by Myla Jackson
But they were never to reach it. If Sinsal hadn’t overheard the captain talking to his second in command about their true destination, the last group of Shandalan refugees would be on Palathea or Durak providing sexual diversion to mine owners or politicians.
“Why are we running?” he yelled.
“Do you wish to die?” she shouted over her shoulder, never slowing in her race for safety. A blinding flash of lightning emphasized her words and she ducked instinctively. “We must reach the caves before the lightning thickens.”
Another flash was followed immediately by a loud bang. Mayla looked back to see the tree next to Khetan crack and split down the middle. “Watch out!”
Khetan stopped and stepped back as the tree collapsed over the trail between them.
The space pirate leapt up onto the fallen log and over, landing on the ground next to her. With Mayla in the lead, they reached the mountain jutting upward from the forest.
“Where’s the entrance?” Mayla frantically pushed the brush aside. “Chassat! We must have taken the wrong trail.”
Lightning crashed down in increasing quantity and intensity. Khetan flinched with each near miss. He ran along the base of the mountain, pushing at the brush.
When he reached to push aside a plant with a bright red flower, Mayla’s breath caught in her throat. Before she could think, she threw her shoulder into his side, knocking him to the ground. She landed on top of him, with the breath knocked out of her.
Khetan grabbed her naked shoulders and pushed her off him. “Why the hell did you do that?”
With the lightning intensifying around them, she had to shout to be heard over the ensuing thunder. “That plant--” Mayla gasped then rose to her knees. “It’s electrically charged. One jolt and you would have fried where you stood.”
Khetan’s face paled and he stared at the plant for a moment, shaking his head.
Another loud crash sent Khetan and Mayla to their feet and scrambling to find the entrance to the mountain haven. It was the only safe place on the hostile planet.
Lightning flickered in a steady onslaught. Through sheer luck, they’d escaped electrocution, but how long would their luck last in the storm?
“Here!” Khetan shouted from an outcropping of boulders the size of men. Behind the fallen rocks was a darkened cave opening.
Lightning ripped the air close to them, shaking the earth with its ferocity. Mayla didn’t need an invitation, she dove for the entrance followed closely by Khetan.
They lay side-by-side on the hard-packed earth inside the mouth of the small cave, breathing heavily.
“Are the storms always this intense?” Khetan rubbed the sweat from his forehead.
“No.” Mayla stared at the faint light shining through the cave’s entrance, still breathing hard from her headlong push to find shelter. “Sometimes it’s much worse. Sometimes, there are casualties.” She sat up, and slipped into the jumpsuit, zipping it up the front. Thank the stars the Effect was firmly in remission.
Rumbling thunder pushed memories of past storms into her consciousness.
Khetan must have seen the pain cross her face. “I take it the storms are the reason this planet is deemed uninhabitable by the Alliance?”
“Yes. Within hours of our landing, the storms besieged us.” Mayla stared down at her hands, remembering the carnage of the first storm they’d lived through. Her mother had been one of the first victims, her body struck down only a short distance from Mayla. Only a blackened corpse remained.
“How many people did you lose?” he asked softly.
“Too many.” She jumped to her feet and paced the floor of the cave. She didn’t have far to go. The cave was only large enough to hold three full-sized adults lying head to toe, and half again as wide. Nothing more then a tall crevice between the rocks, it provided valuable protection from the raging sky outside.
Khetan rose to his feet and leaned against the wall. The cramped cave seemed even smaller with his broad shoulders filling the space.
Mayla’s breath caught in her throat. The man had no business being so handsome. She had four dozen people to protect, she couldn’t be distracted by the Effect. And mating with him would be disastrous. “Why did you come to this planet?”
“We heard your ship’s distress signal and came to help.”
Mayla’s eyes narrowed. “You lie.”
Khetan shrugged. “Believe as you wish, but as I see it, we may be your only hope of escaping the planet.”
With her fists planted on her hips, she glared at him. “My people may prefer to stay than to go with you.”
