Oz (The Telorex Pact Book 1)

by Phoebe Fawkes

  “Yes,” he said. He paused, staring at her with a mischievous grin, then rocked hard into her, increasing his pace again until he was coming. When he finished, he released her arms. His mouth was on hers, his tongue dancing against hers.

  “I’ve been waiting forever for you,” he whispered into her ear.

  She leaned into his mouth, wishing to hear it again and again.

  He chuckled then, a soft, warm sound in her ear. “Now, may I tempt you to swim with me?” His hand played absently with a nipple.

  “You are a demon,” she whispered.

  “A demon?” He paused. “Ah, we have worse.” He lifted her to him and sunk into the water with her pressed against him. He rolled a soft tongue around her nipple. “Is this not so much better naked?” he asked.

  She leaned close to him, hiding her chest against him.

  “You are so shy when you are not hidden in our room. In our room you are a wild faerlun. I’m not sure how you would take to Vargys.”

  He pulled her body against him and swam out to the center on his back, so that she could just cling to his neck, his hard shaft pressed against her thigh.

  As they floated he traced patterns up and down her back.

  “In Vargys, you would do it outside?” she asked.

  “In Vargys, they do it everywhere. During the mating rush, you can’t walk anywhere without encountering some couple or group locked in naked embrace.”

  He kissed her neck. “I am still hungry for you,” he said.

  She slid off into the water, swimming away from him. “First you’d have to catch me,” she called back.

  He sunk into the water staring after her. Then he swam toward her, his body cresting the water like a fish, his movements swift and sure. His hands grabbed quick about her body. “Got you,” he said, pulling her toward him. He pushed between her legs and pushed his shaft inside her. She gasped in surprise.

  He pumped fast, jerking into her in fast succession, rising quick, and calling out.

  He panted against her. After a moment, he said, “I don’t know what happened. I…” He kissed her neck. “Let’s go back.”

  He swam slowly to the shore, bringing her back with him.

  He pulled her up to sit on the ledge beside him. “I have something I want to show you; I’ll be right back.”

  He left, scooping up their clothes as he went.

  In only a few minutes, he returned with a soft, fuzzy towel wrapped around his waist. He draped another about her shoulders.

  He seemed nervous as he put down the large black bag which he’d stowed earlier on the shuttle. He pulled out a strange device, entering some readings from his watch into the device, then passed a small viewscreen to her.

  The viewer was focused on a small dot of light. Apparently the device was some type of telescope that passed signals back to the viewer she held in her hand.

  “Is that… is that my sun?”

  “I’m afraid the angle isn’t right, but this star is at the edge of one arm of your galaxy. It’s part of what we call the Neviera cluster. It’s as close to home as I can get you tonight.” He rested a hand on her shoulder.

  “Sometimes I actually think I can just go home, like there might be a bus stop nearby.” She glanced at him hesitatingly.

  “You mean like our portal?”

  “About that…?”

  He stared up at the stars for a moment, then glanced back at her, not quite meeting her eyes. “I can see what I can do,” he offered, his voice tight.

  Molly felt a chill rush through her. Suddenly, it was the last thing she wanted. “I mean, couldn’t I just come back every weekend? Do the long distance thing?”

  He shook his head. “We have the portal on secret assignment. We couldn’t use it too often within the Mahdfel-to-Earth network before they would start wanting to know why we have one. More than that, the Suhlik have been known to track portal transmissions, so it’s not something we can do that frequently anyway.” He hesitated and placed a hand on her belly. “The baby — if there is one or was one later — wouldn’t survive the trip inside you. But I don’t want you to stay here against your will. I could see what I can do for you, if that’s what you want.”

  A feeling of loss and terrible choice coursed through her. She leaned toward him, causing his hand to slide around her waist under the towel. She kissed him as hard as she could, forcing him down onto the ground. She didn’t want to make the kind of choice he seemed to be offering her.

  Molly straddled him, surrounding his shaft, gasping as he speared her again. She rocked up and down his shaft, controlling the pace, building and building, throwing her head back and arching her back as she came. He finished inside her soon after. As his heart beat, strong and fast against her chest, she closed her eyes, trying not to think about what she wanted.

  He was so perfect for her that her heart squeezed. But, if he really meant to give her a choice, and if she wasn’t pregnant, could she really give up the chance to go home again?

  His tail was wrapped around her waist possessively.

  When had the tail stopped even registering for her?

  29

  Oz

  Oz watched fondly as Molly stifled a yawn. “We should get back before it gets too late.” He situated her towel around her body more securely. “Our clothing should be warm now.”

  “I do feel a little tired,” she confirmed.

  Oz packed the scalvoskapp back in his bag. Perhaps it had been cruel to show her, but he wanted — or needed — Molly to know that Earth wasn’t completely gone. It was still completely out of reach though. Her reaction had only shown him how much that hurt her.

  The thought of her leaving cut at his insides, but what she’d asked for was true. He could override the settings — it would be child’s play for him — and send her back to her home, to the same portal that had brought her to him.

