Page 13 of Fated to the Hunter (Xarc’n Warriors #13)

I woke to something warm and soft pressed against my side, breathing in slow, steady rhythms, and the weight of an arm slung across my belly.

Kiera.

They’d declared it too dangerous to cross the fences after sundown, and I agreed, especially with the sky clouded over and no moonlight in sight.

The sensors used by both our motherships and Earth’s satellites needed at least a trace of light, however minute, to function properly, just like my own vision.

My shuttle had echoed the warning, repeatedly insisting it was unsafe to proceed, even as we halted at the western edge of the zone to settle in and wait for morning.

But the main reason was that Kiera was already showing signs of fatigue.

She’d spent most of the trip gazing down at the terrain and jotting notes into her device.

I was used to seeing the planet from altitude, but she wasn’t.

So I’d ordered the shuttle’s floors and walls to turn transparent, letting her take it all in.

By the time we looped around the Dead Zone to approach from the west, she was yawning every few minutes.

I’d nestled my shuttle among dozens of similar vessels belonging to the hunters stationed here. Sleep had claimed us both in my sleeping nook, me pressed against the wall, and Kiera curled up against the energy screen.

She’d been tense last night, closed off and too anxious about the mission to accept any comfort from me. I’d kept to my side, chest rumbling from her nearness, carnal thoughts of her swirling in my head.

Now the delectable female was tucked against me, her limbs draped over mine like we belonged together. Her mess of fiery curls brushed against my skin and claimed my sleeping nook like it was hers.

Shifting in her sleep, her leg slid against me, bumping against my morning-hardened cock, making me think of all the intimate, unspoken desires I wanted to try with a human female before I left this planet. I gritted my teeth and bit back a groan.

No. Not with any human female, but with Kiera. In the last few days, she’d replaced every nondescript woman in my fantasies. Maybe they’d all been placeholders for her from the very start.

Kiera wore the thinnest, threadbare T-shirt, and it was currently gathered around her waist. She’d gone to sleep wearing all her undergarments, but the contraption called a “bra” was now flung over my chest, smelling strongly of her, and I had to resist the urge to bring it to my nose.

The tiniest scrap of fabric covered her sex. It was light blue and had gray colored boxes with faces, and the words I? Robots printed all over. Strange. Those didn’t resemble the drones humans used.

She moaned softly, the scent of arousal thick in the air. Whatever she dreamed of had her hands clenching at my belly and her hips moving against my leg, her inadequate crotch covering leaving a slick of hot moisture against my skin. I didn’t need to ask what she dreamt of, but of whom.

Was it me in her dreams? Touching her? Claiming her? How would she feel writhing beneath me?

At least one of those questions was answered by her softly muttered, “Bael’k.”

Krux!

The sound of my name on her lips was a promise.

Every instinct screamed at me to pull her close and make her mine.

Give her what she dreamed of. Her scent was intoxicating, wrapping around me and triggering a need so fierce it stole my breath.

My cock throbbed, straining against its leather confines, demanding release, demanding her.

She’d said she was not looking for a relationship. She didn’t want a mate. And neither had I. But her body betrayed her. She had needs, needs I awakened, needs I could satisfy. She might not want forever, but she wanted me. Right now. And I was more than willing to give her everything.

Suddenly, the ceiling panel in the sleeping nook lit up at full brightness, making me squint.

“Aah! What the hell?” Kiera shifted, flinging an arm over her face to shield her eyes.

I reached over her to the control panel and adjusted the illumination to an acceptable level. “I apologize. My shuttle has never done that before.”

“Oh!” Her focus wasn’t on my shuttle or the lights, but on me.

In my haste, I’d forgotten the state of my arousal. My cock brushed up against her belly, hard and heavy. Lust thickened the air between us, and I was hyper aware of all the places we touched. My leg was on hers. My cock pressed against her belly. My lips were just inches from hers.

I froze, unable to move. “I wish to kiss you again.”

“So why don’t you?” she asked, her voice low and husky.

“Because once I start, I won’t stop. You do not wish for a mate, nor do I. But you are in need. I can smell it.”

“You are in need, too.” She bit her bottom lip, then shifted, bumping up purposefully against my length. “I can feel it.”

“I can help you. And you can help me. No bonding. Just pleasure.”

I immediately felt guilty for saying it because the truth was, I wanted to claim her right now, drive into her and make her mine, fuck her until she craved no other. Universe be damned, what I’d thought I wanted before.

“I’d like that.”

Her tongue darted out to lick her lips, and the predator in me zeroed in on the movement.

“This is a dangerous mission,” she continued. “We should live each day like it could be our last.” A sly, playful look crossed her face. “You know, take life by the horns?” Her eyes drifted up to my horns.

