by Corin Cain
But now, as I gasp for air and break the surface of the water, I feel… liberated.
Reborn.
I tread water, feeling the current beneath the surface, that gently pulls me towards the thinner part of the stream and the hole where it exits the cave.
Stryker jumps into the water too, cannonballing with a deluge of water that splashes everywhere. It’s as though he’s forgotten his wounds. As he churns through the water with powerful strokes, Haleon climbs out to check on their wounded battle-brother.
I watch him walk, shamelessly naked, across the cavern – enjoying the sight of his muscled bottom, glistening and wet, maybe a little too much.
Still watching, I’m enthralled as Haleon takes a wet cloth and wipes away the paste painted across Brigg’s chest and arm. Miraculously, the terrible burns have faded – already looking as though they’ve been healing for a week or more. Haleon starts to apply another layer of mushroom paste, while Brigg sleeps peacefully – clearly no longer agonized by his horrible injuries.
Stryker splashes me playfully, water suddenly cascading down my hair. I turn in the water with a startled laugh. Stryker might be a massive, brutal alien warrior – but, apparently, he has a playful side to him, too.
I’m just glad he isn’t still angry at me. I splash the enormous warrior back, but my efforts result in little more than a tiny wave; pathetic compared to his tsunami. As he laughs, I dive under the water – washing off the sex and sweat from my naked body.
My bottom is sore, and I can still feel those two, huge dicks inside of me – where they’d fucked my mouth and pussy simultaneously.
And, yet, I’m somehow more relaxed than I’ve ever been before in my life. The adrenaline of nearly being killed by an eagle, then stalked by a wolf, and finally facing an actual dragon was so intense…
…but now that those terrors have subsided, I suddenly feel so safe in this cave; with these three powerful, sexy warriors. All the horrors of the outside world are suddenly so far away. I know that Brigg is going to be okay, and the lightness in Stryker’s green eyes tells me that everything between us is forgiven.
“Aurelian,” he says, pointing to himself. “Aurelian,” he says, pointing to Haleon, next. “Aurelian,” he repeats, finally pointing to the recovering Brigg. Then he says it one last time; extending his hands to indicate all of them.
Aurelian? Oh, I get it.
“Human,” I reply, pointing to myself.
The aliens have a name. Aurelians. I wonder what other talents their species has? Other than… the obvious?
I shudder, imagining the next time I might do something to deserve a punishment. I never thought of myself as someone who’d be into whips and chains; but I’ll admit that the feeling of being utterly submissive and powerless feels so strangely natural when it happens with a massive, powerful man like Stryker.
I smile, thinking of ways I could earn a nice, light spanking… Or, maybe I could just ask…
What the fuck? No! No, no!
I’m giving in to the pleasures of this reality – this fabrication of my tortured mind.
I cannot allow myself to accept this as real. I know the truth: I broke down from stress, so of course my mind created a hallucinatory paradise in which I have no bills, no emails, no meetings, and no cheating fiancé.
And, of course, my mind would conjure beautiful, mind-numbingly handsome, seven-feet-tall warrior aliens to share this fantasy with me; who all look at me with such desire and devotion that I’ll never feel the slightest tinge of worry they’d abandon me for a younger, prettier woman.
Right?
Stryker stares at me with longing with his deep, green eyes. Then he wraps his arms around my neck, pulling me in and kissing me so deeply that I forget everything.
His cock stirs, hardening, but if he puts that thing in me right now – while I’m still sore and stretched – I doubt even his alien pre-cum could make the experience pleasurable for me.
Despite my soreness, though, his lips pressing against mine are reigniting my lust. I gasp as Stryker slides his hands down to cup my bottom and pull me against his huge dick. Despite my concerns, I can’t stop myself from spreading my legs for him. He’s already rock-hard; even just minutes after releasing his powerful seed down my throat – and he’s relentless as he presses the huge head of his dick against my slit.
