A Total-E-Bound Publication

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Orient Fevre

ISBN # 978-0-85715-350-0

©Copyright Lizzie Lynn Lee 2010

Cover Art by Lyn Taylor ©Copyright November 2010

Edited by Delaney Sullivan

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2010 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated total-e-burning.

ORIENT FEVRE

Lizzie Lynn Lee

Chapter One

All I wanted was a quick fuck with no strings attached.

It was a bad idea, even in my half-buzzed condition. I knew I shouldn’t be messing around with him, but I couldn’t help it. He was one of those impossible-to-resist men, especially as he’d been eye-candying me since I’d walked into this bar.

He wasn’t a typical tall, dark stranger, mind you. From across the floor, I saw his eyes were so shockingly blue, they could have melted you into a puddle with one look. I guessed he was somewhere between thirty and thirty-five—an outlander like me. He sat near the tap, nursing a glass of beer as he fixed his gaze on me. His long raven hair, draped over his shoulders like a curtain of black silk, seemed to blend into the darkness of the bar. A black button-up shirt and tight, faded jeans wrapped his well-built body. When he turned around to reach something behind the counter, I noticed he had the most fantastic ass I’d ever seen. I’d bet all my ten fingers he had a magnificent cock, too. He was irresistible, just like a piece of over-priced gourmet chocolate that you drooled on when you’ve starved yourself from dieting.

I chugged down my Bloody Mary and decided to hit on him. The Howling Owl was jam-packed with outlanders and trans-ship crews who had boarded the Ernye suborbital station this weekend. He eyed me as I waded through the crowd. His lips curled into a wicked smile. He was probably amused I was bold enough to approach him.

“Hello. I have a proposition for you. Interested?”

His smile turned into a full-blown leer. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re a kitty cat.”

“How did you know?”

“I have a thing for cat women. They’re exceptionally hot.”

I grinned. “Back to my proposition.”

“Okay. Shoot.”

“I’ll give you a thousand credits for a quickie.” I nodded to the direction of the coat closet. “In there would be fine. I only need about five minutes to come.”

The smile vanished and his eyes widened, looking incredulous. “You’re propositioning me? Sex for money?”

“That’s exactly what I meant.”

“For a thousand credits?”

“It’s a reasonable price, don’t you think? Most outlanders out here earn less in a week’s wage.”

He looked at me from head to toe, scrutinizing the way I was dressed. I was out of uniform tonight since this was my R and R. I had donned my usual black leather ensemble, slapped on some extra makeup, and let my hair down for this man-hunting occasion. His gaze lingered a bit too long on my deep cleavage, then on my belly and legs. I knew I looked very presentable, but he noticed something off about me.

“You’re drunk.”

Well, I was a light drinker and a Bloody Mary was enough to send me tipsy. “If you’re not interested, say so. I can find another willing cock.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of a drunken woman.”

“But this woman doesn’t mind being taken advantage of.”

His lush eyebrows furrowed.

I took it as he wasn’t interested in my offer. “Nice seeing you.”

He grabbed my arm as I turned around to leave. His grip was a little too firm.

“Change your mind?”

“I think I should take you home. Where do you live?”

I laughed, wrenching off his hand. “I don’t want to go home until I’ve scratched my itch, Mister. Now, let go of me.”

He slid down from the barstool. On his feet, his height towered above mine. He was at least six-feet-eleven, if not taller, a fine stud in his prime. I only came up to his shoulder, and by all means, I wasn’t a pixie either.

“Fine, kitten, I’ll scratch your itch, but you’ll have to do it my way.”

“Define what you mean by ‘my way’?”

“It involves a blindfold, cuffs, and an all-access pass. Backdoor included.”

“Ooh. Kinky are you?”

“Interested?”

“Do I have to pay you extra for that?”

“I’m throwing out a lot of freebies tonight.”

If I hadn’t been half-buzzed, I probably would have declined his offer. His grip tightened with possession as he undressed me with his liquid eyes. His gaze peeled off my clothes one by one. I felt as though some invisible hands had caressed me, causing a shiver of lust to tingle at the depths of my sex. My nipples tightened and a surge of heat flushed through my veins. No ordinary male could have done such a thing to me, not unless he was a hybrid. Our kind responded well, among one another, based on the pheromones we exuded. Then it hit me. He was a shifter, too. Judging from the way he carried himself, and the way my inner cat reacted, he could be a draconian from the D’Keghan system. I’d heard they were famous for being territorial, and had an unruly appetite for sex when it came to bed sports. My guts told me this guy was dangerous. I probably should have said I’d changed my mind now. I really should have. But damn, he had a fantastic ass!

“Deal.” Somewhere, deep in my mind, my rational thoughts screamed that I was a hopeless dope. “Where to?”

“My place, of course,” he growled. “Let’s go.”

I narrowed my eyes. The words “his place” rang an alarm in my brain. “Just so you know, I was in the Legion for seven years. I was a full-fledged Lieutenant when I left the army. I can easily kick your ass if you try something creepy. I’m not into icky stuff or pain.”

He burst out laughing. “Don’t worry, kitty-cat. I’m only a simple, your-neighbourhood-horny kinda guy. It’s not every day a pretty woman comes to me offering money for sex. I can’t refuse this offer, now can I? And no, I don’t hurt woman. I just like to have sex with a little kink.”

“Well, good enough for me.” If I’d been sober, I probably would have said things differently. Or maybe I wouldn’t have been messing around with him in the first place. But damn, I was half-buzzed and only a week ago, I’d called off the engagement to my fiancé, Mac. I’d found him with his pants down, banging his own assistant in the supply room of his office. He’d apologised and had hounded me for the last few days to make things right, but I felt I still needed comfort and to rebound. Shallow as it seemed, the moment Orient Fevre had boarded the Ernye space station, I’d decided to get even with Mac.

I hadn’t wanted to believe what I’d seen when I’d caught them. I’d stood there, asking in a calm tone to my red-faced fiancé and his tramp if the fuck was good, better than mine? They didn’t say anything, of course, as I took off my engagement ring and placed it on the table they’d been using to fornicate. I’d wished Mac a good life and a hundred ugly children.

When I’d gone back to my stateroom, my initial shock had turned into full-blown anger. Damn it, what had I done wrong? I wasn’t a compulsive nagger. I was quite pleasant to look upon with a simple swipe of mascara and lipstick. I fucked excellently and I was also a good cook. So, why was it I’d still lost my fiancé to some skanky blonde tramp? I couldn’t figure it out. I wasn’t a mopey kind of girl, so I thought if Mac could bang that whore on the side, I should get me some stud. Getting laid was a nicer alternative than wallowing in a gallon of ice cream and self-pity. Life was too short to be sulking about after an asshole named Mackenzie Phillip.

My hired hunk and I walked out from the Howling Owl and got into a hover cab. We went to his place, which turned out to be a penthouse in the Blue Ginger Hotel in the heart of the Ernye space station. The hotel was fancy and his room looked pricey enough that only people with deep pockets could afford it. Okay, I wasn’t worried about him being a sociopath creep who liked luring woman into his lair anymore, but I didn’t think this man needed my money if he could afford a place like this. Maybe he only wanted that quickie? He’d looked surprised when I’d told him I’d pay him for sex. When I gave him the payment, he wasn’t interested in my money. So I piled the credit chips on the coffee table of his grandly decorated living room.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked me from the kitchen.

“If I have one more drink, you’ll be better off going solo tonight. I’m wrecked.”

He returned a few minutes later with a cup of hot coffee in his hand. “My secret brew. It’ll sober you up. I like my kitty alive and frisky for the party.”

I took the coffee and had a sip. I cringed. It was freaking awful. I’d rather skinny dip in a tar pit than finish the cup. “Yuck.”

“It’s bitter, I’m afraid, but it does the trick. My name is Le—”

“Ta-ta-ta-ta. I don’t need to know your name. Too personal. This is only a quick fuck, after all.”

“Only a quick fuck?” He shot me his signature wicked smile again. “Kitty-cat, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. You won’t find the term ‘quick fuck’ in my dictionary. The moment you walked in here, you belonged to me, pretty kitty. I decide how quick our fuck will be.”

“Oh great, another chauvinist.”

“You have a problem with that?”

“Only when I’m sober.”

“Good thing you aren’t. Now, a couple more sips.”

I don’t know what mojo he had over me, but I found myself obeying him like a good girl. The bitter brew seared my palate. Hot flushes swept over me. My nipples tingled and deep, mournful aches stirred in my pussy. “Geezes. What kind of stuff did you put in this coffee? I’m hot.”

He looked at me from top to bottom again, his smile crooked. “Yes, you’re hot, kitten. Very hot.”

“I mean, literally. I’m burning up.”

“I happen to love sweaty hot sex, too.”

“Har-de-har-har. I didn’t know you’re a comedian.”

“Enough talking, then. Now, strip.”

“You strip. I want to see if I get a run for my money.”

He tsked with impatience. He snatched the cup from my hands and flung it on the coffee table. The cup clanked, the coffee spilling. With so little effort, he seized my waist, lifted me, and turned my body upside down across the armrest of the sofa. Before I could register what was happening, he’d delivered two hard blows on my behind, spanking me as if I were a misbehaving child.

“Oww!” Red-hot pain burned my flesh. If I hadn’t been wearing leather pants, the spank would have probably left a mark on my ass. “What the fuck, man?”

“Are you going to be good?” he purred. “We’re playing this game my way, remember?”

“I don’t remember you saying anything about spanking.”

“I thought I’d mentioned that. Never mind, I like to improvise.” He ran his palms on the curve of my spine, my waist, then along the swell of my ass, feeling me as if I was his favourite new toy. His deft fingers curled on my waistband, undid my zipper, and yanked my pants down to my ankles.

“Hey!” I tried to get up.

He pushed me back with my belly down and my ass upturned to him like a delicate virgin offering.

“Nice,” he hissed.

His hands squeezed each of my ass cheeks, while he ran his thumbs along my crevice. I shivered when his fingers grazed my cotton panties, rubbing my perineum, then my sex lips. His touches sparked fire within me, causing my inner cat to get excited. My pussy clenched. I creamed. He noticed I was wet from his curious exploration.

“Damn, babe, you’re hot.” Then he ripped my panties off like nobody’s business.

I gasped. His hand returned, directly cupping my pussy this time. I moaned as he spooned himself behind me. He braced his free hand next to my shoulder as he lowered his head, kissing my nape. He licked the back of my ear as his naughty fingers stroked my pussy lips, petting me as if I was his beloved kitty-cat. I whimpered. An exquisite shiver of pleasure surged from my sex straight to my spine, paralysing me for a moment. Fuck, this man knew how to make a woman fucking turned on. I craned my neck in his direction, wanting his kiss. His lips plastered mine, tongue plunging into my mouth. He kissed me greedily—a sweet, beer-tasting kiss, plundering me with his tongue the way his fingers plundered my pussy.

I stiffened when he carefully parted my sex lips and lanced his fingers directly into my entrance. He penetrated me, burying them deeply until the pad of his palm smashed against my vulva. I squirmed. My pussy clasped around his fingers from the luscious intrusion. He rubbed me, so tenderly and full of curiosity, as if this was the first time he had ever explored a woman’s cunt. Then, he finger-fucked me with the precision only a sex aficionado could master.

I tore my mouth from him, gasping. “Oh.”

He sucked a hard exhalation through his teeth, face flaring with the expression of disbelief. His startling blue eyes shone lamp-like. “Well, I’ll be damned. All these years…”

“What?” I mumbled.

His fingers quickened, hitting my G-spot. Instant brimstone exploded within me the moment he stimulated my special spot.

“Gotcha,” he rasped, almost too arrogant. “You’re mine, kitty-cat.”

I trembled. A jolt of pleasure surged through me. He plastered his mouth on mine again, claiming me in a jealous kiss while he rubbed me harder. I writhed but he kept me still with his body weight, making me helpless against his delicious tortures. My muscles tensed. My juice gushed and my breath stalled in my throat. I exploded so hard the world disappeared from my view. His mouth muffled my scream.

He let me go to catch my breath. I jerked, sucking a lungful of air as my pussy milked his juice-soaked fingers. I clawed the sofa, heart hammering to my throat. I took a deep breath while waiting for the tides to ebb away. He pulled out his fingers and brought them to my mouth, wanting me to taste it.

“Lick it, kitten. I know how much you like cream.”

I did what he told me. I licked his fingers clean, savouring the salty ocean flavour flooding my mouth.

“I bet you taste scrumptious.” He ambushed me with another kiss, his tongue ravaging my palate, scavenging the remnants of my cum. “Yummy. Just like I thought you’d be.”

I replied with incoherent splutters. My cunt throbbed. My head throbbed. My body throbbed. That was one of the best orgasms I’d had in a long time. My God. And he hadn’t needed to fuck me with his cock to make me come like that. Who was this man?

“Thanks. That was…incredible.” I untangled from him and flopped onto the floor.

“What are you doing?” He stooped over me.

I groped at my ankles to pull up my panties.

“We’re not finished.”

“We aren’t?”

He snorted. “Not even close. I’ll decide when our fuck is going to end. Until then, kitty-cat, you’re mine.”

He grabbed my ankles and slipped my boots from my feet. He yanked off my crumpled pants and flung them away. Guess I wasn’t going anywhere for a while.

He leant down on me, wedged his powerful thighs beside my hips and undressed the rest of my clothes. My leather vest flew over the coffee table. My bustier skated across the floor. Before long, I found myself lying naked under him with a throbbing head and a quivering pussy, surrendering to the will of this perfect stranger whose name was still unknown to me.

