by Mina Carter
“Shit,” Xaandril breathed. “He’s right. They will.”
“Not happening.” Daaynal’s voice was firm as he straightened up. “Not on my watch. Xaan, you take a war group and head out to the borders. Stop the bastards before they can mobilize. Stop them at any cost. Laarn, take a team of combat healers and go with him. I suspect your expertise will be needed—both on the battlefield and in the healer’s bay.”
“Yes, sire,” both men replied automatically, knowing not to argue when the emperor used that tone of voice, and turned to follow the messengers out.
“Laarn, a moment, please.”
He turned at the order, waiting as the others filed out. He tilted his head as he looked over at his uncle. “Your Majesty?”
Daaynal waved in irritation. “Cut the crap when it’s just us. Daaynal will do just fine.” His gaze was firm. “Make sure you see your little human before you go and cement your claim. I do not want to have to fight fires over females while you’re gone, understand me? Especially not one so important to us.”
Laarn inclined his head, hiding his determined expression. “Don’t worry. Before I go she’ll know she belongs to me.”
“YOU’RE LEAVING? NOW?”
Worried, Jess had slipped away while the tournament was still ongoing to find Laarn in his lab again. This time, though, he wasn’t working. Instead, he was packing cases with medical equipment.
“Yes,” he replied, his expression grim and his long hair dancing over his broad shoulders. He didn’t look at her at first, carefully packing some medical gadget into a padded case and then adding it to a bigger one. “The situation on the outer borders has gone into meltdown. The emperor has ordered a war group to head out and check the situation. Apparently, some colonies have been destroyed, so healers will be required.”
“Destroyed?” Her eyes widened. “Will you be safe?”
Worry coiled in her gut, her heart clenching at the thought of him in danger. A chuckle rumbling in the back of his throat, he appeared in front of her suddenly. Sliding a big hand into her hair, he used his thumb under her chin to make her look up and meet his eyes.
“Did you not just see me out on the sands, little one?” he asked, his eyes and voice warm. A shiver hit her as he crushed her cheek with his thumb in a soft caress. “I might be a healer, but I’m Lathar… I’m a warrior born and bred. I’ll heal, but I can also kill without mercy. Especially to save my people… and the ones I love.”
His voice dropped on the last words, his gaze latching onto her lips. Before she knew it, he’d crowded her back against the counter behind her, his big body cutting off her view of the rest of the room. The air between them heated as he looked down at her, intent written over his face as he slowly bent, lowering his lips to hers.
She moaned, bringing her hands up to his broad chest. This time, instead of the jacket he usually wore, she got to touch his skin. Like the rest of him, it was warm and hard, silky to the touch. The kiss was softer than any he’d given her before. He teased her lips, feathering his mouth over hers as though he were learning the shape and texture of them before he nibbled lightly on her lower lip. She parted them with a whimper, needing more of him, his kisses, but he didn’t take her up on the offer. Instead, he carried on with the soft nips, his free hand sliding around her waist to pull her up firmly against him.
She registered the thick, full hardness of his cock pressed against her softer belly and gasped. He was huge, she’d known that, but to feel it pressed against her again took her breath away… and sent thick, dark heat swirling through her body. Anticipation and need weakened her limbs as she clung to him, pressing herself to him in invitation and hoping he’d deepen the kiss, claim her lips like he had before.
He chuckled again at her eagerness, and this time, gave in to her silent demands. Releasing her lip from his teeth, the pressure of his fingers at the back of her neck tilted her lips up for him and he claimed them. She whimpered as he invaded her mouth, sliding his tongue against hers and back again in an erotic dance that fired every cell in her body. Where he’d learned to kiss like that, like a sex god, when the Lathar had no women, she didn’t know. It didn’t matter. All that did was that he was here, with her.
