Forgotten (31 page)

Deep inside, the Knowing warned her to be
wary—something was going on. Something to do with Rone and the
little voice that had spoken to her when he touched her. Until she
found out what it was and what it wanted, she was in danger.

Chapter
Seventeen

Rone sighed again as he
toweled off. Despite the amazing orgasm Kate had given him in the
shower—
which wasn’t on purpose,
he reminded himself—his entire body still ached
with need. That was because of the
hunger
growing steadily inside him
again, he was sure. Though the feel of her soft little hands on him
fed it some, it had also awakened his Beast. And it wasn’t the
pleasure that she could give to him that he needed to quell the
fierce, driving force inside him.

It was the pleasure
that
he
could
give to
her
.

All Wulven Kindred had a very special bond
with their mates—a relationship which helped them control the Beast
that lived within. For the Beast thrived on sexual pleasure—the
pleasure of the Wulven’s female. In order to keep the wild being
inside him in check, a Wulven needed to make his mate come often
and hard.

If only she would have let me finish her—oh,
Kate! Need to feel you coming in my arms so fucking bad, baby!

But that wasn’t all he
needed, Rone had to admit to himself. Giving Kate an orgasm with
his hands and fingers might quench the
hunger
momentarily but the effects
wouldn’t last for long. What he truly needed was to taste her. The
sweet taste of her pussy honey, straight from the source, was the
only thing that would help to keep his Beast from coming
out.

And if the Beast came out, it would want to
do much more than just taste Kate—it would either kill her or breed
her with the rough lust of the animal it was. And there would be
nothing Rone could do to stop it.

Rone shivered when he thought about it. He
hadn’t had an uncontrolled change in years—not since before he’d
met and joined with Kate. How well he remembered the early days
they’d been together! When he had finally stopped resisting his
attraction to her, they’d had an open and frank discussion of his
needs, the Beast within him, and the only way he could control it.
Kate had been uncertain at first but by then they had been dating
for months and she’d been willing to try and give him what he
needed—to be the kind of mate a Wulven had to have in order to keep
the raging Beast within in check.

Now, of course, she had
forgotten all of that. She had no idea how precarious their
situation was. After being helped by the priestess in the Sacred
Grove, Rone had felt more or less in control of himself. But now,
following their intensely sexual experience in the shower, he could
feel the
hunger
growing exponentially and the Beast moving restlessly inside
him. It needed to feed…needed to taste the sweet nectar that flowed
between Kate’s thighs. Or rather, Rone needed to if he wanted to
keep it in check.

But I can’t,
he reminded himself.
It
took months to convince her to let me taste her before—months
before I knew we could be together because she was willing to
spread her thighs for me and let me lap her sweet pussy whenever
and wherever I needed to. But that’s all gone now—we’re back to
square one as she puts it.

He didn’t have time to
start at square one, though. Not if he wanted to keep Kate safe
from his Beast. He could feel the
hunger
growing every minute and the
closer he got to her without being able to satiate that burning
drive to pleasure and taste her, the more danger she was
in.

Have to try and stay away
from her. Get away to keep her safe,
he
thought. But how? They were locked into this damn bubble together
and there didn’t seem to be a way out. What in the Seven Hells was
he going to do?

Calm. Be calm.
He took a deep breath and tried to send calming
messages to his Beast.
Relax. Be at ease.
Be at peace.

Within himself, he felt the Beast growl once
more and then subside…for now. He wondered how long the slight
reprieve would last…

“
Rone?” He’d been studying
the tiled floor of the fresher area as he tried to get hold of
himself. Kate’s soft, high voice made him look up.

“
Uh-huh?” He tried to keep
his voice sounding relaxed and normal but he could hear a hint of
the Beast’s growl deep in his chest as he spoke. He cleared his
throat and tried again. “Yes?”

“
Are you okay?” She was
looking at him with a worried expression on her lovely face. “You
seem…upset about something.”

For a split second Rone considered telling
her the truth. Considered telling her about his Beast and what it
needed—telling her how much danger she would shortly be in if she
didn’t allow him to taste and pleasure her.

But he didn’t want to do that. Didn’t want
Kate to feel pressured into doing anything. He loved her, damn it!
He didn’t want to scare or coerce her. Just as he had in the
beginning of their relationship, he wanted to woo her. To bring her
to him and let her open herself to him slowly.

But back when they’d first met, they hadn’t
been mated. His Beast had never tasted her honey and developed a
craving for it. An addiction—that was what it amounted to. And like
a hungry junky too long without a fix, the Beast was craving Kate.
It had been over six solar months since Rone had held her in his
arms…since he had tasted her and made her come.

It had also been six months since they had
held each other and joined together in the Breeding Chair. Rone
missed that too—missed it desperately—but it wasn’t as necessary as
tasting Kate to keep the Beast in check. Damn it, if only she
hadn’t had that bad experience in college that had turned her off
being tasted! He wondered, not for the first time, exactly what had
happened to her and why it had made her so shy of spreading her
thighs for a male’s tongue…

“
Rone?” she said again and
he realized he was taking too long to answer her
question.

“
I’m fine,” he said
shortly. “Just fine, baby. Come on—let’s see if we can find some
clothes to wear. I don’t want to run around in a damp towel the
whole time we’re stuck here.” Which wouldn’t be long, he
hoped.

They went to the closet area Rone had found
beside the sleeping platform and looked through the clothing that
was hanging on the old-fashioned Earth type wire hangers.

“
This really
is
like my apartment in
college,” Kate remarked. “We had a closet just like this but it was
jammed with all kinds of things because it was basically our only
storage. And…” her voice trailed off as she lifted one of the
hangers. “Okay,
this
isn’t the same,” she remarked flatly.

