by Cynthia Lore
Markar’s hands never stopped caressing her and one began to move lower over her hips. Rae hardly noticed when he placed his large palm over her mound, too lost in the haze of passion that Markar had her wrapped in. When one of his fingers breached the lips of her sex, however, she became fully aware. Rae gasped his name as his long digit found the results of her desire. He finally lifted his head to look at her. His lips were swollen from kissing her, his hair was tangled from her own hands, and his expression was so full of tortured longing it took her breath away.
“Please Rae?” he said in a hoarse groan, as if the words were forced from him.
Her hands cupped his face, taking pity on her beautiful savior. She lowered them to his chest and tried to push him off of her. Without his compliance, she would have never been able to move his hulking body, but he flopped onto the bed on his back in dejection. His eyes closed and his brows furrowed in sorrow as he breathed slowly in and out of his nose. Rae lifted up to climb over his waist and saw his lids open in shock at her actions. Smiling down at him, she positioned her body to take his and kissed him one last time before lowering down onto his straining cock.
Just like the rest of him, it was bigger than most human males and Rae had a moment of doubt that the thing would fit, but as she lowered herself onto him her body slowly stretched to accommodate his. Rae gasped at the feeling of being completely filled. Her eyes snapped open to see Markar’s half lidded gaze. His body purred in satisfaction again before his hands moved to her hips and pulled her down even farther onto him.
Rae stilled for a moment to adjust to his size before tentatively moving her hips. Markar’s hands suddenly flew to grip the metal bar at the head of the bed, and his chiseled upper body was showcased to Rae. She dropped to her hands and leaned over him to stare into his beautiful golden eyes as she began to move in earnest.
“Rae!” he growled before all of his muscles began to flex as his body strained beneath her. His jaw tensed as his face contorted in the overwhelming pleasure. Rae leaned down to kiss his taut lips and felt his mouth open to welcome hers with the drug she now craved. Moaning into his mouth she could feel her defenses crumbling as the desire built to overwhelming proportions inside of her.
The walls of her sex began to tremble as the first waves of the orgasm hit her. Lifting her head from Markar, Rae cried out as her mind was flooded with pure bliss. Markar’s cock began to pulse inside of her as his own climax hit him. The sensation drew out her pleasure as he bucked beneath her and Rae’s body milked his seed from him. Rae collapsed on top of him, out of breath and her energy drained. Markar’s hands released his grip on the metal bars to wrap securely around her. The sensation of being held was comforting, and Rae quickly fell into an exhausted sleep.
Hunting Ground
The lights eventually faded out inside the tent, but Markar could see perfectly in the dark. He held Rae in his arms still, reluctant to let go of her. His world had been shattered. Never before had he imagined that such ecstasy could exist, and now that he knew he never wanted to let Rae go. Markar felt horrible at the thought of keeping the earthling against her will, but didn’t think he could bear being separated from her now. His world was indeed shattered, and had been reformed with Rae at the heart of it.
Markar stroked one hand over Rae’s body absent-mindedly. Her skin was so incredibly soft, every inch exquisite to touch. When he had taken her from her home planet that first day, he had only wanted to study her for a short time to access a possible threat to the Morian race. She was a threat alright- he had become obsessed with her. Markar was startled to realize that he did not think he could deny Rae anything she desired. The control she could wield over him if she so desired was remarkable. Before his loyalty to the Morian race, his brothers, or his mission, there was Rae.
After considering all this, Markar realized that for the first time in his life he felt immense happiness. Not just contentment or resignation to his fate, but joy. It was a good emotion to have, a lovely emotion, but an all consuming one. He felt fear at the strange intensity of it, but at the root of that fear was a sense of rightness that he didn’t quite understand.
-
Both Markar and Rae hadn’t spoken about the night before, but from Markar’s constant staring, he definitely hadn’t forgotten. He looked like a man who had tasted of the nectar of the gods, to only find out he would always thirst for more. Surprisingly, this thought didn’t bother Rae at all. In fact, it made her very pleased.
