The Krinar Eclipse, page 6
part #0 of Krinar World Series
Her eyelids grew heavy, and she soon drifted away upon silken dreams of galaxies hanging from shining necklaces and stars trapped in dark-blue velvet boxes.
5
Soren watched the morning light move over Bianca’s naked body. She lay stretched out on her stomach like a starfish, her limbs reaching for the farthest corners of the bed. At some point, she had kicked her sheets off. He ran a fingertip along her calf and up her thigh, watching her skin break out in goosebumps even as she slept. He mentally connected to the home’s thermostat to raise the temperature so she wouldn’t be cold.
His chest ached with a cottony warmth he had never experienced before, and it had nothing to do with her blood still humming in his body. He had bitten her, knowing his saliva would stimulate her arousal even further, overwhelming her with pleasure. It had prevented her from feeling the burn of his invasion into her body. He’d known she was a virgin, of course. But he had never taken a lover quite like that before. Untried, so easy to wound. He had hated the cry of pain he’d heard, but he’d done his best to take that pain away. Afterward, he had used the jansha to heal her, so she would feel less sore when she woke.
“Soren…” She whispered his name, drawing his focus away from the curve of her hips. She faced away from him, and when he leaned over he saw her eyes were closed. She was still asleep, and dreaming of him? Interesting… He grinned and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder.
“Next time, I will do much better. You will know such pleasure you will fear it might kill you.” He climbed out of the bed and pulled on a pair of trousers before he headed to his office. He sat down at his desk and pulled up his tablet. There was a message from Arus to contact him at once. He initiated the call.
“Arus?” His friend’s face appeared in the air as a hologram.
“Soren, I’ve been trying to reach you for the last few hours. You had your communications turned off.”
“I’m sorry,” Soren said. “I didn’t wish to be disturbed.”
Arus noted his bare chest and the faint red scratches where she’d clawed him at the height of passion.
“It seems I’m too late,” Arus muttered.
“Too late?”
“You claimed President Wells’s daughter,” Arus stated, his gaze weary.
“I did.” Soren was unapologetic. From the moment he’d kissed Bianca in the library, he had known last night was inevitable.
Arus blew out a frustrated breath. “The president is one of the humans’ most important leaders. Everyone is looking for her after you abducted her.”
“I rescued her,” Soren corrected.
“Do not use semantics on me. I heard what happened. You rescued her and then abducted her. Wells is raging in his office right now.”
“Her safety was at risk, and her security team was inadequate.”
“And you left no information as to where you were taking her or how you could be contacted. I just went to your home in DC, but you weren’t there. Where are you? I’m having you located right now if you don’t tell me.”
Soren looked away. He’d bought this residence for the sole purpose of having a private place away from politics so he could court Bianca properly. Not even his brother, Sef, knew the location of this house. He’d taken precautions to keep his purchase of the house completely under the radar of his own people.
“You can’t take her from me, Arus. It’s too late. I have tasted her blood, mated her with my bite, and claimed her body. But she will be cared for and want for nothing.”
Arus growled. “Try explaining that to President Wells. You took his virgin daughter and drank from her while claiming her body. He will see it as an act of war. The resistance will use this against us in their propaganda campaign. What were you thinking?”
Soren stared at his old friend until he was ready to answer. “I was thinking that I finally found a companion, a true one.” He couldn’t put into words how much Bianca meant to him now that he’d claimed her. She wasn’t just beautiful—she was brilliant and compassionate and brave. She would make him a better Krinar male.
Arus’s frown deepened. “I’m sending Sef. He will retrieve the girl and take her home, and you will return to DC, where you and I will meet with the Council.”
“Don’t send Sef. He will only frighten her.” Soren’s twin brother didn’t trust humans. As a guardian, he had seen the devastation humans caused with their violence. He would not understand Bianca’s fear or how she responded with stubbornness when she was afraid.
