by Stella Sky
I wanted to believe his words, to just escape my own head and allow the pleasure he was engulfing me with to spread through every small crevice of my body. It was all I could do to keep from declaring that I believed what he said, that I would do whatever I could to make his vision my reality. Even though my brain wasn’t working at full capacity, I just couldn’t make that commitment.
Still, my body was a traitor, and wave after wave of pleasure coursed through me as Pyre slowly began to strip us both, his warm fingers and hot tongue testing and tasting me, causing my breath to catch in my throat as he examined me closely and sensually, almost as if I were a perplexing mystery he was eager to unravel. I had never felt so treasured – so seen – in all my life.
“Please, say you will be mine, Yula. Promise it.”
I said nothing but moaned deeply as his member found its way between my legs, gently caressing my most sensitive area. I nearly blacked out with the pleasure of it and had to struggle to open my eyes as Pyre sunk his mouth against the nape of my neck, heightening my bliss almost to its breaking point.
And then suddenly, like an explosion of fireworks, his muscle was pressing its way inside of me, tentatively exploring a space within me that had never been so intimately entered before. I shuddered in ecstasy as we locked eyes and Pyre began to awaken in earnest, his body, after testing the waters, summoning up a strength that kept me in awe.
Again and again, he plunged deep inside, and my hips bucked involuntarily against him, my body greedy for the explosive pleasure that his movements promised me.
Pyre smiled down at me as my body was rocked with bliss, his eyes roaming the contours of my body.
“You are beautiful, human,” he said quietly.
He unleashed a torrent of power that caused me to cry out loud, and I gasped as I felt the doorway of my climax open before me. Pyre growled, his eyes flashing with a deep need as he sensed the nearness of my orgasm, and with a decided and dynamic thrust, he pushed me through that doorway and into the most earth-shattering sensation I had ever experienced.
I trembled beneath him, my body violent with the power of my climax, only to be taken even higher as a flood of heat exploded inside of me. I gripped Pyre’s strong shoulders hard as the power of his orgasm shocked me into an awareness unlike anything I’d ever known, and we held each other close as he emptied himself into me, until each of us were utterly spent.
“I hope that you will one day understand the power of my claim on you,” Pyre said, softly stroking golden strands of hair away from my face. He closed his eyes before he had to witness the dubious look on my face. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t love this man.
The thought slipped away quickly though, and I soon lost all awareness as I slipped into the unfathomable comfort of post-coital slumber.
***
I woke up with a start, confused by the heavy weight of Pyre’s well-muscled arm draped across my chest. He stirred slightly as I wriggled out from under him, horrified by myself, and ran to the small bathroom, closing the door behind myself.
“What am I thinking?” I exclaimed, burying my head in my hands. I couldn’t answer that to myself. I had just lain with the enemy. I was a traitor to my people. And besides that, I had promised to tell him all my secrets. How could I live with myself?
I was so upset by my actions that I decided to bathe quickly and gather my thoughts. As the bathtub filled with the warm, soothing water of Helna, I began to relax and contemplate what all of this might mean. Yes, I had slept with a Verian man. He had promised me the world, and like a fool, I had believed him.
Still, a promise was a promise. That didn’t mean I owed him anything more than information. Sure, in a moment of weakness I had given into something that I would probably end up regretting for the rest of my life, but that didn’t mean that I had to resign myself to being a traitor to Earth. If Pyre was planning to protect the Earth and my knowledge truly would benefit that cause, I would share it gladly. Perhaps we could be allies, but nothing more.
As much as he wasn’t going to like hearing that, it was for the best. He had claimed to care for me, in an urgent and desperate way that I had no choice but to believe. But that didn’t mean that he would be able to care for me as a mate of my own species word. And it didn’t mean that my feelings for him or anything to do with love. I was scared, and I was lonely, and I was vulnerable. That didn’t mean that I was in love with the enemy. It couldn’t mean that. I would never let it mean that.
“Yula,” Pyre said, sitting up with a sleepy smile when I returned. “Are you well?”
I felt a twinge of guilt as I considered the tirade I had just gone on against him in my head. It was clear he was genuinely concerned for my well-being, but I just couldn’t allow myself to be sucked in by his charm. Just because it had happened once before didn’t mean that I had to allow it to continue.
“Yes,” I said as coolly as I could. Pyre frowned and straightened his shoulders as he sat up fully, the silky red blanket falling down to his thighs and revealing his flawless torso.
“Do you require privacy?” he asked, rather smartly I thought.
“Yes, please,” I said, avoiding his gaze. “I prefer to sleep by myself.”
“I see,” Pyre said, furrowing his brow. “Dershalga, yula.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” I mumbled. “Just let me go to bed in peace if you don’t mind.”
Pyre frowned and stood, pulling his clothes on quickly. He turned to face me before he left the room, his mouth open as if he were going to pose a question. Whether he was going to ask again if I was well, or if he was just going to ask me if I was still going to help him and the opposition, I couldn’t tell. And I didn’t find out either because he seemed to think better of speaking and disappeared out the door.
