Dusk (9 page)

She licked her lips. “I’m scared.”

His heart nearly cracked in two. “I know,” he said, gently
brushing a curl away from her temple. “But I can keep you safe. I promise.”

“How?”

He kissed her. He had to. “Do you trust me?” His mind reached out
to hers.

She nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“I will not let you die, Lucinda.” She trembled as he kissed her
again, licking inside her mouth. He needed to be closer.

“I feel strange,” she whispered. “Like I’m on the verge of a
migraine, but instead of pain, it feels good.”

Solomon shivered. He knew exactly what she meant because he was
feeling it with her. “I know. I feel it too,” he said, swallowing hard.

She kissed him then, and he moaned as she delicately explored his
mouth. “Let me in,” he murmured.

“You healed me,” she said, breathing hard. “I felt you inside my
body. Your energy—”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Is that what this is?”

He didn’t know how to answer that. Instead, he kissed her again,
passionately, barely able to think. Lucy cried out and suddenly, her inner
barriers faded and his mind surged forward. She grabbed him as he groaned. “Fuck!”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” she muttered, shaking so hard he
could barely keep her upright. He lifted her against his body again, inhaling
near her neck. She smelled sweet. Her mind sizzled through his and he abruptly realized
there was no going back. When she reached down and undid his pants, he knew for
certain that it was already too late.

“Jesus,” she said, gripping his cock in her fist. “You’re huge.”

“Lucy, there is no going back from this,” he managed to say even
as he undid her shirt. Her skin intoxicated him. Her mind buzzed against his
like electricity. Her generous breasts spilled into his hands.

“I’m tired of being frightened,” she replied, staring up at him.
Her brown eyes gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight, almost as if sparks were
coming out from her mind to the surface. “If this will help me not have
nightmares anymore…” She trailed off and chewed on her bottom lip. “I trust
you.”

So beautiful…
he thought fuzzily.

He shuddered and pulled her blouse off, tossing it to the ground.
His empathy and healing energy fluctuated from nearly nothing to full-throttle
and then back down again as he palmed her perfect breasts. For the first time
in his long life, he had no control, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
When Lucy shoved at his shirt, he backed up and tore it off. Her hands
immediately went to his chest, smoothing up over the muscles. He threw his head
back as she struggled to push his pants over his hips. When they dropped to the
ground, he toed off his shoes, then went to his knees in front of her.

“Solomon, what are you doing?” she asked, scrabbling at the ship
behind her to keep her balance.

He pulled down her pants and stared up her body.
Gorgeous.
Her eyes glimmered. He wanted to touch all of her with as much of himself as he
could. “Loving you,” he replied, leaning in. He nosed up the smooth skin of her
thighs and kissed her mound. She smelled of honeysuckle and woman. Without
warning, his empathy kicked in again and her arousal slammed into him like a
freight train. He kissed her harder, finding her clit with his lips.

Lucy gasped and nearly fell, but he held her steady. “Solomon!”

“Trust me,” he replied again, opening his mind to her completely.
Her fear and heat rushed through him as he nibbled at her sensitive bud, then
slid his fingers down to her slit. He thumbed inside, rubbing her wetness
around. Her pleasure rocketed through him. His cock swelled and he palmed
himself, needing something, anything, to keep him from spilling into the dirt.

“Solomon, I’m so close. God, how is that even possible?” she asked,
pulling on his hair. “Don’t stop.”

Solomon smiled and licked faster. She yanked on him painfully. “Up,
please,” she begged, nearly crying.

She was right on the edge. Solomon let her pull him up, trembling
as his body slid along hers.
She’s perfect,
he thought, dazed as his
energy strengthened even more, like waves coming into shore. He stood, and she
angled her hips at the last moment, twining one leg up around his torso.
Instinctively, he grabbed her ass, lifting her high against the starship. When
his cock slid into her heat he froze. The soft brown of her eyes was littered
with silver stars.

****

Lucy keened as Solomon’s mind opened to her and heat sparked
through her bones. His cock fit her body as if he’d been made for her. He
shuddered, head falling to her shoulder as his hips jerked.

Oh God, what’s happening?
she wondered frantically as pleasure slid through her in
ever-increasing waves. Solomon’s memories rushed through her: his childhood,
his parents’ deaths, his first wife’s agonizing loss. She cried for him,
because he still hadn’t quite let go of Constance and she understood that pain.
She relived his first battle with the Spiders even as her body climaxed in a
great, hot rush.

Solomon groaned, hips moving faster. His arousal seared her from
the inside out. It sparked her own and together they climaxed again as energy
sizzled through them. The starship at her back warmed as he kept thrusting.
Impossibly, she realized that he was still hard. They weren’t done yet.

“Solomon, what’s happening to us?” she asked, hands in his hair. A
strand snagged in the ring he’d given her, but he didn’t seem to notice. His
mind felt like the sun against her thoughts.

He lifted his face. The silver specks in his eyes glowed like bits
of starlight, so bright she had to look away. It didn’t help. She could feel
him inside her mind. She knew everything about him, and she suspected he knew
everything about her, too.

“We are pairing,” he said, as if he didn’t quite believe it
himself.

She stared at him as his cock caressed her pussy. He slid almost
all the way out, then plunged inside again, rubbing her clit on the way in. “You
mean like Eva and Greyson?” she managed to ask.

He kissed her and answered her with his emotions.
Yes,
seeped from his mind to hers and she shivered with the power of it.

How?
she asked, but when he didn’t answer, she realized she hadn’t spoken aloud. It
didn’t matter, anyway. Another orgasm trembled through her, softer and less violent,
but still overwhelming. Solomon shook with her, cock pulsing in her body. When
he went to his knees, she fell with him to the ground. He broke the fall,
cradling her in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but Lucy wasn’t sure what he meant. She didn’t
care. Something huge tickled the edges of her mind and she looked up, confused.

