“Surely Earthers have names. I need some way of addressing you. Here on Iridia, even our animals are named.”
“Yes, I have a name. It’s Alexis. Alexis Sims. But most people call me Lexi.”
“Very well, Lexi. You will address me as master.”
She snorted. “Master?”
“You find that amusing?”
“I find it demeaning.”
“Perhaps you’ll change your mind after another session over my knees.”
“You’re going to spank me again? Is that the only thing you know how to do?”
“Not the only thing.” His eyes raked over her and she flushed. “But it is up to you whether you are spanked or not. Obey my orders, do not wander off again, and I will have no reason to punish you.”
He gathered up the supplies and stowed them back inside the packs. She got up and started to walk away. His hand shot out to grab her wrist.
“What are you doing?”
She stared down at him coldly. “I’m going for a swim.”
With one swift move, he pulled her face-down onto the cloak and flipped up her skirt. He gave her a firm whack on each cheek. “First of all, you will address me with respect.” He smacked her again, harder. “Second, you go nowhere, do nothing, without asking for permission first.”
Before she could react, he reached for the short rope she’d had in her pack. He tied one end around her ankle and the other end around his. “I’m tired and I’m going to sleep now. I don’t want to lie awake for hours, waiting for you to try and sneak away again.”
She struggled, but half a dozen more swats to her ass ended her rebellion. He let her go and she scooted away to the far edge of the cloak. Ayron smothered the torch in the sand and laid down. He rolled over, closed his eyes, and forced himself to ignore the sobs she was trying so hard to stifle.
Chapter Nine
Lexi opened her eyes to a night sky ablaze with multicolored stars. The sight took her breath away. For a moment, she simply stared at them, forgetting where she was.
Then reality hit. Those weren’t stars. They were the glowing gemstones of Iridia, embedded here and there in the ceiling of the cave that had become her prison. She turned over. Ayron was on his side facing her, sound asleep. She shivered. A cool breeze poured into the grotto from the dark mouth of the passage. She wondered if it came from the storm he said was on its way.
She must have cried herself to sleep. Tears of anger and frustration and pain. And regret. She shivered again and tried to draw a bit of the cloak around her body. But she was lying right on the edge, to stay as far away from him as possible. Even from where she was, his body radiated warmth. Lexi listened for his breathing, making sure he was truly asleep, then slid closer. She curled up with her back to him and scooted carefully until her bottom was almost touching his crotch. Gradually, the heat from his body began warming hers.
Slow and rhythmic, his breath stirred her hair. He muttered something and shifted, throwing an arm over her waist and drawing her in closer, but never woke. Lexi realized he must have spent many nights next to a woman or surely he’d have awakened by now.
She lay there, afraid to move, reveling in the sensation of being nestled against his hard body, his strong arm wrapped protectively around her. She inhaled, savoring the masculine scent of him. His hand moved, brushing up against her breast. Instantly, her nipple hardened. A tremor rocked her body. His arm tightened, pulling her even closer.
She felt his cock growing, hardening against her ass. The workings of his male member were a mystery to her. It seemed to have a life of its own. Waking while he slept, becoming long and hard at odd times, then shrinking down again. At one point yesterday, he even seemed angry with it for getting larger when he was near her, as though he had no control over it.
She decided to test her theory, pressing her bottom back against the bulge in his garment. He made a noise deep in his throat, his stiff rod prodding the crack in her ass. Lexi’s body gave its own primal response. Her pussy clenched, flooding with moisture. She rocked her hips back against his. Suddenly wanting more. Needing more.
Lost in the moment, she nearly screamed at his voice in her ear. “I promise I won’t do anything to hurt you,” he murmured. “But your body wants me right now as much as I want you. Say yes and let me show you what you’ve been missing.” He cupped her breast, rubbing her nipple between his thumb and finger. She gasped as a jolt of electricity shot straight to her clitoris, making it throb.
