“No, open your eyes.”
“What?” His command surprised her. Nadiah looked at him and saw that his own truegreen eyes were blazing with lust and desire.
“Keep them open,” Rast directed, thrusting even deeper and harder into her as he spoke. “I want to see…don’t want to miss the moment when they turn.”
“All…all right,” Nadiah whispered. Leaning her forehead against his, she looked into his eyes, giving her all, making herself as open as she could as she worked her hips to the rhythm of their mutual pleasure.
“”That’s good,” Rast growled softly. “Can’t wait…to see it. Can’t wait to make you come.”
Nadiah didn’t think she had far to go. The intensity of having him inside her, filling her and the jolting burst of pleasure she felt with each hard thrust as he pressed against the mouth of her womb was quickly pushing her over the edge. She just needed one more thing, just needed…she wasn’t sure what she needed, but something to make her lose control completely. “Please, Rast,” she gasped. “Please, I’m so close. I just can’t…quite get there.”
“I’ll take you there, sweetheart.” Rast moved one large hand from her ass to slide around in front where they were joined. Nadiah moaned as he found her pussy and the broad pad of his thumb came to rest directly on her sensitive clit. He stroked gently but firmly over her swollen button, sending shards of brilliant pleasure that radiated from her clit to every single part of her body.
Suddenly Nadiah couldn’t take it any more. The feeling of being filled…of being fucked, taken and owned by the male she loved overcame her. The bomb which had been ticking inside her from the first suddenly went off—an intense internal explosion of pleasure. As if that wasn’t enough, the feeling of Rast’s feathers against her skin somehow magnified it, making her feel the orgasm in every part of her body at once.
Nadiah was lost—utterly lost and drowning in a sea of sensation. “Oh,” she sobbed. “Oh yes…yes…Goddess, yes!”
“That’s right, sweetheart, come for me,” Rast growled. “Come hard, love to feel you coming all over my cock.” He pulled out and then thrust into her one last time, shoving his shaft as deeply into her as he could. Then Nadiah felt him swell even bigger and suddenly he was coming, bathing the mouth of her womb in hot spurts as he held her tight against him.
A strange feeling began inside her. A feeling like she was melting from the inside out. A rush of heat enveloped her body, starting at her core, where Rast was inside her to the hilt, and ending in her eyes which felt like they were glowing like hot coals.
“Oh!’ Nadiah gasped and clutched at Rast’s shoulders. It wasn’t a painful sensation but it was an intense one—once more, made even more intense by the soft feathers of his wings brushing every part of her naked body. Goddess, so good, her mind babbled. So good, so good, so good!
“I agree with you, sweetheart—it’s incredible,” she heard Rast murmur and realized that he was talking inside her head.
“Rast?” She looked at him in wonder as the intense pleasure finally began to ebb. “Rast can you…can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I can.” He sounded surprised and a little confused. “Is this normal after sex?”
Nadiah felt the brush of feathers against her skin again and suddenly understood. “Not after regular sex—only after bonding sex,” she sent through their new link. “It’s the way Kindred warriors tie their females to them for life and every branch of the Kindred do it differently. Blood Kindred have to bite, Twin Kindred have to both take a female at the same time, Beast Kindred have to have their mating fist involved…I don’t know about regular First Kindred but with you, I think it has to do with your wings—having them around me while we made love made a difference. It gave us a much deeper connection.”
A look of cautious joy came over his face. “You mean this is really it? Nobody can ever separate us again?”
Nadiah nodded, feeling his joy overflowing through the link and filling her heart as well. “We just made a bond even deeper and stronger than the blood bond,” she told him. “One that can only be broken by death. We’ll be together forever now.”
“I could have told you that before, sweetheart.” Leaning forward, he took her mouth in a hot, possessive kiss. “Because I’m never letting you go ever again. By the way…your new eye color is beautiful. Even better than the original, if that’s possible.”
“Is it?” Nadiah put a hand to her cheek as though she could feel the new color. “What is it? What does it look like? Have my eyes gone a shade lighter?” She was certain they must have—her eyes were already such a dark blue they couldn’t have gotten darker.
But Rast shook his head. Frowning, he cupped her cheek and studied her eyes intently. “Not lighter so much as they’ve changed to a whole different color,” he murmured aloud. “Kind of a bluish-green.”
“Blue-green? Really?” Nadiah was surprised. Of all the Tranq Prime females she’d ever know, none had ever had their eyes change to a whole different hue. Usually they just lightened or darkened a shade or two after the female in question surrendered her virginity.
“Yeah…” Rast smiled. “If I had to describe it I’d say…it’s a perfect mixture of your old eye color and mine right now. It’s beautiful—reminds me of the deep sea.” He looked at her anxiously. “Is that all right?”
Nadiah gave him a trembling smile. “It…it’s more than all right,” she whispered as emotion overcame her. “Don’t you see, Rast—I’m yours. I was meant to be yours all along and no one can say any different now. The proof…all the proof we’ll ever need is here.” She tapped the corner of her eye. “Right here.”
