Jaraels Lioness

by Ja-Rael's Lioness [MF] (lit)

  He gasped, jerking in surprise when she fitted her mouth against his, sucking at first his upper lip and then the lower one. When he gasped, she slipped her tongue into his mouth, feeling a fiery rush as his taste and scent washed into her. Groaning, he mimicked her movements, tasting her mouth in turn.

  The kiss sent them both over the edge into an explosion of ecstasy.

  Elise collapsed weakly beneath him, skating the edge of consciousness. Without a whimper of protest, she gave it up, drifting away on the cloud of bliss he’d created.

  Ja-rael lifted slightly away from her and studied her for several moments in consternation before he realized that she slept. Relief flooded him, partly because he’d worried that he’d hurt her and partly because he had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t have been any happier about their mating this time than she had been before.

  Propping on one elbow, he studied her in the dim light in his cabin and finally lifted his other hand, stroking her satiny skin, marveling over the texture of it and the tiny markings that sprinkled her skin.

  He could scarcely believe his good fortune. He had thought only of acquiring a mate, had known that he would have to settle for whatever female he could barter for. In the back of his mind, he’d known she would most likely not even be pretty, let alone beautiful, and probably nearing the end of her breeding years.

  He would have to guard his Jane assiduously. Ordinarily, the males stayed clear of the females that had already been claimed and mated, but Jane was so lovely a male could be expected to loose his head.

  Look at what he’d done, and he was ordinarily very level headed.

  He frowned after a moment, trying to recall, and make sense of, the conversation they’d had before. She spoke Torrine--and not at all well. The language she’d used before had been completely incomprehensible, though.

  Why did she not speak one of the dialects of Meeri? Or Tor for that matter, since it appeared that she lived here?

  He wracked his brain, trying to remember the details of the legends of the maned race, but, in truth, he’d never had much interest in what he’d thought were merely stories to entertain children. He gave up on it after only a few moments. He was far more disturbed that she didn’t seem willing to accept the mating.

  It was done. Why would she regret it? She could have refused. Even in the state he’d been in at the time, he would not have been able to mate her if she’d refused. Regardless of his reprehensible behavior, he was not a beast.

  For that matter, he couldn’t figure out why she refused to accept him one moment and the next demanded that he mate her again.

  She had demanded it. If he hadn’t been the next thing to mindless at the time himself, he might have been alarmed by the aggressiveness of her behavior.

  He felt the first stirrings of arousal at that thought and immediately turned his thoughts elsewhere. If he became aroused again, her people were likely to find him here when they came to search for her.

  It was all very well to think of dying of bliss, but he had no desire to be killed while in the throes of passion, no desire to die at all.

  That thought was enough to cool his ardor and when at last his phallus slipped from her body, he eased off the pallet quietly and left the cabin, locking it behind him.

  He had to think and he couldn’t think straight when he was near her.

  Settling in the pilot’s seat, he stretched his long legs out and propped them on the console, staring out at the field as dusk settled over it.

  There was no sign of searchers.

  But maybe they were hiding in the jungle, waiting to see if he was foolhardy enough to come out?

  Mentally, he shrugged. Foolhardy or not, he was going to have to. He’d been so caught up in making off with Jane he’d forgotten all about the water for the narlo.

  Sitting up decisively, he grabbed his weapon and strode down the corridor to the hatch. Seeing no movement in the trees, he opened it and went out.

  Chapter Five

  The bucket was where he’d left it. He made three trips from the stream to the ship, until he was satisfied his cargo of narlo was well supplied with water. When he checked on Jane, he saw that she was still sleeping.

  Relieved, he returned to his seat in the cockpit to assess his predicament.

  He still couldn’t quite figure out what the situation was from what she’d told him. She’d said she had no sire, and had named no protector. She couldn’t already have been claimed or she wouldn’t have allowed him to mate with her.

  Unless her mate had died?

  If that was the case, though, there would have been a battle to claim her. She wouldn’t simply have been abandoned to her own devices. Occasionally, a particularly unpleasant, older female, might go unclaimed, but in general there were so many males desperate for any female they could get that even the most vicious, ugliest female had her choice.

  Maybe it was different here on Torrine? Maybe her tribe was so small that there were plenty of females to go around and the males didn’t fight over them like they did on Meeri?

  In a way, it made sense. The maned tribes had vanished from Meeri altogether, had sunk into mere legend. Perhaps a small group had managed to make it here in ancient times, when the races of Meeri had divided? The Torrine were the dominant race of Tor, however, and although they were willing enough to trade with the Meeri, there had never been any intermingling of the two races.

  It was forbidden by Tor law, and the Meeri considered with contempt.

  For their part, the Meeri simply found the Tor unappealing. Moreover, the Tor were just a little too fanatical in their customs to suit the Meeri folk. If the maned race had settled here and had not flourished--perhaps because of the miserable heat--then they could well have dwindled to no more than a handful in this time for they would certainly not have had the opportunity to mingle with the Tor even if they’d wanted to.

