by Leslie Chase
I blinked. That was a different, more hopeful way of looking at things. Not a realistic one, perhaps, but did that matter? A wild hope shone in Tamara’s eyes as she continued.
“All we need to do is take the ship back,” Tamara continued. I opened my mouth to protest, and Tamara put her hand over my mouth. “No, Auric. Don’t argue. However impossible you say it is, it’s easier than it would be if they were all dead.”
I frowned, but I couldn’t think of an argument. Alone against however many of the Silver Band warriors heeded Zaren’s call? The odds were unthinkable. But not, strictly speaking, impossible. And since I’d resigned myself to failure, our chances couldn’t exactly get worse.
If I’m going to fail, I may as well do it gloriously.
Taking her hand, I looked Tamara in the eyes.
“You’re right,” I told her. “I will free your people or die trying.”
15
Tamara
With the radio signal to guide us, Auric calculated the direction to the Wandering Star. Zaren’s words repeated over and over as Auric worked, and I hated listening to it. He wasn’t speaking Galtrade so couldn’t understand a word of his little speech but there were a few things even I could tell from his tone.
First, he might claim he’d won a great victory but he didn’t sound happy. If anything, he sounded angry. Second, there was a catch in his breathing. Had he been injured in the crash?
I hoped so. His attack had caused all this pain, killed so many of his followers and my crew. He deserved whatever suffering the crash had landed on his head.
“I have a course,” Auric said at last. Focused on a task now, he was all business. That only made him more attractive somehow. His face a hard mask of determination, I saw the spark in his gaze as he looked to the horizon.
Toward the mountains that rose over the forest. Great.
“Are we going to have to climb those?” I asked dubiously. I’d done some climbing when I was younger. On an indoor wall. And I’d fallen off a lot.
To my relief Auric shook his head. “I doubt the signal would have carried through the mountains. Wherever the Wandering Star came down, it must be on this side. Probably in the foothills.”
“Thank god,” I muttered, looking at the peaks that rose like jagged teeth. They did not look like a fun outing.
The walk there would be challenging enough. I looked down at my feet and the soft shoes I wore. Intended for wearing aboard the ship, not for trekking through mud, they were already starting to come apart.
I had boots that would be perfect for this trip — locked away with my other possessions aboard the Wandering Star until we arrived at Arcadia.
Auric followed my look down and frowned. “We will set out tomorrow,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Today we rest up and prepare.”
I wanted to argue, but honestly I was too tired to face a long march right now anyway. My muscles ached all over, my feet were sore, and I felt like I needed to sleep for a week.
Though how I’d be able to sleep while worrying about the tentacle-tiger from the night before, I had no idea. My arm still tingled from its venom and the idea of a monster like that creeping up on us was terrifying.
I need a better name for those things. A tenger? It’ll do. Giving the monster a name made it a little less frightening somehow. I could pretend I understood the danger.
Auric set up another camp against a tree, and I lit a fire. This time it went a lot quicker — maybe I was getting the hang of it? The evening was drawing in by the time we’d finished, which seemed far too fast. I checked with Mr. Mews. Yep, this planet had a quick day-night cycle, only about twenty hours. Hopefully we wouldn’t be here long enough to need to get used to that change.
Thinking about how long we might be here made me worry about Mr. Mews’ battery. On the ship my wristband constantly charged, but out here I didn’t know how long the battery would last. He wasn’t supposed to be running the ultrasound constantly, and we had no way to replace his batteries until we reached the Wandering Star.
“Sorry, little friend,” I said as I made a decision. “I’m going to have to make some changes.”
Going into the settings, I turned off everything I could apart from the ultrasonics. The hologram vanished, and I tried not to feel like a traitor as he faded away.
I’ll bring you back as soon as I can, I promised Mr. Mews silently. This is just while we need your battery life.
Even if the battery lasted, would this sound keep back all of the local wildlife? Or were only some animals afraid of the tengers, leaving whatever else was here to eat us in our sleep? There was no way to tell except by trying it out.
