by Grey, Lena
Chapter 6
Kenzie
* * *
Jillian and I gape at the two hulking figures that emerge from the trees. The larger one stares directly at me and his piercing black eyes make me uncomfortably hot. He looks hungry, predatory, like he wants to devour me whole.
He’s a giant of a man, over seven feet tall, with a long, metal sword strapped to his bare torso. Below the waist he’s wearing a short, kilt-like wrap made of leather and knee-high fur boots. Black hair flows to his shoulders and his prominent brow, raised and ridged, lends a fierce edge to his humanoid features. Shimmering gold scales cover his face and body, and sharp claws protrude from three large fingers and a thick thumb.
The alien is a scaled, golden-skinned god made of pure muscle. He holds my gaze as he moves toward us, and all my thoughts flee except one. He’s the most terrifying—and handsome—man I have ever seen.
“Oh shit!” Jillian screams, dragging me away from the aliens and toward the water.
When the waves lap at our ankle boots, I dig my heels into the sand. “Stop, Jilly. Stop! Sea creatures, remember?”
“You’d rather take your chances with the barbarians on the beach?” Jillian’s eyes are wide with fear.
I glance between the men moving slowly but steadily toward us and the black expanse of water filled with unknown horrors. “Yeah, I would. Maybe these guys can help us find the other girls and keep us safe until we’re rescued.”
“Or maybe they will skewer us with their swords and roast us like pigs on a spit.”
“I don’t think they want to eat us.” The way the big guy is looking at me, I instinctively know food isn’t what he has in mind.
“We need to get to the pod and grab our survival packs. If we can zap these guys with our stun blasters, we can make a break for it while they’re knocked out.”
“That’s not an option.” The aliens had stopped advancing and stood between us and the pod.
Jillian groans. “Right. So, what do you think we should do?”
I take a deep breath to steady my frazzled nerves. “They haven’t drawn their weapons so I think we should do they taught what us in class.”
“What was that again?”
“Introduce ourselves and make it clear that we mean them no harm.”
“Mean them no harm? Great idea, Kenz.” Jillian’s laughter verges on hysterical. “We’re so scary. I’m sure those guys are quivering in their fur boots.”
“Do you have a better suggestion?”
Jillian shakes her head and her silky blonde hair swishes back and forth. “I wish I did.”
I force a smile. “Well then, let’s go meet some aliens.”
Chapter 7
Trauhn
* * *
Fear.
I am disappointed by the distinct scent coming from the two females as they approach me and Remmel. Despite putting on a brave face, my mate is afraid of us. I try to soften my demeanor, to make it clear to her and her companion they are welcome here.
I do not understand the words they speak to each other, although that is not unusual. I have never encountered a rogue who spoke Rakui. Then again, I have never encountered a rogue I wished to converse with. Until now.
“Pleasedonteatus. Weresorryforintruding. Justletusbeplease.” My mate’s companion clings to her arm, muttering gibberish as they approach.
“Calm yourself,” I say. “We will not harm you.”
Now my mate spews gibberish. “Thetranslatordoesntunderstandhislanguage.” She pauses her rambling to look at me. “CouldyousaythatinTerranenglish? Howaboutgalacticcommon?”
Terran? Hoped soars within me when I recognize one of her words. I do not know what the word means, but I remember hearing it ib the Cavern of Memory. “Can you understand me?” I ask, keeping my voice slow and steady.
“Ourlanguagetranslatorsuck,” the not-mate says. “Howarewesupposedtointroduceourselves?”
Frustrated by the inability to communicate with words, I beat my fists against my chest, throw back my head and let out a howl.
Unfortunately, my gesture has the opposite effect of its intention. The females clutch each other tighter and take a step back.
“They do not understand our language or the Rakui Welcome Cry,” Remmel needlessly points.
“I can see that for myself.”
“Do you remember the old common language the elders taught us when we were kits?”
“The tongue the ancient Rakuis used to converse with other tribes when traveling to distant worlds?”
“Yes,” Remmel confirms. “Perhaps that language is still spoken beyond our world and the females are familiar with it.”
