Alice lifted the helmet and settled it over her head, listening to the satisfying click and hiss as an isolated, internal environment was established. She flexed her fingers and waved her arms, getting used to the research focused exo-suit as she stepped into a small sterilization chamber adjacent to hangar A-1, a specialized bay dedicated to deploying sterile payloads to planets that supported life and ensuring no cross contamination upon the return of research teams. She tried not to think about the purge protocols Natori had access to for the hangar at large in case of catastrophic accident.
After remaining still with arms out and legs spread for a few seconds, the UV lights and other equipment deactivated and Alice was allowed to bounce into the space itself, hopping along in the low gravity of the Event Horizon's periphery. A few other members of the Event Horizon civilian crew were already on board the research shuttle, but one had waited for her.
"No offense, Gerard, but that suit is not particularly flattering," Alice giggled, confirming her communications were operational as he replied.
"Then it is a good thing it is you and not Yvonne that must deal with this sight, hmm? Given the space suits of the past I'm more than content. You are well?" He asked as they walked slowly to the shuttle, a large and not particularly aerodynamic transport that featured all the necessary equipment for taking biological or geological samples on newly discovered planets and performing rudimentary analysis.
"I'm doing alright, thank you," Alice replied, not wanting to say too much with others on the channel. "I'm glad your research is coming along nicely. Ready for another project?"
"Always! And I daresay we'll find something for me down there. You have my sympathies, Alice. I know you tend to prefer multicellular aliens in possession of culture."
Alice chuckled as they reached the ramp to the shuttle, affectionately named the Mendel. "You never know, Gerard. There might be sponges down in those lakes and oceans. I'm just happy to finally be doing something...anything really. Even if it's just assisting with other projects. You go on ahead," Alice finished, seeing four bodies in imposing black armor on the other side of the hangar where a second shuttle waited, this one aerodynamic, armed, and armored. One of the soldiers nodded as she approached them, his armor accented with green and yellow lines.
"Hello Alice," Mendes hailed her, quickly adjusting his radio frequency. After a few weeks of occasional gym visits and about three months aboard the Event Horizon in total, the jumpers were familiar enough to be on a first name basis with her. "Trying to hitch a ride on the fun shuttle?"
"Tempting offer, private. It's just my first time seeing you all in your jump armor. You guys are really big, you know that?"
"Don't even think about it, Lipp," Rex laughed, rapping his hand on the Sergeant's helmet. The leader of the squad had chosen to decorate his armor with rusty orange accents.
"Whatever you say, Rex. It's your mind in the gutter. I'm just enjoying the compliment," Lipper replied. "I suppose we should thank you and your eggheaded fellows, Alice. I was afraid these suits would rust from disuse what with how fast the Admiral has been pushing us."
"We could always drop you on a rock somewhere, see if your head cracks" Alice offered with a hand on her hip. She was sure she looked a bit silly.
"I think this will prove a bit more interesting. Too bad he won't authorize the pods," Lipper lamented, taking the verbal riposte in stride.
"Those microbes wouldn't stand a chance," Natalya added sarcastically, her armor bearing large Russian flags on both shoulders. "Let's just get this over with. I'm already sweating."
"You joined the wrong force then, Natalya," Mendes declared. "See you down there, Alice. It'll be nice to get some sun."
"Just don't take your helmets off," Alice warned. "If the carbon dioxide or sulfur doesn't kill you, maybe acute anaphylaxis due to a lung full of airborne alien microbes will. Readings are off the charts."
"Charming as always," Rex declared. He and Alice remained at arm's length from one another. She laughed at his jokes on occasions when he wasn't being tersely polite. The relationship seemed to suit them both.
"Says the guy with a crimson skull on his helmet? Anyway, you know me! See you down there!" Alice departed with a wave, allowing the jumpers to pile into their transport while she rounded out the research team. More than a couple faces looked her way as she entered the body of the aircraft and strapped in, faces easily distinguished thanks to the significant amount of reinforced glass that made up the front visors of their helmets. "What?" She asked. "You guys don't know the jumpers?"
