Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (41 page)

"T'korra ... you're ... tight."

"Then loosen me up." Her demand was a guttural sound filled with the agony of her need and desire. She would make no apology for the way her hunger had slipped its boundaries.

Normal men weren't built like this. Or if they were, her tiny handful of experiences had been severely malnourished. He 573

pushed, sliding deeper into her until her nerve endings screamed at the invasion. Her body took over and began pumping lubrication into her tightly stretched channel, lessening the friction. Easing the sense of nearly being ripped apart at the seams.

Pulling out until he was nearly all the way removed, Simon shoved himself back inside her with one powerful thrust. She heard him cry out as flames engulfed her, burning skin and bones. He pulled out again, then plowed into her with another unrelenting plunge. Sarah shrieked as pain and pleasure blended into one mind-numbing sensation. She lost all sense of feeling, all sense of time, and all sense of reality as her soul focused on the feeling that was whirlpooling between her thighs. Despite her wetness he dragged like sandpaper over ultra-sensitive nerves, relentlessly scraping the delicate endings.

Simon continued to take her, his lunges growing more demanding and more forceful. His movements took on a rhythm as he sought deeper and deeper access to the center of her being. She no longer had any feeling left in her outer limbs. They lay weakly sprawled on the bed as Simon hammered himself into her. His breathing sounded like bellows where his face hovered above hers.

There was no need to urge him on faster or harder. There was no need to call out to him. She knew he was as lost in their rutting as she was. Lost in the absolute perfection of this miracle that was overtaking her.

Suddenly he dropped down on top of her, supported only on one elbow. Pausing for a second, she felt his other hand 574

reach under her knees to lift and spread her even further. The roughened pad of his thumb slid through the soft curls at her juncture, curls now dewed with their combined juices, and dipped into her silken tunnel. Finding that part of her that would place her totally at his mercy.

Before she could comprehend what he was going to do, Simon resumed his pounding into her. And at the same he lit the tinder between her thighs. The whirlpool that had threatened to drown her suddenly rose overhead. She was suffocating, whipping her head back and forth on the bed as she searched for it. Reached for it. Strained for it. Then cried out as the morass came crashing down over them.

Her orgasm ignited with impossibly hot flames. Sarah screamed, unaware of her nails digging into Simon's flesh as he continued to shove himself into her. Her body blistered from the heat, then clamped down. Muscles tightened, stiffened, and locked, trapping Simon inside her as the heavy rolling waves continued to crash into her. She heard him cry out, felt his body shake violently with his own upheavals.

Then he fell across her as exhaustion sucked the last of the energy from their bodies.

They were melted into one unity; their bodies continued to tremble in the aftermath. Thought was a useless venture.

There was no need to think or any reason to when her body continued to splinter like delicately shattered glass, ready to fall into thousands of pieces whenever this man chose to pull out of her. That is, when her body was ready to allow him to do so.

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Before she could comprehend her next action, Sarah rolled onto her side and threw an arm and a leg over the man still clutching her to him. She remembered murmuring something to him, but her memory failed to tell her what it was she said.

No matter. There was no longer any doubt or fear left in her.

Simon had erased it all, including her decades-old belief that no man could ever want her, or love her, or be able to satisfy her.

She was twenty-nine and in love because heaven had dropped a miracle into her heart.

Life couldn't be more perfect.

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Don't go.

She was sound asleep, lying against him so tightly she could almost blend into his skin. Simon shifted slightly, his movements barely perceptible so as not to awaken her. He had to get out and get away, take a good long run. But he couldn't be gone for long. So much had happened, and he needed some time to sort it out. He had to drop his outer skin and let his true Ruinos self bask in the dim moonlight. More than anything, though, he had to have the chance to shout his happiness up into the heavens.

Don't go.

"I must, t'korra." He spoke against her moist forehead in a voice she wouldn't hear. "It's time I celebrated our union. The miracle of our mutual release." Mutual release. Lying on the bed with her body half covering his, he could feel his muscles languidly floating in the aftermath. If there had been the tiniest shred of doubt in his mind that this woman was not the keeper of his heart, that doubt had been blasted into nothingness with their soul-shredding orgasms.

Slowly, carefully, Simon began to draw away from her.

There still remained one small technicality. He had taken her in human form, not as his real self. Which meant in the morning there wouldn't be a third blood line formed inside his left arm. And there wouldn't be one until they consummated their love without his outer covering.

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When that would be seemed to be the only glitch in their relationship.

Don't go.

He could sense how Sarah was deep inside her dreams.

They were delicate, fragile dreams, but beautiful ones.

Dreams filled with memories of love found and cemented.

Stepping away from the bed, a smile came over him. In their haste to make love, neither of them had taken the time to pull back the covers. Simon felt her twitch at the loss of his warmth. Quickly he pulled up the foot of the comforter and laid it over her. Sarah never moved.

