Lokos: A Scifi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 4

by Ashley L. Hunt

  He drank in the sight of me for a moment longer, and then he swooped down, assaulted my lips with his, and took me.

  27

  Lokos

  This woman was my life.

  I swallowed her taste as I absorbed her, kissing her until we were breathless. My hands moved of their own accord to scrabble for her waistband and snatch her pants from her body as my tongue swirled around hers. She raised her hips from the floor, willing me to undress her, and I was only too happy to oblige. I tugged her shirt off the rest of the way, ripped the bra clear from her chest, and rolled her pants down the length of her legs until she was able to kick them away.

  Her naked form was a work of art, crafted by the Grand Circle itself. I wanted to lick each one of her curves, stroke every angle, and kiss every crease. It was a vision of such beauty that it humbled me to see it, and I almost closed my eyes in silence to honor her as I would have an animal after the hunt. She was perfect. She was divine.

  She was mine.

  My mouth closed over one of her nipples as I slid my hand to my own waistline and removed my pants. She moaned, a musical sound that floated to the roof of the cabin and descended back down upon my ears. When I was free of clothing, I straightened up to a kneel, and she looked up at me through clouded eyes. They drifted from my face to my chest to my stomach before alighting on my manhood, which was standing erect before her.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  I glanced down. It was thick and strong, and already a bead of arousal was blossoming on the tip. I could see the girth expanding and contracting with each pulse, and, as I raised my gaze to the petaled space between her thighs, I felt it swell viscerally.

  “I didn’t think it was that big,” she said quietly, still staring. Her eyes were wide and slightly alarmed, and I immediately hesitated.

  “Is it too much? Will I hurt you?” I asked with concern.

  Celine smiled delicately and finally looked back up at me. “You’re perfect,” she said.

  “No,” I contradicted, leaning down until my chest pressed against hers and our noses bumped. “You are.”

  She curled her arms around my neck, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Take me. Please.” Then, she lifted her head just enough to kiss me.

  I reached between our bodies to circle the base of my length with my thumb and forefinger, guiding it to her folds. She was already wet, practically dripping, and even the insides of her thighs were sticky with desire. I slipped the cap of my manhood into her slit before pausing.

  “Yes,” she breathed, elevating her hips to allow me entrance. “I need you.”

  I broke through, filling her, and the emotion that blazed through me was so powerful it almost overrode the physical sensation. Everything I had ever needed and never even realized I wanted was before me, had become one with me. She was the woman who was unafraid to speak up and tell me what she thought. She was a caring heart who was frightened I would fall victim to the Novai but the understanding soul who knew I must protect those who needed me. She was the creature capable of seeing past my hardened, warrior exterior to the soul within and was honored to learn about what made me who I am.

  Her back arched the moment I plunged inside, and her hands flew up to claw streaks across my back. I reveled in the pain and relished the passion, pulling back only to thrust once more. A moan soared from her lips to my ears, vibrating its way into my mind. Again, I shoved in deeply until her soaked labia flattened against the thickest part of my base.

  “Lokos!” she gasped.

  My name on her tongue sent me cartwheeling through emotional ecstasy, and I craved to hear it again, so I slammed forward another time. Another moan was ripped from her, and my name flickered within the strands of the moan. I could feel myself swelling against her walls.

  “Faster,” she pleaded suddenly, her eyelids snapping open to beg me with her gaze. “Faster, please, faster!”

  I braced my knees against the floor between her legs and wrapped my arms around her, my fingers clinging to her back. She was panting, needy, her breasts heaving with shallow breaths and her eyes burning with lust. I rocketed into her, feeling her sweetest of spots glide over my shaft. She shrieked, and her back arched so high I was able to pull her toward me for leverage. I shot back out and barreled back in, over and over and over. Her voice became higher, her shrieks became longer, and the pink in her cheeks was growing redder and redder with each thrust.

