by Tana Stone
Max shook her head, her heart knocking in her ribs as he locked eyes with her. “I promise you we don’t. I’m just a regular human.”
He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “You are far from regular, little one.”
Max could see herself reflected in him, his desire ragged as he sucked in uneven breaths. He wanted her. She could feel his need coursing through her, firing her blood. Before she could think better of it, she pulled his mouth to hers.
He responded instantly, shifting her onto him. Even though she’d instigated the kiss, he quickly took over, parting her lips with a dominant swipe of his tongue. She moaned as his tongue tangled with hers, his lips softer than she’d imagined but also more insistent.
Clutching the back of her head, Kush pulled her in deeper, exploring her mouth with a fervent hunger. His large hands caressed her back, moving to her bare ass and squeezing gently. When his fingers slipped lower, teasing her opening that was already slick with her juices, she moaned. When he pulled away, she was breathless and dizzy.
“Kush,” she said, not knowing what she wanted from him, but knowing she didn’t want him to stop.
“You are so wet for me, little one.” His voice was husky, but shook with barely contained desire.
His thick finger pressed into her and she let out a breathy sigh, her hips instinctively shifting to take more of him. His eyes burned hot, and his breathing was uneven. “You are tight.”
“It’s been a really long time since I…”
He smiled up at her. “Good.” He pushed his finger in farther. “There is only me now.”
A faint alarm bell sounded in the back of her brain. Part of her thrilled at his possessiveness—no one had ever wanted her as much—but another part of her knew she should stop him. It wasn’t like this could go anywhere, could it? A scientist and a barbarian? Her brain said no, but her body clearly hadn’t gotten the message. It was hard to care about anything but how good it felt to have his huge finger sliding in and out of her.
Swiveling her hips, she took him deep, gasping when he sank another finger inside her. The sensation of him stretching her with his massive fingers had her arching her back and grinding into his hard cock.
In a single, seamless move, he lifted them both and flipped her onto her back, settling himself between her legs. When he slipped his fingers out of her and tugged his pants down, his long cock jutting up—rock-hard with raised rings down the impressive length of it—Max snapped out of her daze.
She pushed away from him, hating herself for being such a coward, but knowing she was doing the best thing for both of them. “I can’t do this.”
“But you want to,” he said, catching his breath. “I can feel it.”
Tears stung the back of her eyes when she heard the hurt in his voice, but she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It can’t work out. I’m on the first ship off this planet and you’re…not.”
All the air seemed to leave him, along with the fiery desire that had been pounding through him. She could feel him deflate as he sat back. It was like she’d given voice to what he’d feared all along.
“But there is no ship,” he reminded her.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m always going to be trying to leave and get back to my work. It’s what I do.”
“But you are all alone.”
He obviously didn’t understand how she could choose to be alone. Sometimes she didn’t get it either, but she’d been on her own for so long, it was all she knew.
“Trust me. You don’t want a girl like me,” she said, her smile quivering.
His eyes flashed, but not hot and needy. This time, they were angry. “Maybe you are right. Maybe you are not right for me.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kush glowered from under his hood as he followed Max and the Crestek females out of the room. He’d barely jumped up and thrown on the cloak before the giggling attendants had swept into the room and begun fussing over Max. Luckily, they didn’t seem to find it surprising that she would be in bed unclothed.
They also seemed oblivious to the flush on the human’s chest, or how heavily she was breathing. They seemed much more preoccupied by the new gown they’d brought—pale blue and just as flimsy as the other dress. Kush knew why these females never left the city. They wouldn’t last until the suns set wearing those delicate fabrics.
He’d averted his eyes while they’d slipped the new dress on, even though there was no need. He’d already seen her, but somehow he felt like watching without her permission was wrong. Just knowing the silky fabric was sliding over her bare skin had made his cock throb uncomfortably. Luckily, the laughter and chatter of the females had drowned out his groan as he attempted to press his cock down—to no avail.
Now that he’d fallen in step behind Max and the Crestek guards, he crossed his hands in front of himself to hide the bulge he was afraid might stand out even through the cloak. Sons of the goddesses, she made him harder than he’d ever been in his life, but she also made him want to put his fist through a wall.
He didn’t understand how she could choose to be alone. He couldn’t imagine not having his clan and his cousin and the familiar hum of their thoughts with his. Did she really prefer life with a droid to being with him? The hard ball of fear roiling in his gut hardened into something darker.
“Where are we going again?” Max asked, flanked by the two attendants, with a pair of guards bringing up the rear behind him.
“A reception for you to be introduced to everyone,” one of the females said.
“Everyone?” Max asked, her voice cracking. She darted a glance back at him, but he didn’t look up or break stride.
“Not everyone,” the other female admitted with a giggle. “But the right Cresteks.”
Kush suppressed a growl. He suspected that the right Cresteks were all males of mating age. Males who would sniff around his female and want to claim her for themselves. He clenched his hands into fists. He would never let that happen. He might not have her, but he would never let her be claimed by another.
