She would never have felt like this with the men she had been with in the past. They had always made her feel jumpy and aggressive. But something about Sorvar filled her up on the inside, something settled the fiercely independent streak she had. Although she had little control over what was going to happen, for once, she wasn’t stressed about it, and she was finding the lack of stress nice. More than nice in fact, it was... lovely.
Sorvar was resting under her, his heart beating at a steady pace, but inside her, a light warmness and something else she didn’t know how to interpret filled her chest. Maybe with time she’d learn all of his emotions. He was doing a good impression of a cat, though. It wouldn’t surprise her if he started purring.
She stroked with gentle fingers across the slightly rough scales around his sides. When he’d finally removed his clothes after the second time they’d had sex, the scales hadn’t surprised her. They covered his sides from his under arms, down his ribs, across his back and down both of his thighs.
Unlike hers, which were a few shades lighter than her skin, Sorvar’s were still the deep green they had been before his change. They matched his deep green wings and complimented his new human skin, which was a beautiful deep gold. With his black hair and yellow eyes, he looked striking and exotic.
He seemed to be just as fascinated with her scales as she was with his. He hadn’t stopped stroking them since he pulled her against him.
Every part of her transformation had hurt. Thanks to Doctor Tragesh, she’d spent most of it unconscious. Had Sorvar spent his transformation the same way? Or did the Morgath suffer through their transformations feeling every agonising change?
“Doctor Tragesh told me my change was the fastest ever recorded. I take it three weeks isn’t how long a normal transformation takes?” Tina asked Sorvar after they’d lain together for a while.
She didn’t need to ask, but she wanted to question him about his change, and this was a good way to bring up the topic without asking him outright. He might blame her for the speed of their change. He could be angry about it and hold a grudge. For some reason, it was painfully important that he had accepted it.
Why did it matter so much? God, how could she expect him not to be angry, when she was angry with him? She was such a hypocrite. Tina clenched her hand into a fist where it rested against Sorvar’s side, her stomach churning. She shouldn’t have asked. She should have just enjoyed their quiet time together.
“Yes,” Sorvar answered cutting off her thoughts. “A female usually takes at least six months to change. There is usually no sign of any changes for the first month. It takes that long for the venom we inject to attack and alter the DNA. The changes happen gradually as the body renews itself into its new form. We heal fast, and we pass that ability on to our mates, so they heal as they change. If we didn’t pass the ability on, more of them would die during the change.”
Tina shuddered against him. Right, she remembered Doctor Tragesh mentioning something about females dying, but she thought he said they committed suicide.
“So, if a female’s change takes six months, how long does a male’s change take?” Her voice came out sounding shaky and hesitant. She really shouldn’t have asked. Could she even handle his answers?
There had been no information in the data burst she’d received from the learning pod about the change the males went through. Nobody outside of the Morgath people themselves had ever seen it, but she did want to know.
Sorvar went stiff underneath her, and her stomach rolled. Heat crept up her neck and across her cheeks. She pushed up on her arm and looked down at him, but he turned his face away and wouldn’t look at her. He was... embarrassed or ashamed. Tina’s chest tightened, and this time, it was her own emotion, not his.
She had a pretty good idea why he felt the way he did, and she was having none of it. She wanted to growl at whoever had made him feel this way. Nobody had the right to belittle someone who was in pain, or make them feel embarrassed or ashamed.
“You know, I broke my arm and my leg in an accident when I was ten,” she said looking down at his chest, her hand pressed right over his pounding heart. “It was the most excruciatingly painful thing I’d ever had happen to me until you bit me. When I was in Medical going through the change, every time I woke up, I screamed and screamed and screamed. In the end, Doctor Tragesh had to sedate me, because I was drawing a crowd, and people on the station thought they were torturing me.”
He turned back to look at her, and she lifted the hand she had resting on his chest to stroke his cheek. The skin of his face was soft under her fingertips, no harsh stubble to abrade her sensitive skin. His intelligent yellow gaze burned into hers as he searched her for something. What was he looking for?
