Chapter 5

The rest of the afternoon was pure agony. Kipexo’s every thought was shadowed by the plans he and Ethan had for later. Images of hunting his human in the dark, finding him tucked into some shadowed corner, pinning him to the ground, and… Several times, he had to excuse himself to adjust his pants so that the other humans didn’t stare. The cheeky little grins Ethan kept giving him didn’t help at all.

By the time the lights in the ship were turned out and the humans were ready to begin their game, Kipexo’s hunter instincts were honed and ready to track and chase. There was an excited buzz in the air as the humans gathered in the common room, passing out their lights and chatting nervously as Sara entered everyone’s name into her databand and told it to pick one at random. The first designated chaser wasn’t him or Ethan, which was all Kipexo cared about. As far as he was concerned, there was only one seeker and one hider tonight, one hunter and one prey.

Ethan turned his hearing aids up through his databand and smiled up at him, bidding his master close with the bend of a finger. Kipexo leaned down.

“I won’t make it easy,” Ethan whispered near Kipexo’s ear.

Kipexo’s answer was a deep and throaty laugh with a hint of a growl.

Ethan bid him farewell with a wink, and when Sara declared it was time and yelled, “Go!”, Kipexo watched with longing as his Earthling turned the corner of the common room and vanished in the dark.

Kipexo counted to sixty, a full Earth minute, according to Ethan, then he all but leapt into the hall. Kipexo’s sense of smell was heightened, amplified by the adrenaline in his system. The scent of humans was all around him, but under the subtle notes of perfume and body odor, he could make out Ethan’s scent. He followed it down the hall, picking up speed as his natural instincts took over and led him after his prey. Eventually, he started taking turns and rushing down corridors far faster than a creature his size would be expected to move, his eyes scanning the dark for any sign of Ethan’s tiny frame.

Occasionally, he’d spot a limb or a tuft of hair as the others darted in and out of shadows, startled by his sudden appearance as they hid from their seeker. He paid them no mind but resisted the urge to give in completely to the animalistic desire to simply get down on all sixes and run like the feral thing he knew he could be when on a hunt, not wanting to scare the other humans or Ethan when he finally caught up to him. He asked himself where Ethan would flee to. Likely someplace the others wouldn’t go. He’d want privacy. There was only one place Kipexo could think of, the last place he would’ve looked for Ethan under the normal circumstances of this human game.

Their quarters were as dark as the rest of the ship when Kipexo opened the door. He stepped as quietly as he could into the space, his eyes searching the darkness for a hint Ethan was hiding here, but there was nothing. Ethan’s scent was strongest in this room, but that was to be expected. Kipexo stooped and peered under the bed but was met with nothing more than Dex’s glowing eyes in the dark space beneath his and Ethan’s bunk. The animal trilled as if laughing at him.

“Where’s our boy gone?” Kipexo asked the creature, but Dex merely clicked his beak as if to say he’d never spill his Earthling’s secrets. The hebin’s eyes, however, darted curiously toward the locker-lined wall just over Kipexo’s shoulder.

Kipexo stood and turned to the lockers. All of his fangs were out, the thought of catching and claiming his prey overcoming his usual good manners that kept them shielded behind courteous lips. He licked one, his tongue darting across the surface then down over the needle-sharp tip as he advanced on the closest locker door. His hand reached for the latch, but before it made contact with the metal, the furthest locker burst open, and Ethan made a dive for the open door.

Startled, Kipexo didn’t recover in time to catch Ethan as he darted past and out the door, but he quickly whirled and leapt after the human. Ethan was one step ahead of him and jammed the pad on the wall as he ran out, shutting the door in Kipexo’s face who ran full speed into it, unable to stop in time. Kipexo banged a fist on the door with a primal, howling growl then fumbled for the pad to get it open again. Once he was back in the pitch-black hall, there was only silence and no sign of Ethan. He couldn’t have gotten far, but Kipexo didn’t know which way he’d run: left toward the laundry room or right into the showers. He pictured both rooms and decided the laundry room had less open space and more nooks in which to hide, so he turned left.

“Eeeeethan,” Kipexo called in a sing-song voice as he stepped into the laundry room. “I will find you, boy. I’ll find you and pin you beneath my foot, rip your clothes to shreds with my bare hands, and pound my cock in every hole I please.” He shut the door behind him. “I’ll gag you so no one will hear you scream as I fuck and spank that ass of yours raw.” He crept through the room, peering behind the sanitation equipment and bins of dirty clothes. There was a leather belt sitting atop a stack of clean pants, and Kipexo picked it up. “This looks like fun.” He folded it in half and snapped the leather together. The sound cut across the room, piercing the silent darkness so hard even Kipexo shuddered a little.