“It is worth a try.” I dig through my memories to find the words I need. I have not spoken the common language in many, many cycles of seasons, but it is a simple language to recite.
“Welcome.” I pound my chest. “Trauhn of Rakui tribe. You are safe.” I point toward the smaller female. “Trauhn’s mate.”
I am not sure if the females understand me because they continue to converse with each other in their strange, rapid-fire language.
“HeyIcanunderstandhimwithoutthetranslator,” my mate’s companion says. “Sortof. Whatlanguageisthat?”
“Ithinkitsoldgalactic.”
“Neverheardofit.”
“Jeezejillian. Didntyoupayattentioninanyofourcoreclasses? Itwastheprecursortogalacticcommon. Theyshareacoreworddatabase. Thatswhyweunderstandhim.”
The companion holds a small box in her hand and taps it with her finger. “Whatsarakui?”
“Dontaskme. Youretheonewiththedatabase.”
“Theresnothingabouttheminit. Itsliketheydontexist.”
“Obviouslytheydoexist. Imgoingtotrysomething.” My mate pats her chest delicately with her small hand and speaks in the common language. “I am Kenzie.”
“Ken-zee,” I echo. This is my mate’s name!
She points to her companion. “This is Jillian.”
“Jill-ee-un?”
“Closeenough,” she says. “You are Tron.”
“Trauhn,” I correct, saying my name slowly.
“Trau-han. Trauhn.” Ken-zee repeats. I nod my approval. “What’s his name?”
Remmel pounds his chest. “Remmel of Rakui tribe.”
“Greatnowweregettingsomewhere.” Ken-zee smiles at me and my heart nearly bursts with joy.
“Ken-zee Trauhn’s mate,” I repeat.
“Hekeepscallingyouhismate,” Jill-ee-un says in her foreign tongue. “Hemustwanttohavesexwithyou.”
I want Remmel to share my joy. If he will not claim Jill-ee-un as his mate, I will do it for him. “Ken-zee Trauhn’s mate. Jill-ee-un Remmel’s mate.”
Remmel scowls at me and responds in Rakui. “The female is not my mate, Trauhn.”
I suspect that Remmel’s protests will weaken over time. While Jill-ee-un does not make my cock hard like my Ken-zee, she is an appealing female with long, lithe limbs and a golden mane. My warrior brother will eventually see that for himself.
Jill-ee-un frowns. “Whathefuck? IdontthinkRemmelwantstomateme. Whatswrongwithme?”
“Nothingswrongwithyou,” Ken-zee says. “Maybeyourenothistype.”
I glare at Remmel and scold him in Rakui. “It appears your rejection of Jill-ee-un has offended her. She may be your only hope of having a mate.”
Remmel folds his arms across his chest. “Then I shall live and die alone.”
“Stubborn fool.” I shake my head.
Ken-zee points to me and Remmel and says, “Rakui?”
“Yes,” I confirm.
She points to herself and Jill-ee-un. “Terran. From Urth.”
Ah, so Terran is a tribe and Urth must be their home world. Not that it matters. This is their home world now. And once Ken-zee and I are properly bonded, she will become Rakui.
“We are collegestudents. We crash landed here after a solar storm and are waiting for rescue from allianceinterstellarsecurity,” she explains. “We need to
find our friends, the other female collegestudents. Can you help us?”
I do not understand everything she says, but I understand enough. “More females land here? More like Ken-zee and Jill-ee-un?”
“Yes!” Ken-zee nods excitedly. “More like us.”
Thank the gods! If every wingless flyer that arrived this day carries two females, the Rakui tribe will truly be saved. “Trauhn and Remmel help find females.”
“Thankyew.”
“What is this thankyew? Trauhn not understand.”
“It’s an expression of gratitude. It’s my way of saying I’m happy for your help. Because we need to find our friends, that’s what we call the other females, before the rescue arrives to take us home.”
Slowly, I process her words. Ken-zee planned to go home? With her friends, the more females? Home to Urth? Away from here? Away from me?
No! NO!
