Thieves In Paradise

by Bernadette Gardner

  "Which is why we should have been in here in the first place."

  He ignored her remark and moved to peer out of the small side portal of the shuttle. In the clearing, the carnivores were now locked in a deadly embrace. It appeared the male had already bested the female. With her beneath him, and his massive forepaws wrapped around her, he bent his huge head to take hold of her throat in his jaws. When his teeth closed, she gave a strangled sound that arrowed to Kol's gut. He'd witnessed death in the wild before and it was always brutal, but this seemed especially barbaric. He'd never known a species where males and females fought to the death while valuable prey escaped.

  Kol looked away, not wanting to witness the carnage that would follow. He faced the prisoner whose round eyes were huge. “What's happening?"

  "The male won. He'll be coming after us next, no doubt, so move away from the hatch. Hopefully he won't dislodge the shuttle."

  "So we're just going to sit in here and hope he doesn't kill us one way or another?"

  "He can't get in. His shoulders are too broad to fit through the opening."

  At that she bolted to her feet. “I doubt that will stop him from trying. We need to discourage him."

  "What do you suggest?” Outside the hatch, the battle seemed to be escalating. A series of sharp grunts sounded, and Kol had to wonder if the victor had chosen to devour the loser.

  "There are two stunners. If we both fire at the same time, maybe a double charge will have an effect on him."

  Kol stared at her. She was clever and determined. He had to give her that. “I'm not going to arm you."

  "Look, when that big one gets done with the little one, he's going to come looking for us, and he's going to be mad when he can't get to us. Not to mention all our food and water is out there, which leaves us without much chance of survival if he hangs around for any length of time."

  "I have a plan."

  "Oh, do you?” She put her hands on her hips and raised a brow.

  "The battle will leave him weak, and if he chooses to eat the female, he'll be sluggish. I'll have a better chance of killing him with my blade."

  "Oh, fine.” She lowered herself into one of the flight chairs. “That's good. Go out there and get yourself killed. That leaves me to do what I want. I'm all for it."

  Kol eyed her. The odds were he could take the creature under those circumstances, but there was no guarantee the beasts were cannibalistic.

  "Give me a stunner,” she promoted. “One shot and I'll give it back. I promise."

  "Come here."

  She obeyed so readily that Kol almost laughed. She'd do anything to get her hands on a gun. He retrieved her weapon from storage, but before handing it to her, he drew the laser cuffs from his belt and clamped them around her wrists.

  "Oh, come on.” She tilted her head back and glared at him.

  "This way I can control you."

  She sighed and gave him a disparaging look as he placed her confiscated stunner back in her hands. Next, he turned her toward the open hatch and, placing his arms around hers, he searched for their target in the darkness. He stiffened when the reality of the scene in the clearing hit him.

  "Uh ... that looks like—"

  "They're mating.” Kol lowered his arms and the female's and they stared at the spectacle taking place in the moonlight.

  * * * *

  The male carnivore had mounted the female from behind. With her forepaws bent and her back legs straight, her rump was high in the air. The male had risen on his hind legs and with his claws anchoring the female in place, was engaged in thrusting an enormous phallus into her exposed sex.

  Charity couldn't contain a laugh of relief. Behind her the bounty hunter had gone completely still and, despite herself, she was totally aware of his hard chest pressed against her back and his thighs spread on either side of her hips.

  Was he aware that their stance mimicked that of the animals?

  Grunts and yowls filled the night, both near and distant. Apparently this was not the only carnivore couple locked in the throes of passion at the moment. The erotic ritual went on and on until Charity thought she'd faint from the anticipation of coitus. She'd never bothered to observe lower animals having sex before, but this time she'd couldn't tear her eyes away.

  As she watched, Charity found herself aroused by the spectacle. The female carnivore's eyes were closed and her thick tail flicked back and forth. Her posture was one of complete submission to the male. He pumped away, each thrust ending in a deep sound of satisfaction. The rhythm of his movements was quick and relentless and, unbidden, Charity's hips began to move in time. She bumped against A'Kosu's groin once, twice, and there was no mistaking the iron-hard bulge of his cock.

