26. Wandering
TWENTY-SIX
WANDERING
Elena
It’s harder than I expected, locating Lukys’s home despite always having a good sense of direction.
But directions out in the wilderness are different than those on ships…
I pass the boulders it’s hidden behind several times before recognizing them.
Circling the bigger one, I soon find myself in front of his cave, eyeing the vines shielding it from view. I hesitate upon seeing them.
Slowly approaching the entrance, I take in the stakes on either side and the animal skulls resting atop them. I failed to notice them the times I fled.
Ominous… Though I’m not completely against them. They’re a warning sign for potential intruders… like me. They’re working.
“Lukys?” I call out nervously.
What if he’s staying away… for my benefit?
I clasp my hands when he doesn’t appear, wringing them in worry.
I shift the vines and take a small step inside. “Lukys?”
A large shadow hits my back, blocking out the sun.
I gasp and twist around, pressing my body to the side of the cave when I catch sight of Lukys’s towering form.
His nostrils flare and his arms stretch to either side, and I see the spear in his right hand.
He rests it against the wall opposite me and further blocks my exit.
“Elena,” he growls. “What are you doing here?”
His voice, so deep, so clear and upon me, makes me swallow thickly from the delicious sound of it.
I hitch in a breath and catch his scent, stronger than ever before, mixed with musk and sweat.
Heat explodes through me. My gaze drops to his middle only to discover his bulge is bigger than ever before.
“You were gone,” I whisper, looking up at him, my voice weaker than I’d like it to be. “I… I got worried. You were gone for days.” I also got frustrated and angry.
He moves a little closer, and I press into the wall. My stomach tightens and my sex quivers as I breathe more of him in.
Rich, complex dessert. So good…
“You are outside my nesssst,” he hisses, his voice lowering.
I scrape my teeth across my lower lip. “I… I need to talk to you.”
“About what?” His brow arches. “You are not within your ship and are here… You are either brave or stupid.”
I swallow again. “Yes… Well…” I glower and sigh. “I need to know why I’m so affected by you and what that means… I’m… nervous.”
He raises his hand and trails the back of his fingers down my cheek. A shiver courses through me, amplifying my neediness and reminding me of the hell I’ve been through these past couple of weeks.
“Do not be. Thissss is right. You are mine, can you not feel it? Can you not smell it? We could breathe each other in forever. Your smell fuels me like no other, a beacon to something I crave deeply.”
My next breath is a shallow one as my heart reverberates wildly. With his face right above mine, I lick my lips, half anticipating his own upon them, recalling how he demanded to be let in my ship. “I don’t want to submit to you,” I whisper but lean toward him anyway.
He pets my cheek. “Yes. You will. There is no other choice when it comes to your survival…” His nose lightly touches mine and the contact makes me jerk as my nerves sing with amplified anticipation. I nearly moan as my whole body shudders orgasmically.
He’s protective and nice. He’s… He cants his head and runs his nose along my jawline. Here. He’s here and that’s more than anything right now. I turn my face toward his and our lips brush.
His spear tumbles to the ground as he jerks and closes in around me, bracing his large, muscular arms on the rock.
I tremble but don’t try to flee. His lips are hard, demanding, unmoving, and not being a great kisser myself, I slant mine under his, opening them slightly.
As I do, I feel his tailtip coil around my ankle and slide up my leg.
I sink my fingers into his hair as I grasp the sides of his face. He lowers to deepen the kiss and his tail presses forward to spread my legs as he pushes me against the wall.
His kiss softens while mine fights briefly for relief, turning my head slightly from side to side. His mouth opens under my direction, and I caress him into a new kiss, a gentler one. “Lukys…” I mumble.
He’s a quick learner, being the first to sweep his tongue into my mouth. I tingle with pleasure as his hands run over my arms, my sides, eventually sliding into my hair to grip me the same way I’m gripping him. I’m gripping him hard.
“Incredible,” he rumbles. “I knew you were mine.” He releases my face to circle his arm around me and tug me into him. I press my cheek against his chest, feeling shocked.
His words have me quivering with excitement as much as they’re filling me with dread. But my misgivings ease as he leans down and runs his lips along my neck.
Needy, I gasp as he presses his mouth to my throat. His body shakes against mine as he inhales fervently. I take my own breath, sucking more of his pheromones in. Clenching and wet, I’m already more than aroused. I’m desperate.
