Prime Obsession (19 page)

Wulf’s hips thrust harder now, feeding the friction that took her even higher. With each deep thrust he rotated his hips, grinding against her clitoris until the aching pressure exploded into release that sent her mind and soul spinning. Wulf’s shout of pleasure preceded his following her onto a plane of existence that was theirs alone.

As their climaxes continued to feed upon each other’s, Mel couldn’t tell where her pleasure ended and Wulf’s began. Through their shared minds, stars imploded, galaxies were created and destroyed until their pleasure coalesced into one infinite point of bright light, blinding their minds’ eyes to anything but the joy they shared. At the height of their shared peak, when Mel was sure that she couldn’t handle any more, the bright light fractured, and everything that was past and everything that might be swept over them on a tidal wave of ecstasy, finally ending in the gentle warm darkness of exhausted sleep.

For the first time in his life, Wulf woke up with a woman lying nestled against him.

He liked the feeling.

The memories of the hours of shared pleasure made him smile. Sex had never been so good. Making love to the woman Prime biology had chosen for him, and the One had kept safe, was far different from experiencing the act with the sex surrogates on Cejuru Prime.

A drowsy and disgruntled voice muttered, “What sex surrogates?” He peered down at the woman who’d rocked his universe. “It’s not important.” Melina braced one small hand against his chest and pushed herself up against the pillows, resting her head next to his. Now at eye level, she glared at him through narrowed eyes, her green eyes flashing golden sparks. “You were thinking about it—and comparing me to whatever in the hell they are—so I’d say it’s important.”

“You’re jealous!” he said, sure his shock was reflected in his voice.

“Damn right, big guy. So spill it.”

Her roiling emotions buffeted him. Anger. Hurt. Worry. Sadness.

Damn, she was a bit more than upset. He hurried to allay her basic worry first.

“There is no comparison between the surrogates and what we experienced making love. You were in my mind as I was in yours.” He stroked a finger down her elegant nose. “Sex with you is infinitely better than sex with the surrogates. With you, I shared all that I am. The sex surrogates never touched on the real me; it was just a physical act.”

“Okay, fine,” she said, then nipped his finger as it traced her lips. “But what are they? They’re not mentioned in any ancient Prime tomes that I ever read. Am I going to have to share you? ‘Cause I have to tell you, I don’t share well.” She wrinkled her nose as if the idea stank like a ripe Erian.

Wulf chuckled, then leaned over and took her lips, giving her the deep and thorough wake-up kiss he’d been waiting to deliver as he’d watched her sleep. Reluctantly, he pulled away. “No need for jealousy,” he breathed against her moist, luscious rosy lips. “I have no need for the surrogates now. I have you.”

Melina pursed her lips. “Okay. Fine. Sheesh, getting a straight answer out of you is like, well, I don’t know what it’s like, but it’s damn hard.” Stroking his jaw, she said, “Wulf, I don’t need the long version here. I trust that the bond between us is true, but I’m not up on contemporary Prime society and mores. After all, the Prime have been isolationists since before I was born. So, educate me. What are these surrogates? Will I meet them in public? Do Huw and Iolyn visit these surrogates?

Will our soldiers, meaning the non-Prime ones, be able to visit them on leave to, um, purchase sex? I don’t want to say something politically incorrect and cause a galactic incident.”

“Last question first. No. Our non-Prime soldiers will not be allowed to visit them.

They are not prostitutes as the Alliance defines such. The sex surrogates have a specific role within Prime society—and you will meet them at social functions and in public.

They are not a dirty secret. Greet them as you would any new acquaintance.”

“That’s good to know. Maren will need to provide some social guidelines to our diplomats—and we’ll need to make sure the Alliance Military Command knows this also.

Go on, keep explaining.”

She snuggled into his side and began stroking her hand down his body. His cock hardened at her touch. Wake-up sex sounded even better than a kiss. The sooner he satisfied her curiosity, the sooner he could make love to her.

