Hard Sands: Warlords of Atera

by Kyle, Celia

  “Nakan, you’re hurt. You’re exhausted. Let me take care of you.”

  “I was hurt when Chaze lunged at me and still I defended myself. I believe I can bathe away this blood without assistance.”

  Kalinda sighed and tried again. “I know you’re strong and you were incredibly brave. I’m sure you can bathe on your own, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I’m here for you. I want to take care of you. Isn’t that what being your kode is all about?”

  Nakan’s lips tightened in a smile. “You simply wish to care for me?”

  “Yes, of course.” Kalinda reached for one of the tanned hide straps that crossed his chest, and this time he let her. She worked quickly and carefully to unbuckle the length of leather that adorned his chest while struggling to keep her gaze from straying to his injuries.

  But she couldn’t avoid them entirely. She winced at the sight of his wounds, at the pain he endured and the damage he took while battling another warrior. Yet despite the gory image of his body, she could not help but still see him as incredibly handsome. Her stomach twisted slightly at the thought. Here he was hurting and she was getting all hot and bothered? But she couldn’t help herself. He was just phenomenally sexy—his strength, his presence.

  When she had him fully free of what little he wore, she urged him toward the bathing room and the cleansing, muddy waters that awaited. She followed him but didn’t undress to join him in his cleansing. She considered it, but it seemed awkward to strip when she was supposed to be tending to Nakan.

  He carefully lowered himself into the cleansing sands and she knelt beside the pool, dipping her hands into the soothing semi-liquid. The warm mud was soothing to her skin and she could only imagine how amazing it must feel to Nakan with his sore muscles.

  She gradually used the sand to cleanse his wounds, dribbling the infused waters over the cuts, scrapes and gashes that marred his scales. Nakan struggled to remain stoic, but she could see the pain in his gaze and knew she hurt him.

  “I’m really sorry, but I’ve got to make sure these are clean. I don’t want them to get infected.”

  “You are fine, my kode. I do not mind.”

  Despite knowing he was in pain, she got the feeling he was being honest. “Really? You don’t mind?”

  He snorted, chest jerking beneath her fingertips. “Of course not. I am spending time with my kode. That is all that matters to me, nothing more.”

  “Even if the time spent together is while I’m hurting you?” She quirked a brow. Not sure if she should believe him and take him at his word.

  “I do not hurt with you by my side.”

  That didn’t sound like an exaggeration or anything. “Is there nothing you wouldn’t do for me, Nakan?” She met his gaze, her stare serious and intent.

  “Nothing, my kode. Nothing I would not do for you.”

  And she believed him. There was not even a sliver of doubt in her mind. He had proven his unwavering loyalty to her.

  When she had arrived on the strange planet, no part of Kalinda could fathom staying forever. She’d had a plan when she left Earth. She’d had every intention of becoming a mail-order bride to an alien stranger.

  But wasn’t her situation on Atera even better? Didn’t this win out over anything she could have ever imagined? She’d found a male that, through all else, genuinely loved her. She trusted him to love her for all of his days.

  And despite her best efforts, she had fallen in love with him, too.

  “You weren’t something I ever considered,” Kalinda spoke softly. “I never meant to end up here.

  “But you did, thanks to the Goddess.” He spoke equally quietly.

  She sighed. “I still don’t know about all this divine intervention stuff.”

  To believe some Goddess out there was pulling the strings and forcing them to crash on the planet… that was a bit of a stretch for Kalinda. All the same, she was warming up to this idea of her destiny.

  Because of Nakan. The bond they shared ran deeper than something conjured by a mere accident. It truly seemed like they were meant to be together. Had fate thrust them together?

  Kalinda didn’t know, and at this point she didn’t care. She didn’t have to determine whether finding Nakan was accidental or intentional. She was simply lucky to have found him at all, and she wasn’t about to let him slip through her fingers.

  “My kode, you are all wet. Your clothes have become soaked.”

