by Tracy Lauren
“Do you want to take her in?” he asks, offering me the controls.
“God, yes,” I reply, relieved to have something to take my mind off the anticipation of seeing the others again.
Our landing on Elysia is a lot different from the last. There’s no horrific crash accompanied by the threat of death this time. I nearly laugh out loud at the stark contrast as I set us down gently.
It looks to be late afternoon as we disembark from Dax’s ship. The airfield is empty, not a soul is there to greet us. Nervously, I run my hand over the spiky prickles of hair just beginning to grow back on my scalp. I’m still dressed a little Aritine, with a backless top and strategic holes along the sides of my pants. I mean, I’ve got the pretty tattoos, I might as well show them off.
Dax and I did make a stop to a medical station to have the prosthetics removed though. I actually could have gotten the tattoos removed too, and maybe I will someday, but right now I feel oddly connected to them. They almost feel like badges of honor, recounting the tale of everything I endured.
“How do you feel?” Dax asks as we find a well-worn path toward Beacon. So much has happened here since we left.
“I’ll be fine. I promise,” I assure him.
He worries about me a lot. I think he still holds a lot of guilt for getting captured on Quar. I know Dax blames himself for what happened. I blame myself too, so we’re kind of at a stalemate about getting over that one. Time, though, we keep reminding ourselves, time will help us heal.
Finally, I see the village looming ahead of us. An ancient city in the jungle, brought back to life by humans and Vendari. I can see why they call it Beacon. It feels like a beacon of hope on the horizon, something invisible and unnamable draws me in. I look over at Dax, he wears a similar expression of awe.
From the gates we see a Vendari man, someone I’ve never seen before. He’s older and his features are more brutal than the others. Perhaps he’s full Vendari? Dax sees him too and literally stops in his tracks. This is the first Vendari he’s ever seen, besides his friends, of course.
“Vivian?” a voice calls out, cracking midway through.
It’s Reagan, of course. She drops a basket and its contents spill across a cobblestone ground. Dax’s hand releases mine, leaving me free to run to my friend.
It’s been months since I’ve seen Reagan and we didn’t know each other for long before I ran away with Dax. Luckily, an alien abduction can make lifelong friends out of people.
I run to her, leaving behind all my fears and anxieties. What will they see when they look at me? Will they fear me? How will they react to the horrible things I’ve done? It all just melts away and I know I have friends here.
“Oh my god,” I hear someone else cry out. It’s Clark, I think. “Someone get Kate!”
My vision is blurred by tears, but still I see at least a dozen new faces stopping their work to come out into the courtyard to view our reunion. Kate, April, Clark, and Reagan hug and squeeze me, but they don’t ask me any questions. They don’t point out my obvious change in appearance. They just shower me with the type of love you reserve for family. And when they are done, all the new women welcome me in a similar fashion, with just as many tears and just as much love.
“It’s so good to see another human,” one woman tells me.
“We’re safe here,” another assures me. “Everything is going to be okay.”
The overall message is clear. “Welcome home.”
Chapter 57
Dax
I wake up to the sun shining in through our propped open door, warming the room I share with my mate. It is a rare treat after many days of rain. I reach across the sheets but am dismayed to find the bed is empty. Sitting up, I groggily look for my errant female. I do not have to search for long.
“What are you doing up so early?” I ask.
“I’m just eager to make the space ours, you know?” she tells me. “Are you hungry? I had a fruit salad, but I can make you eggs or something if you want.”
“Not quite yet,” I say, shifting in the bed so that I can watch V fuss over our room. She arranges flowers in a vase on the table. They make the room bright and cheerful like everything else my mate has chosen, from the tapestries hanging on the walls to the rug on the floor. Even the baskets she weaves with her friends or the pottery she creates with the new human Alessandra. All of it is bright. All of it has color and life to it.
“I like it,” I tell her.
“I’m not done yet,” she laughs.
“When you are done, will you come back to bed?”
“You, sir, have a one-track mind,” she chides, but discards her work at the table to watch me with an impish smile. I am just about to carry her back to bed when there is a knock at our open door.
“Hope you are decent,” Gorrard calls, hauling in something large and heavy. Kellen takes up the rear end of the object.
“Do not bother getting up,” Kellen huffs sarcastically.
“Believe me, I was not planning on it,” I joke.
“Thank you guys so much! Bring it right over here. Okay, a little to the left. Center it,” she directs. “That’s it! Perfect!” V claps her hands excitedly.
When Gorrard and Kellen step away I see they have hung a large mirror on the wall opposite our bed.
“Ahh! I love it! This is wonderful, thank you again for picking it up for me.”
“Anytime,” Gorrard assures her. “After all, we are all family here.”
“Thank you, my brothers,” I say, wrapping the sheet around my waist and standing to see my friends out. I shut the door behind them when they leave.
