by Mason, a. c.
****
The sting of her words hit him like a strike to the chest. Every cell of his body hungered for her, and desiring her was hell. To her, he represented some eager puppy, following along. The transformation he’d seen in women like her—if he could get through to them—unbelievable. He’d stay the course. Where was that sentiment coming from?
A flash of memory showed him speaking to Gabriel about her over the body of a dead aequitas. The rest of the conversation remained foggy.
Gabriel pulled him from the memory. “How difficult has she been?”
He shrugged. “Not very, given her disposition.” The comment caused him to smile as he walked to the door. “She has offered herself to me.”
“What is troubling you then?”
“The fact that she regards having sex with me as a mission.” The job factor killed him inside.
Not model good looking, but he considered himself an attractive man, and over all kindhearted, so she shouldn’t be repulsed by him. Yet somehow, the only way she could stomach sleeping with him was to shut down emotionally. Ouch. He needed to break through the numbness in her eyes before he touched her. The rest could be worked out in time.
“Not just you. It’s simply her opinion of sex in general. Despite all of her rhetoric, Auria has been strategic about the males she’s been physically intimate with. She was traumatized at an early age.” Gabriel’s voice had eased the tension in his chest.
Rage filled him at the thought of anyone hurting her, his skin grew hot and his muscles pulsated beneath the surface. A burst of energy released and a red wave shook from inside of him, moving outward. The wave rippled through air, encompassing the matter around him.
Gabriel floated, circling him, and stared “It has begun.”
“What has?”
“You’re different. Special. The man you believed to be your father and hated for beating your mother, not loving her, was not your father. An aequitas impregnated your mother. You must have wondered why you were so different: your gifts, strength, telepathy and healing touch. An evolution, of a kind.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Yes you do. You’ve spent your entire life hiding, suppressing all the things that make you unique. You need to understand and harness these things. Trust in yourself to do what is right.”
The thought of it scared him, as did the darkness inside him. Power equaled a bad thing people only misused, and he didn’t trust himself, so he’d relinquished his.
“Let us find our way back.”
Gabriel glided forward, and he followed. The dimly lit caves provided a sense of comfort.
Gabriel’s wounds healed. Only a faint scar line still showed. The rest of the marks faded as he paused near the door to Auria’s quarters. Gabriel continued on alone.
Beyond that door Auria awaited. He could just slide into her mind. Allowing himself access to every part of her, he would know her. But not because she wanted him to. Placing one hand on each side of the doorway, he leaned his head on the stone. Hell, all he wanted was an inch of progress before the night ended.
Chapter 7
Auria tossed and turned in the bed. Each second she remained here meant Deimos had taken another life.
The door opened, and she sat up.
Etienne stood in the doorway, blocking most of the light behind him and gripped the door frame tightly. He commanded the space. A determined gleam shone in his eyes. The man had an iron will, wanted her like all men, yet chose not to indulge. Sighing heavily, she lowered her gaze from his masculine frame.
Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him. “Please don’t read my thoughts.” He walked over to the stone chair and sat next to a small cube table.
As she herself pushed upright, his head hung and a sadness darkened his eyes. “As you wish.” The sheet slid down, exposing her breasts and hard nipples. A fire sparked in his gaze as he examined her body before he looked away, and she pulled the blanket up to cover herself. Even the sight of her naked had little effect on him. “But this will only make it more difficult for me to give myself to you in a way that you’ll want.”
“Don’t confuse me not screwing you with me not wanting you,” he said in a stern voice and pressed his back into the chair. His gaze drifted down reflectively. “If you let me get to know you, I will.” Giving her a narrowed sideways look, he scratched along his jaw. “I don’t understand you, though.” Rising from his seat, he paced. “You didn’t have any reaction to Deimos’s display. He didn’t matter. Yet, you want to chase after him?”
“I’m responsible for his actions, as the cause of his rage and as his commander. He won’t stop killing. I used him, knowing I could never give him an ounce of what he wanted from me, and allowed our entanglement only because he could not penetrate me. I toyed with his desire for me and took pleasure from not satisfying him. This is what I do.”
He stopped, then shifted his body, and his gaze darted to hers. Fear and excitement stirred in her heart. “You’re doing it again, telling me things you think will make me dislike you. I do not work like that.” Placing both hands on the table, he hung his head and exhaled a deep breath.
The things she’d said must have bothered him, but didn’t he get that she needed him to know her? Did he fear what he’d learn about her or himself? For now, she’d respect his request and not read his mind. “No, I suspect not. I know the history of the type of women you are attracted to, women with a lot of wear. You enjoy the challenge of softening them. I suspect that is part of why we were paired. Most males could not look past my history.”
Slamming his fist onto the table caused a shock wave to undulate in the stone. She’d never seen stone ripple like liquid beneath anyone’s anger before. How did he do that?
“I cared for those women. I’m offended you attack them to try and hurt me.” His head whipped in her direction. He pointed at his heart. “Aim your verbal attacks at me.” Lowering his gaze, he took a slow deep breath. “I suspect it has nothing to do with a man’s ability to look beyond your perceived notorious past, but rather his patience and endurance while you fling your history at him constantly. I’ve been blessed with an abundance of both attributes, but don’t mistake those for tolerance.”
