by Lynnea Lee
“You look good too.” That was an understatement. The male was more than good; he looked delicious, and it took every ounce of control for Angie not to jump on his rock-hard body. “I didn’t see my name on the list.”
“That’s because I planned to pick you up. Are you all done with your lunch?”
“Yeah.” She finished off the last swig of her tea.
“Is that all you had for your mid-day meal?” He looked around. “I don’t see a tray or a plate.”
“I have a bit of a headache. Nuri tea usually helps.” Usually, apparently not today. However, she’d noticed the headache a lot less since Ryek came by. He was a great distraction.
He frowned at her. “You should eat. You need your strength.”
“I’m fine for now. I’m ready to go.” It was sweet that he was worried about her.
That was one thing she admired about Ryek; he cared a lot for the colony and its people. Because of that, the citizens of Reka 5 had a lot of faith in him. Even now, with the Dominion threatening their peaceful existence, Angie knew it would be alright because Ryek would do anything to protect them. Of course, it was silly to believe that one male, no matter how capable and fierce, could hold off an army, but that was the level of trust Ryek inspired in his colonists.
“I need to finish a few things up before we train. The fences by the west side of the colony needs a final check. You can come along with me.” He frowned at her dress. “You should change into something better suited for the outdoors and better suited for training.”
He reached over and plucked at the spaghetti straps of her dress. “I don’t think this will survive more than a few seconds with me before it will be on the ground by your feet.”
The image of her standing in front of him, with her dress pooled on the floor by her ankles flashed in Angie’s head. She knew that was not what he meant. But that didn’t stop the rush of lust that crashed in.
A deep rumble sounded from his chest, and Ryek stepped close, his massive body shadowing hers. He stood so close that his heat warmed her body. It was suddenly much too hot. Angie swallowed hard.
Oh shit! He totally smelled that.
He gripped her by the arms, and they stared at each other until the rumbling in his chest quieted. He wanted her too. It was a bad idea; he must know it as well. It would be like sleeping with her ex’s best friend. An ex she was still technically sleeping with on the regular: last night in fact. And that reminded her that she still smelled like Holden and the sex they had shared last night. Crap! Totally not cool!
“I will bring you home, and you can change.” He held her by the elbow and walked her out of the housing office.
She climbed into his transport, trying to hide the red on her face. “Who else are you training?”
“You are the only one on my list.”
“Oh.” Angie was going to be spending the whole afternoon alone with Ryek. This was one temptation she didn’t want to face. She might not pass the test. Would she be a slut if she slept with one male and then his friend the next night? Yes. Yes, you would! Don’t even think about it, you hussy!
And of course, she thought about it the entire drive to her apartment.
Chapter 4
The tempting little female walked beside him as Ryek checked the fences. The last thing they needed was a perimeter fence failure while they had the Dominion on their hands. Reka 5 was surrounded by forest. It was still mostly wild outside the colony's fenced-in areas, and there were many animals dangerous to the colonists.
When the colony was new, dragus would raid often. Only standing thigh height, one dragus was easy work for a Tallean male. But dragus were pack hunters, and where there was one, there were many. They targeted lone colonists, forcing the colony to work in groups to stay safe. They eventually grew brave enough to attack groups of colonists as well.
That was why the perimeter fence existed. Fences surrounded each part of the colony, and tunnels joined the sections together, allowing for safe travel. If one area got invaded by a pack of dragus, they would shut down the bridge to isolate the problem and send in a team to take them out. The colony’s security enjoyed fighting dragus; it was great sport.
There were also large predators that hunted alone in the forests surrounding Reka 5. Coilbeasts were long sinuous creatures that rode low to the ground on their four thick, short legs. While the stubby legs looked like a joke, coilbeasts were deceptively mobile. They used the muscles of their long powerful bodies to slither and slide across the landscape. About the size of five or six Tallean males combined, coilbeasts were tenacious hunters and strong to boot. Luckily for Reka 5, they hunted alone and generally left the colony be.
The last section of the fence was secured.
“Come.” Ryek reached for Angie’s hand as they walked across the field to an area just outside of the forest. The feel of her skin was electric against his. “Holden and I come here to train when we need to get away from the bustle of the colony. You and I can train here. The sports facility and gymnasiums are all taken by other teams.”
It felt right to share their special training area with Angie. They had dug out a pit for a fire and left two chests of training equipment. The grass was soft here and thick, making for a great training area.
“Ryek, why are we a team of two?” Angie looked him in the eyes. She had always been very blunt, something he liked about her.
“If I put you in anyone else’s team, Holden would probably hunt him down. Also,” he added, holding her eyes as he said it, “I wanted an excuse to spend some time with you.”
“Oh.” The air filled with the perfume of her lust again. Holden was right; she was a huge distraction. Ryek needed to stay focused.
Sitting Angie down on one of the chests, he rummaged through the other one for the targets and set them up along the tree line. He motioned for Angie to join him. He positioned her so that her back rested against his front. She shivered despite it being a warm day.
