by Poppy Rhys
I checked the firearm. That was the last bullet. It was useless to me now. I tossed it away, standing. Hated guns anyhow.
The guys didn’t stay back, but surrounded me, checking my ribs before I could gripe that I was all right.
“Stand still,” Zaid demanded lowly, lifting my shirt so Kahn could check my skin.
“You’re not the boss of me,” I quipped, even though I was grinning like an idiot when I said it. Zaid scowled, wrapping his fingers around the back of my neck and leaning down to kiss me.
It wasn’t gentle, but rough and quick, leaving me a bit frustrated, because he pulled away too fast to check on the status of my shocked skin.
“This is nothing,” I sighed, taking a look for myself. “There was one time, in France, when I was still green, where my target beat me until I couldn’t see out of one eye for...”
My words kind of died, because they were all looking at me like they wanted to rip something apart.
“Relax.” Note to self, don’t talk about physical confrontations from the past. “I killed him. It’s all good.”
And they did relax.
It was a little funny to me. Had I said that to any human man, his first instinct would most likely be to run away, not get angry and want to pummel something.
If I told a human man I’d then killed the guy who beat me... he’d probably never call me again. I’d never get that cheesecake dessert for the second date, because there wouldn’t be a second date.
Thinking of desserts... “Where can we find some itchy?”
Dason slow-grinned. “It’s etchi.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No—”
And we continued to debate on what I did or didn’t say, even though I knew he was right. I just did it to get them to loosen up, and it worked.
Lonan winked at me as we started across the clearing. He knew what I was up to, and I think the others did too, but they seemed to allow it.
Clearly they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if I went back to Earth.
I snickered.
TWENTY-THREE
I COULD TELL THE SUN would rise soon as I lay there in the dark. There was a particular bird species that liked to crow-tweet—an alien bird-rooster hybrid, I guessed, since I’d never laid eyes on it—on the mornings I’d woken in the forest.
I groaned.
“General Tso is alive and well.” My stomach grumbled. “I could go for some chicken right now.”
My words roused Lonan and Dason who slept at my sides while Kahn and Zaid were on last watch.
“Who is General Tso?” Zaid asked from nearby. He must’ve been perching on the extremely large tree root that arced over the ground. I noticed it last night before darkness blanketed our campsite.
A sleepy smile tugged at the corners of my mouth when he said General Tso in English. Weird how their voices took on a different weight when they were speaking in my native tongue. It pleasantly scratched at the base of my spine in an all-encompassing wave. I shivered.
“Keep talking dirty to me,” I teased, rolling over to lie on my side. Lonan and Dason were nearly squishing me. Being suffocated by two walls of muscle wasn’t a bad way to die.
“I’m convinced she makes no sense when she’s half asleep,” Lonan groggily said, his throat vibrating my forehead that was tucked under his chin. He smelled good. Like salt and nature and musk.
I kissed the throbbing vein in his neck, and it earned me a hoarse groan that sank into my body, curling around my core and zipping straight to the arches of my feet. My toes curled.
I kissed the vein again, the tip of my tongue darting against it.
That time, his groan was accompanied by a good hip squeeze, and his pelvis gently rocked into me.
The fact that aliens got morning wood, just like human men, still tickled me.
“Charlie,” Lonan’s thick voice warned, almost as if he were saying, ‘Don’t start something you can’t finish.’
“Lonan,” I warned back, beaming against his throat where the knot there bobbed up and down.
Dason’s hips pressed against my ass from behind, the hard length of his erection spurring me on. The deep rumbling in his chest sent tendrils of arousal to my already throbbing clit.
Lonan’s hand trailed over my hip, dipping underneath my shirt. His thumb traced the edge of my hardened nipple just as Dason’s fingers dove under the top of my shorts, tips lightly stroking my pussy lips.
I gasped. “Unfair.”
Four chuckles touched my ears.
