Page 82 of Alliance
She rocked her hips in earnest then, using his mouth as her own plaything. Undulating his tongue inside her, Fás took his cock in hand and pumped it to the same rhythm. Within moments, her cunt tightened, and the way she sobbed his name punched her harmony straight into his soul.
Fás withdrew his tongue and kissed her clit in sloppy, slow motions as she wound down. He squeezed the bar between his legs, and a deep, relaxed orgasm rolled through him. Hot seed painted her ass and his stomach as her hand softened in his tresses and she brushed her fingers over his facial velvet with adoration.
"You stay here," he ordered. "I need to get you a mediplasma."
"It's fine, I'll repair quickly."
Fás kissed her thigh before disentangling from her limbs. Immediately, he missed the contact. "Mediplasma," he insisted. "And then we need to go."
Roz swung sideways to let him out and knelt in the ruined moss of her capture, covered in smears of plant matter, roots, and dirt. Fásach paused, enraptured by the sight. She sandwiched her cold fingers between her thighs and beamed at him. "Okay."
Fás reached out and brushed her forehead with his fingers, making sure she was real. He stayed that way for a span ofheartbeats, mesmerized by the way she looked. Mussed, sated, trusting, and full of victory.
Then he wiped her skin with his discarded pants, brushed his nose against hers, and focused on prep while she recovered, watching the distant forests.
28
The permafrost meadows and moss gave way to the Dawn's Razor within half a day of straight riding. At first, the trees were overrun with moss, bowing like elders in thick cloaks beneath the weight. Then tall straight trees with black trunks and long limbs peppered with skyward-facing scaly whips took over the terrain.
I was awed by the sight of them. They were regal—a hundred or more feet tall—and reminded me of Gothic Christmas trees with their austere, other-worldly grace. When the breeze blew through the boughs, their whipping fingers shivered and swayed like cattails. I wanted to remember every moment of this journey, with Fásach at my back, his broad chest and thick fur keeping me warm.
We entered the Razor with the sun still at its peak between the mass of Big Blue and the horizon, but its bright pink and orange light dimmed immediately, unable to penetrate the tall canopy as anything more than a bloody red glow. The wind died too, with no way to penetrate the thickest part of the forest.
"How long will we be in here?" Fásach asked, his hold on my waist tense. I focused on the beam of light preceding the needle, my brow drawn in concentration as I dodged boulders here and there.
"According to maps, Dawn's Razor is thousands of miles long, circumventing the cap all the way around," I told him. "But cutting across it is quick. We'll be on the other side tomorrow."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. There are other hunters in here. I don't want to give them a reason to test their luck."
"You can tell?" I asked, looking back at him over the mass of my curls. His ear twitched.
"I can smell something. Big, with fur. Its musk is strong. If I had to guess, whatever it is has a den nearby."
[Analysis] I considered our speed and the remnants of the trail ahead that hadn't been maintained. "If we camp four miles away, will that be far enough?"
"Not really, but I'll keep watch. The engine might be enough to deter it for now. And it could be nothing."
We found a place to camp an hour after the sun's red haze faded into Big Blue's eerie glow. Fásach set up our bedroll behind the needle, hoping its exhaust and fuel would deter any predators that might get curious. I checked the charge on my Slab4. My internal charge was gone once more.
I was hardly surprised. My model was designed to live happily imprisoned in a brothel bedroom, able to charge every day during off hours. The rut hunt that morning had taken a majority of my charge, and the upper body strength to control the needle had sapped the rest.
My abdomen tightened, stealing a glance at Fásach. He gazed lovingly at Safia and Misila's holoscreens, revealing the gentle side of him that felt so distant from the fever we'd indulged that morning. If I let him know I was thinking about him, would that look change in a split second? Would he call me histhuaisagain?
I didn't know if it had been said in the heat of the moment or not, but I knew what it meant thanks to my database. TrueNorth. It was the yiwreni equivalent of beloved, a life partner. [Warning] I ached for that to be true, but a sense of foreboding tickled my LMem. Confusion made my chest feel tight. Was it because I was worried he would say it wasn't true?
Or was there something else? The silence of having no echoes nearby didn't bother me as much as it had on the tundra. Was I losing some part of me the closer we got to the colony?
[Priority] That thought died immediately. No, what a silly notion. I had so much to gain by getting to Renata. The faster, the better. Important things awaited me there. Things Rosy had left behind and even more that I wanted to do myself. A bucket list, she would have called it. Playing with the kids on the playfield. Eating human food, especially a cubano on a crisp roll with mustard, sharp pickles, and hot pork. My mouth salivated thinking of all the things I would be able to try for myself, regardless of Rosy's memories.
But the looming dread persisted.
Fás joined me moments later on a boulder as large as a house. I pointed through the trees to a sliver of red visible in the distance, where the sun had yet to set.
"That's the jungle," he awed. I nodded. "We're so close."
"End of tomorrow, if we're lucky."
Fás smashed a bag of broth, heating it up between his palms as we watched that glittering red sea of foliage. "Do you know which way to go once we're out of the Razor?"
