Bear Mountain Bride: Shifter Romance by Sky Winters (29)

Valerie had never been known to be a good dancer, but by all indications, no one here would be able to tell the difference. She held hands with the other girls skipping and bobbing around the large bonfire in the center of the village. Their laughter filled the night air, and soon she grew dizzy and weary from all the excitement.

When she fell down on the ground again, weary with exhaustion, Malek came to her. “I see you are getting the hang of it,” he told her and laughed.

“That is a lot harder to do than it looks. See the way Naresh and Willow move? I can hardly do that,” she said, her words coming in gasps.

“It will come with time,” he told her.

“I like the sound of that,” she said and smiled.

“Would you like to take a midnight stroll with me?” he asked her.

Valerie smiled and nodded, and then she got up and went with him. For a while they walked without speaking, and then he held her hand and turned her to him. “You should never let any man tell you that you aren’t beautiful, because you are,” he told her. “You are strange, and different from what I know, but that’s good, because I was never attracted to what I knew. And I never knew why, until I saw you on that path that day. You were running and looked so scared, and I felt like I had to protect you, though I didn’t know why.”

He placed his hand on her face and stroked her cheek, and she raised her hand to keep it there. She closed her eyes and imagined all the times she had wanted to feel needed by a man. And all it had taken was a trip to another planet by an invisible force. Her eyes were still closed when she felt something soft and warm on her lips, and when she opened her eyes, they met his. He held her gaze, even as his lips moved over hers, slowly and purposely, and she felt the tear as it raced down her cheek. Then he pulled her closer than before, deeper into his kiss, so that their bodies almost became one. She received him gladly, and as they stood there in the dark, with the rays of the moon celebrating on their skin, making patterns through the leaves, their differences didn’t matter.

They held hands after that, and he led her to a place by the river where it was serene and beautiful, and they sat for a long time watching the waters flow. Valerie had never known peace like that before, and she nestled against Malek and enjoyed being his company.

The following day when she went out with the other women to gather the crops, she became the subject of conversation.

“You go with Malek in the night,” one of the women said to her.

Valerie blushed and bit her lips. “I just went for a walk.”

“Men in Masawa never just take woman in night on walk. There was something more,” Naresh told her and giggled. “Malek is strong, and good leader; he will make good mate.”

“Who said anything about a mate?” Valerie asked.

“It true,” Willow chimed in. “Many women in Masawa, but Malek choose you. It is a good thing,” she said and smiled. “You will not feel bad after you go with him.” She looked at Naresh and both women started giggling.

“What’s going? What did I miss?” Valerie asked.

“When he takes his thing and put it here in your…” Willow began.

“Oh, I get it,” Valerie said and stopped the woman before she got even more embarrassed.

“Malek tall and strong,” Naresh teased. “Make him drink green root tea and you make baby, first time,” Willow added.

“How is it you aren’t jealous that he would want me and not another woman from the village?” Valerie asked. “I would be offended if it were me in your positions. Neither of you are married either.”

“True,” Naresh replied. “But you can’t force man to take you. When right one comes, then you know. We know Malek for you when you come. We see how his eyes get black when he looks at you.”

Valerie did not always understand their language, in as much as she had to clarify some things to them whenever she spoke. But she knew enough, by context, to fully understand their childlike innocence and generosity, and what it meant when they mentioned Malek’s eyes growing black. Did he really feel for her as much?

“You take to our ways very easy,” Naresh told her. “You would make good leader too.”

“Wait, what leader?” Valerie asked, not fully understanding what they were saying now.

“You and Malek,” Willow said.

And then it registered. If she and Malek were mates, then she would be the woman all women in the tribe looked up to. Right away she felt the weight of the responsibility resting on her, and she looked to them for emotional support. Their smiles seemed to do the trick, and Valerie smiled in return, but she wasn’t sure if it was out of happiness, anxiety or relief, that she was in a place where she was respected by all. she blinked rapidly as if to wake up, but when she trained her eyes again, she saw them looking and smiling still, and already so expectant.

CHAPTER 7

Time passed by much differently on Planet Xenon than it did on Earth, and by the time Valerie realized, she was already months into her new life. It felt natural to her, and even more so the longer she spent with Malek. He took her to the river, on what she termed dates, and which amused him incredibly. They were on one such date, at a little spot by the waterfall, the soothing sounds of the flow creating a gentle ambience. They were sitting on a piece of canvas, and Malek had his arms around her.

“I didn’t even know there was another planet in the Solar System,” she said as she curled up against him.

“We always knew there were others out there, but we have never had the pleasure to travel anywhere. It has been said that some of the Yacuza, the people who live in the city, they have travelled to distant planets. I heard that when I went to study there for a while.”

“Didn’t you ever want to though? I’m sure if I knew there were other worlds I’d want to go.” She shifted so that she could be more comfortable next to him, and he smoothed her hair that fell flat against her forehead.

“Wanting to do something and actually being able to are different things. Not everyone gets the chance to go into space.”

“So, there are more like you out there? Other worlds?” Valerie was growing more fascinated with the idea that Earth had not been the only planet all along.

“I guess,” he said. “But no more of that talk now,” he said and lowered his head to kiss her on the forehead.

Valerie sighed contentedly, and leaned in closer to him. “What else did you have in mind?” she asked playfully.

She felt his grip tighten on her, and it didn’t take long to understand just what he was about. He kissed her temple and smoothed her hair, and she closed her eyes as her heart raced in anticipation of what was about to happen. His lips, as warm as a summer’s day, and as gentle as the waters that flowed not too far from them, travelled down her face, until he buried his head in her enclave. Valerie shuddered, and he stopped to ensure she was alright. She smiled at his patience and gentleness, and held her head back to allow him room. His left hand held her firmly around the middle as his other stroked her stomach, kneading her flesh and moving slowly upwards until he cupped breasts that were ripe and ready.

Then, slowly he rose and rested her against the canvas, and hovered above her, with the moon as his light and the stars making their own showy display of brilliance. Valerie’s chest heaved, and though she was nervous, her body called to him, and for each time he touched her, she trembled. He removed the dress he wore, and in one fluid motion he tossed it aside and stood before her, his bronze skin appearing anything but that in the silvery glow of the moon. She held out her hands for him, and he knelt before her and removed her clothing. When he came down before her again, he found the hard surface of her taut nipples, as goose pimples lined her entire frame. He suckled her breast, and tasted every part of her, crisscrossing her ample frame and not seeming to get enough.

On his return trip, when his mouth came down over her breast, Valerie gripped his head and kept him there as she heaved and panted. It had been a while since she felt a man take control of her body, and she surrendered to this strange creature on a planet she had wandered onto. Her hands groped at him in the dark, and she felt his firm chest, her hands splayed and she dug hard into him. He let out a howl, and then his eyes grew red with passion. His manhood, waving uncontrollably, too eager to taste of this beauty, became too hard for him to control. He held onto it and with unsteady hands, guided it inside her. Her breathing intensified then, in the same measure as his, and she jerked as she felt him fill her up.

She tried to push him off, anxious that her experience with the average man had not physically prepared her for him, but he eased into her, using her natural lubricant to aid him, and then he buried himself deeper. Valerie wrapped her feet around him, now comfortable with his size, and urged him deeper. He was slow to respond at first, but his speed increased with his heartrate, and soon their howls and moans challenged the sounds of the jungle. Valerie dug her nails deeper into his taut buttock cheeks, keeping him inside her until she felt her hot fluid spilling over him. He paused, as if he had never experienced that before, and then he pounded. Her body rocked as he rolled her around on his member, and when he felt his own passion coming to a climax, he bellowed and let ring a sound so loud it awakened the creatures.

Malek gripped her, and under the light of the moon, he filled her with everything she had always needed, but had never gotten. When it was all over, he fell on his back, his body appearing as if painted, and she leaned over on her elbows and watched him. Her shivering drew his attention, and he quickly covered her with the clothing they wore before. Then he pulled her into his arms, and the heat radiating from him caused her to sweat profusely. He didn’t fall asleep afterwards, as she had grown accustomed to. He held her there, and they talked about her world and his, and he played with her hair as she did his now flaccid self.

Not long after, she saw a sly grin on his face, and in the wee hours of the morning, unbeknown to the world around them, they got lost in another round of making jungle music.

CHAPTER 8

Everything was euphoric for Valerie and she comfortably settled into what quickly became life as usual in Masawa. She had all but forgotten that she was in a strange place she wasn’t altogether intimate with as yet, so when she decided to go exploring in the jungle alone, something she had seen others do before, she didn’t anticipate that she would be in any danger. Her smile was as bright as the sun itself, and she walked along the trail, her hands running over the large leaved plants that surrounded her. she listened to the sounds of the animals as they scurried about, getting lost in the natural trance that pervaded the place.

She was so caught up in the moment she did not hear when the jungle grew still, until the threat was immediately upon her. She heard something snap behind her, and when she turned, she fell backwards as something pummeled into her. she scrambled to her feet, just in time to see three women bear down on her, armed and gnarling like rabid animals. She staggered backwards, her arms thrashing about as she tried to hold onto something.

“What is this?” she managed to ask. She had seen them before, sometimes at the river, but they had never exchanged words.

“You come to our home. Take our man. Not right,” one of them screeched. “We make you go back.”

“No,” Valerie said as she started to move back. “Your people wanted me here. Malek wants me here. I didn’t come here to cause any trouble.” She was growing more frightened by the minute, and she tried to delay what she thought to be her inevitable demise. She did not know how to fight, and the women were trained and angry.

“What if Malek find out?” one of them turned to the others and asked. “He punish us.”

“We tell him she run off and get eaten by wild animals. Plenty in the jungle,” the other said, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

“You don’t want to do that,” Valerie pleaded. Everything in her mind was a muddle of confusion, and she stared into the faces of the people she had angered. “I didn’t choose to come here, and I didn’t choose to be with him. If there was a way home I’d take it, but there is none. So, I am stuck here.”

“No matter,” the first said, and she walked over to her with the stick poised to enter Valerie’s shivering body. “We don’t want you here.”

“Wait!” Valerie screamed and her hands shot up before her. “Please.” She was crying now, and she was shaking as she imagined what they might do to her. But she wasn’t about to stay there either to find out. As soon as she saw an opening she started running. She heard them tearing through the trees, twigs and brambles in their pursuit of her, and when she felt them closing in on her, she screamed.

Just then Malek emerged from a clump of trees to her right, and she veered in his direction, stumbling into his path as she raced to the safety and protection of his arms.

“What is going on?” he asked when he saw Valerie stumble before him. The women who were hot on her trail halted.

“We play with her,” the outspoken woman said.

“This doesn’t look like play,” Malek said and hopped from the Tsar. He stooped and helped Valerie to her feet.

Valerie was shocked at first, that the women would tell Malek they were playing and not actually trying to kill her. But then she stopped and looked at their faces, and even now they seemed more afraid than she was. She had never seen a villager punished before, but she could only assume it was terrible enough to drive fear into the lot of them.

“Is that true Valerie?” he asked her. She nodded affirmatively, and brushed off her clothes. “Are you sure? I heard you scream.”

“I’m sure. I was just out walking and saw something that scared me. That’s all,” she told him and smiled. Malek did not believe that was all there was to it, but he only had her word to go on.

“Alright. Would you like to ride with me?” he asked her.

She thought about that, and of the possibility that they could continue with their earlier plans if she were to remain; it would be ludicrous not to accept his offer. “Sure,” she told him, and he lifted her onto the animal and then hopped on after her.

In all the time Valerie had been in Masawa, she had never faced as much aggression as she had that day. She wasn’t sure whether or not it would be good for her to tell Malek what happened, so the women could be punished, but how would that help her? How would the others view her after that? Even though she was the victim, she would seem like the aggressor.

She was still contemplating what to do later that day when she saw one of the women approach her. It was the one who had pointed the stake at her, and Valerie tensed and drifted closer to the hut when she saw the woman getting closer.

“No need to be afraid,” she told her when she got to her. she folded her arms and looked around the village at the other people walking around and getting involved. “Why you not tell Malek what we do?”

“I don’t know what he would have done, and you looked terrified, so I didn’t. I get that I don’t belong here, and I’m not trying to take anyone’s place, but I did not ask for this,” Valerie said and brushed away a tear that was rolling down her cheek.

The woman smiled and went over to Valerie. “It ok,” she told her and rested her hand on her shoulder. “You ok.” Then she turned and walked away.

