by Stella Cassy
My eyes traveled up to the black triangular cloth covering her sex. Real or imagined, a wisp of its fragrance teased my nostrils. I lifted her foot and placed it carefully on the cooling blanket.
“Lie down.” A croak in my voice forced me to clear my throat. “You will recover faster. I have Hielsrane matters to attend to.” If she had asked specifics of my business, I could not have said. Her kiss and the feel of her warm, smooth skin had emptied all but carnal thoughts from my head.
“Immediately?” She sighed.
“Soon.” One word was all I could manage.
Her mischievous eyes roved over me and a smile flitted across her face. “I won’t bite you again, Moddoc.”
Her foot tapped lightly against my thigh, sending a flutter up to my groin. To distract myself, I grasped her ankle and inspected her toe.
She pushed the tray off the cloth and scooted closer to me. She shifted my fingers down to the middle of her foot. “Massage there, before you leave, please.”
My fingers were already kneading into her delicate muscles of their own volition, talons tucked against my hand to prevent nicking her soft skin.
She closed her eyes and licked her moist lips.
“You ate more seeds than your human digestive system can process,” I said.
“Did I, Moddoc?” Her laughter filled the room like the calls from early solar birds. Her mind was no doubt in a higher stratosphere than they soared.
“Do not pretend that you are oblivious to the intoxicating effect of fruit clusters. Our inventories of your vessels revealed otherwise.”
“We acquired a lot of stuff from our last transaction that I’ve never seen before, like the little...” She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m fine, Moddoc.”
“I will return later after you have recovered fully.” I stood.
“Really? Why?” Her mouth hung open slightly. Her lips were stained orange from the cluster seeds. A stricken expression flickered across her face. A female of her beauty would rarely encounter rejection from a male of any species.
“For some, stolen sweets are irresistible,” I said, “for me, they sour on my tongue.”
She laid back, her eyes directed at the ceiling. “That sounds like a stanza from a poem, or a line in book I once read as a child maybe…”
“It is.”
She propped herself up on an elbow and fluttered her dark eyelashes my way. “What’s the name of the book?”
“Are you versed in Thirren’s literature for younglings?”
“No, I didn’t read much as a child, so I barely know any children’s stories.”
“Thirren’s young love nothing better than fiction.” No matter how many stories I wrote for my daughter, she wanted more. “My —”
“Your...” She trailed off, raising one of her thin brows at me. “So what is the title of this book?”
“It doesn’t have one, as it is unpublished. It has only been read by three people.” Two of whom were...why was I talking with her about my personal history?
“The author is you, right?” Esmerelda said as though it were an irrefutable fact. She laid flat on her back and crossed her legs with her naked foot bobbing as if she already knew that my erection had rooted me before her, that a single touch of her toe would bow my knees, and that I would sink between her satin limbs. When I didn’t respond, she winked and said in a faux whisper, “Okay, it’s top secret, sir.”
“I did feel lightheaded earlier but not now, not like when Oyna, Wrigo and...” Her voice trailed off to a whisper. She plucked at the thin cooling blanket beneath her. “We shared one of those purple tubes of ether mist from your supplies,” she in her normal voice. “Where’d you score that load from?”
She sounded lucid. Or was my prolonged abstinence stoking my libido?
“Near the central caverns on Thirren.” I gave in to an impulse I had been fighting since she put her lips on me; I kneeled before her and drew her close. My eyes darted from one corner to the next. If we were being monitored, they would think she was trying to dominate and manipulate me. Was she?
I slipped my hands behind her neck and brought her lips to mine. Four quick, gentle kisses at the corners of her mouth were all I would allow myself before releasing her.
She pulled my mouth back to hers and sucked at bottom lip, as I moved to pull away. My groan buzzed against her closed lips. As her tongue flicked out against my bottom lip, a soft growl escaped my lips and I tugged her closer. Pulling her in for another kiss, I traced her hips lightly, my talons scraping against the fabric of her underwear.
