Under A Dying Star (Patreon)

A gift story!  I worked with people on this one, back and forth for the initial idea and then quite a lot afterwards to fix things and add things and just make it way way better than it was in the beginning.  This was a ton of fun to write.  I got to play around a lot more with emotions and different scenes and just had a blast.  Very grateful for the opportunity to make the story and I hope you enjoy it!

There was no warning.

Screams woke him from a deep sleep filled with jumbled dreams that faded immediately in the chaos surrounding him.  His squadmates lept from their bunks, falling, tumbling, cursing as petty officers shouted conflicting orders around them.

Alarms shrieked, causing him to jolt just as he stood from his lower bunk.  He barely felt the cold steel deck as people shoved past, propelling him towards the wide archway leading out of their berthing while still clothed in nothing more than the basic cloth shirt and long pants they all used for sleeping.

The soft white lights used to simulate a moon laden nighttime clicked to garnet when he stepped barefoot into the corridor.

"MAKE A HOLE!" a sharp voice bellowed and years of training caused him to move without a thought, throwing his back to the wall as others followed on either side of the corridor.  A group of six rushed past.

He recognized the one in the lead from their daily training videos as well as a few rare in-person presentations - Senior Chief Petty Officer Tsai.  The shock of seeing her in their area was quickly replaced by apprehension when he saw pure fear in her features - distorted by the dull red coloring splashed over everything.

"STATIONS STATIONS STATIONS STATIONS!" the same voice screamed as the ship groaned and shuddered.

"Oh fuck," someone whispered next to him when yellow lights strobed, tinted sallow and sickly by the emergency lights.

A hull breach, he realized, as others gasped and muttered around him.

"MOVE YOUR ASSES!"

They ran, joined by others until they were a barely orderly flood coursing through the ship towards their fighters.  His heart pounded, throbbing at his temples while his throat ran dry and his hands grew clammy.  He wiped his palms against his pants while his eyes swept across the glowing designations above side passages.  When he found his section, he shoved against the flow, forcing his way past screaming, snarling crewmates.  A few others followed him when he descended, wincing as the sharp protrusions covering the steps bit into his bare feet.

The short hairs dotting his body and the back of his neck all raised at once.  Barely seconds later, a violent explosion rocked him.  He fell against the railing before using it as leverage to jump and clear the last few steps.  Screams of pain touched his hearing.  The air howled, tugging at his clothes.

"No no no no no!" he yelled when the doors before him began to close in order to seal the passage off from the sudden depressurization.  He lept, thumping his leg against the edge of the door and nearly getting his foot crushed in the process.

Acid churned in his stomach.  Someone vomited ahead of him and others groaned when fists thumped against the door behind him.

He moved, relying on training to push him forward.

"Delta T-24, Delta T-24, Delta..." he repeated while reading the reflective lettering above recessed, angled bulkheads staggered every five meters.  He felt dull.  Empty and slow despite the adrenaline pumping through his body.  Sluggish as if he were piloting his own body through a lagging, muddied interface.

The last time they had trained for a simulated attack was less than two weeks ago.  He suddenly panicked, certain that he wouldn't find the right bay or that he'd taken the wrong passage.  He'd be stuck, unable to exit the corridor and-

It was there, to his left.  He ran, leaving bloody marks on the flooring until he knelt down to press his palm against the panel beneath Delta T-24.  It beeped green and opened to him.  A short ladder led to the waiting cockpit but he ignored it and jumped down into the chair, connecting straps before tapping on the screen.

Explosive bolts threw his ship sideways, unlike anything he'd felt in the simulation.  The fighter spun until his hands touched the controls to stabilize the small craft.

The capital ship - the UFP Marlowe, was sheared in half.  Explosions bloomed silently between the two parts, sending wreckage and corpses flying - hazards that shredded a few fighters flying too close to the ship.

Three enemy ships, a little more than half the size of their capital ship, were outlined in front of the nearby red giant star.  A swarm of smaller fighters approached.  Thousands.  Tens of thousands.  Quick little silver ships slipping through their defenses as the Marlowe's turrets - the ones still online and functional - spat volley after volley of defensive fire.

Digital outlines glowed on his cockpit, pointing him towards his targets.  He followed, firing, snarling as he spun and dipped and-

His brain registered his death before he realized what was happening.  As before, goosebumps rippled over his skin and his hairs stood on end.  One of the enemy ships glowed with a pure white aura that enveloped its entire hull.  A detached part of his mind knew what it was from his training - the same thing that tore through the Marlowe.

"Oh fu-" he started to say until the glow burned a path of carnage that sent his fighter tumbling.  He grabbed the controls only to realize his instruments were dead.  Three of his engines were gone - only the glowing ends of the struts showing instead.  The remaining engine fired continuously, sending him on an uncontrolled path away from the battle.

The return fire from the remaining fighters strobed before him, giving him quick, stuttering glances into the receding chaos.  He yelled as his vision began to narrow to darkness, louder and louder until a muffled thump caused his head to slam into the side of his cockpit, knocking him unconscious.

---

Despite its distance, the local red giant dominated the sky, casting a dull orange glow over the sparse, rocky landscape.

His right eye cracked open.  For over a minute, he stared senselessly outwards at the rounded dome of his cockpit's canopy.  Without the direct glare of the sun in space, the tint was gone.  His harness held him securely on his side.  As the world began to make sense, pain returned and he welcomed it, carefully testing his body with small movements to see if anything was broken.

Movement at the corner of his eye pulled his attention back to the canopy.  A small four legged creature stood directly above him.

Lizard, he thought immediately, recalling the creature from some of the videos he'd watched during rec time.  Others watched whatever movies were approved by the military and, while he joined occasoinally, he more often found himself watching documentaries.  Old videos of extinct animals and newer videos showing the few hardy ones that survived the wars and global famines.

Having grown up on the capital ship, it was the first living thing he'd seen aside from plants and other humans.  A sense of childlike wonder enveloped him as he watched it take a few steps.  Its tan, scaled belly was outlined by short, silver, tangled fur that crept around its belly and up.  He spied more fur covering its legs and the segmented tail.  It lifted itself, held the position and then performed a peculiar pumping motion where it raised and lowered itself repeatedly before scurrying away with faint tic-tic-tic-tic sounds where its tiny claws struck the canopy.

He gave a slow thirty second count before pulling a lever off to his side while tensing with his eyes closed.  The canopy exploded, flicking away in the air to crash out of his eyesight.

Their training manual for this sector included a brief synopsis of each planet in the system.  He'd skimmed, much to his shame, assuming he'd never be planetside.  Now he vaguely recalled something about the air being breathable for very short periods of time with longer exposure being acidic to human lungs.  Unsurvivable.

Holding his breath, he detached his harness with one hand while gripping the edge of his cockpit with the other.  Once freed, he slammed his fist into a side compartment near his legs to retrieve his emergency kit.  His rebreather was sealed in a side pocket and difficult to manage one-handed but he broke the seal and awkwardly looped it around his head to secure it over his mouth.  The single gulp of air he'd been forced to take left a burning sensation at the back of his throat that lingered as he took slow breaths through the mask.

With his bag secured, he lowered himself slowly to the ground.

His eyes widened in shock.

A Pre'lurrian fighter was tangled with his own, the smooth but sharp left wing speared through the remains of the engine struts on the right side of his own ship.  His shaking hand slipped into the bag to fumble for his pistol.  He gripped it, holding it out before him with two hands after dropping his bag.

"Shit," he said, steaming his mask.  With the weapon in hand, he circled around to the enemy ship.  His hands drooped, dropping the barrel of his pistol until he raised it once more.

The creature was unconscious and similarly tangled in his own harness but its body dangled half out of his ship, arms pointed to the ground.

He'd seen them in countless videos, of course.  Movies and propaganda as well as training videos.  None of them real - all of them generated by AI based on captured specimens.

Here, now, was a live one before him.  Over two meters tall with long, slender, powerful limbs.

His first thought was that of a tiger.  No - a lion, perhaps.  Both extinct but well documented in old videos.  Thick creamy fur covered its arms and shoulders and face but the slack jaw showed a long, split tongue dangling from between a mouth full of razor sharp fangs.  Tufts of fur tipped its short, sharp ears - nearly the size of his own despite the creature's bulk.  A wild ruff of tangled hair covered the back of the beast's neck.  The lion's mane.

There were scales, there, on the bridge of its broad, flat nose, sand colored and thin, increasing minutely in size until they spread over its brow beneath a wild mop of hairs that blended with the fur on its upper back.

Closer now, he saw that it was similar to the lizard-like creature from earlier.  More scales covered the majority of the creature's arms with fur acting like thick hair along the top of the arm.  Its fingers ended in surprisingly delicate curved black claws.

He crept forward, watching the creature's face for signs of waking.  It wore an open jumpsuit, having had more time than he'd had to prepare, and its chest was bare with wide, thick scales and no sign of fur.

Having finished his surveillance, he stepped back and raised his weapon, staring down the simple sights at the beast's forehead.

One pull of the trigger would end its life.  A gauge at the back of the weapon, just beneath the sights, showed a full charge.  It was a simple pistol but powerful enough to punch through armor plating with its limited number of shots.

His breathing grew quick while his hands dipped and shook.  One simple pull.  They didn't train often with pistols but he'd taken the mostly optional sessions to break up the monotony of life on the capital ship.  His finger rested against the trigger.  He could feel the artificial tension they'd worked into the design, based on older kinetic models still in use in some parts of the galaxy.

He glanced up towards the sun and wondered if they were still fighting.  And whether there was a victor.  These faceless enemies only seen in videos with computer controlled avatars, screeching with guttural incoherence like a feral beast.

A living creature.  Only the second thing he'd seen that wasn't human.  Close enough to touch.

It was pounded into them - these were the enemy.  These were the very threat to their existence.  But, he didn't train to kill Pre'lurrians.  He trained to destroy their ships.  Machines.  They carried the creatures,yes, he knew that on a logical level, but as he stared at it, his hands lowered until he rested the weapon by his side.  He raised fingertips to his shirt, feeling his nipple and then sliding his hand down to find the invisible scar that ran along one side of his chest and the other.  Healed almost ten years ago now.  And up to his smooth cheeks, all while his eyes traced the same path on the creature before him.

"I can't," he whispered.  "I-"

He turned and walked back to his ship, stepping up onto the bent wing while gripping the edge of the cockpit.

"Well.  Shit," he said.

