Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1, стр. 44
“I’m not upset.” Lies. All that just happened confused her more than anything. Her body still ached a little from his touch, yearned for him in a way that she had never yearned for anyone before.
Back on Earth, she’d never been one to connect with men quickly—sexually or otherwise.
That’s probably why she’d never had any man turn her on as easily as Ajos just did. At least, not when they tried.
Yet, Ajos had just managed to…
“I fell asleep and you almost…” she whispered. “I could have helped you sooner if I didn’t fall asleep.”
He shuddered and pulled her closer.
“It is not your fault. I was saving the vial,” he said. “It’s the last one I have.” Ajos paused. “I do not know how I will fare tomorrow. I thought…”
Kerena waited for him to continue.
“I thought I could control myself.”
Ajos released her, eased up, and took a step away.
The light from her watch cast shadows that made him look even taller than he was.
He didn’t say anything more, and she didn’t have the guts to ask what he meant.
She felt confused, more than anything else.
Settling back on her haunches, she released a slow breath.
It didn’t matter, did it?
She knew nothing about Ajos. It was probably best whatever had just transpired between them had ended before it got too far.
If she’d been like most of the other human women who’d been taken, she’d have been safe now on the base—at least, relatively safe.
She wouldn’t be in the middle of a jungle with an alien she hardly knew, dry humping in the bushes.
The shame burned against her cheeks.
Ugh. What was her purpose for being here? Back when the shuttle had been coming in, she’d thought there was something, that the universe had led her to this planet for a reason…but what?
She hadn’t discovered anything of note, and they’d been walking most of the day.
All she’d discovered was that her magic wand hadn’t been all she’d needed. Her body yearned for more.
Taking another breath, she tried to ground herself and think of something else.
It the next few moments of silence, she made a pact with herself.
She could never allow herself to be so weak again.
Never.
She repeated this in her mind, forcing the thought to her prefrontal cortex…yet there was a nagging feeling that she was surely going to disappoint herself.
The comm on Ajos’ arm crackled in the night, stirring them both.
“Commander,” V’Alen spoke, his voice breaking the silence between them. “Do you read?”
Ajos activated the device and she moved so she was sitting on the nest of roots again.
“Report, V’Alen.”
“I am almost halfway done with the repairs to the ship. I should finish by daylight.”
Ajos paused before he replied. “Good. I will update you if anything changes here.”
He was standing somewhere behind her and she wasn’t brave enough to look at him.
It was best they ignored what had transpired between them.
The comms crackled off and she could almost feel him studying her.
Kerena cleared her throat.
There was tension between them now, tension that hadn’t been there before, and she didn’t like it. She had at least another day out here in the wilderness with him.
She wished it would go back to how it was before.
16
The star was rising, spreading brightness through the vegetation and bringing light to his eyes.
Ajos turned his head to look toward where Keh-reh-nah slept.
He’d taken off as soon as she’d drifted off to sleep, expelling his energy as he sprinted in a wide circle around where she slept.
It helped a little, slowed down his body’s use of the metcer cells, and he had lasted through the night without attacking her again.
He hung his head in shame as he came to a stop, leaning against one of the huge trees.
He was revolting.
To think he’d lost control…
Memory of her beneath him filled his mind and, as if on cue, his genital pouch swelled in anticipation, his cock pulsing.
Qef.
He shook his head.
He had to think of other things.
He had to think of death and destruction, of all the beings who were depending on him back on the base, of his people, the Shum’ai who would shout in horror at the way he had behaved.
Anger filled his veins—anger and hatred for himself—and he landed his fist into the trunk of the tree.
Wood split but so did the skin on his hand.
He watched his blood drip, the droplets marring the leaves beneath him, and snarled.
Back on Tonvuhiri, during the heat, he’d have been fighting other males for the chance to mate with a female.
It would have been an honor.
He would have been challenged for the right to release his seed in a fertile female. And then, when he’d won, a female could choose him if she so desired.
Shum’ai females were smaller, weaker, and rarer than Shum’ai males. In his bloodline, only one in ten births resulted in a female—in some others, the incidence was none. Males of his species often lived twice as long as the females, too, and these reasons made Shum’ai females his culture’s greatest treasure.
All females were a treasure and he’d almost…he’d almost forced Keh-reh-nah…
Qef.
How far would he have gone before he caught himself?
Ajos slammed his fist into the tree again, enjoying the burn the action produced in his fist.
His anger was building and the pain from his fist hitting the wood seemed to quell the emotion somewhat.
He’d never thought this would have happened to him, being away from Tonvuhuri.
He’d particularly checked Murn GZ’s climate before joining the Restitution, and he’d never gone on missions to extremely hot planets.
Not to mention, the heat had been one reason he’d left Tonvuhiri. Without the warm cycle, his heat would not have been activated.
And then there was the other reason why he’d left…
The memory of Nama’s pleas lit up in his mind’s eye and he punched the tree once more.
The deep pain of old simmered within him, mixing with his growing rage.
He did not