His fingertips brushed her forehead as he swept a stray lock of hair from her face, triggering a wave of warmth that flowed all the way to her toes. “That’s the kind of life we’ll be fighting for. A better life for those who have been denied it.”
As she recalled how many had already died trying to achieve that goal, a chill crept over her skin, banishing the warmth and making her shiver instead. “Sad that so many won’t have lived long enough to see it.”
“Especially when all they really wanted was the chance to enjoy the fruits of their labors.” Moe might never have wanted for anything, but he clearly understood the feelings of those whose very existence was thwarted at every turn.
She nodded her agreement. “One of my fondest wishes is to have food left over when each member of my gang has eaten his fill.”
To her surprise, Moe’s initial response was a chuckle. “My mother was never one to throw anything away that was still usable or edible—and believe me, I use those terms loosely—but you’re the only woman I’ve ever met who longed for leftovers.”
“You would, too, if you’d never had them.” With yet another sigh, she added, “Meeting everyone’s needs should be so simple, and yet it isn’t. There will always be the haves and the have-nots.”
She could have been one of the haves if she hadn’t cherished her freedom—a trait she and her mother had shared. Delaroh had risked everything to lie with Trag and bear his offspring. Even so, Klara had never heard her utter a single word of regret except for not having traveled far enough to escape the notice of the likes of Pelarus and his Nedwut henchmen. The vast majority of their woes could be traced to that one, unfortunate detail. Moe was undoubtedly regretting having landed on Haedus Nine himself.
The planet where dreams go to die…
A fitting slogan for a sad world.
Unless their revolution succeeded.
Getting rid of a creep like Pelarus shouldn’t be too hard. After all, she couldn’t imagine that anyone actually liked him. He might pay his henchmen to wreak havoc on the citizenry, but she doubted many tears would be shed over news of his demise. The Nedwuts would probably loot the treasury, take their ill-gotten gains, and waste no time in leaving Haedus Nine far behind.
She sat bolt upright in bed.
That’s it!
“I know what we need to do. How to get rid of Pelarus.”
“And that would be?”
“Instead of distributing Pelarus’s fortune among the poor, we simply tell the Nedwuts they’re welcome to take anything of his they deem valuable. As long as they agree to go back wherever they came from.”
Moe appeared to ponder this suggestion. “That might motivate them to turn on Pelarus, but getting them to follow through on the leaving part might be difficult. You could be trading one corrupt ruler for a horde of greedy Nedwuts.”
She grimaced. “They do tend to be rather greedy, don’t they?”
“Bloodthirsty, too,” he added.
“Still, it’s an option we can ask the others to consider. The trick would be sharing the plan with the Nedwuts.”
He snorted with laughter. “Oh, please. You’ve been paying off Nedwuts for a while now, right? I’m guessing you’ve made more friends among them than you realize.”
“Oh, here we go again…”
“Hey, I was right the last time.” Grinning, he reached up to drape an arm over her shoulders and pull her back down beside him. “I’m on a roll. Got us a bed for the night and, unless I miss my guess, breakfast.” He nuzzled her neck, sending waves of warmth flowing outward from the point of contact. “Although I’m pretty sure Velkma hasn’t started cooking yet.”
“It is kind of early,” she admitted after a sniff of the air yielded a lack of cooking aromas. “I was about to—” A sudden realization caused her to turn over to face him. “You’re purring! What the devil is that about? I thought you were mad at me.”
A seductive smile curled his lips as he shrugged. “Must’ve gotten over it.”
“Had to sleep on it, huh?”
“Maybe.” Still purring, he cupped her cheek in his palm before gliding his fingers through the hair at her temple. “Although the dream I had might have more to do with my change of heart than the sleep.”
She arched a brow when a simple turn of her head would’ve brought her lips in contact with his wrist. “Dream or vision?”
He chuckled. “Does it matter?”
She was forced to admit that it didn’t. Not one tiny little bit. “Not really. Just wondering.”
She was stalling, and she knew it. She was alone with him—they were even in a decent bed—and he was purring. If the gang would sleep a while longer, she might find out what her mother had gone to such lengths to experience for herself. She didn’t even need to fool him into believing she was something she wasn’t, because unlike her father, Moe clearly had nothing against a Davordian’s blue eyes.
She searched his eyes for a hint of duplicity and saw only honesty in the golden light shining from his pupils. Her mouth watered so profusely, she had to swallow before she spoke. “You don’t think we’ll be…disturbed, do you?”
His half smile revealed a gleaming fang. “I believe Velkma gave us this room for a reason, and I seriously doubt anyone will come barging in here to announce breakfast. They’ve probably been given strict orders to leave us alone until we get up and open the door ourselves.”
No doubt he was right, but still, she hesitated. “You aren’t playing mind games with me, are you?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” His voice was soft and deep and undeniably sincere. “I’m sorry I was so angry with you. I just never thought of myself as a criminal before. Although I was acting like an idiot in that bar.” He was so close, she could almost feel the vibrations of his purr passing through the breath of air that hung between them. “I’m over that now, too.”
