by Roxie Ray
“Does dinner displease you, vringna?” Kloran eyed me cautiously as I came back out from the bathroom and sat down at the table with him again. “We can summon something else from the food articulator, if you wish.”
“Honestly, I’m not even really hungry,” I said with a sigh. “All I’m really craving is salad and iced water. I just haven’t been feeling well lately.”
Kloran’s eyes flashed yellow, which I was beginning to think meant either panic or fear or both. “Are you feeling faint? Should I carry you to bed?”
“No. No, I think all of the fainting I was doing when I first got here was because of PTSD or something.” I frowned. Given the hell that Michael had put me through, it would have made sense. It had been a lot better lately, but it was probably something I’d have to keep working through for the rest of my life now. “It’s, um. A panic disorder, I guess you could say. Something in the mind that gets triggered by certain traumas and affects the body physically in response.”
“Something in your brain, then? We could ask Healer Adskow to operate. He could remove the infected tissue for you with ease.”
“Not exactly.” Mental illness awareness was obviously something that I’d need to work on with the Lunarians, especially with so many of their warriors embroiled in this confusing conflict with that Rutharian species. “I think as long as you don’t yell at me anymore, we can avoid triggering it. But that’s not what this is, anyway. I think maybe I’ve caught a bug or something.”
“A bug? On the ship?” Kloran craned his neck to peer down at my hands, his brow knitted with concern. “Is it in your pocket, vringna? Give it here and I will release it for you.”
I laughed. “Um. No. Not what I meant.” On second thought, explaining that I thought I was coming down with something would only make Kloran worry more. He’d already been looking at me really strangely lately. Like he was expecting me to fall into a coma at any minute. “You know, I’ve been wondering, though. Vringna—you call me that all the time, but the translator chip doesn’t pick it up. At first, I thought it was an insult, but now you use it like a pet name. What’s it mean?”
“Vringna…hmm.” Kloran stroked his chin thoughtfully. My little distraction had worked. “It is, admittedly, a bit of an insult, yes. A translation might be, ah…ridiculous female, I think. One who behaves erratically for no particular reason.” He smiled at me warmly. “It felt suitable for you when we first met. Now, of course, I find you ridiculous for other reasons.”
“Oh, I’m the ridiculous one, am I?” I laughed. “Have you already forgotten about the entire trade agreement you broke just to defend my honor?”
“And I would do it again, too,” Kloran said with pride. He scooted his chair back and patted his knee. “Come here, Bree-ah. You must eat something. Perhaps some of my food would suit your stomach better.”
I shrugged and came over to him, placing myself gingerly on his thigh. I was never one to turn down a chance to sit on Kloran’s lap, and admittedly, I’d been kind of eyeing up those weird-looking berries on his plate for the entire meal.
Kloran plucked one of the berries up and pressed it against my lips. It was a deep red color, spiky all over but soft and fruity when I crushed it between my teeth. A thick, viscous syrup burst from it when I broke through the outer skin. It coated my tongue with a light, natural-tasting sweetness. Like a raspberry with an expensive candy center.
“Mm,” I moaned softly, pulling his fingers to my lips when I was done chewing and licking them clean. “Those are amazing.”
“As is what you’re doing with your tongue, precious thing.” Kloran purred as I sucked on his fingertip. “Careful, or I will be forced to take you to bed despite your delicate state. And we have no time for that right now.”
“No?” That was disappointing. Even the queasy feeling in my stomach couldn’t drown out the rampant horniness I’d been feeling lately. Being in bed with Kloran with his cock inside me and my arms wrapped around his neck was pretty much all I’d wanted to do over the past few days. “Why not? A little roll in the hay might be good for me, you know.”
“Ah, but unfortunately we have no hay to roll you in at the moment.” Kloran pulled his fingers away from my lips and tugged my mouth down to meet his own instead. When his tongue slipped against mine, I knew he could probably taste the lingering sweetness of the berry on me. My entire body arched and ached at his touch. Over the last few days, being close to Kloran was the only thing that had felt good at all, and I luxuriated in his arms. But kissing wasn’t the only thing on his mind, unfortunately. He pulled away, his eyes were storm-colored and tinged with sadness. “I have…news, Bree-ah.”
