by Cynthia Sax
“Good.” Bocc placed her hand gently by her side, untied her wrap dress and rolled her over, the air cool on her bare skin. “Let’s do this quickly.” His loincloth dropped to the ground beside her.
Quickly. Starla closed her eyes, spread her legs and tilted her ass toward him.
Sweet study. This is it. Without another kiss or caress, he’ll mount me from behind, ram that big cock into my tight pussy and rut with me like an animal would, taking me again and again until I scream his name. Her pussy moistened and her body throbbed with a desire that had nothing to do with completing the mission or researching Lokan. I want this.
He lowered his body onto hers, burying his large cock between her ass cheeks, his body warm and heavy, and she jerked at the contact. “Easy,” he murmured into her ear, his voice impossibly low and deep. “I need to cover you with my scent.” He slowly rubbed his skin against hers, bracing his weight with one arm and stroking her hip with his freed hand, his palms callused and rough.
He isn’t fucking me? Starla dismissed that aggravating thought as his cock slid against her spine, his pre-cum soaking into her skin. No, he’ll fuck me. She smiled into the animal hide. This is more than a mission to him. He wants me.
“You’re so soft, Little Star.” Bocc mouthed her earlobe, nibbling on her flesh, and she moaned, undulating underneath him. “So small.”
He moved over her, his chest brushing against her back, his hips pressing against her ass, their legs entwined. She felt dainty and delicate, trapped under his huge body, protected by his muscles.
Starla dug her fingertips into the leather, frustrated by her inability to see or touch him, the man she’d heard so much about. “I need to touch you, Bocc.”
“No.” He raised his body and cooler air surged between them, dousing her rising desire. Bocc turned her to face him. “Touching me isn’t needed.” His silver eyes had darkened to black under his thick eyebrows and his left cheek ticced with emotion.
Isn’t needed or isn’t wanted? She gazed up at him, feeling confused and insecure. Doesn’t he want me to touch him? “I want—”
Bocc covered his lips with hers, severing her words, grazing her flesh with his sharp teeth, gently pushing her head back against the fur. She gasped, clinging to his shoulders, and he claimed her open mouth, exploring her with his long, thick tongue as he rubbed his chest upon her breasts, teasing her nipples into aching tautness. She bent her knees, cradling him between her thighs, and he stroked over her, his shaft skimming along her wet pussy lips, fucking her without entry.
He tasted of meat cooked over an open fire and he smelled of the outdoors, earthy and natural, the combination appealing to Starla in ways a manufactured scent never could. He’s like Chrome. She wrapped her arms around him tighter, drawing him closer to her. Only better.
Bocc alternated his up and down strokes with crushing circles, grinding the rim of his cock against her clit, sending shockwaves of desire over her body. She moaned into his mouth, her vast vocabulary reduced to guttural sounds, all of the intelligence she was noted for liquefied. In his arms, she wasn’t a professor, known for her brain and nothing else. She was a desirable woman and she needed him inside her.
She pushed up with her hips, smacking her skin against his, and he nuzzled her cheek, dry humping her faster and faster. “Easy. It’ll soon be done,” he grunted, his voice sinfully deep.
It’ll soon be done? “No, Bocc, no.” She dug her short, blunt fingernails into his tanned skin. “Bocc, please.”
He thrust forward, threw back his head and roared, spilling his hot cum on her flat stomach. Son of a specimen dish. Starla gritted her teeth in frustration, holding him as his shudders diminished, his satisfaction left as a visible thing on her flesh, his seed coating her coiled-tight body.
He reached between them with his big rough hand and rubbed his cum into her skin, the heel of his hand grazing her clit, tormenting her even more. “I have to do this so all of the males know you’re mine.”
“Completing this portion of the mission.” With minimal contact. He didn’t want me. He was doing his job. Starla pushed at his shoulders, unable to tolerate more of his touching, and Bocc rocked back on his heels, his wide forehead furrowed. “I need Chrome.” Chrome will love me.
Bocc reattached his loincloth, his movements jerky, his impressive cock now limp. “You need me.”
