Dark Side Of The Moon (BBW Paranormal Were-Bear Shifter Sci-Fi Romance) (8 page)

Everything
reached a crescendo in minutes, her breasts sliding against his sweat- slicked
chest, her thighs burning with the beautiful feeling she got when she ran. She
looked down as he slid his hands to her ass, fingers probing, pinching,
squeezing…suddenly digging in hard.

His
rhythm changed, went erratic and fast beneath her and she lost it, unable to
keep up with him. Some balance of power shifted, and he wrapped his one arm
around her torso, the other splayed across her ass, pulling her against him,
pinning her in place. She tapped out, gave up control, surrendered and let him
decide on the
when
of all of this.

The
when
came quickly, powerfully, shaking her to her very core. Something
let loose inside of her, a wet heat that flooded down and up and through her
body. She arched in the confines of Taso’s grip, head back, mouth open, but all
sound swallowed by the rush inside her. Taso squeezed her, her ribs screaming
in protest. Then he bucked up hard, over and over, and the heat inside her was
joined by his.

Finally,
she let herself melt into his arms, against his chest, let herself go limp,
breathing hard. His chest rose and fell against hers, and beneath her cheek she
could feel the pounding of his heart. It made her smile, even though it hurt
her lip, to know that she could get his heart beating faster.

After
a few minutes his arms relaxed and she pushed away from him. He looked up at
her with a clear steady gaze, and pushed a strand of hair off her face.

“Both.”
His voice was just as steady as his gaze.

“What?”

“You
said before, men want to either fight you or have sex with you. You asked…”

“Right.
And you said neither was a bad thing. But this wasn’t really fighting.”

“No.”
He straightened, pushing her off his lap, hands holding her hips until she was
standing. “But it was close enough. For now.”

He
left her standing, mouth open, as he picked up his torn clothes, then tossed
them aside. Moving further into the wreckage, he disappeared. It came to her as
a sudden shock that she was standing naked in the wreckage of a space ship,
having just had animalistic sex with an alien. And there were aliens out there
who would probably be attacking at any moment.

Her
shorts were on the ground where she’d dropped them and she pulled them on, but
the tank top, even if she could find it, had been torn to shreds. And her shirt
was stiff with dried blood and sand. She followed the sounds of Taso ripping
open boxes.

“I
need something to wear. You destroyed my shirt.”

Taso
looked up from the box he was unpacking. He was wearing pants, but was
shirtless. Even in the dim light, she could see the cuts on his arms and chest looked
much less serious. “There are some uniforms in one of these. You can wear those.”

She
nodded. Some of the boxes were broken open and she pushed aside what looked
like K-rations, finally finding a mesh-covered shirt. It looked too small, but
smaller was better than nothing. She pulled it over her head, found that it
stretched to fit her perfectly. It was lighter than it looked, and even with
the metal, it was soft against her skin. Taso turned to look at her, then
grabbed a shirt from the box, pulling it over his head.

“Find
pants. The armor will protect you. What you wear is no protection.”

She
dug through the box and found some pants. They too looked small, but like the
shirt, they molded to her, fitting like a second skin. For the first time, she
felt at home in her clothes, with the material moving along with her, not
pinching or pulling against her curves. If she could figure out how to get this
back to New York, she’d make a fortune in clothing for plus-size women, like
her.

“How
do I look?”

He
didn’t answer, his brows drawing together, gaze troubled. Then he went back to
looking through the box in front of him. She wondered what she’d said now that
upset him. For being a warrior, he seemed to wear his feelings really close to
the surface.

“How
does this stuff work?” She poked at the mesh. It was a lot like the blue metal
in the room she’d been in. It gave if she moved or pushed gently at it, but if
she poked it, it felt hard and unyielding.

“It’s
body armor for shifters.” He went about his business, collecting things from
different boxes. “It adapts to our changing shapes, fits while we fight, and
then when we shift back, it’s more or less, still with us. It saves having to
always look for clothes after a battle.” That brought a small mirthless laugh.
“Until we had this, we went through very many pieces of clothing.”

“What
are you looking for?”

“Food.
Something to sleep in. I have the sense that the nights here might be cold.”

“Like
the deserts on Earth. Blazing hot during the day and then freezing at night.”

He
nodded, still not looking at her. “There should be food in here…” He grabbed a
pouch made of what looked like tinfoil and handed it to her. “Drink this. You
are in need of it.”

