“I love the feeling of you seizing around my cocks,” the dark man on top of her murmured. He let go of her clit and pounded within her again.
Tasha wanted to come. Her guts were clenched, eager to find the flashpoint that just did elude her. The constant collision of their lower bodies was a quick, steady tattoo of sound. Surges billowed bright and constant, keeping her on the edge. Somehow she couldn’t get over that last little bit that would send her into the stratosphere.
“Please,” she whimpered. “Oh please...”
Wekniz pulled out. Horrible emptiness, a gulf of nothing replaced him. Tasha wailed with the loss, especially when he took a cleansing wipe from the pile he’d set on top of the sleeping mat. He swabbed his pricks off.
He picked her up and turned her about, setting her on her knees once more. This time her upper body draped on top of the sleeping mat. Strong hands gripped her hips and pulled her up. She went up on her tiptoes.
A burning wet brand teased her rosette. The Nobek’s larger prick burrowed in, seeking the tight warmth. Tasha groaned at the sensation of him filling her ass with his primary. He took her in one smooth thrust, his smaller cock spearing her pussy at an angle that hit her hot spot with deadly accuracy.
She’d been well stretched, but the remaining tautness made the quick taking burn. It joined with the ecstatic pleasure roiling in her belly to send her higher yet. She threw her head back to yell at the ceiling as pressure made her guts tight.
He fucked her, his groin slapping with explosive cracks against her ass. Still feeling the effects of his spanking, headier sensation joined with the already mind-stealing bliss filling her. It spiraled tight until she felt as if she’d been condensed down into her belly, buttocks, and pussy. There was nothing but movement and desire and the overriding need to climax. She was drawing down, getting more and more concentrated with each powerful thrust.
“You may come for me,” came a thick, growling voice in her ear. Calloused fingers seized her clit.
For an instant, everything clenched tighter than ever. Then Tasha blew wide open, pleasure blasting through every nerve in her body. Quakes of sheer exaltation shuddered through her body, leaving her wonderfully raw with sensation.
Still Wekniz rode her, bringing more ripples to rise and fall. His fingers rubbed against her clit again, setting off a fresh cataclysm. Wave after wave crashed until he released within her with a moan of fulfillment.
When his cocks’ jerks eased into twitches, he lifted her up and deposited the whole of her body on the sleeping mat. Still inside her, he drew her close, holding her as the last tremors shivered through her bones.
“Ancestors, you are beautiful,” he moaned in her ear. “In every way possible, you delight a man.”
She wanted to tell him the same, but she knew he wouldn’t believe she felt that way. With his scars, Wekniz couldn’t know how stunning she found him. Not despite them but partly because of them. As she settled down, he continued to be compassionately strong, rubbing trembling muscles, getting her water, and covering her up to keep her warm. He did everything perfectly, as Nur had.
A familiar wash of fear tried to worm its way into her stomach, but Tasha pushed it away. They were coping with a bad situation, that was all. Falinset was still nonexistent in matters of intimacy, and it seemed he would remain so. This was temporary. Nothing to worry about. No reason to put distance between them as circumstances would do that soon enough.
Chapter 16
After amazing sex with Wekniz, Tasha spent most of that night lying awake next to Noelle in the guest bed they shared. As vast as the clan-sized bed was, the child never failed to roll right up against Tasha, pushing her to the edge of the mat. Twice Tasha rose and got on the opposite side, only to have the little girl shift right on top of her again.
It wasn’t having a three-year-old slinging her arms and legs over Tasha that kept her awake, however. It was going over the information Wekniz had shared before he’d successfully distracted her from worrying.
Maf knew she and Noelle were in the house. He also had information on Nur and Wekniz’s parents that could convince Falinset to give them up. The Nobek had said he wouldn’t allow it – but if Falinset told Ket and his goons to come and get them, what could Wekniz do?
It was almost a relief when the window vids showed the first light of day turning the sky pink, ending the long night. Unfortunately, it did little to quiet her worries.
