Alien Mask, page 26
“I wouldn’t know,” Lerokan replied. “I’ve never been with one.”
“Hold on. This is your first time?”
He grunted, adjusting his hold on me. His cock nudged ever so slightly deeper and I clenched around him.
“Yes.”
“I thought... Didn’t you say Lerokan the virile could be your nickname or something?” I moaned, beginning to rock in tiny motions against him. Fuck, he was huge – way bigger than the girth of his tongues. But I still needed more. More movement. More friction.
“A man does not need experience to be virile,” Lerokan panted, his hips beginning to move and meet my gentle rocking motion. “He needs only energy. And enthusiasm.”
His hips started pulsing a little faster, a little harder, driving him deeper with each controlled thrust. He growled, the sound rumbling deep in his chest, as he pressed me against the stone, plastering our chests against one another. My nipples dragged over his slick, smooth hide, adding to the building heat between my legs.
“It’s... It’s my first time too,” I stammered between gasping breaths. “You’re my first.”
“And your last,” he replied fiercely.
A slight shift in Lerokan’s pelvis created sudden, delicious friction against my clit. I realized it was his cock spears, being bent upwards between our bodies, converging on my clit beneath the hot surface of the water.
When I cried out at the pleasure, Lerokan froze.
“Am I hurting you now?” he whispered tensely.
“No,” I sighed, my thighs quaking, my clit pounding.
There was still tightness, but the pain had all but faded, replaced with a deep ache. An ache that demanded more. I wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing.
“You can go a little harder,” I murmured.
A huge splash sent a tidal wave of water to the other side of the pool when Lerokan’s tail thrashed. His hips shuddered, his cock throbbing inside me. He rocked harder into me, faster, until my own wetness and the satiny water made everything so slick that he could thrust in and out with ease.
I’d never felt this overwhelming, pounding sort of pleasure. It felt as if my whole body would come apart and tighten up all at once. Like I was both floating and sinking.
Lerokan’s hips drove faster, sending pleasure coiling tighter through my pelvis. One of his hands slipped from beneath my ass. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, tugging back until my throat was bared to him. His mouth latched onto the side of my neck, suckling greedily. His hips lost all semblance of rhythm, of control. But by that point I didn’t care. I needed his chaos, his fury, the intense driving desire of his swollen cock. I wanted him to lose himself in me the way I was losing myself in him. I wanted him to come totally undone.
My orgasm roared through me. My eyes flew open, staring unseeing at the rock ceiling of the cave as pleasure soared through every muscle, every nerve. For a long, blinding, moment, the pleasure just built and built. I wasn’t clenching down on him – not yet. The orgasm hadn’t crested yet. My mouth dropped open in a soundless scream as pleasure seared through me. It felt like my whole pelvis was swelling and easing open, drawing him deeper. He answered eagerly, his hips snapping, moaning against my neck. My clit screamed under his cock spears. My pussy remained open and aching and burning until finally, finally, everything shattered. I shouted, every single muscle in my body tensing, my pussy clamping down on him like a vise. Lerokan detached his mouth from my neck with a strangled cry.
“So tight,” he choked out, “Cursed peaks, Priya, yes.” A tremor ran through him, sending a vibration through his cock and deep into my core.
The rapid movements of his hips suddenly ceased. His whole body went as taut as the string of his bow.
Then he exploded.
Giving a long, drawn-out moan, he jerked his pelvis, resuming his previous motion, thrusting through each orgasmic spurt of his throbbing cock. I kept my arms wrapped tightly around him, keeping him close. Taking everything he had to give.
Everything.
Until there was nothing left.
We panted, sagging against each other. Between what had just happened and the heat of the water, I wasn’t sure I would be able to walk again tonight.
Maybe ever.
“I’m probably going to need you to carry me to the bed,” I breathed shakily.
“I can do that. In... Just a moment,” Lerokan muttered. A small moan tore from his mouth and his cock twitched inside me.
