Chapter 2

HE WAS KILLING HER.

No matter how often he made love to her, everything he said, everything he did, drove her insane withneed.

“Show me,” she urged. “Please show me.”

He didn’t hesitate. His waist-long white hair fanned across her thighs as he lowered his head to her pussy. He exhaled deeply, the heat of his breath warming her. Everything about him warmed her, hell heated her. Filled her with a desire so strong she couldn’t containit.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured. Then he licked her, finding the wetness leaking from her channel. His tongue circled her clit, then dipped inward at her opening. “And the most delicious female I have ever tasted.”

She wanted to tell him that he was the most delicious male she’d ever tasted—his flavor similar to chocolate and whipped cream with a hint of coffee. But she couldn’t get the words out. They caught in her throat, emptying into a cry of pleasure. The breath heaved in her lungs, deep, delightful, full breaths.

“Jo’Nay! Please!”

“Please stop?” he dared to tease.

She lifted up on her elbows. “Don’t you dare stop.”

“You want more?”

“Of course I want more.”

“Then more you shall have.” He caught her ankles in his hands and settled her feet on the mattress, spreading her wide. “So wet. So hungry.”

She fell back, throwing an arm across her eyes. Oh, God. She wanted him licking her. Inside her. Pounding into her. “You’ll have to do something about that or I just might start screaming.”

“Mate of my heart, if I don’t make you scream, I’m a failure at the making of love.”

“Lovemaking. It’s called—” He took a long, lingering lick from one end of her pussy to the other and she did scream. “Fuck!”

“ Vexx . Yes, it is also called that. But I prefer to call it the making of love.”

“Fine, fine,” she panted. “Call it that. Just do it for the love of all that’s holy.”

He laughed against her slit and for an instant she thought she might come from that alone. Then he drew her clit into his mouth and lathed it with his tongue over and over until flashes of light burst behind her closed eyes and she went flying over theedge.

The climax hit fast and hard, nothing the least gentle about it. Her hips lifted, jerking and twitching in a manner beyond her control. Everything squeezed—her lungs, her abdomen, her core. She couldn’t catch her breath, though this was in the sweetest way possible. Nothing like her struggles before Rory the computer had healedher.

“Delicious mate. So delicious and tasty.”

Jo’Nay lapped at the juices that flowed freely and then he heaved upward until he could notch himself at her entrance. She loved his cock, particularly how different it was from humanmen.

Her gaze zeroed in on his erection, her breath always catching at the sheer size of it. No way did any human have equipment that impressive. No. Way. Long and thick and a deeper bronze than the rest of his skin, small golden-brown mounds encircled it and seemed to pulsate in a convoluted pattern.

And how did that feel inside of her with so many throbbing mounds pressing against every inch of her channel? Ah-mazing. The tip of his cock was flared in a diamond shape and the opening, already beaded with cum, cut in a crosshatch versus a plainslit.

An odd knob bulged at the base of his cock, that Winn had discovered knotted inside of her, swelling hugely. It should have hurt. In fact, she was certain it would the first time they’d had sex, but it didn’t because the mounds along the length of his cock excreted a fluid that caused intense pleasure during the knotting process. It also helped her passageway relax so it could more easily acceptit.

“Knot me,” she implored.

“We have plenty of time to enjoy each other before that.”

The head of his cock breached her entrance and he pumped slowly—oh-so-slowly—inward. All the while, he held her hips so she couldn’t force him deeper until he was good and ready. Though he wasn’t far inside she could feel the mounds closest to the tip ripple with unmistakable urgency.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” she groaned.

“I always know I am sexing you right when you say that.”

The teasing words had her laughing even while she moaned. “Sexing isn’t a word.”

“It is. Ihave made it so.”

“Then start sexing me!”

She heaved upward, catching him by surprise and driving his cock deeper inside. The mounds fluctuated faster, hitting her G-spot over and over. She came again, her breath escaping in part whimper, part scream. And then he started a blistering rhythm that had her clinging to him and begging incoherently. By her third climax, she could barely stay wrapped around him. Fortunately, she didn’t have to. With a shout, he came aswell.

Hot cum squirted deep into her passage while a slickness flowed along the length of his cock. Fluid from his mounds intensified her pleasure as his cock knotted her tight againsthim.

She buried her face against his chest, tears leaking from the corners of hereyes.

“Precious one, why are you weeping?” he asked in concern. “Have I injured you.”

Her response came on a sob. “I don’t know why I’m crying. You haven’t injured me. It’s just that so much has happened in such a short space of time.”

He gently rolled them onto their side so they faced one other, still locked together. “Do you regret some part of it?”

She instantly shook her head. “I don’t regret any part of it. I’m so grateful for everything that’s happened. It’s just that my life was going in one direction.”

“A very bad direction.”

“Yes, avery bad direction.” She cupped his face, running her thumbs across the high arching cheekbones and further upward to his pale, inverted eyebrows. “And then you came and everything changed. My life became… miraculous.”

He feathered a kiss across her mouth. “From the moment I met you I sensed something different,” he murmured. “Something tempting.”

She laughed, the sound both amused and ironic. “Something forbidden.”

