Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Chloe Parker: Otherworldly Romance

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Want More?

Guide

Contents

Start of Content

Head in the Clouds

An Alpha Worlds Novella

Chloe Parker

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Originally published as part of the Big Feels Anthology.

This work is intended for a mature audience.

Cover Design by Clover Lane

Copyright © 2022 Chloe Parker

All rights reserved.

CHLOE PARKER: OTHERWORLDLY ROMANCE

THERE’S A LITTLE something for everyone in the multiverse.

~ Alpha Worlds ~

Science Fiction Fairy Tales

WARLORD AND THE WAIF

GALACTIC TIDES

STAR CHILD (A Novella)

NEBULA’S TOWER

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS (A Novella)

~ Falling Star ~

Alien Reverse Harem

CELESTIAL SINS

HOMECOMING (A Novella)

COSMIC CONFESSIONS

RADIANT RITES

~ Fated Mates of the Riftwolves ~

Post-Apocalypse Omegaverse

SAVED BY THE LYCANTHROPE (A Novella)

TAKEN BY THE LYCANTHROPE

~ Cosmic Bonds ~

Alien Romance

ALIEN TONGUES

ALIEN LIAISONS

ALIEN PLEASURES

~ Cosmic Mates ~

Alien Romance

ALIEN ROGUE

ALIEN SOLDIER

ALIEN DEVIL (A Novella)

~ Friends of the Chalice ~

Paranormal Historical

IN HER THRALL

~ Vaughn Syndicate ~

Cyberpunk Mafia Romance

QUEEN OF CALLISTO

CHAPTER ONE

❀

JESS

It was the dead of night when the vine crawled up the side of the old wooden house, over my window, and into the clouds.

I was asleep, steeped in dreams as I usually was after a long day selling my woven blankets and fishing nets at the market. That’s why, when I opened my eyes the next morning, I could hardly believe that I was in fact awake and not still dreaming. The vine blocked out nearly all light, the sun just barely peeking through the thick green leaves and the woody stalk—which was more like a trunk, if I was being honest. I’d never seen anything like it in all my years as a weaver and farmer in the Aurelian Valley, the verdant wine country of the Skoll homeworld. I wasn’t a native here, but I’d seen my fair share of the Alpha Worlds, and this was new.

I did my best to go about my business that morning, preparing for my day before deciding how to grapple with the new growth in the vineyard. I dressed in work clothes—brown trousers and an off-white tunic that was a little worse for wear—then I brewed myself a steaming mug of Aurelian tea in the kitchen. It was only after I’d taken a few sips of tea that I crossed one arm over my chest and sipped at my tea with the other.

The vine blocked out the light here too. It was definitely a beanstalk—of that much, I was certain. The leaves were bright green tear-drops, not dark stars like the grape leaves here in the alien valley. It seemed to have grown overnight, from what looked like the compost pile that I kept outside the front door. I couldn’t remember what I might have tossed in there that would lead to such a monstrosity.

And then there was the matter of what to do next.

Figuring out what kind of plant I was grappling with was the easiest part; figuring out what to do with it was another matter entirely. I finished my tea and placed my mug in the wash basin, then stepped out of the rickety old front door, expecting to find it at least the size of a tree. However, to my surprise, the stalk seemed to reach all the way into the cerulean sky, disappearing into a thick shelf of white, fluffy clouds. I put my hands on my hips and stared up at it, my long black hair tumbling over my shoulders.

This was…a bigger problem than I’d first imagined.

There wasn’t another vineyard for miles around, and that’s how I preferred it. My drones were company enough, tilling the soil on the farm in the summer and tending to the small herd of heidrun I kept to trim the grass. I took my hover-cart into town once a week for the market, but there was no one else around. Eventually, someone would figure out that I had a pipeline to the atmosphere down here, but for now, this was my problem to grapple with.

I could call the Aurelian Guard. It would have been the most logical choice—to let someone else grapple with the strange vine that seemed to have sprouted overnight in my garden, especially when I was just a woman alone in the country. I fiddled with the comm link in my translator at my ear, almost pulling the trigger and getting rid of the vine for good…

…but something stopped me.

Because there was a memory nagging at me: a reminder of something I was convinced was important. In the recesses of my mind, I remembered my mom telling me about a beanstalk that grew just like this one.

That beanstalk had treasure at the top.

And a struggling human farmer in the Aurelian Valley could always use a little extra gold.

I headed back inside and sat down at my table for lunch as I pondered exactly how I would climb the beanstalk. I’d salvaged an old flight suit from a crashed ship in my field a few years ago, so I could use the helmet in case the air got too thin at the very top. As a weaver, I had plenty of rope around to fashion a harness, and more than enough spare rations to take in a pack. I could even bring an extra pack, then clamp it to my harness to carry a whole load of treasure back down.

I chewed on the idea with my meal, staring at the empty seat across from me. Earth wisdom didn’t seem like the best reason to climb a strange and potentially hazardous beanstalk, but I had nothing else going on that day. The house needed repairs, and with the growing season rolling around, I would surely need to buy a few new drones for harvesting. I wasn’t doing terribly, but I also wasn’t doing great, and I remembered my mom once saying something about having a good side hustle to keep yourself comfortable.

I didn’t know what a “side hustle” was, but I figured treasure hunting in the clouds counted.

That’s how I found myself packing my gear for a climb and committing the afternoon to weaving a harness to make my ascent. It was eleven in the evening by the time I finished my work, sweating in the spring heat and staring at a full climbing rig that should keep me safe as I clambered up the beanstalk. I could barely contain my nerves when I finally settled in for the night, climbing back into bed and staring at the beastly vine that grew in tangled knots up to the heavens. It was probably my imagination, but I almost thought I could hear voices coming down the stalk, impossibly deep and resonant.

I told myself this wasn’t a bad idea.

That this was a heavily populated, well-guarded planet, and it was likely there wasn’t anything up there anyway. The Aurelian Guard would have arrived long ago if there was danger.

But even if there was…if there was treasure involved? I had to be the first to find it.

CHAPTER TWO

❀

JESS

I wasn’t nearly as prepared for the climb as I’d hoped, but I’d never let that stop me before. I geared up, bound myself into my newly made harness, and set off at dawn.

By the time I reached a quarter of the way, my muscles ached and my joints screamed. I couldn’t look down; it was too far, too frightening, even though I knew that the harness would keep me safe, trusting in my own ability. When the sun reached its zenith, I wasn’t even halfway up the beanstalk, the leaves drifting in the wind around me.

I was grateful at least that it was a day of fair weather, as otherwise I likely wouldn’t have been able to make the trip. Regardless, I’d tied my hair back for the journey, and it lay in a long braid between my shoulder blades.

The sun sank behind the mountains to the west, and then I was in complete darkness. I turned on the headlamp fixed to my forehead and continued, climbing and climbing and climbing. My hands, wrapped in thick bindings, were nevertheless forming blisters on my palms, and I could feel how raw they were. My heels weren’t in much better shape, and my whole body felt like it was on fire.

I should have given up the climb at that point; it was dark all around, the clouds lit from beneath by the pale moon, a vista of blue stars surrounding me. But I could nearly touch the clouds now, and something kept me going. I’d come so far in the past day, and I wasn’t going to give up right here at the end.

And now that I was up here in the sky, surrounded by fresh air and stars, I didn’t know if I wanted to go back to my little farm in the Aurelian Valley. I’d escaped there so long ago in the wake of my abduction, and ever since I’d barely even strayed into the village.

I was keeping myself prisoner.

I shook off the thought and kept going, poking my head into the clouds for the first time. The fog enveloped me in a blanket of white, so dense that I could hardly even see my own hands as I clutched at the winding branches of the beanstalk. I found handhold after handhold, so close now that I could taste it, and I even seemed to smell the aromas a feast hall here, so far from the ground.

There was something up here. The whir of an engine struck my ears, soft at first, then louder. I could see the moon brighter than ever above the line of clouds, and I climbed toward it, to where the beanstalk finally met its end. I was bruised, blistered, and aching, but my heart soared as the clouds left my skin damp with precipitation and even a hint of ice crystals. The sky was blue-black above, dark as ink and rich as velvet, dotted with diamonds, and I reached for it, inhaling sharply in the now-thin air.

