Hyperspeed Dreams by Anna Carven

Chapter Thirty-Two

Once they were backin the air, away from the madness of The Praetorian HQ; away from the confusion and the blood and the terrible memories that had almost caused her to fall back into her horrible old ways, Tasha was finally able to relax.

Well, as much as it was possible to relax with the Ambrosia still coursing through her veins and the memory of Lodan’s primal viciousness fresh in her mind.

Her Kordolian.

He’d severed Gage’s gun-hand at the wrist.

Then he’d torn him apart as if he were nothing more than tissue paper.

He’d relished it.

And all she could do was stare… as he used his strange and wonderful nanites to eviscerate her handler; as he tore through Gage’s chest with his bare claws and devoured his still beating heart.

Was it bad that she felt nothing but relief as she watched Lodan savagely destroy her tormentor?

Was she evil for thinking that, in that moment, her Kordolian was magnificent… with blood running down his face and a look of pure alien fierceness in his brilliant golden eyes…

She’d been floating on a haze of Ambrosia-induced stupor; euphoria mixed with un-reality, and she’d been helpless.

Did that really just happen?

And now she was back on their dark, silent ship, in a state of mind-numbing shock.

Lodan sat beside her. Not in his chair, but on the floor beside her, with one hand curled around hers, the other resting on her thigh. He rested with his head against her leg, his eyes closed, his strange nano-armor half-dissolved, leaving his shoulders and torso bare. Apparently, the nanites needed to dwell inside his body for a little while… to finish regenerating his damaged organs.

Dear lord.Her alien just happened to be practically fucking invincible.

And here he was with his head on her lap.

Making her crazy.

She was still high on the damn Ambrosia. Being this close to him… feeling his warmth, his touch…

It was the most exquisite torture.

His pale hair shimmered under the dim cabin lights. Unable to help herself, Tasha ran her fingers through it.

Unlike the rest of him, it was surprisingly soft.

A walking, talking mass of contradictions, aren’t you, hmm?

It was just the two of them in this compartment; Tarak and the unsettling one called Jeral had stayed behind to secure the compound with a dozen or so hard-faced Kordolian warriors.

None of them had died, of course.

According to Lodan, they had completely taken over the place. Most of the Praetorian mercs were dead. The rest of the staff and the involuntary test subjects were being flown to a Kordolian facility in the middle of the desert near Teluria for further questioning.

As for The Praetorian’s CEO… word was that Maximilian Fonseca had disappeared.

Earth’s largest and most powerful mercenary corporation had been toppled… just like that.

Well, not entirely. They still had other bases; other headquarters. The mercs would regroup and find new work, but their reputation would never be the same again.

Nobody—nobody—attacked the HQ in Geneva.

Who the fuck did that?

These aliens… they were something else.

And she… what was she, now?

A drug-addicted former assassin with control issues and a childhood-sized hole in her heart and a penchant for lethal aliens?

Correction, one lethal alien.

Only one.

What was she?

A girl with a family…

Who had never really been given a chance to grow her roots.

Her roots had been severed when she was just a baby; when her parents were stolen from her in a single terrible moment. Under Virginie’s care, they’d started to grow again, but then her idyllic existence had been ripped away in an instant.

And unlike Alexis, who had discovered her roots in Madagascar and South Africa—Alexis, who was so damn grounded—she had never been able to find the missing pieces of her soul.

But maybe this vicious-but-gentle warrior could fill that emptiness.

Tasha ran her fingers through his soft, moonlight-colored hair, tracing down to the edge of his temple, where his skull seemed to be shaped differently; there was a slight protrusion where his forehead met his hairline.

Curious, she traced around it.

A soft growl escaped his lips.

“Sorry. Is that painful? Did you bump your head while you were fighting?”

His eyes snapped open, burning through her with their intensity. A devastatingly sexy smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. “That’s my horn-bud, Tasha.”

H…horn bud?

“You’re kidding…”

“You think Zharek’s the only one who wears his horns? We all have them.”

“But why is yours… not grown?”

“It is our custom to cut them off. They are seen as a pointless weakness, especially for those in the military. They cause unnecessary sensitivity and hinder the use of armor.”

