The space between flingers was nearly infinitesimal, less than a hair's breadth, far less than that even. Twas so by design, as the strange tech allowed travel over vast distances by folding space so that two distant points became homely neighbors. So when the Gerthtrude went from near death to lightyears away, Lix found herself shaking and shivering from an overload of adrenaline. Jack had taken over, gently prying her claws off the control sphere and praising her piloting skills as she nodded and collapsed on the navigator's bench. Even Mo'Ona sat wringing his paws as if he'd just finished a hard workout. Lix had been thankful, as she had no idea how the man had squeezed his way into the flinger queue back to Koorka Station. The silence that had followed their escape was a roar… the shot sent their way by the council carrier couldn't have been more than feet from them.

  That had been an entire day ago.

  A day the Kux'lar had spent wrapped up in her Human's sheets sequestered away in the Stripped Bolt and ardently ignoring the niggling voice that told her the council most likely knew exactly who had snuck into the Last Stop Staryard and probably had more than a little evidence in the form of drone recordings. It was something Mo'Ona had said he'd work on and subsequently vanished, they hadn't seen him since. The Gerthtrude wasn't exactly a common ship after all, so how he expected to 'work' on it was beyond her. However, no strike teams or men in suits came banging on their door nor scary net mails nor intimidating calls… It allowed for the exhausted 'Roid Racer to sleep and sleep and sleep… only, Jack wasn't here. Desperately she wished he'd walk through that damn door and join her under the covers… to flood her with his body heat and let her squeeze her muzzle under his chin. Several times she'd started to call him to demand he do just that yet hesitated. He was putting the No Safety Measures back together without her. In the end, the Kux'lar laboriously rose to stretch and screech and scratch her haunches before trudging out into the garage as naked as the day she hatched.

  Or… floated… as it were.

  Jack deactivated the gravity whenever he worked on ships, it made the process so much easier, or so he claimed.

  Languidly, sleep still holding her in its clutches, Lix lazily kicked her way up to the No Safety and her Human working diligently within. The cockpit was a jungle of hanging cables as the mechanic used the opportunity provided by installing the new parts to upgrade or reorganize existing systems. Lix wasn't nearly as skilled at navigating zero gravity as he was, and her flailing tail rang out her approach on the airlock wall.

  "Psheew, lookin' good scaly lady." Jack winked from his nearly upside-down position under the pilot's seat. Never one to pass down and opportunity to show off, the Kux'lar slowly ran her long tongue along her chops, turning to show off her rump and thick tail. It was just another in the long line of teasing she'd tormented the man with since they'd returned, including shoving her unfertilized egg into his arms once the heat had died down from their successful venture. He'd blanched when she'd offered him half an omelette, to his surprise, selling your unfertilized eggs was a huge market among the Kux'lar. More for her, she guessed, not that it was common to eat your own egg. Gently, she pressed herself down to the deck as best she could and 'stalked' along the walkway, her head low and talons clicking as she used her tail to keep her fast to the deck in the low gravity. "What are ya up to?" He asked with a crooked grin and raised eyebrow.

  Oh, that grin. There would be no denying her this day.

  "I'm huntin' ya." She hissed, snapping her jaws gently by his ears before nuzzling his neck. "Anything I can do to help?" The question turned into a purr as her Human hesitantly worked his jaw before pressing his lips to the side of her muzzle, leaving them there before pulling away with a wet smack. Jack was no romantic, and neither was Lix, but she was still a lady and knew what felt good. Her tail undulated in pleasure as she stared down with lidded eyes, approving and heated. Gently, she hooked her jawline under his chin, locking herself to the man as she let the rest of her body float. "Man, my head's all frazzled. I don't even know how to start processing the last few days."

  "How 'bout where ya most flabbergasted?"

  "Hm… 'kay. So, you're from some high-tech planet that tried to buck the council and got betrayed… Now your system is a giant refueling station using your people's stolen technology for antimatter, it sounds like a supervillain movie… if I hadn't seen it, I would call you crazy. I might do it anyway." Lix trilled, shuffling closer to the Human's sweet, sweet monkey heat. The warmth was familiar, and his scent lulled the Kux'lar into a sense of safety she found was absent anywhere else.

  "Yeah… shit happens, I guess."

  "That was a tad bit more than a stuck turd, Jacky." The heat that bloomed from his cheeks against her chin left her with a toothy grin, her ivory fangs glistening in the low light of the cockpit. "Oooh, Jacky gets your heart pumpin'! I'll have to remember that."

  "Uh-huh. Sorry I didn' tell ya all that sooner. About… home I mean, not… Jacky an' shit. Lily called me that."

