by Luna Hunter
For humans. It hasn’t been built with Nero in mind.
Nero Octavius… where are you from, Nero?
What are you doing here?
Why did you warp into my life?
Why do I see those eyes of yours every time I blink?
Stop it, Victoria. It’s over now.
I take a deep breath and force myself to focus on the readings. We still have a ship to land, and then I have the ground to kiss and a puppy to cuddle.
“Cookie Bandit, this is command, come in, over.”
Geoff taps his helmet. “This is Geoff. What’s the issue?”
“Divert your course to USC Midway. Victoria Snow will have to go through decontamination.”
“I copy. Geoff out.”
“Really?” I say as I throw my hands up in frustration. Earth is so tantalizingly close, but we’re heading to the prison-station.
The same one they’re taking Nero.
Chapter Five
Nero
“Strip.”
The soldier in front of me doesn’t reach past my abs. He has to crane his neck to look up at me, which his heavy helmet barely allows for.
“I don’t have all day, big fella. You need to go through decontamination. Strip. Or we’ll do this the hard way.”
I got half a mind to knock that helmet clean off… but I restrain myself. I don’t want more blood on my hands.
I want Victoria Snow.
She is the only familiar thing in this strange, new world. I feel a connection, a need, a hunger for her… she is the only thing keeping me sane.
After everything what happened, only she’s keeping me from self-destructing.
My father? Dead.
My best friend? Dead.
My house? Destroyed.
Their killer? My half-brother.
I still don’t understand the reason for Magnus Bruttius’s killing spree. Even if I had known I was Emperor Decimus’s son (assuming I believe Magnus), I’d never have any aspirations to the crown.
Being the successor to House Octavius was more than enough pressure.
Fuck being the successor to the entire Elban Empire.
Magnus hinted at something, as did father… something big. A grand plan that I’m not privy to. It’s enough to drive a man insane.
It’s enough to give me a death wish.
It would be easy to die. I’m surrounded by heavily armed soldiers. If I wanted to, I could lash out and let them end this suffering… but no.
I can’t.
Victoria’s brown, doe-eyes are burned into my soul. If I created more carnage, I’d be disappointing her. I just know that, deep down in my soul. And disappointing her is the last thing I want to do.
So I follow the small man’s command. I unbuckle my armor, letting it fall to the floor. I hook my fingers into the loincloth wrapped around my waist, the very last thing on my body.
“Do you want me to strip everything?” I growl.
“N-no,” the man stammers. “Th-that’s okay. Please. In here.”
I duck down and enter a dimly lit room. I sit down on a bench and wait, my mind going over the many questions plaguing my mind, but returning to Victoria again and again.
It’s good that she’s gone.
I can’t protect the ones close to me. Romulus, Gaius… escaping death is like running from my own shadow. She should be far away. A galaxy away.
“Nero?”
I open my eyes — Victoria Snow is standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but her underwear.
Victoria
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Nero is sitting in front of me, barely clothed. At first I thought he was naked, but when my eyes inadvertently looked at the space between his legs, I saw a cloth tied around his waist.
A very small cloth. One that barely leaves anything to the imagination. His powerful, muscly thighs are on full display, just like all his other muscles.
There’s so many of them I barely know where to look.
Do I start with his broad shoulders? His reality-defying abs, that have that V shape, the one that makes it seem like his entire, imposing body is just a giant arrow pointing down at his no-doubt massive alien cock.
Get it together, Victoria.
I turn around just in time to see the hazmat-suit wearing soldier close the door behind me.
“Stop! Hey, stop! Is there another decontamination room? Hello? Hey!”
“Do I scare you, Victoria?”
Nero’s voice is a low growl that makes the hair on my arms stand up, that makes my stomach flutter and my panties wet.
And panties and a bra are the only things I’m wearing right now.
“No,” I say.
I’m scared of myself. Of what I’ll do when I’m around you; I could barely restrain myself when you were clad in armor. Now with all of you on display… I need some divine intervention.
I sit down on the bench across Nero, folding my legs and arms, trying to shield as much of my barely clothed body from his view as possible.
I try to look away, to avert my gaze, but it’s hopeless. Everywhere I look, there’s Nero Octavius. He is so tall, so broad. He seems to fill the entire room.
He seems to be the center of my universe.
I hate decontamination. You have to spend hours in this small, hot room, as the sensors scan every inch of your body, as the computers do their calculations and measurements, all to make sure you’re not carrying some alien bug.
Normally it’s a bore. But normally, I don’t have a drop-dead gorgeous alien warrior to keep me company…
“So what is this place?” Nero asks. “What are they doing?”
I turn my gaze towards him.
Mistake.
His legs are spread wide, like it’s a damn invitation. And his bulge… his bulge makes the heat rush to my cheeks so quickly I’m sure the computer scanning me will have the mechanical equivalent of an aneurysm.
I turn away, quickly, covering my face as my panties grow wet. I sure hope his sense of smell isn’t as well-developed as the rest of him, because I’d die of embarrassment if he ever finds out how hot and bothered he’s making me.
