Passionate Desire (15 page)

“True.” He leaned down and captured her lips with his. “But you also have this uncanny knack of not being where I expect you to be.”

“I’m supposed to be unpredictable.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Got to keep you on your toes.”

“You do that every moment you are awake.”

“I’ve been doing some reading and found a few references to an old ancient compound.”

“Yeah. There’s an old myth. Supposedly right under our feet but no one has ever been able to find it.” He pressed his lips to hers again. “We’ve even done a scan to see what was under our main compound but nothing has ever shown up.”

“So is it okay if I look around for it too?”

“Not without me.”

“Storm.”

“With you pregnant? I don’t think so.” He pulled her into a sitting position, then sat beside her. “By the way, your brother wishes to run another scan.”

“But he ran one when we arrived.”

“I know, but he’s having trouble with his equipment so wants another set of readings to compare with.”

She sighed. “Fine. When?”

“Now would be great.”

She sighed again. “I really don’t like it when you two get along.” She offered him her hand. “Let’s go.”

He led her to the small room he had left Kuarto in.

“This isn’t a medical lab.”

“No,” said her brother, “but I don’t need the lab.” He pointed to a chair. “You, young lady, have a few habits that mess with my scanning.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You seem to have the ability to shield yourself from the scanners.” He held up his palm sized machine. “I ran this over you today and it showed nothing but a healthy person.”

“What is wrong with that?”

“It hid your pregnancy from me. This might not make any sense but it showed you pregnant yet didn’t show for how long, when you were due or the number of babies. It was like everything went into some sort of stasis.”

She gave him a confused look.

“I think your body is protecting itself. Habit to keep you safe. But I have gotten the proper readings before so I’m thinking they only register when you feel happy and safe.”

“Which is why you wish to run the tests again?”

“Sorry.” He gave her his best smile.

“You’re worse than Storm.” She adjusted herself in the seat. “Fine. I’ll think happy thoughts of throttling the two of you and you run your tests.”

“That isn’t fair,” complained Storm. “It wasn’t me causing all the trouble. Why would you want to cause me bodily harm?”

“You two didn’t get along until we landed on this planet now all of the sudden you’re a united front against me. I have the right to fantasize what I wish to do to the two men who will now try to control my life completely. One of you is bad enough, but two?”

“Done.” He sat his scanner near the terminal and watched as the readings came up on the screen. “Much better.” He showed her the screen where it displayed all the data he had been missing before. “You mentioned that the Vespian pregnancy cycle was eighteen months, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You do realize it’s based off their eighteen hour day. If you compare it to the Earth time of forty weeks with a twenty-four hour cycle you’re really only talking an extra thirty five days.”

“It still sounds like a long time.”

“It will fly by.”

Heather sure hoped so.

****

That evening, Storm found himself staring at his mate and her brother working on another project. Ever since the man came into their lives, he seemed to be monopolizing her time and he didn’t care for it. His sister had joined them after they had eaten.

“Mother sends her regards.”

“Had to explain to the council what happened, huh?”

“Yes.” She looked at Heather and Kuarto. “They are expecting you to show your findings on what happened to the ship soon.”

“I know. I have already sent my preliminary findings to them.”

“What did you find?”

“Your ship was shot at. Right now, I’m going to assume it was Al. The ship showed as Vespian and he felt threatened.”

“How could he detect it? I had my shields on.”

“Don’t know, but he seems to have access to more advanced technology than ours so we have to assume the ship wasn’t shielded from him.” Storm kept his eyes on Heather. “I’m not real sure how my ship was able to land without any trouble. He should have shot at it as well.”

“Perhaps your mate was able to protect you from being detected. Kuarto said she has a very powerful mind. Instinct could have kept you safe.”

“Kuarto been talking to you about my mate?”

“No. He said it to you in my presence a couple of times.” She sighed and changed the subject. “What are they doing?”

Heather and Kuarto sat on the floor cross-legged, facing each other. Eyes closed and hands up and out. It looked like some sort of weird pantomime.

“They are trying to build some wall between them so he won’t be joining us anymore.”

“I’m sure everyone will be happy when that is done then.”

“Yes.” He looked at his sister. “I haven’t asked but I want to know what happened between you two.”

“I told you.”

“That he saved your life by protecting you with that mail-order bride scenario. I got that.” He touched her arm “But my mate seems to think there is more there.”

“What has she said?”

“Nothing.” He tapped the side of his head. “It’s a feeling I get from her.”

“It shouldn’t matter what I do and who I do it with.”

“Normally, I agree but you are a special case like my mate. You have a predestined position here that I have been told you are fighting. Mother is concerned as well.”

“No one needs to worry about whether or not I will fulfill the job I’m destined to do.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke. “If I remember correctly, no one thought you’d be able to fulfill your position until Heather came into your life.”

“True, but having a mate doesn’t affect my position, it does with yours.”

“Can we not talk about this right now?”

He let the silence hang between them. She said she would do what was expected of her but he wasn’t sure if she was the right choice now.

Chapter 8

“Why do you have that damn chair in your mind?” Kuarto pointed to the chair Storm had created for them.

She just grinned at her brother.

“I don’t want to know, do I?”

“Not really. So, how do you think we should do this?” She looked around at the openness of her mind. Other than the chair the area was empty. “I don’t see a place where you would be able to access my mind.”

“Then the first thing we need to do is figure out where I join the two of you.” He backed out of her mind and then tried to access it again. Using his mind he reached out to her. “You got to let me in again.”

Heather’s mind heard him and her consciousness marked the spot. “So, this is where you come in at.”

“Not much to look at is it?” He stood beside her in her mind.

“No. What is next?”