Wulf leaned back on his pillow, pulling Melina’s head onto his shoulder. He brought her trailing and teasing hand up to cover his
gemat
marking, then placed his hand over hers, anchoring it there. The marking radiated a gentle heat. He could smell her arousal.

He smiled. She’d be as ready for him as he was for her.

“Yes, I want you, too. Now, answer my questions so we can play.” She wiggled her fingers against his chest.

“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned. Damn, she made him happy. “Iolyn and Huw might occasionally visit the sex surrogates just as I had in the past. I don’t ask. And they won’t tell you about it, so don’t ask. The Prime are driven by their hormones just as all other humanoid males are.”

She let out a delicate snort. “No need to tell me. I command several hundred of them.

Keep going—sex surrogates?”

Wulf kissed the top of her head. “Just as some men don’t have their
gemates
, there are women who have lost their
gemats
, either before they bonded or through death after bonding. These women move into houses furnished by the Prime Council and provide sexual favors and, in some cases, instructions to unmated Prime males. As a young man, my father took me to one of these sexual surrogates so I would know how to make love to my
gemate—
or any other woman I chose.”

“So,” Melina said as she stroked his marking with a very talented finger, “your father always had a plan to open up your mating system, for lack of better terminology, to the galaxy at large.”

“Yes.” Wulf groaned as she delicately licked the marking she had so adroitly aroused. “Melina, love… I know you are sore, little one. I can feel your stiffness and pain. Are you very sure you can handle me again? I can wait—” Melina delivered several nibbling kisses along the pulsing vein in his neck. The sinking of her teeth into the place where his neck joined his shoulder gave him her answer. His penis jerked at the thought of entering her tight, warm, moist opening once more.

“I’m not fragile, Wulf. I smell your need. It’s what woke me up. It awakened my own
needs.”

His mate wanted him, and she wanted him—now.

After their first time, when his little warrior had incited him so quickly to action, he hadn’t held back his passions. He’d taken her three times during the night. Each time had been as explosive as the first. By all reason, she should be exhausted and bruised from the excesses of their time together. Yet, she wanted him to take her again, dominate her, and he was happy to oblige.

Shoving her gently from him, he rolled her over onto her stomach, then supported her hips with a firm pillow. “Is that comfortable,
lubha?
”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Take me—take me hard.”

With a low, harsh growl, he came over her back, kneeing her thighs apart. Nibbling the back of her neck, he stroked her buttocks with both hands, marveling at the soft skin and the firm roundness. Holding her where he wanted her with one hand, he tested her readiness with first one, then two fingers. His fingers came away sopping wet.

“Wulf! Stop teasing.” She arched her back, thrusting her perfect ass against him.

Licking her essence from his fingers, he muttered against her ear. “So, you like this position?” Before she could answer, he thrust his cock into her vaginal opening, then remained still as she adjusted to the fullness.

“Oh, yeah. Now, Wulf. Move. I’m so close.”

“My pleasure,
gemate lubha
.” Holding her hips with both hands, he set the punishing rhythm that would take them both to the plane of existence that only the two could share.

* * * *

Snuggled against his side, Mel sighed. “I could begin and end every day this way. It just works out all the tension. My muscles are like soggy noodles.” She lifted one arm and let it flop onto the bed, then giggled. “Damn, I think you’re the cure for tight muscles.”

“I’m glad to be of service.” Wulf stroked her hair, then placed a nuzzling kiss on the top of her head. “And I’m willing to provide such—any time.” She grinned and tweaked a convenient male nipple. “Yeah, I bet.” She massaged away the little sting she’d given him. “Who knew I’d like sex so much? All the guys who hit on me on Dad’s digs and later in the military just made me feel, well, icky. The thought of having sex with them made me physically ill.”

“That’s the way it’s supposed to work,” Wulf said, pulling her more closely along his body. “It’s a biological fail-safe to keep the Prime female from mating with the wrong male.”

