Norsuk

Iheard a hiss, felt the air crackle with ozone. Time slowed to a molasses crawl as I whirled toward the doorway, a shout of warning tearing from my throat.

"Agatha, look ou?—"

The rest was lost in a blinding flare of light. It hit me like a sledgehammer, knocking me backwards into Agatha. I tried to twist, to shield her with my body, but my muscles locked up, joints fusing in place.

We hung suspended, marionettes tangled in invisible strings. Through slitted eyes, I glimpsed our attacker. A G'zanta, half his face a melted ruin, skin sloughing away from charred bone. The other half leered in triumph, teeth bared in a feral grin.

A snarl rippled up my throat but emerged as a strangled groan, my vocal chords as frozen as the rest of me. I strained against the energy net with every fiber of my being, veins popping in my temples, tendons creaking in my neck. The field sizzled against my skin, the acrid stench of burning hair filling my nostrils.

The G'zanta edged into the room, movements jerky and uncoordinated. His good eye darted between us, narrow and assessing.

"Let him go!" Agatha"s voice knifed through the charged air.

Somehow, impossibly, she"d broken free of the paralysis. She flew at the G'zanta in a whirl of red hair and snapping teeth, pickax glinting as she brought it down in a vicious arc.

I roared my encouragement, the sound rattling uselessly behind my teeth. With a force of will, I focused every erg of strength on my fingers, my toes.

Agatha hammered at the G'zanta, aiming for the center of his chest. The ax skated off his armored suit in a spray of sparks, the impact juddering up her arms. But she didn"t relent, raining blows with single-minded ferocity.

The alien danced back, ray gun extended. His free hand scrabbled at the disc, clumsy with panic. Smoke poured from the cracked housing, oily and reeking of fried circuitry.

A flash, a crack, and I dropped like a stone. The world tumbled dizzily as my body fought to reorient, muscles screaming as blood rushed back into torpid limbs.

Agatha and the G'zanta grappled, her small form dwarfed by his suited bulk. Only his wounds gave her a chance at all.

She was a Valkyrie, an avenging fury.

She was mine.

A surge of possessive fury lanced through me, hot and galvanizing. With a bellow of rage, I launched myself at the combatants, clumsy wings fanning to slow my fall. My shoulder caught the alien square in the gut, bowling us over in a tangle of thrashing limbs.

We skidded to a halt bare inches from the space portal, the vertiginous view yawning at my back. The G'zanta bucked and writhed, surprisingly strong for such a scrawny creature. He clubbed at my face and my throat, blows glancing off my armored hide.

Grunting, I grappled him closer, locking my arms around his torso like bands of iron. He wriggled like an eel, too slippery to pin down. I caught a glimpse of Agatha over his shoulder, pickax raised to strike—but she hesitated, trying to find an opening that wouldn"t brain me in the process.

The G'zanta sensed her intent. With a last-ditch effort, he wrenched his ray gun around, pointing it at her heart. I didn"t think, just reacted.

Planting my feet, I heaved with all my newfound strength, muscles bunching and straining. The alien left the ground in a lurching arc, limbs pinwheeling as he hurtled toward the glimmering portal. For a single, suspended moment, he seemed to float, like a bug in amber.

Then, with a pop of displaced air, he vanished. The portal rippled, a pebble dropped in a still pond. On the other side of the glassy surface, the G'zanta tumbled end-over-end, blaster spiraling from slack fingers.

Ice rimmed his suit in seconds, crystals growing in feathery whorls. His good eye bulged, mouth gaping and gasping. I watched in sickened fascination as his body bloated obscenely, then shriveled in on itself like a days-old corpse.

The portal"s frame flared, strobing through the color spectrum in rapid-fire succession. Then, with a final guttering pulse, it went dark. On the other side of the dead screen, the G'zanta's freeze-dried husk dwindled to a mote, vanishing into the pitiless depths of space.

"What... the hell... was that?"

Agatha"s voice trembled, breathy with shock. She stared at the portal with a mix of awe and revulsion, knuckles white on the pickaxe"s haft.

"I think," I managed, "it"s our ticket out of here." I scrubbed a hand over my face, feeling a thousand years old. "And our enemies" way in."

Agatha shivered, edging closer to me until our shoulders brushed. I savored the electric scrape of skin on skin, that tiny point of contact grounding me as the adrenaline ebbed.

"I didn"t think." Her voice was small, thready. "When I touched the frame before, it shocked me... I didn"t realize..."

"Hey." I turned to face her fully, catching her chin with gentle fingers. Tilting until she met my gaze, green eyes wide and glassy. "Neither of us could"ve known. What matters is that we"re still breathing."

"And that thing isn"t." A ghost of her usual wry humor surfaced. "Small mercies."

