Taken by the Swarm King

by Fiona Sweet

  “These humans are thieves,” one man in the swarm said and pointed an accusatory finger at me and the people behind me. “And you are going to defend them? The punishment fits the crime if you ask me.”

  “That’s right,” another bold man spoke up, emerging from the crowd. He looked a little timid, but he held his brave posture. “The tradition speaks that we are warranted in slaying any thieves who steal from our oases.”

  “Who reserved us the right to claim them as our own?” Varyx contested.

  “We were here first,” the first man to speak up against Varyx noted.

  Varyx shook his head defiantly. “That’s not enough to earn us the right to kill them in cold blood.”

  Varyx turned back to me again and there was a hint of empathy flickering in his eyes. “Cherish is right. These Earthlings are starving and thirsty. That makes them desperate for the temptation of the oases. In that respect, they are not much different than us.”

  “They are going against the rules,” another man shouted from the back.

  I grew uncomfortable again. Tempers were flaring. I feared that the disruptive unrest would quickly escalate out of control.

  I had yet to bring my arms down to my sides. I was afraid of what might happen if I tried it too soon. The Byromians were notorious for being explosive and unstable, something that even in Varyx’s defense, had just been witnessed when he killed one of his own men.

  “What do you suggest we do then?” Another man with giant black horns and matching coal black eyes said with a sinister expression.

  “We are going to camp here at the oasis as planned,” Varyx declared.

  “And what about the Earthlings? Are we going to make a roaring fire and all sing celebration songs together around it later?” another Byromian asked sarcastically and a few in the swarm mockingly laughed along with him.

  Varyx’s jaw tightened and he looked among his men as if he knew that deep down, he was losing the respect that he desperately needed.

  “We will take them as prisoners and tie them up, but they will be given a fair trial in the morning as soon as the dawn paints the sky with light,” Varyx professed. “Their lives will not end today, not as long as I’m in charge.”

  Unruliness threatened to disrupt what little peace there was left.

  “Silence!” Varyx shouted.

  The veins in his neck bulged and his golden horns, sharp as daggers, glistening in the sun.

  No one said a word. No one dared to breathe, not even me.

  “There will be no more protest. We need humans. If we kill them all, you … fools, then who will we use as fate-marked? We need mates in order to survive and repopulate our own race. This unnecessary violence must stop. Every life must be valued and given a chance.”

  My heart pounded with hope. If Varyx was successful in trying to bring about a new tranquil era of prosperity among the two races, then perhaps there was true hope out there that we could band together for collective survival.

  I studied the Swarm King. He looked proud, but also pensive and maybe even a little flexible in character. Perhaps he might not be the terrible monster I initially shuddered under, after all.

  8

  Varyx

  Tension was mounting in the camp. A blazing fire roared up to the open gates of the atmosphere, painting a vast canvas of black and empty desert with a brilliant orange glow.

  A cluster of rebels from my group sat together around the fire—disjointed from the rest of the swarm. That group—about ten percent of our brood if I had to guess—ate of the fruit and drank from the cup, relaxing and talking amongst themselves while ignoring the rest of us.

  This kind of behavior wouldn’t be acceptable or tolerated once we were on the march again.

  I chuckled bitterly. They were probably plotting my overthrow—the sullen lot. This was something that I couldn’t allow to happen, no matter the cost. I still had enough men on my side—an advantage I was grateful to have.

  A large bunch of loyal members still accompanied me—supporting my morals of the situation and taking heed of my insight. I wanted to attempt to live peacefully among the humans and see if it was a successful endeavor. I tried my best to be enlightened and humbled by Cherish’s cries for help among her fellow villagers.

  She made valid points that I mustn’t take lightly. As others in my swarm may have been viewing the human’s behavior as thievery, it was more complicated than that.

  When the humans were caught plucking fruit from the vine and snatching water into their buckets from the oasis, they too were starving and parched—no different than my Byromian swarm.

  Luckily, I had a growing majority on my side. My men seemed eager to talk to the humans—fueled by curiosity about a foreign culture and enthusiastic about learning as much as they could.

  Cherish sat beside me near the pond. The pond’s surface was untouched like glass. An enormous moon cascaded its glow across it, creating a silvery shimmer across the water.

  “I haven’t gotten a chance to properly thank you,” Cherish said, turning her head to look at me.

  Her hair fell across her face, adding to her allure and mystery. Even as an Earthling, it was hard to deny or ignore her captivating beauty.

  “Thank me for what?” I asked.

  “Saving … them.” Cherish nudged her chin over her shoulder, referring to her fellow humans who were now partaking in a wary conversation with a few of my men. “You didn’t have to do that and went against popular opinion—”

  “Leaders can’t afford to be popular,” I interjected. “They must be practical and noble.”

  Cherish nodded. “Maybe that’s true.”

  Her eyes were fixed on the water, gazing out at it with a serene expression on her face. “Your men—a few of them I’ve noticed—have taken kindly to a few women from the neighboring village.”

  I smiled. They were red blooded males, after all. Love and lust knew no boundaries against varying species.

