Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1

by A. G. Wilde

  She expected him to help her down when she grasped his hand. Instead, as soon as their fingers touched, he took hold of her hand and pulled her against him.

  Kerena fell forward and the only place to land was on his chest.

  Her body pressed against his as she slid down to stand on her own two feet, and a deep blush filled her cheeks immediately.

  He was so hard, she could feel every single corded muscle underneath his clothing.

  “Are you ready, Keh-reh-nah?”

  Kerena nodded as he released her.

  With one glance back at V’Alen, they began walking through undergrowth.

  Ajos watched the human without disturbance.

  Walking behind her, he could best protect them from any threats coming from the front or the back—not that there should be any but he’d learned a long time ago that he couldn’t ever be too careful.

  Not only that, with her walking ahead, he could stare at her for as long as he wanted without her knowing. Creepy? Maybe. Did he care? Nope. At his height, he couldn’t see her face fully, but he could see the perky little nose she had jutting from her face. She seemed to scrunch it up a lot—a strange characteristic, if any.

  She walked just in front of him, her eyes round pools as she stared into the forest.

  Reaching over her, he slashed a vine out of their way. The edge of his spear cut through the thing quickly and cleared the path for them, making walking easier.

  Absentmindedly, he rubbed his leg with his other hand.

  The site where he’d administered the metcer cells ached a little, but he could already feel them working.

  The little bio-organisms would cool him down and, hopefully, delay the heat.

  That didn’t mean he was immune to everything, though.

  He knew this for a fact because the memory of Keh-reh-nah’s body sliding down his was vivid in his mind.

  She was so soft.

  It felt as if her body could be molded against his, where he could keep her permanently pressed flush against him as his cock extruded, his seed sack bunched at his base as he thrust into her, ready to release his seed deep within her.

  He wanted to see that pretty mouth of hers twist in pleasure as she called his name.

  He wanted—

  “Ajos?”

  Ajos jerked a little as he focused on Keh-reh-nah. She’d stopped walking and was looking right at him, and he wasn’t sure how long she’d been doing so.

  “Are you okay? You were…” she frowned a little, “…rumbling.”

  Ajos cleared his throat.

  “The rumbling…” he glanced around the forest, “it helps me to…”—now what silly lie could he come up with? He’d been rumbling at the thought of her beneath him, but he couldn’t tell her that—“…it helps me to concentrate.”

  Keh-reh-nah looked at him funny, her eyes narrowing a little.

  “O…kay,” she said, before she continued walking.

  She knew he was lying.

  Qef him.

  His body wasn’t burning up so much, but his mind was, apparently.

  The metcer cells couldn’t enter his brain to help him there. He’d have to control that himself.

  Frowning at his lack of control, he checked his communicator as he tracked the source of the signal.

  V’Alen was right. The thing kept cutting out, the direction changing now and then, but he was hoping they were heading in the right direction.

  His gaze moved to Keh-reh-nah once more.

  She still walked ahead, but close enough for him to reach out and touch her with one simple movement.

  His gaze moved down her back.

  The garment that she wore swayed as she walked.

  It was short, showing her long pale legs and ending not far below what he could already tell was a shapely behind.

  His gaze lingered on her skin.

  In contrast to him and his people, she was so noticeably pale.

  Granted, Shum’ai females tended to be paler than the rich minty-teal of the males, but he’d never seen one that had Keh-reh-nah’s ultimate lack of pigment.

  And that’s because she wasn’t Shum’ai.

  Not that it made a difference.

  He was suitable for no female—Shum’ai or otherwise.

  “These look so much like aloe vera, the resemblance is uncanny,” Keh-reh-nah muttered, pausing to look at a particularly fleshy plant.

  She reached out to touch the leaves before pulling her hand back.

  “I really can’t touch it. I don’t know if I’m allergic to it or anything like that,” she mumbled to herself again.

  She stooped closer to the plant and grabbed a fallen branch from the ground to poke it with.

  “Aloe vera has thorns on the leaves to protect it—a sort of defense mechanism. This plant is smooth all over,” she murmured. “Maybe it evolved like this because it had no threats to his existence.” She kept poking the plant before she glanced around them. “Not even insects?”

  He realized that was a rhetorical question because she kept murmuring to herself.

  “No predators…” She was frowning now. “Not even other predatory plants?” Her frown became almost severe.

  She kept the fallen branch in her hand, stood up, and continued walking, her eyes studying the trees.

  Watching her, he set a marker so they could find their way back easily, in case the instruments were still going haywire when they retrieved the “source.”

  “No birds,” she muttered. “At least, I can’t see any.” She continued looking around. “It appears this forest is really wholly plant life. I can’t see nor hear any other creatures around us.”

  A smile split Ajos’ face before he even realized he was amused.

  She was so caught up in her ruminations, it appeared she didn’t even remember he was there.

  “Micro-organisms though…surely…” She let out a huff of a breath. “It just doesn’t make sense. I’d suppose there are bacteria, single-celled organisms, and the like living here. Have to be.”

