by Fiona Jayde
“I think you humans are very strong, indeed. If we give it one more day of rest, you should recover fully.”
She blinks weary eyes. It is a true testament to how much her body must recuperate when she doesn’t even argue with me. Her eyes flutter shut, and soon her breathing evens out again.
I spend the rest of that lonely day preparing more food for us and then focus on menial chores. I must also crack open several chuktah shells and pull out their sparkling gems. I was able to gather five of these precious shells a few days back but nearly lost my hand in the process. An adult chuktah is three times the size of an Elysium and very ferocious when protecting her hoard. She uses the shells she creates, and the gems that form within them, to lure potential mates to her nest. The small gems are worth several thousand krees a piece, due to how difficult and dangerous it is to collect the chuktah shells in the first place.
Yet it is the only thing I have with which to barter for a ship. I know the running cost of the type of space ship I must purchase on the dark market. I have a contact ready to sell to me, but I will need to bribe a Chassak at the docking area to look the other way and not alert his people to my presence when I board my vessel. Considering our long held hatred for one another, it must be a hefty amount of currency. I need find only one more chuktah pod—not an easy thing to do—and collect ten more shells—also not an easy thing to accomplish—before I will have currency sufficient to buy my ship and provide for my mate. Things have now become even more serious with my mate present. The filthy slavers will not hesitate to steal her from me and sell her to the highest bidder. I must keep her safe and out of sight until I can get her off this planet.
And then, I must find a safe place for us to make our home, one that is free of Chassaks and Elysiums alike.
※※※※
Tonight, she is dreaming again. Not a feverish dream like before; this one feels healthy, if restless, but then she turns toward me, calling for Carl in her sleep.
Not again.
I close my eyes, feeling defeated by his continued presence in her subconscious.
I hate Carl.
I wrap my arms around her to soothe her, hoping to soothe myself in the process.
“Carl,” she says. “Don’t go.”
“I am not Carl,” I reply.
“Yes, you are. My Carl. You can’t go. Please. Come closer. I’ll make you stay.”
She pulls herself up to my face, and puts her lips on mine in a searing kiss. Her lips part and her tongue runs along my mouth. I groan, despite myself, and kiss her back. I cannot help it. I do not wish for her to think I am this Carl, but my urges and instincts have been denied for so long…I cannot stop myself from taking what she offers. She pushes her tongue past my lips and mates it with my own. My horns pound with need, and I push her backward onto the bed, my hands claiming her body as my mouth takes hers to task.
In pushing her backward, I wake her up. I see her eyes fly open, and she gasps in surprise. I back away slightly, giving her time to decide what to do. She watches me for a moment, her eyes heavy with sleep and dark with lust. Then she brings her hands up to my shoulders, pulling me back down toward her.
With a growl, I lean in and claim her mouth again.
※※※※
Ada
I should stop him, I know. Kissing green devils with horns can only distract me from my goal of escaping this cave. He thinks he wants me to be his mate, and I’m only reinforcing that idea by kissing him.
But his delicious lips are on mine, and I can’t stop. I’ve been thinking about this since I woke up in his arms that first day.
Oh my word, I think he has a forked tongue.
It’s slanting over my mouth, creating feelings I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. I can always use my fever as an excuse. I can always say I didn’t remember doing it, but Heaven help me, I can’t stop myself from pushing my tongue into his mouth. His sounds of arousal intensify, and I know I’m torturing him as much as I’m torturing myself. Still, I don’t hesitate as I move my hands up to his horns.
He gasps, then growls low in his throat as I run my hands along the bony spirals. They’re softer than I expected. They have a covering of skin over them and seem to be incredibly sensitive, which gives me a wicked idea. I lift my mouth to the base of his left horn and lick it once, feeling his heat mingle with the slickness of my tongue.
