by Marie Harte
By the stars, the woman had entered Selection. His Testing, compounded with her Selection, had just sealed her fate.
Tara blinked and her eyes turned dark again. She stopped and took a deep breath, then stepped back. “What were you saying about my brother?”
Romy shook his head and tried to ignore his unrelenting desire. “Killer Drake is the BCF southeastern heavyweight champ, right?”
“Yeah.”
“A human who fought other humans.”
She looked puzzled. “What of it?”
“Trotter has some kind of evidence that your brother is Otra, like you.”
She gaped. “Like me? That’s crazy. I’d never even seen an Otra before moving here a few years ago. Mannie and I have been together since I was two. I think I’d remember if he were an alien.”
“Since you were two?” He tried to piece together this puzzle that kept growing. Normally when he sought answers, he found them on the psychic plane. But Tara seemed to have a dampening effect on his abilities. One he liked, because it gave him a measure of peace. “So you’re what, not really brother and sister? He’s your half-brother?”
“He took care of me at the centers, at the foster homes and orphanages. And when he made it big, he took me with him. He’s my brother, and I love him. And if you think for one minute I’ll let you hurt him, I’ll—”
The scent of her lust once more grew as she raged. He groaned as her carnal energy wrapped around both of them. He couldn’t help it when he cupped himself, giving in to the need to soothe the rampant lust between them.
Her gaze caught and held on his hand between his legs, at the same time her eyes shifted once more to silver. “What’s going on?” She put a hand to her chest, and the clothing might as well have not been there for all Romy could see.
He wanted to offer comfort, but he couldn’t. Despite the uncertainty and even fear he could see in her eyes, Romy couldn’t resist such a prime piece of woman. “Tara, fuck. Sweetheart, you’re entering Selection.”And if she had any windows open, her scent would drift out and over the idiots at the shipyard. Or any Otra wandering closer. “We have to get you out of here. Do you have a hovercraft?”
“A hovercraft? No. I normally walk to the bus station down the street. But,” she paused and blinked those molten silver eyes at him. “Selection? Isn’t that an Otra thing? When the women go into heat, right?” She shook her head. “I treated a woman once who knew a few things about your kind. But I didn’t know humans went through it. Oh wow, I’m feeling really strange.”
Romy did his best to ignore his needs. He let go of his cock before he came in his pants. “I told you, you’re Otra. I knew it the minute I saw you. And I think Mannie may be Otra too, or at least part. Trotter’s going to blackmail you into sleeping with him to keep the news quiet. Because if the world finds out Killer Drake had Otra abilities in the ring, that the fights were unfair, then he’s a dead man walking. Fortunes are made and lost on the gambling circuit all the time, and your brother is a huge draw.”
He could see that even as her body became a stranger to her, she recognized the danger in what he said.
“Mannie never knew, I swear. But if Trotter makes it public, then all his fights, his wins, will be in question.”
“Yeah,” he rasped, wanting to sink inside her. Just a taste, a quick touch of her pussy around his cock. He groaned. “Tara, you can think about it on the move. That strange feeling you’re getting? It’s called lust. And it’ll broadcast to every able-bodied Otra out there. Hell, you’re so potent, your energy is going to call to them more than your scent. We have to take you someplace safe.”
A harder wave caught her, and she hugged her stomach and looked up at him with sexual hunger in her eyes. “I—I just need to pack a few things.”
“No time.”
But she was already moving. She grabbed something from a nearby shelf and rejoined him. “Okay. I’m ready. I think.”
He nodded and moved at the same time she did. Their hands touched, and the contact set his every nerve on fire. Without meaning to, his psychei latched on to hers, and the ache became both physical and mental.
“I need.” She stared into his eyes, and he knew she saw her own hunger reflected there. “I want so much. But I’ve never felt this kind of…”
“Never?”
She blushed and put a hand on his chest. “I’ve known a few men. But Mannie was really protective of me when I was younger. As I grew older, I just didn’t seem to attract the right kind of man. They never lasted. And then I just kind of lost interest.” She moaned. “I can’t be Otra, can I?”