The kiss started off soft and sweet, slow and languorous, but within seconds, any sweetness disappeared. Heat built and exploded as his kiss grew harder and hotter. A growl in the back of his throat, he pulled her tighter into his body, his hands on her just this side of cruel. But she didn’t care, the same feral need gripped her as she slid her hands over his shoulders and chest, the satin of his skin highlighted by the smooth scars as she touched him.
With a gasp he broke away, leaning his forehead against hers. His chest heaved as he fought for breath, and, she realized, control.
“Not here,” he said in a voice just this side of a growl. “Not now. I need to go…” At her small cry of protest, the corners of his lips quirked. “When I take you, little one, it won’t be a quick fuck snatched before I have to leave. It’ll be all night, all day… and everyone in the palace will hear my name on your lips as you scream.”
She shivered, biting her lip as she looked up at him.
“Don’t look at me that way…” He swore, the heavy Latharian words almost unintelligible. His features just this side of feral, he claimed her lips again in a hard kiss before breaking away. “Perhaps something to remember me by…”
Before she realized what he was doing, he’d boosted her up onto the counter, shoving his hips between her parted thighs to drink from her lips again. She whimpered, the soft sound one of submission as she opened up for him. The answering male growl did things to her on a primal level, and a second later she felt his hand on her leg under her skirts as it slid upward. Her breathing caught as he reached her thigh, and she parted wider for him, arching her back. His rumble of approval was lost under their kiss as he thrust his tongue into her mouth again to seek hers.
His questing fingers reached the juncture of her thighs and a thread of amusement rolled through her as he started, realizing that she didn’t wear any underwear. Breaking away from their kiss, he looked down at her, the light color of his eyes swallowed up by darkness. “Only ever leave your underthings off for me,” he demanded. “No other male… not unless you want him dead.”
Unable to speak, she just nodded, her breathing catching when he swept blunt-tipped fingers between her folds. They were slick, wet with the evidence of her arousal, which he gathered, smoothing the slickness up and over her clit. “This is mine, little Jess,” he murmured, lips against her jaw and the side of her throat. “I’ll have your release before I go, my name on your lips, but when I get back… you’re mine. Understand?”
She nodded, breathless with anticipation as his fingers explored her pussy lips, grazing against her swollen clit. Her breath caught at the slight contact and she arched her back, rocking her hips to try and get more sensation. He chuckled, hot mouth on her skin, and nipped her earlobe.
“Eager for me, are you, little one?” he murmured, the tip of his broad finger circling her pussy. She whimpered as he breached her body just a little before withdrawing.
“Not yet, I don’t think…” he breathed, kissing a trail of fire down her neck. Every cell in her body was focused on the path of his lips and that of his fingers as they stroked through her swollen pussy lips, slick with her own desire. He found her clit again, and she stiffened for a second. Then she whimpered as pleasure rolled through her, exploding out from her clit to fill her blood.
He murmured soft words in his own language as he kissed her and circled her clit in small strokes. Lifting her hands, she clung to his broad shoulders, her fingers biting in as he drove her nearly insane with his touch. Her clit ached with each stroke and she arched toward him, offering him more of herself. She needed more, needed his touch… needed him.
He moved, sliding a thick finger deep inside her. She whimpered, pressing her forehead to his shoulder as he slid it back and in again. Addi
ng a second finger, he used his free hand to tilt her head back.
“No, Jess, I want to see you. I want to see what I do to you. I want to see the expression on your face when I make you come. Your pleasure, the pleasure I give to you, is mine. Understand?”
She swallowed, nodding and biting her lip as he added another finger to slide deep. Her needy pussy clenched, gripping him as he fucked her with the long digits, pressing his thumb to her aching clit. His gaze locked to hers, she couldn’t look away. Her breath came in short pants and then a groan as he turned his hand and curled his fingers back to press against her g-spot.
“So sensitive,” he murmured, his expression tense and focused on her. “So tight… I’m going to enjoy making you mine. Stretching this sweet little pussy around my thick cock. Will you like that, little Jess… being taken and fucked by a warrior?”
