by Reagan Woods
She stumbled blindly for the pallet on the floor of the sleeping chamber. Either she was missing a large chunk of time or magic cleaning fairies had flown through his quarters straightening the shambles it had been, she thought, lowering her body onto the hard mat.
Lifting her from her prone position, Darvan carried her into the bathroom and settled her on a low bench. While hot water filled the sunken tub, he stripped, baring his perfect body, before shoving his clothes into the cleaner.
“I knew you didn’t need me to do that,” she mumbled tiredly. His body was so chiseled, she wanted to lick him all over.
“I bet you can take a bath all by yourself, too,” she grouched, slumping sideways to lay on the bench.
She watched him dreamily through slitted eyes as he moved about the room doing only-god-knew-what, mesmerized by his sleek grace and economy of movement.
“Arianna, we will bathe. You haven’t had a proper bath and you’re still filthy.”
“Maybe later,” her eyelids felt like lead weights.
“Come on, pretty girl. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
She peeked up at him, drowsily suspicious. Her experience with men was admittedly limited but she didn’t think they strolled around tossing out compliments. Not unless they wanted something.
“How long have I been out?”
“Off and on for two cycles,” he answered pulling her to her feet and quickly stripping her.
“My foot is better,” she wiggled the mended toe.
“Yes, we were able to accelerate the healing of your more superficial wounds. Your brain will likely continue to send out conflicting messages while you heal.”
He lifted her from the bench and settled them both into the hot, fragrant water of the tub. She was cradled against his muscular chest like a child. Unabashedly, she rubbed her face into the crook of his neck. He still smelled divine. In fact, he smelled better than she remembered.
“Heal from what?” she pulled back to look at him, remembering that she couldn’t think logically when she inhaled his scent.
“Jorkan programmed the reconditioner to do more than implant suggested patterns of behavior. He was able to overwrite your consciousness and personality for a very limited amount of time and activity. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Darvan said seriously. Eyes oddly intent, he ran a finger delicately over the bump of her nose bringing it to rest on her forehead.
“So…you’re telling me that I’ve had a personality adjustment?” Could she trust herself? Her thoughts? Wants? Desires? The longer she sat here in the delicious warm water with him naked against her, the more she wanted his hands on her. Was that real?
“The actual adjustment was temporary but the enthusiasm with which it was written into your brain has proven to be a bit of a problem.” His hand moved to sift idly through the long, shining strands of her golden hair.
“How so?” she did not like the sound of this at all.
“You have a tiny, microscopic burn on your frontal lobe. If we accelerate your neural cell regeneration to heal it, the medics believe it will make the memory block permanent…as well as some of the newer traits you have.”
“Newer traits?” she zeroed in on that ominous sounding tidbit, shivering in spite of the warm water lapping over her skin.
“You believe Jorkan is your master,” he said matter-of-factly.
She burst out laughing, intending to tell him how ridiculous that sounded. Instead she said, “Of course he is…wow. I sound bat-shit crazy.”
“Well, this is a better reaction than you had the last time we engaged in this conversation,” he smiled humorlessly down at her, tightening his arm around her as if he knew she needed his support.
She couldn’t recall having this conversation with him before. Ever.
“Your brain appears to be healing itself. And each time you’re awake you become more and more cognizant that your behavior is incongruous with your logical thought process,” he drew her head back to his shoulder, fingers massaging her scalp soothingly.
“Why don’t I recall talking about this before now?” she fought against the languorous feeling his ministrations caused, needing to know more.
“Because part of the function of the burn seems to be running a programming loop, if you will. That loop has a failsafe. It makes you believe you are in unbearable pain if we encourage you to think past the block written in to your memory. Or it did until this morning. Today, your brain’s enhanced plasticity appears to be forging a way around the burn.”
She studied him intently for long minutes, noticing that he looked drawn and tired. His large frame appeared gaunt and he seemed older than she remembered. He leant his head back on the rim of the tub and closed his eyes, apparently disinclined to converse now that she felt ready to face whatever he wasn’t telling her.
“So what is it that this program wants me to forget?” she had a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach confirming her earlier assertion that something just wasn’t right.
“Let’s not do this right now,” Darvan said wearily. “Let’s just enjoy the peace. Can we do that?”
“Ok,” she agreed uneasily.
A few minutes passed while she absorbed what she’d learned. He didn’t back down from anything or anyone. If he didn’t want to discuss it, it must be bad. Had she done something wrong? Had he changed his mind and decided to give her away?
“Come to me, Arianna,” Darvan’s voice broke into her bitter musing.
She looked up. He held out a hand, waiting.
Cautiously, she put her much smaller hand in his and allowed him to draw her across the steaming water into his arms.
“Don’t worry so much. Right now, just take things one day at a time.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Six Days Later
Darvan had tried to shield his little captive from the fall-out of the Ventix attack, but he wouldn’t be able to shield her forever. He checked on her multiple times throughout the day, making sure she was fed and resting comfortably. It was the nights that were the hardest. If he had to hear her call Jorkan her master one more time, he thought he might go mad.
