by Amanda Boone
Where is Hetty? I swing my legs to the warm floor of Acrulla and step over to the door. Outside is an industrious looking crew member performing some kind of maintenance behind an access pane.
“Have you seen the alien female I had with me?” I ask his surprised face.
“No, Commander. I have only been here a short time and seen no one.”
“Carry on,” I tell him and return to Benslala’s quarters. There I find the pair of daggers Hetty discovered, and something cold makes my chest go tight. I believe something is wrong. Someone has discovered us and taken Hetty to use against me.
***
Unbelievably, I’ve been kidnapped now. One of the female Intrellians crept into our room and pressed a knife to my throat, pulling me from Talacanthus’ side and dragging me through the ship. I don’t know how she managed it. There’s no one around at all. Maybe there’s a change of shift and in between one set of workers and the next.
“You don’t have to do this,” I tell her. “I’ll come easily.”
“Silence, filth.” If she’s surprised at my speaking her language, she doesn’t show it. She just shoves me along corridors and up the ramps, which join levels inside Acrulla.
***
The communications sub-chief locks eyes with me as I move towards him with a dance like action. My short sword lashes out, opening a slash on Dhualcan’s forearm down to the bone. This is the first of those I intend to kill, ridding myself of the turncoat crew who still cling to the memory of their inferior commander. I lash out again, the very tip of my blade lancing into his cheek, so deep I can see teeth glistening wetly under the flap of muscle, which peels away. So far, this is the third such fight I have had with the remaining crew looking on, and I have begun to inflict as many wounds as I can before watching them die at my feet.
Dhualcan has not uttered a sound yet. However, I fully intend to make him scream before allowing him to go into the Hereafter and savagely hack downward into the muscles over his right shoulder. My sword sinks in deep enough to rake over his bone. This draws a keen howl from his throat.
“This is what awaits those who stand against me!” I bellow to the gathered crew. “You will have the chance to...” My eyes fall on the alien female, who should be securely locked in her cell next to the other two of her kind. She is being held at knife point by a female who is unknown to me and shoved towards me.
“Commander, here is the alien who Talacanthus consorts with,” she tells me. “When I took her, I saw him lying on the same bed as this one.” Shock and fear crawl up through me.
“How is that even possible?” I demand.
“Commander, I am unsure how he lives, yet he does.” Dhualcan scurries back from me, sensing he might just live, and I reach out for the alien female.
***
Jonober grabs me by the top of my arm, squeezing hard enough to make me gasp. I finally see the female who took me and am shocked to see it’s Bhentus, the Intrellian female who bonded to Deakins,
“Why are you doing this?” I ask her as Jonober pulls me away.
“He might free my beloved if I align myself with him,” comes her answer.
“I understand,” I tell her gently, “but ally with us, and I guarantee he’ll be released. He’s my friend, after all.” I can see her think it over for a second before she shakes her head.
“Be silent, fat breeder,” Jonober spits at me, slapping my face as hard as he did in my cell. I feel my head snap back and lose my balance, falling to the floor. He drags me along the floor, half carrying me while my mind reels from his slap.
“JONOBER!” Talacanthus’ voice thunders through the room, and I fixate on the sound of it, hope filling my chest. “Unhand my female and face me like a true Intrellian.” Jonober throws me to the floor, snarling.
“How do you still live?” He demands. “Come then and finally die at my hand.”
I can make out Talacanthus’ form now, stalking towards where I lie at his enemy’s feet. He looks magnificent, and pride swells me. My alien has come to get me, and he will destroy anyone who threatens me.
Jonober grabs me again, lifting me to shield him from Talacanthus’ incandescent rage.
I look on as my alien stretches his arms wide,
“Here you have the pretender to my position.” Talacanthus turns in a small circle, addressing the gathered Intrellians. “Hiding behind a female from another species.” I hear a few hisses of laughter from the crowd.
Jonober pushes me at Talacanthus hard enough to jar my neck again – I’m sure I’ll have whiplash when this is all over – and I stagger into his arms.
“Here is your brood sow,” Jonober shouts. “I will kill her slowly.” He pauses. “Just as I did your brother.”
I crash into Talacanthus as he hears these words and feel his entire body stiffen. His arm comes up and around me, guiding me past him to where Benslala looks on. He turns back to face Jonober just in time to deflect a vicious cut aimed at his chest. As Jonober’s swing is knocked aside, it sends him off balance, and Talacanthus smashes his fist into his opponent’s face hard enough to crush bone.
Jonober grunts and hits the floor, letting Talacanthus kick him in the chest about four times. He hangs back and allows Jonober to get up, blood pouring from his face and one arm wrapped round his own chest. Talacanthus looks enormous to my eyes, his shoulders bunched up with muscle and his arms spread a little, talons at the ready. He doesn’t even need the weapons I found. He’s going to rip Jonober apart with his bare hands.
Talacanthus dodges a clumsy thrust, tripping Jonober as he goes past, making him sprawl on the floor again. He rolls over to find Talacanthus standing over him, His foot smashes down on his enemy’s sword arm, and Jonober screams as the bones in his arm splinter and shatter.