He looked at her, bewildered. “Then why are you crying?”
“Because I’m so ha-happy.” Nadia sniffed and tried to get herself under control. “I’m sorry I just…I feel like I belong to you now. And it makes me feel so safe and good and right.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Rast pulled her close and his feathers rustled with the motion. “If you belong to me, then I belong to you too,” he told her, his voice rough with emotion. “I’m yours and you’re mine and nothing is ever going to come between us again—I swear.”
Nadiah hugged him tight and buried her face in his neck. Another wave of emotion overcame her and she wept freely, unable to help herself. As the tears of happiness dropped from her new eyes, she knew Rast was right—they would never be parted again.
Chapter Thirty-four
Elise woke up with the strangest feeling that she had forgotten something—something very important. She looked around the small room she found herself in. It was comfortable and warm, but still very obviously a hospital room. The readout of her vitals above the bed she was in showed that. Beside the bed was a chair—an empty chair. Elise frowned. It wasn’t supposed to be empty—she was sure of that. But who was supposed to sit in it? And what hospital was she was in?
Where am I?
The answer came back almost immediately. The Mother Ship. The Kindred Mother Ship. But how did I get here?
This time the answer wasn’t so quick and easy. There was a frightening blank that made her break out in a cold sweat. Then, slowly, her memory started to fill it in.
She’d been walking in the park in Sarasota, the one with the Unconditional Surrender statue. It was based on the old picture from World War Two, where the sailor had the nurse bent over his arm and was kissing her senseless.
Okay, yes, I remember that.
She’d been looking at the statue, thinking that it was simultaneously romantic and unrealistic. Unconditional surrender, indeed. As if you could ever really give yourself so totally to someone else…Elise knew she couldn’t. That way lay only pain and disappointment. She’d learned at an early age that you couldn’t depend on anyone but yourself—had learned the hard way after—no, stop. Don’t go there.
A picture appeared in her mind. A picture of an old-timey bank vault, one with a door that was a solid foot of stainless steel. Thick, heavy—nothing
could get through it. Or out of it.
Keep it in the vault, she thought. Don’t think about it now.
Elise nodded to herself. Yes, some things were better left in the vault. Now, as to her faulty memory—what had happened next?
I was looking at the statue. I was thinking about James and how he and I would never act like that. How we would never…
She frowned. Who was James? The name sounded familiar but no face rose from her mind to link to it. Instead, she saw a scarred man with one blue eye and one gold. Just like Buck.
She smiled. Buck, she remembered. He was good—no need to put that memory in the vault. Her stepfather had always complained that he was an ugly son-of-a-bitch but Elise hadn’t minded the way he looked. Buck kept her safe—protected her. As long as he could, anyway…
Elise shook her head, the memories rattling in her mind like dice in a cup. She had to get back on track. Forget Buck and her stepfather for now—that was the distant past—ancient history. The question was, why would she be staring at the kissing statue and thinking of someone she didn’t know? Someone called James?
No, the real question is, what happened next?
Closing her eyes, Elise tried to remember.
A cheese grater. Felt like my whole body was put through a cheese grater—torn apart into a hundred tiny shreds. Then I was sucked back together inside someplace…someplace dark. There was metal everywhere—metal so cold it burned. It burned me because I was naked…
The memories were beginning to come now. Faster and faster and they weren’t good. But now that they had started, Elise didn’t know how to stop them.
There was a huge screen above my head and a machine with wires. Wires that hooked into my skin.
Elise looked down at her arms and saw the scars. They were tiny and pink, as though they’d only recently healed and most were so faint she could hardly see them. But they were definitely there. She stared at them, feeling sick.
That was where he put the wires. The wires that ran under my skin. And made pictures appear on the big screen—awful pictures. He opened the vault…dragged things out…things I didn’t want to think about. Memories…secrets…
High, ugly laughter filled her ears and a hissing voice whispered in her head, “Ssso tasty, my dear. Your pain…ssso deliciousss…” Burning red eyes filled her vision and a boney, scabrous claw reached for her. But worse than that were the memories flashing on the huge screen above her head. Memories of what had happened so long ago…
No…No!
“What is it? What’s wrong?” The nurse with blonde hair and grey eyes came rushing into her room and Elise realized she’d shrieked the last word aloud. But she couldn’t help it, couldn’t control herself. The flood of images wouldn’t stop. The memories she’d buried so carefully had been dragged out of the vault like rotting corpses pulled from their graves. If she let them they would drown her, would drag her down with their putrid, decayed fingers locked around her throat…
“Buck!” she gasped, reaching out blindly, trying to find him. “Please, I need Buck…”
“I’m here.” The tall man with the scarred face and eyes like Buck suddenly burst into the room. He was so huge he seemed to fill it completely and he came to her at once. Anyone else would have found him frightening but Elise remembered finding shelter in his arms. Whoever he was, he would keep her safe—he would protect her. She knew it instinctively to the core of her being.
