by Erin Raegan
I grasped the hem of her tunic and lifted. She squeaked but did not protest as I removed her clothing. Her eyelids were heavy, and she was swaying on her feet. My mate was tired. Our matings took much of her energy.
“Come now, my yula, I will bathe you.” I turned the spray on and urged her under the warm cascade. She sighed and tilted her head back. Her long plait soaked quickly as she tried to unravel its knot. I gently pushed her hands aside and combed it out with my claws. She sighed and rested her head on my chest. My mate was much more complacent in her exhaustion, I tried not to grin too broadly.
Water sluiced down her face to her smooth shoulder and past her thick breast stores. Her nipples pebbled from the chilly air. Female Dahk had nipples for feeding their young. Though their breasts were flat until the birth, only then filling with milk to feed their babes. My mates scent indicated she was not a mam, but her breasts were large and full. They bounced with her movement. A female Dahk’s breast were used solely for feeding young, I had never felt inclined to touch a female’s flat breast or taste the berry of a nipple, but my mates’ breasts fascinated me, and I found myself wanting to reach out and touch them.
Her hands traveled down her shoulders rubbing the water into her skin, she passed over her breasts and they shook from her touch. Pulling my attention from them was difficult, but when she rubbed her soft rounded belly, I watched avidly as her hand moved lower. She stopped above her female canal before moving back up frustrating me. I wished to see her rub herself. I wished to see how she cleaned herself, so I may take over. “Do you have any soap?” She blinked the water from her eyes.
I cleared my throat and grasped blindly for the bottle sitting in an alcove behind me. I could not wait to touch her a moment longer. Squeezing a liberal amount on my hands I rubbed them into a lather and touched her delicate shoulders. She stiffened but allowed my touch. Closing her eyes tightly, she stood stiff as I scrubbed down her arms and collar bone. “You need not fear me, my Pehytohn.”
“I- I don’t think I do anymore,” she confessed with pinkened cheeks.
“Then why do you stiffen under my touch?”
“It’s just a lot. The mating and the way you touch me so familiarly. I’m still getting used to you being around, and our differences, but they don’t seem to bother you. I don’t do this often.”
“Do what?”
“Sleep with guys, you know? I mean males.”
“Ah, it is the intimacy that bothers you.” I scowled at my hands, hesitant to rub lower and have her retreat from me. I did not like the visuals her words conjured. Dahk were not monogamous. We took many for pleasure, even after a mating, but I found myself enraged at the idea of another touching her.
“Yeah,” she sighed and held my hands to her shoulders. “You are going to help us, save our species, and I’m very grateful, but the whole mating thing? That’s a lot for me. I still don’t understand all of it, and what’s going to happen with us later? I don’t want to anger you by turning you away.” She looked to her toes, her fur hanging wetly, covering her features.
“You could not anger me this way.” I shook my head. I wanted to mate with her, as often as possible. But I would not push her. My mate tasted of the sweetest delicacies. I was humbled she allowed such a vulnerability when she gave me her kyss. I was taken over by primal hunger and could not help but feast on her most sensitive flesh. She enjoyed it that much was clear, but perhaps her giving me such a gift so soon after our tumultuous mating plagued her with worries and doubts. I would need to proceed with caution in the future.
She breathed deeply before lifting her head and moving her long fur from her face. “You won’t be mad if I want to slow down?”
“No, my mate, this does not make me angry. We will move as slowly as you want.” I lifted my hands from her and took a step back. Water dripped from my leather breeches. I wanted nothing more than to explore her exotic body. But I would not risk this newfound peace we were building together.
“Your surprisingly sweet,” she whispered and shook her head, again keeping her beautiful eyes from me.
“You are my mate, a blessing, I would hold your comfort above all else,” I told her truthfully. If she never wished my hands on her supple skin again, I would grant her it freely. It would test my control, but I would persevere. I was the King’s Commander. I fought many wars and came away victorious through countless battles. I would treat my mating with no less dedication. If this was what she needed, so be it.
