Akur (Restitution #3)

Constance

1 8

Constance

“Fuck!” Akur’s use of the human word seemed apt as he broke into a run with her gripped to his chest. “You should have taken the moment to run, human. These things will be attracted to me first, before they think to go after you.”

Gripping the thick muscle of his arm that was pressed into her midsection as he ran, she squeezed her eyes tight for a moment, her stomach contents heaving as he went airborne in a leap over something she couldn’t see.

She just had to trust his eyesight was as good as she thought it was in this darkness, because she still couldn’t see shit.

But she could hear. She could hear oh so well, and behind them, that humming, snapping sound was almost deafening.

“Have you stopped to think that maybe that’s exactly what they want? For these creatures to take your attention while they come and snatch me in the dark? I’m fucking useless out here. I can’t see a thing, Akur.”

“Useless?” he grunted. “No. Take this.”

Something pressed against her breasts and she realized it was one of his swords. Trembling hands found the hilt as there was a keening sound directly behind them.

“Now, bright eyes,” Akur panted. “Run.”

He let her go suddenly, and she fell the short distance to the ground. Something clattered and skidded away, the light from the map blinking in and out as the device skated across the stone floor, illuminating the tunnel as she turned to see the creature chasing after them.

Fuck, indeed. It was a writhing mass of segmented limbs and chitinous armor, each segment lined with what looked like sensory organs. It moved like a centipede, but faster, more erratic. As Akur stopped short, it reared up, snappers at what must be its mouth orifice going snap snap snap.

Akur’s blade moved like solid lightning, catching the creature mid-lunge as the dim light from the map died. A shriek echoed through the tunnel, but the sound only seemed to excite the others she couldn’t see.

The map. She had to find the map.

Knees scraped on stone, palms being scratched to bring blood to the surface as she searched for the device. Without the map, they were blind. Without it, they were lost. Terror clawed at her throat, choking off her breath. She crawled forward, her hands sweeping blindly through the darkness, praying for the touch of metal, the faintest flicker of light. Somehow, her carefully packed bra bag dislodged, its contents tumbling out. She shrugged out of it with a stressed grunt.

“Run!” Akur shouted. “Right tunnel, go!”

“Not without you!” She blindly searched for the device still. But even as she said it, she could hear his plan working. The gragmars were focusing on him, drawn by the waves of heat now pouring off his massive frame.

“Constance.” Her name was a growl. “Run. Now .”

The command in his voice triggered something in her—not fear, but recognition. Trust. He had a plan, and she needed to trust him to execute it .

With a curse that would have made her mother faint, she rose. At the same time, her foot hit something that skirted off in the darkness. The map. It flickered alive for a moment, enough for her to see it and dive for it, before it died again.

“Constance!!”

Rising, she sprinted for the junction. Behind her, she heard Akur roar—a sound of challenge that made the very air vibrate. The gragmars responded with shrieks of their own. Shrieks that told her once they were done with him, she would be their next meal. And despite everything within her telling her to stay and fight, she had to do the thing that made her fear the most.

She had to leave him. She had to trust him with this.

She reached the junction and took the right path without slowing, ignoring every instinct that screamed at her to go back, to help him. The tunnel ahead sloped upward sharply, making her legs burn as she pushed herself harder.

Another explosion rocked the tunnels, closer than ever. This one was strong enough to create aftershocks that made her sway, Akur’s sword clanging on the walls around her as she tried to keep her footing. The sound of combat behind her began fading, replaced by an ominous rumbling that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“Come on,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to Akur. “Come on, come on...”

The tunnel curved sharply, and she nearly crashed into a wall. A dead end? No. Not again. Tucking the map device under her arm, she used both hands, searching for a secret access point. Maybe it’s just another door.

There were symbols here. Etched into the rock. She could feel them underneath her palm. If she could just figure them out…

She was still trying to decipher them when she heard it—the sound of something large moving fast, heading her way.

Pressing herself against the wall, her heart thundered in her chest. If it was one of those creatures, she was dead. Akur’s sword was heavy. She could swing it, but she’d need the creature to be distracted enough that her blow could harm it. She had no other weapons, no way to defend herself. Nothing except…the map.

It had a light. Akur said these creatures hunted in the dark. That they didn’t like the light. It wasn’t much; it was a dim light, but maybe…

Her hand went to the device. If she was about to die, she could at least try this.

The sound grew closer, and she tensed, fingers working desperately across the device’s surface, trying to activate it again. But it wouldn’t. There were no buttons to press. No display screen or anything.

