Star Kissed (26 page)

“I can’t stand that woman.”

“They’re all like that. Trust me.” Mandy smiled and took Cesar’s arm. “Now maybe you’ll take me seriously about trying to get home.”

“Urik said …”

“I talked to Urik before I ended up in the hospital.” She pulled him as close as possible, whispering. “He said if I can bring him the energy, he knows how to open a star gate.”

“Why did he tell me it wasn’t possible?”

Unease went through Mandy. “I don’t know. Something is off about it, isn’t it?” She looked at him closely.

“Completely. I grilled him and Pinal and a bunch of others,” Cesar said. “Everyone said it takes energy and a special key and a star gate.”

“I didn’t know about the key.” Mandy dwelled on the new information.

“I don’t think it’s a key like we think of it,” he continued. “I think –”

“You would be Cesar.”

Mandy’s eyes flew up, her pulse racing at the low voice. They stopped walking, for Akkadi stood in their path a few feet ahead of them. The Naki’s composure was rigid, his direct gaze on Cesar. No part of his stance or look was remotely friendly.

“I am,” Cesar said. “You are?”

“Your display is inappropriate.” Akkadi’s eyes went to their interlinked arms.

Cesar released her. Mandy raised an eyebrow.

Akkadi didn’t look at her. Even so, her clothing was too hot for her, her nipples tingling as they strained against the material. Her skin had grown sensitive suddenly in anticipation of Akkadi’s touch. She leaned forward to catch a whiff of his scent from the few feet away where she stood.

Instead of touching him, she was forced to keep her distance by the public setting. Never had any man drawn her attention or stirred her blood like this one. His cold façade was a turn on now that she knew the passion laying just beyond the thin display.

 Akkadi’s gaze swept over her briefly before he turned away and joined the others.

“What an ass,” Cesar muttered.

“Yeah,” she said, a breathless note in her voice. Mandy followed Akkadi with her eyes, aching to haul him into some broom closet for a quickie.

“Wait, is that the guy you were trying to lure into bed?” Cesar asked, studying her.

“Succeeded in luring into bed,” she said with a grin. “His name is Akkadi.”

“Really?”

“Why?” she asked, curious about the odd note in his voice.

“Nothing I guess. You know how our fellow slaves talk.” Cesar shrugged. “C’mon. I guess we’re going in.”

“What did you hear?”

“It was nothing.” He started forward, disappearing into a panel.

Mandy dismissed her concern and entered the meeting room, eyes straying to Akkadi. She was occupied enough fantasizing about Akkadi not to notice how long the meeting lasted. She barely looked away from him. He didn’t acknowledge her, his attention on the discussion at hand.

Cesar stayed beside her, quietly watching the others talk. Mandy leaned against the wall, checked her nails, then fiddled with her sash. Cesar twisted his, catching a peachy medallion before it fell. He handed it to her.

Surprised, she glanced down at her neckline, realizing she wasn’t wearing the protective device Akkadi gave her. She tugged it on and tucked it into her shirt.

At long last, the meeting ended. Akkasha was the first to leave. She snapped her fingers at Cesar as she passed them. Mandy rolled her eyes, and Cesar shook his head but trailed the Naki leader through the panel.

“Mandy, I am meeting with my advisors and sending Hichele on ahead,” Helen said, pausing before her. “Come up to my quarters in about an hour.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandy replied.

She watched them file out, not realizing someone stayed behind until she turned to see Akkadi. Her heart leapt and raced in her breast.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

He held out a hand. She grinned and went to him. Akkadi wrapped her in his arms, his lips pressed to hers before she could speak again. His tongue slid into her mouth, and he kissed her slowly, savoring her taste.

Mandy linked her arms around his neck while one of his hands traveled downward to pause at the small of her back and press her against him. His erection made her want to melt around it.

“Someone is happy to see me,” she said, pulling away.

“More than you know,” he replied.

Mandy leaned into him, seeking his mouth with hers and hungrily showing him how much she missed him the first half of the day. Without hesitation, Akkadi trailed a finger down the seam of her uniform, quickly this time, until his fingers reached the end of the seam.

He pushed the material off one shoulder and leaned down to tease a nipple with his tongue while his hand slid into her uniform.

