Feral Flaw Read online

  In the last vestiges of the day's sunny rays, the red drops of blood pooled with darkness.

  Did the lifeless color foretell of my demise? Was Voldon about to have me by the genetic scruff of my neck, imprisoned through zombification? She will ingest the blood. If she was in an alliance with Voldon, I will lose all my free will. And Destiny demands a sacrifice. My life for The Cause. I handed over the knife.

  Her brow furrowed a little.

  Did she hesitate because she realized the precipice upon which she stood? I will know her true orientation in the Blood Wars nonetheless. "Take it, Darla. Accept my gift of self."

  She curled her fingers around the hilt's black leather.

  "Each drop for your comfort." I crossed myself in the Xquine way my father showed me how to honor the gods of life and happiness.

  She raised the blade to her tongue, licked the blood from the thin edge, and handed me the knife's butt.

  Did it taste of salt and metal?

  My mouth watered.

  "Wait." She reached back for the knife.

  What was she up to? I passed it to her open palm.

  She quickly sliced her skin and climbed into my lap, pressing her warm sticky lingering wetness from our mating against my thighs, fearless in her actions, presenting the blood on her arm for my consumption.

  My nose tingled with the almost non-existent aroma of salt and iron that insisted I accept the offering.

  She held the wound in front of her breasts. "I'd rather you not slit your tongue open." She winked.

  How caring. Hopefully, it was sincere because, Gods, I had loved her when I brought her to The Seeker. She was so smart. And she cared for me like a woman should. Not like a woman fearing death at every turn in the Blood Wars. Her soul was gentler than the females I knew. So delectable and innocent of the existence of psychics throughout the universe. Here stands the opportunity to make her mine. Whether I make my last free choice or not. And so be it. No one will claim I turned my back in fear. I slid the tip of my tongue across the rigid scratch marring her soft skin.

  Every cell in my body jolted with an electric shock.

  At last, awakened. That part of Destiny's promise rang true for me. What about Darla?

  She lowered her arm, leaving the most beautiful nipples but inches away. "Anything else?"

  Oh yes. Why not enjoy the fruits of my labors given she was willing? Ride the wave of sexual espionage until the crest breaks on the beach. One more moment to dance among the stars before I forget who I am through Voldon's enslavement might be my only reward for completing my duty. I leaned down to latch onto one of those luscious beads on Darla's breasts.

  "I can see how our sexual union can be a hindrance to The Cause," she sighed, craning her neck backward, shifting her breasts higher for my convenience.

  What an unusual thought during their first mating. Rather revealing. I released her taut nipple and kissed her succulent lips quickly to encourage cooperation. "What do you mean?" I stared into her brown eyes.

  "We're going to be in trouble with all the mating I have planned and your inability to just jump up and pull your boots on." She smiled.

  Raw truth resonated in those words. But even more reality slapped my jaw. Lying around, nude, and tempted into a dangerous death dance only left me vulnerable at Voldon's whims. So, a wise warrior would sheathe his weapon and take heed until his mate demonstrated blood-lust symptoms for his blood.

  Now to see if she'd shape shift in forty-eight hours. I gazed into her eyes. "We should get up and move, really stretch our legs. We'll be back in the pod fighters before you know it. And we still have to worry about being separated."

  Her eyebrows pinched. "Separated?" She shoved into a sitting position.

  "Yes. If we're separated, you need to have some of my blood. Right now, our biological clocks are synchronized. We will both shift at the same time. You'll need my blood on hand in case we are separated when the blood lust comes upon you." Although that was a bad thing given she could just hand my essence over to Voldon. I didn't want to look suspicious by withholding transportable blood libations. Now for the true test of Darla's loyalty--seeing if she shape shifts the moment I do.

  "Well, how do we deal with separation out here? Do you have equipment?"

  Just special vials that preserve blood like a blood bank back on earth. "We'll use the tools I store aboard my pod fighter."

  Before either could claim they felt the evening's salty breeze, we each knelt dressed in full-mercenary black leather tucking prepared metal syringes into the shafts of our boots.

