Текст книги "Alien On Fire"

Автор книги: January Bell

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CHAPTER SIX

Leigh

Disbelief and desire war inside me. My whole body keys up at Nydo’s touch.

Except, he’s not touching me, not at all. He stands across the room, his eyes glowing embers, his hair crackling with vivid orange energy.

And yet, I can feel him.

Liquid warmth trickles across my arm first, causing goosebumps to pebble all over my body. Then it reaches my jaw, like hot honey, dripping down my neck, my collarbone.

I close my eyes, overwhelmed.

Living for it, for the hot slide of the phantom flames licking across my shoulders, down my spine…

My eyes fly open.

“No.” My voice cracks on the syllable, and Nydo’s eyes stay fixed to me, his touch still on the small of my back.

“But you are enjoying it. I can feel how your body responds.” He sounds confused, but it’s hard to see anything but the otherworldly glow of his eyes, his hair flaming around his shoulders. “Have you not relaxed under my ministrations? Why do you tell me no?”

“I don’t want you to,” I grit out.

The strange, steaming sensation vanishes, and I shiver in the sudden loss of it.

“I meant only to help you.” Nydo blinks, and the orange is replaced by coal-black. “You weep for the need of release, and my… my species did this to you. You are hurting. Why not let me help you? Why not let me repair the wrongs they have done to your body?”

“Because you…” I sputter, trying to form words. I’m already lost though, my body begging for his warmth again, begging for release. “Because I don’t trust you. And I don’t even like you. Now get out.”

His jaw twitches, but it’s not anger that creases his brow.

Not at all.

He seems truly sad.

I blink, but the expression vanishes before I can be entirely sure.

“Where would you have me go?” His voice is a low growl that sets me aflame again, for an entirely different reason. “This is my room. We will land on the Hernus-12 Space Station tomorrow. You must wear my scent if we are to be believed.”

“So dress me in your dirty clothes,” I retort. His room? The fucking audacity of these Roth! “Go sleep in the captain’s chair. I don’t care where you sleep. Not my problem.”

“Perhaps, perhaps you have forgotten,” he says slowly, stalking towards where I sit on the bed. “That there are very, very few females left in the universe. Of any species, thanks to the virus that’s spread like wildfire. Maybe you have forgotten that the station we go to will be full of males. I know that humans’ senses are not nearly as evolved as many species, but they will be able to scent you the moment you walk off this ship.”

I digest that for a moment, staring up at him. He prowls closer, every step graceful, every muscle on his body honed and powerful.

“My scent will protect you. It will keep you safe, and sell the… lie of our mating.”

“Ugh,” I say, but part of me knows he has a point, even if it annoys me. I lick my lips.

“I do not wish for you to be uncomfortable, Leigh.”

Fresh goosebumps emerge at the way he says my name, making it sound like a song on his lips. I stare up at him, confused by how I feel.

I want.

But I don’t want him, dammit.

“I do not wish to make you cry,” he continues. “But I need you to be safe, and the best way to do that, the only way to do that, is to coat you so heavily in my scent that no one dares bother you. Besides…” He tilts his head at me, his now blue-black hair falling across his shoulders. “We must begin exchanging our scents now, to ensure it is believable for my people when we recruit from the settlements. Mating would help that along.” A heated smile turns his lips up, his glimmering eyes near gloating at the trap he’s set for me.

Fuck this guy.

“I’m not mating you, not now, not ever.”

His eyes blaze orange, and I swallow hard, flinching. Nydo’s expression falls, and a swift pang goes through me, followed by confusion, then anger.

“You can’t manipulate emotions, right?” I ask slowly.

“Only energy.” He shakes his head, and a cascade of sparks fly from his hair. “Why? Are you feeling… differently?”

“Just making sure,” I say, altogether too quickly to be believable.

Why am I feeling sorry for him? What the fuck is wrong with me?

“I was not asking you to fuck me,” he says casually, brushing a loose strand from his handsome face. Gah. Why are the hot ones always assholes? Every damn time. “I was asking you to wear my scent.”

