Lunar Lovers (6 page)

She kissed him back, just as softly, her mouth moving under
his. When he lifted his head, she gave a little sigh that did more to turn him
on than anything he’d heard or seen so far. Shifting his weight to one arm, he
reached between them and guided his cock inside her sheath.

His penetration was shallow in this position but she didn’t
seem to mind. She rubbed against him and moaned each time he thrust, her breath
catching as he angled himself so that the top of his shaft glided up and down
her clit.

Dropping his head to her shoulder, he inhaled her unique
scent and kissed her moist skin. She turned her head and nuzzled him, murmuring
nonsense words that held no meaning but meant everything to him.

He blinked fast, preventing his tears from falling and
humiliating himself in front of his brothers.

With a loud moan, Achelle shuddered.

He was sure that it was simply instinct that had her wrapping
her arms around him and pulling him against her so they were chest to breast,
but the intimacy of their position squeezed at his heart.

As he came, he remembered to bite her over her heart,
marking her as theirs. And for a fleeting, wretched moment he wished Achelle
was his and not Sam’s. Although he quickly shoved the betraying thought away,
he could not uproot the feelings of love for his brother’s mate that had
bloomed in his heart.

Refusing to give action to his emotion, he quickly abandoned
the bed and kept his back to her as he asked, “We all finished here?”

“Yeah, let’s get Sam into bed with her and leave them to
complete their bond over the next three days,” Shome said.

Essar and Errol pulled Sam up and shoved him onto the bed.
Achelle hummed her approval and wrapped her lithe body around her mate’s,
resting her head on his chest and stroking his face, chest and abdomen. When
her hand slid lower, the brothers seemed to agree simultaneously that it was
time for them to leave.

Everything was as it should be.

Chapter Five

The rich, earthy smell of fresh caff brewing brought Achelle
awake to thin lines of sunlight piercing partially drawn blinds. The hard nude
body at her naked back brought her out of bed and across the room. She stumbled
backward. Her arms pinwheeled and she slammed against the far wall.

The male was out of bed and across the room before she could
blink, gripping her forearms and pulling her up against him, which flattened
her breasts against his chest and pressed his erection into her stomach.

Damn.

Flushing, she pulled away from him to thump against the wall
again. This time when he reached out to steady her, he left space between them.

Fast learner.

She looked up into Samius Pherein’s possessive green-blue
eyes…and screamed. Full-throated, hands fisted, screamed.

When she ran out of breath, she took another and raged at
him.

“How dare you, you liar, you wretched piece of space trash!
You made me trust you, like you, and for what? To turn me into your whore?”

She beat at him with her fists as well as her words. He
flinched under her attack but didn’t retreat. And when at last her strength ran
out and her words slid together, no longer making sense, she sank to the floor
and wept.

She had become what she’d promised her mother she would never
be. Faces of the men she’d fucked last night flashed in her mind, burning her
eyes, breaking her heart. How could she? And like it—no,
love
it?

He’d drugged her. That had to be the reason for her
voracious sexual appetite, for her lack of inhibition—

“No.” Samius kneeled down in front of her and took her face
in his hands. “I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong. I didn’t make you
a whore, I made you my wife. I didn’t drug you, what you felt last night was
your body’s natural reaction to finding me, your mate.”

“My mate?” She rubbed away her tears with the heel of her
hands. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You are Rane, Achelle, or at least part Rane. Our race is
biologically programmed to recognize our mortal mates, our spouses, like I recognized
you at the station. And you recognized me too. Otherwise I doubt you would’ve
trusted me enough to leave with me.”

She brought her knees up to her chest, covering herself and
forcing Samius to give her more space. “I made a mistake in trusting you.
Obviously you’re a liar. I was desperate and stupid, that’s why I left with
you. I needed a job.”

He ran his hands over the stubble on his head. “You’re
wrong. If you look inside yourself you’ll see—”

“See what?” She lifted her hands palms out and noticed that
they were shaking. The tremor grew and moved up her arms to shudder through her
body. “That you’re my mate? Yeah, you must really be devoted to me giving me to
all those men.”

