by Ella Maven
Her hands sifted down my neck to my shoulders, and I lifted my head to find the peaks of her breasts close enough to take into my mouth. My muscles tensed in anticipation as I stretched toward them and slowly ran my closed lips across her beaded nipples.
Her breath caught, and her eyes glittered a warm amber in the sunlight. But she didn’t stop me. Her hand tightened in the hair at the base of my neck, and her full lips parted, pink tongue peeking out of the corner.
Keeping my eyes on hers, I opened my mouth and drew the stiff peak in. I closed my lips around it and sucked while I lashed it with the balls pierced through my tongue.
“Oh, fuck,” she groaned, and her hips bucked, sending qua splashing between us.
I kept going, sucking, licking, and rolling the balls along her sensitive flesh as she squirmed above me, fists gripping my hair as she held me against her. My cock was a spike between my legs as it dragged along the pebbled bottom of the spring. I wrapped my hand around it and squeezed hard, to the point of pain, so I didn’t rut like an animal. Her skin tasted of sun and qua, her breasts sweet as ripe fruit.
My mind buzzed like a hunner horde, and I felt dizzy with her taste and scent. Unable to resist any longer, I gripped her waist and drew her from the water. She gave a surprised gasp but didn’t resist as I stretched her out on a warm, flat rock. The sun beamed through the leaves above us, dappling her skin like an antella’s young.
There were no words to describe how she looked spread out before me like a meal. I picked up her injured ankle and touched my lips to the delicate bone there. With half-closed eyelids, she bit down on her lower lip and beckoned toward me with a smile.
When she spread her thick thighs, I knew I’d found the source of true happiness. Nestled amongst a bed of dark curls was her cunt, ripe and glistening from her arousal. I didn’t even remember moving, but one moment I stood above her and the next, I’d buried myself between her legs.
She purred a husky moan, and I fisted my cock between my legs. I swiped my tongue up her cunt, my eyes rolling back into my head at her taste. She writhed beneath me, her hands tugging at my hair and my ears while her nails dug into my shoulders and neck.
My mind—which normally raged and spun with a mishmash of memories and visions—cleared, and her bloom sparkled like a lone star on a dark night. There was only her, me, and this moment. Nothing in the past or the future. Only the now. My goal was to give her pleasure, and as she gushed on my tongue, I knew I was halfway there.
I swirled the tip of my tongue around the hard bud of her clit, and her back bowed, heels slamming into my back. I loved the pain because her reaction was real and beautiful.
I ate at her, eager to taste everything she had, all while she purred beneath me like a happy salibri. Retracting my claws, I slipped two fingers into her entrance.
She let out a hoarse shout. “Yes,” she hissed. “Rite thare, Heart.”
I plunged them in out of her as I continued to tease her bud. But it wasn’t enough, not for either of us. I removed my fingers, ignoring her cry of protest, and unfurled my tongue to its full length. With a glance up her body, I speared her and let loose the vibration.
She screamed, and her nails raked my scalp.
My cock pulsed, and my balls felt like they would explode. I squeezed the base, unsure what to do when it felt like this. As I plunged into her with my tongue, my fist moved in the same rhythm. Up and down, up and down. My body knew what to do even though I didn’t. I drove her higher and higher, relishing her cries until she arched her back on a wordless shout and began to shake.
Her whole body shuddered on the tip of my tongue. Her walls squeezed my tongue and my fist pulled ruthlessly on my cock until a harsh flash lit up behind my eyes. My cock erupted into the qua, and my knees nearly gave out, but I refused to stop pleasuring my female. It wasn’t until she collapsed on her back that I reluctantly pulled my mouth from her body.
My legs buckled, and I slid back into the water with a rough exhalation. Merr-anda jerked to a sitting position, her skin flushed, and tugged at my arms until I managed to crawl on weak knees to lay at her side.
I panted there with my eyes closed as I processed what had just happened. That wasn’t supposed to be about me, but when I’d felt her come and heard her cries, I couldn’t stop myself from releasing my seed.
