The Forgotten Commander, page 5
part #1 of The Lost Planet Series
I’m losing my grip on my sanity, losing myself to her, when a violent explosion runs up my tongue.
She bit me!
Blood drips from my mouth and onto her face. I stare at her in horror. How dare she! How are her dulled teeth worth anything?
She bares her teeth at me, smeared with my blood, the wildness in her eyes shocking me. Her body is still weak from the toxica but there is strength in her expression. In her actions.
I reach up and touch one of her teeth. Not nearly as sharp as my double fangs, but pointy enough to pierce soft flesh, apparently.
All anger leeches from me as I admire her. Her tea-colored hair fans out over my bed coverings and I decide she’s beautiful. Like the sun I desperately crave. She is the sun as well. Perhaps I even prefer looking at her over the burning mass.
I pin both her wrists and stare down at her, my cock sliding once more against her pleasure spot. She desperately holds on to her anger but soon her lashes are fluttering. Sweet whimpers of need escape. And if I were able to finger her cunt without risking the potential implantation, I’d know she was slick with her arousal.
“You’re a worthy mate,” I croon, a smile tugging at my lips. “Strong. A commander’s equal.”
I capture her wrists with one hand and use my claw to pierce her shirt at the top and then drag it down, slicing through the material. Jareth will have a fit knowing I’ve destroyed precious garments but I can’t even bring myself to care. Not when I’m opening my mate up to me like a gift. I pull away the material to reveal her breasts. A handful and perky. They will fill with milk and feed our mortling well. The pride surging through me is overwhelming.
Oh the luck!
“So beautiful,” I murmur. “So strong.” I grin at her. “Mine.”
I rut against her again, careful to not accidentally penetrate. Now that the toxica is wearing off, she begins squirming. Not attempting to escape me but rocking with me in effort to seek out more pleasure. I rotate my hips, rubbing circles on her sweet spot as I flick her hardened nipple with my claw. It rises higher at my touch. One solar it will leak with nourishment. My cock twitches as I wonder if that too will taste so wonderful.
“Breccan,” she whispers, no longer angry. My name on her lips is a reward. A reward for this horrible life I’ve been sentenced to. In one word, she erases it all. The death. Our uninhabitable world. The loneliness.
My little alien is a fixer.
A cure for the madness.
She is my gift.
Her body trembles as I bring her closer to pleasure. Those plump lips of hers part. I’m hungry for another taste but I will wait until her mood improves. Perhaps after I’ve made her come undone.
“Ah!” Her back arches off the bed and her breasts jiggle as she cries out. I’m fascinated by her reactions. I want to learn everything there is to know about her.
I will because she is mine.
When she spirals back down, I slide beside her, releasing her hands. She watches me with furrowed brows as I rake my claws through her hair. I will take care of her. Soon, she will realize this. Soon, it will become known to her and she will trust me.
I am her mate now.
My entire happiness revolves around her.
And the moment I’m forced to go back to work, I’m going to send Theron and Sayer to procure us more of these fine aliens.
Every single mort of mine will have one.
I’ll see to that if it’s the last thing I do.
6
Aria
The fucker paralyzed me. Paralyzed!
I can’t believe it, even though my limbs are still heavy and slow to respond to the simplest of commands. Breccan—I can’t think of him as the commander, now that he’s been inside me—has to carry me back out of his room and to the medical area for observation. It took me awhile just for me to be able to function enough to move again.
“It won’t always take so long for you to recover, little one. Your body should acclimate to the toxica. I’ll confirm this with Avrell.”
“Fuck you,” I spit.
I’m still pissed. Not because of the paralyzing, though trust me, that’s high up there on my list of complaints.
I’m pissed about how much I enjoyed it.
Being unable to move heightened the pleasure to a point where I nearly lost consciousness. I couldn’t escape from it, there was nowhere to go. All I could do was take it.
And now all I want to do is take it again and again.