Kyllell goes absolutely nuts. He grabs the gown I’m wearing and tears it open at the front. Underneath it, I’m wearing nothing but my panties. When he pulls back the fabric, my nipples are exposed to the night air. They harden instantly. He is towering over me, his arms supporting himself so he doesn’t crush me.
He stares down at my breasts with the look of a starving man. He holds his intense gaze for so long that I start to feel self-conscious. How different am I compared to other Elysium females? Do I totally disgust him now that he sees what is underneath the clothing? My body was never quite good enough for Carl. He always thought I could stand to lose a few pounds. I had to wonder if that was why he went for a younger make and model when he left me. I make a move to cover myself.
“No,” he says. “Never.” He lowers his head and takes my nipple in his mouth. He sucks hard and nips at the tip of it. I arch my back, crying out with pleasure.
“Ada,” he whispers. “You are mine.”
That stops me. My heart is pounding, and I’m wet with need so it takes all my strength, and no small amount of willpower, to push him back. This is so messed up. I never should have started kissing him.
“No,” I say. “I’m not yours. I can’t stay here. I can’t be your mate.”
His jaw clenches at my words, but he doesn’t move away. “You may not think so right now, and I will not argue the point. However, there are other ways to receive pleasure,” he says, his voice gravelly with desire. “We do not have to be mated for me to worship your body.”
I try to think straight, I really do. I try to remember that this is not the plan; that anything I do here will only make it harder for me to leave, but his scent is all around me. His warmth towers over me. He waits for my consent or refusal. I can feel his control, how he is reining in his desire despite his desperation. He will not do anything without my approval. I nod, ever so slightly. With a growl, his mouth goes to my nipple. The feeling is so intense that I almost cum. The split tip of his tongue massages me, driving me wild.
His head moves lower now, tracking kisses over my body, my belly button, then my hip bone. My hands go to his horns, and I hear him gasp at my touch. He moves lower still, stripping off my panties and finding that patch of hair that guards my entrance from view. He pauses there, looking down at me. Again, I start to feel uncomfortable and shift to cover myself. He won’t let me.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says, his voice reverent, and then he lowers his head.
He tastes me and I cry out. His forked tongue dips into my mound, first lightly, then with urgency. He laps at my body. I raise my hips off the bed in ecstasy.
“Kyllell,” I whisper.
“Yes, my love, my mate. Say my name.” He lowers his head again and applies his tongue directly to my clit. The forks of his tongue battle on either side of it, massaging, prodding, pulling out pleasure.
I’m beyond reason now. I call Kyllell’s name again and again. “Don’t stop! Oh, don’t stop.”
His movements grow swifter. My orgasm builds with a speed I could never have anticipated. A tight burning within my core travels ever lower, blossoming and nearly unfurling in its intensity until I can feel myself ready for that critical peak. In the last moments before I cum, I reach down and grab Kyllell’s horns, applying pressure across the taut ridges near his brow. He gasps, his pleasure clear, and plunges his thick tongue into my channel, spreading wide my wet folds and bringing me over the edge. My orgasm slams home. I scream out his name with my release and then fall limp beneath him.
He licks me one more time before rising from between my legs. Smug, male sati
sfaction is all I see as he gives me a huge grin. It would seem this type of male satisfaction is universal, no matter the species. I can’t help but give him a smile in return. He climbs up to my face, kisses me, and then rolls to his side and gathers me against him.
“What about you?” I ask, a little awkwardly. “Do you want to…?”
“Not tonight,” he says. “I woke you from a dream. You might yet be unsure of what you want. I should let you think clearly before I take you fully and make you mine.”
“I’m not sure how clearly I can think with you nearby even when I’m wide awake,” I say, using a little more honesty than I’m comfortable with.
He laughs lightly and runs his hand up and down my arm. “Sleep now, my beautiful one. We can talk more in the morning.”