  Suddenly, she snagged a handful of my hair, and I heard her breathing stop entirely. Her cavern choked around me until it was almost difficult to move. I knew what was happening, and I froze.

  “What?” she demanded, throwing her head up to stare at me in shock. “Why did you stop? I’m there!”

  Flashing her an infuriating shadow of a grin, I said, “Patience, little human.”

  Then, I lowered my hand to the tiny bead above her folds and stroked a finger over it.

  She shuddered, and her body unraveled around me. Everything became tight and hot as her hips bucked and her thighs squeezed and her fingers scrabbled over the floorboards for something to grip. I stroked the button again, and her moans flew up an octave. Her orgasm claimed her so entirely that she seemed to lose all sense of reality, shooting instead across an alternate plane of pleasure and euphoria. My finger stroked a third time, and then I was unable to hold back.

  I burst inside her, exploding in ropes of release. My hips were thrusting, but I was unable to stop them, and the only thing I knew at that moment was ultimate bliss and undying love. Celine’s face swam before me as shock after shock of debilitating pleasure igniting throughout me. Everything was right. Everything was as it was meant to be.

  When I could finally breathe again and Celine’s moans had quieted to harsh pants, I eased myself out of her. Our skin was slick with sweat, and we glided like silk on silk over each other. Collapsing beside her, I gathered her in my arms and cradled her against my chest.

  “You don’t sleep on the floor, do you?” she murmured. She sounded spent, utterly exhausted, and I delighted in knowing I had taken her to that point.

  “No,” I chuckled. “Would you like to get up?”

  “God, no,” she groaned, tightening an arm around me and nuzzling into my neck.

  I held her close, breathing in the scent of her hair and kissing the top of her head, listening to our hearts beating together. Any concern I had felt about tomorrow was long gone.

  I was ready to die.

  28

  Celine

  The sound that tore me from sleep was so heinous, so terrifying, that I awoke with a pounding heart and a burst of sweat. It was screeching, ear-piercing torture, so excruciating I was certain my ears were bleeding and my eyes would soon follow. A low groan sounded beneath it, heavy and hollow, rattling the floor under me and making my whole body shake.

  I bolted upright.

  “Lokos!” I shrieked, panic seizing me by the throat and almost rendering me mute.

  He was already on his feet, clothed and ready for battle. His feet were spread apart enough to maximize balance, and his arms were raised slightly with fists already curled. A sharp, jagged blade was held in one hand, a long swooping one in the other.

  “What happened?” I cried. “What’s going on?”

  “The Novai are here,” he said through unmoving lips.

  Every organ inside my body seemed to drop, pummeling toward my feet and leaving me feeling sick and empty. I scrambled for my clothes, yanking them on with no care for neatness or composure, trying to hold back the powerful urge to vomit.

  “It’s still night!” I wailed, darting a glance to one of the small, dusty windows.

  “It is just before daybreak,” Lokos contradicted tightly. “We fell asleep.”

  “Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” I stumbled up to a shaky stand, reaching for the nearby counter for support. My legs refused to hold me properly, and I wobbled. The floor was trembling too, but I was certain it was from an outside
force rather than me. The screech hadn’t ceased; rather, it grew louder and louder until I became accustomed to it and heard a sharp buzzing instead.

  Lokos glanced at me over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the only door the cabin had. “We need to get you back to the bunker.”

  I gaped at him and exclaimed, “What? How? We have to stay here!”

  He didn’t look at me as he said incredulously, “Do you feel the house shaking? It could collapse any minute. We cannot stay here.”

  “There’s no way we can safely take that boat back to the city to get to the bunker!” I protested. “And I’m sure they closed everything off!”

  He turned toward me, and there was a mask of horror on his otherwise handsome face.

  “What?” I asked, dread blossoming all over again.

  “The gates are closed,” he said in disbelief. “We are unable to get in.”

  The screeching had become so loud that I had to watch his lips form the words in order to understand him. When I realized what he was saying, the dread exploded into shards of hopelessness, and I lost all sensibility.

