Gods, I’d never seen her like this, and the beast inside me roared. This was Megan. Soft and vulnerable, showing me her weakness. Allowing me to see her for the first time.
“Allow me to heal you.” I tried to temper my voice so it didn’t bounce off the rock that surrounded us.
She held my gaze and I nearly forgot to breathe. “You Atlans are all alike. Bossy and demanding.” Her harsh words were tempered with a teasing grin and I smiled back at her as I reached for the shoulder clasp on her armor.
“And you like that,” I replied. I hadn’t thought to temper my words, but we weren’t in battle at the moment. Yes, she was a fighter, but in this moment, she was a female. A female my beast wanted with an urgency never known before.
Her hand dropped to her side. “Keep dreaming, Warlord.”
While she was back to bickering, the usual vehemence was gone.
I shifted directly behind her, my beast nudging me forward. She was close, so close that if I took a deep breath, my bare chest would brush the armor on her back. With an urgency I could not explain, I undid the fastenings of her armor and removed it—while she was still allowing my touch. I knew this was not normal and would not last. It showed that she was more injured than she let on. My beast prowled impatiently, worried. She was bleeding, hurting. That was all I knew, but it was enough to drive my beast nearly mad.
With a gentleness I never knew I possessed, I pulled the thick battle armor from her body until only the soft, black undergarments remained. The smooth, silken material was designed to wick blood and sweat away from a warrior’s skin, to keep one cool in the heat or warm in the cold. It was also designed to act as a temporary bandage, to cling and compress the tissue around any wound, to stop the bleeding and offer a warrior more time to reach a healing station.
Megan pulled her knees up in front of her and rested her forehead there, unmoving.
“Megan?”
She shook her head with a barely perceptible movement.
The light attached to the front of her armor still shone, offering more than enough light for me to see her in the cave. And to see that her undergarment was nearly plastered to her back, soaked in blood in a long line from her left shoulder to her right hip.
Using the wand, I raised and lowered it just above her back until the wand’s controls indicated that the wound was healed. I gently pulled the material loose from her back. When she made no move to protest, I ran the wand over her arms, then feet. I scrambled around to her legs, where a small laceration dripped blood down to her foot was healed quickly.
When she still did not move, I studied her once more. Her hands were locked around her knees, but even the tight grip there could not hide her trembling. “Megan? You are in pain. Tell me where you are injured.”
“It’s nothing. I can’t…” her voice faded and my beast growled.
“Tell me, or I will spank that luscious ass.”
The threat earned me a chuckle, and an answer. “It’s my head,” she whispered. “It’s like I’ve got grenades going off inside my skull.”
I heard it again, vulnerability. Tentative trust. My beast wanted to beat his chest and howl with victory, claim the spoils. But I was a man first, and neither man nor beast could stand to see Megan in pain. “Come here.”
I settled my back to the rocks and pulled her onto my lap. I cradled her there and ran the wand over her eyes and ears, her temples and head until she relaxed against me. This healing took longer than the others, longer even than the blaster burns covering half her back. Had she been hit in the head before I arrived?
When the ReGen wand’s light indicated its work was done, I turned it off and set it down on the ground next to my thigh. She was relaxed and supple in my arms and I took my chance, ran the fingers of my free hand through her dark curls. They were just as I’d imagined, lustrous and thick, and they smelled like her. “Better?”
“Yes.” Megan Simmons, captain, warrior, goddess, melted against my chest, curled into my arms like she belonged there, and promptly fell asleep.
Chapter Six
Megan
I was in trouble. Holy shit kind of trouble.
I felt something for Nyko and it wasn’t hatred or anger or disdain. God help me, I was in lust with the big, arrogant brute.
And when, exactly, had that happened? How did someone go from yelling at him to wanting him?
It was insane because there was no way this space Adonis would want me. Me. Megan Simmons. Military brat. Six-foot tall freak with trust issues, a big mouth and an even bigger…
Nyko moved beneath me, his rock-hard chest cushioning my cheek. How could something so hard feel so good to lean against? He was huge, his muscles like corded steel beneath me. The only thing harder than his chest was his…
Was that? No. Surely not.
