With the mating lust now settled, my mind is clearer and I’m capable of planning my next steps. There is much to do and so little time, but for now, I will rest peacefully knowing that a new destiny for me has begun.
Chapter 7
Rena
Waking slowly, a stifled yawn escapes me as I sit up. It takes several moments for my blinking eyes to adjust to the dark tones of the small wooden shack I’m in. Weird, I don’t recall falling asleep…
Memories of the previous night fly through my mind. Now that they’re here, I find I don’t really care how I ended up here, not after finally having Aarvik all to myself. The way he lavished my body and then mated with me like I was his most prized possession in the entire universe leaves me feeling nothing short of treasured. I never expected last night to go so well and I most certainly am not complaining.
Taking a deep breath, I reach behind me, seeking Aarvik. That’s when it hits me. I’m all alone. No one is wrapped around me or pressed up against me. I’m suddenly filled with disappointment. Where did he go? Why isn’t he still in bed?
All I can do is hold on to a sliver of hope that what Aarvik and I shared was more than just a one-night stand. It felt so good to be intimate with another being, and now that I have experienced it, I don’t want to let it go. It has to mean more. It just has to.
Nervously fiddling with the soft fabric surrounding my body, waiting for Aarvik to return, I glance down at the furs and can’t help but wonder how such a hardened planet as Delarou Valdani could be the home to such soft creatures. It also doesn’t escape my notice that my dress is back on. I guess sometime between me passing out in his arms and bringing me here, he must have dressed me, because I certainly don’t remember doing it myself. It’s sweet and not something I’d expect from someone who was just looking for a quick booty tap.
An earthy scent of pine wafts through the room. As I pull myself from the luxuriously soft bedding and stand up, I realize it’s coming from the walls. I move closer to inspect them. The wood appears similar to coniferous trees from home that keep well through winter. It makes pretending to be in a log cabin made from pine trees during the winter season, waiting for a lover to finish his last shift before the holidays all that easier. I close my eyes, and bask in this dream a little while longer. Oh, how I miss home. I inhale again, holding onto to this a little longer, but eventually, I let it go.
When I open my eyes again, I can’t help but notice how meager the room is. A few candles line the walls, some unlabeled boxes in one corner with clothes nearly stacked next to it, and of course, the pile of furs I woke up in. There’s not much here, and I can’t help but feel a stab of pain in my heart. If Sabi-si is to be believed, Aarvik has been on this planet much longer than I have, and yet he has less to show for it. To be so isolated, living in such a minimalistic way…it’s impressive but seems incredibly lonely.
I can’t explain why, but I want to just wrap my arms around him and tell him he doesn’t have to live like this anymore. Neither of us do. There’s a connection between us, and after everything we both have been through, I think we both deserve it.
Deciding not to wait for Aarvik any longer, I exit his humble abode. Wind brushes against my face when I take a step outside. A quiet rustle draws my attention and I turn towards the sound. Someone is kneeled, tending to a crackling fire. It’s Aarvik.
“You are awake. I was wondering when you would appear.” His voice is deep, saturated with rich growly undertones.
He pokes a branch in the fire to stir the flames, then turns to face me. His scales glint brilliantly in the light of the twin suns. Having always seen him in the dark, I never realized how beautiful he is. Smiling like a stunned fool, I cross the distance between us and take a seat beside him, hoping the warmth we shared last night extends through today. He smiles, and pulls me against him, wrapping an arm around me, encompassing me. A tingle runs down my spine, forcing me to shudder.
“I don’t know why, but it feels so good to be close to you,” I murmur as I shuffler further into his embrace. I can feel him lean in closer, whispering something I don’t quite understand in my ear. Whatever it is, it’s soft and pleasing. He then kisses my cheek and nuzzles my face. A feeling of overwhelming contentment fills me to the brim and I sigh, basking in this peaceful moment. This was exactly what I was hoping for. I can’t explain it entirely, but this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“Of course it does,” he replies, finally in a language I can understand. Not that it matters. He can speak in any language, whether my translator picks up is of no concern to me, as long as he’s with me. “We are mates.”
