Captured (18 page)

“Stretch your arms above your head, Mari, so I can watch the dragon move.”

Mari did as she was told.
 
She felt a long finger slip inside her, then two.
 
She heard herself whimper.

“You are wet for me, human, so wet, and I have barely touched you.”

“Touch me more then…”

Ekkatt growled and pulled her up onto her hands and knees.
 
He lay on his back, slid between her legs, and brought her to his mouth.
 
His tongue lapped at her; his teeth nipped.
 
Mari cried out at the pleasure. It was almost too much.
 
She tried to move away, but Ekkatt kept a firm grip on her hips and held her in place.
 
He licked wherever he wished.
 
His tongue slid inside her as she came, and Mari heard him growl. She felt the fierce vibrations from his throat as his tongue lapped at her.

Ekkatt pushed her back up onto her hands and knees, moving behind her.
 
Both desire and fear pooled in Mari’s stomach.
 
 
Ekkatt was big. He was so big that she didn’t know if she could take him.
 

“In my world,” his voice sounded low, deep, “the first mating is always like this.
 
With the man behind.
 
I want you this way, Mari.
 
I will take care not to hurt you, but I want you this way.
 
I have wanted to fuck you like this from the moment I saw you in the spring.”

Mari sobbed at his words.
 
She wanted him this way just as much as he wanted her, but he was so thick, so long, and so very hard.
 
He pressed against her as she gasped at the sensation and the pressure.
 
“I will take care, little human,” Ekkatt repeated.
 
He trailed kisses from the back of her neck down to her bottom.
 
“Be at ease, I will not hurt you.”

* * * *

Ekkatt gazed at the rounded bottom he held in his hands.
 
His eyes wandered along the curve of her lower back, and he watched the motion of the dragon tattoo as the muscles beneath Mari’s skin rippled.
 
He could see the glistening pinkness between her legs and the opening to her body.
 
Just the sight aroused him so that he feared he would reach his peak before he had entered her completely.
 
He forced himself to keep his movements slow and careful.
 
She was so small and so tight, and in this position he would be buried very deep within her.

“Mari…I…”

“Yes, Ekkatt.
 
Yes.”

He pushed the head of his uus inside, and she whimpered.
 
Her heat surrounded him, her body gripped him, and her noises made him harder than he’d imagined a man could be.
 
Although he felt her flinch he drove himself deeper. He pulled back and thrust again but took care to keep his movements measured and controlled.
 
He began to murmur soft words of love in his own language. He soothed her and calmed her. At his words, Mari’s muscles relaxed, and she was able to take more of him.
 
He withdrew from her again, nearly all the way, then he pressed himself home and plunged deep within her.
 
Mari jerked beneath his hands, but she didn’t pull away.
 
He heard her exhale and he could feel the mouth of her womb against the head of his uus. The realization struck him that he had already given her what her god had taken from her, another child.
His child.
 
The revelation of their fertility and the knowledge that he would have descendants filled him with joy.

“Mari,” he growled her name while he told her in his own tongue how much she meant to him. He thrust again and again. He was nearly mindless with need.
 
He heard the pleading in her voice, and he feared he was hurting her greatly.
 

“Shall I stop?” he managed to ask between gritted teeth.

“Oh.
 
God.
 
No,” Mari answered.
 
“If you stop, I’ll kill you.”
 

“Fuck…” Ekkatt mumbled, “Fuck.”
 
His canines extended, long and sharp, as he lowered his head to her shoulder. He thrust, hard.
 
He bit down and tasted Mari’s blood and heard her scream as she peaked with him, tight as a fist, milking his seed from him.

Ekkatt’s entire body shook. He felt the same tremors course through Mari’s slender form.
 
He licked the wound he’d made on her shoulder as she murmured something unintelligible.
 
He waited for a few moments to allow his uus to decrease in size before he withdrew from Mari’s body.
 
He rolled onto his side pulling her with him.
 
She sighed and pressed her back against his chest, resting her head on his arm.
 
Ekkatt brushed her hair away from the bite marks on her neck. He licked her again and cleaned the wound.
 
He would heal her in a moment.
 
For now, he was content to lie down with her, holding her safe, knowing that they were a part of each other in the manner of his people.
 
“You are in one piece?” he asked.

Mari chuckled.
 
“Oh yes, one very satisfied piece.
 
I’m not quite sure I can do that often. It’s a bit intense, but it was worth it, Ekkatt, most definitely worth it.”
 
She snuggled deeper into his chest.

“We are mated,” said Ekkatt.
 