The blonde nurse looked at the huge man in surprise. “How did you know she was awake?”
“I felt it.” He didn’t sound very happy about it. “I could feel her needing me all the way across the fucking ship. Got here as fast as I could.” He looked at Elise. “You okay?”
“Please—” She held out her arms to him, like a child begging.
To her relief, the man didn’t hesitate. He scooped her out of the bed and held her close. He was wearing a thin black sleeveless shirt that exposed his muscular arms and chest. Elise threw her arms around his neck and pressed her face to the hollow of his throat. His skin was warm and his scent was instantly comforting. Dark, smoky, animalistic, with a hint of fur and musk—all the smells she associated with safety.
Safe, I’m safe now, she told herself trying to regain control. All right—everything is going to be all right.
“You’re all right now,” the big man said, echoing her thoughts. “What happened, baby? Did you have a bad dream?”
“No.” Elise shook her head, still pressed against his chest. “I…I woke up. And I remembered.”
“What did you remember?” he rumbled. “What he did to you?”
“I don’t think—” the blonde nurse, who was still in the room began. But the man shook his head.
“Let her. It has to come out sometime.”
Elise shook her head again. “It wasn’t just what he did. It was…he made me remember what I wanted to forget. All the things that happened when he…when my—” She stopped herself abruptly. The vault. Keep it in the vault. Put it back, keep it safe. Don’t think about it. Yes, that was what she had to do.
“When what?” the big man asked but Elise didn’t answer. Inside she was gathering the ugliness which had been dragged out—a double armful of pain and hurt—and shoving it back into the old-timey bank vault at the back of her mind. With a sigh of relief, she slammed the door and locked it, twisting the dial to set the combination only she knew. So vivid was the image, she could almost hear the click of the tumblers falling.
“I’m all right,” she said out loud and was reassured to hear the calm in her own voice. “I…I’m going to be fine. It’s gone now. I’m safe.”
“Of course, you are,” the blonde nurse soothed. But when Elise looked up, she thought she caught a look of disapproval on the scarred man’s face.
“Packed it away, huh?” he rumbled. “All right, if that’s how you want to deal with it.”
“It is.” Elise cleared her throat and realized she was still clinging to him like a frightened child. But I’m not a child anymore. I’m not that hurt, scared little girl who went running to Buck for comfort after…She shook her head. No, keep it in the vault. The point is, I’m a grown woman and I don’t even know this man.
No, she didn’t know him, yet here she was, sitting in his lap wearing only a thin red hospital gown. What’s wrong with me, acting like this? I’m an attorney, damn it—one of the toughest prosecutors in Tampa. Hell, in all of Florida! And here I am, acting like one of my clients after they’ve been traumatized and abused. Come on, Elise—get hold of yourself!
The self-pep talk worked. Elise sat up straight and dropped her arms to her sides. “I…uh…”
“You wanna go back to bed now?” The scarred man cocked a black eyebrow at her. His hair was short, she noticed—skull-cut close to his head. But it looked like it would be as black as his brows if he let it grow out.
“Yes, please.” Elise nodded. “I…I’m so sorry for climbing all over you that way. I was…I guess I was a little hysterical.”
He didn’t deny it or try to downplay it. Nor did he try to help her off his lap. “Yeah, you were.” He shrugged, his massive shoulders rolling with the gesture. “Not surprising, considering what you went through.”
“I’m over that now,” Elise said quickly.
“Oh yeah?” He frowned. “That was fucking fast. Do you even remember what you just got over?”
“Merrick—” the blonde nurse began but Elise was already talking.
“I was taking a vacation in Sarasota when I was abducted,” she said. “I was…the man who took me had red eyes. They glowed. It was very…” She swallowed hard. “Very frightening.”
“I bet.” The man nodded. “Go on.”
“I was naked.” Elise looked down at herself, at the thin red gown she was wearing. She really needed to get off the strange man’s lap but somehow telling this was easier when he was near and he didn’t seem to mind holding her.
“Go on,” he said again when she p
aused too long.
Elise cleared her throat. “He…he hooked me up to a machine. The wires went under my skin. Here…and here and here…all over.” She indicated the tiny, pink scars on her skin. “It hurt. And the machine…it showed things.”
“What things?” the man asked.
“I don’t remember,” Elise said at once. The vault. Keep it in the vault! She swallowed again. “Bad things, I’m sure. Frightening things. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now because I got away. I found a place to hide in. Someplace little and snug where he couldn’t find me.”
“You found a stasis chamber,” the scarred man rumbled. His voice was so deep it sounded like someone rubbing two stones together. “It put you into suspended animation. If I hadn’t found your life pod, floating around in the trash dumped from the damn Scourge ship, you’d still be out there.”
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