3013: SALVATION (3013: The Series Book 5) (5 page)

“It’s because I have never wanted
another female the way I want you, and I never will. There is only one keeper
for me. When I take you the first time, it will bond us together completely.
D’Aire have longer life spans than humans, and that means your life will be
tied to mine. What we will have together will be a unique link. And if you
should ever fall, you will not go into the unknown alone. I will be with you in
both life and in death.”

Skylar’s breath caught. It was
hard for her to fathom the kind of dedication he was talking about. She knew
that he and Dom had wanted her, but Arik spoke of something far deeper and more
profound than just being with someone because of basic attraction.

She met his gaze without
blinking. “You’re really ready for that kind of commitment?”

“I am,” he vowed. “But I know you
aren’t. Not yet. A part of that is my fault. I should have told you these
things sooner.”

“It does help knowing. I know it
must seem silly to you to still have reservations, but—”

“No,” Arik said, placing his
finger over her lips to silence her. “It’s not silly. The regents were wrong to
put you in this position, but we don’t need to worry about them. We will find a
way to work this out...together.”

Skylar was relieved Arik seemed
to be taking her hesitation so well. Everything he’d told her helped her
understand him better. The truth was she did want both Arik and Dom. A part of
the reason she’d been so against being with them was the way they just sort of
assumed she would be. Sure, Arik and Dom both knew her since they all worked
together, but they had never actually talked to her about what they wanted, or
more importantly, why. She also knew that she was partly to blame. She’d been
so focused on keeping her freedom that she had ignored her desire for Dom and
Arik. But it was no longer a question of
if
she ended up with them.

It was just a matter of when.

Hearing the sincerity in Arik’s
voice and also seeing the need burning in his iridescent eyes convinced her
that it was time to take that first step toward their future together. “I may
not be ready to be claimed, but I do think it’s time we test the chemistry
between us.”

His eyes narrowed. “You have
doubts?”

Her lips curved in a small smile
as she watched his eyes widened when she wrapped her legs around his, drawing
him closer to her. “Not doubts. Let’s just call it curiosity.”

Skylar leaned forward until their
lips were almost touching. She heard him suck in his breath, and kept her eyes
on his as she closed the distance between them, brushing her lips lightly
against his. She teased them both with the gentle kiss, then gave into the urge
to take more...give more. Closing her eyes, she lifted her arms and wrapped
them around his neck, anchoring herself against his hard body as she took the
kiss deeper. Their lips parted and their tongues met, mating together in a
heated dance.

Kissing Arik was different than
kissing Dom, but it was just as pleasurable. With Dom it had been all flash and
fire, but touching Arik—being touched by him—created a slow burning ache that
made her want him just as much. Hearing his low groan trilled her, and she
tighten her legs around his waist so the thick length of his erection was
pressed against her core.

Skylar heard the sound of
material tearing and felt the rush of wind on her face. Pulling back from him,
she opened her eyes and saw that Arik’s majestic white wings had unfurled from his
back, ripping straight through the material of his shirt. She’d only seen his
wings a few times, and never got over just how beautiful they were. Without
thinking, she reached up and stroked her hand over them and felt him shudder as
she made contact.

The texture wasn’t like feathers,
each wing was velvety soft to the touch, but they were made of a durable
substance that was almost like individual scales she knew was used as armor to
protect their bodies. It was amazing how the D’Aire were able to keep their
wings hidden from view unless they were needed. She shot Arik a questioning
look, and he blew out a breath before answering.

“My wings are sensitive to the
touch when I’m aroused, even more so where they are attached to my back. Your
touch is magic, Skylar. I can’t seem to control my body very well around you.
You make my head spin.”

“Are you sure it’s not the
chocolate?” she whispered.

He gave a low chuckle. “No, I
think it’s all you. You intoxicate me.”

