Factor (6 page)

“How is it that so many of the species out here have wide reproductive cycles? It seems to be a very common theme in Nyal Imperium species.”

He shrugged. “This area was very free with its genetic manipulation of local populations. One of the base species used in the transitions was Iutchko. They contributed their limited cycle in exchange for a little bit of immortality in the form of their passed-down genes.”

She finished her dessert and sipped at her wine. “It is a sound plan. Are the Iutchko still around?”

“No one knows. They donated their genetic material and their entire planet disappeared.” He shrugged. “Would you care to take a walk in the moonlight?”

Jianne blinked and narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to put the moves on me?”

He got to his feet and extended his hand. “Let’s find out.”

She liked those odds.

Chapter Nine

The moonlight was romantic, and she was enjoying the bliss of the dinner and the walk on the beach.

“Courtship rituals between species are difficult.”

It was all the warning she got before he turned her in his arms and kissed her savagely. She tasted him, and with the lingering aftereffects of the dessert came the slight tang of blood. It wasn’t the taste of her blood but that followed shortly as the sharp canine scraped her lip.

She yelped into his mouth, and his tongue slipped between her teeth to stroke hers in a flickering pulse that caused a surge of wet heat between her thighs. His hands stroked her spine and cupped her butt, lifting her against him.

Jianne wrapped her arms around his neck and wove her hands in his thick, dark hair. She held on and followed his wordless encouragement, lifting her legs to wrap around his waist. He stroked the backs of her thighs, his hands sliding easily under the dress and against her bare skin.

He groaned, she sighed and murmured as his fingers caressed the dark shadows between her thighs, slipping his fingertips against her lower lips until they parted for him.

Her gasp was sharp, and she jerked her mouth from his, burying her face against his neck. When he slipped his fingers into her, she pressed her teeth to his neck, and she bit him sharply. His harsh groan and the thrust of his fingers in and out of her drew a moan from her, and she began to shake with every slide and plunge of his hand.

She was on the edge of release when she heard his suit chime. Sobbing softly in frustration, she leaned away from him. “Time for you to go to work.”

He looked into her eyes, and his irises were swirling like mercury. “The timing leaves something to be desired.”

She chuckled. “You have no idea. Now, get your fingers out of me and go to work. Oh, and put me down.”

He slowly withdrew his hand, and she fought the urge to tackle him to the ground and finish the foreplay. She pulled his cowl up over his features and kissed him quickly before he set her back on the sand. “Have a good day at work, Cowl. I will keep myself occupied here.”

“Take it easy. The withdrawal of your data feeds will be traumatic for you. Perhaps you should read a book or something.” He chuckled as he walked back to the base with her, his arm around her waist.

“Can I use the data station in your room?”

“Of course. The port is keyed to your codes, so it should not be a problem.”

They entered the base, and he joined the others as they headed for the shuttle landing. Jianne headed for the kitchen and finished doing the dishes before she went to bed. Her body was still humming, and she fought the arousal that seemed to be coming from the inside out.

It was a strange burn. Every time she thought about Sarnvil, her pussy clenched and the feel of his fingers inside her returned. She was distracted by the memory but more confused by the physical symptoms of arousal that refused to fade. She looked up the Mah-Duh-Sai on the database, and she began to read about their physiology while she tried to ignore the flushed heat of her body.

Six hours later, she was pacing restlessly when the shuttle returned. She ran to meet the Guardians, and the moment she saw Cowl, she was in his arms with her mouth pressed to his.

Cowl shifted to hold her tight as he walked with her down the halls to their bedroom.

Jianne unfastened his suit and pushed the hood away from his features, peeling him as he walked with her pinned against him.

“Jianne, you seem…focussed.” His voice barely registered.

“I have been thinking about this since you left, well thinking didn’t enter into it.” She unfastened her dress and let it slither to her feet. “Feeling is a far better word.”

