Prime Obsession (24 page)

Five standard days later, Tooh 2 Resort

Naked, Mel lay on her stomach on the suite’s bed, still warm from a mid-morning lovemaking session. Through pleasure-heavy eyes, she watched Wulf pull on a sport shirt.

Such a shame to cover up those muscled abs, but it was a necessity. If he didn’t, she would most likely commit wholesale murder. And that wasn’t frivolous conjecture on her part. Earlier that morning when she and Wulf had finally emerged after spending three straight days in their resort suite, she’d glared at all the women who ogled him as he’d dried off after a swim. Maybe a traditional Terran wedding band would help stave off the unwanted female attention? Or, perhaps a prominently placed tattoo reading “Mine?” Better yet, and her personal favorite hands-off notice, a laser stun to one of the leering female’s gut?

Grinning, she shook her head. She never thought the day would come when she’d get possessive over a man.

Tearing her mind away from thoughts of murder and mayhem, she turned toward thoughts of ripping his shirt off, dragging him back to bed, then tracing his solar plexus with her tongue. No, she’d done that all ready. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair. He was so excited and looking forward to the challenge of the upcoming fishing expedition he and his brothers had arranged.

Rolling onto her back, she stretched like a cat. The sun filtering through the sheer drapes that covered the ceiling to floor windows warmed her nude body. She couldn’t recall that she had ever felt so relaxed and happy in her entire life. Her movement had captured Wulf’s attention. All of a sudden it wasn’t just the sun that heated her body.

“So? Just what kind of sports fish are you and your brothers out to catch?” she asked, in a attempt to divert his thoughts from joining her on the bed for yet another round of sweaty, mind-numbing pleasure. She really was trying to be good; he was excited as a kid about going fishing.

Wulf’s eyes heated as his gaze swept over her nudity. “Tobruk. Very similar to Terran shark.”

Then he smiled. She loved it when he smiled. His happiness was important to her.

They could always make love after he returned. She sat up and pulled on the silk robe Wulf had bought her, covering the temptation of her nudity.

His gaze followed her movements. “Later,
lubha
,” he said, his voice husky and full of sensual promises.

“Definitely, later,” she smiled. “Tobruk, huh?”

Frowning, she recalled seeing a picture of a tobruk once. They had lots of teeth. Very long sharp teeth. And a large, sharp bony prominence called a horn. And were big, very big. Well, she knew this wouldn’t be a tame fishing trip, but tobruk?

“You eat them?” She scrunched her nose as she braided her hair.

“No. We catch them, get our picture taken next to them, and then toss them back into the Tooh Sea for the next lucky fisherman.”

“Sounds like, uh, fun to me,” she said, sarcasm liberally lacing her tone. She’d have to remember always to be busy when fishing was mentioned. While she liked sports, catching creatures large enough to eat a person was not her idea of fun or relaxing—or a sport. Must be a male thing.

Wulf slipped his bare feet into deck shoes. His long, muscled and deeply tanned legs looked as lickable as his stomach. In fact, his whole sun-kissed body was lickable, as she’d proven after their early morning foray to the pool. After the women at the pool had literally salivated over him, she’d felt an urgent need to reclaim and mark every square millimeter of his body. You’d think the brazen hussies had never seen a nearly naked Prime male warrior before.

“Probably most of them hadn’t,” teased Wulf, reading her mind. A wicked grin curved his mobile lips, lips that had reclaimed every bit of her as well. “I think I like you jealous. The results are
sinful
.” The last word uttered in the low growling tone she loved so well.

“Only for you am I sinful.” She winked.

Mel rose from the bed and walked toward him, the silken robe showing more of her body than it hid. His golden gaze burned as it stroked over her.

“Kiss me goodbye?” Raising her arms, she twined them around his neck and licked his lips until he opened them for her. She stroked his tongue with hers as her fingers played with the dark, silky hair at the nape of his neck. His large body shuddered against her. His aura heated. His arousal was as strong as hers.

Breaking the kiss, she whispered, “All those nasty women can find their own Prime warrior. This one is taken.”

“Most assuredly,
lubha
.” He nibbled at her mouth. “I want no other.” She trailed her hands down his body, finally wrapping her arms around his lean waist. Her head resting on his chest, she listened to the heart that beat rapidly just for her.