There
was a little screw thing on one corner and she undid that. This time she sniffed
before taking a drink. It smelled better than the water, but it didn’t smell
like anything she could identify. Still, it was liquid, and she was very
thirsty.

Tipping
it back, she let the liquid fill her mouth. It was thicker than water, and
warm, sweet, like orange juice, but without the acidity. It held a bitter edge,
and a taste that absurdly reminded her of pipe tobacco. Even so, it wasn’t
unpleasant. She reluctantly lowered it from her mouth and held it out to Taso.
He took it without a word and finished the contents.

“Shouldn’t
we be rationing supplies or something?” She looked around. There didn’t seem to
be much left. Taso was tearing open another package. He looked up at her, that
same frown on his face.

“They
will be here by tomorrow, at the latest to get us. We have enough. You should
eat as well.”

“Are
we the only ones left?” It was obvious. No one else had crawled out of the
wreckage, but she still felt the need to ask…to get confirmation. 

“We
are alone. The part that burned…it was the section where the others were being
held.  Along with the rest of the crew. We are very lucky, to have been in
my cabin.”

He
went back to opening the box, taking out things that looked remarkably like the
power bars she carried. He held one out to her. Their fingers touched, and Taso
jerked away, the food dropping to the ground.

“What
is it? What did I say now that has you upset?” She bent down, retrieving the
foil-wrapped circle. She undid the foil, sniffed, took a nibble of the brown
thing. It wasn’t bad…but it wasn’t good.

“You
said nothing to upset me. It was what you didn’t say.” Taso sat down on one of
the overturned boxes, unwrapping his own food. “You are not able to have
children.”

She
stopped, food halfway to her mouth. “I’m what? What are you talking about? I’m
perfectly healthy…”

“Healthy,
yes. But there is something wrong with how your body works.” He shook his head.
“Something I can’t understand, that I have never found in any woman before.”

When
the reason dawned on her, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Birth control pills.
It’s the birth control pills.”

That
clearly didn’t mean anything to Taso. He took another bite of his food, chewed,
swallowed. “I do not know what that is. All I know it that it means you cannot
bear me children.”

The
little brown disk was unpalatable, and she set it aside. “Listen, on Earth,
when women want to have sex, but not children, we take a pill every day. It
keeps women from…” She wasn’t really prepared to explain how the pill worked
and she didn’t think he was interested in details. “It’s temporary. It only
works if I keep taking the pills. And I’ve missed a couple days, so…” She
shrugged. “I should be able to have kids any time after that You must have come
across other women who were on the birth control pill.”

Taso’s
frown eased by degrees. He still looked at her suspiciously, but the other
emotion, the distrust or hurt or whatever, was fading.

“I
paid them no attention. You can have children without it, right? You would be
fertile?”

“I
would be.”

A
smile crept up on Taso’s lips, a smile he seemed unable to hold back, but
didn’t quite trust yet.

“But…that
doesn’t mean I’d want to have a baby.” It had occurred to her that sex with
Taso might very well lead to something she was unprepared to deal with. To hear
that she wasn’t...fertile, as Taso put it…was a huge relief. The sex had been
spontaneous, certainly unplanned. And as amazing as it was—truly beyond
words—she wasn’t ready to repeat the act. A baby in her regular life would have
been have enough to deal with. Here, or on Taso’s planet, with him...an alien
shifter...would be impossible.

He
was smiling at her now, the tension on his face leaving, his brow smoothing
out. It was like he hadn’t heard her last sentence.

“Did
you hear me? I said...”

“Yes.
I hear you. But...” He stood and walked to her, a smile curving his lips. “But
you are able to bear children. The want or not can change.” He said that as if
he was pretty sure she’d change her mind.  “That is only…” He made a
dismissive gesture with his hand, then tapped his temple with his index finger.

“That
is only a decision to make.”

To
her surprise, he leaned over and kissed her. Even though it was gentle, by
comparison, it still stung her lip. He pulled away, smiling.

“We
should get sleep. I’ll take first watch. You can sleep back there.” Taso
pointed to the narrow end of the compartment, where there were more boxes and
the wreckage dead-ended. He handed her a blanket, and then moved to the edge of
the wreckage. He stood, peering out while she stared at his back. There was
nothing about this man that made sense, not one thing, but before the whole
baby conversation, he’d said something else.

“You
said they’d be here tomorrow. Who’s going to be here in the morning?”

He
looked at her over his shoulder. “Those who are going to rescue us.”