Yet despite his power, Stryker is so gentle. That’s what defines him. He’s so powerful, yet so in control. It’s a deeply sexy combination.
Stryker grips my bottom firmly as he pulls me harder against him. He presses his cock inside me. Maybe it’s because I’ve already been fucked once, or maybe it’s his pre-cum, but my soreness instantly evaporates as he presses himself into me.
Suddenly, I feel so perfectly full. I gasp out in ecstasy as Stryker claims me, thrusting inside me, firmly and powerfully, as he makes me his.
He pulls me so close to his muscled chest, every hard ridge of his chiseled abs pressed hard against me. My moans echo across the cavern as he makes me cum twice in a row, our bodies so intertwined that it’s impossible to know where my body ends and his begins.
Stryker eventually growls when he fills me with his seed, his hands pulling me tight against him. As he finally lets go, I watch as his seed is snatched up by the light current of the pool, and washed away in a silver stream.
Stryker pulls himself out of the pool and I follow him. He throws me a fur, soft and gentle, and I towel myself off with it. I wish so badly I could communicate with these warriors! I’m going to have to start learning their language tomorrow. I’d teach them English – but that wouldn’t make much sense since there are three of them and just one of me.
After I’m dry, Stryker hands me another thin hide, one I recognize as belonging to a deer much like the one I saw the wolf kill the previous night. I wrap the skin around myself, tying it as a makeshift dress that doesn’t do much to cover my body.
Not that it matters, the shameless way these three treat being naked.
Stryker strides to the other side of the pool of water, where it flows in freshly from some mountain stream. He fills a wooden bowl and carries it to where Brigg lies, and then gently drips the cool water into Brigg’s mouth. His battle-brother’s lips move as he gulps it down.
Finally, Stryker lays down in the bed of furs, motioning me to join him, and Haleon who lies beside him. I cross the cavern and lay down between the two men – and I’ve never felt so safe or secure before. I’m sandwiched between these two muscled hunks, ensconced protectively.
If this is real, I’m not mad anymore at them capturing me. I don’t care that they pulled me away from the dismal winter of my ruined life in New York. I can be happy here.
I let myself get lost in the ludicrous thoughts, knowing that it can’t be real. Then, the familiar anxiety grips my heart at the thought of what will happen if this does all turn out to be real.
These Aurelians want a child.
The three of them are male, and they have no qualms about sharing me between the three of them – which means this planet must not have many women. If, logically, these three gorgeous aliens are real, then my greatest value to them is my ability to produce offspring.
I hate my scars, but they aren’t my greatest flaw. They aren’t my truest, greatest fear and the most powerful source of my self-hatred. There’s something even worse than being thrown away like trash by the so-called love of your life.
I’ll never be able to bear these men a child.
Don’t think about that. Just… Just try to relax. If you went mad, and you are manic, you need to find a way to lose your stress.
I let myself drift off between these two, huge men – not sure whether to cry or smile; feeling so safe, secure and protected, yet knowing deep down in my heart that this can’t be possible.
Tomorrow… Tomorrow, I have to make the decision.
Do I try to escape this tropical paradise, so filled with danger?
Or do I find peace here, wit
h these three Aurelians?
Tonight… Tonight I’ll let myself imagine a future here. Tomorrow… Tomorrow I’ll make the decision.
10
Stryker
I wake up smiling.
I’m one of the lucky few who has experienced the greatest sensation known to an Aurelian: To wake up next to your fated mate. To smell her scent, and to feel her body against yours.
To be complete.
The only thing greater could be if Aubrey’s breasts were already full with milk, and her belly was already swollen with my child. My smile widens, knowing she will bear me many strong, powerful children who’ll continue the proud traditions of my tribe.
Aubrey’s skin is so dark compared to mine. So sun-kissed; and so different from my paleness. The light of the algae gives her a strange sheen as she sleeps, and I ache to light a torch and view Aubrey’s beautiful body in its full glory. I could sit for hours just watching her. No, days. I’d pass out from hunger, watching her – forgetting to even eat, or drink.
