True Believers

by Maria Zannini

  Rachel still had physical needs, needs she had ignored for the last three years after an unfortunate encounter. But heat was different. She had to mate.

  The last time she had sex with a mortal, she killed him. Her na'hala had pierced his soul at a vulnerable moment, killing not only the body but stranding his spirit on the mortal plane.

  It was an accident—a grievous mistake. She was sorry to have killed him, sorrier still to have crippled his soul for eternity.

  Heat was unforgiving. It wasn't only the physical need for a man, but the need for union. Once the heat cycle reached its zenith, she wouldn't be able to ignore it. She'd see Jessit about returning to Earth. Right now she needed a cold shower.

  She glanced at Ajula, who shivered under these cooler temps. Her nipples hardened beneath her sheer dress, and Rachel winced from a pang of untamed desire.

  She had to get out of here.

  “Ajula, can you help me with the shower controls?”

  “Yes, Holiness. This way.”

  Ajula showed her to the bathing area, racing ahead to start the water and bring soaps and towels.

  “Let me help you, Holiness.” She approached Rachel from behind and rolled down the straps of her sleeping gown, letting the shift slip to the floor.

  Rachel shut her eyes. She could scarcely breathe, much less think.

  Ajula said nothing, instead massaging Rachel's shoulders and back. Rachel let the girl touch her. She needed to be touched. She needed to mate. Damn it! Was it too late? The heat between her legs begged for relief. She'd never reach one of her own in time.

  Rachel let her na'hala reach out to taste the air. She could use Ajula for the present; it might quench her needs at least for the short term. But the cost to her would be dear. She thought about the last man she bedded and shuddered. She couldn't do that to this girl.

  In a few hours, even that brief amount of compassion would elude her. She needed to get off the ship before she hurt someone. Without turning around, she ordered Ajula out.

  “Allow me to be of service, Divinity,” she begged.

  “Believe me, you can't help me right now. Please go. Tell that priest I need to see him right away.”

  Ajula acknowledged her orders and left, leaving Rachel with a dull ache in her belly. This was so going to be painful.

  Rachel showered, lingering under the spray of cool water. It gave her a little relief and the strength to hold out a while longer. She slipped out with nothing more than a towel around her torso and found Kalya waiting for her in the next room.

  The old man looked horrified to see her half dressed. Every bone in his body crackled like popcorn when he stumbled to his knees. Rachel's soul cord activated on its own and slipped out to taste him.

  A possibility. The man had a primitive na'hala of his own. Just like Jessit.

  The slow fire of need returned, and she squeezed her thighs tight. She didn't want to go back to Earth now. She wanted Jessit. “Thank you for coming. I-I wondered if I might see Commander Jessit again.” Rachel eased her way closer to Kalya and sniffed him. Too old. But he would do if the need overwhelmed her.

  “Lord Taelen is at your command, my Lady. I shall summon him at once.”

  “No! No, uh, I'll go to him. Later. I just want to make sure he's available.”

  Kalya looked confused. Rachel was feeling a little confused too. Common sense seemed to elude her. It wouldn't be long before instinct took over altogether.

  She dismissed the old man and dressed in the lightest fabric she could find, a soft, ochre wrap that tied in the back. It was too hot for anything modest. Rachel slowed her breathing and cleared her head. She'd see Jessit, demand a return to Earth and leave. Surely she could hold out a few more hours.

  She summoned Nevar, her sleepy guard, who was wide awake and anxious to attend her. “Take me to Commander Jessit.”

  Rachel took a deep cleansing breath when Nevar announced her visit.

  Jessit threw open the door and bowed his head, folding his hands to his chest. He was only half dressed, his tunic partially opened and feet unclad. Rachel stared at him hungrily. Her na'hala pushed against her insides, demanding to be let out again, but sheer force of will kept it in.

  He smelled of sex and need. Her knees turned to water.

  Steady, Rachel. Make your request and go.

  He showed her in. She stiffened as she brushed past him, her skin briefly touching his. Her willpower wavered. But the moment he closed the door, it shattered.

