The Bond That Consumes Us (11 page)

“You need to learn that I’m the one who can give your pleasure. Never yourself unless I give you permission. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Louder.”

“Yes.”

“Good. You deserve a reward for being good.”

Taber bent his head and sucked her nipple hard into his mouth. Fallon cried out, clenching her thighs together to increase the pressure on her clit. He pulled back giving her thigh a smack. His hit was firm, sending a burning sensation that quickly heightened her pleasure.

“Open your legs.”

She imagined he used that same tone with his prisoners he interrogated when he needed information. No wonder they’d brought him here to find the killer. He was a force, totally in control, used to getting what he wanted.

And now he wanted
her
.

“Open your legs, Fallon. I can’t have you coming.”

Unable to deny him, she opened her legs wide.

“That’s better.” He looked down at her body, a slow smile spreading across his lips.

“You are so beautiful.”

He reached up and spread her hair over the pillow, his gentle caress a contrast to the firmness of his commands. He stopped to touch her cheek, neck, caress the hollow at the base of her throat. She couldn’t help but twist into his caress, needing his favor.

“Seeing you in my clothing excites me.” He pushed the opening wider, exposing her belly. “But I hate to see your body covered. It’s so perfect. I want to come over it.”

Fallon gasped and her thighs flexed. She had to fight to keep them spread open.

“But I want you inside me,” she whispered.

“And you’ll have me.” He flicked her nipple with his finger. “But I need to mark you somehow. Prove that you’re mine. You are mine, aren’t you, Fallon?”

“Yes,” she moaned.

“Good.”

67

“Please fuck me.”

“I will. And you will find your pleasure. But my way.”

She shivered but nodded. How she’d grown to trust him so much in such a short period of time, she wasn’t sure. But she did.

Taber bent his head down again, sucking her left nipple as he teased the right with his hand. The steady laving of his tongue over the sensitive peak was almost enough to push her into orgasm. Concentrating on everything but what he was doing, she tried to win the battle over her body. When he switched sides, she almost lost.

“Can I come now please?” she cried out, her body shaking from the strain.

He lifted his head for a moment, just long enough to speak. “No.”

Fallon thrashed her head from side to side, fighting to keep her lower body still.

Taber knew how close she was, lifting his head from her breast. The nipple he’d been teasing with his hand, he pinched hard enough to distract her from the overwhelming pleasure with a bit of pain.

“I said no.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Say my name.”

“I’m sorry, Taber.”

“Very good. I think you deserve a reward.”

He moved his body so his head lay between her thighs. Fallon’s breathing came out in gasps as she waited, needing to feel the touch of his mouth on her clit. But when he didn’t touch her right away, she moaned, bucking her hips up, pulling against the restraints.

“Patience,
shallen
. All in good time. I’m going to lick your cunt now. But I don’t want you to come until I say. Do you understand?”

Not come!
“I don’t know if I can.”

“Not until I say so. If you come too soon, I’ll be unhappy. Do you understand?”

Somehow the threat of his being unhappy wasn’t intimidating. “Okay,” she muttered.

When his tongue licked some of her cream off her thigh, her body twitched.

“Lie still.”

Fallon whimpered and screwed her eyes shut and tried to think of things to distract herself from what he was doing. His tongue returned to her thigh, his gentle lapping up of her cream slow and deliberate. She tried to ignore the sensations, tried to think about drink recipes, navigation charts, anything. But when he moved his tongue to her pussy, eating up the juices from her opening, she nearly lost control.

Taber practically purred as he swallowed every drop of her essence he could find.

Thankfully, he was careful to avoid her clit. There wouldn’t be a way she could stop herself if he touched her there.

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“You are such a good girl,” he said, punctuating his words with a kiss on her pussy.

“I think you are ready for your reward. Do you want it?”

“Yes!”

“Do you want to come?”

“Oh fuck yes!”

“Then come for me,
shallen
. Scream my name.”

