15 Targeted (28 page)

“As if anyone could be comfortable in the state I’m in,” Emily muttered to herself, looking down at her chest. Her breasts were still much too large and swollen and her nipples were so sensitive she couldn’t bear to let anything or anyone touch them.
Well, anyone but Tragar,
she amended to herself and felt a dull blush spreading over her cheeks.

Several times, during their journey to the mysterious planet where his old master lived, she’d been forced to go to him and admit her breasts were leaking the strange, sweet amber honey he called “nectar.” Each time, he sat her matter-of-factly on his lap and pinched her nipples until the leaking stopped.

And every time, Emily was helpless to stop herself from having a quick, hard orgasm from the experience.

“So embarrassing,” she muttered to herself, feeling her cheeks get even hotter as she remembered the intense pleasure he gave her just from squeezing her sensitive buds. Sometimes if the nectar wouldn’t stop flowing, he tugged her nipples gently or rolled them between his fingers, kneading and massaging them while she writhed helplessly in his lap. At such times, she couldn’t stop the pleasure from building inside her again, making her pussy feel wet and swollen as he touched her so intimately.

It was humiliating, especially since she knew he was only doing what he had to do in order to keep her body in check and stop her from going deeper into the second stage of
Tenrah.
What was it called again? Oh right—
Scintil.
She was in
Scintil
and Tragar was trying to keep her from going into
Vlammen.

God, can’t believe I’m starting to remember all the terminology now! It’s like some weird, alien biology course except
I’m
the alien I’m studying.

It was all too strange and embarrassing for Emily and to make matters worse, her emotions were all over the place. She kept comparing this change in her body to getting her period for the first time—although it was infinitely worse—but there was one thing the
Tenrah
appeared to have in common with her period—she was grouchy and angry and moody as hell.

Emily knew some women who were barely affected by hormones during “that time of the month” but unfortunately, she wasn’t one of them. Back when she’d been having a normal cycle, she used to get sad and mad and depressed all at once. Thankfully, the intense moods usually only happened the day before her period finally hit. Once it started, she felt better despite the inevitable cramps. But now the intense emotions seemed to have settled onto her like a coat she couldn’t take off and there was no end in sight.

The worst thing was, even though she knew her emotions were due to the new hormones in her system, she couldn’t shrug off their effects. Back when she’d just been having her period, she could tell herself, “Sure, I feel bad now but it’s just hormonal. This will be over in a little while and I’ll feel like myself again.” But now she couldn’t comfort herself like that anymore.

For one thing, though her emotions were heightened, all of her concerns for the future were absolutely valid. And for another, she couldn’t say she’d get “back to herself” because she didn’t
know
herself anymore. She was changing, damn it! And not for the better.

“I just want this to all be over,” she muttered to herself. “Just want to go home and live a normal life.”

Not that anything would be normal now that she’d had the trouble with Grayson coming back into her world. But she was willing to bet he’d leave her strictly alone now that Tragar had crushed his hand.

Why did he do that, anyway?
she wondered.
He’s been so careful to tell me he doesn’t care—that he’s only taking care of me because his biology makes him do it. So why bother with punishing Grayson for what he did?

She didn’t know. Maybe it was because hurting a
Khalla
was akin to defacing a priceless work of art. Emily supposed an art lover might want to break the hand of a vandal who graffitied the
Mona Lisa.

Yeah right—only you’re more like the
Moaning
Lisa,
whispered the snarky little voice in her head.
Begging and gasping and writhing all over his lap and he’s only touching you and helping you because he
has
to. Like he has to put up with you acting like a cat in heat while he does what has to be done.

Groaning in humiliation, Emily started to put her head in her hands. But she jumped and gasped with pain as her forearms brushed her too-sensitive nipples.

“Ouch—God damn it!” she nearly shouted. “What the
hell
is wrong with me? Why can’t I even
touch
myself without feeling like I’m being poked with needles and knives?”

“It’s simply part of this stage of your Shift,” a deep voice answered behind her.

Emily jumped and gasped in pain as her arms brushed her nipples once more. God, she needed some kind of protective shield or something between her breasts and the rest of the world! It didn’t help that they were so much bigger than she was used to that she kept touching them by accident.

“Are you all right?” The big Beast Kindred came around to stand in front of her, a worried expression in his golden eyes. “Are you having pain? Is your nectar flowing again?”

“No and it only hurts when I touch them,” Emily said, looking at him resentfully. Despite the fact that he’d licked and pinched her nipples over and over again, she still felt incredibly self conscious sitting there in nothing but her thin nighty with her tight, pink buds poking out of it.

