by Ashley West
The General nodded and let out a sigh. “You are right. It’s not as if anyone sees the humans as a threat. There has to be some reason behind it. Do you think you can get one to talk?”
Malachi smiled thinly. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to, if he was honest. Things like torture and making people suffer had never appealed to him, and he didn’t think it ever would. But this was about more than him being squeamish, and lives were on the line. “I think we can do it,” he said finally.
The General nodded once more and then leaned forward. “Very well, then. Thank you for the update, Champion. I know this is not what you’re used to, but it’s necessary.”
“Of course, sir,” Malachi replied.
He’d pledged his life to protecting people, no matter what, and that sometimes meant doing things he found distasteful. Like buying humans and torturing Alva.
But Malachi didn’t want to dwell on it, so he went to look for Emma. Talking to her about Earth would be a good reminder of why he was doing this in the first place. The sound of shower jets and singing led him to the back where the bathing cubicles were, and he paused, eyebrows lifted as he listened.
He didn't know the song she was singing, but her voice was sweet and high, lilting over each note as it came out of her mouth and echoed around her. It was a beautiful melody, a bit hesitant to start, but then growing with confidence as she warmed up. It must have been some time since she'd last sung, and Malachi supposed that made sense considering what she'd been through over the last several months.
It hadn't been his intention to spy on her, but he found he couldn't move away, the sound was just too lovely, and he leaned against the wall for much longer than he should have, just listening to her sing.
Eventually he came to his senses and shook himself, realizing that it was a mistake to be standing there. Humans favored their privacy, he had learned that over the last week or so, and if Emma came out and found him standing there, she probably was not going to be happy with him. He didn't want to give her a reason to be upset, so he pushed away from the wall and moved to go to his room.
Lately, things had been odd between them, and Malachi wondered if he was the only one who had noticed it.
Things were so easy with Emma, really, and being around her made him feel...strange. But it wasn't a bad strange, not really. She didn't make him feel like a Champion. She made him feel like a man. Like just a normal man who had feelings and urges and things that mattered to him outside of keeping people safe.
It was sort of like being with Thyrra, only completely different in the way that there was no competition between them and no sense of that soldierly camaraderie. The camaraderie between Malachi and Emma was born of something completely different, only he didn't know what it was, yet.
Malachi sat down on his bed with a frown, trying to think. She was a human, and he was fascinated by her kind, that probably had something to do with it.
When she talked about the way things used to be, he could picture it in his head, people streaming to and fro in the streets, buying things, selling things. Like the market back on Dorn but probably with more people. Humans were, after all, the most populous advanced lifeform in the universe as far as anyone knew. Even if 'advanced' was a generous term in some people's minds.
He was learning that there was more to humans than met the eye, and it both intrigued and worried him. Because what did the Alva want with them?
Before he could really allow those thoughts to distract him from the more troubling ones, namely the ones where he was picturing Emma in the shower singing, the door slid open to admit her.
She had a towel over her head, rubbing her hair dry, and she didn't seem to notice he was sitting there.
He noticed her, though. Stars, did he notice.
Priya had taken pity on her and the way she was swimming in all her borrowed clothes, and had mended some of the tunics so they wouldn't be quite so big on her. Now they fit well, and Malachi had to swallow hard at the way the material clung to her body, still a bit damp from her shower.
Her legs were completely bare, and he had a good view of them from thigh to foot. His eyes slid down, taking in the milky pale skin and the way that the muscles in her legs shifted as she walked in further.
His mouth was suddenly dry when she moved the towel and flipped her head back, sending damp auburn hair spilling over her shoulders.
With her hair away from her face like that, she looked younger, softer. Somehow more touchable in a way that rocked Malachi to his core.
It had been happening for a while now, but he hadn't expected to see her like that. Or any human, really, but with how dry his mouth was and the pounding of his heart, he couldn't deny that he was...interested in what he was seeing.
"Oh!" Emma said, dropping her towel and pressing a hand over her chest when she finally seemed to notice him sitting there. "You're like a frigging statue," she said. "Make some noise or something, will you?"
It didn't seem to bother her that she was half dressed and standing in front of him, and Malachi couldn't tear his eyes away from how the tunic she was wearing clung to her body. He could see the curves of her breasts under the material, the soft buds of her nipples, pebbled in the cooler air. The tunic hugged her waist and covered most of her hips and the tops of her thighs, but he could still see the shape there. The way her hips were still softly rounded, despite the months of not getting enough to eat.
She'd been making up for it since she'd come to them, and there was more and more softness creeping in every day. It was a far cry from the muscled tone he was used to on women, but it made him want to touch her all the same.
Emma tilted her head to the side and looked at him, unsure. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked, and then looked down. When she seemed to notice just how very exposed she was, her cheeks flushed and she bent down to pick up the towel, face red. "Sorry," she said, looking away from him. "I didn't mean to barge in here and...yeah."
