Terri’s smile widened at his show of dominance, her pleasure tinting the musk of her arousal. Lightly tugging again on his vibrissae, she backed in the direction that he desired her to go. Veral trilled low in his throat, his body crowding hers, his mandibles scraping through her hair, gathering her scent and taste into his receptors. With a low, rattling groan, he broke away from her.
“Enough, female. At your insistence, I will forget these males, but we must go now.”
His previous goal of waiting to secure his mating until their task was complete was forgotten. He would not be able to wait for the optimal moment, but he refused to seed his female for the first time on the desert floor. He would tie his mate to him within the dwelling that would become hers by right of Argurma law.
Everything that was his would become his mate’s property, and the idea thrilled him on a fundamental, primitive level. In one act, everything that he was, down to everything that she would soon own, would be imbued with his scent and nano signature. She would own it by law, but in turn he would conquer her and irrevocably tie her to him.
Surging forward over the terrain, he came close to dragging Terri behind him until, with a snarl of impatience, he flung his mate over his shoulder so that her body was wedged between his neck and the primary horn on his shoulder. Her breath left her body in a whoosh of air, but she regained it quickly enough that he was not concerned.
Terri’s small hands tugged on his armor and he felt her weight shift as she did her best to lift her upper body despite the way she swayed with his every step. Her throaty laughter sent sparks of pleasure shooting over him. They gathered and shot straight down to his groin when her small hands caressed his buttocks as if studying them. He felt a sting as the flat of her hand connected with one. His hips jerked once again, his civix convulsing.
Oh, the pleasure it provided… and gave him ideas of how he might turn such a stirring touch on her own delicate backside.
“You know, you really do have a great ass,” she said. “I’ve admired it before but obviously never this up close and personal. It is truly impressive. Especially when you’re wearing nothing but a tiny scrap of cloth.”
“You speak of my sadt,” he grumbled as she continued to caress the muscles enticingly.
“Sadt… It’s misnamed if you ask me. Looking at it definitely doesn’t make me sad. Just very happy,” she quipped. He chuffed at the wordplay as he turned and dropped his head, his nose brushing the apex of her thighs. He inhaled her scent as his own hand rose to knead the curve of her ass, eliciting a throaty moan from his mate.
Veral quickened his step, feeling the pressure of the impending breach of his pouch. Relief surged through his systems when he finally detected the energy signature of his cloaked ship. Sending himself into the mainframe of his vessel, he deactivated the cloak and opened the cargo hold. The black portal rippled and slid open at his approach. He didn’t waste a precious second striding up into his ship, despite being fully aware of his mate craning her head trying to see everything at once.
“Veral, hang on… Veral!” He growled when she delivered a pinch to his asscheek. “Slow down, I want to see this. Better yet… put me down.”
“You will have plenty of time to investigate at your leisure, but not now,” he replied taciturnly.
He stopped at the portal leading into the main ship and paused long enough to be certain that all the collector carts were in the cargo hold and the ship’s cloak was reactivated. Normally, he would attend to the carts right away, but he barely had the presence of mind to close the cargo entrance before plunging into the depths of the ship with Terri in his embrace. His blood heated as the familiar scents of his ship mixed and merged with those of his female. The end product was so perfect that every breath he drew was filled with a sense of rightness. He was only just barely aware of Krono trotting ahead of them.
Veral bypassed the cockpit and headed directly for his chambers. His seam was splitting more and more with each step and his vision clouded over with a frenzy of desire. His pulse beat out a rhythm of need that could not be denied.
He no longer wished to deny or restrain it. Caught in its fury, he couldn’t recall or imagine why he attempted to do so in the first place. He burned for her and her arousal deepened in response, feeding off his own pheromones that he was now steadily releasing into the air in the confines of his territory.
“Oh, fuck,” she whispered, her nose and cheek brushing against his back. “You smell so good. I can hardly describe it. Like exotic, unknown spices and the wood that I sometimes find in the closets where rich people used to live.” She took another deep breath. “Amazing. I can’t believe how hot it is making me. I feel like I am about ready to combust.”
Although the turn of phrase sounded alarming, Veral understood the raw need behind the words. He felt it as well. His body began to prime itself, his civix pushing against his pouch. His world focused on his intense need to breed.
“Anastha,” he bit out, needing to warn her. “I cannot restrain myself. It will be rough and perhaps more violent than you are used to. Do not resist. If you struggle, I will instinctively pin you in place when I am in the grips of the heat. It will not be pleasant.”
“I expect you to explain all of this to me when we are both in our right minds,” she said. “But trust me, babe, I have no intention of resisting. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to fuck this bad my entire life!”
A surprised chuff of laughter burst from him as he strode into his room—their room. Reverently, he stretched his mate over the bed, his body pressing briefly against hers before he pulled away to divest himself of his armor as soon as possible. The moment his groin plate came off, his civix burst through the barrier of his pouch with a sharp sensation that sent such an intense wave of pleasure through him that he wanted to drown in it, relishing every moment as his inky sex twisted in the air in front of him for the first time. Its flexible, hooked head snapped through the air as the shaft coiled. Two large tubes at either side of the head leaked fluid, lubricating his priming civix. He stared at it in fascination and alarm. It seemed larger and thicker than what he was expecting. He glanced at his mate, hoping that she wasn’t alarmed by its appearance.
