It was not care she displayed, but self-preservation.
She realises my worth to her survival at least.
Nonetheless, impressed by her practical response to a threat, he knelt to shove aside the dead, floppy head.
Using a talon, he sliced under pallid flesh and removed its translator.
The one his alien mate wore was a newer model, but it wasn’t programmed with the languages of the slaves, nor programmed to communicate with his own device, so he could at least comprehend some of her words.
He needed her to understand him, and wanted to understand her, so he could better care for her needs.
Disturbed by the stink of the dead, he picked the Zozon up by its foot then tossed it out of the lair into the jungle.
Other gladiators would appreciate the meat.
Feet pounded and sent vibrations into the soil as opportunists who waited to see the outcome scattered.
A blur darted past the liar entrance.
The Zozon carcass was gone.
Venomous sealed the exit then gestured his Rä’Na closer.
She hesitated only long enough for his dual hearts to thump thrice, and stopped closer to his body than before.
The signs of acceptance were satisfying.
He clasped her chin and turned her head.
Seeming to understand his intentions, she pushed her filaments back to bare her rounded ear.
Treating her flesh as the most precious fleck of gold, Venomous used a claw to slice open her skin then plucked out the disc shaped translator.
She whimpered, so he rumbled soothingly.
After licking it clean, he replaced the old with the one he’d pulled from the Zozon.
It concerned him her skin did not seal itself.
He laved her bleeding flesh with his tongue, holding her chin tighter when she gasped and jerked.
“If you were Rä my saliva would cleanse and heal you,” he lamented. “I can only hope this provides comfort.”
Her gaze locked with his as she smiled. “Understood you!”
Venomous grinned back, and tried not to feel discouraged when she paled and flinched.
Why do my smiles distress her?
He replied, “As I now understand you.”
She touched under her ear. “Happy we talk.”
“I am He, Venomous One.” His voice was gruffer than intended. Emotion swelled in his chest at the importance of the moment. He was to learn his mate’s name. “What do your people call you?”
“Am Lumen Young.” She stuck out her hand. “Call Lumen.”
He clasped the breakable appendage between his own, sensing she wanted to ritualise this greeting.
It felt odd, they had already mated and bonded, but he would do whatever made her happy and feel secure.
“Lumen,” he murmured.
A strong sounding name, but he didn’t know what it meant and it was short.
It did not describe her hatching nor the traits her kindred hoped to nurture within her.
No matter, she was his.
She, Lumen of the Stars he would call her.
While he felt uncertain if she deserved the honour of the name, a deeper drive from within compelled him to bestow it.
“What species are you?” he asked. “I have never seen your kind.”
“Am human.” She looked him over. Lost colour as her gaze lowered. “You?”
“I hatched in the Northern province of Rök. I am of the Warriors Guild.” He boasted, but only in wanting her to know she was well protected. “I was a’Rä. As your mate, I am now Rä’Vek.”
Her expressive eyes widened and jerked to meet his. “Mate?”
What happened between them had been definitive and needed no explaining.
He tilted his head, amused at her shock. “I always felt an affinity for the masculine, but no female called forth my stem. Then you. Now I grow stronger until my seeding.” He was so curious about her. He wanted to touch but she seemed afraid. “What is your planet called?”
“Earth.”
Unoriginal.
Younger civilisations tended to be so.
Venomous tasted the air.
Emotions too jumbled and numerous to isolate into a sole state of being.
He scowled, unsure of what to do or say to appease her as he could not determine her mood.
“How long here?” She motioned to the lair. “On planet.”
“More solars than I care to remember.”
“Oh.” Her feet shuffled. “Trader take. Snatch from home.” She rubbed her protruding nose, and her eyes became wet. “Am frightened.”
His hearts sank. “You fear me?”
“No.” Her lips curved at the corners.
To Venomous it was not a nice smile, but filled with loathing.
“Last night scary. Now?” She lifted her shoulder then let it fall. She turned her face from him. “What worse?”
Venomous’ brille threatened to unveil his eyes.
This was not a normal reaction.
Usually Rä’Na avoided clutch and expressed fear of the act until acclimatised to the pain that went hand in hand with joining.
He gazed down at his mate and felt heat stirring his blood.
Startled, he straightened to loom over her as his seed stem swelled and his sac grew laden.
Great Serpent, I must take her again?
Provisions would have to wait.
Distraction was a death sentence.
He could not afford to be preoccupied with carnal urges while his most precious possession depended on his protection.
“Good. You do not fear our nest.”
Truth, it was a relief to know he did not cause his female agony each time they came together in the hope of creating life.
“I will take you now.” He pointed to the furs. “Down. I will cover you then we will wash and I will feed you.”
Her mouth opened then closed.
“My blood is heating,” he reminded in a gentle tone to assure her he was willing to guide her until she recognised the signs of his urges.
Perhaps my size frightens her.
“The seeding will be hard,” he said, “but I will not kill you.”
Making a noise, she lifted a palm and pushed it towards him.
