by Ella Maven
A large pile of bedding took up a corner of the room, and beside it, sitting at a stretched desk littered with bottles of spirits, sat Hirtz. His eyes were glassy, and his legs were stretched out with his hands clasped over his belly. He burped loudly before waving the air in front of his mouth.
I wrinkled my nose as the stink of unwashed bodies invaded my duct sanctuary.
“Try again,” Hirtz barked.
I couldn’t see the other body in the room, but someone was there, because he answered. “I have tried. He won’t speak.”
“You told him he can have Kixx if he tells her to come out?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
A heavy sigh. “I think maybe we can break him, but it’s going to take time.”
Hirtz slammed his fist down on his desk. “How much time? We reach port in two rotations.” He jerked up and flashed his thumb and index finger. “Two!” Slumping back down, he rubbed his forehead. “Without them, I can’t pay the docking fee. They will take it out of my flesh and every crew member on this ship.”
“We have the Drix.”
“He’s not enough. We need her.” Hirtz slammed his fist down. “Try again.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Footsteps followed, a door opened, then shut. Hirtz threw a bottle against the door, where the sound of it shattering made me nearly jump out of my skin.
But I couldn’t stay and gawk at Hirtz or gloat over his pretty depressed state. I had to follow those footsteps. I could hear them below, and I crawled as fast and as silently as I could, hoping they led me to Fenix.
Eleven
Fenix
The effects of my last dose of Kixx wore off fast. Locked in a supply room in the hull with my arms chained to the wall with fireproof material, I could do nothing but lose myself in the pain. My mind had only started to crack, and while falling into the oblivion of nonsense would have been preferable to being aware of what was happening to me, I was grateful for the consciousness.
There was a reason I had to remain lucid, and her pretty face and soft black hair remained in the forefront of my thoughts as one rotation bled into two.
Several times a Rogastix came in and struck me—but their blows were inconsequential to the pain wracking my body. They told me she was hurt and hiding, and that if I would just help them find her, they’d give me a dose of Kixx. I growled at their lies and roared at them to leave me alone.
When two rotations bled into three, her image grew warped and by the fourth, I wasn’t quite sure of anything but the excruciating pain. I longed for the cool numbness of Kixx as I writhed on the floor in agony.
The door opened and a green figure walked in. I could barely see through the veil of pain over my eyes. I blinked at him from my slumped position on the floor and gasped out a hot breath. He crouched in front of me, and I couldn’t remember his name or what he was, but I knew he was the enemy. I hadn’t forgotten that much.
“All you have to do is call her name and tell her to come out. That’s it, Drix, and the pain will end. This doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to live like this.”
Kixx. The name alone brought peaceful memories—like dunking my head under a cool spray of qua. He said I could have that, but I had to… “What do I have to do?”
He blinked at me and then his lips tilted up. “Just call her name and tell her to come out of her hiding spot.”
I didn’t understand. “Why is she hiding?”
“Because she thinks we want to hurt her, and we don’t. We only want the best for her. And she’s going to get herself hurt running around alone on the ship.”
Hurt. She’ll be hurt. I don’t want her hurt, right?
He held a device up to my mouth. “Here, just speak into this and it’ll echo in the ship’s comm system. She’ll hear you.”
I stared into his eyes and tried so hard to concentrate. My stomach rolled and my throat felt like I’d swallowed glass. He said I could end this pain. When had I last been free of pain? I opened my mouth just as a memory slipped in through the flames of agony like a trickle of qua. Fingers clutching me, spreading warmth in their wake. Warm lips on mine. A divine tasted as I lapped eagerly with my tongue.
That was her. And they did want to hurt her.
I smiled as I remembered and coughed as my throat went into a spasm. I leaned into the device in the enemy’s hand and growled in a rasp, “Jennie, stay hidden.”
With a roar, he slammed the device into the side of my head. I barely felt the strike as I began to laugh, the sound echoing around the empty room as the enemy stood. Pulling back his foot, he slammed the toe into my thigh.