There was a soft, muffled squeak of a shoe against the floor to his right, and Kipexo homed in on it, moving around the long table used for folding clothes to search behind the sterilizer. As he got close, a small form burst out of the dark and made a break for it, but Kipexo was prepared this time and scooped Ethan up off the floor with one arm.

“No!” Ethan screamed, flailing his arms and legs as he scrambled for purchase on the nearby table, trying to climb over his master’s arm.

“Caught you,” Kipexo said, his voice low and rumbling. He spun and shoved Ethan over the table with his feet on the floor. As Kipexo snaked the boy’s shirt up his torso and over his head, Ethan bucked back and aimed a kick for Kipexo’s shins. Kipexo shimmied out of the way with a laugh, dropping Ethan’s shirt to the floor. “My my, what a naughty thing. I’ll have to punish you.”

Ethan’s mouth opened, and the beginning hints of a scream escaped before Kipexo clamped a hand over his mouth.

“None of that,” he said in Ethan’s ear. He captured the Earthling’s wrists, pinning them behind his back. “Let’s quiet that mouth a bit.” Kipexo reached into his back pocket and plucked out a handkerchief. He twisted it up lengthwise into a makeshift gag. Ethan fought him, refusing to let the cloth into his mouth, but Kipexo dug his fingers into the Earthling’s side where he was the most ticklish, and Ethan couldn’t help but cry out. Kipexo yanked the handkerchief in place between his teeth, knotting it behind the boy’s head. “There. That’s better.”

Though muffled, Kipexo could still make out Ethan’s words as he screamed, “Screw you!”

Kipexo laughed then reached down and tore the fabric of Ethan’s pants from waist to groin with little effort. Ethan gasped as Kipexo yanked the shredded clothing down to his ankles, baring his ass. Still holding Ethan’s wrists in one hand, Kipexo placed another on Ethan’s head, pinning it down with Ethan’s cheek pressed to the tabletop. He leaned down near Ethan’s ear. “I think you’ll find, between the two of us, you’ll be the one thoroughly screwed in the end, boy.”

Ethan moaned, and that was all the encouragement his master needed.

Kipexo took up the belt, folded it like he did before, and cracked it down across the tabletop just inches from Ethan’s face. The Earthling stilled, his eyes wide and chest heaving.

“What color?” Kipexo asked, brandishing the belt near Ethan’s face.

“Green,” was Ethan’s muffled reply, though he squeezed his eyes shut as he said it.

“Beg me not to belt your ass,” Kipexo ordered. “The harder you beg me not to, the harder I’ll strike.”

Ethan cursed around his gag and tried to pull his wrists from Kipexo’s grip, but it was all too easy to keep the Earthling restrained as he struggled. He tried to kick again, only now his ankles were tangled in his pants. Kipexo stepped on the fabric between the Earthling’s feet, pinning it to the floor. Ethan could do little more than shuffle his feet now.

“Please don’t,” Ethan said breathlessly.

Kipexo reared back and slapped the belt across Ethan’s right ass cheek. The blow was soft, no harder than anything they’d done before. Between his legs, Kipexo could see Ethan’s cock was rock hard.

“Pathetic,” Ethan said, the hint of a dare in his eyes.

Kipexo chose to take the bait, and struck again, harder this time, if just barely.

“Stop,” Ethan said, but the word was more of a moan than anything.

The third hit brought a pleasant pink hue to Ethan’s skin.

Ethan’s face was redder than his ass now. “Please, no more.”

Kipexo upped the intensity, and the next strike put Ethan up onto his toes with a hiss. “I’ll do whatever you beg me not to. If you beg me not to hit you, I’ll belt your ass. Beg me not to fuck you, and I’ll pound my cock inside you. Understand?”

Ethan nodded. “Please don’t hurt me.”

The crack of the belt this time was almost as loud as when Kipexo first snapped it to drive Ethan out of hiding, and Ethan’s resulting moan nearly made Kipexo drop the damn thing, rip the plug from the Earthling’s ass, and plunge his cock inside. But that was not the agreement they’d made, and as much as it tortured him, he waited for Ethan’s response.

“Please… please don’t do it again.”

Kipexo repeated the strike, and Ethan’s ass began to darken.

“Fuck! Fuck, please! Please no more.”

Crack went the belt.

The tension slipped out of Ethan, and he all but melted across the tabletop. “Stop,” he mumbled so quietly Kipexo barely heard him.

On the next strike, Ethan grunted. Drool was starting to drip down his chin from the soaked handkerchief.

“Have you learned your lesson yet?” Kipexo asked sweetly.

Ethan glared up at him. “Fuck you!”

