“What is that?”
“A plug. For your ass. It will open you, make you feel good.”
“It already does.”
She never thought she’d like such a strange sensation. It was a hot, tight feeling, and made her feel wicked. She loved the pleasure and loved that Calder stretched out next to her, his body protective.
Katarina tried to see whether his skin had healed, but the light was dim and she admitted she’d stopped paying attention.
“What are you doing to me?” Pleasure built and built, and she jerked back, starting to come…
Calder rose over her, parted her legs and slid himself inside her. He made an excited noise as his cock connected with the vibration over her clit.
Katarina cried out against the waves of pure feeling that poured over her. The thing stimulating her clit, Calder inside her, his weight on her body, her nipples so hard, the hot plug in her ass… She screamed.
Calder caught her screams in his mouth. He thrust into her, her pussy so wet that even his huge length glided in and out without constriction.
“I can’t stand it,” she sobbed. “Calder.”
“Yes, you can. You’re strong, my Katarina.”
“I can’t. I have to stop.”
“But you gave The Beast permission to do whatever he wants.”
“No.”
“This is what he wants. You, screaming in pleasure.”
Katarina arched back, cries leaving her throat. Calder’s words dwindled to sounds and he rode her faster than ever. Just when she was sure she’d die of what he did to her, Calder came.
His seed shot inside her and he kept thrusting, saying her name. The game of ravishing beast dissolved, and she was simply a woman being loved by a hot-bodied man.
“I love you!” she cried. “Calder, I love you so much.”
He furrowed her hair with his fingers, head bowed, eyes closed, jaw clenched as he rode out his climax.
“Shit,” he whispered as he started to slow. He opened his eyes. “What did you say?”
“I said I love—”
Calder put his hand on her mouth. “The word ‘love’ is not allowed in this bed. I’ll have to paddle your ass if you say it again.”
Wicked joy shot through her and she laughed. “Love,” she babbled. “Love, love, love, love.”
Calder withdrew, caught her ankles and turned her over. His hot hand covered her buttocks. “And what a nice ass it is. With the plug in, still tight and safe.”
“Gods,” Katarina whispered. The air cushioned her, Calder warmed her and his palm, making circles on her butt, made her want to come again.
Then his touch went away. She heard a noise in the air—and then the sting of leather slashed across her ass. “Ow!”
She tried to sit up, indignant, but his strong hand on her back kept her down. He smacked her five more times with his strap then his hands came down to soothe her.
Calder hadn’t finished with the equipment he’d brought with him. He rolled her over again and fitted small, padded clamps to her nipples, each one pinching just enough to stimulate but not hurt. A little chain hung between them.
He took away the soft vibrator—
sadness—
and replaced it with a similar clamp on her clit. He leaned down and flicked the clamp with his tongue.
Katarina thought she couldn’t have more cream, but out it came. Calder licked her clean.
He turned her over again, her body floating in the thick but permissive air, and tethered her wrists and ankles to the four bedposts.
Katarina turned her head to look back at him. “You just
happened
to have manacles and a whip with you?”
“I brought them for you. I was coming to see you for a purpose.”
“What purpose?”
“To punish you for disappearing and not telling me where you were going.”
“I didn’t think you would care.”
“Oh Katarina, you truly need to be spanked.”
So he did it.
*
Much later—after he’d chastised her then lifted her hips and fucked her again then plied his tongue all over her pussy, clit and ass—he gently worked out the plug.
Katarina relaxed and got excited at the same time. “Are you going to enter me there?”
“Am I going to what?”
“Enter me.” Her face grew hot. “
Fuck
me. In my ass.”
Calder soothed her skin. “Not yet, baby. You won’t be ready for a little while. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I thought The Beast didn’t care.”
He leaned down, his body hot on her back. “The Beast has gone away, sweetheart.
He’s left you tied down and exhausted from sex, for anyone to find.”
“Are you leaving?” she asked in disappointment.
“I didn’t say that.” Calder drew his tongue down her spine, all the way to her buttocks. He dipped between them and inside.
Katarina squirmed at the hot, wet feeling. She wanted it, she wanted
him
.