The tip of the Pre'lurrian's wing speared through his own cockpit. He reached down to touch his leg and his finger found a small tear in the cloth sleeping pants.

A large amount of his ship's electronics were destroyed, including the emergency beacon.

He bit his lip while glancing toward the creature's larger ship.  There was no way to know if it would be able to summon help or reinforcements and he didn't plan to stick around to find out.

Craning his neck, he spotted his canopy.  He grabbed his emergency bag and walked to it, grateful for the lighter gravity, especially when he began to drag the canopy towards a small cave he spied in the distance.

---

A little over an hour after he'd set up his makeshift shelter in the shallow cave, he spied the Pre'lurrian moving.

He sat with his arm resting on his knee and his eye to the monocular he'd retrieved from his bag.  His other hand held the remains of a small nutrition bar.  As he watched, the creature freed itself and froze, as he had, upon spying the other ship.  Unlike him, it took only a single heart beat before it dropped out of sight.  He waited carefully and was soon rewarded by the furred edge of the creature's face peering over the wreckage of their ships.

"I see you, too," he said, as the creature stared directly at him.

And then it stood.  And turned.  Hidden from his view from when it was in the cockpit, he now saw the saw-like tail it had, as thick as his own arm and long enough to drag against the ground.  The tip curled up and off the ground but occasionally tapped the dirt as the creature walked away.  Short spikes lined the back of the scalled tail in two rows, almost hidden by dense fur that grew from the tip and along the length of the tail before merging with the fur covering its back.  It walked on the broad tip of its scaled feet, leaving its back wide open.

"You cocky asshole," he whispered, laughing quietly as the Pre'lurrian vanished behind a rocky outcropping.

Thinking back, he realized it carried no bag and he wondered if it lost its survival kit in the crash.

---

A windstorm rattled the canopy he'd secured to the entrance to his cave while the shiny fabric of his tent, flattened to create a simple barrier behind the canopy, fluttered.

He'd waited to die the first two days he'd stayed in the cave.  He'd taken one of the few stimulants from his kit to stay awake for twenty-eight hours, according to his chronometer, tuned as it was to ship time.  It supposedly mimicked the day and night cycle from Earth.  When he woke after only a few hours of sleep, he'd expected reinforcements to come to the creature's rescue and a team of them to kill him.  After sleeping two more times, he found himself relaxing incrementally.

He'd given up on either of them being rescued or for the creature to care enough to kill him.  But, also, he didn't expect to survive much longer.  And what would it matter then?

He sat back against the curved wall, inhaling the stale air from his rebreather.  The little booklet in his bag gave the device a useful life of roughly one month before it would fail.  He laughed mirthlessly.  It wouldn't matter, he only had rations for a week and he'd barely been able to stretch them to fifteen days.  He held the olive foil packet of the last nutrition bar in his hands while watching an egg-shaped metal device flailing around outside his cave.  It gathered and filtered moisture from the air but took a painfully long time to fill up.

Lightning flashed.  Once.  Twice.  Three times with hollow sounding thunder following it with a low roar.

He would hunt, tomorrow, and pray that the wildlife was edible.  For now, he watched the storm while running a hand over his scalp, enjoying the sensation of the spiky tips scratching his palm.  They were all bald, always shaved weekly.  He'd never seen himself with hair and he wondered what it would be like, whether curly or straight and what color it would be.  Idle, useless thoughts as the world raged around him.

---

It took three days following the storm in order to make his first kill.  There was a surprising amount of creatures in the area, from tiny little fur-less lizards to massive, shambling mounds spied far off in the distance, moving in a line together.  There was also an interesting mixture of plant life around his little habitat but he didn't dare to sample any of it yet.

Once or twice, he'd been sure he'd spotted the Pre'lurrian.  More than that, he'd felt the creature watching him, stirring the fine hairs on the nape of his neck until he'd whip his head around, certain the beast would be standing behind him.

He stared at the creature he'd killed - a hole burned through its side.  It was the same as the one he'd spotted on his ship when he woke after the crash.  The documentaries he'd watched talked about hunting game and he could recall the broad outline - cook the muscle and be wary of the organs since they may contain toxins.

Gutting the creature was messy work but hunger propelled him.  He laid out the pelt while carefully dismantling the lizard - for the simple name stuck in his mind - into different piles of bones and muscle and internal organs.  Most of the work was done by process of elimination due to his lack of knowledge.

A handheld torch allowed him to cook the meat.  He sat, cross-legged inside his cave, staring at the blackened chunks in front of him.  The rebreather filtered most of the smell but not all.  Saliva filled his mouth while cramps assaulted his stomach.  He swayed, steadied himself and grimaced from a bout of nausea.  He'd felt ill since the last two days, sick from hunger.

The hide could be used for various things, he suddenly remembered.  More vaguely recalled bits from the documentaries about ancient tribes using every piece of their kill, including the bones.

Clothing? he asked himself, poking the bloody skin carefully.  He couldn't imagine how that would work and nothing in his memories gave him any ideas.  And, anyway, he couldn't take his eyes off of the cooked meat.

It looked like the steak they grew on the capital ship and that only made it worse.

A small bite, he told himself.  As with the pistol, they'd all received minimal, and often optional, survival training.  A small taste to see if it made him ill before he ate more.

He removed his rebreather, tore a tiny chunk of the meat, sniffed it and then touched it to his tongue.  He forced himself to wait, holding the mask to his face while swallowing excess drool until his maddening hunger overrode his already eroding sense of self preservation.

Juices ran down his fingers as he tore pieces from the cooked meat.  He told himself he would stop after every mouthful, but he couldn't.  Instead, he ate until nothing was left and then licked his fingers clean.

Fool, he told himself while pushing back to the curved wall of the small cave.  Raising his knees, he wrapped them with his arms and waited, staring at the entrance.  Listening to the shifting whistling noise generated by the rippling material.

Waiting.  But not for long.  Claws tore into his stomach.  He tightened his arms, pulling his legs more tightly against his stomach as waves of pain began to radiate from his belly.  Sweat beaded on his suddenly moist skin.  He groaned, bowing to rest his forehead against his knees while swallowing.  And swallowing.  And-

He scrabbled to the corner of the cave while tearing his rebreather away, snapping the strap holding it to his face.  His stomach clenched and he vomited, heaving until his lips were covered in excess spit.  Moaning, he wiped his mouth with a trembling hand, only to feel his stomach muscles clench once more.

It was a death sentence.  Staring at the mess he'd made through watery eyes, he knew for certain that now there was no hope.  He'd wondered if he could survive breathing the air for a long period of time once his rebreather stopped functioning.  His water supply was fine as long as that miraculous little machine never quit but it wasn't enough.

Bright vivid red streaks of blood stood out in the vomit splattered over the wall and floor.  The cramps were endless.  He wiped his mouth with the dirty sleeve of his shirt and rolled, dragging himself along the cave floor until he felt the tent wall against his back.  His shoulder shoved against the canopy, knocking it loose and the wind dragged it against the ground.  He crawled further still, wheezing and shuddering.  Crying out when the invisible claws returned to gouge his guts.  Rolling and kicking until his back was to the dusty, rocky ground.  Hands to the dirt on either side of his body, pounding as he bowed upwards, only to collapse back down once the waves of pain temporarily receded.

The sun loomed overhead with one moon, the largest of the three, just at the edge of his vision.

He shivered and thrashed and lay still, trying to ignore the pain racking his body.  He breathed out and liquid gurgled in his throat.  Goraning, he turned his head towards the cave when he realized his rebreather was still inside.

"Doesn't.  Matter," he said slowly.  It was impossible to tell whether the burning was from vomitting or the alien air.

A shadow touched him, shading his eyes from the sun.  He'd spied several large predators on his jaunts but always from a distance.  The pain left him crippled, unable to move.  He cursed himself for not keeping his pistol with him at all times but it was too late now and he could only hope the end would be swift.

"Dying," a voice said by his side.  Deep.  Gravely.  Harsh to his ears with a growling undertone.

Even crouching, the Pre'lurrian loomed over him.  Brilliant jade green eyes with narrow vertical slits met his own brown eyes.

"Slowly," it continued, a sibilance entering its pronunciation.  For a single ridiculous moment, he thought he heard sorrow in the word.

The creature reached out, placing its left hand over the man's chest, resting it with surprising gentleness against his ribcage.  Lifting it slightly, he placed it lower, applying more pressure until a pained groan escaped the man's lips.

"Days, maybe," it finished.  "Local rotations."

Suddenly, its short ears lay flat.  After casting a quick glance over its shoulders, it turned back and pressed itself against his chest, smothering his face while weighing him down.

A dust devil touched down, howling as it tore through the thin air.  The creature snarled and dug its claws beneath the edge of a jutting rock buried deep into the earth, holding itself in place as the whirlwind spun around them.  The loose canopy shifted, screeched, raising slowly until it was airborne and the tent followed as the dust devil began to spin faster and faster.  He turned, moaning as he watched it happen and then closing his eyes when he spied his emergency blanket being sucked away.

As the wind shrieked, he focused inward, biting at his lips to hold back the groan of agony.  Warmth melted his cold cheeks, warmth from the creature's bare chest touching his lips and cheek.  He inhaled, involuntarily, but smelled nothing.  No sweat.  No stench.  There was a very faint scent that his mind was unable to parse, but also something oddly comforting.  Dusty and warm and - his brain scrambled furiously to make sense of it, desperate to find some kind of familiarity.  Primal.

Why?  What is-

The pressure receded as the creature pushed itself up.  The whirlwind wavered, bending and growing narrower as it moved past the cave away from them.

"Why?" he croaked, groaning and gritting his teeth.  He brought his hand to his stomach.  For a moment, their fingers touched, skin sliding against smooth scales.  The creature took its own hand away without hurry while looking down at the man with an unreadable expression.

"Why?" it asked in return, glancing towards the whirlwind.  It waved its arm and only now did he realize, after all the time he'd watched the videos, that it had three fingers as well as a thumb.  "Bad way to die.  Broken.  Bleeding.  Still alive.  More pain.  Dying faster.  Not fast enough."

It knelt beside him, spreading its legs until its left knee touched the man's side.

"What- nngh," he moaned, twisting and clawing at his shirt.  Sweat soaked into the fabric.  "What are you doing?"

"Waiting," it said while placing its hands on its thighs.

"For me to die?" he asked.

"Yes," came the quick, even answer.  "I wish not.  Wish.  The- difficult.  Instead, you survive."

"You- y- you wuh- wish I wasn't dying?" he said, incredulous.