Unable to speak, she nodded, a whimper falling from her lips as her hips began to move, rocking with his motions as her body tightened. Ripples of sensation fluttered through her, centering in her pussy. They grew stronger and tighter, her movements more needy until she was riding his hand, desperate to come.
“Laarn…” she begged. “Please. I need…”
His expression hardened, his eyes laser-focused on hers. “Come,” he ordered. “Now.”
It was as if her body had been waiting for his words, and rapture exploded through her, spiraling out from her core as she came around his fingers in a hot rush. The force of it sapped her strength, forcing her to cling to him more as she rode out the waves. He held her against his broad chest, stroking her through it. His thumb on her clit drew out the sensations until she shivered, lying limply against his chest and shoulder.
“You look wonderful when you come,” he murmured by her ear, “a sight I fully intend to enjoy again, soon, as you come all over my cock when I take you as mine.”
Pulling his hand from her, he lifted it to his lips and licked her essence from his fingers. The groan was purely masculine and full of hunger, a hunger that blazed in his eyes as he looked down at her.
“You’re mine, Jess. Remember that because I’ll be back.”
8
L aarn had been gone for nearly a week. Days without word from the battle group. Jess found herself jumping each time a door swished open, in case it was one of the emperor’s men to update them on the situation.
But it wasn’t. Apart from a simple message from Daaynal that all was proceeding as normal, they’d received no word from the battlefront.
“This is ridiculous! They must know something!” Kenna exploded into movement, leaping up from the low couches they’d been reclining on in the garden room attached to their suite. A pleasant breeze swept in from outside, but neither woman noticed the lovely summer day outside. Instead, Kenna was too busy pacing, a pissed expression on her face, and Jess herself was too… empty to enjoy the weather.
Instead, all she could think of was Laarn and the way he’d kissed her before he left. His clever fingers under her skirts, sliding into her pussy and against her clit to bring her to the strongest climax she’d ever had in her life. Everything seemed dull and flat without him here.
“I’m sure they’d have told us,” she said flatly, not watching as Kenna paced the exquisitely tiled floor. There was just the two of them in the suite, both Cat and Jane having gone with their husbands to the front.
“They should have,” the marine growled. “There’s no way they’re stupid enough as a warrior race to lose communications, so they have to be in contact with Xaan and his ships.”
Jess looked up, mustering a small smile despite her misery. “Oh… Xaan, is it?” she teased lightly. “Should we expect wedding bells soon?”
“Bite me, Kallson,” Kenna snarled back, flipping her the bird. “We’re just friends.”
At that Jess did chuckle. “That old chestnut? Spin me another.”
“You can talk,” Kenna shot back. “Mooning about after the healer… fuck, we’re as bad as each other.” She paused in front of the door, indecision on her face. “Fuck it. I’m going to get some answers. Daaynal will talk to me, even if I have to fucking sleep outside his door. You coming?” she asked, arching an eyebrow in question.
Jess shook her head. “No, I feel a little odd,” she said, pressing her hand over her stomach. “I think I’m going to head down to the medbay and get checked out. I think something I ate yesterday disagreed with me.”
“Okay, love. I’ll come find you if I get answers. Send someone for me if you need me, okay?”
Jess nodded, but the other woman was already gone before she’d finished hauling herself off the low couch. Her movements sluggish, she headed out of the women’s suite and made her way toward the medbay.
Once she got there though, she couldn’t face the thought of explaining to any of the healers, all tall, imposing Lathar with serious expressions who always seemed to look down their noses at her. They seemed to dislike her intently, possibly because she was here so often for tests. Why they didn’t like her for that, though, she didn’t know. Surely all efforts toward solving the problem were a good thing, right?
Obviously not. As soon as the doors swished open, they all studiously ignored her, obviously finding their screens more interesting than helping her. She shrugged to herself and walked through the main lab, heading for Laarn’s personal lab at the back. With the ridiculously advanced level of their technology, she was fairly sure she didn’t need them to find out if she had a stomach bug or not anyway. All she needed was to boot up one of those fancy diagnostic beds and have the computers scan her. She’d seen Laarn do it so many times, she was sure she could figure it out herself.
