by Lia Nox
No matter what happened, I would always be there for Erin.
Erin
Kern was so alive with his affection, it was adorable to witness.
Having been so thrown about by the challenges of this world, both the ones we’d expected and the ones we hadn’t, it made sense that emotions were running high. I just hadn’t realized they were running so high for them.
I’d been aware of how I felt for far too long now, though I’d never even attempted to share this verbally. My reasoning for this was that it was better to keep it to myself, lest I be rejected.
And then, of course, there’d been various distractions which had overwhelmed my feelings of love: their hot bodies pressed into mine, them moving deep inside of me with vigorous strokes, their strong arms pinning me in place…
Mmmm, they’d been the best of distractions.
That and a planet filled with things trying to kill us.
Nonetheless, it was time to face the reality of what all this had meant: that I loved them the way they loved me.
Was it a traditional kind of love? No.
Would it make sense to others? Highly doubtful.
Did it make me feel safe and happy? Completely.
Still, upon hearing Kern’s words, I’d done little else than purr at him with affection, my words of love never returned to him.
And suddenly it was too late to speak. The next wave of the foul spider things came ripping into the valley.
I hated them. I’d always hated creepy crawlies—it had been the worst part of the scavenging jobs, the fluttering touches of their legs. The fear that they’d work their way into my jumpsuit, no matter how tightly I taped up my cuffs.
Man, I really wished these had been those tiny little things. Instead these were spiders from hell, huge and lethal, and intent on killing us.
My men.
My family.
Like hell.
I wondered how the Masters would have reacted to my presence, a distraction to these warriors. It was doubtful they’d have tolerated their passion and yearning for me beyond a screw or two—maybe they’d have just killed me the moment I’d landed! I had no way of knowing how deep their cruelty would have run for me.
Talos left the last of the ammo by me, and I kept firing as the guys cut and spun, slashed and tore apart the arachnids.
The Masters. Such superior titles, meant to show dominance and power, and yet it only emphasized their lack of it. Even if they’d still existed on this planet, I’d have felt the same. It was because of their obvious failures in seeing the true potential of Roth, Kern, and Talos, of any of their creatures, even.
The assumption had been that they’d never be able to function beyond what they were created for, with the shackles of their bondage meant to ensure this was always the case. But time had allowed these aliens to come together, brothers-in-arms, in a way I doubted the Masters had anticipated or wanted. A family of sorts had been made. Consequently, they had a bond that couldn’t be broken, one which had been extended to allow me to take my place beside them.
Delia’s men were pretty awesome too, but nothing could match my guys.
Nothing.
Although it pained me to admit, I had acted as rashly as the Masters.
In my narrow minded assumptions, I’d concluded that these brutes were just that. They were there for my pleasure, if I willed it, and they would harbor me from danger, but they’d never be capable of higher thinking. Once again, I cursed myself for being so stupid and jaded, the cynicism of my old life having colored me into only seeing black and white instead of shades of gray.
I fired again and again, so focused on each target I couldn’t glance around, get a full view of the battlefield.
But it felt quieter.
Just a bit.
And then shot by shot, quieter still.
Until—CLICK. Out of ammo, I looked up to see the battle almost won.
Kern and Tarnan ripped apart one of the creatures between them, while Talos and Zuvo hacked off the legs of another.
Roth and Axar fought at the far side of the lake, taking down a final, massive nightmare, slick black jaws cracking.
And then it was over.
“Guys,” I called out, splashing into the pool, desperate to reach them.
Tarnan, Zuvo, and Axar headed away, no doubt to wherever Delia had been waiting, fighting her own nightmares.
She’d had to wait, not knowing if her men would come back.
Her family.
And mine were right here, with me. Roth, Talos and Kern surrounded me, covered in the gore of battle. And I didn’t care. I flung my arms around them, nestled in the strong comfort of their arms. They were safe, and I was home.
“I love you.”
Roth
Her words—I love you—sounded strange and exotic, but I immediately knew the meaning they hid. I didn’t know if there was a word like ‘love’ I could use, but it didn’t matter. Words were nothing but a signpost, a finger pointing toward something that couldn’t be described. . .only experienced.
I’d experienced so much within my life, most of it the repercussions of battle, my body weak from the constant demands that the Masters had placed on me.
Love hadn’t been one of the ways they’d conditioned us, nor was it a word I believed they even cared to try and understand; love was a defect to them. It needed to be cut from the flesh, the gaping wound sealed so that the damage it had already inflicted could be cauterized before further harm was done.
I took a deep breath before I spoke.
“You don’t have to say a word more,” I whispered. Softly, I stroked her cheek with the back of my hand and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Just know that we’re here for you, Erin. Now and always.”
“Promise?” she asked
A slight pause, and then I said the words Erin needed to hear. “We love you, Erin. We will always love you, and that’s a promise.”
This moment belonged not just to me and Erin, but to the four of us. This brave new feeling, love, was the bond that had kept us united, and it was one that we freely shared.