I licked my lips as he ran his hands all over my body, caressing my fevered skin. His touches caused sparks of electric lust. His palm settled on my breasts, tightened, and squeezed me hard. I heaved. His fingers found my pouting nipples, pinching and rolling until a deep-drawing sensation stirred from the depths of my sex, making my cunt contract in hunger. I was ready for another round, and this time, I wanted to be fucked by his cock.

But he had other plans for me. He leant down and took my nipple into his mouth. He engulfed me, almost feral, his teeth biting into my tender flesh, sucking my hard bud, trapping it between the roof of his mouth and his tongue until I flinched from another sudden orgasm. I fisted his hair, yelling with surprise. He released me while I shivered from the aftermath of the climax, and my mind was wiped blank from the exquisiteness of the pleasure.

“Sweet kitty, you’re so easy to please.”

It took several seconds to sort my mind in order. “Are we finished now?”

“Not even close.”

Damn, this man was insatiable.

“Can I see your cock, then?”

“Patience.”

He got up from the floor and lifted me in his strong arms. The high ceilings of his penthouse swirled before my eyes like a dizzying kaleidoscope as he carried me to another room. He laid me on his bed, a huge four-poster luxury swathed in a red and black satin duvet. The fabric felt so smooth against my bare skin. It was fragrantly scented of lilac and jasmine. I ran my hands on the duvet and inhaled the sweet scent. I wished I had a bed like this in my stateroom back on Orient Fevre. I’d have something to look forward to after a hard day at work.

“Wait here.”

I answered him with a purr. I wasn’t going anywhere with a bed this sweet. He disappeared from my view and returned with some wicked things in his hands. Two pairs of handcuffs were among them. He grabbed my arm and cuffed one wrist to the headboard.

“Wait!” I was alarmed. “Don’t you think we should discuss the safeword first before you do this to me?”

He cocked an eyebrow up. “The safeword is my name.”

“But…I don’t know your name.”

“Do you want to know?”

I clammed shut. He must have thought I was being ridiculous that I was willing to be fucked at his whim and yet, I refused to know him personally. I’d planned for tonight to stay as a nameless fuck, my own way of a personal detachment. If I knew his name, I’d be thinking about him all the time. There was something about this man that drove me wild.

He grinned. A row of white pearly teeth looked dazzling against his luscious tanned skin. His eyes glittered. “We’ll see how long you last without the safeword, kitten.” He grabbed my free wrist and handcuffed me to the other post. “What’s your name by the way?”

“I’m afraid that information is highly classified.”

“I can check on your ID implant and snoop everything I want to know about you. Not like you’re going anywhere, anyway.”

“Why don’t you?”

“‘Cause I want to hear it from your own mouth.”

I writhed, my handcuffs clanking against the headboard. “Violet. My name is Violet Cross.”

“Violet Cross. I love it. Such a pretty name.” He took off his watch and placed it by the nightstand. He disrobed, unbuttoning his black shirt. “Tell me, who’s this loser you’re trying to forget tonight?”

I gulped. Was I that easy to read? “What are you talking about?”

“You’re a classic example of rebound. You’re a pathetic drinker, got lost in a bar, and didn’t mind picking up a random guy as long as you got laid tonight. So, who is he? Or perhaps, she?”

“That’s not your business.”

“I want to make sure that I’m not going to fuck an attached woman. I don’t like taking somebody else’s lover, even though you’re so damn pretty.”

“I’m free. Don’t worry about it.”

He purred, considering. His gaze feasted on my sprawled, naked body. He burned me again, caressing me with a pair of invisible hands. My nipples hardened and the thrums in my pussy intensified.

“Good enough for me.” He kicked off his boots and shoved down his jeans. He was a commando type of guy. His cock sprang from his dark thatch.

Just like I had suspected, he had a magnificent cock—a cock truly primed to blow. He was huge even though he wasn’t fully erect yet. I thought about taking a nibble at that mouth-watering cock at some point later.

“What do you think?” he asked me.

I unconsciously swallowed my saliva. “Sweet.”

He laughed. He grabbed one of his toys and climbed on the bed. My eyes widened when I got a good look at what was in his hand. It was an anal plug.

“Whoa…I don’t know about that. It won’t fit.”

Curiosity flashed across his face. “Don’t tell me you’re an anal virgin.”

“No. Yes. Well sort of.”

“Have you ever been fucked in the ass before?”

“Not with a cock if that’s what you mean.”

He let out a smile as if he was a sugar addict who’d been presented with an unexpected cupcake. “There’s a first time for everything. You did grant me an all-access pass.”

“Can I revoke it now?”

“Too late, kitten. I’m going to fuck your every hole, and you’d better like it.”

“Oh man.”

A dark thrill crept through me as he splayed my legs wide apart and stroked my pussy lips.

“Pretty,” he commented on my cleanly shaved sex. “Just like the rest of you.” He oiled me with my own juice, his fingers eddying on my anus.

My sphincter contracted at his very touch. My pussy spasmed.

He pushed a finger in my ass, burying it knuckle-deep. I tensed. My muscles clenched from the intrusion, tightening around his finger. I felt violated, so lewd and tawdry, but excited at the same time. My ex, Mac, had liked playing with my ass once in a while, but he’d never had the guts to actually fuck me there. I was too tiny, Mac had said, and he’d worried he would’ve hurt me. But this nameless man, a finger bang extraordinaire, didn’t seem to mind if he hurt me there. He was going to fuck my every hole and I’d better like it. The notion elicited a sheer anticipation inside of me.

“Damn. You’re tight,” he announced in a matter-of-fact tone. “I guess today is my lucky day. Yes?”

I only whimpered. He inserted a second digit into my asshole, stretching me to prepare my body for a bigger object. My heart thundered. I stole a glimpse at his granite-hard cock. He was fully erect now. Oh fuck. He was going to tear me apart. I sucked a hard breath and the panic caused my sphincter to contract.

“Relax, kitten,” he cooed to me, “try to relax for me.” He pulled his fingers out. He wetted the toy with his saliva and pushed the blunt tip of the anal plug into me.

“God.” I mewled.

The plug was five times bigger than his fingers. The rings of muscles of my sphincter denied the entrance at first, but then surrendered when he forced that toy inside me. A scream halted in my throat as the slick, thick, cylindrical toy invaded my virgin hole. My muscles clasped around the plug, protesting the intrusion. A deep, dark feeling overcame me. The toy felt weird, surprisingly good, in a wicked nasty way. I was so turned on by the impact, my pussy creamed.

“There, there,” he rasped, almost lovingly, his voice thick with lust and approval. “How’d you like it?”

“Fuck,” I gasped.

“We’re getting there, don’t worry.” He shifted, leaning above me to check my handcuffs. Satisfied with what he saw, he wedged himself between my thighs, his broad chest against my swollen nipples, belly to belly, and his hard cock resting on my stomach. The erection felt hot on my skin. His tip glistened with pre-cum. “Last chance. Do you want to know my name?”

“This is supposed to be a quickie.” My voice sounded desperate. If I knew his name, I’d be thinking about him after this was over. If he stayed anonymous, I’d be okay. It would be a nameless fuck. Nameless cock. And I’d move on.

“Well, kitten, you picked the wrong guy.” He leant down, brushing his lips over mine, teasingly. “I don’t do quickies. Ever.”

“Great. I knew I shouldn’t have picked you in the first place.”

“Why did you?”

“You’re delicious.”

His laugh rang to the ceilings. “Do you want to know something? It’s fate, our encounter. We’re like moths to a flame.”

“Burn me then.”

“Mmm.”

I shuddered as he stroked his ready cock and positioned his tip on my drenching pussy. He thrust, spearing me open with his pristine virile meat. The thick, fat cock ripped my pussy with semi-brutality. I yowled. Even though I was more than ready, the initial penetration was not without pain. New heat exploded, searing me alive. My overly sensitive cunt walls contracted as his veined shaft grinded my passage. He plunged down until he hit my cervix. I was breathless, the air around me thinning. He felt hot. Too fucking big. So damn good.

I gasped a lungful of air, the sinful pain and ecstasy seizing me in a tight grip. My eyes flew wide, mesmerised at the sight of our joining sex. There was still more of him left, a few good inches. And judging from the look on his face, he was planning to shove that cock all the way inside me, making me take him whole, stretching me beyond the impossible.

“I don’t think so,” I cried, shaking my head. “You’re nuts!”

He shushed me quiet, tossing his thick long hair to his back. “You’ll take me. All of me.” Arrogance laced his voice. “Give me a few minutes until you get in the groove.”

“You crazy son of a bitch.”

“And this crazy son of a bitch, darling, will be the only son of a bitch you’ll ever love for the rest of your life.” He ground his hips, gyrating.

His thick cock plundered my cunt, ripping the last strands of my sanity to pieces. I keened.

He shushed me again. “Sssh, kitten, be quiet. Feel me. Good, isn’t it?”

I wanted to say yes, but only gibbers came from my mouth. My pussy throbbed with burning desire. My body quaked with fire. And my mind? It was lost somewhere between heaven and hell when he started fucking me in short, jabbing thrusts. He watched me, assessing my reactions. I felt like a fish out of water, panting for breath from the exquisite pleasure he gave me. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, feeling him skin to skin as his cock continued to ravage my pussy, but I couldn’t because of the handcuffs. The helplessness incited a new delirious ecstasy within me.

“What do you feel now, kitten? Still good?” He licked my lips. “God, I can feel you’ve creamed. You’re so wet. Sticky. Oh fuck. You’re so fucking unbelievably good.”

He pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in hard. He didn’t stopped until I could feel his balls slapping my perineum and his dark thatch grounding my clit. I threw my head backward, feeling as if I’d been punched from the inside.

I heaved, shouting a silent scream. Like he’d promised, he made me take him all. Whole. His massive hard cock was completely inside my woefully tight cunt. And I’d better like it, he’d said. The worse thing was, I loved it, every inch of him, feeling him throb in my depths.

He snarled like a crazed beast, his eyes blazing with fire. “See? You can take all of me. Now, kitten, I’m going to make you beg. Pity you don’t want to know my name, ‘cause you’ll need it.”

I writhed against my bonds. My brain was temporarily on vacation so I didn’t fully digest what he meant until he started fucking me again. No more gentleness this time. Only slam upon slam of battering fucks. Hard. Rough. Unmerciful. I found myself tethered at the precipice of an orgasm. A little more and I’d be gone. The pleasure built, climbing higher and higher…my body tensed, my voice lost in my throat.

He stopped in an abrupt fashion. He pulled out, leaving me empty. My pussy mourned its lost.

“No,” I gasped. I was so close…

“Beg me,” he rasped. His tone was cruel and teasing.

“Please, fuck me.”

“Beg for my name, kitten.”

“You bastard.”

His laugh stormed the room. “I can go on like this forever. In case you haven’t noticed, you, darling,” he cleared some stray hair from my face, “are under my mercy.”

“Why does it matter, anyway?”

“I want to hear you to say my name.”

I growled in frustration. “Fine. What’s your name?”

He lowered his head until our faces were only inches away. “Levy Frye.”

“Please, Levy, fuck me.”

“Say my full name three times.”

“Levy Frye. Levy Frye. Levy Frye. Happy now?”

But he was occupied with something else. His blue eyes looked even brighter, almost luminous. He palmed both my cheeks and ranted some foreign words in front of my face. He kissed me, full of greed, teeth scraping my bottom lip hard enough to almost draw blood. One of his hands slid down, squeezing my breast, then travelled to my thigh. He reached for something. When he tore his mouth off me, I heard a clinking noise on my left arm. I looked up. He’d clasped a gold bangle on me.

“It’s official now,” he announced. “You may kiss me.”

Like a loon, I kissed him. Mainly because I wanted my reward. He wouldn’t deny me my orgasm after I’d done what he’d wanted, right? He kissed me back with the same ferocity. We mauled each other until he pushed my thighs up to my stomach, his cock on my pussy, and slammed home balls deep.

I cried. I screamed. I lost my mind.

He braced his arms next to my head, his hands fisting my hair as he fucked me like an animal. He snarled, showing too much teeth as he fucked me to the point I could only feel fire. He bruised me, ripping me to pieces with his lust. God, it hurt. But it felt so good, too. I panted. My throat was raw from screaming. The air around me thinned. I exploded.

I came so hard, I was dying. And I died for quite some time…

I was dimly aware that he was still pounding me while I was trapped in pure ecstasy, until he growled beast-like and jerked, climaxing. His face contorted in sweet agony as he spurted his cum into my battered cunt.

I sobbed when the rapture was over. My body quivered. My mind was in a haze. I was drunk from too much pleasure. I thought that couldn’t be possible, but it was. My strength had left me indefinitely.

Levy kissed me, tenderly this time, as I lay semi-dazed. He pulled out of me and a gush of warm juice from our mating wet my thighs. I heard him curse about something, but I didn’t really pay attention. I felt sleepy and could barely open my eyes anymore. He groped my pussy and pulled the anal plug from my ass. I felt relieved, but missed it at the same time.

“I guess we’ll save your ass cherry for our honeymoon, darling,” he whispered.

His words came in and out like an echo. Then they faded as the sandman lulled me into dreamland.

Chapter Two

The scent of coffee woke me up.

I lazily opened up my eyes and saw him put a large cup of coffee on the nightstand. “Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty.” His greeting came with a smile. “I wrung you out last night, didn’t I?”

Levy had showered. The smell of fresh soap lingered. He’d dressed in a fresh white shirt and black pants. His lush raven hair was gathered into a ponytail and tied with a leather thong. God, was he a total heartbreaker. If I hadn’t needed to go to work soon, I would have pulled him back to bed and rode him for a couple more rounds.

“Shit. What time is it now?” I scrambled up, sitting. “Ouch.” My body was sore. My pussy was sore. I felt sticky and dirty. My thighs were covered in dried semen and the juice of our mating. I saw some splotches of blood, too, staining the sheet.

