Rebel (27 page)

Kim wanted to run, but her legs wouldn’t obey her brain. She was barely able to stumble through the scanner without falling as it was.

“Mother of the gods,” Roncas whispered. “She’s off the
scale
…”

“What’s the matter?” Onca sounded very far away.

“Nothing that a little rest won’t fix,” Roncas said briskly. “She can lie down here on one of the daybeds.”

Roncas helped her over to a nearby couch. Since this was undoubtedly where Onca’s clients had slept off the effects of his
snard
, it was only fitting that she do the same.
Maybe.
Her own weakness annoyed her. Kim had scarcely been sick a day in her life, and now when Onca needed all the help he could get, she couldn’t do a damn thing. The brief speech she’d made had sapped what strength she had left.

“Kim’s sick?” Cassie said. “Really? She’s
never
sick.”

“She isn’t sick now,” Roncas said. “Just exhausted. It’s been a tough couple of days.”

“Her whole life has been tough,” Peska argued. “I don’t understand what could possibly be wrong with her now.”

Kim wished they would all be quiet and go away.

All
of
them
except
Onca.

“Kim?”

He was purring. She felt it more than heard it. He was too close—his fingers stroked her cheek, sending tendrils of warmth curling over her skin. She wanted him so very badly. Even though she knew she needed to be far away from him—so far away she wouldn’t distract him from what needed to be done. That way her own head would be clearer, and so would his.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” His tone was gentle but anxious.

“I think so.” She was surprised he couldn’t tell what the problem was by her scent alone. Perhaps he could. The question was, did he care? Would it matter to him? She touched his face, his hair. “I’ll be all right after a nap.”

She wouldn’t, of course. Not unless he was there beside her, filling her with his body, his passion, his love.

And his children.

Onca had been sure it was safe to fuck Kim before—and it
had
been safe then. He didn’t need to see the results of the scan Roncas had run on her to know the truth. He could smell it. Fortunately, the pants Tom-tom had given him had his dick snugged up against his belly well enough that no one would notice it was the size of a Rutaran salami.

Maybe.

Zetithian women didn’t experience the same cyclic periods of fertility that humans did. They only went into heat after sleeping with the man destined to become their mate. Closing his eyes, he kissed her cheek.

Jack
is
gonna
kill
me.

To mate with Kim now would be dangerous. They were in the middle of a war. Conceiving babies at such a time was—well…what people usually did in times of war. Throughout the ages, warriors on every world had left pregnant wives behind when they went off to battle. If the men didn’t return, their women still carried their offspring.

Onca couldn’t claim he had never fathered any children. He didn’t have to worry about whether or not his bloodline would survive. But he had never fathered children with a Zetithian woman before, and if what he suspected was true, Kim wouldn’t conceive with anyone but him. This wasn’t so much a matter of his bloodline being lost, but of hers dying out.

Unfortunately, in this particular skirmish, Kim’s life was in as much danger as his. He simply couldn’t do it. Not now. Not when so much remained to be done.

Rashe moved in behind him. “Dude, you know what—”

“Yeah. I know.” Onca blew out a sigh. “Believe me, I know. But not right now. We have work to do.”

A glance at Roncas revealed an expression of mild disapproval—her silvery brow was only arched about half as high as he knew it could go. “I guess there’s no denying Mother Nature, is there?”

“Mother who?” Onca echoed. “Never mind.” He knew exactly what she meant. Pressing another kiss to Kim’s forehead, he stood up. “Come on. We’ve all got jobs to do and not much time. We can’t stay holed up in here forever. Sooner or later, they’ll figure out how to shut down our power, and—”

Roncas’s snicker cut him off. “You’re forgetting something, Boss. We’re not on the grid. We have our own power supply.” She glanced at Rashe. “Our clients threw such a fit the one time the power went out, Jerden made sure it would never happen again.”

“That’s nice to know.” Rashe shrugged. “A power failure wouldn’t make any difference at my place, but I can see where your ladies might fuss if the risers didn’t work.”

“Whatever,” Onca said with a dismissive wave. “We still need to get moving before they figure out how to disable our communication capabilities. Without them, we’re screwed.”

Val stuck his head through the doorway. “I talked to Anara. She’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

“Great. Now I just have to find some reporters.” He frowned at Rashe. “What were you going to do?”