“Your choice.” Khetan brushed the dirt from his pants.
“What guarantee will you give me that my people will come to no harm?”
“None.” He looked up, a half-smile lifting the corner of his lips.
Her instinct screamed to deck him and at the same time, she fought the urge to rip the clothes from his body. She’d heard of the Effect singling out a Shandalan’s life mate, but she’d never expected the Effect to lead to a pirate. Nor had she anticipated the strength of the pull.
Her skin burned like fire, an excruciating, exquisite fire, licking at the nerve endings across her body, with concentration on her nipples and groin. She dragged her eyes from him and breathed deeply, attempting to calm her raging woman fluids.
“How long do the storms last?”
Khetan’s words sliced through her inner battle and she shook herself before she answered. “Sometimes half a day, sometimes many days.” She could feel Khetan’s gaze on her. She turned to face him and cocked an eyebrow, daring him to say anything.
The corner of Khetan’s mouth lifted. “So you’re telling me we might be stuck together for quite some time?” His gaze traveled the length of her body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
Mayla quivered, but she narrowed her gaze. “Yes. But don’t get any ides. What happened earlier shouldn’t have. It won’t happen again.”
Khetan didn’t look convinced as he closed the distance between them. “Are you sure?”
“I know nothing about you.” Her voice escaped in a breathless whisper. Mayla gulped, feeling her sensors launch a full-scale attack on the brain cells she used for reasoning. She closed her eyes, willing the hormones to remain dormant. But his nearness caused her blood to speed through her veins picking up additional molecules of the potent chemical to transport outward to every pore in her skin.
She felt the emission of the Shandalan Effect and her eyes flew open to watch for Khetan’s reaction.
His breathing grew rapid and his face flushed. His beautiful hands--that only a short while ago had strummed her body like a musical instrument--clenched and unclenched.
Mayla’s core pulsed to the rhythm of his fists. She knew her previous words had only been vapor. Now that the Effect was triggered, there wasn’t much she could do to stop Khetan’s reaction, nor squelch her steadily escalating passion. But resist she must, or suffer the consequences.
* * * * *
An unseen switch triggered every testosterone-producing gland in his body to generate overwhelming amounts of the fluid. Khetan paused, mesmerized by the woman standing in front of him.
His cock shot forward, a protruding bulge against the front of his britches. Clothes were a constriction and he tugged at the collar of his shirt, desperate to be free.
She stared at him, her eyelids drooping over her passion-filled, golden orbs. Khetan sensed her response. He gazed into eyes filled with raw desire. The sight was his undoing. Why should he deny his lust? They were alone and she appeared willing, despite her words to the contrary.
He tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it to the ground.
“No. We must not.” Her protest was weak, unconvincing. Mayla’s eyes widened and her gaze moved to his chest. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
Khetan wanted that job. Grabbing her shoulders, he crushed her to him and ran his tongue across the smoothness of her
mouth, darting in to taste her sweetness. His hands found the zipper she’d just raised and pulled it down until his fingers brushed the curls at the juncture of her thighs.
“No,” she breathed into his ear. Her fingers slid into his hair and she pulled his mouth closer, her tongue delving in to war with his. “The price is too high.”
“What price?” he asked, his words swallowed in her mouth.
“To take a Shandalan virgin, is to expose her to cravings that can be both strengthening and weakening.”
Khetan’s head shot up. “Virgin?”
“Yes. Does this surprise you?” She sank her teeth into his lower lip and pulled none too gently.
The pain of her hungry bite incited a fresh wave of lust throughout his body. “For a virgin, you know how to please.”
“Shandalan women are instructed in the art of pleasures at an early age.” She kissed the corner of his jaw, then teased his earlobe with the tip of her tongue.
“I find myself jealous of your instructors.” Grasping the edges of her zippered jumpsuit, he shoved the garment over her shoulders, baring her breasts to his starving gaze.
