Prime Selection (33 page)

“Huw?” Nadia touched his mark. It was hot—and her mark pulsed in time with his.

Still riding out his orgasm and incapable of speech, Huw touched her mind. His awe, his happiness at the miracle of their mutual marking filled her with joy.

Then all hell broke loose.

The orgasm that swept over Nadia was the strongest one yet. It peaked and fell, again and again. Huw matched her climax for climax. Each orgasm seemed stronger and higher than the last, until the sensations became a joint orgasm weaving their minds closer together, binding their hearts, their souls, their bodies.

They were one now, marked for better or for worse, and nothing and no one, not even death would be able to tear them apart.

*

Huw held Nadia’s still-trembling body against his, her head on his chest. He looked down at his chest; he still could not believe he had a mark. His brother, the
apayebo
, had known this could happen and had neglected to inform him.

Nadia, his
gemate
, was a wondrous gift, and one he would cherish and protect for the rest of his life.

He stroked his hand lightly up and down her lush, sleek body, pausing only to trace her marking gently from time to time. His touch made it glow and swirl and triggered an answering reaction in his.

“Did I hurt you,
gemate lubha
?” That had been one of his greatest fears. He had been very rough at the end.

“No…” Nadia pressed a kiss to his chest, very close to his mark, and he shuddered, “…it was very nice.”

Huw tilted his head down and snarled into her curls. “Nice? I’m sure the whole crew heard your screams of pleasure—multiple screams of pleasure.”

Nadia giggled and pinched one of his nipples. “I was teasing.” She tipped her head and smiled at him, all her love glittered in the blue of her eyes. “I loved the way you made love to me. You had to know, you were in my head—just as I was in yours.”

“You said you loved me.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “While we made love … did you mean it?”

“Uh-huh.” Nadia petted his mark. “Do you love me?”

“There are not enough words to express how much I love and adore you.” He hugged her closely against him and rubbed her back.

She nestled against him. “Well, I had my doubts for quite a while.”

Huw winced at her words. “I was an asshole. I am amazed you have forgiven me.”

He shoved back and looked down. “You did say you’d forgiven me? I heard you in my mind.” If she had, he was the luckiest man in the galaxy.

“Sort of.” She rubbed his chest in soothing circles.

What did “sort of” mean?

Just as he was about to ask her to explain, he was distracted by her hand encircling his cock and her lips nibbling his
gemat
marking. His mind turned off and his body took over—he’d ask her what she meant—but later. Much later.

Nadia bent over her microscope and attempted to concentrate on the slide containing a section of skin taken from the desiccated worm creature. Aeron had sent it over with some other samples and his report, wanting her opinion on classifying the creature with similar ones in the galaxy.

While normally such a scientific exercise was right up her alley, this morning her mind was elsewhere—namely, back in Huw’s bed with the man who’d marked her as his.

She touched the
gemate
marking over her right ovary and it pulsed in response.

She’d awakened before Huw and realized if she remained in his bed, he’d expect it of her the next night and the night after that and so on. Since she’d already determined to make the damn man make up for all those weeks of ignoring her by courting her, she’d sneaked out of his room after a night of marathon sex. She went to her quarters and got ready for a normal day on the job. Normal would be good just about now, because the lovemaking she’d shared with Huw was unlike anything she’d ever heard or read about— and definitely beyond her past experiences. It was life-changing. Normal would be damn good for a while.

Unfortunately, her connection to him was stronger than ever. Huw was awake, and he was pissed.

“Commander?” Bre stood nearby. She’d been so involved in her thoughts of Huw she hadn’t heard the man approach. “May I help you with something? You look perplexed.”

“No … maybe.” She looked into the tech’s golden eyes. “You’re a man.”

Bre snorted back what sounded like a laugh. “Yes, I am.”

“If your woman left your bed after a night of … well, you can fill in the blanks.”

God, Nadia, blush why don’t you? Why the embarrassment? The whole damn ship knows
you spent the night with Huw.
“Would you be upset if the woman wasn’t there when you woke up?”

