The Barbarian's Captive (23 page)

He nearly lost control, wanting to plunged deeply into her eager mouth, but he steeled himself to go slowly. Rimming her lips with the head of his shaft, it jerked in his hand in anticipation as her tongue slipped out for a taste. “Take me inside, mate.”

Her mouth opened as her eyes shot to his in silent supplication. No other assent was required as he slid inside. Too big for her, he kept a hand at the base, controlling without overwhelming, though delving deeply enough to revel in the wet heat and the eager flick of her tongue with every stroke. Still, he wanted more.

“Suck,” he growled, almost falling to his knees as her lips closed over his rigid flesh, obeying his command. One hand slid into her hair, holding and guiding her as his hips moved.

Close to coming, he exerted iron control over his body as he glided over her tongue and through her lips twice more. Too on edge to continue without exploding down her throat, he pulled out, desirous of a different ending. Taking a seat on the couch, he lifted her over the back and pulled her across his thighs. As she spread in eager accommodation, he thrust up inside her. Her hands clutched his shoulders, the nails biting slightly as she hung on and began to ride him.

His head fell back to watch her. She was exquisite; a more beautiful woman he’d never seen in all of his travels. With his hands on her heated ass, his fingers curved into the resilient flesh as he set a steady pace in order to prolong the pleasure. Eva was of a different mind, however, taking it further as she leaned forward, moving faster, in an attempt to spur on an impending climax. He wanted that too, though not yet.

“Patience, Eva, we’re in no rush.”

“I want to come.”

“And you will, but for now, slow down, mate.”

She shook her head, biting her lip as her eyes opened, liquid with avid need.

Releasing one full curve, he returned with an open hand swat. Her answering cry was one of passion, rather than pain. He did it again, on the other side, and felt her muscles ripple around his cock, squeezing him. One hand grasped her hip firmly as he slid the other up her back to curve around the nape of her neck, pulling her face close to his.

“Obey me,” he rasped, low and urgent.

Slowing into the controlled, easy glide he’d originally set, her eyes met his.

“Did the lash cut you?”

She blinked. “What?” Clearly caught off guard by his question, she lost her rhythm. His hands helped her pick it up again.

“The flogger. Did it cut or harm you in any way? Cruelly disfigure you, or cause unbearable pain?”

“It stung and—”

When his fingers flexed in warning, she inhaled sharply.

“I suppose it wasn’t… unbearably bad.”

“You became aroused,” he reminded her, as he lifted her in a long, measured drag, then let her slide down again, fully seating her on his length, and holding her there as she squirmed. “Your body doesn’t lie, sprite. You come alive beneath my lash.”

“Yes, I admit it! Your flogger set me on fire, my skin, my pussy, my entire body. In the very best way.” Her hands slid up his neck and into his hair, gripping the strands fiercely as her body practically hummed with need. He ignored the sting in his scalp as he angled his mouth for a kiss. But she wasn’t done, begging him to give her ease. “Please, Kerr! I need to come. I can’t stand it any longer.”

“And you won’t have to.” He laid her down upon the cushions as he hooked her ankles over his shoulders. She cried out, but hung on, breathless in anticipation as her hands wound around his biceps.

He gave it to her then, though not with the urgency she plainly wanted. Instead, in a measured stroke, plunging deep, he claimed every possible bit of her clingy, wet channel. And still, he wanted more, and planned to get it before letting her come. He leaned in for a kiss, her breath coming out in a rush as his body weight wedged his cock in even further.

“Are you going to be good from now on, and obey me?”

“No.”

He drew back. “
No?
”

“Heck no, you do me harder, faster, and more intense after you spank me. I rather enjoy it.”

He grinned, picking up a rhythm again. “What if I promise to spank you even when you obey? When you’re a good girl too.”

He thrust fully and paused, grinding his hips into hers.

“I’d say I’m open for negotiation, Princep.”

“Stubborn sprite.”

Her lips twitched into a smile as a shudder rippled through her. “Please, Kerr. I’m going to explode.”

“Then explode all over me, mate. For I am right there with you.”

