Defender (New World Book 7) (11 page)

“Will you love me?” Macey heard her whispered words. Her emotions were so intense with need every part of her was screaming for his touch.

How is this possible?

“If I’m capable of love, then I will love you.”

“Will you try?”

Taz shook his head. “It’s either there or it’s not with a Tonan. I don’t know if I can. So much hate has been bred into me. There is so much anger inside of me. When I touch you, there’s an emotion on the tip of my consciousness struggling to break free. Teach me love, Macey. Teach me compassion. I’ll try to learn, if it’s possible. I just don’t know.”

The rain continued to pound against the shuttle, rocking it. Macey’s thoughts tried to focus, but each time Taz touched her, her mind returned to him. If what he claimed was true, Macey was going to make love to a four-hundred-year-old virgin. How was that even possible? Taz wouldn’t have a clue what he was doing, and from the way he fumbled, he obviously didn’t. He was the most powerful male she’d ever encountered. Macey took his hand and slipped it under her shirt. When hand found tit, it was love at first touch. She could tell by the way he tensed and his breath caught. Macey groaned when his fist tried to close over her breast, squeezing. He pulled her tighter to his chest. He was too strong. He was more than power, he was solid, a man-sized block of steel.

“This is too confining,” Taz said on soft growl. “Acceptance, I remember the emotion. No wonder my shield wanted this for me.”

Macey squealed when he ripped her shirt down the middle. “I need this. It’s not like there’s a store close by.”

“The replicator will make another. Besides you’re still wet from your dip in the pond. You’re shivering and need to be warmed up. I
have
to keep you safe.”

His words were dragged from him and Macey thought she should be confused, but she wasn’t. Every touch brought her closer to understanding him. He was going wild needing to join with her. The idea screamed into her thoughts, startling her. Taz pulled her off her feet into his arms and pulled at her pants, ripping them off, her shoes clattered to the ground. He lowered his pants and his cock burst free. She could feel the hard press of him against her. Macey wiggled lower to wrap her legs around his waist. She sensed her weight was nothing to him. He swore when her heat touched him.

“I can scent your worry,” Taz said. “Even with females gone, Krish and the other males were vulgar about what went where and how it should happen.”

She wondered what he meant. Taz thrust up and Macey screamed as his engorged member impaled her. There was no turning back. Taz wrapped his arms around her thrusting up, pulling down. He was slick and grew slicker with each thrust. She sensed him everywhere. His being was inside of her. Her forehead rested on him and was dragged down, then up his chest. He was sweating. She dug her fingers into his shoulders. She wasn’t certain if she felt terror when a bead of his sweat slipped past her skin. His secretions melded with hers.

Macey wanted more of him. Every inch of her wanted to touch him. It was surreal, falling for someone so fast.

Am I drugged?

No, her mind whispered. Each need she felt was responded to. Any fear quashed. Neither his shield nor Taz gave her emotions, only lovingly reacted to what she was feeling. Macey’s heart jumped, she wondered if Taz realized he could love. She wondered if he sensed the emotions when she did. Taz’s body spoke to her in an ancient language. Macey suckled his skin. More of him filled her. Each taste, every lick, her desire grew. He gripped the back of her neck in one huge hand and forced her to gaze into his eyes. Macey always loved brown eyes, so expressive, so deep. His returned gaze was intense.

“Don’t be afraid. Something is happening inside me. I can’t stop it.”

Her insides began to ache with his size and strength. There was something different she didn’t expect. His length grew, she felt the sensation. Her insides were straining. He slowed his motion, but he looked so bewildered Macey’s panic grew. She was mating with an alien, anything could happen to her. He could rip her apart. What if he really was going to eat her? But she knew she felt his love. How could he do this?

Oh God.

“It hurts,” she moaned.

“Damn.”

His breathing was ragged, he was panting and Macey’s concern grew as he did. There was too much. Her insides tensed.

“Taz,” she whispered.

