He looked confused. “A nice…walk? Where nothing happens? And you just walk?”
She gestured at the otherworldly village with its twisting trees hung with flowering vines. “It’s beautiful here! It should be enjoyed.”
“I suppose.” He didn’t look convinced.
“Here. Humor me. Sit down on the grass.” He complied, and she kneeled down next to him. “I’d tell you to close your eyes, but you’d probably suspect me of trying to murder you,” she said.
He laughed at that. “That is not a concern of mine.”
“Er…thank you? Because you think I couldn’t, or I wouldn’t?”
“Take your pick.” He closed his eyes. “Now what?”
She fought the overwhelming urge to kiss his sensual lips.
“You can if you want to,” he said.
“I can what?”
“Kiss me.”
“Are you reading my mind somehow?” she said, scandalized.
“If I did, what would I see there?”
Treffon passionately kissing her neck… Plunging into her body…
“You would see me still being really annoyed that you assigned one of your own men to stalk me. Okay. We’re going to just sit here for a minute, and just…be in the moment. Feel the sunshine and the breeze. Listen to the whisper of the wind rushing through the grass.”
They sat there in silence for what felt like a long, long time.
Finally, Treffon said, “Interesting.” And he opened his eyes and looked at her. “Not entirely unpleasant. But I suspect that is due to your presence. When I am with you, I feel as if I am seeing and experiencing things through new eyes.”
Longing washed through her, and sorrow at the fear of impending loss.
“I need to talk to you about something,” she said. “My feelings for you. I’m trying not to like you. I’m trying not to want you. But I think I’m failing. I think about you all the time. And that worries me.”
“I see,” he said, staring into the forest.
“Maybe I should stay somewhere else and avoid you altogether?”
His thick brows drew together in a frown. “I would not like that. I want you to be close to me. I…I must keep you safe. Our investigation so far is running into what you humans call a deceased finish.”
She thought for a second. “A dead end?”
“Yes. We have attempted to trace the source of the computer threat on Earth, and have come up with nothing. As for the exploding cab, there had been death threats against XiXiXi, the person who jumped in ahead of you, because he was in the practice of selling counterfeit merchandise, so it is possible that he was indeed the target. And we have not been able to trace the origin of the explosive device.”
“I see. I still kind of feel like the cab attack was meant for me, though. It seems awfully coincidental.”
“I agree.” He reached out and took her hand in his. “That is why I wish to keep you close to me.”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “Do your feelings for me worry you?”
He shrugged, with a sad twist of a smile. “No.” At her hurt look, he said, “Because I have trained myself for my entire life, more than a hundred of your Earth years, to crush my feelings into the dirt. You humans call it ‘compartmentalizing’. I cannot explain it except to say that I do not allow myself to feel my feelings.”
“That sounds…lonely,” Violet said, a surge of compassion rushing through her. He had so much weight on his shoulders, always having to put his pack’s needs ahead of his own.
“It is how I have survived, how I continue to do my duty.” He sighed. “Let us speak of other things. Tell me about yourself, and your life on Earth.”
“Well, I grew up in New Jersey. My parents were schoolteachers who died in a car crash when I was in my teens.”
She blinked hard as she said it, but she’d finally gotten to the point where she could talk about it without crying.
“I am very sorry. My parents passed away also. I was not very close with them when they were alive.”
“I have heard that your father was…” She tried to come up with a diplomatic way to say it. “A very stern leader.”
Treffon barked out a harsh laugh, with a world of bitterness and pain in it. He picked up a stone from the ground and squeezed it in his fist. “He was an evil savage who brought our pack to the brink of death with his constant warmongering. My brothers died because of his brutal training regime. And my mother did nothing to protect them. He started an unnecessary war with the Wor-Lans at the worst possible time, after our numbers had been so greatly depleted by the cyborgs. My mother died in battle as a result. Madok’s true mate was also killed, which is why he and his family hate the Wor-Lans so much.”
He’d squeezed the stone so hard that it shattered into pieces. His hand was bleeding, and he didn’t seem to notice.
“If my father had not been killed by the Wor-Lans, I would have issued a death challenge myself. I should have done so years before, but I feared that I would cause a civil war within our pack and weaken us further. That was a mistake on my part; nothing would have been worse than his rule.”
Violet felt as if her breath had been stolen away. “Oh my God. I can’t even imagine. ” She wanted to weep for what Treffon had endured. His father, the man who should have protected his children at all costs, had been a murdering bastard.
Yes, she’d lost her parents young, but at least in the too-short time she’d had them, she’d known that she was loved.
“Treffon…I’m sorry.” She reached out to take his hand, but he pulled it away.
His face had gone dark. “I did not mean to tell you all of that,” he said. “I will take you back to the castle now.”
Violet felt as if a door that had just started to open had now slammed shut in her face with a resounding clang. He was so far away from her now, he might as well have been on the other side of the galaxy.
She followed him back to his mini-hover in silence.
Chapter Thirteen
The door to Treffon’s room banged open, and Zura stormed in with Madok on her heels. Treffon, who had spent the day destroying several of the punching bags he kept in the room, turned and raised an eyebrow.