Late that morning, when at last Tasha could take the uncertainty no more, she left Nur playing with Noelle in the common room. Wekniz was out doing fire safety checks at the businesses within his work zone in Nalta City. No doubt he was being followed by Ket’s men the whole while, impeding his attempts to find out if Maf indeed had control over Lobam.
Falinset was sequestered in his office, supposedly investing in the next big thing in the Empire. Tasha headed towards that room, in the front of the home where Nur’s cologne still hung in the air.
She needed to know what Falinset planned to do. If she thought he was likely to hand Noelle over to the Basma, she had to take the child and run. If not, she had to be ready to fight when the soldiers finally stormed the house.
She even had thoughts of somehow carrying the fight directly to Ket. It drove her crazy to think of the women still trapped at the camp. Something had to be done to help them.
With too many worries rattling in her head, she went to Falinset’s open office door and peered in.
The Dramok sat at his desk, late-morning sunlight streaming over his head and wide shoulders in a golden beam. Three vids floated over the desk’s surface, but he wasn’t looking at any of them or the window vid showing the lush lawn outside. Instead he stared into space, his heavy-jawed face looking lost.
It gave Tasha the bizarre urge to go to him, to rub his broad shoulders and tell him things would be all right. His eyes filled with so much hurt that it made something in her chest ache. But things were not all right. Not by far. He might be planning to make them even worse.
He became aware of her presence after a moment. He looked at her and blinked slowly, as if waking up. His gaze ran up and down her body, the act obviously unconscious. It was almost as if he came back to full awareness reluctantly, trying to stay out of reality for as long as possible. Tasha decided not to be offended at the overt perusal. Heaven knew she’d surreptitiously checked him out enough times. Besides, if he was attracted to her, she might be able to catch him off guard.
Deciding on the spot that would be a good course of action, she gave him a friendly smile. “Hi. I need to talk to you.”
At the sound of her voice, alertness flooded into his eyes and he stopped ogling. He looked away and spoke in a gruff tone. “Are you going to charm me as you have my Imdiko and Nobek?”
Had she been so obvious? Well hell, maybe she should just play it straight then. Falinset had the air of a man who wouldn’t take being fucked with very well. She could respect that.
She walked into the room, moving slow and careful. The Dramok showed no sign of belligerence, but she hadn’t figured him out yet. She’d been intent on avoiding the son of the Basma thus far, and he seemed perfectly fine to remain aloof too. Now she needed to know what was on his mind. Would he allow her to do so?
She stood in front of his desk. Her traitorous eyes looked at the set of his wide shoulders, the massive chest his well-cut shirt stretched across. Why did he have to look so good? Keeping her tone even she said, “Your clanmates possess a magnetism that is hard to resist. I suppose you know that, being their Dramok.”
He didn’t respond. Instead he stared at one of his vid readouts. His finger touched the hologram and ran over a line of Kalquorian writing, highlighting whatever it said. Tasha’s ability to read Kalquorian was rudimentary at best. With it backwards from her point of view, it was impossible to know what he was working on.
When Falinset’s silence continued, Tasha dropped into the chair behind her uninvited. She would have this conversatio
n with him whether or not he wanted it. Asking permission to sit in his office was nowhere on her radar.
His only reaction was to look at her. She looked back. Damn, his jaw was big and square. What did he do, lift weights with his teeth? What could a man do with a strong mouth like that?
That set off another set of ideas, thoughts Tasha didn’t want to examine too closely. Especially not when he had that powerful look and build that only needed a few scars to make perfect. Damn it, why was her stomach getting warm? Nur and Wekniz were fucking her good and proper, thanks a lot. She shouldn’t be feeling like a sex-starved virgin.
Fortunately for her libido, he finally spoke. “Maf knows you and the princess are here.”
It was a bald statement, hardly inviting a cozy chat. Tasha seized the tiny note of opportunity anyway. “That’s what Wekniz said. What are you going to do?”
His brow, almost as heavy as his jaw, creased. “What can I do? Maf says he has control of the moon and I have no reason to doubt him. Last time I was in Nalta City I noted more soldiers than usual. More people making deals and scurrying around than I’ve seen before.”
