Chapter 13

Sandy

Maybe drawing on the walls wasn’t exactly the kind of adventure her grandmother meant, but Sandy couldn’t remember the last time she had this much fun.

She and Rane were using the same piece of wall – between the door that led into the reading room and the door that led outside her wing – but they were drawing different things. Chatting, laughing. He was telling her about his last game, explaining the rules of trikball, the leagues. She was asking questions and trying to understand without actually seeing a game.

All the while, she was painting her house back home. The one she no longer owned but would always hold a special place in her heart. She wanted to show Rane. Everything from the attic window grandma used to swear was haunted when she was little to the bushes she used to play under when she was a kid and everything in between.

She was so focused on their conversation and her drawing, she didn’t check on what Rane was doing. She saw him moving out of the corner of her eyes. She glanced over when they ran out of ink and he was mixing up some more, but she didn’t peep at his masterpiece. She didn’t want to discourage him now that he was doing it.

“You really like trikball, don’t you?” She asked, beaming at how happy he sounded while talking about it.

“I’ve been playing all my life.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him smiling wistfully as he slowly stroked the wall. She could easily imagine him painting the trikball field, or maybe the ball itself. What else could he be drawing with that tender look on his face?

“I liked watching you play,” she confessed, using her nails to make some grain lines in the wooden face of the house. “It was really exciting.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t get to see the away game too.”

His smile faded a bit. “Mother can’t control every aspect of the stadium and who might see you on other planets.”

“Wait. The away games are on other planets?” She whipped her head around surprised.

“Of course. We’re in the Coalition League this year. We won the planetary title last year. So, now, we’re competing for the ultimate title. Which means we have to go to other teams’ stadiums and face their hazards, just like they have to come to ours.”

Sandy was aware that he was explaining the rules of the game, but she wasn’t listening anymore. She finally caught sight of what he had been drawing, and she was stunned. He hadn’t drawn the stadium or anything related to trikball at all.

He had drawn her .

Sure, it was crudely done. The technique was bad, but it was still obviously her. The eyes, the hair, the smile. She wouldn’t call him a prodigy, but there was clear emotion in the lines. Though he didn’t know what he was doing, he had put his all into recreating her likeness.

Was that what he had been looking at so sweetly? So lovingly?

“I-It’s not that good, I know,” Rane said suddenly, self-conscious. She turned to find his eyes were lowered and his crest was down. Like he was waiting for her condemnation.

“Rane, is this how you see me?” Sandy asked softly, reaching for him. Ink smudged across his cheek as she stroked it gently.

“I know it’s not that good. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

“No, I love it!” She insisted, grabbing his face with both hands, yanking him down to kiss him enthusiastically. Pouring all of her appreciation into it.

Because it didn’t matter that it was messy and splotchy and badly drawn – not when she had seen how much care and adoration went into the creation. Not when she could feel it in every line that had been so carefully, if inexpertly placed.

He really was adorable.

And then, suddenly, he wasn’t.

Sandy gasped in surprise when he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up, putting her thighs around his hips as he shoved her back against the wall, cushioning her head with his hand. The move put them at a more even height with each other, but she lost all of her advantage as he took over the kiss, claiming her mouth with an eager desperation that was reflected in the way his entire crest lifted into the air.

Then, his tongue was sliding along hers, claiming her mouth, and her eyes fluttered closed again as she grasped at him eagerly. Heat burning through her veins.

Her hands down his back – no doubt spreading more ink stains – and she realized it wasn’t an oil that made him seem so shiny. His skin just gleamed that way. Besides where she was spreading ink, his skin was hot and dry and hard. The muscles of his back strained under her nails as she dragged them across the wide plane, shivering from the heat and strength of his body.

He kissed her like he was starving. Like he was mad from needing her. No one had ever kissed her like this before. Messy and wild and eager. Grinding against her between her thighs, one hand grasping her by the back of her head, the other palming her ass and using it as leverage to increase the pressure against the absolute log throbbing in his pants.

“No,” he growled, breaking the kiss, dropping his head back.

Sandy didn’t let go. She pulled herself closer, off the wall, by his shoulders and began kissing and sucking on his neck. He groaned, balancing on one hand as she eagerly nipped and sucked, leaving bright marks against his skin. Nibbling on the taught cord that strained as his hips continued to jerk and flex, as though imagining fucking her.

“Please, stop…” He whimpered, setting butterflies dancing in her stomach. She’d never made a guy whimper like that before. She wanted more of that.

Using the grip of her thighs on his hips, she pulled herself up so she could nibble his ear, making him moan and whimper more. She had no idea she’d like that so much. It was suddenly all she wanted to hear. The urge to push him down and suck him off while he panted and moaned for her made her belly clench in longing.

“Sandy, I can’t…” He panted, dropping suddenly to his knees, but wrapping his arm around her to keep her from hitting the wall or the ground.

“Can’t what?” She asked, reaching between them to flick his nipple with her thumb. She wanted to control and pleasure this muscular, gorgeous man. She wanted to tie him up and ride him until his balls were empty and she was satisfied.

