by Aubrey Cara
There isn’t anything out here that’s going to get me…my gaze darts to the tree branches searching for the alien equivalent of snakes. I’m not sure if there are anything like snakes here, but that doesn’t stop me from picking up a long, sturdy stick, and thumping the ground as I walk, just in case. I remember my papa telling us children the vibrations scare them away.
There’s a definite thump nearby. Then a shuffling of leaves. Brandishing my knife, I wheel around, not seeing anything.
“Situs?” I call. “Jual?”
There’s a low snarling growl from behind me and I jump, turning. A scream tears from my throat. I throw my knife but miss by miles.
The creature lunges forward, claws swiping. It has a body much like a badger, and black, feral beady eyes. I scream again, as its long talon-like claw leave a bloody, burning trail over my calf.
I try to beat it back with my stick, but it’s only makes it snarl and hiss with renewed fury.
A much lower, louder growl rumbles around us. Both the creature and I freeze. The hair on my arms stands up. About twenty feet away stands a cross between a bear and a lion and a nightmare. The beast’s dark, shaggy hair hangs in lanky tangles around its massive head and shoulders. Even on all fours, it must be as tall as I am.
I can’t breathe.
Its predatory eyes lock on mine. Saliva drips from its long fangs as it growls again.
Horror fills my veins with ice as the beast crouches low.
SITUS
I cannot find our mate in the shuttle. Calling her name, I get no answer. I tromp through the thick foliage of the forest behind our makeshift abode, my feet not making a sound. My internal sensors work to even my heart rate, but a sense of urgency has my pulse spiking again and again.
My body gives off no scent or thermal signature. Not so with my little mate. Twigs snap, foliage shuffles. I pause to scent the air and head in the opposite direction.
“Hannah?”
A scream rends the air, and I race at top speed. Her terror pulses through me before I see her lithe form backed against a tree. She still wears our shirts, one as a top and a second as a skirt, the collar stretched to accommodate her waist, the sleeves tied behind her. The hemline of the skirt is torn and a long bodied yhgl, with short legs, snarls at her feet. She holds it off with a stick.
Her legs already show blood.
Growling, I step to the yhgl, and it tries to run. I grab it by its scruffy neck and snap. Its body goes limp, and I toss it aside.
Face soaked with tears, Hannah leans heavily against the trunk of the tree, staring over my shoulder. She trembles, her heart hammering loud enough the beat echoes in my ears and my cybernetics work to mute the sound.
Bloody scrapes and scratches mar her skin from her feet to her face. She still clutches a puny stick.
“Situs.” My name sounds strangled out of her. With a trembling finger, she points behind me.
I turn my head. A massive vaynka leaps at me with a low roar, claws drawn. Extending my arm, I blast it, dodging being shredded. The beast is knocked back. It hits the ground with a yelp but comes up snarling.
Channeling my cybernetics, I set my blaster to high, and the second wave finishes the beast off before it can get back up. Vaynka should not be this far north during the warm season. Normally, I would relish the challenge of taking down such a creature with my bare hands but now choose the efficiency of my internal weapons. I blast it again and again until I can sense no life left in it.
Wandering over to its prostrate form, I sever its spine with my laser, to be sure it stays down. I do not want another surprise attack while dealing with my mate.
Wide-eyed, she still trembles against the tree where I found her.
I want to rail and shout but only manage to grit out, “What are you doing out here?”
“Is-is it dead?” She still hasn’t taken her gaze from where the beast lies.
“Of course it is dead.” The vaynka’s eyes are sightless, its tongue lolling out to droop on the ground. Did she not see me kill it? “I asked you why you are out in the woods…alone.”
As if coming back to herself and her surroundings, she shifts uncomfortably. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she speaks. “I needed to go…outside. Nature called.” Her face colors at her words.
“How does nature call you?” I do not understand this. “You do not go outside no matter how it asks you. Not without Jual or I.”
“I had to-to empty my bladder,” she squeaks.
