15 Targeted (21 page)

“I…uh…” Her mouth was almost too dry to talk. “What…what are we going to do? Isn’t there anyone any closer than Rageron who can help me?”

The big Kindred started to shake his head, then stopped.

“There
is,”
he exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of it before?”

“What? Think of what? Is there someplace we can go? Someone who can help?”

“My old master, Xen’dex—I have been thinking of him often. It was he who taught me everything I know about
Khalla
and the stages of
Tenrah.”

“Where—on Rageron?” Emily asked.

“Yes, that was where I learned from him. But I have since heard that he found and mated a Wulven female and was living on her home world of G’nera.”

“Is that near by?” Emily asked hopefully.

“At this point it’s a hell of a lot closer than Rageron.” Tragar rose to his feet, moving with surprising grace for such a big guy. “Let me call him. If the Goddess is smiling on you, he may still be there. If anyone could help us, he could.”

“I guess I’ll cross my fingers.” Emily got unsteadily to her feet. “Uh, is there a bathroom anywhere around here?”

“The fresher is the small door beside the fire-globe pit.” He gestured to a door half hidden in the shadows by the fireplace that Emily hadn’t noticed before. “Everything you need should be in there.”

“Wait…” She touched his arm to stop him from leaving.

“Yes?” He turned back to her, raising an eyebrow.

“This is your room, isn’t it?” Emily asked, motioning to the comfortably furnished room.

Briefly, he nodded.

“Then…why did you give it to me? And where are you sleeping?”

“There are other bunks in the ship,” he said. “And I wished you to be comfortable.”

“So if you want me to be comfortable, can I come and go as I please?” Emily felt like it was a little late to be asking this now but she couldn’t forget the feeling of being a prisoner aboard the ship. “I mean, I wasn’t sure after…after I made you upset earlier.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his thick mane of black hair.

“I must apologize for that. You touched a nerve but I had no cause to treat you as I did. Yes, you may have the run of the ship although I must ask you not to touch any controls.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Emily raised her hands and then realized that her breasts were still exposed. Feeling awkward, she hastily pulled up her nightgown, wincing in pain as the thin material scratched her sensitive peaks mercilessly. “Ouch!” she exclaimed.

Tragar was instantly concerned.

“Problems?”

“Just…” she plucked at the silky material, trying to keep it away from her swollen nipples. “Now even my
nightgown
hurts. And this is my oldest and softest one.”

He frowned, looking worried again.

“Pain with your own touch is expected. But extreme sensitivity to other materials isn’t a good sign.” He shook his head. “Especially considering how sweet your nectar is.”

Emily tugged at her nightgown some more, wishing it was looser.

“What can I do about it?”

“I’ll ask Master Xen’dex if I can get hold of him. Until then, I suppose you might have to forgo covering yourself.”

“What—you mean walk around with my bare boobs sticking out?” Emily demanded. “I can’t go around topless all day! I
can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked reasonably. “We are the only two living beings aboard the ship.” His voice dropped to a soft growl. “And I have already seen and caressed your breasts and tasted your nipples, Emily. You need not be ashamed to leave them bare around me.”

“I…um…” Her mouth was suddenly dry again and her heart was pounding. God, why did he have this affect on her? Already her pussy was throbbing again. She wished she could cross her legs together and squeeze her thighs tight but that was difficult while she was standing.

“Mmm…” The soft growl rumbled in his throat and she could see his nostrils twitching, almost as if he was scenting her. Suddenly she remembered him talking about her scent—the scent of a
Khalla
in heat. She wanted more than ever to cross her legs and try to hide her desire. It was so
embarrassing
to be so obviously turned on!

“I…I think I’d better go to the bathroom now,” she whispered at last in an unsteady voice. Stepping around him on legs that threatened to give way at any time, she hurried to the small door by the fireplace and shut herself in.

* * * * *

Tragar stood for a moment, inhaling deeply, still savoring her scent. Though it had grown stronger and more alluring, it was also more complex. The new tendrils and layers of female fragrance in the air spoke of her awakening need…but also her tenuous situation. The smell of
Kalor
had been wild and hot—a female first going into heat, unable to control herself.
Scintil
was different—it was an in-between stage, a holding pattern. It spoke of uncertainty and the need for security and protection. But under it all was still Emily’s own, sweet feminine musk which called to him.

The new scent combination was a good thing, Tragar told himself. It roused his protective urges more than his mating instincts. Oh, he still had fantasies of tasting her and taking her—of pressing his shaft deep within her pussy until she opened for all of him and took his mating fist deep within for bonding. But they weren’t so overwhelming as to make him blind to her needs for safety. She needed a male to guard her at this most fragile and vulnerable time when her nectar started to flow. More than ever he wanted to be that male, even though he knew he could not be the one who would eventually breed and bond her.

Doubtless once they finally reached the Holy Mountains of Rageron the elders would find the right male for her—one who deserved her. One who hadn’t turned his back on the Goddess and everything the Kindred stood for in order to pursue death.

