by Devyn Quinn
A soft groan escaped him.
Callie drew back. “Am I hurting you?”
Iollan sucked in an angry hiss. “Not you,” he grated. “Damn this fucking silver they’ve pumped into me. I don’t think you’re going to get much out of me tonight.”
“Guess we’ll have to improvise, then.”
His hands flexed. “Not that I want to.” He sighed with obvious frustration.
Callie pretended to think. “I’ll just have to take matters into my own hands then.” A wicked smile crooked up her lips. “You like to watch, don’t you?”
He eyed her with delight. “I’m still human enough to enjoy watching a woman get herself off.”
She laughed and licked her lips. “Dinner and a show. Can the night get any better?”
Iollan almost strangled himself trying to shake his head. Eager hunger gleamed in the depths of his eyes. “I can think of other places I’d rather be.”
Sliding off her tactical assault vest jacket, Callie dropped it to one side. “We’ll just have to make do.” Her shoulder holster and weapon followed, landing on the pile with a soft thud. Fixing her gaze on his, she started with the top button of her blouse. Slowly, one at a time, she undid the front of her navy uniform shirt. The soft cups of her bra hugged her full breasts.
Using just the tips of her fingers, she traced the path of the lacy white material. “Mmm, I seem to have a little too much on.” She unsnapped the front clasp, letting the cups fall away. Her nipples protruded, front and center.
Iollan moaned softly. His breathing grew deeper, more ragged. “You have beautiful breasts.”
Callie traced the tips. Tiny electrical shocks sparked through her body. Her nipples puckered, then hardened, as she gave each a gentle twist. “Want a taste?”
He raked his bottom lip with eager teeth. His arms strained against the cuffs holding him, muscles cording from the effort to free his hands. “Definitely.”
“Glad to oblige.” Hands shifting to his shoulders, she lifted her body, guiding one nipple toward his waiting mouth.
Instead of immediately claiming the morsel, he traced the protruding tip with his tongue. His teeth scraped the sensitive skin.
Closing her eyes, Callie’s head dropped forward, her face just inches from his head. Her free hand cupped and caressed her left breast. “Oh God.” Pulling in a breath she inhaled the musky scent of heated, sweaty male flesh, an intoxicating scent. A low moan built at the back of her throat.
“Touch yourself,” he whispered against her breast.
Callie drew back. Sliding her hand down her bare belly, her fingers stopped just short of the dark blue fatigues she’d worn in the raid. “I’m so wet,” she murmured.
His tongue traced his lips. “Let me taste you.”
Undoing the single button, she eased the zipper down. White cotton panties peeked out. Hooking a thumb in the elastic, she eased the front down, revealing the curve of her shaved mound.
Iollan almost choked. Voice hoarse with desire, he whispered. “What are you thinking about?”
Callie slid her free hand between her legs. “I’m thinking about your cock.” The thought sent a rush of pleasure through all her nerve endings. She stroked her clit with the tip of her finger, with light, soft pressure. She briefly caught her bottom lip between her teeth, dying to relieve the terrible ache between her legs.
Iollan shifted restlessly. One of his legs came up against her back, pressing into her. “Inside you,” he pleaded.
Pushing her ass back against his muscular thigh, she spread her legs wider. Feeling wonderfully wanton and fierce, she traced the lips of her labia, rolling the tender flesh between her fingers.
Heat enveloped her fingers when she slid into her slick sex. Quivering with tension, she burned with desire. Nearing climax, she delved two fingers deep, pressing them into the center of her passion, meeting each slow, delicious wave by grinding her ass against his leg. The first shivers of her orgasm washed over her.
Iollan shuddered, perfectly echoing the quakes ripping through her body. “Magnificent,” he murmured. A fine flush had risen up on his skin, heightening the spark in his luminous eyes.
Closing her eyes, Callie fell back into her new favorite fantasy, the one where three men were making love to her. Her fantasy had her on her knees, sucking Cadyn’s cock as Iollan lay beneath her body, claiming her cunt. Toryn stood over them, taking her from behind. She imagined the feel of Iollan’s cock sliding deep into her as Cadyn fucked her warm mouth. She’d had a taste of three men and had been entranced by the thought of three cocks to tease and please her. All the men would reassure her with soft whispers and softer kisses.
