by Lilly Cain
Alinna gasped as David laid his hand flat against her sinaa, his big palm covering her. No sooner had she thought about how good his touch felt than he gave her wet skin a light slap. Shock and pleasure radiated from the tiny L’inar curling over the most sensitive skin on her body. She jerked, tried to clench her thighs shut as the pleasure took her almost to orgasm.
He slid a finger inside her, and she groaned his name. Slowly he withdrew, dragging wetness with him. He reached up and pinched her nipples before she could protest. The mild pain competed with the embarrassment she felt over her reaction and the sensation pulsing from her sinaa. Without warning, he repeated the slap to her wet skin. This time she did cry out, uncaring for the moment that he knew how much she liked his punishments. Ecstasy raced though her L’inar, and when he slid his finger inside her again, the pulsing sensations pushed her into the beginning of orgasm. Greedily her inner muscles clenched at his invading finger.
“No, no, sweetness. Not yet.” David pulled from her and moved off the bed.
Alinna groaned in frustration. Obeying might kill her after all. When she realized he’d left the room, she began to worry. A noise in the outer room told her he hadn’t left her quarters. Her heart beat hard. He wouldn’t report her already, leave her unsatisfied and give her away? She was about to call out when pressure on the bed, and his cool touch along the L’inar of her thigh, reassured her he wasn’t gone yet. But unsettled fear remained in her stomach.
Alinna jumped when David ran his fingers over her sinaa. His emotions were calm, focused and filled with lust. Fear was again forgotten. She moaned as he pushed open her inner lips, but the shock of something hard and cold being pressed against her was too much.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
David ignored her struggles as he stroked her sensitive skin. Alinna wiggled, realizing the freezing cold came from a piece of rapidly melting ice. Cold water dripped against her. She struggled against the ties on her wrists, but found they had tightened against her. She’d been right; he was testing her limits.
“Please, David. That’s cold!”
“Let me make it better.” His hot tongue licked the tight bundle of nerves at the core of her sinaa. Immediately the denied orgasm quivered to life within her, only to be put off again as he pushed another piece of ice against her.
“David, I need to release!” She pulled once more against the binding. “You keep stopping it.”
“I know.”
She whimpered. Immediately he withdrew the ice and licked her again. Pleasure rocked through her but was quickly eclipsed by the intense sensation of his cock, now feeling as hot as any Inarrii as it thrust against her, pushing her sinaa wide open until she took him all. His weight settled on her hips as he took her, driving his cock deep.
“Ya’sai lenali…” She called out to him until he covered her mouth with his, the hot smoky taste of his tongue mating with hers as he pumped his cock deep inside her. The words continued to resonate in her heart. With them, she admitted again what her body had been telling her—she loved this strange man. As her body began its final surrender, the shuddering waves of ecstasy rocking through her, doubt was pushed aside. She’d take him to the stars and show him her world.
Chapter Nine
Intense pleasure rocketed through David as he thrust within Alinna. She shuddered and called his name as her orgasm shattered through her, her pleasure and joy resonating within their shared mind contact. She’d called it m’ittar, but he’d call it heaven as his body reacted and his balls tightened. Muscles corded and strained with ecstasy as he seated himself deep within her. With a roar, he came apart, his seed shooting deep inside her.
For that one moment, he was complete.
Alinna pressed her face into his neck, murmuring words she’d said before. Her fluid language reminded him of the vids he’d once heard of a Polynesian singer. The auditory reminder of her foreign background made him raise his head to stare at her.
What the hell did I do?
He should have reported her the instant he knew something was off. But he hadn’t. He’d let her continue her charade as a psychtech, and when he’d discovered she was something far more alarming than an internal spy, he should have marched her right back into the security office. Fuck. I screwed an alien, as well as my career.
David rested his forehead against Alinna’s. She took the opportunity to leverage her lips against his, her kiss gentle. He should have turned her in, but he hadn’t, and the worst thing about it was he was glad he hadn’t.
Reaching up, he snagged the ties around her wrists, pulling at the knot until she was free. He stroked the soft, straight locks of her hair and slid the blindfold up over her forehead. She didn’t say a word, simply wrapped her arms around him, hugging him and looking at him with those bright green eyes.
Peace. David let himself relax. He listened to Alinna breathing underneath him and briefly thought about rolling off her. Instead he remained still, not wanting the moment to end. If he moved, things would change, and the peace would stop. He didn’t want that to happen, didn’t want to be forced to make a decision that would eventually end what he’d found with Alinna.
It was more than sex, although he could never tell her, and he hoped she would never find the truth within his mind. He felt something for her. Felt more than a desire to possess her or take her. He felt a connection, and it scared him. If he admitted it, what would he have to offer her? There could be nothing long-term between them. He had his career, or at least he hoped he still did when this was over.
But more than a career, the Starforce was a home for him. Alinna must have a career too, and he had a suspicion that he would not like what it was.
“Alinna…” David began, but was interrupted by the insistent chime of his compad. The unit was still attached to his pants, now lying crumpled on the floor.
