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  “Only at first,” Rast assured her. “I caught on pretty quickly to what was happening.”

  “You certainly did.” Nadiah felt her cheeks get hot as she remembered the passionate, possessive way he had kissed her back.

  Rast was obviously remembering as well. “I was thinking I’d never wanted a woman so much in my life,” he said softly. “It’s a good thing we got interrupted when we did or—”

  “Or what?” Nadiah prompted him.

  He shook his head. “Let’s just say I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than kiss you.”

  Nadiah’s heart was pounding and her face felt like it was on fire but she didn’t want him to stop taking—she wanted to hear more. “Tell me,” she urged. “Tell me what you wanted to do. What you would do if we were…were making love.”

  Rast arched an eyebrow at her. “Want to stop pretending then? Because you know I was talking about you earlier, don’t you? When I was describing the way I like to make love.”

  Biting her lip, Nadiah nodded. “Yes, I…I thought as much. But I still want to hear more.”

  “I’ll tell you then.” Rast put an arm around her and pulled her closer. His warm, masculine scent seemed to fill Nadiah’s senses and the heat of his big body was comforting and exciting at the same time. He took her hand once more with his free hand and looked into her eyes. “Where was I?” he murmured.

  “You were saying that you wanted to lay her—me—down and…and touch me all over,” Nadiah breathed. “I…I think, anyway.”

  “That sounds about right.” One corner of Rast’s mouth curved up in a sensuous smile. “I’d want to kiss you for a long, long time, sweetheart. Then, when I was sure you were comfortable, I’d touch you—the parts I hadn’t touched before.”

  Nadiah’s breath caught in her throat. “My breasts you mean. And my…my pussy.”

  Rast shifted on the couch. “God, you don’t know what it does to me to hear that naughty little word from your sweet pink lips.”

  “Does it…” Nadiah tried to think how to put it. “Does it make you hot? Aroused?”

  “You’re damn right, it does,” Rast growled. “Everything about you makes me hot.”

  “I…I feel the same way about you.” Nadiah dared to reach up and stroke his cheek. It felt rough and warm against her hand.

  He caught her hand and laid a hot, gentle kiss in the center of her palm. “Then do you want to hear more?’

  Wordlessly, Nadiah nodded.

  “I’d want to stroke your breasts, maybe tease your nipples a little.” Rast’s eyes were half-lidded with lust.

  “Tease them? How?” she whispered.

  “Lick them.” His eyes strayed down to the cleavage displayed at the v-shaped opening of the white dress shirt. “Suck them. I’d take my time about that.”

  “Y-you would?” She felt suddenly self conscious, aware of her breasts in a way she hadn’t been before. Her nipples felt tight and achy and when she shifted, the thin white material of his shirt rubbed against them in a way that was both irritating and pleasurable at the same time.

  He nodded. “Oh yeah, I definitely would. I’d suck them until they were tight and dark pink and very…very sensitive. I might even nip them, very gently, like this.” Raising her hand to his, he nipped lightly at the end of her index finger to illustrate.

  Nadiah had to swallow a moan and shifted, trying to get comfortable, but for some reason she couldn’t. Her skin felt too tight and her breath was coming too short. Still, she wanted more. “Go on,” she managed to say. “What…what would you do next?”

  He kissed her fingertip—the one he’d nipped—and smiled. “Well, when I was sure you were ready, I’d slip my hand down and cup your sweet little pussy.”

  Nadiah pressed her thighs tightly together, feeling a surge of heat that nearly made her gasp. No one had ever spoken like this to her before. And the way Rast was looking at her—like he wants to eat me up!—was making her feel incredibly warm and flushed.

  “What…what next?” she asked. She could almost feel his large, hot hand cupping her there, holding that most sensitive and secret part of her as though it was a delicate treasure he didn’t want to injure.

  “I’d cup you…and then I’d spread you.” Rast’s voice was a low, lustful growl. “Spread you open so I could slip my fingers deep inside your pussy and feel exactly how wet you were.”

  “W-wet?” she murmured.

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “You know what I’m talking about. Your pussy gets wet when you’re turned on—when you’re aroused. I’m sure it does when you touch yourself at night, right?”

  Nadiah looked down at her lap. “I’ve never…that’s forbidden.”

  He frowned. “Forbidden by who? It’s your body, Nadiah. You have the right to give yourself pleasure.”

  She shook her head. “I…I guess I never thought of it that way. On Tranq Prime we’re taught to believe our bodies belong to our mates. It would be like…using someone else’s property for an illicit purpose.”

  “Sounds to me like Tranq Prime could use a good does of women’s lib,” Rast muttered.

  “What?’

  He shook his head. “Never mind. Just…don’t be afraid or ashamed to touch yourself, all right? There’s nothing wrong with it—nothing to feel guilty or ashamed about.”

  Since she’d been taught differently her whole life, Nadiah had a hard time wrapping her head around that idea. She filed it away to think about later. “I’d rather hear about how you want to touch me,” she murmured, feeling bold. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. Sorry we keep getting off track.” He shifted toward her, his voice dropping into a lower, softer register. “Where did I leave off?”