Rone had a look at the
garment hanging from the wire hanger and had to bite back a groan
when he imagined Kate in it. It was a tiny little black lace body
suit with holes cut in the front where her breasts would go and a
long slit down the center of the crotch. Rone could picture his
mate wearing it, her plump, pink nipples poking out of the front
and the soft, swollen lips of her pussy on display down
below…
No—can’t think like that! Have to
keep control of yourself,
he told himself
sternly, striving to banish the image.

“
Okay, not wearing
that
.” Kate muttered,
putting the black lace body suit back quickly. She reached for
another hanger and pulled out a red see-through bikini that looked
to be just her size.

“
What the hell?” she
muttered, shoving it back into the closet too. “Who picked the
stuff in here—a clerk from an X-rated lingerie shop?”

Rone cleared his throat. “Uh, I’m sure there
must be something else for you, baby. When I grabbed the belt off
the robe in here, I saw lots of things that looked like they were
your size.”

“
Well, there doesn’t seem
to be much now—for either of us,” Kate pointed out. “I don’t even
see the robe you were talking about.”

Actually, Rone didn’t either. In fact, the
only thing hanging in the closet that seemed to be his size was a
pair of long black satin sleep trousers.

“
Huh,” Kate muttered as he
pulled them on. “Well, they fit you all right and at least there’s
no hole in the crotch. How come you get something normal to wear
while everything in here for me looks like the wardrobe department
for a porno?”

“
I don’t know.” Rone
shrugged. “Look again—there has to be
something
you can wear.”

“
There’s this, I guess.”
Kate was looking at another outfit doubtfully. It appeared to be a
short, silky white nightdress with a lacy hem. It had spaghetti
straps and the material was extremely sheer but it also had a white
silk robe to go with it as well as a pair of white lace
panties.

“
That seems nice.” Rone
tried to keep his voice neutral. He hoped Kate couldn’t guess that
he was imagining her in all of the sexy outfits she kept holding
up. He was trying not to but he couldn’t seem to help
himself.

Kate sighed. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be
much of anything else that isn’t completely indecent. So I guess
this is it.”

She took the outfit back into the fresher
and in a moment she reemerged wearing the silky white gown and
robe.

Again, Rone had to hold back a groan. The
white silk of the fabric molded itself to her breasts and the
material was so thin he could clearly see outlines of her pink
nipples, pressing against the fabric. The white lace hem fell at
her upper thighs and barely covered the little panties that went
with it. The white robe covered her shoulders but when Kate tugged
at it, it somehow refused to meet over her full breasts.

“
Well, here I am.” She
gave him a nervous smile. “It’s not as good as your basic black but
I guess it’ll have to do.”

“
It’s
beautiful—
you’re
beautiful,” Rone said hoarsely. She looked so like she had on
their Joining night it took his breath away. She’d been wearing an
outfit very like the white lace one she had on but that one had
been emerald green.

“
Oh, well…” She gave a
self-conscious little laugh and touched her hair which was a riot
of golden red curls around her head. “I did find a blow dryer where
there wasn’t one before so at least I don’t look like a drowned
rat.” She frowned. “And my clothes—you know the ones I wore here?
Are gone. It seems like things appear and disappear around here
without warning.”

“
I suppose so,” Rone
murmured. Despite his promise to himself to leave her alone and
keep his distance from her, he couldn’t help stepping forward to
take her by the shoulders.

“
What?” Kate asked, a bit
defensively when he looked her up and down.

“
Nothing.” Rone sighed.
“It’s just…this little outfit reminds me a lot of what you wore on
our Joining night.”

“
It does?” Kate bit her
lip. “I’m sorry—does it bother you? I guess I could change only…I’m
not exactly sure what I could wear…”

“
No, it’s fine. It’s
lovely and you look gorgeous in it, baby,” he assured her. Letting
her go, he took a step back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you
uncomfortable.”

“
It’s okay.” Kate smiled,
obviously trying to keep things light. “You know what? I’m
starving. I think I’ll see what’s in the fridge. You want
something?”

“
I’m not hungry.” Except
for the taste of her. But he couldn’t say that out loud. Instead,
he went to the small couch and sat down, intending to watch
something on the viewscreen.

Or he
tried
to sit down, anyway. Instead,
he fell right through the solid-seeming piece of
furniture.

“
What the—?” He landed
with a thump on his ass on the carpeted floor in front of the
couch. “Ow! What in the Seven Hells?” He swore loudly and Kate came
rushing over.

“
What happened? Did you
hurt yourself?”

“
No. I tried to sit down
and I couldn’t,” Rone growled.

“
You couldn’t? What do you
mean you
couldn’t?”

“
I mean I fell right
through it somehow. Like it was a hologram.”

“
You fell
through
it?” Kate patted
the back of the couch. “It seems solid enough to me.”

“
You try sitting on it
then,” Rone challenged her. “I’m telling you, there’s something
wrong with the damn thing.”

“
Okay.” Kate came to stand
in front of the couch with the backs of her legs pressed against
the edge of one broad, blue cushion. She lowered herself gingerly
until her bottom was just touching the top of the cushion. For a
moment Rone thought it would hold her with no problem. But then,
just as he had done, Kate sank right through the couch and landed
with a thump on the floor in front of it.

“
Be careful!” He tried to
grab her but couldn’t reach her in time.

“
Ouch!” Kate glared
mistrustfully at the innocent looking couch. “What the hell is
wrong with that thing? It feels fine until you try to put your
weight on it and then it dumps you!”