  She was talking to herself like an insane ratgull. Ajos’ shoulders shook in a silent chuckle.

  “So many vines along the forest floor as well,” she mused, poking her stick at the vegetation as she walked.

  She did this for the next few minutes, mumbling some things he could not hear, and when he caught a glimpse of her face, there was such concentration there, he was positive he’d been right about her forgetting he was even there.

  “So many vines…” she murmured again, “The density is amazing.”

  She frowned at the ground as she walked. “I’ve never seen so many vines in one place in my entire life.”

  For a few more minutes, she walked in silence, but Ajos could tell from the frown on her brow that she was still caught up in her own mind.

  She paused at a few husks of a plant on the ground and used her stick to poke it.

  “Seeds,” she murmured, before she looked above at the tree towering over them. “The seeds are good. They germinate, replacing the dead underbrush to make the forest healthy.”

  She continued walking.

  “This ecosystem is so rich.” She suddenly turned to look at him, and Ajos hid his smile behind a mask of neutrality. So she did remember he was there. “I’ve counted at least one hundred different species and that’s from sight alone.”

  Her awe was captivating.

  Watching her in her element was captivating.

  It wasn’t hard to imagine what she’d been like on her home planet, before she’d been taken away.

  “It’s so…wonderful…and strange.” She looked around again. “So many plant species have died out on Earth, most of them over the last twenty or so years. It’s heartbreaking.” She touched a leaf. “When you study them as much as I do, you get to know them, you know. They become your friends.”

  At that, her cheeks changed to a rosy hue.

  “I sound like a proper lone soul, don’t I? Here I am with a handsome a
lien, on an expedition in an alien jungle, and all I’m talking about is that plants are friends.”

  Wait, she thought he was handsome?

  Ajos opened his mouth to ask her to clarify that bit when the comms crackled.

  “Ajos, do you read?” V’Alen’s voice reached their ears.

  Ajos activated the receiver, his eyes still on the female before him. “I am here.”

  “Damage to the hyperdrive is more extensive than I thought. We might have to spend the night here.”

  Ajos’ gaze moved to the heavens. They would have to make it back to the ship before nightfall, anyway. He didn’t want to keep Keh-reh-nah out here in this wilderness.

  “Received,” he answered.

  “I assume you have not located the source of the signal yet.”

  Ajos continued looking around the undergrowth.

  They’d been making good time, but he had yet to see any sign of a fallen ship. He’d been setting markers every few meters though, and regardless that the signal seemed to be growing stronger, he had no way to pinpoint it directly.

  The coordinates of the source kept shifting.

  “No,” he answered. “I will update you in a few hours. We might have to head back and restart our search tomorrow.”

  As V’Alen clicked off, Ajos noticed Keh-reh-nah was also eyeing the undergrowth.

  “We should press on.” She checked her comm device. “Maybe we can find the wreckage before nightfall?”

  “We could try.”

  At his reply, she nodded and continued walking.

  With her still in front, he once again found himself staring at the sway of her hips.

  There was a curve at the junction of her upper and lower body, and he itched to put his hands at that spot.

  His nefre pulsed against the back of his neck and his genital pouch bulged so hard, it was painful.

  Heat surged through his body—not only the literal heat, but need.

  Ajos grimaced, forcing the urges back.

  Pulling out another vial of the metcer cells, he stabbed it into his leg, squeezing his eyes shut as the bio-organisms flooded into his system.

  This wasn’t right.

  Aker had promised him that one vial would last him at least three days.

  He was already on the second one within one hour.

  When he opened his eyes, Keh-reh-nah was frowning at him, a look of concern on her face.

  She’d moved close while he’d been distracted, and he’d opened his eyes just as she was about to touch his cheek.

  Her hand paused as their gazes locked and Ajos felt his throat move.

  His life organ sped up and he wanted to tell her to get away from him.

  If she touched him now…while he was weak…before the cells spread through his system…

  As her hand settled on his skin, a deep groan rumbled through him.

  He didn’t know when his hand had let go of the vial still buried in his leg or when he’d gripped her, pulling her against him.

  All he knew was that her softness was now pressed against him exactly like he’d imagined. He could feel those round orbs on her chest pressing into him, and he wanted her…

  Ajos growled, grimacing as he fought the feelings within himself.

  He couldn’t lose control. She wouldn’t want him to, and the gods of Tonvuhiri knew the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.

  “Ajos?”

  Her voice was breathless, and it only made him wild.

  He buried his face against her neck, pulling her tighter against him as he fought to control his need. His chest heaved with the exertion.

  A few more seconds, he told himself.

  A few more seconds till the metcer cells worked.

  As he held her to him, Keh-reh-nah did not protest, even though she had all the right to.

  Instead, she nestled against him, allowing him time to fight with the demon that wanted to have her there and then.

  “Keh-reh-nah…” he groaned.

  “Ajos…”

  And that was when he knew—he knew it with a clarity that he’d never had before—he wasn’t going to be able to let her go.

