by Ella Maven
I bared my teeth. “Then come and get me. What do you want first? My left arm?”
He swung the club again, and I ducked it, then slashed at his ribs with my forearm machets. His scales split and more blood splattered the dirt.
“How about my left leg?” I kicked out, and he spun to avoid my leg, leaving his back exposed. I connected, sending him spinning away from me. “Or my right arm?” I slashed it across his back, from one shoulder to his hip, and he shrieked in pain and outrage.
“My tail?” I slapped his arm, relishing in the snap of his bone. The club fell from his hand, useless. “Or my right leg?” I kicked it away before leaping in the air and planting my right boot in his face.
He landed on his back and I hit the ground on the balls of my feet.
He wasn’t going to go down easy though. He quickly shuffled away and found his feet while searching desperately for the club, but it lay behind me. To get it, he had to go through me. His nostrils flared and blood dripped down his legs to puddle in the dirt. His wounds, untreated, would be mortal, but like me he would fight to the end.
I had to respect him a little for that.
He lowered his shoulder and charged me, losing all sense of technique, his rage fueled by pain and fear. His entire left side was open and exposed. At the last moment, when he was nearly upon me, I lowered my chin and shoulders. My head machets caught him to the left of his gut, and he made a choking sound as I used his momentum, flipping him over my head to land on his back.
I went down with him, and landed on his belly, my back machets plunged into the soft tissue of his chest and stomach. He writhed below me, gasping and gurgling. When I pulled out of his flesh, his body jerked, and when he tried to stand, he couldn’t.
I slowly rose to my feet and glared down at the defeated pardux; his body littered with holes.
His blood dripped from my machets onto my scales and the dirt below me. The metal tang filled the air. And the crowd… half was silent, watching to see what I’d do, while the other half continued to yell Varnex’s name, encouraging him to get up, to keep fighting. But Varnex knew he was done. He stared at me with wide eyes as blood leaked from his mouth and nose.
I leaned down and spat on his cheek. “Pineapple, mother flecker,” I growled before I raked my arm machets across his neck, nearly severing his head from his body. Stumbling away, pain echoing in every part of my body, I fell to my knees, letting my machets descend back under my scales. The crowd had fallen silent.
Footsteps pounded the dirt, one set, running fast, and when I turned my head—even that motion hurt—all I saw was a flurry of purple hair and white fabric before Tabitha slid to her knees at my side and flung her arms around my neck. “Xavy,” she whispered into my neck. “I told you I believed.”
She wasn’t crying anymore. While tear tracks stained her cheeks, she was now full of vindication.
Boots stopped in my line of sight, and I looked up to find Sherif standing over the body of his father. He didn’t speak, and I was sure I wasn’t the only one who held my breath as he crouched to lower Varnex’s eyelids.
His lips moved silently, and I didn’t dare interrupt. Finally, he stood and fisted his arms at his sides. “Varnex lost the challenge. Xavy the Drixonian’s claim to his human mate will be honored. Tomorrow at sunrise, we will discuss the changes which will be made around here. For now, there is food and drink prepared by our females. Freshly rolled yuwana to smoke. The only rule—do not touch any of the females. Enjoy, celebrate new beginnings, and…” he hesitated a moment before finishing, “…mourn the pardux who served you well in his prime.”
Bosa cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered, “Taking bets on who wants to fight Cravus!”
The big warrior next to him tipped up the corner of his lips and punched his friend. Laughter followed, and the crowd dispersed.
“Distract them with food, alcohol, and drugs. Smart, man.” Tab muttered.
Together, we rose to our feet, and I took a few awkward steps when my wrist began to ache. “Fleck, I think my wrist broke again.”
“Your wrist—?” Tab gasped and held her wrists out to me. Two thin black lines ran around the circumference of her wrists, and when I held mine up, the same markings were being etched into mine as if by an invisible hand.
“Tab,” I murmured.
Her eyes were huge and round, tinged with pain and awe. “We’re—”
“Cora-eternal,” I whispered, wrapping my hands around her slim neck. She grabbed my face, and we watched each other’s loks finish, glow a bright white, and then darken to a shiny gold. The pattern was big and bold and messy. Like us.
