Interface (3 page)

A wave of comfort ran through her mind.

You will no longer have to do such work.

Then, as long as Vinni doesn't feel his muse, my hair will grow back. Now, are there any other items that make you not believe I am me?

Touch me.

What?

Put your hands on me. After our years of shared dreaming, I know your touch, would know it anywhere.

She removed her gloves and dropped them. Clenching and relaxing her hands, she walked toward the huge span of his head and touched the scales and the skin in between. Vikki ran her hands over them again and again, smiling and relaxing as the psychic scent she was used to when he was aroused washed through her thoughts. His lid drooped and she heard a rumble in the distance. If she wasn't mistaken, he was swishing his tail.

Satisfied that she had made her point, she withdrew her hands and backed away from him.
Do you believe me now?

There was a rumble back in the cavern and his head started to rise.
I believe you and more than that, I dreamed of you.

If you are getting up, should I be running?

I think that would be for the best. I will see you when I have ceased the volcanic activity.

It was all the warning she needed. She turned and bolted back through the doors, sighing in relief when they closed behind her. She kept running until she reached the rope and noticed Heffer halfway to the surface, her headlamp glowing.

She locked herself onto the rope and started to slide the ascenders as quickly as she could. It took some doing and she had to cling tightly to the rope as the walls of the crevice shook. A shadow passing over the opening confirmed that the dragon of Geviil was flying and in control.

Her arms ached and the rest of her felt like it had been struck multiple times with something heavy, but when Vinni gripped her hands and hauled her to safety, she let him take her weight. It wasn't time for false bravado. She was sore, exhausted and her head hurt. She could speak mind to mind, but it didn't come naturally.

Her first years with the Alliance as a Terran Volunteer had been spent at the Citadel. When she emerged, she was dubbed a Specialist and used her honed talent to negotiate treatise and bargains between the Alliance and huge beings who could not verbalize their intentions or requirements. Vikki had sat on them all and did what she could to bridge the communications gap.

"Aw, hon. You look like hell." Vinni was looking down at her.

She grinned up at his upside down face. "You say the sweetest things. No wonder women will have nothing to do with you."

"They want me, but I have standards." His grin was incorrigible.

"Tease." She slapped his thigh and sat up.

Heffer came scuttling up. "Thank you, Specialist Markham. I have been instructed to take you to your home."

"Call me Vikki. And I can't go home. No Terran Volunteer can go home."

Heffer smiled. "Your home
here.
"

Blinking, Vikki nodded. "Oh. I see. Sure. Take me there."

Vinni looked hopeful. "Can I come?"

Heffer seemed unsure, but she smiled. "Of course. You are her partner. She will no doubt wish to have you as a guest."

They sat in the skimmer with the same pilot that she had had on the way out. Vinni was sitting next to him and flirting up a storm.

Amused, she looked out over the edge and saw what evidently was the dragon's handiwork. Melted metal, tumbled rock and barricades of ice meters thick dotted the landscape. She noted that there was a span where the lava could flow freely into the ocean creating a new edge to the landscape with no damage to property or lives.

The skimmer flew over an expansive estate complete with a large, elegant manor house. Gardens, pools and walks were all well maintained with a charmingly subtle aspect. As the skimmer landed, there was something about the doors that struck her as perfect. They were all huge.

On a planet where the average height of the population did not exceed five feet tall, the doors would give her a nice, normal feeling.

She got out of the skimmer that had been far too tight for her and walked along the drive. The crunching of gravel under her boots was pleasantly familiar.

Vinni was still flirting outrageously with the pilot and the pilot was blushing becomingly. It had always amazed her that for a slight Dhemon, Vinni was the alpha in all of his relationships. He pursued and his companions let him catch them. He didn't always get his man, but he rarely tried hard.

Communications Liaison Heffer came to her and gestured to the door of the manner. "You can go in. This is your house."

Raising her eyebrows, Vikki walked to the door and touched the handle. It swung in immediately.

Huge, curving staircases arced up to the second floor. Marble lined the foyer and polished hardwood was visible to the left and right. Vikki drifted left and found a huge room with couches arranged near a fireplace, a study with a com unit set up in it and when she continued around the back of the house, she found the kitchen and a dining room that looked out onto the back garden.

All throughout the house, she found statues and a few of them shocked her. They didn't shock her because of their depiction of naked women, but rather because she recognized the model. It was her.

A psychic sculptor at the Citadel had asked her to pose and after a great deal of alcohol, she had.

Nine limited-edition statues had been created in a variety of nude poses and she had forgotten all about them once the editions had sold out. Looking around her, she now knew where every single edition had ended up. Her dragon had bought the entire collection.

Wait, strike that, he had had Heffer buy the entire collection.

She put the statues from her mind and walked up one of the expansive staircases. Bedrooms, studies, lavs, all were in pristine condition and all were sized for someone not of Geviil birth.

The heavy wing beats got her attention and she ran down the stairs to watch the giant dragon land in the front yard.

His hind legs dropped to the ground with a thud, shaking everything around him. To her surprise, he shrunk in size until he was about the same size as two standard busses. From there, he walked toward the manor house until she was once again chest to snout with the dragon.

Chapter Five

"Hello, Mercuros." She reached out and stroked the long nose, ignoring the razor-sharp teeth.

He shifted in that instant from dragon to Drai. The startling thing was that he maintained the same colouration. He had onyx black skin from head to toe with wings and molten gold eyes.

"Hello, Vikki."

That he was nude was obvious as was his interest in her, baggy clothing covered in dirt and all.

Vinni let out a low whistle and Mercuros whirled to snarl at him. "Mine."

The Dhemon with the small black horns almost hidden in his black hair wisely shut up.