He’s more addictive than the strongest drug.
And more dangerous.
“I don’t know what this means.” His strong arms flex underneath me as he opens the door to Avrell’s office.
Sensing an opportunity to get some much-needed space, I throw myself from his arms. “It means…whatever. Just leave me alone.” I storm into the examination room and jump up on the table. I can only assume they want to make sure their implantation was a success, and I’d rather get the humiliation over with as soon as possible so I can go back to our room and fall asleep. At least then, I won’t have to face how completely screwed up everything is.
Avrell looks up from the computer screen where he’s working. On the screen in front of him, I observe pictures of other women in cryosleep. There are four of them.
Then it occurs to me.
I can’t leave these women behind. I can’t let them face this fate if I can do something to save them. In addition to saving myself, I’ll have to figure out a way to save them, too.
Avrell closes out of the screen before I can determine anything else.
That’s fine. I’ve got nothing but time to figure out where they’re keeping the girls and a plan to get us all out of here before we become a breeding harem for these monsters.
I still can’t quite decipher their expressions as easily as I could if they were human, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Avrell is surprised we’re back so soon.
“You’ve copulated already?” He takes a scanning wand from his pocket and crosses the room to me. I lean back on the examination table as he waves it over me. Exhaustion crashes over me in waves and the lethargy from the paralysis doesn’t help.
I crack an eye open to see Breccan practically preening. “Aria had a severe reaction to the toxica. Will you scan to see if there are any complications?”
Avrell sighs in resignation as he turns away from Breccan. “I told you the likelihood this would work is slim. If you damaged her when we could have used her for incubation instead—”
Breccan’s responding growl fills the room and I mimic Avrell’s sigh. I think sometimes he likes to hear his own superiority.
“Just scan her!” His strange tapered ears flatten against his skull and his eyeteeth extend past his lips like some kind of emo vampire. A hot one, though I’d never admit it.
Avrell waves the scanner over my body as it beeps and transmits information to the screen. I can’t read their odd language, but I do recognize a readout of my body and the corresponding components. Not that I know what any of it means. I glance at Breccan as he steps closer to my side, a deep rumble still emanating from his chest.
“Relax. Why are you being so protective, Commander? I’m just scanning her, as ordered.” He sends Breccan a knowing look, who glances away, finally going quiet.
“Since this is my body we’re talking about, will you tell me what’s going on and why you’re checking me? I thought you said the toxica was safe.” It certainly didn’t feel safe being paralyzed. More like frightening. I thought cryosleep was terrifying, but being so vulnerable in this strange place full of intimidating males isn’t exactly my idea of a reprieve. Especially not with Breccan, who has made me so conflicted in such a short period of time.
Avrell finishes scanning and swipes through the screen at the bedside. “The toxica is safe. Paralysis during first-time copulation is usually the worst it’ll ever be. It’ll lessen as your body grows accustomed to the toxica. The recovery time will shorten and your faculties will return much more quickly while your body’s ability to retain our seed will increase with each exposure.” He smiles at me. “I’m checking to see if—”
There’s a quick knock at the door and then another alien appears, though this one looks much younger than Breccan and Avrell. His face is unlined and his hair looks as untamed as his smile. It reminds me of those sharply angled Goth haircuts teenagers used to sport when I was younger. It works on his face, which is cut with dramatic cheekbones and a slashing brow. His pointed ears twitch when his eyes land on me and his eyes crinkle as he breaks into a wide, youthful smile.
“Hadrian. You should be in the command center attending to your duties,” Breccan says sharply. He moves closer to me as Hadrian advances, nonplussed by Breccan’s admonishment.
“Draven took over for a while so I could do a perimeter check. During my rounds, I saw the light on here and decided to check to make sure no help was needed.” He speaks at double speed and fidgets in place as though he has the energy of a toddler. “Is she breeding yet, Av? Can you tell?”
