by Lia Nox
Cradled in his arms, my form looking even more tiny than it had ever done before, my muscular companion moved quickly ahead, the mountains of yesterday to the back of us now. The night was so near, too near for us to really be moving to a new location, but I’d guessed that the issue with the station was that it had been so vulnerable; yes there was an inside, but I couldn’t see how it could be secured.
And all three of the guys had been vaguely uncomfortable there. As if the building wasn’t made for them, not a place they could rest, fully relax.
All the while we had been traveling, Tarnan had stayed at one side of Axar while Zuvo had taken the other, their formation designed solely to protect me. If anyone, or thing, attacked now, both of them would have been ready to cover Axar while he got me to a safe spot.
Thankfully though, nothing ambushed us as we came to the green darkness of the jungles - was this the forests they’d spoken of or was that another place altogether? So many questions raced through my mind, but of them all, the most pressing was where we’d be sleeping.
Axar settled me down onto the ground, my feet sounding out a soft thud as heels then toes connected with the earth.
I was grateful that I hadn’t had to walk far in the footwear they’d found me in, those flimsy shoes weren't made for hard wearing terrains. They’d have fallen apart thanks to the landscape and its pitted bumps and stones.
Thinking back on Axar lifting me up, it had been both beneficial to them and to me: my feet had been spared a lot of pain, and they’d moved much faster because of it.
Everything was alive around us--sounds constantly screeched in my ears, every one of them vying for attention. It was deafening; I could only imagine how it must have sounded to their more highly attuned ears.
The distractions all around may have had me twirling on the spot to get better views of the creatures that made them, but those three were already pulling down leaves, collecting firewood, and crafting together a makeshift bed. In another life, I might have even said it felt cozy here.
Not wanting to get in their way, I had stayed where I was and had taken out some of the tech I had smuggled out from the station.
I’d kept my grumbles of irritation repressed however, so as not to distract them or cause them alarm. The jungle had them on high alert more than anywhere else so far; I didn’t want to worsen that over a silly piece of kit…
When my seventh attempt had proven unsuccessful, I’d put aside my toy and looked around the camp to see what was going on. Huddled by the fire, Axar seemed to be talking strategy with the others.
This felt like a conversation I needed to be in on, so I leaned in closer to hear better. I didn’t understand much, but it sounded like they’d been talking about a beast. Whatever it was sounded big, and they wanted to kill it.
Even though I was in favor of them hunting, I had no desire to come face to face with a creature this ferocious sounding; the spiders and the dogs had been crippling enough.
Not that I’d be the one charging in first to fight - I’d leave that to Axar - but there was a part of me that felt I should be doing more to get involved. Yes, I was playing around with tech, but otherwise I was a just token for them to cherish and look after.
That wasn’t me.
I wanted to be in the thick of it among them. They’d taken the time to learn some of my language, had scavenged when I’d suggested it, and had also been protecting me against all the odds - it was time I returned the favor and helped out even more.
But as my determination gripped me, so too had the need to sleep. It had been an incredibly long day. A lot of our time had been spent scouting, on the look for any signs of life. Mixed in with that had been a lot of combat training, in which I’d acted as a sort of dummy for them to test their skills with – could they move fast with me in their arms, was I better on their back, should I be hidden and then retrieved later?
I got why they used me like this, but it had been as exhausting for me as it had been them, though for very different reasons. My day had been energy draining, some of what we’d achieved much more gratifying than others. All of us needed our wits about us, our bodies primed and ready should the night prove as unrestful as the din of noise that floated down from the canopy of large leaves and winding vines above.
As I’d moved onto the soft dirt of the ground, Tarnan had come over, picked me up, and moved me over to the bed they’d made; having been so lost in my thoughts, I’d failed to notice how they’d made just one bed. Meant just for me. He placed me on it and I started to nestle down onto the leaves they’d lain, my cloak acting as a blanket should I need it. But I felt alone with them away from me. I tapped on the ground next to me -
“Stay.” I asked.
Tarnan was the first to lay down next to me, with Axar and Zuvo both coming over to join us. Together we lay in a huddle, my body pressed against all of theirs; it was so comforting to have these gorgeous aliens holding me tightly as I drifted off into a deep sleep.
The last thing I remembered of that night was the soft purrs of their breath as each of them slept alongside me. The jungle was still alive around us, but the spot we all shared was quiet and calm.
Axar
The bright light filtering through the trees first woke me. When I squinted my eyes to the heavens, I guessed that it must be still early in the morning; the sun would only intensify as the day went on. I perched myself up onto one of my elbows, wishing that I could return to sleep, but knowing that getting an early start would help us in the long run.
As I turned to each side of me, I looked down at the sleeping faces of the group. Delia’s was the one that stood out the most, her fair skin pale like moonlight against the rich tan of my brothers. What a prize!
I knew her name now, but to me she would always be my prize.
Pushing away the temptation to stroke along her breasts, my member already pulsing with a renewed rush of blood, I got up and moved around the camp.