Instead of being afraid, Terri stared at it curiously through lust-hazed eyes, her lips parting in an intense expression of need. With a snap of his hands, he removed her clothing before prowling back up the length of her body, his massive frame wedging between her thighs. His mate shifted, a wariness beneath the haze of desire.
“Veral,” she whispered. “Careful…”
Need twisted through his gut. He couldn’t make sense of her warning, but nor could he find the words to inquire as to her meaning. His cock snapped restlessly, its upward movement pulling at his sack hidden within his pouch for the time being. Every yank of his civix against his root made his body shudder. He couldn’t hold back. His hips slammed forward, his civix twisting and burrowing into the deep, dark heat of her sex as he plowed in one long thrust until their hips met.
14
Terri gasped. She was wet enough that she didn’t feel more than a pinch as her untried sex stretched, yielding as his massive sex rooted deep within her. She felt it twisting and rubbing against her inner walls as it plunged deeper, the strange, almost hook-shaped head searching for something as it ground against the delicate cluster of nerves. It struck the sensitive spot with enough force that it had her arching up and wailing as her belly clenched with an orgasm that whipped through her with the force of the violent sandstorms that regularly swept over the city.
Through all of it, she was anchored by his arms and the weight of his pelvis against hers. Even his vibrissae threaded through her hair, twining and stroking as he crooned to her. She clung to him, though his cock was so unlike anything she’d ever imagined. It moved on its own as Veral began to pump his hips, grinding down at the end of each thrust with a rolling, almost purring sound from his vibrating mandibles. Terri reached out and grasped the h
orns protruding from his shoulders. They were short but curved upward, providing perfect handholds to give her stability and control in the storm that swept over her.
Although frightened a little by its intensity, she surrendered to it, lightning licking over her flesh every time their pelvises crashed together. Even caught up in her ecstasy, and inexperienced as she was, she knew that this was not just sex.
Did sex feel like one was being claimed down to the deepest, hidden recesses of her being?
She didn’t have the mental space to even think of it clearly. Veral demanded everything from her as he rocked into her, his cock twisting within her every time he retreated as if protesting and attempting to worm its way again close to her womb, but then stiffening eagerly as he thrust deep again. It bumped, the hooked tip making her sex clench at its every contact against the mouth of her womb.
Terri arched her back, lifting her hips eagerly. She could feel something building and she raced toward it, needed it with a desperation that was unfamiliar. She needed relief, for the dam to break, yet it seemed elusive, making her whimper. Though his size made it difficult for her to wrap her legs around him, she hooked her calves, pressing the heel of her feet against him in silent demand.
Veral seemed to understand. He growled, the sound layering with the purring of his mandibles, and his pace increased.
She wiggled against his seeking cock. She’d released her legs to dig her heels into his bed and push herself up against him. His arms wrapped around her hips, drawing her higher as he sat up, driving down into her at such an angle that it set her nerves on fire. It felt… different. Whatever it was, it was intensifying every sensation as he rutted into her.
When the explosive orgasm came, it caught her off-guard, snapping through her so powerfully that she couldn’t even summon the voice to scream out her pleasure. Her mouth gaped wide, an airy shriek breaking loose as something lodged deep within her. Veral’s purring ceased and he voiced a shaky growl, his mandibles flaring wide. He crushed his lips against the base of her throat as his cock began to jerk within her, whipping strangely unlike its previous movement as it attached to her womb. Hot ejaculations sprayed into her, covering the walls of her cunt, but the movement and pressure set off another orgasm. Her belly contracted and spasmed as it accepted the gift that Veral provided. That time, she did scream.
He let out a final roar as his mandibles descended, the hooked edge of each piercing into the side of her neck as a hot fluid seeped out of them directly into her bloodstream. The pain startled her before a new pleasure welled up within her that had her wailing with ecstasy.
She was coming down from bliss when she felt his mandibles release her. His twin tongues slipped over her throat, seeping something sticky on the wounds. She watched in fascination as he lifted his head. She saw tiny tube-like tips at the end of his tongues before they closed, and his tongues retreated back into his mouth. Gasping from the raw sensations flooding her body, she attempted to move her hips. She didn’t get far. Veral pressed his pelvis firmly against hers, holding her in place.
“Veral? What’s going on?” she said, her wiggling attempts renewing until she moved just enough to feel a sharp pain.
“Do not!” he growled, a low painful hiss mirroring her own gasp. She shuddered around his invading length, rhythmically, sending small tremors shooting through her. “We are locked as my body completes implantation. If you move before my civix releases your womb, it will cause us both pain.”
“Implantation?” she squeaked in alarm. Instinctively, she kicked against him in hope of dislodging him. He growled and held her tighter in response.
“The first mating culminates in implantation to secure the bonds between the male and female. Sometimes a fetus thrives, but often not in the first attempt with the body chemistry still altering and aligning,” he muttered into her skin.
Her eyes widened. “Fetus! As in baby?”
