The Crystal Warriors Series Bundle

by Maree Anderson

  “Tell me. Tell me what you want, Ruby. Tell me what I need to do to please you.”

  Please her? Couldn’t he tell she was more “pleased” than she’d ever been in her life?

  Tell him what she wanted? If he meant she should tell him what she really truly wanted, how could she?

  She couldn’t. Not when her deepest desire was to have him. Forever. So she settled for talking dirty, hoping he’d be distracted as men usually were—or so she’d been told. “I want you to stop teasing me and fuck me. Hard and fast. I want you to come inside me. Now.”

  He smiled. “That is easily arranged.”

  Taking her at her word, he set a rhythmic thrusting that stole her breath. His cock pounded into her, and with each thrust, his groin rubbed against her swollen clit, drawing breathy gasps from her parted lips.

  Pleasure rolled over her, through her, like some magical force had entered her and contrived to stimulate every part of her body, both internally and externally. Her inner muscles tightened around him, then clenched as her orgasm took her. He tensed. When he shouted her name his voice was hoarse. And with one last deep thrust that slapped his balls against her and made her groan, he came.

  He lay draped over her for a time and she took comfort in their closeness—that he didn’t feel the need to move away from her immediately the sex was over. Then he withdrew from her and flung himself on to his back beside her, breathing heavily.

  She bit her lower lip hard, to the point of pain, but she couldn’t help the tears. Silently she cried, hoping he wouldn’t notice, that he’d just roll over and fall asleep, leaving her to her misery.

  His touch intruding on her pain was a shock. He gathered her into his arms and held her tenderly as she sobbed. He didn’t say a word, just cradled her to his chest until her sobs eased and she hovered near sleep.

  She believed he understood why she’d cried, and that was the reason why he didn’t try to comfort her with words.

  Wise man.

  She’d cried because after years of being isolated and alone—even during sex, which was about as lonely as a human being could get—it wasn’t easy to be cared for so much.

  She didn’t want to dwell on how much she’d miss that caring when Kyan moved on. Now she’d tasted his warmth, basked in the afterglow of making love with him, she didn’t want to let him go.

  He kissed her eyelids. “Sleep now, my Ruby,” he murmured in her ear.