He stroked her, his large hands claiming every inch from her nape to just above her ass.

Then his large hands each cupped a butt cheek, massaging them. Her womb clenched and liquid warmth coated her folds. The sexual heat that should have been quenched after their three-day lovemaking marathon flared into full flames once again.

“Wulf, if you keep doing that,” she husked. “You won’t make it to your little fishing trip with the boys.”

“They can go without me,” he whispered, his voice harsh with his own arousal.

“Later has just arrived. I can’t leave you unsatisfied,
gemate lubha
. It would be remiss of me. And, it
is
our honeymoon.”

Guilt reared its ugly head once more, threatening to stomp on the pleasure her lover’s hands aroused. Wulf had really been looking forward to the outing.

Maybe they could manage both?

“When were you meeting them? Maybe we can get a quickie in.” She unbuttoned the top of his shorts and slid her hand inside to massage his hard, throbbing cock as it strained to meet her touch.

“They can wait.” He leaned back to peer down at her fingers fondling him. “It seems something’s come up.”

Laughing, she stepped back, letting go of his penis, then took his hand to lead him back to the rumpled bed. “Something definitely has—and I know just how to take care of the matter. We Alliance officers are trained for all sorts of emergencies.”

“How forward thinking of the Alliance,” he growled.

When she reached the bed, she released Wulf’s and turned to face him. She sought his fiery gaze, then slipped the sheer robe off first one, then the other shoulder. The little nothing of a garment fell to the floor in a silken puddle.

“While I love the negligee,
lubha
, I much prefer you this way.” He stepped within arm’s reach and picked her up. Laying her on the bed, he followed her down, covering her body with his. Happiness flowed from his mind to hers, filling her with such joy she thought she would burst.

“Tell me what you want, Melina.”

Mel’s arms reached for him. Placing her lips against his, she whispered, “You. I want you.”

“You have me.” A low groan escaped his lips as his cock entered her body, filling the aching emptiness. “As I have you, thank
Diew.
”

* * * *

Melina pulled on a sun dress. She needed no bra. Her firm breasts, ones that he knew intimately and completely, were full, firm, and luscious. They filled the low-cut bodice perfectly. Her only underclothing was a lacy thong that he’d chosen from the resort’s computerized shopping arcade. He smiled in satisfaction. In fact, all of her underwear was now of his choosing. He’d quite happily gotten rid of all the boring, military-issue undergarments. Only
he
would know that under her uniforms she wore the finest, briefest silk and lace garments.

His eyes gleamed at the thought of the little number she would wear later this evening under the evening dress he also had chosen for her. It was a sheer, flesh-colored teddy that could be removed with the untying of two little bows. He planned to remove it with his teeth.

Groaning at the mental image, he rearranged his cock in his shorts. It amazed him at how his body was always primed and ready for hers. His past life had been a cold, sexual wasteland compared to the life he now shared with Melina.

At first, his
gemate
had protested about his choosing her clothing, especially her undergarments, but he’d prevailed. It had taken hours of lovemaking, but by the end of the second day on Tooh 2, he had persuaded her. He visualized many years of overcoming all her stubborn, independent ways using that all-too-satisfactory method.

His winning argument had been that while she might have to wear a uniform, what she wore under it was not dictated by military rules. It was all about compromise.

“What did your brothers say about you missing the outing?” she asked, looking at him in the reflection of the mirror in the luxuriously appointed bathroom.

“They laughed. A lot.” He winked at her. “They just rescheduled the fishing trip for after lunch. They’ll be by to pick me up soon.”

He stepped close behind her and pulled her body into his, nestling her ass against his crotch. “I’m already hard for you again.” He kissed the top of her head, capturing her shining green gaze with his golden one. “I think it was a wise decision that we chose not to stay in the suite Maren prepared for us in the embassy. Too many ears and empathic abilities would have, um, hampered our honeymoon celebration.”

“I try to forget that the Prime are empathic,” Melina blushed rosily, “but I’m Prime, and I know that I’ve always sensed strong emotions.”

Sex evoked pretty damn strong emotions
, he thought.

She continued, “It didn’t bother me on the
Galanti
as much as it would’ve at the embassy.” She shrugged, causing her body to rub against his.

He groaned. “Careful,
lubha.
My brothers would never let me live it down if I miss this trip again.”

