The Fractured World, page 22
Heck yeah, I am!
Faris cleared her throat.
I jumped out of my skin.
For somebody who can hear a stalker from a mile away, I’m dangerously vulnerable to stealth.
“Am I interrupting something?” Faris said to me and my two naked alien beauties.
“Nope. Not at all,” I said. “Did you need something?”
“You said you’d help me go scouting.” She peeked around me and rose a brow. “But I can see you’re busy.”
Shit, I totally forgot!
I rubbed the back of my neck as I scoured for a way to satisfy everyone.
“It’s fine, my Brandon,” Casella said. “We can always bathe together later.”
“Yeah,” Trez agreed, patting me on the back. “You run along. Go enjoy your date.”
Faris snarled.
I smirked. I seriously had the best, most understanding mates there was. I left them to have some quality girl time together while I went off with Faris.
The jungle was dense and filled with the sound of nature. Birdsong, which had been missing from our previous home, echoed from the treetops. There was no telling what was lurking around our camp. The sooner we identified any threats, the sooner we could take them out.
I was glad I no longer face those dangers alone.
Faris was back to her lively best. All the ill-effects caused by the cold were gone. You didn’t need to know the first thing about aliens to see it. Her bronze flesh, hidden by what you could best call a one-piece black swimsuit, shone in the canopy-busting sunlight. Even her red scales seemed more vivid.
I couldn’t help admiring her reptilian feet as they crunched twigs underfoot. They were so different to what I was used to and still I was hooked.
“Brandon,” she said.
“Yes?” I said with a hint of awkwardness in my voice.
Don’t tell me she’s gonna brand me as some foot-loving voyeur.
Rather, she said nothing. She clenched her scaly hands and kept walking.
“Coward,” she whispered under her breath. “You made your decision. See it through to the end.”
“Is something the matter?” I asked.
Finally, she stopped walking and turned to face me. Her cheeks, once drained of their vitality, shone red.
“Brandon,” she repeated. “What do you think of me?”
“I’m sorry?” I said.
She grunted and folded her arms. “You know. Do you think I’m… attractive?”
It took a little time for those words to sunk in. Once they did, all I managed to do was blurt out a random sound.
Her expression became peeved.
“Wait,” I said, trying to wave away my stupidity. “Of course, I find you attractive. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Various reasons,” she said. “Attitude. Masculinity. Comparison. Disfigurements. Hue.”
“Hue?”
“Herix society favors fair features. Tanned flesh is the sign of a servant… a tool.”
I sighed. “The more I hear about your planet, the less I like it.”
“Same,” she grumbled.
“I bet that lord guy’s the reason you’re moping like this. If he doesn’t think you’re attractive, that’s his problem. Trust me when I say this. Faris, you’re hot. Real hot. Like, absolutely smoking supermodel hot.”
Faris growled. “Are you mocking me?”
“Didn’t I just tell you to trust me? I know better than to mock an ass-kicking dragon girl about this sort of thing.” I didn’t want to test my gift against her fire breath. “You’re seriously stunning. If I dropped you on Earth, every fashion mag would be begging for a photo shoot.”
“With this manly body?”
“Manly? What?” I scanned over her curvaceous figure. My eyes wandered across her wide hips, narrow waist, and alluring breasts. “I’m not seeing it.”
“Just look at my muscles,” Faris snapped.
“Yeah, still not seeing it,” I said. “You’re toned. So what? Since when did being fit make you unattractive?”
Faris stared at me like I was sullying some deity.
I sighed. “If you didn’t want the truth, you shouldn’t have asked. You’re hot, no matter what your lordship says. Get over it.”
She gritted her teeth. “And my scars? Are you going to try and tell me they’re attractive?”
“What? Are scars suddenly a deal breaker? Somebody better tell Casella and Trez.” I traced my hands over my stomach. My body was now littered with marks that would never vanish. “You can say anything you want. My answer’s not going to change.”
For some reason, that seemed to annoy her. Faris glared and marched directly at me.
I scrambled back as I tried to figure out what I’d said which was so wrong. My back hit a tree before anything came to mind.
Faris closed in. She pinned me to the tree and stared me down with her piercing red eyes. Then, she mumbled, “…your mate.”
“What?” I said.
Her grumbling intensified while her gaze did the opposite. “Prove it. Make me your mate.”
I choked on the nothing in my mouth. “I’m sorry?”
“Your heard me,” she snapped.
“I’m not sure I did. It kind of sounded like you asked to become my mate.”
Her cheeks heated up. “So?”
“Do I really need to explain it?” I said.
“No,” she mumbled.
So even she knew how out of nowhere this was. However, it did help explain where our previous subject had appeared from.
“I seriously thought you hated me,” I confessed.
“At first, yes,” she said. “I thought you were a scoundrel here to steal Casella.”
“You weren’t completely wrong.”
“You didn’t steal her,” Faris said. “She chose you and I don’t blame her. You’re different to Lord Bogdan. He’s… a horrid man. She wouldn’t be happy with him. Not like she is with you. He wouldn’t have protected her the way you have. He wouldn’t have carried her through the snow, risked his life for her health, and sent her on ahead while he stays to fight.”
