by Sue Mercury
Disease had been another reason she’d been eager to escape Earth. Too many times she’d witnessed plagues sweep through her town and ravage the population. The first plague she could remember was the one that had claimed her mother’s life, when she was six years old.
She took a deep breath. Her life had been a string of disappointments thus far. She’d learned long ago never to allow herself to get her hopes up about anything, even the smallest of possibilities, but here she was thinking that for once in her life perhaps there were more happy times ahead than heartbreaking times.
Please let this work out.
*
Zurron couldn’t help but beam with pride as he led his sweet mate off his ship. He’d landed on the mountain beside his homestead. It was early afternoon on Norina and a typical warm sunny day. From where they stood, Riley had a perfect view of the valley below as well as the mountain range that ran parallel to this one.
“It’s breathtaking.” She squeezed his hand and turned to face him. “Is it safe?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is it safe to walk around outside? No one will bother me? And are there any dangerous animals to worry about?” Her awestruck expression turned pensive as her gaze swept to the forest behind his house. Birds chirped and small furry mammals scampered from branch to branch, seeking berries and nuts.
“No one will trouble you, Riley. You can go wherever you wish during the daytime, but there are some nocturnal predators you must remain cautious of at night. When dusk sets, it’s best you are inside our home, unless I am accompanying you.”
She licked her lips and nodded, and the sight of her pink tongue darting out heated his blood. The visceral ache to carry her to his bedroom and have his way with her pulsed fervently within him.
“I don’t see any other houses. I thought you lived near your family?”
“See the stone path there?” After her nod, he continued, “You can follow it through the forest to my brothers’ homes, my father’s home, and my uncles’ and nephews’ homes.”
She looked nervous, and he wondered if she detected the primal needs flaring within him. The outline of her nipples showing through her white shirt made him go painfully hard. A breeze ruffled her hair and sent her intoxicating feminine scent straight to his nostrils. Fluxx.
He couldn’t stop the growl rumbling from his throat. Grabbing her by her shoulders, he peered into her frightened gaze and anticipated stripping her clothes off and claiming her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her increasing breaths and her face reddened.
“You are the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen, my Riley.” He released one of her shoulders to stroke her hair. It was still messed up from her ordeal on the alien planet, but he thought she looked adorable so disheveled, as if she’d just been tumbled roughly in bed.
Her hair would be more tangled by the time he was finished with her, and her cheeks would be flushed an even darker shade of pink.
“I, um, thought there was to be a celebration today?” Her voice wavered with uncertainty, and though a dark part of him relished her nervousness, the part of him that always wanted her to feel safe with him spoke next.
“The celebration will occur in the late afternoon, after we have mated, Riley.” He tightened his hold on her when she tried to back away. “Don’t be afraid, my beloved. I will be gentle during our mating. I promise not to hurt you.”
She exhaled slowly, and as she held his stare, the tension in her body gradually lessened. Her eyes suddenly brimmed with longing. He was entranced by her sweet nature and her delicate beauty, but beneath her desire, he sensed her holding back pieces of herself. She’d been hurt before many times, on Earth and then during her frightening ordeal on the alien planet. Loneliness and desperation had been her companions for too long.
No more, he thought, resolved to make her feel cherished beyond measure.
“I’ve never done this before,” she blurted.
“Nor have I,” he confessed.
She looked surprised for a moment, but understanding soon dawned in her eyes. “Well, I guess that makes sense, there being a shortage of females on your planet. You’re just so…manly,” she said with a shy smile. “On Earth, a man like you would’ve probably had a harem of eager women.”
“I don’t need a harem, Riley. I just need you.”
He kissed her then, tentatively at first, his lips brushing across hers with the faintest pressure. She leaned into him and he swept his tongue further into her mouth, cupping her face in his hands as he deepened the kiss.
She tasted divine, like the nectar that dripped from the flowers on resspa trees. She moaned against his lips, and he backed her against the outer stone wall of his house and kissed her harder. When he finally pulled away, she was left flushed and breathless.
The timid glint of desire he’d glimpsed in her eyes earlier had transformed to a burgeoning need. After a deep inhale, he detected the scent of her arousal. Though he’d never been with a female before, Norinan males possessed excellent senses and instincts.
As he scooped Riley up into his arms, his instinct was to carry her into his bedroom and tear off her borrowed pants and shirt, then become familiar with every little part of her body.
She buried her face against his chest as he brought her inside his large house. For too long it had felt empty. When he wasn’t busy in the mines, he’d spent his days outside, hunting or simply wandering, not wishing to return to his desolate house. But he’d left his father’s home and built it as a young male, hopeful that one day he would share his abode with a female of his own.
For the first time since he’d built this structure on the edge of the forest, he entered without experiencing a pang of loneliness.
Before he crossed into his bedroom, he paused and waited for Riley to meet his gaze. When their eyes collided, his breath left him in a rush. As he held her and peered into her pretty light blues, the world stopped spinning and all the noises of the forest faded.
“Do you trust me, sweet human?”
She didn’t say yes, but she did reply, “You haven’t given me reason not to, Zurron.”
