He didn’t have to ask her twice. Bracing herself on his shoulders, Lauren raised up, letting at least half of the thick shaft slide out of her before lowering herself again, much faster than she had the first time. Both of them groaned as they came together and then she did it again. The second time Xairn caught her rhythm and began working his hips, thrusting up into her just as she was coming down on him, working with her to give them both what they needed so badly.
“That’s right,” he growled, his eyes never leaving hers. “Gods, you feel so good around me. Fuck yourself on me, Lauren, find your pleasure and let me see it in your eyes when you come.”
“God, baby!” Lauren dug her fingernails into his flesh and increased the pace. More, she needed more of him, more of this—this deep, delicious pleasure that she wished could never end. God, he felt so good, so right inside her. Just as she’d always known he would.
“So tight,” Xairn growled hungrily. He looked between them, watching as his wet shaft slid in and out of her pussy. “So tight and hot inside you, Lauren.”
“Oh, baby…” Lauren couldn’t help it. She wanted to make this last but the sexual need that had been building up inside her almost since she met Xairn was too much, too hard to stop. She felt her pleasure cresting and looked down into his eyes. “So close…I’m so close…”
“Come for me,” he demanded hoarsely. “Let me feel you come on my cock, Lauren. Let me feel your pleasure as I fill you up.”
It was too much. With a low moan, Lauren felt her orgasm sweep over her, the pleasure flowing through her like warm, sensual water. Her inner muscles gripped Xairn’s shaft, squeezing like a velvet glove, demanding that he answer her pleasure with his own. With a low groan, he did.
Lauren moaned again as he felt him spurting, hot and wet, deep inside her. She’d never actually felt this with a human male but then, Xairn was so much more than human. So much more than anything she’d ever expected to find. It occurred to her that this was his first time. She hoped it had been good for him—special in a way he would never forget.
“I love you,” she whispered in his ear as they finally stopped grinding against each other and were still, panting with exertion. “Love you so very, very much.”
“I love you too.” He let out a long, shaky breath. “Thank you for this, Lauren. I know…know it wasn’t exactly how you wanted our lovemaking to be.”
Lauren pulled back and looked at him. “Xairn, honey, you know I don’t care.” She laughed. “Hell, I was getting so desperate I probably would have done it dangling from the top of the Orange Blossom Tower downtown if that’s how you told me it had to be.”
Xairn gave her one of his rare smiles in return. “Nothing that elaborate was required. I just needed you to take the lead. And I think now you understand why.”
“Yes.” She looked at him hesitantly. “Do you think…is this the way we’re always going to do it?”
Xairn looked serious. “Probably. This or some variation of it. I can’t…can’t risk switching roles and being the dominant one, Lauren. Not without hurting you.”
Lauren knew he was telling the truth but deep down she couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. Her submissive fantasies, the ones where she was on her knees before him, the ones where he put her over his knee and spanked her, still called to her. But she pushed them aside firmly. That was never going to happen. She should be glad they could be together at all, in any capacity.
“Well, that’s okay with me.” She smiled and kissed the tip of his nose teasingly. “I kind of like it when you call me ‘Mistress.’”
Xairn smiled and thrust slowly up into her again. Though he had come, his cock was still as hard and long as ever. “Then…would my mistress care for another ride?”
Lauren gasped and then moaned softly with pleasure as he filled her. “Yes, I think that’s an excellent idea.” She kissed him on the lips and whispered against his mouth, “Fuck me, Xairn.”
He did.
Chapter Thirty-three
“At last!” The AllFather screeched with unholy glee, his crimson eyes burning in their sockets. Hovering thousands of miles above the surface of the Earth in his ship, he had felt the consummation of Xairn’s love. Now his son would come fully into his own, his power complete. And now was the time to harvest it, while it was still ripe and fresh, before Xairn became too strong to fight the AllFather’s will.