“Touch me here,” she breathed, breaking the kiss. She placed her hand over mine and guided it down, underneath the black cloth and into the unencumbered warmth between her thighs.
My whole body froze. Would my desire die at a crucial point the way my fire had? My fingers sank deeper in her slick heat, claws completely hidden to avoid hurting her. My thumb massaged her outer folds while my fingers delved every part of her sex. My nose infused with her redolent, feminine essence.
Her body arched and I drew closer, groaning when my cock pressed against her.
“If you take your clothes off, you’ll be more comfortable,” she whispered.
“So would you, without all this,” I said. “How do I remove it?” The material encasing her only fanned the heat rising in my core.
“No need.” She pulled the material apart down the middle of her chest revealing an invisible seam with what looked like a network of wires intricate enough to confound a master lock breaker. “They get stuck.” She fiddled with them so long I wanted to help but knew I would only rip the material.
“Why do you hide your natural beauty with this restrictive garment?” I asked.
“I need it.”
“Not with me.” Without all her accouterments, she was as human as Lara and Natalie but perfect in every.
“As a fail-safe for my wing straps.” She laughed. “What happened to that Hielsrane business you had to attend to, Moddoc?”
Unlike earlier, warmth radiated through my chest at her use of my name. Not for the first time, an instinct I could not name prompted me to say her name.
“Esmerelda,” I whispered, my voice gravelly to my own ears. I turned the syllables over in mouth, in my head. “What do those words mean?”
“We have limited time so we should use it well, right?” She grinned, leaning over to caress the scales on my neck. “If I remember correctly, you didn’t like it when I touched you there with my taser. Let’s see how you feel about kisses?” Her cool lips brushed lightly against my neck, and her teeth nipped into the tender skin between my scales.
Suddenly nervous, my eyes flitted to the circular monitors in the ceiling. Dashel, Lehar or his crew members might be on the bridge. I paused, before expanding my wings partway. They billowed above us.
“Why’d you do that?”
“The cell is monitored.”
“Who cares?” She stood and pushed me on my back. Straddling my waist she ran her hands under my tunic and beneath the waistband of my pants. Every muscle in my lower body tensed. The thought of her soft hands caressing my cock was too much as she pulled the fabric of my pants down, freeing my cock.
I teased the delicate folds above and around her sex until my fingers were wet with her essence. “May I enter you?”
Despite her tiny stature, her eyes widened but held no fear. “Thanks for asking, and the answer is an irrevocable yes. Now.”
Whoever was watching would see me, but for some reason, I wanted them to see as little as possible of her. For such a tiny female that would not be hard. I flipped her on her back.
She frowned, then her mouth lifted on one side. “Alright, for now.”
I plastered my hands against her chest as wide as possible to caress every part of her even though the majority of her body was covered by her protective garment. Except for one key spot.
I parted her legs and eased inside her, pumping lightly as long as I c
ould. She moaned, reached up and yanked on my hair, pulling me down to meet her lips.
My mouth hungrily pressed against hers, drawing her tongue inside mine immediately. With every thrust of my lower body, I pulled her tongue deeper into mine. Our mouths remained connected as our perspiration mixed and our breaths synchronized.
She broke off our kiss, threw her head back, and gripped my hair tighter as her body shook and her muscles clenched and pulsed underneath me. As her body quieted, all of a sudden, my release exploded.
13
Esmerelda
I sighed and stretched my arms and legs as far as I could. I wiggled my toes, flexing my bad foot and realizing with surprise that it felt as normal as the other.
A small smile played on my lips as I thought about last night. Moddoc was fascinating. From the top of his head full of hair, to those wings, to the ivory and silver scales on his neck, chest and the side of his face. I’d never known anyone quite like him. At least not physically.
