Yes, I am glad that I came out here, that I flouted the rules for some extended exercise.
Returning my gaze to the direction in which I am running; I notice a small offshoot from the main track. I frown slightly and then smile. I am pretty sure this track leads to a small waterfall and I am so desperate for nature that I deviate from the trail.
The path quickly shrinks down to nothing more than what appears to be an animal trail. Only the locals even really know about this place and the waterfall is not spectacular enough to warrant return trips.
Still, it was a place I had been to a few times. It is always quiet there, always a good place to sort your head out. This was especially when it came to living in the foster system and trying to work out why you were the one unlucky enough to wind up being passed from family to family.
I can hear the water before I get there and my fingers uncurl. My shoulders relax even though I am still at a slow jogging pace. A branch slaps out at me and I duck down, arcing underneath it even as I reach up and push the debris out of the way.
The place hasn’t changed. It is still cramped, opening out suddenly to expose the crack in the rock where the water escapes. It cascades down over several granite boulders, splashing out as though angry at being exposed and I can totally relate.
I shuffle along the narrow path as I endeavor to avoid the splashes of wetness. At the edge of the tiny clearing is a flattened rock, the only place in which to avoid the spray and I sink down onto it, my breath ragged from the exercise.
Allowing my head to tilt back slightly, I gaze skyward.
As I do so, I notice that something is off. The air feels thick against my skin, as though mist has descended and is enveloping me. The sensation of vertigo overtakes me and I claw at the unforgiving rock beneath me for support before the world shrinks down around me and goes black.
The last thing that registers is the shining mass in the sky above me.
Nuvul
I look out of the front shield, at the vast emptiness of space and it closes in on me as it always does. It has been four hundred and eighty-six days since I have seen my family and I am beyond lonely. My desolation consumes my every waking moment.
Spinning in my chair, I gaze past the wide galaxy of stars and focus in on a single one. Earth. The one tiny word that can change my life if I want it to. If I am willing to do the one thing that I so vehemently oppose.
I could totally do it, I try to tell myself. I could abduct a woman and return home. Even after all this time my father would take me back. He would welcome me, relish my return. It would be sickening.
Still, it would be preferable to floating around in this tiny can of a spacecraft. It would also be infinitely better than being shunned every time I stopped in on a planet and stocked up with supplies. My father, General Rukkali, has made sure to use every last one of his connections in order to make my life a misery because of my choice.
All I have to do to return to his good favor is to abduct a female human.
It was also the one thing that I never wanted to do.
And yet, here I am, absently honing in on Earth, enlarging the zoom function even as I hated myself for doing so.
I squint at the screen as each enlargement goes fuzzy then clears into clarity. I can see clouds, then trees, then landscapes, cities, roads, and finally people.
There are fewer than normal. Apparently, some new disease has attacked the planet. Most are in quarantine rather than risk filling up their medical facilities. It is possibly the worst time to feel the devastating gnaw of homesickness that makes my tail swish constantly from side to side. Already, I have knocked over everything not nailed down in this vessel.
A constant hum in the back of my throat also reminds me that I am miserable. It is a low-level growl; one I have been swallowing back for weeks yet it never fully disappears. Often, I wake to a full-bodied roar and it is the only time that I am thankful that there is no one else on board with me.
I continue to absently scroll the landscape of Earth. Even as I don’t want to do it, abduction is a constant in my mind.
Then I see her.
Leaning forward in my seat, I zoom in on a desolate part of Earth.
Honestly, mostly it has been like watching dust storms on derelict planets of late. However, this beauty has decided to risk the infection and venture out into its rural aspect.
For that I am thankful.
So is my cock.
For the first time in what feels like forever, I finally feel a stirring in my loins. Ever since my father disowned me, I have been concentrating on other things. I need my people and hunger for society around me.
I watch the woman run and wonder if she is the opposite of me, if this solitude is what she requires the most.
Frowning, I can’t understand how anyone would want that. But, maybe that’s her thing. Or, maybe I am just making this humwang up because my other head is trying to convince me to do the one thing that I never wanted to do.
That’s right, I want to abduct the human hell out of this woman.
I have zoomed in so far on the screen that it feels like I am beside the female.
And, to be honest, she is much more breathtaking up close than I expected. The funny thing about humans is that they can resemble our own kind so much from afar. However, once you get up close, their lack of fur, of tails, and whiskers is unsettling. They look more like a peeled version of the Ochek than anything else. This woman, on the other hand, is breathtaking.
My dick bounces once more in reminder of what it has been missing. I rub myself without even realizing it and the sensation is exquisite.
The woman was running when I first noticed her. Her red hair bouncing behind her, held tightly at the back of her head as the humans seemed to like doing. However, her long mane still danced behind her, kicking out in a repetitive beat as she pounded the dirt track.
Now, though, she has stopped. She perches her perfect little ass down on a rock and throws her head back to look at the sky.