"You are," it clicked with its tongue while waving a hand around the landscape.  "The only sentient."

"An enemy," he told it.

"Yes?"  it said, looking down at him once more.  It's finger stabbed gently at his chest.  "You woke earlier.  Before?  Before me.  Why do I live?"

He raised his legs and hissed, shoving his bare heels into the dirt.  Pushing and raising, pushing and raising until he'd worn furrows in the ground.  The pain was endless.

"I.  I can't.  Can't call for help," he told it.  "I don't even know if the fleet- nnngh damn!  Dammit!  I don't know if my fleet survived.  There's nobody.  There's nobody.  They won't-"

Tears filled his eyes and his nose burned.  He swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the tears to roll down his cheeks, mixing with the dirt perpetually covering his skin.

The creature raised its hand, curling its fingers.  It placed them against the bridge of the man's nose and brushed them upwards, along the short curve and up to his forehead.  A repetitive, deep rumbling filled the eerie silence when it began to purr.

He lay there, too shocked to move or say anything as the creature slowly stroked his face from the tip of his nose up to his short, almost fuzzy hair. Its sharp eyes studied him closely and his vertical pupils opened wide.

The unasked for and unexpected compassion left him sobbing in between the clenching, clawing pain.  The mere touch, without malice, was something he'd never known he was missing.  It touched a deep part of him that ached for it.  Another shock.

And why did it have to be just as his life was ending?

He cried until his throat was sore and his face hurt and never once did the creature stop.  Their videos were carefully screened.  There was no romance.  Families and children were barely mentioned and only incidentally.  Relationships of any kind were forbidden and carefully monitored on the ship.  They were all sterilized as children.

The restrictions and constant observations left little room for even solo experimentation, but it couldn't stop his mind from wandering.  It couldn't stop the strange sensations he'd felt when looking at certain crewmates.  An odd fluttering and warmth low in his guts at a strong chin and large hands and the same when noticing a rare flash of bare skin just above the generous curves of a different crewmate during PT. Warmth and the strange sensitivity that came with it, as well as an emptiness and an ache that left him weak.  Distracted him.  He'd done his best to ignore it but it only seemed to grow worse over the years.

In his mind, at night, he could feel hands on his body.  Or the soft ass against his own hand, wondering how it felt.  All forbidden unless practicing close combat training or slapping someone on the shoulder.

And lips.

God.

Lips.

Thick, upturned ones.  Thinner ones over a broad smile above a strong chin.

Distracting.

"... die," he realized he was saying through the tears.  "Don't want to die.  I don't- I- I don't want to die."

He tore his hands away from his stomach to grab the creature's hand, holding it with trembling fingers.  It was warm - as warm as his chest and smooth along the palm.  He pulled it to his cheek, turning it to feel the fur on his skin.  The creature gripped his hands tightly in return but said nothing.  Its purring deepened.

Training was all he knew.  It was his earliest memory.  Wrestling with other children.  Watching videos of the Pre'lurrians.  Completing various tasks that would later grow more and more difficult until they led into flight sims and combat maneuvers. Endless physical training.  Harsh.  Strict.  Regimented.

They were the spearpoint for humanity.  There to ensure the survival of their species.

"Never asked me," he whispered hoarsely.

He knew nothing of them.  The ones back home.  Their lives.   Anything.  He knew more about the Pre'lurrian's way of life than his own species and even that was incredibly limited.  The ones living on Earth and the other planets they'd colonized were more alien to him than the creature kneeling next to him.

"Why-" he swallowed and raised the creature's hand to his closed eyes, rubbing it slowly across the bridge of his nose and his brow.  "Why aren't your- they coming for you?  To rescue you?"

"I," it said before stopping.  Its fangs snapped shut and its tongue clicked.  "I have nothing.  No way to ask.  We go.  Die or return.  If finished.  I- We are lowest.  Alone.  No family.  Born to low-  The word?  Caste.  Lowest caste.  All are who fight."

It glanced up towards the sun with a grumbling sigh.

"I am dead," it told him.  "To them.  Already.  They would never come.  No.  I am alive.  I hunt.  Lowest hunt.  No choice.  Now I will live.  Alone.  Alone forever.  Our old planet."

"Alone forever," it repeated with an oddly soft voice before looking down.  Its brow shifted, raising, opening its expression into something close to sadness.  "When you die.  So.  I stay.  With you.  To remember you.  To be with me.  After.  Memory.  Of you."

He released its hand, raised his own and then made a fist while biting back a scream.  When the surge of agony passed, he opened his hand once more and raised it further.  The Pre'lurrian's eyes tracked the movement but it didn't pull away.  His fingertips touched the silver fur on its cheeks, caressing him slowly.  The purr returned, a quiet rumble that became louder quickly.  Finally, it closed its eyes and nuzzled into his hand.

Time passed.  His heart sped beneath his chest.  Aching with every beat.  He grimaced, licked his lips and clenched his teeth together.  Shivering on the dirt as the second moon, the closest and smallest, began its journey across the face of the sun.

His thumb swept outward, slowly, until it brushed the creature's lips.  Its tongue lashed out, flattening against his finger.  Rasping as it licked.

He tried to see the strong jaw.  The soft cheeks.  The full lips.  They weren't there.  Instead, he saw the black lips hidden beneath silver fur and the pink edges of its broad nose on its short snout.  A predator's face.  Fearsome and feral.  The stroke of his thumb pulled back the lips to reveal the creature's fangs.

Fingers tangling with fur.  Dirt flaking away to fall around him.  Clenching.  Pulling gently.  Feeling initial resistance until it moved with him.

Closer.

Heart racing.

Closer.

Short, quick breaths that burned in the alien air.

Leaning up to meet him.

Lips touching for his first kiss as he lay dying under an ancient star.

It was electric.  Fur brushed his nose and lips and chin and cheek. The tip of Pre'lurrian's nose was wet and warm against his skin.  Short whiskers, barely longer than the surrounding fur, tickled him.  A barrage of sensations and contrasts that left him overwhelmed despite the pain spiking through his body.

The creature licked him when he lay his head back down.  Its tongue, as thick as his and at least twice as long, folded against his chin before sweeping up, leaving a trail of warm drool as it touched his lips and nose.

His mouth opened wide in surprise and the tongue slipped inside.  They froze.

It felt even better than the earlier simple kiss.  He moaned and pulled the Pre'lurrian down, licking the tongue in his mouth until the creature responded, working its tongue in return.  Their lips touched once more as their tongues twisted together.  Its purr rumbled against his mouth and it wrapped its tongue around his before unwinding.

Claws touched his wrists and arm, sliding up to grab his hands, slipping between his fingers before pressing them down to the dirt ground above his head.  It rolled over him without taking its mouth away, more aggressive than before.  Pressing its body against him while clenching its claws and bearing down.  The creature was slender but powerful and it barely restrained itself as passions took hold.  A giant above him.

The sharpest pain yet caused him to throw his head back, breaking contact.  He swallowed the creature's spit, gagged and swallowed again as he screamed from the pain of the poison eating away at his body.

It released his hands and leaned in, pressing the smooth scales lining its forehead against his throat.  Purring with a broken staccato as it shared in his pain.  Pressing its chest against his.  His heart beat several times between the slower, more powerful thrum of the creature's heart.

"Don't go," it whispered.  "Don't go."

---

He woke shivering in the cold, gasping with pain.  The Pre'lurrian was awake immediately, grasping his hand with its claws.

The purple sky was awash with billions of stars.  His teeth chattered and his legs kicked, heels thumping against the dirt.

Breathing was impossible.  He sipped the air, desperate to fill lungs that gurgled wetly every time he inhaled.  Tiny pink bubbles formed at the corner of his mouth.  He groaned and curled up, pulling his knees tight against his body.  Curling into himself in a fetal position while weakly pulling the Pre'lurrian's hand.

It moved with him, uncertain of what was being asked until it was forced to its side.  It slid into him, wrapping its body against him, folding itself around the smaller human.  Resting its chin against his spiky hair.  He shoved back, pressing his ass against its lower stomach and thighs, whimpering and shivering until its body heat flowed into him and its strong arms wrapped around his body, holding him tight.

He gurgled.  Hacked.  Coughed and spat a foaming pink wad of phlegm.  Inhaled with a sharp wheeze.  Exhaled.  A single pink bubble formed and popped.  Inhaled.  Exhaled.

The blunt tips of his four cuspids cracked before slowly bending outward.  Enamel flowed in thin layers, dragging the rounded tips to sharpened, deadly tips.  The rest of his teeth followed more slowly as his ragged breathing grew even and clear.  He squirmed and moaned, panting from the fever washing over his body while sweat soaked into his clothes.

His tongue slipped through the gap between his new fangs.  Resting on the front of his teeth.  It slid further while the flesh rose in a wave, bumps twisting and rising into microscopic hooks just as the tip split, shearing in half.  He swallowed blood and coughed until the tear healed and the dual ends elongated further, flexing to rub beneath his chin and then up to his nose, sliding down his nostrils to drag against the silver hairs growing above his top lip.

---

He woke slowly and his throat clicked when he swallowed.  His tongue slipped out and up, touching his nose before reeling back in.  His brow furrowed, skin cracking and flaking away as fine eyebrow hairs fluttered freely with them.

Soft segmented scales, a mixture of pink and cream coloring that blended with his skin, showed beneath the old dead skin.

The first thing he noticed was his hunger, gnawing at this stomach and spine.  There was a dull, throbbing pain low on his back that flared when he shifted his body.  Bones scraped deep in his hips and he bit back a groan.

After the hunger, he realized the Pre'lurrian enveloped him completely.  He froze in the middle of trying to adjust his back to find a position that didn't hurt.

Holes opened above his top lip, hidden by the spray of silver fur.  He raised his hands, tucked beneath his chin, up to scratch the sudden itch of thin, translucent whiskers emerging from the holes, building upon layer and layer of keratin scaffolding.

He was completely naked.  His eyes widened, brown irises streaked by lime colored lines that radiated around oval pupils suddenly opening to full circles.  Dirt warmed his bare side while the creature's stomach, chest, and legs radiated heat over the rest of his body.  Its arm wrapped around him, crossing his chest to rest low on his hip.

A warm breath tickled his ear.  Fine silver hairs waved along the edge of his ear with longer hairs flexing at the rounded tips.  Newly formed nerves sparked, tugging at muscles stitching themselves into place at the base of his ears and they twitched, bouncing slightly while trying to swivel back at an angle in order to avoid the Pre'lurrian's breath.

