Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (29 page)

She wanted to kiss his cheek before he left, but she was too afraid he would shy away. It would devastate her if he did, so she didn't risk the hurt. Turning off the bedroom lights first, she went inside, leaving DeGrassi to let himself out when he was ready to go.

Every step she took away from him was more painful than anything the Arra ever forced her to go through. If DeGrassi left her, even without the joining, Roni knew she would not survive many more days. Her life was numbered now in hours instead of years.

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After Roni said goodbye and vanished into the bedroom, DeGrassi remained in the doorway. He felt enclosed in a vacuum. The echo of her words beat at his ears, words he didn't want to hear, didn't want to comprehend, but which he couldn't escape.

The room was filled with sadness. It remained in the air, hard and inky, making everything around him appear brittle.

If he reached out and touched one of the verdant plants, he knew it would shatter from the weight of her hopelessness.

He had no memory of leaving the house, or of walking back to where he had parked the car at the end of the block.

His body was on automatic. After unlocking the door and sitting behind the wheel, DeGrassi remained there for a long period of time as he digested what she had told him.

"I spent sixteen years aboard that Arran ship. The females of my species were dying out. I became a reproductive female when I was fourteen. From that day until the time we revolted and escaped, the Arra forced a male of my race or one of a similar race into my cell. I fought them, Thomas.

Sometimes I killed them. But when I refused to join with them, I was tortured. After several months, I realized I might as well let the males have me. So I learned to give in. There was always pain, but it was never like the torture devices the Arra made me endure if I fought them."

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There was no way he could envision the horrors she had survived before coming here. The fact that she retained her sanity was a miracle. The fact that she managed to blend in and exist among them on his world, regardless of the profession she chose, was a feat he doubted even he could achieve.

Sixteen years? Did she say she had been a prisoner for more than sixteen years? And during how many of those years had she been forced to have sex because the Arra needed to repopulate the species? Just the thought of what had occurred repeatedly during her captivity made him sick to his stomach. No wonder a part of her had turned to stone. No wonder she became a hooker. So much of her died on that ship, including almost all hope.

Staring at the steering wheel, Roni's Ruinos face floated before him. Okay, her skin was green, but it wasn't one solid color. It wasn't ghastly or horrendous. It was mottled in shades from evergreen to lime, like sun-dappled leaves. Her features were delicate, and her entire body was smooth and hairless from her perfectly shaped head down to the beautiful cleft between her thighs. Her legs were long and muscular.

Her breasts were as full and firm as he had imagined them to be. Oddly enough, her nipples were a deep, rosy hue. Add a slim waist and a butt that curved just right, and it was no wonder he got a hard-on just by looking at her.

For all her alienness, Roni was as sumptuously proportioned as a human. When she changed, only her outward appearance shifted. She didn't gain any height or 407

width. It was as if she simply slipped on a different outer covering, like a woman would slip on a dress or a nightgown.

DeGrassi felt his pulse quicken. The woman was stacked like every man's fantasy. He could overlook the fact that her feet had those sharp little knifelike talons where her toes should be. Taken from the neck down, Roni could rival any model on any magazine cover or calendar.

But from the neck up...

Her lips were a little thinner. The teeth ... A little shiver went through him. Those teeth were sharp and pointed. Her nose was flatter and less prominent. Her ears were like fans—

very sheer, with minute veins running through them, like butterfly wings.

Her eyes, however, didn't change. They were still the same crystal-gray color filled with myriad silver flecks, as though someone had dropped glitter on a bolt of pale gray satin cloth. Roni's eyes reflected her heart and her soul to such a depth that looking into them stole his breath.

Throwing an arm over his eyes, DeGrassi laid down across the seat and waited for his warring emotions to separate on their own, hoping the truth would rise like cream to the top.

He needed something to shine through this muddy fog enveloping him. He needed one clear, precise, exact emotion to tell him in which direction to go.

She's an alien from another world.

She's been hurt in a way no other woman would have been able to survive.

She has talons for fingers and green skin.

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She smells like the sweetest maple syrup. All warm and thick and dripping delicious.