Which means that, for the briefest of moments, it feels like she is staring directly into my soul. I cannot move as our gaze connects. I can see her skin, once thought by me as a strange variant of naked that just didn’t appeal. However, now I see how unblemished it is, how smooth it looks, and of how much I want to touch it, to confirm just how my fingers would glide over it, not snagging against hair as it does with my own kind.
The perceived slipperiness of her makes my head swim.
Still, I continue to stare, hoping that she sees me even though I know that isn’t possible.
Without fully realizing what I am doing, I have reached across and pressed the button that locks in on her location. The ship jumps a little as I hear the click of accomplishment and the slight pull downwards.
I don’t even question what I am doing. All that matters is the woman’s clear green eyes and of how they are like nothing I have ever seen before even though they match my mine perfectly in color. Hers do not have the elongated slits for pupils. Instead, they are strange black orbs, perfectly rounded. As I continue to gaze upon her impossible beauty, I see them shrink against the sunlight, becoming little pinpricks in a similar manner to the way in which my own contract sideways into narrow slits. We are not so different, I realize.
As my ship approaches, the screen retracts, maintaining the same sized image so I have no idea how close—or how far—I am to her. I reach out, the pads of my fingers touching the screen, wondering if her skin will feel like this.
Hold up a minute!
I pull my fingers away and, in my confusion, my claws have popped out, making a squeal as they slash across the screen.
What am I thinking?
Has it really just taken a single female to turn me against everything that I believed in?
It has, and I feel the sick thud of realization hit in the pit of my stomach.
This woman is different, though. I try hard to fight against the sensation that she is my everything, that I exist solely
to be with her.
I have heard whispers of this before. I even remember Kyler telling me that they knew as soon as they laid eyes on their human that there was no going back, that an unbreakable connection had been made.
I try not to think of Kyler—or Kaylee as she really should be known. She is the sole surviving female Ochek. And it is a secret that my father would pay dearly for. Knowing that a female of our kind did actually exist would be enough to have me returned home. I wouldn’t have to abduct anyone.
Yet, I refuse to give up Kaylee’s secret. To do so would make her as much a captive as this woman will become if I don’t stop singling in on her with my vessel.
Even still, I don’t stop. My spacecraft continues to lower itself down into Earth’s atmosphere and I deploy the shields that will protect it from discovery by human officials. It is as if a higher being is controlling my thoughts. I have never believed in fate, but I do now.
A part of my previous conviction remains and battles against my new belief and I can’t believe that I am actually doing this. I swallow against the rising bile and the hate that I feel towards myself.
If I do this, this woman will be trapped. She will be a prisoner to my own kind, nothing more than a potential breeder.
Still, the ship approaches and I continue to watch as her face animates my screen. We are so close now that my system cannot continue to maintain a ratio while I still have the zoom function active. Her face is becoming grainy and it gives the impression that she has fur like I do.
Still, I continue falling for her.
I couldn’t turn back, even if someone else was here to stop me. Not that any of my kind would. They would be clapping me on the back right about now. I imagine my father’s reaction, of how proud he would be in the present moment and I almost vomit.
I could turn back. I could save this woman’s life. She could go on existing, oblivious to the fact that I am only a short distance from her, that I will alter her very core belief system by my own existence.
I hear the airlocks of the landing clips as they are deployed and I lean further forward as the ship settles gently on the foreign soil.
It’s not too late.
But I know that I am lying.
As soon as I saw this human specimen, it was too late.
Instead, I stand and hit the button that will shatter her world.
I watch as her form drops limply to the ground. Another press of a button sees her body lifted from the dirt and raises her up into the air. If someone were to walk past now, it would look as though she were levitating. My ship would not be visible to them and they would not understand what was going on.
Luckily for me, there is not a soul anywhere on my radar beyond the beauty that is now being pulled into my craft.
I hear the quiet thud as the doors close behind her and I rush to the back of the vessel and look down at the unconscious form.
I stand there long enough for the ship to travel outside of Earth’s atmosphere. A brief glance at the stars surrounding the craft tell me that it is too late to change my mind. So does the fact that the unthinking part of me has already eagerly alerted my father that I will be returning home shortly.
My breath is shallow as I admire her delicate features. She is perfect in every way. So alien from myself. Yet, it is as if I have suddenly woken up and realized what true beauty really is. I reach out and finally get to discover what she feels like.
“What the actual fuck?”
Her green eyes are open. She is awake already.
Lizzie
I look around but cannot process where I am or what is going on. Everything is stark, sleek lines, white, and metallic.
Except for the window directly in front of me. My heart flutters at a frenetic pace as I do so. Although, judging from the view, it might actually be an enormous poster.
Also, that is some wicked cosplay going on in front of the window-mural, or whatever it is in front of me.
“Where am I?”
I hate the way my voice sounds. The person steps towards me and I turn, fleeing before I can get an answer or they reach out and touch me. The room is not big, I feel the swish of air as they grasp at me.
