by Luna Voss
It whizzes out of the bow, and I do my best to keep the weapon still. With a squawk and an explosion of feathers, my arrow impales my target, killing it instantly.
All the other birds fly away. Ragga yells in excitement and throws his arms around me. “Lily, you did it! That was so good. Seriously, I think you’re a better shot than I am.”
I hug him back, extremely pleased with myself, and even more pleased at how obvious it is that I just earned his approval. He beams at me as we go to collect the kill.
“Today, we feast,” he says happily, squeezing me and giving me a kiss on the cheek.
Chapter Sixteen
“This is delicious,” I say to Ragga as I finish my second portion of bird.
We’ve been sitting around the fire at the camp we just made, maybe a few miles away from our last one. I can’t help but notice that we haven’t traveled very much today, and that Ragga doesn’t seem to feel the same urgency he did before.
“We should continue moving soon,” Ragga grunts. He looks reluctant, as though the idea doesn’t thrill him.
“Is something the matter?” I ask.
He hesitates. It looks like there’s something he wants to say. “No,” he says finally. “Everything’s fine. Are you ready to pack up?”
* * *
Ragga and I hike through the cold woods until it’s dark. We spend the whole time talking, and sometimes even laughing. I enjoy his company more than I could have ever imagined I would with a Kyrzon. He’s really not that different from a human man, just a bit more gruff and masculine. By the time we decide to make camp for the second night, I’ve more or less adjusted to the idea that I have feelings for him.
I mean, how could I not? He’s the first man I’ve ever been with. My first kiss. My first everything.
Ragga is tall, handsome, and strong, not to mention his body is just ridiculous. How is it that I never noticed before how attractive Kyrzons can be? The same qualities that I used to find repulsive now captivate me, making me eager to be alone with him in our tent once again.
It’s the only thing I can think about as we sit around the campfire that night, eating the rest of the bird I killed for dinner. I want Ragga to be inside me again. I want him to breed me.
Finally, we extinguish the campfire, and I look at Ragga, my pulse increasing as the knowledge of what we both want to do hangs between us.
Ragga stalks toward me, and I can see in the pale moonlight the clear intention on his face. He puts one hand on my waist while the other strokes through my hair, grabbing a large handful at the back of my head.
“You’re mine, Lily,” Ragga growls, pulling my hair with just the right amount of force. Delicious tingles erupt all over my scalp. “Say it. I want to hear you say that you’re my woman.”
“I’m yours, Ragga,” I moan, feeling incredibly small and feminine as he towers over me, controlling my body.
“Good girl,” he whispers, giving me goosebumps. His hand slides down to my ass, and he squeezes it possessively. “You belong to me now, Lily. I’m never going to let you go. This tight little human body is mine. Mine to claim, my to protect, mine to make pregnant.”
I whimper, my body responding immediately to his words. I don’t say anything, just kiss his neck, savoring the salty taste of his skin.
“I’m going to take you into that tent, stretch open your little cunt, and fill you with my seed,” he growls, picking me up off the ground.
Ragga is a man of his word. The moment he puts me down on the tusk-bear fur blanket, he’s already pawing at my clothes, trying to get me naked. I moan, helping him to pull me out of my big fur cloak, and then my tunic.
Now topless, I wrap my legs around him, reaching for Ragga’s shirt and struggling to take it off. He lifts his arms, allowing me to pull it over his head. I sigh in satisfaction as I feel the warm skin of his muscular torso press down onto my bare breasts. There’s something wonderful about the skin-on-skin contact that I find addicting.
I want more.
My hands scramble at his pants, searching for his cock. He shoots me a grin, and then helps me with them, unbuckling his belt and slipping them off.
Ragga’s shaft is already hard, and I grip it with my hand, stroking it, impressed at the way I can’t even close my fingers around it. The big Kyrzon sighs in satisfaction, a look of pleasure on his face.
He starts to take off my pants as I stroke his shaft. I kick them off, my pussy absolutely burning with desire, and try to pull Ragga onto me, wanting him to mount me.
He does. I watch his face as he positions himself on top of me, sliding his cock around between my legs, the tip teasing my entrance.
“Fuck me,” I moan.
Ragga grunts in pleasure as he pushes himself inside. Just like last night, I can feel myself stretching, his thick shaft turning my insides to jelly.
“So tight for me,” Ragga whispers. “So tight for this big cock.”
He presses his lips roughly against mine as he starts to thrust inside me. I moan against him, unable to control myself, his dominance incredibly exciting.
The look on his face is intense, determined. His hands slide down to my butt, gripping me tightly, spreading me open for him as he slides his cock in and out of my pussy.
“Oh fuck, I’m going to come,” Ragga gasps. “Your little cunt is so tight, Lily. I can’t hold it much longer. You’re going to make me come.”
“Yes,” I moan, my own pleasure building. “Come inside me, Ragga.”
I reach climax just as his face goes blank and I feel his cock start to throb.
