by Cynthia Sax
“Our home,” Starla repeated, her wide-eyed gaze meeting his, and Bocc struggled to hold on to his anger.
“Sick?” Tukbar swallowed hard, a bead of sweat forming on his upper lip.
Bocc received a shameful amount of joy from the warrior’s distress. “I was sick for less than a day.”
“I was sick for a week,” Starla grumbled as she stomped outside, making a lot of noise for such a little person. “So I don’t want to hear any whining.” She wagged her finger at the man who would someday become chief.
Tukbar stared after her. “By the gods, your mate is fierce, brother. Our mother, if the stories hold any truth, would have liked her.”
“I’ve heard no stories of our mother.” Bocc kept his expression blank like his android’s, not showing his envy. “But my mate is fierce.”
Chapter Five
Bocc pumped water into the wooden bowl as Minarb knelt demurely in front of him. “Tukbar claims not to trust this source. He prefers water without the taint of technology.”
Bocc glanced worriedly at his brother. The warrior moaned loudly, his feverish body sprawled over the furs. Other men writhed in equal agony around him, their females diligently tending to them. His gaze settled upon Starla. She pressed a tube of Balazoid blocker to a young farmer’s neck, Chrome standing protectively behind her.
“Your brother might not trust the water, but he trusts you,” Minarb murmured. “Only my hastily spoken words made him question that trust.” She bowed her head.
“It wasn’t your error.” Bocc glared as Chrome brushed his hand over Starla’s back, his casual action signaling to other males that she was his mate. “Mates should communicate openly. It was my error for not explaining the situation fully.”
“M-m-mate?” Minarb’s voice filled with wonder. “Your brother and I?” She turned her head.
Bocc ignored her question, his attention on his manufactured rival. Chrome lifted his chin, their gazes met and he read the triumph in the android’s flat eyes. “Take care of my brother, Minarb.”
He stalked toward his Little Star, weaving through the ill volunteers, men his brother had goaded into taking the blocker. All of the young warriors, the future of the tribe, lay upon the furs. If one of them dies, I’ll die. The chief will see to that. Bocc frowned. Leaving my mate to be claimed by another.
Starla smiled at him, oblivious to his dark mood. “Are you sure this is the last man, Bocc?”
Chrome placed his hand possessively on her shoulder. She leaned back.
Into the embrace of another male. Bocc growled. “You’re done here, mate.”
“With the volunteers.” Starla stood, wiping her palms on her wrap dress, appearing so tiny positioned between him and Chrome. “The women won’t let me give them the blocker. They claim they’re needed to nurse their men back to health.”
“Then you’re not needed.” Bocc grasped her hand and pulled her upright, away from Chrome. “By others,” he amended, leading her toward the house, Chrome following them. “I need you.”
“I don’t know anything about mortars,” Starla warned. “Though I suppose I could learn and Chrome will help.”
Chrome won’t touch anything more of mine. Bocc’s lips flattened.
“Goddess.” Lork, the metal worker, reached out and grabbed Starla’s boot. “I—”
First Chrome, now Lork. Bocc turned, dropping Starla’s hand, a red-hot rage sweeping over him.
“Do not touch her.” Chrome slammed Lork back against the ground. “This is your second warning.”
“Second warning?” Bocc’s short, blunt nails dug into his palms, the pain dulling some of his emotion. “You dared to touch my mate?”
“He has a fever.” Starla spread her small fingers over Bocc’s bare chest, her touch soothing him. “He thinks I’m the goddess of fire.” Her mouth quirked up into a smile. “Me, a goddess, Bocc, can you believe it?” She glanced behind her. “The poor man.”
“I’ll kill that poor man if he touches you again.” Bocc slung her over his shoulder, her weight nothing, and he strode toward their home. “You’re my goddess.” He swatted her ass. Starla gasped and the musk of rising arousal filled his nostrils. “Mine, Little Star.” His hand warmed as it connected again and again with her leather-covered flesh.
“Bocc.” Starla squirmed, her cheek sliding along his back.
She didn’t shrink away from him and he didn’t smell fear on her soft skin. Bocc burst through the front door and headed to their sleeping chamber, his boots smacking on the tiled floor.