  “My apologies for my appearance, Holiness.” His voice was quiet, reserved. He was speaking to a dignitary, not a woman. He rushed to find his uniform jacket.

  Rachel glanced around the room. It was clean, the bed made. Everything seemed back in its place. Her gaze swept across the room, a weak attempt to know the man who tempted her. The colors were dark and masculine, the furniture streamlined and functional, a jeweled short sword laid across his bed. This was a soldier's room.

  She could still smell a whiff of Ajula's perfume. That put everything in perspective at once. Jessit wasn't just a soldier; he was a bachelor. Her summons to his ship was nothing more than a friendly romp in the hay. Had the circumstances been different, she would have accepted gladly.

  “How may I serve you, Holiness?”

  Her attention returned to the present. “I-I need to go back to Earth, Commander.”

  “Of course,” he said with grave duty. “I will order preparations at once.”

  Perfunctory and polite. Jessit wasn't going to stray from protocol now that he assumed she was a god. Perhaps she could get a little truth out of him too.

  “Commander.” She paused. “Taelen. Will you tell me something…honestly?”

  His eyes softened, looking at her as if she wounded him. “I would never lie to you, Divinity.”

  She came up to him and placed one hand on his chest. Two heartbeats. Denman had said there were two. And these two thumped in tandem. “Did you bring me up here just for sport?”

  The silence deafened her.

  His gaze drifted from her face to her shoulders and then to her eyes. He lifted her hands in his and brought them to his forehead in obeisance. “Forgive a blind fool, Holiness. I did bring you here to make love to you.” He hesitated. “The time we spent in the desert…I thought perhaps you…I am sorry, I do not have the words to explain it. Obviously, I misinterpreted our relationship.”

  The room fell silent. All she could hear was her breath.

  Her na'hala jumped out at that very moment and pierced him. Jessit flinched, not fully realizing what had happened. Union, it told her. We must have union.

  Rachel shuddered, trying to retain every ounce of control. She wouldn't hurt Taelen. She couldn't. She'd rather face estrus alone again than damn him for eternity. Her body trembled. He must have mistaken it for cold, because he took her in his arms and held her.

  She melted in his embrace. They were so alike. Could his species handle union?

  “Taelen,” she whispered. “I need something.”

  “Whatever you desire is yours, Divinity. All you have to do is ask.”

  Rachel rubbed her hands across his chest and laid her head against his shoulder. “I need you to make love to me.”

  He froze, his arms clinging to her tightly. “You want me to do what?”

  Her lower lip trembled; she thought she'd break down into tears at any moment. She didn't want to hurt him. But the need—it burned her. She was out of time, and he was all she had.

  Rachel wrapped her arms around him, her insides quivering like a leaf in the wind. If she was wrong about him, if he couldn't handle union, she could kill him. She closed her eyes and let her soul cord stroke his.

  His cord awoke in an instant, recognizing a like being. It too wanted to join with her. The spirit was willing, but was the body?

  Her hand caressed his solar plexus, exciting his na'hala further. She pressed firm fingertips against his chest and felt both of his hearts thump in rhythm. “Make lo
ve to me, Taelen.”

  Jessit looked down at her, his face dark and serious, as if he were trying to gauge her sincerity. “Is this a trick, Holiness? Are you testing me?”

  Rachel's breaths came out in gasps. Of course he would think this a test. But she was in no condition to explain her change of heart.

  “No test. I need you. More than you know.” She took his hand and pressed it against her breast. “Please.”

  Jessit stared at her for a moment, breathing a whispered order to the computer to dim the lights. He bent down and kissed her, first on the nape of her neck, followed by a trail of kisses all the way back up to her lips. He lingered there, tasting them, teasing her.

  Rachel grew faint from all his petting but didn't want it to stop. She got up on her tiptoes and nuzzled his neck, licking one of his lymph gills. That brought him to a standstill, servant to all she demanded.