***
The next few days were agonizingly slow. I was brought back to my cell, where the Pelin man was the only being I saw. He brought me all of my meals and made small-talk with me every now and again.
Finally, I was graced with Pyre’s presence when he came to the door of my cell.
“It is time to tell me what you know. Things have been hard out there. Very hard. The opposition is struggling. You can either help us, or we will be rid of you. There is no in between.”
I frowned. He was speaking much more harshly to me than he ever had before, but in a way, it was a relief. I had been feeling so guilty for refusing him that it was nice to have a reason to really get angry at him. I had to remember he was the enemy. Didn’t I?
“As if I had a choice with you,” I mumbled.
“You’re right,” Pyre said, his peculiar eyes boring into mine. “You do not have a choice. But I do expect you to honor your promise.”
“I will,” I said glumly, standing as Pyre entered the cell. The small space immediately filled with his scent; a combination of the rugged outdoors and the sweet-scented smoke from the ceremonial cleansing. It immediately reminded me of being intimate with him in the week before, and I felt the heat rising to my cheeks as he positioned himself at the small writing desk and turned the seat to face me. His attitude was so formal, it almost made me laugh.
“Good.”
We grew quiet for a moment, each of us seemingly lost in our own thoughts before Pyre finally began to speak.
“Do you have information on the weapons of the humans?”
I took a deep breath. I had promised him my help.
For the next several hours, Pyre sat in my cell, listening gravely to everything I said. It was shocking to me that he didn’t even think to have a piece of paper and a pen to take down notes, but when I asked, he gave me a simple, despondent smile.
“It appears you know less about the Verian race than you thought,” he said. “Our memories are flawless. And in most cases of war, keeping records is foolish anyway. We have to learn to trust our comrades and do everything in our power to keep our memories alive in other ways. Still, there are records that are important…”
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My mind flashed to the shack where I had been held captive on my first days on the planet Helna, when Pyre was searching frantically for something. His eyes had scared me then. They had been wild. He must have had a terrible temper…
“Were you looking for records that day?” I asked quietly, looking up at him. We had avoided looking at each other for most of the conversation, but now he returned my gaze.
“What day?” he asked, his handsome face creased with a frown.
“When you saved…well, when you took me away from my first prison and brought me here?”
I cringed, kicking myself as the words came out of my mouth. What was I thinking? I clearly shouldn’t tell him, or even imply, that he had “saved” me in any way. Handsome and good in bed or not, Pyre was still a man who had abducted me from my home. And whether he had saved my life and spared me from the cruelty of Arke and his men or not, he was not the kind of man I should open myself up to. It was idiotic.
“I was looking for the transcripts…proof that they had drugged you and forced information out of you. It is not the way to do things anymore; those methods are outdated. But I’m sure they did it, despite the public outcry it would generate.”
“Well I didn’t tell them anything willingly, that’s for sure.”
“I trust that,” Pyre said. For some reason, the way he said it made warmth spiral through my body. But what did I care if this man trusted me? We weren’t friends in any way shape or form, no matter how intimately we had gotten to know each other. I wanted to care for him. I truly wished I could just let go of my reservations and allow myself to take things to a level I had never been with him before, but I couldn’t. It would be doomed for failure, just like every other time I had opened my heart up to the wrong person.
I shook the thoughts away, and apparently, so did Pyre, because we continued on with the conversation; Pyre asking questions, and me answering them and elaborating on the answers if he needed more information on the scientific process.
Finally, after being mentally and physically exhausted by the interrogation, Pyre stood. I gazed up at the man; he was tall, muscular, and beautiful, but I realized suddenly that something was wrong.
“Are you well?” I asked, borrowing his phrasing.
He looked at me wearily and gave a small nod. “It has been a trying week, Yula. That is all.”
“Your disease…”
“No, think nothing of it,” he said, shaking his head stubbornly. “You gave me a formula to cure that with anyway. If it works…”
“Let me make it for you,” I whispered. “I was in the middle of trying to finish it in the lab before you—”
“No,” Pyre said firmly. “I refuse to use your formula on myself. I have stolen enough from you already. I will deal with things in my own way, in my own time.”
“But you could die!” I exclaimed. “Just let me do this for you!”
Pyre’s lips grew into a thin line, and he walked to the doorway of the cell.
“My burden is not yours to carry. Nor are the burdens of other Verian men. At some point, their scientists will have the cure if they thought to ask you for it during the time you were drugged with their serum, and by that time we are going to have to be ready. Readier than we’ve ever been.”
“But what good will that do you if you’re dead?” I said darkly. “Look at you! You’re leaning up against the bars of the door!”
Pyre straightened himself quickly and looked me sternly in the eye, his voice quaking with a barely concealed rage. “I have dealt with this disease for years, human, and I expect you to show some confidence in my ability to continue to do so! Is that understood?”
I nodded, afraid of what might happen if I didn’t, and Pyre visibly relaxed. “Good,” he said.
He worked the lock of the cell and walked away, leaving me staring helplessly at his back until he disappeared.
Chapter 7
Commander Pyre Juno
I sank down onto the bed in the Red Room, closing my eyes. My strength had been waning just as I had feared, but I knew it had nothing to do with the human desecrating the sacred space of the room.