“We are mated for life, you and I.
 
This is agreeable to you?
 
To be mated to a man of my race?”

Mari turned in his arms to kiss him with her lips soft and sweet.
 
“The most agreeable thing in both our worlds,” she replied.

“Then you must come with me.
 
I cannot leave you here alone any longer.”

“Where will we go?”

“To my father.
 
He may be able to help us.
 
He is a wise man and may be able to find a way for us.
 
Now it is most important that we survive.”

Mari leaned up on an elbow and lifted her eyebrows.
 
“Now it’s more important that we survive?
 
I’ve been sort of thinking all along that it’s pretty important we survive.”
 

Ekkatt laid a hand on her belly.
 
“You carry my child,” he said simply.
 

“Huh?”

“We have made a child, Mari.
 
I gave up hope long ago of having any descendants.
 
You carry my child,” he repeated.

“How is this possible?
 
We’re from two different worlds.”

“Listen carefully, little human, I will tell you what I know.”

Mari turned to him, giving him her complete attention.
 

“Twenty years ago, two hundred human women were brought here.
 
I know this because I was sent to hunt for them.
 
It was my first mission.
 
Our scientists had learned that we, the Attun, and your race are genetically compatible, that we can produce viable, healthy offspring.”
 
He watched Mari’s mouth open, but no words came out.
 

“They were mated with men chosen for their…” he searched for the right word, “their willingness and good health.
 
The experiment lasted two years.
 
It was hoped that your women would provide a solution for the loss of ours.
 
The results of the pairings were promising, but then the religious authorities began to stir up the population and turned men and women against the scientists. The experiment was officially declared a failure and ended.
 
Sexual intercourse with humans was made a capital crime. The women, their offspring, and their Attun mates vanished.”
 

“What happened to them?
 
Were they killed?”

“I think not.
 
Over the years, there have been rumors that they were relocated.
 
No one knows where.
 
I think they are still alive.
 
I was not here when this happened.
 
I was off world, but my father piloted for the government.
 
He may have heard something.
 
He may have information that could help us.”

“What if he turns us in to the authorities?”

“He is my father, Mari, he will not do that.
 
He is what you humans call open-minded.
 
He has suffered enough loss that I do not believe he would ask the same of me.”

“When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow.
 
Today I must hide Pana’s craft.”

“Do you still intend to bury his remains?”

“No.”

After a moment, Mari asked, “Where will you hide his ship?”

“I will sink it into the lake, the mineral lake we flew over on our path here.”
 
Ekkatt watched a look of pure panic come over her face.
 
He took her hand and lifted it to his lips.
 
“It is not the same.
 
I have no intention of dying in the water.
 
The ship is built to float.
 
I will merely set it down on the surface of the lake and blow the hatches.
 
I can escape through the top.”

“But you’ll have to swim, and the water must be so cold.
 
I saw ice flows in it.”

Ekkatt snorted.
 
“The cold is nothing to me.”

“If someone flies over the lake, will they be able to see the outline of the ship?
 
Think for a minute.
 
It’s important.”

“I have thought.
 
The water is a dark blue color from the minerals.
 
It is very deep, by your measurements, over two thousand feet.”
 

Mari sucked in a breath and blew it out. “How do you know?” she asked.

Ekkatt shrugged.
 
“I know the lakes of my wilderness.”

“No,” she looked at him, her face stark, “How do you know?”
 
Mari pressed her hand over his, still on her abdomen.

“Come little human, sit here.”
 
Ekkatt leaned up against the headboard, pulling her onto his lap.
 
“I felt the heartbeat.”

“You felt the heartbeat?
 
How?”

“Mari, what part of my body touched yours intimately?” he teased.

“Through your cock?
 
You could feel a little tiny heartbeat through the tip of your cock?
 
You’re kidding, right?”
 
Mari tossed her head back and looked at him with amusement on her face.

“Yes.
 
Through my
cock
, and your blood tastes different to me.
 
Richer.
 
I do not understand this
kidding
.”

Mari laughed.
 
“It means to joke. I’m wondering if you’re joking.”
 
Ekkatt stared, unblinking, into her eyes.
 
“Oh, you’re not joking. Ekkatt, you’re serious?”

“Yes, Mari.
 
I am serious.”
 
When he felt her breathing quicken, he wrapped his arms around her.
 
“You are sick?”

“No, I. No.”
 
She broke free of his embrace and ran from the bedroom.
 
Ekkatt jumped up and followed her.
 
He found her standing in front of the cabin.

“Mari?”