by Loki Renard
“I asked you here because I wanted to tell you that I won’t ignore you anymore,” Ghost said, ignoring her statement. “You’re still my responsibility. I’m going to ensure that you remain safe until such time as we are rescued.”
“Which could be never.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It could be.”
They looked at one another and Eden suspected his heart was hurting just as much as hers was. She wished she could fix it, but some things could never be fixed with words. Some things required actions and time to mend them.
“Mixer and I are going to go hunt some protein,” he said. “I want you to stay here.”
“I won’t move from this spot,” she promised.
“You have free range of the ship, but I do not want you to leave it for any reason until we return. Nobody goes outside the ship alone until we have a full and comprehensive understanding of the dangers of this planet. Understand me?”
“Yessir,” Eden agreed eagerly. “I won’t put so much as a pinky outside. I promise.”
He made no reply, but his expression said that her promises weren’t worth the breath it took to make them. She did not blame him for his skepticism; she was only glad that she was going to have the chance to repair what had broken between them. As he left, she smiled through the remnants of watery tears. Maybe it was going to be alright after all.
Chapter Eight
Three days later Eden, Ghost, and Mixer sat outside the ship, lit by the glow of a fire upon which they planned to cook their dinner. Rations had dwindled to dangerously low levels and it was now imperative that they learned to live off the land. There was an uneasy truce between Ghost and Eden, and if she was not mistaken, a significant warming of relations. She didn’t want to trust it just yet though; she did not want Ghost to think her presumptuous. A smile every now and then didn’t mean she was forgiven.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, they had a pile of roots next to them, as well as several small mammal-like creatures that reminded Eden of rabbits without the ears and large thumping back feet. They were all quite dead of course, ready to be prepared for the fire.
“Aw, but they’re cute,” she said, feeling a pang of sorrow for the little creatures.
“They’re edible,” Mixer replied. “Analysis suggests that they will provide a significant portion of our nutritional needs. These roots will provide the rest. Take the knife and peel the outer skin off them, then chop them into cube-size pieces and put them in the pot.”
Eden obeyed, glad she was dealing with the vegetables and not the beasts. Mixer was cleaning them, removing the fur first and setting it aside. They had quite lovely coats, soft and red almost like foxes. Once Mixer had cleaned them, removing the innards, Ghost skewered them and put them above the fire to cook. Eden’s misgivings evaporated as the scent of cooked meat began to permeate.
It had been a very long time since any of them had eaten what might be termed ‘real’ food. The scent of it was triggering a primal hunger that the space rations did not. Eden felt her mouth begin to water as the meal neared completion; even the roots emitted a scent that was incredibly tantalizing, rich with the promise of starch and carbohydrate.
Barely a word was spoken as the food was divvied out and they began to eat. It was too good to speak about; all any of them wanted to do was to sink their teeth into sustenance and fill their bellies. Eden ate until she could not eat a bite more, then sank back onto the soft ferny grass with a contented sigh. The meat tasted rich, like steak with a natural lacing of garlic and butter. This was the land where animals carried condiments in their own flesh, or so it seemed. She hoped the little creatures were avid breeders, for they would surely be eaten aplenty. The roots turned out equally pleasant, somewhat piquant in taste but quite satisfying with a crumbling soft texture.
When all had eaten, the pot was tipped out and the leftovers were stacked inside it. Eden waited to be sent back to her quarters, but neither of her companions seemed inclined to send her away. They were silent, digesting their food and the balmy night sky in which three moons lit the heavens, casting a strong silver glow over the clearing. It was almost as bright at night as during the day.
It was warm too. Eden had abandoned the space suit for the lighter cloth of the scrubs and found herself quite comfortable as zephyrs played over the exposed skin of her midriff and played with tendrils of her hair. An aura of contentment surrounded the little group.
“What is that?” Mixer’s voice was soft, almost a whisper. The others followed the direction of his pointed finger to where great green eyes burned in the undergrowth, each of them was as large as a man’s head.
“Uh…”
Ghost did not have time to make more of a comment than that, for the creature was clearly aware of having been spotted and burst forth from the bushes, six paws pounding as its sinewy body moved in a series of graceful arcs. Rows of razor sharp teeth were exposed in a predatory maw as the animal as large as a small house raced toward them with impossible speed.
“Inside!”
They ran for the cover of the ship. Ghost slammed the airlock door shut just in time, for the creature’s skidding paws and slashing jaws crashed down against the barrier with a reverberation that made the floor shudder under their feet.
“It has scales,” Eden said. The image of the bounding creature was seared in her mind, the way interlocking bands of what looked like black bone had moved in precise concert, allowing the creature to hunt them at speed and almost in silence.
“We should have shot it,” Mixer growled. They could hear it outside, snuffling through the remnants of their meal.
“If we shoot it, we lose the chance to observe it,” Ghost said. “Let’s go to the bridge. We’ll be able to see it from there.”
The screen at the bridge showed the animal from two distinct angles. It was powerful and intimidating in both of them. Each of its six feet carried claws like gleaming green scimitars. As they watched, it reared up, using the back four feet to stabilize itself and putting the front two on the hull of the ship. It sniffed, large round nostrils contracting as it took in the ship’s scent. The creature’s face was somewhere between that of a wolf and a cat. It had a long snout replete with teeth, but the eyes were set forward in feline fashion.