“Sef will be coming. I must go and put President Wells at ease and let him know his child is safe. The message he received from your office was that she’d been drugged and an abduction had been attempted. He won’t be calm until he sees her safe and healthy. Soren, you will think on your decision while you wait for your brother.” The image vanished.
Soren had not been chastised like this since he was a hundred years old. Krinar grew to physical maturity at around age twenty-five, same as humans, but they were considered children in society until they reached one hundred. But Arus was right. He couldn’t keep Bianca. For now, he had to let her go home and see her father. He could come to her in a few days, once everyone had calmed their tempers.
But he would not apologize for taking her away and saving her life, not even if Arus commanded him to. He rubbed his palm over his jaw, sighing heavily, then rose and returned to his bedroom. If he had only a short time left with Bianca, he wanted to make sure he didn’t waste it.
Bianca giggled and sighed as something tickled her feet. She kicked out, trying to stop whatever was happening, and opened her eyes with a frustrated huff. A second later she sucked in a breath as she stared into Soren’s eyes…and then she glanced down at his half-naked body. He stood at the foot of the bed, the light accenting the play of muscles on his stomach and his perfect pectorals. It was as though he’d been created in a lab, designed for every woman’s deepest, darkest, naughtiest fantasy.
“Morning, lilana.” His sensual mouth curved in a sexy grin that made her womb clench. She wanted that mouth back on her body. She wanted to feel those smiling lips against hers. There was something so decadent and joyful about kissing someone as they smiled, and she wanted to experience that with him.
“Morning,” she echoed, still strangely shy of him despite the desire heating her insides like a newborn star.
The light illuminated the russet of his hair as he crawled up the bed toward her, scattering the white pillows in front of him like a tiger pawing things out of its way.
He stopped as he caged her beneath him. She stared up into his tawny eyes, her heart racing and her blood humming with desire—a longing she knew she shouldn’t have. But it didn’t go away; it only grew stronger as their gazes locked.
“Do you remember last night?” His husky whisper sent shivers across her skin. His eyes caressed her, stroking down her face and neck with invisible fingers. She was torn between embarrassment and desire at the approval he showed of her nakedness.
She struggled to bring the fuzzy memories back into focus. “I…” Their bodies on the bed, him inside her, the soft moans and wicked growls, her screams of pleasure. She reached up to her neck. The skin there was smooth, but she distinctly remembered the pain of him biting her, followed by blinding ecstasy.
“You bit me…” She wasn’t accusing—she was more shocked. Krinar really did bite during sex? Was it also true they drank blood? She hadn’t wanted to believe it was true because the idea was scary as hell. What if he drank too much? Could they do that? Could they drain a human like a vampire?
“I didn’t mean to bite you,” he said, his tone soft, as though he was able to read her troubled thoughts. “When you bit me, it set off my instincts. You must not do that again, not unless you want me to lose control.” He brushed his nose against hers before pressing his tender lips to her own.
The kiss was slow and erotic in a way she’d never imagined. His tongue traced the seam of her lips, seeking entrance. She opened to him, and he swept inside, his tongue playing with hers before he thrust it in and out in a pattern that mimicked what he’d done last night. Her channel clenched, and she clamped her thighs together as a rush of wet heat dampened her panties. She reached up to his face, touching his jaw, which was lined with morning stubble. It rasped against her palms, and she moaned in delight as he deepened the kiss even further.
God, the man could make love with just his mouth. It was the most amazing thing she’d ever experienced. Threading her fingers into his hair, she marveled at its silky texture as it flowed between her fingertips.
“Are you in pain? Anywhere at all?” Soren asked between kisses. Kisses that she should have hated but didn’t. They hypnotized her, made her feel like it was only the two of them in the universe. It was a little frightening and incredibly exciting to feel that way, to be the center of Soren’s world.
This is why you never dated anyone seriously, the voice in the back of her mind whispered. You wanted to feel this way, and you knew only Soren would ever give it to you.
