by Ella Maven
She clenched her jaw and brought her knees up to her chest. When she spoke again, the fight had left her, and her voice rang hollow. “Well, they never start out assholes, do they?”
I took a deep breath and spoke as plainly as I could. “I’ve seen some scary things on this planet. I was almost dinner to a pack of hippo-looking things that terrified the shit out of me. You saw what that Kulk did to me. He nearly punched my face off. So, if you want to take your chances out there, you can go, Justine.” I pointed behind me. “There’s the door. All I know is that I met a woman who has lived with a Drixonian for ten years, and she’s happy, well-fed, and clearly loved and in love. I’m not saying you have to be the barefoot and pregnant mate to any of these guys. But I do want you to be safe. And these guys are our absolute best shot on a strange planet.” I lowered my tone. “I can tell you’re independent, so this is probably killing you. I’m sorry for that. I’m terribly fucking sorry, but this is our situation, and I’m just trying to survive. I want you to survive with me.”
For a while Justine didn’t move. Hell, she barely blinked. Even I was shocked at my own words. Had I really said all that?
She studied me with wide eyes and parted lips. Finally, her chin dropped to her knees and she heaved a shaky breath. I didn’t miss the way she rapidly blinked and swiped at her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said. The tension in the room deflated liked a popped balloon. Tabitha scooched a bit closer to Justine and stroked her palm.
I sighed “Don’t apologize—”
“I’m being a bitch. I know I am. I’m scared and tired and I just want to go home, okay?” She ran her hands through her hair, sending her bangs haywire. “I didn’t mean to make you angry, Frankie. You’re being sweet. Hell, if I were you, I would have smacked me five minutes ago.”
“I’ve had more time to think about this stuff than you,” I said. “Because I’ve had plenty of situations where Daz has proven himself to be trustworthy, and I’ve also had more time where I’ve been able to communicate with him. I don’t judge you, Justine.”
She nodded. “Thank you. Hap has been sweet, and the rest of the guys haven’t hurt us. I’m not taking my chances on my own. I’ll be fine right here. I’ll try to be more open-minded.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being cautious,” Miranda said. Then she grinned. “You can remind us all to keep our wits about us when we get too trusting. How’s that?”
Justine smiled, and when she did, her whole face shifted. Dimples indented her cheeks and her eyes crinkled. “Sure, that’s a job I’ll be great at.”
The women continued to eat, chatting with Hap, as the atmosphere in the room lifted with optimism.
Miranda plopped down next to me. “So,” she said as she nudged me with her elbow. “I guess we did happen to run into the good guys, huh?”
I laughed as I turned and caught Daz’s eye in the other room. “I guess we did,” I said softly. “I guess we did.”
I felt my body being jostled, and I awoke with a start, immediately alarmed. I calmed at the scent of Daz and the familiar strong arms around me. The last thing I remembered was lying down while the women continued to talk around me. I must have fallen asleep as night had fallen.
Daz carried me from the women’s room to a smaller room at the back of the building. I rubbed my eyes and blinked them to see a lone bed pad on the floor. He lowered me onto it and immediately covered my body with his.
He didn’t bother with words. After kissing me, he slid down my body. I wore only one of Anna’s loose sleep shirts, and he wasted no time hauling it up to my waist and settling himself between my legs. “Mmmm,” he hummed, brushing my clit with the tip of his nose. The ring in his septum was cold, and I jerked at the contrast with his hot breath. “Thought of this all day.”
“You were just down there this morning,” I murmured groggily.
“What’s your point?” he asked before he lapped at me.
I laughed breathlessly. “You’re right. I have no point.”
“Did my mate enjoy her female time?” He hummed against me.
He wanted to talk now? I gripped his horns at the base where I knew they were sensitive. “Yes, I did.”
His tongue stopped. “Are you trying to rush me?”
I squirmed under him. “No.”
He blew a stream of cool breath on my hot, wet folds. “I think you’re lying.”
“Daz,” I whined.
