by Emma Castle
He groaned in delight, more than ready to worship her for her natural sensual thoughtfulness. He moved his lips down her throat, then nibbled her collarbone playfully before he ripped the slender straps of her gown so that the filmy frost-blue fabric exposed her perfect breasts. She threw her head back, clawing at him as he sucked a pale-pink nipple between his lips.
A soft, sensual purr of pleasure escaped from her as he suckled at the other nipple, until both peaks were hard and her breasts were heavy in his palms as he kneaded them gently.
“Oh God… Oh God…,” Harper panted as he shifted down her body and grabbed the fabric of her dress, shredding the dress open right up to her waist.
He pushed her thighs apart and bent his head to her core. She still wore the whisper-thin panties he’d given her, and he grinned wickedly as he pulled them to the side to explore her folds. She was already wet, the dark-pink center of her gleaming with arousal. He flicked his tongue along the inside of her thigh, and she yelped.
He then moved his tongue directly against her core and pushed it inside. She nearly leaped off the bed, as though an electric shock had pulsed through her. He chuckled and used his arms to pin her thighs open to keep her secure on the bed so he could play with her. He pulled her panties tight, knowing it would put more pressure on her clit while he continued to thrust his tongue in and out of her.
“Sef…I can’t,” she whispered. “Please, let me come.”
“Not yet, Queenie,” he growled. “You’re not ready.”
Sweat dewed on her skin as she struggled to contain the swell of ecstasy he knew had to be building inside her.
“Please… I am… Let me…,” she begged.
“Remember this, Harper. Remember how good it feels to have me fucking you. And I haven’t even bitten you. I can go all night.”
He pushed two fingers into her slit now, stretching her. He pumped his fingers inside her, then ripped her panties off and opened his trousers. He should have stripped off the rest of his clothes, but he couldn’t wait. The primal part of him had taken over. He thrust into her, and her back arched, the torn gown rippling like moonlit water around them on the bed. He gripped her hips and sat back on his heels, watching the beautiful display of his charl as she started to climb higher toward a climax.
Harper fisted the sheets, then grabbed his wrists, digging her fingers into his skin as she thrashed beneath him. For such a tiny creature, she was impressively strong. He pounded into her, unleashing his pent-up desires as he claimed her, mated with her fiercely. He never wanted her to forget this moment, how explosive it was when they came together over and over.
“Come, Queenie. Come now.” He pumped into her, riding her harder as she screamed in pleasure.
His body tightened, and an explosive climax shot through him. He roared out his pleasure, delighting in the soft, pliant body of his mate beneath him. Then he collapsed on top of her, catching himself just in time to keep from crushing her. He leaned his forearms on either side of her head and pressed kisses down upon the crown of her hair. Harper let out a shivery sigh, her thighs falling loosely open as her strength failed her.
He knew she was exhausted, but the night was far from over. He caught his breath and then pulled out of her and sat up. Then he stripped the rest of his clothes off and removed what remained of her dress until she lay gloriously naked beside him. They faced each other, both breathing raggedly. He slid her closer to him, cupping the soft curves of her ass, and he lifted her leg over into his thigh, curling an arm around her waist. Then he used his hand to guide his cock back inside her.
“How are you hard again?” she gasped as she opened her legs wider. The feel of her around him, tight and hot, was true ecstasy to him. She made him feel safe somehow, even though he was the one who was supposed to be protecting her. He cupped the back of her neck and massaged her tight muscles beneath his fingers.
“Being able to claim you over and over is one of the benefits of being of my species.” He pulled almost all the way out of her and rammed back in a little harder. Her inner walls fluttered around him as though trying to draw him in.
“That’s a…definite perk,” Harper admitted, her words breathless as she placed her palms on his chest.
His skin burned at the contact, and he moved more urgently inside her than he had before, their gazes locked. A quiet passion, something deeper than lust and desire, shimmered between them like a misty rain after a long drought. He was hungry for it, for her, craving that intense connection that used to scare him in the past. He never wanted this before, but now he craved it wildly, madly. There could be no other female for him now. Harper was his world.
Pleasure pulsed inside him like the solar flares off an unstable star. Harper’s face lifted up to his as she moved with him, their bodies rocking together in a rhythm older than recorded history, perhaps time itself. For so long he had indulged only in lust and savage desires with hard and frantic couplings. But now, a sweet desperation came with his thrusts, and her excited pants and soft, dreamy gaze suspended them in a space somewhere between breaths, outside of reality.
They climaxed together, a perfect union of what burned between them. An endless spark, a rippling wave, and a delicious shiver moved from her into him, as though her warm afterglow had spread into him.
“What we have,” he murmured, still stroking the back of her neck, “this is rare. So very rare.” So rare it’s worth fighting for, he added silently. Maybe someday she would understand the choices he’d made, why he’d used her brothers to make her come with him. Maybe someday she wouldn’t hate him. Maybe someday she just might love him the way that he loved her.
The thought came so naturally that he didn’t immediately realize what had happened. When he did fully understand the change in his heart, his heart trembled. He loved his little human. Somehow, in just a week, he’d fallen under Harper’s spell.
