Venomous: Erotic Science Fiction Romance (Alien Warrior Book 1) (72 page)

Truth, once he did start noticing it, he was attracted to her generous contours in ways that had him hard and aching without surcease.

Aghast at his salacious thoughts, he’d tried to capture the heart of his Rä’Na with renewed fervour.

He even tried to cover her after years of abstinence, thinking it was time they behave as was right.

She’d recoiled and barred him from their nest.

Lumen became all he thought of.

He collected anecdotes and news of her wherever he could find, attending festivals and conclave at the Senate Quarter, knowing discussions about the outrageous offworlder Venomous One and Fiercely Comes the Night mated would be abound.

When the infamous males approached him, to offer the honour of being her lesser mate, it seemed mighty Zython took pity, granting a lowly hunter his most fevered dream.

Oh, there was still shame.

He lusted after Lumen in a way that was forbidden!

But he’d be part of her life.

He’d experience the joining of their bodies at least once, and get to watch over her as only a lesser mate could.

He knew she did not feel for him as he did her, but he was used to that.

Existing on the fringe of her life was enough, more than he’d dared wish for.

He’d hoped in time she would look upon him with favour instead of disdain.

When Fiercely had comm called in a blind panic with the tale of her missing in the wilderness, Cobra swore his hearts stopped beating.

Terror unlike he’d known had stolen the warmth from his blood, and he’d feverishly prayed for her return as he rushed to do all he could to find her, knowing if it was true, and she was in the Empty Quarter as a sandstorm rolled in, it was already too late.

Seeing her safe soon after, he’d almost fallen to his knees in worshipful thanks to whatever powers worked in her favour.

The bonding ceremony had been the best and worst rotation of his lifecycle.

Finally, he was a part of Lumen, his hearts sang the joy of it.

Solicitation of her attentions would not be perceived as wrong.

He’d joined their bodies, an unsurpassed span of ecstasy, and for the first time in solars, he’d felt whole.

The beating had been worth it.

Most had not understood why he had been so forgiving, but they could not know the passion she inspired.

Truth, Venomous One guarded her jealously, but she was worth it.

To feel what he’d be missing near ended him.

To witness Venomous and Fiercely locked into a passionate embrace with the female he adored, and who would never feel the same in return, cut so deep, he feared he’d bleed out on the alter of their marriage.

To have her so happy, and delighted with them, for her to glow so magnificently as she rounded with their young ... bittersweet.

All was as well as could be, and his secret was safe.

So he’d thought.

Singing Water noticed his fascination, and reacted in a way he’d never deemed possible.

Anger gripped him in a chokehold when he contemplated the plot she’d colluded in with Venin Stings the Sweetest.

During the terrible session at the Senate Quarter, when Scholar Wise are the Brave exposed her perfidy, for a sickening heartbeat, he worried if his deviant lust for another had driven her to madness.

Cobra realised he’d given himself far too much value in her eyes.

She did
not
care for him, let alone his affections, she simply couldn’t abide the notion he no longer yearned for her.

She knew the strength of his honour, knew he would never behave improperly.

Her actions were not prompted by irrational qualms the sanctity of their union was under threat.

All she’d had to do was speak with him.

Explain she’d noticed his fascination, and ask him not to be Lumen’s lesser mate.

He would have submitted.

She had been his Rä’Na.

Instead, Singing Water lashed out at Lumen rather than her usual whipping post.

Him.

Her misplaced envy and spite ended in a senseless act of maliciousness that still gave him chills.

As Fiercely had claimed, she was rotten.

Spoilt by her privileged upbringing, and embittered by the truth he would not rise to the Senate; the most powerful rank a Rä could attain on Rök.

Cobra set aside dark thoughts of his past, and lowered to a crawl.

The lucent, rotund stalks of low growing kakt’kakt and blossoming vines masked his presence.

A resinous blend of smoked wood and leafy herbs, his scent, blew downwind.

It transformed his advance to an unearthly dance, each twitch precise, each pull of breath deliberate.

Ripe, sweet aromas filled his nostrils as a sticky kakt’kakt spike tipped with a paralysing toxin grazed his hardsuit.

