15. Talia

Iwasn't sure how, but we'd come out on top. No, that wasn't quite true: I knew, and it all came down to the magnificent alien warrior beside me. Him, and his unwillingness to see me suffer. He even rose from the dead to save me. It was a dizzying thought, and I didn't know what to do with it.

He stalked beside me, lean and powerful, tall and alert. The wounds he'd taken, by all rights fatal, were fading fast. One advantage of keeping your vital organs elsewhere.

We left the whistling wind behind us, the storm of black sand fading as soon as we were inside the tomb. Ahead of us, a pale-faced Mallory Taverner wrapped herself in the tattered shreds of her dignity and marched with head held high and injured arm cradled to her. Kal'va had torn her wrist open when he disarmed her, and she'd lost a lot of blood. Not too much, I hoped—if she died in our care, all deals were off.

The autodoc agreed with my concerns, sedating her to keep her from moving and tearing the stitches it used to close her wound. She had just enough time to sneer at the limited medical equipment available to an academic expedition before the drugs hit her like a freight train and she slumped down, snoring.

That just left the two of us. I swallowed, unaccountably nervous to be alone with my mate. He towered over me, still in his combat form, and I marveled at the fresh scar that took up most of his chest. Just minutes ago, that had been a hole straight through his torso.

Only when I felt his possessive rumbling growl vibrate through my arm did I realize I'd reached up to touch the mark, tracing it with a finger. He didn't shy from my hand, showed no discomfort or pain. Bending over me, he growled again and kissed me.

The fierce passion of his hungry mouth, his rough tongue pressing between my lips, the burning intensity of his desire, all combined to set my body ablaze with need. I pressed myself against him, kissed his neck, tasted salt and spice and flame.

His growl shook me, and he swept me up in arms strong enough to tear a tank apart.

"Healed enough. I change." He forced the words out through a mouth meant for biting rather than speech. The rough edge to his words sent a tremor through me, and my eyes flicked over his massive, powerful form.

"Can you," I said, my face heating as I spoke. "Can you stay as you are? I'd like that, I think?"

I wished it came out more confident, more self-assured, a statement not a question. He looked at me, as though judging how serious I was. The urge to hide was strong, but I fought it, meeting his gaze, my teeth catching my lip. The tableau lasted what felt like hours and couldn't have been more than a minute.

When my mate made his decision, he didn't announce it with words. His actions spoke louder. Claws shredded my clothing, another outfit ruined in moments by his impatience. Fine. I was in no mood to wait, and I could get more clothes. Right now, I couldn't care about anything but him.

I knew that for all his strength and power, Kal'va could control himself, could be gentle and delicate in his touch. Not today. His dick, hard and powerful and ridged with crystal veins, swelled against me as he lifted me again, one hand on my back, the other cupping my ass, lethal claws pricking my skin. That only added to my excitement, my need, and I clung to him, moaning and kissing his chest, his neck. Their texture was different in this form but he was still sensitive to my lips. His growl and the way his cock hardened against me were all the clue I needed to work that out.

Long-legged strides devoured the distance from the camp to a nearby chamber, one I remembered from my early explorations. Empty aside from a stone table, it was no surprise when Kal'va slammed me down on the hard, cold surface, his teeth scraping across my neck and thoroughly distracting me from any discomfort.

I arched my back, gasped with pleasure, and squirmed against him. His cock thrummed with power where it touched me, the head teasing me, pressing against my sex, rubbing up and down along my wet lips.

He looked down at me, a predator's snarl on his lips, teeth gleaming in the faint light. The very picture of primal, animalistic desire. Scary? Yes, in the hottest way imaginable. I raised my chin, offering my throat to the beautiful predator. He clamped his jaws down at the same moment he thrust.

The result was an explosion, a wildfire of desire that roared through me. I bucked under him, pinned against cold stone by his heat, fingers digging into his back, legs spasming. He growled, a hungry, rough sound, and kept his jaws locked on my throat as he thrust again. And again. Fucking me like he planned to break the table under me.

Claiming me with his bite, and his cock, and the sheer strength of his grip. Claws dug into my shoulders, and I had no way to escape even if I wanted to.

But I didn't want to. Escape was the last thing on my mind as I thrashed in my monster's grip and pulled him closer, urging him on, wanting more and more of him. He shook his head, teeth scraping along my neck, his breathing fast and heart speeding to match my own.

What little control we had burned out rapidly, and I lost track of where I ended and my mate began. Together, we cried out, approaching a precipice of ecstasy, rising ever higher, as though at the peak of a great wave. As one, held tight to each other when the wave crested, sending us crashing into an orgasm so strong it seemed to shake the heavens.

Beneath me, I heard a loud snap, and gasped a laugh as the stone table came apart under Kal'va's final thrust. Our fall became literal, and we lay, spent and in each other's arms, amidst the wreckage of millennia-old furnishings.

"I do not understandwhat is so funny," Kal'va said, stroking my back as we snuggled in the wreckage. His warform's tougher skin hadn't proved great for cuddling, so he'd changed back into the more human form. Much more comfortable, and less intimidating, though he was still quite strong enough to hold me and make me feel safe. Everything was going to be alright.

Nevertheless, I laughed. This was the third time I'd started laughing uncontrollably since the table fell, and I wondered if he was worrying about my sanity.

I squirmed up onto him, gesturing around with a grin. Dubious, he looked at the shattered stones, then back at me. A raised eyebrow told me he had no idea what I found so amusing.

"The table," I said, shaking my head. It took an effort to keep my giggles at bay, but I managed. "It's a priceless antique, older than my civilization. I'm here as an archaeologist, to learn about your ways from the artifacts I find here. So what do I do? Fuck it into a million pieces. The Xenoarchaeological Society will either give me a medal or shoot me."

"They may give you a medal if they desire," he rumbled in his amazing, deep voice. A note of steel entered his tone as he continued. "If they try to shoot you, however, I shall burn their universities to the ground with them inside."

"That's probably going a little far," I said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Really? And how far were you prepared to go when I died?"

I was about to try tearing a corporate heiress's face off. Fuck the fact that I'd die for it. "Okay, fair point."

"In any case, this is just a table. Old, yes, but worth nothing. Anything you could have learned from it, you can simply ask me."

"I suppose so," I said, not entirely convinced. But turning the thought over in my mind, I brightened. "That does give me an idea about what to do with you, though."

His eyes sparked, and a grin spread over his face. "Oh, it does, does it?"

"No wait," I protested, laughing again as I tried to scramble to my feet. "Not like tha—oops!"

Kal'va caught my wrists with lightning speed, pulling me down and rolling me onto my back. One hand held my wrists, the other traced a strange pattern over the skin of my breasts. "Human, I too have an idea of what to do with you."

His voice was thick with lust and love and need, and my breath caught as he slipped between my legs. Was his cock even bigger now? Or did it just feel that way against my over-stimulated, aching body?

Only one way to find out,I thought, grinning back at him. Any discussion of the future would have to wait until we'd sated our need for each other. A decade or two, at the current rate.

Arching my back, I tried and failed to pull free of his grip and grinned up at my alien lover. A price I'll gladly pay.