She
was glad it was dark and he couldn’t see her rolling her eyes. “Yes. The
obvious, a rescue party. But who makes up the rescue party? And how do they
know where you are?”

“I
am a royal, a leader in my Clan. My soldiers will come for me. As to how...” He
turned his head, pointing to his ear, but in the gathering dark she wasn’t sure
what she was supposed to see.

“I
have a tracking device, inserted when I was a child.”

“Oh,
like GPS.”

It
wasn’t so dark she couldn’t see if he was shaking his head, or just turning
away. “Another thing I do not know, but the chip sends a signal and they will
follow that and find me...us.”

“Okay.”
That gave her an idea. “If they can come get you...can they take me back?”

He
was just a shadow now, but she saw him stiffen, his head snap up, shoulders
tense. She would bet he had that expression on his face, the one she kept
getting from him when she said—or didn’t say—things that upset him.

“You
will come with me. We cannot take you back.”

“You
could, if you wanted to.” He couldn’t see her, but she tapped her temple. “The
want can change. It is only a decision.”

Abruptly
turning on his heel, he left. She didn’t bother to try to hide her anger. If
some space ship could find him in the middle of nowhere, so to speak, they
could just swing by Earth, and take her home.

It
was totally dark now, and she had to go by touch to find her way to the back of
the compartment. She banged her shin on something hard and swore softly.
Eventually, she bumped into the back wall and she dropped down onto the
blanket. She ran her hand over the wall; it was cool to the touch, almost cold.
Taso was right; it was going to get cold.

She
tugged the blanket around her shoulders, telling herself she was going to stay
awake, and not sleep. She’d already slept on the way to this God-forsaken
planet. If they were going to be attacked, she wanted to be awake, to be ready
to defend herself.

But
as soon as she had gotten comfortable, had gotten the blanket settled around her,
exhaustion took over. She yawned, swore under her breath at that, and
straightened, steeling her resolve.

She
yawned again, and her eyes closed, despite her efforts to keep them open. Maybe
just for a minute. Blinking once, her eyes closed again. And the minutes
stretched out as she slept.

“Max...
wake up.”

Someone
was shaking her. She pulled away, tugging the blanket higher.

“Max...”

Who
the hell was Max?

“Leave
me alone.”

“It
is time...wake up.”

The
voice was male. She opened her eyes. It was light. Taso was looking down at
her.

“Oh...sorry.”
She struggled to sit up. So much for staying awake out of spite. “I... you were
supposed to wake me or something? For watch… weren’t you?”

He
held out his hand and she let him pull her to her feet. “You were given a lot
more drugs than the others, and they were still in your system. I thought it
better to let you sleep them off.”

“Why
was I given more?” She had to admit, she felt almost normal for the first time
since this all started. Taso turned, and she followed him out of the wreckage.
Outside the sun was brilliant, blinding her for a moment. It took her a minute
to realize there were two suns in the sky, two fireballs raining heat and light
on her. She raised a hand to her eyes, trying to keep up with Taso.

“You
were fighting with the mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries?”
Her eyes were adjusting to the light and she lowered her hand, still squinting.
“Who are the mercenaries?”

Taso
stood beside the opening of the ship. “The men who owned and flew this ship.”
He looked up at the torn and burned metal that arched over his head. “And who
apparently did not take care of their ship.” He sighed and turned to her.

“We
hire them to do these missions for us. They are part of our Clan, and will do
anything to help its survival. Until this mission, all others had always gone
as planned.” His look at her was pointed. “Until I was on board.”

“This
is the first trip you came on?”

“Yes.”
He was staring at the wreckage. Then he turned to her, a frown darkening his
face.

“What
made this trip so special?”

“I
was looking for my mate....” His gaze was steady, his eyes focused on hers.
“And I found one.”

“Yeah,
about that...”

The
sand around them suddenly blew up in a storm of red dust. It stung her face,
and she stepped back into the wreckage, wondering what terrible attack these
aliens were launching this time. Yet Taso stood his ground, hand shielding his
eyes, looking up into the sky. He stood in the open, hands on his hips,
smiling.

“It’s
my ship.” There was a note of pride in his voice. “They are here.”

She
peered around Taso, looking to where he pointed. Through the dust, she could
see the silver hull of some kind of ship, hovering over them. It moved with
easy grace, pivoting, slowly sinking lower. And then it landed with a final
bust of dust and sand.

“Come.
We can leave now.”

