by Luna Voss
“That’s a tusk-bear?” I say in amazement. “But it’s adorable! I just want to pick it up and squeeze it!”
“You shouldn’t do that,” says Karsh, laughing. “Where there’s a baby tusk-bear, mama tusk-bear won’t be far behind. And trust me, you don’t want to meet mama tusk-bear.”
“No, I definitely don’t want to meet mama tusk-bear. So what do we do with it?”
Karsh raises an eyebrow. “Do with it? It’s a wild animal. We leave the cub alone and let mama take care of it.”
This makes sense. Karsh keeps walking, and I follow behind him.
“I take it you’ve never seen a tusk-bear before?” he asks me.
“I’ve barely seen any animals before,” I admit. “At least, not the dangerous ones. I’ve hardly even left New Byzantium. “When I was working at the solar farm, back when you… Anyway, that’s about the farthest from the settlement that I’ve ever been.”
Karsh looks amazed. “The solar farm was not far from the settlement. That isn’t very far at all. How is it possible that you have traveled so little?”
“Humans don’t travel very much, if you hadn’t noticed. It’s a little bit more dangerous for us than it is for Kyrzons. We don’t have tusk-oxen to ride, and we can’t win fights with tusk-bears or raptors.”
He strokes his chin under his mask. “I guess I had not considered this. Do most humans stay in the settlement in which they were born?”
“It’s not that unusual to move around a bit within Human Territory. Between the different settlements, you know. But for the most part, yes. Travel is dangerous. Most humans avoid it if they can.”
Karsh doesn’t answer me immediately. “This is very foreign to me,” he says finally. “In the lands of my home, in what you would call the Far Territories, we must travel often. Often and far. Anytime one wishes to purchase a Bride, or to trade with the clans near the border of Human Territory. We get used to traveling. I could not imagine staying in one place for so very long.”
“It gets boring,” I tell him honestly. “There’s not a lot to do. Just work, mostly. And since I’m a Kyrzon Bride, most of the work isn’t even very interesting. They don’t want to put resources into training me for anything very complex, because I’ll be sold when I turn 20.” I pause. “Or you know. That’s the way things used to be.”
Even as I say the words, I’m surprised at my casual tone. I should be a lot more angry at him for kidnapping me. But truth be told, I don’t feel much worse off right now than I did a week ago. A week ago, my life was boring, empty. I feel like I should resent Karsh for capturing me, from tearing me away from my life, but I don’t. After talking to him, I have a better understanding of why he did it, and I don’t consider his reasons to be evil. I don’t like that I’m still a captive, but other than binding my wrists, he hasn’t treated me poorly.
My feelings toward him are confused, to say the least.
We both fall silent for a little while, trudging through the forest’s thick underbrush.
“Can I ask you a question?” asks Karsh, sounding slightly hesitant.
“Sure,” I say, amused by his reticence.
“Have you ever… have you ever been bred before?”
Definitely not what I expected him to ask. I feel warmth creeping into my cheeks. There’s something about his use of the word bred the makes me feel… Well, it makes me feel all sorts of things.
“No,” I admit, my face burning.
“So you’re a virgin?”
“Why are you asking me this?”
“I wish to know.”
“Yes, I’m a virgin,” I tell him, keeping my voice low even though I know there’s no one to overhear.
“You asked me about kissing earlier. Is kissing something you enjoy?”
I don’t answer right away. It’s silly, but I’m embarrassed to admit to him that I haven’t even had my first kiss.
“I don’t know,” I mumble.
“What’s that?” asks the Kyrzon, clearly not having heard me.
“I don’t know!” I say louder, my voice a little bit sharp. “I’ve never kissed anyone before, okay?”
He gets quiet, and I don’t say anything either. All this talk of kissing and breeding has created a tension between us, one so thick that I’m pretty sure Karsh could slash it with his dagger. The fact that he’s a man and I’m a woman has never been more glaringly apparent. I catch him glancing at me as we walk, and suddenly, it’s like I perceive an interest in me that wasn’t there before. Or that he was doing a better job of keeping hidden. Either way, I can’t help but notice the way his eyes linger on my curves.
