Kirlos had to laugh despite the pain squeezing his heart. He must have really gotten to Marc for the captain to stomp out of his own quarters and leave him there.
Chapter 6
Claire signaled Kirlos’s wrist unit. “Everything’s ready. Are you in place?”
“Yes.” Kirlos glanced at Marc’s office door, remembering the first time he’d stood here and hoping the plan he was about to enact went at least as well.
“The captain’s door will open in five seconds.”
“Thank you for all your help.”
He ended their communication and took a deep breath. His right hand tightened around the pressure syringe concealed in the folds of his tunic.
The door swung open. Marc glanced up. Kirlos stepped forward and brought his arm up fast, knowing he had only one chance. The needle punctured Marc’s shoulder. Marc twisted away but with his legs trapped under the desk, he was slower than he would have been on his feet.
Kirlos depressed the syringe as Marc began to shift. The captain got in one swipe of a half-formed paw. He shredded Kirlos’s tunic but only grazed his skin. Then Marc slumped forward against the desk. Thank the gods the anesthetic had worked as fast as Claire said it would.
Kirlos had been desperate when he’d gone to her and outlined his plan to force Marc to admit to their need for each other. He hadn’t expected her to agree so readily, but Claire knew how very much Marc needed someone to love him. She’d enlisted some of the other officers and they’d all been more than willing to take draconian measures to allow their captain to see sense.
The others had given Kirlos all the help they could. Now it was up to him and the powers of his mind and body. He hadn’t convinced Marc to let him stay by confessing his love. It was time to see how Marc reacted to violence.
* * *
Marc’s head throbbed. His tongue felt thick and his mouth dry. What the fuck had happened? His chest had ached when he thought of Kirlos leaving. He remembered thinking how much he’d like to drink himself into oblivion, but he didn’t think he’d actually done it. He’d been working in his office. And then… what?
He tried to rub his aching head. Fuck! He was tied down. Fighting the restraints, he opened his eyes, ignoring the piercing pain the light sent through his head.
Kirlos stood a few feet from him. What the fuck? He looked down at his body. Gods of Earth, he was spread eagle on the sex table. Using every bit of his enhanced strength, he wrestled with the tentacles that held him.
“Relax. You’re not getting out until I’m done with you.”
Kirlos was right. He wasn’t going to break the tentacles. Marc forced himself to fight the panic rising in his chest. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Making you see sense.”
Kirlos pressed at his mind. Marc fought the bonds again, thrashing and bucking, desperate to be free. He’d been trained as a warrior for years; never had he let panic rule him in battle, but he’d lost his control now. The thought of Kirlos getting into his head, fucking with him, making him tell his secrets had his stomach roiling and cold sweat dripping from his back.
Marc strengthened his shields, building a second wall behind the first, but the pressure from Kirlos’s mind was like nothing he’d ever felt. Even the mental testing he’d been subject to before joining Special Forces hadn’t been this brutal.
“Get the fuck out of my mind.” His voice was too high-pitched, filled with alarm. Kirlos could have no doubt how scared he was. Fuck! You never let the enemy rattle you like this. Never let them see your fear.
“Let me in and this will all be over in seconds.”
“Get away from me, you bastard.”
Kirlos pressed harder. Marc felt like a jack hammer was punching its way into his head, tearing down the walls he’d built. If he could shift he could get out of the bonds. But he had to concentrate to shift. He needed a few seconds to breathe deep and focus on the part of his mind that held his beast locked away. He couldn’t do that unless Kirlos stopped his assault.
“Open… to… me. Don’t want to… hurt you.”
Kirlos must be reaching the limit of his power. Marc only had to hold out a little longer.
A burst of light exploded in Marc’s head. He thought he screamed. Bile rose in his throat. The front line of his shields shattered. Now he had only the thin, secondary wall. He tried to rebuild, to push Kirlos out, but the pain of the forced probe was so bad he couldn’t concentrate. He opened his eyes as much as he could. His vision wavered, but he saw Kirlos on his knees, hanging onto the end of the table.
