Close Encounters

by Katherine Allred

  Ever since returning from the crystal cave I’d felt a subtle pull toward this building. Now that I was inside, it was getting stronger, and there was no doubt in my mind that the attraction came from whatever was behind that kechic-like curtain.

  I ran a sweaty palm down the outside of my thigh and glanced at Thor. Either he wasn’t picking up my nervousness, or he was ignoring it. Since he’d picked up on everything else that had so much as flitted through my mind, I figured it was Option B. The question was, why? Did I really want to know?

  Nope. No. Sure didn’t. Call me the Queen of Denial, but I’d had about all the surprises I could take for a while. The only thing I wanted right now was to find our new sleeping quarters, jump Thor’s bones, and then get some rest. It had been a long, unsettling day.

  With a distinct gleam in his eyes, Thor tugged on my hand. “Through here.”

  He led me into a room on the right and I stopped abruptly, my jaw dropping at the sheer beauty in front of me. “This is our sleeping quarters?” I couldn’t help the awe in my voice.

  “Yes. The design was mine, but I thought you would approve.”

  “Approve” was an understatement, if I’d ever heard one. I took another step forward, trying to see everything at once.

  The sleeping platform to my right was large enough for an orgy of epic proportions, and covered with dozens of pillows in the bright colors the tribe favored. On either side were shelves filled with my clothes and supplies, interspersed with beautiful jars and bowls. Someone, probably Churka, had unpacked for me.

  Halfway across the room from the end of the platform was another small table with flowers, lamps, and cushions for sitting.

  On the outside wall, arched openings led to a covered terrace, allowing the evening breeze to find its way inside.

  But it was the far end that shot trickles of amazement through me. For here the waterfall from the front room was recreated on a much grander scale.

  “It is for bathing,” Thor told me. “Come, I will show you.”

  He stopped at the side of a crystal-clear pool and gestured to the fall. “It hits a wide shelf suitable for standing on, so you can let the water shower over you. Then it goes into the pool. There is an opening on the far end that lets water escape, so the pool stays clean. Would you like to bathe now?”

  “I’d love to bathe—” My answer was cut off when a dragon bird zipped through one of the arches and hovered in midair, letting loose a startled squawk at our presence before darting back out. I couldn’t stop a grin at the creature’s antics. “They come inside?”

  Thor watched his retreat. “They love to play in water anywhere they find it.” With a gleam in his eyes, he turned back to me and reached for the fastening on his loincloth. “We will bathe now.”

  Sure worked for me. Only problem was I had on more clothes than Thor. As a result, by time I’d divested myself of my jumpsuit, boots and weapon, he was already under the shower. Yanking the tie from my hair, I took a step forward just as he moved out from under the water. And there he was, stark naked, water glistening on his body. My mouth dropped open just as he held out a bowl containing soft, creamy soap.

  “Would you mind cleansing my back?” he said mildly. He turned around, waiting.

  Mind? Did I mind? I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the hard muscles that rippled just under his skin. Or the tight cheeks of his bottom, or the long, full legs. He was so gorgeous it was almost impossible to think. And he knew, damn it. Knew just what I was feeling.

  “Come.”

  Almost as if I were in a trance, I took the soap from his hand and moved onto the ledge. Maybe if I didn’t look I could get through this part without drooling all over him. Hastily, I closed my eyes even as my hand reached his back. It didn’t help. Even with my eyes closed, I could see every perfect inch of him etched on my eyelids, would probably see him that way till the day I died. Might as well enjoy the show. I opened them again, and damn near stopped breathing. Under my hands, he was warm, slick with the soap. If seeing him naked hadn’t been enough to start heat coiling through me, touching him like this would have. His texture was like nothing I’d experienced before. The heat extended to my breasts and then lower, causing a pleasing, resonant throb between my legs.

  With a muffled oath, Thor grabbed me and dragged me completely under the shower with him. Hands gripping my elbows, he lifted me to my toes before his mouth crashed down on mine and plundered until I was limp. “Open the bond, feel what you make me feel.”

