Chapter Four
The Dracheon warrior wanted her. Faylee didn’t trust his promises of protection, his vows of always, but she did believe in the hardness of his cock, the flames in his eyes.
She hid in the cleansing chamber while the objects he’d requested from the domicile’s owner were being delivered. The space was immaculately clean and brightly lit, as different from the caves as a sun was different from a moon.
This planet rotation would be a respite from reality, an escape from the soul-crushing poverty. It could also be her opportunity to finally experience physical closeness with a male.
Dare realized she was female. Once the domicile workers left, they’d be alone. None of Three-eyed Mak’s minions would uncover her true identity or her activities within the domicile.
They’d only be together for a short duration. She had to leave him, wasn’t free.
But they could fuck before they parted.
If she could figure out how to communicate that to him. A lifespan of living as a boy had kept her alive. It hadn’t prepared her to seduce a sexy Dracheon male.
She unwrapped her breasts and gazed at herself in a reflective surface. Her curves were smaller than those of the Rebel female, but they were larger than the breasts some of the pleasure workers sported.
Males paid to fuck those females. Dare could mount her for free.
The pleasure workers enticed males by flashing their bare skin. That was an extremely effective strategy. She could do the same.
Faylee removed the fabric from her hips and exhaled deeply, the freedom liberating, her confidence building. She had a plan.
“The workers are gone, mate.” Dare’s low rumble flowed down her body and coiled in her womb, verbal heat warming her all over.
It was time to take action. She gathered the covering cloth around her body and exited the cleansing chamber.
He stood by the door, tall, broad-shouldered. Black fabric was draped over his head, covering his body, casting his face into shadow.
It couldn’t conceal his eyes. Lit with low flames, they called to her.
The freshly manufactured nourishment bars beckoned also. Their delectable scent filled her nostrils. Her stomach growled. Loudly.
Her face heated. She grasped her midsection.
“Your Drache is ravenous.” Dare grinned, displaying sharp white teeth. “Sit.” He pulled out the chair.
It was the only one in the chamber. “You sit there.” She perched on the edge of the horizontal support. “I’m fine here.” She was accustomed to sitting on any flat surface.
The space was covered with a variety of nourishment bars and fancy containers of beverage. She gazed at the display, her eyes wide, her stomach twisting with hunger.
He turned away from her. She snatched a nourishment bar, hid it under the covering cloth.
He removed his chest covering, discarded an impressive stockpile of weapons. His scales were shiny, his muscles defined.
She gawked at him, temporarily distracted. The male was fit, every section of him toned and tight.
He sat in the chair and perused the horizontal support. His gaze paused at the space where the nourishment bar had been. “I ordered the nourishment bars for you.” His tone was dry. “You don’t have to steal them.”
Shit. The male was observant. She bent her head and nibbled on the nourishment bar, watching him as he poured a container of beverage, slid it to her.
The beverage was clear. She sipped it cautiously, having never tried liquid that pure. “Mmm…” It tasted delicious.
“I thought you’d like it.” His smile was adorably smug. “It has a hint of smoke to it.” He poured a container for himself, leaned back in his chair, his big body relaxed.
He didn’t look at her but he was aware of her movements and that made her nervous. She devoured the nourishment bar, waited until he took a drink, snatched another one.
The first nourishment bar had meat added to it. The second one was flavored with a type of fruit. If it was a good planet rotation, she treated herself to one of the deformed plain nourishment bars the merchants sold for low credits. She’d never had luxury bars like she was now eating.
Stealing them was against Three-eyed Mak’s rules. She was to target the visitors to the settlement. The residents and the merchants had the power and ability to not only catch and execute her but also make trouble for all of the cave dwellers, including her boss.
By the fourth nourishment bar, Faylee’s stomach was full to the point of extreme discomfort. She stole one, two, three more, hiding them under her covering cloth.
“You don’t have to hoard nourishment bars.” The Dracheon had seen those thefts. “You’ll eat and drink every planet rotation. I’ll ensure that happens.”
Those were words only a male who’d never been hungry could speak. He arrogantly believed nourishment bars would always be there because, for him, they always had been there.
Having experienced hunger, she knew that wasn’t reality. She planned to leave him and when she did that, her access to nourishment bars would go away.
Before she left, she wanted him to touch her. The pleasure workers smiled at their clients. Faylee offered her mark her most seductive smile. It felt unnatural, forced, fake, not her.
That was the point. Being herself wouldn’t attract any being.
Dare, the male she was trying to interest, frowned. “Did the nourishment bars upset your stomach?”
Her cheeks heated.
The smiling wasn’t effective. More drastic tactics were required. She parted the covering cloth, showing him her naked breasts.
His gaze lowered. The flames in his eyes blazed. He slid his forked tongue slowly over his bottom lip and her nipples tightened.
It was working. She’d soon have his mouth on her skin, his palms on her curves. Faylee’s pussy dripped with anticipation.