She's not human. There is nothing about her that is normal. She's not the kind of woman you expect her to be, and she never will be.

His body jerked. No, she was nothing like a human woman. And that was where Roni shined above them all. Her strength, her courage, and her tenacity had kept her alive.

She was a survivor. She was ... better than a human woman.

And she loved him beyond anything he would ever know again in his lifetime.

"I had given up on ever finding a bond mate. I never expected to find you. I never planned on falling in love with you.

"None of what I've done here to survive is me. It's not the real me.

"There is no other for me, Thomas. If you reject me, there will be no other. My body will never accept another. Your scent has marked me for life.

"Good night, Thomas. Dio m'silat. It means 'go with my self.' When you leave, you'll be taking a part of me I will never get back, but I don't care. I found my life partner. I finally found you, and that means the Arra will never be able to have control over me ever again. I have been blessed."

DeGrassi finally knew the emotion he had been seeking. In fact, it had been there all along, fenced in and hidden behind his prejudice and his imitation fear. It had tried to call out to him, but the voices of doubt had been drowning it out.

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"I love you, Roni. I've known it ever since I first smelled your exotic scent. I've known you were mine to protect from the very first time I saw you. I've known in the deepest part of me that you were different, and it would be that difference that would save me from myself. Just as it would save you."

He sat up in the seat. A glance at the dashboard clock told him it was nearly six a.m. Already he could see the first faint brightness in the eastern sky. The sun would be coming up soon. And when it did, she would be locked into her human form for another full day.

He couldn't allow her to do that. Not today. Today she had to remain in her true form, because they had to find out for certain if they were meant to be life partners. He had to go back to her. He had to make love to her. Only then would they know ... would he know...

Life partners. Bond mates. "Our bond mates are our lives."

If he left here, drove off, and never tried to see her again, could he? Could he honestly face the rest of his life knowing he would never again bathe in her warm, sweet smell? To kiss her? Or hold her? Or know the richness of loving her?

DeGrassi started the car and swung it around in a U-turn to take it back up the block. He pulled into the driveway, then jumped out of the vehicle and ran around to the back bedroom window. Time was of the essence. Shoving up the sash, he peered into the room to find the bed empty, the flowered quilt mussed and lying halfway on the floor.

She was gone. A coldness crept into his gut. Where was she? Did she leave the house? Did she go back into the woods?

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Hefting himself over the sill, he smoothly ducked and rolled over and onto his feet. It was then he heard the faint sound of the shower running. DeGrassi walked over to the bathroom and slowly pushed open the door.

The room was not as steamy as it would have been if it had been himself behind that jewel-toned curtain. Carefully he approached the shower, then paused. He could hear her crying; the low, choking sobs were muffled, coming from behind the curtain. He would swear he could feel her grief and her loneliness. Was this part of becoming a bond mate, where every emotion the both of them experienced could be felt by the other? Where every secret would lie open and bare, shared so nothing could ever be misinterpreted between them?

DeGrassi swallowed hard and reached out to draw the curtain to the side.

Roni was still in her true form. Her back was to him, and beneath the warm spray the thousands of tiny welts and scars on her skin glistened under the overhead lights. For the first time he noticed some extra webbing or skin under her arms and the slight, ridge formations running atop her spine and down the backs of her legs.

She shivered as the cooler air washed over her.

Hiccupping, she turned around and froze in surprise to stare at him with red-rimmed eyes. Widened eyes. Eyes the color of a smoky sky filled with a billion stars.

"Th-Thomas?" She shivered, clasping her arms over her chest.

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Without explaining, DeGrassi quickly unbuckled his shoulder holster and laid it on the floor behind him. Grabbing his t-shirt behind his neck, he jerked it over his head and tossed it to the side. Toeing off his running shoes, he loosened his belt and dropped his jeans to the floor to kick them out of the way. His briefs and socks followed after. Then he stepped into the shower to join her and drew the curtain closed.

He remained standing there in silence as her eyes swept over him. She had never seen him naked. DeGrassi was proud of his physique, having spent countless hours at a gym and running after work to keep up his strength and stamina.

