“Aidan?” Her whisper would’ve been missed by ears that were any less sharp than his. “Is something wrong?”
Strange she should ask that of him, rather than the other way around. “No. Are you okay?”
“I had the most awful dream,” she replied. “I was back on Ecos, watching everyone die.” Her sentence ended on a sob that would’ve melted the heart of the most ruthless bastard in existence—a description that didn’t apply to Aidan in any respect.
In an instant, he was beside her on the bed with his arms around her trembling shoulders. Her tears trickled down his bare chest in miniature rivers until her weeping finally ceased.
“This is the first time I’ve cried,” she whispered as she wiped her eyes. “I was fired up before—blazingly angry and determined to avenge the innocent victims, Raj most of all. I had plenty of time to grieve while I was alone on that ship, but I never did. Never allowed myself to waste a moment on anything other than my plans for seeking justice. Now, I have no choice but to lie here and feel the pain and suffering of those people as if it had been my own.”
She raised her head slightly, peering up at him in the darkness. His exceptional night vision revealed not only her tragic expression, but also the reflection of his glowing pupils in her eyes. “This is what it’s like when you sense someone’s future, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I feel it all—the pain, the suffering, and sometimes even the remorse. It’s strange the way so many heartless beings only feel regret at the end when the torment they’ve wreaked on others finally befalls them. Prior to that moment, they had no compassion whatsoever, not for anyone.” He blinked back his own hot, angry tears. This was not the time for him to succumb. Not when Sula needed to be comforted.
“And right now, you can’t even fly to avoid the sadness.” A short laugh escaped her. “Or cook anything. I can’t do either one.”
“Those are only my means of coping. You must have a few of your own.”
“I suppose I do,” she admitted. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember what they are, although I do like to read.”
“I can help you with that,” he said, eager to do whatever he could to alleviate her suffering—or at least distract her from it. “I have a library link pad with access to every book ever written and every song ever recorded.”
“I might have to borrow that from you.”
“I probably should’ve given it to you sooner.” He hesitated, recalling one of her previous comments. “A while ago, you asked if I’d ever been in love. Did being in love make things easier for you?”
“Sometimes,” she replied. “Having someone to love gives you a sounding board, someone with whom to share ideas and”—her voice dropped a notch in volume—“secrets.”
“We’ve done that, haven’t we?”
“I believe we did.”
In another place and time, he would’ve kissed away her tears and made love to her until nothing existed to come between them—no secrets, no uncertainty, no mysteries.
He’d never done that with anyone. Never felt free enough to allow himself the luxury of falling in love, or even engaging in meaningless sex. Zetith’s tragic history was quite enough to keep him from spreading his seed—or snard as it was called in his native tongue—indiscriminately. That sort of thing had been attempted before, with disastrous results. Snard was more than mere semen; it was as sweet and addicting as the euphoria it induced.
Sula knew that. Or at least he assumed she did. Snard was, after all, the cause of his species’ downfall and might’ve eventually resulted in their extinction had events played out differently—more than enough to earn a mention in any textbook on the subject.
Shifting in his embrace, Sula cleared her throat. “You should get back to bed. I’ve kept you up long enough.”
“Don’t give it a thought.” He released her with even more reluctance than when he’d laid her on the bed. “After all, I’m not the one with a broken leg.”
“Maybe not, but your life has certainly been turned upside down today.”
He smiled. “My life needed to be turned upside down. Something tells me this is going to be a change for the better.”
* * *
If it hadn’t been for her broken leg, Sula would’ve counted this among one of the best days of her life. She’d made two new friends, found the evidence she’d been searching for, and, of course, she’d met Aidan.
Aidan, who was currently sitting on her bed in the middle of the night, gazing at her with the shining eyes of a cat waiting to pounce.
She tilted her head. “A change for the better… Would that be foretelling your own future?”
“No,” he replied. “I’ve never been able to do that. I can only predict other people’s futures, which means that stopping off in the casino district would leave my pockets as empty as any other hapless visitor’s.”
“Not much of a gambler, then?”
“Not really. I’ve never seen the attraction. Oh sure, winning would be great, but it’s such a rare event.”
“You have better things to do?”
“Something like that.”
Sula could think of several better things, starting with discovering what it was like to kiss a man who sported a pair of rather sharp-looking fangs. Would it hurt to kiss him? Or would she even notice the fangs? She also longed to learn how it felt to kiss a man who, if she remembered correctly, wouldn’t have any beard stubble to scratch her face raw.
Without thinking, she raised a hand to stroke his cheek and found it to be as smooth as her own. “You guys don’t grow beards, do you?”
“Nope. We don’t have to shave our faces, and we hardly ever cut our hair.”
“I didn’t think you did.” Smiling, she lowered her hand. “Please forgive my curiosity. I find your species…fascinating.”
The golden glow emanating from his eyes burned brighter for an instant. “Only my species?”
“And you, of course. You’re the only Zetithian I’ve ever met.” She studied his eyes for a moment. “I didn’t notice how different your eyes were during the day, but at night…I’d almost forgotten about the glowing vertical pupils.”
