by Kim Knox
Nathan dropped to his knees and grabbed her thighs. His hot tongue licked her, curling to find her clitoris with an accuracy that had Anya fisting his silky hair. Behind her, Thain’s cock, slick from her, pushed against her ass. Already fresh spirals of pleasure wound through her flesh. “You’re going to kill me.”
Thain’s lips brushed her ear and the hot contact had her gasping. “That’s the very last thing we want from you. Warm, living flesh, we ache for it, need it. Here, it sustains us.”
“These men…” The pilot’s teeth grazed her clitoris and the surge had her bucking against him, his fingers biting into her thighs. “Are you going to…keep…them?”
“Them?” Thain thrust deep and Anya cried out at the sudden fullness of him buried in her ass. He growled against her ear and pulled back slow, her body resisting him, and the new flare of orgasm thickened her flesh. She couldn’t fight it, soon she would explode.
“No. But for now as we’re buried so hard and deep,” he twisted his hips and she moaned, “in your delicious flesh that we could fuck you forever. They’ll do. Very nicely.” The pounding of his hips met the rhythm of his words, met the rapid, sure tongue of the man on his knees before her. Their sounds, slaps, licks, satisfied groans, had the need in her growing tighter, tighter—
Croft ripped his mouth away, and before she knew what was happening, his tongue was in her mouth, her legs around his waist and his cock thrust hard, fast, pounding into her aching pussy. For a glorious moment they fucked her in unison, slamming deep into her willing flesh, the wild kiss tasting of her, them and someone unknown. She couldn’t hold back. Couldn’t—
Anya screamed and found the raw sound swallowed as the men took her, swept her into a fiery orgasm that blistered across her mind. Somewhere in the maelstrom, they found their own release and the kiss, their hands, their thrusts eased, softened into a luscious afterglow of touching and tasting that had Anya trembling as their mouths, tongues, fingers explored and caressed her in wonder.
The pilot’s thumb wiped a tear from her cheek, his smile soft. He placed a gentle kiss on her mouth, his tongue tip teasing her upper lip. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Wearing flesh with you is delightful.”
Anya snorted a laugh. “That has to be one of the more bizarre things I’ve ever heard.”
He slid from her pussy and Anya missed the close contact. Thain placed a kiss on her shoulder and eased free from her ass. Suddenly she felt exposed, empty, and didn’t know what to do with her hands. The physicist handed her her service suit and she struggled into it, her sweaty, sticky skin fighting the smooth fabric.
Thain smoothed his hands over her shoulders while the creature who lived in Croft ran slow fingers over the tabs securing her suit. More than once his fingers teased an aching nipple and she glared at him. “This is going to be awkward.” She stood on her tiptoes and traced her tongue along his bottom lip, finding herself pulled into a soft kiss, his tongue, his lips tasting her, wanting to know her with a thoroughness that could so easily lead to yet more nakedness…
Anya pulled back and blew out a tight breath, ignoring the play of Thain’s fingers over her mons. “He’s bound to notice the taste of me on…you…him.” Shit, this was confusing and the clever, relentless fingers of both men, mixing, playing between her thighs didn’t help. Tight pulses of pleasure flashed under her skin as blunt fingertips circled and pressed through the thin fabric of her suit. Damn it, she should’ve been raw, aching, sated, but she wasn’t.
“We share energy. As we need you, you need us. And to need us, you must enjoy full health,” Croft murmured, his hand cupping her breast, a thumb teasing over a taut nipple. His mouth covered hers and the slow tease of his tongue, the play of fingers over her breasts, between her legs, all too quickly rushed a brief flare of release through her flesh.
Anya sagged against the hard body of the pilot, listening to the rapid thud of his heart. She pulled in a weary breath, mixing his warm scent with the familiar bitter coal of Damianos. “So glad you’re not Keve.”
Thain’s palm stroked down her spine in slow, soothing caresses. “You don’t like him?”
