by Selena Kitt
They moaned at the friction, both aroused beyond words. Cord almost lost himself again. He held his passion in check, at least until she was used to him being inside her. He rested the tip of his cock against her labia and slowly nudged inside her tightness. This time when he stilled it was so her body had time to get used to the size of his cock. Once he was certain she was ready, he lifted his hips and thrust into her pussy.
Hope clung to him. Never had she looked at a male—not even of her own kind—and wanted him as much she wanted her alien. Slick with his sweat and burned by his kisses, she wanted more. She dug her heels into his behind and forced him deeper. Each movement demanded he give her more, give it faster, give it harder. A part of her was afraid he wouldn’t be able to give enough, yet she trusted that he could do it. He had to.
A moment of panic clutched her when he reached behind him and took hold of her ankles. His rough hands gently guided them to his shoulders, changing the angle of his penetration. She moaned when his next thrust went further than he had before. Those worries she had that he couldn’t satisfy her fled.
Her thoughts scattered. She couldn’t think, not while he drove into her, heating her like fire from the inside out. Her skin tingled and her toes twitched as reality shattered around her. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes to the searing light and giving herself to the pleasure surging through her was Cord, his no longer alien face frozen in raw emotion as he too reached release.
Cord had never been with a woman who glowed when she came. The light that seemed to come from inside her grew in intensity, almost blinding him as she writhed against him. He closed his eyes to the painful light and with a roar of satisfaction, his seed exploded into her.
He collapsed, making sure he didn’t crush her, and cautiously opened one eye. The light that had mysteriously appeared had just as mysteriously vanished.
“What was that?” he asked the smug-looking woman beneath him.
She responded by yanking on his beard and assaulting his mouth with her dexterous tongue.
“Again? Already?”
He let her lead his hands to her breasts and mash them together.
“You’re gonna be the death of me.”
Hope snuggled closer to the warmth of her consort and smiled as she remembered all they had shared. She contemplated waking him for a fourth round but a familiar mind poked at hers, ordering her outside. Carefully she untangled herself from Cord, slipped into his large shirt and stepped out of the cave.
Outside a lone Camo waited, older than her by a few years but still a face she remembered well and fondly.
You fulfilled your destiny, he said. If he wondered about her clothing, he didn’t let on.
Yes. You did not have to come.
I missed you.
She threw herself into his outstretched arms and sobbed. I missed you also.
I am glad that I chose well for you.
Hope clung to him in silence, trying to piece her thoughts together. How would she explain this to her consort?
With a snort, Cord awakened. He reached for Hope but found the other side of the pallet empty.
“Hope?” he said as he reached for his clothes and hastily pulled them on.
No response. She wasn’t in the cave.
With his boots on and his weapons strapped firmly in place, he passed the wall with the drawings on his way to the mouth of the cave. The contrasting colors caught his attention and his curiosity got the better of him.
The drawings were simplistic. Two figures. One white, one brown, each with different colored skies, met. They traveled together to a black hole—obviously the cave—and entered together. Next, was what he could only describe as Camo stick figure porn and the last drawing teemed with an abundance of life.
Hope’s destiny: to have sex in a cave, with a stranger.
Cord’s hands fisted. He had been sacrificed, but not in the way he had expected.
“Crut.”
Hope felt his body tense and turned to see Cord leave the cave. He was fully clothed, weapons in place and angry. Their eyes locked briefly before he slid behind her.
What was that alien doing in the sacred cave?
He is my consort.
Clearly not happy with her answer, he hissed and pushed her behind him.
Hope caught his arm to keep him from going for his knife. She could not let them fight. Both of them were important to her.
The time you spent with them has affected your thinking. I cannot let you give up your place in my tribe to be with that alien.
I have fulfilled my destiny, she said and filled his mind with evidence of the change of seasons. Already the snow was melting, the winds dying. Even at this elevation birdsong could be heard. Please? I beg of you.
He lowered his arm, unable to argue with the end of winter. He can live.
Overjoyed, she hugged him again. When she looked up though, Cord was gone. She followed his footprints with her eyes and saw him lower himself over the ledge. He paused, as if looking at her for the last time before his head dropped out of sight.
No!
Strong hands held her in place, stopping her from running after him.
He made his choice, little one. Now it is beyond time for you to come home.
