by Presley Hall
I hear the sound of a door a few moments later, and my eyes fly open just as Malav steps out. To my shock and dismay, he’s completely naked, having apparently foregone a towel or even just that freaking loincloth.
And more than that, he’s rock hard, despite the fact that I clearly heard him come only minutes before.
If he can get hard again that fast, can you imagine what it would be like to have sex with him?
Oh, no. Oh, god.
I feel lust surge inside of me, fierce desire welling up to a breaking point as my body reacts instantly to both the sight of him entirely nude and that last thought. I scramble up from the bed, my emotions swirling madly inside of me and coalescing into something like panic as I make a break for the door. I throw myself against it, pounding on it with my fists.
“Let me out of here!” I shout to the AI. “Goddamn it, there’s nothing wrong with the ship! Let me out!”
I scream it over and over, even though I know it can’t possibly work. The AI is just following its protocols for what it thinks is a threat to the ship, and the only possible effect my outburst can have is to antagonize the cranky artificial intelligence unit.
But I don’t stop. I can’t. Wild panic is thrumming through me, all the pent-up feelings I’ve been shoving down deep since we got locked in this room fueling my actions.
Then I feel hard, solid hands on my waist, pulling me back and away from the door.
Malav.
I fall backward against him, and I’m suddenly, painfully aware of the fact that he’s still naked. I can feel his hard cock pressing against my ass as his arms wrap around me, and the rush of desire that follows leaves me dizzy.
Fuck, I want him to take me. I want him inside of me, in every possible way.
I can’t bear this anymore.
I turn in his arms, and all it takes is one look at those dark green eyes for the breath to leave my body in a rush, replaced by hot, liquid need.
“What do you think you’re doing!” Malav shouts at me. “For all we know, you might trigger an alarm in the AI and make things worse!”
“How could things possibly get worse?” I snap back, my gaze fixed furiously on his. Anger, yes, that’s better. Anger I can deal with. It’s better than this insane desire. “Because apparently, we’re going to die on some godforsaken planet anyway, so what the fuck does it matter what I do now?”
Before I can say another word, his lips crash down on mine, his arms tightening around me as he pulls me against him. His tongue slides over my lower lip before plunging into my mouth, tangling with mine as my mouth falls open helplessly under the onslaught.
My arms go around his neck without thinking, my lips moving in tandem with his as I kiss him back, and I know I’m lost.
There’s no stopping this. There’s nothing I can do to fight it.
I need it every damn bit as much as he does.
His rippling muscles press against my skin, his hard cock pulses against my belly, the scent and heat of him surround me…
And I give in to it.
I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything, I reason. And if I’m going to die, why not give myself what I want?
He picks me up as if I weigh nothing at all, carrying me to the bed and laying me down atop it. I get one good look at his magnificent naked body, drinking it in. He’s all broad shoulders and rippling arms, a hard chest and chiseled abs, muscled hips and thighs. And between those, a cock bigger than any I’ve ever seen, erect and throbbing with his desire for me. Me.
He climbs onto the bed, pinning me under his body for a moment as he kisses me again, and I breathe him in, luxuriating in the sensation of his weight atop me. And then he begins to move down my body, his hands skimming over my arms as he kisses my throat. The sensation of his soft lips against my skin makes me shiver.
He kisses the small hollow between my collarbones before yanking at the knot holding my top together, undoing it deftly and unwrapping the fabric until I’m left bare, my nipples hardening in the cool air as my breasts are revealed to his gaze.
At the sight of them, Malav breathes in—a soft, wild sound. He kisses first one breast and then the other, his tongue dragging over my skin with a rasping motion that makes me shudder and moan, and my back arches as I reach up to grab his arms. Need coils in my belly, hot and demanding, and I squirm beneath him, desperate for more. His lips trail down my stomach, his hands on my waist as he makes his way downward.
I know that he’s aching, too, that he’s as desperate for relief as I am. Yet he touches me slowly, gently, as if we have all the time in the world. It hits me that maybe this is all the time we do have, and he wants to make it last.
He wants to remember it.
And so do I.
Because I know it will be like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
I gasp as he strips off my long, flowy pants, tossing them aside as his hands smooth over my hips and then up my inner thighs, pushing my legs apart so he can drag his mouth between my hipbones and then lower still.
I know what he’s going to do.
My body is braced for it, practically vibrating with anticipation.
But nothing could have prepared me for the sensation of his mouth between my legs.
His lips are full and soft, his tongue warm, sliding over me with a long, slow lick that leaves me gasping and trembling as he tastes me for the first time.
The groan that spills from his lips undoes me entirely. I throw my head back, my hips squirming beneath him as he grips them hard, licking me again with those long, leisurely strokes until at last he flicks his tongue over my clit, where all the desire in my body seems to have centered in one pulsing, aching spot.
For a second, I think I might pass out.
Nothing has ever felt this good. If it did, how would anyone ever do anything else?
My body floods with heat as he lashes his tongue over my clit, flicking and circling it, switching back to those slow strokes long enough for me to whimper and writhe under him before he goes back to it. Then he sucks it slowly into his mouth, his tongue still circling that pulsing spot until I think I might come apart at the seams.