Without further warning, Taber sucked her clit hard into his mouth at the same time he drove a finger into her pussy. It only took two thrusts and her orgasm exploded. She screamed his name over and over, bucking her hips, grinding her cunt against his face. He didn’t stop pumping his finger into her until she begged him to stop.

“No more. Too much,” she gasped.

Releasing her clit, he licked up the freshly spilled cream from her pussy. Only once he was satisfied did he rise to his knees.

“Very good. You are amazing.”

Her body was humming from the power of her orgasm, the skin feeling like an electric current was still passing over her. She didn’t think there was anyway she’d be able to recover from that. That was until Taber positioned his cock at her entrance.

“I’m going to fuck you now. And when I’m ready, I’m going to come all over you.”

Fallon’s heart skipped a beat. She’d never had a man talk to her like this before. Tell her exactly what would happen and then act upon it. Barely able to nod, she managed a small one and waited for him to act.

She didn’t have to wait long. Taber rubbed the head of his cock along the outside of her pussy to wet it. Then, in a single thrust, pushed his way inside until he could go no further. The groan that escaped him vibrated through her body, wakening her drained passion. He kept his body back, resting high on his knees as he began to slowly pump into her.

Fallon watched the muscles of his chest, stomach and hips flex and release with each thrust into her. His eyes were closed, but she knew the intense pleasure he was feeling. She felt it too. He moved his hands to her legs, pulling them up to rest her feet on his chest.

The new position increased the angle for his thrusts and he was able to penetrate deeper. Fallon moaned—her clit now trapped against him.

“Do you want to come again?” he asked the question with his eyes still closed.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes please, Taber.”

“That’s better. Since you asked nicely, I think I will allow it.”

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Without warning, he increased the tempo of his thrusts until he was pounding into her fast and hard. Being so close to the end of her first orgasm, the second approached with lightning speed. She cried out, barely getting the words out of her as she fought her body.

“May I come please?”

“Yes.”

“Ahhh!”

She screamed again, this time her world threatened to go black. The only thing that pulled her from the edge of oblivion was the sound of Taber’s voice.

“Open your eyes.”

Somehow she was able to comply and watched as he pulled his red, swollen cock from her body. Slick with her cream, he was easily able to work his fist over his shaft.

He kept his eyes open watching her as he pumped himself. When at last his eyes rolled up into his head and he squeezed them shut, she watched as a heavy stream of cum shot from his cock to land on her breasts. Spurts continued until he finally collapsed in a heap beside her.

Their steady panting drifted into steady breathing, their bodies slick with cum and sweat. She didn’t care and let him pull her hard against him, kissing her shoulder and neck with gentle reverence.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked softly as he nuzzled her neck.

“No.
God
no. That was amazing.”

“
You
were amazing. I had no idea…without the bond that two people…”

Fallon giggled at his loss of words. The man who’d been in such control only a few minutes before, now struggling with his vocabulary. Reaching down she rubbed his cum onto her chest with her fingertips for a moment before bringing it to her lips to taste him. Taber watched, fascinated as she sucked her fingers into her mouth.

“Do you like that?”

She nodded and moaned softly. “You taste like you smell.”

“I hope that is a good thing.”

She giggled again, only this time he joined her, his low, rumbling chuckle shaking their bodies. After a moment, the joy drifted away. Memories of the past two days came flooding back.

Nate was dead. So was Lukas. Here she was acting like nothing was wrong, like they hadn’t meant anything to her. What kind of person was she to push aside her memories so quickly? Taber touched her cheek, frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re going to catch their murderer, right?”

70

He didn’t answer her right away, instead pushing his body up so he rested on his elbow. Fallon rolled to her back, looking up into his eyes, needing him to tell her the truth.

“Do you trust me?”

His question sounded odd considering what they’d just done. Instead of questioning him, she nodded. She began to play with the skin on his forearm, running her fingers up and down the length of his muscles.