I extract myself from her arms carefully, not wanting to wake her. Aubrey had a fearsome night last night.
We barely survived the attack. The dragon nearly killed Brigg, but it had no real interest in killing us. The demon beast views us as nothing more than insects to be swatted. When it attacks my tribe, it does so for the sport of catching and killing us. It simply burned Brigg, and then flew off to hunt meatier targets than a wiry, muscled Aurelian. We are unpalatable to the beast, and it’s not just our leanness. Unlike us, the dragon has not had Scorp-venom inked in their bodies from a young age. If it took a bite of us, it would be filled with the poison and weakened. That doesn’t stop the dragon from enjoying hunting us down like prey. If the beast had wanted to kill us, we’d all be dead.
Someday, dragon king, you will be mine. Someday, I will end you.
We made it back alive, though – as my triad always does. That fight is in the past now.
Haleon stands silent as a leap-wolf waiting to spring and checks on Brigg. Good. The mushroom paste calms the mind, but too much and you’ll never awaken. Brigg will recover in a deep sleep. His aura is peaceful in my mind, barely there but strengthening by the hour. Our mountain home will be safe for him.
Brigg’s pride and joy, his thick gold chain – the one that he forged to mark the day we first protected our tribe from the Scorp attack and earned our first tattoos, is lying near him. It’s warped from the flames, broken into two, but the rare gold is still valuable.
“Brigg will forgive us. We must sell his chain… We must be able to speak with Aubrey,” I telepath to Haleon, not wanting to wake Brigg or Aubrey with the sound of my voice.
Haleon looks at the gold chain with regret. Forged a hundred years ago, when Brigg found a rare deposit of gold after an earthquake near our tribal home, we mined it for days. Women and children came to watch as we laid claim to the vein of gold. Though we were barely more than children, the tribe allowed us to mine it by the right of first find.
Then, when the men of tribe were out hunting, the Scorps came.
They’d never ventured so close to our home before, and we had no way of expecting them. Haleon, Brigg and I killed them as a triad - protecting the women and children of our tribe, and bringing the venom glands of our conquered enemies back to the tribal elders. That act earned us our first ink. We became marked that day – true men of the Scorp-Blood tribe.
Brigg forged that chain to honor the battle; and he’s never been without it since.
Haleon nods. We both know how much the chain means to Brigg, but we have to be able to speak to our mate sooner than she can learn our language. There’s only one man who holds a God-Amulet in our tribe, powered by the same Orbs that energize our weapons. Reep is an older man who has long lusted after Brigg’s chain. The amulet, powered by the same God-substance that controls our weapons, allows any man or human woman to speak with someone who doesn’t understand their language. Reep claims the amulet allows him to speak even to animals – although not a man in the tribe believes him.
We need to speak to Aubrey.
Not tomorrow, or next week. Today.
Our God, the great Orb that we sacrifice offerings to, allows us to claim our mates. But the Orb does not keep them here. Aubrey will be offered chances to go back to her old life – portals opening to let her decide her own fate. We must convince her to stay before she takes the chance to go.
It’s tempting to simply tie her up – to make her stay. But that way will never end in love.
For a single day with the amulet, Reep will charge us Brigg’s most treasured possession.
I step carefully to the chain, picking up the warped pieces and feeling the hefty metal. I only hope Aubrey will appreciate Brigg’s sacrifice. We need the Amulet of Speaking badly. The Orb-God may give us access to our mates, but our God is a capricious one. Each woman will get many chances to go back to their old world; and it is the duty of an Aurelian to claim her so fully she gives up everything in her past life for a new future as a fated mate.
There are a few warrior triads who’ve lost women this way. Some treated their mates too harshly, or – if you believe the older men of the tribe – sometimes not harshly enough.
Those who fail to keep their mates?
