2016 Top Ten Gay Romance Read online

  “Fuck!”

  The thing above him lunged and Sajah forced it down with a snarl that vibrated Justin’s bones.

  Justin reached again, grabbing the knife handle just as Sajah yelped. Justin twisted and drove the blade into the closest swath of feathers. The thing jerked but still attempted to bite and claw at Sajah. Fuck. He wrapped his other hand around the warm leather and plunged the knife as hard as he could into the beast. The furious screech spurred him on and Justin kept at it, losing count of how many wounds he caused, until the creature shuddered and stilled.

  Justin grunted as his captor stood and rolled the carcass off of him. Sajah panted harshly above him, a strange white shimmer overlaying the dark fur at his shoulder. It concerned Justin for a second until Sajah was reached down to him.

  He didn’t bother to make a run for it and instead offered up the blade for Sajah to reclaim. A look of amusement, at least Justin thought it was amusement, sparkled in Sarah’s silver eyes and twitched at the corners of his mouth. The massive hand passed by the knife to grip Justin’s forearm gently and firmly to tug him to his feet. Justin let him, eyes locked and some of the wariness left him. He offered Sajah the knife again once he was steady and this time it was taken.

  Then Sajah swayed on his feet and Justin caught him as he started to crumple, wrapping an arm around the huge waist while ducking under the arm to keep him steady. Sajah flinched and growled quietly, but Justin didn’t understand the reaction until he noticed the shimmer again decorating the fur of the shoulder he was under. A ragged tear, obscured some because of the short pelt, was oozing a bluish white fluid. Blood. His captor’s blood was white.

  * * * *

  Justin cursed under his breath with every step; moving them as fast along as he dared on legs that ached. Sajah’s faint rumble of pain helped Justin judge their pace. He had no clue what constituted a potentially fatal injury for Sajah’s species, and after Sajah kept him safe from being seriously hurt by one of the local animals, Justin wasn’t about to let him die because of his human ignorance.

  They were farther from the village than Justin figured and even though Justin bore most of Sajah’s considerable weight, it was over an hour before they came close enough to see the fire light between the buildings. He quietly cheered, because holy shit did he need help with Sajah.

  Justin almost missed his next step when Sajah stumbled and the alien growled in a weak and insensate voice. The steadily slowing drag of bare feet against the ground and the spreading wetness on Justin’s shirt was very bad. It was so bad that Justin didn’t wait to pass the outer boundary of clan territory before he started yelling.

  “Hey!” No one came running at his first shout, but Sajah whimpered from the volume. Justin winced. Those wolf-like ears must pick up and amplify the tiniest sound, and that shout had probably hurt like hell. He shifted his hold, tucking Sajah’s head against his chest to muffle one ear and covered the other ear as best he could with his hand. “Hey!”

  He felt Sajah cringe and attempt to bury his head deeper into Justin’s shirt, but finally Justin heard movement. Between one exhausted breath and the next, he and Sajah were surrounded by spear-wielding warriors. One was barking orders at Justin too fast for him to understand, but the angry tone and threatening shift of the raised weapons made the order crystal clear to his old soldier training: release our commander and back away.

  Justin, so slowly that every muscle in his battered body shrieked in protest, lowered them to the soft grass. He tried to move back as soon as Sajah was all the way down, but the alien had latched on to him at some point and wouldn’t let go.

  “Sajah, your buddies are going to skewer me if you don’t let go.” Another soft whine from Sajah cut through the harsh commands of the group leader but, against his better judgment, Justin didn’t try to pull away again. “Please, Sajah, we gotta get you fixed up and these guys know how. You need to let go of me so they can help.”

  “Rrih mahtehea…” Sajah murmured, then finally lost the fight to stay conscious and Sajah’s hand loosened its grasp of Justin’s shirt.

  He stayed on his knees as the warriors snapped into action, all of their hands lifting Sajah almost as one entity and they carried him out of sight between the huts. For a moment, Justin could only stare helplessly after them, until the leader touched him shoulder.

  “Nohem.”

