by Viola Grace
“Why? Why are you making us leave?” Her breath was coming in gasps, the pace he set was far beyond her ability to maintain.
“This is not your home.” He scowled at her and slowed slightly.
“It isn’t your home either. When the colony ship landed here, they didn’t do it because they wanted to, they were out of fuel and this was the only suitable planet within reach.” Her throat was raw and burning with thirst. “Is there anywhere I can find a drink of water?”
T’bir looked down at her in surprise. “There is a stream to your right, can’t you smell it?”
She scowled and tugged on his grip. “No, but it would explain why I feel more humidity coming from that direction. Will you let me go?”
He looked at her hand and let go, as if unaware he had been hauling her along.
She took a few careful steps to her right and when the small trickle of water splashed over her boot, she dropped to the ground and lifted a handful of the liquid to her lips. It soothed her and she sighed happily, ignoring the cool breeze that was ruffling her skirt and chilling her thighs.
* * * *
He fought the urge to howl in frustration. The pose she was in was far too close to the Sethen prime mating posture for his peace of mind. The wrapping of her dress narrowed her waist, causing the flare of her hips to be exaggerated. Just the kind of target his hands had in mind.
As she drank, he closed his eyes, trying to expunge the image of her hips in his hands and his cock deep inside her. With a desperate growl, he shifted to his four footed form.
He crept up next to her and lapped at the water, inhaling her scent and imprinting it on his memories. Her trail had not done her justice, the vibrancy of her health and vitality came through in the sweet perfume of her flesh.
His wolf form allowed him to examine and be with her without wanting to flip her to her back or thrust into her from behind. T’bir had never imagined that he would feel this strongly about a woman he had not been formally introduced to, but something about Sophie Redding called to him.
He nudged her with his head and herded her back to the path. Her thigh was even with his shoulder so it was easy for him to keep her moving.
The patrols flanked them on either side so his prisoner was forced to move along with him. He didn’t know if she was aware of the men a few hundred metres to either side, but they were as interested in sniffing out hidden humans as he was.
Their species was becoming more fascinating to him by the second.
* * * *
Sophie struggled along for what seemed like hours and as they broke free of the forest, Northton opened in front of her. It was an empty wasteland. No humans were visible anywhere.
Her escort reformed into his speaking form. “Where would your grandmother be?”
With her lower lip trembling, she pointed to a ruin of a home on the outskirts of the town. “Her home should be there.”
She started to walk, then run to the disaster site, her companion hung back as if loathe to disturb her in her grief.
The smell of open air was inside the threshold. Windows were broken and rubble was strewn across the floor. Glass crunched under her boots as she moved from room to room. Her Gran was nowhere to be seen.
In a last desperate attempt to find the woman who raised her, Sophie entered the bedroom and came to a halt at the image that seared itself into her mind.
A huge black wolf was on the bed, licking his fur clean of blood. He looked up and growled as she approached, so Sophie took a step back, and then another. Her heel turned on a chunk of rubble and she ended up on the floor with the wolf coming toward her with his fangs bared.
The eyes of the wolf gleamed with intent as he gathered himself for an attack. She whimpered softly as she tried to push herself back to her feet, but she had only managed to kneel on the skirt that tangled her legs before he was in the air and his fangs were bared for her neck.
A low growl behind her caused tears to prick her eyes. Two wolves were going to rip her to pieces, she was doomed.
The smoke grey wolf tackled the black in a whirl of fur and fang.
T’bir may have been irritated with her, but he was coming to her defence. She would know that furry tail anywhere.
Sophie got back on her feet and ran. She left her Gran’s house and bolted back into the forest. If T’bir was busy with the other Sethen, she had a chance to make a break for it.
The branches clawed at her body and clothing, but she kept going, hoping that T’bir was all right, but that he would be too wounded to follow her.
* * * *
The younger male was pinned to the floor and T’bir growled for the youngling to hold still. When the dark wolf slumped under him, he relaxed and backed off. He shifted to his feet and grabbed the young man by the scruff of his neck. “What are you doing here?”
The male whined, “We didn’t want the patrols having all the fun so we have been hunting some of the humans who refused to be evacuated.”
The blond hair and innocent blue eyes were somewhat marred by the blood smeared across his face and chest.
T’bir cursed. “How many of you?”
“A dozen or more. We slipped out in a few small shuttles and have been harrying the populace.”
T’bir kept his grip on the young man and shoved him outside. A raised arm brought one of the patrols to his side. “We have one of the rogues. Take him into custody. Where is Sophie?”
The patrol leader grinned. “She’s running through the woods. Two of my men are watching her.”
T’bir exposed his teeth in a smile that expressed more clearly than anything what he was feeling. Hunting one’s mate was part of Sethen courtship and whether she knew it or not, Sophie was waving her tail in his face.
“Collect all humans and rogues in the area. Make a body count for charges. When you send the signal, a skimmer will be dispatched to collect your findings.”
The patrol leader nodded. “You are going after her?”
