crash. He then spent years surviving out of sight of the crude and violent inhabitants of the Anomaly.
He had stolen and begged for food, eating garbage when he had to.
When a ship crashed that had vasai centipedes on board, they escaped, populating the deep bowels of the Dark Anomaly. He learned to hunt the giant centipedes, eating some of the meat and trading the rest for things he needed.
During all that time, he had been gathering information on the variety of species occupying the Anomaly. Reading and learning, watching and listening, he had been biding his time until he had become strong and smart enough to take over and name himself their captain.
He had never seen a themul female he wasn’t related to. Or if he had seen one, he didn’t remember.
He had certainly never seen one bare or touched one.
The bodies of the themul females in the video were of a similar shape and proportion to the human female. Like her, they were narrower in the middle, with wider hips. Unlike hers, their chests were much flatter. Themuls had between two to six young per pregnancy, and had three rows of small, dark-nippled breasts on their chest and upper belly.
In the diagram on his tablet, the human female had two, larger breasts. And he distinctly remembered two lumps pushing against the material of the woman’s bodysuit.
The males of one of the tribes on Nofoi apparently had their females collared during the wedding ceremony, the way Wyck had chained Lesh, his pet. The end of the leash was attached to the male’s belt.
Something about that tradition appealed to Vrateus. He liked the idea of having his female nearby and of what the collar represented: possession and connection.
Although, he had to admit that it would not work on the Dark Anomaly. It reduced the female’s chance of survival if he were killed. She would be trapped, chained to him, with a limited range of movement to fight for her life, and with no way to run and hide.
When the couple in the video were left alone, they came closer to each other, bringing their mouths together. The male then licked down the row of nipples on the front of his female, making her moan and squirm. Flipping her on her stomach, the male fisted his hand in the thick white-with-black fur of her scruff, ramming his cock into her from behind.
She threw her head back, baring her canines and growling in obvious pleasure as he pounded into her, their tails intertwined between their legs.
The primal passion of the couple, combined with the display of their mutual pleasure, shot straight to his groin. He shifted in his bed, making room for his growing erection. This was unexpected—definitely outside of his usual schedule of about once or twice a week.
Setting the tablet aside, he rose on his elbow and fisted his straining cock. It throbbed and ached, growing harder as he slid his hand up and down its length. The images from the video, now stored in his mind, spurred his arousal, sending him to his back with a groan. He arched his spine, pumping faster, the impending orgasm building up.
Rolling his head on the pillow, he faced the human’s room. She was no longer in sight, Instead, he saw the outline of her form under the covers of her sleeping pallet by the wall.
The climax hit him, stronger than ever before, shuddering his entire body. He growled, baring his teeth and lashing his tail as the release pumped out of him in thick, ivory spurts.
After that he lay spent, wondering how much more of his measured, carefully organized life of survival was about to unravel because of one little female who couldn’t steer her spacecraft away from the clutches of the Dark Anomaly.
Chapter 5
SURPRISINGLY, I HAD gotten some sleep, though it was hard to tell how long I slept. When I woke up, the lights of the Anomaly continued their dance—ever-changing, yet perpetually the same.
I had eaten some of the food that Vrateus had brought last night—a mouldy smelling stew garnished with some leaves and a few pieces of sour fruit that looked like spotted tennis balls.
Thankfully, my stomach felt much better this morning. The food, as unpleasant as it was, must have agreed with it.
Getting up from the sleeping pallet, I picked up the box with the toiletries Vrateus had given me and headed to the wall with the door in search of the bathroom.
Our conversation last night didn’t go well.