“Close it in.”

“With what?” She looked at him.

“Personally, I think you need to block most of your thoughts from spilling out, but still allow me to contact you in case of an emergency. We also need to make sure whatever you use to block me out will not block your mate. Don’t think he’d forgive me if I took that away from him.”

“Don’t think I would forgive you either.”

Together they worked on building the wall and door so he could have peace in mind. Once they were done, Kuarto was ready to get to the next thing.

“That is just so boring.” Heather looked at it, trying to figure out what she wanted before it started to look more like a grotto with vines covering it. “Much better.”

“You’re learning how to do this pretty quick.” He looked around. “Now, where is the sentry?”

“I don’t know. Storm is the one who sees it, not me.”

“Then we need him.”

She nodded and lost her focus on him for a moment. He found it interesting how everything rippled around him while she brought Storm into the picture. He watched them interact in her mind and they behaved the same way here as they did in the real world. They were always within touching distance of each other. In fact, here he could see a give and take of their auras with each other.

“Heather said she can’t see the sentinel, but you can. Show me so we can take care of it.”

Storm walked him right to it. He was surprised he didn’t see it before but it was possible that because Heather couldn’t see it he couldn’t either. He worked with Heather to build a thick shield around it. Nothing to make it feel threatened or to cause it to wake up, but enough to keep it from seeing anything when it did wake up. The second one wasn’t as easy to work with. It looked like a security camera. Unless they removed it completely there was no real way to shield it from seeing what it wanted.

He had Heather created a second one then showed her how to tie it into the first one. Whatever it was after would also be picked up by the second sentry and he had her create a link with Storm’s mind so they would know when it went off.

Once they were done they backed out of Heather’s mind.

“How do you know how to do that?” she asked.

“I have worked with many races and have had to learn things you wouldn’t expect to help them. The mind is a beautiful creative thing and it’s amazing what you can do with it if you try. There is a lot more for you to learn, but we need to do a section at a time. Don’t want you to take on too much.” He stood. “Where did your sister go?”

“Probably her room. We sort of abandoned her,” said Storm.

“I can give you directions if you like,” said Heather.

“I think I’ll go rest.” He felt drained from working with her. “Working with the mind takes a lot of energy. I’m sure I’ll catch up with her later.”

“As you wish.” Heather still sat on the floor.

Storm offered her a hand up. When she stood he pulled her into his embrace and whispered. “We’re going to have to test that out now.”

Kuarto rolled his eyes and got out the door before he saw something he didn’t need to see.

****

Storm glanced at the door for a moment before turning his attention to his mate. “So do you think it will work?”

“We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

“I was hoping you would say that.” He lowered his head so he could capture her lips with his. “Having your brother around has cut into our time together.”

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of him.” She pulled back a little to look at him.

“Of course not.” He nibbled on her neck, focusing on his favorite spot. “But I am jealous of the time he has taken up. I’m used to being the one monopolizing your time not someone else.”

“And who has my undivided attention right now?” She tilted her head so he could get better access.

“My heart.” He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. Walking into their bedroom, he deposited her on the bed. “Now let’s test that block you set up.”

He pressed her back onto the mattress.

“Aren’t we a bit overdressed?” She touched the collar of his shirt.

“It might seem like that, but I have plans. Wonderful plans I think you’re going to like.” He kissed her again. “I thought I’d explore you some more.”

“Explore, don’t you have my body memorized by now?”

He laughed. “I do. But like a fine meal you have many layers. Lately, I have been focusing on just devouring you instead of savoring some of your more interesting parts. It’s time to savor the finer aspects of you.”

He watched her eyes dilate as his words sunk in. He grinned. Today he just might get her to make a sound or two.

He nibbled on her throat once more before he worked his way to her collar bone. His attention to the soft tissue there caused goose bumps to rise on her skin. The simple dress was easy to open, exposing her breasts to his gaze. He wanted to focus on one thing at a time, so didn’t open her gown any further.

He felt her hands on his shirt, opening it up so he could slide his arms out and she threw the garment across the room. Her hands traveled the planes and valleys of his muscles on his chest, his back. He reveled in the feel of her hands gliding along his skin.

His mouth traveled over her collarbone, down the delicate flesh to capture one of her tips with his lips. The heat from his breath had her pebbling up. She arched her back, begging for more under his ministrations. He moved from one breast to the other, giving the second the same attention as the first.

Her mind reached for his, bringing him into the feelings racing through her body. The heat of his mouth had her blood boiling, making her want more. Her excitement was breathtaking and he wanted to increase it as much as he could. He reached for her skirt and pulled it up until he hit soft skin. Then he teased and caressed his way up her thigh until he found her moist heat.

She was ready for him and he hadn’t even started his explorations.

Heather hadn’t been idle while he made her body sing for him. She had opened the seals to his pants and had wrapped her hand around his hard member, running her fingers up and down the length of him.

His fingers found a sensitive spot within her folds and got a sharp inhale of breath and the moan he had been waiting for. Then he heard the six little words he wanted to hear from her.

“Storm, please, I can’t wait anymore.”

He opened her gown and pulled it from under her. Just as quickly, he pulled his pants off and climbed back on the bed. “I love it when you beg, but you know I haven’t explored all the places I wanted to.”

“Next time.” She got up to face him. “Not now.”

He hesitated to see what she would do. Heather crawled across the bed toward him, hunting her prey. He grinned as she came after him. Being the dominator most of the time, he looked forward to those moments when she became the aggressor.

****

Heather’s body hummed with desire. Each time he touched her it got stronger. She teased him one time that she would get to a point where all he would have to do is look at her and she would explode, and there were times when she almost did.