  Kalinda swallowed hard, wondering where his thoughts were headed. “Should I… get out of them?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  A round of butterflies sparked to life within her stomach, unease and anticipation unfurling inside her. She wasn’t sure whether Nakan had a sexual interest in getting her naked or simply wanted her more comfortable. She hoped for the former.

  She stood and tugged on her clothing, pulling the wet fabric away from her skin and peeling it from her body. She watched Nakan as she revealed herself, enjoying the way his eyes widened as she exposed her damp body. It soon became clear to Kalinda that what she hoped was true. Nakan wanted her.

  He reached out and ran his fingers along the curve of her hip, eyeing her silhouette.

  “You are so beautiful, my kode. The most beautiful being I have ever laid eyes upon.”

  The heat in his gaze said he wanted her—desperately—but she couldn’t forget the battle so recently won. “Do you really want to do this? Right now?”

  “Why would I not wish to gaze upon my kode? Touch her as she allows?”

  “You’re pretty injured, Nakan.” She stated the obvious.

  “No injury could diminish the enjoyment of my kode.”

  Kalinda grinned. That was all she needed to hear. And now for the important step she’d avoided so far—the one that would make her stay on Atera permanent, no matter what the future held.

  “What do I have to do to open your mating pouch?” She eyed the juncture of his thighs, the flap of skin that hid her prize and the growing bulge there.

  Nakan reached for his pile of clothes and pulled out the knife Chaze nearly plunged into him. “An Ateran female would use her claws to slice open my mating pouch, but you must use a blade. Your human nails are no match for flesh.”

  “You want me to slice you open?”

  “You must. You are my kode. It is the honor of the kode to pierce the mating pouch.”

  Honor. Right. Kalinda’s heart pounded a heavy rhythm. She wanted him so badly but she had no desire to harm him. Especially since he was already wounded!

  “I… I don’t know. Maybe we should do this when you’re healed.”

  “No.” He held out the blade. “We are ready now.”

  Kalinda knew she was ready, but she wasn’t ready and—

  Nakan spoke again, his voice softer. “It will be fine, my kode. It is nothing to me. The skin is thin. It will be less pain than anything I have endured, and then together we will experience nothing but pleasure.”

  Pleasure. That idea she could get behind.

  She carefully took the blade from Nakan’s grasp and struggled to appear stoic and brave about the whole thing. She steadied her breath and tightened her grip on the hilt.

  Nakan sat on the edge of the tub and leaned back, his stomach and most tender place exposed and vulnerable to her. She struggled to remain steady as she pressed the tip of the blade against the thin scales at the seam of his mating pouch, but Kalinda reminded herself of what would be waiting when she unsheathed him. Nakan in all his glory was merely a cut away.

  Besides, she planned to make the slice worth his while.

  She took one last bracing breath and did it fast, cutting through the pale scales. Nakan was right. The skin was thin and it felt effortless, the male before her not even blinking as she cut into him.

  However, Kalinda had to blink repeatedly when his cock pushed free of the mating pouch. She wasn’t even sure she should call it a cock, but she had no other word in her mind. It was long and thick like a hu
man’s, but the similarities ended when she reached the head of his length and spied short tentacles that seemed to furl and unfurl along the edges. She had never seen anything like it in her life, and to top it off, he was huge—bigger than any human she’d ever encountered. Would she even be able to fit him into her mouth?

  She wasn’t sure, but she was going to try.

  Nakan reached for her, but she brushed his hands aside, avoiding his grasp as she urged him to sit back. “Just wait a second.”

  “What is wrong, my kode? Do you not wish to do this?” She’d never accuse a warlord of panicking, but the male looked close to panic at the idea that she didn’t want him.

  Which was the farthest thing—alien cock aside—from her mind.

  “Of course, I wish to do this,” she murmured and stroked him, fingertips trailing down his chest. She avoided his worst injuries and kept to the unmarred portions of his body. “More than you can ever know. But I am going to do this right.”

  His forehead wrinkled and confusion clouded his features, but Kalinda planned to clear things up very soon.

