by Ella Maven
“I’m going to—” She let out a high-pitched shriek. “I’m going to come again, Tark. Your cock. It’s vibrating.”
Her body shook, and I tugged her upright, needing more skin-to-skin contact. I sucked on her neck and rubbed her hard nub with one hand, while I pinched her nipples with the other. My balls drew up, and my cock twitched inside her sweet body. Something was happening to me. My blood sparked. My tail thrashed. My muscles swelled.
“You are mine, sweet Enna,” I growled into her ear as I pounded into her harder. “Mine and only mine. Forever.”
She threw her head back on my shoulder and screamed. Her inner walls pulsed around my cock, squeezing it impossibly tight. My balls throbbed, my cock pulsed, and then I came. The orgasm hit me like a comet, singeing my body from the inside out. I filled her with everything I had, sealing my mouth onto hers and swallowing her cries as my cock emptied inside of her.
My thighs shook and gave out. We crashed to the mossy ground, and I just narrowly avoided crushing her. My hips still rolled, moving my cock inside of her gently. I couldn’t pull away, even as she moaned softly and sweetly beneath me. The feel of her around me… this was home. Not Planet Torin or Planet Corin. Not back at my room in the barracks. Not anywhere, but here, inside my sweet Enna. I’d found everything I ever needed.
I rolled us to our sides, her back to my front, still connected. I pressed kisses to her neck, and she reached back, her hand stroking through my hair and over my horns. She sighed, and her sweet pussy rhythmically squeezed me.
“I am yours,” she said softly as I stroked the soft skin under her breasts. “And I’m honored to be yours.”
Anna
* * *
I didn’t have words for what Tark and I had just done together—in any language. The pleasure was indescribable, and Tark’s declaration that I was his comforted me on a soul-deep level.
He held me tightly, his hands caressing me, and I nuzzled back into him. His cock finally slipped from my body, but he didn’t move, didn’t separate us an inch. The wind rustled the leaves above us, letting a sun rays warm our bodies. For a brief moment, I could almost believe I was on a normal picnic on Earth with a normal boyfriend who’d just blown my mind.
“You know,” I said softly. “I never really had a home on Earth. We moved around a lot, so I was always in new places with new people. I wasn’t grounded. I had no roots. My mother died and my father and I lost touch. How did I have to travel all this way to a strange planet and find you to finally feel like I’m home?”
His breath gusted in my hair. “Sweet Enna, I was thinking the same thing. My home is you.”
I brushed my fingers down his arm. His skin fascinated me. Up close, I noticed his scales were more pronounced on different parts of his body, mostly on his shoulders, chest, and down his sides.
“You mentioned that Shep is your elder. So how old is he? How old are you?”
“I’m one hundred and fifty cycles old.”
“What?” I rolled in his arms to face him. My translator interpreted a cycle as one full rotation of Torin around the sun—so like a year. “Is your cycle comparable to our year on Earth?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure about that.”
“And you’re one hundred and fifty cycles old?” I squeaked.
“I am.”
I nibbled my lip as my anxiety spiked over my next questions. “And how long do you live?”
“About five hundred cycles.”
I shot up to a sitting position. “Five hundred?”
His hand settled on my thigh. “Human life expectancy is shorter, right?”
“Yeah, I’m thirty and I might live to one hundred if I’m lucky.”
He frowned at that, and then shrugged. “Well then I’ll go when you go.”
I jerked back. “What does that mean?”
“What is the point without you?”
“You lived one hundred and fifty cycles without me!”
He cocked his head, a patient smile on his lips. “Yes, but that was before I knew you existed. Before I knew what it was like to find my other half. Now? You are my purpose.”
Oh jeez, that was crazy. I wanted to tell him on Earth we’d call that insanity, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Because a part of me thought the same thing, as messed up as it sounded. “Look—”
His head whipped to the side and his hand clapped over my mouth, cutting off my words. His chest heaved as he stared through the dense brush to the large clearing beyond. For a split second, we sat in silence, and then he hurled himself to his feet. He shoved his legs into his clothes and threw mine at me. “Get dressed. Now!”
