Citun’s Storm

by C. L. Scholey

  “It was good to be heard. We had a few tense moments. It would be best if all Gorgano are hunted down before they can regroup. The Tonan pose a minimal threat, but the Gorgano are a danger to every Zargonnii warrior and a few humans. I’ll have a mission together after I speak to Titus further on the subject.”

  Cobra laughed. “My friend, wait until you do see Titus and meet his mate and young son.”

  “Titus has both a mate and a son? He never mentioned them. Then again, our discussion was brief and to the point. How is that possible? He had no son when I left.”

  “You’ve been gone a while. His son, Zell, is well, I guess you’ll just have to see. I assure you, the babe’s mother is human. A very powerful human female. Zell is nothing you can imagine.”

  “A male Zargonnii half-human?”

  Storm was surprised. Citun sounded sad. She gazed at him curiously. “What is wrong with the mix?”

  “A warrior half-human wouldn’t be very, um, strong.”

  Cobra roared with laughter. “You have no clue how wrong you are. When you meet the little powerhouse don’t piss him off, he might send you back to the planet you found Storm.”

  Storm was intrigued. She never really thought her union with Citun would result in children; she wasn’t certain it was possible, now she learned it was.

  “Are all Zargonnii-human offspring that special?”

  “Introducing humans to both Castian and Zargonnii culture has made some special children. Mothers who have met up with the Gorgano prove to be an interesting mix. Some mothers have fascinating abilities and we are finding the aptitude grows with some experiences,” Cobra said.

  “Such as saving the life of someone you care for,” Citun muttered.

  Storm thought about that. Her fear and fury were so intense when she thought Citun was about to die an overwhelming hatred of the weapon charging him took all of her concentration. It was odd to want an inanimate object annihilated. After her experience, she was different but uncertain how. There wasn’t a single thing that came to mind.

  “Speaking of powerhouses, what happened with that baby boy your warrior and his mate had. Now what was their names? Roam, and Jinx?” Citun asked.

  “Ryker is the boy’s name. He and Zell have become the best of friends and have the ability to…”

  Cobra was interrupted when Ashala appeared, carrying a little boy. “For some reason, this child suddenly appeared in my arms.” Ashala didn’t appear concerned, simply mystified.

  Cobra sighed and held his hands out to the boy. The child smiled and it was apparent they knew each other well.

  “This is Ryker. Besides being his own game of hide and seek and driving the hive insane with worry occasionally, he’s harmless. Well, he is to friends. The enemy, and he seems to know enemies, don’t get off as lucky.” Cobra ran his hand over the boy’s hair in a fond gesture. Storm smiled seeing pride and love from the powerful leader.

  “He’s gorgeous,” Storm said.

  Ryker gazed at her and babbled. He was perhaps three or so. Storm listened intently. At his age he should know words. When he babbled again, she smiled. His own secret language. Storm understood him.

  “Yes, I know what you’re saying,” Storm said and stroked his tanned cheek. He babbled again. “I don’t know what the substance was.”

  “Storm?” Citun asked.

  “Ryker wants to know what the substance was that I destroyed. For some reason, he sees the image of the confrontation. But just the weapon coming at us,” Storm said.

  “Ryker, what’s wrong?” Cobra asked.

  Ryker babbled and everyone looked at Storm. “The made up language is easier for him to get his words across. I’m guessing he speaks like any other three year old, so sometimes his words are harder. The substance is something he’s never seen but he’s worried. He says if I know about the material, the Gorgano might if we come into contact again.”

  “Must be some mighty special material he’s talking about,” Cobra said.

  “It is,” Citun’s tone was grim. He then jumped when another boy appeared only in his arms. “Um, Cobra?”

  Cobra chuckled. “This is Zell. Normally, where you find Ryker you find Zell. He’s a little younger so don’t let his size fool you.”

  Storm was surprised; the Zargonnii boy was twice Ryker’s size. He immediately held his arms out to Storm. She almost couldn’t lift him. His piercing green eyes gazed at her intently. For a second, she was afraid. Zell was in her thoughts. The image he called up was the battle and Storm winced, it had been brutal.

