Arianna's Alien

by Reagan Woods

  Her nipples hardened painfully. She could feel the moisture seeping from her core. She froze. Her body wanted to move against him in the worst way. She was horrified by her body’s reaction, or, at least, she should have been.

  Just when she found herself warming to his advance, wishing he would deepen the kiss, he pulled back. Stroking her hair away from her face, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and another to her nose. She wasn’t sure what to think of his behavior.

  Maybe it was just her day for attracting the alien males. First Jorkan’s unexpected and inappropriate proposition. Now, the General was nuzzling and petting her as if he’d like nothing more than to toss her up on the table and have her for dessert. She had to admit, she much preferred the sexy general and his diamond-cut abs, er- his more refined approach – ok, no, it was the abs. And his scent…he just smelled right. Jorkan, not so much.

  Oblivious to her inner confusion, the General lifted her and stood her carefully back on the floor. It was all she could do to keep herself from sliding into a puddle of jelly at his feet. He smelled delicious, he looked delicious and that mouth was nothing short of sinful.

  “You’re the model of efficiency this evening. I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten a meal so quickly,” he chuckled.

  “Normally you’re reading, Sir.” Was he teasing her? That couldn’t be.

  She started clearing the dishes from the table automatically. Maybe now he’d leave her to her own devices. If he would just give her some time to herself, she was sure she could get her hormones under control, and, besides, being managed by bossy males all of the time chafed at her sense of autonomy. Perhaps a silly thought for a virtual slave but true nonetheless.

  Chapter Eleven

  “General Darvan, the Horizon is in position,” Vank’s steady copper eyes regarded him from a nearby anti-grav screen. “Bram is monitoring the energy output of the arrays and my teams of fighters are on patrol rotations in alpha quadrant.”

  “The Trident is feeding the array signals and fighter teams will launch in beta quadrant shortly,” Commander Tiron’s battle-scarred visage reported from another floating screen.

  “Explorer is entering orbit around Earth counter to the Hope’s orbit now. Our small team of fighters is on standby per your command, Sir,” Commander Norkin confirmed.

  “I expect the Memorial and the Hope to check in shortly. Make sure you’ve recalled all essential personnel from the surface. Keep watch and keep ready. The Ventix energy signatures continue to move closer. We will reconvene next watch. Good work.”

  Darvan was satisfied that the net they were building would hold against the Ventix should they choose to invade this newly conquered galaxy. His orders from the High Council had been to secure the galaxy and secure it would be. He’d polled the brightest minds in his fleet for the most effective, risk-adverse approach to neutralizing the Ventix threat. They’d come up with a heretofore untried concept that he was proud to implement.

  “General, if I may?” Tiron’s demeanor was uncharacteristically hesitant.

  “Go ahead.”

  “My Willa, the Earther I claimed, is a sweet-tempered and giving female. But some of my warriors are having difficulty helping their Earthers acclimate to their new status as claimed women. I am at a loss as to how to advise these warriors,” the fine web of scars masking the left side of Tiron’s face blanched with his discomfort.

  “Difficulty?”

  “Merik’s female goes into a panic every time he enters his quarters. She is refusing food and drink. He says she believes he is drugging her somehow,” Tiron reported seriously. “Sir, these warriors are too honorable for such behavior.”

  “There have been similar complaints on the Horizon,” Vank concurred.

  “I think every ship with Earthers on board is having this issue,” Norkin reported.

  “This is sensitive information so disseminate it only to those directly involved in such situations.” Darvan waited for assent from each of his commanders before continuing, “Dr. Balcar’s team on the Hope examined all of the Earthers’ biological metrics. The males’ reproductive organs were damaged during their war. They couldn’t continue to produce enough pheromones to influence the female mating behavior. Rather than becoming desensitized by lack of stimulus, the females became hypersensitive,” he studied each of his Commanders, watching for their reactions to this news. Norkin appeared interested and Tiron seemed disturbed. But Vank’s reaction struck Darvan as off. Darvan got the feeling his little brother had already known this information.

