Alien Conquest Page 14

  Degorsk picked up Tranis as if he was a child, transferring him from the stretcher to the bed to lie next to Cassidy. "All right, you big brute. Safe and sound in your own bed at last."

  Tranis' eyes fluttered open. His head lolled as he looked blearily at his dim surroundings. He blinked at his clanmate. He slurred something in Kalquorian.

  Degorsk shook his head. "Everything is down. All available power is routed into medical."

  Cassidy remembered Tranis and Lidon leaving the room to deal with the Tragoom threat and Degorsk arriving soon afterward, sedating her despite her protests. She'd even thrown a few punches, trying to keep him off her. He'd overpowered her easily.

  It was obvious the fight against the Tragooms hadn't gone well. Despite her greatest efforts, tears fell to see Tranis hurt. His head turned, and he looked at her. The dazed expression in his face cleared. He reached to brush her cheek with the back of his hand, his smile warming his pale face. "I'm glad to see you unhurt, Matara. Don't cry. I'll be all right."

  She caught his hand in her own, pressing her lips to his fingers. She'd shown his injuries affected her; it was too late to pretend otherwise. "Is he really going to be all right, Degorsk? Is Lidon okay?"

  "Lidon is fine. And Tranis will be too if he does as he's supposed to and rests. You promised, my Dramok." Degorsk gave him a severe look.

  "I'm fine, and we have a major situation on our hands." Tranis moved as if to sit up. He grimaced, pain obvious.

  "You will rest." The medic put a restraining hand flat against the injured man's battered chest, stilling his struggles with effort. "You lost a lot of blood. Don't make me call Lidon to subdue you."

  Cassidy saw Tranis' stubborn expression and marveled at the will of the man. She had the feeling if Degorsk let up for an instant, the Kalquorian captain would drag himself around the ship on his hands and knees, barking orders and setting to rights whatever damage had been sustained. Looking at the thick torso, not one inch of it spared from bruises and long, red lines where the skin had been so recently slashed open, she feared for his wellbeing. He'd drive himself to the grave if they let him.

  "Lidon is needed on the Earth transport. Leave him be," Tranis growled.

  "Only if you do as you're told. He'll come charging back here if he thinks his Dramok's life is in danger he can prevent. Don't think for one second I won't call him."

  "I am the captain. This mission is my responsibility." Tranis bared fangs at Degorsk and shoved himself into a sitting position.

  Cassidy saw his back and how it was every bit as damaged as the rest of him. She was almost afraid of defying Tranis when he looked so intent. She knew in his pain-ravaged, determined state, he was possibly as dangerous as Lidon. But she feared for him even more, feared he would finish the job the Tragooms had started. He'd kill himself if they didn't stop him.

  She threw her arms around his neck, molding her body against his back. "You're not going anywhere, you big, stupid Kalquorian," she said. "Do what he says or I'll find Lidon's cuffs and stick you to the ceiling."

  He stopped pushing against Degorsk. She buried her face in the ebony spill of his hair, willing him to be reasonable. His fingertips brushed her arms where they bound about his throat. "You know, I think you would. But there's so much to do, and I'm needed. I'll be fine, I promise."

  Degorsk's voice sounded ragged with exhaustion. "Simdow has control of the situation. What he can't handle, Lidon can."

  Tranis' frame stiffened beneath Cassidy, and she knew he readied for another protest. Before he could utter a word, she whispered in his ear, "My father once said great leaders know when it's time to get out of everyone else's way." When Tranis hesitated, she added, "What happens to me if the leader of my clan dies?"

  "Your Matara has spoken," Degorsk said softly.

  Tranis' shoulders sagged. "I hear her." He shifted so he could kiss her before lying back down. "For you, my love," he whispered. "Five hours, Degorsk."

  Palpable waves of relief emitted from the Imdiko, and he smiled his thanks at Cassidy. "Ten."

  Tranis scowled. "Six."

  Degorsk shook his head, rolling his eyes at his stubborn clanmate. "Eight and not a second less. The cell regeneration needs at least that long for minimum repairs." When Tranis opened his mouth again, protest written all over his face, Degorsk held up a hand. Fatigue strained his handsome face. "Tranis, I can't stay and argue with you. I've got more injured to attend to."