I lunge for her, scooping her up and tossing her over my shoulder. “Mine!” I growl, tightening my grip when she screams and tries to wriggle away. “Ken-zee no go home. Ken-zee mine!”
Holding her close, her scent assails me, clouding my thoughts and stiffening my cock. Her fear has returned, yet there is something more this time. A scent so intoxicating that I fight the urge to claim her right here, right now. My mate is afraid, but she is also aroused. She wants me as much as I want her.
Enough talking. It is time to take her away and mate, to make Ken-zee mine forevermore.
Chapter 8
Kenzie
* * *
“Mine? What does he mean by that?” I struggle to escape from Trauhn’s grasp, but it’s no use. His grip on me holds like a vise. “Do something, Jillian!”
“Uh, yeah, okay.” Jillian turns to Remmel. “Tell your barbarian buddy over there to put my friend down. Or…or…or else!”
God. Jillian is usually super smart, but his planet seems to have messed with her brain. “They don’t understand English. Try again. Only this time, use Galactic Common. But only the super simple words that were likely around in the days of Old Galactic.”
“How long ago was that again?”
“Two hundred years or more. Maybe.” Hanging over Trauhn’s shoulder is sending all the blood rushing to my head, making it hard to think. That I’m draped across his bare torso isn’t helping either. Although his skin looks like scaled armor, it feels soft and luxurious to the touch. Like an expensive Italian leather handbag…or a rare snakeskin coat. I can’t resist running my hands along his strong, broad, scaled back.
Jillian points at Trauhn, and then jabs Remmel in the chest with her index finger. “Tell him to put Kenzie down.”
After several long seconds, Remmel shrugs and says something to Trauhn in what I assume is the Rakui language. The two aliens argue unintelligibly until Trauhn reluctantly puts me down but keeps his hands on my shoulders.
“Ken-zee mine,” he says again. “Trauhn’s mate. We go now.”
Maybe it’s the way he looks at me with possessive adoration, or the way the feel of his skin under my hands makes me tingle all over, but I look into his dark eyes and nod in agreement.
The spell is broken when Jillian grabs my arm and pulls me away from him. “What the hell, Kenzie! Did you just agree to go with him and have sex?” she hisses in English.
“I don’t know.” I’m so confused, like I’m in a trance or something. “Maybe? I’m not sure what I agreed to do.”
“You agreed to be his fuck buddy, that’s what.” Jillian looks at me funny. “Are you feeling okay? You sound loopy and your cheeks are bright red.”
“I’m fine. Just a little hot.”
So maybe that’s an understatement. I’m burning up. Not in an ‘OMG, I have heatstroke from these two suns’ kind of way. In an ‘I’ve never been this turned on like this’ kind of way. The intense feeling drenches my panties. If Trauhn wants me to be his fuck buddy and show me what he’s packing under his kilt, my libido is saying yes, please.
It’s freaking me out.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Jillian asks.
My face grows hotter and redder. This is so embarrassing. “Ever since Trauhn and Remmel showed up I’ve been feeling a little...horny.”
“Oh, that. Me, too. Although it looks like you’ve been harder than me. Muscled barbarians lack basic manners, but they sure are sexy.”
“Yeah, well, it feels like there’s more to it than that.” I feel a slight vibration in my wrist signaling a TEASE alert and glance at it. “That’s weird. It says SPECIES SURVIAL MODE ENABLED. I don’t remember that mode being mentioned during the pre-implant orientation.”
Jillian looks at her own TEASE. “Me either, but mine says the same thing. It must be an emergency mode that triggered when we landed here.”
“You’re the techie one. Any clue what it means?”
Jillian glances over at Trauhn and Remmel and grins. “I think it means that we both get to fuck an alien.”
Horrified, I squeeze my thighs together to stop the intense throbbing between them. “What makes you think that?”
“Basic human biology.”
“I’m gonna need a little more than that, Jilly.”
“Our TEASE implants must think we’re facing extinction here on lovely UD237. The overwhelming desire you have to take Trauhn behind one of those trees over there to see how many cocks he has is your body prompting you, hormonally, to do what the TEASE wants: procreate to avoid extinction.”