Another puff of air and he grinded his teeth together while goosebumps formed on his nape.  The curled skin around the tip of his ear popped.  Cartilage grew within, pushing outward, upward, unfolding his ears as more hairs emerged, growing from the inside of his ear as they slowly stretched to sharp points.

He swallowed.  The day before was a fever dream, vague memories that faded in and out with sudden-

"I- I kissed it," he whispered, almost inaudibly.  His fingertip, still close to his mouth, brushed his lips, rubbing against the sensitive pink skin and the light gray coloring showing in the gaps of the wrinkles.  He swallowed and his heart skipped a beat while a strange pulse woke low in his belly, a pleasurable little burrowing sensation that made his nostrils widen when he pressed his lips together.  Black lines filled the cracks of his lips before spreading outward, as if spilling forth from their miniature crevices.

The creature rumbled behind him with a soft, periodic purr that made the strange pulse flare more brightly.

He couldn't stop thinking of the kiss.  Its tongue against his.  The pulse quickened.  The fierce passion blotting out the pain-

His other hand, still low on his belly, touched his stomach.

Why am I not dead? he asked himself.  He frowned and more eyebrow hairs fell away.

He inhaled slowly, purposefully, despite breathing normally up to that point.  It didn't burn.  It was-

Sweet, almost, he realized.  Dry with hints of other scents weaving into the overwhelming smell of the dry earth.  Even moisture, he realized.  And- its smell.  He moaned.  Grinded his fangs.  Its musk was heady.  Complex.  Warm fur mixed with dirt and a- a- a-

His mind searched for a comparable smell, but having never been to the ocean to smell the sun-warmed spray from the top of crystal clear crashing waves, he could only think of salt and the inadequate comparison frustrated him.  There were other notes mixed in, far too complicated to even attempt to identify but as millions of new olfactory receptors were created, connecting to an organ growing deep within his nose, it tagged the creature, memorizing its particular scent permanently.

Ragged fingernails scratched at the spray of short hair growing over his mound.  He squirmed and then stilled himself.  The pulse was relentless and it left him restless.

Throbbing.

He could feel it.  Down there.  Engorged.

Food, he told himself, desperately trying to shift his focus.

As slowly and carefully as he could, he lifted the Pre'lurrian's arm to move it aside.  Once freed, he crept away and stood, stretching his arms high into the sky and sighing as his joints popped.  He hesitated and looked back at the creature still sleeping on the ground.  Studying it.  The lines of its face.  The hint of fangs when its lips twitched from some dream.

Lips.  Soft lips surrounded by fur.  His own split tongue snaked out to touch his jet black lips and his nostrils, licking his columella.  Flesh built within at a glacial pace, causing it to widen millimeter by millimeter while the bones beneath his cheeks adjusted themselves at an even slower speed.

He reached back, scratching just above his ass.  Clawing at the faint, hardened bumps and then working a finger down, just barely between his cheeks to rub the blunt, rounded cap of his tail - barely bigger than the tip of his pinky finger.  His legs rubbed together, pressing against the soft, swollen skin between his thighs.

The slight curve of his nails began to grow more pronounced as layers grew from his nail beds and outward, sliding over the existing nails down to the tips, latching onto the broken keratin to repair the damage.  And further, every new layer pushing the deadly points away from the tips of his fingers until his clear claws tore dead skin from the lumps at the base of his tail to show tiny spikes and pink scales.

It was difficult to turn away but he did, finally.

The orange landscape was peppered with porcelain blobs of coloring.  He frowned again and reached up, scratching above his eyes.  More dead skin fell away to reveal faint, segmented scales.  Not orange, he realized, but a brilliant gradient of colors that provided incredible detail.

Brown gradually faded to white in between the bands of emerald coloring in his irises.  Seafoam rushed to fill the void before growing darker.  His pupils constricted vertically to thin black strips between pure green eyes.

The white in the landscape were trails, he finally understood, as one of the large blots moved, skittering across the rocks to leave a fading line behind, drawing a clear path for his eyes.

An urge bubbled up within, beneath his chest.  His lips pulled back as he tracked the movement.  New instincts settled into him.  Pressure continued to build until he growled and flashed his fangs.  Movement.

He gave chase, rushing naked over the landscape in mindless, feral pursuit of the prey.  Reaching down to touch rocks and push, leaping short distances while his useless tail shifted in an attempt to balance him.

Strips of bone white flesh peeled away from his forefeet and heels to show pink scales beneath.  Every step against hard stone or dirt peeled more away until the entire bottom of both feet were covered by hardening scales.  Bones popped in his toes. Ligaments pulled, stretching them apart while muscles built, widening his forefeet.  The toes themselves pushed forward, lengthening while the tips became swollen.  Between steps, the bones cracked, sending him sprawling in the dirt.  More skin was ripped away from his ankles and the tops of his feet.  He growled and hissed and rolled, going to all fours with his short tail pointing to the sky.  His calves and thighs bunched, coiling as he pushed with his hands and he leapt, landing on the balls of his feet and toes to continue his pursuit.

The short tips of his toenails thickened as he ran, digging into the earth to increase his speed.

After twenty minutes of running full speed, he slowed, snarling with his hand against the stitch in his side.  Wind swept over his body, stirring a broad line of fur covering his spine.  He inhaled and froze, slowly turning his head to find the source of the new scent - a smaller creature hiding beneath a rock to his side.

He lunged, barely grabbing the little creature when it leapt from beneath the rock.  His claws bit deep into the creature's hide, accidentally puncturing its heart.  Blood spurted and pooled when he tore.  Weeks of hunger erupted and he shoved his face into it, tearing and biting and chewing until the silver fur slowly, slowly spreading outward from his lip towards his cheeks was dyed red.  He swallowed fur and fragments of bone with muscle until barely anything remained.

Sound caused his ears to swivel, rolling back as he turned to see the Pre'lurrian approaching.  He snarled, flashing his fangs, drunk from his kill and the new instincts burrowing into his brain but it continued to approach.

Conflicting memories sought to soothe him until, when the towering creature knelt to take his hands, he allowed it.

The Pre'lurrian raised the blood soaked fingers to its mouth and its tongue lashed out, cleaning viscera from his palms.  And up, between the fingers, coiling around to lick soft silver hairs growing from the backs of his hands and wrists.  Back down to the faint scales showing at the base of his palm where he'd scraped them on rocks, peeling away old skin.

Again.  His heart beat.  Blood rushed through him.  Down.  He growled quietly and leaned in, taking his hand away to grip the back of the Pre'lurrian's head and bring him closer.  Mouth opening into a kiss.  Shoving his tongue past the creature's lips to lick the inside of its mouth, submissively greeting the creature and sharing the taste of his kill.

It was right, his brain told him, and he obeyed but it was more than that now and he moaned, clenching his claws and crawling until the Pre'lurrian lowered itself to its back.  His spine popped, vertebrae forming and pushing his tail out, higher until it waved behind him.  Breaking away but pulling the creature's head back to lick its throat and up along the edge of its jaw while shoving down and grinding against its naked body.

"You live," it said hoarsely.

The spoken words made him slow.  Brought him back to his senses.

What?  What am I- What am I doing? he asked himself.

He rolled off of the creature and to the side, propping himself up on his hands and knees.  Scattered silver hair waved on his forearms.

"How?"  It asked.

His ears lay flat, trembling against the side of his head.  Fur gathered around the base, a few black hairs mixing with the silver as they spilled out, creeping over the base of his jaw.  A sudden dull pain exploded between his eyes and he growled, shoving his face into the dirt.  Rolling back and forth before pulling back to scratch, painlessly tearing long strips of fish white skin from the bridge of his nose as it popped.  He blinked sudden tears from the burning in his nasal cavity while the curve of his nose vanished, leaving a flat line from his brow to his nostrils.  The scales dried in the air.

"I- I- I don't know," he said.  "I just woke up and I could breathe and-"

"No," it said, cutting him off.  It sat up and grabbed his hand.  He pulled back but it was far stronger than he was.

"Stop it!" he cried out but the creature raised his hand in front of his face.  "I said st-"

Scales covered his palm.  Clear claws curling over the tips of his fingers.  Light silver fur covered his forearm with a few hairs around his elbow and bicep.  More scales showed through gaps of skin on the bottom of his arm.

He shrieked, turning his arms and pulling at the hairs, wincing from the pain when he tore them free.  The Pre'lurrian tried to grab his hands but he tumbled backwards, crying out when he landed on his tail.  He dragged his claws down his arms, tearing old skin away until his new scales glistened in the sunlight.

"Don't," it said, grabbing him once more.  He struggled but the creatures pulled him in until his back rested against its chest with his arms crossed in front.  "Don't hurt.  Don't hurt.  Stop."

"Please."

Its voice broke at the last word and he slumped in its embrace.

"What did you do to me?" he asked.

"I didn't.  I can't," it told him.  "I can't.  You are human.  I am Pre'lurrian.  I can't."

Thick hairs covered his nape in a broad line that expanded, new hairs growing along the border to spread slowly over his shoulders and down while the fur on his nape and upper back thickened and lengthened, thousands and thousands of hairs crowding together.  He shivered and moaned, unable to help himself as he felt the follicles form and the nerves attach.

"I can't," it repeated.  "I don't know.  How you change.  Change?  The word.  Change, yes.  Bad food?"

"Or the kiss," he said slowly.

"The word?" it asked.

"The kiss. My lips to yours.  My-" he swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut as the pulse sent a weak beat through his stomach.  "My tongue with yours.  Last night."

"Kiss," it hissed with a grumbling bass, tasting the word.  "Strange.  It was strange.  New."

"You don't?" he asked, turning his head to look up.  God, he is so much bigger than I am.  And why does that- he bit his lip and looked down.  His own voice sounded rough.  Felt rough and rumbling.  Deeper.  "You don't kiss?  Pre'lurrians don't?"

"No.  What is it?"

"It's," he hesitated.  Licked his lips.  Silver stubbled covered most of his cheeks now.  "A-  A greeting.  Between.  Between lovers."

It was forbidden among them.  Relationships and love but they talked.  Someone would always whisper in an excited, careful voice.  Uncertain of who may be planted to listen and report.  Always 'I heard about someone else doing this' when sharing.  Like excited children.

"Lovers," it said, again trying out the new word.  "Pairs?  Joined pairs?  The word.  The human word.  Parents?"

