His back was swathed in bandages so he couldn’t see what damage the Reptile had done. Whatever it was, he was grateful that he was alive and could still finish this mission.
A day ago he would have welcomed the oblivion of what Reptile venom would have brought him, had prayed for it, but now… now he’d found a reason to live and he couldn’t have it.
He realised he was nude and recalled his shredded suit. Some clothing had been left on a chair and he quickly put on the pants and shirt. The material was light and cool, perfect for the balmy temperature.
Still a little lightheaded, he padded through the doorway and into a short corridor. The night sky was visible through another open doorway. He followed the corridor and went out into the night to find himself in a village.
Simple sandstone huts were dotted here and there, in no apparent order. The ground between huts was well worn. Warm light filtered from small, rectangular open windows. Murmurs from inside the huts told him that some were occupied.
By the people that had been woken from their mind-enslavement.
By Marie.
He vaguely remembered Seriat coming into the room with a child. Her daughter? And the doctor who had done the impossible and treated him back to health from Reptile venom. It seemed this planet was full of surprises. He still had the energy spike to track information of the human females wherever they might be. What Marie had done—akin to the human females, Lauren and Vivien—was nothing short of a miracle. That there was a telepathic technique to end mind-enslavement was something the Starlight and the Interspecies Council had to be informed about immediately.
There were three people with whom he needed to speak. The two moons shone a silvery path, making it easy to make his way between the huts. He made his way towards the murmuring of voices down a short path to see Seriat and Marie. Marie’s platinum hair glowed in the moonlight. It highlighted her profile, her delicate nose, full lips, slender neck. His blood heated and his hands twitched with the need to touch her. Kiss her. Taste her. He barely managed to hold himself back.
“Do you think everyone is ready?” Seriat asked.
“It was good practise today, but what I’m asking for needs a lot of concentration. It takes time to develop these skills,” Marie said. He wondered what skills she was speaking about.
“We have to try. We have to do it,” Seriat’s urgent voice cracked, leaving Alastor wondering what it was they had done while he was incapacitated.
“You will. I’ll ask Black Feather to help us. He has helped me all his life and he will help us now.” Marie’s soothing tones seemed to relax Seriat.
“I hope this Black Feather will help,” Seriat said.
“He will… if I can talk to him.”
“Where is this Black Feather?” Seriat asked.
“He’s usually close by, but most people can’t see him. I meet him in the in-between. Maybe when you meditate deeply enough, you’ll be able to see him too,” Marie said.
“When I meditated this afternoon… I saw colours,” Seriat said.
Marie took Seriat’s hand. “You did?” The excitement was evident in her voice.
“Yes. Pink threads. They wove around you, and also Alastor,” Seriat said. “But I felt so sad.”
Marie’s shoulders sagged. Alastor melted back into the shadows, his attention riveted on the women. His heart pounded in his chest as heat prickled his skin and he concentrated on what Marie would say.
“Sometimes you pick up on others’ feelings when you meditate, but it’s getting late and you must be tired. I’ll see you in the morning for some more lessons.”
“But why did I see that colour? What does that mean?” Seriat asked.
Marie paused for just a moment, but he knew enough about her to know that she hesitated. He was immediately intrigued. Marie cleared her throat. “Pink is the colour of… affection. Seeing it is normally a good thing, but with Alastor.” Marie sighed, and the sound washed through him like a cold winter rain. “With Alastor, I think it means his aura is starving for love, but he is unable to allow himself to feel it.”
A sharp pain speared his heart. He smoothed his hand over his chest, but there was no wound.
“That is… sad,” Seriat said.
Marie nodded. “It’s very sad, Seriat. People feel like that for so many reasons. Sadness is one of the hardest emotions to overcome for so many reasons, but we will talk more tomorrow. I’ll try something different and we’ll work harder to free your friends,” Marie said.
“Sometimes I don’t think people ever stop being sad for one reason or another,” Seriat said.
“It’s okay to be sad, but you also have to let the other emotions in as well. It’s not good to be one way all the time. I’ve seen people so sad that they think it’s a penance for a mistake. They have to realise that life makes us feel everything and if you shut yourself off, you’re only hurting yourself,” Marie said.
“That is true. Thank you, Marie. I shall see you tomorrow.” Seriat picked up the child, hugged her tightly and disappeared into one of the huts. Marie wandered off between some huts.
Alastor stepped out into the moonlight, compelled to see where Marie was. Starving for love? Something inside stopping it? His chest ached even more as he mulled over her words.
If only it was that easy. He’d let other emotions in, but they didn’t serve him at all, only made him realise what he could never have. They were at war. If something happened to Marie, he couldn’t go through losing someone else close to him. Nor would he wish that on another person if anything developed between them. The pain was just too much. Surely she would have to see that.
He made his way through shadowed trees. There was a splash, and the strands of Marie’s platinum hair disappeared beneath the dark surface of an oasis.
He bolted towards the water and dived in, hands streaming in front of him. He found her soft, warm form not far underwater. His fingers firmed on heated flesh as he kicked to the surface. He broke through, gulping in a lungful of air. He slung an arm around her waist, pressed her body to his and swiped her hair from her face. Her soft and pliable body flattened against his.