  "Mhm…" Her grin faded. "Like I said, I get why you didn't tell me at first but after a while? After you made love to me in my own bed? Kinda… sucked, dude."

  "I just ai'n't think it was important."

  "Gnah… you're so… male and dumb. I'd have actually known what was going on instead of following your lead like a lost hatchling. You know, because I trusted you?" Her nostrils flared as she felt the muscle in his neck tense, a tiny whir of actuators from his weird eyes whispering in her ears as he looked to the side, ashamed. "Yeeaaah, I'm cheating! I'm going for that low hangin' fruit."

  "I mean, look I- I said it be dangero-"

  "Dangerous to know? My whole life is dangerous. I fly through asteroid fields for fun and could get offed for being in the League whenever we leave the garage. Ya broke my trust, babe." Lix nibbled at the man's jaw, ignoring the shadow of facial hair that was growing. I wasn't lying when I said I kinda lost some faith in ya. Gonna have to build it back up, Human."

  "And how do I do that, Kux'lar?"

  "Survive while being on my radar," A lick to his cheek let him know he was still hers. "And keep being my Human, but you're good at that."

  "I've had practice." The bravado was false, however, his gut twisting at the sound of her disappointment. Trust, communication, understanding, honesty… commitment… all the things Lily had said he needed work on, all the things the doctor had tried to work on- tried to help him improve. He just… well, he didn't love Lily. It hurt, in a way, to admit that to himself. A part in his heart had decided that there just wasn't anyone for him, that he wasn't built for romance or relationships.

  Too much work, he said.

  Better off by myself, he'd decided.

  For a while it worked, perhaps too well, as he became so used to solitude that it twisted and mutated into a comfortable and easy routine… no expectations, no connection to foster and maintain, no bloom of love to feed. It was simpler and there was… safety in that. Cowardice, he decided, and perhaps a little bit of lost hope, had stopped him from trying to settle with someone again. Lily is my last shot, he'd told himself.

  She was it.

  If he couldn't swing it then he wasn't meant to be with anyone. He'd been all too eager to accept that ultimatum and wash his hands of everything else. Focus had become his love, improving his garage and pulling in the Roarks while the universe twirled around him. Memories of the adrenaline, the satisfaction, of carving out Koorka Station with his friends… who were now either dead, terrified of his presence, or simply coexisted with him, were all the sustenance he needed. That is… until the routine became stale. Days into weeks into months, the cycle stretched and left him behind.

  Stagnation…

  Oh, how hungry it was.

  Then Lix came into his garage, huffing and puffing and speaking in third person as she panicked. At the time he found it annoying, if a little adorable, and homed in on her fear as a source of Roarks. He'd planned to rake her over the coals, dragging her for every little bit of money he could- especially after she'd let slip she was a 'Roid Racer. They had money, they had to, all racers did! It wasn't until he sat and thought about it, sat and thought about where Glorious Angela ended up, that he turned his plan on its head. The mechanic had known damn well where the traitor had gone… what lay in the belly of the massive ship she now called home… The Racer's Heart…

  Yes, he'd used Lix… at first his goals had been to help her become the best racer she could be. The plan had been to outfit her and propel her into the big leagues… if only to get aboard the Racer's Heart and rip Angela's throat from her neck… then… well…

  It had been the noodles… The spicy bowl of carbs made by none other than Morty, one of the only friends he still had left. Stars had burst in Lix's eyes, wonder filling her voice and pleasure at a new discovery. Jack had felt the first cracks then, the ice around his heart starting to warm ever so slightly. Things had only gone downhill from there as he started having fun, started to enjoy himself with Lix. Showing her life on Koorka, working on her ship, seeing her innocence grow into experience- the pure unfettered joy when she'd placed in the preliminary… Something inside him, old and smoldering with embers of hate kept alive by the anger of betrayal and… well… watching his home become a military state before falling to the greed of those who swayed the galaxy beneath the strings on their fingers, finally had the last few feeding tubes ripped from its gullet. It was slow to perish; even now he could feel that old oil bubbling beneath the surface… Love was encroaching upon it, and soon it would dominate the landscape of his soul and push back the greasy tar.

  Like a wolf herded to into quicksand.

  Lix had her claws deep in him, that he couldn't deny… and he'd lied to her- worse, used her.

  Truth…

  "Well ah, scaly lady, if'n ya say to be honest then… I guess… a confession?" The Kux'lar purring under his chin nodded.

  "That'd be a good start. What's up?"