My breath hitches, caught in my throat. Aarvik stares down at me with intense eyes.
“Mates.” I repeat, my voice barely louder than a whisper.
“Yes.”
“Please tell me that’s a forever thing.” This exposes my heart and soul to him. The empty and shallow ache that leaves me hollow grows thinner by the moment. “We’re both the same you and I. Losing our worlds, our people...everything. I can’t go back to how things were. I just want to forget everything that the Ru’tah did and live my life on my own terms.”
He holds me even tighter, my heart thrums to a peaceful rhythm. Is this really happening? Is this all a dream?
“I know, my Lahtva. I know.”
“What is Lahtva?” I ask, curiosity from the untranslated word piquing my interest. The word is soft and sounds endearing on his tongue. I have a feeling I’m going to like what it means.
“It means mate.” His eyes bore into mine as he tells me this. “And mating is final among my people. I do not know how you—” He gestures to me in question, obviously asking what species I am.
“Humans,” I say eagerly, leaning in with more interest as he speaks.
“Humans...do things, but everything about you screams at me, telling me you are my mate. Your scent, the mating lust, even the ancestors demanded that I claim you. No doubt they are pleased to know that I have.”
For the first time in a long time, I’m rendered speechless. This is everything I have wanted, all packaged in one sexy male I can’t tear my eyes or mind away from. Tell me this isn’t a dream. “Tell me this is real.”
“Why wouldn’t it be real?” he asks.
I shake my head, feeling foolish as I chuckle lightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. It was more of a thought. I didn’t mean to say it aloud.”
He ponders for a moment. In his silence, I too ponder,
“So, the ancestors?” I ask, watching the twinkle in his eyes.. There’s something different about him today. He appears so pleased, so upbeat. It’s much different than the first time we met several months ago. He was more quiet and sad back then. If what he has been saying is true, no wonder. He must be as elated as I am. “Why did they choose me?”
He ponders for another moment. “They are strange and mysterious in their ways, but they are never wrong and I agree. You are perfect.”
I can’t pretend that I understand his ancestors or their mysterious ways as Aarvik claims, or how this alien mating lust affected me given that I’m a human, but I don’t fight it. Especially when he speaks about me with such adoration. I’m not sure that I deserve his affection, but I bask in it. I’m greedy and I want it all. Not because he’s the first person to warm my bed in a long time, I’ve had many chances, but because everything about him feels right to me. It also helps that he sounds like he wants more than just someone to pleasure his loins. If he’s serious, that’s what I want too. Someone I can love and treasure, hold at night, even when the universe has gone to shit. It’s what everyone needs.
“You know what I just realized.”
“What’s that?”
“I never gave you my name, and you didn’t even know what race I was...yet we fucked ourselves into oblivion because of this mating lust. It’s pretty ridiculous if you think about it.” A smile pulls at my lips.
He chuckles. “I would have claimed your name
eventually, my Lahtva.” Glancing away, he reaches into a sack and pulls out fresh meat, which he then skewers on a branch and hands to me.
“Rena,” I supply and take the skewer from him, not willing to pass down a good meal. “There, I gave it to you. Now there’s no need to claim it.”
“I will still claim it.”
The warmth of his hands glide against mine. My breath hitches, startled from the tantalizing heat that pools in my core. I wasn’t expecting a simple touch to turn me on so much, nor was I expecting him to care for my needs. The idea that the massive alien beside me putting me first makes my cheeks redden like a shy school-girl, waiting for her first kiss. It makes me want to treasure him for the kind male he is.
“Rena…” He pronounces my name with such seriousness—and with a ridiculous amount of sexiness at the same time—that it makes my body tremble, but in a good way.
