Taming Ryock

by Sara Page

  Peace came at a price. We became just another number in the Crima’s armies.

  It wasn’t that our Queen wanted to give in to slavery, but when the terms came to her, she readily agreed to them. The Crima agreed to let our matriarchal society to continue as it had, as long as the men of my race were given up as soldiers. The women would be expected to continue as they had with breeding, but were to immediately report any male who was gifted.

  Women in my culture are held above all males. Even the lowliest of stations a woman can fill is regarded higher than any position a male could hold. Even the most dedicated male warriors are seen as nothing more than chattel for the slaughtering war machine.

  It is forbidden to challenge this.

  To not accept one’s place in my world is to be shunned, to be an outcast. If you question the way things are, then you question why things are.

  I did both.

  “You have not caused trouble before. Why now, test subject 731-Q?” the female Crima asks me.

  Pointing to the Paxzy on the ground in the cage next to mine, I say, “I will not allow mine to end up like that.”

  And I won’t.

  “This does not answer my question.” Nodding to the guards beside her, they start moving towards me with the shock wands.

  “She calls to me,” I say as I eye the guards.

  I must give this scientist something, but I don’t know what. A partial truth will have to suffice.

  A raised hand and they stop moving. “Calls to you? When she screamed?”

  “No. She calls to me here.” Shaking my head, I point to my nose. “I smell her scent. It’s…”

  “It’s what, 731-Q?”

  “I do not know.”

  Nodding its head, the Crima asks, “Will you harm another technician if we allow you to keep your pet?”

  My pet? I want to tear the bug’s throat out… But discretion now is a better idea.

  “No. But no tests on her.”

  “There will be tests, but we will not be harming her… yet.”

  My hackles rise as I take one step towards them.

  The guards all start their high-pitched chittering at me to back down as my hands clench into fists.

  “Behave 731-Q or we will be forced to subdue you and take your precious little pet with us. The Gararl was quite upset to lose it.”

  That threat alone stops me in my tracks. If I were to fail in protecting Izlah, I…

  Damn the stars.

  “What is it you want me to do?” I ask.

  “You are to breed with her.”

  Nothing could have set me further aback from my senses than those six words.

  “Breed?”

  “Yes. Since you have interrupted one experiment we wished to do, you are now including yourself in a new one. If you are not successful in breeding this pet, we will see that the Gararl has a chance.”

  Having said her words, the scientist turns from me. Giving her back to me as if I was a common animal. No fear at all that I will strike out. That I would even entertain the thought of ending her life.

  Damn her.

  I don’t even move as I watch the guards file out of the cage. The damn bug probably thinks it’s fear that keeps me from destroying every one of them.

  The stars must have one truly messed up sense of humor.

  I left my tribe because I refused to be just another male to be bred and sent to the slaughter mill in the Crima’s army. I refused to be just another cog in the machine. I wouldn’t breed with a woman of my kind because I was told to.

  I would not allow another to choose who and what I did with my body. I would be the master of my fate.

  And yet I’m now in the exact position I left Cra’had over. A mirthless laugh comes up from my lungs as I feel my shoulders slump.

  Turning back towards Izlah, I sigh.

  How do I express to a woman I can’t even understand that we are to breed or she dies?

  Chapter Six

  Isla

  Ryock sighs and turns back to me once the bugs leave the cage. I peek around him, to make sure they’re really gone, and then let out my own sigh of relief.

  Getting zapped by those metal rods hurt like a bitch and I still ache everywhere they touched.

  “Everything all right?” I ask even though I know he can’t understand me.

  Pulling back, I peer up at his face. It looked like Ryock and the bugs were having an intense conversation while they were here, but I have no clue what about.

  Whatever it was though, Ryock now looks extremely unhappy. He scowls down at me like I’m a problem he can’t figure out.

  “Ryock…” I say and watch something in his eyes stir before it disappears. “What’s wrong?”