Rae frowned at that. She had compromised her mission by sleeping with Markar, but yet she wouldn’t mind repeating the compromising position she was in last night. She would just have to alter her mission yet again. Rae could say she was studying the mating practices of the Morian race. Except… according to Markar they didn’t have any. They reproduced using cloning technology.
Everything had worked on him just the same as a human male. Rae glanced thoughtfully towards Markar, only to find he was staring at her again with a glazed look upon his face. He would need to snap out of it if he was going to be any help when they entered the forest. They were almost there. They had stopped to decide which direction to take, but it seemed that Rae was the only one actually doing any thinking.
“Markar, which way down the slope do you think we should take?” she asked, trying to break him of whatever spell he was under.
Shaking his head as if just submerging to reality, Markar’s eyes resumed their usual focus. “There is an animal trail over to this side that would be easiest.”
Rae was startled at his quick answer. Apparently, he was more aware of their surroundings than she had thought. “Oh. Well, then we should probably get moving.” Heading in the direction he had indicated, she marched decisively forward.
Markar moved quickly to step in front of her, once again taking point in their small unit. He was unusually jumpy this day, when he wasn’t watching Rae’s every move. His head flitted around, cataloguing all of their surroundings with remarkable speed. Rae supposed the jumpiness was understandable, considering a lake monster had almost eaten her last night.
In fact, Rae was shocked he had finally agreed to continue their exploration of the planet at all. She had done her fair share of begging to achieve that agreement, though. He had only given in after she had promised she wouldn’t leave his side. As if she wasn’t fully capable of protecting herself!
As they moved closer to the forest floor, the sounds of birds and other creatures could be heard. The animal noises made the planet seem less eerie and more like Earth to Rae. The cacophony of cries had brightened her spirits, making her attack last night seem like a distant memory.
“Do you think we’ll see that huge flying animal again?” Rae asked, moving closer to Markar. He glanced at her in displeasure. He wanted to be first to take on the brunt of any attacks, and he wanted to keep her behind him for her protection instead of by his side. Rae ignored his look, and waited patiently for an answer.
“That is what I am afraid of. I do not wish to encounter it, but I feel that it is inevitable.” Markar was not in quite as good of a mood as Rae. The sounds of birdsong had not made him smile when she had pointed it out, he had only sneered.
“It swoops in on its prey. If it didn’t see us walking on the mountain, it won’t see us underneath all those trees.” Rae pointed out.
“We do not know that for sure.” Markar murmured cryptically.
Rae frowned at that. Markar’s dark mood was starting to affect her. When they finally reached the first few trees of the forest floor she was distracted from any dark thoughts, however. The things were huge. Like a giant redwoods, the trunks spanned a couple feet across. Rae could tell they were some of the smaller ones by the height, which was well below many of the trees in the distance.
As the animal trail they followed took them underneath the canopy, Rae looked up in wonder. Everything was so high up, the branches of the gargantuan trees straining towards the skies. The leaves were large and varying shades o
f green. The sun could be seen shining through them, making them appear golden in the light. Deeper inside the forest, the light faded and everything began to acquire a darker hue. Furry creatures scurried about as their hiding places were disturbed, but none of them stayed still long enough for Rae to get a good look at them. Rae’s eyes were glued to the ground, watching the tiny animals’ movements when Markar got her attention.
He pointed towards the treetops and Rae followed his direction. “There are structures up there. There may be an intelligent species on this planet after all!” Markar sounded excited at the prospect. Rae was less enthusiastic. Living among humans, she knew intelligence didn’t always equal friendliness.