The fact of the matter was that ever since Blaithe had come into my home, the men in the opposition had been demanding answers from me. I had avoided Ariel mostly out of spite for his actions, but there was nothing I could say that would keep the men at bay. I ended up accepting overtime for the Doyan, running an errand halfway across Helna and retrieving intel about a group of human soldiers who were attempting to invade a base on Earth.
“Yul Pyre, please take this. It will help,” Barvaa said quietly, appearing in the doorway of the Red Room.
“You may enter, Barvaa,” I said. “I realize now this space had no effect on my health. I was meant to break down, and now it’s finally happening. I’m going to lose everything.”
“Not necessarily, Yul Pyre,” Barvaa said, walking tentatively toward me with a small tray of his special tonic held over his head. “There are many options.”
“I refuse to steal anything more from the human!” I repeated. The Pelin said nothing, just handed me the tray and the tonic.
“You are going to heal from this, Yul. The human cares for you. She would not like to see you suffer.”
“I am going to deal with this the natural way,” I said stubbornly, drinking the tonic down. As always, it tasted of herbs, and I sat the glass back on the tray and handed it to the Pelin.
“Perhaps that is best,” Barvaa said quietly.
I didn’t have time to consider what that meant before he had hurried out of the room and left me to my own thoughts. How was it that there was nothing lonelier than being the man who walked the line between the Doyan’s council and the opposition. Shouldn’t being a leader mean I shouldn’t have to want for attention?
I sighed. It was no use to feel sorry for myself. What I had to do was find a way to share the important information with the opposition, without compromising Ariel’s safety or loyalty to her planet. There had to be a way.
I would just share the most pertinent information with them. That was all I could do.
With the solution firmly set in my mind, I allowed the Pelin’s tonic to work its magic and send me spiraling into a deep, restorative slumber.
***
“Welcome back, Yul Juno,” Blaithe said sarcastically. He was still bruised from our altercation, and the other men in his home glared at me with suspicion.
“I’ve finally retrieved the information from the human. I will share it with you all, under the condition that you use it only against the Doyan. You are not to use it against the people of Earth. They are not our enemies here. Not in this particular fight.”
“Are you getting soft on us, Yul?” Jae Gronda asked, exchanging contemptuous looks with Blaithe.
“No. I want you to keep your head in the fight. No thinking outside the box. Not until we win power back from the Doyan. We have to play this smart. He has the super soldiers. Not enough to invade Earth yet, but enough to easily wipe us out if he called them back to Helna. We cannot be reckless.”
“You’ve already been reckless,” Blaithe said, thrusting a thumb toward his battered face. “And I don’t think you’re fit to lead anymore with a temper like that!”
“If you want to hear anything from me pertaining to the human then you’ll sit down and keep your mouth shut until I’m finished, Yul Corra.”
Blaithe glared at me, but the rest of the group encouraged him to sit. I could tell that the tensions were high though, so I decided to make my information drop quick and get the freg out of there.
“I have two very useful sources of information. One is how to counteract the natural nuclear energy harnessed from the planet Helna. The other is how to use that very energy to counteract the debilitating stages of the disease that renders a warrior impotent.”
“Are you sure?” Jae gasped. “That could change everything…”
“If he has all that knowledge then, why i
s he getting weaker by the day?” Blaithe demanded, glaring at me. “He’s full of it! He doesn’t know anything!”
The room erupted into murmurs of agreement until I began to recite the formulas that Ariel had recited to me. The men were quiet immediately as they took in the knowledge.
“Do what you will with the information,” I said. “And leave the human alone. She knows nothing else that could further our cause, and I would rather die than to know she is being pushed around by the likes of someone like you, Blaithe.”
All eyes turned to Blaithe, whose face turned a dark cream color. He was furious.
“We are to dispose of the human! That is the only way! The Doyan already believes her to be dead, and if she is discovered, then that could mean the end of the opposition!”
Now it was my turn to darken with fury. I was not used to being second-guessed. It was my job to lead, and now Blaithe was attempting to call the shots. And nothing, not even the opposition, was worth the human’s life.
“We will do no such thing!” I growled, ready to get right into Blaithe’s face if need be. “We are not going to harm the human. She is an innocent in this!”
“And we are all innocents to the Doyan’s wrath, don’t you think?” Jae Gronda said, stepping forward to stand between Blaithe and me. “I’m afraid I am with Yul Corra on this one. We must get rid of the human or risk far more serious consequences.”
“I already told you all, that is not an option!”
“Well, you can’t stop us, Pyre. Not only are you outnumbered, but it’s obvious that the disease is getting worse in you, isn’t it? You can barely stand up without supporting yourself against something!” Blaithe growled. “We’re coming to take the girl, whether you like it or not!”
“You can’t,” I said. “Not yet. There is one last thing we must do with her.”
I was lying through my teeth, and if the others sensed it, they would descend upon me like a pack of wild dogs. As far as I was concerned, this was mutiny, but they were putting the cause first, before the life of the human; Ariel, who I cared for so deeply it nearly drove me insane.
