Red: A Dystopian World Alien Romance

by S. J. Sanders

  “Human ways are different than ours. I think… we need to confront Arie.”

  Entirely surprised by the whole concept, Warol had just stared at him, but he couldn’t find any fault in what his brother suggested. If Arie did not understand their customs any more than they understood hers, someone was going to need to step forward before their triad fractured from the stress.

  Neither of them had suspected Arie to be prepared to accept them. A moment of complete serendipity broke down all lingering barriers. The whole night was a blur to him, but he remembered the feel of her in his surrender to the mating pull. His last memory before falling asleep was lying at her side and watching her body, flushed red from her desire and the mating marks, as it moved in her slumber. Her chest rose and fell with each sedate breath. He had marveled at her beauty and felt the first peace in more revolutions than he could count.

  Yawning, he glanced down at Kyx curled up against his legs, his face buried against Arie’s hip where he’d placed his mark. One red leg kicked in the air for a second before it settled against the other leg once more. Warol grinned and carefully eased himself out from beneath him.

  Rager grumbled from the other side of Arie where he was firmly wrapped around her. Both piercing right eyes peered at him from around Arie’s mane, his gaze still sleep-softened. Warol chuckled to himself.

  A good rutting had completely undone days’ worth of tension. He would bet the lead felt as good as he did at that moment. No doubt they had all missed the intimacy of being curled around their female.

  “Go back to sleep,” Rager muttered, his blue eyes sliding shut again.

  Go back to sleep? Warol felt too good—too full of energy—to sleep. Sitting up, he scratched his sides contentedly.

  “I am rested. I am going to go out and see if I can find some fat hares since the snow stopped falling last night.”

  Rager muttered a groggy agreement.

  Kyx made a blind effort to grab his leg as it slid out from underneath his head, but Warol shifted away. The smaller male grumbled with irritation, tucked his own arm under his head, and snuggled back in without waking. An upwelling of emotion filled Warol as he looked down at his family.

  They were his.

  He silently slipped out of the cave into the freezing air. The sun had risen hours ago, high in an endless blue sky. No wonder it was so damned cold, even with the fur he felt like his sack was going to freeze and drop off his body at any moment. With an oath, he moved through the snow quickly, his blood pumping through his body, warming him.

  After some time, he slowed to a trot and then stilled. He’d expected that he would be able to sniff out a hare’s burrow and dig them free, but just ahead was an autumn-fattened buck eagerly stripping bark off a tree. It was as if the Dark Fathers had set down a fine gift in front of him to provide for his new family. Soft, dark ears turned toward him as the animal froze, its muscles tensing. Then, just that quick, it sprung away.

  Warol plunged ahead after it, speeding over the snow. He didn’t see the other Ragoru until they collided. Trotting forward and wobbling as he regained his balance, he turned and snarled at the intruder. Another silver of a lighter coloring bared his teeth.

  “That is my prey, brashu,” the male snarled, teeth snapping to punctuate his intent.

  Warol bristled. He normally would avoid conflict with another triad, but to be called brashu—a male born outside the bonds of a triad and abandoned—was beyond what he’d suffer. He scanned the area with his peripheral eyes.

  “Where is the rest of your pack, interloper?”

  “This is not your territory,” the other silver stated.

  “It is not,” Warol agreed. “But it is the territory of the family of my triad. We are here with their permission. That buck was my rightful prey to feed my mate and brothers. You need to leave.”

  The other male’s eyes narrowed. “You have a mate, do you?” He licked his fangs. “It is tiring business being a lone Ragoru. Perhaps they will welcome another if you… tragically disappear.”

  It wasn’t unheard of for males who could not form their own triads to assassinate and attempt to replace a rival among their grieving family. A mated family was usually the sole target of such attacks, as the other males would be more likely to accept a strange male to console their female.

  Warol fought the impulse to laugh. Rager would be more likely to take one look at the male and tear him from snout to rectum.

  “That won’t be happening. If you are lucky, however, you might be allowed to limp out of here alive.”