I couldn’t help noticing those examples weren’t completely specific to Casella.
“You’re not like a herix male,” Faris continued. “You’re like the hero from a romance novel.”
“You read romance novels?”
More color flooded into her cheeks. “So? Am I not allowed?”
Of course, she was allowed. Why couldn’t someone like Faris enjoy romance novels? Because she was tough? Because she could fight? There was no reason. So why was I so surprised?
Had I been viewing Faris as less womanly than the others all this time?
It wasn’t as if Trez was some girly-girly and yet I didn’t have that problem with her. If this was how I thought, it was no wonder Faris was so insecure about her body.
And there I’d been slagging off Lord Bogdan.
These thoughts were unfair to Faris. Why couldn’t she fantasize about romance? Is there any reason a badass can’t want a man? Nobody complains about a wimp wanting a woman.
Didn’t I fall into that category not too long ago?
Faris kept quiet, as if waiting for my answer. Her warm blush, and the way she couldn’t keep her eyes on me, was adorable.
“You really want to be my mate?” I said.
“Yes,” she muttered. “You’re my ideal man. You’re strong, brave, caring. I doubt I’ll meet another like you.”
It was my turn to burn up. That was quite the confession. To say I was flattered would be an understatement.
“I get it if you’re not interested,” Faris continued. “Why would you be? Compared to—”
Those words kicked me into action. I cupped her chin.
Her eyes widened. “Brandon?” Her voice’s pitch rose. “What are you—”
I didn’t let her finish asking. A single kiss stopped her dead in her tracks.
She remained rigid as a statue throughout.
“Sorry about that,” I said once I’d pulled back. “I just got the urge all of a sudden.”
“Huh-uh,” she replied. Her stare had turned blank.
“Are you mad? I guess that’d make sense. I did just—”
“No,” Faris said. “Confused. Why? Does… does this mean?” Her eyes changed again. They were filled with want.
“As long as you haven’t changed your mind,” I said with a small laugh. So she didn’t misinterpret it as a joke, I took one of her hands. “Faris, would you be my mate?”
Her lips flapped but she didn’t make a sound.
I sighed. “Do I need to kiss you again or something?”
After a few wavering moments, Faris whispered a reply. “That would help.”
So, I did. This time, I didn’t need to worry about her freezing. Faris’s lips moved with mine. It soon melted into something more. Our tongues danced together.
Her tail coiled around my ankle, squeezing me like a possessive snake.
When I pulled back, she gasped for air.
“How did it feel?” I asked.
“Good,” she said. “Very good.”
“If you liked that, what’s yet to come is going to blow your mind.”
“Really? I wouldn’t know. I’ve,” Faris closed her eyes and gulped, “never done that stuff.”
“Sex?”
She winced. “More anything surrounding it.”
“You mean, like, touching yourself?”
“I was taught it was sinful, that my pleasure didn’t matter.”
I growled. There was no point asking who’d made her believe such hogwash.
“You’ve been missing out,” I said. The next thing she knew, I’d flipped us around, so it was she against the tree and me in the open. It was something I never would have been able to do if she’d been on her guard. “As your mate, it would be an honor to show you just how important your happiness is.”
“W-what do you mean?” she muttered. Being the one pinned had changed her. Faris seemed so much smaller. The warrior had been locked away for the time being.
I danced my fingers down her body, over her abs, and lower.
“Leave it to me,” I said.
In the next moment, my hand was between her thighs.
Faris tensed. She bit back a groan and clenched her muscular legs around my fingers.
That didn’t stop me. I touched her where she’d been long neglected.
It took very little attention to make her relax.
“That’s it,” I said. “Don’t fight it. Let me show you how good this can feel.”
Her answer came in the form of obedience. Faris slackened and let me lead the way. Her lips gradually parted so her moans could slip free.
I kept rubbing her radiating heat until her wetness was dripping through her clothing. Then I pulled away.
“Why?” she mumbled.
“This is in the way,” I said, giving the black garment a tug.
“You want me to take it off?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m scared…”
“Of what?”
“That you’ll see something you don’t like,” Faris said.
“You do know I’ve seen it all before, right?”
No answer.
I sighed. “If you don’t want to strip, you don’t need to. But I want you to. I want to see your beautiful body in the flesh. I want to give you even more pleasure.”
Faris’s hesitation continued. “You won’t grow to hate me?”
“Never. Do you really think otherwise?”
Again, no verbal answer. However, her fingers slid and bared her shoulders.
I took it from there and didn’t stop until her one-piece was littering the forest floor.
Her caramel-colored body was toned by muscle, yet her attempts to brand herself ‘masculine’ seemed silly. Nobody with such large, firm breasts and wide, attractive hips could radiate anything but overwhelming femininity. Her powerful legs and sculpted stomach only added to her undeniable beauty.
Faris was the sort of woman that made you realize you were a legs man. Scales and all.
