Forgotten (36 page)

He’d been long due for a change. In fact, he
and Kate had been planning a trip back to his home planet of G’nera
before she was taken. There he could change in the Howlund—the
special lands devoted to Wulven males in their fur-forms—and allow
his Beast free reign on the night of the convergence of the full
double moons. Kate, of course, would have been locked away safely,
far from him when he finally set the creature inside him free.

But the trip had never happened since she
had been taken and he’d spent so much time searching for her. Now
the pressure inside him was reaching crisis proportions and Rone
was afraid of what might occur if he couldn’t get hold of
himself.

If he continued to provoke
his Beast by denying it the sweet taste of Kate’s honey, it would
eventually, inevitably break free, taking over his body and mind
and doing whatever it wanted to Kate. And what it wanted was to
ravage her—to not just fuck her but to
breed
her and make certain she was
filled with his seed. It was a savage act—one that was almost
certain to impregnate the female a Beast rutted with but Rone had
always rejected it, even when he and Kate had despaired of having a
baby after trying for three long years with no results.

“
I’d rather just have you,
Lalli,”
he’d told her earnestly when she
asked him about it.
“I don’t want to risk
you getting hurt. As much as I want a son, I don’t want one badly
enough to put you in danger.”

Kate had protested that she was strong
enough—that she could stand the Beast’s advances—but Rone rejected
the idea. He wouldn’t risk her—she was too small, too precious.
Now, if they didn’t get out of here soon, she might have to find
out just how strong she really was. If the Beast broke free…

Rone shook his
head.
No—no I can’t let that happen.
I
won’t
let that
happen.

He would rather die than hurt Kate—would
rather die than let her meet him in his fur-form—that of the
ravening Beast who wanted only to devour and despoil.

He took a deep breath and looked in the
mirror. Calm, he had to be calm…

It was a long, long time before Rone could
get the Beast under control and even longer before he dared to
leave the fresher. But finally he knew he couldn’t wait any longer.
He wrapped a white towel around his waist, since his black sleep
trousers had somehow disappeared, and stepped out into the main
part of the bubble apartment.

When he came out, he saw Kate standing there
with a sheet wrapped around her and a frown on her face.

“
Okay,” she said, glaring
at him. “Do you want to tell me exactly what just
happened?”

Rone spread his hands, trying to play it
off. “You’re the one who woke me up, rubbing against me naked in
the middle of the night. You tell me.”

“
You know that’s not what
I meant!” she snapped. “But speaking of that, how did we get naked
in the first place?”

He shrugged. “You said yourself things
appear and disappear at will around here.”

“
Yes, but objects you’re
using—not clothes right off your body!” Kate protested.

“
I don’t know any more
than you do.” Rone said shortly. “I don’t know what to tell
you,”

“
Yes, you do.” She lifted
her chin determinedly. “And what you can
tell
me is why it was so important
to you to…to make me come.” There were two spots of color high on
her cheekbones but she refused to drop her gaze, even though she
was clearly embarrassed.

Rone sighed and sank back
onto the bed…and kept sinking—he’d forgotten that none of the
furniture in this fucked up place would support him unless he was
touching Kate. And from the look on her face, she wasn’t going to
want him touching her for a long,
long
time to come.

Swearing, he extracted
himself from the soft, pillowy bed which was sucking him down and
went to stand in the kitchen area where he could at least lean
against the counter. Kate followed him—clearly she wasn’t going
anywhere until she got some kind of explanation. Which was going to
be a problem since he couldn’t explain his
hunger
without frightening her or
making her feel coerced.

“
I can’t talk about it,”
he said shortly. “I’m sorry, Kate but you wouldn’t
understand.”

“
Wouldn’t understand?” She
raised an eyebrow at him incredulously. “What wouldn’t I
understand?”

“
Any of this.” Rone made a
gesture with one hand, indicating himself and the whole
situation.

“
Why not?” Kate demanded.
“I must have understood it—understood
you—
before my memory got wiped. I
mean, we were married for
three
years.
So why can’t you just tell
me?”

“
Because I don’t want to
scare you, all right?” His voice came out in a muted roar and Kate
flinched back, a look of uncertainty on her face.

“
You’re doing a pretty
good job of that without explaining anything,” she remarked in a
trembling voice.

“
I’m sorry. Baby,
I’m
so sorry.”
Rone sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Please believe
me, if I could explain things to you, I would. But I can’t—I
just
can’t
.
Okay?”

Kate just looked at him for a moment. Then
she went over to the living area and turned on the viewscreen. She
sat down in front of the couch and started to watch whatever was
on—some kind of mindless drivel as far as Rone could see.

“
Kate…baby…” He came to
sit beside her but she scooted away from him.

“
We’re in danger here, you
know,” she said in a low voice, her eyes never leaving the
screen.

“
Yeah, no shit,” Rone
growled, putting his head in his hands. “Tell me something I don’t
know.”

“
Here’s something you
don’t know—I keep hearing a voice in my head. Whenever we’re
being…being intimate.”

“
What?” Rone looked over
at her. Her cheeks were flaming and she still wasn’t looking at
him.

“
A voice. It’s not
mine—not my internal monologue, I mean. It keeps telling me
to…to
do
things
with you. Keeps urging me to go further and further.”

“
What kinds of things?”
Rone asked, fascinated despite himself.

“
What kinds of things do
you think?” Kate snapped.
“Sexual
things. I heard it when we were in the shower
together and again just now in bed.”

He frowned. “Is that the only reason you
touched me…and let me touch you?”

