Atone By Treaty

by Kayla Stonor

  He looked down at Saiorse on her knees, head bowed, the scytah whip resting on her open palms. “Don’t move.”

  Racing towards Gabrielle’s quarters, his heart pounded, the corridor stretched out before him, a blood curdling fear chased constricting his chest. The K’lahn guard outside her door snapped to his full height and hit the door key when Oltu rounded the corner. Oltu skidded to a halt just inside the open threshold, his eyes dilating in response to the dark.

  With a spoken command, the lights blazed on in her room and Gabrielle launched up in bed, her glorious tousled mane falling across her face, an adorable creature with her eyes blinking sleepily. She pulled the bedsheet over her chest even though she was clothed. “What are you doing? Why are you here?”

  Her words slurred, but she was waking, stark fear filling her eyes, her skin paler than normal. That black fear exploded behind Oltu’s eyes, real now, laced with Gabrielle, that awareness he associated with her presence.

  “You sleep,” Oltu said, the sentence stilted without a psi-translator to help him frame his words. He inhaled the air, her natural scent intoxicating, more dangerous than krah.

  “Oltu?” A frown cut the bridge of her nose. Her fear turned to anger; a subtle tightening of her lips. Belatedly, he shifted to human form and she recoiled. “Has something happened? Is Colonel Tennant okay? I want to see him.”

  “Tennant on ship. His quarters.”

  Oltu winced internally. Gabrielle wouldn’t approve of Tennant’s quarters, or him being restrained in manacles. She tilted her head, her steady gaze wearing holes in his resolve. His scales itched to emerge, an uncomfortable sensation. “His room not good, not...” he waved around Gabrielle’s luxurious cabin, “but colonel not in danger.”

  “Why don’t I find that reassuring?”

  Her suspicion washed through him, Oltu now over-sensitive to her mood, a side-effect from the krah. He decided she had been in deep sleep before, helped by a heavy dose of glosta judging by the half-empty bottle.

  Her eyes narrowed on him. “You left very angry. I discovered I was a prisoner, forbidden to leave.”

  “The ship. Is too big. You get lost.” Oltu stopped. She had him on the defensive and his words were too clumsy. He needed to leave.

  “I see. So why are you here? Clearly not to talk.” She glanced at his straining pants. “Are you here to claim your dues?”

  “Dues?”

  “To seal our bargain. My conditions remain unchanged.”

  She meant mating. The scintillating suggestion caught him unawares. Skal. His cock couldn’t harden more, he ached for her caress and that thought nearly tumbled him off a precipice of patience. He teetered on the edge.

  Must treat her carefully.

  He nodded and wetted his lips, aching for her to initiate the first move… as agreed. “I remember.”

  A hint of interest lightened her features, his words a chance enchantment he hadn’t suspected. Her eyes slipped down his body a second time and her guarded stance relaxed. She watched him, considering, assessing. The bedsheet had slipped and her nipples were prominent through the white silk garment she wore. She had found the clothing provided for guests. Oltu held his breath, scared the slightest movement would break the spell. She had left undone several hook fastenings, revealing generous cleavage that hinted at hidden delights, undiscovered country. Saliva filled Oltu’s mouth, his teeth sharpening on the savage desire she ignited inside him. Holding back a Qui shift took effort, and he could hardly move when she crawled to the end of her bed.

  Gabrielle’s every movement screamed a sexual offensive.

  Her sun-kissed limbs possessed a calculated grace that both invited and cautioned. Seconds stretched out, time filled with a promise of paradise, an invitation to partake in a feast of sensual abandon and illicit pleasure.

  One painted toenail slowly found the polished stone floor. Oltu’s eyes widened at a glimpse of white lace protecting her modesty. She rose from the bed. Her eyes dropped to his waist, hovered over his groin. Skal, he was in physical pain.

  “Show me,” she murmured.

  The avarice behind her sultry command peaked Oltu’s interest, Gabrielle demanded, no expected the best. She didn’t walk towards him either, she angled sideways, marking a wide circle that gave her full vantage, and him none.

  Her gaze intensified on the defined ridge in his pants. “Show me everything.”

