The rest of the women didn’t so much as move except to raise their eyebrows and turn away while they continued their quiet discussions. She could feel the weight of Josie’s gaze on her and knew that she needed to explain a few things so that the woman could do damage control. She put it on her mental checklist as she followed her mate’s continuous growl as he retreated rapidly from the women into the night. It didn’t take long for the blubbering whimpers to die, but Terri wasn’t paying attention. She ignored the hysterics as she approached Veral. His blazing eyes pierced her, his blue and silver gaze roaming over her face as his body continued to tremble with pent up aggression. The silver cybernetics stamped into his skin flared in the dark.
Running her hands over his arms and chest, she whispered to him as he struggled to regain control. Bit by bit, he slowly de-escalated, though the fury didn’t completely drain out of his eyes and his body showed signs of continuing stress and aggression in the way he moved and held himself. The ceaseless rattle of his growl further emphasized his duress. Despite everything, he was unfailingly gentle with her as he gathered her into his arms, his body quivering against hers with unspoken need.
Tenderly, he dropped his forehead against hers and rumbled, “Anastha.”
Terri tugged at the horn on his wrist. He needed to get outside and away from the other women so he could cool down. “Come on, big guy. Let’s go outside and walk off some of that aggression.”
He rumbled again and fell into step with her as they eased around the broken edge of a wall and into the street. They didn’t make it far before his mood shifted as they neared the gaping wall of a house next door. He broke free of her hold, his hands banding around her waist as he pulled her against him and ducked around the corner into the strange building. Terri’s breath left her in a rush of surprise.
“Veral?” she whispered.
He growled deep in his chest as his luminous eyes found her in the dark. “Trust me,” he purred through his mandibles. “I need you.”
“All right,” she whispered. “I’m right here. You have me—all of me.”
Dropping his head, Veral dragged in deep, shaky breaths as if he was still just barely keeping his rage under control. “I have never hurt a female in anger but, for the first time, I wanted to. I couldn’t bear her touch on me. I was clear that I had no interest in accompanying her or being in her company, yet she persisted… she dared to touch me.” He sounded so sickened by the entire thing that Terri’s heart lurched in sympathy, her arms coming around him.
“It’s over now,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I sent her to teach her a lesson because she was being rude when I didn’t give her what she wanted. I warned her not to touch you, though. I shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe it never would have occurred to her if she hadn’t felt like she had something to prove to me. She desired your protection.”
Veral snarled and clicked his mandibles irritably. “Many of those females, the weepy ones, are too weak to survive outside of the protection of their males. They are dependent on those bonds not only for fulfillment but also for safety. They would be better served to arrive at the coast quickly and surrender themselves into the care of whatever city they find there. They are not strong enough to be the mate of a trader, a salvager, a warrior, or any Argurma at all. I am fortunate that I found you. If we were separated, you would survive without me if necessary,” he murmured, running his nose through her hair. “You would curse me in your human way, but you would remain strong until we were reunited. You are a most worthy mate.”
Terri stifled a silly smile and held him for several minutes. She didn’t argue with him, though she wasn’t so sure that she wouldn’t have at least some hysterics if she got separated from him in a dangerous situation. But she liked the image that he painted of her. She liked how he saw her. When his breath huffed evenly against her neck, she pulled back and looked up at him with amusement. “Better now?”
“No,” he bit out, pushing his pelvis against her belly. “The aggression won’t just go away in my species. It needs to be worked out of my system by giving it a method of releasing energy. I can go hunt to take my anger out on prey… or…”
“Or?” she breathed, her pulse racing with the first flush of excitement.
“I will not deny that more pleasure and expediency can be found expending my passions in the arms of my mate,” he rumbled. “We have much that needs to be done tonight. I would much rather satisfy it this way.” He paused, his gaze searching her as his mandibles expanded and his nostrils flared. “You desire it too. My systems detect your increased heart rate, your body temperature climbing with your arousal. Your pupils are marginally dilated. Will you accept my rage?”
“Oh, fuck yes,” she whispered, excitement churning within her as her mate held her despite the power in his cybernetic parts and system.
He sank down into the sand with her, stripping off their armor with inhuman speed as they went. Dipping his arms behind her legs, he lifted her bottom up into his lap as his extruded cock searched for her. It slipped across her damp sex only once before plunging deep within her.
Terri bit back a startled cry, not wishing to alarm the other women so close by. She shifted one of his large hands over her mouth with a meaningful look. He stared at her in confusion before his lips quirked and he nodded in understanding.
Holding her tight, he muffled her cries as he pounded down into her canted pelvis. Though far more aggressive, Terri welcomed and loved every bit of it. The tips of his claws raked with more pressure against her hips and thighs. His cock claimed her at an almost punishing tempo and depth with every thrust. Terri met each thrust, whimpering and panting, demanding more. She dragged her own nails down his scaled sides, eliciting suppressed, throaty moans of pleasure for her efforts. This time when he spilled his seed it came abruptly, sending them both over the edge—without implantation. He hadn’t in the bath either, she realized only now.
Panting, she glanced up at him as he lowered her hips to the ground. “You didn’t implant this time or when we bathed.”
He shook his head. “As long as my seed is within you and your body is attempting to hold it, my hormone levels do not spike enough for my body to implant.”
“Can your system control your hormones enough to prevent implantation?”
Veral paused thoughtfully. “I don’t know,” he said at last. “I can program my hormones to remain at a steady level but, given that you are my mate, I do not know if they will be instinctually altered in response to the scent of your arousal, the heat of your sex surrounding mine, or any of the other variables that occur during copulation. It is something worth trying in the future.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said as she stretched languidly. “Mind handing me my pants, my love? I need to speak to Josie and do some damage control before all the women start tip-toeing around you like they expect you to freak out. We need some ground rules, I think.”
18
“As far as I can tell from when I was here last time, they’re keeping the women in that building there,” Terri leaned in to whisper as she gestured to the lone gray-walled building. It was completely covered with graffiti, half of which was distinctly pornographic. “I do know that women aren’t allowed free run of the camp. A woman I know, Meg, willingly joined them to be kept under their protection.”
Veral froze, his head canting to the side. “Meg.” He said the name slowly. “I believe I know of this female of whom you speak. She was very frightened when her male—Dale—brought her to their commander.” Veral’s eyes slid away to sweep over the torch-lit camp stretched out before them. “I was curious as to what may have happened to the female.”
Terri grimaced. That had been the subject of a number of her arguments with Meg. Guiltily she wondered how her friend was fairing. She hadn’t seen her out in days, not since fleeing with Veral. She suddenly felt like a really shitty friend.
“Dale is an asshole,” she said, “but Meg won’t leave his side, no matter how much I beg her. I don’t know if he has her brainwashed or if she is justthatscared of what could be done to her without his protection. She sees her submission to him as the only thing keeping her safe. Still, she’s told me a lot about how things work in the camp. That’s how I know as much as I do.”
“From what she said, those who have some sort of arrangement or an established relationship with the guys are allowed to remain within their tents rather than in the little whorehouse where the men share them. Whoreshack, really,” she observed in distaste. “The women we’re looking for will likely be confined in there. I doubt any of them will have had the opportunity to find a ‘protector’ among the guys here.Protector.” She couldn’t resist sneering in disgust. “That said, I’m sure the women inside would tell us if someone got separated from them. I hope,” she amended, thinking of the behavior of some of the women she’d been taking care of.