“
No.” Kate shifted
uncomfortably. “I didn’t like hearing it. Both times I tried to
resist it. It feels strange…invasive. And it wants me to do things
I…I’m not ready to do.” She looked up at him at last. “Rone, I feel
like we’re being manipulated here, by an outside
entity.”

“
Who? The Madam of
Shadows?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. But
whoever it is, I don’t like it. I want to get away from this
place—I feel like we’ve gotten as much out of it as we can. You
know?”

“
I’m beginning to think
you’re right,” Rone said grimly. “It’s not safe here anymore. I
know Commander Sylvan sent us here but I don’t think he knew
anything about this part of the resort. There’s something wrong
here…something
dark.”

“
Exactly. But how can we
get out?” She crossed her arms over her chest and shivered.
“Because we really need to, Rone—need to get out of
here.”

“
I know, baby.” Without
thinking about it, he put an arm around her shoulders and hugged
her close for comfort, just as he’d done so many times in their
years together.

At first, Kate stiffened against him. Then,
slowly, she began to relax and let herself melt against him.

“
Hey,” she murmured after
a moment. “The couch is actually supporting us.”

It was. They were leaning against the front
of it and it was holding their weight—probably because they were
touching. It gave Rone an idea.

“
Why don’t we finish
sleeping here?” he suggested. “It doesn’t require as much physical
contact.”

“
It’s so small though,”
Kate objected. “We’d never be able to stretch out—well, you
wouldn’t anyway.”

“
That’s the idea,” Rone
pointed out. “We can’t get into too much trouble if we’re all
cramped up.” He hoped not, anyway.

“
Well…” Kate looked at him
doubtfully. “I guess it’s worth a try.”

Rone got the spread from the bed and draped
it over the small couch. Then, with a little maneuvering, he
managed to get on the couch with one foot on the floor and Kate
between his legs, leaning against his chest. It wasn’t very
comfortable and he hung off on both ends but after propping a
pillow under his neck, he was able to find a position he thought he
could sleep in.

Kate seemed a little more doubtful,
though.

“
Remind me again how this
is any better than the bed?” she asked, leaning against his chest
while trying to avoid his crotch. He was still only wearing a towel
since there was no other clothing to be found anywhere in the
apartment. At least his shaft had gone down but Rone had to admit
he could feel it twitching, threatening to get hard again now that
he had Kate in such close proximity.

“
It’ll be okay,” he tried
to reassure her. “I won’t hurt you, baby. You’re safe here with
me.” He hoped.

“
All right.” She looked
down at the growing bulge under his towel. “Um, is
that
going to be a
problem?”

“
Not a bit,” Rone promised
her, even though he could feel the Beast stirring uneasily inside
him. “It’s just a natural reaction to having you so close, that’s
all.”

“
So…just having me near
you, having me
touch
you, even in a non-sexual way, makes you, uh, hard?” She
looked at him, her cheeks pink with a blush.

He shrugged. “Sorry, can’t help it.”

“
But, is that the way it
always is? The way it always was, between us, I mean?”

“
Probably at least ninety
percent of the time.” He shrugged. “What can I say? You turn me
on.”

“
So, let me get this
straight—you walked around with blue balls for ninety percent of
your life since you met me?” she demanded.

“
Well, not exactly…” Rone
shifted uncomfortably.

“
Why? Were we constantly
making love?” Kate wanted to know. “I mean like, five or six or
seven times a day or something?”

“
We usually made love at
least once a day,” Rone said reluctantly. He was uncomfortable
discussing this with her, knowing how she would feel about hearing
the truth.

“
Okay, but what about the
rest of the time?” she asked. “I mean, I’ve seen how you…how you
don’t, uh, go down even after you come. I mean your…your shaft
doesn’t.” She motioned again at the white towel covering his
crotch. “I can’t believe that once a day was doing it for you.
Unless you were constantly sneaking off to the bathroom to, uh,
take care of yourself?”

“
No…” Rone sighed and ran
a hand through his hair. He would have to tell her—at least a
little. “The rest of the time you let me taste you. Remember I told
you we had a kind of schedule we followed?”

She raised her eyebrows.
“Yes, but that would be
you
taking care of
me.”

“
No—that was me taking
care of both of us.”
Or all three of us if
you count my Beast.
But he wasn’t about to
bring the unquiet third party into the conversation. It would cause
more questions than he could answer.

Kate frowned. “I don’t
understand. How could you, uh, going down on me help you
with
your
problem?”

“
I almost always come when
you come,” Rone said simply. “When I’m tasting you, I
mean.”

“
What?” Her eyes widened.
“Without any other, uh, stimulation?”

“
What other stimulation do
I need besides being on my knees before you with my face buried
between your legs, lapping your sweet cunt?” Rone murmured, looking
at her. “What could possibly be more stimulating than hearing you
moan my name while you pull my hair as I taste your
honey?”

“
Rone!” Her eyes got even
wider and he could feel her breathing quicken. “You know I
don’t…don’t want to do that.”

“
I know.” He sighed
tiredly. “I wish I knew why.”

Her face got a guarded expression.

“
That’s private.
Very
private. I really
don’t want to discuss it.”

“
You never did in the past
either,” he murmured, stroking a long red curl out of her eyes.
“But I always wanted to know. Wished I knew what made you so wary
of letting a male taste your pussy.”

“
I think we should try to
get some sleep.” Kate turned over carefully, so that his shaft,
still covered by the towel, was at her back. This meant her head
was resting on Rone’s lower belly which didn’t help the situation
developing under the towel any. Still, he took a deep breath and
told himself to just deal with it. Kate would come around in
time.