by C. L. Wilson
“Powers we inherited from your people?”
“Yes.”
Mona set her mug on the table. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Was it always forbidden for you to mate with humans?”
Roan's jaw tensed noticeably. “There was a brief time when it was tolerated, but never encouraged.”
“What about you?”
Confusion flitted across Roan's face. “Me?”
Her heartbeat accelerated. The next words left her lips before she could stop them. “Have you ever wanted mate to with a human?”
Roan's gaze darkened and his aura sparked with hues of pink and red.
“Yes,” he answered. “Very much so.”
CHAPTER NINE
Roan stared at Mona's mouth and tried very hard to convince himself not to kiss her. But her dark eyes beckoned him closer. Her plumps lips begged to be tasted. And he remembered her crystalline voice and how hearing her sing had made every nerve ending in his body react with ecstasy. His body was reacting to her again, this time, in a slightly different manner.
Even just the thought of kissing Mona made him hard.
Mona's aura pulsed with deep red and magenta. Her energy centers opened and reached out toward his own, like fingers searching for welcoming flesh to caress. With a start, he realized she didn't even know what she was doing, pushing her light body toward his while her physical body still remained what seemed like miles from his own.
He could not, would not mate with her.
But surely, one kiss would be harmless?
Roan cupped her soft cheek with one hand and pulled her toward him. She slid easily into his lap, her torso making contact with his, her energy field connecting to his own with a spark of electricity, the same moment their lips touched.
Their mouths met tentatively at first, lightly, the kiss a brush of inquiry. He kissed her softly. First one corner of her mouth, then the other, then a centered press of his lips to hers. Her mouth was soft, pliant beneath his. He lifted his head slightly to see her eyes flutter shut, long lashes fanning against her cheeks. Her hands gripped his shoulders, their palms hot even through his shirt.
Roan circled her other cheek with his hand, until he held her face in his palms. Her hair spilled over the backs of his fingers. The glow from the fire behind her cast glimmers of orange and yellow light against the backdrop of her ebony tresses. She was achingly beautiful. His gut clenched as an unfamiliar swirling sensation twisted through his stomach. Need, anticipation, and fear, all rolled into one.
Her eyes remained closed. She waited, still as night, not backing away, just waiting for his next move.
The air around them shimmered with anticipation. He swallowed, staring again at her full, inviting lips.
Just one kiss wasn't nearly enough.
This time, his mouth captured hers in a kiss that was seeking, claiming. She released a soft sigh and her lips opened to him. Her surrender made his chest tighten with joy and his jeans tighten at his groin. The hard material pushed at his erection. He tried not to focus on the ache between his legs. He certainly didn't wish to dwell on why he should be made so happy by this one, small woman's capitulation. He breathed Mona in, the clean, crisp scent of her skin.
He allowed his tongue to tease the outside of her mouth and then darted inside. She tasted like rich coffee with a hint of mint and vanilla.
Mona's hands at his shoulders tightened to fists and her body trembled just slightly. Her breath hitched. He kissed her harder, his tongue, her tongue, dancing. His body was awash with sensation, with desire, with a dull heat that was taking over his limbs and turning him inside out. What was she doing to him? His mind reverberated with one thought. More.
Roan's mouth left hers to do just that, to taste more, to explore other parts of the delicious temptation that was Mona.
He trailed kisses over her cheek to her neck, stopped there, and licked and suckled his way down to her throat. His hands left her face, one caressed her back, the other cupped one breast. He slid his thumb over the hard peak that was begging for attention.
A small moan escaped Mona's lips, sharpening the ache in his gut and the pulse in his groin. He saw that same ache reflected on her lovely face.
Her eyes flew open when he tugged one of her pert nipples between two fingers. Her response was to slide her fingers beneath Roan's shirt and tease his stomach with her nails. His stomach quivered beneath her touch, making her smile.
Pressed against her rear, Roan's hard shaft pushed persistently at her ass. Mona's eyes darkened and she moved herself just slightly back from him, then forward again, watching him through lidded eyes. He sucked in his breath and let out a sound that was half groan, half growl. Did she realize what it did to him when she ground herself against him? By the small smile that curved her lips at his response, he had to assume she did.
Roan turned so that Mona's body was pressed back against the couch. I should stop now, his logical mind reasoned. Can't. Not yet, his desire responded. It had been a long time since Roan had touched a female intimately. He'd been focused on the importance of the cause, on his duty owed to his ancestors, on protecting life.
This female, Mona, elicited a want in him he couldn't remember feeling for any woman before her. Was it the lure of the taboo? Was it her strangely beautiful mix of human and Anunnaki DNA that made her so attractive?
He didn't know for certain.
All he knew in that moment was that he wanted nothing more in the universe than to claim her, fully, completely. He wanted to run his fingers, his tongue over every inch of her shapely body until he knew it as well as his own. He wanted to slide himself deep inside of her and muffle her cries of pleasure with his mouth.
