“Gods, and I need you, Falinda. So much.” Stav groaned as he thrust up into her and she sank down to meet him at the same time.
Charlie gasped his name and dug her fingernails into his broad shoulders by reflex. A low, encouraging growl was her reward. She had learned that Stavros liked a little pain with his pleasure—possibly because Blood Kindred liked being bitten almost as much as they liked biting.
“Yes,” she heard him growl through their mental link. “Bite me, Falinda. Bite me and ride me until you come all over my shaft. And then it will be my turn to bite you…”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. Leaning down, Charlie sank her little white teeth into the strong column of his throat, latching on to the side of his neck as he thrust inside her.
Stav gasped and pulled her closer, locking arms that felt like muscular steel beams around her waist and hips. Charlie felt him surge inside her, his thick length growing even thicker as he pressed deep into her soft, velvety core.
Part of the pleasure of making love with Stavros was that he created a kind of feed-back loop between them. She could feel the sensations he was feeling—the way her inner pussy wrapped around him like a velvet glove and he could feel her pleasure as well—the way her inner walls stretched to take him and the lightning flashes of intense sensation when the blunt head of his cock kissed the mouth of her womb with each thrust. This feedback ability was the only thing left of his old Curse and Charlie loved it—it made making love with him a unique and addictive experience.
“I’m addicted to you too, Falinda,” she heard him growl through their link. “Are you close, do you think? I want to fill you with my seed as I sink my fangs into your neck.”
Charlie released him and licked the small wound her even white teeth had made on the side of his throat.
“Then do it,” she said aloud, her voice husky with passion. “Come on, honey—bite me.”
His eyes flashed with need but he shook his head.
“You haven’t come yet.”
“But I’m damn close,” Charlie pointed out. “And you know the minute you bite me and inject me, I won’t be able to help it. I’ll come right along with you.”
“If you’re sure…” The need in his voice made it ragged and hoarse.
“Always sure,” Charlie assured him. She undulated her hips, rocking against him to make her point. “Bite me, sweetheart—I want you to. I want your fangs in me deep.”
As always, her assertion that she wanted his bite drove Stavros wild. For years as a Cursed One, no female of Tranq Prime, his home world, had wanted his bite. The fact that Charlie was desperate to feel his fangs in her made him incredibly hot.
“Bare your throat for me.” His voice was a deep, guttural growl. “And spread your thighs wide, Falinda. I’m going to plant my seed deep in your soft little cunt tonight. Going to fill you up with my cum.”
Charlie moaned at his dirty words. She loved when he talked like this to her—it was as much of a turn on as the way he tasted her and made love to her.
Shifting her hair out of the way, she pressed the side of her neck to his mouth and waited for his fangs.
This time Stav wasn’t quite so gentle—maybe because he knew Charlie wasn’t adverse to a little pain with her pleasure either. She moaned at the piercing sting of the double sets of razor sharp points puncturing her tender flesh. Then, as before, he began to inject her and an orgasm rolled over her, making her gasp and clench helplessly all around him.
“Gods, you’re so tight around me!” she heard him growl through their link. “Love you, Charlie—love you so much!”
“I love you too,” she managed to gasp and then he thrust up hard inside her, almost as if he was reaching for her heart, and she felt the head of his cock pressing hard against the mouth of her womb. She gasped and stiffened against him as he swelled even thicker within her. Then something hot and wet spurted against the end of her channel, making her moan again.
“Stav!” she gasped as he continued to bathe her pussy with his seed. God, he felt so good inside her…so right. And as he came inside her, she felt his pleasure at the way her inner walls spasmed around him, almost milking the cum from him, as well as her own pleasure at the feel of him coming so deep inside her.
“Stav,” she moaned again. “Stavros! God…love you so much!”
“I love you too, Falinda,” he murmured, finally withdrawing his fangs. “Love you forever.”
Charlie felt her heart overflowing and for a moment she thought she might actually cry she was so overwhelmed. She looked deep into her man’s eyes and opened her mouth to tell him it was forever because she was never leaving…
And then the world grayed out and Stav’s indigo eyes disappeared. Instead, she was seeing something completely different.
After a moment, she realized it was the interior of a little spaceship—much like the Kindred shuttles they used to ferry people back and forth between the Mother Ship and Earth. And in the shuttle, was a tall, black haired man with piercing silver-blue eyes. He was holding a girl with creamy brown skin to his bare chest and rocking her gently.
He was saying something but Charlie couldn’t quite hear the words. What was going on? How was she seeing this?
But just as she thought to ask those questions, the scene changed and she saw Two speaking to what looked like a living pile of mud.
“Alas, they have escaped my liege,” Two was saying, his steel teeth flashing as he spoke. “But never fear, I will bring them back. And when I am done, they will beg for the merciful death of the passion berries. But no, I have a different fate in store for our lovely couple. A fate so much worse than death…”
He threw back his head and laughed—at least Charlie thought it was laughing. A strange, unearthly howling noise issued from his skinny throat, sending chills down her spine.
“They deserve no less,” the mud creature said in a thick, clotted voice. “Your reward will be great if you accomplish this, Two.”
