Chapter 8

Lynix

Their bodies fell at my feet with ease. Maybe in another time, a dozen Dayloes would have been a challenge for me, but not now. Not with a bleeding Yanna to protect. Her every pained breath roared in my ears like a windstorm. I felt the agony in her thigh as if it was my own. The pain and anger spurred me on, until the Dayloes lay at my feet in pieces. I stood over the one who had shot her, pulverizing his head with my fist until nothing was left but a flat mash of gore.

Only then did I stumble back. Only then did the lack of food and aftereffects of the drugging catch up to me. But I didn't have time to deal with myself. Yanna was hurting. Those fleckers had shot her.

I whirled around to find her staggering to her feet, a confused expression on her face as she stared at her wrists. Black markings were being etched onto her skin as if by an invisible hand. I slowly raised my hands to find the same markings on my own skin. My breath caught in my throat as the markings continued in a band around both of my wrists like a bracelet until they glowed a bright white before dulling to a shiny gold. The markings cut through my fur right down to my skin. Permanent. Couldn't be erased. A part of me. Just like Yanna.

"What—?" Her terrified gaze, pain lingering in the brown depths, lifted to me. "What is happening?"

"They are loks," I spoke, forgetting she couldn't understand me. "It means…well, it doesn't really matter what it means. I knew you were my mate when you stabbed me. And when I saw you facing off against the Dayloes with your gun while you bled from your leg. To save me." I shook my head. "But I would never leave you. Not if an entire army was bearing down on us."

Her eyes glistened. "Keep talking."

About her? Easily. "You're beautiful and stubborn and brave. You're a fighter. And the first time you smiled at me, I felt like I could conquer the world."

"Okay, you can stop now." She sniffed. "I think you're exaggerating."

I frowned. "I am not, I—" My voice froze in my throat. "Wait, can you understand me?"

She tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing a small black box. "I stole a translator. I didn't know if it was going to give me permanent brain damage, but so far, so good."

My eyes nearly bugged out. "You what?"

She pointed over the massacre of bodies I'd left behind to a few crates near a tree. I spotted bloody, frayed ropes laying on the ground nearby. "I stole a translator from the supplies." Suddenly, her brow furrowed as she looked down at her thigh. "Wait, I was shot. Why am I no longer in excruciating pain?"

Now that she mentioned it, the pain coursing through my body had abated as well. I'd suffered a few blows during the quick battle, but my wounds had all but healed with barely a stain to my fur. Yanna's thigh, which had borne a glazing laser fire wound, was no longer bleeding.

"The loks," I whispered. I remembered Bastian had talked of his enhanced healing powers when he and Kini had sealed their union as cora-eternals.

"What do they mean?"

"We have been blessed by Fatas," I explained. "These loks mean we're fated to be together. Cora-eternals. And we can…" the only pain that remained was a dull throb in my head. My skull felt…full. Of her. Of her wonder and hope. She was a blue flame that flickered in the darkness. "I can feel your emotions here." I pointed to my head.

She winced as she rubbed at her temple. "I thought that was from the translator but now…" she shook her head, and her gaze went unfocused. "You're happy, aren't you?"

"Elated."

She took a step forward. And another. My gaze took in the condition of her body. She was filthy and covered in cuts and bruises, but she would heal.

I could tell when the energy she'd mustered so save both of us began to wane in her body. She sagged as she pressed the back of her wrist to her mouth. I lurched forward and caught her in my arms before she dropped to the ground. A cry burst out of her, and she wrapped her limbs around me as she buried her face in my mane and sobbed.

My strong, brave mate. I'd never forget the sight of her when she'd opened the doors to the container and had spit fire at me with one word, "Run" as she faced off against the enemies in an effort to give me time to flee. She'd done that all on her own. I rubbed her spine as she cried. "You did so good, Yanna," I said into her hair. "You must have been scared, but you were so brave. You saved both of us, my mate. My fighter."

She sobbed in my arms as I picked my way through the Dayloes camp. I settled us against a tree near the crate of supplies and let her lay slumped and crying on my chest until she finally fell silent. I thought she slept, until she sat up with a jerk and swiped at her red, wet eyes. Then fire lit in her gaze as she smacked my shoulder with an angry grunt. The sudden change in her emotions caught me off guard. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Next time I tell you to run, you better do it." She scowled at me as she crossed her arms over her breasts. "You have brothers who would miss you."

"I won't run unless you are at my side." I lifted my chin in the air with defiance.

"Don't be stubborn."

