Heat centred in the core of her body, then spiralled outward. Rough palms caressed her breasts, and a warm mouth trailed their touch.
Temis squirmed, seeking the source of such pleasure.
“Yes, sura,” Gren murmured in a rough voice, alternating his mouth with stroking fingers. He paused at her navel and moved back to blanket her body with his, finding her lips with the practice of a skilled lover.
Thrusting his tongue deep inside her mouth, he mimicked the action with his fingers, sliding between her thighs into slick heat.
She arched into him, demanding his passion, reaching for any and every place to hold him, to cement them together. He groaned as she aggressively sought his tongue, and answered by thrusting a second finger inside her.
Temis wanted to devour him. He tasted of ambrosia, the sweetest spice in the system, and she wanted more. She could feel something within her reaching out to him, an inner self she had no control over.
Gren shuddered and deepened the kiss, his fingers quickening over her sensitive bud, thrusting faster and deeper towards her womb.
Temis was lost.
The waves of desire became too much. As she crested, the overpowering feelings exploded in an orgasm. Intermingled with her desire, she imagined Gren’s bliss, a strange sense of masculine satisfaction that beat in time with hers. It felt so real, so pure, and it fed her own rapture.
When her heart finally calmed, she opened her eyes. Gren stared down at her with an intensity that roused her to real wakefulness. His eyes looked jet black, no green in sight, and her pleasure faded under the sense something was wrong.
“Gren?”
He leaned into her, his body heat warming. Running a finger down her cheek, he murmured in a beautiful, exotic language that made her heart full.
“What does that mean?” she whispered.
He shook his head, and like that, his eyes resumed a normal green hue. Amazed, Temis studied him, riveted by the sudden glow that hugged his body.
In the span of a heartbeat the look in his eyes shuttered and he dimmed, if such a thing were possible. He leaned up off of her and rolled to his side.
“What just happened?”
“We experienced morning’s bliss.” Humour tinged his gravelly voice. “And my clothes are definitely in need of some washing.” A large wet spot marred his light-coloured trousers.
Temis blushed. She hadn’t imagined his groan of release. “That was, ah, wow.”
“Yes. It was.” His wide smile pleased her, but not enough to disregard the strange things she’d just seen. “I want to know how your eyes turned from green to black. You look better than all right, Gren. Are you sure you aren’t suffering any injuries from yesterday?”
He sat up casually, but his uncanny ability to mask his expressions seemed to have disappeared. She just knew he was hiding something.
“I’m fine.” He gave her a masculine smirk. “In fact, I’d say I’m more than fine, wouldn’t you?”
She didn’t have the heart to refute the truth.
“Come on, sura,” he teased and leant down for a brief kiss. “Isn’t that the best way to waken, in the arms of a master pleasurer?”
She chuckled and tugged at his trousers, amazed the familiar heat began to build after such intense lovemaking—sex—she corrected herself.
“I must admit that’s new to me.” She felt his elation and blinked in surprise. It must have been her imagination. Temis wasn’t an empath. Still, she swore she could sense the immense satisfaction flooding his system.
He left the bed and punched a few codes into the wall monitor near his door. “Jora activated the lav when we arrived. Ladies first?”
Temis shrugged, determined to get her answers sooner or later. Curiosity burned at her to discover his dark secrets. With that in mind, she strode confidently towards the lav, all the while aware of his burning gaze on her back.
* * * *
The minute she closed herself behind the lav door, Gren uttered a low groan and allowed himself the release of energy his body demanded. Like a star, the brilliance of his and Temis’ shared energy poured into the room, illuminating the dingy area better left in the dark.
Scarred wooden flooring, dented Mornian steel and the few mismatched pieces of furniture now visible in the morning light streaming through one shuttered window made the room seem seedy, not fitting for his first time in bed with Temis.
At the thought, his mouth drew tight, and he rubbed his eyes in frustration. These feelings he had concerning the stubborn woman were strange and more than a little disturbing.
Sharing Temis’ body, absorbing her woman’s power, had shaken him to the core. He’d resolved to keep his distance after last night’s incredible intimacy but woke to a burning desire that no other but Temis could satisfy. He absently rubbed at his well-used cock, now covered in his own damned cum.
Where the hell had his discipline gone? Growling in embarrassment, that he’d climaxed not once but twice while pleasuring her this morning, he whipped off his trousers and paced the room unencumbered by clothes. As he paced, he consciously burned off lovemaking’s residual glow and strove for some inner peace.
Temis Freya was trouble with a capital ‘T’. He’d known it from the first he’d seen her, and the impression had only grown stronger. Her energy lured him all too close, like a siren’s call, and now he felt truly hooked on her scent, her taste.
