Icarus Unbound (12 page)

Jaran's arms tightened around Lara, and he kissed the top of her head. "That's all your parents wanted for you as well, and I did all I could to make it impossible for you. I'm sorry."

Lara looked up into Jaran's eyes. "If you can accept me as a human now, I can accept you as a hybrid."

"Agreed. Then you'll forget this quest for the black egg and we can concentrate on the mating cycle?"

Lara squeezed Jaran's shoulder. "No. I still have to prove myself. Even if the committee agrees not to dissolve the union, there would still be doubt in their minds about me. It doesn't matter how you see me, Jaran. To them, I'm not really Icarian. I'm just a human with wings."

Jaran stiffened. He loved having Lara in his arms, soft and pliant. The relief of finally telling her his secret had calmed his 107

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spirit. He'd never been as content in his life as he had been in the moment he confided in her, but that bliss ended too quickly.

He stepped back and eyed his mate, frustration making him clench his hands into fists. "Didn't your mother explain to you how dangerous symbion mating grounds can be?"

"She did. She told me how she almost died, how jagged the rocks were, how there was nothing to protect her from the wind and the waves. But the symbions watched over her.

They saved her life." She held up a hand to still his protest. "I know, I have my own symbion to care for me. The wild symbions might see me as a threat, but I really believe the only danger I'll face is in not finding a black egg before the committee votes."

"You're not hearing me, Lara."

She placed two fingers over Jaran's lips. "Yes, I am. But it doesn't matter. This is something I have to do."

Jaran raised his wings in dismay. The woman would not listen to reason! "You may be co-leader now, but I'm your liege and I forbid you to go on this hunt."

Lara's beautiful eyes flashed. The pliant, accepting woman he'd held a moment ago was gone. "Don't take this away from me, Jaran. I need to prove myself."

"No, you don't. You need to be here with me accepting your duties as my mate, duties you're already neglecting by spending the day preparing for a useless ancient ritual when you should have been here in my bed."

Lara tossed her chin, defiance lighting her eyes. "I know I'll never be Icarian. In my heart I know that, but all I've ever 108

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wanted was to belong to this world and this will help me do that."

"Not if you die trying to accomplish it."

"You have no faith in me." Her own wings ruffled, and she began to gesture as she paced beside the bed. "If I didn't think I could do this, I wouldn't try. I'm not a fool. I know the risks like every Icarian child does. I've seen the breeding grounds and I know there's no place more dangerous, but I believe in my own abilities and I believe in the symbions."

"No, you believe in the fairy tale your mother told you."

Lara reared back as if he'd slapped her. "Fairy tale? Are you saying my mother lied to me about how she survived and how she became joined?"

"No ... I—what I meant was, her story was mythic. It was a once in a lifetime occurrence."

"Mythic? Are you saying you don't believe the symbions saved my mother's life? Maybe you're also trying to say you don't believe
your
mother tried to kill her."

Heat suffused Jaran's face, and in response to his growing anger and frustration at his own inability to deal with Lara, his symbion began to stir. A wave of lust washed over him, a message from his symbion that he could not allow his mate to disappear again.

"Is this what we've come back to so soon? Are you going to punish me for my mother's crimes again after you said I couldn't be held accountable?"

"I don't blame you for what she did. I only questioned whether or not you believe she did it. Since you're questioning my mother's history, maybe you—"

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Jaran grabbed Lara roughly. Her wings flapped in surprise, but she didn't break out of his grasp. "What happened thirty years ago is not important. What happens tonight is."

"And what happens tonight?" Her voice held a hint of the old malice and a thread of fear.

"Tonight you will learn to obey me."

Jaran scooped Lara up in his arms and deposited her on the bed. The empty food bowl crashed to the floor and shattered, but Jaran didn't care. He climbed on the bed and covered Lara's body with his own. "You're my mate and your concern should be for our union, not proving yourself to the antiquated minds of the committee members."

"Antiqua—"

Jaran cut off her protest with a kiss, not a tender meeting of their lips, but a claiming. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, searching and battling until she surrendered.

Meanwhile he pulled her clothing off, tearing the thin, clingy material away from her breasts and pushing it down past her hips.

She struggled, but Jaran didn't stop to determine if she was helping him get her clothes off or trying to resist. He didn't care. He intended to have his female now, and so far she hadn't spoken a word in protest.

When she was naked, he spread her legs with his hands and found her clit. He pinched the distended flesh, and she cried out, clearly alarmed by his aggression. Her hips bucked, but still she didn't tell him to stop. He kissed her again, stealing her breath while he played her body.

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Massaging her sex, spreading the plump folds of flesh, he found her juices flowing. Her symbion had obviously taken over, as eager to replace fighting with mating as his own was.

Lara might have preferred to finish their argument, but her body was no longer under her mind's control. Neither was his.

With a ragged moan, he thrust a finger inside her sheath.

She stiffened and let out a gasp that made his cock instantly hard. Her slick essence eased his way, allowing him to delve deep inside and find the hidden spot that would give her ultimate pleasure.

He pressed there, hard, and she writhed under him, her breath coming in short, labored rasps.

"Come for me," he demanded. "I want your body pulsing for me, ready to take my seed."

"Mmm ... mmm." She nodded but her jaw clenched and her eyes blazed.

"Don't fight your symbion, Lara. This is what we're meant to do. We shouldn't be at odds with each other."

"Ah!" Lara's teeth clamped down on her bottom lip, and Jaran slid his finger rapidly in and out of her tightening sex, creating friction and heat. "Do it. I want you to come in my hand, now."

"No!" Even as she forced the word out, she lost her inner battle. Her body convulsed and her pussy clenched. She began to shiver with her internal contractions, curling her body up to take him in deeper.

