by Rena Marks
“My only regret is having to wait the weekend with such a lovely woman waiting on me.” He bowed, kissing her hand. The earpiece he wore cackled a bit. He looked a bit irritated as he fidgeted with it. “If you’ll excuse me?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll look forward to visiting later when you’re all checked in.”
She smiled again, making it seem warm. “As do I.”
Once he left, she spoke but avoided looking at the men. “Let’s take our luggage to our suite and get started, shall we?”
WHEN THEY REACHED THEIR suite, Reson scanned the room for cameras. Finding one located in the artfully arranged silk flowers in the living room, he calmly went to the kitchen and retrieved a glass of water.
“What are you doing?” Blaze asked with amusement.
“I don’t want these flowers to die.”
Irina jumped in. “Oh, hon, those aren’t nat—”
He poured the glass over all, hearing the popping and fizzing of the stem that contained the camera.
“Well, something smells like it short-circuited,” Irina grinned.
“Oops. I guess you’re not supposed to water silk flowers? My bad.”
“You feel free to explore this bold new world, sunshine. You can’t be expected to know what flowers are watered on a floating city.”
“Are you sneaking down to the facilities tonight?” Reson asked.
“No, I think they’ll be expecting something tonight. Instead, I’d like to wait for tomorrow afternoon. Blaze has aroused the curiosity of many people. This time, during a break of a large lecture, maybe he can draw out a crowd? Show them your wings bursting forth, explain how it was first discovered, stuff like that? Keep them visiting and Reson and I will slip away and down to the labs.”
“You have faith in my abilities to schmooze the humans?”
“Complete faith, sexy schmoozer.”
“Ditto,” Reson said with an eye roll. “I’m headed to my room so you two can reassure each other that Irina wasn’t really interested in the tall suave owner of these facilities. Don’t forget to tumble your bed before retiring,” he said to Blaze.
Irina giggled.
“What’s so funny, beautiful?” Blaze asked, scooping her into his arms.
“Where did you guys think I disappeared to while he was snuffing out the flowers?”
“Aww. I’m touched. You were rolling in my bed?”
“Oh, yeah,” she whispered as he kissed her neck on the way to her bedroom. “I messed it up real good. Looks like you were in it all night.”
He closed the door behind them softly then placed her on her feet. Very slowly, he began to undress her.
“I need you. It was all I could do to not grab him by the throat and toss him from the rooftop of the building.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. He may have been testing my relationship with the Xeno Sapiens to see how far it went.”
“This is how far it goes.”
Her blouse was unbuttoned first, and he caressed her soft skin as he pushed it from her shoulders.
“You’re mine, Irina. No one else gets to do this.”
“Never,” she agreed.
Her form-fitting pants were pushed down long legs, and he kneeled to remove her boots before tugging the rest of the pants from her bare feet.
“Blaze,” she whispered.
He couldn’t help but press a kiss to her mound as he rose. His hands slid behind her back to her bra, and he released it, sliding the straps from her arms.
He pressed a kiss to each nipple.
“Blaze!” she whispered louder.
“Mmm?”
“Are we going to do this with Reson next door?”
“If you can be quiet and stop whispering,” he chided with a smile. “Not a word. No matter what I do to you.”
“What are you going to do?” she whispered, somewhat intrigued.
“Glue my face between your thighs until you come all over my tongue. I’ll lap all your juices until you’re ready to come again.”
“Blaze!” She tried to keep her voice low. “You know I always scream out your name when I come.”
His smile was a little evil. “You’re going to have to hold back.”
He backed her to the bed, forcing her backward.
A small giggle burst from her lips. “We can’t. Not with Reson next door.”
“Shh, beautiful. Spread those thighs and watch me.”
She did as he asked, and watched as he stripped for her. His shirt came off first. It took her breath away as the bulge of his muscles was exposed, the flat of his belly. His pants were dropped so slowly, inching down over a thick cock that was hard and ready for her. His thighs were magnificent, thick and perfect.
He looked down at her form. Her legs were bent at the knees and spread wide. He crawled along the bed until he was lined up with her core and then he delved in.
The first pass of his tongue was electric across her super-sensitized flesh. She gasped out loud.
“Shh.”
She bit her lip as he speared his tongue and breached her entrance. She squirmed against the bed, trying so hard to hold her moans. But when he lifted her butt in his large hands and pressed her up against his face, she couldn’t help it.
“Blaze!”
“Shh, beautiful. No noises.”
His mouth closed over her clit, tonguing her swollen flesh repeatedly. Her heart hammered as she grew closer to her release. She scooted up to look down the line of her body. Seeing his head plastered between her legs was the hottest thing she’d ever seen.
Or so she thought.
His eyes blazed as bright as his hair as he crawled over her with his huge, bobbing erection. Moisture seeped from the tip and she reached down to smear it. He snarled at her touch, and she was almost sure Reson heard it. There was no way not to.
He poised his erection at her entrance and slid it through her moistness. She moaned, which was cut off by his hand over her mouth.
“Shh.”