“Tara.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “There’s no doubt in my mind you’re like me. But honey, you’re so much more.” Mine. My mate. Suddenly mindful that to cement ties to this woman he’d need an eda, he wondered what would happen if he refused to take one. He wanted no one and nothing between him and Tara their first time. Or any other time. He growled low in his throat.
Instead of stepping back, Tara put her arms around his waist.
He tried to do the right thing, to push her away, but could only hold her tighter as he drew close to her mouth.
7
Something dropped to the ground, and Romy realized Tara had let go of whatever she’d grabbed earlier.
No longer able to wait, Romy met her halfway. The touch of her lips started his downfall. Pressing harder into her mouth, he deepened the contact and hugged her back, groaning at the feel of her full breasts against his chest.
“Luke,” she groaned.
“Romy,” he corrected, and for a moment she stilled, then laughed.
“You said that before. But that’s his name.”
He turned, prepared to seriously harm whomever stepped closer to his prize—his woman—and stared uncomprehendingly at the black cat watching him with unblinking eyes.
“I named him too, isn’t that strange?” She looped her arms around Romy’s neck and swallowed his next breath. Her tongue dueled with his, her lips tasted and urged him to claim her, her flavor bursting on his tongue. He hardened more, if that were even possible, and took her hands from his neck to mold them over his cock.
“Tara,” he breathed. “Touch me. Just one little touch before I lose my fucking mind.” Of their own accord, his pants and underwear slid down his thighs. The magic of need and his psychei.
She found the very heat of him without anymore urging. The moment her hands clasped him, he groaned and rubbed the wet head of his shaft into her palms.
“So good,” she breathed. “So big and hard.” Her fingers brushed him and set his libido on fire. She stroked him, pumping as he panted and plastered his mouth to hers. He stabbed her mouth with his tongue, thrusting the way he longed to with his cock. And as he imagined her finishing him, she closed her hands tighter around his shaft and broke the kiss. She caressed his balls with one hand while with the other she slid her fingers against the sensitive spot under his crown.
“Come in my hands, Romy,” she whispered. “You know you want to.” She nipped his earlobe and thrust her tongue in his ear, causing him to seriously lose it. Her touch, their danger…
“Damn, honey. That’s so good.” He tiled his head back, lost for the first time in his life. “I’m gonna come. So hard. But I want it all inside you. To fuck that sweet pussy. Tara.” He gripped her shoulders hard as she pumped him, and then another waft of her need surged between them. The scent of her overwhelmed him, as did her grip, and he exploded in her hands, drenching her with his seed. He cried out as he came, his orgasm both a relief and a disappointment, because he should have been inside her their first time.
“Oh, wow. So much. And you’re still hard.” She sounded amazed, drugged on the same lust he felt.
He wanted her to suck him off, to take him down her slender throat. And then she started to go down to her knees.
Romy lifted her up so that her breasts were level with his mouth. Her breasts tantalized, sweat making the shirt st
ick to her in places. He stared hard at her nipples, wanting to bite, to suckle and to slide his cock between those mounds.
He sucked her nipple through the cloth, loving the hard tip. She gasped, and he said to hell with it. He pulled the shirt off her and sucked on her tits, reveling in the sultry essence just under her skin. The taste of her made him hungry for more.
Her fingers clenched in his hair but didn’t pull. She held him fast, groaning her pleasure.
“So good. So pretty pink. I need to fuck these later,” he murmured, not sure what he said. He devoured her breasts, sucking and pinching while she squirmed in his arms.
Romy tore his mouth away and lifted her in his arms. He carried her to the closest wall and propped her against it, enthralled by the sight of her, half naked, her tits full and flushed, his come staining her shorts.
“You’re mine.” He didn’t recognize his voice, but he could hear the possession. Tara Drake belonged with him. He had to prove it to her.