He slammed into her, his hands leaving her hips and sliding up to her breasts. His thumbs and forefingers pinched and rolled the tight peaks as his mouth opened wide over hers, his tongue matching the pace and rhythm of his body.

“So good,” he growled.

“I’m coming.”

“Yes,
anisa meo
, come for me.”

Eva shuddered in his arms, a sweet sigh of feminine pleasure passing from her lips to his. Moments later, it was drowned out by his own ragged groan. Chests heaving, skin damp from their exertions, they clung to one another. His slid his arms up her back and wrapped them around her, his fingers resting along the sides of her breasts. Consciously, he flexed, crushing her against him, as if he could spur the transformation to completion.

Seeming to read his thoughts, she asked, “Why haven’t I changed like the others?”

“I don’t know, but not to worry. It will happen.”

She pushed back, sitting up on his lap, astride his thighs, his cock still embedded within her.

“How can you be so sure? You’ve never joined with humans before. My entire body used to burn when you came inside me, but that is almost gone.”

“That is expected. The initial burn is the worst, then it eases.”

“Yes, and is replaced by a
change
of some sort. I should have golden eyes and black hair by now, Kerr. Or a marking.” Her hands came up and swept her long hair off her neck, and she leaned forward to show him the pale, unadorned skin. “I check every day. There’s nothing.” Wet with tears, her eyes met his. “I think there has been a terrible mistake.”

He caught her hands and gripped them firmly, pulled them down, letting the beautiful length of her silky hair fall around her shoulders. She was so beautiful; it almost hurt to look at her. And although he didn’t say so aloud, her worries were his as well. Something was different with the two of them. He had expected the bond to have been completed by now, too.

It made no sense. The way he felt for her, his desire for her so strong that he needed to be near her. He had begun working at home because the separation, even if only for a few cycles, was becoming difficult. Proximity eased the discomfort, and the yearning. Touching her, seeing her, breathing in his scent on her skin, and especially driving inside her warm, wet heat, made the gripping pain fade away.

“I feel like I’m coming apart,” she continued. “Torn between two worlds. My feelings for you grow more intense every day, making me want to stay, but the transformation isn’t taking place. And the guilt is eating me up inside, as Eryn says, for betraying my people.”

“It is not a betrayal to care for someone so that you want to share a life with them.”

“It is when I made a commitment to help save them. That’s why the
Odyssey
left us. It would be selfish to risk the entire mission to come back for so few. We’ve known all along stragglers are left behind. But if they came back today, how would I live with the guilt and shame of staying, knowing others might die by my doing so?” Her eyes were liquid pools of pain as they rose to his. “And you have to admit there is something wrong with our match, Kerr. You should send me back and find your true mate.”

“No.” Angry, he pulled her off of him, adjusting his pants as he stood.

She sniffled. “Not everyone. Just Eryn and me. Obviously, we weren’t meant to be mates.”

“You’re not going back and that’s final.”

“Kerr…”

“Silence,” he growled, pulling her to her feet. “We’ll figure this out.” He bent and swept up her dress as an idea came to him. “Get dressed. There is someone we need to speak to about this.”

When she rose, staring up at him as if frozen, tears of misery tracking down her cheeks, he did it for her, gathering the fabric and pulling it over her head. She helped enough to put her arms through, and he tugged the dress over her hips. He turned to search for her shoes.

“Who could possibly help?”

“Jarlan. There is an answer, sprite. And we’re going to find out what it is. I promise.” Even as he gave it, he worried he might not be able to keep his vow. He was determined, however. Never had he heard of a one-sided mating in a perfectly matched pair. It defied reason. If their chief physic couldn’t help, he’d seek out others. As far as her guilt over the defection of her duties, he had an idea about that too — but he needed to speak to his grandfather and uncle first. He kept this all to himself, not willing to get her hopes up yet.

After slipping into her sandals, she again ran her hands through her wildly tangled hair. “I should wash up.”