“He unnerves me.” More than that, but she couldn’t admit to her unexpected attraction, right there, right then. So she squeezed her thighs, twisting, trapping their fingers against her pussy and enjoying the little aftershocks with a quick gasp. A flush ran under her cheeks. Damianos really was a bad influence. “And he knows about you…in a way. He found an artifact, a silver pyramid.”
“Yes, his opening it allowed us to borrow these men.” The pilot ran a hand up over her hip to cup her breast. It was obviously a favorite place for him and the easy, idle patterns he pressed into her flesh soothed her. “They won’t remember any of this.” A sharp grin pulled at his mouth. “We’ll scrub them down before we give them back.”
Anya laughed and shook her head. “You’re incorrigible.”
Thain squeezed her ass and she yelped. “We know.”
Reluctantly she pulled away from the warmth of their bodies. She backed away from them, down the narrow aisle leading to the chamber door. “Have fun playing with your flesh.”
“These men will never be as much fun as you.” Croft’s gaze ran down Thain’s lithe body. He wrinkled his nose. “No, not even close.”
Anya smirked at them. “You say the nicest things.” The door to the chamber slid open behind her and she stepped back through it. It eased into place and with it shut, her body sagged. She let her forehead fall against the cool metal. Her palms pressed against it, her fingers stretching, the pull of them breaking her thoughts on the men, creatures, whatever in the chamber beyond. “I’m crazy, they’re crazy,” she murmured, but she didn’t want to give up something so incredible. No one, no one had ever wanted her as much—nor as often—as Damianos.
A wry smile pulled at her mouth. And she had to move before they left the chamber, or she’d find herself stripped and sandwiched between them again.
Anya groaned against the sudden flare of heat in her flesh, the ache in her pussy. “Do your job, Engineer Sigurdson.” She pushed herself away from the wall and followed the curve of the corridor to the second chamber. “They’ll find you again soon enough.” That thought had her grinning as she palmed open the next door.
* * * * *
Her rounds in the filtration chambers over, Anya headed back to her office. A short while and she would have to sit down and eat with the two men she’d left in the first chamber. A wry smile pulled at her mouth. That would be…odd.She palmed her office door and ordered up water from her food unit. She’d taken the senior administrator’s office and that brought her that rank’s privileges. Taking the cold glass from the small shelf, she pressed it to her warm forehead and let out a slow sigh. “If I can’t get to Theta-Scorpii-3, then its den of depravity comes to me.”
The door to her office hissed open and Anya’s heart jumped. She pulled in a breath, but no scent of coal burned against her tongue. So whoever it was wasn’t there to screw her on her desk. Shame. She’d never had desk sex. Anya turned, fixing her professional smile in place. It dipped as she met Keve’s sharp, green eyes.
He crossed the threshold and the door hissed shut behind him.
Anya took a sip from her glass, letting the cool water ease the tightness of her throat. She wouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking she was projecting her suspicion onto him. “How can I help you, Keve?”
His gaze narrowed on her. “You won’t stand in my way.”
She frowned at him and pulled her chair around to sink into it. Anya needed an action to distract her from his unexpected statement. She stared into her glass, its moisture cool against her fingers. “My supervisor opened the platform to you.” She took another sip before placing her glass on the clear surface of her desk. “I’m not in anyone’s way.”
“You know what I’m talking about.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a triangular piece of metal. Light cut across its worn surface and something about the
quality of the metal looked familiar. “Five years ago I lost four days. No tech has been able to retrieve what happened to me. All I have is this,” he held up the metal, turning it to catch the light. It glowed… A pyramid. It had formed a part of another repository. “And a reprieve.”
Anya stared at him. “A reprieve?”
A muscle jumped in the man’s jaw and he rubbed his thumb hard against the small piece of metal he held. “I’d been diagnosed with Arama-Marne’s disease.”
She couldn’t help the wince. Rare, nasty and invariably fatal, it attacked the brain, turning it to pulp. But the disease acted fast. “This was five years ago? Once the symptoms start to show, isn’t it…?”