“When you first came to Reka 5, who did you take your basic weapons training with?” Every new colonist had to learn how to shoot a blaster. Every building had emergency weapons in case the dragus got in, or they got attacked by a coilbeast. Coilbeasts rarely attacked the colony, but it had happened before.
“Holden taught me how to shoot.” A barely noticeable smile ghosted across her lips, as if remembering the training she had.
Ryek should have remembered. Holden had been totally besotted with the new human female and found every opportunity to spend time with her. Ryek had been drawn strongly to Angie as well. But instead of hounding after her as Holden had, Ryek had avoided her. He hadn’t wanted to poach on his friend’s territory.
The talk with Holden today gave Ryek a new perspective. Maybe he had been going about this the wrong way. He already knew Angie well. He knew of her daring escape from Jadig at Palik Outpost, and he knew she worked hard at her job to make the new colonists feel at home. She was an exceptional female, strong, and worthy. And her playful and adventurous streak made her sexy as hell.
If Angie ended up being his mate, he would consider himself a very lucky male. And Ryek would gladly share her with Holden if it triggered his mate bond as well. They would protect and care for her together, just as his fathers loved and protected his mother.
Even now, Angie smelled of Holden. She hadn’t washed this morning, and she had spent the night with him. It didn’t bother him. If anything, it calmed him, as if Holden was right here watching their backs. But Ryek knew that if the scent had belonged to any other male, he would have been enraged.
He switched his blaster to stun and handed it over to Angie. “Aim for the targets and shoot. Show me what we are working with.”
Her aim was mediocre at best, but still a decent base to start with. Ryek corrected her stance, pushing her legs wider for more stability. He adjusted her hips and her shoulders. She aimed again, and he reached around her body to correct the aim.
&
nbsp; “Memorize this position and how the target looks in the sight.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m not sure I can. You are all I can concentrate on, Ryek. All I can feel is the heat from your body.” Oh yes, she was always honest and blunt. She pulled the trigger, and the blaster left a mark on the target just left of the center.
“Better. One more.”
Angie shot again, the aim a little better. She turned her head to shoot him a dazzling smile. “Almost!”
Unable to stop himself, Ryek leaned down and nuzzled her neck. Angie’s sharp inhale was followed by a sensual hum before she turned her head to nuzzle him back. He grabbed the blaster and put it aside, safety on, without once lifting his face from her jawline. He had witnessed human kisses before but never experienced it. He wondered how it would feel.
Resisting her was torture. Ryek now understood a little why Holden needed to be away from the little minx. She was very distracting. He ordered his arms to let her go, but it was as if they had a mind of their own; they held on.
He took her lips in his, exploring, and she moaned into his mouth. The sound went straight to his crotch. He turned her body to face him so that he could kiss her better, deeper. The kiss that had started sweet and lingering exploded into something more desperate as he devoured her mouth.
When he finally let her up for air, she was panting in his arms. Her hands clutched at him. Ryek liked this dueling of the mouths; it was a glimpse of what he wanted to do, what he planned on doing, to the rest of her body later.
Angie barely registered his words as Ryek spoke
“We hope the enemy will never get close enough to our colonists for hand to hand combat. But I have requested that our sentries teach all females how to protect themselves hand to hand.”
How Ryek switched from eating her alive with lust to training mode again was beyond Angie’s comprehension. With his remarkable sense of smell, he must know the thoughts going through her head. She could barely focus on anything more than the movement of his lips.
And wow! Those lips could kiss. She wondered if he’d had practice with the Earth-style mating ritual, but the idea of Ryek kissing another woman made her ridiculously angry. Possessive much? And Ryek wasn’t even hers. She had no right to get all possessive when she was the one being the ultra slut.
Bad, Angie. Bad! Angie would never forgive herself if she ruined their friendship.
Angie tried to concentrate as Ryek showed her a self-defense escape technique. The technique relied on leverage and should work despite her being much smaller than a Tallean male.
“I’ll grab you, and you try to get away using the method I just demonstrated.”
Before she could react, Ryek was on her. She tried to move her body and shift her weight as he had shown her earlier. But nothing happened. He was a wall of granite against her body, and his hands were hard as metal cuffs as he held her in place. She struggled ineffectively.
“Someone wasn’t paying attention.” Ryek maneuvered her body skillfully, pulling her over a raised knee, her ass in the air. She found herself bent over his knee, staring at the set of sharp claws that tips his feet. He gave her ass cheeks a few swats before letting her up.
“Eeek!” She hadn’t been expecting him to bend her over and spank her for failing. She rubbed at her redden bum and squinted at him. She was going to get back at him for that!
He lunged for her again, but this time she was ready. She bent at the waist, shifting her weight, and let momentum carry him forward. She swung him and shoved him to the ground, using her body weight. At this point, Ryek had told her to run or find a weapon, but she decided to improvise. She straddled his hips instead.
“Ha!” She drummed both hands against his belly before slapping both palms hard on his lower abs. “Payback!”
But instead of the playful smile she had expected, Ryek growled at her. He gripped her by the hips and pulled her harder down against his body. Angie was straddling his crotch, and he was growing harder by the second.
