by Anna Argent
She missed him so much it was like a giant part of her had been cut out and left bleeding. He’d been the sun around which her life had revolved. Brilliant, warm, protective. He’d taught her everything she knew, and even though she’d done her best to soak in all his knowledge, she still was a pale comparison to him.
The urge to linger over the pieces he’d built tugged at her, but there was no time for that. She would reminisce and grieve later. Right now there was a Raide on the loose and a riddle to solve.
“He gave you weapons?” asked Talan, his tone one of outrage.
Instantly, Zoe felt the need to defend her dad. “He knew he wouldn’t always be around to protect me. And he had no way of knowing if anyone would ever come for us. These weapons were his way of loving me the best he could.”
Talan reached in and picked up a trio of sheengs. The small, bladed disks had a wicked edge that was sharp enough to cut through a two-by-four, even when she threw them. Her aim sucked, but if she got close enough, she could do some serious damage with them.
He weighed them in his hand. “These are exquisite. Perfect balance. And they’re still powered. When was the last time you fed them energy?”
“Months ago.”
He let out a low whistle. “Your father had amazing skills.”
She felt a blush warm her cheeks. “Actually, those are my work. Dad’s were much nicer. I lost them all practicing, though. They cut right through the wooden fence and lodged in various neighbors’ trees.”
“You made these?” He seemed surprised at first, but then his expression changed to one of determination. “I need to send you home tonight.”
“But what about the sphere?”
“I’ll find it on my own. You need to be with your people, using your rare gift to fight the Raide.”
He started to stand up, but she grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute. Just because I made some pretty gadgets doesn’t mean you get to change the game plan. You’ll never solve that riddle without me. And even if you did, chances are it only leads to another riddle that’s even more convoluted. That’s the way Dad always did it.”
“Then we need to solve the riddle fast. Now. Tonight. Whatever issues you have, whatever you’re holding back, you need to get over all of that and help me find the sphere.”
He was right. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t yet ready to enter her father’s private space. It didn’t matter that she was still grieving. The safe was in that room, along with who knew how many other possible clues to solving the riddle. She had to find a way to shake off the fear and pain she’d suffered tonight and get on with the work at hand.
She looked up at Talan. “Did anything in the box mean something to you? Any hint as to what Dad meant by balance?”
He picked up one of the devices she’d made—something that had come to her in a dream. It was made of strands of copper and gold wound around a core of metal that had come from her home world. The three colors of metal were beautiful in their appearance, but she wasn’t entirely sure that the gadget worked. Every time she’d tried to activate it, she’d failed, so it ended up here, discarded and forgotten.
His gaze met hers. “The craftsmanship of this work is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Absolutely exquisite. What does it do?”
“It’s supposed to be for self-defense, but I’ve never been able to make it work. I think I might have done something wrong.”
“You have a gift, Zoe. If the sheengs you made are any indication, you should never doubt your ability.”
She found a large safety pin lying nearby and threaded it through one of the wires along the edge of the piece. Then she pinned it to his vest. “It’s yours. If you can make it work, more power to you.”
His hand covered hers. “I can’t accept a gift this valuable.”
“It’s just some pieces of metal. Pretty, but not much else from what I’ve been able to tell—a failed project. Please keep it. For me.”
He nodded his head. “For you, I will. Thank you.”
His gaze held hers too long, making her heat up inside. There was something about him that pulled her in, holding on tight when she knew that she needed to focus on other things. “We really need to figure out what Dad’s clue meant.”
He let her hand go with a slow caress. “I’ve been thinking about it. Maybe, since he was a literal man, it has something to do with the Imonite language.”
“That could be. Does balance mean something else in Imonite?”
“No, but the word for balance—whisthrala—is the same word used to denote a tipping point between two very different states.”
Maybe he was onto something. She spoke the language, but only a little. The nuances of Imonite were not something she’d mastered. Her father had seemed hesitant to spend too much time speaking the language, as if he feared they’d be overheard. “What do you mean? Like when water becomes steam?”
He frowned and stared into the fire, thinking. “It’s a bigger concept than that. More important. Like when winter turns to spring, or when a woman becomes a mother.”
That sparked something in her head. It wasn’t quite a thought—yet—but it was the beginning of one. She’d felt this before and knew that she couldn’t focus on it too hard or it would slip away again. She had to let it form organically, in its own time.
But not reaching for the answer was a near impossible thing to ask of herself. She needed answers so badly, and there was one right there, nearly in her grasp.
That tiny spark started to fade. She couldn’t turn her attention away from it. This was too important and they didn’t have much time. A sense of panic settled behind her ribs. “Quick, distract me.”
“What?”
“Just do something. Anything. Something’s coming to me, but I can’t think about—” She was cut off by his mouth covering hers in a kiss so fierce it startled her.
The carved wooden box fell from her hands, but she didn’t care. Talan’s weight bore her backward onto the couch. His hand splayed against the back of her head, protecting it from the hard corner of the arm. Strong fingers shifted, tilting her head until their mouths fit perfectly together.
