by Amanda Milo
He took a deep breath. And I realized that I was breathing hard too. I squeezed his fingers. One side of his mouth tipped up. But that little show of softness disappeared as fast as it came and he was speaking again. “You could obliterate this planet, and they would just open up auctions somewhere else. If there is someone with money and a need, there will always be someone else to capitalize on the opportunity. The best we can do is outlaw it in our own country. That is in our control. However.” His eyes lasered into mine – but not in a harsh way. He just wanted me to understand. “It is impossible to stop the rest of the entire galaxy from trading and selling flesh.”
Then both his hands were cupping my face. He was so tall, so big, so strong – but his touch on my skin was featherlight in pressure. His gaze pleaded with me to understand. His tone was low, his voice so earnest. “I can’t save them all. But I could save you.”
My fingers crept as far as I could reach them around his forearms. “Then… why me? I mean – I am so glad! Dude. You saved me in the nick of time… but… why-“
His eyes turned tender as he looked down at me. “While I would not want to leave any female to the happenings of an after-auction-sale, I cannot bring down this whole place,” he gestured to the ground. “But your cries - they called to me. And when I saw that you were a princess? I had to save you.”
“You saved me because I’m …a princess?”
15
AROKH
I gave her a look. “Is that a question?” I snorted. “Of course.”
“Oookay.” She took a breath, her eyes wide as she gazed around for a moment. Then she turned to me. “Thank you for saving me and you bet your ass, I’m a princess.” She whooshed out a breath before sucking her bottom lip into her mouth. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you are honor bound or whatever to save one of my… rank. Do you think you can find the other… princesses?”
I felt my face darken in a scowl. “I will search but I fear buyers took their auction treasure and flew away from this rock as fast as they could. They know that the hobs will come down on them with vengeance should they be caught.” I shook my head. “It is impossible that they managed to get one of you let alone—“ I took a breath to tamp down the anger that was burning inside my chest. I curled my lip and shook my horns sharply. “Stealing, selling,” – my throat tried to close, but I forced the word – “raping… they will pay. And they will pay dearly. Their descendants, if they are left any, will speak of the retribution for generations to come.”
“Sounds good to me.” She said in a hard tone. I brushed my knuckles along her jaw. The emotion on her face bled to a more tender one. Her hand came up to hesitantly cover mine. I smiled at her before pulling away. As much as I wished we could continue our touches, and those looks of hers… I made a low groan that had her quirking a brow. But I looked around, noting the attention. Too much attention.
I growled in agitation.
But then I spotted something. A GMS tent. I felt my gaze sharpen, words coming into focus… Sales… and repairs. I heaved a sigh of relief. My family would guess that something had happened to prevent me from messaging, but they wouldn’t panic. Yet. But just as I knew that, I also knew they were on their way or already here; I just needed to find out when and where to meet them. And get us home.
“How did you get here if you don’t have a ship of your own?”
I looked down at her before sliding my hand to cover hers as she held fast to one of my beltloops. “A friend dropped me off after my last match, when I found out my sister had been taken. The brother you met?” I glanced down again and she nodded. “He was on his way as soon as he could procure a ship. All of my brothers split up to cover different quadrants of this planet.”
“Planet. You said that before.”
I glanced down at her again.
“This is a whole planet of just auctions? A whole planet? Like the size of Earth?”
My ears snapped against my neck sharply. “Earth?”
The look of fear flashed so fast across her face that I almost thought I had misunderstood the expression. But then she deflected.
“Where are we going now? You looked like you saw something you recognized.”
I wasn’t sure if I should press her for answers, here, now, or never. I narrowed my eyes as I responded. “A GMS Tent.”
“GMS?” She dragged the clicks out, enunciating, like she wasn’t certain she’d heard me correctly.
I nodded once, my ears relaxing. I would wait to question her about her strange reaction. “Galaxy Message System, through which you send communications. Called a Comm or a GMS.”
“I’d noticed that you haven’t been using your selllfown anymore.”
“My what?”
“Your taaahblet, your selllfown…” Her face contorted as she made… a little growling sound that made my tail flick. “Arrgh! No clicks from my mouth means those aren’t matching to your words, right?”
I nodded once.
She huffed. "Alright. That thing - that flat thing that you kept tapping on after we said goodbye to your brother and sister in the tick-tack.”
Tick tack? Ticks were such tiny parasites, it would be impossible to outfit them in tack, let alone useless. I tried to puzzle out the comparison to a puny, beleaguered ship that was virtually pointless to pilot - ohhh. Ha! She was clever. “It was damaged when we were chased. That time they pinned me to the ground, briefly.”
Her eyes flashed to mine in horror. “So that’s why we’ve been stuck here? They don’t know where we are now? Crahap!”
I stared at her a beat, my steps slowed, then nodded. “Crahap.” I repeated, trying not to snap my teeth together for any of the syllables. “But now we might have someone who will fix it or sell us a new model. Come, princess.” Now I smiled down at her brightly, the thought soothing me. “We might make it home yet.”