To give her tech credit, he took some time to mull over the question before he answered. “If I hadn’t damaged the woman’s trust in me beforehand … yes. But since we’re obviously talking about you and Commander Huw, I think you made the right choice.”

Bre’s lips twisted into a sly smile. “According to the good doctors’ lecture on dating, a Prime male should appreciate and respect a non-Prime female who isn’t easy. Women such as yourself need to know the man is serious in his intentions before you commit.

This is a new concept for Prime men. Huw never dated or courted you properly though there was mutual attraction.”

“Okay, that seems to be the consensus. Thank you.” She let out a deep breath and looked up at the very sympathetic Bre. “So … why do I feel so bad? He’s looking for me and is frantic.” She touched her lower right side again. “I ache, because he aches.”

Bre noted where her hand lay and his eyes widened. “You are marked? How can this be? Some of us surmised you and Commander Huw had something akin to a
gemat-gemate
-type connection, but we never thought…” He looked at her hand once more. “He marked you last night?”

Face burning, Nadia could only nod.

“And you sense his moods, his thoughts, know where he is on the ship at this moment?” Bre’s voice and words were rapid, breathless.

Again, she nodded.

“
Diew
! Commander, you not only have a true bonding…” He took in a deep breath and let it out, “…you are battle-mates!”

“Yes.” Although Mel, Wulf, and Lia hadn’t come out and said so, Nadia had made the leap to that conclusion on her own. Mel had told her once only battle-mates could supply the other with energy and mind-talk across distances. So, Nadia had figured it out early on whatever she and Huw had, they at the very least had a battle-mate-type of connection between them.

“This is amazing. Wonderful.” Bre’s face glowed. Her empathic skills told her he was overjoyed to the point of euphoria.

“And dangerous information in the wrong hands, Bre.” Nadia was only too aware that if the Pure Blood faction heard a lowly Terran female could be marked and also be a revered battle-mate, the faction would accelerate their attacks on Alliance female personnel. Huw’s and her connection would be proof the Pure Blood faction was wrong about everything they spouted.

“Yes, I understand. No one will hear it from me … not even my brothers.” He frowned. “But it must be announced. If other Prime males find such a compatible mate, they’ll need to know so they don’t…”

“Act like assholes the way Huw did?” She grinned.

“Exactly.” Bre chuckled. “But my answer to your previous question has to be modified. Yes, you needed to leave to make a point, but I’m not sure you should tempt the beast overly much. You didn’t see Commander Huw when he was out of control while you were on the
Leonidas
.” Bre shook his head. “As a Prime
gemat
, Huw will want to protect you and make your every wish come true.”

“No, Bre. He’ll want to smother me and dictate my every move.” Nadia let out a short abrupt laugh. “And like Mel does with Wulf, I won’t let him. It should be interesting to see how long it takes Huw to come to terms with my need for space.”

Bre’s face went blank, and he took several long steps away from Nadia.

Without turning around, Nadia said, “Good morning,
sladkie
. How did you sleep?”

“I slept just fine, my
gemate
.” Huw stepped close behind her chair. He cupped her shoulders with his warm, large hands and massaged her gently. He leaned over and his breath brushed past her ear, making her shiver. “But I wasn’t happy to find you missing when I awoke.” He lowered his voice to a murmur. “We had another day to play before coming back on duty.” He kissed her cheek.

His hands moved along her shoulder to her nape, his thumbs dug into the tense muscles at the top of her spine. “You’re tight. How long have you been bending over the microscope,
lubha
? And I sense your hunger and thirst. If you’d stayed with me, all your needs would have been taken care of.”

“Including your sexual needs. You’re aching, my Nadia. We’ll need each other
frequently in the early stages.”
He released her shoulders and straightened, but didn’t move away.

Nadia shivered with pleasure as her mark flared with heat and tingles of remembered pleasure—and the promise of more to come. She turned to look at her lover, her mate.