“Must’ve skipped me when you were handing out jobs,” Rashe replied. “But I volunteer to be in charge of security.”

“Just dying to use that tomahawk on somebody, aren’t you?”

“First time for everything.” He patted the hilt. “I’d dearly love to break it in on a Herpatronian’s head. You know, we really should’ve dragged a Herp along with us last night. The interrogation would’ve been fun.”

“Somehow I think the girls might’ve gotten further with that. Their threats would’ve been more…specific.” Onca had only
twisted
the nuts on one of them. He doubted the girls would have been quite as forgiving.

“Probably would’ve had to lock the damned Herp up for his own protection.” Rashe nodded toward the doorway to the forest. “We could put ’em up on one of the risers.” Rashe’s swift, downward glance proved that the Rutaran salami was clearly evident. “Sorry about the pants, dude. That was the only pair I had aside from my buckskins. Couldn’t go there this time myself.” Settling his belt on his hips, Rashe adjusted his loincloth with a grimace. “Don’t know how I stood wearing them as long as I did.”

Onca chuckled. “The loincloth shows off your ass better. The girls will love it.”

“Hey, after all the creepy dudes those girls have had to put up with, a Norludian would probably look good.”

“The Scorillian said she thinks Val is hot,” Roncas put in. “Must be the wings—although it amazes me that any of them would even want to lay eyes on a man again. Maybe they’re young enough to bounce back from this.” With a slow wag of her head, she added, “I don’t know how, though.”

“Don’t want to look at another man myself. Already got one.”

Her voice sounded as though she was on the verge of sleep, but Kim was obviously still awake. She looked so tiny lying there on the red velvet daybed.

So
beautiful…so completely adorable…

Onca had never fucked anyone on one of those beds, which had been placed there for ladies to relax and recover from the effects of Zetithian sex. He had seldom seen any of his clients lying on the plush velvet, covered with satin sheets while sipping wine and nibbling on chocolate—he’d always been busy with the next one. At the moment, however, he wanted nothing more than to rip off his restrictive pants and dive into her. Right here, right now.

I
really
need
to
get
out
of
here.

“I’ll, um, be in the office if anyone needs me.”

“
I
need you.” Her voice was so soft he could have pretended he hadn’t heard her.

But he had. “I’ll be back soon.” He hesitated in the doorway. “I promise.”

A faint glimmer of a smile touched her lips. “I know you will.”

The trick would be staying away long enough to get anything done. Anara wouldn’t arrive until morning, which gave him one more night with Kim. One night to make love with her on a grassy bower up in the trees where butterflies and twinkling lights hovered among the leaves. What would happen after that was anyone’s guess. Depending on what Anara advised, he might give himself up or allow himself to be arrested and imprisoned—he might even be deported—but come what may, by morning Kim would be carrying his young, and she would know how much he loved her. That was one battle he refused to fight any longer.

I
surrender.

Hell, he surrendered
now
.

In an instant, he was on his knees beside her. She was in his arms, and as his lips found hers every shred of his resistance crumbled. Everything about her cried out to him, drowning his senses—her scent, her flavor, the feel of her body against his, the beat of her heart, and the breath in her lungs. All of it came crashing down around him at once. He had fought against millions of years of Zetithian evolution and lost, and along the way, he’d lost his heart to a tiny woman with huge brown eyes and a smile that robbed him of breath.

Roncas squawked like a Resaneden goose about to become someone’s dinner. Rashe mumbled something about security. The door to the main chamber slid shut behind them.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “Do you hear me, Kim? I love you. I can’t explain it or fight it and I don’t even want to try.”

Her sigh flowed over his skin as her essence seeped in through his pores. The delicate aroma that was so uniquely hers filled his lungs and rushed through his bloodstream until he knew he could have identified her blindfolded from a hundred meters away. His own purr roared in his ears, blocking out any other sounds save for those made by his adorable Kim. Her sighs, her soft moans, her hums of pleasure. He relished every one of them. Vowing to draw more from her, he paused only a moment to rid himself of his clothing.

Onca had seldom had to undress a woman. His clients had always come to him already disrobed. Nevertheless, he made quick work of Kim’s clothes and cast them aside. Already her body seemed fuller, not quite as painfully thin as it had been the first time he held her. It didn’t seem possible, but he’d fallen in love with her in that same space of time—a span of days that seemed far longer than the actual hours that had passed.