  “In short, the Earthers feel as though they are being bombarded with sexual stimuli. Warriors might not consciously attempt to influence the Earthers. Nonetheless, they do. This increased response is the reason Balcar’s team matched warriors with Earthers who they found to have compatible personalities. Our scientists expect the radical attraction the females feel to diminish slightly. When that happens, we hope the claimed females are content with their protectors.”

  Tiron was the first to speak up. “If you went so far to ensure relationship stability, you must believe the Earthers will be granted Tribe status. Warriors who have not consummated their relationships will be in danger of losing their females.”

  “I believe in being prepared. I shared this information with you so you might encourage your warriors to take advantage of enforceable proximity. These females were not granted the luxury of protectors without agreeing to certain guidelines created with the express purpose of encouraging relationships,” Darvan reminded his Commanders. In his wildest dreams, he’d never imagined having such a conversation with the warriors under his command. “If your warriors are unable or unwilling to communicate this new information to their females, please contact Balcar. He has a female Earther on his team with some medical training. She has volunteered to help explain that the warriors aren’t doing anything dishonorable. The feelings of affection and attraction the females feel for our warriors are a legitimate biological response to a virile male.”

  “Surely, then, you will put a stop to the machinations of the Doranos running the work camps?” Norkin demanded.

  “Some of the Doranos on the surface are already attempting to lay the ground work for invoking the Right of First Refusal should the warriors be compelled to give up their claims. If the Earthers become a Tribe, won’t the Doranos have the Right to Challenge any warrior who they believe has not consummated their relationship before the warrior can bond the female?” Vank asked heatedly.

  “Voluntarily engaging in a sexual relationship is the right of any female. Doranos males will have the same aphrodisiacal effects on these females as Corian males,” Darvan reminded.

  “It would be unconscionable for the males on the surface to engage in mating behavior with the Earthers if the Earthers are unaware of their rights and the repercussions,” Norkin stated the obvious before adding doubtfully, “I’m sure the Doranos liaisons have more honor than that.”

  “I will see what I can do make sure the Earthers have been educated properly on the Rights of First Refusal and Challenge. That is all I can promise,” Darvan wondered how he could work the information into a conversation with Arianna. Technically, she would need to be educated about the Right of First Refusal and he didn’t trust Jorkan to relay the pertinent information. His own brain seemed to short-circuit around the female, and he had a hard time resisting the urge to take her and make her his.

  “We have the potential for an all-out battle within the next few cycles. Let’s focus on preventing the Ventix from gaining a foothold,” he directed them back to the matter at hand, determined to put females and the various issues they presented aside.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  “Draw a hot bath and await me in the bathing room,” the General instructed when he’d finished his meal, and Arianna had returned from clearing the table.

  Oh, Holy God.

  Her heart stuttered to a stop in her chest before taking off at a gallop. This was yet another change in th
eir routine.

  Arianna didn’t trust the attraction that was growing between them, and wondered if the reconditioner had implanted her longing to be near him. It was becoming more and more difficult for her to control her physical reaction to him. And she was starting to wish she didn’t have to…

  She didn’t think she could handle being trapped in the room with him while he bathed. What if he expected her to hold his towel or dry him off?

  Please let him dismiss me once the bath is drawn. Please, please, please.

  When he joined her, every inch of his eight foot frame was nude. His muscles rippled under irregularly striped skin. Broad shoulders and well-defined pectorals tapered into an eight pack of ripped abdominal muscle. His lean, cut hips flowed into muscular thighs. Between those granite thighs, his cock was impressive even at half-mast.

  For an alien from another galaxy, he was remarkably similar to an Earth male, except for the skin shading, of course. She couldn’t look away from the thick, veiny stalk with its broad, blunt helmet. Maybe Corian male sexual organs were different from Earthers’ in that they were always thick and long, ready for sex.

