Chapter Ten
Torg
At the sound of a footfall, I sprang up in bed to find Darq entering the chamber. Starr slept beside me, one hand curled under her cheek, her face hidden by that mass of yellow hair. Blonde, she’d called it. It was growing on me. I liked having a mate who was unique, who looked like no one else.
“You have a visitor,” Darq said.
“Who? The healer? Is it about Yorgav?” I whispered so I wouldn’t wake Starr.
“No.”
“Who, then?” I yanked on leggings and a tunic and shoved my feet into boots.
“Icha.”
“What!” I forgot to whisper, and I checked on Starr. Still asleep.
“She brought a mating gift, insisted on handing it to you.”
Since Starr’s introduction to the tribe, members had been delivering kel hides, bone knives, pottery, baskets, beads, wood carvings, and enough food that Darq, Starr, and I could eat for a dozen planetary rotations.
“I told her to leave it with the rest, but she refused.”
Typical Icha. She intended her gifts not to please the recipient but to shine upon herself. She demanded an inordinate amount of attention, and because she was female, she received it. I glanced at my sleeping mate. Thankfully, she wasn’t spoiled like Icha. Though I had ached for a female to call mine, if Starr had never arrived, I would have spent my life in solitude before I would have accepted Icha. My mate gave a cute little snort in her sleep, and I smiled. Yorgav should be so lucky. He would have his hands full if he recovered. Would he think Icha had been worth all the trouble she’d caused him? Would cause him still?
“Any word on Yorgav?” I asked. “How is he doing?”
“Better. The healer says he shows improvement and thinks he might make it after all.”
“That’s good news.”
Darq, the coward, left me to face Icha alone.
As I entered the main chamber, I found her eying the rack where Starr’s clothing hung. They were dry now, but we hadn’t removed them yet. The flimsy garments were near useless on Dakon, but Starr had insisted on keeping them. As Icha faced me, her expression shifted from assessing to coquettish. Nearly as tall as I, she managed to shrink several measures to appear smaller. She fluttered her eyelashes. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
I was quite certain she’d hoped for the opposite.
Icha had shed her outer kel to reveal clothing stretched taut across every ample curve. Cut low, the neckline of her tunic revealed the deep valley between her mountainous breasts. Men joked they could get lost in those mountains.
Her charms held no appeal for me. They never had, and now I had a mate who very much attracted me, who I would have been snuggling with if not for Icha.
“What is it?” I asked, barely covering my irritation.
She held out a covered basket. “I brought you some macha biscuits.”
Macha was a syrup produced by a tree, on its way to extinction, making the syrup a precious commodity. The sap was our only sweetener, and we reserved its use for special occasions.
“You shouldn’t have,” I said. Icha gave nothing without expectation of reciprocity, but to refuse her gift would be an insult. Reluctantly I accepted the proffered basket.
She did not step away as she should have, but remained close. Our gazes locked. I was a hunter. I’d taken down kel many times my size, in addition to other more dangerous animals. I’d fought and defeated other men to win my seat as clan leader. I did not retreat from tough decisions. I survived in a cold, harsh land that killed without mercy.
Handling a predatory female was outside my ken. “Thank you. If that’s all…” I moved toward the cave entrance, hoping she would take the hint.
She didn’t.
I set her dubious gift on a table.
“I came to congratulate our clan leader on his good fortune and wish him well,” she said in a breathy voice. If that was her real intention, then I was a spaceship pilot from Terra.
“The healer says Yorgav is doing better and might recover.” I injected him into the conversation in hopes of warding her off.
“Good.” She shrugged.
“You do not seem as relieved as one would expect.”
“Of course I am happy that an injured man, a member of our tribe will survive. Who wouldn’t be? But if you are implying that I should have a deeper, more personal concern for his welfare…”
“Shouldn’t you? You chose Yorgav over Armax.”
“I did not. I merely wished to no longer be with Armax.”
Anger surged at her manipulation and lack of remorse. “You’d better leave now.” I took a few more steps closer to the entrance. If I had to, I’d pick her up and dump her outside. In a snowdrift.
