15 Targeted (19 page)

“All right,” she said at last, taking a deep breath. “Here goes.”

Grasping the stretchy lace neck of her nighty, she pulled it out and peeled it down, bringing it just under her extremely full breasts. As she did she brushed one of her nipples with her hand and gave a sharp little cry of pain. Damn, that
hurt!
And she had barely touched herself!

“Are you all right?” Tragar was looking at her with concern and Emily was surprised to see he was looking at her face rather than her naked breasts.

“Yeah, I just—I had that sharp pain again when I barely touched myself. I just don’t know what’s going…” Her words trailed off as she looked down at her chest again, examining herself more closely. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “What the hell? My boobs are
huge.
And the nipples are all weird and
puffy.”

It was true. Along with her breasts, her areolas seemed to have grown as well. They had been the size of quarters before—now they were bigger than silver dollars. Also, they were a much darker pink than usual and strangely puffed up—almost swollen. Her nipples were tight, erect points that poked out like exclamation points from the tips of her breasts, as though to emphasize how strangely obscene the whole situation was.

“So this is not your normal appearance?” Tragar asked, breaking her horrified contemplation of her new breasts.

“No…no of
course
not!” Emily looked up at him. “I mean just
look
at me! This isn’t normal for anyone who isn’t shooting an X-rated film about giant breasts!”

“They are larger but not out of proportion for your body,” he offered.

Emily scowled. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re failing miserably. This is just so
weird.
I mean, how could this happen all of a sudden?”

He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling. “It’s part of
Scintil.
I just hope you are in the early stages yet.”

“Well can’t you tell by looking?” she asked.

The big Kindred frowned, looking uncomfortable again.

“Not exactly, no. As I said, there is a…test to be preformed.”

“I thought looking at them
was
the test. What kind of test are we actually talking about?” Emily looked at him warily.

“We must determine if your nectar is flowing or not.” He sighed and ran a hand through his long, black hair. “Your nipples must be pinched to see if they are producing or not.”

“My
what
is flowing? And producing
what?”
Emily shook her head. This was just getting worse and worse. An unknown biological process she barely knew anything about was taking her over, changing her body completely in strange and frightening ways and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.

It was like getting her period again back when she was a kid but this time to the tenth power. To say she felt like her body was betraying her was an understatement. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.

Tragar sighed. “During
Scintil
the
Khalla’s
breasts fill with sweet nectar. In the early stages it remains within her breasts. In the later stages it begins to flow which signals that she will soon be moving into the third stage or
Vlammen.”

“So…you want me to squeeze my nipples and see if anything comes out?” Emily demanded.

He nodded. “Essentially.”

“Well…” She shook her head. “God, this just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I keep thinking it’s all a nightmare and pretty soon I’m going to wake up.”

“This is no dream.” Tragar’s deep voice was sharp. “You cannot afford to let yourself believe that, Emily. What is happening to you is very real and potentially very deadly. I’m sorry to ask you to make this test but it’s important to know where we stand…to try and see how much time we have left.”

“Time before what?” she whispered, almost afraid to ask.

“The final stage when…” Tragar shook his head. “Never mind. Just, please…make the test.”

“Fine.” Cupping one of her new, larger breasts in her hands, Emily took her right nipple between her thumb and forefinger but before she even started to squeeze a horrible jolt of pain speared through her. “Ouch!” she gasped, pulling her hand away as though she’d been stung. “What the hell? I’m so
sensitive.
I barely touched myself but it feels like I just poked myself with a red-hot needle!”

Tragar didn’t look surprised. “It is part of
Scintil—
the
Khalla
is unable to touch the private areas of her own body. She must rely on her chosen mate to help her instead.”

“What?” Emily demanded, incensed. “You
knew
it was going to hurt when I touched myself but you told me to do it
anyway?”

“I had to let you find out for yourself.” He looked at her blandly. “How would it have sounded if I told you right away that you needed a male’s touch and not your own? Would you have believed me?”

Emily had to acknowledge that he had a point. But still, that had
hurt.

“Well all right,” she muttered. “But what am I supposed to do? I don’t have a, uh, chosen mate.”

“No, but you do have a male of your own species to help.” He looked at her soberly. “I believe that my touch with not be painful to you—your body should recognize me and respond to me as though I was your chosen mate—though I clearly am not.”

“So…
you
want to perform the test?” She looked apprehensively at his huge hands. As big as her breasts had suddenly become, she was certain he would still be able to palm her full globes.

“It’s not that I
want
to, although touching your lovely body will certainly be a pleasure,” he rumbled. “But that I need to—to see where we stand.”

