Page 17 of Protected By the Alien Warmachine

Before I could respond, he sliced down with a claw, cutting my clothes off me with breathtaking speed. Before I could even flinch, I was as naked as he was.

Gripping my hips, he lifted me, his steel-hard cock pressing against my sex as his teeth found my neck. I arched against him, wrapping my legs around his waist and clinging to him.

“You deserve—” I tried to argue, but he wouldn’t let me.

“Hush.” His kisses and bites wandered lower, a sizzling trail from neck to shoulder, down to my breasts. “What I deserve isyou,and I mean to have you.”

With that, he pressed me back against the wall. Cold stone at my back, burning alien lust in front—the contrast was delicious. Whatever words I’d intended to speak vanished in a burst of sensation, and the only sound I could make was a whimpering cry.

Which was all he needed to hear. His thrust slammed me back into the wall, fierce and hard, and the second was harder still. My body greeted him eagerly, welcoming him inside to fill me, each thrust harder and deeper than the last. More potent. More powerful.

I lost myself in the waves of pleasure he sent through me, like a storm pounding a beach. I’d call it brutal, except that I’d change nothing about it. Wild, uninhibited, andperfect,Kal’va took me to the edge of climax in moments, while I tried to resist, to give him his pleasure first.

That lasted until his crystal-studded tongue flicked across my nipple. My scream of ecstasy echoed in the dark hallway, dying down to a series of whimpering gasps as he kept going. Kept thrusting and licking, kissing and biting, filling me.

“This was.” Another thrust rocked me, nearly breaking my train of thought. “Supposed to be. Your turn.”

His evil, devilish tongue scraped across my nipples, making me cry out again.

“It is always my turn,” he whispered, voice dark and amused, as I returned to myself. “Giving you what you need is exactly what I want.”

I clung to him, shuddering and helpless, the crystals across his cock pressing into me and sending me into orgasm after orgasm. Each time, I thought he’d go with me. Each time, he kept fucking going until my exhausted body was weak from ecstasy and I thought I could take no more.

He proved me wrong, biting down hard, sharp teeth digging in almost painfully, his cock jerking inside me as I squeezed hard. And together, we tumbled over the edge into an orgasm that rocked our worlds.

12

KAL’VA

We did not sleep that night, nor get much rest. Neither of us wanted to miss a moment with the other, not when we had so few remaining. Doing our best to forget about the deadline, we buried ourselves in pleasure, and while we recovered, conversation. I treasured the knowledge I gained of my mate and her people, every word from her lips a jewel to hold close.

It was a magical time, a night that I felt could last forever. Alas, that was not so. As the hour approached, I reluctantly stood, lifting Tal’ia with me. She said nothing—what was there to say?—as we made our way, hand-in-hand, back to the surface.

We paused at the humans’ camp so that Tal’ia could pick up fresh clothing from their matter-printer. Paulo blushed and averted his eyes from her naked body, while Juliette whistled at her in what seemed to be approval. Tal’ia’s answering finger gesture wasn’t approving in the slightest, and I wished I had more time to understand the strange relationship between my mate and her friend.

Then we stepped out onto the desolation of black sand that stretched in every direction.

Dawn threatened, the red sun clawing at the horizon. Baleful stars watched as I left the tomb complex for the first time in forever. Beyond sat our enemies’ ship, and beside it, a sleeker, smaller vessel I presumed to be Taverner’s launch. A searchlight illuminated a circle of desert sand, and in that circle, she waited. The smile on her face reminded me of a venomous predator, and her eyes gleamed with hunger. My shiver had nothing to do with the temperature.

“Good morning. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person,” Taverner said, warm courtesy at odds with her icy demeanor. “You accept my terms, I take it?”

The temptation to kill her was nearly overwhelming, and I hissed as I entered the circle, my mate close behind me. It took a moment to find my calm again and speak. “I accept them. I do not have to like them.”

“Oh god, no. I’m not an unreasonable woman. I don’t ask that you like your situation, only that you recognize it.”

The light blinded me to everything outside it, which was no doubt on purpose. I heard soldiers shift their weight on the sands, their hearts beating fast and their breathing shallow. Afraid. That showed good judgment.

Better would be to turn and run. They threatened my mate, and I would kill them for it given half a chance.

“The other humans. Proof of life.” Anger clouded my words, and I let it. To be underestimated might prove useful.

Taverner shrugged and gestured, a primitive hologram springing up between us, showing the rest of my mate’s crew. Tal’ia took a step forward to speak with them, and I trusted her to determine whether they were real. I stepped around to Taverner, keeping out of easy striking distance to reassure her.

“I am here. You have what you bargained for. Keep your word and I will keep mine.”

Her crooked smile was anything but friendly. “Ms. MacKenzie is safe, as are her crew if they take the deal. I keep my promises, if only because my reputation would not survive otherwise.”

“And if any refuse?”

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