by Mel Teshco
It’d been twelve long months since she and Luke had slept in the same bed. It’d also been three months before his death that she and Luke had found the energy to make love. She bit into her bottom lip. Luke had found farming long and arduous. His excuse for not touching her was that at the end of the day all he’d wanted was to fall into bed.
She hadn’t really minded, she too had worked long, hard hours. But at the same time doubts had surfaced. She knew there wasn’t anyone else, they didn’t go out. So why then did Luke seem to physically and emotionally withdraw from her? Was their connection only one-sided?
If you and Asher were a couple he’d always find the energy to make love.
The breath squeezed from her lungs. When had her relationship with Luke started to falter? And why hadn’t she been brave enough to see it until now?
“Unless your intention is for my seed to explode any second now, you’d better stop stroking my dick.”
Her hand paused even as his deep, rumbling voice triggered a spasm deep inside her womb. Her eyes shot open and she stared up into his intense golden stare that flickered with flames.
A rush of moisture dampened between her thighs, her breasts growing heavy and her toes all but curling with need. Bloody hell. She should be frightened by his blazing, possessive desire. Instead she was slick with exhilaration and need.
“Tell me to go and I’ll leave your bed now,” he rasped.
She could see by the set look on his face he’d do as she asked, except she too was at the point of no return. His hips did a slow forward-back thrust, his cock sliding across her belly and leaving behind a slick trail of pre-cum dampness.
She blinked up at him, slumberous with desire even as her breath quickened along with her pulse. “Stay.”
His eyes flared brightly. “You’re sure?”
How was this alien stranger more of a gentleman than any human she knew? “Never surer of anything in my life.”
His lips tipped into a heated smile. “You won’t regret it.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second.”
His head lowered and his mouth took possession of hers. His lips alternated between soft and yielding to hard and insistent against hers, his bristles chafing her tender skin and heightening her pleasure.
Damn. They hadn’t even begun foreplay and she was already beyond stimulated, already lost in the thrill of being with this man.
She was only glad his shift had left him without clothes. She’d always slept naked but she had no idea if he did. Now she was free to run her hands all over his gorgeous body, free to brush skin-to-skin against him.
His mouth left hers and his trail of kisses down her throat left her dizzy with need. His burning lips made every part of her skin an erogenous zone, like someone dripped hot wax along her flesh.
Then he drew an aching breast into his mouth and she was lost for a moment to everything but sensation. To the way his lips clamped over her nipple before his teeth scraped the sensitized point. The way his tongue licked away the glorious sting, before his whole mouth suctioned the tip of her breast.
She gasped, and then moaned even before he gave her other breast the same exquisite treatment. And though his mouth was hot against her flesh, his body had become a furnace. Her palms were cold against his flesh, and she couldn’t stop touching his broad, muscled back, his ass cheeks that that filled her hands.
He moved further down, his hot lips brushing against her belly, his tongue swirling around her navel. Tearing her bedcover completely aside, he stilled at the apex of her thighs. She squirmed, dripping wet and so ready for his possession.
When he spread apart her labia and put his hot mouth on the sensitive bud of her sex, the world could have fractured and she wouldn’t have noticed. His suctioning shot lightning down her spine and heat into her womb, throwing her into orgasm within seconds.
But his attention didn’t waiver from her torturous pleasure, and it was long minutes before she came down again from her high.
He lifted his head and slowly licked the moisture from his lips. Her breath hissed. She was far from replete. “I want you inside me,” she gasped. “I want to feel every hard, thick inch of your cock.” Her breath heaved in and out. “I wanted to be utterly connected, and as one with you.”
His eyes glowed, and he moved up her body. “Now you’re speaking my language.”
His mouth covered hers and she tasted herself on his tongue. Resting much of his weight on his forearms, he aligned his cock at her core. His burning eyes held hers, before he plunged deep.