I kept laughing as he beat me because I barely felt his kicks and punches. I was all pain now, but at least Jennie was alive, and she’d tricked them. I felt something splash on my chest and I glanced down to see my blood splattered on my scales.
With one last vicious punch, he whipped my head to the side, and I fell over. I closed my eyes as I drifted in and out of consciousness while he stomped out of the door and slammed it behind him.
I coughed up more blood and watched as the drops landed on the metal floor. I wasn’t sure how long I had before I went mad. My plan had gone to shet because Hirtz had a thirst for power. I didn’t know what he intended to do with me or Jennie, but I knew it was worse than anything Bezmir had planned.
I had to stay alert. In the mines, I’d given into the madness, because it’d been easier. But here, I had to fight for every memory, every thought… I couldn’t forget. I couldn’t forget. I couldn’t forget….
I woke up to a soft touch on my forehead, and a low whisper. I blinked my eyes open and my vision swam as I tried to focus. I could barely see the outline of the face in front of me, but there was a familiarity to it that sent my cora pumping.
Something dripped on my face, and I thought it was more blood until a drop slipped between my lips. Salty. The figure in front of me sniffled and said in a soft voice. “I’m so sorry, Fenix. I’m so sorry.”
Her hands cradled my head, and everywhere she touched, the pain fled like it’d been washed away. A ripping sound reached my ears, followed by the feel of wet fabric being dabbed on my wounds. I didn’t care about those. I just needed her to keep touching me. Her smell surrounded me, and I inhaled deeply as I recognized my reason for this. I’d do it all again. I’d get shot by a laser gun fifty times over, if it meant she was okay. Which meant… why was she here?
I jerked in her hold in concern. “Told you … stay hidden.”
“They don’t know I’m here.” She pointed to a hole in the ceiling above our heads. “Hid in there.”
I couldn’t make sense of what she meant, but as long as they didn’t know she was in here, then that was okay. “Need to hide.”
“Not yet,” she whispered. “They are sleeping. Let me take care of you.” Her lip trembled. “There’s blood everywhere.”
“Can’t feel it,” I mumbled. “Pain from … no Kixx.”
Her shoulders bucked in a soundless sob as she continued to swipe at my scales. “I don’t know … how can I help?”
“Don’t stop touching me,” I murmured as I nuzzled into her hair as it brushed my face. “Please, don’t stop touching me.”
Jennie
Don’t stop touching me.
I tried to touch everywhere I could, but he was so big, and my hands were small. I wished there were three of me, or maybe more, so I could reach everywhere. Anything to relieve his pain. I’d heard everything the Rogastix had said to him as I’d huddled in the duct above the room, my ear pressed to the slits in the ceiling panel. For a moment, I’d nearly shown myself, so they’d let Fenix go, but I waffled. Would they kill him when they no longer needed him to find me? And then his agonizing shout of, “Jennie, stay hidden,” had nearly broken me.
I listened, just like I had before, because I trusted him. He hadn’t betrayed me, even though I wouldn’t have held it against him if he did. The pain he was in had
to be immeasurable. His scales were nearly too hot to the touch, and his breath was steam-engine scalding.
And blood, so much blood. When the Rogastix had been beating him, I’d had to look away. The crunch of bone, the splatters of blood. I shuddered thinking about it as I wiped at his face and prodded at his ribs, which I worried were cracked.
He didn’t react to my touch with a grimace, but instead a small, blissed out smile, his eyes half-closed. His lip was split, and without thinking, I leaned forward, seeking to ease the pain of the wound.
Our lips touched, and for a moment he didn’t react, but then he opened his mouth and slipped his tongue inside mine. His ball piercings clicked against my teeth and I shifted closer, plastered my chest against his. When he circled his chained arms around me, deepening the kiss, I straddled his thighs. Immediately, his hands shifted down my back to cup my ass. He tugged me closer, until I felt the hard ridge of his cock between us.
I broke the kiss on a gasp. “Don’t want to hurt you.”
“I feel no pain,” he whispered, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Not with you.”