I need him too much. Starla gazed at his muscular chest, unable to meet his gaze, knowing he’d seen the wanting in her face. The mission, concentrate on the mission. She inhaled deeply, the scent of one-sided sex mocking her efforts at composure. “Chrome has the Balazoid blockers.”
Bocc grunted a word Starla didn’t understand, her lack of knowledge escalating her irritation. He wrapped a clean animal hide so tightly around her body she struggled for breath, and he swung her effortlessly into his arms. “That’s all you need him for.”
“And that’s all you need me for,” she mumbled into his skin. “I understand.” Now.
Bocc shifted impatiently as his small mate laid the android’s pieces out on the ground. “This can wait. I wish to show you our home.” He looked toward the house he’d spent years expanding and modernizing for her.
“This can’t wait,” Starla snapped, lines etched between her finely arched eyebrows. “A Balazoid warship blew up the ship I was on, so the invasion fleet has to be close behind and your warriors will need a day to recover from the blocker.” She tapped the android’s chest cavity, revealing racks of tubes. “This, at least, survived the drop.”
“As I designed it to.” He bent and clicked one of Chrome’s legs into the socket, frowning as Starla moved farther from him. She hates me for touching her. “You needed to be covered with my scent.”
“If you could have done that any other way, you would have.” She set the android’s head on the ground, her fingertips drifting over his synthetic cheek almost lovingly, and Bocc fought a surge of jealousy. “I understand.”
I understand. I understand. He pressed his lips together as he picked up a mallet. She’d been saying that all day and it irritated him. I don’t understand. How could I have killed her love for me already? He tapped Chrome’s twisted right arm, taking his frustration out on the android.“This isn’t how I expected our meeting to be.”
“I understand.” Her face flushed a bright pink. “And I apologize. This is my first mission and I got a little carried away, forgetting you were only doing your job.”
He snapped the second leg in place and stared at Starla, unable to decipher what she had said.
“You won’t…” She took a ragged breath, her small chest rising and falling. “You won’t report on this, will you?” She smoothed out the android’s bushy eyebrows. “I won’t forget again, I promise. From this point on, it is all about the mission.”
Fuck the mission. “Little Star.” He caught her waving hand.
“Call me Professor Black or even Professor Starla.” She pulled away from him and he let her go, smelling her fear. “That’s more professional.”
“Professional? You’re my mate.” Bocc tilted Chrome’s torso up, struggling to steady the big android.
“For the duration of the mission.” She supported Chrome under one large synthetic arm, her slim fur-wrapped form tiny in contrast. “And we completed the mating section of the plan.” Her blush spread over her bare shoulders, disappearing in her bodice. “You don’t have to touch me again.”
“I will touch you again.” Bocc snapped Chrome’s head in place. “You’re mine.” He flipped open Chrome’s nape cavity and deftly connected the wires. “You’ll always wear my scent, Little Star.” He deliberately used his name for her.
“Oh, right.” Starla bit into her plush bottom lip with her straight white teeth. “The scent wears off.” She caressed Chrome’s broad chest, her fingers pale and slender against the android’s dark skin. Bocc watched, fascinated, yearning for her soft touch on his body. “I didn’t think of that.”
“I did.�
� Touching you is all that I think of. Bocc searched her downcast face for any indication that she welcomed his advances.
She turned away from him, took four hesitant steps toward the forest and stared at the lush vegetation, her forehead furrowed with thought lines, her hands clenched together behind her back. He forced himself to remain silent, allowing her time to accept their bond.
“If you rubbed your scent on one of the animal skins, I could wear it and you wouldn’t have to touch me,” she spoke to the massive trees. The sunlight streamed through the blue leaves and lit her brown curls.
“No,” Bocc growled. He slapped the back of Chrome’s neck and the android blinked his eyes. “I’ll touch you.” He stalked to her. “I’ll be gentle, Little Star.” He wrapped his fingers around her arms. She’s so small, so frail. “I’ll control my passions,” he vowed.
“Passions?” Her face tilted upward and the back of her head rubbed against his chest, her hair softer than anything he’d ever experienced. Their gazes met and he sucked in his breath. By the gods, her eyes dazzled him, every shade of brown from the finest gold to deepest black reflected in their depths. He leaned over her and her lips parted.
