Page 26 of Claimed By the Alien Mercenary

Chapter 20

Jaxin

Dani slipped into a deep slumber not long after I’d filled her with my seed. I could not stop admiring the dotted line I’d created along her shoulder. I’d never before had the urge to bite a partner during sex, but with Dani, it had struck me the last time, too. Then, I’d managed to hold back, but the need to claim her had been too powerful tonight. She hadn’t acted like I’d hurt her, but I wanted to make sure she was all right by using the scanner from my med kit anyway. She’d brought it with her tonight to check our food. It had to be somewhere in the pile of shredded clothing.

Her snug heat still clenched tightly around me, and the moment I shifted to try to look for that scanner, pleasure lanced through me, hard and fast. Damn it, that was so distracting, I could barely think straight as I rode the wave. She was tiny, but she took me so beautifully. I could not get enough of looking at the way her body grasped me, any more than I could keep myself from looking at the bite mark.

Fine, she was asleep and looked peaceful, who was I to disturb that? The party outside was winding down, the music fading away, voices growing dim and silent. The cave beyond our little house was growing dark too, and the candles inside were burning down to their wicks. It had taken that long for my cock to stop clasping her sheath. I’d never stayed thick that long before, and I took great satisfaction in knowing Dani made my body respond more powerfully than anyone else. That was only right.

Once I grew flaccid enough to withdraw, I did so very gently. Seed, thick and creamy, came along as I pulled out, painting her delicate anthracite folds. The impulse was as new as the desire to bite her had been, and I’d given into it before I could think better of it. Fingers dipping into her to coat themselves with my seed, I raised them between us—over her sleeping form—and rubbed it into the pinprick marks my bite had created on her shoulder. I stared at the silver streaks I’d made and, finally, for the first time since I’d met my little scientist, felt a calmness settle in my gut. There. Now she was truly mine.

After that, we slumbered together, deeply, without dreams. It was the kind of sleep I’d never before experienced while on dry land—frankly, perhaps never even when I was submerged. She woke me with kisses and nibbles along my chest, her tiny tongue licking the scars that marked my thick gray skin. Immediately, my cock grew hard, and my eyes sought out her shoulder. To my surprise, the seed I’d painted her with had melted away, and the small nicks had all closed while we slept. Now, each tiny mark was a silver dot or small slash, and it was beautiful.

Something in my feelings must have given it away, because she abruptly sat up to look down at her shoulder. Her all-black eyes grew wide then, catching sight of the markings that decorated her pretty anthracite skin. “Whoa, when did this happen?” she asked, and then she answered the question herself. “Last night, when you bit me.” Her fingers trailed over the silver dots, and my cock twitched eagerly. She sensed that too, her eyes dropping to my groin and thick length, and then she licked her damn lips. It was too much for a male to take.

Rolling us over, I pinned her to the bed, and after that, it was just a lust-filled, passionate haze of pleasure—our bodies tangling, her heat taking me, my clasper locking us in place. Beautiful female. Mine. Mate. It was at least an hour later that we finally separated, panting, sweat-soaked, and pleased. My hand found hers on the sheets and held on, unwilling to forgo a physical link between us.

The knock on the door came next, polite but definitely insistent, followed by the hum of my comm signaling an incoming call. I swore, Dani smiled, and the two of us rolled out of bed. She shrugged into the dress from last night and padded to the door to open it, while I just yanked the sheets from the bed over my lap and answered the comm call.

“Status report, Jaxin,” Asmoded demanded, sounding grumpy, but that was just to mask the worry he always felt for all his people. Dani was letting a giant into our guest quarters, a male, but probably a young one. He carried a tray laden with food, which he left on the table for us, and then he set about refilling the massive bathtub with hot water he lugged in bucket by bucket.

“All is well. We found safe haven with the locals, but will resume our journey today. We should reach the extraction point in…” I flicked to the map on my comm to check our coordinates and smiled. “Just a few hours, sir.” It wasn’t far, and I felt strong and well-rested. We’d easily make that last trip—unless, of course, Koratalin’s mercenaries tried to hassle us again. Perhaps they would not dare, so close to a Kertinal base and landing strip.

“Make sure you do,” Asmoded said, followed by a much kinder: “Mandy wants me to remind you that an Aderian scientist is not a grunt you can boss around.” The comment surprised a laugh out of me, and I half-swallowed the rough, unusual sound. My grin was wide and genuine, and it made Asmoded raise one nubbed black brow in surprise. I ended the call before he could ask any questions.

Not much later, Dani and I had both washed up and eaten. Now she was insisting I pack the damn flower garlands from last night into her already bulging bag of samples. We were haggling over the amount, but only because I enjoyed seeing her so fiery, when Taktak arrived. As the giant greeted my mate, she turned her back. I stuffed all the garlands she’d insisted on, and all the other flowers I could see, into the damn satchel.

We were ready to go, and it was clear Taktak was here to escort us back to the surface. He wore the same leather and leaf loincloth as before, rather than the fancy white fabric everyone else seemed robed in. A large jar of red clay also hung from his belt, along with a knife and a thick-handled ax. He looked like a warrior ready for war, and when he met my gaze, it was with a solemn look of understanding. There might even be a hint of regret, but I was not sure enough of my ability to read expressions to be certain. Dani would know.

