Big Bad Claws

by Michele Mills

  Lightening struck and tripped him. He continued forward, slipping in the mud and the torrential rain. He let go of Lila as he fell over a cliff. Dammit. His huge claw caught him. He looked down into the dark void below. Fuck. Death was down there.

  “Zayzon?” a tiny voice shouted.

  But at least his Bride was perfectly safe up above.

  She reached back down. “Take my hand.”

  “No.” He flexed his arm, starting to pull himself up.

  “Fucking take it you idiot.” And then she had her hand on top of his, her five human fingers wrapping around his claw, trying to pull him up, like he needed her help.

  “What are you doing?” he yelled. “I don’t need your help.”

  “Yes, you do—"

  Then he vaulted over the edge, on his side next to his Bride, her tiny hand within his bare claw.

  “Oh, sorry. Maybe you didn’t really need my help.”

  She glanced down at their clasped hands. The one place where they were joined. The spark of energy at that pressure point shot through him like a blaster. She was his Bride and she’d unlocked every pheromone he’d ever had. A flood of primitive instincts coursed through his veins. His cock was hard, enflamed and leaking seed already. He needed to claim her now.

  “Run,” he said, as calm as possible.

  She sat up. “Run? Why should I run?”

  “Because I can’t stop myself from tossing you to the ground and fucking you hard,” he gritted. “You’re in your breeding cycle. I need to claim you now.”

  She stood and took a step back. “Oh shit.”

  And then he threw his head back and let out a thunderous roar.

  And his Bride sprinted away.

  “My Be’Ih,” he snarled. He tried to pause, to give her the customary head start. According to the Scales of Xylan Law a Bride was to be allowed a chance to show her cunning and strength, her skill in fighting off or delaying the claim of her male. The more ferocious her avoidance, the better.

  He managed to count to twenty.

  And then the chase was on.

  He heard the light tapping of her tread against the ground, like the steady beat of his two hearts. He turned and followed the sound, and her amazing scent. He ran faster and faster, needing his Bride like the sky needed the sun.

  Finally, he cornered her at the edge of a river.

  “No,” she yelled, pounding her tiny fists against his chest. She managed to rake her tiny claws along his chest and kick him in the legs.

  He enjoyed her fight.

  Then he threw her to the ground and tore off her clothes. Those annoying colorful human sleeping clothes—gone.

  Then he fell on top of her, his knees sinking in the mud. His lips dropped to hers and he spent a very long time kissing her. Sucking on her lips and her tongue. She returned the embrace, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him back with all she had.

  He broke the kiss, ready to claim his Bride. Lightening flashed overhead briefly illuminating his long, hard cock.

  “I don’t think it’s going to fit,” she whimpered.

  “You can take it.”

  And then he sank his cock in slow and deep.

  She grabbed onto his biceps, moaning out words he didn’t really understand. Finally he filled her up all the way and he began sliding in and out, in a smooth motion.

  “Harder,” she demanded.

  So he gave it to her hard.

  “I love your cock, love it, love it, love it,” she chanted, tossing her head from side to side as he pounded into her.

  He loved this female so much. He reached down and slid his claw tenderly next to her clit, proving he could pleasure his human with his huge claws without hurting her. And then she screamed out her climax, her core clamping down on his cock.

  He stilled above her, his own orgasm rushing through him for the first time in his life. He jetted his seed inside of her, filling her up just as he’d always wanted.

  Then he fell on top of her, breathless. He tracked his fangs along her neck. She shivered in his arms. He pulled them both over to the side and Zayzon licked his Bride’s neck seconds before his eyes closed into an exhausted sleep.

  15

  Zayzon woke to a light mist of rain. His Bride was in his arms. He’d vanquished her enemies, claimed her and planted his seed. He smiled because despite the initial dangers and the fight for both of their lives, this had turned into the best day of his life.

  She was his. And she’d been in her breeding cycle, which meant he’d also started his line. He was a mate and now also about to be a father.

  He stood, bent down and swept Lila of One into his arms. She murmured but then fell back asleep. He had to get her home. Zayzon steadily walked out of the jungle with his Bride in his arms. It took a long time. The fingertips of dawn were lighting the horizon when he finally stepped from the wall of dense foliage behind the compound and walked through the back door.

  His brothers were all waiting in the front room. A swarm of black bots was busy cleaning and repairing the damage to their domicile.

  Zayzon held his female close, with her body pressed against his and his giant claws covering her ass. She was human and therefore embarrassed by her nudity, so he made sure to cover her in the presence of his brothers.

  Chief stood up. “We went to the transporter station and eliminated the other eight assassins. Then we returned here and searched for you. We found the bodies of the other two assassins and we were about to go in and look for you both, but then we heard your claiming roar.”

  “Yeah. We weren’t messing with that,” his youngest brother commented. “Interrupting Claws in the middle of his claiming? Hell no. That’s asking for death.”

  They all nodded in agreement.

  Zayzon looked down at his Bride’s beautiful face. “Thank you. We needed our privacy.”

  “The peacekeepers have locked down the transporter station,” Scar said, “as well as the docking station. The assassin network has learned as lesson—Timbur is impossible to infiltrate.”

