Page 14 of Entangled by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #4)

Elyssa

My body was a confused, disjointed mess of feelings and sensations. The slight burn of the cut on my arm tangled with the languid feeling of satisfaction in my lower belly. Cold made my skin sting, and the drizzle we traveled through felt like tiny pinpricks. At the same time, Tass’s arms were warm as they cradled me, and his chest blazed with heat against my side. My body felt bruised and tired, but my mind was spinning with rapid-fire thoughts.

Tass had come for me, and he’d done impossible things to free me. Tass was so gentle and caring with me, and so ferocious when he was fighting. Tass… Tass was the only thing my mind wanted to think about, and finally, I was getting ready to acknowledge the things I’d been afraid to admit. As a young girl, entrusted to my brother’s care, I’d trusted him, thought the world of him. And then, over the years, he’d proven to be a terrible, mean, and abusive asshole. I thought I couldn’t trust anyone or my instincts about people, but I was wrong. I could trust one person, and that was the incredible male currently carrying me in his arms as if I were the most precious thing in the entire galaxy.

On his shoulder, Nelly perched, her delicate little face aimed at the woods as though she were helping him keep watch. Tass was just as vigilant, black eyes scanning our surroundings with the same kind of intensity he’d bestowed on me earlier. Like Tass, I felt that the tiny plant girl was a being I could trust. Both of them had been there for me at my darkest hour, and neither had asked for anything in return. Tass wanted the data I had, but he didn’t even want it for himself—he wanted it for his captain and for Brace.

“Almost there,” he said, his vine reaching up to wipe some of the waterlogged hair from his face. “I sensed it when I was scouting earlier.” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I was as ready as he looked for a safe place to sleep and get warm. A little cave like the one we’d spent the previous night in would be perfect, and I was willing to bet that with the rain, smoke from a campfire would go unnoticed. My belly flushed with more warmth when I considered what we might do to get warm together.

“Then tomorrow, we’ll try to figure out how to make contact with the Varakartoom.” He did not say it out loud, but I could tell that he was a little concerned that nobody had come looking for him. “Would you really have given that data to De’tor in exchange for my freedom?” That question was uttered in a low tone, as if he was the one who couldn’t quite believe it. Earlier, he’d confronted me because he’d figured out I was having us chase ghosts, but he didn’t seem bothered by that now.

“Yes,” I said immediately. It was only fair that he knew how much I’d come to trust him, even if it felt a little scary to expose that kind of weakness. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead three times over by now…” I owed him, and the feeling I’d experienced when our eyes first met had been right all along, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it because it was too scary. Tass was my mate. I could always trust him with everything.

“They won’t get another chance,” Tass vowed roughly. “I’ll keep you safe.” But after a small pause, he ventured to ask me about the data. “If you didn’t hide it in the woods, then where?” He looked genuinely puzzled, and I was not surprised. My jumpsuit had no pockets, and he knew I’d been searched twice at this point. So where could I be hiding the data everyone wanted so badly?

Wiggling my cold toes inside my pretty, custom-made boots, I considered how best to answer him. “Right here,” I said and reached up to tap one of the medallions hanging from my Caratan chain. What I’d done was downright blasphemous, and if another Elrohrian found out, they’d shun me, demand I lose my chain altogether. But what did a medallion that stood for family mean, anyway, when that family was dead and its last member besides me had abused me for years on end? Family meant nothing to me—not the one I was born to, anyway.

Tass was not Elrohirian, however, and he probably didn’t know what kind of customs and traditions I’d abused by doing this. He tilted his head and barked out a surprised laugh—one that sounded a little amazed and impressed, like he approved of my tactic. “That’s smart,” he said when he was done laughing. “Nobody would ever ask you to take the chain off or search it!” And that was exactly why I’d gone to a shady jeweler when passing through the Yengar station and asked them to embed the tiny microchip inside the gold. It did not show up on scans this way, and I had slept better knowing nobody would even consider it as a hiding place.

“What’s on it, anyway? What’s so important that Jalima has sent his current right-hand man after you—not to mention dozens of foot soldiers? You’re becoming a big expense for him…” I had wondered myself why what I held was that important. I’d read the news a few weeks ago: a data leak had cost another crimelord, Batok, his reign. It could simply be an effort to save face, but I suspected it was more than that. Elpherian had known a lot about Jalima’s operations, and that data chip held everything I could pull from my brother’s private computer.

“Shipping routes,” I said, because that’s what the majority of information had comprised. At first glance, innocuous, not at all worth going to these extremes for. A little digging I’d done right at the start of this crazy period had shown me exactly why Jalima cared. “Hundreds, thousands of shipping routes, ship names, and manifests. The real ones and the doctored ones.”

Tass snorted, his mouth tilting into a satisfied grin. “Ah, I see. Smuggling routes. A way to expose all of it. Too many ships and routes to be able to change them all without great cost. The captain is going to love this. We’ll know exactly when and where Jalima is moving valuable contraband.” I was certain that, if he had his hands free, he would have been rubbing them together in glee.

I didn’t know what his captain had to do with any of this, but at this point, I didn’t care. I just wanted the nightmare to end, for Jalima’s people to leave me alone. If that meant putting a stop to some of the crimelord’s activities, that would be fantastic, but I’d be equally happy if everything got buried and they forgot all about me. Of course, now that Tass was with me and we’d ditched the tracker and De’tor, I was starting to believe I’d make it out of this mess alive—no thanks to my brother, who’d left me in this mess in the first place.

“We’re here,” Tass announced. It was dark and raining hard; I could barely see what he was talking about. Darkness amid the already dark trunks of the giant trees. Then we stepped inside it, and abruptly the rain ceased pounding down on us. I blinked, and my eyes adjusted to the black that surrounded us, and slowly I could begin to pick out details: a cave ceiling that soared up, dotted with many hanging stalactites that shimmered like purple or green crystal. The walls were also curved, as if we’d stepped into an upside-down bowl.