“I’m sorry,” she said for the umpteenth time. “I really don’t mean it.”
They were preparing for sleep. She’d curled up next to him, trusting that she belonged there.
“Kiss me,” he demanded, tired of waiting for the day that she’d be completely healed. He had to accept that day might not ever come.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” she replied, looking away from him.
“Please, Arianna,” he knew it sounded more like a command than a request, but there was nothing to be done for it.
He crushed his mouth to hers, rolling her onto her back, bracing himself above her. Not wanting to frighten her, he gentled the kiss, teasing her into responding. He flicked her tongue with his and quickly retreated. When he was certain of her response, her willing participation, he moved down her body.
The need to please a potential mate was drilled into Corian males from birth. As the first in his line and the most likely to attract a mate, his father had insisted Darvan learn the art of seduction. He hadn’t been with many females but they hadn’t had any complaints with his performance. He drew on the experience he had, determined to make Arianna want him the way he wanted her.
“Darvan?” she tried to sit up but he held her gently with one large palm until her resistance subsided.
“Shhhh,” he hushed. “Don’t you trust me, Arianna?”
She said nothing, her bright green eyes regarding him steadily. Not the resounding endorsement he’d hoped for.
He lifted one of her legs and then the other to hook over his shoulders, determined to reach her, to make her understand, to make her a part of him. Cupping her tight little butt in his hands, he kneaded and squeezed the supple flesh. He placed teasing kisses on each well-shaped knee.
With slow deliberation, he lifted her pelvis to his face. Breathing in the delic
ate scent of her feminine core caused him to harden painfully. He held his raging need to bury himself to the hilt inside her in check.
Painting hot swipes of his tongue along her sensitive folds, he found her wakening clit. He teased the protective hood back from the nub with fluttering circular swipes. She squirmed her hips, moaning.
He hoped to push her quickly past the edge of reason. She was his and he desperately needed to stake his claim. He had a driving desire to eradicate other males from her memory and burn the imprint of his possession into her mind indelibly.
Probing deep into her core, he began thrusting his tongue in and out in a hard rhythm. He felt her internal muscles begin to flutter and she gasped his name in warning. He switched his attention back to her hardened little clit, licking one side of the swollen bundle of nerves and the then other with the point of his tongue.
She bit the knuckles of one little fist, muffling her cries. The muted passionate noise she made as he drove her closer and closer to her peak nearly caused him to come undone. Holding her inner lips apart with his thumbs, he gave her clit one final, hard lick and plunged deep into her channel again. She convulsed on his tongue, “Darvan!”
No other female had ever responded so beautifully, so passionately to his touch. Her reaction to his efforts to please her filled him with masculine pride, reinforcing his determination to possess her fully. She made him feel like a male, like a male with something to protect. And he wouldn’t let her hold back from him any longer.
Darvan gently licked her twitching pussy, prolonging the spasms of her orgasm and savoring the hot flood of her release on his tongue. Arianna’s passion had just become his favorite flavor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Pulling her legs from Darvan’s shoulders, Arianna lay panting as he kissed his way up her torso. The man’s tongue should be registered as a lethal weapon. He’d taken her from not interested to screaming his name in no time flat. She knew his pheromones played a large part in her attraction to him but part of her had to admit that she wanted him, wanted his possession. It wasn’t logical, but she wanted to mean something to him beyond a convenient warm body. She wanted him to value her.
“That was amazing,” she said quietly. Not quite ready to meet his burning gaze, she kept her eyes scrunched closed, savoring the aftermath of her orgasm, holding desperately to that moment of freedom and passion.
Cradling her cheek with his large hand, he waited for her to open her eyes. “I’m pleased to have pleased you,” he said softly, proudly. He’d said that to her before and she wondered why he didn’t just say, “You’re welcome.” She made a mental note to ask him about it at a less vulnerable time, preferably when they both had clothing on.
“I think we need to talk,” she struggled into a sitting position. He slid up the bed and rested his back against the wall, holding a hand out to indicate she should join him.
Noting the mulish set of his mouth, she reluctantly crawled up to sit next to him. Instead, she found herself straddling his hips, facing him. The most intimidating part of his anatomy flexed and throbbed distractingly beneath her.
Maybe she should just try putting it…..
No. She gave herself a mental head-smack, that was a bad plan. That plan would see her walking bow-legged for the foreseeable future. Those evil pheromones sang their siren song and she wanted to offer herself up, pain be damned, respect be damned. Hadn’t she endured enough pain from Jorkan’s abusive treatment?
Darvan’s insistence on holding or touching her intimately every time they shared a conversation was incredibly disconcerting. It felt as though he refused to give her the opportunity to think without the distraction of…him.
“What would you like to discuss?” He held her thighs firmly to his hips, almost daring her to try to move away from him.
“I don’t think this kind of thing should happen again.”
“This kind of thing is going to happen. Often. As you Earthers like to say: get used to it. From that frame of reference: is anything else bothering you?”
