Heart of Stone

by Regine Abel

“Never,” I said, with a heavy sigh. “We didn’t truly expect one either. Our beacon was lost in space before we breached Earth’s atmosphere. Without it, there was no way for our signal to reach Duras. Somehow, the beacon must have fallen to Earth and gotten repaired.”

  “How do you know that?” Brianna asked. Before I could answer, her eyes narrowed as she put the pieces together. “Does it have to do with that room?”

  I nodded. “Each of us have a sigil. It’s a multi-function device, one of which is acting as a teleporter.”

  “Teleporter as in a ‘beam me up, Scotty’ type of thing?” Brianna asked.

  I couldn’t help a smile. “Yes. I have a psychic link to it. The minute the beacon became active, it sent a distress signal to Duras. The moment they answered, the sigil went online, and I felt it. A rescue team is on the way, but I need my sigil to know the rendezvous point, and for them to be able to teleport me to the ship.”

  Brianna stared at me quietly, visibly trying to hide her thoughts and feelings. “So… after a thousand years stranded on a primitive world, you finally get to go home,” she said in a tone that failed to be as casual as she’d intended.

  “Yes,” I said softly.

  “Congratulations,” she said.

  Despite the kindness of her words, her stiff posture, her nails digging into her palms and her clenched jaw broadcast the anger seething beneath the surface.

  “You knew you’d be leaving soon when you hired me,” Brianna said, her voice taking on a harder edge.

  “Yes. And you want to know why I’d get involved with you now after avoiding you for years?” I asked, although it wasn’t actually a question.

  “Lana could have handled it all,” Brianna said bitterly. “Why reveal yourself and give me hope there might be something special between us when you knew this was going nowhere? Did you just want to get some last minute human pussy on your way out?”

  I frowned at the crudeness of her words, but especially that she would think so little of me. My eyes boring into hers, I closed the distance between us. She lifted her chin defiantly and stood her ground.

  “I revealed myself to you because the sigil going off changed everything.” I advanced by a couple more steps, invading her personal space. Her breath caught, but she didn’t back away. “I have pined after you for more than nine years.”

  Her lips parted, and her eyes widened.

  “The first time we met, you were just a child in need of assistance,” I said, placing my hands on her hips. “The second time, you were a young woman chasing after a memory. The minute you entered the club, my mating instincts awakened and went into overdrive. In over 1339 years of life, it had never happened, until you.”

  “And you said nothing?” I whispered.

  “Prime Directive,” I answered. “I’m a career soldier, Brianna. I follow rules. And even if I had wanted to break them, what kind of a future would I be condemning you to? You would have to come live in hiding with me, and so would our offspring, if we ever had any. Do you have any idea how much I ached and hungered for you all those times you came knocking, seeking an audience with me?”

  Wrapping an arm around her waist, I drew her to me, my other palm cupping her face. I examined her beautiful features that had haunted so many of my dreams and that would have kept me company had I gone into duramna, the deep sleep in stone form of the Khargals.

  “What… What are mating instincts?” Brianna asked, her breathing coming in shorter bursts.

  “It is a physical reaction when we meet the one being we are meant to spend the rest of our lives with. It gives me the urge to bite you when we are intimate, to bind you to me.”

  Her gaze lowered to my lips as if she could see my fangs through the skin. She shuddered, goosebumps erupting all over her skin. I brushed her hair from her face, my hand then resting on her nape.

  “But you didn’t bite me.”

  I shook my head. “No, because when I do, my mating glands will release certain chemicals that will pass into your system through the bite’s venom, my saliva, and my semen. It will not turn you into a Khargal, but it will pass on to you some of our abilities.”

  Her eyes widened, curiosity, fear, and excitement shining within in equal measure.

  “Such as?”

  I smiled and let my thumb caress the gentle curve of her neck. “It will extend your lifespan, make you stronger, more resistant to injuries, quicker to heal, and make us compatible so that we could have offspring if we so wished.”