“Shit.”

It fell, so maybe it was broken. Or maybe it was just one of those things that you had to smash to make it work. She didn’t frickin’ want to do that.

Fuck.

FUCK!

But it wasn’t turning on.

Lifting the device, she bit her lip hard as she heard the thing coming closer.

“If you break that map, bright eyes, we’re both dead.”

Relief hit her so hard her knees almost buckled. “Akur!”

He emerged from the darkness like a warrior god at the same moment that she must have activated something and the map flickered to life.

Akur’s chest heaved as he stood a few feet away, covered in blood that looked luminescent in the dim light but very much alive. And he was smiling. Grinning more like.

Constance’s shoulders slumped. He really did like the bloodshed and killing, didn’t he. And she wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it suited him. All barbaric and filled with bloodlust. It only made her remember…

Her cheeks heated just a moment before Akur fell to his knees.

She rushed forward. “You’re hurt. ”

“Not in the way you think, bright eyes.” He was scorching hot as she tried to help him up. His heat. He was in trouble again.

“Those creatures…”

“Won’t be following.” His grin was all teeth again. “But we need to move. That last explosion wasn’t random—the Hedgeruds are targeting the structural supports.”

As if to emphasize his point, another boom shook the tunnel. This one was accompanied by the distinct sound of stone cracking.

The tunnel rocked again, debris raining down enough that the dust choked the air. She stumbled, catching herself against the wall as Akur struggled to rise.

“Are they trying to bring the whole tunnel system down?” she breathed, watching in horror as more fissures appeared in the rock. “They’d rather bury us than let us escape?”

“Not you.” Akur’s voice was strained. “They wish to end me, not you.”

“Yea, well I’m with you. I won’t be much use to them dead, will I.”

Akur grunted. “You put much faith in these scum.” He got to his feet, but it looked like it took a lot of effort. “They only need you barely alive, female. You would serve their purpose, anyway.”

His words made a lump form in her throat, even as their bodies swayed with the shifting ground beneath them.

“The map,” Akur grunted. “What does it show ahead?”

With shaking hands, she held up the device, squinting at the holographic display. The symbols were still incomprehensible. “There’s…there’s a wall here.” She traced the glowing lines with her finger. “I can’t tell if it’s another hidden passage or—”

Another explosion cut her off, this one close enough to send them both stumbling. The crack that followed was deafening—the sound of tons of rock giving way.

“No time.” Akur grabbed her arm, practically dragging her into him as he stumbled forward, just as the walls began collapsing around them. When he grunted, more debris falling down as he thrust his shoulder into the dead end before them, she realized exactly what he was doing .

Rearing back, he hunched himself over her before he threw his shoulder forward again. The impact would have rendered any normal man unconscious, but Akur merely grunted again. Dust and debris choked the air, but he didn’t relent. Again and again, he pulled back before slamming his shoulder into the wall, each impact reverberating through her like a shockwave that made her teeth rattle in her skull.

He was like a machine, not caring about how he was breaking apart because he had no feelings. At least, that’s what it seemed he’d like her to think. But back then in that room, and right now, she could see it. The male who was practically giving his life just so she could survive this. Because he was right. The Tasqals only needed her breathing. No matter if she was broken, near death, hardly alive, once she was still breathing, they’d still get their way.

The light flickered in and out as Akur continued to batter the wall. Behind them, the sound of falling rock grew louder, closer, a cascade of destruction racing to consume them.

“There!” Akur’s voice cut through the din. “A chamber. I can see the other side!”

She caught glimpses of it too. He really was a machine, using his body like a hammer to break through the wall before them. There, in the flickering light, was an opening into what looked like a vast cavern. But that little hole, that glimmer of hope amidst the rain of debris, seemed impossibly small.

“Akur,” she gasped as the map blinked on long enough for her to see the billowing dust heading their way.

They were going to die here. Both of them. The alien rebel with a death wish and the human he was stubborn enough to save.

“ We’ll make it. ” Akur’s arm tightened around her as he continued pummeling the rock. “By the gods of Tonvuhiri, we will.”

Something swelled in her heart that made her almost choke, made it hard to breathe. The light blinked out before coming on again as she watched the tunnel collapse.

Oh, God…this was really it.

His growl was all she heard before they were tumbling forward. They b urst through the wall just as the tunnel behind them gave way completely. It was gravity against the chase of certain death. Akur tumbled forward, the force of the collapse sending them both sprawling. Twisting his frame, Akur took the brunt of the impact as they hit the ground. Dust and debris rained down around them as the last of the tunnel crumbled, sealing off the way they’d come.