“Fallon, I promise you this. I will find the person who murdered your friends and bring them to justice.”

The weight that had been sitting on her heart since she’d found Nate immediately lightened. She knew it wouldn’t go away completely until the murderer was caught.

But she knew Taber, knew he didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Then something else hit her. “You’ll leave once you solve the crime, won’t you?”

“Eurus is my home. I’ll be returning with Sean.”

He paused, and for a moment she thought he might say something more. Ask her to come with him. Instead he caught a piece of her hair and twirled it around his finger.

“Well, I hope you won’t catch him too quickly, but before he strikes again.” She smiled but felt a heavy weight fill her stomach. “I’m going to get cleaned up and head home. I don’t want to slow down your progress.”

Fallon slipped from the bed, leaving Taber to frown after her.

71

Captain Zane was still yelling at Taber and Sean ten minutes after they’d entered his office—not that it wasn’t warranted. Taber could understand the other man’s frustration at the lack of progress.

“Not only have we been forced to release our only suspect in Nate’s death, there’s another body! Do you two intend on doing
anything
while you’re on my ship?”

Sean leaned forward in his seat, leaning slightly on Zane’s desk. “I assure you, Captain, we are doing everything we can.”

“It’s obviously not enough.”

The older man’s face was red, in stark contrast to the mass of white hair on the top of his head. Taber remained standing, his hands clenched behind his back in fists. His normal control was slippery, moving out of his grasp as soon as he thought he had it in place. It was not like him, and caused a major distraction in his thought process.

He’d be as angry as the captain if their positions were reversed. Angrier if he knew about Taber and Fallon, and how much time he’d spent with her instead of chasing the murderer.

“Captain, I have a theory about the murders,” Taber said only once it was clear the captain was calm enough to hear it.

“And what might that be?”

Taber had spent most of the night thinking about the case once Fallon had slipped away and returned to her room. He’d tried to follow her, to make sure she got home safely, but she wouldn’t hear of it.

“God, the last thing I need is for the general populace to think you have a crush on me or something,” she’d said. “I still have to live and work with these people when you leave.”

He hadn’t like the way she’d said the last part, keeping him up the rest of the night.

But it had allowed him to draw the one and only connection between the two men.

“Captain, I think this murder is targeting men who are close to Fallon.”

Sean twisted in his seat to look back at him. “Are you sure?”

“The only other option is that their deaths were completely random. With the coincidence that they were both interested in pursuing a relationship with her. We’ve checked every other angle—it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“There must be another explanation. Fallon’s been on ship for over three years now.

Nate and Lukas longer than that. Why would this be happening now?”

72

“It’s possible, Captain. I trust Taber’s instincts in the matter.” Sean revealed nothing in his expression that would indicate he was referring to anything other than Taber’s investigative skills.

“There could have been a recent event that triggered the perpetrator, pushed him over the edge. A trauma that has caused him to fixate on Fallon. Possibly with the intent of getting rid of what he perceives as competition in a bid to win her over.”

Captain Zane stared at Taber for a long minute before shaking his head. “I find it hard to believe that Fallon could be linked to this. Even incidentally. Every man on this ship has lusted after her at one point or another. That would mean a lot of potential suspects.”

“We will continue to follow other avenues of the investigation, but I want to ensure Ms. Reist is protected until we catch whoever is responsible.” Taber kept is tone flat, not wanting to give any indication that Fallon meant more to him than any other person in the investigation.

“We know your security resources are limited on ship,” Sean added. “It might be easier if she stays in her quarters as much as possible. Or if Taber is ready to release the crime scene, we can reopen the bar and allow her to work. That way she’ll be in full sight of us, without her feeling trapped. She’d need an escort whenever she is moving about the ship though.”

Zane sat back in his seat and rubbed a hand down the front of his face. “She’s going to kill me if I agree to that.”

“We can tell her. That way once the investigation is over, there will be no ill will directed toward you,” Taber said, knowing full well Fallon would be furious when she found out it was his idea to keep her protected.