I followed the sound of the engine, turning over my shoulder to find that a ship waited just above the clouds. It wasn’t a Skoll ship, as it was missing the Viking accents of the species; nor was it Merati, with their smooth silver ships, or Hyperborean, sharp, hovering, white. This was different. It was more like a hive, or maybe a tree, with organic-looking knots across its hull. The vine protruded from the hatch of the ship and golden light glowed from inside, warm and inviting. I climbed until I reached the curve in the vine and then, laying flat on my stomach across the largest stalk, made my way over the leaves and toward the ship.

It only got more strange as I approached. The exterior was indeed made of bark, with leaves growing across the exterior like perhaps it was still alive. A few other vines hung down from the hull of the ship, though none were as long as the one I’d just climbed. Distracted as I was with climbing, I didn’t take in more of the ship until I was nearly on the open hatch, where the vine splayed into a collection of branches that would certainly catch me as I fell.

A knot near my hand trembled, then shook. No—it blinked.

The ship was alive.

Its massive bead-black eye swerved toward me, then away. It looked for all the world like a whale, the ship on top like a turtle shell mounted on its back. There was even a mouth below, nibbling on what looked like beans dangling from the beanstalk beneath me.

I was beginning to wonder if I was out of my depth.

But inside the ship I could see a flash of gold, glinting in the glow lamps lining the walls. So I kept going, treading carefully so I wouldn’t disturb the beast—or even worse, fall into its mouth—and I finally landed on solid ground.

The hatch thudded underneath my leather boots, and my arms ached as I stretched them over my head. A moment later, my body sagged; I would need rest before I headed back down the stalk.

First, though, I needed to check out the treasure.

The light was so bright in my dark-adjusted eyes that I could barely make out the interior of the ship, moving forward and squinting with my hand at my brow. There were no figures in view, which was a relief. Glow lamps lined the walls, the orbs hovering close to the wooden panels, while shelves of storage crates sat underneath them. The ceilings were impossibly high, and some of the shelves reached all the way to the ceiling—at least fifteen feet. I took a few tentative steps inside, scanning the room for my quarry or for someplace to hide and sleep.

And that’s when my gaze fell on exactly what I was looking for.

Gold.

It oozed from the wall of the ship like a vein of ore, forming a mound of the glistening substance. I moved hesitantly toward it, shouldering my pack, the pain that had wracked my limbs suddenly gone. It sparkled like a gemstone in the night, bright and shiny, almost like paint.

I reached forward and, unable to resist, touched it.

I drew back with a gasp, dragging a line of it back with me. It wasn’t gold at all; it was sticky, a viscous liquid that clung to my fingertips. The smell hit me suddenly, like the strongest mead I’d ever tasted, my mouth watering now with thirst and hunger. I lifted my hand to my mouth and the smell got even stronger, and I wasn’t surprised when I pushed out my tongue and tasted honey.

There was gold here, sure; it just wasn’t the kind I’d expected.

“You’re such an idiot, Jess,” I muttered. “Why did I even come here?”

“Not what you were expecting?”

I gasped and turned around, stumbling back when I saw what stood behind me. A massive man loomed in the hatch, framed by the dark night behind him. He was at least eight feet tall, and cut a striking figure in the moonlight, layered in thick muscle and sporting a wiry black beard. Perhaps the most imposing part were his horns—or antennae—I couldn’t tell exactly what to make of them from this angle. They twirled like sheep’s horns, but they ended in black, furry wisps, and were covered in

If I hadn’t been so frightened, I might have taken the time to admire his physique. His skin was deep, leafy green, and he was entirely shirtless, displaying tattooed leaves on his shoulders and a gold ring piercing each nipple. He had another piercing in his septum, a thick bronze ring that brushed against a plush upper lip. The man’s pants—the giant equivalent of grey sweats—hung in dark folds around his hips, leaving little to the imagination as to what he was packing below the belt.

And it was…a lot.

“I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I…I didn’t know anyone was up here.”

“You didn’t know anyone was onboard an operational ship,” he repeated, his lips curving in a bemused smile.

His voice was deep and rumbling, vibrating through the floor and making goosebumps erupt on my skin. My eyes widened and I stumbled backward when he took one long stride toward me, his footstep echoing in the cavernous ceiling of the ship. “Let me go,” I warned.

“I don’t mean you any harm,” he said. “I’ll return you to your cottage, if that’s what you want, but I don’t imagine you can make the trip down without rest. Your little limbs aren’t equipped for it.”

His tone was condescending enough to provoke a glare, and I set my fists firmly on my hips. As I did, I felt the ache deep in my limbs, reminding me that I’d just climbed a giant beanstalk to get here. “Why should I trust you?”

“I don’t think you have much choice but to trust me,” he rumbled. “There’s only one way down, and I fear you’ll fall if you try to go back the way you came.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“If I can truly trust you, just let me rest here for the night,” I said. “I’ll put on my harness and return home then…and I promise not to take any of your honey.”

His brow furrowed and an angry drone erupted from his chest. I didn’t know what I’d done wrong—but I guessed he assumed I came here for another reason, because now he seemed angry. I put up my hands as he took two more angry steps forward, stumbling back—

—and my shoe got stuck in the damn honey.

I cried out as I fell, bursting the thin film on the bubble of honey. I was instantly coated in it, the sticky sweetness wrapping me in heat and sugar. I tried to wade out of it, but it was gummy on the floor, and there was no way to escape.

If the stranger meant me harm, he would have had every chance to do me in right then and there. I stared up at him, terrified as his thudding steps got closer and closer, until he stood before me. His horns unfurled just a bit, showing more pliability than antennae but less than horns should, extending slightly toward me like he was scanning me for wounds.

“Sorry—I overreacted,” he muttered, his voice still so low. It nestled deep in the pit of my stomach, doing things to my honey-coated body that I couldn’t truly understand. “Now…are you going to let me help you?”

I tried to jerk my arms free one more time, but I couldn’t seem to do it; the honey was stickier than I was used to, straight from the comb as far as I could tell. What I’d thought were panels were in fact racks of honeycomb, and the hum of the ship…?

Well, that had of course been the bees.

Though what kinds of bees they had in the Alpha Worlds, I didn’t know.

“You can help me,” I grunted, glaring at him. “But I think I’m going to need a bath.”

“Good thing for you, I have one of those.”

He chuckled, leaning forward and plunging his hand into the muck. I could feel every movement of him where the honey coated my skin, and when he finally grabbed my hand, I had goosebumps all over. The giant pulled me up, his hand swallowing mine, but he still gave it a firm shake that made my shoulder ache. His eyes were gold up-close, with a slightly opalescent glow that made them somewhat insectoid.

“It seems introductions are in order,” he said with a sharp-toothed grin. “What’s your name?”

“Jess,” I responded cautiously.

“I’m Alovir,” he said. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.”

CHAPTER THREE

❀

ALOVIR

This week kept getting increasingly strange.

I’d woken up in unfamiliar airspace, my radar confused as the Hive navigated into new, unmapped, and unplanned territory. My day was spent trying to figure out where we’d gone, along with why the Hive had put down anchor…and why I was so lethargic in this new, honeysuckle air.

Like all Jötunbei Warriors, I was psychically connected to my hive. The presence wasn’t always obvious, but I could usually get some sense of where we were going and how to direct it to go elsewhere; so it surprised me when the ship took me somewhere without my intention. Still, it was a sentient being—no matter how slow and how docile—and these things sometimes happened. My hive had never taken me to another planet, like some Jötunbei’s did, so I at least had that to be grateful for.

I was just doing my rounds of the ship’s exterior, climbing over the gnarled flesh of the beast and checking for any wounds or abnormalities, when my sensors went off in the hatch. I returned as quickly as I could, wary of intruders out to steal our precious cargo, and I’d been stopped dead in my tracks.

The last thing I’d expected was her.

The woman was tall for a human, lean and lithe with a long black braid down her back. Her hazel eyes opened wide when she saw me, her pink lips parting in surprise. I didn’t balk at her reaction; my people had grown rare on Kanin, taking to the skies and largely sticking to our homeworld a system away, preferring to leave this planet to our Skoll kin. A provincial Aurelian farmer likely hadn’t ever seen a Jötunbei.

Still, I had the uncanny sensation that she knew me. And the smell of honeysuckle was overpowering on her skin, stronger even than honey. When I’d lunged for her it hadn’t been intentional; it was impulsive, based on instinct and pheromones alone. My life had been solitary, yes; but I had never met someone who provoked such a strong reaction in me.

She was, without a doubt, my erdblöm.

My mate.

