by Cynthia Sax
“I must have missed my sister’s birthing planet rotation celebrations.” The youth sighed loudly. Panels rattled as the ship landed, adding more drama to his reaction. “All of that delicious nourishment will be gone. There’s never any left over. It’s that good.”
Gisella suspected his family had saved him nourishment. She would have put aside the treats he loved. His parents and sisters must have done the same thing.
Oghul rubbed her shoulders, loosening the knots there. “They have another reason to celebrate.”
The doors opened.
“You mean this?” Yesun looked down at the fresh gauze covering his wound. “A new scar isn’t a reason to celebrate.”
He would scar. She ran out of sealant before she could bond his skin.
“You almost died, you idiot.” A tall broad female with Chamele coloring loomed over them, her hands on her leather-clad hips.
“I read the reports, saw the scans.” Another female pushed her aside. She wore a white jacket, identifying her as a medic. “You should have bled out before help arrived.”
“My baby.” A female with grey-streaked hair rushed forward, her arms outstretched.
Gisella moved hastily out of the way. “Be gentle with him.”
“Gentle.” The warrior female snorted. “That’s not something we do.”
“You’ll do it this planet rotation.” She stood. “You will not harm my patient.”
The warrior female stepped forward, her stance threatening. “And who will stop me?”
“We will stop you.” Oghul placed his body protectively between the two of them. “If you harm one of us, you deal with all of us.”
“No. No. No.” Yesun’s voice was muffled by his mother’s bosom. “Let Lead Medic handle my sister.”
“She can’t handle me, idiot.” The warrior female scoffed. “She’s a puny human.”
“Zap her.” The youth urged Gisella to take that action. “I want to see that so badly.”
She would do it if she could, merely to disprove the humans are puny assumption. “I don’t have my gun.” She’d forgotten it on the crash site.
“I knew you’d need it.” Ariq held the weapon up.
“Give me the gun. I’ll zap my sister.” The medic female slapped the warrior female’s arm. “She’s an idiot.”
“Who are you calling an idiot?” The warrior female turned her ire on her sister.
“You.” The medic female didn’t back down. “The puny human said our brother was her patient. She must have been on the ship with him. Look at her hair.”
Fuck. Gisella ran her injured hands over her hair. Was it that bad?
“Your hair is beautiful.” Oghul assured her. “It’s merely a bit mussed.”
“My brother’s Second is blind,” the warrior female muttered. “It’s not mussed. It’s a mess.”
Her hair was that bad. Gisella attempted, again, to smooth it. The strands were snarled and she had no way of containing them. Her fastener had been used to bind Qulpa’s wounds.
“She was on the ship with him.” The warrior female addressed her sister. “What’s your point?”
“My point is, the puny human is the reason our brother is alive.” The medic female reached that accurate analysis of the situation. “We owe his lifespan to her. So don’t threaten her, you hotheaded idiot.”
All of the females turned their heads and gawked at Gisella.
Her face heated. “I did what any medic in my situation would have done.”
“I saw the scans.” The medic female shook her head. “I couldn’t have done it.”
“Female medics don’t tend to male patients.” The warrior female’s forehead furrowed. “Especially if they’re bonded.” Her gaze shifted to Oghul. “Which I assume you are.”
“She is.” Her possessive barbarian wrapped his arms around Gisella’s waist, pulling her to him.
“Touching another male is painful for a gerel, unless it is different for humans.” The warrior female looked down at Gisella’s gauze-wrapped hands. “Zondoo. It’s not different. Saving our brother did that to you?”
The youth’s family stared at her.
“You shouldn’t have touched me.” Yesun appeared stricken. “I didn’t know, didn’t think about that. I wouldn’t have asked you to—”
“Stop.” Gisella barked that command. “You don’t ask me. I am the medic. I make the decisions about your healing. It’s not your place to question those decisions. Do you understand?”
The youth gulped. “I understand, Lead Medic.”
The females’ eyes widened, their mouths dropping open. Oghul chuckled softly, his body vibrating against hers. His males grinned.
“I like humans.” The warrior female made that declaration and everyone, including Gisella, laughed.
“Come here, Lead Medic.” Yesun’s mom beckoned to her. “I’ll fix your hair.”
The last female to touch Gisella’s hair had been her own mother. “You don’t have to fix it.” A ball of emotion formed in her throat.
“Oh, she has to fix it.” The warrior female’s tone was dry. “You’re one of us now. She can’t allow others to see you like this.”
Gisella glanced at Oghul, seeking his direction. He shrugged.
She supposed she had very little choice. Saying no might be seen as an insult and she didn’t want to hurt them. They had accepted her.
Plus, she clearly had to do something about her out-of-control hair. No one meeting her now would believe she was a trained professional.
She walked toward the youth’s mom, feeling like a little girl again. Without saying a word, she turned, bowed her head.
The Chamele female ran her fingers through her hair. “This is the least I can do for you. You saved my baby.”
“There are other things you can do for her, Mom.” Yesun grinned. “You can throw a celebration. Lead Medic has never tasted Chamele nourishment.”