“Harper, I…” But the words wouldn’t come. Not because he was afraid to say them, but because he knew she wasn’t ready to hear them, and he didn’t feel he had the right to say them, not until he’d earned her trust.
She snuggled deeper into him, sharing body heat. “Yes?”
He marveled at the power she held over him. He would do anything for her…except let her go. “We will see your brothers first thing in the morning, as I promised.”
“Thank you,” she whispered against his neck.
He savored her presence, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I want you to be happy, and I want you to believe me when I say my people and yours can be allies, even friends. The life I envisioned for us, not just as a couple but as a human and a Krinar together, is one of joy and equality and freedom. But I need you to trust me, Harper. Can you do that?”
She tensed. She was quiet a long moment, and he did his best to hold her tenderly in his arms, stroking her in a way he hoped would soothe her.
Please let her trust me. Let her see that I care about her and that I only want her to have the wonderful life she deserves.
“Part of me understands your people. From your perspective, we’re harming this world, a world you want to share as a home. So of course taking us over was the right thing to do. In your eyes, we should realize our mistakes and be grateful.” She looked down at his chest as she spoke.
“But humans aren’t like that, and honestly, if another race had conquered your people using the same rationale, I doubt you’d be grateful. I wonder if you’d have been part of your people’s resistance to them?” Sef suspected Harper would have been a resistance fighter against a race that was intent on harming humans.
“I just want you to see things from my point of view, Sef. It’s irrational, I know, but sometimes it’s hard for us to see beyond our own little problems. You see an inhumane and barbaric practice like eating meat and shut it down. We see jobs lost, towns dying, and people suffering because of your good deeds.”
“I didn’t have a hand in those decisions. I can’t say I would have done anything di
fferently if that had been my assigned role, though. I want to be honest with you,” Sef said.
“I know you do. And that’s what I’m struggling with. Knowing that the man in front of me is a good man, that his people are good people, and trying to reconcile it with the bad things they’ve done trying to be good.”
“Give me time—that’s all I ask of you. Time to prove we’re not the enemy.”
“I don’t…know. I want to, Sef, I do. Maybe I just need some time. I need to see your world, not be a prisoner here.”
“I understand. I’ll give you your freedom to leave the house, but you still must obey my commands. When I tell you not to do something, it is for your safety. Do you trust me on that?”
“Yes,” she replied with certainty.
“Good.” He kissed her temple, and she let out a relaxed sigh, her tense muscles finally giving way as she started to slip into sleep.
Silently, he told her with his body that she was a treasure, one he would keep safe. Tomorrow he would worry about how to save her brothers and how to find the Krinar who was willing to betray his people.
16
Harper lay in Sef’s arms as dawn crested the horizon and filled the room with soft light.
Everything had changed.
She had decided after last night to surrender to Sef, to become his charl. Not because the sex last night had been literally out of this world, but because of the way he held her, the way she felt his love blossom inside her. He’d promised her freedom, promised her a good, happy life with him…if she could trust him. And she wanted to.
But she wasn’t going to abandon her brothers either. She would talk with Mason and Liam today and tell them what she had learned about the Ks. She’d never hated them, but she hadn’t understood them, not fully. Yet last night she’d spoken with Sarina and had realized that, in all the ways that mattered, the Krinar were just like humans. They weren’t perfect, but they were unified in their desire to make Earth their home and to share it with humans. It wasn’t about enslavement or extinction. The Krinar were waiting for humans to grow up and mature as a people, because right now they were on a path to destruction. It was like Sef had said—they wanted to be partners. She had to convince her brothers of this, but how?
Sef’s sexy voice teased her. “You’re starting the day with too many thoughts.” She scooted over and propped her chin on his chest. He looked down the length of her body, his lips forming a seductive grin.
“I’m thinking about my brothers,” she said.
Sef’s body suddenly went rigid as his smile faded. She dropped her gaze to his chest and stroked a hand over his pectorals, but he didn’t move, didn’t speak, so she took a chance that he was open to listening.
“You are right. I don’t really hate you. I like you too much. And I like your parents, and your brother and Bianca. You have a wonderful family who loves you and would do anything for you. I want to be one of those people for you too, but…” She placed her fingers over his lips when he tried to speak. “Just listen, okay?”
Sef gently curled his fingers around her wrist, his thumb massaging her skin, and he nodded.
“When I first came here, I wanted to resist you, to find a way to escape. But I don’t want that anymore. I want to stay, but I have to save my brothers. They are my family. I feel about them the way you do about Soren. So what I’m asking is, will you please help me save them? I’m yours, and will be as long as you want me. All that I ask is for you to help save my family.”
She held her breath, and her heart stuttered with uncertainty while she waited for him to say something.
He kissed the tips of her fingers, and his brown eyes burned gold. She thought she would miss those blue eyes from when he was Seth, but she was enraptured by his true eyes, those cinnamon-colored depths that always made her think of autumn.