  The silver roared and charged at him, but Warol was ready. His adrenaline running high, he darted out of the path of the other male and rounded on him, slashing down on the male’s haunches. The back was a difficult spot to hit with so many vulnerable spots covered by bony plating along their spines, the sharp protruding edges of which were hazardous to collide with. As he’d anticipated, the other male spun around, giving Warol the opening to slash all four sets of his claws over the exposed abdomen. But the attack left him equally vulnerable. His adversary’s claws missed but he caught a hard forearm across his gut, momentarily knocking the air out of him.

  Warol stumbled back, his eyes wandering as he attempted to pull deep breaths of air into his burning lungs. He could see the silver’s head moving towards his throat, the only part of his neck that was unprotected. Instinctively, Warol brought all four of his elbows up just in time to strike a blow against the other male’s hard skull, knocking him to the ground. It wasn’t enough to kill the male as the bony plating continued under the skin over the cranium, but he knew it would make his ears ring painfully and make him dizzy.

  Using the opportunity to put distance between them, Warol studied his opponent as they circled each other, each looking for an opening. Ropes of saliva dripped from the other male’s fangs and Warol half-suspected the male to be mad. There was a reason Ragoru mated in triads, beyond the reproductive driven necessities. Ragoru were not meant to be solitary creatures. A lone Ragoru slowly went mad. That was the curse for any male who was unable to be bonded amid brothers.

  A triad cared for each other’s wellbeing until they were able to lure a mate. Baleful pale-yellow eyes rolled madly in the silver’s head as if he couldn’t manage to keep his eyes still. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t make him an easy kill. If anything, the lone ones were more aggressive, unpredictable, and violent. They made formidable opponents. It usually took an entire triad to safely eliminate one.

  His adversary charged again, zigzagging as he avoided Warol’s claws to rip into his shoulder with his strong jaws. Warol roared in pain and struck the male in the chest with all four hands. The silver went flying, likely taking a good chunk of flesh with him. Warol inspected his wound while keeping his primary eyes on his opponent. The flesh was torn, but the wound didn’t look as deep as it could have been, for which he was thankful. But the blood was flowing at a rate that concerned him. If he didn’t get back to his brothers soon, he could easily bleed out if he didn’t find something to staunch the flow.

  It was obvious by the savage grin that the other male had also noticed. It seemed unconcerned as it darted in and struck repeatedly without apparent concern for Warol’s fangs and claws. Blood flowed from the other male’s wounds, but they were shallow cuts. Over and over he dug his claws and teeth in wherever he could reach before darting away again.

  Warol knew exactly what the male was doing, and dread soured his stomach. He could hold his own against a male with an intact mind, but a maddened male didn’t care for his own safety. His relentless, suicidal attack would wear Warol down until he’d no longer be able to defend himself. With a sinking feeling, he foresaw his own death in those hateful eyes.

  A triumphant snarl curled the corners of the male’s mouth and Warol knew he was coming in for the kill. Every muscle stiffened to brace for the attack. If he was going to die, he was going to do everything in his power to fatally wound the mad Ragoru and take him down with him to
be judged in the halls of the Dark Fathers.

  A cold blast of wind snapped his braids against his muzzle, and he crouched, eyes trained on his opponent’s belly as his own lifeblood stained the snow all around him. Warol didn’t have the strength to leap forward, but he would use his enemy’s momentum against him. The male leaped with a frenzied roar.

  A massive white body slammed into the silver. Warol sat in a daze as the newcomer ripped into the silver with a frenzy before he was joined by a golden flash of fur. Recognition dawned on him. He struggled to maintain consciousness as he watched their bodies slam repeatedly against their target, their movements an earnest dance of power and territorial dominance. The intruder’s eyes rolled with terror. He no longer had a chance of surviving the encounter.