She frowned at his reflection, jabbing an elbow into his ribs. “Don’t even joke about it. How am I going to face your brothers ever again? They know what we’ve been, um, doing here for the last three days.”

He chuckled as he nuzzled the side of her neck. “Don’t worry about what they sense.

I will warn them to be polite. And if they don’t heed my brotherly warnings, I give you full permission to kick their impudent asses if they ever say anything to you about our sex life.”

Melina turned within his arms. “I’d tell you—and let
you
kick their sorry butts as I cheered you on.”

“Ahh, teamwork,” he whispered against her lips. “I like it.”

“Exactly,” she whispered back and kissed him lightly.

Putting the temptation of her from him, he stepped back, holding her shoulders, his thumbs stroking the soft, sun-kissed skin. “What are you planning to do while we’re fishing?”

“I’m going to the spa and getting my body scrubbed with sea salt and herbs, then lightly oiled and massaged. Followed by a shampoo and trim and then a manicure and pedicure. I want to look my best for the reception Uncle Tor is giving us this evening.”

“If I weren’t promised to my brothers, I’d come and watch.” He wiggled his brows.

“No, you wouldn’t. It is women only in that portion of the resort.” She laughed and wiggled out from under his hands. “But you can examine the results, more intimately, later tonight after the reception is over.” She winked at him.

“It’s a date. I have plans for that teddy I bought you.” Wulf wiggled his brows again, making her laugh, then reached for her to grab one last kiss. The door chimes interrupted him mid-swoop. “Save that kiss for later. My brothers are here.”

“I’ll save you more than a kiss.”

“I am so blessed.”

* * * *

Mid-afternoon, Tooh 2 Resort Spa

Mel sighed. Life was perfect. She was loved by a wonderful man who accepted her and her career. She’d just spent the last three days celebrating that love with non-stop sex that reached heights she could never have imagined. And now, she sat in a luxurious spa, being catered to right and left. Life could never get any better than this.

Spas were her new guilty pleasure. She’d never been to one before, but would make it a point to visit this one whenever they were in port and had some downtime. Maybe they had spas on Cejuru Prime. She’d have to ask Wulf.

Every single bit of her skin was polished and smooth as a baby’s butt. She smelled like the rarest of white orchids and musk; the scent evoked sex waiting to happen. Every muscle in her body had been kneaded, pummeled and then soothed until she was limp with relaxation. The feeling was almost as good as having sex—almost, but not quite.

Sex with Wulf was still the best relaxation technique she’d ever encountered. Sighing at the thought of her sexy warrior, she ran her fingers through her hair. It lay in sexy, bouncy waves around her shoulders.

Wulf would want to eat her up. She couldn’t wait.

Garbed in a fluffy white spa robe, she sipped the too-sweet fruity drink the quiet assistant had provided as she waited her turn for a manicure and a pedicure. After which, her transformation from an Alliance Military officer to the soon-to-be-feted mate of a Prime warrior at the inaugural ball at the Cejuru Prime Embassy would be complete.

Yawning, she set the glass down, splashing some of the liquid out and over her hand.

Damn, she was clumsy. Not enough sleep and too little food. It was true you couldn’t live on love. She giggled.

Giggled? She never giggled.

Her vision blurred and the minuscule private waiting area spun around her. She gripped the arms of the chair. The small room had suddenly become smaller and somehow menacing.

No, the sense of peril wasn’t in the room; it was outside, in the main spa.

Strong emotions rode the air like a boat on storm-tossed waves. Fear. Shock.

Despair. Then nothing. It was as if all the emotions of the spa personnel had suddenly shut down, leaving a cold, empty hole in the atmosphere.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as dizziness now swept over her in waves.

Her weakened senses attempted to seek out the threat. Fighting to remain conscious, she searched the dead space that was now the spa with all her senses wide open. A new emotion rode the atmosphere. The aura was weak at first, undulating on the eddies and whirls of the air, then it grew stronger. The mental feel—the taste on the air currents was hate. Rabid, unceasing hatred for her. And it was coming closer.

“Shit, shit, shit…”

She attempted to stand and fell back into the chair. She clasped her head in her shaky hands as the room whirled around her, making her stomach roil. Drugged. She had to have been drugged. She needed to get as much of the poison out of her system as possible. Leaning over the side of the chair, she stuck her finger down her throat. She gagged as the acidic contents of her stomach emptied themselves onto the floor.