I fumbled with the heap of tangled fabric. “What? Why?”
“They are coming. Don’t you hear the bikes?”
The hover bikes. I tried to listen as I got dressed, but I heard nothing. “No, I don’t hear anything.”
“Fleck me,” he muttered, stomping into his boots. “Fleck. Fleck. Fleck. We shouldn’t have stopped so long here.”
“Wait, if you hear the bikes, then that means…”
His eyes whipped to me, and I didn’t see fear, but instead only rage. “Bult is on his way.” He slid to the floor on his knees and gripped my shoulders. “I need you to listen to me. I’d planned to run and never face Bult again, but if he was able to track us here…” he shook his head. “He will continue to hunt us down. I must face him and challenge him.”
“Challenge him? What does that mean?”
“I have to fight him, Enna. To the death.”
“What?” I shrieked.
He looked over his shoulder. “They will be here soon. Stay here behind this tree and don’t come out until I come get you.”
He stood, and I lunged after him, latching onto his ankle. “No! Are you sure we don’t have time? This is an entire planet! We can run!”
He looked down at me with that patient smile that I’d loved a minute ago but now hated. “There is no time. They will see us. We end it now, and then we can live the rest of our lives in peace.”
My eyes pricked with tears. “Please, Tark. Don’t fight.”
His jaw clenched. “I will give you anything, Enna. Anything. But I can’t give you this.”
He tugged his foot out of my grip and strode away from me toward the clearing
“Shit,” I hissed as I finished getting dressed. I didn’t usually swear, but this called for all the cursing. “Shit, shit, shit.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Tark or have faith in his ability—I’d seen how quickly he dispatched that other alien—but I didn’t trust Bult. Not one bit.
I scrambled on my knees and pressed my chest against the trunk, peering around it cautiously. No way would I hide away while Tark fought to the death for me. For us.
I squinted through a break in the brush. In the distance, the familiar swirling green dust cloud that surrounded the bikes approached rapidly. At the front of the pack, I could just make out Bult’s ponytail whipping around behind him.
Tark, my big, beautiful, perfect male, stood about fifty feet away with his legs braced apart and his head back. He looked almost regal standing his ground. The sunlight glinted off his tail, and I squinted to get a better look. There, on the end, was a spiked ring. To fight. I swallowed. Everything felt a whole lot more real.
The billowing green crowd drew closer. My hands grew damp. Sweat trickled down my spine. And I did all I could do. I waited and I watched.
Tark
* * *
The clearing was large, close to the open plains where the spaceship had crashed. I cursed myself for not traveling farther, but part of me had always known Bult would do everything in his power to find us. This was probably for the best. I was glad I hadn’t removed my tag yet. The absence of it would have been a symbol that I was an outsider, and as such I wouldn’t have been afforded the opportunity to challenge a drexel one-on-one. As of now, I still bore the tag of the Black Bloods, and I’d defeat their drexel and retur
n the clavas to its former glory.
Bult pulled to a stop in front of me, about half a dozen of Bloods behind him. He took his time turning off his bike and swinging off the seat. He approached me slowly, his gaze shifting between me and the tree line behind me. I hoped Enna listened and stayed out of sight.
“Where is she?” he said, stopping a fair distance away.
“She’s gone,” I answered.
He huffed a laugh. “You think I believe that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t care what you believe.”
“There is no way you sent a defenseless female into the wilds of Torin all by her lonesome. That’s the problem with you, Tark. You’re too selfless. You think I kept my clavas alive by being nice and kind?”
“I think there are many ways to maintain a clavas, Bult. Your way isn’t the only way.”
He was silent for a moment. “Here’s what I think. I think she’s back behind you somewhere cowering in the brush. I’m not quite sure what you think you’re doing with her, but it doesn’t matter. Because once I tear your cora out, she’ll be returned to me.”
I willed myself to maintain calm. “She was never yours.”