  Come. Grateful to the being for some direction, Justin climbed listlessly to his sore feet and followed. Anuht was waiting for him at Justin’s little place. He looked tense, tail swishing with agitation, luminescent red eyes troubled. He guessed what Anuht wanted, despite not having all the words to ask.

  “Me and Sajah were attacked by some bird beast.” Justin flapped his hands to get his point across. “Sajah was hurt. His warriors took him away somewhere.” Justin struggled to contain the fear that threatened to seize his throat. “They’re going to fix him, right?”

  “Yes.” Anuht said it slowly, but with a conviction so strong it was tangible. Relief made his knees weak and Anuht patted his shoulder, nudging him back into the hut at the same time. Justin nodded in acknowledgement and dragged his exhausted carcass to his cot. He was out as soon as his head hit his pillow and he dreamlessly slept the day away.

  * * * *

  Waking several hours later, the second moon already starting to fall deep below the horizon, Justin stood up and stretched until his joints popped, his mind at ease. Sajah had put his life on the line for Justin and that wasn’t the action of someone looking to put him on a spit roast. Sajah wouldn’t hurt him. Justin believed that with everything in him. Shit, even the warriors had stopped being hostile once they had Sajah back, now that he thought about it. Maybe he was just seeing this all wrong.

  Justin would go along with whatever happened and deal with the issues as they came. It’s not like he had any reason to distrust the natives after last night and the paranoia ingrained from his days as a soldier at war would have to shut the hell up from then on. He was worried about his friend too.

  He stripped out of the filthy, blood-caked clothes from last night with a revolted shudder and cleaned up as best he could without a trip down to the stream. That visceral example of the dangerous native wildlife last night gave Justin a good reason to not wander around unescorted. And Justin didn’t want to miss someone coming to update him about Sajah.

  An hour went by before Anuht filled the doorway to Justin’s hut like a silent specter framed in the last rays of the setting sun. At first, Justin didn’t notice him, too busy trying to keep himself from worry with his book, but the feeling of being watched made him look up and he almost jumped out of his skin.

  “Fuck, Anuht!” Justin tossed his book on the table. “Say something next time.”

  The being stepped a little farther into Justin’s hut and he gave Anuht a startled look. The only alien to ever dare step into Justin’s space was Sajah. His guard would simply come up to the door and tap respectfully on what passed for the doorjamb. Not this time.

  Then, Anuht flashed his teeth in an unmistakable grin. “Nohem.”

  “Sajah?”

  “Nohem.” Anuht motioned for him to follow and Justin went willingly into the last of the sunlight, heart racing and weightless. He pushed down a happy shout when his guard took him in the opposite direction of the stream, towards the massive center of the village. Justin was pretty sure his friend lived this way.

  It wasn’t a hut Anuht brought him to.

  The first thing he saw as he followed Anuht between the last of the homes was roaring flames that licked the night sky from a giant, shallow bowl dug into the ground. Next were the sixty or so tribesmen ringing the fire, dressed in dark, bold colors, their skin and pelts painted in strange swirls and lines in that shimmered faintly.

  Standing tall in front of the fire was Sajah.

  The raven-black fur was frosted by the burning light, normally ivory skin deepened to a golden color. Sajah’s vivid wrap was nowhere to be seen and his nude
, hard body was covered in the most elaborate of the swirling designs, the paint flashing the same silver color as his eyes in the light. Silver beads were woven into his long, wild mane; silver hoops pierced all the way up the outer edges of his left ear. Hammered silver bracelets decorated massive wrists and ankles, as well as a silver cuff encircling a heavily muscled left bicep.

  Justin was stunned. Never was Sajah’s alien-ness so apparent than in that moment. He knew, objectively speaking, that Sajah was a very handsome being in his alien way, but he really never put any thought into the observation. This was such a completely different level of beauty that he didn’t know what to think of it. The anticipatory tension in the air wasn’t helping him figure it out, but he got the idea that whatever Sajah was talking to Anuht about earlier, it was about to happen.

  With no signal that he could see, Sajah lifted his face to the sky and let loose an unearthly howl.

  The sound was taken up behind Justin, Anuht’s deeper voice rising with Sajah’s, and then, one by one, the others joined, faces lifting skyward. A riot of goose bumps rose all over his skin and the urge to add his voice lodged in his throat hard enough to make his breath catch. It left a heady, indescribable feeling in its wake.