  She moved into the bath, standing before him, and nudged his thighs apart. Then she bent toward his manhood, lips parting as she drew nearer and tongue emerging to taste Nakan for the first time.

  She swiped her tongue across the tip, drawing a moan from Nakan the moment she touched his cock. He clearly hadn’t expected her to put her mouth on him and his groan was tinged with a gasp of surprise. Good, she wanted his honest responses. She wasn’t even sure oral sex like this was customary with the Aterans, and she wanted his natural reactions to her ministrations.

  She focused on repaying him for the pleasure he had given her not long ago. She knew he insisted that wasn’t necessary, but that didn’t matter to Kalinda. This was a favor she was eager to return.

  She lapped at the smooth tip, searching out any pre-cum though unsure if that was even something Aterans produced. No bother. In truth, she was delaying exploring the tentacles that surrounded the head of his dick. Tentacles. She really was mating an alien.

  She teased the short, curled lengths of flesh with the tip of her tongue, darting out and tasting them, testing them to see how Nakan would react. They furled and unfurled against her tongue, tickling her with the movements, and she relaxed when nothing, er, dangerous seemed to happen.

  She wrapped her lips around the head of his cock, stretching to contain all of his thickness, and gradually lowered herself along his length. The tentacles squirmed against the inside of her mouth and she wondered what they’d feel like inside her pussy, twisting and turning against her inner walls. Her pussy clenched with her imaginings and she couldn’t wait to see if reality was as good as the mini-fantasy she had concocted.

  She continued to take more of him into her, pushing as far down his shaft as she could before gradually retreating until her lips reached the twisting tentacles once more.

  Nakan grabbed the back of her head and moaned. “Oh, my kode, by the Goddess that feels so good.”

  This was the first sexual pleasure Nakan had ever experienced and it was coming from her. From. Her. This truth caused a heady rush of arousal and wanting, and her clit twitched in response. His only sexual experiences would be with her, and her only wish was that she could’ve experienced the same.

  But what mattered was that she was there now, ready to be his for all of their days.

  As she pushed herself down his shaft, she nudged her tongue along the underside, teasing the nerve endings and exploring to figure out what Nakan liked most. Before she pulled away entirely, she swirled her tongue among the tentacles and then ghosted over the tip of his dick, sliding back down him once more.

  Nakan gripped the edge of the bath with his claw-tipped fingers, the nails digging into stone and scratching the smooth surface. Her attentions clearly drove him crazy and to the edge of his control. She looked up and found that his eyes were no longer on her. They were now closed as his lips moved in what she figured was a silent prayer. Knowing that she was getting to him only made her want to push even farther, to drive him to the edge of pleasure.

  Her pussy tingled and warmed, growing heavier with every lick of his cock. It took all of her willpower not to touch herself, but this wasn’t about her pleasure. That would come in time.

  Kalinda decided to push things further, taking her hand and stroking his cock as she moved her mouth up and down on him. Now in addition to her tongue and lips, her hand squeezed him tightly, adding as much sensation as she possibly could.

  “Cease!” Nakan’s shout startled her. His voice was demanding and firm, and she did as he said, pulling away without hesitation.

  “What’s wrong? Have I done something wrong?” Different, sure. But she didn’t imagine anything shared between mates was wrong.

  “No, my kode. You have done something very right. It is too much for me. I could not handle the pleasure without spilling my seed, and I wish to do that inside you. Now.”

  Kalinda couldn’t argue with him. She wanted that just as much.

  Nakan pushed to his feet and effortlessly lifted her from the bath, carrying her from the space and to his bed. He laid her on the soft surface before moving to rest at her side. He ran his scaly hand down her breasts, weighing them gently before moving to her torso and then to her bare mound. He reached out a finger and gently slid it between her sex lips, grazing her clit as he sought out her center. She shuddered and took in a harsh breath with that first touch, anticipating what was to come. Soon.

  “You are moist, my kode.”

  Kalinda nodded. “I’m wet for you. It means I’m ready for you.”

  “Then you shall have me.”

