Bhyr

by Penelope Fletcher

  He rubbed them.

  For the first time in his life cycle, he was self-conscious about their harsh appearance.

  Perhaps he should have found a safe place to moult before fetching a breeder?

  He shook off the thought.

  ‘They scare me,’ she said.

  ‘Healed wounds cannot harm you.’

  ‘It’s what they represent not the scars themselves.’

  He grimaced. ‘Failure?’

  ‘Danger. You’re dangerous.’ She pointed with a shaking finger. ‘Those tell it to anyone smart enough to understand them.’ Her gaze sharpened. ‘I don’t find them off-putting. If that’s what you’re getting at.’

  Bhyr lay quivering.

  His unspent need throbbed bone deep. ‘If not my scars, then what offends?’

  ‘Everything. All of this.’ She motioned to him. Herself. The nest. ‘It’s not about offending, Bhyr. It’s about willingness and consent. Wanting someone. Things you seem to have zero earthly comprehension of.’ She choked a laugh. ‘Earthly comprehension. Bloody hell. Ignorance doesn’t make it okay.’ She squeezed her eyes shut, expression anguished. When they opened, resolute, she placed a hand on his chest. ‘We’re different from each other. Alien. Your ways aren’t like mine, I understand, but it still shouldn’t be this hard.’ She waved at his groin.

  ‘My daulm must be hard to enter you.’

  The mangled sound she made was a cross between laughter and a sob. ‘Sex is a… a journey of mutual pleasure.’ She made a face. ‘You might not come, but it should not hurt, Bhyr. It’s wrong. Like how it’s wrong to deprive people of hope or cause them physical harm for fun. You understand?’

  ‘Willingness? Wanting? Spoken as one who has never fought for survival. One who knows nothing of setting aside what one wants to endure what one needs.’

  ‘What do you think I’m doing here?’ she cried. Her arms opened wide to encompass the whole of him. ‘This is me setting aside wants for needs. Me in this bed with you doing this is me surviving. Get it? What could you know about that?’ Her voice broke. ‘Nobody is forcing you.’

  ‘Not forced?’

  ‘There’s nobody else in this bed.’

  ‘I see the eyes of millions.’

  ‘That’s weird as shit.’

  ‘Their weight crushes me.’ He trilled low in his chest. ‘There are hundreds of species holding grudges created countless aeons before my birth. They would clamour to destroy us should they discover how diminished we’ve become.’

  ‘What the does any of that have to do with us having sort-of-non-consensual and painful hate sex?’ Tossing back her mane, she breathed out in a slow gust. ‘First, you shouldn’t assume the worst of people. Second, you should not decide only based on what you think someone else might do. Last, there is no one in this bed but me and you. Only we’re responsible for what happens here.’

  She did not understand how feared and hated the Azteka were. He shook his head. ‘What about the warriors who expect me to halt our extinction? The old ones look to me to return to the days of glory. The young ones see me as an example and desire sons to continue their bloodlines.’

  ‘Extinction?’ She scowled. ‘Tell me, Bhyr, where are your women in all this mess? Why can’t you have babies with your own females?’

  Mouth chomping on the air, he shook his head.

  ‘I can’t help if you don’t talk to me.’ When he said nothing, she sighed. ‘It can’t all be on you. There must be someone you could ask for help? A higher authority, or a scientific community.’

  ‘Destruction’s Avatar and the First of the Horde does not ask for help. I found a solution in humanity. It has to work. There is nothing else. It is this,’ he used the same disgusted tone she had to spit the word, hurt, ‘or extinction.’ He paused. ‘I choose this.’

  ‘Your Gung Ho attitude may seem the be all and end all to you. But what about the damage you’re doing to people like me?’ She leaned over him. ‘Don’t you care?’

  Unable to bear it any longer, he grasped his shaft and tugged in fast jerks to give it the friction it needed.

  She stared, dismayed.

  He shut his eyes and let the sea of agony swallow him, so he might better anticipate what his body needed.

  A wet mouth touched his shaft.

  The pain and the suction and heat was so alarming, the shout he gave was of a slaughtered animal.