  He continues to frown down at me, his scowl becoming deeper and deeper. From the way he’s looking at me, I can’t stop thinking that somehow I pissed him off.

  Maybe he got in trouble for what he did for me… and perhaps now he’s regretting his decision?

  Shit. I hope not. I have no delusions about what would have happened to me had Ryock not interfered. If he’s now regretting what happened and thinking about withdrawing his aid, I’m well and truly fucked.

  I need him. I need him to protect me. And so far, he’s proven he can do it… up to a point.

  “Can you at least say something, anything, instead of just frowning at me?” I pout.

  When he remains silent, just staring at me broodingly, I give up.

  “Okay, fine. Whatever…” I grumble. “I’m just going to go sit in the corner.

  I start to turn away only to be stopped by him grabbing my arm.

  “Yeah?” I look down at his big hairy hand on my arm and then back up to his face.

  He drags me closer and grumbles something I don’t understand. Dammit, this communication situation between us is really starting to tick me off.

  “I don’t understand,” I sigh.

  He points at himself. “Ryock.” Then points at me. “Izlah.”

  I bob my head up and down, and try my best to keep my frustration off my face. “Yeah, you’re Ryock and I’m Isla. We’ve already established that, big guy.”

  He turns towards the goo-splattered glass and his gentle grip on my arm urges me to turn with him. He points at the glass and growls.

  It takes me a minute to figure out he’s saying, “Gararl,” and not just growling in general.

  I shiver and can’t stop myself from peering through the glass. The body of the blue female is lying face down on the floor.

  For a second, I’m afraid she’s dead, she’s so still.

  But then the lizard man appears.

  He walks over to us from his corner. His yellow eyes lock on me and his maw curves open in a morbid smile.

  Passing by the blue female, his tail suddenly flicks out, snapping at her buttocks.

  She whimpers and her body curls up into a tight ball.

  Fuck. She’s not dead and I have no way to help her…

  “Gararl,” Ryock repeats expectantly.

  My throat is closing up as I watch the lizard man walk right up to the goo-splattered glass, but I force myself to choke out, “Gararl.”

  Ryock grunts as if satisfied and I turn away from Gararl’s creepy stare. I have no clue why Ryock wanted me to learn the name of the creature that nearly raped me, but it’s obvious it’s important to him.

  Suddenly there’s a loud bang and I jump, startled.

  I glance back to see what caused the noise and see Gararl grinning at me. I shiver and turn away, and there’s another loud bang.

  I wince, knowing he’s doing it to get my attention, but I refuse to look at him again.

  Ryock pulls me closer.

  When there’s another loud bang, I sense him bristling. When there’s yet another bang, he pulls away from me and stomps up to the glass.

  Ryock roars out, “Douko!” And I feel a teensy bit of satisfaction when Gararl jumps back, startled.

  Gararl’s ta
il flicks back and forth in aggravation, but at least all of his attention is on Ryock now.

  Ryock glares angrily at Gararl until Gararl backs away from the glass.

  Wrapping my arms around myself, I focus my attention on Ryock and watch the whole interaction with a stab of hope. Obviously, Ryock is still willing to protect me, so he must be upset over something else…

  Once Gararl has backed up enough to satisfy him, Ryock stomps back over to me. He’s so massive, I’m a little surprised the floor doesn’t tremble beneath my feet.

  Ryock stomps right up to me, picks me up, and carries me back to the corner. I frown in consternation, a bit perturbed he’s just picking me up and moving me where he wants.

  He lowers himself down, taking a seat on the floor, and gently settles me on top of his lap once more.

  We stare at each other. Me studying his face, him frowning back at me.

  His brows are surprisingly not all that hairy, but they’re pulled down in thought. His nose is broad, a bit flat, but it perfectly fits his face. He’s actually quite handsome. His features broad but strong. The more and more I stare at him, the more and more human he starts to look like to me.

  If he wasn’t so big, wore contacts, and maybe shaved off most of his hair, he could probably blend in back home.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask. “You know, besides the obvious…” I try to force a smile but my lips are refusing to cooperate.

