by Maven, Ella
I slipped my fingers through Mikko’s and tugged on his hand. He glanced down at me, his brow immediately lowering. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “Come here.”
He studied me for a moment before dropping into a crouch at my side. “I’m sorry.”
I cupped his face and swiped at a scratch on his cheek with my thumb. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
“I can’t get us to safety.”
“Are we not safe now?” I asked.
He cocked his head as his gaze drifted around the cabin of the ship.
“Listen to me,” I said, gaining his attention once more. “You did it. You kept me safe. You didn’t fail. There are worse places to spend the rest of our lives, right?”
“Rian,” he whispered with a shaky voice.
“I’m serious. It’s okay. We’re safe. We can spend some more time together, and then when the food runs out, we’ll open up the airlock and just… go.” Tears pricked my eyes, but I wasn’t sad. Not really. “You’re still my future, Mikko. It’ll just be short and sweet.”
He let out a wounded sound and tugged me to his chest.
I buried my face in his neck as he palmed the back of my head.
“I don’t deserve you,” he murmured against my hair.
“We deserve each other,” I said with a sigh.
We held each other like that for a long moment, until I realized the labored breathing of the Pliken had stopped. I glanced at his body to find his chest unmoving and his face slack with death.
I pulled away from Mikko as pain began to burn in my wrists. I sucked in a breath as I tucked them against my chest. Assuming I’d nicked them on Mikko’s machets, I swiped at them expecting blood. But there was no blood. The pain intensified as I stared in disbelief at my skin. Two black lines, about two inches apart, ran the circumference of my wrists as if etched by an invisible tattoo needle.
“What the fleck?” Mikko muttered. The same black lines were etched on his wrists, and when the lines closed, a pattern began to emerge between the lines. Sharp aggressive lines fit together like puzzle pieces, reminding me of interlocking shark teeth. The pain continued, but I was too focused on the pattern to pay much attention to it.
When the lines were complete, they glowed with a bright white light before dulling to a golden yellow. The pain faded as quickly as it had come, and I rotated my wrists to stare at my bracelet tattoos. The hilbobs slid across the floor to marvel at the marks.
“What are those?”
“They are so pretty.”
“Did they hurt?”
“What do they mean?”
Mikko sat with his palms up, staring at the marks with wide eyes. “They are…” he shook his head. “I don’t know what they are.”
I winced as my head pounded and felt stuffed like the start of a sinus infection. I sniffed and rubbed my temple. But this wasn’t a sinus infection. I twitched as my mind seemed to be veiled by a thick curtain, and I felt like a weight sat on my chest making it hard to breathe. I groaned as a zipping sound echoed in my head a moment before a large blade sliced a hole in the curtain, shedding light and fresh air. More blades shredded the veil until I could breathe easy. Free.
“Rian,” Mikko gasped. He held his head, fingers speared into his hair. “I can… feel you… in here.” He tapped his temple.
“What? Is that… are you… are you the blades in my mind?”
“Blades?”
“I mean, they are good deed blades.”
He blinked in confusion, and yeah, I didn’t understand what I was trying to say either. He wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. “You’re like a wall. A firm blockade between me and enemies. I can feel their evil intent, but they can’t get to me… because you’re there.” He reached for my hands. “I think…” his lashes fluttered as he considered our wrist marks. “I think this has something to do with mates. I think Fatas has decided … we are mates.”
“Mates,” the hilbobs echoed in awe.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means we’re a perfect match and Fatas has blessed us with these marks. We can feel each other in our minds.” He let out a low rumble of irritation. “Why would she do this when we don’t have much longer to spend together? Why would she dangle this perfect future only to watch it waste away?”
“Hey,” I murmured as I scooted closer to him. “We knew we were mates already, right? So, this is just… confirmation. And we’ll make the best use of the time we have left. I’m not going to squander it being mad. I don’t want you to, either.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. I couldn’t sit here and be sad. I had to do something. Keep busy. I gazed around at the mess around us which included a dead body. “Let’s get this place cleaned up, mate. This is our home now, and I don’t like a dirty house, okay?”
His hands squeezed mine, and although I could tell he wanted to argue, be pissed, and rage, he nodded with a jerk of his chin. “You’re right. Let’s clean house.”
I smiled as I rose to my feet. Sure, there was an ache in my chest, but I was determined to make the best of this. I wasn’t in a dark smelly cell. I wasn’t alone in my buggy apartment. I was in a spaceship with my mate. My friends. A pet. I glanced at the cockpit window. And the view wasn’t so bad either. Life could be worse, and I’d know, because I’d lived it.
* * *
Rian
Cleaning up the cargo ship didn’t take as much time as I thought with the four of us working hard. The hilbobs cleaned the floor with rags we made from the Plikens’ capes. As for the bodies, Mikko took care of them by piling them in the airlock and then launching them into space. I didn’t mourn a single one of them.
After that, we explored the ship’s contents beginning with the food and qua supply. The hilbobs were skilled at planning out meals, and they estimated we had plenty to last us the equivalent of sixty rotations.
Of course, their days didn’t exactly match up to the length of Earth days, but that didn’t stop my mind from blaring two months over and over again. We talked about how to divvy up the food and make it last as long as possible.
