Chapter 16
Stryke spent the next three hours preparing for Blade’s arrival, taking inventory of the life rafts, making sure the crew was ready to evacuate, and calculating the odds of success.
They kind of sucked. Sucked hard.
He hoped Cyan, who was still maintaining the fog repellant in the engine room, would be able to get the StryTech amplifier to work. Everything came down to that.
He checked his comms for the time as he reached for the engine room door. It had been five hours since he’d relieved his urges with Cyan. At most, he had another hour before his balls started cramping as if they were in a vise. An hour and a half before he was delirious with pain. Two to three hours, and he’d be actively dying. Of course, by then, the seals protecting the breach would be close to breaking, and everyone on the platform would be actively dying.
Where the hell was Blade?
“Hey.” Cyan looked up from the table where she was sketching designs he wasn’t familiar with. “What’s up?”
“A mage will be here in half an hour to take over for you.”
“Good. I simplified the spell. Hopefully enough that a mage can maintain it. They don’t have to be able to see the glyphs I put down.” She dropped the pencil onto the table. “You didn’t come down here to tell me about the mage, did you?”
He both hated and loved how observant she was. “I’m just thinking Blade’s arrival might be getting down to the wire.”
“I know. I’m hoping to get a new set of images of the glyphs soon. We’ll get a better idea of timing then.”
“I wasn’t talking about that.”
She frowned, and then her lids lifted in realization. “Oh, that .” Catching her bottom lip with her teeth, she studied him. Again with that sexy-professor way of hers. His dick stirred. “You sure you want to risk waiting? What if Blade doesn’t show up?”
“He’ll be here,” he said gruffly, the topic of his brother settling his dick down. “Blade might hate me, but he doesn’t want me dead.”
“But what if something happens? What if they can’t get through the fog? Or—” She inhaled, obviously deciding against saying, “ What if he’s injured or killed ?”
“He’ll be here,” he repeated. “Blade won’t pass up a chance to ride in and save the day.” To be fair, though, neither would Stryke. If he could be the hero and make his brother look bad, it was a no-brainer.
She was still thinking. “It’s just…I have an idea.”
“What kind of idea?”
“Well, you said you avoid sex. You wait until the last second.”
“Yeah. So? Are you ever in a rush to do something you despise?”
She looked at him with pity, and suddenly, he was twenty-two again, Chaos was dead, and people either pitied or hated him. It had taken years, but he’d finally built an empire that ensured no one pitied him ever again. Hate, sure. He got that. He was a selfish shitbag.
But man, he hated pity.
“Okay,” she said with a decisive nod. “I get it. I mean, not in the same way as you, obviously, but I’ve been known to put off getting cavities in my teeth filled half a dozen times.”
“See, we both avoid drilling.”
She laughed. “Oh, my gods. You actually have a sense of humor.”
“I’ve mastered all the coping mechanisms,” he said dryly. That said, when it came to coping, he usually went with avoidance. Humor took too much effort. And all that smiling.
“Has it always been that way?” She moved around the table, coming closer, and he wondered what she was up to. “Like, even before what happened to Chaos?”
Yeah, for the most part. He’d learned from Blade and Mace how to flirt, but Stryke had done the bare minimum required to get laid, and then he’d been all about skipping to the end. The females didn’t mind a lack of foreplay, not when the finale involved dozens of orgasms. They got off for up to half an hour, and he got to go back to work. Win-win.
“Always,” he admitted.
“Why?”
“You tell me. You’re the one psychoanalyzing me.”
“Hmm.” She pressed her lips together in thought and then nodded decisively. “You seem like the type who resents having to do anything.”
Impressive. And as much as he admired her accurate insight into his behavior, he wasn’t sure he liked how easily she read him.
“That,” he said, “is not wrong. Sex is like food. Something the body needs and that consumes far too much time. If I could get all the nutrients and sexual chemicals I need from pills or injections, I’d never eat or fuck again. Like sex, I hate that I need to eat.”
Her mouth fell open. Snapped shut. “Wait. Food? You hate food ?”
“I don’t hate food,” he told her, “I resent having to eat. There’s a difference. Eating simply isn’t a priority.”
“My belly aches for you.” She slapped a hand across her stomach, and he regretted not bringing her a meal from the galley. “Do you enjoy any food?”
“I can appreciate good food. And I’ll try anything once. But in general, eating is boring and a waste of time. Like sex, I hate that I need it.”
“Oh, man.” She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. “That is…I don’t even know what to say.”
He shrugged. “No one does. It’s okay. Not even my family knows how to deal with me.”
In that way, he’d always felt a certain kinship with Rade. No one understood him, either.
The difference was that Rade’s trauma hadn’t been of his making, and he didn’t remember any of it.
“What if sex wasn’t something you needed?” she asked.
Pure. Bliss. “I’d give up half my company for that. But I don’t follow.”
She wheeled around and then paced back toward him, her brow wrinkled in thought. “Well…since Chaos’s death, you wait until the last second to put off experiencing the negative associations and side effects. But all that’s doing is reinforcing them. What if you want sex instead of needing it?”