He could leave, take a short run, and return before she awakened to find him gone. Closing his eyes, he centered himself. She was already inside him, breathing in rhythm with him, her heart matching pace with his for the moment. That connection would forever remain between them, as finely wrought as the most precious metal. If she started to stir, he would know. When she began to rise from the depths of slumber, he would sense it and be back in time to watch her open her eyes.

Grabbing his pants, he pulled them on and left the rest of his clothing still strewn across the floor. The lock on the window was child's play to maneuver. Even better was the fact that there was a small hedge outside the window, which gave him some concealment when he slipped over the sill.

He recalled a small park adjacent to the apartment complex. It held a few trees and the odd picnic table. But on the other side of the park lay several acres of undeveloped land. Simon had no idea how much land was on that side, but 578

it would give him adequate space to give his body a good workout.

He remained human until he reached the restraining wall.

Rather than try to walk through the small gate near the drive-in entrance, he kept far away from the security light.

Taking a running leap, he grabbed the upper edge and easily vaulted over the eighteen-foot wall. Sarah's apartment was near the rear of the complex. The entrance they had taken wasn't the main gate. Which meant there would be little traffic to contend with. Within seconds he was running through the tiny picnic park.

A simple three-strand fence of barbed wire separated the landscaped park from the wild undergrowth. Simon took the fence in a single hurdle. As he sailed over it, he sloughed the last of the pale blond husk he used during the daytime.

The creature that landed amid dead brush and scrub resembled nothing human. It was green-skinned and hairless and bore thick, curving claws on its hands and feet. Raising his face to the heavens, Simon opened his mouth and let out a joyous cry.

He had found her! He had found his life mate! After years of torture and abuse at the hands of the Arra, after escaping to this planet and watching his brother discover his own miracle, he had finally been equally blessed.

He gave another loud shout, letting it echo between the trees. Overhead he could barely see the thin sliver of moon, but he knew exactly where it hung in the sky. The air was humid, but that didn't bother him. Their own world had been 579

similarly humid, more closely resembling a tropical clime amid the thick vegetation.

Simon ran, legs pistoning nearly four times faster than his heart rate. He watched his pacing carefully, making sure he kept it even and steady. Sarah was connected to him now, as perfectly joined to his body as she was to his soul, and vice versa. If his heart rate sped up, so would hers, and that physical disturbance would be enough to awaken her. He had to let her sleep and regain her energy, because when he returned to their bed...

...their bed...

He smiled with the revelation. When he returned to their bed he would make love to her again. But this time with a bit more tenderness. Their first time had been too hurried, too frenzied in their mutual need to satisfy their lust for one another. From her scent, he had known it had been a long, long time since she had allowed a man into her body and that she had never experienced an orgasm until tonight. When she awoke, her body would be as hungry for him again as it had been the first time.

And he ... well, that was something he never had to dwell on again.

He stretched, taking the longest strides his legs would tolerate. Pulling his muscles as taut as possible. He was rewarded with the scent of her oozing through his cells. She was the smell of a summer thunderstorm that would remain with him forever. Just as she would carry his scent upon her for the rest of her life. And the more they made love, the more they would become drenched in each other. When he 580

finally was able to have sex with her in his true form, their connection and blending would grow in ways he had only heard about.

Running freed his mind to think of her and to relive every moment of their lovemaking. Running kept his body in shape and kept his muscles honed. Running, and the job in construction, kept him in peak physical condition, the same way running and his job at the lumber mill kept Jebaral toned.

He is calling you, a little whisper teased inside his head.

Yes, Jebaral was going to call him because he would know something had happened. The same thing had happened to Simon when his brother had found and claimed Hannah as his life mate. But back then he had been forced to wait until Jeb had phoned him from an old-fashioned telephone booth.

Stopping beside a small grove of saplings, Simon reached into his pants' pocket to extract the cell phone just as it began to vibrate with an incoming call. He didn't need to read the viewscreen first to know who was on the other end.

"I am celebrating, Jebaral!"

"My spirit is singing with yours!" his brother responded. "I sensed your joining, but there is also a strange binding or tightness to this happiness. Why? Did something happen?"

"I didn't take her in my true form," Simon replied in a more somber tone.

"What?"

"I ... couldn't. There was no time to explain to her, or show her what I really am. The frenzy to have her was too great. And, besides, she begged me to take her." He paused a 581

second, then added, "I wouldn't have risked consummation in my disguise if you hadn't told me it was possible."

"Yes, but Hannah and I had already formed our permanent bonds in my true form before I took her as a human," Jeb reminded him. "What if Sarah's blood line doesn't form by morning?"

"It won't," Simon told him sadly. "It won't. That won't happen until we make love when I am Ruinos."

"You know, you could un-shield just your manpipe and take her—"

"No," Simon quickly cut him off. "It will have to be all of my true self. All of me. I could no more try to deceive her that way than you could Hannah." A slow sigh answered him on the other end of the line. "But our connection was cemented, brother."

"It was? That is great news! What is your next step? Have you thought about what you'll do next?"