* * * *

Taz was hurting her. He sensed it. There was fear in Macey’s tone. His shield battled to secrete fluid to calm her but it wasn’t enough. There was more to mating and Taz didn’t understand. Macey cried out. Taz couldn’t stop, he couldn’t hurt her; he had to do something. His fangs seemed to develop a life of their own, growing, dripping. Taz lowered his head and sunk his fangs into her throat. She settled immediately. Her body placid and accepting. She was no longer in any pain.

His shield was urging him to continue, there was more to mating. Without removing his cock, he turned her and laid her across the cot. He grabbed her hips and pulled her back into him. Taz lowered his head. He licked her creamy shoulder. He needed to mark her. The universe needed to see she was his and was his to protect, and no one better fuck with her. His mate. She groaned when he carved his tattoo high onto her back near her shoulder. When finished, the tattoo glowed dark black on her pale beautiful skin and matched his tattooed cheeks perfectly.

Inside, he knew it wasn’t time to conceive. He was in the first stages of must. She didn’t need a piece of his shield yet. She needed him. Taz roared a release. He slipped from Macey and pulled her into his arms. Her head lay on his shoulder. His shield enveloped them, and Taz was surprised; she was the first full-grown human female he had ever shielded. Taz remembered. His father could shield his mother. Taz could fix any wounds. He healed her.

“Macey?” he whispered.

“Yes?’

“I’m still an ass, but I can love.”

“Good to know.”

“Macey, do you feel any different?”

“I’m squished to you.”

“You’re in my shield with me.”

“I’m not afraid of you. At all.”

“You’re not supposed to be.”

“Taz?”

“Hmm?”

“Am I stuck in here forever?”

“No. Don’t you like being this close?”

“You have a huge dick.”

Taz chuckled. “Cool huh?”

“Yep. Still an ass.”

Macey slipped to the ground when Taz released her. They were outside exploring. Taz moved so fast, he could take them hundreds of miles in any direction. Being pressed closely to him took some getting used to for both of them. Macey leaned back into him. Her bare shoulders touched his bare chest and she shivered. Her emotions were in turmoil once he set her down. His hand rested on her hip.

It was hard wanting him close often while she battled to know which emotion was truly hers; when they touched, she felt his, too. Taz swore his shield could only give her what she needed if her emotions asked. It was odd having an attachment to a virtual stranger who knew what she wanted the second she wanted it. Taz definitely drove her to distraction. She needed to concentrate on something besides him.

Before Macey was a smorgasbord for her eyes. The planet was utopia everywhere they traveled. Foliage, ponds, creeks, streams, everything the Garden of Eden must have had. Macey felt like Eve. If there was a God, he would shudder if she likened Taz to Adam.

A layer of stacked rocks covered in moss rose fifteen feet high before them. Macey, barefoot, climbed to the top with Taz close behind. The replicator replaced Macey’s clothing with a small top exposing her shoulders, tight grey short pants, no socks, no shoes. Not that she didn’t still have hers. There was nothing to injure her feet on the planet. When surrounded by Taz’s shield, nothing could cause her any kind of distress.

Macey sat when she reached the top and sighed. There were no birds, there couldn’t be, there was no food chain. The ecosystem was based entirely on foliage. No insects buzzed. Not even cockroaches were present. Only foliage fluttered in a small breeze. Everywhere they went foliage fluttered. She was bored as hell. There was nothing to hold her attention, except Taz. It was a strange feeling that drew her to him. He was curious to the point of being annoying. He wanted to know everything about her. While he remained aloof about his background. She didn’t turn to see if he was staring at her—he always was.

“Why don’t you tell me about you for a change,” Macey said then sighed.

“There’s not much to say.”

She careened her neck to offer him a surprised look. “You’ve lived for four hundred years. Something interesting must have happened during that time.”

“My parents died because a Tonan scientist created poison water for what he thought was to do away with the enemy. Instead it was used on all females. They all died and so did their mates. Krish, the Tonan who raised me, is pure evil. He can’t love, he wouldn’t know how. So he hates. His kind was growing smaller in number.”

“He’s the person who will kill me or worse if he finds us.”

“Yes. He’s a very powerful warrior. Mating you has given me an edge. Your life and mine depend on how strong I am. But it’s safer here.”

“I have other responsibilities on Earth. I have family. My aunt Greta will be so worried.”

