Bloody red footprints are left in her wake as she pushes through the door and runs down the corridor.
“Lock her in,” I yell to Avrell as I chase down my disruptive alien.
She’s much faster than I could ever have imagined but I train every solar to be faster than sabrevipes. I pick up my speed and race after her. An alarm sounds and then the hiss of doors automatically closing tells me Avrell’s done his job. Soon, she’ll have nowhere to go and I’ll have her in my grip.
I pass by several doors where curious black eyes peer through the glass. They’ll soon learn all about our little runaway.
I have to catch her first.
She slows when she realizes she’s running straight for a dead end. Her nog darts to the left and then to the right before she lets out a terrified shriek. Wide brown eyes meet mine as she turns to face me. I slow to a trot, now that I have her trapped. Her gaze travels behind me. If she thinks she’s going to make it past me, she’s lost her rekking mind.
“It’s in your best interest to comply,” I say calmly.
Her nostrils flare and her eyes become watery. “I don’t want to go back to sleep.” She bites down on one of her swollen pink lips. “If you don’t plan on letting me go home, can’t you just let me hang out with you?”
I blink at her, confused by her words, momentarily stunned by her vulnerability. After a second, I shake my nog to clear it. “No.”
She holds out both of her tiny palms as if she has the power to stop my massive frame. Small and delicate. Shaky. A bluish tint shades her slender fingers. Her teeth begin to clack together and I cock my nog to the side, curious at the sounds she’s making. When the sounds become louder, I worry she’s about to strike.
I straighten my spine, letting my sub-bones crack and pop as I rise to my full height. My ears flatten against my nog and I bare my double fangs at her. Whatever battle move she’s about to unleash, I’ll be ready. I’ve taken on sabrevipes with my bare hands. I can take down this miniature alien.
But instead of attacking me, she cowers, a terrified sob escaping her.
I frown at her, breaking my battle stance. “I can see you’re afraid,” I start, choosing my words carefully. She reminds me of so many of our people…from before. When they were all screaming and begging for their lives as The Rades wiped them out one by one. I squeeze my eyes shut, overwhelmed by the reminder.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
I blink my eyes open just in time to see her attempting to dart past me, her bare feet slapping the tile.
Lightning quick, I strike out and tangle my fist in her hair before she can get too far. A bone-rattling scream rips from her tiny body. She wiggles and squirms. Her claws, softer and more brittle than mine, rake across my cheek as she tries to free herself. She doesn’t break the surface but the sting remains. I grab her by her tiny arms and push her against the nearest door. Draven’s wild eyes watch the show from beyond the glass. When I glower at him, he disappears from my sight.
“Halt,” I order, my chest heaving from exertion.
Her throat bobs as she swallows. “Just kill me,” she says, her voice wobbling. “I’d rather be dead than be trapped in some coffin.”
I cock my nog to the side and study her lips. Once, Jareth ate a new species of flatshrooms Galen discovered and had a violent reaction. His lips swelled up like this untamed one’s. But his were never so intriguing. We jested at his expense until Avrell administered a treatment to heal him.
But these lips?
These are a visual snare, and I am caught.
She licks them.
Heat, fast like the flash of a magnastrike in a geostorm, strikes my lower belly. Like ultraviolet poisoning entering my bloodstream when I’ve spent one too many solars stealing extra seconds in the sun, it awakens my nerves as it travels to my cock. So many times I’ve stroked myself to release just to find a tiny inkling of pleasure in my bleak world. So many times.
And now, dark, forbidden thoughts of pleasuring myself in other ways begin to take root inside my mind.
As if sensing my physiological reaction to her, Aria licks her lips again. Her lids grow heavy and she gives me a sweet smile. A smile I want to taste.
A low rumbling builds in my throat.
Possessive and animalistic.
Mine.
The thought is like when Hadrian used to spill his cups as a small mortling. Fast. Out of control. Messy. You can’t stop it once it starts. Images of Aria free of her paper gown and spread before me are on the forefront of my mind. My cock is rigid in my minnasuit, straining against the protective material.