The Breed (11 page)

“Sylvia,” I said, feeling sick. “You said the
implications could be severe. What did you mean by that?”

“The male needs to breed the female often
and…and…” She cleared her throat. “And partake of her, uh, I think
my colleague called it nectar or…” She took a deep breath. “Or he
risks death.”

“Death?” I was horrified. I kept seeing
Lukas’s face in front of me. His sad eyes, so filled with longing.
I kept hearing his deep voice saying he loved me… “He’s going to
die,” I whispered, feeling like I might throw up or cry or both.
“Lukas is going to die…”

“Not if you go to him quickly,” Sylvia
said.

“What?” I stared at the phone as though I
could see my friend if I looked hard enough. I had never meant to
reveal my secret but Sylvia took it calmly, almost as though she’d
expected it. “What did you say?” I asked.

Suddenly the viewscreen flickered to life and
Sylvia appeared—using the vid conferencing feature which was
something she never had before. “Look at me, Lexie,” she
demanded.

Feeling numb, I pressed the vid conference
button on my own phone. “Okay, I’m here,” I said.

“That’s better.” She nodded briefly. “I’ve
always known something was different about you, I just didn’t know
what it was,” she said shortly. “You’re a Breeder, Lexie. And so is
Lukas. You’re a matched set, aren’t you?”

“That…that’s what he claims.” My mouth felt
dry. “He said…he wanted to…” But I couldn’t finish. Couldn’t admit
what I’d let him do to me.

“Whatever you did, there’s no shame in it,”
Sylvia assured me gently. “Remember, Lexie, he’s not really your
brother—not on the most basic level. The only level that
counts.”

“I know—I realize that now,” I whispered.
“But…he still
feels
like my brother, Sylvia.”

“Well, you were raised as siblings so that’s
understandable.” She nodded. “But you still don’t have to be
ashamed of your feelings for him.” He gave me a level look. “And
you
do
have feelings for him. Don’t you, Lexie?”

“Yes,” I whispered and the truth of the words
rushed over me as I spoke. “Yes, I can’t help myself. Oh God,
Sylvia. I…I think I love him.”

“Then go to him,” she said gently. “And
hurry, Lexie. A male Breeder without his mate doesn’t last
long.”

“How long have I got?” I was already up,
shoving back my chair and knocking into the table in my haste to be
gone. The mug of tea I’d been toying with fell on the floor and
burst like a bomb, the ceramic shattering into a million pieces and
tea splattering everywhere. I didn’t give a damn.

“Maybe less than twenty-four hours.” Sylvia
sounded grim. “You have to hurry.”

“Okay, all right. I’m on it,” I babbled.
“Thank you so much, Sylvia. You don’t know how much this means to
me.”

“Yes, I do,” she said quietly. “Or I wouldn’t
have called. He’s not just your brother, Lexie—he’s your mate. Go
save him.”

“I will!” I was about to end the call when my
friend’s voice called me back once more.

“There’s just one more thing, Lexie,” she
said. “He’s going to need to breed. It’s the only way to save him.
Can you bring yourself to do that?”

I swallowed hard. Could I give myself to
Lukas? Could I make love to him again, even though I still felt
like he was my big brother?

I have to,
I told myself grimly.
If
I don’t, he dies.

“Yes,” I told Sylvia, my voice shaking. “Yes,
I think I can.”

Lukas didn’t answer his phone. I called and
called after I hung up with Sylvia but there was nothing but a
monotonous recording instructing me to leave a message. I left
several but he didn’t respond and he had never told me where he was
staying.

I walked in circles, my hands clenched in my
hair, feeling desperate.
Think, Lexie, where would he
be?

Finally I remembered that his favorite place
to stay when he was on Earth was the Ritz, downtown in Old Tampa. I
called their front desk and was relieved to hear that he was
there.

“Are you his doctor?” the front desk girl
asked me just as I was going to hang up.

“Why?” I said, feeling my heart freeze. “I
mean, why would you ask me that?”

“It’s just…he looked terrible when he came
in—really sick. I wanted to call him someone but he said he would
call his own doctor. So I thought…” She trailed off uncertainly.
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.”