  “No.” Panic hit me, taking the edge off my pleasure. I was used to sensing my partner’s emotions when I made love. But opening up to actually letting him feel every touch, experience my every sensation, scared me, made me too vulnerable.

  “Do not be afraid, my heart,” he whispered, his eyes holding mine. The water hit us both, soaking our hair until it was plastered to our shoulders like a second skin. Slowly, his eyes moved down my body, taking in the erect nipples straining to be touched. My heart pounded frantically against my ribs at the heat in his expression. Gradually, he lifted his head until his gaze came back to mine. “I will protect you. Please, do not deny us this sharing.”

  “I’ve never…I don’t know how.” My voice wasn’t quite steady, and I looked away.

  “The truth.” He raised my chin with one hand, forcing me to face him. “Why do you fear the bond?”

  My teeth were suddenly chattering in spite of the fact that the water wasn’t all that cold. Get out, I told myself. Get out now while you still can. “You.” The words slipped from my traitorous mouth. “It’s you.”

  “Why?”

  In spite of his solemn tone, I could feel him, hard with arousal, pressing against my stomach. My breath caught on a half sob. “Because I’m afraid of getting even closer to you. If I do, then when I lose you, I don’t know how I’ll stand it.”

  “You will never lose me,” he murmured. “If you cannot stay with my people, then I will go with you.”

  My heart was suddenly doing its damnedest to throttle me, clogging my throat until I could barely breathe. “You’d leave your home, your family, tribe, for me?”

  “You are my family, my heart. Without you, there is nothing left for me here.”

  As his lips descended on mine again, I hesitated. Was he telling me the truth, or only telling me what I wanted to hear so I would cooperate? But he wasn’t giving me a chance to figure it out. A shiver ran over me as he teased my mouth, gently but firmly forcing my lips apart. And then his tongue slid inside, exploring, searching, savoring. When it touched mine, the heat that had filled me before detonated into raging incandescence.

  “I need you,” he breathed into my mouth. “Put your arms around me,” he commanded softly. “Touch me.”

  Helpless to disobey, I snaked my arms around his neck briefly while his lips found mine again. This time I needed no urging. My tongue sought his urgently, needing so much more, as I freed my hands to roam over him. Our bodies touched all the way down and I pressed more tightly against him, my erect nipples rubbing the hair on his chest.

  Ecstasy. Glorious, wonderful ecstasy. Skin sliding over skin. Even in my wildest dreams I’d never thought it would be like this. I couldn’t get close enough to him. He was touching me, holding me. He was making love to me.

  He was opening the bond.

  Another bolt of fear shot through me, warring with the need to give him what he’d asked of me.

  “Kiera,” he groaned. “Just relax. Let me do this, please. I know what you need.” His lips moved over my face, blindly, desperately. “As much as I want to be inside you, I won’t do it. Not until you’re ready to fully share through the bond. Without it, this would only be a release, nothing more.”

  He was telling the truth. I could feel it as though his emotional shields were completely gone. The fear drained away from me, and I didn’t even have to tell him. He knew the instant I stopped resisting and opened the bond. I went down without a fight. His tongue traced my lips and
then plunged inside, our minds molded together as closely as our bodies. His hands slid up my hips, and then around, cupping my bottom before pulling me more tightly to him, once, twice in a rhythmic motion that had me moaning aloud. I could no more have shut off the bond than I could have cut off my right arm.

  “That feels good,” he whispered, “but you need more. You need this.” His hands cradled my breasts, his thumbs slowly stroking my nipples until I was almost crazy. And the whole time, his mouth stayed on mine. “And this,” he breathed. One hand moved lower. “This is what you want, what you need. Hold on tight.”

  His fingers parted me so gently, touched me, and then moved up slightly. Even with his warning, I wasn’t prepared.

  “Yes,” he groaned. “Right there. Let go, my heart.” His fingers caressed me once, and then again, while his tongue caught mine.

