CHAPTER 20
ZAREK
It is implied, based on the no touching protocol, that fornication with humans is also forbidden. Fuck protocols (and humans, apparently.)
Ellie presses her lips into mine, almost aggressively, and I feel her muscles relax as we melt into each other’s touch. In the lavender field, the kiss was tentative and soft. This time feels different.
Depraved. Indecent, even.
Her fingers run through my hair, tightening at the scalp, dragging me into her as our tongues and teeth clash. A small gasp escapes me as Ellie bites my lower lip, and I think I like it.
I think I like it a lot.
I sit up, my hands coming to the small of her back, allowing Ellie to grind on me as we kiss. My sex hardens, and I’m about to push down the waistband of her shorts, when I feel something wet touch my skin.
There is a single tear rolling down Ellie’s cheek. My brows knit, and I take off her glasses, setting them on the nearest surface. I use my thumb to wipe the tear away, and she leans into my touch.
“I’m sorry,” she says, barely a whisper.
“You do not need to apologize,” I reply, trying to sound gentle. “Why are you crying?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I mean, I do know, but I’m embarrassed.”
I cup the back of her head, her curls smooth and still damp under my touch, and she rests her face in the crook of my neck.
We sit there for a moment, the only sound heavy breathing, and I count the electric pulses of her heart, one after the other.
My own heart seems to slow down in response, and I cannot tell if it is just in my head, or if it is somehow adapting to hers.
Guilt lodges its way into my throat, making it hard to swallow.
I hate seeing her like this—hate that I might be the reason.
I mean, we finally found the information she wanted, I figured she would be overjoyed.
But she just seems sad, and I know that sadness is because of me.
I do not want to be the one to bring her pain, nor do I want to say goodbye, but it feels like an inevitable truth. At least right now.
There is a part of me that wants to tell her the plans I’m considering, or even get her input and guidance, but I think this is one of those things I have to do alone.
Not only because she does not speak Terilian, or fully understand the dynamics of the Tetheh, but also…
it should be me. My entire life was dictated for me before I was ever born, and if I am going to change it, I have to actually be the one to go for it.
When Ellie sits up, her eyes are a little red, but she is not crying anymore.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, and she nods.
“I am really happy we finally found the…well, the origin of all human language. And I’m grateful you worked so hard to help me get it, but honestly?
I’m sad. So fucking sad, and I don’t even get it.
You’re wonderful, but you’re also a ridiculous being—an alien being, no less,” she says, somewhat rambling, emotions seeming to cloud her thoughts.
“I wanted to thank you, and I want to sleep with you again, but I also can’t stop thinking about how tonight or tomorrow night could be our last opportunity, and then I just lose it. ”
I press my nose into hers, wanting her to know I hear her, and I feel the exact same way. “I understand. We do not know what our future holds. But if this were to be it, I would want it to be the best you have ever had.”
She lets out a quiet, breathy laugh. “So…”
“So, I think we should do something else right now. Let’s just be silly. Can I show you something?” I ask, and she nods. I stand and crack my wrists, ready to show her my brilliant thing.
Except, I have nothing.
Not my most brilliant of plans, but I want to get her mind off of sad departures and onto literally anything else. If I could manifest a bucket of kittens right now, I would, but I cannot.
All I really have is the BLEND, the DIRC, and a whole lot of personality.
“Let me put the BLEND back in,” I say, and Ellie’s face morphs into something sad and concerned.
“No, I like you—”
“Trust me. I am not going human on you,” I say, and place the chip back into the nearly-microscopic port on my side.
Flipping through the options, which pop into my mind like a slideshow, I consider what might perk Ellie up. “Close your eyes,” I say, once I have found the perfect choice, and Ellie listens.
Selecting an outfit from what must be the 14th century, I watch as fabric forms around me. “Alright, you can open them.”
When Ellie’s eyes go wide, her cheeks flush, and I can see how she is struggling to keep her face neutral. “Is that a corset?!”
