by Ella Maven
“Look at me.” His hot breath fanned my pussy. I dropped my head to look into his blazing purple eyes. “Look at me while I eat you, lioness, while I make you come on my tongue. Be as loud as you want. I want to hear my lioness roar.”
“Oh God,” I moaned at his words. My cream slicked my thighs, mingling with the qua, and yet he continued to bring me higher as he plunged his tongue into my entrance. I moaned as he licked into me, and nearly came out of my skin as the long muscle began to vibrate. I bucked into him, holding his head to me so tightly I should have worried I was suffocating him.
When I came, the sound that erupted from my throat wasn’t human. The gargled cry might have been a roar or a high-pitched moan. All I knew was that Sax was the only one who could bring that sound out of me. My limbs shook, and my muscles turned to jelly. As my blood rushed back to the neglected parts of my body, my head swam.
I slid bonelessly into the water, and in one fluid motion, Sax growled and slammed me onto his lap. His cock slid inside me with ease, as slick as I was from my orgasm. My breath stuttered in my lungs, and I gasped for air, the fullness of him nearly too much. He froze and looked into my eyes. They were a tornado of purple and black. He seemed in a trance until he blinked a few times and shook his head. His fingers flexed on my hips and his lips were stretched across his teeth in a near grimace.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t hold myself back, I—”
“It’s okay,” I panted, shifting my weight to accommodate his girth. “I want this. Fuck me, Sax. Make me yours.”
His eyes flared like lasers. “You’re already mine,” he growled. “And you’ll remain mine until our last breaths.” He reared back and slammed into me.
He didn’t stop there. He followed my demands and fucked me hard, his cock plunging in my depths with every stroke of his powerful hips. The water slapped against us and spilled out of the spring as he powered into me, his hands braced in the dirt on either side of my shoulders. The panther in his aura grew bigger, doubling in size until it let out an almighty claiming roar.
“Mine,” Sax grunted, his nostrils flaring and his hair swirling around us like his mane was alive. “My fierce lioness. My cunt.” He wrapped one hand around my throat like a collar. “Only my cock claims you. Only my seed will make your belly round with our young.”
I could do nothing but hang on as he ravaged me. “Yes, Sax,” I whispered over the sounds of the swirling qua. “Yours. Only yours. Forever.”
He kissed me, brutally. I knew my lips would be bruised, and I didn’t care. I clung to his shoulders, digging my nails into his scales, wanting to leave my mark on him as he left his on me.
A suction latched onto my clit, pulling hard and I reared back with a cry as my body shuddered. I had a split-second thought that now I knew what that node on his cock was for—and it meant good things for me. The orgasm barreled into me like freight train, stealing my voice and my breath. All I could see was the panther’s throat stretched as he roared triumphantly into the sky. The sound traveled through my body, igniting my blood. It wasn’t until my vision focused that I realized Sax roared too, the sound reverberating off the walls of the cavern as he emptied himself into me. His hips surged, plundered, and I gave it all up to him willingly.
He collapsed against me, his head on my shoulders as his back heaved. I held him to me tightly, worried that if I let go, this connection would turn out to have been a dream. Because one thing was sure—I loved Sax. I loved him down to my bones. I just hoped I lived up to what he saw in me. I’d die before I let him down.
Twelve
Sax
Val rested on my lap, her back to my front, as her hands floated on the surface of the qua. Her head lay against my shoulder, her eyes closed. At first, I kept my hands to myself, but the creamy flesh of her round breasts proved too tempting. I cupped them in my hands, loving the feel of her smooth skin. Brushing my thumbs over her peaked nipples, I relished the small moans that left her lips.
Something was bothering her though. The salibri in her aura remained restless, and creases marred the skin between her light brows.
I rubbed the skin there, and she opened her eyes, craning her neck back to look at me. “Do I have something on my face?”
“What’s bothering you?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly.
I blew out a breath on her wet neck and watched in fascination as her skin pimpled. “That is a lie. You forget I can feel your nerves.”
