by Ashley West
“Are you sure?” she replied, dragging her tongue along her bottom lip and making Draco practically ache to chase it back into her mouth with his own.
He laughed, and it was a deep throaty sound. “I’m very sure.”
She grinned at that and leaned in to kiss him hard. “Good. Because I want you, too.”
Draco didn’t ask her if she did this a lot. He didn’t ask her if the first date was an appropriate time for humans to have sex. He didn’t ask her anything at all, instead dropping his lips to the corner of her mouth to kiss down her jaw to her neck, nosing along her pulse point and inhaling her warm scent. He dragged his tongue where he’d just been kissing and then bit down lightly, experimentally, testing to see if she’d like it.
“Oh,” she moaned, arching against him, and there was that question answered.
“You taste good,” he murmured against the skin of her neck. “I bet you taste good everywhere.”
Stephanie shivered hard against him, and he smiled when her legs widened, seemingly of their own volition. He trailed one hand down her front before slipping it under the hem of her dress to cup between her legs, feeling the heat and growing dampness there through her underwear. When she whimpered encouragingly, Draco began to stroke her, first through the soft fabric, then under it as he slipped his fingers into her underwear, exploring her.
All females were built differently, he’d discovered. On Aldara, a place that more than eight different clans called home, it was impossible to know what you were going to get once you got a woman naked. But there were a few things that they all seemed to like, and Draco sought to find what Stephanie enjoyed, listening to her moans and whines as he stroked and touched her, feeling her get wetter around his fingers.
“God,” she groaned, hips rolling as he touched her. “That feels good.”
Draco smiled and continued to kiss and bite at her neck. “Good,” he replied, voice low with his own desire. “I want you to feel good.”
He thanked his lucky stars that he was made much like humans, and made a mental note to keep his shirt on for the time being. The last thing he needed was for her to find the only thing that marked him as something other and start screaming or kick him out.
They’d get to that when they got to it. Or never.
But he didn’t want to think about that at the moment. Not when she was warm and willing and pressed against him, smelling like her perfume and heavy arousal as well.
Carefully he pushed two fingers into her warmth, delighting in the strangled moan of his name that was the result. “Do you like that?” he asked her, ignoring his own hardness pressing against the fabric of his pants for the time being.
Stephanie nodded eagerly, spreading her legs even wider and giving him more room to thrust those fingers into her. He worked her slowly at first, intending to tease over anything else, but when she started making those sweet sounds for him, proving that she was getting closer to coming and falling apart right there pressed against her front door, and he suddenly wanted it. He wanted to see it and to know that it was because of him.
So he kept his fingers moving, stepping back enough that he could get his whole hand involved, fingers thrusting into her while he ground his palm against her clit.
For her part, she clung to him, gasping and moaning, and when she finally came for him, it was with muscles tightening around his fingers and his name on her lips.
Draco couldn’t help but kiss her after that. Not when she was so sweet and pretty in her orgasm. He kissed her breathless, swallowing down her little whimpers as her hips rolled for a bit and then stilled. When he pulled back all together, she was panting and flushed and beautiful.
They made their way to the bedroom, then, not that they got far. They were just over the threshold of the room when Stephanie glanced up at him speculatively and then dropped to her knees.
Now this was something new. Females on Aldara didn’t often offer these sorts of favors with their mouths, and sometimes it was for the better, considering the teeth some of them had. But human women were safe enough for it, and Draco groaned when slender fingers undid his belt and fly, before reaching in to pull out his cock.
He was already flushed and hard, and the touch of her hand on his heated flesh had him arching his hips forward.
She smirked at him, and the look on her face was so at odds with what he had grown used to that it floored him. In one smooth motion, Stephanie leaned forward and took his cock into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the head before taking more in small measures.
He didn’t know how long it had been since she’d last done this, and he didn’t care. The heat and wet suction of her mouth were enough to have him getting close to the edge already, a salty leak of precome spilling out when she hummed against his flesh.
“If you keep that up,” he managed. “I’m going to come.”
There was that smirk again, but she pulled back, dragging the flat of her tongue along the underside of his length as she retreated. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Not in general, but I’d rather finish somewhere else than in your mouth.”
That apparently was all he needed to say to have her scrambling up and pulling him into the bedroom after her.
They kissed again in front of the bed, this time with more intent as they undressed each other, hands stroking over fabric and bared skin as they got naked. Draco’s eyes raked over Stephanie’s body, taking in the soft swell of her hips and the curved mounds of her breasts, hands grabbing for her ass to pull her in even closer.
They wasted very little time tumbling into bed after that. Both of them knew what they wanted, and Draco took charge, accepting the strange prophylactic material that Stephanie handed him and quickly figuring out how it worked. Once that was done, he spread her out on her back, loving the way she looked, unable to help himself when it came to picturing her spread out on his bed back home, looking up at him with that trust and those pretty eyes.
Draco buried himself in her with one smooth stroke, Steph’s orgasm from earlier making it easy enough to do.