Yes. Yes, my ass was resting on the long, hard length of him. And he was aroused and ready, even in his sleep. I took a slow, deep breath. Oh, god. He smelled so good. So good. Like pine trees and cold, hard steel and man. Potent, sexy, deadly. He was all three and I wanted him. I wanted to wake him up and ride his cock for a few hours. I wanted what I’d experienced in my processing, the rough touch of an alien’s hands, the overwhelming sensation of a huge cock stretching me open wide, thrusting deep. If I had to admit it, I’d been horny ever since. Yeah, that was the reason I was so attracted to Nyko. We were stuck in this cave. It was my last night as an officer assigned to Battlegroup Karter. The last night I’d see Nyko. Ever.
As soon as I got back to the ship, I’d transport to I.C. command and turn in the Nexus parts. Then Doctor Helion would take this damn Hive bait—the warped piece of technology that had nearly made me lose myself in that blue demon’s eyes—out of my head for good. I needed it gone. The doctor had warned me that the implant would kill me, fry my brain and make me bleed. He’d warned me and I’d volunteered anyway. Yeah, perhaps I was pretty stupid. I knew the risks, but now that the job was done, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of having it in my head any longer. I could feel the buzzing every few hours as the thing inside me tried to make contact with its maker, with the Hive. But within this cave, it was not possible. Thank God. At least they couldn’t track me here. But the headache would come back, again and again, despite Nyko’s use of the ReGen wand. The thing inside my head operated in a way that even Doctor Helion didn’t understand.
I didn’t need to understand it to know it would kill me, to know it was its own kind of poison.
But my head didn’t hurt at the moment. I had a reprieve. And since my head didn’t feel like it was literally about to pop off my shoulders in an epic explosion of skull and gray matter, it was like my body had decided to wake up and make a whole lot of demands of its own. This body wanted Nyko. I wanted Nyko. At least once.
I wasn’t some scared virgin. I was a woman who knew what it would be like. And what I wanted was currently wrapped around me, his arms a protective band I had no desire to break.
Except I did. The water beckoned. I felt grimy and disgusting, coated with blood and sweat and black Hive guts.
I did not feel sexy, and if I was going to get me some unsuspecting Atlan, I needed sexy. Or at least clean.
Moving slowly, like Mr. Sprinkles, my beloved childhood cat, I slid from Nyko’s arms and into the water. Once there, I dunked my head beneath the surface, the slight chill heavenly against my overheated flesh. The cold acted like a compress to my aching eyes and I lingered, holding my breath for as long as I could.
When I surfaced, it was to find Nyko at the edge of the pool, seemingly ready to join me. He was close, so close that if I raised my arms, I could touch him, feel the heat I knew radiated from his skin.
The water wasn’t too deep. If I placed my feet on the bottom and stood, the water didn’t cover my breasts. So I didn’t stand, not all the way.
We stared at each other for a few minutes, our gazes locked. I knew heat when I saw it in a man’s face. Lust. Desire. And my entire body almost sighed with
relief at what I saw in Nyko’s dark stare. I knew exactly how I wanted to spend my last hours in this war, and it wasn’t worrying about Hive implants frying my brain or thinking about how we were going to get to the secondary transport platform for extraction.
Holding Nyko’s ice-blue gaze, I stripped slowly, tossing each piece of clothing to land in a wet heap at his feet. When I was naked, I stood, baring my breasts to him as I studied his massive chest and shoulders, traced the hard outline of his powerful body with my gaze, imagined running my tongue along every edge, tasting him. Touching him.
“What are you doing?” His voice was deeper. I heard the beast in it and my pussy clenched in welcome. Clenched with a need I’d never felt before. It was bright and hot and intense. I ached with it.
“I want you, Nyko.” I barely recognized my voice. “Right now.”
He turned his head, seemingly at war with himself. I knew his beast would take me. Take me, taste me, fuck me raw. I also knew Nyko was fighting the urge, and as much as that hurt, I was pragmatic. Always had been.
And I wanted his beast to win.
