“Part your legs for me.”
Again he complied, leaving her free to play with his tight ass, skim her fingers between his legs. She couldn’t resist a few tiny bites along his cheeks, followed by soothing caresses.
Never had she been so bold. Or enjoyed herself more. The idea of all that coiled power beneath her fingertips, just waiting for her next touch, turned her on. “God. You’re beautiful.”
He whirled suddenly, like a tiger uncaged. “I can’t… wait any longer.” He swept his hands into her hair. His fingers fisted and he yanked back her head, taking total control.
Another spear of pleasure shot through her. Here was a man who knew how to give. And he knew how to take. He held her on tiptoe, her back arched, her breasts tipped upward. Fire in his eyes spread through her. Still holding her hair, he ripped off her shirt and unsnapped her bra. In moments she stood in her panties. Then, still holding her, he eased his grip and his gaze raked her.
As if his searing look was a kiss, the heat inside her burned hotter. Every inch of her flesh seemed raw, tense, drawn tight. The dragon scales along the insides of her limbs fluttered, the sensation shooting tingles of delight through her.
And he had yet to touch her.
Was her dragonblood making her hot? Needy? The rush of sensation was leaving her weak in the knees.
The Alazon wine alone couldn’t be wreaking all this havoc, making her breath come in gasps, her scales undulate, her pulse rush in her ears.
“Touch me, damn you.” She barely recognized her own voice, so tight, so deep and needy.
He released her hair and then gently touched her nipples, and only her nipples, with his fingertips. At the exquisite sensation, she released her breath, and it came out a soft sigh. She so needed more. More pressure, more skin. More Rion.
Her breasts tingled and ached. She wanted him to touch more of her. But maddeningly, he kept right on teasing her nipples. She closed her hands into fists, trying to hold still, determined to enjoy every second.
Talk about sweet torture. There seemed to be a direct line of nerves from her breasts to her tingling core.
Could she have an orgasm just from what he was doing to her breasts? Or was she simply going to die from frustration? She licked her lip. “I… can’t take… much more.”
“Sure you can. You will.” His tone was low and rough. He kept the same light pressure, the same infuriatingly slow and tender tempo. “You like this, don’t you?”
“Yes… but…” She wanted to place her hands over his to stop the torment. Or reach out and draw him against her. Her desire to feel his heat directly against her bare flesh intensified. Yet, wondrous heat and tension curled through her and she didn’t want him to stop.
“If you can hold out, I’m going to give another of your sweet spots this same treatment.” He was full of hot promises, his words silken threads that captured her in his web.
When she didn’t think she could last another second, he dipped his head and took her nipple between his lips. And sucked hard.
She would have lost it then. But he clasped his hands on her hips to hold her. Very slowly, he closed his teeth around her nipple. While his tongue flashed over the tip, his hands dipped beneath her panties, down past her curls, between her moist folds.
The instant he touched the right spot, she exploded and saw stars. Her bones melted, as if all the tension that gripped her flared and burst, her nerve endings firing in one vast and mighty blast.
Vaguely, she felt herself falling, Rion catching her. Then the bliss of his flesh against hers had her clutching him. One moment of pleasure was not enough. She needed more. She needed him inside her.
He scooped her into his arms, carried her to the bed, and laid her on soft sheets that smelled like spring rain. After slipping off her panties, he parted her thighs. And this time he placed his lips there.
Right there.
Exactly where she craved.
All the tension that had exploded and burst contracted back in on itself. Only this time the edge was sharper. The flames burned hotter. Panting, desperate for him to fill her, she tugged on his shoulders, but he kept his mouth firmly on her sweet spot, his tongue flicking maddeningly.
When she tumbled over the edge the second time, her legs jerked, her arms flailed. Her hips arched off the bed. And still he didn’t release her.
He gave her no time to recover. No time for her pulse to slow or her lungs to catch a breath.
Her pleasure was like a series of waves, each one crashing a bit higher than the last, then withdrawing, then peaking ever higher. And she just kept cresting.
He seemed insatiable, and she let herself go. Let herself enjoy every moment, every stroke, every kiss and caress.
When they finally joined flesh to flesh, it was all the bliss she’d craved. He filled her completely, and as his hips pumped, as she raised her legs to take him deeper inside, she reveled in how good they were together.
Finally, she’d met… the right one… the right man.
A lover for her. A lover for… forever.
Danger can come from any direction.
—FIRST HONORIAN WARLORD
14
Open the door,” Drake shouted.
Marisa awakened slowly. To chaos and pounding on the door. Rion leaped out of bed, where they’d fallen asleep just a few hours ago after making love yet again.
“We’ve been betrayed,” Drake shouted. “Unari Enforcers are on the way.”
“Give us one minute,” Rion muttered, his tone deep and determined.
“Don’t take two.”
Pulse accelerating, Marisa leaped from the bed. Rion was three steps ahead and tossing clothing at her. She recalled him ripping off her tunic last night, but the nanobots had repaired the tear.
They dressed quickly, and Rion slipped his backpack over his shoulders and jerked open the door. Drake’s green-tinged skin had turned grayish; his voice was high-pitched and anxiety-filled. “Come on. Come on. If we can launch the capsule, we can get you away before they arrive.”
