by Ruby Dixon
The conversation with Aehako dies and the alien returns to stirring the fire. I sit by it with my legs crossed, lost in thought, until Raahosh returns. He’s got a kill in hand and judging from the arrow sticking out of the quill-beast, he used the bow I made for him. He must have watched me use it and figured it out from there. Wow. The wide smile I give him in greeting is genuine, and I get up to greet him with kisses.
He’s a little dazzled by my enthusiastic greeting, but puts his arm around me and nuzzles me close. And when he cuts open the kill, he makes sure I get the tastiest bits and feeds them to me, and won’t give the others – or himself – a bite until I’m good and full.
And really, it’s not the worst thing to be the center of someone’s universe. I’m kinda digging it.
And I plan on showing him my appreciation.
RAAHOSH
Liz’s good mood makes me wary. It’s a pleasure to see, of course, but I can’t help but wonder if my devious mate is up to something. She usually greets me with caustic words and grumpiness, but now that Aehako and Haeden are here? She is all smiles and reaches for me when I walk toward her.
I am not pleased to see the two men. They are good men, but the truth is that I would keep Liz to myself for at least a few more turns of the moons, so when we returned to my people, it would be clear that we are a family and we must be together.
Now, I am not sure what they will think. I have broken the laws of our tribe, and Liz’s belly is still flat with no sign of our child. My only consolation is that she smiles at me and her hands reach for me when I am near. It is clear that we are mates, and I can see the envy in both Aehako and Haeden’s eyes.
They did not resonate. For them, life goes on cold and mateless, but with the added agony of seeing so many others find their joy. For the first time, I am the envied one. It is an unusual feeling.
The evening is a quiet one. Aehako talks easily, but he’s always been a cheerful one. His conversations about hunting, and life back at the caves hold Liz’s interest, but her hand is locked in mine. Haeden is silent, but he watches every time Liz touches me or brushes her arm against mine.
As the hour grows late, Liz yawns and puts her cheek on my arm. “Can we go to bed now, baby?”
She is calling me the love word of her people. My heart swells and my khui begins a soft resonance in my chest. “Of course.” I stand up and pull her to her feet.
Haeden stands as well. “She should stay here, near the fire with us.”
Before I can snarl a protest, Liz snorts. “Uh, we’re resonating, remember?” She taps her chest and I can hear her khui singing a song to mine. “I thought the goal was that you wanted him to impregnate me so you can have more blue babies running around, right?”
Haeden’s jaw clenches. “We are protecting you.”
“From his jizz?” A little smile curves Liz’s pink mouth. “Bit late for that. Now, I’m gonna go sleep with my mate.” She takes my hand and leads me a short distance away from the fire, near some bushes. With a yawn, she shrugs her cloak off and then gestures at the pack on my back. “Blankets, please.”
Wordless, I obey. I make a bed full of furs for her, since I know my human can only take so much cold. Even now, she shivers amidst her yawns. When the bed is as perfect as I can get it, I take the cloak from her hands and bundle it around her shoulders. “You must stay warm.”
“Oh, I’m going to stay warm,” she says with a soft smile. “We’re going to snuggle.”
I look over at the fire a short distance away. Aehako and Haeden are watching us. I’m not sure if ‘snuggling’ is a good idea. Already I am resonating for my mate, and my cock is beginning to strain against my loincloth. “Perhaps I should sleep by the fire.”
“Fuck that noise,” she says sleepily. She gets down onto the furs, stretches out, and then pets the spot next to her. “Come on. I’ll make it good for you.”
Those are sex words. My body reacts even as I glance back at the fire again. She must not mean what she is saying. The humans are modest, from what Vektal has said. Shorshie didn’t want his touch when others were around. It is just more human chatter.
“Brr,” she says, and chatters her teeth. “So cold. I need my big alien to squeeze up against.”
I cannot refuse such a call from my mate. With one last look at the two men by the fire, I get down in the bed next to Liz and she immediately burrows against me, her cold hands moving under my vest and pressing against my skin. I endure it stoically; I want her to be comfortable and warm. My arms go around her, holding her close, and I tuck her small head under my chin. My khui sings a song of protest, but I am content. With Liz in my arms, the world outside does not matter at the moment.
