Her Cold-Blooded Master

by Lea Linnett

  “It’s time,” he said in a silky voice, his eyes boring into hers.

  An eager noise that wasn’t quite a moan escaped her, and she flushed. She pressed closer, her hands going to his chest.

  But the levekk pulled back, watching her carefully. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, and it was as if Hungry Helik had stepped off the stage, leaving Nervous Helik to peek around the curtain.

  She nodded vigorously, trying to communicate just how ready she was through her eyes alone. She was already wet just from his kisses, anticipation making her skin shiver beneath his touch. Not even their previous playing around had dampened her need. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” she breathed. And then, because the words were true and they’d been true from the first time she laid eyes on him: “I want you.”

  Helik groaned, deep in his throat, and then took her mouth again so forcefully that she almost forgot to breathe. His hands were all over her, and she let out a sharp gasp as one brushed her nipple, sending a jolt of electricity right through her. She straddled his legs, her hips searching for that familiar length to press herself against. She gasped when she found it, sliding wetly along him and drawing a grunt from the levekk.

  “You’re wet already,” he said in a raw voice, kissing her with his eyes on hers.

  “I’ve been waiting for this for weeks.”

  Helik went still, his gaze flaring in intensity. “I’ve been waiting for this for decades,” he whispered, and something in Ellie’s chest jerked with longing. She drew him in close, kissing him more softly now with languid strokes.

  But then the underside of a claw teased over her nipple, and coupled with the easy rocking of his hard length against her core, it was all Ellie could do to bite back a moan. She moved her hand to his shoulder, squeezing his scaled skin. As he moved back to see her better, she reached between them, wrapping her hand around his cock.

  She grinned as he hissed, and delighted in every shudder that passed through him as she gently pumped him, spreading her wetness and his own pre-cum across his velvety skin. She pressed her forehead against his, licking her lips.

  “Let’s do this,” she murmured.

  “Together?”

  “Together.”

  She rose up on her knees and lined his head up against her folds, a thrill running through her as the magnitude of what was happening finally hit her. Helik’s hands were under her, supporting her weight, and her arms were around his neck.

  Slowly, she sank down, her eyes widening as he breached her. Helik’s girth was thicker than anything that had been inside her before, and the feeling of fullness it awoke in her was exquisite. Her mouth opened against his in a silent moan as the head of his cock opened her wide, but her walls were so slick with anticipation that she felt none of the burn she might have expected from his size.

  To her surprise, it was Helik that made her pause, his claws gripping her ass with a desperate intensity as he held her suspended over him. His eyes were closed, a muscle jumping in his jaw beneath the scales, which she noticed for the first time were half the size of her pinky fingernail in this spot. The world had sharpened for Ellie, her senses going into overdrive as she searched his face.

  “What’s up?”

  “Need a moment,” Helik grunted, his teeth gritted in embarrassment. “It… it’s been a while.”

  But Ellie wasn’t disappointed; if anything, her heart swelled in her chest, her longing only growing. Her core was quaking around Helik’s cock, and she was glad to know she wasn’t the only one feeling the intensity.

  After a few deep breaths, Helik’s grip relaxed, and Ellie allowed herself to sink onto him, her breath hitching. They both sighed as she finally seated herself, and Ellie hadn’t even noticed she’d been holding her breath.

  “We did it,” Ellie whispered, and her disbelieving giggle cut through the heavy rhythm of their breathing.

  A pleased sound, not quite a laugh, rumbled through Helik’s broad chest, sending a shiver through her. “You did it.” He bent down, kissing her shoulder open-mouthed. “You have no idea how good you feel.”

  “Right back at ya.”

  They stayed like that for a little while, simply enjoying the feel of their bodies being joined so intimately, but it didn’t take long for Ellie to grow impatient. The need to act sizzled beneath her skin, and she flexed her thighs, climbing him an experimental inch before sinking back down.

  Helik let out a sharp exhale. “You’re always in such a rush.”

  “You’re not?”