“Sorvar, I don’t care if you screamed louder and longer than I did. Nothing that happened while you went through the change will make me think less of you, and I’ll stand against anyone who thinks screaming when you’re in that sort of pain is weak.”
A deep shudder rocked his body and he wrapped his massive arms around her, pulling her tight against him as he rolled to his side. He buried his head in her neck, enfolding them in his wings, enclosing them in his heat and scent. A pulse started low in Tina’s body, her blood heating to a low simmer. Now was not the time to feel aroused. Tina had never met a man who was so open with his emotions—she didn’t quite know what to do with Sorvar showing his vulnerability.
“How did you know?”
Sorvar’s voice was gravel, rough with emotion Tina could feel through their bond.
They were in pretty heavy territory for their first day of mating. Maybe it was time to lighten things a bit.
“It’s just me,” she replied. “I’m just awesome like that.”
It took a few moments, but then his body shook against hers and he chuckled against her neck. Ah ha! Warmth flooded her, starting in the centre of her chest and radiating out, and she grinned and snuggled into Sorvar, her thigh brushing against his soft shaft. This time, it was a groan that rumbled against her as his shaft rapidly filled. Again? She could go again.
Tina jerked when with his face still pressed against her neck, Sorvar said, “My father was not happy that I chose a mate, and he was even more displeased with the species of mate I chose. I’m sorry, Tina, but he’s not going to make our lives easy, and my brothers berated me for picking such a weak mate who has made me weak as well. That was why I wouldn’t let you cut your hair. Long hair is a sign of strength. My people measure the success of the change in the length of the male’s and female’s hair.”
She could feel a weight in her chest and a sharp roll of her stomach that made her queasy. Such a strong emotion. She couldn’t read him well enough yet to know what it was, but it was obvious it left him raw and exposed. Tina tensed, her nostrils flaring as she ground her teeth together. Those fucking bastards! Sorvar drew back to look at her.
“You are not weak,” she said, her hands balling into fists. “You’re seven-foot-tall, you have more muscle than any male I’ve ever seen, and I know you’re smart. Use those smarts to overcome whatever your father and brothers see as a weakness, Sorvar. Don’t let them put you down for going in search of happiness.”
He wrapped his hand around her face, tilting her up to look straight into his eyes, his grip just this side of being too tight.
“How do you know I’m smart?” he demanded.
Tina dragged herself up along his body until they were nose to nose. “I can see it in your eyes. You can overcome anything, Sorvar, if you put your mind to it.”
He stared back at her for a long time before a heavy warmth pulsed inside her. Whatever Sorvar was feeling, she’d never experienced before. It stroked her and set her heart pounding. Her breath caught at the heat in his eyes. Then he kissed her, ferocious and wild, making her head spin and her core clench in need.
Good god, he learned fast. He’d gone from never having kissed a female a few short hours before to curling her toes and having her pan
ting. He kissed his way over to her neck, a rough hand fisting in her now loose hair. He tilted her head, and his hot wet tongue stroked down her neck, a low growl rumbling out of him. Tina clutched at his shoulders, her body trembling with the furious need swirling inside, her nails digging into his firm flesh.
“Sorvar,” she panted, then groaned low. She wouldn’t beg, she refused, but damn if he was making it impossible not to.
Sharp teeth bit down on her shoulder, right where he’d claimed her. The now healed and scarred bite mark was exquisitely sensitive, as he’d discovered the two other times he’d bitten her after he’d claimed her. A deep shudder wracked Tina as a little whimper slipped out. Heat flooded her cheeks—such a helpless, needy sound that he could drag from her. She gasped as she flexed against his hold, needing to get closer, needing to feel the hot hard length of his cock inside her. Her core rippled and clenched, the throb of her clit sending spasms through her.