“I’m sorry.” Levy had also noticed it. “I went overboard last night. I’m ready to take you to the doctor as soon as you freshen up.”

“For fucking too hard? Don’t be ridiculous.” I dragged myself out of the bed. “Can I use your bathroom?”

“Can you?” He cocked an eyebrow up. “After last night, you’re free to use everything in my place, Violet.”

He’d called this penthouse his place. “Don’t tell me you own this suite?”

“I own this hotel.”

I whistled. “Why did you wander to a place like the Howling Owl last night? Don’t you have a fancier bar in this hotel?”

“It’s fate. I wouldn’t have met you if I hadn’t wandered to the Howling Owl, now would I?”

“Heh. Good point. Where’s your bathroom?”

He pointed to a door next to the big armoire. “I’ll make you breakfast when you’re finished.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I should be going soon.”

Levy paused, his eyes narrowed. “You think so?”

“I know so. Got to feed my hamster and go to work.” I scurried into the bathroom and took a quick shower after I did my womanly business. As I was drying up, I noticed the gold bangle that Levy had clasped on my arm last night. It looked so pretty, engraved with strange Draconian hieroglyphs and decorated with precious rubies. I didn’t know what his intention was, donning me with jewellery in the middle of fiery love-making, so I slipped off the bangle and put it on the vanity. If this was a gift, I couldn’t take it. It looked too expensive. I went out of the bathroom, looking for my clothes.

He ambushed me in the hallway. “Where’s your Marktha?”

“Gesundheit,” I replied, walking past him to the living room. I found my clothes there, folded neatly by the sofa. I snatched my pants and got dressed in a hurry. The stupid leather pants were hard to put on with damp skin. I flinched as I zipped up. My sex was very tender. I felt sore everywhere and I wanted to sleep for three days straight. But I was almost late for my shift, and my ship departed in seven standard hours.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Levy followed me to the living room. He had the gold bangle in his hand.

“My ship. You should have woken me up last night. I overstayed this quickie.” I grabbed my bustier and donned it in a hurry.

Levy wriggled the bangle right in front of me. “Your Marktha.”

“Gesundheit.”

“This Marktha should stay on your person the whole time from now on.”

“May I ask why?”

“Because we’re married. This Marktha will mark you as mine.”

“Say again?”

“This Marktha will mark you as mine?”

“No, before that.”

“We’re married.”

“We are?”

“Yes. I married you last night in a D’Keghan ceremony.”

I burst out laughing. This was fucking hilarious. Only, Levy didn’t join my laugh. He looked dead serious.

“No, really. I don’t recall I was that drunk I can’t remember my own wedding. Which parts during our romp were we married again?”

Levy grabbed my arm and clasped the bangle on me. “When the chosen bride utters the man’s name three times, and the man recites the Kisacte-nya Zharaiha, the man shall go forth to mark his mate with a Marktha, which binds the holy matrimony between them, followed with the claiming and spilling the man’s seed into his bride’s womb.” He tugged my chin up. “I think that covers everything we did last night. Any questions?”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I don’t joke in matters like this. You are officially my wife. I claimed you lawfully according to the D’Keghan law.”

Out of nowhere, a headache slammed my cranial like a hurricane crashing into a small island. I swayed, feeling so unreal. I couldn’t be married. This whole thing was a joke.

“Are you all right?”

Levy steadied me when I momentarily lost my balance from the shock.

“No, I’m not all right,” I snarled, pushing his hands away. “I came to you last night for a quick fuck, not to get married.”

“On the contrary, I came to Ernye for a bride.”

“You didn’t ask me if I agreed to become your wife.”

“Your agreement isn’t required. As long as you said my name three times and I recited the Kisacte-nya Zharaiha perfectly, we are a lawfully wedded husband and wife.”

“My agreement isn’t required? What kind of bullshit is that? You should have told me first.”

Levy narrowed his eyes, looking annoyed. “I didn’t know you were the one until I kissed you. I simply can’t let you go.”

“Then, I want a divorce.” I yanked the stupid gold bangle from my arm and slammed it on the coffee table. I grabbed my boots and slipped into them as fast as I could.

His piercing blue eyes glittered alive and his lips pursed. The beast within him looked as if it was ready to pounce. He was as dangerous as he’d been last night when I’d approached him in the bar. My hunch had told me I shouldn’t have been messing around with him, and it was proven right. Maybe I should have paid more attention to my instincts.

“I won’t grant you a divorce. You’re mine forever, Violet Jasmine Cross. Not even death will us part.”

“How did you know my middle—whatever. I’m out of here.”

“We’re not finished having this discussion.”

“Oh, yes. I’m finished. There’s nothing to discuss. You can’t pick up a woman in a bar, trick her into getting married without telling her and expect her to be okay with it. I don’t even know you.”

“That is why we got married, to get to know each other.”

I shook my head. “You people are weird. I’m leaving. Goodbye, Levy Frye.”

“You’re not leaving me this easy, Violet.”

“We’ll see about that.” I pushed the door open. I couldn’t get out of the Blue Ginger Hotel fast enough. My gut told me I hadn’t seen the last of him.

* * * *

I went back to the Ernye station. My ship, Orient Fevre, was scheduled to depart to the Froste system in six standard hours. We were an intergalactic transport company delivering high-ticketed goods, and sometimes, escorting VIPs to their destination across the universe. I worked on the Orient Fevre as Captain Hawk’s Chief Mate. That was why I was so anxious when I realised I hadn’t returned to the ship last night. I had never been this slack.

Another surprise waited for me. My ex, Mac, frowned as soon as he saw me walk past the front door of my stateroom. “Where were you last night?”

“It’s none of your business.”

Mac took a good look at me and flipped out. “You fucked somebody.”

Man, why was I so easy to read? I must have had a sign “Just Had Sex” stencilled on my forehead. “What do you care? I caught you bench pressing your assistant.”

He stiffened, and his big, brown eyes softened, pleading at me. “I made a mistake. Give me another chance, Violet.”

“I don’t think so. We’re through.”

Mac didn’t give up that easily. “I’ve never been unfaithful to you and I slipped. I’m not making an excuse for myself. What I’ve done is unforgivable. But we’ve been together for almost a year. I don’t want us to end this way.”

Honestly, I didn’t know what to say. I loved Mac. I always had. But he’d fucked his assistant just a month before our wedding. Had he done this before without being caught? I was a firm believer in giving someone a second chance, but when I thought about what he’d done, I couldn’t forgive him as much as I wanted to. Then there was Levy Frye…

Seeing me quiet, Mac took my hands and brought them to his heart. He kissed my fingertips tenderly. He could be a prince charming if he wanted to, but he rarely showed it. His job as the Chief Security Officer on this ship meant Mac treated everything as if he was in the battlefield. He’d been a colonel in the army before taking a civilian job on Orient Fevre. I guess it was his badass attitude that had attracted me to him in the first place.

I took a step backward. “I don’t know, Mac.”

“What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Listen, I’m not ready to have this conversation. I need some time alone.”

He looked disappointed. “Can we discuss it during dinner?”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing to discuss.”

“You’re punishing me.”

“I’m not punishing you.”

“You were punishing me by sleeping with whatever guy you picked last night.”

“Maybe, I was.”

“Then we’re even. We should get past this nonsense and move on.”

Mac was never this thick. He looked rough on the outside, but on the inside, he was always gentle and caring towards me. He adored me—treated me as if I was his princess. But over the past week, he’d morphed into an insensitive son of a bitch I didn’t recognise.

I pointed to the door. “Out!”

Mac stiffened and straightened his hulking figure, his eyes flashing angrily. He looked so pissed that the roots of his close-cropped blond hair were also flushed. “I’m not giving up on you, Violet.”

“Out! Out! Out!” I wasn’t in the mood for civility. I had to go to work in twenty minutes and the last thing I needed was dealing with this bullshit.

“We’re not finished.” He stormed out and slammed the door.

Geezes. What was with the men I’d had to deal with this morning? First Levy and now Mac. I strode into my cramped kitchen. My hamster, Fluffy, greeted me like always from his cage on the kitchen counter. He lifted his front paws, begging for his morning treats. I fished out a handful of sunflower seeds from a cookie jar and piled them in his bowl. Fluffy ate them with greed.

“Men are assholes, aren’t they?” I griped to Fluffy.

He gave me a sympathetic look and continued to eat his meal.

“If only somebody could invent vibrators that were as good as a real cock, then we wouldn’t need men anymore, don’t you think? Life would be less complicated.”

I vented out to Fluffy for another ten minutes until I felt better about myself. A good thing about pets was that they were excellent listeners and they didn’t talk back. I stopped ranting when the ship communication system flared a transition shift alarm. I changed into my uniform and went to report to my captain.

* * * *

Captain Hawk was waiting for me in his office when I reported for duty. With a headache pounding my head and my pussy thrumming dull pain, I was sure I looked like a train wreck, which Captain Hawk noticed the instant I arrived.

“For the love of Darian’s balls, Cross, you look awful. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, sir.”

I smoothened the creases on my uniform and double-checked on my weapons.

He narrowed his eyes, nodding his approval. He hated whiners. He shuffled a stack of hard copies from his desk and flipped open a folder. “We have a VIP passenger we must escort to D’Keghan. Since Mackenzie called off sick, I’m assigning you to guard the prince to the Yule Ball when we make transit to Chereshaz-X.”

“The prince?”

“Prince al’Tarakh of D’Keghan. We’re cancelling our original route to the Froste system and heading to D’Keghan. It was a last minute order from our corporate office. The prince was supposed to board with Wyler & Crat’s security ship this morning, but he changed his mind and requested us instead. Lucky us, I guess. We’ve been privately chartered for this trip.”

“Hooray,” I said in a bland tone. I wasn’t looking forward to playing bodyguard with any prince. I’d done it in the past and it had been nothing but a pain in the ass. Royalty and rich people were nothing but a bunch of cranky, over-pampered assholes.

Captain Hawk scrutinised me under his gaze again. “You having problems with Mackenzie?”

“I was, sir.”

“I heard rumours you broke the engagement.”

My cheeks blushed. “True, sir.”

Captain Hawk tapped his fingers on the desk, arching his eyebrows. “Why?”

“It’s a private matter, sir.” I liked to keep my personal business my own.

Captain Hawk lifted his palms up. “Fine with me if you don’t wish to share, Cross. I wanted to make sure your personal problems wouldn’t interfere with your performance.”

“I’m fit for work, sir.”

“Good, because I heard this prince is rather tricky to handle.”

“Why are you punishing me with this assignment, sir?”

“If Mackenzie hadn’t asked for an emergency personal leave, I wouldn’t have given this job to you. The prince must be escorted by one of our senior officers. With Mackenzie and Blue not around, this job belongs to you, Cross. Congratulations.”

I sighed. “How tricky is the prince, sir?”

“Rumour has it he’s a womaniser.”

“Fantastic. You must really hate me, sir.”

Captain Hawk roared.

The holocom buzzed and Hawk’s aide’s voice seeped through the speaker, announcing that the entourage from D’Keghan had arrived.

“Well.” Captain Hawk rose from his seat. “Let’s see our prince.”

I tailed my captain to the ship’s main entry hatch. A multi-terrain lander glided through the cavernous hall and stopped at the end of the hatch’s bridge. The lander’s door opened. A throng of men dressed as D’Keghan royalty climbed out. My jaw dropped when I saw one of them. Levy Frye caught my eyes and winked.

I felt woozy when Captain Hawk introduced us, saying Levy was the one I was to escort to the Yule Ball.

Like a fool, I mumbled in disbelief at the revelation, “You’re Prince al’Tarakh?”

“His Highness Levy Frye al’Tarakh, Miss Cross,” one of his entourages piped in. He was a plump man, wrapped in black clothes, and had a moustache as thick as a sausage perched under his nose. He wasn’t happy I was being disrespectful to his prince.

“You should accustom yourself with the proper acknowledgement, Miss Cross. I’d be delighted to give you a crash course if you’re interested.”

Levy tipped his head at me. “I assume you‘ll be my personal guard during this trip? Lovely. I’m looking forward to your company, Miss Cross.”

I wanted to groan. The day couldn’t have gotten any worse.

* * * *

“You’re despicable!” I griped at Levy as soon as we were alone in his designated stateroom. “Don’t you think I don’t know your trick. You made us change route twelve light-years away from our original destination so you can get even with me. Admit it!”

Levy didn’t say anything to my outburst. He snatched my arms and pushed me against the wall. His mouth plastered mine a heartbeat later. His grip dug at my flesh, as his tongue stroked deeply in the cavern of my mouth. He kissed me like a sex-starved man who’d been deprived of carnal pleasure for a long time. Ferocious. Demanding. And I melted from it. My objection was forgotten. My mind was wiped blank. I felt dizzy when he finally tore his mouth off me.

“I told you, kitten, you’re not going to get away from me that easily. I’ll find you. I’ll get you, and I’ll make you mine forever.”

His claim brought an indescribable effect on me. Somehow, it felt nice being wanted like that. A hot flush surged through me. My nipples hardened, my wanton pussy stirred. I was turned on by his kiss and the way he claimed me, even though I was beat from sleep deprivation and his rampaging cock last night.

“Honestly, Lev. This is getting ridiculous. Haven’t you had a one-night stand before?”

“Of course I have,” Levy murmured, his fingers stroking my cheek. “I went for a quickie, but I found a soul mate. I can’t let you go now, can I?”

“Don’t tell me you believe in that bullshit.”

“You don’t believe in soul mates, Violet?”

“No. Companies use it as an excuse to sell candies, flowers, and stupid, over-priced gifts.”