It didn’t make any sense, but it did explain why the ship had navigated here. I must have dreamt of her—sensed her somehow when we entered Kanin’s atmosphere, and the Hive had drawn me straight to her, like a drone to nectar. I stepped back to give her space, but when she tried to move, she winced.

“I’m uh…” she started.

“…yes?”

“My muscles are so sore I don’t think I can move,” she said. “Would you mind?”

I chuckled again and then reached out, taking her delicately by the arm. She was so small that I feared she would break if I wasn’t careful; I could fit her arm in a ring between my thumb and pinky finger.

“I think I’m going to need a lift,” she muttered.

She was embarrassed, her cheeks flushed red in shame…but there was something more than that. It became obvious when I bent to pick her up, cradling her against my chest. The smell of honeysuckle hit me like a rogue wave, and I resisted nuzzling her exposed throat. She didn’t respond, but I did smell the scent spike and then roll over me, nearly sending me to my knees.

How had the hive known?

I carried her deeper inside the ship, where the cavernous ceiling stretched high above us into the feasting hall of the bridge. It was traditional Jötunbei design, similar enough to a Skoll ship to signal our kinship with the bronze-skinned people, but bearing the trademarks of our organic methods. We grew our furniture, cultivating our hives to perfect our living spaces. The bathing room was in an alcove to our right, and I brought her there and set her on her feet before activating the spigot on a wood-knot control panel beside the tub.

“Well, are you going to give me my privacy, or are you going to stand and stare?” she asked.

I balked; she certainly wasn’t the friendliest human. The baths here were deep enough for my people, and I feared she might drown if she was that weak. I should have given her privacy—and I would have in other circumstances—but my staying was only for her wellbeing.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

“If you were too weak to stand, then you are likely too weak to undress, aren’t you?” I asked. “Please, allow me to help. I swear that I mean you no harm.”

She had no reason to trust me, I supposed, though I could have killed her a hundred times by now if I’d desired it. Jess narrowed her eyes and lowered her hands to the honey-drenched tunic on her torso, then pulled. Not only were her arms too weak from the long and arduous climb, but the honey was sticky, and the garment clung to her like glue. The woman sighed, then shook her head and closed her eyes.

“Fine,” she said. “If you must…then go ahead. I can’t see myself getting out of this any other way, can I?”

I moved into her orbit, standing behind her so I wouldn’t see anything she didn’t wish me to see. Taking a moment to appreciate the absurdity of this whole situation—what were the chances she would’ve fallen in a honey deposit?—I cautiously placed my hands on her hips, then slid my fingers under the tunic. The honey melted and oozed around my fingertips, already coagulating and sticking to her flesh.

Jess glanced over her shoulder, her brows raised. “Is something wrong?”

I frowned. “The honey made here in the hive is…different than that on Earth,” I said. “Stickier. More like…” I searched for the word. “…tar, I suppose.”

“Tar?” she gaped. “Are you going to be able to—”

“Hold on,” I said. I reached for the knife at my belt, suddenly quite desperate to get the clothes off her. There were practical reasons for this; if the honey continued to dry, it might fuse to her skin, making the process of rinsing it off far harder.

But I also wanted to do this for the pure joy of cutting the clothes off her.

I knelt behind her, unable to reach her otherwise. This put me at roughly her height, where I could smell her honeysuckle scent even closer, and I choked back my desire.

“Stay very still,” I murmured.

Jess gasped when she felt the flat edge of the knife against her back, the tip sliding just underneath her shirt. “Are you cutting off my clothes?” she asked, a curious note in her voice.

The blade cut through the edge of her shirt and I dragged it upward, exposing a lean back already drenched in honey. I needed to get her into a hot, soapy bath right away if we didn’t want the honey drying any further.

“I fear these clothes are ruined,” I said. “I’ll get you new ones before I take you home.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

The fabric was already dense with honey, so the process was slow. I carved through it like thick, viscous gelatin as she stood and waited patiently to be undressed. This was different than her demeanor before, and the only reason I knew why was that I could smell the sweetness of her arousal so strongly that it settled like mead on my tongue.

I was halfway up her back now, peeling the fabric away from her sticky skin, lines of golden honey trailing and dripping over us both now. It didn’t stick to my flesh like a human’s, symbiotic as our species were with the hives; instead, it dripped in heated rivulets through the coarse hair on my chest. I groaned when a warm drop slipped through one of my piercings, sparking nerves that had been long asleep.

It had been decades since I’d last been with a woman. And never had I been with a human.

“Tell me,” I said. “Why did you really come here?”

Jess was quiet for a moment, then glanced back at me.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she said. “I got it in my head that there was treasure up here and I just…felt compelled to come. I can’t explain it.”

I could explain it.

But humans didn’t have mates—and nor did the Skoll, really. Not in the same way that we did. Our lives were spent as solitary travelers until we met the one, and many of us never did. It’s why we were so very, very rare in this vast, unknowable galaxy.

“It was idiotic, now that I think of it,” she said. “I guess I was just…bored?”

She chuckled at her own foolishness, but the motion nearly made my blade slip. I pressed a large hand to her slim shoulder to still her, keeping my touch light so I wouldn’t accidentally force her down, but even the slight pressure was enough to make goosebumps break out beneath the honey.

She was just as aroused as I was. But she didn’t understand why.

I finally cut through the collar of the shirt, then began to peel it off of her. Her back was entirely exposed, covered in bruises from the harness she’d fashioned to get up here. It was incredible that she’d managed such a feat at all, given that no other human had ever managed to climb a Jötunbei anchor.

That was the call of the bond, I supposed.

“How long have you been on Kanin?” I asked, trying to keep myself distracted. “I’m assuming you’re not a native.”

“More native than most humans,” she said defensively. “My parents were abducted, but I was born in the Alpha Worlds, on a pirate ship.”

“And how did a pirate end up in the Aurelian Valley?”

She exhaled slowly. “My parents died. My crew was captured by the Hyperborean Empire. And I…well, it seemed like a change of pace was the only thing that kept me alive.”

“You’ve been alone since then?”

“For ten years now,” she replied.

We both went quiet, and I sought to fill the space with something. I hadn’t had another living being inside the hive for nearly as long as she’d been in the Aurelian Valley.

“Can you get this off your arms?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jess muttered. “I’m too weak from my climb.”

I nodded. “Lean back.”

She obeyed, leaning back with her arms forward. The sleeves were large enough that they could be easily removed, and I pulled it off her, away from myself, wrapping my arms around her shoulders in the process. Jess fell back into my chest like she belonged there, her petite form slim against my chest. The honey was hot between us, sealing us together; at this rate I would need a bath of my own.

I longed to mate her now.

But I wouldn’t do this so quickly. Not when she may not feel the same way.

“I’ll need to handle your trousers now,” I said. It was so warm in the ship that I found myself sweating, and I could smell her scent even stronger now that she was partially naked. Jess had the day’s work on her still, and I wanted to lick every trace of it from her flesh.

And she was still pressed to my chest, unmoving. “Jess,” I whispered, leaning my head into her neck, risking just one deep inhale.

She stirred. “Sorry,” she said. “I fell asleep.”

“Can you get your trousers off?” I asked. “I can cut them, but…”

“No, I think I can step out myself,” she said, moving forward. “Will you uh…close your eyes?”

“Of course,” I said.

I stood and turned my back on her, listening as she fiddled with her pants. They were wide-legged and hadn’t caught quite as much of the honey, and she made quick work of them as the water flowed into the tub. I didn’t look back at her until there was a splash, and I saw a dark head just barely surfacing.

I rushed forward, afraid she’d drowned, but she was soon coming back up with a sputtering breath and a laugh. “I didn’t think it would be that deep,” she said. “Alovir…it’s not coming off. Is it supposed to come off right away?”

It was the first time she’d said my name, and it made my breath catch in my throat. I ignored the sensation and came forward, kneeling beside the tub again. I still had sticky honey on my chest, and I saw her eyes wander down to the gold piercings glittering in the mess.

“There’s an enzymatic serum we need to use to break down the honey,” I said. “Just relax; I’ll take care of the rest.”

CHAPTER FOUR

❀

JESS

Having a giant wash my hair was not what I’d anticipated when I’d climbed up the beanstalk.

I was still sticky from the honey, and my limbs ached as I watched Alovir pick up a glass bottle filled with purple, sparkling gel. He unscrewed the copper lid and then poured a small amount into the tub, steadfastly ignoring my nude form underneath the surface. Instantly, a batch of phosphorescent bubbles erupted across the water, concealing anything beneath my shoulders. It fizzed against the honey, and I could feel how it broke down the sticky substance that had damn near left me trapped.