“Darvan….” How do I say this to a man with an already oversized….ego?
“You’re simply never going to fit,” she stated plainly.
He gave a shout of surprised laughter, startling her. She was serious.
“We are two resourceful individuals. I am certain we will find a way to achieve compatibility.”
“Slot A only stretches so far and Tab B is very, very large.”
“That’s why you’re on top. You control the depth and the pace until you’re ready for me to take over,” as he spoke he grasped her hips, preparing to lift her.
“You’re not listening to me,” she brought her hands to either side of his face, stilling his movement and ensuring she had his attention.
“There is no way around this, Arianna,” he brought his mouth within a whisper of hers. “You are mine.”
“I’m not a possession,” she argued. If they were going to do this, and she had no illusions – it was going to happen, then she wanted him to see her as a person. She would never be comfortable being a thing to be picked up or discarded at will.
“Put me at your entrance,” he commanded implacably, lifting her hips up.
“You’ll hurt me,” she protested, hating that his unrelenting desire for her sent a current of want through her body. What was wrong with her?
“I will be as gentle as possible and I will make up for any pain I cause.” At least he didn’t lie and claim it wouldn’t be painful.
God help her, his single-mindedness was turning her on. A new rush of desire wetted her inner thighs as she gripped the intimidating girth in her hand. Poising him at her entrance, she swirled him in the glistening honey. Eyes on him, she saw he was intent on where their bodies would join. His face was drawn, tight skin around his eyes and the harsh line of his mouth showed how much restraint he exercised.
“Please,” he ground out the word. He wasn’t going to let this go, she read the determination to have her in every line of his face. She knew it was illogical, but his desire for her made her feel special.
Slowly, she steadied herself over him and began to bear down. There was no doubt in her mind that she would regret this at some point, probably sooner rather than later. But, right now, she needed physical intimacy, and, so it seemed, did he.
The broad mushroom tipped head lodged in her entrance and she didn’t think she would be able to go any further. Not even three seconds into the act and here she was, regretting it already.
“Play with your clit,” he urged, his grip on her tightening.
She obediently slicked a finger through her juices and swirled it teasingly around the little bud. He slid a scant inch further in. Looking down, she was dismayed to see that she had a long way to go. The burning stretch was not so much painful as disconcerting.
“You feel so good,” he groaned, holding perfectly still beneath her, strong arms not even quivering against the force of her weight. He seemed to be acutely aware that thrusting up into her would do irrevocable damage. “I can’t wait to be all the way inside you.”
Her reaction to his impassioned words surprised her. She liked seeing the power of his desire for her, reveled in the heady feeling of lust that rushed through her body. Her core clenched, drawing another groan from him. She took him further into her body, basking in his ragged breaths and impassioned groans, in the burning gaze riveted to her face.
He gave a smile that looked more like a wince of pain. Hissing out a long breath when she tightened around him again, “Is that what you need?”
“I need to be inside your tight, hot channel,” he rumbled, still intent on her.
“God, yes,” her body’s response to his words, to the hot embers of passion sparking in his copper eyes, wouldn’t be denied.
“I want you so badly, Arianna. I want to feel you peak while you ride my shaft,” he encouraged raggedly, reaching up with one thick finger to play with her clit.
She brought bot
h hands to his shoulders to control her final descent, giving a little cry of dismay when she thought she couldn’t take him any further inside her body. He was so much bigger than anything she’d experienced before. Slowly, her body stretched further, burning. She inhaled through the discomfort, determined to find the connection she craved.
He panted as he slid all the way home, seeming to fight for control. “You’re so tight,” he whispered, bringing his forehead to rest against hers.
She could feel his heart beating in the steely erection squeezed so tightly inside her body. Faster than she’d imagined possible, the burning stretch subsided, allowing her to breathe easier.
“Can you move or do you want me to?”
“I think you better…” she hadn’t even finished the sentence and he was adjusting their positions.
Carefully rolling her beneath him, he began to slowly thrust into her. His large, muscular frame moved with surprising fluidity as he balanced low over her on his strong forearms. The crisp hair of his chest rubbed against her puckered nipples, the friction adding to the pleasure winding through her body, tightening her core.
Taking his time with each motion, he was so close that every pump of his hips rubbed his pubic bone over her clit. When he began nibbling at her mouth in time with his hastening thrusts, she exploded.
“Yes, yes, yes!” she screamed, pure white light momentarily blinding her. Her body seized, squeezing violently around the thick invasion of his cock.
He thrust three more times. Hard. Deep. Perfectly timed to draw the rippling spasms of her orgasm out.
With a deafening roar, he found his release. His hot seed jetted strongly inside her body, triggering another wave of aftershocks through her womb.
“You are mine,” he growled, catching his breath.
“Until you give me to someone else –“
His face hardened. Inside her still, he moved deliberately, reminding her that he was in control of every aspect of the situation.
“When we are alone, Arianna, I expect your affection. I don’t expect to have to ask for it again. Do you understand?” His unblinking stare reminded her that he was, at his core, a predator and she was his captured prey.