Hope glanced toward the door. The common room couches were almost as wide as a twin bed. “Why not?”
“We are on emergency power protocols. During sleep cycle only three compartments are heated to comfortable temperatures. The cockpit, sickbay, and this room. You could sleep in sickbay,” he suggested. “The biobed may be comfortable enough.”
She instantly cringed at the idea of spending any time in sickbay. “So the rest of the ship isn’t heated at all?”
“Without heat the ship would quickly become unlivable. Those rooms are less heated, to conserve power.”
Hope lifted her chin. “I’ll be fine. Just give me an extra blanket.”
“Scent matters a great deal in the choosing of a mate. You smell delicious to me,” he rumbled, his long fingers spread, lightly moving over the bedclothes as if he were anticipating touching her. “Perhaps my scent is not so appealing to you.”
“That’s not—” Hope mumbled, her cheeks burning. “You smell . . . amazing really. But you’re taking me back to Earth in a couple days, a week at most and—” Hope folded her arms. “I just think it’s better if I sleep in the other room.”
“I had not kissed before,” he said, a little shyly. “The g’hir do not touch mouths as humans do when they mate but it roused me powerfully. I will learn how to kiss to rouse you better—if you will teach me, Hope.”
She gave a shocked laugh. “Holy cow, you could have fooled me! You are an incredible—No. You must be a natural or something at kissing. Really, don’t worry about it.”
“I give you my word I will not try to couple with you tonight.”
That makes one of us!
“This is a comfortable sleeping place,” he rumbled and held his hand out to her. “I will keep you warm, tucked safe beside me, little one.”
Hope had to clench her fist to keep herself from taking the hand he offered. “I’ll sleep in the common room.”
His glowing eyes searched her face. “Because I am not human.”
Hope looked away. No, he wasn’t human and it was frightening how little that was starting to matter to her.
“As you like,” he said quietly.
R’har stood, unsealed a large compartment near the bed, and handed her a blanket. He gave her a pillow from the bed too.
“Power save protocols have automatically set all doors to manual during sleep hours,” he said, touching the panel to open the door to the common room. “If you move about the ship you will have to use the access panels.”
Goose bumps rose on her skin as soon as she stepped over the threshold and Hope clutched the blanket closer. It couldn’t be more than fifty degrees out here and with the lights powered down to minimum the common room looked about as comfy and appealing as a meat locker.
“I’m not going to be walking around,” she assured. “I’m going straight to sleep.”
He hesitated a moment, then stepped back into the warmth and light of the bedchamber.
“Sleep well,” he growled softly. “My Hope.”
“Yeah,” she mumbled as he hit the control to shut the door.
The common room’s scant lights were blue tinted which—though Hope knew it was impossible— seemed to make the place even colder. Shivering, she hurried to the nearest couch to lie down and gritted her teeth at finding that the sofa leather was like ice. The silky nightgown wasn’t helping matters but she’d have to go back through the bedroom to get warmer clothing and she’d barely forced herself out of there the first time.
Hope tucked the blanket around her legs and pulled the other end over her head, leaving just her face out so she could breathe. The blanket did help, he’d given her a warm one, but the position she was in—lying on her side and huddled against the seat’s back— had the door to the bedroom right in her line of view.
She curled up against the cold and suddenly remembered how she’d cringed away from him when he’d first brought her on board. How he’d knelt to her, trying to soothe her with his soft growls even though she couldn’t make any sense of his rumbling; didn’t know at first he was even talking.
Tomorrow I should ask him what he was saying . . .
She recalled how he’d sniffed at her ring, the look of dismay on his face. Funny how much lighter her hand felt now with the engagement ring off, lighter than having just the diamond off her finger could justify.
R’har wasn’t human, of course, but there was something more about him that set him apart from every other man who’d ever been interested in her. Something about how he met her eye square on, something reliable and trustworthy in that otherworldly gaze . . .
He was probably asleep by now and hell, she was the one that insisted on sleeping out here. Changing her mind now and going back in there, and probably waking him up in the process, would be really thoughtless. He was probably exhausted. He’d spent hours working on the ship with no help from her.
And she was going home. He needed him to bring back a wife . . . mate, whatever. It’s not like they could date and see if it worked, for God’s sake. His people needed him to have children as much as he wanted to have a family. His whole species depended on R’har finding himself a mate and when he took her back to Earth he’d have to pick another woman to—
Hope sat up, chewing her lip.
He was right; if nothing was going to happen, then nothing was going to happen. There was no reason to freeze her ass off out here.
I’ll just go in quietly.
Eight
R’har kept still, as motionless as he had learned to be when hunting ruga in the most remote parts of the Atali Mountains as the door to the sleeping chamber slid open. He focused on keeping his breath slow and even to better feign sleep.
She hesitated in the doorway and he could hear her teeth chattering. Icy air from the common room seeped into the bedchamber and for a moment he feared she would retreat, distancing herself from him again.
But the cold proved an even less desirable bedmate than he.
The faint light from the room beyond was shut out as the door slid closed behind her. Her bare feet crossed the space between them quickly, the ships systems already engaging to raise the room’s temperature back to optimal.