  “I… want to savor this,” he mumbled, eyes closing almost regretfully.

  Ellie leaned in, nuzzling his face. “You don’t need to. This is ours. We can have this whenever we want.”

  Helik’s groan was wordless, his muscles straining as he lifted her almost completely off him. When she was slammed back down, her shocked cry quickly turned into a moan. She’d never felt so full, and after this, she wondered if her fingers would ever be enough to satisfy her ever again. He split her open on another thrust, and a set of teeth pressed against her shoulder, but still all she felt was a wash of pleasure.

  Their angle was awkward though, and Ellie wasn’t surprised when her world tilted, the levekk slamming her down into the bedsheets. Her legs spread instinctively, wrapping around his waist, and as Helik drove down into her, something about the new position made her throw her head back and moan aloud.

  Helik’s pace quickened, and she could feel the vibrations as he groaned into her neck. One clawed hand was fisting her hair—although not enough to hurt—and the other was at her hips, holding her in place as he fucked her with deep thrusts. It was all she could do to take him, giving herself up to his punishing rhythm as waves of pleasure zinged through her with each thrust. Her senses were still in overdrive, every slap of his scales against her skin making her shudder in ecstasy. She squeezed him with her thighs, wanting him closer.

  She could feel her orgasm coiling in her belly, hot and wanting but not quite ready to boil over. Helik’s hand tightened in her hair, drawing her attention.

  “Touch yourself,” he growled hotly in her ear, and a shiver ran down her spine.

  “Yes, sir.” Her breath hitched as she spoke, her words catching in her throat. “We come together, okay?”

  Another groan in her ear and she loved the way his claws squeezed her hip. “You might have to hurry,” he bit out. Ellie was happy to oblige.

  Her hand snaked between them and found her clit just as Helik’s thrusts turned wild. Her fingers nearly lost purchase, but she held firm, and she was just about to open her mouth to warn him she was close when Helik hit that spot inside her and she crested without warning.

  She let out a high whimper, her back arching off the bed, and she thought she’d come too early as she clamped down on him. But then his cock buried itself deeper than ever before and warmth bloomed inside her. She could feel the pulse of his orgasm against her walls, could feel it in the way his body tightened against her.

  She sighed happily as her muscles relaxed, and Helik gently disconnected himself, moving to lay against her side. His huge, plated brow nuzzled against her cheek as he moved his claws over her skin, tickling around her breasts and over her stomach.

  The touches sent pleased shivers all through her, and she rolled into his arms, facing him. She pressed kisses all over his face, urging him closer with a leg over his hip. Once they were suitably tangled, she grinned at him, running a hand over his back. “That was worth the wait.”

  Helik’s pupils were fat and soft, a contented look on his face. “It really was,” he whispered in reply, and Ellie felt the gravity of his words deep in her gut.

  They didn’t say much as they held each other, the comfortable temperature in the room keeping their skin from cooling. Ellie’s eyes blinked open when she felt a trickle of something between her legs, and she sat up slightly. “Oh wow,” she mumbled. “I just totally leaked.”

  Helik’s mouth flattened, and if he
had ears, she was sure they would have flicked back like a disgruntled cat’s at her wording, but he smiled as he rose up onto his haunches. “I should get you a wipe or something, clean you up.”

  “Or,” Ellie purred, sliding a hand up his arm before he could vacate the bed entirely. “We could do it again.”

  Helik froze, and between his legs she saw the familiar twitch of movement that told her exactly where he’d heard her.

  “No point cleaning if you’re just gonna get all dirty again, right?” she said, looking up through her eyelashes at him.

  Helik collapsed on top of her again, a sly smile curving his features. “You have an excellent point. I should have thought of that.”

  “Please, I’m an expert. It’s my job to know these things,” she said with a snort, but was happily silenced by his lips on hers.

