by Ella Maven
I inhaled sharply and sought to calm the rage in my head. “I didn’t always look like this.” I gestured to the side of my face which bore my burn scars and cracked horn. “It happened during the Uprising. The Uldani were holding out in one last stronghold in the eastern hemisphere and we wanted to drive them back to Alazar. I knew I was the best warrior to break their line and blow up their last attacking force. Without Daz’s permission, I grabbed one of our last solar bombs, snuck into the hideout, and detonated it.” I swallowed. “I hadn’t intended to live. I thought that was it, I’d followed Fatas’s plan, but on my terms. She wants me to burn alive, fine, but I was going to do it my way.
“Except it didn’t turn out that way. Amid the screams and flames, Ward found me and pulled me to safety. I wasn’t conscious for it. I woke up a few rotations later in a healer’s hut with bandages all over the left side of my face, neck, and chest.”
“My word,” Naomi whispered.
“I was angry with Ward for a long time. I didn’t tell him why, because I couldn’t find a way to explain it, but I was furious he’d flecked up my plan. I was meant to die that day, and somehow, I cheated death. I cheated Fatas. I’m living on borrowed time now, and I’m choosing again the way it’ll end. With the device in my arm eliminating the Uldani encroaching on our territory.”
By the time I was finished talking, Naomi’s eyes shone, and a few tears trickled down her cheeks. Her small nose reddened, and she’d gnawed on her lip so hard that she’d peeled off a layer of skin.
“Little one,” I murmured, overwhelmed at her emotional reaction. I reached for her, intending to swipe away the tears, but she launched herself at me, colliding with my chest while she wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
She clung to me, and her little body shook as she cried. Her tears fell on my chest, beading on the scales there. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled as she clasped her hands behind my neck. “I can’t imagine what that was like to keep this to yourself all this time.”
I closed my eyes, grateful she didn’t try to argue with me, or tell me that I was wrong. She’d listened like she said she would. And she understood why the visions had been such a burden to me.
I released a long, slow breath, and held her slender body against me. Her legs straddled my hips, and she fit so well with her head tucked on my chest. Her cries were quieter now, and her dark lashes stuck together in wet little spikes. I smoothed her braid down her back, and she took a shuddering breath. Her head lifted, and she changed her position on my lap until our gazes were more level. She slowly raised her hand, and I watched carefully as she ran a finger along the length of my broken horn.
“Can you feel my touch?” she asked.
Our horns were most sensitive at the base. My cock took notice, straining in my pants to get to the warmth between her legs that hovered above me like a tease. I nodded to answer her question.
She reached the end, and I let her prod at the jagged end. “Does this hurt?”
“No.” My answer was a rasp.
“And these?” Her fingers brushed the white scars on my face and neck.
“Not anymore.” They had at the time, pain like I couldn’t believe. I’d borne it silently, unwilling to let Ward know how much I resented still being alive.
She cupped my face, and my eyelids lowered. The warmth of her palm spread through my face, wrapping around my head like the sun’s rays. Would she still touch me like this if she truly knew the depth of my pain? How I let my sister suffer out of selfishness? Fatas had shown me my punishment. I’d never be rewarded by someone as sweet as Naomi, no matter how badly I wanted her.
Her lips touched mine, and I flinched. She froze and pulled away. I caught the pain in her face and couldn’t do that again. Not to her. I grabbed her face and jerked her to face me. Shock widened her eyes.
“I told you all that to explain that that is the reason you can’t be my mate. Fatas has other plans for me, but not a rotation goes by since we met that I don’t wish for a different life where I could keep you. Where I was free to touch you, and make you happy, and allow you to see my aura that isn’t tainted with fire and pain and regret.”
Her chest rose and fell, her pulse strong beneath my fingers against her neck. There were no more tears this time, only determination. “Do you want me, Gar?”
“More than anything,” I growled.
This time I kissed her first, unable to let her think she was anything short of perfect. Because she was perfect. She had a purpose in my life even if it wasn’t the purpose I wanted. If only I was free to make her mine.
