The feeling of him coming inside her triggered another orgasm and she felt her inner muscles milking him, trying to get everything he had to give, feeding the cycle that had been set loose inside her from the first moment she removed her suit.
The moment seemed to last forever, stretched out like a warm thread of honey. But finally K felt herself relaxing a little. She felt limp now, wrung out. With a little moan, she slumped down on her side, panting.
Boone followed her down, sliding out of her as she relaxed and then K felt him pulling her into his arms.
“Mmm,” she hummed contentedly. “Well, I guess your formula worked. Boone, you’re a genius.”
“Never mind that. Are you all right, darlin’?” He sounded anxious and concerned. “Did I hurt you? I didn’t want to. I was so worried…”
His voice was hoarse with emotion. When K looked up at him, she was surprised to see that his eyes were suspiciously bright.
“Boone?” she murmured, reaching up to touch his cheek. “I’m fine, really. But…are you?”
“I think so. As long as I didn’t hurt you.” He swiped at his eyes and took a deep breath. “Sorry, darlin’. I knew this was a possibility but I thought…I hoped…with my DNA inside you it wouldn’t be necessary. I wanted your first time to be gentle.”
“Gentle wouldn’t have helped me control my cycle,” K said softly. Her heart swelled with emotion as she cupped his cheek. “Boone, I really needed what you gave me. If you hadn’t…” She shook her head. “I felt like I was going to rip you apart.”
“I know the feeling.” He sighed. “That Erian DNA is nothing to play around with. I don’t think I could have taken you like that without it.”
“It’s a good thing you gave me some of your own DNA to combat mine,” K said seriously. “I felt like I was going to lose control but I never really did.”
“I might have.” Boone still looked unhappy. “Look, are you sure I didn’t hurt you? I’ve never, uh, taken a girl that hard before. And I would never want to—”
“You said yourself it was an animal thing. A dominance thing,” K pointed out. “You gave me exactly what I needed. In fact…” She rubbed against him, noticing as she did that he was still hard and throbbing against her hip. “I think I need some more.”
Boone gave her a grudging smile. “That’s the Erian mating cycle, all right. Luckily, thanks to your DNA, I’m more than happy to accommodate you. Only this time…” He took K’s hands and pushed them over her head while he rolled her under him. “This time I want to take it nice and slow,” he growled softly.
K felt her breath catch in her chest. “That sounds…good. Perfect, actually. As long as you’re on top of me, penetrating me, you’ll be giving me exactly what I need.”
He gave a low chuckle. “Never would have believed I’d hear those words out of your mouth when we first captured you.”
“I never would have believed I’d be saying them,” K admitted breathlessly. “But it feels good, Boone. It feels right. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do. Feels right to me too, baby.” He took her mouth in a slow, leisurely kiss that built the fire inside her all over again. “Lights dim,” he called and gave her that lazy smile. “Let’s make it a little more romantic in here.”
“What does that mean? Romantic?” K asked breathlessly.
“Just another thing for me to teach you.” He smiled and kissed her again.
K smiled back. “I think I’m going to enjoy learning.”
“Then come on, darlin’, let me in.”
K kissed him and spread her thighs for him. Gently, Boone found his way inside.
This time they took it slow.
Chapter Thirty-four
“Hate to interrupt you two love birds,” Loki’s voice came crackling over the comlink. “But it looks like there’s an Erian ship on an intercept course with us. Not only that, I think the Empress herself is aboard.”
“What? She came herself?” Boone demanded. “Why?”
“Who knows?” Loki sounded worried. “The real question is, what is she here to do? Does she just want to take K or is she planning to wipe out our entire ship?”
“Translation—how can you save your ass, right?” Boone growled.
“Well it’s a nice ass,” Loki protested. “Just ask my man Rolf.”
“I’ll have to take his word for it.” Boone sat up in the dim room and K sat up beside him. He had lost count of how many times they’d made love. After the first frantic time it all seemed to blur together into one long, deliciously sensuous encounter.