He prayed to the Star Gods that he never broke her trust. He would die before he hurt her. Carrying her into his bedroom—their bedroom—he gave her an encouraging smile in hopes of calming her remaining nerves.
“My beloved human female. Now I’m going to claim you as mine.”
Chapter Four
Zurron’s eyes flamed to an even darker shade and his nostrils flared. As he placed her on her feet, the hardness of his erection brushed against her.
She stood in the circle of his arms, entranced by his feral gaze. He looked like he intended to devour her, and hell that’s exactly what she wanted.
Everything below her waist ached and pulsed with need. She pressed her thighs together and the constant throbbing only deepened.
He growled, and the animalistic rumble propelled her libido into overdrive. Part of her hoped he wouldn’t be quite as gentle as he’d promised. Emboldened by this thought, she reached between them and ran her hands over the bare expanse of his chest, trailing her fingertips over those dark stripes that intrigued her.
“These markings,” she asked, “are they tattoos or a natural part of you?”
He grabbed her hand and clasped it to his chest, directly over his rapidly beating heart. His skin was alluringly warm, yet rough like leather. She stepped closer, allowing the massive bulge in his pants to press against her stomach. A quiver ran through her. She could almost swear the heat of his cock emanated through the layers of their clothing.
Finally, he answered her question.
“The markings are hereditary. All the males in my bloodline possess the same exact number of stripes in various places on our bodies, with the same pattern to the jagged edges of each stripe. Our sons will be born with these very markings.”
“Our sons?”
“Yes, Riley. I hope to have a large family, with many sons and daugh
ters. Do you want children?”
She smiled. “Oh yes. I’ve always dreamed of having lots of children. Only in a safe place, of course. Norina seems safe enough.” After her mother died and her stepfather had been left to raise her, not a day had passed that Riley hadn’t wished she’d had biological siblings. Her step-siblings were several years older and had treated her almost as coldly as her stepfather. As a result, she promised herself that if the opportunity to have a large family in a safe place ever arose, she wouldn’t waste any time seizing it.
Zurron dipped into the curve of her neck and started kissing her, leaving a trail of tingles in the wake of those delicious kisses. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and her scalp prickled under a rush of blissful sensation. She gave a soft moan and reached one hand down to unfasten her oversized pants. They fell around her ankles and she kicked them off.
She wasn’t wearing any underwear, but her shirt reached her knees, concealing her nudity. However, she longed to feel Zurron’s naked skin gliding against hers. Did she dare prompt him to undress?
Her heart raced. She wanted to start pushing his shirt off and dragging his pants off, and she wondered how he would respond to such brazenness on her part.
When he went from gentle kisses to dragging his teeth across her collarbone, Riley made her move. She yanked his shirt from his pants and started pushing the garment upward, desperate to glimpse her huge handsome mate half-naked. He stepped back from his ministrations near her neck, gave her a fierce look, and pulled his shirt the rest of the way off. After tossing it to the floor and kicking his boots off, he unfastened his pants and held her gaze as he finally stripped completely naked.
Holy…wow.
Her mouth went dry.
His green skin glistened under a light sheen of perspiration, and his muscles rippled with his every little movement. She swallowed hard and couldn’t help but stare. When her gaze traveled lower, she also couldn’t restrain a gasp.
Covering her mouth, she peered at his massive cock, which was striped similar to his chest markings and a darker shade of green than the rest of his body, the bulbous tip glistening with a drop of his essence.
Her pussy spasmed.
Black stripes also crossed the fronts of his thighs. She wished he would turn around and give her a view of his backside. If his buttocks were as firm as the rest of his body…
He straightened, crossed his arms, and gave her a look of challenge, though his eyes gleamed with kindness mingled with a bit of humor. “Your turn.” He nodded at her oversized shirt.
“Very well.” She lifted her chin and met his stare with exaggerated boldness. Then she opened the wide neck of her shirt and let it slide down her body. When the realization that she was finally naked in front of a man sank in, she had to fight the urge to cover her breasts or cup her center. She released a shuddering breath and hoped she looked braver than she suddenly felt.
She wanted Zurron without a doubt, and she didn’t wish to be overly coddled during their first time. He hadn’t called what they were about to do making love or having sex. He’d used a much more primal word. A word that made her flush all over and crave the sorts of naughty things she’d only imagined while hiding under her covers in the darkness, her fingers roaming between her slit. Mating.
She’d spent her whole life avoiding men as much as possible and refusing every marriage match her stepfather had suggested, but in secret she had fantasized about a strong kind man who would love her and claim her with all the fierceness of his devotion for her.
Her pulse raced faster and faster.
Zurron was her fantasy man.
“I could stare at you all day,” he said, his gaze sweeping up and down her body, lust flaring in his sexy dark depths. “You are a work of art, Riley. So smooth, so perfect, and all mine.” He strode to her and cupped one of her breasts, while he reached behind her with his other hand to squeeze her ass.