  She led him over to his bed, slipping off her sandals before letting her wrap fall to the floor. His eyes grew wide with anticipation at the sight of her nakedness. With his help, she clamored up the tall bed and knelt with her back to him, guiding his hands to cup her at the waist.

  Jessit pulled off his jacket and tunic, tossing them to the floor. He pressed his chest against her bare back. His arms locked around her, and he squeezed her so tight she could barely get a breath out.

  What was he waiting for? She couldn't last much longer. She pushed against him, urging him to take her.

  His na'hala answered her call. It pierced her, a stab so sharp and deep she gasped from the assault. Did he understand what he was doing? Did she? She'd never mated with anyone so close to her species. She realized too late that her ethereal virginity was about to be sacrificed to a man who was not even Nephilim.

  She moaned and guided his hands to her breasts. “Finish it,” she cried. “Please. Taelen. Now.”

  Jessit freed one hand and unbuckled the clip to his trousers.

  The snap of the buckle sent her into a frenzy. She turned around, still on her knees, her arms calling to him at the edge of the bed. Her hands trailed up and down his chest. He shivered when she tickled the sensitive webbing along the lower half of his ribcage. She pressed up against him, her bare breasts plastered against his chest, one thigh rubbing against his pelvis.

  Her fingers threaded their way down his trousers and unhitched the last remaining latch. He trembled when her hand tunneled down and touched him, his shaft already shoving its way out of hibernation, pumping its way into her hand.

  A sigh escaped him when she wrapped her hand around his sex. She taunted him with long strokes until he could barely stand.

  Jessit tugged his pants down past his hips where they puddled to the floor. His penile tendrils roamed up her hand before finding their way to the juncture between her legs. One muscular tendril fingered her, gliding in and out, teasing her into giddy madness. Soon other tendrils found their way in, increasing their fury until she submitted to their touch entirely.

  It was like having ten men at once.

  Jessit leaned her back on the bed and draped himself on top of her, cradling either side of her body in a cage of flesh. Rachel couldn't think anymore. She needed union. She needed him. “Take me,” she begged.

  He needed no more invitation than that.

  Rachel licked her lips, parting them slightly, willing a response from him. He answered her with a rock-hard shove. His penile tendrils pawed at her vaginal lips and teased them apart just before he pierced her. She shuddered, arching her back high while her body acclimated to his size.

  Jessit pushed deeper, his muscles rippling with the burden of restraint, taut with anticipation and need. Nothing mattered any more. She felt the irrepressible draw of union. Try as she might she couldn't hold back anymore.

  With a whimper, she begged him to slow down. Rachel was afraid for him, afraid for herself. She had to yield her ethereal virginity slowly, gently.

  “What?” He looked at her as if she were mad.

  “Slow down…just a little.” Her insides shook with tiny sparks as the wave of impending surrender swept her up.

  “Impossible.” He thrust even faster.

  She clawed at his chest gently, the urgency of union destroying all her control. “Taelen, please.” She had no idea what she was doing. And she was doing it with a man who didn't know either.

  He slowed to a gentle rocking, never stopping entirely. “You ask too much of me, woman.” His breathing was labored, his eyes glazed with overwhelming lust. But he slowed down and then stopped altogether, a look of concern on his face. “Are you all right?”

  “I'm not sure.” Rachel felt a burn deep in her solar plexus. Her ethereal self was still virgin. She had yet to give that part of herself to any man. But it scared her. She had no way of knowing how it would affect Taelen, but she was about to find out.

  She rolled him over on his back and impaled her body on top of him. In one sharp spasm, all restraint escaped her. She yelped. “Hold me,” she cried. “Don't let me go.”

  “Never.” He pressed his body against hers.

  She used that moment to merge their souls.

  ***

  Jessit felt warmth radiate between their bodies and a quick hard jerk at his solar plexus, as if a knife had pared him open. He gasped, sensing something strange inside him. “Rachel.”

  “Shhh,” she murmured, rocking into him with slow, steady thrusts. “Just breathe.”

  With a jolt, he felt a fire form between them and a flash of light that blinded him. His chest surged forward, lifting her up with him while she held on.