“Treffon. I am speaking to you as your cousin and not as your subordinate,” Zura said, her tone cautious. She and Madok were both looking at him appraisingly. They both wanted to see if the darkness had claimed him, but for different reasons. Zura was concerned, and Madok was trying to decide if Treffon was weak enough to defeat in battle.
“You have retreated to your room for an entire solar circle.” Zura kept her voice calm and soothing. Do not provoke the beast. “You have never done this before.”
Treffon nodded. “This is true.”
“Are you well?”
“In fact, I have never been better.” He said it with such good cheer that Zura’s jaw dropped.
And he meant it.
Opening himself up to Violet, saying things that he had never even let himself think – admitting that his father had been a terrible leader and a worse parent – had freed something in him. He’d kept the ugly memories of his childhood hidden deep inside, festering and poisoning him. They were released now.
He had spent the day in his room, shouting at the punching bags, slashing them, kicking and hitting them…letting the rage drain from him.
“Violet was upset when she came back. I had dinner with her. She did not wish to talk about anything,” Zura said, with a hint of reproach in her voice. “Also Dorcas said something about you getting the wrong end of the thunderstick next time she sees you.”
“Where is Violet? I will speak to her.” He would do more than speak to her. He would beg her to stay. He would explain that sometimes there were happy pair-bondings even when two people were not each other’s true mates. He would promise to devote himself to her happiness.
“She went out to have a picnic with the Eeplings,” Zura said. “I think she was trying to distract her
self.”
“Oh. Perhaps I should wait for her return.” Treffon felt a sharp stab of disappointment.
“No, you should go to her,” Madok said, surprising Treffon. Madok was hardly a person whom Treffon would consider to be sentimental.
“Your strength is our strength,” Madok added. That made more sense. Madok was torn between wanting to rule the pack and not wanting Treffon to embarrass them all by going mad.
“Very well. I will leave at once.”
Treffon used his comm to check on Violet’s location, and took one of the smaller hovers. She was sitting there with Tristao and Cora Lee, and the Eeplings; of course, to keep her safe, she still had a guard with her at all times.
They were back at the empty village, in the square at the center of town. Violet and Cora Lee were setting picnic baskets on a round table, and the Eeplings were climbing all over everything as usual, snatching food out of the baskets.
“Treffon,” Violet said with surprise as he climbed off the hover. “I…I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“We will leave you two to talk,” Tristao said, and he and Cora Lee hurried off to their own hover without another word.
“I came to apologize, and to thank you.” Treffon began setting out plates from one of the baskets. The Eeplings seemed to be obsessed with the picnic food, grabbing pieces of it and running away.
“Thank me for what?” Violet picked up a bread roll, but one of the Eeplings swiped it from her and ran off. It climbed up a vine-covered lattice wall and stuffed it in its mouth.
“For just letting me talk. For being there. It…it helped me. And I am sorry that I left. Talking about the past brought up many ugly memories, but I still should not have left you like that.”
She managed a rueful smile. “It’s all right. I understand. And anyway, I should get used to spending time without you. After all, I won’t be here forever.”
“No, but that is what I wanted to talk to you about—”
“Hey! Leave some for us!” Violet interrupted, calling out to the Eeplings who were trying to drag the picnic baskets away.
She grabbed one of the baskets and put it on her lap and wrapped her arms around it to stop them from stealing it.
“Jeez, what’s the deal here? They ate huge breakfasts,” she said, shaking her head. “Anyway. I’m sorry they’re being such little terrors. Please, keep talking.”
She opened up the picnic basket and pulled out a delicious snarfleberry pastry. Just as she was about to eat it, one of the Eeplings leaped on her and smacked it out of her hand. It splattered down the front of her shirt.
“Hey!” she yelled indignantly. “You guys! This isn’t funny anymore!”
Annoyed and very hungry, she started to take a bite out of the morsel she had left in her hands…when suddenly Treffon tackled her and knocked it to the ground.
“What are you doing?” she cried.
“Did you take a bite?” Treffon demanded frantically.
“No, because apparently nobody in the universe wants me to. What gives?”
“It’s been poisoned!” He snatched the picnic basket away from her. Half a dozen Eeplings swarmed over him, grabbed it, and ran off with it.
Her eyes widened in horror. She looked over at them. They seemed fine. They didn’t seem sick. “But…they’ve been eating it. What makes you think it’s poisoned? Should we rush them to the medic?”
“What they eat is not compatible with what humans eat. So, if they can eat something, odds are good that it would be poisonous to you. They were trying to stop you from eating it.”
“Oh! That means they saved my life!” She hugged the Eepling who had knocked the food out of her hand. It looked at her reproachfully.
“Eep, eep!” She suspected that was Eepling language for, “We tried to tell you, you moron.”
Then she looked at Treffon and her face went pale. Tears welled in her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “If this was poisoned…it was meant for me. Somebody here, somebody on your pack lands, is trying to kill me.”
“Yes,” he growled, his face dark with anger. “And I will find them and make them sorry they were ever born.”
