by Elin Wyn
The exit was a circular door that he had to force open, but it merely took an extra minute or two before he was stepping up and over the threshold, the dry night air of a Peshdushdar summer instantly warming them up.
For a moment he just stood there with the woman on his shoulder, basking in the heat, but a hiss to his left put Kanthi back on guard. He dived behind a bush, parting the brown leaves to watch as a reptilian form lazily marched back and forth in a large loop.
It was a guard, had to be. Keeping the woman secure on his shoulder, Kanthi pulled out the weapon that he’d stolen from the snake he’d strangled earlier. He’d originally worried that it was a bioweapon, but it had turned out to be a simple stun gun – perfectly safe for an Eiztar to wield. Taking aim, he fired, sending a small bullet into the guard’s shoulder.
The alien fell to his knees from the impact and braced himself, grabbing his arm as the numbing serum spread. Kanthi fired again, refusing to take the chance that the enemy could last long enough to get help. The second shot hit the alien’s side and he faltered, finally falling face-first into the ground, unconscious.
Once he was sure the Thagzar was down for the count, Kanthi stood, and immediately dropped back to a knee as the woman squirmed on his shoulder. He gently put her on her feet, steadying her as she regained her balance.
She was blushing again, though her glare was obviously trying to convince him otherwise. Kanthi merely smiled, and rose to meet her.
The woman grumbled something as he stood properly, towering over her by a head, and she turned to walk away – to lead, probably. But then she was falling over with her second step, and Kanthi just barely caught her, subconsciously pulling her closer to his chest as he helped steady her.
“Are you alright?” he asked, concern thick in his voice.
It was a stupid question. He already knew what was happening – the bond. It was making her weaker, and it would ultimately force her to rely on him. The woman, however, just shook her head, her eyes confused. Kanthi frowned, and wondered again if maybe there really wasn’t any bonding on her planet. If that was the case, then it would all be new to her – and he didn’t have the means to communicate the changes.
Shaking her head slightly, the woman took off again, barking something as she tried to lead the way. It wasn’t very long until she lost her footing once more, though this time Kanthi was ready for it. He swooped up behind her and grabbed her hips, unable to hide the smile that overtook his face when she shivered for him because of it.
Slapping his hands away, she hissed something, her face angry. She was warning him, he could tell.
“Come on,” he said, hands up in surrender. “You know you can’t walk—Hey!” But she was already marching off again, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She made it farther this time, though Kanthi saw her stumble a bit every few steps.
He followed at a respectable pace: just close enough to catch her, and just far enough away to keep a proper eye out for Thagzars without getting distracted by her scent. The fortress they’d escaped from was the size of a far-off boulder now, a forgotten speck in the distance as they put it behind them.
They walked for a while longer before the woman finally just collapsed. She fell to her knees first, sticking out her hands to catch herself in the fall. It left Kanthi with the woman he was trying to bond with in a delectable position, and he had to swallow a few times before he could move to help her up.
“Here, let me,” he offered, hoisting her up by the arms. The touch of her sent sparks through his fingers, and he quickly let go.
She mumbled something and wiped her forehead, heaving a heavy sigh. Kanthi watched her, knowing they wouldn’t get far like this.
“Come here,” he said, grabbing her waist to pull her along as he stepped behind a bush. He sat beneath it, yanking the woman into his lap as he did so. He expected her to shove at him, maybe yell in his face, but instead she happily settled between his legs and rested her head against his shoulder, her nose tickling his neck. He gulped at the sensation it sent to his groin.
No doubt about it. They were bonding.
The woman mumbled something, her forehead scrunching into a furrow of wrinkles as she drew her eyebrows together.
“I know,” he said, bringing up one of her hands to kiss the back of it. “I know.” Cupping her chin, he leaned back a bit and bent his head, turning hers up to meet him at the same time.
He kissed her.
It was a light movement of lips, a simple peck. He wasn’t sure how to treat the woman – he had no idea where she was from, or how fragile she could be. She appeared as a warrior, both in attitude and physic with her height and lean muscle, but the Eiztar weren’t exactly known as a gentle people.
Kanthi was surprised, then, when the woman suddenly surged up, grabbing the collar of his shirt to tug him down to properly seal their lips together. It was a weird, crazy grinding motion that she only deepened as he tried to meet her. She suddenly opened her mouth, and he tried to follow suit, knocking their teeth together and eliciting a chuckle out of her. He smiled back, but his eyes turned wide at the feel of a tongue.
Just where was this woman from?
His sharp nose bumped against her cheek as she changed the angle and slipped her tongue in deeper, sweeping his mouth with it. He was unsure of what to do, and simply tried to copy her movements. She let him go like that for a moment before she wrapped her tongue around his, and sucked.
Kanthi barely noticed when she started rocking, her legs no longer weak but tense as she called upon her muscles to smoothly move up and down, grinding against his own crotch.
He shivered, and met her movements, thrusting his pelvis to rub his bulge between her legs. She picked up speed, her tongue never faltering as she concentrated elsewhere, and Kanthi ran a hand over her cheek to thread through her hair.