Sorvar released her shoulder as he rolled to his back, taking her with him, rearranging her as he went with firm hands on her hips. He opened his wings, giving him room to manoeuvre her and cooling her a little as the fresher air of their quarters hit the hot skin and scales of her back and bottom. Then he was pulling her down onto the hot hard length of his cock. He pushed into her in one long slow slide. A low growl rumbled through his chest, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her that tightened her core around the hard intrusion of his cock.
Sorvar’s chest was right there in front of her face, the thick muscle of his pectoral almost begging her to set her teeth against it and bite. Tina’s gums ached, and her fingertips tingled. She was almost overwhelmed with the urge to scratch and bite. She wanted to drive him as crazy as he drove her.
God, she needed him to move. She wanted to come so bad, it was driving her a little crazy. He kept flexing his hard cock inside her with just enough stimulation to keep her on edge, but not enough to send her over.
Tina wriggled her hips. He had to move, damn it, but Sorvar just gripped her hips tighter, holding her still. Please move! Oh, why wouldn’t he move? She dug her nails into the hard muscle of his shoulders, clenching her jaw as her heart started to pound. A swell of what Tina was starting to associate with amusement filtered through to her and she let out a little growl.
Damn him, he knew exactly what he was doing to her, the bastard. Tina struck, her teeth bared in a snarl. She put her mouth to that thick muscle and bit down—hard.
It was like she’d lit him up with lightning. Sorvar roared, the swell of his lust and need almost overwhelming her. He started to thrust, hard, fast and rough. His hands held her hips in a bruising grip. Tina clung to him, relishing the intense, beautiful ride, the taste of his skin in her mouth, and his body in hers propelling them towards the heavens.
He was her mate, her male. What they had together was already special, so different from anything she’d ever had with any other man before or ever wanted before. How had he done this—made her feel this way in no time at all? And why didn’t it scare the shit out of her?
Left panting and shuddering with after-spasms, Tina pushed up on arms that shook so badly, she almost face planted into Sorvar’s chest. The bruise on his pectoral from her bite was already healed. There was no sign she had ever put her teeth in him. Her heavy-lidded gaze met his and she opened her mouth to say well that was fun, but the ship shuddered around them, and the blast of the alarms almost deafened her.
“Prince Sorvar, we are under attack!” crackled across the comm system.
Chapter Five
“Get dressed,” Sorvar commanded as he lifted Tina off him and set her on her feet.
She wobbled on her less than steady legs, the insides of her thighs aching and her muscles like jelly. Her stomach tightened. Was he going to leave her here? Tina’s heart started to race.
“Sorvar—” The sharp blaze of heat that shot through her cut her off.
“Tina, I don’t have time to play this game with you. I need to get to the bridge,” he growled.
She stood paralysed for two seconds before she spun and stalked towards her bags on the floor, her hands clenched into fists and her lips pressed together. Her bags were still where Sorvar had dumped them when they first entered the ship.
Game. He thought it was a fucking game. Tina barely controlled the growl that rolled up her throat. He’d learn soon enough that she had no intention of being some soft, sappy push-over.
Tina dug through her bags with sharp jerky movements. It took her a few moments to dig out pants and a soft long sleeve tunic. She yanked underwear and soft slip on shoes out to complete her outfit.
By the time she’d dressed, Sorvar was walking towards the door, his breastplate strapped on and his heavy boots buckled in place. Tina had discovered he wore the same skirt as his fellow Morgathian males, it just sat a little different on him.
“I’m coming with you,” Tina said.
“You are not,” Sorvar replied, as he spun around to face her.
If there was one thing Tina had always been other than independent, it was stubborn. She hadn’t managed to get into space on brains alone. She just hadn’t taken no for an answer and had kept pushing and pushing until her name was on the list.
Like hell she wasn’t going with him! She lifted her chin and stared back at him. “I am. I’m not going to sit in here scared out of my mind while you trot off to sort everything out.”