In the next breath, Dason yanked my shorts down my legs and off my feet before his hand returned. Clearly these two meant business.
Lonan’s mouth found mine, his tongue thrusting into me in tune to every stroke of Dason’s fingers against my clit.
It was sensory overload!
Dason applied more pressure, circling the swollen, overly sensitive bundle of nerves and my hips bucked, core clenching.
An orgasm swept over me.
Lonan pulled away from my mouth, his hand clamping my thigh and draping my leg over his hip. He wasted no time freeing himself from his pants, dragging the flat, nubby head of his cock against my drenched pussy, and wedging into me.
A strangled moan eked from my throat, but his mouth caught mine again just as he thrust to the hilt and swallowed my scream.
“Shhhh,” Dason’s warm whisper fanned my ear, his tongue flicking the lobe and making my whole body shake with raw bliss.
Lonan settled there, letting my body adjust to his size. Dason kissed along the back of my neck and my shoulders, his hands reaching around to play with my nipples now that Lonan was focused on fucking me.
My pussy clenched around the length inside me, begging Lonan to move.
He did. He got the message and drank down my sigh of relief. The subtle vibrations of his humming cock shook me in the best way. A steady buzz that started slow, but quickly gained intensity with every deep, grinding thrust he speared me with.
Kahn’s arms dimly simmered, casting us all in a blue haze, the radius small.
Lonan broke the kiss, his hand diving into my curls, forcing my chin to tip up so I was looking him in the eyes—such beautiful, raging, white and gray clouds, pierced with bolts of lightning—while he invaded my body.
It was a nakedness I hadn’t experienced before, being forced to look someone in the eye, face inches from mine, while they fucked me. An exposure that solidified the tie between us.
When his hips worked into me, shocking my body with every powerful move, my fingers dug into his chest.
He burst. His lips connected with mine and neither of us closed our eyes.
The intensity was too much. I pitched over the edge, clamping his humming cock that spurted my womb, filling me up.
He moaned against my mouth, slowly pumping, riding out the sensations.
I panted, my pulse thundering in my ears. Lonan’s lips dragged over my forehead, fingers massaging my nape.
“My turn.” Dason snatched me out of Lonan’s arms, and I couldn’t help the stunned laugh that bubbled out of me when he rolled us, dragging me on top. I straddled his body, my knees in the soft grass.
He leaned up, devouring my mouth like he’d never tasted me before and couldn’t get enough.
Forget being too tired. His ravenous mouth already had my body begging for more. More everything. More cock, more kisses, more orgasms.
He sucked at the skin of my neck, nipping lightly and trailing wet kisses down my chest until he sucked my peak into his mouth, nearly swallowing half my breast.
“Oh fuck,” I squealed, nails digging into his shoulders.
His hands tightly gripped my hips, fingers digging into my ass cheeks, and in Dason fashion, he impaled me.
Even expecting it this time, it shocked me. My back arched, pushing my breast against his sucking mouth and rubbing my clit against his cock when he pushed me away only to pull me back in.
There was nothing slow and ge
ntle about this. It was straight fucking, and I loved Dason for his eager, unabashed lust.
His mouth clamped down, sharp teeth scraping my skin hard enough to hurt, but not enough to crack the skin.
Frenzy overtook me.
Pieces of my soul shot out across the universe as my body gained that languid hump-anything-with-a-fucking-pulse rhythm while I rode Dason like my body was made of boneless rubber.
The euphoric moment where the orgasm was threading through every muscle—feet to legs, palms to arms—and created a quake that rolled my eyes to the sky burst through me.
Everything shattered.
I didn’t know what was up or down, if it was dark or light, or the meaning of anything. I got lost in the sensations that numbed me, licked flames over me, and connected me to the valo that trapped me in his embrace while he pumped his seed deep into my body, marking me.
My soul pieced itself back together, awareness of my surroundings weighing down on me and bringing me back to reality. I sagged against Dason, our tired breaths creasing the silence.