Alice received a few looks that indicated she was indeed alone in having spent any serious amount of time in getting to know part of the Event Horizon's armed forces. There was no time for conversation on that point, however, as the Mendel's thrusters activated and counteracted the weakened gravity in the hangar. Alice watched as Gerard's leg seemed to develop a mind of its own, tapping up and down in excitement as the two shuttles left the hangar and headed for the green, blue, and red planet below.
"Excited?" Alice asked kindly, looking around at the well secured crates of supplies and various sample storage and analysis tech.
"Beyond my wildest dreams, Alice. I will walk on another planet today," he replied, his tone reverential as he understood the gravity of their situation. As the descent to the world began, a small window appeared on everyone's HUD where Natori Kaczynski waved at them.
"Oh fantastic, we appear to have all of you here! Thank you, Cassia," he said, pulling the camera back far enough to show everyone that Qul'Roth was sitting beside him on the bridge. "Hello one and all! Allow me to be perhaps the first to officially congratulate you all on being selected for this little jaunt into scientific history. Today we'll be using this expedition as an opportunity to test a very important feature of the Event Horizon, namely the connectivity grid that is allowing me to speak with you all and to see what you see. I'm sure you can all appreciate the potential uses of this system in emergency, rescue, or combat scenarios."
The shuttle began shaking as they hit the thick atmosphere of the greenhouse world. Natori nodded silently, checking readings just off screen. "Entry looks good. Ladies and gentlemen, do enjoy your time on this yet unnamed planet. According to data from the comm buoy, someone on the Lancer appears to have suggested Demeter. Seems wholly appropriate to me. There was also a suggestion by a "Shifty" for Cheese Ball Five, however, making this a very difficult choice. In any case, please obey any instructions given to you by the jumper team once planetside. They are there to ensure your safety. If for any reason there is an emergency and you are separated, you will have the lead, Dr. Dupuis."
"Understood Admiral," Gerard replied casually as the shuttle leveled out following re-entry and headed for the designated landing zone.
"Perfect! I'll be peeking in from time to time. It's been too long since I got to engage in field research. And please keep in mind that I expect a report from each of you following this operation on findings and potential improvements to be made to our ship and the manner in which it is run. Kaczynski out."
"He's still watching us, isn't he?" Alice asked of Gerard.
"Most likely, my dear. Such an excitable fellow he is," Gerard laughed, reaching up to stroke his mustache but finding his helmet in the way.
"I know, but it would be nice not to be reminded of my professors every time we go on an expedition like this," Alice laughed.
"It is thrilling to be going anywhere at all, as you said," Gerard declared, unbuckling his restraints as the Mendel came to a stop, hovering a few inches above a windswept rock adjacent to a large basin that the Event Horizon's bridge crew had identified as being full of microbial life. Alice could feel her heart leap into her chest as the craft finally settled down and the pilot gave them the all clear to open the doors to the main cabin. Alice was out in a flash, running to the edge of the rock and peering out over the vast microbial plain below.
"They have to see this!" Alice exclaimed softly, fiddling around with her helmet's optics and snapping a few pictures of the alien landscape as her visor tinted to deal with the solar radiation. The vast expanse before her was green and almost fluffy looking from a distance as colonies of photosynthetic microbes flourished in the hot, oppressive atmosphere. Streaks of red and yellow lent accents to the scenery, and she even managed to get the planet's accretion disc in one of the shots.
"Oh that is simply magnificent! I'll be using this as my screensaver," Natori interjected. Alice threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Really? I can't get two minutes to enjoy the majesty of space without you pulling a mystery science theater on me?" Alice complained light-heartedly.
"A fan of the classics, I see! My apologies Alice," the Admiral replied in good humor.
"You can make it up to me by authorizing some of these for comm buoy traffic and making sure I can take them with me when we get back home," Alice replied quickly, not wanting her current research to suffer the same fate as her master's thesis.
"It shall be done," he promised grandly. "But from what I can see on Dr. Dupuis' feed it's now time for the real work to begin. Take care down there and check your filters, Alice. The airborne particulate matter readings are substantial."
