Rain woke up again as heat engulfed her. She extricated herself from Jay’s arms and padded over to the bathroom. The light came on as she entered, bathing her in a cold, white glow. Something was very wrong. Her skin was itching as if she’d walked through a poisoned forest. Was it possible for her to be allergic to a human’s semen?
She took the quickest, coldest shower of her life, and stood shivering on the mat while she carefully dried herself off. She hissed as her fingernail caught her skin and studied her hand. Her nails were literally growing as she watched them, curling into dangerous claws.
“This can’t be right,” she said slowly.
She rushed to the mirror just as her jawline stretched, and her eyes widened and turned black. Her only thought was that she had to get out of there. Had to find somewhere to hide until whatever was happening to her—the thing that should never have happened to her—went away.
Jay thumped on the door. “Rain? What’s going on?”
She opened her mouth to order him to stay away, but actual speech had deserted her. She spun around, looking for an escape. If she saw him, if he saw her…
“Rain!”
Jay disabled the lock and ran into the bathroom, coming to an abrupt stop as he saw the figure crouched in the corner. What the hell? The defensive mechanisms that masqueraded as part of his brain booted up, sending him directly into fight-or-fight mode.
“Get out!” Rain growled.
Jay literally pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t still in the middle of some ghastly nightmare. Rain’s face was turned away from him, but the whole shape and color of her body looked different. There were small ridges growing up her spine, and he caught the flash of fangs as she tried to avoid the light.
His A.I. flashed a warning through his brain. “IMMINENT DANGER. RETREAT.”
Even as he choked back his disbelief, the analytical part of his intelligence kept working, cataloguing the changes in her, sensing her body temperature, the scent she was now giving off, and gauging the level of danger. His A.I. might be telling him to run or kill, but all that was human in him was screaming to just focus on her smell and the siren-pull of her mind.
One piece of information lodged in his head and kept repeating itself like a Greek chorus. No one had ever witnessed a Neveks triad couple mating. It was a rite shrouded in secrecy. No one had seen this, but the probabilities calculated in his brain that she was in some kind of mating state were inescapable.
“Get out, or I will hurt you.” Rain’s guttural warning echoed through his skull and the tiled bathroom.
The thing was, he couldn’t look away, couldn’t escape the bond they’d already forged. Inside her, she was still Rain, and his stupid fucking body and mind couldn’t ignore that.
“No,” Jay said.
She hissed at him, drawing herself up to her full height. Her skin now resembled ancient armor or an exoskeleton, her eyes were wide and black. God, she did have fangs. His cock kicked up. Typical daft bastard. He sent up a quick prayer to all the deities known and unknown in the universe and took a wary step closer.
With a roar, she leapt for him, and he caught her around the waist, avoiding the snap of her fangs with a deft flick of his head. Even in this new form she was still Rain; he could sense her telepathically.
She let him roll her onto her front and kicked him so hard in the shins that he almost came down on top of her. Even as he attempted to avoid crushing her with his weight, she flung herself to one side, making him crash to the floor, and made for the outer door. He couldn’t let her go outside. She’d create a massive incident, and all his cover for the ongoing investigation would be blown apart.
Struggling to his feet, he launched himself at her retreating figure and brought her down again, centimeters from the exterior door. Her claws scratched down the paintwork with an excoriating sound, leaving gouges in the wood. Reaching over her head, he fused the lock system, so the only way out would be through the barred window or busting through the door itself. And neither of those things was going to happen on his watch.
God, she smelled delicious, like anger and a shot of pure adrenaline combined with the mind-blowing aroma of raw sex. For a vital second he wrestled with her, needing all his superior speed and strength to even contain her. He wished there was some kind of manual for how to have sex with someone from Neveks. He was damned if he knew how to get past those fangs and body armor.
He set his A.I. diagnostics to work on a battle plan, even as he wrapped his fist in her hair and flipped her over onto her back.
“You’re not going anywhere, Rain.”
“Frightened. This isn’t supposed to happen to me.”
“I get that, but I’ll do anything you need, so use me, take me.”
“I might KILL YOU.”
“No, remember?” Jay braced himself to stare at her face. “I’m a super soldier. You can’t kill me.”
For a long moment she stared at him out of her elongated, alien eyes. Then she snarled and flipped him over like a pancake to straddle his lap.
