by Alison Aimes
His eyes flared, then narrowed. “That was before you were in actual danger.” He loomed over her an instant later. His hands wrapped around her upper arms while the heavy weight of his hips pinned her to the floater seat. “You could have been hurt.”
“As could you.”
“I don’t give a damn about me.” His grip tightened, but his gaze shifted away. “I won’t have you endangered. And…and you shouldn’t have had to witness that.”
“Witness what?” His words surprised her. “You were unbelievably courageous. You saved us.”
He stiffened. “Most élithe don’t like Martian savagery.”
Her heart turned over. There was more to his reaction than just annoyance over her refusal to listen to him. More even than just fear for her well-being. She might have felt it through their bond if both of them weren’t so riled up, a swirling storm of emotion that only stoked the other’s temper higher.
“I’m not most élithe.” Tossing the letter opener aside, she reached up and dragged her nails down his chest. “I thought we liked that fierceness about each other?”
The tension leaked away as he realized she was far from disgusted by his display. His fangs and body shrinking back to their normal size, which meant he was still three times her size and a thousand times stronger—and still fairly riled up.
Her nipples went rock hard.
“We do.” His expression turned arrogant once more. “But as Warlord I’m used to my men following orders.”
Goddess help her, his arrogance turned her on.
Her gaze locked with his. “I can follow orders.”
“Can you?” His voice had deepened to a rasped challenge.
The lust between them crashed like surging waves along the golden soul ties, charging the air and sending dark, seething energy crackling against her skin.
“Yes.” She wanted him to understand she accepted him exactly as he was. “If I respect the man giving them, I can be very obedient.”
He leaned in, dropping to his knees while his big hands slammed into the leather seats by her sides, caging her so there was nowhere to run. “Even if those orders have nothing to do with the investigation and everything to do with us?”
Her eyes locked with his. “Even then.”
His pupils dilated, lust darkening his orbs to molten gold. “Even if those orders include spreading your legs and taking my cocksto deep inside you here and now? Not just your mouth, but your pretty chanti?”
Her clit swelled and throbbed. “Especially then.”
She did not hesitate. Tonight had shown her there could be no more delays or excuses. DaKar was in too much danger.
Tomorrow, she would send her confession to the judge and magistrate and she would flee.
Whoever was trying to pin the thefts and murders on DaKar would lose a critical tool in their arsenal to whip up fury against an innocent man. He would be one step closer to clearing his name and armed with a greater understanding of who he should be hunting.
She, on the other hand, would be striking out with little preparation or funds.
But she would not think of such things tonight.
Instead, here in this floater, with the most exciting, beautiful male she’d ever met, she’d put aside the fear and doubt. She’d snatch all she could while she could.
She wanted him with every fiber of her wicked, lawless soul.
“Command me, Warlord. See how well I can obey.”
His nostrils flared, his horns jutting up and out. A fierce warrior. An alien savage. An alpha on edge.
And all she knew was excitement.
He leaned back on his heels, the palm of his hand striking the comms unit that connected him to his driver, though his heated gaze never wavered from hers. “Change of plans. Contact the constable and tell them about the attack. Get in touch with Grayson, too, and have him find out all he can about Latasha who works at the Pleasure Dome.” He paused. “Then, take us around the city. The long way.”
Her lower belly clenched. Her heart quickened in time to the rhythm of the swaying floater. The vibrations of the seat and the enclosed space only adding to the charged tension in the air.
He disconnected before Tom could reply.
His hands returned to grip the seat by her thighs, challenge and lust glittering in his eyes. “Bare your body to me.”
She shivered, the leashed aggression in his rasped tone as carnal as the words themselves.
Fingers trembling, she undid the strips of fabric at her breast, her dress sagging at her shoulders as she caught it in her hands, clenched against her chest. Then, eyes locked with his, she let it fall, pooling at her waist.
Her breasts jutted out proudly, hard pointed tips arching toward his touch.
He might be a fierce warrior, but she was no wallflower, either. Here, with him, she surrendered because she wanted to, because it excited her. She surrendered because it was her choice.
Gaze still locked with his, she pushed the dress past her hips and let it bunch on the ground, a puddle of white froth and fabric between his hard thighs. Now, she was bared to him except for the stockings that came to her thighs, her boots, and the small scrap of fabric at her center.
His hard inhale was her first reward.
“Even a Martian sunset doesn’t compare, Aurora.” His fingertip glided down one slope, circling slowly in smaller and smaller circles until he was tracing her crinkled areola, her breath a desperate rasp. “You truly are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“DaKar.” She reached for him.
“Hands at your sides.” His voice deepened with command. “I did not give you permission to move.”
Her arousal spiked higher. Damn the male. He knew exactly what she liked.
She folded her hands back by her side.
A grunt was all the acknowledgment she got.
His hands reached for her boot. His gaze never wavered from hers as his fingers slipped through the laces. Cool air danced along her stockinged foot as her boot slipped off and he placed it gently on the jostling floater floor behind him.
In the next instant, his large hand cradled the arch of her foot while his thumb stroked along the sensitive flesh. Instant heat. Each stroke as if he brushed against her throbbing center.
