Talson Temptations 2: Talson's Test (7 page)

She didn’t have to ask twice. Z bent to take her nipple in his mouth. The bud tightened between his lips, and he sucked harder, nipping with his teeth when he felt her need for more pressure. Then Val was there, at her back, caressing her flesh and palming her tight ass.

“Oh yes,” she moaned and let go of his hair. She wound her arms behind her, around Val’s head.

She turned her head and kissed him, and Z dropped to his knees, worshipping his
iriu
like a goddess. He pulled her folds apart, enthralled by the wet, pink flesh between her legs. So full, so sweet. He leaned close and licked her, gratified by her answering cry.

He continued to lick her, eating the delectable pussy until she came hard over his tongue. And still, he needed more.

“Into the bedroom. Now,” Val said, his voice thick, nearly unrecognizable.

Z rose on unsteady feet, overflowing with energy needing an outlet.

His brother’s eyes flashed bright, so light they looked white. Power there. And then Z felt Val drag him behind them into the room using invisible hands. Telekinesis.

There, in the bedroom, Val laid Adri on the bed. Her body was flushed, her eyes shuttered, her nipples hard and her pussy nice and wet.

“The Testing commences,” Val announced in a ragged voice.

“Thanks for consenting to be my
eda
, Val. It means a lot to me.” Val snorted, his irreverent humor welcome. “As if I had a choice.” Adri leaned back on her elbows and stared at the two of them. Through her he could see that he and Val wore identical expressions of desire, but his also possessed warmth and affection. He rounded the bed to stand next to her, while Val knelt on the bed between her legs, spreading her thighs wide.

“You please me, Adri, you truly do.” Z spoke the truth, breathing hard as he watched Val press his face to her mound, opening his mouth to breathe in her scent, her sex.

The minute Val’s lips touched her, she arched into the heat of his mouth. Z and Val both groaned, empathically sharing her desire.

“More,” Adri moaned, gripping at the bed, needing contact with something real to convince her she wasn’t dreaming. She’d never before felt such pleasure, and knowing Z watched made her that much more aroused. But he didn’t content himself to solely observe.

She glanced at him and found his gaze glued to hers as he gripped himself, his eyes silver with pleasure. Val stroked her labia before thrusting his tongue inside her, and as she gasped, Z matched her breathing. Lowering himself to his knees, he leaned forward, catching her nipple in his teeth.

“Yeah,” Val murmured. “Suck them, hard. She liked when you did that before.” He blew over her clitoris before latching on, just as Z worked her breasts. Val stroked with his tongue, inserting first one finger and then two into her slick passage, and she felt the tremors begin. He worried her tight little bud into an explosive orgasm under the watchful eyes of his brother, her
iriu
. And as she came, she felt a subtle energy blanket her.

“Now, Val.” Z groaned. Val pulled her to the edge of the bed and thrust into her, hard, filling her emptiness, finally. As he did, Z leapt onto the bed and straddled her neck, pushing his cock between her lips. She accepted both men eagerly, needing to return the energy that continued to shake her foundation.

Val’s large cock slid deliciously deep, over and over as he thrust in and out. But Z

mesmerized her. Their gazes locked as he fucked her mouth, that thick cock stretching her mouth and invading, as the power of his masculine strength sought a home in her feminine seat. Heat blazed and eased, building and falling time and time again while he took her. While his brother fucked her.

“You’re mine, Adri.” His deep voice commanded her to believe, to obey in the way only truly mated Otra could conceive. With mind, heart and soul, and lastly, with body.

He continued to thrust, his movements growing faster as her next climax rushed to overtake her.

Val’s sure strokes refused to abate. The steady drumming of his energy both welcoming and distracting. He was longer, but not as thick as Z. And he stole her breath with each push, a breath she couldn’t take with Z’s cock in her mouth.

Lightheaded, she feared she’d black out. But the psychic hold Z had on her told her otherwise.

“Oh yeah. That’s it. Fuck, I’m coming.” Val jerked and stilled inside her, his seed coating not only her womb, but her very being, making way for the Otra who would be her true mate, her
iriu
. The man who watched her as if he owned her. Only after Val had come did Z let himself go.

And she opened her mouth wider, prepared to swallow every last bit of him.

