Her Empath

by Mina Carter

  “Let me see…” She put the bar back into place on the hooks above her and sat up. “Oh yes, that’s it. I’m doing my job. Do you have a problem with that, Commander?”

  He stomped around the perimeter of the matted area, a scowl plastered across his handsome features. He was cute when he was mad—Lyssa locked down that thought there and then. He was not cute in any way, shape or form. Nor good in bed.

  In fact, as an Empath who’d lied to her, he wasn’t sexy at all. As far as Meyers and sex was concerned, he simply didn’t exist for Lyssa. Or so she’d tried to tell herself over the past three weeks.

  “Your job? No, I have no problem with you doing your job, General. What I do have a problem with is you taking on a freaking suicide mission!” He stopped in front of her, his blue eyes cutting like lasers as he looked down at her. “You’re the captain. You shouldn’t be leading combat teams. Combined fleet regulations—“

  “If you even think you can quote fleet regs to me on my own ship, young man, you have another thing coming. “ Lyssa surged to her feet in front of him and jabbed a finger into his chest. “I am in command of this ship, not some jumped up Empath and don’t you bloody well forget it.”

  “Not like I’m damn well likely to, is it?”

  JJ’s voice verged on a snarl, but he didn’t back down in the face of her anger. Grudgingly, she’d had to admit that impressed her. Even Johnson would have quailed at meeting her head on like this. Her second would have happily admitted that, when dealing with her, discretion was the better part of valor and found another way around the problem. Which was one reason Johnson was just an officer under her command, yet she’d give anything she owned to go back and relive that night with JJ all over again.

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You know what I mean. You. Hiding behind that damn uniform all the time.”

  He flicked a look down in emphasis and paused for a moment. Dark heat flared behind the ocean blue of his eyes. She ignored the tremor of excitement that flared through her at the look. They were way past that, no going back.

  “Err, I’m a marine? Uniform is mandatory.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit. I’ve tried to be polite and talk to you, but you shut me down every time I try.”

  Now she was left to contend with the heat of the blush that tried to crawl over her cheeks and the thrill of excitement at having him so close, close enough that she could feel his body heat against her chilled skin. It, and the man it radiated from, called to everything within her, but she resisted. She would be captain on her own ship.

  She had been shutting him down. When he walked into a room, she found a reason to be somewhere else. When he tried to talk to her about anything other than work, she had an urgent appointment elsewhere. It was the only way she was managing to keep her sanity about him when all she wanted to do was strip the uniform from his lean body and wrap herself around him.

  “There! You’re blushing and you have scales!” His voice rang with triumph as he stepped closer. She backed up half a step, but the back of her knees bumped against the weight bench. Trapped. Again.

  Forbidden excitement and pure, wanton need echoed through her. Her fingertips flew to her face and, sure enough, she could feel the change in her skin. Her cheeks burned and she looked away. She rarely, if ever, displayed scale these days. She’d learnt to control herself long ago.

  “Piss off!”

  A strong finger hooked under her jaw and pulled her face around so he could look into her eyes. The anger was gone, leaving a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

  “You’re embarrassed about it. Why?”

  She gritted her teeth. Damn the man, why did he have to be so bloody perceptive? “You’re the Empath, why don’t you tell me? That’s what you people do, isn’t it? Poke about in people’s heads without so much as a by your leave?”

  “Most people, yeah. You…no.”

  Lyssa tilted her head in curiosity. “What makes me different?”

  He shrugged. “You’re not most people. You’re part Telatian, something about your blood foils my abilities. I can only get glimpses, but I usually have to be touching you. Since…that night, you haven’t let me near enough to touch you, Kitten. I haven’t had a chance to read anything. You’ll have to tell me, why do your scales embarrass you?”

  “Don’t call me that.” The order was instinctive. If he started calling her Kitten in that warm tone of voice she was going to end up in a puddle at his feet.

  “Tell me.”

  “Screw you.”

  If he started with the dominant, alpha male routine again she was sunk. Lyssa tried to evade his touch, feeling more of her skin change as he stroked warm fingers over it. Almost like the damn stuff yearned for his touch. Like the rest of her damn traitorous body.

  “Tell me, Kitten. I want to know. I want to know everything about you.”

  She batted his hands away. Desperation hummed through her body. She had to get away from him before she did something stupid. Like invite him back to her quarters or, worse, beg him to take her here in the gym.

  “Why? So you can keep me on a leash like Reilly wanted?” Her answer was a cry of frustration and deep hurt. She’d thought she and Daniel were friends, yet he’d set a guard dog on her.

  He moved like lightning. His hand snapped out and slid into the hair at the nape of her neck to hold her still. His expression was forbidding and dangerous…and so very exciting.

  “No, Kitten, not for Reilly. If I put you on a leash, it’ll be for me.” His voice dropped low and hoarse, filled with the same desperate need that filled her veins. “I don’t give a fuck about Reilly and his agendas. He wants me to seduce you, get you under my sway, yeah…and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you.”

  The fingers of his free hand stroked over her scales again. “They’re beautiful, just like you. Never be embarrassed about your nature with me.”

