Chapter Eight

Jack held vigil at my side until I’d finally regained control of my faculties and was able to stand. He held me close while I tested my legs for stability.  I rested my cheek against his chest and closed my eyes while I listened to the steady beat of his heart.  It beat at twice the rate of a human heart. I estimated two-hundred beats per minute. I slipped my hand through the front of his tunic and caressed his flesh.  It was warm and supple.  Pulling his tunic further from his flesh, I nuzzled my face like a kitten seeking comfort.

“Where are the others?” I murmured. 

My lips tickled as they grazed his flesh.

“They will take some time catching up with us. They both have about the same ability for speed, so I’m guessing they’ll reach us within an hour.  We can take that time for you to rest a bit. I feel your exhaustion,” he said softly.

“Is that all you feel?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

A low groan escaped him as he pulled my mouth to his.  Our kiss was deep and tender. It was nothing like the frantic passionate one we’d shared in the cave, but it was equally -if not more- arousing.  I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him as if my life depended on it.  I wanted his strength, his protection, his passion…. him.  I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.  Suddenly it didn’t matter if I was making a fool of myself, I had to have him and I told him so between kisses.

This time he didn’t push me away, but responded between kisses as well. He asked me if I knew what would happen if he took my virginity while on Kurr.  I didn’t, so he enlightened me on the subject. Apparently, if he took my virginity while on Kurr it would finish the “body catch up with the age” phase and I’d become fully developed. He questioned if I was ready for and up to the consequences of our actions.  It would be clear to Sergeant Org and L’oana that we’d made love and also I’d have to explain my changed body when we returned to earth.  He swore he wanted me so badly it hurt, but he’d refrain from taking me if I asked him to because there was nothing he wanted less than to bring me pain or distress.

My hands managed to disrobe him while he was presenting his explanation as to why we shouldn’t make love.  I was half-way through removing my own clothes when he gave in and finished the job for me with an urgency that surprised me.

Although I could feel his need, he was surprisingly gentle as he prepared me for the loss of my virginity.  My body burned from his kisses.  My breasts ached and throbbed from his attention.  When he moved to my most tender private area, I thought I was going to go mad.  Instead of feeling pain when he finally showed mercy and drove his manhood deep inside me, I felt orgasmic relief.  It was a moment and experience I’d cherish forever.

We were suspended in time as he filled me with his power, his essence, and his love.  Although we’d made love on the cool, hard ground, I felt as if I was floating on air as I watched him dress and then reach for my clothes.  Extending his hand, he helped me up and then frowned.  I was already swelling and filling out.  The tunic was large enough to adjust to my new curves, but the pants were a lost cause.  I gasped in dismay.  Not fitting into my clothes was a dilemma that never crossed my mind.

I started crying.

“Damn, I didn’t want your first time to be like this.  What’s wrong with me?” he hissed as he paced back and forth.  “It should have been a time of beauty and joy with the man you love, not with me.”

“But it was… and I do…” I sputtered before realizing what I was saying.  

Could I really be telling him that I loved him?  I knew from conversations with friends that a girl often fantasizes herself in love with the man who takes her virginity, even if she wasn’t.  It’s just the romance of the moment taking over.  I bit my tongue to prevent me from making such a childish statement as ‘I love you’ to him.

I’d said just enough and thought just enough to stop Jack in his tracks. His face was a billboard of emotions that shifted from one to the other and then back again.  I wished fervently for the ability to know his thoughts like he knew mine.

As I wiped away the tears and did my best to compose myself, he moved to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

 “I knew you’d blossom, but I didn’t realize it would be this fast or to such an extent.”  He nuzzled my temple, “You’re beautiful… Please don’t cry,” he said quietly, “We’ll figure out how to get you a new pair of pants.  In the meantime, the tunic can act as a shift.  You fill it out, but there’s still room in it and its long.  It’ll be okay.”

“I don’t think I can walk through the wild with bare legs,” I said meekly.

He looked surprised by my comment and then shook his head, “Of course.”

He looked off into the distance until he spotted what he was looking for.

“Would you like to clean up?” he asked hesitantly.