A low growl rolled out of Sorvar before he spun on his heel. “Fine, but keep up, Tina. I’m not waiting for you.”
Tina looked away from him as she stepped towards the door. Heat streaked across her cheeks. She wasn’t really scared, and she was sure Sorvar knew it. He would be able to feel everything she was feeling, and fear was far down on her list. Shit, why did that make her feel guilty?
She followed him out of their quarters and needed to almost run to keep up with his long legs. His wings were all she could see as he stalked in front of her, his stride eating up the corridor, his boots echoing through the ship. They passed not one single male as they made their way the short distance to the bridge.
The tension rolling off him filled the lift as they rocketed up the floor to the bridge. Sorvar reached for her and took her hand, pulling her off the lift and towards the centre of the bridge.
“Report,” he demanded.
Tina sighed. Men, they were all the same. Rile them up a little bit and they all growled their displeasure at you.
A large male to the left, with eyes more green than yellow, started to speak. “Shields are holding at ninety percent...”
Tina looked around the bridge. Apart from the brief visit when they’d first entered the ship, she’d never been on a bridge before. On the trip from Earth to The Fortress, the Coalition’s main station, she and the other eleven women were only allowed on the passenger deck, and on her trip from The Fortress to Deranti, she’d been so sick because of the constant rifting across space that she’d spent all her time in the toilet. A shudder shook her. That had not been pleasant.
The bridge of Sorvar’s ship was compact. They were such a large species—why was their bridge so small? A screen filled the whole front wall with a view of the ship attacking them, and a male sat at a control panel with all sorts of interesting buttons and knobs and controls on it. Tina had always wanted to learn to fly a ship, or at least a shuttle. Maybe Sorvar would teach her.
The ship shuddered again, and Sorvar’s hand tightened around hers. Tina inched closer to him. If everything went to shit, at least they were together.
The captain’s chair was not far behind the male at the control panel, but raised up on a little dais, like a dictator. A few steps up from the captain’s chair there were two more consoles, one on the left and one on the right, and that was about it. Behind each of those control panels above the captain’s chair, screens with data scrolling across their surface and images and diagrams of the ship covered the walls. Lights flashed across the screens, and for the first time since the a
larm had come on, reality set in, and Tina’s stomach clenched.
Flashing lights were usually a warning. When Medical equipment flashed at you, you paid attention. It always meant something was wrong.
Someone was attacking them! Some unknown people were attacking them. Who would do such a thing? Of course, they weren’t in Coalition space anymore, so that meant it could be anybody.
Sorvar said something Tina didn’t catch in his deep voice. Then the screen blinked, and she was staring at one of the most hideous species she’d ever seen. Bile rose in her throat, and she had to take deep breaths to stop herself from throwing up.
It was like the Morgath, but... not. The overall shape was there, large, winged, lizard-like with scales and a snout with lots of sharp looking teeth, but that was where the similarities ended.
A disgusting yellow slime oozed from between widely spaced olive green scales. She couldn’t imagine having to touch it, to have that gunk on her. One bulging black eye stared right at her. The other was white with a wicked looking scar slashing across the lid. Tina shuddered, the skin on the back of her neck prickling as nausea made her stomach roll.
Sorvar’s hand tightened around hers as the creature hissed out what sounded like a laugh.
“Little Prince Sorvar. I never expected one of Nardoc’s sons to be the male who mated. Look at you, so pretty. Who knew the humans would combine so beautifully with the Morgath,” the alien on the screen said.
A loud growl ripped from Sorvar, and heat boiled inside Tina and almost drove her to her knees with the unexpected force. So that was the kind of relationship the Morgath had with this species. She couldn’t look away from the vile creature on the screen, even though she wanted to. It was like watching someone die. You didn’t really want to see it, but you couldn’t look away.
“What do you want, Crasgich? Why have you attacked us and broken the truce?”
Sorvar’s harsh voice cutting across Tina’s skin felt like a honed blade.
Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1) Page 5
