by Mary Auclair
“You taste so damn good.”
Arlen went down again, his slightly raspy tongue circling her clit then flicking over it before sliding down to her entrance and back again. Her walls clenched as another climax approached, fast, and all Ava could do was feel.
She wasn’t a doctor anymore, wasn’t a woman who fought every day for her place in the world. Now she was all female need, her entire being reduced to a mass of needy flesh under Arlen’s expert tongue.
Then he ceased, his mouth leaving her flesh screaming in frustration. Ava opened her eyes, outrage pouring out of her at being denied his touch.
“You won’t come from my tongue,” he instructed, and her flesh quivered anew at the authority in his voice. She was aroused by it, by that core of steel in everything he did. “I will make you scream, but it will be with my body inside yours.”
Arlen watched her with the face of a predator as her eyes went down to his length. His sex jutted straight out in front of him, long and thick over the tight sac of his balls. He was fully aroused, a shimmering drop of pre-cum glistening on the tip of his erection.
A flutter of fear mixed with her excitement as she stared at it. It was so big, she wasn’t sure it would fit.
Arlen lowered himself over her, his knees spreading her legs far apart, his gaze on her body, focused on the possession to come. Then the tip of his cock was at her entrance, and he pushed. A sharp pain shot through her as he breached it, and a whimper escaped her lips.
He stopped, then withdrew, understanding spreading across his features. “You never had a male take you before?”
“No,” she admitted, her cheeks burning. “Knut made sure of it. No man could get close to me without supervision.”
Arlen got back to his knees, his face unreadable. Pain shot through Ava’s heart as he pulled away.
“Are you rejecting me?” She hated the fear in her voice, the pleading tone she hadn’t been able to suppress.
Arlen frowned, then shook his head. “No male in his right mind would ever reject you.” He lowered himself between her spread legs, his breath hot and infuriatingly close to her flesh. “But I need to prepare you better, then you will be ready for me.”
“Oh.”
Then there was no place for words anymore. Arlen flicked her clit with his tongue as one large, thick finger came to circle her entrance. Her walls clenched with a need to be filled that was strong enough to drive her insane. He pushed his finger inside, but only the tip of it as his tongue kept up his merciless assault on her clit.
She was close, so close to coming, it hurt.
Another finger joined his first, just at the opening, stretching it until the shadow of pain appeared, but it was lost in the sensations coming from his mouth.
Then Arlen sucked sharply and hard on her little nub.
Her climax exploded, rippling through her body in waves of strengthening ecstasy. At the same moment, his fingers breached her entrance, pushing with a steady force until he was embedded deep inside. The bite of pain was lost in the wake of her pleasure and as Arlen pushed against the inside of her clit with his digit, Ava’s body shuddered through another climax, following the first without truly ending.
She screamed long and hard as the orgasm rocked through her until, finally, she collapsed on her back, blinking through the fog in the aftermath of her pleasure.
Arlen withdrew, then came to hover above her, bracing his weight on his elbow. He watched her with a satisfied expression as he planted a kiss on her mouth. Her taste and smell mixed with his as he kissed her deeply. When her lungs began to scream for air, he broke the kiss.
His eyes locked with hers, full of something she didn’t understand. A wound, raw and bleeding, shone in his expression as he brushed a strand of hair from her brow.
Arlen moved, positioning his hips so his sex was at her entrance. He gave her a second, then lowered himself, allowing gravity to pull him down in one long, slow motion. Ava buried her face in his neck as a sharp pain shot through her where his large cock entered her, but she was so wet that it slid in easily and soon he had embedded himself deep inside her.
“Mine.” Arlen spoke against her neck and it sounded more like a challenge than a promise. “You are mine, Ava. Your life is mine, your body is mine. I will never let you go. You carry my life in your veins.”
She wanted to speak, wanted to ask what he meant, but he didn’t give her the choice. His fingers closed around her chin as he held her face in place. His lips sealed over hers as he withdrew his sex almost entirely, then pushed inside her again in one slow, controlled movement.