I stepped toward him until I rose completely from the water like a goddess, water flowing from my naked curves in a cool slide that made me feel exotic and beautiful. I pressed my breasts to his back, bit his shoulder as I wrapped my arms around his hips. He didn’t flinch, but I felt a deep shudder rack his huge frame. He wasn’t resisting…but he wasn’t succumbing either.
In the bravest, or dumbest move ever, I lowered my hand to rest over the hard bulge of his cock beneath his pants. God, it was huge! I doubted I’d be able to close my grip around it all the way. And it was hot, so damn hot it almost seared my palm.
“I want you, Nyko. Just for one night.” My voice was soft, and when he didn’t respond right away, I had to wonder if he’d heard me.
Another shudder passed through him, and I felt his body actually shift, grow. That shocked me, but it shouldn’t have. He was the perfect specimen of a man, at least for me. I’d imagine he’d have a long line of Atlan females waiting for him back home. Was that why he fought me on this? Did he already have someone chosen? A mate waiting for him?
Oh god. I was a total bitch.
“Shit. I’m sorry. You probably have a mate.” I closed my eyes and cursed myself a hundred different kinds of stupid. Of course, he was mated. He was gorgeous and strong and fucking perfect.
I released him as if burned and returned to the water, faced away from him. Stupid. God, that was stupid. I should have asked before I stripped myself bare. I knew nothing about him, other than the fact that whenever he entered a room, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Maybe that was why I bickered with him so much. I hated that I was attracted to him. Perhaps the reason why he argued right back was because he didn’t want to deal with me, a female. An Earth female. The Atlans didn’t allow their women to fight. Their women were big, like Doctor Moor, but apparently they were paragons of feminine perfection, all gentleness and light. Sugar and spice and everything nice.
I hadn’t been nice since I was eight, and even then, I was only nice to my dad, my friends and my cat. I was everything he didn’t want and he’d tried to push me away, again and again, with our damn arguments.
Nyko had made it clear that he didn’t approve of women in battle, or of me in particular, on more than one occasion. Why I’d thought this would work…
A splash made me turn to find Nyko behind me. I gasped. The man was gone. In his place was a beast, nearly eight feet tall, his features larger, his jaw more angular, his shoulders impossibly wide.
“What are you doing?” I backed away slowly, not sure what to think. If he had a mate, his beast wouldn’t want me. I knew how it worked. These aliens bonded for life. Hard-core, never cheat, soul bonds or something. So why was Nyko naked? “Nyko?”
God, he was magnificent. Rippling muscle. Huge legs and arms, big enough to rip a Hive Soldier in half with barely a thought. So strong. And his cock. It was as big as the rest of him, hard and straining toward me just beneath the water. He stalked me until I had nowhere else to go, my back against the far edge of the small pool. When I stopped moving, he did, too. He was close, towering over me like a giant as I placed my bare hand on his chest.
“Nyko, what are you doing?”
He sank down into the water, dunked his massive frame and came up part way so that our faces aligned. Beneath the water, where I could not see him move, his hands found the curve of my hips and rested there. I startled, but he made no other move, simply stared into my eyes. Somehow, I knew Nyko was in there. If I said no, if I told him to get the hell away from me, he would. His beast was in control, but he was not so wild as to harm me or take me against my wishes.
But that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted him five minutes ago. I wanted him still.
“Nyko, I’m sorry. I should have asked if you had a mate.”
He shook his head, the beast growling as he lifted one hand, traced the curve of my waist, higher, cupped my full breast in his palm. I gasped as the jolt of pleasure went straight to my core.
“Mine.”
I’d heard that they didn’t say much in beast mode, but this was ridiculous. I stared at his mouth, wanted to taste him. Wanted it so badly I could barely think. I lifted my hand to his face, traced the arc of his brow with my fingertips, ran my hand along the dark stubble that coated his cheek, placed the pad of my thumb just right so I could run it along his bottom lip, then sighed. Pushed him away. Or tried to.
“Dammit, Nyko. Do. You. Have. A. Mate?”