  "One injection per use, Darla. Just point it at your arm, push the trigger, and tuck the syringe back into your boot. You'll get five doses this way. Then you change the vial. With the two extra vials stored aboard your pod fighter, you'll manage ten days per vial. Use them sparingly. But, still, we have to hide our shifting ability. Or locals will notice we have problems they can use against us."

  She chuckled. "Oh yeah. It's not every day a raving lunatic of a were-beast comes sniffing around for any kind of blood to quench its blood lust."

  "Exactly."

  "I know so much after three years on the starship. But I feel like I know nothing."

  She was a damned good spy. I just need to forget about the espionage until the transmutation occurs because she's my mate. A change of scenery would keep our minds off seductive body parts. I rose. "Let's walk down to the beach and listen to the waves beneath the moons." We'd be back in deep space staring at stars, riding in transit back to Arken soon. And being prepared to deal with Darla's blood lust is my big chore now. Earthlings didn't take to the binding as well as other humanoids. They experienced heightened desire. That might work against me when I'm watching to see if she's in need of my blood.

  The walk in the two moons' muted light quickly landed me in a bed of sand with Darla, holding the gentle curve of her hips as I thrust into her clenching heat. On her hands and knees, with the moonlight gilding the pale skin of her slender back, nothing was more beautiful than my curvaceous mate. Not the round gray moons. Nor the trail of moonlight broken by the lapping waves against the beach. Not even her pleas for speed and strength in my pumping.

  The observant stars and shushing wind witnessed our genuine coupling. Saw both of us strain and twist until she carefully rolled and faced me.

  "I want to see your eyes," she said and reached for my shoulders.

  Did her statement indicate she cared for me? Wanted to see my expression during our coupling as proof of my intentions? Good. She'd see I meant every thrust, every pulse, each groan. I leaned onto my palms in the cool sand and stared down into her glinting eyes.

  Her hips matched each of my limited thrusts. Her gaping mouth noted she concentrated as did the little pleasure sounds she made.

  How could she ever question my sincerity? She wouldn't again. I focused on her gaze and pumped quickly into her tight channel until her cries amplified. The sound sent my blood surging. My pulse pounding in my ears. And nothing but my inhalations and exhalations were audible over the sounds of her imminent release.

  She could have one to remember in case I was being set up for betrayal.

  Pressure built in my lower abdomen, pushing, forcing every iota of my thought on one thing. Ejaculation into the hottest tautest place on the planet. Into my mate.

  I held my breath.

  She arched her neck back and closed her eyes. "Oh, God!"

  My hot seed exploded inside her.

  She went rigid then trembled, looking back into my eyes. It was all I could do to watch her expression. I just wanted to close my eyes and saw back and forth as her channel clamped around my throbbing shaft, milking me of every precious drop of Xquine seed. We rode out the tide of our passion until I could barely move and I froze, gulping for breath on quaking arms.

  Darla slid her palms down those very same arms. "Oh, Goro," she whispered, our bodies still tied together from mating. "What do we do about Voldon?"

  E
xcellent question. "We wait." For the blood lust test. "And when we have the chance, we force him to reveal how he created that child." That should be enough to keep her content for the moment.

  She sighed and pulled my shoulders down until I my body draped her soft breasts. "It's not my child."

  Everything in my life hinged upon that singular point. "Don't worry about it anymore. We'll deal with all later."

  She fell asleep first. My deadly sleeping beauty who curled upon her side as the moonlight divulged how the swells of her nude body mirrored the natural undulation where the silver edge of the beach's dunes touched the velvet black sky.

  A beauty she was.

  But is she my death sentence or my salvation? Thank the stars, sex wasn't the problem now. Luckily, my inner beast took over and plunged me to the depths of her soul where I dangled on the very root of my existence. Sex. It's too easy to get lost in the act. I didn't even watch for signs of her virginity that first time. She seemed so knowledgeable. So educated. Such a spy. And one's inner animal always wanted to seize the moment. To achieve self-gratification. As I had in the cave. To pleasure her so much that she begged for more on the beach.