The idea of that—of another male taking Emily, holding her sweet, curvy body close and bonding her to him—made a low growl rise in the back of Tragar’s throat. But he told himself not to be ridiculous.

You’re just feeling protective because of her scent,
he told himself uneasily.
She’s nothing to you—not really.
But if that was true, why hadn’t he been able to kill her? Even before he’d learned she was
Khalla
he had been strangely reluctant to carry out his contract. The
narsh
on his arm burned again—reminding him that what he was doing was both foolish and lethal—tantamount to signing his own death warrant. Yet, what else could he do?

Sighing, he went back to the control area to make the call to G’nera. Maybe his old master could help him make sense of this mess—he just prayed that Xen’dex was indeed there. If not, Tragar had no idea what to do or who to turn to.

Chapter
Twelve

Emily put the small cutting implement she’d found, which looked kind of like curved scissors, down on the bathroom counter. Then, with a sigh, she pulled her newly altered nightgown over her head. She’d hated like hell to cut up her only clothing but she didn’t see any way around it. Her new extra-large porn star nipples were simply too sensitive to let anything touch them and she’d told herself that cutting holes for them to poke out of would be better than just going around topless all the time.

Now, surveying the results in the 3D viewer, she wasn’t so sure. The pale blue nightgown still clung to the full curves of her breasts but now her nipples were jutting out of it obscenely, as though they were playing a perverted game of peek-a-boo. Still, at least
most
of her was covered, she reasoned. And she didn’t feel like someone was scraping her sensitive peaks raw with sandpaper.

Looking down, she fingered the soft, silky material of the nightgown. How could something so soft feel so rough and hurt so much? It didn’t make any sense. The only thing that
didn’t
hurt was the big Kindred’s touch. His hands and mouth on her had been incredible—more pleasurable than anything else she’d ever felt. And that included the little vibrator she’d used back in college before Grayson had hurt her and turned her off sex forever.

Stop it,
she told herself uneasily.
Stop thinking about it. Tragar only did what he had to do, that’s all.

But God, there was no denying that letting him do it had made her more hot and bothered than she could ever remember being in her life. And there was something else, too. In the past, any kind of sexual thought and feeling had immediately brought the rape to mind, which had caused her to shove down any kind of urges she was tempted to feel. But when she was with Tragar…

When I’m with him, I don’t think about what Grayson did at all. I can’t—all I can concentrate on is his hands on my body…his mouth on my breasts…Is it because he’s of my same species, like he said? Or is it something else?

No, she had to
stop
this line of thought! She had much bigger things to worry about right now. Such as how the hell she could stop the weird biological change her body seemed determined to go through. And when, if ever, she would get back home. Not that she could teach Kindergarten in the state she was currently in, but if she could somehow reverse it and go back to normal—

“Oh!” Emily gasped as something small and furry in the corner of the room caught her eye. She was frozen for a split second but whatever it was scuttled out of sight before she could see much more than a pair of beady red eyes and a long, skinny tail. Ugh—well so much for being “the only two living beings” aboard the ship! She wondered if Tragar knew he had a pest problem—then again was
one
whatever it was really a problem? She hadn’t seen anything else like it since she’d been on board. Of course, she
had
been slightly distracted…

That thought led to more memories of him licking her nipples slowly and gently which she quickly tried to suppress. Instead, she concentrated on smoothing down her nightgown and tidying her hair which had gotten considerably mussed in the past hour she’d spent with the big Kindred. She would tell him about the mouse or whatever it was she’d seen later but for now she just wanted to look presentable. Well, as presentable as she could while dressed as a stripper, anyway.

Watching herself in the 3-D viewer, her eyes were inescapably drawn to the wide, puffy nipples poking out of her butchered nightgown. To her dismay, she saw that two large amber beads had formed on either nipple. As she watched, one of the beads grew too large and broke, slipping down her areola to leave a honey colored stain on her nightgown. Oh God, was she
leaking
now? Was she going to start shooting off like a fountain, like Tragar had said?

Biting her lip, she turned away from the viewer to go find him. Maybe he’d had a chance to speak to his old teacher by now and would have some idea of what to do for her.

Liar—you just want to let him lick your nipples again!
whispered a snarky little voice in the back of her head. Emily pushed it away.
Or maybe let him cuddle you while you cry on his big, muscular shoulder, or…

Stop it! He’s a trained assassin—a killer,
she reminded herself sharply.
And the only reason he’s helping you instead of shoving you into a body bag is because of biology—he said so himself. So don’t start getting hung up on him, Emily—he’s trouble with a capital T and he doesn’t care anything for you. Not really. Don’t forget it.

* * * * *

“Tragar. I am…surprised to hear from you.” His old Master Xen’dex’s voice came through loud and clear but his image was missing. Apparently his home transmitter wasn’t strong enough to send a visual likeness such a distance through space. Not that Tragar minded, just hearing his old master’s voice again made him feel better. As a young male, growing to maturity on Rageron, there seemed to be no problem too thorny for Master Xen’dex to solve, no question he didn’t have the answer to.