She’d started simply. Two days passed without a meal tray being delivered, but hunger affected his productivity. His Gathosian mistress couldn’t allow his insubordination to reach the mind of her supervisors, so she had no choice but to relent.
The lavatory door malfunctioned next, forcing him to deal with his bodily needs in creative, and humiliating, ways. Apparently she’d grown bored as soon as he’d grown desensitized to having his privacy obliterated. That had only lasted about a week.
At least the majority of her games took place at night. Each day remained an endless routine of experiments, research and mind-numbing documentation.
The biggest drawback of their ridiculous war was how much her games cut into his secret agenda. Determining the compound’s exact formula was basically on hold until his “supervisor” finished her temper tantrum. Or he gave in and fucked her.
Why do you have to be so stubborn?
He didn’t feel her in his mind, but she was not yet visible either. “I’m your prisoner,” he reminded, watching the corners of the room where she preferred to appear. “Why would I want to do anything that gives you pleasure?”
A thin stream of light appeared to his right, expanding gradually until it took on the basic outline of a person. The light pulsed and shimmered, like fireflies tossed into a harvest sunset. How could something so beautiful be so malevolent?
“My supervisors told me to kill you if you don’t do what I say. They insist there are others with your level of experience.”
“I’m still alive, so you must disagree.”
She ignored his comment. “All I want is to experience sex from a different perspective. Why is this so different from what I’ve made you do in the past?”
“The answer is in the question.”
“What does that mean?” she snapped, growing darker, less sparkly.
“You controlled my body before. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You don’t have a choice now.”
“Yes, I do. I can refuse, and you’ll likely kill me, or I can give in and wish I were dead. The fact is I’m no longer afraid to die, so you’ve lost your best weapon.”
“Then I’ll find another.” Her cold laughter echoed off the walls. “Sweet dreams, my love. We’ll see how you feel in the morning.”
* * * * *
Winter opened her bedroom door, expecting Celinna or perhaps Saroji. Autumn stood in the hallway, Ra’jen’s arm wrapped around her waist.
“May we come in?”
As if she needed to ask. Autumn basically owned the embassy. “Of course.” She pulled the door wider and ushered them inside, closing the door behind them. “What’s up?”
Ra’jen released Autumn as he faced her. “Does Brant know about the succubus?”
Shit! Her gaze darted to Autumn then returned to the handsome general. How had he known? “What makes you ask?”
His lips quirked and his eyes lightened from gray to silver. “I’ve known Ulrick for years. It would have been a miracle if you had bested him.”
Resentment straightened her back and narrowed her eyes. “If you expected me to fail, why give me the mission?”
He clasped his hands behind his back, his features locked in an expressionless mask. “There are degrees of failure. You’ve been accepted into his life. Earning his trust is every bit as important as anything you could have accomplished with the succubus. However, I need to know what you told him.”
“I didn’t tell him anything.” Ra’jen had been so kind before, caring, almost gentle. This was General Noirte, unbending head of the Protectorate.
“Then how did he know about the succubus?” Autumn asked, her expression nearly as cold as the general’s.
“Ulrick…” Did they know about his ability to transform? How did she retain the trust of her superiors without betraying the trust of her lover?
Autumn touched her arm, drawing Winter’s gaze back to her. “You’re not in trouble. You performed incredibly well, given the circumstances.” Winter tried to relax, but Ra’jen emanated menace. “Ra’jen has been monitoring Ulrick’s access link for quite a while now. We know he used his computer to identify the succubus. How did he get it away from you?”
“The mist wore off almost immediately. I wasn’t able to activate it before he roused.” That much was true.
“Was he primal at the time?” Ra’jen asked.
Okay, so it wasn’t a secret.
“Primal?” Autumn turned to her lover. “What are you talking about?”
“Strong emotions transform Valtorians, bring out their inner beast.” He said the last with playful drama, his lips parting in a lazy smile. The icy general melted whenever he looked at Autumn, but the flash of heat reversed as soon as she left his field of vision. “Was he?”