As she approached the back of the room, heading toward the double doors that led to Laarn’s lab, she resisted the urge to bite her lip in worry. She was going to look a right idiot if, with Laarn away, the lab didn’t let her in. But before she was within ten feet of the doors, the lights within flickered on and the doors swished open in front of her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she walked in and just stood in the center of the space for a moment as the doors shut behind her.
It was strange being in here without him, but there were reminders of him everywhere she looked. One of his sashes, teal to mark his role as a healer, hung on a hook on the wall next to a warrior’s leather jacket. On the counter to her left, the one he’d boosted her on and brought her to the most earth-shattering climax, was his mug. She couldn’t read Latharian, but she was fairly sure it was a humorous one, something along the lines of “Trust me, I’m a doctor.”
To her right was his office area, the surface of the desk littered with not paper, but the thin sheets of plastic-like material the Lathar used, all with Laarn’s distinctive scrawl across them. She could even smell his scent in the air, a combination of warm, clean man and some kind of citrus. That was one thing she’d noticed from the moment she’d met him… he smelled so good.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she drew a deep breath into her lungs and imagined he was here. It eased some of the ache in the center of her chest.
Opening her eyes, she brought herself back to reality and focused on the matter at hand. “I don’t feel well,” she announced to the air around her, knowing the lab’s AI system would be listening.
It was. The diagnostic bed in the middle of the floor lit up, the flashing lights running down the side of the padded mattress a silent invitation to lie down. Crossing the floor on slippered feet, Jess boosted herself up backward and swung her legs up to lie down in the middle. Once she had, the holo-arch lit up and she watched as the lights whirled and raced over it, scanning her.
“Subject scan complete. Patient alpha five seven nine, Jessica Kallson. Human female,” the AI announced. “Several in-progress tests for this subject. One complete and viable. Proceed?”
She nodded. Laarn always did a lot of tests on her to make sure she was fit and healthy before he moved on to analyzing her DNA. It seemed the bed was still set up in that routine. “Yes
, please.”
“Compliance.”
The lights whirled again, centering on her abdomen. She watched as they got faster and faster, and then the bed hummed like it was about to take off. Heat washed over her stomach for a moment, starting low down, just over her pelvis, and then washing up. A gasp broke from her lips at the intensity, but within a heartbeat it was gone as though it had never been there. Her hands went instantly to her stomach, expecting to find the fabric of her gown hot, but it wasn’t. The silk was just skin-warmed from the heat of her body within, nothing more. Huh, odd.
“Computer? Is that it? Am I okay?” she ventured as the holo-arch clicked off.
“Affirmative. Subject is running a slight temperature and scan reports slight gastro-intestinal distress but no viral or bacterial cause found. Recommend rest and light repast until condition resolves.”
She was okay. Jess breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been right, it must have been something she ate.
“Thank you, computer. Can I go now?” she asked as politely as if she’d been speaking to a flesh and blood medic. Since Laarn had told her the lab computer was a sentient AI, she’d treated it as a person, albeit an invisible one. It was only right.
“Affirmative. Please return at the same time tomorrow for condition check.”
“Err…” Jess paused in the middle of sliding off the bed. “Sure, if you need me to.”
The computer didn’t reply, but the lights at the back of the lab started to shut down. Obviously the AI was done with her. With a small shrug, Jess headed out of the lab, ignoring the healers in the main medbay as she left.
“MOVE ON THE LEFT FLANK!”
“Hold your fire! Wait for it…NOW!”
“Retreat! Retreat!”
“Don’t let the bastards get away!”
Laarn kept his head down as he made his way through the battlefield, his team around him. Two drakeen battle bots fought not a hundred feet away, arm cannons moving continuously as they swept the area for enemy forces that might have lingered after the battle.