“You’ve made quite a mess of yourself,” Alovir said. I felt his hands rest on the crown of my head, then trail down over my braid. “Your hair is the worst; do you mind if I...?”

“Go ahead,” I whispered.

This was turning into a very strange day.

His thick, broad fingers worked with surprising dexterity at the tip of my braid, pulling out the ribbon that tied it all together before he started to fold bubbles into the thick, dark strands. He unbound my hair with delicacy, and by the time it touched my shoulders I could tell that he’d already managed to scrub most of the honey out. My hair was even softer than usual, falling in soft waves across the water, spiraling around me. Alovir was quiet as he worked, finally finding his way up to my scalp after what felt like hours of sheer bliss.

“You’re here alone?” I asked. “I haven’t seen any other crew.”

He made a low sound in his chest: a growl of acknowledgement that resonated from his chest to his fingertips and into the recesses of my mind. “It sounds like we’re quite a lot alike,” he murmured. “The Jötenbei are a solitary species, and we helm our hives alone. I’ve been transiting the Alpha Worlds on my own for close to twenty years, since I left my homeworld.”

“‘Jötenbei,’” I repeated. “That’s what you are? Where did you come from?”

“Seimir,” he said. There was a touch of fondness in his voice, the heat radiating from his chest. It felt like love. “A garden world on the edge of the Skoll Wilds.”

I frowned. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“We’ve grown increasingly rare in the time since the Skoll took Kanin centuries ago,” he said. “And as the Alpha Worlds expanded, and we scattered to the far reaches of the galaxy, it grew harder to find our erdblöm…our mates. We can bond with no other.”

“Why did you separate?” I asked.

“I’m sure you noticed our ships are sentient,” he chuckled. “And just as my hive decided to come here to put down roots, so too do our ships often bring us places we may not expect.”

His words resonated with me, making me curl my fingers against my bare knees in the hot water. I hadn’t had much choice in where I’d landed either, after my childhood home was destroyed. There weren’t all that many safe places for a human in the Alpha Worlds. But I couldn’t seem to articulate all that, nor did I necessarily think it was any of his business, so all I said was, “It sounds lonely.”

Alovir’s fingers slid into my hair, against my scalp, and I groaned in appreciation at the sensation. I was sure I should’ve been more worried—his hand was large enough that he could have crushed my skull with one clenched fist—but he seemed like a big, harmless teddy bear so far, and I wasn’t about to turn down a scalp massage when I hadn’t felt a lover’s touch in years.

Not that he was my lover.

Of course, it felt that way, even if we hadn’t done anything explicitly sexual. This was as close I’d come to a tryst in ages. He knelt shirtless behind me, his fingers working wonders on my sore skin, and I didn’t complain when he moved on from my hair and dragged his hands down to my shoulders. My core clenched, a different kind of ache than the rest of my limbs.

I didn’t think this was about the honey anymore.

And I didn’t particularly care.

“Loneliness is a relative concept across species,” Alovir said. “But…yes. I suppose that it can be lonely. Though I am not truly alone, not with my hive keeping me company.”

“Does it talk?” I asked.

“Hm…” His hands kneaded my shoulders where they ached the most from my climb, and I closed my eyes and let me head roll back. This felt like a dream.

Perhaps it was.

“The hive doesn’t speak, per se,” he said. “But it does think, and I can feel those thoughts, though they’re nebulous at times. It takes time and commitment to bond with a hive of one’s own.”

“And how do you make a living?”

“By selling the honey, of course,” he said. “We keep the Skoll Wilds stocked with mead for their feast halls, and in return we are largely left alone by raiding parties. It’s a solitary lifestyle, but one that is safe, and I know that’s a rarity in the Alpha Worlds. I’m grateful for my hive.”

It did sound nice.

“And what happens if you find your erdblöm?” I ventured. I wasn’t sure why I asked; it was like the same compulsion that had dragged me all the way up the beanstalk had me asking questions, interrogating him. Alovir signed, his heavy hands resting on my shoulders.

“I suppose I would invite her to stay on my ship with me,” he said quietly, “if she would have me.”

I pictured some massive, emerald-skinned woman with dark hair, sitting in this very bathtub and getting a massage from the gentle giant behind me. It made me irrationally jealous, even though I barely knew this man.

“I’ll leave you to get out and dress,” he said. I heard him stand up, and felt the absence of his heat at my back, of his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll be just outside when you’re done; you should get some rest for your journey home.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. I listened to him leave the room, and then reached for the towel he’d left beside the tub—an absorbent animal hide flecked with silver spots. It was surprisingly dry, none of the hide rubbing off like animal furs normally would, and I wrapped it around myself to stay warm in the cool, dry air of the ship. My muscles screamed in protest, urging me to get back in the tub, but I feared falling asleep in its depths.

Alovir was right; I needed to get some rest.

CHAPTER FIVE

❀

JESS

Alovir was already busy working in the hull, pulling out a rack of honeycombs from the ships edge. I hadn’t seen any of the bees yet, but there they were: bigger than the pictures I’d seen on holos of Earth, and lit up like fireflies. They crawled over the dripping honeycomb as Alovir handled it with bare skin, sometimes landing on his shoulders and crawling over him. His antennae—and I was sure they were antennae now—curled and uncurled like he was having a conversation with the insects.

He didn’t notice as I walked in, and I cleared my throat, causing him to turn around.

“Oh,” he said. “That was quick.”

“I don’t have any clothes,” I said with a blush. Yet somehow I felt more at home here, naked on his ship, than I did in my lonely cottage in the Aurelian Valley. “You said you might have something for me?”

“Yes,” he said. “Give me just a moment.”

He moved swiftly toward the helm of the ship, where I assumed he had his sleeping quarters. He was fast with all that height, despite his bulk, and he was out of sight in a split second.

I hadn’t looked that closely the last time I’d come through this part of the hive, but it was a sight to behold. The organic vessel wasn’t quite like anything I’d seen, even after my youth pirating in the Alpha Worlds. Branches grew up the sides of the ship like rafters, but they were clearly organic, with leaves sprouting from each one. Honey seeped from some of the sides, and a few drones busied themselves sucking up the major deposits while others grew. The walls were, in fact, completely lined with honeycombs, except where the ship gave way to small quarters at its edges, and they glowed with slight golden light from the luminescent bees inside.

No wonder I’d assumed there was gold here; gold was all around.

It smelled good too, overpoweringly like mead and honey, but also like Alovir: dark and musky and male. It wasn’t something I’d had a sample of in years, and it just made me more interested in cozying up with the giant in ways that were absolutely inappropriate for a woman who’d just boarded his ship without an invitation.

The sound of Alovir rifling through storage sounded from the front of the ship, and I followed it toward where a window opened up on the clouds drifting over Kanin. This was the helm, but it didn’t have any of the control panels I was used to. Instead, knots of wood occupied the front of the ship, without any clear indicator as to how to drive. The pirate in me imagined it must be hard to hijack a Jötunbei hive, especially given that it was psychically linked to its captain. Not that I was planning to steal his ship.

I stepped forward to rest my hand on the gnarled wood beneath the window, and maybe it was my imagination, but I almost felt like I could feel the hive buzzing against my palm. It warmed me too, my fingers playing across the knobs as I surprised myself with how pliant they were.

“It likes you.”

I glanced up to find Alovir regarding me from a passage to my right, beyond which I saw a massive, nest-like bed. He held a massive white tunic in his hands—far too big for me, I was sure—but if it was all he had, I’d take it. I moved toward him to take the bundle with a nod, and he tilted his head toward what I assumed was the helm.

“When you do that…” he started, “I can feel it. The way the hive hums at your touch. It isn’t…well, it isn’t normal. They’re usually hostile to outsiders.”

“Maybe it’s because we’re the same kind of outsider,” I murmured.

He smiled, a warm grin that showed off his slightly sharp white teeth as he stared down at me. Standing here in the helm, with the moon glowing off to the right, it was easier to tell just how big he was without the pounding fear in my heart. I stood at just about waist level, my eyes staring straight into his abs. I had to crane my neck to truly see his face, but he was handsome, even if his chin was covered with that scruffy beard.