Iollan pressed his thigh against her ass, bucking his hips at the most critical time, slamming her fingers deep.
His move sent Callie over the edge. Silken muscles gripped her fingers, rippling with prolonged power. Incandescent pleasure of the purest sort exploded through her. Inner fever shattering, she moaned loud and long, the last coherent sound she was capable of making.
Rocketing into the stratosphere, her orgasm went on and on, each pulse hotter and wilder than the last.
Breath hissing inward, Callie gasped, running her tongue over her dry lips. Her throat was parched and her lips were rasped raw by her heavy breath. She floated back to earth on the softest of wings. Her fingers slid slowly out of her tight sheath.
Iollan relaxed beneath her, sighing in contentment. “Beautiful,” he murmured. “I’ve never seen a woman enjoy orgasm more than you do.”
Callie smiled and pressed into him, her abused hand seeking his lips. Fingers tracing a sexy path, she spread her cream over his mouth. She followed with her own mouth, eager to taste her female spice on him. Tongues met and waltzed with the fire burning inside them both.
“Think I’m hot enough?” she asked when their kiss had broken. The question rippled from her throat like a purr.
Iollan gasped. “More than enough and then some.”
Callie tipped her head, offering the softness of her neck. She moved until she felt the burn of his hot breath on her tender skin. “Do it.” Her hands circled his narrow hips, fingers digging into his skin.
Iollan savored her neck. His tongue traced a moist hot trail across her jugular.
She closed her eyes. Her pulse beat frantically against his mouth. The tips of her nipples pressed into his chest, slick with the perspiration of his own intense arousal. “Give me the pain that’s so delicious.”
Sharp teeth scraped. Penetration came swiftly and without hesitation. Iollan’s fangs sank in as deeply and surely as if he’d impaled her with his cock. A small sound of satisfaction escaped her throat when he bit.
Warm lips pressed against her skin, suckling hungrily.
Blood flowed from Callie’s veins, driven by the intense beating of her heart. Sheer undiluted pleasure coursed through her as he suckled.
Mind clouding, that familiar hazy sensation followed. Blackness loomed.
Callie’s breath caught in her throat. She felt herself teetering at the brink of consciousness as Iollan fed from her throat. She didn’t care if he took every last drop.
21
When Callie woke, she found Doctor Yuan’s anxious face hovering above her. Drawing a sharp breath, she immediately glanced around. As her vision adjusted, she realized she’d been moved. No longer in Iollan’s cell, she seemed to be in some sort of an examination room, stark white walls and floors, a padded surface under her back.
How long have I been unconscious? She didn’t remember passing out.
She tried to sit up. To her relief they were alone. Good. She didn’t exactly feel like seeing any men after…Cheeks heating from the memory, she glanced down. Her clothing had, thankfully, been shifted back into place.
Doctor Yuan pressed her back. “Lie still. It’s normal to feel a little dizzy after giving blood.”
A weak smile creased Callie’s lips. She tried to swallow. It hurt. Her chest seized as she sucked in a
lungful of air almost too antiseptic to breathe. No germ would escape unscathed.
Her neck felt swollen, a bit numb. A low ache throbbed behind her eyes, but otherwise she felt intact. “Is that what I’m doing?”
Doctor Yuan nodded. “That’s what it looked like to me.” Producing a thermometer, she popped it into Callie’s mouth. “Your demonstration was the first time we’ve ever witnessed an actual feeding. Very illuminating as to the behavior of the species.”
Considering that she’d been on display in the most intimate of circumstances, Callie didn’t feel any compunction to accept her praise. Marshalling all her strength, she pushed herself up on her elbows. “How is Iollan?” she mumbled around the glass sticking out of her mouth.
“Unhappy, but stable.”
Hard not to bite the thermometer in half. “You’d be pissed if you were chained up.”
