Dream Unchained (12 page)

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Authors: Kate Douglas

BOOK: Dream Unchained
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Duran smiled at Bolt. “It was Bolt. He's a more accomplished healer than either Tara or I. Are you all right?”
Finn stepped away from their support, tested his weight on his left leg, and frowned just as his knee buckled. Tara caught him, and with Duran's support, they got him to the couch.
“You must give yourself time.” Tara stood over him, hands planted on her hips, green eyes flashing, and lips firm. “What Bolt has done repaired the physical damage but it does not replace the energy lost or immediately heal the trauma to your system. You must rest!”
Bolt slapped Finn's shoulder. “I'm good, but not a miracle worker. Give yourself some time to get your strength back.” He winked at Tara. “Or suffer the wrath of Tara.”
Morgan felt as if he'd fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole. Tara could have been any human woman, and Bolt's comment was right out of American slang. How the hell did they do that?
Bolt raised his head. “We've mined the thoughts of everyone we've come in contact with, knowing we must assimilate into your world if we're to succeed. We are all a combination of everyone here, though what we say and do will always be colored by our own personalities.” He smiled affectionately at Tara. “This one has always been bossy. Right, Duran?”
Duran held his hands up. “I'm not going there. I value my life too much, but, Finn, Tara is right. Give yourself time.”
Finn closed his eyes and bowed his head. “I can't stand this. How much time?”
Duran plopped down on the couch beside him. “A couple of hours and a good meal. You might be ready to go by the time we return to the ship, but we'll teach Rodie what we can, just in case. Are you okay with that?”
This time, Finn looked at Morgan. “What about you, Morgan?”
“Excuse me?” This time, Rodie glared at Finn. Morgan kept his mouth shut.
Finn took her hand in his. “Rodie, if Morgan's more afraid for your safety than he is for his own, he could end up making mistakes. Screwing up the whole operation. I need to know he'll be okay with you there. I know I'd be a wreck if you were mine.”
She took a deep breath and stared at Morgan. He felt the questions in her eyes, the attempt to understand the depth of feelings even Morgan wasn't sure of. After a brief moment, she looked away.
“I don't belong to anyone, Finn. I care very much for Morgan, but my feelings won't get in the way of doing whatever job I'm supposed to do.” She glanced at Morgan once again. “And I doubt Morgan's feelings for me would interfere, either. Right, Morgan?”
Crap. Was this a test? Did it matter? He'd probably fail no matter how he answered, so he gave her the truth. “You're your own woman, Rodie. I think you can do anything you put your mind to. I think I can, too, though I might have to work at it. We can do this, no matter what our relationship—or lack thereof—might be.”
She gave an affirmative jerk to her head. “Fine. We're okay, then. I want to know whatever you've learned. That way I'll be ready. And, Finn, you should probably get over to the lodge as soon as you can and fill up on some of Meg's sandwiches. She's keeping the counter loaded with food so we can grab stuff when we have the chance. The entire staff is aware of what's going on now, and they're doing their best to help Mac in any way they can.”
Morgan stood and reached for Rodie's hand. “Let's go over to my cabin where it's quiet. Bolt? Do you think I can teach Rodie on my own, or should you come with us?”
“You start. I'm going to help Finn to the lodge as I need to feed this body as well. Healing takes a great deal of energy. I'll come to your cabin once I've eaten.”
“Good.” Giving Rodie a gentle tug, Morgan headed toward the door. It was almost two thirty. Damn but he hoped Finn was strong enough to go in a couple of hours. Morgan knew he was so full of shit. No way in hell was he ready to let Rodie board the Gar ship.
 