“Yes,” I said, deciding to go with it. “Yes,
I’m his doctor and I’ll need to see him at once. What room is he in
again?”

She gave me the room number and two seconds
later I was out the door and into my car. I drove like a maniac,
the girl’s words echoing in my ears. Lukas looked terrible. He was
sick.
He needs me,
I couldn’t help thinking.
He needs me
to help him the way he helped me.
My nipples and pussy throbbed
at the thought. Already my honey and nectar were flowing again.
Looking down, I could see that the simple white blouse I’d thrown
on before I left was already see-through. I was glad I had a long
coat in the car—I would need it to cover myself.

I parked on the curb, threw my keys to the
startled valet, and ran up the steps to the Ritz, wrapping the
heavy coat around me as I went. No time for questions or
pleasantries, I ignored the front desk and made my way straight for
the bank of elevators at the back of the lobby.

When I got to Lukas’ room, I wished I would
have stopped at the front desk and begged a key. No matter how much
I knocked and shouted, he didn’t answer. I was getting desperately
worried about him. Was he too sick to move? Had he already died?
What would I do if I had to live my life without him?

Please, big brother,
I thought
desperately as I pounded and shouted at the door.
Please, Lukas,
don’t be dead. Don’t be gone where I can’t follow.

At last, just when I was about to give up in
desperation and go back to the front desk to try and get a key, I
saw the doorknob turn.

“Lexie?” His deep voice sounded faint and
tired. “Is that you?”

“Of course, it’s me. Let me in!” I pushed my
way into the room impatiently. Shutting the door behind me I turned
to face him…and gasped.

Lukas looked terrible. His face was drawn and
his normally tan skin was ashen white. There were dark circles
under his black eyes, as though he hadn’t slept a wink. I had never
seen my big brother looking so ill, so
frail
. It scared the
hell out of me.

“Come on.” Taking him by the shoulders, I
propelled him back into the bedroom. The bed was made up but I
could tell he’d been lying on it. Had he been too weak to get under
the covers? The thought of him lying there, curled on his side in a
ball, shivering all night made me want to cry.

Lukas shambled over to the bed and collapsed
on it. He was wearing only a pair of black silk sleep pants and his
bare, muscular chest heaved painfully when he breathed. “If you
came to play nurse, it’s too late,” he said, his voice barely
audible. “I’m shutting down, Lexie. You’re just in time to say
goodbye.”

“Nobody is saying goodbye to anyone,” I said
sharply. “Come on, get up where I can look at you.” I forced him to
move up until he was leaning against the headboard. Then I propped
some pillows behind his back and sat on the bed beside him.

“Thirsty,” he whispered. His eyes were hollow
and I could almost see him deteriorating right in front of me.

“All right. I’ll find you something to drink.
Is there any water?” I started to look around, scanning the
nightstand and dresser for anything to drink but Lukas stopped me
by putting a hand on my arm.

“Don’t need…water,” he whispered.

I felt my stomach flutter as I understood
what he meant. What was it Sylvia had said? That he would need to
partake of my nectar? “I know what you need,” I whispered. Slowly I
pulled off my heavy coat and dropped it on the floor.

“Looks like…you need it too,” Lukas
rasped.

I followed his eyes to the front of my white
shirt and saw what he was talking about. My nipples were tight and
dark, pressing hard against the transparent silk and a steady flow
of nectar was coming from them.

“Yes,” I whispered, unbuttoning the blouse.
“I…I guess I do.”

“Come here, Sis,” Lukas murmurs, his eyes
suddenly hot. “Let’s give each other what we need.”

It wasn’t as hard to do as I had feared,
though I couldn’t help having some reservations. Despite my
realization that I had feelings for Lukas and the knowledge that he
was not, on a genetic level, really related to me, he still felt
like my big brother. It still felt wrong to straddle his thighs and
give him access to my bare breasts. To present my nipples to be
sucked. And yet, if I wanted to save him—as I so desperately did—I
would have to do this and more…much more.

Trying not to think about that, I climbed
into Lukas’ lap and pressed one stiff nipple against his lips.
“Drink,” I whispered. “Take what you need, Lukas. I…I don’t
mind.”