  ‘Sorry! No? Okay, not that, calm down. Calm down. Stay still. I’m just going to....’ Indira straddled his waist. She pulled her hair to the side. It streamed down her front, caressed her shoulders and draped over her breast, erect nipple peeking through. ‘Open the Keeping, Bhyr.’

  She mounted me.

  Bewildered, his hand fumbled for the gusset concealing her slit. The scanner built into the device registered his genetic signature.

  The thin metal retracted.

  ‘Here we go. Easy.’ She slid back until his pulsing daulm nestled into her buttocks. She lifted onto her knees. One hand planted in the centre his chest for balance, while the other reached between her thighs to clasp him in a firm grip.

  She impaled herself until the ring of her slit squeezed the base of his shaft.

  The sensation consumed his entire world. She rocked against him, both hands now on his chest, patting, soothing.

  ‘It’s fine. We’ll be clinical about this.’ Her face tensed, voice strained. ‘Tell me what you need?’

  ‘Friction. Fast. Hard.’

  ‘That I can do.’

  She rose then dropped, repeating the action until both of their bodies coiled with unspent need.

  The gasping whimpers she made broke apart his thoughts. Waves of pain merged with ripples of pleasure each time her inner muscles dragged and squeezed his daulm.

  It took three strokes before his need to move grew too great. He rolled his loins counterpoint to hers, matching the strong, quick rhythm.

  Muttering curses when he craved more, he grasped her rocking hips to pull her harder into his thrusts. Her toes gripped his thighs. Her nails dug into the soft flesh between his exoskeleton. Clean pinpricks that heightened his arousal. A bead of sweat snaked its way from the hollow of her throat between her breasts. His gaze locked onto it and watched it gain speed down her flexing belly. Her sex was hot, wet, and his daulm thickened to further fill the tight channel.

  She threw her head back.

  ‘God, Bhyr. Sorry, but I’m going to come.’ Her breathing turned erratic. Her glazed eyes connected with his. Cheeks ruddy, tendrils of damp hair clung to her face. ‘What do you need?’

  Rumbling, he seized her by the waist and neck. He pulled her down until her throat met his parted lips and then laved her neck with his tongue. His eyes screwed shut. Indira’s taste and scent blazed across his senses. Her heartbeat pounded against his thumb. Pain receded, and the pleasure across his groin spiked until his whole body felt a taut, over-sensitised nerve. A nerve that snapped.

  Back bowing, he released his seed in a torrent, but it was the corresponding explosion behind his eyes that left him rigid and groaning.

  As if she sensed his bewilderment, Indira slid her hand atop his over her neck. She squeezed and rubbed his fingers, soothing him.

  She moaned. The contractions of her sex milked his, and the grinding circles of her hips slowed into a languid drag.

  16

  Bhyr

  Indira swallowed, her throat moving beneath Bhyr’s palm.

  ‘Better?’ she asked.

  He didn’t respond, too lightheaded and dazed.

  She rocked her hips back to let him slide from inside her then dropped to the side. She said nothing else. Her hand curled around his where it covered her throat.

  ‘Gods do not make mistakes,’ he said when he could think straight enough to return to their conversation. He feared acknowledging what had transpired. Not only had she mounted him as the dominant, he had succumbed, using his sacred organ to stimulate his release. ‘Neither do their Avatars.
I must be strong for the Horde. I must be.’

  To indulge in forbidden practices was weakness.

  I have lost control.

  ‘As your breeder, I’m Creation’s Avatar,’ Indira said. ‘Isn’t that what you believe?’

  Startled, Bhyr nodded.

  Where had she heard of the female divinity?

  ‘If Avatars don’t make mistakes, then I can’t ever be wrong, either. Can I?’ Her face relaxed, gaze steady. ‘I don’t agree with a lot of what you say and do in the name of Destruction, Bhyr.’

  Breath caught in his throat, he looked at her through new eyes. ‘You are not what I expected. I care but it changes nothing. My bulb released its seed, and your body opened to accept it. Life may take root. We observe tradition, and the Horde will endure this time of struggle.’ The words should have spurred him on. They should have invigorated him and bolstered his purpose. Instead, they left him hollow. Empty. ‘What more is there?’ He asked the world at large, expecting no answer.