“Weeks.” Keve gave a sharp nod. “I should’ve been dead and unlamented a long time ago.” She matched his wry smile. “I’m a medical marvel. My harvested antibodies have added years to the lives of others.”
“But not a cure.”
His lips thinned. “No. I have a projected six months. Maybe less. Others given my cure are already dead.”
Her stomach cramped. Keve Blayne had been possessed, as Damianos had possessed Nathan and Thain. And, as they’d strengthened her, they’d given Keve life. “You think the pyramid you found on the surface will do the same thing?”
“Metallurgical tests prove the piece I have is the same, even if Thain’s energy signatures differ. What’s left of the writing is identical. I’ve hunted for years. And the…events…here were too similar to what I can remember.” His chin lifted. “This is my only chance of living and you won’t deny me it.”
“Why would you think I’d deny you?”
Keve moved closer to her desk and Anya fought the need to shrink back to the soft, protective padding of her chair. His dark intensity pushed raw under her skin. “My missing time didn’t only give me a reprieve from my illness. I also came away with a sense of others who’ve been touched by this thing.” His green eyes narrowed. “And Anya, it’s all over you.”
“What is?”
“They are.”
“They?”
Keve leaned forward, heavy palms planted against her desk. The metal in his hand clattered against the tough surface. “Look, you can dance around this all you want. Thain is here to chase phantom energy spikes and Nathan is our executive ride home.” He paused and anger shifted in a dark shadow over his eyes. “I’m here because I want to live. Whoever—whatever—resides in that pyramid ordered me to open it in the presence of the others. I did. I thought…” He stared down, rubbing his thumb over the gleaming triangle of silver metal. “I thought that would be it, another five years of health. But my condition hasn’t changed.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “But weren’t you worried that you could be putting Croft and Thain in danger?”
“I woke up naked and alone five years ago.” Something else gleamed in his eyes, something that reminded her too much of the desire she’d witnessed in the two men she’d left not long before. “I hadn’t been alone and I felt very sated. I’m sure my two colleagues will feel the same way.”
Anya willed down the blush she knew wanted to stain her cheeks.
“But then you know what I’m talking about, don’t you, Anya?” His head tilted and he pulled in a deep breath. His eyes darkened and something in his gaze had her nipples peaking. “You reek of sex.”
She turned the subject away from such dangerous territory. “So what do you have to do now? Open the pyramid to me?”
“It’s been opened close to you.” Keve shrugged. “I’m still awaiting new orders.”
“This is crazy,” she muttered, and reached for her glass again. The water eased her tight throat. “Aliens don’t live in little metal boxes.”
“Think of it more like a gateway.” He straightened. “So what are they?” His laugh was harsh, bitter. “And don’t pretend you have no idea what I’m talking about. Stanton didn’t hire you for your ability to lie, believe me.”
Anya had to go with her gut…and her computer. “Computer, verify Keve Blayne’s medical condition.”
“Doctor Keve Blayne has entered a slowed fourth and final stage of Arama-Marne’s disease. This stage is marked by—”
“Thank you,” Keve broke in, his voice hard. “I don’t need my symptoms listed.”
She bit at her lip and took another quick sip. “I don’t know what they are, but they’re called the Yalene.” A small, embarrassed smile pulled at her mouth. “And, well, you know what they want from me.” Anya put the glass on the table. “So what do you want?”
Keve straightened and let out a slow breath. “I offer myself.”
She stared at him. “Offer yourself?”
“As I said, I thought the opening of the pyramid would begin my…possession. It wasn’t. I’ve been hunting for five years and now my time is running out.” A stain ran dark across his cheeks. “I want to live, Anya.”
Her heart tightened in her chest and she bit at her lip. His pain gripped her. Anya let out a tight breath. “It’s not up to me. Damianos…” Speaking their name forced a pause and with it came the first bitter taste of coal. She pressed her trembling fingers to her lips, suddenly nervous. Somehow it felt different. It wasn’t simply about her pleasure or Damianos’, it was Keve’s life.
