by A. G. Wilde
Riv paused.
That wasn’t what he sounded like.
He didn’t sound like that at all.
“It makes me feel…like a dog or something,” she continued before glancing at Grot, who’d padded in behind her. “Sorry, doggo, no offense.”
Riv glared at her.
His anger seemed to be having no effect on her and that only made him more pissed.
Beings bent to his will from his pure ferocity and this human was ignoring the fact his fangs were bared right above her.
Forcing her against him some more so she had to tilt her head and look up at him, he growled into her face. “Stop.”
La-rehn blinked, her brown gaze moving over his face slowly only to land on his lips.
It was then he realized he wasn’t wearing his messhi and they were close, close enough for her breath to brush over his skin.
“Stop what?” Her voice was breathless.
Phek.
Stop being so…he didn’t know what.
Releasing her suddenly, he stormed into the corridor on the way to his room. Leaning against the wall, he ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath.
Phek the favor he owed Geblit. The Torian needed to come get his human.
Pulling out his sat phone, he punched in Geblit’s ping code. It took three tries before Geblit finally answered.
“Geblit.”
“Riv. H-how great to hear from you.”
“Spare me the phekking formalities. I’m bringing the human to you tomorrow.”
“What? No. You can’t do that!”
“You’re the one who bought a trafficked being. She’s coming back to you.” He cut his gaze toward the main room. “Better you take the female than those creeps at the exchange.”
“Y-you brought the human to the exchange? Y-you can’t. She’s prohibited goods. They could have caught her!”
Riv paused and blinked. “Right. I know that now. Thanks for the heads up, by the way.”
“She was smuggled in from a Class Four planet,” Geblit continued.
“Riv, I…Cargga will kill me if the human returns. I can’t keep her.”
“Well,” Riv let out a breath. “I can’t keep her, either.”
“What? Why?”
It became all too clear at that moment exactly what was happening to him.
After all this time alone, after all this time without contact, he’d thought he was stronger. He’d thought he could remain unaffected.
It was clear he’d been wrong.
Possibly, all the time alone had made him weak. Lack of contact with others hadn’t strengthened his resolve—it had created a vulnerability within his defenses.
Had he forgotten already? Had it been so easy for him to forget?
Life wasn’t rosy for him.
It had never been and it never would be.
Without a word, he ended the comm link.
Whatever this was that was happening to him, was why he had to nip it in the bud.
No more.
Lauren leaned against the kitchen counter.
She’d heard Riv on the comm unit with Geblit. Heard him telling the four-eyed male that he should come get her. Heard Geblit begging him not to bring her back.
Folding her arms across her chest, she looked at the cup of water she’d woken up to get.
From investment banker to outcast.
In one year, her life had changed so much.
She was trying her best, though. She’d worked all day and if she hadn’t proven it to him, she sure as hell had proven it to herself—she wasn’t a deadweight.
What the hell did Riv have against her, anyway? Was she really that offensive?
And maybe she was an idiot or something, because his constant displeasure with her should make her hate him. But she harbored no ill-feelings at all.
Instead, whenever he wasn’t wearing his shades and face-covering, she found it was difficult not staring at him. And even when he scowled, something told her the scowl was only a mask hiding something else.
He didn’t scare her.
If anything, he made her curious.
Tell her a year ago that she’d be thinking a big blue guy was attractive and she’d have been like “um, no.”
But the Scowlmaster was.
His piercing green eyes were like beacons against his blue skin.
When he wasn’t glowering at her, which was scarce to be honest, he had that intensity in his eyes that made a girl think about being beneath him. Those eyes would render her motionless while he did what he wanted to do to her body.
Yea…she was obviously ill.
Had being without anyone’s touch for a year made her this…needy that she’d take the first male that had been even mildly nice to her?
It was funny how needy she was.
Back on Earth, she hadn’t needed anyone. She’d been self-sufficient living on her own.
No boyfriend. A few girl friends.
She’d lived far from any blood relatives but she’d keep in contact when she could.
Point was, she’d never realized that she craved touch.
It must be a human thing.
Humans craved touch and, for one whole year, she’d had no one touch her in any real way.
Fast forward to now and suddenly there’s Riv.
She still had the memory of his strong hands against her when they’d gone to the market.
But it wasn’t just that. There was something about him that caught her attention and drew it. Like she was an ant and he was sugar.
Ha.
It seemed fate was going to mess with her, though, for after a year of wanting company, this was who she got.
He hated her. For reasons she didn’t know, he hated her.
Maybe he found her disgusting to look at? She didn’t know.