One thing was for certain though, he had never had sex this incredible in his life. Part of it was from the injection of Erian DNA, he was certain—he’d been able to keep up with even K’s extreme needs, which was good. But part of it was just being with the woman he loved and knowing he would never let her go.
Speaking of which…what the hell was the Empress doing here? If she thought she could separate the two of them now, Boone had news for her—it wasn’t going to happen. He felt a possessive growl rise in his throat and wondered if it was the Erian DNA making him feel so primal and protective, or just the fact that he was determined to never lose K again.
“What is the Empress doing here?” K demanded, echoing his thoughts.
“I guess she decided she needed to come get you in person,” Loki said. “Her people are demanding entrance to the Dream Spinner. What should we do?”
“We’re coming out to the control area,” Boone told Loki. “Don’t do anything yet.”
He and K got dressed, fumbling around in the dim room for clothes. Boone put back on his black t-shirt and flight trousers but when he looked over, K was frowning at the floor.
“What is it, darlin’?” he asked, going over to her.
“This…thing.” She shuttered as she nudged the shed skinsuit with her toe. “I can’t put it on ever again but I don’t have anything else to wear.”
“Yes, you do.” Boone pulled out one of his dress shirts. “Here you go. Blast from the past.”
K pulled the dress shirt on. “Just like when you found me. Only…” She frowned.
“What?” Boone asked anxiously.
“Nothing. It just seems shorter than it did before.” She looked down at the hem of the shirt which did seem to fall higher on her thighs. “Never mind, let’s just get going.”
“I’m ready,” Boone said. “Let’s go.”
“Wait…” K put a hand on his arm and looked up into his face. “Boone, I want you to know that no matter what she says or does, I won’t go with her. We risked too much to be together—I won’t lose you again.”
“Aww, sweetheart…” He pulled her close and held her tightly to his chest for a long moment. K’s arms crept around his waist and she hugged him back hard. “It’s going to be okay,” Boone told her. “I don’t know how but it is. It’s going to be okay—I won’t let her take you away from me.”
“All right.” She nuzzled her face against his chest and then, reluctantly, broke the hug. “Come on, we have to go.”
They ran out into the corridor and the yipping voxes met them at once.
“Hey, where did you guys come from?” Boone said. “Guess they escaped from Mom. Must’ve decided they want to come back to their original masters.”
He scooped up the animals and deposited the one that was his on his shoulder as they walked. He was about to put K’s vox on his other shoulder when she surprised him by taking it herself.
“Here, I think he wants me.” She put the little animal on her shoulder and flashed Boone a secretive smile. The vox hummed contentedly and its eyes glowed pure, deep blue. Speaking of eyes, was there something different about K’s? Boone wanted a closer look but the light in the corridor wasn’t much better than in the dim room they’d just left and there was no time. They ran on down the metal hallway and ended up in the control area, breathless.
“There you are!” Loki sounded agitated. He did a double take at Boone
. “Hey, what did you do to your hair?”
“What are you talking about?” Boone asked distractedly. “Forget my hair—what’s the deal with the Empress?”
“She’s been trying to hail us and demanding we put her on screen,” Rolf answered helpfully.
“You didn’t, did you?” Boone demanded.
“No.” Loki looked miffed. “Of course not. I’ve been pretending our viewscreen is broken.”
“Good,” Boone said.
“But there is a call you might want to take—that hunky captain of the Tainted is also hailing us.”
“Put him on screen,” Boone directed. At once Captain Hesler’s face appeared on the viewscreen.
“Commander K, I’m sorry to tell you but your safe period is probably almost up. If you’re not already feeling pain, you will soon.” Then he did a double take. “Where's your suit?”
“I don’t need it anymore.” K smiled. “Boone’s formula worked. Remember, I told you he was working on something to help me?”
Hesler frowned. “I thought it wasn’t ready yet.”
