The Ultimatum

by Susan Kearney

  After Kirek’s sacrifice, she was coming with him—willing or not.

  4

  SATIATED FROM THE middle phase of Boktai, at least for a little while, Alara climbed out of her tub, blew out the candles, and turned off the music, hoping she could sleep for a few hours before returning to the laboratory. She looked forward to checking on her latest batch of samples, a rare strain of DNA that appeared to have many chromosome patterns in common with Endekian women’s reproductive systems.

  Employing her psi to activate her null grav, she floated in a cocoon of air in her sleeping chamber. But when she closed her eyes, the same image that had fueled her fantasy kept her awake. A Rystani warrior in prime condition. Vivid violet irises in a determined face. She wondered how Xander had learned of her ability to read DNA and decided it didn’t matter. Surely she’d seen the last of him. For once, Endeki law was on her side and protected her from the likes of him.

  While she’d have loved the freedom to explore new worlds in search of the DNA link that would free Endekian women, this was her world. Her home. She had a purpose that meant a great deal to her, and she enjoyed her life here. For him to assume that his work was more important than hers and that she’d give up her research just because he asked was so malelike and arrogant that she should have easily dismissed him from her mind.

  But she couldn’t sleep. Despite her self-gratification, Boktai locked her in its grasp. Perhaps her encounter with the Rystani male had intensified her usual response. Or perhaps she simply had put off mating once too often.

  At the creak of a loose shutter, Alara gave up all pretense of sleep. She might as well catch up on the latest research received via her hololink. She might not be able to visit other worlds in person, but that didn’t stop the flow of data from coming into her computer. She could read DNA results laboriously compiled by other scientists on other worlds right from the comfort of Endeki.

  As the shutter creaked again, she made a mental note to remind the building’s caretaker to nail the boards flat to prevent the wind from ripping it from her building. Floating down from where she’d tried to sleep in the comfort of null grav, she regained her footing and glanced up at her doorway to see a black mass against a gray shadow.

  The creaks she’d heard hadn’t been a loose shutter. An intruder had sneaked into her quarters.

  With a gasp, she flung up a psi shield and lunged for a weapon she kept hidden on a corner shelf. Despite the adrenaline pumping through her, she didn’t move fast enough.

  She bumped into something hard. Someone hard. Someone male. Experience told her to tighten her shield to prevent his male scent from reaching her lungs, or her rioting hormones would soon have her seducing the unknown intruder—even if he’d broken into her home to steal, even if he meant her harm.

  At the alarming thought, she struggled, jerking wildly, her muscles burning with the effort.

  But powerful arms and a strong psi closed around her like bands of bendar, encasing her, entrapping her, blocking her escape. Without hesitation, she slammed her head backward, hoping to deliver a knockout blow to his chin, but she wasn’t tall enough. Instead of crunching bone, her head struck a muscular chest.

  She knew only one man that tall. Xander. As she was forced to take a breath to ease her burning lungs, his primal scent reminded her that he was mature male flesh and ripe for her choosing.

  But while her hormones demanded she seduce him, her mind protested fiercely. Xander had broken into her home.

  Every bone in her skeleton should have frozen to solid ice—except Boktai caused inaccurate and unacceptable reactions. Earlier he’d made his intentions and determination quite clear, but in the lab he’d seemed civilized compared to the primitive resolve he was flinging at her now. Damn Boktai and her needs, she wanted him with a ferocity that left her breathless.

  “Let me go,” she demanded, holding on to her will, wishing she didn’t sound so sensual, wishing he couldn’t feel her trembling with desire, wishing she had the raw strength to break his grasp as well as the grip her body held over her.

  Ignoring her demand, he clamped her wrists behind her back with one of his hands and placed denar cuffs around them, then lifted her and slung her over his shoulder.

  “You must come with me, Dr. Calladar. Lives depend on your cooperation.”