  Abruptly, the spell broke and the noise fell away into echoes. In its place, Sajah stepped forward and spoke.

  Justin had no idea what was said, words seamlessly melding together, but he paid attention, trying to hold on to the reverence that Sajah spoke with. One day, he wanted to know what the words meant.

  Sajah caught his eyes as silence fell. They flashed as hot as they did a few days before and with Sajah’s first step towards him, the tribe howled again, loud and raucous. Justin wasn’t an untried virgin by any means, but that look in Sajah’s eyes made him feel like one.

  Sajah approached him in large, loping steps. Justin smiled at his friend and met Sajah’s metallic gaze. Sajah leaned in and carefully bumped their foreheads together in an almost playful manner before he nuzzled just below Justin’s left ear. Justin froze as Sajah took a deep breath and rumbled. What the hell?

  With a quick, neat side step, Sajah circled around behind him and used his height to his advantage, burying his nose in Justin’s dark brown hair. Justin felt the pressure of large teeth gently press against either side of his throat a second later and then warm breath on his skin.

  Justin’s world tilted with an epiphany.

  Sajah was staking a claim on him. It was brazen and obvious, and how did he miss the fact that this being wanted him? Justin wanted to smack himself for their inability to really talk, so that Sajah could have made his intentions clear from the start. Then maybe this entire thing wouldn’t have blindsided him. Or leave so much to misinterpretation. Did Justin even want to entertain the idea?

  As a warm, soft brush of skin on his throat replaced sharp teeth, Justin silently decided he did want this. Sajah was kind and steadfast, and beautiful in his own way. He was also damn sure that Sajah wouldn’t allow any harm to come to him. His companion had shown himself to be too honorable. Maybe it wasn’t a love match at that moment, but given time, it could be. So when Sajah came to stand in front of him again and softly placed his very large hand proprietarily around Justin’s vulnerable throat, Justin tilted his head back and caught the silver eyes, trying to convey how much trust he was placing in Sajah.

  The look seemed to get through, because Sajah nodded his understanding. “You are safe.”

  Sajah bent down and touched their foreheads together again, maintaining contact this time, and slowly moved his hands down to lift the hem of Justin’s simple syntho-cotton shirt. The feel of the calloused, unexpectedly furless, palms sliding over his skin underneath the shirt had him half hard in an instant. Sajah stepped back and pulled it off him, dropping it absently to pale grass. A jerk on the front of Justin’s pants had the magnetic snaps easily giving way. Justin quickly toed off the soft shoes he wore. Then Sajah’s hands were at his hips, both working in a single-minded fumble to slide off Justin’s pants and underwear, and they almost caught the head of his cock on the elastic in their haste.

  Sajah’s gruff chuckle set Justin laughing quietly along as his companion pulled him closer by the hips, a hairsbreadth of space between their naked bodies. A delicate nip to Justin’s ear lobe forced a gasp. It was a move that never failed to get Justin going and he knew that Sajah just found it by luck, not on purpose. They would have time later to thoroughly acquaint themselves with each other, but not now.

  Justin looked over the being’s shoulder to the tribesmen watching Sajah’s very public claiming. He got the very strong sense that this was not going to be a slow exploration, which was fine. Justin could go along with whatever was necessary to satisfy his hosts.

  The next nip to his ear brought his attention immediately back to Sajah and a sheepish look flashed across his face. Amusement and understanding warred for dominance for a second before a smile lit Sajah’s face.

  Putting everything else out of his mind, Justin hesitated for a moment before he did something he had wanted to do since Sajah first came to see him. Smooth skin met his scarred, rough hands when he touched Sajah’s wide chest, only marred by a couple of very old marks that Justin thought came from childhood injuries. He glanced up to make sure the being had no objections to his touch, but he didn’t linger either, the restless shifting from the crowd around them and leashed restraint in Sajah spurred him to action. He slid his hands to either side and down, tangling his fingers in the unusually thick and satin-like fur at Sajah’s hips. Was nothing like he thought it would be, the pelt was so soft that Justin was loath to move his hands. Still, he pulled his hands down and in.

