***
By the time he reached his house his mood was black. The Hier Ruler had made him uneasy, and then the meeting with the other Hier Council member who he thought he could count on had been, well … odd. There was an undercurrent of distrust between them now. If Ishk didn’t know better, he would think someone had either got to him, or made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
And as he opened the door, Ishk could find only one person to blame. His female. Now, he planned to make her pay, he had tension in his body to release. Normally a long run across the open grasslands would be the thing to get rid of his bad mood. But the thought of the little human female in his bed waiting for him had given him an erection, and it seemed a pity to let it go to waste.
He opened the door, expecting to see her in his bed. However, his bed was empty. She had run. Despite everything he said, his threat of punishment, she had run. Now he would be faced with even more embarrassment: the very council member who wanted to keep these females locked up had lost his on the first night. His mood worsened when he realised she had no tag to enable them to track her, either.
Maybe he could track her himself just as his ancestors had tracked wild beasts across the open plains. Going to his closet, he pulled open the door; he would get his running shoes and a flashlight and try to hunt her down.
But as he stepped forward to pick up his shoes, his foot came into contact with something soft and warm. She hadn’t run; she was asleep on his closet floor.
Chapter Twelve – Evie
The need to visit the bathroom had woken her. In a daze, she had figured out how the toilet worked and then gone back to bed. But the enormity of where she was and what had happened hit her and she lay awake listening to all the strange sounds around her. Animals she had never seen moved around outside, the sounds unknown, conjuring up images of terror.
Evie had done what she always did when she needed to feel safe; she had moved to the closet. Careful not to damage any of Ishk’s things, she had made a nest for herself, and, with a blanket for a pillow, she had curled up in a ball and slept. Deep, dark nothingness took hold of her and pulled her down into its safe cocoon.
Until something struck her.
It took a few moments for her to realise where she was. Then she saw Ishk looming over her. Instinctively she moved backwards as fast as she could, a wall preventing her from moving too far out of his reach.
Ishk was only a dark silhouette against the open closet. His expression unreadable, but across his skin colours skimmed, fading and then resurfacing, making him look ethereal. If angels existed, then this was what they would look like. But she had to remind herself he wasn’t an angel, and he was angry.
“Evie. What are you doing? I thought you had run away.” His looming bulk came towards her and she pressed herself back further, trying to evade him. Pausing, he let out a breath and the colours became more muted. “Evie. Did something happen?”
She shook her head, not knowing if he could see her. But her mouth refused to make a sound. Be quiet, she had to be quiet, the words of her mother came back to her.
Ishk moved, slower now, until he was kneeling on all fours. He had something in his hand: a knife, a club? Maybe he was going to beat her for causing him trouble; he had promised her punishment if she left. Her mind reeled, telling her it was OK. Yet Okil’s words came back to her, this man didn’t like humans, didn’t like Evie, and would no doubt think nothing of teaching her a lesson with his fists. He was, as far as she could tell, a bully.
Yet when he spoke his voice was softer, soothing, and the thing in his hand only a flashlight. He switched it on, and she had to blink until her eyes got used to its brightness. When she did, she saw a softness in his face, and she managed to stop the bone-shuddering fear from keeping a hold of her.
“I was scared.”
“Will you come out?” he asked, and offered her his hand.
She looked at his hand and then at his face. Was this a trick?
“I won’t hurt you. But you can’t sleep in here. Come out and sleep on the bed.”
She reached out and placed her hand in his, the colours of his skin shooting down to coalesce where her skin touched his, and she saw the shock on his face. Ishk helped her out and then released her, brushing her off as though she were a bug about to bite him. He had felt it too.
Too weary to give it much thought, she obediently got under the covers when he lifted them up. With only a moment’s hesitation he then climbed in too, although she was sure he would rather have spent the night in another room, as far away from her as possible. Which is how he slept on the bed, on the edge, his back to her. Yet he gave her a sense of security, because no one on Karal, not even the fiercest of beasts, would go up against this man.
***
She woke to bright sunlight and the smell of cooking. Unsure of how long she had slept, she got up, wincing at the pain in her ribs. A night’s sleep hadn’t helped, only made her stiffer. Holding onto the wall, as she made her way to the kitchen, her face contorted in pain, she was caught off guard by how peaceful and calm Ishk looked as he cooked.
Only when he looked up at her did his expression harden, although not so much as it had before. Today he didn’t hate her quite so much, but then the day was only just beginning. Or was it?
“I thought you were going to sleep all day,” he said mildly accusingly.
“I have no idea of what time it is. You should have woken me. Is there anything I can do to help?” She put her hand out to reach for the counter as the other hand left the wall. Everything hurt.
“No, you may go and sit outside; I don’t think I even trust you to carry the plates.” He returned to his stirring without another word.
The sun beckoned, the sky so bright, tinged with violet, she refused to let his mood dampen hers. Despite the way her body hurt, she felt lighter, longing to explore this new world. New world. Her head span a little at that thought. Yesterday, when they arrived, she had been so tired she hadn’t really taken the time to acknowledge what exactly her new life here meant.