I scent the lie in her words, yet she still colors. I shake my head. The fact she finds voiding to be an embarrassment is another thing about our mate I do not understand. “Why did you not seek out Jual or I?”
I thought she knew better than to go out on her own.
She raises her chin in defiance. “I just needed to go to the bathroom. I wasn’t going far. I thought it would be fine.”
Folding my arms over my chest, I nod toward the dead little beast then at the big beast. “Those are two of the many reasons you do not go out alone.”
She colors once again. “The blinkin’ badger came out of nowhere, an-and th-that thing—” She points at the vaynka. “I didn’t even know that existed.”
I do not rationalize that animals such as the vaynka and yhgl are the reason Jual and I accompany her when her “nature” calls her. I do not even point out the proper names of the beasts. I scan my internal data for a badger and see it is similar to the yhgl in many ways. Though small, still beast that would have ripped her to pieces.
And she believes she would have been fine.
Without thinking, I step into her space, my sensors working to calm me once again. I am furious she put herself in harm’s way. “You are never safe here. Do you not understand that?”
“You are too cautious,” she says, timid yet defiant.
This is the closest I have come to her since we landed, and it is only now I notice the heat from her body. See the wild pulse at the base of her throat. I raise my fingers, feeling the frantic beat under my fingertips. Take in her scent. River water, earth, and something soft and uniquely her. A trace of fear. It makes me angry, even as it stirs my lifebringer. “I could take you now, like this.” I crowd even more into her space. “You, more than anyone, should know the dangers.”
She flinches, and I almost step back. Her delicate skin must be scraping along the rough bark of the tree. But then I think how any Monrok could have come upon her and taken advantage. I think of all the animals on this planet that could rip her apart.
“I’m not scared of you.” She raises her chin another notch, surprising me, but her pupils are dilated, and she reeks of fear.
Foolish female.
She should be scared.
“Do you believe the god you pray to will save you from me? Save you from the others?” My cock aches with need for her. The same way it aches every day and night I watch her kneel in prayer, naive and innocent of all the ways I want to strip her down and thrust inside her.
She swallows thickly. “You wouldn’t hurt me.”
Says the female I nearly destroyed. But she is correct. I would never knowingly hurt her in that way again. That does not mean I will not punish her for her rash decisions that could have gotten her killed.
I yank her forward and bend her over. I do not want to discipline our mate, but she has given me no choice. Securing an arm around her waist, my free hand comes down on her presented bottom with a slap. Her body tenses, but I sense only shock, no pain, so I bring my palm down hard enough to make it sting.
“Situs,” she gasps. “You can’t spank me!” She pushes and wiggles, her legs kicking out, but I bring my hand firmly down again and again. Her shouts fill the air, along with the cracks of my hand. She thrashes in my hold. But I still spank her little upturned bottom until her body deflates, and she starts crying pitifully.
A curious scent fills my senses. For the first time, she does not smell of Jual. Every day, his scent lingers on her, mockin
g me. Instead of being soothed by her clean aroma, I am incensed. Jual and I fought and killed to protect her. It makes me want to spank her again for her carelessness.
I set her on her feet as she sniffles back tears. She wipes them away, refusing to look at me.
“Pick your switch,” I tell her.
Her red rimmed eyes cut to me, and I harden myself against the emotions rolling off her. “What?”
“Cutting a switch for punishment. That is something they do on Earth, no?”
Her mouth opens and closes. “Well, yes, but-but only children. I learned my lesson.”
“I will tell you when you have learned your lesson. Now, pick a switch.” I snatch up a small handmade blade by my feet and hand it to her. “Or I will find one for you.”
She stands staring at the knife and then back up at me. “You’re serious.”
I nod once.
With a trembling hand, she takes the blade, clutching it so hard in her fist, for a moment I wonder if she will cut herself. Her feet crunch loudly in the leaves, though she steps lightly. I notice her slight limp. The tender soles of her feet are likely cut from her outing in the woods. I will punish her for that also. She has shown a blatant disregard for her safety.