Icha hesitated then picked up her kel and sashayed toward me. My tribe mates considered Icha to be the most attractive of our females. The sway of her hips, the purr of her voice drew men like insects to a weeping macha tree. I’d never trusted her, never desired to be one of a succession of men she used and discarded, so though she’d approached me in the past and my physical needs had been great, I’d rejected her. I was probably the only one in camp who had. As we had too few women, females like Icha would always have control over the male gender.
The coquettish look returned. “We could have been good, you and I.”
If good meant disastrous. In my personal chamber, Starr slept, oblivious to Icha’s visit. Thankfully.
“And we still can. It’s not too late.” She scraped her finger along my jaw.
I jerked away. “I’m mated now, Icha!”
“I can offer you so much more than the alien can.”
The only thing she could offer me that I wanted was the sight of her backside as she left. “Not interested.”
Her eyes turned flinty, but then she shrugged. “Your loss.” She slipped into her kel and tucked the hood over her face. “Congratulations on your…mating,” she said in a tone laden with condolence.
At last I got the view I wanted: her exiting the corridor. I headed back to my mate.
Starr was awakening. A tiny mound beneath the furs, she stretched. Her soft yellow hair contrasted against the darkness of the kel, stirring my manhood. “I guess I overslept.” She sat up and tucked the furs beneath her armpits, shielding her body from my gaze.
My luck: the female I didn’t care about, flaunted herself, and the one I wanted to see, covered up.
“I have a surprise,” I said.
“What is it?”
“How’d you like to take a bath?”
Her eyes lit up. “Really? How?”
“Get dressed.”
She frowned. “I have to get dressed to take a bath?”
“You can walk naked through the snow if you prefer, but we have to go to a different cave.”
She scrambled out of the hides and into her clothes in record time. I enjoyed how her flesh jiggled as she rushed. Her breasts, while not as bounteous as Icha’s, were large enough to fill my hands and then some. The memory of her softness stiffened my cock. I loved the wiggle in her walk, the way her buttocks shifted and her hips swayed in a dance all females seemed to know. But my female’s performance was the only one I cared to watch.
“You’re staring at me.” She pulled on her boots.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I woke up, and you were gone.”
“We had a visitor.”
“Oh?”
“Icha,” I answered, loath to mention her. Just invoking the name ushered in an ill wind. “She brought a mating gift.”
She bent over her boots to lace them. “Was that all she wanted?” Her tone held an odd inflection.
“You don’t like Icha.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I don’t like her, either.”
My mate’s head shot up. “You don’t?”
“No. She tries to cause trouble wherever she goes—”
Starr beamed a big smile.
“You find that amusing?” I asked.
“No. I’m just pleased you recognize she causes trouble.”
“Of course, I see that. You’d have to be fool not to.” Which meant the majority of my clan were fools.
Starr sauntered over to me. “Let’s go take that bath, big guy.” She clapped her hands on both sides of my head and planted a kiss against my mouth.
* * * *
Fresh snow had fallen overnight. The absence of tracks around the cave showed no one had been here yet today. Starr and I would be able to bathe in private. As clan leader, I could have shooed everyone from the pools, but I hesitated to employ special privileges very often because doing so invoked resentment among the tribe, as the previous leader had found out.
Males and females bathed in the mineral springs together with no concern for nudity. We had no more reservations about removing our tunic and leggings than we did in flinging off the hoods that covered our heads. However, Starr had explained that Terrans were modest and wore clothing as much to cover up their nakedness as for warmth. Revealing one’s bare body to the wrong person or in the wrong moment embarrassed them. That my mate felt comfortable naked around me pleased me, and, strangely, her reluctance to disrobe in front of others gladdened me, too.
“You go first.” I gestured. “The tunnel will be narrow, but it will descend to a large chamber where you’ll be able to stand.”
“Okay.”
Doubled over with my head down, I followed her. Damp, warm air scented by minerals filled my nostrils. The baths were deep under the mountain, about a quarter tripta. Lamps burning an oil obtained from kel fat kept the passage lighted enough so that we didn’t fall.
“I hear rushing,” she said.
“We’re almost there.”
Moments later, we entered the main cavern, lit by more oil lamps. Vapor clouds hovered over bubbling pools of heated mineral water. Mist condensed on the walls, running in rivulets into the pools.
Steamy air seeped into my bones and cleared my head. We didn’t come here just to bathe; the pools rejuvenated us, or at least made us feel that way.
