Page 3 of Forced to Mate by the Mad Scientist (Kindred Tales Spicy Shorts #3)

3

SYLVIE

Kross must have caught her, but Sylvie didn’t remember it. When she woke up, she was lying on the bed in the shuttle’s single bedroom. Her bottom half was wrapped in towels but she was topless from the waist up.

Looking down at herself, she saw that her breasts were as perky as ever, the nipples pointing at the ship’s rounded ceiling above her, thanks no doubt, to the float dots.

Her Kindred Protector was sitting beside her and as Sylvie watched, he did something strange. He put his first two fingers in his mouth, sucked them for a moment, and then pulled them out and began rubbing one of her stiff, pink peaks.

“Hey!” she protested, still feeling slow and stupid from fainting. “Wha…whadaya think you’re doin’?”

“I was wondering when you’d wake up, Princess. I’m healing you,” he said matter-of-factly as he circled her tight peak with his long fingers.

It occurred to Sylvie that she was no longer numb—she could feel everything he was doing and her nipple was as sensitive as it had ever been. In fact, the gentle caress of his fingers was sending sparks of pleasure straight from her tight peak to the sensitive place between her thighs.

“Healing me?” she repeated stupidly as she watched him.

“Yes—I’m half Blood Kindred. See?” he bared his teeth briefly, showing a double set of sharp, pointed fangs on either side of his upper jaw, where a human’s canine teeth would be.

“So?” Sylvie was a little more awake now. “What…what does that mean?”

“It means that my fangs make ‘essence’ that can heal,” he told her. “So I’m ‘milking them’ to get some for your nipples.”

He was apparently finished with the left nipple because he stuck his fingers in his mouth again and sucked them before beginning to circle her right peak.

“But…but I thought a Blood Kindred could…could only heal his…his mate.” Sylvie wished her voice wouldn’t come out so breathless. She also wished she could turn off the feeling of pleasure that was running in a direct pipeline from the nipple he was caressing and healing straight down to her pussy, which was feeling swollen and hot by now.

“I’m not a full Blood Kindred—I’m a Hybrid,” Kross reminded her, which didn’t really answer the question, Sylvie thought.

“Why not just…put some, uh, salve on them instead, though?” she asked. “Don’t we have some…um, some healing ointment or something in the…in the uh, cabinet?”

She hated the way she was stumbling over her words. It was hard to get her thoughts together when his touch was affecting her so much, damn it!

Kross shook his head.

“I looked but none of the medicines we have stop bleeding. The fucking leeches must have injected you with some kind of blood thinner—you were leaking all over the place, Princess. I knew my essence would close the wounds, so…”

He broke off talking to suck his fingers some more and then went back to circling her aching nipple.

“I mean, I guess I could have let you keep bleeding, but I didn’t think you’d want that,” he murmured as he worked on her. “And you’ve already lost too much blood.”

Sylvie bit her lip, trying her best not to moan and arch her back as the tingling pleasure rushed through her. God, she couldn’t stand Kross—he was always so sarcastic and rude! But she couldn’t seem to help the way her body was reacting to his gentle touch.

Maybe she had him all wrong, she thought as she watched his face. There was an intent look in his eyes as he healed her—an expression that said he took his job as her Protector seriously and would do anything to keep her safe. Maybe they had gotten off on the wrong foot and he was an okay guy after all. Though he was touching her nipples, it clearly wasn’t because he wanted to grope her—his essence really was healing the tiny wounds the leeches had left.

He was sitting on the side of the bed, wearing a fresh pair of flight leathers and nothing else, which meant his muscular chest was still on display. But it was his face Sylvie looked at—there was still a very faint imprint of her hand on his cheek. She must have really slapped him hard! Or else his pearly gray skin just kept a mark for a long time.

“I…I’m sorry I slapped you,” she whispered, reaching up to graze his hurt cheek lightly with her fingertips. “I shouldn’t have assumed you were just, uh…”

“Perving on you?” He looked up from his task and grinned briefly. “Yeah, I don’t blame you though, Princess. If I’m being completely honest, it’s hard not to notice you when you have all your gorgeous curves on display.”

Sylvie bit her lip, uncertain how to respond. Was he saying he liked full-figured women? She’d heard something about Kindred liking curvy girls from friends aboard the Mother Ship—especially from Kat, who was curvy and mated to Twin Kindred —but she hadn’t had any idea that Kross felt that way. He was so big and tall and muscular—with his strong jaw and changeable, jewel-toned eyes, he looked like a male model. Could someone like him really find someone like her attractive?

“Um…really?” she asked at last. “You like, uh, women with curves?”

“Like them?” He looked up again for a moment, his eyes flashing reddish purple. “Princess, I fucking love curvy women—we call them ‘Elites’—didn’t you know that?”

“Elites?” Sylvie frowned.