He clicked his comm bracelet and spoke to Tristao, telling him what had happened. “Detain the chef who prepared this meal,” he said furiously. “And send out a crew to collect the picnic baskets.”
A short while later, security staff came to pick up the baskets and all their contents, to take back to their laboratory for analysis.
They flew back to the castle, and Allison and Kroi met them at the landing pad to fetch the Eeplings. Kroi still looked downcast; apparently he’d been very rattled by his failure at stalking Violet. He was wearing a uniform that Violet thought was only supposed to be meant for the cubs of the pack, and plucking at it self-consciously without really noticing.
“You’re all heroes, yes you are,” Allison crooned to the Eeplings. They trilled with delight. Allison glanced up at Treffon. “Promise you won’t let anyone murder my friend,” she said with unaccustomed boldness.
“I would die first,” Treffon said.
After Allison and Kroi and the Eeplings left, Violet glanced down at her fruit-splattered shirt.
“I should change.”
He nodded. “You will shower in my room, because you are moving into my chambers. And I will wait outside the shower to ensure no one makes any attempt on your life.”
When she started to speak, he growled, “Do not argue with me. I am the Reginar, and my word is your command!”
“Is it impossible for you to be civilized for five minutes?” she snapped at him. “Quit trying to boss me around! I wasn’t going to argue.”
“Of course you were. You are a stubborn human who refuses to let me do what is necessary to keep you safe. But I will do what I have to do, whether you agree or not.”
Violet stalked off, heading towards Treffon’s room. Treffon followed right in her footsteps.
“I wasn’t going to argue with you. I was going to tell you that I’d probably be even safer if you were in the shower with me. And now I’ve changed my mind.”
“What?” Treffon looked dismayed. “Change it back!”
“Nope. You can’t make me.”
“But I can be very persuasive.”
Chapter Fourteen
“If you let me take a shower with you, I can help you scrub your back,” Treffon said winningly as she climbed in.
The shower was a pod-shaped cubicle that dispensed anything from a fine mist to a bracing torrent of warm water. Rounded alcoves inset into one wall held glass bottles of colored liquids and waxy-looking spheres that Violet assumed were some kind of soap. She picked one up and sniffed it. It smelled of snarfleberries. “Hmmph. I can scrub my own back. I’ve been doing it for years.”
“But I would be better at it.”
“I doubt it.” But she was wavering.
“How will you ever know if you do not let me try? The question will plague you. It will keep you awake in the night. You will always be wondering.” Treffon had somehow shed his clothes in a heartbeat, when she wasn’t looking.
“What question was that?” She couldn’t stop staring at his enormous erection.
“I forget.” He climbed into the shower and turned the water on.
She pressed herself against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His erection pressed insistently against her belly, and slick moisture trickled from her core at the memory of that satin-over-stone length thrusting into her. She wriggled against him, stretching up on tiptoes to kiss him hungrily, dragging his head down to hers.
But he pulled away. “Not yet,” he murmured, and he took the sphere of snarfleberry soap from its little alcove, rolling it around in his hands until his palms were slippery and sudsy.
He turned her away from him, so her back was pressed against his front, and he soaped her breasts with slow, thorough care. His slick palms moved over her sensitive flesh in smooth circles as he worked his way lower,
soaping her belly and lathering the curly hair between her legs. The sweet, tangy scent of snarfleberries rose in the air around them and the warm water ran down over their bodies in rivulets.
She yelped and wriggled as he kneeled behind her, nipping her buttock with his teeth as he worked his soapy hands between her thighs, washing her pussy tenderly and thoroughly. She moaned and tilted her hips, pushing back against his fingers, but his hands moved lower, smoothing over her thighs and calves before guiding her around again so he could wash her feet.
He kneeled on the floor at her feet, all smooth, coiled muscle, looking up at her, water beading in his thick eyelashes. He slid his hand up her calves, pushing her thighs apart, then pulled her closer so he could press his face between her legs, parting her pussy lips with his fingers so he could lap at her clit.
She shuddered and moaned, twining her fingers in his hair as he worked at her core with his lips and tongue, flicking and teasing until her legs were trembling and she was biting her lip to muffle her moans.
Then he surged to his feet and pressed her back against the wall of the shower pod, kissing her ravenously. She could taste herself on his mouth, along with a faint trace of the soap. He pulled back for just long enough to hook his hands behind her thighs and hoist her effortlessly off her feet, sandwiching her against the wall as he slid smoothly inside her.
His rhythm was quick and confident, stoking her towards orgasm, and when he felt her first tremors and heard the telltale catch in her breathing, he pressed his mouth against hers to catch her moan of release. He kept pumping his hips until he’d wrung every last spasm from her, and then he swung her into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom, where he deposited her in the middle of his enormous bed. Her damp limbs made a watermark angel on the satin bedspread.
Treffon lay down, stretching his big body alongside hers. He tiptoed his fingers over her collarbone and down her sternum, drinking in the sight of her.
Her eyes fluttered open and she wrapped her fingers around his still-erect cock, squeezing gently and murmuring, “We need to take care of this.”
The Vulfan's Dark Desires (Starcrossed Dating Agency Book 3) Page 9