  Or maybe not.

  When he caught the direction of her gaze, it lengthened and expanded to massive proportions in an alarmingly quick move.

  “Oh!” she audibly caught her breath and hurried to avert her gaze. Cheeks burning, she hurried to the far side of the room in the opposite direction of his purposeful stride. She tried to edge out the doorway he’d vacated but the door slid shut with a quiet whoosh.

  He lowered himself into the swimming pool sized tub in the center of the room. Letting out a long sigh he commanded arrogantly, “You may wash me now.” He crossed his forearms behind his head on the lip of the tub nearest her. The action brought his upper body into stark relief. “Start with my hair,” he tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

  Reluctantly, she settled at the lip of the large round bath. She would be able to wash his hair from here but not much else. Locating the shampoo, she poured it into her hand and gooped it onto his head vigorously scrubbing the arrogant bastard’s scalp.

  Wash his hair, indeed. Like he hadn’t been bathing himself all this time.

  Jerk.

  Putting her displeasure aside, she focused on rinsing the suds from his coarse, wavy locks without getting any rinse in his eyes. It would be foolhardy to make him angry. And it was kind of fascinating to be this close to him.

  Until a year ago, the people of Earth had been convinced they were alone in the universe. Now she knew better. She should be grateful for the knowledge he was unwittingly supplying. Maybe it would be useful later.

  She momentarily lost herself in the foreign texture of his hair. It had been so long since she’d had the comfort of touching another being skin to skin. Arianna began to wonder what this would be like if things were different. If he saw her as an equal instead of a servant. Would they be here now? Would he tell her about his day? Was it possible for them to have a conversation beyond what he wanted for breakfast or how he liked his clothes laid out?

  “I think my hair is clean,” he interrupted her tentative fantasy.

  She felt the embarrassed flush creep up her neck to heat her cheeks. “I don’t see a cloth or a sponge.”

  “Use your hands,” his eyes remained closed.

  Pouring the liquid soap into her hands, she began kneading and washing the muscles of his shoulders. Obeying her gentle nudge, he leaned forward so she could scrub his back and arms. She fell into a quiet contemplation of his skin. It seemed that the patches of different colors formed an odd pattern. Her first impression of the Corian skin as desert camouflage really did seem fitting. Washing his arms and hands, she saw that even his nail beds showed a slight variation in color, keeping with the overall pattern on his body.

  “Now what are you going to do, little captive?” his low voice teased, once she’d rinsed his back clean.

  He assessed her intently. The metallic sheen over his copper irises reflected her face back at her. This close, she could see the darker bronze flecks in his eyes.

  “Ummmmm? You can finish up?” she suggested hopefully.

  “No, Arianna. It is your duty to see to my comforts. Come into the tub and finish washing me,” his words were soft but commanding.

  Reluctantly, she slipped into the hot water. Kneeling with one leg on either side of his right thigh, she poured more of the soap into her hands. She never expected to find herself on a space ship, naked with the most powerful alien in the galaxy. Yet here she was, straddling his thigh and washing his body like it was a common occurrence.

  Working up a lather, she circled the flat disks of his nipples kneading and massaging the hard muscles beneath. Slowly, she caressed her way under the water down his long, wash board stomach. She swirled a small finger into the indention of his navel before taking a break to pour more soap into her hands.

  She soaped his hips and the sides of his tight buttocks before making her way down his legs to his feet, and found that his large feet were ticklish, the discovery making him more human, more approachable to her. Then, she worked her way in slow circles back to the long, thick erection bobbing above the surface of the steaming water. All eleven inches of it flexed up toward her, giving her pause. His size would surely hurt her, but for one crazy moment she wanted him.

  Frozen, Arianna’s eyes darted up the chiseled dips and valleys of the General’s abdomen and met his burning stare.

  Without any warning, he dragged her up against his chest.

  “I think I’m clean enough,” he whispered into the shell of her ear.