  Still, Voldon hadn't left me with any other recourse than to doubt my mate. The bastard. She would be resentful if she knew. Hurt. Betrayed. Unless she was a fraud. Maybe she carried evidence of a blood mate on her. If she were already mated, she'd have to store the male's blood nearby to inject herself when the blood lust came upon her. My gaze slid to her leather clothes lying in a pool of moonlight upon the sand.

  Was she hiding anything like the shadows? Gods, I wanted to believe I was her mate. But I needed some reassurance. And reassurance lay right over there in her clothing. If I found two syringes, I'd know she had someone else's blood.

  * * * *

  Darla wasn't feeling well inside the dark cramped space of her pod fighter after Goro's unyielding exterior had finally collapsed in their mating back on the planet. The surrounding darkness couldn't override the fact he had finally given himself to her. Was I wrong to mate with an extraterrestrial, she wondered. And who wouldn't have spread her legs for a gorgeous barbarian who just needed to ravage a female? My love-sworn mate no less. He had saved me. He'd protect me now. But the chills shaking me now, combined with the cold sweats, almost made me puke.

  The tight space where I laid seemed to shrink with every wave of nausea until I could barely draw breath.

  Am I claustrophobic? Hell. We were almost to the wormhole relay. Almost to a safe haven where I could spread my legs for him again. Where I could feel whole instead of this ludicrous nauseated wreck.

  A chill tickled down my arms.

  Not again. But could this be a sign of something else? Something like pregnancy. Maybe. The legends stated two people would give birth to children of legends. Red Trekkar should have had her child by now. Red was the first free thinker to buckle to legends. Goro was next. So, I could be pregnant. Certainly it was too early to tell. Although, Red's changing eye color immediately noted when she conceived. But I won't have that luxury of her species. Earthling eyes don't change color once they've conceived.

  And who knew what the symptoms were with pregnancy while carrying a half Xquine child. Then again, do I even need to care? Pregnancies between earthlings and extraterrestrials rarely go full term. If they do, the children are almost always stillborn. Crazy Darla used those facts to her advantage when working the bad cop side of Goro's game back on The Seeker.

  Another wave of tingling chills tingled from my core to the tips of my fingers and toes as beads of sweat tickled my brow.

  Just hang in there. There has to be something I can use to make sense out of the symptoms. "Computer?"

  "Yes, Darla?"

  "What do you know about Xquine pregnancy symptoms?"

  "Very little is known about that culture. They were incredibly reclusive, highly volatile, and their mating rituals have been rumored to be the most unusual among humanoids. But rumors usually spark more color than the blackness of space."

  Tell me something I didn't know.

  "Your biostats show you are deep in the blood lust, Darla. Your symptoms are not evidence of pregnancy."

  I hadn't made the connection with blood lust symptoms. Having a computer around to answer questions made space travel not quite so difficult. "What else can you tell me about the blood lust?"

  "Each were-assassin has similar symptoms but they come on at varying rates according to the mercenary's culture of origin. Commander Goro has learned self-control through meditation because of his culture's volatile nature. But earthlings have to be taught Goro's skill. Try breathing deeply and slowly."

  Oy! "You sound like my father." Like I ever cared about anything he tried to force me to do. His type of prayer never did a thing for me but left me sitting waiting for light to dawn over yonder hill. When the sun rose, still nothing hit me.

  "Did the commander leave you with the antidote?"

  Some antidote with these debilitating sensations. His blood only lasted twelve hours. "Yes. But shouldn't the blood lust come on at the end of the forty-eight hours?"

  "That's dependent upon your culture of origin. Some humanoids have a higher tolerance to the desire."

  Forget desire. This is similar to the way the flu tortured a person. So what was the point of this discussion? I'm supposed to self-medicate? "What are you saying?"

  "Inoculate yourself."

  Goro said to use these draughts sparingly. "I don't know. Goro didn't tell me to shoot up every time I felt like it."

  "Do what's right for you."

