Apparition (7 page)

“Go, Caveat,” Zoe commanded. “Go.”

Caveat snorted then lowered his head. He spun around
and took off. His tail was arched high; he bucked his strong powerful legs off
to one side away from Zoe. The wind he created flapped his mane across his
thick neck. He stopped short, wheeled, returned and she told him to go, pushing
at him. Caveat raced off. He stopped and turned, but he didn’t come back. He
nickered. Zoe nickered back. Caveat trotted away, head lowered. Zoe collapsed
into Doss’ arms.

Chapter 4

Zoe’s heart was in agony. Doss not only sensed it, but
because of his natural ability to feel emotion so highly, he felt some of her
pain. She looked lost and alone, defeated and resigned. Once again too many
emotions bombarded his senses. This time Doss just sat beside her on the bed
and felt with her. He realized that when she became his mate he would better
understand how she was feeling, but right now he just needed to listen to how
she felt.

Doss reached for her hand. The second he touched her
he inhaled deeply. Secretions formed immediately to calm her. Soon her head was
pressed to his chest. Doss pulled her closer to connect her cheek to his skin.
Tears dripped from her eyes to his flesh, absorbing into his skin. Each one
sent a shock to his system to try harder. He knew why humans cried. There was a
taste to her tears.
Bitterness, hurt, suffering.
Grief
needed to be expelled; humans had no shield to regulate emotion and so they
needed an outlet. Doss felt each tear. And with it came the erratic pounding of
her heart.

Sorrow assaulted him. It was like feeling the death of
his mother through Zoe. Every emotion he had controlled the day she died was
now awash within his body. All he could do was pull her tighter. He kissed the
top of her head, stroked her hair. Her bared breasts were crushed against him.
She was feeling so alone within her emotions, abandoned. She felt she had
betrayed and Doss knew she had been betrayed. All of the humans had, the
Tonans
were bastards.

But she wasn’t alone. There was no one more loyal than
he. “Zoe,” Doss whispered. “Belong to me forever. I won’t leave you. I would
never betray you or abandon you.”

“Not the cheating boyfriend type, huh?” she muttered.

Doss frowned. “Humans cheat on their mates? How is
that possible?” The idea alone was incomprehensible to him. “I would never
cheat on you, either. I promise to love you. I will protect you with my life.
Maybe in time you will love me.”

When she looked up at him his heart melted. Her dark
eyes were wet and overflowing. Her cheeks were red and stained with her sorrow.
Doss had never seen such dark depthless eyes. No wonder she was filled with
emotion, it was as endless as her intensity. She curled her arm around his neck
and pulled him closer. Doss had no idea what she had in mind, but when she
pressed her lips to his, Doss thought he would lose his mind with the taste of
her. Her full rosy mouth was soft and warm. Their saliva mixed and Doss felt
like he was inside of her.

Zoe’s tongue caressed his and he sucked her into his
mouth. She was like a drug, Doss knew what drugs were. Long ago, his kind had
experimented with certain things to enhance their sexual drive. Doss was
startled; the idea was over fifty thousand years old. Doss had no idea his
memories stretched back that far. But one taste of her and he knew the memory
was true, her scent and saliva triggered the thought.
Tonan
and
Castian
, had experimented a great deal to become
the race they were now.

Doss groaned when their kiss broke and his flexible
pants were strained across his cock.
What
the hell?
Doss knew it was an
erection. When he had last gone into must four hundred years ago, it had
happened once. A white substance sticky like tree sap had sprayed up like an
eruption. What it meant he had no idea. No one talked to him. He had been
considered young when his mother had died; she had explained nothing of mating.
Perhaps she had thought since he was a hybrid he would never have one. There
was something the female needed to do to trigger the memory.

“Zoe, I need to take these off,” Doss said as he
struggled from his pants.