“But I don’t want sex.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. Then she unbuttoned her shirt. His shirt. Knowing it was his filled him with an unexpected primal possessiveness he’d never experienced before. He kind of…liked it. She could wear anything of his she wanted.
The oversized denim work shirt peeled open to reveal her two perfect breasts cradled in a black satin bra. When they’d fucked earlier, he’d determined that the left was slightly larger and heavier than the right by a few grams, and that was perfect to him.
“What are you doing?”
She unbuttoned her pants. Slowly. Far slower than necessary. Especially considering they were in a time crunch to save the world. Was she trying to seduce him? It wouldn’t work.
His cock twitched like it wanted to argue otherwise.
She dropped her pants to her feet, so she was standing there in nothing but her matching bra and panties, the harsh lights above bathing her creamy skin in a cool radiance. His pulse kicked up as he dragged his gaze up her long, slender legs that stretched from high-arched feet to a tight bubble ass.
He’d always liked a little junk in the trunk.
Not that he really cared. Sex was sex, and he wouldn’t partake at all if he didn’t have to. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate the female form or have favorite parts of it. He was, after all, male. And a lust demon. Lusting for what only a female could give him was part of the deal.
He cleared his throat. “If you’re attempting to seduce me—”
“I’m not.” She came closer, invading his personal space, her breasts rolling gently with every step. “I’m attempting to get you out of your head.”
He barked out a surprised laugh. “Good luck with that.”
“My mom was a psychologist,” she said, a touch of defensiveness in her tone. “I know a little about it.”
“And? My dad is a paramedic. I couldn’t tell you how to intubate someone.” Actually, he could, but only because he’d read all of his father’s medical manuals when he was a bored kid. But knowing wasn’t the same as doing. Hands-on experience was invaluable. Even he knew that.
“I’m going to look forward to your apology,” she said, reaching out to trail one long nail up his back as she walked around him. He admired her confidence, so he’d play her game. “What am I touching?”
Strange question. “You’re touching me.”
“What body part?” Her tone was sharp. She wasn’t messing around. “Be specific.”
“My shoulder,” he said warily.
She dug her nails into his skin, and he sucked in a sharp breath at the unexpected yet…pleasant sting. “More specific.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he rumbled. “Right deltoid muscle.” The muscle twitched beneath her fingertips as if excited about being singled out.
She stepped in front of him and brought both hands up to the collar of his shirt. Her fingers were nimble, making quick work of the buttons.
He considered stopping her, but now he was curious to see where she was willing to take this.
Also, his cock was becoming curious, too, and it had been a long time since that’d happened. At least since it had happened naturally: arousal for someone and not the sudden, desperate need for release demanded by unmet Seminus requirements.
She pressed her warm palm against his chest. “Now, what am I touching?”
“Outer dermis. Beneath that, my right and left pectoralis major. And in the middle, my sternum.”
“Wow,” she said, one eyebrow arching high on her forehead. “You know your anatomy.”
“When I was five, I went on a reading bender of my dad’s medical texts.” He shrugged. “One of them was a book on human anatomy.”
Her startled gaze flew up to meet his. “When you were five? And you understood it?”
“Every word. When I was done, I read Eidolon’s demon anatomy books. All four volumes.”
“How long did it take you?”
“An entire week.” He’d holed up in his room and read for hours on end. Best days ever. “I could have finished sooner, but my parents kept making me stop reading to go play with my brothers.”
“The horror.” She gasped dramatically.
“ Outside, ” he said. “Too full of people.”
She laughed. “I felt the same growing up. And I’ve seen those books. It would take me a week to just read one .” She dragged her finger down his abs to his waistband. “Do Seminus demons have any unique body parts or organs?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, we have several.”
She unzipped his pants, and his cock popped out, all “ Hey, good to see you .” “I’m guessing they are all specialized for reproduction?”
“They are…” He trailed off as she skimmed the palm of her hand across the sensitive tip of his shaft. A lightning bolt of pleasure zipped through him, shocking him as much as an actual electric zap would. “What are you doing?”
“I told you what I’m doing.” She gave him an exasperated look. “I thought you were smart.”
“Ha. Ha.” He opened his mouth to tell her exactly how smart he was, which put him among the top ten in history, but then her hand dipped inside his pants, and all he could do was gasp.
“What am I touching?”
“My balls.”
She rolled said balls between her fingers. “Be specific.” She pinched the skin between them so hard he groaned in both pleasure and pain. “I won’t tell you again.”
Oh, fuck. Her touch was amazing.
“My scrotum. Inside that, my testes. Inside them, glands unique to my species called paratestes .” Her fingers slid upward, skimming across the skin of his shaft, tracing the veins and sending shivers up his spine.
“And what do they do?”
“They produce the chemical…” Oh, hell, yes…her touch was magic. “That triggers multiple orgasms in females.”
“Nice.” Smiling, she pressed her lips to his as she shoved both her hands around to his ass. Instinct had him pumping his hips into her, his cock cradled by the curve of her pelvis. Suddenly, she stepped back and shoved down her panties, then removed her bra. “Where are the glands that produce the pheromones that make females like me crazy?”
