Codename Winter (8 page)

“Not such a bad place to land.” She grinned.

“Yes, I know women swoon whenever he walks in a room.” He rolled his eyes and stood. “I just expected you to have better taste than most.”

She sat up straighter, one pink nipple peeking out from beneath her bubble blanket. “Then what are you going to do with me?”

“You want a list?” She just stared at him, eyes wide and searching, skin rosy and silky smooth. Gods, she was beautiful. “You haven’t answered my question. What does the gadget do?”

After a moment of conflicted silence, she explained, “We call it a succubus. It allows us to create waking dreams that are indistinguishable from reality.”

He crossed his arms over his bare chest, eyes narrowed on her face. “What were you going to make me dream? And what were you going to do while I was lost in this artificial reality?”

“The answer to the first is obvious, and I can’t tell you anything else.” She was playing with the bubbles again, keeping her gaze averted.

Silence spread between them, tense and oppressive. He wanted to shake her, demand that she stop beating around the bush and tell him what she was after. If she’d meant to use the succubus, then she’d never intended to fuck him. The realization chafed. She’d sure as hell enjoyed it once he’d taken control, but he would have preferred that she’d surrendered from the start.

“You’re a good man, Ulrick. How can you willingly serve them?”

Her voice was barely a whisper, but the question cracked like a whip. “No one willingly serves them! We are all slaves.”

He expected her to back down, to sink into the water and ignore him. Instead she lifted her face and looked into his eyes. “You’re more than a slave and you know it. After the viruses ravage each world, General Noirte sweeps in and subjugates anyone foolish enough to rebel. Then you and the negotiators gather the world leaders and captains of industry, and develop treaties that forever change the fundamental makeup of each world. You’re not a mindless drone. You’re an accomplice.”

His eyes burned and an amber haze filled his vision. Who the fuck did she think she was? He grabbed her forearms and yanked her up out of the water. With her standing in the tub, and him on the floor, they stood eye to eye. “I was twenty-two when the

Gathosians attacked Valtory. My wife and daughter died in the pandemic, but my brothers all survived.”

She rested her hands on his chest, smart enough to remain quiet.

“We are fierce fighters, so many of our trained soldiers were selected for the Protectorate. On the second planet we invaded one of my brothers was captured by a band of rebels. I suspected he was a participant, not a true hostage, but the Gathosians didn’t know that at the time.” He paused for a deep breath as the familiar pain rolled through his being. No matter how hard he fought, or how many years passed, his regret was still consuming. “I have an ear for languages. Always have. I don’t know why. I was sent to translate for the negotiator. The Gathosians figured my brother would motivate me to help in any way I could. Addiction is not the Gathosians’ only form of incentive. They are master manipulators.”

“Were you successful? Did you free your brother?” She was shivering and still she didn’t complain.

He grabbed the sprayer and rinsed the suds from her body, allowing the simple pleasure to calm his temper. “There were four of us. Two older, one younger. We all advanced rapidly and tried to watch out for each other. Joss was the oldest.”

“Joss was the one you rescued?”

“Yes, but the Gathosians soon learned he was aiding the rebels and summoned him to a tribunal. He was found guilty and they executed him. We were forced to watch.”

She touched his arm, pushing the spray away from her body. “I’m sorry. That must have been horrible for all of you.”

Her pity infuriated him. He snarled, dropped the sprayer, turned off the water then dragged her from the tub. “You don’t know the half of it,” he snapped, pain slicing through his anger. “They skinned him. It took hours for him to die. All I have to do is close my eyes and I can see his face, smell the blood and hear his screams.”

“But this is all the more reason for you to hate them, try to do something—”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” He shoved her away and ran his hands through his hair. Fuck! He hadn’t talked about Joss in years. Why was he trusting this human with the blackest moments of his life?

Winter was afraid to touch him, yet afraid not to. It was obvious he was holding on by a thread. His features were still smooth but his eyes glowed, revealing the depth of his anger, and pain. He leaned back against the counter, hands braced on either side of his hips, chest rippling with each deep breath.