“Hopefully not.” she mumbled to herself before running to catch up with Markar. He was already scaling one of the trees. Not wanting to be left behind, Rae searched the base of the trunk for a way to follow him up towards the canopy. Carefully crafted small footholds had been carved into the wood. Taking a deep breath, Rae hesitantly placed one hand into the crevice. It dipped down slightly, creating a type of handle to give her purchase. Pulling herself up, Rae began to cautiously climb as if she was on a ladder.
A very tall ladder. About two stories in height later, Rae began to feel some anxiety. She only had a little while to go before she reached the wooden structures that looked like patchwork tree houses. Her muscles burned as she forced herself to move on, not wanting to miss out on anything Markar might discover in the tiny dwellings.
Finally heaving herself up onto one of the wooden ledges, Rae paused to catch her breath. When she looked over the edge to see how far up they really were, vertigo hit her like a slap to the face. Scrambling away from the side, Rae gripped the wood she was laying on in desperation, just to remind herself that she was not in the process of falling.
“Are you okay?” Markar asked as he looked down at her in concern.
“Yeah. Just a little higher up than I’d like to be.” she responded. Rae was breathing heavily; both from the climb up the giant tree and from her vertigo scare.
Markar frowned, as if he wasn’t sure if he believed her, but seemed to dismiss it. “Look. There are scorch marks all over this dwelling. I believe the beast has already scared off anything living here a long time ago. Much of this wood has begun to decay.”
“Great.” Rae added sarcastically as she pushed herself to her feet. “Just what I wanted to hear. Anything else interesting?”
Markar led her to a small doorway that opened into the small wooden hut. “There are many different tools here. While the size of the dwelling indicates a small creature, they seem to have been relatively intelligent.”
“Are you saying that short people aren’t that smart?” Rae teased, knowing how much shorter she was than Markar.
He blushed in response. “No! Only that, well…” Markar stammered.
“Look at this!” Rae held up a wooden bowl with carvings etched into the side. “They’ve developed artistry! That’s pretty impressive for a society living out of tree houses. Look at the detail.” The carving was precise, the lines smooth. There were no blocky shapes, but clear images of trees and animals.
Markar seemed less impressed. Glancing at her find, he continued to search the place. Rae watched his body bend as he rummaged in some low cabinets. Images of last night flashed through her mind as she admired once again how perfect his body was.
“What is this?” Markar asked as he pulled out large plates of metal. Rae moved towards him to get a closer look at the thing. Large thick sheets of metal were scaled to form what looked like medieval armor. The pieces were nearly an inch thick and layered so that no part of the body would be unprotected.
“Definitely looks like armor. Really heavy duty armor.” Rae said as she reached out to touch the protective covering. The metal felt unusually cold to the touch and Rae jerked her hand back as if she had been burned.
“It doesn’t seem very efficient.” Markar commented, his brow furrowing in confusion.
Rae looked down at the suit that Markar had provided for her. The thing was amazingly comfortable, and showed absolutely no wear even though they had been wearing them constantly on their hike. No doubt Morian technology was supremely efficient. “Maybe it was all they had to use.” Rae tried to make Markar understand.
He nodded before setting the heavy garment back down. Markar began to make his way towards the exit of the small tree house. The room was so small that he was forced to brush up against Rae. He paused in front of her, their bodies touching in the small space. Rae looked up to see him watching her intently.
His hands reached out to caress her, ending with him lightly gripping her upper arms. Rae could feel her heart begin to hammer in her chest in anticipation. She suddenly realized she wanted desperately to feel closer to him, but she was scared. Rae realized that the control he could wield over her body with his potent chemical terrified her. Losing her hard won control terrified her.
The knowledge that fear was the only thing holding her back from Markar hit her like a slap in the face. Rae had always loved adventure. Being an adrenaline junkie was why she had signed up for the military in the first place. She couldn’t resist trying to conquer her fears. Her eyes never leaving Markar’s, Rae stepped farther into his embrace. She placed her hands on his chest, supporting her weight as she leaned against the tall alien. His eyes flared into golden flames as his arms moved to wrap around her. She rested her head against Markar, feeling his warmth envelop her.
