Heartless

by Kate Rudolph

  “Don’t stop,” Kayde urged, and Quinn didn’t. Her lips found his neck as their lower bodies moved together, the friction of all their clothes not quite enough to get either of them to the edge, but more than enough to leave them both gasping and desperate for more.

  Kayde’s fingers found the clasp of her pants and he flicked his red eyes up to her, the question as clear as day in those demonic depths. Quinn had to swallow hard against the sudden lump in her throat and her hand covered his for a moment before she managed a shaky nod. They’d gone this far before, farther even, but Kayde didn’t take her consent for granted, he made sure she was with him every step of the way until he left her a wet, writhing mess of desperate need.

  She loved him for it.

  She’d taken her shoes off before she lay down, so her pants and underwear came off smoothly enough. Quinn handled her bra, slipping out of it with sure fingers, becoming strangely more confident the less clothing she was wearing. She didn’t quite understand why she felt more in control the more exposed she became, but it was a blessing she wouldn’t question.

  “You’re a bit overdressed,” she said, laying her own hand against the clasp of Kayde’s pants and sliding her fingers down until she cupped him through the thick material.

  He groaned and arched up into her grip, his eyes falling shut as she felt him up. She ran her hand over him, fondling his length and imagining what it would feel like inside her. There were ridges along the length unlike any human, something uniquely Detyen that she knew she’d feel imprinted on her once they got that far.

  And they were going to get that far. She needed him now.

  Kayde covered her hand with his, joining her as she brought him close before stilling her. “Not yet,” he managed, breathless. “Not until you’re ready.”

  “Oh, I’m ready,” she promised. It was half lust, half bravado, but they were doing this tonight, she wouldn’t let anything short of an alien invasion stop them.

  “Let me watch you,” he said. She’d found he liked that, watching her touch herself, seeing what she liked. His eyes were a caress, she could feel their heat even when he kept his hands plastered to the bed, as if he was worried that if he touched her, he wouldn’t be able to stop. “Get yourself ready for me.”

  Oh, the promise in those words coiled deep within her. She wanted him now, but the thought of being caught in his gaze made her short of breath and caught a plea in her throat. Yes, she could do that. But not completely alone. Quinn reached out and dragged one of his hands up off the bed until she plastered it against her hip. The other came up against her other hip like a brand. She’d never known that to be an erogenous zone, but wherever Kayde touched her, she was set alight. And she wanted more. She canted her hips on top of him, moving against his body and trying to use him to bring her to the edge, but it wasn’t enough. He gripped her tight and she knew that it wouldn’t take much to get him to let go, to get him to give her exactly what she was begging for.

  But not yet, not when he’d asked for something of his own.

  She started with her breasts, teasing them, touching them, hiding them from Kayde before she leaned in close and let him swipe his lips against the sensitive skin. His tongue darted out and the sound that escaped her throat was inhuman. And it only made Kayde harder beneath her. He loved to bring out this desperate side in her, she could see it in his reaction, he loved it when she let go and let the lovemaking take her, no longer concerned about her past or what she should want. All that mattered was the two of them and the things they did to one another, the pleasures they gave.

  It was a perfect moment, one she didn’t want to resist.

  Her fingers trailed lower, drawing a line down her chest and stomach, giving Kayde a trail to follow with his eyes. And his lips. He stayed flat on his back, but she was already leaning over him and she could feel his resolve breaking with every flick of her fingers that preceded one of his kisses. But he didn’t touch anywhere that she hadn’t already, and she couldn’t help but wonder what she’d do when her fingers were buried deep in her sex, opening herself up and preparing for him.

  As her fingers brushed against her folds, she imagined it was his tongue doing the work, playing with her until she was dripping with pleasure, ready to welcome him into her and make love to him all night. She pushed one finger inside of her wet heat and swallowed hard. The last time he’d tried this, she’d already been riding the edge of panic. And this was the first time he’d deliberately told her to use her own fingers like this. But panic didn’t come this time, whether it was because she was doing this to herself or because they’d moved beyond it, Quinn didn’t know and she was beyond caring. She could care later, right now she was trembling with the need to feel.

  “Another one,” Kayde demanded. His own thumbs made circles on top of her hip bones, keeping them connected and reminding her that she was the one in control here. He’d only put his hands where she let him, would only taste where she’d already touched.

  She did as he asked, adding a second finger and groaning as it stretched her muscles. It had been a long time since she’d willingly taken something inside of her, and Kayde wasn’t exactly small. Her mouth watered to think of his naked cock, but while she loved to look at him, the thought of letting him inside of her was a little intimidating.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he praised her, the words torn out of him. “I could watch you for years and never tire of it.”

  Words caught in her throat, something she’d never known she wanted to say, but she couldn’t force them out. All she could manage was, “Now, please.” She wasn’t above begging, not when she was scorched through with heat and desperate for his touch.

  And finally her mate showed mercy. He gently laid her down beside him and took care of his pants, coming back to her completely naked and hard with want. He climbed carefully over her and placed one hand on top of hers, sliding a finger in alongside her own. Quinn felt the stretch and gasped, but no terror accompanied it, nothing but desire and lust, all her red hot emotions crying out for this man.

