Borj let his eyes open slowly. Never in his life had he suffered so much from the hands of one so little. He let his gaze moved from the top of Hannah’s disheveled hair, down her body covered in a tiny black cloth, to her bare toes. As his gaze moved up he was amazed his cock could respond considering how much it and his balls were throbbing at the moment. When he grabbed Hannah’s wrists to prevent her from striking him again with…his gaze flickered to the dented frying pan hanging limply from the male’s hand…the cooking device, he did not expect her to react so quickly with her knee. Now, he didn’t know which hurt worst: his head, his groin, or his ego. In the space of a few minutes, his tiny female had brought a Prime warrior to his knees three times.
“Oh, you poor dear, are you alright?” RITA’s voice came over the speaker system sounding surprising like a very sympathetic Tilly Bell. “Hannah, I think the poor man could use a couple of bags of ice for his boo-boos.”
Hannah rolled her eyes as she looked at Cosmos. “Did you understand a word he just said?” Hannah asked putting one hand on her hip.
Both men’s eyes moved to Hannah as the little black robe rose another notch exposing more of her creamy thigh. Borj growled low as he painfully got to his feet. His eyes swung around to glare a warning at Cosmos to redirect his eyes to another place.
Cosmos cleared his throat before smiling. It would seem this alien was staking a claim on Hannah, if he was reading the signals correctly. If that was the case, more power to him. Cosmos knew about Hannah’s history and her adamant distrust of other humans, especially men. He also knew she was extremely opinionated and independent. While you could negotiate and compromise with Tink, Hannah wasn’t as easy. She barely tolerated being around humans preferring to be around the four legged types of animals or wide open spaces.
“Yes. I think his head and…” Cosmos tried to keep the grin off his face but must not have been very successful from the glare the man sent him. “…and a few other things are hurting right now. He asked us if we could keep it down a little.”
Hannah frowned at the man standing looking at her with a combination of leeriness and something else she couldn’t decipher. “O..’kay…” Hannah drew out as she released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Who is he? Does he know where Tink is and if she is alright?” Hannah asked impatiently as she moved a little closer to Cosmos.
For some reason, the huge guy was freaking her out with all his staring. Not only that, her left hand was beginning to itch like mad since she touched his face! She hoped like hell the guy didn’t have any type of commutable diseases or anything. Hannah stopped when the man took a step towards her with a low growl.
“Did you just growl at me?” Hannah asked in disbelief pointing to her chest. “I know you didn’t just growl at me, you overgrown ox! So, just back off or I’ll lay you out again.” Hannah said as her temper flared. She held her hand out to Cosmos. "Cosmos, give me back my frying pan."
Hannah shot Cosmos a nasty glare when he pulled the frying pan she was reaching for out of her reach and hid it behind his back. She damn well wasn’t going to let some alien hobnob think he could intimidate her or boss her around. She was pissed off at being woken up after only a couple of hours of sleep, scared to death thinking someone had broken in, and was worried about Tink. Now, this overgrown boar thought he could growl at her? Oh, hell no. Hannah thought as her lips tightened into a straight line and her eyes flared with hostility.
Cosmos recognized the look in Hannah’s eyes and quickly stepped between the huge male glaring at her possessively and a very bad-tempered Hannah. “Go get the poor guy some ice. I think that was more of a groan than a growl. His head is probably killing him, not to mention his….” Cosmos paused when the man in front of him glared in warning. Turning, he gently pushed Hannah towards the kitchenette. “Just - go get some damn ice. PLEASE!”
Hannah let out a miffed sniff before turning and walking towards the kitchenette. The men thought she had no idea how sexy she looked with her long bare legs exposed below the tiny black, silk robe that barely covered her rounded ass. Her hips swayed seductively as she walked and her hair, which was long simply because she liked long hair, hung down her back in a tangled golden wave.
“Knock it off.” Hannah called out over her shoulder knowing perfectly well what the men were looking at.