  “Wow! That sounds like rather good news.”

  I nodded, my smile broadening.

  “But wait, that means I can’t get pregnant from you right now?”

  “Correct.”

  “Oh. So much for buying condoms and renewing my pills,” Brianna mumbled under her breath.

  “We don’t need any of that,” I said, leaning in to kiss her.

  The softness of her lips beneath mine sent a surge of lust directly to my groin. The power she held over me was terrifying. I’d never felt so hungry for anything or anyone. Tilting my head to the side to deepen the kiss, I pressed her pliant body to mine, wanting greater proximity to my woman.

  “No,” Brianna said, breaking the kiss.

  I looked at her, confused, as she pulled out of my embrace.

  “You’re leaving,” she said. Sorrow and loss etched on her face, she took a couple of steps away from me.

  I nodded. “Yes, I am. But I wish for you to come with me.”

  She pressed a hand to her chest as if to keep her heart from escaping.

  “I had wanted us to grow a little closer over the next few days before I made this offer to you. But now that the Rose Syndicate has forced the issue, here we are.”

  I spoke in a lighthearted tone, but deep down, my stomach knotted painfully with fear that she might reject me. It was too much to expect of her so early in our relationship.

  “Here we are,” she repeated, a troubled expression on her face. “I’m guessing going to your world means no coming back to Earth, right?”

  I shook my head with a sympathetic look.

  She exhaled a shuddering breath and walked towards the window to look at the couples and tourists strolling in the park.

  “That’s a lot to digest,” she said with forced laughter.

  I carefully approached Brianna, standing inches from her back, but without making physical contact. I ached to touch her, hold her, but didn’t want to push further. She leaned back, pressing her back to my chest. My arms immediately closed around her waist. I inhaled the lavender scent of her hair and gently kissed the top of her head.

  “There is no rush, for now. You still have time to think about it.”

  She turned around in my arms, her eyes flicking between mine, searching. “But you were in a hurry to clear the room in the catacombs,” she challenged.

  “Yes, but only because I need to find out where the rendezvous point is and the pick-up date. For all I know, it could be somewhere in Africa, or Asia, that may require visas or vaccines to travel. Alone, I can easily work around most of these hurdles. But I’m hoping not to travel alone,” I said, giving her a meaningful glance.

  She smiled, although it was slightly uneasy. Brianna liked that I wanted her with me but obviously needed time to sort how she felt about such a venture. I just needed her to let her guard down enough for me to continue to woo her until it became obvious to her as well that she belonged by my side.

  We spent the next couple of hours talking, with her giving me the third degree, wanting to know everything about my life on Earth over the past millennium, as well as any detail I felt comfortable giving about my fellow Khargals.

  By the time I started describing the harsh world that was Duras, her eyelids had begun to droop. She’d had a long day’s work, and tonight’s emotions had wiped her out. I helped Brianna undress—although she kept her underwear—and tucked her into bed. In light of the strength of my lingering arousal, I didn’t trust myself to lie next
to her. In mere moments, her breathing deepened as she fell into a peaceful slumber.

  I allowed myself a few minutes to gaze upon her beauty before climbing onto the pedestal I had moved back to my room. Perched on it, facing the East window so the rising sun would caress my face as it rose, I let myself enter duramna. My skin hardened, turning to stone. I didn’t want to go too deep into it, like when I went into hibernation, but I needed to regenerate some of the energy I had spent earlier flying around with Brianna in the garden. My energy had drained too fast, proof that the lack of rigorous military training I’d been used to had taken its toll. The deeper I went into duramna, the faster I regenerated or healed if wounded.

  Over the next few days, before we set out for the rendezvous point, I would spend every spare moment training to whip my stamina back into shape. If the need arose for me to fly with Brianna in my arms over long distances, I would need as much energy as possible.

