by Presley Hall
But she doesn’t look frightened—more curious.
The look in her eyes borders on an eager hunger that makes my cock leap despite how hard I already am. Her eyes go round as she sees it, and she reaches out for me, rolling onto her side as her fingers reach out to stroke tentatively along my length.
She’s so very beautiful. The curve of her body is perfect as she stretches out, the slope of her waist rising into her slender, delicate hips, her skin so pale that it’s nearly translucent, glowing in the cabin lights. When her fingertips stroke the length of my cock, tracing the pulsing vein along the top of my shaft, a shudder of pure pleasure goes through me, and she yanks her hand back.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” She winces, biting her lower lip.
I struggle to find my voice, my hips twitching with the need to thrust myself back into her hand.
“No,” I tell her, blinking with confusion. “No, of course not. It felt incredible.”
“Oh.” She whispers the word again, reaching out for me and wrapping her long fingers around my shaft this time, gently stroking the length of my cock. “It’s… huge,” she murmurs, her eyes still wide, and I grin at that. I can’t help myself.
“All Kalixian males are rather large,” I tell her, groaning as she squeezes my shaft tighter, her strokes quickening. “But I think mine is on the upper end of that statistic.”
I half-grin at her, raising an eyebrow teasingly until her palm skims over the tip of my cock, and I gasp, forgetting all humor in the rush of pleasure that washes over me.
Everything feels magnified a hundredfold, better than any touch I’ve ever received. I’ve certainly had a woman’s hands on my cock before, but this is something more than anything I’ve ever experienced. Even the gentle friction of Nadia’s hand is a pleasure so great that it makes me feel like I’m on the verge of losing control before we’ve even started.
I have a sudden vision of my seed splashed across her small, perfect breasts, my cock throbbing in her hand as the pleasure takes over, and I have to grit my teeth to keep myself from doing exactly that.
Her eyes flick to my cock, and she leans forward.
“I want—”
She doesn’t finish the sentence, her expression nervous and aroused all at once, and she moves so that she’s angled across the bed, leaning closer to flick her tongue over the tip of my cock.
“Oh. Oh, gods,” I groan.
Reaching down, I gently grip her hair and pull her away. Then I lift her up and settle her back on the bed again before I crawl up to stretch out over her.
I’m not sure if I could have withstood the feeling of her lips around me if she’d kept going, or the sight of her wide blue eyes upturned to mine as she took my cock into her mouth. Just the thought makes me shudder with pleasure. I want that, desperately. I want to see her take me in her mouth in every possible position, but we have all the time in the world for that.
For now, I need to be inside of her.
I need to claim my Irisa.
Kissing her deeply, I reach gently between her legs as I slide my tongue into her mouth, kissing her with more gentleness this time. I part her wrap skirt, pushing the fabric aside as I trail my fingers up the soft flesh of her slim inner thigh.
When I reach the heat between her legs, I groan as I feel how wet she is.
She’s drenched with arousal, her lips and thighs soaked with it, and when I slide my finger upward and part her, her hips jerk into my hand as she whimpers against my lips. Her hand goes into my hair, her slender body writhing against mine as she presses herself into my hand.
I’ve learned quite a bit about female anatomy in my travels across the universe, and although different species are built differently, I have a good idea of exactly what to do to bring her pleasure.
“Do you want me to make you come again?” I whisper.
My cock throbs as I ask the question, and Nadia nods frantically, her lips still pressed hard to mine as she grinds into my hand. She’s so soft, so hot, so desperately wet and aroused. Droplets of my seed spill from the tip of my cock as I think about how good she’ll feel wrapped around me, how perfectly she’ll envelop me.
I keep going, my fingers rubbing against her until I feel her stiffen. Her little nub pulses against my hand as she cries out and arches hard against me, her second orgasm crashing over her as she moans and throws her head back.
I can’t wait any longer, not even long enough to undress her. I need her now. I slide my hand out from between her legs, resisting the urge to taste her on my fingers. Soon I’ll bury my head between her thighs and find out how many times I can make her come with my tongue, but for now—
“Go slow,” Nadia gasps suddenly as I move between her spread legs, my cock nudging at her entrance. I can feel her heat radiating against my oversensitive flesh, the tip sliding against her, slick with her arousal.
I blink, trying to think through the fog of lust that has enveloped me, fighting back the instinctual and blinding need to thrust forward and claim her entirely as my own.
“I—of course,” I tell her hoarsely. “I’ll be gentle.”
“It’s just—” She swallows hard, her blue eyes wide and fixed on mine as she licks her lips nervously. “I’ve never done this before. I’m a virgin. So just… go slow? You’re so big.”
Her words hit me like a shock, and the fog lifts immediately as the reality of what she’s just said washes over me.
A virgin.
I’ll be my mate’s first, the only man to ever touch her this intimately, to ever be inside her. That knowledge only serves to fuel my arousal at first, making the hunger for her even more intense, but then another thought follows closely on the heels of that one, and it stops me in my tracks.