“He was behind me, so I didn’t see his face until after I’d squeezed the dispenser.” Ra’jen just stared at her in silence for a moment. Winter had slipped on a satin robe before opening the door, but she still felt exposed and vulnerable. “It was obvious I’d gotten the device from Autumn, but I refused to confirm anything else.”
“The technology will lead him to Pryett, which will lead him to me.” Ra’jen didn’t seem overly concerned with the conclusion, but he was incredibly hard to read. “How did he react to the discovery? Was he angry, or intrigued? Did he report his findings?”
“No, at least not in front of me. But he hates the Gathosians as much as we do, maybe more.”
Ra’jen nodded. “I’ve watched him for a long time, hoping for a peek beneath his mask. The techniques the Gathosians used to break the will of my people were perfected on the Valtorians.”
“But you’re not broken.”
“The Gathosians don’t know that.” He offered her a rare and fleeting smile. “I’d started to fear Ulrick was a hopeless cause, and in one night you managed to learn what really drives him.”
Winter exhaled a long, slow breath. That had sounded remarkably similar to praise. “Do you know where they’re keeping his brother?”
“I found a patient who is only identified by case number, but the dates line up.”
“Is there any way to verify his identity?” Winter’s stomach tensed and she tried not to fidget.
“I located an image of Aric Brant, but the only way to determine if he is patient two-six-seven-four is to bring the patient out of stasis.”
“And how do we accomplish that?”
“The only facility on this continent with stasis capabilities is Med Center B. It stands to reason that they would keep Aric close in case Ulrick misbehaves, but again the only way to know for sure is to verify the identity of the unnamed patient.”
“Med Center B has a standing order for two ambassadors every Saturday night,” Autumn told her. “We’ve located a female physician willing to accompany you, but you will be team leader. Her primary focus will be the patient. You’ll need to handle the guards.”
Her heart sank and she pressed her lips together. Ulrick still had the succubus. She’d hoped to avoid this particular detail until she convinced him to give it back. “I… Is there more than one succubus? Ulrick still has the one you gave me.”
Autumn looked at Ra’jen, some silent message passing between them. “There are a total of three. I’ll give you another, but you must get yours back from him.”
“I will.” She straightened her shoulders and moved on to other details. “The succubus can only be used on one person at a time. How many guards will I be handling?”
“Hopefully two.” The concern in Autumn’s gaze didn’t allay Winter’s anxiety. The one and only time she’d tried to use the succubus on a client she’d failed miserably. Well, this was her opportunity to redeem herself. “You’ll be accompanied by an armed escort. That’s embassy policy. Your escort will incapacitate one of the guards while you implant a false memory in the other. We’ll select one of the guards to take Aric’s place in the stasis chamber, and you’ll convince the other guard that he was alone during the entire shift. Except for his visit from the ambassadors, of course.”
“I’ve never used the succubus to alter memories, only create new ones.”
“It’s the same procedure. Just start the false memory far enough back that it overwrites what really happened. You should probably practice with Celinna.”
Ra’jen shot her a sidelong look. “If you keep practicing on Celinna, her mind will fragment. This technology cannot be taken lightly.”
“Well, I can’t send these girls out into the field without any practical experience.”
“I’ll give you Saroji for another week, but her absence is starting to cause speculation.”
“Saturday night?” Winter muttered. “That only gives me three days to work with Saroji.” The tension in her stomach knotted and her mouth went dry. She had to make this work. Ulrick deserved a little happiness in his life.
“Is there a reason you’d rather wait?” Autumn asked.
“No. The sooner the better.”
“Ulrick cannot know about this.” Ra’jen’s tone rang with warning. “It would be too painful for him if we fail.”
* * * * *
Ulrick drove his cock into Winter’s wet pussy, groaning at the pleasure of her snug passage. He would never tire of her smell, her taste or the way her inner muscles caressed him. They’d been at this off and on for the past three days, enjoying every position he knew, and inventing a couple of new ones. He’d taken her with desperate urgency over the back of the couch moments after she arrived Wednesday night. Their romantic dinner on Thursday had been interrupted by another bout of frantic lovemaking right there on the dining room floor.
