Cosmic Captain: Chapter 13

I sat crossed legged in the engine room, studying code on the tablet Lovath had officially let me keep. Machines hummed all around, and only Lovath's lower half was visible, one leg propped up as he worked underneath a piece of equipment that wouldn’t stop rattling. There was a loud, horrible sound, then a clattering noise.

"Drekking fantastic. Piece of shtec." Lovath spat, shimmying out from under the machine and getting to his feet. He kicked it hard, and the rattling stopped. "Huh."

As he thunked back down to the ground to examine the equipment, I couldn't help but snicker, "You're not very patient."

Lovath turned to face me, a grin curving his lips. "Depends on the situation, ksiva."

Flushing, I didn't break his heated gaze. Lovath hadn't done anything since that first night beyond flirting and some casual touches that could have been mistaken for accidents. He was waiting for me to go to him, which had kind of ruined my plan to use his interest in me to trick him into letting his guard down so I could steal his ship.

Instead I just spent the last week thinking about how nice it had been to kiss him.

"What's ksiva mean?" I knew I'd mangled the pronunciation when he chuckled. On all fours he crawled closer to me, and I very distinctly felt like prey being stalked. Arousal tingled across my skin, and I drew my knees up a little closer to hide that I had started to get hard.

"A ksiva is a creature from my planet. Small and furry, but with sharp teeth and claws. Ksivas would sooner scratch your face off than not." Lovath tilted his head as he came to a stop, hovering over me. "You remind me of one."

My face burned with his nearness but also with embarrassment. He was calling me a god damned kitten. "I feel like I should be offended."

"It's because I like you, Gray." His reptilian eyes were focused on my lips, and I couldn't resist darting my tongue out to lick them just so I could see those eyes flare. I wanted to kiss him. Not because I wanted to trick him, but maybe because I liked him a little, too.

One of his xivpa had slid free from the tie holding them back, and I reached up to fiddle with it without thinking too hard. The tapered end felt similar to the leathery patches scattered on his skin. I hadn't even realized how normal the tendrils had become to me, and I'd really come to see them more like hair.

I let the xivpa fall from my fingers and slid my hand around the back of his neck. Lovath didn't hesitate when I tugged, swooping down to press his lips to mine. I moaned when he slicked his textured tongue into my mouth, and I heard the tablet I'd been holding clatter to the floor.

Lovath pulled my body towards him, pushing me back onto the floor as I spread my legs to let him settle between them. We were kissing desperately, Lovath grinding his hard cock against mine when I wrapped my legs around his hips. I didn't know what kind of equipment an alien would have, but I knew he had something penis adjacent and it would be close enough. Just feeling it through his clothing addled my brain with lust.

I wanted him.

Lovath groaned, fisting one hand in my hair to tilt my head back, giving him access to kiss down my throat. His teeth dug in right above my collarbone and my back arched off of the metal grates, breath hissing through my teeth. My reaction encouraged him to do it again, making me writhe with pleasure underneath him as he sucked and laved his tongue over the spot he'd just bitten.

"L-Lovath...!" I clutched at his back as he sucked another hickey into my skin, right on the side of my neck where everyone would be able to see.

"Tell me what you want, ksiva."

“F-fuck…” My voice trembled as I moved on of my hands from his back, slipping it between us to try and untie my sweatpants. I wanted his hands on me, and I wanted to feel his cock against mine, but the words wouldn’t come.

“Fucking, I can do.” He spoke in a low chuckle, and I wanted to tell him what I actually meant, except….except Jesus Christ, fucking sounded good too.

Lovath pulled my hand from between us, then pushed himself up and sat back on his heels. Hooking his fingers under the waistband of my sweatpants, he tugged them down enough for my cock to come free. When he reached for his own clothing, unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his pants, fear struck me. He couldn’t fuck me right on the floor of the engine room, without lube, without prep.

“Wait, I…I didn’t mean…” My words trailed off he rushed down to kiss me, his hips grinding against mine. I made a strangled sound into his mouth as I felt his bare cock rub along mine. His cock was slick for some reason but fuck, the contact felt so good.

“Don’t fret.” He assured in between hungry kisses. “I know what you want.”

Lovath parted from my mouth long enough to spit in his hand, and I made an embarrassing keening sound. His ravenous lips closed back over mine as he slid his hand between our bodies, my entire body shuddering when he palmed both our cocks together. The natural slickness he seemed to have plus his spit made a filthy, wet sound as he pumped us both once.

“Want…want…Lovath…!” My hips jerked into his hand, my cock throbbing against his. He drowned me in devouring kisses as he gripped us both so tight it nearly hurt. Every slide of his fist was torturous pleasure and Lovath groaned when I dragged my nails down his back.

