He settled on his side and she had to push again to get him to lie down on his back. When he returned from fighting the League destroyers… She shuddered as the word -- if -- tried to intrude. He would return, and when he did, she wouldn’t be here. Everything she had to give, she had to give now. For them, there would be no tomorrow.
She traced his face with shaking hands, memorizing every curve and hollow. She wanted everything about him, how he looked, smelled, tasted, felt and sounded, so completely burned into her subconscious that even when anesthetized for the retrieval, he would fill her senses.
A smile tugged at her lips. He was still the most beautiful male she’d ever seen and that was saying a lot considering all the VanDai males she’d seen. They were a magnificent race and Kai was the most impressive of them all. He made her want to stop what she was doing.
“Why did you steal your father’s plan?”
She jumped, startled by his question. Had she spoken aloud? Was he reading her mind? It was more likely they were thinking the same things because of what was coming. And hadn’t she asked herself the same question a thousand times?
“When I found out, I thought about ignoring it, pretending I’d never heard of it, trying to make myself believe it couldn’t be true. That would have been the easiest. Just go on with my life and never look outside my own narrow existence.”
“Why didn’t you?”
That was the harder question. Her heavy lashes lowered, hiding her eyes from him but hiding wasn’t something she did well and she wasn’t going to hide any part of herself from him.
Chin lifted, she met his intent stare straight on. “I couldn’t have lived with myself if I did nothing.”
“And?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. “And I had to do something for my brother.” She opened her eyes, met his steady stare and smiled.
“Your brother?”
“Yes. The beautiful little boy my father didn’t let live.” Her hands fisted and she glared at Kai. How could a man kill his own child? How could he hate enough to destroy his own flesh and blood?
Kai grasped her head and pulled her face down to his. His lips were hard, forcing hers apart so his tongue could plunge deep. She was breathless when he released her, thinking of nothing but him. She started to rise off the bed but he clasped her to him.
“Come with me.” She tried to push away from him again.
Kai’s eyes narrowed in warning. “I want you right here in my arms.”
She glowered down at him. “I want you in the bathing pool with me so I can do wicked things to your body.”
His brows lifted. “Wicked?”
She felt the heat rush into her face but didn’t let embarrassment stop her as she smiled. “Wonderfully wicked.”
Kai sat up, lifted her off the bed and quickly stood beside her. She couldn’t look away from his half erect penis. It made her mouth water and the wet heat between her legs run. She’d never dreamed she would enjoy a man’s cock in her mouth, his taste as he spilled himself in her. With Kai, the thought made her burn. She wanted everything with him. Everything in every way.
Taking his hand, she led him to the huge pool and took the steps into it first. His free hand cupped her ass and squeezed as she touched the bottom of the pool and the clean gel rippled just below her breasts.
She wriggled against him and started to lean back before she caught herself. This was for his pleasure, not her own, though she would enjoy every moment. Touching him was a pure sensual delight.
With one last wriggle of her bottom, she turned to face him. He towered over her. His shoulders were so wide they made her feel small. She ran her hands over the hard planes of his chest and closed her eyes. His skin was rougher than hers, the hair on his chest more furry than coarse.
And his smell…
She took a deep breath, trying to inhale the warm musk of maleness that was uniquely his. It was a wonder that everywhere he went, he didn’t end up with women throwing themselves on him. Given half a chance, she would.
“What are you doing?”
She looked up from smelling him and had to smile at the quizzical expression on his face. “Memorizing you. How you feel. How you smell. How you look.”
“Everything about you is fixed in my mind.” His eyes caressed her face, skimmed down her neck and chest and lingered on her breasts. He murmured a low sound of satisfaction as her nipples hardened, their color deepening as blood rushed into them.
Her hands rose to her breasts and she cupped them, lifting them to offer to him. She licked her lips as she looked at his mouth. He lowered his head and sipped one breast into his mouth, the pressure light, his tongue flicking the swollen tip.
Her head fell back and she clasped his head with her hands. She felt every gentle tug, every stroke of his tongue from her nipple to her heels. Her sheath clenched and her fingers massaged his scalp.
He moved to her other breast and sucked all around her nipple, drawing on her flesh but never taking the pebbled nub.
Desperate, making a low keening sound she’d never heard herself make before, she reached down and grasped his cock. If he was going to torment her she was going to return the torment.
She wrapped one hand around him and pumped. She used the hard, fast pace she knew he liked. Her other hand weighed and played with his balls. The clean gel left no trace of pre-cum but in her mind she could picture the welling of silky white fluid in the slit of his broad head.
“Kai --”
He latched onto her breast, stalling her words and thoughts and making her cry out. Her body jerked. Her hands tightened on his cock. He sucked hard. His hips thrust at her, his cock twitched in her fisted hand.
Genae grasped him tighter, her lips drawn back and her head moving from side to side. His mouth attached to her breast, sucking, pulling, crushing, was more than she could stand. She grimaced as the pulling sensation arrowed down to her womb. She melted inside as every muscle in her body knotted.
