Pheromone, page 14
part #1 of For the Love of Aliens Series
“If you fuck that female, so help me, I will shoot your balls off. And you know I’ve got the aim to deliver.” I walk away before calling over my shoulder. “Oh, and I need you to watch her until I gather up all the other humans. Enjoy your drinks.”
Kidd curses me again as I slip out the door.
“You are one stupid, motherfucker, Hieronymus-Helio-Hyt!” he shouts as I part the crowd outside with my very presence. Traders quickly scrabble to hide their illegal goods from me, but I’m not stupid. I just bide my time and make smart moves. As the only officer on duty, I have a limited capacity with which to handle crime here. As in, everything that happens here is technically a criminal act. This planet is off-limits to space travel. Nobody is supposed to be here. But because people are here anyway, there’s an officer assigned.
I take a fresh swig of my drink with one tentacle, sigh, and then use another to pull up the bandana around my neck. The woods here are a dangerous paradise, but the market is dry and hot and dusty. Better to keep my mouth and nose covered.
Before I deal with any more shit today, I’m going home for a nap.
I’ve barely slept over the last four days, searching for the other humans. I deserve at least a few solar hours of shut-eye. With a sigh, I take off down the sandy path, trying not to fixate on the memory of that human woman running headfirst into me. So soft. Why did she have to be so damn soft?
Humans who mate with species outside their own can’t go back to Earth. It’s a dumb shit law, but I didn’t make it. Hard for me to break it though. I’ve illegally sent mated humans home before, but not when an Imperial Prince is after them. If I try to take that girl in the pink space suit away from the Vestalis, I’ll start a war.
The most attractive female that I’ve ever seen, and I can’t have her.
Not only is she pretty, she’s fascinating, too. As I make my way toward the market plaza, I consider the Earthling with the red-brown hair and the ripe, round hips. With a growl, I hook a thumb under the edge of my belt and beg my cock not to give me trouble until I’m home. She’s not afraid like so many of the others. She managed to charm an Aspis. She ignored a Vestalis mate bond, and told the prince to piss off.
I can’t have the woman, so I won’t let myself think romantic thoughts about her after today.
But for today … I have an idea in mind.
“By the authority of the Noctuida, blah, blah, blah, I’m seizing this item,” I mumble behind the bandana, walking right up to the abandoned Cartian bike next to the fountain. That Earthling woman rode this in here, yet another reason to like her. Yet another reason to resist her would be more accurate.
I try to turn the bike on, but it won’t start.
No wonder it hasn’t been stolen yet. It weighs a lot, and it isn’t worth much if it doesn’t start.
Good thing I know a place to get contraband Cartian power cores.
I unholster one of the smaller guns from the strap on my back, using a tentacle to hold it as I strut over to the frosted white tent where the humans were first held. The owner sees me coming and yanks on a rope that changes the Humans … pets, meat, or mates sign to one that offers fresh fish or some other stupid ass lie.
“Oh, Officer Hieronymus,” Trevor says, turning to me with a smirking smile and all four of his hands clenched into fists. I hate my first name, but I only give my nickname—my real name—out to friends. The twins here definitely don’t qualify. “You came to see me, did you?”
I don’t respond, just lift up my gun so that I can shoot him in the head.
Blood spatters the tent wall as he collapses to the floor. Moron. I take my time looking around for the human female he’s been holding captive. She isn’t here which must mean she’s with the other twin. Taylor, I think it is. I’m sure these creeps have other names, but the human ones they stole are the only ones I’m aware of. Also, twins might not be the most accurate description. They’re the same person. I have to kill both halves within a very short frame of time in order to finish them completely.
I’ve tried taking a body with me before, hoping to hold onto it until I found the other half. But Trevor/Taylor just splits in half again. There are always two. They are always identical. They can function independently and get into twice as much trouble.