  “We need to go,” I said, ripping the drawer in the counter open in search of a weapon. “We need to go now. We can still get there in time for them to let us in before the Novai move in, and you can come down in the bunker—”

  “Celine.”

  His voice was calm, frighteningly calm, and I somehow managed to hear it over the wailing screech and booming groan outside. I didn’t want to turn around because I would see a truth on his face I didn’t want to accept, so I continued fishing through the drawer for anything I could use to protect myself.

  He crossed the room to me, grabbing my hands out of the drawer and turning me to face him. Even after our night together, he still smelled of woods and snow, and I couldn’t help but breathe him in deeply even in the midst of my panic. His index finger curled under my chin and lifted my face to his, forcing me to see him.

  “It is impossible to get back to the bunker,” he said seriously. “And, even if it were possible, I could not join you.”

  “So, what do we do?” I asked, my voice quaking as tears started billowing in my eyes.

  He leaned in and lowered his lips to mine in a gentle, loving kiss. I wanted to drown myself in him, to envelope myself in his strength and feel safe in his touch, but the incessant screeching of the descending Novai kept my gut knotted and my breath shallow. I blinked, sending two tears rolling down my cheeks that slipped between our mouths and coated my tongue with saltiness.

  Lokos pulled back, stared me deep in the eyes, and said, “We fight.”

  For some reason, his answer soothed me. It was an answer—a vague one, yes, but an answer, and an answer gave me something to cling to for hope. And to hear him say “we” rather than “I” was like receiving an injection of confidence. We would fight. I would be beside him as we battled the Novai. I would know his fate one way or the other instead of sitting in the dank depths of the soil with fear gripping my heart, and I would have the chance to make sure we both walked away after it was over.

  I nodded, swallowing back the lump in my throat and squaring my shoulders. “Okay.”

  He closed the drawer with an effortless push and released me. “Do not bother trying to find something here to use,” he said as he started feeling around his weapon-laden belt. “The Novai will be armed well beyond anything in this house.”

  His hand closed around a knife as long as my forearm, and he tugged it free. I reached for it as he extended it to me, gaping at its broad blade and sharp, pointed tip.

  “Do not touch the end,” he said, jerking his head toward the tip I was ogling. “If it pierces you, it will magnetize the iron in your blood.”

  I whipped my head up to look at him. “What? What does that mean?”

  “It means you will die.”

  The response was simple, but it was enough for me to turn the blade away from my body gingerly. “Just from one poke?”

  “That is all it takes.” He had shoved his jagged dagger back into his belt and now held only his swooping sword. “We must go.”

  As if on cue, the entire house rocked violently, almost throwing me off my feet. I grabbed for the counter, but, before I could reach it, Lokos snatched my hand and pulled me to the door.

  “Hold on!” he shouted over the bellowing noise.

  His arm wrapped around my waist, and we jumped.

  29

  Lokos

  I did not even attempt to land on the dock below, certain it would shatter under the forceful impact of our falling weight anyway. Instead, we splashed into the marsh, sending a small tsunami into the air. My boots sank into thick, suckling mud that was reluctant to release me when I tried to lift a foot, and pants swirled in the waist-high water around me. Celine, who was much shorter than me, gasped and choked as water shot into her nose and eyes. I tried to catch her before her shoes touched the mud that would surely pull her several additional inches deeper into the bog.

  The screeching of the landing Novai ship was deafening now, and there was no chance either of us would hear the other, so I took matters into my own hands. I grabbed her wrist to ensure she still had her knife, then carried her like a small child to the boat. She clambered into it clumsily, nearly tipping over, but I steadied it and hopped up onto the dock to climb in safely.

  There was no chance I would be able to get her back into the bunker, as much as I desperately wanted to. I felt sick to my stomach knowing she was out in the open with the Novai about to swarm, but I had no time to worry. If I had a chance, any chance at all, at getting her somewhere safe, it would be now before the battle began.