“It wasn’t,” Boone said grimly. “We took a hell of a risk.” He put an arm around K’s shoulders and squeezed. “Luckily, it paid off. And now K’s DNA is changed—so hopefully the Empress won’t want her anymore.”
“I see,” Hesler murmured, nodding. “Well, congratulations, Commander K. But speaking of the Empress…”
“Yes, she’s here. And she’s demanding to come on board,” K said. “I fear she wants to take me back with her.”
“But you don’t want to go,” Hesler said flatly. It wasn’t a question.
K lifted her chin. “I’m staying here with Boone no matter what. I risked too much to lose him now.”
“You’ll need someone to back you up for that,” Hesler said. “If you’ll allow me and three of my men to come aboard your ship as an honor guard we can help with that. We’ll make sure the Empress’s men keep their hands to themselves where Commander K is concerned.”
“What—you think we should actually let the Empress on board?” Loki demanded.
“It’s the best security you have that they’re not going to just blow you out of the sky,” Hesler pointed out. “She probably thinks they can board you and bring Commander K away by force. “Let me and my men come on first and she’ll have to rethink that plan.”
Boone considered. “All right. But just three of you?”
“The Tainted are Paladins,” K said. “Three is all you need.”
Hesler nodded. “Stand by your airlock. We’ll come over first and then you can let the Empress aboard.”
“Looks like it’s about to get crowded in here,” Loki murmured as the screen went blank.
“Better crowded than overrun, captured and thrown in prison on your home planet,” Boone growled. “Or blown out of the sky. Hail the Erian vessel, Loki. Tell them the Empress and two of her people can come aboard. No more than that.”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the airlock signaled. Hesler and his men came in—well, one man and one woman, Boone saw. They all wore the black skinsuits but their eyes showed no black at all. Clearly they had found a way to make the suits work for them, just as K had told him between their bouts of love-making.
Hesler gave them a brief salute and then did a quick double take.
“I couldn’t tell on the viewscreen for sure but…been making some changes, have you?”
Before Boone could answer the airlock signaled again. The Tainted got into formation around himself and K.
“Wait!” Boone handed the two voxes—whose eyes were whirling a nervous yellow-orange—off to Mom and then laced his fingers through K’s.
“Open the airlock,” he instructed.
Loki did and stood back as the Empress, two guards clad in vivid purple and green uniforms and one of her advisors came crowding into the ship.
“Well, here we all are,” she pronounced as she stepped in, being careful of her long, richly bejeweled skirts. If this was her idea of casual travel attire Boone thought he would hate to see her formal wear.
“Yes, here we are, your Majesty,” he said, giving K’s fingers a squeeze. “I’m surprised you came yourself.”
“The future Empress of Eros is too important to risk to the incompetence of others.” The Empress turned to K. “Now, Krissana, enough of this foolishness. I’m here to take you ho—” She stopped short when she got close enough to get a really good look at K. “Krissana?” she asked in a shocked voice.
“Empress,” K said stolidly, nodding at her. “I’m sorry you’ve come all this way but I don’t intend to go anywhere with you. So you might as well—”
“Your eyes!” the Empress interrupted her. Coming forward, she pushed past Captain Hesler and grabbed K by the chin, tilting her face for a better view. “Krissana, what have you done to your eyes?”
K jerked away from her mother’s pinching grip and frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Boone was wondering the same thing. For the first time, he turned to look at K full in the face and gave a muffled exclamation of surprise.
“K, she's right—your eyes!”
She put a hand to her face. “What about them?”
“They’re not the royal purple anymore.” The Empress sounded extremely upset. “They’re some common, nondescript color. And you’ve lost your golden rings! The triple golden rings that denote royalty!”
“What?” K frowned.
“See for yourself.” Loki came forward for the first time, being careful not to touch the Empress, and passed her a hand-held viewer. K studied herself in silence for a moment, her eyes growing wider and wider.
