by Mina Carter
The sound of a female in distress was unmistakable and far more distressing than Saal would have guessed. Without females of his own race, it was something he’d never heard before. Something unique. Other races didn’t make quite the same sounds when they were scared. The oonat made low cooing sounds, the Krynassis hissed according to the historical records… no one had ever been near enough to an actual lizard female in recent memory to find out. And the Krin… Yeah, he wasn’t sure those draanthic ever felt distress.
But this sound, the breathy cries of panic, hooked right into his hind-brain and he was instantly on alert, his body ready and primed for battle. His hands tightened on the scythe he was using to cut the long grasses in the lower borders as he turned his head this way and that, trying to isolate the sound.
There, left of midline. He took off without thinking about it, the cries threatening to tear his heart right from his chest. That was Lizzie. He knew it was. How he knew, he didn’t have a clue. The knowledge just welled up from the center of his soul and he snarled. No one would hurt Lizzie while he drew breath.
He raced through the gardens, using the hidden paths only the plant-keepers knew about. Instead of racing across the main lawn, he hung a sharp left and plowed through the xariista patch. His calves bashing the stems forced the blooms to release their spores and he breathed them in. Instantly, the world came into sharper focus, and his limbs felt energized, as though he could take on the Izaea themselves and win. Gritting his teeth, he dug deeper for more speed and raced toward where the sounds were coming from.
Crashing through the hedgerow, he found three males surrounding Lizzie in the empress’s pergola, her face a mask of fear. There was no way out. They’d covered every avenue of escape the little female had. He’d wanted a glimpse of her in her ballgown, but not like this.
“With a fertile human female, my sons will be strong,” the one at the front leered, crowding her. “Then when you’ve borne my young… maybe I’ll let my men have a taste of human pussy.”
“How about you have a taste of this instead,” Saal growled and swung the scythe. At the last moment he flicked the blade to inactive, the handle catching the warrior behind the ear. He crumpled instantly, all animation gone from his body as he sprawled over the floor.
The other two snarled, yanking their blades free to advance on Saal. He bared his teeth and activated the blade. He’d had the element of surprise with the first one, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think he could take these two unarmed.
The quiet hum of the blade drew their attention and he smiled without humor.
“Want to try it? I can assure you, it’s sharp enough to harvest pilaris root,” he told them, naming a crop that was harder than Lathar bone to cut through. “But if you fancy your chances…”
He saw their nerve fail before they moved, the subtle withdrawing of the mind before the body reacted. First one took a step back, not looking at his companion, and then the other. At the same moment they both turned and made a run for it, leaving Saal looking after them with grim determination.
“Ohmygodthankgodyou’rehere!”
He barely had time to deactivate the blade before Lizzie launched herself into his arms, clinging tightly to him. Instinctively, he wrapped her up in his embrace, holding her close to his body. She was trembling and crying, hot tears leaking from her eyes to bathe the naked skin of his chest, which was revealed by his parted work waistcoat. He had to bite back the snarl that wanted to well up, his instincts urging him to wake the draanthic sprawled at their feet and shove him in a ring to take him apart piece by piece with the scythe.
He held it inside, though, the need to comfort his female winning out. Her needs would always win out, he realized, even over his baser, warlike nature. Unless her life was in danger… then all bets were off.
“Shhh,” he murmured, his lips buried against her hair. Goddess help him, he liked her clinging to him like this. He had dreamed about it all night last night, his rest disturbed by the soul-deep need to claim her and make her his own. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
“They wanted… They nearly…” She couldn’t get the words out, her voice trailing off in horror. Once again, he wanted to grab the electro-scythe and carve all three warriors into little pieces for scaring his female.
Because she was his female. Never mind that he hadn’t claimed her yet, that he didn’t have bond marks around his wrists. She was his and that was all there was to it. The gods wouldn’t have brought them together if they didn’t intend for her to be his.
“Shhh… don’t think about it. They didn’t. I was here.”
And thank the gods he’d decided to roster onto the gardens this evening. If he hadn’t… A cold chill rolled down his spine and he closed his eyes. Her three attackers had been A’Raant, a clan not known for their kind and loving natures. If they’d managed to spirit her out of the palace grounds… No, he wouldn’t even think about that.
“Please…” she begged softly, nestling closer to him. “I can’t go back inside. Get me out of here.”
“Your wish is my command, my lady,” he murmured, bending down to scoop her up. She barely weighed anything physically, but he felt her small, curvy form against his chest like the feeling was branded all the way down to his very soul.
Leaving the fallen A’Raant behind to be recovered by his cowardly relatives, Saal strode from the gardens with his precious female in his arms.
5
Saal had been there to save her. Impossibly, but he had been. She’d been praying for something, anything… and there he’d been, crashing through the hedge like an avenging hero. She’d never been so relieved to see anyone in her entire life.
Carried through the corridors in Saal’s arms, Lizzie laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She felt safe and content. Okay, maybe not content. She was aware of every movement he made and the strength of his body against hers. It caused her breathing to shorten and the butterflies in her stomach to go into overdrive.
