Maybe he didn’t want her anymore. Maybe it had all been too much. If he hadn’t loved her, all this shit wouldn’t have happened. He certainly wouldn’t have been involved in it. Her heart was breaking into a million little pieces at the idea that he might not want her anymore.
Someone came through the front door and her head snapped up, hopeful. Jezar. She sighed. “How was the committee meeting?” she asked.
“Long. Have you contacted The Pinnacle?”
“I sent a message yesterday asking for an ETA.” She resumed pacing. “Nothing.”
“Has it occurred to you he might be in trouble?”
She stopped abruptly. No, she hadn’t. Shit. Had he been caught in some fucking trouble and she’d been sitting here thinking he didn’t love her anymore?
Damn it. She strode into her room and grabbed her duffle bag. “If you’re coming, I’m getting a shuttle and going after him.”
“Good. Tesia and Johan are ready to leave.”
“What?” She glared at him.
“They’re all coming along. Celeste declined. She’s going to help Darius continue to rebuild Teran One.”
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s go.” She strode out the door of her childhood home. As she got into the hoverboat to head for the shuttle bay at Saladen, she didn’t look back. Not once.
* * * * *
“Um, Commander? We’ve got a shuttle approaching.” Dink gave Tory the information in that tone that said they were in deep shit.
“Well?” he said impatiently. “Who is it?”
“It’s Jezar.” Dink gave Tory a steady glance.
Tory didn’t like that. “I told him to stay on Teran One and help—” He stopped. “Alexandra is on that ship, isn’t she?”
“She is and from the coded message Jezar sent me with his transmission, I’d say you’re in big trouble.” Dink shuddered. “I don’t want to be anywhere near Commander Zeerah when she gets pissed off.”
Tory sighed. Everything had taken longer than he’d thought. His ship had been impounded by Teran Five military geniuses who had wanted to search for “items damaging to the Teran system”. Fucking assholes. Why they thought they were the Teran system police, he had no idea. He had to go to Teran Five and fight for his right to carry his cargo, which consisted of nothing contraband…this time.
It took weeks to get the damn paperwork shoved through, but being a Teran hero and saving the system had counted in his favor.
He’d only left Teran Five that morning and was winging his way to Teran One. Not quick enough, apparently. He smiled. She was probing his mind and he blocked her. Just to piss her off more.
Memories of their battle in the exercise room made his cock hard. He hadn’t had his mate for a whole fucking month and he wasn’t going to wait until she cooled off to have her now.
He glanced at Bud. “You’re in charge. I’m going to meet the shuttle.”
On his way down, he tapped his foot. She pushed hard to get into his head and he countered with sexual fantasies that infuriated her, since he blocked her from his thoughts as he bombarded her with those erotic images. Damn, he loved her.
The shuttle bay doors opened and there she was striding across the bay. All he saw was her. Her hair in that inevitable braid, her hazel eyes glittering gold, the familiar smattering of freckles and the sweet curves he adored all hit him between the eyes and he just stared.
He almost missed the first swing and ducked just before she knocked him on his ass. He tackled her, tossing her over his shoulder and marching out of the shuttle bay.
She pummeled his back, her fists probably bruising him. Oh, she was going to pay. And love it.
They reached the practice room and he locked the door. She didn’t wait. She launched at him. She was a whirl, almost a pleasure to watch as she blocked his answering blows and struck out at him.
He swept her legs out from under her, but she arched back and sprang onto her hands, landing back on her feet. She flew at him, her feet deadly and intent on his throat. He blocked, grabbed her ankle and tossed her. She curled up, rolled and crouched on her feet, her chest heaving from the exertion.
“I’m glad to see you too, Saria,” he said.
She attacked again. “Don’t call me that, you asshole,” she said through gritted teeth.
He caught one arm and yanked her around, her arm trapped at her back. “It would be more fun if you were naked.”
She shivered. “No.”
“Scared?”
She jerked against his hold. He let her go. God, he just wanted to knock her on her back and plunge inside her, but he wanted her wet and wanting when he did.