“Curious kitty,” Ghost murmured.
“Wait… there’s more of them.”
Four much smaller creatures had broken free of the undergrowth and were following after the larger creature.
“Aw, they’re the babies!” Eden squealed. They were undoubtedly juvenile animals, each of them was quite rotund and covered in fuzzy spiky fur. The beginnings of what looked like plates were observable on their backs, but they looked much softer than the larger creatures. “She must be a mother.”
The babies ran up to their mother with funny rolling gaits, seeming to find their six legs quite unwieldy. More than once they tumbled over themselves, rolling several times before finding their feet. Looking around, Eden saw that even Mixer seemed to be charmed by the little family.
After they finished off their dinner, the mother beast lay down next to the fire.
“I think she likes the warmth,” Eden said, beaming as the cubs or kits or whatever they were began nuzzling amidst the soft plumes of fur that coated the mother’s belly between her second and third pairs of legs.
In short order, the entire family was laid out by their fire, the young happily feeding while their mother dozed in the contented way only an apex predator can.
“I guess that’s the end of dinner then,” Ghost observed. “They’re probably nocturnal, seeing as we haven’t seen any sign of them during the day.”
“Or any sign of their trail. They must be itinerant creatures.”
“A mother would need a den.”
“But we haven’t seen any huge six-footed tracks, which means they weren’t here before.”
“Maybe they were moved on for some reason.”
“Maybe.”
“This is exciting,” Eden said, clasping her hands together. “I’m so glad we came here.”
“Oh, you are, are you?”
Ghost palmed her bottom. She jumped, surprised at his touch but quickly glad for it.
“I think you and I need to have another talk, young lady.”
“Yessir,” she agreed meekly. The hand on her bottom didn’t bode well for the immediate future, but she would take all the spankings he needed to give to get back in his good books.
He escorted her to his quarters without another word. She went without complaint or question. It was important that he understood she was truly sorry. Words wouldn’t convey that sentiment, but obedience might.
“Pants down.”
She pushed her scrubs over her hips and let them fall without any complaint whatsoever.
“Come here.” He sat on his bed and beckoned her.
She went to him and was drawn between his thighs. Looking down at him, she tried not to smile. It felt so nice to be close to him again. When he put his large hands on her hips, she couldn’t help a little curling of her lips.
“I think we need to start addressing some of your recent behavior,” he said, sliding his hands up and down the outside of her thighs. His touch was not quite tender, but it was personal. Familiar. She felt a warm sensation flooding her body, something more than physical pleasure. Emotional relief. His touch belied his previous cool demeanor. He still cared for her. Still wanted her.
“You’re given to deception, Eden. It’s no doubt been what kept you alive this long,” he said as his long fingers curled around the outside of her thigh. “But I will not tolerate deception.”
“Yessir,” she murmured, a little grin playing across her lips.
He slapped her bottom lightly. “This isn’t a joke.”
“I know,” she reassured him. “It’s just nice, you touching me again.”
“It’s only been a couple of weeks.”
She met his gaze earnestly. “It felt like a lifetime.”
He resumed the slow tracing of his hands up and down her thighs, letting his palms drift up over her bottom. She relaxed into his touch, sensing that this was not a punitive incident so much as a reconnection. It was easier to be soft and sweet when he was strong. It was easier to be good when the prospect of a sore bottom was not far off. Ghost hooked his fingers in her underwear and drew them down, discarding the fabric on the floor around her toes.
“Come here,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. He drew her down against his lap so that she straddled him, her bare pussy riding against his clothed cock. She enjoyed the sensation for all of a second before he slapped her bottom hard.
“Ow!” she complained, pouting.
“That’s just the beginning,” Ghost said, shaking the hair out of his eyes. “You’ve earned yourself a very long, very hard spanking.” With that, he slapped her bottom again, eliciting another loud yelp.
She clung to his shoulders as her hips rode forward, her juices coating the slick surface of his uniform where the turgid length of his cock throbbed evermore.
“Does this mean you forgive me?”
“It means we’re family,” he said. “It means we can’t abandon one another, or refuse to talk to one another, or ignore one another. We’re the only humans this planet has.”
Eden felt a choked-up sensation rising in her throat. “You think of me as family?”
“I think of you as the badly behaved little minx who, for better or worse, is my mate. What you did was wrong, and you must never do anything like it again.”
“I never will,” Eden promised. “I mean… you won’t send me to the colonies now, will you? You wouldn’t do that to family.”
“You’ll stay with us,” Ghost said. “And we will all act in one another’s best interests. We will all be honest with one another. There can be no more tricks or lies. “
“Yessir,” Eden agreed, grinding her hips against his cock. His hands were tight across her cheeks, providing frequent slaps. “But…”
“No buts,” he growled.
“I just meant… what changed your mind? If the Alliance finds us, they’ll want to send me on to a colony.”
“The chances of the Alliance finding us are exceedingly slim,” he said. “We are far outside Alliance borders. Their authority no longer applies.”
