The Wanting (D'Shar Men) (7 page)

Hands held behind his back as he kept a respectable distance that made her want to scream. She needed to taste him and feel the heated flesh of his body against her own. His decadent dark taste had become akin to an expensive chocolate she craved but couldn’t afford. Only the cost wasn’t monetary, it was emotional. Every time she relinquished control and gave way to her desire they moved closer to the end result. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

Because you have enough baggage to fill an airplane freight.
A tiny voice inside her head answered.

Time spent with Phe always made her lose perspective. Left her with questions about why she needed to take time and deny them what they both wanted. It was scary to struggle for control when it was the backbone she had built her whole life around. Life as a foster child had been unstable at best. Shuffled from home to home, every six months or so brought to a new school or new family to adapt to. The thought that she would one day be the master of her own destiny had been the one thing that kept her grounded.

She had steered the vessel of her life with single minded focus until Phelan shattered her plans with his admission and a lust that burned hotter than the sun. Funny that the whirlwind made her feel more alive than ever before.

“Zasha?”

Her gaze flew upward to find his amber eyes black as the night that surrounded them as she lost yet another battle to control. Her hands shot up to grip the lapels of his worn leather jacket, and she brought his head down to trace the seam of his lips with her eager tongue. He tasted of sin and musk. A heady combination that made her head spin a she hung on for dear life as her legs went weak. Impatient she plunged her tongue into the moist cavern of his mouth and coaxed him into a duel. Her pebbled nipples strained against the black sweater, and she pressed the length of her body against his. Desperate to be closer, her hands moved to spread his jacket apart as she burrowed into him. His strong fingers buried themselves in the hair she’d worn down because he liked it. Her loud moan of protest broke the stillness of the night when he pulled away.

White clouds of frost appeared around them as they caught their breath, and Zasha pondered her next move. “If you want me to wait, I have to go now, Zash.”

“This Saturday we’ll do holo vids at my house. Now go inside before I take you against the door and give your neighbors something to talk about.”

“Mrs. Casta would love it. I think the woman was a freak back in her day.”

The mention of her kind, but nosey, elderly neighbor caused laughter as she turned the knob and made her way inside. A light “goodnight” the last words from her mouth before she closed the door and slid to the ground. Her pussy throbbed with need as her body broke out into a fine sheen of sweet. She wasn’t sure how much of this she could take.

****

With his jaw clenched and his eyes closed, Phelan leaned his head against the door of Zasha’s condo. Curved fingers clutched the wooden frame as he inhaled the scent of her arousal. His cock strained against the denim of his pants, and he knew if he moved a muscle he’d come all over himself like an untried youth. It was an exquisite brand of torture to endure this process with Zasha. She had no clue what she was in for when he actually got a hold of her ass again. Rough would not begin to cover the way he’d handle her pussy or her ass or her mouth. A growl reverberated through his chest, and he pushed away from the door and forced his feet to carry him away from the woman he wanted to devour whole.

****

“I’d ask how you were, but I get the feeling you have a set of blue balls to go with that blue face,” Mars said. He wore a cheeky grin as he entered the house and found him engrossed in a game of poker with Bastian. Things were going well between him and Zasha.

“I’m glad to see my discomfort brings you joy.”

“Oh, it’s not the discomfort; it’s the loss of control that’s entertaining,” Bastian said. His head lifted from his cards as he offered a smug grin and sipped a bottle of beer.

“You realize all of you will go through the same thing at some point, right?”

“Maybe, but I figure the odds of running into the right girl are so miniscule, I’ll be a confirmed bachelor,” Bastian said as he laughed. He had no clue what the
Wanting
would make you do.

“And you, Mars?”

“What he said,” he muttered. His brow furrowed as his eyes bore holes into the cards he had in his hand.

“It’s a Royal Flush,” Phelan informed as he glanced over Mars’s shoulder. His dark chuckle floated behind him as he continued to his room, and Mars swore. If they wanted to give him shit, the least he could do was reciprocate with some teasing.

Chapter Six

Seated at her desk, Zasha closed the manila folder. A sense of pride and weariness enveloped her. One case down, half a dozen more to go, it’d been like this since lunch. Her reflection in the computer screen showed dark circles had formed under her eyes, and her once toned physique had begun to border on thin. She spent the past month or so with her time divided between Taye, Phelan, and the gym. Each work out session meant to plunge her into a dreamless sleep. Since the first week after the orchestra in the park, Zasha was haunted by erotic dreams of Phelan. Only to wake and give her pink rabbit a healthy work out. After she’d blazed her way through a pack of triple A batteries, she’d turned to exercise to exhaust her mind. It was heaven and hell getting to know the man she felt so linked to without the physical gratification.

Each piece of new information gained added to the intimacy being built between them. The pull of the
Wanting
had grown so intense it occasionally caused pain. But she needed to be sure she knew who Phelan D’Shar was before she surrendered. It was worth the struggle now that she was ready to admit defeat. Phelan successfully erased her doubts one by one and tonight, she would bare her final secret along with her body. She had extended a dinner invitation for tonight at her place. Of course, she’d neglected to inform him she was the main course. She smiled as she placed her files in the appropriate bins, locked her desk down and stood to leave. When the door swung open, she fought down the urge to scream.