“News? Like, good news, or bad news?”
He stared at me meaningfully. “That has yet to be seen. There is a transport ship within range of us that is already headed for your galaxy. If you wish, we can book you passage on it. Though…I still hold onto hope that perhaps you have decided to stay?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Yeah, that’s definitely news, all right.”
I’d been thinking about this a lot ever since we left Jeorkana. I’d weighed my options a thousand times over the past few days. What I had for myself back on Earth—essentially nothing. What Kloran could offer me here—and if he was being honest with me, he could give me everything I’d ever wanted and more.
In the end, it hadn’t really even been a question.
I’d made my choice.
“I…I am in love with you, Bree-ah.” Kloran’s voice quavered. I’d never heard it do that before. “I would not keep you from your people, your home. I cannot ask you to stay. But I love you, and if you like—”
I crushed my lips against his just to shut him up, as his hands roamed tentatively over my body, my heart swelled up in my chest in a way I’d never felt before. When I finally pulled away again, I was grinning like a madwoman.
“I’m staying, Kloran. I don’t want to leave you, and there’s just…there’s so much for me here.”
“There is?” Kloran seemed stunned by that fact, though I had no idea why. Hadn’t he been the one to tell me himself all the luxuries he’d give me if I chose him?
“Of course there is, idiot. Back on Earth, Michael never really let me make friends, but here, Leonix and I have lunch every day. I think she’s starting to warm up to me. And Head Healer Adskow, he actually listens to me here. The doctors back on Earth would take one look at the social class I’d been born into on my ID badge and send me away to empty bedpans, whether I was right or not.” I curled my fingers beneath the lapels of his white military jacket. “And then…there’s you.”
“Me?” Kloran looked flattered. “You would stay for me as well?”
I laughed. “Yes, Kloran. My ex-husband on Earth, he was a bastard of a man. He’d hurt me. Badly. You’ve seen my shoulder.”
“Yes.” Kloran’s eyes flashed red for a moment. “He does sound like this baz-terd which you call him. I would kill him myself if I could.” He cocked his head to the side. “Do you wish for me to? I could have it arranged.”
“No,” I said definitively. Kloran would enjoy that way too much—and I might even enjoy watching. But we didn’t need to go back to Earth again. Not now that I’d made up my mind. “No, just let me stay here with you. You’re kind to me. Especially now that you’re not yelling my ears off anymore.”
“I will never yell at you again, Bree-ah. It causes you too much distress, and in your delicate condition—” Suddenly, Kloran’s skin flushed a shade pinker.
I guessed I wasn’t the only one embarrassed by how sick I’d been getting lately. Hopefully, he wouldn’t think that I was a less desirable mate, or whatever, because of it.
“It’s fine, Kloran. I’m fine.” I smiled down at him as I stroked his cheek with my fingertips. “I’m in love with you too.”
We finished dinner in between kisses and giggles, with Kloran feeding me half of the native berries of his homeland from his plate. They’d always
looked a little too weird for me to try before now. In the past, when Kloran had kissed me after eating him, his tongue had always tasted a little too sour for my liking. But these berries must have been different than the ones before, because they were beyond delicious. Out of everything I’d eaten over the past few days, they were the only things that hadn’t completely turned my stomach, too.
That night, when Kloran took me to bed, I half expected for him to use me nice and rough. My horniness levels had been maxed out despite whatever stomach bug I’d caught on the medical ward, and we’d learned each other’s bodies well enough now that we could go at it like animals, no holds barred. But in the last couple of days, Kloran had been more and more gentle with me when we made love. As he slipped his cock between my thighs, resting it hard and heavy on top of my pelvis so I could see how long and thick he was before he took me, I nipped at his lip and he drew back, shaking his head.