“They are… scanning us. Making sure we’re not carrying some bug or something.”
“Hm,” Nero growls. “What do you think they’ll find?”
I turn back to Nero, my eyes finding his.
“That you’re not from here.”
A small smirk forms on his lips. Next, he closes his eyes and rests his head against the wall. This gives me a moment to steal a few glances, to look at his body without his cocky eyes daring me.
It’s so damn hot in here. A bead of sweat tickles down Nero’s chest, and as I watch it slide down I’m suddenly aware of how dry my lips are, how thirsty I am, and how nice it would be to just lick that drop right off, to run my tongue up his chest, to sink my nails into his shoulders and…
Get it together, Victoria!
I wipe the sweat from my brow. My forehead is burning fiercely. I must have some type of fever.
Nero fever.
Wait, I don’t actually have some alien bug, right?
“So… are you going to explain to me what happened, back there?” I ask, breaking the tense silence. Perhaps conversation will get my mind out of the gutter.
“I wish I could,” Nero answers, “but I am as in the dark as you are.”
“Are you… an alien?”
Nero opens his eyes, chuckling.
“I could ask you the same thing, Victoria Snow.”
It’s silly, but I like the way he says my name. I’ve never really cared for it — it’s just a name like any other — but the way Nero says it, the way it rolls off his tongue, it just feels… right.
It makes me feel all kind of things.
“You’re not from here,” I say, licking my lips. “You can’t be. You seem human, but you’re not. You’re too tall, too strong, too quick. So, if you’re not human… what are you, Nero Octavius?”
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He leans back and stretches his arms above his head, and the sight of his many muscles tensing up makes my heart skip a beat.
“Human,” he says, though he doesn’t say it quite right. He makes it sound more like hugh-mang. “Is that what you people call yourselves?”
“Yes,” I say. “I am human.”
I don’t think I’ve ever uttered that sentence before. It seems a given. Yet, now, nothing seems to be ordinary anymore.
“And what about your planet?”
“It is called Earth.”
Nero nods.
“I am Elban,” he says. “Named after our planet, Elba. It is the crown jewel of the Idriana system, a grand planet. Your world would fit inside it many times over.”
A smile appears on his face, as if he’s remembering something wonderful.
I knew it. I knew it! No one’s going to believe me when I tell them I met an actual alien, but that’s okay. I know what’s real. And I sense that he’s telling me the truth, I can feel it in my gut.
“Why are you here?” I ask, barely containing my excitement. There’s so many things I want to ask him that I don’t even know where to start.
His smile disappears instantly.
I suddenly remember that man — Magnus? — and his words, and realize I might have ruined a perfectly good moment. It seems so far away already, that knife jutting into my back, his arm wrapped around my throat, but maybe that’s because I’m in Nero’s presence now.
In presence of his barely clothed glory.
And the thoughts of what’s underneath that flimsy cloth of his is filling up all the space in my mind usually reserved for fear and anxiety.
I wait for Nero to elaborate, to explain himself further, but he makes no attempt to. He stares into the distance, his eyes now cold and filled with anger.
I remember only bits and pieces of the conversation the two warriors had. Something about Nero’s true father… it was hard to hear with my blood rushing through my ears, my lungs fighting for air.
I wonder what demons haunt Nero. I feel the sudden, overwhelming urge to comfort him, to tell him everything’s going to be alright — but how can I? I’m just a nobody.
There’s nothing I can do to make Nero’s life better.
Buzz!
The sharp sound of the buzzer rouses me from my thoughts.
“Decontamination is complete,” a voice says over the intercom.
For the first time ever, I’m sad decontamination is already over. I’m happy to return home, of course, but… if it would just take a few more minutes, that would be okay. I want to know all about Nero’s homeworld, but he doesn’t seem the talkative type.
I’ll have to settle for looking at a body that puts Michelangelo’s David to shame.
“Please proceed to the showers,” the voice continues.
A door on the far side of the room opens automatically, the tiles of the shower beckoning us, and my heart leaps into my throat like a frightened animal.
Oh crap.
I forgot all about the showers.
Chapter Six
Nero
I rise slowly from my seat and head over to the showers. Perhaps some good old water will help clear my head. I slip my loincloth off, toss it in the corner and step under the hot, warm rays.
The water cascades down my shoulders, washing away the dried blood that still clings to some parts of me. I wish Victoria wouldn’t see me like this, covered in blood like a predator. I wish we could have met under different circumstances.
I wish my House wasn’t destroyed.
I wish I wasn’t being hunted.
Every moment I spend in Victoria’s presence is one in which I’m putting her in danger. Magnus might return at any moment — although I did get some good shots in, and it might take him a few days to recover.
I feel Victoria’s eyes burning a hole in my backside, and I smirk to myself. I close my eyes and try to let the water clear my thoughts… but it doesn’t work.
