He tightened his arms and become simultaneously aware of two things. The bundle in his arms was unquestionably female, and of a lushness he’d never even known was possible. The second thing he realized was that for the first time in his life, his kradx was threatening to extrude. He could feel the pressure building behind his slit in heady expectation. As he drew back to get a better look at the female who had awakened his body, she stirred and sleepy eyes opened to meet his.
By the Goddess—she was human! He recognized the round little pupils, the funny little nose and ears protruding from her head, the quantity of fur springing from her skull in waves of fiery red. What he hadn’t realized until this moment was how attractive those strange alien features would be in person. And her body—he had thought the breasts of human females to be ridiculously oversized, and hers seemed even more so than normal, but having them pressed against his chest caused his kradx to pulse and push against his slit again.
Perhaps she felt the movement because her eyes widened, and she drew back. The next moment, instead of her delightful body, a blast tube pressed against his chest. Thank the Goddess it was set to stun, but he didn’t like the worried look on her face.
“I would never hurt you,” he assured her quickly, grateful that he had been provided with the human language interface.
“Oh yeah? You seem to be getting pretty friendly down there,” she said, waving the tube towards his groin.
“Only a physical reaction to the delight of your body. I would never presume.”
“Delight, huh?” She shrugged and, to his regret, moved even further away. At least she lowered the tube. “I suppose you’re not the first guy to wake up with morning wood.”
“Wood?” He took a confused look around. They were in a small area with sand beneath them and a rock wall at his back. The red cloth from the parachute draped over them but there was no wood in sight.
“Yeah, you know, wood? An erection?” Despite her casual tone, her cheeks flushed a delightful shade of pink that reminded him irresistibly of a queen’s mating signal. Did that mean she was aroused as well? He scanned her quickly. The flush on her cheeks extended down her throat as it should and disappeared under her clothing. Were her breasts also swollen from desire? He put out a hand to check and touched a hard little point before she jumped and pushed him away.
“What the hell happened to not presuming?”
“I was checking to see if you were aroused. Is that not how your mating customs work?”
“Not with someone you just fucking met.”
“But you have caused me to have my first, um, wood.”
Her scowl morphed into a frown and he watched in fascination as copper furred brows drew together. How delightful.
“You mean you’ve never had an erection before?”
“Of course not. It does not occur until we meet a queen and she awakens our kradx.”
“I think my class in xenobiology left out a lot of details,” she muttered, then moved back a little more. “Just because I awakened your whatever, doesn’t mean you can go around grabbing my tits.”
“Tits?”
The flush deepened but he didn’t make the mistake of trying to verify her arousal this time.
“My breasts,” she said.
“Ah. Then how does your mate know that you’re ready?”
“Because I tell him,” she said firmly.
It seemed a little awkward to him, but then again, he couldn’t expect human customs to match Icluthian customs. He wished that their mating rituals had been covered in more detail in the manuals.
“Are you aroused?” he asked.
“What? No!” Her color deepened even more, approaching that of a queen in full mating fury, but she looked away. “Well, maybe just a little. You felt pretty good.”
He started to reach for her, but she held up a hand. “That doesn’t mean I’m ready to, um, mate.”
“Of course not, my queen. Forgive my presumption. No doubt you have many, more desirable males to attend to your needs.”
“Well, you’re fucking wrong there.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t have any males,” she said bitterly, but he saw a sheen of moisture in her eyes.
How was that possible? Such a desirable female should easily have three or four males already gathered at her hearth. Unless… A sick feeling came over him. Human features were so different. Could he have misjudged her so badly? Surely, he couldn’t possibly have been aroused by an underage female.
“Are you too young to mate?” he asked, horrified.
“No, I’m fucking not. Why does everyone think that?”
“I didn’t think that,” he said hastily. “I was just surprised that you didn’t have a brace already.”
“Yeah, well I don’t.” She glared at him. “How old are you anyway?”
“I am twenty-three cycles. This is my first diplomatic mission. I was chosen to accompany Queen Adorissa and her team. It is a great honor.” He hesitated, then went with the truth. “But it has not been as exciting as I assumed it would be. A lot of meetings in small rooms with a lot of people taking a long time to say nothing. I managed to avoid having my presence requested at the last one and decided to borrow a flyer and see something of Earth. As you know, it didn’t end well,” he added gloomily as the full impact of his situation began to dawn.
As soon as they were discovered, he would be torn away from this luscious human queen. He would most likely be sent to his home planet in disgrace and no Icluthian queen would ever give him a second look. At the moment, that consequence seemed much less important than not having the chance to court the human queen.
Her brows danced again. “You stole a flyer?”
“Borrowed,” he said firmly. “It is—was—one of the small ones allotted to the escort team and I was quite within my rights to borrow it. I enjoy flying very much.”
“Yeah, me too. Nothing like the freedom, the power, the—”
“—speed,” he finished simultaneously. They smiled at each other. She had tiny blunt white teeth rather than a queen’s normal fangs, but he found the sight curiously erotic. Could she still give a mating bite with those blunt little teeth? His kradx stirred again at the thought, but he forced his mind back to the current conversation.