The belt snapped across Ethan’s ass, and he screamed even as he arched his back and stuck his ass toward Kipexo, begging for more. Kipexo didn’t wait for a response anymore as he set a rhythm with the belt instead that kept shockwaves of pain and pleasure rippling through Ethan’s body, one after the other. The boy’s ass was a patchwork of welts when he finally said, “Please, Sir, don’t fuck my ass!” It came out as a garbled scream, a plea for Kipexo to take what he wanted.

Kipexo hooked the T base of the plug with his finger and slid it out of Ethan’s ass. He took a bottle of lubricant from his pocket and dribbled a generous amount on Ethan’s gaping hole before fisting some over his cock from tip to base. He removed his hand from Ethan’s head and grabbed the Earthling’s hair instead, yanking it back with a vengeance as he plunged his cock into Ethan’s body. He showed no mercy and pounded into Ethan over and over, slapping his hips against Ethan’s abused ass so hard the feet on the table screeched as it slid across the floor with each thrust.

The sounds Ethan made were nothing Kipexo had heard from the boy before. Every ounce of breath left him as a moan, and he grunted and groaned against each slam of Kipexo’s cock as the drool finally began to drip from his chin onto the tabletop. Kipexo tore the gag from around Ethan’s head so he could hear it all more clearly.

“Please, stop,” Ethan begged, but the words were so full of passion it only made Kipexo’s desires burn hotter. “Fuck! Fuck me! Fuck you! Harder, damn it!”

Kipexo ripped Ethan off the table and tossed him to the floor, pinning him beneath his weight as he reared back and gave the Earthling everything he had with a roar, pumping into his ass with punishing force and speed. He yanked Ethan’s head back by the hair, drawing a cry from him as he used his grip as leverage to fuck him even harder. Kipexo could feel his orgasm building as Ethan began to shake. The Earthling came first, screaming obscenities and crying.

Consumed by carnal instincts, Kipexo leaned down and bit Ethan’s shoulder hard enough his two top fangs pierced the Earthling’s skin. The copper taste of blood in his mouth sent Kipexo over the edge as well, and he moaned against Ethan’s flesh as he pumped every drop of his seed deep in the Earthling’s ass.

In the aftermath, they lay there on the cold floor, both breathing hard and shaking with sweat slicking every inch of their skin. Ethan lifted his head and peered down at his shoulder where the two punctures oozed fresh blood.

“Sorry,” Kipexo muttered. “I know we didn’t discuss—”

“It’s fine,” Ethan replied. “It felt right in the moment.”

Kipexo gently pulled out of Ethan’s body. The boy would feel him for days whenever he sat down, in more ways than one. Kipexo stripped off his shirt and laid it over Ethan. It was big enough the Earthling could use it as a blanket.

“We should go wash while the others are still playing their game,” said Kipexo.

Ethan reached for him. “Not yet.” He tugged Kipexo’s arm until he laid down next to him. “My skin is buzzing. I don’t want to move.” Kipexo chuckled and nuzzled Ethan’s throat as the Earthling rolled up in the shirt and tucked himself under his master’s arms.

“You’ve become quite the bossy little shit,” Kipexo said quietly.

“Sorry?”

“Don’t be. I kind of like it.” Kipexo licked a drop of blood from Ethan’s shoulder before it could drip onto his shirt. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Really good. That was fun.”

Kipexo smiled. “I enjoyed that as well. Were you frightened?”

“Yes and no. I wanted to get away and hide, but, at the same time, I couldn’t wait for you to catch me. Eventually, it was like… I wasn’t making conscious decisions anymore. I just acted. And while I was over that table, I’ve never felt so turned on in my life. When I begged you not to do the things I actually wanted you to, it made me want them even more.”

“I’ll admit, I haven’t played this game in a long time. I forgot how enjoyable it is.”

“You’ve done that before?”

“Once or twice but never as primal as how we just did. This was special.”

Ethan smiled and snuggled closer. “Good.”

The door to the laundry room opened, and there were giddy whispers as two other humans crept in, no doubt searching for a place to hide. Kipexo growled loud enough for them to hear, and they both yelped and scurried back out again. Ethan laughed.

“We should go,” Kipexo said.

Ethan groaned and gave an unenthusiastic, “Fine.”

They both got slowly to their feet. Ethan’s pants were beyond salvaging, so he stripped them off and tossed them in the nearby waste chute along with the ruined handkerchief. Kipexo grabbed the used plug from where he’d dropped it on the floor and put the belt back where he found it as they headed for the door. Out in the hallway, with Ethan still wrapped in Kipexo’s shirt since he wasn’t wearing pants, they snuck down the hall toward the showers, trying not to get caught half-naked by the others. Ethan giggled as he dashed the last few yards with Kipexo right behind him. Once they were in the showers, Kipexo shut the door then switched on the lights.