Valerie felt the weight of a thousand anchors lift from her shoulders, and her heart warmed when she saw Malek walking towards her. He got to her and swept her up in his arms, and without warning he kissed her, fiercely and passionately, as he was wont to do on occasion, and then everything else was forgotten.

CHAPTER 9

Malek stood and watched as the women readied Valerie for the ceremony. She was beautiful to him, and the people loved her. He had been waiting for the right woman for the longest while, and for quite some time he thought he never would. He had resigned himself to a long and lonely life, or to relocate to the Yacuza, abandoning his people in the process, in the hopes of finding love. He was still contemplating his options when he stumbled upon this strange creature in the jungle of Tundra. At first he had been alarmed, and frightened of her, until he realized she was more so of him. He had been fascinated by her difference, and over time, her complete beauty. Now as he stood waiting for her to be escorted to him, he felt nothing but pride, and nothing of treason.

“Malek,” he heard someone call from behind.

He turned and smiled when he saw Master Shakh approaching. “Right on time,” he said and hugged his elder.

“Wouldn’t miss union of Earth woman with Xenon man,” he said and grinned. “She make good leader with Malek.”

“I think so too,” Malek said and looked over at Valerie who had just raised her head. She was fully clad in white, and the smile she wore was her only accompanying accessory.

“If she stay,” Master Shakh continued.

Malek creased his brow and turned to the man. “What do you mean ‘if she stay’? We become one today; she already chose to stay.”

“But that was before discovery was made,” Shakh told Malek.

“What discovery?” Malek asked. He felt his heart rate increase suddenly, and it thumped against the wall of his chest, the sound reverberating within him he could feel his temples quake.

“When she first came, woman wanted to return to Earth. She came here not of free will. She chose to stay maybe because she thought no way back. Shakh discover way back in three moons.”

Malek heard what Master Shakh was saying, but he refused to accept it. He looked back at the woman being led to him, and in that moment his fear was greater than his love. “Must we tell her about it?”

“Shame on you Malek. You are noble one. It is the only thing to do,” he said and smiled as Valerie got to them. “Now, let us continue.”

Malek stood next to Valerie, in the moment he should have been enjoying the ceremony, with his mind everywhere but there. He was afraid she would seize the opportunity and leave, but as the wise one had said, it was not his choice to make; there was only one course to take.

“Wait,” he said. He sighed and stared at the ground and then turned to Valerie.

“What is it?” She had been the victim of cold rejection before and she was not prepared for a second dose.

He stroked her face and gave her a half smile. “I’m afraid I must tell you something.” She looked at him expectantly, reminding him of a wild animal trapped in a snare. “Master Shakh just gave me some great news. It seems the gateway to Earth will be re-opened three moons from now.”

Valerie’s eyes popped as she thought about the implications. She could return home, and to a life she had…her thoughts fell flat there. It didn’t take long for the smile that had begun to form to wipe itself into obscurity. She looked at Malek, and saw the sadness in him, but she knew she would not be able to decide right then what the right course was.

“I never thought I’d get the chance to return home,” she whispered and let go of his hand. “At nights I dreamed of it, when I just got here. I…I…”

“It’s alright Valerie,” Malek told her. “I won’t keep you here if you want to return home. It is understandable.”

“I can’t do this right now,” she said, and then she turned and walked away.

The gathering parted as she did, and Malek stood there next to Master Shakh as he watched her walk away. His heart cried out, but there was no way to appease it. He felt Shakh’s hand on his shoulder then.

“Be strong great warrior; the day has just started, and it is long. Many things happen before sun sets,” he told him, and then he walked off with the rest of the village with him.

Malek heard what the old man said, but he found it hard to believe in it now. He wanted to get angry at himself, for falling in love with a dream. Of course she would want to return home; he would if he ever wandered onto a strange planet with strange people. So he would never deny her the chance of returning. With his head held down, he trudged to his tent, his heart a hundred degrees below the point it had been only a few minutes ago.

When he got there she was waiting for him, and she came forward to meet him. “I don’t know what to do,” she cried.

He held her, squeezing her to him, and he felt her tremble against him. “Don’t worry. We will figure it out together,” he told her. He felt the emotion well up inside him in the same way he suspected it was consuming her, and not knowing what else to do, he held her head back and kissed her, so that everything else would be still.

CHAPTER 10

Valerie and Malek spent the next few weeks acting as if the moons would not pass, and that their future was not hanging by a thread. They lived as they had before, with Valerie not making a decision in either direction. Until the day before the gateway would reappear.

She woke up in a sweat on that morning, and sprang from the bed. “Ssh,” Malek whispered and pulled her back. “Let’s not do this today. We knew this would happen. Let’s just get through this last day.”

Valerie’s chest heaved as she allowed him to calm her, and then she sank back into his arms. He enveloped her, and then his lips found the smooth skin at the base of her throat. Her heartrate instantly quickened, and she closed her eyes as she anticipated what was to come next. He slowly and methodically removed her clothing, and when she was bare, his tongue went to work making art along her body. He circled her breasts with his tongue, and groped her sides as his needs increased with the size of his manhood. He felt her hand on him now, squeezing him, and he suckled harder as he felt himself grow with her touch.

He kissed her sides, her navel, her inner thighs, and ran his tongue over that pink wet spot beckoning to him for more. He felt her tremble, and as the fire raged within him, he guided himself into her. She winced at first, and her head fell back when she gripped the bedding and curled her toes. He slowed until her tension abated, and her insides hugged him, commanding him to give her more as she grew hotter and wetter. Then he sank into her over and over again, matching her rhythm with his, and Valerie moaned long and hard, not wanting the moment to end.

Malek raged on, and he gripped her thighs as he plunged into her faster, harder and deeper. She panted, and when he rolled her onto her side and entered her again, it was too much. She cried out and dug her nails into him, and the pain she inflicted got intertwined with his euphoria, and he felt himself tingle as he neared his climax. He pressed down into her firm skin with his palms as he released everything into her. She held onto him, keeping him inside her, even when it was over.

And then they lay there, for hours, not saying anything, until sleep stole the uncomfortable silence between them. When Malek opened his eyes again, it was after midnight. The gateway would open when the sun was highest in the sky and the moon covered it. The time was close and he still wasn’t prepared to let her go.

At dawn, she rose, her eyes melancholy, and filled with as much confusion as her heart. Malek wasn’t there, but by the time she got dressed, he parted the slit in the canvas and stepped inside. “It is time.”

He held her hand and led her to Master Shakh. “We go now,” he told her. “We not have much time.”

They got to the spot where they had first found her, and Malek led her to the entrance of the portal. “This is it,” he said and stood back.

Valerie stood there, the shimmer actually visible now that she was looking. She reached out and touched the spot, and then her hand fell to her stomach. “And if I go back, how long before this opens again?” she asked.

“Not sure,” Master Shakh answered. “May not be for another hundred years. Not every time moon meets sun it opens.”

“A hundred years,” she said softly and then walked back to Malek. “That’s a long time to be without the father of my child.”

Malek made a start, and then he made two steps to her with his long stride. “Your what?” he asked.

“That’s right,” she told him and held his hand and placed it on her stomach. “We are going to have a baby.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, and the smile trickled slowly onto his face.

“Not before yesterday, but it’s true. We are going to have an Earth-Xenon baby,” she said and laughed. Malek howled and hoisted her in the air.

“So, does that mean you will stay?” he asked, when her face was level with his.

“I loved my home, but for the last couple of years, I felt like I was somewhere I didn’t want to be. I tried to run from it, by going to Mexico, and if I hadn’t done that, then I wouldn’t have found you. So yes, I will stay with you. I just wanted to come here to get some closure or peace, or whatever. I needed to so that I would be really sure I wanted to stay. And, my sweet Malek, I do.”

Malek needed to hear no more, and as Master Shakh nodded his approval to the couple, he held her and kissed her, more fiercely than he had ever done. When he let her go, he set her down, and knelt so that he was facing her stomach. He kissed her there, and she hugged him, and in the jungle where they had first met, they were one again.

************

A few months later, right by the waterfall where they first consummated their union, she held a babe in her arms. Malek was next to her, and he stared lovingly into the eyes of his first born.

“He looks just like you,” Valerie said and smiled.

“He is the first born of a new line of people. He has my blood, your heart and the history of our two people. He will be strong and a fierce leader.”

The baby grabbed a fistful of his mother’s hair then and gurgled. “I agree with you about him being strong,” she laughed as she entangled the lock of hair from his arms.

“That’s my boy,” he laughed as he reached over and took him. He stood with him, the feeling of love and joy radiating between him and his son, and Valerie sighed, feeling more contented than she had ever been. She watched the orange glow of sunset as it slowly disappeared behind the trees in the distance.

“I think it is time to go,” she said as she gathered their things and got up. Baby Malachi needs his rest.”

Malek turned to her and reached for her with his free hand. “Let’s go home.”

They walked off together, disappearing into the trees that opened a path to home. Her last thought then, when she looked back, was of getting away from the hurt she had experienced. Never in a million years did she dream she would have found love on another planet. If she had ever thought love could be out of this world, she had not thought far enough. She held on to the hand of her mate as he led her home. THE END

Space Dragon

CHAPTER ONE

The Infertility Crisis

 

“Alert. This is your president speaking. All volunteers for the Fertility Enrichment Program must arrive no later than seven a.m. tomorrow morning,” the tiny, disembodied voice of the President of Earth boomed over the loud speakers throughout every building and structure. “Repeat. All volunteers for the Fertility Enrichment Program must arrive no later than seven a.m. tomorrow.”

Celeste Monroe did her best to plug her ears with her hands. She was sitting at the kitchen table in her family’s small, squat slum of a home. For nearly twenty years now, the citizens of Earth had put up with such grand announcements. For almost twenty years, Earth’s leaders had been in a state of panic. That was because, for just about twenty years, no child had been born on Earth.

The planet was in crisis. As soon as the problem came to the attention of the leadership, they beamed out a message to all neighboring planets and solar systems. Planet Earth was facing a major infertility crisis. The human race was dying out, and they desperately needed the help of another planet and its men.

Celeste thought this was ludicrous. How were men from another galaxy supposed to help the population? The children of space men were not really Earthlings at all. She was not kidding herself. But her family was poor, and it was promised that the families of those women brave enough to volunteer would be provided with food and resources enough to survive for life. She may have thought the plan was hokey, but Celeste was not about to pass up such a deal. She was smart, but she was not selfish. Say the pregnancy thing did not work out. At least her family would be able to live comfortably.

And hey, if it did not work out she would not have to have a baby.

Tall, curvy girl that she was, Celeste did not want to ruin her figure by running off and getting herself impregnated. She was only twenty-seven years old, for god’s sake. She figured that she had time enough for a few dates first.

Nevertheless, she marched out and volunteered when They asked, and signed her name where They told her to. She knew that, in time, they would be in touch with her.

And, sure enough, that day came.

That day was tomorrow at seven a.m.

“You should eat something,” Celeste’s mother told her. “You don’t want to appear too thin. No man is going to want to mate with a woman who is too skinny.”

Celeste smirked a bit. “Oh yeah?” she asked, putting several more forkfuls of rice into her mouth and then speaking with her mouth full. “And what if I don’t want to mate with a man with two heads and four arms?”

Her mother shook her head at her. “You may find a mate, but you will never find a husband with that kind of attitude.”

“Well, lucky for you a husband’s not the goal!”

Standing up from the table, Celeste washed her bowl in the sink. She frowned as she looked down, irritable, at the soapy suds that encased her used dishware. Because of the food shortage, rice and corn were just about the only commodities left. As the human race died out, so did labor for agriculture. Everyone on Earth had pretty much been biding their time, for twenty years, for either The Big One, or for savior to come down from the sky.

“What do you think they’re like?” her mother asked then. “The Daskani? I assume they’re kind enough to offer to help…”

“You always assume on the side of optimism,” Celeste retorted. “I am not holding my breath. It’s quite possible that the only reason they answered our ruddy call is because they want to fuck our brains out and feed our entrails to their babies.”

“Language!!” her mother shouted. “Your sister might hear you!”

Celeste scoffed. “She should be paying attention now. It’s likely that she’ll end up having to follow suit someday.” Though Celeste really hoped not. Her little sister Ruby was twenty years old, one of the last babies born on Earth. She was of age, but according to Celeste and her mother, she was still much too young to be thinking about having babies or being abducted by mysterious aliens from another galaxy.

