Page 4 of Aliens Snared My Heart (Awakened Womb #3)

4 / Kur’tok

My prey was fleshy, delicate, and fragile. Even the slightest tightening of my tentacles bothered it. It baffled me how long the creature—the human—had stayed alive in spite of its weakness.

But it would be over soon enough. It wouldn’t have to worry its tiny mind.

I arrived back at my domain. The familiar scent of water and flowers greeted me. I was glad to see Kookee dozing comfortably, and also irritated that my useless underlings were still gone.

I didn’t need their help. I’d hunted my own prey.

My fatigue was stronger than my hunger. I sat on my throne, stretched out my legs, and sighed in contentment while my prize dangled in my tentacles.

“Hey, Kur’tok,” the human said. “What is that?”

Didn’t I tell the flesh-bag to shut up? But when I saw it nodding at Kookee, my anger fizzled out.

I grunted. “That is Kookee, my pandar. It is my pet.”

The human—Paz—blinked curiously. “Huh. I didn’t know Maeleons kept pets.”

Baring my fangs, I snarled, “You think you know everything about Maeleons?”

“No.” Paz shook its head. “I barely know anything. That’s why I asked.” Glancing at Kookee, Paz did that curved-mouth thing again. A smile. “Kookee is pretty cute. I’ve never seen a pandar before.”

“Of course Kookee is cute,” I grumbled, reaching over to pat its shaggy side.

Paz raised one of the furry lines above its eyes and smiled again. I watched Paz closely, strangely intrigued by the human’s weirdness. It didn’t writhe and scream like most prey. It didn’t try to escape. Didn’t it realize I was about to eat it? Maybe it was too stupid to understand the danger it was in.

But that wouldn’t do. I preferred playing with my food. I wanted to rile it up, get its blood pumping before I sank my fangs into that tender flesh...

I lowered Paz to the rocky ledge beneath my throne and withdrew my tentacles. It blinked, looking surprised. I watched my prey closely with narrowed eyes.

Now that it was free, would the human run? I licked my lips. It would be fun to hunt it down again...

Paz didn’t move. It met my gaze like an equal, though I saw mixed emotions in those weird white-and-brown eyes.

“Why don’t you run?” I boomed.

Paz hesitated for a few heartbeats without breaking my gaze. “You’re clearly stronger and faster than me, Kur’tok. Running wouldn’t help.”

I felt a smug flash of pride. So the human understood its place.

“You are right,” I conceded. “You are small, slow, and weak.”

Paz made a breathy sound of amusement. “Pretty much.”

I frowned. Why did it agree with everything I said? I wanted Paz to put up a fight. Annoyed, I prodded it in the side with my tentacle, but its skin was covered by a fluffy garment.

“What is this?” I demanded. “Some kofotta fiber thing?”

Paz recognized the word and perked up. “Oh, yeah. Another Maeleon made it for me. Do you know Linn’ar?”

The dark green face of that fruit-eater flashed before my mind. It was jarring. I hadn’t thought about Linn’ar or any of those other fools in a long time.

I scoffed. “Yes, I know.”

“You do?” Paz asked, looking excited. “That’s great! My friend Jaeyoung—he’s another human—he’s actually Linn’ar’s filum, and they’re probably both pretty worried about me by now—”

The human spoke too much. I slapped my tentacle over its mouth for silence. But its use of that word shocked me. How did this mysterious creature know of filum? My feelers lit up, humming in thought. The human said he wasn’t alone. How many others were there? If Paz was tasty enough, perhaps I could hunt the rest.

“You came from the village by the Sweetfields,” I muttered, drawing my tentacle away from Paz’s lips. I noticed they were oddly soft, like the freshest of flower petals.

Paz still looked hopeful. “That’s right.”

I sank deeper into my throne, and my maw curled into a grin. “You should not have left, Paz. Now you are my prey.”

Still, Paz didn’t make a break for freedom. It stood right where I’d put it, looking up at me with those stark, enchanting eyes.

The fact that I found my prey compelling irritated me. Was it possible humans were more dangerous than I realized? I needed to eat this one promptly before it charmed me with its tongue. But first, the shell had to be removed.

“Take that garment off,” I ordered.

The corner of Paz’s mouth turned upwards. “You could at least take me on a date first,” it said playfully.

I slammed my fist into the throne. “Do not sass me, food-thing.” After growling sufficiently at the human, curiosity got the best of me. “What is a date?”

Paz slipped its arm out of the garment. The limb was the same pale brown color as its face, and to my surprise, it was smaller and thinner than the garment suggested. Human creatures seemed utterly fragile.

“A date is when two people hang out together, usually in a romantic or sexual way,” Paz explained. As it removed the second arm, the garment slipped halfway down its body. “Maeleons go on dates all the time, don’t they?”

I ground my teeth. “You presume too much. Stop now.”

Paz froze, catching my gaze expectantly. “Stop undressing?”

“Yes,” I snapped.

“You got it, Kur’tok.”

“Be quiet,” I grumbled, though it lacked bite. I was too enthralled by the human’s mysterious body. It had nothing—no scales, no fur on its body, no spines. The impractical thing only had four limbs total. The lack of feelers made its thoughts difficult to gauge, and the lack of horns and claws made it absolutely pitiful. How could such a miserable creature survive?

“Come closer,” I demanded.

Paz stepped forward on the rocky ledge. Its blunt face was at my thigh level. I caught it staring at the space between my legs.

“You’re too smart to run,” I said. “Or is it that you’re too stupid to run?”

Paz lifted and dropped its shoulders. “I have average intelligence, I guess? Like I said, I know you’d catch me instantly.”

“You are correct. You belong to me now.”

