Are you someplace safe though? an uncertain little voice whispered in her head. Off your own world for the first time, run away with a strange male—is that safe?
Ky’s not a strange male—he’s Ky, she argued with herself. But it was still hard to get used to seeing him up and around and free. Somehow it had felt so much safer when he was manacled in the cell. He was so big and strong and they were all alone together…
“Hey, little girl—what’s wrong?” His deep voice was soft and concerned. Dani looked up and saw he was looking at her intently. “What is it?” he asked. “Why are you afraid all of a sudden?”
“You…how did you know?” Dani whispered. “Know that I’m afraid?”
“You don’t have much of a poker-face.” He shook his head at her look of incomprehension. “Never mind—it’s an Earth game of chance and bluffing. I’ll teach you sometime. What I’m trying to say is, I can read your face like a book and right now what I’m reading is fear and maybe a hefty dose of regret.”
“Regret?” Dani said sharply. “Regret that I ran away from that disgusting Councilor Tornk? That filthy old bray-bray can kiss my creamy brown behind!”
Ky laughed softly and his pale green eyes went half-lidded.
“Actually, he might like that. I know I would.”
“You…what do you mean?” Dani felt her cheeks get hot at the way he was looking at her.
Suddenly she remembered that not so long ago she’d climbed on his lap and attempted to force his thick shaft right into her sacred channel. What must he think of her? Did he expect they were going to complete the act now? Did he still intend to change the color of her eyes? Did she want him to?
She found she didn’t know.
“You…” she had to stop to lick her lips which were suddenly dry. “Are you going to…going to change the color of my eyes now, Kyron?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you want me to?”
“I…” Dani heard her voice shaking nervously but she couldn’t seem to stop it. “I—I don’t know,” she confessed.
“Then no, I’m not. I want you, little girl, but not until I’m completely sure you want me,” Ky said seriously. “I don’t want to change the color of your eyes just so you never have to worry about that old bastard Tornk anymore. I want to change them—want to give you the Deep Touch—because you want me to. Because you want me as much as I want you.”
Dani felt a soft touch—his whisper fingers stroking across her heated cheek.
“All…all right,” she stammered at last.
“I do, however, want to heal that cut on your back and shoulder,” he said. The whisper fingers stroked her cheek again, then trailed down her throat tenderly. “You healed my back for me when I was wounded—let me do the same for you.”
Dani felt herself melting under his tender assault and somehow she found herself nodding ascent.
“You can try to treat it,” she told him. “But a pain-spear is made to cause nerve-damage. Honestly, it may be impossible to heal.”
“We’ll see about that.” The big Kindred seemed undeterred by her pessimism. “Come in the back and let’s see what we can do about it.”
With a gesture, he led Dani from the cock-pit area to the back which was made up, as he had said, as a living quarters.
Chapter Fourteen
“This is a long range ship so I have a food prep area, a living area, a bed chamber, and a fresher,” Ky explained, nodding at the various small but neatly furnished rooms as he talked.
The living area was basically just a small couch to sit on and the food prep area consisted of a sink, a cabinet full of meal cubes, and re-hydrator about the same size and shape as the Earth appliance called a microwave.
All he had to do was put a meal cube inside the small appliance to have a piping hot plate of food in a few minutes. He wondered if Dani would like the Kindred and Earth food varieties the cubes came in and hoped so. But before he fed her, he had to get the wound cleaned out.
“Would you like a quick shower?” he asked, nodding at the fresher which had a waste disposal unit, a tiny sink, and a small shower stall in one corner.
An eager look came over her lovely face.
“I would love one. But…” She looked down at her ripped and dirty dress with distaste. “I have nothing clean to put on after.”
“I’ll loan you something,” Ky promised. “You’re so tiny you can probably wear one of my uniform shirts as a dress.”
Of course putting her into one of his shirts would mean losing the amazing view of her nearly naked body through the transparent gown she was wearing but a male couldn’t have everything. Besides, she couldn’t wear her native Goshan dress to the Mother Ship—it was completely obscene by both Earth and Kindred standards.
“Well, I guess that would be all right,” Dani said. “Since I didn’t think to bring any proper garments with me.”
“You didn’t plan to run away with some guy you just met a few days ago and I didn’t plan on bringing a beautiful princess back home with me,” Ky pointed out. “But here we are.” He shrugged and smiled at her. Dani returned his smile with a tentative one of her own. Ky could tell she was still getting used to the new status quo so he didn’t push it.
Instead, he showed her how to work the shower, gave her towels and a synthi-sponge which generated bubbles spontaneously, and handed her one of his silky dark blue uniform shirts to wear when she got out. He got some fresh clothes for himself but he wasn’t about to put them on yet. He wanted a shower too when she was finished—he’d been stuck in that damn cell for days—he was way overdue for one.
As the water rushed in the fresher and Dani showered, he sent out a wide-range probe, looking for the Hive’s original dwelling place and boosted the signal to the Mother Ship. A notation popped up on his screen, letting him know that even with a boosted signal it would take some time to get through to the ship.
