Dark Strength

by Cynthia Sax

  Balvan’s head dipped. “He’ll be easier to kill when he’s alone.”

  “You’re a clever warrior.” She looked at him with open admiration.

  His face turned dark green. “It was Kralj’s plan.”

  “We should prepare for our part of that plan.” She knew how to shoot but that was it. “I’ll ask Dita to teach me how to hunt beings.” The assassin must be skilled in that task.

  “I will teach you how to hunt Marowit.” Balvan’s eyes flashed. “But not now.”

  “Do it soon.” Rhea drew one of her guns and aimed at a target. “Or I will take on the mission and Orol won’t be happy about that.” She pressed the trigger.

  The projectile hit the center of the target. Elyce gazed at it with envy.

  “I’m shooting next.” Paloma raised her gun.

  Balvan pulled Elyce into his arms, moving her behind the girl. Hulagu did the same thing with Azalea. Rhea took a couple steps backward also.

  Paloma didn’t appear to notice the hasty repositioning. She scrunched up her beautiful face and pressed the trigger.

  Whatever the projectile hit, it wasn’t the target.

  “I grazed it.” Paloma announced.

  Balvan’s chest vibrated against Elyce’s back. She smothered a smile. The girl hadn’t touched the target.

  “You didn’t graze—”

  A rumble resembling thunder rolled through the air and Rhea stopped talking. It wasn’t a storm. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

  Elyce turned her head toward the sound. A rooftop four structures to their right fell, disappearing from her view.

  The structure they stood upon shook. She swayed. Balvan’s arms tightened around her waist, steadying her. A brown cloud filled the air.

  Fuck. She stared. The domicile had been completely destroyed.

  “Kralj won’t be happy about that.” Azalea fretted.

  “Someone is going to go ‘pop.’” Hulagu grinned. “I wish I could see that.”

  Elyce had seen someone go pop already that planet rotation. That was enough for her. “He’ll protect this structure, won’t he? And our domicile?”

  “He will.” Balvan kissed her forehead. “No one will destroy them.”

  “He vowed to protect all of his warriors’ mates.” Rhea added. “Remind Orol of that also.” She aimed her gun. “It’s my turn.”

  It wasn’t her turn but no one was going to argue with a pregnant female with a gun. Elyce’s gaze returned to the hole in the skyline. The billow of dust grew, blocking the sun’s rays, casting a cool shadow over them.

  Marowit was responsible for that destruction also. He had to be stopped.

  Soon and permanently.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Battle excited Balvan, the blood and destruction stimulating him, and the settlement was now a war zone.

  By the time they returned to their domicile, his need for his female had escalated past hugs and kisses.

  Not that she had noticed.

  He sat in the creature medic bay, holding a puffker in each of his huge palms. His little female perched on his lap, acting oblivious to the hard-on pressing between her flight suit-clad ass cheeks.

  It was the sweetest torture he’d ever experienced.

  “Now, Sparkles”—Elyce petted the tiny furball—“you shouldn’t eat Glimmer’s nourishment bars. It might seem like she doesn’t want them, but she does. She just eats the nourishment bars slower than you do.”

  Balvan privately thought neither creature was in any danger of starvation. Sparkles did eat some of Glimmer’s nourishment bars. That merely meant their newest member of the family ate double her body weight, not triple it like her greedier counterpart did.

  “Glimmer.” Elyce turned toward the other puffker. As she moved, his female rubbed against Balvan’s leather-clad cock and he swallowed his groan. “The new nourishment bars might not be as appetizing as the nourishment bars I normally fabricate for you, but they won’t hurt you.” She patted the creature’s head. “You don’t have to sniff them a hundred times before eating them.”

  It upset his female, not being able to fabricate nourishment bars for him, for the puffkers. Balvan’s lips flattened. His inability to source the supplies for her irked him. He wanted to make her happy.

  “I don’t think we have to take any further action.” Elyce squirmed in his lap. “What do you think?”

