Intimidator (11 page)

Her bosom heaved as if she tried to control herself but couldn’t.

“Am I scaring you, Willow?”

She merely blinked then ventured, “A little. What are you?”

“I am what I said I am. An alien. I only brought you here because I’m worried you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“I so believe that.”

Sarcasm again? He guessed what he’d just done to her in the forest made a mockery of what he’d said.

“It’s true.”

“Yeah? You and your two
friends
should look at yourselves in the mirror.” The words snagged a few times as she said them.

“They’re Preyfinders, merely doing their jobs. You heard what they said – they won’t touch you.”

Him, on the other hand.

He leaned over her, careful not to drip blood on the quilt, tipped her on her side, and undid the binding he’d made with the leash. Her small fingers tempted him to kiss them, and so he did. Then he straightened again, determined to be more aloof despite the way her body lured him, despite his cock being uncomfortably hard. Had he not fucked her fifteen minutes ago?

“Don’t be scared. I saved you once.”

“I bet most serial killers use that line.” She squirmed into a seated position, propping herself up with straight arms. “So, you brought me here just to discuss philosophy.”

Her toes scrunched in. Her mouth was straight. He couldn’t miss those details on her. He seemed to absorb every movement she did.

Philosophy? It took him a moment to recognize the meaning. Then he took a hold of her chin with finger and thumb. “No. Not that.”

When she glanced down at his groin, he narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not a whore, Stom. I couldn’t help myself back there. You gave me something.”

Even if it made no sense, her words stirred anger in him.

“And what did you give me? What I feel is not natural either.”

That stopped her. “You said that before.” She shook her head, eyes blazing, teeth showing as she spoke. “I did
nothing
to you. All I know is that you made me stand still for you to fuck me in public and I didn’t stop you. Damn. That’s sick. Oh shit. No protection! How the fuck did I forget that?” She screwed up her face into all sorts of horrified looks then buried it in her hands. Her next question was muffled. “Am I going to get pregnant?”

“No. You can’t.”

“Why? This better be good.”

“Because I’m an alien.”

“Bad answer, man.” She stared wildly around the room and at the leash, then plucked at the collar. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. I’ve been abducted and tied up and I’ve seen zero spaceships.”

“You need to believe me.” His finger was hurting badly but he tried to think. What could he show her? He wasn’t allowed alien artifacts or to take her to the ship.

“Go away. Please?”

She flopped over onto her stomach. He heard her sniff and wondered if she cried. The females did that easily here. This did not make sense. Nothing about his reaction did. He’d get checked for foreign substances and invading infections while his finger was fixed.

Gods. The length of her stretched out on the bed, the inviting curves of her posterior where the shorts molded inward, the hint of wetness on her thighs. Her
smell
– his and hers mixed with the smell of recent sex. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.

“Find some clothes to wear. There will be women’s clothing over there on the table.” The neatly folded, squared-off piles on the elegant table by the far wall should have various dresses. Though he was sure she’d prefer shorts and T-shirt. “Don’t remove the collar or I will do something bad to you when I return.”

Her growl was cute.

“Do not test me.”

If he waited much more he’d do something bad to her
now
, especially when she squeezed her thighs together as if pressing her pussy onto the bed.

Fuck.

He turned, stepped outside then closed and locked the steel door. He slumped, leaning his shoulders against the wall before thumping his head back. She gave him filthy ideas every second he was in her presence. Tests! He needed those. He probably had some deadly earth disease.

He went to walk away but something made him silently unlock and open the door again, just to see, whatever, maybe to see if she’d moved.

She hadn’t. From the noises, she was crying. An unfamiliar sting started in his eyes and he had to resist the
pull
inside that demanded he go to her and hug her to him. Sad. She was so pretty, so small, so in need of a protector. He shut the door quietly, and held the handle tight enough to make his hand white and red from blood flow problems. What was
wrong
with him?

The two Preyfinders agreed to rig up a surveillance drone to use from the house. They couldn’t help him catch or tend to Willow but Ally was separate. Not his. Not anyone’s. If they needed an excuse for their next report, they could say it was an assessment of her qualifications as future prey. Hah. But this way he kept his promise to Willow.

