Bondmate (6 page)

She
stirred and twisted her head to give him a glance from the corner of her eye.
With a little circle of her hips she moved her heated flesh against his, the
wet slip of her a torment. “Mateen, don’t you want me?”

He
was unprepared for the lust that rocketed through him, on top of what he’d
already thought was his limit of arousal. His staff throbbed, his culls tightened
even more, and he couldn’t stop the growl from leaving his throat. Of course he
wanted her, but it wasn’t time.

“Not
that way, not yet,” he ground out, hoping she wouldn’t ask for an explanation,
not when this prelude to bonding was proceeding so well.
Alphan
men and women knew the steps to take, the limits and levels of intimacy
required for a successful coupling. Avanelle had no idea of what she might
unleash if he gave in to the biological urge to penetrate her now.

“But
you’re ready. It’s not fair to you.”

Her
simple plea for reciprocity, her generous spirit, moved him, and he closed his
eyes for a moment to collect
himself
. When he opened
them, he looked at Bynton as he lay before them, the evidence of his passion
drying on his belly. His bondmate’s expression was one of supreme satisfaction,
and certainty glowed in his eyes. The younger man been correct all along during
their search, narrowing down what camp to approach, sure of the woman they’d
found there. He gave voice to Mateen’s desire.

“Touch
him, Avanelle, as you touched me.”

She
glanced back at him, her dark hair sliding against his chest, over his arm, as
she cupped her hand between her legs, pressing his staff against her
quonum
, enveloping it in her warmth even as her fingers
traced along its sensitive underside, her fingertips pressing in below his
corona, just as she had with
Byn’s
. Within a few
strokes he was straining, everything in him gathering tension as her body
heated, became even wetter in response to his. His peripheral vision dimmed as
he grew harder than he ever had. His palate ached, his
tesak
ready to emerge and taste her. All he could see was Avanelle’s smooth cheek and
the lashes of her half closed eye, and Bynton watching them strain against each
other, his expression a reflection of the fierce joy filling him.

As
his breathing hitched and his muscles tightened in the familiar way preceding
climax, she somehow sensed his imminent release, increasing the tempo of her
strokes and twisting her head back to press her mouth to his jaw as he arched
against her, his entire body tensing and releasing as he came. Burning pleasure
pulsed through his body, and he roared out his triumph. They’d found her, but
she was claiming them as surely as gravity kept them to the ground.

Chapter Four

Bynton
woke with a stretch, his mind immediately registering his surroundings and
taking stock. He sensed Mateen sleeping nearby, his deep breathing as familiar
as
Bynton’s
own. But where was Avanelle? She’d been
there during the sleep cycle, for he remembered touching her soft body each
time he’d eased from deep sleep into a half-
doze
.
Today they might be able to reach their first stage of bonding with her, if she
was willing and not too sore from the day before. Just thinking about entering
her body, feeling that connection with her and his bondmate at the same time
made his staff harden and reach out. Where was she? He twisted up and looked
over the bed. The hollow between him and Mateen was empty.

A
quick glance around the dim room didn’t reveal her beauty. With a mutter, he
rose and checked the hygiene alcove to find it empty as well. Striding into the
living area of the ship, he found nothing, no trace of the woman who owned him.
With a quick inquiry of the ship’s monitoring system, he discovered there was
no evidence of a living entity on board other than himself and
Mateen
. She was gone.

Uttering
an agonized shout, he roused his bondmate, and Mateen leaped from the bedroom,
instantly alert.

“She’s
gone.”

“Intruders?”
Mateen barked
for data from the ship’s system, which immediately reported back there had been
no breach of security, only an exit from the ship approximately sixty minutes
ago. The visual showed a slim form, clad only in the soft garments they’d given
her, walking away from the ship slowly as she picked her way over the rock and
mud.

“Why
would she leave? She has no proper footgear or coat.”
Bynton’s
heart was racing as he contemplated how cold and footsore Avanelle must be
wherever she’d gone.

“Did
we hurt her?” Mateen’s brow furrowed even as he began to don his outerwear,
collected from a storage bin. Bynton followed suit, already constructing a
search grid in his mind.

“I
don’t think so. We just touched her. My
tesak
did not
descend.” Bynton had felt them bud when his crisis approached, but had clenched
his jaw to hold them in, mindful of her fear.

“Mine
nearly did, but I kept them concealed. I licked her afterwards, just before she
slept. Perhaps she disliked it and was afraid to say so.” Mateen’s expression
shifted from dismayed to pensive.

“My
understanding is humans prefer to kiss with the mouth. Would she leave because
we didn’t kiss her?” Bynton fastened his trousers and pulled on socks. His
armor was already stacked next to him thanks to his bondmate’s quick action.

“I’ll
kiss her wherever she likes, however she wants me to, once we find her,” Mateen
growled as he strapped on his weapons harness, his hands automatically checking
over his blades and lash.

Bynton
told himself to calm down as he did the same inspection of his gear. There
weren’t many hazards in the area, other than those of the human variety at the
camp a few kilometers away. He didn’t know what force had compelled her to
leave, and he was determined to defeat it to bring her back. A strange pain
built in his gut as images of Avanelle flashed disconcertingly through his mind.
Her wide eyes dark with pleasure, the careful way she ate her food, the
intoxicating beauty of her body.

“
Byn
, look.”
Mateen leaned
down and retrieved one of their image recorders from the deck. She must have
dropped it there, for it had been on the table before. It was something they’d
planned on sharing with Avanelle this day, a record of images from his and
Mateen’s life together.
Their home, some attractive scenes of
Alpha, all to ease her into the idea of leaving Earth with them and never
looking back.
It was activated and glowed with several views. With a tap
of his finger against the top, it projected the last few images.