  For the Mahdfel, he needed a child. He couldn’t really send her back before. But after? …He didn’t get the feeling she would leave her child with him.

  If he kept her with him until she had his child, she would be his forever.

  He bent down to kiss her. He felt like he needed to get in as many kisses as he could before it was too late, like knowing that his death was at the next battle, so he had time first to say goodbye.

  He could have Seban check for him; see if she was pregnant. If she wasn’t, he should let her go now before it got any harder. This sent a silent, mirthless chuckle through him. Harder than this? It was too late really for him. She already owned his heart and his body. How could it ever grow easier to lose that?

  As they climbed into the Vritz, he dug their clothing out of the shuttle’s dryer. They dressed carefully in the cramped shuttle, and he felt a strong desire again to lie with her, to prevent her attempts to dress. He got ahold of himself quickly. He was acting like one of the non-Mahdfel youths of his home world.

  When they reached the age of men, they would group up and lie with many females, naturally forming small groups that had sex constantly during the mating rush. The many pregnancies from that time would be shared by a group of mated adults who would raise the children together, several men and women forming a verlok, a tree-clan of non-biological Bonded Brothers and Sisters.

  This must be that same need, but all directed at one woman: his woman.

  For his mother’s people being with only one mate was a difficult concept. When the Mahdfel had first come to the Vargys planet, they’d formed small verloks and included the one Mahdfel mate. The male had to endure others copulating around him while only being able to have one woman, only at times, for himself.

  Many Mahdfel left as it was too hard for them to see their women shared with others.

  Oz knew little of his father, but he could understand the difficulty. Many of the Vargys-Mahdfel his own age had also left when they’d reached that age and they faced the choice of having no women of their own. Better the coldness of space and the hope that someday a match
could be found.

  It was how so many of the Vargys-Mahdfel were off-planet when the outbreak began.

  He reached over to strap her in, pulling tight on the straps. “Are you ready for the journey back?”

  She looked back at him with such a soft, trusting expression.

  He kissed her deeply until she was breathless. He hooked his own harness, made the quick calculations, and they jumped to warp.

  His Molly was quiet for most of the journey, but he caught her with a hand upon her belly absently.

  Perhaps she hoped for a child?

  What did he hope for now?

  When they’d returned to the station, he guided her down the corridor to his room and opened the door for her. He was pleased when she entered with no objections.

  They stripped down and climbed into bed together, their limbs comfortably entwined, her head resting on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head.

  Oz couldn’t sleep much that night. He just listened to her breathing as he watched the Xeo Tarlith from his viewscreen.

  30

  Molly

  The next morning Molly woke to an empty bed and a blinking file. She pushed the button, and his soft voice filled the room.

  “Morning, mah lo ma. I didn’t want to wake you, but I needed to run some checks on Xeo. Seban wants to see you later, just to check on things.”

  She adjusted the volume down and played the message twice more, the recorder held close to her ear as though he whispered to her. His voice sent happy shivers coursing through her.

  With a sigh, she reached for her jeans and stuffed the recorder into a pocket. She felt like a giggly school girl who’d found out her crush liked her back.

  She pulled her clothes back on from yesterday, realizing she’d need to make the shame walk to pick out new clothing. All of it was silly. If she were a modern, normal, rational girl, she’d just move her clothes in here as Oz had asked. Why hadn’t she just done that? The whole thing bordered on crazy.

  She smoothed her pocket out so the recorder didn’t jostle in her pocket and felt the edge of her mom’s note. It seemed right that the two most important things to her were so close together.

  Seban was on board the Xeo checking some readings on the mineral they collected. “Good morning, Molly. It is a pleasure to renew the connection. I trust you had a pleasant night.”

  Molly blushed, remembering Oz’s hands on her body. “Yes,” she managed. “Very, uh- pleasant.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I trust you are getting on all right. The crew is not giving you any trouble, and Oz is kind to you?”

  “Everyone has been very nice to me.”

  “I’d like to run a scan, if it is amenable to you. Make sure we do not need to take any new precautions for you.”

  She hesitated as nerves ran through her. This was it. She leaned back on the seat, and the doctor ran his scanner over her. After a moment of reading the results, he commented, “Good. Everything is in order. You are doing well. You have not conceived yet, but I can see that you are healthy. I do not mean to pry, but you have been intimate. No issues?”

  At this, she blushed even harder and stared at the ground. “Yes, we— It’s been- fine,” she finished awkwardly.

  “Sometimes these things just take time.” He made a few notes in his tablet. “I should be all set now unless you need anything?”

  “Would it be all right if I told Oz?”

  “Yes, if you wish. You are his mate. Actually, Molly, you may not have heard. The Captain made an announcement at dawn. We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning for a new scouted location. The crew is anxious to get back to their work.”

