“I want you, Nyko. Just for one night.” My voice was soft, and when he didn’t respond right away, I had to wonder if he’d heard me.
Another shudder passed through him, and I felt his body actually shift, grow. That shocked me, but it shouldn’t have. He was the perfect specimen of a man, at least for me. I’d imagine he’d have a long line of Atlan females waiting for him back home. Was that why he fought me on this? Did he already have someone chosen? A mate waiting for him?
Oh god. I was a total bitch.
“Shit. I’m sorry. You probably have a mate.” I closed my eyes and cursed myself a hundred different kinds of stupid. Of course, he was mated. He was gorgeous and strong and fucking perfect.
I released him as if burned and returned to the water, faced away from him. Stupid. God, that was stupid. I should have asked before I stripped myself bare. I knew nothing about him, other than the fact that whenever he entered a room, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Maybe that was why I bickered with him so much. I hated that I was attracted to him. Perhaps the reason why he argued right back was because he didn’t want to deal with me, a female. An Earth female. The Atlans didn’t allow their women to fight. Their women were big, like Doctor Moor, but apparently they were paragons of feminine perfection, all gentleness and light. Sugar and spice and everything nice.
I hadn’t been nice since I was eight, and even then, I was only nice to my dad, my friends and my cat. I was everything he didn’t want and he’d tried to push me away, again and again, with our damn arguments.
Nyko had made it clear that he didn’t approve of women in battle, or of me in particular, on more than one occasion. Why I’d thought this would work…
A splash made me turn to find Nyko behind me. I gasped. The man was gone. In his place was a beast, nearly eight feet tall, his features larger, his jaw more angular, his shoulders impossibly wide.
“What are you doing?” I backed away slowly, not sure what to think. If he had a mate, his beast wouldn’t want me. I knew how it worked. These aliens bonded for life. Hard-core, never cheat, soul bonds or something. So why was Nyko naked? “Nyko?”
God, he was magnificent. Rippling muscle. Huge legs and arms, big enough to rip a Hive Soldier in half with barely a thought. So strong. And his cock. It was as big as the rest of him, hard and straining toward me just beneath the water. He stalked me until I had nowhere else to go, my back against the far edge of the small pool. When I stopped moving, he did, too. He was close, towering over me like a giant as I placed my bare hand on his chest.
“Nyko, what are you doing?”
He sank down into the water, dunked his massive frame and came up part way so that our faces aligned. Beneath the water, where I could not see him move, his hands found the curve of my hips and rested there. I startled, but he made no other move, simply stared into my eyes. Somehow, I knew Nyko was in there. If I said no, if I told him to get the hell away from me, he would. His beast was in control, but he was not so wild as to harm me or take me against my wishes.
But that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted him five minutes ago. I wanted him still.
“Nyko, I’m sorry. I should have asked if you had a mate.”
He shook his head, the beast growling as he lifted one hand, traced the curve of my waist, higher, cupped my full breast in his palm. I gasped as the jolt of pleasure went straight to my core.
“Mine.”
I’d heard that they didn’t say much in beast mode, but this was ridiculous. I stared at his mouth, wanted to taste him. Wanted it so badly I could barely think. I lifted my hand to his face, traced the arc of his brow with my fingertips, ran my hand along the dark stubble that coated his cheek, placed the pad of my thumb just right so I could run it along his bottom lip, then sighed. Pushed him away. Or tried to.
“Dammit, Nyko. Do. You. Have. A. Mate?”
I wouldn’t be the other woman. I was no home wrecker and I wouldn’t get between two mates. That wasn’t me, even if I was horny as hell. I’d rather get myself off than break some other woman’s heart. I didn’t know the woman, might be jealous of her for belonging to Nyko and claiming him, but she didn’t deserve to be cheated on.
He shook his head in jerky motions.
“No mate,” he countered, taking my hands that were completely ineffective at pushing him away into his large ones. “Mine.”
I stilled. So did my heart. “No mate?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to his—and I was lost.
His beast took over and I had no time to think, or feel, or breathe. His tongue invaded my mouth and I opened for him as his hand found my wet core and two fingers slid deep. No gentle exploration, no foreplay. Fucking. And I loved it.
I cried out, the sound echoing off the walls.
My pussy clenched around him in a flutter of small spasms that made me gasp as he lifted me from the water and carried me to the edge of the cave. There was no bed here, no soft floor. Hell, all we had was rocks and armor, and neither of those would do.
I needn’t have worried. Nyko stood me up, my back to the wall, and dropped to his knees. He licked my pussy like I was his favorite treat, his tongue teasing and playing as he fucked me with those thick fingers. He made me come, hard and fast, and my knees collapsed.
He caught me, lifting me in his arms until my pussy was settled on the top of his cock. Just barely. Just enough to make me whimper and shift my hips, trying to take him inside me.
“Mine.”
“God, Nyko, stop talking and fuck me.” That earned me a growl. Fair enough. That one word—mine—didn’t really constitute “talking.” Whatever. I didn’t care as long as he got his cock inside me as soon as possible.