"Yes sir." Alice turned around to find the rest of the science team in similar positions, admiring the planet or unloading equipment. The jumpers, who had landed first, had taken up perimeter positions. Given the lack of visible threats they all showed relaxed postures in their Aegis Mk III armor. She preferred the bulkier profile and white coloration of her brother's old suit.
"Alice, do you think you could assist an old man with the discovery of the unknown?" Gerard requested. "The gravity is a bit much."
"Sorry Gerard, I'll be right there!" Alice replied, running back to the shuttle as quickly as her suit and the planet's significant mass would allow.
"You continue to impress me, Alice. One and a half G's and you're bounding about as if it's Christmas," her elder complimented her as she arrived and began helping with an atmospheric monitoring suite. The structure consisted of a ground based set of sensors and a tethered drone.
"It's better than Christmas, Gerard. We're on a freaking planet that's not Earth. Not Earth! And there's life! Your kind of life at least."
"Maybe we'll find legs and nervous systems in the next star system. Either way, your fitness is as much an asset today as your brain," Gerard declared as they activated the devices, sent the drone skyward, and returned to the shuttle for equipment that would allow them to take samples of the planet and the life living on it.
"There's not much to do back on the ship other than talk and work out. Hopefully that changes soon," Alice said, checking various information as it scrolled past on her HUD. "Seriously though, it freaks me out how good the sensors on the Event Horizon are. Pretty much everything we're getting on the atmosphere we already know. Not to mention picking out this landing site."
"When one is tasked with invading planets I suppose these things come naturally," Gerard agreed seriously as they walked towards the edge of the barren rock, a large crate held between the two of them.
"Yeah. Hi Qul'Roth!" Alice sang happily, earning a disgruntled snort from the Ghaelen and a wink from Gerard. "Anyway, I've always wanted to use one of these things. Way better than the A-MACS," Alice gushed, activating the civilian issue B-MASS on her suit and feeding it some native dust before collecting further samples for analysis aboard the Event Horizon. "So what do you need, Gerard?"
"Everything I can learn about the environment will help me maintain cultures of these organisms, if such a thing is possible. When you take samples of the microbes, please be sure to include plenty of substrate."
"Sure thing, Gerard!" Alice's reply as she threw herself into their shared work left a smile on the older scientist's face. They had not worked out any sort of formal agreement, but after many evenings spent together discussing work and leisure there was an unspoken agreement that, if possible, they would share in one another's research where practical. Xenomicrobes certainly fit that bill. Before getting his own hands dirty Gerard looked to the alien horizon, allowing himself to experience a moment of reflection just as Alice had.
"You are right, Miss Winters. The wonders of the galaxy never cease. We are blessed to be experiencing them."
-----
Veera held her spear tightly and watched with concern as her husband knelt near a pool of opaque, pale blue water. Steam wafted off the top of the relatively still surface as she took a moment to look around. The river that had been their guide for many moons was finally lost to them, giving way to an impressive and imposing field of muddy ground, steaming pools, mossy growths, and rocky outcroppings. Winters stood and shook his head.
“Too hot and it would probably poison me...or you. Damn. No way in hell we walked all this way to not be able to take a bath,” he muttered to himself.
“Russell, perhaps we should set up camp first?” Veera advised, unsure as to why he was so dead set on the various pools of colored and clear water around them. She had never seen anything like it, but the smells in the air had her perfectly willing to observe from a distance. Winters turned to her and nodded.
“Yeah, alright. I’d just like to have a hot shave for once, you know? Never realize the things in the village you might miss."
“Does it look like I shave, Russell?” Veera responded with a smile, approaching him and rubbing his face. The hair there was rough under her pads and the hair atop his head was growing long and tangled.
“I’m just tired of looking like a wild man. I already feel enough like one. But you’re right. We’ll have to figure out what we want to do next over the next day or two. Food should be alright for a while but this seems to be where the river ends.”
“Does this mean we’re at the mountains?!” Veera asked excitedly, looking around as if a peak might make itself known to them at any moment. Winters gave her a small smile but shook his head, pointing instead to the western horizon.