  "When I met ya…" Jack started quick, his words dying in his throat as he wracked his brain for the right words to say. "I'll be honest with ya… I saw ya as a way to make a fat stack o' Roarks an' get close to Angela. I uh… used ya to get into the Racer's Heart to… I… I dunno, get back at Angela? Kill 'er? Damn the consequences. I… hadn't thought that far an' when we got there. I would 'ave had a plan but… I didn't want to ruin your chance in the races. I didn't want to ruin what we had." The man swallowed hard, his hands unmoving as they clutched a wire bundle. "Sorry… scaly lady- I jus-"

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Hush, I figured something along those lines. I assume you feel different now?" She raised one of the scaled ridges over her closed eye, a satisfied, if cocky, smile curling her lips. "Still plan to use me?"

  "No. Nah, I don't. If this… if us were a fight then ya whooped my ass."

  "Damn straight I did. You're my Human now."

  "An'… ya my Kux'lar." Lix purred into his warmth. That had been much more natural compared to the last time he'd said it. She knew getting him to cave would be like pulling fangs, and by the stars was it, but this? Hearing him admit it? To hear Jack give up against himself and admit he'd fallen for her?

  Finally… it felt right.

  The resulting silence was comfortable and warm despite the chill of the garage. It was a place she could stay for however long it lasted. Jack, the poor man, just couldn't handle it. He was still new to all this lovey dovey stuff, Lix decided. That was okay, she'd train him up.

  "You know how to assign slave cables?" The mechanic asked, unwilling to let the quiet drag.

  "The ones that transmit data from the cockpit to the engine room, right? They're color coded. I'm no engineer but I can take that off your hands at least." She shooed the man away to do more technical tasks, whapping his rear with her tail before flagging the appendage high to give him a view of the goods usually hidden underneath. By the stars she was needy today… if Jack didn't help her with these urges by the time the daily cycle was up she was pouncing him, no doubt about it. He hadn't fully left before a groovy beat began to pulse through the garage, one that had the Kux'lar showing her fangs over a shoulder in a toothy grin as she began to bop her haunches to the beat, sending her lightly tumbling through the zero gravity. Jack only exacerbated her need by clicking his tongue and shooting her a wink, his boots vanishing as he pulled himself passed her small room towards the engine bay.

  Worry began to fade as she linked each cable to its corresponding connection, the newer lengths salvaged from the Last Stop Staryard obvious by their off-white design as opposed to the original charcoal black. Still wiggling to the music, her rear and thick digitigrade legs continued to drift aimlessly, yet that was simply of little concern. Slave cables were simple, yes, but any mistake would send signals to incorrect systems and cause all manner of erroneous readings in the cockpit. So while the work was easy, Lix still had to pay attention.

  Which left her thickly muscled rear unattended.

  One cable, two cables… three and four… fix, six, then seven… it wasn't until she tried kicking one away that the Kux'lar realized her mindless booty boogie had been slowly entangling her in a web of conduits like a fly under the watchful eyes of a spider.

  "Ugh, nggghhh… gnah! Crap! How in the stars did I- uuugghhhh! J-Jack!" Lix found herself twisting, her arms and paws and feet now caught as well as she floated belly down half-way up the cockpit.

  Not to mention her tail was… well… in quite the vulnerable position.

  "What's up?" She could hear the man using his cybernetics to pull himself towards her, heat blooming beneath the scales of her muzzle as a need burned between her legs. Maybe this wasn't so bad… "Did you fini- oh. Oh, well hey there scaly lady."

  "J-Jack…" Lix twisted her head to look over her shoulder as best she could, a cable lying across her muzzle for a moment before the weightlessness of zero gravity took it away. "I'm um…" Legs tensed and struggled, widening in an instinctual need to display for her mate. "I could use… I n-need…"

  "Some help?" Jack grinned, drifting closer to run a hand along her haunches. It was as if he pushed a growling hiss from her gullet. He knew what he was doing, he freaking knew!

  "I-If you t-tease me again I-"

  "Y'all shush an' let me do an inspection. Hmmmm… looks like this docking port back here sprung a leak. A bad one," Lix gasped as he grabbed her paws, his fingers splaying her scaly toes, and wrapped a cable around her lithe ankles. "Might need to dig in it a lil' to see what's up." Uncontrollable shivers assailed the reptile as the cruel man traced a line between the slightly raised ridges of her scales, his touch painting an erratic river down her haunch that was reflected in the growing pool of slick need that grew at her slit, held fast by the lack of gravity. A pond of desire that filled her with both embarrassment and lust.

  …

  Really? Now? This was what he was going for? Lix rolled her eyes but if it got Jack to finally ease the burn under tail she'd play along.