For several long moments, they lay there in the darkness, gasping for breath. He’d done it. He’d really done it. And they were both still alive.

She could feel his heart thundering against her back, his skin burning as hot as ever.

“You,” she panted, out of breath. “You did it. You brilliant, brilliant—”

“Of course I did.” Akur’s chest rumbled with a laugh that she felt through every point of contact between them. “Did you doubt me, bright eyes?”

“Someone has to keep that ego of yours in check.” But she was smiling in the darkness, hyperaware of how his arm was still wrapped around her, how solid he felt beneath her.

“And you volunteered for the task?” His voice had dropped lower, rougher. “How…generous of you.”

“Someone has to.” She shifted, turning on his chest and using her hands to find her way. His chest was still heaving and wet—whether it was his blood or the creatures’, she didn’t know, but something told her it wasn’t only his enemies’ the moment her fingers brushed against his shoulder and he jerked at the contact.

“Akur,” she whispered, both hands trembling as they found his face. She grasped his jaw, staring down at him even though the darkness hid everything. “You can’t keep doing this. Even with your magic healing alien shit, you can’t—”

“I promised to get you out of here alive, human.”

She swallowed that lump that had risen in her throat again. “Stop calling me that.”

He didn’t respond. Under her hands, she felt his jaw clench.

“Call me by my name, Akur. ”

His jaw clenched again. “Constance,” he finally said, the word coming from his lips so roughly, with so much restrained emotion, that she choked on what might be a sob.

She shook her head. “We can’t keep doing this. If we continue like this, you’ll…”

“Die?” he ground out.

She sniffled, looking away even though she wasn’t sure he was looking at her. And why did she care, anyway? He was an alien rebel, a killer… If he wanted to die, that was none of her business. So why did the thought make her chest ache?

The harsh laugh that made his chest rise and fall echoed in the darkness. “All these turns, and death has eluded me still, sweet one.” He paused. “I promised…”

“To who? Who did you promise to?”

He huffed a soft laugh through his nose. “To you, bright eyes.”

She sniffled. “Well, you take back your promise. It’s getting worse. They’re not letting me go easy so…so if it’s a matter of life or death…if it’s a matter of leaving me to save yourself,” she turned back to face him, putting a little pressure where her hands clasped his jaw, “you save yourself.”

For a moment, he was silent, and then it was as if the heat surged within him, spreading through her skin and into her being. He grunted and suddenly she was pressed against him again as both his arms came across her, one across her back, the other gripping her behind with a possession that almost snapped her out of her grief.

“Never,” he whispered, his breath so hot and close across her lips. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

His heat seared through her. But instead of burning, it felt like being wrapped in liquid fire that caressed rather than consumed. One of his massive hands slid up her spine to cradle the back of her head, fingers threading through her hair.

“Constance…my human…” he breathed against her lips, and she felt rather than saw him smile. “You think too much.”

Then his mouth claimed hers, hot and demanding. The kiss ignited something primal within her, making her gasp against his lips. His other hand tightened possessively at her waist, drawing her closer as she melted against the solid wall of his chest. Time seemed to stop, the darkness around them fading into insignificance as her world narrowed to the points where they connected.

When he finally broke away, they were both panting. His forehead rested against hers, his skin still blazing with that otherworldly heat.

“Akur, your heat…”

He groaned. “We should move.” He said this, though he made no attempt to release her. “The Hedgeruds will find another way.”

“Let them try,” she whispered back, smiling now. “I won’t let them take you either.”

A laugh rumbled in his chest. “Now who’s making promises they shouldn’t keep?”

“I learned from the best.” Her retort made him chuckle for real this time.

The ground beneath them shuddered, a distant reminder that they weren’t safe. Not yet. Maybe never. But for this moment, suspended in darkness with his heat wrapping around her like a shield, she couldn’t bring herself to move.

“We need to go,” Akur rumbled again.

“I know.” As she shifted up on his chest, the wet sensation of blood made her stomach clench. “But you’re hurt.”

“I heal fast.”

“Not fast enough.” Her fingers traced what felt like mangled flesh and bone on his shoulder, making him hiss. “And you’re burning up again.”

A light flickered to life by her side, the same little device he’d used before, and it cast an eerie glow across Akur’s blood-streaked face. The sight made her breath catch. His normally teal skin was ashen, and fresh cuts marred his features. But it was his eyes that scared her the most—they were almost completely black, only a thin ring of amber visible around his pupils.