She licked her lips, unsure whether to bite him or kiss him. “What do you want from me?”
“You already know what I want, Klara. The question is, what do you want?”
Only a few days ago, the list would’ve been quite long indeed. At the moment, however, she couldn’t recall a single item.
“You,” she replied. “I want you.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” Moe said. Not that she truly needed to say it. Her scent spoke for her—her delightful, stimulating, fabulously sexy scent. Even so, it paid to be sure. Basing actions on the heady aroma of a woman’s desire had landed men in deep shit before. A positive physiological response wasn’t a green light by any means. He cleared his throat, which felt strangely constricted. “How much of me do you want?”
Her heavy-lidded eyes beckoned him with the power of a thousand magnets. “All of you.” Those same magnetic eyes skimmed the length of his body and back again. “Except whatever you might be wearing.”
“You like your men naked, huh?”
“Oh, yeah.” Her purring whisper made his already engorged cock surge against his trousers.
Moe had already been regretting his choice of sleepwear, which was essentially his daywear minus his boots. “Might take me a minute, but I think I can manage nudity.”
Once he sat up, disrobing took less than twenty seconds.
“Much better,” she said as he lay back down beside her. “Although watching you do that was…exciting. I’d like to see you do it more slowly sometime.”
Moe wasn’t sure he could’ve done it any slower, but this was one wish with which he would definitely try to comply. “Maybe next time.”
“Mmm…” She leaned closer.
A sudden stab of anxiety struck, and he held up a hand to stop her. “This isn’t just because I’m the only Zetithian you’ve ever met, is it?”
“Does it matter?”
“Well, kind of.”
“Does that mean you want to put this off until I meet some of your brothers?”
“Um… No. That won’t be necessary.” Especially if he didn’t
want to have to fight Curly for her. Not that fighting over women was a habit among Zetithians, but you never knew with hybrids. To be on the safe side, he wanted to be fully mated to Klara and expecting their first litter before Curly came within a hundred light years of her. “The gods put us together for a reason,” he said with more conviction than he actually felt. “We shouldn’t question their motives.”
“Hey, you’re the one doing the questioning, not me.” She slid her palm over his shoulder and down his side. Heat flowed outward from her touch in every conceivable direction. “I just told you to get naked. Seems pretty straightforward to me.”
“Gotcha. Mind getting naked yourself?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Unlike his quick skimming off of his clothing, she eased out of her undershirt with excruciating slowness, first exposing her belly, then the underside of one lovely breast, then the other. He stopped breathing when her nipples peeked out from under the thin fabric. When she moved on to her panties, he could’ve sworn his heart had stopped as well.
Given that her gaze was riveted to his own, she obviously had no trouble seeing his eyes were about to pop out of his head. “Breathe, Moe. I’d much rather you lived through this.”
“I’m okay,” he insisted, although his rasping voice didn’t exactly provide undeniable proof.
With her body now bare to his gaze, she reached out a hand to stroke his cock. “Been looking forward to this for a while now.”
“And how long would that be?”
“Ever since”—she hesitated—“night before last.” She shook her head. “Seems like more time has passed than that.”
“A lot has happened in the past few days. Makes it seem like months.” And if you don’t suck my dick pretty soon, I’m gonna lose it before we even get started.
“I wanted to do this then. Or at least I did after I got a taste of you. Too bad we had company.”
Moe had wanted to scoop her up and make a run for another hiding place himself. “Damn Nedwuts.”
“Yeah.” She grasped his cock and squeezed, sending joy juice running down his shaft and no doubt covering her fingers. “We should probably be quiet even now.” With that, she swooped down and sucked his cockhead into her mouth.
“I’m gonna come in your mouth if you keep that up,” he gasped.
She backed off enough to speak. “You make that sound like a threat. As I recall, getting a mouthful of snard was a good thing. Might even be better than risking conception.”
“You won’t conceive unless you’re dizzy.” He sucked in a breath as she slid her tongue between the points of his coronal ridge. “You–you aren’t dizzy, are you?”
“Don’t believe so,” she said as she resumed the wild and wonderful things she was doing with his dick.
Moe, on the other hand, felt as though he might pass out at any moment or at least ejaculate. He’d reacted pretty strongly to her cocksucking before, but this was different.
Maybe it’s because we’re naked.
He was about to pull her off and pleasure her in every way he could think of when her first orgasm struck. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he rolled her onto her back. “My turn.”
Burying his face between her breasts, he inhaled her intoxicating aroma before tasting her satiny skin. Each part of her he tasted was more sublime than the last. Her purr of approval drove him onward, and he licked and sucked her nipples as she writhed beneath him while spearing her fingers through his hair.
As he began trailing kisses across her abdomen, she released his hair and tapped his shoulder. “Easy there, tiger. You don’t have to impress me. Trust me, I’m already plenty impressed.”
He drew back in surprise. “You mean you just want me to—” He paused, searching for the right words, and even when he thought he’d found them, he couldn’t quite bring himself to say them aloud.
“Fuck me ’til I scream?” she suggested.
