Zaureth: A SciFi Alien Romance (Enigma Series Book 4) (10 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Zaureth descended the stairs to basement of the hotel, tight on Oz’s heels. “Where were they found?”

Oz spoke without slowing. “On the east side of the island. I lost two men in the fighting that ensued. I don’t yet have a number of Carlito causalities.”

“Anthony Vaughn?”

“Tony’s unharmed. As is Naura,” Oz responded.

Zaureth ground his teeth. “Vaughn allowed Naura to go with him in search of Carlito?”

Oz laughed. “Do you really think he had a choice in the matter? She would have just followed him anyway.”

“You have a point.” Shutting Amy out of his head was one of the hardest things Zaureth had ever done. He could feel the hurt coming from her at his departure. But it had to be done. He would pull out his own fingernails before allowing Amy to witness what he planned to do.

Zaureth noticed three chairs situated in the center of the room. Two of the chairs held a pair of restrained men, while a female occupied the other. Tony and Naura lingered nearby.

Oz approached the trio and ripped the duct tape from their mouths. He stopped in front of the female, who surprisingly hadn’t flinched.

“Good luck with that,” Tony murmured, taking Naura’s hand and heading toward the door. “Carlito is still out there. I’ll call you when I have something.”

Zaureth stepped in front of them. “Perhaps Naura should stay behind.”

Tony’s eyebrows shot up. “I’ve threatened everything short of tying her to a chair with those guys.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the men strapped to the chairs. “She’s a Bracadyte. And a stubborn ass Bracadyte, at that.”

Zaureth glanced at Naura, who mentally pleaded with him. “
I could not stay behind. Tony is my life, Zaureth. If I lost him, I fear that I could not survive.”

“
I understand that emotion, Naura. But you have a child to consider now. Anthony Vaughn can take care of himself. You have to take care of you and your babe,”
Zaureth argued.

Defeat entered Naura’s eyes. She gave a slight nod. “
I will stay with Amy until Anthony returns.”

“Be safe, Anthony Vaughn,” Zaureth rumbled, stepping aside.

Tony nodded and left the room with Naura by his side.

“Which one of you dipshits would like to tell me where I can find Carlito?” Oz inquired of the prisoners.

When no one spoke, Oz tugged a pistol from the back of his pants and rested the barrel against the first man’s forehead. “Is protecting your boss really worth your life?”

“He’ll kill us if—”

“Shut up,” the female snapped, narrowing her eyes in Oz’s direction.

Oz removed the barrel of his gun from the man’s head and sauntered over to the woman. He gripped her by the chin and tilted her head back. “Such a pretty little thing, you are. Might you be Carlito’s lover?”

She spit in his face.

Wiping the spittle from his cheek, Oz forced her head back and straddled her legs. “What’s your name, spitfire?”

She continued to glare at him, her mouth tightly shut.

“Oh, come now,” Oz taunted, bringing the gun to the side of her head. “Surely you can do better than that?” He slowly lifted his thumb and pulled the hammer back.

“Maria. Her name’s Maria,” the chatterbox on the end blurted. “Don’t hurt her. She’s Carlito’s sister.”

Zaureth stepped up in front of the talkative one. “Who is responsible for blowing up the boat?”

“He is.” The guy jerked his head toward the silent one in the middle.

Rage boiled in Zaureth’s gut. Visions of Amy floating in the water, surrounded by fire and debris, swam through his mind in torturous detail. Heat formed inside him, his vision blurred, and energy rushed through his limbs with such force he had to lock his knees to keep them from buckling.

Zaureth shifted his gaze to the silent one, focusing on the man’s face.

A scream rent the air as blood pooled in the man’s eyes. It trickled from his ears and gushed from his nose.

The guy’s body bowed back, and a popping sound echoed throughout the room as his bones began to break.

Still Zaureth didn’t stop. He couldn’t shake the horror of Amy nearly dying at this man’s hands.

The chair holding the human’s broken body flew back against the wall, shattering the legs beneath it.

Zaureth swiveled his head toward the man in the first chair.

“Wait,” Oz intervened, resting a hand on Zaureth’s forearm. “We may need him if she refuses to talk.”

It took enormous effort for Zaureth to rein in his rage, to prevent himself from destroying the evil piece of humanity sitting before him, but he managed. Barely.

Zaureth staggered back a step as his insides calmed. His gaze slowly drifted to the dead man against the wall a few feet away. He’d done that. Zaureth had killed the guy.

Eliminating the humans that were shooting at him in the lobby had been self-defense. Zaureth had killed this man in cold blood. And he would do it again to anyone who dared harm his Amy, he silently acknowledged.

