by Lucas, Naomi
She exhaled as the heat of his body burned across her flesh.
When he was fully seated between her legs, she sagged onto the bed. She’d been holding her body so tensely, her muscles quivered.
He held still. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
His eyes closed and the light vanished. Hysterian gathered her hands and placed them back above her head. He held them there as he began to move.
Slow at first, he rocked into her, each movement careful, like she was breakable. It was driving her mad. But then he’d push deep inside her again, bottoming out, giving her a dose of pain. She gasped when he pushed too far.
It would never be enough.
“More,” she begged when he pulled out completely.
He paused and thrust back in, looking between their bodies.
“More,” she urged.
He drove into her harder, giving her what she wanted.
She strained from the impact. A raspy chuckle joined his next thrust, pushing her body up the bed. His fingers threaded hers on his next impale.
The bed shook, and her whimpers built. The ache of penetration vanished each time they came together. Body feverish, pleasure shot up Alexa’s spine, and she held onto it, suddenly not wanting the pain to return.
She stared at Hysterian, awed by the pleasure. Pleasure he was giving her. Gone from desperation to bliss within moments, Alexa clenched.
Hysterian curled over her, bending to jerk his hips quicker, harder, faster. She wrenched her eyes closed.
He groaned her name again. Alexa. He knew who she was. Tears threatened to spring from her eyes. He ruined her mentally and physically. She knotted up, squeezing around him with each forceful thrust.
She gasped, trying to catch her breath. Sweat slickened her body, feverish from the heat. His warmth was making her light-headed.
“My little virgin no more,” he purred, lifting off her again and hitting her sweet spot with his hard tip. His body trembled and he plunged forward. He stopped and jerked his hips in frenetic succession.
She screamed. Her body seized. She thrashed, unable to cope with the sensations taking over her. Her orgasm ripped, her joints simultaneously locking and giving way.
He rolled his hips.
Another scream burst forth; another ripple of pleasure surged through her.
The heat—Alexa gasped, losing her mind, fighting his hold on her hands. The heat was too much.
“Hysterian!” she cried, tearing her hands from his, dropping her legs from around him mid-orgasm.
He released her, but instead of allowing her to leave, his arms came around her back, lifting her body to straddle him, forcing her to sink down on the entirety of his length. She squirmed and clenched. Her core pulsed with devastating pleasure, and she buckled. Alexa pushed at his chest, trying hard not to faint.
“Hysterian, please,” she rasped.
His hands dropped away from her. “What’s wrong?”
She tore off him, rushing to the bathroom. She shut the door and she sank to the ground. Her vision wavered.
“Alexa, what’s wrong?” Hysterian demanded, his voice muffled but clear through the door.
The panel slid open.
She put her hands on it, keeping it from fully opening. “Nothing,” she wheezed. “I just need,” she gasped again, “to use the bathroom.”
He released the door and she shoved it closed, her sex pulsing wildly the entire time. Her thighs slipped against each other as she moved.
“I know a lie when I fucking hear one, Dear,” he warned. “You and I are going to have a nice long talk when you’re done, Alexa.”
Without responding, she crawled to the shower and turned the water on. She was focused on one thing, and one thing only: cooling down before she fainted.
She couldn’t be taken to medical.
She didn’t want to die.
With the last of her strength, Alexa entered the unit and curled up on the stall floor. The shock of cold water was heaven on her flesh. Growing accustomed to the light, she lapped at the water pooling on the floor, hydrating herself like an animal. When her head cleared, she ran her fingers over the flushed skin of her arms.
Even under freezing water, it took much longer than necessary for her to cool off, but she wasn’t willing to leave until the redness from her skin was gone. She’d already risked enough.
Does he still smell my blood?
Alexa pushed to her feet. She brushed out her hair with her fingers. Glancing around the stall, she discovered it devoid of any toiletries. Not even soap.
She spread her legs and peered down, feeling her sex. The only burn that remained was the one between her thighs. The blood was gone. She rinsed her hand and pressed her palm to the stall door and opened it.
Finding the bathroom empty, Alexa released a relieved sigh. Hysterian hadn’t snuck in while she was focused elsewhere.
“Alexa,” his voice rumbled from outside the bathroom. “You’re making me worry. Don’t make me worry. I don’t fucking like worrying.”
She was nervous to face him, but she couldn’t stay. She’d already been in his bathroom for much longer than she could easily explain away, shower included.
“I’m,” she paused, “coming.” Alexa flinched, knowing how that sounded.
She found a towel and dried herself, soon realizing she didn’t have any clothes. Now that she had time to calm down, the last person she wanted to face was Hysterian—especially naked.
She scrubbed her face. Exhaustion hit her hard, and she wondered what time it was.
She padded to Hysterian’s folded suit. A top of his suit was a pair of her underwear. She paused, uncertain how they got there or why they were there at all. He’d moved her things into his room. Had he…left them in here for her?
She snatched the underwear, checked if they were clean, and tugged them once she confirmed they were. Of all the strange occurrences lately, she didn’t question it. He could have stolen them. Even if he had, it wouldn’t have changed anything.
