by Nikki Clarke
Chapter 12
TIANI
Something jolts me awake. I lurch up out of my sleep and immediately regret it. My entire body protests. My thighs ache. My breasts are tender and sore. My pussy feels like it’s been pounded to death.
I experience a moment of confusion, until I remember where I am. Alien planet number two. With Bati and KJ. Shared tent. Amazing sex.
I’m alone. The therma-blanket is tangled around my waist, and the pallet is cool and damp where Bati’s cum dripped out of me. I scoot over until I get to a dry spot and press my hands to the insides of my thighs to massage the tension out of my legs.
“Ahh!” KJ’s voice shrieks out just before I hear a loud splash outside and then silence. I wait a second, listening for some further movement, for his voice again or Bati’s. I continue to wait. Finally, too much time passes, and I climb to my knees as panic overtakes me.
“KJ?” I wait. Nothing.
“Bati?” Again everything outside the tent is silent.
I start fighting to get out of the tent. The walls are thin, but they’re sturdy and resist against my frantic fingers. I finally find the opening and pull it back before tumbling out onto the warm platform of the sea willow. The surface is smooth, but the little holes across the top dig into my knees. I jump to my feet and rush toward the edge. A foot below the platform, the water is quiet. Fear grips me. My heart thumps like it’s about to burst out of my chest.
“KJ!” My voice is a panicked scream. My eyes shift over the dark, gently rolling water. A large ripple fans out from a spot a few feet from the edge. Several bubbles appear from the murky depths and break the surface. Without thinking, I drop to the side of the platform and begin to lower myself into the water. It’s warm as it laps around my ankles and then my calves. I begin to shake as my thighs slide over the edge. I take a deep breath and try to think of all the things the water safety instructors taught my son. Cupcake hands, cupcake hands, I chant in my head.
“Be easy, little one.”
Someone’s arm comes around and catches me just as my hips sink into the water. I don’t recognize the voice, but it’s male. The accent isn’t Lyqa. It’s deeper and oddly even. The English words sound monotone, almost robotic. Whoever he is, he isn’t going to stop me from saving my son. I struggle against his hold, looking down at the large, veiny—silver?—arm.
“Let me go! My son—”
Just then, the surface of the water breaks, and first KJ’s and then Bati’s smiling faces appear. My breath whooshes out along with a relieved sob.
“Mommy, I found a woogie!” KJ holds his hand up above the water. Gripped between his fingers is what looks like a flat marble.
“Bati, what the fuck!”
I words burst from my mouth, and the smiles drop from both of their faces. KJ’s eyes widen, and I know what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.
“I know I cursed, KJ, okay?” I shout louder than I mean to and stand up to hold a hand over the edge. “Out! Get out of the water now!”
Bati’s expression shifts to concern but he treads the short way to the platform and hands KJ up. I pull my son from his hands and push past whoever was standing behind me to carry him to the middle of the platform where I set him down to check him over. Rivulets of dark water stream down his face. He watches me warily.
“Are you mad at me, Mommy?”
KJ’s tiny voice breaches my panic stricken brain, and I drop down to my knees, exhaling loudly. He’s fine.
“She is not upset with you, my dahni. She is upset with me. I should not have taken you into the water without her permission. Ma’h qitah.” Bati drops to his knees beside us and pulls us both against his sides. He nuzzles my head, pressing a kiss into my curls.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you. I just panicked. I heard a splash, and I wasn’t fully awake. I thought you fell in. I was calling you.”
Bati angles his head so he’s looking straight at me. “I came up as soon as I heard you calling.”
“I was calling for a long time!”
“Were you still inside the tent?”
“Yeah, I was sleeping. I heard the splash and I jumped up and called you!”
Bati nuzzles my temple, pressing light kisses. “I would not ignore you, ever, my lehti, but the tent is discreet.”
Right. That’s why I could be as loud as I wanted last night. Embarrassment washes over me.
“Oh, my god. I forgot. I’m so stupid. Sorry.”
