by Maia Starr
“I know you don’t care what others think, human. That may be what I find most compelling about you.”
His gentle, masculine voice reached my ears, making my heart drum even more energetically in my chest. There was no telling what the man was thinking. It seemed an unfair advantage that his kind was able to tune in so accurately to the impressions and needs of another.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I mumbled, tearing my eyes away from him and standing up, probably a little too quickly. I stumbled forward, and Kecha rushed forward quickly to catch me in his arms.
He looked down at me, his handsome face alight with a bemused grin, and my breath caught in my throat.
“I do not mean to alarm you,” he said, his voice, again, sending a surge of hot desire spreading through my body, until every inch of me was burning with the desire to hold him close to me and feel as much of his body against mine as possible.
“I’m not alarmed,” I said, but my voice wavered, giving me away.
“It’s all right,” he said softly. “I will take care of you.”
I stared at him, unable to muster any more words. All I could experience now were feelings: physical, overwhelming feelings. The physical desire that consumed by body was overpowering as Kecha leaned in hesitantly, his soft lips brushing against mine, tentatively, sensually, and spreading an instant shot of bliss throughout my body.
Suddenly, Kecha’s powerful arms were wrapped around me, and I was being lifted into the air until we were lying on the ground, Kecha beneath me. He held me, caressing my body as our lips moved languidly against each other’s, kissing in a way I had never been kissed in my life. Every stroke of his tongue left me breathless, and I felt untold desires building deep within the core of me. I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anybody in my life. I wanted him to make me his.
As if he sensed this deep, forbidden desire—a desire I never would have spoken aloud being an independent and free-thinking scientific woman—Kecha stripped my clothes away from me until I was completely nude on top of him. He leaned up to take the nape of my neck in his mouth, caressing and nibbling it gently as I shuddered in bliss on top of him, shocked and aroused by the hard, persistent testament to his desire that was pressing against my most sensitive area.
I closed my eyes, shivering in bliss when he ran the length of himself up, the friction nearly driving me crazy with longing. Finally, he began stripping himself as well, slowly at first, and then with more urgency as my body betrayed to him exactly what it wanted without my having to say or do anything.
I ran my hand along the beautifully sculpted muscle on his pale blue abdomen; he looked like the perfect vision of masculinity and beauty all rolled up into one. I had never wanted anyone more, and I would not be satisfied until we were one.
And then suddenly, like a flash, my body was electrified by his entrance, his generous member prying me apart and filling me with the most intense sense of ecstasy my body had ever experienced. He seemed to delight in my sighs and my moans, and gripped my breast in his lips, sending a hot flash of heat down to my pelvic region.
Soon, he was thrusting, his powerful hips moving steadily as he wrapped his arms around me and flipped me beneath him. Now, he was above me, and I could see every expression on his flawless face as he enveloped himself within me again and again. I could feel every inch of his massive muscle as he pleasured me, indulging himself equally, but not at my expense. He was a perfect lover, caring and careful but assertive. I had no idea what lottery I had won to find myself the recipient of such unbelievable pleasure, but I was grateful for it.
Soon, he was picking up the pace, and my breath began to come in short, frantic spurts as my body tensed up from his sensuous force. I could feel myself climbing higher and higher to the ceiling of my ecstasy, and with every movement of Kecha’s hips, I became that much more likely to succumb to my surrender.
I was able to hold out as long as I could muster, but when he kissed me passionately, then bit my ear gently between his teeth and declared, with a growl in his voice, that I was his, I lost complete control of myself. My back arched involuntarily, and I gasped, consumed by a rolling wave of heat.
My ecstasy was enhanced by Kecha’s own surrender, his hips moving with the power of a locomotive now, my body trembling beneath him in an effort to keep up with his force. A sudden, furious explosion erupted within me, and I cried out despite my efforts to stay quiet, my body quaking and contracting around him as we climaxed together, each of us lost in our own pleasure and the ecstasy of the other.
He kissed me tenderly and held me close, and I found myself slipping into a deep, contented slumber, shocked that I could ever possibly have resisted the Raither for this long. He was a force to be reckoned with, and I wanted to be his reckoning. And yet, I still didn’t trust him.
But none of that mattered as I finally allowed myself to succumb to the depths of sleep, peace overwhelming me and promising me, despite all the odds stacked against me on this horrific prison planet, that everything was going to be all right.
***
The next morning, I sat up, shivering. My clothes were strewn beside me, and Kecha was nowhere in sight. I felt a jolt of panic as my eyes searched the area for him, my mind thoroughly convinced that what had happened between us had been a horrific mistake and I was never going to see him again.
Was he really the type to leave someone stranded in the forest after having his way with her? I didn’t want to believe it, but at the same time, I still didn’t feel like I actually knew Kecha all that well. There was something he was keeping from me. I was fairly certain of it. Maybe it was that he had been stringing me along all this time in the hopes of taking advantage of me and ditching me the first chance that he got.
