Icarus Rising

by Bernadette Gardner

  into her succulent shoulder. The salt of her skin complimented

  the fruit juice, creating an unforgettable flavor.

  His cock stirred once again, and his symbion woke, eager

  to continue its relentless quest to impregnate a female. "We

  can eat later," he said, pulling the half-eaten fruit from Zara's

  hand. "I want to try something."

  "What? Wait ... ah—"

  He scooped her up and carried her to the bed, ready to

  pull off her shorts and shirt. He realized as she tried only half-

  heartedly to squirm away from him that she was only wearing

  her shirt.

  "Where are your shorts?" he mumbled as he pulled her

  wriggling body beneath his. "Never mind. I don't care."

  "Well ... umph ... I do." She pretended to fight him,

  pushing ineffectively at his chest while eagerly spreading her

  legs. "I can't ... ah ... find them anywhere."

  Caleb cut off her complaint with a kiss. She still tasted of

  fruit, and he liked that. He wanted more. "I prefer you this

  way," he said, pushing her shirt up to expose her stomach

  and the plump undersides of her breasts.

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  "Maybe you can run around naked, now that you're half

  Icarian, but I'll ruffle a few feathers at the royal aerie if I

  show up with my unmentionables hanging out."

  Caleb scowled. "Quiet, woman. I'll deal with your wardrobe

  problem later, right now, I intend to eat you."

  "Whaff-ah!" Zara shrieked as Caleb held the fruit over her

  stomach and squeezed. Juice splattered on her skin, filling

  her navel and running in rivulets down to the soft, golden hair

  of her mound.

  Gooseflesh rose in the path of the cold liquid, and Zara

  shivered. Ecstasy clouded her eyes before he dove at her and

  began his meal by licking his way from her sternum to her

  belly button, taking cautious nips along the way. He drank

  from the tiny, sexy indentation, slurping loudly while she

  laughed.

  He threw the now empty rind of the fruit aside and let a

  few drops of juice drip from his fingers onto her plump pussy

  lips.

  She moaned and closed her eyes. Determined to enjoy

  every last drop of her, he parted her folds with his sticky

  fingers and rubbed the juice on the already glistening flesh of

  her clit.

  She gasped as the mildly acidic juice puckered her

  intimate skin. Her clit, now rosy and erect, quivered,

  demanding to be tasted. Caleb obeyed, sucking the hot nub

  into his mouth.

  Zara keened. Her fingers clawed the alor down, and she

  lifted her hips, thrusting her fruit-sweetened sex farther into

  his mouth.

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  "The Icarians do this," he confessed between lapping at

  her clit and thrusting the tip of his tongue into her opening.

  "I've been dying to try it on you."

  "W-why..." She panted and tensed her muscles as he

  delved wickedly into her depths. "Why didn't you?"

  "Would you have said yes?" He didn't wait for an answer,

  but pushed his tongue deeply into her, tasting her arousal

  mixed with the succulent tang of the juice. God, this was

  perfect, more amazing than he ever could have imagined.

  "Yes ... yes!"

  "More?" He laughed and parted her pussy lips farther. He

  reached within her, searching with two fingers and delving for

  the spot deep inside that he knew would set off her orgasm.

  "Yes more ... and yes, I would have said ye-yesss!"

  She came then, her body convulsing with tremors of

  pleasure. She stiffened, eyes closed, sweetly biting her lower

  lip while her cream gushed over his fingers and her sheath

  spasmed hard and fast.

  He licked her again, taking a moment to savor her unique

  taste, to tease her clit with his tongue until she shuddered in

  the throes of a second orgasm.

  If only he'd dared to break the rules sooner, but propriety

  had kept him from acting on his desires. He'd regret that

  inaction for the rest of his life, as long as he had left, but this,

  now, he would never regret.

  Before the last tremors of her climax faded, Caleb lifted

  himself off of Zara and resettled between her thighs. His

  erection slipped inside her ready entrance, filling her even as

  her pussy contracted once more around the intrusion. She

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  shivered and clung to him tightly while he took her, giving

  free reign to his symbion to claim her over and over again.

  "Oh, I wish we didn't have to go back," she whispered as

  she kissed him. "I don't want this to end."

  "Don't say that. It would be too easy to never go back.

  This is a big planet. We could hide forever."

  "I know. I know." Zara wrapped her arms around him and

  stared into his eyes. "I don't know if I can handle losing you

  again."

  "You won't. Not yet. We'll be together every minute we

  can. I promise you."

  "I love you, Caleb." The words slipped from her lips so

  quickly, so quietly, he wasn't sure he heard them. She

  seemed as surprised by the revelation as he was, but the look

  on her face told him it was not the intimacy of the moment

  talking. She meant it.