  “You…you were touching me here.” Nadiah nodded at her tightly clenched thighs. “Between my legs. You were touching my…my pussy.”

  “That’s right.” He shifted again. “God, I can almost feel how wet and slick and soft you’d be. So hot and ready to be touched. To be tasted…”

  Nadiah felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. “You…you said something about that earlier. Do you…would you really want to…”

  “Taste your pussy?” Rast finished for her. “Absolutely, sweet heart. And I’d want to take my time about it too. First I’d pull you down to the end of the bed so your legs were hanging over. Then I’d get on my knees on the floor in front of you, so I could get right between your thighs.”

  Nadiah bit her lip. “You seem to have it all thought out.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “If you’re asking if I’ve fantasized about this—about tasting you—the answer is hell, yes. And the position I’m describing would be the best because it’s comfortable for both of us. So you can watch and I can spend a long, long time eating your pussy.”

  The area between her thighs that he was talking about—her pussy—was throbbing in time with her heartbeat by now. Nadiah squeezed her thighs together even more tightly, though what she really wanted to do was part her legs and let him in. “Do you…would you have a special technique for…for tasting me?”

  He nodded. “I certainly would. I’d want to rub my cheeks against you first, to feel your warmth, soak up your scent. Nothing smells better than an aroused female—I’d want your scent all over me. And I’d want to put mine on you, too…but later.”

  It sounded like something a Kindred would say, Nadiah thought distractedly. She knew that scents were very important to them—maybe humans were the same way? She didn’t know and didn’t care, she just wanted him to go on. “And then?” she prompted.

  “Then I’d kiss you—kiss the outside of your pussy. Slowly and gently, the same way I’d kiss your mouth.” Rast ran a thumb over her bottom lip again, making her moan softly. “I’d go as slow as you wanted me to, I swear it, sweetheart. I’d take time and make sure you were ready before I spread open you open and tasted the inside of your pussy.”

  “How…how would you know I was r
eady?” Nadiah asked softly.

  “Just like before—I’d be able to tell by how wet you were.” Rast caught her eyes with his. “Tell me, Nadiah, are you wet right now?”

  Nadiah bit her lip and squeezed her thighs together. “I…I don’t know.”

  “Will you let me see? If I promise not to touch?”

  “I…I guess that would be all right.” Slowly, feeling more self conscious and aroused than she ever had in her life, Nadiah leaned back and spread her thighs.

  “That’s good.” Rast’s deep voice was rough with lust. “Now just lift up the hem of the shirt and let me look at you.”

  He’d seen her naked just a few moments before but this was entirely different—it was sexual. Before he had been trying to comfort her. Now, he wanted to really look at her, to see how hot she was. How wet. Feeling exposed in a whole new way, Nadiah raised the hem of the white shirt and pulled it high, almost to her belly button. Rast leaned forward but, true to his promise, he didn’t touch her.

  “God,” he groaned softly. “Just look at you, Nadiah. Look how hot and wet and swollen your pussy is.”

  Nadiah followed his gaze and saw that he was right—her pussy, which still throbbed with desire—was slick with her juices. In fact, even her inner thighs were shiny and wet with them. And that wasn’t the extent of it. She was, as Rast had said, swollen with need. The outer lips of her sex were puffy and hot and the act of spreading her legs had also spread them open, revealing a glimpse of the tight little button she’d heard her friends call a clit.

  “So slippery and wet. So beautiful,” Rast murmured hoarsely, pulling her out of her self contemplation. He looked up at Nadiah. “You have no idea how badly I want to go down on you right now, sweetheart. Want to get on my knees in front of you and clean all that sweet cunt honey off your thighs and pussy.”

  Again, Nadiah felt like her clit was throbbing in time to her heart. “But wouldn’t…wouldn’t the feeling of having you licking me…tasting me…just cause me to make more. More…honey?”

  “Oh yeah.” He nodded, his eyes half-lidded with desire. “It sure as hell would. So of course I’d have to stay there. Stay between your thighs to keep on licking and sucking and cleaning away your sweet honey until you came for me…came all over my face. God.” He shook his head and seemed to force himself to look away. “Better put the shirt down now, sweetheart,” he said in a thick voice. “I don’t…don’t want to lose control but you’re so goddamn beautiful I don’t think I can keep it together if I keep on looking at you.”

  “All right.” Slowly, Nadiah closed her legs and draped the hem of the white shirt modestly over her thighs. “Better?”

  “Not really.” Rast shook his head. “I can still see it—see you, all wet and hot—in my mind’s eye. But at least it takes away some of the temptation to touch…to taste.”

  “Goddess,” Nadiah whispered breathlessly. She sensed he was about to stop them, to stop this little talk they’d been having and she didn’t want him to. “Tell me more,” she begged. “Tell me what you’d do when you…when you penetrated me.”