“You overruled my decision about the blockers, Little Star. That is intolerable.” He slapped her wiggling bottom, the sound echoing in the empty house.
“Do not hurt her,” Chrome rumbled, trailing them too closely for Bocc’s comfort.
“It is not my mate you should be concerned with, Chrome.” Bocc set Starla down on the wall-to-wall sleeping support. She hissed as her ass connected with the soft fabric. “Undress…both of you.”
“Both?” Starla squeaked, obediently unraveling her dress, revealing firm pale breasts tipped with pink nipples, a curved stomach and short brown curls nestled enchantingly between her white thighs. “Chrome is staying?”
“Why wouldn’t he stay?” Bocc glanced at Chrome. The naked android stroked his cock lazily as though he intended for it to be used. “I built him for us to enjoy. Bend over, Chrome, hands on the sleeping support.”
As the android followed Bocc’s instructions, Starla sat upright, her nipples tight, her breathing heavier. “You’re going to fuck him? Chrome is a Lokan male. He won’t like—”
“Chrome is an android,” Bocc explained patiently, her concern for his invention both frustrating and gratifying. “He doesn’t have feelings, do you, Chrome?” He ran his hands over the android’s muscled back, the design his perfect replica, a Lokan male in his prime.
“No,” Chrome rumbled, arching under his touch, his reaction flawless. “Emotion is a human attribute. I obey my programming.”
“And I set his programming. He’s my most brilliant creation.” Bocc stroked his thumb down Chrome’s spine, feeling each painstakingly crafted vertebrate. “I touched him all over, ensuring every detail was correct.” He swirled his fingertips over the dimples above his ass.
“Did…did you?” Starla knelt close to Bocc, her gaze following the movement of his hands over the android’s body.
Bocc stripped off his loincloth. “Feel this.” He placed one of her small palms on Chrome’s ass cheek. “And feel this.” He pushed her fingertips into the same muscle in his own body. “It took me an entire day to get that right. I’d stroke myself and I’d stroke him, thinking of you, always of you.”
“You knew he’d be sent to me?” She caressed down their thighs, her casual exploration hardening Bocc’s cock.
“I built him for you.” He leaned over, sliding his cock between Chrome’s ass cheeks. “He protects you because I protect you. He acts as though he loves you because I love you.”
Her hands stilled. “You love me? No, you can’t.” She shook her head. “You just met me.”
“I know everything about you.” Bocc pressed his lips to the android’s shoulder blade, tasting the salt of his skin, admiring the details he added.
“Like I know everything about you?” Starla kissed Bocc’s bicep, her tongue skimming over the muscle, sending waves of need rippling along his arm. “Because I know Chrome?”
Bocc gazed at her with admiration. By the gods. She’s intelligent. “I know enough about you to realize I’m fortunate to have you for a mate,” he amended.
“Even though I overruled your decision?” She rested her cheek on his arm.
“Ahhh…yes, I’m angry with you.” Bocc concealed his smile behind a grim mask. “I’m leading this mission, Little Star.”
“Because you’re male?” Starla’s lips turned downward.
Bocc leaned over and captured her plump bottom lip between his teeth. He pulled on that sweet flesh a
nd released. “Because I’m the experienced Federation operative and native to the planet.”
“You’re a Lokan.” She challenged him with her direct gaze.
“I’m no longer Lokan.” Bocc rocked against Chrome, trying to ease his building tension. “I’m an outcast.”
She snorted, a cute sound that made him want to laugh. “An outcast with half of the village recuperating outside his door.”
If only one of the tribesmen was my father… “Did Chrome tell you we fucked over and over again to get his responses accurate?” Bocc abruptly changed the subject. “I let him take my ass so I’d know he’d fuck yours properly.”
“Your spies said I liked anal sex?” Her cheeks flushed.
A chuckle escaped his lips. “I hoped you would.” Bocc straightened. “Get on your hands and knees, Little Star.” He flipped her over easily and she squeaked a weak protest, her body bouncing on the sleeping support.