“Don’t touch her.” Chrome’s cold voice cut through the tender moment and Bocc bellowed as he was torn away from Starla.
He landed with a hard thump on the ground, dust billowing up around him. Baktot’s balls. My android’s strong. The reactivated android stood between him and his mate, his big arms crossed, his bare feet braced apart. Bocc shook his head, his chest heaving with both pride and irritation. “I’m Bocc, your maker.”
“You are my maker,” Chrome confirmed. “You won’t touch her. This is your first warning.”
Starla gazed at the android with an open admiration, irking Bocc. She should look at me that way. He stood, clenching his fingers into fists. “Review core programming.”
“I’ll remain by Professor Starla Black’s side at all times,” Chrome recited. “I’ll protect Professor Starla Black from harm. I won’t allow any other male to touch Professor Starla Black. I’ll—”
“Enough.” Bocc swept his hand over his head. “I’m supposed to be the exception.”
Starla chewed on that full bottom lip he had been seconds away from devouring. “Maybe this is for the best. We can transfer your scent without touching and—”
“I am touching you, Little Star.” Bocc circled the android. Chrome moved to maintain his protective stance in front of Starla. “Once I deactivate Chrome, I’ll show you how gentle I can be.”
“And if I don’t want you to be gentle?” she murmured, her voice barely audible over the chattering of the forest creatures.
“What?” Bocc’s body hardened. Starla didn’t answer and she avoided his gaze, her pale skin flush with color. “By the gods, woman,” he roared. “I’ll deactivate him quickly.”
He rushed Chrome. Chrome flung his big hand out, swatting him away. “Baktot’s balls.” He smacked against the side of his home, his back connecting with the hard stone, the impact slamming the breath out of his lungs.
“Bocc!” Starla’s voice cut through his concussive stupor. “Let me go.” Chrome held her as she struggled to reach him.
She cares. Bocc grinned and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, its metallic taste coating his tongue. He rose to his feet and shook his body. His joints cracked and he grimaced at the pain.
“Bocc, no,” she protested. “Tell me how to deactivate him. He won’t hurt me.”
“You can’t deactivate him.” Bocc edged around Chrome, looking for weakness in his perfectly designed creation. “Only I can.”
He vaulted toward Chrome, flipping his body into the air. For Starla. He pummeled his fists against the android’s reinforced chest. Chrome rocked back on his heels, pushed forward and Bocc flew backward, skidding along the ground, the rocky surface tearing the skin from his ass and thighs.
“He’ll kill you.” Starla glared at him as though that impending death was his fault.
“I’d die for you, mate.” Bocc groaned as he rose, his chest aching, his legs wobbly and unsure. Warmth pooled around his ankles. Blood scented the fresh air. Darkness hovered on the perimeters of his sight, the world seen as though through a tunnel.
“You’re bleeding…badly. Is that?” Her face lost all color. “Sweet study. There’s metal sticking out of your leg, Bocc.” She looked at him and then at Chrome. “You have to give this up. He won’t let you touch me.” Her gaze returned to Bocc. “Others have tried.”
“I’m not others,” he boasted, swaying on his feet.
“You’re not…” Starla shook her head. “Ohhh…I can’t watch this.” She turned and walked into the forest, taking the longest path leading toward the village.
Chrome followed her.
Son of a spear. Pushing past his pain, Bocc sprinted behind his rival and smacked the back of Chrome’s neck, his fingerprint registering on the sensor. The android froze in midstep.
“Come back here, Little Star,” Bocc called out to his mate, fighting the weakness clawing at his body. “I need to claim you.” She looked over her shoulder, her beautiful face compressed with concern. “I—”
He fell to his knees, shards of pain jabbing up his legs. Protect mate. He held the darkness at bay with pure willpower, his mouth pulled tight in a grimace.
She rushed to his side. “Stay with me, Bocc.” Starla ripped a hide off his latest invention. “What is that?” She paused. “No.” She shook her head. “Focus on your operative, Professor,” his little mate mumbled to herself. “Keep him conscious. Keep him alive.”