Nothing but blue skies,
she thought, holding Solomon as tightly as she could. It didn’t
help. His emotions moved from satiation to dismay, and she could feel his brain
begin to weigh the consequences of what they’d done. His skin burned where it
touched hers and she closed her eyes.

“Too late,” she murmured, tensing. Something loomed over them.
Something terrible. “Do you feel that?” She pushed at him.

He frowned, but let her go. His half-hard erection slid from her
body and she shivered as her pussy tingled. She didn’t want to let go of him.
She didn’t want to stay.
I’m so confused,
she thought, looking up again.
A few puffy clouds skidded across the treetops, but the sense of doom
increased.

“It’s huge. Something’s wrong,” she muttered, struggling to her
feet. Solomon helped her up.

“It is impossible,” Solomon said, looking around the clearing. His
eyes flashed as he stared into the woods.

“I need to go.” Lucy grabbed her pants and dragged them on. Leaves
were stuck to the zipper and she brushed them away. She could feel Solomon’s
worry, and his love, and something more at the back of her head, but she couldn’t
deal with that now.
It’s too soon,
she thought, scrubbing at her face. She
put on her shirt and buttoned it all the way to the top as if what they’d done
could be hidden with cloth.

“Don’t go,” Solomon said, touching her arm. His energy flared
against her skin.

She jerked away. “Something’s out there,” she said, voice rising. “Can’t
you feel it?” It felt like they were sitting beneath a giant moon about to
collapse into the planet. And the energy surging through her didn’t help. She
could feel things she’d never sensed before: the life in the trees around them.
The small, swift sparks of birds flying through the trees. The volume on her
radio was turned up way too damn high.
No screaming,
she told herself,
taking deep, slow breaths.

He looked at her, then reached down and slid on his pants. “Spiders.
I sense Spiders. Echoes of them.” He rolled his shoulders, but the tension in
his spine didn’t dissipate. Lucy felt his unease and it doubled hers. “And the
Stronghold net is stronger. Much stronger.”

Jesus. He doesn’t have any idea what’s happening,
she realized, fear prickling her
spine. “You said they were gone. That we were safe.” She glanced around for her
purse and saw it crumpled near the edge of the ship. She snatched it up and
hugged it to her chest. Dust stained her pants, but she didn’t care. “I need to
go.” She didn’t know why, but she had to get out of this forest. Away from him.

“Lucinda—” he began to say, but she cut him off.

“No. I’m sorry,” she whispered, and then she ran into the trees.

Chapter Seven

Stunned, Solomon stared as she ran away, too overwhelmed to stop
her. How could she run away from him? He felt her fear as if it were his own
and the intensity of it scrambled his thoughts. They were paired. She was his
mate, but she didn’t quite understand what it meant. Hell, he didn’t even know
why it happened so easily. He’d tried for
decades
with Constance, and
hadn’t been able to make the connection. He had never intended to try with
Lucy, but as soon as he kissed her, his wits went flying.

None of this makes
sense
, he thought.
And she’s right about what she felt
.
Something was out there. Something big and strong and ill-intentioned. He felt
it like sandpaper rubbing against his inner wrists. Rub too long, and blood
would flow. Disaster waited, poised and menacing, just beyond the edge of his
senses. It had to be Spiders, though how they got past the Sentries’ sensors to
gather en masse he had no idea.

I can’t let her go too far. There’s no telling what will happen,
he thought, shrugging his shirt
on. He’d sworn to keep her safe. She
trusted
him to keep his word. Just
as he was about to run after her, his cellphone rang. He frowned, but dug it
out of his pocket.
Greyson. Dammit.
He tapped the display and brought it
to his ear as he plunged into the woods.

“Not a good time, brother,” he said harshly, trying to follow
Lucy. He could sense her, but it felt like the signal was too strong. He turned
one way, then another, as echoes of her location pinged his empathy. Where was
she going? He had to find her, and quickly. Energy fluctuated around him as if
he’d gotten too large a charge of electricity stuck in his nerves. It messed
with his balance.

“What did you do?” Greyson demanded.

“Do?” Solomon winced as his bare foot hit a sharp rock.

“The Stronghold net is a hundred times stronger. Jesus, Solomon. I
know you did something. It tastes of you.” Greyson bit the words out.

Solomon halted. “What are you feeling?” The echo of Lucy touched
his mind from three different directions. He had no idea what the hell was
happening.

“Energy, Solomon. Eva is on the floor. We both went down when the
first wave hit.”

Solomon winced. “I am sorry. I didn’t know any of this would
happen.”

“What. Did. You. Do?” Greyson asked.

“Lucy and I paired. Unexpectedly,” Solomon replied. “I didn’t mean
to.”

There was a long silence. Solomon strained his senses, but
everything felt like Lucy. The trees. The sky. He’d never find her like this,
with all these false echoes. Energy surged through him, almost knocking him to
his knees. He clenched his fists. There was the faintest hint of Spiders behind
her signature.

“And I think something happened to my empathy, Greyson,” he
finally said, softly. “I can’t find her.”

“The net is unstable, Solomon. I don’t know why the hell it’s
acting like a rabid dog, but you need to get to a pillar and make sense out of
it. Get yourself to my place.”

“I need to find her,” Solomon said.

“You need to fix this.”

“Ask him if he can sense the Spiders, Greyson,” Eva’s voice echoed
faintly in the background.

Solomon closed his eyes. If they could feel the danger, too… “Tell
her I can feel them.” The sense of doom had grown stronger as he stood there.

“Shit,” Greyson swore. “Get the hell over here, Solomon.”