Chapter
A female voice penetrated Black’s brain. That damned computer better shut up.
He forced one eye open, shut it again against the piercing light, took a breath that hurt to his claws and tried again. He opened his eyes, blinked and found the most beautiful girl creature he'd ever seen standing over him. No, she wasn’t a girl. This was a woman. If his head would quit pounding for one damn second he’d do his best to woo her straight into his bed.
Unless, she was a Fate come to take his soul across to the afterlife. Then she could go fuck herself. He’d stay and watch.
“Oh good, you're not dead. Well, not yet, anyway.”
A Fate wouldn’t ask such a question, would she? No. So not a harbinger to the next life, that meant she was a luscious, warm, slightly out of focus, but gorgeous none-the-less, woman.
“Can you move? Oh, maybe you shouldn’t move. Wait one minute while I go see if I have a neck brace. I took CPR in the eighth grade.”
“No. Do not go.” This language felt thick coming off his tongue. His translator must have gotten shaken up in the crash along with the rest of his brains.
“Okay.” She squatted down beside him.
If his arms didn’t feel so limp and heavy he would have grabbed those luscious hips and pulled her on top of him.
Whoa. While he was as horny as the next bear, now was the not the time or place to have sex on the brain.
“I’m Kady. Can you tell me your name?”
“What's a K-D?” Maybe more than the translator implant in his brain was broken. What’s a K-D? Such fool things hadn’t come out of his mouth since he’d gone through the change from cub to bear and received his Soul Ember.
She laughed and it felt like sunshine and the strongest dark liquor all rolled into one. Both his head and his cock wanted to hear more.
“I'm a Kady. I mean, that’s my name. I’m a human.”
Of course she was. This was Earth, the small blue planet it had taken him more time than he could afford for him and his team to get to. He blinked trying to force his brain to work.
His team. He was here to find a way to defeat the spectrals. Not to find a woman.
Well, he’d found one, and she was going home with him and straight into his bed if he had anything to say about it.
Fates above, he could hardly wait to sink his cock into her soft flesh.
No. He didn’t have time for that sort of pleasure. He had a war to win.
“My name is Black—”
A shrill sound, much like his warning signals on the ship blared rhythmically from somewhere nearby.
Kady glanced over her shoulder, through the destruction his ship had caused. “Ah crap. They’re coming.”
“Who?”
“The men in black, the CIA, the alien abductees, take your pick. But whoever it is, won’t be good.”
Passion had warned him the people of this planet were primitive and under no circumstances should his team allow themselves known to anyone besides the residents of Magic.
This mission had clusterfuck written all over it. There was too much at stake to let the people of Earth interfere. His bear wavered at the edge of shifting, ready to heal his wounds and take control.
But, it waited, not wanting to scare the woman away.
“I will fight them off, defend you.” Just as soon as he could stand.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. Can you get up? Maybe lean on me and we can hide you in my house until the hubbub is over. Although, you might crush me. Geez, your big.” She covered her mouth with both hands. “Oops, sorry. I did not mean to say that out loud. But seriously, if you don’t want to be experimented on and anally probed, we’ve got to get a move on.”
“Anally probed?” What sort of people were these Earthers?
“Oh, wait. That’s what the aliens do. If I take you in, you have to promise not to put anything near my anus.” She wagged her finger at him.
“I promise not to put anything near your luscious ass unless you ask me to.” He blinked and swallowed. How had that popped out of his mouth?
“That will have to do. Come on.” She laced one arm around his torso and helped him to his feet. “Oomph. You are not going to fit in my front door.”
Her touch scorched his skin, burning up his arm across his chest where her body was pressed to his side and straight to his heart. His bear side roared out its claim on her. Black wanted to both jump away and hold her closer, tight to his body and never let her go.
Nee-ner, nee-ner, nee-ner. The sirens grew closer and there was more than one.
“Can you walk?”
“Of course I can, I am a Star Ranger.” He took one step and stumbled, falling to his knees and then rolling into some very prickly bushes. Stars circled above him and they weren’t the ones in the night sky.
“Crap. I’m sorry, I should have gotten a better hold on you.” Kady’s face appeared above his and the stars faded into her eyes. “What if I roll you over to my house?”
“No one is rolling unless it’s around in your bed.”
There it went again, his cock controlling his mouth. Get a hold of yourself, bear.
“You’re adorable, but we do not have time for this.”