I shudder at the thought. It’s a great dishonor. Those who lose their mates often go off into solitude, regrouping and dealing with the loss in isolation from the tribe.
Even with the offering of another great sacrifice, the Orb-God rarely gives second chances. It takes a long time to regain your reputation when you demonstrate that you can’t even hold onto the woman you fought for, killed for, and perhaps nearly died for.
If I can only speak to Aubrey, I know she’ll understand.
I know that in our coupling she felt her purpose, and her destiny to bear our children. To be protected, ravished, and worshipped by us for the rest of her long, long life.
And yet, I must explain it with my words as well as my body. I must be able to tell her what I feel deep in my heart and soul – how, unlike many in my tribe, I’ll never take another woman for as long as I live. How I ache for her – so deeply that burns my soul.
“Let us leave before we wake her,” telepaths Haleon. I nod. It’s dangerous outside, and it’s better to move in twos and threes. A mountain lion, starved and desperate, may attack a single Aurelian warrior. It is rare for them to try anything against two of them.
I give a last, longing look at Aubrey – cementing her features in my mind so deeply that they’ll never go away. I’ll remember every inch of her skin in this moment, for all eternity. Every strand of her hair, every subtle movement as she breathes in and out...
Haleon and I leave our cavern, pushing the boulder aside. We could easily use the lever system of a log to make it move quicker, but we both relish the visceral feeling of pushing that huge, heavy rock aside with all our might.
The instant I leave the cavern, I feel loss. I hate to be away from Aubrey now that I’ve finally found her.
The long walk back to the jungle, where my tribe resides, will take most of the day. In the underground caverns there, older Aurelians, human women, and unmarked boys play and learn. Very few warrior triads stay there – most preferring solitude like us. Aurelians must earn their own way. Yet, these caverns are where our current chief resides with his harem. It’s also where Reep holds the Amulet of Speaking, so it’s where we must voyage.
I take a last look back at our own cave.
All I have to do is get this amulet – just for a single day – and she’ll never leave us.
11
Aubrey
Wait… Where am I?
I wake up feeling strangely refreshed, but very confused – staring out into the darkness.
My eyes are adjusted to the darkness and the luminous algae makes enough light for me to see the cavern. As soon as I do, it all comes flooding back to me.
The betrayal of my fiancé.
Being captured
.
The eagle. The wolf. The dragon!
The spanking. Oh, God. The fucking!
Only Brigg is in the cave. He’s in a deep sleep, and the mushroom paste is fully dried and flaking off. Though he has some faint, new scars from the burning, he looks as though it happened months ago.
My belly rumbles, and I hope that wherever the other two Aurelians are, they’re getting food.
This must be what it was like to be a cavewoman back in prehistoric times. Perhaps these warriors will teach me how to hunt and fight, or get me a weapon like the ones they have. I don’t want to be scared going out into the world.
Then I see it.
In the murkiness of the cave, there is a deeper black. A tiny dot, near the pool.
It suddenly opens wide – a portal ripping a hole through reality. My mouth opens in shock as snowflakes pour through, whisping in with the cold, New York wind of a chill November.
The cavern fills with light as I stare into the same grungy alley I’d been abducted from, covered in sludge from a new snowfall that remain virginal for only moments before it was corrupted into the grimy slush of a New York City sidewalk.
It’s oddly metaphorical. I think of all the women who came to the city, snow white and pristine, to find their dreams – and, instead, they found rot and corruption.
I shudder.
This all feels real. I have my way back home, the one I nearly died for last night. I suddenly have an easy way back…
But back to what?
Back to my cheating fiancé? To the career that sucks up every second of my time? To a city in which my shame and my insecurities fill me with anxiety?
Or I can stay here – in this cavern, exploring a relationship with three huge, brutal warriors who look at me with such firm, devoted eyes. Eyes that, I know, will never look at another woman the same way as they do me. Men who, I know, will never leave my side.