Pleasure overwhelms me, and I cry out. I squirm around underneath Ragga, grasping at the fur blanket, feeling him hold my hips in place as he pumps me full of his cum. The knowledge of it pooling inside me, right up against my womb, brings my orgasm to another level. I writhe around, moaning, focusing on the idea of his seed taking hold and making me pregnant with his baby.
Gasping, I lie under Ragga in a haze, feeling almost like I’m in a dream. I can’t believe this is real.
My Kyrzon lover’s cock twitches inside me, depositing another load of sperm. He groans, clinging to me, and then his muscles relax, and he slumps down on top of me. I squeeze him tightly, wrapping my legs around him.
“I don’t want you to belong to anyone but me,” he whispers, kissing my forehead, still out of breath. “There’s no way I can bring you back to Broga Territory. I’m keeping you all to myself.”
Chapter Seventeen
The next day, we head off for a place called Marl Rock, where Ragga knows another Clan Broga resource cache to be stored. My heart feels lighter than it has in a long time.
“We’ll need more supplies if we’re going to escape from the Clan,” Ragga says as we walk together, holding hands.
“Where is there for us to escape to?” I ask. I know nothing about the geography of the planet outside of Human Territory.
“The most important thing is that we get far away from Clan Broga,” he tells me. “Lurkka is one of Chief Broga’s top lieutenants, and so they will never stop looking for us. But their reach is limited. If we go far enough, we can find a place where Broga has no influence. Perhaps we can even find another clan to take us in.”
I nuzzle against him, images of us making a life together flashing happily through my mind. I can see us living somewhere out in the forest, hunting for our meals, raising children.
“What do half-Kyrzon, half-human babies look like?” I ask him, curious. Until now, I hadn’t even thought about it.
“They look like Kyrzons,” says Ragga, laughing. “The babies take after their fathers.”
“And what if the baby is a girl?”
Ragga looks pensive, almost sad. “That is very rare. I myself have never even seen a female Kyrzon infant. Even a few generations ago, their births were more common.”
“Even when the mother is a human?”
“Lily, all Kyrzon mothers are humans. Even the Kyrzon females that do exist are not
fertile.”
“Does that mean that your mother is a human?” I ask. I’d never even considered that before.
“Yes, it does,” says Ragga with a chuckle. “She is no longer with us, but I treasure her memory greatly. Much of what I learned about human women, I learned from her.” He shoots me a mischievous smile. “Of course, you’ve been teaching me some new things entirely.”
I grin back at him. “Human women are full of surprises.”
* * *
In the late afternoon, we stop to hunt. Ragga gives me another lesson using the bow and arrow, and I manage to shoot down another one of those furry chicken-things. This time, the bow feels more natural in my hands, and I need less instruction.
“You really are a natural,” says Ragga as we search for a spot to make camp, holding our dinner. “With the bow, I mean. This is only your second day shooting, and you’re almost better than I am.”
I flash him a teasing grin. “I mean, that isn’t exactly saying much.”
He laughs and sticks out his tongue at me. “You know what, Lily, keep talking and you’re going to earn yourself another spanking.”
“As if that would be a punishment.”
He raises his eyebrows. I take a step backward.
Our freshly-hunted dinner falls to the ground as he scoops me up in his arms and flips me over his shoulder, pulling down my pants and delivering several loud smacks to my ass. I squeal and struggle against him, but I’m having the time of my life.
Soon, I’m on all fours on the grass and he’s behind me, grunting as he thrusts himself inside me, his big hands gripping my waist.
It isn’t until several orgasms later that we get around to making a fire and cooking our food.
When we go to bed that night, I curl up against him happily, feeling more content than I knew was possible.
To think that after all the time I spent dreading my Auction Day, in the end, I would fall in love with a Kyrzon.
* * *
“We should reach Marl Rock before dark,” says Ragga the next day as we continue to hike.
I’m getting very used to walking now. I think I’ve walked more in the last few days than I normally would in a month when I was living in New Sutter. I know that it’s good exercise, but damn, my feet could use a break.
“Good,” I say. “Where are we going to go after that?”
He strokes his chin, as though thinking. “I believe we should first go to Gurrak Territory. I’ve met Chief Gurrak before. He’s a tough fucker, but he won’t kill us on sight. He might be willing to give us a chance.”
“What about Clan Drokal?” I ask. “That’s the clan we attacked after Lurkka bought me, right? If they’re at war with Clan Broga, wouldn’t they have an interest in helping us?”
Ragga’s face darkens. “Fuck Clan Drokal,” he spits.
Okay, then. I guess old rivalries die hard.
* * *
As Ragga predicted, we reach the area that he describes as “Marl Rock” just as the daylight is starting to fade.
“I kind of thought there would be, you know, a rock,” I comment to Ragga. “The name does kind of imply that there’s a rock.”
“There is a rock somewhere,” he tells me.
“Suuuure, there is,” I tease him.
He boops me on the nose. “You’re cute, you know that?”
“I try.”
“I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find the rock in the dark,” he says. “We might as well make camp and look for it in the morning.”
“Do we need to find the rock?”
“If we want to find the resource cache, we do. That’s where it’s hidden.”
