The Clone’s Mate by Susan Trombley

Sixteen

You know how it is when you can sit and talk to a man for a significant amount of time, and he seems to be listening intently to you and almost never interrupts so he can tell his own story without showing any clue that he heard anything you’d said at all.

Yeah, me neither.

At least, not until right now, while sitting with Subject 34. He had finally given up his investigation of the enclosure walls, after pausing for an extended time in front of one of them, his expression unreadable behind his chitinous facial coverings. Now he crouched in front of my makeshift seat on the sand. I still leaned with my back against the rock outside his blocked crevice.

“So, that’s why humans don’t actually feed each other like that.” I finished my explanation about human eating habits, and hygiene—and oral habits, a blush still burning my cheeks.

Subject 34 had his face revealed again as he watched me like he actually cared what I had to say. It was such a strange feeling that I didn’t realize I’d been pausing after every few sentences, expecting him to interrupt or cut me off or change the subject, until the silence stretched as he merely watched me with an expectant air, actually waiting for me to take a breath without jumping in with his own input.

Once I’d fallen silent long enough that he must have understood I had finished speaking, he responded, his lips forming the words with a little more ease than he’d had before. “Thir-tee fore like feeeding.”

Okay, I’m not gonna lie. I had liked it too. It was weird, and when I wasn’t aroused to the point of crawling along the floor naked, it was a bit awkward to consider what was actually happening—an exchange of bodily fluids as food—but I wasn’t exactly in Kansas anymore. Lots of things had been really weird in my life lately.

Not that I’d ever actually been to Kansas, but I figured it was as normal a place as you could find. Although, given what Nirgal had told me—if he could even be believed—Kansas might look totally different now than it had been when I’d been abducted from Earth.

My mind still boggled at the thought that I’d lost ten years and probably could never go home, even if I could escape. I wouldn’t want to escape from these alien overlords only to find myself under the control of another.

I sighed, lifting a hand to trace the line of 34’s cheek, framed by the chitin that covered his head and mandibles. “I think I could grow used to… uh… feeding the way you like.” I narrowed my eyes and shifted my glare towards that wall that Subject 34 had stood at earlier like he was looking at something beyond that dull gray surface. “Seeing as Nirgal would leave me to starve in here!”

“I won’t not have let you starve,” he said in a defensive tone, speaking for the first time since he’d ruined the mood between me and Subject 34 earlier. “I merely delayed delivery of food you would find palatable to see if Subject 34 would behave as the first athraxius subject did and provide you nutrients from his own body. We have not observed this behavior in our subjects since that experiment went disastrously wrong. Even with the first subject, that observation had only been made from a distance with a maintenance drone rather than in a controlled environment.”

“You’re such a douche.” I shook my head.

“Dooo shhh.” 34 also turned his head to glare at the wall. Then he returned his intent gaze to me. “Whaattt is?”

I giggled, surprising myself at the girlish sound. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt giddy enough to laugh like that. I guess the afterglow still remained to a certain extent. “I’m gonna save that explanation for another time, 34.”

34 touched my ear, where Nirgal’s annoying voice had fallen silent, thankfully. Then he traced my jawline, his claw poking gently beneath my chin to lift it. His lips lowered to mine and I kissed them eagerly.

He was learning, though he still had that awkwardness that I found strangely endearing. A sort of hesitance as my lips caressed his, like he wasn’t certain how to fully mimic the movements. That awkwardness disappeared the longer I kissed him, and soon, he slanted his mouth over mine so that our lips pressed more fully together, deepening the kiss as mine parted. This time, it was his tongue that delved into my mouth, and I sucked it between my teeth, causing his body to vibrate as a low chitter-growl mixed sound emanated from him.

I don’t know how far things would have gone, but my stomach chose to growl in hunger not long after he really started getting good at this kissing thing. I was already panting with desire, his body putting out that delicious scent again, when he lifted his head to break the kiss.

“Hun-gry,” he said, and I swear I saw an anticipatory gleam in those dark, enigmatic eyes. He traced my swollen lower lip. “Thirr-tee fore feed Ron-da.”

I smirked, eyeing him with mock suspicion. “I’m starting to think you benefit from this whole ‘feeding’ thing, 34.”

His lips spread in a grin that was a bit terrifying given how unfamiliar the expression clearly was for him, but hey, he tried. I gotta give him credit for that. I pecked a kiss on his lips, hoping to chase away that snarly looking grimace of a smile.

“Ron-da like?”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him again, much deeper before I pulled away to draw in a breath. “Oh yeah, Rhonda definitely likes!”

He straightened his upper body, still crouching in front of me in a way that looked like it would be uncomfortable after hours of doing it, but he seemed to be most comfortable like that. A glance at his groin showed me he had already everted his erection, and I licked my lips as I spotted the drop of fluid welling from the tip.