Whatever it was, I felt humiliated. I dressed quickly, running my options through my mind. It would be best if I headed back toward the group of researchers. At least with more than one great mind, there was a possibility of survival. If I allowed myself to stay alone, it would be likely that I would face untold dangers and find myself unable to survive them this time.
Just as I was making my mind up about which direction to start out in, a deep, masculine voice spoke from behind me.
“Where are you going, human?”
The look of horror on my face must have been amusing because when I whipped around to face Kecha, he chuckled.
“I brought you some breakfast. Please, sit and eat. We have a long way to go.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as he thrust the leaf at me. I looked down at the variety of fruits, noting that he had apparently taken into consideration my personal preferences when choosing my meal, and feeling a twinge of apprehension. I had been sure that he was going to abandon me there, stuck in the forest alone to fend for myself.
“We are going to find my crew,” he said, looking at me as if I were stupid. “And my ship.”
“We? I can’t go back into the desert with you. We already tried that.”
“We are not going to go back there. This is a large world. That means that they could be anywhere. It is possible that they didn’t land anywhere near the desert. And if they didn’t, going through there would be a waste of our time. And besides, as I said before, it is possible that we are already too late to help them if that is the case. Many of the creatures who thrive beneath the sands have a tendency toward eating steel. That means that the ship and anyone in it was likely immediately destroyed if it landed in the desert. We are better off searching elsewhere. It would just be a waste of time.”
“I see,” I said quietly, looking down at the ground. “So where are we going to look then? We’ve combed through this forest quite a bit already.”
“Not all of it. And besides, there are other areas of this planet. I climbed the trees last night and saw some prairie land to the east of here. That is where we are going to go. My people love to live in the vast open spaces. Being confined in forested areas such as this would be excruciating.”
“All right,” I said, furrowing my brow. “But why would it be excruciating?”
“We love the sun,” he said, his dazzling eyes dancing. “We love to be able to look up at the sky and enjoy all that the planet has to offer. It is a beautiful thing.”
I said nothing more on the subject but allowed my mind to mull it over. It seemed kind of strange to me that the Raithers would care so much about an open sky, but then I supposed that there were many cultural and societal things that humans did that he wouldn’t really understand or appreciate either.
“Come now,” he said. “We really should be going. I am anxious to find my people.”
“Yes,” I said. “I know.”
***
“Human!”
My heart leaped to my throat, and I froze, my eyes wildly seeking the space around us for danger. The last time that Kecha’s voice had spoken with such urgency, I had nearly been obliterated by a fireball hurled from one of the most horrifying creatures I had ever seen.
“What is it?” I whispered hoarsely, unable to detect any immediate threats. I was frozen still though, unwilling to put myself in danger.
“Come! Look!”
My mind began to relax, but my body was still reeling from the adrenalizing promise of danger. I walked shakily to Kecha, who was kneeling in the dirt and peering down at the ground, his face stunned.
“It’s a piece of metal,” I said frowning, crouching beside Kecha and reaching out to touch it. The surface was cool and smooth, and soon we were working together to dig it out.
“Do you see this symbol?” Kecha asked, his voice nearly manic with excitement now. “This is a piece of my ship! The rest must be nearby somewhere! We’re saved!”
My heart began to pound in excitement, and we began to dig faster, fueled by the hysteric giddiness that had somehow begun to consume us both. All this time we had been searching in the wrong direction, and now we were finally getting somewhere. This was proof. Proof that getting home was still an option. I could be safe. I could return to Earth.
“This…this was the wing tip,” Kecha said once we had uncovered the majority of it. “But it has broken. The rest of it shouldn’t be too far off, but we will need to keep searching. It is something we can fix easily if we just find the rest of the ship!”
Kecha laughed out loud, a pleasant sound that seemed to come from his entire body. It was mesmerizing to see him so happy; it was an emotion he hadn’t been prone to experiencing during our long journey together. But now, both of us were ecstatic, and we sat on the ground together laughing as if we were nearly about to lose our minds. I had never been so relieved in all of my life. There was the possibility of escape now. Everything I had been worried I would lose was going to be all right. And I had this amazing alien man to thank for it. He was incredible. I owed him my life.
Suddenly, the thought that he was going to deposit me back on Earth and I was never going to see him again made me feel unbelievably sad. I looked at his handsome, happy face and wished for nothing more than the opportunity to stay by his side for as many days as we could possibly manage it. It seemed so cruel that we should have been born on separate planets, to different species, and that we would never see each other again after I was deposited back to my own planet. What was going to happen to the strange but powerful bond that we had shared? Where on Earth was I ever going to find a man who compared to him, either as a lover or as a protector?
And yet, I knew there was no other option. I had to return to my home planet. Whether I liked it or not, no bond was stronger than the one I shared with the land where I had been created and had spent the most important and formative years of my life. But it would have been nice if maybe that bond could have been shared with someone like the man who had guarded my life so fiercely that for the first time, I felt like a truly important person…
“Alice!”