  This morning, after Brianna left for work, my first order of business had been to reinforce the security system of the club and to warn Lana to be on the lookout for any suspicious people lurking around the club, especially anyone with a ring, a pin or necklace with a rose on it. It also worried me that Brianna had been seen with me in a clearly romantic setting. I feared they might go after her to use her against me. Lana came from a far too influential family and was too much in the public eye to be trifled with. Any attack against her would bring about the exact type of scrutiny that the Rose Syndicate had always meticulously avoided. But if Brianna disappeared tomorrow, few people would notice. And those who did wouldn’t have the kind of pull necessary to aid her or put pressure on the Syndicate.

  She’s far too easy prey.

  We had agreed to have dinner at her place tonight. She wanted to cook for me, which I found endearing. I wondered what she’d say if I told her that instead of the pecan pie she intended to prepare for dessert, I would have preferred a few stones or plaster, for the nutrients, essential to a Khargal’s diet, they contained.

  I waited to sneak out of the club until Lana went to greet the delivery guys bringing the restaurant’s fresh produce, meats, and beverages. She knew to leave the door wide open so that I could exit in stealth mode. My perception filter had been set to a different human visage. Unfortunately, it couldn’t create a viable illusion of a shorter height unless you avoided any physical contact that would break the holographic display. With my 6’7, it was hard to be inconspicuous.

  As per my routine whenever I snuck out of the club, I headed to one of the public bathrooms in the underground city, a network of shopping malls and connecting corridors that allowed you to cross the near entirety of downtown Montreal without ever having to set foot outside. I never used the same one twice, and would enter a stall in the quietest one only to come back out with my stealth device deactivated.

  Blending in with the crowd, I hopped in a cab which I had drop me off in the general neighborhood of Brianna’s house. I couldn’t use my camouflage device to stealth around for extended periods as it drained much faster than my perception filter. Once again, I envied the Khargal scouts who could blend at will with the environment. To my relief, as I casually strolled towards my woman’s house, I didn’t detect any suspicious presence. Nevertheless, I remained cautious as I entered the building and used the spare key Brianna had given me to let myself in.

  The spacious apartment reminded me of her. Subdued colors, peaceful yet inviting, with elegant furniture, delicate in appearance, but made of sturdy material. Although sparsely decorated, each element was meaningful, intriguing, and told a story that piqued the curiosity. Forcing myself to focus on the task at hand, I upgraded her security system with new, state of the art locks, a camera system that she had full control over, and which covered every access into the apartment.

  Brianna arrived just as I was testing the various settings of the system. She didn’t give me a chance to free her from her burden of grocery bags, discarding them instead on the console in the entrance. My woman closed the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my neck. I lowered my head to capture her lips, purring with pleasure at the exquisite taste of her.

  I could get used to this.

  To welcome my mate home after work, or for her to greet me upon my return like this, painted a pleasant picture. As the kiss deepened, Brianna’s fingers found their way through my hair, and rubbed the skin at the base of my short horns, seven in total. She’d discovered how sensitive it was, especially around the three at the center top of my head. My cock jerked in my pants, blood rushing to my groin, making it stiffen. The mating glands at the back of my throat swelled, demanding once again that I bind my mate. I swallowed hard, refusing to give in to the burning temptation.

  Pulling my woman’s hands away from my horns, I freed her of her trench coat and slipped my hand beneath her blouse, seeking the rounded mounds of her breasts and the hard buttons of her nipples. Brianna whisked her blouse over her head and discarded it with a flick of her wrist, before fiddling with the waist of my pants, trying to lower them. I didn’t resist, too focused on unclasping her bra. Those wretched things were created to drive a man insane. How women managed to attach and detach them with such ease boggled my mind.

  Just as I succeeded, Brianna dropped to her knees before me and greedily took my cock in her mouth. I hissed with pleasure, my hands fisting in her hair. The warmth of her lips around me, her tongue licking, and her teeth grazing the sensitive skin of my shaft, had a pool of lava swirling in the pit of my stomach. My hips moved in counterpoint to her movements as she deep throated me. I felt guilty that my woman should pleasure me before I had made her climax, but Brianna seemed to love going down on me—not that I complained. She’d become addicted to my taste, salty caramel she called it. But I didn’t want to find my release in her mouth. I wanted my seed inside her, with her inner walls clamping down on my cock while she screamed my name in ecstasy.