  This entire situation sucks. I’m trying not to overthink it, trying my best to not focus on what could happen in the future and just concentrate on surviving the now, but it’s becoming incredibly hard.

  Of course it doesn’t help that I can’t understand this guy and he’s obviously still upset about something.

  He rumbles a few words, “Avah ulo xolav knurr urk kadd.”

  Yeah… I can’t even begin to decipher that.

  His gaze drifts down.

  His eyes roam over my breasts and I squirm uncomfortably, flushing with heat.

  I know it’s only natural that he’d be curious, but the attention still causes my nipples to tighten into two hard points.

  “Like what you see?” I try to joke to alleviate my discomfort.

  I feel a little like a pervert for getting aroused by his curiosity, especially because it’s obvious he’s not aroused at all.

  No, that giant cock of his is still soft, nestled in the thick hair of his groin.

  He reaches out and before I realize what he’s doing, his hand covers my left breast, squeezing it in his big palm.

  “Oh,” I exhale in surprise and freeze, unsure what to do.

  If I try to push him away, will it make him unhappy? Perhaps this is perfectly normal where he comes from…

  His fingers tighten around me and the squeeze is gentle, exploratory at first, but then becomes more firm.

  I shake my head, trying to fight off the heat building inside of me, and reach down, pushing his hand away.

  “Ryock… no… You need to stop.”

  He looks up and repeats, “No?” as if he’s confused.

  “No,” I repeat more firmly and push his hand further away so he gets the point.

  He looks back down and scowls angrily at my hand. My heart begins to pitter-patter with anxiety.

  Great, I think I just did what I’ve been afraid to do… I pissed him off.

  But I can’t let him continue fondling me, even innocently. For some reason his touch really turns me on. It’s crazy, seriously, especially given what just almost happened to me. The last thing that should be on my mind is getting busy with an alien I don’t even know, but after he fondled my breast, dammit, it’s right there, in the forefront.

  I take a deep, steadying breath and his eyes rise to watch my breasts as they rise and fall. Dammit. My nipples tingle annoyingly, enjoying his attention a little too much.

  I decide to cross my arms in front of my breasts, but it doesn’t really help. I’m super aware of them now. They feel heavy and achy, and my damn nipples are now digging into my arms.

  “Ryock urk Izlah,” he fairly purrs and all the little hairs on my body stand on end.

  What is it with this guy? Why does he have such an effect on me? Is he emitting some weird alien pheromones or something?

  “Ryock urk Izlah,” he repeats and his eyes slowly wander up, trailing over my body like a caress.

  I shiver, not understanding what he’s trying to tell me, but I repeat it anyway because I feel like he expects of it of me. “Ryock urk Izlah.”

  The corners of his lips start to curve up in the beginning of a smile and then he reaches out and tries to uncross my arms.

  I jerk back and shake my head. “No. No touching, Ryock.”

  He frowns but his hands drop back down to his lap.

  “No Ryock?” he questions with a look of defeat.

  “No Ryock,” I nod.

  Taking a deep breath, his head tips back and he closes his eyes. I figure I should probably get off his lap now and put some distance between us. Obviously me sitting naked on him is giving him the wrong idea.

  I start to scoot back and his eyes pop open.

  He grabs me by the hips to stop me from moving and then jerks his chin towards the glass. “Izlah urk Gararl?”

  “What?” I say, as all the air goes out of me in shock.

  Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

  “Izlah urk Gararl,” he repeats, his face hardening.

  I glance towards the glass, catching a glimpse of Gararl pushed up against the wall, watching us with rapt attention.

  I tear my eyes away and shake my head vehemently. “No. No Izlah urk Gararl.”

  Ryock nods his head and his face softens. “Ryock urk Izlah?”

  “Ryock urk Izlah,” I repeat because it’s certainly better than the alternative.