All long lines and smooth muscle, he stood and paced away.
“Last night was the Rane coupling ritual.” He turned to her and let out a heavy
sigh as his gaze dropped to her chest. “Those men are my brothers and your
protectors. They coupled with you and marked you, which bonded you to our
family and ensured your fertility.”

Achelle placed a hand over her heart and felt dozens of
small scars that made a circular pattern. Even though she didn’t want it, a
feeling of rightness, of belonging permeated her psyche as she traced the
circular scars with her fingertips. Her racing heart slowed and a feeling of
calm swept away her anger and fear, allowing her to consider last night
clearly.

A million questions sounded in her mind, but when she looked
up at Samius, she didn’t have to ask them. His answers were there to pluck from
his mind. He told her with his thoughts that her ability to see into him was
part of the benefit of bonding.

What’s more, he believed everything he’d told her.

She shied away from the love she felt from him, the
compassion and understanding, the regret that he’d frightened her. And then
there was his lust, or the “coupling drive” as he called it, which would level
off in a few days, no longer demanding they spend days in bed, coming together,
reinforcing their bond.

He thought her beautiful.

Her gaze jumped to meet his. He had never wanted a female
the way he wanted her. And she could use that. His love and lust were just
waiting for her to take advantage of.

Sliding up the wall to a standing position, Achelle kept her
eyes on him.

“How will you take advantage of my feelings for you, Mate?”

Startled, she gasped. She should have realized that the mind
link worked both ways.

Recovering from the shock quickly, she lowered her gaze to
his semihard cock and licked her lips.

Sam didn’t question the sudden change in his mate’s mood.
They were just beginning their three-day bonding. If she wanted to take
advantage of his hard-on, he sure as hell wasn’t going to discourage her. He’d
much rather couple than fight. It didn’t matter that they’d come together again
and again last night after his brothers had left.

They belonged in the three-day bonding bed and then together
forever. Ranes mated for life.

At that moment, Sam’s mate pushed off the wall and sauntered
to him, her hips rolling so she moved in a seductive glide. His gaze lifted to
her plush breasts, her nipples hard and begging for his hands and mouth.

When she reached him, standing a finger-width away, she
shocked him by pressing her hands to his chest and sliding down his body to
kneel on the floor, her head level to his cock.

She looked up, met his eyes and licked her lips. Then she
ducked her head and licked him from the tip of his head down his shaft, flicked
and sucked on his balls. He cupped her head in his hands as she kissed her way
up his shaft. When she blew on his oversensitive skin, he buried his fingers in
her hair and held her to him as he fucked her face.

“Open your mouth wider,” he prompted as he thrust.

She complied and allowed him to move at his own pace, change
from deep to shallow, fast to slow. When he moved deep, she swallowed him to
the back of her throat. When he moved shallow, she wrapped one hand around his
shaft and used the other to massage his balls.

Because of the mind link, she knew what would please him
most, just as he knew when she began to tire.

He withdrew to pull her up into his arms, where she rubbed
against him from hips to breasts with a delicate purr that reverberated through
his body like a siren’s song. The pout in her parted lips seduced him into a
kiss that tasted of their future together. The grip of her hand as she stroked
his cock brought him back to the present.

Holding her hips, he walked them back to the bed where she
pushed him backward. He hit the mattress. She stood over him, feet planted
wide, hands on hips, all seductress until one reached her magenta eyes, which
were opened wide and framed by raised eyebrows.

“Achelle?”

She gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and climbed
up on the bed to straddle his hips. He reached for her through their mind link
but her nervous need blocked out anything else she might be feeling or
thinking. All he felt of her emotions was uneasy desire. All he heard of her
thoughts was tense need. She took him in an inch at a time, enveloping him with
her heat, allowing him access to her body when she refused him entrance to her
mind.