“I’m just anxious, is all.” She bit her lip. I ran my hands over her ribs and clutched at the softness of her hips. “I don’t know what the other males of your clavas will be like. What if your brother doesn’t think I’m worthy of you? What if the other women don’t like me? What if… you find another of the women attractive—”
I laughed. Loudly. Val whirled around like a pissed-off salibri and with a cupped hand, sent a swirl of qua into my face. I sputtered and choked as I caught a mouthful, which only made me laugh harder.
She narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose. “I’m freaking out and you laugh at me. Asshole,” she muttered.
She made to swim away, but I grabbed her and tugged her back against me. She struggled but gave up quickly because she knew I was stronger. She refused to look at me as she straddled my lap.
“Val,” I said after coughing a few more times. “I’m sorry for laughing.” With her arms crossed over her chest, all she did was make her breasts more enticing. I had to look away from them before I took her again. I forced her head to face me, but her eyes stubbornly remained focused over my shoulder. “First, no other woman will catch my eye. That is not in our biology. We are devoted to our mate and only our mate. With you as my cora-eternal? Another woman wouldn’t even catch my eye. Val, my cock had never been fully hard before I saw you. And it wasn’t just because you are a human female, it is because you are you. It is the way we are. You tell me humans are not like that?”
Finally, her eyes met mine, and she swallowed. “No, they’re not.”
“How so?”
“Humans males get hard at a stiff breeze.”
“They take multiple lovers?”
The tension seemed to ease from her body as she sighed heavily. “Yes, and it’s normal for people on Earth to date until they find someone they want to be monogamous with. And that’s acceptable and fine. Then there are the people who commit to a relationship but sleep around anyway. In secret. They hide it from the person they supposedly love and had promised to be faithful to.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand all those words, but Drixonians do not mate with others.”
She seemed dubious. “That seems a little too good to be true.”
I didn’t like the tremble in her voice. The doubt. “Did a human male do this to you?”
She winced, as if the question hurt. “Yes, Sax. That happened to me.”
I wrapped a strong arm around her back and pressed her chest tight against mine. “Fleck your human males,” I growled. “They are not worthy of you.”
She shifted on my lap, and my cock, which had already begun to rise, stiffened further. My mind seemed to go offline when that happened, and all I could think about was getting my mouth on her skin and my cock in her cunt.
She must have been thinking the same thing, because her nipples hardened, and a flush rose up to stain her pale cheeks. “I thought you were handsome before,” she said softly. “But you are even more handsome when you’re turned on. Your cheeks get darker, and your eyes glow.”
“Around you, I’m always turned on.” I pressed on her lower back, so she arched into me. Sinking down into the qua, I brought her nipple to my mouth and sucked. She gripped my horns and held on as I lashed my tongue and metal piercings against the stiff peak. When her hips began to churn, rubbing her sweet cunt against my cock, I gripped her hips and feasted on her breasts. The pale globes were large and overflowed my hand, which I couldn’t get enough of. So much of her was soft and pretty,
like nothing I’d ever seen before. Down here, in the safety of our qua spring, I could take my time to appreciate her beauty.
Her pretty golden hair streamed down her back in a sheet of sunshine. And before I could take matters into my own hands, she reached between us, grabbed my cock, and guided it into her entrance.
She groaned as I surged into her. Being inside of Val was indescribable. I understood now why our elders fought so hard for their home. It wasn’t just how she felt around my cock, but how she filled a crater inside of me I hadn’t been aware of. With our loks on display, our auras pulsing with pleasure, and our bodies connected, I knew this was where we were meant to be. This was what Fatas wanted for us.
She braced her knees on either side of me, held onto my shoulders, and bounced her ass on my thighs. I did nothing but thrust my hips up with her rhythm. My balls ached, desperate to fill her again. And again. Her full breasts bounced, the peaks brushing my lips. Lost in her pleasure, she threw her head back, calling out my name as my subcock latched on and sucked her clit to ecstasy.