  21

  Helik woke the next morning with Ellie’s warm back pressed to his chest. Somehow, despite having woken this way every morning for the past three weeks, it felt different, like he could feel more of her in his arms. Her skin seemed to be pressed more tightly against his, their limbs tangled more intricately than ever. Her body heat coursed through him like a river, and he never wanted to let it go.

  He traced tiny circles on her abdomen, admiring the shivers that coursed through her at his touch, and the little human gave a sleepy groan.

  “That feels niiiiice,” she drawled, rolling over to face him. “Do my butt now.”

  Helik chuckled, obliging her, and a dopey grin spread across her features. She peeked her eyes open, and Helik was struck as he always was by the brightness of her irises. They weren’t pale and cold like his own; they caught the light, reflecting a kaleidoscope of blues in the most beautiful patterns.

  “You sleep well?” she murmured, always the first to speak.

  “Mmhmm,” he hummed low, and her eyelashes fluttered as the vibration carried through their joined chests. “You?”

  “It was less sleeping and more being unconscious from exhaustion,” she sniped, flashing her teeth.

  “You’re the one who wanted to keep going.” He abandoned her ass, wrapping an arm around her back and crushing their bodies together. Even in his heated apartment, she radiated warmth like a heat lamp, and he wanted to touch as much of it as possible.

  As he pulled her close, his half-awake cock slid between her thighs, and she made an interested sound. “Good morning.”

  He chuffed out a laugh. “He might be ready, but I’m gonna need a few minutes after last night.”

  “Okay, old man.”

  “Hey,” he chided, knocking his plated forehead against hers. “I thought we discussed already how young and virile I still am.”

  “And I thought I said I’d like some proof,” said Ellie, grinning up at him.

  “In a minute.” He settled in, enjoying her warmth as he drew more patterns into the back of her neck with a claw.

  She let out a happy sigh, despite her teasing. “You were born on Earth, weren’t you?” she asked, but then her eyes widened. “Sorry, I meant—CL-32.”

  “Call it what you like,” he said softly, delighting in the small smile that graced her features. “And yes. Right here in New Chicago.”

  She blinked up at him. “Woah. We’re both locals,” she mumbled, and though her tone was light, Helik could hear the edge in it.

  He looked away. “You know it was my great-great-grandfather who lobbied for this city to be renamed New Chicago?”

  Her eyes widened. “Really? A levekk?”

  “Yeah. He meant it as a goodwill gesture after the… Invasion.” Ellie’s lips parted when he used that word, even though he was fairly sure she used it almost exclusively around the other humans, rather than ‘Settlement.’ “Humans weren’t taking the change very well, and he thought that giving them choices might ease the tensions between our people. I’m not sure it worked, though.”

  “He sounds like a good person,” she said, her finger drawing meandering patterns on his chest.

  “Relatively.” He paused, ruminating. “Better than me.”

  Ellie frowned, her pale brows arching. “Don’t say that!”

  Helik blinked. “I take it you disagree.”

  “Of course I do. You don’t seem to think much of it, but this program’s really helping us.” She fidgeted, the lazy slide of her leg against his contrasting with the look in her eye. “I have a salary. I have enough credits left over to send some back to Augusta. That’s huge for me.”

  “Augusta? She’s your guardian, right?”

  She nodded. “That money is the only thing I can give to thank her. She’s all my sister and I had after our parents died.”

  “You have a sister?” he said, not bothering to keep the surprise from his tone. “You didn’t mention her on your employment form.”

  The human froze in his arms, her eyebrows up around her hairline. “I—uh. Shit, I…”

  “I’m not angry,” he soothed, pulling her tighter to his chest. “We all bend the truth.” Ellie relaxed a little in his grasp, and he felt brave enough to ask, “So why haven’t you told me about her?”

  Ellie sighed. She opened her mouth hesitantly, seeming unsure about where to start. “Well, at first, it was because she was in prison.” Helik’s brow plate flexed in surprise, his gaze flicking down to meet hers. “After that, it was because she’d escaped.”

  “Oh. Wow.”

  “But mostly, it was because she escaped with a levekk. Didn’t feel like something I should mention to my new levekk boss.”