With a low groan, he took my tight nipple
between his lips and began to suck. I moaned as well, feeling the
fullness in my breast ease considerably as he nursed urgently at my
engorged peak.

Ever since Lukas had come back into my life,
this had been almost familiar to me. The tug of his hot mouth on my
breast, the delicious pleasure that ran from my nipples to the hot
spot between my thighs. But this time it was different—because this
time I let myself participate.

Instead of just sitting there, watching in
horror as my big brother sucked my nipples, I let my hands creep up
and carded my fingers through his thick black hair. For the first
time I urged him on, moaning encouragement when he switched to my
other breast. I could feel my pussy going liquid with desire and
for once, I didn’t fight the feeling.

I have to give in,
I told myself.
Have to give him what he needs—what we both need—if I’m going to
save him.

At last Lukas pulled back, his cheeks
flushed. Already he looked a thousand times
better—stronger—healthier. Yet I was aware that if I didn’t go
further, if I didn’t finish this the way I should have the night
before, he would quickly get ill again.

“Why, Lexie?” he whispered, looking at me
intently. “Why did you come back? Was it just so I could ease the
pressure in your breasts?”

“No, of course not.” I stroked his hair back
from his high forehead. “My friend—the one I talked to on the phone
the other day…”

“You mean the one who told you we really did
come from the same mother?” he interrupted, frowning.

“Yes, her,” I said firmly. “But she told me
something else. She said we weren’t really related—not on a genetic
level.”

“I know,” he said calmly. “Because the male
egg’s DNA mutates, making him completely different from the female
or sister egg.”

“You knew?” I looked at him in disbelief.
“Why in the world didn’t you tell me, Lukas?”

“Would it have mattered?” he demanded. “Is
the genetic issue really what’s putting you off, Lexie? Because I
don’t think it is.” He cupped my cheek and looked at me intently.
“I think the real problem is that we were raised as brother and
sister. And no matter what evidence you have to the contrary,
you’re always going to think of me as your big brother…not your
lover.”

I swallowed hard. He had a point. No matter
how much I tried to tell myself differently, Lukas still felt like
a brother to me.
But this is the only way,
I told myself
desperately.
And I want him. Want to save him. To be with him.
To never let him go.

“Lukas,” I said quietly, lifting my chin.
“Why can’t you be both?”

His eyebrows shot up and he looked at me in
disbelief. “Think what you’re saying, Lexie. Do you honestly want
to let your big brother fuck you? Not just once but night after
night for years to come? To fill your pussy with his cock and cum
in you? To make you pregnant?”

“Yes,” I whispered, my cheeks heating with a
mixture of shame and desire. “Yes, Lukas, I…I think I do.”

“Thinking isn’t good enough,” he said
stonily. “You have to prove it, Lexie.”

“Prove it?
How?”

He sat back against the headboard again and
opened his hands, clearly inviting me in. “I have what you need,
little sister,” he murmured. “What we both need. But you’re going
to have to come and get it.”

I studied the tent in his black sleep pants,
the hard ridge of his cock pressed tight against the silky fabric,
and bit my lip. Once again, Lukas was making me an active
participant. He was forcing me to take part in this, to be an equal
partner with him in what society had told us was wrong,
unthinkable, disgusting.

How can you even consider this?
whispered a voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like my
mother.
How can you even think of letting your own brother make
love to you?

Because I love him,
I thought,
banishing the hateful little voice with the force of my emotion.
And deep down, I think I always have.

“All right,” I said aloud. I reached for
Lukas but he shook his head.

“Don’t you think you’re a little overdressed
for fucking, Lexie?”

Looking down, I realized I still had on the
charcoal grey skirt and heels I’d thrown on before charging out of
the house to find him. I was in such a state, I wasn’t even sure if
I was wearing panties or not under it.

“Oh, right.” Blushing, I got off the bed and
pushed the skirt down slowly, feeling Lukas’ eyes on me as my naked
flesh was revealed. It turned out I
was
wearing panties—a
lacy black bikini thong which barely covered my pussy lips. I
started to take it off too but Lukas stopped me.