Three years later Cord jerked wildly as bullets riddled his torso. He fell forward onto his face. As he lay dying, one regret assailed his departing mind: he had abandoned Hope.
It was a regret he had lived with since leaving her in the arms of a male of her kind. She had used him. Made him fall in love her. And even though what they had shared that night in the cave, during the entire journey, had meant nothing to her, it had meant everything to him.
He was surprised he had lived three years. After leaving Hope, he had further isolated himself from humanity. Daniel, Cass, and her husband had made an effort, but after time had given him the space he desired. They knew a lost cause when they saw one. He had taken up drinking again, something he had stopped while with her. He had taken any job offered. He didn’t care what the currency was. The more dangerous the better. If his friends thought he had a death wish before, it was nothing compared to now.
He had wandered into a culling, half a dozen with guns versus a Camo migratory party. Men against mostly women and children. That hadn’t seemed fair to Cord. So he’d evened the odds. Still, it only took one sneaky bastard hiding in the bushes with a handgun to bring him down.
And now? Now he was finally at an end.
Cord’s eyelids fluttered open. A small out of focus figure hovered above him, reminding him of that time he’d awakened to find Hope’s dazzling eyes staring down at him.
His eyes finally focused and Cord wept at the sight. A young boy with dark hair, wearing his old Corps shirt studied him. At least he had gone to heaven.
“Danny,” he rasped. “It’s me. Your papa.”
The boy’s lips moved as he mimicked Cord’s. “Pah... pah pah.”
“Yes,” he sobbed. “Papa. Where’s your mother?” he asked, anxious yet hesitant to see his wife again.
A frown marred his young features. After a moment of pursing his lips, he turned away and ran out of Cord’s line of sight.
“Danny!” he called as he reached for his long-dead son.
Cord pushed himself onto all fours and forced himself to his feet. He stumbled through the flap of what he now saw to be a tent and out into the middle of a Camo village.
Everyone stopped and stared, he at them, and they at him.
“This ain’t heaven.”
“Pah pah!” the boy called before trotting away again.
Cord continued his chase, dodging between startled Camo villagers and into a much larger, more elaborate tent. He didn’t care that he was naked. All he cared about was catching the boy who looked so much like his son. So much that it hurt.
He skidded to a halt when confronted by two burly males with spears. Habit had him reaching for guns that weren’t there and he cursed.
The two males stepped back though, allowing him passage further into the tent. Behind them stood the male he had seen three years ago with Hope. Jealousy burned inside him and he would have stopped to fight him if the boy hadn’t reappeared.
“Danny.”
The boy lifted his arms over his head and the Camo scooped him up, depositing him on his hip.
Cord hissed without thinking and the Camo glared at him. Then he turned on his heel and beckoned for Cord to follow.
He is here.
I do not want him to see me like this.
He has seen his son.
Good. He will take care of him.
He will want to see you.
No.
The choice is not yours, little one.
Cord stumbled at the sight of Hope laid out on a raised pallet. Camo blood leaked from her naked, bullet-riddled body.
“No,” he gasped.
He shoved aside anyone that got in his way. His eyes took in every wound and he knew. She had healed him. She was dying slowly from what was supposed to kill him.
Without thought for himself or anything else, he grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest. He had gained more scars since their parting, both emotional and physical ones, but he didn’t think he could live through this. Not losing her again, this time forever.
“Hope,” he pleaded. “Take it.”
No.
He seems rather intent, little one.
Stop him. Please.
With a nod, he sent his orders and the alien was pulled away from her.
Thank you.
I do not know why I indulge your selfish requests.
I am not selfish.
No? You are ready to leave your son in this life while you escape to the next.
He will have—
A broken alien who has tried to leave for the next life? Perhaps your son will not be far behind you.
How dare—
“Pah pah,” the boy said interrupting their communication and the anguished expletives of his alien father.
Cord tried to lunge for the male who was obviously in charge. He was keeping him from Hope—from the boy who might be his son—from living. Everything was his fault. If he hadn’t been there, maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe Hope hadn’t used him. Maybe he would have been worth saving.
Now though, now he wasn’t worth anything. The harsh reality hit him and he slackened. The Camo he had been grappling with allowed him to collapse on the floor. Let him be the sorry excuse for a man that he had allowed himself to become. As if they knew how pathetic he was, and that he still loved the woman but she was meant for someone else. Someone who had everything that Cord had once stupidly thought he could have.
