Hunted By The Alien Assassin by Ella Maven

Nine

Bosa

I hadn’t been touched in so long—not since I was still a youth and snuck away with a female to the stream near our settlement. That had been fumbling and messy, and I clung to the memories long after everything changed, and I thought I’d never meet a mate.

I didn’t even take myself in hand, convinced I didn’t deserve to feel pleasure, not after what the Kaluma females had been through.

But when Karina wrapped her thin fingers around my shaft while my vurs pulsed against her palm, I couldn’t pull away. When my cap began to spin, and I knew I was close to releasing my seed, it took all my willpower not to throw Karina onto her back and plunge into that sleek, tasty heat of her slit.

“Karina,” I rasped out as I held onto my control by a hair. “Please.” The smell of her was all around us, and her flavor coated my tongue as if taunting me I couldn’t have more.

“Let go,” she whispered, her eyes shiny and glowing in the dim light as her wrist twisted and she squeezed the shaft right under my cock cap. “Let go, Bosa.”

With a surge forward, my cap erupted, spraying my seed from small holes in the flared end. My vision went white, and a dull roar sounded in my ears. Heat spread from my gut and groin out to every limb as I bucked into her hand. She gasped as the clear liquid coated our skin, and the scent of my release mingled with the aroma of her wetness.

I panted as I nearly collapsed, but at the last moment she wrapped her arms around me and drew me against her breasts. I lay half on top of her as I caught my breath while her fingers stroked my hair.

For a moment, I let myself wonder what it would be like to have this forever—a mate who cradled me in her arms. And that was when I jerked myself upright. Karina started below me, her eyes going wide as I peered down at her. Her stomach and thighs were slick with my seed.

“Bosa?” she asked quietly. “Are you okay?”

No, I was not okay. Because as I studied the brave creature below me, I came to the realization I didn’t see her as a human anymore. Or an other. Or as a non-Kaluma. I saw her as Karina, my brave kotche who fought back in a foreign galaxy against her captors to protect her fellow females. She couldn’t go home while I’d been avoiding mine. I’d previously seen her as less-than, but in reality, I wasn’t good enough for her.

So why did she make my matz shimmer and my vurs pulsate? Why was I appearing in her visuls? That was the beginning of the linyx bond, but there was no way that was possible… with a human.

The Kaluma males used to choose their mates—until Varnex tainted that ritual. Now, we allowed the females to choose. As much as I wanted to claim her, I couldn’t. It went against the new settlement rules I believed in whole-heartedly, and… even if I didn’t see her as human, my settlement would. No way would Sherif accept this.

My torso swayed as my head pounded with too many thoughts. I’d lived with one for many rotations—guilt—and it had become my best friend and worst enemy. It fueled me while preventing any real happiness. I’d covered myself in that guilt with a layer of disdain that proved to be an asset in my work.

“Hey,” she reached for me again I allowed her to lay me down beside her. “Talk to me. Is this a physical thing? Do you need to sleep after you come? I understand that. I could go for a nap too. Or are you working through something in your head? Bosa?”

Her words pounded my skull until I felt like it was going to split open. I’d just experienced the best pleasure of my life, and yet I couldn’t just enjoy the aftermath because my mind had decided now was the time to think every thought.

I finally sliced through her questions. “I haven’t been home since I started taking off-planet missions.”

She remained silent, but her hand slid up and down my back slowly in a caress.

“I haven’t felt worthy to face our females who suffered the most from our inaction. I downplayed my guilt earlier. It eats me up, kotche. Every day.”

“Oh Bosa,” she whispered, and just my name on her lips in that heart-aching tone caused my heart to lurch. Her fingers flexed and I felt her drop a kiss on my head.

“I didn’t lie when I told you why I was helping you. I do like destroying things. I do want to absolve my guilt. I also wanted to avoid going home, since my pardux told me I had to return after this mission.

“Okay,” she drew out the word as her fingers once again toyed with the ends of my hair.

“At first you were a female I could help. It was about me and my selfish need to relieve my guilt. And now it’s not that anymore, kotche. Now, I’m staying for you. Because I don’t want to leave your side. Because I think…”

I finally forced myself to close my jaws before I admitted that her visuls made me believe we were linyx. It didn’t make sense to me. How could I be linyx with a human? It seemed … biologically impossible. Our bodies formed a linyx bond with our mates, but usually it developed over time. Everything about her visuls made this feel urgent, in a way that concerned me.

All I knew was I couldn’t leave her. Not now that I’d tasted her.

“Because you think what?” she prodded softly.

I shook my head, unable to speak what was in my head.

“I don’t know what this all means,” she whispered. “You keep appearing in my dreams. You’re either saving me or … touching me.”

“Touching you?”

“Yes.” I heard the click of her throat as she swallowed. “Possessively.”

My heart thumped in my chest as I lifted my head to look in her eyes. She watched me with a wary vulnerability I was sure no one in this galaxy had seen from her. Brushing her hair from her forehead, I pressed a kiss there. “Don’t worry. Let’s focus on staying alive long enough to destroy Frenz. Then we’ll worry about us.”

Her lips twitched into a smile. “Okay, I can do that.”

I slowly rose to my feet, casting a hungry gaze down her body. All I wanted to do was stay in the cave and bury myself in that hot slit of hers. But this wasn’t the time, and I doubted she’d ever let me spend my seed inside of her. It was probably better that way. “I’m going to check to make sure the Gattrix soldiers are gone.”

She sat up quickly. “Alone? No, I’ll go with you.”

I motioned for her to stay where she was. “Yes, alone.”

“But—”

“Stay, Karina. Please. Trust me.”

For some reason, those two words made an impact. With a heavy sigh, she settled back down and pressed her knees to her chest as she hugged her arms to her herself. “Okay.”

