Akur (Restitution #3)

Constance

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Constance

Consciousness returned slowly, as if her mind had been scattered, all semblance of self displaced in the moments before she fell asleep. The first thing she noticed was the warmth—she was enveloped in it, cocooned against the chill of the room. The second was the steady thrum of a heartbeat against her ear.

Akur. He was holding her.

Akur held her cradled against his chest, one arm supporting her while his other hand traced patterns on the map projected in front of them. Immediately, her breath stilled in her nose.

He was holding her…and before he’d been holding her…they’d had mind-blowing sex. Mind- bending sex. Oh God, did she really do it? She remembered begging him, unable to stop once they started. Almost as if the very scent of him had been intoxicating.

And his climaxes…what the hell happened there? She was pretty sure his cum had sent her into orbit. Like some sort of aphrodisiac that forced her body to climax again and again. Such a thing was so wild, she didn’t think it was possible.

And yet, she was sure it had happen ed.

Keeping her breathing even, she took a moment to gather herself. She felt different—stronger somehow, more alive, despite that she was still exhausted.

“I know you’re awake,” the alien suddenly rumbled. The depth of his voice vibrated through her, sending tingles through her skin.

Well, guess the pretense was over. Releasing a slow breath, she opened her eyes fully, only to find his golden gaze already on her. He was looking at her strangely. A careful neutrality in his expression that made her chest tight. “How long was I out?”

“Not long…” He paused, looking as if he was about to say something else, but his throat moved as if he swallowed it back.

“Oof,” she grunted as she tried to sit up. They were still on the table, as if he’d just pulled her into him and hadn’t moved after…

As his arms disentangled from around her, the chill caught her again. She shivered, wincing slightly as she tried to stretch. She almost toppled off the table, but he was there. Those warm arms enclosed around her again in a split second.

“Constance…” He said her name in that way he usually did, all strange, the syllables unfamiliar yet somehow…right. “I am…” He paused again. His heart was thundering against her spine now. “I did not know it would affect you the way it did.”

There was something in his voice. Something that sounded like regret. A sound so distinct it made a pit open up in her stomach.

So, he regretted it. Well…she didn’t.

Digging down inside her, she tried to find an ounce of the same emotion. She’d mated with an alien and that wasn’t so strange now after living on the Restitution’s base and seeing all the happily mated humans there. Only, you know, this wasn’t a true mating. It was just sex. Like a one-night stand. Sex for survival, that’s all it was. And she was a big girl. She’d made the decision. She’d gone through with it. He may regret it, but…she didn’t.

When she turned in his arms, the motion made her aware of every place they touched, every lingering sensation from what they did just hours before .

“You mean the…” She gestured vaguely, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. “The multiple…”

“The seed pods.” His voice was rough. “They contain a mating hormone that enhances pleasure, increases chances of…” His jaw tightened. “Ajos did not mention…qrak,” he cursed under his breath. “I should have warned you.”

“Hey.” She pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart racing beneath her palm. The thumps felt massive, almost as if his heart was twice the size of hers. “I’m okay. Better than okay, actually.” And she was. Despite the lingering exhaustion, she felt…good.

God, she’d forgotten how good the aftermath could feel. It had been a while since she last—

“You were…overwhelmed. Out of control. I thought for a moment that I had…” His hands tightened on her arms, then quickly loosened as if he was afraid of hurting her.

“Akur.” She waited until he met her gaze again. “What happened between us…I’ve never experienced anything like that. But not in a bad way.”

He made a sound low in his throat, his lips pulling back ever so slightly in a snarl. “I saw your eyes release water—”

“From pleasure,” she interrupted. “Just pleasure. Nothing else.”

“Your temperature has risen.” His voice dropped lower.

“Oh.” Now that he mentioned it, the room didn’t have that same biting cold as it had before. It was still cold, yes, but she could bear it better. “Well,” she smiled. “That’s good.”

He growled again. “You do not seem to care. You could barely take my length and then my seed…Constance…you nearly died.”

She choked on a laugh that made her cough. Chest heaving, Akur’s brow descended as she directed him to knock her back, as she tried to catch her breath again. “I assure you, what you saw was not me nearly dying. It was quite the opposite.”