Yuan spared her a glance. “We’ll move him to more suitable quarters tomorrow. He’ll have the basic amenities.”
Well, that answered that, without telling her anything at all. Callie hoped her words were more than lip service. Bad enough Iollan had to endure captivity with handling most people wouldn’t inflict on a mongrel dog. She’d damn sure follow up to make sure he got better treatment. No wonder his kind didn’t trust hers. Hand it to ham-fisted humans to rush in with the deadliest of force. She wondered if it had occurred to anyone to just talk to the Niviane Idesha in a diplomatic and reasonable manner.
Yuan retrieved the thermometer. “Low-grade fever, but nothing to get excited about.” She probed the area around Callie’s neck. “The bite doesn’t seem to be infected. These creatures seem to have an antiseptic in their saliva to arrest bleeding and begin healing after they’ve fed. The punctures are a little ragged, but clean. You’ll heal.”
Resisting the urge to toss back something irreverent, Callie swallowed and kept her humor to herself. “Glad you think so.”
Putting the thermometer away, Yuan reached for a syringe and uncapped its sterile needle. “I’ve taken a few smears to look at, but I’d also like to get some blood and urine from you. We’re interested to know if continual feedings are affecting you in any biological way. We’re still not clear about the Niviane Idesha’s reproductive capabilities. Obviously, the sire somehow seeds the victim with the symbiont, but the process is unknown. We’re sure they are a ‘recruit, not reproduce’ species. Anything we can learn will help us better understand them.”
Callie stayed still and tried to keep her calm. Her blood and urine might reveal more than she wanted Doctor Yuan to know. She stiffened. “Is that a request or an order?”
Yuan immediately frowned. “Given the circumstances and the nature of our research and your, ah, closer than normal involvement with our subject, I suppose I could pull rank and make it an order.”
Callie felt her patience thin. “Figures,” she mumbled irritably, not exactly pleased that the whole of the government had somehow become involved in her sex life. If she was—or wasn’t—pregnant, well, that would be obvious soon enough. She held out her arm. “Take what the hell you think you’ve got to have. I’ve been a fucking pincushion—or fang cushion—since this whole thing began.” Unbuttoning her cuff, she rolled up her sleeve. “If I’d known he was an alien, I’d have definitely thought twice about the sex thing.”
Yuan slid the needle into a vein at the crook of Callie’s elbow, deftly drawing a rush of crimson liquid into the syringe. Her touch was amazingly light, given that most of her patients weren’t normally among the living. “I see you have some scarring.”
Callie stiffened, cursing silently under her breath. It didn’t take the blind to see the scars. There were plenty. She shouldn’t be surprised Yuan had noticed. Her job was to explore every inch of a body, inside and out. Explaining her history as a cutter would be awkward. She’d managed to dodge it in psych testing when she’d joined the bureau by telling her old tried-and-true lie. Those side lectures in college had paid off nicely. Most days, she could out-normal the truly normal.
“Childhood accident,” she said, keeping her tone casual. “I fell through a plate-glass window.”
“Ah.” A bit of blissful silence followed, then an unexpected question. “Do you find him attractive?” Yuan asked conversationally.
Whoa, whoa! What was this? The question came totally out of left field. She didn’t dare try to dodge the subject. She was, she realized, intimately involved with the subject. Of course they’d want to know all about the sex.
Quickly debating a way to answer, Callie decided truth would be best. Then she wouldn’t have to remember what she lied about. “Sure. What woman wouldn’t?”
“Is he…?” Yuan’s gaze darted away.
Delicious tension grew. Callie had an idea what the next question would be. Inappropriate as it might be, she should mind the intrusion. She didn’t. “Is he what?”
A minute passed. Embarrassed tension grew. Obviously curious, the good doctor who should be well versed in the ways of human anatomy and its workings fumbled like a schoolgirl. “You know, his male equipment. Is he…built?”
Callie used the most scientific description that came to mind. “Like a brick shithouse,” she said without embarrassment.
That seemed to please Yuan. “Good?” Loaded question.