“Like it or not, Sethen or not, she’s mine.” He shrugged and the leader nodded solemnly, it happened. Sethen occasionally were spurred to find mates outside their species and when it happened, it was generally considered a good thing. Fresh genes kept their species moving forward.
“Then, before she lets the forest bludgeon her to death, you had best go collect your mate, Commander.”
T’bir shoved the rogue into the arms of the patrol leader and shifted to his wolf form, howling as the mate hunt truly began.
* * * *
Sophie stopped in place as the howl sounded in the distance. It didn’t chill her, it had the opposite effect, heating her blood and giving her the feeling of arousal that eclipsed her experience. It was like having the air in her vicinity stroke and warm every inch of her body.
Trembling, she stumbled forward, deeper into the darkness of the woods.
* * * *
He could smell blood and aroused female as he chased her. She was close and he was reducing the distance between them with every stride. There was nowhere she could hide that he wouldn’t find her. Her essence was burned into his mind and he would follow her through time itself if he had to.
She was crashing through the brush just ahead of her and he slowed his pace while he stalked her. She was almost to a small clearing and that is where he would make his move.
Sophie would have a choice to make, she could either be his, or be sent off with her own people. He was really hoping she followed her instincts because his told him all he needed to know.
* * * *
Sophie stopped short as she entered a clearing with a small stream running through it. She stumbled to the edge of the water and drank her fill. As she raised her head, the sight of T’bir sitting casually across from her froze her and warmed her at the same time.
“Hello, Sophie.”
She swallowed. “Hello, T’bir. Glad to see you made it out of the fight with the other wolf intact.”
“You could have just run t
o safety. You didn’t need to keep going, or did you forget that you were supposed to accompany me back to the holding area?”
She cleared her throat as he frowned at her with a mocking expression. “It did escape my thoughts. I merely wanted to get as far away from that place of death as I could.”
“It wasn’t all death. That boy had the blood of a farm animal on him. They may have hunted your people, but they weren’t killing them.” He nodded and stood, stepping over the stream and lifting her to her feet.
“Are you sure?”
“There was no human death in that town. It is most likely that your grandparent was simply rounded up and is at the holding centre.” His hand threaded into her hair. “Now we have another matter to discuss.”
She licked her lips nervously, her body humming at his proximity. “What would that matter be?”
“Why you are never going to run from me again.” His mouth took hers in a heated possession and she wove her hands into his clothing, pulling him tightly to her.
His hands pried her dress from her body and swept her panties off her thighs. She was wearing nothing but her boots when he placed her on the grass on her hands and knees.
A fever of lust was running through her, his scent surrounded her and she bit her lip as his hands caressed every inch of her, never quite sliding between her thighs. The moisture her body was generating was causing her to blush as he inhaled while he nipped his way down her spine. When his lips trailed over her tailbone, instinct took over and she lifted her hips and widened her stance in invitation.
His laugh wasn’t unkind, but his fingers sliding to test the heat and wetness that signalled her readiness made her moan and flush with embarrassment. She tried to move away, but his hands on her hips and the low growl from his throat froze her in place.
When the blunt presence of his cock made space in her channel, her body shifted in an effort to escape the pressure. She whimpered when his fingers held her tightly, he worked himself into her with ruthless determination until he was fully seated.
The feeling of a male inside her wasn’t foreign, but the heat pulsing from T’bir was. Her own flesh caught fire when he started to move. They rocked together in a slow harmony that took on notes of high passion. Tension spiralled tightly in her core as the scrape and slide of his body within hers sent her to her elbows as she fought to come.
Her voice drove off all the wildlife in the area as it took on a high and breathy pitch. Each thrust and pounding of his hips brought her closer and closer to release until he lifted her in his arms and in a move that sent her shrieking into orgasm, he bit her.
Her scream of release hadn’t died in the air when he groaned against her neck. His hips shoved against her and she felt him flex within her. A spill of heat coursed inside her and she rocked her hips in response which sent a fluttering reaction through her channel once again.
Sweat coated her torso. When he released her neck, he lapped at the salt and a high pitched whine came from him. “I apologize. I didn’t mean for it to be so…fast.”
Sophie was slowly reassembling her thoughts. “It’s fine, but…why are you still in me?”
He chuckled. “I will be stuck here for a few minutes. A species peculiarity.”
T’bir took her hand and led it to the point of connection between them. He was swollen and tight inside her opening.
“Are you serious?” She was shocked. In her limited experience, this was not something that had ever happened before.
He nuzzled at her neck and shoulder, licking at the wounds he had left. “Very. It is a difficult moment when another male tries to interrupt so we usually mate in as much privacy as we can obtain.”
“Mate?”
“Yes. You sing out to me with your scent, your presence and that obviously red dress. Why are you wearing such a thing?”
She cleared her throat, unable to look him in the eye due to their connection. “I was on my way to a fancy dress party. There was a headset and a sceptre and then the house was shaken by the first strike. We listened to the demands on the com and then ran as far as we could as your people tried to round us up. I never had time to change.”