His fingers tease between my legs, stroking me as he finds out exactly how wet I am, how much I want him, and he moans again as he slides first one and then two fingers into my channel, giving me the first taste of what it will be like to have him inside of me.
The knot of pleasure in my stomach comes undone, and every muscle in my body begins to tremble as he moves his fingers faster, pressing them against a spot inside of me that I never knew existed. He rubs and twists his fingers against my inner walls as he licks and sucks at my clit with renewed vigor.
He must know he has me on the edge. On the verge of flying apart.
I’m afraid to go over that edge, afraid of the intensity of it, but there’s no stopping it.
The knowledge that my pleasure is driving him wild, that the feel and taste of me is turning him on so much? It’s like the most powerful aphrodisiac in the universe. And coupled with the sensations of his fingers and tongue… it’s all too much.
My hands knot in the sheets as my back arches so deeply I’m almost afraid that my spine might snap, my hips bucking against his mouth as the orgasm washes over me with a force that leaves me dizzy and shuddering on the bed, my entire body quaking with it.
And Malav doesn’t stop.
He keeps up his onslaught on my hot, sensitive flesh until the very last shivers of pleasure wash through me.
Then he looks up at me with a satisfied smile on his face, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth. I can barely breathe as he makes his way up my body again and bends his head to kiss me. His lips brush over mine, hot and damp.
He tastes of me.
I don’t mind it. Hell, I like it. Desire is still pulsing wildly through me despite my hard climax. My body craves more, craves the hard thrust of him inside me, and the taste of my arousal on his tongue only inflames me more.
; I reach down between us, my fingers brushing against the hard length of his cock as it presses against my belly, and I feel a shudder ripple through him at the sensation. I wrap my hand around him, feeling his shaft throb in my fist, feeling his hips jerk helplessly upward, thrusting into my hand as he moans against my lips.
“I need…”
He grunts against my mouth, unable to finish the sentence as I slide my hand upward, stroking his length until I reach the tip. It’s slick with his own arousal, and I rub my thumb over it, enjoying the sensation of having him in my hand.
“I want your mouth,” he gasps, thrusting himself into my hand once more. “But I need to be inside of you now. I can’t…”
Desire floods me at his admission, at the idea that he can’t wait another moment to claim me, not even for the pleasure of my mouth around his cock.
“Later,” he manages with a groan, and I have a second to hope that there will be a later before he pushes my hand away and replaces it with his own, reaching down to press the tip of himself against my drenched, aching core.
He slides into me, just an inch, and the size of him momentarily overwhelms me. He holds himself still for a moment, letting me adjust, and I can see in his expression the effort that it takes. His handsome, chiseled face is tense with desire, his teeth gritted as he holds himself still. When he feels my hips wriggle beneath him, he allows himself another inch, a groan spilling from his lips as he slides in little by little, gasping with each movement as I slowly envelop him.
At last he’s sheathed within me, his pelvis pressed flush against mine. I can feel myself clenching around him, my body desperate for the pleasure of his cock inside of me. His face is awash with it, his gaze fixed on mine with an almost wondrous expression as finally, blissfully, he begins to move.
I’m no virgin. But I never knew sex could be like this.
This isn’t just sex.
It isn’t fucking.
It isn’t getting laid.
With each stroke of his rigid length inside of my body, I can feel him claiming me, can feel our bodies melding together as I wrap my legs around his hips and arch my back, meeting every one of his strokes with my own movement. I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his as I savor the sensation of his skin against mine, smooth and slick with our sweat. The scent of our skin mingles together as he groans again and again, my name spilling from his lips as he drives himself into me with slow, measured strokes.
God, I needed this.
Needed him.
I can’t love a man I hardly know, I think. But I can’t deny the way I feel with him. It’s as if a magnet is drawing me to him, as if my entire life has been bringing me here to this moment, in this bed, with this man.
This alien.
I kiss him harder, feeling the first shocks of pleasure that tell me I’m on the verge of coming again, my body accepting him fully as he increases his pace, thrusting into me harder and harder as he reaches the edge of his own climax.
“Harper,” he groans. He kisses me hungrily, groaning when I tighten around him. The muscles in my thighs quiver as I arch my back and grind myself against him, the need to come suddenly overwhelming.
“I’m going to come,” he grunts, his lips still brushing against mine. My fingers dig into his shoulders as I feel him thrust again and again, harder and harder, his whole body at last going rigid against mine as I feel him throb inside of me, hot and impossibly hard. He makes an almost pained sound, his whole body shuddering with the force of it.
The feeling of him coming inside of me sets off my own climax, and I cry out as it hits me, the indescribable pleasure of it washing over me in waves.
All I can do is cling to him, my nails scoring his shoulders as I buck and writhe beneath him, and when the last shivers of it pass through me, I can’t move.
I can’t think.
I can’t do anything except lie here as he rolls away from me, gasping for breath, trying to make sense of what just happened.
