Luna Touched: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Brides of the Aashi Book 1) Page 5

  There was an uptick in chatter outside the jail, the males outside the cell were speaking loudly, but I was glad I didn’t understand. I was sure they weren’t saying nice things about me anyway so spared me the crap I didn’t want to hear.

  Instead, I just relaxed into my new alien friends and they gently ran their hands down my back, I let out a deep sigh. This was just what I needed.

  I woke to a hand over my mouth. I instantly reached up to try to pull it away, but it didn’t give—if anything, it felt tighter. My stomach plummeted as I felt a wave of nausea roll through me. I started thrashing out at the hand as I tried screaming, but nothing came out. It was dark, and I couldn’t focus my eyes on who had me. Holy shit was this Nezyn? My heartbeat pounded in my ears as my finger tingled at the sudden adrenaline.

  I tried calling out again, but then I felt a soothing hand stroke down my back. When my eyes finally focused on Vallyn, he took his hand from my mouth and gestured for me to stay silent. I followed his instructions, I worried something bad was going to happen to us and that was why he wanted me to be quiet. He continued to stroke his hand on my back, and I realized I was actually in Axoh’s arms. I heard some murmurs, and then I was lifted higher. I got butterflies in my tummy at the move.

  “Sleep,” Axoh whispered in my ear.

  I could feel Axoh’s lower arms cradling me against his chest. He smelled amazing, and I felt safe with him. Like I was home. I fell back to sleep with the rhythmic lull of his swaying body as he carried me.

  Chapter Ten

  Zigur

  I didn’t know why I was drawn to this strange-looking female. She was so tiny, so frail, yet her scent drew me in like no other. I had followed her since she first came off the flying ship, much to Daku’s frustration.

  He did not like females of any kind. He was an outcast like me, but he’d been given the extra punishment of being a rejected male. He wore the faint lines of mate marks on his thighs, and I knew his body reacted to female scent. I had seen him up in the treetops since we had been following her. He believed he was hidden up there as he touched his engorged cock, but I saw him and watched in fascination.

  I saw his face each night as he stroked himself, noted the way he reacted when he reached the end. He looked happy, almost blissful. Being a rejected male was supposed to be the harshest punishment a queen could inflict, but I had started to wonder if it was more punishment not to have my mating hormones running through my body.

  I focused my attention back on the human female. The Zaali queen had placed her in the holding place, where they put males before they banished them. I didn’t like this. I had never heard of a female outcast.

  But as I watched her, I saw she had touched two of the males locked up with her. She had touched her own takxe. Ahh… this was why the queen had punished her. To me, this made her more than just one of a kind. She had chosen her own mates. Never in my lifetime had a female chosen her own mates. This gave me hope that I had never once felt, hope that maybe she would choose me.

  “Daku, come see now. The female touches the lesser males in the holding place. We must help her. I do not know what the queen will do to the female.”

  Daku came down from the tree canopy and looked to the female with her mates. I could see that he was very much affected by her scent, being so near to her. For whatever reason, he was affected more by this female than any of the Aashi females. His cock strained against the cloth of his coverings, which would break soon if he did not touch himself again.

  Maybe her scent was why I was so drawn to her as well. It called to me like no other female’s ever had.

  “It is not my problem. She chose them as her mates. What do you expect me to do? I will not help them,” he grumbled beside me before taking off to the treetops once again.

  I was swift in the trees, quiet and fast. This was how I got close to the female without any males of the Zaali Clan noticing me. The Zaali warriors were terrible at protecting their lands. They had not sensed me or Daku at all. And we had been here for hours, watching, waiting.

  For what, I did not know. All I knew was I wanted to be near her… always.

  The warrior in the holding place turned his head to the tree I was in. Even though he was smaller and therefore considered to be low-ranking, he was the only one will the skill to sense me.

  He knew I had been following them since the first day. I had approached when she had walked out of the hut, worried she had left them and would be unprotected. He sensed me as soon as I got close enough and warned me to stay away, but I didn’t want to fight him for her. I only wanted to protect her.

  After that, I stayed farther back as I followed them. He had not come after me at all in their travels, nor had he asked for me to leave. Like he knew I meant no harm to the female.

  The warrior looked around again, then, when he noticed no others nearby, he called to me.

  “Outcast, I sense you once again.”

  I wrapped each of my tails around a branch and leaned down out of the tree for him to see me. It was hard, as the tree line was far from where they were, surrounded by clan huts.

  “I am Zigur.” I announced to him. “I am drawn to your female, to protect her… I wish to be of assistance.”

  Her takxe looked over now, holding the female cradled in his lower arms as he came closer to me. I glanced around for other clan members, but they were all in their nests, and the warriors were out patrolling the clan lands. I leapt to the ground without making a sound. Many years of being an outcast had taught me the skills of being silent.

  I ran over and removed the locking parts to the holding place. The door opened, and the warrior approached me, grabbing me by the shoulder.

  “Thank you, brother.”

  Before they ran to the tree I had just been in, I quickly helped the injured male that was inside with them and helped him to the tree line. I arrived with him beside where the males were waiting, I glanced down to the sleeping form of the female. Being this close to her made my body yearn for hers. Need her.

