Being with Althea was like coming home after years adrift in space, which wasn’t far from the truth. She was as much a part of his life as his parents and his brothers. He thanked the gods or his lucky stars he’d had sense enough to seek her out instead of blindly embarking on a lifetime with Celeste, a woman he’d been sure of in the beginning but had come to doubt more and more as time went by.
Althea’s voice shook him from his own thoughts. “So, are you going to play that thing or not?”
A long moment passed before he realized she was talking to his brother.
“I will play it if you like,” Keplok replied as he picked up his guitar. “However, I’m quite certain your sister would rather I did not.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve never heard you play, and I prefer to form my own opinions.”
Bless her. No one ever could tell Al what to do or think. She was like her mother that way. Tisana had rebelled against the life of quiet solitude she was expected to lead. She’d traveled the galaxy since then, and she never seemed to tire of encountering new life and new worlds.
Larry had practically been born on a starship and had traveled to more places and planets than most people even knew existed, let alone dreamed of visiting.
And he’d done most of that with Al.
He still couldn’t understand how he could’ve been so blind that he didn’t see it before.
Keplok strummed a few chords, proving that he knew his way around a guitar before beginning a song in a pitch-perfect, slightly rasping voice that would’ve sounded good whether he was singing a plaintive love song or screaming out inarticulate noise. Dartula might not have liked the type of music he normally played, but she certainly couldn’t have faulted his voice.
As he sang, Larry not only recognized the song, he also knew the words.
Dartula said he’d been listening to music during the voyage to Palorka, but he never imagined the guy could pick up a song that quickly. He sang with depth and feeling—a simpler style than the original, and unlike so many other newer versions, even better than the one he remembered—about a love that caused him pain and a life lived for someone who didn’t share the same longing and probably never would.
When Larry joined in on the chorus, he was looking right at Al. Telling her she couldn’t know how it felt to love someone the way he loved her. But perhaps she did. This was a song about unrequited love, not the sort of feelings the two of them shared. Despite her smile, her glowing eyes grew misty, and his gaze refused to leave her face. The way she smiled at him, he might’ve actually been telling her how much he loved her rather than merely repeating lyrics written hundreds of years ago by a man long dead but whose music lived on.
He was purring when the song ended.
“That was so beautiful,” Althea whispered. She didn’t have to say another word. Her love shone forth from her gorgeous, glowing green eyes and curled around him with tendrils of joy.
Dartula, on the other hand, was gazing at Keplok with open-mouthed astonishment as if she were seeing him for the first time and hadn’t any idea what to make of him.
And she was purring too.
“I never knew you could sing like that,” she said. “Why now? Why not before?”
“Your opinion didn’t matter before,” he said. “It matters now.”
His song choice made perfect sense. Keplok loved Dartula. He simply didn’t know how to convey the emotion. Nor did he believe his feelings were returned. After all the spiteful behavior between the two, singing that particular song was…
Gutsy.
Would the gamble pay off?
Wait. She was purring. Did his brother have any idea what that meant? The Statzeelian crossbreeds might’ve had the mating rituals ass-backward, but the essential components were all there. Should he tell them, or would they figure it out on their own?
The fire was slowly dying when Al took him by the hand. “C’mon, Larry. I believe it’s time to call it a day.”
* * *
Althea didn’t know how much more she could take. She longed to be alone with Larry, the one person whose emotions didn’t pelt her like hail in a thunderstorm. If she read them correctly, Keplok was mere moments from falling completely apart, Brak would soon be in tears—or the Scorillian equivalent—and Dartula was about to make Keplok a very happy fellow indeed.
Then there was Larry… She’d heard him sing before and knew he could carry a tune well enough, but the way he’d harmonized with his brother was so hauntingly beautiful, she would have been moved by it even if she didn’t already love him. And she did love him. She knew that now. While he sang, his emotions flowed into her psyche like a mountain stream in summer—soothing, refreshing, and profoundly genuine.
That she’d been sensing his emotions was beyond doubt. She could isolate the others’ feelings and interpret them objectively. Larry’s caressed her mind with a gentle, loving touch.
When she rose to her feet and reached for his hand, he’d come with her so willingly that the decision to leave might have been his own.
This time, she led him to her quarters, shedding her clothing as she took him into her bathroom.
Stripping the clothes from his body made her mouth water. Pulling him into the shower made her core grow wet with anticipation. Soaping and rinsing his glorious body had her sinking her fangs into that succulent muscle at the base of his neck. His cock stood thick and hard while orgasmic fluid dripped from the fleshy ruffle around the base of the head. Sucking his cock made her body shudder with each delightful climax.
He was slick and warm in her mouth, and as his feelings wove together with her own, she could almost imagine his cock was her clitoris, being licked and sucked until she groaned in ecstasy.
“You’re getting better at tolerating that,” he murmured.
She sighed. “Being delirious with pleasure is tough work, but somebody has to do it.”
His chest rippled with laughter. “I’m so glad you agreed to take on the job. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have sucking my dick.”