She stiffened, her breath catching in her throat. He’d filled her to breaking point. Big didn’t even begin to describe the length and girth of his cock.
He groaned, the intensity of his pleasure all too obvious. “Are you okay?”
She looked up at his shadowed face, the emerging dawn light allowing her to see his corded neck, his gritted jaw and tense shoulders. He was a man barely restrained.
“Just give me a second to ... adjust,” she uttered.
He nodded. “Of course. I should have realized my size...”
She laced her fingers behind his head and pulled him down to kiss away his words. She didn’t want regrets. She wanted to rejoice in the moment, feel every stroke and pound of his cock. Feel his lips caress hers until she relaxed once again and enjoyed their lovemaking.
She didn’t even realize at first that he’d begun to slowly rock his hips. Small incremental movements that soon lengthened at her little mewls of encouragement, her hands that moved to cradled his ass cheeks and drag him in and out even faster.
Oh god. How had she ever thought sex was with human men had been so great? Her whole body soaked up Asher’s every thrust as his cock scraped her walls, stroking and caressing, the heat and the friction only adding to the incredible moment.
Then he kneeled, hauled her closer so that she could wrap her legs around his hips, and angled his thrust differently. His jaw clamped shut, teeth gritted and every part of him straining to hold back.
His restraint somehow intensified her pleasure. Until an orgasm struck again, shooting pleasure through her body and sucking out Asher’s climax as her inner muscles clutched and released.
He hollered out something in his own language, and she shivered with a whole different kind of pleasure. How did she get so lucky to have experienced something so heavenly with this man? The chances of them even meeting had to be a trillion-to-one and yet here she was feeling more sated, more content than she ever had in her life.
He slumped against her, his brow touching hers and his still glowing eyes observing her. “That was incredible,” he said hoarsely.
She nodded. “No arguments here.”
In fact life would be pretty perfect if the Tantonics kept the hell away. The alien lizards were creepy fuckers. But then nothing could scare her more than losing her mother and her fiancé.
Losing Asher?
She pushed the bleak thought away. She couldn’t think about that very real possibility. Not when it twisted her gut in knots and wrenched at her heart. Asher was her hero, her invincible knight in shining scaly dragon armor. There was no way in hell she’d lose him too.
Her breath caught in her throat. If something happened to him, she’d know she wasn’t meant to love anyone, because loving them meant losing them.
She squeezed her eyes closed. Holy shit. Was it possible she’d really fallen for him already? Had making love with him only cemented those feelings?
“Hey, are you okay?” His hand tipped up her chin and she blinked open her eyes even as he added, “Tell me you’re not having doubts?”
She blinked. “None.” She couldn’t tell him about her sudden enlightenment, she didn’t want to scare him away. She pressed her teeth into her bottom lip. A subject change had to be her best bet. “Does this mean we’ve just used all your calories up?”
He gently disengaged and rolled off to face her, but already she felt his hardening cock brush against her belly
. Her womb quivered. Perhaps his species were built to have sex time and again to increase their chances of impregnating their Riddich mates? She pushed aside a dull ache of jealousy to focus on the wonder of their lovemaking.
The fire behind Asher’s eyes was little more than glowing embers. “Our joining will use up a little of my energy, but nothing compared to shifting.”
“Then allow me to feed you some more.” She swung her legs to the side of the bed, determined not to feel shy in front of the man who’d seen everything beneath her clothes already. She stretched. “At least we don’t have to worry about disease, right?”
“Right. A Riddich’s internal heat kills off any diseases.”
She blew out a slow breath. She really should have thought of all this earlier. “And obviously I can’t fall pregnant.” She turned to him before she stood, her mouth going dry on seeing his hollowed cheeks and pale face. Her voice cracked. “Our species can’t breed with one another, right?”
“Are you not on birth control?”
She frowned, trying not to let panic overtake her. “My fiancé was my one and only lover, I had no reason to stay on the pill.”