Closing his eyes, he searched. Aided by the new energy signature he gave off, the AllFather found his errant son at once. The connection between them was complete— Xairn’s mind was open and vulnerable. Now to lure him back to the Fathership, the AllFather thought, cackling with unholy glee. And I have just the bait to do it.
“Up here,” he directed, motioning for his Alpha and Beta guards. They were carrying a heavy cage between them, climbing ponderously up the broad steps of his throne room. When they reached the top, he directed them to place the cage and its miserable occupant directly before the green-etched throne.
“Is it as you wish, my master?” The Alpha guard bowed to him, waiting for new directions.
The AllFather patted the thick shoulder approvingly. “It isss.” He should have done this in the first place, he told himself. Instead of having a son naturally he should have simply grown one in the flesh tanks. The vat-grown soldiers that made up his private guard and almost all of the Scourge population now were so much more malleable and tractable than Xairn. Then again, Xairn was his ticket to immortality so he supposed he couldn’t complain too much. All the trouble he’d had raising the boy would be worth it once he absorbed his son’s life force and power into himself. Once he became immortal.
A small movement from the occupant of the cage drew his attention. Stooping, he peered between the metal bars which were etched with the same, twisting green runes that covered his throne. “Well, my dear. How are you feeling thisss fine day?”
A soft, pain filled voice answered him. “Why have you woken me? You wish to torment me again?”
The AllFather tsked disapprovingly. “Why would I wish to torture you? You know the flavor of your pain no longer givesss me pleasure.”
“Then why? There must be a reason. Or will you finally kill me? I am close to death already—I can feel it.” The soft voice broke. “Please…let me die.”
“Not yet.” The AllFather smiled, his lipless mouth stretching into a skeletal grin. “Sssomeone is coming to sssee you. You would not wish to misss his visit, I think.”
“Who? Not—”
“Sssilence,” the AllFather hissed, closing his eyes. “Be sssilent and let me concentrate. You will sssee him in good time, my dear. In good time.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Xairn closed his eyes and let himself drift. Lauren was resting comfortably in his arms and Little One was curled up asleep on one side of his pillow. For the first time in his whole life, he felt completely and totally at peace and it was a wonderful feeling. Wonderful and yet…strange as well. There was something inside him now—some force or power—something he hadn’t felt before they made love. It puzzled Xairn and troubled him a little but whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be hurting him. It was simply there—a soft buzzing in the back of his mind, telling him he was changed.
It’s probably nothing, he told himself. Just the release of tension that was building up for so long. And what a release it had been…
They had made love several times, working themselves to a sweet exhaustion before Lauren had finally untied him and they had collapsed on the bed. Xairn reflected that it was extremely satisfying to finally consummate their love, to give in to the urges that had been tormenting both Lauren and himself for months now. He wondered that he hadn’t thought of taking the submissive role before but it simply hadn’t occurred to him. Male Scourge were always dominant. In fact, he wondered if one of his kind had ever allowed themselves to be subjugated by a female before. Probably not—such an action would have been seen as a sign of weakness in any male. But Xairn
didn’t care as long as it allowed him to be with Lauren.
It was ironic in a way—he was one of the last real Scourge and yet he was the first to bow to the dominance of a female. And I will do it again without hesitation, he thought, stroking Lauren’s cheek tenderly. Any male would be proud to call her mistress. Would be lucky to give himself to her during lovemaking.
Of course, though their lovemaking had been amazing, it wasn’t bonding sex. Part of him—the savage, possessive Scourge part of his soul—still demanded that he take her completely, that he make her his beyond the shadow of a doubt. But Xairn found it easier to ignore that part now that the worst of his sexual thirst had been quenched.
Besides, bonding sex with a Scourge meant pain—not just for Lauren but for any female who lay with a Scourge male. There were no full blooded Scourge females left and no other species was equipped to handle that size and thickness of a Scourge male’s primary and secondary shaft. The results of bonding sex with an Earth female would no doubt be severe agony and probably injury—even if he was gentle, which he was certain he couldn’t be. He knew his Scourge instincts well enough by now to know that as soon as the urge to bond took over, he would be incapable of tenderness during the act.