“They realized I was more valuable to them as a translator than a soldier, so I was transferred to the business side of the Protectorate.” His voice was quiet yet harsh, and he stared straight ahead. “I refused to cooperate with anything they told me to do.”

She dragged a towel off the rack and wrapped it around her, tucking one corner down between her breasts. “Were you punished?”

“They beat me, starved me, isolated me, and withheld the compound until I slipped into a coma. All it did was help them see that indirect punishment was more effective with me.”

“Indirect?” She shivered, not sure she wanted to know the rest.

“They had lots of soldiers. Pryett had been conquered by then, and Noirte was making quite a name for himself. So they summoned my other two brothers. They put Aric in stasis and took me to a room where they had Lynkon bound to a wall.”

Unable to bear the anguish burning in his eyes, she went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She buried her face against his chest and whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“They tortured him in ways that made Joss’s death seem merciful. Lynkon begged me to let them kill him, but that wasn’t what they had in mind. It took fourteen hours for me to give in and agree to whatever they wanted.”

She eased away from him without releasing him completely. “Are your brothers still alive?”

“The second time they used Lynkon he didn’t survive. They still have Aric in stasis. I can’t have his death on my conscience. I just can’t.”

Pressing her hand to the side of his face, she frantically blinked back tears. “I should have realized. You’re kind and good. I should have known you wouldn’t—”

He pushed her hand away and shook his head. “I’m not kind or good. I’m a coward. I couldn’t bear to see my brother’s pain so I allowed… I helped them…” He fisted her hair and crushed her lips beneath his. His tongue thrust into her mouth, hot and demanding.

She wasn’t afraid of his aggression, understood the pain driving it. He needed comfort, needed to forget everything for just a little while.

With a jerk, he stripped the towel from her body and dropped it on the floor. His hands caressed and conquered while his lips and tongue staked their claim on her mouth. She sighed and rubbed against him, wanting him to understand he wasn’t alone. He’d sheltered her in her hour of need, and now it was her turn to be there for him.

She pulled away slowly and sank to the floor, the thick towel cushioning her knees. He caught her wrists as she reached for his pants, his gaze burning into hers. “Please,” she whispered. “Let me do this for you.”

He moved his hands to the counter behind him and closed his eyes. Her fingers shook as she opened his pants, then his cock sprang free, long and thick. She curved her fingers around his shaft and stroked. All this had been inside her? It was still hard to believe. Her pussy clenched at the memory of the fullness, and her hand moved faster.

She pushed his pants to his ankles with her free hand and he kicked them aside. He’d allowed her to touch him in the shower, but this was different. She wasn’t distracted by his wandering hands. Her focus centered on him and the comfort he needed so desperately.

His hips began to rock into her fist and his shaft grew even harder beneath her fingers. The tip of his cock flushed, and the thick vein on the underside expanded. She bent and dragged her tongue down the length of his cock, from tip to balls in one slow caress.

“Suck me,” he growled, his hands pushing into her hair. She’d known he wouldn’t stay passive long. It was his nature to dominate. Closing her lips around the flared head, she sucked and swirled until he growled again. “More.”

She took him deeper, moving her hand to his balls as her lips slid up and down the length of his shaft. Each throaty moan and sharp gasp pleased her and urged her on. He rocked his hips, moving in and out while his hands caressed her face.

He stared down into her face, his body tense as he battled his need to come. Feminine power tingled down her spine. He needed this, wanted her so badly he was trembling. She steadied herself against his hips and tilted her head back, taking him deeper, and sucking harder, as his tempo accelerated.

Desire burned away the pain in his eyes. His eyelids drooped and his thumbs framed her mouth, focusing her attention on the steady slide of his cock against her lips. His forehead ridged and his cheekbones jutted, then he thrust to the back of her mouth.

Hot come splashed against her throat and she swallowed. Salty, exotic, unique, his taste filled her mouth and intensified her hunger. He’d trusted her with his pleasure, allowed her to watch him lose control. She sucked and licked, not willing to lose a single drop.