“They’re somewhere that way. Possibly close, but all these hills are blocking the view right now,” he explained. Over the last month they had travelled the flat grasslands of Mara, taking in the sights, sounds, and boredom of those lands. Water and food were still available, but it did not possess the same vibrancy as the forest. To make matters more difficult on their feet, the terrain had then taken to an upward slope with rougher and rockier soil at times. They now stood at the source of that disruption.
“How can something so large not be visible from so close?” Veera asked. Winters shrugged.
“I’m just guessing. They could still be quite far away and there's the curvature of the planet to consider. Come, I’ll tell you about it while we’re setting up. I’d like to take a bit more time here, see if any of these pools or streams can be used as a bath.”
Veera gave an assent with her feathers, something Winters was more than able to pick up on, and so they deviated away from the geothermal activity to find a patch of more stable ground. The long, tall grasses of the plains were gone, replaced by lichens and moss that clung to the rocks around them, as well as shorter and hardier species of grass that coated much of the rest of the area.
“Your planet is truly amazing,” Winters said earnestly as they picked out a flat, grassy location just a couple hundred feet from the nearest steaming pool. “Fenrir, don’t do that boy!” Winters shouted, watching as the hyrven tentatively approached the pools on his own. The smell of sulphur proved most offputting to him, and he returned to his parents without risking a drink. The pup was no longer a pup, at least six months old, large as a timberwolf, and easily most of the way to maturity. Grey fur graced the tufts on the tips of his ears and ran down his back, signs of his coming adulthood. As Winters and Veera took to their daily routine of setting up their tent, Fenrir engaged in his own ritual and loped off over the nearby hills to explore and mark his territory, his limp from their hunt all but gone.
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“You were saying, love?” Veera prompted, pleased that Fenrir was keeping himself out of trouble.
“Nothing important, just that the number of environments we’ve walked through is astounding to me. Back on my planet we do have certain places where you can see a wide variety of things very close together, but most nations are pretty similar throughout. That or you have to travel very long distances to get to a new sort of place, you know?”
“And we have not?” Veera asked incredulously, looking him over as he fixed the stakes of the tent into the ground. The trip had made him leaner, but his strength had not diminished.
“I suppose we have,” Winters admitted, standing and clapping his hands together before performing the finishing touches with Veera’s help. “All I mean is that I’m surprised to find the source of this river is a geothermal spring, pretty far away from the mountains no less. Many rivers on Earth have their source in mountain ranges.”
“A geo what?” Veera repeated, stashing her pack within the tent as Winters did the same. He led her back to the water that seemed to bubble up from the very earth beneath her feet. “How is it doing that, Russell?”
“Do you mind if I switch to English? There are some concepts I don’t think I'll be able to explain in Cauthan,” Winters replied, watching as Veera removed the translator from her ear, switched it on, and replaced it.
“Just in case I don’t get everything,” she smiled back. “So what is all of this, Russell?”
“On Earth we would call it a geothermal hot spring,” Winters began, sitting down on what appeared to be a relatively smooth stone and motioning for Veera to join him. She did so and leaned into him, still enjoying tender moments alone even after months of the same. There was something unique in being so close to someone else while all around was emptiness and Mara itself.
“And what is a hot spring?”
“So this may sound a bit odd or frightening, but the inside of your planet probably isn’t solid,” Winters explained, tenderly waking Io as there was no emergency.
‘You have need of me, sir? Hello to you as well, Veera. How are you...oh my. Will we be taking a bath, sir? I daresay you of all people could use one.’
“What happened to you not having a nose?” He joked as Veera tittered beside him.
‘I don’t need a nose this time,’ Io insisted.
“Veera, is it that bad?”
“It’s a little bad,” she admitted.
“See Io, it’s only a little bad and her nose is pretty darn good!”
‘If you believe you’ve won that debate then I won’t divest you of that silly notion. Seriously, are you taking a bath?’
“Once I find out if any of these pools are cool enough and not going to poison us,” Winters affirmed, allowing them to move on from Io’s cranky morning behavior. “I’m trying to explain to Veera what’s going on. Do you think you could bring up a cross section of the Earth for reference?”
