by S. E. Smith
“I’ve seen your home. It is unbelievable,” she said.
“When you pass through the trees here, there will be a cliff,” he warned.
He straightened as she maneuvered the land glider between the trees and onto a wide rock shelf. She powered down the glider and he disembarked. As she stepped off the transport, he reached out and grasped her hand, steadying her.
They silently walked to the edge of the cliff. Below was a vast, deep gorge. Waterfalls flowed over the sides. Some plunged hundreds of feet while others were like steps as they cascaded down into several large basins until reaching the wide river below.
“This is beautiful. It reminds me of the Grand Canyon back home. I wonder if the Colorado River once looked like this as it cut through the canyon,” she murmured.
He stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, then he pointed to the series of falls closest to them. She turned her head to look at them.
“The falls supply power to our village and to the security grid for this region. There are many such power stations, built to blend in with the natural surroundings. We did not want to ruin what the Goddess gave us by trying to tame the flow, and the natural fall of the water hides our infrastructure from anyone foolish enough to attack us,” he explained.
Avery shook her head in wonder. “Smart. On my world, the first things an invading force attacks are the communication and power structures. Divide and conquer: create chaos and move in to take over. It’s a classic military strategy,” she said.
He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “You have studied military strategies?” he asked.
“Some. My job is to keep Cosmos Raines Industries safe from attacks. Obviously, Cosmos does more than run a corporation full of computer nerds. We sometimes go into the most hostile places on Earth looking for the worst of those who prey upon the weak. Avilov was one of them. You saw what he was capable of. The people who took Merrick are targets too. We took down some, but there are still key figures that remain free: Markham, Wright, and Dolinski. I shouldn’t have come here, but with Merrick safe on your world now…” her voice faded and she shrugged. “I decided the world would have to survive without me for three days.”
Core made a soft sound of acknowledgment as he breathed in her scent and basked in her warmth. “I would not have wished Merrick’s captivity on him…” he mused, “but if it wasn’t for everything that had happened, I would not have met you,” he grudgingly admitted.
“How is he doing?” Avery asked, tilting her head back against his shoulder to look up at him.
He gazed out over the canyon to hide his expression. After so long trying to temper the volatility of the desperate men in his clan, attempting to contain his own emotions was second nature, though it was difficult when he thought of how close to death Merrick had been. He took a breath and told himself that it was important to be calm. This relationship between humans and the Prime was new and therefore delicate. He did not want her to think that he blamed all humans for what had happened to Merrick.
“The drugs almost killed him,” he finally said, “and his recovery is slow. Now that he is awake, he is impatient to return to your world. He has found his bond mate.”
Avery chuckled and shook her head. “Poor woman!” she teased, turning in his arms.
Core smiled and caressed her cheek. “And yet, finding our bond mate makes us the richest warriors in all the world,” he softly countered.
The amusement in Avery’s eyes faded and was replaced by a haunted look that he wanted more than anything to chase away. He could almost see the barrier that blocked him from her mind. It was like an empty vortex, sucking the light away and leaving nothing but darkness. He kept his hand on her cheek and focused on her thoughts.
“Don’t!” her sharp command and the mental push she gave him felt like a blow.
“Avery…” he murmured in concern.
She took a step away from him, her expression accusing, then she turned and walked back to the glider. He followed her, and when she climbed on, he noticed her knuckles were white where she gripped the handles.
“I don’t want to end this with regret, Core. I want us to remember the beautiful time we had together. No strings, no expectations, no demands…” she said, looking at him with dark eyes that revealed more emotion than she probably realized.
“Just three days of mindless, never-ending sex,” he said in a soft voice.
She gave him a crooked smile, but her eyes held a hint of grief. “And each other’s company,” she quietly finished.
He reached down and brushed a kiss along her upturned lips, then lifted his hands and framed her face, quietly studying her features before he brushed another kiss to the end of her nose.
“Would you like to swim in a magical cave?” he asked.
Her low, sexy laugh was a relief, and he climbed onto the glider, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. She leaned back against him for a moment before firing up the glider. They rose into the air. She looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.
“Who wouldn’t want to see a magical cave on an alien world? Life doesn’t get much better than this,” she informed him.
He smiled wickedly and slid his hands up under the fabric of her shirt to her unbound breasts. She gasped as he cupped them.
“I can think of something that might,” he murmured in her ear.
He laughed when she cursed and pressed harder on the glider’s accelerator. Her delighted laughter soon mixed with his as they sped through the forest. His heart swelled with love.
Whether Avery would admit it or not, they were made for each other. He would not be giving up without a fight—and not just because the unaccepted bond would eventually kill him, as it would any Prime. He wouldn’t want to live without her. If there was no way to be with Avery and he had a choice about whether to live or die, Core would have found a way to end his suffering.