  Ever.

  14

  They’d been walking for at least two hours or more. Still, they found no evidence of the source of the signal.

  It was like air.

  They knew it was there; it interacted with their instruments; but they couldn’t see it.

  Ajos touched the last vial of metcer cells in his pocket.

  Only one left to last him through the night.

  It was getting dark now, and he had no idea how far away from the ship they were.

  “V’Alen, do you read?” He activated his communicator, his eyes on Keh-reh-nah.

  She hadn’t complained, but it was obvious she was tired.

  She’d used the branch she’d picked up as a sort of walking aid, and she hadn’t been afraid to get her hands dirty as she climbed over huge roots and boulders within the terrain.

  But even he was feeling the strain in his back.

  It was time to rest.

  “I am here, Commander.”

  “Status?”

  “I will be working on the hyperdrive all night. I have many repairs left. Any word on the source of the signal?”

  Ajos let out a breath. “None.”

  “We could keep going…” Kerena said. Her breaths were coming faster now, as she turned to look back at him.

  She was tired, but probably ignoring it because she didn’t want to seem like a burden. She came off like the type of person to do that.

  “No, we will have to take a break,” he replied to her. “V’Alen, we have stopped for a rest. If I do not contact you before the middle of the dark cycle…”

  “I understand,” V’Alen said, and the comms clicked off.

  Keh-reh-nah’s eyes were slightly wide. “You think we’re in danger?”

  She glanced around. “Do you think those bad guys survived the crash?”

  “No,” he said, “it is just a precaution. We scanned the surroundings before we landed. We picked up no lifeforms.”

  Her shoulders sank a little. “Good.”

  “We should rest,” he repeated.

  She looked around before pointing behind him.

  There was a section where the vines that crawled over the ground created a sort of flat surface that would do well for that purpose.

  Ajos jerked his head in confirmation.

  As he took a seat, Keh-reh-nah sat beside him and her skin brushed against his—pale softness that he wasn’t supposed to rub himself against.

  His throat moved as he clenched his teeth at the thought.

  “Do you think we’ll find it before it gets dark?” Her voice was soft and in the stillness of the forest around them, it sounded almost intimate, even though her words weren’t.

  “I do not. We will have to head back and try again in tomorrow’s light.”

  She turned to him then. “But what if we come out again only to make it back to this spot? It would be better if we spent the night out here and continued as soon as the sun rose.”

  Ajos studied her.

  She wasn’t afraid of doing such a thing?

  She was alone in the middle of an unknown world with an unknown male by her side.

  He frowned a little as he studied her.

  Maybe he’d been right about her being too trusting.

  Memory of how she’d almost stayed with Iceon returned and he had to stifle the urge to growl.

  “I thought you’d prefer being in the safety of the ship.”

  “I feel safe out here,” she said, her voice so low, he almost didn’t catch her next words. “With you.”

  Those words only made something stir within him and he knew if he tried to use his vocal cords to reply, he’d probably end up groaning instead.

  He was supposed to keep her safe, protect her—not scare her away.

  “What do you think it is? The source of this
signal?”

  She was looking out into the forest and he turned to do the same. The darkness was coming in much quicker than he’d expected it to.

  “I don’t know,” he answered as he lay down his spear. He could only hope it was something the Restitution could use to their advantage.

  From his pocket, he pulled out two meal bars and handed her one.

  Her eyebrows moved up a little as she took the bar.

  “Oh, thanks!” A smile brightened her face and Ajos found himself staring. “I’d resigned myself to not eating till tomorrow when we got back.”

  He’d never have allowed that, but he hadn’t the voice to reply.

  They ate in silence and Ajos watched her chew.

  She was grimacing as she did and he had to look at the meal bar in his hand.

  It was standard sustenance for missions such as this, but she was eating it as if it tasted like the pebbles embedded in the ground beneath their feet.

  “It does not please you,” he murmured, turning his bar over in his hand.

  “No, it—”she took another bite“—it’s fine.”

  She tried to hide her grimace and that small nose of hers wrinkled in a way that had him forgetting that he was eating.

  Before long, she was yawning, and her body slumped a little as she tried to make herself more comfortable.

  “Keh-reh-nah.” He opened his mouth before he could stop himself, but now that he’d spoken and gotten her attention, he had to continue. “You can rest on me.”

  His genital pouch strained at the thought and his seed sack stiffened within, pulsing and almost forcing his cock to extrude.

  Qeffing phek, he was an idiot.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “I’m not small. I might make it uncomfortable for you.”

  He wanted to scoff at what she said, but he was too caught up in controlling the urge to pull her toward him now that the thought was in his head.

  “I’m sure,” he managed to get out.

  She paused for a moment before she moved to lean against him and rested her head against his shoulder.

  For the next few minutes, they lay in silence, and Keh-reh-nah’s body slowly relaxed.

  Ajos released a slow breath, careful not to move.

  It was a mistake offering to let her rest on him.