He shrugged. Well, if she wouldn’t get naked, he would. He swept off his t-shirt and tossed it away. She stared at him as he unzipped his pants and kicked them to a corner. His dick, hard and insistent, bobbed up and her gaze dropped to study it, which made him harder.
Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him as she ripped her uniform off. Naked, she was glorious. Her breasts, generous and high, already showed signs of her willingness, their tips pointed. The curls that covered her pussy were tempting him. He knew they were soft and he wanted his mouth there.
But first things first. She wanted to kick his ass. She launched at him, her hands a blur, her feet swinging toward him. He countered and, just as before, began his deviant form of foreplay.
The smack of his hand against her breast left a pink print that made his cock ache. She attacked again, he slapped her other breast, the sound vibrating through him. The mark on her neck, his mark, was long gone and he wanted to replace it. She belonged to him.
This time she kicked out and caught his thigh, but he used his forearm on her upper body while she was still off balance. He pounded her into the floor and gripped her wrists. “I don’t like your hair bound when we fuck,” he ground out. He yanked her hair free and she fought him, trying to dislodge him.
“You left me. You didn’t tell me where you were. Nothing.”
“I know, dear heart,” he said softly. “I’m a bastard. I’m still going to pound into you and make you scream.”
“If you didn’t want me—”
All his humor vanished. “Not want you?” Suddenly, he lifted all the walls in his mind. Not want her? Never. He always wanted her, every minute, every hour. She’d been there, in his mind, while he was gone and he fought to come back to her, to be with her.
Her doubts were all there, spread out for him. Still? How the hell could she doubt him? He went digging. She fought him, but he won.
There, at the core, in the ocean of fear and doubt that had always been around her love for him was her greatest fear.
She was unlovable.
Her parents hadn’t loved her. Her brother hadn’t. Even her sister held her at arm’s length. Her men had been loyal but it had been Tory’s men who saved them, saved Teran One. Not hers.
Oh Jesus, dear heart. Don’t you know I’d die without you? Don’t you know I lived five years of absolute hell without you?
With his mind entwined with hers, he kissed her, his mouth possessing hers with every ounce of his strength. His hands stroked her body. God, he’d missed her. He rolled one nipple in his fingers and she arched her back. His release pounded to be free, but he held on.
He broke the kiss and moved his mouth over her neck, her shoulders and down to take one of her nipples in his teeth. She gasped and thrust her hands in his hair. He traveled lower, his tongue dipping into her bellybutton and along the top of her thigh. He lifted his head. “Squeeze your nipples, Saria.”
Her hands shook as she rolled her tips in her fingers. He growled in satisfaction and dove for her pussy. He wanted her screaming, dripping with cum and begging for him to fuck her. He just hoped he could hold back long enough to get it.
His tongue slid over her nub and he tasted her cum in his mouth. God, she was so perfect. Sweet, salty, perfect. He rotated the tip and slipped a finger inside her slick channel. She thrust toward his tongue and he
added another finger, then another. He jammed them inside her as his tongue flicked over her clit.
Then, she was there, her cum spilling over his fingers and on his tongue. Her scream sent his senses reeling and she clenched his fingers in an erotic vise that made him groan against her mound.
She belonged to him.
Alex shattered, her orgasm washing all the anger, all the resentment, all the fear, away leaving only pleasure.
Tory lifted his head and towered over her. He gripped her hair and his lips took possession of hers, brooking no resistance.
She slid her pussy over his cock, a cascade of electricity shooting along her nerves. His mind, wide open, showed her how the taste of her on his lips and the slick desire on his cock sent him into overdrive.
More from his mind slipped into hers. The vision of his hand connecting with her ass until she came fascinated her. He broke the kiss and stared at her.
“Do it!” she demanded.
He rolled away from her and yanked her into his lap. His dick pressed into her belly, a small amount of his pre-cum sliding over her skin. He spread her legs so her pussy and her ass were both exposed.
