Page 20 of Her Alien Savior
“Right... So, um,” Riley was whispering now, and I couldn’t take my eyes from her lips, “about earlier...”
By earlier, I hoped she meant when I watched her pleasure herself and offer her ellopul to me, because respecting her human customs took control I didn’t realize I would have, while my body insisted I claim her offer immediately. My cock strained for release, and my tongue ached to taste her. Riley’s blue eyes drifted down my body, and before she could see the evidence of my need, she stilled at my injury. Damn Chuel for making this rut more difficult, damn myself for imprinting on a female that didn’t understand my culture, my tribe, and the way of knowing we were meant to mate.
Too distracted, I didn’t even notice when the door had opened. Neither did the humans. My eyes darted to the warrior standing at the opened entrance, assessing the situation. Her long black hair was pulled back, and she took another step forward to announce her presence, but her eyes stayed trained on me.
Riley followed gaze and turned to see the first ranking general of my ship, or I should say what used to be my ship. The door closed behind Nen-Le, and she seemed unconcerned with the odd display of an injured warrior surrounded by shocked humans.
“You’ve resorted to humans to heal yourself. Commander Chuel did not say you were this badly injured, Direl. You are lucky that I have yet to take my supplement this week to regulate needs. I will accept you to bathe me first, then proceed with your rut, but I do not wish to go to the claiming hall. The humans will have to do.”
I forced an incredulous laugh and regretted it as my lungs felt near to squeezing the breath from my body. Knowing I had been replaced as commander was insulting enough, but even my first general was too embarrassed to be seen rutting with me in front of our tribe. I was to be her dirty little secret. It didn’t sit well with me, and I would wait for Riley to understand my need for her rather than resort to any ritual with Nen-Le.
“No need to inconvenience yourself,” I snarled.
Sitting on the bed, Nen-Le spread her legs in invitation for me to seek her scent out for a bath, uncaring of the humans that should have been in stasis. What was a few humans to a general of her talents? My nose flared, breathing in deeply, but what overpowered me wasn’t the warrior on display, it was my mate squatting beside me. Her one knee was stabilized on the ground while her other was opened to me, displaying the tantalizing folds that were just under a pair of thin pants that would do nothing to keep us apart.
My control was waning. With a grunt, I pushed forward to nuzzle into Riley’s hair, collapsing onto her. With a thump she fell backwards on her ass, and I was sprawled across her. My breathing came in labored pants, struggling to maintain awareness beyond the feel of her skin against mine. With focused pinpoints I watched as her chest lifted up and down with an increasing intensity that spoke of her acknowledgment of how perfectly she fit against me. Everything faded from my mind except for her. The other humans, my ex-general, ignored. It was only Riley. Only my mate.
My Pulsunne, the song of my hearts.
She licked her dry lips, and I sought to do the same for her. It was my job to protect her, to share my essence, and be the one that she shared her life with. I started at the nap of her neck, allowing my tongue to trail up to her ear, before I nipped and breathed in more of her scent. She gave me the most delicious sounding moan of acceptance that I continued to nuzzle up her chin and seek out where that tantalizing song came from to devour it. Working my mouth against hers, she opened for me. Her small arms wrapped around my neck as my hips moved to feel for her warmth and I grunted with satisfaction as her leg guided me by my ass to position myself between her thighs. Whatever pain I should have had in my chest was numb as the only feeling that mattered was how she felt against me.
“Be still,” General Nen-Le interrupted, and I would have ignored that demand as well if it weren’t for the tingling sensation telling me something was wrong, and the whimper Riley made that didn’t sound like pleasure from our anticipated rutting. Though Riley was tucked against me, her legs wrapped around my hips, she had lifted herself up by holding my neck and thus exposed the back of her neck to Nen-Le’s now extended epul claw. Female warriors had very sharp and quite long epul that could pierce through a human’s skin like soft gelatin.
I had been blinded by my need to have Riley claim me, that I hadn’t anticipated another betrayal.
Growling at Nen-Le, I held the back of Riley’s head against my chest to make sure she didn’t accidentally lean back.
“Mine,” I hissed, fully prepared to duel the general, even in my current condition.
With bemusement Nen-Le lifted a brow but made no move to withdraw. “I didn’t think King Sylve was being serious when he said you imprinted with a human.” She scoffed with her disgust before addressing Riley, “Human, face me and duel for first blood.”
“No—“ I defended, but was stopped when Riley pushed forward, knocking me against the wall.
Without giving Nen-Le any warning, Riley whirled around, and in a smooth motion slipped from the coat she was wearing, twisting its fabric around the general’s wrist, and then rushed forward to yank the extended claws back into her opponent’s gut. Due to Nen-Le’s obvious underestimation of a human’s capabilities, she had been too in shock to defend. Nen-Le simply watched with curious fascination as the whole thing unraveled, and her own claws nipped at her stomach before she could fully retract. It took much more effort to have our bones go back in, than it did for them to spring out.
It wouldn’t be much blood, but Nen-Le still had a long enough claw that it punctured into the first skin. A drop of blood dripped from the wound before healing over.
I smiled with pride, impressed with my tiny mate for getting one over on the strongest warrior of this ship. Stronger than me. My doubts about why a human was chosen as my mate were slayed in a matter of seconds, making me even more wild with need to finish what we started.
“I believe your demands for dueling have been met, General.” I couldn’t help the bit of amusement seeping in my voice. My Pulsunne fought for us and won first blood. I waited for my mate to welcome me back to where we left off, but the look in Nen-Le’s eyes wasn’t one of defeat. There was excitement, and I took a step closer to my mate on instinct.
Chapter eleven
Riley
Knowingthefemalewarriorhad spikes other than the ones spearing from her knuckles, I had no choice but to attempt subduing with my jacket. Or end up being stabbed. I wasn’t keen on becoming Swiss cheese, but more than that, I knew if I had a weapon the odds would have been better for my survival. Joel had warned me about how females were never chosen for Necias Prime exchanges because necia females were more likely to challenge them than the males. I may not have been as thick skinned as a necia warrior, but with my fascination of my ancestry, I learned a thing or two about weapons, and how to disable them if I found myself without one.
Viking blood ran in my veins, the blood of warriors, but not just any warriors, we were spearmen. I’d trained extensively on handling double bladed spears, even learned how to make the weapons of my family by smelting metal within heated carved rocks. I was pretty damned good at weapon dancing. My brother never wanted to learn, and not even my mom encouraged it, but my grandfather Nate the Spear Path said our gods would guide our family into the stars. Our family’s spears have guided many warriors into Valhalla.
Not that I believed in the gods, really. I didn’t keep a weapon on me at all times so I’d be guided to Valhalla dying in battle, and nor did I like the idea of taking a life or having my own lost in the glory of blood.
But necia females were pretty much a walking weapon. I was lucky she had merely offered first blood. In all seriousness, I should have let her simply cut me and be done with it. But something came over me at the idea that her winning would mean she’d be rutting with Direl.
I understood, all it was to him was regulating his body.
Nothing more.
Did I want it to be more?
