The Vilka’s Secret_A Shifters of Kladuu Short Story Read online

  When that passed, she cried because she’d made the greatest discovery of the century and couldn’t tell a single soul.

  6

  Noaz

  “She’s dangerous,” his AI had told him. Noaz had known the sentient being nestled deep in his ship’s controls was right, but he hadn’t realized just how right she was until he was holding a crying Maeve.

  Knowing he would say something foolish, he kept his mouth screwed shut and his arms unmoving around her. He didn’t even allow the slightest shift of his head to nestle his nose deep in her hair; her scent was already strong enough in his head. So much so that he felt it convoluting his every thought as if he had to think through a filter solely comprised of the beautiful Maeve Delgado.

  It was ridiculous, and he concluded he’d spent far too much time in space.

  When Maeve’s tears had dried up and he’d held her a beat longer than necessary, he sat back, giving her some room. She sniffled and cleaned up her face. Not knowing what else to do, he moved the tray of nutri-muffins closer to her. “You should eat,” he suggested. “You’ll feel better.”

  “Thank you,” she said, a blush peeking atop her round cheeks. She tended to hide behind a veil of her hair, and she retreated there now and picked up a muffin. She tasted it, the tip of her pink tongue testing the texture.

  Gritting his teeth, Noaz looked away. He could imagine all too well what her tongue felt like.

  “It’s better than the food packets we have back at the station,” Maeve said with a voice left scratchy from her tears.

  He recognized her attempt to start a conversation, to stir this horrible debacle away from their previous conversation of her death. As if he could have hurt her. As if he hadn’t known, while walking to answer Rayner’s call, that he was going to lie to his Beta. That he was going to break Kladuu’s greatest law.

  He was protecting this small female, and he’d known since the moment he went after her ship in the wormhole. His pretending otherwise had only led to her terrified, tearful breakdown.

  “Maeve,” he said as she tore off another chunk of muffin and hungrily shoved it into her mouth, “you can never tell anyone about the wormhole.”

  She paused in her chewing to meet his eyes. Dipping her face away, she finished her bite and swallowed. “I figured as much.”

  He smelled no guilt or shame on her as she spoke, just her sweet scent and the fading bitter hint of fear. He believed she was telling the truth. For now, her words alone would do.

  “Where are you from?” she asked, moving on to the second muffin.

  Her question punctuated his own guilt. With a few words, she could tear apart his home. She could send Falconers and Raiders, miners and men with round bellies who promised fair prices for resources but left behind a planet in ruin. He shook his head. “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Okay,” she said, easily accepting his answer. She spoke louder now, more calmly, as she ate. The remnants of her tears had cleared from her face, and she offered him a small, brave smile. “Can you tell me what I saw when you rescued me? Did you really have claws and fangs?”

  He cursed himself. He’d been reckless in his rush to save her, and she was smart enough to trust what she’d seen. “I did,” he said carefully. He wanted to stop there, but the words were out of his mouth before he even realized. “Where I’m from, they call my kind Vilkas.”

  “Vilkas.” She spoke the word until it flowed easily from her lips. “There are more like you?” When he nodded in answer, she studied his hands and his obvious lack of claws. “So, you can shape-shift? Like, change into a … a Vilka?”

  Too smart, he realized too late. And he was too stupid around her to make decent decisions. Almost more so than the location of Kladuu, the clans’ ability to shape-shift into various animal forms was a secret most important to keep from the humans. What would they do to a planet full of warrior aliens who possessed the ability to change forms? Or when they learned of the relics deep in the planet?

  She opened her mouth to press her point, to ask more damning questions. To distract her—and himself—he took her hand.

  She closed her mouth, her eyes on their hands.

  All over again, he was struck by her softness and the smoothness of her skin. He cradled her hand and turned it over to examine her tiny fingers. She wasn’t so different in shape from Vilkan females, but what he felt when he touched her was worlds apart. He’d never experienced anything like it before.