I delved my tongue inside her mouth as she collapsed against me, grinding her sweet heat on the ridges of my stomach as my cock thickened to painful length in my pants. She moaned a sweet sound into my mouth, and I gripped her hips, forcing her down onto my cock. Gasping, she pulled back, and her eyes rolled up as she bucked against the hard ridge. I cursed the layers of clothing between us, but I didn’t trust myself to see her skin on full display.
I had never been this hard, and I didn’t know how this ended, but I knew I had to come to some sort of conclusion, as my balls were heavy and full, near to bursting as Naomi’s full breasts bounced under her shirt, her pale skin flushed a pretty shade of pink, and she moaned my name. “Gar, yes.”
I growled, bucking my hips just as she cried out, her nails digging into my shoulders. My hands tingled, my spine snapped straight, and then my vision whited out as I felt my cock pulse with the first wave of release.
I came. Hard. All while Naomi pressed kisses to my neck. My face. My shoulders. I hadn’t realized I was prushing until my head fell back against the wall and I slumped into a boneless heap. The kisses continued. Along with a soft sound that reminded me of the female’s wordless sengeng.
“Are you okay?” Her soft voice floated up to my ears.
Was I okay? I was changed, that was for sure. I understood a little more now while my mated warriors refused to leave their beds early. I would never leave if I got to do that again. What would it be like to release inside Naomi’s sweet cunt? I shook my head. Now was not the time for fantasies.
“You’re not okay?” Concern tinged her voice.
“I’m fine,” I answered. I dropped my hands from her hips only to find reddened marks there. I jerked up, nearly toppling her off my lap. “Did I do that?”
“Did you do—?” she glanced at her hips. “Oh. Yeah, but it’s fine. You were squeezing. I have such pale skin, it shows—”
“I hurt you,” I clenched my jaw.
“Gar,” she gave me that no nonsense tone, and I focused on her stern expression. “I’m fine. You didn’t hurt me. Okay? This is normal for … intimate times. Or so I’ve heard.”
“You’ve heard?” I asked. “Have you not—?”
She blushed and ducked her head. “I have not had um … sex. Well, much of anything really.”
I was surprised by this. The other females had previous lovers, even though that line of conversation was forbidden as none of the Drixonian males wanted to hear about other males touching their mates. Good thing we couldn’t get back to Earth, or I was sure Daz would pound every one of Frankie’s former male partners into the ground.
“It’s not a big deal,” she said. “It’s not like I don’t know what to do. I just … haven’t done it.”
She was untouched. As was I. “I know what to do as well, but you are the first female I’ve touched. I’ve never…” I gestured to the lap of my pants. “I’ve never released before. Not until … in the room, with your taste lingering my mouth.”
Her eyes lit up at that. She did a little shimmy. Then they dulled. “Well maybe we’ll have more time. Just a little more. We can show each other—”
Light spilled across the front of the cruiser, and I jerked to my feet. Naomi scrambled behind a chair with a squeak, even though no one could see inside. I crept toward the cockpit, to find the generator progress bar almost finished.
Peering out into the darknes
s of the room we were in, I spotted two Uldani and at least a dozen Kulks streaming into the room, weapons in hand, pointing them right at the cruiser.
Eight
Naomi
The Kulks and Uldani found the bodies of the Kulk guards quickly. And they didn’t seem surprised. Several Kulks approached the cruiser warily, banging on it with metal fists as Gar sat in the chair at the cockpit, still as a statue. His gaze flicked between the increasing enemy presence outside of the cruiser and the progress bar of the charging generator.
I didn’t know what to do, so I picked up all our supplies, stuffed them into my pockets and lifted the tray bed back into the wall. Gar had assured me they couldn’t see inside, but I still felt like I needed to hide. I crouched behind the other chair in the cockpit until Gar’s arm lifted with a definitive point to direct me to a seat.