  Zayzon grinned, happy to hear of this outcome.

  “What happened?” Trunk questioned. “How did you end up clasping hands out in the jungle?”

  “I fell over a cliff and she thought she had to grab my claw to save me.”

  “Save you?” Heavy chuckled. “Your Bride is hilarious.”

  They all burst out laughing.

  His lips twitched. “My Bride continues to think I cannot take care of myself. She grabbed my bare hand, which caused us to initiate testing. I had to claim her in the jungle because she was in her breeding cycle.”

  “Lila of One is truly our sister now and she’s carrying your offspring?”

  He smiled and looked down at her, still asleep in his arms. “Yes.”

  “Saxon’s Bride is in labor,” Heavy said.

  Zayzon’s brow furrowed. “She is? Isn’t that early?”

  “Yes, but not too early. The Doctor doesn’t seem that concerned. She’s in med bay right now. We’ll keep you updated.”

  Zayzon nodded and turned to take his Bride to their room.

  “Claws?”

  Zayzon paused.

  “I want you to know we apologize for our previous behavior,” Chief broke in, gesturing at his six other brothers, all of whom were sitting at the kitchen table Lila had ordered, shredding their meat or drinking Traq. “We understand that your Bride is trying to upgrade our domicile and make it more livable for her and your offspring. We will now consider this goal a priority.”

  “Good. But tell her that yourself when she awakes.”

  “We will.”

  Zayzon woke later to his Bride’s mouth wrapped around his hard cock.

  He threw his head back and moaned with delight. His claws guided her motions. His hips flexed as he pumped, trying to help her…and he was already there. “I’m going to cum,” he shouted, trying to warn her before he jetted his cum. But she managed to take it all. Swallowing every last b
it, licking his cock clean as if she couldn’t get enough.

  “I wasn’t kidding when I said I love your cock.”

  “I didn’t think you were,” he admitted. He knew she couldn’t get enough of him.

  He pulled his Bride into the cleansing unit. She tried to put the bot in with them, but he shook his head. He wasn’t going to fuck her with a bot in the midst.

  She pouted but acquiesced, and then she went to her knees, her mouth was on his cock again, gagging on his seed. He carried her back to their bed, and she was sitting on his cock, riding him like a beast of burden, crying out as he fingered her clit just the way she liked, giving her orgasm after orgasm. She winced and cried out each time he initially entered her, but she was able to take him each time like the strong, amazing female she was.

  Finally, his cock was sore, and her pussy was too. They lay together, arms and legs tangled, sweaty and exhausted, taking a quick break.

  “I’m your Bride?” she asked.

  “Yes, we’re mated now. I legally claimed you. Usually in order for our mating to be legal I’d have to either claim you in the original Xylantic forest on Chronos, or in a holo deck representation of that forest. But here on Timbur we have special dispensation to legally claim our mates in this planet’s jungle or in the mines.”

  “Why?”

  “Because when we first settled Timbur we didn’t have a holo deck, so there had to be accommodations. And when the holo deck was finally installed we’d become used to the other two settings, so we continue to keep them as a viable alternative.”

  “And there really aren’t any more assassins trying to attack us?” she asked for maybe the third time that morning.

  She placed a hand on his chest and then looked up at him. “Did you realize that when I first arrived, I was still scared of open skies and really open spaces?”

  He took her hand in his and squeezed. “Yes. Why did you feel that way?”

  “I was attacked by the Hurlians a few years ago while shopping in an open air market. They tried to snatch me with their hover craft and almost got away with it. I was in the sky. But then, a Xylan Bounty Hunter, Kayzon of Twenty-Six, saved me from the snatching. After that, I began to grow scared of the outside.”

  “Kayzon of Twenty-Six, the second son of Kroga of Seventy-Five, saved your life?”

  “Yes. You know him?”

  “Yes,” he answered, happy to hear his Bride was finally ready to confide in him and tell him about her past. “I know of him. But now that I know he saved you, I’ll have to make sure I reach out to him and personally thank him.”

  “Heh. Then, the very next year when I was eighteen my mother and brother died in a vehicular accident. They were driving down a side road and were slammed by a larger, out of control vehicle and both of them died instantly. My Dad got remarried to my stepmother, Daniela, no more than a year and a half later, when I was nineteen. But he seemed really in love and happy again, so I was trying my best to be happy for him. Dad had been in a deep depression after mom’s death for a long time and it was nice to have him back.”

  He bent and kissed the top of her head, pulling her tighter into his embrace.

  “And then this last year,” she continued, “Dad had a stroke and died. Out of the blue. Our housekeeper, Ines, found him dead on the floor of his bedroom. Daniela had already left for work and I was in the kitchen. None of us had known that he was in there, struggling for his life.”

  They were both quiet. Then his bride added, “my evil stepmother tried to have me killed. That’s why I was on the run and hiding. You see, my father was the head of the Garabedian Business Company and he’d willed the entire fortune to me.”

  “You’re an heiress?” Hmm.