Her mother gave Celeste a sad little half smile. “Because of you, she probably and very thankfully will not have to volunteer,” she said. “Because of your sacrifice…”

“Please,” Celeste said with a grimace. “Don’t call it a sacrifice. That makes it sound like I’m noble.”

As her mother looked at her, Celeste realized that she was not looking at her in judgement or annoyance like she usually seemed to do. No. She was looking into Celeste’s eyes and smiling at her in a way that said she was proud of her. And maybe even somewhat sad to see her go.

Give a faint chuckle, Celeste pulled her mother in for a hug. “Hey,” she said. “I don’t leave until tomorrow. And even then, you don’t know that I’ll be gone forever. The Daskani are going to be taking care of our crummy planet from now on, so I’m sure you will still be seeing a lot of me.”

Tears filled Mrs. Monroe’s eyes now. “I hope you’re right. When your father died, I hoped that that might be the last time the family broke apart. And now… You’re not just moving to another town, you’re moving to another planet.”

“Like I said,” Celeste said, rubbing her mother’s back in a comforting sort of way. “Maybe I will meet a Daskani who is really interested in Earth biology for some reason, and he’ll want to start a colony of space sheep here or something! Ohio is not what it used to be, but it’s better for space sheep than, say, Texas would be.”

She was clearly joking. Texas was practically a pile of ash, and Ohio had not had a sheep in it in at least ten years. Still, it made her mother smile.

Of course, everything that Celeste said was a front for how she was really feeling. She did not want her mom or her sister to know that she was terrified. She did not want to be mated off to some alien brute that she had never met. The very idea repulsed her. Only when she was alone did she allow herself to think about what lay ahead and how much she was really, truly dreading it.

Celeste was a brave woman. She did whatever it took to keep her family safe. Ever since her father’s passing, she had worked hard and she had been the one to hold things together. But that did not mean that she did so without fear in her mind. It did not mean that she did not feel like crying for help.

 

The morning of the Fertility Enrichment Program came to greet Celeste before she was ready, even though she had been preparing herself for it for quite some time. She got out of bed, short auburn hair cowlicked in more than a few places. She stretched, and put on her black plastic glasses, thinking that they might make her appear better in the mirror. They just made her messy, sleep-deprived-looking appearance clearer.

She got out of bed and threw on the clothes she had picked out for this momentous occasion: a lavender jumpsuit with a belt that had a gold, star-shaped buckle. She thought that it would be better to dress like she was taking on a mission, not like she was trying to sex up a stranger.

As soon as her groggy mother took one look at her however, she was back in her bedroom putting on some black leggings and a purple dress instead. She kept the belt, though. Celeste liked the idea of eloping with an alien while wearing such an appropriately-themed belt buckle. She supposed that she was not always super mature.

Or perhaps she just had a silly sense of humor.

“You look like you want to be beamed up,” her mother said. “But I guess that will be appreciated. Do you know who you’re going to be assigned to?”

Celeste shook her head and bit her lip a little. She did not like that terminology. They were not going to be lab partners. They were going to be sexual partners. And she was not going to be the Daskani male’s ‘assignment.’ If anything, she hoped that she might be his friend. But she was trying to be optimistic about that. It didn’t do any good to be negative now.

The alarm sounded, signaling that the volunteers needed to make their way to the main area of the compound. If any household had been asleep before, they were awake now.

Celeste’s mother suddenly pulled her in for a hug. “I am very proud of you,” she said, choking back tears and then letting a bunch of them escape anyway. “I will miss you so much, but I am so proud of you. Ruby is too.”

“Ruby is too,” her little sister’s voice said from behind their mother. She smirked as she came into view. She looked a lot like Celeste, except shorter and with longer, blonder hair. The same galaxy of freckles darted across the bridge of her nose; the same twinkle was in her light brown eyes. Only, Celeste doubted that there was a twinkle in her own eyes right now.

At least, not a twinkle that wasn’t tears.

“I hope you get a hot one,” Ruby said, then she gave Celeste a hug.

“Ha,” Celeste said, doing her best to wipe at her eyes while her face was on Ruby’s shoulder. “You know I’m hoping that, too. Be good, kid. I will be back to check in on you. Though probably not until I’ve properly bred something.”

She knew that it was time to go. She hated goodbyes, so she did not allow herself to linger. Giving a quick nod and wave to her mother and sister, Celeste turned from their house and walked out under the bright early morning sun.

The Earthen compound was made up of thousands and thousands of small, squat homes. They were all gathered in groups, with a large dome-like structure at the center. That was where important Presidential presentations were given and things like that.

Today, that was where Celeste and all of the other ready-to-breed young women were to meet. And wait.

She joined the throngs of young, nervous women and stood there in the rows along with them, gazing up at the dark triangular shape in the sky. The Daskani ship was coming in for a landing. At first, it seemed like it was just going to land and crush all of Earth’s last hope.

But instead, it landed a hundred and twenty yards to the left of them. Before long, with a loud squeak that suggested they needed some oil, the hatch of the space ship opened and a long, shiny gangplank came down. This was soon filled with tall, uniform-wearing Daskani men as they marched down onto the ground and towards the nervously tittering women.

As each one passed her, picking out his mate that thankfully was not her, Celeste could not help appraising these men. They could hardly be called men. They were all at least seven feet tall; with skin that was a bright blue complexion that glowed. However strange, Celeste could not deny there was a certain beauty they carried.

And as her eyes darted from one Daskani to the next, Celeste wondered if any of these one hundred virile aliens would appeal to her.

That’s when her eyes met with the moss green eyes their leader. He marched towards her with an expression that said less that he wanted to mate with her, and more that he wanted to devour her alive.

Her heart told her to run, but her brain told her to stay right where she was.

She had been selected.

 

CHAPTER TWO

General Zephyr

 

“To the ship!” this moss-eyed Daskani shouted to his men. Suddenly, the Daskani grabbed the women that they had selected and carried then, thrown onto their shoulders, back up the ramp of their space ship. Celeste let out a half-scream before her apparent mate grabbed her and tossed her onto his hard, rocklike shoulder.

His blue skin was even scaly like a serpent, but she was oh so thankful that he was not slimy. At once, she took offense to the way these aliens just took hold of their new brides as if they were prized cows instead of women deserving of love and compassion. Celeste was not under the illusion that the Daskani were looking for love on all the wrong planets, but she did not think that she and all the other women had volunteered to be mere sex slaves to a horny alien race.

She knew that the Daskani were helping the people of Earth, and she should not complain because of that, but there was helping and then there was taking advantage.

As soon as the lady volunteers of Earth were brought aboard the space ship, it became abundantly clear that these males liked to keep rather hot conditions while travelling through space. The whole place felt like a sauna. It was difficult to even breathe; that’s how hot it was. Several of the ladies, including Celeste, began coughing.

The Daskani paid that no mind and instead started shoving the women into cages. Each of them apparently had a cage that was designated for their new female mates from Earth. Celeste’s moss-eyed leader tossed her into a cage like all the others, as though she was a mere rag doll, and almost slammed the metal door but Celeste reached out and stopped it.

“Hey!” she shouted at him, practically spitting in his face because she was salivating and sweating so profusely. “You are treating us like cattle! You can’t do this! If you keep it this hot, we will all die before you get us to your planet.”

Her mate stared at her a moment, and at first, she wondered if he could understand what she was saying. She had always assumed that the Daskani could speak English, at least well enough to converse with the President and the other Earthen leaders. “We will die,” she said again, for emphasis, in case that made things clearer.

Suddenly, he clapped his two great claw like hands together and another of the aliens rushed towards him. “Lower the temperature,” he told the alien of lower rank. “Let’s make things a bit more… hospitable for our mates.”

Celeste did not like the way he emphasized that word. Nothing about this was hospitable. And she also did not like the way he glared at her, almost as if he felt burdened with her like she was burdened with him.

He did nothing to address the fact that the women were all in cages however. As soon as the temperature noticeably went down to a comfortable eighty degrees, her Daskani turned and walked away down the long hallway, leaving the Earthling women crying and shouting in their room of cages.

They were in kennels like dogs.

Celeste was pissed. “Hey!” she tried shouting after him, but he made no motion as if he heard her. He reached the end of the hall and went into an office, shutting the door behind himself. “UGH, you ASSHOLE!” she shouted then, hitting the front of her cage forcefully with the palm of her hand. All that really achieved was making her palm throb, but it was better than just sitting in her cage and crying like all the other imbiciles.

“What did you all expect?” she asked then, under her breath, as she sat in her cage and waited for a Daskani to come her way again. “Were you expecting a pleasure cruise through space? Because I certainly wasn’t…”

She had not been expecting this either, though. She sat there and waited, always making sure to keep one eye open in case a Daskani came to her cage to throw in some food or grab her or something. As soon as the door opened, she planned to attack using teeth, nails, whatever she could to get back at them.

They wanted to treat them like animals? Fine. Then she would respond in kind.

 

Several hours later – Celeste tried to keep track, but she lost count once she got drowsy – a Daskani came to her cage to give her a metallic dish of foul-smelling meat. As soon as he opened the door, he realized his mistake. She jumped out at him, utilizing all of her energy, and bit and scratched at him with her short but sharp nails. “Get me out of here!” she bellowed. “I want to get out of here! Let me speak with the leader!”

The Daskani – seemingly frightened of he, nodded his head as he backed away. She stood there, a bit of blood under some of her nails, and stared at him like a creature possessed. She was dirty and she felt disgusting, and she wanted answers.

The Daskani guard was too afraid to touch her, but he nodded for her to follow him. Immediately upon realizing what Celeste had achieved, the other women started calling out for them to be freed and taken to the leader as well. But the Daskani guard had no time for anyone else. He was not going to make this mistake again.

Celeste walked along the long, shiny hallway towards the back office where her mate had gone. The walls appeared to be made from metal, but she could not say which. They looked silver at first, but then they looked green like old copper, then actual copper-color, then gold. She thought she would have to ask about that, but then she realized that it did not really matter to her in the grand scheme of things. Besides, everyone knew that dragons liked gold and shiny things. And the Daskani were a race of dragon-shifting aliens.

So far, to her mind, they were just a race of assholes. She had no patience for their cutesy quirks. One of their cutesy quirks almost killed everyone.

When they got to the closed door of her loving, caring Daskani mate, Celeste read the name that was engraved upon it. General Zephyr. That explained why the others listened to him. He was not just some hot-shot; he was the one in charge. Officially and everything. She felt like she should be more impressed than she was, but she was too annoyed at him and the way things had played out thus far. She did not care if he was the king. She wanted to officially tell him to go fuck himself.

The nervous Daskani guard knocked on the door and then turned to her. “Wait here,” he told her.

“No, I’m going in to ta—”

He shook his head and said, more firmly this time, “Wait. Here.”

Celeste threw her hands up and sighed, but she did not want to disobey in case she would end up dead otherwise. She was not one to mess around if things were that serious. She watched as he lumbered into the room and slammed the heavy metal door behind him. The office or whatever that General Zephyr was in was apparently soundproof. That figured.

Finally, just as Celeste was about think she could not stand it any longer, the door opened and the Daskani guard came out. He gestured for her to go inside and then made his way back down the hall to the cages. She hoped he would be a little kinder to the other ladies now, but she could not be sure of that.

She entered the office and noticed right away that it was at least a hundred degrees in there. Heh. She might have considered that. The general was sitting at a large, bulky black desk. His attire did nothing to hint at the fact that he was a higher rank than the others. He was wearing the same maroon uniform pants and vest. He would have looked more like a bellhop than a general, were it not for the gold tassels that anointed his uniform here and there.

His outfit did not make him look menacing. What made him menacing was his sheer size. The Daskani were all large, but the dragon man who had picked her out was a behemoth. Celeste had not had time to contemplate that when she stood gaping at him out in the compound. But now that they had arrived in that tiny office, she was beginning to think about a lot of things…

“Is your planet a volcano by any chance?” she asked before she could stop herself.

General Zephyr glowered at her. “Have a seat,” he said.

She sat.

“I am told that you complained about our system aboard my ship,” he said. Everything he said was like a snarl with an extra hiss thrown in. “I am sorry that you find our methods uncomfortable, but you see we must quarantine you females before we can become… what’s the word you use? Ah, intimate.”

Celeste furrowed her brows at that. “Quarantine?” she asked him. “So, you’re treating us like animals because you think we might be infected?”