“You agree with Wekniz then that this could be a hotspot for the Basma’s rebellion?”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes hard as if to punish them for being blind to the obvious. “I can’t say I’m convinced this is Ground Zero for his plans, but then I never would have dreamed Maf was staging a war at all. The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing at all.”
At least he seemed willing to talk openly about the matter. Maybe she could count on him to be honest. “Maf has a lot of stuff on Wekniz and Nur’s parents, I’m told.”
Anger flashed in Falinset’s eyes, but since he wasn’t looking at her, Tasha didn’t feel threatened. “If we outright defy him, they will serve harsh sentences for their wrongdoings. Wrongdoings that Maf forced them into. Wouldn’t you agree what a wonderful sire I have?”
His loathing was on full display, his lips curling and brows lowering in a vicious glower. Falinset looked as dangerous as Wekniz in that moment. Tasha thought that if he was putting on an act for her benefit, it was a damned good one.
She decided she could afford to be blunt. “Are you going to hand over Noelle to him?”
Falinset turned that blood-freezing glare on her and she thought her heart would stop. Speaking slowly, enunciating each word, he said, “Fuck, no. He can go blow a Tragoom. And if you think I’d do such a thing, you’re welcome to help him with that task.”
The sheer rage in his stare eased back and Tasha learned how to breathe again. “No offense, Dramok. Just checking.”
Falinset snorted and leaned back in his chair. “Maf thinks his blackmailing and bribery will make me a party to his insane grab for power. Nothing could be further from that. So relax, Matara. You and the princess stay here until we can smuggle you away.”
She believed him but was determined there would be no doubt left. “If you do that, Maf will hurt Nur’s fathers. My understanding is you want to keep them safe. Won’t Nur be devastated if they are caught?”
The fury fled Falinset’s face, leaving misery in its wake. “He will. But there is no choice in the matter, not with Maf pushing it. Nur understands. He is coping with that as best he can.”
Her chest throbbed. She hated herself for belaboring the point, but she had her little cousin to protect. “You swear you won’t give us up to help your Imdiko?”
He leaned forward again, skewering her with an intense gaze that made her feel more vulnerable than when Nur had her strapped into the fuck chair. Her body went warm all over, and she tried to ignore her reaction to the power that emanated off him.
He said, “If we give Maf this, what will he want next? It’s always something, and each time it gets worse. He’s stealing our souls a piece at a time.”
He wasn’t lying. He wouldn’t give them up to the Basma. Tasha would have bet her life on it. Which left her only one more thing to ask. “So again, what are you going to do?”
He laughed with no humor at all. “If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them. I’ve got nothing, literally nothing to work with. My com system is monitored. My home is surrounded. If I try to take you out of here, Maf’s men will capture you. Other than my clan fighting them and dying in the effort to keep you and the princess out of Ket’s hands, I can’t think of one damned thing I can do.”
She could see the hopelessness of the situation, yet something in her insisted there had to be some solution. Talking out loud in the hope of spurring some amazing brainstorm, she said, “They won’t go away. Eventually Maf will get tired and send Ket in to take us by force. He might even do it today.”
“Not yet. He seems to think he has one last bargaining chip to sway me.” Falinset shook his head in disgust. “He’s sending whatever this prize is in the next few days. We have at least that long.”
A few days. She’d already been here over a week and felt no less helpless than before. Like a rat in a cage, Maf had her and Noelle as surely as if they were still penned up in that terrible compound. The only difference was they were washed and well fed. Meanwhile, 18 other women – if they were still alive – continued to starve and suffer.
Frustration made her slam a fist on the top of Falinset’s desk. “Damn it to fucking hell!”
He gave her a bitter smile. “It’s a pretty mess, isn’t it? We’re screwed in every way possible. Welcome to my world.”
“It wasn’t always like this for you,” she snarled.
“As Maf’s biological son, a son he wants to claim? Matara, I was fucked from birth. My problem was, I always thought I’d figure a way out of it.”