“I think I like that.” Gently
pulling the torn material from him, her breath sucked in harshly as she exposed
the rest of his torso. Dropping the damaged shirt to the floor, she stroked her
hands down the hard contour of his abs, loving the feel of his skin beneath her
fingertips. She knew she could look at him for hours, but forced her gaze back
up and leaned in, playfully using her tongue to stroke his lower lip, enjoying
the taste of him.

Arik couldn’t hold back any
longer and crushed his mouth against hers, delighted when she immediately
opened and accepted him. Arik’s mind was clouded at the pleasure of finally
being able to touch his woman. And she was his, he knew it without a doubt.

His hips shifted, rubbing his
hard, throbbing cock against her pussy as he wished their clothing to hell and
gone. His hands reached up to cup her breasts, his thumbs rubbing her nipples,
making them hard peaks, and his cock jerked in his pants at she let out a low
moan. He fought back the urge to strip her bare and take her right there on the
kitchen counter, but he wouldn’t force the bond on her before she was ready.
Instead, he tormented himself with the pleasure of simply kissing her while
having her in his arms, stroking his tongue against hers over and over again.

Skylar lost herself in the
passion burning between them, but a flicker of alarm filtered in as she felt
the energy building within her. Because they were touching, she could also feel
the sexual energy surging through Arik, which only heightened her own.
Breathing hard, she jerked away from him. After hearing what the regents had
said about her abilities becoming more unstable, she was worried she might accidentally
hurt Arik if she wasn’t careful.

“We have to stop.”

Arik studied her in confusion for
a moment, then she saw his eyes clear as understanding settled in. He made a
soft crooning noise as he stroked a hand over her hair and said, “Let me ease
you.”

“What? No, we have to stop, Arik.
This could be dangerous for you.”

“You need to release the energy
inside you. You won’t hurt me. Let me ease you,” he repeated. Not giving her a
chance to argue, he leaned down and kissed her again as he quickly untied her
pants.

“Arik...” Her words trailed off
in a moan as he shoved a hand down her pants and she felt him brush a finger
over her slit. “We can’t do this here. Someone might come in.”

“No one will see us,” he
promised. True to his word, his wings swept forward so they were curled around
them, creating a private cocoon that shielded them both from view. Her body
quivered as he slowly pushed a finger inside her. “Right now there is only you
and me. Don’t think about anything else. Just focus on me...on this.”

Skylar knew she should stop him,
but it felt so damn good. Fuck it, she thought. She needed this...needed him to
touch her. Spreading her legs wider, she made it easier for him to penetrate her
with his finger.

“So wet,” he murmured, humming in
pleasure. “And it’s all for me, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she breathed out, unable
to deny it. He began stroking his finger in and out of her wet pussy, and she
let out another moan as he added another finger to the first. She could feel
the energy inside her building like a small sun within her core. Her body
jerked as he flicked her clit with his thumb while he continued to stroke his
fingers inside her pussy.

“So tight. You’re so tight and
hot, Skylar,” he whispered, his voice making her body clench with need as he
drove her closer to the edge.

“Stars, Arik!” she gasped. “I’m
close. I’m so close.”

“Good. I can’t wait until the day
I can feel your body squeezing my cock just like this, but now I want to see
you come. Come for me, keeper. Give me your pleasure,” he demanded as he shoved
his fingers deep. His lips took hers again, giving her an anchor as his fingers
curled inside of her to stroke over her G-spot until she was writhing in
ecstasy so acute it bordered on pain. The next time his thumb flicked her clit,
she came.

Throwing back her head, she gasped
for air. Back arching, the orgasm hitting her so hard her entire body
stiffened. It was as if the ball of energy inside her exploded, and she was
unable to do anything but let the light consume her until all she felt was
pleasure.

Her body continued to shake and
shudder in the aftermath of her release, and she felt Arik’s fingers slowly
stroking insider her still, not to arouse, but to soothe. He pulled his hand
from her, and she opened her eyes in time to see him bring his finger to his
mouth, sucking her juices with a look of pure rapture. “You are delicious,
Skylar.”