She walks over to a young tree, shooting me worried glances over her shoulder. She chooses a thicker branch, but it’s still no broader than my thumb, and struggles to cut it from the tree.
I could snap the branch off for her but wait with my arms crossed over my chest until she is finished. Giving up her struggle, she cuts a thinner branch from the tree but gives it a sour look.
When she turns back around, fire blazes in her eyes.
I hold out my hand.
Unwilling to meet my gaze, but glaring just the same, she places the switch and blade in my palm. While she is watching, I cut off all the extra little growths of leaves until the branch is nothing but a smooth two-foot switch tapering down to a thin point.
I give it a practice flick, and it creates a pleasing whoosh of sound. “Turn around, and get into position.”
Some of the fire dims in her eyes, and she’s frowning again, but she turns. Her bottom sticks out as she leans forward, bracing her hands on the broad tree trunk in front of her. My cybernetics amplify her racing heart, and its wild beat pulses in my ears, calling forth my inner predator.
“Bare yourself.” I do not know what makes me say it. The words are out before I can recall them.
Her stunned gaze meets mine over her shoulder before she faces forward again. I don’t think she will do it, but then she reaches down rucking her skirt up and over her hips, baring her long legs. As she cants forward, the excess material pools in the middle of her back and drapes down from her waist.
For a moment, I do not breathe, and time stands still.
Her shapely little ass is red from my spanking. But what holds me in thrall is the sight of her pouty sex. The way she is exposed this way, I can see and smell her arousal. It is not as heavy as when she was drugged, but it is there. And natural.
Stepping to her hip, I fight the urge to run my hands up her flanks. My cybernetics still the tremble in my hands and clear my head. This close, I am reminded she does not carry the scent of her mate’s essence. I am reminded of all that could have happened to her had she been caught unaware by another.
“Do you understand why you’re being punished, Hannah?”
“Yes,” she clips out, and I hear the petulant rebellion in her voice.
“Do you not think you deserve it?”
“Does it matter?” She looks back at me, her lips in a firm angry line, before turning away. She knows she deserves this.
“It does matter, little mate. It matters a great deal,” I say softly.
This time when she peers back at me, her face is drawn in contrition a moment before her lips stiffen to a hard line. “Yes,” she bites out. “I know I deserve it.”
At her admission, I bring the switch down. It lights over her with a sharp thwap.
She jerks forward, making a squeak of sound, but bites her lip and moves back into perfect position. Her narrow back long. Her lovely ass presented for reprimand. She may not like that she’s being punished, but she’s accepting it beautifully.
Although I expect and demand her willing submission, for her to grant it to me so freely fills me with unexpected gratification.
A striped welt immediately forms on her delicate skin, and I endeavor not to hit the same place again. Twice more I bring the switch swooshing down. Each time she jolts with a cry and moves back into position. But with each stripe, the scent of her arousal grows heavier, and my cock grows thicker. I whip her harder, carrying her punishment further than I intended it to go, and her body trembles, but not in fear.
Pain. Pleasure. Confusion. The emotions roll off her.
My cock pushes uncomfortably against my pants, and I toss the switch aside. As if outside myself, I watch my hand trace the stripes I made.
Her breath hitches.
So does mine.
Her skin is hot. Swollen. My hand slides down lower until my fingers skim her slit.
Slick.
Pliant.
She goes still, tensing as I swirl a finger in her heat, barely pressing inside. My body begs me to shove my digit into her depths. See if she is as silky hot as I remember her. But, instead, I trace her slit to the bundle of nerves at the peak of her sex. Swirling, and pressing.
As I stand, transfixed, mating nectar dribbles out to coat the tops of her thighs. Wets my hand.
She whimpers.
Everything inside me freezes.
Dots of color swim in front my eyes, before my cybernetics even out my heartbeat. Redistribute my blood flow. But, still, I want to rip my pants open and plunge inside her.