  “Yes. But the problem is that I don’t really have any interest in it. I feel bad about that. I’ve always felt bad about it. My cousin, Gerard, has always been super deserving. He was Dad’s amazing assistant. But Dad really wanted to keep it in the family and Gerard’s last name isn’t Garabedian. In fact, my Dad said in his will that if I married, my future husband would have to change his last name to mine in order for us to both inherit.”

  “Why did your stepmother hire assassins to kill you?”

  “She hates me because I’m the real heir and she’s only in charge until I come of age.”

  “When is that?”

  “I turn twenty-one moon cycle and that’s when the company and the fortune revert to me.”

  “In one moon cycle you are going to be in charge of a large human business?”

  “No, in one moon cycle I’m going to sign everything over to Gerard. I was, and still am, giving him everything and I was going to live off my inheritance. I was planning on walking away from everything. I was going to offer the mansion to Gerard or Daniela to live in, if they wanted. I had no problem with moving out and starting over. But I couldn’t tell anyone of my plans because it was such a big deal for me, something I had to wrap my head around—especially how I wanted to be ready to offer to move out. I was waiting to tell them my plans on my birthday. I was going to make an announcement.”

  “You were giving it all up?”

  “To be truthful, I never wanted any of that.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No. My Dad was the one who was all into the business. I think my older brother was too. Dad used to take Kevin to work with him. But I never wanted any of it.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I um, I like what I’m doing now.”

  His brow furrowed, causing the ridges to deepen. “You mean…?”

  “I really enjoy working on this compound. I wish we could make the outside as nice as the inside is now, but I understand how you have to still keep it looking like you’re a crew that’s accepting it’s banishment and living a hard life.” She grinned and he grinned back.

  “You’re all alone? You have no human line?”

  “Yes, I’ve only got Gerard.”

  “Well, now you’re part of our line. You are an honorary member of our crew. You will stay here and bear my offspring and take care of me and my brothers.”

  “I will?”

  “Yes. And they will be eternally grateful.”

  She laughed. “And what will you do for me?”

  He growled and opened her thighs. “I will keep my female satisfied.”

  Thirty minutes later his Bride’s tablet rang, blinking with a red light.

  “Oh, finally,” she exclaimed as she sat up and pulled the sheets up to cover her perfectly lickable tits.

  Zayzon sighed with disappointment at this interruption in their endless bouts of “love-making,” but he knew this was important. She’d been talking back and forth with her cousin, Gerard off and on the whole morning. Zayzon was pleased to know that her cousin was a strong human who was taking charge of all of their line’s problems.

  Lila tilted the tablet so Zayzon could see the screen and both of them were visible to whoever they spoke to.

  “I fixed it,” her cousin proudly announced. “I fixed everything.”

  “Fixed it?”

  “I changed my last name to Garabedian.”

  She placed a hand over her single heart, her eyes tearing up. “Oh, Gerard. That’s perfect. Now I can easily leave everything to you. I’m sorry father had his head up his ass where that was concerned. You were always the one. I know Dad loved and respected you. I think he was always secretly hoping you and I would get married and then that’s how you’d end up in charge.”

  Gerard laughed. “That was never happening.”

  His Bride laughed in return. “I know! You’re my best friend. My cousin. It was silly for him to think that.”

  “I love you Lila, and…I want you to meet someone who really important to me.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Who?”

  “Lila, I want you to meet my new husband.”

  And then a large human male, with a shiny bald head and skin dark as ancient night joined them on the screen wit
h a bright smile.

  “Roberto?” she squeaked, clearly delighted. “Oh my gosh, you two got married? My two favorite people have found each other and fallen in love.”

  Gerard put his arm around his new husband. “Roberto was the one who had the goods on Daniela. He documented how she was stealing from the company. We were able to have her arrested in record time.”

  The male nodded and replied with a deep voice, “Daniela is in jail for attempted murder and also fraud. She’s never getting out. And I have rescinded the mark on you, so no more assassins on your trail.”

  “Oh, thank you. You guys are wonderful. Gerard, Roberto can you two do me a favor? Can you please move into the mansion and keep all the same staff?”

  “Oh, well…” Gerard sputtered.

  “I know you love that house. To tell you the truth, I was planning on surprising you by giving it to you, or at the very least asking you to move in with me. You used to come over all the time and hang out with me and admire it. Gerard you are meant to be the true heir, not me. I think Dad was wrong, a Garabedian isn’t a set of inherited genetic traits. It’s a mindset. You are the perfect person to pass along this inheritance to. You and Roberto both. I know you’ll manage it well.”

  “You’ve grown so much, Lila. I can’t believe how strong you’ve been through all of this. You left the house and even ran through a jungle? I’m really proud of you.”

  Zayzon wrapped his arm around his female and kissed the top of her head, silently letting her know he agreed with this male’s statement.

  “I learned that I was stronger than I thought.” She turned her head to meet Zayzon’s gaze. “And I learned that home is where my mate is. You are where my home is. You and Jasper and Abby.”

  “Jasper and Abby?”

  “And Max,” she laughed. “We have to go,” she told her cousin. “I’ll get back to you tomorrow and we’ll finalize everything.