We’d all slept lightly, trained through years of the games to wake at the slightest noise. There was no sign of any intruders, our leftover food untouched, and further into the dense foliage looked clear. Not that I’d be satisfied with a single observation.
I reached down and nudged Zuvo awake first, followed by Tarnan, keen to let Delia sleep a bit longer. They reluctantly pulled themselves away from her, just as I had.
As quiet as we’d tried to be, before too long she woke up. Her eyes had been groggy, but a smile had soon crossed her face as she took each of us in her sights. Once again, my blood pumped southwards and I had to shift my weight. There’d be time for that later, of that I was sure, and if there wasn’t, I’d make the time.
We shared a light breakfast together before heading out - I collected some fallen fruit as I’d scouted on ahead, and Tarnan had taken the time to cook it. Zuvo had maintained a steady watch while we ate, his body rigid and unable to relax.
It always made me want to laugh with how cautious he was; sometimes you just had to go all in and think fuck it. That same notion had my muscles buckle under the strain of not testing their reflexes in so long. I was hungry for the hunt. Had it ever stopped? Either way, I needed to get my blood flowing to every part of my anatomy.
Once our stomachs were filled with the last of the current food stores we’d packed, which had only really been enough for a small expedition like the one that had led us here, we returned to the intended route we’d mapped out previously.
I headed to the front of our pack and led the way. When we’d first been put together as a team, Zuvo and I had come to blows over who would lead, thanks to our alpha characteristics being so similar and butting for dominance. But I’d become the alpha after a short “demonstration” of my power.
It hadn’t been anything all that violent between us, just a means of testing each other out, but it had cemented a pack formation that had never altered since. I guess you’d have said it was my ambition that always got in the way of me assuming any other role.<
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As we walked, I kept clocking both Zuvo and Tarnan, then Delia last. On my last scan her way, I noticed she was once again fiddling about with the technology she’d salvaged.
I had no clue of what use it lighting up and beeping would do, but it kept her happy and made her feel like she belonged.
Suddenly, the machine whirred to life and threw up a giant blue, flickering map of the planet.
“Omigod!” She’d cried out, her whole body jumping back from it, though never distancing herself fully from the thing. “Itsamap!” Delia turned to us with excitement.
“Map!” echoed her translator, just a moment behind her words.
It looked similar to everything that we’d discussed at the station on the plains; she’d got us a portable, shimmering copy of the damn thing!
I had no other way to explain what it was I was seeing. I’d known that the tech around her to be mysterious in nature, but this felt unnatural. I was pleased we had it available as a tool, though.
And it was because of her.
As I grinned foolishly at her, I noted that Zuvo was the one who looked the proudest of her. He’d been so careful around her from the start, only ever letting his guard down when he was inside of her, and even then, I could detect his wariness.
But now he was beaming, his eyes alight with excitement - for someone so quiet, that single expression spoke volumes. Tarnan on the other had was shouting out his excitement into the air, his body quivering with energy. I doubted he’d ever calm down even as he aged, his youth immortalized forever inside of him.
I stepped over to the map and ran my hand through it: it danced in and out of view and then back again. It wasn’t solid. It reminded me of the type of images our masters had used when instructing us on mission parameters and basecamps, but I’d never been able to see one up close, let alone touch it.
Now that she had a map in hand, it seemed that Delia’s last remnants of disappointment had been washed away.
Delia had seemed lost when she couldn’t demonstrate her abilities; when the translator had started to work, she’d still seemed sad that it still made errors.
She was ambitious and determined like me.
I could understand that.
She had a fire to do everything to the very best of her abilities. Now that there was more happiness reflected in her eyes, she gazed into mine.
“Delia fight too.” Delia pointed at herself then at the rocks on the ground, before picking one up and hitting the trunk of a tree nearby. “Hunt.”
A bird flew away, squawking its annoyance. “Hunt.” Now that was a language I knew well.
Grabbing her hand firmly in mine, we moved forward together, my intention to seek out an animal we could practice on.
Live bait was always the best way to hone a warrior’s skills, and who was the better teacher than I?
In a caved area ahead, made up of fallen and discarded boulders, stood a lone not-animal, similar in shape to what we’d fought before.
Stopping to take in a deep breath, my body humming with pent up energy, I squatted before lunging. As I landed the weight of my frame struck the beast.
Now that it was pinned in place, I relied on my brute strength, the power of my hands, to squeeze the life from it. It fell, twitching on the ground. I’d felt no pulse when I’d wrestled with it, which had caused me to scrape its flesh with my claws in irritation.
No blood came out. These were mechanical, just as the ones we’d fought before.
“You.” I told her, picking up a rock and passing it to her.
She pointed at the not-animal, then the rock. “Throw?”
There was no way she could kill with her bare, clawless hands, but without sufficient weapons, she’d have to make do with objects she found lying around.
I could see Delia’s hands shaking, but she willingly accepted it. Her first throw was extremely poor, as was expected, but she looked so pleased that she soon tried again.
