He was growling to himself when Terri turned around and shouted to him, waving as she pointed to something that had caught her attention. Veral looked to the direction she indicated, his eyes widening with surprise. There, in the distance, a large group of humans was moving across the open desert. Large four-legged animals pulled wooden vessels across the sand.
The animals were skinny and underfed, their bones showing through their skin, but they plodded faithfully along under the direction of humans walking beside the wagon, and the sole commander seated on the vehicle. Males walked among females without conflict, often in what appeared to be mated pairs. And there were offspring! Small ones peeked out of ports on the vessels and older ones walked with the adults, a few carried in the arms of their parents. The people were tired, dirty, and almost as malnourished as the livestock, yet they were making their way west. He was witnessing an entire migrating colony of a species that should be, by all rights, extinct. Veral immediately set his ocular implant to record.
Part of his duties as a salvager was to retrieve digital documentation that could be returned to the historians and scientists of the intergalactic collective at large. It was considered almost more valuable than the raw goods he had. This sight was one that he knew would be of interest to many. The planet devastated, the civilizations decaying and dead, and yet the species stubbornly persisted. Veral drew up beside Terri, unable to look away.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Terri laughed. “Kids! I don’t remember the last time I saw a child.”
Veral didn’t reply but leaned into the female contently. He’d been away from his own home planet for so long, and far from other salvagers who traveled ceaselessly with their families, that he’d forgotten what it was like to see offspring. Even as far away as they were, he could hear the soft, reedy laughter of little ones.
At a shout, a male at the front pulled the lead vessel to a stop, the animals snorting and tossing their heads wearily as they drew to a halt. Immediately, males and females hurried to it and the others, stripping off supplies. They worked like a swarm of industrious insects bent on a task and Veral watched with interest as the rough outlines of a camp began to pop up over the hard, packed ground.
One of the males studying the landscape suddenly froze, his arm going up as he shouted, gesturing wildly. Confused, Veral turned his head and froze. His female had climbed on top of the rocks for a better look and was now completely visible to the humans below. It had not gone without notice and several males were approaching her. Terri cursed and jumped down, but it was too late. The males advanced, their faces set in stubborn lines. Veral snarled, his vibrissae expanding as he nudged Terri aside and placed his body between her and the humans. His arms fell back, circling around her as he pinned her to his back. The vibrissae rattled threateningly, and the pace of the males slowed.
“Do you hear that? I think we’re getting close to a rattler’s nest,” one of the males observed in a hushed voice.
“All the more important that we get her, Kevin,” another protested. “Women aren’t safe out here alone. There’s no telling how long she’s been out here. She’s probably half-feral. If we take her in, she’ll be safe, and we’ll all benefit when she chooses a man among us when she’s ready. If there are rattlers nearby, then clearly she’s in need of rescuing.”
“I suppose,” the other male agreed unenthusiastically. “Women can be a touch foolish like that… Running straight into a rattler’s nest seems about right.”
Veral sneered and backed up at Terri’s urging. He wanted to remove their tongues for speaking in such a fashion abouthisfemale.
“Come on,” she hissed. “Let’s get going. We’ll be long gone before they are even over the rise.”
“I do not care for the way they are speaking of you,” he snarled.
Terri laughed, though it sounded strained. “They’re just being stupid. They’ll give up the moment they get to the top without anything to show for it.”
“They seek to damage your honor,” he returned vehemently.
She shook her head. “My honor is fine. Trust me, I don’t need any more trophies.”
He scowled at her, taken in by the unyielding look on her face despite his disappointment. “I would gladly lay their tongues at your feet.”
“Now that’s a charming picture I could live without,” she replied, her tug on him becoming more insistent as the clattering sound of loose rock echoed around them. “Come on, Veral. The last thing I want is them getting a good look at you and going into a panic. You don’t exactly inspire peace and goodwill.”
Veral cast her a curious glance. “Why would I wish to do so? It is good that they fear me upon sight. Then they will know to stay far away from me and mine.”
“Of course that would be your logic,” she muttered in exasperation, but he did not miss the way the corners of her lips tugged up fondly. “Come on then, my terrifying male, I do not want to be delayed with an unnecessary confrontation. Let’s get our carts back to the ship so that we may rest. Besides, I want to see it. Also, you promised me that I would be able to get clean,” she reminded him with a grin.
Veral groaned at the image her reminder conjured. He pictured his female in the cleansing unit taking advantage of the mineral tub. He would fill it with water and tend to her bathing before taking great pleasure in rubbing exotic, expensive oils from far-flung planets into her skin. The oils were his one pleasure, and he looked forward to sharing it with his mate. The uncomfortable pressure of his swollen civix—which had never truly reduced since its first inflammation and wouldn’t until it was satisfied—pushed aggressively forward against the seam of his pouch. He panted and growled as his civix writhed, desperately seeking the feminine heat of his mate.
Unintentionally, one of his vibrissae lifted and slipped through the filaments on her head—her hair as she called it. He groaned at the simple contact; his hips thrust forward into the air in front of him helplessly. The texture was gritty from sweat, dirt, and sand. He did not find it objectionable as his vibrissae twined around her locks of hair, tugging gently. The rich scent of Terri’s arousal swamped his senses, sending his systems into a frenzy.
In that state, Veral’s aggression spiked as he scented the human males, and his processor tracked their movement up the hillside. A vicious growl erupted from him, his vibrissae’s rattle becoming more pronounced in volume as they lifted further into the air around his head. It was the territorial sound of a male warning off a potential rival. Krono echoed the sound as he positioned himself at Terri’s side, his long fangs bared.
A horrible thought occurred to Veral as the salty, pungent scent of the males drew closer. What if Terri desired to join with them? They were her own species and weren’t members of the gang that had been threatening her. She may desire a human mate.
His head whipped around to look at her. “You will not mate with any of those males,” he demanded.
Terri’s brows climbed on her flat, expressive face. “You are honestly worried about that?”
He snarled and turned his head away, his vibrissae jerking periodically with his barely controlled aggression. “They are weak, inferior… They stink,” he added with a wrinkle of his nose. He enjoyed the way his anastha smelled, but no other humans.
He was still debating what terrible things he could do to remove his rivals or discourage their pursuit when he felt a small hand slide up into his vibrissae. Small fingers wrapped around several of them before yanking firmly as a female Argurma would in mating to demand the seed of her mate. The sensation shot down to his civix, making it jerk and thump at the barrier of his pouch. A ripple of pleasure shot through his groin as he felt the seam separate more. Clicking his mandibles, he growled and turned his hot gaze onto his mate. The humans were getting louder, but their noise faded into the background as he dismissed their presence in favor of the desire surging through him for his female.
“I see I’ve got your attention now,” she whispered, her lips quirking with amusement.
He hissed in agreement as he turned to nudge her toward his ship with his massive body. His instinctive needs were taking over, overwhelming his processors with their demands. He felt nothing but the impulse pushing through his coding to make haste and get his female into his abode. His starship was the only home he possessed, and at that moment he desired her caged within it more than anything.