No, no one had ever called him adorable, not even as a cub. Tough, driven, brute, asshole, but never adorable.
“I don’t think I can drag you, and I doubt if I covered you in bushes we’d escape their notice. Hmm.” She patted a finger on her lips.
What a beautiful pout she had.
What was wrong with him? Men who wanted to anally probe him were hunting him and his ship down, while the lead he had on the spectral soul stealers was growing colder by the minute, and all he could think about was getting her lips around his hardening dick.
If he could get a hard-on, he could get his ass off the ground and walk. “We will walk to your home. Just give me a minute.”
“Maybe I can whip up a pair of crutches out of these branches.” She lifted the debris of wood he’d created in his fall, rooting around and tossing several branches aside.
“No, lend me your shoulder again. I promise to stay standing if your home isn’t too far away.”
“Only to the other side of those trees, at the edge of the meadow.”
Black glanced in the direction she indicated. The distance wasn’t far, but felt like the length of twelve fallenball fields. He would have to pull on all his reserves to make it. He was a warrior, an elite Star Ranger, and he’d had a lifetime of training, practice, and on the job experience in pushing his body to the max.
He sat up, breathed through the pain and got on his feet. He wobbled until Kady slipped under his arm, doing her best to help support him.
“Good job. Ready?”
Again, her touch burned in that amazing way. It must be his injuries. “Ready.”
He took one step forward, swayed and leaned heavily onto Kady.
“That’s it. One foot in front of the other, and soon we’ll be walking out the doo-oo-oor,” she sang.
Her voice wavered and she glanced toward the lights coming toward them.
She was worried. He wanted nothing more in life than to soothe and protect her. The way to do that now was to get out of danger.
He took another step and another. Each felt like he was trying to walk on a ship with two-hundred percent grav plating during a solar storm. But, gritting his teeth, they made progress.
Woo-oof. Woo-oof.
Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark.
Aw-oooooooooh.
“What the fuck is that? Do you have three-headed Pardovian aardvarks on this planet?” If so, even calling up his bear, they were screwed.
“Shit buckets. They brought search dogs. We’ve got to move, mister, alien, dude.” Kady tugged at his arm and pulled him into a slow jog.
Each step rattled his bones, several of which were probably broken. Damn. He should have looked through the wreckage of the ship for a med kit.
He shoved the pain aside. “Where is your home, I don’t see it.”
“Just there, through the those trees.”
The dog’s barking behind them grew louder and closer. The shouts of men’s voices could be heard now too.
“But, I don’t think we’re going to make it before they hit the clearing.”
All their running would be for naught. If they saw him, they would pursue. They needed somewhere to hide. With his next step, Black pivoted and felt something in his ankle snap and crackle. “There, go toward that small hut at the edge of the woods.”
“The bathhouse doesn’t lock. They’ll find you.”
“It’s our only choice. Go.”
Kady nodded and headed for the small hut. “I’ll cover you in towels or something.”
Ten more meters and they’d be there. Black tripped over his own forsaken feet and they both tumbled to the ground this time. He wrapped his arms around her and took the brunt of the fall to his left shoulder. They rolled several meters and stopped dead when his back hit a tree.
“Are you okay, my Kady?”
“Crfph brrrrrf.”
Black lifted his head and stared down at her. “Kady, can you speak? Where are you injured?”
“Can’t. Breath.”
“Your lungs are damaged?”
“Get. Off.”
Black rolled so she was atop him instead of the other way around. “I’ll try to be more careful not to crush you the next time you’re under me.”
Damn fool mouth. Didn’t it understand they were in danger.
Kady’s deep brown eyes sparkled and she slowly blinked. “Next time?”
“Soon.”
“Over there!” A voice sang through the air followed by a cacophony of barking and other shouts.
“Oh no. They’re going to see us. Hurry.” Kady jumped up and yanked him into the hut through a fabric flap. She tied it shut behind them and then ransacked a small wooden wardrobe next to the door.
“Here, quickly, take off your clothes and get into the hot tub.” She threw a large tan towel at him and grabbed another.
Hot tub?
Black stared at the room. “What is this place?”
Dark wood floors surrounded a large white marbled basin with a wooden lid. Opposite was a two-person sized wooden box with a glass door.
If they were on Honaw, this would be the pleasure den of a high-end lady of the night.
“Hurry, they’re coming.” Kady ripped off her top, tossed her fogging glasses on the bench, and wrapped a towel around herself. She wiggled out of her pants and dropped the clothing into a pile on the floor.