Naked.
Luminous eyes peered at him, open wide. Plump droplets of water decorated her lashes. Her skin was washed blue in the moonlight, deepening shadows and highlighting the line of her jaw and her delicate cheekbones. Her lush lips fell open. Asking. Begging.
“She wants you. Don’t miss your chance.” The whisper of a feminine voice washed through the turmoil of his mind before slipping through his ability to stop himself. A feeling of rightness seared through him. He couldn’t deny his attraction any longer. The usual arguments about why he shouldn’t kiss Marie didn’t even sound in his mind. All he was aware of was the urge to hold her, kiss her, take her. It was overwhelming. His mind scattered, leaving only the crushing need to act on his desire. It flared, red-hot and irrepressible. Temptation was undeniable.
“Alastor? What are you doing?” Her voice was breathy.
What was he doing, indeed? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to think about it. He bent his head and claimed her mouth. His tongue swept in, penetrating her sweet, heated cavity before withdrawing and diving in again. He devoured her mouth, staking, claiming as he drank from her with a thirst that would never end.
His arm snaked around her waist, his fingers splayed at the back of her head, locking her against him. Silken skin crushed against the hard planes of his body, but still it wasn’t enough.
He positioned her so that her chest was bared to him before caressing a tender breast in his hand. The hard nub of her nipple centred in his palm. He massaged her flesh, running the heel of his palm over her nipple before circling the areola with his finger. He was rewarded when her body melted and a soft groan vibrated from her chest.
Holding her like this wasn’t enough.
He wanted more. Much more.
Sliding his hand over her wet skin, he cupped her rounded backside. He squeezed one
plump globe, his fingers sliding between her cheeks to rest in her cleft. She bucked as the tip of his longest finger drifted over her sensitive back hole, before passing over it. He used his body to hold her still, the power of his muscles no match for her much smaller, softer body, clenching her thigh to hold her where he wanted her.
“Alastor…”
A groan rippled through him when her small hands wound around his neck. She pressed her breasts into his chest, rubbing her hard nipples over his skin.
“Can’t keep my hands off you.” His shaft hardened, tightening in his pants and prodding into her hip. He bucked as a jolt ripped through his body, and pure energy zipped from his cockhead to every cell in his skin.
He lifted her, bending and latching onto her breast. He feasted, sucking on the tender tissue, laving his tongue around and over her nipple. He caught the hard nub between his teeth, biting gently before sucking on it.
“So perfect. So beautiful.”
Her back arched as a breathless sigh fell from her lips. She pushed her breasts into his face. Her head tilted back, exposing the elegant curve of her neck. He kissed his way back up, alternating between sucking and licking her exposed skin to claim her mouth again.
He moved the hand cupping her buttocks, sliding his thumb through the slick folds of her slit. Wet warmth coated his thumb as he slid it up and back, through her folds. He rested the pad of his thumb against the bundle of nerves at the top of her slit and pressed.
She shrieked into his mouth. He swallowed the sound, eating it up as he did her wet heat, her flavour, her silken skin. He slid his fingers along her wet, welcoming slit, stopping at her entrance.
Her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling on the strands until it stung. It only served to heighten every sense rioting around his body. He slid his finger inside her. Her muscles clenched around it. Her body jolted. Her head fell back, and her lips opened as a long groan eased from her mouth.
Her brow knotted, tension riding her face. So expressive. So beautiful. She bucked her hips, riding his hand.
“That’s it, beautiful. Take what you need.” He pressed his lips to her neck. Her heartbeat pounded beneath his touch as he worked her.
His hips jerked. He thrust his rigid shaft against her hip, groaning with the sensation as wet material rubbed against his turgid cock. He pressed her tightly against him, increasing the friction. The intensity.
He eased a second digit inside, stretching her and ground down on her clit with the heel of his hand. She panted and her body tensed. He hooked his fingers, sliding the blunt tips against the bundle of tender nerves inside her.
She bucked. Gasped. Threw her head back. “Oh my God!”
Her body seized, internal muscles squeezing as tremors wracked through her. He jerked his hips, thrusting between them. A glorious burst of sensation ripped from his shaft. Tension released with supernova power. A rugged groan he barely recognised as his own came from deep within his chest as he orgasmed hard enough for him to see stars behind closed lids.
His seed erupted, coating the inside of his pants. He tensed as another string erupted from him. And another. He panted, body straining as the tension eased and he came back to his swimming senses.
Marie stared at him with glazed eyes, her heavy lids drooping. Her hand fell from behind his neck to flatten on his chest, over his thudding heart. She looked ethereal, her skin coated in silver moonlight, the water gently lapping over her flawless skin. Her chest expanded with each breath, making her breasts quiver. Her nipples pebbled in the cool air, their natural dusky pink colour turned a bluer hue in the moonlight. Her legs were slightly parted, his fingers still buried inside her.
There was a celestial quality about her. Something surreal. Not just because of her physical form, but because her soul glowed from within. She had abilities no one he knew possessed. The ability to link visible worlds to unseen worlds. Dimensions to the afterlife.