To his surprise she helped him. When he sprang free,
her hand was on him. She wrapped her fingers around his huge maleness and he
heard her sharp intake of breath. Her gasp and the scent of her breath drew a
deep memory. Once his organ was inside her,
somewhere
,
he would need to bite her to relax her. He would grow much larger. He would
hurt her if he didn’t secrete his venom first. Never was he to harm her.

“You have to be careful,” Zoe said. There was a tremor
to her voice. “I’ve been with a man before but you weigh so much.”

“I’m going to be on top of you?” he was incredulous.
He couldn’t even ride Caveat, how was he to ride her?

“Sooner or later I imagine you will,” she replied.

“How is that possible?”

She looked at him in confusion. “Have you ever had sex
before?”

“No.”

There was definite surprise radiating from her. “How
old are you? We heard that
Castians
and
Tonans
go into must about every four hundred years to
create first a female child then a male. Is this your first must?”

Doss was feeling uneasy. What if she didn’t want him?
She would realize when he said his age he was in his second must but had never
had a female. They spurned him. Would she? What was he to do if even human
females despised him for being a hybrid? But Doss was no liar; he wouldn’t
start by lying to her.

“I’m eight hundred years old.”

Her eyes widened in stunned surprise. Doss waited for
her to laugh at him. When she smiled Doss almost panicked.

“Wow, do you ever look hot and sexy for an old fart.”

Doss frowned. Farts stunk. Did he smell? He gave a
cautious sniff to an armpit.

Now Zoe did laugh. “You don’t smell. I meant you’re
very handsome.”

Doss relaxed. She looked like she had no intention of
leaving. “I’m a
Tonian
. Not
Castian
,
nor
Tonan
.” He figured he may as well leap right in.

“That’s good considering I hate both
Castians
and
Tonans
. Why don’t
you lie on the bed?” she suggested.

Doss was filled with elation. She wasn’t going to
spurn him or hurt his feelings. He always damned his
Castian
emotional side, it was so hard to control, now he reveled in it. He reveled in
the emotion of acceptance, his first in seven hundred years. They shifted
position and Doss stretched out before her wondering what she would do. At
first she just gazed upon him. She looked from his head to his feet. Of course
she would need to see if he was acceptable. He had and was still seeing her
nude, she was more than adequate. Those round breast globes moved slightly when
she did. Doss lifted his hand and hesitated.

“Go ahead,” she said. “They won’t bite you.”

Bite?

Before he could think about that her hand was wrapped
around his cock again. Doss shuddered. She moved her fingers up and down his
long erection. Zoe was bent over her knees and blowing on his arousal. When she
closed her lips around him, Doss thought he would scream. An odd thought for a
powerful warrior. Back and forth she rocked. Secretions from her wet warmth
slipped into his flesh. They were absorbed and flowed to his brain allowing him
to scent what she was feeling. She was deriving almost as much pleasure as he
was.

Her little tongue roamed over the tip making him want
to strain his hips at her, but he knew it was important to let her set her own
pace. He wasn’t to scare her. When she sucked his cock deeper and deeper into
her mouth Doss thought he would expire. His hand settled onto her rump and he
squeezed ever so gently. Her skin was so soft, she was so much smaller. Doss
felt his power build as he hardened. Doss groaned.

“Is this sex, Zoe?” he whispered and couldn’t keep the
tremor from his tone.

Zoe lifted her head and smiled at him. She looked
pleased, she smelled very strongly of desire.
“Part of it.”
There was a change in her tone.
More throaty.
Doss
wanted to pounce on her.

Ah yes, he
would be on top of her, she was right.

When Zoe lifted her leg across his middle Doss
immediately put his hands on her waist. He rubbed her tight ass as she rose
over him. A delicious aroma was coming from her opening where her female mound
was. Doss thought he would go wild when his cock tasted her. His long hardness
was secreting juices as she slid him inside of her. Fluids met and mixed. Doss
knew her, he knew her body and she was his.

