Prime Selection (34 page)

“We’re battle-mates.” He glanced at Nadia.

Her lips twisted with amusement. “I know.”

Huw groaned. “The Pure Blood faction will try to kill you.”

“You won’t let them.” Nadia put her arm through his and snuggled next to him, her free hand covered his mark. His pulse leapt and his cock strained against his uniform trousers. “I won’t let them.”

At least she trusted him enough to know he’d defend her to the death.

Huw covered the hand she’d placed on his chest. “That’s correct. Together we’re stronger.”

He needed to drive the point home again and again. He wanted her to acknowledge the need to stay close and remain open with each other.

“I know, Huw.” His little mate rubbed her cheek against his arm. “But that still doesn’t mean I can easily forget you really don’t know me very well, and I don’t know you.”

“We’ll learn about each other,
lubha
.” Huw promised. “Just give it time.”

“That’s the plan,
zaychik
, and what I wanted to talk about.” The lift doors opened onto the officer’s dining level. Nadia urged him forward. “Let’s get a nice quiet booth and discuss this as partners should.”

Huw wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her demands—and that she would make demands he was very sure. He probably had Wulf and his sister-kin Mel to thank for this discussion they were about to have. He would be sure to kick his brother’s ass later.

Mel—he wouldn’t touch since Wulf would kill him and rightly so. No man messed with another man’s
gemate
and lived.

After they slid into a booth and ordered from the robotic server, Huw turned to Nadia and took her hand in his and kissed her fingers. “Okay, let me have it.”

Nadia’s laugh made his heart happy and his groin ache. “Huw …
sladkie
…”

He leaned over and kissed the smile on her lips. “What are these words
sladkie
and
zaychik
you keep calling me?” He grimaced. “Or do I really want to know?”

Nadia giggled and shock went through him. He had never heard her giggle before.

Maybe because you’d made her unhappy
.

“Russian words of endearment.” Nadia leaned closer and lowered her voice. “My mother used them with my father.”

Her blue eyes twinkled like the finest blue gemstones. He determined then and there he would buy her jewelry with such stones, but wasn’t sure he could find any to rival her beautiful eyes.

“
Sladkie
means sweetie.” She kissed his jaw.

He brushed a kiss over the tip of her beautifully elegant nose. “I like the sound of that. And the other word?”

She grinned naughtily and whispered against his lips. “It means ‘little rabbit.’”

He thought for a second, trying to place what a rabbit was. Finally, he had a mental image—it was a small Terran rodent-like creature similar to a plains hopper. Rodents were considered vermin. He snarled. “You think I’m a little vermin?”

Nadia collapsed back against the booth and laughed until tears streaked down her face.

“I must be missing something,” he muttered. He used the computer at the table to search for a description of Terran rabbits. The images that came up looked very cute and cuddly, not at all like a rodent and, in fact, were not in the same family at all. He looked up and found Nadia smiling at him with much affection. He touched her mind and found the same emotion, though she still guarded her thoughts. “You liken me to a little cuddly rabbit?”

“Huw, it’s a term of affection that Russian women call the men who are special to them.” She brushed a kiss over his clothed shoulder—the touch, even through his uniform top, had his cock leaking precum. Thank the One, the table hid his lower body.

“You’re special to me. You always have been … since the first day you butted into the conversation between me and Aeron.”

Huw reached for her and pulled her closer to his side. He did not want the smallest distance between them. “I made your life difficult…”

“You made my life hell … but I understand what you were thinking now … and forgive you.” She nestled closer. Her sweet-smelling hair tickled his chin as she laid her head on his shoulder. “Plus, you couldn’t help it. You’re just a man after all.”

Huw groused. “What does that mean?”

Nadia angled her head and kissed his jaw. “It means you’re a stubborn, dominant, alpha-male know-it-all who reacts sometimes instead of thinking.”

And how could he refute her words? He couldn’t—he hadn’t been thinking. Well, he had, but wrongly. “You’re correct. I’m sorry, so very sorry.” He tipped her chin up so he could brush a kiss over her lush lips. “I didn’t recognize what I felt was more than mere lust … not until…”

Nadia pinched his arm. “As I said, typical male.”