“Let me see if Chrome’s prepared you properly for me.” He stroked over her ass, tinged pink from his earlier rough play. She moaned, wiggling as he cupped and squeezed her soft flesh, her arousal feeding his.
“You like that, don’t you?” He spread her ass cheeks and probed her puckered hole, eager to be inside her. “It’s as I feared.” He clucked his tongue, his cock bobbing with excitement. “You’re too tight for my cock.” He pushed into her and Starla rocked back, taking his thumb deeper and deeper until he was fully inside her dry heat.
Preparation first. “Chrome, lubricate and come here.” Bocc regretfully pulled his thumb out of her ass and Starla growled her unhappiness.
“Patience.” He wrapped his hand around the android’s shaft. “Feed your cock into her.” Chrome’s dark flesh pushed into her pink hole. “Beautiful. That’s it.”
More and more of the android’s shaft disappeared into Starla’s small body. Bocc stroked her wet, hot pussy, applying her juices to the stretched tight seam until Chrome’s hips pressed against her ass cheeks.
“Perfect.” This is how we’ll look when I fuck her ass. “How do you feel, Little Star?”
“Stuffed,” she mumbled, her knuckles white, the sheets twisted around hands. “But aren’t you…”
“I am.” Bocc positioned himself behind Chrome, spread the android’s ass cheeks and found his hole. “I’m fucking you both.” With one hard thrust, he filled the android’s lubricated channel. Chrome swayed forward silently and Starla moaned. “Feel that?”
“Sweet study.” She writhed underneath them. “How could I not?”
“Good.” Bocc grinned, Chrome’s ass clenching his shaft. He withdrew up to his tip, the pinch pure ecstasy, and thrust deep, rocking the android, driving an animalistic sound from his human mate.
Bocc gripped Chrome’s shoulders, leveraging off the android’s form to drive deeper, harder. Chrome braced his body over Starla’s, connected only by his cock in her ass, impaling her more and more with each thrust.
She rocked back, panting and moaning, appearing so small, so fragile under their big forms. Bocc grunted, intent on reaching her, satisfying her, through their android conduit while Chrome remained silent, an impassive participant.
He dug his fingertips into hard male muscle and ravaged the android’s ass, blunting the edge of his reckless passion, knowing he couldn’t cause Chrome pain. The room filled with the sounds of their furious fucking, the slap of body on body on body, his grunts and Starla’s moans.
Their rutting wasn’t gentle and it wasn’t loving. Bocc plowed into Chrome’s tight ass with all of his strength. His long braid smacked against his back, whipping his spine, and Chrome’s blue-black hair struck his chest, the dual pain driving him faster.
“Bocc! Bocc!” his mate called for him, her voice thin and needy.
Bocc pulled out fully, gripping the base of his cock, the air cooling his ardor. “Move aside, Chrome.”
“No,” Starla whimpered as the android stepped back. “I’m so close.”
“As am I.” Bocc took Chrome’s place. “We’ll find our fulfillment together.” He pushed into his mate’s loosened hole, sliding slowly into paradise. She was even tighter than Chrome, her body resisting his invasion.
“Yes.” Starla arched her back, tilting her hips to take him.
“You’re perfect, mate.” Bocc groaned as he buried himself up to his base. He lowered his chest onto her spine, bracing himself with his arms, his face caressed by her long brown curls. “You’re everything I’ve dreamed of and more.”
Bocc rested on her small form, listening to her breathing, inhaling the scent of desire mixed with a softer emotion he couldn’t place. This is where I belong. He reached around her torso and filled his palm with her breast. She inhaled sharply and Bocc smiled.
As he closed his fingers around her nipple, her ass muscles clenched his shaft and it was his turn to suck in his breath. “So perfect.” He rocked into her, loving her leisurely, in no rush to leave that perfection.
Starla undulated, her curves rubbing against him, and he moved with her, matching her pace, sliding his cock along her narrow channel faster and faster. She was so sensuous, so tempting. He clenched his jaw, reining in his passions, not wanting to scare her, to hurt her.
“Harder,” she demanded harshly, bucking back on him. “Take me harder, Bocc.”