“Greedy,” he murmured as he licked me. “So greedy.”
His fingers joined his tongue, slipping inside me on a slow glide as he teased my clit. My back arched, and I held onto his horns like handlebars, urging him on. His tail snuck up, and the tip tickled my nipples. Drixonians didn’t have prehensile tails like monkeys, but they were surprisingly agile.
“How did you get so good at this?” I murmured. “You lick me like you have experience.”
“Our elder males made sure we all learned ways to please females,” his voice rumbled against my pussy. “It’s a part of us we couldn’t let die.”
“God bless your elders.” I sighed. I let him work me over until every inch of my skin felt sensitized to the point of near pain. When I came on a shout of ecstasy, he slid up my body and plunged into me in one fluid motion. I gasped, my breath leaving me in a rush as he speared me with his thick length. His piercing raked the sensitive tissues inside me, sending me soaring and extending my orgasm into one long lightning rod of pleasure.
I gripped his shoulders and shuddered around him as he fucked me fast and hard. His hair swirled around me, tickling my eyes, ears, and nose as he huffed like a prized bull. A beautiful, muscled prized bull.
He didn’t speak, and I didn’t either, too overcome with welling emotions. Inside my mind, his aura swirled like a tornado, picking up all my scattered thoughts and centering them on him. Only him. I could only feel, see, and smell Daz as he took from my body what I readily gave. What I’d always give.
Another orgasm slammed into me, and his cock plunged inside me wetly as he roared and pulsed, coating me with his release.
When his elbows gave out, he fell on me and then rolled to his side to relieve me of his weight. His back heaved and sweat slicked our skin between us. He was still inside me, still half-hard, and I found I didn’t want him to leave.
“I’m starting to believe in your Fatas,” I whispered into the dark. His body went still, and his breath stalled. “Nothing has ever felt this right in my life. It’s almost too good to be true.”
He blinked at me and shifted so his cock slipped from my body. He pressed his heavy thigh against my core in a way that made me suck in a breath. His big thumbs brushed my cheeks and his nose brushed mine. “I’ll destroy anything that tries to take you from me. You know that, right?”
I nodded, and his head descended to the pillow beside mine. His fingers sifted through my hair, and the gentle tug soothed me. Still, I thought of his words. He could make those promises, but there were things that even Daz couldn’t fight. The past had proved that. What would the future hold? Those were my last thoughts before sleep claimed me again.
Sixteen
Daz
I didn’t want to leave the warmth of Fra-kee’s embrace, but now that she was asleep, I had to talk to Gar and the rest of my males. I made a promise to her, and I wouldn’t let her down. Not even over my dead body.
I slipped from her arms, and she remained asleep, dead to the world. It had been a long day, and she had cried her tears many times. The women had asked her a lot of questions, and I couldn’t imagine talking as much as Fra-kee had today.
Still, she’d been brilliant. The other women trusted her and respected her from what I could tell, and I knew Fatas had chosen wisely for me. Fuck Fatas, I’d have chosen Fra-kee regardless of the loks.
I pulled on a pair of pants and buckled them over my tail. I left the bedroom, closing the door behind me softly before striding into the main room. Gar, Xavy, and Nero looked up from where they lo
unged near a small hearth fire.
“Where’s Hap?” I asked, taking a mug from Xavy’s outstretched hand. I had missed his spirits. I took a gulp of the strong brew and relished the heat sliding down my throat.
“Sleeping with the women,” Gar grunted.
I turned toward the closed door. “What? Why?”
“He always does. He takes his protection duty seriously.”
I shrugged and took a seat on a bench along the wall. I stretched out my legs in front of me. “As long as the women are okay with it.” I drank more. Fleck, it’d been a crazy few days. Had it only been a few days? I glanced up to see all three males watching me. “What?”
Xavy tongued the corner of his mouth. He tipped his head toward the door that Fra-kee slept behind. “You were not quiet.”
“No?” I raised an eyebrow nub.
