Thatlittlefemalepackeda vicious punch. His jaw was still aching as he strolled casually down the Undercity street towards the lift that would take him to Docking Bay 77, one of the larger bays on Erral.
He stopped once he noticed how quiet it was.
“That’s quite enough hiding for one Lighting. If you don’t get back to work, I’ll make this shift permanent for you.”
A thunderous slithering echoed and then the roaring sound of work started up again.
“That’s what I thought.”
The Ghet worked in shifts, because the engineering portion of the station was a never ending job. Upkeep was constant, and the Lighting shift was the least desirable so his threat had been most nocturnal creatures on Erral's worst nightmare.
Speaking of nocturnal creatures… he was going to have to catch and contain Callie sooner rather than later, as the Assembly was coming up and he didn’t want to be gallivantingaround the station instead of preparing to face off against the denizens of the Light. Oh, there were other matters to vote on to be sure, like weather patterns, crop rotations, and new trade routes to plan as well as the raiding parties schedules, but the Lighting and Dark time split was always the most heated.
Still, he was loath to give up the chase and catch game they were playing. It had been so very long since he could shed the cloak of his civility and just be the predator he was and Callie made for excellent prey. She was cunning and stubborn and the scent of her frustration and fear made him salivate like nothing before. He didn’t need the sophisticated surveillance system to track her as her scent trail was as thick and easy to follow as the Earthling yellow brick road.
He wondered how she’d react if he told her that no matter how well she hid or how far she ran, he could always find her. That hunting her was his greatest joy and her mad fight to escape him was giving him true happiness. He knew his grin had taken on that feral edge that made people cringe away from him and it made him add a little hop into his step as he boarded the lift and set the controls to take him to 77. It was a good thing the lift was empty because the wagging of his tail would have struck anything around him with bruising force.
A deranged giggle floated past his teeth at the memory of Callie’s ferociousness during their little tussle. She was quicker than he’d imagined, which she should have kept in her back pocket for when she was more sure of her escape. Now that he knew her speed was greater than his own he would adjust accordingly and her edge was lost. He’d be sure to tell her that at a later date just to see the way her brown eyes would light up with rage. Someone should have warned the poor dear that the more she showcased how strong and capable she was the more he would want her. If she’d gone along with his every whim like adocile pet, he’d have lost interest in her almost immediately and taken her back home.
It was much too late for her now though. He was determined to make her his. Once she got over the initial resistance and affront at his audacity… and the kidnapping and imprisonment — she’d see that he was the ultimate mate. There were no lengths he wouldn’t go to ensure her happiness. He was loyal—she’d never have to worry about him straying from her side for another. He was intelligent, both mentally and emotionally — yes, that meant he understood and empathized with her need to escape and go back to her friends. He even knew how hard she would fight herself from giving into him. What sane female wouldn't make him work for forgiveness after he’d snatched her from her life? It was unfortunate for her that he was also obsessive, possessive, and perhaps even a small bit insane. Ah well, one couldn’t be perfect could they? He was very close though.
Not to mention handsome. He was a supreme specimen! He knew how to please his lovers as well. Open communication was something he considered himself especially adept at. Once she gave into the inevitable, he’d be sure to give her no less than ten orgasms a day. That would go a long way toward appeasing her rationality. It was harder to think logically when your brain was addled by pleasure. He couldn’t have her thinking too hard on all the ways their relationship started out ‘wrong’.
Such a rigid way of thinking.
Oh, he kidnapped me and locked me in a room and wouldn’t let me go until I married him. Woe is me.
He liked to think it was more of a courting gift, really. What female wouldn’t want a male so single-mindedly enamored with her? He was going to have to loosen her up a little more. What was the point of living this life if you didn’t toss all the rulesand expectations out the window and live however the hell you pleased?
The lift chimed once to signal the end of the journey and the gate retracted upwards. He stepped out onto the busy dock and observed with tail curling satisfaction the chaotic bustle of successful commerce. He’d once had everything and had lost it in death and fire and had been left holding ashes. This station was the culmination of all his hard work. His stubborn determination was in every scrap of metal and wiring of Erral. HewasErral.