“Your eyes,” she breathed, reaching up to touch his face. “They’re different. ”

He caught her wrist before she could make contact. “Don’t. Just holding you like this…” His jaw clenched again. He caught her wrist before she could make contact. “The heat…it’s progressing faster than it should.” He said it almost as if it was his life’s greatest failure.

“Because you keep pushing yourself too hard…for me.” The words burst out of her before she could stop them. “You’re going to kill yourself, and for what? To save one human who’s probably going to end up dead, anyway?”

His grip on her wrist tightened to the point of pain. “You are not going to die.”

She yanked her hand free, anger and fear making her voice shake. “You can barely stand, you’re bleeding everywhere, and your body temperature is high enough to cook your brain! And for what? Some promise you made to protect me? I never asked for that.”

“No,” he snarled. “You didn’t ask. But I gave it anyway. And I will keep giving it until there is nothing left of me to give. And you…you’re special.”

“Special enough to die for?” The words came out bitter.

His eyes flashed, that ring of amber briefly flaring. “Special enough to live for.”

The raw conviction in his voice struck her silent.

He meant it. This stubborn, infuriating alien warrior truly believed she was worth dying for. A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

“You’re insane,” she whispered, voice thick with unshed tears.

He didn’t argue, didn’t defend himself. He just looked at her, his eyes burning with an intensity that made her heart ache. They were trapped, surrounded by enemies, his body ravaged by injuries and consumed by an alien heat she couldn’t comprehend. And yet, in that moment, all he seemed to care about was her .

Something snapped inside her. All the fear, the grief, the frustration—everything. Leaning forward, she didn’t think. Didn’t give herself a moment to pause. She kissed him again, pouring all of that fear, her gratitude, and something else burgeoning deep inside her into that single contact. It was a fierce, demanding claim, a silent plea for him to live .

For them both to survive this.

Akur groaned into her mouth, the sound a mixture of pain and surprise, just as his arms tightened around her. He held her like he was afraid to let go. She could feel the tremors running through him, even as he gripped her like she was the rock that could steady him.

Pulling back slightly, her gaze searched his. “We don’t have to do that again, if you don’t want to.”

His teeth bared. “You have no idea what I want. What’s quickly growing deep within me. You should run now, Constance, but not because there are enemies chasing us.”

She swallowed, watching his features in the light’s glow. “No.”

“Stubborn.”

“Yes.” She leaned forward again. “There’s another way. A way to…to ease your heat.”

His eyes seemed to dilate even more, and she took a deep breath, ignoring the warmth rising in her cheeks.

“Let me help you.”

A complex mix of emotions seemed to flit across his eyes—relief, gratitude, and a flicker of something…darker. He didn’t speak, didn’t need to. The answer was in his gaze, in the way his hand reached out, one finger tracing the line of her jaw. “And how will you help me, bright eyes?”

She took his hand, her fingers intertwining with his, and brought it to her waist, pressing it against the soft curve of her hip. “Help me,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Please.”

He groaned, a low, guttural sound that sent a shiver down her spine. His grip tightened on her hip, his fingers digging into her flesh, a possessive gesture that made her heart race.

She slid her hand lower, her fingers running from his chest to the lower part of his abdomen and then…against the hard ridge of his arousal. It was strange. Something so big shouldn’t be able to hide, but it was like his cock appeared out of nowhere. He shuddered as her fingers brushed over him and she swallowed hard, looking up at him, their gazes locking as she traced the curve of his length .

He seemed to surrender. His eyes closed, his head falling back against the floor, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “Constance…”

She moved closer, her body pressing against his, her hand moving to release the clasp of his trouse. The moment it did and her fingers slid beneath the garment to touch his heated flesh, Akur hissed. He stiffened, his eyes flying open again.

“Just let me take care of you,” she whispered. His throat moved as he watched her, those eyes consuming her as she wrapped her hand around his thick head. Rhythmically, gently at first, she moved her hand from the tip to as far down as she could go. Fuck, he was massive. Thick, girthy, wide enough that one hand wasn’t enough. Grasping him with both, he hissed again, his hips shunting forward in a sharp jab. “That’s it, big guy. Let me take care of you.”

She whispered his name, and as she continued to touch him, to stroke him, to ease the fire that raged within him, she felt a shift in his energy, a release of tension, a slow, steady descent from the brink of chaos.

His breathing grew deeper, more even. Those eyes locked with hers as a silent gratitude, a silent understanding passed between them.

