into her succulent shoulder. The salt of her skin complimented
the fruit juice, creating an unforgettable flavor.
His cock stirred once again, and his symbion woke, eager
to continue its relentless quest to impregnate a female. "We
can eat later," he said, pulling the half-eaten fruit from Zara's
hand. "I want to try something."
"What? Wait ... ah—"
He scooped her up and carried her to the bed, ready to
pull off her shorts and shirt. He realized as she tried only half-
heartedly to squirm away from him that she was only wearing
her shirt.
"Where are your shorts?" he mumbled as he pulled her
wriggling body beneath his. "Never mind. I don't care."
"Well ... umph ... I do." She pretended to fight him,
pushing ineffectively at his chest while eagerly spreading her
legs. "I can't ... ah ... find them anywhere."
Caleb cut off her complaint with a kiss. She still tasted of
fruit, and he liked that. He wanted more. "I prefer you this
way," he said, pushing her shirt up to expose her stomach
and the plump undersides of her breasts.
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"Maybe you can run around naked, now that you're half
Icarian, but I'll ruffle a few feathers at the royal aerie if I
show up with my unmentionables hanging out."
Caleb scowled. "Quiet, woman. I'll deal with your wardrobe
problem later, right now, I intend to eat you."
"Whaff-ah!" Zara shrieked as Caleb held the fruit over her
stomach and squeezed. Juice splattered on her skin, filling
her navel and running in rivulets down to the soft, golden hair
of her mound.
Gooseflesh rose in the path of the cold liquid, and Zara
shivered. Ecstasy clouded her eyes before he dove at her and
began his meal by licking his way from her sternum to her
belly button, taking cautious nips along the way. He drank
from the tiny, sexy indentation, slurping loudly while she
laughed.
He threw the now empty rind of the fruit aside and let a
few drops of juice drip from his fingers onto her plump pussy
lips.
She moaned and closed her eyes. Determined to enjoy
every last drop of her, he parted her folds with his sticky
fingers and rubbed the juice on the already glistening flesh of
her clit.
She gasped as the mildly acidic juice puckered her
intimate skin. Her clit, now rosy and erect, quivered,
demanding to be tasted. Caleb obeyed, sucking the hot nub
into his mouth.
Zara keened. Her fingers clawed the alor down, and she
lifted her hips, thrusting her fruit-sweetened sex farther into
his mouth.
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"The Icarians do this," he confessed between lapping at
her clit and thrusting the tip of his tongue into her opening.
"I've been dying to try it on you."
"W-why..." She panted and tensed her muscles as he
delved wickedly into her depths. "Why didn't you?"
"Would you have said yes?" He didn't wait for an answer,
but pushed his tongue deeply into her, tasting her arousal
mixed with the succulent tang of the juice. God, this was
perfect, more amazing than he ever could have imagined.
"Yes ... yes!"
"More?" He laughed and parted her pussy lips farther. He
reached within her, searching with two fingers and delving for
the spot deep inside that he knew would set off her orgasm.
"Yes more ... and yes, I would have said ye-yesss!"
She came then, her body convulsing with tremors of
pleasure. She stiffened, eyes closed, sweetly biting her lower
lip while her cream gushed over his fingers and her sheath
spasmed hard and fast.
He licked her again, taking a moment to savor her unique
taste, to tease her clit with his tongue until she shuddered in
the throes of a second orgasm.
If only he'd dared to break the rules sooner, but propriety
had kept him from acting on his desires. He'd regret that
inaction for the rest of his life, as long as he had left, but this,
now, he would never regret.
Before the last tremors of her climax faded, Caleb lifted
himself off of Zara and resettled between her thighs. His
erection slipped inside her ready entrance, filling her even as
her pussy contracted once more around the intrusion. She
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shivered and clung to him tightly while he took her, giving
free reign to his symbion to claim her over and over again.
"Oh, I wish we didn't have to go back," she whispered as
she kissed him. "I don't want this to end."
"Don't say that. It would be too easy to never go back.
This is a big planet. We could hide forever."
"I know. I know." Zara wrapped her arms around him and
stared into his eyes. "I don't know if I can handle losing you
again."
"You won't. Not yet. We'll be together every minute we
can. I promise you."
"I love you, Caleb." The words slipped from her lips so
quickly, so quietly, he wasn't sure he heard them. She
seemed as surprised by the revelation as he was, but the look
on her face told him it was not the intimacy of the moment
talking. She meant it.