‘Ah, the nature of geothermal energy, of course sir. I do so enjoy science time. Though I must say we’re still a good ways away from the mountains. To think there would be that sort of tectonic activity here…’ Io wandered around his visor pondering that question while a stylized display of the Earth appeared above the B-MASS. Winters moved quickly for the sake of power.
“To summarize, all the ground we’re comfortably standing on actually floats on a sea of molten, liquid rock that has a giant metal core at the center. When you see warm water like this bubbling up from beneath the ground, it means that the rock we’re on top of is relatively thin, allowing some of that heat to penetrate upward and warm the groundwater,” Winters explained.
“We aren’t...going to fall in, right?” Veera demanded in fear. “You’re saying beneath us is…”
“Think about how hot the forge in the temple needs to get in order to soften steel. We’re talking many many times hotter than that. And no, we won’t fall through into there. What we do need to be careful of though is weak ground with pools of scalding water beneath it.”
“I don’t really like the sound of this one bit. I prefer you smelly and uncooked,” the Cauthan declared. Winters laughed and ruffled her feathers, guiding her so that they could both lay down on the nearby grass and watch the clouds drift. Veera’s head ended up on his chest.
“It’s fine, Veera. I’m not sure how to explain it easily, but we’ll be ok. Dangerous places like what I just described are pretty easy to spot. Maybe we can go to Yellowstone one day back on Earth. In any case, just lay with me here a minute.”
“Feeling lonely? I’m sorry about the last couple weeks, love. It's been hard for me too.”
“We both agreed someone should stand watch. I just wanted a moment with you now.”
“And you can have it, Russell. I’ve more than gotten used to the smell,” Veera purred, though her words had him sitting upright.
“Ok, that’s it. Bath time!” He suddenly declared. Veera glowered at him from where she lay in the grass, but quickly hopped to her feet and followed him, watching as he eschewed the multi-hued pools for the bubbling streams and rivulets that they now knew formed the source of the great river that kept her people alive. A few minutes later Winters turned to her with a triumphant smile on his face. “Bingo. Last one in’s a rotten egg!”
Veera crossed her hands over her chest as she watched her husband strip down and step into one of the narrow streams. The water was throwing off a small amount of steam but he didn’t seem bothered by it, crossing to the other side in a couple steps before turning and looking back at her. “Well?”
“If you refer to me as a rotten egg again you can spend the night outside,” Veera admonished playfully, grabbing his clothes and holding them to her nose. “How long are you going to be in there?”
“As long as I can stand it. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I was in a hot tub? To say nothing of a natural one?” Winters asked playfully.
“I don’t know what a hot tub is, love. But if it’s all the same to you I’ll be washing your clothes now. I pity your species that way,” Veera informed him, kneeling at the bank opposite Winters and removing all of the various tech from his shirt before dipping it into the water.
“We can’t always smell fresh and...Cauthan-y like you do,” Winters replied with a shrug, wading over to her. “You don’t have to, Veera. I can.”
“I will, Russell. And while I do I’d like you to clean yourself and shave. Nuzzling you is much more enjoyable when your face is smooth,” Veera requested. Winters leaned in and gave her a peck on the nose.
“Think you could get my stuff then? I left it back at the tent.”
“Of course.” As Veera left him, Winters took a moment to lay back and partially float in the slow moving water. He wasn’t sure why, but his thoughts strayed to Jess and the other crew of the Lancer. The ache was dull as he smiled sadly.
“Feels almost wrong enjoying myself like this when the rest of you were so close to getting down here too...I don’t know,” he trailed off, content to remember them silently as he gazed into the deep blue afternoon sky. Seil looked a lot less angry from Mara’s surface. His view was shadowed as Veera returned and peered down at him.
"I still don't understand how you can have so much fur on your head and none on your body…" she mused, otherwise unconcerned with his nakedness. Winters righted himself and tentatively stood in the stream, feeling rock and soft sediment against his feet.
“You’ve got enough for the both of us,” Winters smiled back, flicking a bit of water at Veera as she gave him a sour look. “I mean that in the best way possible. C’mon, strip and I’ll show you.”