Cosmos flushed as he turned back to the man standing next to him still staring at the doorway Hannah had disappeared through. Cosmos touched his arm to get his attention before speaking. He had a feeling it was going to be a long, long night.
“You might as well sit down. She’ll be back in a minute.” Cosmos said motioning to the leather couch.
Borj’s gaze flashed back to Cosmos briefly before it swung back to the doorway. He wanted to go after the female, throw her over his shoulder and return to his world where he knew she could not escape him. Unfortunately, he thought with a painful grimace, he didn’t think it would be as easy as that. Instead, he moved reluctantly over to the large oversized beige couch and sat down gingerly.
“You are Cosmos?” Borj asked quietly trying not to think about the stabbing pain in his head, much less his groin, as he leaned back.
“Yes.” Cosmos said clearing his throat. “Which one are you? I’ve met J’kar, Derik, Lan, and Brock.”
“I am called Borj. I am the second oldest. J’kar is my brother and is two planet cycles older. Derik is younger by several planet cycles.” Borj said as he gently touched the knot on the back of his head. He nodded towards the frying pan Cosmos was still holding. “You will hide that thing!” He added with a thread of warning in his voice.
Cosmos laughed as he slid it under the coffee table next to the chair where he was sitting across from Borj. “Just be thankful she didn’t grab the cast iron one out of the oven. You would still be out from the first time.”
Both men looked up as Hannah came back into the room with a small tray. Cosmos smelled the delicious smell of fresh roasted coffee. He grinned at Hannah when he saw she had three plastic storage bags of ice, several dish towels, and a big bottle of aspirin as well. She might not like the guy but she was a softy for anything in pain.
Hannah set the tray down on the coffee table in front of the couch ignoring the two men staring at her and poured out three cups. She turned and handed one to Cosmos before she handed two aspirins, a cup of coffee, and one of the bags of ice wrapped in a dish towel to the huge man who was fingering the bump on his head while he watched every move she made. Hannah resisted rubbing her left hand on her thigh again as it tingled. Since there was nowhere else to sit, she moved over to sit next to him. After all, he couldn’t very well drink his coffee and hold two ice packs to his head at the same time. She definitely wasn’t going to touch where the third one needed to go though she did give it to him, sort of.
“Where is Tink?” Hannah asked briskly looking at Cosmos. She ignored Borj’s wince as she dropped one ice pack on his lap while she held another ice pack to the back of his head. “When is she coming home?”
Borj adjusted the ice pack in his lap but doubted it would cool the aching throb that filled his cock when Hannah sat down next to him on the couch. The combination of her scent and the way the robe rode up on her long legs would have made sweat bead on his brow if not for the two ice packs, one of the front and the other on the back, cooling it.
“She has recovered from her injuries.” Borj said hoarsely as he felt Hannah’s fingers in his short hair. Gods, he thought as a wave of desire washed over him, does she not feel the same thing?
“Thank, God!” Cosmos breathed out relieved before he translated what Borj said for Hannah. He had been terrified even with the advanced technology of the Prime they wouldn’t be able to save her after seeing the extent of her injuries.
“If she is all right then why hasn’t she come back?” Hannah growled out ignoring Borj when he jerked away from her less than gentle probing.
“She cannot come. She is breeding. The hea
ler and J’kar both fear for her and the children. They both feel she will be happier if she has a family member with her during her breeding cycle. My father and the council have agreed to let one member be brought to her.” Borj said pulling the ice pack down from his forehead. He looked Hannah in the eye so she would have little doubt as to which family member he was referring to.
Cosmos spewed coffee out and started choking when Borj said Tink was breeding. Hell, just a week or so ago she was dying and now she was expecting a kid? Cosmos frowned. Borj had said ‘children’ not child.
“Breeding?” Hannah asked dazed when Cosmos translated the last part. Her baby sister was pregnant? Already? By some alien dude?
“What the fuck do you mean by breeding?” Hannah asked at the same time Cosmos choked out “children?”