No, he would rip the heart out of any Crestek who laid a hand on her.
She glanced back again, her eyes wide. Had she felt his rush of fury? He attempted to calm his mind and steady his breathing. It would do neither of them any good if he was discovered to be an imposter and taken away.
After winding their way down the circular ramp of the building, the guards held open the doors, leading the way out into the city square. When he’d followed Max into the city, Kush had been too pumped with adrenaline to pay attention to many details, but he knew it had not looked like this.
Colorful lanterns were suspended in the air and swaths of fabric crisscrossed overhead to shield against the rays of the suns. It was still bright and warm, the midday heat bouncing off the smooth stone covering the ground. The Cresteks filling the square were in light-colored robes, no doubt because of the heat, although Kush noticed several in darker colors around the perimeter—guards and other workers, he assumed. A few Crestek females wore slips of dresses like Max, fanning themselves while the men looked at the alien female with undisguised curiosity and, in some cases, lust.
“My dear.” The chancellor stepped forward in his silver robe. “Thank you for coming. We wanted to extend our hospitality to you. I know you’ve been stuck in that room with nothing but an agasi for company.”
He made a face, not even bothering to look at Kush.
Max allowed herself to be propelled forward, although Kush could feel her distrust of the elder.
The chancellor didn’t pause for her the reply. “You remember my son, T’Kar.” The large Crestek turned and smiled at Max, but his amber eyes did not look any farther south than her face.
Maybe Max was right, and the chancellor’s son did not desire her. He scanned the crowd milling about. That didn’t mean other Crestek males weren’t busy taking in every bit of her exposed skin. He could feel the wanting that emanated from them, and he reminded himself to stay c
alm.
None would try to press a claim with her. Not in broad daylight, and not with her on the arm of the chancellor’s son. Focus on the mission, he told himself. Keep her safe and get her out.
Kush glanced up, trying to get a glimpse of the walls without tipping his head back and revealing his long barbarian’s braid. The tops of the stone buildings crowded the square, making it impossible for him to determine where in the city they were, although he suspected they were near the center. It made sense to keep captives in the heart of the city. They would be harder to reach, and an escape would be more difficult.
“Fall back, agasi.” The chancellor’s sharp voice started him, and he instinctively moved a hand to his waist, although his blade was beneath the unwieldy robe. “My son does not need a shadow while he courts the female.”
Kush dropped his head in what he hoped was an act of submission as he backed away. His gaze never left her, even as he slipped out of the courtyard and stepped under the eaves of the corridor that ran around the open area.
He felt her eyes find him, but he did not meet her gaze as he took up his post against one of the stone arches. He would protect her, but that was it.
He could sense that she was not afraid of T’Kar, but she was unsure around so many eager Cresteks, although she smiled and nodded as they sought her attention. T’Kar introduced her as each male approached, and then expertly steered her away again. If he wasn’t a Crestek, Kush might have been impressed by how he kept the others away from Max.
Even if he hadn’t been able to sense what the crowd thought about the human, he could hear their whispers.
“So small.”
“Is she a child?”
“Where are her ridges?”
Their planet certainly contained other species, but the Cresteks had isolated themselves for generations. Most had probably never laid eyes on a Dothvek or one of the pot-bellied scavengers who roamed the sands.
He tracked Max and T’Kar as they walked around the perimeter of the square, an attendant handing them goblets of wine. He frowned as he watched Max take a long gulp and hoped this was not the same drink she’d had last night. He did not relish the thought of beating back a courtyard filled with Crestek males, although he reminded himself that she would not want him to do that.
A rivulet of sweat dripped down his face. How did these Cresteks bear to wear such heavy cloaks all the time? He could barely stand the feel of the cloth covering his skin, and it made the heat stifling. He longed for the feel of the air on his back and the sands beneath his feet.
When a female placed her nearly full goblet on a nearby table and walked away, he turned and snatched the glass, downing it in a single fast movement to quench his thirst. The drink was sweet, but it wasn’t what had been in their room the night before. He felt relieved, even though he knew he was in no danger of becoming intoxicated. Dothveks could hold their wine, and he could easily drink most of his brethren under the table.
He returned his focus to the gathering, watching the Cresteks circle Max and T’Kar like predators. The only male not looking at Max like she was a delicious meal was T’Kar. Perhaps the male did not prefer females, he thought, although T’Kar did not appear to look at any of the males with interest, either.
What was his game, Kush wondered?
Chapter Eighteen
Max swallowed the sweet drink, but made sure to take a small sip. She did not trust these guys not to try to get her drunk.
She spotted Kush’s dark-blue cloak as he skirted around the edge of the open area, and an uncomfortable heat warmed her cheeks. She hated how they’d left things and the pained look she’d seen in his eyes. She’d obviously hurt him, and she could sense that it was not a hurt that would dissolve quickly.
What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just admit how he made her feel?