“Hey!” someone yelled, and it only took Kipexo’s eyes a second to adjust to the sudden light and see there were two naked humans in the back of the showers, both scrambling for their clothes across the floor where they’d obviously been engaged in… other activities before he and Ethan interrupted.

Ethan squinted his eyes and raised a hand against the lights then burst out laughing. “Caught ya!” he yelled, and when Kipexo looked again, he recognized the two humans and laughed too.

“Ethan!” Sara cried in fury as she yanked her shirt over her head. “Get out!”

Andrew was struggling to get his feet in the legs of his pants without toppling over.

“We need the showers,” Kipexo said with a smirk.

Sara took in Kipexo’s bare chest and the shirt Ethan wore wrapped around his waist to cover his naked lower half and smirked too. “Enjoying the game?”

“As much as you,” Ethan replied.

Andrew had his pants on at this point and turned with a sheepish smile on his face. “You boys know where Sara and I can continue our evening in peace?”

“The laundry room is vacant,” Kipexo said. “Or it was a moment ago.”

“That’s perfect,” Sara said, taking Andrew’s hand. “I’ve got something that needs cleaning.”

“Grooooooss,” Ethan called as Sara and Andrew scurried across the room with the rest of their clothes tucked under their arms. The door shut behind them on Sara’s giggling laughter.

“Something of mine needs cleaned as well,” Kipexo said, and he snatched Ethan up off his feet and into his arms.

Ethan yelped then laughed as Kipexo carried him under the nearest showerhead.

They washed only the necessary places, using the least amount of water possible before dressing in what remained of their clothes and sprinting back to their quarters. Ethan grabbed fresh pants from his locker and gave Kipexo back his shirt. They sat together on the bed—gingerly, on Ethan’s part—as Kipexo applied an ointment to the bite on Ethan’s shoulder and covered it with a small bandage to prevent infection.

“Do you want some on your ass as well?” Kipexo asked.

“You didn’t break the skin.”

“Some balm then?”

“Ok.”

Ethan took his pants down to the knees then crawled over to lay across Kipexo’s lap, tucking both his arms under his head.

Kipexo couldn’t help but smile as he unscrewed the lid on the balm and dipped two fingers in for a generous dollop. He rubbed it across every inch of Ethan’s skin that showed bruising or redness, taking care not to aggravate the area further. The tenderness he put into these touches surprised even himself, and he wished for a moment that he could roll over, settle atop his Earthling, and make soft love to him, the kind Ethan had showed him humans make.

Ethan peered back over his shoulder at Kipexo. “What’s the matter?” Kipexo had stopped rubbing in the balm without even noticing.

“Nothing,” Kipexo said with a smile.

Ethan leaned up on his elbows, and his collar swung out from under his shirt to dangle below his throat. The half Earth half Raugon medallion was unfastened at the top, so Kipexo reached out and clicked it fully closed again. Ethan was still looking at him with concern.

“I’ve struggled with an overwhelming guilt since we left Raug,” Kipexo confessed. “I feared I’d made another mistake in judgment that would cost others their lives.”

Ethan rose, pulled up his pants, then sat in Kipexo’s lap. He put an arm around the back of his master’s neck. “Your squad?”

Kipexo nodded.

“I’m so—”

Kipexo put a finger to Ethan’s lips. “Say you’re sorry, and I’ll welt the other cheek.”

Ethan smiled. “That’s a tempting threat.” He squirmed a little but then turned serious. “Are you ok?”

“I think so. Over the last couple of days, I’ve realized that, despite our current situation, I have no regrets.”

“Not even that day on the ridge?”

“That day will live in my heart as a day of great loss, but those losses are on the Lifreet, not me. I’ve accepted that my actions at the time were appropriate. No one would’ve chosen differently with the information I had to work with. The fact that it was a trap was out of my control. And, as much as it pains me to admit it, I wouldn’t be where I am today, who I am today, if that day never happened.”

Ethan cocked his head to the side. “You think it happened for a reason?”

“I don’t know,” Kipexo answered honestly. “But I do know that I never would’ve adopted you, never would’ve seen Vesvon’s true colors or met Grolpre. The humans would still be stuck on Raug being hunted by the city guard. Lihana would still be kidnapping your people by the thousands. So much has happened.” He petted Ethan’s hair as he continued. “I lost a lot that day, but it turns my stomach to consider how much I would’ve lost if that day never happened.”

“I know the feeling. I lost my sister, and it feels like a betrayal to say I gained a whole lot more, but it’s the truth.”

“But, just like for me, your sister’s death wasn’t your fault. I hope you’ve realized that.”

Ethan nodded. “It doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“I understand.” After a moment of grief-filled silence, Kipexo asked, “Should we go back to the common room?”

“I’m tired. Can we just go to bed?”

An anxious knot twisted in Kipexo’s stomach, but he nodded and said, “Of course.”