She cried out, and her inner walls milked my cock. My eyes rolled back into my head, and my muscles seemed to swell before I burst inside of her like a geyser. I pumped into her until my balls were dry. When I regained use of my arms, I clutched her to my chest as I caught my breath. She buried her face into my neck and didn’t make any move to release my cock from her body.
Her fingers sifted through my hair. It was a long time before she spoke in a soft voice full of vulnerability. “Tell me we’ll get to your clavas safe, Sax. Assure me everything will be okay. I hate being this needy, but I can’t help being scared.”
I rubbed my hands up and down her back. “We will get home safe, and everyone will love you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life protecting you.” I reached down to cup her soft belly. “You will grow my young in here, and we will raise him together to be a proud Drixonian human. You will be a loving mother.” I paused. “Do you want to bear my young?”
Her smile was soft, and despite her worry, her eyes were still hazy from her orgasm. “I never wanted kids. I had no desire to be a single mother, and I hadn’t met a man who I wanted to raise children with.” Her fingers played with the rings in my ears. “But I’d bear your young, Sax. In a heartbeat.”
My cora pounded, and just like that, I was hard again. I set my jaw with new determination. “Those Uldani bastards will never lay a hand on you again.”
She cupped my cheek and pressed our foreheads together. “Okay. I’m sorry for worrying.”
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “You didn’t ask to come here, but now that you’re here, it’s my job to keep you safe.”
She nodded and bit her lip, then glanced down at her hands. “Oh God, I need to get out of this water before I turn into a prune.”
Her fingers were wrinkled, and even her palms seemed shriveled. “What is that?”
“My body soaking up water.” She climbed off me and my cock slipped from her warmth as she stepped out of the qua. She grabbed a piece of fabric I’d retrieved earlier and dried her skin off.
I admired the view before leaving the qua myself. I stepped onto the edge and my thigh buckled. I stumbled before righting myself, hoping Val hadn’t seen. No such luck. She rushed to my side, her little hands on my biceps to pull me up. “Are you okay?”
I glanced down at my thigh and sucked in a breath at the sight of the large wound surrounding the spot where Borhan had stuck me with a needle.
Val followed my line of sight and her jaw clenched. Blue eyes fired at me. “What the hell is that?”
I couldn’t tell her. She was worried enough. Soon we’d be home, and I’d get some medis in me. I’d had worse injuries. “I told you. A branch struck me.”
“That doesn’t look like a bruise. That looks like… something under the skin. Or in your blood. Can I look at it?”
She bent down, but I stepped out of the way. “It’s fine. Just a little stiff from our activities.” I went for a grin, but she wasn’t having it. I recognized this as her nurse mode, where she didn’t take my shit or get distracted by a smile.
“Sax—”
“Look.” I sighed. “If it gets worse, I’ll tell you, okay?”
She pressed her lips together. “Fine. I’m serious, though, the moment the pain increases, you need to tell me.”
“I will. I promise.”
But for the first time since I’d met Val, I lied. Because I wouldn’t tell her. I wouldn’t worry her. I’d power through until I got her safe. Pain was nothing to me. She was everything. She Is All.
Val sat on the bed, and while she put on a brave front, the salibri in her aura twitched nervously and sniffed the air.
“I won’t be long,” I said. “But I have to take a look around above ground. Eat something and get some rest.”
Her hair had mostly dried and lay down her back in pretty gold waves. My cock gave a jerk, and I had to lower my eyes so I didn’t climb onto the pallet with her and stay there for rotations. We didn’t have enough provisions to last that long. And while we were safe here, we were safest with the rest of the Night Kings.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”
Nothing about her tone implied she’d be fine. She’d worry about me but call me selfish—I liked having someone care about me that much. I’d been jealous of what Daz and his mate had, the way they’d been willing to sacrifice for each other. I couldn’t wait to tell him stories of my brave Val—how she stood up to the Uldani, how she tackled Hawn in my defense.