She placed the flattened leather before him, her arm brushing his shoulder, her touch as charged as his planet’s core. “Lie down.” She pushed on his shoulders, the contact shimmering through his pain-ravaged form. “You’re Lokan. The connection with the ground will hasten your healing.”
Bocc complied, slumping face-first onto the hide, inhaling the comforting scent of grease and mechanical things. He turned his head, laying his cheek on the leather-covered ground. “That is a mortar.” His voice sounded strange even to his own ears.
“A mortar on a planet unable to sustain technology?” She glanced at his invention. “Can’t be. You’re delirious. My operative is delirious. He’s bleeding.” She crouched beside him, the tart aroma of her fear assailing his nostrils. “He has a piece of metal sticking out of his leg.” She touched the shard and pain shot up his leg and over his ass. “And he’s Lokan. That adds complexity.”
“I’m not delirious,” he mumbled. “The mortar works with the planet, not against it. It harnesses the energized core, funneling the currents into the machine.” Bocc drew strength from the explanation, his mind clearing. “And because the energy flows into the projectiles themselves—”
“They’ll immobilize the Balazoid’s force fields. I understand.”
She does understand. He stared at Starla, impressed with her conclusion.
“But that doesn’t help you right now.” She leaned closer, her warm breath wafting on his skin. “I can’t see anything. I need water to clean the wound.”
“Water pump.” He flung his right hand out, his fingertips tingling. “Move the rod up and down.”
“I see it.” Starla hurried to the hand pump, filled the bucket underneath the spout and returned, the underground river water sluicing over the sides. “Did you build that too?”
“Yes.” He gritted his teeth as she splashed the cool clear liquid on his open wounds. “You should remove the metal soon.”
“Because you’re healing already.” Her voice lit with wonder. “I knew you would, of course,” she assured him. “I’m the Federation’s foremost expert on Lokan anatomy.”
“What Lokan’s anatomy are you an expert on?” he growled, his mood darkening.
“Ummm…Chrome’s, but he assures me he’s identical to you except for…” She blushed a deep crimson as she dipped her fingers in the water and Bocc shifted as the little bloo
d he had left in his body rushed to his cock.
“The metal,” he reminded her.
“Yes.” Starla placed both of her hands on the shard and tugged. He groaned, the pain breathtakingly sharp. “Sorry.” She tugged again. The metal didn’t move. Bright lights danced in front of his eyes. “It’s lodged deep in your leg.” She tried a third time.
“By the gods, woman,” Bocc rumbled, unable to take any more agony. He reached behind him, closed his fingers around the shard and yanked. The metal flew out of his hands, Starla screamed and his world went black.
Chapter Four
“Chrome was deactivated. Bocc lost consciousness.” Starla rummaged through her medical pack, familiarizing herself with the contents yet again. “I’m alone, without protection. I haven’t been alone in years…if ever.” She popped a tablet for her aching head. “And I’m on a strange planet.”
Starla pushed the pack away. “You wanted to see Lokan, Professor. You’re seeing Lokan.”
She lifted a corner of the gauze applied to Bocc’s muscular thighs. The wound was closed, the healing flesh pink. “Damn good job, if I do say so myself. Maybe I should have been a doctor.” She skimmed her fingers over his blue-black braid. “Maybe he’d want me then.”
“But he doesn’t want me.” Starla stood, unable to be near Bocc and not touch him. “Even the tribe’s outcast rejected me.” She laughed, hearing the near hysteria in the mirthless sound. “I’m the Federation’s top expert on a culture I’ll never assimilate into.”
She gazed upward, following the trunk of a massive tree, the white clouds concealing the tops of the blue branches. “And if I don’t gain their trust, all of this will be destroyed.” She extended her arms.
“By your people?” a voice whispered.
Starla turned. A Lokan female stared at her, her silver eyes wide, her straight black hair draped over her tanned shoulders like the sheerest, softest fabric. A white animal hide clung to her generous curves and she held the remnants of a replicator in her trembling hands, the technology out of place amid the surrounding nature.
