Alien storm, p.26
Alien Storm, page 26
“Break the bindings.”
How helpless I am but to obey.
The straps tore like they were nothing more than the blades of grass beneath us. My bloodied hands flew to Zuh-Tephanie’s hips. I lifted her slightly, holding her in place, as I unleashed my pent-up need in furious, punishing thrusts.
But there was no real punishment in it for either of us, now. Zuh-Tephanie collapsed against my chest, giving into her climax completely, tightening around my cock like a vise. I drove through her pleasure, never letting up, surging and raging and loving her, loving her, loving her until there was nothing left to do but to come undone as she had.
I spilled inside her, adding my seed to all her potent wetness.
And I drowned in her merciless mercy.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Stephanie
“How do I always seem to end up with your blood all over me?” I asked shakily, frowning at the smears of black blood that streaked my waist and hips. “What happened to your hands?”
“You happened,” Errok growled. He gave one last thrust inside me, making me clench. “You and your absurd notions. This is what happens when you try to bind a Gahn and keep him from his mate.”
Sitting up straighter on his lap (and shivering at the slight twitch of his cock still inside me) I grabbed his wrists. I turned his palms up and examined them.
“Let me guess. Dug your claws in to stop from coming everywhere again?”
I would have called Errok’s look hateful if I didn’t know he loved me so much.
“I will neither confirm nor deny that.”
Laughing softly, I planted a gentle kiss on each of his palms. At the contact, he hissed and his cock stiffened again.
“Hold on. We need to at least clean and bandage this before we do anything else,” I told him as he began to move his hips.
He gave a bitter, resigned sigh. As if I’d just told him he had to move a whole mountain before he could have me again.
“Fine. But let’s make it quick.”
I tossed my jacket on and jogged over to where I’d dropped my pack, bringing it back to our shady spot in the grass. Luckily, I had a first aid kit in there. Working quickly, I disinfected his palms and taped some gauze in place to help stop the bleeding.
As soon as that was done, Errok reached for me with a thrilling, possessive growl. But we both stopped when an alert sounded from my bag.
“What in the Deep Sky is that sound?” Errok said, snatching my bag away from me as if it contained a bomb about to go off.
“Well, if you’d give that back I could actually take a look!” I held my hand out for the bag, and he reluctantly handed it over.
I reached inside and grabbed a small comms tablet that Valeria had given me. It was connected to the drones I’d put out in Gahn Thaleo’s territory.
“Oh, damn,” I said, staring at the data the drones had transmitted. The alert had gone off just as I’d programmed it to – to alert us of bad weather incoming.
“There’s a storm coming,” I told Errok. “Looks like a bad one. It will probably hit Gahn Thaleo’s territory late tonight. Or maybe early tomorrow morning.”
“You know the storm is coming that far ahead of when it does?” he asked, his sight stars misting in shocked confusion.
“Yup,” I said. I held the screen up to his face, showing the data. “I’d be able to predict it even further into the future if I had proper equipment. Satellites and things like that. But the drones are the best we can do for now.”
“You are a miraculous creature,” Errok breathed, looking at me like he was almost a little scared of me. “How did you learn such things?”
“Studied it at school,” I told him while pulling the rest of my clothing back on. “University of Calgary. It’s a place you go to learn things with a bunch of other people.”
“To learn about storms?”
“Not just storms. All kinds of things,” I said, putting my sunglasses on. Sensing that his chance at a round two had been blown away by the approaching winds, Errok stood and put his loincloth back on.
“And why did you choose to study storms?”
I froze, fear clamping down on me.
But I breathed through it, and forced myself to face both him and the question. I wouldn’t shut him out. Not now.
“When I was a kid,” I said, “my dad left us.”
“Left you? He died in battle?”
“Nope. He just decided he didn’t want anything to do with my mom or me and he left. Left and never came back.”
“I do not understand,” Errok said slowly. “A man, a father... He abandoned his mate and child? What reason could there be for such a thing?”
