by Zara Zenia
He brought a hand to her mound again to stroke her, and the added stimulation was too much. She crashed over the edge of orgasm like a wave breaking, a wordless shout and a cascade of pleasure that left her vision white and her body humming. By the time she came down, she could feel the warmth spreading within her and knew he must have followed shortly after her.
He slowly pulled free, and Jewel groaned at the sensation of absence. It wasn't there long, however, as Kay leaned down to gather her up, limp with ecstasy, and hold her in his arms, that strange purr rolling in his chest as he held her against him.
"The bed," Jewel murmured, still a little loopy from the recent orgasm.
He obeyed, shuffling off toward the bedroom to lay her down on the sheets, where he curled up around her like a protective shell, large enough to envelop her almost entirely. He still seemed to need to be in as much contact with her as he could, starved for touch. She was only too happy to oblige, stroking the tendrils on his head which wound lazily around her fingers and pressing kisses to his chest and shoulders. They lingered in the languid intimacy for a long while.
Jewel rolled over to press her back against his chest and soon felt him rising between her legs again. The second time he took her, it was slower, neither of them leaving their comfortable, coiled position as he rolled in and out of her. He kissed the back of her neck in little flutters of warmth, his arms around her chest, their legs tangled, and she kissed his fingers at every joint. They clung to one another, riding a slow wave to a warm, blossoming orgasm that, while less intense than the first, stayed longer, humming under her skin.
After, he stayed within her, both of them resting without moving from one another. Jewel dozed, comfortable and content, until after perhaps half an hour, doubt began to creep back in. This had been a mistake, she was sure of it. He was a damn alien and one that controlled her ability to go home. Having sex with him was a bad idea for a huge number of reasons. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to really regret it.
"What now?" she murmured to herself, thinking he was asleep. His arms tightened around her, squeezing her against his chest.
"Several rounds of extensive medical testing for both of us," he said, voice rough with sleep. "None of which will be in the official records. The collective apoplexy the Council would experience cannot be understated."
"Yeah, I can imagine my government wouldn't be thrilled either," Jewel said with a small chuckle.
"Which is entirely understandable," he said, his eyes closed, tracing circles on her stomach with the tips of his claws. "Honestly, I have never done anything so ill advised in my life."
"I'm kind of surprised you went through with it at all," Jewel confessed. "Not that I'm complaining."
"It has been . . . very hard to resist," he admitted.
That surprised Jewel, and she rolled over to look at him.
"You've wanted that all this time?" she asked.
"Since the encounter on the beach," he admitted. "Being that close to you was . . . difficult. I thought I could manage it, but it appears I was wrong."
"Difficult how?" Jewel asked, not sure she was understanding. He couldn't meet her eyes and he frowned as he contemplated the questions.
"According to the files on human biology," he said at last, "your infants will die if left without affiliative contact for the first several months to a year after birth. After that, it may cause psychological issues, especially in early development, but the individual will survive. Human beings have been known to go decades without contact with another individual."
"Yeah," Jewel confirmed. "We actually train our astronauts for it. Why?"
"The Ra'hom cannot do that," he said. "Socially, we are incredibly touch-focused. We will die without contact right up through adulthood. We cannot live alone. To shut a Ra'hom away from others for a year is to condemn him to a slow death."
"But you're alone," Jewel said with growing horror. "You're on this ship alone, for more than six months!"
Kay's expression was grim, staring back at her without words.
"God," she said, putting it together. "It's on purpose. Did they assign you here to kill you?"
He took her hand, palms together, fanning their fingers out and contemplating how small hers were against his.
"Do you recall," he said, "when I told you my designation? What it ends with?"
"Forever shamed," she said with a frown. "What happened?"
"It is complicated," he said, closing his hand around hers, their fingers laced. "A line was drawn and I chose the wrong side. This is my punishment. It will not kill me. They are very careful with how they schedule the missions. And they couch it in an honorable title, Curator, to pretend it is not what it is. But it is torture, by every definition."
"I'm so sorry," Jewel said, shaken with sympathy for him. To be isolated alone on a ship like this for months would be hard even for a human. For a species that wasn't meant to withstand it . . . she couldn't even imagine.
"When I realized I could talk to you," he said, bringing her hand to his cheek, "When I realized I could touch you, it was like being presented a feast after years of starvation. But your files reported that most humans do not exchange casual touch outside of family and close social groups. And I did not want to become involved with an animal."
"I'm not an animal," Jewel said, untangling her hand from his in order to touch his face, stroking his cheek. "And you're not alone anymore."
She smiled suddenly, remembering.
"And hey, even when you take me home, you said discovering me would be a huge honor for you, right? A guaranteed spot on the Council? You'll be able to leave this ship forever."
He was quiet for a moment and she couldn't quite read his expression.
"That is what I am hoping," he said at last, then he sat up, letting go of her with clear reluctance. "We should get the medical exam over with. And you may want to, um, wash yourself. Ra'hom issue thickens in the, ah, cavity, to improve chances of conception."
