by Susan Hayes
He crooked a dark brow. “And if we don’t like what we find?”
“Then the Gods suck at matchmaking, and we’ll know to stop trying to make this work.” She tried to sound glib, but the words fell flat. This was a huge risk, and she had no idea if it would work. Hell, there were parts of her own psyche she didn’t want to examine too closely. Now she was about to expose herself to Vadir. Scars, regrets, and all.
Vadir had come to Earth prepared to offer his match anything she wanted. Money, jewels, and gifts from across the galaxy. The one thing he hadn’t planned on giving her was any part of himself. He gripped her hand and wondered if the Gods were laughing at him right now.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Yes.”
There was silence for a long moment as the two of them stared at each other. Birds sang and twittered to each other, the breeze swirled around them, thick with the scent of wild flowers and green, growing things. His attention was caught by a small insect with large, multi-coloured wings that fluttered overhead. That was when it happened. His eyes still saw one view, but inside his head, he saw the same creature from another angle.
“Lisa?”
Warmth and a trace of amusement coloured her reply. “Yes.”
He closed his eyes and cautiously followed her thoughts back to their source. At the same time, he felt her presence in his mind, a gentle flutter that reminded him of the winged insect he’d been watching.
“Butterfly.” She gave him the creature’s name.
Thoughts and feelings flowed over him like water from a stream. There were undercurrents of mood, and quicksilver glimpses of memory, but all of it was her. Her strength and empathy, her fire and ferocity. He bore witness to her darkest memories and was amazed by the depth of her bonds to her two dearest friends.
There had been wild choices and a reckless need to push her limits and face her fears. Where he had channelled his anger and pain into forging a future for himself and controlling the world around him, she had gone a different way. She’d leapt off a bridge with nothing but a cord around her ankles and dived naked into fast-flowing rivers. There was a tattoo of a flower hidden in the hair above her left ear. It was a legacy of a youthful bet she carried as a reminder that some choices cannot be undone.
There was a scar on his arm that served the same purpose. He started to understand. They weren’t that different. Two lives, lived differently but fuelled by the same fire.
“Now do you see?” Her voice was a gentle whisper in his mind.
“Yes. Do you?” He’d been so entranced by his experience, he’d forgotten that she was learning about him, too. Had she found the answers she sought?
Laughter sounded, soft and sweet. “Yes. We’re more alike than I imagined. Maybe the Gods knew what they were doing, after all.”
“After this, I have no doubts. I was wrong to think I could lock you away and keep you safe that way.”
She laughed aloud. “Damn right you were.”
He opened his eyes to find her looking at him with affection. “The Gods didn’t send me here to retrieve a gentle female to raise my children. They brought me to Earth to present me with my perfect partner.”
He tugged at her hand, and she came willingly into his arms. “Come home with me, tani.”
She twined her arms around his neck and leaned in close enough her breath was a silken caress across his lips. “I want to visit the worlds I saw in your memories.”
“Wherever you want to go, I’ll take you. “
“No gilded cage?” she whispered.
“No cage at all. And maybe, when we’re ready, you and I can find a place that both of us can call home.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
He dropped his head to slant a kiss across her smiling lips. “Finally.”
She didn’t answer him in words. Instead, she sent him a vivid image of the two of them making love in the grass; clothes scattered, her hair blowing in the breeze as she knelt over him, his hands on her breasts.
He speared one hand into her hair and wrapped his other one around her waist before letting himself fall backwards, taking her with him.
“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? We’re still dressed.”
“Not for long.” He tossed his communicator out of range, then conjured a flame with a snap of his fingers. He let it grow into a blazing sphere with the two of them at its center. Their clothes burned away in a flash, and he dispelled the effect with a thought.
She blinked down at him, her dazzling eyes wide with shock. “Are you insane? You could have set the whole forest burning!”
“My control is better than that, now. I wouldn’t risk you or Cas that way. As my mate, you’re immune to my fires, but if it spread…I don’t know how far that immunity goes, and I don’t ever intend to find out.”
“I still think you’re a lunatic. It’s a good thing I like you this way.”
“I’m only a lunatic where you’re concerned.”
She wriggled her hips, grinding herself lightly across his fast hardening cock. “That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Lisa leaned down and brushed her mouth over Vadir’s. The Scorching might be over, but her need for him hadn’t lessened at all. She left her mind open, letting him read her thoughts as she slid down his body, leaving a trail of kisses down his chest and stomach as she worked her way south.
She teased him with feather-soft caresses and touches, nibbling and kissing his golden skin. The anticipation built with every second that passed. Desire swirled between them, and when she finally grazed her lips across the broad head of his cock, Vadir groaned with eagerness and thrust his hips upwards.
“Suck me.”
“Patience,” she sent the thought to him before settling herself between his muscular thighs and bowing her head to take him deep into her mouth.
“I prefer immediate gratification.”
