Holding her gaze so I could gauge her reaction, I laid bare my shame. My failure. My defeat. If she could not accept this, she would not be able to accept me. “I fought many battles against the Hive. Too many to count.” I took a breath, then continued. “But the last battle, myself and a small number of other Atlan warlords were captured.”
“I’m so sorry.” She leaned forward and placed a kiss in the center of my chest. I struggled to breathe, and it was a long moment before I could speak.
“Most Atlans resist the Integration Units, the Hive scientists who transform captured fighters into their newest foot soldiers.”
“That sounds like some nightmare out of Star Trek. You know, like the Borg.”
I had been asked about these fictional creatures within a few days of my arrival on Earth and had used their primitive computers to research the creatures about which she spoke. I shook my head.
“No. I have seen this television fiction and the creatures you call the Borg. The Hive is much more advanced. They do not clunk around on big square spaceships and recharge like batteries stuck in a port. The Hive integrates with biological material on a cellular level. There are no attachments or gadgets. The Hive become what they consume, which are Coalition fighters they capture. As I have now become Hive. That is why the integration of fighters is referred to as contamination. Most of the Hive technology becomes part of us. It cannot be removed. Mine is not visible, but it is there.”
She squeezed my shoulder. “Does it hurt?”
So much for not talking. No matter how much I wanted her lips back on mine, this was what she wanted, my words, and I’d give them to her. I’d give her anything.
“Not anymore.” I would not share with her the agony of the process as they’d dripped microscopic invaders into my bloodstream for hours on end. The agony and fire in nearly every cell in my body as the Hive pieces tore me apart on the cellular level and healed me again with new particles in place of the old. Hive particles.
“I still don’t understand.” A frown marred her forehead. “You escaped. You look normal. Why can’t you go home to Atlan? Why do all those poor veterans end up banished to this Colony place?”
Her hands traced a line from shoulder to waist, the innocent touch appearing to me a mindless caress on her part. For me, it taunted the beast, and my cock swelled nearly to bursting. My female sat in my lap, her legs spread wide, her voice and her touch soft and welcoming. Every cell in my body wanted to rip her clothing off and plunge deep. But not yet. Not yet.
I grabbed her hands to still them, settled them over my heart. “The Hive technology also infiltrates the mind. On The Colony, we are protected from their communication frequencies. Deep within Coalition-controlled space as well. We are a danger to our people, always at risk of falling prey to the Hive’s influence once more. That is why most of us do not choose to go back to our homes.”
“But you can? If you want to?”
“Yes. We can now, since Prime Nial mated to a human female from Earth, a female who was also a soldier. She convinced him to change the law, that the risk was worth it to allow us to return home. Prime Nial himself is a contaminated warrior.”
“So why don’t you go home?”
“I am a danger to my people, Olivia. I seem calm at the moment, under your touch. But the beast lingers below the surface, ready to burst forth and fight, or fuck, at any moment. I can’t always control him.”
She was blushing again and bit her lower lip. “I know.”
I tensed instinctively. “Did he hurt you?”
She turned bright red, and I became even more concerned. I could not live with myself if I’d harmed her in any way.
“No.”
Within me, the beast chuckled as the smell of feminine arousal flooded my senses. I released her hands and placed mine on her waist. I needed her skin. Her softness against me. I needed to bury my cock inside her wet heat. I’d told her everything. She knew who and what I was, and she wasn’t afraid, wasn’t walking away. “Does he frighten you?”
“No.”
Thank the gods.
“I want you again, Olivia. I want to bury my cock in your body, give you pleasure. I need to feel your skin. I need you. Now.”
She shuddered as I had earlier, the tremor moving from her shoulders outward to her extremities. She lifted herself onto her knees and leaned forward to kiss me softly. Pulled back so that her answer was a whisper of heat over my lips. “Yes. I want you.”
