Targeted

  Apparently Thrace couldn’t resist her invitation.

  “Oh, baby—you feel so sweet and hot and tight around me…need you so much!” With a final low groan, he thrust as deeply into her as he could. The broad head of his cock pressed hard to the end of her channel and Trin felt him coming as spurt after spurt bathed her fertile womb with his hot seed.

  The sensation of him coming inside her caused another intense orgasm and she could actually feel herself milking him, pulling his seed deep within. It was almost as though her body knew instinctively that it was safe now—that it was right to take his seed completely and let him come as deep as he could inside her.

  It felt incredible…she never wanted it to end. Not just the pleasure but the emotional connection she felt which was like nothing she’d ever experienced. They pressed together, arms and legs wrapped around each other, eyes locked together, as though they could never bear to be parted. And now they would never have to be, Trin realized. They were tied too tightly for anything in the universe to part them.

  “Where you go, I will follow…always,” Thrace murmured inside her head. “In life and in death. I love you, Trin.”

  “Oh, Thrace…” She felt tears wetting her eyes and couldn’t hold them back. She pressed forward, rubbing his rough cheek with her smooth one. “I love you too,” she whispered in his ear.

  “Hey…what are these for?” Thrace must have felt the wetness against his cheek because he pulled out gently and brushed the pad of his thumb over her wet cheek. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? Sorry, I know I was thrusting harder than I usually do.”

  “No, I wanted you hard inside me,” Trin protested. “I understood why…why you needed to do that. And I wanted it too.”

  “They why are you crying?” He cupped her cheek in his big hand and looked at her earnestly. “What is it?”

  “It was just so intense. I…I’ve never felt anything like it before—not even when we repaired our bond after you healed my scars.”

  “The Deep Bond is intense,” he said soberly. “Tying two lives together so tightly is no light matter. It’s something most Havoc avoid like the plague.”

  Trin looked at him uncertainly.

  “Are you sorry we did it? Are you worried about what your friend—what Solar—will say when you finally find him? Or are you just not going to tell him?”

  Solar had been the first mate aboard Thrace’s ship, The Empress, which was still in dry dock on a dull, unassuming planet called Padge. Solar was also a Havoc and the Havoc motto was, “We do not bond.” He and Thrace had been captured and sold at the Flesh Bazaar slave auction at the same time. Trin had bought Thrace but what had become of Solar? They still didn’t know.

  Thrace frowned.

  “Of course I’m not sorry,” he growled. “It was my idea!” He pulled away just enough to put a hand between them, resting his big palm on her flat belly. Trin loved the contrast of his lighter skin against her creamy brown tones. “And now I can rest easy, knowing you’re protected when you carry my child.”

  “I’m glad,” she said, smiling. “Since there’s no undoing it. And I suppose Solar doesn’t have to know—when you find him.”

  “Of course he has to know!” Thrace sounded almost angry. “I’m proud of you and our bond, baby.” He kissed her fiercely, taking Trin’s breath away. “I want everyone to know,” he murmured when he finally pulled away, leaving her panting.

  “So when are we going to go look for him?” she asked. “Because you know I’m not letting you go without me.”

  “Of course not.” He smiled. “We’ll go as soon as the trackers find the Earth girl the Kindred are looking for.”

  Trin looked at him intently.

  “You feel somehow responsible for her, don’t you? Even though you’ve never met her.”

  “In a way, I guess.” He shrugged uneasily. “I just don’t feel right leaving until she’s located—what if the trackers need something else they can only get from me?”

  “And you think that girl—the Earth girl called Kate—can get more information from your memory of the vision Two gave you?” Trin asked. “I thought you said she’d already gotten more than you expected.”

  “Well…” He shifted. “I wasn’t exactly talking about the missing girl when I told you that.”

  “What then?”

  “This…” He made a motion with his big hand, indicating the way the two of them were entwined. “I’d been trying to make up my mind about the Deep Bonding. I knew I wanted to do it but I didn’t know how to approach you about it. And I wasn’t sure if it would stir up any bad memories.”