Tasha froze. She withdrew her fingers. “Th-that’s…”

So sad.

They were a part of him, and he’d been forced to cut them off?

“Don’t be upset on my behalf. They can grow back.”

“Really?” Unable to help her curiosity Tasha ran her fingers over the protrusion again.

Lodan closed his eyes. His long, beautiful eyelashes fluttered. He moaned.

He moaned.

What the hell?

That sound…

Tasha’s arousal spiked. She was still floating on a haze of dark bliss.

She was disinhibited.

Damn it.

She wanted him to fuck her senseless.

“What?” she said softly, enthralled by his reaction. She ran her finger across the slightly raised bump. “Even though your skin has grown over, they can still grow back?”

“The horns are like hair, or fingernails. Until they reach their full size, they grow constantly. But we use a suppressant to control them, and unlike hair or fingernails, they are innervated.”

“They have nerves? So it must hurt like hell when you cut them off.”

“It does.” He shuddered as she stroked his horn-buds. Tasha couldn’t help it. His warm, smooth skin felt so good, and his reaction was so very interesting. “Even when they are severed like this, they are still sensitive.”

Oh.

“Sensitive like… how?”

“You’d better stop touching me there, Tasha.”

Oh?

“Is it painful?”

“No. Not at all.” He looked up at her. One of his fangs peeked out from under his top lip. He looked so... tempting.

It didn’t help at all that her inhibitions had been loosened by the damn drug.

“Then why should I stop?”

“Because,” Lodan drawled, “the bases of my horns can be highly erogenous when they are touched in the right way… by the right person, and if you keep doing that, I won’t be able to control myself any longer.”

“I don’t see any problem with that.”

Lodan stiffened. He gently clasped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand away. Then he moved until he was kneeling right in front of her. He took her hands into his and looked up. “I will not fuck you while you are still clearly under the effects of that drug, Tasha. Not after I’ve just devoured the heart of the man that used to...”

Tasha tightened her grip on his hands and pulled him toward her. Lodan slid his arms around her waist, still looking up at her with those mesmerizing golden eyes.

There was fire and darkness in those eyes.

“Since when did you become so fucking honorable, hm?” She relished the feeling of his bare skin against the thin layer of her armor. His heat radiated right through it, turning into a swirl of pure desire as it entered her body.

She luxuriated in him—in the sculpted outlines of his arms and shoulders; in his languid sensuality.

All that lethal power, carefully restrained; wrapped up in a warm silver package.

He would never harm her.

He would never force her to be something that she wasn’t.

“You did that for me,” she whispered. “When you made him suffer in front of me…” She choked up as a complicated tangle of emotion formed in her chest. “It isn’t really the way we humans are supposed to process these things, but when you killed Gage, the terribleness of it all… of what they did… it became a little less.”

Lodan shook his head. “I was selfish,” he murmured. “I should have let you claim your own vengeance. I could sense how much you wanted to kill him.”

“You did just fine. I don’t care whether it’s by your hand or mine. It’s all the same. I’m not the sort to want to go and torture someone just for kicks and pleasure. I’m not sadistic like that. Believe it or not, I actually don’t like hurting people.”

“I know.” He leaned his head against her lower belly and closed his eyes. “Now that I’m yours, you won’t have to do that ever again.”

“I would gladly kill to protect my people. That includes you, of course, not that you need any sort of protection.”

“I do sometimes,” Lodan chuckled.

His deep, rumbling laugh reverberated right through her, heightening her desire.

She couldn’t take it any longer.

She needed him.

Now.

Tasha slid her fingers along his jawline, forcing him to look up. “Don’t be so ridiculously noble,” she growled. “That doesn’t fit you and I. I’m horny. This drug is making me crazy. You’re right here in front of me and you’re denying me? You’re seriously going to torture me like this?”

Lodan’s jaw dropped, putting his fangs on full display. His eyes widened. Really, he looked so adorable right now.

Tasha leaned down and kissed his horn-bud. She let her tongue dart out, tracing tiny circles on his skin.

“Nine Hells,” Lodan gasped. His hands shot up to her shoulders, pinning her back against the chair. She was strapped in by her flight restraints, but he was completely free.

