Big Bad Claws

by Michele Mills

  “Tell me what else you like. Tell me what you want.”

  She shook her head.

  “Tell me. Now.”

  “I…I want you hard so you can fuck me,” she blurted out.

  “Hmmm. Really?” He continued to pinch her nipple. His lips right against her ear. “You do? You want my hard cock in your pussy?”

  She caught her breath. “Yes, I wish we could pleasure mate.”

  He snorted. “Xylan don’t pleasure mate.”

  “I know,” she pouted.

  “The moment you touch my palm and ignite my mating pheromones, then I can grow hard and pleasure you.”

  He’d said this so many times already. It was his favorite statement.

  Zayzon threw back the covers, leaving her exposed to his gaze. Then he jerked her pajama pants and panties down her thighs.

  What the hell?

  He inhaled again and stared down at her in wonder. “You have dark hair on your female parts.”

  A tiny snort escaped her lips.

  “Continue to touch yourself,” he ordered. “I want to watch you work that hairy pussy.”

  Her mouth dropped open. Where did he get these words?

  He took her hand and put it back on top of her slit. “Do it. I cannot do this for you yet, but I can be here next to you, scenting and listening and learning exactly how you pleasure yourself. This way when you are ready, I will know how you like to be touched.”

  Well, this did make sense. Right?

  She did as he asked and started stroking herself.

  “Hmm. What else do you want?” he asked.

  “Well…”

  “Tell me.”

  “Pinch my nipple harder.”

  And then he pinched and rolled it to the point of almost-pain. She groaned and threw her head back, resting it on his chest.

  “I want to shoot my seed all over your body,” he continued, saying words she’d never thought an Illibrium miner would ever utter. “I want it in your mouth. In your ass. All over your chest. I want to watch you lick it from my cock. I want you taking my cock and screaming as you come.”

  “You’re a dirty talker?” she whispered with delight.

  “My mouth is clean.”

  “No, I…never mind, please continue.”

  His hot mouth was right there, next to her ear continuing to describe sex acts he wanted to do when he was able to claim her, acts that he thought she might like. “…I will lick your ass while you mouth my cock. Then I will fuck your ass while I finger your clit…” How did a celibate male have such an elaborate, filthy imagination? This was fabulous.

  “I want to watch you come, right now.”

  Okay, if he insisted.

  One clawed hand continued to roll and tug at her nipple. Dirty talk filled her ear. And her legs were splayed as she furiously worked her clit, rubbing it exactly the way she liked.

  “I’m watching you,” he rasped.

  And then she exploded. “Uh…unh…oh gods.” It was literally the longest, hardest orgasm of her life. It raced across her stomach and down her thighs right to the tips of her toes, leaving her gasping with amazement. Her hips jerked up as she kept going, rubbing against her clit to ride it out and make it last longer. And she turned into Zayzon’s side, loving the feel of his big body and the rumble of his low voice as she shuddered in his arms.

  The only disappointment was the lack of that big cock pounding inside of her as she fluttered around him.

  How would that feel? She could hardly wait to find out.

  13

  “What’s wrong?” Zayzon asked.

  Lila shifted on her feet and glanced back at the group of males crowded in front of the door, staring at her with varying levels of annoyance. Cannibal was already eating his snack.

  They were ready to leave for work, and she was holding them up.

  Did they know that Zayzon had directed her to touch herself last night? Had they heard his dirty talk and her cries of pleasure?

  Please gods, no.

  Zayzon stared down at her with that tender gaze, only for her. It was darling that he wasn’t going to leave until he knew she was fine, but the problem was that the tablet was trying to alert her to the fact that the waiting period for her fake account was up. She’d already programmed it to snoop on her real account, so there could be some important info there accumulating, waiting to be discovered.

  He didn’t realize she was agitated because she had shit to do. This sexy male dressed in all the heavy mining gear was lovely, but he needed to leave.