  At last Tranis seemed to recognize the stress he was putting the other man through. He laid his hand on Degorsk's shoulder. "Eight hours. Thank you, my Imdiko."

  Degorsk managed an exhausted smile. To Cassidy he said, "If he gets up, find something heavy to knock him out with."

  She knuckled her tears away, trying to find humor to match his. "Won't you have to fix him again if I do that?"

  He snorted. "With that thick skull? Not a chance."

  Degorsk gave her a quick kiss before leaving the room, the hover stretcher following in his wake. Tranis held up his arms, and after only a moment's hesitation Cassidy slid into them. She couldn't deny she was happy he was alive. The injuries were scary to see, and she sensed from Degorsk they'd been life threatening.

  "At least I have something beautiful to look at," Tranis sighed. His hands ran over her underdress, seeking the body beneath. "I'd enjoy it even more if you'd take this off."

  She was shocked that despite his injuries, his penises were stiffening, rising from his battered body. "You have to rest," she insisted, shoving at his busy hands.

  "Then don't fight me," he growled. He was instantly contrite, and the pleading in his voice softened her. "Let me look at you."

  The need in his purple eyes made Cassidy respond, made her sex wet. She sat up, pulling the underdress off over her head. She desired his warmth, the reassurance that he indeed still drew breath. Before she could block the realization, she had the thought that nearly losing him was too much to bear. She needed the closeness he wanted.

  "Lie next to me," he whispered, and she drew close, feeling him solid against her. She kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth to caress its twin. His fingers found her core, slipping in and out. She arched, feeling how well he knew her already, knew where the pressure felt best. She moaned into his mouth as his thumb rubbed slow circles around her clitoris. The heaviness in her womb grew.

  Cassidy wept as climax swept over her, making her sheath clutch Tranis' fingers. It felt good to be with him. Realizing how close they'd come to not having this moment made it that much more poignant.

  "Why are you crying?" he asked when the strongest spasms had diminished.

  Because I love you and you nearly died.

  She almost said it. The words wanted to fly off her tongue in neon-bright colors, leaving Tranis in no doubt of his mastery over her. Only her loyalty to Earth, to her own poor religion-crazed, sexually repressed people kept her true feelings dammed up. She couldn't turn her back on her own flesh, couldn't forget that in the end, Tranis was the enemy.

  Instead of proclaiming her love, she settled for another truth, one she could share. "I want to be with you. It's wrong, and I feel so ashamed."

  For once, Tranis didn't try to convince her she was wrong to feel guilt for her desires. Instead he asked, "What can I do to make it better?"

  "Would you bite me?" She wondered at the brazenness of the request, but under the intoxication of a Kalquorian's bite the questions went away. The guilt disappeared. Under the influence, she could truly rejoice that Tranis lived.

  "Come here," he said, the fangs already unhinging from his palate. She swept her heavy hair from her neck, and stretched to expose the smooth column to his penetration.

  The pain was an exquisite overture to the symphony of euphoria sweeping through her. She moved against the taut exclamation points of his sex, careful not to provoke pain with her enthusiastic caresses over his injured frame.

  "Better?" Tranis asked, his hands fondling her eagerly. Despite his injuri
es, the man's libido remained intact, unfazed by hurt.

  "Yes, only now I really want you. Do you think Degorsk would be mad if I did all the work?"

  "He'd be furious," Tranis chuckled, but his face told her he was willing to risk the medic's censure. "We won't tell him, unless you want him to punish you."

  "Mmmm." Cassidy warmed to the idea, remembering the sweet heat of Lidon's spanking. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

  Tranis' grin stretched. "I'll be glad to discipline you myself, if you'd like. Once I'm on my feet again."

  "I hope you recover quickly." She looked him over, frowning at the marks masking his beautiful torso despite the intoxicant making her world a happy dream. "Promise to lie still? I couldn't stand it if I did something to mess up your recovery."

  "I'll do my best, my beautiful mate."