  Ryock pulls me closer until I smashed up against his chest. His arms wrap around me and he begins to purr. At first, I feel constrained and try to fight his grip, but there’s something about that purr, something unnatural about it that quickly calms my nerves.

  “Izlah naro,” he says softly and his hands rub up and down my spine.

  I begin to relax under his touch, unable to stop myself. His warmth and scent envelopes me, wrapping around me like a warm, comforting blanket, and my cheek vibrates with the power of his purr.

  The way he smells kind of reminds me of a cool, misty forest at night, and the more I breathe him in, the more I want of it.

  I snuggle up closer to his chest, rubbing my cheek along his pec, and he makes a pleased sound that tells me he likes what I’m doing.

  The tips of his fingers brush against the curve of my ass on their next pass down.

  A little thrill shoots through me followed by a warning bell going off in my head. I’m so suddenly comfortable though, so content, I choose to ignore it.

  After all, we’re just two people in a shitty situation taking comfort in each other… What’s the harm?

  His hands continue to rub up and down my back and I’m just melting in his arms.

  I’m so content, so relaxed, my eyes begin to drift closed.

  Then his hands slide down and he grabs me by the ass, pulling my hips closer.

  My eyes snap open in alarm.

  Okay, so maybe I was wrong. Maybe to Ryock this is something more?

  Tipping my head back, I pull away enough to look up at him and find his golden gaze blazing down at me.

  “Ryock?” I question.

  “Crima kuav zo klook al kao”, he responds, and yet again I have no damn clue what he said.

  His head dips down and he pushes his nose through my hair. I sense him breathing in deep and the tone of his purr drops significantly, striking a nerve deep in my core.

  I squirm on top of his lap while he rumbles out another string of confusing alien words.

  “Ryock xarr ko kordo.”

  His hands tighten around my ass and he pulls me even closer.

  My exposed sex brushes agai
nst something hot and hard, and I jolt, feeling like I was just struck by a bolt of lightning where we touched.

  “Ryock no,” I gasp and jerk away.

  His grip tightens and he yanks me back, forcing my sex to press up against his hard length.

  “Izlah,” he groans out, sounding nearly tortured.

  Oh god, oh god, oh god. I’ve totally let this go too far. I feel bad that the guy is probably going to be suffering from a serious case of blue balls… But I can’t do this, I can’t…

  That hot, hard length of his rubs against me, sliding against my folds, and it feels so damn good, so damn incredible, I almost change my mind.

  “Ryock, no,” I repeat more firmly and squirm away.

  His face lifts from my hair and our gazes meet. There’s this hard look of determination in his eyes as he says, “Ryock urk Izlah.”

  I shake my head. I mean, I know I repeated that phrase for him, but I didn’t know I was agreeing to this…

  His eyes darken, the gold shifting to an equally beautiful amber, and he growls something menacingly. “Ar Gararl urk Izlah.”

  Oh, shit. What is he saying? It’s almost like he’s saying it’s either him or Gararl… but that’s insane… and yet, in this situation, completely not.

  Is that what the bugs told Ryock? Is that why he looked so angry when he was talking to them and so frustrated when they left?

  It makes sense. I mean, the bugs threw me in Gararl’s cage for a reason… and then Ryock rescued me…

  Fuck, am I here because they’re trying to breed us?

  “No Gararl urk Izlah,” I say.

  Not happening, no way. I’ll do anything to keep from being thrown back in there… But can I do this?

  Ryock nods his head and his face softens. “Ryock zarr ko kordro,” he repeats firmly.

  He pulls me closer, back up against his hard length, and even though it feels incredibly good, too damn good, I have the strongest urge to pull away. To run away. To put some distance between us.

  But then the bugs will probably just throw me back in with Gararl.

  And I saw what he did to the blue girl…

  Fuck. My. Life.

  This sucks. It’s not that Ryock isn’t hot, or that he repulses me or anything, but he’s alien. And he’s so damn huge I’m not sure he’ll even fit.