by Lilly Cain
Just as she relaxed, he sucked the first of her toes into his hot wet mouth.
“What are you doing?” She sent the question through their linked mind and felt him respond. She could sense his pleasure at being able to touch her in any way he chose. Lust flickered through him at the sense of control and she gasped. She was experiencing his pleasure, could literally feel the anticipation and throbbing tightness of his cock. She jerked back but he held tight and gave her heel a little nip and her inner thigh a light slap.
Pleasure, with the slightest hint of pain, radiated through her from her thigh. This time he gasped.
“I can feel you…” His metal voice was a whisper but much clearer than she expected.
“This isn’t normal—” she began, but he gave her other thigh a quick slap as well and her thoughts were scattered as they both rocked with the sensation.
“I like feeling you. In fact, I intend to feel everything.” His thoughts were stronger now, his excitement giving them a power she would never have expected from an untrained m’ittar.
Sarina worked to recover from her shock, but he was quicker, and she almost didn’t see him reach back to the tank and grab a handful of the bio gel. Her eyes widened as he grinned at her. Before she could ask what he was doing, he began to spread the tingling slime over her feet and up the length of her calves. The warm gel carried a small electric charge to encourage the growth of oxygen-producing bacteria, but tank two was a clean, nonliving area. She tried to pull away, but as he soothed the charged gel against her skin she relaxed. It felt…like her L’inar reached her very toes.
“You know,” she said, sighing in pleasure through their link, “this much electro gel costs more than my annual salary.”
He laughed and the sound bounced against her with a burst of warmth. She realized then that their link was strong enough for him to hear her. That wasn’t always possible between human and Inarrii. She nearly joined him in laughter, but he nudged her and she willingly rolled over. He began to rub the gel into the delicate skin behind her knees. She moaned, already imagining what the tingling warm goo would feel like being massaged into her L’inar. His hands on her were a contrast of cool skin and heated gel. More, she could almost feel the silken texture of her skin through his thoughts.
“You like this. I like this. Who the hell cares what anything costs.” She heard his jumbled message and relaxed further, until he slathered the first handful of gel up the backs of her thighs and across her ass. Then she heard nothing, felt nothing except the throbbing of her L’inar as they reacted to the electric charge of the gel, the caress of his fingers. Each segment that he brushed with gel sent sensation directly to her sinaa in a shuddering wave of ecstasy.
“John,” she groaned aloud. She writhed beneath his hands as they painted her hips and sides with gel. She pulled her weight up onto her knees and pressed back against him, half sobbing with need and disappointment when she realized he was still clothed. The rough material of his shipsuit dragged against her nerve lines and she shuddered.
He reached under her and fingered the hard, thin ridges of her L’inar patterns around the wet pool of her sinaa, finally dipping inside. When she cried out in pleasure, his moan matched hers. She could feel the tightness of his cock through his shipsuit and realized suddenly that he was using his clothing as a last measure to control his own reaction.
“I want you inside me.” She managed to pass the message through their thoughts.
The sweet sound of his shipsuit being opened rewarded her efforts.
His body pressed against hers, the cool, clean skin of his belly and hips sticking to the layer of charged bio gel on her ass. The hard outline of his cock pressed against her. He held her tightly against his chest for just a moment, his breath a ragged sound in her ear. But he wasn’t finished, wasn’t ready to take her. She nearly begged for mercy when he pulled away. Where was her warrior determination now? She could only whimper when he fought his own desire and continued to spread the charged gel up her back, stroking her nerve lines with each pass of his hand.
Wild, uncontrolled ripples of sensation undulated through her L’inar. He flipped her over, his strength far beyond hers at this moment. She could only ride the waves of pleasure as he continued to coat her in the clear gel. He was half covered in it himself and her mind buzzed with the overlapping of his experience with hers. There were no words for it. He caressed her breasts with wet fingers, tracing the lines of her stiffened L’inar. Muted recognition whispered though her; his actions followed the wet trail that lips and tongue would have traced if he were an Inarrii pledging his desire to permanently mate.
She bucked under him, rubbing her soaking sinaa against his cock. Now she did beg, with her body and voice. “Please, John.”
Sarina kissed his chest in desperation, feeling the crisp hairs with her lips, and their mind contact tightened. She was aware of his skin where her lips touched it, and the pleasure he felt at her abandon. It had been too long since her last orgasm, and she shuddered with need. At this moment she would have agreed to do anything for him, and through their link he knew it.
But he held back, dripped more gel over her breasts and nipples, painting every inch of her skin. Everything was wet, their bodies gliding together with only the tingling gel between them.
John pulled back and she moaned in dismay. But he took a seat on the bench beside her and caught her up by her upper arms. He pulled her up on top of him. She cried out as the gel on his hands coated the scars on her upper arm and connected her severed L’inar to the whole nerves on her upper shoulder, just as he positioned her over his cock. Her body thrilled, and she trembled in reaction as nerves met. He chose that instant to lower her sinaa onto him, impaling her and making her whole all at once.
