She reached out and grabbed his hand before he could turn away. “I want to be bound to you. Even if Mateo doesn’t.”
* * * *
Tiaki’s magic trembled at the knowledge she wanted to be a part of him. But he wouldn’t allow it to happen without Mateo. It was too risky without knowing more about the soul bond. Unfortunately, there were only a handful of people who had that information.
And all of them in the Phoenix Galaxy.
He squeezed her hand, loving the feel of her skin against his. “I know this is what you believe you want, Kiana. In the end, though, you would regret it if something went wrong because Mateo wasn’t a part of it.” His soul cried out as he said the words. It felt like he’d driven a knife into his heart even saying them.
Kiana jerked her hand out of his. “Fuck you, Tiaki. Mateo will be a part of it. I know.” She looked away, a single tear slipping down her cheek unheeded.
Tiaki moved closer and tipped her chin up. He kissed the tear away. “Kiana,” he breathed against her ear, his heart squeezing tight with the hurt he felt piercing hers.
She turned and nuzzled his neck.
His magic stirred quickening with the rise in hers. She skimmed her lips up his neck, darting her wicked tongue out to trace the always glittering lines of his genesis mark.
He threw his head back at the contact. Gods! His magic erupted as violently as the volcanoes that had created this lush paradise. It took all his willpower to rein it in before he succumbed to the raw intensity of it. The sheer magnitude of the surge in his magic rivaled that of any planet he’d ever tapped in to.
She leaned back and looked into his eyes. “Please.”
At the sound of her soft plea, he was lost, unable to deny himself one last kiss. He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. He licked the seam of her mouth, seeking entry into paradise.
Kiana moaned and opened her mouth in silent invitation.
Grasping her face in his hands, her hair spilling over them like silk, he drank from her lips like a man dying of thirst. When his magic reached out to hers, demanding to join with hers, he pulled away. Sucking in a shuddering breath, he rested his forehead against hers. His breath came in short gasps. Gods, how he wanted to claim her for his own. He shoved the urge away and stepped back. “I can’t. I will not risk anything happening to you or Mateo.” He turned and started walking away.
Kiana stalked after him. “You’re just too fucking scared.”
Tiaki stopped. The accusation stung, even though it was the truth. He turned around to face her. “Damn right, I’m scared, Kiana. If the choices are to bond with you and risk losing you because the bonding isn’t complete without Mateo or walk away and be alone for the rest of my life… Then yes, I’d rather walk away and be called scared, because I am.”
Kiana glared at him defiantly. Her eyes glowed silver in the light of his magical orb, daring him to walk away. She had the proud stance of a warrior demanding he accept her challenge.
Tiaki spun around and forced himself to start walking. He’d noticed a path when they’d entered the clearing from the opposite side. Though the effort to leave her was killing him, he had to put some distance between them before he gave in to the one desire he couldn’t afford to indulge. Something tugged at the back of Tiaki’s mind as he glanced at his surroundings. It wasn’t until he felt Kiana take hold of his arm that he realized she’d brought him to the place he’d watched Mateo make love to her.
What the hell was she up to?
* * * *
Kiana stared at his retreating back in disbelief. He was actually going to leave. Shaking off her surprise, she scanned the camp with her sensors for Mateo, silently praying he hadn’t taken off. She sighed in relief when she found him in their room. Anger roiled through their link, and something else. What, she couldn’t name, but he was fighting it.
Mateo’s nearness was enough to spur her into action. She ran after Tiaki and spun him to face her. He lost his balance, and she kicked his feet out from under him. He landed flat on his back with a loud thud. She straddled his hips before he could try to rise.
A whoosh of air rushed out of Tiaki as he connected with the ground. He looked up at her. “Kiana…”
Kiana silenced him with a kiss as she opened her link with Mateo. She needed him to experience everything they did, or all was lost. She thrust her tongue inside Tiaki’s mouth, savoring the taste of the sweet pineapple juice he’d drunk with dinner.