  Oltu forced back a full Qui shift, the urge to mate overpowering. If Gabrielle changed her mind, and fled, nothing would prevent a lust-driven shift and he would shatter her fragile trust in an instant. She conquered her demons on her terms, demanding compliance to her will. All the while tempting and coaxing him to discover an implicit reward for indulging her whim. The assertive approach defused his baser instincts.

  She did not run, she circled, a predator luring its prey.

  Unexpectedly, her conditions might save them both.

  Slowly, his hand moved to the fastening of his pants.

  *****

  His pheromones overwhelmed her, undermined her defenses, but she’d withstood his amorous onslaught before, and to her surprise, Oltu demonstrated a willingness to heed her stipulations. She didn’t know what tempered his usual arrogant aggression, but his silent assent to her command switched up the persona inside her that enjoyed control. This wasn’t her world, and Oltu was nothing like any man she’d known, he was the enemy that forced Earth to call truce, but the inherent threat of his nature, his alien heritage, the danger he embodied to her world, dimmed against the sexy hotness standing before her.

  Oltu sported taut musculature, broad shoulders, and smooth hairless pecs.

  Holy fuck.

  The First Lord of Katar struck a figure tasty enough to make a girl weep with unbridled joy. An awesome eight-pack descended into a well-defined abdominal V before dark hairs appeared, leading the eye to his impressive cock. That mouthwatering specimen of manhood jutted up to the ceiling, unbowed by its alarming length and her heart jumped to see the ball sac and cock both clean-shaven.

  Tall and lean, perfectly endowed, he was everything she wanted and more.

  Desire slicked her thighs and Oltu’s muscles contracted with a rippling quake. A growl rumbled deep in his chest, a warning she pushed his limits.

  Pleasure coiled inside her.

  “You will find the control you need... if you truly want me.” She spiraled towards him, closing in slowly, letting her challenge work on his conceit, giving him good reason to suppress his animalistic instincts so he could discover her intentions towards him.

  Men reveled in the unexpected. A vamp on the hunt undercut their swagger, startled them into stillness, invoked a desire to enjoy the surprise, and they didn’t need a submissive bone in their body to fall to her brand of seduction.

  His head turned towards her, their eyes locked and she closed the distance, her fingers cupping a swollen ball. Oltu hissed as a second shudder consumed him. He lifted his hand, caught the motion, a heated blaze backlighting his pupils in fiery liquid emerald tinged with gold. She stared into diamond-shaped pupils, heart racing, so close to taking flight she’d risen on her toes.

  “You test me,” he murmured.

  His aromatic scent curled around her releasing flutters in her stomach. The sexual tension held her still, tension so thick Gabrielle could hardly breathe.

  One false move, one misspoken word, and the experiment ended.

  The weight of him in her hand grew heavier and she felt the rising heat of his blood. She trailed her fingers over the ball sac’s fullness to the base of his shaft. Oltu moaned and Gabrielle felt an urge to take that cock inside her. She wanted to be filled. She needed him to massage that pulsating ache between her legs. Her hand enclosed the rigid member and traveled its silky length, using his considerable size to put distance between them, enough to skim the head and step away.

  He leaned towards her, stopping when she shook her head.

  “Kneel.” His frown and suspi
cious eyes prompted a delicious clench of her stomach. “I promise, Oltu, you will enjoy what I have in mind.” Tilting her head to the side she smiled, teasing him, tempting him with the unknown; a journey of adventure.

  This sexual conquest required gentle handling.

  Oltu needed a Qui whisperer, not a femme fatale.

  He dropped to one knee first, a sudden decision that spoke of challenge accepted, no surrender conceded. The other knee followed. She waited for him to find his center, licked her bottom lip in anticipation. His gaze tracked her tongue and then the corner of his mouth quirked. A bubble of fun filled her. Oltu possessed a sense of humor she had not suspected. She acknowledged his amusement with a smile of her own. Oltu saw through her antics, she didn’t threaten his ego. The force of his desire held him captive and he wanted to see where her game took them.

  She raised the ante. “Grip your ankles.”