I tried to put my faith in the way the whole forest had seemed to react to the ultrasound earlier.
The colony pods had their own ultrasonic fences, purpose-built to keep away wildlife. Maybe if we found one on our way to the mountains, we’d be able to get something like a safe camp set up. Once I’d updated the fences to send the right sound, that was. The default setting would not be good, and I shuddered to think what might have happened if any of the colonists had set them up without testing them.
Let’s hope that no one’s gotten themselves eaten.
“I will hunt us some food,” Auric said, standing. “I recovered some emergency rations, but we should save those.”
Picking up his spear, he turned toward the forest. I grabbed his wrist, instantly terrified to be left alone on this planet.
“Please stay.”
He looked at me, and my cheeks warmed under his gaze. The sensation of his skin under my fingers, the warmth of his touch, it all made him feel more real. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten the feeling of him, but I’d pushed it out of my mind.
It all rushed back in as we faced each other.
You hardly know him, part of me said. And he’s a killer, a predator.
But the idea of being hunted by him didn’t sound so bad. The intensity of those eyes on me, his strength, his amazing body. All of it called to me.
For a moment, I thought he’d pull free of my grip. I couldn’t have held him if he wanted to go.
Instead, he dropped his spear and pushed me against a tree. I gasped at the casual strength with which he moved, looking up into his eyes and feeling a delicious shiver of fear and excitement run through me.
“Do not tempt me,” he growled, voice low. Hungry. I saw his control slipping as he looked down at me, his hard body close enough that I felt the heat radiating from him.
I tried to speak. No words came out. I couldn’t even think, let alone form a coherent sentence. The world faded around us, and Auric was everything. His scent filled my senses, a heady musk that made my pulse race as he leaned in.
My hand rose instinctively to block him, pushing against his chest. His heartbeat, strong and fast, pushed against me, and then he knocked my hand aside and leaned in to take the kiss we both wanted.
The touch of his lips on mine was electric, driving everything else from my mind. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but cling to him and ride the wave of sensation he sent through me until at last we parted, panting.
His face inches from mine, Auric growled again. I whimpered softly, unable to even think of moving, and he lifted me with strong hands. Pressed me back against the trunk of the tree, my eyes level with his.
“You are mine,” he said, and I wouldn’t have argued if I could. His powerful, muscular body trapped me, and I nodded.
That was all the invitation he needed to tear my top open, burying his face in my neck and biting down. Sharp teeth dug into my skin hard enough to make me yelp and writhe and I felt him harden against me at the sound.
There was pain, but the wave of passion and pleasure that followed drowned it out. I grabbed at him, my hands in his hair, my back arching as I tried to keep some control over myself.
No chance of that. My body responded to his touch, burning with need and lust. I clung to him desperately, wanting him more
than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. The illusion that I could resist this urge, resist him, vanished like morning mist. Auric’s touch stripped that away, just as he stripped me of my clothes.
He set me down, naked and panting, his eyes shining as he looked at me. The careful focus as he examined me made me feel self-conscious again, but when I tried to cover myself with my hands, he grabbed my wrists and stopped me.
“You are mine,” he said again. “And I wish to look at you.”
My only response was a little whimper, and a blush spread across me as he stared. He stalked around me, his eyes raking my body, and I had never felt so exposed.
So helpless.
So sexy.
His desire for me was plain to see, and I could almost feel it. A pulsing need, an ache that we both shared, a fire that burned in his heart. There was no pretending that this was my imagination. Auric wanted me as much as I wanted him.
All that was holding him back was his willpower. And that was hanging by a thread.
I reached out for him, fingers trembling, and he nodded. Guided my hands to the fastening of his pants. They were unfamiliar and I fumbled at them for a frustrating moment before they opened, freeing his cock.
His magnificent, hard cock.