  Protecting her was the most important thing in my life now, and I knew then, I would die to protect her. No harm shall ever come to this beautiful female.

  The takxe noticed the way I stared. To avoid being told to leave them, I quickly jumped up onto the lower branch and held my hands out to help him up. He reluctantly took my hands in his upper ones as he cradled her sleeping form in his lower two. I made sure not to jostle him while she slept.

  When we were all in the tree, I motioned for us to leave the way I knew best. High and through the trees, the way Aashi were made to travel. We were made for swinging through the forests of Aaryzn, not walking beneath them like the M’mori.

  I could sense the Zaali Clan warriors close by, possibly alerted to what I had just done. The female’s warrior sensed them too, and we made our way slowly yet quietly through the trees until we could sense them no more and I felt relief.

  When we had gone a far distance away, I pointed up to the higher branches. “I can build us a nest up there. We can rest and be safe from any Zaali warriors if we are higher.”

  They all agreed, especially the injured one. I called quietly to Daku, who had been trailing us from above, to prepare nests as we climbed higher into the klaven tree. These trees always made the best nests. Their leaves were so wide and strong, and their branches easily bent together to make a small cradle in which to make a nest.

  When Daku had completed a nest, I told the takxe—Axoh, as I had come to learn—and the warrior, Vallyn, that they should take female Luna to rest.

  Luna, the most beautiful name for a female. And she had not woken at all. This made me happy that she had not been disturbed by us in the trees. I wouldn’t rest this evening. I would keep watch for Zaali warriors and protect the female. Luna.

  Chapter Eleven

  Luna

  I woke up to my back hurting. It felt as if I had been sleeping against a hard rock all night. But this rock was warm. Maybe a little too warm. br />
  I opened my eyes and saw nothing but white fog, then focused and saw a tree branch. I glanced down at my body and saw four strong arms cradling me tightly. That was my warm rock. I peered up to see Axoh’s sleeping face. He looked so peaceful. I had never noticed his eyelashes were so pretty. And purple.

  I almost giggled out loud at that. Of course they would be purple, his hair is, his body is.

  I squeezed myself out of his arms and started to move away from him, I was already feeling cooler when his hand reached for me in almost a panic. His eyes widened, and he glanced around. I looked around too but there was fog, I couldn’t see a thing. I reassured him I was okay and told him I needed to pee. He relaxed a little and nodded sleepily. I started to stand, then I noticed where I was. Holy shit. I’m in a fucking tree.

  I practically dove back into Axoh’s arms. “Don’t let me fall, okay? Axoh. Wake up. We are on a tree branch and I don’t know how high. I need to pee, but I don’t want to fall to my death.”

  That had him awake fast as he drew me closer into his warm chest lloking for the danger. I heard the steady rhythm of his heart beating as he murmured something in his language. I didn’t understand him, but I pointed to where the ground should be and said, “Down.” He repeated “down” to me, and then said it in his language. Well, I hoped that meant “down.”

  He called out to Vallyn, who came swinging onto the weird branch thing we were on. I didn’t even know he could swing through trees. Maybe my original monkey tails idea was right. Shit. I remembered them carrying me last night, but I was so exhausted, I’d passed out in Axoh’s arms. He must have carried me up here.

  “Down pee?” Vallyn asked me.

  “Yes, down pee.” I nodded and did the downward gesture so he understood I wanted to be on the ground to pee, not up here in a tree.

  He smiled gently and laid his hand on my back as he turned and called out to someone. When my eyes focused more in the fog, I saw there was another nest-branch thing that Nvaa and some other Aashi guy I didn’t know were on. The other guy was pretty big—bigger than Nvaa—and a much darker shade of purple. Shit, how big do they get here?

  You would definitely want to really like the color purple living here with the Aashi.

  “Nvaa,” I called over too him. I was worried about his broken arm.

  Axoh and Vallyn’s eyes nearly bugged out of their heads, as they rushed to put their hands over their mouths and mine. Vallyn pointed to the ground, and with another hand, he gestured around us.

  Oh shit, I totally forgot we were locked up yesterday and now we were in a tree. The clan was probably after us, and I might have just given our hiding spot away. Fuck.

  The new guy came over and settled right next to us on the branch, I leant back into Axoh a little as this guy was huge and maybe just a little intimidating. He placed his hands—all four of them—on his chest and quietly said his name.

  “Zigur” —he pointed to me— “Loonaa.” I smiled in return, that was so cute how he said my name. He didn’t seem like a threat so I placed my hand on my chest. “Luna, Zigur.” I hoped I hadn’t butchered his name, but I guessed I did okay since he didn’t correct me. He was all smiles. He was cute, and his hair was short, different than the other Zaali I had seen. I wondered if he cut it for a reason.

  Vallyn said something to him and indicated I wanted to go down. Zigur nodded and pointed out into the distance, and they all had a discussion without me. This sucked massively. I was starting to catch on to a few words, though. I understood “queen,” “warrior,” “mate,” and the word for what I thought was “down.” But they spoke so fast it was impossible to try and catch up even if I knew more of the words.