Who would have thought someone of his size would have such a deft touch? Was his breath always that warm? I’d been with a Moptae, Quaefoi, and Tylooa but none of them made me want to moan for more, to forget the chaos I’d brought to our little fleet when I reeled Moddoc Hielsrane into our sphere.
After he stopped snarling and frowning at me, I had almost asked him about Almorday again. If I had, I probably would have been thrown back in that cage. I’d never have another experience like this again.
The whole point of kissing him was so that I could break out of here. Was he diabolical enough to have planned every minute? He knew I would touch that cage. What prisoner wouldn’t?
I needed some of whatever that cage was made of. Who needed a taser or pain stick when you could get them to inflame their own skin? He’d made me forget all about the key card with his Drakon techniques.
The Hielsrane were responsible for blowing up one of my ships and Lognx with it. I’d slept with one of his killers. And worst of all, I liked it. Loved it. I gritted my teeth and shook my head. I had to make this right.
I scrambled to my feet and threw the covering off me. At least he’d left it. I didn’t want a repeat of that itching, so deep I would have gladly scratched to my bones to stop it.
I wanted to use the silver blanket to wrap my hands, so I could get to work on the poisonous rope-like bars that kept me in. I took a pin from my hair and tried to use the sharp point to cut at the blanket. It tore in big, jagged, uneven lines, and I frowned at the mess of it I was making.
Tucking the pin back into my hair, I abandoned the technique, tearing the blanket instead. Soon I had a strip long enough to wrap around my hands.
The next stage would be to begin dismantling the poisonous bars from my cage, using my hairpins to assist me again. I examined the base of one of the bars, where it attached to the floor. Close up, I could see that it was actually wire, covered with a thin layer of the poisonous tarp. Perhaps I could remove the thin tarp and get to work on the wire. Better yet, perhaps I could wrap some of it over my wrapped hand, turning my fists into deadly stinging weapons. I smiled at the thought.
My daydreams of poisoning everyone on the ship with flurries of punches were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming my way.
I dropped the blanket and draped it over me. I tried on a post-coital smile, which had to look as fake as it felt. If he wanted another roll around on the floor, he wasn’t leaving until I got that card. I unwound one of the wires in my hair and stuck it under the covers.
A salmon colored Drakon, barely seven feet tall, carried a tray inside. He bent and set it on the floor.
Just as the Drakon was about to look up, I brought my fist down on the back of his neck. He grunted and made a grab for my ankle. I kicked his hand into the wall of poison. Snarling, he yanked it away while I snagged the blaster from the belt around his waist.
I bounded across his back, then slid my wing release to maximum. They swooshed open. I was going to need every advantage I possessed to get out of here. A defunct superhero down on her luck was what I felt like, dressed in just my underwear and body shield.
I sprinted up the hall and peered around the corner. Going by instinct alone, I kicked off, then flew down the hallway and took the first left I arrived at.
At the next hallway I turned right. Following my instinct had worked for me last time. I just hoped I was headed to the exit, back to my ship. What was I going to do then? Let Tarion Hielsrane blow us all into the next galaxy? Well, I would figure it out like I always had. I made another left and landed—a dead end. I backtracked and walked to the next right.
Garbled voices ahead stopped me in my tracks. I listened. They were speaking in another language, one my translation chip obviously didn’t know. How did they manage that?
Not being able to understand was a strange, unpleasant sensation. I wasn’t used to it. It had been more than a decade since I left Earth and got my first translator inserted, and since then I’d never run into such a situation. Sure, there were written symbols I didn’t understand, but it was the first time in years that actual speech had become unintelligible to me.
“—Captain Black.” A few words, not enough, were being translated. I realized what was going on. My chip had to be malfunctioning.
Behind me came another voice in the same weird language. I wasn’t going back in that cage. There were two doors on each side of the hall. The access panels were all red except for the first one on my right, which was green. I pressed the green button and the door slid open into a dark room. No movement. I ducked into the room and the door shut behind me. I pressed my ear to the door and held my breath, praying whoever was out there passed by this room.