The captain stood up and held out his hand for Sean to shake. “I appreciate that.

Our little rocket booster will tear a strip off me when she finds out.”

“We’ve noticed she’s very passionate about her beliefs. Isn’t that right, Taber?”

A sudden surge of anger flooded his system when Sean turned and looked at him with a subtle but smug look. He cocked his head to the side and stared at his friend and simply nodded once.

“Re-open the bar. That will at least make the people stuck on this ship until the investigation is done happy. It’s a pleasure ship after all. If there isn’t drinking, fucking and fighting then we’re doing something wrong.”

“Of course, Captain,” Taber bowed, trying to ignore the comment about fucking.

“Let me know the second you hear anything or have another suspect. I want to come down and see the bastard myself.”

Taber and Sean left shortly after, walking side by side until they reached the transport tube. Once they were inside and the doors slid shut, Taber grabbed Sean by the throat and threw him up against the wall. Surprisingly, Sean didn’t react with anything other than a look of curiosity.

73

The beast inside him who’d been under tight control for years rose up with a roar.

Taber’s hand began to shake as he squeezed Sean’s throat. His heart was pounding and there was nothing he wanted more at that moment than to kill something. The fact Sean wasn’t struggling, fighting back in any fashion, quickly quelled his temper, allowing him to get control. After a moment, he released Sean, allowing his body to slide back to the floor.

“If you again hint at a relationship between Fallon and myself, I will beat you.”

Unlike other humans, Sean didn’t retreat. Reaching up to rub his neck, he kept his eyes fixed on Taber’s.

“Is there?”

“What?”

“A relationship between you? Because quite frankly, I’ve never seen you act like this before.”

By the goddess he wanted nothing better than to steal Fallon back to Eurus and keep her locked in his quarters forever. But what kind of life could he offer her? She wanted to return to Earth, not live the rest of her life with an alien on a colony as far away from her planet as humans have managed to get. No, when they caught whoever killed Nate and Lukas, he’d leave Fallon to her life. Hopefully with some pleasant memories.

“She’s shared my bed. Nothing more.”

“That isn’t
nothing
.”

“Do not…continue this line of conversation.”

Wisely, Sean didn’t pursue the matter further. The transport tube opened and the two stepped out as if nothing had happened. Taber turned and walked several steps away before Sean called out.

“Where are you going?”

“To release the crime scene. The captain was right about that. We need to let these people get back to their normal routines,” Taber said, scanning the corridor before continuing. “We need Fallon to get back into her normal life as well. It will be the easiest way to draw the killer out.”

“You still think this nut job is after her?”

Taber nodded. “We need to review all personnel files to see if there might be a recent event that could have triggered a psychotic break for someone.”

“That will take time. Maybe I can send them to Eurus? Sara and Davin could get through them faster than we could.”

“Agreed. Once I release the bar I’ll begin to review the security computer records around that sector.”

“What about Fallon?”

74

Taber felt his stomach clench at the thought of putting her in the path of danger.

While she wasn’t a coward and was more than capable of looking after herself, she wasn’t a Haylie either. He wasn’t even sure if she knew how to fire a laser pistol.

“I’ll let her know she is free to return to work as long as she has an escort approved by one of us. I don’t want our killer to get close to her without our knowledge.”

There was something in Sean’s eyes that sparkled, but when he spoke, there was no hint of humor. “She better stay by one of us then. We’re the only ones we can be sure of.

At least for the time being. I’ll let you take the first watch.”

Without another word, Sean left for the communication room.

The fact that he was right only served to further annoy Taber. They couldn’t trust anyone else on the ship. Not until they heard back from Sara and Davin on the records.

The idea of Sean spending even a little time with Fallon alone was enough to send his inner world into dark chaos.

Changing his destination mid-stride, Taber made his way to Fallon’s quarters. But once he was there, he rang the sensor several times and realized she wasn’t there. There were two possibilities—she either didn’t want to see him, or something was wrong.