His cock was a hot, pulsing length against her stomach. She stood on her tiptoes in an effort to feel it pressing against her pussy, but she couldn’t reach high enough and whimpered in frustration. He was over a head taller than her, towering above her as he groped her and explored what was his for the taking.
When he started rubbing her pussy, drawing moisture out from her core to spread over her nether lips, she grinded her center against him shamelessly and moaned.
“Like opening a ghesita flower bud to find the sweetwater hidden within,” he commented, delving further inside her. Hearing him use a word native to his language captivated her.
“Say something to me in your language. A complete sentence.” She then reached between them and gripped his huge swollen cock.
*
“Fluxxshen Gerho Verzzis mo-la-veeix.” Fucking Star Gods that feels good.
“What does that mean?”
“I was telling you how good this feels,” he replied quickly. Norinan males normally only cursed around one another, never around females. It wasn’t considered polite. But fluxx the things he wanted to do to her were most impolite.
She ran her hand up and down his shaft, squeezing with the perfect amount of pressure. When she cupped his balls, he hissed out another string of curses in his own tongue, the pleasure almost more than he could bear.
“You will get on the bed, my human, and spread your legs now.”
He couldn’t fluxxshen wait another moment. He had to have her now.
Riley pulled back and gave him an amused look. It pleased him that she seemed comfortable around him, but he wondered what she found humorous as he prepared to claim her as his mate. Unless he’d said something wrong, or improperly.
“What is it?”
“Just like that, you want between my legs?” She reached around him and cupped his buttocks, a look of satisfaction crossing her face. “Will you always order me into bed and tell me to spread my legs when you want to mate with me?”
Fluxx, he had definitely said something wrong.
“Do you require more kissing first? More groping? More caressing?”
She smiled broadly. “All of the above.”
“I thought you said you’d never engaged in the act of mating before?”
“I haven’t, but I also have instincts.”
She didn’t need to say more. He would accommodate her, gladly. He’d thought it best to get the deed over with as soon as possible, this first time. Not long ago she’d been shaking and nervous, but not now. No, now she was walking behind him to explore his buttocks. She ran her hands down his back and ventured lower and lower, until she was caressing his ass and the tops of his thighs.
“Your green skin and markings are so beautiful, Zurron. I believe I could stare at you all day as well.” She returned to stand in front of him and reached for the stripes on his chest, tracing them with her delicate fingertips.
He fought back more curses. His balls felt heavy, as if they might explode, and his cock was painfully hard and engorged. On his ship when he’d been imagining their first mating, he had anticipated exploring every part of his sweet human, hadn’t he?
He took several deep breaths in an effort to calm his raging need and then swept her up in his arms. He placed her on the bed and crawled on top of her, but not to spear her with his shaft. No, instead he suckled on her nipples, moving from one to the other while she writhed beneath him and moaned.
The scent of her arousal was intoxicating, and he traveled lower and lower, until his mouth was level with her pussy. Star Gods, he would die if he couldn’t taste her now. So he did. He ran his tongue down the slit of her dewy folds and breathed in her delicious feminine scent.
Fluxx, they were going to be late to the celebration, but he didn’t care.
He urged her thighs wider apart and splayed her folds open to reveal the sweetness hidden within, then he slowly feasted on her delicate pink parts, paying particular attention to a swollen bud of flesh that he discovered to be her most sensitive area. Each time his tongue danced over this bud, her h
ips bucked and she released a loud keening moan of pleasure, her hands gripping the bedcovers until her knuckles turned white.
Zeroing in on this sensitive spot, he circled it with precision until her body quaked as she emitted a long cry of ecstasy that left her panting breathlessly. He couldn’t repress his grin to see her so satisfied. He came to settle atop her again and allowed his hardness to press between her spread thighs, and he teased her womanhood with slow drags of his cock. Her eyes were closed and she tried to shut her legs, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“Too much, too much, too much,” she kept saying, still struggling to catch her breath.
Perplexed, he stared at her and stopped mid-drag. “Too much pleasure?”
“Yes!” she nearly screamed. “Very, very sensitive down there. I need…a minute.”
His grin widened. “Well, if you’re ever naughty, my human, now I know how I shall punish you. With too much pleasure.”
Her eyes flew open and she regarded him with shock. She started to speak, but he cut her off with a kiss, delving his tongue deep into her mouth and taking command. A thrill ran through him to know she could taste herself on his tongue, and he kissed her harder, deeper, until she forced him away so she could once again attempt to catch her breath. Apparently, humans couldn’t hold their breath as long as Norinans.
He captured her hands and drew them up, pinning her wrists above her head. Another erotic thrill jolted through him, causing his balls to tighten and his cock to pulse so fluxxshen hard he growled over the mounting sensations.
He had to fight the urge to ram into Riley and take her long and hard. He’d promised gentleness, and he would burn alive in the Lake Fires of Teshemu before he broke a promise he’d made to his beloved human mate.
She gave him a dreamy smile and tested his grip on her wrists. He held firm, knowing he wasn’t hurting her, and she seemed to like being held captive in his bed, because she flushed beautifully when she realized he wasn’t about to release her.