Feral Series V: Feral Foretaste Read online

  And still we were bonding.

  Glimmering tears spilled over her eyelashes and rolled down to warm my fingertips. “You didn't have to do that.,” she said. “Because I'm here. And this is just the way things are."

  My heart deflated, aching.

  Such a foolish young soul. “No, Cassie. It matters little that you were ordered to stay with Anwa. Duty isn't what matters here. We were drawn to each other.” Yes, we were.

  "How can you say that?” She sucked in a sharp disbelieving breath.

  "You were attracted to me and I to you. I heard your shift in heartbeat. More so, I saw nothing but beauty when I first met you. Yes, it may seem we were forced together. But I accepted the responsibility of your protector and your mate in that attraction.” Couldn't she see this truth? “We united body and soul. And I will not have a mate who feels she is shackled to me. That is why I turned off the pheromones. If only so we could learn what we share."

  She wiped some fingers across her face. “Okay. We can talk.” Her body relaxed, her line of sight skimming down to my chest.

  I pinched the point of her chin with a thumb and finger, turning her eyes up again. Staring into her awakening gaze. “You are my soul, Cassie. Never hide from me. In you, my reason for living begins."

  She exhaled, buffeting my thumb with a cool draft, and blinked slowly, contemplatively.

  Lost in thought. At long last. No anger. Just a moment where body melds with soul in a graceful intellectual dance. Almost beyond time. Beyond this plane of existence. “It may take time for us to consider ourselves so reliant upon the other's company that we care for each other. But one day, we will awaken to this realization. And one day, there will be no more confusion."And one day, she will stop fighting what she refuses to believe blossomed in her heart. Yes. Her widening eyes and thoughtful expression indicate that much. Awareness.

  "Vult?"

  "Yes, huv'ria?” I released her chin and slid my palm down the warm supple leather, covering the gentle curve of her ribs, to her lower back.

  "I shouldn't have called you all those horrible names. You've always defended me. I'm sorry.” Her face tipped slightly forward but couldn't push my hand aside as if she was ashamed. “I'm just sick of being used."

  "Now, you understand why I turned off my pheromones. Today, we begin being friends."

  She smiled. “I'd like that. Not just like two soldier scientists fighting some super germ. I'd like to be your friend.” She looked down at her belly and ran a palm across where our daughters would grow. “We need to be friends because I'm terrified of what's growing inside me."

  Not afraid of our children. “Cassie?” I whispered.

  She looked at me.

  Yes, her expression said our daughters would be Drods if she didn't intervene. Didn't she understand what our children were? “They are the melding of body and soul. Mind and spirit molded into the future. They are everything we share. Beats of our hearts. Flames of our spirits. I have waited over a thousand years to hold my children in my arms again. To hear the halls ring with their laughter as they discover the wonders of the universe. We may find completion in each other's arms. But without the children, a little inner void will make each of us ache and our souls yearn for children."

  "You talk like you're riddled with little voids.” She stared at me.

  Studying me.

  I couldn't lie to her. Not after we'd reached this point of awareness. I grabbed a fistful of my long loose hair to explain. “I wear my hair in this manner to attempt to cloak my doubt in what I've done. I could do nothing and change everything in the same breath. My hand behind !Dako genetic changes was a futile attempt to preserve our species. So, I don't forget how I've affected my people. How I evolved them beyond what !Dakos were. How I brought on their long stretches of loveless existence and merciless immortality. How I failed my mate and daughters who died in my arms so long ago that their phantom memories dance beyond an impenetrable fog in my dreams."

  Cassie humored my confession with attentive silence.

  Had I erred in my confession of my part in betraying nature's order on Treusch? Could she stand to hear more about the monster I had become to help the !Dakos cling to existence?

  How could he take the blame for what his people expected of him? I studied Vult's unwavering gaze. “It was your job. Duty is duty, Vult. My life can attest to that point.” I stood in his boots, figuratively. What was he thinking? “Vult?"

  He blinked in acknowledgement.