  Sighing, she gave up trying to work it all out and wondering what the future would bring, and let sleep claim her.

  ~~~

  Chapter Ten

  When Kyan woke her just before the alarm went off, Ruby could barely bring herself to move. She didn’t think she could summon enough strength to knock the skin off day-old porridge let alone get out of bed and get dressed. She peeled open her eyelids to peer up at him. He was already dressed and ready to go. Worse, he was bouncing on his toes while he waited for her to wake up properly. He radiated so much unnatural energy that Ruby, who wasn’t a morning person at the best of times—and definitely not until she’d had her caffeine fix—felt even more exhausted just watching him.

  She hadn’t even heard him get up. For all she knew, he’d been awake for a couple of hours. Hell, maybe he’d even been out for a jog before he woke her. He was obviously an alien. There was no other explanation for it. Either that or Crystal Warriors were all stunning examples of peak physical human conditioning, and possessed the stamina of… of… something that she was too sleep-befuddled to think of right now.

  Funnily enough, despite sleep deprivation and muscles that shrieked for mercy and then some whenever she moved, snuggling back under the covers and ignoring Kyan didn’t cross her mind. But that was more because she didn’t feel like getting dumped out of bed onto the carpet in a repeat of yesterday morning, rather than an unholy determination to stick to her training schedule. Neither did she bother asking him to turn his back or leave the room while she dragged on her clothes. She was just too damn knackered to give a damn about preserving her modesty. Besides, as Kyan had almost let slip yesterday during the bath incident, he’d seen it all before.

  Her mind chose that moment to replay a rather graphic picture of Kyan giving in to her demands of the previous night…. With interest. She ducked her head to hide the flush that had bloomed on her cheeks.

  She eyed Kyan through the fall of her hair as she donned socks and sneakers. Way to topple off her self-imposed pedestal of being quiet and submissive and grateful for whatever pleasure she could get during sex. Rather than being embarrassed about her sudden assertiveness in the cold hard light of day, she felt smug.

  “You seem very pleased with yourself this morn, Ruby.”

  As she straightened—very very slowly, while trying not to whimper—she caught a glimmer of a smile on his lips before he presented her with a practiced, guileless expression. Ruby wasn’t fooled. It had been a smile of purely masculine self-satisfaction—a smirk, even.

  “All right, Casanova. Let’s go before I change my mind and crawl back into bed.”

  “Casanova? Who is this Casanova?”

  “A man hailed as the world’s most notorious seducer of women. Evidently no woman could resist him.”

  Kyan blinked. A suggestive smile that made her tingle all over curved his lips. “And you are comparing me to this man?”

  “Er, well—” She scratched her head. Jules always told her never to pay effusive compliments to men because their egos were inflated enough already. Ah, sod it. Kyan was an amazing lover. And Ruby had always been a pathetic liar. “Yes.”

  He visibly preened. “I have been told that I am extremely knowledgeable in matters of intimacy.”

  “Oh? By who?”

  “Many women.”

  Oh really. “How many, exactly?”

  He opened his mouth to enlighten her, then thought better of it and snapped it shut. Good decision.

  She swept past him and out into the dark hallway, and waited by the front door to let him catch up to her. When he neared her, she placed her hand on his arm and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. She heard his sharp intake of breath. And she liked that she could affect him in such a way. She liked it a lot.

  “Don’t get too cocky, Kyan. Casanova also suffered from a number of nasty venereal diseases. In fact—” She paused, enjoying his shudder as her breath tickled his ear. “He’s extremely fortunate his willie didn’t shrivel up and fall off.”

  “His willie?” Kyan’s voice was little more than a husky croak.

  “His cock.”

  “Oh.”

  She opened the door and ushered him through so she could trip the deadlock and leave Mike safely snoozing. Lucky bugger. She heaved a sigh and stomped off to the garage to liberate the bikes.

  “There’s always consequences when people sleep with multiple partners,” she said to Kyan, who was fastening his helmet. “Weren’t there sexually transmitted diseases in your world?”

  Kyan didn’t answer. Perhaps he hadn’t heard her. She hopped on her bike and set off on the course Mike had mapped out for them. Yesterday, Kyan had kept pace with her and called out encouragement. This morning he trailed her and remained subdued for the duration of the ride. For a while she felt satisfaction for giving him something to think about other than pride over his sexual prowess….

  Until she got to thinking about consequences.

  Despite her lack of regular sex, Ruby was on the pill because it helped regulate her cycle. But her doctor had recently suggested she change, as her previous pill was no longer government funded. She would have to check, but she might be in that crucial changeover period when women first started taking a new pill and weren’t safe. Hence her putting the box of condoms Lani had given her in her bedside drawer. Wishful thinking and all that, but better to be safe than—

