Chapter 54 #2
“Oh... right. Of course, I know who she is. Alexandra Taylor is the best fucking mechanic this colony has. But what confuses me is why am I staring at my mechanic through the comm unit registered to the Algatha caverns, and where the hell is Vi? Alex? Report. What’s going on?
Last I heard, you all disappeared into the desert without permission or a word of farewell.
I hope you are comming me with some good news,” he growled.
Incised, Therxian did not bother censoring himself before he growled right back, but twice as viciously, startling the human.
“Sweet buckets in hell, who the fuck is—”
“Eddie, I will explain—actually, for the sake of brevity, I will sum up—” Alex quickly replied, “this is Therxian, another prince of the Aglatha and brother of Slengral. Actually, at this point, more like the prince. He is the eldest offspring of High Queen Zathexa. Therxian, this is Eddie Wik, and despite being all growly, he is most definitely not a threat. Or a rival,” she threw in awkwardly.
Therxian’s startled gaze turned to his mate. He had not considered the male anything of the sort. Just lacking in manners.
The human—Eddie—gave a dry laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Honey, I don’t think that alien is sizing me up. You haven’t worked around Seshanamitesh as much as I have. More like he’s offended enough to remind me to mind my manners, if I’m not a missing my guess.”
“Accurate,” Therxian grumbled.
The human let out a peculiar, very human, whistle that Seshanamitesh mouths weren’t built for and shook his head. “Look like you’ve snagged yourself an alien... and royalty at that. I suppose that means that you also aren’t coming back.”
Why did the humans all insist on asking that? What business was it of theirs?
Alex’s mouth worked soundlessly for a second, but she slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Eddie.”
“Figured as much the moment I caught a glimpse of that alien hovering over you.” Eddie sighed heavily. “I don’t suppose you can at least fill me in on where Vi might be?”
Alex frowned unhappily, and Therxian fought back the urge to gather her into his arms to soothe her.
“Actually, that was what I wanted to ask you. A freak sandstorm tore the flyer apart. Vi and Ehsash were riding passenger, but I lost the entire transport compartment when I went down. I’m guessing that means she hasn’t made her way back or established contact with the colony.”
Eddie grimly shook his head in response.
“No, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
That girl had a wild hair up her ass about going after Lori.
Disobeyed direct orders, in fact, to do it.
She is about as stubborn as they come, too.
I am relieved to hear that she has Ehsash with her, though.
That means that there is a good chance that she is surviving just fine.
Seshanamitesh can keep a tick alive dancing on a match if it suited their interest.”
Therxian turned a befuddled look to his mate, and she grimaced apologetically. “He just means that you guys are adept at surviving, far more so than any human is—if he is with her, it is doubtful he will let her just roll over and die.”
“I would say it is a bit more than that,” Eddie chuckled. “Suffice to say that Ehsash would crawl through an infested pit, dragging Vi fighting behind him, to make sure she survived.”
“Alex,” Kitanara hissed. “Jathella is giving me the sign. She hears the guards returning.”
“Crap,” his mate hissed. “Eddie—”
“I’m guessing that this is not the only reason you are risking your neck to comm rather than the queen,” the male replied drolly.
“You can say that,” Alex muttered. “The situation here is precarious. We are talking complete social restructuring or collapse, depending on how it goes.”
“And that revolves around this Therxian here?” Eddie surmised.
“Indeed,” Therxian interrupted. “The royal mother line must continue through me, but it will not happen without toppling the affluence of the council.”
“The council,” Eddie drawled thoughtfully. “From what I’ve heard, that is a pretty powerful force to contend with.”
That was an understatement. But Therxian did not have the luxury of time to expend quibbling with the male. “They are the source of putrid rot within the shinara. And now they have attacked the stability of the shinara by poisoning the queen. I need the hunters,” he hissed.
Eddie stiffened in surprise. “That is... unbelievable. I will report the situation to the hunters. But what can we do?”
“If the hunters—any who are willing to take on the risk—could take a position in the upper caverns and wait for our signal, we will require their aid in throwing everything we have at the council,” Alex whispered. “The council is not going down without one hell of a fight.”