Then again, and again.
Sensations began building anew from deep inside her as Arlen’s thick cock hit all her nerve endings and soon, Ava was moving her hips in tandem with his thrusts. Her eagerness made him pound harder and faster inside her, his cock becoming impossibly large and hard as his own pleasure grew.
Then Arlen reached between their bodies, his thumb just brushing the surface of her clit.
Ava shattered, her scream filling the room yet again. The next moment, the sound of her voice was drowned out by Arlen’s roar as he pounded inside her one more time, then pushed deep, embedding himself to the hilt. Hot semen spilled inside her walls, making her climax even stronger.
She screamed until her voice broke and she blinked, spent and stunned.
Then, finally, Arlen collapsed on top of her, bracing just enough of his weight not to crush her. His arms closed around her as he held her tight, his breaths coming deep and fast at her neck.
“Never,” he whispered against her hair. “I won’t lose you. I can’t ever lose you.”
The way he held her, like she was the most precious thing in the universe, made her throat close up. There was something there she didn’t fully understand, something deeper than just some toxin-induced crazy sex.
There was a depth to Arlen’s way of holding her, a despair that tore at her insides and made her want nothing else but to hold him until that wretched sadness was gone.
She wanted to tell him that she was never leaving, that she was his forever.
But as Arlen held her in his warmth, for the first time in her life, she stayed silent. She held him tight, her arms barely able to close around his wide back. She didn’t know why, but she knew he needed this more than any words she could tell him.
After a long time, Arlen released her, but he never broke contact. He lay by her side, gathering her into his arms, his hot, powerful body shielding her from the cold.
Then she slept, and for the first time in her life, she felt completely safe.
12
Ava
She woke up to a basking warmth but as her eyes fluttered open, a sudden chill enveloped her mind. She was alone in the bed; the covers pulled all the way to her chin. As she turned, Ava couldn’t resist the temptation to reach for the indentation on Arlen’s pillow. She traced the contour of the round imprint where his head had been.
It was as cold as she feared. He had been gone for a long time, then.
Ava sat up, gathering the sheets around her breasts. She took a good look around, something she hadn’t had time to do last night. Or hadn’t even thought of doing.
But now she did.
The room was stripped of everything that had ever belonged to Knut. Not a single piece of furniture remained; the floor was bare except for the bed and a small rectangular nightstand. Those were clean and simple in design, made for efficiency instead of show. They were nothing like what Knut would have liked.
Somehow, that made it better.
The bedroom wasn’t all bad now that Knut’s stuff was gone. The light reflected off the pale pink of the walls as a breeze flowed in, floating across the air like the clouds were trying to reach in. Ava got to her feet, wrapping the plain silk sheet around her body as she went to stand on the balcony.
The garden was just below, its flowers sending spirals of intoxicating perfume into the air. Ava closed her eyes, the delights of t
he night before coming back in waves. Her hand went to her mouth, and she smiled.
It had been the most intense, the most pleasurable experience of her entire life.
Arlen wasn’t just a good lover. He was the lover lovers should learn from. Not that she had any comparison, but she had heard enough women complain about men not caring about their partner’s satisfaction to know this level of pleasure was not the norm in human sexuality.
No matter what happened next, she didn’t regret her night with Arlen.
Ava turned from the balcony and walked back inside, staring at the sparse but functional new furniture in the living room. There was a sofa and a low table in the same minimalist style as the bed, and nowhere could she see any of Knut’s precious little treasures—all those jewel encrusted vases and priceless artifacts looted from other worlds. Everything had a new, clean feeling, and she was strangely at ease.
Then she turned and stared at the portrait on the wall.
“It’s the only thing I didn’t get rid of. I’m glad I didn’t, it would be a shame to destroy such a piece of art.”
A male voice had her swirling around, startled. Arlen stood there, in front of a table piled high with delicious looking food.