“We love you,” Kern repeated, his voice smooth and firm.
“And we always will,” Talos joined in, our three voices blending in to reassure her that, no matter what happened, we would always remain by her side.
“I. . .I don’t know what to say,” she muttered, biting on her bottom lip as if she was trying to stop the tears from coming.
Reaching for her, I used one finger to wipe away the lone tear that rolled down her face. “Why are you crying?” I asked her, feeling more than slightly confused.
“These are tears of joy,” she whispered, her words as delicate as she was. “I’m just happy.”
“You humans are odd creatures,” I said with a smile, relieved that my words hadn’t landed wrong.
“Not as odd as you are,” she laughed softly, slapping my arm in a playful manner. I drew a deep breath and kept my smile on, allowing the present to take over everything. In that moment, the past and the future became nothing but irrelevant side notes.
The only thing that mattered was the bond we had unveiled, one that I knew would survive all things. When I’d first been with Erin physically, I’d never dared to imagine that that animalistic connection would go beyond what it was. And yet, here I was before her, needing to comfort her, to hold her close until all else melted away.
That was the best prize I had ever won.
Under the Masters’ rule, I had dreamed of achieving glory and fame for me and my team. Those had always been my aspirations, the battlefield the only place where I could achieve them. For a moment, right after I learnt that we were cut off from the Masters, I had felt despair tug at my very soul. I hadn’t known what would be of me without having the Masters’ to please, my purpose stripped away from me.
To be driven by your ambitions, to never be free of them hounding you every hour of the day, had been a torment I’d willingly suffered. P
erhaps it was my greed which had allowed the desire to be the best to consume me, but whatever the true reason, I’d been a slave to my own ruthlessness. The soft man I had started out as, eager to please while also hesitant of the world, had been broken apart put together anew, piece by piece.
Now, though, I knew I didn’t need the Masters.
I didn’t even need the battlefield. I had no doubt that there’d be times when I longed to test my steel against the blade of another, even if it was only to spar with Talos and Kern, but what was once an insufferable lust that would never sleep, was now a conquered beast.
There were only three persons I needed, and they were right here with me. Erin. Kern. Talos. That was my team. My pack. And yet, these words weren’t enough to describe what they were. Suddenly, I remembered a word Erin used that I knew would be perfect to describe our relationship.
More than just a team, we were a family.
“I know this is not your home,” I said, breaking the comfortable silence. “I know this planet is dangerous and hostile, and that we’ll find nothing but more questions in your path. But, if you give us the chance, we can make a home out of this place. All I ask is for you to stay with us, Erin. To believe in our. . .family.”
“Family?” she whispered, tears returning to her eyes.
“Isn’t that what we are?”
“Yes, it is.” She laughed brightly, wiping the tears off her eyes with the back of her hand.
Over Erin’s shoulder, I watched as Delia rejoined Axar and his brothers, as they talked on the far side of the lake.
Axar threw me a quick glance but, realizing we were sharing an important moment, he nodded at me and whispered something into Delia’s ear.
Without saying a word, the four of them moved to a more secluded part of the oasis, out of view. For a moment, I thought they were going to leave without saying their goodbyes, but then realized they were just going to have a more private kind of celebration.
After all, a triumphant victory deserved a triumphant celebration.
My blood began to stir.
When Delia had happened upon our camp, Axar and his brothers loyally by her side, I’d been curious as to how their relationship worked.
I’d been aware of how my loins ached for Erin, to the point of almost pain, but I’d not entertained the notion that it could mean more. In my naivety, I’d thought Axar’s company fools to be taken in by such an unusual woman such as Delia. She was beautiful, yes, and I was sure she’d delight just as Erin did, but what purpose beyond that could she offer? Funny how, when everything was said and done, I was the fool rather than them.
“I will stay with you,” Erin said, her words like the sweetest thing I had ever heard. “As long as you love me, I’ll walk alongside you.”
“Then it’s going to be one long road,” Kern said with a laugh, “because we’re always going to love you.”
“Our bond can’t be broken,” Talos said, his solemnity a counterpoint to Kern’s playfulness.
“I love you, guys, all of you,” Erin repeated as we broke our embrace. “And I always will. Because we’re a family.”
Love had dealt us a lethal blow, caring not for if we would be strong enough to survive. We’d become slaves to it, devotees ready to worship at the altar of a whole new kind of god.
What more could I ask for?
Erin
We’d won.
I’d won.
Not just against the spiders, not just against this damn planet and everything it could throw at it.
I’d won a life, filled with love.
Filled with them.
And now, all I wanted was to touch them, for them to touch me.
“I think we need to do some celebrating,” I murmured, my voice husky with desire.
Roth swung me into his arms, Kern and Talos clearing a path of arachnid body as we left the pool, seeking a still untrammeled patch of the once perfect, serene valley.
As if I were fragile glass, he lay me down behind the shelter of a bush, the grass here still soft and springy beneath me.
This was when they became ravenous.
“Not yet, my loves,” I promised. “I’ll make it worthwhile.”
