by Fiona Jayde
We’re getting closer to the cliffs now, and I’m starting to wonder where Kyllell actually lives. I don’t see an opening anywhere along the weathered rocks, and it looks like we’re going to slam into the cliff’s solid surface, but when I look at my green captor, he seems to know exactly where he’s going. He calmly steers the boat around a large boulder, and I see a hidden cavern. The water rushes in and out, and we have a bit of a bumpy entry, but we soon emerge into a dank cave.
It’s enormous in breadth and width. He docks the boat next to a large stalagmite and tosses a rope over its spike to keep the boat near the shore. I can’t help but watch the play of muscles that ripple along his arms as he gracefully moves. Now that my brain isn’t quite so fuzzy, I’m able to notice all sorts of things about him I didn’t before.
Like the fact that his moves, though graceful, seem a bit predatory in nature. I’m reminded of the strength and might of a lion coupled with the stealthy grace of a panther. He’s been gentle with me, but there’s no doubt in my mind he’s a warrior just as he claims to be.
Once the vessel is secured, he reaches for my hand. Without thinking it through, I put my hand in his and feel his warm fingers grasp me carefully. It’s the first time I’ve held his hand like this, and it feels strangely comforting.
“How long have you lived here?” I ask, my voice echoing off the cavern walls.
“I’ve been on this planet for four solar orbits, but it took nearly half a solar orbit of exploring to discover this beautiful cavern.”
I want more details, and since I’m a terrible snoop, and he’s stuck with me for the unforeseeable future, I keep asking my questions. “Alone?”
“Ah, yes. Until now.” He looks down at me with tenderness.
It’s a lovely look, full of arousal and promise, and it makes my heart pitter-patter a little bit, but I want to be clear with him. I need to be clear on how this is going to work. I can’t lose sight of my game plan.
“I’m not staying,” I remind him. “I have to go after my crew.”
He ignores that remark, scoops me up into his arms, and leaps from the boat. He cushions his landing with the bend of his knees and sets me down before I have the chance to protest. Then he leads me down a long tunnel. “This way.”
“I mean it,” I say, “I can’t stay here. I…whoa.”
My protests slip away as we walk into Kyllell’s cave. It’s incredible. Crystals sparkle from every side. The place is one gigantic geode, creating a blue aura around us.
“This is amazing.” My eyes dart from one sparkling object to another, trying to take it all in.
Kyllell nods. “It is beautiful, is it not?”
“Yes, it is. It’s spectacular, actually.” I touch the walls and feel the hard crystals against my skin. As I pull my hand away, I can see some of the blue has rubbed off the surface, clinging to my fingers. “Ummm, is this okay?” I ask, holding up a blue hand.
“Ah, yes. The beings that live inside the crystals are attracted to other life. They will hold onto it for a few moments if they can. It will not hurt you.”
I watch in fascination as the blue lifts off my fingers and returns to the crystal on the walls.
“Wow.”
“Perhaps now you will reconsider staying,” Kyllell says proudly. He folds his massive arms over his chest, a king surveying his cavernous kingdom. “This is an excellent home I have made. It has everything we need to survive.”
“It is an excellent home. Really excellent. And if I was any other female with zero responsibilities and no one counting on me, I think I could easily accept a solitary life in paradise.” I give him a sad smile, realizing I’m not just saying that to appease him. I’ve never had a vacation in my life. My mother’s addictions and lack of parental guidance forced me to grow up fast, forced me to work several part-time jobs while balancing school, especially when she went on her benders. Good glory, what would it be like to give up all responsibility and let someone else steer the helm of this ship awhile? I shake myself and clear my throat. “I really can’t stay. I have a job to do and friends to look for.”
Kyllell studies me intently for a moment, and that look of determination flares up again, making his golden eyes glow bright. He chuckles to himself. “In time, you will see that this is where you belong. Come. Let me show you the rest.”
Hmm. It would appear my big, sexy alien is a big, sexy, stubborn ass.
Why do I find that so damn endearing?
I study my mate, relieved to see her walking without any dizziness or pain. I assume she isn’t in any pain, but I am not sure she would tell me if she suffered at all. My mate is prideful and fierce. Oh, how I want to take her in my arms and run my lips along the perfect curve of her neck.
“What’s over that way?” Ada asks, interrupting my tortured thoughts. She is pointing farther into the cave, where a light steam curls and floats.
“Hot springs. They are safe.”
“Safe?”
“Not too hot. You can bathe there if you desire.”
I bite back a groan at my own words. Now my fantasies have moved to the hot springs. In my mind’s eye, her fingers move feverishly over her cunt, her skin tinged with sweat from the warmth of the springs, her bare breasts bobbing up and down on the surface of the water, wet and shining, begging to be licked and sucked. My horns feel as if they are aflame. They pulsate with pressure. If I do not distract myself, I fear my head will actually explode.
Yet I am proud to get the chance to show my mate around our cave. I know I have done an excellent job at equipping it. I show her a fire pit area where I cook, a cold-temperature cavern where I store food, and a bedroom, complete with a mattress stuffed with feathers. She looks at the bed rather longingly, and even though I know she is tired, my horns pound hard at the idea of her sleeping beside me.