  She pictured the as yet unopened box of condoms in her drawer and went hot-cold-hot with shock. Jesus, Mary and Joseph! She hadn’t insisted they use any protection
. Even if she was in the safe zone for taking the pill, she should have insisted Kyan use a condom.

  What the hell had she been thinking? Or, not thinking, to state the obvious. Obviously it wasn’t only men who let their private parts rule their brains. All it had taken was a “come hither” glance from Kyan for all her common sense to tweet like a brainless little budgie and fly out the bloody window. And now he had admitted to sleeping with numerous women. Shit. She was always so careful! Not that she’d had a great many partners to be careful with but— Shit.

  She was so upset by her sheer stupidity she wasn’t paying proper attention to the road. She hit a pothole, swerved, and nearly clipped the gutter. Her heart leaped into her throat as she struggled to regain control. Phew. That was close—too close. She called back a confirmation to Kyan that she was fine. A lie, of course. She wouldn’t be “fine” until she got herself tested for sexually transmitted nasties. Chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV… it didn’t bear thinking about.

  She shook her head, blinked, and realized she’d completed the circuit. She pedaled up her driveway, and it was more than mere fatigue and abused muscles that caused her hands to shake as she stashed her bike and removed her helmet.

  She swallowed. This wasn’t going to be easy, but it had to be done. “Kyan.”

  “Ruby,” he said at exactly the same time.

  “You first.” His brow was pleated. She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know something was eating him. Yeah. She knew the feeling.

  “How many men have you been with?” he asked.

  “Huh?” Her mouth gaped.

  Color stained his cheekbones. He sucked in a deep breath then blew it slowly out through his nose. “How many bed-partners have you had?”

  Sheesh. The nerve of him. Fists on hips, she gave him a look that was cold enough to freeze his balls. “Like, ever? Or just in the last year?” No way was she going to make this easy for him. She’d make him suffer.

  He tunneled his fingers through his hair. “Ever.”

  “Three.”

  “And you’ve never had children?

  “No—obviously. Why do you want to know?” She knew she sounded royally pissed off. She knew she was being unfair, considering she had been about to quiz him on the exact same subject. She didn’t care.

  He seemed uncertain of how to respond for a few seconds, then opened his mouth and dropped the clanger. “I wonder whether you are fertile.”

  “Whether I’m fertile? Whether. I’m. Fertile?” Color her gob-smacked. “It’s a bit bloody late to be worried about getting me pregnant now, Kyan. Listen up. Before you, I always used condoms and even though we… didn’t, I’m on the pill so I’m pretty much protected from pregnancy.” She hoped. But she wasn’t going to fret about that now when the specter of some icky venereal disease was lurking. “I’m more worried about what disease you might have given me—you being the one who’s been boasting about multiple partners and being such a flaming stud and all.”

  “Me?” His nostrils flared and those gorgeous full lips thinned. He drew himself up, thrusting out his chest to stand straight and proud.

  Ruby’s eyes crossed. What were they arguing about again? Oh yeah. “Yes, you.”

  “I assure you, I am not carrying any disease.”

  “How on earth would you know?” she said, and curled her lip into a sneer to punctuate her words. “From what little you’ve told me about your world, you don’t exactly have the latest in diagnostic equipment available to you. So how the effing heck would you know what you might have passed on when you screwed me, huh? You can’t know. And you can quit looking all offended because I’m not the one whose slept with a shitfuckton of partners. That would be you.”

  He narrowed his eyes but whatever he’d been about to say was cut off when Mike stuck his head out the lounge window. “Would you two keep it down? It’s barely seven in the bloody morning! Bring it inside—unless you want all your neighbors listening in on this particular conversation, Ruby?”

  Her ire deflated with a sickening gasp. The neighbors? Yikes! She grabbed Kyan’s arm and towed him to the front door. She fished her spare key from her pocket, unlocked the door, and pushed him inside, intending finish off their “discussion” in private. The mouth-watering allure of freshly plunged coffee distracted her. She headed for the kitchen with Kyan hard on her heels.

  Mike handed them each a mug. Ruby took a gulp. The hot beverage didn’t do much to thaw the cold lump that’d lodged in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to think about the risks she’d taken by having unprotected sex with Kyan.

  Please God, let there be no such thing as venereal disease in his world.