Kahn’s current died, pitching us back into darkness. The chicken-bird squawked loudly, ruining the aftermath.
“Fucking General Tso,” I groaned against Dason’s shoulder and we shared a tired laugh.
“That’s a clook.” Dason grinned against my mouth when he kissed me again.
“A kook?”
“A clook.”
I knew what he said—I just liked fucking with him.
Zaid’s big hands slid under my arms and scooped me up right out of Dason’s lap, and immediately, my poor pussy clamped down thinking of the bat Zaid was swinging between his legs.
I could try to run. My legs might not give out if I really concentrated.
His mouth captured mine and I instantly melted again.
Fuck it. Bring on the bat!
My hands glided over his bald head, my nails digging into the back of his neck. He rumbled. The kind of rumble that sounded like boulders cracking against each other. They slid over my body in a dangerous deluge, and I brought up my dangling legs to wrap around his middle.
General Tso squawked again, but it turned into a frenzied cry.
Zaid pulled off my mouth and we both paused.
A cacophony of chicken-bird squalling rang up around the whole fucking forest. It was like surround sound. Goosebumps rose along my arms and I clung a little harder to Zaid.
“What’s going on?”
Kahn peeled me from Zaid. “Get dressed,” he whispered, holding my shorts. I grabbed onto his shoulder, stepping into the clothing, and he pulled it up to my waist, dressing me instead of letting me redress myself. Dason sidled up behind me, pushing my shirt—that I’d somehow lost while we were going at it—over my head.
The alien chickens continued to squawk, and just as I was about to ask again what the hell was going on, Dason’s hand covered my mouth and Kahn lit up like a firework.
The bright blue haze illuminated the branches above us, and I shrieked, Dason’s hand muffling the sound so well I could hardly breathe.
Rats!
Cat-sized, hairless rats with double tails and grabby hands that reminded me of human children! They lined the branches, their black, beady eyes and yellowed razor teeth on full display as they stared down at us.
Hundreds!
As far as Kahn’s glow reached, eyes reflected at us in the dark.
They dove.
Dason withdrew his hand, all four of the valos springing into action.
Bolts of electricity popped the rats left and right, Dason and Zaid sucking the water from their little freaky bodies, until it was raining blood and fried carcasses all around us.
They came like a fucking second, third, and fourth wave. An infestation. Attacking from the trees and the ground.
There were too many!
Three converged on Dason, packing a punch and knocking him to the ground where more rats followed.
They were coming from every direction.
I didn’t think—I just acted.
My hands clenched around a thick, solid branch, and I swung like I was trying out for the big leagues, and I was compensating for my shortcomings down below.
Thud.
Off went a critter, flying into the bush.
I swung again, making contact and sending another careening into a tree.
“Get—”
Thwap!
“off—”
Thwap!
“my—”
Schwing!
“man!”
Honestly, if Sonhadra didn’t have a critter-baseball team, it was a damn shame. My shoulder had some real game!
Dason threw the last one off him, getting to his feet as more started circling. Rezz roared, big paws swiping at the rats that tried to get closer.
I twirled the stick in my hand, winding it up like a batter would, charging up my muscles to knock the fuck out of the next critter-ball.
“Are you all right?” I yelled over the commotion of chilling squeaks, side eyeing him quickly for any debilitating wounds. There weren’t any, but he had a cheesy ass grin that had me doing a speedy double take. “What?”
Lightning crashed around us, stealing my focus. I swung again, and again, the critter-balls flying from our perimeter over the ones that were dead and bloodied.
“There’s too many!” Lonan shouted.
“Run.” Dason’s graveled voice sank into my ear. I didn’t think about it—seeing the overwhelming evidence with the onslaught of alien animals flinging themselves at me—I just grabbed my pack and ran in the direction of least resistance.