Callie had to answer honestly. “He fucks like a stallion,” she replied with a grin. “I’ve never had such intense orgasms. You want the absolute best sex of your life, honey, get a man who sucks.”
The stoic Yuan blushed. She didn’t look much older than Callie; Yuan was maybe her senior by a few years. Yuan was certainly young and pretty enough to have a very active love life if she so desired.
Trying to build a rapport with the woman, make her understand Iollan wasn’t exactly much different from the human he’d once been, Callie looked her straight in the eye. “You ever meet a man and that spark’s right there? An instant attraction that just makes your body tingle and all you want is to get the guy naked and horizontal? That’s how it was when I saw him. Instant lightning. Everything about him attracted me.”
Yuan briefly worried her lower lip. “I’ve met one or two in my time,” she admitted behind a shy grin.
“And?”
Yuan laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. She quickly backtracked from inquisitive woman into scientist. Confidences over, the conversation went back to business. “Unfortunately romance took a dive when I started working here. Seems like this place devours my life, in more ways than one. Most times I sleep in my office because it’s too late to go home.”
Understandable. “Lonely life.”
Yuan filled three vials with Callie’s blood, labeling each as she spoke. “Lonely, yes. But my work has its rewards. The cutting edge of science, discovering new life-forms.”
Callie conceded. Her own studies had once consumed her in such a way. “I can see where it’d be hard to go home.”
Yuan set the syringe aside, pressing a cotton pad laced with alcohol to the prick left in Callie’s skin. “If you correlate the history of vampire legends among primitive peoples with the now proven existence of the Niviane Idesha, you see how closely legend and fact compare, even giving us their possible date of arrival on our planet.”
Callie held the pad in place until the blood ceased to seep from her arm. “But do you really consider them hostiles? They seem to be fairly benign. I mean, humans aren’t cowering in fear they’ll be attacked by vampires. A few people I know would even volunteer for the honor.”
“They might be perfectly peaceful,” Yuan countered. “But when might that change, and for what reason might it change? Examine our own human history, if you will. Think of the wars mankind has fought against his own species. No matter the conflict, whether for religious, moral, or political reasons, every war has come at great cost to human life. It’s always for the advancement of civilization. Eventually, they will want to advance.”
Yuan’s words brought to mind Iollan’s comment. The Niviane
Idesha, he’d said, were tired of hiding in the shadows.
Could it be true, Callie thought, that they’d someday want out of their cloak of anonymity? As much as she hated to admit it, Yuan’s words made sense. Even Rome, mighty Rome, had fallen. Battle lines were being drawn. Which side to choose? Her own species or the man who’d gotten under her skin in more ways than one?
Logic told her head not to let her heart rule.
Short fight.
Callie’s heart quickly sliced logic to the quick before she’d even realized which side she’d chosen. She was completely smitten, and there wasn’t a damn thing to do but try and keep her cool.
Unpleasant tension grew. She shifted to put some space between them, not easy to do when lying flat on an examination table. “I can’t deny that might happen someday.”
Yuan’s expression grew unyielding and stubborn. “If we’ll inflict such damages on ourselves, how might we react toward another species? Hate and prejudice are powerful motivators. Imagine a war between us and them. Pure chaos. What’s more, despite their weaknesses, Niviane Idesha are stronger and faster than humans, certainly more evolved biologically. As much as I hate to say it, I’d rather see them exterminated than the other way around.”
Callie forced her chin up. “And I’d rather they’d never have been found if all you’re going to do is wipe them out.” Her words came out sharply.
Yuan’s lips pressed into a thin line. A nerve had been struck and she wasn’t pleased with her patient. “I think you’re too close to the subjects to keep an objective perspective, Agent Whitten. Once you’ve worked with them longer, you may change your mind.”
Callie wasn’t in the mood to be placated. “Is that the purpose of this study, to find out a way to exterminate the Niviane Idesha completely?”
Yuan offered a narrow smile and a plastic cup for urine. “That, Agent Whitten, is classified information. As it is, you’re strictly on need-to-know. Could you fill this, please?”
