ARINA'S MATE (Shifters of the Bulgarian Bloodline Book 2)

by Dalia Wright

  After the show Zul ushered away the crowd and took hold of Stella’s hand. He led her out of the room and down a corridor. “Where are you taking me?” asked Stella. “Consummation.” was Zul’s only reply.

  She felt like she was walking to her doom. But. But. She sensed a presence behind her. She glanced up at Zul who was very keenly walking purposefully towards his bedchamber. She seized the opportunity and made a quick, purposeful glance behind her. The two hooded aliens were following them. And then suddenly…

  ZAP!!!

  Zul’s head exploded in a shower of green blood. Stella, stunned, took a step back and clutched at the wall. The two hooded aliens ran up and grabbed her by the arm. They removed their hoods exposing the familiar faces of Khan and Isaac. Stella burst into tears.

  Isaac shouldered his energy weapon and clutched Stella firmly, bringing her close to his chest. He removed his cloak and draped it around her, concealing her nakedness. Khan reached into a pocket of his cloak and removed three cloaking chips. He dispensed them and the three of them were invisible once again.

  “We have no time,” said Isaac. “Follow us.”

  The three of them raced to the end of the hallway. Khan smashed open a large glass window with his fist and peered over the opening. “It’s about a ten-foot drop.” he said. “Do you know how to fall and roll?”

  “I’ll catch her,” interrupted Isaac.

  Isaac and Khan leapt out the window, landing in a roll to minimize the shock of the drop. Stella peered out and gradually put one foot out, then the other. She hoped she was moving fast enough. Then she fell.

  Isaac caught her in his strong, sturdy arms and then placed her onto the ground, dusting her off a bit.

  “To the mothership!” exclaimed Khan.

  The three of them ran as fast as they could for about a mile until they reached the familiar sight of the spaceship. The three of them beamed up and then Khan at once attacked the controls vigorously and set the ship in motion. Stella looked out one of the windows and saw a troop of angry-looking aliens chasing after them, brandishing energy weapons.

  It was a few minutes before Stella could regain her composure. She was badly shaken. Finally, she gave a sigh of relief and looked at Isaac. He was staring at her lovingly. She began to cry again.

  “I want to go home,” she stammered.

  Isaac wrapped his arms around her and brought her in tight. She could feel his strong pectoral muscles flexing against her cheek. She felt safe in his embrace. Alien or no, she was falling in love with this man.

  Khan set the appropriate controls in motion and before long the ship was warping back to the solar system. Stella peered out the large window and saw a tiny blue dot get bigger and bigger at an alarming speed, finally revealing itself to be the beautiful, shimmering planet known to billions as “Earth”.

  The mothership quickly and silently descended down through the atmosphere and entered into the gravitational pull of the big rock. It hovered for a while before finding Stella’s back yard and then came to a stop about twenty or thirty feet above the ground.

  Khan gave Stella a hug and said his goodbyes. Isaac gave Stella a hug too and then as Stella walked toward the off-ramp she turned and glanced back at Isaac. “Aren’t you coming?”

  The alien smiled. He joined Stella and walked next to her as they made their way into the back door of her house. The mothership faded from view into a cloaked state. Sunny ran up and met the two of them, tail wagging, and barking with happiness. “I’m back, sweetie!” cried Stella. The yellow dog jumped up on her and licked her face.

  Stella led Isaac by his hand into the master bedroom. She gently pressed her finger over her lips, indicating for him to hush. She took a step back, and then in front of him, took off her clothes. She stood there, naked in front of him for a few moments. The moonlight danced across her skin. Her curves came alive and her breasts swelled. Down between her legs she longed for him. She wanted to see him naked. She wanted to see his cock and taste his precum. She wanted every part of him.

  Stella pushed him back down onto the bed and crawled on top of him. She slowly removed his clothing and kissed his face, neck, and chest. She used her tongue to trace a line from his pecs down to his abdomen. She then took his member into her mouth. It became instantly hard at the touch of her tongue. Isaac’s eyes rolled back in his head. She bobbed her head up and down, feeling his shaft enter and exit her mouth. She paid particular attention to his glans, tracing her tongue around it and licking up the liquid that oozed methodically out of it. Then she worked her tongue down the shaft and placed it between his balls, rotating her tongue around each testicle, and tasting the salty, sweaty, sexy flavour. Isaac’s hips moved up and down as her tongue danced around his manhood. Then she brought a finger around and placed it on his ass. He seemed to really enjoy it. She then kissed up his abdomen and chest until she was face to face with his handsome face. “I want you inside me.” she whispered.

  With that, Isaac shifted onto his knees and positioned himself in between Stella’s legs. He spread her legs with a specific, forceful movement and lowered his head until he was staring directly at her vulva. He spread her engorged, pink lips until he could see the inner folds of her sex. Using his tongue, he licked around the inner lips and stopped at her clit, making a special effort to circle and play with it in a rapid, wet motion. Stella screamed out with pleasure: “OH MY GOD! I’M COMIING!”

  Stella’s orgasm was powerful and shocking. She had never felt such a delightful sensation in her entire life. Having been warmed up, she now wanted to feel Isaac’s large cock inside her. She wanted to have sex with him.