He looked longingly at the Camo who held the boy, who had the woman he loved more than life itself. The woman he would do anything for, even if he had to walk away again.
“Please help her,” he begged.
After handing the boy to an attendant he ordered the alien outside. He watched as they dragged him away.
He wants you to live and I cannot believe that I agree with him.
She was too weak to argue and unable to push him away as he took her hand and let her body sup from his essence.
No...
Cord was dumped on the ground. He tried to jump to his feet and force his way back in but was knocked aside as several Camo rushed past him into the tent. More followed, pushing him away.
The whole village must have shoved him aside as they came and went. He was pushed onto a stool and was made to understand he was to stay there. The boy who he had mistaken for Danny joined him. The resemblance was uncanny. He had the same hair and facial features as Danny, but the eyes were different. When he looked at him he saw Hope’s eyes.
Cord let the boy climb on his knee, each openly staring at the other. He let him tug on his beard, which he now realized was in dire need of a trim. Perhaps he would shave.
Little hands explored Cord’s hairy face. Fingers traced his shaggy eyebrows and then touched the little wisps of hair on his face. They were probably the first ones he’d ever seen. The Camo were hairless.
“Eyebrows.”
The boy opened and closed his mouth, trying to form the sounds.
Cord repeated the word, more slowly this time and enunciated each syllable.
“Pah pah eye bow.”
“Yeah, Papa eyebrow,” Cord amended, amazed at how quickly he was picking up speaking.
They looked up when more people left the big tent. No one had left the area after coming out. They squeezed themselves into every space, trying not to get too close to him.
One female tried to take the boy from him but he hissed at her. She hissed back before running away. The boy hissed at her too.
“Good boy,” he said. “They ain’t taking you away.”
The chief appeared at the tent flap and every bald Camo head swiveled. Cord placed the boy back on his feet and stood. A small hand wiggled its way into his and he held it as tightly as he dared while they waited for Hope.
The Camo who were crowded before him parted, allowing Cord and the boy to join the guy in charge when he beckoned. Movement in the tent behind him caught his attention. The boy let go of his hand and ran forward. He thrust his short spindly arms out and squealed as his mother picked him up and swung him around.
Cord sagged in relief. She was alive. He closed his eyes and thanked whatever god it was they prayed to here. They hadn’t let her die. Instead, each of them had sacrificed a little of their life for her.
I told you not to, she said.
He smiled. Each and every one of them owe you their lives, if not for themselves, then for loved ones.
That does not make it right for you to go against my wishes.
Let me put it in a way you will understand. If you had died because of him, they would have killed him.
Hope stilled. She cast a worried glance at the male she had thought would be her consort. He stood there in all his naked glory, a little worse for wear since she had last seen him so intimately, but still the only one she would have given everything for.
Maybe you are right to have done what you did, she finally admitted. I only wanted him to live.
And you did not want to live without him.
She looked away, unable to focus on anyone except the one who had kept her going after her consort had walked away. Her son.
I may not have found someone to share this life or the next with, but I can see that I was wrong about him.
About my consort?
Yes. He chose to fight for our people and it would have killed him. He was ready to give up his life for you, but I stopped him.
Why? she asked. I would have thought I was more important to you than he was.
It would not have been the right thing to do. You would never have forgiven me and I am sure you would have left the tribe.
Perhaps, she agreed. There is hope for you yet.
If you and he are to stay with the tribe—
You are letting an alien live among us?
I have allowed your son to live, have I not?
Yes. For that, I thank you.
If you and he are to stay with the tribe, you must correct his opinion of me.
Of you?
He believes I am your consort.
Why would he think that?
I may have given him that impression at—
The cave. Why did you do such a thing?
I did not think he was worthy of you.
And now you do?
And now I do. You might also want to clothe him. His appearance is scaring the females of the tribe.
Hope looked at those still assembled. I do not think the females are afraid of him, she said, indicating their admiring glances. The males, however, may be jealous.
Cord waited while Hope communicated nonverbally with the tribe chief. He wanted to know what would happen now. Would he be allowed to at least see his son?
He
watched Hope glare at the chief before she and his son approached them. Camo villagers jostled for a better position to watch and he hissed at a few for the hell of it.