STORY EXCERPT

The vorle were the least sentient of the three higher functioning races that lived in his solar system. Perhaps this made them more susceptible to spreading the Purge like wildfire. He didn’t want to think of what the numbers of infested looked like in higher functioning colonies of vorle. Most of their people lived on Drudon, the next planet over, and one step closer to those three burning suns. They were short and squat creatures that barely came up to the tops of his thighs. They had too-big eyes, large teeth, and arms so long their knuckles dragged along the ground. Thanks to the Purge, patches of their fur had fallen off and various parts of them were rotting and festering, some of which exposed bones and internal organs. It wasn’t a pretty sight, much less one that helped ease the situation he was in.

They were considered to be the most violent of all the races, even when they were not septic. With the Purge driving them to spread the infection and devour more epithelium so the virus didn’t have to feed off of the host, they were even more dangerous. Thayne had a feeling he was about to find out just how dangerous they really were, if he didn’t get Benjy’s hatch shut. There was a band of about fifty of them racing toward him from over a cresting hill and all hungry to eat him. In some of the less traditionally colonized areas, such as this, there were low vorle populations. For now, it was in these colonies the first traces of the Purge began to be seen. If they didn’t do something about it, it would only be a matter of weeks before all of Nephele was beginning to feel the effects of this second resurgence of the deadly virus.

“Come on, damn it,” he shouted as he dropped the small excavation mallet he had brought and started kicking at the hatch.

The telecommunication piece in his ear snapped on and he could hear medic Brise Grice’s shrill voice shouting in his ear, “Captain Thayne, if you don’t get Benjy out of there, you’re going to be the first infected Taru on Nephele! Hurry the fuck up!”

He gave a quick glance over his shoulder to judge the distance they were from him and was alarmed at how quickly some of the freshly diseased were moving. In packs like this, the virus seemed to work as a collective whole rather than as a bunch of plague-ridden individuals. If Thayne was encountering a few plague-addled vorle, he could pick them off without trouble.

Thayne shoved himself inside of the opening for the hatch and into the pilot’s seat of Benjy’s small cockpit. The vorle were getting closer and it looked like the smell of something living was spurring them into a frenzy. He reached forward, gripped the handle for the hatch, and yanked it downwards as hard as he could. There was a grating sound of metal scratching on metal and a slow lurch downwards, but the hatch didn’t shut completely. Again, he yanked with the last bit of his strength and the slate grey metal hatch came slamming down.

“It’s about damn time,” he snapped as he heard the scratch of claws on the outer shell of the ship’s hull. The ship began to rock as the infested vorle rammed against it in an attempt to get at his flesh.

“That was too close,” Brise said and he could tell there was a twinge of relief in his nasally tone.

“The contagion is spreading more rapidly than we thought. A week ago the Helou Canyon was free of any infection and now it looks like the whole vorle colony here has succumbed to the Purge,” he said as the lights on the control panel flicked on.

“That’s not too far from some of the farming biospheres, Thayne,” Brise murmured with a distinct sound of concern.

“I know… I think it is time we head back to check in with the royal family. I wanted to try to keep from asking for their help, but we don’t have an option.”

The other end of the line was silent. He knew Brise agreed, whether or not he wanted to verbally recognize the dire straits they were in. Living on a ship with the medic for the better part of three years had showed it was as if putting words to it made it real for Brise. The reality of the Purge was something no one wanted to deal with.