Lovath tore his lips from mine to kiss down my neck again, leaving more marks. “I want to be inside you, ksiva. Fuck that tight hole until you’re begging for more.” His teeth sank into another spot on my shoulder and I was helpless to do anything but moan as he shuttled his fist over our cocks.

I wanted him inside me too. The thought of even my own touch had disgusted me for so long, yet I wanted Lovath inside. My hips were thrusting my cock into his fist and the feel of him so hard against me was pure ecstasy.

“C-Coming…!” I gasped in between ragged breaths as Lovath caught the skin of my neck between his teeth. He wasn’t deterred by the mess we might make, only tightening his grip and jerking us faster. My sac pulled up tight as I came with a strangled cry, nails leaving deep crescents in Lovath’s back. His body shuddered over mine seconds later and he groaned into the crook of my neck.

My hair—which had gotten quite long—was sweaty and sticking to my forehead, I realized as I came down. I gently released the claw-like grip I had on Lovath, body jerking with an aftershock when he slid his hand up and down our softening cocks a single time.

Lovath pulled back enough that I could see his handsome face, and those tantalizing lips tugged into a cocky grin. Raising the hand covered in cum to his mouth, he licked off every finger, then dipped down to kiss me softly. The taste of both of us on his tongue was filthy and sexy and my dick pulsed, giving a weak attempt at getting hard again.

Grabbing a rag from the pack they used on the equipment—even a clean rag couldn’t be sanitary—Lovath cleaned up the rest of our mess and neatly returned our clothes to normal. All while I lay there and let him do it like I was his to care for.

I hated how much I liked that thought.

Pushing myself to a sitting position, I let Lovath help me to my feet. “Do you want to cover these?” He trailed his fingers lightly down my neck, across my collarbone, where I knew there must be marks. I didn’t know how bad it looked yet, but…

“No.” And I loved how his eyes lit up at that. “I’m scared of this, Lovath.” I found myself admitting, and I was jarred by how true it was. I was scared that I liked him for more reasons than physical attraction. I was scared that I’d barely thought about Earth for the past week. I was scared that we’d get to Pretia and he’d leave me behind. And I hated that I didn’t want him to.

Lovath didn’t ask what I meant. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me, and I instinctively settled into his embrace. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want, Gray.”

That was the problem. I was terrified that I did want all this. “Unless you’re drugging me.” It was meant to be a joke, but fell flat when Lovath’s arms stiffened. He gently pushed me far enough away to study my face.

“You’ve said something like that before. What do you mean?”

Oh. He deserved an explanation, didn’t he? “The krexxians tested aphrodisiacs on me. Harsa? But it didn’t work. They found something eventually, and they…well, it didn’t wear off for a long time. I assumed they sent some with me.”

Lovath’s face soured, a muscle in his jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth. “Let’s go down and look.” 

The edge in his voice was a little scary, but he followed me up the ladder, to the other end of the ship, and down again—I was so close to fixing the cargo bay door—and came to a stop a few yards away from the stasis pod I’d been shipped in.

I’d never had a good reason yet to come back down here, and the sight of where I’d been packaged up like cargo to be sent to Torvan gave me chills. The pod was still nestled in a partially opened metal box, just as it had been left.

The metal cargo box opened in two sections; the first part, which had covered the top half of the pod, was flipped back on its hinges. An electronic panel on the front was cracked, the display flickering wildly, and I realized Kryn must’ve broken into it when he heard my pod beeping inside.

I warmed towards him a bit. He could’ve just ignored it, let me be dead on arrival while they moved on with their lives none the wiser. I shook the thought away as Lovath forcibly yanked open the latch for the other half of the crate and flipped the lid back.

It clanged against the other side of the box, revealing the end half of my pod and a small metal box. My blood ran cold when Lovath lifted it out and set it on the ground. Sitting cross legged in front of it, he rapidly typed through a million different things on the box’s little screen until it beeped and the top popped open with a hiss.

Inside was a small tablet, maybe the size of my hand, and enough individually wrapped syringes to make my head spin. Silent, Lovath picked up the miniature tablet and pulled up a holographic display, swiping through screens and screens of information.

“It’s a drekking instruction manual.” He growled through gritted teeth. When he looked up at me, his eyes blazed with fury. “Continued use of this stuff will halve your lifespan, Gray.” He was motioning to the box of needles and I swallowed hard.

“I…they couldn’t find one that worked.” Was the room spinning?

Lovath surged to his feet and gathered me in his arms. I sagged against his body, letting him hold me close and run his fingers through my hair. When had I started shaking? The soothing motion of Lovath’s fingers in my long hair was melting all the fear away, though.

I was safe with him, wasn’t I?