 Mandy groaned quietly as two of his fingers sank into her aching core.

“You are always ready for me,” Akkadi whispered then gently tugged at her nipple with his teeth. “Wet and sweet. I need to taste you, Mandy.”

“I won’t argue,” she said with a breathless laugh, gleefully swept away by his intensity.

Akkadi steered her towards the conference table and swept her clothing off. Mandy reached for him, all but tearing at his clothing to feel his skin against hers. Akkadi struggled out of his shirt and pants, his kisses growing desperate.

Intense lust overcame her. She clawed and pulled him closer, the ache at her core crippling her ability to think. Akkadi didn’t stop to taste her but plunged into her, driving her back onto the table. Mandy wrapped her legs around him, overpowered by the same need.

She came seconds before he did, and he collapsed on top of her, panting hard. Mandy’s body convulsed under the power of her orgasm, and she murmured his name, shaking.

Akkadi kissed her cheeks, forehead, nose.

“I want you again already,” he whispered hoarsely. “How can that be?”

“You can have me, Akkadi,” she replied. “As many times as you want.”

He leaned back and took one nipple in his mouth, sucking and lathing, nipping and tugging. She sighed at the tiny pleasures, hands buried in his hair. He moved to the second nipple, his hand massaging her breast. He began moving in and out of her, his penis hardening quickly at the friction.

Mandy smiled. “Want a sneak peek before tonight?”

Akkadi didn’t wait for her to explain what she had in mind. He withdrew and held out his hands, pulling her off the table. Mandy turned bent over the table, presenting her rear end to him.

Akkadi’s hands went to her hips then up her waist. He nudged her ankles farther a part, the large tip of his penis prodding the opening of her vagina.

Mandy sighed as he entered her once again. Akkadi tugged her hips back to better position her then leaned over, resting his upper body against her back as he slid in and out.

“I like this,” he whispered.

“It’s better on all fours,” she teased.

“We’ll do it tonight.”

Mandy laughed. Akkadi’s control began to slip. He straightened and took her hips, plunging into her over and over. She braced herself against the table, engrossed in the feeling of his arousal inside her.

His release came fast, and his nails dug into her hips.

“Mandy,” he said breathlessly.

His movement stopped. She felt his body shudder. She pushed her upper body off the table and wriggled her butt. Akkadi chuckled.

“I like your ideas,” he said in a husky voice.

“I’ve got a few more,” she said.

He withdrew from her body. She straightened and faced him. Akkadi kissed her gently.

Mandy hugged him, loving the scent of their lovemaking and the naked body pressed against hers. His warm embrace was tight and strong. She couldn’t have designed a more perfect man.

“We fit well together,” she murmured.

“We do,” he agreed, kissing her neck. “May I ask something of you?”

“Anything.”

“Why you were in the healing ward.”

Mandy sighed. “Can I tell you tonight?” she hedged, not wanting to spoil their moment.

“You may.”

“Thank you.”

Akkadi squeezed her then let go, stepping away to gather his clothing. Mandy watched the way his muscles moved beneath his taut skin. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t get enough of him, couldn’t stop staring at him or craving his touch, his taste.

She shook her head and retrieved her uniform from the ground.

“Did you give any thought to what I asked you before I left?” Akkadi asked, the rough edge remaining.

Mandy was pensive for a moment. “Yes. I went to Earth with your mother, too. We visited the people who are sick.”

She felt Akkadi’s gaze but didn’t look at him, still not at all certain what to make of her situation.

“You three are the only who can open a star gate, right?” she asked.

“Correct.”

“And you don’t have the energy.”

“We do not.”

“Even with Hichele’s family’s energy marbles?”

Akkadi was quiet for a moment. Mandy finished closing her uniform and faced him. She fixed her hair, waiting for him to respond.

“Her energy cells would provide us with what we need for the final stage of the vaccine,” Akkadi answered. “Without them, it will take us much longer to reach the next phase.”

“More people would die,” she said. The poke of the pins beneath her fingertips reminded her of the children she met. “Many more.”

“An estimated twenty billion.”

She looked up, stunned once more by the numbers.

“I …” she cleared her throat. “I would stay here, if it meant I could help save those people.” A tremor of unease went through her at the prospect.