  The sight aroused him, too.

  "It's mating season.” Her voice was breathy and her vision seemed to have blurred. Behind her, the Antarean's breath was hot and ragged against her ear.

  One of his hands slid down her arm and wrapped around her waist, drawing her tightly back against him. She gasped at the intrusion of his erection against her back and her clit tingled at the image of the two of them in the same position as the carnivores.

  In that moment Charity wanted him inside her. She wanted to be on her knees in front of him, open to him while he mounted her with the same undeniable dominance that his counterpart displayed.

  All coherent thought fled and she could think of nothing but offering herself to him. She pressed backward and let her head fall against his chest. “Oh, Goddess, do it, A'Kosu. Fuck me, please!"

  * * * *

  Kol's body wanted to obey the female's command, but his mind rebelled. She was a prisoner, enticing and more than willing, but a prisoner nevertheless. His cock protested painfully when he drew himself away from her. He wanted nothing more than to accept her invitation and push her to her knees on the deck.

  Where her firm backside had been pressed against him a minute ago, his flesh burned, and the memory of his erotic vision clouded his mind's eye. He'd seen himself fucking her, had practically felt the intoxicating heat of her sex enveloping his cock. His visions had never been wrong before.

  She stood before him, dark lashes lowered over her tawny eyes, her hips thrust forward. “I need it,” she said. “I need it right now."

  He needed it, too. He felt it beneath his skin, the relentless desire crawling around, making him ache to tear his clothes off and hers as well. Each moment took him further away from reason and closer to destruction. If he gave in, he'd be lost.

  He turned away and gripped the back of the nearest flight chair so hard that his nails indented the material. “You'll do anything to escape, won't you?"

  The stunner he'd given her clattered to the floor, and he cursed silently for forgetting to disarm her before turning his back.

  "Leave the cuffs on then,” she purred the words, but there was a desperate edge to her voice that mirrored the emotion roiling in his gut. “Tie me up again before you do it, just do it!"

  The heat of her body warmed his back. She stood behind him now, close enough that if he turned around he'd knock her over.

  "I want you."

  What man could be expected to resist this? Antarean's prided themselves on their stoicism, their strength of character, but under all the posturing, they were after all still mostly human.

  Kol took another deep breath, which did little to calm his lust. In fact, the breath of humid night air, laced with the ever-present scent of the infernal pollen, ignited something primal in him beyond his control.

  He had her in his arms in an instant. She gasped when he pushed her bound hands above her head with one hand and thrust his other into the waistband of her flight pants. “Do you know what you're asking me?"

  She nodded between shuddering breaths and spread her legs for him.

  Blinded by carnal thoughts, Kol accepted her invitation. In two steps he had her up against the nearest bulkhead, her bound hands draped around his neck to steady her. Ravenous, he pushed her
flight pants down over her hips and together they struggled to get the mud-spattered material free of her long, slender legs. When she was naked from the waist down, he shoved her shirt up, exposing her taut-nippled breasts to his inspection.

  Her moan of pleasure when he closed his hungry hands over the mounds of flesh drove him mad. He had no time for the games of love making, the gentle play or the tender kisses. He squeezed her nipples between rough fingers, pinching tender flesh while he ground his hips against her.

  She arched back, eyes closed, and bit her lower lip.

  "You like that?” he asked, not really caring what answer she gave. She merely nodded and hung from him, panting, while he shed his own pants.

  "Spread wider,” he commanded when he'd freed his cock. Just like his vision, the rigid flesh lay dark against his palm, thick and hot. The scent of her arousal beckoned and he guided himself toward her.

  "Fuck me, come on!” she urged him, and had her legs wrapped around his waist a second later. He found her entrance, small and tight, and nudged it with the tip of his erection. The force of his desire made his knees weak and he needed better leverage.

