Darkling (3 page)

Thrusting her hand between their tight bodies, she found his
stiff shaft bulging against the constraints of his pants. A guttural sound left
him and she opened her eyes to watch his face as she learned the shape of his
body.

His cock was long and thick with a spongy tip. But she
needed to feel the flesh. Would it be hard, or soft as the rest of his skin?

He released her breasts, gripped the hem of her chemise and
yanked it over her head. The kiss of cool air sent ripples of pleasure over
her. She copied him by removing his shirt too.

The first kiss of their bare bodies was pure bliss. Her
pussy contracted hard and more wetness pooled on her inner thighs. If only he’d
touch her…

A dark need rose in her. She reached into his waistband and
brushed her fingers over his cock.

He bucked against her hand. She felt her lips tilt up in the
strange sensation that was a smile. He mirrored her by giving her a
heart-melting grin. As she fumbled with his pants, he slammed his mouth over
hers again.

The tongue-dueling kiss might have lasted seconds or a
century. She’d never experienced such ecstasy in her celestial form.

When she successfully manipulated the button of his pants,
she gave a soft cry of triumph. Dipping her fingers inside his pants, she
extracted his length. The silken steel lay warm on her palm. His balls clenched
against her fingertips. She gently massaged them in time to the flip of her
tongue against his.

Tearing his mouth from hers, he ducked his head and caught
her nipple between his lips. He clamped down on it hard and she was surprised
not to feel pain but wonderful torment. The first lap of his tongue sent
pulsations of pleasure through her.

She wrapped her fingers around his shaft and pumped it
lightly. His response threatened to send her over the edge. He stiffened and a
small trickle of come oozed from the tip.

“I have to taste you,” she whispered.

“Me first.” He gripped her waist and tossed her back onto
the area rug. Hovering over her, he spent a long minute studying her.

“Please. I want this.”

His dark pupils were blown wide and his eyes appeared blurred.
If he felt a portion of the passion she did, he must be out of his head. She
flicked the tip of his erection with one finger and more come trickled out.

“Hurry.”

With a growl, he flipped around and thrust his head between
her thighs. Her bare pussy wept for his kiss. She knew from her past
voyeuristic pleasures with Earthlings that Niles was going to taste her. But
she wasn’t prepared for the absolute bliss that followed.

He plunged his tongue between her wet folds. A shock of fire
burst inside her and she rocked upward against his mouth, seeking more of this
intimate kiss. He bathed her outer lips, then the inner. When he reached the
knot of nerves at the top, she thought she’d surely combust.

Using his tongue, he pressed back the hood covering her core
and gently caressed it. Each moist swirl of his tongue sent her higher and
higher.

Suddenly realizing his thick length bobbed near her face,
she grasped his buttocks and yanked him in, swallowing him to the root in one
smooth suck.

He moaned against her pussy. The vibrations rattled her. She
sought to do the same for him and mewled around his length. His warm flesh on
her tongue thrilled her.

She ran her tongue over his fleshy head and gathered the
delicious juices leaking from him. The salty musk burst on her tongue and she
drew on him harder, wanting him to shoot those hot ropes into her mouth so she
could devour them.

He worked over her pussy, licking her clit until she shook
with the need to find fulfillment. When he eased his tongue down her seam and thrust
it into her moist opening, she quivered. The scorching need to reach something
higher consumed her.

She gripped his shaft at the base and ran it through her
fist as she hollowed her cheeks and pulled on his cock.

“I’m gonna blow,” he whispered against her sex. Then he
enveloped her nubbin in one big bite, sending her flying over the edge of the
world.

It was like falling. Mindless pleasure ripped through her.
Her body clenched and released again and again just as the first spurt of his
come jetted against the back of her throat. Instinctively she swallowed, riding
the waves of her release and his. Her world narrowed to include only his
flavor, the feel of his mouth on her and the inferno in her core.

She dug her nails into his buttocks. He thrust his hips,
forcing her to take him deeper until she swallowed the last drop of his come.
He continued to lap at her pussy softly, bringing her down with expert skill.
When he raised his head from her, she met his gaze and the knot in her core
took up residence in her heart.