Pleasure den or no, if they were getting undressed, he was all for it. Hopefully she had more of a plan than towels and using her naked body as a distraction.
Although, that was a hell of a good plan. Both his logical brain and the part of him that needed to stake his claim on her agreed.
Black groaned as he took off his shirt and peeled himself out of the carbon-fiber pants. They had protected his legs from the worst of the crash and the subsequent falls. His cock thanked him for that.
Kady flipped the wooden lid off the large basin and he saw it was filled with steaming water. Oh, fuck yeah.
She turned some knobs on the side of the tub and both bubbles and colored lights came on. What a bizarre addition to her pleasure ritual, but one he’d remember. It would hide his wounds and the difference in their skin color should the men in black and their, uh what did she call them? Ah, yes, dogs, come calling.
“Black, get in.” Kady was already in the water, but with her towel wrapped around her. He’d get it off her soon enough.
He tossed the towel she’d given him on the little bench next to her glasses and climbed in, one leg at a time. Kady’s eyes widened watching him. Her already rosy cheeks went even more red and she turned away.
What a fantastic sexual indicator. A flush of her skin. He could practically see the vasodilation that must be occurring to turn her face and chest such a lovely shade. He’d remember that and make sure to make it happen as often as he could.
These humans were much more interesting than he expected. No wonder the former Star Ranger, Frost, had mated one.
Steam from the hot water filled the hut quickly and the warm water felt unbelievable on his sore and broken body. Black waited for the tendrils of pleasure to wash over him.
He’d been more than a little surprised that this human woman would bring him into her bath. Would she be able to resist the water’s pleasures? He hoped not.
“Hey, anyone inside?” A voice called from the other side of the hut’s fabric door. “We’re coming in.”
“Yikes, okay. Showtime.” Kady looked from the door to Black, visibly gulped and moved across the pool to him. “Who’s there?” her voice lilted, all sweet and innocent. “We’re in the hot tub and would rather not be disturbed,” she called back.
“Sorry lady, this is a national emergency.”
Kady’s arms held the towel tight across her ample breasts, but the rest of the material floated around her. His hands developed a mind of their own and wrapped around her waist, pulling her body to his.
She was so damn lush, hips he could sink his big paws into, an ass that went on forever and soft, silky skin. Now if he could get that towel off and reveal what he knew were going to be epic tits.
Having her mostly naked, millimeters away from his raging hard-on, the part of him that cared about saving the universe gave up.
Kady slapped his arm and whispered, “This is not real, so don’t go thinking your hands are wandering any further than my waist, mister.”
“Whatever you say, mah wah.” She didn’t say he couldn’t pull her tight to him, and he did. He might not be feeling the water’s pleasure touch, but it was doing wonders for his injuries. The only pain he was feeling was in the hardness of his cock.
“Stay hidden behind me so they don’t see your skin.”
His injuries were rapidly healing now and his bear protested to being protected by a female. He’d do the protecting. “I will not hide behind a woman.”
“You will and you’ll thank me later, so shut up.”
The flap of the doorway opened and Kady wrapped her arms around his neck, whispered, “Universe, help us now,” and she threw off the towel and kissed him.
What a fucking kiss it was. She pressed her tongue to his lips, tentatively asking to be let in. She tasted of Anterrian wine and the sweetest dessert. It went straight to his head, and not the one with a brain in it.
“Whoa, whoa, folks. Break it up, and lady, can you put some clothes on, please.” A man’s voice, like a tree weasel came from the front flap of the tent.
Steam swirled around them, clouding the air in the pleasure den. Kady drew back and blinked.
Black grinned. The kiss had affected her as much as it had him. Good. Because there would be more of it.
While he would try to keep himself concealed from these damn snoops, per her plan, he would defend his woman.
Yes. That was right. She was his.
His mind flashed back to the moment before the crash. His soul ember had lit up like the stars in the sky. He reached for the charm hanging around his neck to thank the Fates for bringing him to his mate.
Wait, where was his amulet? It must be in the wreckage of his shuttle. They’d look for it later, after he got rid of these investigators and fucked the brains out of his beautiful savior.
No, not her brains. She’d laid out a brilliant little plan to fool the fools. He liked her brain.
When they recovered his soul ember, then he could consider the implications to his soul. And hers.
He touched her cheek and then laid a finger over her mouth to keep her in her quietly addled state. “She will do no such thing. This is her home and you are trespassing. She may dress, or undress however she pleases.”