  "No, I want you on the floor, beneath me, like the cats. Get down."

  She nodded again, eager to obey. Her readiness only spurred his desire to have her in any and every way. He ducked to allow her to unhook her hands from his neck and helped lower her to the floor where she knelt, her arms bent, legs wide in a position of supplication that mimicked that of the female carnivore.

  Kol mounted her without thought, placing his cock between the fulminate lips of her sex. He grabbed her hips and pulled her back against him, sliding deep into her tight channel with a final groan. “Is this what you wanted?"

  * * * *

  Charity fought to control her breath. The Antarean's cock was huge and the pleasure/pain of his penetration brought tears to her eyes. She wanted this, she loved it, and she didn't know why.

  The urge to ram herself against him, to feel the rigid intrusion of his sex sliding in and out of her, was overwhelming. Rather than answer him, she bucked, raising her hips even higher to afford him better access. “Goddess! Harder!"

  He started moving, fast and relentless, kneading the flesh of her ass while he guided her up and down his cock. She pushed back harder with each thrust, desperate for his release and her own. She wanted to feel him come in her and to pull his very essence deep inside.

  Each ragged breath drew the musky scent of pollen and Antarean sweat deep into her lungs, forcing her arousal to the breaking point. Beneath her trembling hands the deck covering was rough and gritty, yet to Charity it became an erotic abrasion of her knees and her palms. The slap of his heavy testicles arrowed through her sex like a rhythmic electric shock. Each deep thrust weakened her, until she bent her arms and dropped her forehead to rest on the backs of her hands. She couldn't last, couldn't fight it any longer.

  Her orgasm hit hard, nearly flattening her against the deck. The wave of sensation shook her, forcing near-excruciating contractions of her inner muscles around the enormous width of his cock. She moaned with each pulse of it, afraid she might break inside from the conflicting pressure, her inner walls squeezing his flesh deeper, and his thickened shaft pushing outward, spreading her beyond her limits.

  She cried out with the force of the final pulse within her and shifted to cradle her head in her hands. “Oh, Goddess, that was magnificent.” She wanted to laugh, to sigh, to collapse.

  Behind her, between grunts of exertion, A'Kosu said, “I'm not finished with you yet."

  * * * *

  Her climax had nearly finished him. Nearly. One of the Antarean techniques he'd learned just after reaching adolescence was the ability to control his own sexual release. He'd been taught never to allow himself to come until his partner had. Not that Antarean sexual etiquette mattered in this instance, but it had become instinct to hold himself back and pleasure a female companion first.

  He'd felt her tremble with her release, smelled the dramatic increase in human pheromones when her juices coated his cock, easing his way even deeper into her body. Magnificent was right.

  Now, weak from her release, she seemed barely able to hold herself up. If he continued to pump, he'd injure her. When he pulled out of her, she moaned and her body shuddered.

  Unable to make his addled brain form words, he merely guided her body flat to the deck and rolled her over. Her head lolled and she peered at him through half closed lids as she raised her hands above her head.

  The movement thrust her breasts upward and the image alone made Kol's cock pulse for more. He pushed her knees apart wide and lowered himself between them. His vision came to pass when he entered her again and braced himself on the deck to finish the job his body had commanded him to start.

  Three long thrusts it took to bring him back to the edge. Each time he seated himself, a sharp gasp of pleasure escaped her lips. One more time and he'd be there, ready to empty himself into her willing body.

  Deep in his balls his orgasm gathered, like a storm. His blood thundered in his ears and his hands closed reflexively around her waist.

  The vision hit him as he drove himself into her that final time. She cried out with the force of it and her sex clenched around him again, a second climax for her and something amazing for him.

  Kol saw the distant future when he came.

  He stood in the Great House, the seat of power for his tribe on Antares. The woman knelt at his feet, her head bowed. The tribal elders had gathered, and in his hands the most powerful of them placed a leather strap.