“Anya?” His green eyes narrowed on her.
“Are you…you?”
Keve’s eyes darkened, he pulled in a deep breath and rolled his head from side to side. “Which ‘you’ do you want us to be?”
“Damianos?”
Keve smiled, something wicked and filled with charm. “In the flesh.”
“Funny.” She rubbed her thumb over her palm, pressing hard into her flesh. “Can you push back his disease?”
He stared at his hand, turning it over to examine the sun-browned skin. Flexing his fingers, he frowned. “Another of our kind has taken him before.” A brief smile lifted his mouth and his voice softened. “Ah, Hadia. We never thought to experience them again.” His fingertips rubbed together, the slight rasp the only sound in the silent office. “They enjoyed this body.” He snorted. “Enjoyed him for days. But then that’s Hadia, pushing everything to the extreme. The very first of us to break into his dimension.”
Damianos’ sudden seriousness gave her the first chance to question him. “Who are you?”
“Energy. Unity.” The twitch of a smile eased the grave expression from his face and Anya’s cheeks burned with the memory of where they’d last said those words. “We were a race living too long without pleasure. Hadia’s solution was to find flesh.” His eyes gleamed and the smile curving his mouth turned wicked. “Now here we are.”
The familiar rush of need ran hot through her veins and her thighs squeezed as she tried to deny the growing ache. Seeing Damianos grinning at her from Keve’s face unnerved her. She had to know that the man would get all he needed to survive his fatal disease. “And Keve will go into remission?”
“I could do more than that.”
Anya blinked. “Keve?”
It was him. She knew it. The slight shift in the way he stood, the easing back of the wicked smile into something more restrained. Still, it had a promise that had her recrossing her legs in the hope of relieving some of her growing tension. It didn’t work.
Keve’s head tilted. “We have something of a proposition for you.”
Her stomach hollowed and she couldn’t ignore the increased beat of her heart. She wet her lips and Keve’s gaze fixed on her mouth. Her voice became little more than a squeak. “Really?”
“I can feel Damianos,” he murmured, “like a fine sheen under my skin. Their strength, their history.” His gaze turned inward, his expression thoughtful. “They shared it all with me as they harnessed themselves to my flesh.” Keve found her eyes again and desire warmed them. “And something about us, the mix of our biological energies makes it…pleasurable…for their kind to interact with us.”
“Pleasurable?”
“Damianos wants you in every way.”
A wry humor lit his face and Anya knew he was reviewing memories of her last few hours. Her cheeks burned, but the heat in his eyes increased. “And that is what they want to propose.” He walked around her desk, his gaze never leaving hers. Anya’s breath caught in her throat as he swiveled her chair around to face him. He gripped the armrests in tight hands and leaned over her. Anya pushed back into the soft padding. Her nipples peaked under her shirt and Keve’s gaze drifted down her body. “They live in me, are harnessing themselves to me right now and they want to continue to play with you.” He glanced away and drew in a deep breath before he looked back. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “To do that, you have to accept me.” The smile faded. “Please.”
Chapter Five
Anya ran her fingertips in a light touch over his knuckles and the sudden contact was electric. The attraction to Keve had stolen over her, surprised her. Was it a part of Damianos? They favored him so she did too? She watched her forefinger play down the curve of his thumb before she looked up at him. “Just you and me?”
“If you’d rather Damianos—”
Anya broke into his question. “How long will this go on? You, me,” she couldn’t help her smile, “them? For your time on the array? Will it carry on after my duty is up?” She blinked. “Can they leave here?”
“Damianos is bound to the pyramid. It stretched their energy to the limit reaching out to you from the moon’s surface. But they found me,” he gave short laugh, “or I found them and now there’s the possibility of a permanent bond…if you agree.”
“And that would cure you?”
For a moment he was silent. He straightened and stepped back from her, his body tense. “I don’t want guilt or a sense of obligation to force you into this.”