Raising my hands to move them back to give me some room, my idea being for them to form a semicircle around me, I lowered myself down to the ground and spread my legs. My slit opened ever so slightly, hinting at the pink folds that had yet to be exposed.
I had their unwavering attention now as I snaked a hand down to my lips and rubbed my finger between them. Just as before, my wetness leaked out of me, my finger soon slick with it.
Talos gripped his thigh as he watched, no doubt trying to keep himself collected while he enjoyed me enjoying myself.
Roth, on the other hand, was not as reserved: his hand was under his trousers to pull out his cock, its impressive length helping the wetness between my legs to grow.
As for Kern, he too was stroking himself, though he’d yet to take out his magnificent cock.
I gave a few more rubs of my finger, up and down, up and down. They groaned and huffed with excitement, though it was nothing to their next sounds. When I slipped another finger between my slit and spread my pussy open for them to see all of my wet, glistening flesh, they growled like hungry dogs. It was my turn to moan now, my hips bucking as my finger flicked a particularly sensitive area.
“Do you want more?” I asked, my vision hazy and lustful as I eyed them; Roth, Talos, and Kern all nodded as one. My lashes fluttered as I held their gaze, my pelvis gyrating once more.
I now used the finger which had been pinching at my clit to run down the length of my wet pussy, stopping just as the tip neared the entrance. I looked up to make sure that they were watching: their pupils were wide like saucers, similar to a cat entranced by a toy. Satisfied that they wouldn’t take their sights off of me, I pressed my finger in all the way, right up to my last knuckle. Oh, it felt incredible, but I wasn’t done just yet.
Withdrawing it from my hole, I took my finger to my lips, my tongue waiting to lick my own juices. Suckling my finger, I enjoyed seeing all three of them now rubbing their hard muscles, the heads of each shaft so red that I could almost feel how they throbbed for me. As I took in how delicious they looked, and how massive they were for me, their size always surprising me despite having seen them before, I moved my hand back to my pussy.
This time I pushed two fingers in instead of one.
Talos
She was a goddess.
I’d sunk my fingers into her several times before, yet as I watched her do the same to herself, it reignited my interest. It was as if I was seeing her naked for the first time, all over again.
Even though I didn’t want to withdraw my eyes from her glorious movements, I needed to see if Kern and Roth were as enraptured as I was. It was a need to make sure that only I was taken in by how stunning she was. True enough, they too wore the same astonished expressions as they remained glued to her every subtle movement.
Returning my attention to her, I observed the same skilled fingers that had teased many an orgasm out of me work to bring about her own climax. In spite of it being my own hand that enveloped my hardening cock, I was enjoying bringing myself close to ecstasy as well.
We didn’t need to ask Erin if she relished our lack of control—it was written all over her serene face. She was unforgivingly wicked when the mood took her, but there was no other way I’d rather her be.
Her head thrust back as her hand slammed into her pussy, her palm shaking vigorously as she vibrated the fingers that rubbed inside of her away from our view. I knew that look, she’d worn it so many times before: she was coming hard, her figure twisting about like a leaf lost on the wind as she fell in a heap onto the floor.
When she eventually withdrew her fingers, they came out covered in her essence, the juicy slickness causing me to tighten my grip around my shaft.
I wanted to take her. The urgency running through my body was a thing of dem
ons. I knew she loved being stimulated in every hole and as I held myself, watching her, my fantasies ran wild.
I saw myself taking her, in the mouth, then the pussy, then the ass. Letting the others watch and encourage us. I saw us twisting together in lust, sweat making us slippery and shining in the sun.
But I found I was beyond movement. As much as her show aroused me, it also struck me deeply with care and concern. Again, it looked as if we had spent our adrenaline in sex far too fast.
What if those things came back? What if something worse was on its tail? I put my cock away, not even needing to will it to be still. My lust was not dying but it was curbed.
The scent of her hung thickly in the air and all I had to do was open my mouth to taste her. I wanted those slippery lips on my tongue. I wanted to delve deep into those soft folds and hear her screaming my name.
But far more than any of that I wished for us to be safe.
Only a short time ago she had clambered up the rocks from the pond to keep herself out of danger.
I couldn’t forget this.
I could never forget that.
As much as I wanted to fall upon her, I knew my instincts would collapse, swept away in my focus on her, driven to fulfill her needs and my own.
And I needed those instincts, needed to stay sharp, alert.
I glanced at my brothers and I saw they were as conflicted as I.
All of us had lost our heads around her, that is clear. Roth looked up and scented the breeze above us, scanning for signs of danger. Kern looked away from Erin briefly, looking for movement in the shadows.
The safety of our pack had never been as imperative as it was now. We would have given our skins to protect her from the first moment we saw her, but the trembling admission of love has cut me cleaner through the chest than any blade.
She trusts us.
Love. Love was something we had never had. We had been companions, pack. Duty and family had bound us. Erin took this great net of belonging and elevated it, turned it into something new.
