Uncharted

  Only I can’t take care of myself, she remembered suddenly. I can’t so much as touch my own nipples without a damn alarm going off. Oh God—what am I going to do?

  She had no idea.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Where have you been?” Terex grabbed her by the shoulders and glared at her the moment Elaina let herself into the suite. “Do you know how worried I was? I had no idea where you were and no one else seemed to know either! I was just going out to comb the palace for you!”

  “I…I’m sorry—” she began. “I got lost and—”

  “Sorry isn’t good enough!” He shook her once and then pulled her close for a tight, almost desperate hug. “Gods, Elaina, don’t do that to me,” he murmured, pressing his face to the side of her neck, his breath warm on her skin. “Don’t just disappear like that! I was so fucking worried.”

  Elaina was surprised and touched at the emotion he was displaying for her—she didn’t think she’d seen the big Kindred this worked up since their disastrous second meeting on the Mother Ship. God, his arms felt so good around her—like flexible steel bands. But then he shifted and the broad plane of his chest dragged against her sensitive left nipple.

  “Ouch!” Elaina pulled away, looking down at herself reflexively. “Damn, that really hurts.”

  “Let me see that—I should have tended it long ago.”

  Terex drew her over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. He stood Elaina between his muscular thighs and rumbled, “Take off your top. I need to see your breasts without all those ridiculous fringes in the way.”

  Though she’d been walking around exposed for hours now and though Terex had already touched and sucked her nipples earlier that evening, Elaina still found herself shy about removing her top.

  “Um…” She plucked uncertainly at the black and white fringes which were all that stood between her and nudity.

  “Elaina?” The big Kindred frowned at her sternly. “Did you hear me? I said I need to examine you.”

  The command in his deep voice seemed to do strange things to her insides. She felt a rush of heat that seemed to sweep from the tips of her toes all the way up to the top of her head.

  “Yes, Master,” she murmured without thinking, unfastening the top. “As you wish.”

  “Don’t call me that.” Terex snapped. “You don’t have to, you know. We’re in private here.”

  Elaina bit her lip. “I know,” she said. “I…don’t know why I called you that. It just…felt right.”

  “Well it doesn’t feel right to me. It reminds me too much of—”

  “Of what?” Elaina asked curious, because he had broken off abruptly.

  “Nothing. Never mind.” He shook his head as he took her by the waist and turned her so that he could get a better view of her injured nipple. “Hmm…this isn’t good.”

  “What? What’s wrong with it?” Elaina looked down at herself anxiously. Her left nipple did look more swollen and pink than her right, she thought. Although both nipples seemed a shade darker than her normal coloring.

  Must be from the way he bit me, she thought. Although if it was her left nipple he’d bitten, why was her right one pink too? Maybe that damn Krispy Kreme-tasting syrup, she guessed. Hadn’t Zerana said it could mimic the symptoms of the Need disease?

  Speaking of that, being so close to the big Kindred with her breasts bared to him while she smelled his spicy, masculine scent was doing strange things to her. Her pussy felt hot and swollen between her legs and her nipples were throbbing—not just with pain either.

  “Why did you make me bite you?” Terex asked, looking up at her. “I was trying to be so careful not to scratch your tender flesh. I didn’t want to hurt you—only bring you pleasure.”

  “I know.” Elaina lifted her hands helplessly. “But Jessa was signing to me that Krumf doesn’t like to lose bets—that we’d be in trouble if you won.”

  “So you were trying to save me when you impaled yourself on my fangs?” He sighed. “I should have guessed as much. Unfortunately, you forced an uncontrolled bite, which caused me to inject you with my essence.”

  “Your what?” she frowned.

  “Look.” He opened his mouth and pointed at his incredibly sharp fangs. Clinging to their tips, were pale blue droplets like nothing Elaina had ever seen before.

  “What is that? I mean, what is essence?” she asked.

  “A Blood Kindred’s body makes it when he becomes especially attuned to a female,” Terex told her.

  “You…you’re attuned to me?” Elaina whispered, biting her lip.

  “How can I help it?” he asked simply. “When you’re so beautiful, so incredibly arousing? I’ve been attuned to you from the moment I first met you, Elaina.” He sighed. “I know we’re only supposed to be working together and I’m sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable…”

  “No.” She shifted a little, pressing her thighs together to try and control her growing desire. “No, I…I don’t mind.”

  “Thank you.” Terex sighed. “I know it’s not very professional and I swear I’m trying not to take advantage of the situation we’re in but—”

  “But it’s really hard when Krumf and his cronies are demanding that you lick my nipples and I suck your…” Elaina trailed off, blushing. She couldn’t help remembering how eager she’d been to go down on him, how willing she’d been to swallow every last drop of his come. God, what must he think of me?

  “About that…” It was Terex’s turn to shift uncomfortably. “I shouldn’t have let you do that. We should have tried to fake it or at the very least I should have pulled away before I spilled my seed in your mouth.”

  Now was her chance to act shocked and shy and swear she never would have done such a naughty thing if she hadn’t been forced into it. If Elaina had been younger, she might have considered it. But she was on the edge of forty, not twenty and she’d gotten tired of trying to pretend she wasn’t interested in sex a long time ago. It was one of the reasons she and her ex husband had broken up in the first place—the fact that her ex was boring in the bedroom and never wanted to try anything new.