“This reminds me of Mel and Wulf.” He rubbed her back.

“What do you mean?” She looked at him confusion in her eyes.

“I need to learn to trust in your strength, your abilities. You want to be a partner.” He stroked her arm, kissed the top of her head. Her blonde hair felt like silk to his lips. He couldn’t stop touching her, kissing her—couldn’t believe he had his heart’s desire finally in his arms. He was truly blessed. So, he’d better not mess up the gift he’d been given.

“When Mel came into our lives, I told Wulf those very things. You would think I would’ve listened to myself, eh?”

“Maybe my plan might not take as long as I’d thought.” Nadia kissed his shoulder again. “Huw, look at me.”

He turned his head and stared into her suddenly serious blue eyes. “What do you need from me, Nadia?” He braced himself for the worst and hoped for the best.

“I need time … space…”

“And what does
space
entail?” Huw was very much afraid he knew, but prayed he was wrong.

“You in your quarters and me in mine.”

And he’d guessed correctly and hated it. He let out a low moan. “For how long?”

“A week?” Nadia scrunched her nose.

He couldn’t resist—he kissed the tip.

“I was going to ask for a couple of months,” she said, “but I think it wouldn’t work.”

He nodded vigorously and she laughed. “Plus you’re almost at the point I need you to be.

As long as you keep listening to the very sound advice you gave Wulf, we should move right along.”

Huw took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “And during this week … we will do …

what?”

Nadia petted his chest. “Don’t worry,
sladkie
. We’ll be together every day. Meals, walks on the beach in the simulation room, drinks in the officer’s lounge…”

He cut her off by placing a finger on her lips. “Nadia, I … you … we cannot be without each other sexually for that length of time.” Huw grimaced. “I would lose control again … they’d have to keep me sedated. If I could do this for you, I…”

Nadia kissed his finger and pulled it away from her mouth. She clasped his hand. “I know. We’ll be intimate … as much as you … or I … need. But I’ll sleep alone in my quarters and you, in yours, for a full week. I want the chance…”

He reversed the clasp of their hands and brought hers to his mouth. He kissed her palm, licking the sensitive center. He felt immense satisfaction at her shivering response.

His woman, responsive only to him and no other—forever.

“No need to explain,
gemate
lubha.
I agree to your week. Be warned, my beautiful one, I will do my best to persuade you to make love with me all over the ship and for as many times as I can convince you. You also have the right to seek me out for your needs—and trust me,
gemate
, you will have needs.” He had to laugh at her look of consternation. “I’ll endeavor to make your wooing an interesting one.”

Their food arrived. “Eat,” he said. “You’ll need your strength, since I plan to find a place to make love to you as soon as we’re done with our meal and before you return to the lab.” He chuckled at her stunned silence and placed a hand over her marking. It throbbed with heat. “You need me now.”

“Yes,” she whispered. Her cheeks colored a pale rose.

He whispered a kiss over her hair. “I’ll need you every time I see you for the rest of my days. I want to make you scream with pleasure.” Through her uniform trousers, he rubbed her
gemate
marking gently in a circular motion. “You’ll find we can climax just from stimulating one another’s mark.”

“Oh my God! What are you doing?” Nadia reached for her water and took a deep drink. “Stop it, Huw … for chrissakes … I’m ready to climax … right now, in the middle of the frigging officer’s dining room.”

Huw sensed her orgasm overtaking her. His own climax built in his balls and cock, racing to join her as he shared her ecstasy through their bond. “Nadia, kiss me … now!”

Nadia’s blue eyes were smoky with lust. She angled her face and sought his kiss. As he thrust his tongue into her warm, eager mouth, he applied a deeper pressure with the heel of his hand to the heated, pulsing mark. He swallowed Nadia’s scream of shocked pleasure. Her arms went around his neck and held onto him as if he were a lifeline.

Holding her tightly against his body, he growled into her mouth as her climax triggered his.

Breathing heavily through his nose, he gentled the kiss and manipulation of her mark, bringing her down slowly as convulsive shudders swept over her body. Finally, she collapsed against him. Her fingers idly ruffled the hair lying on the nape of his neck. He swallowed her sigh of complete satisfaction.