“They’re the color of the sea on Earth-that-was. Just like Boone’s.” She looked up at Boone. “And your hair has changed too.”
“What? How?” He put a hand to his head. “Feels the same.”
“Look.” She handed him the viewer and Boone saw with surprise that his hair had gone from brown to the same deep black as K’s.
“Looks like you had a bad dye job,” Loki said with a smirk.
“Not at all,” Mom countered. “The color suits him. But why did you change
it, Boone?”
“I didn’t,” he protested. “I don’t see how—”
K’s new eyes grew wide. “The DNA swap! That must be it. But you didn’t say anything about visible changes, Boone.”
Boone frowned. “I didn’t think there would be any. Our DNA must have shifted a little more than my calculations suggested. Don’t worry though,” he added trying to reassure her, “It should have reached the end of its maximum potential for change by now.”
“Well, it definitely had an effect,” Loki said, frowning. “It’s not just K’s eyes—I think she’s taller too." He sniffed. "Like she wasn’t tall enough already.”
“You have grown a couple of inches,” Boone said, looking at K. “No wonder my shirt didn’t fit like it did before.”
She looked down at the hem of his dress shirt. “I knew it felt different.”
The Empress, who had been standing before them, mute with shock, finally managed to say something. She turned on Boone abruptly.
“What did you do? What did you do to my daughter?”
“He made it possible for us to be together.” K stepped forward, looking steadily at the enraged Empress. “By giving me some of his DNA and taking some of mine, Boone was able to help me complete my cycle without anyone dying. That’s why he has my hair color and I have his eye color now.”
“You didn’t…” The Empress was pale now. “Tell me you didn’t do this. Tell me you didn’t pollute your blood and give up your one chance of ruling just to be with this inferior giant!”
“As a matter of fact, Mother, that is exactly what I did.” K took back the viewer and looked at herself again, a small smile playing around one corner of her mouth. “I just didn’t expect it to be so obvious.”
“But now…how can you rule? Without the tripl
e golden rings how can you command the people? How can you…how…” The Empress sputtered to a stop, apparently so overcome she couldn’t even finish her thought.
“K, I swear…” Boone shook his head. “When I came up with this, I never thought about it changing you so dramatically. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” She lifted her chin. “These changes made it possible for us to be together, Boone. That’s all I care about.”
The Empress seemed to gather herself. She took a deep breath. “All right, it’s all right,” Boone heard her mutter as her advisor fanned her rapidly. “Stop that,” she said sharply to the advisor who stepped hurriedly away. She looked at K. “We’ll take you back to Eros, Krissana. We’ll get the top doctors involved and get this process reversed—”
“I’m afraid there’s no reversing the process now,” Boone said, speaking up. “Speaking as one of the ‘top doctors’ in genetics, K’s DNA is permanently bonded to mine as mine is to hers. We can’t do anything about it.”
“Even if we wanted to—which we don’t,” K said. “Mother, listen to me—I love Boone. And I don’t ever want to be without him again. Now I don’t have to. Can’t you at least try to feel some joy for me?”
Boone’s heart swelled and he couldn’t help the emotion that flooded him. To hear K say that she loved him…it was the best feeling he’d ever had. He pulled her even closer, wishing he could take her somewhere and show her exactly how he felt. At the moment, though, the Empress was still glaring at both of them.
“But…but who will rule after me?” she demanded in agitation. “Who will take on the sacred burden of telling the people of Eros what to do and how to live their lives?”
K shook her head. “I don’t know. I only know it can’t be me. I’m sorry, Mother.”
“Have another child,” Boone suggested gently. “You look young enough yet. Or better yet, consider a democracy—the kind we have on Colossus. Nobody should have so much power over so many people—it’s the whole reason K got kidnapped in the first place.”
“He’s right,” K said, frowning at her mother. “Your political system is deeply flawed. You should use this opportunity to fix it.”
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