Her small hands traveled down my chest and stopped at the base of my cock. She paused there, and I cracked an eye open to see her staring at it. Was she angry with me? Had I done something wrong?
But then her gaze locked with mine, and a smile stretched across her lips. “U caem? Frum eetin meh aut?” She flopped onto her back beside me. “Waow. Gurlz werr rite. U rr gud.” She clapped a hand over her eyes and heaved a sigh. “Dis us crazee. Wee cant eevin tawk.” After a pause, she met my eyes again. “But I cen feel u.” She brushed fingers across my forehead, and I leaned into the touch. The bloom glowed bright, chasing away the dark. The bloom was her. Merr-anda. She traced my brows and down my nose before cupping my cheek. “For de furst dime, u rr cawm.”
Miranda
Watching Heart hunt was hot. Not as hot as his tongue between my legs because good God that was out of this world, but I had always thought women rated capability too low on the attractive traits dating scale.
While I sat comfortably in the crook of a tree—well comfortable as long as I didn’t look down—Heart was stretched out on his stomach on a branch with a small hollow reed between his lips, dark eyes perusing the ground for our next meal.
If I wanted a man—which I totally didn’t—he had to do the things I didn’t want to do or know how to do. So far Heart had killed gross aliens who wished to hurt me, took care of my injury, and provided me with food. All things I wasn’t quite capable of doing on this planet.
This leg wound pissed me off, though. I didn’t like feeling helpless, and I was. Heart had to carry me almost everywhere, because hopping hurt like a mother, and a stick for a crutch was nearly useless in the dense forest. After our time in the spring, he’d rewrapped it with the splints, vine, and more mud plaster.
I could have remained in denial and convinced myself what happened at the spring was simple pay back. He got pussy if I got fed. A mere exchange of services. Except that wasn’t it. I’d wanted him. Lord help me, but I’d wanted him. I knew all about the Drixonian abilities. The girls talked about it all the time, how the elder males refused to let the Drixonian reputation for being sex Gods or some shit fade away after all their females died, so they’d taught the males everything they knew.
I’d enjoyed a healthy sex life back on Earth, so while I was curious, I’d never seen a single Drixonian in the Night Kings who made me want to jump on his metal-tipped dick. Hell no.
Until Heart. Maybe it was the mate thing, or a result of the loks, but I didn’t feel manipulated or out of control. Every step of the way, I knew what I was doing, and I’d made a conscious decision to touch him … and be touched.
I didn’t regret it. Even now, I could feel the way he’d clutched my thighs and latched onto my pussy like it was his job. His eyes had glowed nearly purple and the smoke cloud of his mind had faded until I could see a dim light shining through the haze. The way he looked at me … it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Like I was his sun, moon, and stars.
I slowly twirled the small bundle of flowers I’d plucked from near the spring. The purple and yellow petals were insanely vibrant and smelled a bit like lavender. I’d added a sprig of greenery and wished for one of my mason jar vases I always used at home.
Gardening was the one thing I had for me. In between my own demanding job as a lawyer and taking care of my siblings—like dealing with Brendon’s constant money issues from his revolving door of jobs and listening to Yanna complain about the deadbeats she continued to date—I found peace in nature. I’d never minded getting my hands dirty, and I’d only just started a veggie garden in the backyard of my small townhouse before I ended up here. When I said I wanted a lit
tle greenery, I hadn’t meant I wanted to live off the grid. Now, I’d give anything to hand Brendon ten bucks and answer Yanna’s call about her last first date from hell.
Heart’s body tensed on the branch, and I went still. Down below, a moira loped across a small clearing toward a small puddle. They were weird creatures, about the size of a small dog, but with a long snout and round, recessed eyes. They tasted a bit like chicken. Heart puffed out his cheeks and blew into the reed.
