by L P Peace
Sophia let him turn her but kept her eyes on the Todaal, who seemed almost incomprehensible with fear.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked him.
He frowned, a look of surprise on his face. ‘I-I’m fine. Apologies. How are you?’
‘I’m okay,’ she smiled. ‘It was an accident.’
‘He should be looking where he’s going,’ Ronin grumbled.
‘I wasn’t looking either,’ Sophia chuckled. ‘You’re one of the techs?’
‘Err, yes.’ The Todaal took a step back.
‘What are you guys doing? I don’t know if it’s just because the ship’s been berthed this long, but the hum’s deeper.’
‘The hum?’ The Todaal’s eyes opened slightly wider.
‘Yeah. The hum of the engine. It’s usually a higher pitch, but it seems deeper.’
‘I don’t know about that.’ The Todaal took a step away from them. ‘I’ve been working near the bridge. But I hear they’re trying to make it more efficient.’
‘Oh, okay. Well, be careful, yeah. I don’t want to hear you got hurt. It’s only a ship, not worth injuring yourself over.’
The Todaal’s face softened before he nodded. ‘Thank you,’ he said. He hesitated for a moment, seemingly about to say something, then was on his way.
‘Clumsy.’ Ronin was still examining her.
‘Just busy. He’s got a job to do. Probably has a thousand things on his mind.’ Sophia listened to the hum of the engine. It really was deeper. But if Endurance was more efficient, then those returning to Earth would get home quicker.
‘Let’s go find Tara and Zo.’
The mixer the crew of Endurance were meant to attend had to be cancelled. However, now with only a fraction of the crew free, the Ilan decided to go ahead. He had invited representatives of most worlds with the intent that humans could wine, dine, and charm them.
As the Amarans had insisted it was informal, Sophia had packed a dress for the occasion, along with most of the female crew.
It was a sleeveless rose cream fishtail covered in tiny pearlescent beads with a scoop neck. Sophia put her hair up in a messy bun on her head, wishing Elaine was there to put it up in the elaborate hairstyle they’d planned. They’d played with a dozen over the last few months, finally choosing a hairstyle that made her hair look like a flower.
Sophia whispered a little prayer for Elaine and Dana as she pinned her hair in place and put a few decorative pins to keep it in place. She only wore two rings, one on the middle finger of her left hand, one on the forefinger of her right hand and added a pair of earrings to complete the look, leaving her neck unadorned. She did her make up quickly and efficiently, keeping it simple, with a slightly smoky eye and some gloss. When she felt ready, she went into the main room where Ronin, who’d picked up a formal kind of suit from the central sphere while she was getting ready, was waiting.
He was wearing a leather-like kilt that fell to below his knees and showed off his muscled calves. He sported a leather waistcoat, which clung to his muscles and showed off his broad chest and narrow waist and hips. Sophia bit the inside of her mouth as her eyes roamed down his body.
When he turned to face her, his jaw dropped. Sophia laughed as she approached him.
‘I—I am.’ His mouth flapped before he closed it.
She placed her hands on his chest as she reached him. ‘I am as well,’ she looked down at him to drive home her point. ‘You look devastatingly handsome,’ she said.
Ronin grinned down at her. He was stood to attention, his hands behind his back, his legs spread. Sophia got a sudden urge to pull up his kilt and wrap her hand around his cock.
‘Do I look pretty?’ she asked, deliberately fishing.
‘Pretty?’ he audibly swallowed, looking her up and down. ‘I want to throw you on the bed and vrok you senseless while you wear this!’
His words sent a shock of awareness and lust straight to her core.
‘We don’t need to go to this party, right?’ He moved closer to her, pulling her body until it was flush against his. ‘Please tell me we don’t need to go to this party!’
‘We don’t need to,’ she admitted.
A noise, like a grunt of satisfaction and anticipation erupted from deep within his throat. It didn’t help the rising heat between her legs.
‘But I want to.’
Ronin visibly deflated. ‘Then we will go. Though we have time before the others arrive.’
‘What were you thinking?’