When she had entered the lottery, she had never envisaged winning, and then everything happened so fast. To be sat here, with a different sun … wait, suns. Two suns could be visible overhead, discs of light circling each other. Her world span and a dizziness threatened to make her faint.
She took in deep breaths of the clean alien air, and it made her feel better. Although nothing could take away the weird feeling of not belonging. This wasn’t her world; she was living with an alien. An alien who hated humans. It was all wrong, so very, very wrong.
As she glanced around, she saw the flowers and trees in the garden before her, colours, life, the sound of insects. Stiffly rising to her feet, she walked over the grass. At least that looked familiar, green shoots prickling her bare feet. Going to the brightest flowers, she bent down and sniffed in their perfumed pollen. Life.
She could do this. Instead of being afraid, she needed to find excitement and wonder. If only she could get Ishk to like her enough to show her the world around them.
“Food,” he said from behind her. She turned back to the table and hobbled to it, her legs becoming a little better the more she used them.
“You have a beautiful garden,” she said, sitting down.
“Thank you.” He began to eat. Small talk was not his thing.
Taking the hint, she ate in silence too; closing her eyes occasionally and tilting her head back feel the sun on her face. This was bliss, about as close to heaven as she could come to while still breathing. His food was wonderful, the ingredients fresh. Nothing canned or fake, the flavours exploding over her tongue.
She wanted to ask him about the vegetables he had cooked, what they were called, how did they grow. Then a sorrow descended on her; she remembered her parents and how they used to grow what they could in their tiny back yard. How they would have loved it here. To have the space to nurture and grow their own food, safe and secure from thieves.
“Don’t you like the food?” he asked, jolting her back to the present.
“Oh, yes, very much. Sorry, I got lost in a daydream.” She ate, savouring each mouthful, trying to ignore the way he watched her. At first, it was surreptitious glances, and then longer stares. She smiled. “Do I fascinate you, or repel you?”
He looked away guiltily. “Neither. I was looking at your bruises.”
She put her hand to her face. “I forgot how bad I must look.”
“I have something for you.” He left the table and came back with a steaming bowl of water, which contained some kind of herb, which smelled foul.
Carefully eating the last mouthful of food, feeling particularly full, but not wanting to waste anything in case the next meal was a long way off, she placed her fork down. “I don’t have to drink that do I?”
“No. It’s for your wounds.” He produced a roll of cloth, dipped it into the water and said, “This may sting, but then it will go numb, the effect will last for several hours.”
“OK.” He pressed the cloth to her face and she hissed with shock. “You weren’t wrong.” But then the pain of her bruises disappeared, her face no longer throbbing. All she wondered was whether he planned to use it on the whole of her body.
As the colours skimmed his hand, catching her eye, she understood now why he was helping her. He probably didn’t want to have sex with her if her bruises hurt. Not because he had sympathy for her—she wasn’t that naive—but because it would no doubt be distasteful if his human female cried out in pain as he was coming inside her.
Chapter Thirteen – Ishk
He had not planned to help her, or feel sympathy for her in any way. Even while he dabbed the ocatha remedy on her skin, he tried to fool himself. He was not thinking of how warm her flesh was. Or how the very scent of her made his cock harden. Instead, he was telling himself it was his duty to make her well so that he could breed with her and then send her away.
But the way her breasts heaved as he pressed the cloth to her lower ribs, where the bruising was still purple and blue, made him want to rip her clothes from her body and claim her. Did she feel the same way? He could see her watching his colours as they danced out of control across his skin. Did she want him? Or did he repulse her? Ishk had never asked himself that question before. Maybe she wanted this over with as quickly as possible because he repelled her.
For that reason, and only that reason—it was not because he wanted to mate with her—he dropped the cloth into the water and said, “This would be much easier if you stripped.”
With that, he took the bowl of water into the bedroom and waited for her. For a long moment, he thought she wasn’t going to obey him. Maybe he hadn’t made it clear it was an order not a request. And then he heard her, walking slowly, still a little stiff, but he could sense that wasn’t why she took her time.
She was scared of him. Scared of what an alien would do to her. Ishk was the kind of man who liked power, and yet it gave him no pleasure to see her afraid of him. His thoughts went back to those old familiar, feelings of his childhood. When he was alone and other boys bullied him because he didn’t know how to put a toy cruiser together. They didn’t care that he was from the farming belt, that a life in a town was all alien to him.
Ishk had made himself strong; he learned to stand up for himself. And when he moved back to the farming belt, he made sure that his people, those who worked the land, had a voice. His father would have been proud of him; he would have understood that greatness takes sacrifice.
Ishk only began to feel truly part of Karalian society when the others lost their fathers and became orphans. At that point, he was able to shine, because his sorrow and loss were long gone. That was the time he made his move to the council, and he wanted to make sure that no boy with dirt beneath his nails from hard work would ever be thought of as stupid again.
He knew that his people were the ones who kept the planet supplied with food and cloth. Things that were valuable commodities, and this was why he didn’t want the planet to be invaded by humans. The more females that came here, the harder his people would have to work.