  After his honesty and attempt to give me some freedom of thought by turning off his pheromones, I have to come clean. And with the conscientious mask he wore, I'd be foolish to keep my fears to myself. Vult was my ally above all else. A huge hugging wall of reassurance. And I needed comfort. “I don't want to become Eshta. I want my babies. But I don't know how to affect change at the level required of the Goddess. Except to cleanse the planet."

  "I've also stood with my hands empty wondering how to defend myself against the approaching battle. But you aren't alone. And I made a promise I intend to keep."

  How? “I've studied the situation with Yirt. There's no way around the cleansing."

  One of his almost-white eyebrows arched. “I am here. You will never face this alone. It is the !Dako way once body and soul have bonded."

  Body and soul. He sure tossed the phrase around a lot.

  His hands slid around my lower back and pulled my belly forward against his solid chest until my chin rested upon his collarbone against the drape of his silken hair. “I will not fail you, Cassie."

  Like he thought he had done his wife and daughters so long ago.

  How sad.

  Not Vult. He didn't fail people. That's why he was one of the Fathers. I slid my arms around his neck and squeezed him. “I know.” But how in the Hell was he going to save his lab rat when the funding had dried up and he was ordered to feed me to the Dean's python?

  He glided a comforting palm up my back to my hair and petted it.

  Yes. I could trust him. I needed to stop freaking out and just believe in him. After all, we're mated. Body and soul. And, no matter what happened, I'd still have him after the dust cleared. Great big comforting arms. That sex toy of a penis. He had yet to lie to me.

  Would it matter to him if I was totally dependent upon him when I was blind? Especially since he only seemed to just want a mate. And children. There was no way around the cleansing. Just what was going to happen? I tightened my embrace around his neck for a second.

  The circle of his arms returned the comfort.

  He'd be there for me.

  And I could relieve him of his duty to his people. I could end the battle against the genetic mutation and the !Dakos. He may not like it, but I had to just cleanse the planet.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Fourteen

  "You're quiet.” His words rumbled through his solid chest where my breasts pressed against his comforting form as we held each other sitting on our bed.

  His body vibrating as if he filled me with supportive energy. Enough to see me through the unavoidable cleansing.

  His palm slowly brushed up my spine.

  So gently. Lovingly. God, can't he hold me all day?

  The hand lingered in my hair, barely massaging the base of my neck. “Cassie?"

  What did he want to know? “Yes?” I snuggled my nose into the calming steady pulse of his jugular. Right where my head flawlessly wedged between his rigid jawline and hard collarbone.

  "Does my appearance please you?"

  Did he, a cyborg, actually ask me something so revealing of his vulnerability? Was he afraid I'd say no? I leaned back from his neck's warm skin and met his serious gaze.

  Always serious. Except for a hint of adorable vulnerability. He did fear I'd say something in the realm of no. I reached for the long baby-fine hair hanging loosely down the side of his face and tickled the strand backward to tuck it behind the curve of his ear. “Yes, Vult."

  Hi
s eyes snapped left toward my hand at his ear. “It's my hair that pleases you?"

  An insecure warrior over a millennium in age was kind of cute. I almost chuckled.

  His arm wrapped around my waist tightened and drew me a fraction of a micron closer.

  To the perfect package. All brawn. Brains. And a whole lot of heart. Gods, he was mine. “No, Vult. It's everything about you that makes you attractive."

  His gaze barely winced as if he struggled to understand.

  What drew this insecurity out of him? The loss of his pheromones to mask any imperfections I might find in his persona? “Vult, on my world, women would throw themselves at your feet because you are as gorgeous as an exquisite statue that only the finest artist could carve.” I choked back an enormous smile even though a small one stretched my lips.

  He studied me, his mask nothing but contemplative.

  Probably searching my features for any sign that I might be lying. Silly boy.

  My palm fell to the curve of his body-hugging armor covering his shoulder.

  "Why don't you take off these clothes and let me tell you how much each part of you is perfect?” Lick by mind-numbing lick.

  Oh, yes.

  He blinked and paused.

