by Alysha Ellis
She was going to have sex with the human. Soon, before the storm let up, before they took the human to the council for judgment, Eora would push Elijah back onto the bed and slide her lithe body onto his and they would fuck. Nieko would watch. It would cut him into a thousand pieces but he knew he wouldn’t be able to turn away.
Eora’s persistence combined with the attraction Nieko had already picked up on would ensure her success. Even the idea that Nieko was watching wouldn’t be a sufficient deterrent once she got Elijah sufficiently worked up. And she would. Nieko could read the tingle of sexual arousal emanating from the human. He was already halfway there.
Eora seemed intent on speeding up the time scale. She sat next to the human, her attention focused on him, touching him lightly, making constant contact, her body language mirroring his, asking him questions about the upper world, listening to him as if every word he spoke was golden.
Except that her attention wasn’t entirely focused on the human after all. Every time she put her hand on him, every time he spoke to her or leaned closer, Eora sneaked a quick glance at Nieko. Her eyes flashed with something Nieko couldn’t read. Challenge? Anger? Hurt?
He couldn’t risk lowering his shields any further. In his current state of growing fury, he wouldn’t be able to maintain control. If he gave in to the way he was feeling now, the human would be scorched into oblivion.
He didn’t need telepathy to detect the man’s growing interest. Pheromones scented the air. Tension vibrated like guitar strings. Eora was playing him like an instrument.
He watched as the human’s eyelids drooped and his cheeks flushed red with the heat of desire, heard his breathing quicken, saw the bulge in his pants thicken and grow, saw him abandon his resistance, saw him sit up and take control.
One hand slid up behind Eora’s head, spread wide and pulled her in so his lips could take a long, sliding journey across her cheeks to her mouth. Nieko couldn’t tell whether Elijah pushed or Eora pulled, but they tumbled backward onto the bed. Elijah covered her. His hands, fingers intertwined, held hers above her head. His hips pinned her to the bed, his legs pushing hers apart, his cock grinding against her mound in a position of male dominance.
And Eora let him. Eora, who never let a stranger tell her what to do. Eora, who controlled every situation in her life. Elijah said, “Lie still. Don’t move until I tell you to.” Eora obeyed.
Elijah released her hands and slid down until his mouth fastened over Eora’s breast, and he suckled it through the black cloth of her singlet. She never wore a bra. Nieko knew her nipple would be tight and sweet. Something warm and salty trickled onto his tongue and he realized he’d bitten his lip. He swallowed the metallic tang of blood.
Elijah moved downward again, leaving a wet patch on Eora’s shirt. His hand fumbled for a moment at her waist, then disappeared into the gap left by the open fastening. Eora’s hips arched up off the bed and Elijah looked up briefly. “I told you, don’t move.”
Eora released a shaky breath and she flattened herself against the mattress.
The hand slid in and out. Nieko knew from Eora’s gasps what Elijah was doing. The strangled groan emerged before he was aware it had escaped from his lips.
Elijah’s head snapped around and his eyes met Nieko’s. For a long moment the two men stared at each other, then Elijah turned back to Eora and asked, “How do you turn these lights out?”
“No!” Both Eora and Nieko gasped it at the same time. How could the human suggest something so horrifying? To corrupt the heat of sexual excitement with the abomination of darkness.
“We never…” Eora gasped. “You don’t understand. Without light the darkness here is absolute. Unbearable. We always have light. Always.”
“Okay, then,” Elijah murmured. “We leave the lights on.” He gestured toward Nieko with his head. “Is he going to sit there and watch?”
“Oh, don’t worry about Nieko,” Eora said. “I don’t think he’s really interested in sex. He’ll probably go to sleep.”
Her words hurt. Nieko couldn’t tell if she really thought that or if she was punishing him for failing to complete the act with her earlier, but there was no mistaking the dismissal in her tone. She didn’t care whether Nieko watched or not.
Again Elijah turned to look at him, his gaze hard and assessing. “I don’t think he’s going to sleep.”
“Scared you can’t perform, human?” Nieko said through gritted teeth. “Or are you shy?”