  Then he released her and stepped back, his eyes hard as he looked down at her.

  “I want you, Lyssa, but the choice is yours. I’ve never forced a woman and I don’t intend to start with you. If you come to me, it’ll be of your own free will.”

  Darkness and heat fought for dominance, his eyes sparkling as he swept a gaze over her again. She caught her breath on a gasp as her body reacted as though he had touched her. Her belly tightened deep within, her breasts were full and aching for his touch.

  “Out here, you’re the boss.” He indicated the ship around them. “And you can stomp around and issue orders to your heart’s content. That’s your job, it’s who you are. But if you come to me, then it’s on my terms. When you come to me, I’m in charge. And yes, I will put a leash on you, Kitten. I’ll bind you to my bed and love you until you scream. Until you beg me never to stop.”

  He turned to go, but stopped and looked over his shoulder to where she was stood in shock.

  “Your call, General. I’ll be in my quarters.”

  4

  Did she dare do this?

  Half an hour later, Lyssa stood naked in front of the double mirror in her quarters, and studied her reflection. She turned this way and that, trying to look at herself from every possible angle. Was she too skinny or too toned? Did her bum sag a little? Was she too old and pathetic to even be considering this?

  When you come to me, I’m in charge…

  She bit her lip as her pussy clenched hard and memories of their night together assailed her. He was a fierce lover, by turns dominant and caring. A surprise to find in a human, especially one so young, it was something she’d expect to find more in a Telatian male…

  Her eyes widened a little as she stopped posing in the mirror and grabbed a soft wrap dress from the bed. Off duty she preferred loose, casual clothing. That was it. He was exactly how she expected a male of her own kind to be…and why she reacted so instinctively to him.

  Not bothering with shoes for the short walk between her quarters and his, she belted the waist of th
e dress firmly and checked her expression in the mirror. She pursed her lips critically and fluffed the mass of her hair before admitting that it was a lost cause. The damn stuff did exactly what it wanted, when it wanted.

  She took a deep breath and headed for the door. Heaven help her, she couldn’t resist him.

  She wasn’t coming.

  JJ sat on the low couch in the corner of his quarters, a half full whiskey glass in his hand as he looked out the porthole above him. It was a small window, nothing like the large floor to ceiling picture windows he’d been used to on other assignments. In fact, his whole quarters on the Arcadia would have fit lock, stock and barrel into his bedroom on his last assignment, the CFS Magellan.

  That was to be expected though. This was a marine boat, a full on battleship. He knew for a fact that, for all her rank, Lyssa’s quarters were no bigger. In fact, as she had an office crammed into the living space as well, they were actually slightly smaller.

  Lyssa. His amorous thoughts side–tracked him as he thought of the part–Telatian woman. His cock was still at half–mast from their encounter in the gym earlier. Cupping himself, JJ groaned. If she didn’t show, he’d need to sort himself out.

  If she didn’t show… He shook his head, released his cock and downed the drink in one long swallow. If she didn’t show, he’d have to think of something else. He wanted her with a ferocity that startled him. All his other lovers he could take or leave, but Lyssa had gotten under his skin.

  Take this assignment. He had standing orders to seduce her, get her into his bed and under the powerful sway of an Empath. That was what Reilly wanted. It was what JJ wanted although for entirely different reasons. With any other assignment though, he’d have been looking elsewhere on the ship as well.

  Whilst his main mission was underway, namely the seduction of the CO, he’d have also found another outlet for his passion. Perhaps a fresh faced young ensign he could manipulate easily into silence. On the Arcadia that would be easy. He’d noticed some of the female crew giving him interested looks. A few of the men too, but JJ was so not going there. He knew a few Empaths did, sometimes love just didn’t care about gender, but it just wasn’t for him.

  Unlike on other assignments, he ignored them all. None of them interested him in the slightest. The only woman he was interested in aboard the Arcadia was the flame–haired CO with the silky scales he yearned to feel against his skin. Who’d have guessed it? An Empath falling hard in lust with a Telatian? It was like mixing oil and water.

  Sighing, he studied his glass. He was too lazy to move. “I don’t suppose you’d be a good chap and refill yourself, would you?”

  The glass stubbornly refused to answer.

  “No, I thought not.”

  Groaning like an old man, JJ levered his tall form off the couch and padded to the drinks cabinet. He’d shed his uniform shirt and jacket as soon as he’d stepped through the door and his boots were abandoned under the coffee table. He stood for a moment with his refill drink and studied himself in the reflection of the strip window in front of him.

  He was tall, well over six foot, and lean. His body was toned, although he had to admit he didn’t put much effort into keeping it that way. Empaths had high metabolisms, so eating enough was more of an issue than any weight gain.

  He swept a hand down his chest, ruffling the slight line of hair bisecting his pecs then travelling downward to disappear under his waistband. Perhaps he should get a tattoo. Telatian males were supposed to be covered in elaborate tattoos. Maybe ink was the way to Lyssa’s heart. The way to get her to love him.

  Whoa. Stop. When did he start thinking the ‘L’ word? He never thought the ‘L’ word, it wasn’t in his vocabulary. Before he could follow that disturbing train of thought any further, the door chimes rang.

