by Kresley Cole
What will you give me in return? he insisted. I can give you pleasure, and I can prevent you from changing. Isn’t that what you want?
Argh! “Yes. Fine. Fine, but what do you want in return?”
You. As my lover. My lover in truth.
“Okay. Yes. Deal. Whatever you want?” She’d meant it as a statement, but it emerged as a question. God, she was about to explode. The more she fondled her breasts, the more the ache between her legs increased with dizzying frenzy. If she didn’t do something soon, her heart really was going to burst from her chest.
I want you now and, your god knows, maybe forever.
“No,” she said automatically. “Not that.” Her head fell against the rim of the tub, dark hair floating around her shoulders. Steam curled through the air, a sensual haze. A dream. “Breean. I’m dying. Please.”
A growl. Why won’t you have me?
“Lover, yes. Forever, no. We’re enemies.”
We don’t have to be.
“Breean!”
We will discuss this again. Understand?
“Yes, you sadistic bastard.” Anything for relief. “Yes.”
Touch your clitoris.
Her hips arched upward to meet her hand, and she cried out as her finger circled the drenched bud once, twice. “Yes. Yes!”
That’s enough. Touch your breast again.
“Motherfucker!” She was once again massaging her breasts, her nipples so hard they abraded her palms. “Tell me to touch between my legs again.”
So you want more?
“Yes, damn you. Yes!”
Am I a sadistic bastard?
“No. You’re a sweetie pie. Honest!”
Good, that’s good. Because this sweetie pie wants you over and over. Hard the first time, slow the second. Who knows what will happen the third time.
“Oh, God.” In her mind, she could see his naked body straining for release on top of hers, pumping, gliding, sliding. His weight would be delicious. His eyes would blaze down at her with passion. He’d shout her name the way he wanted her to shout his, her real name, not someone else’s, as his shaft delved deep.
I want it to be my cock inside you, not your fingers. I want you to come because of me.
She wanted that, too. “Breean,” she panted. She was still massaging her breasts, and her clitoris was still throbbing. “One more touch between my legs. Let me touch myself one more time. Then you can have me. Then you can take me.”
Pump your fingers inside yourself.
She braced her feet on the sides of the tub, spreading herself wider. She sank a finger deep inside, cried out again, pumped. Pumped. So good. She was hurtling toward release. So close. Just one more and she’d—
Stop.
Her finger froze. She screamed in frustration.
Do you have a man? The question was barked. Give me that much, at least.
“No. No man. And I’m not going to have you if you do this to me again, you sick fu— sweetie pie.”
The two agents in the forest, the ones you slapped?
“Friends only. Swear.”
He gave a satisfied purr. I’m glad.
She couldn’t imagine doing this with Devyn or Dallas. She liked them, she did, and she even admired them, but she’d never felt as if she’d been set on fire in their presence. She’d never wanted to rip off their clothes and attack, licking and biting her way down until she’d tasted every inch.
“Command me to come, Breean. I’m begging you.”
Finger yourself. Use two, then three.
Moaning as she obeyed, she filled herself with two fingers and pumped them in and out. When that wasn’t enough, she added the third, stretching herself for a fuller sensation. Oh, oh. Yes. Yes! Just like that.
Next time, you’ll feel my tongue there.
“Yes.” She pictured Breean licking her clit, and she blessedly hurtled over the edge of completion, flying out of control, spinning toward the sky, a scream ripping from her throat.
Gradually, the sensations faded, her body relaxed, and she came back to her senses. She slumped over the side of the tub, panting. “I didn’t change,” she managed to get out. “I didn’t change.”
And you won’t. I’m in control, remember? A second later, he added, But, darling. I’m not sure why you stopped. You’re not done. Come again.
“W-what?” Even as she spoke, her fingers started working between her legs again, her core immediately readying itself for round two. So long she’d denied herself, she was unprepared for another onslaught. “No. No more.”
You’ll take it all.
“Yes, okay,” she found herself groaning. Oh, God. The pleasure truly was building again. Steadily. Mercilessly. Her legs were falling farther and farther apart, giving her fingers more room to work.
Soon you’ll take me.
“Yes.” She couldn’t deny that, either. She wanted him in a way she’d never wanted anything else. Even a life of her own. A life as Aleaha, without being hunted, without being different. And clearly, her body was already addicted to the pleasure he could give.
So lovely, he purred.
As her hips pumped, water sloshed back and forth, stroking her like a lover. Aleaha was very close to asking Breean to join her, to step out of her and assume control like he’d promised, like she’d told him she would accept. How much more powerful would the sensations be then? But somehow she held the words back, not yet ready to make that leap anywhere but in her mind. Soon, though. If she wasn’t careful, soon.
Come.
Release hit her in the next instant. She bowed her back, pushing her fingers as deep as they would go, shuddering, rocking, shouting because this was more than an orgasm; this was a possession that lasted for eternity.
Finally she sagged, completely sated—and still shuddering. “Dear God.”
I could feel it, Breean said, awed. The vibrations were so strong I could feel them. There was unabashed arousal in his tone. Come for me. One more time. I want to feel it again.