Weakly, she leaned back in the chair and gasped for breath. She was so weak. Too weak. Maybe she’d managed to get the majority of whatever they’d drugged her with out of her stomach. Whatever the substance had been, it was potent. She already had a debilitating amount in her system.

Pinching her naked thigh, she could barely feel it. Her fingers felt as if they were phantom limbs.

“Dammit, widespread neuropathy,” she muttered out loud, slurring the words into more syllables than required.

Aphasia also. Not good. Her brain needed a stimulant. And fast.

Recalling her training, she knew she had little time. She had to combat the drug using her body’s own hormonal defenses. Cortisol and adrenaline. She needed to get mad—not an issue since she was furious—and move.

Flight or fight. She chose to fight and prayed that her body’s defenses could meet the battle to come. And it would come. She already sensed the menace stalking her, coming ever closer to this room. Her mind’s eye envisioned a hulking black shape, an amorphous mass of dark energy, searching the spa, room by room. It … he … wanted her dead.

Struggling to stand, she staggered to the wall, knocking over the chair. The resulting noise sounded like an explosion in the all-too-quiet spa. He had to have heard the noise.

Maybe someone else would hear and come to help her. She searched with all her senses again and still found nothing but her stalker’s rage. She leaned against the wall, her forehead relishing the cool against her sweaty skin. There was no one else out there.

He killed the entire staff—just to get to her.

She was on her own. She needed a weapon. She needed a defensible position outside of this box of a room. Most of all, she needed to stay on her feet and to walk the drug’s effects off before the bastard found her.

Hell, she’d be lucky to be conscious when the son-of-a-frigging-bitch found her.

She did have one other option.

God, he’d go ballistic.

Damning the fact that she was naked under the robe and that her personal communicator and off-duty weapon were secured in a locker at the other end of the spa, she communicated to the only person who might be able to get her help.

“
Wulf?”

No answer.

“Wulf?”

Still no answer. Why didn’t he answer? It wasn’t as if he were out in galaxy somewhere. Or, had the rebels gotten to him and his brothers somehow?

She swore under her breath in three languages. She staggered along the wall, her goal the doorway to the inner hall. She wanted to get to a space with more exits and more places to hide. This small room was a trap.

As she inched her way along, she sought Wulf’s mental touch again.

“Wulf, I need help.”

Again no answer. Nothing. She couldn’t find him. He wouldn’t be closed off; he never was. And, since the space walk on the
Galanti,
she’d kept her side wide open.

She’d come to revel in the closeness they shared and now that she couldn’t find him, she didn’t like it. Fine time for her to realize how Wulf had felt when she was closed to him.

She’d share her revelation, if she lived long enough.

So, where in Balcon’s Balls was he?

Out in the middle of the damn Tooh Sea, fishing for a predator fish a person couldn’t even eat. Damn men! Or, maybe dead at the hands of a rebel sniper? No. He wasn’t dead; she’d know that in her soul if her were.

Maybe she was too weak, not projecting enough?

“Wulf! I need you!”
The energy expended sending the mental scream for help blinded her for a millisecond.

“Damn, that hurt,” she muttered, rubbing her forehead as her sight returned.

Then something touched her mind. A sizzle then a pop sounded loudly in her already aching head. Warmth flowed through her and her mind seemed to clear, shoving away the pain and the waves of hatred flowing from the assassin coming ever closer to her.

“Wulf?”

“Lubha? What is it? You are weak.”

“Someone drugged me.”

Too tired to form mental conversation, she sent him images.

Mel knew he’d gotten the message when adrenaline resulting from his rage spiked through her. She took four steps this time without the need to use the wall to hold herself up. The room stopped spinning enough that her nausea settled down.

“We’re almost to port. We’ll dock soon. Can you defend your position?”
His mental voice was calm, commanding, but underneath his rage and fears for her burned bright red. His mental touch was everywhere at once, giving her his strength and examining her situation through her senses.

“Yes…”

“Don’t sugarcoat it for me,
lubha
. I sense the evil approaching. Get out of that room
now
. The locker rooms or the gym would be better for defense.”

“I’m trying…”

“What’s wrong? What are you not showing me?”

“I am showing you everything. It’s the drug they used—it has slowed me down. I’m
near the door … but I can hear him now. Not just feel him. He’s too close. I can’t get out
without him seeing me.”