With deliberate precision, he prolonged his torture, trailing kisses, sucking and teasing along the curve of her neck. He ventured across her collarbone to hover over the rosy peaks of her perfect breasts. He darted his tongue out tapping at a hardened nipple until she tightened her hold on his hair and thrust her breast more fully into his mouth.
Khetan suckled and tasted one mound while massaging the other, growing more excited by the second.
“Once a Shandalan’s virginity is taken...” Mayla gasped when Khetan’s hand smoothed its way down to the bud of her lust. “...a Shandalan female must have consistent attention or the Effect might overwhelm her.”
Khetan’s lips followed his hand, as he kissed and licked his way down her flat stomach. He dropped to his knees, pushed the jumpsuit over her calves, and she stepped out of it. “What happens...” he began, replacing his finger with his tongue, swirling and teasing her clit. “What happens if she doesn’t get what she needs?” Kneading both cheeks of her buttocks, he tongued and suckled her cunt, drinking the cream of her desire.
“She weakens...” she breathed. “...or dies.” Mayla’s hips rocked, matching stroke for stroke of his tongue. She threw her head back, her breasts thrusting forward. Leaning against the cold, stone walls, she spread her legs wide and pushed her fingers into her pubic curls, parting her folds, laying herself open to his ministrations.
Khetan almost came at her lusty abandon. “Do you want me?” he asked, tonguing her clit.
“Yes!” No hesitation. No protest.
“Show me.” His tongue increased the intensity of his carnal onslaught.
Mayla’s body shuddered and she screamed with the power of her climax. “Now!” she gasped. “I need you now--inside me!”
In one fluid movement, Khetan sprang to his feet and unzipped his britches allowing his hot length to spring free. He hooked his hands beneath Mayla’s thighs and shoved her high against the wall. Then he sank his cock deep into her slick entrance, pushing past the barrier of her womanhood.
He held steady for a moment, absorbing the heat and texture encasing his hard length. Animal rhythm of the ancients pulsed through him and he slid in and out of her, pumping faster and faster.
“Chassat, Khetan! I’m on fire!” Mayla screamed and grabbed his buttocks slamming him into her. “Harder!”
Her hands were everywhere, touching, scraping, digging into his flesh, burning a trail of electrified nerves across his skin. She leaned into his neck and nipped at his earlobe, while her hips ground against him, driving him deeper. She clutched his shoulders and stiffened, her head falling back. Then she jerked in body-racking spasms.
Her orgasm shoved him over the edge. The exquisite pain of climax roared through his blood into his cock, catapulting his seed into her body. For a timeless moment, they stood, his penis pulsing within her.
Khetan lowered Mayla’s legs until her feet touched the ground. Still joined, he leaned his body against hers, savoring the mounds of her soft breasts pressed against his naked chest. He rested his forehead against the wall, her hair tickling his ear, and dragged in deep breaths to replenish the air supply in his lungs. His legs quivered as if he’d run a great distance.
The sounds of the storm raged outside their hardened cocoon. When he felt her breathing return to normal, he placed his hands on either side of her and pushed away from the wall. His shaft slipped from her and he stared down into her eyes.
Mayla’s hands bunched into fists and she planted them on her naked hips. “Is that all?”
Khetan blinked. “Did I not please you?”
Her eyelids lowered and she rubbed her full breasts against his chest. “Yes. But you’re not done are you?”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled and pushed a hand to his chest, walking him backward until his bare back ran into the wall on the other side of the cave. “If a Shandalan woman mates with a man of her choice, the Shandalan Effect rejuvenates and strengthens her stamina.”
Khetan’s eyes widened. “You mean you’re capable of multiple orgasms?”
“Of course.” With her shoulders thrown back, her luscious breasts jutted forward like ripe melons with dark rose-colored stems. She stood before him, hands on her naked hips, her skin pale in the meager light. She was a conqueror laying claim to the spoils of war.
“But what if I’m not?”
“As I mentioned before, Shandalan women are instructed in the art of pleasure. We can make you more capable. Shall I demonstrate?”