Her mouth opened, her cry silent as a fierce orgasm ravaged her body, driven by his mouth on her breast.
Kai finally released her. He didn’t want to, but his cock throbbed with the need for attention. He knew his appetite was driven by fear but he didn’t care. He was VanDai and he would face even this straight on.
Genae lay half bowed over his arm. His mouth curved up in a satisfied smile as he looked at her. Her left breast was red from his fierce attention, her nipple swollen and almost bruised looking.
His cock jerked between them. He wanted her hands on him again. He wanted more than that. He wanted her mouth.
Lifting her in his arms, he strode to the edge of the pool. It was slightly shallower there. The perfect height for him to sit on the rim as she loved him with her mouth.
He lowered her legs and held her until he was sure her feet were solidly placed on the bottom of the pool and she could keep herself upright. He took a step away from her, turned and levered himself up to sit on the side of the pool.
He studied her face as he grasped his cock. Her eyes were dark and dreamy. Her expression soft, but it was her mouth that caught and held his attention. Full and softly pink, he knew it would become puffy and red after she sucked him, her lips rubbing against his cock as her mouth swallowed him.
She licked her lips and a shudder raced through him. His balls tightened. He looked down and saw pearly liquid crowning the great head of his penis.
He opened his mouth to tell her that drop of life was for her but he never got the chance. She swooped down, her tongue swirled his essence from his cock, and she swallowed him deep. Deeper than she’d ever taken him before.
Kai braced himself on his arms, elbows locked, and watched her. Her head bobbed as she tried to swallow him. Her lips rode up and down his length, stretched by his girth.
His breath broke as she retreated, sucking and licking the head of his cock as if it were candy. He fought the great spurts of cum threatening to explode from him bu
t fed her with small wellings he couldn’t withhold.
The sight of her lapping up his offering, licking and suckling, the sound of her happy murmurs and noisy slurping drove him to the brink.
“Take me deeper,” he ordered and grasped her head to ensure she did it. The beast inside rose and he thrust into her mouth, fucking her with fierce, short jabs.
“Suck me,” he directed, his voice guttural, and groaned when she did it.
“Suck harder.”
His face contorted as she tried to suck his soul from his cock. He grabbed her hand, forced it around his cock and held it in place as he rode into her mouth. His fingers laced with hers, both squeezing as her mouth took him and he thrust.
“Yes!” He yelled his release as the inferno raced through him. He pulsed into her mouth, came harder as he watched her take him. Even when he was spent, she sucked, working his softening flesh with mouth and lips and hands.
Kai let his head drop to his chest. If someday he forgot everything else, he knew he would remember this moment. Sated, content, even happy. His woman giving him everything and the world around them quiet in spite of what was to come.
He kneaded her scalp and slowly drew her head back, pulling his cock from her avid mouth. She murmured a protest and he wanted to howl his own. In her mouth or her cunt was where he wanted his cock to be.
His heart rate settled as he lifted Genae out of the pool to sit beside him. She immediately leaned into him, her eyes drifting shut. He laid her back on the floor, his hands smoothing over her breasts and stomach when she mumbled a protest without opening her eyes.
Slowly, his legs more unsteady than they had ever been before, Kai rose to his feet. He admired Genae stretched naked at his feet, lust kicking hard and fast. He savored the burn of it even as he cursed his undisciplined body. They had only hours. If either of them was to survive what was to come, they needed sleep, not more sex.
Reaching down, he scooped her up in his arms and strode to the bed. He settled her before climbing onto the bed and settling himself beside her. When he had her wrapped in his arms, held tight to his chest and one of his legs pinning both of hers, he breathed a contented sigh.
Chapter 7
The Gathering
A strident tone filled the room. Kai felt Genae jump but his arms tight around her and his leg pinning her to the bed kept her from moving.
“Kai. The Zolsum has arrived. Ryvn is transporting the Mriln healer to the surface. They’ll be here within the hour.” Paladin’s voice was like a physical presence in the room.
“How far out are the League ships?”
He watched Genae’s eyes close and her face crumple. She wrapped her arms around him and held tight. She cared, and that was good. She was afraid, and that wasn’t.
“The destroyers will be in orbit by the time the retrieval begins.”
Kai crushed Genae against him. The Mriln healer would be working on her heart. A heart that had already been weakened. His and the other two VanDai ships would have to keep the destroyers away from the planet. Even one strike could make the difference between life and death for Genae if it disrupted the process at a critical moment.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at the ceiling as if he could see through it and into space where the League ships were. With the information Genae carried, the balance of power in the universe was about to change.
Deep satisfaction welled inside him and pride in the woman he held. His woman. Because of her, everything the VanDai had done to keep the president from wresting power from the planets of the League and destroying lives would mean something.
“We’ll meet you in the communications room.” Kai loosened his grip on Genae as he spoke. They would have to be ready. Three destroyers against three VanDai vessels. It would be interesting.
He rolled off the bed, stood up and reached for Genae. He lifted her in his arms, kissed her once; a hard, thorough claiming of lips, tongue and teeth. When he lifted his head, his expression was arrogantly satisfied. He let her legs slide down his body, being sure she stayed in contact with him the whole time, her belly prodded by his erection.