“Which pool should we use?” Starr asked.
“Can you swim?” I asked.
Starr bit her lip. “No.”
“The middle one, then. The far one is quite deep; you would need to tread water.”
“What about that one?” She pointed to the closest.
“That one is not as warm. You will like the middle one better.”
Starr and I disrobed, and I wrapped our clothes in a kel hide and placed it on a rack to protect it from the mist. Everything in the chamber got damp. If we had to tromp back to our cave in wet garments, we’d catch a chill.
Naked, Starr padded toward the pool, her curves jiggling. For one so tiny and slender, her attributes were lush: generous buttocks, wide hips, full breasts. She was, to my appreciative eyes, perfect. To be called skinny was an insult, but my slip that one time had pleased her to no end. The intricacies of the female mind baffled me. Perhaps when we got more females and learned their ways, they would be easier to understand.
She stepped into the pool, waist deep for her.
“There’s a ledge at the far end where you can sit,” I suggested.
Starr waded in and submerged to her shoulders. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the rocky edge. “Good gods, this feels so wonderful,” she groaned. Her yellow hair floated on the water, frothing at her shoulders.
I joined her on the ledge. The shallow water lapped at my abdomen, barely covering the crown of my cock, which had grown rock-hard. It took very little provocation on her part to get me hard. I’d expected frequent relations to alleviate the rampaging lust; instead it had produced the opposite effect. The more we coupled, the more I wanted to. Even now, visions of pulling her atop my lap so she could ride me to sweet oblivion crowded into my mind.
She sighed, a pleasurable sound, almost like satiation. I was far from sated. We were still getting used to each other, figuring out each other’s ways. I reached out and covered her hand. Her bones were so delicate, her hand so small, I engulfed it in my massive paw.
“This is nice. Thank you,” she said, her eyes still closed. Lamplight bathed her face with a soft glow. She looked relaxed and serene. Oblivious to my need. We’d coupled twice during the night, but desire panted within me, hot and heavy. It never fully abated.
“So Icha brought you a mating gift,” Starr said.
Well, that doused my desire by a measure.
“Us. She brought us a gift,” I lied. Icha had intended her offering for me, and it was no gift. However, I knew better than to say so. I hadn’t had a mate for very long, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have survival instincts.
Starr opened her eyes. “What did she bring?”
I released her hand and rubbed my neck. “Food.”
“Have you heard how Yorgav is doing?”
“Actually, yes. The healer says he might recover,” I replied, omitting any mention that Icha had lost interest in him and appeared to have set her sights on me.
“I’m glad.” Starr stretched, arching so that the rosy tips of her breasts poked out of the water, and thoughts of Icha evaporated into the mist. My mate slipped off the ledge into the deeper center of the pool and submerged. When she reappeared, her yellow hair had darkened to a light brown. Water lapping at her breasts created the illusion the mounds bobbed on the surface.
Starr scrubbed at her scalp with the pads of her fingers then ducked under the water again. She stood up, and, with slow strokes, ran her hands along each arm from shoulder to wrist then moved to her breasts. Extra thorough, she palmed the undersides before rubbing circles around each mound. When she slipped her hands beneath the frothing water and widened her stance, a shaft of heat shot into my groin. I knew exactly where her hands were. Why hadn’t I volunteered to help her wash?
Starr peered over her shoulder. “Would you do my back?”
I dove off the ledge with a splash. I thought I heard Starr giggle. I hauled her against my body. My manhood prodded her spine as I dragged my palms over her breasts.
“That’s not my back,” she chided, but wiggled so that her rounded buttocks teased my cock.
“You missed a spot.” I pinched her nipples between my thumbs and forefingers then snaked a hand downward to cup her sex.
She gave a little moan. “What-what if somebody comes in?”
I hoped that wouldn’t happen, but it could. “Then, I’ll kill them.”
She giggled.
I explored her folds and found the little nub of her pleasure center. I’d learned a lot during our couplings: she preferred face-to-face, she liked long, slow strokes, and her wetness increased if I circled her clit before sliding my middle finger into her slick channel.