Dropping to his knees, he stared hard at the wet crotch of her shorts and seconds later it vanished. She was bare, her skin smooth, hairless like the Otra. And the sight of that silky wet pussy pushed him past reason. He nudged her legs apart and latched onto her clit, licking up her sweet cream.
“Romy,” she cried out and gripped his shoulders for support. “Oh, yeah. Oh please. Don’t stop.” She moaned and clutched him tighter, her clit so hard and full.
He sucked her harder and shoved a finger inside her tight sheath, and she shattered.
Waves of energy pushed through him, catching his and melding with him. Her scent, her taste, forced him to take more. He shoved a second finger inside her, stretching her, preparing her for his entrance.
His cock felt too thick, too heavy. He needed to release inside his mate, to bond them together forever.
“Tara, I need you.”
“Yes. Yes, inside me,” she moaned, still coming. Her orgasm long and unwavering, and unusual even for an Otra.
He rose and lifted her, palming her ass as he lined up his cock with her wet pussy. She felt so hot, so damn good against his cockhead as he eased inside her.
“One thrust and you’re mine.” Always.
“Yours,” she agreed, her eyes so bright they looked like diamonds.
And then outside noise penetrated.
“Fuck.” Trotter’s men.
She squirmed and tried to lower herself onto him, lost in their embrace.
But Romy knew if he took her now, he wouldn’t stop. And they had to escape. As lost as he was right now, he’d never be able to control his abilities. And he had to protect Tara. Noting else mattered right now but his mate.
Romy used all his strength to leave her heat. He set her on her feet and moved back to quickly dress. Trying to cover up a massive hard-on wasn’t comfortable, but he managed. Tara didn’t move.
She stood, naked and dazed, her gaze fixed to him with an unnatural hunger.
“I know it hurts. But not here.” He shook his head, wishing for calm, but was unable to relax his racing heartbeat, or his maddening cock. “I need time to give you what you need, honey.”
“I want you now.” The strength of her psychei threatened to drag him back to her.
To his shock, the woman had more power than he’d suspected. Hell, more than he’d felt in anyone in a long, long time. He took a step closer and shook his head.
“Tara, I—” She cupped her breast and held it out to him. Her other hand sought her pussy. She started fucking herself with her fingers, and he nearly lost it.
“Damn.” Romy blew out a breath. “Please. Those men out there want to take you. Trotter wants to be here, fucking you. And he’s a monster. I’m the man for you, Tara. Look at me.”
He met her blazing eyes and reached her on the psychic plane. “Tara, we have to go. I swear we’ll finish this as soon as it’s safe. I have to keep you safe.”
“R-Romy?” She sounded dazed. “I—Oh God. What am I doing?” She took her hands from her body. Embarrassment pulsed in her aura. “I’m out of control. I can’t think. I want you so much. And I barely know you!”
“You will soon enough. Come on.”
“I’m not dressed.”
He grabbed a blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her, then bent down to grab her tiny statue and put it in her hands.
Footsteps sounded on the porch. A lot of them. Romy concentrated and sensed a dozen Otra surrounding the house, Jonah Trotter one of them.
“Drowe, I know you’re in there,” Trotter yelled. “Open the fucking door. Tara!”
“Hell. Hold on,” Romy warned. He called on his psychei and hers and mentally reached out to the location of his vehicle outside. Then he did something he’d never done before. He teleported them both, together. With any luck, we won’t die in the temporal stream, were his last thoughts before he saw black.
Sitting in his moving hovercraft with Romec beside her, Tara could barely make sense of anything. Somehow, they’d moved from her house to this vehicle. She wore nothing but a blanket, her body vibrated with sexual need, and she could still smell Romec all over her. Could feel his seed on her belly, now dried and a bit sticky, but there all the same, marking her. Changing her. Remembering the feel of him in her hands, the smooth silk of his release, that iron hard erection she wanted thrust inside her, everywhere…
“Shit, Tara.” Romec was breathing hard, his gaze a burning silver as he glared at her before focusing again on the road. “You’ve got to think of something else. Trotter’s men aren’t far behind, and I’m having trouble concentrating as it is without your needs running through my mind.”
