by A. G. Wilde
Making a wide circle over the crisscrossing branches, he stopped when the cord completed the revolution.
Then, he pressed the center of the device.
Right in front of her eyes, the device began moving across the outline of the circle, creating a pattern like a spider’s web. It was absolutely fascinating to see and she couldn’t take her eyes off it till it stopped working.
As Sohut grabbed the device, he smiled at her.
“You’ve never seen something like this before, have you?”
Cleo shook her head.
“We don’t have anything like that on Earth.”
Sohut studied her a bit before he set the device back into his satchel and stretched out over the “web”. The web hardly reacted to his weight.
“Come. Lie with me.” His eyes were on hers and they moved to her lips so slowly, she felt a slight shiver.
Sohut watched the movement of her tongue as she licked her lips and climbed hesitantly onto the web.
It felt like very strong yarn and she tested it for a few moments before putting her whole body weight on it.
Sitting beside him, she put her pack of things near her feet and looked up into the leaves above.
She could feel his eyes on her. It was a feeling like silk moving over her skin.
“Tell me about your planet. I didn’t get to ask Larn about it.”
“Larn?” She turned to face him.
Sohut blinked.
“There is another of your species at the Sanctuary.”
The news sent a shock through her.
“What?”
“I met her before I came on the mission to find you. She is staying with my brother.”
She’d always known, deep down, that there was no chance she was alone…but to hear it as a fact…
“Are you sure?”
Sohut nodded, studying her. “Does this make you…happy?”
Cleo blinked. “Yes…and no. I wouldn’t wish this experience on another human. It wasn’t nice being…taken.”
Sohut studied her some more and his arms surrounded her, pulling her against his chest.
Cleo settled against him.
“Did you leave family there?”
“No.” She shook her head, tears welling into her eyes. “I’d only had my father. He died a few years ago. I was an only child and my mother…I never met her.”
“Lucky you.”
The way he said it had her raising her head to look up at him to find a myriad of emotions swirling in his eyes, the one at the forefront being anger.
“What do you mean?” she asked softly.
Sohut’s throat moved and it seemed he was contemplating whether he should tell her something really deep or not.
When his mouth finally opened, the pain in his eyes was clear.
“My mor gave me…sold me and Riv when we were chids. She sold us to a Tasqal who owns the talix mines to the north of here.” He stopped and she could sense that there was more. But she wasn’t going to press him about it.
She knew too well how hard it was reliving childhood trauma.
“It’s ok.” She settled her head against him again. “You don’t need to tell me about it. I can tell it…hurt you. Deeply.”
A sigh lifted his frame and when he settled again, she felt his fingers in her hair.
“I should tell you. You need to know the male you just mated with. And if you can accept me, I hope you will want to mate with me again.”
Cleo felt her cheeks burn.
The word “mate” sounded so...carnal, dirty, and hot as hell.
When she didn’t respond, he continued. “I was born weak. Ill. I came too early.” He took a breath. “My daran was a toxic male piece of—” He stopped and took another breath.
“My daran disowned me, leaving my mor to care for not only a weak chid but a young one too—my brother, Riv.” He continued. “Merssi females don’t usually work for economic gain. That is the male’s responsibility. And so, my mor was left with a choice. Work to provide for her chids or the three of us would perish. She tried for a few moons but she soon turned to woogli smoke, lamenting the days when life was easier. And it was my fault.”
Cleo’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to correct him.
“My mor blamed me.” He took another breath, the weight of his mother’s decision still on his shoulders. “The Tasqal’s mine was horrid. Riv never complained. He stuck up for me. He protected me. Yet, he was the one that got dismembered there.” He paused.
“Dismembered?” Shock registered in her voice.
“The Tasqal jekin removed his tail.” He paused again. “Riv is incomplete because of me. A Merssi without a tail is…not wanted.” A breath shuddered through him. “The one person who has always stood beside me will never…no Merssi female will ever want him. And all this because I didn’t die in my mother’s womb when I should have.”
Cleo lifted her head to stare up at him.
“Don’t ever say that. You were not a mistake.” She placed a hand against his cheek, turning his head so he was forced to face her. “You were never a mistake. Your parents were wrong. So, so wrong. A child is a miracle. And you are not weak! You’re the most respectable alien I’ve met and so far, I’ve been thinking the universe was filled with pieces of shit.”
His eyes softened a little at that.
“My mother didn’t want me either,” she confided in him. “She wanted an abortion and only carried me to term because my father said he’d take full responsibility for me.”
She sighed and settled against him again. “I never met her and while I was growing up, I hated her. Now, I don’t hate her at all. She gave me life, even if she didn’t want anything to do with me and at least I had one person on my side.”
Strong arms circled her and pulled her closer to him.
“Clee-yo,” he said and when she lifted her chin to look at him, there was a swirl of emotions in his eyes.
His hand trailed down her cheek down to her neck and over the wound of the bite he’d inflicted earlier.