  He’d trussed her up and had turned her upside down so quickly, she’d had no time to fight, no time to protest further. But she had plenty of time to realize that the fight between her mind and her body no longer mattered.

  She was now his captive. He would do with her what he wished.

  Anger made intense by a pure unadulterated thrill besieged her. With the blood rushing to her head as he toted her upside down like a feed sack, his shoulder jabbing her belly, her instinct and adrenaline took over. She kicked him hard. Her toes caught his thigh, doing little damage. He started carrying her toward the roof, not even bothering with null grav to manage her weight.

  “You idiot,” she panted, her breath hitching in her chest as he jarred her with every step down her hallway. “For the holy mother of atoms. Stop! If you abduct me, you’ll start a war.”

  Her words had as little effect as her kick. Angry, frustrated, and more aroused than she’d ever been in her entire life, she bent her head and bit his back. And received a smack on her bottom for her efforts.

  “Restrain yourself. There will be no war.”

  She stopped biting and squirmed at the marvelous sensations coursing through her. His smack had vibrated right through her bottom to her labella and her pleasure center. Even as she protested, she recognized that her complaint was an outright untruth. “That hurt.”

  Her head ached, her bottom stung, and he hadn’t slowed his steps one iota. But worse, the vibration from his smack combined with his scent and those powerful hands on her body had her pulse escalating. She’d heard that domineering men could intensify Boktai, but since she’d always sought to minimize the experience, she hadn’t experimented.

  She should be outraged. Yet never had she been so aroused. She had to grit her teeth to stop from biting him again and receiving another pleasurable smack.

  Damn him to Dregan hell. She didn’t want to know she could respond like this. No way was she leaving Endeki with him, when it would take him no time at all to discover exactly how much she was enjoying his rough treatment. Because once he did, he’d have the power to force her to do whatever he wished, and experience told her his knowledge would be to her detriment.

  The moment he exited onto the roof, she screamed. “Help! Help!”

  “Quiet,” he demanded. “I do not wish to hurt you, but I cannot let you draw attention to our departure.”

  He thought he was hurting her? If her yonia could speak, it would be begging for more delicious slaps. She couldn’t stop thinking about how good the big warrior would feel against her, over her, inside her. Her will broke and despite her determination to remain still, she kicked. She rolled from side to side. She screamed and tried to bite him again.

  And all the while he carried her across the roof she anticipated another spank to her bottom, a swat that would incite her nerve endings to riot. A swat that would shoot an electric charge straight to her core. A swat that would incite, besiege, and provoke.

  She held her breath. Waiting. Hoping. He didn’t disappoint.

  He smacked one big hand down hard on her bottom. The erotic sensations, the vibrations, caused her body to tighten with wondrous tension, and her yonia creamed with sweet moisture. She stung in all the right places with delicious heat.

  And his big hand stayed where he’d slapped, as if to remind her he was in control. Why in krek hadn’t she yet found a cure for Boktai? Her spinning thoughts had her grinding her teeth in frustration. With herself. With him. Was he so dense that he lacked all awareness of her arousal?

 
Under normal circumstances, she could use her psi to obtain release on her own. But the latter phases of Boktai prevented her psi from working properly. In fact, she’d already lost control of not only her arousal, but her suit.

  She was naked in his arms, her suit transparent. Even worse, she no longer had shielding between her bare flesh and his hand. His hand that should be slipping between her thighs. His hand that should be skimming along her flesh. His hand that should be exploring her bare bottom.

  Damn her Endekian biology. Even as he approached his spacecraft, she fought him with every muscle she could muster, but she yearned for him to find a way to keep her, to please her, to release his essence within her body. Strung tight, using her last reserves of logic, she gasped out words that sounded raw and breathless. “If you take me, they’ll shoot you out of the sky.”

  “You have too much faith in your government. For the price of one boy, Drik sold you out.”