“Women the Goddess has blessed with extra curvy figures.” He sucked his fingers again and went back to the other nipple, even though Sylvie was almost sure it was healed. But maybe he was just trying to be thorough…

She shifted on the bed, pressing her thighs together tightly.

“So…I’m an Elite?” she asked, breathlessly.

“Yes, you fucking are, Princess,” he growled softly and his eyes were suddenly half-lidded and more purple than red. “You’re Goddess-damned gorgeous and you fucking know it.”

Sylvie didn’t know any such thing. She knew she had pretty hair—it was her best feature, honestly. But she had too many freckles and more than one man had let her know that her weight made her ‘undateable.’” It was one reason she’d given up on the dating scene completely and decided to focus wholly on her work. Now, however, Kross was looking at her like she was incredibly desirable and hot.

It made her wonder what was going on in his head as he stared at her with that lazy look of lust and continued to tease her tight nipples.

“I…um…” She couldn’t think of what to say. Kross was leaning over her…so close now. Almost close enough to kiss… “Am I healed yet?” she asked, not sure what else to say.

“I think so.” Kross pinched her nipple and tugged on it gently. “How does that feel?”

This time Sylvie couldn’t bite back a moan.

“It…it feels good,” she admitted breathlessly.

He gave her a lazy smile.

“Good. I wanted to be sure your sensitivity wasn’t compromised by those little fuckers. Maybe I should test the other one too.”

And he reached across and tugged her other nipple, making her moan again as sparks of pleasure shot through her, straight down to her pussy.

“Ohh!” Sylvie gasped, arching her back again.

His eyes went lazy with lust.

“Gods…so responsive. Yes, I think you’re all right now, Princess.”

“Don’t…don’t call me Princess,” Sylvie panted, not knowing what else to say.

Kross leaned forward, looking right into her eyes, his lips almost brushing hers as he spoke.

“I’ll call you anything I want,” he growled softly. “ Princess.”

Sylvie had no idea what to say. He really was close enough to kiss. She could feel his warm breath on her face and for a moment, she was sure he actually was going to kiss her. And the worst thing was—she actually wanted him to!

“Kross…” she whispered breathlessly. “I don’t know?—”

Abruptly, he pulled away from her.

“Well—I think you’re all healed now, Princess.”

His sudden shift in mood left her feeling almost dizzy. What had just almost happened between them? Or had she imagined it?

“Um… thank you, I guess,” she said, at a loss for anything else to say.

“Welcome, Princess. Here—wear this.”

He got up and found a spare shirt for her—one of his uniform shirts, Sylvie saw. It was from the extra uniform he always carried with him when they went on missions, she realized.

“But what about you? What will you wear?” she asked uncertainly as she sat up and slipped the huge shirt on. It was made of a thick, satiny material that felt cool and silky against her now extremely sensitive tips.

He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling with the motion.

“My flight leathers are fine until we get back to the Mother Ship.” He raised one silvery eyebrow at her. “Unless you’re thinking you want to go back outside and look for some more leeches or some other creepy-crawlies?”

“Ugh—no! Not right now.” Sylvie shivered. “Um, do we still have the slugs that, uh, bit me?”

He nodded.

“Still on the shower floor but I can put them in a specimen box for you.”

“Would you?” Sylvie asked. “Thank you—I’d rather not handle them again so soon after…”

“After they almost drained you dry? Yeah, I don’t blame you, Princess.”

He barked a laugh and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go take care of that and then we can go home. If you’re sure you’re feeling okay, that is?”

Leaning over, he cupped her cheek briefly in one big, warm hand as he looked anxiously into her eyes.

For some reason, Sylvie found it hard to hold his gaze. Which for once, was a pure, deep, dark blue without even a hint of angry red.

“I think so…I mean I’m pretty sure I’m okay,” she said. She could feel her cheeks getting hot with a blush—damn it, what was happening? Was she having some kind of moment with her sarcastic Kindred Protector?

“Well…if you’re sure. Because we can stay here for a little while if you need to recuperate,” he offered. “I could make you something to eat—we have plenty of meal cubes.”

Sylvie bit her lip. What should she say? For the first time her Protector was being nice instead of rude and cutting. Also, the moment that had passed between them had been strangely compelling. Could it be she’d misjudged him all this time?

“Well…I guess we could—“ she began. But just then the com-link at the front of the shuttle buzzed, which usually meant they had an incoming message from the Mother Ship.

“Hold that thought,” Kross rumbled, stroking her cheek. Then he got up and went to the front to answer the message.

Sylvie sat there on the bed, fumbling with the rest of the gold buttons on his shirt, her heart pounding, wondering if she’d been wrong about the big Kindred all along. Could it be that he actually liked her? Liked her so much that something might even grow between them?

It was a strange thought and one she tried to push away at once. But she couldn’t forget the way he’d looked at her…and cupped her cheek. Couldn’t forget the way he’d healed her so gently…

But then, when he came back from the front of the ship, everything changed.