Despite everything, his exuberance makes me want to smile because it’s so uncalculated. He reminds me of me when I was younger. Innocent. Untainted by the miseries and pressures of life.
“Hadrian!” Avrell says sharply, but I lift a heavy arm to touch Avrell’s hand.
“It’s all right,” I say, but Breccan is practically vibrating next to me. Avrell wisely moves out of my reach. My hand drops back to the bed. Breccan bristles but settles down. “Well,” I say to Avrell. “You may as well answer him. That’s why we’re all here, isn’t it?”
Breccan, if at all possible, crowds closer. He tries to take my hand but I evade him. The last thing I want is to be close to him right now.
Avrell swipes at the screen, makes notes and checks readings. I have no idea how they’re able to tell if I’m pregnant after just one time, let alone so quickly, but they must be able to. He turns to Breccan. “I’m sorry, Commander. Not this time.”
I expect Breccan to react badly, but he seems…pleased by this news. It’s evident he enjoyed sleeping with me. Probably more than I realize.
Which could work for my plan of escape. I’ll woo him with my tricks in bed, let him think I’m being compliant, and then disappear from right beneath his should-be-ugly-but-isn’t nose.
“Can I speak to you in private?” Avrell asks Breccan, who nods and follows him out of the examination room.
“Rekk, you’re beautiful,” Hadrian blurts. “For an alien, I mean.”
He’s disarmingly charming and his blunt comments make me like him more than I should. “You don’t look too bad yourself—for an alien,” I respond, and then smile to let him know I didn’t take any offense. “So you work in the command center? Is that far from here?” Despite how much I like him, it occurs to me Hadrian’s youthful ignorance can also be an advantage. The layout is confusing to me and learning what I can about the place will be helpful.
“It’s on the south side of the facility.”
“What do you do there?”
Hadrian sits on the bed next to me, but his foot taps against the ground. “I’m in training to become the next commander. I’ll take Breccan’s place when he ages out.” He turns to me, his face growing serious. “If he makes it that far. It’s been a long time since a mort aged out. Most of our people die from worse things than old age.”
That I can imagine, and I haven’t even seen the world outside their facility. If they’re resorting to breeding with humans, it is no surprise the place is dangerous. “What happened to your people? To your parents? How many of you are left?”
“Rekk, a ton of things. Disease. Droughts. Geostorms. Sabrevipes. Mortuus is a dangerous planet and only the strongest morts have survived. There are ten of us in all. Only males, which is why it’s so fortunate that you’re here.”
I notice he didn’t answer my question about his parents, and I don’t press.
Hadrian leaps to his feet when Avrell and Breccan return. “I better get back to my rounds.” Then he’s through the sliding door and off before any of us can respond.
I hope I wasn’t terribly insensitive with my questioning, and despite my loathing for this place and Breccan, I’ll make it a point to apologize to him if I was.
“Well, Doc, what do we do now?”
“We try again,” Breccan growls.
My heart sinks. I knew that would be the case, but I was hoping for a different outcome.
Breccan makes a move to grab me and leave, but Avrell stops him. “I’ll have a word with Aria before you go. Alone.” Before Breccan can growl, Avrell assures him it’ll only be a minute.
As soon as Breccan has stepped into the hallway, Avrell says, “I noticed you did something to Breccan’s tongue. We were curious if this was an alien custom.”
Mind blank, I can only blink at him. “Something to his…oh, you mean when I bit him?” Laughter bubbles up and spills over. “God, no. I was just pissed—angry—when he paralyzed me. It’s not a custom.”
Avrell’s shoulders relax, but his expression is still serious. “Good. But I’d prefer if you didn’t repeat that again. Open wounds spread disease and disease here can be fatal. Even the slightest wound could be catastrophic.”
“Is he going to be okay?” I don’t ask out of concern…not for him, anyway. I ask because even though he’s a monster, he’s the only monster here I know. Leaving me to another—potentially one who’s even more dangerous—isn’t an outcome I’d considered until now. So much for my plan to hurt him if it ever came down to it.