He reached out, cupping her face, his thumb brushing against her cheek, as his breaths came shorter. Looking into his eyes like this was intense. Almost as if they were sharing something deep. Something special. Something…inevitable.

As her rhythm increased, her touch growing bolder, she could feel him building, the heat radiating from him intensifying; the tremors running through his body growing stronger. A low growl rumbled in his chest, rivalling the shudder that went through the ground beneath them like a jarring reminder of the danger that still lurked.

She pumped harder, trying with all her mind to ignore the flutter that went through her center at just the sight of him, or how touching him like this was making her throb with a rhythm that matched the one she made.

“Akur,” she whispered. “Come for me. ”

His hips bucked against her hands, his body tensing. He was close. So close.

Increasing her pace, her hands moving faster, her touch more insistent, she didn’t know what she felt at first. Like a lump, a ridge moving up his smooth white shaft. Small, hard knots of pleasure that reacted under the pressure of her wrists to make him shunt even harder.

“Constance!!!” With a guttural cry, he shattered.

The first seed pod had her staring wide-eyed. It looked like a soft white berry, emerging from his tip a moment before it burst and another took its place. Her chest heaved, heavy breaths leaving her as she came face to face with the things that almost made her catatonic. The things that gave her the most pleasure she’d ever had in her life. The seed pods burst, one after another, spilling onto her hand, her wrist, her arm. A rush of heat, a tingling pleasure spread through her veins, making her gasp, her body arching involuntarily. It was intoxicating, addictive, a primal cocktail of alien hormones no doubt designed to bind mate to mate.

It wasn’t even inside her, and she felt her own body react. Could feel her center swell and throb demanding to be touched. But not now. This was for him.

As the last few seed pods released, Akur collapsed, his body still trembling, his breath coming in gasps. The heat radiating from him was still intense, but the feverish edge was gone, replaced by a deep, satisfying warmth.

She continued to stroke him, gently now, soothingly, until no more seed pods emerged, until his body was still, his breathing even. Only then did she shift her gaze to his. His face was still pale, streaked with sweat, but his eyes…there was a tenderness there that made something in her chest spasm.

The ground shuddered again, a more violent tremor that sent dust and debris falling from the collapsed section not far behind them. They couldn’t stay here. Not now.

“Akur,” she whispered, fingers still gently gliding over his cock. She tr ied not to stare at it. He was still hard, but they couldn’t go again. Not here. Not now. “We need to go.”

Looking up, they were in another tunnel, but this one seemed different. More like a corridor than anything else.

With a grunt, Akur reached down, his hand covering hers. The breath stopped in her nose as his touch sent a jolt of awareness through her. He guided her hand, slowly, deliberately, down the length of him, then back up, his touch firm, possessive. Her breath hitched again as she felt his hardened length press against her palm, the heat of him searing and yet attracting her like a moth to his flame.

He leaned into her touch, his eyes closing, a low groan rumbling in his chest as he pressed her hand harder, his fingers interlacing with hers, guiding her touch. “Constance.” He did that guttural thing with her name again. “You tempt me.” She could feel him hardening even more against her palm, when, with a groan, he shifted, his hips canting upwards. He guided her hand now, pushing it farther into his trouse to his sac, hung and tight. He shuddered again, as he pressed her hand there and she felt it, the place where his cock must have come from.

Her mouth went dry, her tongue coming out to lick her lips, neither of them looking away as he guided his cock using her hand, pushing himself back within that pouch.

“Thank you, bright eyes,” he whispered as the final inch disappeared from her touch. Her throat felt like it was parched. She could only nod.

His throat moved too, before he nodded, pushing himself up, his movements still a little slow, but the feverish urgency was gone.

She helped him to his feet, shaking her head to dispel whatever spell had come over her. They were being chased, near death at every moment. She couldn’t get caught up in—she glanced at him as he picked up his swords and re-sheathed them—whatever was growing between them.

“The map?” she shook her head again before her gaze fell on the device where it had landed on the floor. Its light was extinguished. She picked it up anyway .

“Useless now.” Even his voice sounded stronger. That was good. Then why was there a strange feeling still at the center of her chest? Something that felt almost like sadness. Regret?

She wasn’t sorry she fucked him or gave him a hand job. Heck, she’d give him a blowjob too, if that meant they’d survive this. So why…why was she sad?

“Which way then?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Akur looked up, more like himself than before now. “We go forward.” He gestured in front. There was another way to their right, but that was partially blocked off by fallen rocks and she wasn’t in the mood to climb, either. The other direction it was then.