The impressive underground town of stone and pillars looked very different this morning. Children, as tall as we were, ran amok in the streets, and not a single shop or stall was open. When we reached the square where the main celebration had taken place last night, giants lay sleeping everywhere—passed out where they had stood when the party wound down. It must have been a very wild, very happy party from the looks of things.

There was a party of a very different kind waiting for us by the entrance building: more giants dressed the same way Taktak was, and one giantess in pale robes, flower garlands in her long hair. She greeted Taktak with a kiss that was long and passionate, making the watching warriors guffaw and thump their fists on their thighs. “Aw, they made her blush,” Dani whispered, when Taktak’s lady rushed away without a backward glance. It had to be the same one our giant friend had danced with last night, and the very same lady who had helped us get dressed yesterday, but the paint on her face was all in different shades today, so I couldn’t be sure.

Without another word—though we couldn’t understand them anyway—our escort of giants began leading the way, into the building Dani had so admired on arrival, and then down the stairs and through the tunnel with its sinuous, water-themed carvings. Soon, we reached the entryway where steps led into the water. We’d have to swim out. Dani’s expression was much clearer to me than Taktak’s; it was obvious she did not look forward to the cold water.

“Come,” I said, taking her hand and leading her after Taktak down the massive, giant-sized steps. “I’ll keep you warm, and there’s still enough air in my suit for the return trip. Don’t worry.” The water was colder here than up near the surface, not warmed by the sun, and Dani trembled in my arms as we submerged ourselves.

There were eyes on us, though, several curious gazes showing far too much interest in our interaction. The white cloth Dani had tied around her chest as an improvised shirt was going transparent, revealing the black lace and stretchy fabric of her supportive top. I began to growl, furious that they might be eyeing her breasts, but Dani pressed a hand to my shoulder and shook her head. “No, I think they’re wondering how we’re going to make the swim. I don’t think they believed Taktak’s description of our dive yesterday.”

Not entirely reassured, I huffed and pulled her more tightly against me. Freeing the air straw for her from the collar of my armor, I offered it to her. Then, I set about assuring myself that both the bag with samples, Bex, and Dani’s tablet with research were properly secured. There was a wave as more of the giants escorting us got into the water, and Dani spluttered as some of it got into her face. I was tempted to snarl again, but she pressed the straw to her mouth and nodded at me to go just then. Perhaps that was the more tactical option.

Dani clung tightly to me as we swam through the cave and back out into the lake. Then, I had to orient myself and search the sunlit waters to locate where Taktak had gone. The giant was a fast swimmer, but I had his scent, and the water gave me an advantage. I did not think the giants following Dani and me from the cave expected the speed I could muster when I took off. We left them briefly in our wake, even weighed down with my mate, my cannon, and the samples.

Reaching the surface, I breached slowly because I wanted to make absolutely certain there were no surprises waiting for us. We were surfacing by the right bank, which appeared safe, with plenty of options for cover. The left bank, where I knew we’d left the mercenaries chasing us, also appeared empty. That was a good sign; perhaps we’d shaken them for now. Perhaps the Kertinal had discovered their presence and kicked them off their planet.

Taktak was rising from the water and ducking into the trees, his ax in hand. More of his males were following his example, surfacing and rushing for tactical cover. It was very practiced, very smooth. I was impressed. Following their lead, Dani and I did the same, our feet sinking into soft sand and then loamy earth as we ducked beneath the jungle trees.

Dani stood next to me, shaking from the cold, and I whisked the wetness from her bare skin with my hands. “You’ll warm up soon,” I assured her, my gills flaring in my neck as I recalled the cold water. The sun and the heat in the forest would take care of that, even if it would take ages for her clothing to dry. Her pants were ragged by now, and the shirt she’d worn before was lost, hence her improvised top made from fabric taken from the giants. I had nothing clean or dry to offer her, but she did not complain, leaning into my armor-clad body for warmth and safety. I gladly held her close, but I raised my comm to check the maps and make certain we’d go in the right direction once we said goodbye to Taktak.

I thought they only meant to escort us to the surface, but I soon discovered I was wrong. No, these giants took their jars of red clay and began diligently painting stripes along their bodies and rubbing it into their hair—some kind of camouflage, perhaps a natural repellent against the insects that hummed and buzzed around us. They were staying with us for now, but I did not think they meant it as anything other than protection.

Taktak was doing it with such ceremonial precision too, and when he was done, he came to us. First, he offered the jar with the remaining red clay to Dani, which she politely declined. When he drew another garland of flowers from a pouch at his waist and offered her that instead, she blushed. Not a visible blush, but I could sense the heat rise in her skin. “Oh, right…” she muttered, accepting the garland and draping it around her throat. It hung low, and I was pleased that the large flowers now obscured her chest.

“There’s something I meant to say to you, Jaxin,” she said in a hushed tone, as if she did not want it to carry, like it was a secret between her and me, not meant for giant ears, even if they did not speak our languages.

“What is it, little one?” I asked. Taking her hand, I tugged her more tightly back into my arms and fussed over the flowers so they hung just right over the still somewhat transparent fabric of her improvised shirt. She liked that, I could see it in the way her mouth twitched and her black eyes sparkled.

“Well,” she started, then bit her lip as if she were struggling to find the words. “You see, I think that party last night was a mating ceremony.” She was not wrong; even I, of a species that didn’t do mating of any variety—arranged or otherwise—had recognized that. It had been Taktak and his lady’s celebration. He had the look of a male pleased to possess the female he desired.