  Although she was outraged at his admission, her body ignored the meaning of his words and responded instead to his deep male tone. A zing of pleasure zipped to her core, even as her mind raged in helplessness. “That son of a sand buzzard. You and he will both rot in Dregan hell.”

  Oblivious to her curses and her nudity, he opened the hatch to his shuttle, slung her into a nook and webbed her in. As he adjusted the webbing over her bared flesh, she watched his eyes spark at the sight of her, the corners of his mouth soften into a delighted grin. Oh, he looked. And looked. And looked.

  Her nipples tightened. Her throat drew tight. Her tummy fluttered, and her yonia ached.

  She didn’t know whether to be furious at herself for losing control over her psi or angry with him for being so . . . male. He said nothing, but sweat beaded on his brow faster than his suit could remove it. Oh, he might try to remain unaffected, but a muscle at his jaw leaped, and his pulse danced.

  She’d always hated her descent into Boktai, into total vulnerability. But with the Rystani—the sensual slope was worse and occurring much too fast. Too soon she would lose all semblance of intelligence. She would become female lust personified. She tried to squirm, but with her hands trussed behind her back and the webbing tying her down, she couldn’t budge.

  Reality started to slip through her muddled mind. If she left Endeki, years of research would be ruined. She’d been working on a new mutation that showed such promise, and if she left her lab untended for even a few days, Maki would be unable to prevent her delicate experiments from being ruined.

  She had to concentrate on more than rage and lust. “What are you saying? What do you mean Drik sold me out?”

  “He’s letting me borrow you.”

  “Borrow me?” she sputtered in fury, unable to hold back, even as her fierce need spiked into boiling passion. “That vile residue-sucking slug. I’m not for rent or lease.”

  But she was.

  She was helpless, without her psi.

  Naked.

  Aroused.

  “Apparently Drik doesn’t think too much of you. He seemed eager to be rid of you.” His tone sounded as if he thought Drik insane.

  She let out another string of curses, mostly in frustration that she could do nothing to curb her need for the big Rystani’s touch. She couldn’t look at his fingers without thinking of him touching her breasts or dipping lower. But she was damned if she’d beg.

  Oh, krek. Please don’t make me beg.

  Even as she prayed, she would happily have dropped Drik in a vat of acid for putting her in such a position. “Closing down my lab would have been too humane for that foul-breathed mudcrawler.”

  “Dr. Calladar, please calm yourself. I mean you no harm. But, please cover your nudity.”

  Finally, he’d actually said something about her state of undress—but it wasn’t the compliment her hormone-induced state made her long to hear. Clearly, he’d just asked her to clothe herself because he didn’t like what he saw. Maybe she wasn’t up to his high Rystani standards. Maybe he was celibate except during a rising moon. Maybe his race didn’t have sex but once a year.

  But whatever his problem, she had no control left for even the basic task of using her psi to cover her nudity. No matter how many times she told herself that she shouldn’t let her natural state embarrass her, she couldn’t stop the heat creeping up her face. She’d displayed her body, made herself vulnerable. His response had been to web her in so she couldn’t reach him and to tell her to cover herself. Between her anger, her raw nerves, and her flayed hormones, she barely restrained a growl of frustration.

  Her voice sounded strained to her own ears. “You have no idea what you’re doing. You don’t have one semblance of a clue why Endekian women aren’t allowed to leave the homeworld, do you?”

  “Ranth, fly us up to the Verazen, please.”

  “Compliance,” a neutral male computer responded.

  Then Xander turned his attention fully on her. Those brilliant violet eyes ignited with a spark of red fire, telling her again that he wasn’t as immune to her bare flesh as he pretended. “If I release you, will you promise not to bite? Will you cover yourself properly?”

  Gritting her teeth against Boktai, she ignored his questions, his handsome visage, his wondrous male scent, and demanded answers of her own. Perhaps her work could yet be saved if the journey was quick enough. “How long is our voyage to the Perceptive Ones going to last?”