“He’ll be fine. I attended to the wound with microbots—tiny robots programmed to repair wounds.”
I have more questions about the microbots, but Breccan appears, impatient, in the doorway. Time to leave.
“Thank you, Avrell,” because I don’t know what else to say.
“Good solar to you, Aria,” he responds, but he’s already back to squinting at the screens.
I sigh and follow Breccan back through the hallways to our room. This time, I dress and climb into bed without questioning. I’m so tired I couldn’t care where I lie or with who. Tomorrow, I’ll deal with what happened to me. Tomorrow, I’ll deal with the adoring way Breccan looks at me. For now, I just want to get through tonight.
He settles behind me, wrapping me in his limbs until I’m surrounded by a cage of them. His warmth envelops me, attempts to comfort me, but I don’t let it. It doesn’t take long for the big guy to fall asleep.
As soon as he does, his heavy arm and thickly muscled thigh slung atop my sore and well-used body, I throw myself from the bed. There is no way I’ll be able to sleep with him. I don’t want to be anywhere near him.
I steal a large shirt from the clothing cabinets and wrap it around me like a blanket. With my arm for a pillow as I curl up on the cold floor, I drop into a deep and dreamless sleep.
It’s not the sirens that wake me, but the weight of a full-grown alien on top of me, his ears flat against his head and a growl reverberating in his chest. “Sabrevipes,” he warns. “Attacking the facility. Stay here. Don’t leave this room.”
7
Breccan
The sirens are blasting as I rush to shrug on my protective gear over my minnasuit. I’ve called Draven, Jareth, and Theron to my aid as they are my most skilled fighters. When Hadrian pops up and starts putting on his suit, I roar, “Stay!”
“No,” he argues, donning his gear quicker than the rest of us. “I’ve been training to do this. I can help kill them. I’m quicker than any of you old morts!” He grins before pulling a mask over his nog.
I don’t have time to argue so I grunt instead. He better not get himself rekking killed because I’m not sure I’m mentally equipped to deal with a loss like that. But as much as I want to keep him caged away and protected like when he was young, he’ll never learn if I don’t let him loose from time to time. I snatch my sharpest and longest magknife, one that’s slaughtered many a sabrevipe. Draven picks up a spear that Ozias made. It’s pointed like a normal arrow but once it pierces its target, five blades shoot out so as you pull it back out, it shreds everything upon exit. It’s lethal, and Draven has proven to be the most skilled at it.
Theron grabs his zonnoblaster, something that’s proven useful when we need to get away in a pinch. It blasts a spray of titanium slugs that melt and expand upon penetrating flesh. Incredibly painful. Ozias almost lost his foot when he accidentally shot himself once.
Jareth, like me, prefers blades. His are smaller and he likes one in each hand. The mort is quite skilled at throwing them. I’ve seen him throw them as far as the eye can see and still hit the target right where he’d intended.
That brings us to Hadrian.
I don’t know what the mortarekking gods he’ll use. He rummages around in the weapon closet though and produces several items. As soon as everyone is dressed in protective gear and ready to fight, I type in the sixteen-digit code and we rush out into the elements.
“Attacking the north side,” Sayer radios in. “I see you on the radar emerging from the west entrance. Be careful. The winds are high and there are at least six sabrevipes clawing at that door.”
“Copy that,” I say back as I motion for my men to follow.
We creep along the rocky side of our facility, our weapons drawn. The winds are so furious that my mask keeps moving. Alarm sends my heart skipping twice as fast. I don’t have a second to think about the fact that alien Aria is not pregnant. I’d been eager to mate with her again this solar but then everything went to rogshite.
I point at Draven and then motion ahead. He’s quiet and stealthy. Hadrian, the loud mortarekker, can stay to the rear. The last thing I need is for him to draw their attention before we’re ready.