Errok’s confusion hurt in the best possible way. The fact that he was as confused as I’d been made me feel so vindicated. And it made me feel safe. He would never leave me. The thought clearly had never crossed his mind as even a remote possibility.
“I didn’t understand either,” I said, my throat thick. “Spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. Never did.”
“He hurt you,” Errok said. His hands curled into fists and I was worried he’d destroy my first-aid job. “I wish he were in this world. I’d track him down on Togo and drag him before you.”
“Oh yeah? And then what?”
“Whatever you wanted,” he vowed fiercely, fangs snapping in his jaws. “Whatever my Gahnala would command. Imprison him. Kill him. Make him work himself to the unworthy bone every moment to make it up to you.”
It might have been fucked up, but I loved his words. The rage he felt for my pain was a strange sort of balm. But a balm all the same.
I sniffed and shook my head.
“Anyway, the night after he left, my mom sat down on the edge of my bed and told me he wasn’t coming back. She was so strong for me. She...” I broke off, too many tears choking my words.
Errok’s arms were around me in an instant. I tensed, then relaxed, allowing myself to accept the comfort of his embrace. I couldn’t keep talking about Mom. Not now, anyway. But I knew I’d tell him more about her soon.
“When she left my room,” I continued after a moment, “a storm broke out. The thunder was insane. Practically shook our house. But I wasn’t scared at all. I felt like... Like someone out there saw me. Like the sky was as mad as I was. Like the rain was grieving with me. And the sounds covered up my crying. I didn’t want my mom to hear me and feel even worse. I’ve loved storms ever since that night.”
For a moment, I was back in that dark, rain-lashed bedroom of my childhood.
But no, I wasn’t. Because Errok was here. His arms were around me. I was safe.
I was loved.
I could have stayed in that quiet embrace forever. But the storm was edging ever closer.
“We have to go warn Gahn Thaleo’s tribe. You don’t have to talk to him,” I added quickly, worried Errok would argue with me. “I’ll just tell one of the women or something. Then we can fly home together and beat the weather.” We were a lot closer to Thaleo’s territory than the shuttle right now, so even with the fact the shuttle was faster, it just made sense for us to fly there and warn them first.
There was a long pause, and I geared up to fight with Errok about this.
But instead, my breath whooshed out of me, arguments unused.
“My Gahnala commands,” Errok said, stroking a hand down my hair. “I obey.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Stephanie
The mountains glinted as we soared over them, heading for Gahn Thaleo’s home. Errok kept his arm firmly around me as we flew, which allowed me to lean back and go back and forth between taking in the view and checking out the storm’s progress on my small tablet.
By mid-afternoon, Thaleo’s mountain was visible ahead of us on the horizon. I gave a small sigh of relief. Plenty of time to let them know about the oncoming storm. I made a mental note that we’d have to leave a comms tablet with them and teach them how to interpret the data the drones were sending so that they’d have the first heads-up about any oncoming weather systems. We’d left in such a hurry after all the awkwardness with the taklok issue that we hadn’t done so yet. It wouldn’t be practical to have to fly here and warn them every time bad weather was on the way. But I knew we’d get all these snags figured out eventually. We’d only just recently arrived in the mountains, and it would take time to get into a comfortable pattern.
Not that Errok and Thaleo will ever exist in a comfortable pattern...
I glanced back at my mate, twisting to look up at him. The fierce joy from our earlier flights had been replaced with a glowering seriousness. A flash of doubt entered my mind. I worried that he might have agreed to take me back there just so he could start something with Thaleo again.
That’s not going to happen... Right?
I flattened my lips and tried to dispel my sudden unease. We were nearing Thaleo’s mountain, now, and there was no time to turn back.
But we never made it to his mountain.
A catastrophic boom rolled through the air. Togo flinched, his flight pattern thrown off. Errok’s arm hardened like a stone shield around me.