The bitterness and pain in his voice earned an unexpected throb of sympathy from Tasha. Falinset had been dealt an ugly hand through no fault of his own. He’d fought it on behalf of his clanmates and the honor he somehow managed to hang onto. Having her and Noelle under his protection really would destroy everything he’d built.
Tasha’s faith in her Buddhist beliefs had always been more casual than the rest of her family. In fact, she was pretty sure she had no faith in anything at all. Still, she tried to find some profound meaning to the current situation. She knew one lesson that summed it up best. “Life is suffering.”
“Life is shit,” Falinset countered. His view sounded more precise to Tasha.
She sighed. She thought about going back to Nur and Noelle, but the idea of playing games only depressed her more. And while Falinset would no doubt be relieved to have her gone, she couldn’t find it in her to leave him alone with that morose look on his face. A look she wanted to erase.
She reached for her most reliable source of calm. “Got any booze? If we’re fucked beyond hope, we might as well get drunk.”
Falinset stared at her in shock. Then a slow smile spread over his robust face, making the features less brawny and more fascinating. “I like the way you think, Matara. Let me see what I have in the cabinet.”
He got up and opened a nearby cabinet. Tasha eyed the many bottles inside it with bitter pleasure. “Now we’re talking.”
* * * *
Falinset was impressed with his companion’s capacity for drinking. Tasha kept up with him, glass for glass. Of course he wasn’t a heavy drinker himself, but he was much bigger than she was.
She was also hilariously funny. They’d reached the point where they sprawled on seating cushions on the floor, laughing hysterically. Tasha regaled him with stories of her twin, the bawdy devil-may-care Cissy.
“Did she really send 20 dildos to the governor of the Adan Territory in her Dramok’s name?” He roared so hard tears squeezed out of his eyes.
“When Diltan got the irate com, Cissy told him she thought the prick needed some friends,” Tasha gasped between howls. “Diltan was especially mad about the card she attached that read, ‘from one pompous dick to another’.”
As they rolled about screaming with laughter, Nur came to the door to see what was going on. He look
ed at the pair and the bottles they’d emptied thus far and shook his head.
Struggling against the smile fighting to take over his face, the Imdiko told them, “I’m closing the door. The princess is napping, and when she wakes she does not need to see this.”
That brought Tasha up short. “I didn’t mean to get so tipsy. You don’t mind taking care of her, do you Nur? You said you didn’t have a client today.”
“I don’t mind.” The grin finally won, stretching over his face as he looked the pair over. “I think you are both overdue a little pity party. Go ahead and have fun. But please stay in here so Noelle isn’t exposed to such outrageous behavior.”
With a laugh he left, ordering the door closed behind him. Relieved of her responsibilities, Tasha clinked her glass to Falinset’s when he refilled it. “We have your Imdiko’s approval to get stinking drunk.”
“I believe I’m already there, but let’s take full advantage of it.” Falinset felt a happy glow that was odd for its rarity. He could understand why some people became dependent on alcohol. It made life not so awful.
He looked over his companion, the woman he’d done his best to avoid. He felt sure he wouldn’t be able to make himself do so any longer. She was fascinating in her provocative mix of toughness and sweet demeanor. She’d had plenty of stories about her twin, but he had the idea she possessed her own outrageous tendencies. He wanted to know more about her.
Wondering how daring Natasha Salter had been in her life gave Falinset a crazy idea of his own. It was out of the question of course, but the mere notion had him laughing uproariously once again.
Tasha grinned and smacked his shoulder repeatedly to get him to talk to her. “What? What? Share the funny, you pitiful bastard.”
“I was thinking– ” he spluttered with more laughter before going on “—Mother of All, it would be too funny. I’m just imagining the look on Maf’s face.”
He lost himself in unbounded mirth again, rolling off the seating cushion in his spasms of hysteria. Tasha crawled over to sit on his quaking abdomen. She pounded on his chest, but he barely felt it. “Tell me! Damn it, I want to know!”
Alien Hostage Page 21