  “Are all human women like you?” he asked.

  “No women are like me.” Maeve let out a huff, but she didn’t pull her hand away. “Not that I know very many people to compare myself to.”

  He cocked his head in thought. “You work alone?”

  “Yeah.” With her free hand, she gestured around them. “You fly alone.”

  “Yes.”

  She studied him closely, uncovering his secrets without him even uttering a word. “That must get lonely quickly.”

  “I prefer it this way. Fewer … complications.”

  “Until me.”

  “You are most definitely a complication.” He frowned and dropped her hand, leaning back to put some much-needed space between them.

  She sat aside the empty tray and crossed her legs to settle in. “You don’t have to tell me where it is, but can you tell me about your home?”

  What could it hurt to give her a few details? Nothing specific. Nothing that anyone could trace back to Kladuu. And he wanted to. He wanted to tell her. Almost as much as he wanted to hold her hand again.

  “Where I live,” he said, piecing the words together like delicate threads, “it’s dangerous and harsh, but it’s also beautiful. Fresh water runs in underground streams, bubbling up into natural springs. The air is clean, and even though there are dangerous creatures, the jungles are lush and full of life.”

  Lost in his memories, he hadn’t noticed that she’d scooted closer. She placed a hand on his knee, light and warm. He shifted his weight toward her, and her hand slid a little farther up his thigh. She didn’t move it.

  “Why do you live in space if you love it there so much?”

  There were a million different reasons, but in the end, he simply said the single, greatest truth. “I don’t fit in particularly well.”

  She sighed. “I know that feeling.”

  “I doubt that,” he scoffed. “Beautiful females have no problem finding friends where I’m from. It’s likely no different on Earth.”

  Maeve barked out a laugh. “Ha! Yeah. No. I mean, that’s not … First of all, I’m not beautiful. Like, I’m staring at you, but you’re fuzzy. I lost my glasses somewhere on my ship. Men don’t care much for the nerdy types.”

  He didn’t know what a “nerdy type” was, but if it was her, she was the best type of all. “Then human men are stupider than I thought. You are the most exquisite creature I’ve ever seen.”

  Maeve stilled, her gaze boring into his.

  Don’t do it, idiot, he heard his AI say just as loudly as if she’d actually spoken. They spent so much time together that he heard her in his head more often than not. And she was screaming at him now.

  He leaned toward Maeve, his eyes on her mouth.

  There was no going back now.

  7

  Maeve

  Maeve licked her lips and was rewarded with a deep rumble from Noaz’s chest. He closed the distance between them, and when their lips touched, a vibrant heat spread through her body, starting from her lips and seeping deep into her bones.

  Noaz wrapped his long arm around her waist and hoisted her into his lap. A bold move that Maeve appreciated, considering she straddled him now and could finally run her hands across his shoulders, feeling the barely contained strength beneath the thin fabric.

  His lips moved down her neck, sucking her flesh into his mouth and dragging his teeth along the sensitive skin.

  She gasped, and his hands tightened on her waist.

  She pushed her fingers into his h
air and held on tight.

  He brought his mouth back to hers and claimed her with another searing kiss.

  She pressed against him, pushing him back against the bed’s pillows and rocking her hips against his crotch, desperate to feel more of his heat against her core.

  She gasped, feeling his very large, very hard cock between her legs.

  He laughed against her mouth. “Now who’s the green-skinned alien seductress?”

  “Please tell me you’ve got a few exciting nubs down there.” She dipped her head and kissed along his stubbled jaw, holding him in place against her mouth with her grip in his hair.

  He laughed again, the sound vibrating through his chest and into her. Goosebumps prickled along her arms. “I won’t disappoint, Maeve.”

  The whispered promise in her ear made her shudder. Instantly, she was soaked and aching.