He slid back until his ass rested against the Pre'lurrian's stomach with his short tail curled up.  He gasped, slit eyes widening when he realized his tail existed and that he could feel it tugging the muscles and nerves in his back.  Sensing his sudden shock, the Pre'lurrian's arms tightened against his body.  It released his arms but held him in place.

"Parents?" it prompted.

"N- no.  Not.  Well, sometimes," he said.  His brow furrowed, brown scales flexing.  More skin fell away up to his hairline.  He wiggled as he considered his next words and the pulse beat again.  "Do you- for, umm, pleasure.  Do you-"

"Pleasure, I know this word," it said proudly.  "The good feeling.  Scratching rough wall.  New skin."

"No," he told it.  "How.  How do you have more?  More children?"

"Eggs," it answered.  "One lays eggs."

"Like lizards?" he asked, suddenly more curious than he expected.  The documentaries would sometimes be explicit and it had excited him in a strange way.  "Do you have a- ahh- umm- a penis?  That you use to- go inside the female- and-"

He blushed, scratching at his forehead while pressing his legs together and ignoring the sudden ache below.

"Inside and, umm, put- put your stuff in there?"

"Stuff?" it asked.  "No.  No inside.  One-"

He pulled away from it and turned.  And looked down.  The Pre'lurrian watched silently as he reached out, hesitating and glancing up at the creature's face before touching the smooth white scales low on its belly.  Completely flat.

"Are you female?" he asked.

"No?" it said, uncertain of the word.  Its ears flexed and twisted.  "The word?"

Now he looked away and his blushed intensified, red in the gaps of the silver fur creeping over his cheeks.

He pushed himself away, sliding in the dirt in order to lean back on one hand.  His curved claws dug into the dirt while he spread his legs.

Oh god, he could see it - the thick exposed nub and it was shining in the light.  Swollen and free of its hood.  Thick hairs spread over his mound, silver mixed with black.  He'd never exposed himself like this to anyone.  Even when showering, he had rarely looked at himself and only touched himself on the rare occasions when the urge was too great.  And only for seconds at a time, too ashamed and scared to do more.

There was no need to show it.  Or to explain anything at all, but a thrill ran through him at the idea of it and the pulse quickened in excitement.

With his free hand, he gently touched his inner lip, jerking at the sensation of his sharp claw against the swollen, wrinkled flesh.  Thin silver hairs flattened against his palm when they grew from his inner thighs.

"This- this is what a human female has," he said, his heart racing.  He started to look away but, instead, glanced at the Pre'lurrian.

Its nostrils opened and closed rapidly while staring intently between his legs.

"Males-" complex emotions swirled through him.  He chewed at the back of his lip.  His fangs tore through the skin, but he welcomed the pain.  His claw hovered over the glistening nub.  "Have this but much, much larger.  And not- not this."

His finger slid back down to the lips between his labia.

"You are female," it said, matter-of-factly and proud of itself for the conclusion.

"I-" he breathed out, face hot, and a growl issued from his lips.  The Pre'lurrian immediately glanced up at him with his ears back and his eyes narrowed.

"Wrong?"

"Humans are born, male or female," he said, once more staring down at his body.  He watched silver fur creep over his thighs and up to the fold of his leg to mix with the fur spreading down from his mound.  The silky hairs waved until he dragged his fingers through them, purring quietly while caressing himself.  So very different.  Soft.  He could still feel the softness through the scales on his fingers and he wondered if the Pre'lurrian's fur was soft as well.  His tail swept slowly behind him, long enough to touch the dirt now.  So many changes cascading throughout his body.  The march of fur was a prickling sensation that distracted him while he spoke and the tail - the tail demanded further exploration.  An entire extra limb he wanted to snatch up to stroke and hug and examine until he knew every inch of what he could see.  If not for the conversation, fueled by his curiosity and the pulse egging him on, he would be wrestling with the strange new extremity right now.  "Physical male or female."

He chewed on his lip and hissed when his fangs instantly cut the flesh.  He could already feel several sores developing from his carelessness with his fangs.

"I- I think only male and female?  Maybe- maybe there is more.  They didn't teach any of this.  I had to learn from rumors and whispers and- and- animal documentaries."

The tan and pale pink scales flexed on his brow while a quiet growl escaped his black lips.

"I don't know," he said, his voice quiet and sad as yet another realization hit him.  "I know the rich can add and remove things when they want so, maybe- maybe some are born that way without changing?  But.  Um.  At- at least I know male and female physical bodies.  The parents can choose which they want for their children before they're born.  When- when they're still eggs.  If they can afford it.  I know that much.  I sat with a new recruit who said his parents chose for him to be male and I don't think he was lying."

His cloudy expression darkened until he sighed and rubbed his palms against his eyes.

"But, sometimes, when we grow up, we realize that we are different.  That we feel different even if we were born male or female.  We can decide to be something other than what we were born.  And that feels right.  We can change what we are.  Into who we are."

Anger still showed on his face, fangs visible past his black lips.

Surgery was available to all who could afford the payment.  Information was restricted in the military, but he'd heard officers discussing outlandish treatments available for the wealthy where one could receive genetic treatments to change their gender - or even specific sexual characteristics, adding and subtracting as desired - on a whim.  Daily, even.

He'd saved an entire decade - since he was very young, just to be able to afford the top surgery. Their pay was almost non-existent but he had scraped by and he had a little more in an account  that he had hoped to to increase in order to do the rest.

It mattered to no one else but himself.  The military didn't care as long as you were a warm body in a cockpit.  Now, it was pointless.

"You are male," the Pre'lurrian said with innocent acceptance, reading the emotions on his face and the implications of what he was saying in order to show the intelligence that its limited understanding of English couldn't easily show.  It touched its left hand to the ground to lean forward, curling its free hand to brush the back of its fingers against his brow, causing him to close his eyes.  He inhaled, sighed and found himself leaning into the touch.  Its voice grew soft as it continued.  “In here.”

"Yes," he said.  "But, our female are the ones who give birth.  The ones with the- with the eggs."

It nodded and then spread its legs, leaning back in a similar way to show its crotch.  A faint slit showed between the smooth tan scales.

"Here, we all have," it said.  "One grows eggs.  If.  If.  Not enough young.  Many dead.  Chemicals different.  We smell it.  Our bodies - the word, yes?  Change.  Adapt.  That one-"

It made a gesture, waving its hands in front of its crotch.

"Much pain.  The eggs come out," it said.  "Another chosen.  Stay with eggs.  Adapts.  Fluid comes out on the eggs.  Takes time.  Eggs will hatch.  The two go back.  The word?  Normal.  Again.  The low caste.  Others-"

It made a stabbing and withdrawing motion, as from a syringe.

"Young born outside.  No fluid.  No pain," it finished.  "The high caste."

"No lovers?  No partners?" he asked, cocking his head.

"The word?"  Its brow pushed together as it considered what was said.

"Two," he said.  "A pair.  Together."

"No, all tribe.  All important," it told him.  "Same."

"That's- that's not the-" he paused and frowned and the Pre'lurrian grew alert once more.  He looked up.  "Did you- did you like kissing me?  Was it pleasurable?  Like- like scratching your scales on the wall?"

"New thing," it said.  Its eyes swept back down to his crotch and he only now realized he was still on display.  His tongue swept between his lips, the rough microscopic hooks dragging against his soft, sensitive black flesh.  He leaned further back subconsciously.  "No pleasure.  I-  Why?  Why that sound?"

The Pre'lurrian leaned further in, eyes on his face.

He was purring.  A rumbling, crackling sound that vibrated the back of his throat.  As soon as he realized, he relaxed and it stopped.

"We- we get pleasure from it," he said, blushing once more and looking away.  "From kissing.  From- from touching down here.  F- from- from making babies."

His tail crashed against the ground, startling him.  It wagged, sweeping dirt until dust clouds stirred in the air.  Two rows of thin, delicate spikes hid beneath the fur growing over its length.  They wobbled as it dragged through the dirt.

"D- d- do you- you want to touch it?" he asked, swallowing hard as he brought his finger up from his lower lip to his cock.  His chest ached.  He growled quietly and licked his teeth.  The bones burned beneath his skin as they continued to move, pushing his face forward imperceptibly into a muzzle.

He almost wished he could take the words back.  Almost.  His chest heaved while his tongue bounced against his fangs.  Watching. Watching the creature before him.  Mentally urging it forward while chastising himself for the audacity of inviting its touch.

The thrill of it all was incredible.  A lifetime taboo about to break.  Panic surged within - a ridiculous sudden worry that someone would pop out from a rock and scream at him, telling him this was all a test that he failed.  It somehow only added to the excitement.

"Yes," the Pre'lurrian told him.  It raised a finger and he watched as it brought it forward.  Its eyes were intent, focused with a hint of curiosity - a hunter spying an unfamiliar prey.

"Oh, be gentle," he said breathlessly.

"Here.  Your- the word?  For males?" it asked.

"P- penis," he replied.  "Or c- c- cock.  Slang.  It's- a dirty word.  Taboo for some to- OH!"

It pressed its finger against his little cock, where claw transitioned to scales.  Its eyes darted up to him and it jerked its finger away.

"Wrong?"

"N- n- no," he gasped, burning brightly and refusing to meet the creature's gaze.  "It was good.  I've- I've never- nobody has touched me.  Before."

"No-  The word?  Lover?" he placed his finger back down against the little cock and rubbed it slowly.

"Mmmnnnn- no.  It wasn't- oh- oh- oh yesss- wasn't allowed," he said before closing his mouth and leaning his head back.  As the creature continued to rub, he slowly lowered himself to lay on his back, twisting until his tail behaved and curled between his ass cheeks, scales rubbing against the fur slowly creeping down his thighs.  "Ohhh- I never kn- kn- kn- knew it c- c- could be like this."

Once more he began to purr, an automatic reaction that was impossible for him to control as his hips raised and lowered against the finger relentlessly rubbing him.

"You like this," the Pre-lurrian said as a statement of fact.  There was something else in his tone.  Awe or interest or perhaps even a sliver of jealousy.  After a few seconds of listening to the sounds he made, it adjusted its touch and began to purr.

"A LOT YES! YES YES OHHHHH YESSS! I-"

He screamed and bucked from the first orgasm of his life.

His brain buzzed as a glow enveloped him and his nerves lit up in a spreading lightning strike that spread outward from where the creature touched out.  He basked in it.  Warmed by it.  Melting into the chemicals that coursed through his body.