"Gross," Jewel muttered, wrinkling her nose. Thinking about it now, she could feel it, the consistency of oil paint. "I'm not going to be having any alien babies, am I?"
"That is more or less impossible," Kay assured her as he began pulling on his robes. "Your species cannot even breed with your closest genetic relative and you share ninety-six percent of your DNA with them. Ra'hom and Human DNA are not even remotely similar."
"Well I guess that saves me from having to try and convince the computer to give me condoms," Jewel said with a snort.
"I do not know what that means," Kay said, offering her a hand up, which Jewel accepted.
Chapter 9
The medical exams were as tedious and unpleasant as Jewel had expected, though less invasive and embarrassing than they were back on Earth thanks to the ship's advanced technology. They also, thankfully, showed no sign of any diseases or allergens they might transmit between one another.
Apparently, human saliva was slightly caustic and could cause a rash on Ra'homi skin if left in direct contact for more than an hour. And Jewel had previously discovered that Ra'homi blood was a particularly effective emetic to humans. Jewel made a note not to accept any blood transfusions from Kay in the future. But other than that, they were, in Kay's words, 'surprisingly compatible'.
With the tacit permission of the tests and after having erased the record of them from the computer, they took advantage of the medical table. Jewel was happy to make some more pleasant memories there.
It marked a rather significant change in their routine. Kay stuck to their previous schedule of testing and struggled to maintain a professional distance despite how thoroughly they'd destroyed it. But Jewel could tell when he was craving contact. He'd get restless, fidgeting, watching her hands, reaching for her without thinking and then quickly correcting himself. And now that she knew it was a physical need for him, as necessary as food or water, she hardly wanted to deny it to him.
She started with just taking his hand when she s
aw him getting antsy, the gentle rhythm of her thumb over his palm seeming to calm him. Over the course of a few days, he became more comfortable—or more desperate—and began to initiate touch more on his own, stroking her hair or pulling her into hugs. Before long, he was beginning each testing session by dragging her into his lap where she would remain, lounging against his chest or arm while she worked her way through endless boring intelligence tests.
Since Kay had given her the cabin, they'd been having the testing sessions there at the kitchen table. Jewel had also been sleeping there. Now that she wasn't just in an empty field, she had to admit the Earth habitat was more comfortable than most of the rest of the ship to her. But she still took her daily runs through the other habitats, all the more enjoyable now that Kay wasn't actively resisting the urge to touch her.
Jewel grabbed an overhanging branch and swung over a gap in the canyon floor, hitting the rocky ground running. The scrubby trees that grew in this habitat were deep red-black in color and grew twisted and tough from the rocky shale terrain. It was mostly flat except for the occasional crack and crevice, which meant Kay had been gaining on her since Jewel had entered. She could practically feel him breathing down her neck, and it made her skin tingle and her heart race, anticipation beating just below her stomach. She leaped another gap and felt his fingers brush her leg, almost snatching her out of the air. The near-miss sent a thrill through her.
"Computer, line up the Earth habitat!" she shouted, glancing back at him. She saw his teeth bared in a ferocious grin behind his helmet and almost stopped, eager to feel his claws sink into her. Instead, she put on another burst of speed, pulling ahead of him and racing for the far wall of the habitat. Just a little longer. She'd make him chase her just a bit more. She knew it would make the reward all the better.
The door out of the habitat opened in front of her, and she darted through it just ahead of him, crashing into the next module just as it settled into place. The sunlight of the Earth habitat greeted her just as she'd requested. She kept running, sprinting through the trees with the last of her energy. She burst through the tree line into the meadow, and a second later, Kay collided with her, driving her down and rolling into the soft grass. He pinned her face down in the soil, body heavy over her and breathing raggedly.
Her exosuit was already dissolving, and he wasted no time in tearing it off her. Neither of them had bothered to wear anything under the suits, and as soon as his helmet was no longer impeding his teeth, he sank them into her shoulder. Not hard enough to bleed, but enough to sting, to make her gasp, her back arching against him as the suit melted away, leaving their skin bare against one another. He was already hard. She could feel him sliding against her thighs. He jerked her hips up higher, keeping her head down in the grass.
After one of their races, she loved it exactly like this, rough and primal. The first few times they'd done this, he'd kept stopping to make sure she wasn't hurt or frightened. But she'd soon convinced him it was quite the opposite. She loved him like this. It felt more honest, more like him, than he ever did when he was keeping himself so carefully aloof and superior.
He removed his teeth from her shoulder, running his tongue over the offended flesh before he moved backward to use it elsewhere. Jewel gave a hoarse, euphoric shout, clutching the grass as he buried himself to his nose in her folds, tongue rolling against her clit and dipping inside her. It was fast and hard and exactly what she wanted, chest heaving from the run and from excitement as he devoured her.
Sometimes, even after he caught her, she'd fight him, enjoying the excitement of a good wrestling match, but he'd learned that as soon as he got his mouth on her, she melted into helpless, pliant prey, his for the taking. When she was soaked and trembling, babbling his name into the grass in desperation, he finally relented and loomed over her again, pressing her down with one hand as the other took her hip, pulling her back against him as he pushed into her.