I gasped, staring, and Auric chuckled. Taking my hand he guided it, letting me feel the solid length of him. It wasn’t just the size that was spectacular: it was unlike anything I’d seen before. The surface was covered in ridges and bumps, and as I stroked it, I felt it pulse.
My face bright red, I bit my lip and gripped firmer. The vibrations sped up, and I shivered at the thought of that inside me. Yes please. Oh god yes.
But for all his urgency, his need, Auric was in no hurry. His hands stroked up my arm, claws scratching gently over my skin, just hard enough to make me squirm. They traced a strange pattern across my neck, down my chest, over my breasts.
Every move he made sent a wave of desire through me, more powerful than anything I’d ever felt before. All the nerves in my body seemed to be tuned to Auric’s touch, needing it, desperate for it. His fingers expertly caressed my body and slid down my sides.
Taking hold of my hips, he lifted me back into a kiss. Our naked bodies pressed together, and I cried out as he lowered us to the ground, pushing me down into the alien grass.
Auric was panting now too, the last strands of his self-control fraying as he kissed his way down my neck, down to my breasts. Sucking a nipple into his hot mouth, he flicked his tongue across it, making me cry out. My hand, still on his cock, tightened and I felt a buzz as it vibrated against me.
His hungry, eager moan sent a shudder through me, and I parted my legs eagerly as his hand stroked between them. Sharp claws traced over my inner thighs, teasingly close to the aching emptiness of my pussy, and I bit my lip as I arched. I wanted him, needed him, and hated having to wait.
But I’d get what I wanted when he decided. I knew that there was no arguing with that. And, infuriating as that was, it made me squirm to be so completely at Auric’s mercy.
With delicate precision he slipped a finger between my folds, careful of his claws. I gasped as the pad of his thumb brushed my clit. Moaned as he rubbed, slowly at first then faster. Faster. My body shook, and I stroked his cock, matching the speed he set.
His breath came fast, panting, and he looked up at me. His eyes shone, radiant with lust and need and love, and he pressed down harder, sending a wave of pleasure through me. And another, and another. Each built on the last, each pushed me toward the edge of the climax I knew was coming.
I tried to speak, but all that came out were little gasps of joy. But he understood my need, grinning down at me. Lowering his mouth to my neck, he bit down, sending a final wave of pleasure through me and lifting me into an orgasm that shook my world.
I arched under him, crying out, my body shaking. For a moment there was nothing but Auric, his body, his fingers, his mouth. My mind melted into the waves of ecstasy and I clung to him.
“My god,” I gasped when I could think again. “Auric, that was incredible.”
I’d forgotten my Galtrade, but that didn’t matter. Auric’s broad grin made it clear that he understood what I was saying.
That hungry, eager smile made me shiver all over again, seeing the pride he took in pleasing me. And he wasn’t done yet.
He slipped between my legs, his weight pinning me to the damp grass, and my heart hammered as his cock pressed against my pussy. My eager, aching pussy. Oh god.
I stroked his back, feeling the powerful muscles moving as he positioned himself. His golden, cat-like eyes looked down into mine, and I knew that my need was written plain across my face.
With a slow, deliberate motion Auric thrust. I felt every ridge of his alien cock as it slid into me, stretching me and filling me, making me arch and gasp and writhe. He didn’t stop until he’d buried himself to the hilt. My body tightened around him, and he vibrated inside me, a sensation almost as strange as it was erotic.
I whimpered something, even I didn’t know what, and he started to move again. Slowly he pulled back, leaving me achingly empty again for just a moment before he thrust again, harder. Driving me down into the ground, my mouth open in a gasp of pleasure.
Again, and again, he thrust. Each time harder, each time faster. My body shook as I clung to him, digging my nails in and urging him on and on. I could barely breathe under him as the pleasure built again, filling me, sending me wild with need.
Auric swelled inside me, his cock vibrating and growing, filling me perfectly with each powerful thrust.
Yes. Oh god yes!