“Too bad you have such a mindset. Our people believe when the soul of a man was first created, the Gods cut him in half before setting him and his pair to embark upon a journey into the world. Therefore, he wouldn’t be lonely in his mortal life. Sometimes, he and his pair find each other, and sometimes they don’t. And when they finish their time in the mortal world, they become one again in the afterlife, whole, like the Gods first created him. How does the soul of a man know his other half?” Levy touched my cheek. “With a simple kiss. When we first kissed last night, I knew you were the one. My other half. My soul mate.”

“You’re nuts.”

“I know what I’m feeling. And I know you’re feeling the same, too.”

“I don’t know what I’m feeling. I was pissed. I was horny. What happened meant nothing me. It was just a fuck.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not going to argue with you, Levy. You hired my company to take you D’Keghan and I’m supposed to keep you safe. End of story.”

“Wrong. Try again.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“I think you’re the stubborn one.” Levy took a strand of my hair and curled it between his fingers. He stared with fire in his eyes as he spoke to me in a low voice.“ Listen to your heart. If you’re telling me what we shared meant nothing to you, then you’re the biggest liar I’ve ever seen.”

Okay, I might have been the biggest liar I’d seen, myself, when I’d told him our encounter last night hadn’t meant anything to me, but I had recently broken up with Mac. I should still be feeling angry, betrayed, and harbouring love and hate at this stage. But last night, after I saw Levy, that anger had evaporated. Poof. Gone. Well, I still felt annoyed with Mac, but not in a way that hurt me so much. Levy had made me forget about Mac and what he’d done to me. It was freaky. I mean, people didn’t just end a relationship and the next second fall head over heels for someone new. It didn’t make sense.

I pursed my lips, staring back at him with defiance. “I’m a cat. You’re a dragon. Shouldn’t you be looking for a fellow Draconian as a mate?”

“If I hadn’t met my soul mate, I would. But I found you now. End of discussion.”

I rolled my eyes. Chauvinist.

“And I like cats a lot. Especially this cat.”

“Oh, please.”

“Maybe I should remind you what draws us together like moths to a flame.” Levy groped my thighs, fingers on the buckle of my belt.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” My pleas sounded panicked, and I was. My cheeks were burning. “Don’t touch me.”

Levy watched me quizzically.

“I’m tender. So, please, don’t touch me there.”

His eyes softened. “I should have you examined by my doctor.”

“No! I’m fine. Drop it, okay? Just, please, don’t touch me. Ever.”

He made a face. “No deal.”

“Why do you have to make my life miserable like this?”

“Miserable?” He shook his head. “No, kitten, you’ll be miserable without me. After the claiming, you’ll be lost when I’m not around. After the claiming, you shall desire no other man than me. After the claiming…”

“Corny. I bet chicks fall for you when you talk like that.”

Levy cursed, looking annoyed with my smarminess. “Listen, Violet. I intend to return to D’Keghan with a wife. You. And you’d better get used to the fact that you’re my mate. I. Have. Claimed. You.”

“Geezes. Cranky, are we? Maybe I liked you better when you talked corny.”

Seconds later, I regretted my big mouth. Levy looked as if he’d had enough of my digs. He swept me off the floor and carried me to the bed. My belly hit the mattress and his palm hit my ass. He spanked me so hard that for a long second, the only thing that occupied my mind was the sting of his palm.

“Fuck,” I gasped, hands clawing the sheet.

Exquisite pain burned my backside. My pussy throbbed. When he rained two more spanks on my poor ass, I found myself being ambushed by an orgasm. I trembled as the world faded from my sight and the amazing but wicked ecstasy enslaved me for long, agonising seconds.

“Shit.” I felt dazed when I floated back to reality.

I couldn’t believe what had just happened to me. I’d come from being spanked. This was pathetic. Everything he did to me caused me to climax. No man had ever made me feel like this before. Not ever. Suddenly, Levy came and turned my world upside down. It seemed he had a way of mastering my body, bending my will to his whim because I couldn’t resist his devilish charm.

He climbed on the bed and caressed my ass, his purrs close to my ear. “Look at you, kitten, so easy to please. You came when I petted you and when I sucked your nipples. Now you came when I spanked you. Why won’t you admit that we do share a special bond together? We’re soul mates, Violet.”

My toes curled when he nuzzled my nape.

I rolled on my back and halted him. “You’re complicating my life, Levy Frye.”

“No, I’m simplifying yours.” He leant down to kiss me.

“Please, don’t.”

Levy paused.

I closed my eyes, feeling desperate. “I need some time to think.”

I heard him draw a long, sufferable sigh. “Six days. That’s how much time I’ll give you to take care of your unfinished business. When we arrive at D’Keghan, you will stay with me. I need to introduce you to my parents and the court.”

I groaned. “Why don’t you shoot me in the head instead?”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “Cute. But no can do. I need this kitty-cat as my mate.”

Levy got off from the bed and left the room. I felt relieved. I thought he’d finally left me alone, but I was wrong. One of Levy’s entourages came in and sat a big bag on the bed.

“Miss Cross,” the man greeted me. “My name is Isaac Hayworth, His Highness’ personal physician. The prince has ordered me to examine your condition.”

“You—what?”

“I believe you experienced some bleeding after the joining last night?”

My mouth gaped like a fish out of water. I almost answered him before I realised I didn’t need to dive into this madhouse. “I’m out of here.”

“The prince has also instructed me to notify your condition to your captain, in the event you refuse my care.”

“Oh, don’t you dare!”

“Then let me examine you, and we shall keep this matter between us.” Dr. Hayworth opened his medical bag and proceeded to sanitise his hands. He donned a pair of medical gloves. “It won’t take long. I need to check if there’s any bruising or tearing. I also need to run a test to find out if the joining was fruitful.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“The prince is in his mating cycle. He’s very fertile. Your birth control device could have been rendered obsolete when you mated a Draconian during this phase. Don’t worry, Miss Cross, it won’t take long, I promise. It’ll be over before you know it. I’ll also give some ointment for your discomfort. You’ll be yourself again in no time.”

Dr. Hayworth watched me under his stern gaze, assuring me he wasn’t bluffing. He’d go to Hawk if I refused to be examined. I had no choice. Half-heartedly, I scrambled up and unbuckled my belt.

Yes, I was fucking pathetic.

Chapter Three

After Dr. Hayworth examined me, Levy came and announced he had requested Captain Hawk to have me moved into his stateroom, saying he needed my protection around the clock until we arrived at D’Keghan. I was so ticked, having had to endure the last half hour with Hayworth prodding my intimate places and asking me all kinds of embarrassing questions. I ‘d had enough of Levy’s shenanigans for the day. I marched to my captain’s office to protest.

Someone had beaten me in there. I saw Mac when I barged in. My ex was in the middle of griping about the fact we had changed course to D’Keghan without informing him in advance. As Chief Security Officer having the ship’s plans cancelled at the last minute meant he’d had to revoke his emergency leave.

I stood in silence as Captain Hawk listened to Mac’s rants. My captain caught my eyes and lifted an eyebrow as if to ask, “What’s up?”

Mac stopped and looked at me.

“No, no, continue. I can wait.” I gestured to Mac in a casual manner and took a seat without being told by my captain.

“Do you mind?” Mac seemed annoyed.

“Yes, I mind,” I snapped back. I was in a dark mood and nobody could kick me out of Hawk’s office except my own captain. “I have something important to discuss with the captain.”

“Can’t you wait outside?” Mac demanded.

“No. This chair is comfortable.”

“I think Cross should hear about this,” Captain Hawk interjected, taking the middle ground.

Mac looked pissed that Captain Hawk had taken my side. “We aren’t fit to fly to D’Keghan. Our engine core is running at less than two-thirds of its capacity since the last refitting from Mazur.”

I straightened up in my seat, alarmed. “How come I haven’t been informed of this? The last time I checked our pre-flight status, our core reactor was running perfectly.”

“The report you had wasn’t accurate.”

“It’s your men who gave me those reports. Are you telling me your own men did a sloppy job?”

“Don’t try to pin this bullshit on me because some idiots under me did a sloppy job.”

“Of course I’d pin this bullshit on you since you’re the head of your department. You’re responsible for the quality of their work.”

“Enough!” Captain Hawk broke our argument. “How do you propose to fix this problem? Headquarters put us on a high priority that we fulfil the contract with the Draconians.”

Mac crossed his arms, his face stony. “I have a suggestion.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Fuel buster.”

I snorted. “Are you nuts? You want to put Orient Fevre out of commission?”

“It’s the only alternative until we can bring her home and have a complete engine overhaul.” Mac turned to Captain Hawk. “You should take my advice into consideration, sir.”

“Have you consulted with our engineers in Headquarters about this procedure?”

Mac spread his arms theatrically. “You can read their recommendation on my report, sir.”

Captain Hawk pondered.

I had a bad feeling about this. I didn’t know why, I just did. And what my guts told me was always right.

“Fine,” Captain Hawk decided.

I groaned inwardly.

“Have Cross look at your report and arrange what you need to keep us flying to D’Keghan.”

“I also require grounding continuance, sir. The cryofuel needs to be ordered and loaded into Orient Fevre. This alone would take at least six to ten standard hours.”

“Granted.”

Mac shot me a triumphant look and stalked away after Captain Hawk gave him permission.

My captain turned to me. “What’s your problem?”

I rose from my seat. “Levy Frye al’Tarakh.”

Captain Hawk tapped his pen on his writing pad and drew a long breath. “Him.”

“That asshole doesn’t need round-the-clock protection and I don’t want to move into his stateroom.”

“I see. Be frank with me, Cross. Did you marry him last night?”

“What?” My mouth opened and closed. “How did you know, sir?”

Captain Hawk gave me a chastised look.

“It was an accident.” Boy, that was lame.

“You should know better than to mess with the Draconians.”

“That marriage is bogus.”

“Sadly, it ’s not.”

“I must disagree.”

“Cross!”

I jumped. “Sorry, sir.”

“I had a meeting with Prince al’Tarakh and his counsellors earlier. They convinced me that you are now the newest member of al’Tarakh first family and you should be relinquished from all your duties on Orient Fevre once we reach D’Keghan.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You can’t be serious. With all due respect, sir.”

“I have to give you an indefinite leave until you solve this problem with your husband. Blue will take your position as the Chief Mate once she returns.”

“He’s not my husband!”

Captain Hawk looked as if he wanted to grin, but covered it with a frown instead.

“As the captain of the ship, can you divorce us, sir?” I pleaded. “You can marry people. Do you have the power to divorce a couple, too?”

“You’re shitting me, right? Divorcing you while we’re heading to the D’Keghan system?” Captain Hawk’s eyes bulged from their sockets. “We would never get out of D’Keghan territory alive. Find a solution to your problem yourself, Cross. We’re a transport company. Not a divorce court.”

I felt bummed. Indefinite leave? But I loved my job. It was the best job I’d ever had.

“If I may suggest something, you should start looking for a lawyer once you arrive in D’Keghan. Find someone who can give you advice on your marital status.”

“Will it work, sir?”

“Highly unlikely. You married their crown prince.” Captain Hawk gave me a hearty roar as if this whole ordeal was nothing but a funny joke. My captain had a strange sense of humour. “Dismissed, Cross.”

“Yes, sir.”

God damn it.

* * * *

Yule Ball, Chereshaz-X. Three days later…

Each time I thought my life was under control, something always came out and bit me in the ass—like Levy Frye for instance. Or my ex-fiancé, Mac. Both men hounded me while we were on our three-standard-day’s journey to Chereshaz-X. Mac wanted to amend things between us, while Levy…well, he was very persistent about the soul mate thingy. I didn’t feel like talking to Mac, other than about work-related matters. I also didn’t feel like socialising with Levy because I was afraid I’d lose my panties. That man, God in heaven, had a special power that could make a proper woman lose her inhabitations like a tavern whore. I did my best not to accommodate them, especially Levy. But when Orient Fevre docked in the Chereshaz-X space station for the Yule Ball, I knew that the dragon prince had some dirty tricks under his sleeves.

It was day three on the job with me playing as his bodyguard, and so far, I’d survived his seduction. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep my panties intact when he was near. As pathetic as I was, my body rebelled to what my logic advised me. As I’d said before, Levy Frye was like an irresistible piece of over-priced gourmet chocolate that you drooled on when you were dieting, only now that you’d had a bite, you were addicted to its chocolaty goodness, making you want more. He was a delicious evil—a sexy delicious evil.

“Too bad you aren’t pregnant.” Levy furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn’t joking either. He looked dead serious. “We should try, at least a couple more times. It’ll do the trick.”

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” I took a step away when he was about to pull me into his arms. “It’s bad enough you forced me to wear this stupid outfit.” I scowled. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m your bodyguard. I should be wearing more flexible clothes instead of this stupid gown.” My mood hadn’t improved since I’d found out he wanted me to wear a gown. I hated gowns. How did women wear these deadly contraptions and still manage to walk? I found myself almost tripping every five feet. I hoped I could survive the night without embarrassing myself.

“People would notice you’re my bodyguard if you wore your uniform,” Levy mocked me.

“You don’t need me as your bodyguard anyway. You have your own. In fact, you have three.”

“True. But how can I seduce you if you’re not around?”

I snorted. “I can’t win an argument with you, can I?”

“No.”

“Did I tell you I have an ex-fiancé who I planned to get back with?” I ventured, gauging his reaction. Maybe then he’d leave me alone.

“The one you caught with his pants down, banging his own assistant? I don’t think so. You’re not the sweet, forgiving type of girl.”

“Who told you that?”

“I know everything about you, kitten.”

“You snooped on me?”

“It’s only natural. I must know everything about my wife.”

“I’m not your freaking wife!”

Levy tsked. “I don’t want to argue about this right now. I’m going to introduce you to the Ambassador of Chereshaz-X. But I know something that’ll cheer up your mood.” He dragged me into a dark corner, and pushed me against the wall. “Sssh, pretend we’re having a serious discussion.”