I moved to exit the spray completely when she reached out. “Wait.” She sucked her lips into her mouth and nearly tore a groan from me. Her soft hand grasped my forearm. Hesitantly, she pulled me back to stand before her. “Maybe we could start slow now. Just touching.” I could not withhold my grown from her sweet command. Touching was a gift. I would treasure every moment.
She ran her hand down to my own and pulled it towards her wet body. Though she eyed my claws cautiously, my brave mate rested my hand along her shoulder. I would be very careful with my sharp claws in the future. The wounds on her thighs would haunt me for many sunrings. Her hide was thin and easily punctured.
She curled her small fingers around my hand and guided it down past her shoulder to the rest on the rise of her breasts. I huffed though my nostrils. This would test my control indeed. “You wish me to touch you here?” I asked to be sure, if she was feeling any doubt I would stop immediately. Touching her so freely now was not worth risking her capitulation in the future.
She bit her lip and nodded. Cautiously I moved my palm along the smooth skin. She was even more soft here. Her breasts giving way from the lightest of pressure. Her nipple poked into the center of my palm and she sucked in a breath. “You are sensitive here?” I asked fascinated. Dahk felt nothing from the nipple, our skin too tough from protective plating.
“You’re not?” She reached out to my own nubs. Males had them from evolution as most species that evolved from mammals, but they were useless. Ours were further from the center of our chests, but not by much. Her nail thumbed the tip, and I wished I had more feeling there. My mate was touching me, I wished to feel every touch, instead all I felt was the warmth from her hand.
I shook my head and thumbed her nipple as she did mine. Her reaction was captivating. She squeaked, and her legs buckled from beneath her. Reaching out quickly with my free hand I gathered against my chest and flared my wings out and around her, holding her tightly against me. This caused simultaneous reactions I feared would frighten her. My already hardening member strained for her, and a low growl of primal hunger shook my body. But she did not move away.
She squeezed my hand with her own until I was nearly cupping her breast entirely. My member hardened painfully and pressed against her soft belly. I was a Commander I reminded myself, I was bred with strict control. She instructed me on how to properly massage her breast, her breathing growing more erratic with each squeeze. Her mouth blew warm gusts of air along my breast bone, her fingers digging into my hand and hip bone. She reached back and moved my hand along her back to the fat stores on her buttocks. I rumbled from the hunger quickly taking me over. Her flesh was just as supple there as her breast.
She did not need to instruct me to massage her backside, I began this with relish. Her hand moved back to my chest and ran along the divots of muscles, tearing low growls from my parched throat. My mate would kill me this eve. I would happily go.
Instinct taking over, I allowed my thumb claw to play along the edge of her pointed nipple, she did not shy away. She whimpered and writhed in my arms. Her mouth opening to kyss along my chest plates. Her tongue lapped at the gaps between my scales. Oh, how I wished I had more feeling there. “My mate, you must tell me if this is not slowly. I would not have you pull away from me after.”
“Tahk,” she whispered desperately.
“Yes, lovely.”
“Shut up.” She grasped my horns and sought my mouth. I gave his this gladly. She mouth-mated with me, her tongue laving along mine,
sucking along it only to move onto my lips and gift them with the same treatment. Her other hand wrapped below my arm and clung to the base of my wing. Her soft belly smoothed along the head of my covered member.
Huktbores, I would lose my feet from much more of this touching. The mating rage flared, it was not the same as before, but it urged me to take my mate brutally with fervor. I held back, I would not give in to primal instincts. I would have stopped there to save us both, but the smell of her need drove me on.
She may wish for me to shut up now, but that was passion taking over, deep down I knew she still wished to move slowly. But I could not allow her need to go unanswered. “Show me my mate, show me how to ease your need.” She would need to ask me, she would need to grant me this gift. I could not take it from her.
My mate licked along my chin. I was hunched over allowing her access. I took advantage of the position and nuzzled her in return. Her sounds grew more fevered from my attentions. Her hand releasing its hold above my own on her breast to grasp at my horns. I bared my teeth and snarled. She did not frighten, she became wild and anxious. Her leg hooking over my thigh. The gap between her legs grew, my hand slipping between the cheeks of her buttocks to the hot center of her. “There! There!”