I yelled out, a scream of pure pleasure as he brought me back to the edge or orgasm. For a moment I teetered on the brink, nearly-but-not-quite toppling into the waves of ecstasy — and then Auric lowered his mouth to bite down hard on my neck.
The sharp shock of that sent me tumbling away, my world disintegrating in wave after wave of pleasure. I felt him follow me over, roaring as he came, his cock quivering inside me as he came.
We shook together, clinging on to each other for a long time before finally collapsing in a panting mess. Auric groaned and pulled me to him as he rolled onto his back, and I rested my head on his chest while I tried to get my breath back.
My body ached, my throat was raw from shouting, and my every muscle trembled. And I felt fantastic. I could hear Auric’s heart pounding every bit as fast as my own as he stroked my hair, one powerful hand gently on me.
He said something then, some word I didn’t know. Whatever it was, it echoed in my soul and I smiled. It felt right in a way that I couldn’t place.
“Khara,” he said again, a little louder. “My khara, my Tamara.”
Yes. I was his, and he was mine. Whatever we found when we reached the Wandering Star, we’d face it together.
It was a good thing we had those emergency rations because Auric never did get to his hunt. We rested in each other’s arms until well into the night before either of us could face moving. When I finally sat up and stretched, I grinned happily down at Auric, admiring his wonderful body. He opened his eyes to look up at me, smiling a little smugly.
He’s earned it, I thought, feeling the happy ache in my muscles and flushing slightly. Stroking his chest I felt the warmth of his alien skin and sighed happily. There was a connection between us now, undeniable and strong, and I never wanted it to fade.
“My khara,” he whispered.
“I don’t know that word,” I told him. My Galtrade vocabulary had grown a lot on this journey, but ‘khara’ had never come up. Whatever it meant, it made me smile.
His eyes met mine, gazing deep into me and making me blush all over. I could see him consider his words, carefully choosing what he would say as he reached up to stroke my cheek.
“It is a prytheen word,” he told me at last, quiet and intense. “There is no word for it in Galtrade. It means the one to whom I will dedicate my life. The one I would live or die for. My mate, my so
ul, my heart. My khara.”
I swallowed, not knowing how to respond to that declaration. What could I say? Anything seemed inadequate. In the end, I didn’t answer with words, leaning in to kiss him on the lips. Auric pulled me to him, holding me tight, and in his arms I felt safer than I had in years.
Somehow I knew he meant what he said. He’d put himself between me and harm, shown that he was willing to die to protect me. The strength of his body, of his soul, was mine — and I realized that I felt the same way.
Everything that had happened since we’d met had been awful, but at least it had thrown us together.
When we separated at last, I bit my lip and tried to meet his powerful gaze. Brushed a finger across his lips. Took a deep breath and spoke.
“Khara,” I said, tasting the word as it left my lips. Yes. It felt real. Auric’s eyes gleamed as he nodded. “My khara.”
I would have lain there forever with him if I could, but we had to move. Disentangling myself from my alien lover, I reached for my clothes only for Auric to take my arm gently but firmly and stop me.
I laughed. “Oh, I’m not allowed to get dressed now?”
“Not until I’m done looking at you.”
Looking to the heavens, I mock-groaned. “I guess that’s that, then. I’m going to be naked forever.”
He laughed, delighted, and pulled me back to him. Falling against his chest I kissed him eagerly, feeling the strange and wonderful texture of his alien skin. I could get used to this.
I hope I have a chance to get used to it.
16
Auric
The march into the foothills was long, but it was also pleasant. Protected from predators by the ultrasound, I could spare my attention for my companion.
I was with my khara, and we were on a mission together.
That the mission was hopeless didn’t matter. It was still better than where we’d been before we had somewhere to go.
We fell into a pattern over the days of our journey. Walking for half the day, then scouting for a place to set up camp. I’d hunt while Tamara lit a fire, and then we’d cook what I caught. The ultrasound from her armband kept her safe while I hunted… and would for as long as the battery lasted. Then she’d be vulnerable again.