“It is not Renaissance faire how good I look in this,” I say, showing off my ridiculously sculpted waistline.
“Zarek.”
My grin spreads from ear-to-ear. “Yes, Ellie?”
“Okay first of all, you’re such a dork. Secondly—why is this even an option?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I think they wanted to prepare me for anything.”
“Except Paris in the summertime in modern day, apparently,” Ellie sasses.
Selecting another look, the fabric shifts, turning into a deep green tartan wool.
Ellie sighs through her nose, trying to remain serious, but her mouth is quivering as she holds in a laugh. “I—”
“Do you have a thing for…what are these called? I know they are not skirts.”
“Kilt,” she informs me, and I nod.
“Yes. Do you have a thing for kilts?”
“I have a thing for you,” she says, one eyebrow quirking up. “Can you just be you for a moment? Just as you are.”
I take out the BLEND chip in an instant, set it on the table, and lean against the wall.
I am only in a pair of black undergarments, and it feels oddly revealing, given the way tonight has gone.
I have no expectations, and I genuinely want nothing other than to make her happy right now.
But I can feel myself hardening again as I stare back at her; I am unsure if I should be ashamed of that.
Regardless, I do not think I am.
I want her. Even if nothing comes of it right now, or even if she decides she does not want me back, I want her and she knows it. She deserves to know it. Ellie is a work of art.
“What’re you thinking about right now?”
“Do you want my honest answer?”
“Yes,” she says, nodding.
One corner of my mouth quirks up. “I was thinking about how you are a work of art.”
Ellie cocks her head to the side, her brows furrowing, but I can see a smile beginning to form. “How so?”
Is she teasing me, or testing me? “You are beautiful,” I say, and take a step forward. “And timeless.” Another step.
I pause for a moment, waiting to see if she’ll ask me to stop, or give any inclination that she does not want me to continue shifting closer. But she just keeps staring at me, her eyes tracing down the length of my body, so I continue toward her.
“And I think,” I lean down and pick Ellie up, her legs wrapping around my waist as I grab her ass, her arms coming over my neck, “you’d look good pinned against the wall.”
She giggles, and l place her against the wall, leaning in to kiss her neck. Everything feels right again.
“You call my sex a cock, but what do you call yours?” I ask, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.
“What?” Her voice is a little breathless.
“I know it is a vulva, but what do you call it?” I ask, trying not to ruin the mood before we’ve even gotten started.
While I am technically not a virgin, as the humans call it, I am not very experienced either. The awkward sexual encounters I had with some of my sapphiro classmates pale in comparison to what I have done with Ellie. I want to make sure she feels the same way. I want to be the best she’s ever had.
I might have also done research on how humans like to be pleasured. I read anecdotal evidence on the methods that work best, and the terms humans prefer to use. As nerdy as it sounds, it stems from the desire to please Ellie, which is something I could never feel embarrassed over.
Scientific terms—like clitoris—often get shortened to clit, but there are so many words for a human vulva, I would rather Ellie decide what I call it. It seems fair, as hers is the only one I ever intend on pleasuring or so much as thinking about, anyway.
She is the only being in the universe I want to touch, or be touched by.
“Pussy, I guess?”
“Can you use it in a sentence?”
Ellie sighs in frustration. “Is this a goddamn spelling bee?”
“Please,” I say, before I take my tongue and glide it down her soft neck until I reach her collarbone, planting gentle kisses there.
“I want you to touch my pussy,” she says, more a whimper than anything.
I hum, my sex throbbing at her words. “Good.”
Her body is still pinned to the wall, her thighs shaking with need. “What if someone walks in?” she asks.
I tighten my grip and gently place her onto the edge of her bed, moving to lock the cabin door. “Well, now they cannot,” I say, getting onto my knees, helping her out of her clothes. “But I’ll be honest. Even if we were out in the dining cabin, I would crawl under the table to please you.”
Ellie tilts her head back as I kiss her inner thigh, slowly making my way toward her dripping core, my tongue sweeping over her clit, before I pause.