I answered with the flat of my forefinger slipping between her wetness, careful of my claw I found the bundle of flesh that drove her to such an exquisite release in the lab. She whined and sagged in my arms. “Here, my mate, more touching here?”
“Yes!” She gasped and released my horn, giving me a brief reprieve, only to grab my member and render me useless. She tore down my breeches, allowing them to gape to grab my bare flesh. I gnashed my teeth together as she stroked ardently. This would not do, I would be inside her if she did not stop. Her touch was too tempting. I had never felt such raw need before.
Quickly I spun her around so her back lay flat against my chest. I cupped her breast when she cried out in distress. Twisting and squeezing her nipple. My hand cupped her canal wholly and she ground down against it. Her head tilted back, seeking my mouth. I met hers ferociously, plundering her hot mouth with my tongue. As she ground down against my palm I did the same against the smooth expanse of her spine. My fingers spread her lower fleshy lips, pinching the hard bundle of flesh between them. She cried out my name. Plead with me to bring her release. I held back enjoying her surrender, basking in the glow of her passion.
She was not to be deterred, her hand reached back and grasped my member once more, squeezing and pumping as fast as her small hand would allow. I raged at the ceiling and manipulated that bundle that drove her so mindlessly. Her other hand reached for my horn, but instead met my short ridges. She grasped them tightly in her little fist, urging my mouth back to hers. Our lips met, breathing too heavily to lick and suck. Instead she nipped and bit at my swollen lips. I was going to release before my mate. I could not allow that to happen. Her need would always be sated before my own. Moving my hand back and forth, keeping that bundle squeezed tightly, I urged her body to release.
She stood on her toes, crying my name again and again. I moved my thumb up and ran the side of my claw along the tight flesh and she screamed her release for me. Her hand contracted around the head of my member and I snarled my own release, coating her spine in my seed.
We stood, held tightly together beneath the spray for long moments. Apprehension was trickling in. Was it too much? Would she push me away now? I did not think I could handle her censure after such a stunning experience.
She giggled. It sounded of the loveliest of tinkling gems. “I guess I’m not so good at slow.” Her giggles grew, shaking her lavish body.
“Ah, my mate, but you are very, very good at slow.”
Chapter 22
Peyton
Tahk carried me from the shower and slowly dried me off with a soft cloth. He caressed every inch of my skin with the same amount of intense focus he did my body. Then he pulled a tunic from a compartment in the wall with a strangely smug tilt of his lips and pulled it over my head.
The shower, and that’s what it would be forever referenced to me as―the shower, was amazing, and terrifying, and so, so many emotions for me. I had not intended for it to go that far when I told him slowly or asked him to start with simple touching. But boy did it go there. It seemed it was impossible for me not to react when this aliens’ hands were on me. I didn’t know what it meant, but I had never felt so cherished and protected as I had the last twenty-four hours. Tahk was frightening during our mating, I never would have thought I’d go there with him again, but I did it twice now. And I couldn’t honestly say I wouldn’t again.
The alien knew how to woo a girl.
Tahk lifted me in his brawny arms and carried me over to the soft bed. “Rest now, lovely. I will wake you when it is time to go.”
I was apprehensive to go to sleep, but I couldn’t deny that the urge was there. I was exhausted. “I don’t know if I can.” I was too anxious, too excited. I needed to get home. I needed to find my mom and Bryan. But what if we went back to a barren world? To my family gone? My home destroyed? I couldn’t let fear keep me from trying, but it filled me with all kinds of horrible scenarios.
Tahk gently urged me to lie down and curled around my back, his wings cocooning me in warmth, and his arms wrapping me in safety. “You will need strength for the journey to Earth.” He nuzzled my neck and licked my healing bite wound. My eyelids grew heavy, and my breathing deepened. “All will be well.” I believed him.