“Oh, come on! What’s wrong?” I knitted my eyebrows together, pouting slightly. “Don’t you want me? You’re already hard.”
“Oh, vringna. I want you. Badly.” He pushed my hair back from my face and smiled down at me gently. “Especially when you pout so. But you are…you have not been well lately. I do not want to hurt you. I promised I would not. Remember?”
“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes, then batted my lashes playfully. “The other day, you were just threatening to take me over your knee and spank me, weren’t you? Now, you won’t even bite me back.” I was pouting with good reason—the way Kloran’s teeth sank into my neck as he thrust inside me usually made me come so hard that I could see the stars without even having to go down to the viewing deck.
“That was in jest, though, Bree-ah. I would not truly spank you.” A wicked glint shone in his eyes for a moment, though. “Well, not unless you very much deserved it.”
“Oh, yeah?” I wrapped my hand around his cock and squeezed him tight. He was so thick that my fingers couldn’t even meet my thumb as they curled around his base. “I can work with that. What would I have to do to deserve it?”
Kloran chuckled, then dipped his lips to mine. He kissed me softly. As I stroked him, he was all but purring.
“Not much would lead me to do such a thing, Bree-ah. If you put yourself in harm’s way, perhaps. If you endangered others with your ridiculous actions, which I do not think you would do. You are a healer,” he said with pride. “You care for others. Not endanger them.”
“Have you wanted to hurt me before?” I asked, not afraid, just curious. Kloran had never really hurt me. He wasn’t anything like Michael. Even with his fangs and his claws, he’d only used them on me in ways that I liked.
“Hmm. Perhaps,” Kloran admitted, sliding the tips of his claws down my spine. Like always, it made me tremble. “That first night you were here, when you hurt yourself by grabbing at the mechanical arm of your food dispenser and burned your fingers, I wanted to tan your buttocks red then.” Grinning, Kloran shifted an arm beneath me and grabbed said buttocks possessively. “But now…now, you please me. You are staying with me. You are mine. If I have my wish, you will never be hurt again.”
“Does that mean we can’t have a little, you know, rougher fun?” I wiggled my hips beneath him. “Remember, you love me, and you promised to give me anything I wanted…”
Kloran laughed. “Perhaps another night, Bree-ah. For tonight, and until you’re feeling better…”
He drew his hips back suddenly. His cock slipped downward and pushed between my folds, teasing at my entrance as Kloran’s lips lowered to my ear.
“I intend to take you achingly slow, Bree-ah. Make you feel the way I fill you. Make you yearn for pleasure from my cock.” Softly, he nipped at my ear and I drew in a hiss that was needy and desperate for more. “I intend to make love to you, precious one. Until you are…well again, this is something you will simply have to endure.”
I almost opened my mouth to keep arguing with him, but Kloran crushed his lips against mine before I could. His cock slipped into me simultaneously, stretching me just as he had that first time. But my body knew exactly how to take him now, even without the lubrication of that lust potion we’d enjoyed together in the bath. If anything, I was wetter now than I’d ever been before in my life.
And true to his promise, Kloran was gentle with me. Slow, steady and firm. But despite the taste for rough crazy-monkey sex that I’d recently developed, I quickly realized that I wasn’t missing out on any pleasure when Kloran was tender and gentle with me. His kiss was addictive. It made my head fill up with warm little bubbles of ecstasy, the kind that I could sink into and float on with ease. His hands roamed all over my body, worshipping me. I’d never felt so beautiful and wanted before. He touched me, teased me, stroked me and squeezed me as much as he liked.
And Kloran’s cock…his cock made my body arch and twist up to meet his thrusts in a gorgeously slow rhythm. There was something luxurious about being fucked like this, where I could count his thrusts and feel the pleasure each sank into my core amplifying every time he moved inside me.
Coupling with Kloran felt like dancing. If the first time we’d fucked had crescendoed to a wild, frenzied samba, this was something deeper, more tender. A different kind of passionate. It had all the heat of a tango, but it was simpler, more loving, more sensuous. Like a wedding waltz.