“What was that?” I gasped, jerking my head around. I half-expected to see plumes of smoke from some eruption or explosion nearby. But I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Just bright sky, clear air, and the mountains and valleys below.
But wait...
There was something in the distance. A man on a braxilk, diving desperately downward.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, wriggling in Errok’s hard grip. “We need to go see what happened!”
“I know what happened,” Errok said grimly. His sight stars combed the place the braxilk had just descended.
“What then?!”
His sight stars swung to me.
“Rockslide.”
Shit.
Errok got Togo focused once more, and we took off, heading for the sound we’d heard. We knew we’d reached it when we saw a lone man clawing at a huge incline of broken rock and fallen boulders.
It was Gahn Thaleo.
Errok urged Togo into a dive so sharp it took my breath away. It also made Thaleo’s braxilk, who was nearby, shriek aggressively. Thaleo’s mismatched sight stars flashed to us. His hard face twitched slightly before he turned back to his work. He was standing near the top of the huge pile of rocks and boulders, never stopping in his movements.
Not even when Errok leaped off Togo’s back, drawing a huge blade.
No!
“Errok, stop!” I screamed, sliding off Togo’s back to follow him. I knew that I’d promised he wouldn’t have to see Thaleo and that promise had been broken, but that was still no excuse to use this moment to exact some bloody revenge.
Heart pounding, chest burning, I sprinted after Errok. But his long, strong legs and clawed, kangaroo-like feet helped him leap up the steep rocky incline with ease while I’d barely managed to climb up the first boulder.
“If you’ve come to try to kill me, Gahn Errok, I ask that you wait until I’ve finished here. The rockslide blocked access to this cave. Some of my people were foraging inside.”
Oh my God.
They were trapped. And not only that, but with the storm coming, time was ticking to get them out.
But that didn’t seem to matter to Errok. He growled as he launched up the final incline of rock. I was about to watch him murder Thaleo right in front of my eyes.
“No, Errok. No!”
Errok raised his blade.
Thaleo turned just in time.
Just in time to see Errok shove his blade between two huge rocks. Errok leaned heavily on the handle of his blade, his muscles bulging with strain. I stared, not quite sure what was happening for a long moment, as one of the boulders gave way under the might of his arms and rolled down to the ground.
He’s helping.
Relief poured through me, followed by pride. Pride for this man who, despite his arrogance, his territorial rage, his long-held hatred for Thaleo, was now putting all of that aside. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever found him so attractive as I did in that moment – head down, working side by side with his enemy to save innocent people.
I scrambled up the stone incline, trying to reach them so I could help. Obviously I couldn’t do much about the big boulders, but I could at least help move small rocks away from the top of the incline until my puny human arms gave out.
Errok snarled as I, sweating and panting, drew level with them.
“Get back down! In fact, stay on Togo’s back above ground. I will not have you harmed by a falling rock.”
“There’s no time! With the storm coming, we need all hands on deck!” I shot back.
Thaleo’s head snapped to me. His hands never stopped working as he asked, “Storm?”
I nodded, snatching the tablet out of my pocket and flashing it at him. “It’s coming. It will arrive in your territory late tonight or very early in the morning.”
I got my first glimpse of unshielded emotion on Thaleo’s face in that moment. A flash of grave and unmistakable fear.
It was gone in an instant, replaced with stony determination.
“Oh, shit, the tablet!” I practically smacked myself for not thinking of this sooner. “I can send an emergency message to the shuttle. They can come help with this.” The sheer amount of rock that had tumbled down and was now blocking the cave’s entrance made my stomach flip. If those people were trapped in a cave by the rock and then the storm for too long without enough food...
No. We’ll get them out.
I typed out a frantic message on the tablet, praying there wouldn’t be any weird communication issues that stopped my message from reaching Valeria.
A few minutes later, a reply pinged back.
Thank goodness.