It took more than a moment for him to regain enough strength to ease himself out of me. But my strong mountain mate rallied, holding me safe against his chest as he exited the pool.
We tumbled into the hides, getting them wet and not caring one bit. The fire had warmed the air in here nicely, so that even with the big open window, it wasn’t too chilly.
Besides, I had a great big furnace of a man now spooning me from behind. A virile furnace, I thought to myself with a quiet snort.
The last thing Lerokan did before dropping off into a stone-deep sleep was drag a fuzzy grey hide blanket up over us while murmuring something about love and night.
“Goodnight. I love you too,” I replied.
But by the time I said that, I was certain he was already asleep.
Exhausted and blissed out and feeling truly safe for the first time in days, I quickly followed him.
CHAPTER THIRY-SIX
Lerokan
After the exertion of recent events and the exquisitely satisfying experience of claiming my mate, I would have been content to sleep for three days straight.
My pretty mate, however, did not feel the same way. I drifted out of sleep, or was rather nudged out of it, by a tiny finger poking my cheek.
“Lerokan,” came a little whisper, “I’m hungry!”
I groaned, opening my eyes.
Now this is a sight worth losing sleep over.
Priya’s naked form was pressed against mine, her soft thigh hooked over my hips as we laid on our sides facing each other. Her hair was a gorgeous tangled spread around her small face. Dawn spilled through the open wall of the cave, painting her lovingly in shades of gold and pink, shimmering on her perfect skin. I skimmed my fingertips up her bare arm, watching with interest as little bumps appeared in the wake of my touch.
“If my mate is hungry, she will be fed,” I vowed. “But first, you must provide a mere token for your mate as payment.”
“Oh?” she replied, her dark brows rising slightly.
“Yes,” I said, leaning inward until my lips brushed hers. She made a tiny sound, parting her sweet lips for me.
Our lips and tongues moved against each other slowly. Sensuously. The desperate grappling need from last night had diminished.
But the needs of my cock evidently had not. It swelled immediately, bumping against her spread cunt.
“I... I don’t think I’m ready to go again so soon,” she panted, pulling back. “But maybe...”
She slid her thigh down from where it had been hooked over my hip. Then she rolled over, wiggling until her back was pressed to my front. I groaned deeply as she squeezed her thighs around my shaft.
My cock responded before my mind could even catch up, surging forward, already needing release. It was fascinating, and almost alarming, how close I already felt to spilling seed, just from the silken press of her thighs around me. Wetness built along her crease, soaking my shaft. I reached around her front, wanting some of that wetness on my fingers too. I stroked against her sensitive little nub. This earned me a moan and a tighter squeeze of her thighs. I stroked faster, my hips pumping, until Priya moaned and arched her back.
She cried out sharply, tensing against me.
Her climax thrilled me. I slid my hand back to grip her hip, pounding harder between her thighs. My testicles slapped against the backs of her legs, the sound more erotic than I would have thought possible. Priya writhed and panted, continuing to squeeze her legs around me as pleasure burst out of me. I spurted, hot and hard, biting back a roar at the dizzying intensity of the sensations.
I could have stayed there with her all day. Could have kept her confined to the bed until I’d discovered every single way to pleasure her luscious body.
But she was hungry.
And frankly, so was I.
So I dressed quickly, headed to the main hall, and collected valikir plants, smoked mountain fish, and felkora eggs from the fire there. I did not see my brother, and I rather hoped he’d left already.
When I returned to the cave, I found Priya completely clothed, which disappointed me greatly. By this time, the sun was trekking higher in the sky, making the blue interior stone of the cave shimmer with clear morning light.
We ate quite ferociously, both of us having worked up a great appetite. After eating, I was ready to fall back into bed with her, but she rose and walked to the cave’s exit.
“Come on,” she said, tossing me a look that had me standing, too, helpless to do anything but follow her. She grabbed my hand when I reached her side. The feeling of her tiny fingers interlocking with mine made my chest squeeze painfully.