She laughed without removing her mouth from his shaft, letting the vibration roll through him as she wrapped one hand around his thick base and slipped the other between his legs to cup his sac. Vadir’s arousal flowed through their link to intertwine with hers, amplifying the experience until she was drunk with pleasure.
He dug his fingers into the grass beneath them, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “Flames, that feels good. But you know that, don’t you? You can feel what I’m feeling.”
She uttered a low hum of agreement and swiped her tongue across the slit of his cock while stroking her fingertips over his balls. They tightened, and his cock twitched and swelled in her mouth. He was close. She could sense the slow corkscrewing tangle of desires as his orgasm loomed. She used their connection to push him higher, every bob of her head and stroke of her tongue timed to take him to the brink without going over.
She kept him there until he his every muscle was taut as a bowstring and his thrusts had become broken and uneven. That was the moment she released him and rocked back on her heels, her arms outstretched in open invitation. “I want to know what it feels like when you’re inside me. Do you think we can do that? Stay linked?”
He lifted his head and gave her a wicked smile. “Only one way to find out. Come here.”
He sat up, his long legs stretched out in front of him, his cock rising from between his thighs to rest against his stomach. He crooked a finger at her, then patted his thighs.
Lisa rose to her feet and stretched luxuriously, deliberately making Vadir wait.
His gaze never wavered, and the hungry expression on his face was enough to make her heart race. No man had ever looked at her the way he did as if she were everything he craved, and all he needed.
She stepped over his torso and then lowered herself onto his lap, letting him guide her down. She straddled him, crouching, his cock pressed along the seam of her pussy as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Every move they made resulted in a delicious friction that sent her libido rocketing into overdrive within seconds.
“I need you,” he whispered the words into her mouth, one arm curving around her waist to steady her as he reached between them to stroke a finger across her aching clit.
“I’m all yours,” she whispered back, and there was no ignoring the note of truth behind the words. She’d made her choice, and she had no regrets.
“From now until we return to the Flame that birthed us,” he murmured, then kissed her hard as he guided his cock to her entrance. His arm tightened around her waist, bringing them together with deliberate slowness.
She didn’t want slow. She wanted it hard, and fast, with no rules and no barriers between them. Rocking backward, she leaned against his hold and took him deep, shifting her weight off her legs so that she could wrap them around his hips.
He growled and leaned back, opening the angle between them. His fingers toyed with her clit, rubbing the little nub in tiny circles as he started a bouncing, thrusting motion that drove their bodies together.
His pleasure overlapped her own, the sensations swirling together until she couldn’t tell which belonged to whom. Not that she cared. She was lost in a firestorm of desires that consumed everything in its path.
Her position shifted as he drew up his knees and placed his feet on the ground, cradling her body in his as he leaned back and braced himself on one arm. She released her arms from around his neck and leaned back against his thighs, then cried out as the new angle sent his cock plunging over her g-spot. Her inner walls clenched hard, and both of them gasped at the surge of raw sensation that erupted.
The intensity was more than she could take, and she gave in to the inevitable with a shuddering cry. Vadir’s control broke seconds later, and they rode out their mutual climaxes with both mind and body intertwined in perfect bliss.
9
Sated and content, Vadir was stretched out on the sun drenched grass with Lisa nestled into his side. Beyond the birdsong and trill of the insects was a deep silence that resonated deep in his heart. For once, his mind was still, and he felt entirely at peace. He looked up into the clear blue sky and felt a pang of regret that they wouldn’t be able to return here. Earth had proven to be far more interesting, and beautiful, than he’d expected, despite the disappointment of all the business opportunities he’d been denied.
Beside him, Lisa tensed, then sat up. “Who said you can’t do business here? And you still haven’t explained why I can’t come back here to visit.”
Damn it. The telepathic link between them was going to take some getting used to.
“I told you that we’re not supposed to have first contact with any species that haven’t met certain developmental criteria. Our being here at all is a violation of some very serious laws.”
“You didn’t explain. You mentioned it in the middle of a fight, and it hasn’t come up again until now. So, explain now, please.”
“Remind me to have a learning program developed for the next batch of female mates that are approached so that none of this gets forgotten in future.”
She snorted with laughter. “I’ll make notes for you, so you don’t miss anything important. Now, will you please explain why I can’t come home again? And for that matter, how are you going to explain the presence of human women on your planet if you’re not supposed to be here?”
“I believe the official cover story will be that you were all found onboard a slaving vessel. At least, that’s the last version I heard. The hope was that we would be able to keep your existence a secret for a few years before anyone was the wiser.”
“And how exactly am I going to be able to travel around with you if I’m supposed to be a secret?” she asked, looking both amused and mildly annoyed.
“I hadn’t figured that out, yet, but I would have come up with a way. I made you a promise. I intend to keep it.” He reached up to tap his index finger to the tip of her nose. “Your eyes would make it problematic for you to stay here, too. Your Pyrosian heritage is showing, and that puts you at risk.”
“There’s something else that needs to go on the list. How the fuck did I end up with alien DNA?”