I fall slightly behind him as we walk, and for some reason, I can’t take my eyes off of his broad shoulders. He’s so nicely built that it’s distracting. Very distracting. The idea of letting him claim me with those strong hands, of allowing him to do to me what he’s spent his whole life desiring to do to a woman, is… also distracting.
So that’s what I find myself thinking about as I trudge through the forest with Karsh, admiring his perfectly V-shaped figure. Hey, a girl’s allowed to fantasize, right?
Chapter Eleven
As day turns to night, we start looking for a place to make camp.
“I think I see a cave up ahead,” I say, squinting at something off in the distance.
“That would be good,” says Karsh. “Caves are safe.”
We keep walking toward it, and sure enough, I see the dark entrance to a cave in the side of a rock face.
“Stay here,” he warns me, reaching into his satchel and pulling out an electric light. “I’m going to make sure the cave is safe.”
I eye the light, surprised to see it. I had thought a Kyrzon would use a torch or something. “Am I going to be safe out here with my wrists tied together?”
“Safer than you would be if I find a tusk-bear inside,” he replies, and then walks confidently into the cave’s entrance without another word.
I shuffle my feet, waiting for him to return. I feel helpless without him. I don’t know what I would do if I were faced by some kind of threat.
To my relief, Karsh and his light appear only a few moments later.
“It’s safe,” he says to me. “It doesn’t look like anything else has lived here for a long while.”
I follow him inside, a little bit nervous. Going into an abandoned cave in the middle of the Kyrzon wilderness seems like the kind of thing that might be dangerous. But with Karsh with me, I trust that I’m safe.
“We can sleep in here,” he says, dropping his pack and starting to set up the bed roll. “A little better than last night, huh?”
I struggle to scratch an itch on the top of my head with my tied-up hands. “Yeah, I guess so. Definitely more secluded.”
Karsh sets up a fire at the entrance to the cave, and we sit next to it, warming our hands. The night here is chillier than I’m used to this time of year in New Byzantium, and it’s definitely nice to have a fire. I want to ask Karsh to untie my wrists, but somehow, I just can’t work up the nerve. There’s a nice rapport between us now, and I don’t want to do anything to ruin it.
“Thanks,” I say as he hands me a piece of bread from his satchel. I clutch it in my hands, munching on it.
“You seem to enjoy Kyrzon cooking,” says Karsh, looking pleased.
I swallow my mouthful. “It’s good. Not too different from human cooking, actually.”
“I believe it is humans who taught us how to make bread,” he tells me. “Or at least, that is how the story goes. Kyrzons didn’t start baking bread until after the First Auction.”
“The First Auction?” I repeat. I’m fascinated by this. I never learned anything growing up about the first generation of Brides to be sold to the Kyrzons. But Karsh is referring to it as though it’s a famous event everyone would have heard of.
“You have not heard of this?” says Karsh, his eyes lighting up.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. I take another bite of my br
ead. “Do you want to tell me?”
He looks a little bit embarrassed. “Well, it’s just a legend. I don’t really know if it’s true. But where I come from, they say that the first human to be auctioned as a Bride was named Sarah. According to legend, she volunteered to do it, in order to save our two peoples. We know her as the First Bride. She is a much-revered figure. “
Interesting. “I’ve never heard of any of this. Do all the different tribes have this legend?”
Karsh shrugs. “I believe that all the tribes in the Far Territories do. I cannot speak of the clans in this region. What legends do your people tell about the Kyrzon Brides?”
I consider his question. “I’m not really sure we have legends about it. I was taught in school that humans and Kyrzons have had a pact for hundreds of years, and that this pact has kept humans safe and allowed Kyrzons to survive. There might have been a little more detail about it in history class, but I don’t remember anything specific. Mostly what I remember is when my name was drawn from the Lottery when I was 13.”