  ‘You really don’t know?’

  ‘There is nothing to know. If there was, I would know it.’

  ‘Not if you looked for the wrong thing and searched in the wrong place.’

  Placing a hand on his chest, Indira leaned over until the mounds on her chest pressed flat against his torso.

  She lowered her head until their breaths melded.

  Hair sliding over his shoulders and pooling around his head like a shimmering curtain, she licked her lip, gaze dark with distrust.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Hush. I’m showing you there can be more.’ Her mouth brushed over his, coaxing it to soften and part. His lips remained clamped shut. The wariness in her bright eyes gave way to a spark of curiosity. ‘This time, it’s not going to be clinical.’ Her mouth quirked.

  The lushness of her limbs entranced him as they entwined with his. Her mouth resettled, and the tip of her tongue traced the seam of his lips. It prodded. His mouth parted of its own accord. Her tongue swept past the ridge of his teeth and tangled with his.

  It tingled and swelled with pleasure. So exquisite, he felt emotion rise to clog his throat and grey the corners of his eyes.

  He broke away and pushed her off. ‘No.’

  She cupped the side of his face. ‘I know you’re afraid.’

  Short of breath, Bhyr straightened, glaring. ‘That organ is sacred. You know nothing. You are nothing but a temptation I must endure.’

  Stopping his outburst when he noticed her shocked stare, he lurched onto his feet.

  He shook his head when she made a contrite noise and reached to grab him. He stalked from the nook before he said something to regret.

  Halfway to the bathing falls, he spun on his heel, heart crashing against his ribs.

  No one will ever know.

  Bhyr retraced his steps.

  His chest rose and fell in great swoops. He knew from his breeder’s expression that his own must be wild with indecision.

  Indira stirred, wiping her palms on her sides. ‘Bhyr?’ She rose onto her knees. ‘Sorry if I pushed too hard. I didn’t realise how significant this issue was.’

  ‘I am not afraid.’ His hand slid into her hair and cupped the back of her head. Her brown eyes widened. He thought her beautiful. His arm wrapped around her back and crushed her to his front, her feet dangling. His mouth slammed down on hers, and the atoms that formed his existence went nova. He retreated to breathe.

  There was a technique to the mating of mouths.

  Indira licked her reddened lips as if savouring his taste. She blinked in rapid flutters. ‘Right, okay. What?’

  Bhyr ran his tongue around his tingling mouth.

  Indira clasped his face, clutched in his arms, and she jerked forward to claim his lips.

  Her eyes closed.

  He shut his own, and his brain misfired.

  She rubbed against where he was most sensitive, and he snarled into her mouth.

  ‘Oh,’ she breathed. ‘Your tongue is throbbing in time to your cock. I can feel it.’ Her hand cupped between his legs.

  He stiffened.

  ‘I get it now. Why it hurts.’ She hooked an arm around his neck and brought her mouth back to his, nipping and sucking until he fought delirium. ‘This doesn’t have to cause you pain,’ she whispered. ‘It’s okay to enjoy it. To feel good. It’s okay to want this to feel good with me.’

  ‘I should resist,’ he said.

  There were reasons.

  Good reasons.

  ‘You should. I should.’ She wrapped her fingers around his shaft and stroked him from root to tip. Her tongue slid across his in a lingering caress. It was deviant and addictive. ‘But I don’t think we will.’

  Bhyr groaned, knees buckling. They dropped back onto the furs. Bhyr pushed up into his forearms as her leg wrapped around his hip.

  She gyrated in tight circles. ‘Come inside me.’ She latched onto his shaft and angled it towards her slick sex.

  It notched inside the entrance to her channel and he thrust through the tight muscles to spear her to the core.

  He pulled back until the tip of his shaft remained, then slammed forward. She maintained the curling, stroking motions of her tongue with his, and he pounded into her with frantic digs of his hips.

  Indira scratched at his back. She pulled him down, and he pressed against her moist flesh, struggling to focus on anything but the glide of his daulm shoving inside her.

  Indira shuddered and wailed, clutching him to her as her channel clenched. Her mouth mating took on a feverish intensity, her sex squeezing and rippling over his.