“Just another part of our charm.” Judging from his light, mocking tone, he didn’t take himself or his exotic feline eyes too seriously.
“You certainly have plenty of that.” What he didn’t appear to have was even the slightest hint of conceit. She thought it strange that such a handsome and apparently wealthy man would be so humble, although that was also reputed to be a common trait among Zetithian males.
Excellent lovers and fighters, her professor had announced to the class. But not an arrogant alpha male among them. Apparently, he had believed this, for his statement had contained no derision whatsoever. Having finally met a Zetithian man, Sula was inclined to agree.
“Do I really?” Aidan’s voice sounded strangely muted, until a louder rumble captured her attention.
He’s purring.
He’d done it before, more as a means of soothing her than an attempt at seduction. This time, she wasn’t sure what he meant by it.
“Is that another part of your charm?” she asked.
“What, you mean my purring?” His voice deepened along with his purr. “Yes, I suppose it is. Do you want me to stop?”
“Not particularly. I like the way it sounds—and the way it makes me feel.”
“How does it make you feel?” he asked. “Or is that something you’d rather I didn’t know?”
“I wouldn’t mind telling you if I knew myself.” She’d told him it was comforting before. Now, it was… “Pleasant, perhaps?”
“Pleasant is good.” Once again, fire blazed in his eyes. “I’ll be able to tell when that changes.”
Time to play dumb. “How so?”
“Your scent will become more…enticing.”
He blinked slowly, as though lowering the shades over his gleaming eyes. “But you already knew that.”
Nodding, she traced the inner edge of her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I wanted to hear you say it.”
“Why is that so important?”
“It helps me understand more about the nature of your”—she deliberately avoided using the word desires—“intentions.”
“My intentions?” If the room had been completely dark, she might’ve missed his heart-stopping smile. “Entirely honorable, I assure you.”
“I can believe that.” By all accounts, Zetithians were nothing if not honorable, and Sula had yet to discover any reason to suspect Aidan of deviating from the norm.
I still want to kiss him.
The effect her scent had on him remained a mystery. However, his delightful aroma or aura or whatever it might be was certainly affecting her. Her mouth watered, and she swallowed with a surprising degree of difficulty. How could she encourage him to kiss her without actually asking him? Flirtation had never been her strong suit, and she’d already wet her lips once. What more could she possibly do?
In the end, all she did was sigh. “I guess we should both try to get a little more sleep.”
His eyes dimmed slightly as he nodded. “Without sufficient rest, your leg won’t mend as quickly as it should.”
For a few precious moments, she’d almost forgotten the pain in her leg. “My mother would say the same thing.” With a quiet laugh, she added, “Only she would’ve used kisses to hasten the healing process.”
“I can do that.”
“I’m sure you can. The question is whether or not you will.”
“Completely willing and entirely able,” he whispered. “Where should I start?”
Despite longing to simply tap her lips with a fingertip, she opted for the obvious reply. “My toes?”
Without hesitation, he pulled back the blanket and leaned over, pressing his lips to her right great toe.
“Wrong foot,” she chided.
“I know.” With a wicked grin, he switched to her other foot, scattering warm, wet kisses from her toes to her knee, even dropping an achingly gentle one over the break where her flesh was the tenderest. Her skin tingled from his touch, the wave of goose bumps traveling up her leg to the point where her thighs met. Heat flooded her core as desire crashed through her body. Her nipples tightened almost painfully, as did her clitoris.
After placing yet another kiss on her knee, Aidan rolled up onto his hands and knees and began crawling toward her, his low, rumbling purr more pronounced than ever. The radiance from his eyes cast shadows on her rumpled clothing, highlighting her erect nipples. She’d been embarrassed when they’d strained against her T-shirt a few hours earlier. Now they stood like beacons, hopefully luring his beguiling lips to hers.
As his gaze swept upward to linger on her face, he drew in a deep breath that was immediately followed by a sharp, explosive purr. He crawled toward her so slowly, she wanted to scream in frustration. She knew exactly what he was doing. He was giving her every opportunity to push him away. A single word would’ve sufficed, yet she remained silent. His hair hung down on either side of his face, tickling her arms as he advanced. Grasping his golden curls with both hands, she pulled him down and kissed him.
The pressure of his lips on hers deepened in infinitesimal increments as his purr sent passionate vibrations rippling throughout her body. No longer able to deny her hunger for him, she longed to yank up her shirt and expose her bare skin to his gaze, his touch, and most of all, his lips.
Releasing her grip on his hair, she let her hands glide across his shoulders and down his back, stopping only when she reached the edge of his loose-fitting trousers. If she were to slide her fingertips beneath the waistband, she might get more from him than a simple kiss. And yet, as his tongue slipped past her parted lips, her clit tightened, and her core began to ache with need—sensations she never dreamed she would ever experience again.