He craned his neck to peer over the protruding stem.

Covered in pustules, it oozed whitish acid from its barbed spine clusters, and its bristly stalks were festooned with orange and purple buds.

Come the dawn, they exploded outward in dramatic orgies of colour.

Allotrope seeds nestled within the sprouted blooms melted in the sunlight to drip clear amrita nectar.

His mate drank bottles of the chilled fluid, vowing it tasted like fruity wine.

Too sweet for the indigenous palate, Rä used it in its oil state as an ointment to moisturise dry scales.

The liquid possessed a floral, saccharine fragrance that attracted firebirds, named so for their crimson feathers and flaming tails.

Pretty beasties that fed off the nectar in seed form and lived underground.

Tasty plucked, seasoned then roasted over glowing stones.

Brume snaked the underbrush, and coiled around his crouched figure lending further concealment as he edged nearer to the razorbeast.

The carnivore hunkered beneath a spray of succulent plant fronds.

Silent death, it prepared to pounce.

Its nine-tails were held low, swaying pennants caught in the breeze.

Green fur stippled with blue and slashes of yellow, allowing the creature to blend into its environment, lay flat against its sinuous trunk.

It tufted, giving the illusion the creature doubled in mass, and further protected its tough hide from attack.

Cobra unlatched the crossbow secured to his back.

Took aim.

His free upper hand crept to his waist to grip the hilt of a falcate blade designed to cut through armoured flesh.

Chirring insects quietened.

The fluted ears of his quarry’s prey twitched and swivelled at the lack of sound.

With a twang and a whistle, the bolt loosened from the bow.

Mewling, the newborn goodbeast vanished into the shrubbery.

Dart embedded in the razorbeast’s vulnerable scruff, the creature whipped around then bared its serrated fangs proving true to its awesome moniker.

Loosing a spine-chilling caterwaul, it reared up on powerful hind paws, and exposed a bloated, downy underbelly, the barren patch between its inflamed teats a weakness in its furred hide.

Bellowing a roar of challenge, Cobra that Strikes, struck.

He leapt forward to stab the beast’s gullet then twisted.

Pulling the blade free, he yanked flesh, fur and gristle with it.

Blood gushed.

The dirt beneath his boots swamped into ore-scented mud.

Hooked talons scrabbled over his hardsuit then fell away as the gravid kill hit ground with an ear-splitting
snap
of crushed kakt’kakt, and the fractious chirping of firebirds burrowing deeper into underground aeries.

Cobra knelt to mutter last rites in respect of the life he’d taken, as was
the way
.

He stabbed his weapon into the ground to clean the blade.

Thank you, sister, for your gift.

Tomorrow, your sacrifice will feed the hundred and ten clans I hunt for.

A dim vibration tickled his senses.

The gentlest stirring of air brushed his nape.

Unsheathing the spare blade holstered to his boot, turning in an agile twist, Cobra collided with a male razorbeast as a thunderclap reverberated through the lowlands.

Growling, he grappled with a yawning maw barehanded.

Genuflect, spine bent under tremendous weight, Cobra’s poison glands swelled as his anima flourished in a threat display.

Fangs dripping, he spat toxin into a beady eye wild with too much white.

The razorbeast yowled with primeval rage.

Fighting for its life, and furious at the death of its mate, the animal hissed and scratched, knocking the dagger from his lower fist.

Sour pants of breath gusted over Cobra’s face.

Foamed slobber dribbled over his forearms, compromising his grip.

Using brute strength, he shoved the creature upright in increments and gained his feet.

Grunted when he slid flatfooted through the loamy soil as the beast flailed and pranced on its haunches.

Tendons in his neck popped as he hugged the razorbeast’s head with his lower arms then wrenched.

Crack
.

The animal slumped, dead.

Breathing strained, legs wobbly, Cobra laid it down, patting its still warm side in condolence. “Rest now.”

“Oh, la!” Deathly as It Goes grumped mimicking someone he knew well.

His brow ridge rose. “Problem?”

“What am I to hunt? Your racket has scared the game deeper into the forest.” She sniffed. “You have made my hunt that much harder.”

Still out of breath, he snorted. “You are welcome.”