Moving quickly, I lifted her from my lap to stand before me and stripped every bit of clothing from her body until she stood bare and beautiful in the light of one dim lamp. Every lush curve, every inch of pale skin was on display. Earlier I had not seen all of her. Only her legs, her creamy thighs, her pink, wet center. “You are beautiful, Olivia.”
“Shhh.” She stepped forward and placed her finger over my lips. “Strip, Warlord. If I’m naked, you’re naked.”
With a grin I lifted my hips from the couch and yanked my pants down past my knees. Making quick work of my shoes, I kicked the pants free and pulled her forward into a kiss.
She melted into me, her softness like nothing I had ever experienced in my life. I had fought and raged, pushed my muscle and bone to the breaking point in battles of both willpower and brute force, bone crushing bone. This was utterly different.
Olivia was softness and acceptance. Every part of her molded to me like a warm blanket. There was no struggle, no war, only comfort and pleasure. Divine, feminine seduction. Every touch made me want more. The heavy fall of her breast in my hand, the scent of her wet welcome, the hunger in her kiss. The catch in her breath, the quickening of her pulse.
My beast growled, threatened to rise, and I could not kiss her mouth, fuck her with tongue and cock and maintain control. Lifting her, I turned her to face away from me, the hard line of my cock sliding beneath her wet core as I settled her back to my chest.
“What are you doing?” she asked, trying to look up at me.
She did not protest as I placed her legs outside of mine and opened her pussy for my eager fingers. I stroked her thighs first, teasing her, enjoying the way her chest rose and fell as she panted with lust. I could look down at every inch of her.
“Try not to wake the children, mate,” I warned. Finally she was bare and open and receptive.
With that as my only warning, I pulled one nipple as I plunged two fingers deep inside her pussy, working her clit with my thumb as she arched her back with a soft cry.
“Shhh,” I murmured in her ear. “Can you handle this? Should I stop?”
Was that playful voice mine? I had not heard that tone before, at least not for so many years that I had forgotten it existed.
“Don’t stop.” She leaned back and turned her head, tried to reach my body with her lips. I did not need that level of distraction. This was my time, not the beast’s. If he rose, I would be on my feet and Olivia would be pinned to the door. The wall. Bent over the kitchen table as he rutted into her like the wild animal he was. I wanted her like this. On my lap, legs spread wide. Open. Accepting. Every inch of her melding with every part of me.
“Lift your arms, Olivia. Wrap them around my neck.”
She did as I bid without hesitation, and my beast preened at her submission to us.
I worked her clit, sliding my fingers in and out of her pussy until she clenched down to orgasm, then denied her. Over and over until she was writhing on my lap, begging.
Keeping one ear focused on the children—as I would tease my mate but never embarrass her should they stir—I lifted her and placed her wet core over my cock.
“Yes. Do it. God. Do it.” She wiggled and I allowed her to move, to lower herself down on me, stretching her open, filling her. Completing her.
When I bottomed out, her pussy clamped down like a fist, and I bit back a groan of my own as her mouth opened on a silent scream.
Olivia
* * *
So full. So tight. So incredibly tight.
His hands were everywhere. On my clit. Playing with my nipples. Gently placed across my throat in a way that made an inner naughty Olivia light on fire like a blowtorch.
The orgasm ripped through me as he filled me. Thick. Hard. So big. So mine.
My pussy was still swollen from earlier, from the door, from his beast. And now he was behind me, the angle of his cock inside me so direct. So deep. I was splayed out like an offering on his chest, and I loved it. Fucking loved it.
He pumped his hips up and into me once. Twice.
The tension spiraled, my moan impossible to constrain within my throat as my pussy rocked into spasms again. I’d thought what we’d done earlier had been amazing, but this… a completely different side to Wulf.
“Come, mate. Come all over my cock,” he ordered as his hand rested on my throat, a gentle but possessive touch that made me feel both vulnerable and safe at the same time. His opposite hand rubbed my clit in a rhythm that made me whimper as he fucked me. Hard. Fast. Slow. Deep.