Distracted by him, I have let my meat cook a little too long. The charred protein permeates the air and my mouth salivates. While the food cools, I look around and marvel and how beautiful and simple it is here. The plain and uncomplicated lifestyle of living by your own means is far better than the dilapidated and grime-filled city. But then my thoughts linger back to his meager cabin. Maybe life is a little too simple here.
“It’s nice out here, a little quiet. I’m not sure if I’d want to live out here, the city lookts to be quite a distance away and I see no transport,” I mention, taking a bite into the meat. Flavor bursts across my tongue. I think of the modifications my father made to our Christmas dinners. “Damn, this almost tastes like a roasted BBQ turkey.”
I shovel another few bites into my mouth while looking at Aarvik with appreciation for his generosity. I don’t know how he managed to cook something that I haven’t tasted in a very long time, but I’m pleasantly surprised.
“Agreed. The inner city of VadCurah is a filth I would rather not taint myself with. Though, I am not familiar with this bebeqoo you speak of.” He tears into a large chunk of meat.
Oh God, it’s so true. This makes me laugh and causes me to choke on a piece of meat. Aarvik’s large hand whacks me gently on my back until the questionable piece ejects from my mouth, leaving me coughing and sputtering for breath.
“Thanks,” I choke out.
He hands me a cup of water. “You should not be so reckless. I shall not lose my mate just as I found her.”
His piercing gaze is full of worry, but also challenging like he’s somehow demanding that accidents are not allowed to happen. I raise my eyebrows questionably in the hopes of throwing him off guard.
“Maybe you’re the one that was reckless, feeding me hazardous food and all.”
In one swift movement Aarvik is on his feet, looming over me. Dark possession seeps into his handsome features. Surprised at his sudden movement, I jump up from the log and run to the other side of the fire pit, forcing us to walk in circles on opposite sides from one another.
“Perhaps you want to believe such a lie, but be warned my Lahtva, such accusations only make me want to prove how very wrong you are.” His voice deepens with every word spoken, eyes never leaving mine.
Distracted by his predatory gaze that follows every movement I make, I lose my footing and trip. Slipping backward on the loose soil, he rushes over and catches me in a dip, just like he did all those months ago when we first met. My breath hitches, our bodies only inches apart. It seems like he always catches me, especially off guard.
“I don’t need a man to catch me.” My lie isn’t exactly a lie. I may not need a man to catch me, but I do need a certain Daltakeu to.
“I am not this man you speak of, female. You would be better off to not forget this.” His threat hints at a promise of passion and pleasure. There’s no mistaking the deep and arousing tone for anything else.
He rights me, setting me back on my feet, but instead of sitting back down, he takes a step forward. I take one step back. It’s a game and it’s thrilling. We do this several times. Eventually, though, I run out of space. My back hits the exterior wall of his hut. It’s a mistake. A big one. The best one.
Aarvik comes right up before me and presses his sculpted chest against mine. Placing two hands beside my head, just above my shoulders, he traps me like prey. His prey. Except this prey wants to be ravaged by the beast that hunts her. Naughty thoughts whip around in my mind as I imagine all the things I want to do to him. If only he’d reach down and touch me…
He’s so close.
Nostrils flaring, he growls, leaning his face down into the crook of my neck. His cool breath fans my shoulder, eliciting a shudder from me. Arousal flares like wildfire, my core pulsing with need. Reflectively I clench my pussy, but this only seems to make things worse. His breathing quickens like river rapids, dangerous and alluring to those who seek danger and adventure. I find I want both: danger and adventure.
“What is happening?” I ask, barely whispering.
“Only what’s meant to.”
His masculine scent surrounds me. It’s inescapable. Aarvik reaches in for a kiss, but I turn my head to the side evading his lips, playing his game because I know how much he enjoys it. He finds this just as thrilling as I do. However, instead of halting his pursuit of me, he licks the side of my exposed neck. I let out a small whimper, one that tells him how needy I am, not that he doesn’t already know. I’m certain he can smell my arousal.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” I gently push him away, but he’s far too strong. His body is hard as rock and still refuses to move.