  He would have responded, wanted to, but his symbion

  hadn't finished with her. He gathered her to him and let the

  alien take them both to the heights of a shared orgasm. Her

  body bucked as he spilled his seed within her and when he

  finished, he smoothed the hair from her face and kissed her

  with everything he had.

  "I love you too, Zara. I think I always have, I won't let

  anyone keep us apart."

  "I found these on the rocks at the base of this island, here

  to the northwest." Arilani pointed to a miniscule dot on the

  map Dr. Danson had displayed on the research station's

  conference table. Next to her, on a chair, lay Dr. Abbott's

  shorts, wet and torn.

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  The speck she indicated, among hundreds of similar specks

  that made up a long-abandoned island chain, lay at the far

  perimeter of Jidar's extensive search pattern. Its location

  attested to the fact that Arilani had flown farther than any of

  her tribe mates while looking for the missing scientists.

  "I searched the aerie on that island and several to the west

  of it, but found nothing. I'm afraid I was too tired to see

  clearly and I might have missed something."

  Jidar put his hand on her shoulder. "You were wise to

  come back and get help. I'll send everyone who can still fly

  out to canvas that area."

  Danson picked up the sodden piece of Zara's clothing.

  "These look like they were ripped off her body." His grim

  announcement left no question that he believed Zara had

  been injured and most likely by Caleb. "Did you see blood

  anywhere?"

  Ari bowed her
head in mock shame. "I'm sorry. I didn't

  look very closely. The clothing lay practically in the water.

  Blood could have washed away, since the tides are very

  strong at the bases of the islands."

  "Are you saying Caleb killed her?" one of the researchers

  asked. A murmur of astonishment circled through those

  assembled once again in the cramped conference room.

  Jidar held up a hand. "Dr. Faulkner is a gentle soul. I

  cannot believe he would harm anyone."

  "But what about the symbion? If it's in pain, would it

  attack?" Another impertinent question piqued Ari's growing

  annoyance. She stepped forward to respond. This time the

  emotion in her voice was genuine.

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  "The symbions are not violent creatures. They are highly

  intelligent and even unjoined they can communicate in a

  rudimentary way. I agree with my liege that Dr. Faulkner is

  not a direct danger to Dr. Abbott, nor is his symbion, but if he

  is acting irrationally, as Dr. Abbott indicated when she called

  for help from his bungalow, she may be frightened. She could

  have been injured while trying to escape from him or as a

  result of Dr. Faulkner's growing fatigue. We have no way of

  knowing if he has slept or eaten since he left this island and if

  he hasn't, he may not be capable of carrying Dr. Abbott

  safely. My fear is that he dropped her accidentally. If she

  drowned, we may never find her body."

  Another wave of shocked speculation rose from Arilani's

  captive audience. She'd planted the seeds of her deception,

  and now she had only to stand back and watch them grow.

  She wished she could have stained Zara's discarded clothing

  with blood, but after swiping the shorts from the floor of the

  lovers' aerie last night while they slept, she had decided to

  return immediately to the research station and set the wheels

  in motion to bring the breeding project back on track.

  Besides, unless she used Dr. Abbott's own blood, Dr. Danson

  would have easily figured out her ruse.

  Everything she told the humans now would have to seem

  like the truth, and she could afford no margin of error in her

  plan.

  Giving a dramatic sigh, she rubbed her eyes and slumped

  her shoulders. "My liege, I will join the search program again,

  but I must rest. I will go to my aerie just until midday. Then I

  promise—"

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  Namara cut her off. "No Arilani. You need more than half a

  morning's rest. I forbid you to continue the search today.

  You've given us a new place to start, and I'm sure with

  everyone searching in the area you indicated we will be able

  to locate Caleb and Zara before nightfall. Go home and sleep.

  You have earned it."

  With a wan smile of acceptance, Ari squeezed Namara's

  shoulder and then bowed to Jidar. "Please contact me the

  moment they are found. I want to help in any way I can."

  "We will," Namara assured her.

  Arilani sidled past her and Jidar, being sure to move slowly

  so no one would question the depth of her fatigue. Dr.

  Danson reached for her hand as she past him, but she twisted

  casually out of his grasp and kept moving. Nothing would stop

  her now.

  While the rest of her tribe searched the distant islands to

  the northwest, Ari would fly in the opposite direction, back to

  the island in the southeast quadrant of the search grid where

  she'd observed the lovers' tryst. She still had the tranquilizer

  dose in her possession and she knew exactly how to use it to

  get what she deserved.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

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  Chapter Twelve

  "Maybe the wind blew them over the edge," Caleb offered

  with a shrug of both his shoulders and his wings.