“Little Star.” Bocc pleaded for mercy, but she had none, demanding more, everything from him, writhing like a wild thing under his body. He grunted, using all of his strength and all of his ability to satisfy her.
“Harder,” she cried, shredding his control with her musical voice.
Desperate to please her, Bocc slid his hand down her stomach and threaded his fingers through her soft hair to find her clit. “Come for me, mate.” As he ravished her ass, driving into her with his cock, he circled her pleasure button, her juices coating his fingertips.
“Yes,” she hissed, swiveling her hips and grinding her pussy against his fingertips. She was so wet, her moisture dripping down his wrist. Her thighs trembled and her body tightened. Bocc’s balls drew up, aching for release.
“Come for me now,” he commanded as he drove his cock deep into her and slapped her clit hard.
“Bocc!” she screamed, squeezing his shaft.
“Starla!” he roared, spurting hot jets of cum into her quivering ass. Bocc came and came and came until he had nothing left and he collapsed, drained, on top of her.
“Sweet study,” she murmured, sounding dazed, her body shaking under him.
Bocc rolled onto his back, taking his little mate with him. “I didn’t teach Chrome everything.” He grinned, satisfied that he had pleased her.
Chapter Six
Starla glanced at Bocc as she washed her hands, having checked the rapidly lowering temperature of one of the quickly healing warriors. Her temporary mate was bent over one of his mortars, testing it after yet another adjustment, his thoroughness impressing her.
Everything he does impresses me. Except for…
“Chrome,” she whispered to the android beside her. “About last night.” She paused, uneasy about putting his embarrassment into words, yet needing to ask the question. “Were you really fine with Bocc using you that way?”
Chrome stared at her with his unblinking silver eyes. “I was designed to be used that way. It pleases me to fulfill my purpose.”
Some of the tension eased out of her shoulders. “You didn’t look pleased.”
“This is my pleased expression.” Chrome’s lips stretched into a goofy smile and Starla’s lips twitched. “It isn’t suitable for an android with my capabilities, so unless instructed, I don’t activate it.”
“Oh, Chrome.” She laughed, hugging his arm, relieved. “I love you.” Bocc turned his head and scowled at them and she laughed some more. “I suspect I might love your maker too. He thinks I’m beautiful, you—”
“He’s coming.” Minarb ran down the rocky path toward them, her long black hair flowing behind her. “The chief’s coming. We must
hide Tukbar.”
“Are you sure?” Starla looked up at the sky. “Because once the sun reaches the trees, the warriors will be well. If we wait moments more—”
“We can’t wait.” The young woman huffed, her generous chest heaving. “He’s right behind me, with the elders. I took the shortcut, knowing they couldn’t navigate the hill. That’s the only reason I got here first.” She pulled a glassy-eyed Tukbar into a sitting position. “Help me.”
“I’ll move him.” Bocc swung the big warrior over his shoulder, grunting with the effort. Minarb clutched the animal-hide blanket. “We’ll move him around the house and get rid of the chief quickly.”
“We can’t move them all.” Starla waved her hands at the recuperating warriors. “What will we do?”
“We’ll let him think the worst.” Bocc grimaced, the pain on his face tugging on Starla’s heart. “He always does. Here.” Minarb spread the animal skin and Bocc set his brother down gently. “If something happens to me, the canisters are in the small hut and Tukbar has seen me work the machine.”
“What will happen to you?” Starla looked up at him, fighting the fear in her heart. He turned away from her, avoiding her gaze. “Bocc?” She grabbed his arm.
He took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers, gripping her tightly. “He’s a good chief, Little Star. He won’t tolerate a threat to the tribe.”
“And he’ll think you’re a threat to the tribe.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “His own son.”
“I’ve never been his son.” He walked with her toward the other warriors, leaving Minarb to tend to his brother. “I killed the love of his life. Before meeting you, I didn’t understand his hatred, but I do now. If anyone, even a child, hurt you, I’d hate that person too.”
“You—”
He cupped her face and swooped down, capturing her lips in a demanding, desperate, glorious kiss. She opened to his loving assault and swayed against him, trusting him to hold her. They kissed, not caring about the Lokan men and women around them, Starla’s complete focus on the man she cared for.