I pressed our foreheads together just as her aura crashed into me, a rollicking purple storm full of noise and lights. It was brilliant and beautiful, just like my Tab.
“Mine.” My voice rumbled out on a rasp as I felt the possessiveness well up stronger than I ever felt before.
Her eyelids fluttered. “Yours.”
I needed her now. I’d fought for her, I’d killed for her, and now I deserved my prize. I hauled her over my shoulder, and she yelled at me and pounded my back with her fists. I swatted her perfect ass, and she quieted. I whirled around, meeting the startled eyes of Wensla. “Where’s the stream?” I shouted, my voice guttural with need.
She pointed to the path Tabitha had emerged from yesterday, and I took off at a run, Tab bouncing on my shoulder like a spoil of war.
Tabitha
This was going to be good. No, great. No, world-shattering. Xavy’s body vibrated beneath mine, and I could feel his desire coursing through him physically as well as in the soaring dragon that represented his aura in my mind. Of course, his aura was a dragon.
My head felt crowded with him in there, flapping about and banging into things.
He wasn’t gentle or careful. His aura invaded every nook and cranny, like he wanted to know every single of inch of me. I wasn’t surprised. His aura wasn’t any different than the male himself.
We reached the stream and I expected Xavy to stop and put me down, but he raced into the bubbling qua, wading out to a deep center before diving both of us under the surface. Luckily, I was able to take a breath before my head plunged into the cold qua.
Lips pressed to mine, and I opened my eyes underwater as Xavy wrapped me in his arms. With a powerful thrust of his legs, he brought us to the surface, where we bobbed, kissing and necking like a pair of love-starved teenagers. I watched the blood wash from Xavy’s scales and pressed my sodden dress to his cuts. They were already clotting with that magical Drixonian healing ability.
“How are you able to swim and hold me?” I nuzzled against his neck as he ran his hand through his hair to clean it. “You have to be hurt.”
“I am… or I was. I could barely stand, but then our loks appeared. I’d heard they caused rapid healing in both of us, but I hadn’t believed it until I felt a surge of energy inside of me.” He pushed my wet hair from my face. “Mate, I wasn’t as badly hurt as I let Varnex believe. I was tiring him out and studying him so I could detect his position. They might look invisible, but they are still there, still able to be struck and hurt.”
“I believed in you, Xavy. I did. But when you fell… I thought my heart would stop beating.”
“I’m glad it didn’t. Or I would have had to restart it, cora-eternal.” I always loved when Daz called Frankie that, but it had never filled me with lust. When Xavy said it? I swore I could have come right there. I rolled my hips against the hard ridges of his stomach, and his grin turned feral. “Now let me enjoy my mate’s cunt. You can’t tell me I didn’t earn it this time!”
“Oh, you earned it.”
With a growl that made my inner walls clench, he surged toward the shore. On the way he tore off my wet dress, and when we reached a low hanging branch along the shallow bank, he hung it there with a wet slap.
“Grip the branch,” he rumbled in my ear as he spun me around to face the shore.
I wasn�
�t coordinated, dizzy from his kisses, and weak from arousal. “What?” My toes gained purchase in the muddy bank as Xavy’s hands directed me to wrap mine around the branch, my dress fabric protecting my hands from the rough bark. “Keep them there.”
“Why?” I whispered, craning my neck to look over my shoulder.
Splashing sounded from behind me, and then strong hands spread my legs. I cried out as my feet left the ground. For a second, I hung by my arms right before Xavy’s massive shoulders slid under me. Purple eyes bore into mine just as he placed my weight on his face and sucked my clit into his mouth.
I screamed, and the only reason I kept hold of the branch was because all my muscles locked with the pleasure swirling through my core.
He prushed below me, the qua’s surface vibrating with the sound as he speared his tongue inside of me.
“Xavy!” I cried, unable to stop the bucking of my hips as I ground down, chasing the orgasm I could feel building. A wet finger, slicked with my juices, pressed at my back entrance and this time I was ready. I relaxed the muscles and he slid in up to the knuckle. And that was all it took. My body locked around him in my ass and pussy as I threw my head back and came with a wordless cry.