Arik’s cock was painfully hard,
but he refused to lose control of himself when she had trusted him to ease her
with his touch. He felt a deep sense of pride from giving Skylar pleasure that
helped lessened the pain of being unable to find his own release. Leaning down,
he pressed a light kiss to her forehead, then another on her lips. He held back
his smile as he saw the dazed look on her flushed face. It was a rare thing for
Skylar to be at a loss for words, but this seemed to be one of those times.

He wasn’t in much better shape,
and noticed his hands were shaking as he retied the drawstring of her pants. He
took a few extra moments to smooth her clothes back in place before meeting her
gaze again. He wanted to lift her into his arms and carry her back to his room
where they could continue their love play, but he knew that was a bad idea.

No, he had to leave her while he
still was able.

Arik forced himself to look away
from her and glanced around the room to make sure they were still alone before
pulling his wings back. He noticed the way she shivered now that he wasn’t
wrapped around her, and slowly rubbed his hands up and down her arms to ease
the chill from her skin. When she frowned, he said, “Please don’t regret our
time together.”

“I don’t,” she promised. “But
what about you? I could—”

“No. If you touched me right now
I don’t know if I would have the control to keep my promise to you, and it’s
important to me to give you the time that you need.”

Skylar nodded and blew out a
long, slow breath. Being with Arik had overwhelmed her. She had never come so
fast or so hard in her life, and it had left her feeling lightheaded and a
little off balance. If this was a sign of what they could have between them,
then she was in for one wild ride. “I’d say thank you, but that seems sort of
trite.”

He flashed her a grin. “It was my
honor and privilege to touch you. I will always give you whatever you need, and
someday, I know you will do the same. Now, shall I see you back to your
quarters?”

“I think I’m just going to sit
here for a few minutes.”

Seeming to understand that she
needed a few minutes to get herself together, he nodded. She wondered if he
realized that she wasn’t quite sure if her legs would hold her if she tried to
stand at the moment, and figured he probably did. She nibbled on her lower lip
and nodded toward the prominent bulge tenting the front of his pants. “Maybe
you should wait a few minutes before you go back to your room.”

With barely a rustle of sound, he
brought the tips of his wings forward, effectively shielding the front of his
body from view. He winked at her and said, “One of their many uses.”

She laughed. “They do come in
handy.”

Arik looked down at the soupy
mess inside the bowl on the counter. “Since your ice cream has now melted, why
don’t you get some more from the freezer since you still need to eat
something.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I thought you
said this was the last of it?”

His grin was nothing short of
mischievous. “I said it was the last of the triple chocolate fudge brownie ice
cream, but there are other chocolate flavors available.”

Skylar tried to scowl at him, but
ended up laughing. She enjoyed this playful side of Arik. He was always so
serious around her, and hadn’t expected this lighthearted moment after what had
just happened between them. It made her appreciate it even more. She pushed him
gently on the arm. “Go to bed, you chocolate pusher, you.”

He chuckled as he leaned in to
kiss her once more. “Good night, my keeper. Dream of me, as I will dream of
you.”

She sat where she was, not moving
after he’d gone. Arik had surprised her tonight, first with what he’d told her
and then with the way his touch had affected her. She knew without a doubt she
would have had sex with him if he’d kept touching her, and was glad for his
control. So much had changed in such a short matter of time that it left her feeling
unsure of everything. Sighing, she got off the counter and made her way to the
freezer for more ice cream. Whoever said that chocolate was as good as sex was
a big fat liar...but it was a damn close second.

***

Chapter Five

“Take your seats.”

High Commander Jax Spartan stood
at the head of the conference room table the following morning for the briefing
and waited for everyone in the room to follow his command. He scowled as Serra
took a seat between Sullivan Archer and Skylar, then turned to level a glare at
the latter that simply made her groan softly.