“Maybe you get off on watching,” Elijah retorted. “Have it your way.”
He slowly turned back to Eora. “Lift your hips.”
Without argument, Eora did as she was told. Elijah stripped her of her pants, pulling them down her thighs and tossing them aside with one swift, ruthless movement.
He pushed her singlet up, bunching it around her neck. He covered her breasts with his hands, squeezing and rolling the nipples until they peaked into hard, rosy knots. Then he leaned back on his heels, exposing her more fully to Nieko’s gaze.
At first Nieko thought it was accidental, but when Elijah pulled her legs open wider and again moved aside, Nieko realized he was meant to see. The human was playing some strange game with him. Was he gloating over the ease with which he took Eora, or was it to celebrate victory over a rival?
In the Dvalinn world it shouldn’t matter. Sex was physical, not emotional. Jealousy didn’t exist. Nieko was the one Dvalinn male it did matter to, the one Dvalinn male who saw what Elijah was doing and wanted to kill him. Slowly. Rip him apart piece by piece with his bare hands.
But as much as he hated it, he was aroused, his cock hardening and swelling, readying itself for the longed-for hot, wet slide into Eora’s body. His fists clenched as he fought against the pleasure denied to him by his weakness—his love.
The human shucked off his pants, his cock thick and ready. To fuck Eora. The salt taste of blood trickled into Nieko’s mouth from where his teeth clenched his cheek. He bit harder but the small pain didn’t wipe out the agony of watching Elijah turn to the woman Nieko loved.
Eora made a low sound of approval and Nieko knew he’d been forgotten. Elijah dropped off the end of the bed, put his hands under Eora’s buttocks, dragged her to the edge, then lifted her like a goblet to his mouth. She ground her feet into the mattress and arched her back, offering him more. Elijah’s head bobbed. With each movement Eora’s hips jerked and the hiss of air escaping her lungs echoed in the silence of the room.
Her hands clenched in Elijah’s hair, the knuckles white. The sounds of her breathing grew louder and more frantic until her hips thrust hard and high in the air and a shuddering sigh escaped her.
I made her scream, you bastard.
Elijah’s head twisted around until he met Nieko’s gaze. “I’m not finished yet,” he said. Out loud. He’d read him. He’d felt the anger and resentment screaming through Nieko.
“No. Not finished.” Eora’s frantic whisper snapped the tension between the two men. Elijah shrugged and turned back to Eora. He rose from his knees and helped Eora slide back up the bed. He pulled the pillows out, stuffed them under her hips, leaned over her and raised his buttocks, then slid home.
Eora moaned out one word. “Yes!”
And kept saying it over and over again as Elijah’s hips rose and fell, a wild, powerful surge that rocked the bed against the wall. Nieko felt every thrust, every pull of the growing tension. He watched the rhythmic contraction and expansion of Eora’s thighs as Elijah’s hard, rounded buttocks flexed and thrust between them. Saw the wild swinging to and fro of Elijah’s balls as he pounded into her.
Eora loved it. She gasped and whimpered and encouraged. Her fingers tensed and her nails, short and utilitarian as they were, raked across the sweat-damp muscles of Elijah’s back, leaving long, red streaks.
The sounds emerging from Eora’s mouth grew incoherent—a series of primal grunts rose in pitch and intensity until they merged into one long, shattering scream. Elijah’s balls tightened, dra
wing in close to his body, and he thrust hard, his spine rigid, his muscles tensed. His ass rammed hard against her as he shook and shuddered.
Nieko closed his eyes. His head dropped as the breath left his lungs in a rush. It wasn’t all that rushed out of him. He stared in horror at the semen staining his pants. His face burning, he looked up.
The pair on the bed lay slumped, Eora on her back, Elijah still half on her, his upper body alongside hers, face buried in the pillow.
Nieko scrambled to his feet and bolted for the bathroom. He cast a quick look over his shoulder. Neither one on the bed showed any indication they’d noticed him going. He shut the door and leaned against it, legs shaking, trying to breathe through the pain and rage.
Nausea roiled in his stomach, mixed with something else he didn’t want to identify.