His tongue slipped past her lips, teasing the tip of hers. As she always seemed to do when this man was near, her whole body softened, melting into a pliant pool of desire. She went boneless, letting him do as he pleased until he was settled between her open thighs, his delicious weight holding her down.
She’d never been with a man like Talan before, and it wasn’t just his size or power that she found so compelling. He vibrated with restrained strength, touching her carefully, gently. Everything he did thrilled her, making her heat up from the inside out. When he touched her, the world simply dissipated into a puff of smoke, forgotten and unimportant.
His fingers snuck under her sweater and fitted against her waist, sliding up over her ribs until she could feel the heat of his hand hovering just below her breast. She arched her back in an effort to get him to touch her there, but all the moved gained her was a little more of his weight holding her in place.
His penis was thick and hard, pressing right against the seam of her jeans. She shifted her hips, rubbing against him until she hit the sweet spot. As her damp panties grazed against her clit, a firestorm of sensation shot up her spine.
She sucked in a breath that tasted like him, and felt his cock grow even harder. He lifted his head and stared down at her. Only a thin ring of pale green rimmed his pupils. His skin was flushed with arousal, and tiny beads of sweat dotted his head.
“I’m safe for you now,” he said, a thick accent entering his words.
She had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to be important to him. “Okay,” she said, happy to agree to anything that got his mouth back on hers.
He looked like he was about to pull away, so she grabbed his head and held him still while she kissed him.
He groaned into her mouth, the sounds edged with a sexy hint of a growl. Her nipples hardened at the deep vib
ration, and she felt a slick pulse of heat ease from her core.
No other man had ever made her this hot, this fast. With Talan, her whole body seemed to go into overdrive, passing all warm-ups, straight to scorching heat.
“Krotian may come,” he said against her mouth.
“Let him. I’m armed.”
“I won’t let you fight.”
“Fine. Then you can kill him. I don’t care as long as he’s dead and I can get my mouth on you.”
His big body shuddered, and the power of all those muscles became instantly, acutely evident. She was surrounded by him, covered by him. Now all she needed was to get those clothes out of the way.
“You’re going to accept me.”
Again his words weren’t making a whole lot of sense, but she wasn’t interested in his conversational skills right now. What she really wanted was to get as much of his bare skin against hers as possible. “Sure, Talan. Whatever you want. Just don’t stop.”
His demeanor changed in an instant, as if she’d flipped some giant switch. All his tense restraint evaporated, leaving behind an intense kind of determination she wasn’t sure if she was woman enough to handle.
He hadn’t taken off his leather jacket yet. She reached for it, intent on sliding it off of those broad shoulders.
Talan grabbed her hands and pushed them away. “Let me.”
She nodded, happy to watch him strip.
He ripped off the jacket, revealing a leather vest covered in the same tiny bits as dangled from the chains in his ear. She recognized some of the items, including the palm-sized disk she’d seen her father play with from time to time. There was no display on it, but the device was still able to convey information in some way she didn’t quite understand.
Too risky, her father had told her. She had to stick to mostly human tech in an effort to blend in, and that disk was far from human.
Talan peeled the vest off next, revealing rows of tiny, multi-colored glass vials and a whole bunch of weapons. She didn’t know what they all did, but she recognized the intent behind them instantly.
He laid the vest within easy reach, never once looking away from her.
“Can I touch you now?” she asked.
He said something in Imonite, his words thick with lust. She only understood a few of the words, but she got the meaning loud and clear. Touching was definitely allowed and encouraged.
Zoe sat up so she could kiss him again, but her mouth only reached as far as his chest. The buttons she’d ripped off earlier made his shirt gape open, giving her easy access to the skin below.
His body was hot against her lips. Hard and smooth, and quivering with restraint. The muscles along his chest tightened as she spread his shirt open and ran her fingers along the delicious contours she’d uncovered.
He let her do as she pleased, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders. But as soon as her tongue flicked across his nipple, she could tell she’d pushed him too far. His fingers slid into her hair, clenching into fists. He tilted her head back and bent over her, kissing her like a man starving for her taste.
She opened her mouth for him, denying him nothing. He was careful, moving with restrained power, but he was closer to being completely unleashed than he’d ever been with her. And she loved it.
A rough, rumbling sound rose out of his chest, as if he were growling at himself. The ferocity of his kiss eased, and he pulled away, panting.
The marks of lust were clear on his face. His whole body vibrated like wires strung too tight. She could sense some internal battle waging within him, though she had no idea what it was. All she knew was that one of those sides wanted him to get up and walk away from her, and that was not going to happen.
Zoe grabbed the metal button on his jeans and tugged it open. The outline of his erection was clear beneath the faded denim. She reached inside, sliding her fingers beneath the stretchy band of his boxers and gripped hot, hard flesh.
Everything inside of her rose up in hungry demand. He was hers, and she was going to have him. All of him.
Chapter Eighteen
Talan could no longer form coherent words, much less English ones. It was a good thing Zoe didn’t seem to need them.