  With a deep moan, I forced myself away from her grasp. She looked up at me in surprise when I forced her up on her feet and pushed her against the wall. I kissed her, my tongue invading her mouth while my fingers feverishly unzipped her skirt. It fell to the floor with the bristling sound of fabric.

  This time, it was my turn to drop to my knees, kissing my way down her neck, stopping to pay homage to her breasts, and for my tongue to tickle her navel before feasting on her burning core. Brianna’s back arched off the wall as a strangled cry tore out of her. The scent of her arousal made my cock throb with the need to possess her, the taste of her essence the most divine nectar on my tongue. According to my woman, its rougher texture stimulated her in the most delicious way. I therefore made it a point to give her sensitive clit a proper tongue lashing while my fingers dipped inside her wet opening.

  I loved how responsive Brianna always was to my touch. I crooked my fingers inside of her, grazing her sensitive spot, and she fell apart, shouting my name. Legs trembling, she nearly collapsed. Slipping my arms under her knees, I lifted her up against the wall and rammed my aching cock deep inside her. She shouted again, still riding the waves of her orgasm as I began pounding in and out of her.

  “Grack!” I cussed as the spasms of her inner walls around my shaft tried to force out a climax that I wasn’t ready to welcome just yet.

  She felt too damn good, stroking my cock with each thrust, her burning skin against mine, her hands clawing at me, her labored breath fanning over my chest.

  “Touch yourself,” I ordered without slowing my punishing pace.

  Obedient, Brianna slipped a shaky hand between us and started rubbing her clit. Her eyes almost immediately rolled into the back of her head as another orgasm descended upon her, squeezing my own release from me. I rocked in and out of her at a much slower pace until the last of my seed was spent.

  Leaning against her, I suddenly realized that my wings had come out. Pushing away from the wall, I wrapped them around her, sheltering my female. Brianna’s head resting on my shoulder, my cock still
buried inside her, I slowly, carefully walked us to the bathroom. With much reluctance, I opened my wings, pulled out my cock, and set my woman on her feet so that we could shower together.

  When we finished, she let me dry her. The look in Brianna’s eyes as she gazed upon me held such tenderness, affection, and wonder that hope blossomed in my heart that when the time to choose came, she would pick me.

  I almost panicked upon waking in Brianna’s bed, the unfamiliar surroundings throwing me for a loop. The little minx laughed at my disoriented look. I felt pathetic being so easily fazed. As a warrior, I should be on top of my game at all times. But I guess a millennium out of service would dull anyone’s reflexes.

  Just like Lana, when Brianna invited you to dinner, she cooked for an entire army. My stomach still bulged from the previous night’s overindulgence. She had packed a few containers of leftovers for me to bring home for lunch and to share with Lana. I didn’t mind, considering her food had been delicious. I simply didn’t tell her that I’d snuck out to eat a few rocks during the night. There would be time to explain that later.

  With a heavy heart, I watched my female leave for work. To my chagrin, Brianna didn’t need to be at the club while the workers cleared the debris, and other tasks awaited her at the office. How quickly I’d become addicted to her presence, to the sexy sound of her voice, and the affectionate way in which she constantly touched me, as if to reassure herself of my presence.

  I still couldn’t believe how well Brianna had taken all my revelations, once she’d overcome her initial shock. Humans didn’t have Khargal mating instincts, and yet she couldn’t deny feeling a strong, quasi irrational, attraction towards me. I wanted to believe something deeper than sexual tension motivated her. Real chemistry existed between us. But with me semi-trapped in my club, it added an extra burden to our efforts to build on an already unorthodox relationship. As much as discovering the distance that existed between her and her father had upset me for her sake, it pleased me now to the extent that she’d be less likely to want to stay on Earth for him.