  His hands drifted down to find an impressive, hard alien shaft jutting proudly from Sajah’s bare groin. It was silky and slick to the touch and exceedingly warm, almost too much so. As he wrapped his fingers around it and gave the throbbing flesh a slow stroke, he found the base was tucked a little further back than a human’s; with no testicles that Justin could immediately feel when he slid his fingers underneath.

  Justin looked down the hard plane of Sajah’s body, curious. What struck him first was the almost uniformness of the shaft and the damn near spherical head. There didn’t seem to be any of the slight thickness at the base like a human would have, and the crown was something else. It sort of reminded Justin of a slightly squished ball with tiny slits ringing the top of it. Justin ran his fingers over the slits and Sajah growled in approval. A generous squeeze to the spongy head resulted in a louder rumble.

  Justin was face down on the springy grass in the next instant with no warning and eager hands spread the cheeks of his ass wide. Guess Sajah was done with Justin’s cursory exploration. A strange, wet, rough tongue suddenly licked a broad stripe from the back of his balls to the top of his ass before concentrating on his hole.

  Justin moaned low in his chest, the alien tongue scraping wetly across his sensitive rim was so different from anything he had ever experienced, but so good. Each swipe shot his excitement higher until nothing penetrated the sheer pleasure of Sajah’s tongue. Everything else simply faded away.

  And Sajah took his time. Each pass started just a little below his entrance and slowly, torturously moved up to just above it. A couple of times, instead of the hot stripe, Justin would jerk when Sajah scraped his sharp teeth over the wrinkled skin, just as slowly, just as carefully as Sajah had when he’d pressed those lethal teeth to Justin’s throat. Minutes crawled by in a haze of warm pleasure.

  Justin whined and clutched at the grass. His vision started to gray out at the edges, and then the slick tongue breached his ass.

  Justin shouted at the unexpected intrusion. He hissed as the tongue wiggled and stabbed its way further inside of him. The sensation had him reaching blindly for his cock, wanting to find relief from the over-wound coil of ecstasy had tightened in his balls. A hand clamped around his wrist and brought it around, pinning it to the small of his back. Thwarted, Justin whined and squir
med on Sajah’s busy tongue.

  The wet muscle started to withdraw after another minute and Justin clamped down on it, trying to keep Sajah from retreating, but it did no good. The alien sat back and grabbed Justin’s other wrist, and pulled him up to his knees, facing the tribe. He felt a moment of panic. Then, before he could work himself into blind hysteria, Sajah transferred both wrists to one hand. Sajah barely put pressure on Justin’s hands, enough to keep him still, nothing more.

  Sajah carefully pulled him back to straddle massive thighs, thick fur faintly tickling his legs. The bulbous head nudged at his hole for a second before it slowly began to breech him, eased by the slick substance that covered the alien’s erection and the thorough coat of Sajah’s saliva. The crown of Sajah’s cock wasn’t difficult; it was the widest part of the head that caused a bit of burn and discomfort. Justin took a deep breath, squeezed Sajah’s thighs hard between his knees, and relaxed as best as he could. The intense feeling abated a fraction, and then Justin gave a sigh of relief when the massive organ slipped fully into his body without much more effort than that.

  He rested against the warm, hard chest at his back for a minute once he had settled completely onto Sajah’s lap, waiting for the burn to dissipate completely. Justin was thankful that Sajah seemed to understand and didn’t try to move. He had never taken a being with such a differently shaped cock before. It all came down to the huge knob on top. He could feel the thing pressed tightly against his insides, up against his sweet spot, shifting minutely every time one of them took a breath. Not that he was complaining, but the sensation of being so full would take getting used to.

  The uncomfortable feeling went away in a shorter amount of time than he expected, and Justin gave a roll of his hips to test that there wouldn’t be any more problems. Sajah took the move as permission to continue, a first easy thrust the start of a slow rhythm. Sajah let go of Justin’s wrists and clamped his hands around Justin’s waist to better guide the human that writhed on his shaft. Justin clutched Sajah’s forearms to keep him grounded.