“Where is that girl, you fucking punk?” I grumble, literally stepping on his back as I walk past him, whistling to myself. I find the power core I need inside the gun at his waist, and then I tuck the small, pink cylinder into my belt to take back to the bike. I switch it out using the compartment beneath the seat and then tap the screen.
She flares to life, four pink balls glowing beneath the clawed feet, and I smile.
“Thank you, Earthling,” I whisper, mounting the bike and using it to ride straight through the woods and back to my house.
I toss my weapons on the side table next to my bed, relaxing on the massive round cushion and propping myself up with my tails for a brief few moments to stare out the wall across from me. It’s entirely made of glass, offering a perfect view of the woods beyond. I don’t worry about privacy. There’s nobody out there.
Except somewhere in these woods, that Aspis is sharing his den with a human woman.
I grit my teeth and let myself fall back into the pillows, hooking two tentacles under my belt on either side and pushing it down my hips and thighs with a groan. I wrap another tentacle around the base of my cock, jerking hard to encourage the secondary part of my shaft to emerge.
It’s been … well, never since a female has managed to rile me up this much.
I’m cursing under my breath, skin turning pink then blue. Pink. Blue. Truths and lies swirl together in a verbal miasma as I throw my head back into the pillows, my suckers lubing up in excitement. I’ve only got one on the end of each tail, but hot damn, they feel nice. I press them all over my body, stroking myself and allowing my mind to drift into the realm of pure fantasy.
That girl, in this room, trembling as I use a tail to unzip her hot pink, skintight space suit. That was a Cartian suit, wasn’t it? A Cartian suit, and a Cartain bike, and a Cartian translator. The oddity of that only adds to her allure, my brain conjuring crystal-clear images of her peach skin and cute little navel. Her breasts, so unlike the females in my species, plump and full and dressed in delicate human fabric.
A groan escapes me as I rub the warm oil of my pheromones on the tip of my cock. If I get aroused, my suckers lubricate. I have as much control over those as I do my erection. Less, actually. That woman. Underneath the heavy musk of Aspis, I could smell her. She was slick with need between the thighs, aroused. Every subtle scent signature she was giving off promised a hot fuck.
One tentacle jerks me off, nice and rough, while my fingers drop down to the small tentacles at the base of my dick, just above my balls. There are nine there, too, and I can feel and control each and every one. Is it any wonder that my people are known throughout the Noctuida as the most desirable species around?
“Son of a bitch,” I groan, rolling over, every muscle in my body taut with agony. I have never in my life been this turned-on, and it’s fucking maddening. I can scrape by with a few hours of sleep, but a few hours is all I’ve got to spend here. If I spend the whole time masturbating, then what?
Curling one of my tentacles in a tight loop, I mount it and thrust into that hard coil, groaning shamelessly as I dig my fingers into the mattress. I’m all alone in this big house, so who cares? Outside, the roar of an Aspis ricochets through the woods, shaking the glass walls of the old spaceship I’ve built my home in and around.
Doesn’t matter.
I hear that shit all the time.
I focus on my mental image of the human woman, her curvaceous form kissed with slick, hot pink fabric, and I start to imagine myself peeling it off. Over her shoulders where her soft hair would touch my skin, down her naked and vulnerable human flesh, past that round ass and those shapely legs. I’d kiss her all over, every part of her alien body under my mouth. I’d play with the strange patch of hair that humans have between their legs. I’d mount her with my cock and my tentacles both. I’d wrap her up so that there wasn’t a single inch of her skin that I wasn’t touching. Stroking. Petting.
With another curse, I come hard into the coil of my own tail, filling it with hot, clear liquid. I’m mumbling so nonsensically that my skin keeps flashing between two separate colors. One for lies. One for truths. I’m not even sure what it is I’m actually saying.
I sit up and do my best to keep that bit of tail curled, trying not to dirty my bed.
Doesn’t work.
Semen drips down the length as I storm over to the toilet—found it in one of the black market stalls and took it as contraband—and flick the useless liquid into the bowl.