She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned while Jaran continued to thrust, each time pushing against her G-spot to prolong her uncontrolled surrender.

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"I love to feel you come," he said, pulling his finger out finally. He trailed her thick essence along her thigh and brushed the cooling moisture over her skin. She shuddered, and her muscles rippled. "You'll be fertile soon," he told her.

"But until then..."

He settled himself between her legs and guided his cock to her entrance. Her cum glistened on the lips of her sex and scented the air with her unique aroma. Jaran breathed deeply of her arousal before he entered her.

"Jaran ... Jaran." She panted his name and whimpered as he impaled her. Instinct brought her long legs around his back, and her defiant nature had her arching under him even before he began to thrust. She clearly wanted him to come quickly and be done with her, but Jaran wanted Lara to understand how much he needed her with him, not on a damn fool quest to prove something to the committee.

He wanted her with him in every way, so he worked at controlling his own responses. Her body held his, milked him.

Her hips cradled him. Ecstasy was close, but he wouldn't allow himself to reach completion until she did for the second time.

He lowered his mouth to the tight bud of her nipple and began to suck, long pulls that wrung deep moans from her, until finally her body tightened around him and she grew silent.

"You're coming again," he said. "I can feel it."

She muttered something incoherent and wrapped her arms around his back. She curled up around him just as she exploded into a second, shattering orgasm.

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Her body shivered, and she bit his shoulder, a small sound of defeat echoing in the back of her throat. A perfect surrender.

Jaran allowed himself to come then. Every muscle in his body went hard, and he released his seed in hot arcs. Once the mating cycle began in earnest, an orgasm like this one would guarantee conception, but right now, all it did was satisfy his lust, calm his symbion and assert his ownership over his mate.

She was his, and as long as he lived, that would never change.

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Lara planted her feet on the cold tiles of the aerie spa room. A warm stream of water fell from a stone spigot above her, and she slowly maneuvered her body into its path.

The battle still raged within her, the two halves of herself at odds as they'd never been before.

She was still angry at Jaran for what he'd done. Diffusing an argument by making love to her—no, that wasn't what had happened. He'd exerted his influence, pulled rank in essence, and commanded her to submit to him by luring her symbion into a mating frenzy.

She would have refused, but in these early stages of the mating cycle, her symbion could think of nothing else but physical satisfaction. She'd been at the alien creature's mercy, eagerly accepting each rough thrust and desperate for more.

Because her symbion had chemical control over her body, she'd given in to Jaran's sexual demands. All the while her mind had screamed in protest, more so because she'd enjoyed every moment of his domination.

Lara slapped the wall and cursed, splashing water around the room. "He's my liege. I can't disobey his wishes. Ha! Is that what an Icarian woman would do? How can I sit back and let the committee do this to us, to me, without even trying to—ah!"

She had no idea what to do. The voiceless desires of her symbion were clear. Go back to bed, wake her sleeping mate 114

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and give herself to him. Each time they coupled, their union would become stronger. And the stronger it became, the harder it would be to walk away from each other if they were ordered to.

Every time she thought of Jaran touching her, holding her body captive beneath his while he ordered her to come, another fiery wave of desire assaulted her. The adolescent girl who'd longed for him to want her had finally gotten her wish, and she wasn't about to relinquish the long-held fantasy.

In truth, if Jaran had arrived at that moment and took her again, she'd follow his every command eagerly, but she couldn't allow herself to become compliant. The position of co-leader was not guaranteed to her yet. The only way to make sure she earned her place was to complete her chosen quest, and she couldn't chance another argument with Jaran before that happened.

Quickly she finished showering, dried her skin and her wings and left the royal aerie. Jaran would be angry, but once she succeeded in her task, she would have the rest of her life to make it up to him.

Jaran knew the moment he awoke that Laramee had left the aerie. Her ability to sneak away silently while he was asleep irritated him to no end. Her insistence on disobeying his wishes and spending her time as far from him as possible crushed his heart.

He'd hoped by demonstrating his physical need for her, he could convince her of her true importance to him. It hurt that her need to prove herself to the committee outweighed her desire to be with him.

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He rose and flexed his wings, stretching them in preparation for what he knew would be a long, arduous day, beginning with a trip to see his brother.

He brushed past Daralei in the main corridor, dismissing her question about his day's itinerary with a wave of a wingtip. "Postpone everything. I have something more important to attend to."

Without stopping to eat or fortify himself in any way, he launched into the cool morning breeze and began the journey to Odan's aerie.

His brother's mate dropped to one knee before him when he landed. "My liege, to what do we owe this visit?"

"Where is my brother?" Jaran bellowed the question loudly, hoping his voice would echo through the stone grotto which led inside his brother's living quarters.

"Sleeping, my liege," Jehri replied hastily. "I'll wake him for you."

"Never mind. I'll get him myself." Jaran stalked past his sister-in-law and stomped into his brother's bedroom.

Fortunately his question had woken Odan, who now sat up in bed looking perplexed.

"Jaran?"

"She's gone and you're to blame."

"I ... Laramee has gone searching for a black egg?"

"How could you have set her on such a ridiculous quest?

This was something our ancestors did because their lives were so simple. They had to invent challenges for themselves, but something like this is beneath Laramee. She's a scientist, not a treasure hunter."

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"I'm sorry, Jaran." Odan rose and settled his ruffled wings against his back.

Jehri joined them in the bedroom, looking anxious.

"From what I've heard among the tribe, any vote on the subject would not go in Lara's favor. She needs something to cement her place as your mate," Odan said.

"She's a strong woman, my liege. She will be able to do this," Jehri said.