by Kit Tunstall
Finally, his words seemed to penetrate the haze in her brain, at least slightly. “Poison… Stinger… Hallucinogenic properties…”
Her brain picked out those words and tried to assemble them into a coherent thought, but it was proving impossible. When Zyan cupped her cheeks, pinching forcefully on her jaw to force her mouth to open, she wasn’t certain if it was reality or part of the hallucination. The sharp pain in her face indicated it was real, but she couldn’t really distinguish between all the other pain assaulting her.
She let out a startled gasp when he slipped some type of metal cylinder in her mouth, and then she choked a moment later when a cloud of gas absorbed into her mouth and nose. It was more of a psychosomatic reaction rather than genuinely choking on gas, and her body soon calmed.
As the minutes ticked past, awareness returned slowly. The first thing she noticed was the hallucinations started to recede. After that, the pain eased, and she was able to sit up slowly.
When she looked down, expecting a huge puncture wound in her stomach from Aladrina’s stinger, she saw only a shallow wound, which was rapidly healing as she watched. In the next five minutes, it went from an open wound deep in the dermis to a shallow abrasion, followed finally by little more than a faint red bruising. Eyes wide with shock, she looked up at Zyan, who still towered over her despite the fact he was crouching down beside her. “How did you do that?”
He held up the metal tube. “Hindafor. It heals internal injuries and bleeding. I wasn’t entirely certain it would work on you, but we seem to have compatible enough physiology. I assumed we would, since there are documented cases of humans and Karadisians successfully breeding.”
She was still feeling too drained, and throbbing with a low dull ache of pain, to think about breeding at the moment, even with the tempting alien in front of her. “What did she do to me?”
Even before she finished verbalizing the question, she let out a startled shriek when she realized her E-suit was missing, along with the long-sleeved shirt she’d worn as an underlayer. She still wore her bra, along with her underlayer pants, but that was it. “Where are my clothes?”
He looked impatient. “She shredded your suit, and I had to take it off to assess your wound. Same with your shirt. It’s ruined.”
She let out a small groan as she huddled in on herself, crossing her arms over her naked stomach and barely-covered breasts. She had chosen a light, but supportive, bra for the mission, anticipating being active and needing to remain flexible. Unfortunately, it didn’t cover much beyond the basic areas.
“How do you feel?”
“Embarrassed. And a little nauseated.”
A second later, he thrust another tube at her. “Open your mouth. Ohdahan will help with the nausea and any lingering pain.”
Since his medicine had already saved her life, she had no reason to fear using it again, and she opened her mouth to comply. The gas was odorless and tasteless. As he pulled away the tube, she noticed it had a faint green color as it dissipated. “Did you capture her?”
He shook his head. “She injured you as a distraction, and while I was tending to you, she used a concussive pulse to seal the cave.”
Her eyes widened at his words, and she let out a gasp of horror when she turned to look at the entrance—or what had been the entrance only a little while ago. Now, solid rock blocked her path. “Oh no. What are we going to do?”
He gestured to a small device set up near the huge pile of rubble. She couldn’t see it doing anything, but he seemed confident when he said, “We should be out within five or six hours.”
She eyed it doubtfully before looking at him, unable to completely hide her skepticism. “What is that thing, and how’s it going to get us out?”
“It’s an ultrasonic disintegrator. It’s working on breaking up the rocks as we speak.”
She nodded. “Like lithotripsy.”
He looked confused, and clearly his translator didn’t have a match for that.
“It’s like if you get a kidney stone. If it’s too large to pass on its own, the doctor can use ultrasound waves to break it up.”
He seemed fascinated. “That’s a means of medical treatment? We would simply use Disona for such a thing.”
She eyed the bag where he had slipped in the tube of medicine. “Is that more of your special medicine there?” At his nod, she shrugged. “We have some amazing medical advances, but we aren’t at that level yet. How does it work?”
“It’s orthomolecular medicine, but I couldn’t explain the finer nuances for you. I’m a tracker, not a healer.”
“I’d love to talk to a healer.”
He frowned in confusion. “I thought you were a geologist, not a healer?”
She shrugged. “I am a geologist, but I have a wide range of interests. Mostly, I just love learning about learning.” When other girls her age in school had been flirting and playing games with the opposite sex, Ellie had been far more likely to have her nose buried in a book or her e-reader. She’d spent countless hours online learning everything she could about any obscure topic that interested her.
By the time she finished school early, graduating with her doctorate in exo-geology at the age of twenty-three, she had known a little bit about almost everything. It had been truly difficult to decide on a specialty, but nothing got her heart racing quite the same way as exploring a new terrain and identifying previously unknown compositions of rock and other materials.
Well, except Zyan. He had the same effect on her body, with the added bonus of stirring her libido. She’d always thought she’d just had a sluggish sex drive, finding little interest in men, and nothing more than superficial pleasure the times she’d taken a lover. Now, she doubted that conclusion based simply on her own physical reaction to an alien she’d known only a few hours.
“I don’t suppose you have a uniform or something I could borrow?” she asked.
His gaze darted to her chest, and his pale green eyes seemed to sparkle as lust flared there. “I don’t, but I can’t regret that. It would be a shame to cover such perfection.”