  “Until we find them.”

  “You aren’t even certain which planet to search?”

  “We’ll begin in the Lapautee system, out on the rim.”

  On the rim? Krek. He intended to fly into unknown space. “Our journey might take . . . years.”

  Her situation was even worse than she’d thought. He didn’t seem to have much of a plan, never mind a definite itinerary or a time of departure. Her work would be annihilated if the DNA wasn’t kept at the proper temperature, combined with the correct nutrients. It wouldn’t matter that Maki would run out of funds to keep open the lab. Her precious samples would be ruined long before.

  “If the problem on Earth is solved, we’ll return sooner. But while it exists, I will not turn back.”

  At the determination in his tone, she closed her eyes, wishing she could shut out his scent. Even though she couldn’t see him, her psi was drowning in need. But she understood his kind of determination. He felt the same way about helping the Terrans as she did about finding a cure for Boktai. While she didn’t understand his love of Terrans, she still admired his dedication to his work. Her flesh strained against her bonds. Her stinging, hot bottom demanded more—so much more. “So in other words, you have no idea how long you’re keeping me captive?”

  To his credit he looked a bit sheepish, but his charming expression did nothing to alleviate her exasperation. She glared at him. Her work wasn’t the only thing that would die. “Death from Boktai is most unpleasant, and if you insist on taking me with you, I’ll be dead within the week.”

  He frowned, real concern in his eyes. “You are ill?”

  “Krek. I am not ill, you idiot! You foul breath of a sick canine. You ill-bred son of a slug snail.” She realized that he didn’t understand Endekian biology, but it didn’t mean his ignorance wouldn’t kill her anyway. Or that she wouldn’t die from the sweet wanting. “Unless I remain on the homeworld, my cells cannot regenerate.”

  “If your cells cannot regenerate . . .”

  “I will die.”

  “Endekian women cannot regenerate in space?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t understand why.” He appeared puzzled, willing to help, but she knew better than to rely on any man’s expressions, even if his voice remained kind. “Is cell regeneration tied to Endekian food? Because we have materializers on board that can make anything you require.”

  “That’s not the problem.”

&nb
sp; “Your gravity? The air? Your psi should—”

  “Wrong again.”

  His brow creased in thought. “That leaves magnetic radiation that is unique to each planet.”

  “The scientific reason doesn’t matter. You need to take me home. Immediately.” She was telling him the truth. But only part of it. With the lust beating through her in a repetitive singsong demand that she seduce him, seduce him, seduce him, she wondered if she might yet escape her fate. But even at the thought, her body shuddered, demanding she reach satisfaction now.

  “Ranth.” He turned to the computer. “Are there other scientific factors I have not considered?”

  “Unknown. I cannot confirm or negate her statements. Endekians are a most secretive people.”

  “So her claim could be a ruse to make us release her?” Xander asked, either her or the computer, she wasn’t sure which, but she didn’t deign to answer. What good was it to repeat herself when he wouldn’t believe these words, either? Besides, she might slip up. She might reveal the very secret she most certainly didn’t want him to know. But every second that crawled by, every second that Boktai took a firmer hold in her blood, was another second when she might crack.

  When she remained stubbornly silent and tried to scowl at him, he leaned forward and, with a finger, tipped up her chin. His one gentle touch caused her lips to part, her heart to sing. For the moment she weakened and prayed he would kiss her. She longed for him to somehow comprehend without her saying more that she desperately needed to find out if he tasted as hot as he looked.

  Such was the curse of Boktai. She loathed him for ruining years of work—and still she craved him.

  She’d thought he’d tipped up her chin to look into her eyes, but instead, he bent to release the webbing. Her thoughts seesawed like a pendulum, swinging wildly in one direction then the other.

  She didn’t want him to release her. The webbing kept her nudity mostly covered.

  Yet she wanted him to release her. So he could see her nudity and what she could offer.