“Hmm.” She cradled her breasts, imagining his fingers pinching her, fondling her. She opened the blanket and ran her hands down her body, pushing past her wet folds into her pussy. A glance next to her showed sweat glistening on his forehead as he clenched his jaw. He refused to look at her. “Romec.”
“Romy,” he growled, his voice echoing oddly in the small confines of the vehicle.
“Romy,” she purred. “You concentrate on the road, and I’ll concentrate on what I want, what I need.”
“Tara—”
A stranger had taken possession of her body, a woman with erotic thoughts and desires, and one who fully intended to break the stubborn will of the male next to her. Desire didn’t fully describe her feelings for Romy. The physical hunger she understood. He was handsome, muscular, and he knew exactly what to do with his hands and mouth. But underneath the physical attraction she sensed a kindred spirit, a man who didn’t quite fit anywhere else, but he’d fit her. She couldn’t explain how she knew, but she did. Healing things was her specialty. And she had a feeling only she could heal the holes in Romy’s heart.
Then that all-consuming hunger flared once more. Until she felt his huge cock inside her, she wouldn’t be satisfied.
“My breasts are full. My nipples hard and sensitive,” she whispered and heard him groan. He shifted in his seat, and she stared at the erection straining his jeans. “I’m so wet, so slick between my thighs. I’m dripping on the seat.”
“Fuck.”
“I want to feel you inside me. I want your cock pounding me, taking me to places I’ve never been. Your energy is pulsing all around me, and I can still smell your cum, feel you as you erupted over my hands.” In trying to arouse him, she pitched herself past the point of no return.
“Enough, veyou.” His voice sounded anything but calm.
“I can’t help it.” She fingered her swollen clit, plucking the taut flesh with desperation. She moaned and tilted her head back, needing to come so badly she could taste it. “Romy, what’s happening to me?”
He remained quiet, and she heard nothing but the sound of their mingled breathing, heavy and erratic.
“You’re in Selection,” he rasped, turning the wheel a hard right. “And I’m in The Testing, a male’s equivalent of Selection. We need each other, Tara. More than you know.” He muttered in an alien tongue be
fore he continued, “I don’t think you’re going to last much longer. Hell, I doubt I’m going to make it.”
She rubbed harder, feeling empty, her satisfaction out of reach. She needed him inside her with a force that shook her. “Romy, please. I need you. Can’t you pull over?”
He glanced at the dash display and shook his head. “Not yet, baby. Look, just follow my lead and lay back.”
Held in sway by his husky voice, she leaned back.
“Now touch your breasts with my hands.”
Not sure what he meant, she gasped to feel his touch through her palms. Caressing, cupping and fondling her breasts, she moaned as she felt his mouth over her nipple, teasing it with lips that weren’t there.
“I’m in your head, Tara. I’m with you, while I’m next to you. Remember the bathtub,” he rasped and continued to torment her. His hands, his mouth, stimulating her anew.
“That was you?”
“Even then, yeah.” He palmed his cock through his pants. “Now slide those hands down, over your tight belly. Hmm, yes. Right over where I marked you. You’re mine, Tara. My iriu.” Before she could ask, he explained, “My mate.”
She should have rejected the notion, but the blissful feelings evoked by his acknowledgement brought her perilously close to orgasm.
“That’s it, veyou,” he crooned and turned the car down a dark road, leaving them blind to normal sight, at least until Tara’s eyesight shifted and she could see using alien senses. He parked between some trees off a side road. “To hell with Trotter. I can’t wait any longer.”
Not able to think much beyond what she hungered for, she watched him disappear out the door before he pulled her door open and dragged her out as well. In seconds he had his mouth over hers, his jeans and underwear down around his knees. Primal excitement burst deep in her womb.
Now. Yes. This is what I need.
“I tried, but I can’t wait any longer.” He backed her against the hovercraft, and she felt the apology radiating from his soul, along with a desire so deep she couldn’t believe it to be real.