“Goody,” she said so quietly I barely heard her.
16
ANGIE
Something weird happened at the repair tent Arokh was so excited to find. The fix-it guy took super deep inhales and gave us pointed looks.
I knew I smelled rank, but, rude.
He also kept looking at the way I gripped Arokh’s suit, and he said something to Arokh that made him snap to his full height.
Something about me. And should he really be alone with me without my …service?
Fucking fucked up translator.
I was missing a shit ton of insinuations, implications, undertones, and innuendo - I just knew it.
And I really, really knew it when Arokh leaned forward and snarled something in the shopkeepers face that might not have been words at all, because it had no translation. It did have a hella lotta fangs showing though.
We left the tent.
Sans a working …GMS unit. And the guy’s prices were too high for his new ones, and even his used ones – Arokh asked. And the man was rude to him! Rude! It was weird though; when I made a choking sound – offended by the way he was treating my alien – the man looked over to see me glaring at him and he… apologized. To me.
For what it was worth, he looked like he meant it.
I shook my head. Poor Arokh. I patted his ribs, making him glance down at me, shoot me a brief, strained smile, before he continued leading us away. Fast. I guess either the man hadn’t offered to buy Arokh’s broken one for parts or he’d been too pissed to ask. “Hey, big guy, you gotta slow down or you’ll be dragging me here,” I warned.
But he didn’t just slow down – he stopped. So fast that I made it two more steps before my hold on his suit yanked me to a halt.
Then I was in his arms. "Geez!"
“I’ve got you,” he said, but his voice was going all rough. And his next words were growled into that spot he liked to smell at the top of my head. Growled so quietly that I don’t know if he meant to say them out loud at all. “You are mine. You have chosen me. I will see you safe. I will make you happy. You are mine now.”
Nowww… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little freaked out. But the rumble of his voice against my hair, and all this talk about me being all his, and remembering what we’d done when we’d had access to a bed. And water. And what he could do with his mouth? Mmmm. I was growing less and less alarmed as every delicious memory of the last few days flashed before my eyes.
“Angie.”
“What?” I asked innocently. But I totally knew. I pulled away enough that I could look up at his face, but not so far that I felt gravity dragging me down. Since I’d met him, I’d begun to feel like an aerial performer; always carried around like this. It was an oddly… pleasant feeling. He was so strong. And he made me feel – as weird as it sounded – feminine. Delicate. And the way he held me? It made me feel like I was precious. To him. Man, he was sweet.
His nostrils flared as he looked down his long, adorably roman nose at me.
“What?” I repeated. Totally still rocking the innocent act.
He shifted me so that he could have a hand free. Then he used that hand to peel mine from where I had been playing with the fasteners on his suit.
He set me down.
I pouted.
He looked torn.
I tried to look even more rejected.
“Angie…” he breathed.
I turned my Puppy Dog Eyes onto their full blast setting.
“Angie!” He growled as he bent down. And he kissed me. I wrapped my arm around the back of his neck and held on when he tried to stand back up. He groaned into my mouth. After a moment, he grabbed me. “Not here,” he breathed. "It is important to note that I am in no way refusing- " He lifted his head to look around. His whole body went rigid. I looked up then too, and saw the damn repair guy was watching us. Watching us like what we were doing was the most scandalous thing he’d ever seen. His mouth was hanging open and everything. I glanced around. Yep, lots of mis-matched alien couples. But no Rakhii. No Humans. I wasn’t sure which one of us was making our pairing gross or wrong or whatever the fuck was bothering this guy even by alien standards - but it was obvious we weren’t going to get his vote for prom king & queen or anything.
“Fuck him.” I said to Arokh.
That got his attention back on my face. Totally. Appalled.
I burst out laughing. “Not like that,” I assured. “I just mean you should ignore him. It doesn’t matter what he thinks.”
Instead, he looked around again – glared at the repair guy until he scurried away – then Arokh took my hand and we took off.
When I got so hungry I started to feel a little shaky and lightheaded, Arokh tugged me out of the main traffic and found someone selling a thick black…stew? I gave up trying to match the food I knew with whatever this crap was.
But I ate it. So did Arokh. I wanted to cry when he finished his and still looked hungry. He looked up before I could wipe the expression off of my face.
“Angie…” he murmured. Then he reached out and ran a finger along the side of my face. “I will be fine.”
I sniffed, and used the back of my hand to wipe at my eyes. I hoped it wasn’t so dirty that it was leaving marks. I fucking hated this place. This whole situation.
“Angie!”
I looked at him. “What?”
He pulled me onto his lap. “What is the matter?”
“Everything.” He looked alarmed so I tried not to wail as I narrowed it down. “I don’t know!”
He made an exasperated sound but he began to pet my hair. I sighed. “Wow, that feels great. I love it when you do that.”