I didn’t even see the arrowhead leave the tip. But I could tell it hit its target when the moira gave a little squeal before falling onto its side, legs out like a fainting goat. Heart grabbed me, leapt down to the ground, and trotted to the moira. With a quick slash of his claws, he opened its throat. After letting it bleed out onto the forest floor, he tied up the feet, slung it over his shoulder and let me climb on his back. This planet had clearly done weird shit to me, because I was aroused at the sight of my man hunting for me. So. Fucking. Capable.
Wait, what? My man? No. I didn’t want a man. Even an alien man with a six-inch long tongue that made me see Jesus.
I rested my chin on his shoulder, letting the gentle rock of his gait lull me into a half-doze. I jerked with a start when he suddenly went still. Statue-still. His head was cocked to the side, his eyes focused on something northeast of us.
Squinting, I tried to peer into the distance, but all I could see was trees. And plants. And more trees. More plants. “Heart?” I whispered.
He slowly brought up his hand and tapped his ear.
Oh right, listen. Not just look. Smart. So, I closed my eyes, and I focused on every sound I could hear. Some antella in the distance. A far-off welf howl. Something small scurrying on the ground below us. And then I heard it, a metal clinking sound that plummeted my stomach right down to my feet.
Armor. Kulks.
Heart turned and started sprinting away from the direction we’d been traveling. Between me and the dead moira, he had quite a burden on his shoulders, but he ran with light steps, barely making a sound as he seemed to glide over the ground. I’d seen some of the Night Kings run, but I wasn’t sure any of them were as fast as Heart. He was like Usain Bolt-fast.
We came to a large tree, which he scaled with me on his back with ease. Finding a spot where two branches forced off from the trunk, creating a little seat, he placed me there with the moira on my lap. “What—?”
He shook his head, once, and I fell silent. That was when I heard the armor clinking, more urgent this time. Heart stepped out onto the branch, his large feet curling like a gymnast on a balance beam. His thick tail was steady, helping him keep his balance. He didn’t waver, not once, and I understood why he made his home in the trees. This was where he had the advantage. I curled into a ball to make myself as small as possible. While he wore his blue skin like camouflage, I did not blend in.
The clinking drew closer, followed by murmured voices. About six Kulks broke out of the dense foliage into the clearing below us, and it took all my strength not to scream. I could still feel the smack to my face and the punch to my gut. The sight of their soulless eyes peering around through the slits in their helmet sent a bolt of fear straight into my veins.
Heart didn’t move. In fact, I wasn’t sure he was breathing. Even his hair was still despite the soft breeze blowing through the leaves.
Just when I thought we’d made it, that the Kulks hadn’t seen us and would leave, Heart’s aura went from dead calm to hurricane. With a raspy growl, he dropped to the ground between two Kulks like a spiked blue bomb. His forearm machets came down on the back of their necks, slicing their heads clean off their bodies.
I slapped my hand over my mouth to cut off my shriek.
Heart wasn’t done. He reached into the waistband of his pants and while I couldn’t see what he withdrew, sunlight gleamed off a shiny surface. He flung his hands out and two more Kulks dropped, blood pouring from their eye slits.
He must have blades, which explained how he’d been able to drop the Kulks who’d captured me at a distance.
The last two he took on hand-to-hand, slamming his elbow into the shoulder of one while his tail swept the other off his feet. As they clutched their pained limbs, he finished them off with two quick snaps of their necks. Just like that, it was over.
Heart stood in the center of the carnage with heaving shoulders dripping in green Kulk blood. I hadn’t moved from my curled ball position, and my hand remained tightly pressed over my mouth.
I had to get over my shock and remember this planet was a violent place. The other women told me how their mates had reacted when they were threatened. Sax, Val’s mate, had slashed some guy into bits and pieces.
Heart had thought I was threatened. And he did something about it. In his … alien way.
Capable. As. Fuck.
He turned his head slowly and met my gaze. His aura was still once again, but the smoke was thick, layer after layer built up so I couldn’t see a damned thing beyond it.
Before climbing the tree to me, he tore off a few dew-drop-wet leaves and wiped down his body. When he was clean of Kulk blood, he climbed up the trunk. When he crouched down in front of me, his expression was cautious.