His interpretation of a serious discussion involved French-style kissing. He suffocated me with his mouth while one of his hands sneakily slipped under my gown and found its way to my panties. He cupped my mound before I could register what had happened.

But there was more to come. He hooked my panties down and before I knew it, I felt his fingers on my pussy lips, as well as something cold. He pushed the small, cylindrical, metal object into me and withdrew his hand as fast as a magician performing a trick. I tried to undo what he’d done, but he snatched both my wrists and gripped them hard. The edge of my gown fell back on my four-inches stilettos.

“What was it?” I was ready to strangle him. “I swear to God, I—”

“Sssh.” Levy pulled me into his arms and herded me back into the Ball. “It’s a pleasure bullet. Have you ever tried it before? I have the remote in my pocket.” Levy groped his breast pocket.

“Are you crazy? I…oh, fuck.” I stopped dead in my tracks. Whatever bullet-shaped object Levy had put inside of me started to vibrate, sending delicious thrums into my pussy. I couldn’t get it out without calling attention to myself. I would have to go to the bathroom. Now.

“Levy, you’re so dead.”

He laughed. “Like it? I hope this will get you ready for when we’re finally free later.”

“Ready for what?”

His grin looked positively mischievous.

“For the last time, I’m not going to sleep w—”

Levy ambushed me with a kiss. “I love you, kitten.”

What? He loved me?

“I know you love me, too,” he added. “You can’t deny our bond.”

If bond meant the same as horniness, then I definitely couldn’t deny it. My hormones went haywire whenever he was around. I felt as if I was a teenager again. And that sneaky bullet he’d slipped inside of me…oh, God. If I made it through the night without tearing his clothes off and mounting him in front of the guests, it would be a miracle.

“I need to go to the lady’s room. Excuse me.”

“I don’t think so.”

“But I need to go potty.”

“Hold it.”

“You bastard.”

“The only bastard you’ll ever love, darling.”

“I hope you choke on your food later.”

Levy chortled. “I love it when you’re aroused…your eyes get so bright, your cheeks so flushed. Your lips so ripe. God, I really want to fuck you right now. Shall we ditch this party and go to a hotel?”

I growled out my frustration. I made a note to myself—the next time my guts told me I shouldn’t be messing with somebody dangerous, I really shouldn’t. I reaped my rewards right now, enduring his wicked torture. “Levy Frye, I hate you so much.”

“Liar.” He tugged my arm and herded me into the ballroom.

I gnashed my teeth, hands fisted, resisting an unbelievable urge to smack him in public.

“Be nice, kitten. Or I’ll crank the bullet into a higher setting.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“It’s a wicked little toy, isn’t it? The low setting will keep you on the edge, but if I put it on medium or high, you’ll get an instant orgasm. It said so on the packaging.”

“Remind me to fucking murder you later. I think the jail time would be totally worth it.”

His laugh exploded. Levy wrapped his arm around my waist and drew me closer. He was about to kiss me when he caught sight of somebody he knew. “Ambassador Rothwell. Delightful to see you.”

“Prince al’Tarakh. I see are you enjoying this lovely evening.” The ambassador eyed me with curiosity. “And who is this enchanting creature?”

“This is my dhamari, Violet Cross.”

“I’m not your freaking wife!”

Levy laughed. “We’re still ironing out a few kinks. Violet isn’t yet accustomed with D’Keghan tradition.”

The ambassador let out an understanding sigh. “But you claimed her in the Kisacte-nya Zharaiha?”

“Indeed.”

“Then it’s official. When are you going to break the news to the king?”

“Soon.” Levy looked at me. “Very soon.”

“Congratulations.” The ambassador beamed. “Then you won’t mind if I have Miss Cross’ dance?”

“Absolutely not.” Levy lifted my hand and proffered it to Ambassador Rothwell. He winked. “Behave,” he mouthed. He patted his breast pocket where he had the remote to my pleasure bullet.

I wondered what the penalty was for murder on this planet? The ambassador took my hand and I had no choice but to dance with him. He swept me to the middle of the floor and we glided among the guests. I was a terrible dancer, but the ambassador was a good sport. He didn’t mind I stepped on his foot so many times.

“Miss Violet Cross,” Ambassador Rothwell broke our ice. “If you would be so kind as to quench my curiosity, how did you meet Prince al’Tarakh?”

“In a bar.” I was to the point.

“In a bar?” the ambassador echoed. His voice was laced with amusement. “Did he approach you and tell you you’re his mate? Draconians are brazen when it comes to claiming their women. I heard the prince had been on a quest for a bride for a while.”

“No. I paid him a thousand credits for a quickie. And he tricked me.”

The ambassador laughed heartily. “My dear, that is simply enchanting. The king will be delighted when he hears this story.”

Oh, brother. I obliged the ambassador in small talk as I caught Levy’s eyes. He stood near the ice sculpture. He had a flute of champagne in his hand, sipping it as he watched me dance. When I flipped a finger in his direction, he reached into his pocket. I stiffened a moment later. The bullet hummed harder. Fuck. A hot flush rushed through me. I had to stop. I couldn’t dance anymore. All I could feel was the thrumming of the bullet. I had to end this madness. And kill Levy. Forget the gun, I’d strangle him with my bare hands.

“Are you okay, child?” Ambassador Rothwell looked concerned.

“I need some air, Ambassador. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not.” The ambassador patted my hand lovingly. He escorted me back to Levy. “Thank you for the dance, Miss Cross. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He gave my hand back to Levy. “Your dhamari is a lovely woman, Prince al’Tarakh.”

I’m not his freaking wife, I muttered under my breath. Geezes! I grabbed Levy’s arm and dug my nails into his expensive suit, letting him know that his shenanigans were over. “Let’s go back to the ship. Party’s over.”

“Wonderful. My stateroom or yours?” Levy put down his champagne flute.

“Neither. I’ve had enough of your game.”

“No deal. I’m enjoying this party.”

“As your bodyguard, I’ll say your safety had been compromised. I have the authority to haul your sorry ass back to the ship.”

Levy cast me a naughty grin. He patted his pocket.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Let’s go, kitten. I know just how to scratch your itch.” He seized my arm and swept me towards the balcony.

“Levy!”

“Sssh, you don’t want to make a scene, do you?”

Like a fool, a semi-dazed, lusted drunkard, I let Levy steer me to a private balcony. He paused to close the glass doors. A cool breeze whispered around us. The terrace sounded so silent. The noises from the music and the crowd were muffled.

“Now, where were we?”

I groped his pocket hunting for the remote. Levy snatched my hand and held it firmly.

“Give me the remote.”

“Kiss me, Violet.”

“Screw you. Give me the fucking remote.”

“I’ll give you the screw and the fucking. But I don’t know about the remote. I love seeing you like this. You look so beautiful when you’re horny.”

I was drunk, delirious with need. I couldn’t stand this torture anymore. I needed to come or the buzzing needed to end. “Please, Levy, make it stop.”

He purred, looking triumphant. “Violet. Kiss me.”

I wanted to punch him. I wanted to kick his ass. But I was helpless. He had total control over me. I’d never been like this before. I was breathless when I tiptoed to give him a kiss. He snuck his palm on the small of my back as our lips met. I kissed him. Tenderly. His tongue wet my lip, tracing me with curiosity. I trembled with burning desire. The ecstasy had taken me into the edge, and all he’d done was kiss me.

He parted his lips, his eyes luminously blue as he watched me shiver with arousal.

“Poor kitten,” he whispered. “I won’t tease you anymore.” His hand moved into his pocket and the bullet stopped vibrating.

I panted, relieved, wanting to collapse on the floor. Levy kissed me again, sweet and tender as his hands travelled over my thighs. He bunched up my gown and slipped his hands on my pussy.

“Shit,” he whispered between our kiss when he found out how wet I was.

I was practically drenched with my own liquid lust.

“Take it out,” I urged him. I heard the fabric tear. He ripped my panties off without a shred of modesty. “I meant the fucking bullet!”

“Whoops.” He pecked a kiss on my lips. “I like this better.”

“Oh.” He cupped my mound and slipped a finger into my burning heat.

The wicked bullet fell into his palm. I pushed his hand away and drew a relieved breath. It was over. He couldn’t torture me anymore.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Levy pulled me into his arms again. “We haven’t finished.”

I groaned.

He shushed me quiet. “You don’t think you’re leaving me out like this, do you? I’m hard for you.”

“Levy, you’re always horny.”

“Well, I blame you.” He hitched up my gown and trapped me between him and the balcony railing. “You made me like this, you wicked little temptress. I can’t control myself whenever you’re near.”

He pressed his hard erection on my pubis, letting me know that he wanted me as much as I wanted him. But I vowed to myself I wouldn’t sleep with him anymore. He complicated my life. And the worst part was I couldn’t resist him. It drove me nuts.

“I’m not going to fuck you, Levy.”

“Wrong, try again.”

He wrapped one arm around my waist, offering me no surrender while his free hand unzipped his pants. I sucked a hard inhalation when I felt the tip of his cock graze my cunt. The impact was devastating. My defences came crumbling down like the fabled Babylon tower. My body screamed with manic needs, wanting him, lusting for him…damn him, damn him, damn him.

Levy took my silence as a sign of surrender. He lifted up my thigh and thrust himself inside me. My heart pounded hard as everything around me palpitated into slow motion. I could feel every inch of his flesh spearing me open, that thick fat cock plundering me, robbing me off the last strands of my sanity. His cock throbbed inside me. Hot. Wickedly good. I clawed his shoulders, whimpering, while my pussy clenched around his hard shaft.

He kissed me when the ecstasy left me speechless. And his kiss said it all. I started to find the truth in his words. Maybe we were destined to be together. Maybe I really was his mate. He made me feel like no man ever had before. My wicked prince, highly addictive like the sugary sweet confection.

“Do you feel it?” he whispered.

I watched him in a daze.

“Do you feel our bond?” He touched my face, fingertips tracing my lips. “Don’t deny it. You know it, you feel it.”

I don’t know why, but I couldn’t bear admitting what I felt. Everything was happening too fast. It was too surreal. “Shut up and fuck me.”

Levy narrowed his eyes. “Stubborn little kitty. Before this week’s end, I swear I’m going to make you admit that you love me too.”

I grabbed his hair and kissed him hard to silence his taunts. He grabbed my ass and started to pound me. I tore my mouth off him, gasping for air. Tendrils of fire burned inside me, licking my spine, singeing my every nerve tip. With a growl, Levy reclaimed my lips. He kissed me as viciously as he fucked me. I clung onto him, savouring the bittersweet surrender. He’d barely moved a dozen strokes when I was ambushed by a violent orgasm. I shouted a muffled scream as the climax wiped my mind blank. I dug my nails into his expensive suit, not caring if I ruined it. I begged him to stop as my body shook with tremors. And he did.

He watched me as I slowly ebbed back to reality. He was smiling the whole time, looking as if he got a kick from watching me come.

“Let’s go back to the ship and finish our business in privacy.”

“I don’t…”

“No argument. I need you as much as you need this.” Levy withdrew and zipped up while I was still semi-dazed from my explosive orgasm. I was so flushed, I must have looked like a woman who had gone without her medication this morning as Levy herded me through the ballroom and out to the front door.

Such a bodyguard I was.

Chapter Four

Levy kissed me as soon as we arrived at his stateroom. The doors weren’t even closed yet when he seized me with urgency and mauled my lips hungrily. His tongue stroked deep into the cavern of my mouth as he tightened his grip on my arms. I melted under his kiss. Melted like goo. My pussy throbbed with need. My nipples ached. My blood boiled as he burned my sanity to cinder.

When he finally stopped kissing me, I wanted to faint on the floor. Levy didn’t give me that chance. With one arm curled around my waist, he ripped my clothes until there wasn’t a single thread on my body. I was naked, except for the pair of stilettos I was wearing.

“Leave those on,” he said when I wanted to slip them off. “You look so beautiful in them.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I was too horny. Typical male fantasy. Naked chick with high-heeled shoes. What was up with that?

He released his arm and ordered me to stay still. His eyes raked over my nakedness as if he was feasting over his conquest. He probably thought of me that way, his conquest, and after lusting after me for a few days, he’d finally gotten me naked and willing…

Then, he touched me.

Tenderly. The tip of his fingers seared my skin, delivering sparks of pleasure down my spine. I trembled, anticipating what he’d do next. We hadn’t talked much during the limo ride from the Ball to Orient Fevre. The tension between us had loomed like a highly strung cello string waiting to snap. He hadn’t come when he’d fucked me on the balcony, and the impressive bulge in his pants looked…intimidating. Levy appeared as if he had restrained himself a great deal. Maybe he wanted to make the night last. Driving me ragged. Fucking me to oblivion.

Shit. I began to look forward to it.

Levy lowered his head, cupped my face and breathed on my lips. “You’re so beautiful, Violet. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman.”

I shivered even more. He didn’t speak with his usual princely arrogant tone. He sounded as if he was confiding his deepest, truest feelings to me. And I couldn’t help but be touched by it.

“Levy…”

He purred. Then kissed me. He licked the side of my jaw, tasting my skin. “Mine,” he whispered on my ear.

He felt me, one hand kneading my breast. His fingers plucked and pinched my nipple. God. The ache in my pussy worsened. I creamed. My cunt clenched. I touched him back, my hands settling on his hair. I fisted his silky strands as he kissed my breasts and sucked my nipple.

“Mine.” He declared it with a sheer dominance, like a beast upon his prey.

My heart drummed wildly when he squeezed my ass and continued kissing me down to my belly. He knelt. The trail of his kiss burned my skin as his lips brushed my mons.

He looked at me and whispered, “Mine.”