Her fingers tightened around his erection, gliding along his length. There was no shyness in her touch. Zoe was a woman who knew what she wanted, and Talan was lucky enough to be the current object of her desire.
He didn’t stop to think about all the reasons he should pull away. They didn’t matter. Only Zoe and her pleasure mattered to him now.
If she kept gripping him like that, he was going to lose control and find release before he even had the chance to please her once. That wasn’t something he could allow.
The urge to tie her to him pounded hard through his veins. He didn’t want this to be over before he’d had a chance to leave some kind of mark behind—something that would stay with her long after the pleasure faded. After this she would move on with her life, and he didn’t want to be easily forgotten. An afterthought. A mistake.
Talan eased her hand free of his erection. He felt her body shift beneath his, and predicted her next move. Before she could put her hands on him again, he gathered her wrists together and lifted them over her head.
The tension riding along her brow eased, and she seemed to soften beneath him, melting into the couch. She’d looked this way before, too, but it was different this time. Deeper, somehow. He didn’t understand her surrender, but he welcomed it. If she fought him now, he wasn’t sure what he’d do or how damaged his actions would leave him.
Walking away from her now was an impossible concept that threatened to bring out his harsher edges. He didn’t want that for her. At least not the first time she accepted him. Next time, maybe, when he was sated and lust was no longer driving his actions. Next time he could free his darker urges, but not yet.
And there would be a next time. He had to let himself believe that.
He found his way beneath all her layers of clothing and cupped her breast in his hand. So soft and hot. She was small and delicate, but her nipple hardened against his palm, making silent demands.
Zoe sighed as he learned the feel of her. He watched her face—the way her eyelids fluttered when he touched her just right, or the way her lips parted on a sweet gasp of pleasure as he exerted the slightest bit of pressure.
He had to see her. All of her. It was no longer an option, but a driving need he couldn’t ignore.
Talan tried to go slowly and ease her clothes from her body, but it simply wasn’t in him. Instead, he shoved her sweater and shirt over her head, letting her wrestle them the rest of the way off while he moved down and stripped her jeans away.
By the time he moved back up, she was staring at him, panting. Her glossy hair swayed around her head, dancing with static electricity. Her cheeks were a dark pink, and her lips flushed a deep red. His kisses had left them puffy and damp, and in that moment, he needed to know if his kisses would do the same thing to the delicate lips between her thighs.
Shyness hovered around her, as if her nudity had brought it out. One arm covered her breasts, and her other hand shielded her mound.
“You would hide from me?” he asked, his mouth barely able to form coherent words. His American accent was long gone, but there wasn’t enough concentration left in his head to fix it.
“I don’t like being the only one naked.”
Now that was something he could fix.
Talan stripped his clothes off in seconds and came back to her side. She looked small on the long, oversized couch. She was curled up. Her knees were tucked close and clamped together, preventing him from seeing her.
Dark, furious instincts rose up, and it was all he could do not to pry her legs apart and hold them wide while he took what he wanted. His erection was throbbing, moving in time with the heavy beats of his heart. A deep ache pulsed in his groin, demanding that he act.
“No clothes,” he said. “Better?”
She stared
at his body for a long time. Talan stood there, letting her do it. His only other choice was to move, and if he did that, there would be only one outcome. He’d use his strength against her. Take her. However he could.
Sweat lined his back as he forced himself to stay still.
Zoe’s gaze dropped to his erection. Her tongue swept over her lips, wetting them. He didn’t think she was even aware of what she was doing. There was no artifice about her, and no way anyone could fake the flush that had spread down her neck and across her chest.
“I can’t walk away from you,” he said. “Not anymore. If you’ve changed your mind, you’d better get up and leave. Now.”
Zoe sat up and every hope Talan had shattered. He watched her body move, marveling at the graceful lines that drew him in and didn’t let go. She was so beautifully built. Small, but strong, with the kind of curves that could drive a man insane with the need to touch.
He was sure he was going to be forced to watch her walk away now—see that sweet, rounded ass sway as she left the room. Even the thought was enough to make him clench his fists and lock his knees so he wouldn’t reach for her or follow after her.
Instead, she stood in front of him and slowly lowered her arms to her sides. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Talan was stunned into mute stupidity for a long moment before his body kicked in and took over. He lowered his mouth to hers, wrapping his arms around her so that she couldn’t get away. The feel of full frontal Zoe pressed against his bare body made his heart pound so loud he could barely hear her groan of pleasure.
His tongue sought hers, and the touch was nearly electric in its intensity. Kissing was never something he’d thought much about before—it was just a way to get a woman slick and ready to take him. But with Zoe it was more than just a warm up. It filled him up like no other kiss ever had, making him linger.
She shifted, letting him support more of her weight. It took him a minute to realize that she’d done that thing where she melted in his arms, as if she could no longer hold herself up.
Talan was happy to do the job for her. He lifted her higher, fulfilling his promise to feel her bare bottom filling his hand. It was easier to kiss her like this. He had more control, and he used it to find out what made her sigh into his mouth and what made her stomach muscles clench against him.