I came again. My pussy was so swollen and sensitive that squeezing my inner muscles kept me awash in pleasure.
“Wulf.” His name lingered on my lips as his heat flared at my back. My pussy spasmed hard, the jolt of my orgasm making my toes curl and my heart race until I couldn’t breathe. “Wulf.”
I didn’t know what I was asking, only that I needed. More. Less. Him.
“Mate.”
His touch gentled, the hard demands of his cock changing into a soothing tempo that felt like a caress. Like care. Tenderness. Was this love? Was this what making love felt like?
I had never been in love. Not once in my life, so I didn’t know. All I knew was this was bliss and I’d only known him a few hours. He’d known instantly that I was his. Was there something in me, some instinct, that knew he was mine in return? Could it be possible?
His hands gentled as well, the roughness of his palms moving over my skin with reverence. Maddeningly slow. Every movement a soft and deliberate exploration.
I slid my fingers up over my head and into his hair and held on as he worshipped me. His cock filled me in a gentle glide that felt like it could go on forever.
“Wulf.” This time his name sounded like a prayer, and I was glad he could not see my face.
“So soft. So beautiful. So perfect. By the gods.” He groaned, his cock swelling as he fought not to come inside me.
“Yes.” I squeezed him with my inner muscles, deliberately pushing him closer to the edge of his own release. I wanted him to feel as I did. “Come inside me.”
With a shudder he moved his hand to my clit and stroked gently at first, then faster and faster as he increased his own pace.
He held on until I exploded again, my body on the brink of complete exhaustion. I knew my pussy would be sore, and I didn’t care. I never wanted it to end.
His hot seed filled me and the sound he made bordered on pain and I reveled in the knowledge that it was me—me!—that had brought him such pleasure. I’d made him like this.
He said he was mine, whispered it to me as we settled, as the sweat on our skin began to cool, our breaths evening out. Long minutes later he carried me to bed and climbed in with me, settling at an angle for the best fit. When he pulled me into his side, I snuggled there like he was mine. For tonight I would pretend, even if I knew I couldn’t keep him.
10
Olivia
* * *
Today… God, today was like a dream, right from the very start. I’d fallen asleep in Wulf’s arms. Actually I’d fallen asleep on top of him because my bed was too small for his incredible size. He’d slept at the diagonal, but even then his feet hung off the bottom. His body was like a furnace. The air-conditioning was going to get a workout. Since we’d trashed the bed with our wild lovemaking, we’d slept with only the sheet on top of us, untucked. The rest of the bedding was strewn on the floor along with our clothes.
Maybe it was the orgasms. Maybe it was the fact that I was done with Jimmy Steel. Or maybe it was the protective embrace of Wulf’s arms on me, but I slept hard and peacefully. Just after six, there was a rattle on the doorknob.
“Auntie! Why’s the door locked? I’m ready for juice!” Tanner called.
“Me, too!” Emma shouted directly after.
I startled, remembering myself. I was naked on top of a naked alien. Not the best situation to be in with toddlers. They’d ask questions, lots of questions. Then they’d tell everyone from the checkout clerk at the grocery store to Mr. Zajak down the street all about it.
Wulf hadn’t panicked—perhaps because he wasn’t familiar with the filter-free honesty of children—and kissed the top of my head. He got up to put on his pants. I wasn’t a morning person, but I’d gotten used to the kids' early wake up. I was always amazed at how dang perky they were. It was as if their batteries had been recharged, their power at one hundred percent and they were raring to go again. I needed at least one cup of coffee to be functional.
“Auntie!” Tanner cried again, the handle jiggling some more.
Wulf looked down at me, and his gaze heated. He said nothing, only padded, shirtless, over to the door and opened it. His large body easily blocked the kids’ view of me, for which I was grateful.
“What’s this about juice?” he asked, ducking through the doorway and closing it behind him.
“Woof! You’re here. Is Auntie asleep? Did you lose your shirt?” Tanner asked.