“No. He might need samples.” Her tousled after-sex look did more than any marking could to confirm to all that she belonged to him. His fingers closed around her wrist and he headed for the door.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Wrong. I want him to check into every possibility, however unusual it might seem.”

Chapter 14

A
s he led her though their suite, he remembered something crucial. Many of the
Odyssey
females were at the med-bay in town being tested. He wasn’t ready to disclose that her ship was in space dock, or that the rest of her teammates were being matched to Primarian males even as they spoke.

Kerr stopped long enough to order Janus to have the healer meet them in the small examination room downstairs right away. He’d almost forgotten it. Included in the planning when the capital was built long ago, the small private clinic had been designated for use by the Princep’s family and capital staff when needed. It was very rarely used.

Arriving before Jarlan, who had to come from a few blocks away, Kerr lifted Eva onto the exam table.

She eyed the stirrups with dread. “I didn’t get to clean up. He can’t possibly want to examine me with, well…
you
, still inside.”

“We’ll wait to find out when he gets here.”

“Find out what?” Jarlan asked from the doorway, considering them both closely. “I was told it was urgent and teleported here, but you both look as right as uladite. Is one of you ill?” His gaze shot to Eva. “Or breeding?” His warm, pleased smile lit up the room. “You would make the fourth in the past two days, prima. Unfortunately, one was a false alarm, but it spurred me into action. I never expected it so quickly and have had to scramble to come up with a human pregnancy test.” He pulled out his hand-held communicator. “I don’t have any stocked here and will have to send for a different analyzer if that’s the case.”

With a sharply indrawn breath, Eva whispered, “Three of my shipmates are
pregnant
?”

Jarlan frowned. “Yes, we just found out today. That isn’t why you’re here?”

“No,” Kerr replied. “We have some concerns that Eva isn’t progressing through the transformation like the others, and we want you to find out why.”

“How do you mean?” The physic moved closer, his fingers lifting Eva’s chin as he examined her eyes, skin, and hair. At length, he lifted the heavy mass of blonde waves at her nape and lightly touched her skin.

“Have you had a burning sensation here?”

“She has,” Kerr said. “The first time after the breaching it was extremely uncomfortable. It eased in the days that followed, and has since nearly disappeared. But as you can see, there are no changes — and there is no sign of my marking.”

“You’ve been intimate?” Jarlan asked flatly.

Eva flushed at the very personal question.

Kerr didn’t betray a hint of embarrassment at the physic’s directness. “Three times each day. Four within twenty-four cycles of the initial breaching.”

“Is that standard operating procedure?” she demanded irritably.

Moving his hand to her thigh, he squeezed. “There is no such thing, Eva. I am merely illustrating for Jarlan that we have been intimate and often.”

Jarlan inclined his head, appearing thoughtful. “It shows there is intense desire. Is it sated easily?”

“No,” Kerr replied. “I want her again the minute after I spend inside her. And she ignites like a flame at my touch.”

She squirmed beneath both men’s intense scrutiny. Jarlan turned and opened a cabinet, returning to her with a clear cup. “Urine sample, please.”

Almost leaping off the table in her haste to get down, she looked around, searching for another door. Kerr walked to the only one in the room, opened it, then angled his head to the right. “The last door at the end of the corridor.”

Slipping past him, she scurried down the hall.

“Do you have signs of mate fever, Kerr? The distraction, the yearning to be near her, the all-encompassing need to breed her?”

“Yes. When I’m apart from her for more than a few cycles, I ache, my stomach churns, and I can’t think straight. And I’m hard as stone, around the clock. I’ve moved the office upstairs because of it. That’s why I know in my heart there isn’t a mistake. Eva is… not convinced.”

“This is very curious. The only other couple having difficulty is—”

“Ram and Eryn. I know. Eva is fretting that the tests are in error, comparing herself to Eryn, who also hasn’t shown signs of a complete transformation. She wants me to send them back.”

“Out of the question. The bonding has begun already.”

“I know that.”

Jarlan tapped his finger against his chin immersed in thought. “A partial bonding, or perhaps it’s merely a delayed transformation. With these humans, I suppose anomalies are expected.”