She gripped at him, legs wrapped around his waist as they moved together, both panting and gasping in the darkened room.
For the first time since he’d arrived on Earth, Draco wasn’t thinking about Plintos or the blade or how he was going to get it. He wasn’t thinking about his home at all, actually, his focus narrowed down to the sweetness of thrusting into Stephanie and having her arch up to meet him again and again.
Their climaxes, when they came, were one right after the other, Stephanie crying out and going tight around him, which spurred his own release as he pumped into her once, twice, three more times and then shuddered and went still.
Together the pair of them laid there, sweaty and sticky in the afterglow, Draco rolling on his back and realizing too late that his plan to keep his shirt on had been forgotten. She hadn’t seemed to notice anything, though, and he breathed a sigh of relief before pulling her into another soft kiss.
A persistent beeping sound snuck into Draco’s dreams and woke him up in the early hours of the morning. It was still dark outside, the first tendrils of light starting to streak across the horizon. Next to him, Stephanie slept on, hair spilling in a tousled mess across the pillow, still naked and bearing the marks from Draco’s fingers and teeth. She was lovely in the semi-darkness of the room, and for a moment Draco had to watch her, tracking each rise and fall of her chest as she slept.
The beeping broke its way back into the peace, though, and he groaned, fairly certain that he knew exactly what the sound was.
He slipped from the bed, careful not to disturb Stephanie and then made his way to the bedroom door where his pants had been kicked when Stephanie had sunk to her knees to… Draco groaned slightly at the memory of her hot mouth around him and shook his head, reaching into the pocket for his comm device, which beeped louder, a light on the front pulsing to let him know that he had missed a call.
No points for guessing who i
t was from, and Draco sighed, stepping out of the bedroom and closing the door behind him as he made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water.
For the moment, his mind was far from the task at hand. His plan had been to get Stephanie to trust him so she’d let him see the blade or so he could convince her to take it for him, but in the time they had spent together, he’d come to see her as much more than just a convenient person for helping him fulfill his ultimate goal.
Draco wished that he wasn’t being rushed because more than anything right then he wanted to slow down and be able to take his time to get to know Stephanie more. His guilt at trying to use her was eating at him, and the beeping comm device wasn’t helping matters at all.
Plintos wouldn’t understand. Draco already knew that. One day, his friend would have to find a bride to make his queen, but until then, he was hardly interested in being with members of the opposite sex. He wouldn’t get that Draco had met someone who spoke to deeper parts of him. Stephanie was a human, and she wasn’t a part of the plan, so Plintos wouldn’t have time for her or for Draco to explain.
But… But there was no reason why he couldn’t get the blade and then come back, assuming he could do so without hurting Steph in the process. Maybe she’d even like to come back to Aldara with him.
It was possible.
The beeping brought him out of those wishful thoughts and then the shrill chime of another call coming in shattered the otherwise peaceful air of the early morning. Draco scowled and swiped his finger across the screen, not even needing to see the transmission number to know it would be Plintos. Who else would it be, after all?
“What?” he hissed as soon as Plintos’ face was visible. And if he’d been less irritated and more alert right then and there, then he might have seen the frantic look on his friend’s face. But he was barely paying attention, frustration mounting.
“We have a problem,” Plintos said. “A big one.”
“Is it that you can’t go more than two days without asking me the same question over and over again?” Draco snapped. “Do you think that if I had information I wouldn’t just call you and let you know. There’s no need for you to keep-”
“Draco,” Plintos said loudly, cutting him off. “We. Have. A. Problem.”
It was the firm tone of voice that snapped Draco out of his rant and made him look at his friend properly. Just like the last time he’d seen him in person, it was clear that Plintos hadn’t been sleeping. His eyes were wide and frantic, darting back and forth the way they always did when he was distressed. When Draco peered closer, it even appeared that Plintos had been crying, something he hadn’t done since the death of his father some five years earlier.
“What happened?” he asked, all the fight draining out of him.
“They’re gone, Draco,” Plintos whispered. “They’re gone.”
“What’s gone?” He knew his friend better to think that it was people he was lamenting, and then something like cold dread filled him. “Not...the Artifacts.”
Plintos nodded, miserable. “Yes. Someone...someone came and they broke into the tower, and the items are gone. Just them, so.”
“So whoever it was knows that they’re worth something together.”
Something flickered in Plintos’ eyes then, and he sighed. “Draco, it’s not just that,” he said. “They’re valuable, of course, but it’s what they are when they’re together that makes them so powerful.”
“What they are?”
“Think about it,” Plintos urged him. “A hilt, a sheath, a blade? They’re a weapon together, Draco. And not just an ordinary weapon either. You’ve never read the history, but I have. If they’re all used together, then the wielder would have the power to destroy hundreds. Maybe more.”
