raged across Rök from the Empty Quarter to the Great Abyss.
Rä’Na grew comfortable with their male after aeons, but for one to laugh, joke, enjoy cuddling and agree to present freely was unheard of.
With her gift of trust, Lumen humbled him.
Venomous stroked her hair again and again as his chest tightened. “Waken.”
He lingered, and continued to gently shake and call to her when she refused to leave her dream world.
“Lazy Rä’Na,” he teased as she mumbled and patted his chest in greeting. “Good rising, dearest. Time to work.”
Her eye membrane slid open, the other scrunched shut. “Digging?”
“Yesss.”
“I stay.”
“It is not safe.”
She burrowed deeper into the warm furs that now held a tang of her crisp mentha as well as his spiced scent then hooked a leg around his hip. “Outside no safe.”
“Indeed.” He was glad she understood this. “But you will be with me.”
Venomous started when she sat up to rest her head on his shoulder, leaning into him.
His arms closed around her.
More closeness.
Yesss, she humbles me.
Lumen yawned, jaw popping.
She tilted her head back to look at his face. “Get mine own helmet? Axe?”
Chuckling, he helped her stand. “You will sit by me and rest.”
“L’Odo let slave do nothing?”
“Bring me water. I won’t have you digging. There is enough danger having you down the mine. I will not have you any closer to harm.”
“Wash first?”
“There is no time. You slept over long, my Lumen. Next shift, I shall wake you earlier.”
She grumbled scratching her head and flashed him a smile.
Using the rest of her expression as his guide, Venomous doubted she was gladdened by waking early.
When they got to home world, he would be sure she slept to her single heart’s content.
“You must promise you will not wander when my back is turned,” he said. “Females are rare. Those who would steal you from me would not be kind. They would hide you well. By the time I found you....” He refrained from scaring her further. She’d frozen proving she understood his point. “I may have to fight for you. Do not get involved, I will be the victor.”
“F-fight?”
The tremor in her voice was gratifying.
She cared.
“Do not fear. They will try because they underestimate this Rä’Vek’s devotion to his Rä’Na.” He held her face between his palms. “If there is an explosion while I work stay with me, even if your instinct is to flee. I will get you out.”
Eyes wide, she leaned into him, her hands resting on his lower stomach. “Big boom?”
“Yesss.” He repressed laughter with trembling lips. “Big boom. There are natural gases under the rock. We sometimes hit pockets and chemical reactions cause eruptions.”
She nodded weakly. “Whatever saying, babe, I listen.” She pulled on her scruffy covering and pushed the mass of her hair off her face. “Let’s do this.”
Not seeing what task she needed him to complete, Venomous turned, looking around. “Do what?”
She tittered. “Go work.”
“Thsst!”
He moved the boulder and made sure she stayed within sight as he closed off their lair.
She slipped her hand in his and they made their way through the expanse of moist, thorny jungle into the black mountain and down the chilly tunnels that were thick with murk and treachery.
Lumen tripped on the uneven surfaces, and soon, Venomous ignored her protests that she was fine to walk and carried her.
They joined the sluggish stream of gladiators trudging towards the mine entrance.
The Yoni greeted him in a flurry of fingers.
A surly Strophig leered at the quiet bundle secured in his arms.
L’Odo guards stood on outcroppings of rock, their whips uncoiled, ready at the slightest provocation to lash out and strip flesh from bone.
At the smell of unrefined oil and damp darkness, Venomous tightened his hold on his mate.
He was careful not to bump into another slave as they boarded the subterranean engine that would transport them to the pit.
Venomous climbed into the crammed open top motile that was no more than a metal bucket suspended on a thick cable with a control panel at the rear.
He kept Lumen close to his chest with his upper arms while the lowers gripped the ragged motile edges and lowered them down.
The lack of safety never bothered him before.
Now his hearts drummed a wild beat.
Having witnessed chunks of rock fall from overhead, and crush the skull of a fierce gladiator not a cycle before his mate’s arrival, he now considered it a disgraceful death trap.
He hunkered down in a corner then set Lumen on the cold floor, bracketing her head with his arms, and curving over her to shield her from debris.
His lower limbs he kept free to defend from attack.
If you join the Great Serpent who will care for her?
There is no lesser mate to honour your widow.
Distressed at his maudlin thoughts, he put his back to the others and boxed her in.
He brushed his knuckle against her cheek when her rounded eyes roamed her surroundings in fear, as much for her comfort as his.
Soft and small hands balled into fists then pressed against his chest, her knees pulling up under her chest lumps. “How deep going?”
Venomous considered the fact they’d be delving almost a quarter into the planet’s outer crust. “It will not comfort you.”
She scowled. Rapped a fist against the rusted metal. “Long in this thing?”
“Half-span.”
Her sweet face paled. “Much long?” She scooted closer and plucked at his shoulders with shaking fingers.
Ducking her head, she huddled closer as the motile shot forward then juddered into a downward tilt.
Excavated rock walls rushed past in a shimmering blur, faint green lights zipping past at regular intervals.
A glow from the control panel beat back the darkness.
Sallow light limned his Lumen’s terrified face when it lifted a quarter-span later. “We there yet?”
Wind created by the motile’s high velocity made her words difficult to catch.
He placed his mouth by her fluted ear. “Almost.” His lips brushed her skin, and she shivered.
