Talson Temptations 3: Talson's Net (4 page)

“How many times do you have to hear
no
before you
leave me alone? Go pick up a woman that wants you, you sorry ass.” She turned
and ran to the stairwell, not daring to wait for the elevator.

She screamed when she ran into a hard body.

“Whoa, easy there.” Quinn held her steady. “Rowe?” A glance
over her shoulder had his mouth tightening with displeasure. He tugged her
behind him. “Why don’t you wait for me upstairs in the security center?”

“No, Quinn. I need to leave now. And I want you with me.”
Not
only for protection from Keilor, but from a pissed-off Talson as well. No
telling where the Otra is hiding in wait for me.
She wouldn’t tell Quinn
that. She had no intention of letting Quinn know about Val yet, not when her
friend wanted Keilor’s blood. She could only imagine Quinn’s reaction if she
told him Val had only weeks ago captured her and tied her to a bed. He’d kill
him, and for some strange reason, the thought of Val in harm’s way bothered the
hell out of her.

Probably because she wanted to be the one to take him down.
Thoughts of taking him down, of tying him up again and fucking him until
neither of them could walk stole every thought from her mind.

Quinn opened his mouth to protest and froze. He blinked,
shook his head, and rasped, “Shit. You’re right. Let’s go.”

Dragging her up the stairs at a speed that stole her breath,
he hauled her through the main doors of Chartrell Headquarters to his personal
conveyance, a nondescript two-door hovercraft. They sped away as he overrode
the automatic settings and held the steering column with a white-knuckled grip.
His expression could best be called grim, and he refused to look at her while
he drove.

She felt terrible. “I’m so sorry, Quinn. This is going to
put you in a bad position with Keilor and I—”

“Not one word. Not one
fucking
word.”

Stunned, she blinked at the stranger sitting next to her.
The quiet, controlled Quinn Larsen had vanished, replaced by a dark, compelling
man with a face and body to die for. Suddenly, she saw in him what all his
other lovers had seen, and her body responded in kind.

“Hell, not now,” he groaned, clutching the column so tight
she thought he might break it. “Focus, Rowe. Think about Keilor. Think about
your uncle. Think about my mother. That ought to kill any emotion related to
sex.”

She chuckled, her mind all over the place. But her tension
eased at thoughts of Breanne Larsen ‘Or Ryi. The woman was an absolute shrew.
How she had produced two loving children remained a mystery. Focused on the
haughty woman, she forced back her natural inclination to sexually assault
Quinn.

Oh hell, had she entered Selection?

Her home came into view, and her mind again jumped to
another emotion. Relief, because home was hers. A safe and cozy place to
nest…and to fuck the suitable male at her side. She hungered. Even though Quinn
wasn’t Val, he had that something she needed. With his help, she’d be able to
reproduce, to perpetuate the species and fulfill her body’s most basic needs.

“Quinn,” she whispered, holding herself tight so she
wouldn’t reach out and grab him. He smelled so damn
good
. “I can’t
think.”

He jerked the craft to a halt in front of her building.
“Pack a bag of whatever will keep you for a few weeks. I need to stash you
someplace safe while I deal with Keilor.” He rushed from the hovercraft,
rounded to her side and jerked her out of the vehicle. He tossed her over his
shoulder and carried her as if she weighed nothing. Once in front of her
apartment, he set her down and pulled a phaser out of one of his many cargo
pockets. “Unlock it and wait here.
Don’t move
.”

She used her thumb on the keypad and waited while he entered
and scoped out her place. The sexual need vanished as quickly as it had come.
Thank
God.

To his credit, Quinn returned a minute later. Once she
entered, he closed the door shut behind her and waited for the automatic lock
to click, then stood as far from her as possible before she left the room to
pack a bag.

She returned, carrying it. “I’m so sorry, Quinn. I don’t
know what’s going on with me, but I think we’re okay now. I’ve never been in
Selection before, but I know they say it’s hard for males to handle. I’m not a
hundred percent Otra, so I don’t know what effect—”

One look at Quinn turned her thoughts to mush, and once
again her body demanded satisfaction.

A strange, almost swimming sensation pushed her into his
stiff arms. Her body felt foreign, not her own, and prickled with need. Quinn
was
part
of what she needed, not the whole. But she’d start with him.
Right now. Except she couldn’t reach his mouth for the kiss she desperately
needed.