She is not ready to be my mate. I know this, but having been alone for so long, having believed I would always be alone, it is hard to wait for her to come around. Still, I would not scare her for anything. I want her to be my partner in all things, not just sex, though even now, I am picturing her laid out beneath me, drawing me closer with her thighs parted.
As we walk through the cave, she looks up at me, trailing her fingers along the sides of the craggy surface. The blue light bonds with her flesh for a moment, attaching itself to her warmth with interest. It inches its way up to her elbow before floating back to the walls.
“So,” she says, “you never did tell me why you’re here on this planet and not…Elysius.”
I consider withholding this information, but if she is to be my mate, she must know everything about me, even those things that I am not so proud of. “I was exiled here by the Elysium Council. It is considered a severe punishment.”
“Why?”
I swallow hard, battling with bitter emotions I’ve never had control over. Even after all this time, my brother’s betrayal leaves a vile taste in my mouth. I should talk about this, but I am also ashamed of what happened to me. Will my mate think less of me? Will she consider my lost status and exile as strikes against me? Elysium females saw titles and rank as shows of power and strength, a sign of honor and dignity. I can offer her none of these things. She must take my unintentional silence as a refusal to speak because she turns her attention from me.
She looks around at the glistening walls. Her arm is still glowing blue. I can tell she is thinking about the world around us. The land above us is teeming with life. The water is fresh and clean.
“It doesn’t seem so bad to me,” she says.
“It is not the planet that is bad. It is the isolation.” The blue crystals sparkle and shimmer, setting off a glow in my female’s hair. I have to clench my fists to stop myself from touching it. Clearing my throat, I force myself to explain further. “My people have a condition called The Burning. It happens when we mature. Our horns grow, and with them, our desires become urgent. We must mate or our horns will burn painfully. They become red with the burning,
but over time the color deepens, demonstrating our desire. Eventually, those horns will turn a permanent red if the male does not mate consistently…or learn how to control The Burning.”
“That seems intense.” She gives me a wide-eyed stare. “Is that why your horns are usually tinged with a rose color? You’ve been celibate for too long?”
“Yes.” My nostrils flare as I catch her musky scent of arousal. Ah, this is a good sign. Just the mere mention of mating has my female yearning for my touch. “It is. The intensity can be especially serious during our maturity into adulthood. It is not as intense after that, but we must mate religiously to keep The Burning at bay.”
“Will you die if you don’t mate?” She looks horrified at the very thought.
I am almost tempted to lie to her, but I immediately dismiss this. I will not manipulate her into mating me. I’m ashamed to have entertained the idea for even one moment. “One can survive it, but it is not pleasant.”
“You were brought here so you couldn’t have sex with anyone? Are there really no other females on this planet?”
“Yes to your first question, and the only other females on this planet are the ones the Chassaks temporarily bring to their dark markets before selling them to the highest bidder. It is where they would have taken you had they captured you.”
She shudders at that and wraps her arms around herself as if to ward off an attack. I take a step forward, but her next question brings me to a halt.
“What did you do that was so bad?”
It is unfortunate that she is so direct. I will not lie to my mate, but I cannot see this conversation illuminating me in a favorable light.
“My father was chancellor of our people and head of the Elysium Council. After nearly a lifetime of trying to find a way to take down the Chassak Emperor, his own council did not support him when an assassin was finally in place to take our enemy’s leader out. Soon after, my own father was assassinated. We never discovered the culprit.” I take a deep breath, trying to fight back the purple haze that permeates my peripheral vision. “The timing was interesting, considering how close he had come to giving out the order for the Emperor’s assassination.”
“How was he killed?”
I glance at the stone floor, reliving the scene from that day. “Five Chassak quills embedded in his neck.”
She gasps, no doubt remembering how awful three had made her feel.
“Why did the council oppose his plan?”
It is a good question, one I have asked myself a thousand times as I’ve languished on this planet. “I can only assume they feared retribution, the cowards. Of course there would be retribution, but to win the war we must take out their leaders. Our military is one of the most feared, but Chassaks have two abilities that are capable of undermining Elysiums. Their quills can kill us, and they have the ability to shape shift. They can impersonate anyone they wish, easily confusing soldiers in battle.”
“Well, that sucks.”
My lips twitch in amusement. I assume she means this is unfavorable for my people. “Something needed to be done, however, especially since the disease the Chassaks had spread on our planet was already infecting and killing our females. My father was ready to take serious action, but factions within the council thought there was another way. Then he was murdered, and when he died, his position as leader was supposed to pass on to me as his eldest son. It was something I had been trained for all my life. My studies were intensive and my training as a warrior…brutal.”
“But you’re here in exile. What happened?” She takes a few steps toward me. I wonder if she knows that it is she who has decreased the distance between us this time.
“There was another warrior, Derwag, my father’s right-hand adviser. He schemed to take over the council. He wanted power and position, claiming my father was too set in old traditions, unwilling to make certain alliances with other species, unwilling to do what was necessary to end the war with the Chassaks. He thought an alliance between our species was the best move to make, and he knew I felt as my father had. He thought I would rule in the same fashion. The men who remained on the council betrayed my father’s legacy and supported Derwag. The few members of the council who were openly opposed to this breach in tradition were sent into exile on different planets.”