He dropped his pants and pressed his fingers to both sides of his groin. “Here.”
Slowly, she eased to her knees, and his pulse shot up a few points. “Are they sensitive?”
“Very…ah…fuck…” He bucked as she kissed the tender skin.
She moved her mouth lower. “What am I kissing now?”
“The adductor brevis,” he breathed. “Maybe the adductor longus…I can’t think.”
She swiped her tongue up his inner thigh, and he lost his damned mind. Thinking was the last thing he wanted to do. And yet…she was right. This was keeping his mind from going other places. Right now, every thought was with her. Her questions. The feel of her lips on his skin. The feathery touch of her fingers.
Her mouth opened over the head of his cock, and when she took him inside her warm, wet depths, he shouted in ecstasy. Her tongue flicked lightly across the crown, and then she sucked him deep—so deep he could feel the back of her throat. Shit, this was…amazing.
He looked down at her just as she looked up at him, her gemstone eyes bright as she smiled around his shaft with the enthusiasm of a hellhound sucking the marrow out of an angel’s femur bone.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked, her voice saucy and teasing. She knew what he craved, but her game right now was all about making him say it.
Their gazes locked so fiercely that the air between them threatened to combust. He growled. “Suck it.”
He watched her, his entire body on edge, practically trembling with the need to come inside her. He usually avoided oral sex, but right now, all he wanted was for Cyan to swallow him whole and give him new memories. New experiences. New neural pathways that could rewire his fucked-up brain.
Still looking at him, she kissed the tip. “Suck it how? Slowly?” She took him into her mouth and took her time going down and back up. He could barely contain a groan. “Fast?” Her pace increased, her head bobbing, her mouth working him into a frenzy. When she stopped, he blew out the breath he’d been holding. “Hard?” Again, she swallowed him, but this time, she applied firm suction that damned near blew his head off.
“Yes!” he barked. “ That .”
She stopped and looked at him, her eyes glazed with passion that humbled him. “Tell me. Explicitly.” Lowering to his cock, she paused with her mouth open. “Waiting.”
Gods, she was incredible. As much as he wanted to take her to the floor and ravage her like the lust demon he was, he wanted this experience more.
“Suck me,” he commanded, and she shivered as she took him into her mouth. “Hard and fast.”
He shouted as she obeyed, gripping him firmly in her fist as she gave him the best blowjob anyone had ever had in all of history. Her mouth was magic, her tongue a weapon, and when she squeezed his sac, it was the last straw. He came with a roar. He thought he said her name. Maybe a curse word. Maybe both.
Pleasure rode him in waves of intensity as he came over and over until he was drained. Nothing but a dried-out husk. Cyan rocked back on her heels, her face flushed, her eyes glazed.
“Oh,” she said as she reached between her spread thighs. “It’s true. It is an aphrodisiac. I’m so…” She groaned as she touched herself. “Aroused.”
So was he. Watching her circle her clit with a fingertip lit him up again. Another new experience. Usually, when he was done, it was done.
But this time, it was just the beginning.
Cyan buzzed with lust, her body quivering, her sex soaked. And it went next level when she focused on Stryke, how sexed-up he was, panting, jaw clenched, eyes drilling into her.
She needed him inside her. Right. This. Second.
“Stryke,” she rasped, “I need—”
She broke off as he hauled her off the floor, cupped her ass, and deposited her on some sort of machine casing. He stepped between her legs, the tip of his cock positioned at her aching sex.
“Need,” he asked, his voice husky and low, “or want ?”
“Both.” She arched into him, gasping as the head slid inside a fraction of an inch. She was on the verge of orgasm right now. If he so much as breathed—
He breathed.
She screamed.
Pleasure destroyed her. Ecstasy was a firestorm that came in wave after wave, so intense she registered nothing else. She was dimly aware of Stryke churning between her thighs, caught in his own maelstrom of lust.
Her body demanded everything he could give her, and when he claimed her mouth in a hard, hot kiss, it triggered another series of platform-rocking orgasms.
She lost track of time. She lost track of her freaking mind . And when the storm finally eased, the orgasms coming less frequently, she couldn’t believe fifteen minutes had passed.
And Stryke had held her the entire time, his powerful arms caging her against his hard body, his cock filling her over and over.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice wonderfully exhausted.
“Oh, yes,” she murmured against his shoulder. “You?”
“I was thinking.”
She looked up at him. “You weren’t supposed to be thinking.”
“I was thinking about you.”
“Then that’s okay.” She dropped her head back down to his shoulder and inhaled. He smelled like seawater and machinery, but beneath it was the dark, sensual scent unique to him. “What were you thinking?”
“That you were right. I need you to re-establish the connection with Blade,” he said. “My stubbornness is irrational when the fate of our lives and the very world is at stake.”
Pleasantly surprised by his change of heart, she reached up to touch his temple. “There.”
He gasped, and she knew he felt his brother.
“I can’t tell where he is, but I can feel that he’s alive. Just a second.” Closing his eyes, he concentrated. She had another orgasm.
When he opened his eyes a few seconds later, he looked tired. “They’re almost here. We might just make it out of this alive after all.”