The Pre-lurrian had bent, leaning in close.  It's tongue touched the bottom of his swollen lips and it had licked up, slipping its tongue between the lips.  Plunging them inside.  Just as it was about to continue to lick up against his small cock, legs pressed against the side of its head and the human arched his back while slamming his tail into its chin.

"Whu- whu- whu- what did you- what-" he said until his breath ran out and his eyes rolled back.  His legs trembled weakly.

"Cleaning you," it said.  It looked up, locked between the man's thighs.  "It's.  The word?  Salty.  Wet."

"Again," he gasped.  "Again.  Please, again.  With your tongue and your finger.  Put- put your tongue inside.  Like when we were kissing.  Move it like when we were kissing.  And-"

"Blood!" it said, eyes wide with shock. The fur stood up on its nape while its pupils widened to spheres.  "I hurt you!"

Before he could explain that it was fine - that the soreness and tearing were nothing compared to the pleasure he felt, the Pre'lurrian growled, angry at itself before bending back to gently lick the flow of blood.  He gasped.  Trembled.  Pressed his thighs against its head and reached down to touch its scalp.  Holding him.  Fingers in the hair-like fur on its head.

"Please," he said, panting with his long, forked tongue bouncing against his chin.  His emerald eyes were sharp slits that stared down at the creature and he could feel the warmth.  Its hands moved against his thighs and belly and he gasped, shivering as it clawed skin and the fur spreading on his sides and legs.  Everything was sensitive - almost too much to bear.

Finally, it did as it was asked, rubbing gently with its finger and pressing its furry face against his lips.  Its thick, forked tongue spread his virgin lips and flexed, rubbing against him as if he were endlessly cleaning him.  Licking him.  Kissing him.  More carefully than before.

He rode the creature's face awkwardly, screaming and purring and rambling with an endless stream of nonsensical stuttering words until he collapsed, twitching from multiple orgasms.

It was unlike he'd ever felt and it made his chest hurt from the power of it.  The intensity.  And anger - at having been denied this pleasure for his entire life.  His arms and legs felt numb in a blissful, buzzing sense that left him laughing quietly to himself.

Never again, he told himself.  Never again would he deny himself this pleasure.  Even if-

"Come- come here," he told the Pre'lurrian, raising his arms towards the creature crouched between his legs.  "Come here.  To me.  Kiss me."

Again, it listened, sliding over his body, scale to skin and fur in order to press its lips against his.  Almost twice as wide as he was and several heads taller.

He tasted himself for the first time and his tongue curled as he pulled back, licking the Pre'lurrian while purring loudly, unable to help himself as he cleaned his cum from the creature's face.  Once finished, he wrapped his legs around its thighs and gripped the back of his head to kiss him deeply, moaning as their tongues writhed.

An endless time later, he found himself pressed against the Pre'lurrian's side with his arm on its chest, stroking the creature's scales.  His thigh, covered in drying cum, lay against its smooth crotch.

"Do- do you have a name?" he asked.

"This one is Mhurai," it told him.

"I'm-" he buried his face into the soft, flexible scales inside its armpit, rubbing to gather its scent on his face.  Marking it subconsciously.  "I'm James.  They- they let me pick.  It's an old name.  I- I- I almost picked 'Artemis' because of the old rockets back before we had our moon colony.  But, really, I-"

"James," Mhurai said quietly, interrupting James' nervous rambling.  It purred as it curled the arm trapped beneath James' head in order to stroke his short hair.  "James."

Hunger forced them to move, an hour later as the second moon stood centered in the sun.  Mhurai took the lead, stalking silently while James tried to follow, disturbing several potential prey until the pain of his hunger began to bring out his feral side.

They sat in front of his old cave, skinning their kills before cooking them with what little flame was left in James' torch.  Mhurai told him they would move camp the next day in order to find water and wood.

It was an ancient world, the Per'lorrian explained haltingly with the words it knew.  One of three where their species was born.  Seeded, their scientists thought.  Or genetically altered and guided by unknown sentients.  All three took to space within decades of each other and warred for a time in order to establish dominance and castes.  None returned to the planets they stripped, instead seeking new homes.

Neither of them wore clothes as they lounged together.

"Come," Mhurai said, gesturing towards James, stretching its arms out until James stepped into its embrace.  It pulled him against its chest as they'd slept the first night, wrapping long, muscular arms around him.

James could feel Mhurai's rumbling purring against his shoulders.  His pointed ears twitched and relaxed as his eyes drooped, losing himself in their shared warmth.

There was no war, nobody screaming in his face, no surprise inspections while they were still sleeping, no uncertainty over whether someone was smiling to his face and inviting rumors while waiting to rush off and report him.  There was only the safety of Mhurai's massive body and gentle touch and the sound of his steady breathing mixed with his purring.

Hours later, his fur stood on end.  He jerked awake, claws striking the dirt while sitting up, alert and wary with his sharp ears bent back and his whiskers trembling.

Mhurai sat apart from him, head bowed with a clawed hand rubbing its forehead.  its other hand scratched its belly.  The creature shook its head and growled while its tail restlessly thumped the ground.

A massive lightning storm filled the horizon, far in the distance.  Constant soundless strikes, too far to hear the following thunder.  The wind howled around him, ruffling the short mane on his upper shoulders.  Reminding him of its presence and his changed body.  Still, he watched the storm, distracted for a moment by the apocalyptic scene before turning back.

"Mhurai?" James said quietly, going to his knees and crawling a few steps with his hand out.  His tail waved behind him in short, uncertain movements.  "What's wrong?"

The creature ignored him, or didn't hear him and he watched as it brought its clawed fingers down to its lips, grumbling quietly as it traced a hand over the black, puffy flesh.  Its tongue slipped past its fangs, licking from the base of the finger up.  At the tip, its tongue pulled back and it slipped the finger into its mouth.  Thrusting it slowly back and forth.

"Mhurai?" he said again, more loudly this time.

It heard him and pulled its hands away.

"Head feels wrong," it told him.  It hissed, clenching its hands while grinding its fangs.  Black lips pulled back in a grimace.  It slammed its fists against its powerful thighs in frustration.  "The word.  The word.  Too many!  Too hard!  Always.  The word.  Body feels.  The word.  Like predator chasing.  Away from my sight.  Watching.  Watching.  I can feel.  More.  I can feel more.  I need.  I don't understand.  I need."

"What can I do to- mmph!" James blinked, shocked when Mhurai leaned in to kiss him, immediately thrusting its tongue into his mouth while cradling his head, bearing him to the ground.  The huge creature purred as its tongue worked in his mouth and James' eyes rolled back while he reached up to caress the fur over Mhurai's muscular shoulders.  Holding him in place.

When they parted, a string of saliva connected the two together.

"Good," Mhurai said quietly.  Its eyes stared at James and he saw his reflection for the first time since landing.  A face so like the creature above him, but smaller with subtle human touches.  "Feels good.  To kiss you.  Pleasure.  More than rubbing.  I want."

It leaned in again, pressing its body into him while kissing deeply once more and an almost human-like moan escaped its lips, muffled by their mouths joined together.

As they kissed and his hands clawed at its back, he felt it begin to move against him, rubbing itself against his thigh.  Grinding itself into him.  Slow at first, and gentle but with steadily rising aggression and force until its moans became growls.  It straddled him, humping his leg while its thigh began to rub against his crotch.  Against his little cock as it lay exposed from the surrounding hood.

He jerked and his tail thrashed, dragging the short spines through the dirt while he raised his hips into its leg.  His claws bit deep into its back.  He could feel it coming again - the building storm that preceded his orgasm, closer and closer and closer and he shoved harder, growling around Mhurai's lips and then reaching to pull its head off of him, throwing his own head back to snarl and snap his sharp fangs.

His little cock barely peeked through the wild tangle of fur that covered his crotch and lower belly.  Unlike Mhurai, no scales covered his stomach or chest but the fur growing over his hips rose to a peak that ended several centimeters above his belly button.

Ducts formed beneath his skin, on either side of the line of fur stretching throught he center of his midriff.  Skin loosened, rocking slightly as Mhurai continued to grind and thrust against him.  Milk dribbled through microscopic holes in the flesh as the soft tanned coloring darkened further to brown with black streaks that spread when the skin twisted and pushed out into teats.

"YES YES YES YES HARDER YESSSSSS", he hissed, tongue waving as the orgasm crashed into him.

Mhurai trembled and groaned.  Its head slipped free and it leaned in, licking the curve of James' neck up to his jaw.

"Want to taste you," Mhurai said.  "Again.  I want it.  I.  Why?  I don't know.  Head fuzzy.  I want it."

"Then take it," James told him, pulling his head down to lick the creature's mouth and cheek.  "Take me."

It growled and slid down, licking and kissing the length of his body before growling loudly as it lay before his cum-covered crotch, fur matted with clear juices.

Mhurai cleaned him with eyes intently focused on the task, purring and growling as its tongue rasped against James' fur.  James, in return, clawed at the earth and pressed his heels into the ground, lifting his shaking hips with his tail bending beneath him.

A few more drops of milk welled from the tips of James' teats and a single droplet formed on his left nipple.  Mhurai froze and raised its head, cum glistening on its own fur and scaled nose.  It huffed, sniffing and scenting the air until it spotted the milk.

James screamed when Mhurai's rough tongue dragged against his teats.

"OH OH FUCK WHAT IS THAT WHAT OH OH FUCK!" James screamed as the alien sensation rippled throughout his core and up to the nipples on his flat chest.

"Leaking," Mhurai said with a rough voice.  Its tongue swept around its mouth before it bent back to James' cock, kissing it with awkward lips and then bending further, purring as it shoved its tongue deep into James.  Its claw found the cock and rubbed.  Its purring deepened, mixed with growls once more until he looked up, still rubbing.  "Tastes.  Tastes good?  Is it good?  The pleasure?"

James nodded, biting at his lips with his fangs while reaching and pushing Mhurai's head back down.  It went willingly, eagerly, sucking and licking and rubbing, purring while its claws gently kneaded against his body, fingers opening and closing.

He could feel it rippling throughout his body.  As Mhurai sucked from one of his teats, the other echoed the sensation and his nipples responded in kind.  All the way up to the roof of his mouth and down between his thighs.  An electric tickling sensation that latched onto his building orgasm to enhance and alter it.

And the pull.

The pull of its suction.

Lifting the skin around the teat.  Tugging at things beneath the skin.  Drilling deep to his core until he was squirming and yowling and hissing.

