Dreamer: Planet Athion Series (Equinox Book 2)

by Lily Harlem

  Anki had lost his mother and only sister to the virus that had decimated the female population on both Planet Athion and Tradrych. Like every other man, he had grief to carry around.

  “I’m sorry you went through what you did.”

  “It was hard, but as well as being strong of body, Athions are strong of mind. It is our time to fix the disaster the virus brought, and we must do it with dignity and integrity.”

  “Not like the Trads.”

  “Good will triumph over evil, it has to.”

  “I agree.” Love swelled within me, catching in my chest and giving my skin a warm glow. Anki was so special to me. He’d given me his heart with so much trust, and I intended to look after it very carefully. I’d never break it.

  “So in answer to your question, Uma. I have no problem with you being with Gavyn.” He paused. “On one condition.”

  “What is that?”

  “It’s what you want.”

  “I think it is. I haven’t explored it yet, I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “And for that I’m grateful.” He grinned and nodded at the clock. “Though right now, this is my time with you, and I want to make the most of it.”

  A strange buoyancy tugged at my mood. Both Anki and Mateo were okay with my plans to get closer to Gavyn. This was good news.

  But right now, Anki was correct. This was our time, and I intended to have some fun.

  “Strip your clothes off, Anki. I want to admire my sexy alien man’s body.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “All those naked bodies in the sleeper pod got you thinking about mine, did it?”

  I licked my lips and tipped my head. “Yes. But none are as gorgeous as you.”

  “Not true, but kind of you to say it.” He gripped his tunic between his shoulder blades and dragged it over his head. After tossing the material aside, he ran his hand through his ruffled hair.

  “It is true.” I practically salivated at the sight of his broad, defined chest. He was hairless there, and I adored how soft his skin was, and how hard and tight his small nipples were.

  “And the rest,” I said, crossing my legs and settling back in my chair. This was quite a show.

  He kept his gaze on me and toed off his soft shoes, revealing bare feet. He then slowly slipped down the waistband of his linen slacks. A trail of downy hair thickened as the waistband went lower, and I could make out the bulge of his cock.

  I shifted on the seat, wanting to tell him to hurry, but kept the instruction held back.

  Painfully slowly, as if knowing it was torturing me, he pushed his pants downward. He didn’t wear underwear and had to pull the elastic outward to free his cock.

  And damn, what a cock. Long and thick, the end wide and glossy; I knew I’d never get enough of it.

  He kicked his pants aside, and they landed on top of his tunic.

  “Now what do you want me to do?” he asked, placing his hands on his hips. It was clear his bedroom confidence was growing.

  “Wank,” I said.

  He frowned slightly.

  “Masturbate, work your cock.”

  “It’s already hard, you can see that.”

  “I can, but I want to watch you touch yourself.”

  He held my gaze for a second, then dipped his head and gripped his erection. A small groan rumbled from his chest, and he gave his shaft a firm stroke from root to tip.

  “Work it…more,” I said, shoving at my own pants and delving between my legs. “Make yourself come.”

  “Uma. This is so…” He sped up, the sound of friction, flesh on flesh, reaching my ears.

  “This is so much fun.” I found my clit and circled it, spreading my thighs so he had a good view.

  The muscles and tendons in Anki’s arm were dancing beneath his skin. He increased the speed and his right pectoral jumped over and over.

  “Yes, like that. You look so fucking sexy, Anki.”

  “So do you.” He was watching me as closely as I was watching him. “Are you going to come like that?”

  “Probably.” It wouldn’t take me long.

  “Fuck.”

  My breaths were coming quicker. I clenched my internal muscles, lifting off the seat slightly. I didn’t take my attention from him. His dark cock head peeked from his fist. He was like some kind of Adonis standing before me—an Adonis alien warrior who was all mine.

  Who loved me.

  My thoughts fragmented. I curled my toes and widened my legs. My body was preparing to take off, my clit greedy for more.

  I gave in, any inhibitions leaving me.