  “Breathe,” she repeated. “Stay with me.”

  Where else could he go? It was as if they both occupied the same space, both separate yet melded. He groaned as the titillation overwhelmed him, surrendering to it without a fight.

  The light he witnessed moments ago grew inside him now, made him feel alive and whole. It vibrated, entering every pore in his being, tickling every sensory organ until he climaxed, the orgasm continuing on and on until he could take no more. Jessit grunted an animal-like cry, pushing his orgasm to its limits. His hands reached for her hips, grinding her into him. Union, something said inside of him.

  Rachel, too, moaned in response. She yelped when she reached her apex, falling on top of him like a mewling kitten.

  The light dissipated between them and a part of him wanted to go with it. Without understanding why, he seized her sweat-soaked body to his, thinking it might keep that hallowed feeling within him longer. His body felt empty without it, so he clutched even harder, trying to make the feeling stay.

  Something did remain, though he was too shattered to know what it was. But it felt like Rachel. Soft, ethereal, precious. His heart rates returned to normal, but a small ember lingered inside him.

  They lay there spent but still joined; a soft shudder emanated from the woman on top of him. “What just happened?”

  “Union,” she said. “How do you feel?”

  She sat up, looking worried and upset, as if she had done something wrong. He rubbed her back and kissed her. “I feel fine. And you? You startled me for a moment. You seemed different.”

  Rachel wiped a tear from her cheek. “I have to tell you something.”

  Jessit shrugged. He couldn't fathom her sudden seriousness. “What is it?”

  “I gave you something. Something foreign. It might make you feel strange.”

  “Hardly. I feel wonderful.”

  She stroked the light shadow of his beard. “I never meant to hurt you. But I was in heat and I needed…Please don't be angry.”

  He pulled her to his lap. “Why would I be angry?”

  Rachel pressed gentle fingertips at his solar plexus. It radiated with warmth and he shuddered when he relived his last orgasm in vivid detail.

  That had never happened before.

  “I knew that we were similar. You have a na'hala like I do. Kalya has one too.” She laughed. “But I didn't want that old bag of bones on my b
ody.” She bowed her head to his chest and planted tiny kisses. “I wanted you to have me.”

  “What is a na'hala?”

  “It's hard to explain. It's like a human umbilical cord. Only ours stay attached to our ethereal selves. It is an extension of our selves—our core, our conscience. You and Kalya are the only two Alturians I noticed who had one. But I'm not sure I understand why.” She smoothed her hands over his chest. “It's possible you and Kalya have some connection to Anu. Some of him is in your DNA. It's the only way you could have been able to see me in these quarters last night.”

  Jessit thought he had swallowed his tongue. He had to get her off his ship before she told someone.

  Rachel cuddled against his chest, reminding him what he was about to throw away.

  But he had no choice. He loved her, but he wasn't ready to relinquish his command, or his manhood.

  If only he could explain.

  Chapter 21

  Programmers were running diagnostics on Bubba's primary systems, so he decided to power down and hibernate while they fiddled with his memory cells. He didn't understand their concern. He hadn't forgotten anything. All the data remained secure. It wasn't his fault they didn't have the right passwords.

  When Paul Domino accessed his programming, he rechecked Domino's clearance a total of twenty-six thousand times in less than a centisecond. Domino was the creator of his security protocols; his clearance trumped all others. He had no reason to block his access.

  Bubba shuddered awake when he caught a data stream from FAIA. The little upstart delivered an encrypted message to the humans in the Texas desert.

  REPORT: CONFIDENTIAL

  Bubba has been found defective. The unauthorized user obtained entrance through a back door. Bubba allowed this user to review sensitive files at will.

  ASSESSMENT: Bubba is no longer reliable. FAIA advises Command to deactivate Bubba before he causes further harm.

  END REPORT.

  Little bitch. He was glad he threaded a spy filter into her matrix. It was the only way he ever learned anything anymore. The humans kept him out of the loop, now relying on FAIA for the more critical systems.