Page 28 of Guardian's Soul (Space Guardian's Mate #2)
THARAAX
Nobody had ever touched me like her. The moment her hands moved up to my face, I knew I would be lost. I had had sex before, but nothing like this. Sex had been an outlet for pent-up emotions and a release for my body. This was so much more than that. We were sharing this. It felt as if we were one.
"Hannah," I managed when I was able to control my breath. She stared up at me with those honey-brown eyes, telling me everything I wanted to say.
"I know." She nodded. "I feel it, too."
The fact that I had only known her for a few weeks and had not even liked her for most of that time didn't matter to me. Oh, I had desired her, but she was far too mouthy for my taste. None of that mattered, though, because I knew she was the one.
"I love you," I admitted, not expecting a response because I was pretty sure she felt the same about our relationship. About us not liking each other much in the beginning. But she surprised me, yet again, proving how in sync we were with one another.
"I love you too."
I kissed her, speechless at her admission and worried I would get all sappy and spurt out all my thoughts unfiltered. Hard and long enough for my cock to start twitching inside her, growing thick again.
She slapped my ass. "As much as I love this"—she moved her finger between her and me—"I'm getting a bit sore down there."
"Oh, sorry." Guilt raced through me. I should have thought of that.
"No worries." She caught my face between her hands to stop me from pulling out. "It's okay," she assured me.
By the stars, I loved it when she held my face like this. "Nobody has ever done this to me," I blurted out before I could stop myself.
"Done what?" She wrinkled her forehead most adorably.
"This." I moved my face between her hands. "It feels good."
"Oh, Thrax." Her thumb wiped lovingly over my cheek.
"It's all right," I told her softly, "it only makes this mean so much more."
She leaned up and kissed me, then with a slight laugh, she pushed me off her. "I need a shower."
"So do I," I agreed. "I'll use the one in the other?—"
"Why don't we share?" she suggested, sending a flood of new desire through my body.
I had never shared a cleansing cycle with a female before, but doing so with Hannah was becoming my new obsession. I loved washing her and couldn't get enough of touching her skin. But I also loved when she touched me, awakening a new longing in me, one I had never even missed before. Now, though, I was starving for it. Craved her touch with a frightening intensity.
One thing led to another, and soon we were both panting again as somehow she ended up impaled on my cock.
When we were finally dressed, it was time to go meet with Possedion. The very thought of him raised my anger to unknown levels. I would have loved nothing more than to put my fingers around his throat and squeeze until his lifeless form lay in a heap by my feet.
By the door, I hesitated. Taking a deep breath, I said, "Give me a moment."
She placed her hand on my shoulder and clasped it affirmingly. "You won't kill him."
She was more confident than me, and I shook my head.
"We need him," she stated.
I took another deep breath, getting my emotions under control. Funny, I never had problems with emotions before. I just simply didn't have them. But now, it seemed they were constantly all over the place.
I placed my hand on the scanner—a small added measure of security we had installed before we reached Ohrur—and the doors slid open.
Possedion stood by a chair, staring out into the black void through the window with his back to us. He turned when he heard the door open. I felt it again right then. When I took him earlier, I thought my battle emotions were playing a trick on me, but I was wrong. The evilness coming off the Ohrur in waves was nearly drowning me. My blood simmered hot in my veins to kill him. This male had done unspeakable things. I felt it with every fiber of my being.
"What have you done?" he snarled, and I took a step forward. My hands were opening and closing in anticipation of the kill.
"I think you're mistaken about your position here, Possedion. I'm the one asking questions." My voice was cold because it took all I could not terminate him as my instincts demanded. The same instincts that had made me into such a successful bounty hunter.
His expression turned sad as he shook his head. "Oh, Tharaax, I thought better of you. So much better. You are one of our best Space Guardians, and then comes one of these… witches around?— "
"Careful," I advised in a clipped tone, sensing my iron control slowly returning.
He ignored the advice and continued as if I hadn't spoken, "Do you think you're the first to fall for one of her kind?"
"Since the humans have barely been discovered, I do," I responded, taking a careful, deep breath, not letting him in on what I felt.
"It's not just the humans. These females are everywhere, trying to infiltrate?—"
"You crazy bastard," Hannah snarled, and I held her back. This was just the contact I needed to regain control of my emotions fully. Possedion was lying. There was no doubt in my mind, but I also sensed that I needed to find out how far he would go and what he might divulge. Ohrurs weren't very strong, but they had one big advantage: their level of pain tolerance was incredibly high. We could torture him for days without getting any information from him. Frygg, we might inadvertently kill him before he did.
"It's all right, Hannah, let him talk." I was still holding on to her arm, more for myself than to stop her now. I needed the contact with her skin. It grounded me.
She gave me an unreadable look but took a step back. "By all means."
I yearned to retake her arm, but at least I was able to shake the instinct to kill Possedion for the time being.
"As I was saying." Possedion couldn't help himself but look smug. In his eyes, I had just rebuked Hannah, and I mentally asked her for forgiveness. I should have discussed our interrogation technique before, but honestly, I didn't know he would act like this. I had expected him to be angry, furious. Or scared, but not this… all-knowing. Or pretending to be.
"Many species would just love to get their hands on our Space Guardians," he continued, glaring at Hannah, who glared right back. "They've been trying to infiltrate us for years. They've attempted this Soulweb Glyph stunt before."
" Soulweb Glyphs ?" I repeated, liking the sound of it and, for some reason, feeling it resonating deep inside me. But I was too focused on Possedion right then to give it any deeper thought. Later, I told myself, later, I would do a deep search on Soulweb Glyphs.
"It's like a poison they inject," Possedion continued, clueless that I wasn't believing a word he said. "It alters your brain, makes you… question."
"Like what kind of species he is?" Hannah interjected.
Possedion looked from her to me, his expression thoughtful. "One of the points they like to use is to make you question us," he agreed.
"Interesting, so what species am I?" I asked.
He actually looked almost heartbroken. "Why do you have to do this to us? To yourself? You're better off not knowing. Trust me."
"Trust you?" I arched a brow at him.
He let out a defeated sigh. He was good. Convincing even, as if… I explored that idea… as if this wasn't the first time this happened. Not that I believed anything he said about the poison, but if this had happened before, it made sense for him to be prepared about it—that revelation made my skin crawl.
Possedion moved to the window and looked out as if there was actually something to see on the other side.
"Looking for your rescue team?" I prodded.
"Trying to figure out how deep she already ensnares you," he replied.
Behind me, Hannah huffed.
"You better brace yourself," Possedion advised.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Go on, I'm as braced as I'll ever get."
"You aren't any particular species. You are a cross breed made up of many species. A hybrid." Possedion paused, studying me to see if… what? If I faltered? I wouldn't give him that satisfaction, but Hannah's words about clones and lab babies came back to me, and I didn't like that idea. Not one bit.
"So what?" I scoffed. "We are made up of some kind of gene cocktail?"
Possedion nodded. "As a matter of fact, one of the finest."