I have no aversion to sex. It’s not something I’ve ever done despite being more than knowledgeable about it. But I was always afraid of contracting with a man when I wasn’t sure if he was after my inheritance. Or worse, my sister.
Lukys picks me up and carries me into the darkness of his home. My lips part as my toes curl.
The cave’s cold air envelops me as he takes me to his nest. His scent grows richer the closer we get to his hides. I forget about asking him where he’s been the last few days.
He’s quiet, and his heavy, almost tense silence, thrills me in a way I don’t understand.
The anticipation—laced with fear of the risk I’m taking—is almost too much.
All I have to focus on is his hissing, which is nonstop, low in its raspiness.
It makes his body vibrate, which makes mine hum.
I press into him, circling my arms around his neck, reverberating.
When we reach his nest, he lies me down into the pile of hides and releases me. I reach for him, about to murmur his name when I hear him move away. My fingers close around empty air.
In the darkness, I don’t think clearly. I quickly shimmy out of my shoes and pants, pushing them aside, more courageous than I’ve ever been. Easing back into the soft hides, I’m consumed by his musk and pheromones. I revel in it, pushing my fingers hard against my clit over my panties.
I shudder and clench, wishing his cock was already inside me.
I hear him before I see him appear in the passageway with the lantern. It’s working again. The golden-white light illuminates his nest and the many antlers decorating his space. The shadows elongate, making me shiver, spearing towards the pinnacle of the ceiling.
Staring at me, and taking in my partially nude state, he places the lantern on the table.
I lift up on my elbows, curling my toes harder, and look at him.
“Elena,” he rasps, running his hand over his mouth and dragging his clawed nails across his lips. “Why now? Why?”
“You got me sick,” I accuse breathlessly. “Now, help me get better.”
I need this torment to end. I didn’t realize how much I cared about him until he vanished—now I just want him to sweep me away—
Away—into a haze of whatever this is…
Away—from my grief and stress…
“I will breed you.”
My breath stifles and I sit straighter. “You can’t. I’m on special medicine.”
He drifts closer and I draw farther back onto his nest. His tailtip slides into the large bundle of hides to my left and coils over itself. Rising on his tail at the same time, he hovers over me, leaning down to cage me with his arms.
“I did not know medicine can stop a breeding, but your world is different from mine. Even if I cannot breed you, I will claim you,” he growls.
“Just for now,” I promptly, shakily, correct. “You can claim me now, but not always.”
“Not alwayssss?” he hisses, lowering his face above mine. “Explain.”
“You can”—my voice trembles as my body quivers, heat spearing through me as his scent overpowers the air in my shallow breaths—“take me now but I am… how should I say… only wanting to contract with you for a short term…” Three months is the standard.
He shakes his head. “Contract? Your human term? No.”
“Lukys, please… don’t ruin this. Please.”
“I ruin nothing, female.” He eyes me sharply.
“Nothing hassss been ruined. We are both stubborn, and I can accept this trait in you. Claiming you once will be claiming you always,” he grits, turning his face when he inhales deeply.
“You smell so sweetly, so fresh, it is making my mouth water. You say I made you sick, what do you mean?” He dips his head into the crook of my neck.
He runs his mouth up my throat and over my ear, making me shudder.
His tailtip circles my knee and pulls it outward as the larger coils of his tail shift between my legs.
His fangs gently scrape my cheek as he moves up my body.
I gasp and shift my hands between us, planting them on his chest. I find his scales, his smooth skin under my fingertips, exceptionally warm to the touch.
The heat is only making it harder for me to keep my thoughts straight. I forget what we were discussing as I ease deeper into his hides, turning my face away from him when he drags his mouth back down my throat and lower still… over my chest and between my legs.
I’m tense but I don’t stop him.
He rises to look down at me, and I clench, thankful I left my underwear on and the light is low. I don’t know how an alien like him will view someone like me… My stomach tightens as my eyes hood. I debate closing my legs, but when I test one against his tail, it barely moves.
He drags his hands down my body and places them on my thighs.
I drop into the hides with a moan.
“Your ssssource,” he growls in awe.
He grabs the thin fabric of my underwear and rips it aside, revealing my sex to him in its entirety. The chilly air hits my sensitive skin before it’s replaced by his breath. Despite his shadow covering me and my most private parts from him, his eyes narrow, taking me in.