She reached up and dragged her nails softly at the base where my horns joined to my temples. I groaned.

Built to withstand concussive impacts, our horns were meant for battle, but with the right touch, they became something else entirely.

Erotic. Sensitive. Her gentle caress sent a jolt straight to my cock.

I shuddered, the image of her gripping my horns while I feasted between her thighs flooding my mind.

Her tongue darted out again to wet her lip, and this time I didn’t resist. I bent my head to capture it.

The energy screen behind us vanished in a flash, and we were dumped unceremoniously out of the sleeping nook.

Kiera shrieked as we fell. Not wanting to crush her, I twisted midair, doing everything I could not to crush her beneath me, only to slam shoulder-first into the newly installed passenger seat.

“Fuck!” I roared.

What was happening with my shuttle? I was certain we hadn’t touched the panel.

“Are you okay?” Kiera leaned over me, concern on her face.

I glanced down at my still half-erect cock, straining against the confines of my loincloth. I was fine. My cock, however, was not. I let out a low, frustrated snarl. Of all the times for the privacy screen to malfunction!

Kiera followed my gaze and chuckled softly. “Beds are overrated anyway. Let me help you with that.”

She reached for the fastening of my loincloth. I reached for her, my hand curling around her wrist, holding her still.

“If you touch me right now,” I growled, “I won’t be able to stop.”

Her eyes met mine, steady and unflinching. “Then don’t.” There was no fear of me and our differences at all, only desire.

She made quick work of my loincloth, even as I adjusted our positions so that I was on my back and she straddled one of my thighs.

“Ooh,” she gasped, reaching for my cock as it sprang free from its leather prison. Biting her bottom lip in concentration, she wrapped both hands around my length.

We were differently shaped from her kind.

Xarc’n cocks had three sections, each one flaring out into a hard swelling before dipping back in to start the next, instead of the mostly uniform width of her species.

But there was no surprise on her face. Had she touched another hunter before?

That irrational and hollow feeling I’d felt when she’d spoken to that nomad surfaced again.

I wanted her to be mine and no one else’s.

“It’s so thick,” she said, her fingers wrapped around the widest section.

I let her explore my length, her fingers tentative at first, but firmer as her confidence grew. Her soft hands encircled the first thick bulge before sliding down over the different sections all the way to the base. I groaned as her hands moved back up, gliding over the ridges and dips.

Her arousal spiked, hitting me so hard I had to close my eyes and hold my breath, lest I lose control and flip us over and drive into her now. But I didn’t want to scare her away. I needed to take this slow, even though it was killing me.

It was the feel of her wet tongue darting out to lick at the tip of my cock that had my eyes popping open again.

“Krux!”

I gritted my teeth as her mouth wrapped around me, engulfing the entire first section of my cock, and she made the sexiest, most mind-numbing moan. The sound vibrated right through me, joining the loud rumbling from my chest, making beautiful music.

I reached for her, unable to stop myself, and threaded my fingers through her hair. My rough touch only made her moan louder, her eyes rolling back. With her fiery curls in my fist, I moved her up and down just that first section.

It felt so good. I’d heard all about this, even seen it done in vids, but I hadn’t been ready for just how good her wet mouth and tongue felt. And krux, she looked perfect with those plump red lips wrapped around me.

But the delicious scent of her arousal was filling my lungs, and I wanted, needed, to taste her too.

She let out a breathy protest as I pulled her off my cock, my fingers still tangled in her hair. There was the sexiest wet plop as her mouth left my cock.

“You are still dressed,” I growled.

With one fluid motion, I peeled off the mostly see-through T-shirt and tossed it toward my sleeping nook.

I caressed her, my hand gliding from her slender waist to the soft swells of her chest. I didn’t have those, and they fascinated me endlessly.

She was so soft, her skin smooth, her form lush and rounded.

Everything about her was different from me.

I was all muscle and hard angles. I wanted to commit every curve to memory.

Deciding to try something I’d seen in one of the many sex videos another hunter had sent me, I grabbed her hips and pulled her over my face.

This was supposed to be position number sixty-nine, though I had never successfully found the previous sixty-eight positions. But that didn’t seem to matter. Kiera was dripping with need, and I wanted a taste.

Unable to remove her crotch covering in this position, I exposed the claws from the first finger of each hand and carefully cut through the fabric on either side. Then, burying my face into the dampest part of the fabric, I clamped down with my teeth and tore the garment away.

I was sure we skipped a lot of the kissing and touching and exploring that we were supposed to do before reaching this position, but right now, I did not care.

My first taste of her was divine, and I knew this very instant that no matter what I’d wanted before, Kiera was mine.