Page 20 of Healer Hunted

“Yes, that’s it,” Luka said again, his voice sounding strangled, his hips shifting to press himself deeper inside, grinding his hips against me, his primary cock stroking across my clit and drawing out my orgasm. He withdrew slowly, his body shifting, and then he surged forward with much more force, filling both my holes in one smooth stroke.

I felt so full, so stretched. It was wonderful, and this time Luka didn’t give me a moment to catch my breath, he pulled back and thrust back inside. Ramping up his pace with forceful thrusts. Each stroke dragged over nerves inside both my passages that sent heat through my body, a second orgasm already building, this one promising to be even more powerful than the first.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh filled the air, the wet sounds each press into my channels made, it was lurid, and it just ramped up my desire. With each thrust, I was scooting along the cot, until I had to lock my elbows and press against the wall to stop us from moving. I felt owned, I felt pleasure beyond my wildest dreams, and when the orgasm hit me, I didn’t think I’d ever come back from that.

Luka came on a hoarse shout, filling me with his seed, his hands clutching at my hips. “Noa, stars, Noa, that was perfect.” It was, and he’d certainly done as he promised and thoroughly distracted me. Now I could only roll to my side and pant for breath, recovering from what was surely the best sex of my life.

Chapter 13

Luka

I stood on the bridge with Noa tucked beneath my arm, my body still glowing from our mind-blowing round of sex. So was Noa, which was feeding my sense of languor, of satisfaction. I’d done that, I’d distracted her so thoroughly with pleasure that she was completely relaxed at last. My prickly flower was finally letting herself lean on me in front of the others.

There was no longer any desire to thoroughly examine the strange pheromone dependency growing between us. I knew what it was, so I should try and prove its medical existence, prove it wasn’t just a myth. I just didn’t want to put Noa in any kind of spotlight, didn’t want to have other scientists pour over our data, try to distill clinically what made her special. I knew, that should be enough.

We’d already gone through entering the atmosphere a moment ago and were now carefully piloted into our assigned spot. The pilot, Taralyn, was confident and adept at piloting the ship, his twin hovering over his shoulder as the two made bets on who was on duty at the port, and whether a certain girl they liked would be at the port’s popular pub. Normal, calm interactions that gave us no warning at all for what happened next.

As the landing gear touched the ground, Captain Feralan cursed loudly, distress coloring the air. “There’s a contingent of armed guards that just marched out onto the tarmac,” he said, his hands swiping across his console to pull up footage from the rear of the ship, putting it up on the main viewscreen.

Noa’s body quivered beneath my arm as we watched the group of men in uniform, armed with big laser rifles. They were mostly Rummicaron or other more warlike species, a Kertinal was in the lead, their kind cunning and trained at strategy and war from an early age. “Why are they here?” I asked the crew, already knowing it had to be for us. They would have known this was the vessel we’d used to get off the planet, it was the only one they couldn’t search.

“Those aren’t part of the Marayan Port security, looks like the Nerizana symbol on their shoulders,” Romalyn said. They were all tense, all worried on the bridge, but it was Noa’s fear that pierced me, I thought we were free, that we’d gotten away. I should have known my mother would be smarter than this.

In my head, I went over all the options we had, but short of asking Feralan to take off with us, or to deny the armed guard access to his ship while we holed up in here… I didn’t know what to do. I pressed Noa closer to my body while she stared at the guards, at the symbol on their uniform, her fear slowly slipping into a kind of numbness I hated even more. Where was that anger from the Resort? That will to fight?

“Film everything you can,” I declared, “And let me make a statement on camera first.” It pained me to disgrace our family name, but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. We needed to put a stop to my mother’s crimes, and to her manipulations of my life. I didn’t want to let go of Noa, but I had to because it wasn’t fair to put her in the spotlight.

Patrolus eagerly gestured me in front of the com so I was in full view of the camera, then I tried to calmly, quickly explain my situation and my discoveries. Making a plea to anyone who viewed this to demand the release of the slaves on Jihari, the prosecution of my mother, and my, and Noa’s, immediate release from her grasp. We weren’t even fully done recording when my mother’s guard down on the tarmac became restless and marched up to the Leaper’s hatches and started pounding on it. I thought the noise added a great dramatic effect to the footage.