Communications Liaison Heffer rushed forward, trying to take his hand. Vikki grabbed her and held her back, whispering to the other female, "He's mine."

She didn't shove the woman, merely let her go. Heffer got the hint and headed for the skimmer.

Vinni and the pilot didn't quibble. They simply got into the skimmer and lifted off. Apparently, messing with a Drai who was about to claim his mate wasn't worth the cheap jokes.

Alone with her mate, Vikki reached out to take his hands in hers. She smiled up at him, his seven-foot height making her almost six feet seem petite. She pulled him slowly backward, into the manor.

Not a word fell between them until she got him in, got the door closed and opened the closure of her suit. Calmly, she disrobed in front of him until she was wearing nothing but a smile. His muscles were locked into a peculiar rigor of anticipation.

She took his hands in hers once again and continued backing up until her heels hit the stairs. "I really like your house."

He moved like a striking snake. One moment she was holding his hands, the next she was in his arms and he had flown up to the second floor with a flick of his wings coupled with the powerful surge of his thighs.

They flew down the hall and she understood the width of the passageway now. With a final flick, he stopped in front of the two closed doors at the far end of the hallway. The doors opened as he approached and she had to admire the blend of high tech and old world that the house combined.

From her research, Vikki knew that they had gone through most of the steps of Drai courtship. Introduction, the shared dreams, her liking the home he had had built for them and, of course, basic physical attraction.

Now, there was one thing left on that list and Vikki was trembling with eagerness. This close to him, she could feel the dark maelstrom of his emotions. His thoughts were on her and they were very interested on the textures of her skin.

He lowered her to the huge four-poster bed and centred her just so.

She squawked as he reached under her and flipped her to her stomach. She shivered as his lips caressed the base of her skull and feathered kisses down her spine. As she waited for the next kiss to fall, she listened to his inhalations.

The focus of his thoughts was on the differing textures and scents of each inch of her and with the typical patience of the Draikyn, he was taking his time.

With the patience of a Terran, she was getting desperate.

She noted the hand in her line of sight and admired the claws on the end of his fingers and the bands of muscles of his forearm. He was propped over her, but the only part of him to touch her was his lips and the occasional slide of his hair.

She was passively accepting until his lips trailed along her lower back. A quick shimmy of her hips started every time he brushed against those vulnerable inches between ribs and hips. She could have sworn she heard a chuckle, but she ignored it as her blood started to warm and her hips shifted in time to his kisses.

He moved down and kissed her butt, first the left cheek was outlined and then the right. As he moved down to the backs of her thighs, she kept her legs together, but when he shifted his weight to caress her lower back with one hand while he tongued the backs of her knees, a sharp contraction in her belly caused a moan to slip from her lips.

She felt his pause and he repeated the light lap combined with the caress to her back on the other knee and she gave him a rough inhalation that definitely elicited a laugh. The backs of her calves were kissed and when he reached the base of her foot, she jerked out of his range.

He stopped and she thought she had gotten away with it until he gripped her ankle and trailed his lips over the most ticklish part of her body. She squealed and twisted, anchored by that one hand. He was strong and continued until he was finished with the left foot before examining the right.

Laughter overwhelmed her and she was still giggling when he flipped her to her back and met her bright blue gaze with his gold one. In reflex, she reached out to touch him, running her hands along the cords of his neck and cupping the balls of his shoulders.

She frowned when he pulled her hands away from him and pinned them over her head. She tugged to free herself and scowled at him in accusation.

His harsh expression softened, "No. I am very close and I want to learn you first."

He returned to her neck, licking softly, leaving trails of heat in his wake. Vikki could feel the moisture gathering inside her, a slick invitation that he was ignoring.

He nibbled at her collarbone and worked his way between her breasts. She sighed, twisted and enjoyed the feel of his silky hair swinging past his pointed ears to tease her skin.

He was thorough, teasing the underside of each breast before laving the nipple with his tongue. When he slipped the first taut bud between his teeth and suckled lightly, she arched against him, her body twisting upward seeking more contact.

As he moved to her other breast and took a more aggressive approach, pressing his teeth into her skin as he suckled, licked and nibbled at her.

A low mewl came from her as he learned her tastes and scents one by one.

She sucked in her navel when his lips approached and he simply pursued her until she was giggling as her arousal built. She was ticklish. She knew it. No one had ever bothered to explore the flesh between her navel and groin before, but when he flicked out his tongue and she noted that he was watching her response, she knew. "You are confirming all the dream sharing." It wasn't a question. It was exactly what he was doing.

He propped his chin low on her belly and his voice reverberated along every nerve. "Yes. I wanted to be absolutely sure."

"And are you?"

"I was sure when I touched the skin above your ass. Now, I am going after the rest of your zones for the thrill of discovery."

"Jerk."

He grinned, showing the deadly white teeth that mimicked his other form. "And yet your scent says you want me anyway."

She tried to look indifferent. "Maybe. I mean I got the alterations done. So you are sort of my only option unless I want to look into farm animals."

His lips twisted and a look of determination came into his gold eyes. "I see that I have my work cut out for me."

He moved and she realized that taunting him before getting to know him a little might have been a tactical error. He released her hands and settled on his belly low on the bed, but his torso spread her knees wide opening her to him completely.

His kisses took a trip down her hip and between her thighs. To keep her from moving, his hands went under her thighs, curled around and went flat on her belly to hold her.

Mercuros exhaled on her sex before he parted her with his tongue. The heat before the slick slide of his tongue against her had her shaking and when he lapped at her with a slow determination, she bit her lip and tried to stop the moans that seemed to want to crawl out of her throat.

She was unsuccessful.

In another embarrassing moment, the more she heard her own arousal, the more aroused she became until the undulating tongue within her felt the hard contractions of her muscles while she shrieked, gasped and quivered as she came.