Strange the experience might be, but I was turned on like I’d never been before encountering Subject 34, and barely hesitated before I bent my head towards that stiff shaft. His plates were already rattling when my lips closed around the head of it. I sucked him as deep as I could, which wasn’t all the way given the impressive length and girth of him.

Before, he’d ejaculated the fluid as soon as my lips closed over the tip, but this time, he let my mouth stroke over his shaft, my fingers curling around his girth beneath my lips to move in sync with them. He appeared to like what I was doing, since his claws delved into my tangled hair, scraping my scalp in a way that felt pleasant, rather than dangerous. His whole body vibrated, including the shaft in my mouth, making my teeth and tongue tingle.

This time, he seemed to control the flow of fluid from his shaft, allowing me to suck it from him like I was drawing it in a stream out of a straw. If I wasn’t so turned on that I was soaking wet, I might have balked at the oddness of all this, but at the moment, I didn’t care how strange and almost forbidden it seemed.

I was giving an alien male a blow job and swallowing his ejaculate like it was a savory soup. It did actually taste that way. Savory without being too salty. It also wasn’t thick and goopy but rather flowed nicely instead of sticking to the back of my throat so it would be a struggle to swallow it all. Though I was definitely aroused—and I was pretty certain he was too—I didn’t think he was doing this particular act for sexual satisfaction.

I sucked him until his fingers tightened in my hair and tugged on my head, shifting his hips in his crouch to move his erection away from my lips. I had no idea how much fluid I’d swallowed, but I no longer felt any hunger. In fact, I felt sated without being stuffed to a point of discomfort.

I barely had a chance to sit up straight before 34 moved to part my legs. He tossed the two pieces of my sweatpants aside with his lower hands, baring my soaking seam to him. His upper hands caught my face, and he lowered his lips to mine, while his lower hands circled under my knees, pulling them further apart as he moved to align the head of his shaft with my slit.

He caught my moan with his hungry lips as he sank his length deep inside me, filling me in a way I’d never been filled before. He was larger than any man I’d ever been with, and I might have been intimidated by his size if he didn’t make me so crazy with arousal. Each breath I sucked in through my nose as he claimed my mouth was filled with his scent as he thrust into me, his movements unpracticed—and unnecessary on his part, I suspected.

I think he moved like that because he knew I enjoyed the friction of it. His shaft vibrated inside me, the covering that normally protected his slit now bumping my clit with each thrust, also vibrating. The sensations were incredible, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I climaxed.

In the back of my mind, my awareness of my situation crouched like an unwelcome gremlin, waiting to skulk back into the forefront and remind me that 34 and I weren’t alone as we engaged in this passionate act.

Nor were we free.

Both facts would disturb me if I weren’t so overcome with passion and pleasure as he brought me to orgasm. He continued to pump inside me as my inner muscles convulsed around his length, driving me right back up the peak to a second shuddering climax that had me breaking our kiss to cry out, my arms lifting to clutch around his neck, holding on for dear life as I felt swept away by ecstasy.

34 caught me in his upper arms as I slumped against him in the aftermath of my third orgasm, my entire body trembling, a weak moan escaping my lips. He withdrew his shaft from my inner passage, much to my regret, and I barely had the energy to note that no fluid followed in its wake as it left my body. I figured he had again failed to come inside me.

I suspected he had his reasons, and given our situation, they were probably pretty good ones. I wondered how much pleasure he got from the mating act, since he didn’t climax like I did. I was accustomed to being an afterthought in the bedroom, rather than the primary participant. I’d certainly never come three times in a row with Michael. I didn’t even know that could happen until I’d experienced it with Subject 34.

Now, he arranged me on his lap, my legs parted over his thighs as he scooted closer to the rock, forming a kind of seat that was far less sandy than the one I’d been sitting on. I knew I would pay for that later with the chafing.

Ah, the chafing!

Subject 34 curled his body around mine, his arms forming a barrier on either side of me as he braced his palms against the rock. My head sat well below his own and he bent his forward to close mine in from above. As intimidating as it could be having all that sharpness and chitin and solid, immovable and unpredictable strength surrounding me, I realized what he was doing this time.

He was protecting me, forming a literal shield out of his body so that anyone who might want to take me from him would have to go through him first.

Aww, that is so cute!

Scary. But cute.

Now, I might have been able to convince him to let me chill on the sand without his guarding over me like a hungry wolf protecting its food, but since I actually felt pretty comfortable in the position I was in, I decided to snuggle up against his chest. The exhaustion I felt after all the fun times we’d had made me sleepy enough to doze off in his arms.