The corridor is narrow and also super short. I turn as soon as I reach its end and find myself in what appears to be a bedroom. This makes me panic even further. A door on the other side of the small space leads into a cramped bathroom and I cry out involuntarily.
There is no other door. I am trapped.
I have no choice but to back against the wall and stand my ground.
“Don’t touch me,” I say as soon as the person enters. “Don’t fucking touch me!”
He opens his mouth. Or, at least, I assume that they are male.
A quick scan down their body reveals well-fitted clothing that hugs their form and shows off a flat chest and enormous biceps that strain against the material. A glance lower and I can see a sizable bump where a male appendage should be.
Do not think about that, I tell myself even as I gulp involuntarily in some sort of strange pleasure. I promise myself once I am out of this mess that I will stop reading those romance books quite so compulsively.
I swallow down my unexpected pleasure.
Focus, girl!
Blocking out my strange fantasies, I try to assess the situation more logically. While the bare bones indicate that I am staring at a male, that is where the similarities stop.
He has—for want of a better term—a mane of wild hair in a dark brown shade. The tips of his hair sticks out in golden hues, giving him a wild appearance somewhat akin to a lion.
Stop it, stop it right now, I scold myself as I try to stop thinking about hot alien cats.
The man’s face shows eyes with slit pupils and the reminder of a cat is brought to my attention even further. As does the evidence of whiskers on his lower face. The make-up is exquisite if this is certainly a cosplay outfit.
My body betrays me. I don’t want to consider the obvious and I repress the thought as I breathe heavily, trying to hide my anxious panting.
His muscular arms end in hands that appear mostly normal—except for what appears to be a soft down of fur.
As he approaches, the most disturbing aspect—his tail—swishes angrily from side to side.
Speaking in a deep rumbling tone, his words make no sense to me, yet I know that he is talking. His hands reach out as though imploring me. At the ends of each finger, I notice that claws are starting to emerge and my fingers go involuntarily to my lips in order to cover up the scream that is brewing. Perhaps hot aliens aren’t my thing anymore as the reality sinks in.
He leans in further and I look at his strange eyes, trying to get a better understanding of his foreign words from his facial expression. However, his feline eyes are alien to me. Watching them contract, I finally admit that this is no cosplay.
“No hurt,” I hear him say and squint at him quizzically.
“Let me go,” I respond as I watch his gaze. While his tail may be swishing like an angry cat, his eyes show what appears to be concern—or is that sadness?
He keeps repeating the one phrase that he seems to know in my language and I start to notice his vocal inflection. His voice is smooth and, judging by his appearance, I would even suggest that he was purring the words at me, as though trying to soothe me into believing him. However, if there is one thing that I know, it is felines. His action reminds me of how a cat will roll over and act as though they want you to rub their tummy but then pounce at the last moment, ensnaring you with their deadly claws.
And, boy, am I tempted to rub that rock-hard belly of his...
Even as the thought flits across my mind, it turns out that I am right in my assumption and the creature leaps, gliding through the air gracefully. His claws hook into me immediately and I fall to the ground, trapped under his body.
“No hurt,” he repeats even as he hurts me.
One of his paws disengages and reaches up to brush my hair from my face.
I can feel the weight of him pressed full against my body and I hate that I enjoy the sensation.
It has been quite some time since I have been with a man and this reminds me exactly of what I am missing—especially the pulsing hotness of his groin.
“You are hurting me,” I reply but my tone is softer this time and I can’t explain why I want to communicate with this strange person.
“Hurt?” he questions and I feel him shift his weight. He still has his claws dug into one arm but he uses his other hand to support himself and I can finally breathe.
“That’s better,” I say as I squirm a little, trying to gauge just how tightly he still holds me.
His burgeoning erection responds and my gaze drops to his chest. The warm aroma of him makes my head spin and all I want to do is reach up and touch his hair in order to discover how it feels under my fingers. I literally hate myself right now.
“Why am I here?”
The man grunts his response. He sits up, his arm still clamped on mine. I try to wriggle myself into an upright position as well but his hold is fixed firm.
My eyes widen as he reaches behind himself. When his hand returns, a syringe looms. I pull violently, trying to disengage but I feel the prick of an injection at my neck and the world goes black once more.
Nuvul
The woman’s eyelids flicker and a moan escapes from her lips. I brace myself for her onslaught.
I deserve everything that she throws my way. However, it is one thing to be prepared for it and another to hear it all translated directly back at you. Even before she is fully awake, I am talking to her.
“There’s no need to worry,” I start. “I will not hurt you. Can you understand what I am saying now?”
The woman’s eyes roll a little as she wakes up. She scans the room lazily, as though the earlier memories are not quite at the forefront of her mind. Then I see it. She snaps to attention and her gaze is pulled back to me.
“Where am I?”
I am surprised that she speaks so calmly, that she is not verbally abusing me for my antics. Because, seriously, I would be mightily pissed if I was abducted.
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