I sat quickly, and Gar slapped a button on the armrest. Straps wrapped around me, holding me in place. I felt a little like a bug in a flytrap, especially as the Uldani stood at the front of the cruiser, staring directly inside.
Sounds came from the back of the spacecraft, and Gar’s head whipped around, his eyes narrowing. This was the Gar I was used to. Every trace of vulnerability was gone. He showed no fear, no anger, only a concentrated determination. I still didn’t know how he planned to get us out of here. Were there weapons on this ship? Guns or laser … things?
Maybe that was what he was waiting for. Once the generator charged, he’d kill everyone and then we’d… What? Push this thing out? How the hell did they get it in here? None of this made sense, and I hated feeling so out of control.
I had to place my trust in Gar, and while I did trust him, I didn’t trust him with himself. A large part of me, more than I was willing to admit, was still hoping we’d both come out of this alive. And stay alive.
A louder thud came at the back of the cruiser, and I started with a shout. “Gar! What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer me. It was like I wasn’t even there. He turned back around, his lip curled in a snarl and tapped the control panel. “Come on,” he murmured at the screen’s progress bar as it moved achingly toward completion. “Come. On.”
The shriek of bending metal made me hold my hands over my ears, a scream leaving my lips as my heart pounded in my chest. “What can I do?” I pleaded as my head throbbed along with my heart. “How can I help?”
He didn’t answer me. His hands were steady in front of him. One on a round wheel type thing with a knob at the top, and the other on a massive lever. Shouts came from behind us, and several Kulks raced around to the back where it sounded like they were cutting into the cruiser with lasers. “Oh God,” I whispered. “Oh God, they’re going to get in.”
In front of us stood two Uldani, arms crossed, smug looks on their faces. If they thought they won, then that meant… Well that meant we lost. The completion bar seemed stalled, taunting us with a half centimeter more to go. We weren’t going to make it. They were going to bust in here. Kill Gar. Take me.
More metal screeching. Cursing. They sounded frustrated.
“Gar!” I screeched. “What can I do?”
Finally, his head swung toward me, eyes so dark they were nothing but black holes in his scarred face. And yet, in the dim light, he looked beautiful to me. His hands tightened on the controls. “You can hold on.”
“Hold o—”
“Charge complete.” A robotic voice filled the cockpit.
A grin spread across Gar’s lips as he spun the wheel wildly. A second later, he gripped a sole joystick and flipped up a case covering the top. “Burn, you fleckers,” he gritted out, and depressed a clawed thumb on the red button.
Bright white light flashed in front of my eyes, temporarily blinding me just as a rapid staccato like machine-gun fire filled the air. Streaks of laser fire shot out from all around the rim of the cruiser, mowing down the Kulks and Uldani who were unlucky enough to be in the crossfire. I closed my eyes unable to handle the brightness just as shrieks and cries echoed through the cavernous room, followed by the acrid smell of smoke.
When the sound stopped, I blinked my eyes open to see Gar’s entire body tense, muscles bulging as he looked above us, neck craned back.
“What—?” I got out just as he slammed the lever down. The massive roar was deafening, and I clapped my hands over my ears, crying out just as Gar once again gripped the joystick. He spun another dial and this time when the laser fire started up, they didn’t shoot out into the room. They shot straight up. Into the air. I blinked up out of the dome of the cruiser to see the lasers peppering holes in the dirt roof.
It was then I realized with horror that Gar, in typical Gar fashion, didn’t intend to carefully extract this cruiser from underground. Hell no. He was going to smash his way out.
“Hold on!” He hollered over the sound of what felt like a dozen rockets below us. The laser fire continued, followed by the screams and gunfire from the remaining Uldani and Kulks in the room with us. They must have realized what Gar intended to do was well.
Chunks of dirt and charred tree roots and debris landed on the roof, and just as we lifted off the ground, pockets of sun poked through the dirt ceiling. A few at first, then more, and I caught a small glimpse of clear sky just as he flipped a few more switches and the roar grew in intensity.
