Two
BEHTU
Ideny the warmth spreading behind my sternum. I’m a Star Maverick, an elite space pirate. I’m incapable of tender feelings! She didn’t heed my warning and I took what she so freely offered and that’s the end of it. Nothing more than a good, hard rutting.
I shift on my makeshift bed, Qhix's hospitality a cruel comfort. The darkness of the room is a shroud that fails to cloak the tempest within me. My sivot churns restlessly, an untamed beast roused from a lifetime of dormancy by a small, slip of a female. Control is my creed, my constant companion in the wilds of the Universe —except when it comes to her.
That infuriating,delectablehuman.
I silently curse my body's betrayal. It is not in my nature to be so...unbridled.To be anything less than master of my own will. Except, it seems, where Jules is concerned. Her taste still lingers on my tongue, a ghost of spice and fervor that has my mouth watering. Her scent clings to my flesh, an intoxicating blend of female and wildness that taunts my every breath.
I rolled to my side and pillow my head on my bent arm, seething at my own weakness, at how easily my sivot had emerged and knotted her, spilling mating seed into her tight sheath as if claiming her for eternity. That was not supposed to happen! I am Behtu Ky'Orlax, Star Maverick elite, not some lovelorn youth ensnared by primal urges.
As the first hints of dawn threaten the horizon, I wrestle with the beast roaring inside me. Glaxis 3 beckons with its hidden treasure, a bounty rumored to be more valuable than the rare rysis stones on Tyrig 6. Now that I’ve sampled the treasure between Jules' lush thighs, what awaits me on Glaxis 3 pales in comparison. Each thought of her is a lash against my resolve, and I know if I stay on Pryt, my resistance will crumble like the ancient ruins of the first city on Klaxis.
As I steel myself against the desire to remain, to have another taste of her seductive charms, I know I stand at a precipice. One step toward her is a step away from the freedom I hold dear—a life amongst the stars, unbound and untamed.
My sivot churns just below the surface of my flesh in conflict with my eagerness to leave Pryt and Jules behind.
I growl softly, the frustration evident in the set of my jaw, the clenching of my fists in the cool sheets. Being tethered to another was never in my plans, and the thought of succumbing to my sivot’s will to claim a mate is as abhorrent to me as the chains of rule I forsook long ago when I passed my crown to my younger brother.
The surging of my sivot competes with the gravity of my will. I ache to chart new courses, to claim the fortune on Glaxis 3 that taunts me. Yet, the thought of leaving her feels akin to severing a limb—an exquisite pain that’s absolute.
"Until again, Jules," I whisper into the silence, a vow or a curse—I cannot decide. As I rise from my bed, the decision carves itself into my very marrow. The Star Maverick must sailthe void, unfettered and unbound. It is the only way. My sivot snarls in protest, a rumble that vibrates through my chest, but I quell it with the iron will that has navigated me through countless perils.
Jules, with her verdant gaze and indomitable spirit, has become my greatest peril yet. To remain would be to place my fate in her hands, an idea both terrifying and tempting. But the vast expanse calls, promising solace in solitude.
I will not be tied down to a female even if she has awakened my beast.
Steeling my resolve, the choice is made. I will leave before the others awaken before Jules can look at me with those eyes that see too much. My sivot surges and roars beneath my flesh, but I ignore my beastly persona. The beast doesn't care for treasure or freedom. It craves her. It lives solely for her.
In the stillness, I gather the scant possessions that tether me to this place—my weapons, my gear. The weight of them feels heavier now, burdened with the unspoken goodbye that lingers on my tongue.
I move through Qhix's beachside domicile like a specter, each step a silent testament to the conflict raging within me. The sea outside murmurs its ceaseless lullaby, but it's no match for the cacophony in my head.
Qhix stirs when I kneel beside his bed, his eyes blinking open to the pre-dawn gloom. "Behtu?" he whispers, confusion etched across his features.
"Shh," I shush him, pressing a finger to my lips. "I'm setting off.”
"Off in search of treasures untold?” Qhix sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"There’s too much Maverick in me to linger in one place for very long.”
"Until again, brother,” he nods, his understanding a silent pact between us.
“Until again.” We share a brief clasp of forearms, and then I turn away, leaving behind the warmth of companionship for the cold certainty of solitude, but that has always been my way. It’s the way of a Star Maverick.
I slip away from the slumbering house, determined to reclaim the destiny I chose long before Jules' star collided with mine.
My Lizordian freighter awaits, a silent sentinel against the waning night. I resist the temptation to cast a look back at the peaceful beach, at the place where my control shattered like crystallite upon stone. But I know if I do, I’ll lose my momentum, so I keep my back on it all, my raging sivot a bitter companion, as I prepare to ascend to the solitude of the cosmos.
"Glaxis 3," I command the onboard navigation system, my voice steady despite the tempest inside. The engines hum to life, a familiar thrum that speaks of new beginnings, of uncharted territories waiting to be conquered.
As the ship breaks through the atmosphere, the first rays of sunlight kiss Pryt's horizon goodbye. I soar toward the promise of adventure and the hope that, among alien moons and ancient treasures, I might find a way to silence the sivot's roar.
I sit alone on the command deck, the engines whispering secrets of entanglement and entrapment. I can almost hear Jules' breath within them, a siren call luring me into the depths of a mating trap. The nature of my sivot is primitive, yet powerfully binding—a connection that could shackle a free soul like mine to another for eternity.
The temptation to turn around and return to Pryt, to be ensnared by her allure, is a gravitational pull against everything I’ve fought to be. I nearly caved from the electric touch of her skin against mine igniting a primal need within my sivot. Toremain would be to relinquish the freedoms of a space pirate, to confine myself within the orbit of her existence.