Cursing his short-sightedness, he wished he’d thought to bring a fur to wrap about her softness.
He should have realised the winds would cool her too much, and swore to himself he’d be more attentive to ensure she did not catch cold, an ailment that sounded as unpleasant to suffer as it was dangerous.
Crowding closer to offer his warmth, he again spoke in her ear. “You are safe, my Lumen. Do not be afraid.”
The motile vibrated and jerked to a stop.
The gladiators climbed out then headed to the tool dump, the simple machine dropping a pickaxe and a sweet water canister when the lever was pulled.
The mine pit itself was a gargantuan cavity Venomous had seen enlarged from a fissure.
There had been a great vein of precious elements and the L’Odo were determined to suck it dry in-between fighting contests.
Slaves chipped away at the walls and the noise echoed in deafening waves.
The haunting groan and metallic screech of mining equipment created a cacophony of sound.
Lumen stared in dismay at the equipment. “That all? Where helmet and goggles? Gloves? Ear defence? You say big boom. For crying aloud one water bottle! Half rotation of manual labour and no food. They take piss out of us?”
Venomous decided it was not a good time to correct her assumption they were only working for half a rotation.
He noticed a L’Odo slaver eyeing her and fingering its whip, so urged his Rä’Na towards his sector. “I will be fine.”
“No right! No treat people this bad way!”
Venomous reached his subdivision and settled her in a vertical crevice.
It was recessed far into the cavity wall, and the shadows offered concealment that worked in their favour.
He did not like to see her upset, so knelt to stroke her stomach and chest lumps in what he hoped was a soothing way as his upper arms gripped her shoulders to keep her seated when she wanted to get up and make more noise.
“Will you bring me sweet water once a span?” he asked not that he needed it, but it was a task to exercise her in safety, and would ensure her adorable inquisitiveness did not lead her astray.
Sighing, she splayed a delicate hand on his knee. “Of course. Me help? Quota must meet?”
There was a quota for each slave, but he would labour for her and keep her safe.
Venomous knew if she discovered he took it upon himself to do her work, she’d take offence, and try to do for herself at the expense of her safety.
Lumen chose to express her independence in the oddest of ways.
“Stay,” he ordered.
He clasped her throat then leaned closer to touch his cheek to hers.
He’d used the gesture of fondness many times without thinking, but it did not feel premature.
It felt very right.
Then his female did something beyond his understanding.
She turned her face and pressed her lips to his.
The soft strips of flesh moulded to his mouth, and the moist caress of her tongue swiped over it, sending his taste receptors into an uproar.
Frozen in place, his body tightened.
A rush of prickly heat arced down his spine and ignited a heavy ache deep in his groin.
Seed sac drawing up tight, his stem twitched and filled.
His hearts quivered in his chest, and grew laden with emotion that made his breath catch.
All four arms flexed and rose to grab her as half formed visions of pinning her down and thrusting inside washed across his hunger glazed brain.
She cupped his cheek with a tenderness that sliced through the sharp bite of lust.
It left him reeling, adrift in sensation unlike any he’d known.
Her fingers stroked his jaw and grazed down the sensitive column of his throat until her palm rested over his pounding hearts.
Another gentle press of th
eir mouths then she retreated.
She smiled as she lowered her eyes, short and dark eye filaments fanning over her rounded cheeks.
She leaned back to prop herself up then met his gaze again. “Me wait.” She shook the canister. “Bring drink soon. Yes?”
“What is going on?” a L’Odo yelled from its perch. Skull crest flattening, it clearly wondered why a slave knelt for so long. “Get to work.”
Staggered, Venomous jerked onto his feet. He pointed. “I will be within sight. Shout if you are approached.”
“Be fine, babe.” Lumen eyed the whip griped in the slaver’s meaty fist. “Go before trouble.”
Shaking off the last of his astonishment, hefting his axe, Venomous dragged a cart from where he stored it last then returned to the section he’d mined during his last shift.
It was hard to believe the last time he’d stood there, he’d been no more than a’Rä forced to serve a species that held a treaty of peace with his world.
He’d been empty, despairing.
Now, he was Rä’Vek, and he had a mate.
A mate that touched her mouth to his.
Keeping half his attention trained on where he’d left his Lumen, and the other on his work, he struck the unforgiving stone until a large enough slab broke off to put in the cart.
The punishing stretch and flex was a welcome reprieve from the fiery tension locked deep in his muscles since his hellish seeding.
Venomous fell into a monotonous routine, and almost cleaved Lumen’s head off when she appeared to thrust sweet water under his nose.
He drank the liquid, but was concerned upon seeing how dry her usually moist lips were.
He handed it back to her. “Now you.”
“I no work up sweat.”
“Sweat?”
“Um, water from skin for cooling.”
“Thsst!” She spoke of her delicious sleep leaking. “Rä do not sweat.”
She tried to pass the canister back. “Take more.”
He plucked it from her grasp then put it to her lips, remembering well their lushness rubbing against his own.
Venomous repressed a shiver and wondered if he could touch his mouth to hers.
Would she welcome him, or were only the female of her species allowed to initiate such contact, as the male of his initiated clutch?
“You need to hydrate, so I will wean you.”
Venomous: Erotic Science Fiction Romance (Alien Warrior Book 1) Page 11