“Serra, you’re going to earn me
an ass kicking and I haven’t even had any coffee yet,” Skylar whispered in protest
to her friend. Serra shot Jax a glare of her own before smiling back at Skylar.

“Jax would never do that or else
he might suffer another night of sleeping on the couch.” With a soft laugh at
Skylar's shocked expression, Serra leaned over and murmured, “I wasn’t pleased
when I found out what your meeting with Jax was about yesterday. Let’s just say
I gave him some time to rethink his position on your situation with the
regents.”

Skylar’s eyes widened comically.
“Shit, Serra.”

Her friend gripped her hand and
gave it a squeeze as she whispered, “We’ll talk more after the meeting.”

Clearing her throat nervously,
Skylar did her best to avoid meeting Jax’s gaze and found herself the recipient
of another glare from across the table. Dom looked...well, the best description
would be to say that he looked rough. She knew he wasn’t a morning person, and
clearly he wasn’t in the best of moods either.

“Did you enjoy your ice cream
last night?” he asked, his dark eyes glittering with anger.

Oh, hell...

Obviously, Dom knew about her encounter
with Arik and wasn’t taking it well. She forced herself not to wince, even
though she cringed internally. Unwilling to take any shit from him in front of
a room full of people, Skylar raised a brow. “Really, you want to talk about
this now?”

“No,” he replied with a growl. “Damn
it, I haven’t had any coffee yet.”

“Neither have I, so don’t you
start with me.”

Dom all but bared his teeth at
her as he got up and made his way to the food console. Serra’s assistant,
Officer Troy Takeshi was hunched over his portable data unit at the other end
of the table, not bothering to look up as he muttered, “Snarling at her is not
exactly the way to win your lady over.”

“Shut it, kid,” Dom snapped.
“Don’t make me hurt you.”

Troy looked up and paled slightly
at the ominous glare the other man was shooting him. “Shit...”

“Dom, leave Troy alone,” Serra
ordered with a laugh.

Dom continued muttering to
himself as he got two large mugs of coffee from the FC unit. He carried them
back to the table and set one down in front Skylar. She smiled up at him in
thanks and he squeezed her shoulder before walking back to take his seat again.

“I’m hungry. Does anyone one else
want some food?” Reva said from where she was sitting next to Troy.

“I have that covered,” Officer
Cal Ryans announced from the doorway as he pushed in a large cart laden with
platters of food. “I thought everyone could use some breakfast.”

“Cal! What are you doing up and
about? Shouldn’t you be resting?” Serra jumped up from her chair and hurried
over to the young officer, hovering like a mother hen. Cal Ryans was Jax and
Archer’s assistant, and Serra thought of him as part of their family, just like
she did her own assistant Troy. Cal had been seriously wounded when she and
Skylar had been kidnapped. Because he hadn’t had any of the drugged coffee, he
had been stabbed in the chest and left to bleed out while the others had been
passed out on the floor.

Officer Ryans beamed as Serra
fussed over him. “I’m fine, really. Medical cleared me for light duty and I
really would like to get back to work.”

“Just don’t overdo it.”

“Glad to see you up and about,
Cal,” Skylar said, making the younger man blush slightly.

Jax huffed out an impatient
breath as everyone got up to fill plates with food. Raising his voice over the
din, he growled, “This isn’t fucking social hour. Sit your asses back down.”

Archer shot him an amused glance.
“Get a grip, man.”

“What’s up with you?” Dom asked
as he sat back down at the table with a plate piled high with food. “I’m
usually the one who is pissed off at morning meetings. You’re the one who
called this briefing at the crack of dawn, so why are you so cranky?”

“I don’t think he slept well last
night. Maybe he needs a nap.”

Jax let out a feral growl and
took a step toward his best friend. Serra slapped Archer on the arm. “Stop
baiting him.”

“But it’s so damn easy...and
fun.”