“Why don’t you get some air?” Oz quietly suggested. “I can take it from here.”

Zaureth met Oz’s calm gaze. “Had Amy died, no one on this island would have been safe from my wrath. I fear what I am capable of.”

Oz nodded. “None of us know what we are capable of when faced with the fear of losing someone we love. Trust me, I understand.”

Zaureth knew in that moment that Oz spoke of avenging his mother’s death all those years ago.

“Go be with Amy. I’ll give Sir Talks A Lot a nice beat-down and see if I can get some answers from Carlito’s sister.”

“Go to hell, Nicho,” Maria growled, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “You won’t get shit from me.”

Zaureth turned away, unable to look upon the dead man against the wall. He strode up the steps, taking them two at a time until he reached the lobby before bursting through the front door and racing across the sand to the beach.

He dove headlong into an oncoming wave, swimming with everything he had until he reached the second sandbar.

Bursting to the surface, he extended his arms out to his sides, threw his head back, and released a roar of agony that seemed ripped from his very soul. He’d crossed a line he could never come back from.

Zaureth wasn’t sure how long he stood there before another cry escaped him. A cry of surrender. Of innocence lost. A cry of awakening. He was more than an orphan, a scholar, or a healer. He was a fighter. A warrior. He was a mate.

Something inside him shifted. An acceptance of who and what he’d become. Zaureth had no regrets about his past, his vows, or what he’d done to the man in the basement. He would do it all again for just one more day with Amy.

Turning toward the shore, he dove beneath the surface and swam back toward the woman he loved. And he did love her. Of that, he had no doubt.

The finality of his decision settled inside him, warming him in its relief. He emerged onto the beach, not bothering to look at the destruction around him. It didn’t matter now. Amy needed him, and damn him, but he needed her even more.

Surging through the door of the hotel, Zaureth ignored the destruction left from Carlito and his men, and ran toward the stairs.

He’d never felt more sure of anything as he did about his feelings for Amy. She was his mate, and he would do anything to protect her. Including kill for her.

Once on the third floor, Zaureth rushed to Amy’s room and knocked. Abbie opened the door. “I was just heading out. It would appear that Hauke has spilled the beans to Tony about Naura’s pregnancy. I’m needed for an intervention.”

Zaureth grinned, grateful that he wasn’t the one who had to do it. “At least now, she will be forced to behave.”

“We’re taking about Naura,” Abbie muttered, stepping around Zaureth and into the hall. “I don’t think she knows the meaning of behave.”

Mallory climbed from the bed as Zaureth moved deeper into the room. “I’ll just give you two some privacy.”

“Zaureth?” Amy whispered in a hopeful tone.

“It is me.” Zaureth opened his connection with her as soon as the door closed behind Mallory. More than anything he loved to gift her with sight.

Her beautiful face lit up. “I want to see you.”

Zaureth glanced around the room. “Do not move.”

Striding toward the bathroom, Zaureth removed the mirror from above the sink and slid it behind Amy’s pillows to rest against the headboard, before moving to sit in front of her.

He raised his gaze to her face, aware that she could see his reflection through the mirror. “Is that better?”

“Yes. So much better. Touch me, Zaureth…”

Zaureth felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. His sex began to pulse with the rush of blood filling it.

He glanced down her enticing body sprawled out on the bed before him. Damn him, but he wanted her.

His hands trembled as he tugged the covers from her legs and rested his palms on her calves.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered, sitting up and pulling her shirt over her head.

Zaureth couldn’t have stopped if he’d wanted to.

Chapter Twenty

Amy’s insides were alive with need. Anticipation of his next move had her breath coming in short, quick gasps.

The feel of his warm palms sliding up her thighs set her entire body on fire.

She could feel the wetness of her sex, knew her body was preparing itself to be taken by this man, this beautiful Bracadyte.

He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her shorts and tugged them down, taking her panties with them.

“Amy,” he breathed, returning his hands to her flesh. “You are too small for me.”

Not to be deterred, Amy opened her thighs, allowing him access to her most private place. “I trust you, Zaureth. I understand the first time is painful, but I want you, and I won’t break. I promise.”

“I cannot bear to think of hurting you in any way,” Zaureth rumbled, his hands gently massaging the insides of her thighs.

Amy could see herself through his eyes. She watched with bated breath as his fingers slowly inched toward her aching center.

She unsnapped her bra, freeing her breasts.

Amy could feel his internal battle, see everything that his gaze touched on before settling on her breasts.

She arched her back, silently offering him what he was too afraid to take. “Make love to me, Zaureth.”