He would have responded, wanted to, but his symbion
hadn't finished with her. He gathered her to him and let the
alien take them both to the heights of a shared orgasm. Her
body bucked as he spilled his seed within her and when he
finished, he smoothed the hair from her face and kissed her
with everything he had.
"I love you too, Zara. I think I always have, I won't let
anyone keep us apart."
"I found these on the rocks at the base of this island, here
to the northwest." Arilani pointed to a miniscule dot on the
map Dr. Danson had displayed on the research station's
conference table. Next to her, on a chair, lay Dr. Abbott's
shorts, wet and torn.
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The speck she indicated, among hundreds of similar specks
that made up a long-abandoned island chain, lay at the far
perimeter of Jidar's extensive search pattern. Its location
attested to the fact that Arilani had flown farther than any of
her tribe mates while looking for the missing scientists.
"I searched the aerie on that island and several to the west
of it, but found nothing. I'm afraid I was too tired to see
clearly and I might have missed something."
Jidar put his hand on her shoulder. "You were wise to
come back and get help. I'll send everyone who can still fly
out to canvas that area."
Danson picked up the sodden piece of Zara's clothing.
"These look like they were ripped off her body." His grim
announcement left no question that he believed Zara had
been injured and most likely by Caleb. "Did you see blood
anywhere?"
Ari bowed her
head in mock shame. "I'm sorry. I didn't
look very closely. The clothing lay practically in the water.
Blood could have washed away, since the tides are very
strong at the bases of the islands."
"Are you saying Caleb killed her?" one of the researchers
asked. A murmur of astonishment circled through those
assembled once again in the cramped conference room.
Jidar held up a hand. "Dr. Faulkner is a gentle soul. I
cannot believe he would harm anyone."
"But what about the symbion? If it's in pain, would it
attack?" Another impertinent question piqued Ari's growing
annoyance. She stepped forward to respond. This time the
emotion in her voice was genuine.
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"The symbions are not violent creatures. They are highly
intelligent and even unjoined they can communicate in a
rudimentary way. I agree with my liege that Dr. Faulkner is
not a direct danger to Dr. Abbott, nor is his symbion, but if he
is acting irrationally, as Dr. Abbott indicated when she called
for help from his bungalow, she may be frightened. She could
have been injured while trying to escape from him or as a
result of Dr. Faulkner's growing fatigue. We have no way of
knowing if he has slept or eaten since he left this island and if
he hasn't, he may not be capable of carrying Dr. Abbott
safely. My fear is that he dropped her accidentally. If she
drowned, we may never find her body."
Another wave of shocked speculation rose from Arilani's
captive audience. She'd planted the seeds of her deception,
and now she had only to stand back and watch them grow.
She wished she could have stained Zara's discarded clothing
with blood, but after swiping the shorts from the floor of the
lovers' aerie last night while they slept, she had decided to
return immediately to the research station and set the wheels
in motion to bring the breeding project back on track.
Besides, unless she used Dr. Abbott's own blood, Dr. Danson
would have easily figured out her ruse.
Everything she told the humans now would have to seem
like the truth, and she could afford no margin of error in her
plan.
Giving a dramatic sigh, she rubbed her eyes and slumped
her shoulders. "My liege, I will join the search program again,
but I must rest. I will go to my aerie just until midday. Then I
promise—"
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Namara cut her off. "No Arilani. You need more than half a
morning's rest. I forbid you to continue the search today.
You've given us a new place to start, and I'm sure with
everyone searching in the area you indicated we will be able
to locate Caleb and Zara before nightfall. Go home and sleep.
You have earned it."
With a wan smile of acceptance, Ari squeezed Namara's
shoulder and then bowed to Jidar. "Please contact me the
moment they are found. I want to help in any way I can."
"We will," Namara assured her.
Arilani sidled past her and Jidar, being sure to move slowly
so no one would question the depth of her fatigue. Dr.
Danson reached for her hand as she past him, but she twisted
casually out of his grasp and kept moving. Nothing would stop
her now.
While the rest of her tribe searched the distant islands to
the northwest, Ari would fly in the opposite direction, back to
the island in the southeast quadrant of the search grid where
she'd observed the lovers' tryst. She still had the tranquilizer
dose in her possession and she knew exactly how to use it to
get what she deserved.
[Back to Table of Contents]
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Chapter Twelve
"Maybe the wind blew them over the edge," Caleb offered
with a shrug of both his shoulders and his wings.