He lifted his head, taking his wonderful tongue away. “I could call Braden to come up here and find you like this. Would you like that? Him finding you and doing whatever he wanted to you while I watched?”
Katarina indulged herself in the enticing vision of Braden smiling wickedly, touching her back and saying, “Now, what have we here?” Calder would watch, his erection evident. She thought she’d fall through the bed if she squirmed any more.
But she knew what she wanted. “Not right now. I want just you and me.”
“Meaning you might want Braden later?”
“Only if you would. If it gave you pleasure too.”
“Why should you care whether I get pleasure from it?” His voice was suddenly very quiet. “I’m Shareem.”
“I told you why.”
Calder looked at her for a long time, his eyes glittering in the darkness.
He stood up abruptly and slapped her ass. “I’m calling Braden,” he said then strode away from the bed.
Chapter Thirteen
Why did she make everything so complicated? Calder grabbed his undertunic as he left the room, his heart beating so hard it made him sick.
Why couldn’t she keep this about Calder pleasuring her, the way she’d wanted him to when she’d come to his lair in the first place? Let her have The Beast, and let Calder the Shareem remain distant.
Katarina started talking about love and Calder’s brain turned soft. He didn’t know what to do, how to answer.
Because he knew he loved her back.
He walked past the open bathroom door, pulling his tunic over his head.
Movement caught his eye in the darkness and he stopped.
Braden? What the hell was he doing here? Maybe she’d already asked him to come up here and save her from The Beast.
A second look showed that he’d glimpsed his own body in the mirrored wall of the bathroom as he’d swiftly passed. “Lights,” he said as he walked in. “Lights full.”
The lights came on, bright but not harsh. This was, after all, the house of a rich woman, and even the overhead lights were elegant.
The mirror reflected a tall Shareem with broad shoulders, square face and mussed black hair. He had Shareem eyes, and his arms were brown and strong, corded with muscle.
Calder ripped the tunic from his body. He saw a chest carved with muscle— prominent pecs and tight, ripped abdomen. A long cock hung between muscled thighs.
Black hair curled across his chest and down his arms, with a hint of it between his legs.
Itching.
Not just healing, the hair hurriedly growing from cells dormant for twenty years.
He hadn’t paid attention to his skin while he’d pleasured Katarina, having seen it scarred when he first got up. He’d awakened after surgery too many times in the past with little change to believe it would work.
The Shareem who looked back at him from the mirror was healthy and whole. A few light scars remained over the places where Dr. Laas had replaced his organs, but the rest of his skin bore only a little pinkness.
Calder looked back at a body he’d not seen in twenty years. An arrogant shit, but a man who’d known no pain, no darkness in his soul.
Katarina had given that back to him.
Calder bent his head and covered his face with his hands.
*
Katarina found Calder in front of her bathroom mirror, head bowed, the heels of his hands pressed to his eyes.
“Calder?”
He raised his head. His hard gaze met hers in the mirror, and at the same time, tears streaked down his face.
“What did you do?” he demanded. “What did you do?”
“It’s a new procedure that I learned about after I started treating Shareem,” she answered. “Nano-biology and growth hormones. I played with it so it could be boosted by the incredible metabolism of Shareem. Shareem bodies are excellent at converting intake into energy and then burning it off slowly, like very efficient fuel. It’s why your aging process is so slow, and why you need so much sex—letting off steam, as it were.
From your skin sample, I was able to marry the metabolic codes in your DNA with the nano-technology and then inject it back into you.”
Calder said nothing. The silence pressed and Katarina twisted her hands together.
“More than you wanted to know? Truth to tell, I wasn’t sure it would work.”
“You weren’t sure.” His voice, instead of being cracked and harsh, came out smooth and velvet, as it had over the enhanced vocal system in his lair.
“I knew you wouldn’t sit still while I tested it on you, so I gave you the whole dose at once,” she said. “I’d planned to track you down in Pas City, but when you turned up at my gate, I saw my opportunity.”
“What were you going to do, sneak up behind me and empty a hypo into my neck?”
“Something like that.”
Calder turned, his gaze burning. She’d never felt anything like that heavy stare, even though his face was still wet with tears.