I wouldn’t be the other woman. I was no home wrecker and I wouldn’t get between two mates. That wasn’t me, even if I was horny as hell. I’d rather get myself off than break some other woman’s heart. I didn’t know the woman, might be jealous of her for belonging to Nyko and claiming him, but she didn’t deserve to be cheated on.
He shook his head in jerky motions.
“No mate,” he countered, taking my hands that were completely ineffective at pushing him away into his large ones. “Mine.”
I stilled. So did my heart. “No mate?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to his—and I was lost.
His beast took over and I had no time to think, or feel, or breathe. His tongue invaded my mouth and I opened for him as his hand found my wet core and two fingers slid deep. No gentle exploration, no foreplay. Fucking. And I loved it.
I cried out, the sound echoing off the walls.
My pussy clenched around him in a flutter of small spasms that made me gasp as he lifted me from the water and carried me to the edge of the cave. There was no bed here, no soft floor. Hell, all we had was rocks and armor, and neither of those would do.
I needn’t have worried. Nyko stood me up, my back to the wall, and dropped to his knees. He licked my pussy like I was his favorite treat, his tongue teasing and playing as he fucked me with those thick fingers. He made me come, hard and fast, and my knees collapsed.
He caught me, lifting me in his arms until my pussy was settled on the top of his cock. Just barely. Just enough to make me whimper and shift my hips, trying to take him inside me.
“Mine.”
“God, Nyko, stop talking and fuck me.” That earned me a growl. Fair enough. That one word—mine—didn’t really constitute “talking.” Whatever. I didn’t care as long as he got his cock inside me as soon as possible.
As he backed me up against the hard rocks, his hands somehow spread out across my back, acting as a cushion, taking care of me even as he pushed forward, thrusting deep.
His cock stretched me open to the point of pain, the feel of it intense, the sharp sting settling into my nerves like hot coals, burning hotter and hotter, making me squirm and whine and want. “More.”
The beast chuckled but gave me what I wanted, pulling out and thrusting harder. Deeper. “Mine.”
I hung on for dear life as he fucked me hard and fast, thrusting in and retreating as I cried out, barely st
ifling a scream, and came all over his cock, my body fisting him, milking him, my pussy achy and hot and wanting.
I’d never come like that before. Never by a guy’s cock alone. I’d had to touch my clit with my fingers, circling it and usually it took some time. With Nyko, it had been seconds and my hands were gripping his forearms.
Instead of relief, the orgasm made me wild. My body didn’t calm, instead I rode the crest of another release, his big cock filling me, spreading me open, taking me. Yes, he took. He used me for his own pleasure, for his beast. He was big and dominant and demanding, and everything he did, every grunt and growl and hard thrust made me crazy with lust, twisting me into a knot that I needed him to unravel. “More, Nyko. God, more.”
I wasn’t afraid of his beast’s claims. I knew how this worked. He was rutting into me like an animal, out of control. Mating Fever rolling through his beast’s body with a relentless demand I understood all too well. But I wasn’t wearing mating cuffs. This wasn’t official. This was fucking. Pure and simple.
And amazing. Hot. So damn hot.
Lifting myself as high as I could, I pulled his mouth down to mine so I could kiss him as he filled me up. I mimicked what I wanted with my tongue, and he figured it out all too quickly, grinding into me in a matching rhythm until I feared the backs of his hands would be bleeding from where he crushed them into the wall behind me.
I gentled my kiss and he followed suit, his body slowing into a languorous, erotic dance that made me moan. He rubbed his rock-hard abs against me, making sure my clit was stroked with each thrust of his hips, building my pleasure again like a master, layer upon layer of want until I exploded.
This time, he caught my scream with his kiss, pumping into me, his cock jerking deep inside me as he filled me with his seed. Thanks to the Coalition doctors, I didn’t have to worry about pregnancy or disease, and I was free to enjoy the moment, enjoy him.
He held me for long minutes after he came, moving in and out of me slowly, gently, his cock still hard. I let him have his way, let him do whatever he wanted to my body. I was wrung out, done. Too many orgasms to wrap my head around.
Mating Fever (Interstellar Brides Book 10) Page 6