This shouldn’t have been sexy. I shouldn’t have been turned on. But the memory of the last time we’d been intimate had never left. Even now, his hands gently squeezed, coaxing arousal from my body despite our perilous situation. I cupped his face and rubbed my thumbs at the corner of his lips. “Maybe I can do more than just touch you,” I murmured.
He nibbled on my chin. “How so?”
I pulled my shirt off, and his eyes went wide. After I maneuvered myself on his lap to take my pants off, I returned to straddling him, now completely naked. Exposed. Any of the Rogastix crew could walk in at any moment, but none of that seemed to matter now. Not with the way Fenix’s eyes took me in like I was the most precious thing in the galaxy. His gloved hands curved around to cup my breasts.
I took his hands in mine, and his brow dipped as I slowly withdrew the first glove. He jerked away at first, but I held firm until I revealed his scarred hand. When the other glove was removed, I gripped his wrists and brought his hands to my breasts once again. He resisted. “No, not with … not with these hands.”
“I want this. No gloves.” I held firm. “Touch me back, Fenix.”
“I haven’t…” he swallowed. “I haven’t touched anyone with my bare hands since I was altered by the Uldani.” The bunched muscles of his arms relaxed, and he reached out until the tips of his gnarled fingers touched my nipples. He flinched before doing it again, and I leaned into the heat of his touch.
He cupped them, flicking my nipples with his thumbs. They hardened beneath his ministrations. With a soft growl, he grasped me around the ribs and hauled me up his body so he could tug a nipple into his mouth. I cried out in a broken rasp as he nipped and sucked the sensitive flesh. The heat of his mouth was indescribable, almost too much, and I whined and bucked in his touch.
When he settled me back in his lap to once again kiss my mouth, I unclasped his pants and tugged down the front.
His cock was ready to go, leaking copious amounts of what he had told me was called libo, and the head was a blue-purple. It’d been a long time since I’d taken anyone in my body, and I panicked for a moment this wasn’t the right decision. But then Fenix gazed at me in in awe, and I didn’t hesitate. Grasping the root of his shaft, I held his cock in place while I sank down onto it. His girth filled me to the brim.
“Oh Fatas,” he moaned, his tongue snaking out to wet his lips. He shifted me back so he could gaze at where we were connected. “I never thought I’d see this. I never thought I could… bear to be touched.”
I cupped his face. “Just wait, it gets better.” Lifting with my thighs, I watched as his cock slipped from my body until only the tip remained inside, before I drove back down. His body jolted, and he groaned loudly, so loudly that I clapped a hand over his mouth with a silent giggle. “Not too loud.”
“Want to shout to the whole galaxy how you make me feel.” His muffled voice came from around my fingers.
I dropped my forehead to his. “Me too,” I whispered. “Me too.”
Picking up the pace, I rode his cock. He held my waist in a tight grip and rolled his hips to my rhythm.
“I can feel your cunt dropping down my cock. Soaking my balls.” He peeled back his lips to reveal his fangs.
I held onto his shoulder as I fucked down harder. “So full.”
With a flat palm on my back, he pressed our chests together and his nostrils flared. “Come on my cock, mate. I want to watch you fall apart. Wish I had time to eat your cunt too.”
“Jesus, Fenix,” I muttered. The pressure was building in my lower spine, spurred on by his clawed hand digging into my ass. Suddenly, I felt something latch onto my clit. When a slight suction started, I let out a gasp and looked between us.
The small node I’d noticed on top of his cock was… doing something. Like a built-in sex toy, it had latched onto my clit. Not quite as great as Fenix’s mouth, but pretty damn close. I cried out as it sucked harder, and my rhythm faltered as I bucked against him.
The orgasm exploded in my core and I opened my mouth on a silent scream as I mindlessly worked myself on his shaft.
“Yes,” he growled. “Just like that. So, flecking beautiful, Jennie. So perfect on my cock.”
“Fenix,” I rasped, and at the sound of his name he shoved his face into my neck where his roar was muffled. His cock pulsed inside of me, sending his heated release deep into me.