He loved Lauren and didn’t want to hurt her. So though part of him would always feel incomplete, he refused to give in to his instinct to make her completely and totally his. It was better to remain as they were now rather than risk everything to fully possess her.
Putting the idea of bonding to the side, Xairn felt a glow of contentment as he contemplated his future. Despite Slk’s dire predictions that his Scourge DNA would reassert itself, the human strain he had gotten from Lauren seemed to be holding up remarkably well, and Xairn was grateful for it. It was that small restraint which had allowed him to take the submissive rather than the traditional dominant role during their lovemaking. Without it, he knew he would have burst his bonds and taken Lauren to the bed for bonding sex without hesitation. His Scourge instincts were simply too strong to control without help. Help from the tiny bit of humanity he carried within him. His eyes still got hot and changed to their old color when he was under a great deal of stress, but other than that he looked like a human male and that was how he was content to stay.
Lauren shifted, her long black hair whispering over his bare chest, and sighed softly. Xairn thought he saw a soft smile curve her lips and he smiled himself in answer. Now that they had finally found a way to be together without hurting her, he knew he would never leave. He and Lauren and Little One could stay together forever here on Earth, working in Lauren’s shop during the day and basking in the glow of their love at night. Together they were a family—something he had never really had and always longed for.
Still thinking of the warm, perfect future than lay before them, Xairn dropped a final kiss on Lauren’s silky black hair and allowed himself to relax into sleep.
“Ssson…my ssson…”
The familiar voice was calling him, calling from a long way away and yet it was too close. Much closer than Xairn ever wanted to be to the owner of that hissing, evil voice again.
“Xairn…” The voice called his name insistently. “Come to me, my ssson. I have sssomething I think you’ll want to sssee.”
“Leave me alone!” he tried to shout but the words came out in a whisper. Suddenly he was standing in the great, dark throne room of the Fathership. Sitting on the throne, etched in poison green lines, was his father.
The sight was a familiar one to him—something he had seen almost every day from birth. But there was something new this time. The AllFather’s booted feet rested on a large rectangular object which had been covered with a cloth. A box? No, a cage, Xairn was certain. He could hear something rustling around inside it and the cloth covering billowed, outlining the thick bars. For a moment he thought he saw the outline of a hand clasping one of the cruel iron rods, just beneath the cloth, but then it disappeared and he couldn’t be sure if he’d really seen it or not.
“What do you want with me?” he asked his father. “I renounced you and my entire race. How did you even find me?”
“You mean with your altered DNA?” The AllFather sneered derisively at his changed skin and eyes. “Yesss, excellent work, that. You look exactly like a human now…and you act like one too.”
Xairn frowned. “If you called me here to mock me, I don’t care. I like the way I look now and Lauren likes it too. Not to mention the fact that my human DNA allows me to control the Scourge urges to injure and rape I inherited from you.”
The crimson eyes burned. “I cannot believe you sssubverted your natural urgesss for the sssake of that female. A female too weak to withstand you in your true form isss no fit mate for my ssson.”
“Be careful, Father. She is my female and I will hear no word spoken against her,” Xairn growled.
“Your female, eh?” The AllFather laughed. “How dare you call her so when you haven’t placed a single mark of possession on her? Where is her brand? Where are her piercings and collar? Instead, you carry her brand on your chest as though she were the dominant and you the sssubmissive.”
Xairn lifted his chin. “I am submissive to her and I am proud of it. I would rather call her Mistress and bend myself to her will for the rest of my life than dominate and hurt her even once.”
His father made a noise of disgust at the back of his throat. “Truly you have become a weakling, my ssson. You ssswear eternal love for this female—you let her brand you with her name, you even take her DNA inside you. Yet you don’t even have the ssstrength to bond her to you. At any time ssshe could leave you and you could not ssstop her for you have no bond.”