  "Oh for fuck's sa-… gnaaah… I um… yeah, started leaking a little while ago. You might need to go hands on, I've no idea where it's coming- from!" Lix shuddered, her claws squeezing on nothing as he ran a metal digit along the inside of her thigh, tracing where his lips had graced her during their celebration so many cycles ago. "Ngh- please don't tea- ah! Come ooonnnnn!" Jack grinned, crooked and evil, as he grabbed a handful of her rump, squeezing to watch the scales dimple. Chuckling cruelly, his free hand wrapped a loose cable around her lithe ankles, careful of the killing claws protruding from her gently kicking paws, yet she didn't struggle. The familiar scent of her desire filled the cockpit, Jack sidling into place behind her to run his fingers down along her now bare spine.

  "Gorgeous…" He whispered as her tail wrapped gently around his neck. "Ya like a Y-Star Verono, sleek an' fast an' deadly. Now, let's take a look at that leak."

  "I-It's pretty bad… fluids everywhere…" Jack snorted as Lix moaned, heated breath huffing into the cockpit as he ran a metal digit along the folds of her cloaca. One hand pressed firmly into the middle of her spine while the other worked to spread the puffy, demanding lips of her entrance, her tail squeezing his neck in need as she kicked hopelessly against her bindings.

  Only…

  "Gnah! Fuck! Your fingers are so freaking cold, holy shi- ngh!" Stars burst in the raptors eyes as the euphoric sensation of those very same frigid digits wrapped firmly around the base of her neck, the alloy tips depressing the scales and muscle beneath just like a love bite from another Kux'lar. Just like a mating bite… Lix felt her legs tremble and a not at all professional squeak scatter from her maw like a puff of air. Against her will, she felt her tail hike high and her legs tense in preparation to be mounted by her alpha. "Nnggghhhglk! J-Jack- mph!" The sensation of fingers on her tongue, the tangy taste of her own fluids racing across her taste buds, stopped her short. The squeeze on her neck and the growl in her ear sent her instincts wild, her lips closing around her mate's fingers to suck and lick.

  "Amazin' what a quick net search can do, I did my homework." Jack purred in her ear, his free hand still squeezing tight around her neck. "Old pack instincts only useful for the bedroom now, but I read they be fun as Hell." Lix could only nod quickly, the fire in her belly flaring into an inferno as he squeezed her. Soon, his fingers were warm and slick, a thick string of saliva connecting her maw to his hand as he popped the digits free and vanished once again behind her.

  "Fuck fuck fuck yes, that… ggglllk! Keep- please- ah, I can't-"

  "Shhhhh, just hang there scaly lady, let alpha do ya right."

  "Gnaaah, that's so fuckin' corny and hot and fuck me before I chew outta these cables and pounce you!" Lix's growl turned to a needy whimper as the fingers returned, warm and slick this time, to pierce her defenses. He only went knuckle deep, her walls trembling with long suppressed desire, as he curled the tips just right to caress and feel. Nerves rang out like lightning and Lix felt the first of many peaks slam into her like a barreling shuttle.

  Finally… she'd needed this weeks ago!

  "J-J-Jaaaaack, yes yes yes… nghgnah! Right there… yeah that's-gnneeeeeh… that's the stuff that's been leaking lately!"

  "Hmmm… these are pretty slick fluids! Must be lubricant. Why ya got so much, lady? You're gonna have really high pressure if you over fill."

  "M-Maybe you need to- gah! E-Easy, ohhhh… b-bleed the line? I've got a r-release valve somewh-ere!"

  "Hmmm, I think I found it, pretty deep along the pipe." Lix saw stars as Jack worked the two digits inside her, the tips wiggling and pressing on everything vulnerable. She struggled against the cables and conduits, not to escape, but to feel their pressure on her limbs and reassure her that she was one stuck Kux'lar.

  "Ahhhh! Keep g-going! You might need- need a tool! It's got a weird valve stem!"

  "That so? Well," The sound of her Human's zipper slowly coming undone was the purest music to Lix's ears, her eager grin growing as she nodded like a hyper teen being offered their first blunt.

  "I've got a probe, we can get real deep an' find the source o' that leak." A familiar heat settled on her entrance, drifting globes of her essence floating lazily through the air reflecting her strained face as she tried to press back into the source of her discomfort.

  "A-A probe? You aren't one of those mechanics who go digging for every little i-issue are ya? I just need that leak handled!"

  Please

  "I pride myself on my work, miss! Don't ya worry… I don't charge pretty scaly ladies extra. That being said," Lix could practically hear his evil grin. "This is the Big and Meaty requesting docking permissions in the Raptor-lane, how copy over?"

  …

  "I'd leave if I wasn't tied up."