When she looked at him, that neutrality was gone. He was glaring at her now.

She sighed. “Would it have mattered?” He glared even more. “You needed help. I wanted to help. You have to get out of here and warn the ot hers about that orb. Everything else…” She shrugged, trying to ignore how his proximity still affected her, how her body seemed to remember every touch, every moment of their joining. “We deal with it. Like everything else.”

He stared at her for a long moment, something unreadable in those alien eyes. Finally, he released her and hopped off the table. The loss of his warmth was like someone had just turned off the furnace she’d been sitting beside.

“We need to move,” he said. It wasn’t lost on her that his voice was carefully neutral again. “The Hedgeruds will be here soon.”

She nodded, reaching for her scattered clothes, only to remember they were in shreds. Akur made that sound again—the one that seemed caught between desire and regret. Digging in one pocket of his trousers, he took out a little circular thing and thrust it in her direction.

“What’s this?” She took the little packet, turning it over in her hand. It was wrapped in something like plastic, a little brown circle. “When I checked your pockets, I found nothing.”

“Clothing,” Akur grunted. “Shum’ai technology. Unfold it.”

She did as he instructed, biting the packet with her teeth to break the film. As soon as she did that, the disc grew; the material transforming from a thin film into a soft, pliable fabric. Within seconds, it had unfolded into a simple tunic, large enough to cover her. “It…grows?” she said, amazed.

“Nanofiber weave.” He turned away again, running a hand over his head. It was then she noticed the fin at the back of his head wasn’t that raging red it was before. It was more like a muted pink now. She’d high-five her pussy if it wouldn’t hurt. She was pretty sure she was sore down there.

“It’s adaptable. Durable.” Akur turned around again, his gaze lingering on her. “…Practical.”

It was more like a large t-shirt, but as she shrugged it on, she supposed it covered her completely, hiding away her nakedness.

“It’s thermal-regulated,” he continued. “Should help with the…” He gestured at her trembling limbs .

“The aftermath?” She supplied with a small smile, trying to ease some of the tension. It didn’t help. His only response was a grunt as he moved back to the map, but she caught the way his fin seemed to throb again, the way his hands clenched at his sides.

Damn. She hadn’t considered this when she’d made him that offer, but things felt tense now. Like things had changed. Damnit. She opened her mouth, wanting to dispel the tension, but found she couldn’t. They had a mission to complete, a world to save. Her world. Everything else would have to wait.

“Thanks.” She hopped off the table, testing her balance. Glancing back his way, she found him watching her with those intense golden eyes, and she could see him struggling with something. Before she could ask, he turned back to the map.

“The citadel first,” he said, voice gruff. “Then we take that ship and find your friend in the wastelands.”

She moved to stand beside him, studying the glowing pathways. She couldn’t understand a thing on the map. It was in a language she couldn’t read. Worse yet, it was 3D, but with only the pathways shown. Kind of like an architectural drawing of a subway network.

“Your heat…is it better?” she whispered after a few moments.

His muscles tensed, but he nodded once, sharply. “It’s managed. For now.”

There was something in his tone that made her want to reach for him, but she held back. What was his problem? Had he really hated it so much? Had sex with her really been that bad? This couldn’t just be about his concern for her wellbeing. This was something else. But it was obvious pushing now would only make him retreat further.

“Then let’s go save the universe,” she said instead, keeping her voice light. “Or at least stop it from ending.”

His lips twitched slightly—not quite a smile, but close. “Finding the maintenance tunnels will be our best route. If we can reach the power center without being detected, I can shut the lights off, give us more cover, and then—”

A distant boom cut him off, the sound reverberating through the surrou nding stone. Dust sifted down from the ceiling as tremors shook the foundation.

“What was that?” She automatically moved closer to him, scanning the ceiling for signs of collapse.

“Hedgeruds.” His expression darkened.

“Then we need to hurry.” She gathered the remaining supplies—one of those medical vials Akur needed (the other had broken), and the meal bars the Tasqal left them. There was nowhere to put them. She had no bags, but there was something else. Spotting the single bra she had in this universe, she picked up the ripped fabric. The clasp was gone, but the C cups worked great. Stuffing the items into the cups, she wrapped the strap around them to secure them before sliding it up her arm. It was tight, was hardly a bag, but it worked. “Let’s go.”