Paz’s eyes widened, and for a moment, a deeper color flashed across its face. Then it coughed and said, “Sure. You got it, Kur’tok.”

I grunted in approval. Now that I was satisfied Paz wouldn’t bolt, I could freely explore its strange body. My tentacles began at the shoulders, then snaked down Paz’s flat chest. The human shivered. Below the ribs was a soft, squishy mound of flesh that moved with my tentacles. Touching it made Paz inhale a series of quick breaths.

“Why are you making that sound?” I muttered.

“I’m giggling because my tummy’s ticklish. You can keep touching it, though.”

“Of course I can,” I barked. “You are my prey. I can do whatever I want with you.”

Paz swallowed. The deep color dusted its cheeks. “Yeah, you sure can.”

I ignored the human’s incomprehensible behavior. Now the garment was in the way again. Instead of wasting time asking Paz to remove it, I shoved it down with my tentacles. Paz’s whole form was exposed.

Including a small fifth limb pointed right at me.

I sharply withdrew my tentacles with a hiss of displeasure. Paz hadn’t mentioned another limb. It could be a weapon. What if it shot acid, or poison, or quills? I could’ve been killed before I knew what hit me.

“What is that?” I roared. “Explain yourself!”

“Um... that’s my dick,” Paz explained.

I curled my lip, suddenly fearful of the dick. Was that like a Maeleon cock? I didn’t know, and that concerned me.

“Is it poisonous? Does it conceal a sharp weapon?” I demanded.

Paz glanced down at the erect limb. “Well, all my previous sex partners are still alive, so it’s not poisonous. And there’s definitely nothing sharp in there.”

Even though the comment about the previous partners inexplicably angered me, my feelers slowly relaxed. “It’s a sex organ?”

“Yup.”

“Why is it outside your body?”

Paz crossed its arms. “Listen, dude. I’m a human. That’s just the way we’re built. Cis men, like me, have dicks on the outside.”

“It is stuck there all the time?” I asked in disbelief.

“Unless you shove it back between my thighs and tape it there like a drag queen, pretty much.”

I barely understood the words coming out of Paz’s mouth. What was a dude ? What was a drag queen ?

“Humans make no sense,” I grumbled. Still glaring at the dick, I asked, “Why is it standing upright like a serpentes about to strike?”

Paz huffed. “Because you turned me on by rubbing your tentacles all over my naked body?”

I was shocked. I’d aroused the human? My own meal? What a lascivious creature.

Yet I couldn’t deny the thrill of pleasure at hearing Paz’s words. It had been so long since I’d engaged in anything carnal...

A pulse of arousal shimmied down my spine. Regardless of whether I was going to eat Paz or not, there was something deeply enchanting about this weakling human that I was powerless to ignore.

I wrapped my tentacle around Paz and lifted it into my lap. The human let out a tiny squeak of surprise, but didn’t struggle. Paz’s brown-on-white eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement. As its bare skin touched my legs, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe the soft, silky sensation.

“Why are you as delicate as a flower? Tell me now,” I demanded.

Paz chuckled. “Wow, talk about a backhanded compliment.”

“It was not a backhand or a compliment,” I grumbled. “Answer my question.”

Once more, Paz met my eyes like an equal, despite being naked on my lap and completely at my mercy. “Humans are just squishy creatures. Like, every part of us. Except maybe our skulls, but they’re not exactly sturdy, either.”

Was that the truth or another trick, like the secret dick? Curiously, I poked Paz’s side with my claw.

“Hey, careful with those talons,” Paz warned, squirming away.

I growled. I didn’t like that the human dodged my touch. “You are that fragile?” I asked, incredulous.

Paz shook its head up and down—I assumed in affirmation—then looked thoughtful. “Humans are like... Do you know what a balloon is?”

Again with the exotic words. I couldn’t appear stupid in front of my own meal.

“Yes, of course. It is like a dick,” I stated, confident in my answer.

Paz’s face lit up as it suddenly belted out a bright laugh.

My ears flattened and I growled, “Do not make fun of me, prey. I will eat you right now.”

“Sorry, I’m not laughing at you,” Paz said, still grinning. “That was a funny answer. I guess a balloon is kinda like a dick, in a way? Anyway, my point was, our skin is super thin. Not like your...” Paz stalled as its eyes raked my chest. Then its throat bobbed as it swallowed. “Scales.”

Motion flickered in my lower vision as Paz’s dick twitched. My prey was still aroused. Why? There was no suitable partner for it.

Except me.

Staring at Paz’s sex organ, my nostrils flared. Liquid heat pooled at the base of my spine. In a perplexing turn of events, my prey had turned me on.

“Your schemes are devious, Paz,” I muttered. “I underestimated my prey.”

It blinked round eyes. “What schemes?”

“You arouse me so I won’t consume you,” I growled, impressed. “Very clever. But you won’t escape. I will partake in your tender flesh.”

Paz shivered. Its cheeks flushed deeper and its dick twitched again. “O-okay?”

My feelers floated as I considered what to do with my prey. Trapping it inside my den was an option, but then I wouldn’t be able to see it. I wished to have Paz in my sights at all times.

Suddenly, I remembered the snare, and how adorably helpless Paz looked dangling from the rope. Such a fragile, squishy creature could not escape even the simplest binding. It was the perfect plan to counteract the human’s wiles.

My tentacle reached down to the base of the throne and disentangled the rope from the snare. In a quick motion, I dangled the loop around Paz’s neck and tightened it enough to hug the human’s delicate neck.

“Paz the human, you are now my prey-pet,” I stated.

Paz inhaled a sharp breath. Its chest rose and fell rapidly, a sign of fear—yet it didn’t look scared at all.