She was precious. Otherworldly. Unique. The feeling of rightness couldn’t be denied.
The sense of pure ownership almost made him stagger. She was laid out and bared for his eyes only, a feast for him. Only him.
She blinked, her pupils so dilated that they almost bled the violet out. Her gaze focussed. Sharpened. The hand on his chest stiffened, as did her whole body. She sucked in a quick breath, jerked and kicked her legs. He was forced to take his fingers out from her warmth and loosen his grip.
“You said you didn’t want me.”
But his mind was at war with his instincts and he couldn’t make sense of it. “Marie, I…”
“You can’t keep doing this to me.”
She pushed away from him, leaving him bereft. She stood, sidled out of arm’s reach of him, breathing hard. Water lapped at her shoulders as a fine tremor worked through her body. She crossed her arms over her breasts, gaze darting wildly about before she turned her flushed face to his.
He fought an instinctual urge to enclose her in his arms again, knowing she would be safe there. Instead he kept his distance, knowing she could startle if he reached for her.
Her mouth opened, closed. Opened again as she collected her thoughts, her expression stricken and wild. He’d acted on pure instinct, but despite telling her that nothing could happen between them, he’d been unable to fight the urge. He hadn’t taken the time to stop himself, and the truth of the matter was, he didn’t want to.
The rationale, the self-arguments that had defined him all these past years seemed… irrelevant.
Marie wanted him in return. No woman responded like she did, unless they shared an attraction. She turned away from his kiss as much as he had. But all that was behind them now.
His sadness wouldn’t call out to her again. “I’m… so sorry. Will you forgive me?”
He waited, poised on the edge for her next words. The words that would have her back in his arms. Where she belonged. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. His body tightened in response just before she went rigid, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell backwards into the water.
Chapter Eighteen
Darkness enveloped her. A dank, rotting smell invaded her senses and stung her nostrils. An all-pervading sense of evil and doom descended on her, making her knees weak.
“Alastor? Hello?” Her voice was dampened, seemingly sucked right out of the air.
She’d been about to give him a piece of her mind—that was, when she had come back to after the mind-blowing orgasm he’d given her with the touch of his very clever fingers—but suddenly she was here.
Wherever here was.
It seemed like the in-between, but it was all wrong. More like a black, impenetrable pit. Completely empty and utterly terrifying.
“Is anyone here? Help!”
An arctic breeze whipped about her, tossing her hair into her face. The black gave way to dark grey. Patches of lighter clouds showed in the gloom. Something approached her with the force of a nuclear bomb. She stood rooted to the spot, never so terrified in her life.
“Marie!”
Twin peaks of light split the darkness. Two figures came forward while a host of pinpricks dotted behind them, keeping their distance.
“Black Feather!” Marie bolted to her dearest friend, latching onto him with trembling limbs. Strong arms wrapped around her, holding her tight against the quickening breeze. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling and calling, and you haven’t answered.”
“We need your help, little bird. The entity is getting stronger. We need to call on your help to protect your dimension from it,” Black Feather said.
She looked up into his warm, brown gaze. Lines she’d never seen before were etched around his mouth and eyes. If this was too strong for Black Feather, how on earth would she be able to help?
“You are stronger than you think, Marie.” The woman next to Black Feather spoke. Blonde hair stirred in an unfelt breeze, the thick locks hanging to her waist. She’d met Lyria before, and Alastor had called her Lady Lyria.
�
�Am I?” Marie said.
Lyria smiled a gentle smile before turning her attention back to the all-pervading blackness. She held her hands out and a blast of air burst from her palms. “Indeed, but we need you to prepare for battle. We wouldn’t ask unless it was our last resort.”
Marie took a steeling breath. Black Feather and Lyria held the darkness at bay, but she still felt coldness press in on her. It was like the fog, when she’d put her hands into it, only now it was everywhere. Evil. A total destructive force. If it got through the barrier, there was no telling what would be unleashed. The Reptiles were bad enough, but they were nothing like the master they served.
“There’s more, Marie. The entity is using the souls of a hundred women on this planet to create a portal,” Black Feather said.
“Oh my God. The women.” Marie held a trembling hand to her mouth. “Where are they? What can we do?”
“We’ve done all we can from the in-between, but we need you to release them, Marie. We and the others can hold it off for a little while more, but it is becoming stronger. The portal has to be stopped on your side of the veil,” Lyria said.
“But… what if I can’t? What if I’m not strong enough?” She had made mistakes before. That day was ineligibly etched in her mind. In fact, it had scarred her soul. Black Feather, of all people, knew about that.
“You are not alone. We are fighting from this side,” Black Feather said. “But you have to hurry. You know what to do, but time is of the essence. You will have to go to the women immediately.”
“I don’t know where they are,” Marie said.
“They are at the pyramid where the Starlight detected the energy spike. You will find them within. Remember, I am always here you for, my daughter.” Black Feather pressed his palm to her forehead, and she fell backwards through darkness. Her world tilted and she jolted back into her body. She cracked open her eyes to see Alastor above her, a look of relief crossing his face.
Alastor: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (A Hexonian Alien Romance Book 3) Page 11