Somehow, being forced to be quiet was even more erotic. She swept her legs up over his shoulders, and he began to move in earnest, his hips giving a little circle at the end of his thrust. She panted against his hand and he inserted his finger into her mouth, which she sucked on.
His hips moved faster, his thrusts deeper.
“I love you so much.” His voice held a depth of emotion.
The orgasm ripped through her, jerking her limbs as she arched her back. His hand tightened, keeping her quiet as she enjoyed the throes of her pounding passion.
Blaze tossed his head back. The muscles of his neck stood out as he gritted his teeth and flooded her body with his release.
THE DAY WOULD BE EASIER than planned.
Several people covertly watched them at breakfast, and a few people invited them to join. They did because she wanted to get people used to Blaze so he could provide a huge distraction later.
By the time the lectures began, they caused quite a bit of commotion as they sat in. People tried to avoid staring, but it was an oddity to have Xeno Sapiens present in their midst. After the lecture, several people around them introduced themselves though it was mostly to satisfy their curiosity.
Blaze took to it like a pro, shaking hands. Soon he was deep in discussion with a man while Reson acted more as her guard.
“Who’d have thought he’d take your advice to heart?” Reson muttered under his breath.
“He’s a social butterfly,” Irina whispered back.
From a few feet away, Blaze turned to her and winked. He excused himself from the crowd, making them laugh when he ruefully exclaimed he was a bodyguard in training and kept forgetting to focus. He approached her side.
“Robyn’s trying to reach you.”
“Oh!” She tapped on her wristlet.
Sorry! I forgot to turn the thing on. Can you hear me?
I can. You also forgot your glasses.
Irina scrambled for them in her purse and slap
ped them on.
Better?
Much. Spying is so much easier when I can see and hear. Her voice was wry.
“Dr. Mescar.” The voice echoed from across the room. Irina turned to see James Matschessi look at her a bit more possessively as he approached her.
“Dr. Matschessi.”
“James, please.” He reached out to clasp her hand, running his thumb along the top of her hand. It was revolting to have anyone but Blaze touch her so intimately.
She tried to smile warmly. “What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to remind you that the focal lecture will be held by me in the largest room. Get there early for the best seat.”
“I already planned to. I’m looking forward to it.”
His daughter planned the lecture though he’ll take the credit as the speaker. They intend to sell pre-fabricated laboratories set up for pheromone study, complete with vacuum pressure. Pretend the labs are the reason why you are attending. You’d like to start a lab in Xenia.
Irina licked her lip, aware of Dr. Matschessi’s gaze on her tongue. “Your lecture was the main reason why I signed up for the conference. I’ve heard wonderful things about these new model labs, and I hope they can work for us.”
“If I wasn’t so pressed for time this weekend, I could give you a private tour of the facilities and a sampling of what our pre-fabricated labs are like.”
Blaze spoke. “Perhaps you have another board member who could show us?”
Dr. Matschessi’s attention turned to Blaze. “The only one who is as familiar with the new system as me would be my daughter, Lorelei. You could try tracking her down, but she’s not one for crowds.” His smile was condescending.
Irina smiled. “We’ll look for her, but if we don’t find her, I can certainly wait until our time on Monday. Perhaps you can show me after our lunch?”
The distraction worked. “It would be my pleasure.” He bent at the waist and kissed her fingers before leaving arrogantly, without a word to the two Xeno Sapiens with her.
Good job. No problem not finding his daughter this weekend. She’s known to avoid public events.
“Robyn says the daughter avoids events, so no worries about having to seek her out,” Irina said.
“He’s going to be a strutting peacock during his lecture, showing off for our gorgeous Dr. Mescar,” Reson said.
Irina huffed. “Gorgeous? He has dollar signs swirling around his head. He’s counting up how many pre-fab labs he can ship off to us.”
When they attended the focal lecture, they purposely sat with a different crowd of people. Blaze made sure to shake the hands of the people he’d had breakfast with and invited them to meet with him in a lecture room after the first program. Irina was so proud of him. He had so many attendees eating out of his hand already. She had to stop herself from reaching out to kiss him, or squeeze his hand.
She had to settle for rubbing her arm against him as they sat. Since his chest was broader than most, and with the equally large Reson on her other side, there was no way to avoid touching as she sat between them.
Unfortunately, Reson was correct when he described Dr. Matschessi as a strutting peacock.
After the program, they made their way slowly to an empty lecture room. It was slow going because Blaze worked the crowds in the lobby, pausing every few steps to recruit more followers. It took forever just to get into the room. Once there, the group they had breakfast with called out to him.
“Blaze! Blaze, over here.”
“Well, damn,” Reson whispered. “He’s fucking magic.”
She grinned at him. “We’ll sit in the outer edges of the crowd so we can slip away.”
Even though she’d been present when Blaze’s wings first erupted, she found herself entranced by the tale as he distracted the crowd, walking back and forth. He was so handsome, so majestic. He was real, not smoothly practiced and condescending, like James Matschessi. People watched James because of his status. People watched Blaze because they wanted to. She’d almost forgotten their purpose until Reson touched her elbow. Quietly, the two of them slipped out, noticing Blaze was focused on building anticipation for the crowd. They wanted to see his wings and they wanted to see him fly. He’d have to move them into the lobby to do that because the ceilings were vaulted. Hell, he could even give a few rides to people to buy them more time. So far the plan was working like a charm.