Shudders wracked my body as I came for what seemed liked forever, the orgasm affecting every muscle from my cheeks to my little toe. I registered I was falling, but I shouldn’t have worried, because Xavy caught me in his arms.
“That’s my cora-eternal,” he cooed in my ear on a whisper. “Now you’ll take my cock.”
“Yes,” I mumbled, barely able to see straight as tremors still coursed through me.
We left the water behind, and I held him tight as he took a few steps into the jungle-area before laying me down on the soft, sponge-like ground.
I ran my fingers over it to find it was one of those mushroom platforms the Kaluma built their homes on. This one rested on the ground, like it’d fallen from its place on the tree. Either way, it was soft, and I smiled dopily at Xavy as he wedged his hips between my thighs.
His hand closed around my throat, and I immediately arched into his touch. His hand cupped me as his fingers pressed urgently at my entrance. “Place your hands around my wrist, Tab.”
I blinked at him, unsure what he was asking until my brain kicked in. I wrapped my fingers around the wrist at my throat, and his response was a grin that was all fang. “I want to see our matching loks while I take you, my mate. You’re mine, body and cora, understand?”
“And you are mine,” I whispered.
He slammed inside of me on a growl and my eyes rolled back into my head. He ground into me, his balls tickling my ass as I wrapped my legs around his waist to hold on for the ride. He reared his hips back and slammed forward before starting a punishing pace that was all hard cock and powerful thighs. Flesh slapped and my entire body vibrated with his prushing and growls.
“That’s it, perfect Tabby,” he rasped, his fingers digging into my neck so hard I knew I’d bruise. And I fucking loved it, gushing around his cock with every squeeze. “Take me in that tight cunt of yours. Get used to it. I won’t have my fill of you for a good long time. You’ll fall asleep with my cock inside you and wake with my tongue between your legs. And you’ll beg me for it each time.”
“Yes, mate.” I gasped, unable to take a full breath. My lungs burned and that only caused the fiery embers of my next orgasm to catch fire like a dry piece of kindling.
His subcock, that glorious piece of Drixonian anatomy I’d heard so much about, latched onto my clit and sucked.
I exploded—nothing but orange and red bursts behind my eyes as Xavy’s fire-breathing dragon spewed flames.
I screamed as my inner walls clenched around him and on triumphant roar, he came, his cock pulsing inside of me as he filled me to bursting. He pumped into me over and over again, extending my orgasm until I was one giant ball of nerves, every inch of me singed by his fire.
I welcomed the flames with open arms.
Fifteen
Xavy
By the time I carried Tabitha back to the settlement with the remains of her dress draped over her nude body, she was nearly comatose, a small smile on her lips while she snuggled into my chest.
I couldn’t stop staring at our loks. I wanted to beat my chest with pride and then fall down on my knees thanking Fatas for blessing me with such a perfect mate. She was everything I could have wanted—full of life and laughter and a perfect fit for me. In and out of the furs.
Two warriors barred my entrance into the settlement, and I stopped short, peering at their faces in the flickering torch light. Sherif stood beside the large warrior I’d come to know as Cravus, a massive Kaluma who was mostly silent but whose keen eyes seemed to miss nothing. Tabitha didn’t stir in my arms.
I held my chin up, ready to take on whatever they threw at me, but cautious of Tab in my arms.
“Drix,” Sherif nodded.
“Pardux,” I answered, granting him his new title.
He inclined his head. “For now.”
“Is there a reason for this?” I shifted my weight. “I’d like to find a place for my mate and I to sleep that’s not on the ground chained to a tree.”
“I admit I doubted you.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Some warriors are calling for your head even though you won the challenge fairly.”
“And are you going to make them step in line?” I cocked my head.
He huffed a short laugh. “You let me worry about that.”
“I’m going to be a little anxious when it’s my head on the line.”
He sobered quickly. “As long as I’m alive, you won’t be harmed here again. Your earlier beating wasn’t my call either.”
“Figured that.”
He jerked his head behind him. “Wensla prepared a vinus for you.”