I indulged myself in a scream when his mouth found my pussy. Instinctively, I dug my nails on his scalp as his agile, treacherous tongue unearthed my deepest secret. He licked my pussy lips. He licked my clitoris. He licked my opening and thrust his tongue as deeply as he could muster. Holy God in heaven. I shook with desire. He ate, sucked, and devoured me until I saw the shades of pleasure painted before my eyes.

White when he circled my clit with the tip of his tongue.

Blue when he bit my pussy lips and suckled me as if I were a delicious fruit.

Pure red when he fucked me with his tongue as rough as when he used his cock.

I writhed. My breaths came in a fevered beat. The pleasure was unbelievably sinful. When he growled and swirled his tongue inside me, I came so hard the world faded away from my vision for a long moment. My legs couldn’t support my own weight. I collapsed on the floor, sobbing from the intensity.

Levy watched my reaction with delight. He got up and undressed.

I watched him with hunger, unconsciously swallowing my saliva. Naked, he looked as delicious as that night in his penthouse. Luscious skin. Muscled body. A fine example of male perfection. Levy shed his clothes leisurely as if we had all time in the world and his eyes never left mine the whole time. His cock sprang free. Hard and ready. He kicked off his shoes and motioned me to come closer.

He stroked his engorged cock until a droplet of pre-cum leaked from the tip. “Suck me. I’m dying to fuck your mouth.”

His words made me frisky. Thinking about it, I’d never had a chance to sample his gorgeous cock. I licked my lips and knelt in front of him. I touched him, clasping my hands around his shaft. I squeezed him. Gently, then hard. He made some urgent murmurs, his breath laboured. His cock pulsed in my palms. Hot. Throbbing. So wickedly male. I lapped at his enormous tip. A strained sigh escaped his throat. He shuddered. Salty, brackish flavour flooded my mouth. God, I loved the way he tasted. Creamy—just scrumptiously creamy. I stretched my jaws as widely as I could to accommodate his girth and sucked his huge cockhead.

Levy cursed, in a good way. He held my head, angling his cock deeper to fuck my mouth and throat. I obliged him. I arranged my breath and took him deeply. His cock slid past the back of my mouth and down my throat. He groaned with disbelief. Deep throat was one of my girlie skills.

I sucked him hard as if my life depended on it. Levy started to bawl. Grunts and half-formed words rasped between his shouts. His face flushed red. His cock and balls darkened even more. I squeezed his balls as I deepened my sucks. Suddenly, I felt ravenous. I wanted to reap my reward, his hot cream. Levy’s face contorted into a mask of ecstasy, looking as if he was trying hard not to come. I wouldn’t allow that to happen, so I sucked harder. Levy let out feral growl. He seized my face and suddenly yanked his cock out of my mouth.

“Hey!” I protested. “I’m not finished.”

“Forget it,” he barked back. His eyes blazed with fire. “On all fours. I want to fuck you from behind.”

“Cream first, then fuck.”

Levy growled again. He swept me and arranged me in the position he wanted. Before I could shout another protest, he penetrated me in one, long, savage thrust. I clawed the carpet and yowled. He speared me open with his thick cock and slammed home until his balls grazed my clitoris. I shuddered. He shuddered, too, from the way our bodies became one. My cunt clasped around his rock-hard shaft. God. Pleasure left me speechless for seconds, especially when he started fucking me like a demented man. He grabbed my shoulders and rode me as if he was trying to tame a wild stallion. His cock battered my pussy. Each grind, each thrust, dragged me deeper into ecstasy. I braced myself against the wild torrent of his fucks. Faster. Deeper. Rougher. Short, rapid bunny fucks. I opened my mouth to inhale more air, but instead, a sudden climax seized me unmercifully. I bawled. I felt as if I was dying.

But he didn’t stop. He kept fucking me and fucking me through the night. He fucked me standing up. He fucked me in the bed. He fucked me in the chair. He even fucked me in front of a mirror, forcing me to watch the way his cock ravaged my pussy.

God, I loved it. Maybe I was a bit voyeuristic, but there was something incredibly erotic about watching my lover sink his cock into me. He pounded, yanked, hammered, pummelled until we both couldn’t hold out any longer. I came hard. He came even harder. Levy shouted as his cock spurted his cum inside me. We both shuddered until the last wave of ecstasy ebbed away, and we slumped on the floor. We touched. We kissed.

We loved.

Levy cupped my face and whispered, “I wish I could show you what I really feel about you. And how strong our bond is…”

I started to open my mouth to argue but he silenced me with a kiss.

“Hush, kitty-cat. For once in your life, would you listen to your heart?”

He drew me into his embrace and wrapped me with his strong arms. I clammed my mouth shut and surrendered. I closed my eyes, listening to his heartbeat. Levy made me calm, made me feel protected. No man I’d been with had ever made me feel that way. I wondered if what he said was true? That soul mates did exist?

I sighed. I’d never been so confused in my life.

* * * *

There was nothing like waking up in the morning after a good night’s fuck. I was happily sore in all the right places, beat, but feeling strangely relaxed at the same time. Levy was still sleeping when I got up. As a VIP passenger, the bed in his stateroom was as big and comfy as those in the luxury hotel. He didn’t stir as I crawled off his bed. I collected my clothes, got dressed in a hurry and tiptoed out. One of his bodyguards saw me exit the stateroom. The man flashed me a grin.

“He’s all yours,” I told him. “My shift is over.”

He tipped his head in my direction and made a tiny gesture with his hand. He didn’t say a word, but I felt his gaze burn my back as I flounced to the main deck. I went back to my cabin and showered. I’d just finished changing into a fresh uniform when Captain Hawk called me via the holocom.

“We have a problem,” he barked. “My office, now.”

Captain Hawk was in a foul mood when I arrived at his office minutes later.

He pointed to a stack of hardcopies on his desk. “Take a look at that. We have a security leak.”

I sat down and read the file. What I saw made me numb. The security bot had compiled the report during the last data sweep. It said that someone had hacked into our system, mined our data and relayed it to an encrypted source. Azhari, our Senior Cryptographer, had decoded the destination. It had turned out to be an office in the Froste Intelligence Agency. As the Chief Mate of Orient Fevre, this came as a hard blow for me since it had happened right under my nose. Only the captain and I owned the verification code to access the data vault. Truthfully, Orient Fevre wasn’t merely a commercial transport ship. It was also an intergalactic security company, commissioned to deliver classified information from many countries in the Pegasus Arms.

“How did this happen, Cross?”

I cleared my throat. “We need a lockdown.”

“Did that.” Captain Hawk sank in his chair. “I just spoke to the Chereshaz-X Station Master and requested a continuation docking permit until we sort our problem out. He gave us three standard days since this space station is fully booked. We can’t board until we find out who our mole is. Do you have any idea who’s behind this?”

I felt choked because I had an idea who’d stolen that code from me. But I didn’t feel like sharing it with the captain yet, not until I could prove my suspicion. “Give me half an hour to run a cross-data check.”

“You do that.”

“By your leave, sir.”

“Granted.”

I exited the captain’s office semi-running. My mind kicked into high gear as I started to see connections I’d been too blind to see these past months. I went to the aft of the ship where the senior officer cabins were located and headed right to Mac’s. Even though we’d been engaged, we’d still maintained separate living quarters. I punched Mac’s code on the keypad and the door whispered open.

Mac’s room was empty. Like any of the senior officers in the ship, his cabin consisted of one bedroom, a small kitchen, and a common room. I headed straight to his bedroom and started looking for clues. About three standard weeks ago, after he’d misplaced our nuptial agreement documents, Mac had suggested we share a personal vault to store our precious belongings, important papers, money, and work-related data disks. Mac was unorganised when it came to his personal matters. But I should have known. His forgetfulness had only been a cover so he could access my personal vault and steal my secret codes and keys.

The first thing I opened was his wardrobe closet. All of his clothes were still there—his shoes, his personal belonging and his duffel bags. It seemed he hadn’t planned on leaving yet. But I could have been wrong. I tore his closet apart, then his bed and drawers to see if I could find any device he might have used to communicate with the Froste Intelligence Agency. I found nothing. I was in the middle of dismantling the lavatory’s ceilings when I heard somebody come behind me. It was Mac.

“Looking for something, Violet?” he asked me icily.

I jumped down from the sink and stared him straight in the eyes. “Tell me you didn’t steal that code from me, Mac.”

He didn’t answer, only stared at me with a sullen look. He pulled out a plasma rifle and swung his arm, hitting me across the head. The world around me blackened.

* * * *

I woke up with a bitchy headache and a dull throbbing in my temples. I could feel there was a gash where he’d butted me with his plasma rifle, but the blood that had dripped on my cheek had started to coagulate.

“Don’t even think of shifting,” Mac warned me when he saw me stirring. “See what you’re wearing?”

I looked down and saw he’d fitted me with a ballistic vest. Only I knew better. The vest was rigged with explosives. “What the fuck?”

“That’s right, babe. If you try one of your heroism monkeyshines again, I’ll blow you to pieces.”

I couldn’t believe he would do that to me. Mac, the man I almost married. The man I thought was the one I would spend the rest of my life with. I felt numb. The revelation shocked me more than when I’d found him banging his own assistant. How could I have been so blind?

Sharp pain sliced through my heart. Betrayal hurt more than salt to a wound. “Tell me the truth, was it all lies, all this time we’ve been together?”

“No hard feelings, cupcake. It was only business.”

“You seduced me, asked me to marry you just so you could get access to the vault? That’s fucking low, Mac.”

“No, it’s a standard practice in espionage.”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. I felt cold all of a sudden. Chilled to the bone. “Are you a Froste agent?”

“I’m a freelancer, selling to the highest bidder.” Mac motioned me to get up from the floor.

I scrambled up half-heartedly.

“You’re going to get me out of here. No one is allowed to leave Orient Fevre during the lockdown, except you and Captain Hawk.”

“Forget it, Mac. I don’t care if you blow me up. I’ll make sure you die with me. Then I’ll haunt you to eternity.”

Mac snarled. “You don’t understand the gravity of our situation, do you? I must get to the Froste system in forty-eight standard hours. I’ve rigged one gigaton of explosives from the last transit in Ernye for an occasion like this. I’ll blow up the ship if you don’t do what I tell you. More than a thousand people will die with us. Your choice, darling.”

“You’re a two-timing, sick bastard.”

“It’s leverage.” Mac threw a small towel at me.

I caught it.

“Wipe your face and let’s go.”

I dabbed my gash with the towel. My headache was getting worse. I weighed my options, but didn’t see a way out of it. Yet. Mac had total control of our situation, and I had no other choice, but to follow his orders.

We walked through the maintenance passageway and rode the elevator down to the engine room. In the event of a lockdown, the only accessible part of Orient Fevre that allowed us to get out was in the ventilator shafts, where the hatch of the shafts could be opened without Captain Hawk and I entering the codes at the same time. Mac wanted me to override the lockdown commands from there. The loophole, from what was otherwise a solid security preventive programme, was designed for emergency use…in case of fire. Because Orient Fevre was one of those thruster-V hyperdrive model ships, she didn’t have internal ventilator shafts in her cooling system. A flaw in her design, I had to say, but not many knew about it. Mac certainly had a knack to using it for his own benefits.

I leant my back against the wall as the elevator slowly dragged us into the belly of the ship. The ballistic vest felt heavy on my chest. I made a quick assessment on how much damage Orient Fevre would endure if I kicked Mac’s ass and we departed from this mortal world in a form of fine chucks of meat tidbits. Judging from the explosives Mac had packed into the vest, I didn’t think Orient Fevre would suffer much. Mac knew it, and that was why he had a backup plan—one gigaton of explosives rigged to the ship. The impact wouldn’t only pulverise Orient Fevre into pieces, it would also blow up one-third of the Chereshaz-X space station, along with a dozen other ships. Mac had covered all the bases. He was one crafty son of a bitch.

“How did you smuggle that many explosives onto Orient Fevre?” I ventured. “Did you bribe one of the logistics people, too?”

Mac gave me a thin smile. The smile that used to make me swoon to my knees and my heart throb. Mackenzie was one of the most coveted men on Orient Fevre. He was a Herculean tall human with a sympathetic smile and a straightforward demeanour. A picture-perfect hero from the V-net comic books. Only he was no hero at all, now that I knew what lay behind his deception. He was a villainous asshole.

“What’s the matter, Violet? Is the cat curious? Do you really think I’d blab my secrets so you can find a way to spoil my plans? C’mon, you aren’t that thick.”

“Fine, if you don’t want to talk about your “imaginary” explosives, what about that blonde bitch you fucked in a storage room? Is she your lover? Was it your first time or have you been fucking her the whole time we’ve been together?”

“Curiosity killed the cat. You shouldn’t be asking too many questions.”

“Damn it. I almost married you! I’m entitled to have a lot of questions.”

“Oh yeah? I have a lot of questions, too. What motivated you to throw yourself on your prince boy-toy’s feet? If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have married that pompous prick.”

I gritted my teeth. “The marriage was an accident and I fucked him to get even with you. You’re the prick!”

Mac smirked. The elevator screen flashed a message that we were now in sector five of the engine room. The door slid open.

He narrowed his eyes and motioned me to move on. “If you’re so curious, Violet, let’s just say, I’m not content fucking a hybrid. Does that quench your curiosity, kitty-cat?”

I froze. His words blew my mind. I’d never thought Mac was a racist. I wanted to let my cat nails go and scratch some nice gashes on his smug face just to show him what kind of damage a cat could do.

“Come on!” Mac barked. “We haven’t got too much time.”

I trudged to the end of sector five to where the ventilator shafts were located. We climbed down one story into the shaft landing. Mac nudged my back with the muzzle of his plasma rifle, pushing me towards the ID reader pad.

I didn’t follow his orders. “How do I know you really have a gigaton of explosives rigged in this ship? As far as I know, you could be bluffing.”