It’s too dark to hunt, so we make a small fire and just eat dried food out of Ragga’s satchel. We spend the whole night cuddling and talking about the life we’re going to have together once we find a place to settle. I fall asleep once again curled up in his arms, feeling like the luckiest Kyrzon Bride on the planet.
Chapter Eighteen
I’m woken up suddenly by the sound of a gruff, aggressive voice barking orders from outside the tent:
“Get out of the tent slowly. We have you surrounded.”
I snap into alertness and turn to look at Ragga. He’s awake too, looking just as confused by the situation as I am.
“Get out of the tent,” the voice repeats. “We are armed. This is your last warning.”
“We’re coming out!” Ragga calls, sighing. He squeezes my hand.
Together, Ragga and I stand up and clamber out of the tent.
It’s still dark. Dimly, I can see the outlines of a crowd of Kyrzons all around us, each of them holding a weapon. One of them, a big alien with a beard, steps forward, clearly the leader.
“Who are you?” he growls.
Ragga steps in front of me defensively. “My name is Ragga,” he says.
“And the woman?”
“She is of no concern to you.”
“It’s not up to you to decide what is of concern to us. What is your clan?”
“Tell me your clan first,” Ragga shoots back.
The stranger puffs out his chest. “I am Chief Drokal,” he growls. “And you are on my clan’s territory.”
“We didn’t mean to encroach on your territory!” I say, interrupting. “We mean you no harm. We’re only passing through here.”
Chief Drokal turns to me. “What is your name?”
“You don’t have to answer that,” Ragga growls.
“I’m Lily,” I say.
“And what are you doing on my territory, Lily?” asks Chief Drokal, his voice demanding.
“I told you, we were just passing through!”
“And where would a human woman and a Kyrzon warrior be traveling to?”
“They must be spies,” says one of the other warriors from Clan Drokal.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” their leader grunts. He turns to Ragga. “I ask you again, what is your clan?”
Ragga looks reluctant to answer, but he does. “I am Ragga of Clan Broga,” he says.
All the warriors react aggressively to this. “Fucking Broga spies,” one of them spits.
“We’re not spies!” I try to explain to them, but it’s no use. A second later, Ragga and I are staring at the business ends of a whole bunch of spears and swords, their pointy tips flashing in the moonlight, dangerously close to our faces.
“You shall be our prisoners,” says Chief Drokal. “We’ll figure out soon enough whether or not you are spies.” He gestures to two of his men. “Bind their hands.”
Ragga looks like he’d rather try to rip their heads off than allow himself to be captured, but he makes eye contact with me, silently informing me that he’s not going to resist. It’s obvious that there’s no way to fight our way out of this situation. The two Kyrzons move forward, and they tie our wrists together.
Man, I am getting way too used to having my hands tied.
“We return to Castle Drok,” Chief Drokal growls, and the group of warriors leads us to where their tusk-oxen are tied up. Ragga and I are forced to ride separately, each of us sharing the saddle with a different warrior.
We travel through the night, now the captives of a hostile tribe.
Chapter Nineteen
Soon, I see the sun come up. We ride through the morning, until the afternoon, when finally, one of the Drokal soldiers announces that we are nearing our destination.
We approach what seems to be a settlement. I can see buildings in the distance. As we get closer, several of the warriors dismount, and begin to walk Ragga and I at spearpoint into the township. I examine my surroundings, curious despite the situation. This is the first time I’ve been inside a permanent Kyrzon settlement.
At the front of our group, I see Chief Drokal approach a human woman and dismount from his tusk-ox. They embrace, and I realize that this must be his mate. I keep watching them out of the corner of my eye as we pass. The woman he’s with looks somehow familiar.
&n
bsp; She runs suddenly over to Ragga and I, as though to get a better look at us, and we make eye contact. Recognition hits me: this is the woman who I held hands with riding the hover-cart the morning of my Auction Day. She was a Kyrzon Bride as well.
She must have been sold to Chief Drokal.
Her face is shocked, and I can see that she recognizes me as well.
Help me, I mouth to her.
And then the warriors leading Ragga and I take me past her, and the moment between us is over.
* * *
The warriors take us into a gigantic spaceship, similar to the Ship at New Sutter. I’m in awe as I enter: I guess Ragga was telling the truth about the Kyrzons coming here from space.
Although, I suppose it’s possible that this ship could have been stolen from a group of humans. Given what I know about Kyrzons, that seems just as likely.
They take us down to the lower level, and then lock us in a cell. Ragga rages, pounding against the door, but our captors just shake their heads and turn away.
“It’s no use,” I say to Ragga, stroking his muscular back as he slumps against the door, looking defeated. “You’re not going to be able to break down that door.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to try,” he grunts.
“I have another way,” I tell him. “I know the chief’s mate. She might be able to help us.”
I examine our cell. It’s really not that bad. There’s a bed big enough for the two of us, and a bathroom with a sink and a shower.
A shower.
The thought of being able to get into the warm water and clean myself is wonderful. We may be captives, but at least in this one regard, I can’t complain.
“Come shower with me,” I say, extending my hand to Ragga.
“Shower?” he repeats, looking bemused. “Now?”