  He lay on his back. She straddled his groin, lowering herself to capture his livid sexes. She sighed, the empty ache of her womb soothed as she filled herself with him.

  Her bliss was mirrored in Tranis' expression. He stroked up and down her thighs, bringing gooseflesh to pebble her skin. She leaned over him, propping herself with her hands on either side of his shoulders, careful to not put any weight on his battered upper body. He was too broad for her to comfortably rest on her knees, so she drew her legs up so that she crouched over him, her weight on her feet.

  She rocked back and forth, her moves slow and sinuous. Recalling the instructions in The Kama Sutra, Cassidy added a slight circular motion with her hips. Tranis groaned, eyelids fluttering. His hands captured her breasts, clutching and molding the malleable flesh as if sculpting clay. She echoed his groan, and clenched nether muscles around the thick beams of his desire.

  "I won't last, sweetling," he gasped.

  "I had mine already, remember?" Besides, she was catching fire as she moved against him, feeling him throbbing within the tight walls of her sheath. But it wasn't just the physical joy of making love to Tranis that excited her. Giving herself to him, completely focused on his pleasure, making herself his willing servant ignited her senses. She'd never known such rapture as what surrender offered. It took down all barriers, allowing her to revel in the act of yielding completely to another's desire.

  Swollen huge with ecstasy, she burst into a thousand pieces when a thunderclap of pleasure resounded through her being. With a long, soft moan, Tranis pulsed deep within her, shattering the remains into even smaller fragments. She hung over him, suspended flecks of desire all that remained in the warm wash of aftershock.

  Slowly the traces of Cassidy coalesced once more, drawn back together to reform the whole. Beneath her, Tranis lay still, his eyes closed and arms limp at his sides.

  "Tranis?" Her breath caught to see him lie so dormant. "Tranis, are you okay?"

  He drew a breath, his bruised chest rising to calm her. "You made it all better, lover."

  She kissed the exhausted smile, her lips soft on his. She loved him. God help her, she loved this man and the other two as well. "I wish we weren't enemies," she whispered.

  "We aren't." His voice wavered, letting her know he floated on the edge of unconsciousness. "One day you'll see that, and you'll love me as I love you."

  Tranis drifted away, sedated by her gentle lovemaking, leaving her to stare at his handsome, dreaming face. He'd said the words she didn't dare.

  Tranis loved her.

  Cassidy remained bent over him, absorbing the revelation. She wondered what it would change. She knew it altered something, not just between them but also inside her. She belonged to Tranis now. Tranis, Lidon and Degorsk. And what did that mean to her loyalty to Earth?

  She wished she knew.

  * * * *

  Tranis woke to find Degorsk leaning over him. Next to him, Cassidy whimpered in her sleep.

  "She seems to be having a nightmare," Degorsk whispered as he scanned Tranis with a portable unit. He frowned. "You smell too strongly of her to have simply slept with her at your side. And I see you bit her again."

  "She did all the work. I lay very quietly. And it was all her idea."

  "Really?" Degorsk looked pleased. "Lidon said she agreed to be our Matara."

  "She did. Are you going to let me get to work now?"

  He snapped the scanner shut. "Yes. You're healing well, cell regeneration is on schedule and none of your vital organs is in danger of re-injury. You're still going to feel weak," he cautioned as Tranis sat up. "The blood replacer only does so much. I'll be nagging you to sleep again in about ten hours."

  "You nag even when I'm not injured." Tranis stood, pleased the pain had abated. He looked a mess yet, the bruising still livid, but he felt worlds better.

  Cassidy cried out, capturing both men's interest immediately. Her brow creased, and Tranis worried to see her distressed, even in the throes of a simple dream. He got back on the bed to smooth his hand over her face. Degorsk also drew close to her, on the other side.

  "Cassidy, it's all right," Degorsk soothed.

  She thrashed, coming partly out of sleep but still locked in the dream. "No, please," she begged piteously.

  Tranis' heart lurched to hear the fear in her voice. He shook her a little to pull her into wakefulness. "Wake up, my lovely."

  "No, no, don't hurt her! Mommy!" Cassidy's eyes opened wide, and Tranis saw clarity seep in as she recognized them.