‘Come here,’ he said, moving towards the dining table and pulling her along.
When he reached it, he pulled her back to his front, before placing his hand on the back of her head and slowly pushing her down until she was bent over the table. He took hold of her skirt and pulled it over her hips until she was exposed, only the thin layer of her silky panties keeping her barely modest.
‘Been thinking about this all day,’ he said, his voice suddenly lower down. He was on his knees, she realised.
His fingers slid over her panties, following her seam. ‘Already wet for me, little Kietta.’ Ronin’s voice was thick with desire. He stroked her a few more times until she was gasping and moaning, her cheek against the table, her hands clutching the edges as she ground against the light touch of his fingers.
He swept the fabric aside, then his hands were on her cheeks, spreading them apart.
His tongue flicked over her clit, then again and again.
He swept it side to side over and over, then pulled her clit into his mouth, sucking on it before he released it, and went back to flicking it. Sophia could feel his tongue growing thicker and thicker until he was using it to breach her. Ronin alternated between each, which only seemed to speed up each wave of arousal, lapping over Sophia’s senses until she couldn’t think about anything other than Ronin.
He swapped his tongue for fingers, slipping them deep inside her as she cried out, feeling him filling her as his tongue and lips went back to torturing her clit.
She could feel the spooling tension over the whole of her lower body as she rocked her pussy over him desperately, crying out and moaning.
He sucked her into his mouth once more, his tongue flicking as he increased the suction. His hands, one set of fingers wet with her arousal, gripped onto the meat of her ass, claws pricking her as he kneaded her skin until his claws were sinking a little deeper with each grip.
That, and the sound of him as he sucked on her. The feel of his lips, the movement of his tongue. Every muscle in Sophia’s body tensed, her back bowing, her cries louder as the sensations grew more intense until her orgasm broke across her body.
‘Oh, fuck! Ronin yes!’
He didn’t stop his assault until she was flinching away from him, unable to take any more. Even then, his fingers found her pussy and he plunged them, seemingly to enjoy the sound of her wet and around his fingers.
When he was done, he licked her clean, followed by his fingers. He pulled her from the table and kissed her, his tongue massaging hers, his fingers grazing over her cheek.
‘Hmmm!’ he growled at her, his voice deep, his eyes bright.
‘How much time do we have?’
‘I do not know. Why, my little Kietta?’
‘Reciprocation.’ Sophia grinned.
The door chimed.
‘Vrok!’ Ronin said. ‘Go clean. All I can smell is your delicious scent.’
‘That’s because it’s all on your lips,’ Sophia laughed.
‘Wait there!’ Ronin shouted at the door. He pulled Sophia into the bathroom. ‘No one gets to smell you but me.’
Ronin had always found parties like this to be dull and unnecessary. His mother attended them because of her role in military development. His father was a soldier in his younger solars and a hunter now, and because of the way their society was structured, it would have been strange for him to attend the parties. But children were expected to go.
When Ronin was younger, he’d managed to avoid them because of his
interest in joining the military, opting instead to go hunting with his father so he could learn. When he was older and the other children's taunts started getting to him, Ronin had attended the parties instead. It had, for a short time, put a barrier between him and his father, all of Ronin’s making.
Ronin thought back to the words he’d shared with his father the last time he saw him. He hadn’t gone back after bonding to Sophia on the atoll, and now he regretted it. He wanted to talk to his father and ask for his advice, his experiences. Ronin found himself wanting to understand why Kerisian society made it so hard for two people who were in love to just be together? Why was it anyone’s business?
Ronin, Danithor, and Daris stood in a corner each with their eyes on the females as they talked to other females from their ship. They hugged, cried, laughed, and drank. Supporting each other. Taking time to listen to the stories they had to tell.
So far, several crew members had made it back from their slavery due to the IGC’s proclamation for the crew to be released. Three of them had refused to attend, instead taking bunks on the Tessan ship in anticipation of returning to Earth. Three were at the party, though they seemed to be suffering from various stages of trauma. The last one, newly arrived this rote, had been taken directly to a medical facility. Apparently, law enforcement had to force her owner to hand her over and found her abused and chained when they finally got to her.