She wrapped her towel around her body and headed for the door, pausing once more.
Why was she so nervous to face him? He’d just taken her virginity, he’d just touched her in her most private area, and she’d given herself to him knowing all that he’d done.
I let him see a side of me no one else ever has. That was significant, wasn’t it? He hadn’t commented on her scars. The one’s hidden on her thighs where she used to cut.
He was the same man—Cyborg—as he was before. Just because they fucked didn’t mean he would be different. He was still her captain and her enemy. Though killing him now seemed like it would be much easier and harder. Easier because he wanted her.
And harder for the same reason.
Alexa couldn’t imagine her life without him in it. She used to fantasize about it all the time. If she killed him, she knew she’d miss him.
The bathroom door slid open. Hysterian was gripping the side paneling of the doorway on the other side, his gaze dark, his face and body once again hidden behind a fresh uniform. The black bodysuit was gone. He looked unhappy. His eyes trailed down her body and back up. She held the towel tighter to her, incredibly aware of him and how handsome and fiendish he looked.
“It’s time for the truth.” He pushed off the wall.
Eighteen
Heaven.
The word streaked through his mind. That’s what it felt like being inside Alexa. It was heaven.
Which was a fucking problem since he was destined for hell.
He forced himself to calm.
He hoped she was telling him the truth but he knew that even if she was, there was a problem. He knew something was wrong. Trauma from the past? Abuse? The way she reacted to him now and again suggested it. Like she was waiting for him to hurt her, hit her. He was sick of it, and he hated secrets.
Even if they had nothing to do with him.
Alexa wasn’t allowed to have secrets anymore.
I took her fucking virginity.
Hysterian pushed off the door and stormed to his bed with its rumpled bedding. It was wetter than it should be. Wet from perspiration. He knew he ran hot—all Cyborgs did—because of the hardware and metal within him. It was why, even when he was in a cold environment, he never fully found relief from the poison in his veins.
He scanned the blankets.
The bedding wasn’t just merely wet, it was soaked. He turned the lights on and searched for what might have poisoned her—if he even had. He cursed, rubbed his jaw.
He’d been so careful. The suit was the same quality other Cyborgs shifted in. It molded to his frame, expanded and contracted, and kept his skin temperate. He had many uniforms in nanocloth, but nothing that fully sealed him off. He was lucky the textile shop on Libra had any extra cloth at all.
There wasn’t much time for him to help her, especially if she’d gotten some of his toxin on her skin.
If he’d been a normal fucking dart frog, a simple antidote would help, as it had for Raul. But he was a cybernetic war machine with intelligent toxins.
A little could kill many…if he configured his toxins to change in potency. Luckily, that didn’t happen unless he concentrated. If he’d poisoned Alexa, it would be the same thing he’d given Raul.
It was the last toxin he had his systems create.
‘I shouldn’t want a monster like you.’ He recalled her tears, the way her voice slipped when she had said it. The way she’d hit him, and he let her because he knew deep down, she’d needed to hit him. He’d thought she was struggling with unfounded guilt about what was between them…
He saw a spot of blood on the bedding, and his jaw tensed. Yanking down the suit from his head, he grabbed the blanket, brought it up to his mouth, and licked the blood. No poison. There was nothing but salt and sweat, and Alexa’s arousal.
The taste bloomed.
She tasted better than she smelled. So sweet it was wrong. No man or Cyborg would be able to resist it. He’d never tasted something so delicious. He’d told her the truth when he had his face between her thighs—he’d kill everyone on Libra just for one fucking lick of her.
It never occurred to him that Alexa could be a virgin. He wasn’t worthy to be the ground she walked upon, or the air she breathed. He’d never wanted anything to do with virgins, but now that he had been given the honor—Hysterian rubbed his mouth—his fantasies shifted.
I tried to be gentle…
He was a fucking monster, no doubt about that.
Hysterian licked the bedding once more, needing another taste of her. He wanted to remember it, even after tonight. He wanted the memory front and center in his hard drives so he could enjoy them whenever he wanted. His hand wrapped around his cock.
She didn’t want gentle. He palmed himself, hating the covering gripping him, listening to Alexa move in his bathroom.
Even her blood smells sweet. He paused, tasting it once more. Human blood isn’t sweet.
Is she sick?
Hysterian seeded into his ship and programmed the cleaning bots to come in and take care of the bed. He threw the sheets against the wall with his clothes. Within moments, bots entered his room and cleaned up the mess.
He strode to the bathroom when the shower turned on, intent to join her and demand answers. Because now that he thought about it, she had perspired a great deal, and she hadn’t even been that warm… He had tried to warm her up when he had her naked beneath him.
She has to be sick.
Concern punched him in the gut. His hands fisted. He stormed out of his room and made his way to the gym’s shower. He stripped out of the suit and tossed it aside, stepping into the water. It was freezing.
He washed quickly and was back inside his quarters a handful of minutes later.
Alexa was still in the shower.
He waited, his worry escalating.