  Degorsk kissed her cheek, caressing her all over to calm her. "What's wrong, precious girl? Who hurt your mother?"

  A cold look, unsuited to her sweet, delicate features, slid over her face. "She got what she deserved," she said in a flat voice. "She undressed for him, enticing him with wanton abandon. The evil temptress seduced him. She led him from the path of righteousness." Cassidy suddenly covered her face with her hands. "God forgive me, I'm just like her. Even worse, having sex with aliens!"

  Tranis looked hard into Degorsk's eyes, angry realization dawning. The words that had poured from her lips hadn't been hers. He'd worried about brainwashing his little Earther, but someone else had already done it.

  In Kalquorian he said, "Do you hear who she sounds like?"

  Degorsk looked horrified. "I wonder if her grandfather's version of her mother's crime supplanted the real events that took place." He took a deep breath and concentrated on their weeping mate. "Cassidy, you're a good, sweet girl. You couldn't do wrong if you tried."

  She kept her face covered. "I want to be strong. I want to deny you as I should. Why am I so weak?"

  Tranis tugged at her hands, forcing her to reveal her tearstained features. "Because deep in your heart, you know this is right for you." He kissed her, eager to erase her pain, knowing he couldn't but trying anyway.

  She stiffened in momentary resistance, which only made him more insistent she accept tenderness. As he swept his tongue into her mouth, she melted against him. He sensed Degorsk caressing her, and her youthful desire warmed her to their embrace. Tranis felt gratitude for the still-maturing hormones that made arousal so quick and undeniable for her.

  Once they had her writhing with need, he broke the kiss to say, "You belong with men who see not only your beauty and ability to breed. We appreciate your mind as well as your body. We want to hear you speak and share your thoughts with us. You were not meant to serve, but to be served."

  Degorsk had been kissing a slow, wet path down her body, and he looked up as he reached the soft swirls of her pubic hair. "Tranis is right. There is so much more to you than you've been given credit for."

  Cassidy moaned as he bent to his work, her hips lifting to greet Degorsk's knowledgeable lips and tongue. While he pleasured her, Tranis kissed her lovely face and chest, suckling gently on the rose tips of her voluptuous breasts. He poured all his love into every caress, desperate to erase the pain his Matara lived with, pain inflicted on her by her own people.

  Her moans came faster and faster. Their seduction carried her away from the agony of guilty conscience to where she could be the woman creation had intended. At last she could
be, for a few seconds at least, free of the soul-stealing anguish men like her grandfather tortured her with.

  We will find a way to make it right for you. I promise to obliterate every speck of sorrow you've ever known.

  Tranis didn't know how he'd keep such a promise, but he'd alter the universe itself to make it possible. The clan was the center of his existence, and Cassidy was the heart of the clan. He'd find a way.

  He watched her lovely face dissolve in rapture as climax took her to that place of sweet respite, his eyes stinging from unshed tears.

  He'd find a way.

  ?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tranis walked onto the darkened bridge, his eyes quickly adjusting to the dimmed lights running on backup power. The room was a shambles. Equipment lay in broken hunks and many of the workstations were blackened from torched systems. He'd been the worst injured of his crew, and viewing the destruction, he counted himself lucky that none had died.

  Cassidy and Degorsk followed him. The medic kept close as their Matara wandered about to explore the room, curious about everything. Tranis had to control a prideful smile as his crew darted appreciative glances at her.

  "Captain!" The relief on Simdow's face was unmistakable. "Returning command to Captain Tranis," he announced.

  "Not so fast," Degorsk growled.

  Tranis ignored him. "What's our situation?"

  Simdow grimaced. "Give us a few months and we can get enough power to the engines to make it to a repair station where they might use this for parts."

  He wasn't surprised by the answer. "I can't say I particularly like that idea, Simdow."

  "No Captain. I don't either."

  Tranis treated himself to a glance at Cassidy before crossing his arms over his chest and challenging his first officer. "What's your solution then?"

  Simdow's brow creased as he thought. Tranis had no doubt he'd already formed an opinion but was careful not to speak until he'd gone over it once more.