Robyn sounded in her head. I’ve blocked the cameras in the west wing. Make your way downstairs from that direction.
Irina looked around the hallway, giving Robyn a visual of where all the cameras were located. She probably already knew, but at least she knew the placement of the building.
Take that service elevator.
She and Reson headed toward it.
As soon as they entered and the doors shut, Robyn said, “I’m going to override the system. It will take you to the security clearance facilities. I’ll only have a minute to revert the elevator to its usual programming, so I need you to make your way quickly to the lab area and get inside.”
Her heart pounded as she and Reson ran down the hallway. Once they were in the lab area, they shut the door behind them. It was a small waiting room. Beyond the room was a huge metal door that pinged green as they approached.
Irina pushed it open.
The two of them entered to see the most magnificent set-up. A sleek room filled with shiny, smooth metal and slick glass. Hologram keyboards at every table.
It was a dream come true.
Cameras are disabled. The outer door to the waiting area is jammed. I’ll lose connection when you get inside because I’m scrambling all the signals. You’ll have to get back out to the waiting area to resume connection so I can get you out safely.
Got it.
Irina pushed up her sleeves and got to work.
Chapter Ten
She was lost in her work, Covet’s blood and tissue samples spinning in the reader as she tried to get the computers to match any compatibility from old Earth DNA discoveries.
Finally, a ping sounded that let her know the samples recorded successfully.
A dim pounding sounded before her distracted brain could register where it came from.
“Irina!” Reson’s voice warned her.
A commotion sounded outside the doors.
It was thrust open to reveal a petite woman with her chestnut hair in a messy bun. She wore a short skirt instead of pants but had an identification badge around her neck.
Reson stood next to her, looking at Irina like he wanted a signal as to what to do.
“Who are you?” the woman demanded.
“Close the door,” Irina said to Reson.
The woman had her thumb on a tubular device. “This alarm will have the highest security raining down here. I demand to know what’s going on.”
“I’m Dr. Irina Mescar. I work with the Xeno Sapiens. Look, I know this is unorthodox. But you have facilities and breakthroughs with hormonal responses that we desperately need. One of my patients is sick, and we can’t find what’s wrong with him.” Irina splayed out her hands, trying to appear non-threatening, but wincing at the white gloves that looked so clinical. It was hard to appear caring and clinical at the same time. “I’m afraid he’ll die.”
The woman looked at Reson behind her. “And this one?”
“That’s Reson. Blaze, the other one, is distracting the conference right now. It’s their best friend, Covet, who’s ill.”
“I’m Lorelei Matschessi.”
“As in the United Matschessi Medical Program?” Irina wanted to groan. This was the crowd-avoiding daughter.
The woman nodded. “These labs are recorded. You can’t get away with just coming in here and using our facilities.”
“We’ve hacked the system. Obviously,” Irina said drily, motioning the door. “How did you get through the outer door?”
“I have a...tunnel system. A vent in that room. When the door was jammed, I circumvented the steel do
or to see what was wrong.”
It was just a fluke they’d been discovered.
“What’s wrong with your friend?”
“That’s what we’re trying desperately to figure out. His first symptom was to avoid mated couples. He started seeing me as his doctor instead of...Dr. Robyn Saraven.” Irina wasn’t sure if everyone was aware of Amanda also being with a Xeno Sapien, but everyone did know of Robyn and Steele’s relationship. It was controversial, to say the least. “But, to be honest,” she took a deep breath. “Shortly after he started seeing me, I began a relationship with Blaze. Covet wasn’t aware, but I think the pheromones emitted between the two of us began to change him. It was like he unconsciously craved them...but they also make him crazy.”
The woman nodded to go on. So far she was being open minded.
“His personality changed during the day—we determined it was sleepwalking, which meant he was so tired he’d fall out of consciousness for brief moments. Now he has excruciating pain in his midsection and his organs have moved upward into his chest cavity. A thickened piece of skin surrounds his midsection and it’s impenetrable to scan.”
“Surgery?”
“We’ll only attempt it as a last resort. His blood type isn’t human, and while we have some records on his other DNA, we haven’t been able to recreate a synthetic.”
There was a moment’s silence as the woman studied them.
“I’m going to help you,” she said, a wary eye on Reson. “For one reason only. Because I can.”
She walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a laptop.
Irina froze, her heart felt like it would leap from her throat. Lorelei could easily blow everything. But they really had no choice but to trust Lorelei. She could have sounded the alarm already.
“Do you have a sample of his blood?” Lorelei asked.
“Yes.” She picked up the vial, swabbed a bit, and strode around the desk to hand it to Lorelei. She placed it under a hologram of a microscope. Then she scanned it.
Reson caught her eye. “Steele wishes to know what’s happening. Robyn is aware a computer has been accessed from inside the lab even with the scrambled system. She’s lifted the signals.”