She wished she could hide herself from the big Kindred or at least feel nothing when he looked at her—the way she was sure he felt nothing. But she couldn’t help feeling drawn to him. And whenever he was near enough for her to smell his warm, spicy scent—as he was now—she got a hot tingling sensation between her legs and her pussy felt swollen and achy. It made her angry, both with herself and with him. Especially since she knew he was only helping her because his biology dictated he must.

“Did you just come to check on me or did you have something to say?” she demanded. She was well aware that she sounded petulant and sullen but she didn’t care. She was tired of feeling so out of control of her own body and the big Kindred was a convenient target.

He frowned.

“I came to give you this.” He held out one large hand which had a small pink pill in it.

“What’s that? Is it to stop my, uh, nectar from flowing? And why didn’t you give it to me in the first place?” she asked, taking it from him.

“This will
not
stop your nectar from flowing—nothing can do that indefinitely.” Tragar sounded stern. “Eventually it will have to flow from your breasts but not until you’re fully into the second stages of
Scintil.”

“What?” She stared at him blankly. “What are you—”

“The pill in your hand contains trace amounts of translation bacteria. As a Kindred you’ll have some natural linguistic ability but this will help reawaken the part of your brain that processes language.”

“I always
have
been good with languages,” Emily admitted. “I took French and Spanish and German and aced them all. I even had a professor who thought I’d make a good translator but I like kids too much—I really wanted to teach kindergarten.”

“Good—then this pill should take effect almost immediately.” He looked at her gravely. “I want you to be able to understand my old Master when he speaks to you and explains what is happening to your body.”

“Oh my
God.”
Emily shook her head. What’s happening to my body? Seriously? You sound like my mom when she gave me the talk about the birds and the bees!”

He frowned. “I fail to see what insects and avian creatures from Earth have to do with anything. Why would your mother speak to you about them?”

“Never mind.” Emily waved a hand, dismissing her words. “It’s an Earth thing. So when do I get to meet your old teacher? Will he be able to help me reverse this whole weird
Tenrah
or at least stop it in its tracks?”

Tragar sighed and ran a hand over his face wearily.

“Emily, I have told you there is no stopping the process. Besides—would you really want to be stuck in the early stages of
Scintil
forever? With your breasts always full and tender, needing a release?”

“I…” She bit her lip. “I guess not. It’s really not very comfortable.” In fact, her breasts felt almost painfully full but she didn’t want to admit that. He seemed to know anyway, however.

“Were we closer to Rageron and if I was truly your chosen mate, I would be massaging you constantly, trying to induce your nectar to flow and ease the pressure in your breasts,” he said softly. “But that isn’t safe right now—not so far from the elders who can help you pick a true mate to see you through the rest of your
Tenrah.
All we can do for now is to try and hold the process back a little—but nothing can fully stop it. And nothing—
nothing—
that I have ever heard of can reverse it.”

“It stopped before,” she pointed out. “After Grayson…after he did what he did.”

“What he did was blasphemy. He hurt you—it’s a miracle he didn’t kill you,” Tragar said harshly. “And he only delayed your
Tenrah.”

“So I guess you wouldn’t even consider…helping me try to delay it again?” Another ten year reprieve would be better than nothing, she reasoned. But he was already shaking his head.

“No!” His eyes flashed. “A second wrong and early breeding
would
kill you. I have never heard of any
Khalla
surviving such a thing twice. I am sorry, Emily, but you must simply endure. Once the Shift begins, it
must
carry through to the end.”

Emily wanted to ask exactly what would happen at the end but she was afraid to. Afraid to find out that the
other
would come back and take over and that the girl she knew herself to be would cease to exist completely.

“Fine—I’ll take the pill,” she said at last.

“Good. We’re in orbit now and I’m ready to fire up the shuttle to take us down to the planet’s surface.” He nodded at her. “Come and meet me there as soon as you’re ready. We don’t have a moment to lose.”

“I just need a minute to get ready and I’ll be there.”

He nodded once, then turned and left.

Emily watched his broad back disappear resentfully. She knew what was happening to her body wasn’t his fault but she couldn’t help feeling angry with the big Kindred anyway. Her emotions surged again, making her want to lash out. Somehow she controlled the urge to run after him and give him a piece of her mind but that didn’t mean she was ready to accept everything he said.

Surely he had to be wrong. There had to be
some
way to stop this—some way to reverse all the bizarre changes going on with her body! Something she could do to halt the process before it was too late and she was changed forever.

No matter what the big Kindred said, she was determined to at least ask—to try and find out. If he wouldn’t help her, she would help herself, damn it!

* * * * *

“What do you
mean
I have to stay here?” Emily was glaring at him and it was all Tragar could do to keep from shifting uncomfortably in his seat. But he had to be firm with her.