Even when my body was screaming faster, faster, faster, Kloran held his pace, steady and strong. Gradually, my body started to get the idea of what to do with it, too. We didn’t need faster. We just needed more. The slower Kloran fucked me, the longer I had to run my fingers through his thick silver waves, to relish the way the fork in his tongue pulsated with his heartbeat against the tip of mine. I was luxuriating in him, breathing in his breath, enjoying every moment stretched out into eternity, and he was making me.
I could have stayed like that forever, with my legs wrapped around Kloran’s waist and my fingers tangled in his hair, the sweetness of the berries he’d fed me lingering through a hundred searing kisses between our lust-soaked lips. But there was a heat building between us, too. A wildfire burning within me that not even slow and steady could contain. It ebbed and flowed with his every thrust like ocean waves lapping against the shoreline, but every time he drove his cock deeper into me, that heat only flared up more and more. Until I was lost in it.
Until it had consumed me completely.
“Kloran!” I gasped his name as the orgasm rocked through me. I was completely caught up in it, pulled under by it, lost in an almost hypnotic trance. My pussy clenched around him, the spasming coming back harder and harder after every release until finally, I could feel him filling me with his own orgasm too. “Kloran…Kloran! Yes…I love you. I love you. Yes!”
“Bree-ah!” he growled, and then he gave me what I’d been wanting so badly. His teeth scraped against the thin, sensitive skin my neck, then sank into it. His bite held firm as his cum rushed up into me. His hands claimed my breast and my hip, and the pleasure he was pumping into me with his cock claimed the rest.
By the time we were done with each other, we were both too exhausted to even move so he could pull out of me. He rolled our bodies over instead, so I could rest on top of him and he could wrap me up in his arms, nice and tight.
At some point, through all the little nips and kisses and I love you, I love you, I love yous, we drifted off to sleep together. His cock was still inside me, and even though I didn’t think it was even possible, I could have sworn that even as we slept, we were still united. One body. One mind. One love. Intertwined so perfectly that we even shared each other’s dreams.
A few days later, the pleasure Kloran had given me on that night was just a pleasant memory compared to the hell that my body was putting me through, though. The berries he’d fed me at dinner were the only thing I could keep down, and eventually, even those weren’t doing the trick anymore.
“Bria,” Healer Adskow said sternly as I returned from yet another lunch hour spent praying to the porcelain t
hrone. “I think we need to have a talk.”
“We both do,” Kloran said, rising from a chair in the corner. “But please, do not be alarmed.”
I stopped in the doorway of the ship’s healing ward, looking between the two of them in confusion.
“Look,” I said, rubbing the corner of one eye with the side of my fist. My face was red and puffy from all the hurling I’d been doing, which was embarrassing. My swollen eyes and sallow cheeks weren’t exactly my most attractive look. “I know I’ve been sick for the past few days, but—”
“Not days. More than a week now. Closer, I think, to two weeks, in fact.” Adskow gave me a stern look, but not a cruel one. There was kindness in his eyes. In Kloran’s too, mixed with concern.
“You need to allow Healer Adskow to examine you,” Kloran said. “He’s called me here so you do not have to be alone for it.”
Nodding, I dragged my feet as I made my way over to Adskow and offered him my wrist. “Okay. Fine. But I’ve already checked my pulse. My heart rate is totally normal. I think I’ve probably just picked up some kind of Lunarian flu or something. It happens sometimes in hospitals,” I explained to Kloran. “There’s always all kinds of stuff going around, and especially with the number of your warriors who’ve been coming in out of who-knows-where in space…”
Kloran and Adskow shared a tense look, then Adskow gave a soft chuckle.
“I believe there is something Lunarian inside you,” he said, guiding me over to an exam table. “But it is not the flu.”
My heart started to race as I sat down. So much for a regular heartbeat, I guessed. I wasn’t stupid. I knew what he meant.