“Cranky? I’m not cranky. Don’t
ever call me such a stupid word again. Is it so wrong to think that a meeting
scheduled for eight o’clock would actually start at eight? I’m—”

“Cranky,” Skylar murmured, then
wished she hadn’t spoken as Jax turned his piercing eyes on her again.

Serra laughed. “He really is
cranky.”

“Who’s cranky?” Arik asked as he
walked into the room, making everyone but Jax laugh.

“Keep it up, damn you. I’m this
close to booting all of you out the fucking air locks,” Jax threatened, holding
up his thumb and forefinger about a centimeter apart. He turned his scowl on
Arik. “Nice of you to finally show up.”

Arik studied him with a bland
expression. “Since you’re the one who asked me to get an update from Ambassador
M’Dor for the meeting, you shouldn’t have any issue with me being a few minutes
late.”

Jax muttered under his breath as Arik
turned away. When he spotted Skylar, his eyes lit up and he closed the few feet
between them to press a gentle kiss down on her forehead in greeting. “Good rising,
beautiful one.”

Skylar tried not to fidget as
everyone in the room shot her a speculative glance as Arik got himself a plate
of food before moving around the table to the empty seat next to Dom. Both men
stared at her as they ate their breakfast while she did her best to avoid
looking at both of them.

Talk about fucking awkward.

“Can we start the damn meeting
now?” Jax asked.

“Not yet.” Serra heaved out a
breath, then got up from her seat and went back over to the food cart. She
carefully chose a selection of items and took it over to an impatient Jax,
setting it down on the table in front of him. She pushed at his broad shoulders
until he was sitting in his chair, and he wrapped an arm around her waist,
pulling her close.

“What are you doing, sweetheart?”

“Eat,” she whispered in his ear. “And
stop snapping at everyone.” She kissed him lightly, then pulled away to go back
to her seat. They stared at one another in a silent battle of wills until he
finally gave in. Picking up the fork he shoveled a fork full of eggs into his
mouth. making her smile. “Now we’re ready.”

Archer stroked a hand over
Serra’s dark hair before announcing, “Since Reva is new to our team, why don’t
we start off the meeting with a brief recap of what we know so far, then we can
get into the new details that we have.”

“I would appreciate it. The only
thing I was told was that you were launching an investigation that would
benefit from having someone from Helix take part.”

“That’s true, but you might also
give us some insight, so feel free to jump in and fill in some of the background
if you can,” Jax said, to which Reva nodded.

Archer took a sip of his coffee
before he began. “About a month ago, before we claimed Serra, there was an
investigation regarding the black market sale of her stealth technology.”

Reva let out a low rumbling
growl, her eyes flashing with anger. “That is why that bitch kidnapped us,
right?”

“Yes, but before all of that
occurred, I was taken into questioning on Earth and we discovered that my
memories had been altered years ago. My mother had wanted to keep me away from
Jax and Sully. She’d taken me to Tartarus, where she had someone there drug me
with
xili
, then program me to have an extremely adverse reaction
whenever I thought about them,” Serra explained.

“That’s...” Reva paused for a
moment. “Your mother sounds like a crazy woman. Did you kill her?”

“Ah...no.”

“Not that we didn’t want to,” Jax
muttered under his breath.

Reva frowned in reaction. “In my
world, a betrayal such as that would have earned death.”

“Well, she might be wishing for
that, since she is now currently imprisoned on the Mars penal colony. For her that
would be worse than death, and she deserves every second of misery she suffers
there for the crimes she committed,” Serra said with conviction. Archer reached
over and held onto her hand. She looked over to see Jax frowning at them, but his
expression softened as she smiled at him.

“
Xili
is a nasty
substance,” Reva told everyone at the table. “Helix can be seen as a primitive
world by some humans because we don’t have cities with buildings that reach for
the sky like you do. Instead, we have chosen to preserve our jungle, keeping
most of it as it has been for millennia. We do have cities and villages, but
they usually compliment the natural surrounding where they are located. Centuries
ago, my people believed that all the plant-life on my planet should be left as
is, but as we discovered harmful effects some of them had on us, those views changed.
One of the main reasons that things began to change was because so many of us
never returned from the Hunt.”