Veral gave her a puzzled look. “Do you not know how offspring are conceived?”
She flushed. “I do, but I didn’t think it would be possible between different species.”
He jerked his head in a nod. “It is untried to my knowledge. It is possible that we will never spawn offspring, but that will not stop my body from trying to seed yours.”
She cleared her throat and swallowed as she shifted against him. “So, when you say seed, you’re literally depositing into me.”
He cocked his head, studying her reaction.
“Yes, I release both the seed and semen. When it latches onto your womb and draws nutrients into its body, its genetic code will adjust to include your own chromosomes.”
Terri panted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I assume you mean it’ll include something of myself in it if it survives.”
“Yes,” he responded.
She lifted one hand to her neck. “You bit me too,” she observed tonelessly, a bit shell-shocked over the whole baby implantation thing.
“Both my semen and the toxins from my mandibles carry the necessary nanos into your blood to secure our bond, along with my chemical imprint. It is both instinctive to my species and an advantage of our cybernetic pair bondings. My tongue ventors release a hormonal sap necessary to seal the wound afterward. That is the cap you feel,” he explained as his eyes narrowed on her hand.
“Will it change me?” she whispered nervously, her fingers still twitching around the dry caps over her wound.
“Minimally. Your aging will slow to be in time with mine, the nanos repairing your cells and any damage you sustain. You will heal faster and will survive even critical wounds with proper care. That is all you will experience without the interference of the Council.”
Terri’s fingers on one hand dug into his forearm where it had slipped upon releasing the horn protruding from his shoulder. “What would the Council do?”
“Nothing.” He growled fiercely. “I will prevent it. You are mine!”
“Yours,” she murmured in agreement. “And you’re mine, right?”
His icy eyes gleamed down at her as he dropped his nose to nuzzle her jaw. “Eternally.”
Her eyes slid shut in relief. Eventually his body shifted off hers, though their sexes were still locked together, and he eased them onto their sides to rest comfortably upon the luxurious bedding. She hadn’t noticed it until then, but she snuggled her cheek against the slick softness and sighed appreciatively.
Veral lay there and held her for some time before his sex finally dislodged, warm cum spilling out over her thighs. He did not leave except to search out a cleansing cloth to wipe their mingled fluids off them. Once that was accomplished, he rejoined her, wrapping his body more comfortably around hers. His body warmed hers as his mandibles renewed their purring vibration, lulling her to sleep.
15
The mineral tub wasn’t what Terri expected. She watched it rise out of the floor in the center of the stark cleansing unit. Just moments before, there had been nothing but four walls, each armed with a nozzle, with a larger one overhead. The tub lifted directly below the overhead nozzle. The moment the rectangular bath clicked into place, Veral touched a panel on the wall. To her surprise, a stream of shimmery powder poured out of the nozzle into the tub below. It ran for several minutes before shutting off.
She looked at the few inches of powder and frowned. Was that it?
Veral drew her back away from the tub and tapped another panel. Water spouted down from above. The contact with the powder made it fizz and pop before swirling and mixing with the water. It appeared almost translucent and pearly in the comfortable lighting of the cleansing unit. It was pretty, but she was uncertain about bathing in it.
“Is that going to be safe for me? Human bodies are pretty sensitive.”
“Of course. I have taken thorough scans of you and have uploaded the information to my ship. This mixture of mineral bath is designed for optimal health benefits for both of us.”
She turned and smiled up at him flirtatiously. �
��Both of us, huh? Were you planning on joining me, O dark and deadly?”
“I am,” he said with a smirk. He wore nothing but the simple band of cloth he called a sadt, but he unfastened it and allowed it to drop to the floor. For the first time, Terri was treated to the sight of her mate naked in full light. Her mouth went dry at the corded muscles of his arms and torso. His longer body had more abdominal muscles than she’d ever seen on a human, each one carved out perfectly in nine pairs trailing down to his navel. He didn’t have a belly button, just a slight indentation between muscles that she was curious to explore with her tongue.
His sex, however, was almost completely hidden. All that was visible was a thick pouch of pale gray flesh, a stark contrast against his black scales. As she looked at it curiously, there was movement within moments before the black hooked tip of his phallus pushed through. Only the head was visible, and it stayed there for a short time before slowly slipping back into his pouch.
“Whoa,” she whispered and dragged her eyes away from his pouch to his muscular legs. His feet were almost like a human’s except the toes were longer and more curved. She suspected that, like his hands, each digit contained a retractable claw that could be lethal.
Veral trilled, catching her attention. “Do you enjoy what you see?” he asked, throwing her words back at her.
Terri grinned shamelessly up at him. “Without a doubt.”
He trilled again in obvious pleasure, his mandibles vibrating in a purr as he scooted closer to her. Large hands reaching out to her, he stripped every piece of clothing from her body. Once she was completely bare, he closed his hands around her waist and lifted her effortlessly into the tub. Terri gasped at the touch of the pleasantly warm water. After years of bathing in cold water, lacking the luxury of a stable home where water was heated since her mother died, she’d forgotten how good hot water felt. Her gasp turned into a moan as she sank into the shimmering water.
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