My Tiger Lord Ch. 02

My Tiger Lord, Ch. 2

Author's note: If you haven't read the first chapter, you'll need to go do that first. Thank you to all my readers who rated, commented, followed and favorited. Your feedback has been what has kept me coming back to writing. I'm sorry this took forever, but I promise the next chapter won't. I hope you all enjoy it.

My eyes scanned the boards quickly, looking for some work. We'd been on the station a week and I hadn't managed to snag anything worthwhile. I finally hit on something, but it would be difficult. There was an asteroid, deep in a star's gravity well...It was dangerous, but lucrative. And the contract specified more mass than I could handle. I had a thought and set a script running through the docking roster, seeing if there was anyone that I knew was hard up enough, reliable enough, and crazy enough to go for it. My eyebrow went up when the script popped up with a ship, a name I recognized. Working quickly before someone snagged the contract, I interfaced with the station's network and fired off a message packet, only had to wait 30 seconds for the affirmative reply, then accepted the contract and unlinked from the network.

Turning without a word I began walking back towards the ship, not bothering to see if she was following. I knew she would be. Sure enough it was only moments before she had caught up, her sinewy legs giving her a long stride despite her short stature, the "thud" of her thigh-high boots keeping pace with my steps. We seemed to clear a path and turn heads through the corridors, and I knew the looks weren't just because she was dead-gorgeous, or a member of a species known to stab first and ask questions later. Though she was both of those things. Her boots stopped well above her knees, leaving only a narrow band of orange fur visible between them and the short skirt she was wearing. The skirt hugged her hips and was tucked snugly beneath her twin tails, and on the front was low enough to show the curve of her hip bones down towards her crotch. Her top was more of a belt, doing little to hide her small breasts, practically only covering the little pink nipples beneath it. The five rings through her right ear sparkled in the harsh light of the station, and her right eye was an implant, glowing a bright blue. Her biological left eye was pale and icy, piercing. A man could die from a look.

No, the reason I knew we were turning heads were the kad-ma tokens on collars around our necks. Most people would not know what the symbols on them meant, or even that the tokens themselves would typically mean one of us had legally bought the other as a slave. But even without being aware of their meanings, the matching pair and her demeanor made it obvious that I was in charge, that she was in fact following me. She stayed one step behind and kept her eyes on me, ever alert for what my next command to her might be. For those who could read our tokens, mine roughly translated to "den master," while hers was the highest insult in her language. It was the word for the runt of the litter, the one to be thrown out to starve and die.

Other than the sound of our steps, we made the brisk walk back to my ship in silence. Once there we went to the cockpit and I snapped, pointing at one of the consoles. She dutifully took her station and began running through pre-flight prep. I made all the necessary communications with the station and we disembarked, thrusting hard for deep space. Once we were finally at a point that I could lock the controls and relax, I let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in the chair.

She was quickly behind me, strong paws on my shoulders, messaging the tension out. It'd been a stressful week as funds crept towards the red while we waited on a job. Sometimes I think I should have gone corporate.... "May I speak, M'kritka?" she practically purred at me, snapping me out of my momentary reverie. I just smiled and nodded, my eyes closed as I began to relax. "I assume we have gotten a contract, then?" I nodded again. "Will it be profitable?"

I shrugged but responded, "It should be all right. Not as good as I'd like, but it's a decent price. It's for more mass than we can haul, though, so I've had to subcontract cargo space." I couldn't help but feel a lopsided smile tweak the edge of my mouth upwards. "But I think that it'll be worth it."

"Subcontract? So we're working with another miner? Who is he?"

My grin got broader as some of the memories trailed through my head. I realized I'd spaced for a moment, but she had waited patiently, not prompting again for a response. "He's, ah...An old friend. Old mining partner."

