I freeze.
Shit.
What am I going to do? I have a feeling the king won’t be happy. Sleeping with his bride is one thing, but taking her virginity?
Masculine pride fills me again.
“Not helpful,” I growl, trying to push my inflated ego down with the weight of my duty as captain of the royal guard. But that’s hard to do when my cock is also enlarged.
There’s a soft moan beside me. I stop breathing as Simone opens her beautiful eyes, captivating me with a small, sleepy smile. “Good morning.”
What the hell am I supposed to say to that? How could she possibly think that this is a good morning? I was supposed to escort her, not fuck her!
“Irriuth,” she says, frowning. “Is there something wrong?”
Of course there was something wrong! Everything was wrong! I growl and jump out of bed, cock glowing like a third rising sun.
Simone takes in the scene with a smile. “Oh, I see why you’re grouchy. Why don’t you come back to the mats and I’ll fix that for you.”
Then, she winks at me. Like treason is cute.
I growl again. It’s not cute!
She gets on all fours on top of the mats and crawls towards me, her thick ass jiggling. I remember how it felt when I grabbed it last night, driving into her again and again. A growl of deep, masculine appreciation fills the cave. She is mine.
No she’s not, she belongs to the king.
No. She is MINE!
I move towards her, grabbing her soft curves. This woman is more than a handful, and I’ve got big hands.
“That’s better,” she purrs, tilting up her ass to give me full access.
And she’s going to be the death of me.
Two hours later, I’m making breakfast. It’s almost sunrise. We did not make good time due to circumstances outside of my control. This can’t happen again.
She licks her lips, batting those long lashes at me.
It can’t happen.
It can’t.
It would be really bad if it did.
I need to think straight. I need to prepare. I need to…
Fuck my mate.
“This is really good,” she tells me, her voice sultry for some reason.
“It’s food,” I reply.
“You worked hard. How about dessert?” She leans back, spreading her legs for me.
An hour later, we pile into the truck. I think I did a pretty good job, all things considered. I only abandoned my social, familial, and professional morals two times today. That counted for something. Two things, actually. Well, kind of. In any event, I was exercising a lot of restraint—I could have her on her back right now.
In fact, why don’t I?
I stop the car.
“Forget something?” she asks with a sly smile.
I run my heated gaze up and down her body. “Maybe.”
“I bet we could find it. Together.”
I want to pull over, but I can’t. So why am I slowing the truck?
We lurch to a stop. She leans over and places a hand on my thigh. Even through my pants, I can see the glowing of my cock. Heat that has nothing to do with the dangerous sunlight creeps up the back of my neck. Damn.
I look over at her and stop breathing. The first sun is already peeking over the horizon, casting long shadows over the rocks and dunes and desert fauna. She looks beautiful before its soft gold rays.
She parts her full lips. Runs her small pink tongue between them. I grip the steering wheel so hard I almost break it.
“Shelter,” I rasped.
She nods. “Please hurry.”
I smell her need. It is strong, and so is mine. As I turn the key in the ignition, the ground shakes with a mighty roar.
Simone gasps. “What the hell is that?”
Nothing good. The car jerks to life and I slam my foot down on the pedal, but it’s too late. Beside me, I hear a scream that splits the air and shatters through my bones. Instinct kicks in. I stop driving and reach for Simone just in time to feel the tips of her fingers slip through mine.
I look up to see her beautiful face scrunching up as she makes another bloodcurdling scream. The creature has blasted through the passenger door. Its tentacles wrap around her like rope. She soars through the air, kicking and screaming and struggling against its bindings.
It won’t do any good. This particular creature doesn’t respond to pain. All it feels is hunger.
My desire to protect her jolts through my veins like lightning. I blast out of my seatbelt, grab my gun, and race to the bushes just as she disappears behind the tangle of thorny limbs and leaves.
It’s a skaprian, one of the few creatures in the desert that actually finds refuge under the intense heat of all five suns. It rattles as it walks, hard legs clattering on the stone and sand, hissing through its mandibles. The carapace grates against its dark armored plates. In between them, blood red flesh crackles and sparks like lava. It holds its poisonous tail high above its head, twitching as it pulls Simone closer with its tentacles. The tip glistens in the dawn light, full of poison.
I move behind it, gun up to my eye.
The skaprian scuttles back and forth a little, raising its tail threateningly. Now that I’m here, the creature doesn’t know what to do.
I make a clicking sound, calling its attention. Tentacles flail in my direction, it squeals as it hurries forward. I’m in position and lower my aim so I’ve got the creature’s head in my sights and Simone is out of the line of fire.
The gun cracks and I hold it tight through the recoil. The spit of orange leaves the barrel and I see a bloody hole appear at the base of its head carapace. It drops Simone and she rolls to the side, into the bushes and out of sight.
Good.
The skaprian screams again, a screeching reedy sound made by air rushing through the mandibles and nostrils. For most creatures, vocalization means communication, but I don’t think these things are capable of it. Their sound is a byproduct of the emission of air.
The scuttling increases as it charges me, its many legs rattling on the hard ground. I aim between the glowing red eyes and fire again.
There is a small explosion of black shards around its forehead as the bullet hits home. Still, the beast keeps coming.
Now it’s pissed off. The hissing, screaming and scuttling becomes deafening as it charges over a cluster of rocks. I back away as quickly as I can, trying to get another shot. It’s coming after me faster than I can find my feet or aim.
I fire, but the shot goes over its head. It pauses and hisses, driving its tail at me. I leap backwards and stumble, falling on to my back. I can hear Simone screaming and I realize she’s come out of the shrubbery and is standing on the rocks to watch.
The tail comes down and I roll to the side as it stabs into the dirt. I know I’m only going to get one shot because I’ll have to stay still to aim and fire. If I don’t kill it with my next round, it will kill me with its next strike.
The tail rises high above its head. As the beast gathers itself to get within striking range, I whip my gun up and fire.
The head explodes, blood and slimy chunks of much grosser things spew in all directions. I tuck the gun to my chest and roll as the gigantic creature falls to the sand with a shattering crash. It shifts a little as it settles, the carapace still making small scratching sounds as its life slowly ebbs away.
“Irriuth!” Simone hits me like an out of control car at full speed. Her arms go around me and she knocks us both over. We tumble across the sand and finally settle to a stop with our arms around each other.