Chapter Four

The raucous cries of the crowd as Niles climbed out of the
boxing ring thundered in Vega’s ears. As she caught sight of his handsome face,
she gasped. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and a short gash over
his dark brow.

A man grabbed his elbow before he could reach her. She
strained onto tiptoe to make out what was going on above the crush of people.
Niles leaned against the side of the ring while the older man swabbed the blood
slicking his temple. Vega’s heart surged into her throat when he winced.

After a minute of applying pressure to the wound with a
clean towel, the man stepped back and assessed Niles.

The noise of the crowd fell all at once. Clearly, she heard
him say, “I’m all right, boss. I’ve gotta talk to someone.”

He shoved through the people to reach her side, a grin
splitting his face. She gaped at him, stunned by the lights glistening off his
sweaty chest and face. As if he were a star.

“Niles, you’re hurt!”

“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry. This is what boxing is about. I
can’t believe you’ve never seen a fight.”

“I don’t want you to do it anymore. He’s hurting you.”

“Nah, I’ve got the upper hand. See? His face is way uglier
than mine and I took him down cleanly. The next fight will be even quicker. I
have a few pounds on him.”

She peered between the ropes to see the opponent. He was
sitting in a corner, having several cuts on his face bandaged. Turning to Niles
again, she captured his gaze. “I don’t like it.”

He caught her wrists and stared into her eyes. “I’m all
right. Look, I’ve gotta get back in there. Wait here, Vega. Don’t move from
this spot, and if anyone asks you to go with him, refuse. Understand?”

She blinked up at Niles. After days of slipping in and out
of consciousness, she’d grown very used to this concerned expression. She
longed for that other look—the one that had melted her toes to the floor after
he’d just spent long minutes loving her with his mouth.

The scents of sweat and cigarette smoke stung her nose. A
sharper scent clung to him—some kind of jelly his boss applied to his cut—but
she longed for the fresh, musky scent she remembered.

“Vega—”

She threw herself at him. His body was like a stone wall
slicked with perspiration and a smear of blood. He said he liked this sport,
that it was for fun and to relieve stress—a word she didn’t understand—but it
was scaring her. A tremor had begun low in her core, similar in feeling to when
she geared up to light the night sky. Like a hiss of a teapot. Celestials
referred to it as star shivers.

No, she didn’t like this sport Niles called boxing. After a
couple days sequestered in the private cocoon of his apartment, she’d forgotten
how sinister this world felt. Most of the time she’d been asleep, but there had
been many tender waking moments like their earlier exchange about the fossils.
Her pulse raced at the memory of their lovemaking.

She gripped his shoulders, afraid to let him go back to the
ring.

However, the sight of his tanned muscles gleaming with
moisture as he’d ducked and swerved and jabbed roused her. Her heartbeat had
quickened. Strange, prickly sensations ran over her breasts and the space
between her thighs grew wet and tingly. Seeing him in nothing more than a pair
of loose black shorts, her body reacted.

His arms flexed around her and he dropped his lips to her
ear. “Vega, please. I’m sorry this is worrying you, but I’m really okay. Can
you let me do this fight? I promise we’ll leave afterward. I’ll forfeit the
other matches. My next opponent’s waiting for me, so I need to get in there.”

She hid her face against his chest, wishing she were alone
with him so she could tell him everything. Could she even find the words?

He continued to croon against her hair. Her world narrowed
to a small point. Suddenly the crowd vanished and she knew only Niles—his
arousing musk and the throb of his heart beneath her ear.

She lifted her face. Without his glasses, his eyes appeared
more luminous, as if they reflected the night sky.

Smoothing the pad of her thumb over his cheek, she wiped
away the blood. “I don’t like him hurting you,” she said again.

A low groan vibrated his chest, sending shooting sparks of
need through her limbs. Need she now fully understood. She’d never experienced
such roiling feelings.

He crushed her to him. “Damn, I shouldn’t have you here.
I’ll be finished in no time, Vega. Mischa’s supposed to come soon, but I’ll
have to call and let her know I’m bugging out early. Let me tell my manager.”
When he drew away, she wrapped her fingers around his thick biceps and held
him. The roped muscles jerked and trembled beneath her touch.