Consummation always strengthens the mate bond, making separation even more painful if one mate chooses to refuse after that. Once we consummate the bond, it will be even harder for her to make her choice, if she hasn’t already. And since she’s a virgin, it will make it almost impossible for her to deny me, even if she’s not certain now.
She has to be sure. I can’t risk her regretting it later, tying herself to me so deeply that she can’t break the bond without great pain even if she wants to. My cock feels as if it will burst, but I pull back anyway, stretching myself alongside her instead of between her legs as I try to force my erection to subside by sheer will alone.
It does very little good. And as I pull away, Nadia gasps a little, blinking at me with a shocked expression, as if she thinks I’m rejecting her.
“You… you don’t want me? Is it because—you don’t want to be the first?”
“Oh gods, no,” I breathe, forcing myself not to laugh at the complete ludicrousness of the idea.
My hunger for her is still raging, and just the sight of her shocked and slightly hurt face makes me desperate to reassure her that her worry is unfounded. I couldn’t want her more if I tried.
I lean toward her, pulling her into my arms and kissing her again fiercely, so possessively that there can be no doubt in her mind as to how much I want her. As if to underscore that, my cock throbs against her belly, making me groan and press my forehead against hers, panting for breath as I finally break the kiss.
“I have every intention of claiming you, in every way that you could possibly imagine,” I tell her with my gaze fixed squarely on hers.
Nadia’s lips fall open at that, curiosity and desire filling her eyes. Now I understand why she was hesitant to touch me earlier, why she worried that she’d hurt me. She must have very little experience.
“I plan to make you scream my name,” I murmur, my voice smooth and dark, full of all the lust that pulses through my veins like a second heartbeat. “I plan to show you what true pleasure feels like, beyond anything you’ve ever imagined or fantasized about.”
Nadia gasps, and I kiss her again, gently.
“But,” I continue, my gaze still locked on hers, “I’ll do it when you’re begging me to. When you’re
completely ready, when you’re certain that the mate bond is what you want, and not before then.”
“Why?” Nadia stares up at me, her eyes reflecting the same need that’s still consuming me. “Why not now, when we both want it?”
“Because…” I tell her, kissing her once more before I pull her against my chest, unwilling to let her go entirely. “Once I claim you, knowing that I’m the only man who’s ever had you? I will never, ever be able to let you go.”
16
Nadia
I will never, ever be able to let you go.
I blink up at Zatir, struck by the intensity and the plain truth behind his words, the way he spoke them so confidently.
But more than that, I’m surprised by my own reaction to them. I’m not frightened or turned off. The idea of being possessed entirely by this huge, brave, honorable alien doesn’t scare me, it intrigues me. And more than that—it turns me on, more than anything I’ve ever felt in my life.
My body feels like it’s made of pure desire, desperate to be worshipped and claimed, and as he pulls me into his arms and says those words, heat rushes over me, the need intensifying until I almost climax just from the sound of his voice. I feel like I’m right on the verge of it, and I want to beg him to touch me again, to make me come for a third time. But I’m still too shy to actually say the words.
Maybe that’s what he means.
Maybe I have to be able to open up to him entirely, to trust him with every facet of myself, to not just give in to his desire but actively ask for it. Beg for it, the way he said I eventually will.
I want to tell him that I am ready, that I can be his mate, that I want all of this. But I can’t quite make myself say that, either. I’m not sure yet how to separate lust from love—if I want to tell him yes because I’m so desperate for him to be inside me and take my virginity, or if it’s because I truly want all of him, forever.
I need to be smart about this, not because of what my sister would tell me, but because I want to make the right choices this time. And the fact that Zatir isn’t pushing me, that he’s willing to stop even when he’s so obviously aroused, means something to me.
Every other man I’ve known would have complained or accused me of being a tease. They would’ve demanded I keep going and then pouted and gotten angry when I refused to go all the way. It’s happened with both of the boyfriends I’ve had in the past. They weren’t even happy with a hand job, one of them sulking and going off angrily to slam the bathroom door and jerk off on his own, the most recent—the one who hurt me—grudgingly accepting the hand job and then berating me for that as well.
But there’s none of that with Zatir. He seems content to simply hold me after I nod, accepting his words, even going so far as to help me rearrange my dress so that I’m covered and pulling the blanket up over his hips in deference to my modesty. He says nothing about his still rock-hard erection, not even a suggestion that I could give him relief in other ways.
The man made me come twice, orgasms like nothing I’ve ever felt even with the cheap vibrator I once bought, and yet he seems completely fine with the fact that he’s left unsatisfied.
We’re silent for several long minutes, just lying in each other’s embrace.
“So, what happened earlier?” I ask him finally, clearing my throat. I need something to distract me from how desperately turned on I still am. “Did Grub really betray you?”
Zatir’s body tenses as he answers. I can almost feel the anger surging through him as he’s reminded of it.
“Yes,” he says, his voice tight and clipped. “He chose to hand me over to Kildred instead of doing the honorable thing and warning me. He’s not to be trusted any longer.”
He pauses for a moment and then shifts, turning so that he’s looking down into my eyes. “I need to end this, Nadia,” he says, his voice dark and serious. “This alien that I’ve angered, Kildred, is petty and vindictive. I remember him now, and I know his type. He’ll keep raising the bounty on my head until someone manages to bring me in. If we return to Kalix now, I’ll bring that danger there.”