She blushed hotter, but even in her embarrassment, she took pleasure in his compliment. Slowly, she moved her arms away from her chest and let them drop at her side as she attempted not to be self-conscious about her partial state of undress.
As her gaze fell on the E-suit, her eyes widened as the realization rocked her that she was completely unprotected from the environment. She shot him panicked look. “I shouldn’t be able to survive without the E-suit.”
He nodded. “I assumed as much from the sensors when I assessed your condition. I have extended my force field to include you, but we’ll have to stay in close proximity.”
She had to stay near the alien to stay alive? Oh, darn, what a predicament. She managed to hide the surge of glee shooting through her and sounded relatively composed when she said, “Thank you for acting so quickly. I’m sure I would be dead by now if you hadn’t.”
He nodded. “You most certainly would have. Few species can withstand the effects of the poison in a Sibian stinger, and that’s if they survive the injury itself.”
She shivered as she remembered the moment when Aladrina had coalesced in front of her, stinger at the ready. It had been over in a flash, the injury inflicted in a millisecond, and she owed her life to Zyan. Technically, she supposed she could blame him for putting her at risk, but that wasn’t the truth. She had chosen to come along, and he’d tried to keep her safe by insisting she stay near the entrance. Neither one of them had anticipated the alien hiding so close to the only escape route. “I guess she fooled your sensors or something?”
He shook his head. “No, my device only pinpointed her location within a quarter-konar. Natural radiation on this planet interferes with optimal functioning, and with her chameleonic properties and her ability to change form, Aldarina has an easier time fooling the sensors than most life forms.”
“I just hope I don’t run into her again.” She shivered
as the chill in the air seeped into her skin. “I suppose you have that device set for your own optimal ambient temperature?” She pointed to his wrist device, assuming that was from where the force field surrounding them emanated. At his nod, her teeth chattered when she asked, “Is it possible to have dual climate control? I’m freezing here.”
“I’m afraid it’s not adjustable. It’s calibrated to optimal conditions for myself, not a human.” As he spoke, Zyan moved closer to her, startling her when he put his arm around her shoulders and tucked her against his side.
Almost immediately, his warmth seeped into her, and the shivers started to subside. She supposed she should protest cuddling with an alien she barely knew, but she was both too cold and too aroused to be bothered with pretending like she didn’t want to be right there in his arms. They laid together quietly for a long moment until her rumbling stomach shattered the silence. She giggled even as she blushed. “I’m sorry. I’m suddenly starving.”
“I’m not surprised. The medicine would have revved up your metabolism in order to facilitate rapid healing, and you would have burned thousands of calories in the last few minutes.”
Her toolkit was nearby, and she gestured toward it. “If I retrieve that, am I still in range of the force field?”
He nodded, but rather than let her up to get it, he simply stretched and reached it without a hint of difficulty. It was far enough away that she would have had to get to her feet and carry it back.
She opened her pack, searching out one of the meals she had stowed inside. By the time she had it opened and started eating, she was almost faint with hunger. She had little time for manners or the niceties like silverware as she picked up the bag and inhaled the slurry of nutrients. When she looked at him as she popped open her second meal, hunger only slightly abated, she saw his look of disgust. “Sorry if my manners offend you,” she said around a mouthful of the gooey mush. “Starving,” she reminded him.
He shook his head. “It’s not you. It’s what you’re putting in your mouth. What is that?”
“It’s a vegetable-based supplement with a complete serving of all essential nutrients.”
He shook his head as he opened his own bag, removing a small device. It didn’t look like much, but with a few presses of the buttons, a tray appeared with what looked like actual food. It was unfamiliar food, of course, but was clearly not a blended slurry of vegetable proteins and other healthy, but mostly tasteless, additives. Her stomach rumbled, but she was still surprised when he held out the tray to her. “I couldn’t take your food.”
He seemed unconcerned. “This is a portable fabricator, and I can easily refill depleted ingredients when I return to my ship. It contains all the building blocks necessary to make food products.” As he spoke, he pressed the buttons again, this time in a different order, and produced a different arrangement of food. This tray, he kept for himself.
Cautiously, figuring his food wouldn’t kill her if his medicine hadn’t, she used her spoon to test the closest dish, which was yellow and vaguely sponge-like. She brought it to her nose and sniffed, finding the aroma appetizing, even though she couldn’t decide on a descriptor for it. She carefully put it in her mouth as she braced herself for the taste.
It was delicious, and she quickly devoured it. Of the four choices he’d provided, only something that vaguely resembled molded seaweed was unappealing, and she left it after the first bite. “I’m not sure what that was, but it was all really good.” She gestured to the seaweed-like dish. “Except maybe that.”
“Would you like more?”
She shook her head, her stomach finally at ease. “I think I’m good for now.” With the tray of food he had given her, along with the two nutrition packs she’d inhaled, surely she’d replaced a good amount of the calories she’d used during the healing process.
Shortly after, her eyes started to feel heavy, and she realized calorie expenditure wasn’t the only cost of healing. Her energy had rapidly depleted too, as she could barely keep open her eyes.