He slipped the tip of his tongue in her ear and then nuzzled her neck with his lips. She shuddered in his arms.
“See what I mean?”
“You weren’t supposed to wake up,” she stammered.
“Were you going to have your way with me again while I slept?” A note of humor crept into his voice. “I haven’t spanked you yet for the first time you did that. And now you’ve earned yourself another. But I guarantee, this one will be a spanking you’ll love.”
“Please! No,” she gasped. But he’d already flipped her onto her stomach and pulled off her skirt. She lay there trembling, waiting for the harsh crack of his hand, followed by the lick of fire.
Instead, his palm moved in slow circles around her cheeks. Then he smacked her, creating a sting that morphed into a spicy tingle when he caressed her bottom gently again. He did it a few more times, then ran his hand down between her legs.
“You’re wet.” He dipped a finger between the folds of her vulva and then spread the dampness as he stroked the tip of her clitoris. Lexi moaned, grinding her hips into his hand.
He laughed softly and kept massaging until it grew hard. Without stopping, he used his other hand to give her two more sharp smacks. A different kind of heat rushed into her belly. Her pussy flooded.
“I want to taste your juice.”
She didn’t know what he meant until he rolled her onto her back and bent his head between her legs. Embarrassed, she squeezed her thighs together and tried to shove his head away. He responded by twisting her body sideways and giving her a harder smack.
“Lie still. Your master commands it.”
He took his time, working a hand up between her legs, coaxing them apart. She shivered when his long hair brushed her inner thighs as his mouth traveled up from her knee. Kissing, licking, nipping gently with his teeth. She let out a soft cry when his tongue reached the hood over her clitoris.
“Your jewel loves to be pleasured,” he murmured. He took his time, licking all around it. Her hips thrashed. He let go of her wrists and gripped her bottom cheeks, one in each hand. Holding her immobile, he spread her legs farther apart with his head and rammed his tongue into her pussy.
Lexi screamed; not knowing whether she meant to pull him away or bring him in even closer, she buried her hands in his hair. He drew his head back, looked into her eyes, then bent and fastened his mouth over her clitoris.
It throbbed and pulsed as he flicked it with the tip of his tongue. She shuddered, writhing under him. His hands tightened on her ass. He took the tiny nub between his lips. And sucked.
Lexi shattered. Moaning and panting. He kept going, taking her higher and higher until she thought she’d go whirling off into a vortex. While she was still shaking, he let go of her ass and slid his body up over hers, easing a finger between her dripping wet folds as he did. She gasped and tightened around it. He drew it out and then ran it up inside her again. Ever so slowly.
She arched her hips up to meet him, take it deeper. Instead he pulled it all the way out. She moaned, desperate to have him fill her again. He ran his thumb lightly across her swollen clit. She jerked, then threw back her head and closed her eyes as he worked a second finger up into her.
He started fucking her then, gradually picking up the pace as his fingers plunged in and out. Rational thought deserted her. Tremors rocked her body. She threw her arms around him, clawing his back. He covered her mouth with his, pulled out his fingers, shifted his body slightly—and drove his cock into her with one powerful thrust.
“Shhh. It’s all right.” He stayed motionless, letting her get used to the feeling of his length buried inside her. Kissing her all the while. Urging her mouth open. Coaxing her tongue to play with his. Gradually she relaxed.
Seduced by the tango of his tongue with hers, she barely noticed at first when he began moving his hips back and forth. Gently. But insistently. Instinct took over and she flowed with him, angling her body up to meet his as he rocked, sliding further into her every time.
When his kiss deepened, the primeval woman in her recognized the surge of passion in him. Recognized it and responded. She ground herself against his cock, taking him in. Reveling in the sounds he made, the way he moved. Her hunger built. She dug her nails into his back and gave up all semblance of control, allowing him to ravage her.