Well, at least he tried to. The woman still had her brown locks tied up, pulled tight behind her head to cascade down her back. Kanthi narrowed his eyes, and reached up to the band she’d used to fasten it. With a click, the band retracted, and her hair fell down past her shoulders to bounce into wild curls. Kanthi grinned around their kiss, and ran his fingers through it.
The woman groaned as he gave her a particularly hard thrust against her, and she bit his lower lip, pulling away slowly to look him in the eye.
“Yes…?” he asked, dazed.
She frowned at his voice, and stopped moving. She said something, her tone questioning.
Kanthi wanted to ask her what she was saying, or even if she could repeat it, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t think of what to say – or, rather, how to say it. What was he supposed to say to a woman who didn’t understand his language, and he hers?
He shrugged. “Sorry.”
She sighed and shrugged back, dropping her head to lean against his chest.
They stayed like that for a little while. Well, as long as it took for Kanthi to walk straight again, that is. The woman was the first to stand, doing a little stretch before she started off in a random direction, not a care in the world. Kanthi was glad to see that she was no longer tripping or stumbling, but that would only last until the bond got under her skin again. He’d give it a day, maybe two.
Kanthi caught up to her easily, readjusting his pants as his face turned a rude scarlet. The woman linked arms with him, staring straight ahead as if it were the most natural thing in the world, so Kanthi didn’t say anything. He merely redirected them toward his camp and kept her close.
Taryn
For the record, she had definitely been drugged. Also, he kissed her first. Well, if you could call that a kiss, anyway. Regardless, he started it – she had merely finished it.
That was what Taryn told herself as they walked arm in arm to god knows where under the guise of a night sky. The stars were out, a familiar presence for Taryn even if the lack of Martian constellations only proved that she was no longer in her own solar system.
She glanced at the
man next to her. And he was a man, the hard bulge in his pants had more than confirmed that. But was he an Earth man? The last thing she needed was to pull off his clothes and find a purple people eater where his junk should have been.
Taryn turned right as he steered them, hopefully directing them to somewhere useful. They’d already been walking for a while, and she was beginning to wonder if the desert they were in ever ended.
She looked up at the man again. She was seven feet tall, but this guy was at least a head higher. From her experience on Earth and the various colonies on Mars, that wasn’t a normal height for an Earth man. And really, what would someone from Earth be doing out here on this crazy planet, anyway?
The man stopped, bringing them to a sudden halt in front of a sad looking hill. He reached out a hand and extended his index finger. Without warning, a zap of blue light abruptly shot out from the darkness, hitting his fingertip. A moment later, and it was like the rock was deflating, revealing a parked black pod ship.
“You have a ship!” Taryn cried, the excitement overwhelming her. Finally, they had a way back. A way home.
But her crew already had transportation. It was all back there, where the snake men were.
The man beside her seemed to sense her mood, and he let go of her arm to lift her chin up with a crooked finger. He didn’t say anything, but nodded at the ship. She glanced at it and he let her go, walking to it while waving for her to do the same.
She hesitantly followed. It wasn’t like he’d be able to start the ship without her knowing – if he tried to fly them away, she’d just hop out before the doors shut. Easy as that.
Taryn walked up the small bridge, bending to fit into the small doorway. Pods were notorious for being tiny, and this one was no exception. Rounded and crowded, it had a screen spanning the front of it with two seats taking up any remaining space. The man was already sitting in one, absentmindedly patting the seat next to him for her while he typed nonsense into the computer.
Pods were generally used in emergencies, or as scout ships for much larger mother ships. From what she could see, his levels to enter torpor hibernation were full, so she guessed that he was the latter. That meant a bigger ship was docked just outside this planet, probably waiting for him.
Well, so much for needing an escape plan. Now all she needed was to round up her crew and retreat with his mother ship’s firepower backing their escape.
A weird static filled the ship, and Taryn glanced over at the man. He had a text box pulled up against a dulled screen. Oh, so he was trying to establish an undetectable communication box. She’d had to create quite a few of those during her time as captain.
With a few more clicks, the static receded and more unusual shapes and figures popped up on screen. She could only assume that it was his language as she watched someone on the other end type back.
It went on for a few more seconds before the man clicked a button and the whole thing shut off. Taryn knew the game – the longer you left a box open, the more likely it was to be compromised. She shrugged to herself and sat back in her seat, closing her eyes.
The almost immediate tap on her shoulder had her opening them again. The man was pointing at her ear and waving his hand in a ‘come hither’ motion. Taryn raised an amused eyebrow and leaned closer, turning her head. She wondered if he wanted to kiss her cheek, or something. She was surprised when, instead, he reached around to her other ear and plucked the comm tab from her.
“Huh,” she said. “I’d forgotten I was still wearing that.”
But the man wasn’t listening. He was bent over his lap, fidgeting with the comm as his other hand felt around for something. She assumed it was the multi-tool folded up to his left, so she picked it up and handed it to him. He beamed at her, and flipped it into a screwdriver, using it to tune the comm carefully.
A moment later and he was handing it back to her, the look on his face a pathetic blend of hopeful and hopeless.