The corridors seemed empty, so they didn’t pass anyone on the way to her rooms. Her lips quirked when he didn’t ask directions. “You did your homework then.”
He grunted, the softest sound in the back of his throat, as he shouldered open the door. “Homework? I do garden work for the palace and work in the healer’s hall. I do not work in homes.”
She chuckled, opening her eyes to look at him as he carried her through into her bedroom. Her fingertips trailed over the line of his shoulder, flirting with his collarbone. “I meant you’d found out where they put me.”
“Yeah… I did. Cost me a few favors though.” His little glance sideways as he stood by her bed was swift and full of dark heat. She sucked a breath in as he released her, looking away and giving her room to breathe.
“Lizzie…” he started and then closed his eyes. “Tell me to put you down and leave.”
“Why would I do a thing like that?” She didn’t want him to leave. She felt safe with him. Safe and… not safe at all, but in an entirely different way, which made her shiver and want to press her thighs closer together.
His eyes snapped open and he pinned her with his pale gaze. It was like looking into a white-hot flame and seared her right the way down to her soul.
“Because if you don’t, I am going to claim you,” he said bluntly.
Her heartrate spiked at the roughness in his voice. “And that’s a problem how?”
He growled, his expression tight.
“I’m not joking or playing about, Lizzie. If I stay, I will lay you down on this bed, strip every stitch off your gorgeous body and not stop taking you until the suns rise.”
She held his gaze levelly, even though a flush rose on her cheeks. “Again. Not seeing a problem with that.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw and he barked a short laugh. “Okay, I’m done playing nice. I gave you an out. Asked nicely. Now… you’re mine.”
His mouth crashed down over hers, sending a spike of heat t
hrough her blood. He parted her lips with a hard sweep of his tongue and drove within as he dropped her knees. She slid down the front of his body, her small sound of surprise and pleasure lost under his kiss. He drove his free hand into the now loose fall of her hair, the other in the small of her back as he walked her backward onto the bed.
She gasped, tearing her mouth from his and clinging to his broad shoulders as she fell backward. But he was with her, her smaller frame protected by the cage of his arms around her. They hit the bed, him braced over her as he bent his head and kissed her again.
Only it wasn’t just a kiss.
This time there was no exploration. No gentle teasing and testing of her responses. All that was gone to be replaced by hunger and need. She whimpered and clung to him, her hand latching in the loose fall of his hair, freeing it from the tie at the nape of his neck to fall around his shoulders.
She moved with him, against him, answering each demanding kiss with one of her own. It had been too long since she’d done this… but she didn’t feel nervous. Instead, it felt right. Like she knew everything about him, deep down. Like she’d spent a lifetime looking and waiting for him, but at the same time like she’d known him all her life.
He groaned, the sound containing an edge of a growl as the heat between them ramped up to inferno levels. Hands pulled at her dress. She wasn’t sure whose, hers or his, but she didn’t care. Before long she was naked beneath him. When she’d first seen Latharian fashion, she’d been scandalized by the lack of underwear, but now… seeing the dark heat flare in his eyes…
“Mine…” he murmured in reverence, his hand spreading out over her stomach, stroking down across the soft skin.
She chuckled, pulling him down for another kiss. “I think you have that the wrong way around, handsome. You’re mine.”
She kissed him, the aggressor this time, and he groaned. But she hadn’t been prepared for the response she got. With an easy strength he turned them over so she straddled him on the bed. A shiver hit her as he plundered her mouth, his hand sliding between her thighs. He growled as he parted her pussy lips with strong fingers, only to have them bathed in the wet heat of her need.
Breaking the kiss, he watched her as his thumb grazed her clit, causing her to shudder in response and bite her lip.
“That’s good,” she managed. “Oh, god yes…”
It wouldn’t take her long, not like this. He seemed to know just how to touch her. How? Her analytical brain wanted to know. If the Lathar had no women, how did he know how to do this? The feminine, primitive part of her brain chased such thoughts off, wanting more of the delicious sensation.
“No gods required…” he breathed, kissing along her neck as he teased her with quick strokes. “Just your mate.”
Her nails bit half-moon crescents into his shoulder as she tried to hold still for him. He blew that out of the water, though, when he found the entrance to her body and slid a finger deep into the silken embrace of her pussy.
“Ohhh…” She bit out as he groaned again, her ability to frame a sentence gone. She didn’t know who she was, where she was… all that mattered was him and what he was doing to her.
“Oh gods, you’re tight,” he murmured and added a second finger, stroking her within slowly. She arched her back, rocking her hips to ride his hand. “So tight and wet. I’ll be careful. I promise.”
A soft bark of laughter escaped her. “You don’t need to be. Oh god, do that more…”
She rode his hand, chasing the pleasure he offered. He worked her body, scissoring his fingers to stretch her and prepare her for his possession. She moaned as he found her g-spot, pressing against it in a way that made her hips buck.
“That’s it,” he murmured, his free hand at the back of her neck to hold her in place as he pressed again, forcing her to accept the hard pleasure. She whimpered, her breathing coming in short hard pants as he teased her, both with clever fingers and the promise of the withheld kiss.
“Come for me, beautiful. I want your pleasure.”
