Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A jungle spreads out before us, so different from the dusty red steppes I've seen on the rest of this planet. Like a mirage or an oasis, it is teeming with life.

Alien animals swing from the heavy vines that drape over the full golden foliage. The trunks of the trees twist in ways that seem too delicate to support their massive canopies. There must be some magic behind their design.

Lost in the enchantment of this new world, I barely register the feeling of Grasyi stumbling over his own feet.

It feels like time slows down as I'm forcefully thrust forward, unaffected by whatever is holding the big cat's movement at bay. The inertia speeds up my inevitable face-plant into the powdery dirt.

I shut my eyes tight, waiting for impact.

There's a tugging at my belly, and a twisting motion that has my body spinning. I feel Drohako's warm chest at my back. His arms circle my stomach protectively, and although the collision with the ground is abrupt, my alien mate absorbs most of the impact .

It takes a moment before I can breathe properly, the wind knocked out of my chest.

Once I regain some of my composure, I realize that Drohako's arms are limp around me. I twist around, cupping the side of his cheek.

As I pull his face toward mine, blood wells from a forehead cut at the edge of his hairline. The rock underneath his head is small, but jagged.

Drohako is knocked out cold.

I panic, cursing this stupid planet for not having helmets, and put my palms agains the cut. Alien blood has to clot and slow with pressure like humans, right? I examine his earlier wound, wrapped in a makeshift bandage. No further bleeding there, so I must be right.

As the fear of something more sinister than a temporary blackout gnaws at me, I rack my brain, attempting to piece together what transpired.

I scan the treeline, not seeing a single trace of Grasyi... but when I hear him snarl directly above me, I lift my eyes higher, realizing that the giant cat is caught in some primitive snare.

Despite his best efforts, he can't lift its heavy body high enough to bite through the rope that's suspending his four paws above him.

"Did you think you'd get away from the Volkroth, human? That there wouldn't be safeguards against this kind of thing?" A deep voice booms from the thicket of golden leaves.

His boots crunch heavily on the underbrush as he steps into the light.

A Volkroth, smaller than Drohako but nonetheless intimidating, comes closer to me. The larger horn on the left side of his head is cut short, extra noticeable with his cropped hair. He brings his forefinger and thumb up to his chin, appraising me with a devious smile .

"All this trouble for a little thing like you? Seems such a waste." He keeps advancing toward me, and I shake my unconscious protector.

Please wake up, please Drohako…

"I was shocked that Drohako would bring such dishonor to the Volkroth, trying to steal away a bit of human cunt for himself. He's done his job, bred you well, and now we all reap the benefits of continuing our species. He can't just take you…your baby belongs to all of us."

My voice sticks in my throat as the terror finally sets in.

"My hunting partner, my confidant, a true disgrace," he looks at Drohako's body with such disgust that I'm finally able to find my voice.

"We're mates, he told me. I swear he's just trying to keep me safe!" I plead with Rahldro, unsure of what he plans to do with me.

His steps falter when he hears me say the word "mate."

"Mate? Not possible—you lie!" he spits, finally close enough to grab my wrist.

As he rips me from Drohako's still unmoving body, he's full of rage. Somehow, my plea to honor the matehood has had the opposite effect I intended.

"You're hurting me... Drohako won't stand for this!" I yelp, attempting to wrench my wrist from his grip.

"He won't care much about anything anymore." The brute laughs as he throws me over his shoulder. "In fact, maybe I'll claim you as my own in the spawning pits once you're back from the nesting grounds—I've never had something so fragile as a human before."

The Volkroth keeps running his mouth about what he'd like to do to me as I dissociate. My mind slips back to when Drohako first held me like this. How he slung me over his shoulder at our initial meeting. The fear then only heightened my excitement.

Now, as I'm dragged from my motionless mate, it only fills me with dread.

"We can't just leave him here!" I kick my feet against the stranger. "He's your friend!"

"Friend? He's an enemy of state. His brain must be addled beyond help if he's telling you that your his mate. That is not possible!" He's so angry, and I don't know if it's at me, or that I represent something he thinks he'll never have…a mate.

"Please, we can't let him die here." I'm begging, done trying to reason with him.

"Don't worry, the jirion hounds will take care of him."

No, that ' s not possible.

I run my hands over his chest, fingers searching with unhinged desperation.

"Your ‘mate's' body isn't even yet cold, human, and here you are, ready to be rutted again?" The Volkroth laughs with his entire chest, so convinced of the fact that I'd easily give up my mate.

His laugh is cut short as I finally grab one of the many blades that the Volkroth like to keep strapped to their bodies. With every bit of my strength, I forcefully drive the sharp point of the blade into the vulnerable flesh of his neck.

He gurgles as I twist the dagger, fiery blood running down my hand, the liquid sputtering from between his dark purple lips. When he falls to his knees, I regain my footing, kicking off of him as he face-plants into the ground. The bastard clutches at his neck, his body slowly draining of its natural color, mewling around on the ground like the worm he is .

"I tried to tell you," I growl, "we're mated. He is mine and I am his. It's us against the world." He turns his head, his eyes wide with shock. "You should have listened."

He tries to speak, but he can't make the correct noises with his injury. I swear his lips form the word ‘mate'.

His movements slow as his skin turns gray.

It didn't have to be like this .

Only when I hear Drohako cough his way back to the realm of the living does my rage subside.

I rush to his side as he struggles to sit up.

"What happened?" he croaks, his voice so hoarse it's almost a whisper. When he touches my hand, his brows draw together. He pulls his fingers back from mine, and they're slick with blood.

The panic spreads over his face as he wipes my cheek frantically with his hands. "Are you hurt?"

"No, it's okay now. Do you think you can stand?" I ask as he continues to clean my skin.