When Zyan took her into his arms again, she didn’t protest. Instead, she just snuggled against him as she absorbed his warmth and let herself go to sleep. She should have been too keyed up, or perhaps too apprehensive being with an alien, but instead of being worried, she just slept deeply.
Chapter Four
Zyan held the small human in his arms, surprisingly content with just feeling her soft curves molded against his harder frame. His mission was paramount, or it should be. He should be chaffing to find Aladrina and trying to hasten the process of breaking through the rubble by moving some of the rocks manually. Instead, he allowed himself to just lie there, holding his woman.
He stiffened slightly at the thought, which made her fuss in her sleep as she issued a small murmur of protest before snuggling closer. Technically, Ellie wasn’t his anything, but the hard length of his cock pressing uncomfortably against his body armor wanted to stake a claim.
Of course there had been women in his past, but he was unaccustomed to reacting to them in any way beyond physical. While he barely knew the human female, he was drawn to her in a way he couldn’t explain. It resonated deeply within, causing a low, but persistent, voice in the back of his mind to insist she was his. Once he dealt with recapturing Aladrina and delivering her to the execution facility, there was no reason he couldn’t claim the exo-geologist.
For the first time, Zyan resented a mission. He usually lived for the thrill of the hunt, and the more difficult the quarry, the more exciting it was when he finally apprehended them. Aladrina was many things, among them being a difficult target to acquire. His thoughts should have been centered firmly on how to pinpoint her exact location, since the radiation on the planet was interfering with his wristband. He shouldn’t be annoyed at the prospect of having to take time to acquire her before turning his attention to Ellie.
What would his mother think of the human woman? Ellie was quite unlike the tall, lean women of his planet, who either favored the athletic look or the warrior build. She was diminutive in comparison, with her soft curves in all the places he’d never realized were perfect when padded before holding her.
His mother was a standard of beauty on their world, and she had high standards of her own. He couldn’t imagine she wouldn’t like and approve of Ellie, but he was disquieted to realize that even if she didn’t, he didn’t care. She was the head of the family, and while she didn’t make dictates, and she certainly didn’t expect her sons and daughters to follow her word as law, she was the de facto guidance for the family.
Before meeting this woman, he would have confidently stated that if his mother didn’t like a woman he found interesting, he would have carefully considered her judgment in the matter, knowing she was wise. It wouldn’t have necessarily kept him from pursuing a relationship of which his mother didn’t approve, but her words would have held more weight than they did now.
It was damn tempting just to toss aside all thoughts of responsibility and his mission to bury himself in the comforts of the human in his arms. She was on the tiny side compared to him, but she was certainly sturdy enough for what he had in mind.
He groaned, his cock twitching uncomfortably against his body armor, as he imagined how tight she would be. He wanted desperately to be inside her, and he froze when her lips ghosted against his neck. The motion fueled his fantasy, but he cautioned himself to rein in the reaction. She was unconscious and unaware of what she was doing.
Her lips moved across his neck again, this time pursing before drawing in a tiny bit of his flesh between her teeth. There was no way that was an accident, or something she had done in her sleep. He hoped. Was his female giving him indication she wanted to mate?
***
At first, Ellie was dreaming—the kind of dreams that left her aching with need and slick with desire. In her dream, she was riding the fierce alien. That was why, when she first woke, it took her a moment to realize she was no longer dreaming. She’d been nuzzling his chest in
her dream, but her face was buried against his neck.
It felt perfectly natural to purse her lips and suck in a section of his flesh, nibbling lightly. He moaned a sound of pleasure, and it shot all the way through her, centering in her core. She shifted restlessly on him, having moved at some point during her sleep so she lay completely atop him. When she wriggled, she brushed against the hard length of his cock pushing insistently against her thigh.
She moved her mouth from his neck and lifted her head to look down at him. His crystalline eyes had darkened, and now they sparkled with obvious desire. Where before he had been elegance combined with control, exuding a type of reassuring power to let everyone know he was in command, he was now more primal and raw. His naked need reflected in his eyes, and she was certain the same hunger showed in her gaze as well.
“Zyan.” She didn’t really have anything to say with it. His name had simply risen on her tongue and passed her lips, emerging as a sensual sound of pleasure. What words she couldn’t seem to form, he must have read in her expression, because he shifted them slightly, so his hard length rested against the soft heat of her pussy.
With a low growl, he buried his fingers in her strands of blonde hair, pulling her head down to seal his mouth over hers. She kissed without hesitation, as did he. It was as though they were ravenous for each other, but this hunger had nothing to do with the large toll on her metabolism healing had required. This was all about instinctual need and a desperate requirement for release. She opened her mouth as his tongue surged inside, accepting it with greedy strokes of her own as she caressed him.
In strange contrast to the desperate hunger of their kiss, their hands moved over each other in an almost leisurely fashion. Zyan palmed her breasts through the flimsy bra before slipping his hand underneath to peel it up and off. It remained wedged under her armpits, but her breasts were free to his roving hand. His other hand was curved across her buttocks, keeping her pelvis aligned with his as they thrust together through the layers of their clothing.