Zoe had spent a lot of the rote with her since returning from Endurance. Her face paled as she told them about her.
Ronin wanted to track her Dabriss owner down and beat him senseless.
Ronin was the least comfortable of the three males with their attendance at the party. Daris had already been through the room, smiling, charming, and joking with everyone. He and the Amaran Ilan got on very well, and they’d been laughing and joking when he and Sophia, Tara, and Danithor had arrived.
Danithor was good at this party. Even though he was the tersest of the three males, he spoke easily with everyone he’d met so far.
It was Ronin who felt out of place and wanted to leave. In solidarity, his two new would-be friends were standing with him.
‘Look at her,’ Ronin said, watching his Kietta. ‘They love her.’
Everyone flocked around Sophia. She was easy and fun to be around, but more than that, in the weeks he’d known her, he’d found her to be genuinely caring. Sophia felt invested in everyone she met. Each person mattered to her. Each of them left an indelible mark, and Sophia left a mark on them, making them feel seen, heard, and important.
He’d always have to share this part of her, he realised. If he tried to change her, the light that shone from her and was cast onto all of those around her, including him, would die. She would fade, shrivel, and dry up until she was a desiccated husk—an impression of Sophia.
‘Vrok!’ He walked into the room.
‘About time,’ he heard Daris say beside him.
‘I thought we were going to be stuck in this vrokking corner all night,’ Danithor grumbled.
Ronin approached Sophia. She stood amongst a group of females laughing. Two of them had been crying, and after holding them, talking to them, now they were wiping tears of laughter from their eyes. His female had done that, and Ronin’s heart burst with pride.
Her eyes found his, and a grin spread across her face.
‘Here he is,’ she called to him. ‘My sexy alien mate.’
Eyes turned to Ronin. He ignored them all and zeroed in on his female.
‘I was just telling them about the escape pod.’ Her brow quirked up.
Ronin reached her, grinning, and pulled her into his arms. ‘You mean the one you knocked me into wearing only a towel before ejecting it into space?’
Sophia looked up at him with adoration in her eyes. ‘That’s the one.’
‘That’s true?’ A woman laughed.
‘Of course it was. It’s Sophia!’ Ronin heard Tara scoff.
Danithor arrived, grabbing Tara and kissing her before pulling her into his arms, her back at his front. Ronin copied the action, and for the next hacri, they stayed like that, talking to the females and the plethora of alien males, mostly Amaran who walked over to flirt.
‘Is that Dairon Ethallion?’ Tara pointed through the crowd.
‘Where?’ the one called Nerys shouted, her head snapping around.
‘No, just a Kuyon crewmember.’ Sophia shook her head. ‘Dairon’s shorter than that.’
Ronin turned to see the full-blooded Kuyon, his hair short, a black uniform on, standing with Thanesh and Korren.
‘You’ve met him?’ Nerys asked, her black eyes brightening as she turned to Sophia.
‘I forgot you have a crush on him.’ Sophia grinned. ‘Yeah. He brought us onto the station, but he left. He wasn’t supposed to be here.’
‘Oh.’ Nerys’s face fell, her disappointment evident.
‘We’ll be going to Tessa after this before Endurance goes back to Earth. I’m sure you’ll meet him then.’
A few moments later, the Kuyon appeared next to them.
‘The High-Protector would like you,’ he pointed at Zoe and Daris, Tara and Danithor, and Sophia and Ronin, ‘to join him in a meeting now.’
‘Now?’ Sophia asked.
The Kuyon nodded and left, leading the way.
With quick goodbyes, they followed him across the floor towards a set of double doors on the opposite side of the room to the one they’d entered.
Two guards were standing outside. They glanced at them as their group were ushered into the room.
Thanesh stood on the other side with a pale human female. Her belly was round, and she was wearing a pale blue formal dress. Ronin had seen her at Thanesh’s side during the party, and just like then, he stood beside her, yet somehow, he seemed to surround her. She was, to him, what Sophia was to Ronin.