Did he think I’d be upset at his violence? The only thing that upset me was the solid wall of smoke in his aura. Violence seemed to take him away from me.
I touched his cheek because he seemed to like that gesture. He leaned into my hand the first couple of times I’d done it. This time, he didn’t move for a long moment, then finally his eyes closed briefly, dark lashes casting shadows on his blue cheeks, before nuzzling into my hand.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He blinked his eyes open at me, pressed a kiss to my wrist, then picked me up.
The way back was less eventful, thank fuck, but he remained alert the entire time, his head constantly on a swivel as he checked our surroundings. As for me, I listened. I documented what sounded normal so I’d be able to pick up anything unique.
When we finally swung into the doorway of his hut, he placed me on my feet near the bed. After arranging the furs, he slowly lowered me down to the floor. Seriously, I was getting too used to this. I didn’t want him to think I was incapable of doing things for myself. I’d managed pretty well on this planet so far. Sure, I’d been under the care of other Drixonians, but I still had to hold my own, not lose my shit, and look out for my girls.
He started the fire again and then skinned the moira using his claws. His movements were quick and efficient. I couldn’t do much from my spot on the floor, but I did set the table—er, floor—so to speak.
He only had the one board which he’d used to feed me yesterday, so I placed it between us to share with two jugs of qua. I dug out some fruit, a white fuzzy thing that reminded me of a peach but tasted like a melon. The skin was not edible, so I eyed Heart before beckoning him over to me. When he stood nearby, I grabbed his hand and tapped on the tips, growling, and curling my fingers into a claw imitation. For a moment, he only blinked at me like I’d lost my mind, but then he blinked, and his black dagger-like claws unleashed.
I grinned and almost patted him on the head. Using his finger like a tool, I sliced the fruit, taking my time and even cutting a few fun shapes into it. What else did we have to do other than watch a moira cook?
Heart sat beside me patiently, not moving, allowing me to twist his hand this way and that. When I was finished, I patted his hand and arranged the fruit along with a few seeds and nuts from what I dubbed his trail mix stash. I sat back and analyzed my board, pretty proud of my Planet Torin charcuterie. I might be in a tree house with a barbarian-like alien, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t eat in style.
I found a crude cup, filled it with some qua, and placed the bouquet inside. After fluffing the foliage, I eyed my little place setting. It was almost romantic.
Wait, was that what I was doing? Setting this up like a date? The setting sun cast an orange glow over everything and deepened the shadows in t
he hut. Heart remained crouched beside me, and when I turned to see what he thought of my task, I found him looking at the flowers.
He didn’t turn his head, and I searched his aura to see how he was feeling. The smoke was calm, swirling delicately in little curls. Finally, he met my gaze, and purple irises met mine. They were the lightest I’d ever seen them.
I reached out a hand to cup his cheek, feeling like I needed to physically connect, and he slowly lowered his lashes as he leaned into my palm. I adored the gesture, like every time I granted him my touch, he needed me to know how much he appreciated it. Not for the first time I wondered how long he’d been alone. He seemed wary of physical contact, while also craving it.
He swallowed and he opened his eyes to lock with mine before he pressed one single kiss to the inside of my wrist over my loks.
Six
The Warrior
I didn’t know when I’d ever felt pride like I did watching my female eat food I’d prepared. With my own hands, I’d killed and cooked for her, and now my efforts nourished her body. If I’d been able, I would have shouted it from the treetops.
Look at me, a warrior with a purpose once again.
I didn’t understand the reason for the blooms in front of us, but every once in a while, Merr-anda would reach out and touch the tip of her finger to a petal. She’d smile to herself, and the sight filled me with a welcomed warmth.
“Purridy,” she said to me when I caught her looking at the blooms.
I didn’t know what that word meant, but the blooms made her happy, and I had to admit the bright colors stood out amongst the dark wood of my hut.
She’d sliced the fruit into shapes, which I found indulgent, but as I tossed them into my mouth, found they tasted better. That made no sense, and I frowned at them. But every time I chewed and swallowed, I liked them better.