“Zarek.” Her voice is desperate and heady.
I swipe my tongue from her entrance back up to her swelling clit, and then stop, causing her to squirm.
“Please,” she begs.
I drag my tongue against her again, pushing it deeper inside before every upward flick, and her quiet moans of pleasure fill the cabin.
My hands hold onto her hips, gripping them like handlebars, as I lick and suck on her clit, feeling her heartbeat on my tongue. It is as if I can taste her lifeforce, and I moan against her soft flesh as she arches her back. I can feel my own heart pumping faster in response.
Taking my time, I let my hands roam up her body, exploring her soft curves, and stop when I reach her breasts. I find the hard buds and pinch them lightly, enjoying one of the many features humans have that sapphiro do not. My tongue continues to lap against her, lazily at first.
Then I pick up the pace, circling her center before pressing hard against it, over and over, until I can sense she’s tumbling toward the edge.
Her heart rate increases, her entire body tensing, and I bury my mouth against her as the waves of her orgasm threaten to drown us both.
Ellie moans, crying out my name, and I revel in how her body seems to completely relax beneath my touch—and tongue.
She seems to still for a moment, before her fingers are pulling down the black fabric of my underwear, her pupils widening as my sex gets released.
Ellie has seen my cock before, but I do not think the novelty of it has faded yet, and it brings me great pleasure to watch her stare at it with hungry eyes.
I want to memorize this look, and the curving lines of her body, so that even if this does end…it will live immortalized in my head. When I go back to Terilia, all my dreams, all my fantasies, will be of her.
Ellie grips me, practically pulling me by my shaft onto the bed, where I climb in next to her. The mattress is small, forcing us to be pressed against one another, and I come up behind her.
She is half on me, half next to me as I line myself at her entrance, holding her jaw in my hands, kissing her languidly.
Slowly, I push myself inside, and Ellie lets out a sharp gasp that only makes me harder. “Is this okay?”
“It’s perfect,” she says, and it is all I needed to fuel my stamina.
Thrusting into her, my movements are slower than before. I methodically inch myself deeper and deeper, until there is nothing left of me to give, and Ellie moans. She is wetter than before, her body easily taking all of me tonight, and I intend to give it to her.
We look crazed as our hands roam each other’s bodies, while I pick up the pace, the thrusts becoming faster and her moans getting louder. We turn a little, and I sit up, gripping her ass as I slam her into the bed.
Ellie is a panting, sweating mess, and it might be the sexiest thing I have ever seen. The way she grips the sheets, and the guttural sounds of her cries as I push her closer to the edge.
This is my every desire come to fruition. More than plants, more than science, I want to watch this stunning being completely fall apart, and know it was me that did that.
And I want it to be me, and only me, who gets the honor of putting her back together again.
“Zarek, please, I want to look at you,” she says, and I remove myself for a second, allowing her to fall onto her back, before I’m back on top.
I kiss the top of her forehead. “You are incredible.”
And then I thrust all the way back in.
Ellie’s pussy is pulsing around me, oxytocin and serotonin and dopamine flooding my system, and everything is too much all at once. It is so good—she feels so good, so perfect, and as her eyes roll into the back of her head, I finally allow myself to tip over, drowning in pleasure alongside her.
We are both nearly in tears, with labored breaths and sweat-slicked skin, but I pull her close and flip us so she can be the one on top.
I am still inside her, and we probably made a mess of the sheets, but I just hold her as she rests.
The softness of her breasts presses against the hardness of my chest, and I melt into her, wishing we could somehow fuse our bodies together permanently, so that no planet or government could ever separate us.
We stay like this, just quietly listening to each other breathe, and I realize tomorrow is likely our last full day together. After that, we’ll find the edelweiss, and our fate will be sealed.
I wish I could make it to where nobody could take me away, but I have never been so lucky. At least, that is what I would have said in the past.
After crashing into the catacombs and meeting Ellie? I am not so sure. Maybe she is my good luck charm.
Maybe she is my destiny.