“I’m not in pain,” she promised him before she surrendered to the lazy, sensual hunger rolling through her and kissed him back.
“Good. You must tell me if I ever hurt you. I don’t ever want to hurt you, Bianca.”
She believed him. His brooding, otherworldly intensity aside, there was only truth in his eyes as he said that.
“I trust you,” she whispered. “Can we…can we do it again?” She didn’t want to say make love or fuck. Neither of those expressions seemed to fit what had happened between them. They simply weren’t powerful enough.
“You want to?” She saw the heat in his gaze and how he struggled to control himself enough to gauge her honesty.
“Yes. I’m clearheaded. I swear.” As clearheaded as I can be when surrounded by this glorious male body, she silently added.
He still seemed hesitant. “If you’re really sure.”
With a groan of frustration, she slid one hand down his back, beneath the waistband of his pajama pants, and wrapped her hand around his cock and gave it a slow stroke. His eyes rolled back in his head.
“I’m really sure,” she said with a chuckle, but it died quickly when his focus shot back to her face and he growled softly, his eyes glowing gold.
“Woman, you tempt me like no other.” It was her only warning.
He flipped her onto her stomach and tugged his pajama bottoms off. The cold air teased her skin, but she had only a moment to miss the heat of his body before he covered her again from behind. He lifted her hips up, placing a pillow beneath them, which left her ass up in the air. She wriggled, not entirely sure she liked this exposed feeling, but a second later he was right behind her, one hand guiding his cock to her entrance. His other hand dug into her hip, holding her in place as he thrust inside her.
“Oh God!” She squeaked in surprise at the sudden fullness. It was like no part of her was left untouched, unclaimed by him as he sank inside her.
“Does it hurt?” he asked gruffly as he started to withdraw.
“No…it’s just…oh my God, you’re huge!” She buried her face in the pillow, stifling a cry of pleasure as he penetrated her again, seemingly even deeper.
“You’re so tight, lilana, so very tight.” He leaned over her, bracing one arm next to her left shoulder as he started a steady thrusting rhythm.
There was no way to describe the feel of him behind and above her, his skin sliding over hers as he merged with her over and over. His hard body above, soft downy blankets beneath, it was the sweetest nirvana she’d ever experienced, and she knew she would never get enough of it…or of him.
He whispered sweet naughty words to her that made her blush and whimper in delight as he told her all of the wicked things he wanted to do to her. The positions he would use to claim her, the places he would take her and then fuck her senseless with everyone nearby completely unaware. All of it turned her on so hard that her channel actually hurt with need.
Bianca screamed his name as she finally came, and she swore she saw the very galaxies he had promised her swirling behind the backs of her eyelids. As she drifted down from that delirious high, he continued to ram inside her, the bed shaking as he used her for his own pleasure, and she loved every intense second of it. His roar shook the room, and he dug his fingers into her hips, holding her beneath him as he emptied himself inside her.
“Holy fuck,” she groaned. “I think you broke me.” She laughed, but he carefully shifted her so she lay on her back beside him.
“Do you need medical attention?” He ran gentle hands down her body, searching for injuries.
“No, I’m good. Really good. I just meant…wow…that was like…” She blushed and covered her face with her hands. He pried them away, his golden eyes changing back to that rich shade of brown again.
“I promised never to hurt you,” he said.
“I know. You didn’t.” She yawned and stretched, her body languid and relaxed. If he was like that all the time, she’d never leave his bed again. She cuddled into his side, trying not to think about the future or what would happen even one hour from now. She knew this would be difficult, that there would be consequences, but right now she wanted to have this moment with him and luxuriate in it for as long as she could.
Soren nuzzled her cheek and placed a tender kiss to her lips, then wrapped her up in his arms, cocooning her with his body. It felt so good to be held, to feel that connection beyond sex. Yet it was scary as well. A girl could get addicted to this.
She had just started to drift to sleep when he sat up abruptly. His attention suddenly focused on the bedroom door.