Borj grinned with pride. “She is expecting what you call ‘twins.’ Our people have never heard of having more than one child at a time. Tink called J’kar a ‘potent son-of-a-bitch’. My father wishes, among other things, for all of his sons to be this.” Borj said with a devilish gleam in his eye as he stared at Hannah.
It was close to two o’clock in the morning when Hannah finally told Cosmos she was done…finished…totally fried. She couldn’t handle anything else unless she got some serious sleep. While she didn’t understand a word coming out of Borj’s mouth, she did understand the look in his eyes and the language in his body. She had photographed enough animals mating in the wild, not to mention having two very horny parents growing up, to get the message loud and clear he wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with her. Borj had not been happy when Cosmos let him know he would not be joining Hannah upstairs.
Hannah laid in the dark waiting for her overtired mind to finally calm down enough for sleep to overtake her. She absently ran the fingers of her right hand over the palm of her left. She had noticed when she was making the coffee earlier in the kitchenette downstairs that a series of circles forming a pattern had appeared in the center of her left palm. She didn’t want to say anything in front of Borj about it. Unfortunately, she never got a chance to be alone with Cosmos after their unexpected visitor woke up. Hannah frowned as she remembered every time Cosmos got too close to her Borj would start doing his growling thing again. It was beginning to piss her off. He was acting like some dog in a pissing contest or, she thought with a grin, that big-ass lion she was photographing with the ladies.
Hannah shivered as a sense of forewarning ran through her that her life was about to change – big time – and she wasn’t going to have a lot of say about it. Rolling over, she punched the pillow and forced her mind to think of other things than big, sexy aliens with beautiful silver eyes. Her fingers, though, had a mind of their own as they continued to stroke the circles softly.
Borj let out another soft groan as he turned on the oversized couch. Sweat was beaded on his forehead and he was in pain. This time, however, was for an entirely different reason. He could feel each stroke of Hannah’s fingers as if she were touching his overheated skin. He noticed the mating mark almost immediately when he sat down. He had felt a strange tingling and burning sensation and had almost been too nervous to look. He remembered J’kar telling him of how it felt when Tink and he touched for the first time…as if an electrical charge had burned its way through his body. Borj bit back a painful chuckle as he rolled over onto his back trying to find a place where the bump on the back of his head wouldn’t cause discomfort. He, unfortunately, had been unconscious during their first touch. Borj grinned as he thought of how spirited his bond mate was before it dissolved to a frown at how dangerous it could have been if it had been someone else other than him in the warehouse.
He needed to return with Hannah to his world. He needed to finish the mating rite ceremony. Borj felt the ache deep inside as he fought the desire to claim his mate. The chemical reaction between the two of them started the moment they touched. When his body, even in his unconscious state, found the perfect chemical balance with Hannah’s he was destined to claim her as his own. His body hardened even more as a wave of sexual desire flowed through him. Borj gritted his teeth and wondered how J’kar was ever able to leave his bond mate’s side. He had thought Hannah beautiful from just the image he had but seeing her, touching her skin, and scenting her delicate fragrance was enough to drive him insane with need.
Borj realized if he did not relieve some of the pressure building inside him he would never be able to rest. Sitting up, he bit back a moan as his cock protested its confinement within the tight pants human male’s called jeans. The ‘zipper’ on it was biting into his flesh. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for the males if this is what they had to suffer. Borj moved quietly across the floor until he came to the room containing a ‘toilet’ and a sink. Cosmos referred to it as a ‘half-bath’. It was small but it would meet Borj’s needs for the moment.
Softly closing the door, Borj touched the switch to illuminate the room. Standing in front of the sink, he lowered the zipper and unbuttoned the fastener holding his pants on. Borj gritted his teeth and closed his eyes against his image being reflected in the mirror. Instead, he brought up Hannah’s beautiful face. He pictured her with her hair as it was earlier flowing down her back. As he gripped his cock, he imagined it was her soft hands wrapped around him. He smiled at the thought of slowly removing the tiny black piece of cloth and watching as it slid off her pale, creamy shoulders. He would run his tongue over the curve of them, tasting each delectable inch as he worked his way down to her full breasts. He knew she had nipples from the information Tink related during her lesson on oral sex. He remembered in the vidcom she talked about how sensitive a human female’s breasts were and how a man sucking on them could cause her to have an orgasm if he did it right.