“Wait.”
She put her hand on his arm. “Just a minute. Can we talk...”

“You
wish to have me take you back to where you came from.”

“Well,
yes. I want to go home.”

He
looked down at her, and there was a look in his eyes she hadn’t seen before.
Maybe it was concern or sympathy or something like that. Sadness, even. There
was a moment of hesitation, but she knew what he was going to say before the
words tumbled from his lips.

“I
will tell you this; that ship cannot take you home. It is too small. There are
not enough resources on board. We would all die, none of us anywhere close to
where we want to be.”

Anger
welled up, frustration mixing in for good measure. She stamped her foot in the
hot dust. “You’re just being stubborn. You could, but you don’t want to.” She
bit back a sob at the end of that. Tears clouded her eyes and she turned away,
damned if she’d let him see her cry.

“Max...”

She
whirled back to face him. “My name is not Max, damn it. It’s Veronica. Are you
dense as well as stubborn?” Her breath was coming in painful bursts, as she
fought back tears.

“Please,
I don’t mean to upset you.” His expression was still one of concern, now mixed
with a healthy dose of confusion. “But we must leave now. We cannot stay. And I
cannot leave you behind.”

She
had more to say to him, but before she could get a word out, he had her over
his shoulder again, striding toward the ship. She hit his back, pounded against
him with her fists, but she knew it wouldn’t make any difference. The man had
been attacked by a multi-clawed alien and he’d hardly flinched. The pounding of
her fists was going to go unnoticed.

He
carried her up a short flight of stairs, which whooshed quickly up after them.
As soon as they closed, the ship began to move. Taso set her down on a bench,
not very much different than the one she’d woken up on in the other ship. She
started to get up, but he pushed her back.

“Do
not fight me on this. Sit down and strap yourself in. The ride will be rough at
first.”

He
took a seat across from her, and fastened something very similar to a seatbelt
across his chest. The ship suddenly tilted at a steep angle and she fumbled for
the belts on her bench, clicking the latch home just as she began sliding off
the seat. It caught, and she stopped moving.

“You
might feel unwell during this part of the trip.”

She’d
flown before, but any similarity to commercial airplanes soon vanished. The
craft shook and rattled, rolled to the side and then back. It felt as if her
insides had come loose from their moorings, and were suddenly sloshing around
inside her skin. She closed her eyes, trying to remember any and all meditation
breathing exercises she’d learned. But nothing quelled the rising nausea. She
swallowed hard, and willed herself not to throw up all over herself.

And
then it was over. The rattling stopped, the ship righted itself, and it felt as
if they weren’t moving at all. She opened her eyes, her body still feeling
unsettled and shaky. Taso was smiling at her.

“Very
good, for someone who has never done that before.”

“I
have though, on the other ship.”

“Ah,
yes, but that ship was bigger. And you were asleep.” He unclasped his belt and
stood. “If you like, you can stand, walk around. There is really nowhere to go,
other than the cargo hold, or the navigator’s room. I am going there, but I
will return soon.”

She
watched him disappear through a small door at the end of the compartment, then
undid the clasp on her belt. Something was off with the gravity; it felt like
her feet weren’t quite touching the floor. A few tentative steps told her that
walking like this was only going to make her queasy again, so she sat down
beside one of the tiny windows that lined the side of the compartment.

Outside,
it was dark, but there were what seemed like billions of stars. Her smile was
sad; planets, too, he’d said. Hers, out there somewhere, a little ball of blue
and white, with a little white moon of its own, circling a big yellow sun.

She
saw it in her mind, shots from the Apollo missions, the shuttles, and all the
sci-fi movies she’d ever watched. If any of those brilliant pin pricks of light
out there were her home sun, she had no idea. Sadness and longing welled up and
she didn’t bother to hold back the tears.

This
was really happening
.
She was on her way to a different planet, in the company of a man who wanted
her as his mate, clearly wanted her to have his children. Resting her head on
the glass, she let the tears fall.

* * *

Taso
came back while she was still staring out the window and sat across from her.
The silence stretched on for a couple minutes, but she knew he had the patience
and fortitude to sit there for as long as it took. So if she wanted information,
she was going to have to speak first.

“How
long until we get to your planet?”

“It’s
only a short time. We were further away from...” A line appeared between his
brows. “From your Earth than my planet.”

“And
it’s too far to take me home.” It wasn’t really a question, but he answered it
anyway.

“No.
Not enough...”