“Mmm,” Liz says softly, her hand stroking my chest.
I caress her arm under the furs. “Liz?”
“Yes, baby?”
“What is jizz?”
She giggles, and my cock gets even harder. “It’s your seed.”
I feel strangely embarrassed that she has said such things to the other males. She jokes about being protected from my seed? “Your words are forward.”
“I know, but they don’t understand them so it’s cool,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. Her hand slides down my stomach and then cups my cock. “There’s no protecting a girl from this monster.”
My breath hisses out and I pull her hand away. “Liz!” I sit up and look between the spiky leaves of the bushes to where the fire flickers. Sure enough, they are watching us, though I doubt they can see more than our feet.
I am sure they can hear Liz, though. My mate is not quiet.
“Lie down,” she tells me, and presses a hand to my chest.
“They can hear you.”
“So?” Her hand goes to my cock again and she drags her fingers over the length, then caresses my spur. “Let them hear what they’re missing out on.”
I swallow back a ragged groan. My khui is resonating wildly in my breast, and Liz seems determined to play. And I? I am a weak man because I am going to let her. I reach for Liz, but she slides under the blankets.
“Let me make you feel good,” she whispers, and I feel her tugging at the ties to my loincloth. Then, the leather falls away and I feel her hot little hand around my cock.
I bite down on my hand to keep from moaning aloud. I don’t want the others to know what pleasures I’m getting from my mate, for fear that she’ll stop. Because I’m selfish and greedy, but I want more of this.
Her hand tightens around the base of my cock and I feel her when she giggles, then rubs the head against her lips. “God, you’re so hard already. That’s sexy, Raahosh.” Liz’s lips close over my cock-head and I feel her tongue swirl over it.
I nearly spill my seed right then. Instead, I bite down harder on my hand, determined to be silent so this lasts longer. My body arches, and I want to press further into her mouth, into that warm wet that reminds me of her cunt.
Her tongue laps at my cock. “So much pre-cum for me,” she murmurs. Her hand grips and strokes at the root, and then her mouth seems to be everywhere: licking along my shaft, nibbling at the head, and then teasing and licking at my spur, which I never knew was sensitive until she played with it. I am beside myself with pleasure, and when she makes soft little noises of delight and her khui vibrates, it pleases me even more.
Then, her mouth clamps down on the head of my cock and starts sucking again. She takes me deeper, working my length down her tongue, until I can feel my cock butt up against the back of her throat.
And her khui begins to vibrate even harder. It’s like she’s encouraging it, because it’s so loud that I can feel it making her skin shiver, and I feel the vibrations of it against her tongue, even as she grips me in her throat.
It is…like nothing I have ever felt before.
Even biting my hand cannot stifle my groan, and I come then, my seed spurting into her hot, wet mouth. She makes soft little noises of pleasure, and I feel her swallow even as she relea
ses my cock, and she’s drinking it.
Drinking my seed like I drink from her sweet cunt. I groan again, and my hands tug at her pants. I want to reciprocate.
But she stops me with a little pat on my chest and a smack of her lips. “It’s okay, baby. I wasn’t doing this because I wanted you to lick me.” Her hand smooths down my chest. “I just wanted to make you feel good. For you to know I’m with you.” A little giggle escapes her throat, the sound sweet and musical. “And for them to know I’m with you, too.”
Clever Liz. She pleasures me with her mouth so the others can know she’s with me willingly? My mate is devious…and wonderful. I pull her against me, feeling my khui resonate in time with hers.
“You are everything to me, Liz,” I say softly. “My world. My heart.”
“Is that a declaration of love?” she asks sleepily, her voice muffled by my chest.
I nod. My people normally do not declare love boldly, but I love Liz. She is mine and I am hers. “I love you, Liz.”
Her soft sound of appreciation is all I get in response. I wonder – does she love me? Does it matter as long as she is my mate? For some reason…it does. Perhaps I’m not doing enough to please her.