When I finished my last statement, I pulled Noa into my arms. Worry for her safety filled me far more than any kind of fear for myself and the future. What would happen to Noa? Could we hide her aboard the Leaper while they only took me? With the pheromone dependency tethering us together… that might very well be a death sentence for her or both of us. I had done periodic medical scans of us aboard the Leaper and despite us having sex, it didn’t appear that a bond had formed yet.

“We’ll hide her,” Feralan offered, “We’ll get her to your friends, and the footage out. You’ll be free in no time at all.” His weathered face was even more cracked and creased with wrinkles than it normally was, and he was already holding out a hand for Noa to take. A fatherly expression on his face that she seemed to respond well to.

Stepping out from under my arm she reached out to take that hand, her anxiety spiking instead of dropping. A worried look came my way, her blue eyes sparkling with tears she hadn’t yet shed. I felt like I was breaking into pieces along with her, she didn’t want to stay behind. “I can’t just leave you,” she said, “What will they do to you?”

I shook my head, “Nothing, she just wants me under her control. She wants me to marry Koratalin, and I’ve always refused. This is just about her perfect little merger, and control. She won’t harm me.” But she absolutely would harm Noa if she thought this would get me to behave, leaving Noa here was the smart thing to do if I didn’t worry that our separation might harm Noa even more.

Noa’s eyes were on mine, the pounding and demands on the ship’s hatch supplying a drumbeat to our thoughts. “I can’t leave Luka, we can’t be apart, right? You haven’t found a cure yet.” She sounded dubious as she spoke, her emotions showing me her own conflicted feelings on it all. She was coming around, thinking maybe she and I could work out, but she wasn’t ready to accept it yet.

“This is true,” I admitted, “We’re dependent on each other right now.” I clarified, and much to my relief, Noa never grabbed Feralan’s hand but stepped back into my arms. At the surprise I read among the Aderian crew, at their confusion, I added, “Like in the myths of Pato and Pyra. A true mating.”

Now Noa was the one surprised because she’d not yet realized, and I’d neglected to tell her, my deepest suspicions on what was happening with us. While from Noa I felt a spike of panic, a little hurt, Feralan and his crew were only awed, staring at Noa and me with new eyes.

“We’ll get the word out, we’ll see you both freed,” Patrolus declared with enthusiastic youthfulness. It was enough to shake me out of my frozen state, I shoved my bag with Pato’s trinkets and the sunstones into Feralan’s hands. I didn’t want those to fall into my mother’s hands, further lining her pockets.

Pato leaped onto my shoulder, eyeing the bag with some concern, but he didn’t protest when I explained to Feralan to take one of the three stones as payment and to get the rest of the things to the Vagabond. I tried briefly to convince the little pinche monkey to go with the bag, but he stubbornly clung to me, determined to stay.

Alright, that made it three again. With leaden shoes, we walked to the hatch, while Patrolus assured me he was recording everything. The Kertinal that lead the contingent of my mother’s guards allowed us to step outside, but when I told him I was refusing to come he waved at the nearest guard, and the butt of a rifle descended to my face. Everything went black, but I still heard Noa’s scream.

*

Noa

The guard slammed his rifle into Luka’s head so suddenly that I had to scramble to try and hold him up when he went down like a ton of bricks. Hands were grabbing me, yanking me away, and I fought to get to Luka as they mercilessly let him collapse onto the hard tarmac. “Let me go!” I yelled, over and over, but while I wasn’t knocked out as Luka had been, they didn’t have any trouble piling on me, yanking my arms back and locking them in maglock handcuffs.

A guard pressed a knee into Luka’s back, yanking his arms behind him, and did the same to him. Then two of them grabbed him by an armpit each and dragged him along, his long black hair gathering dirt and dust along the way, his head loosely hanging forward on a limp neck.

I was yanked along, forced to march after Luka with a guard on either side of me. I feared for Pato but the little monkey was clinging to the back of Luka’s leg, hissing and glaring at the threats surrounding us but not attacking. It was making the guards laugh and point, jeering, but they didn’t approach the tiny monkey with his sharp fangs.