  Thinking. I could have burst out laughing but didn't want to jar his thought process. Or delay the connection my inner channel suddenly ached to make with his hardness. A melding of body and soul... I wiggled my fingers beneath the shirt's solid curved neckline and the hot pliant skin of his chest, and pulled the thick armor slightly. “Come on, Vult. Let me get my hands on you.” And peel the banana.

  A sinister smile budded at one corner of his mouth.

  Like he awakened to the knowledge I planned to have my way with him. As if he liked the idea. Or the term wild monkey-sex whirled like a red flag behind his eyes.

  He leaned sideways, his upper body twisting at the waist, swinging my body to the welcoming bedding with his secure armhold. The tip of his nose hovered inches away. “Wait here."

  Yes. Yes! Take off those damned clothes.

  My heart raced.

  His silver eyes glimmered with a light. “I hear your heart, huv'ria."

  "Then why aren't you following my orders?"

  His gaze flickered with his sharp sigh.

  Oh, goodie. He can take a hint without flipping out. You gotta love a big tough warrior with self-control. Especially in the bedroom.

  He backed off the rocking bed and began undressing.

  That big sexy ass and cock.

  Tingling anticipation kicked my skin into a range of itchy gooseflesh.

  The way he watched me like I might disobey his command only made me wish he had more faith in me. Exactly where would I go when my body was screaming yes? So yes that I'd have to get these pants off before they were dowsed with my weeping soul. A soul crying for unification trapped inside pants too wet to peel off in a few seconds. So not good.

  "What are you doing, Cassie?"

  I hopped to my feet. “Undressing."

  His hands fell on me, worked faster than the speed of light, thank God, and tossed me back to the bouncing bed.

  My limbs knifed to support my tumbling body.

  Legs wide. I looked sliced in half like a banana ready for ice cream and toppings. A banana peeled and ready to be devoured. Not a bad thing with the magnificent predator crawling up the bed between my ankles in search of his next meal.

  His blond hair draped in front of his chest. Muscles bulged and rolled in his upper arms with each placement of his palms against the springing surface of the bed. His flashing silver stare dared me to move.

  Touch me. Dammit.

  His deadly nude mass hovered above my skin.

  So immeasurably distant in the inches between us. To feel his hot skin against mine. The scrape of his nipples. The unyielding bend in his lower back as my fingers raced to grab the curve of his iron ass.

  He leaned down.

  Slowly. So mind-numbingly slowly. Like we inhaled in slow motion, our mouths wide, trapped in a still shot for all eternity to remember. And then his mouth engulfed mine.

  Skin was everywhere. Hot. Hungry. All I could do was grab onto his back as he feasted upon tongue. My ear. The pounding throb in my neck. Oh. Gods!

  His massaging lips marched lower.

  Down. Hiking a sizzling sucking trail to the sensitive hills of my breasts. Circling the sides of each mound. As if tracing each one. Only teasing me. Taunting with promise of anchoring on the tautest little beads awaiting his attention.

  Every atom inside me quivered with insistence.

  Now. I thrust my fingers into the roots of the hair at his skull and shoved that reverent mouth of his to one tender nub.

  He nibbled and scraped the sharp edges of his teeth to the bitter end of my sanity.

  Shooting an electric jolt of yearning from his mouth to my groin.

  My body arched against his steely length, pinned by his waist to the bed where his divine weight kept my legs splayed for his whims.

  Need. Can what I feel be anything but need where his electricity filled me with something akin to life-giving energy? Breath? Or lumbering molten magma just beneath my skin's surface? More. He had to keep giving more or put me out of my misery. I yanked his hair to raise his head to issue my command.

  Since when could anyone bend the inflexible stone of statues?

  He kept sucking on my nipples, working one then the other, until siphoning off every ounce of fight left in me.

  Leaving me gasping for breath beneath the only two things of significance to him. My nipples. Apparently the most sensitive places on my body. Tiny indisputable switches to my soul. With the expertise of a master, he'd turned me on. And left me panting, little more than a beaten rabbit awaiting the death bite of a mountain lion.

