by Lara LaRue
Then I fell against the wall of the cave and slid to the floor in exhaustion. I didn’t even realize how tired I was until that moment. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them again, she was standing before me.
“Thank you… for coming for me,” she said and then sat next to me.
And for the first time, I saw her smile, and my face mirrored hers.
Chapter 16 / Sekkol
I wasn’t aware I had fallen asleep or for how long. But when I opened my eyes again, her head was resting on my shoulder and she was deep in slumber, too. I could hear her breathing, and it came out sounding like a gentle wind. The rest of my hand that she was resting on was cramping, but I didn’t want to move it and disturb her. So I remained still while it grew numb, until she turned and her head rolled onto my lap. She flew up then, her large brown eyes searching the space until they landed on me. She made a start and then sat upright, seemingly conscious of being too close to me. She hugged herself and pulled her legs under her, appearing every bit the frightened animal.
“What time is it?” she asked.
I looked outside and saw the sun had already kissed the mountaintop and was slowly making its descent west. “Late in the evening,” I replied and rested my head against the granite wall.
“So…” she drawled as she searched for something to say. “What now?” She yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
I sat there looking at her, marveling at her beauty and innocence, and I could see nothing wrong in what I had done. I reached out and took one of her black curls in my hand, coiling it around my finger. I was staring at the black loop when she turned, and without thinking, I leaned in and kissed her. And this time, she didn’t pull back. She remained still while I ran my tongue over her lips and then stuck it in her mouth. Her lips were warm and soft, not as cold and wet as the women I’d known. And with her smell, she reeled me in, ensnaring me with her delicious aroma, and I found it hard to maintain control.
I twisted my body and used my left hand to cup her face as I got lost in her kiss, and when her mouth moved in response to mine, my heartbeat quickened. My hand slid down her arm, and I jumped when I heard her yelp. Then I noticed the bruise from the glass that had reddened her skin, and I leaned forward and kissed the spot. When I looked up, she was smiling, and I smoothed my hand over her face and pulled her back to me.
Our lips collided, and where there was abrasion before, there was now the welcome softness of her lips and the patient touch of her hand as it fell on my own. My hands moved to her sides, and I gripped her flesh through the thin fabric of the suit she wore. She moved against me, and I could feel the heat transferring between us. With our lips still locked, I traced my hand over the swelling on her chest and then clenched my fingers, covering it within my palms. Her breasts were firm yet soft and seemed to melt under my touch. I felt her move then, and her breathing got ragged as I opened and closed my palms around her breasts.
Then I unfastened the clasps to her suit that began at her throat and watched as they popped open right to her chest. I glided my hands inside and quivered when I felt her warmth seeping through me. I lowered my head and caught her in my mouth and suckled her breast. I had never been with a human before her, and something about the experience was exquisite. Her skin was beautiful and strangely different than everything else I’d seen on Jupiter or among the other humans I’d noticed before. It was similar to the others who had skins that looked like the sand when the sun caught it, but different still. Hers looked like what the desert would look like at sunset or if the sands got wet, a deeper shade of what was already beautiful.
She was moving under me now, making funny sounds and gripping my hair. I wondered if that was a natural human reaction, and though it felt painful at first, I didn’t make a sound. She pressed my head down onto her breast even more, as if begging me to continue, and I circled my tongue around the peak and then sucked the dark areas around it. She was trembling now as I released the other and did the same.
She was intoxicating to me, and the blood rushed to my head the longer I played with her. I checked upward for her reaction, and seeing that her eyes were closed and her head tilted back, I slid the rest of her clothes to the cave floor. I stood and took my clothing off as well and made a bed with them before guiding her onto them. Her eyes moved over me, and then she bit her lips. Something about the act sent shivers down my back, and I felt my member grow in response.
I knelt next to her, admiring how her body curved. I ran my hand along the contours of her figure and then began kissing from her neck to the patch of curls that beckoned me. Even the curls there were soft, and I ran my fingers through it, feeling the hardened nub that lay in the middle of it. I rubbed it with my thumb and watched as her legs moved and she began making sounds again.
She touched my hand and arched her back, and I could hold it in no longer. The pain from my erection was growing, and I needed some release. I parted her legs and gazed at the soft pink opening that invited me in. I answered the call and guided my manhood into her tight entrance. I quaked then as I felt her walls close in on me, and I sank my nails into her hips as she cried out.
I stopped, thinking I had hurt her.
“No,” she told me as she clawed at my chest. “Don’t stop.”
My mind registered her request deeper than her words, and in an instant, I was driving in and out of her like mad. Her body was warm all over, and the longer I remained in her, the more I realized that was the heart of the furnace. She burned hot there, and my body responded in ways I never thought possible. I stroked hard and fast now, responding to her cries and pleas to continue, and I could feel myself growing dizzy from it. Then she locked her legs around me, forcing me even deeper within her, and I, feeling the sensation rushing to the tip of my manhood, pulled back so I could preserve the feeling a little while longer.
