by A. G. Wilde
He could feel his cock swell, the first globule moving from his seed sack and moving upward. As his seed pod traveled up his shaft and burst at his tip, filling her with his seed, Keh-reh-nah cried out above him once more, her head falling back as her body shuddered.
She was shaking so hard, if he was not holding her, she’d have fallen off him, but he gripped her to him, pulling her toward his chest.
“What—” she breathed, “—what was that?”
But before he could reply, his own body shuddered as another seed pod traveled upward through his shaft.
Kerena screamed, her fingers digging into his shoulder, and for a moment, panic filled him.
She was still shuddering and her eyes rolled back one more time as her body stiffened and she cried out again.
Qeffing qrak. He’d never heard of a female reacting in such a manner to the seed pods.
What if Kerena was allergic to them…to him.
He hadn’t even considered that.
Ajos’ gaze traveled over her face as he waited for her tremors to subside.
He knew his seed pods held a stimulant. That stimulant was supposed to soften the opening to the female’s reproductive channel by making the mating act even more pleasurable. It was a sort of mating hormone, evolved to increase the chances of conceiving.
His saliva held it, his perspiration had it, but the greatest concentration was in his seed pods.
Keh-reh-nah screamed again, her body jerking uncontrollably, and he felt her grip his shaft with her sex.
Qef. His sack pulsed again and he was sure he was about to orgasm one more time.
Hold it, you qeffer! She can’t handle more than you’ve already given her, idiot.
Fear struck him as he watched Kerena shudder. He could only see the whites of her eyes, and she stiffened once more as another climax hit her hard.
A Shum’ai female was made for exposure to his mating hormones, but Keh-reh-nah…
…Keh-reh-nah was human.
22
Kerena took a deep breath as her forehead rested against Ajos’.
It felt like she’d just experienced one whole month of sex all at once.
As she clung to him, small shivers still traveling through her, her breathing finally slowed down enough for her to think.
Now in the afterglow, her thoughts were coming fast and worry found itself within.
She’d never been one to have casual sex, and this was the reason. When she’d only just met him, she’d felt a strange connection to the minty-teal guy. Now that he’d been inside her, that connection had grown.
It felt like they’d shared something, something more than just sex, and she forced herself to not think about it at that moment.
He only wanted release this once and she’d offered.
That’s all this was.
She opened her eyes and looked at him only to find his worried gaze on her.
Now, his eyes were gold in most parts and she smiled.
She’d been right, sex was his cure.
But goddamn, she let out a breath, never had she experienced sex like that before.
Her body was still shuddering at intervals and, as she gripped his shoulders, she realized that he was still tense.
That’s when she felt him pulse within her.
Hard.
He was still hard.
“You’re still hard,” she whispered, and it felt like she’d said that before.
She’d felt him come. She’d felt the sperm rise within his shaft like a corded ring and when it had reached his tip, the most intense feeling of pleasure had spread through her from within.
It was unbelievable to her that he was still firm and at that thought, she felt him pulse within her once more.
She didn’t think it was possible, but desire was rising inside her again and she moved her hips a little.
Ajos’ eyes flickered shut as he groaned.
He stiffened and stretched his neck a little and it was clear to her that he was still holding back.
She joined their mouths once more, flicking her tongue over his lips and Ajos groaned again and pulled her closer.
“We should stop, Keh-reh-nah,” he groaned. “I am afraid you will die.”
Kerena giggled against his lips. She couldn’t help it.
This was what he had been afraid of?
This was what he’d been telling her to run from? Selfish motherfucker.
He was dangerous?
Well, she’d never been more attracted to danger.
At this point, she was dedicated to being a rebel for the rest of her life.
Even kissing him made her throb and her entire pussy became engorged with need.
Before she even realized it, she was grinding against him again, her moans filling the air.
Ajos grasped her hips again, his three-fingered hands slipping underneath her ass as he rose to stand.
He held her fast as he stepped away from the tree and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
He still seemed to be holding back though, afraid for her.
“I’m tougher than you think,” she whispered against him. “I’m not afraid.”
Ajos growled before he thrust upward, burying himself deep inside her.
Pleasure cut off her thoughts and she could only gasp.
“You should be,” he said and their eyes locked.
As he pulled out only to delve deeper inside her once more, Kerena’s lips trembled. It felt like she was losing control of her body.
Her entire frame shook as Ajos retreated only to slam home again but he held her tight and she knew she wouldn't fall.
“You feel good,” she whispered. “How can I be afraid?”
“It’s too much for you,” he growled. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Kerena giggled again. It must be the intense pleasure making her a giddy fool. “Do what you need to, Ajos. I am ready.”
Ajos growled again as he surged into her.
She didn’t know for how long he thrust into her or how many times his seed filled her, all she knew was that it felt like she was on a train of ecstasy.
