Ryke grinned, then bent to take the nipple in his mouth. He kissed it, gently at first, then with increasing demands. He thought Anguissa might ask him to stop, as other lovers had done, but she clearly reveled in his touch. She writhed beneath him, digging her nails into his shoulders, then locked one leg over his hip.
He immediately smelled the sweet scent of her arousal. He slid his hand down to caress her and was pleasantly surprised to discover how wet she was. Other women might need encouragement—or even lubricants—but Anguissa wanted him and her body showed the truth. That was thrilling. It was honest. Her responsiveness was a novelty he could get used to. He touched her gently, finding the hard bead of her arousal and couldn’t resist temptation.
He abandoned her nipple and kissed his way down the firm length of her to the apex of her thighs. He inhaled deeply of the scent of her, finding it incredibly exciting that she wanted him so much, then flicked his tongue against her. Anguissa emitted a little helpless cry, all the more thrilling because he couldn’t imagine her helpless at all, then spread her legs wide in capitulation. Ryke accepted the silent invitation and lowered himself between her thighs to feast upon her.
She was so slick with her arousal that Ryke couldn’t believe it. He teased her with his tongue, liking that he had the power to give her such pleasure. She whispered his name and gripped his shoulders as he coaxed her higher, and he gripped her more tightly when she began to twist against him. He felt her tremble deep inside and he heard her pleas become incoherent.
He drove her on, higher and harder, relentless in his determination to give her as much pleasure as possible. To teach her that his way was best. To convince her to return for more. When she was quivering, her legs locked around him, her hands gripping his hair, he stopped and she cried out with dismay.
“Together,” he muttered, wiping his mouth and climbing atop her. Anguissa didn’t hesitate. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deep inside the soft heat of her. He had to lean his forehead on her shoulder, awed by the wave of satisfaction he felt in burying himself inside her, and he felt himself shake with the effort of restraining himself.
Anguissa seemed to guess his thoughts, which should have warned him.
“Don’t hold back,” she whispered in his ear. “Take me as hard as you want, then take me again. You can’t hurt me.” He looked into her eyes and saw that fearlessness again, the sight better than any aphrodisiac. “I want to be claimed, Ryke. I want to be possessed. I want to be taken harder and faster than ever before.” The corner of her mouth lifted as she surveyed him. “I have a feeling you might be the right man for the job.”
Ryke didn’t wait to be asked twice. She could have been demanding that he fulfill his own fantasy. He moved within her, loving her snug velvet heat, then thrust deep. Anguissa growled with satisfaction and gripped his shoulders, demanding more. Her nails dug into his skin and he moved deeper, liking how she rose to meet him. She caught his face in her hands and kissed him as if she would never get enough of him.
As if she might eat him alive.
Ryke was completely seduced. If she had been his captive, he was sure he’d never let her go. The very idea drove him wild. He thrust with increasing speed, wanting the moment to last forever and knowing it couldn’t possibly. All the years of denial fed the force of this union. All the suppressed desire, all the sacrifices fed the overwhelming sweetness of this moment, of this interval, of this woman. She met him touch for touch, inviting him onward, demanding more, her passion redoubling his own.
He felt the tremble of her release begin like a seismic shudder deep inside her. She whispered his name and then begged incoherently for satisfaction, a sight of vulnerability in this powerful woman that destroyed Ryke completely.
He drove himself against her and she shouted, locking around him as she came. He gripped her tightly as he buried himself deeply inside her one last time and roared with the fury of his own orgasm.
He felt as if he had been dropped into the heart of the sun, to be burned to nothing and made new again.
As he rolled to his back, spent and panting, Ryke knew that he would never be the same again.
Mission accomplished.
Anguissa closed her eyes, savoring the bliss.
She and Ryke lay together, their legs tangled, the cabin filled with the scent of their shared pleasure. Anguissa felt her heart slow its pace, gradually returning to normal, but she wasn’t in a hurry to move. Ryke looked as if he was sleeping, but she was pretty sure he was just hiding his thoughts from her.
Again.
Unraveling his secrets would have to be some other woman’s pleasure. Anguissa felt a teeny bit of regret, but the Seed had been claimed. Her quest was complete. Their paths would part as soon as possible.
But she couldn’t resist the urge to tease Ryke just a little.
She heaved a sigh. “All right,” she said, as if making a great concession. “You are good at this. I can’t argue with that.”
His eyes opened just a little, making him look unpredictable. Still cocky. Still sexy. So delicious that it might be worth another round. She still could teach him the pleasures of lady on top. Anguissa ran a hand over him, halfway wishing this could be more than a biological imperative.
But that would be ridiculously complicated.
It was strange. She should be revolted by him and his nature. Her very reasonable horror of umbros and their dark powers should have returned, now that the Seed was satisfied. But she found Ryke just as attractive as she had before, and she wanted him again.
Maybe the Seed undermined her common sense permanently.
“I didn’t expect such an easy victory,” he murmured, his chest vibrating beneath her hand. “I was sure you’d want three or even four demonstrations to be sure.”
