His human. His Raven.

Despite all the humans Urak had kept, it occurred to Kane that he’d never really gotten a good look at one. They were merchandise when they were on the ship, nothing more, but if he was going to be spending a lot of time with this one, he thought he’d better get to know her.

Beneath the short coat, she wore a top of woven string, tight as a second skin, that couldn’t possibly afford her protection and which served only to display the body it was meant to cover. That was all right. Kane wanted her on display. He tried to find the opening in the string-top, telling himself it was only to answer his idle curiosity right up until his temper flared and he ripped his claws down and cut it open.

Fascination briefly overwhelmed his other thoughts as he examined her bared flesh. Raven was slimmer than Urak’s human, but she didn’t appear starved; this was a tendency of human females, like Jotan, to be smaller than the males. Another difference: High on her chest were two fleshy bumps, each with a circle of brown at their center. Kane was quite sure Urak’s male slave hadn’t had the bumps, although he’d had the circles.

Kane put his hand over one of the bumps and squeezed it carefully. Soft, but firm. He wondered what they was for. It had to be a female thing, because when Urak had dissected his male, he hadn’t found any corresponding organs in that place. Kane had seen plenty of naked or nearly naked humans in his life. Seen them. Not really looked at them. Now he was beginning to wish he had. He hated the feel of uncertainty.

Kane squeezed again, rubbing his thumb over the circle at the bumps center to make it stiffen and stand out. Urak had found this the most amazing thing and had installed firedims in his slaves to make the circles stand out whenever he wanted, but Kane couldn’t see what the big deal was. He pricked lightly at the hard bump with his claw, and Raven whimpered in her sleep and pushed at his hand.

He let himself be moved. His eye had been caught by her belly, where humans, like Jotan, had a dimpled placental scar. Raven wore a loop of gold in hers. Kane tugged at it lightly, but it was stuck tight. Bizarre. Maybe she clipped something to it. Maybe it was purely decorative.

Raven muttered again, distracting Kane from his inspection, and when he looked down again, it was with appraising eyes at the wrap she wore around her waist. He pushed it up.

She wore a thin scrap of a loin-cover, but it was already torn from Kane’s rough handling earlier. He started to pull it down, but the strands holding it together snapped under his claws and exposed her completely.

Dark hair grew in a patchy triangle over her sex, rich with the fragrance of her musk. It was not purple, and it was much coarser than the hair that grew on her head, but it trapped the aroma of her female sex and that was the important thing.

‘This is not a good idea,’ Kane thought, and bent down to fill his lungs with that intoxicating scent.

Heat—never far from him—scratched upward from his tsesac and sank deep in his belly. Kane reared back, his gaze clouding, and reached down to rub himself.

The human wasn’t clean. Wasn’t and wouldn’t be, not until well after nightfall. The human had the Creeping Waste, and that was nothing to play around with. He needed to practice some restraint here. She wasn’t clean, he wasn’t going to fuck her, and that was all there was to it.

Kane put his hand on Raven’s belly, combing down that coarse and somehow unpleasant patch of hair and then pushed between her thighs. The folds beneath his questing fingers were the same as any Jotan female’s. He stroked her lightly, careful of his claws, slipping inside her by slow degrees.

Ah, she was snug, even around his finger. She was going to grip his cock like a vise.

Warmth was pooling in his belly, swelling out in a hard, hot lump down in his tsesac.

Kane’s eyes traveled up her body to those curious bumps on her chest. How did those work, anyway? There had been no concavity on Urak’s male that would have corresponded. How did humans fit together? Raven was shaped like any female down below, hence Kane had thought humans must mate as Jotan do, face to face. But wouldn’t those bumps get in the way? The yellow-haired female must have had them, and thinking back, Kane could remember seeing them as she stood in the water, just before she took her last, wet breath. But he couldn’t remember what they’d felt like pressed beneath his body. Of course, he couldn’t remember much of anything from that time.

Exceedingly aware of the un-wisdom of what he was doing, and yet determined to remember she was not yet clean, Kane bent. He placed one hand on either side of her and carefully positioned himself atop her. He could feel his shaft stiffening, trapped by his coverings, but clamped nicely between Raven’s thighs. He lowered himself until he rested his weight fully atop her, and yes, he could feel those firm, fleshy bumps pressed between them. It was not an unpleasant sensation.

Kane rocked once, just as an experiment, and felt all of Raven’s body rubbing against his.

‘It’s okay,’ he told himself distractedly. ‘I’m not doing anything. I know she’s not clean. I’m just…exploring.’

Raven uttered a low, breathy moan and unexpectedly moved beneath him. Not stretching or pushing, but sort of writhing. Her legs opened, upsetting Kane’s balance, and without thinking, he arched forward, bumping his cock hard against her sex. He could feel the heat of her even through his coverings. It would be such a simple thing just to reach down, unfasten himself…one quick thrust and he could be inside her. Her program was more than half-run by now…Jotan were not as susceptible to disease as humans…really, what were the odds…?

“Venk tar!” Kane spat, and rolled off her, shaking. This wasn’t just Heat, this was madness. He’d never pretended to be wise, but he refused to be this stupid. She was going to feel good, yes, but no fucking could possibly feel good enough to die for.

Kane shut his eyes tight and willed himself to sleep while he still could. Heat was coming, Heat for real, and he’d managed to put even his human’s mouth completely out of commission. He did not trust himself to lay his arm around her once more. He held her hand instead.

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Chapter Four

Raven felt a pulling at her arm and rolled away from it. She could feel the muggy warmth of the air closing in all around her, but she couldn’t feel the sun itself stabbing at her, so she thought it must be night. It was night everywhere where she was now, and she liked it like that. She liked it here, all alone in the dark.

Hands closed on her, rolled her firmly onto her back, and then fingers pried her eyes insistently open.

The sky beyond the interlocked branches above still had the grayish-blue light of dusk. It was enough to see the Devil’s face by. She looked up into the twin voids of his eyes and felt nothing.

The Devil grunted, apparently satisfied with whatever he saw, and let her eyes close. “Can you talk?”

“No,” said Raven, rolling onto her side again. Her head hurt terribly and there was a bitter, metallic taste in her mouth. Her whole body ached. She felt like she’d run a thousand miles, just to end up where she’d started, sleeping with the Devil. “I can’t talk. No one can.”

She heard a sigh and then a rustle as he stood. Raven’s eyes opened of their own dulled will and she watched him pace around the clearing. Every few steps, he would reach down and give his bulging groin a hateful grope. His chest was bare and soaked with sweat. His feet were bare and tipped with talons. All he wore was a black armband on his left forearm and pants. Shiny, shiny pants.