  His eyebrows rose, but he complied, reaching behind him. Now he leaned back, his cock at the perfect angle, rigid and needy.

  “Don’t let go.”

  He grunted, his brow sporting a soft sheen from exertion she knew had nothing to do with the posture he held.

  When she unbuttoned her blouse, his cock jerked.

  Gabrielle hooked her fingers in her lace panties.

  His eyes tracked her slow sensuous reveal. Sculpted biceps strained, his chest rose and fell. He looked magnificent, his alien strength maintaining his position with ease.

  Gabrielle eased her panties over her buttocks and into a slow glide down her hips and thighs. They tumbled to the floor where she stepped out of them.

  Oltu’s reaction was electric, total absorption in her every move. A rumbling growl erupted from his throat prompting a surge of anxiety.

  “You are safe,” he reassured.

  Oltu’s muted aggression revealed a battle within him. His skin shifted to gray-blue before warming to human skin again. A beast lurked behind those half-lidded eyes, a rampant aggressor, and Oltu tamed that creature even as he lusted after her.

  She wanted, no, needed, to grant him his desire.

  His hunger for her fired every nerve end. Excitement overrode fear.

  She walked closer, stopped beside him. A centimeter separated his muscled thigh from the outer edge of her calf. Oltu’s eyes met hers. Excitement dazzled there, a soft twinkling that drew her in. She glimpsed her refracted reflection in those dark black pupils. His stiff unbending cock twitched and she reached out, scraped the rim of its head with her nails.

  “Skal!” His head jerked back, a slow blink hiding his eyes for a moment with an inner eyelid she noticed for the first time. A tension seized his jaw.

  Encouraged by his visceral reaction, she teased him further, leaning over so her open blouse exposed more of her breasts. Oltu wet his lips, his tongue human. Even his pupils rounded as the eyelid retracted. He reinforced his human shift and her body tingled in response, everywhere, her mind caught by a sensation not dissimilar to the feeling she got when Central Command activated her psycom. She trailed fingers along Oltu’s burning shaft, rubbing the veined ridges and dipping her knees to cup his ball sac in her palm before retracing a similar path. Halfway up, she gripped him hard.

  He bucked.

  “Hold still,” she coaxed.

  He gave the slightest nod of his head and reinforced his stance. Reassured, Gabrielle swung her inside foot across the top of his thighs, straddling him, his cock still in her grasp.

  *****

  Her palm pressed into his chest, just below the heart. He took her weight there as she slid onto his unyielding cock, relishing the slick warmth of her channel, inhaling her exotic perfume that enslaved him to her will.

  She possessed him.

  Completely.

  Utterly.

  The totality of her bloodless conquest, the simple invocation of focused desire impressed him. He impaled her, felt the head of her womb and then she lifted, obliging him to brace once more under her shifting weight. Her long hair tickled his neck, she increased the pressure on her chest and her fisted grip at the base of his cock pressed into his groin as she hooked her lower legs behind his folded knees. She demonstrated unexpected strength, maintaining her position with a contented smile. A feral glint lit amber-brown eyes. She owned him in this moment, her feather-light body and unbounded will acting in concert to extract pleasure from him in a manner she decreed.

  Oltu nearly climaxed in that moment of revelation.

  He had seen nothing so tantalizing as this woman riding his cock. He understood his role, held every muscle rigid when he wanted to ravish her, supporting her objectification of his body into a tool for her enjoyment.

  Strong vaginal muscles clamped around him. Gabrielle gyrated in a sinuous dance, her open garment cleaving to her nipples. Droplets of sweat tracked a winding trail between her breasts and pooled in her belly button before spilling over and down to her mons.

  Oltu wanted to rise and wrap his arms around her.

  Topple her back to the floor and pummel her hard.

  A powerful surge pulsed up his cock.

  “Wait for me,” she urged him, a sweet promise, and divine intervention.

  More than anything, he wanted to experience her bliss.

  She massaged his cock faster now, her eyes closed. Oltu dropped his gaze to her cleavage. He hungered for a sight of her breasts, to explore her luscious body. Her conditions forced him to shackle those urges, to experience self-restraint to an unprecedented extent.