Doss had seen other females who were marked, but that
was long ago. Zoe would wear his tattoo across her shoulder blade. That meant
she would need to be under him.
But not yet.
Right now
he just lay back and enjoyed the rhythm of her hips as she rode him. Her hands
were planted firmly on his glistening chest. Her breath came out in quick tiny
puffs.

“Doss, you feel amazing.” She gasped and moaned the
words as she moved faster.

Not all of him entered her. She was being cautious,
but his cock was slick with need and she was aroused and ready. Her heady scent
of wanting him made his heart hammer.
She
wanted
him.
Doss needed more. Zoe
squealed when he flipped her under him. His hips plowed against her making her
scream when every inch of him found its mark. Doss remembered to keep his
weight from her.
He not only wasn’t to crush her
, he
couldn’t have. Though his shield was down it was working furiously on his
insides to regulate what she could carry.

His must was high and if not for his shield, she could
have been hurt. Now Doss understood why his
Castian
half would give a child of his a shield. If Zoe were impregnated with his babe,
her musky scent would put her in danger. Doss shrugged off the
Tonan
selfish half immediately that suggested for a few days
he would be vulnerable if a babe were conceived. It meant giving an actual
piece of his shield that would need to regenerate. From deep inside, Doss knew
a
Tonan
could stop his armor from filling his cock
with a piece of shield if he chose. Doss wasn’t certain if his body could do
the same thing or if he was more prone to a
Castian’s
way of mating. It was his desire to mate. Part of mating was to give her his
protection always. Even from
himself
. He felt his
shield physically lift his arms and legs higher from within and force his
forearms and knees to hold more of his weight.

She feels so
incredible.

Zoe wrapped her legs around his waist and clung tight.
She cried out and Doss felt the most amazing secretion absorbed into his cock.
Waves of desire rushed through her into him. He had done that to her. She
flowed like warm flavored water invading every ounce of his entire being. Doss
was moving harder and faster. His hand gripped her behind holding her in place.
He felt her tire beneath him. She was supposed to. A warrior had great stamina
to wear out his opponent. Zoe wasn’t his opponent, but he needed her completely
exhausted and relaxed for his bite. She wasn’t to move when he marked her.

Doss felt his seed begin to move up into his cock,
expanding him further. His other hand tangled in her hair. Zoe was groaning and
gasping, struggling. Doss scented her emotion. She was afraid. He heard her say
something about the size of the
Castian
prisoners who
weren’t allowed to bite their victim. Zoe had heard their screams of agony. She
tensed beneath him; her wild eyes looked up at him imploringly. The thought
made Doss furious. Deeper hate of
Castians
raged.
They had frightened
his
female to
their sex.

As Doss grew larger he thrust slower. “I’m going to
turn you around, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you, Zoe. I will be very
gentle.”

Remaining buried within her Doss turned her onto her
belly and pulled her hips up, he continued to pump as he filled. He pulled
Zoe’s behind higher but left her on her hands, her face pressed to the sheets.
Doss leaned over her and bit her neck. Zoe cried out but settled immediately.
The venom worked almost instantaneously. Her entire body relaxed. Doss wasn’t
ready to come yet. He knew his seed was to be inside her. He wanted her to be calm;
his secretions went into overdrive invading her skin with the need he had to
make her feel safe in his arms.

“Am I hurting you?” he asked.

“No,” she whispered on a tiny breath. “Oh you feel so
amazing.”

Doss was almost ready. He bit Zoe again and trailed
his venom-dripping fangs across her shoulder into her yielding flesh. He was
mating with her. She was his. Doss could hardly contain the feeling of desire;
the overwhelming need to protect her engulfed him. Every ancient memory of
mating a female bombarded him. They were one. When he finished, the tattoo on
her back glowed like a streak of white while smeared with her blood. Doss
wasn’t concerned. The healing waters were right in the cave. He sensed no
distress from her.