Once his stomach was under control and he was reasonably sure he wouldn’t be sick, he went to the sink to clean up.
What the hell had he done? Elijah lifted his head to look at the woman lying beneath him. Sure, she looked like any other woman, but she wasn’t human and he knew it. She was a member of a race he’d been sent to wipe out. She had abilities he found abhorrent—even those, or maybe especially those he possessed himself.
He pulled out of her and rolled to this side, his back to her. He ignored the twinge of self-disgust. It was too late now. When she’d made her interest obvious, his prick had sat up and taken over, shutting down any objections his brain might have made. He wanted her—nothing else mattered. Except that was a lie. He hadn’t forgotten Nieko, sitting with his back against the wall, his gaze fixed on them. He’d taken a perverse pleasure in knowing Nieko was watching them. It didn’t take much telepathic ability to know Nieko was hung up on the exquisite Eora.
And he knew Nieko had watched everything. Even when he’d been lost balls-deep in the pleasure of Eora’s body, part of his awareness had been with Nieko. He’d been aware of the man’s arousal, felt the straining cock spasm with release when Nieko came.
Elijah hated his telepathic powers but it was only one of the secrets he kept. Elijah had another secret, one even Brian Hopewood hadn’t been able to detect. A secret he’d kept hidden from everyone. He’d learned early and well his mother’s reaction to things that disgusted her. She’d made her feelings about that particular aberration clear.
Elijah felt a chill go down his spine at the thought of her ever discovering another thing to hate about her son. Because the truth was, he’d wanted Nieko to watch. Not to torment him with the sight of Eora’s body in a state of arousal, although he knew he could. He wanted more. Elijah wanted Nieko aroused. He could feel Nieko’s excitement and it made him hotter and harder. Because even though he’d fought against it all his life, even though he hid every sign of it, Elijah was as sexually interested in men as he was in women. Nieko, enemy or not, was the most attractive man he’d ever seen.
A brief shudder rippled over his skin. All he’d ever wanted was to be the same as everyone else, to be accepted—normal. Instead he had spent his entire life hiding his real self. The fight was too hard, too long. He was tired of it. Maybe he’d forget about getting back to the portal point. Maybe he’d detonate the gas and stay. End it all. Die with the people he destroyed. Never have to face the consequences.
Eora stirred beside him and gasped, her hand feeling around the wet patch between them. “We didn’t use protection.”
Elijah was glad he was facing away so she couldn’t see his reaction. No form of protection would make any difference. They would all be dead anyway. But he couldn’t tell her. Instead he muttered, “I didn’t have anything.”
“I did,” Eora sighed. “We always do. I could have dragged a sheath out of my pocket before.” She sighed again. “I can’t believe I got so carried away I didn’t remember. Nieko didn’t remind me either.”
She pushed herself up on her elbows and looked around. “Where is Nieko?”
Elijah rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “He left.”
“Something’s wrong with him,” Eora mused. “He’s the only man I’ve ever met who’s not interested in sex. I bet he disappeared as soon as we started.”
Elijah could have told her the truth, that Nieko wanted sex as much as anyone ever did, but he didn’t want to. Didn’t want to explain how he knew or raise her curiosity. Instead he dragged the conversation back to the issue of protection.
“I don’t have any diseases I’m aware of,” he said. “I get checked regularly for my job.” He folded his lips flat, not comfortable broaching the next subject. “Since we’re not the same species, you couldn’t get pregnant. I remember that from biology at school.”
“But we are the same species,” she protested. “Humans and Dvalinn originally developed from the same stock.”
Shock drained the blood from his face. He felt it go with a chilly rush. “That can’t be true.”
“It is,” she said. She peered closely at him. “You look pale. Is your head bothering you?”
“I’m fine. I…” He ran his hands through his hair. “How can we be the same species and not know it?”
“Nieko says humans don’t know much at all. Apparently he’s right.”
“We know plenty. I bet we know more about science and technology than your people will ever learn.”