8
Avery rolled onto her back and floated in the water. She looked up through the opening in the ceiling of the cave. The stars were beginning to come out. The walls of the cave glowed with lustrous colors.
“This is so beautiful. You were right. It is magical,” she murmured.
Core treaded water next to her. She could feel his eyes on her instead of the cave. She lowered her legs and turned toward him. Winding her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, she let him keep both of them afloat.
“I could watch you all day long, every day, as you learn more about my world, and never grow tired of seeing the joy reflected in your eyes,” he said.
Avery’s throat tightened with emotion. She slid her hands up and cupped his face. For a moment, she did nothing more. She wanted to burn the vision of him in her mind; his wet hair in disarray from their swim, his strong face relaxed, and his silver-colored eyes burning with the familiar flames of desire and another emotion she was afraid to attach a name to.
She caressed his bottom lip with her thumb, then slowly leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his. This time the emotion behind the kiss was not raw passion but something deeper. It felt bittersweet.
He parted his lips and they deepened the kiss, forgetting the world around them. For just a moment, time stood still. There was no past, no future—just this one moment in time where they were together.
Avery closed her eyes and tried to hold onto the strange emotions overwhelming her. In her mind, she could see a web of delicately thin silver threads piercing the wall of ice she kept around her heart. It felt warm and safe. She opened her eyes and looked into his mesmerizing ones for a long moment. Then she leaned forward and pressed her cheek to his.
Don’t fall in love with me. Please don’t fall in love with me, she silently begged.
He tightened his arms around her and held her as if he would never let her go. They remained like that for several minutes before he loosened his arms and released her. They swam back to the shallow end of the pool and she threaded her fing
ers through his.
“You know, I think I’ve spent more time these past couple of days getting dressed and undressed than I ever have in the past year!” she softly laughed as she bent over to pick up a towel.
“I would be very happy if you wanted to forgo the getting dressed part,” he teased.
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you,” she retorted.
She ran an appreciative gaze over Core’s muscular form. Damn if the man didn’t make her want to permanently give up wearing clothes. His low rumbling growl and obvious physical response, which was growing harder right before her eyes, told her that he was well aware of her thoughts.
Ten minutes later, she was wrapping her arms around Core’s waist and leaning against his back as he drove the glider back through the forest toward his home. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder and sighed deeply in contentment. The forest was as beautiful at night as it was during the day. Several times she swore she caught a glimpse of something moving in the shadows.
“There are many different beasts that live within the forest. They know to stay away if they wish to live another day,” Core explained over the hum of the glider.
She rested her chin on his shoulder. “You’re in my head again. I can feel you there, you know,” she dryly observed.
He shook with silent laughter. “Do you want to feel more of me?” he challenged.
She reached down between his legs and squeezed. His laughter echoed through the night, drowning out the other sounds with its rich tone. She smiled and held him tight.
It didn’t take them nearly as long as she’d thought it would to return to Core’s home. She reluctantly released her hold on him as they came to a stop, and she dismounted the glider, then picked up the things they had carried with them on their adventures today.
Core activated the shield over the glider and took some of the items from her grasp. They walked over to the entrance, and she looked up when he held her hand.
“I had a wonderful day,” she said.
He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “There is much more to show you. We have many beautiful cities here, and while my village has been quiet, tomorrow most of the residents will return. I’ve become spoiled the last two days having it and you to myself,” he replied.
He released her hand and activated the lift. She didn’t reply to his unspoken desire that she stay much longer. There was no way she could remain. She already knew this had been a mistake.
Her plan to get Core out of her system while keeping her emotions under control had been a miserable failure. She didn’t think she would ever get enough of him, and she didn’t want to think about the pain she would inevitably feel when she left. She was emotionally invested—after a lifetime of fighting attachment to anything and anyone.
“Why don’t we shower, then prepare some dinner?” he suggested.
She nodded. “I’ll take these up and put them in the cleansing unit,” she said.
“I’ll be there in a moment,” he added with a grin.
Avery stepped to the side when the doors opened and watched as he walked out of the lift and onto the main level. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall when the doors closed behind him. This was going to be so much harder than she’d expected.
She opened her eyes when the doors opened again, this time on the top floor. Stepping out of the lift, she turned to the right and headed for the cleansing room. Inside, she opened the alien version of a washer/dryer combo and dropped their damp clothing and towels inside. She quickly stripped out of her clothes and placed them inside as well, then she walked toward the shower.
Warm jets of water automatically turned on when she stepped inside. She bowed her head as the water flowed over her, and slowly opened her hand to study the intricate circles in the center of her palm.
Cosmos had warned her, but she hadn’t believed him. She carefully traced the pattern. The center of her palm grew warm and for a moment she thought she could see the glimmer of silver threads reaching toward the door of the cleansing room.