“So spritz me in cologne, you weirdo,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him. I stand up, feeling defiant and mad, my hands fisting at my sides… only to come face-to-face with Nydo’s wall of abs. They’re spectacular, even through the thin shirt he wears.

Ugh!

I flop back onto the bed.

“I do not know what cologne is. But I do not think I should spray you with fluids. I don’t think you would like that, either.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I cradle my head in my hands.

“Do humans joke about fluids often?” Nydo asks, his confusion unfeigned.

I stare at the ceiling, at a loss for words. Funny how a minute ago I was all hot and bothered, and now I’m just bothered.

“Nydo, I have to say, you are doing a great job of relieving that itch, just by being yourself.”

“I do not think that is the compliment I would like it to be,” he mutters.

I bark out a laugh, surprising both of us. His eyes flick to me, wide with surprise, then a small smile dances across his mouth.

It makes him even more handsome.

“So… you say wearing your…” I scrunch my nose up, forcing the words out, “scent will keep me safe on Hernus-12 tomorrow?”

He nods.

“And how, besides… mating,” I throw air quotes around the word, “or, god help me, fluids, do you suggest we do that?”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he strips off his shirt, tugging it over his head.

And I am treated to a view of what, exactly, is under that training gear. I mean, I knew his body was fabulous, there’s only so much a shirt can do to hide it, but…

My mind shudders to a stop, my mouth gone dry. Holy guacamole. The hormones come flooding back, and I can’t stop staring. His torso is covered in the same velvety soft down as the rest of his body, and even though the grey color of his skin is somewhat disconcerting, he is, without a doubt, the most incredible being I have ever seen in my entire life.

His body is a work of art. And not just the dark grey whorls and swirls that decorate every inch of his skin, but his insanely muscled abdomen and thick pectorals.

I wet my lips, tearing my gaze away from the vee of muscles that point down below his pants.

“I should hold you.” It’s a simple sentence, but when I force myself to make eye contact with him again, the longing there… makes my heart skip a beat. “Take off your shirt.”

My hands automatically go to the hem of my shirt, my body ready to obey. Lucky for me, my brain is still somewhat functioning, because I pause. He licks his lips, and heaven help me, I can’t look away from his mouth.

“You’re not going to… do anything I don’t want, right?”

“I will pretend not to be insulted by that question.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s a normal question, douche face. If I strip down to my underwear, you have to promise not to touch me anywhere that I don’t want you to. You Roth,” I sputter, getting mad all over again. “Your people ravaged Earth. Stole me and my friends. Gave me meds that make me absolutely crazy with lust, and you, you have the freaking gall to tell me I have insulted you by setting a boundary?”

A muscle twitches in his temple. “Have I ever done anything you didn’t want? Did I not stop myself from pleasuring you when you asked? Or are you going to hold me responsible for all the crimes of my species against yours?”

I glare at him. “Why can’t I just stay on the ship anyways? Why do I have to go at all?”

“Because we need to sow the seeds of the story that you are mine,” he rasps, that orange glow flaring to life in his eyes once again. “We need to start the lie. And we are going to the station to buy the proper Roth clothes for you. There is a tailor there that will make you clothes more fitting for a queen.”

I gape at him. “What?”

He sneers, and I remember exactly how much I dislike him, in spite of the delicious view of his abs and pecs and shoulders and biceps and…

“You think I would let you dress like a human peasant while I parade you around on my arm? Absolutely not. You will wear the traditional Roth clothes, and they will be fit for a queen, which you agreed to pretend to be, mate.”

“Say you won’t touch me,” I tell him.

“I have to touch you,” he says.

“You know what I mean!” I snap. God! He’s so infuriating!

“I promise not to touch you anywhere you don’t want me to,” he says evenly, his eyes sparking orange.

“Good. Fine.” Fuck. I tug the hem of my shirt up, tossing it aside in a business-like manner, doing my best to ignore the hulking, muscle-bound alien staring at me. When I pull my pants down, though, revealing what I know are the ugliest, rattiest underwear I’ve ever owned, he makes a soft, strangled noise.

It’s harder to ignore that, and I spare a glance at him.

The expression on his face sends a shockwave of heat through me.