Still, she liked it at the Sanctuary. Spending the day with the animals had caused her to realize life could be good there.
Truth was, she didn’t want to leave.
Setting her shoulders, she clasped her hands, wincing slightly at the blisters that were forming there.
She’d just have to get used to them.
She’d rather deal with blisters than the alien dicks she’d seen at the market any day.
Easing off the counter, she headed to the bathroom.
She needed to urinate before bed and then she was going to collapse and sleep her worries away.
Tomorrow was a new day to make more mistakes.
23
It must have been tiredness or maybe she was just engrossed in her thoughts because she opened the door to the bathroom, stepping in without even knocking.
It took her only a second to realize what she’d done when her eyes fell on a glorious blue naked ass.
His glutes were taut, the firmness looking as if it was carved with precision.
There was a stump there too, at his tailbone, and her eyes fastened on it even as she heard a growl in the small space.
Before she could even think about where she was and what she was doing, Riv moved and she was against the wall, pressed into it by the sheer force of his presence.
“La-rehn,” he growled and it must be the steam in the room or something else but she was suddenly very hot. Her hands were clammy, and she was finding it hard to breathe.
He was naked. She’d walked in on his shower.
He was frickin’ naked and he was so close that the water covering his skin was making her clothes wet.
She could feel every muscle in his chest, even the muscles in his thighs and remembering her thoughts from earlier about this very position beneath him, Lauren swallowed hard.
“S-sorry. I—”
“I cannot even wash in peace? Must you permeate every inch of my space, my mind, my solitude?” Riv growled low, his face centimeters above hers.
Lauren swallowed again.
She didn’t know what he was talking about. She was only five foot seven.
She wasn’t pe
rmeating any space.
Did he have to be so intense?
For it was intense.
She could hardly see his face, for the door had hissed shut and enclosed them in darkness.
He showered in the dark?
Who the hell did that?
But instead of making her afraid, the darkness made her hyper aware.
It was as if every spot where his skin came in contact with hers was tingling. She could feel each breath he took…the heave of his chest as he pressed into her…his hands pushing against the wall by the sides of her head…
“You,” he growled and the sound made her whimper, not out of fear but because of something else completely different.
The front of her dress now wet, her nipples became hardened peaks against his chest, pushing back against him.
Just a movement, any movement, and the friction would have her nipples pulling across his skin.
He pressed her farther into the wall, his body against hers, the water sluicing off his skin onto her.
He seemed to be fighting with something within himself because his body was rigid, his palms closed into fists, and he was gritting his teeth, fangs bared.
As the moments passed, something in the back of her mind told her she should disentangle herself. She should leave.
She’d interrupted his shower and should be the one to go.
He wasn’t pressing her so hard into the wall that she couldn’t wriggle to the side and make an exit.
However, her feet refused to move.
It was either that or her mind wasn’t sending the signal.
So she stood there, the air between them feeling as if it was rising in temperature, her own chest heaving in tune with his.
And for the first time since she’d crossed that barrier and entered his Sanctuary, Lauren realized something.
She was attracted to Riv.
This went past thinking he was handsome or admiring his physique.
This didn’t feel anything like the advances and leers she’d received from other aliens. When they’d done it, she wanted to make herself scarce.
Right now, she didn’t want to move.
Whatever was happening, she didn’t know if she wanted to stop it.
By God, she didn’t fucking want to stop it.
It took a few moments, but she became dimly aware that between them, against her belly was something long and hard.
The thought of what that could be made her throat go dry in the steamy room.
A part of her mind told her she should be protesting but the majority of her brain cells were more interested in the fact that there was a snarling alien above her, flashing his fangs, and she didn’t feel in the least bit threatened by him.
She felt…alive.
Right now, he felt like something off-limits, something she couldn’t have.
It was no wonder the “bad” kids in high school had always looked like they were having such fun.
Being bad felt fucking good.
But this wasn’t right.
He wanted to get rid of her.
He didn’t want anything to do with her and that’s why she should know better.
Instead, her body was responding to how close he was, the fact she could feel him against her, the fact that every inch of him that touched her was sending a sort of pleasure through her that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
The fuck was wrong with her?
Was she sex starved?
A year without sex could do this to a woman.
Unwittingly, her gaze fell to his lips and she felt his awareness shift, almost as if he realized suddenly that he was too close to her, that she was staring at his lips as if she wanted him to kiss her, and that his entire body was pressing hers into the wall.
But he didn’t move.
Instead, he growled, and that one sound had her thighs clenching with heat.
Lauren swallowed again.
“Riv…I…”
She almost groaned.