They moved through the narrow maintenance tunnel in silence, Akur leading with that predatory grace that made her wonder how someone so massive could move so quietly. The passageway was barely wide enough for his shoulders, forcing him to angle sideways at certain points. Despite the thermal properties of the tunic he’d given her and the new warmth from her body buzzing from all that pleasure, she could feel the temperature drop the deeper they went.

Another explosion rocked somewhere in the tunnels, closer this time. Small debris rained down from above, pattering against their shoulders like rain. She watched Akur pause briefly at the sound, jaw ticking, before he pushed on again. Apart from the sound of their breaths, everywhere else was silent.

“Think those monster mole rats are gone?” she whispered, glancing up to look around. The map Akur carried cast a dim glow, and it was the only light they were willing to risk.

“The tunnel dwellers? Negative. But there is too much noise in the tunnels. The explosions will send them into hiding.”

“Good. ”

Akur grunted, shifting sideways to go through a particularly narrow section.

She squeezed through too, panting slightly as she paused to take a breath. Looking around again, she tried not to let her fear rise. Everywhere looked identical, each passageway a copy of the other. “I can’t believe we’re here. That above us is a host of the very beings we both hate…and that we have to trust one of them with this. That map could be leading us anywhere.”

Akur grunted again, glancing at her only briefly. They’d been walking for maybe an hour and a half, and he hadn’t looked at her properly in that entire time. “It hasn’t led us into their clutches yet…but you are right, human.”

“So I am, alien .”

He grunted again, and she could see the ghost of a smile when he glanced back at her this time. “Constance.”

“Akur.”

He started walking again, his own gaze scanning upward at a roof she couldn’t see.

“How much longer do you think?” He reached back almost instinctively, not really paying attention as he helped her over a large fallen stone. The warmth of his touch shot up her arm. He was heating up again.

Somewhere far behind them, another boom rocked the stone walls.

“What do you think those explosions are?” Heat left her as he released her and kept on moving.

“I do not know, but they know we’re down here. They know we haven’t left.”

She swallowed hard. “So they’re hunting us. Do you think that Tasqal—”

“No. They would have found us already.”

She nodded, even though he probably didn’t see it as she was walking behind him. For the next few minutes, they trod in silence. Climbing over exposed bedrock, squeezing through areas that seemed impossible to traverse. And they kept on going .

The tunnels seemed endless. Whenever she caught a glimpse of it, Constance tried to keep track of their progress using the map, but even if she could read it, the markings were difficult to decipher in the dim light. More concerning was the way Akur’s temperature was rising again. She could feel the heat radiating from him even several feet away.

“These tunnels,” she said, breaking the tense silence between them, “they all look the same. Are you sure we’re heading the right way?”

Akur’s pace didn’t slow, but she caught the slight tension in his shoulders. “The markings change. Each section has its own designation.” He gestured to the wall. When she frowned at the spot, he brought the map closer, shedding light on the old stone. There were faded symbols etched in the rock. “We’re nearing the central hub, about halfway to that citadel.”

Another explosion rocked the tunnels, sending tremors through the stone beneath their feet. She was in his arms, scorching heat enveloping her as Akur pressed her against his chest before she even knew what was happening. He shielded her as debris rained down.

Every breath she took was like humid air. Akur. His heat…

Should she even mention it?

“You’re getting hot again,” she whispered. “Is it…is what we did wearing off already?”

He growled low in his throat, the sound echoing in the narrow space as he almost reluctantly released her. “No.”

That was a lie if she ever heard one. She was opening her mouth to point that out when he went still.

“Something about these tunnels…” He shook his head as if trying to clear it. He was back to not being able to think straight. His heat was affecting him, and he was lying about it. “The air feels wrong.”

“Wrong how?” She stumbled over some loose stones, and his hand shot out to catch her again. The heat of his touch sent tingles up her arm. Images of what they did in that room came shooting back like missiles through her memory.

“Like we’re being herded again.” His golden eyes scanned the darkne ss ahead. “The explosions…they’re too precise. Too calculated.”