He mirrored the action until their palms touched.
Liking her affection, he smiled.
Eyes rolling into the back of her head, she dropped the hand. “Not,” she leaned forward, hands fisting, “hearing my words? Say no.”
Aggression Venomous expected and knew how to manage.
She’d end up working herself into another fit should she continue.
He lunged across the distance separating them to gather her in his arms.
She didn’t fight when he lay her down, but did protest when he tried to roll her onto all fours.
She failed several times to hold his questioning gaze. “Must?” Her voice was quiet with defeat.
Compassion for his human softened him. “I will not kill you.” He said this as a vow. “Never fear my strength for I shall not use it against you with the intention to hurt you.” He sighed at her trembling. “I will release upon entering to spare you pain.” She would not reach harmony, but he didn’t have the stomach to overlook her fear scent again. “Soon your body will adjust to my difference and your womb will open to receive me. Until then be still, my Rä’Na.” His voice gentled. “Be still.”
The translators stripped the complexities and nuances of their languages down to their most basic so translation was as fast and accurate as possible, and much was being lost, yet a simplified, stilted conversation was better than no conversation.
Chin lifting, she shook her head and refused him making him wonder if she did not just resist his sexual advances, as he expected, but him all in all.
Tasting her exhilarating pheromones thick and potent at the back of his throat, his need rose in a fiery surge.
Venomous hissed furiously.
He d
idn’t want to wait until his desire blinded him to her presence.
It increased the risk of him hurting her again.
He leaned closer until he could feel her warm breath on his scales, and truth rumbled from him like thunder.
“You were made a battle prize by the L’Odo. I won you. By the rules of this hell you are mine, but know, even if by Right of Might I earned you, it is because you awakened my anima, as blessed upon me by my Grandfather the Great Serpent God of Sands, S’q’ama’ta, that I claim you, and for that reason alone. I am now Rä’Vek. There is no going back. You are mine to protect, mine to shelter, mine to feed and mine to cover. No other will touch you, so no other will harm you. When you are weak, I shall be your strength. You were stolen from your world by our captors and now your survival is my responsibility. It is your duty to endure my seeding and honour our union with offspring. I revere you, giver of life, as is the way.” He leaned back and studied her. Pitiless. There were things in the cosmos one could not change. She had to accept what was. “Do you heed the words of your Rä’Vek?”
Fluid leaked from her eyes down her cheeks.
The translator must have gotten enough right that she comprehended his words, or perhaps his tone alone educated her.
She cut her gaze to him then away, expression scathing.
“You are my Rä’Na and my mate,” he bit out not liking the insult in her eyes. He’d treated her with nothing but the highest respect. “Be honoured, I am Grandfather’s fiercest warrior and feared by many on this world and our own.”
“Own?” Her forehead furrowed then smoothed. She shook her head angrily. “My world Earth.”
“My world is your world.” In time, she would accept it. He patted the furs in encouragement. He would be patient. “Come, my Lumen. My need grows stronger.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Refusing to move, I fidgeted under He, Venomous One’s unblinking stare.
What kind of name is that?
He didn’t rough me up, just sat there, watchful, patient even after his big speech illuminating why demanding my obedience was his right.
Slouching, I sighed.
No matter how pithy and defiant my thoughts there was no getting out of what he demanded.
I won’t bend over and take it this time.
I wanted to look him in the eye as I reviled him.
His merciless face would be the reminder of why coming hard with his cock buried inside me was bad for my mental health.
So utterly fucked.
I wiggled a hand between our bodies. “Take me this way.”
Venomous One, Venom, I decided to call him, shifted closer.
He rumbled in his deep bass, “No understanding....”
My eyes narrowed, and I hoped my steely glare shrivelled the club between his thighs. “Take me facing you.”
“Do this why?”
Anger burst through my awkwardness.
“You said...!” Huffing, I snatched at being calm. “You said I’m your mate. Right?”
“Mine Rä’Na.” His lips caressed the word. “Yesss. Your Rä’Vek.”
“That sounds permanent.”
“Until mighty Zython guides us home,” he stated in a way that seemed to make all clear to him but oblique to me.
Still, I gleaned this Rä’Na and Rä’Vek business meant I held value beyond sex.
Value to him at least.
Swallowing the sour flooding my mouth, I focused on clarifying our tenuous arrangement. “You don’t see me as a convenient fuck?”
A blank expression.
“Fuhuck?” he echoed lowly. “Last word no translating.”
The simple conversation took forever, and after being forced to screw him my patience with his lack of comprehension was nonexistent.
I sifted a hand through my ratty hair, wincing when I encountered knots. “Don’t you want me, your mate, to enjoy your lovemaking?”
“Thsst!” Irritation whitened his lips. “Last word no translating!”
“Lovemaking? You’re right that’s not appropriate. Um, fucking?” I made a crude finger-shoved-in-hole gesticulation. “What we did last night? What you’re demanding right now?”
“Clutch.” His tone conveyed disbelief. “You feel pleasure where we join?”
