Crave

by Serena Simpson

  “Is there anything I should know about you?”

  I could make it so good for you. I doubt that’s what he had in mind. Tired of holding back I stretched my hand out. It was what a whole twenty-four hours? I wasn’t going to get the reward for patience. I placed one hand on top of his, and we both gasp. A shock of awareness traveled through my hand up my arm and was now spreading through my body. That never happened before.

  “Is that some alien side effect?” Noah’s voice was low and rumbly. My stomach clenched at the sound. I laid back in my chair and punched my hips up looking for a position where my hard cock wouldn’t be trying to burst out of my jeans.

  “No, I’ve never had anything happen like that before.”

  “Good.” The word came out through clenched teeth. “Show me the subjects.”

  I pulled out my phone and pulled all ten of them up. Then pointed to the first two. “I want to check them out first. They seem the least likely to fit the bill. If we can eliminate them today. That will get us one step closer to the target.”

  “Do we have any idea of when the target is looking to strike?”

  I went back through all the information Jace and Angel sent out. There was none on when we expected him to strike because we all knew his schedule. It was a biological imperative. We knew, but Noah wouldn’t know. Jace wouldn’t have forgotten that. He was giving me a way out.

  I looked freedom in the eyes, but I was more interested in looking Noah in the eyes. I didn’t take my get out of jail-free card. Which now meant I not only had to protect the victim, but I had to protect my male.

  Absolutely not, he couldn’t be mine. I reminded myself. I’m not black or red. One night only, it’s all my body would allow.

  “His race is tied to the sun. On your planet, it’s the moon that moves him. He will begin his hunt on the new moon and eat on the first phase.”

  Noah pulled out his phone and punched in some information. “Twenty days until the new moon. Then we have an eight-day window. Then the cycle starts over again?”

  “No, he will lie low for three months. Then it starts over again.”

  “That means we can’t let this bastard get away.”

  I looked at him and gave him a nod of approval. We were going to get along just fine. Noah leaned over and touched the first picture made it larger. “Nathan Campbell. Why do you think he picked him?”

  “To throw us off the scent. He likes pretty males and alpha males.”

  “So, he would like you?” Noah grinned.

  “I am the ultimate alpha.”

  He stood up and leaned across the table. “Nope, you're pretty. I can see him going after you but not as dinner.”

  Noah pressed over me. I could hear his words, feel his breath on my face. They reminded me of another time. I swung at him.

  Chapter Four

  Noah

  Cole swung at me. Not like a mature alien capable of kicking my ass. He swung like a scared kid dealing with an older male. I saw terror like that more than once. I thought I would escape it when I went into the military. The joke was on me.

  I backed away from him, hoping to calm him down. Whatever nightmare had a hold of him wouldn’t let go. He was screaming at me in a language I couldn’t understand. Whatever he was saying I was sure it was laced with profanity, by the way he spat the words out.

  I didn’t want to hurt him, but I also didn’t want the cops knocking at our door. Neither of us could afford that. With my dishonorable discharge, nothing I said would be believed. When he came at me, I ducked his punch and grabbed him around his middle. He was fighting without skill not that it mattered. His slim alien body packed more of a punch than I thought. If I were slightly less muscular, he would have taken me down.

  I glanced toward the bed wanting to take him down some place soft. It was one of the things that made me realize I care about what happened to him. No way that was happening with the way he was squirming in my arms. I’d need my whole body to immobilize him. While he was concentrating on trying to get his arms free or biting me. I maneuvered my leg until it was behind him and knocked his knee out. I flipped us, so I hit the floor on my back then rolled him over before he could respond. That’s when he switched to English.

  “I don’t care what you do to me. Kill me and turn me in for the reward. If you think you’re going to rape my ass for silence and not feed me you're crazy.”

  God, he was killing me. His eyes were defiant but lost. His shoulders sagged as the fight momentarily went out of him.

  “Please, I’m so hungry.” It was a stark reminder that I didn’t own the corner on pain.

  “Come back to me Cole.” He opened his mouth to scream. I plastered my lips on his. My eyes were on his as I kept my mouth sealed tightly over his. I could see when the nightmare, his own version of PTSD, faded away, and he was seeing me.

  Those hard lips softened, and a small gasp came from them as he opened just enough to allow my tongue to stroke his. The heat from his mouth was what I was used to. I could become lost in it. His smell was so much different. Masculine, strong where Sam was flowery and soft. I wasn’t concerned about hurting him. My fingers tightened on his arms as I rubbed my body against his.

  Cole wrapped his arms around my back and flipped us. Now he was on top, in charge. I gave in, for the first time in my life, I wasn’t orchestrating the encounter. His kiss became feather soft as he licked my lips testing them for firmness. I felt him nibble at the side of my mouth before he slipped his tongue back in. He tasted good. Hot, male, exotic. I was a goner. I couldn’t even take the time to tell myself this was wrong. I knew it would come later.

  Now I wrapped my hands around his neck to pull him closer. I wanted to get lost in what he was doing to me. I whimpered when he pulled back.