My hand goes to the waist of her leggings and I push my fingers inside, seeking her cunt. She makes a sleepy sound of protest, and then her arms go around my neck and tighten as I find her third nipple – her clit, she calls it. Then, the breath hisses out of her throat.
“I guess I’m in the mood for some reciprocation after all,” she says, and then gently bites at the base of my throat.
Her cunt is soaked with honey, and I drag my fingers through her juicy folds even as I knot my other hand in her hair and angle her mouth so I can kiss her and mate her tongue with mine. She whimpers again, the sound louder, and I muffle it with my lips. Surely the others can guess what we are doing, but Liz’s cries of pleasure are mine alone.
I slide a finger deep inside her and begin to thrust, mimicking my cock. Her hips raise, and she murmurs against my throat. “My clit,” she says over and over again, and I realize she wants me to touch it even as I pump into her with my hand. I angle my thumb over it and brush the nub of it while thrusting my finger into her, and she cries out loudly. This time, there is no muffling that. I hear a low comment by the fire, and then the sound of someone walking away – further from the camp.
Good, I think savagely as I pleasure my mate. When she comes, she does it with little shivers and soft cries, her body tensing against mine, and a flood of honey between her legs. I dip my fingers into all that sweetness before I pull them from her leggings and then lick my hand clean of her taste.
“Filthy barbarian,” she murmurs with a chuckle, and then sighs, contented. Within moments, she’s asleep against me. Trusting. Happy.
I hold her close, savoring these moments in case they don’t last.
LIZ
The tribal ‘home’ cave doesn’t look too impressive from the outside. In fact, the only way I know it’s different from every other cliff we’ve passed is that Georgie flings herself out from the cave mouth, arms outstretched and squealing happily at the sight of me.
I’m surprised to see such an effusive greeting from her, but I extend my arms and allow her to jump all over me in a boisterous welcome. A moment later, Josie’s right there, flinging her arms around me next, until I’m being swarmed by my fellow captives. It’s strange to see everyone with the glowing blue eyes, though I know I must have them, too. The glow in our eyes says we have a cootie, and everyone’s healthy and happy-looking. Weirdly enough, I feel tears pricking. It’s like I’m coming home, especially when Kira comes in and embraces me in a long, silent hug. She and I have known each other the longest, and seeing her is like seeing a sister. I burst into tears at that and blubber for a moment, sniffling and happy to see all of them. I touch Kira’s ear, where the shell-like translator is still attached. “Hanging on to your accessories,” I tease, happy.
“It’s not so easy to remove,” she says with a soft smile on her solemn face, and then steps away to allow Tiffany in to hug me.
As Kira steps away, I see Aehako move toward her, opening his arms for a hug. “No greeting for me, sad eyes?”
Kira blushes and waves him off.
“How are you?” Georgie asks, pulling me by my arm and tugging me into the cave. “Are you all right? Have you guys been okay? Did Raahosh hurt you?”
I look back at Raahosh as I’m being carried away on a tide of happy human women. He’s standing back with Aehako and Haeden, and the narrow-eyed look has returned to his face, but for a moment, I think he looks…lost. Miserable.
“Raahosh has been wonderful to me,” I say loudly. I blow him a kiss from afar, and then let Georgie and Tiffany drag me inside the caves.
The ‘home’ caves aren’t what I’m expecting. I guess I was thinking it’d be something super primitive, much like the cave I shared with Raahosh, but the cave itself looks like the hollowed out inside of a donut. If this isn’t man-made, I’ll eat my leather shirt. The doors to each individual cave are perfectly rounded, a leather curtain drawn over the entrance. The center of the cave is warm and almost humid, and there’s a bright blue pool of water in the center that smells faintly of sulfur. A baby alien with tiny horns and bright blue skin splashes on the steps, clinging to what must be a female alien. She’s tall and brawny and just as covered in bumpy plates as Raahosh and the men are, which looks almost overwhelming on her female face.