  “You ready Claws?” Chief asked impatiently as he slid the door open. “It’s time to go. We don’t want to be late for work.”

  Was it true, did these miners want her as their family? They didn’t look very eager. Scar in particular was studiously ignoring her. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to them since last night. She’d woken up late and barely made it out here in time to say goodbye.

  Real families fought and made up though, didn’t they? Later, they could sit and talk and work it all out. She could make it up to them. But right now, she had to find out what was on that tablet.

  “Don’t look so sad,” Zayzon leaned down and whispered in her ear. “They’ll come around. You’ll see. Even though you are not yet my mate, I will do everything in my power to tend to all of your needs, in and out of our bedchamber. You will always come first.” He winked.

  Her heart warmed and butterflies fluttered in her stomach and she realized she totally loved this man. Loved. Him. Last night had been a revelation. A preview into her future, and she wanted it all—wanted all of him.

  Dammit.

  Was she ever going to make it back home?

  And where was home?

  The crew finally stomped out of the compound with their gear hooked to their belts and thumping against their thighs. Lila watched through the window as they walked through the dense, wild foliage out front and onto the empty street, on their way to public transport. The last of them disappeared from view.

  Then she whipped around and raced back to the kitchen table and scooped up the blinking tablet. She couldn’t handle it any longer, she had to know.

  Yes, she should be more worried about this rift with Zayzon’s brothers, but she’d have to fix it later. Zayzon was totally going to be her new husband. She was going to marry that sexy miner the first chance she got. She’d stick with him and his brothers and make it all work out. But first, she had to find out what was happening back home. She couldn’t move forward when her past was continuing to nip at her heels.

  Lila tapped the alert and a screen immediately offered her the being who’d been trying to contact her. Weirdly, this same being had tried to also contact her fake name.

  It was Gerard.

  She squeaked with delight and tapped the connection. A live feed popped up with a visual of her cousin’s flashing dark eyes and trimmed black beard. “Gerard,” she choked. Her cousin was seven years older. His mother, her aunt, had died in childbirth and his father had been snatched by the Hurlians when Gerard was a teenager. She’d always been close with him, more like siblings than cousins. They were all each other had left.

  “Lila,” he shouted. “Where have you been? I didn’t know if you were dead or alive.”

  Her heart squeezed. “I’m so sorry. I had to—”

  “Where are you? I don’t recognize the room you’re in. Tell me where you are so I can come and get you.”

  “Gerard, I had to leave New Earth. If I didn’t, I’d be dead. I had no way to tell you. This is the first chance I’ve had to contact you.”

  “You’re not even on the planet? You disappeared and no one knows what happened to you. I’ve had a search running on the interwebs for you. When you accessed your account, it pinged.”

  “But I didn’t access my account using my real identity. I was careful not to do that.”

  He shrugged. “My program looks not only for you, but also for anyone accessing your account, especially n
ew accounts.”

  “Oh damn, I thought I was being so careful,” she cried.

  “Where are you?”

  She bit her lip and changed the topic. “Are you okay? How are Ines, Roberto and everyone else?”

  His harsh features softened. “We’re fine. Everyone at the house is fine, they’re just scared and worried, wondering if you’re okay. I’ve been over there every day since you’ve been gone.”

  “Thank you, thank you so much for checking on everyone.”

  “Lila, what happened? I need to see you and make sure you’re okay. Are you coming back? I don’t even know why you left. Daniela has been sniffing around, acting as if you’re already dead. She says you’d never leave on your own because you’re a shut in, so something bad must’ve happened. The peacekeepers are looking into it, but they think you’re an adult who chose to leave. It’s stupid. I know you. You wouldn’t leave without telling anyone unless something life-threatening happened. I was about to hire private investigators.”

  “I left because Daniela tried to have me killed. You were right all along about her. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to your warnings. She tried to kill me. That’s why I left. I’m hiding from the assassins she sent.”