“I thought you’d left.”
Ava held the sheet closer around her body as Arlen eyed her, his face, usually devoid of expression, now openly appreciative as his gaze slid to her naked shoulders and then lower. He smiled, and for the first time, it looked like it came easy to him. She saw the shadow of the man he must have been a long time ago, before something horrible happened and turned him into the intransigent block of ice he was. Most of the time.
Now, there was an ease in the way he moved toward her, his eyes bright and his expression open and soft. Her heart surged as he wrapped his arms around her, and she gave way to her impulse to cradle her head on his chest. He was shirtless, and the feel of his skin was good under her cheek. Her fingers went to trace the swirl of a series of tiny bumps on his arm, appreciating the texture of his skin. It was soft and leathery, thick and resilient, but not unpleasant.
“Something happened that I had to take care of.”
Ava lifted her head to meet Arlen’s gaze. He stared down at her, his hard, full lips relaxed, but his eyes clouded with worry.
“What is it?” she asked. Arlen threw her a displeased pout, but Ava nudged him playfully. “I know this planet like the back of my hand. Maybe I can help.”
The corners of his mouth lifted more and he nodded. “We still can’t contact Facility Twenty-One.” He shook his head. “And the reconnaissance team I sent two days ago hasn’t been answering our calls. I’ll have to address this before Prime Councilor Aav gets wind of it. I don’t want to give her any reason to stay on Aveyn longer.”
Ava blinked, confused. “Even after all this time?” Her heart fluttered and she looked away to hide her reaction, but Arlen’s eyes were sharp. “A magnetic storm strong enough could take down an entire communication network, for sure.”
“Could be.” Arlen didn’t seem convinced. “But this is the second team I sent to that facility. They wouldn’t all be stopped by a mere storm system.”
“The mountains in that part of Aveyn have a strong geomagnetic field. They block or scramble all radio signals except the strongest. Your warriors wouldn’t be able to use the emitters from their transport. They would need to reach Facility Twenty-One to send a message. It’s not unusual to have magnetic storms last for weeks. That’s why there aren’t more facilities down in the Southern Hemisphere. Too much risk of piracy from off-world looters.”
Arlen nodded, his face still dubious, but less worried. “I’ll give them another two days, then I’ll send a full force of Eok warriors to see what’s going on.”
As if that had closed the subject, he picked her up in one swift motion. Ava cried out in surprise, holding on to his neck as he walked her all the way to the dining table, then placed her carefully on a seat before sitting in front of her on the opposite side.
“What is all this?” Ava stared at the piles of food, almost all of them unknown to her. “I barely recognize any of it.”
“This is what humans will eat every day on Aveyn.” Arlen smiled as she looked at the food, prodding it with her fork. All of it was vegetarian, but the grains and vegetables were strange to her. “For now, it’s imported from other planets, but soon, I hope Jonah will have stabilized the population enough in their new homes in the Tower for them to be able to start cultivating the land around it. These are only a few of the crops Khal has inventoried that would perform well in Aveyn’s temperate climate. Soon, my brother Kamal will bring back seeds and seedlings to plant.”
“It looks wonderful. Much better than what we were all used to eating.” Ava saw Arlen’s surprise, then she explained. “Knut always ate and drank whatever was the best, the fanciest, but he imported everything. The rest of the population—including Uril and me over the last few months—ate the nutrition packs three times a day. He always said that was the best for us.”
Arlen’s eyes flashed with anger and he piled food high on a plate, then handed it to her. Ava eyed it cautiously before taking a bite. She whimpered as she chewed, swallowing fast before filling her mouth some more.
“This is what is best for humans. Real food, grown right here on their homeland. Soon, Khal will have finished the survey to establish which animals would be best suited as livestock as well. No human will ever have to survive on that gray sludge ever again.”
Ava swallowed, pushing the food down a suddenly tight throat. “I thought the Eoks were only tasked with our security. Why do you care what we eat?”