“My TEASE wants me to get knocked up by an alien?!”
“Who knows if that’s even possible considering our race is advanced and theirs is primitive. But I think our implants want us to give it the ol’ college try.”
The intensity of my arousal is making me feel feverish—and desperate for relief. “I know this sounds crazy and goes against our survival training, but maybe I should go with Trauhn and, you know, scratch the itch. Right now, I can hardly think straight.”
“Well, we did sign up for a year of interstellar education. A little barbarian one-on-one time would be very educational, if you know what I mean.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” I’ll admit that I’m curious to know what kind of…equipment…Trauhn has.
“It might be faster to find the others if we split up,” Jillian reasons.
“Good point,” I agree.
“So, we’re doing this? Splitting up?”
I nod, even though I know it’s not a smart, rational decision—it’s a hormonal one. “I guess so.”
“All right, then. After we find the others, where should we meet?”
“Trauhn mentioned a tribe so we can assume there are more Rakuis somewhere nearby. Let’s meet wherever they are. I think we can both communicate that to the guys.”
“Looks like our time for girl talk is over. Here comes Mr. Tall, Gold and Barbarian and his grumpy sidekick. Even though Remmel doesn’t seem to want me as his fuck buddy, do you think I could convince him to fool around? I could use a little itch-scratching myself.”
I laugh. “Have you ever known a guy of any species to resist no-strings-attached sex? I’m sure you can think of something to change his mind.”
Jillian grins. “I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“We go now,” Trauhn demands. “No more wait.”
“Mating urge calls to Trauhn,” Remmel states. “Remmel keep Jill-ee-un safe. Find more females.”
Trauhn pulls me against his chest. “Ken-zee mating scent make Trauhn happy. Trauhn make Ken-zee happy, too. We go now.”
He can smell my arousal? Well, that’s embarrassing. He is offering to give me a happy ending, though, which is kind of hot.
“Okay. We go now,” I say.
“Hold on!” Jillian yells, rushing over to the pod. She grabs my tracking beacon from the pocket of my survival suit, shoves it in my pack and brings it to me. “You might need this.”
“Thanks, Jilly.” Besides extra clothes and survival gear, the pack has food, water, weapons and first
aid supplies. “Be safe and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. I’ll see you soon.”
Jillian hugs me. “You better.”
In a single motion, Trauhn scoops me up, tosses me back over his shoulder and races toward the trees.
Chapter 9
Trauhn
* * *
Lust and yearning course through my veins as I sprint through the forest with my mate over my shoulder.
The safest place to take Ken-zee is the Rakui village. In my hut, we would be protected from the elements, beasts and rogues. But the village is far away, even for a strong runner like me. And once we arrived, there would be many questions leading to more delays.
No, I need to claim her sooner rather than later because I can not risk the chance, however small, of another Rakui claiming her first. Or worse, a rogue.
There are other places that will work. There is a hunting cave a day’s travel away that will offer a secluded place to consummate our mating bond.
While I run, Ken-zee mutters in her Urth tongue, her hands caressing the scales of my back in a way that drives me on, faster, faster, faster.
“Icouldwalkyouknow. OfcourseIwouldntbeasfastasyou. IfyouputmedownIwontrunaway. Imasurethingbigguy.”
Her mating scent grows stronger, just as my own need grows with each step forward. “Soon,” I promise in Rakui. “Soon I will tend to your needs and give you the pleasure release you desire. Soon we will become one, my Ken-zee.”
I have waited so long for a mate of my own. I can not wait to taste the sweet nectar of her cunt, to plunge my cock deep inside her, to take her soaring to the heavens before planting my seed in her womb.
“Icantunderstandyou. Hopeyouknowwhereyouregoing. Idontsupposeyouhaveanactualbedsomewhere. AlthoughIdontreallycarewherewedoit. Ijusthopewedoitsoon.”
She is not a burden to carry. But Ken-zee’s firm, round rear in my hands and her sweet voice in my ears tempts me to lay her down on the forest floor, tear away her odd black hides and take her hard and fast like a savage. Yet I will wait until we have shelter.