“I can’t.” Her limbs were like rocks.
Yes.
“Breean, I really can’t.”
You can.
“Too much,” she panted. “It’s too much.”
Never enough.
“Let me . . . let me . . . catch my breath.”
Come, sweet. Please, come for me.
The newest orgasm hadn’t yet dissipated before another one sneaked up on her. Her clit was swollen, the water making her skin all the more sensitive, so every sensation was intensified. With one hand still at her breasts, she pinched her nipples and rode the waves of the third orgasm, shaking and quaking all over again.
Inside her head, she could hear Breean roaring, as if he, too, were coming. Somehow, that only increased her pleasure. “I . . . I . . .”
Breean was shouting her name, just as she’d craved, and then, suddenly, she was shivering, experiencing a fourth eruption— his pleasure becoming hers as well. Her blood sizzled and blistered through her veins, just like in the forest, and the scent of honey drifted from her, filling the entire room, branding her soul-deep.
Utterly replete, Aleaha slumped over the rim of the tub once more. She might never be able to move again, was more exhausted than she’d ever been in her life. She was breathless, her heartbeat racing, her bones like jelly. Yet she’d never felt better.
She hadn’t slept in the cell, too keyed up, wondering what the future held. Now her eyelids closed of their own accord and stayed closed as if they’d been glued.
“I guess you liked your gift,” she managed to say.
He chuckled. I did indeed. Sleep now.
And she did.
Breean had never, in all his years, experienced anything like that.
He exited Aleaha’s body, reforming into a solid mass, then carried her to the bed and gently splayed her over the mattress. The ends of her dark hair were wet, dripping. Moisture danced along every inch of her flushed skin, her nipples were still hard, and her limbs were
boneless.
She was the most erotic sight he’d ever beheld.
Naked, he crawled in beside her and pulled her into his side. He’d come inside her. His spirit had somehow experienced absolute release while inhabiting her. He’d never heard of such a thing happening, much less being possible, but it had happened. They’d been fused, one being.
Several times, he’d felt her body try to change images. Felt the bones trying to lengthen or shorten, even felt the pigment in her skin trying to lighten or darken. But he’d maintained a firm grip on her, on Aleaha, and she’d remained the same, just as he’d promised her. Just as she’d hoped. Surely that was a sign they were meant to be together.
Together. Yes. He wasn’t going to let her go, he decided. Not ever. She was his, from this moment on. She didn’t have a man, and she desired him. She might still be fighting it, but she did desire him.
His next mission: making her admit it.
SEVEN
IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING, Breean left Aleaha in bed. With her cozied up to him, he’d been too keyed up and hadn’t been able to sleep, and now he needed to meet with Talon. Though he desperately wanted to take her with him, she was still lost in slumber, at peace, and he was loath to wake her. He really had worn her out, he thought, grinning. He’d satisfied his woman into a stupor.
Even as grateful as she would surely be—in his dreams—he didn’t trust her, and made sure to lock the door. And smart boy that he was, he’d nailed the window permanently shut before ever inviting her into his bedroom.
He nodded to the men striding through the halls, keeping guard. Nodded to those cleaning and sharpening their weapons, getting ready to stand watch. Seeing them work so diligently, a wave of guilt hit him. He’d have to take a shift soon. His army worked hard; the men deserved a break, and god knew he’d already had his. But damn if he was ready to leave Aleaha for an extended period, now that he had her where he wanted her.
Finally he reached his office, where Talon was waiting for him. As Breean claimed his chair at the desk, his friend, seated in front of him, glanced up from the book he’d been perusing.
“Who spirit-walked?” he asked, jumping right into business.
“I took the first shift,” Talon said, “and Cain the second.”
Breean studied the warrior. The tension that had shadowed his face for the past two years was gone. “After your shift, you found a woman, I take it.”
Talon grinned slowly, revealing perfect white teeth. “Two, actually.”
“And you kept your skin covered?”
“Completely. My scent drew them in, and after that I had only to unfasten my pants. They couldn’t get to my cock fast enough. You know,” Talon added thoughtfully, “I really like this planet. I’m glad we decided to stay.”
If only Aleaha were as easy as Talon’s females. Her resistance was her biggest flaw. Silly him for ever thinking the harder he had to work for a victory, the more he’d appreciate it. He would have given anything to have all of her now. “Did either of you learn anything?”
“I admit my attention wasn’t where it should have been, and I was easily distracted. But Cain, well, you know he is a force to be reckoned with, more determined than most. He found AIR headquarters.”
“How?” In all their visits here, they’d failed to locate the building that housed AIR’s elite. Apparently, they’d been overrun by reporters one night and had since moved their headquarters to somewhere secret.
“He watched as an otherworlder was arrested, then slid unnoticed into the car that drove the blindfolded creature in.”
Of course. So simple, so easy. Breean leaned forward, eager. This was better than he had hoped. “What did he learn?”
“AIR is run by a woman named Mia Snow. Her man is an Arcadian, a king, and he can move as swiftly as we can. He was with her that night, the night we arrived. They were waiting a mile or so away, ready to swoop in if a second line of defense was needed. But we weren’t the Schön, as they’d expected.”