No one has ever looked at me like that before in my life. Nydo’s lips are slightly parted, his eyes burning embers in his face, his hands twitching at his sides. His chest rises and falls rapidly, and I blink.

I stare at him for a moment, trying to recalibrate while the fresh, dizzying wave of stupid sex hormones floods my brain.

“You promised not to touch anything—”

“You didn’t tell me not to look,” he snarls.

“Don’t look at me!” I yell.

He glances down at the floor, teeth bared. I crawl into the bed, arranging the sheet over my body, grinding my teeth. I squeeze my own eyes shut, like that will keep him from seeing my almost naked body.

The bed shifts as Nydo climbs into it, his huge body causing me to roll slightly towards him. My back brushes up against him, velvety soft. Oh my god.

He’s completely naked.

“You’re not wearing any pants!” I shriek.

“So? You didn’t specify that I should wear pants. Do human males normally wear pants to sleep in?” He actually sounds confused, and I roll over, trying to deduce if he’s sincere by looking at his face.

A fucking mistake. A big one.

We’re nose to nose, his mouth a mere inch from mine.

And oh-my-god-he-smells-so-good. All my pheromones sit up and take notice, absolutely down to clown with the fire-starting fool.

“No,” I finally choke out. “They don’t.”

“Then what is the problem? You have your… undergarments on. I promised not to touch you, and I meant it. I just need to hold you, to transfer our scents.” His tone is gently bewildered, but matter-of-fact.

I scrutinize him, trying to get past his nearness and make my brain function. Easier said than done. This whole thing is crazy.

I want to accuse him of lying, but… I know the Suevans do use scent. And I know there are species out there who would absolutely abduct me, because the one lying next to me already has.

“Fine,” I grit out. “Just…”

Whatever I was about to say vanishes from my mind as Nydo carefully, so carefully, scooches closer.

“Lift your head,” he growls, and the command sends a hot tingle straight down my spine.

“No fire powers!” I blurt out.

He blinks at me. “I’m not.”

“Right, right, right, right,” I mutter, feeling idiotic. Not using fire power. Must be the lust drugs. “Right,” I repeat, remembering he asked me to lift my head. I do, and he slides an arm under my neck.

Wow. His skin is so, so velvety soft. It reminds me of a pet my friend had once, a chinchilla, but with shorter hair. I rub my cheek against his bicep, transfixed by the sensation.

He makes a low noise in his throat.

“You feel like a shaved chinchilla.” It slips out. I close one eye, because damn if that doesn’t sound dirty as hell.

“I do not know what that means, but I hope it is a good thing,” he says seriously.

“It’s fine,” I lie. It’s definitely a good thing, for him. Fuck! I don’t want him to feel like a shaved chinchilla. I don’t want him to feel nice at all. “Is the scent thing working?”

“I don’t know,” he murmurs, his gaze locked on mine. “Maybe I should try harder.”

He pulls me closer, a big hand on my back, until my breasts are touching his chest. Nydo is so warm, and soft, and being all up close and personal with him is… surprisingly nice.

And I am unsurprisingly turned on.

He looks at my mouth. I stare at his face. Warm breath spills over my forehead.

If either of us moved a fraction, we could kiss. It’s too much.

I don’t want to think about kissing him. I’m not going to kiss him!

“I’m going to just roll over. You can spoon me.” I can’t be face-to-face with Nydo. There’s no way I can sleep like this.

“Spoon?” he asks. “Utensil you? I don’t understand.”

I sigh. “Just… I’m going to put my back to your front, and you hold me. Like… my body will fit inside yours. Like a spoon.” I flip over, then scoot further back, until his soft, hot body is snug against mine. I gulp, trying to find my train of thought.

Nope. It’s gone.

It’s derailed, falling into a canyon below, probably exploding into smithereens.

Because I’m not the only one turned on, and the evidence of Nydo’s spooning enthusiasm is pressed hard against my back. I arch away as far as I can.

“Keep that away from me.” My demand comes out strangled and breathy.

“I cannot hold you like this and not have my cock on you,” he says in a strangled voice. “It is too large, and you are too tempting.”