Mac made a theatrical sigh. “I lied about the reactor core not running as it’s supposed too. We didn’t need fuel buster. Do you remember when you signed an approval for an additional cryofuel shipment? Well, guess what, it wasn’t cryofuel, darling. It was a hydrogen bomb. And do you know what happens when that puppy is released into the core reactor?” He mouthed ka-boom.

“I don’t believe you,” I persisted.

“Do you really want to take that risk?”

“I have to see it to believe it.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not going to fall into your stalling game. Now, open the hatch.”

“Then what? If you I let you go, you could still blow us up.”

Mac chuckled. “I knew you’d drive a hard bargain, Violet. I’ll hand you over the detonator as soon as you open the hatch.”

“How do I know you won’t trick me?”

“You don’t. You have to do it my way. You have no choice.”

I was sick of not having choices. For the last several days, I’d been bullied by Levy and Hayworth, and I was seriously sick of always surrendering to other people’s wishes. And now Mac wanted to pull the same game, too? I didn’t think so. Na-ah. No freaking way.

I pretended I was going along with Mac’s threat. I entered my personal ID code and gained access into Orient Fevre’s computer mainframe. The Artificial Intelligence roused from its semi-stasis condition because of the lockdown mode and asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to open the ventilator hatch. It asked me the override code. I punched the seventeen-digit emergency override code and paused just before the last one.

I looked at Mac.“ Where’s the detonator?”

He growled with impatience. “The deal is you open this fucking hatch and I’ll give you the fucking detonator.”

“I need to see that fucking detonator first, you fucking asshole!”

Mac retaliated by swinging the butt of his plasma rifle at my head. Only, I’d anticipated his move this time. I ducked and the rifle swung past me and smashed into the reader pad. It cracked with a small electric explosion. Totally fried.

Mac flipped out.“ Look what you did, you cunt! Now I’m going to kill you.”

I shifted into my animal form before he could assault me some more. I didn’t care if he blew me up. Orient Fevre wouldn’t suffer much if he ignited the explosive-rigged vest I wore. But Mac was so worked up with his rifle, he didn’t have the chance to blow the vest up. It fell into the steel-grid flooring system with a loud thud. So did my clothes. Hybrids didn’t magically convert clothes into their animal form when they shifted.

I leapt onto the railing as Mac blasted his rifle at me. I cat-walked on the pipe before I jumped in his direction, and partially shifted back. I clawed his face. Nice and sweet.

He howled in rage. His rifle fired wildly before he stopped to inspect the damage I’d caused him. I seized the golden opportunity to sink my fist into his face. That one was for breaking my heart, cheating on me with some skank, and for all the lies he’d shoved down my throat. A sick crunching sound echoed in the cluttered space. Blood splattered my face and arm. I growled and lunged at him, knocking both of us onto the hatch’s landing. His plasma rifle fell from his hand as I put my knee on his stomach. He heaved for air. One of his hands grabbed my hair and smashed my head against the railings.

I shouted. Red and white sparks blinded my peripheral vision. Sometimes, I forgot how strong Mac was. He might not have been a hybrid, but he was a man. Naturally, men were stronger than women.

He grabbed my throat and choked me until the air around me started thinning. I gurgled, unable to breathe. A flash of panic flared across my mind before my old combat instinct kicked in.

“How d’you like this, bitch? You like playing rough? Is this the kink you’ve always wanted?”

He tightened his grip and I started to get light-headed. The world gathered to darkness. I made a split-second decision on a counter-assault and blindly plunged two fingers in the direction of his face. I hit a soft target—his eye—and I drove my fingers onward until I heard something sickening—a popping sound. I kept digging until he let go of his chokehold on me.

He staggered backward, his shrieks storming the engine room. I gasped for air, coughing my guts out. Luckily, he hadn’t crushed my larynx because I could still breathe and make sounds. I crawled to get his rifle. Before I could reach it, he lunged at me with a knife in his hand. I grabbed the blade before it speared into my heart.

“Die, bitch, die!”

I struggled to keep the knife away from my chest. The sharp edge cut through my palms and fingers. Blood trailed to my arms and chest like rivulets of red rain. The knife inched closer to my chest. I was losing the battle. Even if I shifted, I still couldn’t get out of the knife range before Mac speared me with all seven inches.

I persevered, though deep in my mind I knew I was going to die, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Just when the tip of the knife pierced my skin, something dark flashed behind Mac.

Maybe I was delirious, but I thought I saw Levy.

Mac’s body left the ground, flying away. I heard his scream echo as he fell onto the bottom landing. I mumbled in disbelief as I let go of the knife. Pain seared my nerve endings, but I ignored it, my attention riveted to the unbelievable sight two stories below.

I saw a dragon. The black majestic beast unfurled its forty-foot wingspan and advanced in Mac’s direction. Mac cursed and tried to get to his feet, but his attempt was futile when the dragon swished its tail. I looked away. I didn’t want to watch. Shrieks of agony filled the room for what seemed like the longest minutes in my life. My accidental husband Levy was finishing the job for me.

I cried, laying on the cold surface of the steel flooring. My body felt cold, numb. The part of me that still loved Mac, even though he’d tricked me, lied to me, and almost killed me, died away as he met his own comeuppance. Female stupidity? Maybe. I’d almost married that son of a bitch. My body shook as the screams died away, replaced by the sounds of hurried footsteps reverberating through the engine room’s ceilings.

My body trembled as I felt a gush of wind blow in my direction. The dragon perched on the railings before morphing into the man I’d come to know too damn well in the past few days. Levy stared at me, anguished.

“Violet, you’re hurt.”

I jumped into his arms, burying my face against the hollow of his throat. His body was warm, as naked as mine, and slicked with blood and sweat, but I’d never felt so calm in my life. I heard shouting from people, and I might have heard Captain Hawk’s voice, too. I ignored my surroundings and tightened my arms around Levy’s neck. He patted me, giving me comfort as I cried my head off for no reason—for every reason. But I knew when I stopped crying, I’d be okay.

The storm was over.

Chapter Five

The doc took me hostage in the sickbay for several days after the lockdown to patch me up. I had regeneration therapy and all my wounds were healed. I didn’t know why he made such a fuss about my minor injuries, but then I guessed he did it under the direct orders from Captain Hawk. My captain didn’t want me around while he did a cleanup job and tied up loose ends. Since I was the reason the V-data had gotten hacked, Hawk wanted me contained while the spooks from corporate headquarters came and did their investigation. Oh, and did they investigate! By the time they finished, they knew what brand of underwear I wore and what my favourite sexual position was. By the end of the scrutiny, Hawk came to me with bad news. I’d been fired for the security leak.

“No hard feelings, Cross. I fought for you, but the company has zero-degree tolerance against espionage, whether you are directly involved or unfortunately being used by your fiancé.”

“I understand, Captain.”

Captain Hawk looked discomfited. “I hate to see you go. You’re the best first mate I’ve ever had.” He took something from his pocket and gave it to me. It was a small black velvet box containing a silver medal. “The company is compelled to give you an award for your heroism. You saved us from disaster. You stopped Mac from blowing us to pieces.”

I would have laughed if it hadn’t been such an irony. They awarded me for doing such a great job, and by the way, I was fired, too. You were great. You sucked.

I didn’t know what to say to my captain, so I settled for something simple. “Thanks.”

“Listen, I’ve talked to people and some are interested in having you on board. Give them a call.” Captain Hawk handed me a data chip. “Again, I’m really sorry, Cross.”

“No worries, Captain. I’ll be fine. I’ll miss you, though.”

“Me too, kiddo.” He slapped his meaty hand on my shoulder. “Me too.”

* * * *

Seventy-hours after my official termination, I found myself standing on landing pad number forty-one with my suitcases and my pet hamster. I watched Orient Fevre slowly debark from the dock and soar into the vast black sky. I wanted to cry and punch anybody who dared to come within five feet of me. I felt lonely and discarded. Life was certainly unpredictable. Two weeks earlier, I’d had a fiancé, a wedding planned in Delphina and a future I’d always dreamt off. Now, I was stranded in Chereshaz-X and jobless. I had money though. Luckily, the company had given me a nice severance. But I’d miss Orient Fevre. She was the closest thing to a home I’d ever had. Funny thing was, I missed Levy, too.

My pet hamster squeaked in his cage, seeking my attention. I fished some sunflower seeds from my pocket and fed them to him. Fluffy ate them with delight, his whiskers twitching.

“I guess, it’s just me and you, buddy.”

Fluffy gave me a look, and when he thought I wouldn’t give him any more sunflower seeds, he returned to his wheel and ran. I sighed. My heart was heavy. I needed to check in to a motel. Maybe I’d lay low for a while until I sorted my life out.

A hover limo swooped down behind me as I bent down to grab Fluffy’s cage. The luxury vehicle landed elegantly. The door opened and a black-dressed man came out. He took my hamster cage from my hand, then grabbed my suitcases and hauled them to the trunk. Levy, also dressed in black, motioned me to join him in the backseat.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to do. It didn’t seem right seeing him at a time like this. Levy was trouble, and I didn’t need more trouble. I was already neck-deep in it.

“Please, kitten, don’t make me beg. Let’s talk.”

After a few seconds, I decided to take him up on his offer. What the hell. I climbed into the car. Levy’s bodyguard slammed the door, got into the front seat and we took off.

Levy kissed me before I could squeak a word. His tongue stroked deep into my mouth as he devoured me with fervour. I was breathless when he finally let me go.

“Missed you,” he told me, his eyes as luminous as a full moon. “They wouldn’t let me see you after you were admitted to the sickbay.”

“Really?” I grinned. “How much did you miss me?”

“More than you’ll ever know, kitten.”

He kissed me long and hard this time. I was drunk again when he stopped. I felt hot, and the familiar wanton aches stirred in my pussy.

“Wow.” I giggled. Suddenly, I was feeling much better. I didn’t feel bummed anymore. “Thanks for saving me. He would have killed me if you hadn’t come.”

His eyes glittered. “I regret I didn’t come sooner.”

“How did you know?”

“Our bond. I can feel when you’re hurting. I had to come looking for you. But the Goddamn ship was so big.”

“Really? Wow.” I’d never have guessed that the bond could act as a distress call. I wondered if Levy knew when I was horny, too? Honestly, I’d thought about him a lot while I was in the sickbay. I hadn’t thanked him properly. “And I thought you were on the Orient Fevre? You were scheduled to go to D’Keghan.”

“Not without my wife.”

“Not this again. Look—”

“I won’t stop hounding you until you accept the fact that we belong together, Violet. Our…”

“Yeah, yeah, the bond and all that.” I took his hand and squeezed it. “I’ve been through a lot for the past two weeks. I’m not ready for this. I need some time alone to think, to find myself.”

“I must disagree. In a time like this, you need me more than ever. You don’t need to be alone, you have me.” He looped his arm around me and drew me closer. “Besides, I have a surprise for you.”

“Good surprise or bad surprise?”

Levy flashed me a grin. “Good, of course.” He took out a syn-disk from his jacket pocket and handed it to me.

“What’s this?”

“Read it.”

I turned on the syn-disk and a holo-projection materialised before me. I read the document. Exactly three standard hours ago, the Universal Trans System Corp had sold the ownership of Orient Fevre to Levy Frye, and Levy had deeded her to me. As soon as the ship was bound back to the Chereshaz-X orbital station, she was mine.

Holy crap. I couldn’t believe it. “You bought Orient Fevre?”

“It’s our wedding gift. I know how much you love that ship. Think about it, us, flying from port to port across the galaxy, delivering cargo or whatever you fancy. You can play captain, too, if you like. Wouldn’t it be fun, sweetie?”

I was speechless for a long moment. I didn’t know what to say. A part of me was exulted that I’d be seeing Orient Fevre again. The other part of me was annoyed because Levy thought he could buy anything to get what he wanted.

“Look, Violet. I’m not bribing you with the ship to be with me.” Levy kissed the tip of my nose.

I glared at him.

“Well, maybe, a little.”

I was still glaring at him.

“The point is, I’m trying to make our relationship work. I know you’re not the type of girl I could keep in the palace, so I figured we could live our lives the way you’re accustomed to. You love adventure and travel, so why not make our lives, our marriage, into an adventure.”

“God, Levy, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

“Love me, that’s all I ask.”

I snorted. “That’s corny.”

“At least I’m not afraid to say I love you. You should try it. Love is a beautiful thing.”

“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that the only prospect of getting you off my back is by killing you?”

“I’d take that as you love me, too, kitten.”

I sighed. “Can we take this relationship…easy? I’ve been through an emotional roller coaster.”

“Define what you mean by ‘easy’? I was thinking a daily dose of sex would be a good start. I know a trick that will make you relax from the ordeal you’ve been through.” Levy slid his hand on my shoulder and started kneading my tensed flesh.

“Figures.”

I caught his eyes and Levy shot me a smug smile. But the massage felt so damn good. God, this man had a magic touch. I began to unwind and my weariness started to ebb away. Maybe being with him wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Maybe he was what I needed. I looked through the windows as we flew far from the landing docks and into the heart of Chereshaz-X. The city of Atlantis was bathed in a brilliant light as our limo cruised between the skyscrapers.

“Where are we going?”

“To finish our unfinished business.”

“Which is?”

He didn’t answer me, but his grin widened.

We landed on the rooftop of a fancy boutique hotel in downtown Atlantis. The hotel staff welcomed us on the landing pad, the concierge opening the door of the limousine.

Levy tugged my hand. “Come.”

We climbed out of the limo. I insisted on carrying Fluffy’s cage myself as the hotel manager led us to our suite. My hamster begged me for some treats as I put him on a table. Again. He looked unhappy after spending the last half hour in a trunk of a limo. I fished out some sunflower seeds and gave my little guy his treats. Fluffy ate greedily, stuffing them in both of his cheeks, pleading for more.