General Zephyr blinked at her. He was not used to his orders or rules being questioned. “Well,” he said, faltering a bit. “Yyyes.”

She felt content when she realized that she was cracking him a little. She had somehow penetrated his molten exterior. She just hoped she would not find magma or something underneath.

“That might be normal where you’re from, but where we’re from, it’s considered inhumane and abusive to lock people up in cages like they are animals.” Celeste looked him in the eye when she spoke, another thing that jarred Zephyr. She realized this and so she kept it up. Intimidation by disrespect. That was something she could surely do. “You won’t get into our pants that way.”

He clearly did not understand that terminology, but the dumb look on her face made Celeste laugh. It had been worth saying just for that.

“We do not want to get into your pants,” he said. “We desire to mate with you, to help your people survive and help bring new blood to our people.”

She did not see the appeal of having Earthen blood mixed in with their clearly more powerful Daskani blood… “But Earth people aren’t special,” she tried arguing. “We aren’t made of fire. We can’t fly. And we’re nowhere near as massive as you.”

Zephyr suddenly smiled. He had a surprisingly handsome smile for a dragon man. Sure, his fangs were frightening and he looked like he was trying to threaten her instead of show a little joy, but Celeste knew that he was making the effort to appear more friendly, and that put her at ease that she did not know she wasn’t feeling until then.

“But you are special,” he told her with all sincerity. “Your weakness and lack of any trained powers makes you attractive and different to us. You are called the weaker race, after all.”

“Oh, thanks,” Celeste said.

Then she laughed.

It felt nice to talk to a Daskani in an actual conversation. It made her feel better that she was now being treated like a guest, not a bounty. But she still wished that there was a fan in his office.

“So, I guess it’s back to my quarantine cage with me then,” she said, standing up from her cool metallic seat. She did not have any idea how the metal was cool in the steamy office and figured that the Daskani had to have fancy metal that was resistant to melting. Otherwise their space ship would not have done so well.

“No,” Zephyr said to her. “You don’t have to… I will give the order for your comrades to be released. I don’t want to be uncourteous to our guests.”

Celeste raised her eyebrows at him and looked at him curiously. She knew that she basically did not know anything about the Daskani other than the fact that they had answered humanities call and they were some weird dragon-shifters who liked things to be kept uncomfortably hot. But still, Zephyr surprised her. She had not expected him to change his mind about things so easily, and she wondered if it might have something to do with the fact that she was his mate.

“I don’t know how the rest of my people will respond to so many beautiful women,” Zephyr explained. “I thought that the cages might keep them safe… But I am sure that we can find accommodations that are more comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Celeste replied, assuming that there must be catch to this. “So, should I go back and await accommodations.”

Zephyr looked nervous again. “No, no… You…” He looked around his sparse office. “You can stay in here.”

Celeste sat back down in her cool seat, glad that she had that at the very least. It would have been nice if she could have a bed made of that metal, along with a nice tall glass of water perhaps, but she was not about to start getting greedy.

He stood up then and went to the office door. “I think that the females – women – should be led out of their cages slowly,” he explained then, pausing in the doorway to look at her. “I want this new situation to be handled as delicately as possible. My species… We can sometimes do things without thinking. I do not want any mating to happen without careful planning. That is how we plan to help your people, after all.”

She smiled faintly at him at that and gave a nod. She could not believe that her Daskani leader, was so kind and understanding. They did not want to go crazy with lust and start just ravishing the women everywhere. They wanted to handle things in a way that would ensure pregnancy, not just pleasure. Celeste found that she could respect this Zephyr guy.

And despite her initial disgust, she could feel an attraction towards him coursing through her body.

 

General Zephyr came back into his office a few moments later. He had a chagrined sort of look on his face, but he nodded at Celeste. “I have given the order. It will be done. The women will be released from their cages.”

“Thank you,” she said, fanning herself with a hand. “Now could something be done about the heat in here? I appreciate that you are letting me stay in your quarters with you where I can be safe, but if the temperature stays this high, like I said before I will die…”

His already big eyes grew bigger and he went to adjust the temperature. There was a thermostat-like thing on the wall. Huh, she thought. We’re not so different.

“I picked you out on Earth,” he said then, sitting down at his desk and looking at her as if he was about to start giving her a job interview. “But I suppose that it would be best to get to know you better before… we commence with anything.”

Mating. He meant mating.

Celeste blushed a bit. Now that she was there with him and partnered up and everything, she felt a bit bashful about what was to come. She had never really thought of mating with a Daskani male as ‘sex,’ but that was what it was. She supposed that she had never wanted to think about it in those actual terms because sex alone was such a daunting concept to the twenty-seven-year-old virgin. Sex with a scaly space dragon just added to the whole ‘holy crap’-ness of the situation.

The room got mercifully cooler, which Celeste was so glad of. She felt like she could relax more now, though she had no idea what Zephyr expected to happen next. There was nervous anticipation as long as he did not say anything…

“What is your name?” he asked her. She could see that small talk was a foreign concept to him, but she appreciated that he was trying.

“Celeste,” she said, chuckling slightly. “Kind of a fitting name now, all things considered.”

Zephyr raised an eyebrow, and she realized he had eyebrows.

“Because of space. Celestial…? Never mind.” She blushed a bit; embarrassed that he did not understand the coincidence of her name. Maybe it was for the best that he was not a poetic romantic or something. All of this was new to her and the last thing she needed was to be mated with Romeo.

“No,” he said suddenly. “I know what you mean now. That is interesting. My name is like…” He blew a gust out of his mouth. Thankfully it contained no fire and very low amounts of heat.

Celeste laughed. “That’s true. Were our parents hippies or what?”

Of course, he was not going to know what that meant. But his confusion made his face look much less severe; softer somehow. She could get used to his gentle, moss-green eyes and his high cheekbones. She even found his blue skin less froglike now. Blue had always been one of her favorite colors…

“What did you do?” he asked her then. “On your planet, I mean.”

She wished that their getting to know each other did not feel so much like a formal interview. “I spent most of my adult life preparing for this day,” she told him honestly. “I knew that our species was in crisis so I volunteered for the breeding program. Then I’ve pretty much just tried my best to prepare myself for it.”

A lot of vitamins and supplements had been involved, as well as some hormone treatments and close monitoring of her cycle. Celeste had almost stopped living for herself and had begun living with a child in mind. Was that sad? Yeah. But it was her destiny, too. She wanted to be a mother, especially for a species that was going to die out if she did not become one.

Zephyr gave a look that seemed to say that he felt sorry for her. “It has been that dire for your people?”

Celeste nodded. “Somewhere along the line, my people got wasteful and cocky… Not that I’m thinking you should take my story as a parable or anything, but I suppose such a thing could happen on any planet.”

“We are not wasteful,” he said. Each time he spoke, the words came out almost as if it hurt for him to say them, like his lungs were on fire. Oh. Oh, she assumed that was probably exactly what it was. “We are stingy, I suppose. But we do not let things go to waste.”

“Yeah, you’re probably the opposite of how the men on my planet are… or used to be. They probably wish they could still be that way, though.” Celeste tisked a bit. “So, what are you a general of?”

Zephyr blinked slowly. If he could blush, he would have. “I am the general of the Fertility Enrichment Program, Daskani chapter,” he stated. “Mostly I am in charge of the males and making sure that they follow our strict protocol. Before we learned about the FEP, I was captain of a battleship, a star destroyer.”

Celeste looked at him, open-mouthed and impressed. She had not been paired with some lesser Daskani; she had the real deal. And he had chosen her, out of all those young ladies… “Why did you choose me?” she asked without being able to stop herself. “I’m a nobody and you’re practically a Daskani leader.”

He smiled at her then, a sharp-toothed, amphibian smile. “I am a Daskani leader,” he said.

She placed her hands on his desk and looked him in the eye. “Well, Daskani leader, will you please turn the temperature down a little more? Your Earthen mate is sweating through her clothing.”

Zephyr stood up and made a show of turning the thermostat thing down even more.

“I can’t wait to see what your planet is like,” Celeste said, unzipping the top of her purple dress so she could air out her breasts. She hated sweaty boobs. In so doing, she revealed the edges of her black lace bra, which Zephyr did not seem to mind. When he came back to her, he could not stop staring.

Instead of sitting behind his desk, he opted to sit in one of the cool, metallic chairs beside her this time. “I suppose that you could say it is on the hot side,” he said. “But no worse than our ship when you first arrived.”

“Oh great,” she said, rolling her eyes a bit. “…That was sarcasm.”

The alien spoke English remarkably well, though there were quite a few things that he did not understand. Celeste had not even expected him to be fluent in English, though, so this was turning out better than anticipated.

“Do you have hunger?” he asked her suddenly. “Would you like some food or a drink? We do not have what you are used to, I am sure, but it is better to nourish yourself than to go without. It will be a few days until we are back on Daskan.”

Before he said the last part, Celeste was all set to modestly decline, but she knew that it would be a far better idea to eat whenever offered than try to try to keep up appearances as some kind of graceful flower. Zephyr clearly did not go for that kind of thing anyway.

In her preparation, she never learned how to date a Daskani. She only learned how to treat her body well so that she could successfully and easily conceive.

Then again, who were those Earthen doctors to try and teach us about conception? Celeste thought. They did not exactly prevent or foresee this whole panic…

She realized that Zephyr was staring. She had not answered his question.

“Yes, please. I am not really a picky eater. Though I guess there’s going to be a lot of changes soon, so, heh heh.”

What if there’s just an infertility crisis because no one wants to have sex with dorks like me anymore?

Zephyr gave her another smile that was all fang. “Okay. I will try and go easy on you with my selection. Please do not feel obligated to eat it all.”

He left the office again then, and she heard what sounded like a key turning in the lock.

“Oh shit,” she said under her breath.

Despite not being in a cage anymore, she was still a prisoner on this ship. She had forgotten that. She belonged to Zephyr now. Even though she saw some likeable qualities in him, it was going to take her a while to feel fully comfortable with him. She wondered if he would give her a chance for love before he tried taking things to the next level.

 

CHAPTER THREE

Daskani Courtship

 

It took a while for General Zephyr to return to his office, but when he finally did he was carrying a large tray full of food. Celeste was excited just to see him and not be in solitary confinement anymore. The Daskan food did not actually even smell that displeasing to her. It smelled a bit like the bread aisle of the grocery store. She could not remember the last time she had been to the grocery store, but the memory of that specific aisle stood out to her for some reason.

Zephyr placed the tray down on his desk and sat beside her again. The food that he had brought for her seemed to be predominately pastry-type foods, but there were a few Jell-O-like substances as well. Celeste looked from the food to him and grinned. “Thank you, this looks perfect.”

She had never been a big fan of vegetables anyway. She immediately began eating, letting out some pleased moan sounds which let the alien know that she enjoyed and appreciated the meal he had provided.

Now that she was on the ship and with her mate, Celeste did not have to worry about her intense meal regimens and watching her hormone levels. All of those things which made the concept of conceiving more serious and daunting to her. Now that she was General Zephyr’s mate, she could rest easy… as odd as that sounded.

“I probably should not ask what these things are made from,” she said as she ate. “So, I won’t.”

Zephyr smiled at her a bit. There was no doubt in her mind that he would have informed her about each ingredient if she had asked for more information. “I am glad that you like them,” he said instead. “I promise you that I selected only the things that I recommend and thought you would like.”

She set one of the pasties down on the tray and licked her lips. He had not provided any utensils, so it was not like she should have felt embarrassed that she was eating with her hands, but still she felt a bit bestial, especially once she was sitting there licking red sticky stuff from her fingertips.

“So, what do you Daskani like to do for fun?” Celeste asked. She did not want to let the small talk die, especially because she was going to have her whole life to spend with this bruiser. It was important to her that she know what she was getting into; not that she would have much say if he said something that she might have considered a ‘deal-breaker.’ Now that he had chosen her as his, she would not be able to escape him even if she wanted to.

“Fun?” he asked her, as though he had never heard of the word before let alone said it.

She nodded. “Yeah. You know. Enjoyment? Pleasure?”

Zephyr motioned to unzip the front of his pants and she stopped him with a hand, laughing. “No, no… I mean besides sex. Besides instinctive behavior. What makes you happy?”

He blinked at her. This was clearly a foreign concept to her alien husband. Celeste sighed a little, feeling sorry for him. Zephyr did not have hobbies. He did not even know what hobbies were. At least, he did not know what they were and therefore could not articulate them to her. Same thing, really.

