Sighing, Lina gave one final peck before putting on a mask of control and lacing her fingers in with Arabel’s. Together they set off, skipping down the tunnel to Arabel’s apartment.
* * * *
In the dim and dingy tunnel-way of the colony’s lowest level, Arabel opened the door of her apartment to a sight that always made Lina smile. She thought anyone entering Arabel’s humble abode might be tempted to classify it as a jungle biome. The humidity at this level of the colony was so high that the walls were constantly slick with condensation.
But, Arabel had used this to her advantage, to water the hundreds of varieties of plants and vines that she had crammed into every available space. Even a section of the carved stone floor had been covered in compost and seeded with a low, mossy ground cover, making what could have been a dank undesirable apartment into a living thing full of wonder.
What Lina found even more intriguing was that all of this beauty was created from things Arabel claimed she rescued as they passed through the reclamation area.
“Before you rip my clothes off,” Arabel said, as she closed the door, “we should eat.”
Lina rolled her eyes as she watched Arabel calmly shimmy out of her coverall, leaving it as a puddle on the floor. Arabel then sashayed, completely naked, the three steps it took her to reach the apartment’s tiny galley kitchen. There she washed her hands thoroughly and doused her bare body with water from the tap. Her damp skin glistened in the dim light of the three bio-globes that lit the one room space.
“And you’re worried about me ripping your clothes off?” Lina said, puckering up to place a kiss on the back of Arabel’s neck and catch another whiff of her still lingering pheromones. Despite their dilution by the quick sink bath, the scent still made Lina shiver.
“This is strictly sanitary, babe. I work in refuse and reclamation, in case you forgot, and I’m also making your dinner.”
Lina backed up a step, deftly shed her own clothing, and kicked it into a corner. She moved to brush the front of her slim, naked body lightly against the back of Arabel’s and shivered once again, nipples crinkling as they passed over of her lover’s bare skin.
Arabel appeared unfazed by Lina’s advance, and was busying herself snipping leaves, fungus and berries from various pots crowding her counter top. Lina watched as she carefully arranged them onto two mismatched plates.
“You really should have been a botanist,” Lina said, pressing harder against Arabel and brushing her nose closer to Arabel’s scent gland. “You probably produce as much oxygen down here as we do up in Cave of the Winds.”
Arabel’s body vibrated slightly as she chuckled.
Lina placed several columns of delicate kisses up and down Arabel’s neck, as she watched her lover snipping, pruning and slicing the various leafy greens, fruits, and mushrooms arrayed all over her work surface. After placing a sprawling, thin-petaled, light-purple flower as a final bit of garnish atop each plate, Arabel pulled out a small pot that was hidden among several others—a miniature replica of a full-sized deciduous tree that currently bore three tiny, white flowers.
Arabel leaned in to carefully extract a small petal from one of its delicate flowers.
“Is that tree flower?” Lina asked, craning her neck to see. “That’s illegal, you know. Only the Royal Family—”
Arabel simply shrugged before bowing her head to lay the tree flower petal against the skin of the scent gland behind her right ear.
Lina shuddered at the bold display. But rather than fall upon Arabel right away, she extended her tongue and took a long, lingering route up the side of Arabel’s neck before inhaling deeply, circling the waiting tree flower twice before finally swiping at it and pulling it into her mouth with a single lick.
The effect came on quickly, and combined with the heady perfume of Arabel’s natural scent, Lina found herself tingling and wanting to press even closer against Arabel’s warm body. She also needed a point of reference, something fixed and not moving, lest she lose her balance completely. But, just as importantly, from the pheromones, she felt an overwhelming instinctual need to lose herself in her beautiful and intoxicating lover, Arabel.
As Lina closed the distance between them to zero, she could feel Arabel vibrating against her. Her own involuntary pheromones released and at the same time sent a sudden gush of moisture running in rivulets over her inner thighs.
“I’m ready for you, baby,” Arabel whispered.
Lina dropped her head, she began to explore the back of Arabel’s neck, all while plucking another bit of tree flower and lifting it to Arabel’s waiting mouth.
“And I for you, my love,” Lina husked.
Arabel wantonly sucked at the tree flower petal and Lina’s finger that had delivered it.
Lina moaned and moved her lips closer to Arabel’s ear. There she began lightly tracing the outline of her lover’s glistening scent gland with her tongue, as she waited the scant moments it took for the effects of Arabel’s tree flower to kick in.
Arabel shuddered as she discharged a snootful of scent in Lina’s direction.
Knowing the passion that was igniting to cause her lover’s release, Lina jammed her thigh hard between Arabel’s quaking legs, and with a warm, wet squish, began slowly moving against her.
Salads long forgotten on the kitchen counter, the two women held each other in a vice-like grip, each unwilling and unable to separate now that the dance had begun. They tripped clumsily into the tiny living area, where they writhed and pawed at each other, bodies vibrating, and the scent of mating heavy in the air.
Lina was first to engage, and moved around behind Arabel to sink her teeth into the tender skin of Arabel’s shoulder. Arabel quivered but held still. She pressed her buttocks firmly against Lina, offering herself, while Lina was raking her nails across Arabel’s abdomen, asserting her dominance further.
Arabel was eager to acquiesce, and allowed Lina to guide her