“We should leave. This is the monster’s hunting ground.” Markar spoke quietly, his voice coming out rougher than usual. Rae nodded against his chest. She was disappointed to feel the abrupt loss of his warmth when he released her, but she knew he was right. They had seen the pterodactyl like creature hunting in the treetops, and they had seen the scorch marks all over the wooden dwelling they were standing in. They would be at a disadvantage if they had to fight the beast in its own territory.
As they exited the tiny wooden house, Rae couldn’t help but notice all the fire damage around her. There were neighboring tree houses that were so destroyed they looked like leftover firewood. Rae shivered imagining the battle that must have played out over these homes.
The society that had lived in them was long gone. Where fire damage had not destroyed, rain had begun to rot. Rae hoped that the people survived and had found more secure shelter, but it began to seem like the flying monster was terrorizing the planet and devouring anything in its path.
Rae’s focus shifted to watch Markar quickly descend down the ladder carved into the trunk of the tree. Looking down, vertigo hit her hard, and she groaned, dreading her own descent. But she knew there was only one way to overcome her fears- to face them head on. Taking a deep breath, Rae forced her body to move; telling herself the climb down would feel just like a rollercoaster.
The Black Forest
By the time Rae eagerly jumped off the next-to-last rung, her muscles were burning. Walking slowly over to where Markar waited, she rubbed her aching arms, sure that she was going to be sore from the workout. Markar frowned at her actions.
“I think we should leave this planet, Rae. I do not look forward to experiencing any more predators on this world. The signs of carnage are not heartening.”
Rae lifted her chin up as her stubborn streak ran through her like a bolt of lightening. “You said we could keep exploring!” She accused while crossing her arms over her chest.
“I am not going back on our deal. I am only pointing out the dangers of remaining on this sphere.” At that Markar actually pointed up towards the charred remains of the tree houses that they had just surveyed.
Rae looked up to where he indicated and scowled at the destroyed homes. “That happened a long time ago.” she said, knowing her argument was a lame one, but only getting more frustrated by that knowledge.
Markar raised an eyebrow at her as one side of his mouth curved up into a small smile. “That may be, but we saw the actual creature that performe
d that carnage only yesterday.”
Rae hefted her small backpack more firmly on her shoulders as she stomped angrily over to where Markar was standing. She felt like they were having the exact same argument over and over, and she was tired of going around in circles. “That’s up there. We’re down here.” she declared, pointing her finger firmly towards the ground.
Markar practically rolled his eyes at her before turning and marching in the other direction. Rae scoffed in indignation before she realized that his long strides were quickly taking him away from her. Putting her pride behind her, she ran after the man. She had no other choice but to keep up. She had made that damn promise after all, and had to stick by him or he would end the interplanetary trip.
When they moved deeper into the forest, the shadows from the canopy of leaves above them grew. At certain points, it appeared as if it was nighttime there was so little sunlight, even though Rae knew it could only be just after mid-day.
Her steps began to stumble when she found it hard to see in the twilight of the forest. Markar finally slowed down to offer her a hand, helping her when her footing stumbled over the large gnarled roots jutting from the ground.
Once again, his eyes began to glow in the dark, but they weren’t the only flickering orbs in the forest. Small creatures hovered in the air like lightning bugs, but when they floated in front of Rae’s startled face she was able to see that they held a soft neon glow. They’re bodies were light and fluffy, like small feathers. Markar smiled as he watched Rae hold out her hand as they walked. Her fingers grazed against the tiny floating creatures’ soft fur, leaving colorful glowing dust on her skin. Markar held her other hand, keeping her steady as they moved together through the dark.
Rae turned to Markar and grinned, holding up one hand covered in neon powder. With a teasing glint in her eye, she leaned over to trace her fingers over Markar’s cheekbones. In their wake were left streaks of glowing dust that looked like war paint on the large man.