“Do not apologize. Even though you are confident in our dahni’s ability to swim, I should not have taken him diving without speaking to you first.”
A groan rumbles up from my throat that I can't stop.
“Dude, you took my four-year-old son diving?”
He beams. “Actually, I had to teach him to dive first, but he is a very quick learner, much like a fish as he has said. We were able to reach the bottom of the sea on the third try.”
KJ’s head nods proudly. I know Bati thinks he’s impressing me right now, but, really, diving with a four-year-old? I want to be pissed, but he’s so oblivious to my annoyance that I find myself just shrugging.
“Look, that’s great, but no more diving unless mommy is awake and there to tell you not to do it, okay?”
“Of course, my lehti.”
“Okay, mommy.”
They both stare at me, waiting. I glance between their somewhat awkward expressions and laugh.
“Well let me see this darn wookie you guys almost gave me a heart attack over.”
Bati pulses bright pink and KJ slaps his hands over his mouth to smother a laugh.
“What?”
Bati’s ears are damn near glowing as he leans close. “Perhaps, you would like to inspect our find after you have had a chance to clothe yourself.”
“What?”
I follow his pointed gaze. I’m naked. Like stark naked. In my rush to get to KJ, I scrambled out of the tent with nothing on. I cross my hands over my breasts and slap a palm between my legs, while at the same time, huddling into as tight a ball as I can.
“Bati, get me something. A shirt. Anything!”
“This may be of some use.”
That same strange, monotone voice sounds out just as a cloth falls across my shoulders. I waste no time pulling it securely around me. I wrap it over my chest and tuck the ends under my arms. Black girls don’t blush, but I feel my face warm beneath everyone’s gaze.
“Thank you,” I mumble without looking up. I’m too embarrassed.
“You are most welcome,” the voice replies, and the platform shakes slightly as he walks away.
“What is he?”
I keep my voice as low as possible. One thing I’ve learned about aliens is that they all seem to have really good hearing…and sight…and speed. It doesn’t stop me from being nosey about our new addition to the campsite.
Bati said he arrived some time during the night. He heard him and left the tent to greet him, and once he had assured himself the guy was okay, went back to bed. I can’t imagine what about this dude could lull anyone back to sleep.
He’s…different. Bati and his family—all Lyqa really—aren’t much different than humans. Yeah, they’re bigger and the mixture of their features can be strange, confusing even, but aside from the really long tongues, they don’t offer much in the way of alien.
This dude isn’t Qitoni weird or giant shit emoji weird, but he definitely couldn’t walk around Earth the way Bati and Kwarq did. Not unless there was a cosplay convention happening in town.
He isn’t that much taller than Bati and his brothers, and like Lyqas, he fits his height. There is none of the awkwardness that is common with really tall humans. But he isn’t just tall. He’s big all over. Everything looks super-sized in a way that appears too natural to be anything but other-worldly. One of his arms looks about the size of my thigh, and I’m no waif. I may not have inherited the Bennet boobs like my sisters, but I definitely got the Bennet legs. Thigh gaps don’t exist a
round these parts.
He’s dressed in what I can only describe as a kilt. Although it looks more like the skirts pharaohs wear in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Everything else is bare and buff. Burly muscles twist beneath skin so silver that it almost looks painted on. Even this isn’t so strange when I’ve been shacking up with Bati, whose skin is a midnight blue. It’s the bit happening around his chest that throws me off.
He has a plume. Layers of sleek, bright yellow feathers fan out over his pecs and across his shoulders. It’s almost like he has a set of wings, but instead of them being on his back, they’re on his front. They’re delicate and beautiful against his silver skin. Everything about him is a contradiction. Even when he held me to stop me from jumping in the water, his grip was gentle. His voice was soothing. “Be easy, little one,” he’d said. He’s kind of a scary looking dude, but he moves about his small camping area with fluid, surprisingly graceful movements.