The forest around them disappeared and all she could do was feel and hear.
Her entire groin was burning with pleasure, her nipples hardened by the chill of the night, and all she could hear were the pants and grunts of the male holding her as he thrust in and out of her.
So this was what ecstasy felt like…
One climax followed the next until she felt like a noodle hanging on to him—or was she even holding on to him anymore? She wasn’t sure of even that.
Her sex ached a good ache, like a warm honeypot was running between her legs and all she could feel was pleasure.
Ajos grunted and groaned, his cock pulsing as he thrust into her. She wasn’t sure how many times he thrusted, or how many times he came and brought her to climax, all she knew was that her soul had left her body.
Her body was no longer a vessel in which it could be held. It was now a vessel of pleasure—sweet pleasure, evidenced by the slickness running from her center down her buttocks to drip against the forest floor with each climax.
She was vaguely aware of the world going dim.
Words slipped from her lips before she lost consciousness.
“Ajos…” she murmured.
“Keh-reh-nah?”
“I don’t know how I’m going to forget about you after this.”
Ajos froze, a climax shuddering through him even as he stiffened at her words.
Forget about him?
Chest heaving, he looked down at the limp female in his arms and slowly fell to his knees.
“Keh-reh-nah?”
She wasn’t moving and panic gripped him again.
He’d been right.
She couldn’t handle the intensity of the mating fever. Still, in his own need he’d pushed forward, selfishly taking too much from her.
“Keh-reh-nah?” His hand moved over her chest as he supported her back with his ot
her arm.
Now on his knees, he stared at her limp form in the darkness.
In his panic, it took him more than a few moments to realize that her chest was rising and falling almost imperceptibly.
She lived.
He released a breath of relief as he fell to his knees, staring at the bundle in his arms.
And, as if to add to the shame of his loss of control, his semi-hard cock fell from within her in a wet slop.
He kneeled there, a mixture of feelings going through him as he looked at Keh-reh-nah’s face, and only when his cock went back into his genital pouch did he allow himself to analyze his thoughts.
Forget him…
She wanted to forget him after this.
After what they’d just shared.
His life organ ached, and he swallowed hard as he pulled her even closer.
His eyes searched the dark sky again and a feeling of dread filled him.
She was his.
He knew that.
There was no way he could let her go after this.
But did he deserve her?
No.
Did she want him?
His life organ ached again.
Didn’t seem like it.
He didn’t have the right to expect more, to want more.
Most Shum’ai females had many males during the time of great heat. It was the only way to survive the mating fever because males outnumbered females three to one.
It was the way.
Only… His gaze moved back to Keh-reh-nah…he didn’t want it to be the way with her.
The thought of another male touching her, making her moan their name the way she had done his…the thought almost gave him a stroke.
“Commander,” V’Alen’s voice interrupted the silence and Ajos glanced at his communicator.
“What?” he growled, his voice much harsher than he’d intended it to be.
This wasn’t anger and pain because of the mating heat any more. For now, he was sated till later.
This was anger at the thought that Keh-reh-nah was going to leave him as soon as they returned to the base.
“The ship is repaired.”
“Noted." He paused, looking at the female in his arms. "We are heading back.”
“Commander, there is something else.”
Ajos growled again.
“Patrol ships have notified of Hedgeruds heading this way. They did not use hyperspace, instead traveling the long way. Estimated time of arrival is by the rise of the next star.”
Qef.
Their ship wouldn’t survive another direct attack like the last one. They needed to get the qef out of there.
Ajos rose, still cradling Keh-reh-nah.
She was almost bare; the thin garment she’d worn around her center had ripped in his passion and he knew not where it had fallen.
There wasn’t time to search for it now.
Grabbing the satchel, he checked if the strange device they’d come for was still nestled within it.
It glowed back at him in the darkness.
Slipping the satchel over his shoulder, Ajos reached for his spear and his hand brushed against the flower Keh-reh-nah had been carrying.
Her garment was beside it, and he grabbed it and the flower too.
He had no idea why she’d been taking the plant with her but, just in case she needed it, she’d find it when she woke up.
And he hoped she woke up soon.
He’d hate to have to bring her to Aker and be questioned why she was unconscious.
Because I qeffed her almost to death…
Yea…not a conversation he wanted to have with anyone.
Aker wasn’t one to gossip but he was sure the humans at the med bay would be interested to hear what had happened. He’d seen them whispering to each other about almost everything over the past few days.
Maybe Keh-reh-nah wouldn’t want word to get out too…
If she wanted to forget about him—something within him wrung—then he could keep quiet about what happened this night.
“V’Alen,” Ajos activated his communicator, “send a signal above so I can make haste in the right direction.”
The markers he’d set would be no use in the night when he had to hurry, and with the strange device by his side, he already knew the navigation wouldn’t be working.