Wulf’s roar of frustrated rage caused her heart to pump faster.

“Huw has contacted Maren and the Embassy Guard. And the Alliance Military.

Barricade that door and stay alive.”

“Well, that was the plan.”

“Like I wouldn’t have thought of that myself,” she muttered under her breath.

Her warrior was absolutely unstable when she was in danger. And, for the most part, she understood it. She’d feel the same way about him being in danger, drugged with no weapons and no back up. Come to think of it, she felt the same way when rabid, man-stealing hussies eyed Wulf as if he were the flavor of the month.

“Focus,
lubha.
And no other woman interests me. Just you. So your duty is to stay
alive!”

“Yes, sir. Captain Wulf, sir.”

His low, throaty growl, the snarly-angry one, not the yummy-we’re-having-sex one, came across their mind link. She smiled. Damn, she loved that snarly growl.

Energized by Wulf’s presence in her mind, her heart pumped faster. Her body responded, producing the stress hormones that had ensured humanoid survival in the Milky Way for eons. She felt stronger, not her usual one hundred percent, but enough to defend until help arrived.

Weapon. She needed a weapon. She searched the room. There was only the chaise, a small table and the chair she knocked over, and the glass that had held the drugged drink.

She thought fondly of her powerful little sidearm in the locker just meters away. It might as well have been light-years for all the good it could do her.

Mental note, never go anywhere completely unarmed
. She’d strap a knife to each leg the next time she got spa treatments and the attendants would just have to deal.

Her narrowed gaze returned to the stemmed glass. It was made out of heavy crystal.

Here was her weapon—or it would be with a little modification.

She shuffled to the table. Okay, her legs weren’t totally working as well as she would’ve liked. But she could feel her feet and her hands, so the debilitating neuropathy was receding.

Picking up the glass, she dumped the rest of the contents on the floor, then broke the solid crystal goblet against the ledge of the tiny mullioned window. Now she had a weapon. She thrust the sharp, jagged end of the stem between her first and second fingers, palming the base.

She wavered on suddenly unsteady feet. No, she would not faint. That was girly. She was an Alliance military officer and there was no fainting before a battle—or after if she could help it. And then she had better be three pints low on blood or something.

“I’m with you,
lubha
. Use my strength. We’re on land, and on our way.”
Okay, so she wasn’t one hundred percent. An Alliance Military officer was two hundred percent better trained than most, so she should be able to hold her own until some sort of help arrived. Maybe she should inform the enemy of that fact, it might scare him off. She choked back a laugh.

The enemy was only a room or two away. His emotions sickened her with their chaotic litany of hate and prejudice. His malevolent energy reminded her of the Prime traitors on the
Galanti
. This was not just her enemy, this was an enemy of the Prime people and their future. A fanatic, and all her training had taught her that zealots were the worst enemy to face. They cared nothing for the sanctity of life—theirs or anyone else’s.

Taking a position behind the door, she waited.

Wulf was a silent, strong presence in her mind. His connection helped her regulate her breathing as he pushed her body to mimic his and produce the hormones that would help her fight to survive. The battle-mate connection was the main reason the Prime had succeeded as a race for so long; it would be a shame to lose the genetics that had evolved over eons because of a lack of female mates for Prime warriors.

The fanatical bastard coming to kill her was a brainwashed idiot, too stupid to live.

She would be happy to send him on his way.

The footsteps that had only been a mere echo in her head now sounded loudly. It wouldn’t be much longer.

Pumped for action, she smiled, a wicked twist to her lips. “You’re messing with the wrong Prime
gemate
, asshole,” she whispered. She gloried in the pure, undiluted and invigorating rage that filled her mind and body.

“
Confirming only one on auditory senses, Wulf. Only one.”

“Go for the kill. No messing around. You are not up to your usual strength.

Whatever they gave you was strong. Do not hesitate. Go for the kill.”

“I never mess around.”
She sent him a mental snort. “
And don’t worry so much,
gemat
. No one will take me from you.”

“I’m not worried,
gemate
. I just don’t like it when you get bruised. I was
so
counting
on our late-night date.”

Mel smiled. As was she. Nothing and no one, especially not the crazy bastard coming for her, would keep her from her first ball—and the celebratory sex later.