  “Come, let me watch you come,” he said breathlessly, and the words seemed to scrape from his throat.

  I increased the pressure, doing it just the way I liked, the way that would bring my orgasm crashing down. It seemed so rude, so explicit under the harsh lights to be touching myself for Anki to see, and him, before me, doing that, looking like that…

  “I’m…Anki, I’m…” Damn it, my arm ached, but I wouldn’t give up.

  “Come.” He canted his hips forward and gritted his teeth. “I want to see you like that.”

  I allowed my pleasure to claim me, curling my spine and holding my breath. Shards of hot, white bliss shot through my body. I didn’t hold back. I tipped my face to the ceiling and groaned long and loud, hoping Anki would enjoy the sound.

  “Yes, yes…” he gasped. “Laird above, you’re hot.”

  I kept on going, eking out the pleasure. My pussy was damp, and my pulse thudded in my ears.

  I hadn’t realized I’d closed my eyes until I opened them and found Anki standing right in front of me. His erect cock only inches from my mouth.

  Quickly, I tipped forward and swiped my tongue over the tip. It was warm and salty.

  “Uma. What are you doing?”

  “In my mouth. Put your cock in my mouth.” We’d done many things, but I hadn’t given him oral sex before.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” I peeled his fingers from around his shaft, then opened wide and took him deep.

  The wild cry that left him really was from another world. It spun through my head, around the room, and seemed to vibrate into my heart.

  Sinking deeper, I gripped his buttocks. His taste spread on my tongue, and the intense heat from his body flared on my face.

  Hugging him with my lips, I took him to the back of my throat.

  And then he was coming. With his fingers raking through my hair, he released his seed in three powerful jets. I swallowed it down as my pussy continued to throb with the strong aftershocks of my orgasm.

  I groaned, and lights flashed behind my eyelids.

  Suddenly he withdrew and dropped down in front of me. He placed his hands on my knees. “Uma.”

  I was breathing fast. “What?”

  “That was…fuck. In your mouth…like that.”

  I grinned. “You liked it?”

  “Laird strike me down if I lied, because yes, I liked it, a lot.”

  I swallowed and licked my lips. “I thought you would.”

  “I never, I mean…I hadn’t…thought to do that.”

  “It’s not conducive to creating babies, but it’s fun, right?”

  “Yes. And we’re not doing that now, are we?”

  “Creating babies, no, not yet.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “What?”

  “You said yet, which means it will happen some day.”

  I laughed and kissed him. “Maybe, Anki, maybe it will happen.”

  The truth was, babies were likely to be in my future. How could they not be now that I was in love with an Athion who was desperate to contribute to the survival of his very-much-at-risk species? But not yet. I had to have some control over the situation, and I wanted to work on my career. Besides, Equinox might be an okay place for me and Magic, but for a baby…

  “You’ve got a funny expression on your face,” Anki said. “You didn’t like doing that?”

  “No,
no, it’s not that at all. I like oral sex, and I love hearing and feeling you come like that.”

  “So what is it?” He cupped my cheeks.

  “I’m thinking that we really do have a future, don’t we?”

  He grinned, and warmth shone from his eyes. “Yes, we do.”

  “I have that with you and Mateo.”

  “And Gavyn, too, if you want.”

  I nodded.

  Hurin.

  His name barged into my brain like a rocket piercing the atmosphere.

  What about Hurin?

  The fourth male member of the crew was one of the most unusual men I’d ever come across. And with his extra anatomy…he really was unique. And yes, there may well come a time aboard Equinox when I’d want him, too.

  Chapter Eleven

  Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck tingled, and a strange dragging feeling gnawed at my belly.

  Anki frowned and pulled on his pants. He looked out of the window as if expecting to see something in the darkness.

  I fastened my hair in a band. “The magnetic shield has just been increased again.”

  “Yes, we should get to the bridge.”

  “What do you think is going on?” I stood and slipped into my clothes. My belly tightened, and the material against my skin made me itch.

  “I don’t know. That’s why we should get to the bridge.” He took my hand and urged me to the door.