“Don’t… make me… do this.”
“Fuck you.” Marc’s voice came out so low and gravelly that he doubted the words were intelligible. He sounded as if he’d nearly completed a shift but he knew he didn’t even have his claws out.
Suddenly Kirlos’s probe expanded. No longer a single point, the pulsing energy surrounded Marc’s head. Marc panted. Gods of Earth, he was going to die. The bastard was going to kill him.
Marc screamed as electric pain burst into his head and his shields crumpled. He nearly blacked out but he fought his way back from the darkness.
“Do you love me?” Kirlos’s voice was steadier now that he’d gotten inside. Marc knew he couldn’t fight any more. He had nothing left. How had this man broken him down to nothing?
“Answer me.”
How could Marc just let him win? “N --”
Pain shot into his head again. He tried to deny his feelings, but he couldn’t make his mouth form the word. He had no way to describe what Kirlos was doing to him, but he was incapable of uttering words other than the truth.
“Answer me now.” Kirlos shouted the words at him, angrier than Marc had ever heard him.
Marc writhed in pain as he fought what had become a compulsion to tell the truth. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his lips together. No! No! No! he screamed in his head as his mouth shouted, “Yes.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“No.” His eyes burned and tingled. No fucking way was he going to cry. But no one had ever exposed him like this. He’d never felt so naked, so open, so scared. “Please.”
Kirlos was suddenly gone from his mind, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to curl in a ball and hide. He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
Then he felt hands stroking him, gently rubbing his chest and belly. He sucked in his breath, trying to pull away. “Don’t touch me.”
“I love you, too. I want to touch you. I want to show you that you don’t have to be in control all the time. You can let go with me, and I’ll give you what you need.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. I’m not giving you a choice.”
“I might well kill you for what you’ve done.”
Kirlos ignored his threat. He lifted a syringe and Marc flinched. “I’m not putting you under again. This is just a painkiller to ease your headache.”
“No.”
“I know you’re in pain.”
“My body will heal itself soon enough. No drugs.” Ever since Terra Gov had altered him, he couldn’t stand medication of any kind. Needles and pills reminded him far too much of Terra Gov’s attempt to control the beast they’d planted within him.
Kirlos nodded and lowered the syringe. “Tell me if you change your mind.”
“Release me and get out of here.”
“I could do that, or you could let me give you the kind of pleasure I bet you rarely allow yourself, the kind that comes when you let all your barriers down.” Kirlos leaned forward and kissed Marc’s throat, his lips barely brushing Marc’s skin. He cupped Marc’s face in his hand, and Marc let him turn his head.
When Kirlos’s tongue pressed at the seam of Marc’s lips, he opened his mouth, his mind, his body. He had no reserves left, no way to fight what was happening. His heart slammed against his chest, his instincts told him to fight, but the man he kept hidden deep inside begged him not to and for once, he ignored the predator and
listened to his heart.
Kirlos probed gently at his mind. Marc let him in. He couldn’t hide any more from this man who’d wrung everything from him. Kirlos would feel his lust and know how turned on he was by the idea of being tortured on the table, but he no longer cared.
He’d never be satisfied in a relationship where he wasn’t in control. But every once in a while, when the pressure got to be too much, he wanted to hand over the reins and let someone else take on the responsibility that weighed him down. He’d given in to what he saw as an embarrassing weakness only a few times in his life. Tonight he was going to try it again.
* * *
Kirlos relaxed as he felt Marc’s surrender. He’d taken a huge risk. He could have lost Marc forever by pushing him so hard. Kirlos not only sensed acceptance, but also that Marc burned with lust. He hadn’t been wrong when he’d watched Marc during the demo of the table. While the captain was one of the most intense doms Kirlos had ever met, he knew how to reap pleasure from being on the bottom. Kirlos was happy to give Marc what he needed.
Kirlos pulled back from Marc’s lips and smiled at him. “Table, form a thin tentacle and ring his cock and balls.”