  “No Zell, honey, don’t look at that,” she whispered.

  Concentrating, she directed the child away from the violence in her thoughts; it was hard and he seemed surprised, but he only went where she allowed him. As though he sensed her fear was for him. Not her. She wasn’t hiding an untruth or lie. Zell wanted to see the material they had been speaking of. The razor sharp bed designed to kill. Storm felt him wince and gently she directed him away. The spear flying in hers and Citun’s direction was too fascinating for him to let go of.

  Zell watched as the scene played over in Storm’s mind. She shattered the sharp head. Zell was gone from her thoughts. He and Ryker gazed hard at each other. Storm knew they were talking to one another. How she knew, she wasn’t certain; no words were exchanged.

  “Ryker?” Cobra asked.

  Ryker babbled to Storm. “They are trying to figure out how I destroyed an object made of a material that’s apparently omnipotent.”

  “You did?” Cobra sounded astounded. “If Ryker and Zell say it’s omnipotent, they mean it.”

  “The weapon was heading for Citun. I couldn’t let it kill him,” her tone was subdued.

  The boys chuckled and disappeared. Storm knew the blush was creeping up her face. Everyone was watching her.

  “Well?” Citun said.

  “The boys left giggling because they know what destroyed the weapon, apparently there is something more omnipotent than omnipotent. They were worried the Gorgano might find the material, but they won’t understand how to battle it.”

  “Because of you?” Cobra asked.

  Storm wanted to fall into a hole with Citun’s intense gaze boring into her. “Yes, because of me.”

  “Well?” Citun said. “How did you bust it?”

  Storm took a huge breath. “With love. Okay, satisfied?”

  Cobra chuckled, and the biggest grin Storm had ever seen split Citun’s face until she thought he’d cut his head in half. Citun pulled her into his arms and she buried her face into his chest. She hadn’t even known how she destroyed the weapon. She knew she liked Citun at the time, more than liked, but love? The idea was a revelation. She had fallen in love with him a while ago.

  “It’s time I headed back,” Cobra said. “Storm, it was nice meeting you. Citun, thanks for the information. Glad to have you back in our territory. The Zargonnii are more than allies, they’re friends.”

  Storm watched Cobra step into a rounded black hole, and he was gone. She wondered about the babies and their abilities. Ashala was in Taft’s arms and they moved off. Citun had the bridge and Jari was nowhere to be seen, neither was Lano, but the thought made Storm want to chuckle. Sometimes you saw Lano, sometimes you didn’t.

  “It will be a while before we hit Zargonnii territory,” Citun went to sit and pulled her onto his lap.

  Storm watched space slip by. Her thoughts were jumbled. She doubted a Zargonnii would know or understand why humans used contraceptives. Their idea about a Holiday was entirely to procreate. She wasn’t certain she was ready for a child in the mess the universe had become. This was something she was going to have to think long and hard about.

  * * * *

  Storm had been quiet since their meeting with Cobra. The hour was late; Citun and Storm were sitting at a table eating their replicated meals. Storm was swirling her fork around the same meatball on a plate of spaghetti for five minutes. She finally sighed and lay the utensil down to sip
at a beverage humans considered alcohol. Citun could have laughed at the idea. After a swig of Zargonnii booze a human female was knocked on her ass.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Citun asked.

  “Yes and no.”

  “The boys upset you.”

  “Not really the boys themselves, more the idea of children.”

  “Don’t you like children?”

  “Other people’s.”

  “You don’t want any of your own?”

  “I understand the concept is hard for you to wrap your head around when that’s the only reason you have sex.”

  Citun leaned back in his chair. “You are the first female I ever made love to. There was no thought about having you conceive. The idea of you simply wanting me was a new concept, a nice concept. Do have any idea how special you made me feel?”

  “I hadn’t thought about it that way. I guess only ever being with a female for one purpose would be hard. Fighting for dominance, wanting only a child. There is so much more to…”

  “Love?”