“You always know just what to say to a lady,” Veera replied sarcastically, depositing Winters’ scant grooming supplies before divesting herself of cloak and dress. She found her husband staring blatantly at her.
“It appears to have worked,” he declared, leaning in and kissing her belly repeatedly. Veera giggled and swatted him away, the ticklish sensations leaving a bubbling warmth behind as her human began shaving himself, lathering the soap on his face and running the razor slowly over his stubble. He’d become fairly competent in doing so without any aid, but he always nicked himself once or twice. Veera took her time watching, eventually seating herself on the bank and dipping her feet and calves into the water. The warm, flowing stream was so immediately soothing against her toughened pads that she let out an audible moan. Winters glanced her way.
"That good, eh?"
"Not quite as good as our first bath together, but a close second. Come here, Russell," she requested, seeing that he'd managed a blood free shave thanks to the warm water. "I'd like to do something about your hair."
Veera's words earned her a mild raise of Winters' brow, but he complied and moved to stand next to where she sat on the bank. Veera spread her legs without shame and motioned for him to sit between them. "What?" She asked coyly. "You've done far more than just look at my womanhood, Russell."
"What about decency before the gods?" He asked, turning so that his shoulder blades rested against the lip of the grassy bank.
"Do you see any other Cauthan around?" Veera asked. "This is how we were all born, Russell. I don't think the gods will be cross with us."
"Then I certainly have no reason to be," Winters said with a smile, turning his head to face forward as Veera took her knife in hand.
"Be still, my love," Veera commanded, steadying his head with her left hand while she began to cut at the long and tangled hair that had grown down to the back of his neck. In no time Winters had closed his eyes and partially drifted off, the warm water and gentle touch setting him at ease. The edge of Veera's blade was more than a match for his hair, and soon she had him sheared most of the way to his scalp. When she was done she rubbed his cheek. "Care to take a look?"
Winters stood to his full height and looked down at the surface of the river, finding a slightly leaner but well-groomed HEL Jumper staring back at him. "You like it short?" He asked, running a hand over what was left.
"It reminds me of when I met you for the first time," Veera whispered. As Winters turned to face her he saw her feathers were flared out and waving gently. There was something in her eyes he couldn't quite place, but he wanted to fall into them.
"Veera?" He asked, leaning into her hold as she set her knife aside. Almost as soon as her arms encircled his broad shoulders he could feel the prick of claws, her toned arms squeezing tight around his body as she took in his now clean scent. His hands made their way to the pads of her feet underwater and he began pressing and kneading them.
"I don't think I can hold this back anymore," she moaned, inhaling deeply and enjoying the feeling of his solid form against her fur. They had seen a storm together, the day after their hunt. The two of them had watched from the safety of the forest as sheets of rain and rolling thunder passed by in the south, accompanied by the angry arcs of Felen's lightning. To her, in that moment, she was the plains as he set off a storm within.
"Veera," Winters repeated, a hint of concern in his voice as he leaned back and scrutinized her face. She glanced away from him, though he watched her eyes quickly drop down his body to the portion of him below water. Her chest expanded as she breathed in heavily. “Well why didn't you say so? Can't say I don't feel a little pent up as well," Winters replied confidently. It was short lived as Veera crossed her arms over her body and forced herself to look away from him.
"This isn't the same, Russell. I didn't...I wasn't sure I would ever go through this again."
"Ok that's definitely not your usual pillow talk. Veera, what's going on?" Winters asked with urgency befitting the moment, resting his hands gently just north of her knees. He could feel her body shudder. "I don't think I'm the worst lover in the world but usually it takes a bit more than a hug to get you like this."
"I'm in heat, Russell!" Veera suddenly exploded at him, unwilling to beat around the bush any longer as her shame grew and grew. Her husband's eyes were wide as dinner plates, but he didn't recoil from her. Instead he began rubbing his rough hands up and down her thighs in an attempt to soothe her. She couldn't help but vocalize her need with a whimper.
"But we've been together since the harvest festival," Winters pondered. "You weren't like this back then, or this winter."
"It's all thanks to you, my darling," Veera murmured leaning forward and letting him catch her. Her insides clenched and screamed for him. She hated it.