“What do you do when you’re not leading on space ships?” she asked him, taking a new approach to the same basic question.

Zephyr looked away from her in thought. “I like to fly…?” he said, sounding as if he was asking if that was okay with her. “I like to fly above Daskan. The views atop the mountains are particularly spectacular.”

She smiled, imagining him flying high over his molten planet. The idea of doing such a thing was strange – alien – to her, but she could understand how it might make her dragon mate feel happy and at ease. “You make it sound better than I will probably think it is,” she said, laughing a little. “But I am willing to try it, if it makes you happy. That’s a hobby, my friend.”

“Hobby,” he said as if he was trying out the word, tasting each of the sounds the letters made in his mouth. “My people do not know hobby. We only know directives and initiatives.”

Celeste worked on finishing her pastry, deciding that she would save some of the food for later. She was bound to feel hungry again before the ship landed, and she was willing to bet that Zephyr did not know anything about meal schedules.

“Well,” she said when she was done, wiping the corners of her mouth with her fingers and then licking them with her tongue to make extra sure that she had not missed and crumbs or bits of sauce. “I plan to make hobbies your new initiative.”

She gave him a flirty little smile. Now that she had been fed and had been treated to a comfortable atmosphere in his office, she felt much better. Celeste knew that she was there for one purpose, and she was starting to warm up to the task…

“Are you going to be my hobby?” he asked her, breathing heavily now that they were alone without distractions.

Celeste shrugged her shoulders. “If you want me to be. I kind of want to be your passion.”

Zephyr knew what that word meant. She should not have been surprised. Like the young women of Earth, the Daskani had been raised to think of conception and sex. Besides flying, that was probably all that was on Zephyr’s mind. And Celeste did not have a problem with that for the moment.

Without saying anything, he brought his giant arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. He kissed her lips and, carefully, slipped his tongue into her mouth. She could feel his fangs when she moved her tongue around his mouth. He was big and ferocious, and hers.

Celeste allowed herself to be lost inside his kisses and caresses, off on an adventure that involved giving in and letting go and not being afraid to try things even if they might be scary. Her eyes were closed and she thought of nothing but him. This beastly, fire-breathing alien. She had wanted to hit him earlier. What had happened to that?

The other girls were not with their mates. In fact, she was sure that the other girls had not been officially claimed yet. That just made this even more special. Celeste was the first to be chosen, and the first to go to bed with a Daskani.

Her mother would be so proud.

Well, maybe proud was not the word. But relieved, certainly.

Celeste made out with Zephyr as long as he wanted to, which ended up being quite a while. She enjoyed it, oddly, and wondered if he was enthusiastic about kissing her and tasting her mouth because he had not really done so before. With an Earthling or otherwise.

Suddenly, before she could fully wrap her head around the fact that they were making out on a spaceship after essentially just meeting each other, Zephyr stood up and lifted her into his arms. The office was not exactly a big one – big enough to contain his bulk and that was about it – but it did not matter. He set her down on his desk and then proceeded to remove the other contents of his desk’s surface with one mighty blue arm.

Communicators, cups full of pens, his name sign… All of it went crashing to the floor. But he did not care. He paid them no mind. He continued to kiss her and lick and suck at her face and neck as he climbed atop the desk and joined her. She was very glad that the thing was made out of that cool metallic substance, for Zephyr would surely break a wooden desk. Especially with the way things were going.

He took hold of her dress’s zipper and slowly pulled it down, bringing his hand inside her dress without fully removing it. He gently massaged her skin on her waist and then his large hands found her breasts. He jerked back a bit and looked her in the eyes. Celeste grinned at him and placed her hand on top of his there, urging him to continue to grope her to his heart’s content.

And grope he did. Zephyr went back to kissing her for a bit, kneading her breast with his strong but somehow tender fingers. Before long, he had his other hand on Celeste’s other boob and then it was a party. He swiftly removed her dress not long afterwards, so he could get a good, long look at what she looked like naked.

Her body was like an hourglass, all tits and hips. Celeste blushed a bit under his gaze. That seemed to just turn him on further. His cock was standing up inside of his uniform, but then Zephyr reached down without a word and undid his pants like he had gestured to do before, unleashing the little dragon beneath.

Celeste did her best not to stare at his long, shiny blue cock. His penis was intact, not like a lot of the poor saps on Earth. Zephyr had a dark blue foreskin over his shiny, sensitive cock which made it like a sapphire for her to discover. She leaned forward and pulled at his uniform until, together, they had wrestled it from him and let it fall to the floor and join her dress.

She got on her knees then, and he grabbed ahold of the back of her head, pulling slightly at her long auburn locks as she moved in and took his shiny cock into her mouth.

“Ohhhh,” he moaned then. It came out like a purr, deep in the recesses of his chest and throat.

Celeste rolled her tongue around his big member, taking it all into her mouth and then letting it go so she could lick at his shaft and suck on his balls. Zephyr made noises like an animal – loud, guttural things. She wondered with a soft chuckle if the others on the spaceship could hear what they were up to…

Then, about to burst without even ravishing his mate, he took her by the shoulders and pushed her backwards so she had no choice but to lie flat on the desk. He moved between her legs and sucked on her nipple. His cock dripped with pre-cum and Celeste licked her lips, wanting him, wanting all of him.

Zephyr pressed his big cock inside of her and she let out a loud, high-pitched sound. She could feel the girth of him as he stretched and tore her in the best kind of ways. Reaching up, Celeste clawed at his muscular back as Zephyr began a rhythmic thrusting in and out of her. His cock seemed like it was somehow ribbed for her pleasure and she figured that it was his foreskin’s doing. The scales on his body probably did not hurt either.

“Oh, Zephyr,” she purred. “You’re good at this. You’re so good.”

He held her left leg on his shoulder and continued to plow into her, acting downright bestial as he growled and moaned. “That’s right,” he said with a sideways sort of smirk. “I’m going to impregnate you four times over, you little Earthling slut.”

Celeste breathed heavily and moaned louder, so turned on by his talking dirty. She’d never been called a slut before. She bit her lip and realized that she liked it. Oh god did she like it?

“Oh, oh, ohhh!” she shouted. “Right there, Zeph, right there! Yesss!!”

He was sliding his cock in exactly the right place for her. She came hard against him, feeling herself shaking and contracting. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She no longer thought of this mating program as just a one-time, saver of Earth type offer. Celeste wanted to fuck this alien again, and again. And again.

Gripping her to him so her back was up off the desk, Zephyr increased the speed of his thrusts, continuing to plow deeply into her. She could see sweat sliding down from his forehead. And then he came, claw-like nails pressing firmly into her upper arms as he held her there. That was going to leave a mark.

All of this was going to leave a mark.

“Aaaargh!” he howled, shaking the office with the force of his howl alone. Celeste felt the hotness of his cum as it rushed into her in search of her waiting eggs.

She allowed herself to think of that now. She hoped that their mating would be a success.

The good thing was that, if it didn’t work the first time, they could always keep trying.

 

It took Zephyr a few minutes to collect himself, but Celeste did not mind. She liked having him there close to her. He pulled out of her but continued to hold her, somehow knowing something that she had long desired in a lover. No getting up and going to the bathroom immediately. Not immediate loss of the intimacy they had just shared. He kept holding her until his breathing and pulse rate slowed back to normal. He was sticky with sweat, and she found that she loved that. It was a true sign of their lust for each other.

When Zephyr did finally pull away, he did it slowly. He stood on the floor and took his time putting his uniform back on. Celeste rolled over and watched him, propping her head up with her elbow. She smirked at him. “Is that what all of the Earthling girls have to expect?” she asked flirtily. “Are they all going to be ravaged like that?”

“Not likely,” Zephyr said, carefully zipping his uniform over himself. “Most will probably wait until we have landed before they mate. None of the others seem as fiery as you.” He reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand, gazing into her eyes.

If anyone knew about fiery, it was a Daskani.

Celeste smiled up at him.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “Would you like anything else?”

She thought about it. She had really had her fill of strawberry-ish flavored pastries, but a meal they did not make. “I could for some meat or something. Do you have any meat?” She was not entirely sure that Zephyr would even know to what she was referring, so she was pleasantly surprised when he nodded at her.

“I can get you some of that,” he said with a laugh. “Though you might not want to know what it comes from.”

Celeste shrugged a bit. She was a bit past caring where the Daskani got their food. It did not really matter, since she was now living amongst them. As long as she was well nourished and taken care of so she did not die, she was not going to judge the aliens for their weird sources of food.

“Also, do you have a bathroom on this ship?” she asked. That was a more worthwhile question. If the Daskani did not have to relieve themselves like the humans did, the ladies of Earth were in for an uncomfortable ride through space.

She wished she had paid more attention and could remember how far Daskani was from Earth. A couple lightyears would likely feel like nothing, but any longer than that and she was going to be busting a gut. Especially post-coitus.

Thankfully, Zephyr had a positive answer for that as well. “There is a restroom aboard this ship. If you go out of this office and go down the hallway to the left.”

Celeste smiled and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. “I will meet you back here in about ten minutes?”

He blinked at her, not know what minutes were. But he nodded nonetheless.

Celeste leapt off the desk and threw her dress back on, not really caring if she looked disheveled or not – she did – and then she opened the door and turned to the left, going down the hall that he had told her to use. The halls and floor and ceiling on the ship were a dark purple. She had not realized that before, largely because she had been too concerned with how hot the alien captors liked to keep things.

Now that she was going down this hallway though, she realized that she was unable to read any of the signs on the doors. His office had been easy to figure out, but that was because he was the man in charge. The Daskani had been picking up all kinds of people in their space travels, she was sure. And the general wanted to be respected by one and all of them. But these other random doors? Celeste had no idea which one was the bathroom and which was, say, Corporal Spaceman’s office…

She hazarded a guess and turned the seahorse-shaped knob on the first door she saw. A loud growl greeted her, as well as the shiny, slimy skin of a black Daskani dragon creature.

Well, now she knew one thing. The Daskani liked to sleep in their even more reptilian and amphibious forms. Now Celeste would not be afraid if she reached over in the night and felt Zephyr’s as-yet unknown and unseen dragon face.

Actually, she would still be afraid. Who wouldn’t be afraid? But she would be more prepared, which did help.

After backing out of that office room and reclosing the door, Celeste quickly tried a few more doors. Each one was yet another small room. All of the Daskani seemed to be in repose, and none of them had an Earth woman with them. She felt like Zephyr should have been very pleased with himself.

That was before she turned around in the hallway and found that she was face to face with one of the guards. He narrowed his red-gold eyes at her. He was far from repose.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

A New Home

 

“What are you doing out of your chamber, Earth girl?” the Daskani guard asked her.

Celeste really had to pee, especially now that he had crept up on her like that. “Bathroom,” she blurted. “General Zephyr told me I could use the restroom out here. He said it was this way.”

At the mention of Zephyr, the guard dropped his tough act. He realized that she was not just some Earthling; she was the general’s mate. That carried some amount of clout, she could see that now. “Oh, I see,” the guard said. “In that case, please allow me to stay out here while you use the necessary so no one disturbs you. Then I will escort you back to the general’s chamber. It is not safe for you to walk around alone. He should have known this…”

She raised an eyebrow at him; sure that Zephyr would have come with her if it was really that dangerous. It was possible that the guard only thought it was dangerous for her because he himself was feeling lustful about an Earth girl roaming free and unattended. Zephyr had said that the other men needed to be slowly introduced to the women. “Whatever floats your boat,” she said to the guard before finding the correct door and stepping into the bathroom.

Celeste relieved herself and then attempted to clean herself up in the odd half sink, half tub thing that the Daskani had going on. The bathroom was clearly not meant for women, as the toilets were more like large urinals. She was fortunate that they were big enough for her to daintily sit upon. The sink-tub allowed her to feel as though she was taking a quick bath, which was good after being intimate with Zephyr. She had become sweaty, among other things.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, she felt pink and clean. She smiled at the guard, who had in fact patiently waited there for her. “Thank you,” she said. He marched with her back to General Zephyr’s quarters. She entered the room laughing and Zephyr looked up at her quizzically.

“I just had a bathroom chaperone,” she told him. “You Daskani sure are paranoid.”

“It’s like I told you,” he said. “We don’t trust ourselves around Earthen females. You are precious to us.” As he said this, he got up and walked over to her. Then she realized that there was another tray of food on his desk. This time it was piled high with mouth-watering meat.