More milk emerged and Mhurai’s purr took on a fearsome quality when he tasted it.  Its tail whipped behind its body and it sucked harder.  Eager for more.  Growling while purring now - a predator chasing prey.

Silver hairs darkened the tanned skin beneath James’ collarbones, lengthening while fanning out and spreading down, dripping into a slender line that ended just between his nipples.

It burned throughout him. Nerves firing within his teats and where Mhurai touched him.  Overwhelming him.  His own hand reached down, blindly fumbling against the bare skin until he found another teat.

He pinched the little nipple and pulled, twisting it to savor the sharp pain.  His breath caught and he gasped, unable to breathe suddenly until he threw his head back to roar, bucking from a powerful orgasm.

They slept after a time, James' limp, sore body nearly crushed against Mhurai as the creature licked his head, tongue rasping against the short hairs now covering his previously shaved scalp.  Grooming him until James fell into a deep sleep.

---

Late in the afternoon of the next day, after a lazy, slow morning of more orgasms, James crouched behind Mhurai.  He stared at the broad back of the creature, blushing as he remembered its touch.  His hand stretched out, hesitant and slow until he pushed forward to let it rest against Mhurai's shoulder with a tender touch.

They hunted together but rested now, watching their next prey sunning itself on a rock.

Motion, transmitted through his touch, rocked James' hand.  He looked, curious, to see Mhurai scratching itself with its head bowed and eyes closed.

"Are you alright?" James asked, stepping around to its side.

"I itch," it told him with a soft growl.  "Much.  More now.  I itch.  Feels good.  Feels good to scratch.  Feels good."

James glanced down at Mhurai's hand.  His breath caught.

Mhurai's flat belly now showed a long bulge beginning just above its crotch, scales curving fifteen centimeters over its skin before ending in a rounded curve.

"Mhurai, stop, let me see," James said while grabbing the creature's wrist.  It hissed at him but relented and allowed his hand to be taken away.

Leaning in closer, James placed his hands on Mhurai to turn it until its back was to the rock in front of them.  He knelt before it and, now, this close, he realized he could smell something different.  A sharp, enticing scent that made drool pool in the back of his mouth.  He began to purr without realizing as he reached out to touch the bulge.

"Ssssssssst," Mhurai hissed, clawing chunks from the rock with head back and its eyes closed.

His sense of touch was different now, he realized.  Slightly dulled but raised ridges along the scales on the tips of his fingers gave odd feedback while sticking slightly to what he touched.

The scales around the swelling were far more supple than the scales on its stomach.  He slid his hands from top to bottom, stroking the bulge and Mhurai shook at his touch.

"Different," Mhurai told him.  "Your touch is different.  More than mine.  Much more than mine.  Much more.  Good.  It's good.  It's more good.  Much more than mine.  I like this pleasure."

James swallowed his excess drool and glanced up, staring into Mhurai's eyes.

"Is- is this normal?  For Pre'lurrians?" he asked.  "This swelling?"

"No," it told him.  "No.  Never.  A new thing.  Itchy."

It shivered.

"All itchy.  All."

James licked his lips and bent forward.  A small slit opened the bulbous tip and the scent was stronger there.  He could feel his own throbbing between his legs as he inhaled, tasting the smell at the back of his throat.  Purring deeply.

He bent his head.  His tongue lolled up, dripping with drool as he pressed it against the base of the bulge.  The split tip folded around the raised scales, surrounding it as he dragged it up.

"SSSSSSSSST!" Mhurai hissed.  Its claws gripped James' head hard enough to pierce the skin.  The hands trembled against his head and James could feel the creature's entire body shaking.

From base to tip, he licked, purring continuously.  Restarting at the bottom.  Coating Mhurai's scales with his saliva.  Intently focused on his task.  Base to tip.  Base to tip.  Base to-

"Stop," Mhurai said.  "Stop.  Stop.  Too itchy.  Too itchy.  Stop."

He growled as Mhurai pulled him away and he tried to lick again but the creature was far too strong.  Seconds passed until his pupils widened and his wits returned.  He panted.  Staring at the slit at the tip to see it had widened and showed glistening pink flesh within.

"We hunt," Mhurai told him.  "We hunt now."

---

James woke to Mhurai clawing at his body and rubbing against him.  A feverish heat radiated from the Pre'lurrian's body.

"I itch," Mhurai said.  "I itch.  I am sick.  I am sick.  I am sick.  Dying."

It rolled away and James turned, pulling it to its back where it whined and twisted in the dirt.  Its hands clawed at his stomach until James pulled them away.

The bulge was worse and the smell hit James hard enough that his claws scraped against Mhurai's scales.

He watched as the slit opened and a pink tip appeared as if squeezed out, thin until it was free of the opening and it expanded.  Girthy pink flesh covered in a clear liquid.

Mhurai thrust against the air.  The scent was incredibly powerful and James stared as if hypnotized.  Saliva dripped from the twin tips of his tongue where it curled beneath his chin.  His breath came hot and fast as he inhaled, chest raising and falling rapidly.

Unable to help himself, he bent and wrapped his tongue around the exposed, throbbing cock.  Mhurai screeched with a sound he'd never heard before and its claws grabbed his body, slicing his skin as it raked.

James moaned and purred and bent his mouth closer.  Closer.  Closer.  Black lips touching the tip.  Opening.  Taking it into his mouth and swallowing the liquid surrounding it.  Licking the shaft inside of his mouth while pushing further, stopping halfway when it was too much.  Mhurai thrust into his mouth while mewling.  Thrusting thrusting thrusting until it shuddered and gripped James' wrist hard enough to make the bones creak.

Thick salty liquid filled James' mouth, spurting against the back of his throat, again and again, forcing him to swallow when he began to gag on it.  He blinked rapidly and then his eyes rolled back at the taste of it and he growled, gripping the cock and swallowing greedily while pumping him and squeezing, hoping for more.  Creamy white liquid spilled from his mouth to dribble down and latch onto the fur around his lips and chin.  Mhurai squirmed and gave off a high pitched keening noise.

Its legs trembled and it fell to its back.  James followed with his head, unwilling to let go.

When the pulsing finally stopped, James growled and began to bob his head once again, wanting to taste more of it until Mhurai pried him off, forcing him away and holding him down when he hissed and spat and swiped his claws, feral and angry at being kept from his prize.  Several minutes later, he began to calm and he slumped back, dazed with his legs spread.  His own little cock throbbed for attention while liquid seeped from his lower lips.

"What is this?" Mhurai asked, staring at the still exposed cock.  It was massive, thick with veins and three bulges at several points along the shaft.

James stared at it and flashed his fangs with the scales crinkling along the bridge of his nose.  His hand crept down to his crotch.

"A penis," James said as he began to rub himself.  He raised his hand to his mouth, wiping his lips while his tongue rubbed against his teeth.  He could still taste it.  "Like a human male.  Almost like it.  It's- different.  But close enough."

"So strong," Mhurai said, his voice hoarse and soft.  "Powerful. Too much.  Too much pleasure."

It looked up at him sharply.

"Like you?  That much?" it asked.  "When I lick?"

"Maybe," James said and he shivered as memories tumbled through his brain.  His chest rose and fell while his heart pounded.

Mhurai's cock began to retreat.  Clear liquid seeped from the slit as it pulled back, dribbling onto the Pre'lurrian's scales.  The creature sat up and stared at it, reached a hand to touch and then yanked it back.  Finally, it relaxed and lay back down.

James stood.  Eyes locked onto the bulge.  He stepped over to Mhurai, feet at either side of its hips.  The creature cocked its head at him as he lowered himself.

"Stop," it told him but it made no movement.  "I-  I-  I-"

It pained him to stop.  Such was the urge to pleasure the Pre’lurrian, he nearly ignored its pleas.  Instead, he leaned forward with his ass raised while resting on his hands, prone on all fours.  Clear liquid beaded from between his lips.  The droplets gathered to slide to his cock, over the curved head and down, dangling until it nearly touched Mhurai’s body.  He trembled, growling while rocking his head side-to-side and the motion snapped the cum to let it fall, splattering against the sheath beneath the creature’s exposed fleshy cock.

He swore he could feel the heat of it.

Mhurai flexed and its cock lifted, almost brushing against the fur on James’ mound.

He’d never experienced this.  The failure of his body to listen.  The military took away his willpower.  Took away his choices in order to exert control and he had fallen in line.

Now- now he snarled as every new instinct screamed at him to mate.

Claws touched his chest.  James looked up to see Mhurai staring at him with trembling ears and whiskers.  It licked its lips and exhaled a strange high pitched sound that made James shiver.  Once more it flexed its cock and it bounced.

“I- I-”  its hand slid over James’ chest, claws lightly scratching his skin, up to his neck and against the man’s cheek.  Caressing him.  Its other hand raised to touch James’ ass, clenching for a moment before tugging down, gently.  “I.  I want.  Please.  Please.”

The creature's voice trailed off as James placed his own hand against its chest.  He sighed as his hot, wet lips opened against Mhurai's bulge and the creature bucked, snarling and tearing furrows in the dirt.

He moved, rocking his hips and leaning forward to grind his own cock against the soft white scales.  Cock to sheath.  Back and forth with his tail sweeping slowly behind him before lowering and wrapping itself around Mhurai's thigh.  Anchoring himself as he rubbed, gasping and growling and purring.

The slit opened once more and the pink cock emerged.  James leaned over, gripping it and stroking it while licking Mhurai's shocked face.  It bucked and jerked and twitched but returned James' kiss when he slipped his tongue into its mouth.

Sliding forward more, he curled into himself when he felt the slick pink flesh against his lips and cock.  He rocked with sharp little movements, rubbing himself against one of the bulges, panting as his orgasm grew.  His little cock flicked back and forth against the smooth knot, leaving him snarling and shaking, claws gripping Mhurai's furry shoulder.

"YESSSS!" James hissed, throwing his head back while spasming.  He rested, holding himself in place until a hand touched his ass, claws caressing the fur.  Kneading him, pulling him and pushing him.  Using him to rub against the Pre'lurrian's exposed cock.

James licked his lips.  With one hand on Mhurai's shoulder, he raised his hips and gripped the massive cock beneath him.  And closed his eyes.  Raising the cock until he felt the sharp tip slide through his lower lips.  Holding it in place while Mhurai's ragged exhalations puffed against his chest.

He impaled himself, moaning louder and louder as he took Mhurai's cock, pausing when it became too much until he could relax and take more of it.  Millimeter by millimeter, gripping it without conscious thought.  Squeezing it with slick pink muscles and snarling as he continued to lower himself.