He stared down at his growing erection with dismay, aware the control he’d mastered and lived with for years seemed to have vanished at just the thought of the stubborn woman bathing in the lav.
With conscious effort he focused to ignore his desire and instead tried to formulate a plan for the mission. Yet even there he stumbled, because he knew what they had to do.
In his mind’s eye, Temis wore slave’s clothing, skimpy rags designed to showcase her body. Just the thought of her breasts straining the thin silk made him want to sink deep inside her and never let go.
He knew it had been a good idea to refrain from a true joining, but damn it all, his body wouldn’t quit the idea. The notion of fucking her ass and avoiding her woman’s power intrigued him. Even now he wanted her more than before, as if he hadn’t sampled her delights a few moments ago.
Scowling down at his troublesome cock, he cursed under his breath and decided to make the call he’d been avoiding.
He found the telecom unit he’d stowed on a previous trip and dialled the private number.
After several buzzing tones a husky male voice greeted him, reminding him the hour was most likely too early for anything but emergency communications.
“Mara’s Light. And this had better be good.”
Gren grinned at his friend’s surliness. Lurin Vez, a rare fellow Thesha, had taken to bounty hunting as if he’d been doing it all his life. Of course, he had the best teacher. His wife Mara had the skills and determination to whip Lurin into shape.
“It’s me, Gren.” He tingled with Lurin’s surprise. All Thesha shared the ability to communicate telepathically, and in some cases, empathically.
Lurin cleared his throat. “Not that it’s not great to hear from you, but why call so early?” “Are you all right?”
“What’s the matter, Lurin? Mara keeping you up at night?”
A female chuckled in the background and he knew he’d caught Lurin in bed.
“You have no idea.” Lurin laughed. “Mara’s made me into a tougher, harder man thanks to all her training.”
Gren felt a wave of heat from his friend and knew he’d best get to the point before Lurin and Mara forgot about him.
“I can’t contact a friend of mine and I need you to get an untraced message to him.”
Lurin’s attention refocused. “Tell me.”’
Gren refused to mention Sernal out loud, just in case his message was intercepted en route. Thanks to the energy he’d recently received from Temis, he had the resources to span the large distance between him and Lurin.
“Over a dozen women have been abducted from Mardu thanks to some rogue peacemakers, so Sernal called on me for help.”
“Rogue peacemakers? Damn.”
“Yeah. I had the misfortune of stepping right into the middle of Sernal’s problem, screwing this undercover mission. I snatched one of his people and escaped peacemaker involvement. I just need you to tell him all is well, and to use you to contact him later with more information.”
“No problem,” Lurin answered without hesitation. “You want me to put some feelers out for the abducted women?”
“Quiet ones. I’m trying to keep my cover as clean as possible.”
“No worries. I’ll use Catam as a go-between.” Catam, a crewmember on board Mara’s Light, was Sernal’s brother. The damned peacemaker had three of them. Gren didn’t even want to think about that pain in the ass Gar. “About that contact you need to get through to?” Lurin reminded him aloud.
“Right. Tell him I have everything under control and to leave me the hell alone.”
“Good luck with that,” Lurin grumbled. “You need anything else, let me know.”
Gren thanked him and would have disconnected the call when he felt Lurin’s tentative probe.
“What was that?” Gren asked without heat. Never before had his friend mentally trespassed.
“I’m not sure, but I distinctly feel a woman’s presence in your mind.”
“That’s impossible. She’s not a telepath.” Gren immediately envisioned Temis naked in the lav and sensed Lurin’s silent laughter.
“Ah, so the mighty have finally fallen.”
“What does that mean?” Gren asked, irritated. Why the hell couldn’t he keep thoughts of Temis at bay? And just how much had Lurin seen from Gren’s brief vision?
“You’ll figure it out,” Lurin added smoothly. “And after all the help you gave me and Mara, maybe I can return the favour?”
He ended their conversation with more laughter. It took Gren a moment to remember to disconnect the electronic transmission.
Anger burned when he realised what Lurin had meant about ‘returning the favour’.
“As if Mara would let him.” He scowled at the telecom.
“Gren?” Temis stood in the doorway to the lav, a thin towel wrapped around her.
He stared at her gorgeous body but his thoughts were on Lurin’s words. Years ago, Gren had enthralled Mara into making love with him in an effort to regain the energy needed to save Lurin’s life. His intentions had been pure even if he had derived a great deal of satisfaction from the coupling.