Dare leaned forward, reached out his hands. They were big and scaled. What would they feel like on her body?
She’d find out in a moment. His warmth swirled around her. Her breath caught. This was happening. He—
He pulled the covering cloth closed, concealing her breasts once more from his view. “You’ll become cold.” His smile was aggravatingly gentle.
She didn’t require the covering cloth to keep her warm. Her face was the surface temperature of the sun.
Her second attempt at seduction had failed. She didn’t know why. He desired her. Her gaze lowered. His cock was hard.
Maybe he was shy. She tilted her head to the side, examining his handsome face.
Some of the pleasure workers, thinking she was a boy, believed she was the same way. They would beckon her closer, ask if they could give her a little kiss.
Faylee had never kissed anyone but it didn’t look difficult. Lips brushed against lips. She could do that.
“I want to kiss you,” she blurted.
He stared at her with those fascinating flame-filled eyes of his, didn’t say anything.
She squirmed, ready to implode with embarrassment. “Just a little kiss,” she whispered. “I’ve never experienced one and I thought…”
She didn’t know what she’d thought. This was going horribly wrong.
“You’ve never been kissed?” His voice was husky.
“Everyone believes I’m a boy,” she mumbled, bowing her head, feeling like a failure.
He sighed. “Come here.” He held out his left hand.
This would be a pity kiss but she’d take it. She hopped off the horizontal support, leaving her pilfered nourishment bars behind, and slid her free palm over his.
He pulled her to him, positioning her between his legs. Warmth radiated from him. His touch soothed the uneasiness inside her. He smelled like smoke and fire and dominant male.
Their physical connection surpassed any she’d ever had but she was greedy, wanted more. She tilted her body toward him. “Does this mean I can kiss you?”
He glanced at her parted lips. “That’s not a good idea.” His voice lowered, the sound caressing her skin.
“It’s a very good idea.” She skimmed her lips over his.
He didn’t react, didn’t move.
Maybe she was doing it wrong. She licked the seam, wetting his flesh with her tongue. Even that part of him was scaled. She traced the tiny ridges.
A rumble rolled up his chest, like the engine noise from an approaching ship, growing louder and louder.
He strapped his arms around her waist and drew her tight against him. Their bodies collided. He captured her lips. She gasped, surprised by the contact, and he surged inside her mouth.
His tongue was captivatingly different from hers, forked, flexible, alien. His mouth was hot. His teeth were thrillingly sharp. One of them pierced her bottom lip. The metallic taste of blood flavored their kiss.
He ran his hands up and down her cloth-covered back as he ravished her mouth, thrusting in and out, in and out. She clung to his shoulders. His muscles undulated under her fingertips.
Needing to be closer to him, she slid onto his lap, straddling his hips. The fabric wrapped around her parted. Her bare pussy pressed against the bulge in his ass coverings and they both groaned.
This was what she yearned for, what she had been missing. She rocked against him, delighting in the pressure escalating low in her form.
Her nipples rubbed along his scaled chest, every rounded edge teasing her more and more. Smoke coiled around them. Her Dracheon warrior was close to combustion.
And she wanted to push him over the edge. She explored his muscles with her hands, skimmed her fingertips along the waistband of his ass coverings, found the fastening and—
“No.” He peeled her away from his body and plunked her ass back on the horizontal support. “You don’t touch me and my garments stay on.”
Shocked and confused, she stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to do next.
He wasn’t stopping her. He was setting boundaries, outlining the rules.
She could work within them. His garments would stay on. Hers would be removed.
She rolled her shoulders. The covering cloth fell to the floor. Cool air swept across her breasts, plucking at her nipples.
An exciting growl rose from her warrior’s throat. “You’re playing with fire, little mate.”
She wanted his flames, his beast, all of him. “Your garments remain on.” She reclined, the horizontal support chilly against her bare back. “And I’m not touching you.” She stretched her arms above her head, putting her hands out of reach.
The position arched her back, thrust her small breasts upward. She parted her legs, allowing him to see all of her, shamelessly on display.
No other male had viewed her naked form. He would be the only one and he did look, gazing at her with fire in his eyes, his countenance stark and primitive, his silver scales gleaming.
“You can’t touch me.” His voice was thick with lust. “If you do, I’ll lose control of my beast. He could tear you to pieces.”
She could die. Meeting his gaze, she read that truth in his eyes.
That possible fate didn’t scare her. Death had always lingered around the next corner, waiting for her. “Many beings kill thieves if they catch them.” Some boys lost hands, eyes, limbs, but most were killed. “If I die, I die.” She shrugged.
“This ends now if you don’t agree to my terms.” Her dominant male declared.
She didn’t want to stop. Not now. “I won’t touch you.” Faylee linked her fingers together. “My hands will remain above my head.” She kept her vows also. “Now, kiss me, warrior. I like having your lips on mine.”
“Did you like it?” He stood, looming over her, big and broad and muscular.