“Shit. What now?” he growled as the compad blurted an urgency level reading he couldn’t ignore. He took a long breath, savoring the sharp citrus musk scent of Alinna’s heated skin. Then with a single fluid movement, he rolled away. She opened her arms, released him as he moved, her fingers trailing along his arm as he parted from her.
Grabbing the compad, he barked out an acknowledgement. “Yes.”
“Major—” panting breaths nearly eclipsed Branscombe’s voice, “—they’re here!”
“What? Who’s here?” David caught Alinna’s attention, placed his finger against his lips in a motion for silence, then shook his head. “Don’t say anything.” He threw the thought at her, and she nodded. “There’s definitely something to be said about this way of talking.” He thought he saw an answering spark of amusement in her eyes, but was certain of it when she responded.
“If we were talking— you were shouting.”
“…Starforce Intelligence Agency! They’re shutting it all down!” David tuned back in to what Branscombe was gasping into his ear.
“Say that again?”
“The You-fos are at the lab, and it’s only a matter of time until they head your way. They want to talk to you, and to Dr. MacPherson.”
David’s blood ran cold. Alinna’s eyes widened as she stared at him. Fuck.
He cut the channel. “Get up, quickly.” He bent to untie Alinna’s ankles. The scent of sex curled around him as he moved. “There are people on their way here who are looking for you.”
“David, I have to get out of here. I can’t be discovered. It will ruin everything.”
He stood and grabbed for his underwear and uniform pants. “I don’t know why you are here, Alinna, but I sure as hell don’t want to be found like this.”
“You mean you don’t want to be found with an alien. With an alien you had sex with,” she corrected herself, moving a little slower than he to reach for her clothes, but reaching for them nonetheless.
“No, I really don’t, but not because I’m ashamed of being with you.” He grabbed her arm. “I can still feel what you’re feeling, Alinna.” He stared at her, but her emer
ald eyes avoided his as she muffled the mental contact between them. “I don’t know exactly what they’re looking for, but I don’t think it’s going to take them long to put two and two together—not when they’re already looking in the right direction. We have to get you out of here.”
“You might not want to have anything to do with helping me when you know why I am here,” she murmured.
David zipped up his pants and made a grab for the undershirt he’d used to blindfold her with. She’d pulled on her cotton underpants as well and was yanking up her pants as she spoke. Her motions exposed the curving L’inar along her back. Beautiful.
“Okay, why are you here?”
“You know everything else, so you might as well know this. I was stationed here, well on the dark side of your moon, to observe your base and learn about you.”
For a moment his heart stuttered. “To invade?”
“No!” Warmth and reassurance rushed back to him. He felt the emotion as though a gentle hand pressed against his chest. “Never, David. I am Inarrii. We are an honorable race. We are here to find out if you would be a good match—if you could be a partner in the Confederacy.” She did touch him now, her hand catching his, her eyes looking deep into his. “We are here to offer a Treaty.”
David felt a chill run down his spine. Warm fuzzy feelings or no, no one offers something for nothing. “What do you want from us?”
“You have resources, minerals, people. We have technology and can offer you protection.”
“Protection from what?”
“The Raveners—a group of thieving, murderous races—roam space looking for unprotected planets. They take what they want and destroy what’s left. If they haven’t found you yet, they soon will. We did. The Intergalactic Confederacy is strong and large enough that our presence here, even if we are only negotiating a Treaty, will prevent them from attacking your world.”
David moved again, his thoughts whirling around him. Perhaps it was cynical, but he had a hard time believing anyone could be as truly generous as Alinna made her people out to be. He yanked the undershirt over his head. It smelled like her. Damn. He grabbed his uniform shirt, pulled it on over the undershirt and worked hard at keeping his thoughts and emotions calm. He’d just taken this woman, used her to fulfill a fantasy that had been in his mind for years, and if he had the chance, he’d do it again. He wanted to spend as much time as he could with her. But not at the expense of my world, my people.
* * *
Alinna shook her head. David was blocking her. Somehow he had learned to keep her from reading his emotions. She dressed quickly, but watched him from the corner of her eye. He moved stiffly, abruptly. Perhaps he thought that by hiding his emotions, he could lie to her, but his body told the truth. Despite the trust she’d shown him and the fact that she’d told him the truth about her mission, he didn’t believe her. Or at very least, he was uncertain of her motivation.
There wasn’t time to convince him, but without his help, she doubted she could get back to her ship, to her people. Without his help, the Treaty might be over before it started. It had happened before, distrust driving entire races away from the Confederacy and right into the arms of the Raveners. She rushed to finish dressing. There had to be a way to convince him and find the emotions she’d sensed beginning to blossom within his heart. There had been caring there, and hope.
She was shoving her feet into the soft-soled shoes of her uniform when he surprised her again.
“You must’ve learned a lot running those tests on my team.”
She glanced at him. His face was stony, his movements tight as he strapped on his heavier boots. “I did.”
“What did you expect to learn from me?”
“What I learned from them. That you are an intelligent, caring, funny, compassionate and passionate people. Complex, but generally honorable.” She took a step toward him, but he turned away.
