The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance Book 1)

by Dianne Duvall

  He kissed the sensitive skin beneath her ear, nipped it with his teeth.

  He palmed one of her breasts, teased the hard peak with his long fingers while he trailed his other hand down her belly and slid his fingers into the dark curls below.

  Lisa gasped and reached up to loop a hand around the nape of his neck.

  He moved closer, pressing his front to her back, trapping his hard length between them as he began to stroke her between her legs.

  She moaned, pressing her hips forward as he found her clit, rubbing, circling, plucking, each touch sending fire dancing through her veins and ratcheting up her need. She reached back with her other hand and gripped his thigh, holding on as she arched into his hand, his fingers. Those talented fingers that knew just what she wanted. Needed. So good. Her breath quickened. His did, too.

  He stroked her faster, kneaded her breast, luring moans from her. Then he pinched her nipple at the same time he applied more pressure to her clit and nipped her neck.

  A climax slammed through her.

  Lisa cried out, tightening her hold on him as she bucked against his hand and rode out the pleasure until her legs weakened.

  Taelon wrapped his arms around Lisa and held her tight, keeping her upright when her legs buckled. His heart slammed against his battered ribs. His chest and abdomen felt like they were on fire, the water burning the ugly wounds like acid, the pressure of Lisa’s body increasing the pain. But it was worth it.

  It was so worth it.

  She lowered the hand she’d buried in his hair and patted his arm.

  Taelon reluctantly released her so she could turn toward him.

  Her pretty face was flushed with pleasure, her dark hair slicked back. Moisture beaded on her eyelashes, clumping them together as she gazed up at him with warm brown eyes.

  She reached for the soap, lathered up her hands, and returned the bar to the shelf. “Now you,” she said, her full lips curling up in a smile. She lowered her gaze to his chest as she reached toward him. Her smile faltered. “For a moment, I forgot…”

  His wounds. She’d forgotten his wounds while he’d stroked her and now didn’t know how she could touch him and bring him the same pleasure without hurting him.

  “Look at me,” he said softly.

  When her eyes met his, he took one of her hands and guided it to his hard shaft.

  She started to look down.

  “No,” he commanded. “Look at me.” She couldn’t look down without seeing his ghastly wounds.

  She instantly met his gaze once more.

  He softened his tone. “Keep your eyes on mine, dashura.”

  Taelon hissed in a breath when she curled her fingers around his shaft, her hand too small to enclose him.

  She wrapped her other hand around him too, stroking his hard length with her slick, soapy hands. But she was being too careful. Too gentle. Too afraid of hurting him.

  Taelon curled his hand around hers, tightened her hold on him, and showed her how he wanted her to stroke him.

  She learned fast, her pupils dilating with renewed desire as she moved her hands on him. “What does dashura mean?” Keeping her eyes on his, she moved closer and tongued one of his nipples.

  Pleasure shot through him, dragging forth a moan and nearly obliterating the pain. “It’s an endearment.” Drek, she felt good. Her touch. Her tongue. She could easily bring him to his knees.

  She paused. “I want to take you in my mouth.” She started to crouch down, intending to do just that, but Taelon stopped her.

  As much as he wanted to feel those beautiful lips of hers close around his shaft, he’d seen how awkward kneeling and rising was for her with their baby in her belly. It would be doubly so now. She was so tired from the long drive that she had nearly collapsed after her orgasm.

  “Don’t stop.” He again covered her hands with his and urged her to continue stroking him. “Please, dashura.” He dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers. “I need you.”

  She nodded, her hands tightening, increasing the pleasure.

  She liked the ridges on his shaft. He noted it absently as she explored him. Worked him. Learned just what he liked.

  His balls tightened and his breath quickened. Taelon braced a hand on the wall behind her, dipped his head, and buried his face in her fragrant hair. So good. Closing his eyes, he imagined himself buried deep inside her, the walls of her warm sheath squeezing him tight, as wet and slick as her hands. Her lips brushed his neck as she pumped faster. Her tongue delivered a sensuous lick. Then she nipped him with her teeth as he had her.