As I looked up at him, I was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion that nearly took me off my feet. When I opened my eyes again, he was already beside me, bending to catch my elbows in his big hands. His touch was warm like a coal, smooth like butter…and I wouldn’t have minded if he held me all night.

“You need rest,” he said decisively. “The climb was too much for your human limbs…let me take you to bed.”

Before I could protest, he scooped me back into his arms, even though I was still naked under the animal hide he’d left near the bath. I tried not to let him see anything, but it occurred to me that he wouldn’t have looked anyway.

It was what made him feel so safe.

So solid.

So desirable.

“Bed?” I asked. “I can’t sleep in your bed—where will you rest?”

“I have work to do, and you need a comfortable place more than I do,” he said.

Alovir carried me into what I took to be his bedroom, a warm and comfortable place with furs laid across the massive wooden bed. As I’d guessed from that glimpse outside, it was more like a nest—as if a giant knot had been carved out in the corner of the room, easily ten feet across. When he laid me down in the furs, a plush mattress gave underneath me, pulling me into its warm embrace. It smelled like him, spicy and masculine and raw, and I couldn’t help but nestle in with a delighted sigh.

“Thank you,” was all I could think of to say, looking up at him through bleary, sleep-strained eyes.

Alovir grinned. “Sleep well, Jess,” he murmured.

And then he left me to bask in his scent, where I soon drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER SIX

❀

ALOVIR

I had felt it when she brushed her fingers across my ship, as intimately as if she’d had her hands on my bare skin.

It took every ounce of my self-control to carry her to bed wrapped only in a blanket of fur, and not to climb in with her. After she fell asleep, I chanced a look back inside the room, taking in the way her dark hair spiraled out over the blankets on my bed, how her cheeks flushed pink in the heat of the hive. The fur had fallen away to reveal her breasts, and I couldn’t help but look at how round and lush they were compared to the rest of her lithe body, how she lay in lovely repose like a goddess.

The hive was responding to my desire, growing warmer as I warmed to Jess. If I was to leave this planet without her, I would need to get her off of the hive soon. The longer she stayed, the more likely it became that the hive would pull up its anchor and sail across the stars, taking her away whether she liked it or not. And I wouldn’t have that; even if it was once the Jötunbei way to kidnap our mates, I was more inclined to wooing, like my Skoll brethren.

…yet there was nothing stopping me from wooing her.

Jess had already chosen to show me kindness tonight—more than she had when she first arrived, full of fire and harsh words. Indeed, it seemed that she was as enamored with me as I was with her, though neither of us had yet articulated exactly what that meant.

And there was, of course, the matter of her size.

Even when I touched her gently, I feared I’d break her. I didn’t know much about humans, and though I’d heard of the Skoll taking human mates, I’d heard no such stories of the same with my people. We were bigger than the Skoll—not by much, but enough to make a difference with a tiny woman like her. Jess was thin and rangy, even by human standards.

If she were to stay, it would be my first priority to fatten her up on honey and wine. I pictured her rosy cheeks full with laughter, her hips swelling with the feasts I would provide for her. The thought provoked a pang of heat deep in my stomach, and I longed to wake her so I could discuss such possibilities.

How to even broach the subject, though…?

I stifled a groan for fear of waking her, then headed to my workshop toward the aft of the ship. Distracted as I was with her arrival, I had missed my rounds, and still needed to check the honeycombs lining the far wall. I devoted myself to work, keeping my mind steadfastly off Jess, my longing for her so great that I feared I would get distracted and risk a sting. It certainly didn’t help that the hive seemed to want her to stay, using that psychic link to repeatedly drag my mind back to the bedroom.

Several hours had passed by the time she woke. I was bent over a problematic honeycomb, my fingers sticky with a thin layer of the substance as I worked out a section of the hive that had grown dry and brittle. The bees hovered around me, sometimes crawling across my skin, and their hum was enough to drown out the sound of Jess padding across the wooden floor.

“Alovir,” she said over my shoulder.

I glanced up to see that she was already beside me, in dangerous range of the bees. A sting could be deadly to anyone but a Jötunbei, and I opened my mouth to warn her off—but I was cut short by one of the insects landing on her hand.

Jess’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t seem afraid. I looked from her to the bee, desperate to rescue her, but the hive told me that it was alright, setting my mind at ease. Jess stared in wonder at the insect as it crawled over the back of her hand, then buzzed away from her fingertip.

“It’s…I don’t know why, but I expected them to be scarier,” she said. “They’re nearly as big as birds.”

Shaking myself out of my reverie, I stood to put the honeycomb back in its place, taking the bees with it. I slid the panel into the wall before turning to face Jess again, finding her still standing in awestruck wonder and looking around the ship. She was dressed in the tunic I’d given her, the garment swallowing her up in off-white linen.

“You feel better, I presume,” I said with a smile. “Sleep well?”

She nodded. “What time is it?”

“Just before dawn,” I replied. “You must be hungry…let me get you something to eat.”

I feared that she would ask when I was going to take her home, but she seemed content to wander half-naked around my ship. I took her by the arm and led her forward and to the left, into the modest dining room I’d willed the ship to construct for me over the years. A wooden table large enough for me—and far too big for her—occupied the center, while a fabricator I’d bought on Triton sat on the far edge of the room. Jess climbed with some effort into one of the large wooden chairs before settling back against it, the gnarls of the hive accommodating her. She jumped and looked behind her, her eyes wide.

“Did the ship just move?” she asked.

I chuckled as I moved to the counter to fetch her some breakfast. “Like I said,” I replied. “The hive likes you. It’s growing to fit your unusual size.”

Jess scoffed. “My size isn’t that unusual,” she said. “I’m actually pretty tall for a human.”

“Yes…for a human,” I laughed. “But to a creature the size of my ship—well, you understand that you’re quite small.”

I turned around to place a sticky bun on a tray in front of her. The pastry was the size of her entire head, and she looked at me with a grin. “How do you expect me to eat this?”

I sat across from her. “Slowly,” I said. “And I expect you to enjoy it. I made it myself.”

She snorted. “You bake?”

Her reaction set me somewhat off-kilter, and I frowned. “What’s wrong with baking?”

Jess shrugged. “I just don’t know a lot of men who bake.”

“Eat,” I ordered. “And then make your assumptions about my baking.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

❀

JESS

When I woke in Alovir’s room, my body was steeped in afterglow. I couldn’t shake the sensation that I’d just had sex, every muscle lazy and melting, my mind wrapped in a comfortable haze. He was nowhere to be found, the room empty even though his intoxicating scent remained. I rolled over and breathed in that hint of spice, his smell invigorating me despite the fact that my muscles still ached from my climb.

It had to have been hours since I’d fallen asleep. When I made my way out to the helm, the starlit vista outside was brightening just slightly, a touch of pink edging its way over the clouds. The moon had set, and dawn was on its way. Soon, I would be back in my little cottage in the Aurelian Valley, thinking about how many more drones I would need to buy for the growing season and which repairs to worry about in preparation for the rainy season.

I wasn’t ready to go.

That’s why I was grateful when Alovir didn’t mention my return trip, instead guiding me to the ship’s kitchen and sitting me down with a plateful of sweet roll. My mouth watered at the sight of the melon-sized pastry, and I dug in without hesitation, not even thinking about the mess I was making.

He watched in bemused silence, waiting for me to finish. He was a gentleman that way; and it made me wonder if he was prone to waiting for his women to finish. I swallowed the thought with another honey-soaked bite, ignoring the way my nipples hardened underneath his shirt at the way he looked at me. It wasn’t cold in the room, but I still got goosebumps when our eyes met, noticing that his lips were parted. His tongue grazed over them, the organ pink and massive inside his mouth, and I shuddered at the idea of him lapping at me with it.

“How does it taste?” he asked.

I nearly choked on my food, coughing a little as a bite almost went down the wrong pipe. “It’s delicious,” I said.

“Good.” His voice was rumbling, deep, settling somewhere in the pit of my stomach where I hadn’t felt something like that in a long, long time. “You’ve got some on your cheek.”

I could only stare as he reached out with one long, muscular arm, extending it clear across the table to swipe at my cheek with a delicate brush of his thumb. His fingers stayed on my jaw for a moment, and I blinked my eyes, barely able to believe just how good this single touch felt.

If I hadn’t been sure when I was lying naked in his bed, I was sure now; I wanted this man.