Now, I’m a Falopex. I don’t need a toilet.
But I built this house for more than just myself.
As I stare down at the porcelain device, I frown.
I put a toilet in for Kayla, my adopted sister who’s never been allowed to visit.
I put a toilet in for the future wife I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever have.
Mating a human is a cruel condemnation. Mated humans aren’t allowed to be returned to Earth. How could I ever do that to a woman?
Your own fault for developing an interest in the one species you can’t have, I murmur, flushing the toilet and finding myself pleased when it works the way it should. I’m no engineer, but I’ve got a pipe system here that could make even my father proud.
I snort a laugh at that and look up, fixing my hat in the reflection of the glass wall.
Right.
Sleep? Who needs sleep? I’m wired now. Masturbating didn’t help. Only made things worse.
I sweep by the kitchen for some snacks, retie my bandana around my neck, and make a plan to take my new bike off in search of those goddamn twins.
One human at a time, I do my best to get them all back.
The girl I’m fancying though? She’ll have to stay with the Aspis for now. If I go through the trouble of finding her now, the prince will take her from me. It’s a wonder she didn’t beg to go with him in the first place.
Never in all my life have I known a female to reject a Vestalis bond.
For now, she’ll be safe with the Aspis male, although … they may very well be on their way to a mate bond of their own.
“Fuck my life.” I use all nine tails to open the locker behind me, withdrawing several additional weapons and then slotting them into the holster slung over my shoulder.
I should’ve warned that female when I had her right in front of me.
At least … if she does mate the Aspis, she’ll stay here on Jungryuk.
Maybe we could be friends? I could really use one.
I’m laughing as I step outside, slamming the empty house’s front door behind me.
It’s Me, Eve, Again
My eyes are squinched shut at first, but I crack them open because I just can’t miss out on this view. Four days ago, I was scrambling to find enough portobellos for those onion-mushroom sliders that Tabbi likes so much, and now … I’m soaring over an endless forest filled with crashed spaceships, held tightly around the waist by a pissed off alien dragon, and oddly fearful that I’m going to get chewed-out when we arrive back at his den.
The flying … it’s miraculous. I see strange birds, odd squirrel-like creatures with horns dwelling in the tops of the trees, and purple clouds that leave a fine mist on my skin when we pass through them. The diving at the end? Terrifying.
I scream as we plummet toward the earth, but Big D snaps his wings out at the last minute, slowing our descent and then landing, soft as a kitten, on the ground in front of his den. He hops up into it and then promptly chucks me into the living room debris.
“LOL. Well, I see you’re back in one piece. What a surprise. How did your escape plan turn out?” That’s what’s on Zero’s screen. I choose to ignore her, scrambling up to my feet as Big D heads for the bathroom the way he always does.
After that kiss with Cop Guy, I’m not thirsty anymore, but unsurprisingly, he is. He did rip an entire roof off a building. He’s still large, but I think he’s shrunk some since we left the market. I don’t understand how he does it, but I’m positive that he changes size on a relatively regular basis.
I follow him.
“You saved me,” I hedge, not sure of where to go from here. I yank the translator off my head and hold it out to him. He ignores it. When I try to move closer to put it on his head, he uses his tail and pins it against my stomach. I dart around it, but he’s too quick. He follows me and blocks me again, slurping water with his long tongue as he goes about fending me off. “Seriously? You’re not even going to talk to me?” I purse my lips. He didn’t have the translator a few minutes ago, and he understood what I was saying. “Look, you can’t actually fault me for doing what I did, can you?”
Nothing.
This guy has mastered the art of the cold shoulder.
I sigh.
“What was I supposed to think? A female Aspis shows up, looks at me like a tasty snack, and then coyly runs off into the woods with you following.” I hold up a finger as Big D stalks past me on all-fours, heading in the direction of the nest. I move after him, babbling aloud shamelessly. Only, it’s because I actually do feel shame for making such a rash and stupid decision today.
