Chapter 22
Lila
Link blinks up at me adorably from where I have him pinned to the hospital bed, but I’m lost to the bloodlust. A quiet, continuous growl rumbles from my chest as I run my nose along the length of his neck.
His hands grip my hips as I grind against him, my bloodlust making the other kind rise as well.
I watch as his pupils dilate, swallowing the silver irises until they are no longer visible.
I stroke my hands down his body as I settle myself comfortably on top of him, pleased that he’s pinned and unable to move.
I use my tongue to probe the thick vein in his neck, plumping it before striking hard.
He stiffens and grunts at the sharp bite of pain, but soon enough, my venom kicks in and he becomes loose and compliant beneath me as his blood flows into my mouth.
Holy crap, it’s like drinking an energy drink—sharp, tangy, and delicious.
I feel his fingers tighten on my hips as I grind down harder onto his erection, dry humping him as I drink, and he thrusts up, doing the same.
It’s not long before our teenage style movements have me on the crest of an orgasm.
One of his hands slides into my yoga pants and under my soaked panties.
I groan as he thrusts two fingers deep into my pulsing channel, but then they start to grow, shifting and moving until they completely fill the space.
I release the suction on his neck and throw my head back, moaning loudly as he pounds them in and out.
It doesn’t take long before I’m flying over the edge, my orgasm ripping its way through my body.
I’m not sure how long I ride the wave of pleasure, but when I finally come down, I’m panting hard, and I drop down against Link’s body.
He removes his fingers, which have now returned to normal, and sticks them into his mouth, sucking them clean.
“You taste so fucking good,” he rumbles in a low voice before wrapping his arms around me and leaning in to kiss me. Before he can, I hold my hand up and place it across his mouth, stopping him. He raises an eyebrow, unable to question me with my hand on his lips.
“Blood breath,” I explain, flushing slightly, and he pushes my hand away.
“I don’t care,” he tells me, but instead of letting him kiss me, I push up and shuffle down the bed, reaching for his pants.
“But I do,” I mumble, unable to look him in the eyes. Tugging at his zipper, I try to undo his pants to return the favor, but he places his hand over mine and stops me.
“Lila, I’m fine. Your venom combined with your sweet little body grinding on me and your own orgasm proved to be my undoing. I’m going to need a change of pants.” He grins, not embarrassed in the least, and it’s contagious. I feel my own smile spread across my lips.
“Does that count as mutual orgasms?” I ask, climbing off of him and helping him sit up. I took quite a bit of blood, and I don’t want him to feel light-headed.
He shakes his head. “No exchange of body fluids, so we’re good,” he says, reaching up and feeling around his neck.
There’s no wound because I remembered to swipe my tongue across it when I let go.
“Vilaxian venom is really quite amazing,” he says when he pulls his hand away and sees that there’s no blood.
“Are you okay? I didn’t take too much. It’s weird, but there’s like this thing inside of me that tells me when you’ve had enough. It was the same with Xavier too. Saxon, not so much. We were kind of in a sexual bloodlust frenzy, so I wasn’t paying attention, but he seemed fine after. I think.”
“He was, and so am I,” Link assures me. “How are you feeling? More emotionally stable now?”
I smile goofily at him, patting my stomach. “I feel great. I’m as full as a leech and feeling pretty fucking amazing after that orgasm. I think after some real food, I could probably sleep for a day. It seems like so much has happened in the last forty-eight hours.”
Link slides off the bed and pulls me into a hug.
I rest my head against his chest and sigh with contentment.
“So much has happened! I think a meal and chilling in our quarters sounds like a good plan. I know you probably want to see Susie and explore the ship since you haven’t had a chance to yet, but that can all wait until tomorrow, or the next day.
We have plenty of time to do all of that, and I want to make sure all of my readings are correct. ”
A yawn creeps up on me, and I slap a hand over my mouth.
I was going to argue with him, but now I can’t, so I nod.
“Okay. How about we go past your quarters so you can get changed and grab a few things to move into mine? The guys can help you with the rest tomorrow. In fact, I bet Xavier would just teleport it all there and save us the work.”