  Everything I experienced, he shared. What I felt, he felt. And even as my need increased his own desire, his feelings merged with mine and amplified my own.

  With a sob, I climaxed, pushing myself harder into his hand. And he was with me. My orgasm triggered his, which in turn intensified mine. My hand closed around him convulsively and he pulsed against my stomach and spilled over, each of us creating an echo of pleasure in the other that seemed to last forever.

  Waves of smug satisfaction rippled from Thor as we stood there under the water, snuggled together. And not just from the sex, either. In spite of myself, I smiled without lifting my head from his chest. “Think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” I felt a rumble of content under my cheek. “Now you know the bond will not hurt you. You can stop fighting it.”

  “What I know is that if we don’t get out of the water soon I’m going to look like a prune.” I sent him a grossly exaggerated mental picture of the wrinkled fruit and he chuckled.

  “We have something similar. It is called a yapanya. I do not like them.” He pried me gently away. “What did you do with the cleanser?”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “Must have dropped it.”

  He vanished from under the waterfall for a second. When he returned he was holding the bowl of creamy soap. “It floated into the pool.”

  We did a quick scrub down, and then went out onto the terrace to drip dry. Orpheus’s moon was full, a big round orb that limned the night with bluish shadows. Across the clearing, I heard Brownie’s little boy jabber something in a high-pitched voice, followed by the soothing tones of his mother.

  It all felt so normal, so right. Until Crigo padded onto the terrace, sat down, and glared at me.

  “Stop pretending you couldn’t find me,” I told him. “You keep track of me better than Max does.”

  Thor slanted me a curious look. “He understands what you say to him?”

  “Oh, yeah, he understands every word. And I can pick up his emotions, so we communicate pretty well.”

  He gazed down at Crigo, who was now ignoring us in favor of staring into the dark toward the Dynatec camp. “Yes, I can feel them through you. Why is he so pleased?”

  Uh-oh.

  I straightened, a tingle of apprehension knotting my shoulders. “Max, what has Crigo been up to today?”

  “After you returned to the village, he went back to watch the Dynatec people from the jungle and stayed for an hour. There was a small disturbance in the camp, and then he left, heading in the general direction of the mapping party. I thought he might be hunting, and he wasn’t near any humans or Buri so I didn’t keep track of him.”

  “Is there any chance he caused the disturbance?” It was my turn to glare.

  “I don’t think so, Kiera. He never went into the camp, just watched from a distance.”

  Crigo raised his nose in the air, gave a disdainful sniff, and stalked into the building radiating injured pride.

  Oh, this was just great. I’d hurt his feelings. No telling what he’d come up with to punish me.

  Thor smiled. “He will survive.”

  “Yeah, but I may not.”

  He reached over and ran a hand down my damp hair. “You are tired?”

  “Not really. Why? Is there something you want to do?”

  An explicit image popped into my head. I sucked in a great lungful of air, nearly choked and then nodded vigorously. “Yes, I think we can manage that.”

  I grabbed his hand and towed him back inside. And then came to a screeching halt.

  Crigo was sprawled in the middle of the sleeping platform, faking snores.

  Releasing Thor’s hand, I propped my hands on my hips. “Listen cat, that might be a large bed, but it’s not big enough for a Buri, a GEP and a rock cat. Now scram.”

  He stopped snoring and regarded me through narrowly opened eyes, but didn’t move.

  Okay, time to take more drastic action. Climbing onto the bed, I put both hands against him and shoved. He growled. I stopped pushing. Fast. Just because I heal in the blink of an eye doesn’t mean injuries don’t hurt.

  I glanced at Thor, who was watching with interest, then back at Crigo. There had to be a solution to this problem. If physical strength wouldn’t work, maybe logic would.

  “Here’s the thing,” I told Crigo. “Thor and I are going to have sex, and we’re going to have it on this bed whether you’re in it or not. So you have a choice. You can stay here and endure our amorous antics, or you can postpone your revenge, save it for another day.”