I lifted my brow. “Is there anything that female doesn’t do around here?”
Sherif’s lips tightened. “Her role, as well as the rest of the females’, will change around here.”
“Sure hope so.”
He turned to walk toward the harka tree, and I fell in line behind him. We approached a low fungus, only a few feet off the ground around the back of the settlement, far away from the revelry of the celebration which I could hear in the distance. Wensla stood on the platform with her hands clasped in front of her. Gurla stood at her side, nearly vibrating with excitement.
“We worked on this all day,” Gurla blurted as soon as we were close. “Of course, we couldn’t tell—” her gaze slid to Sherif before she murmured lower, “um, the pardux. But we wanted a place for you two to rest if…” she shrugged, losing her words.
I gave her a smile. “Thank you.” I shouldered through the hanging vines to find a small vinus had been prepared for us—a leafy bed covered in furs rested on the ground, while a tray with food and drink sat on a table along with a lit lantern.
The smell of roasted meat made my stomach rumble. I needed to eat before I slept. As I placed Tab among the furs, I heard steps behind me and turned to see Wensla standing just inside. Her gaze drifted to Tab. “Does she need anything?”
Drawing the furs up to her chin, I shook my head. “She’s fine. I appreciate the food. She will likely wake up hungry.”
“Right,” she nodded definitively. “I’ll place another tray right outside at sunup for her.”
“You don’t have to—”
“I want to.” She held my gaze, and her blue eyes swam with tears before she blinked them away. “Thank you, Xavy the Drixonian. I know you fought for her, but you saved us all.”
“I fought for all of you,” I said. “She is All.”
Her lashes fluttered, and she inhaled sharply before nodding. “Enjoy your food.”
She stepped out, and I didn’t bother with manners.
I grabbed a handful of the steaming meat and shoved it in my mouth. Fighting always made me ravenous, and tonight was no different. I left a small pile for Tab in case she woke hungry, but ate m
y fill knowing Wensla would provide anything we needed. I tore into some tubers that had been mashed with salt and tore off a hunk of bread slathered with a sweet cream. Next, I downed an entire jug of qua myself, spilling some down my chest.
Finally sated, I sank down on the edge of the furs.
Tabitha mumbled something in her sleep, and I crawled to the head of the bed to sit where she could curl into my lap, which she did.
I couldn’t sleep yet, still high on the adrenaline from fighting and filling Tab. She smelled like me, like us, and I tangled our fingers together, marveling at the matching loks.
The vines opened, and I expected Wensla, but instead Sherif stepped inside. He held the neck of a bottle in one hand, and a dark liquid sloshed inside. He placed it on the table near my head before taking a seat in the only chair in the place, which creaked under his weight. He gestured toward the bottle. “For you. Figured you maybe wanted to do some celebrating of your own.”
I picked up the bottle and didn’t bother to sniff the contents. I held his gaze as I took a swig, relishing the sweet burn of the fermented drink as it slid down my throat to heat my belly. “Not bad. Wish I had my own to share. I make the spirits for our clavas.”
He braced his elbows on his knees. His white hair hung loose around his shoulders, the lantern light causing it to glow. His light eyes held mine. “Maybe one day I’ll get to try it.”
“I’d like that.”
“So.” He rubbed his palms together. “Tell me why you’re here. Why would you come all this way risking death, and with a female nonetheless?”
“Tabitha joining me was not planned. She was on the cruiser without me realizing and I was turning around to take her home when… you Kaluma decided I should meet some portcrewllers.”
His lips tilted up. “Sorry about that.”
“You don’t look sorry.”
“Ah well, you’re alive so it couldn’t have been too bad.”
Despite his flippant attitude, I was starting to like this warrior. “And the reason I’m here? I was sent as a delegate to ask your help in defeating the Uldani.” I started from the beginning, explaining what happened to our life on Corin, how we suspected the Uldani had a hand in the virus that killed thousands. And how they continued to prey upon us, stealing humans from Earth to attempt forced breeding. “As long as Alazar stands, they will continue to be a danger to us and to these females we have taken on to protect.”