  Stella turned around and presented her pussy to him. From behind, Isaac got an excellent view of her ass and cunt. He moved in and taking his dick with one hand, inserted it into her beautiful snatch. He pumped in and out for what seemed like an eternity. With each gesture, Stella could feel the stimulation on her G-Spot, continually on the verge of coming. When she could take it no longer, her second orgasm hit her like a wave and she bit the pillow to keep from waking up the neighbours. She reached behind her and grabbed Isaac’s balls. The large globes slapped against her clit with each forceful movement.

  “Come on my face, sweetie,” suggested Stella. A few more pumps, in and out, and Isaac was ready to let go. He disengaged and knelt quickly over Stella’s beautiful face. Globs of thick alien sperm coated her nose, mouth, and eyes as his orgasm neared completion. What felt like minutes passed until they both fell down into each other’s arms, heads touching and feet encircling one another. Their sex had brought them together and made them one.

  The next morning Isaac explained that he had to leave to continue his expedition on the mothership with Khan. However, before leaving, he promised that he would be back. He reached into his spacesuit and pulled out a small pendant. It was adorned with a tiny, beautiful pink crystal.

  “Give this a rub whenever you think of me and we can be connected via ESP. And remember, I will be back!”

  Stella smiled. After all, what other girl could say that she had gotten with a guy from another world?

  *** THE END ***

  Nursing the Soldier

  By: Stephanie Hunt

  Chapter One:

  Thaddeus could hardly hear over the shells falling around him and the boom of the long guns. The siege had been going on since three days after the second Boer War began. The fourteenth of October, 1899. He had a feeling he’d never forget that day. Or this one. February 15, 1900, when it looked as if the siege might end.

  The months of worrying about water, supplied by the De Beers mine, of food shortages, of being shelled daily, they were almost over. If he could survive the rescue attempt, that is. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and returned fire. Horses shied and whinnied all around him and he concentrated on staying out from under their frantic hooves.

  Dust choked him and he coughed, rubbing his sleeve across his face. The sleeve was ripped now and nearly worn through at t
he elbows. The long Tom went off again and he heard someone yell raggedly. He didn’t have time to look.

  General French was coming with his mounted division and they would need cover fire. He moved to the front and reloaded. His hands didn’t shake as they had the first time he’d done this. The training for the Lee Metford magazine rifle hadn’t been much, but he’d become a better shot over the months they’d been pinned down in Kimberley.

  As he raised the rifle to his shoulder again, he thought of how much he wanted to be home. Or anywhere that the grim specter of death didn’t leer at him in such close quarters. The other men probably felt the same way, but none of them would admit it to each other. Most of them probably didn’t even admit it to themselves.

  There was a brief lull and another man caught Thad’s eye.

  “How’re you holding up, Bennett?”

  “Just fine,” he said. Both of them were shouting over the ringing in their own ears. “Planning what I’m going to do when I get home tonight!”

  Obviously none of them would be home that night, but it bolstered morale to think about it. Several other men called out suggestions.

  “Going to get this damned dust off of me!” one said. “Hottest water I can stand and soak till I look like a prune!”

  No one mocked this suggestion. The dust had been rubbing them raw for weeks now. He hadn’t thought that being dusty could be so uncomfortable.

  “I’m going to eat until I feel sick!” the man beside him said with a grin. “None of this rationing at home!”

  That wasn’t true. There’d be rationing there too, but it wouldn’t be as strict as what they put up with where they were. A town besieged for months simply doesn’t have a large surplus to feed anyone.

  “I’m going to take my wife to bed,” said a man to Thad’s left and they all laughed.

  That was one that every last man could agree on. Women had been a big focus of the talks they’d had in the quieter days of the siege. Wives, women they hoped to make wives of, loves lost, loves they hoped to find again when they finally got home to England again.

  Thaddeus hadn’t had a story to tell. He’d grown up on a small farm and there hadn’t been many women out his way. His new friends in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment had assured him that it didn’t matter. He’d come back a war hero, and after all, times were changing. Wealthy women weren’t as far out of reach as they had been.

  He wasn’t sure he wanted a wealthy woman. And if the tide didn’t turn when General French showed up, he probably wouldn’t have any woman, wealthy or not. They all knew that this was it.

  He heard the scream of horses and looked out. General French and his mounted cavalry were plowing through the Boer resistance.

  The man to his left, the one who planned to take his wife to bed, whooped and waved his cap over his head. “There he is! Cutting through like a tornado!”

  He was. Thad’s heart began to thump with excitement rather than fear for the first time in a long time. They were going to make it. They were going to make it out alive!

  He followed his regiment to the next position. All he remembered hearing was the sharp crack of the Long Tom. Then he went down in a haze of pain and sudden, deafening, silence.

  Chapter Two:

  Molly shivered in the cold air, pulling her nursing cape around her more tightly. Hannah had said she needed a break, but she hadn’t wanted to go to the canteen for coffee. Instead, her friend had pushed outside. Now she stood there breathing in lungfuls of fresh air almost hungrily.

  Molly put her hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear about Thomas. You know you did everything you could.”