He chuckles and pulls away, grabbing my hand. “You may be right. Okay, let’s do this, my pants are starting to feel uncomfortable.”
We leave the private room, and I give John a kiss on the forehead on the way past. Link checks all his vitals before we leave, satisfied with the readouts. He locks up the clinic, and we move in the direction of the elevator.
“I will probably return here after dinner. I don’t want to leave him alone for long periods of time.”
I feel my bottom lip drop in a brief pout, but I mentally slap myself.
Get over yourself, Lila, he’s looking out for your grandpa. Stop being so selfish.
“I understand. I appreciate all the professional care you’re giving both me and Grandpa J,” I tell him as he stops in front of a door halfway between the clinic and the elevator.
“Lila, I would do just about anything for you,” he says, kissing my cheek before putting his hand up on the entrance panel.
The door slides back, and we step into a living area.
It’s decorated in a minimalist style. He has the typical picture window, like all the other rooms I’ve been in, but the rest of the room is different than any others.
There is no dining table or kitchen, just a replicator in the corner.
The rest of the room is filled with a huge sofa, and the surrounding walls are covered by book-filled shelves.
“Oh my god,” I whisper as I turn in a semicircle, taking in all the books.
You would think with the advanced technology that he would just use a tablet or something, but no, these are all leather-bound, paper-filled books.
The room smells amazing. I stop at one shelf that is built around a fireplace.
“Does that work?” I ask him, gesturing to it, and he smiles.
He walks over to it and flicks a button on the wall, and it leaps to life.
I throw my hands up in the air. “That’s it, you can’t move into my place. How could you abandon all of this? That’s not right. I’ll have to move here.” His face had fallen, but he’s chuckling again by the time I finish.
“I’m sure we can figure out a way to move it all to your quarters.
If you told your grandpas, they’d arrange to have your room extended and redesigned next time we are back on Skarr.
” He turns his back to me and heads in the direction of his bedroom, while I run my finger over the length of a spine.
“What are all of these about?” I call to him.
“There’s a little bit of everything—romance, history, and planetary and alien species information, not to mention medical textbooks,” he replies, but something in the corner of the room has me squealing.
“Oh my god, there’s a ladder!” I look down, and I hadn’t noticed before, but there’s a track running the length of the shelves in an arc, as well as one along the top of them.
I hurry over to it and pull it away from the wall.
I slide it back and forth a few times to make sure it slides easily before pushing off and jumping.
My foot lands on one of the rungs as I wrap an arm around one higher up.
I throw my head back and toss my other arm out, and then I shout with joy as I ride the ladder along its path.
When I get to the end, and I have to hang on tightly so I don’t fly off, I find Link leaning against his bedroom door, his eyes filled with laughter.
“Did you enjoy that?” he asks. He’s changed out of his uniform and is in sweats like Cas was wearing earlier.
“I am calling you Beast from now on.” I point my finger at him before pointing to our surroundings. “The only thing missing is a rose under a glass dome.” I’m almost certain when I look back at him, he’s going to be confused, but he crosses his arms and smiles indulgently.
“Does that make you my beauty?”
“You know Beauty and the Beast?” I ask as he crosses the room and holds out a hand to help me down. I take it, his hand slightly cooler than mine. He places a kiss on the back of it before dropping it and moving the ladder farther back against the wall.
“Of course. Earth has so many wonderful stories. I think their imaginations are so vivid because of the lack of magic, but a good portion of my fiction novels come from there. Come on, let’s go.
Your other mates will be getting impatient, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of their annoyance. ”
He flicks the switch on the fireplace again, and I allow myself one final glance before I follow him out. Outside the door, he stops and grabs my hand, holding it up to the entrance pad. He pushes a few buttons, and it beeps green.
“There, now you can come and go as you please until we can figure out how to get you your very own library,” he tells me.
“Best mate ever.” I sigh, leaning forward to kiss him but stopping again when I remember the blood breath.
He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Come on, let’s get you some food and drink, and then maybe you’ll let me kiss you again.”