“The Tonans want females of childbearing years. The children will be fine, so will your aunt.”

Macey gazed at his ass waiting for the tail to appear and grow. It didn’t. “You’ve seen the destruction. When will it stop?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t like the storms on Earth, but Taz, this place is boring as hell.”

“Then make love to me.”

“That’s all we do, eat, sleep, poop and screw.”

“So you want to add running for cover to the list?”

“I need other people to talk to.”

“You’re the only one I want to talk to.”

Taz sat closer until her hip was pressed to his. Bare skin touched bare skin and sensations filled her instantly. She shifted away.

“Do not change the subject,” she said and narrowed her gaze onto him.

“I want to know what you’re feeling, Macey. I can sense your frustration. My shield is demanding I do something to calm you.”

“Why don’t you try talking to me instead of going for the easy fix?”

“You don’t understand my life. Krish was brutal. When I spoke as a child I was hit, beaten while being laughed at. He would lock me away for a month at a time. No food, water or sunlight. I talked to my shield in secret to keep loneliness at bay. I learned the world was evil. You need to be evil to survive. I’m a warrior. I’ve done some cruel things you wouldn’t want to hear. I don’t like to relive them.”

“Fine. Just remember I won’t hit you when you speak, unless you’re being an ass.”

“Good to know.”

“Do Tonans have schools?”

“Places of learning you mean. Yes, I suppose, but again you wouldn’t understand. I don’t need to go anywhere for what information I need. I access understanding with my shield. Thousands of ancestors are compiled to make a shield. What my ancestors know, I know. When I learn new things, my shield will grow with knowledge, to pass on.”

“If Krish’s kind can’t love then how do they mate to pass on knowledge?”

“Many don’t. It’s why my breed was gaining in numbers. Krish’s type of Tonan wouldn’t pass a piece of their shield on to their offspring for protection. The female children were too vulnerable, they died out. A female secretes a hormone when pregnant making them far too desirable for a male to resist. If she has no baby shield for protection and the baby’s father won’t keep her safe, which he won’t if he refuses to give up a piece of his shield for her, then mother and child are at a serious risk. Males lose any control they possess, a female is
that
desirable.”

“Sounds horrible.”

“My memories show me it is horrible. Since mating you, my memories show me more of what my mate needs to keep you and I safe. There had been situations a warrior of my kind protected a female with no baby shield. Rare, but true. It takes a very old warrior to keep his emotions in check around a pregnant female with no protection. A special type of warrior. When a male cycle came, female Tonans would search out my kind, for protection. A female doesn’t have to mate to conceive. But if she doesn’t mate she grows old and dies. My kind can mate but many didn’t.

“None of Krish’s kind will mate. Krish’s kind is thousands of years old. It’s happened but it’s rare for his kind to give a male offspring a piece of their shield, and never one to a female offspring, it’s why their type of female would seek out my kind as well. But that was many centuries ago. Each generation grows more selfish, crueler, evil the likes you have never seen. Krish’s type couldn’t allow my kind to grow stronger in number; we possess some compassion. He can’t risk some of us joining forces with Cobra. But, since Castians hate us, that will never happen. They blame all Tonans for their females’ deaths. I don’t think Cobra even understands there are two types of Tonans.”

“It sounds like you have grudging respect for Cobra.”

“I hate him and admire him, yes. I think he would protect any female, even a Tonan female, if one existed, if she were given no baby shield. He is strong willed and a worthy opponent. Make no mistake, he would kill for his warriors and has done so.”

“I thought you were indestructible?”

“It’s possible to wear our shields down. With no sunlight, we become vulnerable. Warriors can battle for hours. The older warrior is normally the victor unless it’s Cobra, who lives on to protect his warriors.”

“It’s too bad Cobra didn’t find you as a child.”

Taz looked stunned. “But he’s Castian.” His words were spluttered.

“Would Cobra kill a small child, even if he was Tonan?”

“He should. I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know if he would have been kinder or treated me as his Castain warriors, but maybe. Krish’s kind would kill a male Castian child.”

She could see his confusion. His brows knit together as he concentrated. Macey was surprised he’d never thought of the idea. She was curious about Castians.