Saying his name sounded very, very intimate in the moment and it didn’t help the situation in the least.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in here.” How she managed to get the words out, she didn’t know.
He grasped her in one motion, spinning her around with such strength she was facing the wall and…she didn’t know this before but…she might be into some light submissive sex play because her entire body was suddenly yearning for him to do more.
He was still pressed against her and she could feel every cord of his taut body. Against her ass, she felt something else. That hard, hot rod was pulsing against her. So close she could feel the ridges along his length.
Ridges.
He had fucking ridges.
If that didn’t make her clench hard, him pressing against her surely did.
It was clear she wasn’t the only one affected by their proximity because she was sure she heard him inhale deeply, his nose dipping to her hair.
His voice was raspy and low when he spoke.
“Leave, La-rehn.”
Two words.
Two words that shot through her consciousness and brought her back to reality.
Lauren stiffened against him.
She was an idiot.
How could she have let herself get away so much she’d forgotten who he was?
The alien she was inconveniencing.
Wringing out of his grasp, Lauren pulled away, her back to him.
She kept her head straight, pure disappointment in herself fueling her anger, and stepped out of the room without a backward glance.
Riv leaned his forehead against the wall of the cleansing room, his breath coming in hard gasps.
Squeezing his eyes shut tight, he forced himself to regain control.
His cock throbbed insistently, missing the warm soft body it had just been against and he slammed his fist into the wall.
He was becoming undone by a barrage of emotions.
Feelings he’d locked away so long ago. Feelings he hadn’t known he still had the capacity to experience.
Every fiber within him ached with need and he had to clench his teeth, squeeze his fists, and plant his feet into the floor so he wouldn’t go after her.
He wanted her.
He’d admit it.
He phekking wanted her.
The memory of her body against his still fresh in his mind was like torture and his cock jerked again, demanding attention.
Gripping himself at the base, Riv clenched his teeth.
As he moved under the spray once more, he let the water run over his head and shoulders and let go of his cock.
He wouldn’t relieve himself of the pressure, the pain.
He wouldn’t be so weak as to indulge. He’d endure it till it went away.
Hanging his head, he took a deep breath.
He was weak. Weaker than he’d realized.
All these years of telling himself he was better off alone, all of that was crumbling in just the short space of time he’d been around the sweet-smelling human.
Didn’t she understand?
She’d been thrust into his space and now she was invading his entire being.
Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe this was normal.
Maybe it would go away as soon as he got rid of her.
Or maybe he was weak.
And the last thing he wanted to do was let himself down.
Many orbits ago, he had promised himself he would never leave himself open to be used ever again.
But despite that he’d kept himself away from so many other females, he knew he was also not someone a female needed.
He was broken. Incomplete.
The stub where his tail once was served as evidence of that.
Which female would want a male like him?
He kept this in his mind as the air jet dried him and he exited the cleansing room, nude but warm.
Trust no one.
That had been his motto.
A
silly one…because it seemed as if he couldn’t even trust himself.
24
A full week passed since the bathroom incident and, surprisingly, the days went more smoothly than she’d thought they would.
After that night, she was sure she’d have seen Geblit in the morning. And she’d been ready to leave with him too.
She’d had enough.
But Geblit never turned up and what’s more, Riv seemed to disappear for the most part.
So she decided to do what she could do.
Work.
Keep herself busy.
It was great, too, because, after being stuck behind a glass wall for a year, keeping herself company, she suddenly had things she could occupy her mind with.
She’d wake early, get out onto the grounds to do chores, return late, shower, eat, go to bed, repeat.
And during most of that time, she was left to her own devices.
Riv seemed more focused on securing the farm, spending most of his time by the perimeter when he wasn’t tending to the animals.
He stayed out of her way but she still found him hovering sometimes.
At certain points, she’d turn to find him watching her from a few meters off and, with his face covering and shades, she couldn’t tell if he was scowling or not.
Memory of what had happened between them that night played in her mind every single day but it was getting easier to forget as time passed by.
She wasn’t angry at him, really.
She was angry at herself.
She really should have known better.
She should have walked away before he’d told her to get out.
She knew her self-worth. She shouldn’t have stayed plastered underneath his slick, wet body as if she was a sex-starved animal.
And she shouldn’t want Riv.
What was bad was that after she’d held her head high and walked away, she could still feel her arousal dampening the mat of hair between her legs.
It was a good thing he didn’t make an effort to speak to her. She didn’t know how she’d respond.
And since he hadn’t said anything, she took that as a win. That meant her hard work was paying off.
He didn’t have a reason to confront her about anything.