  “And that Kate girl saw all that in your head?” Trin raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I don’t know exactly what she saw—she has a gift she calls the ‘Knowing’—said it’s a family trait. But she told me what I was considering was the right thing to do and that I needed to act on my feelings. That’s what made me finally ask you to form the Deep Bond with me.”

  “She sounds smart,” Trin murmured. “Very perceptive.”

  “She’s tiny,” Thrace said. “Looks like a little doll with all this wild red and gold hair everywhere and her mate—that Wulven Kindred—is as big as me or bigger. I don’t know how he keeps from breaking her when they love each other.”

  “Maybe they decided size doesn’t matter,” Trin said, smiling. “And just because I’m not tiny doesn’t mean you’re not strong enough to ‘break’ me. You’re always careful not to hurt me when we make love.”

  “All the same, it’s nice that you have something for me to hold on to.” He put a big hand on her hip and squeezed appreciatively. “I wouldn’t want to be with such a tiny female—I’d be worried constantly.”

  “You didn’t want to be with any female until you met me,” Trin reminded him, smiling. “And besides, we have other things to worry about—like the trackers finding the lost Earth girl.” She twined her fingers through Thrace’s. “I hope the assassin hasn’t gotten to her yet.”

  “That’s my hope too,” Thrace said soberly. “But wherever she is, she’s in the hands of the Goddess now. And we know she takes care of her own.”

  “Yes, she does.” Trin snuggled closer to him, laying her head on his broad, muscular chest. “She absolutely does. Still…I’m going to be saying a prayer for the missing Earth girl. I hope the trackers find her soon.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Well, we’ve gone through a wormhole and we’re in a completely different galaxy. Nobody’s ever going to find me now—not like they had much chance before, even if they were looking for me, Emily thought. She was sitting on the small couch, staring morbidly at the strange glowing red and gold bubbles that filled the tiny fireplace in her room. Or rather, it was Tragar’s room, but he’d given it to her so she could be more comfortable.

  “As if anyone could be comfortable in the state I’m in,” Emily muttered to herself, looking down at her chest. Her breasts were still much too large and swollen and her nipples were so sensitive she couldn’t bear to let anything or anyone touch them. Well, anyone but Tragar, she amended to herself and felt a dull blush spreading over her cheeks.

  Several times, during their journey to the mysterious planet where his old master lived, she’d been forced to go to him and admit her breasts were leaking the strange, sweet amber honey he called “nectar.” Each time, he sat her matter-of-factly on his lap and pinched her nipples until the leaking stopped.

  And every time, Emily was helpless to stop herself from having a quick, hard orgasm from the experience.

  “So embarrassing,” she muttered to herself, feeling her cheeks get even hotter as she remembered the intense pleasure he gave her just from squeezing her sensitive buds. Sometimes if the nectar wouldn’t stop flowing, he tugged her nipples gently or rolled them between his fingers, kneading and massaging them while she writhed helplessly in his lap. At such times, she couldn’t stop the pleasure from building inside her again, making her pussy feel wet and swoll
en as he touched her so intimately.

  It was humiliating, especially since she knew he was only doing what he had to do in order to keep her body in check and stop her from going deeper into the second stage of Tenrah. What was it called again? Oh right—Scintil. She was in Scintil and Tragar was trying to keep her from going into Vlammen.

  God, can’t believe I’m starting to remember all the terminology now! It’s like some weird, alien biology course except I’m the alien I’m studying.

  It was all too strange and embarrassing for Emily and to make matters worse, her emotions were all over the place. She kept comparing this change in her body to getting her period for the first time—although it was infinitely worse—but there was one thing the Tenrah appeared to have in common with her period—she was grouchy and angry and moody as hell.