I could hear them walking down the hall, one heavy set of footsteps and the pitter-patter of two more. I took the opportunity of alone time to slip into a sleep shirt. I had no idea how long it would be before they barged in, but they would, and I wanted to at least have something on. I’d gotten them to learn about a closed bathroom door and privacy, so at least I was able to pee by myself now. But that solitude had yet to extend to my bedroom.
“I did lose it.” Wulf’s voice, while tempered to be soft, was easy to hear. “I think we’re going to have to go on a search for it. After breakfast I’ll teach you how to be Everian and hunt.”
I was thankful the house was small and I could easily hear their conversation. I wanted to know how Wulf interacted with the kids. All I’d seen was them asleep on him the night before. It was so sweet it had me smiling.
Emma didn’t remember her parents. She would never know anything about them other than what I shared or in a picture. Tanner remembered them, although the images would probably fade. Even so, Greg had rarely been around since he’d been deployed for most of Tanner’s life. Neither had much of a male influence, and so they were soaking up Wulf’s attention like little sponges.
“What’s a ’verian?” Tanner asked.
“It’s a person from a planet called Everis. They are very skilled at finding things.”
“Like lost shirts?”
“Especially lost shirts because they are very important. I can’t go outside without one.”
“You’ll get a sunburn,” Tanner explained.
I covered my mouth with my fingers to stifle a laugh. The three of them talking—well, Tanner and Wulf, but I expected Emma to be listening to their every word—made my heart flutter. How could someone so big be so gentle? I thought of him with the kids but also with me last night. I knew he could be wild and passionate. Unleashed. Yet, he could be almost… reverent with me.
I heard cabinet doors opening and closing. “Where is the juice?”
“There!” Emma said.
“In this big box? It’s cold inside. Interesting.”
“Auntie!” Emma shouted.
“Auntie is tired. While the three of us played last night before she came home, your auntie and I played after you went to sleep.”
My mouth fell open and I blushed, remembering exactly how we played.
“I wanted to keep playing,” Tanner said, and I could hear the pout in his voice.
“It was her turn to play. As a little warrior, I’m sure you understand taking turns.”
“I do,” Tann
er said.
“I do,” Emma parrotted.
“Good. I’m proud of you for that. Your auntie, she works hard and needs to sleep a little longer this morning. We can be thoughtful and be quiet for her.”
I never told Wulf what I did for a living, but he had to know I was the provider for the kids.
“Shh!”
“That’s right, Emma,” Wulf praised. “Shh.” I could see him putting his finger to his lips just as Emma liked to do.
I flopped back in bed, listening to the three of them, and closed my eyes, imagining what it would be like to have a Wulf of my own like this. He was… perfect. Kids were baggage. Serious baggage. Guys who’d expressed any kind of interest in me over the past year pretty much burned rubber to get away from me when they found out I had two kids to raise. Sure, there were guys out there who were decent and would take me and the kids on, but I hadn’t found any of them.
Well, maybe I had, in Wulf. But wishes were like unicorns. They were pretty and all but never appeared.
I must’ve fallen back asleep because I stirred at the sound of shuffling and whispers. Rolling to my side, I leaned over the bed and stared at three faces. All three of them were on their hands and knees and wore capes, Emma and Tanner with their favorite blankets tied around their necks. Wulf had one around his as well, a bedsheet with trucks on it, which I assumed he’d pulled from Tanner’s toddler bed.
“Auntie!” Tanner said, popping up from his crawl. He had a juice-stained mustache on his upper lip. “We’re ’verians!”
Emma jumped to her feet and stood beside him, grinning.
I took in their outfits. Rubber rain boots on their feet, the pajama legs tucked into them.
“Are those the curtain ties from the other room?” I asked. Tanner and Emma wore green bands that were over one shoulder diagonally like a sash. They matched what was on the window in the living room. Affixed to these sashes were paper clips that held square sticky notes.
Bachelor Beast Page 10