Akkadi gazed at her. He was suddenly closed off again, his face unreadable.

“That’s what you asked, wasn’t it?” she prodded at his silence.

“It is,” he agreed.

“Okay.”
Now tell me you want me to stay with you.
She waited. When he didn’t speak, she tried to make a joke. “I guess I’m sleeping with you for a different reason now.”

Akkadi looked away. “We can discuss that later.”

It wasn’t the open invitation she sought. Mandy crossed her arms. Her feeling of discomfort turned to fear.

Even after last night and today, Akkadi didn’t want her. How could that be, when she had never seen such passion and tenderness as he displayed?

“I must go,” he said.

Mandy watched him leave. Maybe she was reading too much into his words. Perhaps he didn’t feel this was the best place to propose she stay with him forever.

Maybe she was crazy to think he was capable of more than sex. She’d given an honest answer and one she expected him to want to hear. He hadn’t seemed interested in her response, despite the importance she gauged it to be when he posed the question a few days ago.

Estimating she had time before going to see Helen, Mandy exited out the back entrance – opposite the direction Akkadi went – and oriented herself in the hallway. She walked until she found an elevator then rode the lift up to where it stopped.

Exiting into the hallway, she checked the floor then began walking once more. She soon found the familiar markings outside the slave dorms and entered, satisfied she was finding her way around without help.

Cesar was on his bed, sprawled on his back eating space Twinkies. Mandy trotted down the ramp and flung herself down on the large bed beside him.

“What’re we looking at?” she asked, fishing out a snack with one hand. She stared at the ceiling.

“No idea,” Cesar said. “If I have to spend another minute with that Naki chick …”

“Tell me about it.”

“What do you find in Akkadi? He’s got the personality of an ice cube.”

“You know, sometimes, I don’t know. When we’re together, there’s this incredible connection. Kind of like we were meant to be together, at least physically.” Mandy sighed. “Though I’m having problems figuring him out.”

“You gonna tell me who hit you, if it wasn’t him?”

“If you don’t tell anyone.”

“Who would I tell?” Cesar returned with a laugh. “There’s two of us!”

“I know, I know. It’s so petty. There’s this Naki who has it out for me. That’s it. She had one of her guards beat me up, because I mouthed off to her.”

“Akkasha?”

“No! I don’t think any of the Naki princes or their sisters would do that. Their mama is a tough little lady. They know better.”

“Then who?”

“Okay, she promised to get revenge on you and me if I told anyone.” Mandy hesitated, twisting her head to see him.

“Me, too? How did she knew we’re friends?”

“You know, I have no idea. Probably because the slaves talk like crazy.”

Cesar grunted.

“Hichele. She’s this Naki girl marrying into the family.”

“Hichele?” Cesar rolled onto his side, gaze sharpening. “The woman who was with the Naki queen today?”

“Yep. Ugly bitch.”

“She just has it out for you.”

“Yeah. I don’t bow to her and got lippy.”

Cesar was quiet, frowning.

“What?” Mandy asked.

“That’s not why she had the shit beat out of you,” he said. “You know she’s engaged to Akkadi, right?”

“Hichele? No way.” She waited to hear him laugh at the joke.

He didn’t.

Mandy propped herself up on her elbow, rolling to face him.

Cesar was serious.

Mandy’s stomach dropped, her heart slowing and chest clenching.

“You can’t mean that. Hichele?” she repeated.

“The ceremony announcing it is in two days. I take it he didn’t tell you.”

Mandy had the sense of being stuck between worlds again and close to fainting. She closed her eyes, willing the spell to pass quickly.

“It can’t be true,” she said with more effort. “Why would he take me as a consort? I mean last night was incredible!”

“You’re hot,” Cesar observed. “Maybe one last fling?”

You don’t make love to a fling like that!

“It’s not like him. He’s so dedicated to his duty,” she argued, struggling for some explanation.

It almost explained his aloofness at first, his indecision between wanting her and trying to walk away. The fact he’d looked at Hichele alone the first time Mandy accompanied them to the battle deck.

Nothing, however, explained last night or today.

“Maybe you are the first human to distract a Naki from his duty,” Cesar suggested.