“I want to go see Breena,” Priya said.
I jerked my tail. It was a good idea. I knew Breena was in good hands with the healers, but I still needed to check up on her, too.
“Alright,” I said, leading Priya out of the cave. “Then let us go.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Priya
Lerokan told me that Breena was healing up somewhere called the “roosting cave.” The roosting cave, it turned out, was a massive room of stone with a gaping natural skylight. It reminded me of the Colosseum – a huge circular space with the stone walls rising up in a sloping ring all the way around. Along the walls, crags and cracks formed natural shelves, and those shelves were dotted with big nests constructed from the same tubular plant material Lerokan used to build fires.
Despite the cavernous nature of the space, it didn’t feel empty. Braxilk swooped and drifted in the open skylight area, and others slept or walked along the shining blue stone floor. Some of the nests, I noticed, contained gigantic bright blue, white, or grey eggs, and a couple of nests held squawking babies already the size of Earth ponies. Loud, cawing cries echoed all around us.
There were people here, too. Two women, I realized. One of them seemed on the younger side, her blue-black hair braided and then wound into a tight bun on the top of her head. The other woman, who seemed older, had no hair at all, her scalp shorn close to the skin. They both wore trouser-style bottoms and vests made of the grey woolly hide that seemed ubiquitous in the mountains.
“You have to be careful of your hair when helping tend the young braxilk,” Lerokan explained about their hairstyles. “Otherwise, they try to eat it. Most of the braxilk healers wear their hair tightly bound, but my aunt decided some time ago to shave hers off entirely.”
“That’s your aunt?” I asked as the hairless woman noticed us and smiled.
“Yes, Tilka,” Lerokan confirmed. When he noticed me tucking my braid into my coat and pulling up the hood, he smirked. “Do not worry, my mate. I won’t let anyone eat your hair. Even me, despite how delicious it smells.”
“You are so weird,” I chuckled as his aunt strode towards us. I smiled back at her, then gave a small whoop when I saw the braxilk behind her.
“Breena!”
Breena began to trot, overtaking Tilka quickly. She stopped in front of us, dipping her head down to our level.
I hugged her neck, burying my face in her feathers. “I’m so glad you’re OK!”
Lerokan patted her neck. “It is good to see you, Breena,” he said warmly. “How does she fare?” he asked his aunt, who had now reached us.
“Very well indeed. The wounds have all closed and the bones have been set. She will need training to regain her strength, but she will fly again.”
I sighed in relief, giving Breena another quick squeeze before letting her go. I peeked at her side, seeing one of her wings bound tightly to her frame. Otherwise, she looked just as she had before.
“So, you are Priya, then? My nephew’s new mate? Here, let me have a look at you.”
“Hello. Yes! I’m Priya. Nice to meet you,” I said as she looked at me intently.
I couldn’t help but do the same to her. She was the first Deep Sky woman I’d met. She shared a lot of features with Lerokan and Errok. Her sight stars gleamed with the same pearly white colour, and something about the shape of her confident smile seemed to be a family trait. Her skin was slightly paler than Lerokan’s, but in the same bluish-violet hues. There was a large gap between the two sides of her vest. Hide straps crisscrossed between the two flaps of the vest, tying them closed, but with no breasts, there was no cleavage on display. And, of course, she towered over me, her indigo tail swishing.
“Hmm. Very good, then,” she said, apparently satisfied with whatever she’d gotten from looking at me. Suddenly, her gaze shifted behind Lerokan and me.
“Ah! And there is my other nephew! I am glad you knew better than to leave without saying goodbye to your aunt, Errok!”
Lerokan sighed, and I squeezed his hand. The younger woman at the other end of the cave made an eep sort of sound and raised her tail in our direction.
We turned around to see Gahn Errok striding into the roosting cave. Weapon after weapon was strapped to his chest and back, and he carried a huge, beautifully carved bow.
“I am about to leave,” he said by way of greeting.