“Mmm.” He agreed, before bringing his hand to the spot between my shoulders where he began to knead gently. Then he worked down to my stiff hips, and then he got to my legs. My poor legs. I loved it when he did this. I loved his strong hands. His kind hands. His warm lap. Big, hard thighs. His sexy smell. This was heaven.
I melted against him, no more bones to hold me up, and tried not to moan. Much.
Instead of moving to my ankles (which I'd found out I really liked - who knew ankles could ache so much and feel soooo good when massaged?) he abruptly hauled us up.
“What’s the matter?” I gasped.
“We need to find somewhere more private,” he growled.
“Oh. Ohhhh.”
And I was surprised to find that I wasn’t feeling as sorry for myself as I had been. Thanks to him. I had Arokh; life was shit right now, but for however long we had together, I was thankful he was here to make living - well? Worth living.
And I could admit to myself that I was more than just grateful to him for saving me. Way more.
17
AROKH
Thrusting up into her body, my hands gripping her hips, bringing her down on me, feeling her grind against me.
I threw my head back until my horns slammed tips down. I couldn’t come yet. No matter how it felt as her insides squeezed me. She was so hot. And she was so wet that the sounds we made were as loud as they were exquisitely erotic.
But she wasn’t coming.
Her face was beautiful. Skin flushed, shining. She was biting her lip now, her face ridges furrowed in a sort of pained ecstasy as she chased her orgasm.
I knew what would help her. What she needed. What I wanted. What I craved. I pulled up on her hips. Adjusted my grip until I could lift her up and off of me.
The sound she made was halfway between a whimper and a wail, “What-! I was so close!”
My arms started to shake just as I lowered her over my face. I smiled into her softness thinking I needed to add this to my daily workout. Clearly, my muscles needed more training for this very important task.
Best. Workout. Ever.
“Arokh!” Her legs dropped to brace herself on her toes, her thighs snugly warming either side of my face.
“Put your hands on the wall.” I winced, and quickly turned the order into a request. “Please, princess.”
She didn’t complain about me commanding her. She didn’t complain about anything. She slowly lowered herself until my tongue reached her – swiping along until it lapped right over her clit.
She gasped. “Yesssss!”
But after that, I avoided it, licking around it in circles. Fluttering just underneath of it, stiffening my tongue and adding hard pressure right there, to the spot that made her buck on my face, her pussy lips pressing over my mouth and chin.
And her nectarous flavor coating my tongue.
“Please! Please-please-please-pleeeease,” She begged with every forward nudge of her hips over my face.
I closed my lips over the spot she needed me to.
My tongue shoved hard under it, cupping her clit, my top lip curled over my teeth so that it was squeezed between my lip and tongue.
And then I sucked.
My arm came up but her head was thrown back so I could only see a line up her mound, over her belly, to her beautiful breasts – but she knew what I was doing, knew what needed to be done. She took my hand and guided it to her mouth, pressing her hot lips to my palm so that it muffled all of her whimpers and squeals.
And her scream.
Her body went still on top of my face for a moment, then the shaking started so fiercely that I had to act fast to catch her before she fell on me. Her strength gone, I maneuvered her limp weight until she was back over my still aching cock. It had softened a little without her attention, cold after being welcomed in her warm slickness only to be ripped out of her. But tasting her on my tongue had kept it from calming completely. And when I had her over my thighs again, it was quick enough to thicken to full attention.
I guided it inside of her, my cock swelling so fast that I knew this was it. I managed to thrust once, twice – and my release was so strong I saw the galaxy burst behind my eyelids. I groaned into her neck, and when I dragged my tongue over her shoulder, the saltiness of her sweat here mingled with the tangy taste of her that still clung to my tongue. So good. I growled and wanted to bite her – but I didn’t want to hurt her. The instinct to keep her sa
fe overrode my desire to mark her as mine.
And she was mine.
The strong surge of… gnawing possessiveness I felt over her suddenly made me afraid. But I couldn’t let her go. Wouldn’t even consider leaving her. That wasn’t an option before, and it definitely wasn’t one now. Listening, smelling the air – filtering out the scent of her addictive sex – I found no one had neared us. Telling her to stay as I crossed the aisle of the stall, where I noticed a tap of trickling water. I collected a bucket and wiped it out with my tail, the end fringe collecting… whatever was clinging to the sides. I shook my tail out as the bucket filled. Back at her side, kissing her crownfur and keeping my arms fitted around her while I dug in my pack for more of my blanket to cut up. Cumbersome – but I craved to keep touching her, no matter how ridiculous I would have found the notion before. Plus, the entire action made her laugh softly, and she turned into me to hug me back, nuzzling against my throat.
At this, I froze.
Waiting.
It was more than I had hoped for. So much more. I swallowed hard, and wondered what I would say when-
But she simply dropped back down to sit inside my embrace.
Disappointment was suddenly a bitter rock in my throat. Which was ridiculous. I never expected her to lovebite me before. Why this despair now?
Because she was so close to doing it… and chose not to.