“No doubt they will revoke my flying privileges,” he sighed.
“Don’t worry about it.” She waved a casual hand. “They revoke mine all the time, but I always get them back.”
He suspected that it was much easier for an enchanting little queen to regain her privileges, but he refrained from comment.
“However, we do have to get you back so you can face the music.”
“What music?”
“Face the consequences, I mean.” She turned and lifted up part of the parachute fabric that enclosed them. A small pile of snow fell into the shelter along with a blast of icy air. He immediately felt his blood start to retreat from his extremities and he pressed back against the warm rock.
“Well, shit. That’s not good. I’m sorry—” She frowned. “What’s your name?”
He pronounced his full Icluthian name and her eyes widened. He sighed. “The Yehrin call me Hisst.”
“Well, it is easier to say. I am Lizabet. Or maybe Lizzie would be easier.”
“Lissie.” The name flowed off his tongue in the most delightful way.
“Near enough, I suppose. Anyway, Hisst, this is the situation. We’re stranded. My truck is in a ditch and your flyer exploded.” He winced and her eyes softened. “Sorry, but there’s no point sugar-coating it. We’re in trouble. The snow is still falling, and I suspect that you are not equipped for these temperatures.”
No. His suit was designed to handle temperature fluctuations but not to this degree. The tears he had noticed would make it even less efficient. But leaving aside his own problems, he didn’t recall that humans were equipped for these temperatures either.
“What of you?” he asked.
>
“Can’t say I am, either, even though my clothing is designed to handle it for brief periods, and I have no idea how long this storm will last. So, basically, we have very few supplies, inadequate shelter, and no way to call for help. I would say we’re up shit creek without a paddle.”
It took a few moments for the words to translate but he found he understood the idiom.
“I believe you are quite correct, my queen.” He sighed. He was already proving unworthy. “You have no communication device?”
“I do, but I’m not getting a signal.”
“Perhaps I could stand the cold long enough to climb to a higher elevation. I might be able to find a signal there.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea.”
He bit back another sigh and started pulling together the items that had covered him in his sleep. Would she permit him to take them with him?
“What are you doing?”
“I hoped to use these for protection, but I apologize if I have overstepped.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m the one that’s going.”
“But you are a queen. It is my job to take care of you.”
“I can’t decide if that’s sweet or chauvinistic, but it doesn’t matter. I can handle the cold and you can’t. I’m going.” She picked up the blast tube and he drew back. Had he offended her that greatly? “I’m going to try and heat up the rock some more—without setting the parachute on fire. Can you come back here next to me?”
That was a request he had no hesitation in obeying. He pressed as closely to her side as he dared, letting her glorious soft warmth heat his side as he breathed in her delicious fragrance. He opened his mouth a little to let his tongue also taste that glorious scent. She looked up at him and her eyes widened.
“I had forgotten that Icluthians have forked tongues. Can you control each half individually?”
In response, he twisted them together. The mating blush returned to her face.
“I bet that makes you popular with the ladies,” she muttered.
“You forgot that as well. There have been no females until you. But if I could please you with my tongue, I would be happy to do so.” Ecstatic in fact. The very thought of applying his tongue to her flesh had his kradx surging once more.
Her color deepened and her fragrance increased, but she shook her head. “I don’t think this is the right time for that.”
A cautious hope sprang up in his breast. She had not completely rejected the idea.
“Now, hold still,” she said. “I don’t want to set anything on fire, including us.”
She directed a stream of fire at the base of the rock. The temperature in their shelter increased to such a degree that he trilled with pleasure. She terminated the ray all too soon, but he could feel the increased heat radiating from the rock.
“There. That should keep you warm until I get back.”
“I do not like you going alone.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not crazy about it myself, but a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. You just stay here and keep warm and I’ll be back as quickly as possible.”
To his shock, she leaned forward and pressed her full pink lips against his mouth for a brief instant.
“For luck,” she said, and ducked out of their shelter.
Chapter Five
Lizabet paused just outside the makeshift shelter to let the icy wind cool her cheeks. Now, why had she done that? Hisst was just so, well, sweet, and he looked so concerned about her leaving. She had never been attracted to sweet men, but then again, she’d never met any sweet men who were also large Icluthian males with amazing bodies. When she’d awoken earlier to find herself cradled against his chest, breathing in his exotic spicy scent, part of her felt strangely at ease. And when their eyes met, the strange face already seemed familiar. As he looked back at her, his gaze had been filled with appreciation, even though her makeup must have been totally gone and her body was hidden under her thick winter clothing. It wasn’t until she felt that odd bulge pressing against her stomach that her warning instincts kicked in.
Shaking her head, she pushed aside the intriguing memory and concentrated on her surroundings. Her heart sank. The snow had stopped falling for the moment, but the clouds hung low and ominous. Close to six inches covered the ground already and that was here where the rocks helped to protect them. She would be willing to bet that the open road had a significantly deeper layer. After ducking behind a rock for a quick pee, she double-checked to make sure that her phone was still tucked in her pocket and started looking for a way to climb up the rocky hillside.