“What is this?” I ask V, joining my mate to inspect the mirror. Her reflection shows me the joy on her face and the light shining in her eyes. Happiness brings a new level of beauty to her features.
“It’s just something I asked Gorrard to pick up on his last supply run. He outdid himself,” she sighs. “It’s perfect. Exactly what I wanted.”
I wrap my arms around her, hugging her from behind and nuzzling against her cropped hair. “Tell me what you see.”
“Hmmm, good question,” she says with a smile. “I see a sexy alien, who’s dragging my sheets on the floor. You know you’re on laundry duty now, right?”
“You know that is not what I meant,” I scold, nibbling at her neck.
She sighs and closes her eyes. “Okay, I know what you’re getting at. I see me, the real me. I see all that I have been as well as the potential still inside.”
“Woman, your eyes are closed!” I notice.
“I don’t need to look in the mirror to see that, nerd.” She pauses for a moment before she adds, “I’m at peace with it all, Dax, I really am.”
“Then what do you need a mirror for?” I ask.
Her smile is suddenly mischievous. “Want me to show you?” she asks, and I nod solemnly.
Still facing the mirror, V tugs at the hem of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head. Then she kicks off her boots.
“Will you help me with these?” she asks. Always eager to lend my assistance, I reach around to unbutton her pants. As I slide them over her hips she tips forward, bending over our kitchen table. Looking over her shoulder, she wiggles her ass playfully for me. Thanks to our new mirror, I have a view of both angles.
I run my hands over the soft flesh of her hips, admiring the golden shine of her skin and the feminine curves of her body art. I see her smiling in the mirror as she nibbles at her bottom lip.
“Do you like what you see?” she asks.
“Do you?” I question.
“I got the mirror for a reason,” she tells me, and I guess I have my answer.
I squeeze her hips, teasing them with my claws, and she whimpers for me.
“I like that sound. Let me see if I can make you do it again,” I say, crouching behind her.
V spreads her legs for me and I press kisses to the backs of her thighs. Rising onto the tips of her toes, she greedily positioning hersel
f for my tongue. The scent of her arousal is thick on the air. It grips me, and a low growl escapes my throat. There is nothing more intoxicating than my mate’s desire.
“You are already so wet for me,” I tell her as I lap sweet nectar from her glistening lips. She rewards me with a lust-filled moan.
In the mirror, I see her eyes are trained on me. “Do you like to watch me lick your pussy?”
“I do,” she admits. There is nothing timid in her voice when she says it, and it makes my heart drum with arousal. I delve into her, pushing my tongue as deep as it will go, relishing her taste. Reaching my hand between her legs, I roll her clit with the pads of my fingers. Her knees go weak.
“Oh God, yes,” she moans before she starts riding my face, grinding her pussy back against my lips and tongue. She’s so wet I can feel her juices dripping down my chin. When I look back at the mirror I see she is still watching me with hungry eyes.
I growl and she bucks. Sliding my tongue through her folds, I seek out her clit. Her body trembles when I tease it, but I am not ready for her to come just yet. So, I slick my tongue all the way back up and I do not stop until I reach her tight little ass. Still watching her in the mirror, I see her eyes go wide and she squeals in pleasure.
“Dax!” she cries out, and I give her a wicked smile, before pumping a thick knuckle inside of her. Her look of shock evolves into one of hedonistic satisfaction.
“That feels so damn good,” she swears, bucking backwards in a frenzy and fucking my hand. I let her do the work and enjoy the view. My cock throbs for this delicious female I have spread out on my kitchen table.
To think she was ever timid around me. Seeing her losing herself in our love like this, I can’t help but consider all the ways we have grown together. Perhaps a part of me always knew that V was mine to win.
Cum beads at the tip of my cock and I take myself in my hand, watching my knuckle disappear between V’s hot, wet folds. I barely have a chance to stroke my length when V stops me.
“Uh uh.” She shakes her head. “That’s mine.” She pushes away from the table and spins me around so I can lean against it before she drops to her knees.
“It is indeed,” I agree. Looking up at me with her amber eyes, she greedily grips at my shaft with both hands and I breathe out a shaky breath, anticipating her warm mouth on my flesh. Her pink, human tongue laps at the cum wetting the head of my cock. I don’t bother to try and still the drumming within me. It rocks me so hard it feels like I tremble with every beat, that is what my female does to me.
Suddenly she is sucking the whole of my cock into her mouth while she strokes and pumps me. I throw my head back, clenching my teeth through a fierce growl. She moans against me and the vibrations send chills up my body.
“You’re supposed to be watching,” she tells me between licks.
“Keep this up and you are going to make me finish too soon,” I warn, but she just giggles, sucking at me with lustful expertise. “You have gone mad with power, you witch,” I tease. She slaps at my thigh, pulling away to erupt in a fit of laughter. I help her to her feet and hold her against my body. My tail coils around her thigh. She nuzzles her head against my chest, letting her laughter slowly die away.