"Hopefully she and I will move in together." Simon sighed deeply. He didn't have to explain to Jeb what all that would entail, including the fact that sooner or later he would have to reveal everything to her. He had no choice, because if he didn't she would discover it on her own. And that was one scenario he didn't want to subject her to if he could avoid it.

"Do you plan to stay in Templeton?"

In the background Simon could hear the chirp of crickets framing Jeb's words. His brother was in the middle of his run just like he was. "Her job is here. Her work and mine. Would you and Hannah, and Thom and Tiron have any objections to coming up here for our wedding?"

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He was answered with a hearty laugh. "Hannah would love to make the trip. I don't think Thomas and Tiron would have any objections either. Just tell us when and where. I take it you haven't asked her yet."

"No," Simon chuckled. "I'm still recovering from our first time. Brother, why didn't you warn me that human women are physically different from Ruinos women?"

"And spoil your surprise?" Jeb laughed heartily. Simon could hear the sound echo in the night air. "Are you so naive to believe they would be the same? Have you already forgotten how different the males are from us?"

Jeb chuckled again, yet the thread of worry that had colored his voice at the beginning of their conversation continued to weave between his words. Simon finally pinned him down about it. "You did not call just to congratulate me on my good fortune," he stated flatly, seriously. "Something is worrying you."

"Unfortunately, yes. But it has nothing to do with you, little brother."

Simon found a comfortable tree trunk to lean against and prepared to listen. Anything that affected his brother affected him. And if something was keeping his younger albeit steadier sibling off-centered, he needed to know about it just in case he had to go lend his aid. "Tell me."

"A little more than a week ago, a man came into town and approached Mr. Mallon about selling the lumber mill."

Simon recalled a past conversation about the incident.

"You told me he wasn't going to sell."

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"He doesn't wish to. The mill has been in his family for eight generations. But this man, Bowen Pycee, is very determined."

The last word bristled. Simon's eyes widened. "How determined? Are you or Hannah in danger?"

"No," Jeb quickly reassured him. "No, we're not. But ever since Mr. Mallon turned down Pycee's two offers, the mill's been vandalized three times. This last time was two nights ago. An order we had ready to be shipped was deliberately set on fire."

"And Pycee is behind it?"

"We don't have proof, but I know for a fact he has to be.

We all do. Sheriff Klotsky agrees with me, also. Unfortunately I don't sense Pycee on anything at the mill other than what I could glean inside Mr. Mallon's office. Security has been doubled. Thomas has taken extra night duty to run by the mill several times an hour to keep an eye on it. Tiron's also been helping by watching the forest around the mill."

"What could Pycee gain if he destroyed the mill?" Simon wondered aloud.

"Oh, he's not out to destroy the mill. He just wants to make it impossible for us to keep up with our orders and scare off the newer hired help. We're already behind on several shipments. If we can't deliver, we'll lose business.

Unless we can catch Pycee, or link him directly to the vandalism, the mill may be forced to shut its doors. And if that happens, Mr. Mallon won't have any other choice but to take Pycee's buyout."

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"Yeah, but by then Pycee's offer may be substantially less than his original offer."

Jeb gave a humorless chuckle. "Some things in this universe never change, no matter which species is involved."

Simon opened his mouth to comment when he felt a stretching deep within himself. It was gentle movement that was just on the verge of waking. "I need to get back," he told his brother. "Are you sure none of you are in any danger?"

"I'm certain. No individuals have been targeted. Just the mill."

"What about Thomas and Tiron, now that they've joined in the watch?"

He could sense Jeb shaking his head. "Thomas is an experienced cop. He knows what he's doing. He's the one who told me how Tiron is helping with the investigation. I trust him fully that he won't put her in any kind of danger."

"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that Tiron won't go off on her own and do something rash," Simon said with a grin.

As long as they had known the Ruinos woman, she had fought conformity and rules. And although finding her blood mate in the seasoned police detective had tamed her considerably, Thomas still sometimes found himself having to keep her on a short leash for her own good and his own piece of mind.

Jeb's hearty chuckle rang in his ear. "You are probably right about that."

"I need to head back to Sarah. I don't want her to awaken and find me gone. Will you swear to me that you'll notify me if you need my assistance?" Simon demanded. "There is no 585

way of knowing what this Pycee man will do to get what he wants. He could target the employees as well as the mill. Be careful, Jebaral. Call me if there is any way I can help."

"I will, little brother. I will. Now go back to your life mate and get what sleep you can if you cannot shed your outer skin." There was a slight pause, then Jeb ended their conversation with a phrase in their native language. "Dand e'livian ghorst ofan. Ti'l balssat idvi."

We have been blessed. Our lives are complete.

Simolif closed his cell phone knowing exactly what his sibling meant. Sarah was his. Her heart and his were now permanently entwined. But it would be some time before he could reveal himself to her as he really was—a creature from another world, another galaxy. One of thirty-one beings who had escaped slavery and torture for the chance to live free and without fear. A Ruinos male who had discovered what he had only dreamed about—his life mate. A partner whose heart beat with his and whose soul matched his own.