“I can’t… mate you…” He groaned, his entire body trembling as she sucked on his earlobe, loving the salty taste of his skin. “I have to… send you home… I can’t if… if…”

“Who said I wanted to go home?”

“Wha…”

Sandy switched to his other ear, and that was apparently the really sensitive one, because he immediately whimpered for her again as she rubbed his neck and licked the sensitive appendage.

“I’m having adventures, remember?” She whispered in his ear, running her fingernails down his spine, making him hunch over, nearly putting her on the ground. And she was absolutely okay with him fucking her right here. “Why would I give that up?”

“Not… adventure…”

“That’s for me to decide, isn’t it? Put your hands on me, Rane.”

He shuddered. She could feel the hesitation in his body. A fight between keeping hold of her, hiding his face so she couldn’t kiss him again, or putting her on the ground so he could continue what they started. All the while she was whittling away at his self-control, eager to find out what it would be like to fuck her alien.

“What have you done?!”

The loud, ear-piercing shriek made Rane wince, breaking the spell she had been casting. Sandy, annoyed, glared past his shoulder.

Elffa was there, because of course she was. She was such a buzzkill. She was staring with horrified eyes at the absolute destruction filling the hall, coating the walls. Her mouth was open, one hand on her chest, the other on her belly, like she couldn’t breathe and wanted to be sick at the same time. It would be amusing if she hadn’t just interrupted what was easily the most erotic, passionate moment of Sandy’s life.

Rude.

She glared dolefully at the annoying woman as Drevor stepped around her in the door. He blinked, startled but not flabbergasted, before his face went tense. Like he was desperately fighting back a smile and being so close to losing.

Rane very quickly stood, still holding onto Sandy. Surprising her. She knew he was strong, but it was impressive to just deadlift her without even a grunt of effort. But the moment was ruined when he pulled her thighs off his hips and set her back on her feet.

Great. Elffa even had to ruin that.

“My walls,” the annoyance in question moaned in despair, looking around. “My chairs! Do you know how expensive those are?! Those are original Forigami’s!”

Who? Sandy had never heard of him before, but just based on context, she imagined that they were some kind of designer. In which case, she was even happier she’d destroyed those things. Ugly, boring, lifeless pieces had no right to be expensive no matter who made them.

“Mother,” Rane started nervously, “I-”

“Silence! I did not come here to listen to your griping!” She shrieked. “You are stained completely black! You’ve been painting on the walls?! Are you actually a child?! You really have no thoughts in your empty head. You’re not good for anything but the game!”

Rane was flinching, like his mother was physically raining blows on top of him. Sandy was half tempted to snap at her, tell her to shut it before she shut it for her.

Instead, she reached out and took Rane by the ink-stained hand. His head remained lowered, but he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as she brought the hand to her cheek and nuzzled into it sweetly, smiling at him. Silently reassuring him that it was okay.

He just looked confused.

“You idiot child! Get him!”

Sandy turned her gaze just in time to see Green and Blue marching in. They rushed towards them and, before Sandy could do anything, they were ripped apart.

Green snatched Rane by wrapping his hulking arm around his neck and yanking him back, while Blue grabbed her by the upper arms and picked her up, pulling her away.

“Let her g-ugh!” Rane tried to fight, only to find his throat crushed by Green’s bicep.

“Elffa, please,” Drevor said calmly. “Surely, this isn’t necessary.”

“Look what they’ve done to my walls!” She shouted, angrily approaching Sandy who wasn’t trying to fight against Blue’s grip. She knew better than to think she’d be able to escape. “And you! Filthy, disgusting human!”

Sandy titled her head back, looking down her nose at her.

CRACK!

Pain burst in her face as Rane roared, redoubling his struggle against Green. For all the good it was doing. Green was struggling too, but he clearly had the upper hand. Sandy gritted her teeth against the sting of the slap as she lifted her head back up to glare at Elffa.

“Vulgar, disgusting thing,” the telfay female hissed, shaking in rage. “And you! ” She whipped around, glaring at her son. “That backwards slut I could understand, but my own blood? Did I raise you to be this uncouth?”

“ Monna , please,” Rane choked around the grip on his throat. “She didn’t… not her fault…”

She chuckled. The dark sound sending shivers up Sandy’s spine. “You forget yourself, Rane. I control both of you!”

Sandy glared at the back of her head. Getting a fierce amount of enjoyment out of mentally running through the process of defeathering a chicken and wondering if telfay feathers made good pillows.

“Take her to her room!” Elffa snapped at Blue before looking back at Rane. “And you. I think it’s been a bit too long since you were reminded of your place .”

Though it burned like acid in her belly, Sandy didn’t attempt to fight Blue as he used his ham-fisted grip on her upper arms to guide her back to her room. The sting in her face was throbbing in time with her heartbeat, but she kept calm.

Now was not the time.

Soon, she promised herself.

She would deal with that feathery bitch soon enough. No one fucked with Alexandra Tollman – and that was on her grandmother’s good name.