“What is the Hunt?” Officer Cal
Ryans asked, then took a quick glance around the table to see if anyone was
annoyed by his question.

Reva wasn’t bothered at all, and
was happy to explain. “The Hunt is a special ceremony of sorts for my people
that occurs four times a year when both of our moons are full in the night sky.
For each Hunt, the Helios of the tribe that have just turned twenty are
gathered together and are sent into the jungle. Although we are sent out in a
group, each Helios is instructed to go out and survive alone for a full week to
prove ourselves. Those of us who succeed receive a thin scar over our hearts as
a badge of honor that is presented to us at a festival the night we return.”

“Wow, I’ve never heard of that
before,” Cal said. “I’ve read about, and seen vids and pictures of your planet,
but I can’t imagine surviving a full week out there.”

She smiled at the awe in his
voice. “My planet is a dangerous place, as are my people. Being able to shift
into cats helps us adapt to surviving out there on our own, but it isn’t easy.
The other inhabitants of my world are vicious creatures whose only goal is to kill
and eat whatever they find, and that’s not even mentioning that there are a few
carnivorous plants in the jungle as well.”

“I remember seeing one of those
the last time we were on Helix,” Troy said. “If our guide hadn’t warned me, I
could have been its lunch that day. It still freaks me out thinking about it.”

“I remember that,” Serra said
with a shiver. “That thing gave me nightmares for a week.”

Reva cat-like eyes glittered with
amusement. “Which is why we never allow visitors to wander off alone. You’d
never come back. So many humans are fascinated by the luminescence of our
plant-life at night, but they don’t realize that half of what they are admiring
could and would probably kill them. And that’s why our rules were finally
changed.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dom
asked.

“Too many that went out on the
Hunt never came back. It’s one thing to survive on our own skill and prove that
we could provide for our tribes, but it is another to know there are things out
in the jungle that could kill us by simply breathing it in and do nothing about
those dangers.”

“Damn, you have plants that can
do that?” Skylar asked. “Remind me to scratch Helix off my list of places to
visit.”

Reva laughed. “Things are better
now, but yes, there was a plant that could kill anyone who breathed in its
spores. It was eradicated after we discovered what it did. The
xili
was
one of those plants we didn’t know was dangerous until after we had studied the
effects a little. We found that if we were infected with the
xili
plant,
it’s almost impossible for us to fight our shift, bringing our more primal
instincts out. If that occurred during the Hunt and two Helios came across one
another, they would have attacked, unable to help themselves.”

“Used on humans,
xili
is a
mind-altering drug used to implant suggestions. When was it discovered what it
was doing to humans, the Alliance worked with the tribe leaders on Helix to
destroy as much of the plant as possible,” Jax added.

Troy’s fingers flew over the
keypad of his data unit and a picture of the
xili
plant popped up on the
large wall screen. The
xili
plant was an interesting looking specimen,
with dark-green stalk that grew into bright purple spikes.

He pointed toward the screen. “This
is the
xili
plant, and even though most of it has been eradicated, it
still grows wild in some of the more remote locations on Helix. The purple
spikes at the end glow at night and contain the substance that is used to drug
someone. It can pierce the skin, or the plant could be harvested to be used
later. The good news is that the plant dies quickly once it’s uprooted if not
carefully contained.”

“X
ili
takes away free will
and that is something the Helios would never allow. Therefore, it’s now law
that no Helios may use that drug, especially on any human,” Reva insisted. “The
penalty for such a thing is death.”

Arik sighed as he leaned back in
his chair. “We realized just how dangerous
xili
really was when neither
humans nor the Helios could detect when someone was under the influence of the
drug. Only we seemed to be able to see the shadow when a mind has been altered.”