He lifted her shirt and pushed her bra out of the way without leaving her neck, but when her bare, plump breast was beneath his fingers and her taught nipple was stabbing at his palm, he knew he had to taste that hard little nub. He shifted, took her nipple into his mouth, and suckled her.
Mona's back arched and she moaned. She reached one hand between them and palmed his erection, rubbed, teased him where the tip of his sex pushed at his waistband. He jerked toward her hand, inviting her to touch him more. Mona's fingers grabbed at his zipper and tugged. That movement made him pause and pull back slightly, his hand stilling hers.
“Mona . . . ?” he murmured her name like a question, struggling to focus, to make sense of this all-consuming drive to touch her, kiss her, hold her, make love with her.
Her eyes, lit with need, begged him to continue. “I don't want to stop,” she whispered.
He swallowed. “When we touch it feels like . . .”
She shifted closer, one hand soft against his face, the other, emitting heat, still pressed against his arousal. “I know, it's amazing.”
She rubbed her breasts ever so slightly against his chest. “Kiss me,” she commanded.
So he did. Hard. Fierce. He kissed her until they were both breathless and he was painfully erect against her hand.
When they came up for air, she whispered against his ear, “God, I want you inside of me so bad right now.”
Those words, exhaled on a sigh of pleasure, mingled with an almost frantic need, hit Roan like a wall of ice. He released her nipple from his mouth and jerked upright.
Cool air brushed Mona's stomach and chest. Her eyes popped open, and her face twisted in confusion at his abrupt withdrawal. Roan tugged Mona's shirt to her waist, covering her breasts. He slid his pants as far over his erection as he could with it still hard and pushing against the clothing.
“What's wrong?” she asked with lips full and red from his kisses. Her eyes still held the sheen of desire. Her dark hair twisted around her face, tangled and mussed from his fingers. And her aura was open and radiant and beautiful. She was so very beautiful.
Roan's jaw tensed. He forced himself to focus. “We can't do this. I shouldn't have started it. I'm sorry.”
She frowned. “I don't understand.”
>
“Anunnaki and humans mating. I told you. It's—”
“Forbidden, yeah, I get it.” Mona sat up and her aura retracted as though she'd been slapped.
CHAPTER TEN
“You're upset.” Roan reached for Mona's hand, but she jerked back from him.
“It's no big deal,” she said, but in spite of her best attempts to appear nonchalant, her chin quivered just a little. She'd let herself go with him in a way she hadn't before with any other man. And to be rejected after letting herself be so vulnerable stung. Still, she'd be damned if she'd wear her heart on her sleeve.
“I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me,” Roan said.
Mona's brows rose. “Which time? When you were making love to me? Or when you rejected me?”
Confusion flitted over his handsome face. “I had to stop. Storm willing, I'll be leaving once darkness comes and further involvement is unwise,” he murmured.
The thought of him leaving her made her stomach knot. But she ignored the feeling. Instead she focused on Roan. There was more to his rejection. She could read it in the fluctuations of his aura.
“That's not the only reason,” she pushed.
His spine tensed. “It was the descendents of Enlil who wished to keep the humans regulated to worshippers of the Anunnaki and who thought of themselves as gods. I'm no god.”
Her brow furrowed. “Is that it, then? You don't like my use of the word god? It's a figure of speech, you know? I didn't mean it literally.”
Roan released a deep sigh. “You don't understand.”
Mona did understand. But clearly, Roan did not. Either way, she decided she didn't need to discuss any more reasons for his rejection of her. What were they up to now . . . three? That was more than enough.
“It's fine,” she said. “You can't be with me. I can't be with you.” Her eyes clouded with sadness.
She stood. There was one thing she did need to know though. “But we both felt it, didn't we?” She cocked her head. “The . . . desire?”
Roan's brows rose. “I believe that's a normal reaction between males and females.”
She scowled. “Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. That was more than just desire. Did you put some kind of Anunnakian lust spell on me or something?”
“Absolutely not,” he replied, indignant.
No, she supposed, Roan wouldn't require force, either overt or covert, to make females desire him.
“Then, what was that?” Her brow furrowed as she paced the room. “I mean, I've never felt like that before.”
Roan stood and put his hand on her arm to stop her pacing. “To answer your earlier question, I was overwhelmed by our connection too. It was unexpected and intense.”
She nodded and tried not to show how her insides warmed at his admission. “Intense is a good word for it.”
“But there was no magic involved. No tricks.” He paused, studying her, willing her to see the truth in his eyes. “Do you believe me?”
She bit her lip, then her shoulders slumped just a little. “Yes.” She backed away from him and sat on the couch.
He sat next to her, but not too close. Mona noticed the space between them, and although it made her chest tighten just a little, decided it was better to keep some physical distance.
“I suggest a change of subject,” he ventured. “No more talk about mating.”
She gave him a wry smile. “Agreed. We've hours to kill until night time, and I want to know more about you and your world.”
“I have a request of my own,” he ventured. “I'd like for you to sing for me.”
She shrugged. “Okay, why not? But first, more about you. And the Anunnaki.”
“What would you like to know?” he asked, body tense with an apprehension she didn't miss.
