Chapter 1: Blind Lead

"You started without me?" Sirix's disappointed voice came from the entrance of the tent.

Lindsay gazed at her husband through passion blurred eyes, her chest heaving. She smiled at him as Donil's tongue slid inside her vagina.

"That's hardly fair," he said, a mischievous glint in his gold-rimmed indigo eyes.

Pulling off his armored shirt, revealing his spare but well-muscled blue body, he slid over Lindsay and began kissing her. Her lips, her neck, he nuzzled his head into the place where her throat met her shoulder, his coarse, white hair tickling her jawline. His hands found her breasts and their rough palms rounded her nipples, groping, massaging. A deep feeling of warmth flowed through her.

"Sirix..." she moaned, gripping his body, her nails digging in.

His scarred blue lips found her nipple and began to suck it. His sharp teeth nibbled at it. Her legs spread wide. "Oh Sirix..." she moaned. Her fingers caressed his neck, traveling through his hair.

Donil's tongue ran back up to Lindsay's clitoris as her fingers penetrated Lindsay, pushing into the g-spot the lovely alien doctor had taken such delight in learning to exploit.

"Ah!" Lindsay's entire body stiffened. Her breath came hard and fast as her eyes rolled back; her neck arched in the dark auburn corona of her hair.

Fire burned through her nerves, she was blazing, sweat dripping as she screamed in ecstasy. Her body shook and shuddered but neither of her spouses even seemed to consider letting up. She didn't bother counting the number of climaxes anymore, with the skill of her partners it had become one long orgasmic experience, no more valleys, only peak after glorious peak.

"Oh! OH! OHHHHHH!" she screamed.

Sirix's body kept her from thrashing about. Her nails raked the blue skin of his back. Donil pressed harder as her tongue continued in its gentle lashes. Sirix sucked harder. It was too much! She couldn't hold on! Her whole body arched as she howled in pleasure. She was blind to everything but the feeling. Her conscious mind vanished and in its place were two copper eyes.

No!

She fought herself back to presence. To Sirix's gold-rimmed eyes and scarred face gazing down at her. She kissed his lips, relishing the feeling of the scar tissue that ran from his brow to his chin, slicing through his lips.

His lips.

Her husband's.

Pressing against hers.

His tongue parting them, finding hers. She felt Donil's mouth traveling up from her thighs, kissing as she went with her pillowy soft lavender lips. Then Donil's mouth was there, too, and Lindsay was trading deep kisses with both of them as Donil massaged one breast and Sirix, the other. She was home. So long as she was with them, it didn't matter where she was in this foreboding forest, on this godforsaken planet, in their arms, she was home.

She woke up as she often did, tangled in their arms and legs, still mid-kiss with Sirix. She gently finished the kiss, smiling at her husband. Sirix, the Bona Serat Corsar, the leader of the Bonat people. If someone had told her last year she'd be married to the leader of an alien race, she'd have called them crazy -- though, mostly for believing in aliens. It hadn't been her choice to end up on this planet, but it had been her choice to stay here and help the Bonat in their fight against the genocidal Nobillo who sought their extinction.

There was a slight rustling behind her and Donil's arm tightened around her body. She turned to look at the beautiful young doctor. Even now, Donil could still take her breath away and make her smile like an idiot all day. Her eyes were closed, a dark purple line across the edge of the blue lids, a straight nose, high cheekbones, and luscious blue lips that turned lavender when she was excited completed the picture. Like Sirix, she was completely blue with snow white hair, as were all of the Bonat race.

Lindsay's eyes travelled to Donil's perfect breasts, white nipples begging to be sucked. But not now, Donil needed to rest. They'd been traveling for days and, unlike she and Sirix, Donil wasn't used to so much physical exertion.

Donil had been unexpected. Even though she would have never guessed she'd marry an alien, looking back, it was no surprise she'd gotten together with Sirix. Sure, he'd seemed like a complete dick when she'd first met him, but it was impossible to ignore his love for his people and his desire to protect them at any personal cost. But Donil... Lindsay had never explored the idea that she might be bisexual until she'd met Donil.