He hadn’t been gentle enough. Hysterian paced. Alexa wasn’t some Elyrian whore who knew how to handle clientele and their unique needs. She was an average woman—for some devil’s unknown reason—who wanted to work for a glorified delivery service. Their paths wouldn’t have ever crossed otherwise.
He realized how little he actually knew about her. It wasn’t like him to not know everything about a person he was fixated on. Though, it was their fears he usually looked for. Alexa’s recruitment paperwork had all the basic information, but the rest?
The details were missing.
Why had she fought him so hard in the lounge? Her eyes had been glazed and she had dissociated. He recalled now how she seemed to relish the idea of taking a risk. How one moment she would be fighting him, only to suddenly give in and clutch him instead.
Who the fuck hurt her?
Hysterian scowled at the bathroom door.
He was going to fucking find out. She’s from Elyria. Daniels had been from Elyria too, and Hysterian had thought nothing of it at first. It was odd, having three crew members out of the original five being from Elyria. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
The odds were miniscule. The EPED was stationed on Earth.
He needed to start on Elyria. Hysterian re-entered the Questor’s systems, and connected to the network. Within moments, he double-checked Alexa’s files and verified she was from Elyria.
But hacking into secure systems wasn’t his forte, and Hysterian loathed the idea of asking Nightheart or even Cypher for anything.
Hysterian cursed again and shot Raphael an encrypted comm. His old boss would know where to dig up information on someone from his home planet. Raphael was one of the most powerful men on Elyria. Corrupt, murderous, and psychopathic, Hysterian understood Raphael better than other Cyborgs.
Raphael never hid his nature…from anyone.
He would get Hysterian the info. Hysterian was willing to pay Raphael’s price. However steep it was.
I just need to be patient.
His fingers twitched.
The minutes bled into each other as he glared at the bathroom door. The water kept falling, and his audio blasted the noise through his head.
When the shower finally turned off, he was at the door and gripping the sides, keeping himself from barging in.
Be gentle.
His scowl deepened.
He heard Alexa approach on the other side of the door, but she stopped. The door remained closed.
Be gentle, he reminded himself again.
His tongue snapped out to lick the inside of his suit. The door remained closed and his body pressurized furiously. His glands threatened to open.
Right when he was on the brink of secreting, he shot electricity into the door and forced it open.
Alexa, wet, flushed, with dripping hair, was directly on the other side. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and he pushed off the frame before he lost his mind with frustration.
What he wouldn’t give to have been a fly on the wall as she showered.
“Time for the truth,” he growled, pivoting before he caught her up in his arms. He didn’t trust his strength right now. She followed him into the room, and he shut and locked the bathroom door so she couldn’t hide from him again. He sat on the bed and faced her, resting his elbows on his knees.
She stood in the middle of the room, hugging her body tightly. Naked under her towel.
Hysterian palmed his mouth. This was not how he saw this night going. He wanted to remain the scum he was, pull her to him, and tear off her towel so he could see her body again. Covet it because just having her here was incredibly precious.
But he couldn’t be that man with her right now. Maybe ever.
He pinned her with his eyes.
“First off, you can get dressed if you like,” he said, handing over her clothes.
She took them with one arm, while the other stayed over her chest. “Thank you.”
She turned for the bathroom.
“Stop,” he ordered. “You can dress right here.”
She turned back toward him, the hesitation
in her expression growing hard. “In front of you?”
“I don’t want you hiding from me anymore.”
She exhaled but didn’t fight him. He wondered if it was because she knew she’d lose. Or maybe it’s because it was fucking late and she had to be tired. And aching…
“Fuck,” he snapped, rising to his feet and storming to the replicator in the corner of his room. He had it create acetaminophen tablets and pulled out a globule of water. By the time he came back, she had fastened her bra and was reaching for her shirt. “Take these.” He handed her the pills and water. “It’s a basic painkiller.”
She took the tablets from him and shot them back, ignoring the water. He stared like a man obsessed as her throat bobbed. Hysterian cleared his throat.
“Thank you,” she said again, agitating him further.
“Don’t. It’s the least I can do.”
He walked down the short steps to the front of his quarters, needing to be away from the bed he’d just taken her virginity in. He wasn’t a drinker but wished he’d tossed back vodka while he’d been waiting.
“What time is it?” she asked, following him.
“Late. Shift starts in three hours.”
“Do you think—”
He spun to face her. “No.”
“I’m tired.”
“You can take the morning off, catch up on your sleep then.”
“But the locusts…”
“Alexa...” His voice held warning. “I’ll deal with them. Sit.” He pointed to the sectional to his left.
She sighed, and he never wanted to put someone over his knee and spank them as much as he wanted to right now. If ever. Everything about Alexa plagued him, and he never fully understood why.
Was it sadness? Or was it something else? Whatever it was, somehow being near her calmed him as much as it drove him crazy. He recognized something in her.
Now that he’d broken whatever innocence she had remaining, he was adamant not to break anything else.
She sat stiffly, tangling her fingers together.
“Are you sick?” he asked.
“What? No,” she answered quickly.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“I’m not sick. I’m not. Is this about the blood?”