“Thanks,” she said, but he just shook his head and unlocked something underneath his seat, pulling out a less bulky, obviously more expensive comm of his own. He did the same thing, and placed it over his ear once he had it right. Clearing his throat, he spoke.
“Hello,” he said, the comm translating his language perfectly. His usual guttural growl was transformed into a deep, sexy voice when he spoke her language.
“Well, hey there,” she winked, and she could tell by his face that he’d understood her. “Pretty nifty, Mr…?”
He scoffed. “My name is Kanthi, Kanthi B’Halli.”
“Nice,” she said, the name odd to her ears. “I’m Taryn Nephalia. I crash landed on this planet—”
At that, Kanthi nodded. “I know. You touched down just as I was in the middle of raiding the Thagzars’ lab.”
“Thagzar?” she repeated. “You mean, the snake men?”
“It is the chosen name for their species,” he said. “Likewise, I am an Eiztar, born of the race that was subdued by the snake scum for centuries before our rebellion. I am here to seize their last great weapon against us – a bioweapon, of sorts.”
“A bioweapon,” Taryn said. “Didn’t think they were advanced enough for that. So, what’re we talking? Bomb? Virus?”
“A poison. And you should not underestimate them,” he told her sternly. “They’re a slimy race who will do nothing if not exploit a weakness.”
“Uh, noted,” Taryn assured him.
“And why are you here?” he asked eagerly.
“I told you, I had a crash landing,” she explained. “Hit a meteor storm and bam, had to find a place to land.”
“And you were taken captive?” he asked, leaning toward her slightly.
“No, I asked to be put in a cage,” she rolled her eyes. “What’s with the twenty questions?”
“Apologies,” Kanthi said, drawing back. “It’s just that I have desired your answers all day.”
“Oh. Well, that’s cool, then.” Taryn glanced at the black screen. “So, who were you talking to?”
“Ah,” he said. “I contacted my crew. There are five of us, and in the morning we will be reunited. They are coming to aid me in securing the poison. It is our mission to find it and bring it to an Eiztar lab so that our scientists may create an antidote from it.”
“Yeah?” Now it was Taryn’s turn to lean forward. “I’ve got a mission, too. It’s called get my crew back. They were aboard my ship when we landed, but—”
“The enemy has them now,” Kanthi finished for her. “My condolences.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Taryn continued. “They were in pods. They’re locked up tight – the, uh, ‘Thagzars’ might not even know they’re in there.”
“We will try to rescue your comrades,” he promised, already booting up his machine to send new instructions to his crew.
Kanthi
Kanthi stared at the ceiling of his pod ship. In just a few hours his men would land, and then they’d overtake the laboratory to steal the infamous toxin and save his people. It would be difficult, especially with all the snakes that were surely crawling around the place, but well worth it. He knew that he’d need his full strength and wits for such a task.
Yet with the throbbing between his legs, he just couldn’t find sleep.
He glanced at the woman – Taryn – again. She was cuddled up in the chair next to him with her back facing him, completely unaffected by the bond in blissful sleep. He, meanwhile, was fighting with every fiber of his being to remain in his seat and leave the woman be – to fight the bond. So far, so good.
Kanthi breathed long and low, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling again. He tried to take his mind off of Taryn, and thought instead of his home planet. The fresh fruits of summer, the gentle breeze that carried through the trees, Taryn naked and wanting—
He bit his arm to keep the moan that burned in his throat from slipping out. Damn Taryn, with her scent beside him all he could think about was sex. He glanced at Taryn’s back again.
This wasn’t going to work.
Moving ever so slowly, he reached into his pants and slipped his fingers under the hem of his underwear, grasping his cock. He held back a gasp at the relief it offered, his teeth clenched as he moved his hand farther down. Biting his lip, he began stroking, his face red as he went at an excruciatingly slow pace to keep quiet. Closing his eyes, he imagined that it was Taryn stroking him off. That she was topless, her breasts free to wrap around his cock and squeeze against him. He breathed out a moan.
“K-Kanthi?”
His eyes flew open. He ripped his hand out of his pants, and jerked his head to look over at Taryn. Her back, thankfully, was still to him.
“Kanthi, I, um…” she turned over, her face beet red as she moved her hand between her closed legs. “I think I was drugged.”
“Drugged?” Kanthi repeated, his eyes mesmerized by her slow movements, his gaze unable to move from her hand rubbing against her mound. The scent of her arousal stunned him, and his cock twitched in his pants, echoing her movement.
She nodded. “You remember the drink?” she said breathlessly. Kanthi nodded. “I-it had something in it. It’s made me really…” she stopped for a moment, her breath hitching as her hand disappeared between her thighs again. She sighed. “Really horny.”
Not a term he knew, but her actions made it clear. It took Kanthi a few tries to actually swallow, his mouth was so dry. “Taryn,” he said. “It isn’t a drug. You—we’re in the middle of a bond.”
Taryn frowned, but didn’t stop moving. “What?”
“We’re bonding,” Kanthi said, pointing between the two of them.
“…What the fuck is a bond?”
Kanthi frowned as his worst dream was realized. The people didn’t bond on her planet. “It’s uh, well.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “When Eiztar’s bond, they enter a relationship. Their bodies—”