Then I saw what sat at the center of this strange hollow: a steaming pool of water. Moss surrounded the edges, making it look all soft and inviting. Tass was walking toward that pool, and the closer we got, the warmer the air became. It was not a five-star hotel, but right now, it might as well have been. “Is that safe to bathe in?” I exclaimed, leaning forward eagerly to stare at the placid, clear water surface. It wasn’t too deep, as if someone had plunked a hot tub down into this cave and then tried to make it look natural.

“Yes,” Tass said immediately. We’d reached the edge of the moss, but he did not step onto it. Instead, the two of us gazed into that inviting water together and noted the soft, round pebbles that covered the bottom. They were white or pink and looked almost good enough to eat. “This is a sacred hot spring. Only priests and plantists are allowed to visit those. They are crafted to cleanse oneself before visiting a grove.”

“Oh, does that mean we’re not really allowed to be here?” I looked longingly at the warm water again and wiggled my numb toes. A warm soak would probably be the only way I’d ever get warm again, and I was dying to get clean—dying to get my hands on Tass’s bare skin too, if I was honest. This was a much more inviting place to consummate a mating bond than that small little hollow from before.

Nelly slipped from Tass’s shoulder, her leafy hands using my leg to climb down with soft touches I barely felt. She flounced across the moss at the edge of the water, then curled some vines over its heat before wincing and pulling away. We watched her as she stepped back with little prancing steps, followed by an elegant twirl. Unlike us, she did not appear nearly as enthused by our new surroundings.

“I am a plantist,” Tass said firmly, then began to slide me down his body. I wobbled unsteadily, but he did not let go, pressing us tightly together, his vine winding around my middle to anchor me to him. “And you are my guest.” Then he bent his head to mine, and I eagerly met his kiss. It was easy to get lost in that moment, and if I hadn’t been wet and cold, I could have stayed forever. Tass tasted divine—he tasted like home—and filled my chest with warmth.

“Come, let’s bathe,” he said, the words bordering on a command rather than an invitation. I did not want to step away from him, but when he touched the tab beneath his chin and his armor began to part, I followed his lead, shimmying out of wet clothing and boots, baring still-cold skin to the warm steam wafting from the pool. I gazed over my shoulder as I kicked off my panties and was buoyed by the heated gaze in Tass’s black eyes.

The water stung my cold toes as I dipped them in—too hot, or my toes too cold. Tass’s presence distracted me. He’d shed the last of his clothing and stepped up to the edge of the pool, as naked as the day he was born. It was my first chance to take all of him in, to admire his sleek form. While he did the same to me, I shamelessly looked my fill.

Tass’s emerald skin gleamed, marred in places with still-healing wounds. Purple lines webbed across his chest and shoulders or curved around his arms and thighs in intriguing bands. It was the same purple that sat at the hearts of Nelly’s flowers or appeared in much of the flora outside in the jungle. The lines made me want to trace them with my fingers or my lips, and they emphasized the way his muscles sat on his powerful frame—ridged abs, heavy pecs, beautiful shoulders and biceps—while the veins along his forearms made my mouth water.

Then there was his cock. It sat below a small patch of green fronds—leaves shaped like silky feathers. His cock, hard and thick, reminded me of twisting vines—three of them, curling tightly together and twisted in a tight, thick knot at the end. It was thicker than my wrist, the head impressively heavy, and my core ached just thinking about feeling him inside of me. He would be the biggest cock I’d ever taken, and I couldn’t wait to find out if we could make that fit.

“Stars, you’re beautiful,” Tass said huskily, and his thick cock twitched. My core spasmed in response, and I felt wetness as my body readied itself for my mate. “Your nipples are so pink and pretty. I want to taste them,” he added with a groan. He appeared done staring and turned to sweep me into his arms again. His vine helped, sweeping along my thighs and tickling the backs of my knees so I stumbled forward against his chest. Then I was raised into the air, my belly sliding along his thick cock, then higher until the head lodged between my thighs. I ached for him—and ached with pleasure—when he dipped his head and sucked my nipple deep into his mouth.

I was barely aware of us moving as he stepped into the water, my focus entirely on the sensations he drew from my body with his mouth. Each step he took nudged his cockhead between my thighs, tapping my clit and sending sharp lances of pleasure through my flesh. It had been instinct to throw my legs around his hips, opening me to him. The knowledge that he was already so close to sinking into me was hot as sin, tantalizing me with what was about to come.

Then the hot water lapped against my feet, slid up my legs, and wrapped around my waist with heat. It scalded and then soothed, my body trembling from the shock as heat abruptly entered my cold and exhausted system. “Ah, that’s…” I didn’t know what that was—not good, not bad either—but now I couldn’t feel the blazing warmth of his cock where it nudged against my core, demanding entry with blatant, teasing taps.

Tass laughed, his chest rubbing against my abdomen, his black eyes gleaming as he raised his head from my breasts to look up at me. Then I felt his vine slip from my legs to caress my ass before slicking between my cheeks. “I’ll help you,” he said. “That’s good, Tass. Give me more,” he suggested. I slapped his shoulder, laughing, and that laugh morphed into a moan when his vine slipped into my core and stroked along my sensitive inner walls.

Then the water was up to my neck, and heat engulfed me while Tass surrounded me with his body. I felt the smooth edge of the pool as he pressed my back to it, his vine pumping between my thighs until pleasure wound tighter and tighter. “Come,” he demanded, his mouth finding mine and laying claim. I shattered for him, my shout swallowed by him—eagerly devoured—and then he pushed me for more.