  "Break the bond you share with her, Kol A'Kosu, or forfeit your place in the lineage of your tribe."

  Kol smelled the oily scent of the leather and heard the rustling of bodies and the whispered speculation from those assembled, but he didn't hesitate. Only the pain of betrayal could break an Antarean mating bond, and if he wanted a place in his world, he had one task.

  He aimed at the female's naked back and the leather whip cracked through the air with the first lash against her flesh.

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  CHAPTER 5

  Charity swam back to consciousness after dozing briefly in A'Kosu's arms. Cradled against his broad chest, her hands still bound by the cuffs, she felt strangely safe and completely sated. At least until the feral roar from beyond the shuttle's hatch broke the lazy, languid spell that held them.

  He sat up fast, removing the comforting heat of his body, and Charity shivered. “Are they still out there?"

  "The sound is receding. Maybe they've forgotten about us.” He crouched on powerful thighs and moved toward the opening. Still unable to force herself upright, Charity rolled onto her side to watch him, tucking her fists under her head for support.

  "I certainly forgot about them for a while."

  He didn't respond. His attention seemed focused on the scene outside for a little longer than it should have taken to reconnoiter. “There's nothing out there. They've gone."

  "I guess they weren't hungry after all."

  Now he swung his upper body around and glanced at her. For a moment his eyes lit with lust. The weight of his gaze caused a heaviness in her belly and her breasts and all the spots that still tingled from his demanding touch.

  He'd been as good as she imagined. Not a gentle lover, but Goddess knew a thorough one. Her clit still pulsed from that last orgasm, and had she been standing when he fixed her in his sensual gaze, her knees probably would have buckled.

  "Now they know where to find us, though. I'm sure they'll be back when it's time to eat."

  She nodded. “That could be a problem."

  "We'll have to pack our supplies and move off to a place that's more defensible. The adults might not fit through the hatchway, but an adolescent might. We won't be safe."

  Charity moaned. “I'm too tired to move right now."

  His eyes held no sympathy. “Your other option is to be eaten."

  She blew out an exasperated brea
th and rolled to her feet. The spell was definitely broken and as they both pulled their clothes back on and her body cooled from the heat of his touch, she wondered what had come over her.

  She'd never felt such an overwhelming desire to copulate before. She'd been in love and in lust a number of disastrous times in her life and she certainly enjoyed a good romp for its own sake now and then, but this had been beyond description. She was certain she'd have died if he hadn't given her exactly what she demanded and now that he had, she felt ... complete in a way she never had before.

  She shivered with the thought that neither of them may have been in control of their impulses. It certainly wasn't something she'd planned on, and by the look in his eyes when he'd finally torn her clothes off and taken her, he hadn't either.

  "Well ... I don't want you to get the wrong impression here,” she said between sliding on one boot and the other. “I didn't seduce you in order to convince you to let me go."

  Proving her words held weight, he crossed the shuttle and disengaged the laser cuffs.

  "But if you have decided to do so based on that little interlude, that's fine with me."

  He seemed unaffected by her hopeful grin. “I'm not releasing you. You'll need both hands free to carry supplies."

  "Of course. But let's just say I did seduce you in an attempt to get you to let me go, would it have worked?” She raised a brow and he scowled in response.

  "No. I don't allow myself to be seduced."

  Charity laughed. “Then what do call that?” She pointed to the damp spot that darkened the deck covering. Her stomach muscles clenched at the memory of him using her so well, and she had to sit down and squeeze her knees together to calm the sudden pulsing in her clit.

  "I call that a physiological response to the environment. Obviously this is mating season for higher mammals on Lebron. We are higher mammals and therefore very likely subject to whatever chemical conditions are at work on the other creatures."

  Charity squinted at his big silhouette. “Chemical conditions?"

  "On a number of worlds weather conditions dictate population expansion. A deluge such as the one we experienced yesterday will likely trigger a wellspring of new growth. Young animals, conceived now, will benefit from the effects on the environment."