She seemed embarrassed, so he shook his head. "No, it's fine. I should have said something when you came in. I was...thinking."
"Oh." She glanced back up and their eyes caught and held. For a moment, neither of them moved or even seemed to breathe. Whatever was growing from their easy banter and conversation was hanging thick in the air between them, building until it was a tension Malachi thought he could choke on.
He couldn't look away.
Her eyes were so green, and they seemed to hold him spellbound with how big and bright they were. She didn't look away either, and before he knew it, he was getting to his feet.
Malachi didn't have a plan. He was stuck somewhere between leaving and stepping closer to her, so he just stood there.
Their height difference was so much more pronounced when they were both standing, and he was struck all over again by how small she was. She was normal for a human, but he had well over a foot on her, and it would be so easy for him to scoop her up and hold her against him. To pin her under him. To...
His face flushed when he realized just how carried away he was getting with his thoughts. It wasn't right, and he didn't know if she wanted... Well. He didn't know what she wanted.
But she hadn't left yet. She hadn't left, and she hadn't told him to leave. Malachi knew she wasn't afraid of him, and if she really wanted him gone, she would have said so on no uncertain terms, even if this was his room, technically. They'd been half sharing it since she'd arrived, anyway.
"Malachi?" she asked, her neck craned so she could look up at him.
"You are beautiful," he said, the words pouring out of him before he could do anything about it.
Emma flushed darkly and glanced away before looking back, a small smile on her face. "You're just saying that because I'm standing here mostly naked."
He shook his head and took a step closer. "No, I'm not. You're..." Malachi didn't know what word he wanted there, and he didn't stop to try and figure out what it was, either. Instead he took another step, waiting to see wh
at she would do.
"I bet you have a million girlfriends back on your planet," Emma said, holding her ground. "I bet they all miss you. And are giant and strong and gorgeous."
"You're strong and gorgeous," Malachi pointed out.
"I'm not," Emma protested.
"You are," he replied. He held her gaze easily, wanting her to believe him. "You survived."
That seemed to catch her off guard because she blinked and then opened her mouth like she was going to say something. But she closed it again and then looked down at the floor.
This...whatever it was between them, was all well and good, but he wasn't going to try to force her into something if she didn't want it.
"Emma," he said, voice firm, wanting her to look at him. He waited until she'd glanced up, her eyes still wide. "Tell me to leave, and I will."
It was in her hands. If she told him to go, then he would, and he’d apologize for being presumptuous and whatever else he needed to apologize for in order for things to be right between them. If she didn’t tell him to, then…
Well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do then.
Emma just looked at him still, licking her lips slowly. She didn’t say anything, and Malachi wanted to groan.
“Emma,” he said again.
“I heard you the first time,” she replied.
And that...well, that seemed to say it all, didn’t it? She’d heard him, and she hadn’t asked him to leave, which he could clearly take to mean that she wanted him to stay.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Is it always like this with your people? Beating around the bush?”
He wanted to point out that making sure she knew what she wanted was hardly a bad thing, but that would take too much time. Instead, he stalked closer to her, like a predator surveying his prey. The door had closed behind her soon after she’d stepped in, and while she could easily touch it to make it open again, for all intents and purposes, there was nowhere for her to go at the moment.
Her eyes were still lovely and wide as he moved closer, backing her up until she was pressed against the solid metal of the door, her neck craned so that she could look up at him. It was easy to pin her in place with his larger frame, one hand on either side of her body, keeping her still, and he loomed over her and leered down at her, a smirk curling his lips.
He could see her pulse jumping in her neck and hear the catch in her breath. When she swallowed hard and licked her lips again, it was hard not to imagine those lips in other places.
“Emma,” he murmured, just because he liked the way her name sounded.
“Malachi,” she replied, and there was something so good about how that came out. It wasn’t the leveled challenge like when Thyrra said it, but a throaty sound that trembled just a bit with the edge of want and desire, and it sent blood rushing south.
Malachi had no idea how far Emma wanted to take this, and he wasn’t going to push her for more than she wanted to give, but he needed to do something. Moving slowly so she had plenty of time to tell him to stop, but purposefully because he wanted there to be no doubt what he wanted here, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the flutter of her pulse in her neck.
It was a light kiss, a chaste kiss, but it tore a gasp from her mouth all the same. His smirk grew and he kissed her there again, this time lingering, letting his lips open and his tongue slip out to lick slowly at the clean taste of her skin.
She trembled against him, and he wondered how long it had been since she’d been touched like this. At least ten months, he was willing to bet.
That only made him want to do it more.
One hand slipped down to rest at her waist, fingers curling almost possessively right above the swell of her hip. He kissed at her neck a bit more and then used his free hand to turn Emma’s face up to his. Her eyes were darkened with need, her breathing ragged, and he grinned before he leaned in and kissed her.
He could taste the gasp this time, and he drank it down, coaxing her to kiss him back with soft brushes of lips and a flicker of his tongue.