I crashed through the forest beside Dason who quickly took the lead, clearing the path with his agile body. The squealing and shrieking, and deafening clacking of critter nails scraping bark and leaves in their rush to chase us—bent on eating us for dinner—reverberated through the dark like a fucking thunderclap.
That could have been actual thunder, though. I couldn’t tell anymore!
“Why does everything on this planet want to kill us?” I screamed.
Flashes of light penetrated the pitch of the forest in quick succession in true strobe light fashion, and for a moment, I felt as if I was running through a haunted forest simulation back home—like the ones Preta and I loved going to every October.
The earth pounded behind me, something heavy gaining ground, and I nearly screamed as the unnerving fear of someone stalking me sent chills racing down my whole body.
I whipped a look over my shoulder just as Zaid’s hands grabbed me, lifting me up, and with the momentum he’d gained, he threw me.
No, he flung me. Like a ragdoll. Skyward.
The canopy broke just as my body shot through the air, and I was flying at breakneck speed above the tops of trees.
The tops.
I was so far up it was no longer dark. I could see the sunrise brightening the sky.
I screamed.
Images of my body splattering against the ground—because what goes up, must come down!—scared the fuck out of me.
My limbs tried to find purchase in thin air, my body spiraling wildly toward another break in the canopy.
“ZAID!” I shrieked, arms pinwheeling as if that would miraculously break my fall and keep me from dying.
Because there was water. I was going to land, belly first, in a river of water!
Lightning struck—boom, boom, boom!
Dason broke the tree line, diving into the river.
I crashed into a wall of liquid, and it moved with my body, softening the blow that should’ve felt like slamming into concrete. Opening my eyes, I saw the water funneling up, forming a fist that had its hold on me, like I was the ball and it was the mitt.
The mitt had me in its grasp, and it was taking me for a ride!
I spotted Zaid diving into the river, Rezz, Lonan and Kahn right on his heels. The critters lined the bank, shrieking and cackling, beating the ground as their prey got away.
The darkness
encased everything under the canopy again, the water holding me as it rushed me further downstream.
As if one of them remembered I had gills, the water mitt pulled me under the surface, a current tugging me in between the four as they zoomed through the river at an accelerated speed. It had to be Dason or Zaid manipulating it.
It still wasn’t easy, telling my brain it was okay to take my first breath of water. Didn’t feel any better flooding my lungs either.
After a couple coughs, I was fine, breathing water like I was a natural born guppy. We moved fast, the river like a tube, and we were getting sucked through it.
Zaid pulled me to his chest, our bodies zooming like twirling torpedoes through the clear water. The liquid around us was moving with us so there was zero resistance against our bodies.
I curled my fingers around the back of his neck and he kissed me, picking up exactly where he left off.
It was weird, kissing underwater, breathing the river into my lungs. My sense of smell was different here. Less acute than when I was breathing air, but I could still scent things.
And like we’d never been chased by alien rats, my body flickered alive, my sex clenching to be filled.
Zaid grinned, his goofy, stupid smile always contagious. Naturally, I couldn’t help the answering stupid smile that parted my lips either.
He passed me to Kahn, his palms sizzling pleasurably against my middle as he clutched me to him and stole my next breath.
The dawn continued to strengthen, lighting the water until we were nearly blinded when the river emptied into a lake that was fully exposed to the sun.
The water carried us to a wide, open, flat lake, the pebbles blanketing the bottom a myriad of colors as I twirled around underwater, taking it in. Dominating deep reds to bright golds and greens and purples.
My mouth fell open. The colors against the glacial clear water were stunning. I sank to the bottom to run my hands over them, their texture soft and smooth.
Zaid’s hands grasped me again, stealing me from Kahn. They took turns passing me back and forth, kissing me, touching me, until I was nearly begging for them to give me more.
When I opened my eyes next, they were all circling me, slicing through the water, their forms morphing. My heart thundered in my ears, my arousal mixing with fear.