  Now, more than two days after his joining, he seemed to

  have finally gained control over the volatile link with his

  symbion. Though his emotions still ran close to the surface,

  Zara could see the man she'd grown to love beginning to

  resurface.

  Once they found her shorts, they could fly to the royal

  aerie and begin to work on a treatment plan that would

  maximize the time Caleb had left before the symptoms of his

  Rennard's Syndrome began to manifest.

  She pushed that unpleasant thought out of her mind and

  concentrated on tugging her T-shirt down lower over her

  thighs. "Well, maybe you should go look for them. I'd really

  like not to parade around in front of Jidar bare-assed."

  Caleb made a show of staring at her rear. "I'm sure he

  won't mind the view. I certainly don't."

  She swatted his shoulder and continued searching every

  nook of the aerie for her missing clothing. Nakedness was the

  norm among Icarians. None of them likely would think twice if

  she showed up wearing nothing. Nevertheless, she was

  certain she could not look Jidar or Namara in the eye if she

  had to appear before the royal couple in the nude. "Do you

  really want Jidar looking at my ... assets? He may be married

  to Namara, but I know on occasion Icarian couples will invite

  third parties into their beds."

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  "All right, all right. I'll find your shorts." He huffed

  dramatically. "How did you know that anyway? There's only

  one obscure entry on it in my research."

  She eyed him playfully, a long, pointed observation that

  ended with her gaze trained on his own shorts. "I read every

  word of your research, Dr. Faulkner."

  He grinned. "I'm glad someone did. Now maybe later we

  can talk more about these threesomes."

  "No." She held up a hand and gestured toward the edge of

  the island. "We can't. Now, go. I'll keep looking in here, but if

  you don't find them, I'm stealing yours for the trip."

  He winked at her. "Good luck getting my pants off, Dr.

  Abbott."

  She scoffed at him. "Are you serious? I could have your

  pants off just like that." She snapped her fingers for

  emphasis.

  "I'd like to see you try."

  She crossed the room and gave him a small shove toward

  the entranceway of the aerie. "I bet you would. Now hurry up.

  I want to be on solid ground and a lot closer to sea level by

  sundown."

  "Nag, nag, nag..." He flew off before she could swipe at

  him again, leaving her laughing and at least momentarily

  light-hearted.

  Once he'd gone she sighed and continued searching the

  aerie. She couldn't remember where she'd been standing

  when she'd shed her clothes the night before, or rather, when

  Caleb had stripped her.

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  Her face heated at the memory of it, and the muscles in

  her belly tightened. She needed to get fully dressed, if only to

 
; put a damper on her own heightened arousal. Every time she

  looked at Caleb, his bare chest dusted with dark hair, his

  rock-hard biceps and muscular thighs glistening with sweat,

  she grew wet with desire.

  She'd given herself freely to him and surrendered to the

  urgent, primal needs of the symbion, and now she craved

  that connection. She'd have been perfectly content to spend

  the rest of her life here, isolated from everything she'd ever

  known, naked and at Caleb's sexual beck and call forever.

  This giddy stage couldn't last, though. The psychologist in

  her knew there were too many obstacles to face once they

  returned. Danson's wrath would be formidable. This project

  was his life's work, and to see the culmination of his vision

  delayed, possibly indefinitely, would no doubt enrage him.

  Jidar and Namara would be disappointed. The future of

  their race depended on bringing humans into symbion

  relationships and augmenting the Icarian population with

  adults dedicated to breeding. This setback could cost them

  everything.

  Beyond all that, Caleb was dying. Though his illness hadn't

  manifested yet, when it did, there was no telling what it

  would do to the symbion. The chance that the alien could

  compensate for the enzyme blockage and effectively cure it

  was so remote, she didn't dare set her hopes on it.

  Ultimately, she would lose him all over again, but at least

  it wouldn't be today.

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  The flapping of wings drew her attention toward the

  archway leading outside, and she hurried across the room to

  meet Caleb, hoping he'd found her missing pants. "It's about

  time," she said as the feathery shadow of folding wings

  interrupted the ray of sunlight streaming through the arch.

  Disappointment clutched at her when Arilani's feminine

  form appeared in the doorway instead of Caleb's. The female

  Icarian, dark-haired and almond-eyed, wore nothing except a

  leather carrying pouch, its strap slung between her perfect

  breasts. Her beauty made Zara feel terribly self-conscious,

  another reason why she was loathe to appear at the royal

  aerie naked.

  "Dr. Abbott, thank my liege I've finally found you. Are you

  all right?"

  "I'm fine. We're both fine."

  "Both?" Arilani raised a brow. "Is Dr. Faulkner here too?"