  He moaned against the inner curve of one of my breasts.

  The most amazing sound. One of enjoyment.

  Heat flooded the hollow he'd sucked from the shell of my body, tumbling down to my pool between my legs.

  My useless arms lay upon the bedding like broken wings as he hummed his contentment.

  My wings were clipped. I couldn't see. My eyelids failed to open. All I could do was wait out the kill. Pray for mercy. Because that adoring mouth headed down my midline. Planting sucking kisses, laying a path to my navel. Making my body flinch in its death throes. And nothing but death throes awaited as his wonderful weight shifted, allowing his attentive lips to kiss the tender flesh of my inner thighs. Right at the shocking juncture of leg and groin.

  I'm going to die a wallowing mass of groans and pleas. Couldn't he just stab me through the heart and end this agonizing death? “Vult!"

  Like the predator killing its prey, he didn't care if the rabbit squealed.

  Rather relished in the sound, moving in for the death blow aimed at the nether folds of my sex his fingers spread wide.

  Gods, I would ache to death. Flinching. Maybe that's what he wanted.

  His hot mouth latched onto my tiny blister of sanity.

  I'd pop any second, thrashing against the bed, squeezing his forearms with my thighs, crying out, trembling. It didn't matter how much I appeared to agonize in his hands, he focused his ruthless taunts until an all-encompassing and merciless suffocating wave of ecstasy released my eyelids of their immeasurable mass, grabbed my somersaulting spirit by the skin of my back, shook me with indefinable quaking rapture, and left my body a limp pelt of humming absolute completion. Beneath him.

  Oh dear God. I'll never be normal again. Did it matter? I shut my eyes.

  Forget peeling a banana. I'd rather be disemboweled and roasted on a spit. Burned into sated bliss. Left a mere coverlet upon his bed. Who needed wild monkey sex when a lover didn't let a girl's hands anywhere close to the banana while trussing a girl up like a holiday main course?

  The bed rocked. The weight of his iron body maneuvered up my length.

  Do I have to look?

  "Look at me, Cassie."<
br />
  How? My eyelids were lead weights.

  "Cassie."

  I don't know how, but I managed to open one obliging leaden curtain.

  The glorious sculpted muscles in his form overhead, draped in straight golden hair, studied me.

  His arm shifted, disappearing between our bodies.

  Or so the brush of it snaking down to our groins indicated.

  A soft rounded presence a bit south of where he'd been skinning the rabbit foretold he hadn't finished with me yet. No. His unwavering stare kept mine locked in the threat of attack. As if he had been toying with me all along. I'd only felt like I was dying. And now the real game of life and death truly began.

  He thrust his hips forward, impaling my inner channel with a few inches of his cock's amazing thickness.

  Damn. Adjusting to his larger extraterrestrial size took too long. I wriggled my hips.

  "Cassie?” His hot breath teased my cheeks.

  I slid my gaze back to his luminous silver disks, a stare that froze me in the bedding with an intensely serious expression masked by shadows from his trailing mane.

  "Now, we are one, body melding with soul,” he said.

  My arms shivered.

  Probably because they were the only place where none of his warm skin touched my body. Or something else. Oh, yes. This was important. Epiphany level. Probably something I couldn't imagine in a sex-starved pheromone frenzy.

  His enormous shoulders lowered toward me.

  So close our noses almost touched.

  "You and I, we are body and soul,” he whispered and thrust his hips.

  Wedging himself completely inside me, his groin pressed against mine with so much force that the rippling pleasure along my inner channel couldn't be expressed through rocking my hips. One. We are just one. Yes. This was how it should be. Although, being teased into helplessness beforehand didn't leave me much room to return the favoritism.

  He groaned a purr of enthusiasm and slid his cheek against mine until his purr grumbled directly into my ear and echoed. Thrusting. He pumped that solid shaft in and out of me with a seductive thrust and lunge.

  Essentially pinning me beneath his mass. Muscles. So damn many muscles. Everywhere.

  Gravity finally gave up the lockdown on my arms.