  A pulsing sensation of bliss chased the deluge of seed erupting from his shaft and into his female.

  Spent, he remained hard inside her.

  Indira’s skin was dewy with perspiration and fragrant with musk. Her eyes opened and collided with his.

  He stared at her, and she stared back.

  She ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders. ‘That was the more, Bhyr.’ She touched his cheek. Her face clouded with shadows. ‘Get off before you crush me.’

  Grunting, he rolled onto his back and breathed through the ecstasy lingering in his muscles. He felt blown open and filled with radiant light.

  Bhyr had known in a vague, abstract way through his studies the power of physical pleasure was great when the sacred organ was stimulated.

  Experiencing it for himself, he now understood it was the sense of connection through shared pleasure that enhanced the act of rutting into something else.

  Something life altering he had no name for.

  Indira released a shuddering breath. ‘You were a virgin.’ She stated it in an odd tone. Contemplative.

  ‘The word has no meaning in Vøtkyrnai.’

  ‘The Testing was the first time you mounted a female.’ She covered her face with her palms and chuffed. ‘I can’t believe this is my life now.’

  ‘It was not yours,’ he stated in growing realisation. ‘It was not the first time a male mounted you.’

  ‘Well, no. I’m a thirty-year-old woman.’ She peeked through her fingers. ‘Besides, you would’ve felt it if it was.’

  He just looked at her.

  She caught the glance and rolled her eyeballs in that way that made him shudder.

  ‘A human woman has a thin flap inside that’s broken the first time she has sex,’ Indira explained.

  Human males had to tear holes in human females to breed them. ‘Pain.’ That part of mating he understood.

  ‘Some,’ she agreed.

  He thought on it. ‘Why are you not a virgin for me?’

  ‘That didn’t take you long.’

  ‘You have a mate living on Earth.’ He planned to return and lay siege to the planet until the male crawled from whatever hole he cowered in.

  He would take his head, present it to her and prove he was the strongest male.

  ‘That’s a scary look on your face. If I were braver, I’d ask why.’ She sighed. ‘No, no mate or hus
band. No special person. I had sex with people. It’s a one-time act, Bhyr. Not a lifetime commitment.’ Eyes sliding his way, she offered a maddening jerk of the shoulder. It somehow said everything and nothing. ‘I went through a rebellious stage after my parents died. I didn’t see the value in waiting.’

  ‘These acts, as you call them, they were like this.’ He motioned between their naked bodies, distracted by the alluring contrasts. ‘You felt this more you speak of?’

  She stayed silent.

  Bhyr’s flesh writhed.

  He thought of Baxnonians and their orgies. Imagined faceless males stretched over Indira’s back. He asked in a tone strange to his own ears, ‘Many people?’ even as he wondered why it mattered.

  ‘This conversation has taken a delightful turn.’

  ‘I dislike this.’ His chest was tight. ‘I dislike that you did this with other males.’ He should have been the one to tear the mating hole in her.

  Bhyr felt as if someone had plundered his treasure before he realised he cherished it.

  She laughed, a low mean sound. ‘I don’t care if you don’t like it. I don’t like any of this.’ She placed her fists on her eyes. ‘I don’t like you picking at my life like it was something that existed for you to judge. I don’t care if you like nothing about me. Everything about me is how it’s supposed to be.’

  ‘Your mane,’ he said.

  How could she believe he liked nothing about her?

  He’d chosen her.

  At first sight, she’d blinded him with her otherness.

  ‘Its colour,’ he continued, gruff, restless with the urge to touch the lustrous strands. ‘The way it moves and its scent. Beautiful.’

  Her gaze shifted from his hands to his face. Her full mouth thinned as if she strained to keep back a secret. ‘For me, it’s your eyes.’ Her lyrical voice flowed at a lower register. ‘They’re white, but not an empty white. There are pinpricks of colour behind a pearly screen. It’s stunning,’ she finished in grudging tones.

  ‘Your nose wrinkles when you smile,’ he said the moment she stopped talking. ‘The gem winks. It makes me bright inside.’ He struggled to explain it. ‘As if I am made of light.’