I eyed him despairingly.
Did he screw me under the assumption I’d be in pain the whole time?
Was that what got him off?
How did I even process something that?
“Last night was awful because, well, the circumstances were messed up, right?” I stared back at him when he gave me no indication he’d understood or even heard me. “But you figured out how to get me off. Not that it excuses what you did to me.”
Silence and more of a blank stare.
“I came,” I elaborated slowing my words.
Echoes of the orgasm stole my concentration.
I felt ashamed.
Considering how awful the exchange had been, he’d still made me come, hard.
What did that say about me?
I didn’t understand how or why I responded that way, and it made me feel dirty.
Venomous seemed bewildered at the admission. “Feel good?”
“Yes,” I mumbled. “So?”
He leaned way, way forward into my space and I resisted leaning back.
He’d just follow me until I backed against something.
An aggressive male coming at you looking as intense as he did was teeth-grindingly....
My mind blanked.
I wanted to say it was fearsome, but the reaction of my body was peculiar.
My nipples were hard.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.
Tense, crouched on the furs as if a gargoyle on a weathervane, he looked about to pounce.
“Smell sweet.” He made a rough sound at the back of this throat. “Show me.”
I double blinked, thighs squeezing shut. “Beg your pardon?”
“Show me.” He moved with speed to cup my sex in his palm. “Good feelings.”
Muscles unclenching, I shivered, and breathed, “No?”
Say it like you mean it.
I coughed to clear illusory chunks of gravel. “No.”
“Yesss.”
I thrust my face in his. “How about hell no?” My tongue flicked on the ‘hell’ and elongated the word ‘no’ to end on a lip pucker.
Venomous proved uninterested in my refusal.
He pushed another hand between my knees and spread them apart, as if I wasn’t using all my strength to keep them closed.
Lips parting, he moaned. “I ache.”
A deeper, visceral shiver whipped through my body setting a blaze of warmth in my core.
With those simple words his ache became my ache.
He had to learn to respect me though, and if it was down to me teach him how then so be it.
“I. Said. No.”
The look on his face turned frightening.
There was an indeterminable period where I forgot my own name and what I refused him because his stare held me immobile with fright.
Scrambling to remember, I stiffened at his feral growl.
And grew wet.
My eyes shut briefly as I struggled with it.
The all-consuming desire scared me more than anything I’d experienced up to that point.
I resolved to fight the feelings and him to the bitter end.
Even if doing so felt like a vain, destructive pique.
My gaze locked on his claws gripping my legs, and I saw visions of my blood spurting against the walls.
Reneging on my earlier resolution to trade sex for safety pricked my conscience, especially if he was under the impression I’d become his new battle bride/mate/whatever.
I mentally slapped myself because it wasn’t the time to be sentimental.
I was laying down the law.
So I planned to order him to back the hell up, deliver a bitchy remark that would make his d
ick shrivel off, but while busy ruminating in my head, I gazed at him with a jaw growing slack.
Strong, handsome male.
My jaw chomped closed as if eating that thought alive.
“Lie on back.” His claws squeezed. Tingles rushed up my inner thighs. “Now.” His voice rumbled like the earth quaking and his glare turned dark and threatening.
Let’s be honest, I squalled, jerked, and did as told because there was defiance and there was outright stupidity.
Pick your battles and all that.
I just wished I’d occasionally win the ones I did choose to fight.
I allowed him to kneel between my splayed legs and managed not to kick him in the face when a seeking hand delved between them.
My sex grew moist, swelled with heat as he stroked me.
Dazed, I palmed my lower belly, frantically kneading the flesh to focus my mind on some other task.
How could I react this way after what he’d done to me?
I am wrong inside.
“Lumen.” Venomous’ tone grew impatient. “Show me.”
Chastising myself for being self-conscious when this alien had already seen down there, I coaxed myself into touching first my mound then my puffy outer lips.
“Mine gold here,” Venomous crooned as he petted me. A calloused thumb brushed over the hood of my clit. “Soon.”
Deciding to misunderstand because the implications were so scary it made me faint, I knocked his exploring hand aside and stroked the aching bud.
Venomous’ inky orbs latched onto my movement, and the liquid sheen veiling his eyes flowed like a bottomless ocean.
Starting to breath in jagged pulls, I pressed harder.
He grabbed my wrist.
Many expressions passed over his expression, lust reigning chief amongst them until a glower of disapproval etched his features. “No hurt mine.”
Tugging free, I peered past shuttered lashes.
The vehemence surprised me.
It was almost as if he cared....
Cautious, I went back to it, the button of flesh slippery as my finger teased it in sweeping glides.
His powerful gaze jumped from my face to my hand.
He watched me play with myself and looked uncomfortable as my finger dipped to penetrate my channel.
Swallowing, Venomous studied my heaving breasts.
His own chest rose and fell in large undulations as he fixated on my peaked nipples, making a connection between their turgid state and my arousal.
Venomous: (Alien Warrior Book 1) Page 6