The orgasm hit like a tsunami. Sweeping her away in a powerful torrent, followed by another. And another, as her pussy clenched him deep inside. When he let out a harsh groan and began spurting, Lexi wrapped her legs around his waist and rode one final wave.
* * *
He threw himself down on the cloak, panting. “For someone… who’s never done this before… you’re very good at it.” He propped himself on one elbow, and cocked an eyebrow at her. “I’ll ask you the same thing I did last time, when we were in the water. Did you like it?”
She stretched her arms over her head and gave him a lazy grin. “I achieved gratification.”
“Three times, by my count. Maybe four.”
She lowered her eyes. “I never knew that could happen. On Earth, we’re taught that gratification is the goal. Once it’s been achieved, we have no reason to continue engaging in the activity.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “This Earth you come from must have changed since my people left. All I know of it is in the stories passed down from one mother to the next. What is it like now?”
“We have huge cities. Larger than the one you live in. We too build our homes on many levels, one above the other. But they are above ground, surrounded and covered by the barriers. We go about our lives in a controlled environment—never hot, never cold.”
She went on to describe East Metropolis. Her job, her daily life there. He listened in silence, occasionally shaking his head or wrinkling his brows in disapproval.
Finally, after she’d wound down, he spoke. “No mate. No children. No stimulating pastimes. No danger, no physical challenges to quicken your blood. An imaginary lover who doesn’t even give you gratification multiple times and make you scream louder with each one. I thank the gods my people left Earth and came here.”
Lexi thought of the barren wasteland outside, the lives spent hiding away from the warmth of sunlight. “But you live in such a hostile environment here. How can you say that?”
He waved an arm at the ceiling of the cave, where the stones still gave off a faint glow. “Were it not for the burning heat, we would never have been driven to discover beauty here in the darkness. A life without struggle is a life without passion. Conquering fear, defeating a foe, achieving a goal. Finding love. Sharing joy. It is those moments that make life worth living.”
He reached for her hand and twined his fingers with hers, something she’d seen couples do back in his Tryb. She clasped it back and his hand tightened around hers. The gesture felt soothing. Comforting. She laid there for a moment, experiencing yet another new sensation. Physical contact of a non-sexual nature. Wordless communication expressed through touch.
“What about you?” She broke the silence. “You’ve never spoken of a mate.”
He pulled his hand away. “I have no mate.”
His voice had grown so cold that she wished she could take back her question. He was silent for a long time and she thought the subject was closed. Finally he went on. “I did have. Her name was Naia. A beautiful gentle soul who bore me a son. They’re both gone now.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. She must have been very young.”
“She was thirty-seven. We’d been together nearly fifteen years. She longed for a child but in all that time, the gods never blessed us. Twice we lost a babe before its time to enter the world. When our son was born—well, I’d never seen her so happy. Judah was a fine strong boy, just learning to take his first steps, filling our home with joy at last. But his birth, and the losses before it, had sapped Naia’s strength. Perhaps more than she herself realized. She went into the outlands one night to bring back food from the farm. Took him along, so I could rest undisturbed.”
His voice broke. “By the time searchers found them, it was too late for Naia. Her heart had given out. On the way back, she wandered away from the path and collapsed. Perhaps she knew she couldn’t make it home and she was seeking shelter. We’ll never know. Her last act was to tuck Judah underneath her, protect his body from the killing rays. But they’d been out there too long. He died in my arms a few hours later.”
Lexi didn’t know what to say. The pain in his voice was raw. Brutal. “I’m sorry” seemed so inadequate. She’d seen death on Earth. But advances in medicine assured only the elderly died. Sent to their eternal rest painlessly when they reached the end of their term. Women didn’t endure the physical challenges of childbirth. Their genetically perfect offspring were conceived and raised in sterile lab conditions, watched over by trained nannies until they were old enough to be handed over to their parents. Accidental injuries could be repaired with bio-identical body parts and a pre-term death was practically unheard of.