Huw had his hand over his heart; he massaged the area in small circles.

He was deliberately arousing her in her own damn lab!

“God, I’m in so much trouble,” Nadia muttered. She rubbed her mark to assuage the ache, the need, but found it only exacerbated both.

Huw chuckled. “Come. Let me feed your needs … all of them.”

Nadia shook her head.
“Suck it up, soldier. Begin as you mean to go.”
“Not all of them. I’ll dine with you, but then I need to come back and do my job. I’m sure you can find things to do to occupy your time in Engineering.”

Huw frowned. “We’ll talk over food. We need to talk, Nadia.” He placed a hand on her chair and pulled it away from the lab desk.

“Yes, we do.” She stood and turned toward Bre. Then she noticed the whole lab had zeroed in on their conversation.
Shit.
Now everyone knew all about her love life. “Get back to work, people. Bre will be in charge until I get back from a meal break. You can com me if something important comes up.”

Nadia allowed Huw to lead her from the lab, his hand on her elbow. When he headed for the lifts that serviced the officer’s living quarters, Nadia dug in her heels, forcing Huw to stop also.

“What’s wrong?” Huw looked down.

“We’ll eat in the officer’s dining room. Not your or my quarters.”

“Nadia, we need to speak of personal things…”

“No, Huw, you want sex. I’m in your mind and the thing with you massaging your mark was low—you knew it would make my arousal worse.” She shook her head. “At this moment, all I want from you is food and a conversation about how things are going to be over the next weeks—or maybe even months.”

What a liar she was! She wanted Huw to fuck her until she was boneless with satiation; she’d been with him one hundred percent while making love—but someone had to be the rational partner in this bonding.

Huw’s anger at her words washed over her skin for a mere instance before he got it under control. She breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded and turned toward the lifts that serviced the general areas of the ship. She wasn’t looking forward to telling Huw they wouldn’t be sharing quarters yet. She wanted to deliver that message in a public place so he couldn’t use sex to persuade her to change her mind. She also thought a nice, stiff whiskey might help.

Her mark, her clit, her pussy, and her heart ached for him. But her mind told her the relationship while unbreakable and eternal had happened backward; they didn’t wholly know or trust each other yet. She’d like her lover, her mate, to be her friend. They needed time to get to know one another while not living in each other’s pocket.

Well, Nadia, if the experiment lasts a week, you should consider it a success. ’Cause
do you think you can deny him anything now that you’re more connected than before?

Probably not—but she had to try, had to make a point … had to show him how she’d like their relationship to be in the future. She wanted to be his partner … not his possession.

*

Huw walked alongside Nadia. Her fingers trembled where she touched his arm. Her thoughts were so chaotic she probably didn’t realize her shields were down. As his brother had told him, she didn’t fully trust him—she was afraid he would hurt her woman’s heart again.

Damn his soul! He’d caused his strong woman unease. He should have wooed and courted her before he claimed her, proven he was a worthy male. But he had been so afraid she would be strong enough to turn away, to find another. He’d read such thoughts in her mind, and they had scared him. So he’d taken advantage of her sexual attraction to him and made her his. Now, she would make him pay. So be it.

He only hoped what she demanded wasn’t too draconian since he didn’t think he could tolerate not being with her. The sexual drive in early mating was strong—they both needed the physical touch, the closeness of the other to nurture the bond and to keep them rational.

Huw touched her mind in an attempt to soothe her and begin the wooing. Too much stress was not good for her. But she’d closed him off again! That had to stop.
Gemat-gemate
bonds thrived on the ability to touch the other’s mind even more frequently than they touched skin to skin.

Ansu bhau!
Now that he wasn’t thinking with mostly his cock or through the filter of male hubris, he realized he and Nadia did more than merely touch each other’s minds.

They talked to each other, exchanged mental images, and shared strength, pleasure, and pain. Why hadn’t he recognized that before? Oh, yeah, his head had been up his ass.