Words of her native language streamed through her
consciousness, but she could not form them with these lips. Her mouth opened
and closed.

His expression softened. Using his knuckles, he brushed an
errant curl off her forehead. “Sweetheart, what is it?”

Suddenly the words formed in her mind and she was able to
speak them. “I don’t want you to stop fighting. You should stay. Your
friend…Mischa…she’s coming and you said you needed to talk to her.”

“Yes, but I have you to think about too. Are you feeling
okay? Tired?”

“Hey, Walker, you coming back for more? Another hook and
you’ll be on your ass, man!” The huge man leaned over the ropes and shot him a
jeering grin.

A crooked smile stretched Niles’ lips. He held up one finger
and turned back to Vega.

“What does that mean…you’ll be on your ass?”

“Nothing. Honey, this is just for fun. Darien and I are
actually good friends. Shit, I didn’t realize how much you didn’t understand
when I brought you here. What was I thinking? Listen, I’m going to finish this
fight. By then Mischa should be here. After I talk to her, we’ll leave, I
promise.”

“Promise.” She repeated the word, fixing it securely in her
growing vocabulary.

“Oh sweetheart.” The soft words whooshed from him. His
eyelids fluttered shut as he coiled an arm around her waist and yanked her
against him again. “For days I’ve waited for you to wake long enough to hold a
conversation, and instead I’m here getting knocked around. What am I doing? I
shouldn’t even be touching you. But damn, woman, you undo me.”

Tendrils of flame whipped through her core. She pressed her
nose against his big shoulder and enjoyed the salt beneath her lips. She
couldn’t make sense of boxing or why the crowd would be cheering for them to
hit each other, but in Niles’ hold, she felt secure. Besides, until she found
the starscale, she needed him.

He ran a fingertip down her spine and then he released her.
As he spun for the ropes once more, the voice of the crowd lifted. A deafening
cheer went up, followed by shouts of his name. Flashing a grin, he ducked
between the ropes and faced his opponent.

Vega surged forward, nudging and shoving her way through the
throng of people around the ring. She was more petite than most of them, so was
able to duck under arms and dodge right to the front. A thudding blow resounded
in her ears, followed by the scream of the crowd. With a cry she gripped the
rope just in time to see Darien’s glove glance off Niles’ shoulder.

Niles tossed his head and grinned around what he’d called a
protective mouthpiece his coach had stuffed between his teeth. Instinctively,
Vega thrust a hand between the ropes and tried to reach him.

“That’s all you’ve got, Darien? We’ll see whose ass hits the
floor.” Droplets of sweat flew from his hair as he shifted from foot to foot.

“Niles! Niles!” The crowd’s voices pulsated around her.
Someone pushed against her and her knees were brought up sharply against the
wooden side that kept the fans from the fighters.

Smarting from the pain, she tried to ignore it and focus on
Niles instead. Gone were all thoughts of her mission to retrieve the starscale
and get back to her own world. She knew only Niles’ fierce expression as the
bell sounded and his long arm snagged out and caught Darien in the jaw.

The man’s head rocked back. Before he could regain his
senses, Niles delivered a blow to his ribs that doubled him over.

The crowd roared and Vega roared with them. She bounced on
her toes, aware of the strange sponginess beneath her soles. When she’d assumed
her new human form, she’d been barefoot. During the past two days, she hadn’t
put on a pair of shoes. Before leaving, Niles had dug around in the back of his
closet and emerged with a pair he called flip-flops. They were too long for
her, but he’d sworn to buy her a pair of shoes in the morning. And new clothes
if she wanted them.

As Darien toppled over, the crowd went wild around her.

She looked up to see the starscale.

The noise vanished. Her mouth grew cracked and dry again.
Small bumps broke out all over her body.

A young girl had the starscale clutched to her chest with
one hand. Her other was upraised and her fist pumped the air. Her mouth
stretched into an oval as she screamed Niles’ name.