13
Malav
In the aftermath, I lie next to Harper and look at her, unable to tear my gaze away.
Desh, I’ve never seen any woman so beautiful. Even with that initial, powerful wave of lust slaked, I still think she’s the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.
I let my gaze drift over her naked body, able to take it in now that I’ve calmed a little, able to appreciate the curves and valleys of it, the swell of her breasts and the shape of her hips, the dip of her waist and the flatness of her stomach.
We’re only inches apart on the bed, and I suddenly want to hold her in my arms, to feel her body against mine—not out of lust, but out of the simple desire to hold her. I reach for her, expecting her to complain, to fight me off, but something about what we’ve just done has softened her toward me. She lets me pull her into my arms, her body curving against mine as I slide my hand down her lower back, tracing the length of her spine with my fingertips.
She looks up at me, and I can see the nervousness in her eyes. I don’t need her to tell me why. I’m intimately attuned to her emotions now, and I know that it’s the bond she’s afraid of.
Truth be told, I’m afraid of it too.
I’ve spent my whole life serving one thing—Kalix and the people on it. I’ve fought for them with a single-minded determination, knowing that nothing, not even my own life, was worth more than that duty.
Will being mated to this woman change that? I would give my own life for Kalix, for my men, for the people on my home world, but would I give hers? What will I do if I love someone more than the people who have always been my first and greatest duty?
Not that it matters right now, I think grimly. If something doesn’t change soon, I’ll die here in this bed with her, when the ship lands on Damia.
As ways to die go, though, I can definitely think of worse.
I slide my hand over the curve of her waist, squeezing lightly, and I feel her squirm against me, a small sigh escaping her.
“Why did you follow me onto the ship?” she asks suddenly, tilting her head up to look at me with those green and gold-flecked eyes.
I pause.
Vulnerability doesn’t come easily to me. But lying here in the quiet with her, I suddenly want to be honest with her. I want her to know how I feel.
“I was getting attached to you even before I knew you were my Irisa,” I say softly. “I saw you leaving, and I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I suppose the mate bond might have been driving me, but I didn’t know it yet. I simply wanted to make sure that you were safe.” I look down at her, heat filling my eyes as I feel her soft, naked body pressed against mine. “Why did you come to all of my fights?”
The tip of her tongue runs over her lower lip, and her gaze drops for a moment before rising to meet mine again.
“I came to watch you,” she admits, her voice a whisper. “I was worried about you too. After that first night…”
Her admission that she worried for me sends a rush of warmth through me, but my stomach twists at the reminder of my injury, of the weakness that plagues me. Of the poison that will kill me sooner or later, whether we survive this or not.
Am I even worthy of having a mate? I think suddenly, my jaw tensing as my stomach turns over. The mate bond is meant for the furthering of our species, for the production of offspring. Am I worthy of that?
And even more than that, I wonder what Harper would think if she knew the truth behind the injury that she’s been helping me treat. What would she think if she knew that I was once injured in battle, that the poison leaking through my veins will kill me eventually? That with every passing day the poison is left untreated, I become less and less of a warrior?
Would she still want me? Would she still look at me with that same desire in her eyes?
I don’t know the answer to that. But what I do know is that I can’t let her go. Not now, and if we survive this, not ever.
I feel that familiar flare of irritation at h
er for stealing the ship in the first place, but I can’t quite seem to access the anger that I had before. More than anything now, I want to know why. So I decide to take the simplest route and ask her. If there’s ever been a perfect time to get to know each other, it must be now, lying naked and sated in bed with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do.
“Why are you so desperate to get back to Terra?” I ask her, pulling back a fraction of an inch so I can look down at her. “Your ‘Earth.’ Your people betrayed you, all but sold you to alien invaders when they let the Orkun take you. The other women don’t want to go back. What’s so different about it for you?”
Her face hardens, her jaw stiffening. Her nostrils flare with anger, and she looks away, gritting her teeth.
“The other women might not want to go back, but that’s not who I am.” She looks back at me, tilting her chin up defiantly. “When someone betrays you, you don’t just roll over and take it. You go back, and you fight.” She shrugs. “Sure, it would be easier not to go home—back to Earth—but then I wouldn’t be true to myself. That’s not who I am.” Her eyes are steely as they look into mine, glinting with that stubbornness that I know so well. “I’m a fighter. I always have been.”
Admiration fills me as I look down at her, warmth expanding in my chest as I absorb the fact that this beautiful, fierce woman is my mate. I don’t know what has happened in her past to make her this way, and the surge of protectiveness within me wants to find and kill whoever did it—whoever hurt her.
But her determination is incredible. Admirable.
As frustrating as it can be, as much as her stubbornness drives me mad, I realize with surprise that I wouldn’t want it any other way. I need a mate who can go toe-to-toe with me on the worst days, and who will fight for me. For us, if need be. And that’s exactly what I’ve found.
Now I have to hope that she wants this too. That what we’ve just shared together wasn’t simply her slaking her lust, but an acceptance of the bond between us. That somehow, despite her fears and her stubbornness, she’ll fall in love with me.