***
Waking up was hard. I knew instantly I was still in Tahk’s arms, but we weren’t in his bed anymore. There was a gentle swaying motion. Low growls, and whispered words roused me. Opening my eyes, I looked up into the silver glow of Tahk’s eyes. “Hi,” I whispered with a small smile. He was so striking with his alien features. Where before I didn’t notice the small nuances and gestures of his expressions, I spotted them easily now. He was content and gazing at me in lazy satisfaction.
“Good rest, my yula?” He murmured and leaned down to nuzzle my cheek. I sighed and nodded. I liked it especially when he called me that.
“If you’re done giving each other googly eyes, you wanna help out an old man?” Colt groaned from beside us. Tahk scowled but allowed me to sit up. Colt was strapped into a seat not far from the one Tahk held me in, his straps tightened across his chest, and he gripped them in the same way I had my own the first time on a transport ship. His face was a little green, and he was swaying unsteadily in his seat. “I don’t suppose you got anything to take the edge off, big man?”
“You can’t inebriate yourself Mr. Colt. It can’t be good on your stomach for this kind of flight.” Vivian, who sat by Yilt shook her head in dismay. Her eyes were twinkling, and the goofy grin on her face was vibrant.
“I ain’t meant for flyin’,” Colt grumbled over Bobo’s commiserating whines. “Flyin’ ain’t good for my gut, period.”
“Close your eyes, Cohlt. The flight sickness will pass quickly,” Fihk called from the copilot seat. Yilt, and Fihk weren’t the only other Dahk accompanying us. Gryo was also strapped in, along with Olynth and a few other Dahk I vaguely remembered in passing. There were eight Dahk in total, including Tahk. I wasn’t sure my house could accommodate so many of them with their larger builds.
But we were going home! Fear aside, excitement was taking over. I caught Vivian’s eyes and grinned eagerly with her. “You think he’s there, Pey?” She asked, her grin wavering.
I reached for her hand. “I know he is, Viv. Mountains, remember?” Her grin returned in full.
The ship shot through Earth’s atmosphere and took our attention. It really was beautiful to see the world from here. The colors were bright against the black back drop of the colossal universe. Seeing it was a dream come true I never knew I had.
As we plummeted through the darkening sky, I felt my own stomach tumble over. Seeing it was one thing, feeling it was another entirely. The speed and bumps that shook the ship threatened to
bring up all my yummy cotton candy pineapple fruit.
“How did you know where to go?” I asked Tahk in awe as the trees of Iowa came closer and closer. Spotting the white ships flying around in the distance could have ruined my excitement but seeing the state I lived in just couldn’t allow for it to be kept away.
“Yilt asked your Veeveen to show her on Hybolt’s maps. We located the coordinates and plugged them in.” Tahk rubbed my back in soothing strokes as tension seeped through my bones. There was smoke on the horizon, lots of it. The ship had slowed enough for me to see familiar fields and roads. My home was close, and there was smoke. I started to panic.
Closing in on my land, I could see it wasn’t my house, but my relief didn’t last. The black smoke was coming from over near Mr. Lake’s place. I hoped he was okay. The man was nimble, but he tended to be stubborn. I didn’t think he’d leave his land if it was under direct threat.
The ship coasted over the tall trees, and then over my open fields. Before long I could see my house in the distance. It was standing whole, untouched. All the lights were off, but the moonlight illuminated enough of it to even make out my chicken pen in the back. There were no cars though, only my old beat-up green truck. Vivian started to deflate.
“This is your home, my mate?” Tahk gently caressed my nape. I nodded jerkily, unable to take my eyes from the front window of the ship. The ship circled before slowly lowering and thudding to the ground. Vivian scrambled for her restraints, and I pushed from Tahk. She couldn’t give up hope until we could get inside. Hector could be hiding. It wouldn’t make sense for him to show any signs of occupancy with the Vitat invading. Vivian must have been thinking the same.
“The ship is cloaked humans, but you must step quietly when exiting. You must wait while we search the dwelling and surrounding area.” Tahk gently pushed me back down in the chair he stood from. I knew he was right, but it was torture for Vivian to wait. She shook in anxiety the entire time Yilt, Olynth and Tahk took a few of the others to look. Fihk patted her awkwardly and guarded the door.