The
first was one of Mateen in full battle gear, battered and triumphant after
their most recent engagement on Talus. He was covered with dust and
Xyran
blood, his eyes dark with victory, his teeth bared in
rage. The previous picture showed both of them, each holding a severed
Xyran
head aloft, the purplish blood of their enemies
coating their bare arms. That had been after the skirmish on the hidden moon of
Dero
, a quick and rough exchange in which they each
destroyed a score or more of the repellant enemy. Could it be she saw these
particular vids and was frightened of the sight they made when the fury of
battle was upon them? Her worry about them wanting to harm her, eat her, no
matter how ridiculous it had seemed to them,
had
to be
alive in her now, to have driven her away.

“She
won’t want us now,
Byn
.” The ache in Mateen’s voice
matched the one in
Byn’s
heart.

“I’m
not giving up that easily. We’ll find her and explain.”

“She’s
too kind. She’ll never understand what we do or why we have to do it. We are
too alien to her.”

Byn
stared at his bondmate as he
reached for the hatch. “I need to try, Mat. Do you not?”

He
waited an impossible second, the grief at losing Avanelle building as he waited
for his bondmate to join him in this quest. If Mateen declined,
Byn
didn’t know what he’d do. He’d never come close to
wanting to flout Mat’s decisions ever since they’d pledged themselves five
years ago. The need for Avanelle was so strong, pulled at him so deeply, he
worried he might strike out on his own.

“We
go. What if she refuses?” Mateen’s question was a challenge to their
agreed-upon approach. Before, when they’d planned this journey, it had been
easy to say they wouldn’t impose themselves upon a woman, easy to say they’d
search and find another if one was unwilling. But that was before he’d lost
himself in Avanelle. She wasn’t interchangeable; she was irreplaceable.

“I
can’t leave her here.”

“Then
we won’t.” His bondmate held his gaze a moment
longer,
cementing their commitment to take what was theirs. They were civilized,
disciplined, but some impulses went to the primal heart of a man. “There won’t
be another woman for me.”

“Nor for me.”
Bynton opened
the hatch to a driving, cold rain.
Slender Avanelle, out in
this weather.
Her core body temperature would be dropping to unhealthy
levels by now. They had to hurry. Mateen dropped past the steps and ran to the
hover, starting it just as
Byn
reached the mount and
pulled himself up.

“We’ll
find her.”

****

The
thick socks she’d found back at the
Alphan
ship were
sodden and cold around her feet, but they’d protected her from the worst of the
sharp rocks as she’d made her way back to the camp. The gate was open for
deliveries that never came, and she slipped in amongst the inhabitants just as
the rain began. Ducking into one of the community modules, she edged close to a
heater and waited for her body to warm even as her mind dulled.

She
didn’t want to think about what she’d done. Seeing the pictures of Mateen and
Bynton spattered with gore, their features transformed into the demons she’s
thought them to be, had shattered whatever fragile trust she’d placed in them.
She’d emerged from the warmth and comfort of their bed because it was her usual
time to wake, and not wanting to disturb them, had crept out to the living area
to think about what she was going to do. She knew they wanted to take her away
with them. Every gesture, every conversation was leading to that declaration.
As she’d sat in the dim room, much of her was inclined to say yes to them,
agree to this bond they so desired with her. What was holding her to Earth?
She’d been discarded and thrown away by her society. There was no opportunity
for her to rise above a sad life of scavenging and picking up whatever labor
jobs she might find. But to travel past the stars to a world she knew
nothing about with two men who spoke of forging bonds so easily
wasn’t a commitment she could undertake lightly
.

She’d
noticed the glowing cube and picked it up quite innocently, attracted to the
image of a pale stone house with wide windows.
Theirs, most
likely.
The images had changed as she handled the cube, each picture
enticing and impressing her, until those awful few appeared. The ferocity and
gruesomeness had hit her like a hammer, and she’d fumbled it with suddenly numb
fingers, fear icing through her. Better to flee while they were asleep than
risk declining them when they were awake was her only thought after that.

Fear
had driven her into the night and followed her with every step away from their
ship. Now she’d live with fear of a different kind, fear of a slow death to
stalk her rather than some violent end on a faraway planet.

As
her feet and hands warmed slightly, she wondered if she’d missed her
opportunity for that day’s meal, worried her small bundle of belongings had
been stolen while she’d been gone. Perhaps in a few days, once the drudgery of
life returned, she’d be able to forget her interlude with the
Alphans
. Forget how treasured she’d felt for a few hours,
appreciated in a way she’d never had before, before she saw what they were
capable of.

A
woman she knew well enough to nod to passed by and advised her that rations
were going to be distributed soon. With a sigh, Avanelle rose and made her way
back outside. She was still wet, so more rain wouldn’t matter. Getting a packet
of protein did. People gathered around the kiosk as one of the camp
administrators keyed in the security code. Just as the panels slid down, there
was a popping sound and then many high pitched screams from the distance.

A
press of people fleeing from the sound of violence jostled her, and she
wondered where she could hide.
Before she could decide which
direction to flee, several men fell in front of her, their bodies splashing in
the mud as they twitched, huge bleeding holes in their backs.
She looked
up to find a
true
devil staring at
her, green skin, scaly
mouth open
in a sick grin. It
was over two meters tall, clad in shiny silvery leggings, its broad chest
decorated with faceted studs burrowed into the skin. She recognized it as one
of the creatures in Mateen and
Bynton’s
images, only
this one was horribly alive.