  “Good?” he asked, his eyes twin rubies.

  “Great,” Quinn responded, barely coherent enough to get the word out.

  The blunt head of his cock teased her entrance once they’d removed their fingers and Quinn arched up into him, wordlessly begging him for more. When he pushed into her, Quinn knew she’d come home. He filled her to the hilt and for a moment the stretch hurt, but as her body adjusted it became perfect. And then he began to move and she moved beyond perfect, beyond all thought, until there was just sensation, just pleasure. They moved in sync, their bodies tangled in an ancient dance that spanned light years and brought them to this moment of joining together, an impossible inevitability that neither of them had ever known to wish for.

  Time blurred; it could have been hours or seconds, but then she was convulsing around him, her orgasm sweeping her away on a tidal wave of sensation. Something clicked into place within her, a bond anchoring deep inside where she knew it could never be excised. And with a final thrust, Kayde came, emptying himself into her with a possessive growl, bringing her over a second time and turning her mind to mush.

  Quinn collapsed back against the pillows, her thoughts all quiet and muddled in the best way possible. She wanted to reach out and pull Kayde close, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to move for the next week. Beside her Kayde’s breaths were heavy. She managed to turn her head and look at him. Was she imagining a glow around him? He looked somehow more, and she didn’t know what it meant. She reached out and placed her hand over his chest, right over his heart.

  Kayde flinched and his gaze snapped to her. His eyes looked wrong. At first she thought they were their normal black, but it was his pupils that were so dilated that she could barely make out the strip of red that glowed like fire.

  Quinn’s lassitude vanished and she was up like a shot, leaning over him and looking for what could have set him off. “Are you okay?” she demanded. She tried t
o keep her voice even, but panic shot through her. She’d been so concerned about what making love would do to her that it had never occurred to her that something could go wrong with Kayde.

  His breaths were heavy, labored like he was hyperventilating. His eyes widened for a moment and his lips opened in a silent scream. Then he went limp as he lost consciousness.

  As Quinn jumped out of bed to go to the communication station and call for help the room lit up with flashing lights and an alarm sounded. She ran to the window to see what was wrong, sparing a glance for Kayde. In the distance she could see bright lights flying in over the horizon. Two ships sped overhead going out to meet it, their defensive shields turned on bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.

  Her blood ran cold in her veins. They were under attack.

  Chapter Nineteen

  KAYDE TRIED TO OPEN his eyes, but was forced to squeeze them shut almost immediately. Everything was too bright, and for some reason flashing, and loud. It took him several moments to realize that the warning sirens were going off and it wasn’t his senses that had gone haywire. That was only a distant comfort. The tsunami of sound and light was too much for his battered mind to handle and he reached for one of the pillows at the head of the bed and used it to cover his face and ears, trying to drown out the light and noise.

  Everything burned too bright, everything hurt, except for the anchor point of reality that he could feel nestled in his chest, just under his heart. The denya bond. Had he thought his emotions were back before? What he had begun to feel since Quinn awakened him was like trying to interpret sound and sight underwater. And now he breached the surface and was shocked by the crystal clarity around him. He hadn’t realized before just how much losing his soul had cost him. Everything was brighter, louder, more, and he didn’t know if he could handle it. His ears felt like they were about to bleed, and his eyes hurt, aching like they were about to fall out of his skull. Too much, too soon, how did people live like this?

  Where was Quinn?

  Kayde cast aside the protective shield of his pillow and braced himself against the bed before he opened his eyes. The strobing brightness of the flashing light intensified his headache, but he spotted Quinn frozen by the window and the harshness all around him softened, the edges blinded by his mate’s presence. His heart thumped hard in his chest, and he could not have looked away from her if a battalion of soldiers had busted through the door and tried to attack. She was haloed in the faint light coming in through the window, unselfconscious of her nakedness like a goddess.

  Lust ripped through him followed quickly by something more tender, something he couldn’t begin to define but that was sustaining him right now while his mind and body were caught in a riotous confusion of emotion and sensation.

  Reality snapped around him and Kayde realized what the sirens meant. He scrambled off the bed and started to reach for his clothes.

  While he was pulling them on, Quinn spun away from the window and rushed over to him, her hands landing on his arms, and warmth suffused him. Her hands came up to cradle his face and she tilted his head up until their eyes met. Her concerned expression sent a ripple of fear through him. His mate shouldn’t fear anything, and he’d do whatever it took to make sure that she remained safe.

  Except, in this instance he was almost certain that he had been the one to put that look on her face.

  “What happened?” she asked, her fingers curling against his cheeks until she was pressing almost painfully hard. “Are you all right?”

  Kayde reached up and placed his hands over hers. “I’ve never been better, my denya,” he responded. And despite his overstimulated senses, he meant every word. They were together, they were bound, and nothing would tear them apart again. No matter what threatened the base, or what his fellow Detyens wanted to do to him.

  Doubt clouded Quinn’s eyes, but after several moments she nodded. “There’s a ship flying in, I can see it from the window. I think we’re under attack.”