My life had been harsh—even when my parents had still been alive, I’d rarely been treated with kindness like this. But since I’d invaded Alovir’s ship, he’d fed me, clothed me, and even washed my hair. And there was some kind of magic to this place—a kind only found in the Alpha Worlds—that made me feel perfectly home.

He started to pull away, his massive hand practically enveloping half of my face, but I caught it with my own, clamping my palm down over his knuckles. His hand was warm and dry, and still had the smell of honey on it. I wondered if it ever truly faded, working with honeycombs as he did. Remnants of sugar glaze on my lips, I turned my head and found his palm, pressing my lips against it and keeping my eyes on his.

Alovir groaned, his eyes fluttering shut. His lashes were long and dark, an oddly pretty feature for a man so utterly masculine and gruff. I trailed my hand down the fine bones of the back of his hand, then gripped his forearm in my fingers. They barely even encircled half of his wrist.

What was I getting into?

“When you said your ship ‘likes’ me,” I started, “you weren’t just talking about the ship, were you?”

His thumb drew circles over my temple and cheek, his dexterity stunning for a man so enormous. “I’m drawn to you, Jess,” he said. “You…feel the same?”

I did—or at least I thought I did. I yearned to lick the honey from his fingers, to taste a man who lived in a hive. I wondered if his skin would carry the flavor of mead. He was massive, but so gentle that I knew he would never hurt me. So I nodded slowly, keeping my hand on his arm before pressing another kiss to his palm.

I whimpered in protest when he drew away, opening my eyes to see him coming around the table. It surprised me when he carefully picked up my plate and set it on the wooden counter, and shocked me even more when he slid his hands underneath my arms and raised me to my feet. For a moment, I wondered if he would ask me to leave—if I’d read his signals wrong, if the differences between us would outweigh the clearly simmering attraction…

Then he put me on the table.

To accommodate his size, the table’s surface was at least five feet off the ground, and big enough for a human to lay across. If I sat on the edge, I was high up enough that I could get closer to his face, his chest wide enough that I could use his whole body as a pillow if I wanted. Alovir’s hands fell to my knees and I shuddered when I remembered they were bare, his tunic riding high up on my thighs until my core was nearly exposed. He squeezed my legs with barely restrained lust, his jaw tight.

“If you want this, then spread your legs,” he murmured.

I inhaled sharply, but nodded and looked into his wide face. I wasn’t entirely sure what ‘this’ meant, but his words were like liquid amber dripping from his lips, enticing and heated. As I moved, his hands slid up my thighs until they rested at the top, his thumbs slipping into the creases where my legs met my pelvis.

“You should know what you’re getting into,” he said, then stepped just barely forward. I had to spread my knees wider to accommodate him, and I gasped when I felt the press of his clothed length at my bare pussy. He was big, as I’d expected—but what I hadn’t expected was for him to feel entirely alien: thick, but more pliable than a human male, with an extra piece on top that branched off. I instantly wondered what he looked like under those clothes, rocking my hips against him.

“I think I’d like to find out,” I whispered, reaching for his waistband, but he caught my wrists.

“You’re small,” he said. “Delicate. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m not that small, and I’m not that delicate,” I protested. “I’m tougher than you think.”

And if this gentle giant broke me, it would be a beautiful way to break.

CHAPTER EIGHT

❀

ALOVIR

I could scarcely believe that she wanted me too.

Nor could I understand how we would possibly make this work.

What I knew for certain was that I would need her ready when we finally made love, if I didn’t want to harm her. My eyes met Jess’s as I slid my fingers underneath the hem of her tunic, then began to slowly pull it up over her head.

Her eyes were dark brown, soft and sharp like tree bark. Her pink lips parted when my knuckles skimmed across her ribs, rising higher, higher. I wanted to look at all of her at once, but even though her cunt was now revealed, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from those eyes, wild as they were. There was so much I had to learn about this woman, and I could hardly wait to explore every inch of her.

The hem popped over her breasts, the fabric catching on her pert nipples, and I sucked in a breath at the sight of them. They were bigger than I’d expected, though I would still be able to cover them easily with my hands. Her body was so small that I struggled to fathom how we would join together, though if fate had drawn me here, I was certain we could. I dispensed with her tunic by tossing it to the floor in a heap, pulling it up over her head and breaking the eye contact that had grown so heated.

At that point, I was so far gone that I couldn’t have stopped myself even if I’d wished to.

My hands fell to her breasts instantly, finding the soft, small buds of pink that rose from their peaks. They were vibrant like flowers in spring, and I bent to taste one on an impulse. She tasted like honey already—like me, like the hive that I longed to ask her to call home—and I sucked hard until she cried out and tangled a finger in my hair.

“Alovir, I—” she started, and my name on her lips made me buck my hips against her core, making her knees tighten around my waist. “I want you now.”

“No, my sweet flower,” I groaned. “There are a thousand things I want to do to you first.”

She gasped when I pushed her back on the table until she was lying down, yanking her toward me by the backs of her knees. I fell to kneel before the table, splaying her out for me, my eyes devouring the sight of her sweet, nectar-glazed cunt. The moan she unleashed when I dragged my big finger between her folds was nearly as satisfying as the way her core clenched, begging me to fuck her.

But there was more I wanted to do. So much more.

I spread her knees wide until they were locked around my head, my mouth just centimeters from her petals. Given her small size, my tongue would be big enough to provide her ample pleasure—and so I flicked it out to taste her, teasing her toward it, wanting to build up to my full girth. Jess rolled her hips, insisting on leading the way, so I pinned her to the table with a satisfied chuckle.

I considered myself a kind man.

But this was my ship, and she would be pleasured on my schedule.

“Alovir, please,” she sighed, using my name against me. “I’ve been…fuck, I’ve been wanting this all night.”

“Soon,” I rumbled. “But first…you must blossom for me.”

“What do you—”

I fell upon her like a starving man, clamping my mouth over her sex and sucking hard. I held her hips steady with firm hands as she tried desperately to buck against me, crying out into the ceiling of the hive. The ship was practically vibrating beneath us, satisfied with this turn of events, with the fact that I had found my erdblöm—but I ignored it, trying to focus only on the pounding of Jess’s heart through her cunt and against my tongue.

I needed her open, relaxed, hungry.

So I continued.

I licked at her, devoured her, used my lips and teeth and tongue until she was writhing on the table. Her wetness soaked my mouth and I drank from her like she was the sweetest flower, like I would nourish myself only on the ambrosia of her pleasure. My cock pressed insistently against my trousers, but I resisted the urge to undress and stroke myself, wanting to save my stamina for the gorgeous woman splayed out before me like a feast.

She was already melting before me when I pulled my hand from her hip to her inner thigh, holding her steady with the flat of my palm. Jess’s breath hitched as I trailed my fingers toward her core, as if she could already read my thoughts and knew what I intended to do. Her opening was gushing, relaxed, her juices leaving my mouth and beard coated in a sugar glaze, and I knew she was ready when I circled her cunt with one finger and dipped the tip inside.

I had never been with a woman, but she was…pliable. More elastic than I’d expected. It gave me hope that she could truly take my girth, that she may even revel in being filled. Even at that notion, it made me harder, and I slid my finger inside to the second knuckle, hooking it gently up to explore the tight, clenching cavern of her cunt. Women of my species had a spot just there, an organ that, when pressed, could produce screams of pleasure that would rival even the sweetest siren.

Apparently human women had them too.

Jess moaned, her hips thrusting so hard that I almost lost my grip on her, but I growled into her cunt and she stilled. I longed to test her—to see how long she could maintain her control in the midst of my ministrations. She whimpered as I teased at the spot, toyed with it, circling and pressing my fingers until her muscles seemed to dissolve.

“Do you want to come, my flower?” I asked.

She nodded, her lips still parted, her eyes barely open. “Mmhm.”

I chuckled, letting my breath graze her pussy, and she gasped.

“Then come.”

As I licked and sucked and thrust my finger into her core, Jess came in a torrent of jumbled words, the mingled human and Skoll languages confusing my translator’s programming. My hand could no longer keep her from her frenzy, and she thrust her hips against my mouth, letting out ragged breaths and cries. It was beautiful to feel her orgasm against my lips, so desperate for me that I couldn’t help but imagine how good she would feel clenching around my hard cock.

I stood on shaky legs, looking down at my erdblöm—though she did not yet know herself to be. Jess was gasping and writhing, a tremor shaking her every so often as she stared into my eyes. Her legs were spread, not a hint of shyness at showing me her nude form.

I liked that.