"I don't understand," Winters whispered in her ear as a cool, late spring breeze rolled across them both.
"Starving little girls don't go into heat, Russell," she explained through the fog in her mind that seemed to grow with each passing breath as she remained close. "But well fed young females? Oh Meylith, please…"
Winters opened his mouth but then shut it tightly, having been on the precipice of telling Veera how compelling her situation might be to a human male, how it was every guy's dream to have a girl so crazy for him she couldn't think straight. "I...think I understand," he tried instead, considering what might happen if he went into a rut of sorts. Would he mate only with Veera? Would other Cauthan suddenly look equally attractive to him? Or would he leave her side for a human woman, knowing his seed would sprout there instead. The idea of Veera lusting after Cauthan males sent a spike of sudden fury through him as she cried gently.
"I don't think you could possibly understand what it's like," she lamented, shutting her eyes as her hormones and emotions got the better of her. "I'm so sorry."
"For what?!" Winters questioned urgently.
"I've been having dreams, I have for days now. You have...fur in them, and claws, and scales," Veera told him as her legs wrapped around his waist and she held them together as tightly as possible, to show him she didn't want to let him go, that she loved his bare skin and lack of natural weapons. Winters embraced her with everything he could, nipping at her ears and stroking her at the base of her crown feathers. "I'm scared."
"That much I promise you I can understand," Winters assured her. "What do you need from me...other than the obvious, I guess?"
"I don't...I don't know. Russell, the water feels so hot," Veera gasped, drawing a thin line of blood from his back as another wave of need slammed into her. His proximity was not helping.
"Then I suppose there's no helping it," Winters finally declared, his voice dropping to that low and husky growl that Veera knew meant she was about to be taken. Her feathers quaked in anticipation. "We just need to teach your body a certain lesson."
THOSE UNINTERESTED IN A HOT AND FLUFFY BREAKFAST SHOULD STOP HERE! SEE YOU IN CHAPTER 23!
"What lesson?" She gasped, playing along as her brain focused only on him.
"That humanity is the pinnacle of lovemaking in the galaxy," Winters threw her words back at her proudly, raking his teeth gently over the fur of her neck as he lowered himself further into the water and down her body. He spent slow minutes luxuriating in the fur of her belly and chest, kissing in response to her mewls and gasps as his hands continued to roam over her thighs, applying pressure along the broad muscles and her thin layer of fat just beneath the skin. His fingertips sunk into her fur. "Damn, I love your legs."
"Just take me, please," Veera pleaded, every moment of his teasing foreplay an ecstatic and agonizing eternity. He looked up from her tummy and met her desperate eyes.
"I promise I will, just let me do something for you first."
"Russell that's…what are you- ah ah aaah!" Veera threw her head back and shut her eyes, having watched her lover lower his head between her legs and plant his lips gently on her nethers. She managed through extraordinary effort to regain enough of her senses to speak as he ran his tongue between the full length of her lips twice. "That is not…"
"You taste good. Relax," Winters assured her, diving right back in as his assurances had Veera's toes curling and her claws gripping the sod beneath her paws for dear life. The hot breath against her womanhood felt decadent and sinful. Her mate hummed appreciatively, feeling the minute reactions of Veera's body beneath his hands and tongue. Her taste was unexpected and remarkably subtle compared to human women, though Winters didn't bother pondering over that question any longer than it took him to get acclimated to her. In no time he could feel her slick inner walls pressing against his tongue each time he dipped in for another taste, receiving a pleased and impatient moan with every stroke.
For her part, Veera felt trapped somewhere between bliss and torture. The feeling of her mate's mouth was pleasing and novel but utterly unsatisfying. She wanted him deep inside of her, to feel all of him within all of her. To feel pleasure but to be denied that satisfaction was maddening. Every tiny movement of his mouth set off arcs of coiling sensation that traveled straight through her core and made her fingers tingle. "This is...so strange," she panted, slowly discerning the tightening of the spring inside of her, the one that her husband had become more than familiar with in their time together.