“They’re on their way,” I breathed. I didn’t waste any time getting back to work alongside the two Gahns, pulling away small chunks of rock and rolling them down the incline. Errok glared at me, no doubt wanting to tell me to stop and also knowing that arguing with me right now would do no good. Even with the oncoming arrival of the others on the shuttle, this was going to be a close one. It’s not like we had a big digger stowed away on the shuttle or anything. The Bitter Sea guys would definitely be an asset, but still...
Errok clearly had the same thought I did.
“It’s not enough,” he said, grunting as he lifted a particularly gnarly-looking boulder and heaved it down the side. “Thaleo, go get more of your men. I assume it was mostly women and children foraging in the cave.”
Thaleo didn’t reply. Nor did he stop digging and pulling at the rock.
“Thaleo!” Errok snapped.
Finally, the other Gahn paused.
“I will not leave my people abandoned here even for a moment with you as their only lifeline, Errok.”
Oh, lordy. I’d come into this situation worrying about Errok’s sense of rivalry and pride. But now I had to worry about Thaleo’s getting in the way.
“I can go,” I said, straightening and dusting off my hands on my pants. “I’ve learned enough about flying on Togo. We’re so close to Thaleo’s mountain – I could make it there and pass on the message to recall any warriors who are out hunting or patrolling.”
“No!” Errok hissed. He threw a rock angrily down the incline. It smashed as it went down, creating a terrific crashing sound. “I will not have you alone out here putting yourself in danger. And we cannot go together. I doubt any of Thaleo’s warriors would believe the message if I brought it.” He turned back to Thaleo. “You must do this, Thaleo. It is the only way. You must call your men here.”
Thaleo’s jaw worked as he dislodged a massive rock, sending it tumbling. I could tell he saw our logic, but that he didn’t want to stop working or leave his people. I approached him, stumbling on a loose set of pebbles. Errok grabbed my hand, righting me. With my one hand held by my mate, I placed the other on Thaleo’s straining shoulders. He went utterly still.
“We won’t stop working to help them. I promise you Thaleo. Please... Trust us.”
It was asking a lot of him. Not just to trust me, a literal alien in his world, but also his oldest enemy.
After a long, tense beat, Thaleo took a sharp breath. He fixed Errok with a pointed stare.
“If you do anything dishonourable while I am gone, I will send another arrow through you. And this time, I will kill you.”
I tensed, ready for Errok to get pissed and ruin everything after all.
But instead, he barked out a sharp laugh, wrenching a rock over his head in a dazzling display of brute strength. His fangs gleaming in a wide, wild grin, he snarled, “I would like to see you try.”
He tossed the rock down.
And then, my mate got back to work.
THE SHUTTLE ARRIVED before Thaleo came back with his men. Which made sense, since he was probably busy rounding up warriors from some far-off hunting territory. But by nightfall, pretty much everyone from Thaleo’s tribe, besides those trapped in the cave, had come to help, even children and the elderly. Everyone doing their part to loosen the rock and the stone.
We may not have had huge excavation machines on the shuttle, but we did have things like pickaxes, shovels, and other tools that made the task easier. Thaleo’s people also had carving and digging tools, which the strongest warriors put to good use while the rest of us carted away smaller rocks. The Bitter Sea men didn’t need any tools – Grim and Tok worked with their bare, scaly hands, their claws stronger than the metal and stone of the tools.
It was an astonishing display of teamwork and good faith. If I weren’t so busy and exhausted from helping, I probably would have burst into stupid, relieved tears. Especially when I caught glimpses of Errok, working side by side with Thaleo. He didn’t even bother making some Errok-like remark about how strong he was, or about how lucky Thaleo was to have his help. He just got his ass down to business. And I fucking loved him for it.
Late into the night, we’d opened up a sizeable hole near the top of the rockslide, and we could communicate with the people trapped inside. Apart from a few minor injuries, everyone inside was thankfully unharmed. Unfortunately, by that time the wind had started picking up. I didn’t need my tablet to tell me the storm was coming, and fast.