The march along the white corridor to the ship airlock gave him time to think, to sort priorities. The quicker he did all this, the quicker he could return to her.

Fix finger and do tests. Then go back and, what was it Brask said? Fuck her brains out while he figured out what to do. He didn’t want her getting killed out there. She wasn’t moving without Ally. And he needed to fuck her even if he had no idea why.

Even now he recalled the feel of her pussy around him as he entered her. His mind followed the prompt of that memory. His cock sliding in. Her cunt all wet and hot. Exquisite. Him, claiming her for the first time, biting her neck. Teeth on her, the salty taste of her sweaty female skin. Her small cries. He swallowed.

“Wonderful,” he muttered. At least Nasskia would never know he’d betrayed her. Alas, that didn’t soothe his heart or his soul. Taking this Earth woman was wrong. Anger simmered.

There was a possible cause he hadn’t considered. How devious was Brask?

The medical bay was empty of all bar the medic and him to start with, but while the medic put a regenerative splint on his finger, he called Brask.

The Preyfinder strolled in looking professional yet relaxed in black pants and shirt, his hair spiked up in sand-gold pieces and his face grim.

“What you got there, Stom?” He peered at the see-through splint. The thing was still connected by a lead to the cyber doc. Brask whistled. “Your pet took a good chunk of that finger off. Bone missing?”

Stom let him do his assessment. Besides, it felt like the machine was sucking the very flesh off his hand. He kept his teeth clamped as it hummed through another healing cycle.

The medic replied tersely. “Only the top joint. Minimal blood loss due to Stom’s combat profile. It’ll be about a week and a half before the finger is normal.”

Brask looked up and met Stom’s eyes. “I hope it hurts. You were careless. Walking into that.”

True.
“I’ve had worse. I’ll survive. Now. Tell me what you gave me.”

“Me? I gave you nothing. What do you mean?”

“Why am I so attracted to this Earth woman?”

“You are?” Brask smiled. He went back a step and perched on a stool. “I guessed it. I don’t know why you are, let’s say, attracted. Not my doing. Go with the flow. Take her as your pet. Simple answer.”

Nothing? “Not your doing? You didn’t give me anything? No chems?”

“No. On my soldier brother’s honor.”

“Ah.” He blinked. That had been his best chance. An Earth disease had seemed very unlikely. “It must be some bug I picked up here then?”

The medic tapped the display on a screen near his elbow, “No. You’ve nothing wrong with you except for being a Feya with fingers that get in the way of bullets.”

Stom leaned in and peered. “That was fast. You’re sure?”

“Am I sure?” The medic frowned then unplugged the lead to Stom’s finger splint. “No, I’m not. Look! I was wrong. You do have a disease.”

The tone was so exaggerated he was wary. “What is it?”

The reply was matter of fact as the medic rose, packed away cables, and turned off equipment. “A virulent strain of purple
kak
disease and your dick’s going to drop off tomorrow.”

Brask guffawed. “Well saved, Yakul.”

The man nodded to them both, saluted, and moved away.

“Ha ha. Not funny.”

“I’m not sure why you have to question it, Stom. Be happy. My men tell me you have her locked in at the house. Go to her. You can keep her there for a day before you have to release her. Then it’s one more capture. One dose of the nano-chem and that’s it. Take her home with you.”

Home.
“I have no home. I have
no
use for a pet.” Why didn’t he understand that?

“Feya honor? I don’t get that. This is sex. You deserve some fun in your life. No one can live without fun. You
are
an honorable man. This changes that not at all.”

The man was trying to make him feel good about this situation. “Thank you.” He hauled himself upright. “I’ll think about it.”

He would. That was true, but he also knew his honor was his own to regulate. He was the only one who could decide what was right.

A tap at the entrance to the hospital facility, at the far end of the room, made him turn. “Bambi,” he muttered under his breath.

“What?” Brask looked also. “Brittany? Come in!” He gestured to her as he spoke in an aside to Stom. “She’s fine, Stom. Just a quiet sort. She likes to check on anyone who’s ill.”

A sparrow flew into the room and landed on her shoulder. Strange.