Talacanthus squats next to Jonober’s head and grips his other arm, twisting and pulling the limb until it snaps with a very audible crack. My stomach rolls as Jonober screams again.
The sounds of this fight are making me feel extremely sick. I watch as Talacanthus spears his massive arms down, ripping straight into Jonober’s stomach, piercing through his muscles and straight into his tender insides.
“Did you feel this good?” Talacanthus asks. “When you killed my brother?” Jonober grunts a gasp as Talacanthus wrenches his arms up, yanking intestines and internal organs out of his enemy. Blood sprays from the lacerations he’s made with his clawed fingers, and Talacanthus dumps the whole blood-soaked mess into Jonober’s face, choking him on his own guts.
I retch at the sight but a part of me is savagely overjoyed by his agony and death. What am I becoming?
“Does anyone here challenge my right to command this ship?” Talacanthus demands as blood and partially digested food drips from his fingers. No one says a word as he wipes the worst of the gore on Jonober’s clothing and holds a hand out to me. I stumble across to him and we leave, heading for his quarters.
***
I have scrubbed the filth from my body and had clothes gifted to me by one of the smaller females aboard. Now, sitting next to Talacanthus, I’ve sampled the best food I’ve had for about three years and am sipping a fiery liquid which is a bit like whiskey but at the same time not at all. A warm buzz is making me drowsy, and I snuggle into my alien’s side, feeling his iron hard muscles twitch beneath my fingers.
“Everything is as it should be,” Talacanthus rumbles.
“What’s going to happen to me and the other two humans when we get to Intrellia Prime?” I wonder drowsily.
“Acrulla and the crew will hide you from any detection, and I will make my report before we head out once more.”
I smile. “That’s nice,” I say, virtually asleep. I feel him lift me easily and carry me to bed, where my eyes close, and I drift off.
I wake hours later, refreshed and horny because there’s a certain alien nibbling my ear and stroking his hands up and down my naked body.
“Well, hello there,” I say with a chuckle. “I could get u
sed to this kind of wake up method.”
Talacanthus slides his tongue across my shoulder, the twin, forked tips sending shivers down my body. I lean back and take his mouth with my own, rubbing my tongue over his gently and slowly making him rumble.
I reach back and find his rigid cock with my fingers, gently stroking and caressing him. We haven’t made love like this, slowly and gently, before, and I find it more erotic than the savage coupling we have engaged in previously.
His hand slides tenderly over my skin, drawing small circles over my breasts, tummy, thighs. My breathing gets faster like my heartbeat, and I feel an ache for his touch, a need for him to take me. His fingers slide between my legs and part my swollen lips, coating them with my wetness before riding up to my clitoris.
“Yes, baby,” I whisper, grinding myself into his hand. He works my pussy and neck at the same time, bringing my whole body alive and bringing that sweet ache to my insides, making me moan. The tension inside me is going to snap any second, and I’m gasping for it when he stops,
“What...?” I cry as he brings his tongue from my neck down to my breasts, the forked tips pinching little kisses over my skin. He takes my rigid nipple and sucks gently while grazing his tongue over the tip. The whole time, his long fingers stroke gently over the softness of my breasts, sending electric ripples of pleasure through them both.
I feel his mouth working downward, kissing and licking at my skin, driving me wild with need. I can barely think straight as his mouth finally land in between my legs, and he pushes his tongue deep inside my needy pussy.
“Talacanth...” I trail off as he runs his tongue from my perineum to my clit in long teasing strokes. I reach down and scratch his head, pushing his sensuous mouth against my dripping sex. He growls, and I can feel it vibrate up through my hyper-sensitive clit, bringing me to the very edge of ecstasy. Sensing my need, he concentrates his attention on my swollen clit, sending me over the edge. My breathing stops as my whole body tenses, every muscle as tightly wound as springs before the final explosion as my orgasm rips through me.
Talacanthus brings his head back up, and I cry out into his mouth, tasting my own juices on his lips and tongue. I push him back on the bed and kiss his neck, shoulders and scarred chest, poking my tongue into the new scar where Jonober shot him, which makes him flinch and growl.
I drag my tongue down his abdomen and kiss the tops of his thighs, scratching his legs with my nails. Working in circles round the base of his cock, I plant kisses at the junction of where it juts from his body then run my tongue along his entire length which brings a gasp from his throat.
“By the Gods, Hetty. That is maddening.”
I grin at him. “Really? What are you going to do about it?” I ask in a breathy tone. Circling the tip of his cock with my tongue seems to make it impossible for him to speak, so he lays there with his eyes closed, grunting and humming, while I gently suck him. I can feel a need in me, building with every caress of my mouth on his swollen organ, a need to have this impressive member inside me, filling me like only Talacanthus can.
As if he can sense it telepathically, he moves until I am on my back, with him kneeling between my legs so I’m fully open to his gaze and his will. With a single, powerful but gentle thrust, Talacanthus fills me and we both gasp as I shudder, making room for his thickness. He looks down at me while he starts to rock his hips back and forth, and I can see the overwhelming love he feels for me.