She rocked on his cock, so much thicker than any Inarrii, and rode the waves of her first orgasm in months. Wave after wave crested over her. She pulled nearly off of him only to plunge down again and again. Her final peak tore a scream from her lips.
John cried out her name as he thrust under her. He was coming, his orgasm hot inside her before hers had even begun to subside. The pleasure was intense; she could feel the pressure build and explode within him. Her sinaa clenched tight around him as she shuddered in a second orgasm. The power of the combined ecstasy bouncing between them wrung a scream from her throat and she rocked again with him until they lay spent in each other’s arms.
She shivered against him. Finally, she was once again more than a warrior at the end of her days. She felt like a person again, wonderfully female and alive.
Chapter Seven
“Damn,” John managed after long moments of silence. Sarina shivered at his exclamation. “That was so good, but so fast. I wanted to go slow…” He panted the words, but they failed to express what he felt. There was no way to explain what he’d experienced with her, the way that for long moments pressed against her he felt a part of something greater, or how he wanted it to go on, and never stop.
“I know, but I couldn’t wait. I needed you.”
Her thoughts sounded as clear to him as if she had spoken aloud. Mind contact was so much more than he had imagined. When she came he couldn’t hold back; his orgasm had rushed to meet hers as he felt each throbbing pulse of her pleasure. It had been fast but was also easily the most erotic experience of his life, feeling her pulse all around him and within him as she tipped over the edge and gave herself up completely to the sensation. She pulled him with her, the lines of her L’inar burning along his skin as they tightened on hers.
But if she thought he was finished, she was wrong.
He let go of her arms and she sagged against his chest, her eyes closed. Carefully he began to trace the nerve lines, now nearly flat, around her hip bones. She murmured something he couldn’t understand and then repeated it again, louder as he stroked the few thin lines that edged the
curves of her ass.
“Ya’sai lenali.”
He rolled his hips, testing his half-hard cock within her. He could still feel her pleasure, the echo of each thing she was experiencing, nearly as strongly as his own sensual reaction to their bodies touching. Dear God, if this is what sex is always like between the Inarrii, no wonder it’s so important to them. Carefully he levered himself down flat on the long, low bench and pulled her along with him until her full weight centered on him. She was completely relaxed, her muscles lax to his touch.
“What does that mean? Ya’sai lenali?”
“It means…more, please.”
His cock hardened. There were a hundred ways he wanted to give her more. The hard warrior woman had dissolved in his arms until she was pure sex. Both versions of Sarina had more appeal than any of the women he’d slept with in the last year.
“You have had sex with many women.”
John gripped her a little closer. She was catching small pieces of his thoughts. But things could go two ways. “You have spent too much time alone.”
“It’s hard to find a partner at times, even among bunkmates on a mission.” She replied through their link but avoided his underlying question as easily as he had slipped past hers.
The use of her word, partner, tugged at him, reminded him of his earlier thoughts on why he worked alone. “Bunkmates are better than partners. Less of a distraction.”
She looked at him, her bright green eyes still faintly clouded with pleasure. “Caring for a partner makes you fight harder to protect them.”
The thought was too deep for him to handle right now. He wanted to pleasure her, to bring her a level of ecstasy that would make them both forget their past. John scraped a finger over the L’inar along Sarina’s outer thigh and gathered a layer of bio gel from her skin. The gel tingled, still maintaining its mild charge. Each touch resonated within him as he felt her react in pleasure. His own thigh quivered, and answering throbs of pleasure wound within his cock, just as they pulsed within Sarina. M’ittar ecstasy. He imagined how good it would feel to go down on her, for both of them. Slowly he began to rock his hips, pulling his cock out of her slightly and rocking it back inside. She moaned and lifted her hips, put her weight on her knees and giving him more room. She pressed her mouth against his neck, licking the soft skin above his collarbone.
John slid his wet finger down the curve of Sarina’s ass and pressed it against her tight opening. She gasped, her body shuddering as he penetrated her slightly. John jerked as the sensation echoed through their mind contact. He thrust his cock harder into her and used his other hand to stroke the rippling nerve lines along her back. Pleasure streaked across his body.
“I didn’t think I could feel this again.” Her thoughts passed to him on a crest of sensation.
“Why not?” He brushed the thought back to her, softly, like a silent whisper.
“My L’inar, they are broken. I am broken…”
“You seem fine to me.” John replied lightly but his heart clenched. She believed herself to be damaged. The urge to prove to her that she was perfect for him surged, but he kept his pace steady. Her emotions were erratic, filtering through to him through her pleasure. What would she feel from him? She might take concern for pity, and that would be the last thing she needed. Instead he poured desire through their link and focused on her body.