  “Wait a second.” He recognized that story. “They’re not the ones who broke out of Kharon a few months ago?”

  Ellie nodded, her lips pursed. “I don’t know where they went, so don’t ask. Probably off-planet. That’s… kind of why I’d like to go one day. I’d like to find her…”

  “What about your guardian?”

  “Hah.” Ellie’s tone went flat, but the hurt in her eyes was fresh like a wound. “She’s the reason they left. She caught them in a, uh… compromising position. Not even half as bad as this,” she added, gesturing between them. “They were gone almost before I realized what was happening. If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have even gotten to say goodbye…”

  A cold hand reached for Helik’s heart at her words, an old memory rising to the surface, but he pushed it down. Ellie’s eyes had gone glassy, and he kissed her soft forehead, wishing he could bring her family back for her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “It’s okay.” Ellie sniffed, the corner of her mouth turning up. “She didn’t want me to come here. She was sure something awful would happen. My sister was the same. Neither of them trusted me to look after myself.”

  Privately, Helik thought that they were probably right. The Senekkar was full of traps for humans, and he was one of them. The longer he allowed this to go on, the more he put her in danger, and if it hadn’t been him, it would have been someone worse—someone who didn’t care about her beyond how many credits she could bring in with her body.

  “But she’s not all bad,” Ellie continued. “I owe my life to her. Who knows where Lena and I would have ended up without her. And she taught me how to sew.”

  “Sounds like she really cares for you,” he said, caressing her back. “I’d say I’d like to meet her, but I don’t think she’d appreciate it.”

  Ellie giggled. “It’s the thought that counts. …I do miss her. And Lena. They were like my surrogate parents,” she said, a sad smile on her face.

  “When did you lose your parents?”

  “When I was ten. There was an accident at their factory.”

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured, tucking her head beneath his chin. In a strange way, he could kind of relate. His parents hadn’t died, but with the amount he’d seen them as a child, they might as well have. It had only grown worse once he’d come of age. “What were they like?” he asked softly.

  Ellie’s warmth bloomed across his chest as she relaxed into his emb
race. He could feel her heart beating calm and steady through his ribs as she spoke. “They were wonderful,” she said. “I know everyone probably says that about their parents, but…” She sighed, her breath fanning warmly over Helik’s collarbone. “Dad always hung out with Lena. He’d take her hunting, got her interested in machines and stuff. But Mom looked after me. And she loved fashion. We didn’t have much, but she always looked good. I so wanted to be like her.”

  She laughed, the noise sounding slightly strangled as she evidently tried not to cry. Helik kissed her head.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  “Don’t be. It’s hard to lose someone.”

  Ellie peeked up at him, her eyes soft. “Have you ever? …Lost someone?”

  Helik’s heart beat faster as he considered the question. Who hadn’t he lost? He hardly even dared to think about them usually, but he could feel the memories rising to the surface, hastened by Ellie’s candidness. With her in his arms, their faces only inches apart, he couldn’t imagine keeping any more secrets from her. He’d never felt this close, this intimate, with someone. If this wasn’t the right time, maybe it never would be.

  “My grandmother died when I was young, not even an adolescent,” he began, and he was pleased that his voice didn’t shake.

  “She owned this place, didn’t she?” Ellie asked, and when Helik blinked at her, she explained, “Roia mentioned it.”

  “Yes,” he said. “The library is all her own collection. She was fluent in your language, Yumin Tok, and I think she studied English as well—or one of the pre-Invasion languages.”

  Ellie gaped at him. “That’s amazing.”

  He smiled. “She was amazing. She would read the books to me when I was very small. And she would routinely go to the Outer Districts and bring things back for me. It was like getting presents from another planet, what with how scarce humans were here in the Senekkar.” He reached up to rub a thumb over Ellie’s sleep-reddened cheek. “She had a collection of human paintings, too, but I think my mother got rid of them. They never really saw eye to eye.”