When his hand connected to her skin, her pussy throbbed, heated by the friction. Again, he struck her ass, the flat of his hand hot. She moaned and he flicked two fingers along her slit before he smacked her. Quick, short spanks made her squirm and arch toward his wicked hand.
His mind and hers merged and she saw her pink skin as he saw it. Erotic and sexy, he loved to mark her, brand her as his. Fantasies shot through her mind and he responded to them with a growl.
He lifted her so she straddled him, face to face, and impaled her on his dick. She screamed, her body sliding over him, deeper, harder. He followed her fantasy and slapped her ass in time to her thrusts on his body.
She opened her eyes. He watched her, devoured her with his gaze. She bent down and rubbed her lips on his, need and desire filling every space in her head.
Her legs wrapped around him like a vine and thrust him so deep she felt his balls slap against her ass. She arched her body and he gripped her hips, bruising her, little pinpricks of pain shooting along her nerves.
Echoes between them, the feel of her pussy in his mind, the fullness of his cock in hers, resonated, increasing their pleasure. On and on they both convulsed in an eruption that seemed to have no end.
The explosion of his cum inside her set off fireworks in her. There was no separation, no division, between them. Together, they merged, joined.
Something changed in that moment. They both felt it. The connection between them morphed into something else. Instead of a bridge, they were joined, like two oceans with no barrier. It was as if the earthquake of their joining had shattered any land between the oceans of their love.
Her body tightened even more and her orgasm sent every muscle of her body into overdrive. Tory joined her there, surfing the wave of pleasure.
It seemed like an eternity later, but the world righted itself and she blinked. On Tory’s face she noted the same stunned expression she was pretty sure was on hers.
“What just happened?”
Tory shook his head. “I don’t know.”
You’re no longer bridged. You’re melded. Jezar’s voice rumbled in her mind. Apparently, the Ardasian had felt the change. Well, after all, he created the bridge. He would sense something powerful had happened.
What does melded mean? Tory asked him.
Millions of miles will never separate you, Jezar answered. Alex sensed envy. Some say even death will never part the melded. Only a handful of Ardasians experience it. You are the first humans I know of.
So, we never have to be apart again? She liked that idea. A lot.
Never. And Jezar was gone.
Alex leaned down and kissed Tory. “This last month was agony. I never want to be without you.”
“It will be an adjustment, Alex,” Tory told her, his worry reaching her mind. “There will be no escape.”
She smiled. “I don’t want to escape.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “You were right.”
“About what?” he murmured.
“Your revenge was much more pleasurable than my duty.”
His eyes sparkled and he twined his hand in her hair. “I think my desire for revenge may take a long, long time to be sated.”
Her lips were almost on his when she said, “That’s what I’m counting on.”
The End
About the Author
Once upon a time, there was a little girl…
I loved Harlequin romances when I was little and used to sneak them from my mother’s bookshelf. But my father influenced me with Agatha Christie, Ngiao Marsh and Arthur Conan Doyle. I always loved to write, but never thought about becoming an author. In 2003, a profound experience changed that. My mother showed me a manuscript written by my father. No one had ever seen it. No agent. No editor. No one. He died in 2002, never realizing his dream to be a published author.
I wondered if that would be my fate. Would my family come across my attempts at storytelling and shake their heads in pity? I vowed that I would at least try.
I love reading romance, especially erotic romance, and in 2006, I decided to take a shot at it. It turned out that writing erotic romance was as much fun as reading it. The more I write, the further I want to go. It has been a fabulous journey creating new worlds and exploring new emotions. I have a special relationship with my characters, who both annoy me and inspire me.
I live with a Redneck, who loves to brainstorm with me on occasion, and my two dirt-faced okie kids in the Northern California boonies. And I write all my love scenes with Thomas the Tank Engine in the background.
Jennifer welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
Tell Us What You Think
We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can email us at [email protected].
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer ebooks or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
www.ellorascave.com
DarkRevenge Page 27