Softer than the velvet upon which she lay, her wet warmth beckoned and she moaned as he sank into her.

“Mmm…love that.” Nothing had ever felt so good or so right as she wrapped her arms around him, drawing him in, holding him close, and whispering words that filled him with joy. “Love
you
.”

***

He
didn’t leave me.

Kim held Onca’s face in her hands, gazing up into his glowing green eyes before pulling him down for another kiss. An orgasm gripped her from within, disrupting his rhythm.

He didn’t seem to mind the distraction, kissing her thoroughly before resuming his steady pace. “You do love me, don’t you?”

She frowned. “Always have, I think. Maybe even before I met you.”

Had she ever had a premonition or a vision of him? If so, she couldn’t recall it—at least not with any clarity. Something had kept her going, even when she should’ve given up hope. Perhaps it was him—or the idea of him. At the moment, however, none of that mattered. The ache in her heart had eased along with the ache in her core. He was here, moving inside her, filling the emptiness in her soul with warmth and light—and he was Zetithian enough not to question her peculiar response to his query.

With a smile, he rocked into her again, moving his strong cock in sweeping circles, stimulating her sweet spots and drawing gasps of delight from her with every thrust. She hugged his cock with her inner muscles, seeking to give him as much pleasure as she could while intensifying her own.

“We’re mates now, aren’t we?” she asked.

“Oh,
yeah
…”

“Jack can’t marry me off to one of her sons, can she?”

“No. And even if she could, I wouldn’t let her. I tried being gracious and magnanimous, but there’s nothing noble about me. Her boys can find their own women. You’re mine.”

Since this was in perfect accord with her own views on the subject, she saw no need to discuss it any further. “Should I bite you to seal the deal?”

“Sure. Bite me, smack me, kiss me—whatever you want—just don’t ever leave me.”

Kim knew she wouldn’t leave him—at least not voluntarily. She wasn’t so sure about Onca. “I won’t—if you’ll promise not to leave
me
.”

“I promise.”

“But what if they throw you in jail?”

“You’ll have to come and visit me.” He dropped another kiss on her lips. “Hourly.”

Onca followed the kiss with a plunge of his cock that made Kim forget all about biting him. She felt no need to mark him as hers now. He had claimed her as his own, and she had his promise. A swipe of his tongue on her neck sent her dangerously close to another climax.

“If you keep doing that, they’ll have to lock me up along with you,” she warned.

“Not for long. After you have triplets, the guards will be begging the warden to release us.”

“But I’m not pregnant.”

His crooked smile promised she soon would be. “Wait for it…”

Arching his back, he sucked in a sharp breath as his head snapped back, sending his hair cascading over his shoulders. Was there ever a more glorious sight than her darling Onca at the height of ecstasy? She thought not. He was beautiful. No other word came close to describing him—he was beautiful in body as well as in soul.

As he reached his deepest penetration yet, her body imploded, drawing him in to the point that they truly became one. Still, she kept her eyes open wide, watching as his climax unfolded. She saw it all. The strong lines of his neck. The slope of his shoulders. The muscles of his chest and arms as they contracted. His explosive, purring exhale. The eventual dip of his head. The hair sweeping forward to frame his face. His glowing pupils dilated to their fullest as his gaze met hers.

Then the ecstasy shifted to her. Heated blood rushed through her vessels and time stood still as his essence overcame her senses, filling her with joy. Somewhere deep inside her, she became aware of a slight ping, followed by another and another. Her awareness expanded, surging to a peak before flowing down over herself and three new entities—the three fresh lives to renew the cycle.

“Did you feel that?” he whispered.

She replied with a nod. “We have children now.” Pausing as additional knowledge slid into her mind from a source hitherto untapped. “Two boys and a girl.”

“You say that like you know for sure.”

Closing her eyes, she touched each of the tiny motes with a wisp of her psyche. “I do.” Marveling at the wondrous nature of this new level of consciousness, she touched them again, watching them bounce away with a vibration that seemed to be…

Laughter?
Perhaps. She couldn’t distinguish their thoughts, but her own heart filled with the joy of simply being alive.

“This may sound crazy,” she began, “but I can sense their emotions.”

“Doesn’t sound crazy at all. How do they feel?”

“Happy. Joyous. Thrilled.”

Onca leaned down and kissed her—a kiss so achingly sweet and loving it brought tears to her eyes. “Me too.”