  She went a beautiful shade of red, making him smile. Storm squirmed in her seat until finally nodding.

  “I’ve never been in love before. It’s scary.”

  “I’ve never been in love before; I love loving you,” Citun said. He reached for her hand and ran his thumb over her soft skin. “I like the way you curl up to me at night. The way you reach for me. Kissing you makes my heart pound. Thinking of you makes me so hard you could bounce a boulder off my cock.”

  Storm laughed. “Mental image.”

  “When Zargonnii Holiday there is no love, but yet there is. Not between a male and female. The love for a child is there and burns so bright. It’s the only love we ever have. At one time, I loved my mother and know she loved me. That’s the only female in the world who would ever love me. Until you. You give of yourself. You are a gift. My mother is gone. When she died, there was absolutely no love in my life.”

  “You have friends.”

  “Yes, I care for my warriors but my love for them is different. I never knew how different until I met you. I would die for my warriors. I would not only die for you, but I would kill in any way, shape, or form if someone tried to hurt you. When you saw me battle I was worried. I am death when I need to be, but I have never wanted to slaughter anything so much and make it hurt.”

  “You are pretty spooky.”

  “I never knew my anger could make me feel evil. I surprised even me.”

  Citun rose and went to kneel before her. He reached to cup her cheek in his hand. She was warm and unmoving. Storm had no idea no female Zargonnii would allow this type of intimacy. Storm was more than a gift. Nothing ever held his heart the way she did. In a brief time, a human female became his life, the reason he breathed, the reason he smiled.

  “If you never want a child, please always want me.”

  “I won’t say no to a child forever. Show me your planet. Make me safe enough to not be afraid to bring another into this world. A human female loves her child. I will never give any of my children up. Not male or female. Ever. I need to know they won’t be taken from me by any means.”

  Citun understood. Storm was walking into the unknown for him. It was then he realized how deep her love really was. She had walked into the unknown entering the aliens’ homes. Within her, there must be a storm brewing, as she was about to yet again venture into the unknown. He took her hand and placed it over his heart.

  “This is home. Not a place. Me. Home will always be me.”

  Her lips twitched until she smiled. “Well, that’s a huge ass address. You’re like your own zip code. The State of Citun. Planet Citun. No wonder you’re leader…”

  Citun yanked her into his arms and crushed her to his chest.

  Chapter 10

  Citun carried Storm to the bedroom. His boots hit the floor as he kicked them off. He sat her on the bed and shimmied from his pants. He climbed up to lay beside her. Storm made no attempt to undress. She knew he wanted to make love, but there was something more. Storm wasn’t in the mood to play, or be overwhelmed; she wanted to be loved. Citun was so dominant during sex she wondered if he knew how to be careful and tender. As he rose over her in the bed, she cupped his face in her palms.

  “Can I take you into the unknown,” Storm asked.

  “You have and continue to do so.”

  “I know you spent your life learning dominance. Your females aren’t fragile. I’m a shit. Yes, I said a bad word. I have been my own hero for so long. I told you I don’t need one. Maybe I don’t. I do need backup. I survive the unknown. I kick its butt. Can you?”

  “What to do you want?”

  “I in no way, shape, or form want you to feel emasculated. I just need you. A tender, sweet you, who can love me enough to be so powerful you are gentle. You say you are home. After a while hurt, loss, and loneliness consumes you and you have a choice. Give up, give in or find something that gives you the power to go on. I had no home, and I had no one. So I chose my heart as my home.

  “My heart is surrounded by walls that keep it safe and warm. I feel it beat; it’s there. It’s connected to me and everything that keeps me going. No home isn’t a place, sometimes it’s not even a someone. Sometimes it’s a something. Something you carry everywhere you go. Something that keeps you moving, feeling, living. Home is hope. As long as I can feel the beating of my heart, I have hope because I have life. Something within walls can be empty, maybe there’s no furniture or people, but within me there is substance. My blood is fuel surging to my home; my veins are friends who carry it. My breath expands my lungs to give my home an open window. And when I hurt, my heart hurts with me, every single time. When I cry, my home doesn’t wipe my tears because it cries, too. Most important, when I love, my heart expands because a home grows bigger when it fills with joy.