“It’s a lovely costume, it made it very easy to spot you in the forest.”
“That was not my intent.”
He chuckled and slid his hands up to cup her breasts. “I am sure it wasn’t. If it makes you feel better, aside from a few casualties in the initial attack before we knew you were only colonists, no others have died. We thought you had taken over our breeding world.”
She jerked against him and winced as the movement tugged him sharply. “Your what?”
“Our breeding world. This planet is and has always been a Sethen breeding planet. Men and women of appropriate age come here and create the next generation. In fifteen years, we will have the start of a new population and a ship will come to take them to a training world.”
“Why here, why this world?”
“It is wild, unspoiled. We can plant our prey species here and live lives of quiet reflection, hunting and planting for our future.”
He shifted, testing their connection. She flinched in response. “Your people prefer to live in the wild?”
T’bir chuckled. “No, we have an underground city here, maintained by bots and systems. When the landing craft are ready, we will send the signal and call the city to the surface.”
A feeling of dread came over her. “And your city is under ours.”
He smoothed a hand down her torso from shoulder to hip. “The attack that your people spoke of was not an attack at all. We merely sent the signal to the city and began waking the systems. It shifted under you and caused building collapses.”
She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes. It made horrible sense. “What about the wolf that tried to attack me?”
“A rogue teen. They have been hunting and hounding your people into the evacuation sites. It is a test of manhood for them.” He slipped free of her and a rush of their combined fluids ran down her inner thigh.
She gasped, a hot blush ran across her face and upper chest. “Does that always happen?”
He laughed and helped her to her feet. He turned her and gave her a kiss that had her clinging to him again. “You will get used to it.”
Sophie licked her lips, taking the taste of him into her. His body was as naked as hers and aside from some unusual musculature, he seemed very compatible to her own body. “Why me?”
He smiled and cupped her jaw line. “Why not you? You eluded capture, made it cross country in a dress designed for the bedroom and still kept your wits about you when confronted by a creature who threatened your life. I am guessing that you have all the requisites for a Sethen mate or my body would not react this way to yours.”
“Do I get a choice in the matter?” Her plaintive voice sounded whiney even to her own ears.
“You already made your choice. If you were not attracted to me, your body would not have been sending signals to draw me to you. It was most insistent.” He nuzzled her neck, behind her ear and down her torso.
She shivered as he sucked on each nipple in turn. He certainly seemed to know what he was doing. As he drew at her breast, he pulled away and she saw the flash of fangs. He was careful with them, but she touched her shoulder and found the marks he had left behind. They could go through skin as easily as a knife.
She was rocking with his suction, the grazing of his teeth adding to her sensual haze. T’bir stroked his fingers against her opening before sliding them inside and stroking her with two fingers and her clit was rubbed by his thumb.
Her body was still sensitive and she screamed when her clit throbbed and a heated release took her. Her knees gave way and she fell against him.
“Commander!” a voice came through the woods. “Agent N’lien has sent a skimmer for you, they are waiting five hundred metres to the north.”
T’bir groaned and pressed his forehead between her breasts. “Acknowled
ged. We will be there in a few minutes.”
“Oh God. They know…” Heat ran through her skin, dying her pink.
“You are very vocal and very red.” His smile was pure devilish male. “Get dressed and we will find your grandmother.”
He dressed himself and helped her into her clothing after she had rinsed away the residue of their first coupling.
T’bir wrapped his arm around her waist and led her through the forest to the humming skimmer full of Sethen and humans. The humans were dirty, battered and scared, but a few managed a sneer for Sophie as she entered the skimmer.
One even muttered, “Fuck your way to freedom, why didn’t I think of that?”
Ashamed, Sophie stood against the rails and watched the landscape slide by. There was the spot she had been hauled out of the water, there was the river that had transported her, the bridge that she had jumped from and the buildings that now showed obvious evidence of earthquake.
T’bir kept his arm around her and his hand stroked her hair in a soothing manner. “Soon. You will be safe soon and nothing they say can change the one fact that you are mine and I am yours.”
His low murmur calmed her, buoyed her spirits. He spoke in low tones to an officer who used the com to issue some directives. Soon they were landing in the front yard of the evacuation centre and a beloved and familiar face was walking out of a crowd toward her.
“Gran!” She went from dejection to elation in that moment. As the door to the skimmer opened, she bolted down and flung herself into the arms of the woman who had raised her.
“Sophie! Oh I am so happy to see you.” Agatha Redding hugged her granddaughter tightly and Sophie couldn’t have been happier. “Dear, what are you wearing?”
Sophie blushed and then felt a familiar presence behind her. “Agatha Redding, this is Commander T’bir. He brought me here to find you.”
When T’bir snaked an arm around her waist, she almost crawled into the ground. Gran’s eyes widened and she nodded with understanding, a small smile playing around her lips.
T’bir’s voice rumbled through the enclosure. “I am pleased to meet you, Madam. Sophie has been most worried on your behalf.”