  She was here. She’d accepted his terms.

  Anticipation, dark desire and something else JJ didn’t want to put a name to raged through his veins as he walked across to the door. He didn’t bother to grab the shirt across the back of the chair as he went. Lyssa knew what was going to happen when she stepped through the door and he didn’t see the point in putting the thing on just to take it off again.

  He leaned one shoulder against the edge of the recessed frame as the door slid open. Lyssa stood on the other side and it didn’t take a genius to work out she was nervous. Oh, she was more self–contained than to show it overtly. After three weeks studying her, though, and one hot night imprinted in his memory forevermore, JJ knew her.

  The slight flush on her cheeks, the way her gaze darted around the room behind him rather than look at him and the tense set of her body… Yeah, his kitten was like a cat on a hot tin roof.

  “Coming in, or just going to stand there gawking?” He turned to let her pass, motioning for her to enter with a sardonic gesture.

  The flush on her cheeks deepened as she nodded and passed him. Her footsteps were light and almost soundless on the carpeted deck. She was barefoot. Dragged from his contemplation of her soft lilac wrap dress, JJ’s attention shifted to her slender feet.

  Stopping in the middle of the room, she looked about. The expression in her eyes shot JJ through to the core. It was the first time he’d seen the self–assured general hesitant and unsure.

  “I–I don’t do this sort of thing normally, you know—“

  “Sssshhhh.”

  He was there before she could finish her sentence. His fingers pressed against her lips to stop her talking. He’d more interesting plans for those lips than chatter. “I know, Kitten. Do you think I don’t know everything about you?”

  She reared back, the look in her eyes sharp and the anger he knew lurked just behind the calm façade sparkling in her amber eyes. “What do you mean, you know everything about me?”

  He smiled, stroking his thumb over her cheekbone. He loved that about her. She was easy to rouse to anger or passion, and so delightfully responsive, his cock hardened just thinking about it. If his cock wasn’t already at rampant attention.

  “I know you’re dedicated to your job, you’re a good commander and your people worship you. You never leave a man behind or send one out alone. You’d walk across the galaxy to do your duty or keep your people safe.”

  She relaxed at his words, her body shifting from rigid to pliant under his hands. Something that looked suspiciously like tears sparkled in her eyes for a second before she blinked them away.

  “I’m not sure what to say to that.”

  His hand cupped the side of her neck, then slid into her hair. Still looking down into her face, he tilted her lips up.

  “Don’t say anything. Tonight’s not about talking, it’s about this.”

  He leaned down and took her lips in a kiss so hot it rivaled a scarlet supernova. At the first touch of her soft lips, he groaned, then her sweet taste exploded in his mouth and he was lost. Trying not to be rough and only just managing it, he hauled her into his arms and plundered her mouth.

  She didn’t fight. Instead she relaxed and let him in, letting him have his way as his tongue swept past her lips to explore and seek out hers. She clung to him, pressing her softer curves against him in such a way the primal male animal inside rumbled in approval. Tomorrow she would go back to being the uber–marine, a killing machine designed for the battlefield. But tonight, tonight she was woman and he was man.

  And she was his woman.

  Despite all his plans to exert control over her and make her dance to his tune. To hold himself away from her until she was shuddering with need and begging him to take her… JJ couldn’t wait. He swept her up in his arms and crossed the room in swift steps.

  A soft chuckle whispered against the side of his neck as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “In a bit of a hurry there, Tiger?”

  JJ paused in front of the doorway to look at her. Mischief sparkled in her eyes and her slender fingers drew small circles on his bare shoulder.

  “Quiet, wench,” he mock–growled. “Before I decide you need
a good fucking here and now.”

  Her eyebrow raised a little as laughter filled her eyes. “Oh will you now? I dunno… You sure you’re man enough to take on a snake–woman?”

  It was the first time she’d actively referred to that part of her nature, which surprised him and added yet more heat to the fire currently raging in his loins. The gentle challenge to his authority did things to his body that should be illegal, as the fire within him turned into a raging inferno.

  Fuck the bed, it was too far away.

  Sliding her down his body, he walked her backward a few steps. Her back hit the wall at the same time he took her lips again. Pressing her backward into the cool metal, he smoothed his hands down both sides of her neck and across onto her shoulders.

  “Scales, Kitten.” He broke the kiss long enough to gasp. “I want to feel them as I mak—as I take you.”

  She stiffened at the request, silent as he resumed kissing her. His lips caressed hers again, moving across her jaw and onto her neck. Was she going to surrender and give him what he wanted or would she defy him and give him chance to punish her in a way that would leave them both weak with pleasure?

  Either way was good for him, he decided as he pulled the belt of her dress free. The fabric parted and fell from her luscious body. He dragged a hard breath in as he realized she was naked under it. Fuck it, they were never going to make it to the bed.

  Surging against her, he pressed her harder into the wall and dragged her leg up over his hip. Burying his face into the curve of her neck, he ground his pelvis against hers, trying to ease the savage ache of his erection. The pressure didn’t help, only made it worse as he realized that only a thin layer of fabric separated him from sinking into her tight pussy.