Ky blew out a breath in frustration. Well, they should be all right. The silver ship was pretty well hidden among the gray rocks and besides, he doubted any Goshan craft would dare to come after them. They didn’t seem advanced enough to have space folding technology.
He hoped, anyway.
“Just relax,” he muttered to himself. “Take it easy for a little while. You’re free and safely away. Everything is going to be fine.”
The self-pep talk was all well and good but Ky knew he wouldn’t be completely at ease until he was back aboard the Mother Ship with Dani where he was certain her kinsmen weren’t going to pop up and try to take her back.
I’ll kill them if they try, Ky thought, a possessive growl rising in his throat. She’s mine—mine and I’m never letting her go!
Then he reminded himself that he didn’t have any actual rights to Dani and that things might have changed between them now that they were off her home planet and away from the males who had threatened her. He cautioned himself to take it easy—not to push her. But he couldn’t help the possessive feelings he had for the little Goshan princess. He’d never felt so drawn to a female before—never wanted to claim one and give her the Deep Touch so badly in his life.
The Deep Touch—the Touch Kindred way of claiming a female—meant he would be touching her with his whisper fingers and whisper lips as he penetrated her pussy with his shaft. It was essentially touching her with his body and mind at the same time and it was this that formed a life-bond between a Touch Kindred and his mate.
Take it easy, he told himself again. You’ve got a long way to go before she wants the Deep Touch from you. And even if she wanted it right this minute, you couldn’t give it to her.
He thought back to how she’d tried to press his shaft into her tight little entrance and a shiver of erotic desire went through him. Gods, she’d looked so incredibly hot, straddling him with her legs spread and her dress hiked up, letting him watch as she rubbed herself against him.
But hot or not, it was clear he wasn’t going to fit inside her without some help. Back
on the Mother Ship he could get what was necessary to make the Deep Touch a reality between them—again, as long as Dani wanted him to, he reminded himself.
Well, at least I should be able to heal her of that wound. He thanked the Goddess that he’d been one of the males who had been given the new healing compound concocted by Yipper, the Tolleg surgeon. The little guy looked like a cross between a hound dog and a baboon but he was a brilliant surgeon and scientist and everyone aboard the Mother Ship had great respect for him.
Yipper had come up with a formula which emulated a Blood Kindred’s healing ability. When it was taken by a Kindred male of any type, it caused healing compounds to build up in his saliva. This enabled him to heal his mate orally., or even a female he was hoping to make his mate.
Just wish I could lick more than just her back and shoulder, Ky thought. He couldn’t help thinking of how soft and wet her pussy had felt to his whisper fingers when he’d made her come. Like all Kindred males he needed to taste his female’s pussy—it wasn’t just a desire but a biological imperative.
But she’s not your mate—not yet, he reminded himself sternly. Though if the Goddess willed it, she soon would be. Until then he would just have to be patient. Although the thought of getting between her thighs and lapping her soft, sweet little pussy until she moaned and pulled his hair and begged for more made his shaft harden uncomfortably in his flight leathers…
A soft beeping from one of his screens brought his attention back from his illicit fantasies. Looking down at his instruments, he frowned. Well, well—it appeared that he had landed the ship most fortuitously. Not only were they on the Hive’s home world—they were also not far from the entrance to the insectile race’s old lair.
Wonder what I might turn up if I went in there and threw a scan-ball down the main entrance? Might get some extra information, find some kind of weakness…
“Ky?”
A soft touch on his shoulder made him turn his head…and he had to bite back a groan.
Dani was standing there, her long black hair damp and trailing down her back, dressed in his uniform shirt. It did indeed fit her like a dress, falling to mid-thigh on her and showing the rest of her bare, creamy brown legs. The shirt was buttoned all the way up but it was big on her so the first button started almost right between her breasts and he could see the sharp points of her nipples pressing against the silky blue fabric. Dani had rolled up the sleeves so they didn’t cover her hands and there was a vulnerable, uncertain look on her face.
“I…I’m out of the shower,” she said softly.
“So I see. Damn, little girl—you look beautiful,” he murmured appreciatively.
Dani’s cheeks glowed with a dark pink blush.
“Thank you but I feel so…so naked in this.”
Ky was surprised. Though his uniform shirt was a lot shorter than her dress had been, it covered a hell of a lot more just by virtue of not being see-through.
“Really?” he asked. “Because you seem to be pretty well, uh, covered to me.”
“I’m not though,” she said earnestly. “I’m used to wearing dresses which are much more modest—gowns which cover me from my neck to my ankles and from shoulder to wrist.”
“More modest? But…your Goshan gowns were transparent,” Ky exclaimed. “Used to drive me fucking crazy because I could see everything through them. All your curves…” He made himself stop.
“A high born Goshan lady always wears gowns of the thinnest fabric,” Dani said primly. “And she never, never shows any bare flesh.” She looked down at her legs uncertainly.
“Well, I have to tell you, little girl,” Ky said gently. “That may be the Goshan way but back on the Mother Ship and on Earth, females cover up a little more. They don’t wear anything see-through but they don’t mind showing their legs and arms either. Well, most Earth cultures don’t,” he amended.
Dani frowned. “What strange beliefs they must have. I guess…” She bit her lip. “I guess I’ll have a lot of new beliefs and ideas to get used to.”
