The Mandala Maneuver (20 page)

Finally, though, he moved away from her. She blinked, forcing herself to focus on her surroundings. This was no forgotten storage chamber or access corridor. This had to be his apartment.

The walls were a soft shade halfway between blue and green, the furniture upholstered in similar tones, only deeper. Where Ambassador Castillo’s office had a few carefully placed plants, here they seemed to be everywhere, falling from cunning little metal sconce planters on the walls, draping themselves over pedestals, proud and upright on the small round dining table and the lower one that fronted the sofa. In the corner a softly lit fountain burbled away.

“You brought me to your apartment?” she asked at last. “Isn’t that…dangerous?”

“We do not allow surveillance in our section here, so once you were past the service corridors, you were safe enough,” Lirzhan replied. “I thought it the safest place for us to talk.”

Talk? She’d halfway hoped he had better things in mind. She could keep denying it if she wanted to, but after this last kiss it was pretty clear that her body wanted him, even if her brain still had a few reservations.

“All right,” she said, not bothering to hide her reluctance. After all, he could probably read it in her emotions, even if she kept her tone as neutral as the one she used at the negotiating table.

In response he pushed back his hood and shot her a wicked smile. “Well, perhaps not only talk. We shall see. But please — sit down.”

He indicated the sofa, and she took a seat there. A pitcher of water and two glasses already sat on the polished stone table, so clearly he had been confident in her ability to follow the directions he had given her. He poured some water for her before sitting down himself.

Although they had spent so much time together, had slept in one another’s arms and shared a few scorching kisses, there seemed to be something very intimate about sitting next to him like this, of having him less than a foot away, close enough she could feel the warmth of his body, sense how very solid and real he was…so different from the wraith-like appearance he presented while wearing his robes. Incongruously, her current position reminded her of being back in school, of making out on the couch with one of the boys from her advanced composition class, and how she had gotten in so much trouble when her foster mother came home from work early and caught her.

She forced her mind back to the present, and away from such dangerous topics. “All right,” she said. “Are you finally going to tell me what you saw on Mandala?”

“Yes.” Something around his eyes seemed to tighten. In that marvelously supple scaled skin, she could see no lines, no signs of age, but he did look suddenly older, and tired. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his, gave them a small squeeze, giving him the encouragement to go on. “Alexa, it was someone on that facility who pulled us out of subspace. They are mining those blue crystals — you know, the ones we saw in the caves.”

Somehow she managed to nod. She could see those crystals again in her mind’s eye, so delicate, so lovely. How could something that beautiful be used to do something so dangerous…so terrible?

He continued, elegant planes of his face still and calm, but his jade-colored eyes cloudy and troubled. “I do not know how they are doing it, precisely, but somehow they’ve learned how to refine the crystals and use them in a device that can disrupt a ship’s subspace passage. I don’t suppose I need to tell you what the ramifications of such research might be.”

No, he didn’t need to tell her. Claims over planets might be fought in the real world, or merely around bargaining tables, but space itself — and subspace, that odd non-reality which allowed faster-than-light travel — was sacrosanct. Any planetary authority giving itself such an advantage over all the other worlds and their governments was in effect declaring open season on all such shipping. And by doing so, the Gaian Consortium was only a step or two away from causing an intergalactic conflict so cataclysmic Alexa could barely begin to imagine its effects.

“God damn them!” she burst out, and pushed herself to her feet.

Lirzhan watched her carefully, but did not attempt to rise as well.

Anger coursed through her, destroying the afterglow of the kiss, of the champagne, of the party’s pleasantries and laughter. What the
hell
had they been thinking? Surely those involved in the research had to know where such a thing might lead, once word of it got out. The Eridani Hegemony, the Stacian Federation, the Zhore Assembly — none of them could allow Gaia to have sole ownership of such technology. They would fight to take it away, even the peaceful Zhore.

They would have no other choice.

“No wonder Melinda Ono and her gang wanted us dead,” Alexa said at last.