The bedclothes rustled softly as she felt along the edge, fumbling to find her way. Her flesh against him was chilled when she climbed into bed with him and he fought the instinct to wrap her in his arms and warm her with his body.
It hurt to feel her shivering beside him and do nothing. He struggled to hold his instincts in check now as he should have contained his mating roar back on her world.
Between the room’s warmth and the heat from his body warming the bed it was not long before her shivering eased. She turned toward him, adjusting herself to a more comfortable position. He lay still, waiting till her breathing slowed and deepened.
When he knew for certain she slept, he allowed himself the simple joy of looking at her. A cheat really; human eyes did not possess as acute night vision as g’hir’s and he had set the night cycle lighting in here so that he could see her easily.
Her eyes were closed but he recalled their color perfectly—crystal blue as a Pundari Mountain lake, shimmering with tiny, ever-changing silver sparkles as they caught the light. Her lips were parted in sleep like a child; her astonishing hair was blanched of its fiery color in the dimness. His gaze went over the curves of her face, the fullness of her mouth, the crescent of her red-gold lashes.
His chest ached with wanting, with longing, with guilt.
Lightly he touched one of her curls, tracing its shape with the tip of his finger.
So beautiful. My little one . . .
Time was so precious now, less than a moon’s cycle to convince her to choose him, to remain on Hir.
Or he would have to return her to her own world.
I would give all to be a human male, one that you would desire . . .
The letter of Hir law was on his side. He still had time left to convince her to choose him before he
had to return her to her world.
But in fairness she had declared her choice already made, many times.
Careful not to wake her, R’har eased closer and gathered her softness against him. He shivered with desire, already hard and aching as her curves settled against him.
His throat tightened.
So little time . . .
He had always known himself to be slow to anger, quick to use humor and considered himself an honest soul, a warrior of integrity and honor.
And the lies he was spinning threatened to crush him.
Someday, I vow, I will tell you the truth.
He’d been desperate, seizing on the first thing that came to mind. It had not seemed so terrible a thing to do, a perfect way to gain the opportunity to spend time with her, to learn about her, to let her know him.
And it was only because she did not know this vessel that she believed any repairs needed to be made. Only her innocence, her trust in him, allowed him to pretend a ship in perfect working order urgently needed repairs.
She returned to sleep beside me. She cannot be so afraid now.
He would work on the ship, on his pretend repairs, and he would learn about her. He would learn how to court her as a human male would.
R’har snuggled closer, burying his face in her soft flame-colored curls. He breathed in deeply her tantalizing scent, every nerve alight, contentment blossoming in his chest at her nearness. His hardness aching, already lubricating in eagerness to mate, R’har pressed against the curve of her buttocks as he curled his body around hers, rumble-purring with desire.
Just a little while longer, just until she sees me as a mate and not an alien to be feared.
He would win her to him.
My Hope, my beloved . . .
All he needed was time.
Nine
Warm and safe and content, soothed by rumbling that softened her body, Hope lay lightly between sleep and wakefulness with no wish to leave.
The warmth shifted against her, his arms tightening around her. The tone of the purr changed too, deepening to send tingles up her thighs and tighten her nipples. With a moan, Hope arched back, to pressing her buttocks against the hardness there.
Her gown was already bunched high on her legs from sleep but now warm fingers, the skin slightly roughened, slid the silky fabric high, tracing her bare shoulder as the nightdress came over her head to be tossed aside.
Her lips parted as the heat of his mouth touched the spot where her neck and shoulder met, the sweet shock of his bare skin against hers as his fingers skimmed over her hip. With a groan, he slid her panties down and Hope eagerly helped free herself by kicking them off.
His big body curved around her from behind, his fangs ever so slightly nipping at her shoulder as his hand cupped her breast, his roughened fingers teasing the hardened peak there. She could feel him hot and hard against her as his hand slid lower, moving over her belly and lower still to brush the lips there, his touch light as it skimmed her clit.
“God . . .” Hope groaned, her body melting into his as he stroked her to readiness.
Her insides were tight, aching, as she turned toward him. Her hands skimmed his warm skin, his shoulders, the flatness of his belly and hips, the muscles quivering beneath her touch.
Even by this faint light she knew this wasn’t Brian, any man she’d ever known or could ever know. This was a lover drawn from her most secret desires, an angel and a beast in one who demanded to be yielded to when she had no desire but to be taken.
The rumbling-purr deepened further, sending insistent waves of heat between her thighs as he brushed his nose to hers, then his mouth covered her own. Hope wound her arms around his neck, her fingers threading in the silkiness of his hair as he deepened the kiss.
He urged her wider and arched over her, his heavy cock resting on her inner thigh. He pressed his nose to the hollow of her throat and a fine tremble ran the length of his body as he breathed her in.
He was fully aroused, her exquisite incubus, beautifully formed, not too different from a man, though his penis had a ruddier color. Moisture glistened at the head and impulsively Hope took his shaft in her hand.