  She snorted at her folly. What bollocks. This wasn’t a fairy tale, it was real life. And she was no longer the teenager who would cram another lamington in her mouth, and hope the pain and hurt would disappear. She would eat her athletic shorts before she’d believe Kyan’s people didn’t suffer from at least some form of sexual nasty.

  Mike drummed his fingers on the kitchen bench. “So. You wanted to know whether Kyan has STDs.”

  “Um. Yeah. I guess you heard, huh?” How embarrassing. This was almost as bad as her mum giving her the birds and bees talk. Ruby drained her mug and poured another coffee. That last one hadn’t even touched the sides.

  “I do not have a disease, Ruby.” Kyan slammed his mug on the bench. “My privates are clear of disease. In fact, my people have suffered no ailments for many centuries before I was… imprisoned.”

  Ruby barely prevented herself from snorting coffee through her nose. “Oh, go pull the other one, Kyan, it’s got bells on it.”

  He frowned as he tried to decipher her meaning.

  “She doesn’t believe your people never get sick,” Mike said, being helpful. A little too helpful, if the amused gleam in his eyes was anything to go by. She sooo did not want to be having this conversation in front of her brother, and damn him, he knew it.

  “’Tis true, Ruby,” Kyan said. “Aside from injuries caused by carelessness, or those inflicted during the course of a battle, my people suffer no ailments. We are a long-lived people, with most living a span of nine tehs or more.”

  “Tehs?” Mike frowned. “Same root as tehun, which is a troupe of ten men, right? So that would be a decade.” His eyes widened. “Your people generally live past ninety?”

  Kyan nodded. “That is the average, yes. Many live longer.”

  Mike’s eyebrows did the whole disappear into his hairline thing. “That’s a pretty damn good average lifespan, don’t you reckon, Rubes?”

  “Yep, it is.” Especially for such a primitive people. She left that thought unvoiced, reluctant to spark another argument. She knew Kyan was proud of his warrior status. And although he reacted like a kid at a birthday party when confronted with some of the “wonders”’ of her world, that didn’t mean she wanted to rub his nose in her world’s obvious superiority. “Still, I find it hard believe they don’t get sick. That’s just too far-fetched. Every human being under the sun gets ill at some time in their life. It’s a normal state of being. Wouldn’t you agree, Mike?”

  “Mmmhunph,” Mike said around a mouthful of hot buttered toast slathered with clover honey.

  “You believe you’re immune to disease?” Ruby wanted to be absolutely clear. She was determined to get to the bottom of Kyan’s outrageous claim.

  He rolled his eyes. Sheesh. He must have got that from Mike, because it couldn’t possibly be from her. “I don’t believe we’re immune to disease,” he said. “I know it absolutely.”

  “Riiight.” She would not roll her eyes. She wouldn’t! But oh, it wasn’t easy. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s impossible. Not to mention unnatural. I can’t imagine any group of human beings—however isolated—evolving in such a way without an outside influence playing a role. Such as, let me think… a technologically advanced race of aliens giving them all inoculations against every disease known to man.”

  Kya
n had to be exaggerating. Or lying. How far could she really trust him? They’d had sex, sure. Okay, mind-blowing, amazing sex. Twice. But much as it pained her to admit, she hardly knew him at all.

  Mike threw her a slit-eyed glare that told her he disapproved of her sarcasm but she ploughed on. “From what you said, I gather it wasn’t always that way. So what changed suddenly? Somebody waved a magic wand and hey presto, no more illness?”

  “You are very clever, Ruby.” Kyan reached over to pat her on the arm.

  “Huh?”

  “Although no wand was used.”

  She slanted a significant glance at Mike. Oh boy, this was gonna be good.

  Kyan took the plate of toast Mike handed him, and settled on one of the stools by the breakfast bar. “Indeed our good fortune is not be a natural occurrence. Our priests banished illness forever by means of powerful spells.”

  Ruby snorted, but before she could follow up with some scathing comment he said, “This one does not need pulling as it has no bells on it.”

  She blinked. “Huh?”

  “Never mind. I am telling the truth.” Kyan hooked his ankles around the stool and pulled himself closer to the breakfast bar so he could butter his toast. “Never in my life have I suffered an illness. Not even as a child.”

  “You do look disgustingly healthy,” Mike said. “In my considered opinion. As a medic.”

  Ruby shot her brother an evil glare for enabling Kyan’s absurd claim of magic good-health spells.

  Kyan took a huge bite of toast and licked the buttery crumbs from his lips.

  Ohhh. Yum. Ruby crossed her legs and tried not to drool.

  When he’d finished chewing he said, “In your world, do you suffer from the ailment that gives you a congestion of the nose, an aching head, and the sneezes?”

  Mike rubbed his nose as though he couldn’t help reacting physically to the list of symptoms. “Sounds like you’re describing what we’d call the common cold. No one’s ever been able to cure that.”

  Kyan just smiled.

  Mike’s eyes went huge and his eyebrows shot upward. “You’ve never suffered a cold in your entire life?”