My heart leaped into my throat at the sound of Mary’s voice. She ran toward me and embraced me, and I looked around, shocked to see my entire Research team surrounding us. “We thought you had died! I could have sworn that…that thing caught you!”
“The Jorgan,” I said, pulling away from Mary. I was a little bit uncomfortable with the physical attention, and although Mary and I had been friendly, the truth was that we had never actually been friends.
“What?” Mary asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“It’s called a Jorgan. I met someone who…”
“Human. Who is this?”
Suddenly, the group of women were pulling out makeshift weapons and getting themselves into a fighting stance, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
“Stop, it’s okay!” I shouted, stepping between the mob and Kecha. The last thing I wanted to see was a lynching.
“We have made it a rule not to associate with anybody on this planet!”
Lauren’s voice grated on me instantly, and once again I remembered just how much I didn’t miss my peer group from Earth. Everything seemed to be a play for dominance, especially with Lauren.
“Well, you can take your rules and shove it!” I exclaimed. “I wasn’t there with you, and I know who I can trust.”
“Are you sure about that?” Lauren asked, narrowing her eyes at Kecha. “Nothing on this planet is trustworthy. Every single confrontation we have had has been a fight!”
“Well, that’s bad for you, but I have my own life. And I don’t need to be a part of any group that follows your lead!” I exclaimed.
Everyone seemed taken aback by this, even Kecha, who was clearly expecting me to join the human ranks once more. He seemed shocked that I would choose to stay with him over my own people, and to be honest, even I was a little bit surprised.
“Alice, think about what you’re saying…” Mary whispered.
But I was done listening. “I want you all to leave me alone and stay out of my life. I mean it!”
Mary seemed hurt, which made me feel a little bit guilty, but there was no helping it now. The last thing I wanted now, or ever, was to take orders from Lauren or any other human for as long as I lived.
“All right, human, let us go now then,” Kecha said, taking me by the arm. He gazed at each and every woman in my group, his multicolored eyes flashing menacingly. “And if any of you humans comes anywhere near my human, you will live to regret it.”
And with that, he led me away, leading all of us to wonder what the implications of his words meant and what this might mean when it came to my relationship with my own kind.
Chapter 6
Commander Kecha Thornax
“Those lousy, no good…”
Alice kicked at the dirt, furious, and yet something about her behavior made me chuckle inwardly. She was fuming, angry at her people, but there was something more that contributed to my already incredible mood. She was implying that she didn’t want anything to do with her kind, and for some reason, that made my claim on her all the stronger. She had chosen me over them. And knowing that felt deeply satisfying.
Elation had taken hold of me, and the human and I glided through the forest like soldiers on a mission, each of us carefully combing through the foliage to seek out the glittering fragments of my lost ship. It was exciting to work together alongside Alice. She had a quick, intelligent mind, and I felt sure that, should I bring her back to Yala with me, she would help to repopulate my declining race with quirky and intelligent beings that would ultimately help to make the universe a better place. With our genetics combined, everything was bound to be wonderful.
In a way, it was a relief not to find too many clues because that meant that the whole thing might be lying somewhere mostly intact. However, every time one of us found something, it was a new reason to celebrate, and our giddy laughter would echo through the forest, sometimes attracting unwanted attention, and other times simply causing us immense relief.
“Kecha! Come here! Quickly!”
The human and I had been up uncharacteristically early that morning, and so I was
feeling a little bit sluggish. Truth be told, I was sorely lacking in sleep, as it had been my duty to stay up and protect the human through the night. Although I managed to nap at times when we stopped for meal breaks, and occasionally allowed myself the chance to rest my eyes while acting as the lookout, it had still taken its toll on me, and I was feeling more uncoordinated than I had ever felt in my life.
“What is it, human?”
“He looks like you,” Alice whispered.
Her voice sounded strange, and I stepped forward to peer over her shoulder (which wasn’t hard to do considering she was at least two heads shorter than I was). I gasped at the sight before me. A Raither man was lying on his stomach on the ground, his eyes closed and his skin pale. I knew at first glance that he was dead.
What killed him appeared to be the force of impact, and I crouched down, reaching out just short of touching his face. He was a man from my crew, one who had been relatively new. I let out a loud shout of anger and grief, then stood, storming through the forest to get away from the scene.
“Kecha, wait! Where are you—”
“Stay back, human! I need to be alone right now!”
I felt bad when I looked back at the human, whose beautiful features now wore a wounded look, but her feelings were inconsequential now. the first and only Raither man I had found was dead. That meant that the others were probably nearby as well, probably just as dead as the man we had just found.
“Good to see you again, Commander.”
I froze, nearly afraid to turn around to face the source of the voice that had come from behind me in case I was suffering from a psychotic break.
“Baarda…?” I whispered, my voice deep and grating on my own ears.