I snorted, the sound harsh in the humming stillness. "Fucking G'zanta had it coming. They all do."

Agatha searched my face, her own cast in stark relief by the portal"s eldritch glow. Slowly, deliberately, she leaned into me, arms coming up to wind around my neck. I stood stiffly for a beat, unsure, before letting my hands settle at her waist.

"We"re getting out of here," she said, low and fierce. A vow and a prayer. "We"re going to follow this insane rabbit hole until we find my way home. And then..."

She trailed off, words hanging unspoken between us. Then what? Blissful domesticity on her little water-world, playing house?

The future yawned ahead, as dark and fathomless as the portal"s false vista. But with Agatha warm and vital in my arms, her fathomless eyes locked with mine... I could almost believe we stood a chance of making it there. Together.

"Whatever comes," I rasped, "we"ll face it. You and me."

Her hands fisted in the remains of my shirt, knuckles brushing the shallow peaks of my spine. "I like the sound of that."

Then she surged up, mouth slanting over mine in a kiss that seared me to my core. I crushed her close with a groan, slicking my tongue past the seam of her lips to taste her fully. She opened on a throaty sigh, fingers snarling in my hair.

I walked us backward until her shoulders hit the wall, swallowing her gasp and giving it back redoubled. Her thighs parted to cradle my hips and I rocked into the notch of her body, growling my approval into her mouth.

We kissed like we fought—furious and messy, all nipping teeth and grasping hands. I hauled her up until her legs wrapped around my waist, the heat of her bleeding through our tattered clothing. She undulated against me, each roll of her hips sending sparks licking up my spine.

Distantly, some lucid part of me knew we needed to stop. To think, to plan our next move before we lost ourselves completely in the drugging slide of skin on skin. But with Agatha panting my name, her fingers scrabbling under my shirt to rake blunt nails down my back... The call to battle had never seemed so far away.

Later, I vowed silently. Later, we would hash it out until our voices gave and our eyes crossed from exhaustion. I would hold nothing back, lay myself bare as I"d never done for another living soul.

But first, I would take my female to bed. I would map every glorious inch of her with hands and teeth and tongue, until my name was the only prayer on her kiss-swollen lips. I would knit our bodies so close, not a whisper could pass between.

And if the universe saw fit to grant us one perfect moment of peace, of unity, before the coming storm...

Who was I to refuse?

Agatha"s nails raked over my shoulders, blunt crescents that sent electricity zinging through my veins. I gentled the kiss from incendiary to smoldering, lips caressing hers with languid strokes. She made a bereft sound low in her throat, arching up as if to chase my retreating mouth.

"Patience," I rumbled, nipping her jaw. "I want to do this right."

Her lashes fluttered open, eyes glazed and questioning. "Pretty sure you did it just fine a second ago."

I huffed a laugh against her neck, savoring the salt-sweet taste of her skin. "Oh, I"ll get you there. But first I"m going to take you apart, piece by piece. Wring out every last drop of pleasure until you forget your own name."

She shuddered, head tipping back to grant me better access. I laved the tender spot behind her ear, grazing with just a hint of teeth. "That right there," she panted, "don"t you dare stop..."

Grinning, I hoisted her higher, hands cupping the taut globes of her ass. She squeaked and laced her fingers behind my neck for balance, strong thighs clamping around my hips. I walked us away from the wall, taking a moment to get my bearings.

The aerie was dominated by banks of monitors, worktables strewn with machine parts and tangles of cable. But against the far wall, I spied a low couch, its cushions miraculously unstained by soot or viscera. Crossing to it in three long strides, I tumbled Agatha down into the yielding surface, following her eagerly.

She drew me over her like a blanket, hands roaming greedily over the expanse of my back. I leaned down to capture her lips again, swallowing her moan as I settled my weight in the cradle of her thighs. Every ridge and valley of her pressed against me, soft and welcoming. Distantly, I marveled at how well we fit, like two disparate pieces of a whole slotting into place.

Agatha must have felt it, too. Wonder lit her eyes as she cupped my face in her palms, thumbs tracing my cheekbones. "This feels right," she murmured, almost to herself. "Like it was always meant to happen."

My heart turned over in my chest, too full for words. So I let my body speak for me, rolling my hips against hers in a slow, sinuous grind. She gasped, legs falling open wider. I could feel the heat of her through my battered trousers, the damp fabric clinging and catching with each glide.

I wanted nothing more than to rip the offending cloth away, to sink into her slick warmth and lose myself completely. But this first time deserved reverence, the full laser focus of my desire. So I contented myself with nibbling a path down the arch of her throat, laving each darkening lovebite.