He took both her shoulders in his hands and pushed her back. He held her gaze. “There’s nothing you can do to change my mind, Kiana. I won’t make love to you.”
Kiana pressed her pussy more firmly against his cock. “I know, Tiaki, but you don’t actually have to fuck me to make love to me.” She leaned down and pressed kisses to his throat, making sure to linger over his genesis mark. She smiled when he bucked against her. Satisfied with her newfound knowledge, she kissed her way down the length of his body.
Tiaki grasped her head and gently forced her to look at him. “I can’t even take you like that again. I wouldn’t be able to stop until I had my cock buried inside you.”
A small moan of pleasure escaped her as she licked her lips. She sensed Mateo monitoring their link even though he was reluctant to. Good. Niki had been right. He couldn’t ignore it. She shifted lower, licking and nipping his taut flesh as she went. “Then don’t. Just feel.” She purred the words against his nipple, then sucked it into her mouth. The edges of the tattoo depicting his home planet shimmered beneath her touch. When she inadvertently licked the inked lines, his magic tingled under her tongue and hastened toward her.
He reached for her shoulders, either to pull her close or shove her away, she couldn’t say. She didn’t wait to find out. Gathering her magic, she whispered for it to push him back against the sand, pinning his wrists to his sides. She glanced up to find him watching her. She smiled. “I’ve been practicing all afternoon.”
Tiaki groaned.
She continued moving down his stomach, pausing only to untuck the folds of his pareo. With each bit of skin she uncovered, she tortured him with her tongue, teeth, and nails. The link through their magic increased with each passing moment, strengthening the intensity of the emotions they were feeling. The pleasure she evoked spiraled through him and into her.
Tiaki gasped when she wrapped her fist around his shaft and licked the drops of precum from the tip.
She delighted in each moan and kiss she tore from his lips. She made sure he could feel her stroking Tiaki’s skin, kissing him, and the exquisite taste of his cock on her tongue blazed through the link with Mateo.
Chapter Twenty
Lust shot through Mateo. The sensations of sucking Tiaki’s cock erupted through the emotion link he shared with Kiana. His cock hardened at the thought of tasting the other man in his mouth again. God, he could almost feel the texture of Tiaki’s skin under his fingers.
Damn Kiana for opening their link. Every stroke was further heightened through the bond their magic had forged.
He tried to close off the link, but something was blocking him from doing so. He just couldn’t figure out what. All he could do was sit there while he felt his woman…his love…give pleasure to…to… He didn’t know how to think of Tiaki.
He didn’t want to think about Tiaki at all. He was the Hunter to him. That was becoming impossible, though. A part of him felt like he was betraying Remi’s memory. Tiaki had come into their lives only a few weeks ago with an outrageous tale and had literally turned everything upside down.
Ever since Tiaki had saved his life, Mateo had been able to feel the Hunter inside him. Teasing his senses from the inside out…making him yearn to experience things he’d told himself he would never indulge in again after Remi died.
Then Tiaki had kissed him. Making things worse.
He’d been able to pretend he didn’t like the guy before. Now every time he came near Tiaki, his magic went haywire. Reaching out to him, spurring the lust he tr
ied so hard to hide and bringing it to the forefront of his mind.
Mateo stood and paced in the tight confines of the tent. The walls seemed to be closing in on him, despite the fact they were made of grass. Restless energy swirled through his body at the thought of Kiana fucking Tiaki, by the thought of joining them and doing so himself. Like he’d wanted to this afternoon.
His magic flowed hot in his veins and reached out to the energy patterns of Kiana and Tiaki, adding fuel to the desire to go down to the lagoon and join them. He shook his head and breathed deeply to calm the storm raging inside.
Every stroke, every caress, every kiss, every lick Kiana lavished upon Tiaki’s taut body crashed through the link with the force of a tidal wave. Through the connection of their magic, he could feel Tiaki thrusting his hips against her mouth, encouraging her to suck harder.