When we get back to my room, Xavier has moved all of his things into one of the spare rooms and is lounging indulgently on the sofa. Neither Cas nor Saxon have returned yet.
“What is this?” he asks as Link and I step into the room. “Some kind of kinky sexual device, and if so, how does it work?” Xavier is holding up the knitting loom that I bought when Link and I went shopping in Vegas.
I snort with amusement as I go over to the fridge and pull out a bottle of Skarrian water, popping the top and taking a long pull of the delicious liquid. “Making yourself at home I see, Snoopy.” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
I see Link smile out of the corner of my eye. He knows what it is now, but he also thought it was for something else when he first saw it. His mind went to torture, but of course Xavier’s didn’t.
“Well, I don’t like to think I’ve been missing out on something exciting.” Xavier smirks at me, holding the loom over his crotch and winding the handle.
Link chuckles as I roll my eyes.
“No, it’s for making garments. I was going to make you one, but now that I know you’ve been snooping without asking, maybe I won’t.” He pouts but throws the loom onto the couch and starts looking at the games I put on a shelf under the coffee table.
I wave Link over to the empty bedrooms. There are three left after Saxon, Cas, and Xavier claimed theirs.
“You can have any one of these, and if what you say is true, then we can furnish it to your liking when we return to Skarr. The bathroom is communal, and you have a door that leads to it, as do all of us. There is a locking mechanism that will lock out everyone else if you want it to, but I’ve noticed most aliens aren’t too picky about being naked.
There are a couple of separate toilets as well.
” I wave to another door. “Down there is another living area with a big screen TV and some gaming systems that I haven’t checked out yet, and I guess that’s kind of it,” I say apologetically.
I thought the suite was huge, but now that I’m filling it with men, it seems kind of small, and I feel bad because Link has to leave behind his library, and Xavier doesn’t have anywhere for the sunken lounge he had in his rooms.
“Lila, don’t be upset. All the living areas are designed to cater to each species or individual wants and needs.
We will be able to change it to how you want it.
” Link drags me over to the couch where Xavier is, and he reaches out and pulls me down next to him, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and tugging me closer.
“Not to mention all the other ship facilities. Most of the crew are very social and use everything. There are gyms, theaters, bowling alleys, and the recreational holodeck, which allows you to program anything you like. Plus, apart from the Aquilia pool, there is one available to everyone else as well. Then there are all the retail and dining outlets. This ship is our home and our way of life.”
“Yes, don’t you worry about us. I know I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here. Now, what do you feel like eating for dinner, Lila?” Link went back to the kitchen replicator after depositing me in Xavier’s capable arms.
“He’s right, you know,” Xavier whispers in my ear as he runs a caressing finger up and down my arm. “All four of us are thrilled to be here. Now tell your future husband what you want for dinner.” His touch brings goosebumps to the surface of the arm he’s caressing, and he chuckles when I shiver.
“As much as I want to say surprise me, I kind of need some normality. How about a double bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake?”
Xavier groans beside me. “That sounds delicious. Make it two, Link, but can I have a vanilla shake?”
“Let’s make it a clean sweep, and I’ll have the same, and a banana shake.” Link presses a few buttons, and the machine starts whirring before it produces the meals one after the other.
“That is still nothing short of phenomenal,” I remark, thinking about whether something like that would work on Earth, but I guess it really wouldn’t.
I asked someone to explain it to me, but when William began speaking about synthesizing on a molecular level, my mind sort of turned to when I can get my next pedicure, and I tuned out the whole thing.
I’m just happy it works, because I am a terrible cook.
Xavier and I get up from the couch and go over and grab our plates. The three of us sit at the table when I feel a touch of guilt. “Should we wait for Cas and Sax?”
Link and Xavier smile at the nicknames, but Link shakes his head. “No, Lila, you need food, and the two of them will understand.”
Xavier stands up and goes over to the wall communication systems.
“I’ll reach out to them and find out how long they are going to be, but start eating.
Hopefully they can make it here for dessert.
” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, but I ignore him and, using both hands, grab my enormous burger.
I’m not sure that I can eat the whole thing, but I’m going to give it a try.