She lay there looking at me like I had done something wrong. Then she looked down at my erection and smiled when she realized I was not done like she had possibly thought. She turned on the ground so she was now on her hands and knees, and I could still see the entrance from that angle.
I rose and touched her posterior and watched as her upper body lowered as she waited for me. I inserted myself into her once more and lost control when I heard her cries begin again. I pumped into her, hard and fast, marveling at this new way, this human way, of consummation.
Her body rocked as she matched my motions, and then she began slamming herself into me. I remained still and watched her, and when I could no longer do so, I gripped her around the middle and buried myself within her. All of me. She took me in and charred me with her heat, and when I felt hot liquid washing over me and felt her tremble in its wake, my own body recreated her actions and the liquid rushed up to the surface once more. My cries were deafening as it burst from me and I emptied myself into her. I did not have the strength this time to hold back, and when it was done and my legs started to tremble, I collapsed onto the floor of the cave and welcomed the cool feeling it brought.
She remained on the clothing while I tried to regain the proper usage of my lungs. When I looked over, she was breathing hard still and surveying me. Then she got up, got dressed once more, and handed me my clothes so I could do the same.
“Not bad for an alien,” she said as she sat on the ground once more.
“You don’t have to keep calling me that, human,” I replied, and smiled. I tugged on the rest of my suit and sat across from her in the cave as I waited for my body to adjust to its normal temperature.
“Fair enough,” she replied, brushing a few strands of her hair from her face. She looked toward the mouth of the cave for a considerable time, until she turned back to me. “Why did you risk so much for me?”
And then it was my turn to gaze into the nothingness outside the cave. I wasn’t sure I had an answer for that, and I thought I should begin with my bare honesty. “I don’t know,” I eventually told her.
“Is it true?�
� She continued. “You aren’t supposed to be with a human?”
“Where did you hear that?” I was curious as to how she had come by that knowledge when she had been in my presence for the majority of the time she had been on Jupiter.
“Nala said something like that… that it is treasonous for your kind to take on a human as a mate or companion or whatever you call it,” she replied. “And then I keep hearing this word ‘imprinting.’ What is that?” It wasn’t just her eyes; her entire face questioned me as she knitted her brows and stared into my eyes as she waited for clarity she hoped I could provide.
I heaved an exasperated sigh and then stared at the cave floor. “It is true,” I finally managed to say. “We can take you as slaves, but not as partners.”
“And…?” she prompted after I had said that.
“What?” I asked, not sure what she wanted me to say or do.
“That imprinting thing… what’s that about?” she asked me again.
“The people of my planet don’t just meet someone and choose to be partners. Here, with my people, we imprint. We meet this one person who our soul connects with, and that person takes you over and you spend the rest of your life with them. Usually, it happens only once, and we have no control over it.” I got up then and went over to the hovercraft as I tried to make sense of it still.
“Oh,” she replied. “And you… but if you have no control, how can they punish you for it?” She got up then, too, and walked over to me. “Back home, we were able to choose anyone and for any length of time. Some people believe in true love and love at first sight, but not me. I haven’t had many boyfriends, but still, if I wanted to have one, then—”
“This is not Earth!” I shouted at her. “We don’t get to choose.” I was growing impatient with her questions, and I no longer wanted to continue the conversation. Everything that was happening was strange to me, and I didn’t need her in my head confusing things any more.
“Fine.” She huffed and stomped off to the spot she was sitting in before.
That was just fine with me. I started rummaging in the storage unit for the medical supplies and some water. “You need to get a wrap for that arm,” I told her.
“I’ll live,” she shot back.
I was finding it hard to believe the females of Earth were always this mouthy, and I wondered how the males would have handled it. I shook my head and tossed a bottle of water at her. She caught it instinctively and then pouted at me.
“At least have the sense to hydrate,” I said, and she placed it at her side, ever the rebel. I was looking through the contents when I paused; I thought I had heard a noise.
“You know, if this is the way you intend to treat me, then—”
“Shh.” I interrupted her.
“Don’t tell me to shh,” she retaliated.
“Stop and listen!” I shouted, and then she obeyed. Her eyes lifted upward as she too listened.
“What is that?” she asked.
I wasn’t sure, but it sounded like an incoming vessel. Who could have known about this place? I fished around inside the craft, pulled out my laser, and crept to the mouth of the cave. “Stay there,” I told her when I saw her advancing, too.
I got to the entrance and pressed my back against the wall. The sound was getting closer, and I thought I might have a better chance of defending myself if I were on the hovercraft rather than trapped in the cave.
“Get on,” I whispered to her, and motioned to the hovercraft. She crept to it and got onto the passenger seat. I was just hurrying back to it when the vessel outside came within view, and I saw it was Gideon.
