Something is humming in my ear. No. Some thing. A drone, I realize. A small, bird-like drone with wings that beat a million times a second.
I swat it away and keep going, her light becoming brighter and brighter as she moans and then wraps her legs around my waist.
And then, just when I think I will die because she feels too good, too perfect, too… everything…
We explode.
Light bursts up and out. The whole star walk brightens in a flash and the deep dark outside disappears, taking the stars away with it.
I lean into her neck. Unable to comprehend what just happened. Unable to move, or talk, or think. But my cocks have other ideas. They don’t soften. In fact, they become even harder inside her.
“What the fuck?” I whisper.
“Twice,” Corla says, glowing white light flowing out of her body. “We have to do it twice.”
“I don’t think I can—” But I’m already doing it. Already fucking her again before I can finish my sentence. My hips eager and thrusting. Her mouth making the most delicious sounds. So ready to come again, I feel like an animal running on instinct alone.
“Now,” she says. “Right now!”
This time it’s not a decision. It’s a primal impulse. We come together once more. Moaning and writhing up against the side of the station.
We stay like that as her light dissipates, then subsides altogether. My mind begins to focus again. Reality comes forward, tapping me on the shoulder. Letting me know it’s over.
The drone is still buzzing about. Corla is shuddering and weak in my arms as I hold her up and then…
We collapse to the floor in a heap and just lie there.
The tiny drone hovers in front of me for a moment. I lift my had to swat it again, but it just darts away and disappears down the tube.
“Holy shit,” Corla says.
I laugh, then say, “Holy shit is right. What the fuck was that? I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. Something came over me. I was… drunk or something. I don’t know. I can’t even remember how we got here.”
“It’s OK,” she says, patting my chest. Her face is buried in my neck. And when I glance down, her eyes are closed. “You can’t help it. We can’t help it, Crux. They made us this way.”
“What?”
She makes an effort to sit up a little and open her eyes. They’re silver. Still glowing. She’s beautiful, I realize. Her hair—God, Jimmy was right. Because I pick a few strands of it up and in my hand, unable to hold in the urge to run my fingers through it. It’s soft, and sparkling with her white light.
“They made me for you,” she whispers. “And they made you for me. That’s all.”
“What do you mean?” I whisper back.
She sighs, then pulls herself together and gets to her feet, holding out a hand to me.
I take it and let her pull me up, thinking I probably should’ve been the one to help her up, but… fuck it. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.
“I can’t believe they didn’t tell you anything.”
“Tell me what?” I ask, tucking my cocks back into my pants and straightening my clothes.
Her dress is perfect. Like this never happened. I realize there’s a hidden slit up the middle, covered by panels that flow over her hips. I realize her dress was made so I could fuck her in it.
“About the breeding ceremony,” she says. Then she takes my hand and starts pulling me down the tunnel of stars. “Come on, they won’t follow us. They got what they wanted and now we have one night to make our plan.”
“What plan?” I ask, allowing myself to be tugged along.
She glances over her shoulder and smiles. “Our escape, of course.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Happy birthday, you little shit,” Jimmy says to Draden as he ruffles his hair.
Draden is tall now. The years we’ve been here on ALCOR Station have been good to him. We have more food to eat than we ever did on Wayward. We have clean air, and a constant supply of water. Serpint, too, has grown big and strong. Over two meters tall, like the rest of us.
But it feels good to know they had a real childhood. That none of my friends will ever have to go through what I did with Corla.
I’m twenty now. Which means only a few more years before I’m considered a man. Akeelians age differently than other humanoid species, taking almost twenty-six years to reach full maturity. There’s this weird in-between stage—the age Draden and Serpint were when we got here—where you’re still a child in your mind even though your body is growing. It lasts until about age fifteen. Then you get muscles, and your second cock drops, and urges begin to take over.
Except there’s no one here but us still, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep everyone happy. Jimmy is the only one sorta satisfied, and that’s because he and Xyla hit it off early. But they don’t… do that. They are just friends. It’s not enough for him. It’s not even enough for her. Or us.