She'd been attracted to women, but she'd always just shrugged it off until she couldn't stop herself from kissing Donil, from fantasizing about her. That the brilliant young doctor, the former head of the medical school of Mt. Sabor, the inventor of the lab-grown skin graft, and the only person Sirix took orders from loved her, too, it was more than Lindsay could have dreamed of!

She was thankful Sirix was so understanding of her desires, he'd even supported them. They'd married in a joint ceremony not long after. In retrospect, they'd probably jumped into it a bit too fast - impending mortal peril did that sometimes. The adjustment was a challenge for all of them to some degree, but they'd fought to make it work. Now she couldn't imagine anything she wanted more than this.

She felt soft kisses on her shoulder. She turned to Sirix. "Good morning," she said, running her fingers through his hair as he continued his kisses.

He pressed his forehead and nose against her shoulder and nuzzled it in the traditional Bonat way of showing love. He and Donil had learned to kiss from her. "Good morning," he said.

She turned to him, gazing into his gold-rimmed eyes, her hand traveling down his body to the opening of his goncer, just below his stomach. Her fingers slid inside, finding the band of nerves inside the internal tube that led to his reproductive organs, she stroked it. He let out a stuttered sigh of pleasure.

Incompatible genitalia. That had been his excuse for not pursuing her. They had fundamentally incompatible genitalia. The male Bonat had the tube that the female deposited what might be called the egg cell into.

But Lindsay was not one to be deterred by something like incompatible genitalia. Not when she wanted someone as badly as him. They'd made it work.

She nuzzled his cheek. "Shhh. Let's let her sleep."

She kissed him, a kiss he returned even more deeply. Again and again their open mouths found each other, lips meeting, coming to a close, parting, each kiss lasting longer, going deeper than the one before. She felt his hand travel to her hip, sliding to her inner thigh as her fingers continued to stroke inside his goncer.

Just then, they heard the screams of a baby.

Lindsay shut her eyes and sighed deeply. "Time to go."

"It's ok, it's ok," the blonde girl holding the baby said as she bounced her newborn up and down. The mother was nineteen but holding the baby made her seem somehow even younger than that to Lindsay. Maybe it was just the general look of panic she had every time it cried.

"He's probably just hungry, Tabby," the man standing next to her said. "Always try the simple things first." He was at least in his late thirties with side-parted blond hair and cheap glasses. Apparently, he was a school janitor who'd chosen the wrong job to moonlight in. They'd both been very clear, he was not the father of either the girl or the baby.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I just keep thinking he's cold or scared or something and I don't know how to fix it." Tabby pulled up her shirt and took her breast out. The baby latched on and began to suck contentedly. "There's a good Maxie," she cooed. Tabby looked up to see Lindsay approaching. She smiled in an apologetic way. "I'm sorry, I hope he didn't wake you."

"No, just gave me a reason to get up." Lindsay placed a hand on the baby's brow. "Good morning, Maxim."

"I'm not quite used to any of this yet," Tabby confessed.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," the man said as he packed their tent up. "You've only been a mom for a month. It took my sister until her second baby to get the hang of it."

"Thanks, Dustin," she said, smiling.

Whatever bond the pair had formed in the time they'd been on the run from the Spook Force, it was strong. Like Lindsay, they'd escaped to The Hollow and found themselves sent through the portal to this godforsaken planet. Unlike Lindsay, none of them seemed to have any useful powers, just normal luckless humans. At least Lindsay had her pericognition to protect her.

Well, they had her and the Bonat to protect them, Lindsay thought.

They'd gotten them across the plain and through the woods. It was only a short journey across the Vykyyer Strait and then they'd be at the ruins of the Citadel, the former capitol of the Bonat civilization.

The baby finished its drink and fell asleep in Dustin's arms.