Staring at the food once it was all laid out—it didn’t look like a lot. My initial thoughts had been brave, but with my death looming, I began to lose some of my courage. My limbs felt heavy, my head hurt, and all my muscles were sore. I stifled a yawn.
Mikko noticed—of course he did, we practically shared brains now—and guided me away from my obsessive stacking of the food. “I’m going to set us up in the main quarters for sleep.” He looked over his shoulder at the hilbobs. “You okay with taking the crew quarters?”
“Absolutely,” York nodded, feeding Meri a small handful of seeds.
Watching him, I was reminded of something, but my brain was moving too sluggishly to remember. “Come on,” Mikko was saying. “We can use the cleanser and then you need to rest.”
The thought of getting clean got me to perk up and focus. “Cleanser?”
He led me down a hallway toward the back until we came to a door. Opening it up, he gently pushed me inside. “Yes, a cleanser. We’ve only had qua springs to clean ourselves, but the civilized way is a cleanser.”
I was surprised at the contraption, which was like a shower with no water. A strong gust of air burst forth from the hosed nozzle and stripped my body of dirt, grime, and… blood.
After stepping out of the cleanser, I found a clean pair of clothes waiting for me on top of furs piled on an elevated platform. I nearly wept. I hadn’t had new clothes since I arrived on the planet. While I’d rinsed my current set a few times, they were still stiff with dirt.
I pulled on the large soft shirt and drawstring pants. The door opened and I jerked up to find Mikko standing there—and he was clean. My eyes went wide taking him in. He jerked a thumb behind him at the closed door. “I used the cleanser in the crew quarters.”
His skin shone, his short hair looked soft, and he wore a pair of new pa
nts in a soft green khaki. And suddenly my courage returned, just a little. This was what I got for the rest of my life—Mikko like this. Calm, clean, and so utterly handsome. He must have gotten an idea of what I was thinking because his eyes softened. “Sleep, my warrior mate. We’ll talk when we wake up.”
“Where are you going to be?” I asked.
He smiled. “Right beside you.” He stretched his arms overhead on a yawn. “I’m sleeping too.”
With a jump, he landed on his back on the furs, feet sticking off the end. I crawled in next to him, tossing a fur over me as I snuggled down into what was an impossibly comfy bed. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me and I jolted up on an elbow as I glared at the furs. “Wait, did that gross Pliken sleep in here? What if he jacked off and I’m sleeping in his jizz?”
Mikko turned his head slowly and stared at me. “I don’t know what some of those words mean, but I tossed the old furs while you were in the cleanser. These were wrapped and new.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat. “Um, okay then. Never mind.” I laid back down and closed my eyes. It was a long moment later when I heard Mikko’s voice mutter. “What fleck is jizz?”
I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
* * *
I opened my eyes to a wall of gray steel. I blinked a few times before I remembered where I was—a room on the Pliken cargo ship. Well, I guessed it was my bedroom for … for the rest of my life. And for a bedroom it wasn’t so bad. A little sterile, but it wasn’t like it was full of Pliken personal effects. There were no photographs or trinkets. Just a platform bed, a desk in the corner with a tablet and some pamphlets, and a chair with a rip in the seat.
My hand lay in front of me, and my fingers were twined with large blue ones. Mikko’s heat was at my back, his breath tickling the hair at the back of my neck. My knees were bent, and his were tucked behind mine.
I also felt something hard pressing insistently against my back. When I wiggled my butt, that hard object jerked a little, and so did Mikko.
He rumbled a low moan and his fingers released mine only for his arm to tighten possessively around my waist and his hand to curl until he held one of my breasts in the palm of his hand.
My nipple tightened at the touch, and heat pooled in my core as I remembered the way he’d touched me when we’d been in the spring. So confident and sexy. But I didn’t want to wake him, even if I was three seconds away from hopping on his blue cock.
His fingers squeezed. Then squeezed again. Then his index finger flicked my nipple. I glared at the wall in front of me. “You’re not asleep, are you?”
A deep chuckle rumbled behind me. “I’m asleep.”
“Oh really?”
“Deep sleep. Very important. I’m dreaming.”
“Dreaming about what?”
“Well, there’s this human…”
“Male, female, or non-binary?”
“She’s female. Red curly hair and green eyes. A bit snarly.”
My spine straightened. “Snarly?”
Lips brushed the back of my neck. “I like snarly.”
I humphed and he chuckled again.
“What’s this human doing?” I poked at the marks on his wrist.
“She’s stretched out on a soft fur naked.”
“Naked, huh?”
“And she’s begging me to…,” the tip of his tongue flicked the rim of my ear, “lick her cunt.”
“Oh Jesus,” I breathed, somehow forgetting he could slay me with a few words. “A-and are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” he answered as his hand squeezed my breast again before sliding down my stomach. “I might have other plans.”
Fourteen
Mikko
She felt so good. Warm from sleep, soft skin, wiry red curls, and bright pink lips. All mine. My mate.