“You’ll rest?”
She nodded. “I’m going to eat some of that jerky and then lay down.”
I braced my hands on the pallet and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back.”
Her fingers grazed my jaw. “Be safe. Don’t do anything stupid and half-cocked.”
I raised a brow at her. “Half-cocked? Me?”
She laughed, and the sound lightened up the dank room. With a grin at her, I began to climb the ladder toward the hatch. Below me, a rustling let me know she had dug into a pack of dried meat.
When I reached the top of the ladder, I remained still with my ear pressed to the hatch, listening for the sound of footsteps or the low rumblings of Kulk voices. When I heard nothing for a long moment, I pushed on the hatch to lift it a small crack. Peering out, I listened again.
Nothing but the buzz of hunners, the chirps of briggers, and a few muffled antella footsteps. Out here, in this terrain, Kulks weren’t my worst enemy. The last thing I wanted was to get treed by a nasty pivars pack, the bloodthirsty bastards. As far as Rizer clans, most didn’t roam this area, as it was too rough on their short legs, but they were known to venture here if hunting was scarce elsewhere. If they caught me, I was flecked.
I edged the hatch open farther and slid out as fast and smooth as I could. I closed the hatch silently and lay on the ground, covered by the thorny numa bush, and remained vigilant. When we’d first hidden in the bunker, I’d thought I’d heard their footsteps above us. Judging by the tracks in the dirt, they’d already canvassed this area. Knowing the Uldani, they’d ordered the Kulks to return with me and Val, or not at all. They’d still be out hunting us. They were shit at tracking, but there were enough of them that they could cover a lot of ground. Plus, they’d be armed with solar guns. I had nothing but my wits and machets.
We didn’t keep weapons in the bunkers as we didn’t have enough of a supply to leave one inactive for so long. And while we could conceal a solar light near the hatch, hiding a solar gun would have been difficult because of its bulk.
When I determined the immediate area was danger free, I climbed the closest and largest tree. I settled myself as near to the top as I could get without venturing out onto a thin branch. My skin camouflaged me in the foliage, which carried the same hues as my scales. The Kulks could try and shoot me out of the tree if they could find me. I doubted it though. They were terrible shots. This was why the Uldani wanted us back. Onc
e word got out to the galaxy—probably from the gossiping Rahguls—that the Uldani only had the hapless Kulks as their Defens and not Drixonian Warriors, they’d be ripe for invasion.
I focused on my task, which was to survey the land and get back to Val as soon as I could. I straddled the branch and peered out between the leaves. We’d made it to the top of one of the highest peaks in the mountainous range separating the halves of the continent. From here, our journey would be downhill until we reached the more level plains and dense forestry where the Drixonian clavases made their homes.
In the far distance, a line of moving black dots marred the terrain. Kulks. They moved quickly and methodically, leaving no area unturned. Our escape route would be limited. I pressed my lips together. Good thing Val was comfortable in qua, because we’d have to take a wet detour. Kulks couldn’t swim and, with all that armor, they’d have trouble walking through shallows too.
If we traveled the river that led close to the Night Kings’ home, we’d have a chance. Once the Kulks entered the western plains, they’d fan out again to cover more ground. We had to leave soon to stay ahead of them. It wouldn’t be easy, but we’d come this far. Fatas was on our side.
I gazed toward my home planet, Corin, and sucked in a breath at its beauty. I hoped to return one day and leave Torin behind, where so many of our kind had suffered and died. We owed it to the memory of our females to rebuild what we’d once had.
For now, I breathed in the fresh air and let the sun warm my face. Val’s aura was quiet, and I guessed she was sleeping. I couldn’t wait to get her home and see her happy and at peace. I’d build a small hut for her and fill it with whatever trinkets she wanted along with soft furs and the freshest food. I wanted to see her fat and happy, her belly full with meat I’d killed for her and her womb growing with my young.