Grasping the beam in the center of the room, Mateo squeezed until his knuckles turned white. His whole body trembled with the need to go to them, to strip the clothes from his body, to lay down with them on the sand and feel his skin rub against theirs, to caress them, to kiss and lick them, tasting the salt of their skin on his tongue.
He closed his eyes and groaned.
“What are you waiting for, mi amigo?”
His opened his eyes in surprise. He glanced around the room, expecting to see a ghost. He swiped at the sweat trickling down his neck. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his link with Kiana, trying desperately to close it so he wouldn’t have to feel them. The insatiable longing to join them was almost more than he could bear. He cried out in frustration when he failed to find the barrier keeping him from closing it.
“Why are you fighting this so hard, Mateo?”
Mateo shook his head again and glanced around the room at the sound of Remi’s voice. What the hell was going on? Raking his hands through his hair, he walked over to the desk and grabbed his canteen. Maybe if he cooled his skin, he’d be able to handle whatever the hell Kiana was trying to accomplish. He unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and dumped most of the contents on his head.
A rich laugh rang out throughout the room. “You always did think that would help clear everything up.”
“Remi…” The name escaped before he could stop it. He opened his eyes and looked around, wondering if he was going crazy.
He gritted his teeth when he felt Tiaki’s cock touching the back of Kiana’s throat as she sucked it blazed through their link. Gripping the back of the desk chair, he inhaled sharply. What the hell is going on?
“It’s quite simple, mi amigo. You’re trying to keep my memory sacred by denying what you feel for Tiaki. I tried to tell you, but apparently you weren’t listening,” Remi said.
Mateo frowned. “Tried to tell me? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You never did listen when I tried to talk to you about where I was from.”
“Where you were from?” Mateo couldn’t help repeating the words. The ghost Remi melted away in his mind as a memory surfaced in his consciousness.
“I’m not the one you know.”
Mateo turned away from the window to see Remi reclining on their bed, watching him. His dirty blond hair had fallen across his left eye like it always did. He’d folded one arm behind his head, completely comfortable with his nude state.
“Not the one what?” Mateo asked.
“Your soul mate,” Remi replied so quietly he might not have spoken at all.
Mateo approached the bed and sat down beside his lover. “I told you I don’t believe in soul mates.”
Remi sat up and traced his finger along Mateo’s jaw. “Promise me something?”
Mateo leaned into the caress, silently wondering why he’d never acknowledged how attracted he was to men before. The emotions he felt with Remi were unlike anything he’d ever experienced with a woman. He met Remi’s gaze, not liking the tone in his voice. “What?”
“Promise me when the time comes, you’ll not fight it.”
Mateo searched Remi’s eyes, astonished to see a flash of glittering red flecks swirl in their depths. He blinked and looked again but only found the normal brown eyes he’d come to love. “Fight what?”
“The bonding, Mateo. Don’t fight it. It’s worth more than you can imagine.”
“You’re talking nonsense, Remi.” When Remi started to speak again, Mateo silenced him with a hard kiss.
Mateo shook his head in disbelief. Had Remi been a Rift Hunter?
The thought fled his mind when he felt Tiaki buck against Kiana’s mouth. Her teeth scraped lightly over Tiaki’s cock and burned like wildfire through their link. Mirroring ones raced along his own shaft.
Cursing under his breath, Mateo headed for the door, unable to fight the desire to watch them. Even though he knew doing so would only increase the craving he had to join them.
Mateo stalked the short distance to the lagoon. The fact he hadn’t needed to scan for Kiana to find them should have set off warning bells. All he could focus on was the dark hunger to spy on Kiana as she sucked Tiaki’s cock.
He hoped the desire he was feeling was coming from Kiana and not himself.
He refused to believe he felt more for the Hunter than he ever had for Remi. The thought of betraying his former lover’s memory made his heart ache.
Mateo stopped abruptly at the tree line that partially concealed the lagoon. He had to remind himself to breathe when he caught sight of Tiaki and Kiana on the beach. A golden orb floated near them, lending enough light for him to see them clearly.