The Ilan was standing nearby, talking to the same adalan who’d greeted them when they arrived. There were several more Protectorate through the room, with pale females standing at their side. One red-scaled hybrid had a pale female by him who looked like she should have the darker skin of Nerys, but her skin was pale creamy gold, her hair, which was pinned back from her face, a creamy gold cloud.
‘I don’t understand. Is the female human or Protectorate?’
Sophia smiled. ‘She was human. All of the Protectorate used to be human. The men were kidnapped from Earth a long time ago, changed by the Cealin. The females were bought from slavers over a decade. Frozen, changed. Charlotte,’ Sophia nodded at the creamy golden female, ‘is an albino. Like Alethia, Thanesh’s mate. They were born without pigment. It protects human skin from sunlight,’ she said when she saw his confusion. ‘She was experimented on by the Cealin that took her because he wanted to find out why her skin was pale even though she’s black.’
The female’s amber eyes watched him carefully as he walked in. He got the impression she knew what Sophia had told him.
‘You have lots of pigment.’ Ronin admired her skin, kissing the top of her shoulder.
‘I have sexy pigment.’ Her voice was laced with humour and promise.
Ronin turned his attention back to the room before he lost control and carried her back to their suite.
There were a few humans in the room. A small orange male from a species he wasn’t familiar with who was sat hand in hand with a Temerin. There were three more Temerin in the room, all eyeing a human female.
One of the humans, a male, looked emaciated. He had dark circles under his eyes, and there was a scar across his left cheek. His eyes scanned the room nervously as more people entered.
‘Sophia,’ Zoe walked over to them, ‘could you go support Whittaker? I would, but with our history and Daris’s possessiveness—’
‘Say no more. We got it,’ Sophia said. ‘C’mon. We’re going to stand by the guy.’ Sophia pointed to the frail male Ronin had been eyeing.
They crossed the room. The male turned, seeing them, then paled when he saw Ronin.
‘Hi, James. This is Ronin. Don’t let him fool you. He can kick ass, but he’s a genuinely good male.’
‘Err, hi.’ The male eyed them nervously. ‘Listen, Sophia. I’m sorry—’
‘Different life. Don’t think about it. I don’t.’ She sat down next to him and smiled. The male, James, looked at Ronin.
‘Hello, James.’ Ronin nodded. He sat down next to Sophia and looked out into the room, visibly relaxing so that the male would relax. Sophia was all ease and good nature, but while Ronin wanted to be like that, he didn’t have the natural way with people that she had. All he could do was show, with his body language, that he wasn’t a threat to the male.
The doors were shut, and everyone sat except Thanesh, the female to his side, and the Ilan and his adalan.
‘Thank you all for coming,’ Thanesh said.
‘Like we had a choice, sir,’ the red-scaled hybrid said. There was a grin on his face. When Thanesh turned to look at him, his face eased slightly, some of the edge that was there all the time seemingly softening.
‘I can still thank you,’ Thanesh said. ‘For making it easy.’ His brows rose.
Several of the Protectorate laughed. Ronin scanned them. The way they stood, the way they watched, the way they deferred to Thanesh. There was a lot of respect in those ranks, but more. There was a lot of love. This wasn’t just a military power, as Ronin had always assumed; this was a family.
‘Tomorrow, we have the meeting in the central sphere, and I wanted to talk to everyone who’s expressed an interest in—’
The door opened, and a Kathen male and a human female with red hair entered. The human’s face was flushed, her hair messy. She was also sporting a rounded belly. The male shut the doors.
‘Sorry,’ the female called out. ‘We got here as soon as we could.’
Beside him, Sophia was giggling.
‘What?’ Ronin asked.
‘They were having sex,’ Sophia whispered, her lips close to his ears, her voice so low he almost couldn’t hear her.
When Sophia looked at him, she laughed at Ronin’s dropped jaw. He looked from her to the couple and back again, realising there were tell-tale signs he’d seen, but not recognised.