  He stared at me, and I sighed. “Would it help if I said I was sorry, and that I’ll never ever doubt you again for as long as we live, cross my heart?”

  With an air of majesty, he gave a grunt of patent disbelief, climbed down, and stalked off to explore the rest of the building.

  I watched him leave and then turned to Thor with a smile.

  It was several hours later when Crigo returned. I was curled up beside Thor, his arm around my waist, almost asleep.

  The cat slipped softly to the side of the bed, gently butted my hand, and then went to sprawl in the door leading to the terrace. He’d forgiven me.

  More content than I’d ever been in my life, I drifted the rest of the way into sleep.

  It seemed like only a few minutes later when a horrible din erupted and I bolted upright in bed.

  What in the thirteen hells…?

  The sun was shining, and from the look of the shadows, had been for several hours. Moreover, I was alone. I searched frantically for the source of the noise and discovered what appeared to be approximately one hundred dragon birds frolicking in the pool and shower, and squabbling over the cleanser we’d left beside the water last night. They were scooping it up in tiny paws, dipping it into the water until it frothed, and then wallowing in the suds.

  I had the distinct feeling that sleeping late every day was going to be out of the question in this room. But on the other hand, they were amusing. One popped up with a mound of foam on its head that looked like a big top hat, gave a smug peep, and used its wings to do a back flip in the water. Others gathered around the sides, preening, and I saw two chattering at each other as if they were old women at a social event, gossiping about the neighbors.

  Thor suddenly stepped through the interior door, setting the entire bunch to scolding and squawking. He had to use the bond to talk to me, because there was no way to be heard over the noise.

  You are hungry? Churka has brought food.

  I’m starved. Give me a minute to dress and I’ll be right out. I hopped out of bed, briefly contemplated donning a blue kechic, and then grabbed a clean jumpsuit, pulling it on before sliding my feet into my boots. Wearing the kechic might make Thor happy, but I had no idea what the day might bring. Besides, it just didn’t go with my weapon.

  Speaking of which…I went and retrieved the blaster from a dragon bird who was examining it and my discarded clothes intently. “Take my word for it,” I told him. “They’re not edible.”

  This particular creature was one I recognized as part of the flock that had followed me around from my first day on Orpheus T
wo. He tilted his head to one side, gave me a quizzical cheep, and then waddled back to his pals, wings half unfurled. It looked like he was getting braver every day.

  After depositing the dirty jumpsuit in a basket near the door, I fastened the weapon around my waist, did a fast job of braiding my hair, and stepped into the hall.

  Thor was standing near the front of the building, talking to someone in the smaller sitting room. Churka, I presumed.

  I started toward him, then stopped and turned slowly toward the curtained door at the far end of the hall. We hadn’t gone through it last night, and I really needed to now.

  The walls on either side of me went fuzzy and my vision tunneled. Involuntarily, I took a step toward the curtain.

  Abruptly, Thor was in front of me, his hands on my cheeks, forcing my head up so I had to meet his eyes. “Kiera, look at me.”

  I blinked once, then again before finally focusing on him. “What’s in there?” I asked as he tried to steer me back toward the front of the building.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” I put on the brakes. “If it’s nothing, why are you dragging me away from it?”

  “You wouldn’t be interested in that area.”

  There was such a stew of emotions coming from him that my curiosity immediately soared. I was picking up hope, regret and the tiniest fear of failure all at the same time.

  “What is it? You might as well tell me and get it over with.”

  He hesitated, glanced at the curtain, and then looked back. “It is the Shushadeien. The place where the Shushanna works.”

  My brows snapped together in reflex. “You’re right. I’m not interested.”

  That was wrong of me, and I knew it. I should be gathering any and every scrap of information that might lead to solving the Buri’s problems. But I couldn’t do it. Because I still remembered the odd shimmer I’d noticed during the ceremony, coming from the back of this building. I still felt the pull, the urge, to go…do something. What, I wasn’t sure, but the compulsion was gradually getting stronger, and that scared me down to my toes.