He was fucking her, taking her with cock and fingers and possessing her, and at the same time he was experiencing what she felt as she submitted and was overcome by sensation. It was almost too much, but her need washed over him and he took more, slowly fucking her ass and her pussy, driving her with sensation and accepting it himself until she whimpered and covered his neck and chest in a pattern of kisses only she could understand.
* * *
This was exactly what she had needed. Total, utter release. She pulsed around him, the muscles of her pussy milking come from him as they rocked together in orgasm. He was perfect, accepting their link like he was born to it and using it to cascade his experience into her mind until their combination of pleasure spiked within her.
Finally Sarina lay down against John’s heaving chest. Beyond the soft hum of machinery and their quick breaths, she heard the strong muscle of his human heart slow to a more regular rhythm beneath her. Relief poured through her until she trembled with the power of it. She would not lose her mind, not have to see her career crumble, not have to end her life before she became a burden to her clan.
“Shh.” John made a soft noise and cuddled her closer.
Even his gentle caress against the flattened nerve lines on her back was a source of joy. She could relax, knowing he could help her find release again when she needed it. He’d be happy to. She lifted her head from his chest to look at his face and then grimaced at the way her cheek stuck to him. The bio gel had finally cooled and lost its charge.
“Come on, let’s go get cleaned up.” She pulled herself away from him, despite the fact that part of her would prefer to lay there against him, possibly for days. Being so close to someone again, knowing they could find joy in each other’s arms, it was something she hadn’t known was so important until it was taken from her. But there wasn’t time to think about that now.
They were still at risk in the tiny base. She couldn’t find it in herself to regret the time they’d taken together; it relieved the stress and made them both more alert and ready. The proximity alarm hadn’t triggered during their idyll together, but it was only a matter of time before their enemy searched the area more thoroughly. John was a target of the Ravener and Terran Purity alliance. He was no ordinary paper-pushing lawyer. Something about him was more. He was bringing the danger to them. And yet, he might be the only one whose m’ittar meshed with hers to the point where she forgot herself and experienced only their combined sensations. He made her whole again.
She tightened her jaw muscles. Determination sent strength flooding through her system. She was whole again, and she’d be damned if she would fail at her mission. Her clan might have accepted her as a lost cause, but she would prove them wrong.
John groaned as she rolled off of him, but he levered himself up on the bench and rubbed a hand over his face. “God, woman. You blow my mind with wicked sex and then you want to hop right up and get moving again?”
He complained, but she sensed the humor and acceptance in his words. Their link hadn’t faded completely; it still remained in the background despite the fact that they were no longer touching. A tiny finger of satisfaction wrapped around her. She’d had an affect on him. They’d joined minds in a rare mirror link and his walls hadn’t completely returned afterward. She smiled at him and he grinned back. She picked up her uniform and weapons harness and he snagged his shipsuit and bag, along with both their boots.
Satisfaction edged into worry and she turned away, headed for the cleanser unit attached to the sleeproom. They’d formed an attachment, but it wasn’t one that could last. They were from different worlds, literally and figuratively. What if he was the only one who could join with her? No Inarrii seemed willing to try, and she had no idea how many humans had enough m’ittar to form a mirror link. It was extremely rare, even among Inarrii. Desperation beat an uncomfortable rhythm in the pit of her belly. What if she couldn’t reach completion without it? What if John was her only mirror?
She hurried to the ultrasonic cleanser, dumping her things on the floor nearby. John followed only a few steps behind. Her thoughts raced back and forth. How had they achieved the sensory mirror? Was it something unique to John, or the combination of their two minds? Or was it the situation, the danger and their intense shared desire? She thought back to the various medtechs that had discussed her case. No one had mentioned anything like this to her as a possible treatment. She paused before she opened the cleanser unit. Medtech Yassin had said something about electro gel just before they had disc
ussed John’s status on the medtech shuttle. For the first time since her injury, she wished she’d spent more time with the medical staff. Could the gel have been the answer?
“What’s wrong?” John touched her shoulder. His concern echoed over their link. She was sensing his emotions, vague feelings rather than specific directed thoughts and images. The rest of his mind was shut again, but that was for the best—she had no desire to share her personal worries, or her suspicions.
Sarina opened the cleanser. “Nothing. But I’ll feel better being dressed and prepared, just in case someone comes looking for us.”
John’s lips tilted down slightly at the corners.
She turned away and stepped into the cleanser. She reached to shut the door behind her, but he blocked the door with his body as he climbed into the unit with her, pressing her nearly to the back wall. He pulled the door shut behind him.
“Are you sorry we had sex?” His blunt question took her off guard. It was a question no Inarrii would ask, because who would regret finding release in the arms of the willing?
“No. Of course not.” She emphasized her surprise and rejection at the idea through their link. His gray eyes seemed cooler now. She looked away. How could she admit that she was worried that it might not happen again? Or that it would, but only with him? More frightening than anything else, a final question whispered inside her—what if she could experience release with someone else, but she only ever wanted him?