He paused, weighing his words. “I'll tell you what I can.”
She didn't like the sound of that. It sounded like he was keeping secrets, but she pressed on anyway. “Where were you going when you were attacked by those soldiers?” she asked.
“I was following a pulse that I believe was leading me toward the source of a great power hidden on your planet by my ancestors.”
“A pulse?”
“An energy trail.”
She nodded. “What kind of power?”
He shook his head. “That I can't reveal, Mona. I'll tell you what I can without putting you in even more danger than I've already put you in.”
She tilted her head and regarded him thoughtfully. “It's not your fault those guys came after me.”
“If they hadn't shot down my ship so close to your home, if they weren't tracking me, they wouldn't have picked up your trail.”
“Again, not your fault,” she said “You can't be held responsible for a coincidence.” Before he could argue further, she piped up with another question. “Are there others out there? Other humans like me?” Others like her. The thought of it filled Mona with hope. How often had she wished to find other people like her? People who understood her? Too many times to count.
“Other song weavers? Doubtful. Others with different abilities that have likely made them feel isolated and misunderstood by most human beings? Definitely.”
“Where?” she asked. “Where are they?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere,” he told her. “But like you, I suspect many have become adept at hiding their nature.”
Mona bit her lip. “Someday, I'd like to meet people like me.”
Roan's gaze was soft. His hand touched hers, briefly, but he said nothing.
###
The next few hours flew by in a whir of conversation, interrupted only by Mona's periodic forays to the kitchen to bring them more food and drink and a dash to the bedroom for her to retrieve blankets to wrap around herself. With the power still out and only the potbelly stove for warmth, the air in the cabin had cooled noticeably. It was tolerable for Mona, but only if she bundled up.
Still, based on the one time she'd pried open the door to check on the state of things and determine whether Cash could do his business outdoors, the chill inside was much preferred to the freezing temperatures outside. Poor Cash. He'd had to resort to using the newspapers again.
Mona listened in awe as Roan described his home planet, Nibiru, the people there, and the customs and rituals of the Anunnaki. She marvelled at the rich history of Nibiru and was amazed by the description of how the planet Earth and the humans who inhabit it came into existence.
She got warm fuzzies when he described his belief in the one source of all true power in the universe and reiterated his passionate convictions on the sanctity of life.
He was a renegade freedom fighter. A peaceful warrior. A man who made her heart flutter and her thighs quiver. Dammit! Why did the first person she'd ever felt this level of attraction to have to be an otherworldly alien on the run from the law?
Because I've always been strange. Because who I am has never allowed me to have a normal life. Why should this be any different? One of these things is not like the other . . . the song played in her mind, a mocking reminder of life according to Mona.
“Do you have someone in Nibiru? A girlfriend? A wife?” she asked the question, almost afraid to hear the answer. Roan paused in his stroking of Cash's fur and glanced up at her from where he crouched on the floor next to the dog.
His body stiffened just slightly at the turn of conversation. “Not currently.”
Mona released a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding. It was hard to believe he was single. No doubt he had just as strong an effect on the females of his planet as he did those on Earth.
“Why not?” she prodded. She was aware she was treading on shaky ground, but couldn't stop herself.
“I'm dedicated to my cause. I spend my time watching over the people of Earth and doing my best to thwart those under the direction of Commander Enyir in their attempts to uncover the power source. It leaves little time for much else.”
“But you have had girlfriends in the past?”
She chuckled. “Isn't there anyone on Nibiru you're interested in for more than sex? No one you're drawn to? No one you think you could love?”
Roan tilted his head to the side. “I thought we weren't going to discuss this subject anymore.”
“We said we weren't going to talk about sex. Love is an entirely different subject,” she insisted. Her stomach went tight, waiting for his response. She had to know the answer, even if it hurt. Even if she couldn't be with Roan, she wanted to believe that whatever was happening between them was happening without the stain of dishonesty. With how quickly everything had been happening, she'd been so busy processing her own tumultuous emotions, she hadn't stopped to question the more mundane implications of their attraction.
“Hmmmm . . .” He watched her, considering her words.
“You promised to answer my questions and to tell the truth as long as it didn't put me in any danger,” she prompted. “Unless your love life is somehow a matter of universal security, fess up, Mister.”
Her tone was teasing, flirtatious. But it belied how she actually waited, fraught with anticipation, for his response.
Resignation swam through Roan's ice-blue eyes. “The truth is I haven't felt a strong connection with anyone . . . on Nibiru.”
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with implication. He hadn't felt a connection with anyone on Nibiru. Was he inferring what she thought? Her mouth went a little dry.
He was staring at her again with that penetrating, pale gaze of his. What was he thinking as he studied her so deeply? The atmosphere was charged, electric. He'd clearly spent the evening sitting on the other side of the couch in order to keep some distance between them. He didn't trust himself not to touch her. She could feel it.
She scooted toward the end of the couch, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder. “Roan . . .”
He flinched back from her. “This is more difficult than I anticipated,” he said.
“What is?” she asked as her hand dropped back to her lap.