Zephyr wrapped his arms around her, giving her a hug that felt both awkward and surprisingly nice. She could tell that embracing people was not something that he did very often, and that made the gesture all the sweeter.

They sat together at his desk, somehow turning it into a dining table with her on one side and him on the other as they ate the meat together. “You didn’t have to wait for me,” she said with a smile.

He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “You do not like that? In our culture, it is polite.”

Celeste shook her head a bit, but she kept smiling. “It’s polite in our culture, too, but you don’t have to wait for me. Especially not if you’re hungry. I am a big girl.”

“You’re not very big,” he countered, and then he smiled a toothy smile at her.

They ate the meat together and he was right. It was much nicer for her to be able to enjoy it without knowing which adorable creature the Daskani had killed to create this meal. It tasted unlike anything she had ever eaten on Earth. Most meat was scarce for the past few years. More was wrong than just infertility. Animals and plants were dying out, which was a sign to the humans that they very well could be next. That was why the Daskani’s help was so greatly needed and appreciated.

Celeste wished that it could have felt less like the women had been sold into sex slavery, but she was glad that the dragon aliens were at least nice to them. Especially now that they weren’t in cages. She supposed that she had herself to thank for that. Perhaps it was a good thing that she was the general’s mate. She had some amount of power that the other women did not. Hence the way the guard had treated her upon realizing whose mate she was.

“What is Daskan like?” she asked him as she ate, trying to imagine the kind of hot, mountainous utopia that could produce sexy dragon shifters and delicious, juicy meat. “How do you know that we won’t land there and all of us Earthlings won’t melt to death?”

Zephyr sank his big fangs into what looked like a leg as he thought about her question. Something passed over his eyes as if his memories were being projected there. “I don’t believe that you will melt,” he said. “It is a rock surface, like your Earth. Not a gaseous surface.”

She laughed slightly. “I know. I was mostly kidding. I am a fan of hyperbole.”

“It’s probably not even worth asking what that means,” he said with a grin. “But I think you will like Daskan. You will probably have to alter your attire for the climate. I do not think this thick fabric you were will be comfortable in our atmosphere. But this is an easy adjustment.”

She looked at his uniform. Reaching across, she felt the fabric and made a face. “Your clothes are pretty weighty, too.”

“They are for visiting other planets,” he pointed out. “I will change when we land on Daskan.”

Ooh, I wonder how much skin his clothes will be showing…

Celeste had mated with Zephyr. She had gotten the stressful part over with. And now that she had made love with him, she felt more comfortable around him. She knew that it was not the way that things normally were. Normally, boy met girl, boy kissed girl and they went on several dates. Sex did not enter the scene until later. But in times of crisis such as this, there was no time for normal courtships. She was glad enough to know now that he was physically striking. He was much gentler than his size and teeth made it seem.

She was almost going to be sad to return to Earth once they had conceived a baby. Staying on Daskan with him was out of the question when bringing babies to Earth was the whole reason for their coupling.

 

When it came time for them to sleep, Zephyr pressed a button on the wall and it opened, revealing a bed which he pulled fully out. It reminded Celeste of something she had seen in movies set in the 1960s and it amused her to think that the alien species was behind Earth in some of its technologies. It came down from the wall and then Zephyr went to a closet and brought out some blankets and a pillow. He fluffed everything up and made the bed for her. Celeste watched him, happy and flattered that he was taking care to make sure that she was comfortable. He was way more hospitable than she had anticipated, given where they had started.

“Thank you,” she said to him appreciatively. “It is nice to know that there is a bed in here. Although… Where are you going to sleep?”

Zephyr looked around as if he had just realized this fact for himself. Then he shrugged. “I can make do with a chair.”

She got onto the bed and crawled under the sheets. “Don’t be silly. You can sleep in here with me.”

A lustful look passed over his eyes. “I thought about that, but I did not want to be too forward.”

Chuckling, she lifted the blankets on the bed beside her and patted the mattress. “Get in. I’m your mate. If you want to fuck me again, that’s kind of your prerogative.”

Celeste did not want to push her luck. She knew that she was fortunate that Zephyr had had sex with her already, but if they had sex again… Well, she would be twice as lucky, she supposed.

Zephyr got into the bed beside her and spooned her, wrapping his muscular arms around her. He kissed her neck and her highest backbone. It jutted out in a way that made it perfectly kissable. She smiled and closed her eyes, loving the sensation of his lips lightly brushing against her skin. The urgency of his lust soon came to her attention when she felt his hardness against her butt.

Her whole world was about to change, maybe even tomorrow. She wanted to enjoy this night and time with him as much as possible. She wanted him inside her again.

Turning towards him, she breathed hotly against his chest. “Hey,” she said seductively. “Will you mate with me again? I can tell you want to.”

His lips quirked into a smile and he grabbed her, moving her onto her back and then mounting her. He pushed her skirt up and slid her panties down. Then he pushed his sizeable cock into her opening. He did not thrust quickly at first, taking his time to enjoy the feel of her. Zephyr groaned, closing his eyes as he allowed his long penis to explore Celeste’s alien pussy. She was unlike anything he had ever known. She flattered herself, thinking about how she had taken his virginity – at least in terms of sleeping with an Earthen woman. His sexual prowess made it seem as though he certainly had had sex before. She did not want to think about with whom or what, however.

“Ohh, that’s right,” Celeste said, licking her lips. “Let me feel every inch of you. Get me nice and pregnant.”

Normally, such a thing would not be a turn-on, but the Daskani was so into the idea of impregnating her that the mere word pregnant made him quicken his pace, as though fucking her hard and fast was the answer. “Celeste,” he moaned. “Celeste… You are amazing.”

He said her name with such a need, such a desire. As if he might die if he did not utter it. She had never found her name to be such an aphrodisiac before.

They came together, feeling their pleasure and their desire for each other come in waves of electric sensation. Keeping their bodies entangled in each other, they fell asleep. Celeste was not sure if she loved this mysterious alien yet. After all, it would take more than amazing sex and kindness to sway her or make her feel fulfilled. She wanted to love the father of her baby. She hoped that Zephyr could be that man. It would certainly make things easier.

 

The spaceship landed on the planet of Daskan in the early morning hours – or at least what felt like morning hours to Celeste. Time was difficult to clarify when whizzing through space. There was no sunrise or sunset. It further emphasized the Earthen belief that time was simply an illusion. When the ship landed on the ground again at last, Celeste was shaken awake. Zephyr slept beside her, seemingly unaffected by changes in altitude. He was so used to space travel at this point that nothing really fazed him.

She gently placed her hand on his shoulder, shaking him excitedly as if he had not seen the planet of his birth before.

“Hmm? What is it?” he asked her. Blearily, he opened his eyes. “We’ve landed.”

Celeste nodded. “Finally, I feel like kissing the ground!”

She threw back the blankets of their bed and stood up.

Zephyr stretched and got up, joining her by the window of their cabin. He was less enthusiastic about being back on Daskan, mainly because he was an explorer. When he was on the ground, he was not sure what to do with himself.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on her neck, causing Celeste to giggle. “I’m looking forward to going home with you,” she said. “I was beginning to feel like a space prostitute or something.”

That made him raise his eyebrows at her, which just made her laugh harder.

Together, they dressed – he put on his general’s uniform again, and she put on her little dress – and then they made their way from the ship. Celeste was pleased to see that the other Daskani had listened to her order and had freed the women from their cages. Now, everyone was paired up and seemingly happy. Well, as happy as they could be considering they’d been given no choice in the matter.

Celeste did not have long to rejoice about being on solid ground. She realized quickly that the ground on Daskan was mushier than the one on Earth, and she was not sure that kissing it was a good idea. Not long after they got off their ship, a bizarre-looking shuttle came to escort the General and his new mate to his home. It was orange-yellow like the taxi cabs back home, but it was flat and driverless. It floated in midair, with small engines under it that emitted a glowing light blue gas.

“How does that work?” she asked Zephyr.

Without saying anything, just smirking faintly at her, he put his hands on her waist and carefully lifted her onto it. It was not high up off the ground, but Celeste was not a fan of heights when they were wobbly, and this certainly was. She grimaced back at him as he joined her on the space taxi thing, making it wobble and bob even more with his added weight.

“Like most things, it is a robot,” he answered. “It will take us back to our home… Your new home.” He smiled at that, as if he had only just realized that Celeste was his mate and he was going to have her forever. At least, he thought that was the plan.

She looked at him uneasily and, reaching over, told hold of one of his muscular, indigo arms as the small, flat shuttle whizzed them away from their space ship and towards places unknown.

 

The home at which the taxi shuttle dropped off Zephyr and Celeste was not unlike a mansion back on Earth which, she was surprised to discover, disappointed her. She had not often dreamed of her time spent away on an alien planet, but in the dreams she had had about it, she had always been kept locked away in some sort of hovel or something. She did not imagine that the Daskani might live a civilized life, especially considering the way they had treated their guests aboard their ships. She wondered if this was only because she was chosen by the General.

Deftly, Zephyr leapt from the taxi and then reached up to grab a strong but gentle hold of her as well. He brought her down and held her in his arms and she forgot all about her disappointment. He held her like a princess. She was his princess, and he was her brave and kind space General. She amazed herself with how much she cared about him now, after railing against the very idea of mating with a Daskani for so long.

He carried Celeste into his mansion. It was built into the side of a jagged stone cliff. The whole planet was rocky and spongey, almost like it was made of one giant bog. The froglike appearance of the males was beginning to make sense. She did not see any other beings when they came off the ship, and she wondered if the reason the Daskani had answered Earth’s call was because they were a planet in need of females.

“You have a beautiful home,” she complimented as he carried her inside and brought her straight to a sprawling bedroom that was more like a ballroom with a bed. Unlike the chromatic space ship they had been on, Zephyr’s home was white and bright, with a lot of windows that looked out on an expanse of water. An ocean perhaps? “Really, your whole planet is beautiful. The people of Earth should all just move here. You seem to be doing much better for yourselves.”

Zephyr smiled and placed her gently onto the bed, the only real piece of furniture in his bedroom. The windows were open, allowing a gentle breeze to blow into the room. The bedsheets were like the curtains, white and opaque. Looking up at him, Celeste wondered at how this brawny beast had managed to keep his home so immaculate.

“This is – what do you Earthlings call it? - my bridal suite,” he informed her, leaning over her so he could kiss her and touch her breasts through her dress with his fingertips. “Daskani do not all have a home like this. It is given to those who have a mate for life.”

Celeste opened her eyes wide. What was he talking about? Mate for life?

 

CHAPTER FIVE

Cerulean Savior

 

Celeste stayed there on the bed and let Zephyr continue to kiss and fondle her, but she was practically frozen in place. “What did you mean, mate for life?” she asked him nervously. “I’m supposed to get pregnant and then bring my child home to Earth, to help the population problem… I cannot stay with you.”

Zephyr stopped necking her and leaned back a bit so that he could look into her eyes and face and see that she was sincere in her statement. “But… I thought you were my mate.”

She felt so bad for him. “It’s not that I want to leave you when this is all over. But I have a duty to my people.”

It worried her now, that he might not want to have sex with her anymore. Why did I have to open my big mouth? she thought. I just wanted to be honest with him…

“What if you can fulfill your duty to your people and still stay with me?” Zephyr asked thoughtfully. “What if I said that I would follow you wherever you go, even if I should have to live on Earth for the rest of my days?”

She looked deeply into his green eyes. “You would leave this palace for me? Earth is nothing like this place.”

He shrugged and moved in closer to her once more, gently taking her by the arm and pulling her into him so he could kiss her more easily. “There is no one like you in the whole of the galaxy,” he said in a soft tone before kissing her deeply and passionately.

Celeste pulled him further so that he was fully on top of her. She brought her hands up under his shirt and ran her fingertips along his curly, dark blue chest hair. Then she relieved him of the shirt and he relieved her of her dress, and her bra as well. He was handsy when it came to her breasts. “You’ve never seen these before, have you?” she asked through a smirk. “Before me, I mean.”

Zephyr shook his head a bit. “Our females have breasts, but… not like these.”

As he squeezed, she felt a pang of pain. Could it be that she was pregnant? She did not want to think about that right now. Nothing was a bigger turn off for her than the thoughts about her being forced into this… Although, the more she did think about it, now that he had proposed to stay by her side no matter where they landed next, Celeste thought that they were going to make a freaking cute baby.

Maybe if she was not already pregnant, she would be by the morning.