  With her cheek resting on his chest, she could smell his natural scent under the fragrance of his soap. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat made her feel inexplicably calm. Her eyelids began to droop as the heated water and slow strokes of his hands up and down her spine wove a soothing spell. In spite of the length of his cock nestled between her legs, Arianna couldn’t recall a time when she’d felt this safe. Though it was an illusion, she clung to the security his strong, steady presence seemed to promise.

  At length, he lifted them both from the water. Still cradling her against his chest, he walked to stand under the flash drier. Without bothering to dress, he carried her to his sleeping platform and laid her on it.

  “Sleep now,” he commanded climbing onto the big platform. After several moments, he huffed out a sigh and pulled her close to his side.

  Like that was going to help her sleep. Not gonna happen. Her body felt lethargic and restless at the same time. Her thoughts were a tangled mess. There was no way she could be attracted to this…this alien. For the love of God, he was her captor.

  General Darvan was the very reason that she hadn’t been able to stay happily among friends. Well, to be fair, that wasn’t strictly true. They’d been struggling to survive, fighting food shortages and lack of access to medical care. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that they’d had their freedom to choose stripped from them by these warriors. She couldn’t forgive that. Could she?

  Chapter Twelve

  The next day, Arianna forced all thoughts of the General aside and kept her pace steady while she watched the foliage around the trail for the tell-tale signs of an imminent sandugi attack. The sandugi looked like a fugly mix between a large rabbit and a small dog. The little buggers were fast and deadly. Fangs coated in paralytic poison the likes of which she hoped to never experience, they tore large chunks of still-living flesh from the bodies of their victims.

  Who wanted to be shredded into bite-sized confetti by a cross between a rabid Easter Bunny and Snoopy? No thank you.

  The two-story light green and white ferns surrounding her began to shake and crackle in the wind. The slap of the massive leaves against one another made a deafening cacophony that reminded her of monsoon rains pelting a tin roof. The little fuckers liked to use the natural atmospheric disturbances to cover their movements in preparation for an attack.

  Plop. Skitte
r.

  Plop. Skitter.

  Plop. Slide.

  She felt more than heard the three sentries take up positions on the rocky trail behind her. Reaching for her knife, she unsheathed it and prepared to face the hoard of ravenous sandugi that were sure to try to tear her to bits just over the next rise.

  Slowing to a walk, Arianna decided to test the stability of her environment. Previous experience taught her that she couldn’t fight her way out of an attack this size. Climbing several feet up the nearest fern, she got high enough to see the hoard of sandugi crouching in the shady spots on either side of the path, just over the rise.

  Right. Well, she’d known they were there.

  Maneuvering onto her belly, she clutched the long knife between her teeth and shimmied up the stalk of a particularly stable looking frond of the fern. When she got to the point that gravity began to pull the frond back toward the ground, she flipped onto her bottom and clutched the knife in her hand.

  Taking a deep breath in, she launched herself down the stalk as if it were a giant slide.

  “Whooooooo hoooooooo!!!!” She shouted her exhilaration as her body took flight off the end of the stalk.

  “Umph!” She landed hard on the next frond and began to slide backwards.

  Digging her knife into the thick stalk, she pulled herself up the crest and climbed carefully to the next frond. Once she’d cleared the waiting ambush, she mopped her face with the hem of her support tank and congratulated herself on her perseverance. This stupid level had repeatedly defeated her. For once, she’d managed to remove herself from the sandugi’s all-you-can-eat buffet.

  Flipping the hoard of hungry, hungry sandugi a middle finger salute, she launched herself into the next giant fern.

  “That’s one way to beat this scenario,” Jorkan appeared to float in the air next to her.

  “Save progress. End program,” Arianna commanded.

  The knife disappeared from her hand and the cold jungle of ferns faded away to leave her standing on the platform of the hologym she used to exercise each day. She greatly enjoyed learning about the planets in the CGA through the challenging games and obstacle courses programmed into the hologym.