“How great?” Two’s eye gleamed with greed but somehow Charlie didn’t think he was greedy for money.
“I have been dishonored in my own lair,” the mud creature said. “You shall have whatever you wish.”
“Then you will See for me?” It was clear by the way he spoke the word that it had some great significance.
The mud creature frowned, making it look like his face was melting off.
“That is a very great request. As you know, my people can only See three times in their lifetime and then the gift is gone. I have lived a long life and have already Seen twice. I had thought to use my last Seeing to find the manner and time of my own death, so that I could circumvent it as others of my kind do.”
“Ah, so you do not wish me to go after the two of them after all.” Two shrugged his narrow, bony shoulders and sighed deeply. “I understand, my liege.”
“I did not say that.” The mud creature shifted slowly in its chair, making it obvious to Charlie why he couldn’t go after the girl and the dark haired man himself. Clearly he was slow as molasses in January, as her Mama used to say. There was no way he’d be able to get himself going in time to catch anyone if it came to a chase.
Two, on the other hand, with his skinny physique and stringy muscles looked like he could really move. And she knew from awful experience how strong he was—he’d dangled her by the ankle over a bottomless pit and almost dropped her to her death. He was definitely the man for the job if you wanted to catch someone, she decided.
“Well?” Two asked, looking down at the mud creature. “Will you agree to my terms?”
“I must consider.” The mud creature frowned. “They are probably long gone, even as we speak. How can you find them? And even if you do, how will you approach them without them knowing? Your appearance is…singular, even for one of your kind.”
“If you’re referring to my striking good looks, I must thank you for the compliment.” Two performed an elaborate bow. “But as to tracking them, finding people wh
o want to stay hidden and knowing information that is supposed to be secret is something of a specialty of mine.”
“They why do you wish me to See for you?” the mud creature asked.
“Because some things are beyond even my ability to discern,” Two admitted. “Not this, however. I know exactly where the two miscreants you wish to have punished are and I have a way to get right next to them—to even touch them—without them having any idea about it.”
“That sounds…mysterious.”
“Mysterious but very effective. I can punish these two for you in any way you see fit. If you will do the Seeing.”
“I must consider. Leave me for now.”
“As you command, my liege.” Two bowed obsequiously and backed out of the room. But look at his face, Charlie thought. He’s like the cat that got the cream. He knows Mr. Muddy-britches will come around. All he has to do is wait.
“I just wonder what he wants the Lud’om to See for him,” Stav’s mental voice murmured in her ear.
Charlie blinked and suddenly she was back again in Stavros’s arms on the side of the bed.
“What happened?” she asked, looking at him wide-eyed. “So you saw all that too?”
“I did.” Stav looked grim. “And so did you, apparently. The only question is how?”
Chapter Ten
“I’m cold. So c-cold.” Trin shivered helplessly and Thrace held her close, rubbing his hands over her back to try and get her warm.
She’d been shivering ever since she woke up, an hour after he’d gotten them aboard the small life pod. Even the thermal blanket he’d found in the emergency stores and wrapped around her seemed to do no good—probably because the damn passion berries demanded physical contact to counteract their effects. So he was holding her, trying to warm her with his own body heat though he wasn’t sure she’d like it. It wasn’t like she had much choice, though—it was be held by him or shake herself apart. Thrace thought she’d prefer the former to the latter—he hoped anyway.
At least she was all right. For awhile there, after he’d gotten the pod a safe distance from the Demon’s Eye, he’d been afraid she wouldn’t wake up at all. She’d been so still—barely breathing—and her cheek had been icy when he’d touched her. That was when Thrace had gathered her into his arms and held her close to his bare chest, trying to warm her and wake her.
But for a long time she wouldn’t wake. As he stared at her still face, he’d wondered what he would do if she slipped away. Not that he should care about her—not after the way she’d chained him up and treated him like a Gods-damned pet. But he did care—there was something about her. Something he didn’t want to lose. What, though?
Nothing, he told himself uneasily. I still owe her a debt which I must repay. It would darken my honor if she died before I could make it right. That’s why I don’t want her to die—only that and nothing more. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go and he’d been filled with relief when she finally opened her eyes.
“Why am I s-so c-cold?” she whispered, looking up at him.
“That’s just the effects of the passion berry wine you drank,” Thrace said grimly, brushing a lock of her long black hair out of her face. “You’re lucky you’re not dead.” Then, as relief gave way to anger he demanded, “What in the Seven Hells were you thinking, going into that place alone?”
Trin frowned and wrapped her arms around herself.
“Don’t talk to me like that! I had a deal with B’Rugh. I knew it was risky but it was a risk I had to take. And it’s not like I went in unarmed or unprepared.” She lifted one hand where a thin gold wire ring was slipped over her slim index finger. There was a tiny green light on the underside of the ring glowing a steady green. “See? A toxin sensor. I just don’t understand why it didn’t detect the poison that man with the steel teeth put in my cup.”
“It didn’t detect it because passion berries aren’t really a poison even though they act like one in the wrong doses—they’re an aphrodisiac. A very deadly aphrodisiac,” Thrace told her.