I fist my hand, slicked with her heat, willing myself to gain control. Breathing heavily, I slowly lower the material of her makeshift skirt until she is covered, but I cannot make my feet move back.
She stands upright and turns slowly, her body rubbing against mine. She jerks back as if suddenly realizing what she’s doing, and crosses her arms over herself in a protective gesture.
“Come. Let’s get you back to the shuttle.” My voice comes out hoarse, uneven. I hold out my hand.
Staring at my bulging erection, she emits a smell of fear missing only moments before. She shakes her head, and steps back, but the tree blocks her from going any farther.
I sigh.
All the times I imagined what it would like to have a female, I did not account for how frustrating it would actually be.
I yank her up and over my shoulder, ignoring her squeal of protest, and pick up the yhgl, not wanting to waste the meat or pelt. I will have to return to tend to the vaynka.
By the time we reach the shuttle my cybernetics have cleared both my heads, but I do not regret disciplining her. She cannot disregard her own safety. I close the hatch and gently set her on her feet in front of me.
Over my shoulder, she has been crying silent tears. She rubs her bottom with a wounded expression.
“Do you cry because I touched you or because I punished you?”
Bottom lip trembling she crosses her arms, this time with a defiant tilt to her chin.
I cross my own arms. She does not want to tell me, so be it. “I am not pleased with you.”
“You’re never pleased with me,” she bites out with more vehemence than I thought her capable of.
I feel her hurt. Her anger. Better her hurt than her death or capture. “Do you not understand the danger you put yourself in? Any beast or Monrok could have taken you. You do not even wear Jual’s scent.”
“He said you’d mark me, today,” she says defensively.
Damn Jual and his interference. He has been pushing me to claim her the same way he has been. The way I ache to do, even if it is not fully mating her. To have her smell of me…
A hollow ache takes root in my chest. I have no right to desire things from my mate I do not dese
rve.
“He knows I cannot.”
“Cannot or will not?”
Her irritation surprises me. I study her features. Her mouth is in a tight line, and she looks as upset as I. I am unsure if this is because I will not mark her or because she has been chastised for leaving the shuttle alone. She cannot possibly desire to wear my scent the way she does Jual’s.
I turn, heading toward the shuttle door. Jual should be here soon, and I am to be on a hunt. The others in the party have likely already left without me.
“Where are you going?”
“To collect the dead vaynka, then hunting.”
“You’re not going to mark me before you leave?” Hannah’s disappointment and abandonment hangs heavy in the air. I shift uncomfortably, wishing humans knew how to shield their emotions like other beings.
I shake my head. “You need to get into the bak to sterilize your abrasions,” I say as way of excuse. She also needs to wash off her mating scent. It hangs heavy in the air, keeping my cock filled with life and hope.
“I see the way you watch me. I know you’re attracted to me.” She takes one step forward. I take one step closer to the hatch.
“Do you need help? Sometimes Jual has me touch him…and it helps him,” she says hesitantly, and my entire body stills.
I’m going to kill Jual. “Where does he have you touch him?” I don’t know why I ask. I am only torturing myself.
Her face flushes, and she looks down to my groin where my cock presses against my pants, begging for her, and I know exactly where Jual has her touch him. The fucking hadhr. For a moment, I do not breathe. I imagine her hands wrapping around my lifebringer as she lies bare under me, letting me mark her, but the image morphs into her body limp, her maternal orifice bloody.
Because of me.
I shake my head to dispel the image. “That will not be necessary,” I say harsher than intended. My cybernetics do nothing to disperse the ache filling my chest.
“You don’t like me.” Her statement rings with insecurity.
I will kill Jual slowly for this.
I desire her more than anything in the universe. “Jual should be back any moment. He will take you to visit Cal and Kein’s mate. She desires blankets, and we have found excellent beasts to hunt.” I try not to think of the Monrok who arrived a few cycles after us, and how they always smell of their female’s pleasure.