  “You mean when I fucked you?” The word itself was harsh and rough but the low, purring tone in his deep voice made it sound like an act of love.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “How would you do that? Would you…I don’t know…get on top of me?”

  He surprised her by shaking his head. “Not for your first time, no. Your first time it would be better for you to be on top.”

  “Really?” Nadiah widened her eyes in surprise. “Why?”

  “So you can be in control,” Rast explained. “If you’re on top of me, lowering yourself down so that my cock slides up into your pussy, you can control how much you take at a time. How deep I go, how fast or slow I enter you—you see?”

  Nadiah nodded. “Yes, I guess so.”

  “That way it wouldn’t hurt you.” Rast stroked her thigh lightly, making her jump. “I would never want to do that, Nadiah. Would never want to hurt you. I’d make your first time special, I swear.”

  “I know you would,” she whispered, touching his hand with her fingertips. “And that’s why you want me on top?”

  “That and so I can watch your breasts bounce and see the look on your face while I fill you.” Rast stroked her hot cheek. “I want to see it in your eyes when my cock touches bottom inside you, when I’m all the way inside your tight little pussy, taking you for the first time.”

  “Would it feel good?” she asked softly.

  “As good as I could make it for you, sweetheart.” Rast shifted. “I’m, uh, kind of big if you know what I mean. But as long as you were wet enough and hot enough, I know you could take me.” He sighed. “It would be a fantasy come true.”

  Nadiah felt her cheeks getting even hotter. “You…you fantasize about doing that with—to—me? Making love to me? Fucking me?”

  Slowly, he nodded. “God help me, I know I probably shouldn’t. Nothing’s going to come of it but—”

  “Wait a minute.” Nadiah held up her hand to stop him. “What do you mean ‘nothing’s going to come of it?’”

  He sighed again. “Exactly what I said. Look, Sylvan warned me off you before we left. He told me that no matter what happened, I’m not allowed to, er, change the color of your eyes. And I swore I wouldn’t.”

  “What?” Nadiah felt like someone had dropped a cold lead weight into the pit of her stomach. “So even if you win the challenge you’re not going to…to take me?”

  “I can’t, sweetheart. Try to understand,” Rast pleaded. “I gave my word. Besides, Sylvan told me how important virginity is on your planet. I can’t take that away from you—no matter how much I might want you.”

  Nadiah pulled away from him and sat on the edge of the couch. “So all that…that talk about it being my body to do with as I pleased, that wasn’t true, was it?”

  Rast blew out a breath in obvious frustration. “Of course it was true. It is your body to do what you want with.”

  “Unless I want to give it to the man I lo—a man I care for,” she said, hoping he didn’t notice her blunder. “Is that right?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I didn’t mean—”

  “You didn’t mean any of it.” Nadiah stood abruptly, suddenly furious. “I guess I should go. You and Sylvan have already decided between the two of you what’s best for me so there’s nothing for me to do here.”

  “Nadiah…sweetheart,” he begged but she shook off his restraining hand and marched back to the end of the ship. Locking herself in her tiny, closet-sized bedroom she threw herself on the narrow bed and put her arms over her head.

  Her body was still throbbing with desire but now her head was throbbing too—with a whole different kind of ache. As much as she tried to push them back, she could feel hot tears coming to her eyes. Lies, everything Rast had been telling her was lies. For a minute there I thought he really cared for me. Maybe even loved me. But if he really wanted me, if he really cared, he wouldn’t let anything stand between us, she thought miserably. She forgot she didn’t want to be bonded to anyone but a Kindred, forgot that she’d hated Rast when she first met him.

  All she could remember now was his soft, low voice as he described all the things he wanted to do to her…and the look on his face when he’d explained that no matter how much he wanted her, he was never going to do them.

  Chapter Eleven

  It took almost three solar days to sort through the shifting debris jettisoned from the Fathership but at last Merrick found what he was looking for. The pod was a sleek, elegant cylinder not much bigger than a coffin and like all Scourge equipment, it was dead black with glowing green etching on the sides. He pulled it inside with his energy net, barely fitting it in the cramped confines of the airlock.

  Once the ship’s hull was sealed again, he opened the inner door and dragged the pod inside, careful not to touch the poisonous runes that ran along its black sides. They were made of the metal which filled the core of the Sco
urge home world—he knew of few things more deadly.

  Taking his time, he popped the seals along the side of the long black pod and was rewarded with a faint hiss. So at least the inner contents, whatever they were, hadn’t been compromised. That was good. If it was some kind of equipment he could probably sell it or maybe even modify it to fit his star-duster. The Scourge had been evil bastards but their gear was always top notch. Also—

  But his train of thought was abruptly cut off when he swung open the pod’s lid and saw what was inside.

  A smaller, semi-transparent cylinder was nestled inside the life pod like an egg within an egg. This one was made of a pure, milky-white crystal and it hummed very faintly, a soft musical sound that even Merrick’s sharp ears could barely detect. But it wasn’t the cylinder itself—which he recognized as a rare and expensive stasis chamber—that held his attention. It was what lay inside it.