The cut wasn’t deep but she could still feel sensation that a wound was there even as he touched her now.
His gaze focused on the wound and he brushed his finger over it again.
“I’m not an animal. But when you bared your neck to me in that signal of complete submission…I bit you because…there was an overwhelming urge to…” He trailed off.
“To what?” Her words came out like a whisper.
Sohut hesitated, as if what he was about to say was a bit absurd and he wondered what she would think of it.
“To own you.”
And maybe something was wrong with her because, instead of making her pull away from him, those three words created the opposite reaction.
Between her thighs, her center throbbed.
There must have been a carnal look in her eyes because Sohut’s head dipped suddenly and her lips were against his.
Moaning into his mouth, her tongue met his even as he pulled her harder against him.
“I love this mouth phekking,” he murmured.
“Mouth what?”
“It makes me want to do so many dirty things to you.” His voice lowered so much, she felt the vibration of his words against her lips.
Sohut groaned, slipping one hand under what was left of her dress as he caressed the round curve of her buttocks.
As their kiss deepened, Cleo straddled him, her thighs settling over both of his legs and her ass against his crotch.
She could feel him pulse in his pants underneath her, and it made her moan into his mouth.
He pulsed again, hard like a rod, and Cleo ground her hips against his hardness.
Sohut ripped his mouth from hers to tilt his head back a little.
“Phek, Clee-yo.”
She felt him pulse again and anticipation rose within her.
Memory of how good he felt came back into her mind and before she knew it, she was rising over him so she could p
ull his trousers down from over his hips.
Sohut lifted his head a little to watch her, his green gaze hypnotic.
Sliding down his body, she came face to face with his hardness and it made a gasp lodge in her throat.
Even in the dimming light, he was impressive.
As she took him by the base of his cock, Sohut jerked in her hand. She could feel those hard rings that corded around him. They were underneath his skin, and when she squeezed her hand around them gently, he jerked again.
“Clee-yo?” There was shock in his eyes as he watched her, mesmerized.
Her gaze moved to the head of his cock and there was a glimmer of clear liquid there.
It slid down the tip and toward her hand at his base, like an invitation.
As she licked her lips, she felt Sohut stiffen underneath her.
“Clee-yo?” He called her name again.
Smiling up at him, Cleo licked her lips once more before closing her mouth over his cock.
Sohut stiffened completely as she took the head of his cock into her mouth, sliding him toward her throat.
There was no way she could fit him in without gagging and when she reached her limit, she raised her eyes to his.
His green orbs were two huge pools that stared back at her in complete astonishment.
His throat moved as if he wanted to say something and she kept her eyes locked with his as she rose toward his tip again.
Sohut’s eyes dilated completely and if she didn’t see him do it before, she’d have been a bit alarmed.
As she worked him in her mouth, Sohut threaded his fingers in the web below them, clenching his fists tight as he fought to keep himself still.
It was almost as if he was afraid of moving lest he hurt her or scare her away.
The thought only made her go down on him harder, swirling her tongue around his shaft even as she tasted him in her mouth.
A groan made his body shudder and he finally found his voice.
“I want to be inside you, Clee-yo.” He paused. “Now.” His throat moved with the effort of his restraint.
She didn’t need to hear him twice. She was already wet and ready just from the taste and feel of him in her mouth, his reaction to her, and the fact that he felt so good.
Rising, she watched his eyes widen again and she knelt over him.
“Like this?” he asked, his almost black eyes searching hers. “I’ve never done it this way before.”
A thrill went through her. “Then let me show you.”
Steadying him with a hand at his base, she lined up at her entrance and eased back slightly.
A moan slipped through her lips as his slick head popped in and Cleo paused, relishing the feel of him within her.
Sohut’s chest was heaving as he watched her, seemingly not daring to move as she settled herself on him.
Only when she adjusted to his width within her and started finding a rhythm did his hands move to her hips.
As she moved over him, taking him as deeply as she could, Cleo’s eyes moved to his.
He was looking at her as if he was seeing something…perfect.
No one had ever looked at her like that before.
Moving a hand from her hips, he pulled her toward him, grinding his hips against her pelvis as she took him while he captured her lips with his.
This wasn’t just sex. This was more than sex.
The feelings blooming within her were almost overtaking her and she cried into his mouth as an orgasm hit her unexpectedly.
Sohut groaned against her lips and he held her hips steady, pistoning in and out of her for a few more strokes before he stiffened beneath her too, his cock jerking inside her as it let out streams of warm spend deep inside her.
“Sohut.” Her voice quivered and Sohut pulled her closer.
“Clee-yo,” he answered.
And that was all he needed to say.
She knew, because it was obvious that whatever she was feeling, he was feeling it too.
21
Wawa appeared some time in the night and Cleo wasn’t sure how he found them up in the tree but he quickly climbed up the trunk and settled between them, much to Sohut’s annoyance.