"Don't be silly. I wouldn't have left you behind even without knowing you're my cora-eternal. But now? Never in a million lifetimes. So forget it, human."

Her eyes narrowed, but so did mine. Our stare off lasted for only a moment before she huffed and looked away. "Fine, but no unnecessary risks."

"You must promise the same."

Her eyes dropped to her lap, where she fiddled with her fingernails. "You're the one with family. Brothers who will miss you. No one on this planet even knows I exist."

"I know. Soon my brothers will know too. And Queen."

Her head cocked. "Tell me about your brothers. And this Queen."

"I want to get you cleaned up first. And as much as I enjoy you naked, you need clothes for protection. Then we will talk."

She agreed, her eyes glittering. Her flame grew in strength. She was happy. Excited. Her flame leaned forward, eager for more. "For the first time in as long as I could remember, even back on Earth, I'm excited to have a conversation with someone," she said.

I tucked her hair behind her ear. I longed to see it shiny and healthy again. We were both dirty and smelly. "Me too, mate. Me too."

After watching her dunk her head under the water for the tenth time, I reached out and snatched her into my arms. Her legs immediately came around my waist, and her arms wrapped around my shoulders. Her eyes went a little wide as she glanced frantically at the water as it rushed around my thighs. "What? Did you see something in the water?"

I nodded as I strode to the shore. "Yes. A very deadly werm. Heading right for you. Almost took off your head. But just my presence scared it away. You should be fine now as long as you remain in my arms."

Her arms loosened as she narrowed her eyes at me. "You're making that up."

"I'm very serious," I said solemnly. "In fact, we should be even closer if possible. Just to be safe."

"Closer?" She lifted an eyebrow, and the corner of her lips twitched.

"Yes. Maybe connected. Like my cock in your hot cunt."

She sucked in a sharp breath, and her pupils dilated. Then she dug into my ass with her heels and rolled her eyes with a low chuckle. Each time she laughed felt like a gift. "I shouldn't be surprised you're into dirty talk."

I laid her down in a soft patch of grass off the bank of the river where we'd just bathed. Water dripped from her hair and slid down the sides of her breasts. I lapped at a nipple as she wiggled beneath me. "What's dirty talk?"

She hummed as I slid my tongue up her neck. "Um, like telling me what you're going to do to me. In explicit terms."

I hiked her thigh over my hip and ground my cock against her core. Despite the cold-water bath, her cunt was blazing hot. "Do you like dirty talk?"

Her fingers curled into my mane. "I didn't think I did."

"But now?" I slid down her body and blew onto that hard bud above her entrance that made her go wild. The curls of her cunt glistened with water and her arousal. I plucked at the delicate folds with a claw. Her back arched and she moaned. "Because if you don't like it, I'll just have to keep my mouth on your cunt until you scream. I can't talk if my tongue is inside of you."

"Jesus," she whispered. "I like—" she swallowed.

I lapped a stripe over her dewy curls. "You like what?"

"I like it all," she gasped.

I felt my lips tip into a wicked grin. I'd been dying to get my mouth back on her since the last time. I threw her legs over my shoulders and dove between her legs like she was the fountain of youth. I lapped at her cunt, speared her entrance, and sucked on that hard bud while she nearly ripped my ears off my head. I growled, enjoying the painful evident of her pleasure, and that rumble sent her into a full meltdown. With the tip of my tongue inside of her, she clenched her inner walls and came on a howl that sent a spying animal in the bush nearby skittering away with a rustle.

I slid up her body to peer into her dazed eyes as I licked her arousal off my face. Her chest heaved, and a red flush bloomed from her chest to her cheeks.

"How was that?" I asked her as my hard cock threatened to poke a hole in her thigh.

She blinked. Then blinked again. A devious smile curled her lips. "It was okay."

"O-Okay?" I sputtered dramatically. I knew she was lying. She'd nearly pulled my mane out when she came.

She waffled her hand with a mischievous glint to her eyes. "Nothing to write home about."

"Oh," I growled. "I'll give you something that'll make you want to send a rocket into the sky with my image on it."

She laughed and fleck, I loved that sound. "Hmmm…maybe it was better when I couldn't understand you. Now you're just all talk, Lion Man."

I didn't know what a lion was, or even a man. But I planned to show her who Lynix was.

Yanna

Teasing him was more fun than it should be. I couldn't stop. And maybe part of me wanted to know how far I could push him. How fragile his ego was. How much toxic masculinity existed in males on another planet.