Genae stepped back and he let her go. He was amazed at the rush of color into her cheeks. That she could be embarrassed by anything, especially something as simple as his hard cock poking her belly, amazed him.
“What should I wear?”
Kai’s eyes darkened with instant arousal. A simple question and it made him throb. He’d have to learn to control that when they were in public. A muscle jumped in his jaw as he looked down at her breasts with their swollen nipples. He reached out and cupped the full globes. He rolled the distended tips with his thumbs. “You should wear me.” He squeezed her tender flesh, making her breath catch and her nipples stand out even more.
Genae’s head fell back and her eyes closed. Her breathing was fast and shallow and when she spoke, she sounded breathless. “I don’t think that would work. The healer might find it hard to work if you’re attached to my breasts.”
Kai released her breasts, ran his hands down her sides and around her flanks so he could cup and squeeze her ass as he drew her tight against him once more. Her skin was smooth and soft, her body small and tight. He would have to keep a tight rein on her when this was over or someone would steal her away.
He pushed the disturbing thought away. No one would take Genae anywhere without him.
“The Mriln are inventive. The healer could find a way.”
Genae kissed his chest before pushing against him so he would let her go. “You still haven’t answered my question of what to wear. I don’t have any clothes here and I don’t want to run around naked or wearing you.”
Kai’s hands clenched but he let her get away. He strode into Paladin’s secret room and came back with clothes for both of them. Genae didn’t ask how women’s clothes had come to be in Paladin’s room and Kai didn’t volunteer the information.
As covertly as she could, Genae watched Kai dress while she got herself into the loose, flowing gown he’d found for her. She loved the way his muscles bunched and rippled when he moved. She bit her lip to keep from smiling when he had to tuck his erection into his pants. When he grimaced, she couldn’t help but laugh.
Kai’s expression was dangerous when he looked at her. “You think it’s funny?”
Genae, still smiling, nodded. He might look dangerous but she knew better. He would never hurt her and he would do anything in his power to make sure nothing else hurt her.
That thought wiped the smile from her face. She couldn’t let him find out how dangerous the retrieval was. Especially not now. His attention had to stay focused completely on the League destroyers.
“What is it?”
Hard hands clamped down on her shoulders. Startled, she blinked up at him. “What?”
“You looked sad, almost as if you were in pain. I’ll call the healer to look at that cardiac stabilizer.”
She caught his arm as he started to turn away. He looked over his shoulder at her.
“I’m fine, Kai. I was thinking about the destroyers. It wasn’t my heart.”
Kai turned, wrapped his arms around her and held her tight to his chest. She felt the instant hardening of his cock but neither one of them acknowledged it. This was a time for reassurances, not sex.
“Have faith in your mate. If I didn’t think we had a chance, you would be light years away from here. If I couldn’t protect you from the League, you wouldn’t be here.”
Genae smiled and rubbed her face against his chest. One thing Kai didn’t lack was confidence. Then again, why would he? From what she’d seen, there hadn’t been anything that could stand in his way. Maybe the same would be true now.
“Ready?”
Stepping back, she straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin and nodded. It was time. Everything that had happened had brought her to this moment. If…
No. She wasn’t going to think if. When the information was retrieved, her father’s plan would be stopped. So
many people had already died. There would be no others.
Kai walked to the door and disabled the security lock. As it slid open, she walked toward him out of the room. The two VanDai guards stepped in front of her, barring her from leaving and anyone from getting close to her.
“To the communications room.”
Both men nodded at Kai’s curt words. They turned and marched off.
Kai’s hand settled at the base of Genae’s spine and urged her forward. Warmth seeped into her from his hand and she realized how cold she’d become. This was it. Impossible as it seemed, this was it.
* * *
They walked through the huge corridors and people stepped out of their way. Genae didn’t blame them. The two VanDai guards leading the way looked as if they wanted an excuse to fight.
She looked up at Kai and shivered. His expression was just as harsh as the other two VanDai yet his hand at the small of her back was gentle. He always made her feel safe.
The two VanDai stopped outside the communications room. Kai urged Genae through the surprisingly narrow door and into a room that had her gasping for breath even as she rubbed her arms against the chill air. The room was filled, almost literally, from floor to ceiling with equipment. Aisles too narrow for more than one VanDai to walk down at a time wended through the machine canyons.
And it was cold. Chill bumps rose on her arms and her nipples hardened to painful points. Not the most comfortable of things to happen in a room full of observant VanDai males. She grimaced but managed to keep from crossing her arms over her chest and drawing even more attention to herself.
Paladin came toward them out of the maze. His shoulders were canted at an awkward angle, too wide to walk through the narrow space without turning slightly.
“How long until the healer arrives?” Kai asked.
Paladin grunted as he wedged his shoulders between two pieces of equipment to face them. “Twenty minutes.”
“We won’t have time to get to the docking port and up to the ships before the destroyers reach Sai-two space.”
Paladin's Pride 3: Her Forever Knight Page 5