  Celine shivered violently as I yanked the cord. I assumed it was from the chill of the morning air on her soaked skin, but it was certainly possible she shook from fear. Her eyes were terrified enough to indicate as much. The sun had not yet broken the horizon, so the scraps of sky visible through the clusters of leaves above were rich cerulean and offered no illuminating aid, but I preferred it that way. Invisibility was our ally. We were in a precarious enough position being restricted to boat travel with only the two of us to ensure our safety without being seen.

  I was going to take her back to the city. The gates were sealed, but there were Pentaban and Montemban warriors stationed there, and Khrel would be waiting. I would assign the best available warrior to protect her at all costs, and then I would take my position as War Chief.

  We were only halfway to the boardwalk, however, when the screeches quieted, and a roaring silence settled over the world. Celine met my eyes across the boat, and it was as if all movement slowed to a still.

  “Are they coming?” she whispered.

  I nodded. “Hold onto the boat. Tightly.”

  Her hands flung out on either side of her, and she gripped the edges of the boat until her knuckles turned white. The moment I was certain she had a solid hold, I ripped the cord with as much strength as I could muster, and we were flung forward with enough force to nearly throw me backward.

  My ears were pricked for any suspicious sound, but it was nearly impossible to hear anything except for the whooshing of the water as we flew through it. I felt a surge of pride as I looked at Celine. She was clearly scared, but she kept her vice grip on the boat, and her teeth were gritted with determination. Frightened or not, she was going to do everything in her power to get through this, and I loved her all the more for it.

  We reached the boardwalk only minutes later, though I was uncertain how I managed that since the journey from the house to the boardwalk with Silah had taken significantly longer. I jerked my head at the dock, signaling for her to get out, and she crawled as hastily as she could onto the structure. I would not have bothered anchoring the boat to the dock in the midst of such a crisis, but I wanted there to be a means for which the warrior could escape with Celine if needed, so I threw the rope around one of the beams and tied a quick, tight knot.

  Before I had even disembarked, I spo
tted Khrel racing down the boardwalk toward us. His face was mangled with rage, but it seemed to be directed at the Novai rather than me, as his eyes were darting from side to side in search of something I could not see. I hopped from the boat to the dock, took Celine’s hand in mine, and started toward Khrel at a jog.

  “They sent a scouter ahead of the mothership,” he said in A’li-uud the moment we were near enough to hear each other properly. “One of their Generals is already here with a few warriors.”

  “Where are they?” I asked tersely.

  “With Elder Sevani and Elder De’inde in the palace,” he replied, sounding tense and edgy. His eyes continued to dart left and right. “I did not want to leave them alone with the Novai, but Silah was sent out to look for you, and I was the only one left.”

  I glanced at Celine out of the corner of my eye. She had no inkling of the conversation, but she was rigid and ready for anything at a moment’s notice. Another surge of pride tore through me. “I should have been at my post,” I said. Khrel looked at me as if I had just said the most obvious thing in the world, but I was unwilling to offer further explanation, and he was too concerned about returning to the palace to question me.

  “We must return. You can drop her off at the bunker on the way,” he told me with a slight nod toward Celine.

  “I thought the gates were sealed.”

  He nodded. “They are, all but one. When you were missing this morning, one was opened to facilitate your rescue. Come, we must hurry.”

  The three of us took off at a run down the boardwalk toward the city. When we reached the gate, I saw it was dangling ajar just enough for a single body to slip through, and we each slithered between the bars one-by-one. Once inside, Khrel started to close it, but I stopped him by throwing out an arm.

  “How is Silah to return?” I asked.

  He hesitated. It was his duty to close the city off—he had already gone against the regulations by opening the gate for me—but I could see the question of Silah’s safety on his face. With a grunt, he slammed the door shut but left the lock unsecured. “That will have to do,” he said gruffly. In that moment, I appreciated just how compassionate Khrel was despite his burly physique and defensive nature, and I relayed my feelings with a silent look of thanks.