Marc groaned as the table obeyed. Kirlos watched as Marc’s thick cock was wrapped and thrust upward like a package. Kirlos licked his lips. Marc said nothing. Anger burned in his eyes. He might get off from being tied up, but he didn’t like that he did. That knowledge only made Kirlos smile.
“Table, form two tongues and stimulate his cock, balls, and ass.”
Marc arched and groaned as the table went to work. Kirlos could feel him fighting his lust, trying not to react.
“Show me what you want. Writhe for me.”
Marc snarled.
One of the tongue tentacles worked hard at the sensitive spot just under Marc’s balls. He began to pant. Kirlos smiled.
When the tentacle moved lower, licking and thrusting at Marc’s asshole, Kirlos slipped his hand between Marc’s legs and teased the same spot. “Like that, do you?”
“Bastard.” Marc’s voice was low and wolfish. Kirlos glanced up and saw that Marc’s eyes had changed. A sure sign he was filled with fierce need. But the anger in Marc’s eyes made Kirlos shiver. Marc would have his revenge for this, his eyes said it plainly. Kirlos imagined his punishment would be delicious.
The Cerian loved the danger Marc’s beast added to the encounter. He doubted Marc could get free from the table even if he shifted, and the idea that he controlled the powerful wolf inside the captain turned him on more than he would have guessed. “Table, form two pinchers and attach to his nipples.”
Marc thrashed, trying to escape the slick tentacles as they slid across his chest, but each one found its target. They grasped his nipples between them like they were fingers. Kirlos watched, fascinated, as they pulled and twisted. Marc gasped when they squeezed viciously. The captain’s hips flexed up and down, obviously wanting more than the tongue tentacles were giving him.
Kirlos smiled. This was exactly what he wanted, Marc’s whole body alive with need but unable to get what it wanted. “Table, form a slender, lubricated cock, insert it in his ass and give him very slow strokes.”
“No!” Marc used the small amount of play he had in his bonds to wiggle upward, away from the tentacle that probed at his ass.
“Table, tighten restraining tentacles.” Marc could no longer move. The pseudo cock penetrated him as the tongue tentacles licked long strokes on his cock.
“You will regret this.” His eyes burned like amber fire.
“Table, work his ass harder and faster.”
Marc growled as the tentacle in his ass slid out and rammed its way home. “Fires of hell! Stop, now.”
“You want this.”
“Fuck you.”
Kirlos smirked. “Not this time. Table, change one of the tongues to a mouth and suck his cock.”
Marc groaned. His teeth clamped down on his lower lip. Kirlos could see that they’d lengthened to fangs. Marc squeezed his eyes shut. He looked like a man in pain. Kirlos didn’t doubt his need had reached the point of agony. Marc’s cock was harder and larger than he’d ever seen it. Once he took the ring off, the captain would explode in seconds.
Kirlos slipped off his tunic and pushed down the soft knit pants he wore underneath as he toed off his leather slippers. When he was naked, he wrapped his hand around his cock. It was hard as steel and already slick with his natural lube. If he kept stroking it much longer, he’d come right there. “Open your eyes.”
Marc snarled.
“Open your eyes and look at my cock.”
This time, Marc obeyed. His eyes widened, and he groaned.
“You want it, don’t you?”
Marc gasped as the table sucked him hard. “Yes, damn it, yes.”
“Table, retract all tentacles except the restraints and cock ring.” He took the slick hand that had been on his own cock and stroked Marc’s. The captain panted as Kirlos gave him tight, fast strokes.
“Fuck me now, you bastard.”
Kirlos laughed. “As you wish.” He climbed on the table, settling himself between Marc’s spread legs. “Table, release his legs.”
The leg restraints disappeared. Kirlos wasn’t sure if Marc would fight him once he was free, but he let Kirlos push his legs until they were doubled up on his chest. His ass was slick with the table’s lube and already stretched so he needed no preparation. Kirlos grasped his cock, aimed it for Marc’s entrance, and drove in. Even after being fucked by the table, Marc was tight. Kirlos had to push hard to bury himself fully.