“He is Somii,” Bati returns as he pulls apart one of two steaming bags of veggies he heated on the cooking pad. The word sounds like sum-eye. And like that plume of feathers on his chest, it’s delicate for such a brutal looking species.
I’m distracted by the smell of food and look down into the bag that Bati has arranged in the middle of our little circle. The veggies inside are yellow and almost look like boiled potatoes smothered in butter sauce. Before waiting for my instruction, KJ sticks his fork into the bag and lifts a chunk to his mouth.
“Careful, dahni. It is hot,” Bati warns before holding out a piece on a fork for me. I lean forward and close my mouth around it. Immediately, my eyes widen.
“This tastes like cheese eggs!” I moan around my mouthful. The texture is a little chunkier than eggs, but it definitely has that same cheesy, buttery taste. I pick up my fork and dip into the bag for another chunk then hold it out to Bati. Holding my gaze, he leans forward and takes the food. His large, bright teeth flash briefly.
“This is bom,” he says, chewing slowly. “I remember on Earth your family prepared bird eggs for breakfast. My mother suggested this preparation for a similar taste.”
“It’s yummy!” KJ does a little dance as he forks another chunk into his mouth. Bati’s eyebrow shoots up and his mouth hitches to the side as he gives my son the Lyqa version of side-eye.
“That is interesting, dahni, because you previously said it tastes like kaka.”
I sputter and choke on my mouthful, my eyes shooting over to KJ, who at least has the decency to look somewhat ashamed. This kid, man.
“KJ, what did I tell you about calling food kaka? It’s not nice.”
Bati laughs. “It is okay, Tiani. I do not know what kaka means, anyway.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I return and shake my head in a way that lets him know it isn’t good. “Either way, he knows better. Don’t you, K?” I shoot KJ a look, and he looks quickly away, which is good because I’m having a hard time keeping a straight face.
We eat in silence for a moment before the Somii guy’s movements at the other end of the platform draw my attention once again.
He’s pitching a tent. Unlike Bati’s high-tech, sound proof dome, this guy has a straight up old fashioned, stick beneath a blanket tent. He’s currently arranging several large rocks along the base to hold down the sides.
“Is he here on ta’ani mathingie, too?”
“He is on a different kind of quest,” Bati replies. I wait for him to elaborate, and when he doesn’t, I pick back up my fork and continue to eat.
We finish the bag, and I’m stuffed. Lyqa food must be denser than Earth veggies because I find I eat less but get full quicker. I point to the unopened bag.
“It’s going to go to waste.”
“It will not.” Bati looks in the direction of the Somii guy. A second later, the guy turns from his tent and strolls over to us. He settles his large form into the space between Bati and KJ, and like the little beast that he is, KJ scoots closer, peering up at him with shameless interest.
“What’s your name?”
I groan inside and press a hand to my forehead. “K, honey—”
“It is acceptable for your youngling to ask me questions,” the man declares in his even, monotone voice. I stare back at him, a little unsettled. There is something strange about his face. Everything is angular but also flat. His jaw is chiseled, but so much so that each angle is sharpe and pointy. Bright orange eyes peek from just below lids that are so smooth they almost look two dimensional. He looks sleepy, or like he smoked the fasted J there ever was. The bridge of his nose is a flat plane that narrows down before fanning out into two slightly flared nostrils. He’s kind of surreal to look at. It doesn’t help that he only has one expression.
He looks down at KJ. A quiet moment passes then KJ’s eyes widen and his mouth forms into a little ‘o’.
“Mommy, he said something in my ears!” he gasps, turning his stunned expression on me.
I frown, laughing a bit, and turned to Bati.
“What does he mean?”
“Somii are telepaths,” Bati states simply. I blink and blink again. I continue to stare at him, but inside my head, I’m imagining the largest atomic mushroom cloud ever. Mind. Blown.
“Why does my method of communication inspire thoughts of destruction?”
My head swivels back to the guy. His expressionless eyes are trained on me.
“Oh my god, can you see inside of my fucking head?”
“Mommy…”
“I know, baby. I’m sorry.”