“Will he kill you?” I ask, fear straining my voice. “Will the hunters come to kill you?”
“He’ll want me brought in alive.” Zatir snorts. “I imagine he has considerable plans to torture me before he finally kills me. He won’t give up that pleasure to a bounty hunter.”
My stomach drops at those words, a chill running through my blood as I gasp. I lean closer to him, my body pressed tightly against his, and a possessive growl rumbles in Zatir’s throat as his arm tightens around me.
“I don’t know what to do with you,” he says after a small pause, looking down at me again.
“What—what do you mean?”
“I need to deal with Kildred. It’s not safe for you to come with me. I want to drop you off on Kalix where I know you’ll be safe, but it might bring the danger there, putting civilians at risk of hunters hurting them trying to get to me. And I hate the idea of letting you out of my sight,” he adds, gently running a finger along my jaw. “To complicate things more, now that Grub knows I have you with me—a beautiful and, in some parts of the universe, valuable human female—I’m worried that someone will come after you too, either as a way to get to me or purely for the profit of it.”
My decision is made before the last words are even out of his mouth. The moment he mentioned letting me out of his sight, I knew that I couldn’t bear to be separated from him, either. I reach up, stroking his cheek gently as I look into his eyes, more dark brown than amber now, but still as beautiful as ever.
“I don’t want to go back,” I tell him firmly. “I want to stay with you.”
Zatir hesitates for a second. I think he’s going to argue with me, tell me again how it’s not safe, that Brielle will be angry, that he never meant for all of this to happen and that he doesn’t want to put me in harm’s way. I see those thoughts flick across his face, one after the other, and I brace myself to argue my point.
But he never says any of them.
Instead, he just drops his head and kisses me, clasping my face in both of his hands as his lips press firmly to mine. When he pulls away, he’s smiling, his eyes twinkling with mischief and pleasure.
“I should have known,” he says, chuckling. “I should have expected that the mate the universe chose for me would be strong and brave, as well as beautiful.” He kisses me again, this time lightly on the forehead. “You are every bit as brave as any Kalixian warrior, my Irisa.”
My heart swells at his words. He sees me as everything I’ve ever wanted to be—brave and fearless instead of weak and helpless, as I’ve so often felt in the past.
But then again, why wouldn’t he see me that way?
He doesn’t know my history.
17
Zatir
It will take us two days to reach the asteroid belt where Kildred’s compound is. After spending a restless night on the ship, Nadia and I sit in the small common room in our stolen vessel and discuss our plans.
I pull up a holo-map, showing her our route.
“The Manea Colony is located on the largest asteroid in the belt,” I explain, pointing out the spot where we’ll eventually need to find a place to land. “We’ll have to be stealthy. If we’re seen, there will be more than enough firepower to take us out before we even have a chance to land. But…” A grin curves my lips. “I’ve got plenty of experience sneaking in and out of places I’m not supposed to be.”
Nadia smiles back at me, a spark of excitement in her eyes. I can tell that she’s getting a thrill from this, just as I do, and that makes me even more attracted to her than I already am.
Physical desire is something I’m no stranger to, but these other feelings are new to me. When I first realized that Nadia was my Irisa, I expected a beautiful woman who I would care for and adore and desire, but not one who, from what I can tell, very well might be my match in every way that I could want.
The stories all say that th
e bond chooses a mate for you who is your other half, your perfect partner—but I never imagined that there was a woman in all the universe who could keep up with me.
Certainly not the shy, nervous, willowy girl I first met at the feast. But as I’ve gotten to know Nadia better, I’ve begun to see that there are layers to her I never imagined at first. It only serves to fuel my desire for her and solidify my determination to win her over. To have her choose me, forever.
She leans toward me as I begin to plot a course toward the Manea Colony, tracing various approaches on the holo map until I can settle on the one that looks best. Once I choose a route, I set the coordinates, and the craft veers to one side as it adjusts course. It takes a bit of work to re-engage the ship’s AI, but I manage to reconnect the device, which means I won’t have to sit at the vessel’s controls the entire way to the asteroid belt.
With that taken care of, my attention drifts back to my mate.
She’s swept her long, silky black hair up in a knot at the back of her head, and pieces of it keep falling out as she leans forward to watch me trace the possible routes, sliding over her high cheekbones distractingly.
The front of her dress parts, the fabric falling forward so that I can see the curves of her small breasts beneath it, and my cock twitches immediately, rising as I begin to think less and less about the map, and more about getting Nadia out of that dress so that I can run my hands over every inch of her body.
We were in too much of a hurry last time we wound up in bed; I didn’t even have a chance to get her dress off. But now, with the actual act of claiming her out of the question at the moment, I have space to consider what else I could do to her—the time I could take to learn and explore and tease her body until I drive her mad with pleasure.
Krax.
My cock is hard as stone now, dangerously close to dislodging my loincloth. Unable to stop myself, I stand and reach for her, sweeping her out of the chair and into my arms.