Puffs of hot air beat the back of my neck. Oh shit. A quiet laugh, one I’d heard not too long ago, broke the silence. Moddoc’s tail wrapped around my waist, his hands gripped my shoulder, and he pushed me tightly against the door.
His masculine, fiery scent, more than anything, confirmed it was him; It reminded me of all things toasty. I knocked my left shoulder into the wall. Lognx usually handled any malfunctions with the translators.
“Do not scream or fight Esmerelda.”
Light filled the room. I ground my teeth and turned my head to look back at the fat grin on Moddoc Hielsrane’s face.
14
Moddoc
“I didn’t expect another joining with you until later,” I whispered, pressing my lips against her delicate ear. Muscles in my lower body tensed in anticipation of another flood of pleasure hormones.
She twisted to face me and looped her arms around my neck, looking up at me with glittering eyes. Her eyes so recently lustful were murderous. She bared her teeth at me and yanked on a thin blue cord.
I wheezed and scratched at my throat.
Spirits of Thirren, why did she lower my defenses so easily? She was the reason I had added to my disgrace by being captured. My caudal circled her throat. She yelped, her hands reaching up to free herself.
As her nails bit into my caudal, I loosened it with a growl. A broken sigh passed out through her petal lips and her body went limp. Her sky-colored eyes fluttered closed, and her head drooped sideways. An image of those brilliant blue irises clouding over for eternity flashed through my mind. Like my mate. Like Almordae. No. No more. I relaxed my grip and shook her by the shoulders, my talons pricking her skin.
Was I too late? Was she transitioning into spirit form? Not her too.
Her eyes popped open, still as crystal blue as ever. She gasped and drew in deep breaths. A sputter of unintelligible words came out of her mouth. She rubbed at the pink splotches ringing her neck. One side of her mouth slanted up.
“You...didn’t murder me.”
“I do not want to kill you.”
“You almost did. I really did enjoy our time in the cage,” she said softly.
“Did you?”
“Yes.” She bowed her head. It was already crashing forward and down before I knew what she was planning.
The jewels at the top of her head jabbed into my throat along with her cranium. Her hands thrust my chest back and I fell back onto the bed.
She pounded a fist on the access panel and was out in the corridor by the time I was on my feet. I tore into the hall after her.
She was airborne. My wings spread automatically only to be clipped by the narrow hall, which was the perfect width for her wings. I whipped my caudal between my legs and whacked her across her buttocks. A yelp wrenched from her as she stumbled forward.
She slapped a hand on the wall at the end of the corridor and catapulted herself around the corner, her laughter ribboning behind her.
I growled in frustration, stopping in my tracks. Why chase her? Let her run around the ship in circles. Why go the long way around when I could take a shorter route and be there waiting for her at the loading bay?
I alerted Dashel’s crew members that she was at large. “Force her back to the docking bay exit if you encounter her. She is unarmed but do not approach her.” She might kill Dashel’s crew with her bare hands like she had tried to do with me.
I rubbed the abrasion circling my neck. Despite the sting, I found myself smiling. I had not ended her life. Esmerelda Black was alive.
I strolled to the docking exit and leaned back against the door. I stilled my mind. All my senses diverted to her arrival as I waited with my ears and nose wide open to catch her sounds and scents, already so familiar to me.
Sooner than I expected, the flap of her wings pricked my ears and grew closer. When her feet hit the floor, I timed each footfall with my own and crept to the corner where she would soon appear.
I halted. When her scent was as close as if she were standing in front of me, I stepped forward just as she stepped around the corner into my arms.
She screamed. I lifted her up into my arms and put my mouth on hers until she was quiet. One last kiss from the female who had abducted, tortured, and tried to murder me multiple times.
“You prefer the cage to my quarters,” I whispered against her lips. “You will not escape again, so do not struggle.”