“Actually, I was going to lick your clitoris until you screamed. But, yeah, that’s the general idea.”
A tiny chuckle rippled through her body. “We sort of need to keep quiet, remember?”
“I dunno,” he said. “Temfilk is probably picking up the sex pheromones in the air as we speak. Not sure keeping quiet will make any difference.”
She grimaced. “He won’t be able to resist telling the others about it, either.”
“Probably not.”
“Okay then,” she said decisively. “Go ahead.”
“With what, exactly?”
“Whatever you like.” She flapped a hand. “Surprise me.”
Given that she’d never had sex before, anything he did would come as something of a surprise. Even if she’d been with someone else, sex with a Zetithian was guaranteed to make her forget all about any previous lovers.
Sitting on his heels between her thighs, he began circling her clit with the head of his penis. Unlike other males, he didn’t need to use his fingers or his tongue—his control of his cock made it almost as dexterous—and the joy juice would only make it better. A languid smile curved her lips as she gazed up at him.
Her soft, wet flesh teased his cock in return. He wanted to glide his cock all over her. A thrust of his hips sent his cockhead skidding up over her mons. After sliding back down, he hovered at her entrance, waiting for the signal to plunge. It wasn’t until he’d done this four or five times that she finally took control. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him inside herself with astonishing strength. Tight, wet, and unbelievably hot, her slick inner passage held him captive, and for once, he had no desire to escape.
As he rocked into her, his visual sense faltered, causing her image to swim before his eyes, even echoing through his brain when his eyes were closed. Her scent, her flavor, the texture of her skin, the startling blue of her eyes—all this and more was pinging every sensory receptor he possessed.
He knew what was happening. They were becoming mated to one another. There would be no going back after this. He’d never dreamed it could happen so fast, but it seemed that every pore in his skin was actively absorbing her essence, imprinting her entire being upon his soul.
The essence of Klara… How utterly marvelous.
Just when he felt he could absorb no more, the pleasure escalated, expanding in exquisitely precise increments, each thrust of his cock bringing him closer to nirvana.
As Moe reached the most astonishing climax of his life, a high-pitched cry signaled Klara’s own orgasm. Seconds later, she seemed to fold inward, taking him with her.
Where there had once been two, only one being remained, existing as two halves of one whole. Nothing could part them now. Wherever she went, he would go with her gladly—even into death.
For what good was life without one’s mate?
Chapter 15
As a ball of warmth formed in her lower back, Klara knew this episode was different from the last. Something within her had changed at such a basic level she knew she would never be quite the same again. Moreover, she wished they’d done this the night before rather than in the morning so she could go back to sleep. Even her bones felt as though they were melting. The heat moved steadily outward, unfurling like a flower to spread throughout her entire body. She closed her eyes against the brightness of the morning sun, allowing herself to drift on a tide of what she could only call—
Joy.
That line about giving her “joy unlike any you have ever known” was spot-on. What she couldn’t figure out was why this was so much better than the oral sex. Sure, it was physically different, but was the chemical reaction different as well? Then again, there was nothing quite like getting the full treatment. She almost wished she had another experience with which to compare it, although she couldn’t imagine that anything could possibly be any better.
A kiss placed lightly on her brow made her open her eyes, but the light still seemed too bright for some reason.
“Good,” he whispered. “I haven’t missed it. So incredibly beauti
ful…”
“What are you talking about?” Her voice vibrated with her purr, robbing her tone of the slightest hint of irascibility.
“Your eyes. You should see them. They’re like, wow.”
Shielding her eyes with an unsteady hand, she attempted to look up at him, but she might as well have been trying to look at the sun. A quick glance was all she could stand. “Speaking of my eyes…what’s wrong with them?”
“Nothing,” he replied. His gaze never wavered. “Your pupils will constrict eventually, but right now, they’re huge.”
“Another side effect of snard?”
He nodded. “One of the cooler effects. At least, from the male’s perspective. I don’t think mine do that.”
She stole another peek at his dark orbs with their glowing vertical pupils. “They look the same as always. Maybe a little brighter, but that could be my dilated pupils talking.”
“Possibly.” With a tiny grin, he dipped his head and kissed her—meltingly sweet, and on the mouth this time—before rolling off her. The shocking loss of his warmth came as a surprise; she’d endured worse losses at the hands of Nedwuts, but this was singular in its impact. “So, ready to start a revolution?”
“I’m too sleepy to get up, much less start a revolution,” she replied. “You might have to start it without me.”
He shook his head slowly. “Not gonna happen, sweetheart. You’re the spark of the rebellion, remember?”
“I haven’t forgotten that—or the part about leading it.” She bit her lip, hesitating. “All I’ve ever done with my gang is try to keep them alive and reasonably healthy. To lead a large population is…” She stopped, unable to find the right words to describe the heavy weight of responsibility such a role would entail.
“A daunting task?” he suggested.
“Yeah. That.”
“I think your main job will be holding them back. I mean, they’ve been patient for a long time. Your spark is liable to create an unstoppable inferno.”
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