Marc made a strangled sound.
“You’re fucking tight.”
“No one has dared try to fuck my ass in a long time.” His words were broken by panting breaths.
Kirlos smiled. “They should have. You love it.”
“Fuck you.”
Kirlos laughed. “I already told you. Not tonight.”
He slid out and pushed back, rendering Marc incapable of speech. He increased his pace, giving Marc no mercy, no time to talk or analyze or fight. He wanted to keep going forever. It felt so damn good, but when Marc squeezed him tight, he couldn’t hold back any longer. “Table, release his cock ring.”
Marc gasped. He bucked under Kirlos and hot come pulsed from Marc’s cock. His ass gripped Kirlos’s cock so hard Kirlos cried out. The contractions of Marc’s body tore his orgasm from him.
Seconds later, Kirlos collapsed on top of Marc. “Table off.”
Marc flexed and stretched his arms but he didn’t put them around Kirlos. Kirlos gently probed Marc’s mind. He felt fear, anger, sadness. He didn’t want to deal with Marc’s inability to express what he truly felt. He just wanted to cuddle up and go to sleep.
He pulled himself from Marc’s body and sat back on his heels. Marc looked up, his eyes still wolfish. “I would kill anyone else who tore information from my mind. I had quite enough of it from Terra Gov.”
Kirlos nodded. “I will never force the truth from you again unless you ask it of me.”
Marc closed his eyes and took a slow breath.
“I know you’ll want to punish me for what I’ve done. I look forward to taking whatever you want to give me. But why don’t we get some sleep first and talk in the morning?”
“Yes.”
Kirlos slipped off the end of the table and reached for his pants.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Getting dressed.”
“I don’t allow my lovers to wear clothes in bed.”
Kirlos didn’t know whether he was more stunned that Marc had used the word lover to refer to him or that he wanted Kirlos to sleep in his bed. “You want me to stay?”
“If your naked ass is not under my covers in the next ten seconds, I’m going to start your punishment now.”
Kirlos smiled and raced toward Marc’s bed.
Chapter 7
Kirlos stretched and turned over. He reached out to put his arm around Marc but found
only covers. He didn’t hear the shower or any other sound to indicate that Marc was in his quarters. He should have known Marc wouldn’t be waiting to talk to him when they woke.
He let the smell of real coffee lead him out of bed and into the kitchenette. A notepad lay beside the carafe. The screen was blinking to indicate a new message had been recorded. He picked it up and pressed the button to light the screen.
Meet me in conference room B. Devlin.
Icy fear zinged through Kirlos’s body. Was this his dismissal? Was Marc going to reject the love Kirlos had felt so clearly in the captain’s mind?
Kirlos showered and dressed mechanically. The small kitchen was well stocked, but he couldn’t make himself eat anything. He couldn’t even stomach the coffee despite how good it smelled.
When he got to the conference room, a guard was on duty at the door. Kirlos barely kept himself from rolling his eyes. Was Marc going to order the man to escort him off the station? Didn’t Marc realize he wasn’t that easy to get rid of?
The guard pressed the door release and Kirlos stepped in. Marc, Claire, and three of the other officers were seated at the table. Marc gestured for Kirlos to join them, but otherwise kept his face expressionless.
Claire spoke first. “Good morning, Major Adesta. We have a proposition for you.”
“Good morning.” The heavy weight on Kirlos’s chest lifted a little. This didn’t sound like a dismissal.
“As we expand our trade agreements, Captain Devlin will no longer be able to make all command level decisions personally. We have discussed for some time who among us might serve best as station commander, but each of us are uniquely suited to the positions we hold and reluctant to leave them. Captain Devlin excels at securing our defense and keeping us from attracting the attention of any governments who might try to shut us down. What we need is someone who can deal with merchants, someone charming.” A blush came to her cheeks as she looked at Kirlos.
He gave her a mischievous smile.
“Our commander should also be quick-witted and able to keep his temper.” She glanced at Marc as she said the last.
Shifter’s Station 3: Loving Your Enemy Page 6