  “They want companionship, just like any other living being would,” I mentioned.

  Byromians pined for human mates, regardless of whether they were fate-marked. Even without the promise of children, some of my men were desperate enough to entertain the prospect of a relationship with a human—one with whom they had found chemistry.

  After a period of silence between us, I mentioned something to Cherish that might shed some light on our agenda. I wanted her to understand the reason why we roamed the sweltering desert in search of fate-marked human women.

  “There is a more complicated reason why we need to mate with you Earthlings,” I began.

  Cherish gave me a concentrated look. “What is it?”

  “Well for starters, we don’t have any women in our own race who survive the birth process,” I confessed. “Not anymore.”

  Cherish’s eyes had a flickering of empathy. “Why not?”

  I inhaled a deep breath of crisp, desert air. The frigid nights were such a profound contrast to the brutally hot days.

  Both were equally as dry, equally as relentless. Soon, Cherish and I would have no choice but to trek back to the contained fire—the only thing that would provide us warmth throughout the evening. It was worse for her as a human. My body could take the harsher temperatures a little easier.

  “We don’t know for sure,” I said.

  “That’s why it’s complicated, huh?” Cherish gave me a meager smile, but a smile, nevertheless.

  “That’s certainly part of the reason,” I said.

  Cherish rubbed her arms with her hands and hugged herself tightly to keep warm. I wished I had a blanket or something to give her, but we traveled sparingly. Less loads to carry were better for the gwarns we rode upon.

  I contemplated reaching out to pull her closer to me, to warm her with my body heat—but I wasn’t sure how she would react. I stayed planted where I sat.

  “Do you…” Cherish began, studying me as if she was uneasy of how to go about her question.

&nb
sp; I faced her and arched my eyebrows, casting her an expectant gaze. “Yes?”

  Cherish swallowed hard and rooted her eyes to the desert sand beneath her sandaled feet. She picked up a handful of the sand and let it slowly drift through the slits in her fingers. It was mesmerizing to watch.

  “You can feel comfortable asking me anything,” I reassured.

  Cherish’s upper lip twitched and I could tell she wanted to believe me but still doubted my words.

  When she peered at me once again, her large eyes danced with vulnerability. “Do you want companionship or just someone to … be a mating match?”

  There was heavy sexual tension between Cherish and myself—that much was undeniable, even if neither of us were willing to admit it aloud to the other.

  “Of course, I want someone to … share the lonely nights with.” I snuck a peak at her slender thigh, part of it bare from the way she was sitting. I longed to let my hands explore that tender flesh. I quickly skirted my eyes away and glanced down at my lap. I was feeding into her vulnerability through no intended fault of my own.

  Cherish nodded approvingly and I forced myself to relax around her. It wasn’t against the law to let my guard down in front of my fate-marked, especially if I wanted to make any progress with her. I didn’t want to mate with someone who despised me.

  “I wouldn’t worry about those other assholes,” Cherish said after another comfortable lag in the conversation.

  “Who might those assholes be?” I asked, frowning.

  Cherish’s lips curled into a mischievous grin and I thought I noticed her bat her eyes flirtatiously—although I didn’t want to get too excited. I’d probably just imagined it.

  She glanced behind us. “The ones currently segregating themselves from the rest of your men and the other humans.”

  I grinned. “Right, them.” She referred to my rebel men.

  Cherish leaned back, propping her elbows in the sand as she gazed up at a sky peppered with stars housed in galaxies unimaginably far away.

  “You don’t have to be afraid of me,” I whispered to Cherish.

  She gave me a probing glance as if she needed time for me to prove myself worthy of making a statement like that.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate your revolutionary way of thinking. I could be shackled in chains right now, and the other villagers could be in a slaughtered heap burning in the campfire—but they’re not, and you put a stop to the violence. I owe you that much.”

  My heart pounded beyond surface, superficial desire. Maybe I would get a lucky toss of fate—and perhaps Cherish and I could find a way to connect on a spiritual plain rather than just mating for repopulation purposes.

  9

  Cherish

  We retired to bed once the moon’s silver glow was high in the sky. The Byroma moon was spectacular to look at—giving me hope that there was something out there in the universe to look forward to in the vast abundance of space—something that wouldn’t immediately pose a threat to me and my loved ones.

  I missed my brother and sister terribly. My heart ached to be reunited with them. I hoped that wherever they were in the village, they wouldn’t forget me.

  I watched Varyx as he assigned two men at first watch, but through the night there would be at least one shift change.

  He explained to me that since they had no official shelter and had to remain huddled around the campfire to stay warm, this was routine practice for the swarm.

  It was something they had to do every night to keep animal and insect predators away—as well as listen out for any villagers attempting to sneak into the oasis without permission.

  I didn’t like hearing the last part of his explanation, but I swallowed my pride and nodded politely because, after all, he hadn’t shown me any animosity. He had also diminished his men’s attempts at killing the humans who had been caught sneaking around the oasis springs.

  “You will come with me,” Varyx said.

  I stiffened, knowing that the inevitable was right around the corner. I watched as a few of his men started hammering wooden spears into the sand with wooden mallets. There weren’t many trees in the desert of course, but there were enough in the oasis to provide ample shade and also create wooden tools.