Agatha writhed beneath me, short nails scoring my flanks. One hand snaked between us, clever fingers working the fastenings of my fly. I groaned as she delved inside, wrapping me in smooth, fiery silk. Her grip was confident, twisting on the upstroke just the way I liked.

"Fuck, baby, just like that." I rocked into her fist, the familiar coil of release already winding tight at the base of my spine. And here I"d meant to worship her first, attend to her pleasure before even thinking of my own. But as always, she"d crashed through my best intentions like a wrecking ball, laying waste to any pretense of control.

Gathering the tattered shreds of my willpower, I reached down to circle her wrist, gently pulling her questing hand away. She whined in protest but subsided as I ran my knuckles over the seam of her leggings, tracing the plump outline of her sex.

"Let me," I rasped, nudging the fabric aside to tease through her slick folds. "Need to make you feel good."

"You do," she said on a hitching moan, hips canting up. "So good, Nors, please..."

Growling my approval, I forged lower, seeking the swollen pearl of her clit. A soft cry escaped her as I found it, circling with a barely-there pressure that made her shake. Dipping down, I gathered the honey dripping from her core, spreading it up and around until she glistened with each pass of my fingers.

I sank a thick digit into buttery heat, transfixed by the ripple of her internal muscles. Gods, she was so small, so tight. The thought of working myself into that velvet vice made my cock jerk against my belly, a pearly bead of moisture kissing my skin.

Agatha keened, back bowing. "More," she panted, "I can take it."

I surged up to kiss her, deep and filthy, muffling her strangled cry as I pressed a second finger in alongside the first. She fluttered around me, drawing me deeper, and it was all I could do not to come right there. Gritting my teeth, I focused on the slippery drag, the faint burn and catch of each thrust.

"Yes," she hissed against my lips. "Oh, fuck, right there..."

I curled my fingers just so and she nearly bucked me off, a wildcat in human skin. Setting a relentless rhythm, I stroked that sweet spot, petting and pressing until she was reduced to wordless, formless cries. Pinpricks of light danced behind my eyelids, echoes of the ecstasy that would soon rip through her.

With my free hand, I worked her leggings down, baring her to the cool air of the aerie. She shivered, gooseflesh pebbling her creamy skin. I took a moment to drink her in, sprawled and wanting beneath me. Hair a wild tangle, lips kiss-swollen, thighs parted in unabashed offering.

Mine. The word resonated in my skull like a temple gong, a tocsin call to worship. This fierce, brilliant creature was mine. And I would spend the rest of my days making sure she never regretted it.

Slowly, reverently, I bent to press my mouth to her glistening sex. She cried out sharply as my tongue delved into silken heat, lapping up the musk of her arousal. Locking my lips around her clit, I suckled gently, flicking the tip of my tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves.

"Norsuk," she sobbed, fingers snarling in my hair. Her thighs clamped around my ears, trembling with strain. "I can"t... it"s too..."

I hummed soothingly, the vibrations making her buck. Fastening one arm across her hips to hold her steady, I doubled my efforts, fingers pumping, tongue swirling. I felt her orgasm building, the telltale tremors pulling her bowstring-taut. Close, so close...

"Let go," I growled against her flesh. "I"ve got you, baby. Just let go."

Her nails dug into my scalp, body drawing up until only her shoulders and heels touched the cushions. I pressed my tongue flat to her clit, grinding, crooking my fingers to nail her sweet spot with each ruthless thrust.

"Now, Agatha. Come for me, now."

Release crashed over her in a tidal wave. I gentled her through it, licking and stroking as she shuddered and keened, my name a broken prayer on her lips. The hot clench and ripple of her sent aftershocks of pleasure juddering up my own spine, an echo of the bliss scouring her nerves.

At last, she collapsed bonelessly back into the couch, chest heaving. I crawled up the length of her, gathering her slack, sated form against my chest. She made a small, contented sound, nuzzling into the hollow of my throat.

"That," she panted, "was... not how I expected the evening to go." A slightly dazed chuckle. "Remind me to send that rhino-man asshole a fruit basket, if he had anything to do with it."

I snorted, pressing a kiss to her damp temple. "Think that was all us, baby. The G'zanta was just a catalyst."

"Hmm. Well, whatever the reason..." She tilted her head back, fixing me with a look of such open tenderness it stole my breath. "I"m glad we stopped running. At least for a little while."

Robbed of words, I could only duck down to claim her lips again, pouring everything I couldn"t say into the slow, honeyed glide. There would be time enough later for plans and portents, the cold calculus of survival. But for now, I let myself bask in her warmth, her sweetness. Let the promise of what we were building seep into my bones.

And if the portals flickered to malevolent life at our backs, the gaping maw of the unknown...

Together, we"d figure it out. We had to.