“We are bonding, my Lahtva,” he purrs.
Eyes rolling into the back of my head, my core heats up further. The soreness from the night before disappears like it never existed and I’m ready to go again. “I think...I can go another round.”
“It is not another round that I long for.”
With the look of longing in his eyes, I can’t help but lift my knee and part my thighs. He uses his own to widen my stance, placing a leg between mine, encroaching on my most intimate of places. While doing this, he goes for my neck again. His tantalizingly slow licks are distracting, especially when his sharp fangs scrap against my skin. I don’t know what he finds so intriguing here, but it feels good. Too good. When did my neck become so sensitive?
“And what is it that you desire?” I whimper, my head leaning back, eyes closed.
“I wish to claim you softly, slowly, devouring every last inch of you.” He trails kisses up the side of my neck until he reaches my jaw, where he nips. “Rena.” His tongue dips out to lick his lips as if to savor the taste of my name in his mouth. “A fitting name for a queen.”
Huh? A queen? I pop an eye open.
His lip curls into a smirk, smoldering and knowing, his eyes pierce me. “You are mine, Rena. I will have all of you and nothing less. You will be my Crowned Daltakasa.”
I don’t know what hes saying because brain doesn’t feel like fucking functioning, but he scoops me up into his arms. My legs wrap around his waist as he passes through the door of his dwelling. The candles still burn bright. Between that and the window there’s just enough light for me to see what’s going on. Dots dance around the wooden panel walls and low ceiling, which catches my attention until it becomes obvious it’s just the light flickering off his luminescent scales. It’s beautiful.
With no intention of resting, he lowers me to his furs, nudging his legs between mine.
Leveraging my weight on my elbows, I sit up. “What do you mean queen? Or that Crowned Daltakasa,” I ask him, but he pushes me back down with the weight of a fevered kiss. The question slips from my mind once again as his hot mouth attacks me. He tastes like mint and fresh pineapple. I can’t get enough, so I force my tongue to delve deeper and seek all that he has to offer.
My hands race along the expanse of his chest up towards the robe that is securely tied around his neck. Why he even bothered to put this on after last night is beyond me. If I had my wish, I’d keep him naked. Always.
Be
tween nips and licks and the occasional suckle of his tongue, I rush to remove this damn clothing to reveal more of the shimmering scales on his body. There wasn’t much of a chance to see them last night and I’m fascinated by them. They remind me of exotic reptiles; smooth, colorful and alluring. His hands slink around mine and assist me to pull the strangely tied knots loose until the entire thing slides down him to the floor next to us.
“Much better,” I say lazily, tracing my hands down the sides of his shoulders and parts of his back. “Are you covered in scales everywhere?”
My question is wholly innocent, but of course, I’m thinking of what is hidden beneath his pants. Mating with Aarvik last night certainly felt great, but I was so worked up I didn’t really have a chance to see what he was packing, especially when he slammed me down on his cock without much thought.
He raises an eyebrow, or rather dark scales in place of eyebrows. “Impatient, are we? Do not worry, you will find out soon enough.” His hand runs up my thigh, slipping beneath the hem of my dress, suggestively running a finger along the seam of my pussy. “I shall taste you here again.”
Reaching down to oblige him, I pull up my dress, but he grabs my hands and arranges them above my head, holding them in place. Eager, I lift my hips giving him access to everything he desires.
I let my thighs fall open as he pushes the hem of my dress upwards—because he seems intent on unwrapping me himself—where it pools around my belly. Anticipation crawls through me while his fingers inch towards my center, parting the seam of my lips. His eyes blaze with lust, then he leans down and takes a deep breath, inhaling my scent.
“You smell divine. It’s intoxicating.”
I groan, waiting in anticipation. Impatiently, I wriggle beneath him. When his textured tongue runs along the base of my pussy to my clit, I gasp.
“That feels way too good,” I moan.
A Very Alien Christmas: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Alien Romance Page 11