  Thinking about the Torrines and their customs sparked a memory of their earlier conversation and he puzzled over it.

  She’d been outraged when he’d talked about offering a mating price for her. She’d been insulted. There was no doubt in his mind about that. He had some trouble understanding the Torrine she spoke, but none at all understanding the emotions that flashed across her face.

  He could understand that her customs might be a good bit different than his, but to be insulted seemed extreme. What was wrong with offering compensation to the family that was losing a daughter? And it was more than that. It was proof that the male was a good provider and the daughter would live well. If he had been a sire giving up a daughter, he would certainly want to know that the male taking her would be taking very good care of her.

  That thought led to his mating with Jane and he found his body reacting accordingly, which brought him to another thing that puzzled him.

  The Meeri females seemed completely indifferent about mating. They were willing to do their duty and produce offspring, but it went no further than that. He was a healer. He’d had far more opportunity to observe this first hand than most Meeri males. He had not met a single one that embraced the situation with any enthusiasm, and it was only the most good-natured of females that allowed their mate occasional access to her charms if she’d already performed her duty.

  And yet Jane seemed wildly enthusiastic, to say the least. It hadn’t been because she wanted to produce, either. He was certain he hadn’t misunderstood her outrage at that suggestion.

  He couldn’t imagine what she’d meant by saying they weren’t the same species--a different race, yes, but obviously very closely related--the comment had made it clear, though, that she was not ready to breed offspring.

  He discovered he could not coolly consider that aspect. The moment his mind thought ‘breeding’, his body jumped to the ready and visions of Jane writhing beneath him, stroking him, surfaced, arousing him even more.

  He didn’t know what that thing with the mouth had been about--a very strange custom indeed, tasting one’s mate--
but it had felt almost as good as sliding through her hot, wet passage.

  He dragged in a shuddering breath, trying to cool his heated arousal.

  A low moan from the vicinity of his cabin didn’t help matters at all and he finally got up and left the ship again.

  After pacing the field near the ship for some time, Ja-rael realized that he needed

  to see if he could ascertain just how much trouble he was in for stealing Jane before it landed squarely on top of him.

  Ordinarily, it just was not done that a male stole his mate and then paid, but this was generally because a male didn’t get desperate enough to steal his mate except when he couldn’t pay. If they would just give him the chance, he would prove that he could and then he could take Jane and leave with an easy mind.

  Of course, he could anyway. The two worlds were already beginning to move apart again. In a few days they would be out of range of any ship from Tor--until next year, of course, and by then it would be far too late. He would have a cub off of Jane and her family couldn’t take her back. They’d have to settle for whatever he could pay.

  Or, they could kill him and take her back just to prove a point.

  He didn’t really want to have that hanging over his head, though. He wanted to enjoy his mate. Once everything was settled, he knew Jane would cease demanding to be taken back.

  Full darkness had descended by the time he made up his mind, but Ja-rael knew Jane’s delicate fragrance as well as he knew his own by now. He had very little trouble following her path.

  By the time the tiny orb that was Tor’s moon rose to light his way, Ja-rael had been wandering through the jungle for more than an hour and he was more puzzled than ever. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to her path. It simply wandered round and round through the jungle, crossing and re-crossing. He was on the verge of giving up and returning to the ship when he found a new path. This one seemed far more purposeful and he discovered when he’d followed it that it led to a large clearing.

  In the center of the clearing was the strangest domicile he’d ever seen. It was rounded, like a hill. In fact, from what he could see, it looked like it had been constructed from soil. There were windows, however, here and there, and light spilled from them.

  There wasn’t a sign of any sort of patrols beyond the domicile.

  There certainly wasn’t any sign of searchers.

  He didn’t know what to make of that. It occurred to him after a few moments, though, that maybe Jane’s tribe couldn’t see well at night. He couldn’t help but notice her pupils were strange. He hadn’t dwelt on the defect--that one little flaw in an otherwise perfect creature only made her more endearing to him--but what if it was a tribal trait? Such a trait would almost certainly affect their night vision.

  After several moments indecision, he decided to move closer for a better look. He’d been stomping through the clearing for some time before he realized it wasn’t a clearing at all. It was a garden, and probably the most pathetic garden he’d ever seen.

  He knelt, examining the plants.

  They didn’t look like anything he was familiar with, but it was pretty obvious from their stunted growth and limpness that the plants either didn’t grow well in this area or the tribe had no growing skills.

  Dismissing the puzzle for the moment, he moved more carefully toward the domicile. When he’d reached it, he began to circle it, glancing inside each time he came upon a window that was lit. Shock went through him at the very first window. It was Jane’s tribe all right. He could tell by the manes, but there was one male and two females in the room. It took him several moments to figure that out because the three were entwined.

  Outrage filled him when he realized that they were mating--all three of them.

  The male had two females? Two! It was the most grossly unjust thing imaginable, to think that they had enough females that a male could have two!