He lifted his pierced brow. “Oh? She was mine the minute I saw her. The Uldani should pay a nice price for her. So, here’s the deal, you let me pass and retrieve my property from that ship, or I’ll kill you.”
The threat to my female boiled my blood. My skin pulled and itched, like it was too tight for my body. I didn’t say a word, and let my machets rise, rippling along my forearms and from my head down my back. My intent was clear; no one raised their machets to their drexel unless they were issuing a challenge. And a challenge was a fight to the death. I crossed my arms in front of my neck.
With a snarl, Bult lifted his machets in answer. “This field will be soaked with your blood.”
He didn’t come at me swiftly like Juster did. Bult was too experienced for that. He approached slowly with his forearms crossed in front of his throat. His metal-spiked tail thumped. He’d pierced the entire length and threaded blade-tipped bars through every hole. His tail was the deadliest thing about him, and I knew to stay away from it in order to survive.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, my arms crossed to protect my throat, the most vulnerable place on a Drixonian’s body. With a short growl, he spun, tail lashing out. The tip nearly caught me in the thigh, but I jumped back just in time. He didn’t wait for me to recover; he came at me full force. His forearms uncrossed on a downward slash and his machets grazed my chest. My scales, which acted like armor, absorbed the blow. Still, I smelled my blood as he succeeded in slicing a few shallow cuts into my flesh. To dodge more blows, I fell back, rolling into a crouch and spinning so my tail rose up and slammed into his shoulder
He roared and stumbled to the side. Black blood immediately began to ooze down his right biceps. He shook out his arm, nostrils flaring. “I let you have that one.”
I didn’t bother to respond. We both knew he was lying. I slowly rose to my feet, tail braced in front of me protectively. I cracked my neck and crossed my arms again. This time, he rushed me. Maybe he thought he could catch me off guard or out-muscle me, but I was ready.
We parried, sometimes locking forearm machets before one of us broke and tried to ram into a soft belly with our heads. Bult’s head spikes had been damaged long ago, and it was one reason he relied heavily on his tail. He lashed my back a few times, and despite the scorching pain coursing down my spine, I kept my mouth shut. I wouldn’t cry out. I wouldn’t show weakness.
The green dirt beneath our feet grew dark and wet with blood. Our boots slipped on the slippery grass blades. Still we fought. Bult’s eye had swelled shut, and I was limping as a result of a large gash on my left thigh. He wiped the blood out of his good eye and crossed his arms. “I’m ready to end this, Tark. It’s been fun. But I’m due my prize now.”
His tail lifted, and I dodged out of the way. On my bad leg. I stumbled, and the tip of his tail slashed down onto my crossed arms. The blow separated them, exposing my neck, and he took advantage, shoving me to my back with his machets poised at my throat. I froze, chest heaving despite his weight, and stared into his black eyes. I knew what was coming next, and all I had to do was be patient, because if I knew Bult…
He grinned, showing his fangs. “I dreamed of getting you on your back for cycles. You know who’ll be on their back next? The female—”
I curled my tail around his neck and squeezed. The spikes dug into his exposed flesh, and his eyes went wide. His muscles slackened, and I took advantage. I ripped him off me with my tail and shoved him to the ground on his stomach. I pounced and gripped his hands behind his back in one of my fists while I held his tail immobile with the other. He struggled as blood pulsed from his neck.
“That’s the problem with you, Bult,” I hissed in his ear. “You talk too flecking much.”
I lifted his head and let go of his tail long enough to rake my forearms machets across his throat. I heaved myself off him and scrambled to my feet. His body twitched as his blood gushed into the dirt. His mouth opened, but he couldn’t speak. I bent down, unclasped the drexel tag from his arm, and watched his eyes dull as the life left him.
Eight
Anna
* * *
I didn’t think about how Tark told me to stay hidden. I didn’t pay attention to the other aliens who stood at their hover bikes, possibly waiting their turn to kill Tark.