His eyes went from cautious pewter to hot mercury in seconds as she stood there wearing nothing but the cascade of chestnut hair that reached the middle of her back.

His hands stripped off the tight bodysuit until he was wearing nothing but an intense look and an erection that drew her hands like a lodestone.

She stroked the length of him, enjoying the heat and the slickness that followed her caress. She was going to need the lubrication that his body provided. After her abstinence over the last few years, it was going to be a tight fit.

“Take your hands from me or this will be over quickly.” His voice was a low hoarse rumble.

“No.” She kept one hand stroking his cock while her other hand cruised up his abdomen, enjoying the feel of the muscle under silky skin. It was a sensory experience that her body desperately needed. Her vision might not allow him sway over her, but her body wanted his rubbing against her completely. She wanted to be covered, surrounded and filled by him. The intensity of the feeling was amazingly strong, and it went far beyond attraction into compulsion.

If her research was right, this one night would give her antibodies for the unreasonable attraction, and she would be able to return to standard fascination with him. He was devastatingly handsome after all.

She pressed her body to his and inhaled as she stroked her breasts up his chest, her nipples drawing tight. He spread his hands over her back, the wide expanse of his palms and fingers covering most of her exposed skin.

His voice was a hoarse whisper. “You feel amazing, all soft curves and silky skin.”

She was going to reply that he felt hot and amazing against her, but he kissed her and she lost her concentration. She released her grip on his shaft and stroked his torso with her hands.

He pressed her against him and slowly backed up, kissing her as he moved her toward the bed. He nipped at her lips with his teeth, drawing pinpricks of blood and giving her a taste of his own as he thrust inside to tease her.

She didn’t object to the teasing, but she really, really wanted his hands or cock between her thighs.

He tipped her to her back and arranged her on the bed, then he knelt between her spread thighs and started tasting her from her earlobe down to her breasts, across her belly, around her navel and from hip to hip.

She moaned, groaned, shivered and waited as he drew closer and closer to the slick heat he had inspired. When he touched her sex and slid two and then three fingers into her, he let out a muttered curse and withdrew his hand. He crawled over her to surround her on all sides as his cock butted for entrance.

Jianne lifted her knees and opened herself to him as he pressed, slid and paused as his girth worked its way into her in small increments. He was about three inches in when she couldn’t stand anymore of the growing tension and she bucked against him, her body clenching and trying to pull him in tight. She moaned low as her orgasm jerked at her.

Sarnvil held himself still inside her until her body relaxed. He kissed her, nipping at her lips and waking her senses again.

Jianne put her hands on his shoulders and pushed at him, but he took her hands from his skin and held them over her head with one of his own. He kept nibbling at her lips while his hips shifted slowly against her, and he continued easing into her with slow strokes.

She tried to pull her hands down, but he kept them in his grip as he finally seated the thick length of his erection inside her. He shuddered as he pressed in to the hilt and she arched her hips against him.

He kissed her until she was sighing and moaning against his lips, her hips moving with a rhythm all her own.

She closed her eyes at the feel of his cock dragging out of her and then surging in. It felt amazing, and despite the fact that she was informed of the biochemical warfare taking place inside her body, she enjoyed every moment.

He broke the kiss and watched her features as he thrust against her with a rapidly increasing pace.

She wanted to caress her clit to send her over the edge, but she had to wait. As if sensing her distress, he ground his hips against hers on the inward stroke. It was a slow tease, but she managed to reach the peak of tension until it all broke apart as she screamed and relief flickered in Sarnvil’s eyes.

He groaned low and shuddered as he pressed into her, holding his body to hers with intense pressure. He released her hands, and she held onto him while his body shook and hers lazily caressed his cock with slow palpitations.

He jerked with every slow clenching of her inner muscles. “How are you doing that?”

“Your people have the honeymoon compulsion, I have this.” She shrugged and laughed as he rested his forehead in the crook of her shoulder.

He mumbled against her skin, “You read up on me?”