“I love you,” I tell her as we admire our embrace in the mirror.
“You know I love you too, right?” she asks.
I look at her tattoos and the TASE processor affixed to the back of her neck. I think of all she sacrificed to protect me and to remain by my side.
“Nothing could convince me otherwise,” I tell her, taking her mouth in a kiss. I fill that kiss with all the love and gratitude I have for this goddess of a female. Silently, I send a prayer of thanks up to the Goddesses, the universe, and all the powers that may be, for bringing my mate to me. She smiles against my lips and pushes me to the bed. Tumbling backward, we crash onto the soft blankets, V landing on top.
“I want you,” she whispers.
Obliging my mate, I run my hands up her thighs and give her clit one last tease before I position my thick head at her entrance. She is slick with her own juices, and when she presses her weight down onto me I slide easily inside of her. She moves slowly, allowing her body time to stretch to accommodate my girth. Soon I am buried to the hilt. I let out a groan, her pussy hugs me so tightly I can hardly breathe. Before I can gain my bearings, she starts to ride me, grinding against the sensitive ridges of my lower abdomen.
“I love having you inside me,” she moans. “This feels so good. So right.”
“Nothing could compare,” I agree, reaching up to roll her nipples between the pads of my fingertips. She whimpers again, arching her back to lean into my hands. Her wetness coats the space between us and the room is filled with the sounds of our coupling.
Our hands roam one another’s bodies, bringing me to such a state of pleasure that we are nothing more than a blur of charcoal against amber, moans and growls, the slapping of wet flesh against wet flesh. We are pure pleasure.
She bounces on my cock, her modest and perky breasts give me plenty to watch, I hardly need the mirror. But when I do glance over at it, to see the expression of our love, I feel my ball sac tighten in response.
“Oh, fuck, Dax. I’m going to cum!” she tells me. I am close as well. I bring my tail up and trail it along the crack of her ass. She leans forward, spreading herself even wider for me.
“I want you to cum for me, V. I want you to cum so hard you see the stars,” I growl. She falls forward, weak from riding me. So, I flip her onto her back, never breaking our bond. I pull her legs up over my shoulders and drive into her with a new ferocity. She wails in pleasure, my tail still caressing her as her pussy starts to flutter and contract.
“Oh God, I’m cumming! I’m cumming,” she cries out, and that pussy of hers hugs me even tighter.
I roar along with my mate’s cries. My own climax grips me and I feel myself erupt. Rope after rope of sticky, hot cum fills her pussy and I keep on thrusting through the last waves of our orgasms.
I roll to the side to avoid crushing her and pull her on top of me, cradling her against my chest as we catch our breath. We lie for a long time like that, without saying a word. Lazily, I begin to trace the lines of ink that run over her shoulders and back. She wears this art proudly, telling me once that she thinks of it as testament to all that she can endure.
“Did you know some of the women asked me to set up a pole dancing class?” she says, breaking the silence.
“Are you going to do it?” I ask.
“Hell no,” she laughs, shaking her head. “Well, I don’t know. Maybe. Seems like it might cause more trouble than good.”
“Mmm, the males of Beacon would lose their minds,” I point out. She laughs against my chest, but a heavy silence falls between us. Something is troubling my V.
“Dax, I’ve been thinking,” she says carefully.
“I am listening,” I tell her, tracing the lines of tattoos down her back.
“There’s something I want to do.”
“Oh?” I ask. V has searched long and hard to find a place for herself since her abduction. Perhaps she is finally ready to explore what her future will hold here on Elysia. And I am ardent to know what path it is that she wishes to pursue. To be honest, I thought it would take much more time for her to heal, but as always, my mate’s resiliency is an inspiration.
“I have this TASE inside of me, Dax. It puts me in a unique position to help people.”
“I does,” I agree.
“I want to go find humans. There’s more out there, most likely scared and alone. They need rescuing. They’re out there waiting for someone like me to bring them home.”
“I do not need to point out that what you suggest is dangerous, do I?”
“I know it is, and we just got each other back. I don’t want to put our relationship at risk to go. But this is something I have to do. If you’re willing, I’d like you to come too.”
“Not even with your TASE could you stop me
from joining you, V,” I tell her. “You will always have a partner in me. Do not ever question that.”
“Please think it through before answering, Dax. I don’t want you to do it just because I want to. I’d feel terrible pushing you into something that—”
“Stop. There is no need to finish that thought,” I tell her, pulling her up to look into my eyes. “All my life I have been searching for my place. Looking for something meaningful—”
“And full of adventure?” she asks, smiling up at me.
“You are all the adventure I will ever need. I am a simple male, V, all I want is to do some good in this life. I suppose I should not be surprised that it is you who will lead me to the path I was meant to take.”