He froze instantly. His mouth parted and the tone of his purr deepened as she stroked him, her thumb running over the slick wetness at the tip. The natural moisture increased, making it easy to slide her hand over his length. Her fingers, wrapped around him, didn’t quite touch and instinctively he started to rock against her.
A fine tremble ran the length of his body and his glowing eyes met hers then, wild and a little helpless.
Hope’s hand went to his hip to press him forward, shifting beneath him to spread her legs a little wider. He groaned when she brought the head of his cock to her opening.
He was big, bigger than any man she’d ever had before, but he went slowly, almost reverently, the moisture of him with her own wetness spreading her lips easily. His hips drew back and he moved again, plunging his cock a little deeper into her folds each time.
And with every movement, each withdrawal and thrust, his cock slid against her clit. Hope’s mouth parted, the waves of aching pleasure through her center carried higher by that rumbling purr of his.
His arms caging her, his body arched over her, he watched transfixed as his cock moved inside her, his fangs bared in pleasure. He rocked against her, his cock growing tauter still as his rhythm increased, and Hope cried out, coming so hard her nails dug into his shoulders.
His thrusts quickened at her release, quickly drumming against her and, stunned, gasping, Hope climaxed again. His rumbling deepened, his whole body trembling, and he thrust once more, pulsing inside her as he came.
His big body still quaking from release, he raised his head to meet her eyes, his gaze bright with that otherworldly glow.
Her mind, so suffused with pleasure, cleared a bit and she knew him then, this angelic beast . . .
“R’har,” she murmured.
His full mouth curved into a proud, sexy smile, his fangs gleaming in the faint light.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped. “What did we do?”
Ten
He gave a g’hir’s huffing chuckle. “We mated, little one.”
“We didn’t,” Hope groaned. “Say we didn’t.”
“If it pleases you. Then we did not mate,” he agreed. “We fucked.”
“Yeah, not better.” Hope passed her hand over her eyes. “Let’s stick with ‘mated,’ okay? And why didn’t you stop?”
“Why would I?” he rumbled, happily nuzzling the sensitive spot where her neck and shoulder met. He brushed his nose against hers and his eyes shone. “I could not imagine a better mate-bonding. I have never known such pleasure, such a strong release.”
“Thanks,” she muttered, pushing down an absurd thrill of pride. “I’m glad you liked it.”
“Did you not?” He propped himself up on his elbows to search her face. “I felt you contract around me more than once. Your pleasure sounds were loud. Did that not signal your climax?”
“Yes,” she mumbled. “Yes, I absolutely—seriously, no worries there—what I meant was we shouldn’t have done this. Uh, mated.”
He drew back a little further, regarding her with puzzled alien eyes. “Why not?”
“Because—” Having this discussion while they were still naked, while he was still lying between her legs and—she realized with a surge of wonder and new arousal—hard again, was insane. “Because we shouldn’t have! I mean, we met what—yesterday?”
His brow creased. “This time requirement before mating—is it a human rule?”
“No, this is a Hope rule. As in, when my life is complete fucking mess, it doesn’t improve things any to have sex with an alien.”
He froze. “That is all I am to you? Even now, after we have mate-bonded?”
“No, of course not, I just—but come on, R’har, I mean you aren’t human.”
His breath exploded in a snarl and he pushed off the bed. Hope grabbed at
the bedclothes to cover herself but apparently g’hir didn’t do modesty because he seemed unfazed by the fact that he was completely bare.
“I can never be human,” he growled. “But I will not let you make me ashamed of what I am!”
Hope blinked. The idea that he should be ashamed never crossed her mind and shock held her speechless while he dressed.
“Hold on, I didn’t—! Oh, don’t you dare walk—!” But the door was already sliding shut behind him.
“Goddamn it!” she gritted out, yanking the nightgown over her head and scrambling out of the bed. “That’s one thing you and human guys have in common—thinking you’ll win an argument by walking out in the fucking middle of it!”
Hope got to the common room just as R’har was about the head through the opposite door.
“R’har, I didn’t mean it that way! I just meant—”
“What?” He rounded on her, his snarl filling the common room. “What did you mean?”
She folded her arms, her feet freezing, ticked both that she had forgotten how freaking cold it was in the common room and that she suddenly felt in the wrong here.
“It isn’t going to work between us, R’har. It just can’t!”
With an angry, impatient gesture he indicated the bedchamber door. “How can you say this when we have already mated?”
“I’m not talking about sex! Even if we forgot about stuff like, oh, I don’t know—not living on the same planet—you’re g’hir, I’m human! We’re just—” And for no reason at all her eyes stung with tears. “We’re just . . . different, R’har.”
“Yes, we are different!” he roared. “Human and g’hir are different. My eyes will never water like yours do. You will never truly understand what it means to me to have lifemated to you! I cannot be human for you, but I will give you more of myself than any human male ever could!”
“Lifemated?” she echoed, shaking her head. “What the hell is—”
Hope cried out as the ship’s floor tilted violently. The impact of whatever slammed into the ship knocked them off their feet and Hope hit the icy deck hard enough to rattle her teeth. Pain shot up her shoulder as the room was plunged into darkness.
Taken: Warriors of Hir, Book 2 Page 8