The alien watches me. He seems captivated by what I’m saying. I continue, my confidence bolstered by his attention:
“When my name came out of the lottery, they took me along with all the other girls my age who had been chosen, and we had to sit through this long training. A bunch of stuff about how being a Kyrzon Bride was a sacred honor, and we would be fulfilling our highest duty. A bunch of details about the auction process, and how when we turned 20, we would be sold.”
“Did you not know?” asks Karsh. “About the auction process.”
I smile wryly. “Oh, believe me, we knew. Everyone my age knew. Especially the girls. It was like, the main thing we gossiped about. Who would become a Kyrzon Bride, who had already been chosen, what it would be like when…”
I trail off, glad that he can’t see my reddening cheeks in the darkness. I feel like I’m getting dangerously close to revealing to him the degree to which Kyrzons are a subject of sexual fascination for women in my position.
“So you’ve known since you were 13 years old that you would be sold at auction?”
I nod.
Karsh is silent for a moment. He looks like he has something else he wants to say, but then thinks better of it. He reaches into his satchel and pulls out a cloth-wrapped block of cheese.
“I’ll be right back,” he tells me, getting up and walking out into the dark night. “I’m going to go find some sticks to roast the cheese.”
Chapter Twelve
Karsh extinguishes the fire after dinner. And then it’s time for bed. I feel excited butterflies dancing around my stomach as the moment gets closer. There’s only one bed roll, after all. Just like last night. The idea of being so close to him, of cuddling up next to him under the covers, is appealing to me in a way that makes my lower body tingle.
I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he finishes putting out the fire, memories of him holding me this morning fresh in my mind. My heart is beating faster than usual. I’m waiting for him to suggest that we go to bed together. I don’t have any reason to expect more from it than last time, but the chemistry we’ve developed over the last day is undeniable. Alien kidnapper or not, I like talking to him. And I like the way it feels when he touches me.
“Are you tired?” Karsh asks, glancing over at me.
“Yeah,” I lie, my heart pounding. “Are you ready for bed?”
“I am,” says the Kyrzon, walking into the cave to join me. He sits down on the bed roll and motions for me to sit down next to him. I do so.
“Can I get you anything before sleep?” he asks me, his voice gruff.
You can untie my damn hands, I think.
“No, thank you,” I say, wiggling under the covers.
Karsh gets under the covers next to me. I can feel the warmth emanating from his body, so close, and yet so far. I badly want to reach out, to touch him, to feel his warm skin pressed against mine. I want to know what it’s like to experience him in all his masculine glory, to feel his taught muscles, hear his groans.
Bad Selena. Naughty Selena.
I inch myself closer to him under the covers, just ever so slightly. I move so slowly, so gently that I don’t even cause a ripple on the surface of the blanket. I’m hoping that he’ll shift positions and bump up against me accidentally.
He does. A moment later, he turns, and his knee touches mine. He doesn’t move it away. I start to creep closer to him, moving a fraction of an inch at a time. Soon, a good portion of our legs are touching. I focus on the sensation, enjoying the sense of closeness. I wonder if he feels it, too.
After a little while, Karsh turns over onto his side so that he’s facing me. I can’t help but notice that he positions himself so that our knees are still touching. A tingle of excitement runs through me. His body is so close to mine.
I turn over onto my side as well, facing away from him. My intention is to settle into a position where my butt is pressed against him, but I misjudge the distance, and wind up so that now we aren’t touching at all. Great. I can’t think of a subtle way to bridge the several inches of space between us.
But Karsh makes it easy for me. He shifts slightly, and I feel his big, hard body touching me once again from behind. I let out a little sigh.
I’m absolutely wide-awake lying in the cave next to Karsh. All I can think about is how close we are together, the way I can feel his warmth pressing against my butt. My heart is beating rapidly. I don’t want this situation to end with us just falling asleep. Whatever crazy urge it is I’m feeling in this moment, I want more.