  An orgasm tore through him. Taelon moaned, spilling his seed, his hips jerking. Pleasure engulfed him, banishing the pain and leaving him light-headed.

  He staggered.

  “Taelon?” Lisa cried.

  Drek! He shook his head and fought for balance.

  “I’m okay.” He wrapped his arms around her, his heart pounding painfully, and hugged her close. Pain crept back in. Darkness threatened, but he kept it at bay. “I’m okay,” he repeated.

  As long as he had Lisa, he would be okay.

  Lisa fished some antibiotic ointment out of one of the cheap reusable grocery bags she’d bought to cart around their goodies. Taelon reclined on the bed, his back against the wall, supported by pillows. His long legs stretched out before him, brushing Lisa as she sat beside him. After the shower, he’d wrapped a towel around his hips, leaving his chest bare. Lisa had donned a maternity nightgown she’d purchased. It was just too hard to keep a towel wrapped around the bulk of her belly. And even after what they’d shared earlier, she wasn’t yet comfortable enough to walk around naked in front of him.

  She unscrewed the top of the tube and squeezed some ointment onto her index finger. “You know, you scared the hell out of me earlier.” Biting her lip, she smoothed the ointment over the angry red incision that began at his sternum and ran all the way down his middle to his belly button.

  “In the shower?”

  Glancing up, she met his troubled gaze and blushed. “No. I liked the shower.”

  He smiled.

  “I meant when your nose bled.”

  “Oh.” He grimaced. “That.”

  She squeezed more ointment from the tube. “Tell me what happened… and how the hell you managed to get out of there without anyone stopping you.”

  He sighed. “I followed Agent Walker down to an infirmary belowground. There was a woman sleeping there. Eliana. Walker called her an immortal.”

  Lisa frowned. “She was a vampire?”

  He shook his head. “They spoke as though vampires and immortals are two different species, but I couldn’t understand the difference between them. The immortal woman was sleeping, but it became clear that she was connected in some way to Roland and Marcus and North Carolina. So when Walker left, I remained behind and read her thoughts.”

  “Reading her thoughts made your nose bleed that much?” She recalled the crimson liquid that had liberally coated his mouth, chin, neck, and shirt.

  That had been a lot of blood. If she hadn’t known him and had seen him on the street, she would’ve thought he’d been in a fistfight with someone who had punched him in the face multiple times.

  He nodded and admitted somewhat sheepishly, “It hurt like hell. But she’s my only link to Amiriska unless we cross paths with Roland again. So I kept pushing and pushing until I finally managed to find my sister in her memories.”

  Hope rose. “She knows Amiriska?”

  “Yes. Or at least she’s met her and knows where Amiriska is staying.”

  “In North Carolina.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know where in North Carolina?”

  “If we obtain a map, I can find it.”

  “We don’t need a map. Prepaid internet was included in the burner phone I purchased. I can pull it up and plan our route.” She studied the now-glistening wound. “I don’t know how to keep this ointment from rubbing off without wrapping you in gauze like a mummy
.”

  His lips quirked up. “If you do that, I won’t be able to feel your bare skin against mine.”

  Her pulse picked up. “Don’t tempt me. We both need rest. How’s your head?”

  “Better since the shower,” he said with a grin and a wink.

  She smiled. “How did you keep the other soldiers from asking about the blood when you left? Did you make them not see it?”

  “No. I couldn’t. Reading Eliana’s mind taxed me so much that I could barely walk afterward.”

  Her brow furrowed with concern. “What did you say when they asked?”

  He pointed to his face and shook his head with a wry smile. “Fucking nosebleed. Can you believe it? I’ve been getting the damn things ever since I was a kid.”

  She arched a brow. “Have you?”

  “No. But they believed me. The first group of soldiers was relieved. They thought I had pissed off the immortal woman and she’d hit me.”

  Lisa laughed.