Now if he could only find a fiery female just as stubborn as he was to share it with, he would have the ultimate prize. He sniffed, raising his muzzle to sample the air. Ah yes, there was his prize. She’d boarded the small shuttle of one Freeza Quxit. He was an odious fellow and he wouldn’t be very happy if his shuttle was stolen and by a female no less. Freeza was one of those males that thought females were lesser than him. How he came to that conclusion was anyone's guess. He tried not to ponder too hard on small minded people. Usually he just killed them. He considered himself a patient male, but when it came to stupidity and especially the kind that had to be loud about being wrong, well let's just say that Rathal had made the universe a better place a few times. He was of the mind that any male that had to make someone lesser to feel superior was never superior to begin with. Such males didn’t deserve the air they breathed.
He had half a mind to let Freeza discover Callie on his shuttle, just to watch her kill him but like any good mate, it was his job to dispatch her enemies. The male in question was stalking across the docking bay towards his ship with his customary sneer in place. It was usually his policy not to murder paying customers, but Freeza was a stain on the universe and really, a show of unmitigated violence every once in a while kept everyone else in line.
His grin was all sharp teeth and promise when he blocked Freeza’s path.
The big male grunted to a stop and looked down at Rathal, his wrinkled brow rising in surprise before dropping again to droop over his sunken, beady little eyes. Rathal’s lip quivered in disgust at the male’s smell. The Mustuth had loose skin that folded and sagged over their body like someone had used too much wax to make them and then melted them. Most of the species were meticulous in making sure their many folds were cleaned and powdered to ward against moisture. This creature was the antithesis of that. The musk that wafted over Rathal as Freeza stopped in front of him almost made him lose his composure. There were even layers of mucus under Freeza’s floppy, bulbous nose where each new strand had dried and hardened before another one was added on top of it. Rathal shuddered, swallowing hard at the bile that wanted to surge out of him.
A gurgling sniff of disdain had Freeza’s fatty jowls jiggling. Rathal nearly gagged.
“What’s all this then?” the male demanded. Even his voice was a jiggling gurgle of too much saliva in a mouth with a tongue too large for it.
“This,” Rathal rasped with his hand cupping over his nose and the other waving at the air in front of him, “is me commandeering your vessel. By the Goddess, male, do you notsmellyourself? It is truly vile.”
Freeza drew himself up in a wobbling, waving picture of outrage. “What?” he demanded, his meaty hand dropping to the pulse pistol in its holster at his waist. “I’d like to see you try, Rathal. Me and my boys have been lookin’ for you all day. Did you know Mama Vi denied me entrance? I’m a paying customer just like everyone else!”
Rathal noted that Freeza hadn’t answered whether or not he could smell himself, so he took that as the stupid fool didn’t care or maybe that his nostrils had long since been seared inoperable by the stench.
He gagged and took a step back. “As she should. A being as disgusting as you has no business being around another living soul, much lesstouchingone. And fucking? Absolutely out of the question. I would throw myself out of a window to my death rather than be subjected to standing in an enclosed room with you. The docking bay is bad enough.”
As expected, the sentient shit pile with legs squealed in fury and drew his gun. Rathal was loath to have any part of this filthy creature's body fluids touch him, so rather than get into a long drawn out fight, he drew the dagger that was tucked into the waistband of his entirely too boring leather pants and threw it.
It sank hilt deep into Freeza’s beady black eye and the big male stopped cold, gave Rathal a confused look and then fell face down onto the floor. It took several long seconds for the aftershock jiggling of skin to stop. Rathal stared down at the body with disgust before turning his attention to the two males that had been walking slightly behind Freeza. They stared at Rathal and then down at Freeza and then back again a few times before holding up their hands in surrender and turning on their heels to quickly walk back to the in-processing station to find another shuttle.
Rathal snapped his fingers in the air. “Someone come clean this up. And make sure the ground is sanitized afterwards or we will never get the smell out.”
Four dock workers scurried to comply and Rathal brushed imaginary dust off the front of his shirt before turning to study the shuttle his prize was currently hiding on.