He kissed her face and neck and down her entire body, slipping her panties from her as well.

“Mmm,” she murmured. “You haven’t done this much, but you’re clearly a fast learner.”

Zephyr smiled against her sensitive skin and then he went down and kissed her opening, gently nuzzling his nose against it as he began to lick at her wetness.

Celeste gripped the white sheets of the bed. The room was immaculate, but not for long. More than the sheets were about to be tousled, if she got her wish. She lifted her legs up a little, inviting Zephyr to perform as much cunnilingus on her as he wanted. She threw her head back and moaned his name.

He used that alien dragon tongue of his quite well. He got her all hot and bothered and then, grinning a shimmering grin that could only be shimmering like that for one reason, he rose back up above her and plowed his long, thick cock inside her.

“Let’s get you good and pregnant,” he growled, thrusting in and out of her and making sure that he went as far in as her tight pussy would allow. “We don’t want to return you to Earth without my spawn growing inside you, now do we?”

“Ahhh, I don’t want to go back until I’ve had our baby,” she said back, hissing the words out because Jesus Christ he felt so good. “I want to fuck you as much as possible here, my Daskani General. I want our baby to know its birthpla-AHH, YESS!!”

She bit her bottom lip so hard it started to bleed a little, but she did not care. Her orgasm came intensely and fast, and she instantly wanted another.

Zephyr beamed proudly down at her, happy to see that his movements and touches were causing such a stir within her. He kissed her on the mouth again and quickened his pace, feeling her feminine juices on his shaft. It made his thrusts more fluid with less friction, which brought him moments away from his own orgasm.

Celeste had a feeling that this was it. This was the time that she would for sure become pregnant. She could see herself feeling miserable tomorrow morning, but this was so worth it. He was not able to hold on for very long and she could tell by his expression that he was really fighting his ejaculation so that she could enjoy herself.

“Come inside me,” she whispered, kissing and nipping his chin.

She did not have to tell him twice. Closing his eyes tightly, Zephyr came thunderously inside her, feeling as if sparks were going off under his skin in a way that did not hurt but instead felt wonderful. He held onto her, holding her close in a hug as the ripples of the orgasm continued and his heart rate did its best to slow down again.

When he tried to pull away, she held him fast and snuggled against his chest. He was not inside her anymore, but that did not mean she did not want him to stay there with her.

“I love you, Zephyr,” she told him softly, eyes closed as if she was dreaming. “The old me would probably say that I’m crazy, but I do not care. I’m not the old me. And I love you.”

He kissed her forehead and petted her hair. “I love you, too,” he said. He said it with such conviction that she knew he was telling the truth. She was so glad that he knew what love meant. It was not exactly an easily-definable word.

They fell asleep together there, in each other’s arms, feeling safe and contented with their choices of mate. She was not looking forward to leaving this strange and lovely planet, though she was excited to see her mother’s and sister’s faces when she arrived back at home with the handsome and powerful Zephyr holding her hand.

 

The following morning looked a great deal like the day in which they had arrived. The sky was still bright and the weather was still the sticky kind of hot that Celeste imagined rainforests back on Earth must have been like, at least until the humans destroyed them with their greed. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw that Zephyr was still right there with her, holding her in his arms like he had done back when they were on the Daskani space ship. Like he loved her.

She carefully and slowly disentangled herself from him and went over to the sheer-curtained window of their room. She gazed out at the sky of russet and gold. There were thick, green trees for miles around, as far as her eyes could see. She could understand now why there had been such a need to keep things hot on the ship. The Daskani were used to hot climates. She still did not think it was right of Zephyr to assume the human females would be okay with that, but she could not blame him as much now that she knew him and his home planet better.

What was not made of sky or trees seemed to be made of rock. That dark, metallic looking rock that she had seen before. The cliff their manse was attached to was made of that type of rock. Celeste thought that she could get used to that rock. She would not have minded if Zephyr gave her a ring made of that rock…

The thought of marrying her Daskani man made her stomach do a nervous flip flop. Either that or it was something else. She bolted from the room in search of the nearest restroom. Sickness had fallen over her like a blanket and it was then as she lay there on the hot floor over the water basin that she knew.

She had a Daskani spawn in her womb for sure.

Unfortunately, Celeste did not have long to feel excited about her pregnancy. As she was tidying herself up and about to make her return to the bedroom, she heard a loud sonic boom. At least, that was what it sounded like. Not fully used to the planet yet, she was not sure if that was a normal thing to hear. She rushed out of the bathroom and to the nearest window, which happened to be one in the living room. She had not looked out of this window yet, or really explored the living room. Zephyr had carried her to the bedroom with haste as soon as they arrived; so much of the home was unexplored by her so far.

The view from the window was a shock. She had not expected it to be such a big drop. Hadn’t there been a patio or something yesterday? It was a blur. When Celeste stopped marveling at the height of her new home, she noticed the giant, sparkly space ship in the near distance. It was ruby red and it took up half the sky. At first glance, she had taken it for one of the rocky mountain peaks of Daskan, but now that she looked at it she could see that it was a) not a mountain and b) not from Daskan.

Zephyr rushed out from the bedroom to join her, wrapping his arm around her as they looked out the window together in bafflement. “Do you know who they are?” she asked him.

He nodded his head in a way that somehow suggested that he was not happy to see that glistening ship on the horizon.

“Care to enlighten me?”

“They’re the Yaargothens,” he told her, glaring at the space ship with narrowed eyes as though the ship itself could feel hit wrath. “They’re a rival planet from just outside this galaxy. They’re facing a bit of a crisis themselves, but I never thought they’d have the nerve to come here.”

Celeste turned to look at him, into his eyes. “Outside this galaxy? What kind of crisis?”

Zephyr sighed. Before he had a chance to tell her, however, the screech of a loudspeaker could be heard emanating from the ruby ship. “Citizens of Daskan,” a growly, booming voice announced. “We come in peace. Well, mostly. We are here because we have learned about your trade deal with Earth. As you are aware, we citizens of Yaargoth have also been suffering a fertility crisis. The last of our females has died. And so, we turn to you, as our… friends. We have come for your Earthling women. They should have been traded with us in the first place.”

The loudspeaker gave another screech and silence fell again.

Celeste looked at Zephyr with wide eyes. This was bad. This was very bad.

“What should we—”

“Look out!” Zephyr shouted before she could finish her question, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her down to the carpeted floor.

He made sure to land first so that she could lie nestled against him. He wrapped his strong arms around her and she closed her eyes as some kind of projectile came into the mansion via that window. Celeste smelled smoke and the scent of what can only be described as burning hair.

She thought she was going to have a good day here on Daskan, exploring the hills and rainforest-like beaches. Letting Zephyr know that he was going to be a father. But no. The universe or whatever controlled these things had determined that Celeste just could not have nice things.

“Please tell me they did not just fling alien poo in here,” she muttered.

“No,” Zephyr replied. “Worse. They flung themselves in here.”

Celeste opened her eyes and looked at him as if he was crazy or making things up to get a reaction out of her. She tilted her head at him and arched an eyebrow. “You can’t be serious.”

The projectiles that had burst through the window were indeed moving on the floor a few feet away. She hesitated to even look as a sick feeling washed over her. The things appeared to be light brown, fuzzy balls and they grew and grew as they squirmed and writhed on Zephyr’s white carpet.

When they stopped growing, they reached quite an impressive size. Five gorilla-like beasts now stood before Zephyr and Celeste, staring down at them menacingly. Well, staring down at her. Zephyr rivaled them in size. They were wearing what almost looked like brightly colored Speedos, which she could not take seriously except she had to admit that they were appropriate for the temperatures on Daskan. Their thick fur, on the other hand, was not.

“Forgive us this intrusion, General, but we Yaargothens have reason to believe that you have impregnated your Earthen female,” the largest and most brutish of the brown aliens said. His voice was a low, deep hum like that of a vacuum cleaner.

He did not look at Celeste at all when he said this. In fact, he had not so far given her the slightest attention. She wondered if he thought she was not the Earthen female he was talking about. What might he think she was? Zephyr’s breakfast?

All that changed when Zephyr turned his blue face towards her. His mouth had fallen open a bit at this news. “Are you with child?” he asked her, his voice so soft and tender that she was almost able to forget that enemies were present.

She smiled a bit, biting her lip and nodding. “I was going to tell you…”

The large brown alien growled. “Then our informant was correct!” Suddenly, he lurched forward and grabbed Celeste by the wrist.

Zephyr leapt forward at once, but he was too late against the Yaargothen’s shifting powers. The fuzzy alien took off at a jump towards the window again, shrinking as he went and causing Celeste to shrink along with him!

The last glimpse of her mate that she got as she rose with her captor into the sky was Zephyr’s look of complete bewilderment and anger. She did not know what was going to happen to her now. She had no defenses against this new alien. She had barely learned his species’ name.

Suddenly, they crashed together onto a hard floor. Their bodies stretched and grew until Celeste was lying on the cool, metallic floor of the spaceship, writhing in space sick agony. The brown monstrosity stood above her, smirking.

“I can tell that you were not with that Daskani for long,” he boomed. “You are as puny and fragile as I always expected Earthen females to be. But no matter. If you are fertile, then you will come along with me back to Yaargoth, where we shall repopulate!”

Celeste was scared and overwhelmed, but she was not about to let this happen without a fight. Shakily, she stood up and looked the beast in the eyes. His eyes were beady and black, not at all the attractive green of her Zephyr’s. Was she really thinking of him as hers now? Had they really come this far? As she looked at the ruthless Yaargothen, she knew so well that she loved her Daskani mate and she was not about to abandon him!

“I am not going to Yaargoth with you,” she said. “And I am never, ever going to be your mate.” She was so much smaller than he was, so she was not quite sure how exactly she was going to prevent him from taking her. So, short of doing nothing, Celeste spat up and into his face.

The alien howled as if she had struck him with hot coals, rubbing at his eyes to get her phlegm out of them. Then he grabbed her by the wrist once more, making a shackle out of his claws. “Hyperspace!” he shouted to some unseen crew.

Without warning, the ship shook as they proceeded into hyperdrive. She was glad that he was holding onto her now, if only so she would not meet the harsh floor again. She was not sure how much her body could take of this, though. The baby moved in her stomach; the first real proof that she was carrying Zephyr’s child and was not just having a bad reaction to the food.

“General Zephyr will not let you get away with this,” she told the alien once she had regained equilibrium and could look him in the eye without her stomach doing a flop. She did not even know this alien’s name, and she hoped to keep it that way. She did not want to become at all familiar with him or his shrinkage power.

He laughed a cannon fire-like laugh and began pulling her away from the space ship’s big window and down a long, winding hallway not too terribly unlike the one on the Daskani ship.

“Help!” Celeste cried as she was dragged by her arm, appealing to the last glimmer of sunlight before she was swallowed up by the hallway, as if Zephyr could hear her cries from his planet which was far, far behind her now.

 

The Yaargothens, it turned out, were not so very different from the Daskani. The main one – the general? – placed Celeste into a small cell. She was provided with some water and a dry, unappetizing cracker thing. The ship was not stifling hot, but somehow, she missed that aspect. That aspect felt more like home to her now. The Yaargothens were apparently from a colder climate, hence their thick fur.

“I am Rawrgoth,” the gruff alien told her. “I am the leader here. You will respect me.”

Celeste kept her eyes down, as if the floor was the most interesting thing on the ship. She kept her mouth shut tight, not speaking. The being known as Rawrgoth soon got bored and left here there in her cage.

She was fuming. At least the Daskani had come to Earth to help them. At least it had been a peaceful agreement. This? This was kidnapping! This was slavery!

“Help me, Zephyr,” she pleaded there in the dark cell, far from her mate and the planet that had become like a home away from home for her in such a short time. She had been at peace with him there, content. She no longer railed against the solution for Earth’s fertility crisis. But now it did not matter. Her child that grew in her stomach was in danger. She was in danger.

After a while, the ship stopped moving so quickly and Celeste knew that they had come out of hyperdrive. They were floating there calmly, and that calmness irritated her. The Yaargothens thought that they had nothing to lose now. They felt uncontested. Safe in their acquisition of her. She felt disgusted.

Suddenly the space ship began to rumble and roll as if a giant hand was pushing it. Celeste got up from the floor and moved to the front of her cage, hands on bars, to try and peek out and ascertain what was going on. She so wished she was still near the window. There was a loud crash as the window broke and then she changed her mind about her proximity to it. What now? she thought.