“Can you claim I stole the ship?” Rion suggested as they sprinted down the hallway that led to the spacecraft.
Drake didn’t answer Rion directly. “My welfare isn’t as important as yours.” Rion shot him a questioning look, and Drake continued, “The Unari Enforcers know you are the crown prince of Chivalri.”
Marisa stumbled. Crown prince of Chivalri? Rion? What the hell?
“Keep your voice down,” Rion muttered to Drake but glanced at her. “Most of my own people don’t know my true title.”
She’d heard his secret. Rion had lied to her. And his lack of trust in her stung.
Last night she’d almost told him she had deep feelings for him. How could she have been so stupid to let passion overrule her judgment? Somehow she’d let him slip past her defenses, allowed her hopes and dreams to convince her that he was the man she wanted.
Assessing her situation right now made her head spin. Even worse, she couldn’t decide if she was more disappointed with Rion’s lack of trust in her, or with herself for believing they had more going for them than just a common enemy and hot sex.
They sprinted up to the capsule. She didn’t want to look at Rion, much less talk to him.
“Get inside. Hurry.” Drake’s demand pulled her out of her funk.
The spaceship was still a rusty mess. She could see through part of the hull, and the rubbish pile was now larger than the capsule itself. The bundle of wires, tubing, and assorted metal parts spilled into the aisles and flowed like a river of garbage across the massive warehouse. No way could they have rebuilt the interior while she and Rion had…
She’d think about it later. Right now she had to focus.
“Let’s go.” Rion beckoned her to follow.
She fisted her hands on her hips and planted her feet. “Are you insane? That capsule’s a death trap.”
Merlin soared from the rafters, circled the capsule, flew in and back out, then inside o
nce again. So much for the bird’s intelligence.
Rion lowered his voice and clamped his hand over her wrist. “I had a flash. We’ll be okay. Besides, staying here is not an option.”
They didn’t have time to argue. Damn him. He didn’t trust her with his identity, but he expected her to trust him and his flashes—enough to lay her life on the line.
A communications unit on Drake’s arm beeped. “Yes?”
“Five minutes before Unari Enforcers arrive.”
“Understood.” Drake glared at her but spoke to Rion. “Leave her, or knock her out if you must take her with you, but you need to launch now.”
Before she could step into the capsule, Rion lifted her into his arms and carried her inside.
“This isn’t necessary,” she said.
“Hurry,” Drake urged.
It would have been dark inside the capsule, except beams of light leaked in from outside. If the engines were in the same dilapidated condition as the hull, they’d never start, never mind launch them into space.
When Drake and his men used a machine to secure the hatch, the metal shrieked in protest. No doubt over thousands of years it had warped. The sharp clang of the hatch made her feel even more trapped.
Dust kicked into her lungs and she coughed as her eyes teared. Rion coughed, too, set her down on an oily and corroded floor, and slipped the pack from his back. Even Merlin made odd choking noises.
When the dust settled and Marisa could breathe again, she looked around. There was no instrument panel. No seats. No controls. For all she knew, there was no engine. The capsule was like a hollow metal eggshell cracked in dozens of places. A few rusty bolts held the metal skeleton together—but everything else was missing: engineering, navigation, stabilizers. They had no oxygen, food, water, or bathroom facilities.
From outside, Drake issued orders. “Spread out. Don’t reveal which ship they’re in.”
Marisa and Rion were locked in, wrapped up like a tidy present for the Unari Enforcers. Crouching low, Rion contorted his body, touching every crack, every indentation.
“What are you doing?” At the sound of shouting, she peered through a hole in the hull. “Unari Enforcers are marching into the museum and securing the perimeter.”
“Do they know where we are?” Rion asked.
Her heart pounded. “Not yet, but it won’t be long.”
“Drake will stall them as long as he can.” Rion ran his fingers along the cracks.
“They’re working a grid pattern through the room, searching the ships one by one. It’s only a matter of time—”
“According to my flash”—Rion kneeled on the floor, dug grime out of a crack—“there’s an indentation in the hull for the key Merlin brought us.”
“An indentation?” She tipped her head to look at the ceiling. And that’s when she spied a triangular impression in the hull connected to a straight rod with a rounded end.
The Enforcers started searching the ship next to theirs. She and Rion had less than a minute before they were discovered.
“Is that it?” she whispered and pointed.
“Good work.” Rion reached for his pack and unzipped a compartment and pulled out the key. “Got it.”
Enforcers strode over to where they hid. One of them pounded on the side of the ship. She winced as dust flew into her eyes again.
Another Enforcer peered between the cracks. “They’re in here.”
“We’ve got them.” Enforcers swarmed from all directions.
Whatever Rion was going to do, he needed to do it fast. “Hurry.”
Reaching up, he inserted the key into the matching indentation. She heard a click, and then the world… changed. The capsule disappeared. The room vanished. So did the smell of old dust and spilled oil.
She looked around in shock. Rion, Merlin, and Marisa now sat on the bridge of a modern starship.