The truth was I had saved his life once, when he was young. His parents were miners, too, and they'd been set on by a couple of pirate corsairs. Lucky for all of us I'd just sheathed my own ship in thick ablative armor for a trip out through a dense nebula, so I had some serious mass and protection I wouldn't normally be working with. I was in the right place at the right time when I responded to their distress call, and rammed one of the corsairs, breaking it apart and simultaneously sending two of the pirates that were making an EVA jump off into the deeps. From my screens it looked like the target was in shit shape; I assumed no one aboard had survived when I saw a small, suited figure clinging to the hull. I made some quick maneuvers and got a laser com beam on him and walked him through how to manually force all the external hatches open. He stayed surprisingly calm as he spaced the crew that had just murdered his parents, and would have tried for him. We hauled their ship and the damaged corsair back to dock. We left the intact ship in place, as I assumed it was thoroughly trapped, awaiting the return of a crew that was now sucking void. We claimed a decent bounty on the pirates and sold the wreckage for scrap, more than covering my lost contract and repairs to the ship, now his. Including a few off-the-books weapons installs.

The boy proved to be a quick learner, on top of being nimble and physically quick. It wasn't long before he'd about caught me on his skills at the controls and he went off on his own. Every now and then I would run into him on station or we'd work a contract together. "Occasionally when we've worked together, we've...Well, we've kept each other company," I told her. I shrugged. "Asteroid mining is a lonely profession."

I saw one of her eyebrows go up and she faltered in her massaging of my shoulders, but she didn't question it or ask for clarification. I hopped up out of the chair and dramatically waved towards the hatch. "To the bedroom with you, kit. Your tiger lord needs a better massage than that!" She knew better than to roll her eyes at me, but I could tell she wanted to. Instead, she gave an exaggerated bow and then turned and walked out, her tails swishing in the most enticing way. This was going to be an interesting contract, there was no doubt about that. In fact, mining has definitely been a lot more interesting since my Kit came aboard. I never have learned her name; she insists that "kit" is sufficient.

---

I awoke from sleep to the soft beep of a comm alert, instantly aware of my morning wood from hell. Reaching out to grab at the fuzzy ass I knew would be there I was surprised and exceptionally disappointed that it missing. Where the fuck is she? I wondered.

"Kit!" I yelled, deep voice echoing through the metal halls of my ship.

It was only a short moment before she appeared at the door, completely nude. To be fair, I had standing orders that she only dress with my permission, which suited her just fine as Kithkrans usually only dress for others' sake anyway. Despite that, I always had to take a moment to look at her each day, not always positive that this wasn't some weird dream I'd gotten stuck in. If it was a dream, it kept going, and that was just fine with me.

She stood there, her striated fur a dull orange under the lighting of ship's night, the brighter stripes practically a glowing, molten bronze. Her eyes were at first wide with concern, then softened as she smiled, as she quickly realized the reason for my shout. My gaze traveled down her elegant neck to her breasts, small, though proportional to her frame. Continuing on down her stomach to her furred mound, I licked my lips, fantasizing about the sweet taste between her legs. I twirled my finger in a circle and she obliged me, turning around and lifting her tails high. Her ass was the perfect roundness. Full, plump, and firm. I snapped my fingers; she knew what I wanted. She bent over and grabbed both cheeks, pulling them apart to show me her tailhole.

I snapped again and she turned back around, awaiting my next order. With a flick of my wrist, finger pointing down, I indicated what I wanted. She merely nodded and kneeled, her head disappearing from my view past the edge of the bed, the little fluffs on the tips of her ears the only thing visible. The lights still low, I rolled out of bed and stood up, the cool ship's air feeling refreshing on my bare skin. Three quick strides took me over to where she was kneeled, mouth open. "Oh, that's a good little kitten," I told her. Her eyes flashed with a little anger at the diminutive, but she didn't move or close her mouth. I do love a woman on her knees.

After only a moment more I stepped in front of her and grabbed her by the ears, pulling her forward with a swift motion to bury myself to the hilt in her mouth. A muffled yelp was cut short and I saw her eyes water, but she'd done this before, she knew the game. She kept her jaw wide, having learned after many a wild night that I only occasionally wanted a bit of fang.

Without skipping a beat she started to work her throat, her muscles contracting and constricting around the head of my shaft. Rolling my head back, I closed my eyes, then tightened my grip on her ears and began thrusting, using her mouth like the business end of a station whore. Her rough feline tongue scraped the bottom of my rod, but the bit of pain merely heightened the pleasure and it was not long before my body tensed and released as my orgasm washed over me, my seed filling her mouth. She swallowed it down and leaned back, wiping a couple of errant drops from her lips.

"Ahhh, good morning," I said, looking down at her. She smirked up at me and purred.