She bit her lip, lost in his eyes. Then his thumb pressed down over her clit hard and she shattered. Her pleasure was softly voiced, a gentle cry as her hips ground against his hand, her pussy clenching hard around his fingers. He folded her in his arms, holding her tightly as her rapture washed over her. Soft strokes of his fingers within her teased her climax out. She shuddered as the waves decreased until they were little ripples.
He pulled out, turning them over on the bed. She lay back against the sheets as he sat up, undressing and discarding his clothes unheeded on the floor. He was back in a heartbeat, his gaze intent on her as he braced himself over her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, his knee parting her thighs so he could settle between them.
She smiled and reached up to push his hair back from his face, her thumb grazing the stubbled line of his jaw. Her lips parted as he pressed against her. The thick, hard head of his cock brushed against her pussy lips and a savage ache shot through her. She needed this, needed him with an intensity she’d never encountered before.
“Oh…” she managed as he began to press in, one hand in his hair and the other against his broad chest. Her eyes widened. He was huge, much bigger than any human guy she’d been with.
“Draanth,” he cursed, his jaw clenching as he managed to get inside her half an inch. It was lucky he’d already made her come, so the slickness from her previous climax aided his penetration. She rocked her hips, lifting her legs to try and help, but it took him a few thrusts to get angled right. Then her eyes crossed as he thrust and gained a few inches.
“Oh fuck!” she hissed with her hand still tight in his hair.
He moved and slid inside her even more. His deep groan wrapped around her softer moans in the air as he pulled back and then surged forward again. With short, sharp movements of his hips he pushed into her as she wrapped herself around him. Bracing himself on one elbow over her, he slid the other hand up her thigh to hold her leg up close to his body. Conversation between them was limited to soft sighs and pleasure-filled moans.
Then he filled her completely, throbbing in the silken embrace of her body, and stilled. She held her breath, feeling herself stretched tightly around his thick, invading shaft. He leaned down and kissed her. His kiss was filled with raw, primal need as he began to move.
It was slow at first, and she could tell the effort cost him. His body was tight with tension and control in every line as he pulled back and slid into her again. She whimpered at the sensation—a long, slow ride of utter pleasure.
“Oh god, more… please, Saal.”
She felt his control crack at her words. When he thrust into her the next time, the dam had shattered. She cried out in pleasure. The pace he set up was hard and powerful… so hot it was unreal.
She clung to him as he took her, every inch of his large, powerful body bent to pleasure. To claiming her and making her his. To owning her and branding her soul. Soft pleas and whimpers filled the air around them to match his masculine groans. Reaching up, she offered her lips to him, an offer he didn’t refuse as he claimed her mouth again in a torrid kiss.
Pleasure became deeper, harder… hotter as the bed rocked beneath them. She couldn’t stop touching him, hardly believing this amazing man was hers. He knew how to touch her, how to make her burn, and she wanted nothing more than to go up in flames in his arms again.
She didn’t have to wait long, her body beginning to tighten again almost immediately.
“Saal… I’m going to… oh god, Saal!” she screamed as she came again, clamping down over his thick cock.
He growled and pulled her closer, sliding his arm beneath her and wrapping a big hand across the back of her neck and shoulder as he sped up. She watched him as pleasure washed over her, each heavy thrust making sparks fly through her veins. His face contorted in need, cords standing out in his neck as he powered into her a couple of times… then he threw his head back and roared as he came, his cock jerking
and pulsing deeply within her.
Filling her with his seed.
Branding her with it.
Claiming her as his own.
* * *
Oh. My. God.
She’d fucked an alien and it was Ah-Maze-Ing. Lizzie woke the next morning with the biggest smile over her face. The soft warmth of first sunrise was just beginning to creep through the blinds as she turned on her side to study Saal. He was still fast asleep on his back. He hadn’t sprawled out over the bed, nor was he a cover hog. In fact, the only thing she could possibly complain about was the fact that he hadn’t let her have much sleep. If she was looking for a reason, which she totally wasn’t.
She bit her lip as her gaze wandered over his handsome profile. Stamina wasn’t the word. He’d kept her up all night and now she was sore in some very pleasant places. And probably hoarse, what with the amount of screaming she’d been doing.
Lizzie didn’t consider herself innocent. If anything, she thought she was more than competent in bed… previous boyfriends had certainly had no complaints. But her sexy alien blew every guy she’d ever been with out of the water. Not only did he have the stamina and the equipment to match it, but he also knew what to do with it. And in her opinion, there was nothing more disappointing than a man with a good dick—not too long, but nice and thick—only to find out that his entire sexual repertoire consisted of thrusting it in and out. Cock was nice, but it wasn’t the be all and end all of a good sex session.
Saal wasn’t like that. He had the D and knew what he was doing with a woman. She’d come so many times she’d lost count, and it hadn’t escaped her notice that he always saw to her pleasure first.
“You just going to watch? Or say good morning?” Saal smiled, his eyes still closed. Then he opened one, spearing her with a light blue gaze rendered turquoise by the shaft of sunlight that played across his face. “Because I have some ideas about how I’d like to bid you good morning.”