Limbs trembling, I clung to him as he panted against the damp skin of my neck. His hands continued to roam up and down my back, pausing occasionally to rub the muscles until I was a naked puddle of goo in his lap.
We didn’t move for a long time, content to remain connected to each other. I ran my hands up his chest and neck, and he made a soft purring sound, a deep vibration rumbling in his chest that nearly lulled me to sleep.
“If we could stay like this forever, I wouldn’t need Kixx. I wouldn’t need to be in pain. I could just be.” The longing in his voice squeezed my heart.
I gripped his cheeks and brought our foreheads together. “I wish. But the answer isn’t… trading your dependence on Kixx to a dependence on me.”
“I know.” He dropped his head and let it rest on my shoulder as I combed through his hair. “I just want to be free of it all.”
I closed my eyes, wishing I could permanently take his pain away, but I was only me. A mortal human who could barely speak above a whisper.
Suddenly, the ship’s floor shuddered, and shouts rang out from the cockpit. Fenix’s head went up. “We’re docking. Hurry and get dressed and hide.”
“But what’s going to happen to you?”
He looked at me with fierce eyes as I fixed his pants. “I don’t know. And I don’t care. They can’t catch you.”
My tears blurred my vision as I pulled my clothes on. “What’s the point of staying alive if they do something to you? I don’t want to be alone in this galaxy.”
Fenix’s mouth opened, and then closed. “Jennie,” he whispered. The door’s lever turned, and Fenix hoisted me up into the duct on the ceiling. I had just closed the panel when the door opened.
Twelve
Jennie
Six Rogastix stomped into the room, led by Hirtz. “He can’t call his fire, but he can break your bones by breathing, so be careful,” he barked. Three of the crew unchained Fenix’s left hand from the wall while the other worked on his right hand. Suddenly, Hirtz inhaled deeply, and his brows lowered.
“Smells like human in here,” he murmured.
I stopped breathing when he slowly lifted his head to the ceiling. Fenix, catching on, kicked out, catching Hirtz in the knee. He yelped and hit the ground just as Fenix stood with a roar and yanked hard on the chain on his right hand. Three Rogastix went flying with the chain and hit the wall in a jumble of limbs and grunts.
“Subdue him!” Hirtz hollered as he stumbled to his feet. His eyes met mine through the
slits in the vent, and he grinned.
I let out a gasp and crawled backward, except I didn’t get far. Part of my clothing was caught on the sharp edge of a metal bolt. Frantically tugging, I let out a frustrated curse. The space was too small for me to maneuver to undress, or that would have been my next action.
In a beam of laser fire, the vent shattered, sending shards of metal flying in the small space. Instinctively covering my face with my arms, I muffled a cry of pain as a sharp fragment slashed at my shoulder. A hand reached up, and with a tearing sound that wrenched my shirt from the bolt, I was pulled through the hole. I hit the floor on my bad hip to find Fenix with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles hobbled with chains.
His eye was swelling, and his lip was bleeding again. As soon as he saw me, he dropped to his knees, defeat evident in every weary and pain-filled line on his body. “No,” he moaned, more pain in that one word than I’d ever felt in my life. I sobbed as Hirtz hauled me to my feet.
“Let’s see, you were hiding five rotations, so that’s five fingers, right? Maybe I’ll just take the whole hand.” He grasped my wrist as Fenix went wild, tugging against the six crew members holding him in place.
I went into a crocodile death roll, twisting and spitting to escape Hirtz’s hold. But he was three times the size of me and too strong. He withdrew a long, curved blade from his belt and licked the edge. A bead of blood dripped from his tongue and he grinned at me. “Which hand would you prefer to lose? Not sure I’ll obey your request, but it’s worth a try.”
I couldn’t speak even if I wanted to. My throat was clogged with tears and my vocal cords frozen in fear. Pulling back my free fist, I socked him in the crotch. With a howl, he released me. I didn’t think—I just turned and ran out the door.