“And what do you intend?”
“Hmm.” Opening his fist, he placed his palm on the table and sat down in the chair next to him. “The idea of being saved by feeding you to the monster inside me does not arouse me in the least.” As he leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling, his dark hair slid away from his face. “Let me get to know you. Only then, will I agree to sleep with you within three days. I won’t reinforce your beliefs about yourself. I wanted to pick you because of the infinite worth that radiated from you from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Right. While she had been flinging him in the air and he thought he might die. This man had to love a challenge to try and feed this crap to her.
“Foolish.” She didn’t want him to get to know her. Pushing the blankets off, she rose from the bed, and he didn’t even lift his gaze as she put her clothing back on. As she marched toward the door, his right hand grabbed her wrist, and she didn’t try to struggle free. Standing next to her, he pressed his heat on her body.
“Perhaps I’m foolish.” His lips caressed against her cheek. “Where are you going?”
“After Deimos. Since you’re intent on wasting the gift you’ve been given, I will save the lives of those who value it.”
“I value you, over myself.” His breath blew on her flesh. “You have no intention of letting me get to know you?”
“I offer myself to you freely. After, there will be time. An eternity.”
He perused her neck with his lips, moved down to her shoulder. Silky and warm, they tormented her. She ached for his hands to touch her, longing pained her insides to be consumed by the rush of his hunger ravaging her.
“Freely.” He paused. “Is that what you call your offer? As I see it, everything
but what I want is on the table. Your body isn’t the main course for me. It’s getting into here.” His left hand touched her head and stroked back her hair. “And you, opening up this to me.” He pointed to her heart, then tilted her chin, bringing her gaze to his. “But those are off limits and the physical isn’t as good without access to what’s inside of you.”
“Typical, always trying to take more.” A swift look at the ceiling and back at him, and she shook her head.
“I would never take, only accept.” He brushed his thumb lightly along her jaw line then down her neck. Nearly moaning from the need he woke in her, she bit her lip to suppress the growing hunger.
When he released her wrist, she paused, not sure what she thought or felt. Maybe sorry, for being incapable of giving him what he wanted from her.
****
The warmth of her body remained pressed to Etienne. Why hadn’t she run out the door after Deimos. He’d expected her to. Every inch of his body wanted him to kiss her warm, abundant lips.
He desired to be inside her, to feel her beneath him, but the current vacancy in her eyes chilled his soul. Dead eyes would stare back at him, unable to meet his own pit of emptiness.
The sweet smell of her danced around him. “I wish we could play in the snow. I’d love to see you smiling and snow falling into your black hair. A sight indeed.”
Her hand skimming his skin surprised him, and she locked her fingers with his. A dark blue mist surrounded them. Intense vibration throbbed around them from her telepathic wave. Power radiated from her body that caused a shiver through to his heart. The air swirled, the room shifted, and with a great quake a black tapestry of stars and galaxies enveloped them. Then folded on itself at her command and vanished.
A snowflake landed on his cheek and melted against his skin. The cascade from the sky fell around her, and a smile crept outward from the corners of her sexy lips. Amid the triple moon sky of the alien terrain and vegetation, he soaked in the sight of her. Somehow this fit, as different as she was.
She had transported them here due to what he had said. Maybe things weren’t as hopeless as he believed. His lips tipped upward in a smile.
“We are on the Tiosian’s planet. They are a small people with bright faces.”
“Like Myna?”
A spike of a discomfort came from her. “Yes, Myna is from here.” Then a shaky smile appeared.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“You are lying to me, and I don’t appreciate it.” He took hold of her, pressed her small frame against his and growled. Oh, the things he could do with her. “Open your mind to me.” He’d never spoken to her with such harshness before, but his patience was thinning. The black liquid darkness brewed and only added fuel to the spark of anger. Gulping in air to try and calm the fury building inside him, he released her and stumbled away. Unable to completely tame the monster within, he held her gaze and waited.
Her sweet breath caressed his face, her breasts rose and fell against his chest as she released long breath. “Close your eyes, Etienne. Silence your mind as you did in the park, seek my thoughts out.”
Closing his eyes, his hunger for her calmed, then his frustration, and he took a few slow breaths, then searched for a telepathic route into her psyche. A wave of thought came from her, and he followed it to the source. Void of activity, empty of emotion, only the sound of the sea existed.
“How is it you think of nothing?”
“I’ve learned to quiet my mind with deep meditation. A busy mind is the easiest way to tip off your prey.”
“Then what caused an emotion strong enough, I felt it?”
“Jealousy.” Backing away from him, she grumbled, then turned.
“And the mention of Myna’s name caused this?”
“Not exactly. It’s the thought of the infamous preparation bath.”
As she moved to the edge of the cliff ahead, concern gripped him even though she could fly.
“Why would that bother you?” As he moved over to where she stood, the view of the horizon, beautiful, and her presence enhanced the scene.