Arlen lifted his eyes to her as he put food on his own plate. Intelligence shone in his gaze, as well as a regard that went deeper than what she had seen before. A genuine interest in the human population’s well-being. “A people who cannot feed themselves can never be truly safe.”
He spoke simply, then went on to eat his own food. It was so strange, being with him like this. Eating breakfast after a night of lovemaking, like this was the most normal thing in the world.
Only it wasn’t. Arlen and she weren’t lovers. Apart from a few hot kissing sessions, they were virtually strangers. Was this what he had intended for the future when he claimed her as mate? A life of domestic bliss and easy mornings?
What would happen next, when his mission on Aveyn was finished? Too much had happened in a too short time. There was so much she needed to ask and so little she wanted to know… because she was scared of the answers, because she wanted to keep the peace of the moment, no matter the heartbreak to follow.
Only her life was no fairytale, and she had to break the spell.
“What will happen to Uril?” When Arlen looked down at his food, his face a mask void of emotion, she understood. “Prime Councilor Aav is still here, and anyone could tell her I’m not the only hybrid on Aveyn. If she finds him…” Her voice broke at the terrifying prospect.
Arlen scowled, obviously displeased, but he nodded. “Uril is not protected under Eok laws.” He spoke with obvious regret. “His only chance is to stay hidden until Prime Councilor Aav leaves. I don’t think she will linger, despite her obvious curiosity. She cannot stay absent for long from her seat in the Ring’s headquarters. There are many who envy her position and would take advantage of her absence. And if there is anything she values more than satisfying her curiosity, it is keeping her power.”
“So, all we have to do is make sure she doesn’t find him.”
It sounded so simple, yet it was anything but. Keeping Uril’s existence a secret was a temporary solution, it merely bought them time—whether a little or a lot, she didn’t know. But it wasn’t going to be forever.
“So, this is it? Are we supposed to live like this is just normal? Happily ever after on an ex-slave producing planet with a Mantrilla breathing down our necks?”
Ava put down her fork and lifted her gaze to see Arlen watching her, his face unreadable
again, closed off and cold. Gone was the careless warmth of a moment ago.
“You are my mate. Nothing can change that now.” He was the Commander again, all the way to his voice, and for some reason, that hurt. “Prime Councilor Aav can’t do anything about it. You are under my protection, and under Eok laws protection.”
“And what does this mean for the future?” She tried to control the defiant tone in her voice, but it didn’t quite work. “For my work, my life on Aveyn? For Uril?”
“Your life will be by my side now.” Arlen stiffened and his pale eyes turned a shade darker. “There is no question about that. When this mission is finished, we will leave for Eokim where you will be safe.”
“I don’t remember signing up for that.” Her temper flared, the tenderness of moments ago receding into memory. “In fact, I don’t remember agreeing to anything!”
“You stood on that platform of your own free will.” Arlen got to his feet slowly, his face like a storm, brewing with emotions deep and dangerous. “There is no going back now. You made your choice.”
Ava got to her feet in tandem with Arlen, anger rising inside her, pushing the awareness of danger away. She wasn’t going to be owned by anyone, not even him. And she wasn’t going to let him see how much it hurt to be treated that way. “And what if I refuse?” She spoke in a low, soft voice, but there was no mistaking the threat in her tone. “What if I decide to leave?”
Arlen’s reaction was immediate. He hissed at her, his fangs bared, rage radiating out of his pores as a feral glint lit his gaze. Ava stood her ground, ignoring the basic survival instinct that told her to submit to the stronger male.
She was never submitting again.
“Never! You are my bloodmate.” His voice was a growl and his shoulders were stiff with tension. “Do you understand what that means? I will never let you leave.”
“Bloodmate?” This was a term Ava had heard before, from the human woman Aliena when she’d come to Aveyn with her Eok mate, Kamal. Ava knew it was something important, a piece of information vital to her relationship to Arlen. “Like your brother and his mate, Aliena?”