At six feet three inches and about three hundred pounds, Richards was built like a brick house. With a stern mug that matched his hulking frame. You’d never know the guy was a total teddy bear underneath.

“Go on and get out of her, Johnson. I’ll tell him I just missed you.”

“I owe you, Richards!”

A quick peck on his face made his cheeks redden as she rushed out of the office. For once, the last place she wanted to be was at her desk.

****

Damp and bone weary, Zasha sighed as she stomped the snow from her boots on the mat and twisted the key in the lock. It was fifteen minutes after six, and she had a lot of work to do before Phelan arrived at eight. She loved her job, but on nights like these, she longed for a vacation. Her lips curved down when she flipped the switch up on her lights and got no response. The light bulbs were dead, or the power was out because of the snowstorm. She reached down to grab the slim pin light she kept on her key chain and froze when the beam of light picked up a figure.

Her body lowered to one knee as instincts took over. Her hand pulled the butt of the standard issued 9mm from her shoulder holster, and her ears strained to pick up a sound that would give away the intruders location.

“There’s no need for that, Zasha. If I wanted you dead you would be,” a masculine voice said.

The click of a switch beside the intruder pierced the silence, and the light that flooded the room blinded her. Her lids fluttered as she tried to force her eyes to adjust to the lighting differential and assess the threat. Thirty seconds later, her vision cleared and the bottom dropped out as her world exploded.

“It’s been a long time,” Tavel said.

His body draped across one of the leather chairs in her living area. Her fingers clicked the safety off her gun and cocked the handle to place a bullet in the chamber.

“We both know that little pop gun won’t do more than piss me off,” he said.

His voice haughty as his lips curled up into a sneer. The arrogance that rolled off him in waves sent an itch to her trigger finger.

“That’s a good enough reason for me to use it,” she said. Her eyes trained down her barrel and pulled the trigger in rapid succession. The bullets of the P.I.U.’s 9mm were made with a chemical compound that subdued aliens, but they seemed to have no effect on the Tavel.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” he said with a sigh as he rose from the chair. A ball of blue light shot across the room and hit her in the chest as darkness drug her down into its depths.

****

“W-where am I?” she whispered.

Her voice was hoarse as she slowly regained consciousness and found her limbs bound. Leather cuffs encircled her wrists and ankles as she lay on a metal tray. The bright circle of light that hung above her head cast shadows on the dank room she was imprisoned in.

“You don’t need to worry about that right now,” Tavel said. His came from a few feet away from where she lay.

A sinister smile spread across his lips as he leaned over her. His features grossly distorted by the light that hung above her head.

“Did you come back to finish the job?” she asked.

Fists clenched as she glared. Zara refused to give him the pleasure of seeing her fear.

“No, I’m here to explain. You’ve spent all these years thinking I’m some kind of villain when you couldn’t be further from the truth.” The feel of his cool fingers across her face made her flinch.

“Your mother and I had a history that goes back to before you were born. Why else would she welcome me into her home the way she did?” His words rang true about the woman who had raised her. But she didn’t want to believe the explanation.

“I knew Tatiana wasn’t my mate, but I loved her anyway,” he said. A heavy sigh expelled from his lungs. He seemed to shrink in that moment. Shoulders slumped as his face aged before her eyes, almost as if the loss of her mother crushed him.

“No, Zasha, he didn’t. I left to escape the hunters who had found me here on Earth. Led them away from her and kept my distance until I was sure they were off my trail. I thought I’d found the right elixir to alter her DNA. It took me years to gather the right ingredients, and many failed experiments…but I was wrong.”

“I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!” She barely recognized the snarl that left her lips as her head spun. How could she be born of this man?

“Imagine my disgust that you’ve become the King’s whore! My own spawn bonded to the family of traitors that caused me to flee to this planet in the first place.”

“You’re from Tagget?” she asked.

Eager to draw him into a conversation so she could buy herself more time. Her eyes had adjusted to the dimness, and she surveyed the areas visible. She was surrounded by concrete walls and next to her metal table was a silver medical tray. Lined with still packaged instruments and beakers that contained fluorescent liquid it filled her with a sense of dread. Her wrists strained as she pulled against the leather straps that refused to give.

“I was the best alchemist they had. A scientific genius revered by our people until the royals stuck their noses where they didn’t belong, and we had a…difference of opinion.”

The maniacal gleam that leapt into his cerulean gems left no doubt in her mind that he’d killed them.

He disappeared from her view once more, only to return a moment later with his hands encased in latex gloves and a blue mask over his face.

“I came back her with the hopes of passing on my knowledge to you. I thought once you understood what happened with your mother you’d want to be a family again. But now you’re tainted.”

“W-what ?” she asked. Not able to follow his crazed logic. Panic sunk in as she realized she was at this man’s mercy. Had Phelan showed up for dinner yet? Did anyone know she was missing?