“Gorgeous,” I said as my eyes soaked in her body. “But I knew that already.”
She grumbled. “This is embarrassing.”
“It’s worth it. I promise.” To show as much, I went back to teaching her what she’d been missing.
With nothing separating us, I was free to satisfy her exposed virgin split. My fingers explored her wetness while my thumb stroked across a certain spot known for making women squirm.
It worked as intended.
Faris’s feminine moans escaped over and over again. Her body completely surrendered to my touch.
That wasn’t enough. Not until she experienced it all. I sought out more ways to please her. My lips moved to her chest. I rolled a tongue over her stiff, swollen nipples.
Her quivering trembles showed me that I was on the right path.
She was close. I could feel it. I didn’t back away. Whatever made her squirm the hardest, that was where I focused my efforts. I rubbed and licked and kissed and touched until it became too much for her to handle.
Faris squealed and bucked. Her cries filled the jungle. She grabbed me as an orgasmic rush washed over her shivering body, soaking our new home with her pheromones.
Her face looked so overwhelmed, so beautiful.
“How was it?” I asked once the incredible high had ended.
“What was that?” she replied. “Was that an orgasm?”
“It sure was,” I said as I showed her my soaked fingers. “A strong one at that.”
“I’ve been missing out.”
“Definitely. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to make up for lost time if you’ll have me.”
Her reptilian tail wiggled around my ankle. “Please.”
Next up, it was my turn to strip. I dropped the suffocating prison known as my pants.
The moment I was bared, her eyes widened. “It really is huge…”
I’m starting to like that reaction.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you,” I said.
“I know,” she said matter-of-factly.
I liked that as well. Screw heading back to camp. This was as good a place as any. I guided Faris around, so her large breasts pressed against the tree.
“Does it have to be this way?” Faris whispered.
“Why?” I replied.
She shifted from side to side. “Because…”
I brushed my finger along her back, over her scars. “Because you don’t want to show me these?”
Once again, her silence said more than words could ever hope to.
“Just why do you think I picked this position?” I whispered into her ear. “I’m going to show you how little these mean to me.” My fingers kept stroking, all the way to the crook which sprouted her tail.
She moaned when my fingers touched down.
“I want it,” Faris confessed as she glanced over her shoulder.
“And I want you,” I said.
Her wetness compensated for her lack of experience. She was ready for me, not that I just rammed it in like some beast. It didn’t matter how tough she was. At the end of a day, Faris was a woman. She deserved to be treated tenderly. I did everything in my care to make sure she had the easiest ride to pleasure possible.
Still, I couldn’t help worrying.
“Was I too rough?” I grunted.
“No,” she said. “It’s me. I was unprepared. My heart… never mind.” Faris hid her red face.
It was insane how cute she’d gotten. My urge to please her, to protect her, overwhelmed me. I started moving. Slow at first, as gentle as they came.
Faris’s moans leaked free.
They heralded me onward. I began to move faster in hunt of more sweet sounds.
There was no missing them. Her verbal bliss was too heavenly to ignore.
“You don’t have to worry about anything anymore,” I said into her ear. “I’ll protect you. I’ll make sure nobody hurts you again.”
“Brandon,” she moaned, looking back at me with gooey eyes.
“That’s my name,” I said as I gave her horns a kiss.
Another gasping moan popped free.
Now that was a welcome surprise. I was just trying to be sweet. I didn’t know her horns would be so sensitive. And once I’d discovered that fact, how was I supposed to stop myself from nibbling them?
My every nip increased the intensity of her joy. She was struggling to stay composed. As was I. My hips sped up. They made her body sway and her firm breasts shake. The rhythm of our colliding flesh echoed around the forest, drowning out nature’s symphony.
Her tail wrapped around my midsection, keeping me pinned inside of her. It was an embrace that could have snapped a weaker man.
“Brandon,” Faris moaned as she discovered a real taste for saying my name. “Kiss me. Please.” Her begging eyes were lost in a pleasurable haze.
So was my mind.
I dropped down and devoured her lips. Our hands meshed together as we became one in both body and soul; as we became mates.
The moment of coronation was close. The pleasure was too much for me to handle. It was surging and threatening to burst free at any moment.
I didn’t fight it. I let it take it. I allowed it to make us one.
With a final thrust, I filled her with my warmth and affection.
Faris responded in earnest by squirming beneath me and climaxing with a force that could not be mistaken.
She now knew what pleasure really felt like.
Our lips parted after we’d finished soaring through the heights of satisfaction as a pair. Her expression remained drunk on the feelings she’d experienced for the first time.
“It’s done?” Faris asked.
“If I know anything about this, yeah. We’re mates.”
“I have a mate,” she said with an air of disbelief.
“And don’t think this is some temporary gig. I’m not sure how long it’ll take to get off this planet but I’m not losing you or the others. We’ll escape together, and we’ll stay together. None of this mating for necessity. This is the real deal. You’re mine, and I don’t intend to let you go.”
“Brandon…”
“That a problem?” I said with a grin.