It didn’t take long, either. Soon enough her fingers were fisting in the front of his tunic and she was going up onto her toes, pulling him in closer as she kissed back fervently.
He’d expected it to be good, but he hadn’t expected the way his blood sang with approval at the contact, and he groaned deep in his throat and wrapped an arm around her, eliminating any space between them as he kisses her harder and deeper, losing himself to it.
Chapter Eight: Hesitate
It was a bit like being devoured.
Apparently aliens who were also warriors kissed with their whole bodies, mouths on mouths, hands roaming, hips rocking. Malachi was a miracle of miniature movements, and Emma was lost to it.
She moaned into the kisses, her own hips pressing back up, and when he worked one of his legs between hers, she couldn’t help the shameless way she humped against it.
There was nothing under her tunic at that moment, and Emma had forgotten that bit as the kisses grew in intensity and her body reacted to it. She could feel herself getting wetter and wetter as Malachi nipped and sucked at her lips. When his hand came down to grip her bottom hard, she trembled against him, knees threatening to buckle right then and there.
There was something so completely hot about being with a man who was so much bigger than she was. It was intimidating, but in a way that made her wet, and it also made her feel safe at the same time. She knew Malachi wasn’t going to hurt her. Warrior or not, he was too noble for that, so she felt no fear when he kissed her, when he groped at her and tried to grind against her.
The height difference was a bit too much for their hips to line up well enough for them to be able to grind against each other in a satisfying way, and Malachi made a noise of frustration before he huffed and then grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up like she didn’t weigh anything.
She swore under her breath and then wrapped her legs around his waist shamelessly, arms going around his neck to help her hold on. He backed them up against the door again, pinning her there, and then went back to kissing her.
Eventually she needed to breathe, and she panted and pressed her face to the crook of his neck, her lips seeking out his pulse and smiling when she felt it was just as frantic as her own.
“Malachi,” she breathed, not sure what she wanted to say to him, but feeling like she needed to say something.
“I want you,” he replied, voice deep with the evidence of his words.
Emma was startled. She hadn’t expected any of this, to be honest. Surely he could have whoever he wanted, back on his planet and among the females here, but he seemed to want her.
“Okay,” she breathed back, her own voice shaky.
“Okay?”
“Have me,” she said, hoping he wasn’t about to launch into another round of checking to make sure she was sure. At this rate, she was going to lose her nerve.
But it seemed like that wasn't going to be a problem. Malachi growled in his throat, a sound that Emma felt all the way to her toes and kissed her harder, teeth nipping at her lips, tongue pushing its way past the seam of her mouth to lay claim.
God, she liked it.
He was big and strong and powerful, and she could feel that in every movement he made. Muscles shifted under skin, and he held her like she was made of something light and precious that he wasn't afraid to bruise a little. It was much more thrilling than her last sexual encounter, and she was pretty sure it wasn't just because he was an alien. Or maybe it was and it was more of a culture thing. She didn't know.
Either way, she was wet, and she couldn't help the way she was practically trying to ride him, breath coming in harsh pants whenever his mouth let up on hers long enough for her to be able to breathe.
She could feel that he was hard, and also that he was big. Proportionate was probably a good word for it, and Emma trembled with the anticipation of what was to come.
"Please," she gasped ou
t, biting down on his lip in turn and delighting in the noise of pleasure that got out of him. "Malachi, please."
"Say it again," he said, voice still a low rumble. His already dark eyes had bled darker with desire, and it was a good look for him.
"Please," Emma moaned, accompanying the word with a roll of her hips. "Please, I want it."
"Good," he said.
He lifted her away from the wall and turned to the bed, tossing her down gently. Emma bounced and smothered a giggle with her palm, landing with her legs spread and the fact that she had neglected her underwear after her shower plain to see.
Malachi watched her hungrily, eyeing the warm wetness between her legs like it was something he wanted to eat. When he knelt down beside the bed and grabbed her hips, Emma thought that comparison was probably very accurate.
His hands held her firmly as he yanked her closer, and it did double duty in pushing the tunic up, too, showing off more of her thighs and giving her legs more room to spread. She moaned as he let his eyes flicker over her body, licking her lips and trying not to start begging again.
She didn't want to seem that desperate for it, no matter how much she wanted him.
Malachi seemed to know, and he brought one hand down to stroke between her legs, spreading that slickness around and brushing her clit lightly with his fingers. It sent an electric jolt of pleasure through her, and she whined softly, hips bucking up in search of more.
She braced herself on her elbows, looking down her body at Malachi who licked his lips and then leaned forward to apply that tongue between her legs.
And oh.
Oh.
It had been so long since someone had done this to her that she'd nearly forgotten how good it could be. His tongue was long and wet, and he licked her from bottom to top in one smooth stroke, ending with a little flick of his tongue over her clit that had her fingers clenching in the sheets.
"Malachi," she groaned, spreading her legs open even wider for him.
"You taste good," he said, lifting his head a bit and giving her a slow smile.