He would never forget his roots. And he firmly believed that they could halve the number of females needed if they shared them. This was why his female would be the first to go to the breeding house, no matter how much she fascinated him.
Broken from his trance, he watched as she came to him. Then without being told again, she began to remove the tunic she wore. He held his breath, the blood draining from his organs, surging to his cock, which became the new centre of his being. His brain disengaging as he reached out and touched the curve of her breast.
Ishk was about to conquer his first human.
Chapter Fourteen – Evie
Walking to the bedroom, she had made a decision; she entered the lottery with the full knowledge of what was expected of her. Sex. The sooner they got it over with, the better. At the moment she was filled with a sense of dread as to what it would be like. The first time would be the worst, she was sure, so getting it out of the way would be best.
Hell, once she was pregnant she wouldn’t have to do it anymore anyway. She got the feeling Ishk didn’t intend to keep her around, and the look of distaste on his face made it quite clear he was doing this because he had to, not because he wanted to. So yes, sex right now was the best way forward for both of them.
Only problem is, he scared her a little too much. And her sense of arousal was so low, she doubted he would even be able to enter her. Unless he forced her. Swallowing down her fear, she went to him, removing her clothes, just like he asked.
Unable to take her eyes off his hand, she watched as he touched her, his fingers outstretched, trembling slightly. The normally cool Ishk was out of his depth. Perhaps if she were experienced she would have been able to help him, but she knew nothing about sex. Other than he had to put his cock inside her and come.
“Remove the rest of your clothes,” he said.
The only clothes she had left from Earth were her bra and panties. It seemed funny that these were the last barriers between her and the alien. Finding the courage to unclasp her bra, she allowed her breasts to spill out. Expecting him to touch her again, she was surprised when he didn’t. Confused, she bent down and wriggled out of her panties, standing straight so that he could gaze on her body.
Ishk went back to the bowl of water and took up the cloth. Then he carefully and thoroughly bathed every bruise on her body. Somehow, the first tendrils of arousal awoke in her. His touch was at times gentle, always firm, but not unkind. She closed her eyes and tried to conjure up the image of someone else. Wasn’t there a StreamStar she had a crush on when she was a teenager?
Yes. She pictured him now. Not too tall, no human men really were, but he was thicker set than most humans, some muscles, and long hair, golden, like the sun. She imagined him touching her, kissing her skin. Deep inside her, her arousal grew. She didn’t need much, she just needed to be wet, ready for him.
Finished with her body, he went back to the bowl and put the cloth in it before leaving the bedroom and taking it to the kitchen. Was that it? Had she mistaken him? Wasn’t he going to come back and fuck her?
That word. Fuck. An alien was going to fuck her, stick his cock in her and make alien babies with her. Would they burst out of her womb through the walls of her abdomen when they were ready to be born, or did they come out like normal babies?
Why didn’t they have females of their own, was it because they all died in childbirth?
Her courage failed her and she went to pick up her clothes. But Ishk had returned. She froze, and turned to face him.
“Kneel on the bed.”
Evie moved, her body no longer hurting, but she didn’t feel like celebrating that fact, not when she had no idea what was about to happen.
Climbing on the bed, she knelt, looking down at the white sheets covering it, while behind her he moved, undressing. She squeezed her eyes together and tried to recapture the imag
e of her crush, but the faces of her parents came to her instead and her throat constricted in sorrow.
Come on, Evie, self-preservation, she told herself.
Dismissing her thoughts, she instead concentrated on the sensations flooding her body. A thrill of excitement, the wonder of the unknown. This she could work with. And when his weight made the bed dip, she did feel her desire awaken. Yet it was a different desire, one that wanted to be loved, not used. It would have to do.
His hand on her hip made her jump, his fingers dug a little deeper to keep her still. The other hand went to press her knees further apart and she cringed inwardly at the thought of him looking at her. She must be exposed to him, her sex in plain view. Would he touch her, or just thrust into her?
Turning her head, she looked at him, seeing the expression on his face and then watching when he reached forward and drew his finger along the length of her. She was dry, much too dry.
Ishk pushed the same finger into her, working it deep, her body responded, gripping him. In and out he worked it. Evie closed her eyes and told herself it was good, she was enjoying his touch but it was only half-true. He still terrified her.
He removed his fingers, and the large head of his cock pressed against her outer lips. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply, trying to stay relaxed. If she tensed up, this would really hurt, because he felt massive. Did they fit together, would he hurt her?
Evie was about to find out. He pressed forward and she heard him grunt as he breached her outer lips and entered her. Slowly he pushed forward, one fluid movement, until he broke her. A sharp pain filled her as he took her virginity, now she was his.
Ishk pulled back as she tensed and then thrust forward hard, filling her to the hilt. She cried out, wailing in fear at the fullness of him. He paused, his hands on either side of her hips, as he stilled. Her body fought to accommodate him, to yield for him. But it protested, her internal muscles aching and she wished he had put some of the ointment inside her sex to numb her internally.
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