“You know as well as I do what bonding sex entails for our kind,” Xairn growled. “I won’t put Lauren through that. And what’s more, I am through discussing it with you. Goodbye.” He turned to go, although he had no idea how to get out of the strange dream, but the AllFather called him back.
“Wait, my ssson. I didn’t call you here sssimply to ssspeak of your little female. I have sssomething here I think you’ll want to sssee.”
“Whatever you have, I don’t want to see it,” Xairn said, but he couldn’t help turning his head.
“Perhapsss I misspoke. I ssshould have sssaid I have sssomeone you might wish to sssee.” The AllFather leaned forward and patted the cloth-covered cage, his eyes glowing with evil glee. “Sssomeone you have been wishing to sssee for a very long time. Your entire life, in fact.”
Xairn’s heart was suddenly in his throat. He turned back toward the cage, his hands curled into fists at his sides. “What have you done? Who do you have in there?”
“Who do you think?” With a sudden move, the AllFather rose and yanked the black cloth from the cruel metal cage, revealing the occupant shivering within.
Xairn’s legs gave way and he stumbled, coming down on his hands and knees before the cage. “No,” he whispered as the familiar green eyes looked into his own. “No. Oh, no…”
“Oh yesss!” The AllFather began to laugh—a high, evil cackle that filled Xairn’s head like the tolling of a bell. He tried to get away from the sound, from the sight that met his eyes, but he couldn’t. He was trapped…trapped…
* * * * *
Lauren was jolted out of a deep, contented sleep by a shout of pure horror. “Oh my God, what? What is it?” she gasped, looking around wildly. Beside her, Xairn was thrashing wildly, so much so that Little One had retreated to the corner of the couch and was staring at him reproachfully with her big brown eyes.
“No!” he was gasping—moaning really. “No, no, no. Not her. Not her.”
“Not who?” Lauren demanded, grabbing him by the arm. “Xairn, wake up. You’re having a bad dream. Wake up, baby. Wake up!”
At last he sat bolt upright in bed, his eyes wide open. His entire body was tense and he was panting as though he’d just run a marathon. “Gods…” He shook his head and Lauren was both astonished and worried to see that he was crying�
�something she’d never seen him do before.
“Xairn? Baby?” Tentatively she touched his arm and he grabbed her hand and held on like a drowning man reached for a life preserver.
“I saw her.” He shook his head, the tears still pouring down his cheeks. “I thought she was dead but he has her. I saw her.”
“Saw who, baby? Who?” Lauren rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. Despite everything they’d been through together, she’d never seen Xairn this upset before—he was absolutely distraught.
“He has her locked in a cage.” Xairn covered his face with his other hand, his broad shoulders hunched in misery. “In a fucking cage. The Gods alone know what he’s done to her. What he’s doing right now.”
“Honey, please, you have to work with me here.” Lauren stroked his trembling shoulders and then pulled him close, pillowing his head on her breasts. “Tell me who you’re talking about. Who did you see?”
“My mother.” Xairn pulled away from her, his eyes wild and desolate. “All these years he let me think she was dead. He taunted me with visions of her—showed me how he’d taken me from her when I was still a baby. He showed me the tears in her eyes, the way she reached for me, begged to hold me just one more time. I…” He took a deep, hitching breath and shook his head. “I thought, ‘Well, at least she’s gone and he can’t hurt her anymore. At least she’s beyond his reach.’” He looked at Lauren. “But she’s not. She’s still alive and he is still tormenting her. All these years, I never knew…”
“Oh honey, that’s terrible.” Lauren stroked his hair. “What a terrible dream! I’m so sorry.”
Xairn shook his head grimly. “It was no dream. He has her and if I don’t hurry it will be too late to save her.”
“What?” Lauren had a cold, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “You can’t be serious—you’re going to go back up there? To the Fathership?”
Brides of the Kindred Volume One Page 159