Only the key was now embedded in a shiny black plate high above their heads on a semicircular starship bridge with giant view screens that showed the vessel already traveling on course for Honor.
“Am I dreaming?” She stood and spun around to take in the starship, a vessel so large it couldn’t have fit in the museum.
Rion grinned and placed his fists on his hips. “I think we’re in multidimensional space.”
“I don’t understand. This ship was old. Now it’s new and shiny and huge.”
“The ancient ones had secrets we can’t duplicate—like the transporters. This ship and the key may be from ancient times.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Well, wherever we are, it’s way better than where we were.” She squinted at him with suspicion. “You didn’t hide your knowledge of this technology, did you?”
“No.” He looked her straight in the eyes. “I only hid my birthright. I am the crown prince of Chivalri.”
“And you didn’t tell me because…”
“I tell no one. Ever. Even when I served as a military commander, my men didn’t know of my royal blood. That’s how I’ve survived my entire life. Not even my own people know my title.”
“But I’ve agreed to stay and help you.”
“And you could change your mind again.”
His words hurt. “Is that what you think I’d do?”
“I don’t know you well enough to be certain you’d keep your word. It’s possible that you only stayed with me to learn my plans.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Maybe you’d try to bargain with the Enforcers. Turn over the information on me in exchange for their promise not to invade Earth.”
She stared at him. “I’m not that conniving.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t take the chance. If I’d trusted you and then you’d gone and told the Torans who I was, you could have stopped me from going to Honor. I couldn’t risk that.”
“Phen knows who you are. And so did Drake,” she said sadly, realizing Rion had lied to her yet again by telling her no one knew his identity.
“Phen’s my uncle. Drake figured it out—”
“And what am I to you?” Hurt slammed her, but she wanted to understand. “And why don’t even your own people know that you’re in line for the throne?”
“The deception started before I was born. A flash revealed to my father that I was targeted for assassination. To save me, he had my cousin Erik and me trade places. We kept our own names. But back home, everyone believed Erik was heir to the throne. I was a free man. But once I claim my title as a prince, I’m an assassin’s target. A threat. A negotiation piece. Take your choice.” He paused, then spoke quietly. “I’ve also had flashes about a traitor—a man who may be the same man my father saw assassinate me in his vision. I haven’t seen his face, but he’s responsible for killing a rebel group who tried to dig a tunnel to retake the Honorian transporter. And he possibly gave intel to the Unari that will prevent dragonshapers from going to the hills for platinum. I kept secrets to protect not just myself but my people.”
“What else haven’t you told me?” she asked softly.
She expected him to make denials. Instead he took both her hands in his, holding them tightly. “There’s something else you should know.”
“What?” Marisa swallowed hard, realizing that whatever he had to say wouldn’t be easy for him. And that whatever it was, he knew she wouldn’t like it.
“I can never marry an offworlder.”
She didn’t understand. “But your mother was from Tor.”
“When the Unari invaded, my mother was an outsider and Honorians blamed her. The charges were unfair. But that didn’t matter. The resulting discord weakened my country and helped tear us apart. I won’t repeat my parents’ mistakes. I need to bring my people back together. I have no choices in this. My people need stability. Unity. I have to marry an Honorian.”
An outsider, her, would cause strife. Distrust. Well, he’d certainly answered her question about what she was to him. A fling. With no chance for more.
Eager
to put distance between herself and Rion, she strode toward the view screen and gazed out at the stars. The view was dark, cold. Infinite emptiness.
Between what Rion had just told her, her disappointment, and the sudden change in the space-time continuum, her head ached. She rubbed her temples.
Still confused by the sudden turn of events, she turned around and caught sight of Merlin. She wandered over to the owl. His talons gripped the console. He pecked at the controls, as if he were steering the ship.
No wonder her head hurt. Marisa was losing it, attributing paranormal powers to a bird. But why shouldn’t she be thinking insane thoughts? She was flying with a man she had feelings for to a world she knew little about, one occupied by Earth’s most ancient enemy.
Why was she risking her life for a man who had just told her they couldn’t have a future together?
It is almost as good as bringing good news not to bring bad.
—CELTIC PROVERB
15
Awed and stunned by the sleek spaceship, Rion looked around, taking in the helm. He yearned to use the navigation instruments to plot their heading, to make sure they were on course for Honor.
But Merlin had settled by the controls, and a glance out the view screen at his home world told Rion they were on course.
Rion’s curiosity and elation over evading the Unari Enforcers dissipated when he looked at Marisa. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. But he didn’t have to see her face to recognize her anger.
With any other woman, he would have shrugged off his lies. Keeping his identity hidden was more important than hurt feelings.
But this was Marisa. The woman he’d kidnapped and who had still offered to help him. A woman who could put a higher cause before her own interests. Marisa, who was willingly risking her life and agreeing to use her telepathy to save his people.
And he’d hurt her. Deeply. He could see it in her stiff posture, in the way she refused to look at him.
Taking a deep breath, he moved closer to her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be truthful.”
“Your apology doesn’t make me feel better.” She raised her eyebrow, the sadness in her voice yet one more indication of her hurt.
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