Male pride swelled in his chest. He’d given her extreme pleasure and she had accepted it and returned the same. Of course, he now needed to change his trousers, but it was a small price to pay for sharing pleasure with his
gemate.

Huw released her lips and brushed soft, loving kisses over her face and hair. “And that, my
cwen
, is why we cannot be apart for long. Newly bonded couples need frequent intimacy until the bonding has matured.”

“Um, how long will that last?” Nadia gasped out the words as she leaned out of the shelter of his body and reached for her water to take a long drink.

Huw put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back against him. “Varies.” He gently rubbed his cheek over the top of her head as she nestled on his shoulder. “Wulf and Mel are still going through it. My father told me the ‘honeymoon’ period as you Terrans call it lasted him and mother almost ten standard…” He grinned at her shocked squeal.

“Months?” she asked, her voice quavering.

“Years,
lubha
. It took them ten standard years before they could be away from each other for more than a day or two. And when they weren’t able to touch physically … they touched mentally … constantly.” He stroked a finger over her forehead. “No more shields. If I cannot sleep next to you, I need to touch your mind to assure myself of your safety. You will do the same with me. We need the touching … it is instinctive.”

“Okay.” She dropped her shields.

Huw hugged her. “Thank you.”

“I’m afraid to ask … but did your father talk about how often, um, we’d need to have…” Nadia blushed and gestured with her hand. “Um, you know.”

“Sex? Yes, he had that talk with all us boys. You’ll be a very happy and satiated woman, Nadia Petrovich-Caradoc, because we’ll have sex two or three times a day when possible.”

At her moan, he laughed. “And I expect that after our honeymoon period fades away, I will still want to make love to you that often. So eat … we haven’t even started for the day. And I want to begin satisfying the list of wants and needs you let slip as we made love.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Nadia took a bite of her eggs and chewed.

“I read your mind, battle-mate. And I enjoyed every single image … especially the one with me behind you, loving you, and your creamy golden ass all rosy pink from my hand.”

Nadia choked and then coughed violently. Huw rubbed her back. “Be careful. With my plans for the day, we don’t have time for you to visit Sick Bay.”

Nadia entered Sick Bay on a run and immediately sought out Lia.

Lia looked up from her computer monitor and smiled. “Nadia! How are you?” The doctor’s smile faded as her gaze zeroed in on Nadia’s face. “What’s wrong?”

God, did she look that bad? She glanced at her reflection in the glass window that overlooked the treatment area of the medical facility from Lia’s office. Yeah, she looked that bad—pale and exhausted … and with good cause. The cause’s name was Huw “Sex Machine” Caradoc.

“Hide me! Quickly!” Nadia checked over her shoulder. “Huw’s hunting for me. I can’t … just can’t…” She pressed a hand over her pulsing mark, her need increasing as Huw came closer and closer. She groaned low in her throat and felt her face flush red.

“The man is a freaking sex maniac!”

Nadia collapsed into the visitor’s chair next to Lia’s desk. The doctor stared pointedly at Nadia’s hand and chuckled. “Don’t laugh, Lia. It’s not funny. I can’t get any work done. I’m exhausted. Sore—And still so horny I’m about to scream.”

Lia swiped at the tears of her laughter with the back of her hand. “Nadia … I hate to ask, but how many…?”

Nadia shuddered. “Five times since breakfast and that doesn’t count the orgasm he gave me while we had breakfast.” Her voice increased in volume as she gestured wildly with her free hand. “In the Officer’s Dining Room, Lia! He made me climax in public just from manipulating my mark. If he continues at this pace, I’m not sure I’ll survive.”

She turned pleading eyes to her friend. “Do you have any energy bars? I’m starved.”

Lia opened a drawer and handed her a protein bar. “Here. Eat. Now, tell me about the sex … does he initiate every, um, meeting?”

“Yes. I sense he’s trying to accelerate the week of courting I’d asked for, so I’ll move in with him sooner.” Nadia gobbled the bar in three bites, chewing and swallowing as if she hadn’t eaten for days instead of an hour ago at lunch. After which, Huw had taken her in a maintenance closet over the back of a workbench. Her ass still burned from the slaps he’d given it before he plowed her pussy from behind. It had been the second time that day for rear entry.