Zaret couldn’t believe the intense pleasure coursing through his blood. Like a blazing fire, it surged and spiked, pushing him closer and closer toward an inferno of lust until he was consumed by it. To his shock, a burst of what felt like love threaded through his climax.

He swore and flooded her mouth with seed. The orgasm seemed to last forever, his bliss an ongoing, living thing as he shook under hers and Val’s enduring pleasure. The massive energy flooding the room tapped everyone’s
psychei
, beginning the claiming as surely as if he’d signed a matrimonial contract.

After he finished spending, he withdrew from her mouth and moved to the side of the bed, noting her exhaustion. Val looked on the verge of falling asleep despite still being joined to Adri.

Val shook his head and pulled out, his cock shiny with her cream. “That was incredible. I’m not sure what I was supposed to feel, but I lost more than my seed.

Energy just poured out of me. It was weird, but man, what a high.” Val grinned and started laughing.

“He sounds drunk,” Adri whispered.

“So do you.” Z felt lazy and lay down beside her. He tucked her curves against him, awash in her heat that soaked into him like a warm bath.

“The first part’s done now. You’re bridged. Together. Joined. Fuck me, you two are potent.” Val stumbled from the room and left them alone together. Love for his younger brother swelled. So giving, so incredibly unselfish for Val to tie himself to Z and his mate for all time.

In the Otra culture, there was nothing as sacred as The Testing, no bond more meaningful or permanent than that between an
iriu
pair. Through Val, a psychic foundation had been laid. Now Z and Adri could firm that bond into a lifelong link that would last through this existence into the next. The Testing had come, and she’d more than passed. Had Adri not been his
iriu
, the sex would have been good but not so all-encompassing, or so his father had warned him. But this. He felt Adri in his blood and heart, in his brain. The woman dwelled at the fringes of his
psychei
now. And he had to wonder if this deep bond was due to her Selection as well.

Selection, the time in a female’s life when she chose a mate or conceived a child.

Thoughts of a child made his cock swell, and Z’s vision blurred at the beauty of their coming together. Hell, he hadn’t cried in thirty years. What the fuck was wrong with him?

He shook off the excess emotion and sought refuge in sleep. But the dreams that came were more intense than they’d ever been.

The emergency beacons flared. Several crew lay unmoving, bloodied and injured. Enemy
vessels neared, the probability of survival lowering with each second that passed.

“Dammit, Adri, it’s too much. Pull back!” he yelled but received no answer in return.

To his horror, she lay behind him. Blood fell from her nose, eyes and ears. Her entire body
was covered in flames, and behind her Val stood with a phaser in hand, his gaze silver bright and
locked on something behind Z. Then pain, a fissure of energy growing from his chest. He thought
he heard her cry out, but then darkness consumed him…

He woke choking on a scream, Adri leaning over him in concern.

“Are you okay?”

He felt smothered and scrambled out from under her. “Be right back.” Racing to the lavatory, he shoved his head under the sink, easing from the heat burning his brain. But he couldn’t cool off. To his shock, his arms burst into flames, then his chest and legs. As he stared into the mirror, pinpoints of red grew in his silver eyes, overtaking his sight until he saw nothing but a raging inferno.

“Into the water with you. Come on.” Gentle hands pulled him into the shower and eased cold water over his body. The water and her hands cooled him down, and Z

blinked to find Adri wet and naked and standing with him.

“Am I still dreaming?” He glanced around him, seeing, smelling and hearing the humanity in the distance. Not Werfal 7 then. Not home.

“You’re with me and your brother in New Hattan, remember?” Adri rubbed some scented soap into his skin, her touch soothing his tension.

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Bend down. You’re too tall.” She stood on tiptoe to reach his neck, and he bent down, liking the fact he loomed over her. The woman needed to be dominated, caged, brought to heel. But only under him.

The earlier delight he’d felt watching his brother take her vanished under extreme jealousy.

“Um, Zaret? Are you okay?”

Zaret. He liked her using his full name. “Where’s my brother?” She shrugged and rubbed his neck, then massaged the soap over his shoulders and down his biceps. “In the other room, I guess. I don’t know.”

“Good.” He gave her a quick, hard kiss. “I don’t want you near him again.” She blinked. “Um, why?”