  So instead of demurring, she told the truth.

  “I…I honestly didn’t mind,” she murmured, looking at the big Kindred.

  Terex frowned. “You didn’t?”

  “No.” She sighed. “Sorry if that makes me sound like some kind of…I don’t know what. But the fact is, I’m not a blushing virgin anymore. I was married for quite a while so that wasn’t exactly the first blow job I’ve ever given.” She cleared her throat. “It was the first one I enjoyed giving, though.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

  Wow, Elaina, way to make yourself sound like you’ve really been around the block! But she went on telling the truth anyway.

  “Yes,” she said simply. “I didn’t like it with my ex because he considered it one of my ‘wifely duties’ and he never exactly reciprocated, if you know what I mean.”

  “You mean he never tasted you?” Terex looked like he could scarcely believe it.

  “Um…no, he never did.” She could feel her cheeks getting hotter and hotter. “Not only that but he used to grab my head and drag me down. You didn’t do that—in fact, you tried to pull me off.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt you or choke you,” he murmured. “Or take advantage of you.”

  “You didn’t,” Elaina said firmly. “We’re just…doing what we have to in order to get through this and find what we’re looking for. Speaking of that…” She cleared her throat, wanting to change the subject. “Did you learn anything new at the Council meeting?”

  He scowled. “Nothing. It was a lot of bureaucratic nonsense. A waste of time. And when I came back here and found you missing, I feared the worst—that Krumf had used the excuse to separate us and hide you away somewhere.”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done that,” Elaina said seriously. She told him about Zerana and how she’d purposefully been infected with the Nee
d and forced to stay in the palace.

  “That’s evil,” Terex growled, his eyes burning. “To force a female against her will and infect her with a disease for his own pleasure…the Goddess has a special place in the Seven Hells for such a male.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Elaina said grimly. “And I wouldn’t mind sending him there myself. But in the meantime…I sort of told Zerana that we would help her.”

  “How?” Terex frowned. “I want to—I want to help not only every female held in that accursed harem but every female on this benighted planet. But how?”

  “I don’t know,” Elaina said. “Maybe if we find what we’re looking for we’ll also find a way to help them. What about the ‘little healer that never fails?’ Zerana said she’d heard Krumf talking in his Private Baths that it was almost ready to harvest. So maybe it’s some kind of a plant or herb—maybe it could even cure the Need. That’s one of the main things keeping all the women on this planet slaves—they’re in bondage not only to the men here but also the sexual demands of their own bodies, forced on them by that awful disease!”

  Speaking of the Need, or Need-like symptoms, as she spoke, Elaina became uncomfortably aware that her nipples and pussy were getting more and more sensitive and tender. She looked longingly at Terex’s big hands—God, she wanted them on her body! Not to mention his mouth. And that long, hard shaft she’d enjoyed sucking so much would feel amazing filling her pussy…

  No! She pushed the impulse away. Can’t let that damn syrup I had push me over the edge. I need to keep control.

  “You’re right.” Terex’s nostril’s twitched and he looked at her with a frown but continued talking on the subject at hand. “And maybe if we find the ‘silver sphere that finds the trail’ it would lead us to the little healer.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But where do we start looking?”

  “At the Private Baths, according to Zerana,” Elaina told him. “She says that’s where Krumf lets down his hair, so to speak, and tells it like it is.” She frowned. “But she also said you have to do something to catch his attention to be invited in.”

  “Do something? Do what?” Terex asked, frowning.

  Elaina shook her head. “I don’t know. Zerana said if we’d been to the Public Royal Baths already, where apparently just about everyone in the palace hangs out, we would understand.”

  “I guess the only way to know is to go tomorrow.” Terex gave her an appraising look. “We should stop talking now, Elaina—I need to heal you.”

  “Oh, you mean…from this?” She nodded down at her swollen left nipple. “Um, how exactly?”

  “By bathing the area with more essence. No biting this time, I promise,” he murmured. “And I promise this isn’t just an excuse to suck your ripe nipples once more—though I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that. This is truly the only way to heal an accidental bite.”

  “I believe you.” Trying not to betray her eagerness or the way her body was crying out for his touch, Elaina offered him her nipple.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” Terex murmured. Holding her gaze with his, he cupped her full breast and pulled her close to suck her tight peak between his lips.

  Elaina tried to hold back a moan as his hot mouth enclosed her. God, it felt so good! Especially the way he was swirling his tongue around and around her sensitive tip until she felt like she might scream. All the yearning and heat that had been building inside her for what felt like hours now was coming to a head.

  “Terex,” she heard herself moaning softly. “Oh God, yes—please, Master, please.”

  To her distress, Terex let her nipple slip from his mouth and frowned at her.

  “I asked you not to call me that,” he growled. “I won’t ask again, Elaina.”

  “I’m sorry.” She took a step back from him and he let her go, releasing the hold he’d had on her waist.