Jess rolled her hips toward me, biting her lip. “Make love to me, Alovir,” she said. “I want…”

I stepped forward, letting her feel my length through my pants, pressing into her core. She groaned and rocked toward me, like she could devour my cock with her hungry pussy by sheer force of will alone. But I chuckled and held her leg up against my shoulder, turning to press a kiss to her ankle.

“My hungry blossom,” I said. “My thief of all that is proper. Whatever shall I do with you?”

“Fuck me,” she begged again.

“You do have such a pretty way of asking,” I chuckled. “But not here. Instead…I think I have something else in mind.”

CHAPTER NINE

❀

JESS

Before I could ask him to fuck me, Alovir was lifting me off the table and carrying me to another part of the ship. His hands were firm, his fingers probing, and as soon as he curled me to his chest, his mouth lowered to wrap once again around one pebbled nipple. I groaned and arched into him, wrapping my arms around his neck in an attempt to get closer.

“So hungry,” he said. “If I didn’t know any better, I might think you came up here purely in search of my cock.”

I smiled, shaking my head.

“I’m starting to think you might not be wrong,” I said.

And it wasn’t a lie. As soon as he’d undressed me, it was like all the pieces had clicked into place; like this was the treasure I sought. I wanted to explore every last, massive bit of him, to learn the topography of his musculature with my lips, teeth, tongue, hands, cunt. Alovir picked up his pace as he watched me, perhaps seeing the look in my eye that begged him for more.

He carried me through a hatch toward the center of the ship, then down a small set of stairs. I could hear the hum of the hive more down here than anywhere else onboard, and I looked around to see glass instruments full of honey lined the walls. In the center of the room was a table frame with a net across it, though I had no idea what the purpose of it was.

It was that net that he carried me toward, then set me down upon it. The table legs—which were really more like branches—holding it up bent until it held me like a swing. It was comfortable too—surprisingly so, given that I didn’t think this was it’s intended purpose. I even had the ability to stretch my arms to either side, my legs still splayed out for Alovir to look at me.

I was a lot of things, but I wasn’t shy.

He turned to face one of the glass containers of honey, going to a spigot and letting a trickle of liquid amber spill onto his right hand. It steamed a little as it touched his skin—it must have been hot—and he turned to face me with a heated gaze, his giant form looming over me.

“Can I tell you something about our honey?” he asked.

I chuckled. “Is now really the time for a lesson?”

“I’ll make it worth your while,” he rumbled. He walked toward me, the honey on his fingers glistening in the light of the glow lamps along the wall.

“When you refine the raw honey from a Jötenbei Hive, the honey grows more fluid, and it acquires some…interesting properties,” he continued. “You know the sense of euphoria you feel when you drink Skoll mead?”

I nodded.

“That’s nothing compared to the raw intoxication of Jötenbei honey directly on the skin.”

Alovir stepped between my legs again, nestling home, the thick head of his cock pressing against my aching pussy through his breeches. His big hand fell to my collarbone, tracing a line of the honey from one shoulder to the other. As soon as it hit my skin, I felt a tingling sensation that shot straight to my core, making me squeeze my thighs around his broad, muscled waist.

“Holy…” I trailed off, my eyes fluttering as I looked up at him. “No wonder the mead tastes so good.”

He chuckled.

“You have no idea.”

His lips were on me then, his tongue lapping at the viscous honey. Alovir’s body loomed over me, his shoulders so wide that they blocked the light of the glow lamps, his skin a deep green like a forest canopy in spring. A drop of honey trailed slowly down my breast and Alovir followed its path, his skilled tongue tracing the line like he’d never tasted anything quite so delicious.

And his hands were moving too, sticky and hot, leaving a trail of sweetness and electricity that raced from my heart to my cunt to the tips of my toes. His mouth moved lower and lower, his hands tracing swirls and lines on my skin in a still life of carnal delight.

My hands flew up to tangle in his hair, searching for something, anything, to hold on to. All I found, though, were his fuzzy black antennae, which quirked and writhed as soon as I took hold of them. I squeezed, feeling the strange sensation—pliable and moving and not horns at all—before Alovir roared and took hold of my wrists to pin my wrists. My eyes went wide as I gazed up into his golden ones, which flickered with glow lights and filled with lust.

“Sensitive,” he grunted. He leaned down to flick his tongue out against my ear, and I felt one antenna uncurl against my temple, silky soft and smooth. “And unless you want me to bend you over this work table and rut you until you can’t think straight…I suggest you leave the touching to me.”

The suggestion didn’t sound as unappealing as I guessed he thought it did, and I was adventurous…

But I wanted to see what he had in mind.

I nearly screamed when he finally touched my pussy again, his fingers drenched in honey as they pressed against me. I wanted him, but I knew it would hurt at first, and I bit my lip as I felt his digits drag up and down over my slick folds, finding my clit over and over. The ecstasy of the honey was drowning me alive, subsuming me in pleasure, when Alovir pressed one finger inside me.

I bucked against him, the sensation of the honey like the hum of a lover’s breath on bare skin. It tickled and teased, and promised there was so much more to come, the thrusts of his fingers curving up and into my g-spot every time he pulled back. I splayed my fingers against his muscled ribs, gazing up into a face that was so vast and expressive that I could have spent hours locating the constellations of feeling within it.

And the honey buzzed, and my muscles clenched, and I came and came and came.

I rode his fingers like there was nothing in the world but our little castle in the clouds. My core pulsed and my inner walls spasmed in frenzied indulgence, taking him as deep as I could. His fingers scissored out slightly, making me ready for him, and I was prepared to swallow him whole by the time he finally reached for his pants with his other hand, drawing his thick, weeping cock free.

I gasped sharply when I saw it, Alovir’s fingers still inside me. He slowed to a leisurely pace, coating his palm in my wetness as he stroked himself slowly and deliberately.

He was…entirely alien.

And perhaps the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

Alovir was a work of art; a thing of nature. His cock was massive, but so much more complex than I’d realized. Thick at the base and visibly pulsing, it went from the leaf green of his skin to something like watercolor, painted in tones of orchid pink and white and gold. It was more tapered than a human’s would’ve been, narrowing toward its tip, which was—to my great satisfaction—uncut. His flesh went translucent toward the tip, the same glow as the bees flickering along his shaft.

The strangest thing about him was the scalloped ridge of tissue on top, which separated from his cock about halfway up to leave me with many questions about exactly how that would feel against my clit. It was…fuzzy. Like his antennae.

I kept my hands up by my head, trying desperately not to touch him, and to leave him to his ministrations. But I couldn’t help but lean forward in the net, extending a finger to touch the fuzzy appendage with one trembling hand.

As soon as I touched him, he groaned and rolled his head back, his hands going to his sides. I was still covered in a thin layer of honey, the gel even warming my core, relaxing me, widening me to accommodate his girth. Alovir, too, had the honey all over him—on his clothes, his torso, all the way down to his massive, alien cock. I leaned forward, spreading my legs to keep my balance as I braced myself against his waist, and then I pinched my fingers gently together and ran them along that soft yellow frill.

Alovir groaned, the rumble of his growl reverberating around the honeycomb walls of the room, bathing me in his deep voice. His whole body went taut at that touch, like he was barely keeping control. His cock pulsed and a bead of golden dew appeared at its tip, translucent and shining like honey.

I had to have a taste.

I leaned forward slowly, keeping my eyes on his rapturous face. My tongue flicked out and I lapped at that bead of honey, delighted to find that it tasted sweet and sultry and aromatic, like wildflowers in spring. Alovir growled and his big hand fell to my head, his fingers gentle even in his desperation for more.

He wasn’t the only one who was desperate.

His cock was so big that I had to open my mouth wide to take him, and I was only able to suck him in halfway before I nearly gagged—but I did it all the same, wrapping my fingers around the rest of him with both hands to make sure that he felt every inch. The frill of butter on top tickled at the roof of my mouth, but his strangeness made him all the more delicious.

A thud sounded beside me, and my gaze flickered to see Alovir’s hand gripping the stand of the netting, his fingers clenched so tight that his knuckles were white. I sucked hungrily on his massive cock, and in return it released more of its honey, claiming me, marking me.

He pulled me away with a firm grip on my head, gazing down at me with parted lips. His knuckles on his other hand were pale now, drained of all color as he focused on holding out. I licked the honey from my swollen lips, staring up at him and wanting more and more and more.

“If I hadn’t just fed you, I might think you were starving,” he chuckled. “My hungry flower…I long to feed you more.”