“And that’s why you’ve been so desperate to get them all together,” Draco said, filling in the blanks finally. “If you have all of them together, then someone would be more reluctant to try and take them. But apart…”
“Apart they’re just ordinary objects. Well,” he amended. “Not ordinary, of course, but not powerful. Not really. Draco, you have to get to the blade before they do. I don’t even know who we’re looking for here, but if they bring all three Artifacts together, there’s no telling what destruction they could wreak.”
Draco sighed heavily and dragged a hand down his face. He desperately wished that Plintos would have told him this before it was practically an emergency, but the time for wishing was past.
He glanced at the closed bedroom door, apprehension roiling in him. Perhaps it was time to tell the truth.
Chapter 6: The Truth
Stephanie woke with a yawn and a long, languid stretch as the first, muted rays of light filled her room. She dragged a hand through her hair and blinked as she woke up completely, frowning at the feeling that something was missing. She was in her bed, as per usual, but she felt off balance, like there was something she was supposed to have that wasn’t there.
It wasn’t until she had lain there for a few more seconds that it all came back to her, and she remembered that she hadn’t gone to bed alone the night before.
Draco wasn’t in the bed anymore, but she figured he was somewhere else in the apartment, unless he’d snuck out in the middle of the night and walked home. Or called a cab.
Stephanie chuckled at the mental image until her need to know if it was actually a joke or what had happened made her slide from under the sheets and go to fetch her robe.
It was rare for her to be up this early, and she yawned as she wrapped thick terry cloth around her body and belted it, pulse racing as she padded to the bedroom door and stepped out into the hall.
The lights were on in the kitchen and living room, which was a good sign, and when she walked into the latter, there was Draco, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.
Not the best start to a morning after, but at least he was still there.
“Good morning,” Stephanie said softly, not wanting to startle him. “Is everything alright?”
His head snapped up quickly and he looked at her almost nervously. “You’re up. I was trying not to wake you.”
She shook her head. “You didn’t. I just woke up a few minutes ago. I didn’t even hear you leave the room.” Stephanie very pointedly didn’t say that she didn’t even know if he was still in the apartment.
Standing there staring down at him felt odd and strangely invasive, so she moved away, heading for the kitchen to put coffee on. Draco continued to stare at the space she had occupied, and Stephanie wished that if this was some kind of post sex regret breakdown or whatever, he’d just tell her.
She didn’t know him well enough to guess what was going on, and it felt rude to just ask, so she made coffee, keeping one eye on him as she let the coffee maker fill the space with the rich scent of French vanilla.
“I think we need to talk,” Draco said after a bit, not even looking at her, and Stephanie sighed internally. Well, it was fun while it’d lasted, she supposed. He was probably either going to give her the ‘this was nice, but I don’t think it would work out’ speech, or perhaps the ‘I’m not really looking for anything serious because I’m not even from here’ one, which, when she thought about it, would be the lesser of two evils that she didn’t want to deal with at all.
But putting it off wouldn’t make it any less crappy to hear, so she squared her shoulders and nodded. “Yeah, of course. What’s up?”
“I…” Draco faltered, finally looking up at her with a helpless expression on her face. “I’m not sure where to start, actually. Some things have...changed. And not for the better.”
“And so you don’t want to see me anymore?” she asked, trying to spare him having to drag this out.
He blinked and shook his head. “No, that’s… No. That’s not what I’m trying to say.”
Oh. Well, then. Stephanie brightened and leaned on the counter in front of her. “Then what is it? You’re not going to tell me you’re actually an illegal alien an
d you need to marry me to stay in the country, are you?”
Draco frowned, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. “Well. I don’t know about the illegal part or the-”
Steph’s eyes widened and she pushed off from the counter, appalled. “You have got to be kidding!” she said, louder than she’d meant to, cutting him off. “That’s what this whole thing has been about? Not because you liked me but because you’re from another country and need someone stupid enough to get involved in this with you? And you thought, what? You buy me one dinner and that’s enough for me to just say sure, yeah! Let’s get married!”
“Stephanie, I don’t-”
“You don’t what?” she snapped. “God, you know, I know this stuff happens on TV all the time, and in movies, but I didn’t think it was something people actually tried in real life. Unless they were really, really desperate.”
“I am desperate,” Draco said, standing and moving closer. “But I’m not from another country, and I’m certainly not trying to marry you.”
“Oh, what? I’m not good enough?”
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Will you please just listen to me? I do need your help, but it’s… I need to explain first.”
Stephanie folded her arms over her chest while the coffee maker bubbled and brewed behind her. “Fine,” she said. “Explain.”
Draco looked almost taken aback to be allowed the opportunity, and he nodded, faltering again when he tried to speak. I guess there’s nothing to do but come out and say it,” he said. “Do you remember how you told me one of your colleagues made a joke about the blade being from another planet?”
She nodded, unsure of what that had to do with anything. “Yeah, I do.”
“Well, if the blade came from another planet, then it would stand to reason that there are people out there on other planets making things like that, right?”
“I...guess so, yeah. But I never said that I believed the blade came from somewhere else.”