“Not you precisely. I wanted to know why I was going a little crazy at the thought of your body against mine. It turns out that the tiniest exchange of blood begins the process of bonding. Very sneaky, by the way.”

“Thank you. I was not anticipating an assignment.”

“Bad calculation on your account. I had six hours to get all hot and bothered before you even got here.” She ran her hand through his hair. “When do you think I will be able to get back to my work as Dispatch?”

He looked up at her with eyes that were distinctly less heated than they had been moments earlier. “We need you to be cleared by a specialist in your kind of implant. She is on her way.”

“When will she be here?”

“Two days from now. She is eager to see your progress.”

Jianne smiled, “Dr. Yangate? Oh good. She is very no nonsense.”

“She had better be. We will take you in to the university medical centre to have you checked. Think of it as a family outing.”

She chuckled. “Family?”

“As you said, your kind makes homes wherever you go. We have started the bonding process, so now, you will be with me wherever I am.”

Jianne blinked. “I will do what now? That wasn’t in the file.”

He rolled until she was draped across him. He lifted her chin on two fingers. “Back home, the couple would be left alone for two weeks while the bonds set. Here, we don’t have that luxury, so we will be together every moment of every day. You will come with us on assignments and remain in the safety of the shuttle using the short-range scanners to provide us with the intel that comes so easily to you as Dispatch.”

“Wait, so I couldn’t go out on assignments when I was an active Cadar agent, but I can as your mate? That is a twisted double standard.”

He stroked his hand down her spine and then back up to cup the back of her head. “I am making this up as I go along, but we can’t be separated until we acclimate to each other.”

He pulled her to him for a kiss.

She chuckled and slowly explored with her hands the skin that she was lying on. She was willing to do a little improvisation of her own.

Chapter Ten

Using standard com units instead of her implant felt weird, but it distracted her from the waves of heat that were constantly lapping at her in all her sensitive places.

“Twist, there is a man in a mask on your left. His right arm is a problem.” Jianne blinked and smiled as her ability to locate the factor reared up for the first time in days.

Twist shifted into a wolf-like creature and took out the offending arm with one snap of his jaws. The man screamed, but the switch that was wired along his arm dropped to the floor. Another snap of Twist’s jaws and the detonator shattered into shards.

Watching from the sealed shuttle, Jianne grinned. That was it. The rest of the men pulling the heist lost their enthusiasm while their commander bled to death on the polished tile.

There was nothing that could be done about the two hostages who had been killed before they arrived, but the remaining folk were whole and healthy. She wanted to take the shuttle for a victory lap, but the Guardians wouldn’t be too happy with her.

Even working in the shuttle, she felt the triumphant surge of adrenaline as the evil were punished and good won the day. It was a basic joy that transformed into an urge for a more personal celebration.

She paced inside the shuttle, eager to be in Cowl’s arms. The moment that the door opened and she saw her mate, she rushed forward, only to stop with a jerk when she realised something was wrong. “You must be the brother.”

He grinned and flipped his cowl back, “I am indeed. I am glad to meet you, sister.”

She backed up. “What?”

“Sadly, you are no good to me now. I will have to seek out another possible female. Tell my brother that I wish him well.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a narrowed-eyed look. “You had Cyber tamper with my programming. You had people shot.”

“No one died, and as for the other…it seemed the best way to get to you before my brother did, but his arrival queered things. He knew what you were before he arrived and that was not something I had counted on.” Sarlok bowed. “I consider myself bested now that I have sensed for myself that you are his true mate. May you be happy and enjoy many years together.”

He turned to leave, but she stopped him. “What about Cyber? Is she back to normal, does she remember what she did?”

Sarlok gave her a surprised look. “Of course. It was her idea for me to court you after all.”

“You call that courtship?”

“Different strokes for different species, sister. Have a good life.” He left the shuttle, and Jianne sat heavily on a seat in the kitchenette.