Aleaha had told him that. Which meant, Aleaha had told him the truth. Darling girl. He should reward her with another orgasm.
“Still, they were coming after us when another solar flare erupted around them, as if it had purposefully been directed at them, and they disappeared.”
Breean had learned that every planet had a way of utilizing those solar flares. Some used stones as a guide—if they carried a stone from a certain planet, that was the planet the solar flare would take them to. Some, like him, used visualization. Breean had imagined a planet with a thriving metropolis, and this was one of the places he’d ended up. Some simply knew the celestial gate those flares opened and which doors to enter.
Could some actually control the flares?
“Have the agents returned? Where did they go?”
“They have returned, yes, so Cain said. Where they went . . . I’m not sure this can be true. They claim to have traveled into the past. Into another plane or dimension, they weren’t sure. A state called New Orleans, where females with pointed ears and unnatural strength reside alongside men who suck the blood from your body. The females called themselves the Nïxies. Nïxies house of pain. Nïxies house of pleasure, Nïxies house of crazy—something like that. Cain was confused, and could have gotten some of the details wrong.”
How . . . odd.
Talon continued, “They didn’t stay long. Just long enough for us to have left the forest.”
Again, had someone controlled the flare, keeping them away? If so, that being would have been aiding Breean. But who would want to aid him?
The Schön queen? Most likely. After all, a group of her men had been destroyed by AIR. Perhaps she had thought Breean would take care of the problem for her. How had she known Breean was coming here, though? Since leaving Raka, he’d had no contact with her.
“Anything else?” he asked on a sigh.
“Yes, but you will not like it.” Shifting in his seat, Talon massaged the back of his neck. “One of the agents escaped during the move here. Syler chased him but lost him.”
Breean’s hands fisted. “Why did no one tell me?”
“Syler told no one.”
First Marleon’s betrayal, and now this. He was losing control of his army! “By keeping this a secret, he has placed us all in danger.”
“Yes.”
“I will not kill him for the offense, but he must be punished. Ten lashes should teach him to use his tongue when necessary.”
Talon nodded. “Fortunately, the agent doesn’t seem to know where we are now located.”
One small favor, at least. “Was nothing learned about the Schön?”
“No. AIR still has no idea when the queen will arrive. The one Schön they have in lockup refuses to speak about her.”
He straightened. “They have a Schön in lockup?”
“Yes.”
A killing rage sprang to life inside of him. That bastard might very well be the one who had seduced his mother and sisters. And if not, that bastard still needed to die, for surely he had seduced someone else’s mother and sisters.
“Cain did well,” he said, forcing himself to calm. “Give him the day off and tell him to do as he pleases.”
“He will be overjoyed.”
“I will take his shift tonight, so he does not have to worry about that, either.”
Talon’s eyes widened, and there was a spark of delight. Breean knew the two men had spent time together throughout the years, even a few lonely nights. What they’d done, he didn’t know but could guess. They might both crave females, as Talon had proven with his excess, but they must have enjoyed each other. Now that women were in plentiful supply, he’d expected their association to end. Looked like he’d been wrong.
He pushed to his feet. “As for now, I have something to attend to.” Or rather, someone.
Aleaha came awake instantly, deeply asleep one moment, fully cognizant the next. Her entire body ached—and not in pleasure this time. Her blood was rushing t
oo quickly, and there was too much of it, filling her veins at an unnatural rate.
She moaned, trying to fight the pain. Trying to stop the unfolding of events that always followed this sensation. Not now. Not after everything she’d just experienced with Breean.
Oh, God. Breean. Was he still here? Please let him be somewhere else.
She searched the bed with swollen eyes. She was splayed on the mattress, still naked and covered by soft white sheets. Breean was beside her—and he was awake, watching her every move. No. No! She’d fought so hard to keep this part of her life to herself. To be forced to reveal her secret now . . .
More than anyone, she didn’t want him to witness what she was about to do. What she had to do. He’d no longer be caring or kind. He’d no longer seek pleasure from her.
She chewed on her bottom lip to cut off a groan. This shouldn’t be happening, not for another few days.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, frowning. “Did I hurt you?”
“I need some time alone, okay?” she told him, voice a ragged mix of faux light-heartedness, pain, and desperation.
“What’s going on, Aleaha? You’re swelling.”
“Leave. Please.” Only the desperation emerged this time.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She could see the determination in his golden eyes. “Please.”
“No. You will tell me what’s happening to you and I will help you. That’s your only option.”
Seeing no other choice, the agony intensifying, she said, “I—I need a knife.”
He snorted, losing all hint of concern. “There are only two things I’ll give you right now, and a knife isn’t one of them.”
“Please. A knife.” Wildly she glanced around the chamber, looking for something, anything with a sharp tip. If she had to crawl to it, she would. Last night she’d used her nails, but that hadn’t released enough blood. Obviously.
Her line of vision was shrinking, and she saw nothing she could use. No. Wait. In the corner by the door was a bowl filled with fruit. She could dump the food and break the bowl. Surely one of the pieces would be jagged enough to slice through skin and veins.