  “I think…” Balvan gritted his teeth, desire surging through him, “…you are one wiggle away from being ravished in our medic bay.”

  “What?” His female turned her head, looked at him, and then looked down. “Oh.” She hopped off his lap. “We can’t do that in front of them.”

  Balvan grinned. His female viewed the creatures as offspring, to be shielded from the physical aspects of their relationship. He set the puffkers on their respective padded squares. They promptly fell asleep, their purring vibrating their big bellies.

  “They don’t have a care in the universe.” Elyce wiped his palms with a cleaning cloth, her tone envious.

  “You’re safe, little female.” Balvan scooped her into his arms. She shouldn’t have a care in the universe either.

  “I’m safe when I’m with you.” She pressed her cheek against his chest, that softness making him sigh.

  “You’ll always be with me.” He wasn’t leaving her side. Protecting her was his number-one mission.

  He carried her into their private chambers. Three of his friends had entered it while they were away, the warriors skilled in fabricating domiciles. Balvan was pleased to see the modifications he’d requested had been installed.

  His observant female noticed them right away. “You had the wall repaired.” She wiggled down his body until her booted feet touched the floor. “It has a high polish, doesn’t it?”

  “It does.” He asked specifically for that finish.

  She stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling wall panel, her reflection staring back at her. He could see all of her. Her blue eyes were large in her gorgeous face. Golden curls cascaded over her shoulders, catching the light, the tips of the tendrils touching the curve of her flight suit-covered ass. Her full breasts strained the confines of the garment and begged for his hands. The holster set hugged her hips.

  He wanted to lick her all over. His female’s fingers crept up her neck, finding the scars there.

  That was where he’d start.

  “Are you asking to be kissed, little female?” He lifted her hair and licked along the pink marks on her pale skin.

  Her cheeks flushed. “Only you would think that.”

  “Only I should be thinking that.” He unfastened her flight suit, spreading the material, exposing her beautiful breasts. Her nipples tightened, delectably pink. “I’ll kill any other being who kisses your scars.”

  He mouthed over her back, adoring the many scars there, laving each lash mark with the flat of his tongue. She trembled, leaning back, moving into him, trusting his body to support hers.

  “Look at us, Elyce.” He’d installed the panel so she could do that. His little female would always know who was touching her, always have that reassurance. “Look at how perfectly we fit together.”

  He cupped her breasts, squeezing them, molding them with his hands, as he lavished attention on her battered back. It was so straight, so strong.

  His female had endured more than most beings and had survived. He traced her proud spine with the tip of his tongue, tasting the salt of her skin.

  “Your hands feel good on my breasts.” Her eyes darkened with need, her musk intensifying, filling his lungs. “My back is bubbling with your nanohumanics.”

  “Unfasten your holsters.” His fingers were busy. He captured his female’s sensitive nipples, pulling gently on them.

  She moaned and her hands quivered. It took her several attempts to remove her guns. The holster set dropped to the floor.

  He’d pick them up later. His little female liked having her weapons within reach. That made her fee
l safe.

  He’d make her feel so much more. Elyce’s flight suit slipped lower, hanging on her generous hips. She wiggled. The garment fell, revealing more pale skin, more pink scars, the fine dusting of golden curls over her mons.

  She was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen, and he’d soon be inside her. His cock pressed against his ass coverings.

  “Remove your boots.” He issued another command, his voice deep and low with wanting.

  She bent over, sticking out that lush ass of hers. He sucked on one white cheek and then the other, leaving an imprint of his lips on her skin, branding her, owning her.

  Her inner thighs glistened with wetness. He breathed in her scent, relishing every note.

  Elyce kicked her boots to the side, stepped out of the circle of fabric. He was completely dressed. His female was naked, standing before him, the contrast between them riveting.

  “I am a monster.” For the first time in his long lifespan, that didn’t bother him. Because he was her monster. She needed him to be exactly who he was, big and strong and well able to protect her from the being hunting her.