“An aphrodisiac?” Trin struggled to sit up and get out of his arms.
Obligingly, Thrace helped her, sitting her on the side of the fold out bunk where he’d been holding her. Hopefully some of the drug was leaving her system. At least, she no longer looked like she was going to freeze to death—for now, anyway. Later on might be a different story.
“An aphrodisiac?” she said again. “But I don’t feel…sexual.” Her creamy cheeks flushed a bit. “I just feel cold.”
“Because you only took the first sip,” Thrace said. “The rule of passion berries is the first sip makes you cold, the second makes you hot and the third makes you dead.”
“What?” She frowned.
Briefly, he described the effects of the passion berry laced wine if a second and third drink of it was taken.
“Goddess.” Trin put a hand to her mouth and her face grew so pale it worried him. “So you’re saying B’Rugh—”
“Was taking no chances,” Thrace said grimly. “He wanted you and he meant to have you, whether you agreed to his ‘deal’ or not.”
“Ugh…” Trin shivered again and this time it clearly wasn’t from cold. “I still don’t understand why he would want such a thing from me! We’re clearly not compatible species.”
“I believe he said it was the color of your skin that drew him,” Thrace murmured, eyeing the creamy light brown tones of her cheek with admiration. “In that I can’t say that I blame him. You are unique, Trin. And fucking gorgeous, as I think I mentioned before.”
She drew away from him, eyeing him uneasily.
“Why are you saying this to me? You want the same thing B’Rugh did? I told you—I won’t be penetrated by a male. Ever.”
“It was a compliment. An ill-timed one, apparently.” Thrace sighed and held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “Look, I didn’t save you from getting raped just to rape you myself. I’m not like that—I’ve never taken a female against her will and I don’t intent to start now.”
“They why did you say all those things to be back aboard The Alacrity?” Trin demanded. “Why did you tell me all the things you…fantasized about doing to me?”
“I was bored,” Thrace growled. “Bored and horny out of my fucking mind. You had me chained up, treating me like a pet you could wash and feed and play with while you walked around in your panties and nightdress exposing yourself like I wouldn’t care.”
“I told you, I didn’t know you’d care,” Trin protested. She sighed. “Look, I realize you hate me for what I did to you and for not believing you when you said you weren’t a slave. It’s clear now I was wrong about your past—you couldn’t have been a slave if you were off fighting B’Rugh and his kind for control of your planet.”
“Well…” For a moment he actually considered telling her about his past—about what had happened when he was sixteen cycles old and he and his Sire had been taken by slavers. But only for a moment. “It’s all right,” he said roughly at last. “You had no reason to believe me.”
“I had no reason to disbelieve you either—other than my fear of your physical strength and my distrust of your sex,” Trin said. “I treated you as inferior because you’re male. I’m sorry for that but I can’t change the past.”
“What’s done is done.” Thrace made a chopping gesture with one hand. “It’s over now.”
“Why did you come for me?” She wrapped the thermal blanket more tightly around her slim shoulders and looked at him uncertainly. “After what I did to you? Chaining you up…treating you like you were one of my pets…”
“Because before you did all those things, you saved my life,” he said roughly. “That fucking slaver at the Flesh Bazaar would have killed me with the pain collar and why not? I was pure profit and no loss to him since he scooped up me and my friend Solar at a dirty little portside bar on Padge. He could have killed me and not lost a moment’s sleep about it but you…you cared. Even though you don’t like
males and I was a stranger to you, you cared enough to stop him. To save me.” He looked into her eyes. “That matters, Trin.”
She held his gaze for a moment, her dark eyes wide and uncertain.
“So…a life for a life? We’re even now, is that it?”
“Even?” Thrace got off the bunk and started pacing. “Ha. Not even close.”
Trin shook her head. “I don’t understand. What more do you want me to do? Obviously you can have your freedom—with my apologies of course. And I can take you wherever you want to go—”
“No, you don’t understand.” Thrace turned to her. “We’re not even because I still owe you.”
“Owe me what?” She looked completely confused now.
“Don’t play dumb,” Thrace snapped. “I know how much you paid for me—fifty thousand credits. It nearly bankrupted you, didn’t it? That’s why you decided to go into the Demon’s Eye alone—you were desperate.”
She lifted her chin, fire flashing in her dark eyes.
“I’m never desperate. I told you, I took a calculated risk.”
“One that almost got you raped and killed,” Thrace pointed out harshly.
“I’ve thanked you for saving me and given you back your freedom,” she flared. “What more do you want?”
“I’ll tell you what I don’t fucking want,” Thrace growled. “I don’t want my freedom. Not yet, anyway.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to continue being your slave until I make this right—until I pay the debt between us.”
“What?” She looked at him blankly. “But that could take years. You don’t know what you’re offering.”
“Yes I do. Gods…” Thrace shook his head. “I never thought I’d volunteer for slavery willingly but I don’t see any other way—a Havoc always pays his debts. And besides, it won’t take years. It’ll only take until you can sell these.” Reaching into the pocket of his tight leather trousers, he produced the small black bag filled with Jaxite crystals.
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