Although I didn’t want to lose the sensation of him by washing it away, common sense told me it was in my best interest to do so.  I nodded slowly.

“Climb on my back?” he asked more than ordered.

I did so hesitantly.

He climbed the nearest tree until we were at its very peak. After that, he basically leapt from tree to tree until we were once again at the watering spot we’d rested at only an hour or so earlier.  As he set us down he asked me to see to my toiletries as quickly as possible since he’d spotted L’oana and Sergeant Org half-way up the mountain.  He estimated they’d arrive at the spot where we’d just made love in ten minutes or so.

I hesitated only briefly before removing my tunic and wading into the water.  To my surprise, his naked body was right next to me.  He assisted me in cleaning the dirt from my back and then tended to his own body.  We worked diligently and quietly and within minutes I was climbing on his back and we were once again leaping across tree tops.

Sergeant Org was holding my pants when Jack set us down on a nearby boulder.  He wore a distinct frown on his face, but said nothing.  L’oana, on the other hand, was vocally clear with her opinion.

“What the hell did you do, you fool?  No… don’t answer that. One look at little Miss Princess and I can clearly see what you did.  Are you out of your mind?  Have you no sense at all?” she hissed as she stomped back and forth. “I have half a mind to abandon you right here and let you fend for yourselves.  You obviously don’t give a fig about anyone or anything.”

Wow. I knew they’d be a little uncomfortable when faced with the knowledge of our making love, but I didn’t expect a reaction like this. She actually made me feel ashamed.  I shuddered and fought the emotion.  What Jack and I did was beautiful and I wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from me.

“What business is it of yours what I do?” I snapped defensively.

“Jessica… stop,” Jack said firmly.

“I’ll do no such thing.  I won’t have this… this… thing carrying on over something that has absolutely nothing to do with her!” I roared.

“Newsflash, you’re not on earth anymore.  You’re on Kurr; the planet where your parents were killed so that monsters could steal their throne. The planet that you were whisked away from in order to save your life.  Have you looked at yourself lately?  You’re the image of your mother and now, with that body, you fit the image of a twenty-four-year-old princess. The only thing we had going for us if they happened to catch us was that scrawny boobless body. Now it’s gone,” L’oana said angrily.

“How do you know I look like my mother?  How would anyone know I wasn’t just a woman?” I asked defiantly.

“They had their labs do some sort of progressive graphics by taking your baby pictures and your parent’s pictures.  Whatever they did and however they did it, I have no clue.  All I know is that you’re the image of the photo they have posted of you.  Or should I say the photo they have of the offspring that they discovered somehow got away, but had no idea where you went to.  Thank your lucky stars that earth is a remote planet and the galaxy is so large.  They’re looking for you on other planets.  They just haven’t made it to earth yet,” Sergeant Org explained.

“You could have sexed your heart out with the earthling lover of yours with no consequences,” L’oana said to me as she scowled at Jack.  “Damn it Jack, what were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” he mumbled as he turned his back on us and walked away.

I couldn’t believe my ears. Had he really just said that?  If he’d punched me in the stomach, I think it would have hurt less.  I was devastated. The realization that Jack regretted what we’d done suddenly turned what had been a beautiful act of love making into something ugly and dirty.  My heart felt like it’d been shattered into a million pieces.  I felt an emotion for him that was new.  I felt hate.

My eyes bore into Jack’s back.  I truly hoped he was getting the message that I hated him. I wanted him to know it… to feel it.  How could I have been so stupid?  How could I have let my hormones take over like they did?

Sergeant Org was the first to take control of the situation and bring us around to coming up with a solution to the matter at hand. Jack refrained from joining in and allowed the sergeant, L’oana, and me to create a plan.  The more Jack failed to participate with us as we discussed what to do about my new body and the change in circumstance, the heavier my heart.

Jack finally broke into the conversation to announce that he was certain the hawk that flew overhead wasn’t a hawk at all, but a Mannador.   L’oana agreed.  This changed things completely.  They reluctantly agreed that we had no choice but to travel through the subterranean.

I wasn’t sure why they’d be so reluctant to go below ground.  After all, we traveled in subways and tunnels on earth all the time.  I assumed they had the same set up.

I was wrong.