He watched her stride lithely toward them, curious to see if he felt any of the same extreme attraction to her as he did to Willow. Her mane of glossy auburn hair flicked across her shoulders. Her hips swayed under the close fitting white uni-suit. But she meant nothing to him despite her beauty. Pretty, yes, but no more than that.

Whereas Willow, even now he felt the lure. He imagined her still crying and for once the need to comfort her dragged at him more than the need to have sex. Good. That was something any normal and good man would feel. Though perhaps not Brask – the Igrakk had a casual regard for women.

“You let her do this? See all the injured? Without questioning her why she wants to?”

“Yes, I do. I have a theory about the healing rates here. Just haven’t quite figured it out yet.”

He gave Brask a sharp glance before greeting Brittany. When asked, he let her examine the splint and even smiled and thanked her. With Brask’s clue he was especially alert.

When she left, he stared into the splint. There seemed a subtle change.

“Wish it had still been connected to the lead. Yakul might’ve been able to get some data.”

“You think she heals people?” Stom flexed his finger. It certainly stung less.

“I do. I’d discuss it further with Dassenze but he’s gone off-planet. Small escalation of the war. There’s a Bak-lal accumulation of war ships in a nearby system.” He shot Stom a serious look. “Dassenze has an on-running investigation of some of the earth women. Odd things have been happening. Spikes in data.”

“Does Brittany’s bond mate, Jadd, know of this?”

“Not yet. Though I think he suspects.” He sat forward, face still as stone, staring at the floor a moment. “If this is correct, it’s the stuff of myths. No other starfaring race can do anything like this.”

They regarded each other. Momentous, if true. Why had he not already told Dassenze? Obviously, he wanted more proof. Besides, the god was already aware of the possibilities.

Dassenze was the current Ascend god assigned here. If
he’d
left to assist in the war, what was he doing fooling around with capturing a woman? Stom drummed his fingers on the counter top beside him. He grimaced at the lance of pain. Wrong hand.

“Perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to Willow. I knew there was something.”

“A weird power?” Brask grinned. “Maybe. Maybe, you have a succubus on your hands. Lucky Feya.”

“A suck you what?”

His grin widened. “That’s a type of mythical Earth creature that lures men to have sex with them. Stom, if you do continue with this, I should tell you we may be short of Preyfinders for a while. We’re gearing up to raid a possible focus of Bak-lal soldiers in the USA. We have to be doubly cautious without a god here to oversee. You’re lower priority. So be careful.”

“I thought this planet was clear? That you destroyed the only known factory queen?”

“We thought so. But it’s possible there are more. Deep-buried ones. We can handle it. Last time we used the ship.” He knocked on the arm of his chair. “
Doomslagger
did her job well, but I doubt we’ll need her.”

Taking out a queen would need ship firepower. He relaxed a little. They must only expect some stray soldiers.

He stood. “I’m going back to her. I’ll keep mindful of what you said. But I am me. I march to my own brand of honor.”

Brask twisted his mouth then grunted. “You do what you feel is right.”

As he walked back along the underwater tunnel, a thought occurred to him. If Brittany could heal soldiers, she was a valuable prize. Lucky for him that Willow might only be a – what had Brask called her? A succubus. An enticer of men. Lucky because no one was likely to command him to make her his pet. Of course, Brask had been joking, but he didn’t know what this desire for her felt like. Powerful enough that he had a hard-on whenever he even vaguely thought of going to her. Like now. He adjusted his cock and sighed.

Not since he was a youngling had he been so constantly aroused.

But, wait, if she
did
have any odd powers they’d still want her to see how she did it. Even if it was a useless power. Which meant if he didn’t capture her, someone else might be ordered to. Anger crackled through his bones. He crushed his fists into tight balls.

Wait. Wait…

He pressed his fingers to his head. There was a flaw in his idea. No one else felt like this around her. His argument was kak. Something must be happening. But not that. Scratch succubus off the list.

When he resumed walking, a sense of dread occupied him. Not understanding this was unraveling his sense of self. He didn’t know who he was anymore, except that he wasn’t the pristine hero Nasskia and his younglings had clung to when he returned home from battle, not anymore.