  Hannah shook her head. “Of course I know that,” she said. “But that’s not the point. Just because I did everything I could do, doesn’t mean that a good man didn’t just lose his life.” She clenched her fists. “Second war. Didn’t they learn anything from the first? We don’t have the resources!” With an effort, she forced the volume down. She was dangerously close to shouting. “We don’t have the resources or the men. How many more of them are supposed to die for this?”

  Molly pulled the cape even tighter. She didn’t have any answers. She treated the men who came in on the red cross trains and ambulances, too. She knew Hannah’s frustration intimately. She’d experienced it herself, countless times.

  Infection was the enemy and it was rampant. Most of the soldiers were in remote locations and the few members of medical staff provided to them were undersupplied. The Red Cross sent out bags of medical supplies to the field medics, but it wasn’t enough. Molly wondered if anything they could do would ever be enough. Usually, by the time the men were relieved and put on the train the infection had started. By the time they got to the hospital, it was often too late.

  She couldn’t count how many times she’d pulled the white sheets up over a man’s face. More than she’d thought possible. How could there be any men left?

  “At least they get to say that they’re heroes.” Hannah’s voice was as brittle as the air around them. “Cold comfort when the surgeons are sawing off the pieces--”

  Molly made an involuntary gesture for Hannah to stop and silence fell over them again.

  “I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time.

  “No,” Hannah said. “I know that you don’t like to hear about that part.”

  “I don’t,” Molly admitted. “But it’s time I got used to it. It...happens.” It happened more than she wanted to think about. The first time she’d attempted to assist, she’d become so light headed that she’d had to call in a replacement nurse and leave the room.

  She was a very competent nurse. More than competent, actually, but amputations were her Achilles heel. She couldn’t imagine going to sleep and waking up with a part of one’s own body missing.

  “Look,” Hannah said. “There’s the unit from Kimberley. Did you hear that the siege was broken?”

  “No,” Molly said, her heart lightening slightly. “I haven’t heard much news today.”

  “I hear that General French rode in like a tornado,” Hannah said. “He saved some. Now the rest are up to us.”

  People began to rush around, readying rooms, examining the men to see who was worst off, surgeons and doctors barking orders that the nurses followed coolly. Molly, busy with her own patient, saw a man wheeled by on a stretcher. He was very tall and his dark hair flopped forward onto his forehead. The leg of his drab uniform was soaked with blood. He was pale and unconscious. Her heartbeat increased slightly, but she didn’t know why.

  She heard his room number called to another nurse and then turned back to her own patient. “I can stop the bleeding, but he’ll need to go to surgery,” she said crisply. “The bullet will have to come out.”

  Molly put her hand on the soldier's shoulder and gave him a smile. “We’ll get you something for the pain. Welcome home.”

  He clasped her hand in his briefly and gave her all the smile that he could manage through the pain. She knew that look well. She’d seen enough bravery through the pain to last her a lifetime.

  Chapter Three:

  Thad woke up with his head pounding. When he raised his hands to it, something tugged in his arm. He opened his eyes, but only a slit. It hurt too much to do more. There was an I.V in his left arm.

  He glanced around the room, gritting his teeth so that he didn’t groan out loud from the pain of moving. He had no idea where he was, but the view outside his window didn’t suit the Kimberley landscape. So where was he? And how had he gotten there without knowing it?

  A woman bustled in and checked something.

  “Where...” Thad’s voice sounded rusty. He cleared his throat and tried to wet his lips. His mouth was so dry that he didn’t accomplish much. “Where am I?”

  “The hospital,” she said.

  “I know that,” he said, trying very hard not to sound impatient. “I was at Kimberley.”

  “It’s a Red Cross hospital,” she said. “You need to
rest.”

  “No,” Thad said. “I need to know where the rest of my unit is.”

  “Unit?” she looked at him as if she’d never heard the word.

  “Yes,” he said, struggling to sit up in spite of the pain in his head and the needle in his arm. “I was at Kimberley and I’d like to know how I got here and where the other men are!”

  “You need to rest,” she repeated.

  “I will not rest until you answer my questions.” Were they all dead? No baths, no meals, no women? Had they been rescued for nothing? “I also want to know what’s wrong with me.”

  “I...” She looked a little frightened now. She was young, he noticed, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Why was she there if she didn’t know anything about what was wrong with him? “I’m not sure. But you need to rest.”

  “I don’t want to bloody rest!” he shouted. “And if you can’t tell me what’s wrong with me and where my regiment is, then get me a damned nurse that can!”

  She shrank back, away from him. “Sir, please, you need to calm down.”

  Thad yanked the covers back, sitting up so fast that his head spun and then hurt so badly that he was afraid his skull would split in two. He wanted to get up, but he noticed the bandages swathing his right leg from the knee down. “Get me a damned wheelchair so I can find a damned doctor who knows what he’s doing!” he shouted.

  The nurse started to speak, but nothing came out. How young was she, anyway? Unreasonable anger overtook him as tears filled her eyes.

  “Don’t just stand there!” he went on. “Go and get me--”

  “I’ll take care of it, Nell.” A cool voice said from behind him. “Run on and collect yourself.”