  The effort taxed him.

  He groaned. His mind crackled, sensing her orgasmic pleasure, colorful pulses of light that edged his peripheral vision.

  Gabrielle whimpered, tensed above him, grinding hard.

  Her expression tightened, her mouth opened, her eyes flew open in surprise. “What is that?” She stared at him, unnerved, caught in the thrall of bliss and fear.

  Oltu nudged her mind with his thoughts as he spilled his seed inside her. He hadn’t expected culmination could be won so easily, assumed her mental defenses would be stronger. He coaxed her mind to open, before their climax reached its peak.

  Alarm filled her eyes and her mind, his mind.

  She fought back, shot forward, her long hair brushed his pecs as she pushed her palms into his chest and groin, propelling her body off his cock. It was a physical block to psi intrusion as effective as any carefully constructed shield, and equally uncontrolled and panicked. Oltu released his ankles, rose to catch her, saving her from a nasty tumble.

  “Don’t touch me!” she snarled.

  More than anger edged her voice.

  His embrace terrorized her and she struggled against him. He set her gently on the floor while spasms convulsed his cock, his seed still spurting forth. Ejaculate splattered her belly, thick and viscous. Oltu rose and backed away in one fluid movement, hands raised as Gabrielle scooted onto her backside, crossing her feet before her to protect her modesty, clutching her over-shirt to cover her breasts.

  Hostile eyes glared up at him, her beautiful face contorted with fear. “Get out!”

  “I not hurt you. You fall.” The words sounded inadequate even to his ears; without his translator, he could not properly explain.

  Her voice lifted. “Get out!”

  Skal!

  Wanting to reason with her, Oltu nonetheless turned, grabbed his clothes and strode to the door. He slammed the entry lock. The door opened and the K’lahn posted outside started to attention.

  The guard’s expression blanked as he realized Oltu’s disheveled naked state. “My lord.”

  Oltu ignored him, marched back to his quarters, dressing on the way. It was night-shift, the corridors deserted. In the center of his room, Saiorse waited on bended knee, the scytah whip still resting on her upturned palms. A rare guilt stabbed Oltu’s gut. His obsession with Gabrielle had made him forget his most devoted tribute.

  He took a bended knee before her and lifted her chin with his finger.

  “I displeased
you, my lord?” Regret brimmed in her eyes, an emotional response he found endearing and stimulating, but not tonight, not with Gabrielle’s scent on his skin.

  He took the scytah whip from her. “Your punishment is served.”

  Her eyes brightened; a tentative smile on her lips. “My lord is generous. How may I please you?”

  Oltu shook his head and moved to dismiss her, but then thought of Gabrielle. “I have a guest who needs tending, if she permits your help.”

  “Which guest, my lord?”

  “A human. You will find her in the ambassador residence.” He retrieved the translator earpiece from where he’d left it. “Return this to me when you are done.” He paused. “No, keep it, I will requisition an upgrade.”

  Not just an upgrade on the psi-translator derived from Jaden’s brain implant, but a permanent cochlea implant. He intended to win back Gabrielle’s affection and he would not be without his translator again.

  *****

  Gabrielle palmed the entry lock with trepidation, only did so because Oltu possessed the means to enter whether she granted permission or not. She kept revisiting those last moments. She didn’t know what had happened between them, freaked out by the sense of Oltu in her head, a barely controlled aggression, lust, part of her expecting Oltu to break his word, except he hadn’t attacked her. He’d been gentle, backed off when asked, and until that moment she’d panicked, the sex had been incredible.

  Awesome.

  The intensity of her climax new and unmatched.

  She almost wanted her caller to be Oltu and buried a pang of disappointment with indignation at the sight of a petite female humanoid on her threshold, a physique that mixed human and K’lahn, and clothed in bits of material that left little to the imagination. None of the female Qui nobles she’d met displayed themselves so overtly. The stationed guard eyed Gabrielle’s visitor, an interest unrelated to any security concern. Gabrielle wanted to pull the alien woman inside just to deprive the lizard of his salacious pleasure.