“Okay. So how do we do this?” Rodie sat cross-legged in the middle of Morgan's bed. He lounged shirtless and shoeless against the headboard, looking so damned sexy she had trouble focusing on anything beyond the washboard abs and broad shoulders, the way that dark little happy trail disappeared beneath the waistband of his snug jeans. She'd much rather be following that furry little trail than the one she was currently pursuing.
Morgan huffed out a big breath and focused on her. “With Duran and Bolt, we used sex to allow them into a part of my mind I hadn't been able to access before. They tried, but it didn't work until they brought you in, which is why I think you and I can probably do this on our own.”
“Okay.” That fit her plans. She liked the idea of just her and Morgan. She leaned forward and reached for the snap on his jeans.
He caught her wrist in his hand. She raised her head and looked into his eyes, but she couldn't read anything in his expression. It was as if he'd shut down.
Shut down and shut her out.
“I don't want to do this, damn it.” He let out a deep breath.
Rodie didn't move, though it was awkward, leaning forward with her wrist tightly clasped in his strong hand. She glanced down and concentrated on the way his long fingers wrapped entirely around her arm. He was bigger, stronger, and 100 percent male, but she wasn't at all afraid of him. He'd never hurt her, but by god, he was going to help her whether he wanted to or not.
She raised her head and stared into those dark, enigmatic eyes. “You said you would.”
“I know. And I will. I just want you to know I don't like it.” He scowled at her.
She burst out laughing. “Duh. That's more than obvious. Morgan? I'm not an idiot. I know this is dangerous, but like you, I believe in the Nyrians. I believe they need our help and that if we don't give it, the Gar will have won, even if the Nyrians stop them on their own and the Gar all die. We can't let them have even one more innocent life, and if my going aboard that ship helps save the remaining slaves on board, even if I don't make it, then it's worth it.”
He snarled and released her wrist. She grabbed his hand and held on tightly when he tried to tug loose. “Morgan, just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm not brave. It doesn't mean I don't care as deeply, or feel as much, or understand the meaning of sacrifice. I know it's your nature to protect those weaker, but who's to say I don't have my own strengths? That maybe I can bring something to this mission that would be missing with just you and Finn.”
Morgan just glared at her for a minute. Then his lips curved up in a sexy grin and his eyes twinkled. He tugged her close and kissed the end of her nose. Sputtering, Rodie pulled away.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
He laughed. “Just thinking of that video I saw on YouTube; the one of you chasing those three naked cretins down the hallway in your apartment building, firing your Taser. I've got to quit underestimating your abilities.”
Rodie slapped her forehead with her palm. “Will I
never
live that down?” Finding her boyfriend in her bed, with not only another woman but another man, too, had been bad enough. Chasing all of them stark naked and screaming bloody murder down the hall, armed with her Taser, had felt wonderful—until it all showed up on YouTube in glorious high-def color.
Her neighbor and his smartphone had done an amazing job filming what was probably not her brightest moment. But, it had made Morgan laugh, and Rodie, too, now that she thought of it. “I got the ex right in his skinny ass with both darts,” she said. “He went down like a ton of bricks, peed all over himself, and was still twitching when I pulled the leads free and went back to my apartment.”
“You mean you just left him there?”
“I did.” She chuckled and actually hugged herself. That had felt so good, watching that jerk go down. “He screamed like a little girl when I zapped him. The others kept running but they must have come back and gotten him, because when I looked out a few minutes later, he was gone.”
“He didn't file charges?”
She shook her head. She'd worried about it for a while, but then she realized that the apartment was in her name and she could charge him with trespassing if she wanted. He must have figured it out, because he'd stayed away. “I boxed up his things and left them in the hallway, sent him a message on Facebook to pick up his shit, and then unfriended him. His stuff was gone within an hour and I changed the locks. Done deal.”
“I think the Gar should run in fear.” He wrapped his big hands around her neck and tugged her close. Kissed her with such tenderness that her breath literally caught in her lungs.
So, who needs to breathe?
She wasn't sure how it happened, but somehow she was lying across Morgan's thighs, curled against the deliciously solid wall of his warm chest, and his lips were giving a new meaning to the description of a kiss.
Good lord, but she could kiss this man forever. His lips were soft, then hard, then sliding over hers with the barest brush of sensation. His tongue swept across hers and then tickled the sensitive roof of her mouth and she felt her entire body drawing up close and tight against him.
The thick ridge of his erection brushed against her hip, and she sucked in her belly against the slide of his fingers slipping beneath the waistband on her yoga pants. She'd skipped wearing either a bra or panties this morning, and right now she was damned thankful she'd been in such a hurry that she hadn't gotten around to putting any on.
It was so easy to let Morgan take control, so easy to open to him and follow where he led, but wasn't this supposed to be about showing him how strong she was? How formidable she could be if they needed her to go on board the Gar ship?
Without breaking their kiss, Rodie shifted until she was straddling Morgan's hips. His hands slid up and down her back, sliding easily beneath her loose crop top while she reached for the fly of his jeans, unbuttoned the metal button at the waist, and slowly pulled the zipper down.
The pressure of his erection swelling against his zipper forced the fly open. She smiled against his lips when she noticed he'd skipped wearing boxers this morning. How convenient was that? Both of them so obviously thinking alike. She slipped her hand through the opening in his jeans and lifted the heavy weight of his erection free, loving the sound of his groan against her mouth as she wrapped her fingers around his thick shaft. His cock filled her hands, hard, hot, and damp with perspiration, and yet his skin felt smooth as silk. Such an incongruity, that satiny skin over a shaft so hard and strong.
Resting his full length across the palm of her hand, she slipped her other hand beneath to cup the firm weight of his testicles. He ripped his mouth from hers, sucking in a deep breath as she fondled the heavy orbs in her hand, running her middle finger back along his perineum while squeezing his shaft in a slow and steady rhythm.
“Crap, Rodie.” Air whistled between his lips. “You're trying to kill me, aren't you?”
“I can't. You're wearing too many clothes.” She shot him a cocky grin as she leaned forward and ran her tongue across the bulbous crown, dipping into the tiny slit to taste the salty drops she found. Morgan jerked. She barely heard the whispered, “Damn,” as he sucked in another sharp breath. She breathed deep, inhaling the clean, male smell of him, the scent she would always associate with Morgan.
“Okay. You win.” He lifted Rodie off and tumbled her to the bed beside him. Then he shoved his pants down over his feet while she tugged the crop top off and removed her stretchy pants.
Naked, she knelt on the bed in front of him and lifted her breasts in her hands. She'd never done anything like this before, but somehow, over the past few days, she'd begun to see herself as a more sensual woman. Whether it was Morgan or Bolt or just being here where sex was so much a part of every single thing they did, Rodie wasn't sure.
But she knew she liked this. Loved it, actually. Loved the light in Morgan's eyes as he focused on her beaded nipples. Loved the way he reached for her. That possessive glitter in his eyes, so determined, and with so much need that it washed over her, a psychic storm of almost overwhelming desire.
He leaned forward and took first one nipple and then the other between his lips. She felt the sharp edges of his teeth, the flat lick of his tongue, the hot brush of his breath against her skin. Opening her mind to his, she fell into a maelstrom of need and desire, both Morgan's and hers. He lifted her, turned her on the bed until she lay with her head on the pillow, and he knelt between her knees.
Then he crawled forward until the thick head of his penis rested against her swollen lips, teasing her but not entering. He pressed forward just a fraction of an inch and she whimpered. Reaching behind her, Rodie clung to the rungs of the headboard, arching her hips closer.
“You have to want me, Rodie.” The harsh sound of his voice told her just how much Morgan wanted her. She heard the need in his words, felt the push of his desire in every heated breath. “You have to want me so desperately,” he said. “So completely, that you're going to open your mind, your heart, and your soul to me. You're going to let me in, so deep inside your mind that I can show you how to make the shift.”

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