  He released her waist and reached up to the neckline of her shirt. The fabric ripping filled the air, and a cold breeze whooshed across the tops of her breasts as her shirt ripped down the middle. He leaned her back so he could stare at the curving swells over her bra. He cupped her, his thumb stroking the edge of the cotton barely containing her breasts. She barely filled his hand, his fingers skimming across her skin in the gentlest of touches, his eyes unblinking with wonder when he met her gaze again.

  “You’re so beautiful.”

  The low rumble of his voice undid her. Desperate to feel his hands against her flesh, she reached back and unclipped her bra, tugging the straps off her shoulder and letting the fabric fall away, exposing herself to him.

  The muscle along Noaz’s jaw twitched again. He dragged his thumb around her nipple, circling and circling until she pebbled against his touch.

  She threw her head back as he lowered his mouth, flicking the tip of his tongue against her nipple, first one and then the other, with the faintest skim of his teeth. She squirmed against him, wanting to feel more skin, more heat, more anything, but he held her hips against his, keeping her in place as he worshiped her breasts.

  She groaned. Her core pulsed with need. She’d never wanted anyone this much in her life, and if he wasn’t inside her soon, she might explode from desire alone. Death by lust. It would make a good band name.

  He sucked and licked at her, pulling her nipple deep into his mouth and massaging the other breast with one hand, moving back and forth until she couldn’t tell where his mouth ended and her pleasure began. When she couldn’t take his attention any longer, she pushed against his shoulder.

  He straightened away from her, a lock of blond hair falling across his forehead, his blue eyes shining with desire. He watched her, his lips shining with moisture, as she rose from the cushions.

  She discarded the ruined remains of her shirt. After untying the knot she’d made with the arms of her uniform, she pushed it down her hips and let it pool at her feet. She stepped out of her clothes and closer to Noaz, his focus locked on the simple white panties she wore.

  He hooked a finger beneath the band, and tugged them down. The sight of her nakedness pulled a primal groan from his chest that sent shivers through her body, and she clenched her thighs together tightly. After she’d barely stepped free of her panties, he lifted her into the air and set her down against the cushions, his massive body above her.

  She let out a nervous little laugh as he leaned back, jerking at the clasps of his flight suit. “Is this the part where the terrifying alien captain ravages his wanton female hostage?”

  Noaz finally ripped his suit open. “This is the part,” he said, pulling his arms free and revealing a bronze chest with small, pink nipples and thickly corded muscles, “where you spread your legs and scream my name.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” She watched him begin to push his suit down from his hips. “I’m not a screamer.”

  He got his pants down and his cock sprang up against his belly, massively long and swollen with a glistening bead on the head. Maeve’s lighthearted humor dried up in her throat at the sight. He was huge. Noaz registered her gaping attention with a cool smirk. “You will be,” he promised.

  8

  Noaz

  Noaz smelled Maeve’s desire for him. It hung thick in the air, clouding his thoughts and coating his tongue. Nothing in the galaxy, not even on Kladuu, had ever smelled so good.

  He hooked her knee under his arm and pushed it to the side, using his leg to push aside the other. Her folds glinted with moisture, wet and ready for him. The sight of her bared to him, under him, arching her back with need, made his cock ache.

  He stroked a hand down his cock and positioned himself at her entrance. He could already tell she was going to be tight. He looked up at her, past her heaving breasts to her wide eyes, as she watched him prepare to take her.

  “Please,” she panted. “I need you inside me.”

  But he needed to know for sure before he hurt her. A human might be too small for him. He’d never been with one to know for sure. He reached between them and ran a finger over her wet, warm folds.

  She gasped, her hips bucking. “Noaz!”

  He cocked a brow and glanced back up at her. “That was almost a scream.”

  She flopped back against the cushions, her arm thrown over her eyes. “This is going to kill me. I can already tell.”