“But…” His fingers looked very long and strong and she couldn’t help remembering how her own light touch had felt like needles and knives stabbing her tender nipple. How much more painful would it be, allowing him to pinch her in that most sensitive area?

“If you’re worried that I will take advantage, please don’t be,” he murmured. “I would never—”

“It’s not that,” Emily interrupted him. “It’s that…well…how much is this going to hurt? I didn’t mind the pain when you…when you strapped me with your belt because that was the only way to get rid of the
other
. But this…my nipples are suddenly so
sore.
And letting you
squeeze
them…”

“I don’t believe it will be painful to you at all,” he said. “But if you like, I can touch you first before applying any pressure.”

“But that’s all I did was just
touch
myself. And I…” Emily shook her head. She hated to be a coward but the pain had been really sharp and awful. “I just…don’t know.”

“Emily, look at me.” Tragar lifted her chin, raising her face so that he could look into her eyes. She was surprised to see the gentleness in his golden gaze. “I won’t hurt you,” he rumbled. “Please trust me.”

“I…” For some reason she felt strangely breathless. “All right,” she said at last. “I…I trust you. You can try.”

“Thank you.” He held her gaze a moment longer before releasing her chin and stroking his knuckles gently over her hot cheek. “I’ll go slowly,” he promised. “I’ll barely touch you at first, I swear it.”

“All right,” she whispered.

He nodded again and reached forward slowly to cup her right breast in his large left hand. They were facing each other and she couldn’t help stiffening at first. But her full globe settled naturally into his big palm and for right now, all she felt was the warmth of his skin against hers.

Just wait though,
whispered a little voice in her head.
He hasn’t even tried to touch your nipple yet. Just wait until he—

“Ohhh…” The soft sound fell out of her as he lifted his thumb and traced very, very lightly around the very outer edge of her newly puffy areola.

“Are you all right?” He looked up, catching her eyes as he continued to move the pad of his thumb gently around the edge of her swollen pink peak.

“Yes, it…it doesn’t hurt,” Emily admitted. Actually, she was having a different kind of sensation from his light touch—one she didn’t want to admit even to herself. “You…you can try a little more, I guess,” she whispered, mesmerized by the sight of her breast being cupped in his large hand.

“Like this?” His thumb moved inward, tracing another circle—this one right around the tight bud of her nipple.

“Y-yes.” Emily bit her lip at the way he was touching her—almost but not quite caressing the nipple itself. His gentle stroking had started a strange, new pulling sensation low in her abdomen—and a deep ache between her thighs.

“May I touch your peak?” he murmured. “Do you feel ready to let me try?”

“Yes, I…yes, do it.” Emily nodded and watched as his thumb stopped circling and skimmed lightly over the tight pink bud of her nipple. “Oh!” she gasped as a jolt of pleasure went through her.

He pulled back his thumb at once.

“Did it hurt?”

“No, I…” How could she tell him his touch had given her the exact opposite of hurt? That it gave her extreme pleasure instead? It was too embarrassing. “I’m fine,” she said instead, trying to make her voice sound normal instead of breathy and out of control. “I…you can go on now, I guess. I mean, you can squeeze as long as you’re really,
really
careful.”

“I will but…” He cleared his throat. “If you’ll forgive me, the test is more accurate if performed with both peaks at once.”

“Oh, you want to…to do both?” Emily bit her lip. But he was already palming one of her breasts and tracing her nipple lightly with his thumb. She supposed it couldn’t hurt to let him touch both at once. “All right,” she said at last. “Just…take it slow, all right?”

“Of course.” He brought up his other hand and slipped it under the heavy globe of her left breast. “Beautiful,” he murmured hoarsely, under his breath.

Emily had an idea he was talking more to himself than to her but she still couldn’t help blushing. God, was she really doing this? Sitting here with a strange alien male she hadn’t even known a day ago and letting him stroke and caress her bare breasts?
Not only that—an alien male who was sent to kill you,
pointed out a little voice in her brain. But that seemed beside the point now. Unless he was intending to kill her with pleasure which seemed like a distinct possibility.

“
Oh.”
She couldn’t help the small moan that escaped her as he circled both nipples at once, stroking her sensitive points with his thumbs and watching for her reaction. He seemed to understand that her exclamation wasn’t one of pain because he didn’t withdraw but only looked up to catch her gaze.

“I’m going to squeeze you now, Emily” he murmured. “Very gently at first but then harder if you can take it. We need to be sure if your nectar is flowing yet or if it’s just coming in.”

“All…all right,” she whispered breathlessly, wishing the uncomfortable pleasure between her legs would go away. Instead it only grew as he took her tight nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. She pressed her thighs together, trying to ignore the heat and wetness gathering there and the way her pussy felt so hot and swollen as he began to squeeze.