  I glanced at Magic who was in his cage pecking his mirror. Thankfully he didn’t seem too bothered by the powerful magnets on board Equinox that were revving up.

  Anki hurried us along the seemingly endless corridor. It didn’t escape my notice that the emergency red light strip had come on to show us the way to the bridge.

  I didn’t waste energy on wondering aloud what situation had arisen; instead, I concentrated on Anki’s fingers around mine. I focused on moving quickly and trying to ignore the static sensation scratching over and through me.

  Eventually we reached the bridge. Being within it didn’t change the physical effect of the magnetic shield.

  Gavyn and Mateo were busy with screens and dials. Both wore their headsets and flitted from concentrating on one thing then the next.

  “Yes, James, I’ve checked that,” Gavyn said. “First thing we did.”

  “They’re in contact with the observatory,” I said. “Not a good sign.”

  “It will be okay.” Anki wrapped his arm around my waist. “Come on, buckle up, just in case.”

  “In case what?” As he tugged me toward my seat, I stared at the black abyss through the huge front window. Last time the magnetic shield had been turned up so high, Trads had been on our tail. The thought of them out there gave me worse shivers than the magnet. So much space, so much darkness, they could be hiding anywhere. They were good at that, the way they’d landed, hidden in an asteroid strike, proved it, so did how they metamorphosed to resemble human men, and could expertly seduce then impregnate any healthy woman no matter what contraception she used.

  Sneaky. Creepy. Cunning. Evil. And too damn clever.

  I hated Trads with everything I was.

  “The pressure isn’t going up,” Mateo said, swiping over a screen, then reaching out to flick a switch.

  “It should be,” Gavyn said. “If the seals are intact.”

  “It’s saying they are.”

  “Shit,” Gavyn muttered. “Shit and fuck.”

  I fastened my buckle. My heart rate was romping up. Seeing Gavyn cursing about the situation wasn’t conducive to staying calm. He wasn’t someone to get ruffled. He never got ruffled.

  He ran his hand through is hair and frowned at a gauge. “It’s as if there’s…

  “What?” Mateo asked.

  Gavyn shook his head and turned his attention to another set of dials and switches.

  “What is it?” I asked Anki.

  “I know no more about the workings of the bridge than you do.”

  “Good, you’re here.” Hurin plonked down next to me.

  “Yes, we felt it, the magnetic shield, and came straight away.”

  I glanced at his groin. He was still in scrubs; he must have forsaken getting changed when he’d left the sleeper’s pod in his hurry to get to the bridge and buckle up. Not that it would be a problem. Last time the magnetic field went high it heated the zipper in his pants and appeared to give him pain on his cock—or should that be cocks.

  I stared some more at the bulge beneath the pale-blue material.

  When I dragged my attention up to his face, he was staring at me.

  “I…er…are you okay?” I asked.

  “Of course. You?” He nodded at my ears.

  “Yes.” I plucked my bare earlobe. “Fine. Though I don’t like this feeling.”

  “Sorry, hun.” Mateo shot my way. “Won’t be for long. Just until we figure out why the pressure is dropping on the starboard jet blaster. Can’t risk it being an outside invader giving us trouble.”

  “Outside invader? As in Trads?”

  “No reason why it should be.” He winked. “But we’re not taking risks with those bastards.”

  “Too damn right we’re not,” Gavyn muttered.

  Anki reached for my hand and squeezed my fingers. He didn’t need to say anything, just the action was reassuring.

  Though not reassuring enough.

  Gavyn was now standing and rubbing his chin. He appeared to be listening to something that was being said via his earpiece. After a few moments, he stepped up to a console and twiddled a few dials. “What’s the pressure reading now?”

  “It’s still low, too low,” Mateo said, flicking a switch to his left. “I’ve opened it up, but it’s not doing anything.”

  Gavyn spun back to the monitor. “Nothing. It seems like you’ve hit the nail on the head, James.”

  I glanced at Anki.

  He shrugged.