When he refused to bend, she slid her hands under the hem of
his skin-tight security shirt. A glance down his body showed him rock hard and
huge. She couldn’t wait to try him on.

He groaned and started to shake. “Dammit, Rowe. I’m trying—”

She cut off his protest with a pinch to his nipple, and like
a switch that had been thrown, Quinn immediately responded.

“Fuck,”
he snarled and kissed the breath out of her.

As tall as Keilor and broader across the chest, Quinn packed
a wallop as his tongue seized control of her mouth. He ripped her blouse down
the front and pulled down her bra, exposing her flushed breasts. Then he took
one nipple in his hot mouth.

“
Quinn.
” She groaned and thrust her hands into his
short, thick black hair. Stars, what was happening to her? As he caressed and
stimulated her into a mindless ball of pleasure, crazy thoughts swirled in her
mind. Images of Val and Quinn taking her together—two men, one woman, unending
pleasure. But through it all, Val remained first and foremost in her desire.

Quinn redirected his attention to her other breast, kneading
and preparing it for his mouth. She squirmed, wanting him between her thighs.
He had to come, to prepare her womb so Val could— “Quinn, yes. Oh
yes
.”
Everything blurred, and she found herself naked. His fingers sought the wet
heat of her, his thick digits thrusting in and out with greater speed.

“You’re so fucking wet.” His voice harsh and thick with
hunger, he sounded feral as he finger-fucked her toward climax. “I want you so
much, Rowe. I can’t think. I can’t breathe without inhaling your sweet scent.
But it’s not… You’re not meant to be mine. I shouldn’t be able to do this, but
I feel…”

His thumb found her clit and he circled the hard nub until
she wanted to scream. The hunger grew and grew—and suddenly vanished.

“Not yet,” she cried.

One minute Quinn clutched her in his arms, his mouth on her
breast, his hand between her folds. The next, he simply disappeared. Then
another man was there. His mouth on hers, his fingers inside her. She tried to
see him, to understand the awful emptiness that had just moments before yawned
closed. Instead she came hard, the rapture obliterating all else as her vision
grayed.

“Oh, no. You’re mine, sweetheart. All mine,” a familiar
voice promised before she finally passed out.

* * * * *

After tying her up and placing her in her bedroom in the
middle of her bed, Val rejoined his brother in her living room. He couldn’t
believe he’d brought Rowe to climax in front of Romy. But when he’d seen the
male—Quinn—touching her, tasting what was his, he’d lost control.

Shoving Quinn aside had been his only thought. Then Romy had
incapacitated the big fucker while Val kissed Rowe again.

He shifted on his feet, his cock aching, his senses swimming
with the scent of his
iriu
. And surprisingly, the fragrant perfume of
the male lying so still on the floor. He had a bad, bad feeling about his
fixation on Quinn Larsen ‘Or Ryi.

“Please, Romy. Tell me that man isn’t my
eda
. Tell me
it’s you, instead.”

Val stared at his younger brother, pleading to hear what he
knew his brother couldn’t say. Bad enough Val had to mate a woman he didn’t
trust, one who’d actually bested him in their last skirmish. He didn’t know her
and couldn’t stand her uncle yet could feel in his bones she belonged to him.
Her damn Selection made it impossible for him to walk away. To make matters
worse, according to Romy, he’d entered The Testing as well.

Fuck a duck sideways. He was screwed.

Now it appeared he had to accept a strange male as his
eda
—a
psychically chosen male to help complete the bonding ritual.
Edas
and
irius
were destined, mates and friends who would last a lifetime. It was all about
harmonized energy. And now it looked like Val had not only Rowe, but another
Chartrell associate to deal with. He could almost hear his mated brothers
laughing at him, especially given all the crap he’d handed Roarke and Z when
they’d joined their females.

“I wish I could say I’m your man, but I’m not, and you know
it.” Romy shook his head, humor curling his lips at the completely unfunny
situation in which Val found himself. “You saw his tongue down her throat and
his hands in her—well,
in
her. She’s in Selection, you’re in The
Testing, and still you didn’t kill him. You know she’s yours, and he’s a part
of it. I don’t have to be precognitive to know that those two are part of your
future. Hell, their
psycheis
are already bonded. Feel it.”