Normally I can fully relax in the shower, but not today. Not right now. There’s too much at stake. The whole world has gone mad… and me along with it. For, despite the grief that is gripping my heart, that is twisting my gut, that feels like a hot knife stabbing me from the inside every time I draw breath, my heart keeps on beating.
For Victoria.
The human female makes me act like a fool.
I should have slaughtered those human soldiers for even thinking they could capture me, but I didn’t. I didn’t want Victoria to see that. Not that it matters too much, I think to myself as I push my shoulders back. I could bust out of here any time I please.
Which is not quite yet.
Because right now, Victoria’s brown eyes are drinking in my soaking wet frame. Her heart is thumping like a drum, her cheeks are glowing as red as coals, and her pussy is dripping wet… oh yes, her scent surrounds me even from this distance.
Nothing gets past me.
I cannot wait for her to wrap her thighs around my neck, to drown myself between her legs, to drag my tongue up her wetness, to plunge myself into her, to taste her and to lick her and to…
My cock is rock hard and dripping pre-cum. I ball my fists, resting them against the wall as I struggle to resist the urge to grab her, to lift her up, push her against the tiles, rip her underwear off and take her roughly, claim her as my own, make her moan and tremble and quake and whimper.
No.
Victoria is different. She’s no canis. I don’t want to just dominate her — I could have done that at any time. No, I want her to surrender herself to me. Willingly.
Why, though? Why does this human female seem to mean so much to me? Can it be true — is she my fatum?
A true Elban mate, a fatum, hasn’t been found in centuries. It’s a remnant of an old age, a legend, a whisper. Some say it’s a lie, a rumor to discredit Emperor Decimus’s rule.
After all, all eligible alien females are the Emperor’s property first and foremost. His to own, or distribute amongst his favored, the Houses which were closest to him.
House Octavius was never high on that list. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female in our protectorate before.
The very idea of a true mate runs counter to how Emperor Decimus ran his empire, so it could just be a lie, cooked up to discredit his totalitarian rule… but at the same time, it would go a long away to explain the mystifying feelings that fill me, the longing, the burning desire I feel.
There’s one thing Magnus Bruttius was right about — I’m no standard Elban. Elbans conquer women, we don’t love them.
Then again, House Octavius has never been a standard house. Gaius Octavius preferred science to warfare, knowledge to weapons.
But he wasn’t your father, was he? That honor belongs to Emperor Decimus.
The thought cuts right through me. I want to deny it, to banish it from my thoughts, but deep down, I know it to be true. Looking back, it all makes sense now.
Try as I might, I was never like Gaius, I never had his patience, his calm demeanor.
I’ve always felt like I had a predator inside of me, a presence, a power that I struggled to control, that could slip past the gates of my subconsciousness and take full control if I wasn’t careful…
Only once did the beast slip out. It was during the yearly Games, when all the Princes of the Elban Houses compete in an athletic competition in honor of the emperor. One more way for the Houses to court the Emperor’s favor.
It was high summer. The twin suns circling Elba were both at their peak. I distinctly remember my own lanky frame casting two shadows on the sand as I waited for Justus of House Galerius to make his entrance into the arena. I wondered if I’d ever be as tall or as strong as the fully grown Elban warriors who were standing in the crowd.
We were about to wrestle. Winner took third place, bronze.
I had just lost the semi-final to — who else? — Magnus Bruttius, and my cheeks were still burning with shame. I was focused on winnin
g, on erasing this shameful mark on my House.
Magnus’s cruel words still rung in my ears.
You’re a disgrace to your house, he whispered into my ear while we were tangled up on the floor, jockeying for control. Just give up already. You’re only embarrassing yourself.
Magnus was big for his age, and I let his words get to me. He floored me easily.
I felt like I let everyone down, and I made one simple promise.
Never again.
Unfortunately, Justus Galerius had the same idea. He was a few years older than me, a few inches taller, and try as I might, I couldn’t drop him to the floor. A smirk appeared on his face when he realized he was going to win.
And that’s when the beast took over.
My vision turned red, blinded by rage. All I remember was how good it felt to let go of all control, to surrender myself completely to a power greater than my own.
The next thing I know, I’m being pulled off Galerius’s unconscious body, his face a bloody mess, my raw knuckles split and bleeding.
I looked around, panicked, not believing that I just did that. And then I saw Gaius in the crowd, shaking his head, and I knew I had disappointed my father.
A sinking feeling took hold of me, like sliding into a tub filled with ice.
I’ve never lost control since that moment, but it’s been a constant struggle.
That predator, that anger lurking underneath the surface… is that the Emperor’s ‘gift’? One last fuck-you from a despot I never knew?
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it’s not safe for Victoria to be around me, not now, and maybe not ever.
I should get out of here. Stop wasting time. I whirl around, ready to get out of here, but I’m stopped dead in my tracks.
Victoria’s naked figure has me rooted to the spot.
Victoria
I should not be doing this.
That’s all I keep thinking as I slide my bra off.
I should be getting the hell out of here. I should run far away from this alien warrior.
Yet something stops me. Intuition? Curiosity? …Lust?