  Kayde stood up and linked their hands, walking with her towards the window. He saw exactly what she was talking about almost immediately, a small speeder moving quickly and getting closer. Two Detyen ships were moving towards it, but they had yet to engage. “If it’s only the single ship,” he said, “there’s no reason to worry.” But he couldn’t just sit here while his people were under attack, while his mate was threatened by some unknown force.

  “But it’s never just one small ship,” Quinn responded. “That would be suicide. Even I know that.”

  “I have to go out there, I have to help.” Kayde let go over her hand and hurried back to the clothes he piled on the bed, pulling them on quickly with the same efficient movements he’d used every time he’d gone into battle before.

  Quinn gathered her own clothes and pulled them on as well. “You can’t go out there,” she insisted. “We don’t know what’s coming, and your own people might stop you, might—” she cut herself off.

  “There are never enough soldiers in the Legion.” Kayde knew that well. “I am certain of my welcome.”

  “Please don’t go.” She was looking at the floor, rather than at him, and the pleading note in her voice almost stopped in his tracks. Almost.

  “I have to go out there. I have to protect you.” He would not let anyone get close enough to harm his mate, he would destroy anyone who tried.

  “It’s dangerous.”

  “This is who I am. I promise that I’ll return to you.” He could see his mate’s fear, and her concern, but Kayde could not sit in this room and wait for trouble to come to them. By then it would be too late. And he had never been a coward.

  “You better,” Quinn said after a long moment.

  There was more to be said between them, and the last thing he wanted to do was dash out of this room less than half an hour after claiming his mate, but the base was under attack and he had no other choice.

  Kayde stuck his feet into his boots and tightened them quickly before standing. He turned back to Quinn and offered her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. She rushed up to him and crushed her lips against his, holding him tight, as if her love could be his shield. It took more effort than it should have to pull away, but the call of his duty finally spurred him into action and Kayde was out the door with one final glance back at his mate.

  There was no guard to keep him and Quinn in place, and though the flashing lights and siren might have sent others into a frenzy, the Detyen Legion lived and died by its discipline. The Hall was deserted as everyone had already moved to find their places in preparation for battle.

  It wasn’t long before Kayde found Sandon heading straight for him. “Suit up,” he said. “I want you out on the field in ten minutes.”

  Kayde was ready in nine and found himself reporting to the same commander, Kendryk, who had leveled his blast rifle at him and Quinn when they landed their own ship earlier in the day. His new emotions were swirling within him, caught between amusement and resentment, but he pushed it all down to focus on the problem at hand.

  They stood in a column just inside the main hangar and waited while the two Detyen defense ships escorted the Oscavian speeder to a landing point. It hadn’t made any attempt to attack, and while its communications weren’t coming in, it had flashed its light in a Detyen code indicating it was friendly. Something didn’t add up. The Oscavians were no allies of the Detyens, but the ship that attacked them months ago had been acting alone, had not represented the Empire in any way. So why had they fallen under the attention of the Oscavians once more? And why would these new Oscavians be friendly?

  The ship landed while the two Detyen ships remained hovering in the air, their guns trained directly on the Oscavian speeder, ready to shoot if anything seemed off. Kayde and his fellow soldiers marched out, blast rifles at the ready, and went to meet whatever friend or foe was waiting for them.

  The door opened on the speeder and a ramp descended. A short human woman wearing a thick jacket in an Oscavian style stum
bled out onto the ramp quickly followed by a giant of a Detyen man wearing a similar coat. He was too far away to make out the fine details of either of their newest visitors, but Kayde was almost certain that the Detyen man was Druath, a warrior who had disappeared during the battle a few months ago.

  “I am not your mate,” the human woman screamed at the Detyen. She turned around and clutched her head before collapsing down onto the ramp like a broken doll.

  “Laurel!” the man who might have been Dru yelled. He rushed up to the woman, Laurel, and scooped her up, walking towards the Detyen defenses as if he were immune to blaster fire. “She needs medical attention,” he said, his voice rising to the edge of panic. “And we don’t have a lot of time. They’re coming.”

  COMMANDER KENDRYK LED Dru into Detyen HQ and Kayde followed close behind, his newly born curiosity fully intrigued. A team of medics met them near the entrance and Dru bared his teeth at the head of the team as he tried to take Laurel from him. He used his body to shield the fallen woman and refused to let the medical team touch her until a female medic that Kayde didn’t know by name convinced him to let the human woman go and that the team would treat her with the utmost care. Dru took an unconscious step after them, but Kendryk herded him down the hallway towards the command center where their leaders would be waiting.

  Most of Kendryk’s team had fallen away, off to follow standing orders or enact protocols, but Kayde was under no such restrictions and simply kept back a step, out of the commander’s direct line of sight, on the hope that the man wouldn’t dismiss him if he wasn’t looking right at him. It worked. In a matter of minutes, Kayde, Kendryk, Druath, and a handful of other soldiers were huddled into a conference room in the heart of the command center. A star map of the system that HQ’s moon sat in was broadcast on one wall, the handful of planets all around them silent sentinels, witnesses to the battle Dru claimed was to come.