His eyes are wild. "The blood! Where did the blood come from?"

"Don't worry, it's not mine. The blood is yours and the sad excuse for a Volkroth over there."

He follows my outstretched thumb to the dead alien behind us.

"Rahldro? Did he hurt you?" He's not any calmer when he unsteadily clambers to his feet.

I rush to his side, wrapping an arm around his hips, as if he would show weakness by leaning against me.

He doesn't, of course, but instead hurries to the dead Volkroth, now lying face down in a pool of his own quickly coagulating blood, and stomps on his skull with brutal force.

The sickening sound of bones cracking echoes through the air as they collide with the blood-soaked mud. Despite having just slit the dead alien's throat, I quickly avert my gaze from the macabre sight.

Only when Drohako wraps me up in his arms, tucking my chin against his chest, do I refocus my attention.

"Did he hurt you, mate?" he asks softly.

"No, quite the opposite," I whisper. "He was too weak to continue his bloodline. It dies with him."

Pride sparks behind Drohako's eyes, and he cups my blood-soaked face in his hands. He crashes his mouth against mine with a hungry, desperate kiss.

"You are perfect," he mutters against my ear as he breaks away.

Drohako groans as I squeeze the coil of his members through his pants. They pulse, hardening at my touch. We both almost just died, but there's something about victory that makes me slick with want. Maybe I'm becoming a true Volkroth mate after all.

"I will have you stuffed full of my cocks before long, but for now, we ride."

He swiftly grabs a curved blade and hurls it toward a nearby tree trunk, the sound of metal meeting wood echoing through the air. Grasyi is taken by surprise as the blade severs the fibers of the snare rope, causing him to crash heavily onto the ground with a loud thump.

The cat coughs, shaking his head a few times before stalking over to the ruined body of my attacker. He rips a juicy bit of flesh from the dead Volkroth's haunch and swallows it whole. Grasyi wrinkles his nose before gripping the torso in his giant maw, flinging the body off the path and into the thick underbrush of the forest .

With a satisfied snort, he looks back at us as if we're the ones lollygagging.

"To the hunting cave."

Drohako grabs me by the waist, and we mount the feline quickly. Drohako settles me over his legs and facing his chest, his free hand pulling me against him protectively. With a snap of the animal's reigns, we're sprung into motion.

The wind whips against my back, and it's cold as the blood dries. We don't speak as we gallop to our new home. It gives me time to process what just happened.

"I don't want to do this without you," I whisper into his sternum. "I know I said it before, but I love you—I mean it."

I can sense his breath coming to a halt, if only for a moment. His hand glides up my spine, and I can feel the warmth of his touch as he cups the back of my head. Tilting it back, my mate leans in and kisses me.

Instead of the usual fevered, crushing kisses, he surprises me with something tender and yielding, like a whisper against my skin. I open my mouth to him, eager to accept whatever he will offer, completely surrendering myself.

Though I expect him to stop our ride, to take me here in the forest, he doesn't. Drohako notches his head over mine, eyes forward on the trail ahead, when his hand travels back down and slips between us.

Without words, his thick and calloused fingers find my clit.

"Drohako." My breath comes in pants as he runs circles around the bundle of nerves until my pussy weeps with slick.

"You are a good mate," he whispers into the wind as we ride. It's a simple statement, but there's a strained emotion behind it.

Instinctively, I reach for his hardening cocks that press against my labia through his thin loincloth. I can feel his pulsing need, and I want nothing more than to sate it.

We're safe, and I want to show him how much I want him.

"No."

He pushes my hand aside and keeps circling my throbbing clit.

"I just want?—"

"Be quiet. What you want is of no importance. I want you to come."

I feel him slide inside me, his fingers expertly caressing my g-spot while his thumb teases my aching nub.

I'll give him what he wants.

"You are a warrior," he breathes over my head. "A warrior who deserves this pleasure."

I buck as Graysi comes down hard on the ground in tandem with his thrusting hand. It hurts just in the way I need.

"I'm yours," I whine, reaching my arms up behind his neck, needing something to ground me.

"Mine."

His pace becomes more frantic, and he pushes a third digit inside of me, pushing my channel wide.

"You will come when all my fingers are inside you," he commands. "I will feel your tight and grasping cunt around my hand…Is that clear?"

"Fuck, yes. Please stuff me full!" I'm riding his hand, my honey dripping down to his wrist. He pushes deeper, his thumb flexing back to its max angle. His hand is so large that his pinky easily touches the ring of nerves around my asshole.

The pad of his thumb rubs my clit from side to side. The deep pressure of his actions makes my pussy clench erratically over him. I won't last long like this.

"I'm going to come," I mewl against him, my ass cheeks squeezing and my legs going straight as my body searches for release.

"Not yet," he barks, and he slides out and repositions his hand. "Tell me you want it. You want me to fuck you with my entire hand."

"I want you, I want anything you'll give me."

With all his fingers and thumb pinched together, they push inside me. I'm so wet, but his hand is huge. I worry it won't fit, that I'll fail him.

But my mate knows what I can handle. He pushes past the ring of resistance and slides up the second set of knuckles. The motion of Grasyi's running has the broadside of his hand sliding up and down my clit.

"I can't stop it," I pant. "Go further, I want you all the way in before I co?—"

Before I can finish my begging, he slams his hand home. It burns as the widest part slips inside me, but as soon as I clamp down on his wrist and he spreads his fingers inside me, I explode.

My pussy pulses like it's trying to eject his hand, and a torrent of wetness floods out of me. As he fucks me through my orgasm, my whole body shakes and I'm unable to cope with the sensations.

"You're a good mate," he repeats as he slides out of me and grips me before I can slip off the beast below us.