“Wait—” Jay croaked, but it was too late.
She lowered herself over his cock, and he forgot how to breathe as her clawed hands kneaded and stroked over his body, sending all his nerves into a sexual frenzy. He lifted his hips, offering her more, and she took it, bending down to him, her fangs grazing his throat, her tongue emerging to play with his.
So this was how you had sex with an armored Neveks female.
She was still Rain. They still had the same telepathic connection that made him want to fuck her brains out—if she didn’t eat his first. He wrapped one arm around her hips, eased back until he was leaning against the wall, and planted his feet on the floor.
“Go for it.”
With a hiss she rocked her hips, arching and writhing above him like a beautiful golden dragon. He watched, entranced, and then had to concentrate on not coming as her internal muscles gripped and milked his cock with every sinuous undulation. He set his jaw as she rode him hard, pushing back after every downward thrust, giving her what she needed.
And her need was…spectacular. Rain mixed with something so alien and yet so elemental—it was like fucking the source of the universe. She tightened around him and climaxed with a roar that wasn’t human at all. He could do nothing but come with her, setting his jaw, and fighting back his own primeval howl in case the neighbors complained.
She fell against him, her breathing harsh and distorted by the overlap of her fangs over her lips. He tentatively ran his hands over the ridges on her back, wincing at the sharpness of the fish-like scales, but enjoying the texture and difference. She should have wings. She could fuck him in midair, and then let him fall to the ground, his cock torn off when she was sated like a queen bee.
“Fucking beautiful,” he whispered.
She growled in his ear, reminding him of a pack of wolves he’d once seen in the northernmost section of Earth.
She’d been thrown out of Neveks for not being pure. Had the Queen decided Rain was not able to transform to mate? Was this ability central to the Neveks race? Rain seemed horrified that she had it. Jay sensed his questions would have to wait until Rain returned from her more primal state. If she returned… All he was getting from her at the moment was the need to fuck, and he was more than happy to oblige. For the first time since his strength had been enhanced, he knew that whatever he did wouldn’t be too much for a Neveks female in heat. He wouldn’t be surprised if she needed two males to satisfy her. All he could hope for was to survive the experience.
She climbed off him, grabbed him around the throat, and, with one easy motion, threw him across the room and onto the bed. He righted himself almost immediately. She followed him down in a tangle of arms and legs as they fought for dominance. She went down on her knees, and he crowded her against the headboard, one hand wrapped in her long hair, the other at her waist, and thrust into her from behind. Her ridged scales jabbed into his chest and belly like a thousand spikes. She hissed and fought him, but he kept her pinned and hammered into her, forgetting caution and restraint—all the things that had made him give up sex before. She could take him. She wanted this. She needed this.
As he filled her, he slid one hand around to play with her clit. She bucked even more, arching her ridged back to let him slide deeper. He set his teeth at her throat and increased his pace beyond human speed and endurance. He forgot everything but the connection with Rain’s incredible alien mind.
For the first time in his life, he wondered if he was going to run out of come. Before he could test the theory, Rain shoved him off her, and he fell onto the mattress, bouncing from the strength of her maneuver.
She crawled toward him, snarling something unintelligible, and bent her head over his cock. He groaned as her long hair caressed his spread thighs, and then caught his breath as her fangs grazed the length of his dick in a pain-pleasure that made him moan her name.
She nipped his hipbone and then settled over him again, swallowing his throbbing length inside her before going still. Jay gazed up at her, seeking the spark of her humanity, and saw nothing but “other.” She still looked magnificent, but there was no sympathy or compassion left in her eyes.
Maybe she really was going to eat him alive…
“Oh crap,” he muttered as she swooped down on him, setting her fangs in his throat and piercing his skin. He climaxed in a shuddering, hot wave, and then everything went black.
Rain woke up tangled in damp sheets with every part of her body—even her jaws—hurting. Had she come down with some kind of virus? She cautiously opened one eye and inhaled the overwhelming scent of sex and sweat and….
Mate...
With a whimper, she forced herself to sit up and stumble over to the other bed. Jay lay naked and flat on his back. His whole body was marked and bruised, and his throat was bloody. His eyes were closed, and he didn’t react when she touched his face.
She found his pulse and tried to count it even as she shivered and shook like a frightened child.
“Dear Goddess…” she whispered. “What have I done?”