  Emily knew some women who were barely affected by hormones during “that time of the month” but unfortunately, she wasn’t one of them. Back when she’d been having a normal cycle, she used to get sad and mad and depressed all at once. Thankfully, the intense moods usually only happened the day before her period finally hit. Once it started, she felt better despite the inevitable cramps. But now the intense emotions seemed to have settled onto her like a coat she couldn’t take off and there was no end in sight.

  The worst thing was, even though she knew her emotions were due to the new hormones in her system, she couldn’t shrug off their effects. Back when she’d just been having her period, she could tell herself, “Sure, I feel bad now but it’s just hormonal. This will be over in a little while and I’ll feel like myself again.” But now she couldn’t comfort herself like that anymore.

  For one thing, though her emotions were heightened, all of her concerns for the future were absolutely valid. And for another, she couldn’t say she’d get “back to herself” because she didn’t know herself anymore. She was changing, damn it! And not for the better.

  “I just want this to all be over,” she muttered to herself. “Just want to go home and live a normal life.”

  Not that anything would be normal now that she’d had the trouble with Grayson coming back into her world. But she was willing to bet he’d leave her strictly alone now that Tragar had crushed his hand.

  Why did he do that, anyway? she wondered. He’s been so careful to tell me he doesn’t care—that he’s only taking care of me because his biology makes him do it. So why bother with punishing Grayson for what he did?

  She didn’t know. Maybe it was because hurting a Khalla was akin to defacing a priceless work of art. Emily supposed an art lover might want to break the hand of a vandal who graffitied the Mona Lisa.

  Yeah right—only you’re more like the Moaning Lisa, whispered the snarky little voice in her head. Begging and gasping and writhing all over his lap and he’s only touching you and helping you because he has to. Like he has to put up with you acting like a cat in heat while he does what has to be done.

  Groaning in humiliation, Emily started to put her head in her hands. But she jumped and gasped with pain as her forearms brushed her too-sensitive nipples.

  “Ouch—God damn it!” she nearly shouted. “What the hell is wrong with me? Why can’t I even touch myself without feeling like I’m being poked with needles and knives?”

  “It’s simply part of this stage of your Shift,” a deep voice answered behind her.

  Emily jumped and gasped in pain as her arms brushed her nipples once more. God, she needed some kind of protective shield or something between her breasts and the rest of the world! It didn’t help that they were so much bigger than she was used to that she kept touching them by accident.

  “Are you all right?” The big Beast Kindred came around to stand in front of her, a worried expression in his golden eyes. “Are you having pain? Is your nectar flowing again?”

  “No and it only hurts when I touch them,” Emily said, looking at him resentfully. Despite the fact that he’d licked and pinched her nipples over and over again, she still felt incredibly self conscious sitting there in nothing but her thin nighty with her tight, pink buds poking out of it.

  She wished she could hide herself from the big Kindred or at least feel nothing when he looked at her—the way she was sure he felt nothing. But she couldn’t help feeling drawn to him. And whenever he was near enough for her to smell his warm, spicy scent—as he was now—she got a hot tingling sensation between her legs and her pussy felt swollen and achy. It made her angry, both with herself and with him. Especially since she knew he was only helping her because his biology dictated he must.

  “Did you just come to check on me or did you have something to say?” she demanded. She was well aware that she sounded petulant and sullen but she didn’t care. She was tired of feeling so out of control of her own body and the big Kindred was a convenient target.

  He frowned.

  “I came to give you this.” He held out one large hand which had a small pink pill in it.

  “What’s that? Is it to stop my, uh, nectar from flowing? And why didn’t you give it to me in the first place?” she asked, taking it from him.

  “This will not stop your nectar from flowing—nothing can do that indefinitely.” Tragar sounded stern. “Eventually it will have to flow from your breasts but not until you’re fully into the second stages of Scintil.”

  “What?” She stared at him blankly. “What are you—”

  “The pill in your hand contains trace amounts of translation bacteria. As a Kindred you’ll have some natural linguistic ability but this will help reawaken the part of your brain that processes language.”