Long moments later, he drew her to her feet and pressed her against his chest. His mouth settled over hers, hot and commanding. His lips moved and his tongue slid, undeterred by his taste in her mouth. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms as the kiss went on and on.

He started walking without ending the kiss and her foot hit the doorframe. She laughed against his parted lips. “You might want to watch where you’re going.”

“I’d rather watch you coming.” He nipped her ear then hurried across the bedroom and sat her down on the side of the bed. “Scoot back and open for me. I want to taste your soft, wet pussy.”

With a siren’s smile bowing her lips, Winter scooted back on the bed and raised her heels to the edge of the mattress. She propped herself up on her elbows and let her legs fall open. Ulrick let his gaze drift down along her body, the need inside him winding tighter and tighter. He wanted to touch her, taste her, claim her—and never let her go.

Her scent reached his nose, warm, musky and enticing. His features had smoothed, but his eyes hadn’t stopped glowing since she offered to cure his loneliness. She didn’t seem to mind his transformation, which allowed him to relax and concentrate on the pleasure.

He knelt beside the bed and stroked her inner thighs. Her pussy was flushed and moist, more than ready for his kiss, or his cock. Still, he wouldn’t be rushed. He intended to savor every moment, every texture, every sound.

Pressing his lips against her knee for a moment, he then kissed his way down the inside of her thigh. She murmured and arched, lifting herself toward his wandering mouth. He reached the crease where her leg met her pelvis and traced the delicate line with his tongue.

She reached for his hair but he growled a warning, and she immediately pulled her hand back. He wanted this to last as long as possible and her touch was too exciting. “Lie back, hands over your head.” He waited until she obeyed before he returned his attention to her pussy.

Her scent pulled him nearer, inflaming his senses. He rested his hands on her inner thighs and covered her sex with his mouth. She was so soft and unbelievably hot. His tongue traced her slit and tenderness welled within him. The emotion was new, almost alien. He pushed it aside, concentrating instead on familiar sensations, possessiveness and carnal hunger. Now those impulses he understood.

He lapped up her cream and carefully sucked her folds, loving the way she gasped and shivered. Then he pushed two fingers deep into her passage and watched her react. She rocked against his fingers, her inner muscles squeezing him. His cock stirred, hardening and lengthening—reaching for her.

Lazily pumping his hand, he watched his fingers disappear inside her body and reappear covered with cream. She was delectable, a passionate beauty designed especially for him. Only for him.

He thrust his fingers deep and found her clit with his tongue, circling and flicking until she trembled with her need to come. Then he slowly drew his fingers out, curving them so they dragged the front wall of her passage. She cried out sharply and bucked, her inner walls contracting with rhythmic spasms.

Her pleasure drove him wild. He wanted more, wanted all of her. With his fingers wet from her pussy, he slid his hand lower, teasing her other opening. The tiny star was tight and stubborn, which made him more determined to conquer the portal.

“Ulrick?” She stilled as he breached her sphincter, her body clamping onto his finger.

“I’ll be careful, I promise. I’ll do everything I can not to hurt you.” But demanding desire consumed him, propelling him onward.

Rather than reply, she pushed his hand back, rejecting his touch in the process. Disappointment flared to life, but she didn’t give it long to burn. She turned over and folded her legs beneath her, giving him better access to his target. His chest tightened and his balls tingled, her submissive pose thrilling him to the marrow of his bones. She understood his needs, and offered herself without reservation.

He brushed the backs of her thighs and squeezed her ass cheeks, praising and reassuring her. She could likely enjoy his fingers with nothing more than her body’s lubrication, but cream would never allow her to take his cock without pain. He leaned over and pulled open the nightstand’s top drawer, grabbing the bottle of lube he kept there.

A butt plug rolled into view and that pesky tenderness made him pause. If he took her without training her body first, she would likely feel only pain. He needed to take this one step at a time, unless he was willing to selfishly ravage her. He grabbed the toy as well and shut the drawer, annoyed by this new facet of his nature.