Finally Lirzhan rose to his feet. “Yes, it is a secret they thought was worth killing for. But I cannot help but notice that there have been no further attempts.”

“No, they’re biding their time. My report was harmless, because I didn’t know what they were up to. And I was damn careful not to say anything too incriminating. But you” — she stared up into his eyes — “you said you told your own people?”

“Of course,” he replied. “I had no choice but to tell them the truth of the matter. I have heard nothing since, however. No doubt they are examining the situation from every angle before filing a formal complaint, because of course once they do that, there is no going back. The secret will be out.”

“And the rest of the galaxy will be clamoring for Gaia’s blood,” she finished heavily. “Lirzhan, what should we do?”

“As we have done,” he told her, and stepped closer. He paused then, as if attempting to measure whether she would appreciate the overture or not. “We wait, and we see what happens.”

Alexa stood very still, sensing that she paused on a knife edge now as never before. Maybe it would be better if she left now, before anything else between them could change. She could feel the tension in his lean body — his worry over what their discovery might mean for the galaxy as a whole. Yes, that was there, but it was more.

They were alone in his apartment. No one had seen her come here. He was waiting to see what she would do, whether she would duck away once more.

Or whether she would do what her heart had been trying to tell her for several days now.

And she was so very, very tired of being logical and practical.

She went to him then, let him wrap his arms around her, felt his lips brush against her hair, then move lower, sliding over her temple and down her cheek, under her jaw, and down the line of her neck, kisses slipping over her collarbone and onto the cool exposed skin of her chest in the low-cut tunic she wore. Heat was building in her, and she knew this was what she wanted, his touch on her, everywhere, just a few minutes or hours of necessary oblivion before the galaxy came crashing in on them once again.

Maybe she said his name. Maybe it didn’t matter, because he could tell what she was feeling. He would know what she wanted before she did. Those arms tightened around her, lifting her up and carrying her out of the living room and into his sleeping chamber, where they fell onto the bed, mouths meeting in a desperate flare of heat, her hands pulling the heavy robes away from his body, pushing them onto the floor, then finding the little tabs that held his tunic closed and pulling that away as well. Such a marvelous flicker of those tiny scales all over his muscular torso as they caught the light from yet another fountain trickling away in a corner of the room.

His hands were busy, too, finding the zipper at the back of her tunic and pulling it down, then lifting the garment over her head and tossing it away, perhaps to land on the pile of robes already lying on the floor. Those long, elegant fingers moved over her bare torso, found the clasp to her bra and undid it, then drew it away.

He let out a low, ragged gasp. “Alexa, you are so beautiful….”

She wanted to tell him the same thing, but the words were startled out of her as he lowered his head, mouth closing on her nipple, tongue slowly moving over it. A shocked little cry escaped her lips, and then she buried her hands in his long slick hair, felt it cascade over her skin as she held him against her, letting him suckle on her, even as the heat built between her legs.

This was good, but she wanted more. More from him…more
of
him. She reached down and found the fastener for the trousers he wore and unlatched it, then pushed them down over his hips. His underwear was simply a wrap around his body, covering his privates, and was easy enough to pull away. Tiny shimmering scales there, too, and she let out a moan at the mere thought of him inside her, moving against her flesh.

He must have caught the notion from her, because the next thing she knew he had undone the button and zipper on her own pants, was yanking them down, taking her underwear with them. His hands were on her, moving between her legs, touching, stroking. She was so ready for him. Had she ever been this wet, this aroused? She didn’t know, because it seemed as if thinking of anyone else besides Lirzhan was a foolish exercise. In this moment, he was everything.

Although she had been expecting him to push into her, instead he moved lower, his breath hot against her belly, against her mound. And then he was tasting her, tongue sliding over her with insidious grace, the heat within her building to impossible levels. His long, slick hair brushed against the insides of her thighs, and that was enough to drive her over the edge, to have the pulsing need finally explode outward, sending shockwaves along every nerve ending, along every muscle and vein.