Eyes closed, hair spilling all around her in a golden
curtain, she gripped him tight and began to move, rolling her hips. Sam watched
her graceful, sensual movements, mesmerized by her beauty and the amazing fact
that she was his mate.

He drove up into her, gripping her hips then sliding his
hands up to cup her small, high breasts. Her breathy moans and sighs filled the
room, growing louder, more intense with each thrust.

He slid his hands back down to her hips to help her pick up
the rhythm and ride him as fast and hard as she wanted. She came on a curse,
gripping him tight. He rolled so she was under him and found his own release as
he watched her shudder beneath him.

As soon as he came, he was hard again.

She looked up at him, her brows coming together, her lower
lip caught between her teeth. He could feel her surprise through their mind
link.

“You are my mortal mate. I will always want you—no matter
how recent our last coupling.”

He leaned down and licked at her bottom lip until she
released it from the bite of her teeth. The kiss he gave her started soft but
she took over, turning it hard, aggressive. Damn if she didn’t taste like
highest heaven. Damn if she didn’t suck his tongue into her mouth as if he
tasted every bit as good.

Without a conscious decision, he began to move over her,
inside her. She was so slick, so tight. She scratched her nails down his back
to embed them in his butt, urging him to go deeper. He reared back, braced her
legs against his body and drove into her.

She arched off the bed, coming immediately. He smiled at the
sight of her enraptured face, her hair tangled around her making her look wild,
exotic, feral. When she began to quiet, he reached between her legs and teased
her clit. Light, soft caresses at first. He became more insistent with his
strokes when he felt her reach her peak once more.

They came together, each shouting the other’s name, both
riding their passion so high they fought to breathe. The afterglow dazzled like
a supernova, outshining everything before fading over what might have been
minutes or years.

When he finally grew cognizant of his surroundings, he found
all six of his brothers crowding around the bed. With an angry growl, he pulled
the covers over his mate.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He glared at them
as Achelle pulled the covers even higher to hide her head.

Cannan cleared his throat and said, “We’ve been trying to
reach you over the intercom—”

“My mate and I are in our three-day bonding bed. Has it been
three days?” He made sure his question was loaded with sarcasm but truth be
told, he wouldn’t have been all that surprised if the answer was yes. He felt
as though he might’ve been in Achelle’s arms for hours or days.

“There’s been another accident at the main mine,” Cannan
said, his fingers sliding over the slick, rubbery scars on his face. With a
full-body jolt, the male seemed to realize what he was doing and dropped his
hand to his side. “Twelve mineworkers trapped.”

“We wouldn’t disturb you,” Shome said, “but as head of the
company we need—”

“You don’t need to tell me my duties. I know what my job
entails.” Sam tugged at the sheet covering Achelle’s face. After three hard
pulls, the sheet ripped, revealing wary eyes. “Achelle, there are lives at stake.
Otherwise I would not leave our bonding bed. I will return as soon as I can.”

“I understand,” she said quietly, “and I don’t blame you.”

He felt sincerity packed behind her words and an emotional
undercurrent that he didn’t have time to examine. With another quick tug of the
sheet, her mouth came into view. He leaned down and gave her a short, soft kiss
before rolling from the bed.

Unable to suppress a sigh of regret, he looked over his
shoulder as he followed his brothers from the room. The bonding to his mortal
mate had gone wrong from the start.

First they’d coupled without witness. Now he was leaving
their three-day bonding bed on the first day. Things were not going well.

Up the stairs on the right, he entered his rooms, going
straight to the cleanser. Under the hot rays of the cleanser beam, Sam mentally
reached for Achelle through their mind link but she still kept him at a
distance so he could only sense and hear far-flung feelings and thoughts,
nothing personal, nothing close to her heart.

The cleanser beam blinked high then off. Sam stepped out of
the chamber and headed for his closet. Selecting sturdy but worn mining
clothes, he withdrew from his mind link with Achelle. He dressed quickly and
met his brothers in the garage.