Winters only hummed in reply, taking great pleasure in her shivering as the vibrations of his vocal cords were transferred directly to her body. Veera had no discernible clitoris from what he could tell, but everywhere his lips roamed seemed to elicit positive reactions, so he wasn't complaining. Eager for further confirmation that his ministrations were pleasing his woman, Winters opened his eyes and looked up, finding a round and glistening pair of amber orbs staring back at him. Her mouth was slightly open as she panted and her feathers rolled and swayed like wheat in the wind. He wanted her to know he found her beautiful, so he redoubled his efforts, earning one of her hands on the back of his head as a reward.
Veera's breathing grew louder and louder as Winters pushed her ever closer to the edge, throwing her body into confusion as he demanded her climax without full penetration. Her center clenched tightly and she felt her legs begin to shake. "Russell," she breathed. "Russell it's-"
Any further words and Veera's orgasmic screams were muffled to nothing as her substantial thighs locked around Winters' head and she smashed his mouth against her as tightly as possible. As his world became fluffy, warm, and dark, and Winters felt the tips of Veera's talons against his back, the human considered he might have taken things too far. The doubt didn't last long, overridden by an intense conviction that if he were to die between Veera's thighs, her hindquarters in his hands, that was absolutely the way he wanted to go. Without much to do in the way of breathing, he held on for dear life and entered her with his tongue as deeply as possible, feeling her inner walls quiver around it. He moved subtly, allowing Veera to come down from her climax. His head had just begun to grow light from asphyxiation when he was released from his hedonistic prison. If Veera's face before her climax had been beautiful, the way she looked at him after the fact somehow exceeded it.
"By the gods," she whispered. "Are you alright?"
"Never been better," Winters insisted, grinning like an idiot. He'd gone down on a Cauthan and emerged unscathed. His male pride was quite intact. "You?"
"I feel like I'm burning up inside, Russell. It wasn't near enough." To Veera's surprise he smiled wider, standing between her legs, her arms still wrapped around his neck.
"I was hoping you'd say that. Hold on." Without any further warning, Winters lifted her from the bank and took a step back into the stream. If there was ever a time to take Veera in such a brutish manner, he figured having some water around for a buoyancy assist would be perfect. Veera gasped as she felt his erect manhood brush against her soaked outer lips. For a maddening moment he allowed her to remain there, her legs around his waist and her tail waving back and forth in the water. Then he did precisely what she desperately desired but was far too embarrassed to ask for. He let her fall.
"Russell!" Veera screamed, feeling her center give way without any resistance as Winters hilted himself in her with one swift motion. She held on for dear life and came again for him.
"Damn," Winters grunted, shocked at the sensations that immediately surrounded him as he held her steady and bucked his hips against her, their combined bodies loudly disturbing the surface of the water. "Not gonna...last long like this."
"I don't want you to!" Veera gasped in his ear. "You've tortured me long enough. Give me your seed, my mate! Give me your cubs!"
Both of them were too far gone, too consumed by love and lust to allow biological reality to intrude upon that happy fantasy. To Veera's utter delight, Winters firmed his hold on her lower body and slammed into her again and again. "I want to," he panted into her neck. "Damn I'm gonna...take my seed, Veera."
"Haaaa," Veera sighed as he began to pulse inside of her. "You're going to make me a mother if you do that," she moaned, resting a hand on the back of his head and holding all of him to her. She felt so warm and finally so satisfied, satiated.
"I want you to be a mother," Winters replied lovingly, slowly moving his hands through her fur as his own climax finally abated. They pulled back just far enough to kiss passionately, tongues entwining eagerly as Winters continued to support her.
"Don't look like that," Veera ordered softly as they pulled back, deriving great satisfaction from the fact that he was still inside her. The fullness felt complete. "I will bear your cubs, and only your cubs."
Winters swallowed heavily and didn't trust himself to reply for a long moment, finally remembering the futility of that promise as his mind cleared. "Then I'll pray for you, and for us," he whispered, not knowing if there was anything else he could do. Leaning against the bank of the river for support, Veera gave her reply in the form of a tender kiss and a loving roll of her hips.
"Then let's make sure this sets, darling. Maybe the goddess will bless us with twins."
And so they mated again and again in their world away from the world.