But instead of being indignant, he played along. He teased back. His eyes remained full of a lustful spark. There was nothing fragile about him. He might have had an ego, but I knew from experience he could back it up.

I'd always felt a power imbalance with men. I couldn't put my figure on why. But despite Lynix's dominating strength, everything about our interactions felt equal. And even though I'd just had an absolute mind-melting orgasm, my body was reacting again to his low growl.

His mouth closed over mine, and I tasted myself and the freshness that was Lynix. His tongue dueled with mine, and when he pulled back, his eyes fired like lavender flames. "You drive me insane, little human," he growled. His body trembled on top of mine, and the unhinged way he took in my body should have scared me, but instead it only made me feel powerful. I did that to this massive beast. He had the power to do whatever he wanted to me, and he chose to protect me. Keep me safe. And spear me with his tongue until I screamed.

With a grunt, he rolled us over, so he lay with his back on the ground. My legs had to spread impossibly wide to sit on his hips, and my knees didn't even touch the ground. I hooked my feet against his thighs as I stared down at his heaving, muscled chest.

"You're going to ride my cock," he rasped, his voice like wheels over gravel. "I'm going to watch your breasts bounce with each thrust as you cream all over my balls."

I felt a gush between his legs as his cock slotted between my legs. Jesus, his mouth. Maybe it was a good thing I couldn't understand him until now.

His eyes glinted. "How is the dirty talk?"

He took challenges seriously. "Um… good," was all I managed to say as his shaft pulsed against my pussy. He wasn't even inside me yet, and I felt full already. And this view was something else. He'd taken me from behind before, and that had been all unique sensation. But now, with his words in my ear, and mine in his, this was altogether bigger. More real. I dug my fingers into the fur of his chest as he grunted beneath me and bucked his hips. I swore I felt an echoing pain in my wrists.

In my mind, he was a smokey outline of a lion. Prowling on all fours. Shaking his mane. Swishing his tail. And now that lion was a hazy mist of pulsing need that pounded behind my eyes like another heartbeat.

His grin turned downright evil, which was terrifying, exhilarating, and arousing on his fanged, predator face. His paws spanned my waist and hips as he shifted me forward. My clit rubbed against the hard ridges of his fur-covered abs, and I moaned. He did it again, and each time, I thought I might come before he even got inside of me. But he sensed I was on the edge, because he growled. "No more playing. I need inside you now, and you need me inside you too, don't you?"

Fuck, if anyone else talked to me the way he did, I'd smack them. He was almost mocking, nearly gloating, but since I knew what his tongue and cock were capable of, I didn't deny how much I wanted it. Needed it.

"Please," I gasped just as he lifted me in the air before bringing me down onto his thick shaft. His cock plunged inside of me, a hot rod that split and burned me in the most delicious way. My back arched, my mouth dropped open with a silent cry, and then I couldn't do much of anything but hang onto his corded biceps as he slammed me down onto his cock as his hips jerked up from below. Over and over again, my body connected with his. I didn't do any work but feel the heated drag of his piercing inside of me.

This could have felt demeaning, like he was using me as nothing but a fuck toy, but his constant litany of words prevented any sort of disconnection. He never failed to let me know this was about me. About us.

"That's it, my little fighter. Feel me inside of you. You're so full, aren't you? So full of me. And fleck, but you're tight and hot around me. So perfect. Come on my cock, pretty human. Wanna fill you with me. Wanna see myself leaking out of you—" his voice cut off on a grunt as he gritted his teeth and threw his head back. His neck strained, and power surged through me. I'd done that. I'd made this mouthy alien go speechless.

I fell forward, bracing my hands on his furry chest as I took over the rhythm, bouncing my ass down on his groin. "My pussy got your tongue?"

His growl was my only answer as a rumbling vibrating purr began in his chest, sending tremors up my arms to my shoulders. I felt a tugging at my clit, and shocks reverberated through me as I glanced down to find that the node on top of his cock was…well, it was alive. It had swelled and extended and was currently latched onto my clit, sucking the life out of it as an orgasm barreled down on me like a soaring meteor.

The crash hit. Explosions detonated. The world stopped. I heard screaming and roaring in the distance, as if I was underwater, until the sound came rushing back like a tidal wave. That scream was me. That roar was Lynix. We came together like a world-ending supernova. My muscles gave out as my head spun with mind-numbing pleasure. Everything went quiet. Still. And as I slumped against a furry chest while strong arms wrapped around me, I felt a surge of another emotion inside of me that I never expected.

Love.