She couldn’t help it. She squirmed.
His movement stopped. “Uh-uh. Obedience, remember?” His warning scowl stopped her from protesting. “This is part of the Martian training for mates. I won’t remind you again.”
She tensed at the word mates, but soon melted into the seat as he resumed his decadent touches, sliding his calloused palm up her calf.
“The breeder shows her obedience and, most importantly, her faith.” His intent gaze drilled into her. “You will trust me to bring you pleasure, tonight. You will trust me to give you everything you need.” None of it was phrased as a question. “In the process, you will come a little closer to trusting me with all of you.”
She froze.
Challenge and determination flared in his gaze. “I know you’d never let a little thing like fear hold you back.”
Her breathing hitched. Every time she gave him a little, he demanded more. Took more.
“Say yes.”
“Yes.” She could make no other choice. He was right. She would never let fear steal this moment from her.
Lust flared in his eyes. “I knew from the moment I saw you that making love to you would be better than any fantasy I had ever had.” Without warning, he grabbed her other foot, tugged at the boot and, yanking it off, threw it over his shoulder.
Another shudder ran through her. His unraveling control frayed her own.
“I don’t think I can take too much of this.” Her breasts were heavy and full, her skin flushed, her center on fire.
Leaning forward, he traced his tongue along the whorl of her ear. “You’ll take everything I give you.”
Head dipping, his tongue traced downward. Circled her nipple. Cool air snaked across her skin and then, withou
t warning, scorching heat, as his mouth closed over the tight bud. She whimpered, the strong pull of his lips alongside the slight scrape of his fangs enough to send her back bowing, her hips lifting.
A powerful hand gripped her thigh, holding her down against the hard leather seat so all she could do was comply, sensation flooding through her as he took what he wanted.
She was gasping, her nails curling into the seat by the time his mouth came away with a pop.
Dazed, it took her a moment to open her eyes. To discover he was watching her, his gaze hooded and as savage as she’d ever seen, as he looked at her with her tits wet from his mouth, her chest heaving, her eyes wild and desperate.
“Minel.”
The single growled word only made her wetter. “Yours.”
Even if they didn’t have forever, that would always be the case.
“Spread your legs.”
Her core throbbed. She would be bared to him while he remained fully clothed. His hungry stare would see every inch of her. Especially the wetness that soaked her thighs.
“DaKar.” It was a whisper and a plea.
“Do it.”
She obeyed.
“Good girl.” His knuckles ghosted between her breasts and down toward her belly button. “Maybe you can learn obedience after all.”
“Not likely.” She fought not to raise her hips.
His smile was slow and wicked, his fangs flashing. “Is that a challenge, kitten?”
She squirmed on the seat. “Most definitely.”
His hand slipped between her thighs, his stare taking in everything as his thick fingers ghosted over her slit, parting her folds, teasing, toying, the thick pad of his finger gently massaging her swollen clit, but never picking up speed or pressure. His tactic made her desperate, frantic for faster, harder. And yet it never came. Her breath shuddering in and out while her body trembled and the fire inside her built to an inferno. “Please, DaKar.”
“Keep those hips down, Earther girl. Those legs spread. This is an exercise in control—mine.”
Moaning, she did as she was told.
A single finger worked inside her. Then, two.
Pleasure so great it was almost pain reverberated through her. Her flesh was on fire, her center inflamed and needy. Pleasure sizzled from her center to every cell in her body as the seat beneath her shook and swayed, his touch her only true anchor.
“Do you still think you can follow all my commands?” His expression was wild as he thrust deep inside her, his thumb striking her clit with every fierce stroke. “Do you still think you can be with a male like me?”
A male like me? Even in her lust-dazed state, those words echoed through her, piercing straight to her soul. He was fierce and powerful and strong, but there was still a part of him that needed her. “There is no one I would rather be with. Can’t you tell how much I love what you do to me? How happy I am in your presence and your arms?”
He shuddered, even as he continued to play with her, rubbing his thumb in ever-widening circles, the heat in his eyes darkening.
“Nothing you do or say will ever change that.” Her voice shook with need and the force of her conviction. She might be gone by tomorrow, but she prayed her words would stay with him. That he would sense her devotion along the golden ties that seemed to be multiplying and strengthening with every frantic breath she took. Even after he learned what she’d done, she wanted him to realize she’d given him all the truths she could, along with her heart and soul. “I do trust you, DaKar. I trust you more than I have ever trusted anyone before.”
“Bleeking hells.” A violent wave of desire slammed through DaKar. Along with that same terrifying possessiveness, tenderness, and—Janus help him—something deeper that he’d been battling since she’d raced from the Pleasure Dome shouting his name, his own fierce warrior come to help, as determined to protect him as he was her.
He’d grown up hard in order to survive. Under his uncles’ care, he’d learned about honor and using his strength to protect others. But he’d never needed anyone before.
He did now.
Aurora was a treasure to him beyond price—and he would never curb her nature, only nurture it, and do whatever was necessary to keep her safe. Because for the first time in his life someone was as vital to his existence as he was to hers.