“Your son wants to taste your nourishment.” A celebration in her honor was unnecessary. She had been merely fulfilling her role. “He’s been talking constantly about it for the last sixty planet rotations.”
All of the females beamed.
“We’ll throw the biggest celebration Chamele 2 has ever seen.” Yesun’s mom declared her intention.
“Yes!” He raised his fists.
“Stop.” Gisella wouldn’t allow him to hurt himself. “There’s to be no fist pumping either.”
He lowered his hands. “Yes.” He cheered quieter.
Everyone laughed.
Chapter Eighteen
Fifty-nine planet rotations later, Oghul and his little medic had once again returned to Chamele 2’s largest settlement. They shared a sleeping support within their chambers.
His gerel’s curves pressed against his muscles. Both of them were naked.
“I should check on my patients.” She rubbed circles into his chest with her fingertips, her touching making it difficult for him to think.
Healing his team had permanently scarred her hands. The pink lines on her palms were a constant reminder of her ferocity, her strength, her sacrifice.
It bound her to him and to his males. All of them bore marks from that crash.
Some of them were visible. Yesun sported scars on his chest and back. Qulpa had mechanical fingers that were surprisingly indistinguishable from their organic counterparts.
Some marks couldn’t be seen. His gerel had lost everything she owned. Her white jacket, medic packs, even her supply of Velorum syrup, had been replaced. Her mementoes from her past, objects that had belonged to her beloved mother, couldn’t be duplicated.
The reveal this planet rotation might ease some of her loss.
Before Oghul showed her what he and his team had done, before he shared her focus with his males, he wanted time alone with her.
“Your patients can wait.” He rolled his curvy human onto her back.
“They require additional healing.” She gazed up at him.
A
nother ship had been downed by the rogue warrior. Some of the all-female crew had sustained severe injuries but they would survive, due to the quick response of his team, the skill of his gerel, and the vessel loaned to them by their Warlord.
“The Chamele medics will tend to them.” They weren’t as good as his little medic. No one was. But they were competent. “I’ll tend to you.”
Oghul covered her lips with his, silencing her protests.
She resisted his embrace for three heartbeats, pushing her hands against his chest, clenching her jaw. He wouldn’t expect anything else from his gerel.
Then she surrendered, opening to him, her submission pleasing his dominant nature. Her hands lifted to his shoulders. Her fingers tangled in his hair.
Their tongues twirled, twined. Sweetness flooded his mouth and his cock hardened, straining against her.
Gisella always affected him that way – one touch or one stern look made his body react. When they connected, her power fused with his.
He rubbed his form over hers, savoring her softness. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
His shaft met with her wetness and they both groaned, the contact hinting at the pleasure they’d soon share.
Oghul slicked his shaft, covering himself with her warmth, her scent. She ground against him, his strong gerel taking as she gave, seeking her own bliss.
She was a beacon in the darkness. The light in her eyes reached out to him, ensnaring his attention, never letting him go.
Her gold-streaked hair framed her beautiful face, the long tendrils spread over the sleeping support. He could burrow into that softness and never surface, lose himself in her.
She bit his bottom lip, that pang of pain refocusing him. “Don’t hold back, barbarian. I may be human but I’m not puny.”
His lips twitched. That comment from Yesun’s sister had irked her. “You are small.”
Her eyes blazed. “I can more than handle you.” She reached between their forms, curled her fingers around his cock, squeezed.
He gritted his teeth. “If you handle me like that, I’ll come in your hands.”
“Don’t you dare do that.” She released him. “You already came in my hands once over the rest cycle.”
“That was one of three times.” He had come in her hands, between her breasts, in her pussy. “And it was your choice.”
He lowered his head and dragged his teeth over her neck while he rocked against her. She trembled. His gerel liked a bit of danger with their bonding.
“My preference for this fuck is you come inside me.” Her husky voice coiled around him, as sensual as a caress.
“I like that preference.” He licked along her collarbone. Finding release in her tight little pussy was better than battle, better than anything he’d ever experienced.
He nipped and sucked on the curve of her breasts while they bonded without entry, teasing and taunting each other. His gerel wasn’t a passive partner. She raked her fingernails along his back, dug her heels into his clenched ass cheeks, left bite marks over his pecs, branding him as hers.
He loved it, loved her. She challenged his authority, excited him, pushing his body, enthralling his mind.
They battled, alternating sexy strikes. He flicked her right nipple with his tongue. She tugged on his hair, the tinges of pain over his scalp incensing him, making him wild with desire.
Back and forth they went, going on the offense while their opponent defended, clinging to their restraint when it was their turn to endure. They pushed pleasure to the edge and then pulled back, venturing far but not far enough.
Neither of them softened their erotic punches. They knew the other was strong, could take it. His balls ached. She hummed, her movements becoming frenzied.
“Oghul.” Her eyes darkened. Her bottom lip curled.
She didn’t have to say more. He drew his hips back, found her entrance.
“You’re mine, gerel.” He thrust deep, clenching his jaw as she encased him in her snug hold.
“And you’re mine.” She dug her fingernails into his shoulders and her lush form bowed, her breasts flattening against his chest, that contact straining his willpower. “My savage male.”