The not-animal was dead, but the ugly birds with their spiked becks and clucking tongues made good target practice for her.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Zuvo puffed up like a proud elder.
Not only had she given us a map, a good one, but she wanted to be involved. Fight with us.
Be part of the pack.
As the day progressed. Delia had progressed from small, pebble like rocks to large, hefty chunks of stone. Sometimes it was a strain for her to lift the larger pieces, not to mention throwing them, but she adapted quickly. She was focused on the hunt, a quiet determination akin to my own.
Due to the possibilities she posed, the obvious being for her to help us fight from now on, I pushed her harder to do better.
Zuvo and Tarnan had taken to hunting as well, but theirs was more for the thrill of it and to keep our supplies strong, whereas Delia and I had been having fun.
I loved that I was able to assume that role for once, as Tarnan normally did it instead; I guessed it came down to the fact that he found everything funny, whereas I only found this type of activity fun.
This and sex. I did ask myself whether this shared “hunt” was a way of me offloading some steam.
It wasn’t as hot and wet as Delia would have been, but it was more useful, and that was the only reason I could think of as to why managed to keep at it.
What I wanted to do was pull her towards me and licking every inch of her body, tasting the saltiness of her sweat as I did.
As I spotted her energy slowly waning, I decided to call out to the others to suggest that we head back to the camp we’d made. There was still much of the day left, and she was by no means spent, but it was best to go and clean her up and then get stuck into some more training later. I even wondered whether we could gather the leftover items back there and then move ahead to a new camp?
The beast we knew of that had slumbered here for centuries, each generation of it a new target for us to take down, was a risk we wanted to avoid.
If we found it, then I was determined to destroy it, as a team, in one coordinated attack.
But that was only if we found it.
Without Delia, I’d have wanted to rush into the battle without another thought.
Now, everything was different.
I couldn’t afford such reckless behavior with her welfare at risk.
Delia
I’d spent so much of my day with Axar, him showing me his own specialized hunting techniques while the others had kept themselves amused, that my body was starting to stiffen with fatigue.
But oh, how I’d thoroughly enjoyed it. Spending such a long amount of time with any of them allowed me greater insight into how they worked, but when it was with Axar or Zuvo, I had to admit that I enjoyed it a little more.
It wasn’t because I didn’t adore Tarnan and his innocent, light-heartedness, but more that the other two were much harder to read.
Especially Zuvo - even after impressing him, I found myself still needing to play catch-up in trying to find my place at his side.
My initial thoughts about them had been that they were brutes - dumb and driven by their base desires. They couldn’t go beyond this nor did they want to, they simply enjoyed being creatures of carnal wants.
But now as I observed them each in turn, I realized that they were so much more than that, they each had a quality about them that made them unique. True, they shared that exotic, dark skinned, amber eyed appearance that had me catching my breath every time I looked their way, but they had way more to give than their looks.
And more than their strength.
Even Axar, so driven by his ambition and a need to come out on top, could be so sweet natured when the moment hit just right.
I was stolen away from my thoughts for a second as Tarnan started to bound about all heavy footed, clearly fooling around to wind Zuvo up.
Zuvo was laughing, but I could see he was getting tired of such childish games. Personally, I loved seeing Tarnan behave that way. He’d always been sweeter t
han the others, had held a special kind of lightness and emotional vulnerability that I craved, but he had always kept his silly side tucked away for the most part.
Yet now here it was, out and proud, loud enough for us all to see; I felt honored to be a part of it. As if knowing I was watching, Tarnan turned my way, stuck out his tongue and winked at me; I burst into a fit of giggles as he did this, my body aching with soreness every time I moved. I was going to be so tender tomorrow, my muscles would likely scream out in pain, but it felt good to laugh and to know I’d joined in with them today.
Zuvo came up and grabbed Tarnan by the arm, jerking him around so that he nearly fell flat on his ass. This was when Axar bellowed out loud with his booming laughter, causing all of us to cast a glance his way - one look and we were all laughing.
It was such a funny, flawless moment. If I’d had a camera to hand, I’d have taken a picture of the moment to immortalize it forever. I laughed to myself now: after all this time together, there were more and more occasions when I wanted to save the memory forever, meaning that we were all growing. I was growing. My heart felt full and contented as I stood and reminisced about everything they did for me.
In my life I’d met many men, all of whom had something about them that attracted me to them - one was a little bit of a bad boy, another did the most romantic of gestures - but they all wanted one thing from me. Sex. And while I’ve always enjoyed sex openly and without shame, I didn’t like that all I was to them was an object.
When I’d first been with each of the men before me, I had wondered whether this was another one of those times, but even early on, they’d treated me with such devotion. They’d wanted to keep my body clean, free of dirt, almost as if I was their prized possession. But there had always been this something more. I’d never met many lovers who wanted to feed me, bathe me, rub my feet, carry me if the terrain was getting too harsh for my body - the list was never ending.