When Bult had him on his back, I hadn’t taken one breath. My lungs ceased working. My heart hadn’t beat. My organs didn’t function again until Tark stood on shaky legs over Bult’s body.
I hurtled out of the safety of the trunk’s shadow and ran full speed toward the blood-soaked Tark. I made it about halfway when he turned. I felt his gaze like a tangible hook, sinking deep into my flesh over my heart. My steps faltered, and I sucked in a breath.
Whoa, what was that? My wrists felt funny too. I slowed to a jog and glanced at them as they started to tingle like a sunburn. The tingling shifted to a burning sensation, which grew hotter, more painful, and I pulled to a stop, inspecting the source of the pain just as two white lines appeared on my skin, running parallel to each other around my wrists.
My breathing picked up as the pain intensified. I cried out, falling to my knees as the bands shone like golden threads. Inside the lines, a pattern began to emerge, and I rubbed them against my pants, tears pricking my eyes as my skin felt like I’d been scorched on a hot stove.
I glanced up helplessly to see if Tark could help me, only to find he was also on his knees staring at his hands. Golden bands shone on the blue skin of his wrists. His shoulders shook as he held his hands out, turning them over again and again.
Pushing aside the pain, I crawled toward him. “Tark?”
“Enna,” he whispered, his dark eyes full of wonder.
“What is this?” The bands were complete now, and while my skin still burned, the pain was receding. “What happened?”
He shook his head. “I don’t… I don’t know.”
The hook in my heart pulsed and locked into place. Warmth spread throughout my body, a sensation of belonging and security settling into my skin like a permanent blanket. Emotions slammed into me. Happiness, confusion, pain, lust. They hovered in my brain like a cloud, separate from me but still… there.
Tark managed to close the distance and reached for me, pulling me against him. I stared at the bands on his wrists and held mine up to his. They matched. Both had the same geometric angled pattern.
“Tark, I—”
“I feel you,” he whispered against my hair. “You’re scared and confused, but you feel whole. Just like I feel whole.”
That was what it was. I could feel him inside of my head. “Yes, all of that. I feel you too.”
“There is a Drixonian myth of fated mates but…” He shook his head. “But they were just that—myths.”
“Yeah, well, on Earth we had myths about aliens an
d here you are, actually real.”
A shadow fell across us. I stayed huddled into Tark’s chest, reluctant to be pulled from this intimate moment.
“Tark,” said a deep voice above us, his voice tinged with wonder. “Your wrists… I’ve never seen anything like it. Are you okay?”
“I’m better than ever,” Tark responded. “I’m bonded to my female, and the threat to us is dead.”
“We respect the results of the challenge. The Black Blood clavas is yours.”
Tark held me tighter and rose to his feet. “Thank you, but I don’t want it. It’s yours, Vye.
I lifted my head to check out Vye. Standing shorter than Tark, he was packed with muscle. His head was shaved, and his ears were lined with gold rings. He frowned. “Are you sure?”
“As long as you leave us alone and promise not to speak of what happened here. I don’t know what the Uldani or other Drix would do if they found out we can bond to humans.”
Vye’s dark gaze shifted to me, and his expression went a little soft. “I promise Tark. She is all.”
Tark smiled and handed Vye the band he’d taken from Bult’s arm. “Good luck and be a fair and wise drexel.”
Vye wrapped the band around his biceps, clinching it in place. “I will. Take care of yourself, Tark. And your human.”
He turned and lifted his arm with the drexel band. I held my breath for a moment, worried, but the other males bowed their heads, signaling their acceptance of the change of leadership. I smiled, relieved. Vye shot me a smile over his shoulder and then made a signal. In moments they were on their hover bikes riding away, towing Bult’s bike and his body behind them.
I thought we were alone until the sound of another bike approached. I braced, worried it was one of Bult’s faithful who wanted their revenge, but as the bike grew closer, I spotted Shep. He pulled another bike behind him on a tether.
Tark’s face lit up as Shep pulled to a stop in front of us. “Shep!”