The beat of desire drummed. Blood pounded in my ears and throbbed in my cock. A primitive urge burgeoned within. Before I knew what I was doing, I bit her where her shoulder joined with her neck. Starr cried out but pressed harder against me and lolled her head, baring the delicate slope.
I licked the spot and tasted salt. Minerals in the water? Or blood? Remorse curled in the pit of my stomach, but it didn’t prevent me from nibbling a path to her shoulder. Her skin was so soft. I slipped a second finger into her tight channel. She squeezed, and a shaft of lust shot straight to my groin.
“I need you so much,” I growled against her ear. “Need you now.”
I removed my fingers, lifted her, and prepared to thrust into her.
She wrestled away and pushed at my chest.
Dismay and shame twisted in me. One’s mate needed to be wooed, not rushed. I knew that. Desire had overruled my good sense, my concern for her.
She planted her palms against my chest. “Sit on the ledge,” she ordered, but the smile in her eyes, the glint confused me. I didn’t know what to do—except obey—so I scooted to the pool’s edge.
Starr closed her fist around my shaft. I gritted my teeth. She would kill me—or I would spill myself in her hand. Maybe both.
“I love how big you are. How smooth. How hard.” She tightened her grip and pumped.
Her touch coupled with her purring words pushed me close to losing it. Fighting for control, I closed my eyes and sucked air through my teeth. “Y-you shouldn’t say things like that.”
“I love how your cock fills me up.”
Was the translator not working? Or was this a test? Was she punishing me for my inattention to her needs?
Soft breasts brushed against my inner thighs as she moved between my legs. I opened my eyes. Her secretive, seductive grin was a kiss all by itself. Her thumb caressed the crown of my manhood, swirling in the essence that seeped out. Then she lowered her head and took my cock in her mouth.
Every nerve ending fired at once. Pleasure so intense I thought I would die snapped and curled inside me. I grabbed the edge of the pool and dug my fingers into the rock. “Starr…no…yes…yes…no.”
Starr’s body shook, and I knew she laughed at me. She laved my manhood, leaving no measure untouched. With her tongue, she traced the throbbing vein, circled the coronal ridge, and flicked at the weeping meatus. That was hard enough to bear, but when she sucked me so deep that I hit the back of her throat, my blood turned to molten streams of lava. I had never imagined such loving.
Pressure built, and I clenched my jaw and dug my fingers into the stone as if that could stop the tide.
She broke away, and short-circuited my strangled protest when she straddled my lap and impaled herself. Tight, wet walls closed around my manhood, gripping me in sublime rapture. When she rocked, control slipped from my grasp. I lost all volition. I grabbed her hips and thrust into her, racing toward the finish.
My ass scraped against the rough stones with every stroke. I grabbed the wet skein of her hair and twisted it around my fist, yanked her head back, and buried my face against her neck. I may have bitten her again. Need drove conscious thought from my brain.
Starr reached her own ecstasy, and her womanly core contracted, squeezing and milking my manhood. It surrendered to her, and I came, my body convulsing with rhythmic surges that wrung me out. Stars exploded behind my eyelids as I emptied myself into the brightest star of all, my mate.
Clasping her to my chest, I slid off the edge into the pool so she wouldn’t get chilled. The minerals stung my ass cheeks, scraped from the stones, but I didn’t care. For the moment, I felt replete. And guilty. I’d found my own rapture at the expense of my mate.
“I’m sorry,” I said, when I could speak.
“For what?”
“For not tending to your pleasure.”
My cock was embedded inside her, still partially tumescent. Her feminine core contracted around my member, and it responded with a throb. She craned her neck to stare into my eyes. That seductive smile curved her lips. “Are you kidding? I thought my body would break apart.” She thumped my shoulder with her fist. “I had the best orgasm of my life. Couldn’t you feel it?”
I nodded. Her contracting womanhood had triggered my release, but I should have been more attuned to her.
“When you bit me, something happened. I didn’t think I went for that, but it triggered something in me. Fire shot from my neck to my pussy.” She rubbed her neck.
I inspected the area. I had bitten her hard enough to break the skin. Twice, judging from the purpling wounds. I had marked her. I was appalled, yet deeply satisfied. She belonged to me.
Nobody will take her from me.
“You have a bruise. The kel will cover it so nobody will see,” I said.
But I would know.
She was mine.