Within a few moments, Benjy was smoothly gliding off of the ground from the force of the thrusters and into the air, carrying him to safety and far away from the very real threat of danger. Thayne watched as the slightly purple twinge of sky passed him whileBenjy climbed higher and higher into the atmosphere. That one was close, too close. As he wiped the sweat from his brow with the flipside of his gloved hand, he cringed with the certainty of how near to becoming another casualty he’d actually come. If it had of taken a second longer, those Purge-infected vorle would have been on him in an instant. He had too much to do and too many loved ones to be gone now, not to mention the duties he owed his crew. The semicircle shape of the sleek black spacecraft took form in the distance just pass the horizon. Already, he was feeling better.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Arohn… You do know that I am the person that you should be turning to the least, right? I am the captain of this ship. With the Purge spreading so rapidly… I am the force that is going to keep everyone moving in the right direction. I can’t afford to have thoughts of you filling my mind at every turn. All I saw was your picture this evening and since I laid eyes on your face, you are all that I can see. How am I supposed to save my people when all I want to do is save you?”

There was a sad smile that came across Arohn’s lips and even in this darkness he could see the traces of it.

“I can’t help it. I’m drawn to you. I felt your presence as easily as you did mine, once you saw my image. At that moment, something clicked inside of me and it is as if I can feel your presence. For the first time, it wasn’t just the silence and the stillness of the cryo-tank I felt. I could feel you.

“I know that the fate of the Taru are on my shoulders. I knew such a thing when I first closed my eyes. My awakening would signal that there is a dire need for me in this world. I understand what my purpose is and believe me, I am trying not to be selfish. I can just feel this need in you and I don’t even know you… I don’t know anyone.”

He couldn’t hold back anymore. Whatever reserve Thayne was still holding on to melted in that moment. It was improper and would definitely lead to clouded judgment, but he was willing to take that risk. If it meant that he could bring this tortured man even a moment of happiness, he would give everything up. He had never felt such a connection with anyone. He couldn’t explain it and knew that others might find his decision to forego the appropriate questionable. All he wanted right then was Arohn and wasn’t going to settle for less. From the sensation of the other’s engorged cock twitching against the lower planes of his abdomen, he could tell he wasn’t alone in succumbing to this heavy desire.

Arohn’s entire body was begging to be taken. From the light quake of his elegant limbs to the half-lidded glaze upon his eyes, Thayne was entranced by it all. There was such lust in him that screamed to devour the other right where he lay. Every inch of him seemed to be beseeching loving attention, and Thayne was not the kind of man to deny the few things his heart wanted. What his heart was craving at the current moment was simply to give Arohn the glimpse of the pleasure and affection he rightly deserved. Thayne was relatively certain the other wouldn’t have known such a thing after being raised by religious leaders and locked away when he was considered of the right age.

Thayne’s hips skillfully rocked in a manner that guided the wide tip of his needy cock back and forth along the divide between the other’s plump cheeks. With each passing brush, his pre-slicked tip would catch for a moment on the rosette of his assumed virgin entrance before sliding back along. Thayne’s hands had busied themselves, one of which was exploring the tantalizing curves of Arohn’s side while the other teased along one quivering inner thigh. His short nails bit at the skin and left angry raised pink welts as they traveled up toward his own flush cock. In an instant, those teasing nails traced along the veined underside of Arohn’s cock so he could tease at his sensitive glans.

His upper body was pushed forward and the thin-set line of his lips found Arohn’s. The softness of the other’s lips was against his, and it only pushed his desires for his body even further. All he could smell was Arohn’s fragile scent clouding his senses. He smelled of Nephele’s sweet summer blossoms and a bounty of fresh fruit mixed with a hint of exotic spice. More than that, he could smell his own scent lingering with Arohn’s and tainting his flesh. He wanted the other to reek of him so that all might know where he had been, whose bed he had been claimed in. Perhaps it was a foolish notion, but it wasn’t one he could easily curb.

The slide of their mouths upon one another was hot and needy. Their tongues danced roughly as bodies grinded against the opposing form of chiseled muscle. Their need reached a fevered pitch, one in which the inevitable was surely coming. He could no more fight off his need for Arohn than he could the desire to rip into his slender body and hilt himself within that tight ass. Instead of giving into his wanton needs he knew would hurt Arohn, he instead focused his energies on giving him the pleasure he had been denied for nearly a thousand years, and perhaps his whole existence.