“Signal going out.”
Within a few moments, a bright light shot into the sky somewhere to his right and Ajos began moving.
He’d take Keh-reh-nah home and then she’d forget about him.
This was about to be the longest journey of his life.
23
Keh-reh-nah was still unconscious.
Ajos looked back at her as the ship headed back to the Restitution. With the ship’s navigation being unreliable, V’Alen was using some strange calculations to get them on the right path.
They’d had to travel the long way because of the strange device on board, and he was praying they didn’t encounter any Hedgerud fighters on the way.
He was sure their ship couldn’t take a second battle, but more than that, he didn’t want to put Keh-reh-nah in danger any more than he already had.
His eyes moved over her as she lay on her back on the now-reclined seat.
To his right, V’Alen remained silent.
For once, his comrade didn’t make any comments, though Ajos was sure the cyborg knew exactly what happened between him and Keh-reh-nah in that forest.
Even if the cyborg asked, though, he wouldn’t answer.
But, he was beginning to get worried.
He’d stopped to slip her tunic over her before he’d reached the ship and her skin had felt warm, unnaturally so.
He didn’t know much about humans, but he didn’t think she had a mating heat and he was sure his couldn’t have catalyzed one in her.
Possibly, she had a fever.
A very high one.
She wasn’t moving either and her breaths were beginning to come rapidly.
“Push the engine to the max,” he said to V’Alen. “I think something is wrong with Keh-reh-nah.”
V’Alen glanced behind him and jerked his head in a nod.
For the next three day and night cycles, Ajos did what he could to tend to Keh-reh-nah in the back of the ship.
He tried to cool her down with damp cloths, but nothing seemed to be working.
Nothing within the first aid kit seemed to be having an effect either.
She wasn’t waking up, she was burning up, breathing strangely…it all sent fear deep down within him.
He’d been too rough, taken too much from her.
In his need, he’d gone too far.
He’d known her body couldn’t take it.
He’d known it.
As soon as the ship landed, he grasped her against his and hopped from the vessel.
He was vaguely aware of V’Alen watching him as he rushed toward the med bay, hardly seeing the beings on the streets stop to watch him hurry with the human clutched against his chest.
The med bay felt like it was farther than it used to be, his feet too slow, time moving sluggishly as he pushed forward, and when he burst into the medical facility, all eyes turned to look at him.
He must have made some entrance, because the humans still getting treatment gasped, some of them covering their mouths, their eyes wide.
Xul’s mate rushed toward him, her eyes wide.
“Ajos! What the fuck happened? What’s wrong with her? Is she all right?”
His throat moved. He didn’t know.
He’d done this to her.
He didn’t know if she was all right.
Aker exited a room, pausing mid-movement.
The medic rushed toward an empty gurney. “Bring her here.”
Ajos took two long strides toward the gurney and stood there, his arms trembling as he looked down at Keh-reh-nah’s face.
She was flushed.
“Put her down, Ajos.”
Aj
os did what he was told, his eyes still on Keh-reh-nah.
Only when it hit him that nothing was happening did he raise his eyes to Aker.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” he growled, unable to hold back his fear, his anger, the strain.
The medic was looking at him strangely. “You have to let her go if I have any chance of figuring out what’s wrong with her,” Aker said, reaching forward to pry away his arm from Keh-reh-nah.
A snarl left his lips that he could not control, and Aker jumped back.
“Easy there, Ajos,” someone said from behind him and the voice made him stiffen.
Akur.
His brother.
What was he doing back so soon from his mission off-world?
His brother reached forward and touched him on the shoulder. He was looking at him strangely too.
“You need to release the human so Aker can heal her,” Akur pressed.
His brother actually sounded reasonable, for once, and Ajos slowly released Keh-reh-nah till her body lay limp against the white surface of the gurney.
Before he knew it, he was being pushed backward and into an empty room.
The door shut behind them with a click, and Ajos rushed toward it but he was pulled back again.
A roar left his lips as his fist surged forward.
Akur ducked his punch and shot out with one of his own, grazing Ajos on the cheek and he could feel the burn of broken skin.
“The qef is wrong with you?!” Akur shouted his question, making it sound like a demand more than a request.
Ajos growled, stalking away from his brother, but Akur moved to block the door.
Ajos narrowed his eyes at his brother.
He hated the qeffer.
“Move.”
Akur crossed his arms over his chest. “No. Not until you tell me why you’re acting like this and why there was a half-dead human in your arms.”
Akur’s voice held such strong accusation that Ajos felt it deep, deep within him.
It was the same voice his brother had used with him many, many times before, ever since that day when Nama had died.
Ajos turned away and ran a hand down his nefre before he spun back around and punched the door beside his brother’s head.
Akur didn’t flinch.
He was like that.
Nothing ever seemed to faze him.