  “You’re wonderful.” Her eyelids were partially lowered, her expression dreamy. “There’s no other male like you.” She placed his hands on her breasts. “You’re Balvan.”

  “And I will never hurt you.” He dragged his mouth over her right shoulder. She was a tiny being yet she was his entire world, his reason for being, the heart in his chest.

  He teased her with his lips and with his fingers, exploring every dip and swell, every scar and every unmarked stretch of skin. Elyce panted, moving against him, rubbing along his body. His ass coverings felt unbearably tight.

  He had to be inside her.

  Balvan lifted his little female high into the air. She squeaked.

  “You’re safe.” He smacked a kiss on her bare back and transferred her to the sleeping support.

  “I’m safer when I’m touching you.” She turned to face him, skimming her fingertips along his waistband.

  His stomach fluttered, his abs flexing.

  “When we’re skin to skin, I feel no fear.” She kissed his flat stomach, her lips warm, her mouth wet.

  He folded his fingers into fists, fighting the urge to cup the back of her head, press her face against him.

  Elyce slowly unfastened his ass coverings, peeling back the leather. His cock, ever eager, broke free, smacking against her palm.

  “You’re a big male, Balvan.” She smiled up at him, her eyes dancing.

  He groaned as she covered his shaft with her hands, her slender fingers stark white against his green flesh, his female obscenely small. She stroked him and pleasure skittered along his length, a dab of pre-cum forming on his tip.

  If she touched him for much longer, he’d come in her hand. He was that ready for her.

  “Not now.” Balvan caught her wrists, pulled her hands away from his body. “I want you too much.”

  He nuzzled against her scars, mouthing over the raised flesh.

  “I like that you want me.” Her husky voice pushed him closer to release.

  Fraggin’ hole. “You destroy my control.” Balvan kicked off his boots and removed his ass coverings, moving at modified humanoid speed, unable to wait. “You’re the only being with that ability.”

  “I’m your female.” Her gaze skimmed over his naked body, her perusal sensuous and stimulating. “And you are my male.”

  “Get on your hands and knees.” He accompanied that order with a growl.

  She lifted her eyebrows. “Are you seeking to master me?”

  “I’m seeking to master myself.” He didn’t want a slave, wouldn’t ask her to do anything she didn’t wish to do. “You can choose to obey or you can decide to rebel.”

  “There won’t be any consequences if I rebel?” She looked at his hard cock. Her pretty pink tongue wet her bottom lip.

  He bobbed, the strain in his balls increasing. “There will be consequences. If you rebel for many more moments, I’ll find release outside your sweet body.”

  Her lips curled upward into a small smile. “I don’t want that.” She lowered to her hands and knees.

  Her hot mouth was a lick away from his cock head. A shudder of need rocked Balvan. “You’re a temptress.” He picked her up and repositioned her to face the shiny wall panel.

  “You’re strong.” She wiggled her lush ass, her white skin, pink scars a banner calling to his hard cock.

  “I’m not strong around you.” Balvan crawled onto the sleeping support behind her. She made him weak with lust, his lungs filled with her scent, his thoughts focused on her.

  He nudged her feet apart. Drops of wetness sparkled on her pink pussy lips. He gripped her pale ass cheeks, kneading them, parting them.

  Her spine straightened. Her curvy form stiffened.

  His female had forgotten who was touching her.

  “Look at us, little female.” Balvan murmured. She raised her head. Their gazes locked via the wall panel. “Watch me as I touch you.”

  He pushed her blonde hair over her shoulders, lowered his lips to her back, kissed her scars gently, reverently. Her eyes grew soft with passion once more, losing the sharpness of fear. Her body relaxed.

  He pressed his hips against her ass cheeks, his shaft sliding into the valley between them. Her breath hitched.

  Her abductor and his half-males must have taken her there. His Humanoid Alliance trainers had done the same to him. He would never forget that pain and humiliation, would never inflict it on his mate.

  “I won’t hurt you, my little female.” He kissed the dimples above her ass.