  “I always have been good with languages,” Emily admitted. “I took French and Spanish and German and aced them all. I even had a professor who thought I’d make a good translator but I like kids too much—I really wanted to teach kindergarten.”

  “Good—then this pill should take effect almost immediately.” He looked at her gravely. “I want you to be able to understand my old Master when he speaks to you and explains what is happening to your body.”

  “Oh my God.” Emily shook her head. What’s happening to my body? Seriously? You sound like my mom when she gave me the talk about the birds and the bees!”

  He frowned. “I fail to see what insects and avian creatures from Earth have to do with anything. Why would your mother speak to you about them?”

  “Never mind.” Emily waved a hand, dismissing her words. “It’s an Earth thing. So when do I get to meet your old teacher? Will he be able to help me reverse this whole weird Tenrah or at least stop it in its tracks?”

  Tragar sighed and ran a hand over his face wearily.

  “Emily, I have told you there is no stopping the process. Besides—would you really want to be stuck in the early stages of Scintil forever? With your breasts always full and tender, needing a release?”

  “I…” She bit her lip. “I guess not. It’s really not very comfortable.” In fact, her breasts felt almost painfully full but she didn’t want to admit that. He seemed to know anyway, however.

  “Were we closer to Rageron and if I was truly your chosen mate, I would be massaging you constantly, trying to induce your nectar to flow and ease the pressure in your breasts,” he said softly. “But that isn’t safe right now—not so far from the elders who can help you pick a true mate to see you through the rest of your Tenrah. All we can do for now is to try and hold the process back a little—but nothing can fully stop it. And nothing—nothing—that I have ever heard of can reverse it.”

  “It stopped before,” she pointed out. “After Grayson…after he did what he did.”

  “What he did was blasphemy. He hurt you—it’s a miracle he didn’t kill you,” Tragar said harshly. “And he only delayed your Tenrah.”

  “So I guess you wouldn’t even consider…helping me try to delay it again?” Another ten year reprieve would be better than nothing, she reasoned. But he was already shaking his head.

  “No!” His eyes flashed. “A second wrong and
early breeding would kill you. I have never heard of any Khalla surviving such a thing twice. I am sorry, Emily, but you must simply endure. Once the Shift begins, it must carry through to the end.”

  Emily wanted to ask exactly what would happen at the end but she was afraid to. Afraid to find out that the other would come back and take over and that the girl she knew herself to be would cease to exist completely.

  “Fine—I’ll take the pill,” she said at last.

  “Good. We’re in orbit now and I’m ready to fire up the shuttle to take us down to the planet’s surface.” He nodded at her. “Come and meet me there as soon as you’re ready. We don’t have a moment to lose.”

  “I just need a minute to get ready and I’ll be there.”

  He nodded once, then turned and left.

  Emily watched his broad back disappear resentfully. She knew what was happening to her body wasn’t his fault but she couldn’t help feeling angry with the big Kindred anyway. Her emotions surged again, making her want to lash out. Somehow she controlled the urge to run after him and give him a piece of her mind but that didn’t mean she was ready to accept everything he said.

  Surely he had to be wrong. There had to be some way to stop this—some way to reverse all the bizarre changes going on with her body! Something she could do to halt the process before it was too late and she was changed forever.

  No matter what the big Kindred said, she was determined to at least ask—to try and find out. If he wouldn’t help her, she would help herself, damn it!

  * * * * *

  “What do you mean I have to stay here?” Emily was glaring at him and it was all Tragar could do to keep from shifting uncomfortably in his seat. But he had to be firm with her.

  “It’s for your own safety,” he explained. “I need to speak to my old master first and then get the things he promised to help you.”

  “So? Why can’t I just go with you into his house and wait in another room while you talk to him?”

  Tragar repressed a growl of frustration. Being cooped up in the small shuttle with her again had intensified her scent and it was difficult not to let it affect him.