  “What? Daniela is to blame? I knew she was a bitch, but I didn’t know she wanted you dead. And that explains why she fired me yesterday.”

  “She fired you? See, if I was there, she’d never dare try that. She wants the corporation for herself and I’m in the way. Dad’s will stipulated that if I die prior to my inheritance, then everything reverts to Daniela. I have to stay hidden and off the grid until my birthday so I can inherit and protect us all. Right now, she’s technically in charge.”

  His face turned into a mask of rage. “How did you escape?” he ground out.

  “An assassin came to my room to kill me, but she couldn’t go through with it. Dad had saved her when she was a child and she felt beholden to him. So instead she helped me to escape. She took me to the transporter station, put me on a disk and set it to random and I ended up—"

  And right then Daniela’s terrible face suddenly appeared on the screen, alongside Gerard’s. Now they were all in a group meeting together.

  “Lila,” her cruelly beautiful stepmother snarled.

  Lila almost dropped the tablet. “What the…?”

  “I’ve been looking for you,” she chuckled in an unusually dark tone. This version of Daniela was nothing like the vivacious woman Lila had always known.

  “Who are you?” Lila barked. “Did you ever love me? Did you ever love Dad?”

  “No,” Daniela snorted. “I didn’t love that asshole, but I did love his money. And you’re an annoying brat. And now everything will be mine, as soon as you’re dead. And I’ll get rid of Gerard too while I’m at it.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Gerard snarled.

  And then the female assassin suddenly appeared on the screen too, still with her mask on, only revealing those two bright blue eyes.

  “Holy gods,” Lila gasped. This was crazy. Now she was in a virtual group meeting with her cousin, her evil stepmother, and the assassin who’d tried to kill her.

  “Lila Garabedian, get off this vid conference right now,” the assassin yelled. “Are you trying to get killed? I’ve been working my ass off to keep you alive and you’re ruining everything. Your stepmother has been running a locator scan this whole time and now you’ve provided her with your coordinates. The assassin network knows where you are. They’ve known your exact location for twenty minutes now.”

  Lila sucked in a breath. “Oh no.”

  Daniela chuckled. “It’s true. Better run little girl, or not. Either way you’re dead.”

  “Run,” the female shouted. “Get the hell out of there right now. You’re in danger.”

  Lila dropped the tablet and scrambled to her feet.

  The doorbell rang.

  This time she was certain it wasn’t her new sister-in-law. “Oh fuck.” She ran for the back door. And then a blast tore through the front room. She fell to the ground for a moment as dust settled on her head and back, the boom reverberating in her chest. Then she managed to push herself up and run down the back hall.

  She paused in the doorway, her fingers digging into the door jam. The jungle beckoned; it was her only place to hide and also her greatest fear. She’d been taken advantage of. An easy target. But this was not who she wanted to be anymore. She needed to stay alive long enough to vanquish Daniela.

  And then she ran outside without a backward glance.

  “Claws, there’s someone approaching our compound.”

  “What?” he powered down his laser and lifted his face shield. “What did you say?”

  Scar shoved his tablet in front of Zayzon’s face. “Look. Your tablet was trying to alert you to the fact that there’s a being approaching our compound, but you couldn’t hear so it bounced to me.”

  “Who is it?” he growled. The security system on their domicile was programmed to scan all beings who entered their property, or even the street.

  “I don’t know…wait, it’s two different beings.” Scar looked up. “There are two intruders at the compound. Eight more have just arrived at the transporter station.”

  Zayzon dropped his gear and pounded down the tunnel. He sprinted through a maze of tunnels and ran straight to the mining cage. He skidded to a halt, his chest heaving. Another mining crew had already crowded into the lift, filling the cage with crates of crystals and other large equipment. The doors were about to slide closed.

  “Fuck,” he shouted. They were at level 3400 today, with lots of activity. It was going to take an eternity to get above ground.

  “Don’t worry,” Scar answered, right behind him. “You get to her first. The rest of us will follow and take care of the intruders at the station.”