  “They—”

  “I know what they did.” He wouldn’t make her say the words. “But I won’t. Ever. Your ass is safe with me.” He elevated her hips until his cock touched the wet heat of her pussy lips. “Your pussy, however, is in danger of being ravished.”

  “My pussy wants to be ravished.” She rubbed against him, branding his flesh with her scent.

  Balvan forced himself to remain still, giving his little female temporary power over their mating. Her body undulated, a gentle ripple of curves and softness against his hard muscle, lapping, lapping at his control. He reveled in the contact, awed that she was his.

  The specter of her abduction would always be there, as the memories of his captivity would always haunt him, but that made their bond tighter, stronger, not more fragile. They had faced their pasts alone. They would subdue the echoes of those experiences together.

  “Will you ravish me, Balvan?” His female’s voice thinned with yearning. “You promised to do that.”

  He would keep all of his promises to her. Always. “I’ll ravish you with everything I have.”

  There was no other mission he’d rather undertake. He ached with his need for her, sensed the same wanting in her.

  Balvan positioned himself at her tight pussy hole and gripped her hips, securing her to him. “Watch us, Elyce. See what you do to me.”

  He pushed into her, into the most poignant embrace he’d ever encountered, the pressure around his tip sublime. His eyelids partially lowered; his senses were battered with bliss. He sank deeper and deeper into her, ecstasy flowing up his cock.

  The Refuge might be in chaos around them, but when he was inside his female, he was at peace, he was home. His base touched her feminine folds. He exhaled the breath he’d been holding, all of him wrapped in joy, in warmth.

  “I please you,” Elyce said softly, as though she’d doubted that.

  “You right my world.” Balvan rubbed circles into her skin with his thumbs. “It was out of balance before I met you. There had been so much pain.” He shuddered, remembering his past. “Not enough happiness. When I touch you and you touch me, I forget that hurt.”

  She blinked once, twice, light dancing on the tips of her golden eyelashes. “When I see your face, I forget the hurt also. All I know is you.” His female smiled, dazzling him with her beauty. “I didn’t think that would e
ver be possible, yet with you, it is.”

  She had made the impossible possible for him also, caring for a monster—a being designed solely to kill. Balvan pulled out to his rim, pushed back into her, pulled out, pushed back into her.

  She rocked against him, battering him with softness. He matched her rhythm, slowly increasing their pace, their bodies, their minds, their souls in sync.

  Sweat beaded on her scarred back, on that tortured expanse of skin. He licked each drop, the flick of his tongue causing her to tremble, to move faster.

  Her panting echoed in the chamber. Her breasts swayed with every thrust. Balvan’s fingers twitched. He wanted to support those generous curves with his palms, graze her nipples with his rough palms.

  In the future, when she was accustomed to him being behind her, he would. He’d cage her between his arms, lower his chest to her back, surround her with him.

  For now, his hands on her hips were enough. More than enough. That limited contact shredded his restraint. Her ass pinkened more with each slap of his body. Her skin shone. Her wetness dripped between his balls.

  “Bal. Van. Bal. Van.” She chanted his name, breaking the two syllables into separate words.

  His chest swelled with pride. His little female was thinking of him, only him. He dominated her thoughts as she dominated his.

  They moved faster. He thrust harder, until they rutted like wild creatures, Elyce pushing back, Balvan pushing forward, both of them wrapped up in the encounter, absorbed with each other, fully in the present, forgetting their pasts.

  Balvan took his little female with more and more ferocity, the smack, smack, smack of skin hitting skin ringing in the air. Pressure formed at the base of his spine. He gritted his teeth, fighting his release, wanting more moments inside her, more moments of delectable anticipation.

  His female had other ideas. Her inner walls gradually constricted around him, increasing the warmth, refining the fit. His entire body pulsed with need, a drumming he felt in his heart, in his soul. He could hold off. He—

  She clenched down on him and he roared her name, driving forward. Cum shot out of his cock, the pleasure hitting him hard. Elyce screamed, arching her back, wiggling against him.