  “Can you show my home a place where I can go, where I can breathe, and expand and walk to each happy beat? I don’t want a home away from home; I want a home within a home. Your heart.”

  Tears dripped down her cheeks as she spoke, but Storm didn’t care. Her soul bare, exposed, she waited. She knew how to live, she knew why she lived, but she wanted life and there was a difference. Life gazed back. Citun cupped her cheek in his palm; he kissed each tear until they stopped falling. Forehead to forehead their breath mixed.

  “You have my heart, yesterday, today, tomorrow. As long as there is a moment in time you are the moment I want to be in. Forever is a simple word, because words are things you say. There is power in touch, but mostly in love. You once wondered why the word peace was invented when it seems so elusive? It’s the elusive we strive for. I once thought you were a gift, but gifts are given freely. You are my home because you only have one. No matter where you go or live you are never truly home unless you’re at peace. And maybe that is why the word peace is so elusive.”

  Storm reached to wrap her arms around his neck; she buried her face into his throat. His weight, her cover, barely touched her. For a long time they lay quietly, not moving. Heart to heart. No one had ever searched for Storm’s soul, but she knew Citun was. He lowered his hand to tilt her face to meet his gaze. There was no need for words.

  When their lips met, his breath glided down her throat and the warmth of him reached her heart. She knew, because it began to pound. Home reached for peace. Within the peace there was happiness, because there was love.

  Their kiss deepened, and her hands tightened on his skin. When he pulled her up to lift her shirt over her head, he pinned her hands high by her wrists. The pressure was gentle, and if she resisted, all she needed to do was pull free. She remained where she was. Citun nuzzled between her breasts, kissing each bud. Nothing he did was demanding or dominant. He licked her belly making her smile, trailing kisses.

  Citun released her wrists and lowered to drag her shorts over her hips, past her thighs and slowly off her ankles. His jutting cock told her how torturous his painstaking gestures were. He slid his hands over her ca
lves, spreading her knees. His black nails were long, but the pads of his fingers glided over her lower lips searching for her bud.

  Storm arched her back when he dipped his head to run his tongue over her. Citun stretched his arm to rub a hand over a breast. He didn’t squeeze, his thumb trailed across her nipple. When his tongue penetrated her heat, her breath expelled in a whoosh. He tasted her, probing, cautious. She spread her legs wider wanting him deeper.

  Never in her life had Storm climaxed from oral sex but when she did, it was Citun who shuddered. He rose over her, shaking, still maintaining his tenacious grasp of control, for her. Teeth gritted, arms bulging with power, Citun entered her inch by inch. His expel of air was a groan. A warrior ruled by dominance, chose instead to conquer his nature.

  Storm wrapped her legs around his waist as he rocked within her. She buried her face into his chest while her hands rubbed his back. The pebble in her chest, the one reminding her she was always alone, disintegrated. She was home. Her heart had a home.

  When Citun came, he didn’t roar or bellow, he pulled her close. He rolled them onto their sides. Using his hands, he brushed her long locks from her face. For long moments, they gazed at one another. Their eyes conveying what only eyes can.

  “I love you, Citun.”

  “Welcome home, Storm.”

  * * * *

  Citun watched the play of emotion on Storm’s face as the ship hovered over his planet. Much of the time, north Zargonnii territory was covered in snow, but it was time for the Holiday. The jungle surroundings were warm and bright with color. Citun was glad. He wanted Storm’s first impression to be good.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “It certainly looks busy.”

  Seeing his world through another’s eyes was enlightening. There were bangor, hairy annoyances roughly Storm’s size. She wouldn’t need to worry about the snot-nosed creatures because she could mind-battle. A little further and they saw a cyron, then watched it shredded alive by three female Zargonnii. Storm’s face was pressed to the window.