She laughed. “Good hunting, Rä’Vek! That was thrilling to witness. I shall tell my Rä’Vek and your clan of your skill.” She said over her shoulder, “All of you should speak of this. It was a worthy kill. Did you see how Cobra that Strikes had the dagger ready when the female reared in warning? Remember that your primary weapon may not be enough to take down larger prey. And did you see, even when offering last rites, he did not lose awareness of his environment? Defending against the male’s pounce a moment later would have seen his head bitten from his shoulders.”

Roving through the kakt-kakt, the apprentices mumbled between themselves, and sidled closer to get a better look.

“Slaughter the beasts and packet the meat.” To Cobra, she said, “We will deliver it to your lair by third moon’s end, so your apprentices may deliver to the clans you hunt for.”

“Set aside the prime cuts and hides,” he replied. He gave a small smile. “I will make a gift of them to my nest mates.”

“It will be as you say. Go.” A knowing, female smirk. “Enjoy the rain with your clan.”

He badly wanted to go, but she had clans to hunt for too.

His personal desires should not disrupt the balance. “Do you need me to watch the fledglings?”

“No. I teased earlier. While you were playing with razorbeasts, I downed a docile ruminant or three.” She waved away his heartfelt congratulations. “It was nothing compared to this. But–” brille narrowing “–I will become Master Hunter yet. Watch your back, white-quill.”

Laughing, thanking Deathly for the help, Cobra paused to offer her apprentices murmured words of encouragement.

After answering the more pressing questions of tracking technique, washing his arms off, he left them to butcher and dress the meat.

Usually he did such tasks himself, but it was part of his duties to guide and train the younger generation.

“
Do not skin it like that
,” Deathly shouted exasperated. “You ruin the pelt. Look! Look how you have punctured the viscera, and it is staining the fur. Empty skull. Watch me as you insist on being simple. I do not understand why you struggle with this. I have shown you a dozen times.
Watch.
The female’s blood has already drained, so we need only peel back the hide, eviscerate then split. The male is an extra step. Sever the artery like so, peel, remove the organs, and only
then
do you divide the carcass in half.”

Her well-meant diatribe faded as Cobra wended his way back through the forest, and out to the sand plains.

The colours in the multihued sky grew darker and ruptured upon reaching the city proper.

Excited Rä stood on their stoops, and awaited the downpour as he rushed homeward.

Yammering to his nest mates, Lumen bounced on the pathway as he rode up.

He let the Sylphs lead away his white-flecked mount, requesting three more readied and brought to them.

Skipping to him, Lumen slapped both hands to his gore-spattered chest. “Welcome home, honey.”

She went up on her toes to hug him around the neck.

The hard yet soft mound of her stomach pressed against him, making his hearts ache with hope for the future.

Venomous and Fiercely traipsed after her, yet their expressions were indulgent, happy she was happy.

“Lumen,” he muttered embarrassed, but also thrilled to be greeted with enthusiasm.

He grimaced.

She’d dirtied her softsuit, an occurrence that would have sent Singing Water into hysterics.

Glancing down at the blood, she shrugged it off. “You’re a Hunter. Shit might get messy. Bag anything good?”

“Razorbeast. A mated pair.”

“Impressive,” Fiercely said. He clicked his teeth. “I knew there was a reason I did not gut you.”

Venomous chuckled. “Does this mean you have a spare rotation to spend with your clan?”

“It does,” Cobra replied with a fang-filled smile.

Gaze drifting between them, Lumen chewed her lip. “Isn’t killing a mated pair kind of cruel? What if they had cubs?”

Cobra decided not to reveal the female had been breeding.

“So compassionate,” Venomous murmured.

“A weakness,” Fiercely stated with a vexed scowl.

Venomous shot him an ominous look. “I disagree.” His tone was icy, final.

“Something I should know?” Lumen asked not bothering to look at them.

Lines of tension bracketed her mouth.

A pause that lasted a beat too long.

Fiercely replied, “No.”

“Usually we do not condone such action, as it would destabilise the food chain,” Cobra explained diverting her attention.

He knew why Fiercely worried over their Rä’Na’s vulnerabilities, but he sided with Venomous.