Vega’s world narrowed to include only the shimmer of that
disc-like gray object. In five steps, she could reach the girl, wrench it from
her hands and disappear. Run into the night, shift into her celestial body and
ascend into the air with the starscale held aloft.

The desiccated lump in her throat threatened to choke her.
She slipped behind the person next to her and edged closer to the girl.

Four more steps.

The floor was vibrating. All at once, she realized the fans
were stomping. Her hearing seemed to return fully, bringing the thunder of feet
and rock music.

“Niles, Niles!” A wild beat. Cries of “Darien” were
interspersed with the cheers.

Her heart battered the bars of her rib cage.

If she didn’t get that starscale, she would risk losing the
girl in the crowd. In a city of this size, she’d never be able to locate her again
even with Niles’ help.

Niles.

She whipped toward the ring again in time to see Darien and
Niles bump their gloves together. Then Niles’ coach grabbed his arm and thrust
it into the air.

The building seemed to shake with the screams of the crowd.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimmer of starlight, but when she
turned back, the girl and the starscale were gone.

Oh no, oh no! Frantic thought hurtled through her brain, but
she didn’t know what to do. Even if she could be heard above the din, she didn’t
know the girl’s name to call her back. Panic welled inside her, making her
tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. A wave of dizziness captured her.

“Vega!” Niles’ strong arm snagged her from behind. Relief
washed through her and she spun in his hold.

Her body responded to the musky scent of his exertion even
as a thrill rippled through her at the intensity of his gaze. People were
congratulating him and patting his back and shoulders. A blonde woman appeared
over his shoulder. Whatever she whispered to him was lost to Vega. Niles
shrugged her off.

He gripped Vega around the waist and tried to force their
way through the crush of bodies. “Damn, this isn’t going to work,” she heard
him growl. Then his hands tightened and he plucked her off her feet.

She gasped as she was brought up against his hard chest,
mesmerized by the effortless way he carried her and the resultant trickle of
moisture between her thighs.

Determination lit his features. “Excuse us. Please, let us
through. Thanks for the congrats, man. It was a good fight. Yeah, Darien’s a
badass.” He spoke kindly to everyone who called out to him, but he had eyes
only for Vega.

His hot gaze swept her from hairline to lips and back again.
Riding in the wreath of his arms was like having zero gravity. Yet he had an
undeniable pull on her.

“Niles!”

He looked up and his face transformed.

Vega followed his line of sight to the young girl holding
the starscale. Her heart surged into her throat and she struggled in his hold.
“Let me down, please.”

A brief shimmer of confusion crossed his features and he
stormed through the last of the bodies to an open area. He let her feet drop to
the floor but kept her clamped to his big male body as he greeted the girl with
a grin.

“Mischa, I’m so happy to see you.” His voice dipped low and
cracked. Then he threw his free arm around her and hugged her tight, bringing
the girl and the starscale within an inch of Vega.

Star shivers ripped through her at the close proximity of
powers similar to her own. The hair all over her body lifted, prickling up her
spine, nape and over her scalp. A low
shar shar
sound vibrated deep in
her head. In the heavens, it was music. Down here, the noise was almost
frightening. Couldn’t the humans hear that?

She stared hard at the girl holding it. How had Niles’
friend Mischa come to have it? Vega’s fingers twitched. In her hands, powers
unfathomable to humans could be wielded, yet this adolescent seemed to have no
clue.

Niles released the girl and she stepped back, glancing a
little worriedly at Vega.

“Oh this is Vega. She’s…visiting me. She doesn’t understand
much about our language or ways here.”

Vega inclined her head to Mischa, and the young woman
nodded. A mottled flush climbed her cheeks and the dew of perspiration broke
out on her forehead. Small springs of black hair rioted all over her head, and
they trembled with every movement. She clutched the starscale against her
chest.

“How are you, Mischa?”

“I’m okay.”

Niles pitched his voice low. “I’m glad to see you came.
Getting out amongst people will help you.”

“Yes, it made me smile to see you fight.”

Niles leaned in and pressed a tender kiss between her
tear-bright eyes. “Thank you. I appreciate it. There are a lot of people who
care for you, sweetie.”