Tiaki lay back on the sand, his arms pinned to the ground. The memory of how he’d held Tiaki down without actually touching his hands flashed through his mind. Kiana must have figured out how to do it as well.
Kiana knelt between Tiaki’s thighs, sucking his cock into her mouth to the base. Mateo could feel the length of Tiaki’s shaft in his mouth as though he were the one giving him head instead of Kiana.
Unconsciously Mateo reached down and shifted his painfully hard erection. The sight of Kiana licking and sucking Tiaki had him aching to really feel her hot mouth…or Tiaki’s engulfing his cock.
Mateo let his eyes flutter shut. His magic became a tempest in his veins as his emotion link processed the sensations as Kiana sucked Tiaki harder, her hands stroking faster. He could almost feel Tiaki’s dick as he thrust harder into her mouth, the energy swirling violently inside him amplified the longing to join them. Tiaki cried out, his moans of pleasure echoing off the cliffs surrounding the lagoon.
The instant Tiaki reached his climax, Mateo doubled over, feeling like he’d been punched in the gut. He sucked in a sharp breath, trying to regain his equilibrium. When he could finally breathe again, he stood up and opened his eyes.
His gaze collided with Kiana’s. Her eyes were burnished silver, and a sensual erotic heat burned in their depths. He didn’t have to see Tiaki’s eyes to know his would look the same, only gold.
Kiana held his gaze as she released her suction on Tiaki’s sated body, her lips curving into a satisfied smile as her tongue darted out and licked a drop of Tiaki’s essence off them. She sat up and moved to straddle Tiaki.
Tiaki sat up beneath her and started to push her off his lap, only he wasn’t quick enough. Kiana grasped his face in both hands and kissed him, never breaking eye contact with Mateo.
Mateo reached for their shared link and tried to close it again. When the switch to turn it off slid easily closed, he knew she’d been the one jamming it.
Damn her!
He watched a moment longer. Tiaki grasped Kiana’s waist and moved her off him, his movements restrained.
Tiaki gathered his discarded pareo and looked up. Their eyes met and held for a long moment before Tiaki began yanking the fabric around his waist, his movements jerky with anger. Tiaki was saying something to Kiana, but they were too far away for Mateo to hear.
Mateo didn’t wait to see what happened next. He’d seen and felt enough. He turned sharply on his heel and walked away. Not
to his and Kiana’s hale. He needed to think about what he’d just experienced and what he remembered Remi saying.
* * * *
When the attack alarm sounded, Mateo jumped out of bed fully awake and started jerking on clothes and grabbing weapons. He didn’t really need them now, since he could wield the magic in Earth’s core. But old habits died hard. He raced out to find chaos reigning.
People ran in all directions, dodging fire from weapons he’d never seen before that were being used by cyborgs similar to the ones they’d fought during the last battle. Some of the weapons were new.
Kiana.
Her name sprang unbidden to the front of his mind. He had to find her. Make sure she was safe. Running toward where he’d last seen her, he flicked his com link and their emotion link on and started scanning for her, dodging enemy fire as he went. Normally he would be firing back, but something inside told him Kiana was in danger.
There was no sign of her. What the hell? He should have been able to locate her with at least their emotion link.
He scanned the lagoon and surrounding area for any sign of Kiana but found nothing. Cursing under his breath, he headed back toward the armory, hoping she would be falling into her old habit from her days in the military. She would have headed straight there to arm herself as soon as she heard the alarm.
Still he sensed nothing. He forced away the panic rising in his chest. He didn’t have time to panic. As he approached the armory, he saw Niki rush around the corner of the building. His sensors picked up movement in the trees along the opposite side of the path. Mateo charged in the direction of the movement when several cyborgs attacked from where Niki had been moments before. One of the cyborgs aimed a gun at Niki’s head. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but it died on his tongue when a ball of orange flames hurtled past him. He stared in disbelief at the space where the man’s gun had been seconds before. Now there was only the stub of an arm dripping blood and the scent of seared flesh hanging in the air.
Untamed Hawaiian Heat (Rift Hunters) Page 20