“I’m here.” A deep masculine voice that wasn’t Soren’s came from behind the closed door.
“Soren, who is that?”
Soren pulled the covers over her, hiding her naked body. Then he pulled on a pair of pajama pants before he approached the door like he had to face a fire-breathing dragon on the other side.
“It’s my brother,” Soren told her as he opened the door a crack. From where she sat on the bed, Bianca couldn’t see anyone on the other side.
Brother? Oh God, this couldn’t get any worse or more humiliating.
6
The two Krinar spoke in soft tones, their words foreign to her. Soren retrieved his fabricator from the nightstand and used it to produce a set of fresh clothes for her: jeans, a T-shirt, socks, shoes, as well as a bra and panties. He handed them to her and nodded toward the large marble bathroom without a word. Bianca snatched the clothes and rushed inside the bathroom to get dressed, wishing she could understand whatever Soren and his brother were saying. She’d had no idea Soren had a sibling. Most Ks didn’t have a lot of siblings; many were only children in order to control their population.
When she finished dressing, she found the two of them in the bedroom staring at each other. They were identical. Two Sorens. It was like something out of her most secret fantasy. Hers wore gray trousers and a black sweater now, and his brother stood there in jeans, biker boots, and a black T-shirt. She examined them a little more, noting that the brother’s jaw was slightly wider, his eyes a hint more shadowed, and his body a little larger perhaps, but those differences were so minute that only someone who was familiar with Soren’s body, like she was now, could tell them apart.
“Bianca, this is my brother, Sef.” Soren didn’t take his eyes off him as he spoke. Sef gave her a cool, appraising look and smirked at his brother.
“She’s adorable, brother, but you fucked up. The president’s daughter? They’re talking about sending you home to Krina. Permanently.”
“What?” Bianca cut off any further arguments. “Soren, we should talk about this. My father”
“You are leaving with me, Ms. Wells,” Sef said. A tic worked in Soren’s jaw as he met her eyes at last.
“I will not,” she said flatly. “He and I need to talk.” She pointed to Soren. “Just give us a minute.”
Sef shook his head. “My orders were to remove you immediately, before you could bond with each other further.” Sef reached for her when she refused to budge.
What happened next was a blur of violence. Soren launched at his brother, but Sef quickly reversed the move. They collided into the wall next to the door in a deafening crash.
“Bathroom now, Bianca!” Soren snarled as he kicked Sef in the stomach. Sef flew back a dozen feet, skidded to a stop, and ran straight back at Soren. Bianca ducked into the bathroom, listening to the crashes, grunts, and shouts in Krinar. She tried to open the small window by the sink, but it wouldn’t open, and her hands were slick with sweat. So she searched the bathroom for any kind of weapon and found not a damn thing she could use. She curled up inside the shower, holding her knees as she listened to the brawl continue. When things finally grew silent, she heard heavy breaths as the door opened. Sef stood there, staring down at her.
“You will come with me now.” He waved a hand as she climbed to her shaking feet and entered the bedroom. Her hazy, pleasure-tinted memories from last night were destroyed as she saw the destruction. Lamps were shattered, bedposts broken, bedding covered in blood. Soren lay on the floor, unconscious, blood dripping from his chin and nose.
“Oh my God.” She tried to run to him, but Sef barked out for her to stop.
“He will be fine. He’s merely knocked out. It was the only way I could help you get free of him. Now come.”
Bianca followed Sef to the silver spacecraft sitting on the front lawn. “But I didn’t want to leave him, not yet. We need to talk about what happened. He didn’t hurt me”
Sef snorted. “You don’t understand. No one told you.” He motioned for her to climb into the spacecraft. Two flat planks filled the interior, and she sat down on one when Sef gestured for her to do so. Then she tensed as it suddenly morphed around her body, forming a comfortable chair. Sef climbed in and sat on the second plank beside her as the silver ceiling of the ship closed over them. She had a thousand questions about the ship, but Soren mattered far more than that.
