15 Targeted (22 page)

“Master Xen’dex,” he said respectfully, addressing the blank viewscreen. “I’m very glad to have reached you. Many years have passed between us yet here I am, seeking your wisdom again.”

“Yes, many years…” his old teacher mused. “I heard what happened to you, my student. I am…more sorry than I can say. Sometimes the will of the Goddess is hard to fathom.”

“Or perhaps she’s just intentionally cruel,” Tragar growled. Then he got hold of himself. “Forgive me, Master, but I have a problem I think only you can help me solve.”

“Speak, Tragar. Tell me of this problem.”

Tragar took a deep breath, trying to think how to begin. But there was no easy way to say it.

“I have…stumbled on a
Khalla,”
he said at last.

“A true
Khalla?
Away from Rageron?” His old master sounded astonished.

“Far from our home world,” Tragar affirmed. “Not only that, she is in the throes of
Tenrah.
In fact, she just moved from
Kalor
into
Scintil.”

“The early or late stages of
Scintil?”
His master’s voice was sharp.

“Early stages yet. I, uh, performed the test myself.” Tragar cleared his throat. “Her nectar is not yet flowing but it
is
very sweet and she has extreme sensitivity to anything but my hands and, er…mouth.”

He coughed, trying to keep his voice even and unconcerned. But he couldn’t help remembering the way Emily had panted and moaned breathlessly as he licked the sweet nectar from her nipples. The look in her eyes—half drugged with pleasure as he tasted and stroked her sweet, pink peaks…

“That’s a very volatile situation,” Master Xen’dex’s voice pulled him from the illicit memory. “Are you her chosen mate?”

“I am not.” Tragar couldn’t help feeling a pang as he admitted it. “But I am acting as her mate until we can get her to the Kindred elders in the Holy Mountains on Rageron. However, now I am not certain if we can get there in time before she moves through the other stages of the Shift.”

“You can with the proper supplies and advice.” The certainty in his old master’s voice gave Tragar a boost of confidence. “But you must come to see me at once.”

“I’m still a solar day’s journey from the wormhole that dumps out by G’nera but I will set a new course immediately.”

“Good. In the meantime, the most important thing is to keep the nectar from flowing,” Xen’dex said. “If it starts, you must stop it.”

“How?” Tragar leaned forward, staring at the viewscreen as though he could look through it and see his old master’s face.

“Steady pressure applied until the flow stops should do it,” Xen’dex said. “When you get to me, I have some neutral-charge soft clamps that will help control the flow and some healing cream to help with pain. Until then, you’ll have to use your fingers if she’s too sensitive to let anything else touch her.”

Tragar shifted in his seat, picturing the scene…He could almost see himself cradling Emily in his lap, reaching around to cup her full breasts and pinch her tight nipples while she writhed against him… Then he felt a surge of guilt. He shouldn’t want to touch her so much. She wasn’t his to comfort and heal and protect—not really. He was only watching over her until he could get her to their home world where someone who was deserving of the honor of a
Khalla’s
love would take her from him. After the things he had done, he would never be worthy of her.

Just do what’s necessary,
he told himself sternly.
Don’t allow your heart to get involved—love only leads to pain.
A fact he knew from agonizing personal experience.

“I’ll do what is necessary,” he promised out loud—speaking to both his old master and himself. “Only that and nothing more.”

“A wise choice,” Xen’dex said. “And if the nectar continues to well up, you can try rolling the nipples between your fingers or tugging to stop the flow. The only thing you
don’t
want to do is suck them—you must resist the urge, even if you have to clean her peaks with your tongue.”

“Naturally not,” Tragar growled. He tried not to imagine suckling her pink peaks and massaging her breasts, urging the sweet, warm nectar to flow, but it was difficult to push the taboo image from his head. “I know it is forbidden.”

“Good. The nectar of a
Khalla
must be allowed to flow freely and bless the land on which it falls. No male is worthy of consuming such bounty—not even her chosen mate.”

“Which I am not,” Tragar said. The thought of such as he being a true mate to a
Khalla
was almost sacrilegious—he was completely unworthy after the life he had lived. “But even if I was, I would never suck the nectar from her peaks. It would be a blasphemy of the highest order.”

“I’m glad to hear you remember my lessons so well.” Master Xen’dex sounded pleased.

“I never thought I’d have to apply them,” Tragar said wryly. “I’m very glad you’re close enough to help.”

“It was the will of the Goddess,” Xen’dex said. “My connection is losing strength, Tragar. I hope to see you soon.”

“You will,” Tragar assured him. “I’m setting a course now.”

He turned off the viewscreen and punched in the new coordinates. He had just finished when he heard a soft sound behind him. Whirling around, he saw Emily standing there, biting her lush lower lip. There was a worried, uncertain look in her big eyes.

“So…you have to, uh, pinch me?” she asked softly. She was holding her arms crossed in front of her though she was clearly not touching her breasts.