  “We can’t do this Noah.”

  No shit, I knew that, but it didn’t make a difference to my hard dick.

  “Cole.” He shook his head. I got silent.

  “You’re not red. You’re black, and I can’t take that from you.”

  I was rather sure he wasn't talking about the color of my skin. Which meant that this was some alien crap that I wasn’t aware of. He went to stand; I let him go. We’d have to talk about this when he was more stable.

  He reached down extending a hand. I took it as he pulled me up.

  “We should go check out the first person on the list.” Cole wouldn’t look me in the eyes. I didn’t need him to; I could still feel the lingering passion in my body and knew it was the same for him. I grabbed my gun then shrugged into a jacket. It was still cool enough to get away with one and waited to see whose POS car he wanted to take.

  “I’ll drive.” That was good it would give me time to try to understand what was happening to me.

  It didn’t take us long to get in the car. All I could do was go over what just happened. I wasn’t a homophobe, was I? The issue of my sexuality never came up when I was young. It was simple boys liked girls. My father loved my mother, and I was going to grow up to be just like him. After he died, it became even more important for me to follow in my old man’s footsteps. Liking a male wasn’t something I could ever conceive of.

  I was thinking about it now. The number of women I slept with was parading through my mind. I was a male whore. This is something I would have never acknowledged if I hadn’t of kissed Cole. Why were there so many women? My whole fascination with the When Harry Met Sally trope hit me in the face. I wanted that. It was what I always envisioned my parents having. I just thought it would feel better.

  An orgasm was an orgasm. It wasn’t that women didn’t get me off because they did. Maybe my dick didn’t seem to get as hard as fast as some of the men in my unit. I was picky. What could I say? I always told myself it was that I hadn’t found the right woman. I always wished I was somewhere else after the deed was done. The problem was me, and I knew it. I just didn’t know how to fix it. After I was discharged, I wasn’t interested in fixing it.

  The problem
I’m having now is that I could have laid on that nasty rug with Cole on top of me and been content. That is what I was searching for. That contentment in the aftermath of having spent myself in someone’s arms. With Cole, there had only been kisses, no sex. I was horny as hell. My dick was rock hard, but I was content to just hold on to him.

  I was fucked. He wasn’t even a man, he was an alien. Who knew what diseases he carried? I deserved to be rejected for all the shit I had pulled.

  “We’re here.” We were sitting across the street from a white wood house. Two stories if I had to guess I’d say three bedrooms and a bath on the second floor. There was a basement. It was a nice house but not a modern one.

  The possible victim Donald James was sitting on the front porch. I pulled out a pair of binoculars to get a better look at him. Nope, he wasn’t any better looking in person. He probably weighed in about one ten wet. He didn’t have anything that would make me think our perp was interested in him.

  “Dead end,” I told Cole.

  “I think so. Let’s watch him a little longer to be sure.”

  A car came cruising down the street; Donald stood up and went to the steps. The limp as he walked confirmed it. He would never be a target. The car coming down the street stopped in front of his house.

  “Who’s that?” The man getting out could be a potential victim. Cole took a picture of him and sent it off before calling Angel.

  “Did you get the pic?” Cole nodded as he watched the man across the street. “Send someone to sit on him. I want to know if he stays one hour longer than he was supposed to.”

  Cole turned to face me. “Devin James, older brother to Donald James. He lives in Ireland, but he comes back every year to see his brother. He’s scheduled to be on a plane in a week. Angel will have Jace send someone out to shadow him.”

  “We crossed off one potential target and picked up another one.” This one was what our perp like. He was overtly masculine and beautiful at the same time.

  “Looks that way. We’ll take off when our relief shows up.” We sat on the guy for an hour before another POS car pulled up a little further down the street with our relief. I couldn’t see who it was, but by the nod of Cole’s head, I suspect that he saw him clearly.

  “Let’s go check out target number two.” I nodded and slumped back in my seat. What I needed now was sleep. Some way to get away from what was happening not only around me but inside of me.

  “Cole?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, Noah. Pretend it didn’t happen.” As if that would be easy. I was supposed to pretend the best kiss of my life hadn’t happened. The fucker could have gotten me off before telling me my ass wasn’t good enough for him. That’s when I closed my eyes. I was beyond confused.

  The car ride offered little comfort since all I did was listen to Cole breathe.

  “We’re here.”

  I sat up and looked around. This neighborhood was a step-down. The house in front of us was run down, but at least it was a house. That meant we didn’t have to figure out where our potential target lived in an apartment building.

  The house looked silent. Our potential victim could have been sleeping or even watching television. I didn’t see any signs of flickering light.

  “Let’s watch from the roof.” Cole pointed to a small building across the street with a daycare in it. I nodded, and he drove around the corner before he parked.

  I didn’t know how he planned to get us on the roof, but I played along.

  “Noah,” His voice was so low and silky I froze. I was getting a life lesson in being able to go from soft to hard in a matter of seconds. “Put your arms around me.”