He shrugged and took a moment to find the right words. “We’re not sure. We’ve been a spacefaring race for millennia. There was a time we sent out scores of colony ships. Some failed. Others succeeded. Many stopped communicating and were declared lost. Our best guess is that one of those lost ships landed on your planet, and they discovered that interbreeding was possible.”
“So your ancestors got it on with my ancestors, and here I am?”
“It would seem so, yes.”
She frowned. “But then why is there so much fuss about first contact? Clearly, that’s already happened. My DNA proves it.”
He started to answer her before it occurred to him that he had no idea what to say. She was right. It wasn’t official, and it certainly wasn’t sanctioned, but there had been contact between their species.
“Vee?”
“You’re right. By the Flames of the First One, you’re absolutely right!” He sat up and kissed her. “Convincing the Inter-planetary Council of this won’t be easy, but we’ll find a way. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“It means I might get to visit Spain someday?”
“More than that, tani. So much more. If we can bypass the rules, then everything changes. We can approach your governments and begin the process of indoctrinating your species into the council. Better yet, I will be able to negotiate trade agreements. It will be slow at first, but eventually, Earth will have access to technology and knowledge beyond imagining.”
“That sounds amazing, and I’m all for it, but…what are we going to trade for it? As you have pointed out more than once, we’re a primitive species.”
He cupped her face in his hand, his thumb stroking her cheek. “Isn’t it obvious? Earth has the one thing we need more than anything else. Single females willing to go to Pyros and be mated.”
“If they put you up as a poster boy, I promise, you’ll be overwhelmed by volunteers.”
“I’ve already found my mate. We’ll choose someone else to be the face of Pyros.” He leaned in to kiss her, grateful to the Gods that they had gifted him with a mate who was as intelligent as she was beautiful.
“Mmm good point. You’re spoken for.”
She was quiet for a second, but he could sense her thoughts and knew she was thinking of her friend, Gwen.
“I want to take my friend with us when we go. Gwen was rejected by the Star-Crossed dating site. They said she was too old, but she’s only two years older than I am! She told me about it before I went out on my date with you. Fuck, she’s got to be out of her mind with worry by now. As far as she knows, I went out on a date and vanished.”
“As soon as we have communication back, we’ll make sure she knows you’re alright. As for bringing her with us, that’s not my call to make. The Firebrand is Joran’s ship, and he’s the prince, so the final decision is his.”
Instead of being distressed, Lisa beamed. “If Joran is with Maggie, then there’s no way he’ll say no. In fact, I bet she’s already got things organized and Gwen’s packing right now, and both of them are cursing me out for running late, as usual.”
“You’ve got a good excuse.” Vadir jerked his head back towards the crash site.
“Yeah. I slugged you, you fell into the console, activated the emergency engine cutoff thingy, and we crashed.” She blushed. “I don’t think I’ve said it, yet. But I really am sorry about that.”
“Don’t apologize. I deserved that punch. We lived. The ship is nearly repaired, and we had the time we needed to figure things out. As hostile negotiations go, this wasn’t so bad.”
Lisa was still laughing at him with Cas buzzed his communicator, which was still lying where he tossed it, somewhere in the deep grass. The two of them scrambled around, naked and laughing, until he finally located it and opened a channel.
“Yes, Cas?”
“Repairs to communication and navigation are complete. Yo
u should be able to contact Commander Denza and the Firebrand whenever you’re ready.”
“Do you have a list of the parts required to finish repairing the ship before we can fly again?”
“Confirmed. The file is already loaded onto your communicator.”
He started to open a channel to the Firebrand, then glanced over at Lisa and shut the device off. This conversation would go faster if he were in visual contact, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not at the moment.
Lisa’s brow creased, and she cocked her head to the left. “Don’t you need to talk to the Commander and Joran? The ship needs fixing, we need rescuing, and I want to know how Maggie and Gwen are.”
“And I will convey all of that, right after we get dressed.” He rose to his feet, then offered her his hand.
“What, you don’t want to let your friends see you naked and frolicking in a meadow? Bad for your buttoned-up businessman reputation?” she teased.
He swatted her ass and chuckled before pulling her into his arms. “No, tani. I didn’t want my companions to see my mate naked. That delight is for me alone.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m going to need to borrow another one of your shirts.”
The vision of her draped in his clothing, legs and feet bare, had his cock surging to life again. “You can have any shirt you like. In fact, have them all. I’ve got more on the Firebrand, and we can order clothing for you in any style or fabric you desire.”
“That sounds nice, but I’d like some of my own clothes, too. Maybe I can get Gwen to bring me some of my clothes when she joins us.” Lisa stretched up on her toes and kissed him. “C’mon, sexy. If we hurry, we can contact everyone and have time for a quickie in the shower before anyone gets here.”
He scooped her into his arms and started jogging back to the ship, his heart light and a deep sense of contentment warming his soul. “You called me homeless the first night we met. At the time, I was insulted.”