"Good morning indeed," she replied.

"You going to just sit there or are you going to go see who's been beeping us on the comm all morning?"

She growled playfully at me but stood and turned, walking towards the cockpit. I followed behind, my erection only slowly abating as I watched her furred buttocks shift and sway beneath her tails in front of me. Okay, maybe this is the best sight in the world. Hm. So many options... I thought to myself. We stepped into the bridge and she obliged me by hitting the message replay button.

My old friend's rather elfin face filled the screen, his green eyes bright and intelligent as ever. He was almost ten years my junior and it showed; his chin had barely any hair noticeable on it. "HEY. Answer your fucking comm!" was all that the message contained. I winced and looked at the board. There were twelve other messages waiting. Ahh...shit.

Leaning past my kit I punched a few keys on the board and straightened up. "Shouldn't we-" she started to say, a little panic in her voice. She was cut off when his face re-appeared on the screen, this time in real time.

"Holy fuckin' novae it's about fuckin' time, what too- ahh, ohh." He trailed off at the end of the sentence, his eyes flicking back and forth, obviously taking in both of our nude bodies in his own comm screen. Disappointing, really, I was looking forward to an inventive blast of invective. A smile crept across his face. "No fuckin' shit, you? And a Kithkran?" His eyes narrowed as he squinted, trying to read the script on our kad-ma. "Oh, well that makes more sense. She has to. How much did you pay?"

"I'm hurt, Onas," I said, putting as much pained pride into my voice as I could manage. "Not a dime!"

"Ok then who the fuck did you kill to steal her from, because sure as shit you ain't good enough to catch the attention of a fine young kit like that, and I fuckin' KNOW, old man, and you KNOW I know, so quit spittin' shit out of your lyin' ram scoop and tell me where you bought her and does she have a broth-"

He was cut off as a snarling roar erupted from her whiskered mouth, pushing the audio limiter and causing a bit of feedback ring. "You will NOT speak to M'kritka in that manner!"

Onas sat in stunned silence for a second before nearly collapsing in a fit of giggles. I simply crossed my arms and waited, the cockpit filled with the pheromones of a Kithkran on the warpath, a scent that in her society would warn any challengers that she was ready to die for her den. Her breathing was heavy and she looked at me, eyes still full of anger, but also confusion. Her chest was still forward in an instinctive stance meant to make her appear bigger, her breasts rising and falling enticingly with her breathing.

I reached out and stroked her face, telling her softly "Thanks, kit. He doesn't mean anything by it."

"He disrespected you."

"Mm, from anyone else it would be disrespect. He's earned that right with me, though."

"I...I see. Then I am sorry to have reacted that way. I should have stayed silent."

I pulled her head into my bare chest, a few indicators blinking idly beneath the surface of my skin and reflecting off her eyes. "Don't sweat it, kit. You meant well. And quite the impressive roar. You'd scare off a clan leader with that." She playfully swatted at my chest, claws out just enough to leave a trio of thin scratches.

Finally, with his giggling under control, Onas looked back into his screen. "Well fuckin' space my ass, you weren't kidding. Shit. You've got some stories to tell over drinks later. Right now though, since you finally bothered to haul your ass out of bed, we gotta decide how we're getting to our asteroid. That shit's in deep and I don't have the thrust to fight the grav."

I nodded and sat down, the leather of the chair cool against my skin. My girl stood behind me. "Yeah, I've been thinking about it. I've got the engines, but not the hold space. It's why I bothered to ping you at all, you ungrateful shit. So, the way I see it, we've got two options."

"I'm listening" he said, though his eyes dropped a bit on the screen for a moment, probably distracted by something a little south of my waist.

"All right. Option one, you set your ship on hair-trigger and hop over onto mine, then we take two trips to drop down the well and haul up our ore. It pushes our time constraints but it's probably the safest option."

"Negative, old man," he replied. "I don't leave my girl in space for nothin'."

I shrugged. "All right. Option two. We piggy-back your ship on mine and both drop down the well, grabbing all the ore in a single go."

Onas winked. "He does like a good piggy-back ride." I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"Onas, be serious for a sec all right? That's going to take some serious mech work, I don't think my docking clamps can handle the shear with your ship loaded pulling back up the well. I've got the metal for it in some scrap sheets around, but you know I don't have the skill to weld us tight."