The individual pillars started to coalesce into a solid embankment, and she found it easier going than winding through the rocks below. As she climbed, automatically noting her path, her mind kept returning to the morning. Had she really caused Hisst to have his first erection? She found the thought unexpectedly arousing. But the bulge she had encountered hadn’t felt like a normal erection. Rather than a solid ridge, it had felt flatter and wider. Her biology classes resurfaced. His absence of hair, the flat nose with slitted nostrils, and non-existent ears made his reptilian ancestry obvious. Was it possible that he had a hemipene? The thought that he might have a cock with the same characteristics as that intriguing split to his tongue caused an unexpected throb in her clit.
Fuck. What was she doing? She had flirted a lot during college and dated considerably less, but she had never experienced even a tenth of the attraction she felt towards T’kol. Now here she was lusting after one alien while she was supposed to be recovering from her apparently one-sided attachment to another. Not that her unexpected attraction to Hisst lessened her longing for T’kol. In fact, she had a sudden and very dirty thought involving the two of them, but she resolutely pushed it aside.
Puffing a little, she stopped to take in her surroundings. She was high enough to see out over the prairie but only a vast expanse of white running into a heavy grey horizon met her eyes. Nothing moved, except the wind. With a quick prayer, she pulled out her phone. No signal. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
It might be possible to climb a little higher, but the wind was already picking up and she felt a wet flake kiss her cheek. As she started retracing her steps, she tried to fight down the rising panic with a concrete plan. The parachute shelter was flimsy but so far, it seemed to be working. If more snow fell, she could start packing it around the base and create some additional insulation. Once she knew Hisst was protected from the weather, maybe she could hike back out to the road and leave a marker of some kind. She refused to think about the fact that she had not only seen no other vehicles, but she hadn’t detected any tire tracks.
Lost in her thoughts, she missed a step and her foot slipped on an icy rock. She caught herself in time to prevent a fall, but as she gratefully clutched the nearest boulder, a dark patch to the left caught her eye. Could that possibly be a cave? Moving as quickly as possible through the rapidly increasing snow, she went to investigate. The opening was low to the ground, but it was undoubtedly a cave. If it opened up inside…
Bending her head, she took a cautious peek, but it was too dark to see anything. Once again, she pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. The light revealed only bare stone walls, worn smooth by time. She ducked inside. Not large, but considering they were going to have to heat it, that wasn’t a bad thing. Dried leaves and grasses were scattered across the floor and piled in one corner, but when she gave the pile a cautious inspection, she decided that it was the result of the wind, not wildlife. And fortunately, the wind was now blowing from another direction and no gusts entered the cave. This could definitely work.
She made good time back to the camp, only to slip inside and find Hisst on his feet. He had her scarf wrapped around his head and he was in the process of tying her shirts across his back and chest. He should have looked ridiculous but if anything, her clothing only emphasized his powerfully built frame. The skintight silver suit did nothing to conceal it either and she found her gaze
dropping involuntarily to the area between his legs. Telling herself that she wasn’t disappointed at the smooth, flat surface, she forced her eyes back to his face.
“What are you doing?”
“You were gone a long time. I was getting ready to come and look for you.” He looked so concerned that without consciously intending to do so, she stepped across the narrow space and wrapped her arms around him. He immediately returned the embrace, bending his head to rub his chin against her hair. A faint spicy smell came from his skin and she found herself pressing closer. Her nipples started to tingle and the ache in her pussy returned. Something pushed against her stomach and when she blushed and stepped back, the front of his suit was no longer flat. A rather sizable vertical bulge had appeared. Telling herself to ignore it, she smiled up at him.
“I found a cave. It will give us a lot more protection, but you’d have to climb up there. Do you think you can do it?”
“Of course,” he said immediately, but she thought she detected the same fake note of confidence that she tended to use when confronted with an unknown situation.
“I thought we could heat some of the smaller rocks and you could carry them with you. And we can wrap the parachute around you as well.”
“An excellent plan,” he agreed.
“I’m not sure about that, but it’s the only one we’ve got. Let’s get going before the snow gets any worse.”
T’kol stood at attention and waited as patiently as possible for the Icluthians to descend from their ship. Two warriors led the way, every inch of their bodies covered in a thin silver suit and topped with a heavier quilted fabric garment that reached their ankles. He privately thought they looked rather ridiculous and had to suppress the impulse to flex his own bare arms. However, he did not make the mistake of dismissing them. Their weapons were strapped on over the coats and he had seen the vids of their fighting skills—they were both fast and deadly.
The queen emerged next, so heavily cloaked that her features were not visible, and flanked by two warriors on either side. Two more warriors followed. They arranged themselves in a semi-circle around her as Commander T’lan approached, pausing at a respectable distance to incline his head.
Alien Alliance Page 3