I want to scream. I take a deep breath instead. “Fine, I’ll spoon you. You roll over.”

Nydo gently extracts his arm from under my head, then rolls over to his other side. Grumbling, I scoot closer to him.

Like this, my face to his back, it’s easier. Less intimate.

Gingerly, I throw an arm over him. I go stiff as he catches it, tucking it around his waist. Oh no. Now my hand is on his abs. They feel nice.

I don’t want them to feel nice!

“You are tense,” he remarks.

“I am sharing a bed with my enemy.”

A soft sigh gusts out of him, and to make things worse, I can feel it, his chest falling, his abs moving under my fingertips. His hand is still on mine, and I’m too afraid I’m going to accidentally touch something I don’t want to to bother shaking him off.

“I can’t apologize for the things that have happened to you, Leigh. I cannot take responsibility for the things the Roth Overlord ordered, the crimes committed against you and your people. All I can tell you is that I wish things had begun differently between us.”

I don’t know what to say to that, because dammit, he seems… sincere. A swirl of dark grey arcs over his shoulder, and I trace it down his back, where it ripples across acres of muscle.

“But I cannot be too mad, because now your skin is against mine, and you are in my bed.” His voice is smug.

“You’re the worst,” I tell him, but I don’t mean it, because… well, because despite the smug tone, I think he’s sincere. And it’s kind of… nice.

Or maybe my bar for nice is so low that it’s actually chilling in hell.

He laughs at my salty response, and for some reason, the sound loosens my stiff shoulders, and a small smile curves my lips.

There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep like this. It’s like trying to hold on to the world’s hottest velveteen pillow. Except it’s hard, and it’s literally hot, not in the metaphorical sense. Holding onto Nydo is like holding onto a furry hot water bottle. With muscles. Yards and yards of gorgeous muscles.

I swallow hard, and in the silence of the room, I wonder if he’s heard it. If he can hear my heartbeat, feel it through the thin material of my sports bra. The persistent ache continues between my legs, and I sigh through clenched teeth, forcing my thoughts anywhere else but there.

Which leads me straight back to the alien king holding my arm hostage around his tree trunk waist. He isn’t treating this like it’s fake… and it’s not like I can forget how he claimed I was his mate back on the prison planet.

Of course, one of the women on Sueva, Captain Jacks, told me that he tried to steal her away, too. So maybe I’m just convenient and available, unlike the rest of the women stuck on Sueva who are already married off.

I frown at his shoulders.

Does he actually think we’re mates? Or is this whole thing really some long con where he just uses me and I use him to get home, and sex with me would be a fun benefit?

I don’t know what to think.

I don’t know if this was a huge mistake.

But I do know there’s a handsome, deadly alien male naked in bed with me, and that it’s too late to turn back now. My mind spins on and on and on, the overhead lights dimming in the stillness of the room, until there’s nothing but the soft emergency glow around the door.

Nydo seems untroubled by the fact I’m next to him. By the fact that I’m having a sudden crisis of character, that I’m considering how good his warm body feels pressed against mine, how I even might like the way his big, calloused hand circles my wrist.

His breathing is deep and even, like me spooning him is the most natural thing in the world. I don’t know what to think about him, other than that I don’t trust him. Not at all. I’m in bed with the enemy, and I can only think of one way to keep him closer than he already is, and my body is all for it.

I don’t know how I can sleep like this.

But when the rumble of the ship’s main engine starts again, my eyes get heavy, and I stop fighting it.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

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NYDO

The gods have blessed me. Their hands must be upon this, must be upon me, a blessing as I reach for the throne, my birthright. This is a sign that they approve. She is a sign.

I cannot stop staring at her.

Leigh slumbers sweetly, her vivid hair tumbling around my shoulders, contrasting with the grey of my skin, fire to my ashes. Her cheek’s pressed against my chest, one arm flung over my body, a leg twined over my thigh.

She seems even more delicate in her sleep.

So breakable, so perfect. I want to stay like this forever, with her smooth skin pressed against mine, the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest against mine. Even in the near-dark of my small living quarters on the ship, her hair sparkles, a deep, vivid red that I long to reach out and touch.