Khetan’s limp shaft, sprang to life when Mayla knelt before him to remove his shoes and pants. Khetan didn’t know whether to send a curse or a silent prayer to the gods for the Shandalan Effect.
CHAPTER FOUR
"Do you hear that?” Khetan asked in the darkness of the cave, his voice rumbling against Mayla’s ear.
Tatama’s sun had long since set and they’d fallen into an exhausted sleep. The hair on Khetan’s chest tickled Mayla’s nose when she rubbed her face against him and stretched her satiated body against his. With her head tucked in the crook of his arm, she inhaled his scent. Leather, sweat and the musky odor of sex, stirred her from sleep.
“The storm is over, sleepy one.” Khetan kissed the top of her head, the hand at her breast squeezing gently. “Should we go out in the night to find the others?”
Mayla rolled over to lie on top of him, her legs straddling his hips.
His cock stiffened.
“It’s too dangerous to travel at night. A chameleon, cat-like creature inhabits this planet. It’s as big as you, and three times as powerful.”
“What a shame to let the night go to waste.” Khetan clasped his hands beneath his head.
“Yes. It would be a shame.” Mayla grinned in the dark. Khetan’s playful teasing allowed her to forget for a moment she was a princess with a myriad of responsibilities. For now, she was just a woman, enjoying the pleasures of a man.
Khetan lifted his hips and pressed the tip of his penis to the entrance to her sex.
But Mayla had other ideas. She bent forward and kissed him full on the lips. Then she maneuvered around on her knees to straddle his head facing the opposite direction.
“Mmmmm...” Khetan hooked his arms around her thighs and lifted his head to taste her. “Nothing like a little late night snack.” He growled, nibbled on her folds, and darted his tongue inside her. He smacked his lips loudly. “Ummmm...Good enough to eat.” With long strokes of his tongue, he lapped at her pussy in a manner similar to the enjoyment of a devilishly creamy dessert.
Waves of desire froze her momentarily in place. She leaned forward and brushed her breasts to his stomach, enjoying the tingling his warm skin created against her nipples.
Her nose bumped into his protruding length. When she touched her tongue to the hardened shaft, it jerked away. Determined to wreak the same kind of havoc
on his senses, she wrapped her hands around his swollen prick and massaged its length, enjoying its smooth, satiny warmth.
Khetan moaned.
Mayla smiled at the power she felt over this male.
Khetan’s tongue launched another assault on her clit, and she gasped, springing to the edge of a climatic precipice. But she held back. This time, she wanted him to reach his peak when she did.
With her tongue, Mayla flicked the satiny tip of his penis, while fondling his scrotum. She shoved her hands beneath him, and pulled him upward, sliding his length full into her mouth. He bucked beneath her, pushing deeper, until his cock pressed against the back of her throat.
Khetan loosened his hold on her thighs and grabbed her ass, kneading the flesh. He slipped his hands between their bodies and parted her folds, burying his face in her, to suck and lick until she leapt over the edge.
With his cock in her mouth, Mayla’s body tensed, and exploded in a kaleidoscope of sensations. Strength surged through her powering her with adrenaline. She could conquer mountains.
“I can’t...hold out...much longer.” Khetan’s body stiffened, evidence of his strained control.
Still on all fours, Mayla scrambled down his legs. Before she could rise to her feet, Khetan pushed to his knees and slid into her from the rear. With his large hands holding her hips, he slammed into her, again and again. Mayla reveled in the animal feel of the position and rocked back against him, pushing him deeper.
Strong fingers gripped tighter to still her motion. Khetan slipped a hand down to where their bodies connected, drawing creamy cum up to her clit. Gentle teasing strokes soon became frenzied flicks to match the rhythm of his cock fucking her cunt.
Bombarded by orgasmic surges so exquisite tears sprang to her eyes. Mayla reared back, sinking fully onto his prick.
Khetan’s body tensed. He pulled back and rammed into her once more, shuddering in release.
When the lusty storm subsided, Khetan sat back on his heels, pulling Mayla with him to keep from breaking contact.