He shook his head. “I should have known more about Earth women’s ways.”
She pressed a suddenly shaky hand to her mouth, overwhelmed by emotion. “What are you saying—that it’s possible for me to fall pregnant to you?”
He sat, his face stark. “It’s not only possible, it’s highly probable.” He blew out a slow breath, his brows pulling inward. “You’re a one-in-a-million breeder, a woman capable of continuing my Riddichian lineage.” His voice cracked. “If your flame-red hair didn’t give away your breeder status, my instinctive need to find you did.”
Marissa felt her insides grow cold, even as numbness flooded through her. Her father had tried to make her see Luke was wrong for her, but it seemed Asher was the man who best fitted that description. “Is that why you wanted to be with me? Why you wanted to fuck me? To save your species from extinction?”
His whole body tensed. “You know that’s not true.”
“Do I?” Her voice quavered. She shot to her feet. “I need to get out of here, get some fresh air.”
She dragged on the clothes she’d worn yesterday. She really needed to find another outfit, but that was the least of her problems. Besides, if her clothes began to stink badly enough, Asher mightn’t want to be with her anymore.
Odd how that hurt even more than knowing why he kept her around.
His shoulders bunched. “Not a good idea.”
From a great distance she acknowledged the pain drilling deep inside. But she’d deal with it later, right now hurt might stab at her physically, but it couldn’t touch her mentally.
She pulled her hair back into its ponytail, ignoring a sudden, vicious need to hack off its flame-red length. Instead she faced Asher, some of her self-contained hurt leaking out with her frigid words. “We might have fucked, but we’re not lovers. We’re not even a couple. You don’t get to tell me what to do. I want air. And I want to be alone.”
Chapter Fifteen
She didn’t give Asher time to argue with her. She didn’t want him to be there when she had a meltdown and succumbed to the hurt and tears inside. She ran down the cabin’s steps and stepped onto the clearing that doubled for a lawn.
For the moment she gloried in the numbness sealing everything inside. But it was a numbness that threatened to crumble if she stayed inside and exchanged more words with Asher. Words meant revealing feelings, and her feelings were something she didn’t want exposed.
She’d trusted him. Fool that she was she’d all but given him her heart on a damn silver platter!
The sun cracked the far horizon when she again broke into a run. Tree branches whipped at her face and pulled at her hair like spiny fingers, burning her nose with the pungent scent of eucalyptus. She heard Asher’s distant shout. It only made her run all the harder.
The tears came then, streaming down her face. Not just because of Asher’s betrayal. All the hurt, the deep aching regrets she’d stored inside poured out of her, sobs ripping free while she sprinted through the long grass and stumbled across rotting logs.
Only when the bush became too dense, did she slow and finally stop to draw in big gasps of air. Running had never been her thing, not in her rich privileged life and certainly not in her farming life where endless chores used up whatever energy she had.
At least her tears had dried and her jagged emotions were a little more under control. It didn’t stop the hairs on the backs of her arms from suddenly standing on end. Her every nerve ending prickling with fear, she did a slow turn.
She mightn’t see anything but dark trees and shadows where the dawn light hadn’t yet penetrated, but she knew better.
Her throat dried. What have I done?
She’d been running with no direction or thought and though she might already be lost, she wasn’t alone. Her head jerked back, her pulse stuttering as three Tantonics emerged from the dense shrubbery, their clawed hands gripping big gun-like weapons.
She’d barely noticed the reptilian freaks when Asher had shielded her from the flames in the burning wreck. Now she helplessly stared.
They had to be at least six foot tall, and built like fighting machines. She shuddered. Their reptilian eyes were cold and devoid of emotion behind flat, long-jawed faces. Barrel torsos were covered in crocodile-like armored scales. Bloody hell, even their genitals looked to have a scaly overgrowth to protect them.
Immobilized by fear, she had to force a backward step.