Black peeked around Kady enough to see three men, all dressed in black formal-looking clothes, two wearing dark eye-protection, fogging up in the steamy room. The third stood at the fore of the others and was approximately half Black’s size. A tree weasel indeed.
“Who’s this? Your boyfriend?” The short man, whom Black could crush with his little toe, snickered.
Kady frowned and pushed Black’s finger away. She tried to turn, get off his lap, but he didn’t let her go far. Instead she looked over her shoulder. “He’s, uh, yes, my, uh—”
A flush rose across her cheeks. Was this gorgeous woman who’d had her tongue inside his mouth counting his teeth only mere seconds ago aroused by this disgusting excuse for a human male?
She looked back at him and bit her lip. An unmistakable hurt flashed across her eyes.
She wasn’t aroused, she was embarrassed.
His vulnerable siren. Stars in the sky, that was too much for him to handle.
He wanted and needed to make her come a dozen times at least, until she lay sated and forgot all about the rodent of a man behind her.
His hands slipped from her waist to her hips and he pulled her forward so his cock aligned with her cleft.
Damn, she was wearing an undergarment covering her sex. He gripped the edges of it in his fist, ready to tear it off.
Her mouth popped open, her draw dropping, and Black remembered their audience, who was waiting for an answer about who he was.
He understood the universal need for men everywhere to prove their worth, and knew he could exploit that now. “She uses me for sex. I’m not good enough for her to be seen with in public, but I’ll happily take her however I can. Isn’t that right, my mistress?”
Her eyes got as wide as the oh of her lips. They were so dark, giant black pools rimmed with amber brown. He could get lost in those eyes. He already was.
The men moved closer, but a communicator crackled and he heard voices, but couldn’t quite distinguish what they were saying. Maybe something about radioactivity? Shit. He damn sure hoped his reactor wasn’t leaking.
Tree weasel silenced the communicator, then addressed them again. “Whatever floats your boat, buddy. Did you all see or hear anything strange?”
“What kind of strange?” Kady asked.
Tree weasel came still closer. Much more and Black wouldn’t be able to use the steam and Kady as a shield. Against all his instincts he sunk lower in the water.
“You seriously didn’t hear that crash?”
This conversation needed to be over, partly to get rid of the investigators and because he wanted to continue the pleasure bath Kady had invited him into. “We’ve been a distracted if you hadn’t noticed, and we’d like to get back to it.”
The communicator sounded again and the voice had a distinct anxious tone saying the word spaceship.
Damn. They had found his ship. He would not be going back to salvage anything now. If the Fates smiled on him, the autodestruct module had survived and would incinerate the vessel before the humans were able to get anything from it.
Black had the distinct feeling the Fates were currently giggling their twisted little asses off.
Tree weasel responded to the communication. “Acknowledged.”
The two taller men left the tent, but weasel-boy had to get in the way for one more minute. “Fine. But, if you hear or see anything, be sure to let us know.”
“Who’s us?” Kady had narrowed her eyes, but kept her voice all sweetness and light. She was suspicious of this yahoo. That was damn sexy.
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll check in with you, since the crash, uh, incident site is so close to your hot tub.”
Kady’s breasts slipped against his chest and Black was more than done with these humans. “Thanks, now get out.”
“Listen here, bub.”
Little fucker was asking for it. Black would not kowtow to a man who resorted to intimidating women. Weasel reminded him too much of the slave trader that plagued his home world. If he killed the bastard, no more investigator. The others had left, now was his chance.
“I am no bub and if you’d like to take this outside,” Black stood to his full two point three-meter height all while holding Kady and her luscious skin tight, her feet dangling in the water in front of him, “I’d be happy to oblige.”
The man turned his back and held his arm up acting dismissive. Coward. “Don’t get all up in arms. Just keep your eyes and ears open. If you see something, say something.”
He popped out of the flap before Black could set Kady down. Too bad, but then they were fantastically alone in the steam and heat and pleasure water.
He’d had enough of duty for today. He could do little else until the swarm of humans retreated. His only duty now was to his mate.
His. Mate.
Black remained standing, wrapped one arm under Kady’s ass and lowered his head taking her lips in a hungry kiss.
She kissed him back with such fervor, Black wasn’t sure how much longer either of them could wait to join. But, then her arms went from around his neck to between them, pushing on his chest.
“Stop right there, asshole.”