Now, more than two days after his joining, he seemed to
have finally gained control over the volatile link with his
symbion. Though his emotions still ran close to the surface,
Zara could see the man she'd grown to love beginning to
resurface.
Once they found her shorts, they could fly to the royal
aerie and begin to work on a treatment plan that would
maximize the time Caleb had left before the symptoms of his
Rennard's Syndrome began to manifest.
She pushed that unpleasant thought out of her mind and
concentrated on tugging her T-shirt down lower over her
thighs. "Well, maybe you should go look for them. I'd really
like not to parade around in front of Jidar bare-assed."
Caleb made a show of staring at her rear. "I'm sure he
won't mind the view. I certainly don't."
She swatted his shoulder and continued searching every
nook of the aerie for her missing clothing. Nakedness was the
norm among Icarians. None of them likely would think twice if
she showed up wearing nothing. Nevertheless, she was
certain she could not look Jidar or Namara in the eye if she
had to appear before the royal couple in the nude. "Do you
really want Jidar looking at my ... assets? He may be married
to Namara, but I know on occasion Icarian couples will invite
third parties into their beds."
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"All right, all right. I'll find your shorts." He huffed
dramatically. "How did you know that anyway? There's only
one obscure entry on it in my research."
She eyed him playfully, a long, pointed observation that
ended with her gaze trained on his own shorts. "I read every
word of your research, Dr. Faulkner."
He grinned. "I'm glad someone did. Now maybe later we
can talk more about these threesomes."
"No." She held up a hand and gestured toward the edge of
the island. "We can't. Now, go. I'll keep looking in here, but if
you don't find them, I'm stealing yours for the trip."
He winked at her. "Good luck getting my pants off, Dr.
Abbott."
She scoffed at him. "Are you serious? I could have your
pants off just like that." She snapped her fingers for
emphasis.
"I'd like to see you try."
She crossed the room and gave him a small shove toward
the entranceway of the aerie. "I bet you would. Now hurry up.
I want to be on solid ground and a lot closer to sea level by
sundown."
"Nag, nag, nag..." He flew off before she could swipe at
him again, leaving her laughing and at least momentarily
light-hearted.
Once he'd gone she sighed and continued searching the
aerie. She couldn't remember where she'd been standing
when she'd shed her clothes the night before, or rather, when
Caleb had stripped her.
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Her face heated at the memory of it, and the muscles in
her belly tightened. She needed to get fully dressed, if only to
; put a damper on her own heightened arousal. Every time she
looked at Caleb, his bare chest dusted with dark hair, his
rock-hard biceps and muscular thighs glistening with sweat,
she grew wet with desire.
She'd given herself freely to him and surrendered to the
urgent, primal needs of the symbion, and now she craved
that connection. She'd have been perfectly content to spend
the rest of her life here, isolated from everything she'd ever
known, naked and at Caleb's sexual beck and call forever.
This giddy stage couldn't last, though. The psychologist in
her knew there were too many obstacles to face once they
returned. Danson's wrath would be formidable. This project
was his life's work, and to see the culmination of his vision
delayed, possibly indefinitely, would no doubt enrage him.
Jidar and Namara would be disappointed. The future of
their race depended on bringing humans into symbion
relationships and augmenting the Icarian population with
adults dedicated to breeding. This setback could cost them
everything.
Beyond all that, Caleb was dying. Though his illness hadn't
manifested yet, when it did, there was no telling what it
would do to the symbion. The chance that the alien could
compensate for the enzyme blockage and effectively cure it
was so remote, she didn't dare set her hopes on it.
Ultimately, she would lose him all over again, but at least
it wouldn't be today.
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The flapping of wings drew her attention toward the
archway leading outside, and she hurried across the room to
meet Caleb, hoping he'd found her missing pants. "It's about
time," she said as the feathery shadow of folding wings
interrupted the ray of sunlight streaming through the arch.
Disappointment clutched at her when Arilani's feminine
form appeared in the doorway instead of Caleb's. The female
Icarian, dark-haired and almond-eyed, wore nothing except a
leather carrying pouch, its strap slung between her perfect
breasts. Her beauty made Zara feel terribly self-conscious,
another reason why she was loathe to appear at the royal
aerie naked.
"Dr. Abbott, thank my liege I've finally found you. Are you
all right?"
"I'm fine. We're both fine."
"Both?" Arilani raised a brow. "Is Dr. Faulkner here too?"
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