So I wiggle myself backward, less subtly than I did before. The Kyrzon emits a quickly-stifled groan as I push my butt into where I imagine his crotch to be. I’m not entirely certain, but I think I can feel the bulge of his cock through the multiple layers of clothing.
He shifts positions again, this time putting an arm around me. My eyes shoot open as excitement surges through me. He’s holding me now, just like last time. It’s unmistakably intimate. There’s no denying the forwardness of the gesture. Other than Karsh, I’ve never let a man touch me like this before.
His hand lands on my chest, right above my breasts. I feel my nipples harden rapidly at his touch, even through my shirt. I’m very horny now. Very horny. Every little bit of my attention is focused on the alien behind me.
I start to wiggle my butt against what I believe to be his bulge. He exhales, clearly a reaction to what I’m doing. I continue, and soon, I’m pleased to feel the thing behind me growing firmer. Definitely his cock. I keep wiggling against him, paying attention to his reactions.
A little gasp escapes my lips as the Kyrzon’s hands start to explore. He cups my breasts through my shirt, his hand big enough to hold both of them at the same time, and the lack of skin-on-skin contact is frustrating. I want to feel his fingers close around my hard, desperate nipples.
But my ability to control what is happening is extremely limited, considering my hands are still tied together in front of me. I want to reach behind me, to touch him, to encourage him, but I can’t. I can’t even easily change positions. The lack of control drives me nuts, but at the same time, is arousing in a way I don’t fully understand. I feel like I’m completely at Karsh’s mercy. I feel like he could use me to fulfill any desire he wanted to with me tied up like this.
He starts to buck himself against me, pressing his hard cock into my ass. I move with him, thrilled by this reaction. I want him to keep going. I want to excite him. I want him to see me as a woman, with all the benefits that entails.
I gasp as he slips his enormous hand up the front of my shirt, exploring the outline of my breasts, and then groping me hungrily. His fingers find one of my nipples, and he squeezes it with just the right amount of pressure, causing me to moan. His breathing gets faster as he starts to thrust himself against me with more fervor.
The feeling of his hard cock sliding up and down my ass, protected by several layers of clothing, is almost more madd
ening than it is enjoyable. For the first time in my life, these feelings of horniness that I’m experiencing have an outlet. (An outlet other than me touching myself alone in my bedroom, that is.) An outlet that happens to consist of a very sexy, very muscular Kyrzon lying in bed right behind me, thrusting himself against my ass.
I’ve spent the last few weeks in a state of unusual horniness, and right now, it feels like it’s all coming to a climax. I can feel the heat emanating from between my legs, and my wetness starting to leak out of me inside my pants. There’s a sudden sense of emptiness there, an emptiness that only one thing can fill.
“Karsh…” I whisper, my voice trembling. “I want you to take me.”
“What’s that?” he gasps, groping my breasts under my shirt.
“I want you to take me,” I whimper, gathering my confidence. “I want you to… I want to feel you inside me.”
He lets out a growl of pure desire, tickling the back of my neck. His hands move to my waist, and he pulls me close to him. I feel his hard cock poking into the soft flesh of my ass.
“Do you mean that?” he growls.
“Yes,” I moan, the strength of my desire lending me confidence. “Please, I want you now.”
He exhales, the sound ragged, throaty, but triumphant. There’s also a sense of relief, as though he’s getting to experience something he’s wanted for a long time.
He’s not the only one.
I feel my pussy throbbing with desire as his fingers scramble around the front of my pants. He struggles with the belt buckle, until finally, he rips it open and pulls my pants and underwear down my legs in a single motion, exposing my naked butt.
He dives on it, gripping my bare flesh with his hands, eagerly exploring every inch of my plump behind. I’m so turned on that I don’t even think to be nervous about him seeing me naked. I just want him inside me.