This was not a good idea. She tried to get off, but he bucked, and she fell forward. He held her chest down so that she was pressed up entirely to this body. His hips moved as he rubbed his erection against her. She couldn’t stop the moan that escaped when he slid over her clit. She froze.
“We shouldn’t.” Her voice shook as she forced herself to say the words. She wanted him to continue, but it was wrong.
“Because you still wish you were Holden’s mate.”
“I don’t know what I want anymore.” That was the truth. Right now, she wanted Ryek. And she knew that was wrong.
“But what if you were mine.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“You didn’t shower this morning. His smell is still on you.”
“I’m sorry. I know Talleans are sensitive to scents.” She tried to move off of him again, but he held her down and sniffed her.
“I don’t mind it. Does this feel like I mind?” He ground his still hard erection against her crotch again. Her arousal blossomed, wetting her, and he groaned against her ear.
“No. I don’t think you mind.” She knew better now than to struggle. It would only rub them together more, torturing them both.
Her stomach growled loudly, and Angie was glad for the awkward interruption. Not eating a real lunch came in handy after all.
Ryek let her up, frowning. “You are hungry. You haven’t eaten yet. I should have taken care of your needs better. Let’s head over to Yurgan’s.”
Yurgan owned the local pub, The Hideout. The food was a greasy and comforting mix of Tallean and Earth pub food. Yurgan himself often worked the bar, and his human mate, Natalia, took orders. All the pub patrons knew not to touch the raven-haired beauty, lest they want a tumbler thrown with deadly precision at their skull.
“Yes, let's go.” Angie was both glad and disappointed. This was the first time her body had reacted this way to anyone other than Holden. But going for Ryek was the epitome of barking up the wrong tree.
They cleaned up their training equipment, putting the mats and targets away in the chests before heading back towards their vehicle. Angie managed to survive day one of training with all her clothes on. It wasn’t much, but she considered that a success.
Now, to survive dinner.
Chapter 5
Holden saw the two of them as if a light shone down from the sky and illuminated the two. Except they were in a dark corner of The Hideout sitting in a U-shaped booth, laughing and talking. As usual, after a long day, he had gotten a message from Ryek asking him to meet up at the local pub. He hadn’t expected Angie to be there.
The anger and jealousy that seized him whenever he saw Angie out with other males did not come knocking. Good. Because when Holden needed a distraction after seeing Angie leave the public baths with another male, he often trained or hunted with Ryek to let off steam. If his jealousy was directed at Ryek himself, things might not end well for either of them.
He would never admit it, and he tried to keep his possessiveness over her a secret. They had agreed to see other people because his body failed to form a mating bond. It was all his fault. If his body would only love her as much as his heart did, he would have been able to keep Angie happy. Holden had regretted that decision from day one; he should have just forced her to stay, but he wasn’t one to go back on his words. And Angie was not the type to be forced to do anything.
Holden took a few steps towards the pair before he stopped himself. They looked happy together, and he didn’t want to interrupt. But the pair had already noticed him.
“Holden!” Ryek called, waving him over. The male shifted his weight, pulling Angie tight against his body, before gesturing to the seat on the other side of the female of their focus.
Holden hesitated a moment before approaching the pair. He sat down, sliding in close until his legs touched Angie’s. She still smelled like him. Angie hadn’t showered this morning. She also smelled slightl
y of sweat from her training, and it was very tempting to reach for her, hold her close, and bury his face into her neck.
But he needed to avoid such possessive gestures towards her. It was something mates did. They were technically just “friends with benefits” now—a term Angie had introduced to him—but Holden didn’t feel that way one bit. He hated the term almost as much as Angie hated “partnership of convenience.”
Ryek reached over and gave Holden’s shoulder a friendly squeeze, squishing Angie between them, pressing her against both males. “How goes the training?”
“I have my group improving their aim today. I started some hand to hand demonstrations, except Jennifer won’t stop trying to feel me up.” Holden thought back to the desperate way the human female had clutched at him. He didn’t like the female’s touch, but she wouldn’t take the hint. By the end of the demonstration, most of his trainees could tell he was trying to avoid the female.
Angie scoffed, probably remembering the trouble Jennifer had caused when they were still dating. “She’s still hunting you down, I see.”
“I can’t even use you as an excuse to get rid of her anymore, Trouble.”
She laughed, and he felt the movement through his thigh where they touched. She used to hate the nickname, but it stuck. It was true; she was trouble.
“Angie, why don’t you tell him about our experience with hand to hand.”
Angie cheeks turned pink, and she kept her mouth shut.
Natalia came over and took his order. Angie ordered a glass of amberberry wine, reminding Holden of their time at the amberberry harvest this year. As Natalia left, Angie elbowed him, her eyes on the door.
“Don’t look now, but I think Jen found you.”
He huffed. The annoying female just walked in, and she was heading this way.
“Hey, Holden!” Jennifer narrowed her eyes at Angie, before leaning over and giving him a look down her shirt. It wasn’t that she unattractive. She just had an unnatural obsession with him, most likely because he wasn’t interested. “I think I need some extra tutoring for the hand to hand stuff. Do you think you can help me out tonight?”