Nero snorted while Gar continued to glower into his own mug.
“I was taking notes. For when it’s my turn.” Xavy grinned. “A question. After she screamed her pleasure the first time, what did you—?”
“For fleck’s sake, Xavy,” Gar said. “Shut up.”
Xavy didn’t even flinch. “You can’t tell me you weren’t listening.”
Gar flared his nostrils at me. “I have been stuck with this asshole for too long. Tell us what our next steps are and please say it involves killing someone.”
Nero let out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s been like this between them for rotations.”
I swirled the spirits in my mug. “The Uldani expect a delivery of six human females in two rotations.”
The mood in the room immediately shifted. Even Xavy brooded as he stared into the fire.
“We only have five females,” Gar said.
“We have none,” I growled. “We will not be giving the Uldani even a hair on any of their heads.”
“And what do you plan to tell them, then?” he asked.
“We can tell them the females died,” Xavy suggested.
I’d already told them about Tark, and how some of the females on Anna’s ship had died. “Then they will abduct more. And we will be asked to deliver those.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Xavy asked. “They are holding Sax.”
Sax was Xavy’s best friend. They were nearly inseparable, and Xavy blamed himself for Sax getting taken. I tapped my fingers on my mug. “I don’t have all the answers yet, but I need to make it clear that the females are not a bargaining tool. We will keep them safe. I need agreement from all of you.”
Xavy, Nero, and even Gar nodded immediately. We’d seen the aftermath of what the Uldani had done to some of our kind. The thought of them picking apart females was unimaginable.
“Let’s go over again how Sax was captured,” I said.
“He said he’d found salibri tracks,” Xavy said. Salibris had thick coats we used as blankets. “I told him I’d go with him, but he left without me because he’s Sax.”
“Impatient and impulsive,” I muttered.
“When I followed the tracks after him, I found where there had been a fight. At first, I thought he’d tangled with a salibri, but Sax wouldn’t be stupid enough to battle those skilled predators one-on-one. After that, his tracks disappeared. I returned to the settlement and that was when we received communication from the Uldani that they had Sax.”
Remembering that call made me grind my teeth. He’d been bruised, but still smirking, as they’d tugged his head back roughly and held a dagger to his throat. My brother. My last living blood relative.
I dropped my empty mug on the floor and braced my elbows on my knees, hanging my head. Moments ago, I’d been inside Fra-kee while my brother was still locked away. The ever-present guilt I carried tightened my chest so that I could barely breathe. “Fleck,” I said.
“I’ve been studying the recorded video,” Nero said. He held a comm device and on the table were a few scribbled notes. “And the Uldani gave more clues than we realized.”
I tried not to be too optimistic, but then Nero was just as talented as Tark at tech. “And?”
“Let’s not do that suspense thing, Nero,” Xavy said. “Out with it.”
“They want us to believe they have him at a super-secret hideout, right? That was what they said in the call. But I don’t think they do. I’m not even sure they have any hideouts. I think they have him right inside the Alazar.”
I straightened. “The Alazar?” That was the main building housing all Uldani royalty and their military. It was surrounded by massive stone walls, and the only way inside was through fortified gates. “Explain.”
He tapped his notes. “The walls behind him. That is unmistakably quazal stone, and the quazal stone on this planet is in the Alazar.”
The Uldani had mined all the quazal on this planet. Unless they found a new quarry, which was doubtful, then Nero was right.
“And they didn’t move him.” Xavy glanced at me. “We received another message when you were gone.”
I leapt to my feet. “Why didn’t you tell me this yet?”
“The women were awake, and you said no business talk until dark,” Xavy said.
I scrubbed my hands down my face. Everything was complicated. I hadn’t told Fra-kee about my brother yet, because I could still picture her face when I’d told her about the Drixonian past. She’d been that upset for my people. How would she react when she learned about my brother? She’d be heartbroken. So, I wanted to tell her my plan for how we’d get him back. That is, when I had a plan. Right now, I had a whole lot of nothing.