“Go safely,” said Tilka, raising her tail and then letting it fall. “And make sure you drop some of your ego as you fly. Just because you’re a Gahn doesn’t mean you’re not also a fool sometimes. Plus, it will weigh Togo down and tire him out faster.”
I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. Lerokan didn’t bother trying to hide it – he laughed out loud.
Ghan Errok scowled at him.
“Come, Lerokan,” he commanded. “Zakkar has told me I should inform you of the details of my journey.”
“Fine, fine,” Lerokan said, still grinning. He and his brother stepped away to talk. Tilka and I watched them.
“It feels so sudden, both of them having mates, now. I am happy for them both. Errok has wanted this for so long.” She paused, eyeing me from the side. “Lerokan... Less so.”
“Do you mean he didn’t want anything to do with having a mate? Yeah, I know all about it,” I said, laughing. When she saw that I didn’t feel awkward about the subject, she visibly relaxed, smiling again.
“I am glad he has changed his mind. Or perhaps you changed it for him.”
“Not sure anyone could change Lerokan’s mind for him,” I mused, admiring his profile and the tumble of his long hair down his back as he talked to his brother.
“Perhaps this is true,” Tilka replied with a sigh. I glanced at her, seeing a flash of pain cross her face.
“When my sister, their mother, died,” she said, “it destroyed their father. He couldn’t hunt, couldn’t fly. He barely ate. He died not long afterwards. Lerokan swore from that moment on he’d never have a mate. He never wanted to lose himself in that kind of love or that kind of pain.”
I bit down on my lower lip, staring at Lerokan. I knew his parents had died, just like mine. But I didn’t know that part of the story.
“That must have been incredibly difficult. I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Why do you say sorry?’ she asked, looking confused.
“Ah. It’s a human thing we say about other people’s losses.”
“Well, I am just glad he has found you,” she said softly. Both of us turned our gazes back to the brothers. “He’s happier, now,” she added. “He reminds me of the way he was before. Before they died.”
So that was it. That was the wound inside him that had made him throw up so many walls. That was why he’d pushed so hard against having a mate. That was the reason for the mask.
It wasn’t even a mask at all. But a shield.
He was protecting himself.
Breena must have sensed I was about to start sobbing like an idiot. She leaned down and bumped my cheek gently with her beak. I chuckled tearily in surprise, snuggling my cheek against the side of her face.
A moment later, Gahn Errok turned and swept out of the roosting cave. I watched him go, struck by the oddest feeling. The feeling that, even though he was huge and strong and intimidating, by going to find his human mate, he was walking into the lion’s den.
Why do I get the sense that he’s going to completely crash and burn before he maybe gets his shit together enough for a human woman to accept him?
Oh well. Not my problem to worry about, now.
No, the only alien man I wanted to worry about now was the one right beside me, taking my hand in his and holding it like it was the most precious thing in the world.
THE REST OF THE DAY passed in a blur of touring the caves and tunnels and meeting the other tribe members. By the time Lerokan and I retired to our cave after an evening meal in the hall (a meal blissfully free of brotherly pissing contests now that Errok had left) I was ready to drop into bed. Or maybe the heated springs first. Preferably with Lerokan.
But there was something I had to talk to him about first.
“Your aunt told me about your parents,” I said quickly as we entered the cave. Might as well just rip the bandage off.
Lerokan shot me an unreadable look.
“What did she tell you?”
I undid my braid, finger-combing my waves while Lerokan watched my movements with the focus of a panther watching prey.
“She told me that your dad... That he got really messed up after your mom died.”
“Yes,” Lerokan confirmed.
“And that’s why you didn’t want a mate.”
“Well, my other reasons about wanting to choose my own destiny still stand. But ultimately, yes. I did not want to fade away the way my father did. A mate meant losing myself entirely.”
“Do you still feel that way?” I whispered. Cold air whistled into the cave, making my hair shift about my shoulders. Lerokan stepped up to me, catching stray strands between his fingers.