Nevertheless, they got as comfortable of a sleep as they could lying on a web so high in the air.
Morning came, they hunted and ate, and set off once more.
It was a long walk and Sohut offered to carry her several times, but Cleo refused.
Instead, she tried to keep up and not slow him down, which she managed, but her entire body argued about it.
For two more days, they traveled. In the nights they rested in trees high in the canopy and in the days they took few breaks as they made their way through.
It was not until darkness began to fall on the third day that Sohut suddenly stopped walking and looked back at her.
“We’re here,” he said.
Cleo’s gaze darted to the bushes around them. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“The camp is just beyond these trees,” Sohut said. “I’ll go ahead and announce our arrival. These Torians are a bit…”
“A bit what?”
Sohut smiled a little and shrugged. “You’ll see.”
With that, he looked at Wawa, who was at his spot on her shoulder.
“You,” he said to the slizz, “don’t let anything happen to her.”
Wawa frowned. She was sure he did.
He locked gazes with Sohut, his eyes slowly bleeding black and she was sure he was going to attack. She reached for him, but his eyes slowly bled back to their usual brown.
Cleo’s mouth fell open.
Was Wawa…was he beginning to tolerate Sohut?
He still didn’t like the blue stranger, but he was no longer trying to kill him all the time.
Moving toward her, Sohut clasped the back of her neck and tilted her head up to him.
His kiss was sensual, slow, and Cleo’s eyes fluttered as he let her go.
“I won’t be long,” he said. “Don’t move.”
Nodding, she watched him leave.
It was getting dark. Dark enough for the shadows of the trees to begin to look ominous and she hoped he wouldn’t be gone too long.
Just in case, she took hold of her piece of shrapnel that hadn’t failed her yet.
If anything came out of the bushes while Sohut was away, she’d have something with which to defend herself.
Settling on the stump of a fallen tree, she looked around, trying to see any signs of life.
She had no idea what the aliens they were coming upon were like, but she trusted Sohut.
She trusted him enough to believe he wouldn’t willingly put them in danger.
That thought was jarring.
She’d gone from thinking he was her enemy to sleeping with him then to trusting him with her future, her life…not in that order.
The jungle here was a lot less dense than the jungle they’d been traveling through for the past few days, but she still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Rolling her shoulders, she released a sigh.
She was exhausted.
She hadn’t mentioned it to Sohut but she hadn’t known how much longer she could have gone before taking a rest.
She was nearing collapse.
Wawa stiffened on her shoulder and Cleo’s senses primed immediately.
It was only when Wawa relaxed and she noticed Sohut coming back through the undergrowth that her shoulders sagged with relief.
“Is everything all right?”
He was alone. She’d expected to see aliens accompanying him.
Sohut smiled. “They are waiting to meet you.” His eyes slid to Wawa. “And you. Don’t attack them.”
Wawa stiffened on her shoulder and cocked his head at Sohut.
It was the first time he actually tried to communicate with Sohut and that surprised Cleo.
“I think he’s wondering what you mean.”
“He knows exactly w
hat I mean.” Sohut crouched so he was on eye level with Wawa. “Listen you little thing. Don’t attack the Torians. They won’t hurt Cleo and they’re the only place we can stay before we go across the arid lands to the plains. Do you understand?”
Wawa cocked his head again and Sohut frowned, turning his worried eyes to her. “I don’t know if he understands me. He only listens to you.”
Cleo glanced at Wawa and he bumped his head into her neck before focusing on Sohut again.
“He understands.”
Sohut’s frown deepened. “How do you know?”
Cleo shrugged. “I don’t know. I just do.”
With a huge sigh, Sohut stood, offering her his hand so she could stand too.
“Ready?” he asked.
Cleo nodded. “Ready.”
As they walked in the direction in which he just came, the density of trees slowly reduced.
They were walking for what felt like roughly fifteen minutes and Cleo looked up at the alien walking in front of her.
“I thought we were going toward that alien camp.”
“We are,” Sohut answered.
“But we’ve been walking for so long now. I thought we’d have reached it already. You were gone for this long.”
“That’s because I used the trees. We’re walking. Takes longer.” Sohut looked over his shoulder to smile at her and her shocked expression only made him chuckle. “No worries my zimsu flower, we’re here now.”
She’d have taken the time to think about the fact he just called her something endearing if they didn’t suddenly walk into a clearing.
Hanging lanterns dotted the circular expanse. One of the lanterns was close by and it looked like a paper lantern with fireflies inside.
Wawa’s eyes lit up.
“My companion is here with her…slizz,” Sohut said and she realized he was speaking to someone in front of them.
As she stepped so she could see around Sohut’s tall frame, her entire body froze.
There were maybe seven or so short green aliens in front of them. They had huge heads with balloon-like projections at the back, much like an octopus looked. Each alien had four eyes that were focused on Sohut and now that she’d stepped slightly from behind him, they collectively gasped.
She realized then that they had spears, all pointed her way, and four arms each.