  The stone that rested against her bosom warmed with his words but she only gave the heat a passing thought. She could only focus on one thing now and that was the fact that Nakan was about to mate her.

  She had no doubts, no hesitations. Perhaps she would have worried about her decision in the past, but she had never been surer of anything in her life. She wanted to stay with Nakan forever and she wanted forever to start right now.

  Kalinda spread her thighs as Nakan moved to kneel between her parted legs, one hand on his massive cock as he positioned it in place. She had no idea how she was going to take something so substantial, but she wanted to try. Her curiosity was piqued. No man had ever gone as deep inside her as Nakan was about to go. How was it going to feel?

  Deliciously full?

  He eased inside her, pressing forward, and her heart raced as her body spread for him. Already it was a tight fit but that didn’t bother Kalinda. In fact, with every inch he slid into her, she experienced sensations she’d never felt in the past.

  Kalinda braced herself as Nakan slid into her slowly, so careful to make sure she was in no discomfort and even sweetly stroking her face. That was a new sensation for her. She had never felt so loved—so cherished—as a man entered her. This thing between them… it was real. If she wasn’t sure before, she was now.

  He pushed and pushed, not stopping until their hips met and his entire shaft lay nestled within her sheath. She could hardly breathe. She moaned with every exhale and soon his sweetness shifted to something more feral—primal.

  His eyes shifted as they stared down at her body as if he were a predator and she his prey. But he wasn’t going to eat her. He was going to take her.

  As gently as he’d been entering her, once he realized she was experiencing intense pleasure, he did not hold back. He thrusted in and out of her quickly, ruthlessly. He reached up to her arms and held her down by her wrists.

  This move was necessary because Kalinda writhed just as she had when Nakan had taken her with his mouth. She could not help herself. She would have loved to lie there still as she savored every moment, but her body experienced an ecstasy that she could not remain still for.

  Thankfully for Kalinda, Nakan was so incredibly strong that he was able to hold her down with ease as he continued to ruthlessly drill her. He used his
knees to separate her thighs so she was wide open for him.

  Nakan was not the only one feeling a primal, animalistic desire. Kalinda felt herself draw away from her humanity. Her mind was nearly blank, only filled with images of Nakan rushing in and out of her. His muscles rippled underneath his scales with each hump. His arms, his abs, every part of him was tense and bulging.

  Nakan looked down upon her and Kalinda could tell he was having similar thoughts. Just as she admired his muscles, he admired her breasts. Nakan leaned his head down and extended his long, forked tongue to her nipples.

  Immediately, Kalinda was reminded of their last encounter. She was filled with thoughts of Nakan licking her pussy, even inserting his tongue inside her. And to think, she had thought penetration with his tongue was amazing! That had nothing on his shaft inside her.

  As Kalinda had expected, Nakan was hitting places in her that had never been touched by a man before. He was longer than any human and far thicker. Never had she been filled like this.

  He rolled his tongue around her nipples and then sucked on one. Every now and then, he’d bite down, causing Kalinda to scream. She didn’t mind the pain. It was a reminder of the power and control he had over her. It was a power and control she liked.

  With human men, Kalinda would be hesitant to give them full control. With Nakan, it was different. She trusted him wholly. She knew he only wanted the best for her. And hadn’t he said it himself? He would always willingly and unselfishly give her pleasure for all of their days. That alone was enough for Kalinda. If he cared for her this deeply, he could have power over her. In fact, she even preferred it.

  Kalinda writhed under him but Nakan seemed to want to touch more than her wrists. He rested his elbows on her arms to keep her from moving too much and then reached for her breasts, groping them as his tongue tantalized her nipples.

  It all soon became too much for Kalinda. Just as she had before, she wanted to extend this pleasure as long as possible, but she knew she couldn’t. The orgasm was going to come whether she wanted it to or not.

  She reminded herself that it didn’t matter. Now that she had fully committed herself to Nakan, they had plenty of time for sex. They could have sex every damn day if she so wanted. And she had a feeling she would, in fact, want that.