Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

T omlin bent down eagerly over his mate, struggling to restrain himself as he lodged his cock at that impossibly small entrance. Despite his attempt to prepare her with his fingers, her body resisted for a long moment before yielding enough for the wide head to breach her channel.

Fuck, she was tight. So tight that he knew it had to be uncomfortable for her, but she didn't try to stop him.

Trust , he reminded himself, concern for her warring with the need to thrust, to fill her with his seed, even though he'd had it rendered infertile as soon as he came of age.

Trust my mate.

He managed to force himself to be gentle as he eased a few inches into her. She moaned, the muscles in her legs quivering as she struggled to relax.

"I'm hurting you," he growled, but she shook her head.

"N… not pain. F…full."

Her voice shook but her eyes were still warm. Trusting. A wave of guilt swept over him. He should have given her more time, prepared her more.

He started to pull back but her slender thighs clamped around his waist.

"Don't stop."

Despite his doubts, the action triggered the dark primitive part of him. His mate wanted him.

He growled, and then he was gripping her hips and surging forward. A startled moan escaped her and he tried to stop, but he was caught in the fire of his need. The burning, impossibly tight grip of her cunt was too much. With another primal growl, he thrust the rest of the way home, her passage rippling and clenching around the length of his shaft until he could barely breathe.

Hot, tight, perfect. Too tight. He knew he had to have hurt her, but she clung to him as her body started to soften.

"So full," she breathed.

He fought to find the control to ease out of her, his breath coming in harsh pants. Her cunt clung tightly to him, every inch of his withdrawal adding to his pleasure, his mating lines pulsing urgently. He managed to pause long enough to look at her face. Her beautiful eyes were gleaming with unshed tears, but she smiled up at him.

A possessive growl escaped him, and when he pushed back into her, her channel parted to receive him more readily, letting him slide more easily into her slick heat. She cried out again, but this time he could hear the pleasure in her voice.

He bent and took her mouth in a savage kiss, claiming her, and she rose to meet him.

"Good girl," he growled as he gripped the slender curve of her ass, helping her to rock against him as he began to thrust.

Pleasure overwhelmed any last hint of his doubt as he fell into the fire, pushing himself deeper and harder into her sweet embrace. She bucked under him, her voice rising in little moans of encouragement as the last remnants of control vanished.

The hunger to claim her as his own burned through him, bright and urgent. The soft little cries emerging from her throat filled the lab, growing louder and more intense as he drove himself into her welcoming flesh. Her cunt contracted around him as she came, and the feeling of her tightening around him proved too much. He exploded, pouring himself into her in endless pulses as the lines on his body brightened with ecstasy.

All of his barriers fell. He could feel every emotion rushing through her as the bond between them flared to life. Pleasure. Satisfaction. Love.

She loves me.

A sense of completion filled him, a happiness he'd never thought to have. He wrapped her in his arms and rolled, so that he could cradle her on top of his chest. Her soft weight felt unbelievably right as she settled against him, and he breathed in deeply, her contentment mirroring his own.

"You love me," he said quietly, savoring the words, and she raised her head and smiled at him.

"Of course I do. And you love me too." There was no doubt in her voice, only wonder. "I can… feel it. Is this what it's like for you all the time?"

"It is not this pleasant." He tightened his arms around her, relishing the way she nestled so trustingly against him. "Nor this intense. But when I am in control, I can… mute the emotions of others, especially if we do not touch."

She was silent for a moment, but then her head popped up again.

"That's why you react so strongly to the morchev, isn't it? That's why all those stories talk about connecting through the stones."

His clever little scholar. He'd known she would make the connection eventually. Unfortunately, she also made the next logical step.

"Then why did you really come here? You already knew what the stones were capable of doing, and you knew they would affect you."

He sighed and sat up, bringing her with him.

"I told you that I spent some years traveling."

"Yes, with your friend, S'kal."

He was sure he'd only mentioned S'kal briefly, and that he'd referred to him as his employer, and yet she'd recognized the truth it had taken him so long to accept.

"That's right. S'kal no longer leads caravans. He has settled down in a farming community south of Wainwright with several other warriors who all served together during a war on another planet."

"Did you go there as well?"

"I did. It was the closest I had come to having a home since Grethel died."

She squeezed his hand sympathetically, but he couldn't accept her sympathy until he told her the whole truth. She sat up straight, her eyes wide and shocked, when he explained Marshall's plan to create a psychic weapon to control the minds of others.

"That's terrible. You… you didn't think that I was involved, did you?"

"No, but there were references to your research in his files and I had to be sure."

She bit her lip, her distress loud and clear through their bond.

"Does that mean someone else could use my work to create a weapon?"

"There is nothing in what you have published so far that even hints at the possibility, but what you have discovered here…"

Sadness now, and resignation.

"Then I won't publish it."

He relaxed a little at her response. He'd anticipated her answer, but he was glad she'd confirmed it.

"I'm sorry, Etta."

"Don't be. As much as I would like to share the knowledge I have gained, the discovery is the most important part for me. Although…" She shot him a speculative glance. "There is still a lot to learn."

"And no reason to stop working as long as you are content to keep the knowledge private."

She tapped her lip thoughtfully, then nodded.

"I am, although it means I will have to either withdraw from the university or pursue another avenue of inquiry as well. I am expected to produce papers regarding my research."

He hated seeing her look so resigned, even if she had accepted the necessity of hiding her work. He kissed her, hoping to distract her, but as soon as their lips touched, his need flared again. It was different this time. The frantic urgency was gone, but the hunger was no less fierce. He felt her response, her desire mirroring his own, and everything else disappeared except the need to claim his mate.

‘Yes," she gasped as his hand found her breast, and he let himself fall into the fire again.