Muscles taut, he pulled himself up until he was hovering over her, all gleaming silver pecs and rippling abs and powerful biceps.

Sweet lord.This man really was a specimen.

He looked down at her. His eyes had changed. The look of surprise was gone, replaced with primal hunger.

He devoured her with his eyes.

“We’re even anyway,” she growled.

“What?”

“You got it too, didn’t you? The Ambrosia… Enqua… whatever the fuck you people call it. They shot a dart in your face. I can’t believe they got away with that.”

“They didn’t, though. Anyway, I think it affects me differently.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes… and no. Some stupid drug couldn’t possibly make me want you more than I already do.”

“Then you know how I feel, so don’t insult me by getting all high and noble about it. I’m well aware that I’m a little bit euphoric and a little bit disinhibited right now, but I don’t see that as a bad thing… when you’re here with me.”

His eyes narrowed, making him look deliciously dangerous. “That is your final word on the matter?”

“I’m not going to change my mind.”

“Okay.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Point taken. But now you have to suffer the consequences of your choices.”

Before Tasha could come up with some sort of witty retort, Lodan began to fiddle with something at the back of her neck.

“I never thought I’d be undressing you while you’re wearing customized first-class armor, but I’ll take it.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “It suits you, you know.”

“S-suits?”

“The prototype. The first ever suit of advanced Imperial Military tech armor ever developed for a human body.”

“Jeez, I feel special now.” Her voice was laced with a hint of playful sarcasm, but she actually meant it. Tasha got the feeling these aliens were very protective about their crazy advanced tech. For them to share it with her so easily…

It almost felt like they saw her as one of their own… an equal.

“You are.” Lodan’s fingers danced across the bare skin of the back of her neck. He lifted pieces of her armor away and dropped them onto the floor, revealing her shoulders, her chest, her back, her breasts…

Underneath, she wore only a simple set of underwear; a soft tan-colored bra and a pair of panties. Her taut, aroused nipples poked trough the stretchy material of the bra.

Her body was on fire.

This man… he was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen in her life.

Lodan worked quickly, soft growls of appreciation escaping him as he removed each piece of her armor-suit. He seemed to know exactly how to dismantle the thing, even though Tasha had donned it with the help of some sort of automated outfitting device.

Before she knew it, she was sitting in nothing but her bare skin and underwear, held firmly against the chair by those damn safety restraints.

Lodan uttered a soft command.

The restraints pulled away.

He hovered over her, devouring her with his searing golden eyes, a look of pure primal hunger crossing his features.

Her heart pummeled like crazy. Even though he’d freed her, she was held in place by his maddening intensity.

No human could ever look at her like this.

No human could do this to her.

Suddenly, she was awash with uncontrollable desire. Her body moved of its own accord, twisting and writhing as she hooked her arm around his neck and pulled him toward her. She kissed him… fiercely, frantically, losing herself in his delicious heat; in his scent, in his intoxicating presence.

She was out of control, her need building and building into a wild, frenzied, Ambrosia-fueled inferno.

Her fingers threaded through his soft hair. Her legs wrapped around his body. She felt like she was about to explode.

Like she was losing control…

Too much.

Slow down!

“Put them back,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“Oh?” Lodan’s brow furrowed.

“Just… hold me back. With the restraints. Otherwise, I feel like I’m in freefall. It’s… scary. I want you to take it away.”

“Are you sure?” He was gentle; hesitant, as if he understood perfectly well how monumental this was.

The fact that she was asking for it.

She wouldn’t do this with anyone else in the Universe.

Only him.

She needed him to be in control right now.

She needed him to satiate this terrible hunger of hers. She needed him to anchor her… to stop her from losing herself in this madness.

“I trust you.”

How very easy it was to say those words to him.

Tasha’s breath caught. Not in a million years would she have believed she’d be able to do this. Her awareness expanded. Time seemed to slow. She became aware of every minute detail. Everything appeared hyper-real. She could see every pore; every day last tiny molecule on his magnificent silver form. “And right now, I need you to hold me back… just keep me sane. On one condition…”

“Oh?”

“You have to be naked.”

His fangs flashed. His eyes glinted. “Of course.”

