Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

M ina held her breath as she waited for Mikel's response. She wasn't quite sure what was driving her, other than an urgent desire to learn as much about him as she could.

Finally, he sighed and adjusted her position on his lap.

His cock sprang up between them. Oh my. Now she understood why it had felt strange beneath her. Instead of a smooth column of flesh like a human male, he had a wide, spiral shaft that ended in a pointed tip with four petals. It was as white as the rest of his body, but it gleamed with an opalescent sheen.

Unable to resist, she smoothed a finger along one of the wide spirals. He groaned and gently pulled her hand away.

"It is not possible, little one."

"Why not?"

"We are too different."

"Oh." Why did that hurt so much? She had thought he had enjoyed their encounter as much as she had, but maybe he had only been humoring her. "You mean because I don't have wings? Or because I'm different… down there?"

He actually looked shocked. "You are different, but it is a delightful difference. I meant that you are too small."

His cock certainly wasn't small, but was it too big? Before he could object, she put her hand around him. Her fingers didn't quite meet, but she suspected that the slick, spiraling surface would feel immensely pleasurable. She slid her hand experimentally to the base of his cock, where a firm, circular ridge surrounded the shaft. He groaned again as she traced the ridge.

"If you keep touching me, my body will respond."

"Is that bad?" She circled him again, delighted when his wings flared out behind him. Still swirling her finger around him, she moved back up the wide shaft. "Does that feel good?"

"Yes." Opal sparks flared in his pale eyes. "You are teasing me."

"I'm testing, remember?"

"Perhaps I should conduct my own experiment."

He pulled her closer, so that his cock rested between her pussy lips, wide and hot and slick. Lord, that felt good. Then he cupped her breast, stroking a clawed thumb delicately across the pebbled tip, and she shivered.

"I believe you enjoy that."

He seemed fascinated by her nipples, stroking and tugging until she was writhing against his cock. Determined to make him feel just as good, she gripped his shaft again, sliding her hand up and down in the same rhythm that he was using on her breasts. He growled, and she felt him grow even harder before he bent her back over his arm and sucked a throbbing peak into his mouth. Her body arched, forcing her clit against his ridged shaft, and she came in a shower of sparks that pulsed from her breasts to her swollen clit. His body jerked, and a rush of heat flooded her stomach and legs, bathing her clit and sending another shock of pleasure through her.

Her body went limp, still bent over his arm, and his head came to rest next to hers. She clung to him, and he held her just as tightly.

Then Draco squawked, and Mikel stiffened. He didn't rush away this time, but as he sat up, she could see the stern mask was once more in place.

Her heart ached, even though she had known deep down that no matter how much he seemed to need her, sex alone would not create a bond. Another lesson she had learned young.

"I—"

"I'm going to take a bath in the hot springs," she interrupted, horribly afraid that he was going to apologize.

Her blanket was still in a crumpled heap on the floor. She grabbed it and fled, determined to be out of sight before the tears started to fall.

Myk-El watched Mee-na leave, fighting the urge to call her back. Was he foolish to send her away? After all, it wasn't as if there was any competition for her… affection on this isolated planet. She would need him to provide for her, and that would keep her at his side. He found he liked the idea that she would be dependent on him, but then he remembered how easily she had learned to assist him earlier. Even though he would be happy to take care of her, he suspected she wouldn't need him for long.

Staying with her would mean he could never return to Letenja, never take the risk of exposing her to other males, but that seemed like a small price to pay. He would miss his lab and his tools, but he relished the challenge of creating a comfortable life for Mee-na out of the wilderness. A life satisfying enough to make up for the technology she would be relinquishing.

From creating neural translators to cooking pots , he thought wryly, but he smiled.

His first impulse was to discuss it with her immediately, but long years of caution held him back. He would sleep on it and tell her in the morning, he decided. But for now, he wanted a smile back on her beautiful face.

He found her bending over the hot springs, naked and open to his gaze. The round globes of her ass perfectly framed her sweet little pink cunt, and his zemka throbbed. He had the sudden, illicit urge to walk up behind her and thrust himself into that tempting entrance. The position was, if not actually forbidden, considered highly deviant on Letenja because of the vulnerability of one's partner's wings.

But Mee-na has no wings , he thought, studying her narrow, fragile back. There was nothing to stop him from bending over and sinking his zemka into her tight little cunt. Or even exploring her other tight little hole… The depravity of his thoughts shocked him back to reality.

He still was not sure that their bodies were compatible, and he would make no attempt to find out until he knew that she would stay. But in the meantime, there were other pleasures to explore.

"I thought perhaps I could help you bathe," he said softly.

She jumped and turned to face him, her arm hiding his view of her delightful little nipples. He could see the uncertainty on her face and hated that he was the cause of it.

"That is, if you would permit me," he added.

Her mouth trembled, but then she smiled, an innocent, provocative smile that sent a rush of excitement to his zemka.

"As long as you're careful."

He suspected she meant a lot more than his physical assistance, but he deliberately took the words at face value.

"Very careful—although it may take a very long time to make sure you are thoroughly clean."

Her sweet laugh echoed through the cave, and she held out her arms to him.

That night, he dreamed.

After a long and satisfying time in the hot springs where he brought her to climax over and over, he had insisted that they eat. As soon as they were finished, she told him shyly that she wanted to "return the favor."

The shocking pleasure of her small mouth closing around the sensitive tip of his zemka had sent him into an almost instant, overwhelming climax—as if he had no more control than a youth on the edge of manhood. She had only given him a happy smile and bent back over him. Eventually, they fell into an exhausted sleep, and that was when the nightmare found him.

He was imprisoned again, his wings clipped and burning, surrounded by darkness so thick he felt as if he were suffocating. He could hear the faint, distant cries of another soldier being tortured and, gods help him, he clung to that noise, the only reminder that he was not alone.

Then the dream shifted. He was landing on Letenja with the few remaining members of his team. His brother sneered at him, his gaze flicking derisively over his damaged wings. Lil-et shrank away from him as the wind whipped her gown against her body. He could see the swell of her stomach and knew she had been unfaithful, but tired and heartsore, he had been prepared to forgive. Instead, she turned from him and took his brother's hand.

As she dismissed him, he felt himself falling back into the suffocating darkness of his cell.

He startled awake, his heart pounding as if he were truly a prisoner of war again. His gaze went instantly to the fire, the soft glow reassuring him that he was not confined in the dark.

And he was not alone. Mee-na was curled in his arms, her body rising and falling with her gentle breathing.

But he could control the fire. He could not control her feelings for him.

With the pain of Lil-et's betrayal still fresh in his mind, he couldn't take the chance. He had recovered from Lil-et. If Mee-na betrayed him, he suspected it would destroy him.

No. He couldn't take the chance. He would send her back to her planet, back to plumbing and a real mattress and the company of others.

He would remain here—and she would exist in his memories, always giving him that sweet, seductive smile.