Bright red and gold flames burst into the hallway and Celeste jumped back to avoid them. Then, a giant blue and green dragon came into view. She could not be sure if that was indeed what it was, but she did not know what else could look like that besides a dragon. She had read enough fairy tales. It shimmered in the dim lights of the ship and looked somewhat like a genetically mutated rainforest newt. It had wings on its back that rustled as if they were made of paper, but they clearly were not.

Celeste sat there on the floor in the back of her cell and watched, mystified, as the dragon made its way past her. There was something strangely beautiful about it. Strangely beautiful and… familiar.

“fddddddddddddddddddddddtgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggtttttttttttttttttg!” Another cloud of flame and smoke erupted from the dragon’s mouth.

The dragon’s voice was not familiar, but she did not expect that it would be.

All at once, there was chaos as the Yaargothens were roused from their births and came into the hallway – or rather, opened their doors and looked out into the hallway – with much trepidation and fearful shouting.

“A Daskani!” one of them shouted in their garbled, growly way. “How did he get in here?”

“Through the window!”

“Look, the window!”

Celeste craned her head and neck, but try as she might she could not see the window. The dragon was mostly gone from her line of sight now as well, save for his long, shiny blue tail.

“A Daskani,” she said under her breath. Could it be her Zephyr? But that was ludicrous! He flew through hyperspace?

The dragon inhaled deeply, gearing up for another outburst of flames. “WHERE IS CELESTE?!” it bellowed instead.

She froze, spine going ridged. “Zephyr!” she said in a whispered exhale, too shocked to be louder. The Daskani were, after all, dragon shifters. It made sense that the General shifted. She just had never witnessed it before. It was breathtaking, to say the least. He was a monstrosity when he was in his normal form. Now that he was a dragon, he was a behemoth.

The leader of the Yaargothens came forth, eying Zephyr with his beady, dark eyes. “She is my mate now, Daskan filth,” he spat. Though he was much, much smaller than the dragon, he had no fear about size. It did not matter to his kind.

The space ship bobbed and tilted with Zephyr’s immense weight. The ship clearly cared about the size of this dragon.

“Captain, we cannot hold up like this,” one of the Yaargothen’s stated somewhat timidly. “Permission to land on the nearest planet?”

“Permission denied,” Rawrgoth snarled, not even bothering to look back at his underling. “I will take care of this.”

Celeste held onto the bars of her cell as the ship rocked and bucked forward, clearly starting to go down as the Yaargothen grew to match the size of Zephyr. She thought for sure that they were going to crash now, and all of them were going to die. All this because she would not mate with a new alien. She felt a strange sort of petty now. But oh, it felt good to know that Zephyr cared for her this much. He was willing to risk everything to save her and her honor. His honor as well, to be sure. No entitled alien was going to come around and steal his female.

There was much snarling and growling as the two beasts stared each other down. Neither seemed to want to make the first move, but even as they did not move the ship was sinking fast into the abyss of space. All kinds of sirens and flashing warning lights were going off but the monsters did not pay attention to such trivial matters. Zephyr lunged forward, moving only his head and elongated neck as he snapped at the now giant-sized Yaargothen. Rawrgoth managed somehow to dodge that and scratched Zephyr’s neck with his black, sharpened claws.

“Zephyr,” Celeste called to him pleadingly. “Zephyr, I love you! But you’re going to get us all killed!”

He snapped again, this time catching Rawrgoth’s head in his jaws. He chomped down as hard as he could, but the other beast used his long arms and claws to wrench himself free. Celeste could see a lot of blood now, coming from Rawrgoth’s head and the wound on Zephyr’s neck. There was blood in the dragon’s teeth as well. She could feel herself becoming a bit woozy.

“Captain!” another member of the Yaargothen crew shouted. “We are going down! Landing on the nearest planet is our only option!”

The members of the crew were in full-on panic mode. They rushed through the hall, doing their best to squeeze past the two alien monsters as they bit and scratched at each other. They were fighting as if in slow-mo, confined to the small space of the ship.

Suddenly, one of the crew members came to Celeste’s cell and unlocked her cage. The Yaargothen looked her in the eye. “You’re on your own. Good luck.” He said it in a way that did not sound hopeful.

Celeste thanked him by hastily pushing past him and going to Zephyr’s torso. He was so immense that all she could really make of him was a wall of teal. “Zephyr!” she shouted. “I’m here now. I’m with you.” She reached out and touched him. He was smooth, hot and semi-moist to the touch, like the frog she had always thought he resembled. She thought this was much more appealing. She found him oddly sexy this way, not at all like the slimy Earthen amphibian from her earlier imaginings.

The two fighting foes paid her no mind however, and as the ship careened downwards towards the first available planet, Celeste held onto her dragon and prayed that this would all end soon and maybe, perhaps, they could make it out of it alive. She was not even going to hope for unharmed, just alive.

When at last the space ship did land, the two monsters spared no time. Zephyr grabbed Rawrgoth by the head again and rolled with him out of the window. Well, actually, it was the side of the ship. Nothing but a jagged hole and slightly charred and melted metal remained in their wake. Celeste stood against the opposite wall, watching with a hand over her mouth.

The planet on which the Yaargothens had haphazardly landed was made of rock, thank goodness, though there were patches of lava where Celeste was used to seeing oceans and rivers. She was terrified to leave the safety of the ship, which she could hardly believe was the case were it not for the fact that these two brutal, deadly beasts were now out there in unknown, dangerous terrain, duking it out to the death, probably. She had once been flattered, but now she thought that what they were doing was extreme. She was never going to be able to forgive herself if Zephyr died for her.

Cautiously, she stepped out onto the rock of the planet. She walked towards where the two males were fighting over her. Though Zephyr was covered in glowing red gashes on his limbs and face, he was clearly winning the battle. Rawrgoth was little more than a flailing mass of bloody fur.

Her dragon was breathing heavily, a smattering of blood falling from his mouth. She could not tell if it was his blood or his enemy’s but it worried her either way.

“If you make it,” he said to Rawrgoth, “If you live long enough to leave this place, you go and tell your leadership that Daskan answered Earth’s call for help and that if Yaargoth wishes to enjoy the benefits of such a peace treaty, stealing and raping the women is not the way to do it. This is why no one ever asks Yaargoth for help.”

Zephyr was difficult to understand when he was in his dragon form, but thankfully he spoke slowly enough for Celeste to take it all in and decipher what came out of his large jaws. Once he had said his piece, he turned away from his injured adversary and looked down upon Celeste. She was no sure, but she thought that he smiled at her.

“Now let’s get you home,” he said through a growl that was almost docile.

She was unsure of what she should do now that the gargantuan dragon was done fighting. Zephyr could not simply go back onto the space ship and fly somewhere else. He had apparently flown through space, though… Feeling silly for doing so, but unable to think of anything better, Celeste carefully climbed onto his slippery back. There were not spikes like she had imagined dragons to have, but his skin was smooth and warm and not unpleasant to hold onto once she was situated. She held onto his neck, hoping that no sudden moves would make her go flying.

“Can you fly back through space?” she asked him only after she was sitting there, holding on as though he was seconds away from taking off. “I mean, there is the whole oxygen thing to consider.”

Zephyr chuckled deeply. She felt it through his long, thick neck. “I have ways of managing that.”

Walking back towards the Yaargothen space ship, he began to flap his wings and soon he was up in the air, a purplish ball of opaque energy surrounding him and the Earthling on his back.

“Wow!” she gasped out in wonder as she looked down and saw the space ship going further and further below them. Now she knew how her Daskani had rushed through space to find her again and rescue her from the clutches of Rawrgoth.

As Zephyr flew, he puffed out a steady stream of fire which lit the way and increased his speed. Celeste did not feel entirely safe up there on his back, but she was far safer with him than she was with those barbaric enemy aliens. She hugged his neck to her and gazed at the stars as they passed them.

“Now that I’m not so afraid of dying, I can see that it’s beautiful up here,” she told him. “But you do make the strangest space ship.”

He chuckled deeply again. “Let’s not make this a habit.”

 

CHAPTER SIX

An Epilogue

 

The flight back to Daskan was not terribly long, thanks to Zephyr’s fire ability and the fact that he had kept the Yaargothens from taking her all the way to their distant planet. Hyperdrive was no laughing matter, of course, but the dragon could simulate it with his puffs of flames and his strong, beating wings. Celeste was surprisingly able to sleep for some of the trip, and it was sleep that she badly needed. On top of everything else, she was pregnant and that did not lend itself well to dealing with stress. She was fatigued, and Zephyr understood. He was more than happy to let her sleep atop him as he cruised through space faster than the speed of light.

She awoke as he descended back onto his home planet of Daskan. Which was fortunate for her, because she was not holding on as tightly as she should have been, and she needed to do that in order to not fall off as he zoomed through the planet’s atmosphere. Celeste clutched his smooth skin as tightly as she could.

Zephyr landed on the side of one of the planet’s rocky cliffs, clutching onto it with his long claws. Once had caught his breath some and gathered himself, he flew up into the sky again and seamlessly floated back to their white, cliffside castle. Once he landed there, Celeste carefully got from his back and climbed down to the flat surface where their home lay. She watched curiously at he shifted from his dragon form and back to his more humanoid alien form. He contorted, bones cracking and shifting back into their places. Celeste shuttered a bit, thinking about what that must feel like. She could not imagine and she did not really want to, except empathetically, she supposed.

As soon as her dragon was back to looking like her General, she rushed to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, hugging him as tightly as possible without hurting him further. The cuts on his chest and neck looked far worse now that he was more like a man and less like an unstoppable beast.

“Come on,” she told him. “Let’s get you inside and cleaned up.” She looked up at him and they kissed tenderly. Heaven help her, she loved him so much. He was now no longer the answer to Earth’s prayers. She was her literal hero. And her literal hero deserved some tender loving care.

 

Celeste’s pregnancy was not as long as a typical human pregnancy, but it was long enough for her. By her fifth month, her abdomen was completely swollen and she spent most of her time in bed so as not to injure herself or the baby. “I feel so lazy,” she complained to Zephyr, who continued to work as well as take care of her. It was as if he had been preparing his whole life for this, which made her realize that just as the women of Earth had long been a part of this fertilization pact, the Daskani had been planning for fatherhood. The people of Earth needed babies, and the Daskani wanted badly to have children of their own.

“Ahhhhh!” she cried out in the middle of the night, while she and Zephyr were in bed. He awoke at once and brought her into his arms, thinking that it had been one of the nightmares that had been troubling her of late. But no. This was labor pains.

“It’s happening!” Celeste shouted in agony. “It’s contractions!”

Zephyr did not know about Earthling pregnancies, but he knew what contractions were. He nodded and let go of her so that he could situate himself at the end of the bed. “Put your legs up on my shoulders,” he instructed. “Let me help you. It should not take long.”

Celeste breathed in and out. “This better not take long!” she snapped at him. Why was it that making a baby was so, so pleasant but having one was the complete opposite? Science just was not fair.

Zephyr smirked a bit, but he knew that it was not an enjoyable time for her so he kept his smiling to a minimum, which she appreciated. When he saw that she was dilated, he looked up at her face. “Push,” he urged her gently.

It hurt so much that all she wanted to do was push until it stopped hurting. But in the end, she paced herself and let Zephyr give her the command to push when she was supposed to and relax when she needed to. After several long, excruciating hours, Zephyr was holding their small, light-blue skinned son in his arms. He was crying and Zephyr was crying and Celeste was crying, too. It was equal parts wonderful, exhausting and daunting for all three of them.

Their son looked like a perfect mixture of his parents. Aside from the robin’s egg blue hue of his skin, which clearly came from his father, he had Celeste’s auburn hair and large, inquisitive eyes. Celeste wasn’t sure how well he was going to fit into society on Earth, but then he was going to be a being with two planets. And as Zephyr was so set on the idea of staying with her, their son would have his weird, alien father with him to fend off any bullies, at least.

She smiled at Zephyr. He smiled back at her.

“What do you want to name him?” he asked her. “You’re probably better at that sort of thing than I am.”

“Zenith,” she said with no hesitation. She had been considering names ever since she found out she was pregnant. “I figure it would be good to start him off at a high point, at least.”

Zephyr chuckled. “I like it,” he said. He hugged her and gently petted his tiny son’s head. They made a cute family already.

“Let’s take him home,” Celeste said then. “I cannot wait to introduce him to my planet and my people.”