Glaring at Rafe, Erin deliberately loosed her pheromones, baiting him.
Rafe stilled and stared down at her with a narrowed gaze. “Problem?”
“I want to stop. And you’re crowding me.” But not nearly enough.
“Feeling feisty, eh?” The sparkle in his golden eyes had her loins pooling with want.
“Maybe I’m tired of you taking charge. We’re nearly at the trading post, a day early.” And you have yet to make love to me again. “It was my idea to take out Blue Rim in the first place. Peacemaker or not, this is my mission. Not yours.” Rafe grinned, irritating her to no end. “Well, I can see you’re feeling much better, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been fine.”
“No, you’ve been depleted. You used too much energy to evade me in the jungle. And after, well, after our sensual encounter, I think I pushed you too hard. You needed time to recuperate.”
Angered at his concern that simultaneously warmed her heart yet aggravated her, Erin invaded Rafe’s personal space, a breath between them, and poked him in the chest. “I don’t need you to take care of me. I’ve been doing just fine without you.”
“Right. For the whole four months you’ve been on your own.” Truly furious, Erin let loose even more of her pheromone and grabbed Rafe by the arms, her fingers curling around his hard biceps. A big mistake, she belatedly realised.
Because lust flooded her body and mind, drowning out the anger building there.
“That’s it, baby. Let it go.” Rafe pushed her to her knees and unbuttoned his trousers.
Finally, she wanted to shout, but Erin could only groan as she reached for the thick shaft jutting towards her.
“It’s been so hard waiting for you to be okay,” he rasped as she took him in her mouth.
“Fuck, yes. Oh, Erin, I love you so much, baby. You have no idea.” Joy caused tears to spring to her eyes, and as Erin worked him with her lips and tongue, she knew he spoke the truth.
“You’re so stubborn. Hell yes, you’re strong. But you’re also a woman who needs to be protected.” He groaned when she increased the pressure on his balls. “Do it again.” He cursed and thrust deeper into her mouth, touching the back of her throat. “I’m Xema, deal with it. You’re mine, and I’ll care for you the way I see fit.” Rafe lost his voice as Erin serviced his every unspoken desire. She shoved a finger in his anus, roughly taking his arousal higher. She tasted his seed as he began to lose control. And then she teased him with her tongue where she knew he liked it, and he cried out as he shot, shuddering with bliss.
Erin swallowed his cum greedily, lost to wainu though she hadn’t climaxed herself.
Rafe, however, took care of that by dragging her to her feet and kissing the breath out of her.
His hand shot into her trousers and worked her tight little bud, and within minutes she exploded, drenching him with cream.
“Oh, baby.” Rafe kissed her again and rested his forehead against hers. “I love it when you get all pissed off. It makes the need to dominate you that much stronger.”
“Rafe,” she protested, lost under his soft laughter and the short burst of wainu he pulled back from them both. She still didn’t understand how he could control the blissful comings and goings of that state, and she hadn’t yet asked, too lost in the wainu she experienced to care.
“No, no. You cheated. That perfume of yours is lethal. And I’m not as immune as I’d like to be.”
“You don’t want to want me?”
Rafe pulled away and looked at her as if she were crazy. “I love how you make me feel.
But when you overwhelm me, it takes away my control. And a Xema is always in control.”
“Always?” She glanced down at his flagging erection.
He flushed and tucked himself back into his trousers, righting hers as well. “Depends on which Xema you’re talking about,” he muttered and added something else under his breath, something that sounded suspiciously like stubborn mate.
She froze. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing.” He scowled. “How good is your hearing, anyway?”
“You said ‘mate.’ Are we mates? Is that why you love me? Why you’ve been so damned caring and careful the past few days?” Her heart racing in anticipation, Erin felt more nervous about his answer than she’d been when escaping from Blue Rim.
“Why? You have a problem with that?” he asked, his answer guarded.
Erin stared, not sure what to think. “But you said Xema can only mate Xema.” She’d asked a lot of questions about him during their trek back towards the trading tower. And to her surprise, he’d been more than willing to answer her.
“That’s what I said.”
“So?”
“So what?” Rafe sighed. “Erin, I love you. Does it matter why?”
“It does if it’s only because we’re both Xema.” Being Created was enough of a burden.
Erin refused to be someone’s commitment solely due to genetics as well.
“Please. You’re less Xema than you are a host of other possibilities. You’re sexy, smart, and give the best damned blowjob this side of the System,” he joked, but when she didn’t laugh, he rolled his eyes. “Erin, can’t you just accept that I love you for you? Honey, I know who and what you are. And I don’t care about anything but that you’re mine. Can’t you feel it, the connection between us?”
She nodded.
“That’s very, very rare. I won’t lie. I’ve experienced wainu before, and even felt affection for a few women. But I’ve never wanted one enough to claim her for my own.”
“You claimed me?” Erin didn’t know what that meant, exactly, but she thrilled at all he said. It sounded more and more as if Rafe truly loved her.
“I did. And I won’t apologise for it,” he growled, looking extremely annoyed. “I love you, you love me, and that’s all there is to it. We’re going to destroy Blue Rim, and then you and I are going to get on with the process of living.” Erin didn’t know what to say. Rafe had been planning all this out for them and hadn’t mentioned any of it to her. Much as she delighted in the fact that he wanted her, she didn’t like having her future planned out for her. She’d gone that route once before in her life. But he’d been so careful not to garner her submission unless they were making love. From that perspective, it seemed as if he wanted her to make her own decisions.
Before she could comment, however, she heard something moving in the woods in front of her.
Rafe froze as well, and they crouched low, taking cover in nearby bushes.
“Cheltam, come on out, man. We have a problem.”
Rafe and Erin glanced at one another in surprise, then stepped out to meet the new arrival.
“Drekk?”
Drekk quickly shook his head. “Don’t say another word. Just go along,” he murmured, staring at Rafe. “Trust me.”
“Oh, good,” a voice from Erin’s nightmares, from her Handler, whispered in the sudden silence. He appeared along with a dozen blue-suited men, teleporting into the small clearing of forest with phasers drawn. Eyran security uniforms, the recognisable sight symbolising Erin’s years of imprisonment, sent her into a panic.
Sweet perfume flooded the air as she readied to fight, to protect not only herself, but Rafe as well.