“I’ll be there to help you do it.” Ky rose from the pilot’s chair and swept a long strand of damp, black hair behind her ear. He was pleased when Dani didn’t flinch away from his touch as she had earlier.
“All right,” she whispered.
“I’m going to take a quick shower myself now,” he told her. “And then we’ll see to healing that cut on your back.”
Dani nodded. “All right,” she said again. “I…I guess I’ll wait in the sleeping chamber.”
“You do that, little girl,” Ky murmured. Leaning down, he gave her a quick kiss—just a brush of his lips to hers. It was nothing like the passionate, frenzied kiss they’d shared earlier, after she had first freed him from his manacles, but it was sweet just the same.
Dani kissed him back and when he pulled away, her eyes were shining.
“Ky?” she said, somewhat breathlessly. “Don’t be long, all right?”
“I won’t.” Stoking her cheek once more, he went down the narrow hallway to the fresher, trying not to think of how badly he wanted her and cautioning himself to take things easy and slow.
Chapter Fifteen
Dani watched him go, her heart pounding in her chest. She could still feel his soft kiss burning on her lips and the feel of his big body close to hers. The lingering sensations seemed to make her breath come quick and short.
Gods above and below, get hold of yourself, Dani, she told herself sternly. Back on her home planet she’d been desperate for the big Kindred to change the color of her eyes in order to get away from Councilor Tornk. Now she wasn’t quite sure it was a good idea.
Not that she didn’t want Ky…her body felt hot and heavy with yearning when she thought of him and the place between her legs seemed to throb like a second heartbeat. But they weren’t married—weren’t even engaged. And what if she allowed him to put her in the Breeding Position and he put a baby in her belly? What would she do then?
She went back to the sleeping chamber which was positively Spartan compared to her royal chamber back home. It was furnished only with a huge bed—much bigger than any she had ever seen. It dwarfed even the stately royal sleeping platform in her father’s chamber. But then, she supposed the bed would have to be big to fit someone Ky’s size.
To fit him…and someone else. That someone is you, Dani, a little voice whispered to her. How do you feel about that…about sleeping with him?
Actually, the idea sounded kind of nice. She settled on a corner of the gigantic bed, which had a greenish-blue coverlet on it, testing its firmness. She could imagine curling up on the vast mattress with Ky behind her…feeling the warmth of his big body against her own…the press of his large, muscular frame against her much smaller one…
“Hey, little girl. I’m back.”
“Oh!” Dani turned, a hand to her pounding heart. “You startled me!”
“Sorry.” He smiled unrepentantly. “Didn’t mean to.”
“That was a fast shower.” Dani eyed him. He was bare-chested and had changed into a pair of long, soft-looking trousers, perhaps meant for sleep. There were droplets of water beading on his broad, bare shoulders and she had a sudden extremely un-ladylike urge to lick them off.
No, Dani—get hold of yourself! she scolded herself silently. Aloud, she said, “You look…comfortable.”
“Had to get out of those flight leathers.” He grimaced. “They’re useful in a flying or combat situation but they’re not meant to be worn for days in a row. Too fucking tight.”
Dani had to agree that the black leather trousers he’d worn in the cell were certainly tight—she’d always been able to see the bulge of his scepter when he wore them. Not that the thin trousers he was wearing now really hid anything. She could still see the outline of his long, thick shaft hanging down one leg…
“See something you like, little girl?” There was laughter in his voice and Dani realized in mortification that she’d been staring at his crotch.
�
�I…um…” She dragged her eyes away, trying not to think of how big he was, of how she still ached between her legs from trying to fit him inside her.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you blush.” He sat down beside her on the bed, the mattress dipping with his muscular weight. “Here now, let’s take a look at that shoulder so I can heal it.”
“How?” Dani didn’t see any kind of medical kit in his hands. “Did you bring some kind of healing salve or ointment?”
He shook his head.
“No, little girl. I want to heal you myself.”
Dani frowned. “I don’t understand. How can you do that?”
“By licking you,” Ky said simply. “I have healing compounds in my saliva which enable me to treat small cuts and injuries.”
“Really?” Dani looked at him in surprise. “Can you heal anyone that way?”
“No—only my mate. Or the female my body accepts as my mate.” He reached out and stroked her cheek gently. “We’ve been, uh, close on several occasions now. My body should recognize you as the female I want to bond to me. That will enable me to heal you.”
Dani wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, the idea of healing a wound by licking it sounded like magic to her. But then, she’d thought his whisper fingers and lips were magic too and they had never brought her any harm. Also, the scratch made by the pain-spear was really beginning to throb—a ceaseless ache which was extremely painful.
“Do…do you think you can heal the nerve damage caused by the spear?” she asked Ky hopefully. “It really hurts.”
He frowned. “I can’t promise anything but I’ll sure as hell try, little girl. And if I can’t, I’m certain we can get you some help on the Mother Ship. Kindred medical technology is second to none.” He cupped her cheek. “But in the meantime, I’d like to try and ease your pain. Will you let me?”
Dani felt herself melting.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I…I guess that would be all right.”
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