“Only if your nectar starts flowing.” Tragar cleared his throat. “Hopefully it won’t be necessary.” He nodded. “I see that at least you’re able to tolerate the fabric of your night garment rubbing against your skin. That’s a good sign.”

“Uh, yeah. About that…” she began in a small voice. But then she simply stood there, looking at him indecisively, hiding her breasts.

“Emily?” He pushed the captain’s seat back from the control bank and swiveled it to face her. “Are you all right?”

“Not…exactly.” Slowly she dropped her arms to show him what she’d been hiding.

Tragar sucked in his breath when he saw her swollen pink nipples thrusting through two ragged holes in her night garment. Clearly the little female had been trying to make herself as decent as possible under the circumstances. However the sight of her puffy nipples poking out of the pale blue fabric was somehow even more provocative than her bare breasts had been.

But that wasn’t all there was to see—drops of amber liquid were welling from each tight peak and leaking slowly down to leave dark stains on her night garment. Clearly, she was beginning to flow. Her nectar was still cloudy and wasn’t flowing as freely as it would but still, this was a very bad sign indeed.

Tragar thought she looked like a fertility goddess with the amber nectar welling from her breasts. She looked beautiful. As well as very, very frightened.

“Gods,” he muttered, his shaft hardening instantly in his flight leathers. But his lust couldn’t help her—he pushed it away roughly and concentrated on controlling himself. After a moment he felt his mating fist, at least, go down.

“Tragar…I’m scared,” she said in a small voice. “This is bad, right?”

“Come here.” He motioned at his lap. He would have liked to take her someplace comfortable like the sleeping platform but there was no time—they needed to control the flow now, before things went any further.

She came to him hesitantly and perched carefully on his knee.

“Are…are you really going to pinch me again?”

“Does it frighten you?” he murmured, stroking her bare arms to try and calm her. “It didn’t hurt last time, did it?”

“No, but it…” She paused, clearly not sure how to continue.

“Go on,” Tragar encouraged gently. Her scent was clearly saying she needed comfort and reassurance and he wanted desperately to give it.

“It…well, it didn’t hurt—it felt
good.
Um, way
too
good, actually,” she said in a low voice. “It made me…I mean, I sort of lost control. When you pinched me, I mean.”

Tragar remembered the way she’d gasped and moaned when he first applied tight pressure to her peaks and suddenly understood.

“It made you come, didn’t it?” he murmured, still stroking her arm.

Shamefacedly, she nodded.

“I…I couldn’t help it. I don’t know why—”

“It’s not unusual for a
Khalla
to come when her nipples are stimulated,” Tragar told her. “During
Scintil,
they are the most sensitive part of you. It’s not unusual to feel pleasure associated with them in other parts of your body as well.”

“You mean in my…” She gave him a sidelong glance and crossed her legs nervously.

“In your pussy, yes,” he finished for her, feeling his cock surge again. Gods, it was a good thing she was sitting on his knee and not directly against his crotch! But he didn’t want to give in to his own lust and desire—her scent said she still needed reassurance. He wanted to make her feel better.

“It’s just…” She squeezed her thighs together which seemed to be a habit of hers when she was nervous. “It…I got so…so
wet.
It was embarrassing.”

Her voice had dropped so low Tragar could barely hear her but he understood what she was worried about.

“It’s common for a
Khalla’s
pussy to grow wet and swollen during the stimulation of her peaks,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. “During the later stages of Scintil and the beginning of
Vlammen
your cunt honey may flow as freely as your nectar. It is nothing to be worried or ashamed about.”

“I just…it was so
sudden.
I haven’t had an…an orgasm in years. Not since Grayson…I mean, I used to…to have them before that but after he…” She shook her head. “After that happened I never wanted anything to do with any kind of sex. Not even, uh, self stimulation.” She blushed hard as she said it, her pale cheeks going rosy red. “So I didn’t expect to ever feel, uh, anything ever again.”

Tragar knew how she felt. He too, was feeling things he’d never thought to experience again—emotions he’d thought were dead and buried. And all since he had taken Emily aboard his ship and into his life.

It’s just biology—just instinct,
he tried to tell himself. But could biology explain how the solid block of ice that had encased his heart for so many years seemed to finally be thawing? Could instinct explain why he wanted to hold her in his arms and comfort her, to protect her with his own life if necessary?

He pushed the thoughts away with some difficulty.

“Emily,” he murmured.
“Tenrah
is a time of awakening—some compare it to a second birth in some ways. You shouldn’t be surprised or ashamed of anything your body goes through at this time. And that includes coming when I have to stop the flow of your nectar.”

A look flitted over her face—half embarrassed defiance and half longing.

“You mean when you pinch me, right? Are you…do you need to do that now?”

“The sooner the better,” Tragar said grimly. “I’m afraid the longer you let your peaks flow unchecked, the more difficult it will be to stop.”

“All right. I guess I’m ready.” She settled herself more firmly in his lap and he bit back a groan at how good her soft bottom felt rubbing against his shaft. She clearly felt his hardness because she jumped a little and looked back at him. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, uh…”