She bit back her scream, knowing that there must be other Zhore on either side of Lirzhan’s apartment. Or could they sense that rush of ecstasy as it raced away from her like ripples away from a stone thrown into a pool?

“It is all right,” he murmured, his breath hot against her flesh. “All our chambers are specially muffled, to avoid having our emotions intrude upon one another.”

If only he’d told her that a few seconds earlier. “All right,” she said, her voice hoarse, “then I suppose it won’t matter if I do this.”

And she pushed herself up to a sitting position, then turned so she could grasp him in her hand, feel the tiny delicate scales against her skin as she worked her fingers up and down his shaft. He moaned then, slipping down against the pillows, letting her touch him, fingertips moving their way down to the small patch of sleek black hair at his base, going lower to fondle him, seeing how much he was built like any other man.

But would he taste like one?

She took him into her mouth then, letting her tongue slide over him, tiny scales tickling against her taste buds. His skin had a clean, almost metallic taste, subtle, not musky like the other men she’d been with.

“Alexa.” His voice was rough as well, so different from the elegant, smooth tones she’d grown accustomed to. “If you keep doing that — ”

Perhaps some other time she’d bring him to a climax this way, would truly taste all of him, but that wasn’t what she wanted right now. No, she wanted him in her, just as she’d imagined a few minutes ago. So she lifted her mouth from him, slowly, with one last tantalizing swipe of her tongue across his tip before she got up on her knees and then sank onto him, letting him fill her, letting the exquisite sensations of that delicately scaled shaft inside her tremble their way along every nerve ending.

He groaned, his hands reaching up to her caress her breasts, shimmering ebony against her pale skin, and she moaned as well, beginning to rock with him, his hips thrusting up into her, pushing deeper, taking away every doubt, every worry, every fear, until she could think of nothing else but him, all that alien beauty melding with her, where she could not be sure where one began and the other ended. And then finally the climax shuddered its way through her, heat pulsing along her limbs, just as he exploded within her with more heat, bucking against her, long black lashes sweeping down over his equally dark cheeks. He cried out, then reached up and pulled her against him, their hearts thudding against one another in the aftermath of the shockwave.

For a long moment Alexa was content to lie there, to feel his amazing body pressed against hers, but eventually she knew she needed to get up. She rolled off him as carefully as she could, and was about to push herself up from the bed when his hand went around her wrist.

“Don’t go.”

“I’m not going far,” she replied, smiling. “I just need to get cleaned up a little. I’ll be right back.”

He nodded, although he was clearly reluctant to let her go. She gave his hand a squeeze and then pulled away, going to the door she hoped led to the bathroom. That was exactly what it turned out to be, the fixtures more or less familiar, although she had to wonder at the extravagance of having an actual steam unit on a space station. Then again, it might be fun to get in there with Lirzhan later….

First things first. She cleaned herself up as best she could, then ran the water and splashed some on her face. Her cosmetics had run, leaving black smudges under her eyes. She looked — well, she looked like a woman who’d just had a spectacular lay.

Grimacing a little, she patted her face dry on one of the towels and went back into the bedroom. Lirzhan still lay in the bed, although he’d pulled the covers up to his waist. The green eyes sought her out immediately as she approached him, and he pulled back the blankets and sheets a little, clearly inviting her back in.

She hesitated at the edge of the bed. As tempting as it might be to climb back under the covers, to let him hold her once again…and try for round two in a few more minutes…she knew that the longer she was away, the greater the chance someone might notice she was not in her chambers.

“I don’t know if I should,” she said at last.

He sat up immediately, eyes narrowing. “Do you — that is, do you regret what has passed between us?”

“Oh, no.” The words came out in a rush, because she had to make sure he didn’t think she was rejecting him. “No, Lirzhan, that was — wonderful. It was perfect. So perfect I want nothing more than to crawl back in bed with you and do it all over again.” She spoke the simple truth, since he would know if she were lying. No regrets, no matter what happened.