He yanked at his own seams and freed himself from his trousers. “I coming inside you. Now.”
She’d seen the beast in him, the violence that streamed out of control and hurt without care or sorrow, and still her faith remained. Still, she trusted him. Still, she cared for him.
“Yes, please.” The frantic need in her voice only made him harder.
He gripped the soft flesh of her bottom and slid her forward so that she teetered on the edge of the seat. The angle one he knew would lessen the pain. She was wet. She was trembling and ready. A heartbeat away from her own satisfaction, her chanti wet and needy and aching to be filled. He’d made damn sure of that.
“Last chance.” He might be a dominant bastard, but he refused to be like his father.
“Command me, Warlord.” Her sweet, trusting gaze locked with his, determined and unwavering. “I’ve never wanted anything more.” She cupped his jaw in her palms and he thought he saw a flash of something that almost looked like despair before another emotion took its place, so pure and unexpected it hit him like a rocket launcher.
“I choose this freely. Joyfully.” Her expression was almost solemn. “Without any doubt. Love me, DaKar.” She pressed her forehead to his. “As I do you.”
Love. The word speared through him. He was many things. Feared, respected. Scorned. Followed. But he had never been loved.
And, Janus help him, he’d never loved before, either.
But he did now.
In one swift motion, he rose up and, hands gripped tight to her ass, lifted her off the seat, spreading her trembling legs wide. He rubbed the tip of his cock against her wet, swollen center. Ready to mount. To claim. To ravage. “My sweet mate to be. Take it all.”
Their eyes locked. There was no help for it. Slow would only draw out the pain.
She nodded. “Whatever you give.”
He thrust inside. Growled, a purely animalistic sound.
Her barrier tore.
She shuddered, drawing in a sharp breath he knew she fought to hide from him.
So brave, even now.
“That’s right, beautiful. Let me in.” He growled the soft words of praise against her temple, her cheek, her jaw, as he slowly worked himself in deeper. He was big, even for a Martian, and she was a delicate Earther, but he knew already they were a match. In every way. “Your chanti is so perfect. So right. Made to take every bleeking inch.”
Her head fell back, hitting the back of the seat, a soft whimper falling from her lips as her tits shook. The tight wet heat of her squeezed him like a fist.
“Open our eyes and watch, female.” He knew her. Knew exactly what a wildcat like her needed. “See how I claim you. Watch how this cocksto splits your sweet chanti as it sucks me deep. This is how I make you mine.”
She shuddered, her gaze falling to where their bodies connected, a low moan pulling from her as she saw her wet cunt swallow him another inch.
Fuck, she was a thing of beauty. Her hips undulating while breathy moans poured from those lush pink lips.
Finally, calling on every bit of patience, he bottomed out. The ridges of his cock, a Martian exclusive, rippling while he rubbed up against the coarse spot inside her.
They both moaned.
“That…that is good. So good.” Her nails dug into his back adding to his lust.
“Good is good.” He nuzzled her nose with his. Nipped her earlobe. “Great is better.”
Now that she was relaxed enough to take all of him, he lifted her thighs to fall over his arms and tilted her hips upwards, going deeper. So tight. So good.
Though she shuddered under his touch, her body remained pliant, trusting, her hands
gripping his shoulders.
Something potent and raw seared through him. He’d never had anything so precious for himself before.
“Does it still hurt?”
“No.” There was wonder in her gaze. “N-not anymore. It feels amazing.” Her eyes glittered with playful mischief. “Better than great.”
The tight knot in his chest loosened. “It’s going to feel even better before I’m through.”
She smiled. It felt like coming home.
Slowly, he withdrew, then thrust back in.
Eyes wide, her hips jerked beneath his, lust flaring in her gaze.
His body shuddered with each retreat and invasion as he fought for gentleness. Soon he’d fuck her with no restraint, but this was her first time and she trusted him.
He would never fail her.
“I—I had no idea.” Her eyes fluttered shut as her sheath contracted around him, drawing him in deeper. “Yes, DaKar. Yes.”
Goddess, he loved how she said his name. How she refused to hide the naked need for him that etched her face.
His hand wrapped around her throat. Not too tight, but enough to remind her exactly what she’d invited into her body and her bed.
Her eyelids slid half open, a low moan dragging from her.
“You were made for my pleasure. Made for me.” He surged deep inside her, his control fraying as her movements became more frantic. Her pussy seized as his grip tightened and he thrust with a little more force. “So hot and tight.”
Her inner walls clenched around him.
“You follow commands so well, little one.”
“For you. Only for you.” Small pulses signaled her building climax.
His balls drew tight, her pleasure forcing his own higher.
Needing her closer, he pulled her off the seat and fully into his arms. He wanted every part of her against him. He wanted nothing sustaining her but him. She was his to hold, his to support, his to move as he wished.
“Tell me again.” The command sprang from him even as he fought his need to hear it again.
Her eyes locked with his.
His gut clenched, buffeted by terror and awe. She knew.
“I love what you do to me,” she whispered. “And I love you.”
