by Lea Linnett
It had been two months since they left Augusta’s house. That meant two months since she last saw Ellie, which was the only thing that put a damper on her mood. Some days, she leaned up against a machine and put her face in her hands, or cried silently into her pillow, but those moments were growing fewer and more far-between as time passed on. Kormak had assured her that they’d eventually be able to get a message to her sister through his contacts in New Chicago, and that helped ease her worry. She had to trust that her sister would look after herself.
Ellie had a life to live, and so did Lena.
Their freighter would drop them off on CL-6, the cicarian home-planet, in another three months’ time, and they’d work out their next move from there. Kormak had heard rumors about a place named ‘Celia’, outside the Constellation. Apparently, it was a place that didn’t care whether you were ‘sub-species’ or ‘levekk’—which Lena had scoffed at upon first hearing about it. But Kormak wanted to see if they could make it there, and Lena was happy to go along. She found it hard to believe that she could feel any freer than she did right now, but she would go anywhere for him.
She squealed as he flung them back onto the bed, rolling so Lena sat across his bare stomach. She belatedly threw a hand over her mouth, laughing down at Kormak through clenched fingers. They preferred to remain quiet, even though they often heard worse sounds coming from their neighbors. What they were doing may no longer be illegal, but there was always the chance that someone would connect them to the two escapees that crossed half a continent down on CL-32, and they didn’t need that kind of attention.
She decided to keep her mouth busy, latching onto the levekk’s neck and kissing her way up the thick column of muscle she found there. Kormak’s claws gripped her waist in return, drawing faint lines into her skin.
She never expected to grow used to the feeling of scales, but now they were as natural as human skin beneath her lips. She loved the rippling of his muscles beneath her, hard and accommodating all at once.
Scooting back impatiently, she gasped as his hard length pressed against her, and felt the levekk shudder in reply. She sat up and removed her bra in one quick movement, grinning when Kormak’s eyes were inevitably drawn to her breasts. But she didn’t give him long to get any ideas, instead raising herself up on her knees and taking a hold of his cock.
She’d taken him almost every day since joining the freighter, and she slid easily down over his length. Kormak grunted, his eyes rolling back as she sheathed him inside her, riding him in short strokes until his pelvis was flush against hers.
Lena never grew sick of this, the exquisite fullness of him inside her. She quivered where she perched, her knees squeezing against his sides.
After a few moments of adjustment, she felt two large, clawed hands grip her hips, and her eyes fluttered open. She hadn’t even noticed that she’d closed them. The levekk gazed up at her, his dark pupils blown wide enough to almost engulf the bright blue-green of his irises. She licked her lips, her mouth dry, and wished she could lean over and kiss him from here.
She rose up slowly, drawing a low groan from each of them as their bodies parted, before slamming back down. She repeated the action a few more times, keeping her movements slow and deliberate. Kormak was beginning to roll his hips beneath her now, desperate for more friction.
She obliged, gasping as she set a sharper pace. This wouldn’t yet be enough to get either of them off, but it made her lips part in a silent moan nonetheless.
Kormak’s grip was tightening, his claws digging into the soft skin of her hips and ass, but it didn’t scare her. She welcomed the crushing pressure, the tiny scratch marks she might find there later. It had taken a long time for Kormak to grow comfortable being rough with her, but finally he was beginning to see how much she could take.
The fact that she didn’t hobble after their lovemaking anymore probably helped with that.
Her breaths were harsh, her heart pounding in her ears as she bounced up and down on him. Their skin slapped together, Kormak thrusting up into her from below even as he pulled her down by her hips. She gasped out a breathy moan, her thighs relaxing as she surrendered herself to the levekk’s rhythm, and she could pinpoint the exact moment he took control. His hands tightened on her hips, his muscles bunching, and then he was slamming her down upon his cock. His eyes found hers, and she couldn’t look away.
She tried to stay quiet as she rode him, but when her orgasm shocked through her sooner than expected, she was helpless to stop the cry that erupted from her open lips.
Kormak tensed up, ramming their bodies together as he came. His grunt of pleasure was like music to Lena’s ears, and she sighed at the feel of him pulsing inside her.
Once spent, he pulled her close, his hands leaving her waist and coming up to wrap around her torso as she sank bonelessly over him. Her skin stuck to his, their chests heaving together, and she tickled absent circles into his sides while they breathed each other in.
Eventually, she dismounted, crawling up his body until they were lying level on the bed. Without hesitation, Kormak drew her in for a kiss, interrupting their panting breaths.
They lay in silence for a while, the comfortable kind that Lena had grown used to on the road. She was beginning to love these silences. She could take all the time she needed to drink him in, her eyes roving the chiseled lines of his face and the soft smile on his lips.
After a while, the levekk moved in close, his lips brushing her ear and sending a shiver down her spine.
“You are… stunning,” he whispered in halting Yumin Tok. Lena’s heart almost stopped. She’d been teaching him the basics of it ever since they left Augusta’s, and his use of it sent a flush of warmth through her chest and face. She smiled self-consciously, knocking her forehead against his heavy, plated brow.
“You’re not bad yourself for a big ‘ol wild monster,” she replied playfully in Trade.
He nuzzled her neck, and she could feel his teeth against her skin when he grinned. “Wanna see just how wild I can be?” he asked slyly, his deep voice rumbling through her. He pushed himself up over her, pinning her wrists against the mattress and making her gasp.
“What about my protein bars?” she asked, although they were quickly seeming far less important than the weight of him towering over her.
“What if I told you I bribed one of the stock guys, and there’s an entire box of them under the bed?”
He crushed their mouths together again, silencing her happy cheer, but the rough kiss soon settled back into a languid rhythm. They were both tired. Lena pulled his huge body close, burying her face into his smooth scales, and knew that she’d never want to leave.
“I still can’t believe we’re here,” she mumbled into his neck, and he paused, pulling back to look at her. “Just a few weeks ago, I was set to waste away in Kharon, just another puny human with no way of fighting back.”
A clawed hand left her wrist, cradling her cheek. “And I was an asshole who looked down at the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen and threatened to leave her behind.”
Lena went red. “Hey…”
“I mean it,” Kormak continued, kissing her jaw. “I’d never met a human like you before. I didn’t know they could be like you.”
“So, what? You helped me over that wall because you thought I was pretty?”
He snorted. “No. I helped you over that wall because you were strong. You had a fire. You never hesitated, not even once. You’re the reason I’m still here, Lena. You’ve saved my life—more than once.”
He kissed her, stealing her breath as he rubbed his hands over her skin. “You saved mine too,” she gasped, coming up for air. “In Kharon, I had nothing. And Ellie… She’s going to be so much stronger now. I know it.”
“If she’s anything like you, then I believe that completely.”
Lena laughed, hugging him close. “I love you,” she breathed, testing the weight of it. She’d known it was true for weeks already, but saying i
t aloud was the final, terrifying step.
Bright blue-green eyes almost entirely eclipsed by their pupils zeroed in on her, his thumb tracing her lip. “I love you too.”
Their bodies were joined at every inch, alien physiologies that fit together more perfectly than anything either of them had experienced before. Beneath him, Lena no longer felt like a weak human or a Duster or a criminal. She was just Lena, and the being who clutched her so close to him now was just Kormak.
No matter where they went, she knew his bone-covered hand wouldn’t be too far from hers, and together, they could take on whatever this strange new universe had to offer.
Lena had finally found where she fit, and now wherever she went, she knew she’d be home.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading! This is my first book and it’s been a real labor of love, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed telling it.
Stay tuned for Ellie’s story in Book 2 of the Levekk Invaders Series—I can’t wait to tell it!
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