I reach out to grip his arms, pulling him down on top of me and pushing up to meet his every stroke. We might have started slowly, but Talacanthus works up a frenzy, powering into me over and over, driving my body to new heights of pleasure. That sweet, needy ache spreads from my muscles, outward through my whole body and begins to feel almost like a form of torture.
His thick cock rakes over my G-spot, driving me impossibly higher, and I hear my own squeaks and cries of delight until the pressure inside is so great that my breathing stops, and my entire body goes into spasms. My back comes off the bed, and I manage to lock my arms around Talacanthus’ neck, crying out my pleasure into him.
The rippling, pulsing muscles inside me grips his thick shaft, pulling him deeper inside me, and the pulling sensation combined with my lips on his neck sends him over the edge too. His hips buck into mine, six times, hard and I feel his boiling seed fill me.
We lay there, sweaty and locked together, until he finally falls to my side and pulls me to him. I can feel every muscle aching. I am sopping with both our combined juices and feel tiredness washing through me again but so completely happy I don’t think this moment can be topped.
As I lay here, wrapped in the solid muscles of the alien I love, I don’t know what the future might bring. All I do know is as long as Talacanthus and I are together, everything will be fine.
THE END
The War Within Himself
A Military Romance
(A standalone book)
The War Within Himself
As the miles closed between Luke and the town at the end of the gravel road, he let out a relaxing sigh. Man, was it nice to be home. After almost a year in the desert, he craved the greenery of the open fields that were all around him. He had always loved his small hometown, but it wasn’t until he went away that he realized exactly how much.
He smiled as he passed the Reynold’s farm, where he got his tires stuck trying to sneak their daughter out in the middle of a rainy night. Boy, was her dad mad when they reluctantly had to fess up and ask for him to pull Luke’s truck out. A few minutes later he passed the pasture where his two best friends and he had hosted the county’s largest bonfire. It had lasted almost a full hour before the cops had shown up.
It was as if each mile held a memory from his past, and he loved relishing in each one. After just a few more minutes he pulled up in front of the old dusty coffee shop in downtown Abilene, KS. It all still looked the same as it always had. The old repurposed tables were paired with unique mismatching chairs that made the whole place feel like your grandmother’s house in the most comforting way. This place always felt like home to him, although he could never put his finger on exactly why.
“Luke? Luke Crawford?” a familiar voice called from behind him. At the sound of her voice, his heart skipped a beat in his chest. He turned to see Serena with her beautiful blond hair flowing over her perfectly tanned skin. She looked even more beautiful than the last time he had seen her, if that were even possible. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Quickly clearing his throat, he said, “Serena.” She flashed him a gorgeous white smile and hastily closed the gap between them. In her always-excited manner, she bounced toward him and wrapped him in a hug.
“How are you? I had no idea you were back! How long have you been back? Are you okay?” She rambled on in the old manner that he had always found adorable. Holding him at arm’s length with concern heavy in her expression, she looked him up and down.
“A lot of questions at once.” Luke laughed.
“Sorry. Do you have plans, or would you want to sit for a bit? Catch up some?” The excitement in her voice made it impossible to tell her no. Plus, he could finish unpacking anytime.
Luke gave her a crooked grin and nodded, not able to find the words to say in her presence.
“Can I have a black coffee and a caramel latte, please?” Luke asked the young girl behind the counter. After paying, he turned around to see Serena beaming.
“You remembered,” she breathed. All the feelings from high school came rushing back, and she felt like a young schoolgirl again as her cheeks burned with flattery.
“Course I remembered. It’s the only way I could ever get you out of bed to go hunting with me at the crack of dawn. I swear you could smell it before I pulled into your driveway.” Luke’s face cracked into a smile as he made his way over to one of the old, worn tables that faced the street outside. Following close behind, Serena sat across from him with the same adorably charming smile that she always wore
.
“So, how have you been? How long have you been back? How long are you staying?” she rambled. Luke tried his hardest to suppress his smile. “Sorry, you know how I get.” She laughed. “Let’s start with: How are you?”
He blinked hard, trying to swallow down the words he really wanted to say. She had always been so sweet and innocent; she had always believed the best in the world. He had spent so much time trying to protect her from the way the world really was that he knew without even thinking about it that he would lie to her again today. “I’m great.” The second the words left his mouth, he cursed himself silently for being too upbeat. She would be able to smell the lie from a mile away. “Been all right, I suppose,” he added, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
Her brow furrowed slightly with concern. “You sure? Everything’s been okay?” Luke nodded, trying to convince her that he was all right. “How was…?” Before she could finish her sentence, she thought better of it and let it trail off.
Luke gave her a comforting smile and said, “It’s okay to say it.”
“How was…Iraq?”
“Pretty much how’d you imagine.” Realizing how harsh the words had come out, Luke added, “But I’m all right. How have you been?”
Trying to break the awkward tension between them, Serena said, “Better then Ben Hamilton. Did you hear he got arrested…again?”
“Again?” Luke laughed dramatically, widening his eyes. “What for this time?”
“I think public nudity again.” The way Serena said the words so casually made Luke burst with laughter. He had forgotten how much fun she was to be around. She had a way of lifting the tension in any situation. She always knew how to make him laugh.