He told me not to go to the market because I’d be kidnapped—or worse—and look what happened?
“You and I, we were about to … we almost …” I can’t even make myself say it. That annoys me. I’m a grown woman. I’m not a coddled virgin or a blushing teenager. “We almost had sex, and then you chased down another girl. How was I supposed to interpret that? The computer told me there was a seventy-one percent chance that you were going to mate her and then eat me.”
No response.
Big D pauses at the curtain that leads into the nest, turning around and standing up so that he’s on two legs. It looks so natural and easy the way he does it, drawing in the claws on his knuckles, flexing his long fingers. He ignores the translator that I’m holding out, grabs my head between his wing hands, and then licks the blood from my face with hot, slick stripes of his tongue.
I’m trembling as I stand there, my bones rebelling, melting inside my skin. He laves me carefully, continuing his work until my splitting headache has receded somewhat, until the pain in my nose and eyes is reduced to a mild irritation. And then he takes the translator and shoves it onto my head.
“No … nest,” he growls out at me, and then he turns away and slips past the curtain. When I try to follow, his tail slams across the door, barring me entry. “Nest … for female only.” I have no idea what that means exactly, but when I try to duck under his tail, he moves it. Try to jump over it, he moves it again.
“Where am I supposed to sleep?” I ask, because I’m exhausted now. My skin is burnt—although better now that I’ve been licked by a giant alien monster—my pride is wounded, and there’s a trembling fear in me that wasn’t there before. That place, those shackles, the smell.
Jane.
And Avril.
And who knows if there were more humans for sale in that market today. We’re not the first batch and we won’t be the last.
My friend was in the market, no doubt about that, but what was I supposed to do? Ask Big D to stick around until the Tusk Guys got out their guns again? Take my chances with a psychotic (but handsome) moth prince who claims that we’re mates? Let the half-naked (mostly naked, actually), stacked fucking police officer handle things? I have an odd feeling that if Big D had wanted to, he could’ve killed one or both of those males.
I sit with my back against the wall, eyes closed, and ignore the repeating lines of text on Zero’s screen.
“LOL. LOL. LOL”
Wow.
“I thought you said I was the cunt?” I ask dryly, turning away from her and glancing into the nook across from her screen. Maybe once it was a cozy seating area. Now, there are metal benches with no cushions, a pile of leaves and sticks, and a single picture frame with cracked glass in the middle. It looks like it might’ve been a digital frame or something.
I force myself up, strip down to nothing, and wash the blood and sand and Tusk Guy spit off my clothes. Once they’re hung to dry (or maybe never dry because the humidity here is killing me), I raid DD’s horde for furs and hides and do my best to create a makeshift bed in the nook.
If I hadn’t heard Jane calling out to me, I’d be trapped in the pits of despair.
Jane is alive. She was calling my name. Jane is in the market.
I just have no idea how I’m supposed to get back there to find her.
In the morning, I find a stash of those nuts I saw on the first night, fire-roasted and split open beside me. Big D is nowhere to be found, but I’m too hungry to wait for him. I gobble them up greedily, trying not to gag at the taste. I once went to this survival seminar thing with Jane. We made acorn paste together, and I remember thinking it tasted like sawdust. That’s what these nuts are like. Tasteless, unappealing, and gritty.
Doesn’t matter. I’m too hungry to care.
I get up, purposely ignoring Zero, and I check my clothes.
Still wet.
I put my forehead up against the wall in frustration.
Okay, Eve. Focus. Jane was there at the market, looking for you. Somehow, we just need to connect point A with point B. I force myself to stand up, heading to the bathtub for fresh water. As I drink, I plot. Cop Guy still seems like the best bet although I have this odd feeling that he was on the verge of giving into Moth Guy’s nonsense. But still. He knows I’m human, that I was trafficked here, and he was looking for me specifically. Well, us. That’s the key.