He wasn't built like Mr. Universe, but he was toned and well-muscled. He had sculpted muscles, especially around his abdomen and thighs. A soft mat of hair covered his pecs before trailing in a narrow line down to his swelling erection.

She reached out to lay one of those wicked-looking hands upon his sternum. DeGrassi jumped at her touch. Her caress was gentle. Tentative. And slightly ticklish.

Her hand continued to trail downward. As those nearly five-inch blades the color of pearls neared his burgeoning hard-on, DeGrassi began to feel a lightness of spirit. The sense of knowing she wouldn't hurt him or cause him harm in any way suddenly seemed to be there, as clear and concise as if she had reassured him aloud. As if he had known all along and just never understood or accepted it until right at that moment. Roni would never hurt him, could never hurt him, any more than he could harm her. Or allow any harm to come to her.

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When she finally drew her hand around his hardened shaft, the visions he had entertained of her before, of her pumping him and taking him between her plump, berry-red lips, came slamming home. DeGrassi closed his eyes to savor her touch.

Suddenly, she let go of him. His eyes snapped open to see her staring at the curtain. No, she was staring beyond the curtain, as if she had heard something.

"Roni?"

"The sun's coming up, Thomas. I must—"

"No."

She turned her head to look at him. The hope in her eyes was unmistakable. DeGrassi reached out to stroke her cheek.

To his surprise, it was soft and warm and more delicate than silk. Roni leaned toward him, closing her eyes as she savored his touch. A tiny smile curled over her lips, and he couldn't help but smile to hear her sigh of contentment.

He could sense her opening up to him. There was an emptiness there that he needed to fill, had to coax back to life. Her hand closed around him again, and this time his body reached toward her in a silent request for more.

Lowering his face, DeGrassi closed his eyes as he caressed her other cheek with his. She was trembling from his touch and his nearness. Her breath was coming in short gasps.

Without realizing what he was going to do next, he slowly licked the tender skin underneath her ear. Roni moaned softly.

The taste of her flooded his mouth with desire. It was sweeter and more potent than maple syrup. It was addictive and dangerous. Its heat streaked straight into his groin, 413

pushing his erection to the limit and leaving it quivering in her hand. Bright colors danced behind his closed eyelids as he took another long lick, this time down the side of her neck. A groan wrenched itself out of his chest as he reached for her.

"Christ, Roni ... you taste like heaven."

One taste wasn't enough. Neither were two. Suddenly, he was afraid he would never be able to get enough of her, of her taste or her scent. But then, he didn't care. Not if they were true bond mates. Not if she was his life partner. Because then he could savor her for the rest of their lives. Savor her, drown in her, and forever crave more.

DeGrassi opened his mouth to tongue the soft curve of her shoulder. To mouth the peach-velvet texture of her throat. To lightly nip at the underside of her jaw.

Roni was shivering from his touch. Her hands had released his manhood and now clutched his waist as she moved closer to him. Drawing his arms around her, DeGrassi pulled her against him until skin met bare skin. Her curves melted perfectly along his, and the last of his hesitation permanently washed away beneath the warm shower spray.

He sought and found her mouth, letting himself be swept away by the tidal wave of blinding heat that was coating every inch of his skin. Heat that penetrated into his cells.

Heat that was incinerating him from the inside out. Heat that boiled his blood until it ran thicker and slower through his veins.

His tongue found hers, and when she closed her lips around it and began to sweetly suck on it, DeGrassi felt his body tighten with expectation. His dick was heavier and 414

broader than he believed possible. It prodded Roni in the abdomen, seeking, crying for entry. And when it couldn't find her portal, it slid upward along her stomach to tremble in anticipation.

Every muscle was shaking from the strain. He knew he would be sweating if not for the tepid spray pouring over him.

There wasn't a cell in his body that wasn't focused on the woman writhing in his arms. Her scent filled the tiny bathroom just as it filled him. Her taste continued to blossom on his tongue and in his mouth, until every one of his senses was no longer aware of anything else except her.