  “Only one thing for it—it’s going to have to be fixed manually.” Gavyn pulled in a deep breath. “No, it’s not impossible. I’ve heard of it being done before.” Pause. “Yes, even at hyper-speed and with the magnetic shield on.”

  “What?” Mateo turned to him. “What are they saying?”

  That was what I wanted to know, too.

  Gavyn swiveled. He looked at me, then Hurin and Anki, then finally Mateo. “We must have a loose valve, on the outside chamber.”

  “The outside chamber?” Mateo frowned. “But how could that be?”

  “These things happen,” Gavyn said. “And when they do, they have to be fixed.”

  “But it’s the outside chamber,” Mateo said, a scowl plowing over his brow. “And we’re traveling at several hundred times light speed and the magnet is cranked up high.”

  “Yes, I understand.” Gavyn gave Mateo an I’m-not-stupid look. “And I also understand that if we don’t get it fixed, when we hit Planet Athion’s atmosphere, we won’t be able to hit reverse thrust and slow Equinox. We’ll slam into Madoc Docking Station with the force of ten atomic bombs.”

  Hurin’s eyes widened. “We can’t let that happen.”

  “Of course we won’t.” Gavyn faced him. “I’d take us off course rather than that, but then that means we’re toast.”

  “Toast?” Anki asked, then swallowed. “What does that mean?”

  “Toast, as in dead, brown bread,” I said, bile burning my gut and overtaking the magnet sensation. Fear was building inside me, adrenaline making my legs twitch and my breaths come quick. “So what can we do about it? There must be something.”

  “Yes, there is. Hang on.” Gavyn turned and spread his fingers over the screen as if zooming in on something. He spoke quietly into his mouthpiece. I couldn’t catch what he was saying.

  Mateo stood and moved over to him. He, too, peered down at the screen.

  It was maddening not to be able to see or hear what they were doing, but I knew from experience not to get up until Gavyn permitted me to. When the going got tough, I had to sit it out, and he and Mateo g
ot going.

  The outside chambers on the jet blasters are important, right?” Anki said, leaning closer to me.

  “Sure appears that way.” I knew they were. I had enough knowledge of Equinox’s workings to understand they kept us going and then slowed us down.

  “We can’t let anything happen to the sleepers,” Hurin said, clenching his fists on his lap. “They’ve put their lives in our hands.”

  “It’s okay, we’ll think of something.” I hovered my hand over his, was about to rest it down so our skin touched, but then changed my mind.

  He glanced at me.

  There was fear in his eyes, and determination, too. He’d do what he could to fulfil his duty and protect the sleeping aliens and humans under his charge.

  “Yes, it’s there, look.” Mateo jabbed the screen.

  “Fuck, that’s a damn awkward one.” Gavyn scratched his head. “James, it’s entirely disconnected, hence the pressure loss. No doubt about it, this is a manual fix.”

  “Manual fix,” I repeated. “As in…”

  “A space walk.” Anki stared at me, his jaw slack.

  I held his gaze for a second, then turned to Gavyn and Mateo again. “Who is going to do it?” I asked. Whichever one of them decided to take on the void that was outside our craft, I would be terrified. They were all dear to me, and a space walk was about the riskiest thing any of us could undertake. There were men, and women, who’d lost their lives doing just that. Add in our great speed and the magnet, and it was doubly risky.

  Which meant there was only one thing for it. “I’ll go,” I said. “If you tell me exactly what to do, it shouldn’t take long.”

  All four male faces turned to me. Each held a similar, wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression.

  “You really think Mateo and Anki would allow you to go out there?” Gavyn said. “That it is even a remote possibility?”

  “I could. I’ve done the simulation space walk as part of my training.” I tilted my chin. “I just need to know what valve needs putting where.”

  “No,” Mateo said. A tendon flexed in his cheek.

  “Not a chance.” Anki gripped my hand tighter.

  “No way, lady.” Hurin shook his head. “You stay in here with air to breathe and simulated gravity to keep your feet on the floor.” He paused. “I’ll go.”