“That’s the thing, isn’t it, Etienne? It shouldn’t. So why did it bother me? Thinking of them touching you and you doing who knows what to them? It’s ridiculous and should have no effect on me, yet it does.”
Snow fell in her hair; below, her gaze remained fixed. The sweet smell of her lured him. He shifted behind her and a wave of anticipation burst from her, caused by the thought that he might touch her. This he didn’t expect.
“Auria?” Wanting her attention on him, he slipped a hand on her waist and felt a rush of heat erupt through her body, knew she closed her eyes slowly to allow the heat to take over her. Pleasuring her deepened his own.
“Yes, Etienne?”
“I didn’t allow them to bathe me. Nothing occurred.”
Just as he thought. She didn’t believe him.
She pivoted to face him and studied his face. One of her eyebrows rose in a question, her stare remained fixed on his.
A glimmer of light hit her from the horizon line, making the snow sparkle in her hair. Her wingspan unfolded majestically with one brisk flap. She lifted into the air, holding her hand out to him. Why did they have to fly? Thinking of the calmness and strength, his wings unfolded—a feeling of relief, like he stretched his muscles as they came out from within him.
“Think of them as you do your arms, and they will do as you will them.”
The air brushed his face as they flapped, lifting him from the ground, and he took her hand.
She turned to the sunset and pulled his arms, brought him up against her from behind, wedged him where her wings met. The warmth of his touch as his arms wrapped around her body, holding her tightly against him burned, a sadness gripped her for being unable to smile, and his head lowered in sympathy.
Floating just below the clouds, they watched the sunset, and hope rose that he might break through to her in time.
“Take us home, Etienne. Think of us there now, and make it reality.”
The energy within him searched for the place his mind focused on. A blue haze surrounded them as an intense vibration began, the dark sky of stars and planets folded at his will, swirling, and then they were back in their place.
These abilities had come to him so easily. Scary. Yet everything about this felt right, and he needed her to understand this.
Chapter 8
Exhaling, Auria quieted her mind to meditate, shifting her focus on her breath and pulse as she pulled away from Etienne. At her dresser, she disrobed.
“I’m tired and need rest.” She avoided looking his way.
“You’ve kicked me out of your mind.” Hearing a twinge in his voice bothered her.
She wanted to reassure him. If his voice had been angry, she wouldn’t have. “No, I’ve simply shut down my thoughts. I’m sleepy, you?” Nude, she turned to him, more exposed by the thoughts than by her nakedness.
His gaze moved up her body, painfully slow until his eyes paused at hers. Gripped by a surge of heat, she tried to repress the peaking of her nipples, and blushed.
“Not sleepy exactly, but could use the rest.” He glanced to the bed, then back at her. “Where shall I sleep?”
“Wherever pleases you. But the bed seems most logical.” She grinned.
As she climbed into the bed and under the covers, his stare weighed on her.
“Will you sleep like that?”
“Like what?”
“Naked?”
“Yes, and you?” She smirked, amused.
“Yes, it seems I will too.”
Good. His fingers made short work of his button and zipper, then he peeled down his black leather pants and stood. The beauty of the physical form on display before her left nothing to be desired. Especially not his endowed penis. Her thoughts wandered to him inside of her. Him on top of her, thrusting into her, the feel of his lips on her breasts...Yum. Her stare traveled up his carved chest and paused at his f
ace. The smirk there reminded her of their telepathic link.
Plopping back into the bed, she pulled the cover over her body and turned away from his side.
He slipped into the bed and lay facing her back. “You have nothing to feel embarrassed about. I like you admiring my body and thinking of us in an intimate way.”
“Good night, Etienne.”
The warmth of his breath on her back and shoulder caused her to press her rear to his heat.
She closed her eyes, wanting this day to end and find peace in her sleep.
“What are these markings on your back?” The rush of air from his breath deepened. “And what caused this gouging scar?”
At the touch of his hand on the disfigurement, memories flashed of Jehoel sinking his teeth into her flesh, how the pain caused her to collapse to her knees. Etienne quickly withdrew his hand.
The images had played for him as well.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up for you.”
“Don’t be, it was a long time ago,” she said. “The markings are a line for every life I have taken.”
“But there are thousands of lines.”
“Six thousand, four hundred eighty-two.”
He remained silent. Had her revelation disgusted, or intrigued him?
****
Guilt gnawed at Etienne. Maybe he was being unreasonable too, but the thought of her killing so many saddened him. Once she had been a girl with dreams and hopes, but she’d been turned into an efficient warrior. How much pain had she known before she’d decided being numb to everything was better than feeling anything? She’d been warm with him on their outing, so he could meet her a little further than halfway.
“I’d be willing to try a baseball approach. You answer a series of questions, and we move to the next base, sexually.”
“How many questions per base?” Rolling onto her back, she looked up at the ceiling.
“Four, since there are four levels. French, Feel, Finger, and Fuck.”
“That’s sixteen questions. Do you even have sixteen questions?” She glanced at him. “Never mind, of course you do.” Turning her body in his direction, she rolled her eyes. “Let’s begin.”