“That’s a tempting suggestion,” she ceded, dropping her weight onto his chest and giving him a kiss. “Maybe I should just say that you’re always right, that your confidence is deserved, and let you have your way with me.”
He rolled his eyes as if that was unlikely and sat up with her in his lap. “I have my limitations, Snake-Eyes. Maybe it’s time to explore those hygiene facilities.”
Another kiss and they abandoned the couch as one, moving to the hygiene unit. “How much sex did you get while in the company of the Gloria Furore?” She had to ask.
His expression immediately closed. “None. Mercifully.”
She reached out and touched the tip of his member, which was marked with the same scars as everywhere else on his body. “Fire ants even there?”
He glared at her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
She stretched up to brush her lips across his. “Of course, you don’t. You’re nothing if not predictable, Blood-Dealer.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you like having your secrets. Fine by me.”
Ryke snorted, but she could see that he was pleased. His expression changed with her next words.
“Does this hulk have a good star map?”
“Why?” His suspicion was more than evident.
“Because I need to figure out where I’m going to get off. I’ll look at your charted route and decide.” She glanced around the cabin. “This wreck is probably old enough to have a chart room.”
“It does.”
“Well, that will be a novelty, at least.” She shuddered elaborately. “I have to say, it’s very strange to be unaware of my own coordinates, never mind your flight path.”
Ryke was impassive but she could feel his disapproval. “I thought we were in this together.”
“We were, but it’s done.” Anguissa finished cleaning herself up and tugged on her clothes. “I know you’ll miss me. Maybe you’ll be haunted by the memory of our time together.” She smiled at the very idea and shook her head. “Don’t argue, please. Just leave me with my illusions. I know I’ll remember this. It’ll probably be the one and only time I ever let my partner dominate me.”
“How can you think anything is done?” Ryke flung out a hand and sounded more agitated than Anguissa had expected.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to argue for a shared future?” she scoffed. “Ryke, you’re a practical man. I’m not a romantic. You’re an umbro and I’m a dragon shifter. Our kinds hate each other. Don’t feel obliged to make that argument for my sake. We’re done.” She watched as he shoved a hand through his hair.
“We’re not done until I say we’re done,” he replied. “We haven’t escaped the Gloria Furore, I’m not home on Centurios, and the real Captain Hellemut is out there somewhere, seeking vengeance.”
Anguissa kissed him quickly. “That’s your quest. Mine was to help my sister and my ship escape Hellemut, and to claim the Seed.” She pulled on her boots then turned to face him. “That is done. Time to see if I can charm my father into letting me have the Archangel back.”
Time to check on that cargo and verify that the robot had kept Thalina safe from it.
It was all perfectly clear to her and Ryke was certainly too sensible to disagree.
If he thought she needed the fiction of a relationship to feel good about what they’d just done, he could think again.
He looked uncertain, though.
Anguissa turned around and sniffed, certain she could smell something edible. “Did you say there was food?”
Ryke folded his arms across his chest and blocked the portal. “Claim the Seed,” he echoed. “You mentioned the Seed before. What exactly does that mean?”
“What do you think it means, Ryke? I messed up on the deck of the Armada Seven, because I smelled the Seed. I made a mistake for the first time, because I smelled the Seed for the first time.”
“What does that mean?”
“I had to identify the Carrier of the Seed, which was you, as soon as possible.”
“Was?” His eyes narrowed.
“Was,” Anguissa agreed. “The Seed has been claimed or have you already forgotten what we did here?”
Ryke took a step closer, backing Anguissa into a wall. His voice was a low, taut monotone. “Why did you need to claim the Seed?”
“Oh really, Ryke. There can only be one reason. Basic biology doesn’t vary that much, regardless of species. It takes two, or sometimes more, but for our physiology, two will do.” She smiled at him cheerfully. “We have that in common.”
He didn’t smile in return. “Tell me about the Seed,” he demanded, grinding out the words. His eyes were dark and his manner was particularly grim.
Even for Ryke.
Anguissa folded her arms across her chest, facing him squarely. “My kind do not reproduce often or easily. In fact, we can only conceive when we encounter the Carrier of the Seed, a destined biological partner. We have an ability to smell the Seed and a primal urge to claim it, which means that the need to seduce the Carrier of the Seed distracts us from everything else until that seduction is done.”
“And then?”
“And then it’s done. The Seed is claimed, the child conceived, the Carrier and dragon shifter can go their separate ways.”
“Then you’ve conceived my child?” he asked. “Already? How can you be sure?”
“Because I can’t smell the Seed the same way. It’s not messing with my thoughts, which means mission accomplished.” She patted him on the shoulder as he glowered at her. “You don’t have to worry about any future responsibility, Ryke. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Boy or girl?”
She was surprised that he cared. “It’s even money, I’d say.”
“Shifter or not?”
“Usually shifter, but the genetic string that defines my kind is occasionally elusive.”
“Umbro or not?”