Neither of them could ever seem to get enough. Now it was Friday and they’d managed to make it to the bedroom, but sleep was the furthest thing from their minds. Her legs drew up high against his sides, opening her body without hampering his thrusts. She liked it slow and deep until her arousal built and then fast and hard until they came together.
His primal nature surged, speeding his hips and intensifying the pleasure. Grasping the back of her knees, he pushed her legs toward her shoulders, rolling her hips up off the bed. He arched over her, pounding down into her, pinning her with her own body. She cried out, her cunt squeezing him tightly as she responded to his sudden aggression.
He watched her face, mesmerized by the beauty of her uninhibited response. His balls tightened, tingling in preparation for his release. He fought back the urge, wanting this to last forever, but his body had other ideas.
Releasing her legs, he clasped her hips and ground his pelvis against hers. Sensations burst deep inside him, propelling his seed deep into her trembling body. He shuddered and groaned, his ass clenching, as he surrendered to the power of their bond.
He settled his weight on his knees and panted, waiting for her passion-glazed eyes to focus. “I want you here with me.” He hadn’t meant the statement to sound so demanding, but his primal nature hadn’t subsided.
“I’ve responded immediately to each of your calls. How have I disappointed you?”
“Oh gods, Winter, you’re anything but a disappointment.” He rolled to his side, taking her with him, his cock firmly lodged inside her. She raised one leg to his hip, settling their pelvises closer together. “I want you here when I wake up and here when I return from the office. I want you here in this house, in this bed.”
Her expression tensed, and she looked away, her scent subtly changing. “I want that too, more than you know, but it’s too soon. There are things I need to resolve before I can… I just need a few days, perhaps a week.”
“What things?” Another ripple of primal energy kept his features sharp and his emotions raw. “I’ve contracted you exclusively. You belong to me.”
She stilled, anger and uncertainty warring within her expression. “The contract is a formality. I won’t be treated like a whore.”
He closed his eyes, frustrated by his inability to reverse the change. “I need you near me. You’re my lover, not my whore.”
Her warm hand touched his face, her thumb brushing over his cheekbone and across the ridges on his forehead. “Don’t be angry. I’m arranging a surprise for you and it’s taking more time than I’d hoped. It will be worth waiting for, I promise.”
He turned into her touch, soothed by the soft pressure of her fingertips. “What’s the surprise?”
She laughed, and her breasts jiggled, immediately drawing his attention. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”
“The last time you promised to surprise me you sprayed a sleeping mist in my face.”
“It’s nothing like that. Honestly.”
Rolling to his back, he pulled her up along his body until her breasts were directly over his mouth. He sucked one tight, pink nipple and then the other. “I’m getting hard again. How do you do this to me? I’ve never been this insatiable.”
He drew her farther up his body, and she started to struggle. “Let’s take a shower before we—”
“Now!” Moving her knees to either side of his head, he pushed her legs outward until her wet pussy hovered over his face. “Sex is messy, and noisy, and savage.” He pushed two fingers into her core and growled, “Get used to it.”
Winter grasped the top rail of the headboard and shivered as her body came alive again. Insatiable was right. She’d never wanted anyone as much as she wanted Ulrick, not even close. He slowly finger-fucked her pussy while his tongue teased over her folds. It felt so damn good. Everything they did together felt like heaven.
Then his mouth focused on her clit and his fingers migrated to her other opening. He loved using his fingers in her ass and she’d quickly adjusted to the concept of anal pleasure. He’d inserted the butt plug again last night, but he hadn’t mentioned wanting to fuck her like that.
Slick with her cream, his fingers pushed into her tight back passage. Sensations curled up through her and her clit twitched against his tongue. Would his cock feel as good as his fingers? She tightened and he pushed deeper, drawing the pleasure down through her as he pulled back.
“Oh!” She shivered, an orgasm building low in her belly. She wanted to come around his cock and feel his seed explode deep inside her ass. She wanted to share everything with him, take him in every way a woman could take a man. “I think I’m ready.” She whispered the offer, hoping he’d understand.