“I—because I—shit. I don’t know.” Disoriented, he leaned back against the shower wall. “I’m sorry. This is so much, so fast. I mean, we don’t even know each other, and we’re mated. And you’re going to be hurt, and I don’t know how to stop it.” She stared, wide-eyed. “Say that again?”

He swore. He knew better than to blurt out the future. Sometimes he did more harm than good. “I’m supposed to be the one taking care of you.” Tenderness swept through him. These bursts of emotions were making it hard for him to focus on any particular one. “Let me wash you.”

“Okay, I guess.” She leaned back and soaked under the spray of water. “You were hot before because of me. I’m sorry.”

He lathered her up, moving over her shoulders to her breasts and down. But he wanted his touch to be sensual, comforting, not sexual. He wanted to show he cared for her. How strange to suddenly feel for this woman. Yet he did.

“How was that your fault?” he asked, recalling what she’d just said.

“You somehow tapped into my fire. The ‘San Fal control fire. That’s our skill set.

Our
psychei
is geared toward heat. But I’ve never heard of another Otra clan being able to harness such power.” She frowned. “My father and brothers are strong, but not as strong as me. And yeah, I’m bragging.”

Her smile stole his breath. “So the women are stronger?”

“Yes.” Her smiled faded. “Which is why our males are so set on finding and keeping ‘San Fal females. I was raised on Werfal 5, surrounded by men all the time.” He stilled, not liking the tone of her voice. “You weren’t hurt by any of them, were you?”

“No way.” She looked him right in the eye. “I won’t tolerate abuse. Not from anyone.”

“Good. Because I hear of anyone giving you any problems, they won’t live long enough to apologize.”

She opened her mouth and closed it, eyeing him with uncertainty. Her gaze moved from his wide shoulders to his large hands. “Yeah, I can see you not having a problem dealing with abusers.”

“No one hurts what’s mine.” He hadn’t meant to grit that out, but the thought of anyone harming her made him see red.

“Easy.” She covered his steaming hand with her own and looked at him with curiosity. “You really don’t like the thought of me in trouble, do you?”

“No.”

Her slow grin took him aback. An ache swelled in his breast, a need to comfort, to protect, to love her growing inside him. Spreading like a damn disease. “What are you doing to me?”

“What, Z? What am I doing to you?” She watched him with an expression he couldn’t read.

“I don’t know. I feel things. For you. I don’t know you, but I want to. I think… I need you, Adri. And not just for sex.” Did he sound as confused as he felt?

“Well, it’s mutual.” She sighed. “Can you rinse my hair?” He hurried to take the rest of the soap from her, soothing her with a gentle touch that had her wavering on her feet.

“I’m sorry. But I’m so tired. I just need to sleep.” He turned off the water and found a few towels to dry them off. “Come on, baby.

Let’s get you back to bed. The rest of this can wait until tomorrow.” Or later today, as the case might be.

He carried her back to bed and tucked her in. The poor woman was already asleep, and already moving toward him in the bed. He hugged her tight and closed his eyes.

He didn’t dream, not at all.

* * * * *

The next morning, Z, Adri and Val sat around the small dining table in the suite, feasting on Otra berries, omelets and bacon, an Otra favorite. One thing the humans knew how to prepare.

He took a long swallow of caffeine. “Drink your coffee with the berries, baby.

They’ll perk you up some. You need the energy.” She looked tired.

After a few bites of his own meal, he noticed the silence and looked up. “What?” Val grinned. “A little motherly this morning, aren’t we, big brother?”

“Fuck off—I mean, screw off, Val.”

Adri bit her lip, but he could see her smile. The gesture made him feel ten feet tall.

“You think that’s funny?” he asked her.

She shook her head and lifted the coffee to her mouth after taking a few bites of the energizing Otra fruit. “Not at all. Hmm. That’s good. Just what I needed.”

“Not all you need,” Val murmured, looking her over like a prized steak.

Z growled, “Watch it.”

Val blinked at him. “What’s up? We’re not done with The Testing yet. You’re kind of possessive all of a sudden.”

Z was, and he didn’t understand why. “I, ah. Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Adri sighed. “We need to talk about all this. If Val is your
eda
, and you’re in The Testing, then we really are
iriu
.”