Page 72 of Akur

Looking up, they were in another tunnel, but this one seemed different. More like a corridor than anything else.

With a grunt, Akur reached down, his hand covering hers. The breath stopped in her nose as his touch sent a jolt of awareness through her. He guided her hand, slowly, deliberately, down the length of him, then back up, his touch firm, possessive. Her breath hitched again as she felt his hardened length press against her palm, the heat of him searing and yet attracting her like a moth to his flame.

He leaned into her touch, his eyes closing, a low groan rumbling in his chest as he pressed her hand harder, his fingers interlacing with hers, guiding her touch. “Constance.” He did that guttural thing with her name again. “You tempt me.” She could feel him hardening even more against her palm, when, with a groan, he shifted, his hips canting upwards. He guided her hand now, pushing it farther into his trouse to his sac, hung and tight. He shuddered again, as he pressed her hand there and she felt it, the place where his cock must have come from.

Her mouth went dry, her tongue coming out to lick her lips, neither of them looking away as he guided his cock using her hand, pushing himself back within that pouch.

“Thank you, bright eyes,” he whispered as the final inch disappeared from her touch. Her throat felt like it was parched. She could only nod.

His throat moved too, before he nodded, pushing himself up, his movements still a little slow, but the feverish urgency was gone.

She helped him to his feet, shaking her head to dispel whatever spell had come over her. They were being chased, near death at every moment. She couldn’t get caught up in—she glanced at him as he picked up his swords and re-sheathed them—whatever was growing between them.

“The map?” she shook her head again before her gaze fell on the device where it had landed on the floor. Its light was extinguished. She picked it up anyway.

“Useless now.” Even his voice sounded stronger. That was good. Then why was there a strange feeling still at the center of her chest? Something that felt almost like sadness. Regret?

She wasn’t sorry she fucked him or gave him a hand job. Heck, she’d give him a blowjob too, if that meant they’d survive this. So why…why was she sad?

“Which way then?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Akur looked up, more like himself than before now. “We go forward.” He gestured in front. There was another way to their right, but that was partially blocked off by fallen rocks and she wasn’t in the mood to climb, either. The other direction it was then.

19

Akur

They walked in silence,him in front and the female who had just made him feel more than he ever had in sols behind. He tried not to glance over his shoulder at her too much, tried not to let his mind wander back to the way her hands had moved over him, sure and gentle despite her fear. But it wasn’t just the physical release that haunted him—it was the look in her eyes. The way she’d touched him without revulsion. The way she’d whispered his name like it meant something.

His shoulder still ached, and his body temperature remained higher than normal, but the maddening edge of the heat had dulled to something manageable. Something he could think through. And think he did—too qrakking much. About how she’d known exactly what he needed. About how she’d seen him at his weakest and instead of running, she’d drawn closer.

Clenching his jaw, he forced his attention back to their surroundings. He was a warrior, trained to protect, to fight, to kill if necessary. He wasn’t supposed to feel this…vulnerability. He’d thought Ajos a fool to have let something like feelings mar his objectives. But this…whatever was happening was more than a growing need to protect the female at his back. He wanted to understand her. To know what made her smile despite their desperate circumstances, what gave her the strength to keep going when most would have broken.

It was strength like that which had kept him going at the darkest times. But she was no warrior. She didn’t live for bloodshed and death. So…how…

The sound of her footsteps behind him was oddly comforting—steady, determined, trusting him to lead them to safety. That trust was a weight heavier than any battle armor he’d ever worn. Heavier still was the knowledge that he’d die before betraying it.

A particularly loud crunch of gravel under her feet made him glance back again, catching her eyes in the dim light. She offered him a small smile, and something in his chest constricted painfully. In that moment, he realized with stark clarity that his growing feelings for her had nothing to do with what had just happened between them. It wasn’t about the heat, or physical release, or even gratitude. It was about her courage, her compassion, her fierce determination to survive without losing her humanity in the process.

His thoughts were so loud he almost didn’t notice the moment his senses peaked. The moment he subconsciously stopped short, causing her to step into his back.

“Akur?” There was a note of uncertainty there, as if she expected to look around him and come face to face with another monster. But it wasn’t a creature before them. It was something else.

Pods. Hundreds of them. Each one large enough to hold a being, their surfaces clouded with frost. Some were empty, their doors hanging open like dark, gaping pits. Others…

He heard Constance’s sharp intake of breath the moment she looked around him.

“Are those…” She couldn’t finish the question.

“Stasis chambers.” Akur’s growl echoed in the vast space. “This is…a storage facility.”

Constance took a shaky step forward, drawn despite herself to the nearest occupied pod. She froze as she brushed the frost away to reveal a face.

The twisted remains of what had once been a Frenshuri. A female, from the looks of it. Akur growled, despite himself. His vision picked out details he wished he couldn’t see—the surgical precision of the cuts, the missing organs, the look of terror forever frozen on the being’s face. He’d seen this before, but never on this scale.

“They’re all…dead?” Constance whispered beside him, and the horror in her voice made his protective instincts surge. “How long do you think they’ve been here?”

“Many many orbits.” He moved closer to her, fighting the urge to shield her from the grotesque display with his own body. “That is a Frenshuri. Their world fell a long time ago. Long before mine.” The cold emanating from the pods made his skin prickle, and he saw the moment Kon-stahns wrapped her arms around herself. He wanted to replace her arms with his. To pull her into him. Shield her from this sight and the cold. Shield her from everything. Qef. But he couldn’t. She was a pretty little human, and he was a grotesque thing that fed on bloodshed and horror. She was only helping him because there was no other choice. She couldn’t…didn’t…a sweet soft thing like her couldn’t want something like him.

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