“No idea.” Anguissa smiled at Ryke, who was as humorless as she’d ever seen him. “Maybe your genetic stock will feel the need to dominate, just the way you do.” She tried to step past him but he made a little growl and stayed put.
Anguissa felt the need to provoke him a little, since he was so determined to decide everything. She tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “Or maybe, you need to be dominant because you’re not as confident as you’d like me to believe. An over-compensation of a kind.” She considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “I’ll never know. Point me to food and then the chart room.”
“You’re not leaving me,” Ryke said flatly.
“I’m not staying with you.”
“You’re not leaving if you’ve conceived my child.”
Anguissa returned his glare. She’d humored him enough and she felt her snakes starting to sway in agitation. “You can’t stop me,” she said and heard the snakes hiss.
Ryke looked as if he wanted to try, but he paused to survey her.
Then he raised his hands in abrupt surrender. “Let’s eat first,” he said and she regarded him with suspicion. Either he was offering a truce, or he thought he could distract her from her goal.
Not a chance.
“How hungry are you?” he asked.
“Starving.”
“Good, because Bakiel should be awake by now.”
Bakiel?
“Who’s Bakiel?” Anguissa wasn’t really surprised that Ryke ignored her question. “More importantly, is there anything decent to eat? Even freeze-dried provisions would be good at this point.”
“I can do so much better than that, Snake-Eyes.”
She eyed him, liking his smug smile and his conviction that he knew exactly what she wanted. It would almost be worth staying to have a chance to surprise him and shake his assumption a bit.
It would almost be worth the temptation of doing what Ryke wanted, just to have the opportunity to give him that lesson about a dominant lover.
Almost but not quite.
Four
Anguissa leaving?
There was absolutely no chance of that happening.
Not if it was true that she carried his child.
Ryke had already been compelled to abandon one son and he wasn’t going to do it again. He wasn’t sure he believed Anguissa, or if she was just trying to manipulate his thinking. Either way, he couldn’t let her leave until he knew for sure whether she carried his child.
How was he going to convince Anguissa to agree? He’d never met a woman who believed she could do whatever she wanted, much less one who welcomed the responsibility for everything.
While it was true that Captain Hellemut was female, Ryke didn’t think of his former commander as a woman—and even she had relied heavily upon other members of the team. Hellemut had a tendency to assume that the details would be managed, and to enjoy the allotment of punishment when it didn’t. He’d long suspected that her command was lazy because she preferred torment over precision.
Anguissa was different. She took charge and seemed to like it. He’d never met a woman he found so persuasive, and that worried Ryke. Were all the old Centurion stories about dragons true? The worrisome thing was that even if they were, he couldn’t imagine exterminating Anguissa.
Was that proof of her power over him?
Ryke changed the subject to give himself time to strategize.
Fortunately, Anguissa was interested in food.
They left the captain’s quarters together and Ryke indicated the route to the canteen. Anguissa’s stomach rumbled audibly in anticipation and he found himself reassured that some things about her were easy to understand.
She spared him a glance and he braced himself for something unpredictable. “You married, Ryke?”
He shook his head. Was that the reason for her concern? He’d discovered in his research that the dragons of Incendium tended to be monogamous. Although he’d never shared that inclination—it wasn’t common on Centurios—it was easy to believe that Anguissa wouldn’t share. Umbros of power didn’t share either. They kept harems of princesses so they could choose which one to enjoy on any given night, but the women weren’t shared with anyone else.
“In a committed r
elationship?”
He gave her a look. “You do remember the bit about the Gloria Furore?”
“But you might have been before that.”
Ryke shook his head once more.
“Then here is an example of cosmic injustice,” she said and he couldn’t read her tone. Was she mocking him? He wasn’t used to that.
“How so?” he asked warily.
“You’re gorgeous, Ryke. You’re strong. You’re a great pilot and an effective warrior. I suspect you’re noble and you’re certainly courageous.”
“I’m going to guess that you think flattery will get you something.”
“It’s just the truth.” She patted him on the arm. “I’m trying to address your terrible lack of confidence.” Ryke rolled his eyes. “By your own admission, you don’t even make mistakes.”
“That’s your claim, too.”
Anguissa ignored that and kept talking. “You make love like you invented it, at least given the limitations of your favored style of lovemaking—”
“Limitations?” he echoed in a low growl.
Her smile flashed. “And you know when to offer food. I admit that you do have this confidence problem, and there’s the pesky matter of you being an umbro, but where is the line of women prepared to serve you forever and bear your sons?”
So, she was competitive.
That he could understand.
“They’re on Centurios,” he admitted.
“Didn’t bring a couple of them along, just to service your needs?”
“Abductions don’t work like that.”
“Would you have?”
Ryke shook his head. “I didn’t want any of them and I had the right to choose.”
“Do you think you’re choosing me, then?” She seemed to think this was a joke, which mystified Ryke. Given his lineage, he was always the one to choose.
“I will choose you, since you intend to bear my child.”
Anguissa shook her head, setting those snakes in motion. “Not good enough, Ryke. Both people need to choose to be together, and it has to be for something more than obligation.”