“I know you’re cold. I’ll be back soon.”

“Just be careful,” she warned, this time with a murderous glint in her eye, like she’d kill me again if I failed her.

With a nod, I dove into the water.

* * *

Karina

I shuffled over to the water hole and peered down, but he was already gone. Shuffling back into the safety of my corner, I shivered as a chill swept over my skin, and not just from the temperature. I was scared, an emotion I hadn’t admitted to myself since the day I woke up in another galaxy. I felt Bosa’s absence like a physical thing, and I marveled at how fast I’d come to depend on him.

When I’d first met him, I’d seen nothing but a monster and killer. In only a few short cycles, he’d become my friend. My partner. My … lover. Just the memory of his tongue between my legs warmed my blood and eased the chill in the air. That tongue was something else. I swore I could smell the scent of cinnamon whisky in the air.

I dipped a hand in the water and washed some of his seed from my skin. That had really just happened. I’d given a hand job to an alien with a rotating cock head. The way his seed had spurted from the edges reminded me a bit of those swing amusement park rides. Where the top spun and the swings flung out. Except the swings had been his come.

Blushing, I dropped my head into my arms and let out a giggle. I wished I had friends. Someone I could talk to about this. Back home, I would have called my college roommates, Kelly and Trisha, to join me for a beer at our favorite bar. We would have noshed on cheese fries and a lager, then called Beth, who’d moved away to Colorado, while we were toasted and slurring our words.

I would have told them all about Bosa’s tongue and his heartfelt words while they grilled me on his facial expressions and body language to determine if he was being truthful or a player. The night would have ended with us singing karaoke classics like “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” and “I Will Survive.”

Fuck, I missed my friends. I wasn’t close with my parents because they’d both gone off the rails since divorcing when I was eighteen, so my friends were my lifeline. They were the ones I called when my day job as an overloaded social worker stressed me the hell out, and when my night job as a manga fan podcast host gave me an endorphin high.

I’d thought about them nonstop when I’d first arrived here, until their memory grew too painful. Now, I smiled thinking of how they’d react to Bosa. They’d be completely suspect of him, as they should, and I imagined how Bosa would react to them. I guessed he wouldn’t really care about their opinion of him, but he’d work to stay on their good side for my sake.

Maybe I was putting too much stock in how he felt about me, but I’d looked into his gorgeous eyes when he’d confided in me about his home. When he’d said he wanted to stay by my side. I believed him, which was maybe crazy. But other than our initial meeting when he thought I was capable of something terrible, he hadn’t done anything to betray my trust. He’d been dependable and deadly—all in my favor.

A few bubbles burst at the surface of the water, and I gasped just before a white head and bronze face burst to the surface. I exhaled roughly with relief before sliding over to the side on my knees. “So?”

“It’s clear,” he said, water dripping from his hair. He reached for me, and after talking a gulp of air, I dove into the water at his side. I didn’t have to swim very hard—which was good as I wasn’t the strongest swimmer—because Bosa didn’t let go of my arm. He struck through the water like Michael Phelps until we burst to the surface in front of the waterfall.

I glanced around warily, but there was no loud buzzing or disturbance in the brush surrounding our small oasis. I had a moment to ogle Bosa’s high and tight butt as he hauled himself out of the water before he began to dress. He gestured to me urgently to follow suit, so I pulled on my clothes and finger-combed my wet hair.

He grabbed my hand again, this time linking our fingers as he headed toward the hidden buggy. “We’re heading to get your supplies now. We can’t waste much more time. Frenz is getting too close for my comfort.”

My stomach swooped with a nervous thrill at completing my mission. “I agree.”

He straddled the buggy, and I found myself appreciating his physique now that I knew what he looked like beneath his clothes. His thighs alone were a work of art. I got caught ogling because he reached out and flicked a claw at my hip. When I jerked to attention, his smile was wicked. “I’m flattered.”

I snorted as I settled in front of him and tossed my wet hair, so it definitely smacked him in the face… “Flattered about what? I was just… checking the mechanics.”

A fist wrapped around the length, and I let out a squeak as he jerked my head back. I swallowed thickly as his eyes narrowed. A hardness throbbed against my lower back, and the matz on his neck shimmered. “Don’t lie to me, Karina,” he said in a low, raspy tone that spread heat down my spine like dripping honey. He rolled his hips, and I gasped as I felt his shaft pulse through the thin material of my shirt.

He released my hair and slid his hand down my neck to squeeze one of my breasts before continuing lower until he possessively cupped my pussy, just like in my dream. “You can stare at me all you want. Because I intend to look and touch you as much as I want.” His tongue played over the rim of my ear before sucking a patch on my neck.

My vision swam and I couldn’t help but buck against his hand.

“Bosa…” was all I managed to whisper.

His eyes turned a little softer as his thumb carefully brushed my lower stomach. “I don’t know what will happen to us, kotche. Whether we will survive this rotation or the next. I haven’t had anything for myself ever in my life, and even though I know I don’t deserve it, I plan on tasting your sweetness as much as I can before our time is up.”

I blinked at him, my head spinning. “If you knew we’d live until we were old and gray, would you keep me?”

His other arm came around me, and he pressed me tightly to him while burying his face in my hair.

I stared straight ahead unseeing, terrified he’d answer and at the same time aching to know what he’d say.

“I don’t let myself think about the future, kotche,” he said. “I can’t.”

“I get it,” I whispered because I did. That was also how I’d lived my life since I’d been taken from Earth.

“You’ll live a rotation at a time with me?” He punctuated his last two words with sharp squeezes to my torso.

I swallowed and squeezed my eyes shut. “Yes,” I said softly. “I will.”

His lips grazed the top of my head, and only then did he release me before starting the buggy. We were in the air and off before I caught my breath.