She blinked and looked up when she heard Core enter the room. He had already removed his clothes and was dropping them into the cleansing unit. He shut the compartment and activated the unit, but his eyes were on her.
She daringly caressed the mark on her palm as she looked into his intense silver eyes, trembling at his reaction to her. Physically, he was hard and ready and magnificent, but it was his mental reaction to her caress that shook her the most.
“You can’t continue to ignore our connection, Avery,” he murmured as he stepped into the shower with her.
Avery pressed her fingers against his lips. She didn’t want to talk. She didn’t want to try to understand everything that was happening—tomorrow would come all too soon. Tomorrow would be their last day together.
He shook his head back and forth ever so slightly beneath her touch. She moved her finger away from his lips to caress his cheek, and slid her other hand up his arm. Her breath caught when his calloused hands moved over her wet skin and drew her close.
Their kiss held the same passion it had the last two days, but it also tasted of desperation and despair. She felt his swift denial as it swept through her mind, and she parted her lips under the pressure of his kiss.
Open your mind to me.
Avery stiffened for a moment before she acquiesced to his demand. Opening her mind to him was easier than she’d expected. In some ways, the thought of being able to communicate with another person like this was terrifying; but, at the same time, it was exhilarating.
Feel me. See me. Touch me, he encouraged as he deepened their kiss.
Core tightened his arms around Avery when he felt her relax the tight control she kept over her mind. He swore she had more self-discipline than any of the fiercest warriors he had ever known. Even though she was lowering her protective walls, he could sense there was a part of herself that she continued to hide. He ended their kiss, pulling back and resting his forehead against hers. Her eyes were closed, and her mind was filled with only the things she wanted to share.
Memories slowly opened to him. He saw fuzzy, bright glimpses of the humans he had met when he was on Earth. He closed his eyes and focused. The images became clear. He saw members of Cosmos’ team and felt the pride Avery had in their determination to make their world a better place.
She had created a mental structure like a stage with these memories in the spotlight, but just outside that light he could sense, just barely, a darker side of her life, a place where she moved like a ghost, unable to touch and afraid to be touched.
He gently traced the thin scar along her left hip where a bullet had grazed her, and another along her shoulder caused by a knife. The brief flash of a young girl’s smile and an explosion of pain made him drop his hand to the long scar along her abdomen.
The memory disappeared, and his connection with her was lost when she suddenly captured his lips with her own. She threaded her hands through his wet hair and kissed him as if she would never stop.
Core could taste her need to distract him. He cupped her buttocks in his hands, lifted her, and pressed her back against the smooth wall of the shower. She wrapped her long legs around his waist and dug her heels into his ass.
He lowered her slightly and slowly impaled her, instinctively rocking his hips as she used her grip on him, the power of her legs, and the slick surface of the wall to ride him. They broke apart, their breathing loud in the confines of the shower. The warm water made their bodies slide against each other.
The tingle of an orgasm was building at the base of his spine. His grip tightened on her thighs. A low curse slipped from him, and he gritted his teeth in an effort to hold back his orgasm until he brought her release. The ecstasy of her channel stroking the full length of his cock was torture.
Connect with me, she demanded, staring into his eyes.
His mind surged into hers, stroking her with that intimate caress
he’d never had with anyone else and never would. His eyelids drooped as he felt what she felt. She was holding back her release, wanting to draw out every last second.
She pushed the pleasure she felt into him, and he shuddered as he felt the full force of it, his mind expanding to give her all of his own pleasure as they made love. He could feel how the coarse hair on his chest teased her nipples until they were hard as pebbles. He could feel the slight sting of the heated water hitting them, but it was her response to his cock, stroking deep inside her that had him thrusting into her hard enough that he swore they were no longer two people but one. Her loud cries echoed in the cleansing room.
Sweet Goddess, Avery, he groaned.
His teeth lengthened. He could taste the chemical his body produced to increase his mate’s desire. She leaned forward and ran her tongue along his teeth, and Core parted his lips, emitting a loud, deep growl in response.
The slight taste of copper filled his senses, and he knew that his razor-sharp teeth had cut her. The wound would heal almost instantly thanks to his saliva, but it was enough to send him over the edge.
He pushed up inside her as far as he could go, bent his head, and bit her, piercing the soft flesh along the column of her neck. She screamed in white hot pleasure and stiffened in his arms. He held her immobilized while he rocked his hips harder and faster. They were locked together in mind and body, their hearts frantically beating as one, their emotions and physical excitement surging unfettered between them, exponentially magnifying what they each felt.
“Core… Yes, now…. Yesssss…” Avery moaned as her control shattered and her inner muscles greedily clutched his shaft. Core relished the intensity of Avery’s release, and as her tight sheath clamped down around his cock, the tingling that had started earlier spread until his whole body burned with it.