Using the security clearance Tony had given him the day he’d arrived, Taber opened her doors and went inside her quarters. Everything was neat and tidy. Data pads were piled up on a table, stories she told him she liked to read. Everything was exactly where it should be—except for Fallon.

Leaving her quarters, he made his way to the only other place he could think she would be. The doors to the bar were wide open and he was only one of many who trickled through the door. He caught sight of her mixing a drink, smiling at the increasing crowd congregating the bar.

Zane must have contacted her and told her the good news. The old bastard moved quickly—so did Fallon apparently. She looked completely relaxed and totally in her element.

Anger, fear and a heady dose of relief made it hard for him to move away, but he forced himself. Rather than approach her, he made his way to the far corner of the bar and stood in the corner. He’d have to let Sean know that he wouldn’t be able to review those computer records until tomorrow. He had a feeling Fallon wasn’t going anywhere for quite a while.

For her part, Fallon seemed to ignore his presence. He knew she was aware of him by the way she let her gaze skip over that corner of the room while letting it drift everywhere else. That and the fact that Lance kept staring from Taber to Fallon every time he came out of the supply room. Not that he approached Taber either.

They were all doing an excellent job at ignoring the painfully obvious.

The bar began to fill to capacity as the night went on. Captain Zane had lifted the ban on crew members drinking for the night, giving everyone a chance to meet and mourn the loss of the crew members. Even the few guests who’d been trapped onboard 75

were participating in the festivities. As he looked around the room, the whole situation seemed odd.

Someone pulled up a picture of Nate and Lukas on the vid screens. He’d heard people say the word “wake” several times, and he gathered this was becoming a funeral of sorts. He’d never seen humans mourn for their dead in the fashion before.

It was nearly twenty-four hundred hours before Fallon finally stepped out from behind the bar. He watched the sway of her ponytail as she walked through the crowd, speaking with the groups of crew members as she went. Every time she would lean forward, her round bottom would catch his attention, making him want to grab her by the hips and grind his cock against it.

Taber forced himself to look away, focusing instead on a spot on the far wall. He watched Lance for a few minutes mix drinks, though not with as much flare as Fallon.

When she finally reached his side, he watched her press her back against the wall, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Enjoying the wake?” she said in a tone that betrayed nothing.

“A form of human burial rite I take it?”

“You don’t have wakes on Briel?”

“A party to celebrate death? No. But I find myself wondering if this isn’t a better way than ours.”

He felt her eyes on his face but he resisted the urge to look. Instead he scanned the crowd for anyone who might be taking a particular interest in their conversation.

“It’s more of a celebration of life than death. Why, what do your people do?”

The faces before him blurred together until he was no longer seeing anyone. His mind flashed back to the day of Calantha’s
larial
ceremony. While they may not have had the closest of bonded relationships, a part of his soul had gone with her the day of her passing. It had taken him a very long time to emerge from the black place he’d descended to after that.

“It depends on who has moved on to be with the goddess. If it is a friend, sibling or parent, the mourner helps carry the body to the sea. Their body is burned and the ash is carried away on the wind. It’s actually quite beautiful.”

There was a long pause, the noise from the crowed bar filling the silence. Taber felt Fallon’s body sway closer to him, her shoulder brushing against his arm. She cleared her throat, the sound somehow penetrating through the noise.

“Taber?”

“Yes?”

“What do you do if the person who died is your mate?”

Somehow he knew she would ask. Knew she couldn’t let the matter drop until she found out all she could about him. Slowly, he turned his head to look into her beautiful blue-green eyes. They were almost the color the sky had been the day of Calantha’s
larial
. Almost.

76

“Friends and family of the surviving mate gather around him or her to ensure they are well. Many have taken their own lives, thrown their bodies on top of the pyre to die with them.”

Her eyes widened considerably, but she didn’t say anything. The noise in the room seemed to fade into the background as he spoke these words to her.