With a growl of surrender, Zaureth crawled up her body and took one of her straining nipples into his mouth.

Amy moaned at the feel of his tongue teasing her rosy tip.

He sucked deep, sending sharp currents of heat straight to her core.

She shifted beneath him, trying to get closer, seeking something her body demanded, yet her mind couldn’t grasp.

“Hold still,” Zaureth rasped, breaking the suction he had on her breast. “I cannot take much more. I ache to be inside you to the point I am in pain.”

Amy’s hands sank into his hair as he returned to tormenting her breasts. With his eyes closed, she could no longer see, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need her sight at the moment. She needed Zaureth inside her, to quench her craving and feed the hunger burning her alive.

“Please,” she whispered, her breathing uneven.

Zaureth lifted his head, softly sliding his palms up her arms until he gripped her wrists. He raised them above her head. “I have never been with a female before, Amy. Though I am familiar with the female body, and I understand how coupling works, I would take my time to prepare you for my entry.”

“Mallory told me that her first time was a bit painful. But it wasn’t unbearable,” Amy shyly whispered.

Zaureth sat up and knelt between her open thighs. He ran his gaze down her body before coming to a stop on the bulge in his shorts.

With shaky fingers, he unlaced his shorts, allowing his erection to spring free.

A gasp escaped Amy before she could stop it. She quickly sat up and reached for him.

Zaureth locked onto her wrist. “I do not know if I can control myself if you touch me.”

Amy blushed, but didn’t back down. “I have never seen this part of a man before. Are all men as big as you?”

“I-I do not think so, little one.”

Pulling free of his hold, Amy reached out and gently wrapped her fingers around his shaft. He was so large her hand only enclosed half of his girth.

She slid her palm up his great length, curious about its mushroom-shaped tip.

The sound that came from Zaureth was part groan, part hiss. “Stop,” he rasped, closing his hand over hers. “I cannot hold back.”

Amy released his massive shaft and coasted her palms up his stomach to open his vest. She slid it from his broad shoulders before rising up on her knees and closing her mouth over his.

Zaureth moaned, kissing her with a passion that engulfed her. His hands were everywhere at once. On her arms, her face, her back. He suddenly pulled free and jumped to his feet.

Amy felt the loss of him instantly. She tried following his sight, only to realize he was removing his shorts.

“Lie back,” he growled low, taking hold of her ankles.

Doing as he demanded, Amy laid back on the bed, gasping as he took hold of her ankles and pulled her to the edge of the mattress.

“What are you doing?” she whispered, feeling his breath between her thighs.

“Preparing you.” He gently cupped her mound.

Amy forgot to be embarrassed. A humming feeling in Zaureth’s palm tickled her skin, bringing every nerve in her lower body to life.

“Zaureth?”

“Relax,” he rumbled, dragging his palm down until his fingers slipped through her wet slit.

In all the years of wondering what sex would be like, Amy had never imagined it would feel like this.

He slowly pressed a finger inside her before slipping it free and adding another.

The pressure felt amazing to Amy, and she lifted her hips, silently begging for more.

“You are so small,” Zaureth rasped, inserting the tip of a third finger into her tight channel.

Amy couldn’t hold still any longer, her body craving something just out of her reach. “Zaureth? What’s happening to me?”

He didn’t answer, only continued his slow, torturous penetration. And then his thumb coasted up over her now swollen, sensitive bundle of nerves.

Amy’s hips jerked in reaction. Her legs began to tremble, and her abdominal muscles grew hot and tight.

“Oh God,” she gasped, reaching for the release she sought without understanding how.

Zaureth’s voice, full of desperation and need, suddenly slammed into her mind.
“I love you. I love you more than life. Give yourself to me, Amy. All of you.”

Amy cried out. Her hands gripped the sheets, and her legs locked onto Zaureth’s massive shoulders. Hot, powerful energy contracted her vaginal walls, traveled to her abdomen, and exploded through her body in an unbelievable orgasm that stole her breath.

It seemed to go on forever, her body seizing with the most incredible sensations imaginable.

Long moments passed with Zaureth continuing to softly stroke her. He gently pulled his fingers free of her body and rose to his feet.

“If at any time, the pain becomes too great, I will stop. There are other ways to pleasure without penetration.”

Amy could barely speak for the tiny aftershocks of her orgasm still firing off inside her. “I don’t want to live half a life with you, Zaureth. I want all of you or nothing,” she rasped, trying to catch her breath. “And that means your body as well. Please don’t be afraid of me.”

“It kills me to think of causing you pain.”

Amy brought her knees up in invitation. “I love you, Zaureth. The pain will be worth it to become one with you.”