“Resources.
I know. You said that.” She turned back to the window. “You made that part
perfectly clear.”

“And
I do not want to take you back to your Earth.”

She
heard the smile in his voice and turned to look at him. He was grinning at her,
a grin that irritated her. Then he tapped his temple with one long finger.

“The
want I have will not change. I came on this trip to find a mate. And I found you.
And I want you.”

Anger
flared up and she pounded her fist against the bench. It hurt, but she didn’t
care. “It’s all about what you want, isn’t it? Nothing about me, what I want?
That I didn’t want to be taken away from my home...my Earth. That I don’t want
to be your mate. That I don’t want any of this.” Her voice had gone high and
shrill. There were no tears now, she was done crying. Taso was looking at her,
something like shock on his face, but he was still smiling slightly, with that
infuriating grin. It was too much; she lunged up from the bench, left arm
raised, covering the space between them in a heartbeat.

She
hit him before he could react, catching him in the jaw. His head snapped back,
hitting the wall behind him. Clearly startled, he only stared up at her. Before
he could recover, she swung at him again, coming around with her right, but he
reached up, almost nonchalantly, catching her fist with his hand. The sudden
impact shook her; it felt like she’d slammed her whole body into a brick wall.

“Please...don’t
do this.” His voice was remarkably calm for a man she’d just hit in the jaw.
“Just...listen.”

“I
don’t want to listen. I want to go home.” She tried to twist out of his grip,
but his fingers were like iron bands around her fist. He pulled her toward him,
jerking her off balance, and she fell against him. Before she could get away,
he wrapped his arms around her.

“Listen
and be still.”

She
wanted to do neither, but he held her so tight that her ribs screamed in
protest. It hurt to breathe. Gradually she relaxed, at least until his arms
loosened enough so she could draw a breath without pain. He slipped an arm up,
pushing her head down onto his shoulder with his hand. It might have looked
romantic to anyone else, but she knew dammed well he simply wanted her under
his control. And given how she felt at the moment, hitting him again wasn’t out
of the question.

“I
can understand that this is hard for you.”

She
bit back the snappy retort that came to mind. It wouldn’t matter anyway. He was
going to say what he needed to, regardless of what she said.

“I
am sorry.”

Her
breath caught in her throat. Those three words...three words she didn’t think was
possible for Taso to say. She lifted her head, frowning up at him.

“You’ve
never said that to me. Not once.”

“I
was not sorry until now. To see you...” His shoulder moved beneath her; she
took that as a shrug. After a minute, he went on.

“You
hit me, out of anger. To see you hate me like this hurts...here.” He tapped his
chest with his fist. “I have never felt hurt here before. I wish it to stop.”

Struggling
in his arms, she managed to sit up enough to see his face. “You don’t make any
sense to me, not at all. You can’t expect me to be happy about this, about
being taken from my home. You can’t expect me to like you. I can’t comfort you
because you’re upset over this. I hurt too, you know.”

He
reached up, and she flinched, but he set his hand on her head, stroking her
hair. It was an awkward gesture, yet strangely touching.

“I
never thought about how this would be for you, or any woman I chose. I only
thought about how it would be when we were home, my home. When I had someone to
stand beside me, to fight with me. To come back to at night, in my bed. When I
had someone to love again.”

She
took half a breath, what she wanted to say eclipsed by his words, or a single
word. “Again?”

“I
do not love easily. It does not come to me naturally. We mate...have
mates...for life. Or as long as life is for any of us. I have had more than one
mate, but only one love.”

His
voice had gotten softer, the last word—love—almost a whisper. For a minute, she
thought that was it, that he wasn’t going to say anymore. But then he took a
breath.

“Kiersta.”

“What?”

“Her
name...her name was Kiersta. She was from my Clan, a fighter. Like you. She was
killed in this endless war that rages around us.”

“Oh.
I’m sorry.”

There
was that shrug again, a hitch of his shoulder that rocked her head. “I loved
her more than life itself.”

It
was that simple; he loved her and she was dead. “But I’m not her. I can’t be
her, you know that.”

“No.
I know. I don’t expect you to be her. I thought...the reason I came on this mission
was to look for my mate… I couldn’t trust that they would bring back the kind
of woman I needed. I needed to find her – to find you- myself.” He made a sound
that could have been a laugh. “You are everything I have ever wanted...” He
lifted one hand, traced a voluptuous, curvy line in the air. The other hand
still held her tightly.