"If you all are ready, let's head out." Sirix said, giving Lindsay a quick kiss as he adjusted the large pack on his back. Donil followed behind carrying only a small pack of medical equipment.

After an hour's hike, Lindsay fell back with Donil. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Well enough. I'm excited to see the Citadel. No Bonat's been there in years, not since the Nobillo attacked," Donil answered.

"I know, Sirix's been saying the same thing."

"It's only right for the first expedition to be led by the Bona Serat Corsar."

Lindsay looked nervously over at the baby. "I just hope it's safe. We've already had one sheerlac attack and those weird mountain creatures and who knows what's waiting there for us. We should've brought Nol or Veralosa."

Donil smiled. "A bigger party might have attracted too much attention. Besides, I'm not worried. I don't think there's a creature on Kirith who could stand a chance between you and Sirix."

"And you," Lindsay said, smiling. "Let's not forget how you saved me in the woods. You sent that winged mutant flying with a harpoon in its gut!"

Donil's cheeks whitened, as they always did when she was embarrassed. She leaned in and nuzzled Lindsay's cheek.

A few hours later, they were stepping out of the little sloop Sirix had commissioned for Lindsay's birthday and onto the large white rocks that jutted out from the island.

"This is where the port used to be," Sirix said, taking a deep breath of sea air. "And that," he pointed to a broken but still gleaming white marble-like stone road, "That's the road to... the Citadel." his voice grew hushed in reverence as he looked up.

Lindsay followed his gaze to see the giant white walls, half broken and crumbling, but where they stood untouched by damage or decay they had to be at least one hundred feet high! Remembering how the carving on the door had shown them, the Citadel must have been an awe-inspiring sight, towering above the massive walls at four times the height. Now there was nothing but blue sky above the walls.

Then she noticed what sat below the walls. Piles of bleached bones. Looking down at her feet, there were bones everywhere, shattered from being dropped from thousands of feet in the air and left to lie.

She felt a hand wrap around hers, the tips of claws pressing into her skin.

"Let's go," Sirix said.

"Should we bury them?" Lindsay whispered.

"We'll send a team to. Not now. I don't like being this exposed for too long."

Lindsay shuddered. Neither did she. It was too open. It felt like they were being watched without any protective trees to run to if they were attacked. She scanned the area for places to take cover. A few stone lean-tos created by the debris, some tight shadowy areas, nothing especially good. Within the walls everything had been razed to the ground. The Nobillo had left nothing standing and no place to hide.

She fought to keep the worry from her face for the sake of the humans. Danger was unavoidable if they wanted to get home, but they didn't need to feel like they were in mortal peril. As far as they knew, these were just old ruins from some battle. There were lots of old ruins from some battle on Earth, they'd think nothing of it unless they were given some idea they should.

"Here!" Sirix said, pointing to a monstrous mountain of debris. "That's where the Citadel was. The portal should be below, where my grandfather hid with some of the survivors during the attack. There's a set of stairs somewhere." He mounted the pile of rubble, scanning the rocks, then he started to push some rocks from underneath a large slab. "This is it!"

Suddenly, Sirix flew thirty feet into a stone wall. Lindsay and the others stared at the place he had just been.

Sirix dragged himself forward. "Run!" he growled.

Donil rushed toward him only to be tossed away like a leaf in the wind. She rolled, managing to find her feet, her hand holding her knife to her own throat, her eyes wide and fearful.

"You should do as he says, Lindsay Weaver."

She knew that voice well. It haunted her dreams.

Lindsay looked up to see a man with chin length black hair descending slowly from the sky. The white of his military-style uniform was almost glaring in the sun, his golden buttons almost blinding. His snow-white wings flapped gently above two deep purple ones, allowing him to maintain an upright position. It was like some sort of Biblical image gone horribly awry.

"Rivuk," Lindsay hissed. She drew her harpoon gun. "Go! I'll distract him!" she shouted.

"No!" Sirix cried.

"I'm the one he wants! Go!"