“That’s bullshit. Did you fight back?”
I snort, delighting in her short yet accurate assessment. “I tried. At the time, our females were dying in huge numbers, and my forces were distracted and confused by the loss.” I’d been confused by the loss. My mother and sister…I’ll not soon forget the flesh-eating sores or the excruciating pain they suffered as I tried to take care of them and prevent the coup from succeeding. “We had been fighting a war with the Chassaks for so long; the soldiers were all worn down from…” I try to think of the term she used for solar orbits. “…years of battle and death. Derwag’s men were all fresh from the training fields because he recruited younger, less mature warriors with minds more easily malleable, more easy to convince and control. He’d been spearheading certain divisions of the militia, poisoning them against my father without anyone’s knowledge and using propaganda to prepare them for this eventual coup. He’d planned it all along. I have sometimes wondered if he worked with the Chassaks to have my father assassinated. His soldiers had no mates or close family to protect or care for, and while they had experience fighting the Chassaks, they were not exhausted from years of war. They destroyed us on the battlefield. I had no choice but to accept defeat. I surrendered myself to save the rest of my men. There was no need for them to die.”
I talk of these things as if they happened to someone else. Reciting the history in a tone bereft of emotion. Much time has passed since my brother joined forces with Derwag, turned his back on everything he believed in, turned his back on his family, and embraced corruption instead. If I allow myself to feel anything in this moment, I will go into a rage that may scare my mate, and I will not scare her for anything.
“The final blow came from my own brother.”
“What do you mean?”
I stare at the roughened stone of the cavern, thinking back to that fateful day when I was brought before the council in chains.
“When I surrendered and the council took me captive, I was brought before Derwag, something I had fully expected. What I was not expecting was the presence of my brother at his side. He’d been fighting with Derwag, plotting against me and my father the entire time. It was his influence on the council that spurred their condemnation. I was stripped of my titles, denied my birthright, and sentenced to exile on this planet with no hope of ever finding a bond mate…not that I thought there would be any hope of that happening once our females were all destroyed.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says. Her eyes hold sorrow for me, true sympathy for the pain and betrayal I’ve endured. I love her for it. I cannot thank her enough for caring, for being here with me and talking to me, though she really has little choice in the matter.
That last thought saddens me. She didn’t choose to come here. I worry she will not choose me when it comes right down to it.
“Accepting defeat was the right thing to do. More infighting would have caused a civil war our people could not afford. We were far too distracted by the disease that ravaged our females and the unrest amongst our people. If I had not surrendered, the Chassaks might have succeeded in infiltrating our military. When I did surrendered, Derwag offered me a position in his new government. He knew I still had power and favor over most of the military, and my skills as a warrior would have served him well in the training fields.”
“But you refused.” Her gaze is steady, her eyes filled with a compassion that gives me a great sense of security.
“Yes. I could never swear fealty to a warrior who would slaughter his own people in such a difficult time. Not all of my compatriots felt the same way.” I try to suppress my ire when I think of the betrayal of my men…and brother…swearing allegiance to the enemy.
“If we had not been preoccupied with a civil war, perhaps we could have saved our females.”
“None of them lived?”
“No. Some of the families tried to keep their females locked up, separated, but in time, they all succumbed, even those who had not been in contact with anyone else. We do not know why. Our healers had very little time to study the disease and create a cure. The pathogen was fast-acting and tended to mutate as it spread.”
“A bio-weapon,” she says. Her look of sympathy fills me with an aching need. I want to hold her in my arms and ignore all the bad that has come before this moment…before she entered my life.
“That’s horrible,” she whispers.
“Yes, it is horrible. I remember my mother and sister refused to be locked away. We had watched so many females die, but they would not be isolated from each other or from the rest of our family. They chose, instead, to live every day in the sunlight, loving and learning and being themselves until they fell ill. They were warriors in the best ways—fearless, but also aware of reality, knowing their final days were upon them.” I shake my head to clear the memories. “When I refused Derwag’s offer, my brother labeled me a fool and a traitor. I was sentenced soon after. So that is why I am here.”
She takes a moment to process this before asking more questions. My mate is a creature filled with curiosity. I do not mind since she seems intent on knowing me. This is a good sign.
“I still don’t understand why The Burning is such a huge part of your punishment. Can’t you just…take care of yourself?”
“I have been,” I say, gesturing around her.
“No, I mean physically. Your…burning needs.” She blushes, her cheeks a rosy pink, and I find myself more charmed than ever. Och, she is lovely.
“I cannot. I know that some creatures can find release that way, but we need a mate.”
“Oh.”
She is quiet, as if in thought. Desperately, I find myself wondering if her species can orgasm on their own. An image flashes in my mind of Ada, her thighs spread, pleasuring herself with her hands. Her face is flushed, and she moans as she touches herself with deft fingers. The pressure in my horns is nearly unbearable at the thought, and yet I cannot stop thinking about it.