“Affirmative. Very forbidden. Very tempting.” He smoothed her hair back and stared down at her with his deep purple eyes. Such glorious eyes, full of all the universes he had visited. “But also very irresistible.”

“I wish I knew whether your unit would accept me.” Worry filled her. “I want them to.”

“Those who do not accept you will also not accept tasting from the apples. They will follow the honorable path and continue on to their Final Flight.”

Distress filled her. “Do you really believe our mating is dishonorable?”

“I do not,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I did not know what the apples would do to me before I ate them. How they would change me.”

“And if you had known? If you’d known that they would extend your life, perhaps indefinitely, or that you’d be able to get me pregnant before I actually did conceive, would you have eaten the apples?”

His cock unknotted and he eased onto his back, anchoring her against his side. “You ask difficult questions.”

Her breath quickened. “Now I’m afraid of your answer.”

“I think the truth is complicated because I did not know and cannot respond with total accuracy.” He touched her parted lips with a finger, shushing her. “But I am fairly certain I would have eaten the apples. Iwould have wanted to experience a life with a mate. With younglings.”

“And what will you do? You can’t be an Intergalactic Warrior any longer. That’s all you’ve ever done, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is all I have ever done. And no. Icannot live in any of the areas of the galaxies that the IW patrols.” He rolled over on top of her, trapping her within his powerful arms, while his hair drifted around her face, secluding them within a more private cage. “But this I swear by what honor I still retain… I will protect you and our younglings. Iwill find a place where we can live free and contented.”

“Let me guess. You swear on your bond as an Intergalactic Warrior.” The second she said the words, avow he’d made to her in the past, she realized she’d said the wrong thing. She lifted upward, giving him a quick, apologetic kiss. “You are an honorable man, Jo’Nay. An honorable male. Alien. Vettian.”

He lowered his forehead against hers. “You would not find any IWs who agree, nor any Vettians.”

She glared, indignation flooding through her. “It doesn’t matter what they think. The Vettian government is the one that did this to you,” she insisted with fierce passion. “They stole you from your families when you were only six. They altered your DNA in repeated surgeries and with hideous drugs. They taught you to believe that honor meant protecting the nine galaxies for four hundred years. They killed any child that didn’t adapt exactly to their teachings or who was resistant to their attempted changes. And then they created a hideous death for you where you experience heat flashes of growing intensity until they finally destroyed you. How is that in any way honorable?”

He closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, fury raged through his expression. “It is not honorable. And perhaps if other IWs saw these facts the way we do, knew that at one time Vettians of our coloring became Vettian rulers instead of warriors, they might believe the same.”

“Then we’ll tell them.”

He shook his head. “We will not. We will tell our unit and decide what to do moving forward. But most important of all is your safety.” His hand shifted to settle low on her belly. “And the safety of our child.”

She covered his hand with her own. “Our three-day old child. Somehow it doesn’t feel real.”

Jo’Nay smiled, his anger abating. “When you swell with our son, it will feel real enough.”

“True.”

He heaved himself upward and held out his hand, helping her from the bed. “I need to send out a message to the warriors in my unit. See if they are within reach. Iprefer to meet with them away from IW patrols.”

Did she appear as nervous as she felt? Lord, she hoped not. “Will those IW patrols be concerned that you haven’t experienced your Final Flight, yet?”

“Not yet, though my unit might.”

“Where will we meet them?”

“There is a station a short distance outside of our last posting. Iwill ask that we meet there.”

“Will you tell them about me?”

“That must wait.” He touched behind her ear. “Before we leave, we must give you a translator.”

“So I’ll understand all the languages in all the galaxies?” she asked eagerly.

“Not all. Just the main ones that most use.” He gestured toward the view screen. “Your Earth has more languages than all of the galaxies combined.”

“Will I be able to communicate silently with Rory?”

“Affirmative,” the computer responded at the same instance as Jo’Nay said, “Negative.”

He glared toward the front of the ship. “It is an unnecessary connection and adds risk to the procedure.”

“I want it,” Winn said at the same time asRory.

She grinned at him. “I think you’ve been overridden. Ithink it’ll be useful for me to be able to communicate silently with Rory. She can tell me things like she tells you. Remember how helpful she was when you were on Earth and she could explain things in your head? She can do that with me when we visit different planets.”

“No.”

“That way I don’t make mistakes,” she wheedled. “You know how easy it is for an alien to make mistakes on an unfamiliar planet. You made a few on Earth and you have tons of experience visiting foreign places. Think how less experienced I am than you and all the seriously bad mistakes I could make without Rory’s help.”

He flashed his canines at her and not in an amused way. She could actually hear him grinding his teeth. “I do not want you connected to my computer because you have ruined her.”

“Her. At least you’re finally conceding that she’s a she.”

“It!”

She waved that aside. “Too late. You already said she.”

He glared down at her. “I do not frighten you at all, do I?”

“No.” She tilted her head to one side. “Should I be frightened?”

He leaned down until they were practically nose-to-nose. “I am the dread of the nine galaxies. You should be terrified when I flash my canines at you.”

She patted his arm and stood on her tiptoes to give him a swift kiss near one of those flashing canines. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find someone to terrify. Would that make you feel better?”

He simply growled.