Mel thought about that for a moment. “So, when you had sex with the surrogate, it didn’t make you sick?”

“No, it only makes the female ill if she has sex with the wrong male. We’ve theorized that biology has selected out that the male shouldn’t go to his woman inexperienced, but that the female must remain untouched for the sake of procreation.” Wulf shrugged. “Doesn’t seem fair, does it?”

“Nope.” Mel frowned. “So, do the sex surrogates feel sick when they, uh, service men who are not their
gemats
?”

“They take hormones to counteract the side effects. This also prevents conception.” Wulf stroked her hair.

The vibes coming off Wulf bothered her. After the orgasmic release they had just shared, he should be as relaxed as she. Mel touched his mind lightly.

He was worried about the traitors.

“Everything is fine, Wulf,” she reassured him. “I’ve opened the empathic part of my mind periodically to read the general emotional temperature of the crew. Things are cool.

We have time for a bath and food before we go talk to the two idiots who tried to harm me.”

Wulf tensed, then growled. “I want to kill the cretins.”

“Well, you won’t.” She stroked his jaw, massaging the tenseness away. “You’ll turn them over to the Alliance Military Command on Tooh 10 along with the Antarean prisoners before we head on to Cejuru Prime to meet your father—and bury my parents.” A sharp pain pierced her heart. She’d been so entranced with the furthering of her relationship with Wulf, she had forgotten all about them.

Wulf pulled her even closer and rubbed his jaw against her hair.
“I’m so sorry about
your parents, little one.”

His sympathy and love came across their mental connection strongly. It was as if he had wrapped her in an emotional security blanket as well as his arms. This
gemat-gemate
bond was pretty darn nice at times.

Wulf growled, “And why won’t I turn these rebels over to the Elder Council on my home planet for Prime justice?”

Mel turned and braced her arms on his chest, touching her forehead to his. “Because your planet is a signatory to the Galactic Alliance now and those two rebels first have to be tried for the attempted murder of two Alliance military officers—Iolyn and me. Then Cejuru Prime’s Elder Council can have them after the Alliance is done with them.
If
they manage to survive fifty standard years in the penal colony in the Umbraxi solar system.”

“I’d still like to kill them,” he grumbled. “But, as a substitute, fifty standard years freezing their balls off on that hunk of ice sounds like a pretty good punishment.” Mel placed a quick kiss on his oh-so-cute pouty lips. “Yep, the Alliance Military Command is nothing if not mean.” She pushed away from him before he could grab her for a fuller kiss, then rolled off the bed. “By the way, did I forget to mention that they send convicted serial killers and rapists to the same prison?” Wulf’s grim smile told her he got the mental image. Back in the days when she was a lowly transport captain, she’d made a delivery of prisoners to the penal colony. Her memories of the prison and the prisoners’ living conditions were stark and horrific.

“Bath? Or shower?” she asked as she entered the luxurious bathroom attached to their quarters.

“Bath, love.” Wulf came to her and caressed her arms. “You are sore. You need to soak. Plus, I have this fantasy of washing you.”

“Is that a hint that I can wash you, also?” she teased.

Wulf raised one arrogant eyebrow and his lips quirked. “That’s another fantasy of mine. How did you guess?” He winked, a teasing glint in his eyes.

His little-boy grin sent a thrill through her. Her Wulf enjoyed the playfulness as much as she did.

“I can read minds, you know?” she whispered then winked back.

“How lucky for me,” he said before leaning down and sucking her lower lip into his mouth then releasing it. “What am I thinking now?”

Eyes open wide, she peered up at him. “Again?” Then she risked looking down. “I guess so.”

“Only if you are not too sore, love.” He brushed his cheek against hers.

“Guess we have to break in the tub some time,” she said. “Now is as good a time as any. But I will need food after this. I think I can feel my ribs poking out through my skin.”

“Bath-sex. Bath. Then food. I promise on my honor as a Prime warrior.” Wulf held out a hand and led her to the tub.