  “No,” he said, his focus back on her core. He stroked her again, finding her tight entrance. He pushed inside, and Maeve very nearly screamed again. She was tight, just as he’d expected. And so very wet and warm. Her body contracted around him as he slid in another finger, pushing deeper inside her. Testing her. Stretching her. “No,” he repeated, his voice tight in his throat, “but you will be very sore.”

  “Holy fucking shit,” she moaned against her arm.

  As she spoke, her walls clenched around his fingers, squeezing him as he slid his fingers in and out of her, reveling in the sheer heat pouring out of her. “What do you call this place where I will fill you?”

  She pulled her arm away to look at him. A red flush spread across her cheeks. “Ah.” She cleared her throat and mumbled something Noaz couldn’t quite make out.

  “What was that?” He added a third finger inside her and was rewarded by her pressing down against him, riding his hand.

  “My pussy,” she groaned. “It’s my pussy. And I need you in it, like, yesterday.”

  He pulled his fingers from her. With a mewl of protest, she glared at him, but her eyes stretched wide as he brought his fingers to his mouth and licked each one clean. “You’re beautiful, Maeve, and you taste amazing.”

  “And to think I thought data analysis was better than an orgasm,” she breathed out, her mouth hanging open.

  Holding on to her waist to keep her hips lifted, he guided his cock to her entrance with his other hand. “You’re going to scream for me when you come.”

  He eased inside her, long and slow. Each stroke drove him further insane as he fought to hold back. He needed to go slow and stay in control. He needed to make sure he didn’t hurt her.

  Her back arched even more, and he gripped her tight, watching in awe as she took every inch of him, a blush spreading across her breasts and up her neck. She raised her arms over her head and grabbed the cushions behind her.

  He pulled out and slowly slid inside again just to feel her stretch around him. His control lasted only a few more strokes before he released her hips to lean over her, bracing his arms on either side of her face. She stared up at him and hooked her legs around his hips.

  He filled her again. All at once. With one powerful thrust that took him even deeper with her legs cinched around him.

  She screamed his name loud enough that he thought the portholes might have rattled.

  “Your pussy is tight. So perfect.” He pumped into her, words of adoration spilling off his tongue. None of them did her justice. Did justice to her body or this feeling he got deep in his chest, where his Vilkan heart lay when he buried himself in her.

  “Harder,” she gasped
. Her arms banded around his back, her nails digging deep into his skin. “Fuck me harder, Noaz.”

  He hooked his arm around her neck and latched her body to his. Then he lost himself in her. In the powerful, unrelenting rhythm of filling her. She dragged her hands through his hair and brought her mouth to his, kissing him in between her ragged breaths.

  When she came for him, she screamed again, her inner muscles squeezing him in tight spasms. Her hips bucked up against him, pulling his cock deeper inside her with a tight clutch. She scraped his skin with her nails as she rode out the waves of her climax, her head craned back. His name rode off her mouth in raspy, breathless pants.

  Seeing her total abandon beneath him sent him over the edge a breath later. He surged into her one last time before spilling deep inside her. A howl ripped from his throat, and without thinking, he allowed his canines to descend as his vision blacked out for a moment and returned with a flash of brilliant white.

  When her tight pussy had taken every last drop, he lowered himself carefully on top of her as he struggled to catch his breath and regain his composure. Her soft body wrapped around him was the closest thing to the Great Beyond he’d ever experienced. He’d been with a handful of Vilkan females, but none had been like Maeve. Nothing was even close to this feeling with her.

  She smiled up at him with a lazy curve to her lips, her eyes closed. Dark locks twisted around her head. “I screamed for you.”

  Her satisfied, slightly slurred words had him hardening again. Her eyes sprang open in surprise. But he leaned back, sweat rolling down his chest, and looked between them where he remained deeply seated inside her.

  He stroked his fingers between them and slipped them down to her folds until he found the small bundle of nerves he’d felt earlier.

  Maeve’s hips jerked, and he hissed as her pussy pulled him in deeper, her walls clenching him tightly. “Please,” she managed to say. “Don’t stop.”