  “The rest just said things like that sucks. Or damn, man, you should get Seth to fix that for you.”

  She frowned. “Roland mentioned a Seth. I wonder who he is.”

  “I don’t know.”

  Lisa considered his wound. She wished she could take him to a hospital and get him some real help. Shaking her head, she motioned for him to lean toward her. “I’m going to go ahead and do the mummy thing.”

  She thought at first he would argue. After studying her for a moment, however, he dutifully leaned forward, away from the wall.

  Grabbing some padded nonstick gauze patches, she asked him to hold them in place while she scooted closer and unrolled thinner gauze around and around him. “Thank you. I thought you were going to protest.”

  He smiled and ducked his head to press a kiss to her neck. “I just wanted to feel your arms around me again.”

  “Flirt.” she said, hiding her worry with a smile. His wound was getting worse. His skin felt hotter despite the chill of the room, indicating he was running a fever. And he had nearly passed out in the shower. It scared the hell out of her. “Next we eat and get some rest.”

  He nodded.

  Perhaps if she told him she needed rest, she could convince him to stay here another day. Give him time to recuperate from forcing the telepathy thing. Ensure there would be no more nosebleeds. See if his chest wound would improve a little bit.

  And she was tired. Exhausted really.

  When she reached the end of the roll of gauze, she tucked it in tight to keep it in place, then added some first aid tape.

  Another of those sharp cramping pains tightened her belly. Hissing, she cupped it with both hands and breathed through the spasm.

  Taelon rubbed her arms, then shifted to sit beside her.

  She bit back a moan as the pain intensified.

  “The day has been taxing,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Perhaps we should rest here for another night to ensure you and the baby are well.”

  If she had to play the baby card to keep him from killing himself, she would. “Okay. I am pretty tired.”

  “I’m sorry.” He rested a hand on her tummy. “I should’ve insisted we stop sooner.”

  She leaned into him. “We needed to put some distance between us and the soldiers in black.” The pain eased. She sighed in relief.

  “Better?”

  “Better.”

  Her stomach growled.

  He chuckled. “Let’s get you and our daughter something to eat.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Taelon’s heart began to thump harder in his chest as they turned off the highway several nights later. It had taken much longer to reach North Carolina than he had hoped, but after seeing how exhausted Lisa was that first night, he had insisted they make the drive in shorter stretches.

  He turned his gaze away from the darkness outside his window and glanced at Lisa.

  Brow slightly furrowed, she concentrated on the road.

  His patience had paid off. Her pale skin was a healthier color now. The dark circles beneath her eyes were gone. Her face and arms looked less gaunt and boasted a little more weight.

  She seemed much better despite the pains that continued to plague her.

  Though he tried to hide it, he had not fared as well. If anything, he felt weaker than he had before. His eyes burned with fever. His incision looked even more inflamed.

  The car’s headlights illuminated a well-paved two-lane road surrounded by dense forest. Bioluminescent insects Lisa called fireflies sparkled amid the tall trees like tiny flames.

  His labored breath quickened as adrenaline flooded his bloodstream. They were close. He knew it. He could feel it.

  Four eyes gleamed in the darkness up and to the right. Taelon tensed until enough ambient illumination from the headlights revealed four-legged mammals with hooves and impressive antlers.

  “Deer,” Lisa murmured. Her knuckles whitened as her grip on the steering wheel tightened. Her frown deepened as she nibbled her lower lip.

  Taelon redirected his gaze through the front windshield. He was nervous, too. He had no idea what he would find at the end of this road and feared for Lisa. He would’ve preferred to leave her safely ensconced in another motel room and brave whatever he was about to without endangering her further. But she had refused to let him come alone.

  It scared the srul out of him—how much he cared for her and how much she was willing to risk for him. It would kill him if she came to harm.

  A large iron gate rose up before them, blocking their path.

  Lisa brought the car to a halt. An electronic keypad waited outside the driver’s window. “Now what?”