“It must have been very hard, losing both of them at once like that,” she finally murmured. He didn’t acknowledge her remark, simply lying there on his back with one arm thrown over his face so he didn’t have to look at the glowing ceiling.
The colors above dimmed and faded as light from Phalyx and Zalyx seeped in through the translucent crystals. The full effect wouldn’t be seen till midafternoon when the suns shone directly on the wall. At this time of day, it was more like the gradual lightening of the sky just before dawn breaks over the horizon. Enough to see the inside of the cave.
They rose and dressed. Ayron broke out the narliphant again. But he sat in brooding silence, barely touching his portion. Lexi found herself chattering more than usual, just to fill the void.
“Where does your food come from? Your Tryb doesn’t survive on narliphant alone. I ate a variety of vegetables and what I think was fungi at the feast. Even some sweet treats.”
He stared at her blankly for a moment. “Food.” Rousing himself from his thoughts with a palpable effort, he went on. “Food. Yes. It comes from the farms, of course.”
Now it was Lexi’s turn to stare blankly. Perhaps her translator chip wasn’t working properly. “Farms? You can’t possibly grow crops out there.” She waved a hand in the general direction of the cave’s entrance.
“Our farms aren’t out there. We grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and yes, even fungi, in a vast system of underground mines left over from the days when our planet harvested minerals deep below the surface of Iridia. We raise animals too. Pigs and sheep and chickens. We fertilize our crops with their waste and they in turn eat the stalks and leaves from the plants we grow, along with vines and herbs raised solely for them.”
He’d aroused her scientific curiosity. “I would love to see that!”
“You’ll have plenty of chances,” he replied drily. “No doubt Mara and Nadina will send you to the farms when they need fresh food. Both of them hate the smell down there.”
“If they’re deep underground, where does the light come from?”
“Remember the coating on the walls of the city?” She nodded. “It’s a living substance, one that evolved after the war. It gives off light in darkness. Over the years, our people have discovered plants that can survive, even thrive, in it.”
Her eyes danced. “That’s amazing. So many new life forms to study here.”
“Do you like flowers?”
She nodded. “I love flowers. We have three kinds of them on Earth. Roses, lilies, and daisies.”
“As many as that?” He shot her a glance, then seemed to make up his mind about something. He stood up. “Come on.”
Ayron grabbed a spare torch, stuffed it and a water flask into one of the packs he’d emptied, and headed for the waterfall. She hurried after him. He stopped near the rocks she’d been climbing on yesterday and took off his sandals.
“It’s slippery. You’ll do better barefoot.”
She took hers off and followed his lead, tying the laces together and slinging them around her neck. Ayron picked his way over the rocks. When he reached the base of the falls, he stretched out his hand to her.
“Hold your breath.” He stepped into the torrent of water, pulling her after him.
Lexi clutched his hand. She’d taken showers all her life, gone swimming in the enormous wave pools in East Metropolis. But she’d never experienced anything like the sheer power of the waterfall. She gasped and spluttered for air as the deluge hit. The next second, they were through it, into another dim tunnel that ran behind the falls.
Even barefoot, she slipped and slid on the stone floor, covered with a continuous fine mist from the falls. Ayron let go of her hand and they went single file down the narrow passage. Instead of walking into darkness as they had on the way to the grotto, the way ahead became gradually lighter and lighter. Lexi understood when she passed the first patch of the glowing moss-like substance on the wall.
The phosphorescent patches became brighter and more colorful as they made their way deeper behind the falls. The passageway curved, opening onto another grotto, smaller than the one where they’d set up camp.
Lexi gasped. A riot of blossoms covered every inch of the grotto. Walls, ceiling, floor. She could barely set one foot in front of another without crushing one. Impossibly huge flowers the size of dinner plates flourished next to patches of tiny delicate blooms in colors she had no name for. Enchanted, she whirled around to take it all in.
His to Claim (Alien Masters Book 2) Page 11