“And I can’t think of anyone whose dick I’d rather suck.”
“Mmm…my turn now.”
His hands on her breasts made her knees tremble. Electricity crackled along the nerves connecting her breasts with her core as he teased her nipples with his thumbs. When he bent down to take a nipple in his mouth, she cried out as the sensuous delights doubled in strength, combining her reaction to the sensuous stroke of his tongue with the erotic hardening of her flesh.
She hadn’t told him yet, had she? Was this the right time, or should she wait?
No secrets. Not anymore.
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she pushed him back, gasping as he released her. “When we’re together like this, everything you feel, I feel. At least, I think that’s how it works.”
“Sweet.” His lips stretched into a broad grin. “I’m guessing that’s never happened with anyone else.”
“Never. We’re the perfect match, you and I. With every breath I take, I love you even more.”
The warmth of his gaze nearly set her aflame with desire. “I’ve loved you all my life, Al. I just didn’t realize it until it was almost too late.” Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her long and slow and deep, making her head spin and her core ache.
He shut off the water and switched on the dryer. As warm, dry air swirled around them, he dropped to his knees, leaned forward, and kissed her clit. “Now you get to feel what it’s like to lick your pussy.” With a wicked grin, he added, “And taste yourself.”
She saw no need to tell him she’d already had that pleasure, although each experience was slightly different from any that had gone before.
He pushed her against the smooth, tiled wall and drove his tongue deep into her sex, then drew back to suck her clitoris. A heady flavor bathed her own tongue, enhancing th
e amazing touch of his lips on the most sensitive erogenous zone she possessed. As the searing heat of her orgasm ignited, her consciousness leaped upward, escaping gravity and reaching for the stars.
Larry had said she seemed to leave her body once before. This time, she was fairly certain she had. In a desperate attempt to remain one with her earthly form, she tore herself from his grasp and forced herself to speak.
“I need you inside me.” Her breathy demand was so alien, she could scarcely believe the sound had come from her own throat.
Within seconds, Larry was on his feet and lifting her off hers. She felt the exquisite glide of her tight heat over his hard shaft from both of their perspectives as she wrapped her legs around his hips. The wall behind her was still warm from the shower, and she focused on its solid, unyielding structure, hoping it would ground her enough to keep her from losing her body or her mind. Even so, each thrust of his cock loosened her grip on reality until she was floating toward the stars once again.
When a rasping breath signaled his climax, her focus turned so completely inward, she actually witnessed semen leaving his body to fill hers.
Then she was back, drifting on a multicolored sea while the orange lights flowed past her. As before, every breath changed their color, and every exhalation sent them off into the void. What were they? Why could she only see them in the aftermath of their lovemaking? Was this a mystery she had to solve? Or did knowing what they were even matter?
One thing was certain: the flights of her consciousness were finite. She wasn’t trapped outside her body. Larry kept her where she belonged—or brought her back. Whichever was true, the result was the same, because when she opened her eyes, he was right there in front of her.
But instead of his usual sated smile, his lips formed a thin line, and his eyes were wide with shock.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he replied. “I just had my first vision.”
While she’d been watching orange lights and trying to interpret yet another weird mystical event, Larry had seen something that was actually important. “What sort of vision?”
“It was about the Guardians,” he said tersely. “Not only do I know where they are, I also know why they’re so upset.” He eased her onto her feet. “We need to get moving. Now.”
Chapter 24
In all his twenty-six years, Larry had never been blessed with a prescient vision. Now that the moment had finally come, he should have been rejoicing. Unfortunately, the timing sucked. Just when he was ready to cuddle up with Al for the night, adventure had come calling.
“What exactly did you see?” Althea asked.
“You know the whole rare and unique life-form thing?” With her nod, he continued, “Some of them aren’t only rare and unique, they’re also intelligent life-forms—and most of them appeared to be children.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “And they’ve been kidnapped to be sold as slaves?”
“Slaves or oddities in someone’s private zoo.” He paused, shaking his head. “I dunno, Al. We’ve been from one side of this galaxy to the other, but there were some variations I’ve never even heard of before, let alone seen.”
“Genetic manipulations?”
He shrugged. “Or natural mutations, but the result is the same—and they’re what the Guardians are so worried about.”
She nodded slowly. “That certainly fits with the altruistic vibe I was getting from them.”
Her shiver returned his attention to their surroundings. “We’d better get dressed and see if we can round up Brak and the Dynamic Duo. I’m thinking it might be best to break the kids and critters out at night.”
“Does it have to be tonight? Seems like we should take some time to come up with a plan.”
“Oh, I have a plan. We’re gonna sneak in, let them all out, and make a run for the ship—hopefully before anyone notices what we’re up to.”
If she found fault with this rather basic rescue mission—which was precisely the sort of “seat of the pants” strategy his mother would’ve devised—she kept it to herself, although he suspected she would point out the inherent flaws eventually. “You said you knew where they were. Why didn’t we see them?”