"Yeah, yeah. If you quit tuggin' your pipe like it'll spew credits you might have the dexterity. Though I suppose you don't have to do much of that anymore, hm?"

"Onas..."

"All right, quit your bitchin', you whine worse than an inverter on the fritz. I can do it."

"Good. That's settled, then. You know, Onas, for such a pretty boy you certainly have one hell of a shit mouth."

He grinned, showing his straight, white teeth. "Buddy, don't you know it. Weeelll, when you're as successful a miner as me, you actually hang around people. Pick things up. Learn a new turn of phrase. Can't pick up shit if you just hide in your ship all day." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "On second thought. Maybe you can. All right, let's cut the fuckery. I'll sync my nav to yours and then jump over. You got an extra cabin and I know she ain't usin' it. No sense in flying separate when we're flying together. See ya in a minute. Keep the hatch open for me." He cut the comm without so much as a "goodbye," or "out." I just shook my head as I started up the protocols to allow his ship to follow my ship's navigation settings.

She huffed behind me.

I just looked up at her and said, "Yeah. Gonna be an interesting contract."

---

"... And then she called me ' M'kritka, my tiger lord.' So, she's been flying with me since. She's picked up enough to pilot this bucket without me, if she needed to. Been an immense help, not to mention the best company I could have asked for." I had just finished telling Onas how the orange sex kitten and I had managed to hook up. I left out the juiciest details, despite his probing.

"Space me, that's one fuckin' tall tale if I ever heard one, 'cept I'm looking at the proof in front of me." He looked at her, eyes taking her all in. I had told her she could get dressed if she'd rather while he was here, so she put on a loose robe that somehow managed to fall and fold in the right places to give you just enough of an idea where her curves were. It was almost more tantalizing than when she was nude. I think she'd put it on more out of respect to me, choosing to "protect" my property from his lusty gaze. I had also gotten dressed in just a pair of black mechanic's pants and a white shirt, more for comfort than courtesy. He'd already seen all there was to see.

She nodded and said "It is all true. I was...bold. And brash. And alone. I have found in him a sket, ahh a place? Hm. Den-home. Which is something I never felt I had with my own kind, even before I was thrown out of my Telnma. He was not afraid of me, which I respected."

"I probably should have been, but I was pretty drunk."

She laughed and nodded again. "I did nearly kill you when you flicked my ear. But the internal pain was greater than the external, and I did not have the energy to fight you."

"No?" I said. "Put up one hell of a fight back on the ship."

She flashed her fangs at me and hissed. "That is because you attacked me! You knocked me to the ground and then slammed me into a bulkhead!"

I gave her the best growl I could. "Aye, and who did that make very, very wet?" She licked her lips and made a few bites in my direction, but she was smiling.

"Me," she mumbled quietly.

"The fuck did you say?"

"Me, M'kritka," she replied, louder. I nodded approvingly, taking another sip of the gin Onas had brought over. It was damn fine stuff.

"Fuckin' wormholes, get a room you two! I don't know whether to puke or jerk off." He was also smiling. It was good to have him back on board, it had probably been four years since I'd seen him last. He was still the same, arrogant little prick. But he was a damn fine miner, and you couldn't ask for a quicker shot to watch your back. Plus, he was always so willing to...I cut the thought short with a shake of my head.

"All right you sick fucks, I'm gonna hit the bunk. See you in the morning." I nodded, but kept my eyes on my glass, more memories swirling through my head. Despite his demeanor, I knew he cared for me. I was shaken from my musings with a soft nose on my cheek. I shivered, as her stiff whiskers tickled a little.

"Coming to bed?" she purred in my ear. My cock stirred at her sultry implications, but I needed some time to myself, some space to think. I simply shook my head and told her I'd be in later, but she could head on if she was tired. She kissed my ear and padded softly off towards our cabin.

Grabbing the bottle and a glass I wandered up to the cockpit, propped my feet up on a deactivated console, and poured myself another shot of gin. No matter how often I'd seen it, the fact that you couldn't see the stars without atmo always weirded me out, but I could sit and stare out into that void for a long time. It was a bit zen in a twisted way, sort of a dark meditation.