  Taelon reached into the back seat, grabbed the weapon they had confiscated at the base, and set it between them. Prying one of her hands off the wheel, he kissed it and placed it on the weapon. Then, thrusting his car door open, he stepped out into the night. Pain shot through his chest as he straightened. Clenching his teeth, he did his best to ignore it and approached the gate.

  He studied it. Too little space separated the heavy vertical bars for him to slip through. No horizontal bars provided footholds at convenient heights. But he could still get over it if he could muster up enough of his former upper body strength.

  He grabbed one of the bars.

  “What are you doing?” Lisa asked, poking her head out of the driver’s window.

  “She’s in there.” His voice emerged as a guttural rasp as he gripped a second bar and began to pull himself up. “I know she is.”

  “You can’t climb that,” Lisa protested, her concern clear.

  He borrowed an Earthling phrase. “The hell I can’t.”

  The gate shifted back and forth a bit as he pulled himself up the bars, hand over hand. Each tug, each flex of every muscle, sent greater agony through his chest and abdomen, so much so that he began to fear the drekking stitches would fail and spill his insides out. Though he wanted to bellow from the pain, he’d had enough experience with torture since his arrival on Earth to restrict his response to muffled grunts that would keep Lisa from diving out of the car and racing to his side.

  Clanks and clunks disrupted the usual night sounds. The top of the gate bore dull points shaped like the narrow leaves of a kihmueca tree. Slipping over them without poking himself in the abdomen or groin wasn’t easy as his strength rapidly waned. Once he hung from the top on the other side, he glanced down, calculated the pain a slow descent would cause, and opted instead to just let go.

  The ground rushed up to meet him.

  His drekking knees buckled upon impact, landing him in an inglorious heap. I’m okay, he called to Lisa through their mental link before she could jump out of the car and try to come to him. He didn’t want those inside to know he was not okay. He was actually pretty sure he had just torn open at least one of the stitches in his chest.

  An electronic hum arose. The gate clanked and clunked as it began to open.

  Looks like we’ve lost the element of surpr
ise, Lisa murmured in his head.

  Apparently so. He’d had little hope of sneaking up on them anyway since Lisa had told him vampires had exceptionally sharp hearing.

  Taelon dragged himself to his feet and ducked back in the car. He glanced down at the gray T-shirt he wore, relieved to find no blossoming red stain on the front of it. Maybe he hadn’t torn his stitches open.

  Lisa eased the car forward once more. The road continued for quite some time before it ended in a circular drive in front of what appeared to be a large, single-level private home.

  A few parked cars formed a semicircle along the edges of the drive. Taelon peered past them at the house as Lisa inched forward. A tall, wide window bowed out from the front of the structure. Light spilled forth from it, bracketing a child barely old enough to walk who peered out at them, her little hands splayed on the glass to either side of her shadowed face. Her red hair glinted like flames as she looked over her shoulder, then returned her gaze to them and pressed her nose to the glass.

  Behind her…

  Taelon’s blood went cold. Black-clad warriors lounged in chairs and on sofas. He only got a quick glimpse before they had moved too far past the window to see anything but the child, but there appeared to be dozens.

  That’s a lot of black. Lisa’s thought carried to him clearly.

  He nodded. And Amiriska was somewhere among them. He could feel her now through their internal link and wanted to weep in relief at the confirmation that she still lived.

  Are you sure she’s in there?

  Yes. Surrounded by those figures in black, some or all of whom are vampires. His gaze swung to Lisa, then dropped to her belly. You should leave. Return to the motel and wait for me there.

  She shook her head. No way. We’ve come this far together. I’m not going to leave you. She parked the car and cut the engine. Grabbing the long firearm, Lisa flung her door open and stepped out into the night.

  Had circumstances not been so grim, Taelon would’ve smiled. Drek, he loved that woman.

  Opening his door, he stepped out into the cool night. Agony punched him in the chest. His knees wobbled. His head spun as a sudden tide of dizziness engulfed him. Staggering, he threw a hand out and braced himself against the car.