I know if I touch her now, she will make me regret it.

Just as I know the exact moment she wakes, her body stiffening next to mine.

As for me, I’ve been hard since I woke up to find her sweet, intoxicating scent all around me, now mingled with mine.

I cannot remember a morning I’ve ever been so happy to be breathing.

“Hello, fair one,” I tell her softly, holding out hope she magically softened towards me in her sleep.

Instead, she jerks up, her gorgeous hair falling all around her sleep-slackened face as she scuttles away from me and towards the wall of the ship.

My chest aches.

I paste a smile on my face, the lights flickering to full power as they detect our movement and change in breathing.

“Come now, was I so bad a sleeping partner?” I smile harder to take the edge off the hurt in my question.

“I—” She rubs a hand over her face, blinking rapidly. “I forgot where I was.”

“You’re with me, mate,” I say, watching her carefully. “Today we go to the Hernus-12 Space Station to begin selling the lie of our mating. To dress you according to your new role, as my chosen queen and future of the Roth.”

Her pretty eyes narrow, and she rubs her hand over her forehead, then through her hair.

“You are stunning in the morning,” I say quietly, unable to help myself.

“Ha,” she says, frowning. “Very funny.”

I blink. “It was not a joke. You are the only thing I ever want to wake up to again.”

She tilts her head, a lock of her crimson hair falling across her face. My fingers twitch with the need to tuck it behind her ear, to relish the softness of it against my skin. For a vivid moment, I imagine how the tips of her hair would tickle my thighs, her mouth around my throbbing cock.

“Do I smell? Like you?” she asks. “Was it worth it?”

I am the worst kind of being, because I know exactly how I’m going to answer her question.

“I can’t tell, because you are too far away,” I lie. “Come to me so I may scent you more thoroughly.”

Cautiously, as though she distrusts me, she crawls closer.

She should distrust me.

“Closer,” I purr, desire lashing me. “I still can’t tell.” She stops just short of where I lie, one arm under my head, feigning casualness.

I am anything but casual where this female is concerned.

I hook my free arm around her neck, pulling her against my chest. Leigh lets out a frustrated yelp, and I drag my nose over her throat, her jaw, her hair.

My pulse pounds, my cock harder than ever. I want this female more than anything I’ve wanted in my entire miserable life.

Even now, I resist the impulse to—

Her hand cracks into my nose, and I blink in surprise. Brief pain follows, and I stare up at her, slightly shocked and even more gratified at the violence in her nature. My grin widens.

“You hit me,” I say lazily.

“No shit. Let me go,” she growls, her green eyes furious. “Let me go right now, or I twist these fuckers off, and you learn what it’s like to piss blood.” Her hand tightens around my balls.

I let out a harsh laugh. I release my grip on her throat, and she immediately jumps from the bed, her breathing harsh, her scent, though still delectable and tinged with mine, bitter.

She’s scared.

Guilt washes over me.

“I did not mean to frighten you,” I try. “I was merely playing—”

“If I wanted to play with you, you complete ass, I would tell you.” She’s angry. No, she’s furious.

And what a sight she is to behold.

“You will make a great queen,” I tell her. “You are as fierce as a Roth warrior, and as beautiful as the lava falls of Roth.”

“I will never be your queen,” she seethes, pulling on her hideous Federation uniform. “I’m only here until you get what you want, and then you’re taking me to Earth. That’s the deal. I pretend we’re mates, and the moment the Overlord is overthrown, I’m done.”

“As you say,” I lie easily.

She is wrong.

Leigh will be my queen. She simply doesn’t know it yet.

Her glare could ignite a volcano, and I grin at her, sitting up slowly. The sheet tumbles from my body, and for a moment, her gaze slips to my bare chest.

Ha!

So she is not completely immune to me. My smile grows, and my cock tents the sheet.

“Put some fucking clothes on so we can get this over with,” she snarls, stomping out of my room.

“Do your people often wear clothing while they fuck?” I ask after her, only because I know it will enrage her further and I cannot help prodding at my fiery little mate.

“I hate you!” she yells, and I laugh as the door hisses shut behind her. She is adorable when she is angry.

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