I drifted my hand down her stomach until I reached the waistband of her pants. With one tug, I loosened the drawstring and then slipped my hand inside. When the tops of my fingers brushed the curls covering her cunt, she let out a raspy breath and shifted her legs.
I stopped and kissed her ear. “Are you eager?”
“No,” she said with a stubborn tilt to her voice that made me even harder. “I’m… unaffected.”
I barked out a laugh because I could smell how bad she wanted my cock. I let my hand slip lower until the folds of her cunt moistened the tips of my fingers. I pulled out my hand and held them in front of her face. “Unaffected?”
“Mikko,” she whispered, hips moving.
I once again slipped my hand into her pants and sought out her clit. As expected, the bud was engorged and hard. Rubbing it with my index finger, I let my tongue trace the vein in the side of her neck as she arched her back into me. “Oh yes,” she hissed as I let my middle finger slip inside of her.
She bucked and groaned. Her hand reached back and gripped my hair, pulling until my scalp screamed.
With a growled, “Fleck yeah,” I worked her cunt with my fingers, plunging three inside of her while I thumbed her clit.
She went wild, thrusting into my hand as she sought her release. Her shirt rode up, revealing a creamy breast.
I dipped my head so I could flick a beaded nipple with my tongue.
Crying out, her body convulsed. Her inner walls clenched around my fingers, and she let out a panting cry that went right to my cock and tightened my balls.
I slipped my fingers out of her, shoved her pants down, and plunged my cock into my mate. She let out a scream of pleasure and slammed back into me. Pushing her onto her stomach, I gripped her hips and pounded into her. Below me, she gripped the furs and arched her back. My claws dug into her soft flesh and I bent over her so I could bite down on her neck just as I released myself into her body.
I collapsed beside her, panting as I sought to catch my breath. She lifted her head and pushed her hair out of her eyes. A large, sleepy smile lit up her face, and her green eyes shone like gems. “Now that was a good morning.”
I rubbed at the red marks on her hips, but she moved my hands away and snuggled into me. “I never liked cuddling much, but you’re just so… warm. And hard. But also sort of soft.” Her hand petted my chest. “I think I could sleep again.”
“It’s not like we have a schedule,” I murmured as I kissed her temple. “Sleep away.”
“No.” She ran her fingers over my ribs. “I’ll get up and check on York and Crife.”
She tilted her head up. “How are you doing?”
The question surprised me as it felt abrupt. Also, I’d just spent my release inside my mate. Of course, I was doing well. “Fine.”
“No, I mean…” she gestured around us. “With all of this.”
Not even the thought of our short future could derail my euphoria. “I want to make the most of the time we have left, as you said. We’re together and we’re safe.” I had some other thoughts, but I hadn’t sorted them out in my head yet, so vocalizing them was a step I wasn’t willing to take.
She sat up and righted her clothes. “We’ll talk later.” She patted my chest and hopped off the furs. In her bare feet, she padded to the door of the cleanser. When she was finished, she shot me a smile over her shoulder before leaving the room.
I scratched my chest as I used the expeller before taking stock of my physical condition. Considering all the fighting I did yesterday, I expected to be much sorer, but my body felt … good. Great even. In fact, I had more energy than normal and felt ready to tackle whatever chores Rian cooked up for us. I knew she would have some. After bending for a few stretches, I left to join my mate.
* * *
The next few rotations were busy. We organized the food and qua and separated into rations to last us the full sixty rotations. The hilbobs were subdued and I knew it bothered Rian. She tried to cheer them up, but they often remained huddled together with Meri between them.
They remained that way, barely even arguing with each other, when one afternoon Rian was digging thro
ugh the supply closet and found a suspicious looking package. She screamed as she held it up and I immediately snatched it from her, convinced it was poison and took off down to the hold to toss it out of the airlock. “No!” she called after me. “Hold on!”
“It caused you pain,” I frowned, even though to me it was harmless.
She shook her head, “I screamed in excitement. It’s soil. Actual soil! This is an emergency survival kit. She hurried over and snatched it from me before running to where Crife and York sat in the corner discussing the taste of the rationed jerky. “York!” she slid to her knees in front of him. Grabbing a few of the seeds in front of Meri, she held up the package. “You can still have your dream. You wanted to be a farmer, right?”
He looked at the brown contents of the package. “Yes, but human Rian, we’re in space.”
She slid one of his claws across the top of the package and then rolled down the sides. When she flattened the bottom, the package sat flat on the floor of the ship. “Put your finger in here,” she said.
York looked horrified. “What? No, we don’t stick appendages in strange places.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed his claw before plunging it into the substance. He made a squeaking sound before going still and peering down at it. “It feels… soft.”
“It’s dirt.” She smiled huge and looked over her shoulder at me. “And these seeds… I don’t know what they are, but they’ll grow something. I’ll teach you. You can be a farmer yet, York. This plant will be your baby, okay?”
He blinked rapidly as he wiggled his claw in the dirty. “R-really?”
“Really,” she said softly.
York sniffed. “Thank you.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon fussing over the small pot of dirt as they buried the seed and found a sunlight simulator with heating attachment. I was impressed the Plikens had this on their cargo ship, but then most of their ships were stolen from other races.