  We all stood up, and Vallyn opened his arms to me. I guess I didn’t have to do any walking now. Why didn’t he offer this to me sooner? I was not much for hiking, and we’d spent way too long doing just that the last two days. My legs were thankful for a break, and I went without protest into his waiting arms.

  He smiled so big I couldn’t help but return it. God, he was so… cute… hot… huge.

  He lifted me with his lower arms and had me wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. His body was so muscular. He used his lower arms to hold my ass, almost like a little seat. I was a little surprised at first that he touched my ass like that. But then it felt… right.

  But instead of going down, we went across through the trees to where Zigur had pointed before.

  Nvaa didn’t look so good the way he cradled his arm and favored the right side. I felt terrible for him. He was trying to defend me—well, I was pretty sure he was—and had gotten beaten badly for it. He seemed like a good guy. He was honest when I first spoke to him. I watched him as he followed behind Vallyn. Every so often, he would look at me and give me a small smile. It was one of those “don’t pity me, I’m strong and will be fine” type smiles.

  After a while, they started making their way down the trees, and I closed my eyes most of the way. It felt like it took forever to descend the big purple tree. And, yep, I was still not a fan of heights.

  When we got to the ground, Vallyn set me down, and I swayed on my feet a little. My thighs were killing me from holding on so tightly.

  “Luna. Pee,” Axoh said as he took my hand and led me away from the others. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as Axoh turned his back on me but didn’t leave. I took that as a sign I wasn’t going to be doing any business alone out here. Once I had relieved myself, I did a quick jiggle of my lady parts… toilet paper would have come in handy. But this was my life now, and I was getting used to it.

  I got up and walked over to Vallyn, who took me by my hand and led me to stand with the new guy Zigur. Axoh and Nvaa were both relieving themselves where I just had. I quickly looked away. Um…there are like a hundred other trees out here, guys.

  When they returned, they spoke hurriedly to one another and tried to explain as best they could to me. Axoh and Vallyn gave me enough English words for me to understand they were taking me somewhere through the trees. I didn’t get to walk, which was fine by me.

  I asked if any of them had my backpack. They understood what I meant, but sadly, they didn’t have it—I guessed there hadn’t been much time to get it when we were escaping. The queen probably had it burnt when she threw me in jail anyway.

  I decided I had to let things be as they were. I was not going to worry about material things. I had clothes on my back, and luckily, I’d changed into my sneakers before I got to the clan. I think my flip flops would have fallen off with all the trips through the trees.

  I was safe with these guys. They hadn’t done anything but care for me. And they knew where we were going.

  Or at least Zigur did.

  Our journey through the trees was long. The men were almost silent as they made their way from tree to tree. The double tails were a bonus, as they used them to hold onto branches and drop down softly onto the next one. I found it fascinating to watch their tails, you would think with two they might get tangled up. But its like they knew exactly were the other was and they worked together.

  Vallyn carried me most the day. My arms were a little tired from hanging on, but I couldn’t complain. I wasn’t the one having to carry me. And there was no way I would be able to swing through the trees like they did, so I had no option but to hang on and suffer the sore shoulders.

  Chapter Twelve

  Vallyn

  I had never used my tails as much as I had now. They were tired and sore from being unused for so many years. We never traveled through the trees like our fathers before us once had. All Aashi traveled only by foot, which did not make sense to me. We had four strong arms and two tails. But walking required legs and we only had two.

  It felt good to travel up in the tree canopy, but I could tell Luna did not like being up so high. She held me tighter the higher I got. I may have gone higher so I could to feel her closer to me.

  I didn’t want to stop holding Luna. She had cla
imed me, and I felt my body awakening more and more to her touch. Her body being so close to mine, touching skin to skin, was speeding up the mating hormones, I was sure.

  My leg markings had already begun once she touched me. I could see Axoh had the lines on his thighs also, but after many hours of carrying Luna, I now had darker, stronger marks. Marks of a mated male.

  “I have a hut not too much further,” Zigur spoke. “We can rest there. Eat and sleep for the night. It is still close to Zaali Clan lands, but we are in the unclaimed free lands now.”

  We’d have to be extremely careful, as many outcasts lived in this area, and some might challenge us for Luna. There were no rules out here and that worried me greatly.

  I felt bad for Luna, being so small and not understanding any of this. I wish I had gotten her backpack for her so she would at least have something from home to bring her comfort. Maybe there was time for me to return for it while they waited here for me.

  But then again, I couldn't leave her. I had to protect Luna.

  “Luna wants her pack. It has her alien things inside. And her communicator was broken, but she kept all the parts. I think she was going to try to mend it.” How? I did not know, but she would know of a way.

  Zigur didn’t say anything for a moment, then he turned suddenly towards me. I instinctively went into a defensive stance and turned Luna away from him, making her emit a sound of fright.

  “Daku can get it. I will speak to him. You tell me where you believe it is. We know what it looks like, so it should be no problem for him.”

  I nodded as I tried to calm Luna down after scaring her. I didn’t want her making any sounds that might draw attention from other males. Axoh was at my side, and he stroked her hand gently and made soft sounds, like those you would make for a kit. I guessed Luna thought that too.