“We have to get out of here, right now.” The terse words rang with the same tension she could feel within him.
“Where are we going to go?”
He glanced back at her. “Damn good question. Come on.”
David stalked to the door. She followed, then dashed back to the room to grab the emergency pack hidden away in one of the bedside drawers. When she turned back to follow him again, she nearly crashed into his wide chest. He’d come back when she didn’t follow immediately, and now he gripped her arms. His face could have been part of a statue carved from stone and dedicated to the gods, except for the narrowness of his lips and the angry tick of motion along his jawline.
He snatched the bag from her hands, struggled with the opening until he ripped the tocuh seal on the pouch. She let him rip at it. He needed to take his anger out on something. He stared at the contents.
“Emergency rations from home,” she said, “or the wrappers from them anyway. I wasn’t sure how to get rid of them.”
“The recycler would have done it.”
“I couldn’t get the thing to open up.”
Amusement glinted from his eyes, and Alinna felt relief flash through her like a flood over the wash plains of her home. She swallowed hard. What he thought, what he felt, meant so much to her. The relief seeped away at the thought. She’d given her heart away and doubted she would get it back. She closed her eyes against the result of her own stupidity, only to find herself jerked along by her arm as David dragged her with him toward the door.
“Your ship crashed. That’s what we found in the woods. You melted it, how?”
“Internal self-destruct mechanism. Why?” She couldn’t follow him, not his thoughts or, it seemed, his pace. She stumbled as he paused to wrench the door open and scan the corridor.
“It was pretty small. You couldn’t have been coming from very far.”
“I didn’t.” She debated within herself. You’ve told him everything else; tell him everything. She couldn’t do that, not quite. She couldn’t tell him she loved him, or that they had nearly completed the Inarrii mating ritual. “That was my observation pod. My shuttle is on your moon, dark side.”
“Come on.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her into the hallway with him.
“Where?”
David stayed silent, moving them along at a brisk pace and checking the hallways as they moved.
“There’s no one in the next hall if we are going to stay on this route,” she told him. Her leg began to ache again as she kept to his pace.
“You can sense that.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered him anyway. “Yes, and you could too, if you were trained.”
“Trained. You’re looking for pets?” The grip he had on her elbow tightened.
Alinna broke her stride, coming to a complete stop. According to her internal comlink, they were nearing the security office, but also the exterior wall of the building. David needed to make up his mind now. Turn her in, or help her escape.
She wrenched her hand from his.
“Trained the way I am, to read and understand emotions and thoughts, to share them with another. M’ittar is a celebrated gift and is shared with my people and yours. That, more than anything I have learned about your people, is worth crashing on your planet. But if you are going to be so paranoid that you’re going to drag me to your security office and tell the world an alien has been spying on Starforce, that I used some sort of power to make you sleep with me or whatever else you are worried about in that blocked-up mind of yours, then go ahead.”
David stared at her. Then he blinked and shook his head, a grin breaking out over his wide mouth. “Are you done?”
“Are you?”
“Nope, but we’ll have to get out of here before I can talk to you anymore about this.” He grabbed her hand again. She let him, finding a seed of joy within herself that pushed her to keep pace with him again. She had no idea what he found funny about her or this situation, but a twinkle of humor glinted along the edge of his mental barrier.
They passed the corridor
that led toward security and turned left instead. Alinna’s internal map told her they were about to leave the building. Was he hiding her in the woods? She couldn’t stay there for long. Worry had the L’inar along her shoulders tightening. “David…” Her voice trailed off. She blinked in the sudden stream of bright sunlight as he threw open the door.
“Just stay calm and follow my lead.” He gave her hand a little squeeze.
* * *
David cut across the field outside Building 4B. A dusty trail broke the short-cropped grass, and he followed it, taking the same pathway he and his pilots had used for the last several months while on the base. The first time they’d walked this way, Second Lieutenant Sven Olens had lain right down on the green stalks and rolled. David sighed. What he was about to do went against everything he and his team fought for. He was about to kill any chance he had left of being a team leader, maybe of even being a pilot. He was about to risk his future, perhaps his life, and maybe even the safety of the world.
But he believed her.
He felt it—knew it in his bones. She was telling the truth about who she was, what her people were, why they were here. And he hadn’t missed the fear in her eyes or her voice when she talked about the Raveners. Whatever they were, they were a threat to Alinna’s people and to Earth.
Maybe he had been brainwashed. Maybe he was doing exactly as she had planned, rescuing a damsel in distress—a spy, for God’s sake. Or maybe he was just thinking with his cock. Maybe he’d just take her back to wherever the hell she came from and just go home, pretend this never happened. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck inside his uniform. That would never happen. Whatever fucked-up thing he was getting into, it would never be the same again.
He should go back. Even now, he should stop and drag Alinna back to security. Nope, not going to happen. Whatever arguments his head might come up with, his gut knew better, and this far into his life as a pilot, he trusted his gut.
“Major Brown.” A young patrolman came to alert and made his salute as David and Alinna reached the shuttle hangar.