  Her body was burning now, drowning in desire made that much worse by the way he’d licked and teased her nipple as he healed her. Elaina knew she couldn’t ignore it much longer. But neither could she tell Terex what was bothering her or ask for his help. Not when he got so mad at her just for slipping and calling him “Master.”

  Why did I call him that, though? Why that? What’s wrong with me?

  She didn’t have any answers. She just knew she was desperate to be alone. Desperate to try and ease the burning desire which was rushing through her.

  “Excuse me. I…I need to go freshen up,” she blurted.

  “Elaina—” he started, but she had already rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. There she leaned against the black marble countertop and took deep, shuddering breaths, trying to calm her racing heart and quell the lust that was threatening to consume her.

  Okay. It’s going to be okay, she told herself over and over. But between her thighs her sex felt like it was on fire with need—so hot and wet and swollen—she was aching to be touched there.

  Her hand started to drift between her thighs but she stopped herself at the last minute. I can’t! Can’t risk it! If just touching her nipples had made the alarm go off, taking the train to self-pleasureville would probably set off a five-alarm fire bell.

  But God, she was so hot and swollen! If only there was some way to get off without touching herself. It felt like just the lightest touch would do it. If only there was something she could rub against…

  Elaina shifted restlessly, causing the rounded edge of the black marble countertop to dig into the small of her back. She gave a little cry and jumped away, looking at the offending counter and rubbing her bruised flesh as though the black marble had attacked her on purpose.

  But then her eyes widened.

  Hmm…it’s about the right height…and it’s nice and cool and smooth and the corner is rounded…

  Before she knew it, Elaina was spreading the long black and white fringes of her skirt and positioning herself so that the curved marble corner was pressing against the hot outer lips of her sex.

  The black marble felt blessedly cool against her heated pussy and she nearly purred with relief when she bore down and felt the delicious ache of pleasure between her thighs.

  “Perfect,” she muttered to herself. “This feels just per—”

  With a loud, whooping cough, the self-pleasure alarm began to sound.

  “Shit!” Elaina jerked away from the marble countertop just as she heard a loud banging on the outer door of the suite.

  “Elaina, get out here,” Terex growled at the bathroom door.

  “Coming.” Holding an arm over her bare breasts, she smoothed down the fringes of her skirt as well as she could and jerked open the bathroom door as the knocking intensified.

  “What were you doing?” the big Kindred demanded. “Now we have the guards to deal with again!”

  “I was…I was just…” Elaina didn’t know what to say. She could feel her cheeks heating with shame.

  “Open for the Imperial Guard! Open in the name of his Supreme Excellency Krumf the Fourth,” a loud, angry voice demanded.

  “Let me handle this,” Terex told her in a low voice. “Stay close behind me—I won’t let them take you.”

  “All right.” Elaina bit her lip as he went to the door and yanked it open.

  “Now what?” he roared, glaring at the young guard who stood outside. “How do you dare interrupt me when I was pleasuring my female?”

  The guard frowned, clearly taken aback by Terex’s anger. He was younger than the one who had come at the sound of the alarm earlier that day, but he still looked stern and determined.

  “I’m afraid it was your female pleasuring herself that brought us here, Master Valdor,” he said sternly. “Nothing else could have tripped the female self-pleasure alarm.”

  “Of course she was pleasuring herself,” Terex growled, as though it was the most reasonable thing in the world. “I told her to.”

  “What?” The guard started at him blankly. “But…why would you do that?”

  ??
?Because I find it pleasurable to watch her.” Terex said. “And I wanted her to stimulate her nipples while I licked her soft little pussy.”

  “You…while you what?” The guard looked at him as though he’d gone crazy. “You admit to giving your slave oral gratification?”

  “Not only that, I admit to loving it.” Terex lowered his voice. “Have you never tasted a female? If not you’re missing out on an entire realm of pleasure.”

  “It…it’s forbidden,” the guard stuttered. “A slave’s body should give pleasure only to her master—never to herself.”

  “Is it truly forbidden?” Terex demanded. “Is that another law that was enacted while I was gone?”

  “Well, it’s not a law exactly,” the guard said slowly. “But…it’s not done, at least not in the palace.”

  “Really?” Terex looked surprised. “I thought the Supreme Leader was a connoisseur of pleasure?”

  “He is—of the pleasure a slave can give to her Master. But how could such a thing—how could, uh, tasting a female—bring a pleasure to a male?”

  “If you can’t understand that, then I feel sorry for you.” Terex shook his head. “Tell me—do you have a female yourself?”

  “I have recently acquired a slave, yes.” He nodded. “Her father sold her to me at a good price but I would have paid more.”

  “Why?” Terex asked him. “Is she special to you?”

  “Well, yes…but that is beside the point.” The guard frowned.

  “No, that is the point. If you care for your female at all, try to imagine it,” Terex told him. “Coaxing her thighs apart…the feeling of her shaking and trembling under your mouth…the soft cries and moans she gives as you slip your tongue inside her…the feel of her hands in your hair, tugging you forward, showing you what she wants…what she needs…” He sighed. “Gods, man—it’s one of the most pleasurable acts in the universe. If you haven’t tried it, you really should.”

  “Um…” The guard looked uncertain now. “Well, I…”