“Well, I’m out,” I told him.

Fluffy gave me a cross look and busied himself with his toy. Little schmuck.

“He’s cute,” Levy commented. He snuck behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He hugged me as the hotel staff and Levy’s entourage brought in my luggage.

“How do you know he’s a he?” I asked Levy.

“Kitten, I’ve told you before. I know everything about you.”

“Including my favourite brand of underwear?”

“Browns. Army-issued skivvies. You’re a low-maintenance girl.”

“Damn.”

Levy nodded to his men to give us some privacy. With little effort, he turned me around to face him. He ambushed my mouth, kissing me with greed-starving kisses as he popped off the two top buttons my shirt. He tore his mouth away and yanked my shirt off me. My bra, my belt, my panties, and the rest of my clothes came flying off next. He worked systematically and very deftly at getting a woman naked.

“This is the unfinished business?” I teased.

“It’s been nine days since we last fucked, Violet. I’m nearly Goddamn bursting.”

Levy swept me off my feet and carried me into the bedroom. The bed bounced as he threw me on it. He undressed like a madman, kicking his shoes off. Pants. Socks. Shirt. All of it. I spread my legs open for him as he stroked his granite-hard erection. His cock glistened with pre-cum. He looked as if he was nearly bursting. Without a word, he poised the cockhead at my entrance and slammed home.

I threw my head backward. The familiar pain and pleasure engulfed me. I wasn’t fully ready to accept him. I clawed his shoulders, digging my nails into his flesh as his cock ravaged me deeply. Levy let out a growl, too primal to be human, a mix between satisfaction and amazement. Then he looked down on me, hissing between his teeth, ranting in draconian words I didn’t understand. But I understood what he was feeling, almost like telepathy. It was an immense relief after having been deprived from a lust-bound thirst.

We locked eyes as I felt him throb in my depths.

He brushed his lips over mine, whispering, “I love you.”

I didn’t know why, but at the very moment, I wanted to cry. Something inside me went sentimental at his declaration. Maybe I was blind ignoring my inner guts, telling me the obvious. As much as I hated to admit it, I did feel the weird attachment he called a bond from the pit of my heart. Given the circumstances on how we’d met, and the whole ordeal that had happened to me in the past weeks, I was freaked out about having to admit he was my soul mate. It clearly didn’t make sense. But again, love never made sense.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and decided to be honest with my feeling. I whispered back, “I love you.”

His eyes brightened. His smile blossomed. Levy looked exulted. He traced my face with his fingertips as he pulled out, up to his cockhead, and slowly thrust into me balls deep.

I shivered. My toes curled. I couldn’t get over how good he made me feel each time he fucked me. The sensation enslaved me, leaving me wanting for more like a hopeless addict.

Levy paused, swallowing hard. Sweat beaded his temples, his jaws clenched. “Say it again, kitten.”

I licked his lips, whispering, “I love you, Levy Frye.” And I meant it. Every word.

I wasn’t accustomed to being lovey-dovey, but he needed me to say it. He needed to hear it. A pledge. A confirmation.

A low growl escaped from his throat as he fisted my hair and slammed into me, fucking me with short jackhammering thrusts.

“That’s my girl. Mine. Forever.” His eyes blazed with fire. His skin felt hot and feverish. His cock…

I gasped, bracing from the flood of his vicious fucks. I squeezed my muscles, choking his rampaging cock. I wanted him to slow down, but only succeeded in making him lose control. He pinned me on the bed, forcing me to surrender to the torrent of his insatiable slams. My clit throbbed. The cock in my pussy felt as if it had been replaced with fire.

I heaved. The ecstasy zapped like high-voltage electricity, dragging me higher and higher. Every fibre of my being shrieked with unadulterated pleasure. My body quaked. I dug my nails into his skin. My pussy contracted. The tide of climax crashed upon me. I screamed his name as a burst of fireworks flashed before my eyes. I came hard. I floated away…

My body shook as the flood of pleasure washed over me. Levy stopped, giving me a chance to collect myself. I heard him hissing, savouring the way my pussy milked his still hard cock.

“God, kitten.” Levy slipped a hand between our bellies, then found my clitoris and rolled it with his fingers. “Cream for me, just like that. Fuck.”

He tried to move, but I was gripping his cock hard with my pussy. He groaned.

Another orgasm hit me from the way he played with my clit. I gripped him, unable to control myself. I almost shifted when I lost my control. My sharp cat nails scraped his back. I might have drawn blood, too, but he didn’t seem to notice. I exploded. I bit his shoulder as I climaxed. My ears rang and my heart wanted to burst from my chest. The world faded.

Pure ecstasy.

I was dazed when I crashed back into reality. He cooed me endearments in husky murmurs, telling me how much he loved the way my pussy felt. I trembled from head to toe, my body swathed in perspiration as a pleasant tingly feeling enveloped me in sweet succulent bliss. I wished it would never end.

Levy captured my mouth with his, kissing me deeply. He withdrew from me, leaving a trail of our lust elixir on my stomach. He then leant to my side and flipped me on my stomach.

“Now, the grand finale.”

I’d barely digested what he meant when he pushed my thighs wide apart, and positioned himself at my ass. I felt his hands part my ass cheeks as his thumb caressed my asshole.

“Oh, God,” I gasped.

He wanted to claim my ass cherry. A dark thrill sparked inside me. He rubbed my swollen pussy, collecting my dew and oiling my ass with it. I keened when he pushed a finger into my anus. The lewd, tawdry feeling seized me. It felt strangely good, so forbidden, so naughty, but so good. My sphincter tightened around his finger, protesting his intrusion. He pushed his finger all the way in until the pad of his palm hit my perineum, before finger-fucking me until I became relaxed, accustomed with what would come next.

Levy leant down, kissing my nape. His hot breath seared my feverish skin. “Are you ready?”

I looked at him. “Yes.”

He brushed his lips over mine, kissing me open-mouthed. He pulled his finger out to grab his cock. I whimpered as his blunt tip nudged my anus. A flash of panic flared across my mind. Will he fit? I don’t think he will. Oh, God, he’s going to hurt me.

Levy seemed to notice my panic. He paused and whispered, “Don’t worry. It’ll be good. Trust me.”

Trust me. Silly as it might have sounded, but at that very moment, I trusted him. He’d saved me from Mac and I owed him my life. I knew I could trust him on giving me a forbidden pleasure. I halted my breath as he pushed in. His cock slid away even though I was trying to relax. He tried again, poising his tip on my anus as he pushed in. I hissed through my clenched teeth, my hands clawing the duvet. The rings of my sphincter gave way and let him in. He speared me open, unabashedly, plunging his big fat cock into my virgin anus, plundering me from the last strands of innocence I had.

A new pain singed me, then burned me alive. He worked in small thrusts, hummingbird-like jabs, sweet and fluttery, stretching me open, filling me full. I bit my lower lip so I wouldn’t scream. My sphincter contracted in desperation against his assault, but he kept ploughing in, steady, but sure, his cream-glazed cock burrowing into my ass until he was sated from his new conquest.

Levy shifted fully on top of me and pressed his body against mine. Skin to skin. With it, he pushed himself all the way in, shoving whatever was left deeply into me until our bodies locked into one.

I had to scream. The pain. The pleasure. And a dozen other sensations I couldn’t even describe with words. I might have cried, too, because I felt hot tears running down my cheeks, and they weren’t perspiration.

“Sssh, kitten, relax, honey, I’ll make it good.” Levy laved the side of my jaw. “I’ll make it good. Promise. All you need to do is relax.”

I felt half-mad and I half-enjoyed it. It was easy for him to say, he wasn’t the one who was being buggered with a cock that size. But my irritation quickly evaporated when he started to fuck me with long lazy strokes. The pain ebbed away and was replaced with a pleasure so intense, I couldn’t even believe it was possible. Each time he slammed home, I was paralysed by the sinful pleasure that made every one of my nerve endings shriek with untainted ecstasy.

Levy kissed me, laved me, licked my neck, behind my ear, my jaw as he pounded me harder and harder. I gasped between my screams. My throat felt raw and my lungs wanted to explode from my ribcage. My nipples ached and my cunt felt so neglected, it contracted and clasped, desperate to be filled with a cock.

I was burned from the inside out. All of a sudden, what he was doing was no longer enough. I needed him to pinch my nipples, or fuck my pussy with his fingers, anything to counterbalance the maddening pleasure from the way he was fucking me. I groaned and reared my ass to meet his thrust.

“Fuck me,” I rasped, every syllable tinged with sheer desperation. “Fuck me hard.”

“Shit,” Levy growled back.

As if my plea served as fuel to the flame, he hammered me with thrusts that were hard enough to bruise me for days. I needed him to give me the ultimate pleasure that would change us forever.

I mewled as he nailed me down into the bed, one brutal slam after another, his thick cock ravaging my greedy asshole. I was delirious with need as the savage fucks continued. Levy looked as if he was teetering at the edge of his forbearance. He needed to come as badly as I did. The storm of pleasure gathered, threatening to erupt.

“Yes,” I urged him, “oh, babe, please fuck me, fuck me. Harder.”

He roared like a beast, maybe the part of him that wasn’t human responding. The pleasure thickened beyond imagination.

“Harder!” I screamed.

He slammed so hard it almost knocked the air out of my lungs. My body tensed. Every neuron in my brain short-circuited. The storm crashed upon us, sweeping us away in one unmerciful tide to a seemingly never-ending shore. I erupted. Levy climaxed. The world went black for long seconds.

It was heaven, or purgatory, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I was entrapped in a place where nothing mattered. When it ebbed away, I found myself back in my own body, laying, quivering, sobbing and wet, with Levy on top of me, his weight making it hard to breathe.

My battered asshole felt raw, and yet at the same time so sated. He rasped some draconian words that sounded like amazement. His cock grew soft inside me. When he was finally over his orgasm, he withdrew and rolled off me. I felt his cum dripping, oozing on my thighs. He was spent, and so was I. We didn’t talk for quite a while until we finished after-glowing.

I caught his eyes and muttered, “Wow.”

He laughed and pulled me into his arms. I lay there, snuggled tightly like a contented cat, and I was.

“My parents are anxious to see you, Violet. If you are up for it, we should head to D’Keghan tonight. Carlton has chartered a private ship for us. Orient Fevre will be waiting for you here once our formality is concluded.”

“Formality?”

“Crowning you as a D’Keghan princess. The wedding. The reception. I know it’s a pain in the ass, but our custom requires it. It would be over before you knew it.”

“Crowning?”

Levy slid his gaze to me. “I’m next in line. Since I’ve claimed you, that makes you the D’Keghan future queen.”

I cringed.

“Freaking out?”

“Very.”

“We’ll take it slow, and hope my parents live forever.”

“Oh boy. Can I kill you instead? This queen-thingy sounds like too much responsibility. I’m not up to it.”

Levy laughed. “Cute. Can you really kill me? Do you have the heart to do it?”

“No,” I answered in a small voice.

“I thought so.”

I ran my hands through my hair, exhaling a deep breath. Two hours earlier, I dreaded my future because I’d lost the best job in the world, and now I owned Orient Fevre and would become the future queen of D’Keghan. To be honest, this whole thing freaked me out.

I sat up, watching Levy, who played with the long curls of my hair. He smiled, his blue eyes watching me with amusement and curiosity. I ran my fingers across his broad chest, his chiselled jaw, his sensuous lips. I cleared the stray hair from his face. He was a handsome man, Levy Frye, a dominant draconian who’d turned my world upside down. My accidental husband.

I leant down and kissed him on the lips. Soft fluttery kisses. My heart trembled and my pussy throbbed wanton aches. I could feel our bond, silly as it sounded. Maybe soul mates did exist. I could get used to having Levy in my bed every night and waking up every morning, greeted by his killer smile. I could get used to this, having him in my life and becoming the centre of my universe. And all I needed to do was dare to take the chance.

I cleared my throat and stole a glance at his cock. He was hardening again, ready for a second helping.

“So, Lev, is it true when you’re in a mating cycle, my birth control device could be obsolete?”

He purred, eyes glittering like a supernova. “Hayworth told you that?’

“Yeah.”

“Give me two or three more dips, and I’ll make you pregnant in no time.” He sat up and pecked a kiss on my lips. “Let’s have a shower and have some nice wet shower sex. We’ll work on the details of getting you pregnant.”

“I don’t have much of a choice anytime you want something, do I?”

“No, ‘cause I know you want it, too. I only make your life simpler.”

I laughed, looping my arms around his neck. “I think I love you, Levy Frye.”

“Good. ‘Cause you’re mine forever, Violet Cross.”

“’Til death do us part?”

“Forever, I said. Not even death can part us.” He climbed down the bed and rummaged his clothes. He fished a gold bangle out the pocket. “Your Marktha. You have to wear this all the time from now on.”

He clasped the gold bangle on my arm. I supposed Marktha was like a wedding ring for D’Keghan people.

“Now, about that wet shower sex.” Levy lifted me from the bed and carried me into the bathroom.

“Are we going to rut like this every day for the rest of our lives?”

“Pretty much.”

“Oh dear.”

He grinned and planted a quick kiss on my lips. “I love my pretty kitty.”

I purred back. Hmm, maybe this marriage-thingy wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

About the Author

I write. I doodle. I play guitar. Not necessarily in that order. I’m an incurable chatterbox, heavy metal aficionado, bookworm and a night owl, since most of my stories are done in the wee hours of the morning because of my caffeine-induced insomnia. I’m a big South Park fan, and I’m fluent in Cartman speak and I’m working on mastering my Kennynese. Cookies and donuts are my main diet and I currently owe a fortune to the swear jar.

Email: lizzie@ilizzie.com.

Lizzie loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com.

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