  Gladly. I walked over to Cole and embraced him. “Hold on tight,” he whispered in my ear. Then we were rising. My senses were too overwhelmed to even question what was happening. Before I knew it, I was standing on the roof of the building. He pulled me down into a crouch. I could feel his hip and leg pressed against mine.

  Whatever I thought my future would be like I said goodbye to it. Kind of like my distinguished military career.

  It took three hours before someone came home. It was a harried father with a wife and twins. That was the future I always thought I would have. I looked over at Cole. Even if he disappeared tomorrow, I knew my future was forever changed.

  “He could be a possibility.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t like him for our target,” I told Cole.

  “Why not?”

  “Look at him. He may not have money, but he’s happy. Look at his face. Dying would be horrifying for him, but there would always be the knowledge that he loved well in the back of his mind. That doesn’t make for the flavor fuckin’ Naresh likes in his food.”

  “We keep him on the back burner. I’ll have someone put a tracker on his car and his phone. We have time to check out one more if you’re up to it,” Cole said.

  “I am.” Once again, I stood embracing him. This time he wrapped his arms around me. A sigh of contentment escaped Cole’s lips. I didn’t call him on it; I just enjoyed it.

  He was setting me down on the street, and I still hadn’t asked him how he did it.

  “Noah, we’re going to have to talk.”

  “I know. Just not yet,” I agreed. We needed to check out the third potential target.

  I turned on the radio when we reached the car. Something from Sam Smith was playing. It was the last thing I needed to hear, but I couldn’t help but get caught up in the lyrics. I watched Cole from the corner of my eyes. I wanted to feed him. That was crazy, and I knew it. I couldn’t get his voice out of my head begging for food. I wanted to make sure he never went hungry another day in his life. He didn’t need me to feed him; he could take care of himself. I couldn’t make the need go away.

  “We’re here.” Cole’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Here was a nicer part of town. The house was full. I could hear sounds coming from it. The television was running. There was stray laughter at times. I thought we might have to sit on the place all night until a kid came walking up to the door about eight. He was the kid in the pic. I thought he was young when I saw the picture but seeing him in person confirmed it. One day, he could become a victim, but today he didn’t weigh enough to excite our perp.

  “I think the first two we check on tomorrow will be the same as this kid. We’ll head there first thing in the morning to get them checked off the list. Do you want to call Angel and give him an update?” Cole asked me.

  “On it. Where are we heading?”

  “Back to the motel.”

  “Let’s stop and get something to eat.” Cole’s voice begging for food was beating around in my head. I needed to feed him.

  “We can pick up something from the diner across the street.”

  “No. A restaurant. Somewhere we can sit down and order a decent meal. When’s the last time you ate?” My voice dropped. He looked like one wrong move, and he’d be spooked.

  “I ate.”

  “I haven’t, find a restaurant.” Cole finally agreed.

  I ran my hand over my phone before I finally called Angel. “Angel, Noah.”

  “Hey human, you're finally catching up.” So, there was that. Everyone knew what I was while I was in the dark about them. “Fuck and you Angel.”

  “If I thought you meant that I’d be there in a few minutes. Your relief seems to think you might want fucking but not by me.”

  Who the hell was in that car and what was he picking up on?

  “We’re at target number three’s home. We crossed him off the list. Not enough meat for our perp.”

  “I’ll send that message up line. Are the two of you done for the day?”

  “Yeah, we're going to grab a bite to eat and go back to the motel.”

  “Cole is eating?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “No reason.” He got silent. I thought he was about to hang up. “Noah?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Keep doing what you’re doing.” He hu
ng up, and I resisted the urge to wipe at the ache in my chest as I watched Cole’s profile.

  Chapter Five

  Cole

  The human wanted to feed me. No, not the human, Noah. He hadn’t been the human since I came to myself to find his body lying on mine. I was surprised to see he was still alive. I was more surprised I didn’t hurt him when I realized I was being held down. It was Noah. His scent was surrounding me. The heat from his body was intense. It felt different. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to do.

  I knew what he wanted, the same thing I wanted. How could I do that to him? Yeah, I could be his first because he sure as hell never had a male make love to him. What happens after that? Welcome to the real-world Noah where nobody gives a shit about you?

  He was black, and I was going to make sure he knew it. I was a temporary fascination that he would get over when some female with a tight pussy came his way. We were sitting in the restaurant parking lot.

  Noah Kemp wanted to feed me. I was screwed.

  “Well come on what are you waiting for. I’m not eating but if you’re hungry.”

  “Cole, you are eating, even if I have to sit on you and force feed you. You’re eating tonight.”

  Like I said, screwed. We got out the car. The place was only moderately busy, and we didn’t have to wait long for the hostess to seat us. It wasn’t a fancy restaurant; we weren’t dressed for one of those. Still, it was a step up from the fast-food place I would usually stop when hunger became more than I could bear.

  “Your waitress will be with you in a minute.” Our hostess gave us a pretty flirtatious smile. I noticed that Noah didn’t even look at her.