Arching her back, she pressed her breasts upward and shifted side to side, rubbing their taut peaks against his chest. Shocking, delightfully erotic images flowed through her mind: his cock gliding over every erogenous zone in her body, its firm warmth against her lips, in her mouth, and plunging deep inside her. Passion nearly overcame her better judgment, and she fought the urge to reach for his cock. She could almost feel her inner muscles clasping his stiff shaft as he thrust into her again and again and again. She could scarcely wait to taste his snard, to revel in its sweetness, and to bask in the cloud of euphoria it would create. Only Zetithian men produced the marvelous secretions that made practically every woman in the galaxy wish the men of their species could do the same—something many of those men undoubtedly wished themselves.
Sula had only known Aidan for less than a day, and already she’d been captured in a spell cast by his powerful sexual magic. What would happen when she finally surrendered to her desires? Receiving the full force of this man’s sexuality would undoubtedly bind her to him for life. Once that occurred, would she abandon her quest for the shelter of his arms, or would he fight alongside her as her most valiant ally?
Chapter 12
The woman has a broken leg so she can’t even run away from me, and I only met her a few hours ago. What in the world am I doing in her bed?
The same thought must’ve occurred to her because Sula stiffened in his arms.
Aidan sat back, thankful he hadn’t followed his inclination to tear off her clothes with his teeth. “Go ahead,” he said ruefully. “Tell me to get my ass out of here before I do something stupid.”
She grimaced. “You mean before I do something stupid, which, I might add, I was just about to do.”
He was dying to know what she might’ve considered stupid, but he was also a little afraid to find out—especially if she’d been fixing to slap the hell out of him, which was no less than he deserved. He couldn’t blame her for kissing him. After all, he’d been the one doing the purring.
Still, she was Terran, not Zetithian. If she hadn’t wanted to kiss him, purring wouldn’t have made her do it. Come to think of it, purring didn’t guarantee success, even with a female of his own species.
Cheered by this realization, he rose from the bed, hoping her night vision wasn’t sharp enough to spot the incredible boner her scent had bestowed upon him. No doubt a few breaths of fresh air would cause it to subside, but it felt so damn good. He would’ve preferred to stick around and enjoy it for a while.
Not tonight.
“Okay. I’m leaving. For the record, you weren’t about to kick me in the nuts or anything of that nature, were you?”
Sula didn’t answer him right away, which wasn’t too surprising. Laughing one’s ass off tended to make coherent speech difficult, if not impossible.
“No,” she finally said, her voice still quaking with mirth. “Nothing like that.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Good night, Aidan. Sleep well.”
“Good night, Sula,” he said and—because he believed it would’ve been rude of him not to—bent down and kissed her cheek. “Sweet dreams.”
The mention of dreams gave him plenty of food for thought as he made his way back to his room. To hear her tell it, they’d both had similar dreams. That she would dream about people dying on Ecos wasn’t unexpected, but for him to have the same dream seemed odd. Was he so in sync with her that they shared dreams?
With that question to ponder, by the time he reached his bed, Aidan’s erection was history. However, having done it to him once, the chances she would do it again were excellent. Too bad they weren’t alone in the house. From now on, he would have to stay upwind of Sula anytime her caregivers were present, which was much easier said than done—unless she could control her desire a whole lot better than he could.
Women were like that. Their desires didn’t run quite
as rampant as those of men, or so he’d been told. Nevertheless, it didn’t pay to generalize, especially when it came to feelings. No two beings were alike in that respect, and he had his empathic sister to thank for that insight.
No two people can witness the same event and react exactly the same way, Althea had said. It’s always personal.
He’d certainly taken that kiss personally, and he’d felt it all the way to his dick.
Sula’s kissed me twice now.
With that in mind, he was still smiling when he finally drifted off to sleep.
* * *
The following morning, Aidan was already in the kitchen fixing breakfast when Rashe arrived with a hoverchair piled high with groceries. After handing Aidan what appeared to be a nightgown, he maneuvered the chair over to the stasis unit. “Dude, did you know there’s a creepy-looking Terran hanging around your neighborhood?”
“Seriously?” Aidan’s first thought was that Sula’s would-be assassin had somehow discovered her whereabouts, although he couldn’t fathom how anyone could possibly know she was staying in his house.
“Yeah, and if looks could kill, I’d be pushing up daisies for sure.”
“Was he armed?”
“Not that I could see.” He set a bag containing four loaves of bread on the table. “But he probably saw me unloading this stuff, so he knows you’ve got company. Might not know who, but you get the idea.”
Aidan gritted his teeth. “Dammit! I’ll swear no one saw me bring her in here. Even if someone saw Abuti and Qinta arrive, they wouldn’t have any reason to assume the girls were here to take care of a woman with a broken leg—or who that woman was.”
“One thing for sure, nobody at the orphanage could’ve ratted on her. None of us knew her identity, much less who to tell about her.” Rashe dumped a sack of fruit on the table. “I got that splint kit you asked for. Ever used one before?”
“Not personally, but I’ve seen it done. Aldrik broke his leg falling off a tower at the spaceport on Traxus Five when we were kids. Mom had him walking again in a couple of days.”
Mystic Page 11