“Herded again? You think someone’s directing us? That Tasqal said—”

“What that Tasqal said means nothing.” His voice had gone harsh. “They are manipulators. Masters of deception. Even the truth they speak is shaped to serve their purposes.”

He turned, pushing through the darkness, and she caught up to walk beside him as the tunnel marginally opened up. “But you believed him about some things. About the orb, about what they plan to do to Earth.”

“Because those things align with what we already know.” Another explosion shook the tunnel, closer this time. “But his motivations…those I trust less than a starving umu in a nursery.”

“A what in a what?”

A sound that might have been a laugh rumbled through his chest. “Never mind. The point is—” He stopped abruptly, head tilting slightly. “Do you hear that?”

She strained her ears. It was hard trying to listen through complete silence. You’d think any sound would be harsh, grating, and loud, but that wasn’t the case when her mind was creating phantom sounds in the back of her head.

“Wait,” she whispered, grabbing Akur’s arm. He froze instantly, and she pressed closer to hear what had caught his attention. There was…nothing…and then there was. A faint humming sound coming from somewhere ahead.

“Maintenance drones?” she asked, hoping beyond hope. Akur shook his head.

“Worse.” His voice was barely a breath. “Gragmars, I’m sure. Scavenger creatures the Tasqals use to clean their waste systems. They hunt in packs.”

As if in response to his words, the humming sound grew louder. It wasn’t pleasant. Not like a humming sound should be. Instead, it was like a too-deep vibration that threatened to render her eardrums useless. It raised every hair on her body. It was a sound that triggered someth ing wild in her brain, something that recognized apex predators on an instinctual level.

“How bad?”

“Bad.” He drew one of his blades silently. “They’re drawn to heat signatures. And right now…” He groaned as he rolled his shoulders.

She understood immediately. She was warmer than she was before, thanks to the tunic she was wearing. But him? He was probably lighting up like a beacon to any heat-sensitive creatures.

The Tasqals were using the creatures to find them. What better way than to turn the tables and hunt in a way they couldn’t escape from.

“Options?”

Another explosion shook the tunnel, more debris raining down, and this time she heard something else. Beneath the humming, a distinct snapping sound. Multiple snapping sounds.

“We can’t go back,” Akur growled, scanning the passage ahead. “The Hedgeruds will have reached our previous position by now.”

“And we can’t stay here.” She could hear more of them gathering, the snapping growing louder. “How many do you think?”

“Too many.” His free hand found hers in the darkness, squeezing once, and the simple motion made something ache inside her. “When I say run, run. Don’t stop this time. Don’t look back. There’s a junction ahead—take the right path. I’ll hold them.”

“Like hell you will.” She gripped his hand harder. “We do this together or not at all, warrior.”

A sound that might have been a laugh rumbled through his chest again. “Stubborn female.”

“You’ve known that from the start. And you still stayed to help me.”

The snapping sounds were getting closer. Like the claws of a crab? Snap, snap, snap. She could deal with crab creatures…maybe. Possibly. If it looked like an Earth thing, then it would be easier to fight…right?

Her mind flew back to the giant molerats…well, maybe not.

“There might be another way.” Akur was looking around now and she wi shed her eyesight was better to pierce the unending dark. “But you won’t like it.”

“I like being eaten alive even less.” The tremor in her voice betrayed her fear. “What’s the plan?”

“Gragmars hate light. They dwell in darkness, hunting by heat signature, but they’re easily confused by multiple sources.” His free hand moved to his blade’s hilt. “If I can generate enough heat…”

She caught his meaning immediately. “You’ll draw them to you instead of me.”

“Yes.”

“That’s the same shit plan as before, warrior. I’m not leaving you. You’re hurt, too, and your heat—”

“Is managed.” His tone brooked no argument. “The joining helped. I can control it now.”

Liar. But before she could argue, another explosion rocked the tunnel, close enough that the wall to her right shook. The shock wave sent her tumbling against Akur who stumbled back, and kept moving backward. The light from the map disappeared as he pressed the device to her chest in his haste to move, and it took her a moment to realize why.

There, as the last of the light died away, she saw one of the huge blocks shift and fall from the wall, and there, a creature from her nightmares.