“Yes, I can imagine so,” Eddie replied. His expression tightened thoughtfully, and he gave a sharp nod.
“I will pass the message along. I can’t guarantee the results, but I know of more than one male who considers the Aglatha their home and is weary of the exile—self-imposed as it may be for the safety of their mates.
But to turn things around, they may be willing to take on the risk. ”
“That is all we can ask,” Therxian rumbled. He touched his mate’s arm as Kitanara gave an urgent hiss. “Alex, we must go now.”
His mate looked at him grimly. “Right.” Turning back to the comm, she gave the male an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid that this is it. I won’t be able to comm again. For everyone’s safety, I have to destroy the unit. Take care of everyone, Eddie.”
“You take care of yourself, kid,” Eddie replied. He adopted a stoic expression and lifted a hand in farewell as Therxian lifted his tail and brought it down on the device.
It cracked beneath the first blow, the hologram twisting on itself, but with each successive strike it crunched and twisted, the signal blinking out completely in a scattering of light as pieces went flying.
When at last he stopped, the table and floor were littered with bits of metal, and he swept his mate up into his arms. Kitanara watched him anxiously, a look of relief crossing her face.
Spreading their wings wide, they flew rapidly from the nest and glided down the corridor, the sound of voices drifting to them.
It was a near thing, but Therxian’s heart truly lightened for the first time since descending into the Aglatha.
They paused at the tunnel entrance to the elder palace, and he inclined his head toward Kitanara, exchanging a silent farewell before descending into the dark.
And when he finally had his mate back in her queen’s nest, he wrapped his coiled tail around her, slipping it around her rapidly as he hauled her to him.
He was not seething with instinctual rivalry, but he still possessed the overwhelming need to imprint himself on her.
Because he loved her. Because he adored her and admired her above all others.
And he wanted to remind her of just how much in every way until he was as ingrained in her flesh and being as she was in his.
His mouth covered hers, his tongues sliding into her mouth.
Second to her vent, her mouth was an oasis of seduction.
It entangled his senses, and engorged his sant until it was extruding and spilling as he drove it up into her pliant, hot little body.
They groaned together, their bodies twisting together in a timeless dance as his chest vibrated with the song of their need and love.
Every sigh and groan joined the melody, and her softness beneath his hands enchanted his senses as assuredly as her pheromones and with all the potency of his song weaving through her.
Her body gushed with its sweet fluids, soaking her pheromones deeper into his scales, and he loved her more than ever.
“My hithana. My one and only ashlava,” he hissed against her mouth before being silenced again by the heat of her mouth, seducing him all over again with her kiss.
Anchoring his secondary sant within her, he rutted his mate tenderly, expressing every bit of devotion and adoration with the caress of his hands, the glide of his tail and the tip of his pelvis.
He drank her cries, swallowing them one by one and reveled in the sensation of her cunt pulling hungrily at him until he ached with a kind of madness seizing him that did not relent until he was spilling his seeds within her in thick streams as she convulsed repeatedly around his sants, clutching them deep within her.
He lay there coiled with her in the nest in the aftermath of their mating, his gavo rising and lowering contentedly.
“Do you think you will ever have regrets that it was me you chose?” Alex whispered.
“Never,” he whispered, brushing her cheek against the top of her head.
She laughed softly. “I didn’t really appreciate until now how much it complicates things for you. You are in the exact position Slengral was in, except you are intentionally bucking the system rather than trying to escape it.”
“Hithana, hunting is not without its risks,” he rumbled as he stroked her arm languidly with the fingertips of one hand.
“But it is the most challenging hunt that is the sweetest. I have no doubt as to my path and destiny. Not anymore. And if that complicates things—then I will not grieve for the loss of simplicity. There is nothing I value more than this.”
“Me too,” she whispered. She expelled her breath in a soft laugh. “Okay, that didn’t sound nearly as impressively elegant as everything you just said. But me fucking too, Therxian. I love you, too.”
Holding her against his hearts, Therxian smiled. He had to return soon, but for now he would sleep within his mate’s embrace and allow himself to forget the demands of the rest of his world for just a short while.