“You are my family, Harper. That makes your brothers my family as well. I will do everything in my power to help.”
Her eyes blurred with silly tears as she crushed her mouth to his, kissing him desperately. “Thank you.”
It was another hour before they left the bed to go shower, and then another half hour in the tall, wide shower before they finally summoned the discipline to keep their hands off each other and get ready.
Harper dried her hair, then dressed in jeans and a loose pale-blue blouse that reminded her a bit of last night’s dress. Memories of Sef ripping it apart made her flush all over again, even though she wasn’t sure she could climax again so soon. She met Sef downstairs. He wore jeans and a white T-shirt that showed off his broad upper body. The man radiated raw, primal sexuality, especially when in jeans. Had he noticed how much he turned her on when he wore them? It made her want to climb him like a tree and wrap her legs around his waist and…
She stopped that train of thought before it got her in trouble.
“No K trousers?” she asked.
“I worked undercover so long that I grew to like denim.” He chuckled. “You humans do a few things better than us, it seems.” He held out a hand to her as he opened the front door. “You ready?”
She placed her hand in his and nodded. “Ready.”
They walked toward the central part of the Kansas City Center. She and Sef held hands, something that drew a few looks, but nothing hostile, merely curious. She couldn’t believe how accepting the Ks were of interspecies relationships. Humans would have been far more negative, possibly even hostile in their response.
“There aren’t many human charls here. You’ll have to forgive their curiosity,” Sef murmured as they reached a white building with black windows.
“Why aren’t there many charls here?”
He led her inside the two-story structure. “In part because it’s a newer Center. Our older Centers have more of my people who have had interactions with yours.”
“Which naturally lead to more interactions,” Harper joked. But then her entire body went rigid as she saw that a dozen K males wearing cold white uniforms, just like the ones who’d captured her brothers, filled the room. Most were seated at desks and barely glanced at her.
“It’s okay,” Sef said as he led her past the men. There were dozens of transparent screens flashing with glowing alien text. Harper winced as her brain tried to make sense of the text, even though she knew it wasn’t in English.
Sef paused, concern darkening his brown eyes and creating a furrow between his brows. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just a headache. I’m fine.”
When he was satisfied that she was okay, he led her down the hall to a bay of elevators. The one they got in took them down to the basement one floor below. When the doors opened, she gasped. The hall was filled with dozens of cells. There were no bars, only thick-looking glass that separated her from those inside. There were a few people she recognized, but most she didn’t.
Sef escorted her down the hall. “Your brothers are at the far end.” She found her brothers sharing a cell. They had two full-size beds on opposite walls. Mason was lying on his back, throwing a tennis ball at the glass, catching it, and repeating the motion over and over. Liam was sitting on his bed, his face turned sideways to stare at the glass. He was the first to see her.
“Liam! Mason!” She rushed over to the glass, pressing herself against it. Liam leaped up and ran to join her. Mason stared at her in shock, and the tennis ball smacked him in the chest. They both started speaking rapidly, but she couldn’t hear them.
“Hang on.” Sef lifted his hand up, staring at his palm. A second later the sound came through.
“Jesus, Harper! Are you okay? Did they arrest you too?” Liam demanded. His gaze cut to Sef beside her. “What the hell are you doing here with Ambassador Soren?” Liam tilted his head slightly, studying Sef.
“I’m not Ambassador Soren. Look again, more closely,” Sef encouraged calmly as he moved toward the glass wall.
“No…no way,” Mason growled. “It’s Seth. From the bar. Picture him blond and blue-eyed.�
� He smacked a balled fist against the glass. “He’s a fucking K!”
“You lying mother fu—” Liam started to snarl.
“Liam! Mason! Stop that!” Harper snapped. “Just calm down, okay?”
“Calm down? We’re in prison because of him!” said Mason.
“And if he’s touched you in any way…,” Liam warned.
“Oh, grow up.” She turned to Sef. “Is there any way I can go in and talk to them?”
Sef nodded, did something with his palm controller, and pointed at the glass. “You can now walk through it.”
“Okay.” Heart pounding, she stepped through the glass. She closed her eyes, and cool tingling sensations covered her body for a few seconds until she passed completely through the glass. It felt like walking through mist. Her brothers both stepped back warily.
“Whoa,” Mason said, his eyes wide.
“Yeah,” she laughed. “Their technology is amazing.”
“Of course it is. How do you think they took over the planet so easily?” Mason grumbled as he shot Sef a dark glare. “Might as well be magic.”
“Not really,” said Harper. “The fundamental principles seem pretty straightforward. It’s the application that makes all their tech seem magical.”
“I’ll come back in a few minutes.” Sef gave her a small nod and gave them some privacy.
The moment he was gone, her brothers crushed her in a fierce embrace. She smacked on Mason’s back and gasped for breath.
“Sorry. We’ve been worried sick about you, kiddo.” Mason released her, and she had a minute to look them over. “We didn’t know if you’d gotten caught up in all this as a bystander.”
“They don’t seem to be about due process,” Liam added. “So who knows what rights you have in their view?”