A red jewel glowed bright as crimson on each of the Tantonic’s throats. One of their hissing grunts became wooden-sounding words. “Run, and we will eliminate you.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, but strength was returning to her limbs. Surely it was better to die trying to outrun these hideous creatures than allowing them to lay even one clawed finger on her. She pivoted, and froze, her throat closing up at seeing another Tantonic standing right behind her. Fuck. She’d been so focused on the trio approaching her that she hadn’t noticed any others.
Its stubby arms grabbed hold of her like ice manacles. She struggled uselessly, but soon subsided as it easily pinned her in place. Its strength was incredible. How the hell did Asher defeat any of them? She stiffened. She wouldn’t give up either! She fought again to free herself, but its claws dug into her upper arms. Fuck. All she needed now was some kind of toxic alien bacteria getting into her bloodstream.
Lord only knew the aliens smelled worse than festering garbage.
She glared up it, disgust filling her at seeing its slitted eyes that were sharp with intelligence but dulled of any emotion. Then its nostrils flared and it inhaled noisily, before a spark of excitement glinted behind its eyes and the amulet on its neck glowed crimson. “You have mated with the Riddich king.”
Her breath staggered out. Had the alien detected an after-sex smell? She felt winded, wounded, and all too exposed. She pressed her lips shut. They’d get nothing out of her, not one word.
The other Tantonics surrounded her. One of them jerked free Marissa’s hair tie and slid its talons through her hair before it hissed, “She is a breeder.” It turned to its closest comrade. “Scan her.”
Her belly turned to liquid. What the hell were they planning to do to her? She was forcibly spun around, her spine pressed to the disgusting Tantonic who held her. She shuddered, bile rising in her throat when her captor’s genitals thickened against the small of her back. Clearly its armor protection didn’t prevent an erection.
One of the Tantonics lifted its gun, flicked a switch and then pointed the weapon at her belly. She screamed and lashed out, kicking into the lizard-man’s amulet. The Tantonic dropped its gun and grabbed its throat while making garbling, choking noises. Another of the aliens lifted a clawed hand and struck her hard across the face.
Her ears rang and everything spun, blood streaming from her nose and filling her mouth. There was no way in h
ell she could defeat one Tantonic let alone four of the bastards. The reptilian monsters had to be easily three times stronger.
“Do that again and you’re dead.” The hissing, flat voice of one of the aliens sounded all too clear this time, and she managed a feeble nod, though it felt as though the action split her head in two. There was a good chance she had concussion.
“You will learn, human dog, to respect the great Tantonic race.”
She couldn’t find the strength to reject their arrogant statement. She was hardly cognizant enough to realize the same reptilian alien she’d kicked had lifted the weapon again before swiping it to activate a bright orange beam.
The Tantonic looked far more wary as it played the beam across her torso. Warmth saturated her, and sweat sprung up on the back of her neck, her arms and upper lip.
What were they doing? Was it some kind of X-ray device? Her head swirled even as the truth finally dawned. They knew she and Asher had been together. The asshats were determining if his sperm had reached her egg.
The beam flicked off and the Tantonic turned to what appeared to be the leader of their small group. “Confirmed.”
Just how early were the aliens able to determine a pregnancy? It seemed almost too incredible to believe. Guess that sort of technology was nothing compared to shape shifting dragons and lizard aliens talking via amulets.
The leader’s toothless mouth warped into a grin. “Excellent news.”
Marissa’s knees quaked. She couldn’t give into these monsters. If she was indeed pregnant, no baby of hers would be raised by these monsters who no doubt hoped to extract his or her energy in just the same way they did with Asher’s people.
Her senses abruptly prickled and hummed and she stifled a gasp. Her lover was near. How or why she knew, she had no idea. But those same senses had warned her of the Tantonics well before she’d seen them.
She had to distract the reptilian aliens so that Asher had a chance to save her. Instinct told her he’d protect her ... but would it be because he cared for her or because she was his asset?