“Gideon?” I called and then looked back protectively at Keira.
“Sekkol,” he said, and the sound of relief was evident. He got the craft closer to the cave and then hopped off. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Why?” I asked. “What’s the matter?”
“Why didn’t you go to my family?” Gideon asked.
“I thought about it, but I didn’t want to involve anyone else. What is the problem? I know you didn’t come all this way to check on my well-being.” I could tell something was eating at him, and I needed him to assuage all the fear that was slowly building up inside me.
“It’s Brom.” He began.
“What about Brom?” I asked right away, eager for the news.
“We got hit after you entered the tunnel. Commander Styx picked him up, and now they have declared they will disintegrate him for aiding in your treason unless you return to answer to the charges.” His gray eyes beamed at me, but they offered no respite.
“So my father knows of this?” I asked in defeat. I knew he would in a matter of time, just not quite so soon before I knew how to handle things.
“Yes, the commander has informed him of everything, including the harm to the other guards who were chasing us,” Gideon said. “Brom told me not to come and to tell you to stay away. But… I thought you should know,” he hastened to add.
“You were right to come, Gideon.” I assured and patted the man on the back. “Even if I didn’t go back, they wouldn’t stop searching, and he would have died in vain.” I folded my arms behind me and stared out at the sky that was slowly turning black.
By this time, Keira had come up behind me and overheard the conversation. Her brown eyes widened in horror when she realized the gravity of the situation.
“Can they do that?” she asked. “To Brom?”
“They have done it for less,” I told her.
“But they don’t have to know,” she pleaded and flew before me. “Sekkol, I can always tell them I was your slave. They don’t have to know anything else.”
“And what would happen to you?” I asked her. “They would have you fried or disintegrated, too. Or worse, sold to the people of Bulova.”
“But you have power, don’t you?” she pressed. “You must make them understand.”
“It is no use, human!” I thundered as the weight of the situation pressed upon me. Then I sighed and looked at her, already regretting that I was falling back on my promise not to call her that. “Keira, it is much more complicated than that.”
There was a long and uncomfortable silence after that, and I watched as the tears formed in her eyes just before she turned away.
“What are you going to do?” Gideon asked, his voice low and ripe with sympathy.
I touched her arm, but she shrugged me off. I could hardly blame her. Our futures hung in the balance, and I was as much a victim of it as she was. But the choice had already been taken from me, and though she pleaded with me, with her eyes, there was only one thing that could be done.
“I have to go back,” I said and then turned away from her as I looked toward the city of Anon, the city I had known as my home for over ninety years and that would likely be my ruin.
Chapter 17 / Sekkol
Everything over the last couple of weeks was a blur. It felt like only hours since I had seen her walking through the crowd of humans that had just arrived on Jupiter. I had felt an instant connection, and despite the stringent laws banning any mating with the humans, I had been unable to withstand the pull. Now, after having her in my home, unbeknown to the rest of Jupiter, she had been discovered by my nemesis, the Lord Commander of the guards. I was forced to make the desert my refuge, until I was told one of the members of the elite squad I headed, Brom, had been captured and he would be killed unless I returned to face my punishment.
The wind slapped against my face as the hovercraft glided over the sandy plain. The sun was barely visible, its yellow light creeping over the dark land and racing to Anon even faster than me, but the heat it brought with it was already seeping under my clothes. My skin felt clammy, but that was the least of my problems. The noise in my head was getting louder the closer I got, and it didn’t make matters any better that she was right there, clinging to my middle.
“Sekkol, this doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
She just didn’t unders
tand. Our laws on Jupiter were final and irrevocable. There was no fighting it. I would be found guilty of transgressing them, even though this was my first offense. But my people, including me, have never shown great tolerance for rebellion, and we punished severely for the slightest offense.
“Keira, I have no choice,” I told her. “This situation has nothing to do with Brom. I can’t leave him there to suffer the consequences of my actions.”
“But maybe you can find another way to get him out of there without turning yourself over.” She continued. “Maybe your friend can—”
“It is no use!” I shouted at her. “It is done.”
“It is not done,” she retaliated, as she was prone to do. She had proven herself a formidable rebel, always challenging my every word ever since the day we first spoke. But it was that defiance that kept me interested in her, though it was beginning to annoy me now.
“She may have a point.” Gideon’s voice came through the speaker on my hovercraft. It was a feature we often used when we went on patrol, to make communication easier. I had forgotten it was still active until I heard his voice and realized he had been listening in. He was one of my Enforcers, and he had come the evening before to inform me that Brom had been accosted and was being held by the commander and would likely be killed if I didn’t turn up.
Even though an Enforcer, Brom had been more of a friend, and he had known of my relationship with Keira from the beginning. He had been the one to discreetly purchase her at the human auction. No one had known what she meant to me until Gideon had figured it out when the commander had come to take her away. He had been instrumental in our escape, which had lasted but a short time.