  They couldn’t possibly appreciate them as they should if they had such an abundance. Maybe that was why no search parties had come for Jane?

  His poor, darling mate! To think that she was such a beautiful creature and not even properly appreciated! They’d allowed her to wander off--alone--into the jungle and hadn’t even come to look for her when she’d gone missing!

  He was so angry that it was many moments before he actually began to notice what was proceeding in the room. He’d been watching for many minutes before it occurred to him that they were tasting each other--all over. Intrigued in spite of his outrage, he moved a little closer.

  The man began to suckle the women’s breasts. Ja-rael was repulsed at first, wondering if the males continued to suckle into adulthood, but then he noticed that the females seemed ecstatic over the attention and realized that it must give them both pleasure.

  He wasn’t particularly happy over that discovery and realized that, in the back of his mind, he’d thought the situation between himself and Jane totally unique, that she enjoyed him. Now it began to appear as if the females of her tribe simply enjoyed the mating act as much as the males did.

  Feeling oddly deflated, he was on the point of moving on when one of the females seized the male’s phallus and shoved it into her mouth. His heart skipped a beat. Instead of screaming in agony, however, as the female ate his phallus, the male looked as if he would pass out from the pleasure.

  Grabbing the other female, he buried his face against her mound.

  Ja-rael was certain he should have been revolted. Somehow, he wasn’t. In fact, he grew uncomfortably aroused watching them.

  Glancing around self-consciously, he moved away from the window, far more confused than he had been before he’d decided to search for Jane’s tribe. He saw others as he moved around the docile, young, old, and in between, some in pairs--only the one threesome--many completely alone.

  He did not see a single infant or even a young child.

  That disturbed him even more than what he’d witnessed in the first room and he made the rounds a second time. Finally, in a darkened room, he saw a tiny bed that seemed to indicate at least one child.

  He left then, returning to the ship when he realized he’d been gone far longer than he’d intended, but he was more disturbed than ever.

  Chapter Six

  Exhausted as she was from expending herself on Ja-rael, Elise had wildly erotic dreams much of the night. When she finally drifted gently toward consciousness again, the sense of well being that had surrounded her like a cocoon began to dissipate and anxiety took its place.

  It took her some time to figure out why she was anxious. When memory finally filtered through her sluggish brain, she woke fully and sat up, looking around nervously for the alien that had abducted her and seemed to be laboring under the impression that he’d found himself a mate.

  Finding herself alone, Elise slipped from the pallet and tiptoed to the door.

  It was locked.

  Frustrated, she pounded on it with her fist.

  The only response was a strange noise from the deck below.

  Wondering if the alien had captured other females, she lay down on the deck, rapping the surface with her knuckles, and then listening intently with her ear against the metal panel.

  The sound she heard that time was definitely animal, not intelligent life.

  That explained the smell.

  Before she could scramble to her feet, the door of the cabin opened. Embarrassed for no apparent reason, Elise jumped up. “You locked me in!” she said accusingly.

  He was carrying a container of some sort in each hand. He looked uncomfortable. “I wanted to ensure your safety, Jane.”

  “Right!” Elise snapped, then frowned. “Why are you calling me Jane?”

  He tilted his head curiously. “You said that was your name.”

  “I did not,” Elise said indignantly.

  His lips tightened at her tone. “When you called me Tarzan.”

  “But … never mind. Call me Jane if you want to, just call me gone! It’s been
fun. I really enjoyed it, but I have to get back now.”

  Closing the door firmly behind him, he set the containers he held on a table and moved toward her.

  Elise eyed him warily and took a few steps back.

  He stopped. “What is your name?”

  Elise studied him for several moments, but she really didn’t see the harm in telling him her name. “Elise Dampier.”

  “Leez?”

  “E-lise.”

  He couldn’t pronounce it. She didn’t know why she thought it was so cute the way he struggled with the unfamiliar sounds. Resolutely, she dismissed it. He wasn’t cute. He was a big, scary alien and it didn’t matter if he could fuck like a god. He’d kidnapped her. “My people will come for me if you don’t let me go!”

  “They are not. I checked.”

  “Those lazy fucking assholes! They probably haven’t even missed me yet.” They’d done a daily head count when they had first landed on Tor, but that was one security measure that had long since been disposed of. The climate was miserable, but there didn’t seem to be any particular threat, and they’d fallen into a grim routine of survival.

  He looked confused when she switched to English.

  “You may as well let me go. I’m of absolutely no use to you.”

  A mixture of amusement and irritation gleamed in his eyes. “We are mated.”

  “Will you stop with the mating thing, damn it! We are not mated! We can’t be mated. Can’t you see I’m not even the same species as you are? Even if I wanted to, its really doubtful that it would work--if you’re talking offspring here, and that’s what it sounds like to me.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Elise looked at him. He sounded genuinely surprised. “Did you miss the part where I told you I was from Earth? It’s another world on the other side of the universe. Do you know what the odds are that we’d be physiologically compatible? Astronomical, that’s what!”