It’s weird, because there are people everywhere, and I’m quickly overwhelmed by the sensation of crowding. There’s more people playing near the water, and someone’s weaving baskets in the distance. I hear the chatter of many voices, and everywhere I look, there are people. I see the freckled girl from the tubes leaning over a stewpot as someone tries to instruct her on how to cook. Over off to one side, the weepy one – Ariana – is cuddled in the lap of another alien. She doesn’t look all that weepy to me.
“Wow, this is so…” I pause, unable to think of a snappy comeback for once.
“It’s great, isn’t it?” Georgie’s arm goes around my waist. “They’ve really made room for us here. The hunters have been going out and spending a lot more time on the trails because there’s so many more mouths to feed. And Kashrem’s tanning all the hides he can because he needs the leather for us, and they’ve given us caves, and it’s all so wonderful.” Georgie gushes as she leads me inside.
It is nice of them, but all I see are people everywhere. A lot of people. It’s a nice living space, but it’s also noisy with laughter. I kind of miss my quiet cave with Raahosh. It is primitive, but cozy. It’s not like there’s exactly a shopping mall here anyhow. Fact is, my life changed completely and utterly the day that the Little Green Men kidnapped me from my apartment and stole me into outer space.
Georgie steers me through the caverns, smiling at people as they find an excuse to come out and stare. I guess Raahosh’s kidnapping of me is pretty scandalous, though I’m getting annoyed with all the whispering. He did what he had to do and I don’t regret it. I’m guessing we’re going to be grist for the gossip mill for a while, though. It’s such a small community that I’m sure everyone’s going to be in our business.
I look for Raahosh, but he’s not around. Vektal’s ahead, talking to a pair of elderly aliens with long, white hair and frowns on their faces. Vektal looks over at Georgie and me, and nods.
“Come on,” Georgie says, steering me into a side cave. “Let’s get you checked out by the healer.”
“I’m fine,” I protest, but Georgie’s stubborn. She won’t take no for an answer, so I give up and let her lead me into one of the covered grottos.
There’s a woman inside, one of the tall, strong-looking alien women. She has curling horns and long, flowing dark hair. Her belly is round and obviously pregnant, and her eyes glow brightly in her face. She says something in the alien tongue, her voice sweet.
I shake my head. “I don’t speak Na’vi.”
Georgie snickers and bats my arm. “Be nice, Liz. This is Maylak. She’s the tribe’s healer.”
“Howdy,” I say.
Maylak puts her hands out and smiles at me. “Leezh?”
“Close enough.” I put my hands in hers. “But tell her, Georgie, that I feel fine. Raahosh took really good care of me. He’s great.”
Georgie’s brows draw together as if she doesn’t quite believe me. “He kidnapped you, Liz. You don’t have to defend him.”
“Dude, the Little Green Men kidnapped me too, and you don’t see me singing their praises.” I give Maylak’s hands another squeeze. “I’m telling you, Raahosh is fine. We’re all mated and shit. So go on and tell the healer that I’m cool.” I love Georgie for saving us, but I’m starting to get annoyed that no one seems to believe me when I say I’m fine with Raahosh. When she hesitates again, I say, “Do I look like I’ve been browbeaten into submission?”
She chuckles. “I think you would talk anyone to death that tried.”
“Exactly!”
Georgie looks over at Maylak and speaks the fluid alien language. I watch their faces as they speak, but I’m unhappy that I don’t know the words. Georgie knows them because she got an info dump from the spaceship crashed somewhere around here that Raahosh’s people came from. Raahosh can speak English for the same reason, but I haven’t had the info dump, so I’m out of the loop. And I’m not a fan of being out of the loop.
Maylak says something, then Georgie relates it. “She’s going to speak to your khui and see how you are doing.”
“Super. Tell it I said hello and he’s a little bastard.”
Georgie grins and gestures for Maylak to begin.
The alien closes her eyes and hums, and for a terrible, corny minute, I think she’s going to start chanting ‘ommmm’. But her eyes begin to glow even brighter, so bright that I can see the glow behind her eyelids, and my cootie starts to react. It’s not singing or purring like it does when Raahosh comes close, but it’s almost like it’s…talking to her. I feel it twisting inside me, and then it almost dances.