“I liked it and I didn’t like it.” She tilted her chin upward, being honest with him. “Your kiss made me feel hot all over but I also ached, needing something more.”
He bent over her, slanting his lips across hers, the contact light, teasing. “What did you need?”
“I don’t know.” His fingers, his cock, she wasn’t certain. “But I knew you could give it to me.”
He cupped the back of her head with one of his hands, holding her to him. “I will give it to you.” He followed that vow with action, delving deeper, stroking into her mouth.
Their tongues twined. He pressed against her lips, opening her more and more to him until they merged, becoming one. She was no longer alone. He was a part of her.
She wished she could make that connection last.
That was impossible. Three-eyed Mak owned her, had beings placed all over the settlement. She couldn’t escape him, not until she paid off her debt.
That could take solar cycles.
Dare said he’d settle her balance. He didn’t know how large that amount was.
No male would pay that price, not for her.
This rest cycle was all she’d have with her Dracheon warrior. She wouldn’t squander the opportunity.
“Are you feeling hot all over now?” Dare wanted more words.
She’d give them to him. “I feel hot and needy.” She lowered her voice to the faintest of whispers. “I also feel…wet.”
“Are you wet?” He drifted his hands along her neck, between her breasts, over her stomach, his palms rough and warm and so very different from her own.
She shimmied with anticipation. A male was touching her.
Not any male. Dare was a being unlike any she’d ever known. He was honorable and strong and lived in a clean, nourishment bar-filled world she could only dream about.
He curved his fingers over her mons and she jerked, the contact divine.
“Ah, yes.” He caressed her slick, sensitive flesh. “You’re dripping for me.”
He bent his head and mouthed over her right breast as he played with her pussy. She moaned, her hands twisting above her head, the dual assault spiraling her passion upward.
In the past, she’d touched herself, exploring her body without a sound, alone in the dark, her hands slipping under layers of garments. It had never felt like this, like an inferno burning higher and higher inside her, lighting up her darkened corners.
He pinched her nipple with the forked tip of his tongue and she bit her bottom lip to keep from yipping.
“Silence is prudent. The walls are thin.” He switched his attention to her left breast, lavishing that curve with the same adoration. “But, one planet rotation in the future, I’ll make you scream for me.”
That future would never happen. They were parting after she brought him to meet with the Rebel female.
Faylee smooshed that distressing thought, focusing on his mouth, tongue, hands. He worked her breasts, her pussy. She arched her back, offering herself to him.
He pushed one of his fingers inside her and a whimper escaped her lips.
“You’re tight, mate.” His eyes were engulfed in flame. “You’re hugging my finger.” He plunged in and out of her.
She lifted her hips, unable to remain still, wantonly fucking his hand. He gazed down at her as she moved. With him, she wasn’t invisible. He saw all of her.
She loosened around him and he added a second finger, stretching her open. Pressure built within her. Perspiration beaded on her skin. She panted, thrusting upward harder, faster.
It wasn’t enough. “Can’t.” She thrashed her head back and forth, seeking satisfaction, unable to find it. “I need.”
“What do you need, mate?” He nuzzled against her breast as she rode his hand.
She met his gaze. What did she need?
His lips curled upward. “You don’t know…but I do.” His eyes glowed. “Cover your sweet lips.”
She placed her hands over her mouth. What was he going to—
He rammed his fingers into her pussy and brushed his thumb over her clit. The combination broke her. She smothered her shriek with her palms, the chamber spinning around her, explosions detonating in her brain.
Dare held her down as she gyrated, bliss streaking over her, greater than any she’d ever experienced. The weight of him felt perfect, right.
With him, in this moment, she fit. She belonged.
That feeling dissipated as the pleasure receded, their connection weakening. Dare slid his fingers out of her pussy, breaking their physical bond.
His scaled skin glistened. He sucked her juices off that part of him, inhaling every drop. His eyelids were partially lowered, his expression rapturous.
He liked the way she tasted.
She liked him. Leaving her Dracheon warrior would hurt. She squeezed her eyelids shut, trapping tears behind them. Parting from him would make the darkness darker and the cold colder.
But it had to happen. They were from two different worlds. She had no way to escape hers and she wouldn’t drag him into her nightmare.
“You’re beautiful, mate.” Warm lips brushed against her forehead.
Only he had ever called her beautiful. With Dare, she wasn’t a boy. She was a female, desirable, wanted.
He gathered her into his arms and transferred her to the sleeping support. She rolled onto her side, facing away from him. There was a moment of brief separation, giving her a taste of the future, of the loneliness she’d soon endure.
Two soft clunks and a rustle of leather broke the silence and her warrior rejoined her, lying beside her. He rested one of his big hands on her hip. With each breath, his chest pressed against her back.
She didn’t open her eyes, couldn’t look at him. If he met her gaze, he’d see her yearning, her sadness, her acceptance.
They weren’t meant to be. This planet rotation would be all they’d ever have.