Then he started to laugh.
Laughter echoed across the bathroom and boomed into the hall. Calder swept Katarina into his arms and spun her around and around, laughing like a maniac.
“You crazy, stubborn, insane woman. Why the hell do you waste so much time on a wreck like me?”
Katarina looked at him uncertainly. He was laughing and crying and telling her she was nuts for trying to help him. “Does that mean you’re happy I did this?”
“You have to be the craziest woman I’ve ever met.” He slowed the spinning and cupped Katarina’s face with one hand. “With the most beautiful eyes and the sexiest smile. And a fine little ass I always want to spank.” He touched her forehead with his.
“Why, Katarina? Why waste so much on a Shareem?”
“I think I’ve told you why.”
Calder set her down, caught her face in his hands and kissed her. The kiss turned brutal, and Katarina didn’t care.
His skin was hot, the cure still working on him. Anyone else would be flat on their back, groaning. Calder smiled, kissed her, laughed.
Katarina stepped back to admire her work. His body was as whole and sleek as Braden’s, but Calder was a little taller than Braden, a little broader of shoulder. A giant of a man. A few scars remained where he’d been rebuilt, organs outward, but the rest of his skin was tight and strong.
His face—it was incredible. He’d pulled his hair out of the way, revealing strong bone structure, the lift of his cheekbones, the entirety of his slow smile. She’d been right—his smile made him beautiful, sexy, amazing.
Katarina thought he’d want to stay here in the bathroom looking at his new, restored self, but Calder laughed again, yanked her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom. For the rest of the evening and all through the night, he showed her that what he’d done before as The Beast was nothing to what he could do for pure joy.
*
Braden walked into Judith’s bar, fighting a hangover. Katarina’s departure had made the apartment feel empty, so he’d filled it every night with sex. One woman, two, three—he’d entice whoever he could back home with him and go at it all night. As a result, the apartment was a mess and his head hurt like hell.
Judith gave Braden a warm smile as he crossed the threshold and croaked a request for water. Judith looked as sexy as ever tonight. Maybe after his head stopped pounding, he’d take her upstairs.
A Shareem he didn’t know sat at the table in the corner. He’d taken the chair against the wall, the one reserved for the rare times Calder showed up.
What an arrogant asshole. He leaned back, watching Braden with waiting eyes. He wore a simple white, tight tunic that bared his arms, typical for many Shareem. The tunic emphasized that he was big and built. Aiden would probably give the man a once-over, if only to make Ky jealous.
Braden rubbed his forehead, willing the headache to die. “Hey, Judith, who’s this?”
Judith grinned as she set Braden’s mug of water on the table across from the other Shareem. Her eyes held excitement. Maybe the Shareem shit had already coerced Judith upstairs.
Bastard.
“Don’t you know?” Judith asked him.
Braden peered at the Shareem, wishing his head didn’t hurt so much. He gulped water, blinking away the bleariness.
“He has a hangover,” the strange Shareem said. The voice was warm and rich, somehow familiar. “How many women was it last night, Braden? Your record is five.
How drunk did you have to get them?”
“Hey, friend, who the hell—”
His fingers went cold and the mug crashed to the floor. The Shareem smiled at him, something Braden had never seen on that particular Shareem’s face. But he knew the eyes that gazed at him so sardonically, the mocking tone of voice.
“
Calder
?”
“Braden.”
“Calder, what the fuck?”
“You act like you’ve never seen me before.”
“I haven’t.” Braden looked the man up and down, trying not to let his jaw drop.
The only time Braden had seen Calder’s full body—weeks ago when Braden had gone after Katarina—it had been pink-white flesh ruined with scars. His features had been pulled and distorted, his body wrong.
This man looked like any Shareem born out of a DNAmo vat. Strong body, brown skin, clear blue eyes. Even his hair looked sleeker, healthier.
“Shit,” Braden said. “She did it. Katarina did this, didn’t she?”
“Did you know about it?”
“No. But she’s a fucking genius. Where is she?”
“At my apartment. She wanted me to come here alone, to see if you’d recognize me.