  After leaving, Molly packed up her few things to bring back on the Xeo, then she wandered about the station mindlessly. Before long she came to double-doors that slid open smoothly as she stepped in front of them. It was a large, two-story gym, with a boxing ring in the center of the lower floor and various gym equipment and training items set up around the outskirts of both levels.

  Haze was there, handily beating up a training dummy.

  “Hey, Haze.” She waved at him, turning to leave.

  “Molly.” He paused in his punch. “I have that info you were after.”

  Info? Oh. “Already?” She froze and stepped back inside. Did she even want to know the fate of her brother? What if it was too horrible to contemplate?

  She walked over hesitating. “What did you find out?”

  “There’s no easy way to say this. Your brother’s team was ambushed by the Suhlik. They didn’t make it.”

  “I already knew that. Is that all there is?”

  “Sometimes that’s all we get,” he said, but he didn’t meet her eyes.

  “You aren’t telling me something; I can tell.”

  He paused. “Perhaps you should sit down.”

  Molly felt her blood freeze, but did as he suggested.

  “Listen, the Suhlik, they’re nasty fraska. They captured your brother’s team. Apparently they were running experiments on humans, early stages. They were probably looking to make a new version of the Mahdfel, but more controllable this time. When one of the Mahdfel team got to them to save them, there wasn’t much human left.”

  Molly covered her mouth. “Oh my g—”

  Haze reached over to touch her shoulder and patted it. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you. I think I’d want to know it, but I wasn’t sure…”

  ‘Yeah. I—” She felt the tears start falling. Her poor brother. It was like losing her brother all over again. Could she ever tell her mother something like this? Her father? It had been too terrible to contemplate, but now it was true: not a clean death, a horrifying one. Rage filled her. She wiped the tears quick out of her eyes.

  She pushed off the seat and went over to the small training platform and clumsily tossed Haze one of the light juvenile warngs she’d managed before. His hand snaked out quick to grab it.

  “You’ll teach me?” she asked, staring him down, daring him to say no. She assumed a pose as best she could.

  “Yup,” he managed. He held his own up and demonstrated the stance for her.

  Haze slowed his movements so that she could easily come up to block him or try to counter-attack.

  Molly felt herself grow more frustrated and swung wildly. “Don’t treat me like a girl.”

  Haze picked up his pace, and Molly felt herself steady, just trying to keep up, losing herself in the repetitions.

  Periodically, Haze would call out instructions, “Good… Don’t drop your stance. Hold yourself at the ready.”

  They must have trained for thirty minutes, and the sweat poured off her.

  At one point, searing with tiredness, she made a shaky counter, stepped wrong and fell over her own feet to the ground. She rolled over to her back, grimacing, Haze standing over her.

  “Perhaps we should take a break?” he asked.

  31

  Oz

  Oz had worked a long shift to get everything ready for their departure tomorrow. He used his band to locate Molly as he walked back into the station, his step light.

  He would let all this needless worrying pass through him. It could only be her decision. Always. He could only be responsible to appreciate her smile for as long as he was graced to see it.

  Molly was in the sparring room. Odd, but not too big a deal… It was then that Oz saw who she was with. Red came over him in a flash, and his body went rigid.

  When the doors swung wide, Oz found Haze actually standing over his mate while she lay on the ground panting. Shock and anger coursed through his body turning his soul to fire.

  He rushed forward, his fists clenched. “Haze, what are you doing?” His voice was dark and strange to his own ear, holding a deadly warning. “She could be pregnant.”

  Haze took a quick step back. “Oz, I—”

  Oz reached out a gentle hand to Molly, his whole being narrowed on knowing the answer to one question: whether she was harmed or not. His awareness spl
it between tracking his mate and the one who threatened her. “Molly, are you hurt?”

  Molly pulled her hand away from him. “Oz!” She rolled her eyes at him. “I can stand by myself.”

  She was okay. Okay and upset. But with him?

  Oz heard the door slide behind him; Haze making a fast exit. Coward.

  “What’s happened?” he asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “I’m not pregnant, okay?” she bit out. “You can stop doing that.”

  Relief washed over him as his final worry melted away. He had the chance to offer her a real choice. He pushed forward to kiss her.

  “No. I said I’m not pregnant,” she repeated, moving away.

  He felt himself still. “Molly, you must know by now how much I…”

  Molly held up her hand. “Listen, I’m tired.” She walked away and placed the light warng in the holder. “I’ll see you later.” She wiped a tear away as she left.

  Oz felt exhaustion wash over him. What did his female want? And why didn’t she just tell him so he could do it?

  32

  Molly

  Molly sat on Oz’s bed overlooking the Xeo Tarlith and dug her mom’s note out of her pocket. She wasn’t even sure why she was so angry. Again. It wasn’t like Oz had hurt Joe; the Suhlik had. The Suhlik had pushed her and Oz into this horrible situation where they had to hook up for two planets’ survival.

  If she was honest with herself, now that she was alone, she felt a tightening of guilt. She needed to be mad at someone that she could actually lash out at.