  Warol watched as Vordri and Mishar tore into the weakened intruder without hesitation. In their fury was an obvious recognition of him as their kin; they were protecting him as they would if he were their own rog. Vordri jumped onto the male’s back, pushing himself away from the plating with the power of his legs and arms digging into his opponent’s haunches and shoulders. He provided enough leverage that Mishar went in, low and mean, and tore out the silver’s throat with one hand while the others opened his stomach to dump his intestines on the ground.

  Shivering, he realized that he was lying in the snow. His mind was so foggy from blood loss that he didn’t remember dropping. That would be the second time in as many months that he’d been nearly fatally injured. He could practically hear Rager muttering about how his second was always trying to get himself killed. Warol grinned at the illusion until it was broken by a pair of golden legs in front of him.

  He managed to turn his head and looked up at Vordri as he grunted in amusement. The male bent down and wrapped his thick arms around him, pulling him up off the snow.

  “Up you go,” Vordri said warmly. His eyes cut to the side. “You are right, brother. He looks just terrible.”

  “How do I look?” Warol asked. If he was going to die, he might as well know. He must have said it out loud because Vordri laughed.

  “Don’t worry. You are not going to die. I bet you are too cold to feel it, but Mishar is taking care of the worst of your wounds while I entertain you. Oh, stop looking at me that way, Mishar. We both know I am the funny one. As for how you look, I am sorry to say you look like someone hauled you over a particularly bad patch of sharp rocks. A bit of fur loss, but nothing tragic. It will grow back. You’ll get some impressive scars to show off to your mate, though. Now let us take care of the rest.”

  Warol closed his eyes gratefully, allowing himself to sink into oblivion.

  When he woke, he was surrounded by his family near the warmth of the fire, his head pillowed on Arie’s lap. Her brow was furrowed in concern as her fingers stroked through his fur. He stretched and nuzzled against her thighs. Rager scoffed just behind him.

  “Do you think the next time you leave our sight you can manage to return to us unscathed? It is rather vexing to have to nurse you back to health more than once a year.”

  “Now that’s not fair,” Kyx chimed in. “He should at least be allowed one. We could schedule it.” The male laughed.

  Warol let out a ragged groan. “I knew you would both have something to say. Are Vordri and Mishar still here?”

  Rager shook his head. “No, but they left the buck they had killed to celebrate our mating. Apparently, they heard you roar and followed your scent and that of the stranger until they tracked you. You are fortunate they arrived on time.”

  Warol frowned. “How did they know that we’d mated?”

  “I believe they said something about being able to hear Arie screaming her pleasure all the way from their den,” Kyx offered with a sly look at Arie, who was slowly turning red. Her lips twitched though, and her blue eyes looked over all them fondly.

  Kyx sighed and looked up hopefully at Rager. “Can we eat now that Warol is no longer looking like he is at death’s cavern?”

  Warol snapped his teeth at the infuriating male. Kyx laughed again and shifted farther out of range. Warol closed his eyes contently. His entire body hurt like it was scraped raw, but he was happy that he was surrounded by his family. Not lying dead in the snow was a plus, too.

  19

  Rager grunted, his hips shunting against his female’s warm cunt, his cocks eager. His muscles strained, trying to take it slow as he worked to line his slicked-up pleasure shaft against her ass. His entire body trembled. Over the last few days, they’d been preparing her for Ragoru mating activity, at her insistence. He’d never do anything to hurt his tiny female and was content to continue mating in the manner typical for humans, but Arie was persistent when she wanted to know something—and she wanted to know about Ragoru mating and breeding. Then she’d demanded they mate that way until her mates reluctantly agreed. So they practiced until she felt ready to try.

  His pleasure shaft, which was longer and thinner than his breeding cock, nestled firmly against her opening, and his breath began to puff out in rough exhalations as he slowly pushed the tip through the tight ring of muscles. Arie panted and groaned beneath him, a fine sheen of sweat popping over her skin at this first intrusion. Her cunt and ass were slick with her juices and his saliva from being licked to orgasm just minutes before.