“Are you overly warm?” T’Kar asked, his gaze lingering on her face. “Should we step out of the suns?”
“I’m fine,” she said, taking another tiny sip of wine and trying not to think of Kush. “I’m adjusting to the heat on your planet.”
“It is why we spend so much time indoors.” T’Kar set his own glass down without touching it and clasped his hands behind his back as they walked. “I trust your accommodations are to your liking?”
She shrugged. Were they really going to pretend she was some honored guest, when she was staying in a windowless room behind a locked door, with guards barring he entryway and what they thought was a eunuch supposedly watching her every move? “It’s the nicest cell I’ve ever been in.”
He flinched at the characterization. “Cell?”
“Even the bounty hunters didn’t put guards outside or a watchdog inside,” she said. “Doesn’t it seem like overkill for one little woman?”
T’Kar’s gaze went to Kush as he stood against a stone column, his head bowed and his eyes barely visible beneath the shadow of his hood. “I take it you do not have agasis where you come from?”
“Guys who’ve had their balls cut off?” Max said. “No, that went out of fashion a couple of millennia ago.”
She didn’t sense the same urgency in T’Kar that seemed to emanate from his father. And she definitely didn’t get the feeling he had any interest in her, which was good. Even though the alien was attractive, he didn’t do it for her. Not like Kush. The realization made her mouth go dry, and she took a swig of wine.
The chancellor would be disappointed, not that she cared about that. Even if Max wasn’t attracted to Kush, there was no chance she and T’Kar would have made any sort of match. Although she didn’t sense arousal from him, she did pick up on interest.
“Tell me about your home world,” he said, leading her farther away from Kush’s post.
“Earth, or the labs I’ve called home ever since I left Earth?” she asked, continuing when he gave her a blank look. “The planet I come from pretty much destroyed itself with overpopulation and self-destructive stripping of resources. Now it’s a bit of a wasteland. Dead oceans, barren soil, one natural disaster after another. Anyone who can get off, leaves. I was actually born on a scientific research colony.”
“My people also value discovery and technological progress,” he said. “It’s what makes us unique on our world. And detested.”
“Science is a dual-edged sword,” she said. “Earth had significant technological advancement before it imploded on itself.”
T’Kar nodded, eyeing her. “Yes, not all our discoveries have been good.” He lowered his voice. “I sometimes fear they have made us weak. I know they have brought death.”
Max suspected that he meant the virus that had reduced their female population, and that of the Dothveks. And had meant the death of the scientists who’d created it. She was surprised he would make such an admission to an alien captive, although she also got the feeling that talking openly wasn’t valued in the Crestek city. Maybe the fact that she wasn’t one of them made it possible for him to be honest.
“You aren’t what I expected,” Max said, looking up at the tall alien, his dark hair brushed back to reveal pointed ears, and thought how strange it was that his people and the Dothveks looked so similar, yet despised each other.
He inclined his head slightly, as if bowing. “Neither are you.”
“I guess that’s probably a good thing for both of us.”
Before he could respond, a Crestek woman approached. She wore her dark hair piled up in a mound of perfectly formed curls, and the neckline of her dress draped dangerously low.
“You’re keeping her all to yourself, T’Kar,” the woman said, slapping playfully at his arm. “She’s not your property, you know. At least, not yet.”
T’Kar’s expression darkened. Clearly, he didn’t like hearing her referred to as his property any more than she did.
“I’m not—” she began, but the woman cut her off.
“I was only teasing T’Kar,” the Crestek said, winking at her with long, lavender lashes. “Anyway, he knows he
can’t keep you all to himself. Luckily for us, that’s not the way it works anymore.”
“I doubt our guest is interested in how things work,” T’Kar told her, his tone carrying a warning the woman clearly didn’t catch.
The Crestek looped her arm though Max’s. “Well, I would be if I were here. I’d want to know how many males I could pick.”
Max wasn’t sure she’d heard right. “Did you say how many males I can pick? Pick for…” Her words trailed off, even though she suspected she already knew the answer.
“Pick to fuck, of course,” the woman whispered in her ear, her words buzzing hot against her lobe.
She jerked back as if she’d been pinched. “What?”
T’Kar looked stricken, as the woman let out a high-pitched peal of laughter.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know?” She pulled Max forward with her. “It’s one of the loveliest things about being a female here. We have all the power.”
“What if you don’t want more than one…?”
The curly-haired creature wrinkled her nose. “Why would you limit yourself to just one partner? There are too few of us for that.” She squeezed Max’s arm. “Just think. Males falling all over themselves for your attentions. And each one wanting to please you more than the rest so you’ll choose him again.” She spared T’Kar another glance. “The chancellor’s son may have more than one female and he may even be able to force an exclusive claim, but he’s a special case.”
Max felt the wine curdling in her stomach. She knew other planets and civilizations had different moral codes, but no way would she consider having a revolving door of lovers. She was definitely a one-man type of girl, and she realized that Kush’s gaze was focused on her with laser-like intensity.