At the time he’d been surprised at Lurin’s possessiveness over Mara, not used to Theshan jealousy. His kind shared women pleasurably, not tied to any one female. Yet even then he’d clearly felt Lurin’s bond to Mara.
He stared at Temis and suddenly understood what had bothered Lurin about sharing his mate. Just the thought of Lurin touching Temis in any way made his blood boil.
“I was just contacting a friend of mine to let Sernal know we’re fine.” He cleared his thoughts.
A ripple of unease passed over her face, worrying him. “Temis? Are you okay?”
“Just hungry.” She glanced around the room with a wry expression on her face. “I don’t suppose you have anything clean I can wear?”
He studied her curves clearly outlined by the towel, and his libido leapt in answer. “I would say you can wear me, but I’m not clean either.”
She flushed, and it took all of his control not to lay her back down on the bed and fuck her senseless.
“Let me clean up and I’ll get us food and clothing.” He walked towards her, willing her to step away from the lav before he did something extremely undisciplined and took her against the wall, mindless of his vow to let her be.
She blinked and quickly moved to the bed, well out of his reach. Uncomfortably aware of his erection, he grumbled under his breath and slid the door behind him. He needed the brief respite from Temis’ potency.
“Talk about a nightmare of a job. When this is over, I’m having a real vacation.”
* * * *
Temis stared at the closed lav door in shock, now free to give way to the emotions rocketing through her. During her much-needed cleansing, she’d become conscious of an internal buzzing.
She’d been shocked to hear Gren communicating with another. But not out loud. The sounds she’d heard had been directly within her mind. Understanding gradually dawned. She could hear Gren’s thoughts, could feel what he felt. Her previous imaginings of his satisfaction, of what he felt when making love with her, had been real.
She was no telepath, but apparently Gren and his friend were. Yet telepathy didn’t seem to fit, not when she could also sense Gren’s feelings. That spoke of an empathic nature, something he’d somehow shared with her.
A vision of his healthy body with the earlier preternatural glow hanging over him, not to mention his incredible sexuality and stamina, had her reassessing him as merely empathic.
Temis herself could mould and sculpt her dreams. So when she’d felt his friend’s subtle probe, she’d quickly pulled her mind away, shutting everyone out. Had she known about Gren’s gifts earlier… She blushed as embarrassment struck. Had he read the desire she’d felt upon first meeting him? Had he somehow used the knowledge to make her want him enough to succumb to his advances yesterday?
No, Temis had been in control of her actions, if not her sensual nature. For once in her life she’d allowed the woman within her to take charge, and she couldn’t for the life of her regret it.
The door to the lav opened, interrupting her thoughts.
Gren walked through, his body a study of male perfection. She watched admiringly while he dressed in standard trousers and a tan shirt he grabbed from a nearby storage bin.
“Much as I like you in that,” he said in a husky voice, “I need to pick up some clothes that lend to the mission. And before you think to protest, remember, we’ve got some women to save.”
“I know, Gren. I remember why we’re here.”
“Good. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t answer to anyone but me.”
Her brows rose. “You’re expecting company?”
“I always like being prepared. People know better than to bother me. But there are those wanting to make a name for themselves—” He stopped and frowned at her. “Never mind. Just don’t open the door.”
He strode to the door, jerked it open and slid the lock tight behind him.
Alone at last. She wouldn’t have long before he returned, and she planned to make good use of the time. She knew Gren would never willingly reveal details about himself, not to her, a peacemaker. So she snooped through the room, hoping for a hint of Gren.
As she pried, she couldn’t help recalling how thoroughly they’d made love and secretly wondered when and how they would again. She threw herself into her search, reluctantly admitting to herself that being captured by Gren wasn’t torture at all. To this point, it had been more an exercise in the erotic arts.
But she’d be shot before she’d admit it. Her newfound sexual imagination burned at thoughts of Gren doing things to her she’d heard of but had never had the nerve to pursue. Silk scarves came to mind, a firm hand tugging her hair back as he shoved her legs wider from behind and stepped closer…
“This isn’t good.”
The warrior within her now bowed to the sensual woman maturing at a rapid rate, growing in power. Temis had a hard time finding the will to battle her back. Just imagining Gren deep inside her made her want to lay down and accept everything on his terms.
She slammed the drawer shut and muttered a curse. This was why she’d been smart to avoid sex before. A little bit of pleasure and she was almost willing to forego a lifetime of learned caution.
She clenched her jaw and resolved to stay strong. “Great sex or no, I won’t be anyone’s puppet.” She yanked another drawer open, this time not so careful to conceal her foraging. “If Gren thinks pleasure will make me more pliable, he’s got another think coming.”