  “I love her. I can’t lose her.”

  Scar nodded. “I know.” He gestured at the cage and pushed him forward. “Go, go, go. There’s room for one more. You can fit in there.”

  Zayzon darted inside the lift and the doors slid closed behind him.

  14

  Am I going to die?

  The moment Lila stepped into the wild alien jungle the skies cracked open and dropped a torrent of rain with exactly the same ferocity as the day she’d arrived. Complete with lightening and thunder.

  What the actual fuck?

  She ran through the wet, dense vegetation in her pink pajamas, her heart beating furiously.

  Two assassins were on her ass? She’d caught one out of the corner of her eye as she’d ran into the jungle. Then the other had shot at her with a blaster, missing her by a millimeter and felling a tree instead.

  Luckily for her, the two of them seemed to be fighting each other almost more than focusing on her actual death. This was the only reason she was still alive, and also there were tons of places to hide in the dark jungle.

  She needed to get as far away from the compound as possible and take this fight elsewhere. The assassins were only here to kill her, but she was certain they’d have zero compulsion about killing anyone else who got in the way of their enormous pay out. If she remained alone, no one else got hurt. Zayzon didn’t get hurt, neither did his brothers and most importantly of all, neither did Leah. Leah who was pregnant with a baby boy, due in a just a few short weeks.

  “Come out here, bitch. I’ve got you in my sights. You’re not getting out of here alive.”

  “Fuck you, this is my target. She’s not getting out of here alive because I’m going to tear her head off and present it myself.”

  Assholes.

  Their bickering continued to devolve as she darted deeper into the jungle.

  And then she skidded to a halt. Wait, what was that?

  She heard a distant pounding, like something enormous tearing its way through the jungle. She whimpered and crouched behind a huge grey tree trunk. Was it an alien predator? She hadn’t even had a chance to ask the brothers what indigenous
lifeforms lived in these jungles…

  And then an enormous beast, easily seven feet tall, with elongated fangs and razor-sharp claws broke through the tree line.

  She screamed with fright. Oh gods, she was going to die today.

  “My Be’Ih?” the beast snarled.

  She stopped and turned around. “Zayzon?” she panted. “W…what are you doing here? How did you know where I was? And how did you get here so fast?”

  “I told you I would die for you. But, there’s no need for that. No one is dying today.”

  Oops, she must’ve said that out loud.

  “Watch out. There’s two assassins chasing me,” she told him.

  “Heh,” he grunted and flexed his claws.

  “Who is that?” a voice shouted from the bushes. “Oh hell no, she’s our mark. We’ve finally decided to half the proceeds. We’re taking her in, not you.”

  And then two different assassins morphed out of the jungle, both of them dressed in unrelenting black from head to toe. One of the males had four arms, the other had a barbed tail. They each pulled out a blaster and shot at the man she loved.

  She screamed a second time.

  And then Zayzon turned into “Claws,” the male everyone on Timbur was frightened of. She got to see what they were scared of first-hand. And wow, he was fast. He took each blast, right in the chest and kept going like it was nothing more than an annoying gnat. A momentary distraction. He hefted forward and grabbed the first assassin with his giant claws and pounded the male again and again against the ground. Then he tossed him aside, like trash and reached for the other assassin.

  The other black-clad male let out a high-pitched scream and ran. But he wasn’t fast enough. Zayzon swiped him with his vicious claws, tearing open the male’s throat and mid-section.

  The assassin dropped to the ground, lifeless.

  Lila stood in the rain for a moment and stared at the body on the ground and then grimly stepped forward. “We need to keep running,” she told her man. “There might be others and they could still be after us.”

  It was true, Zayzon knew there were eight more intruders on this planet. He needed to regroup with his brothers in order to ensure his female’s safety. He pushed her gently forward with his bloody claw and they began running, but his Bride was human and therefore slow. He scooped her into his arms and ran at full speed.