  He’d been attentive to this spot in particular as his fathers had advised him during one of their many discussion of mating when he was an adolescent. All his life it had been stressed to him that caring for his mate would be his foremost responsibility. Not just in terms of feeding her and providing shelter, but seeing to her comfort and pleasure during mating. His lead father Garwar had been an even-tempered, quiet male, despite his impressive size and strength. He’d taken over Rager’s education when he was young, determined to raise a rog that would behave in a respectable manner.

  Arie whimpered, but she didn’t appear to be in pain.

  “Rager, please,” she whispered, her legs tightening around his sides as she attempted to pull him forward into her.

  He hesitated. “Rya, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She panted and smiled up at him, “I never did ask. What does that mean?”

  “What?” The word came out more as a groan.

  “Rya.”

  Rager grunted as he slowly pushed through the barrier. “Beloved.”

  Limpid blue eyes blinked up at him and her smile widened, but then she tilted her back and hissed with both pain and pleasure as he finally breached her and sank slowly into her depths. Rager felt his eyes roll back into his head and trembled. He thanked the gods that they blessed him with two pairs of arms, because one of them felt ready to give out as they shook beneath him.

  He withdrew just far enough to line his cock up at her entrance. His body shuddered again, and he met her eyes.

  “Ready?”

  She bit her lip and nodded her head, and he wedged the tip into her cunt, pushing forward, his body tightening within itself at the snug fit of her stretched flesh surrounding both of his cocks at the same time. He could feel them slide and bump against each other through the thin barrier. He sank until his breeding lock slipped inside of her, tying them together. Instinct roared through him to pin her beneath him and drive into her, but he didn’t.

  Not for this first time. He wanted to savor it.

  “Rager, move,” Arie demanded with a whine of pleasure.

  Rager chuckled and pulled back before snapping his hips forward. How he loved his female. He felt that love in him grow as Arie’s body arched, her cunt spasming around him, and he felt the first orgasm sweep over his mate. Her fingers tightened in his fur as her body pulled on him greedily.

  He pumped with long, strong strokes, visually devouring every expression that flitted across her face, feasting on every sound she made. It stoked the heat building in his blood, and he began to thrust quicker, his body slapping and grinding against hers. Arie began to keen in his ear, her sweet cries of ecstasy driving his own pleasure. His c
ock and mating lock swelled with preparation, the fluttering of her cunt around him drawing him closer to the apex of his pleasure.

  He drew her hips up higher and bent over her shoulder, driving into her. Arie began to wail as his cocks shuttled in and out of her at a rapid pace. Wet heat flowed continuously around him now, slicking his fur with her scent. He inhaled and savored it as he rutted into her. He could feel the tingling in his body announcing the arrival of his own climax—

  Crash!

  Rager jolted forward, eliciting a shriek of pleasure from their mate as he plunged deep into her. Looking over Arie’s shoulder, he discovered the source of the disruption. His mouth dropped open, in part due to their female squeezing tightly around him and in part from surprise. Kyx looked sheepish as he held onto a sapling, the roots of which were currently dusting the floor of the cave with dirt as it lay lopsidedly against the wall where it had collided. Kyx’s expression shifted to one of sexual interest, but Rager bared his fangs in warning. He was too close to suffer another trying to join in.

  Kyx grinned in understanding and went back to struggling with his burden.

  He resumed his pace, his grunts mingling with her moans as he sought the ultimate height of their joining. His claws dug into the pelts as he felt the rekindling of his pleasure. Arie’s sounds became higher and more desperate in his ear, her body going taut, and her cunt fluttering—and then she tensed and shrieked, her cunt and ass clenching around him, driving him over the edge into his own ecstasy.

  Roaring, he pumped in desperation, his breeding cock spewing seed deep inside her channel. His pleasure shaft didn’t spend fluid, but it vibrated intensely in this position, drawing out his own pleasure so he released in long arcs inside of her. It seemed to do something for Arie as well because she bore down on him, her cunt drawing on his cock relentlessly as she orgasmed once more.

  They lay together, panting side by side, his female curled into his body when Arie turned toward him. “What the hell was that? Your second cock never did that before.”