My pussy clenched at his words, and I leaned back in the net as he loomed over me, casting a shadow across my honey-drenched skin. My flesh buzzed in anticipation when his cock, now bare and beautiful, pressed against my aching core.

I needed to be filled, to overflow with mead and wildflowers.

Alovir reached again for the closest spigot, and out poured a new helping of viscous, slick honey. He rubbed it between his fingers and lowered his hand to my core, where he swirled it around my already wet cunt, making sensation explode where we touched. The yellow frill on his cock—almost like a third antenna—unfurled to touch my clit, brushing over it and then, to my shock, sucking gently.

I arched my back as another orgasm shook me, unfolding in my core and wrapping me in tremors. I opened my eyes to see Alovir bring his fingers to his lips, sucking the remains of the honey he had just painted around my pussy, tasting the mingling flavors like fine wine. His bulbous head pushed at my opening, and there was no resistance at all when he pressed inside.

Fuck, I needed him. To be impaled on that beautiful cock would be a wonderful way to die. I wrapped my legs around his waist, trying to force him to increase his pace; but he was slow and deliberate, that yellow antenna still tickling and teasing at my clit. I was frenzied, but he was perfectly in control, and it made me want him all the more.

“Easy, my hungry flower,” he whispered. “I’ll give you all you want, but it will take…” He pressed in further and I whimpered, my core clenching and spasming as it tried to suck him deeper. “…time.”

“Just fuck me, Alovir,” I gasped as he filled me. I could feel the honeyed heat of him inside like molten sugar, our mingled juices dripping down my thighs, catching in the net. “I’ve never needed someone like—“

The head of his cock pushed deeper and I cried out, letting my screams echo around the chamber. He was so big that it felt as if he would cleave me in two, and yet I somehow took him, my body adjusting to his inhuman girth like we two had been molded from the same clay and were only just now falling back into place.

And then he was fully nestled in me, reaching places I didn’t know were there, and we were finally moving. Alovir shuddered as his hips rocked back and then back in, deep, deep, deep. He delved into me until he was everywhere, the honey sparking a feeling of overwhelming desire, like synapses connected to where we were joined. In my daze, I looked to see that Alovir’s knees were bent, his body at a strange and certainly uncomfortable angle for the sake of accommodating my smaller size.

It wasn’t necessary.

And I wanted him closer.

I reached for him just as he reached for me, scooping me into his arms, never once extracting himself fully from my dripping core. I opened my eyes briefly to find that I was hovering nine feet in the air, mounted on his shaft, and I squeezed my eyes shut again knowing I was safe here in his arms. His lips met mine, his mouth large enough that he could have swallowed me, and yet we fit together in perfect union.

My back hit a warm, wooden wall, and the ship itself was resonating with us, the hum of the Hive a love song in my ears. I may have imagined it, but it was as if the wall of the ship itself molded to fit my spine, my shoulder blades, soft and pliable where it should been hard. Alovir’s cock nestled inside me, and then he was moving—again deliberate, slow, beautiful. And our hive embraced me from behind, and the ship sang, and his antenna teased at my clit, and I came in a torrent of mumbled words.

I wanted him to lose control like I had, to be lost in me as I was in him. I reached for his antenna, wrapping my hands around their velvet girth, and he shuddered. “Jess, I’m too sensitive—” he protested, but I wasn’t listening.

“Let go,” I whispered.

And he did—Gods, he finally let go. His cock slammed into me, shoving me into the wall, and I let out a ragged sigh as he pumped his hips faster and faster, the slide of his shaft and the tremor of his antenna moving against me in delicious, agonizing heat. His antennae uncurled and curled again, dancing in the golden light, and then he erupted within me. Sticky, hot, sweet. I bloomed for him, a field of wildflowers popping in bursts of color within me.

Exhaustion overwhelmed me and I sagged against him as he extracted himself, amber dripping down my thighs as he cradled me to his chest. A kiss brushed my temple, and then I fell into a deep sleep as Alovir’s voice whispered against my neck.

“My erdblöm…”

CHAPTER TEN

❀

ALOVIR

As I slept, I dreamed of wildflowers.

They bloomed in shades of pink and violet and sky blue, erupting across the walls of the hive and carpeting the floor in watercolors. Flowers rushed in a wave toward our nest, flooding over the brink until they grew over Jess’s prone form like a gown, weaving into her hair, a goddess of life and heat.

“Alovir.”

She was the first thing I saw, lying awake beside me, curled up with her knees at my stomach and her head beside mine. I engulfed her, an arm slung over her shoulders, trapping her on the bed.

Jess didn’t look uncomfortable, though; she was in fact smiling, a blush of rose over her cheeks. She nestled into my chest, her hands splayed across it, and my body stirred at her nearness. I needed to give her time to rest, I was sure—and yet, I could have made love to her for weeks, staying in this bed as honey dripped from the walls of the hive.

“It’s dawn,” I said slowly. “You…do you still wish to return home?”

I needed to be certain. There was no more waiting; if she were to leave, it would have to be now, while the hive remained anchored in the Aurelian Valley. Jess rose on one elbow, her brow furrowing as she looked down at me with almond brown eyes.

“Do you want me to go?” she asked.

“No,” I croaked. I raised my hand to her hair, stroking it gently. We were both a mess—I would need to program my drones to clean here in the room—but I didn’t care. “I wish for you to stay. But I can make no promises about where the hive will take us next.”

She frowned, biting her lip as she processed this new information. My life was spent wandering, and it was not an existence I would force on another being. My heart ached at the notion of losing her, but I would not see her trapped with me.

“You said something last night,” she said quietly, her eyes flickering to mine. “You called me your erdblöm. Why?”

I couldn’t speak—couldn’t breathe for fear that I would make the wrong choice. But it was clear now that she was my fate, and the very reason my hive had put down anchor here on Kanin. I searched for the words to articulate what this all meant, but none came, and Jess stepped in once again to bridge the chasm of silence between us.

“Is that why this feels right?” she asked. Her hands pressed to my chest, her fingers splayed wide, yet still she could barely even cover the expanse of flesh. “We’re so different, but I’ve never felt this way. This desire…it’s like a fever. Like I’m sick with how much I want you. And it doesn’t hurt that I like you, too.”

Her expression turned playful, and my heart ached and soared. I needed to hear those words—to know that she wouldn’t be trapped with me, that there was more to this than the threads of fate weaving their way through our lives.

“I would like to make you a vow,” I whispered.

She stilled, sobering. “That sounds serious.”

“It is…but it’s not,” I chuckled. “Will you accept my vow?”

She nodded.

“If you choose to stay,” I began, “I vow to feed you. To teach you the ways of harvesting our honey. To pleasure you whenever you desire it. But also to let you go if that’s what you choose to do.”

“Why are you saying this?” she asked.

“Because my people once kidnapped our mates, and I…” I paused. “I want you to love me. Not to be tied to me. Not to be sick. To love me. And as we grow to know one another, I want to watch that love grow.”

Jess sucked in a breath, and I waited in that still, terrifying moment. But rather than moving away, she drew closer, tucking her head under my chin. “I’ll need some things from the house,” she murmured. “But I think I’d like to learn the ins and outs of mead-making, if you’ll teach me.”

My heart bloomed, and I pressed a kiss to her hair. “Anything, my erdblöm. But first…I think we could both use a bath.”

And thus, I carried her away from the bedroom, returning her to the bathing pool where I first beheld her bare form. And we bathed together this time, and then made love, and made love some more. I fed her sweet rolls and imagined her lush and fair and loved.

And when the hive ultimately left the Aurelian Valley, we two watched Kanin’s mountains recede over the clouds together.

WANT MORE?

THERE’S A LITTLE something for everyone in the Chloe Parker multiverse.

VOYAGER

Alien Romance

Aliens fall for human women in this sci-fi epic told through standalone love stories.

ALPHA WORLDS

Sci-Fi Fairy Tales

Space vikings, cyborg pirates, and mutant shifters. The series that spun off into Riftwolves!

FALLING STAR

Sci-Fi Reverse Harem

Space Opera meets Reverse Harem in this high heat science fantasy epic.

FRIENDS OF THE CHALICE

Paranormal Historical

Witches, illusionists, and vampires mingle in the streets of 1920s London.

QUEEN OF CALLISTO

Cyberpunk Mafia Romance

A quick and dirty BDSM romp to Jupiter’s moons.