I’m exhausted and realize that I’m going to fade into sleep shortly. I feel a tinge of guilt that I’m not giving Kyllell release, especially since I know he’s in pain. Yet as I lie against him, I can almost feel his contentment. I’m not sure what to do with that. I’m trying to remember the last time a man seemed satisfied after giving me pleasure. I don’t think it has ever happened before.
※※※※
Kyllell
Her taste haunts me even in sleep. Isolation here on Draioch was always torture, but with Ada nearby, it’s becoming almost impossible to bear. Still, I know I have to give her time. It’s clear she is a fierce warrior and a capable female. The last thing I want to do is trap her in our relationship. I want to keep her, there is no question, but I want her to be happy about it. I want to be hers just as she is mine. There can be no doubts in her mind concerning this issue.
Yet this Carl she speaks of…I cannot help but feel he will be an impediment to our future happiness.
As I hold her against me, listening to her breathing grow even and steady, I try to formulate a plan to truly win her. Do I help her with her cause? I could take her to the Chassaks’ fortress. I could help her free her crew and fight their way out.
I sigh heavily as every protective instinct within me revolts at the idea of allowing her anywhere close to that type of danger. And even if I do the unthinkable and help her save her crew, we will have to go into hiding until I can acquire a ship.
Hmmm. Perhaps I am thinking about this all wrong. We must have a way off the planet before we attempt this rescue.
If we attempt this rescue.
I am not even close to being sold on this idea, but I fear keeping her prisoner, keeping her from finding her crew, will push her from me. She will want nothing to do with me if I force her to stay here without going after her people.
I grit my teeth, warring with my need to protect her and my need to win her over. My need to see her happy…and this crew she speaks of…they are her friends. She will be unhappy if she does not do all she can to see them safe and tended to.
She is right. As a leader and a warrior, I can understand her feelings of responsibility and duty. She is honor-bound to protect them.
And I am honor-bound to protect her.
Yet if I help her retrieve her crew and her ship, if it is still intact, she will leave. She made it clear, her priority was to her team. If I bring her to them, they will leave and return to Earth.
Though that is a big if. This mission is one of madness.
I feel as if I am damned if I proceed one way or another. I do not think I can have what I want most by giving Ada what she wants most. If that’s what she wants, though, can I stop her? Should I stop her? Did the goddess mean to punish me for my failures by giving me a mate only to take her from me. Am I still so undeserving of love?
I know I can bring Ada great joy, but I can only do that if she’s happy with me. Willing.
I fall asleep before I have a clear solution.
I wake up with an arm pinned under Kyllell’s enormous body. I pinch him, and he rolls off me a little. I sit up and flex my arm, flopping it around to get my circulation going again.
As I shake my arm, I look back at Kyllell, sleeping peacefully in the bed. Then the events of the previous night seep through my memory. I blush, thinking of his tongue and what he was capable of doing with it. I hurriedly stand to put a little more distance between us and begin pacing the room. It’s the best method I have for thinking a problem through.
Good glory.
I guess I’m not nearly as opposed to getting frisky with him as I thought. Then I think about it a little more, and an idea starts to form. Not a perfect one, but certainly something that will benefit us both in the long run. It’s clear to me that I need Kyllell’s help to get to Thomasina and John. He’s a giant, ferocious warrior who knows this planet and the Chassaks. It would be insanity to try to do this without him if I could have him as an ally, and I think I might know how to get him to agree.
He is stirring now. My arm is still tingling, and I’m pacing around the room, thinking and moving my arm up and down. I need to be very clear about expectations. I need to make sure he understands what I am offering and what I am not offering. Everyone has a price, right? I’m under no illusions that this alien has actual feelings for me. He just needs a little release, some female companionship, some motivation to convince him to go on this dangerous rescue mission with me. I need to get my friends back and get the hell off this planet.
Above all, I need to make sure I draw these lines in the sand for myself. This alien is likable in a way that leaves me feeling a bit uncomfortable. I don’t intend to get attached, and based on his level of integrity, I think we could both get what we want—to a certain extent in his case—without emotions getting in the way.