I strode over to Nero and stared down at the comm. “Show me.”
Nero and Gar exchanged a look before he played the video. The screen flickered and then Sax came into focus. I inhaled sharply. Both of his eyes were bruised and one of them had a cut beneath it. He flicked his tongue over his lip rings and black blood oozed from a split in his lower lip. I curled my hands into fists to keep from throwing a chair into the fire.
“He’s still alive,” a nasal-y Uldani voice came from off camera. It was a voice I recognized, and pure rage sparked inside me, roaring to life like a cornered salibri. “Four more days until we expect the cargo. If it’s not delivered, then we’ll start sending him to you in pieces.”
Sax rolled his eyes, and a Kulk hand entered the frame to knock him in the temple. Sax absorbed the blow and let his head drop between his shoulders. His long, braided hair swirled, and the colors on his skin shifted. He was angry and in pain.
The same Kulk hand gripped his hair roughly and jerked his head back awkwardly. “Want to plead for your brother to save your life? Anything else you want to say?” the Uldani said. That voice.
I dug my claws into my palms until pain streaked up my arms.
Sax’s chest heaved, and his eyes focused on the recording device. For a moment, I thought he would plead, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take my proud brother begging. “Yeah,” he said. “There is something I’d like to say.” Dread filled me, but then Sax’s lips curled into a smirk. “You Uldani are the ugliest flecks on this planet and—”
The screen went dark, and my knees gave out. I braced myself on the back of Nero’s chair. “Fleck,” I said. “Fleck, fleck, fleck.” Rage simmered under my skin, and my machets itched to be released. I wanted my brother safe in front of me, annoying me with his smirks and his pranks. I wanted—
“Daz?” Fra-kee’s voice sounded in my ears, and I thought I was imagining it for a second until it came again, firmer. “Dazeem, turn around.”
I turned and found her standing in the doorway, legs braced shoulder-width apart. She gestured toward the comm device with a flailing arm. “What the hell was that?”
Frankie
Yes, it was sneaky as hell to listen to the Drixonians talk through a crack in the door. But I didn’t regret it. Not one bit. Because Daz had been keeping something from me. Something huge.
“Tell me I’m mistaken,” I said, as Daz stood frozen while the rest of the males pretended that the fi
re was fascinating. “Tell me I didn’t hear that the Uldani are holding your brother—and hurting him—” Shit, my voice cracked as I remembered the male’s bruised face. “In exchange for us.”
I’d heard every word. I’d woken up when he left the bed. He wasn’t going to hand us over to the Uldani, even if it meant losing his brother who they held hostage. I tossed my hair as furious tears streamed from my eyes. “Daz, he’s your brother—”
“You think I don’t know that!” he roared, coming unglued from his spot and slamming his fist down on the table. Nero jolted in his seat. “What do you propose I do, then, hmm? You want me to march you and your friends to their gates so they can perform their twisted experiments on you?” He stalked toward me, the colors on his scales shifting rapidly in anger. “Do you want to know what they did to some of us?”
Oh shit. I’d waved a red flag in front of the bull. Maybe I should have reconsidered my approach for this confrontation. “Daz,” I whispered as I backed up a step.
“They cut off our machets so we couldn’t defend ourselves. They stuck us full of hormones until we grew hard and they milked our cocks until we were husks. What do you think they’ll do to you? Why do you think they want females?”
The pain in his voice made it seem as though the vile things he’d described had been done to him. I knew they hadn’t, but I understood Daz took every injury to his species—every affront—personally. “Daz,” I gasped. I couldn’t take another step away. My back hit a wall.
He stopped inches from me and leaned down so our noses nearly brushed. “They want wombs. That is it. That is all you will be to them, and who knows what they’ll do to you or the life they manage to grow inside of you. I can guarantee this—you will not last long.”
“I know that!” I shouted back, wiping at my tears with furious swipes. “But we have to do something. We can’t let them kill your brother. I never had a sibling, but I’m sure you’re close and—”