She looked down. The lower half of his armor-suit immediately disappeared, dissolving before her very eyes.

What the fuck?

“You weren’t kidding.” She looked him up and down, appreciating his honed body, eyeing the undeniable bulge of his erection.

“I don’t kid.” Lodan leaned into her, gently pressing his body against hers. His cock pressed against her thigh; hard and insistent, driving her wild.

“Oh god,” she whimpered, digging her fingernails into his back. “I can’t take it any—”

“Tasha,” Lodan snapped, bringing her back to reality for just a heartbeat. He stared down at her, perfectly in control, his voice hard and commanding… only there was a tiny crack in his outer shell; a parting of his lips, a wildness in his eyes, telling her that he could tip over the edge any second now. “Are you sure?”

She glared at him. “Of course I’m sure. Stop treating me like I’m some delicate snowflake. If I ask you to do something, I’m asking because I fucking want it.” She dug her nails deeper into the rippling planes of his bare back. Give me what I need. Please. I’m begging you. Before I die from this madness.

He nodded and whispered a single command. The safety restraints came back down, curving across her chest. Lodan cupped the side of her face and kissed her slowly, pouring delicious heat between her lips, his tongue hard and insistent. “I’m all yours,” he whispered.

She heard a faint tearing sound. Something tiny and sharp grazed the skin between her breasts.

Between my…?

What the hell?

Oh.

He’d used a claw-tipped finger to slice her bra in half. He did the same with her panties, impatiently ripping them away, leaving her completely bare.

Then he trailed kisses down her neck and chest, until he reached the gentle swell of her breasts. He took her taut nipple between his lips and gently sucked on it.

“Ah,” she gasped, writhing in the chair, curling her legs tighter around his body. That grip would have crushed any ordinary human, but Lodan was far from ordinary. He moved across to her other nipple, encircling it with the tip of his tongue.

She couldn’t take it any more.

She closed her eyes and held onto him for dear life. The chasm of her need opened wide, demanding to be filled.

This was pure, exquisite, impossibly pleasurable torture.

Just when she could take it no longer, Lodan moved down, dropping soft, sucking kisses onto her scarred belly. He reached her pussy, delicately teasing the wet folds open with his fingers.

He took a deep breath.

A deep, rumbling growl escaped him.

He buried his face between her legs, his devious tongue darting out, gliding over her clit.

Oh. My. God!Tasha ran her fingers through his soft, silken hair.

He did it again.

She let out a cry of pure bliss.

He did it again.

And again…

Winding her tighter and tighter, making her push hard against her restraints, because she wanted to both break free and be held firmly.

He tugged on her clit with his lips. He took the tiny, sensitive nub between his lips and sucked on it, gently at first, then more firmly.

Tasha was in freefall.

This was… this was beyond anything she’d ever known.

Pure transcendence.

She never would have imagined it could really feel like… this.

Like she’d died and gone to a place that surpassed anything that could possibly exist on Earth or in heaven.

He curled one arm around her waist. The other hand slid up over her hips, up her waist, her belly, cupping around her breast, his thumb grazing her nipple.

The tension inside her was unbearable. It was the single most sublime and infuriating thing she’d ever felt.

Please. I need this.

He sucked again.

A great shudder coursed through her.

He teased, then gave, all with perfect control.

“Stop teasing,” she hissed, thrusting her fingers through his hair.

Surely she could give it back to him.

Then she remembered.

Oh.

She pressed her thumbs against the swells of his severed horns and massaged his temples.

He stiffened.

Then growled; a deep, spine-tingling sound.

A sound that was purely alien.

Ha.

Her eyes snapped open. She smiled at him triumphantly.

But before she could get carried away, he kissed her deeply and rose, pinning her with his devastating golden stare.

His hands went around her neck; gently, but firmly.

Tasha was completely and utterly lost in him. She leaned back in the chair and let him take her.

Lodan entered her. He was so large it was almost painful, but as he buried himself inside her, Tasha suddenly found herself sighing in relief and pleasure.

Her Universe exploded into stars and bliss.

They fucked.

He consumed her.

She drowned in him.

And at long last, the chasm inside her started to disappear.