  "Ha! Okay, okay, no more teasin'." Slowly, Jack eased himself closer and closer to his Kux'lar, her body twitching and writhing in ecstacy as that wonderous stretch wracked her body with another squealing release of pleasure. Lix found her focus shattered, especially between the wonderous invasion and the still clenching hand at the base of her neck. Any attempt to warble a mating call fell short as her lungs simply ignored her commands.

  Jack's wrapped an arm around the hanging reptile, his embrace warm and caring, as he began work himself deeper and faster, her pleased trills and trembling body a work of art that eclipsed anything he'd seen.

  "Gnh, J-J-jahaaack- guh! Ah ah ah, I l-love- hnng!" Thoughts turned to mush as he continued to help her forget her worries and fill her with warmth.

  "Shhhh, just hang there an' feel it. Ya deserve this." Another body twisting climax ripped through Lix's brain as her mate continued his assault, the hand around her neck leaving to wrap around her other side. Her tail, now loose and free from its hold around his neck, slammed into the bulkhead- his side- the tangled cables that twisted about her chest and legs, anything within reach fell victim as Lix let go of all control… falling into the dream Jack had woven for her.

  "Ngh-no! Leave i-aahhhh!" Her wishes were answered as Jack leaned over her back, his hips working like twin pistons as sweat beaded on his brow, to latch his teeth to her neck. The squeeze wasn't as strong… and his teeth weren't nearly as sharp as a Kux'lar's… but to Lix, it was as if liquid lightning had been poured down her throat. Stars twirled and danced as nebulae burst behind her eyes, a waltz of soul shattering euphoria that had her singing like a bird while Jack pulled her tight to his chest, the duo slipping free of the cables to float entangled and free in each other's embrace. The warmth that filled her as Jack shuddered behind her, the instincts fulfilled, her mate's teeth on her neck…

  Lixistruzsias broke in all the best ways.

  She twisted, she turned, she squeaked in pain and pleasure as his softening member slipped free from her sore entrance, only to wrap herself around the Human in an inescapable hold. Claws worked his shirt away to reveal a scared chest glistening with sweat, yet her target lay higher. Jack's shoulder was, unfortunately, metal and alloy, yet the flesh at the base of his neck was red with effort. Screeching, Lix leaned down to latch her jaws and fangs into his skin, her eyes wild with desire and love. Killing claws slashed at the air behind him as she wrapped her powerful legs about his waist, wishing for nothing more than solid ground with which to pin the man against and never let go. Their heads bounced off the floor, sending them tumbling listlessly as Lix continued to hump against the man, a claw reaching down to guide him back within her folds as her desire refueled his engines.

  "Please, please, please!" She was not above begging, all those little nips, those tiny love bites, had been leading up to this… Jack simply laid his head on hers, holding her tight as she clamped her jaws down hard. The taste of blood, minor of course, scattered across her tongue. Just as sudden, Lix leaned her head back to lap at the gently bleeding bite marks. It was a perfect horseshoe emblazoned across his skin, over his neck and chest and back. A mark… her mark…

  Mates.

  Wild and untamed, she took her revenge, her powerful haunches a blur as she chased that wonderous peak once more. Jack could only wrap his arms around the raptor as she clenched in so many different ways, her fangs still firmly in his neck. Both grunted as the Human's back slammed into the ceiling, twirling them about, followed quickly by Lix' tail slapping the wall to send them careening down the hall towards the engine bay. A trail of fluids followed, tracking them like a sordid creek, until a boot caught the still open airlock.

  Like a flock of released birds, Jack and Lix burst into the garage still entangled in the throes of their love, grunts and squeals filling the empty air until finally both slammed into the wall of the Stripped Bolt… and their pleasure. The sensation of Jack's love filling her doused the roaring wildfire in Lix's gut, her eyes closing as a sigh of utmost relief slithered from her throat.

  Finally… both slumped into each other's embrace, Lix lapping at his bleeding bite mark with a satisfied shudder.

  "Thank you, thank you so much."

  "Hey, I'm a lover, I did my homework."

  It was all she needed… and he realized, exactly what he'd always wanted…

  "Stay with me, even after the league… mine, mine… mine…"

  The Jack of old would have balked at the demand… but he wasn't the Jack of old anymore. In fact, he blanched at the thought of a life without his Kux'lar… without his mate… so he nodded. Nodded and squeezed until Lix began to sing, her purrs and trills oscillating off the inner walls of the Stripped Bolt as they floated without care or worry.

  Yes…

  Hers…

  "Always, ya got me. To the stars… scaly lady."

  End of Love Like Oil

  To Be Continued…