  Why did that seem like an open-ended reply?

  A chill squeezed another roiling wave of bile from my gut.

  Chapter Nine

  Goro sighed inside his pod fighter as he led his mate to the wormhole relay. But two days meant his blood boiled with blood lust. He had the male were-mate's hard-on as well as nausea and the cold sweats associated with pre-shifting symptoms. Time to embrace the biological alarm, he mused. Until I could land and exam Darla's condition with two roaming hands.

  Nothing remotely suspicious had been hidden in her clothing that night on the beach. Thank the stars she had been too exhausted to catch me trying to look like I was killing a snake. Or that was my plan if she awoke. Now, getting Darla farther away from Voldon was imperative. Just in case she wasn't a sex spy. And I'd learn the truth as soon as I landed.

  My gut churned, setting off another round of cold sweats.

  Gods, what I'd give for a bite of salt-tinged flesh. Damned lust. Stupid wild thoughts. Nothing to be proud of. Lust. I should disgust myself. And a premature bite of flesh would ruin everything. Risking the moment I could witness her shifting was beyond foolish. But the only way to deduce where her loyalty lay was to give time a chance to reveal the truth. So, we'll layover at Tiv Mos 5, a small blue-and-green planet any earthling would love to visit. At least enough to get her out in the open to observe her symptoms firsthand then take care of these symptoms.

  My arousal strained against my leather pants.

  To trace the bloody edge of a cut upon her succulent skin with the tip of my tongue.

  The blood coursing through my veins sparked with hot prickles.

  Gods, to get out of here and rip her clothes off.

  "Commander, we'll land on Tiv Mos 5's Dalna in four minutes and twelve seconds."

  "Excellent." A little blood-letting will ease my symptoms. We might even have time to fit in some sexual instruction given I don't have to kill a traitor.

  The pod fighter set down on a smooth rocky plain encircled by trees similar to broad-leaf earth palms. No matter how many places I visited around the universe, it was uncanny how common life shapes made for the best adaptations-universals in shape and function. Another common form, inorganic, a volcanic peak, thrust toward the blue sky on one end of the island.

  Talk about an engorged highly explosive phallic omen. Dalna was the perfect place to get to the bottom of Darla. As
s. Wet thighs. And a whole lot of breasts. No sense in going down the sexually-frustrated male when sexual espionage might transmute one into a zombie at any moment. A little passing of semen never hurt anybody. In the end, she could give birth to the child of legend with or without me. Dead or alive with my duty fulfilled, I could die a content soul. And wouldn't that turn the game on Voldon? His spy giving birth to the child of legend he feared.

  My groin throbbed in agreement.

  Where is my mate? I scanned the landing area.

  Air shimmered into a de-cloaking pod fighter hovering in descent mode, landing gear locked down.

  To throw her down. Pin her into position. Just have a drop of salty metallic nectar. Precious blood. Life's sacred gift.

  Her hatch slid open.

  Come to me, little one.

  She reached up, shoving into a sitting position, and waved without so much as an inkling of blood lust in her gesture.

  So much for wishful thoughts.

  Anger nibbled at my chest.

  Maybe the blood lust had a weaker affect on her? The symptoms manifested in different intensities among species. But never had I seen an earthling easily control the need.

  She shoved her shoulders upward to throw a black boot over the fighter's side and looked around. "You have a thing for islands, you big romantic fool."

  Well, romance was a good topic. But what about attacking me?

  She is a sex spy. And I mated her. I'm such a fool.

  My fingers ticked with a flinch.

  Losing control wouldn't solve anything. Logic and reason were the only tools that would reveal her inner motives. I clenched my fingers into a fist. The knot did nothing to subdue my temper.

  She hopped to the ground and casually strode toward me in her accursed tight black leather with all her seductive long brown hair swaying in the wind.

  As they say on Earth, without a care in the world. She didn't even seem interested in the Earth-like qualities of Dalna. Darla was all business.

  "You don't look so good, Goro." She studied me with the curiosity in a slight head tilt of a domesticated animal.