Val swore and paced, intentionally lending to the heavy
discomfort of his erection. Physical pain to add to his emotional stress. He
couldn’t stop thinking about Rowe. How captivating she’d looked naked. So small
yet rounded in all the right places. Those breasts…

A glance at Romy caused him to scowl.

Despite being Otra, from a culture that cherished sex in all
its forms—with multiple partners of either gender—and whose ability to
procreate necessitated two males to impregnate the female, Val couldn’t help
the raging jealousy heating his blood. Jealousy because
Romy
stood too
close to the male by Val’s feet, and because his brother had seen Rowe as well.

He thrust a hand through his hair. “Damn Testing.”

Romy snickered, and it took Val’s considerable restraint not
to belt his younger brother in the mouth. None of this felt familiar, even
though Val had performed as Z’s
eda
only a few months ago. There had
been a flash or two of jealousy on Z’s part, but that was after they had
started the joining. After Val had washed Adri’s womb with his cum and his
psychic energy so that she might grow fertile for his brother.

A loving, emotional bonding experience.

He’d expected that someday he might have the same. He hadn’t
anticipated he’d find his mate so soon, that she’d be his enemy, or that the
male to help him settle her would be a complete stranger. One with huge-ass
muscles that had an odd effect on Val’s cock.

“What the fuck?” He growled and continued to pace, wishing
like hell he wasn’t so hungry. He throbbed, needing release. Yet both the woman
and the man he’d yanked off her were now unconscious. He’d felt her bliss and
her
psychei
entwining with his own even while Quinn had touched her.
She’d merged with Val on the psychic level two weeks ago.

Two long, sexually frustrating fucking weeks ago.

“I sense something different about your arrangement.” Romy
cast a wary glance over the asshole still lying on the ground.

Val itched to prop the male up, to make him more
comfortable, while his gaze lingered over the hardened skin beneath Quinn’s
tight-fitting uniform that left little to the imagination. “I don’t get it,
Romy. I’m feeling something weird about this guy.”

“Something more than weird, I’d say,” Romy murmured with a
nod at the front of Val’s pants.

Unlike humans, Otra had little issue with sexuality. Same
gender or different, multiple partners, as long as those involved were willing,
they didn’t much care. So long as the sex didn’t mature into a mating with
humans, most Otra tolerated more than humans ever did. Val’s family was a lot
more liberal when it came to love. His father had mated a human after Val’s
mother passed. And his youngest brother had recently mated a human as well. The
family loved her. But Jamie wasn’t part of a corporation bent on annihilating
Talson Shipping.

He admitted to himself that what he’d learned about Rowe
didn’t fit with what he knew about Chartrell Shipping’s less-than-ethical
practices. But he would have rather waited to get to know her before being tied
to her for a lifetime. And this startling attraction to a male… This one was
different. Perhaps because of Rowe?

The object of his thoughts stirred, the deep groan one that
made Val think of sex, heat and the need to assert dominance. Against a big
fucker like Quinn, he’d have his work cut out for him.

“What the hell am I doing here, Romy? Why Rowe Chartrell of
all people?”

“Actually, her name is Rowe
Trainer
.” That Romy knew
about the woman didn’t surprise him. His brother knew things about people and
places he shouldn’t possibly know. The suspicion that Romy had much more power
than he let on once again proved true. “Her father was Otra, of the ‘Or Ryi clan.
Her mother was human, where she gets the Trainer name. Her father was friends
with a Chartrell a few hundred years ago and named the company after him. Then
he met and fell in love with her mother, a human. They were together for many
years before she conceived.”

Human and Otra procreation was a rare thing. More so if the
child possessed
psychei
, which Rowe obviously did. He still wanted to
know how she’d tied him up on the bed two weeks ago, though he couldn’t be too
angry, not after she’d treated him to that sweet pussy and a killer blowjob.

Romy sighed. “She’s half-human, yeah, but she’s a lot more
powerful than she looks. Have a care with her. But don’t be too careful.” Romy
grinned, and his eyes lit up with a silvery sheen. “With a body like hers, you’ll
have half a dozen kids, at least. And I’m not your
eda
. What a rip-off.”