With her, he was as primitive as his ancient ancestors, the need to claim her drumming at him. He drew back and thrust, drew back and thrust, riding her hard. The sleeping support bounced against the wall. She panted, her lips parting with each drive forward.
He took her as though it were their first time, their last time. His heart pounded in his chest. Blood rushed through his veins. Wetness splattered his balls.
She hitched her hips upward, meeting him halfway, his equal. Their bodies slapped together, that collision heating his hips and chest. Her heels bounced against his ass.
The rest of the world saw the cool, collected medic. Only he viewed her like this, her hair loose, her pale skin flushed with passion, the glow in her eyes burning brighter than Chamele 2’s solitary sun.
He reveled in her presence. This unique being was more than his gerel, more than a light in the darkness. She was a source of life, the beginning and end of all things. His little human had the ability to pluck beings from the grips of death, had rescued him from unceasing loneliness, changing him. Forever.
He strived to please her, to give her a mere portion of what she’d granted him, show her what she meant to him. Their pace hastened. He grunted, his muscles straining. A thin layer of sweat covered them. Her musk filled his lungs.
They weren’t two beings. They were one, had the same goal, the same driving desire. His cock swelled. Her pussy tightened around him.
“Need.” She gazed up at him, her plea heard by his soul.
His gerel required more. He extended his claws. “You’ll come for me.” He thrust up to his base. “Now.” He pricked her hips with his natural weapons.
“Yes.” She bucked upward, clenching her inner walls around his shaft.
“Yes.” He howled, retracting his claws as he exploded, cum shooting out of his cockhead.
She writhed underneath his form, squeezing him and releasing, squeezing him and releasing, coaxing every drop of essence from him. He poured himself into her, gave her all of him.
The chamber dimmed and brightened. Her skin brushed over his. Ecstasy, world-changing and fierce, battered him. It was an opponent he didn’t want to defeat.
A wave of weakness swept over him. He collapsed, flattening his much-smaller gerel. She didn’t protest. Instead, she wrapped herself around him, buffering him with softness.
They stayed like that for several moments, joined physically, linked in every way a male and a female could be linked, their hearts beating as one. She stroked his hair, smoothing the strands against his back, the action soothing him.
“You can more than handle me.” He admitted to that fact.
“I know.” His gerel smiled.
***
By the time they exited their private chambers, they were late for the reveal. Oghul grasped one of his gerel’s hands, pulled her along the corridor toward the hangar.
“Has there been an accident?” Her stride lengthened, her white jacket billowing around her. “Has another ship crashed?”
“There are no wounded beings for you to heal.” He sought to ease those concerns. “This is a celebration.”
“There’s another celebration?” She huffed. “Do you have one every time we return to the surface?”
“We do enjoy celebrations.” Chameles fought hard, enjoying themselves as vigorously between battles.
“All that burnt meat isn’t good for anyone.” She clucked her tongue.
“You seemed to savor the burnt meat during the last celebration.” His males had been impressed by her nourishment consumption.
“Yesun’s family was hosting the celebration in my honor.” She informed him, her prissiness making him smile. “I didn’t want to insult them.”
“You zapped one of the sisters.” He navigated the corridors with her.
“The warrior sister asked to be zapped.” His gerel rolled her eyes.
“Ariq didn’t ask to be zapped.” That had taken his best warrior by surprise. And it had amused all of the other males, including himself.
“He reminded the sister about her puny human comment.” Gisella shook her head. “That was asking to be zapped.”
“Are you zapping beings again, Lead Medic?” Yesun stepped out of an alcove. He must have been waiting for them. “Because some of us were discussing whether or not it would work on Qulpa’s mechanical fingers.”
“Was one of those beings Qulpa?” Oghul doubted the older male volunteered to be zapped.
“Ummmm…” The youth lowered his gaze. “No.”
“I’m not zapping beings unless they ask for it or deserve it.” Oghul’s gerel denied the request before he had to. “What are we celebrating this planet rotation? I wasn’t told.”
Yesun opened his mouth. Oghul scowled at him.
The youth snapped his mouth shut.
That was wise. If he had ruined the surprise, relaying information he’d been told not to, Oghul would have reprimanded him. The youth had to learn discipline.
They entered the hangar. All of the males were gathered in the space, their heads turning toward the being of honor. Their expressions reflected the excitement in Oghul’s heart.
Excitement and concern. He didn’t know how she’d respond to the unveiling. His gerel did like to be in control. She might not enjoy surprises.
“Everyone is here.” She surveyed the males.
Being Chameles, they were much taller than his little human. Their bodies created a solid wall in front of her, blocking her view.
“We must be going somewhere,” she mused. “But this isn’t where we left the ship.”
“This is where we left our new ship.” Hiding his nervousness under a blank expression, Oghul motioned for his warriors to step aside.
The crowd parted to reveal a warship. The vessel shone under the lights, the first of its kind, immaculate, special in more ways than one.
It had previously been seen only as a schematic displayed on a wall. Chamele fabricators had brought it to life.
“The shape, the placement of the wings, the rudder, it looks like…” His gerel’s mouth dropped open. “Oghul?” She looked at him, her gaze dazed. “Is it?”