“But can you see inside of my freaking head?”
“I can.”
I gasp, my hands coming up to cover my mouth. My eyes are as wide as KJ’s.
I get what was so weird about his face now. When he talks, he doesn’t move his mouth.
BATI
“Mind, fucking, blown.”
Tiani mumbles this under her breath, yet again. I do not understand what this expression means, but I agree that it sounds violent. Our guest is gracious. While he is more comfortable speaking telepathically, he shares his responses to Tiani with me.
“I am Soluanitiat’ti Somiiti’un, but you may call me Sol if it is more comfortable.”
My lehti stares with her mouth agape for a very long moment. When she finally speaks, her voice is a awed whisper.
“Tiani, but you can call me Tee.”
Sol inclines his head politely. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Tee. I am glad you did not harm yourself attempting to traverse the seas earlier.”
Tiani’s head hinges in my direction. Her eyes are wide as they fix on me.
“Dude, this is so fucking weird,” she whispers. I halt the urge to smile. It is clear that my lehti does not fully grasp how Somii communication works.
“He can still hear you, Tiani,” I inform her, and her face brightens the slightest bit before she turns back to Sol.
“I am so sorry, but I’m from Earth, and all of us talk with our mouths. We only see this kind of shit in movies.”
Her eyes flicker down to KJ, but he isn’t paying attention. All of his focus is on Sol. Periodically, he laughs. Tiani leans into me, keeping her eyes on the pair.
“Uh, is he having a side conversation with our kid?” She speaks out of the side of her mouth, her face alight with excitement.
My heart thumps. She continues to watch KJ laugh up at Sol, unaware of how her words have impacted me. Our kid. Until this moment, I have only hoped that one day Tiani would regard us as a family. That she would speak of us as one and KJ as our own. My first heart fills with an indescribable joy. It blossoms throughout my chest, and I reach out for her, pulling her into my lap, and cradling her against me.
I do not respond for I do not wish to spoil the moment. Tiani lets me hold her for a while and then she leans her head back, looking up at me in concern.
“You okay?” Her nose is scrunched in the middle.
“I am perfect, my lehti.”
Her bewilderment deepens but she angles
her face up and presses her mouth to mine. Her hand comes up to cup my jaw, and I tilt my head, deepening the kiss.
“What is this thing you do with your mouths?”
Tiani yelps and jerks away. For a moment, I am filled with annoyance that the Somii has interrupted me tasting my lehti, but then I realize that we are not alone. I will have Tiani to myself tonight. Until then, her lush, soft lips against mine will have to suffice.
“It is kissing.” I ease away from Tiani but keep her on my lap. This is partly because I like her against me but also because my cock is impossibly hard. When she shifts, pushing her plump bottom against me, I groan, and she chuckles softly.
“What is this kissing?”
The Somii stares back and forth between us, his expression stuck in the same placid form. Somii as a species have limited emotional expression. Where Lyqa, as a kind, are feelers, always in tune to the emotions and moods of others, Somii can sense the feelings of others, but can only experience pain. And even then, it is only the pain of others they can experience when they witness it. This has led to the Somii being an exceptionally peaceful society, but has also limited their ability to socialize with other societies that are less peaceful. I was quite surprised when I awoke to find a Somii male setting up camp on the sea willow with us. They are not often seen off of their home planet.
Tiani clears her throat. “Uh, I guess it’s like a kind of way of showing affection. A way of showing love or an attraction to another person.”
My heart stutters when she says the word “love.” The Somii studies me with interest; although, he is not very expressive. His scent is flat, but there is the tiniest hint of curiosity beneath it.
“You are paired? Is this why you kiss?”
That tinge of embarrassment colors Tiani’s scent again. The tips of her ears brighten beneath her brown skin, and she shifts again in my lap.
“Uh, we are in a thing. I mean, I guess we’re kind of dating.”
Sol tilts his head. “Is dating coupling? Is that why you are thinking of him fukhing you?” He pronounces the English word with a heavy accent.