Yep. Nice and clinical.
“Kyllell,” I say, as he opens his eyes. He blinks for a moment before those slitted pupils narrow a bit and zero in on my arm.
“Ada. What is it? What is wrong? Why are you moving your arm like that?”
“Nothing, nothing. I slept on it funny and it has pins and needles.”
“Pins and…did someone attack you while we slept? You have needles in your arm?” He springs from the bed and grabs my arm, checking it for wounds.
I choke down a bit of laughter, ignoring his tantalizing smell and the warmth that suffuses my entire body at how quickly he responded to what he thought was a serious issue concerning my well-being. Yep. Definitely likable.
“No, no it’s an expression. It means I was lying in one place too long, and it’s tingling.”
“Oh.” His eyes study my arm as if he isn’t quite sure if he should let the subject drop, but my bright smile must convince him because he finally gives me a toothy smile in return and uses his other hand to run a hardened knuckle along the line of my jaw. “What a strange expression.”
I swallow and clear my throat. “Anyway, uh…” He’s still holding my arm, his fingers moving up and down against my skin. “I’ve just been thinking about our dilemma.”
“We have a dilemma?” he asks, his voice quiet and thoughtful as he looks from my arm to my face. I gulp. He’s so close. His lips are so close.
“Yes. The dilemma is that I need your help to find my people, and you won’t help me.”
“Ada.” He takes hold of both my shoulders.
“No, no, I understand,” I say, shaking him off and continuing to pace. “You want me to commit to staying here and being yours forever. There’s also all the risks involved in rescuing my friends, risks which are huge. I get that. It isn’t fair for me to ask this of you, to place yourself in danger without offering you something in return, without making it worth your while. So what if I make you an offer?”
He gives me a wary look, tainted with a bit of uncertainty. “What kind of offer?”
I move away and then turn to face him, feeling like I need at least two feet of distance between us to propose this rather unorthodox idea. “First, let me ask you a question: can you have sex without being mated?”
“Can I be intimate, show love to someone without bonding with them?”
I nod.
&nbs
p; “Yes, I can. I have done this many times with other females, of course. I have had to do this to relieve The Burning, but it is not just about The Burning. We enjoy companionship.”
Perfect. So sex is possible without a bond taking place. Unless…is it something that will happen automatically with a bond mate? It’s what he claims I am. Not sure I believe it, but I need to cross my T’s and dot my I’s before I offer myself up to him. I try to figure out how to ask the question, but I’m coming up empty. Kyllell seems to understand, and he tries to explain.
“An Elysium only creates a bond when he wants to mate forever. The bond is mental as well as physical. It involves using our pull to create a permanent seal around the aura of the potential mate. My true mate’s essence will then combine with mine to create a marriage of sorts. Only a bond mate has the potential to do this. I cannot access anyone else’s aura or energy in this manner.”
“Could you bond with me against my will? If we had sex, and I didn’t want to be bonded to you, would it happen anyway?”
He gives me a long look, a sad one if I’m not mistaken, as if he sees what I’m getting at. I feel a pang of guilt, but try to shove it down. This is for the greater good, for Thom, for John, hell, maybe even for humanity if we can’t destroy that portal soon.
“No, never. You must desire the bond as much as I do. If you do not wish to be bonded you simply ignore the pull on your aura, though I have never heard of that happening before. A true mate bond is a gift from the goddess Elysarah.”
Never heard of Elysarah, so I won’t be putting much stock in that, but his mention of the pull intrigues me. I wonder if that has anything to do with a certain pull I sometimes feel from Kyllell, but since I’m all about denying the possibility of us being true bond mates, I decide to avoid acknowledging I’ve ever felt it.
Still, there is no automatic bonding taking place. Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. I lick my lips and dip my toe into the deep end of this metaphoric pool. “If I were to help you with The Burning thing…?” Shit, why do I suddenly feel like a glorified hooker?