  The Byromian men then stretched sheets of canvas over the spears to create a makeshift tent. It was primitive, but not that much worse than what we had back at our villages, either.

  “We will sleep in here,” Varyx explained, his dark eyes piercing through me.

  “And the others?” I glanced at his men huddled around the fire trying to hunker down for the long night.

  “The Swarm King and his fate-marked sleep in the tent,” Varyx said as his workers began placing palm fronds down on the sand to provide better cushioning for us while we slept.

  “It’s ready, sir,” his man said and gave him an affirmative nod.

  “After you,” Varyx instructed. He gestured for me to enter the tent first.

  I swallowed hard because I knew I couldn’t prolong what was going to happen next. My heart pounded and my hands were clammy. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, anticipating the way I was going to have to service Varyx and hoping it wouldn’t last long.

  He entered the tent and sat down next to me. He closed the canopy and tied the end pieces together to provide us with privacy.

  This was it. We were officially alone.

  “I’ve never … done it before.” I picked at a palm frond next to me.

  My legs were crossed, and I stared at my lap. I suddenly feeling embarrassed, but I thought it was important for him to understand that I had no experience whatsoever with a man—human or not.

  Varyx didn’t say anything. When I looked at him, his eyes were fixed on the top of the tent and he had a melancholy expression on his face.

  I blinked and spoke again, wondering what he was waiting for. “Just try to be gentle—if you don’t mind. Okay?”

  I needed the reassurance. I needed him to say … something …anything.

  Varyx turned his head and looked at me. “We aren’t going to be doing anything other than sleeping.”

  “What?” I was so shocked that my mouth fell open. “I … don’t understand.”

  Varyx golden horns appeared to shrivel a little. I wondered if it was just my imagination.

  “I don’t want to mate with someone who doesn’t want me back,” Varyx said. His tone dwindled into sadness.

  I couldn’t believe it. He was rejecting me.

  I sat beside him, digesting this turn of events. I didn’t know if he was trying to use the reverse psychology effect on me. I wasn’t sure he was even capable of knowing what that was—but either way—his rejection actually made me curious about what kind of lover he was. It suddenly dawned on me that I was feeling disappointed.

  I reached out and tenderly touched his massive shoulder. He turned around and eyed my hand with confusion.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I do … want you. I’m just scared.” I opted for full disclosure.

  If we were going to be a team, then honesty was the best place to start.

  Varyx’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Only if you are comfortable.”

  “I am willing to give it a try.” I was suddenly surged with raw desire for him.

  Perhaps being fate-marked had an effect on me too, and it was my natural instinct to crave this man and intimacy with him in the seclusion of our tent.

  Varyx turned to face me. He cradled my chin in his giant hand and softly stroked my cheek. He was so big, I prayed he wouldn’t break me in half—hoping he would heed my advice to be careful with my body.

  I held my breath as he reached out and touched me with such tenderness that it made me tingle all over. He seemed to want to treat my body like his own personal temple and I wasn’t going to complain about that.

  He cupped his massive hands under my shirt and began fondling my breasts, stroking my nipples while maintaining eye c
ontact with me. It was the most erotic moment of my entire life.

  My face burned with yearning and a gush of warm wetness leaked onto my panties as he gentle lifted my shirt over my head.

  He coiled his fingers under the waistband of my underwear and yanked them down with a hungry look in his eyes as if he couldn’t wait to rapture me.

  I gasped with pleasure, but Varyx mistook this for a sign of fright and stopped.

  His face collapsed into dread. “I’m sorry—did I hurt you?”

  He looked so concerned—enhancing the passion sparking between us.

  I shook my head and licked my lips. “No,” I confessed. “I liked it.”

  I wanted him to touch me all over. I craved his hungry hands to explore my body. He met my gaze and leaned in, pressing his mouth to mine. An explosion of arousal ignited in me at once as soon as his tongue entwined with mine.

  It was like a spark between us had lit up the world. Our chemistry danced in unison. I felt comfortable and safe with Varyx.

  He held my gaze as he pulled his loin cloth down. I was too curious. I wanted to look—so I was the one to break eye contact with him.

  He grinned in response, seemingly delighted that I was eager to feast my eyes on his enormous cock.

  Varyx was—endowed—let’s just put it that way. I ogled at it. Varyx grinned proudly.

  “Are you sure it’s going to … fit?” I asked.

  I was soaked with spontaneous arousal—but I didn’t know if his size was going to match the hole between my legs that I had to offer him.

  “I won’t hurt you. I promise.” His eyes flickered with authenticity.

  I had no choice but to believe him, and at any rate, I was so turned on at this point that I felt like I was going to die if he didn’t bury himself between my legs in the next few seconds.

  He kissed me as he laid me down gently in the palm fronds. With a grunt, he began to push himself inside me. I gasped and came in what felt like seconds. I couldn’t help it. The intense pressure of his girth stretching out my virginity was too much for me to bare. Yes, it hurt, but the pleasure overpowered that by far.