A rumbling came above us, and I watched with a disassociated terror as a massive chunk of earth and boulder-size rocks plummeted toward us. I screamed, convinced the roof of the cruiser would cave in just as the Gar gripped another lever and depressed it.
Instead of avoiding the tons of rock and dirt, the cruiser shot upward, fire flaming around us just as my body decompressed from the force of the thrust. I screamed again, but Gar didn’t flinch. We rose in the air, meeting the ground as it fell to meet us. Gar snarled, a loud growl that grew until he roared, the muscles in his neck straining, his fangs almost fluorescent in the dim light.
When the first rock hit the top of our cruiser, I covered my head. But no glass shattering came, no cracking. Only the constant barrage of rocks and dirt slamming into the cruiser like we were caught in a hurricane, all the while Gar roared a challenge at the ground along with the cruiser’s thrusters.
And then, just when I thought we’d be plummeted back into that hole covered in rock and dirt, light seeped through my cracked eyelids. I peeked from behind my arms and my mouth dropped open in shock. Sky was visible through the dirty roof of the cruiser as we soared out of the ground. Laser fire from below pinged the bottom of the cruiser, but it didn’t matter anymore.
We were out. His plan had worked.
I gazed up at the sky in wonder, letting out a whoop with my hands in the air like I was on a roller coaster. “We’re free!” I giggled.
But Gar wasn’t celebrating. He swallowed just as the cruiser which had been ascending as it sped forward across the plains, slowed. We seemed to hang in the air for a moment. Then, we began to drop.
I sucked in a breath and gripped the straps covering my body. “Gar…”
“Hold on,” he said. “It’s under control.”
Nothing about this felt under control, but I didn’t say that as we began to plummet faster. I craned my neck, trying to see below. We had reached the edge of the plains and were maybe a half mile above the top of the trees as we continued over the dense forest on a diagonal decline.
“Um, why are we going down?” I asked with a gulp, panic evident in my shrill tone.
“Thrusters don’t have enough fuel to take us much farther,” he said, pressing buttons and switches and spinning the wheels rapidly. “I have to land and cloak it.”
“Cloak it?”
“Cloaking shield. So, the Uldani can’t find it.”
“We won’t make it back to the Night Kings?”
He shook his head.
I didn’t respond to that, even as my stomach sank faster than the cruiser. I had to take what I could get though. He’d blasted us out of the Uldani-controlled bunker. W
e were better off now than we were an hour ago.
At least, that was my last thought before Gar swore, the cruiser dipped wildly, and I braced for a wicked impact.
Gar
I was not a pilot, and that was never more clear than now, when I was a hairbreadth’s away from crashing the entire cruiser.
Naomi sat beside me with her face pale and eyes squeezed shut. I didn’t think she was breathing either. I knew a location where I could land, but I had some more ground to cover before I got there. As much as I loved to smash my way through my obstacles, leaving a trail of broken trees in my wake would be obvious to the Uldani. I knew a clearing where I could cover the cruiser’s tracks.
I turned on the cruiser’s cloaking shield, which would hide us from sight. “Cloaking enabled,” said the cruiser’s voice, a female Drixonian recording that made my throat tight with homesickness.
I tapped repeatedly on the mapping screen, but it wasn’t working, either because the cruiser was in a safe mode using only essential operations, or because it was broken. Either way, I had to land this flecker manually. Naomi was going to hate this.
I spun the wheel, and the cranking sound made Naomi whimper. “Got it handled,” I said gruffly. I wished I could take the time to assure her properly, but I was barely hanging on myself. The cruiser was losing altitude fast, too fast for my liking, and only Fatas knew if my plan would work. We cleared a dense crop of trees, the tops scraping the bottom of the cruiser with a loud screech. Naomi screamed and her eyes popped open just as my destination loomed below us. A qua spring, rarely used, but I was aware the center was just deep enough to sink a cruiser. The Uldani wouldn’t be able to see it, and they certainly wouldn’t search for it here.