“Well, you didn’t know we existed until you found yourself here,” she retorted. “So you don’t know as much as you think. We are definitely the same species—a slightly different sub-branch.” She smiled at him. “The point is, even though I could get pregnant, you don’t have to worry too much. It isn’t the right time. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
She might be fine but Elijah wasn’t sure he would be. Humans and Dvalinn were the same species! They were not monsters. Either Hopewood had lied to him or Eora was lying now—and Eora had no reason to lie.
Maybe the blow to the head had made him slow, but now he realized what should have been obvious from the moment he opened his eyes and looked at Eora—and Nieko. The Dvalinn were not alien. They looked like humans, they sounded like humans, they acted like humans. He and Eora sure as shit fit together like two humans.
If they were both of the same race, from a slightly divergent twig on the evolutionary tree, what did that mean for his mission? Or Hopewood’s truthfulness?
Behind his eyes, a dull ache throbbed. He rubbed at his forehead, trying to dissipate the pain.
“Your head does hurt,” Eora said, concern in her eyes.
“I’m okay,” he said. “Better than okay.” He forced a smile. “I wouldn’t want you to think I was unhappy with what we did here. I just have a bit of a headache.”
“You probably will for the next few days,” she said. “You hit the wall hard.”
“Maybe I should try to get some sleep,” he murmured. The lure of oblivion tempted him. Talking to the Dvalinn, thinking about who and what they were, exhausted him.
The effort he’d used to propel himself through the Stonehenge portal combined with the fall made him feel as if he’d been pummeled by hammers. Sex with Eora, as wild as it had been, had drained away the last of his energy. “I’ll take a nap.” He rolled over but she grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait.” Her hand tightened. She leaned over him, studying him closely. “If you have a concussion…”
“Eora,” he cut her off. “I came so hard when I was inside you, if I’d had concussion I would have passed out then and there.”
“In that case, I’ll let you get your strength back.” She grinned, a wicked, satisfied smile that lit up her face. “You’re going to need it.”
He would need his strength. But not for anything Eora had in mind. Before the storm subsided and they had to leave, he had to make some hard decisions. In the short period he’d been underground, too many things had changed, too many of his beliefs had been challenged. The people he’d thought were monsters were far from it. As long as he kept his mental shields in place, he could let his body relax for a whil
e. Nieko might not trust him, but if Elijah made no attempt to attack, the Dvalinn would not hurt him.
Tired of trying to work out where the truth lay, Elijah gave himself up to sleep. The problems he faced would still be there when he woke.
Nieko stayed in the bathroom for as long as he could. He heard the rumble of voices, Eora’s and the human’s, but he blocked them out. Whatever they were saying to each other, he didn’t want to know.
Even after the sounds died away, he waited in silence. He couldn’t stay in the tiny room forever—sooner or later one or the other two would need to come in. Besides, the bathroom wasn’t designed for comfort. When he was sure enough time had passed, he eased the door open and stepped back into the living space.
As he’d hoped, the light was muted, dimmed for sleep. Walking as silently as he could, he returned to his spot against the wall. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d slept on the floor and it wouldn’t be the last. Compared to what he’d gone through in the last twenty-four hours, the discomfort was minimal. He didn’t even need a blanket. He still felt the heat from the scene he’d witnessed earlier.
In the morning he’d have to face them. By then he’d be strong enough to regather his disguise, pretend it didn’t matter, pretend he was as emotionally uninvolved as any other Dvalinn.
“Nieko?” Eora’s soft voice cut into the silence. He pushed his back up against the rock and said nothing.
“Nieko, I know you’re there. I know you’re awake.”
He remained motionless.
“Oh, come on, Nieko. I saw you walk out of the bathroom not two minutes ago. Come here so I can talk to you without waking Elijah.”
And as he always did, he gave in to her demands. She was who she was. He had no right to blame her for enjoyment of sex. Feel desire? Indulge it and move on. It was the Dvalinn way. The problem here was his.
He stood and approached the bed, sliding down once more against the wall, the need for some protection at his back unexplainable but strong.
“What’s the matter with you, Nieko?” Eora asked. “You haven’t been yourself since we started out on this journey.” She stopped and shook her head. “No, that’s not right, you haven’t been yourself for ages. Something’s been bothering you for a long time.”