“But you and Mixer are soldiers of the Alliance.”
“We were,” Ghost said. “But we’re settlers now. There is little point in remaining the servants of a system we’ll likely never return to.”
“But… you must have… connections, friends…”
“Mixer and I have been on the Preceptor for over half a decade. We have no roots in Alliance society. We did our jobs because we had pledged to do them.”
“That was not a job for men like you,” Eden said softly. “You are too brave, too bold to be cooped up on a space station for decades. What did you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“What did you do to land duty on that ship? You didn’t volunteer for it. You were assigned it.”
“We crossed the wrong general,” Ghost said, squeezing her bottom close. “We were punished as a result.”
“I knew it.” Eden pressed light kisses to his lips.
“You knew what?”
“I knew you were bad like me.”
Ghost chuckled. “Bad like you? Not quite.”
“You disobeyed a general and as a result you were sent to the end of the universe. I disobeyed the Allied Authority and was sent to much the same place. The only difference is, I didn’t go.”
“You didn’t,” Ghost agreed. “You fought like hell and you dragged us all into that struggle.” He let his fingers trace over her cheeks lightly. “And now, here we are. All alone on a distant planet unrecorded by the Alliance, a place where we make our own rules.”
“You’re happy here,” she said, smiling at him.
“I have become happy here,” he agreed. “It hasn’t been easy.”
“No,” she said, nuzzling against his neck. “Because here there’s no Alliance structure to fall back on. No easy answers. Here it’s just you and me and Mixer. There’s no hierarchy, not really.”
“Oh, there’s a hierarchy,” he said, slapping her bottom hard enough to make her yelp. “Mixer and I are still in charge where you’re concerned. You remain under our command.”
Eden moaned and nibbled lightly at his neck. She didn’t mind the correction at all. Better to be under his command than out in the cold. Better to feel the hot sting of his palm than be ignored. His hands moved from her bottom and wrapped around her waist, drawing her close in an embrace that carried the same yearning and longing she felt. She knew then that their distance had not been easy for him either, that he had borne the same pain she had.
He laid her down on the bed and drew her top off over her head. Seeming to have forgotten about his punitive intent, Ghost lowered his head and began kissing from her neck to her breast, letting his tongue tease around the nub of her nipple. Excitement flooded her body, a need for him inside her before he had so much as touched her anywhere near her pussy.
“Please,” she moaned.
He responded by paying reverent attention to her other nipple. It did nothing to satiate the burning between her thighs. Slowly, his hand slid down the line of her belly. She tensed, taut beneath his palm as his fingers drew closer to the curling hairs that protected her pussy. As his fingers crept over her mound, he let his teeth graze against her nipple and put a light but insistent pressure just above the apex of her lips.
She was held in place most securely with nothing more than the light touch of his hand. She lifted her hips toward his fingers, felt the length of those digits sliding over her wet outer lips, delivering his fingertips to the entrance of her body where she so desired them.
Instead of sliding inside her, he lightly tapped her lips. It sent a jolt through her mound, one that made her gasp and moan with a different kind o
f pleasure. Keeping her in place, Ghost spanked her pussy lightly, disciplining her in the most intimate way possible. Lifting his lips from her breast, he gazed down into her eyes.
“Learning your lesson?”
“Please… Ghost…” She arched her hips, earning herself a tap to her inner thigh.
“Stay still,” he murmured. “Take your spanking like a good girl.” He slapped her lips several more times, then let his middle finger swirl around the wanton space where her juices flowed. His thumb began strumming her clit, a direct pressure that made her gasp and rut her hips against him and moan the desperate cries of a woman who needs to feel her lover’s body inside her.
Peeling off his uniform, Ghost moved over her body. His cock was diamond hard, a drop of pre-cum already gleaming at its head. He kissed her, his lips claiming her mouth with a tender need that was no less urgent for its softness. She felt his hips lowering toward her own and then his cock was pressing inside her, his hot flesh spreading her tender lips around his shaft as he thrust inside her with one, long, slow motion.
Eden cried out softly as he began surging back and forth with a rolling motion. “You feel… I needed this…” she moaned. “I have needed you so long.”
“And I you,” Ghost reassured her, sliding deep into her tender pussy. He ground against her, letting her feel each and every inch of his cock. She was wet, so much so that each motion was accompanied by a tell-tale squishing sound of sweet juices. He tried to keep himself in a slow, steady rhythm, but that was too much for either of them to bear. Fixing his mouth on her lips, his tongue lashing her tongue, Ghost took her hard and fast, wreaking erotic havoc on her pussy and sending raging tremors shooting through her body.
He pulled out just before she could cum, leaving her bereft of his cock. Her whine of complaint was cut short when he moved up her body and guided his hard rod into her mouth, making her taste her arousal on the hot, thick length of his cock. Ghost was in no hurry to cum, this wasn’t about a quick orgasm. It was about claiming her completely.
With Ghost thrusting in her mouth, there was no pretending that there was anything egalitarian about their relationship. He was the commander, she the slave. It was her duty to please him, to suckle his cock until he saw fit to push it back inside her wanton pussy, or…