"Never," Mhurai gasped.  His claws touched James' hips.  "Never.  Never.  Never felt this.  Never.  Pleasure.  Much.  So much.  Warm.  James.  James.  James.  Mine.  Mine.  My- my lover.  Mine.  So warm.  Wet.  James.  My lover.  My partner.  My lover.  It's good.  You.  You're- the word?"

It raised one hand to James' cheek, brushing a thumb through his fur.

"Pretty?  Can I say?  For people?  For humans?  The word?"

“Will- will you c- c- call me handsome instead?” he asked.  It was difficult to think past the bulge inside of him.  Difficult to talk in complete sentences.

Mhurai’s cock filled him, rubbing thousands of nerves inside while his bulbous knots flicked against his own engorged cock.  He paused just as one of the bulges pressed against his lips and he sighed, exhaling a long breath while adjusting himself just so he could rub himself against it before pushing down once more.  The very tips of his ears felt like they were on fire.

“Handsome,” it hissed while stroking his cheek.  Its eyes flickered and his fingers tightened in James’ fur.  “Handsome James.  Good.  So good.  Impossible.  Handsome.  J- James.  You.  You are?  You are handsome.”

"Yessssss!" James moaned as he reached the bottom.  Scales touched his lower lips and he lifted, biting his mouth through the pain and pleasure  "Yes yes yes you can oh- oh- Mhurai- Mhurai- you- oh, you feel so-"

He rode slowly and eventually grabbed Mhurai's hand to guide it to his own cock.  When it rubbed him, he froze, unable to move from being overwhelmed.  Mhurai thrust up on his own and James collapsed, leaning forward and licking Mhurai's face.  He couldn't stop himself. Urges forced him to purr and lick as the creature thrusted into him and rubbed him.

"Oh oh oh oh no it's coming it's coming bigger than oh oh OH! OH PLEASE DON'T STOP DON'T STOP DON'T STOP NO NO NOOOOOOH OHHHHH!  OHH-MMMPH!"

Mhurai kissed him.  Blood filled his mouth.  His sharp ears trembled while his field of vision grew dark.  His ears roared and his head buzzed while waves of pleasure rippled through his body.

"Grrk- ggk-  grk-" he tried to say when he broke away from the kiss but his mouth wouldn't work and his body refused to listen.  He was clenching against Mhurai uncontrollably and the creature roared.

Thick gouts of cum flooded James, warm- so very warm.  It was nonstop and only the last knot on the creature's cock kept it from bursting from James' lips.  He collapsed against Mhurai's broad chest, twitching and gasping for air.

They fell asleep, connected together and wrapped in each other's arms, exhausted with their nerves vibrating while they floated on pure bliss.

---

James stood apart from Mhurai while the other took care of himself behind a rock.  He stared down at his body, at the fur lining his side and the thick silver tangle covering his lower belly.  His claw rubbed one of his teats, causing it to bend forward and then bounce back and a jolt ran through his core.

Swallowing, he raised his hand to his chest to touch the slight swelling around his nipples.  He pressed his thumb against the skin to feel tiny bumps beneath the flesh.  The nipples, jet black now, seemed thicker.

Glancing towards Mhurai's location, he looked back and pinched his nipple, barely biting back the moan of pleasure it brought to him.

Both hands touched his chest now and he cupped his small breasts, massaging the sore flesh while sighing.

A translucent white droplet appeared atop one of the sable nipples.  He wiped it with his thumb, bent his head and licked it clean with his tongue.

Mhurai had either not noticed the new change or said nothing about it.  They were smaller than before he had the surgery and he wondered if they would continue to grow.  He continued to massage himself and a familiar ache began to form between his legs.

He searched deep within to find a trace of anxiety at the change.  To feel the panic rising as years of denying himself extra enjoyment from the money he’d put aside began to unwind.  Others had enjoyed their purchased alcohol or sweets or time in sensory pods and he’d smiled and stood with them, denying himself those pleasures in order to become who he wanted to be.  To take the step to reconcile himself with the mental image he carried - that he wanted to express and present to others.

Years of hard work for such a simple thing to those who had the privilege to enjoy it without worry.

Now, here, alone on the planet with Mhurai, he realized those feelings didn’t exist.  He defined himself as he was.

It was more than that, though.  It wasn’t just him now.  There was Mhurai and he realized that he cared about Mhurai’s thoughts.

He winced and his eye twitched as a small tear formed before soaking into the fur.

“What is this?” he asked himself.

He cared about Mhurai.

He-

He loved the Pre’lurrian.

Realizing this, his heart ached and he reached over to place his hand just beneath his small breast to press against it as yet another tear welled in the corner of his eye.  He laughed, voice trembling on the edge of crying.

Many times, away from prying eyes, he’d cried tears of frustration or pain.  Falling, failing, misunderstanding an order, or simply taking a strike hard enough to make his ribs creak.

These tears were different.  There was no shame in them.  No fear of being seen and mocked.  No anger at himself for losing control.  Rather, he embraced them, welcoming the soreness they caused in his throat and the way his heart soared.  He welcomed the emotions.  Savored them.

Cherished them for what they meant and what caused them.

He loved the huge, stern, blunt, powerful, gentle creature.

From his first explanation, Mhurai grasped who he was - You are male.  In here.  Accepting who he was without argument.  A flash of anger rose within as he remembered the side glances when they stripped to shower on the ship.  Never a word said but he felt the weight of their looks all the same.

Mhurai looked past all of it to see him.

His hand raised to his cheek and he smiled, a small sad smile.

“He called me handsome,” James whispered while pressing his hand against his heart once more.  “Me.”

The tips of his fingers reached up to touch the curve of his breast.

And maybe that won’t change, he told himself.

When Mhurai returned, he found James leaning back against the rock with his legs spread and his claws flattening the fur around his little cock while pulling back the hood around the engorged member.

Mhurai snarled and stormed over to kneel and kiss the offered cock.  It pulled his head back to suck on one of its claws, cleaning it fastiduously before slipping it between James' bottom lips, thrusting carefully while returning to take the cock into its mouth. James growled louder and louder until he came, hips bouncing as the muscles clenched within.  It was getting easier, he noticed - easier to orgasm from the stimulation of his lover.

The slit opened in Mhurai's sheath and its cock slid forward, liquid drooping from the length as it bobbed before it.

When it trusted himself to move again, James turned and lowered himself.  Presenting his wetness for Mhurai to take its turn.  Offering himself to his lover.  The creature dug its claws into his hip while guiding his cock with practiced ease into the waiting slit.  His small breasts bounced on his chest as he pushed back to take the creature's full length, harder and harder, enjoying the slight pain it brought.  His tail curled up and back, resting lightly on Mhurai's shoulder while Mhurai snarled and gripped his waist and pounded into him.

He roared from a stunningly powerful orgasm when Mhurai grabbed the base of his tail with his other hand digging into his hip.  Claws digging into the fur and scales and small spikes lining the tail.  Using it to pull him into its thrusting cock.  Deeper and deeper until yet another orgasm stormed through him.  He felt so small in front of the Pre'lurrian.  Vulnerable yet protected and loved and wanted as they shared their pleasure.

They mated throughout the day, both of them addicted to the feeling of it and unable to be sated.  Many times James woke to Mhurai thrusting against him, only to smile and turn and raise his ass.  Other times, Mhurai sucked on James' small cock while stroking himself, staring up into James' eyes as it brought the man to orgasm, only to lean back and spray its cum over James' body and up to the breasts quaking on his chest.

They were more than a handful now, larger than before and far more sensitive than he remembered.  Mhurai was enamored with them, as it was with James' teats, often suckling from them while its tail whipped behind him.  Its claws kneading against James' breasts and body the entire time its whiskered, furred mouth tried to nurse from him.

---

Two months later, at the edge of their new camp by the forest of half fossilized trees, they sat in front of a small fire, staring into the flames while silently enjoying each other's company.

The wind stirred and the flames guttered as it swept around them.

Mhurai's head shot up and its pupils narrowed to slits.  It snarled and fell to all fours, crawling around the fire to where James sat.

"Mhurai, what in the world are you- hey!"

Mhurai shoved its head between James' legs.  It huffed, taking several sharp, powerful breaths before digging his claws into the fur on James' thighs.

"What's gotten into you?  All you have to do is- SHIT!"

Its tongue lapped at James' lower lips.  It licked with rapid, short little movements unlike anything it had done before.  Faster and faster with the tip slipping inside and up, stimulating him with the rough, split tip until he felt like he needed to pee.  James snarled as his toes curled and twisted and he gripped the Pre'lurrian's head while Mhurai purred loudly.

Milk welled from the tips of James' shaking nipples before falling to his bare belly and sliding down to the thick fur below.  More milk emerged from two of his teats.

Mhurai sat back and his tongue cleaned the wetness from the fur around its mouth while its ears stood at full attention.  It raised his hand to place the four fingers against James' lower belly, resting them lightly against his fur.

"You- you have my young," it said.  "My eggs.  You have eggs.  The taste.  I'm sure.  I'm sure.  My lover.  You have my young."

James' mouth fell open as Mhurai wrapped its arms around him and rolled its face against his breasts, purring louder than it ever had before.

"But- but they sterilized me," he said while staring down at Mhurai's serious, joyful expression.  He'd begun to learn how to read its expressions as the days passed.  It was the same look Mhurai had when it held James and caressed the scales on James' nose and forehead.  Joy.  "I can't- I can't have-"

"Our," Mhurai corrected itself.  "Our young.  James.  Our young  Our eggs.  My handsome lover.  Handsome James. Handsome James."

---

They hid in the darkness of a sloped rock.  Mhurai's hand rested on the faint curve of James' belly.  Protectively.

Lights flashed from the small craft sixty meters away from them.  They'd tracked it when Mhurai spotted it in the sky and they followed it back to their old crash site.

Two humans had emerged and they both scented the air to see if there were more.

Scavengers from one of the asteroids.

"We take the ship," Mhurai said and James nodded, grinding his claws against the rock.

He wasn't familiar with the craft but the controls should be at least slightly similar.  They could leave.  Find a new life.  With the Pre'lurrians or elsewhere on a neutral planet.

Mhurai turned to kiss him.  Its hand never left his stomach.

"Husband," it said, savoring the word it had learned a week ago.  It was deeply proud of the designation.  Their lovemaking the night they had joined each other in marriage- after explaining the concept to Mhurai - had been fierce. A tribe of two above all, until their children were born.

"We go."