She was so wet and ready for him that he slid in all at once with hardly any resistance, and she moaned in satisfaction. She couldn't imagine what she must look like, hair stuck to her sweaty cheeks and eyes unfocused with lust, face down in the dirt as she was mounted by a giant blue alien. She mentally upgraded him from giant to massive as his hips met her ass, the size of him stretching her until her head spun. And then he began to move, fast and feral, as hard and dirty as these encounters always were, plowing her into the grass with a force that made her body shake and her thoughts fly away. One hand dragged her hips back into his, making them meet with hard smacks of skin on skin. The other was under her, stroking circles over her clit to drive her wild with overstimulation.
She came, gasping, tightening hard around him, her vision spinning, but he was far from done. He pulled out just far enough to turn her over onto her back before crashing in again, continuing the same punishing pace with her hips raised above her head. Between the relentless pace of his thrusts and his hand on her mound, she came twice more in quick succession, toes curling at the almost painful overload of pleasure, one orgasm riding the other before she could catch her breath.
As she was coming down from the last one, she felt him throb within her, close to his end. He grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her up into his lap, holding him against her chest and letting his teeth rest against her throat as he thrust up into her hard, once, twice, three more times before he spilled himself within her, his seed warm and thick within her. She swooned against his shoulder as he held her there, lingering as pleasure washed over him. They stayed close, hanging on to one another as their ragged breathing slowed and they remembered how to behave like civilized creatures.
He kissed her gently as he pulled out, and they sank down onto the grass together, Jewel curled up still half on his chest.
"That was good thinking," he said, still a little breathless. "Telling the computer to move the Earth habitat to the next in line."
"Well, last time, you caught me in the middle of that swampy biome," she said, "And for a minute, I thought you were going to tear my suit off right there. It seemed like it'd be smart to put us somewhere we can both breathe the air."
"A very clever beast," Kay said, patting her head. "I should put that in your intelligence tests. Knows not to copulate in toxic foreign atmospheres."
"Well, I seem to have that one over you at least," Jewel said with a snort. "It's lucky Earth’s atmosphere isn't harmful to you."
"It is fairly similar to the Ra'hom home world," he confirmed. "The light and gravity are a little different. And of course, I'm fatally allergic to most of the plant life and particulates. Fortunately, Ra'hom medicine can suppress those kinds of reactions in almost all cases."
"Holy shit, you guys cured hay fever," Jewel said with a tired chuckle. "Humanity is going to love you for that, nothing else required."
"That reminds me," he said, sitting up slowly. "We are going to have to train you out of that kind of language."
"Why the hell would we have to do that?" Jewel asked, stretching out in the grass and enjoying the simulated sunlight on her skin. "Seems pretty damn stupid to me."
"I have been keeping the home world up to date on your testing," Kay replied. "I have even been sending periodic videos of the testing process."
"Including the cuddling?" Jewel asked without opening her eyes.
"No, not those," Kay admitted, clearing his throat. "Regardless, the general population is very excited by the potential discovery of other intelligent life. Certain members of the Peritas are very interested in seeing you."
"Peritas?" Jewel repeated, the telepathic doubling mangling the word with too much loaded context, struggling to find an English word that matched.
"They are the highest class of Ra'hom," Kay explained. "Those with the most highly trained skills and greatest achievements. Council members are exclusively chosen from the Peritas. A party of curious and impatient Perita have chartered a ship to meet the Diviner ahead of the Council meeting for the privilege of being some of the
first to see you."
"How soon?" Jewel asked as she sat up quickly, suddenly worried. She hadn't been really keeping track of time. She didn't even know how much longer it would be until the Council meeting.
"A month," Kay answered. "We will have enough time to get you into shape."
She rolled her eyes and fell back into the grass.
"Are you a Perita?" she asked, curious. He looked pleased by the question.
"No," he said, and he picked her up, pulling her into his lap so that he could pick the grass out of her hair. "I may have been elevated to the Peritas if things had gone differently, but before my assignment here, I was Ingenuus. Military caste. The Perita can come from any caste, but they are rarely Ingenuus. We are often dismissed as being stupid and unskillful, good only for fighting. I may become a Perita yet for discovering you."
"You have a caste system?" Jewel asked, frowning. "Those are . . . kind of frowned on, where I’m from. How does it work in a meritocracy?"
"Well, they are not rigid classes," Kay said with a shrug. "Castes are assigned to help Ra'hom find the skills where they will excel to the best of their abilities. All one needs to move between them is an appropriate evaluation or achievement. Young Ra'hom usually try several castes before they settle. But still, there are certain stereotypes associated with every caste. It is not a perfect system, but I believe it does more good than harm."
"That's better than I can say about most human governments," Jewel said with a small laugh. "Still, it can't be that great if it landed you out here."
"There are always losers when it comes to politics," Kay said with a frown and set her aside as he stood. She got to her feet as he requested clothing from the computer and they both dressed, wandering back toward the cottage, Jewel a little bowlegged.