“Because they’re being kept underground, probably in a basement near enough for you to sense their emotions. I’m guessing the Guardians were reacting to the sale of one or more of the kids—or at least the possibility of a sale.”
She threw up her hands in a gesture of defeat. “Okay. You’ve convinced me we need to act quickly. But it’s early yet. We have plenty of time to hash out our plan of attack while it’s still dark. We might even want to case the joint first and go in later on. Think you’d recognize the building?”
“Possibly, but that’s where you come in. We’ll go back to where we were when you had that sick spell and scout around from there.”
She appeared to give this some thought, tilting her head to one side with her lips in an adorable twist. “How do we keep from being seen?”
“It’s dark, Al. No one will see us.”
She gaped at him. “Why do I suddenly feel as though I’m talking to your mother?”
“Okay, so it’s a cockamamie plan. You got a better one?” Somehow, he suspected she would.
“First off, if they’re being held underground, there’s probably only one way in and out, which means the entrance could be blocked once we’re inside. We really don’t want to get trapped in there. Some of us should go in while the others guard the door.”
“Sounds good.” Larry began to dress, thankful that Al had piled up his clothes in the correct order for putting them back on. Hers were a bit more scattered. “Who do you think should go in?”
“Hmm… I’m thinking Keplok and Dartula. Maybe Brak. You and I should stand guard.”
He arched a brow as he pulled on his briefs. “Don’t trust them, do you?”
“Let’s just say we’ve probably had more experience with this sort of thing than they have.”
“True.” Growing up in a time when Nedwut bounty hunters were still chasing the few remaining Zetithians across half the galaxy, the two of them had already been involved in more adventures by the age of seven than most people saw in a lifetime.
“Plus, if I read him correctly, Keplok is out for blood. If there are any guards, he’d be the best one to take them out.” She stepped into her trousers and pulled them up, shielding her delectable curves from his sight.
So sad. But at least she was still topless—a vision he knew would continue to heat his blood until they were both old and gray. “Think he’s any good with that sword?”
“No clue, although he is your father’s son. Couldn’t hurt to give him a pulse pistol, though. That is, if you have any extras.”
Laughter bubbled up in his throat as he yanked his T-shirt over his head. “Do you really think I wouldn’t?”
“Oh, let me guess,” she drawled. “Jack gave you matching pulse pistols and a few rifles as a bon voyage present.”
He grinned. “Something like that. I even have two Nedwut rifles.” Picking off any Nedwut bounty hunters unfortunate enough to have come gunning for his father had enabled Larry’s mother to amass quite a collection of Nedwut weaponry, and she’d been pleased to pass a few of them along to her sons. “The light stun setting should take down a Palorkan without any trouble.” Unlike the Palorkans, the snarling Nedwut beasts were notoriously hard to stun, which meant that using one of their pulse rifles pretty much guaranteed they wouldn’t be outgunned.
“Unless we find ourselves up against an army.”
Larry didn’t care to bring it to her attention, because he knew using her powers was upsetting to her, but like her mother, Althea was a weapon in herself. He only hoped she wouldn’t have to prove it to the Palorkans.
“We just might,” he said as he zipped up his kh
akis. “The fact that they’re being kept out of sight makes me wonder if dealing in intelligent species is against the law, even on this seemingly lawless world.”
“I should hope it would be. If so, we might actually be able to recruit some backup. Otherwise, we’re on our own against a bunch of heavily armed lizards, which is why we need to do this quietly.”
He thought for a moment. “We should bring the speeder this time. Some of the smaller ones might not be able to keep up on foot. We could have Dartula fly it, if she knows how. Do they even have speeders on Statzeel?”
“I honestly don’t know, but it doesn’t exactly take a genius to fly one. Keplok was able to fly a starship. Maybe he could man the speeder.”
Larry snickered. “Don’t forget, with him at the helm, I had to rescue them twice.”
“Good point. Guess we’ll have to figure that out after we talk to them.” She grimaced. “I doubt they’ll appreciate being interrupted. If I read them correctly, they’ve probably been as busy as we have.”
Her emphasis on the word left little doubt as to her meaning. “Keplok really went for broke with that song, didn’t he?” He didn’t bother to add that he’d only been singing harmony on the chorus and had gotten laid. Not that he wouldn’t have otherwise, but you never knew how these things would go.
At least he didn’t think he did. This being with a woman in every possible way was new to him. He would have greatly preferred to continue exploring all the ways to make Althea moan with pleasure than going out on a midnight rescue mission. If the Duo wasn’t so dedicated to finding the Guardians, they probably would’ve preferred to stay put themselves.
“He sure did. What I can’t figure out is how in the world he was able to find that particular song. Something tells me the Bee Gees never had a hit song on Statzeel.”
“Search me,” Larry said with a shrug. “I don’t think—no, wait.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “Hey, Friday. Did you give Keplok some suggestions?”
“I did,” the computer replied. “He asked for a song that described his situation, and ‘To Love Somebody’ was at the top of the list.”
Maverick Page 24