Borj groaned louder as he pumped his cock thinking about Hannah doing oral sex on him as Tink described. The thought of her beautiful lips wrapped around him caused him to bite back a loud groan as he came in the sink. Borj’s head fell forward as hot stream after hot stream of his seed poured out. He leaned his right palm against the sink while he let his left hand continue to gently run up and down the length of his cock until it became so sensitive it was painful to the touch. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His dark silver eyes had twin flames of desire and determination burning deep inside them. The next time he sought release it would not be his hand that gave it to him, he swore darkly.
Chapter 5
Hannah woke late the next day. She rolled over onto her back and sighed as she remembered her last thoughts before she had fallen into the deepest, most restful sleep she had ever had. Hannah flushed and moved restlessly against the sheets as she remembered the very vivid dream she had before exhaustion, and something else, claimed her. Sitting up in bed, Hannah shook her head at how real dreams could be. She could have sworn Borj touched her in ways she had never let a man near enough to do. She let her hands move to her breasts surprised to find them sensitive and tender to her touch. Maybe I’m getting ready to start, she thought vaguely.
Frowning, she pushed the covers back and climbed out of the bed determined to dismiss the erotic dream for what it was – a dream. She was not about to let any male, alien or not, near enough to hurt her! Hannah knew it was irrational to be afraid of being intimate with another person but it was her irrationality. She learned to live with it a long time ago when she would break out in sweats every time a guy would come near her. She also knew deep down that was why she worked as far away from others as possible. It was just safer not to care.
Pushing the bad thoughts out of her head, she was almost to the door of the bathroom when she heard her name called out. Turning, she smiled at Cosmos standing in the doorway trying not to cuss as he straightened the flower vase that kept falling over on the tray. Hannah leaned back watching as one of the smartest men in the world fumbled with trying to carry a tray without dropping it. She finally felt so sorry for him she couldn’t help but walk over and pluck the
flower – vase and all – off the tray.
Cosmos gave Hannah a crooked grin. “Thanks! I wanted to surprise you with brunch in bed. I also thought I might be able to talk to you alone for a few minutes before Borj comes storming in here.” Cosmos said following Hannah over to the bed where he set the tray down with a sigh of relief.
Hannah laughed as she picked up a piece of the buttered toast and took a bite. “Is he giving you problems this morning?” She asked amused sipping at the coffee with a sigh.
Cosmos laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “You could say that. But, I took care of it. I gave him a stack of Playboy and Penthouse magazines, among others, to look at. You should see his face. Something tells me they don't have those on his planet.”
Hannah paused in the process of taking another bite of the toast and raised an eyebrow. The warning bells were starting again. “Okay, out with it. What is wrong?”
Cosmos looked at Hannah a moment before sighing deeply. He really, really didn’t think she was going to like what he had to say. Especially, if what Borj showed him and told him was true. He halfway wondered if it would be safer to stand but Hannah took that option out of the picture when she set the toast down and grabbed his chin turning it towards her.
“What is wrong?” Hannah repeated in her no-nonsense voice.
“Can I see your hands for a moment?” Cosmos asked suddenly.
Hannah jerked back and rubbed both her palms on her thighs. “Why?” She asked suspiciously.
Cosmos’ face darkened as he realized everything Borj told him was true. The same thing that happened to Tink was happening to Hannah. It was all his damn fault for inventing that double-damn gateway! Cosmos thought in dismay.
“Let me see them.” Cosmos asked quietly.
Hannah’s hands trembled as she slowly extended them until they lay palm down in Cosmos’ huge ones. Cosmos squeezed them briefly before turning them over so he could see her palms. Sure enough, she had a series of intricate circles forming a pattern in the center of her left palm. Cosmos knew that when he scanned it, it would match perfectly with the one on Borj’s left palm. They were bond mates.