Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Prince (8 page)

Sweet mercy she was going
to touch him.

Her fingers brushed his
bare back and he swallowed hard, unconsciously leaning backwards
into her touch so he could feel her better. He wanted her hands all
over him, covering every hard inch of his body.

They were warm as they
stroked his back, sliding under the suit in a sensual glide that
made his heart beat faster.

“
You’re too far
away,” she whispered.

He groaned internally and
leaned further back. Her warm breath fanned over his back, making
him shiver and tremble. Her fingers caressed his skin in
mesmerising patterns as she searched for something on the suit. His
teeth sunk into his lower lip, biting it hard in an effort to
restrain the moan that tried to escape as she swept her thumbs over
his back and then breathed against him again.

She was going to be the
death of him.

The feel of her hands on
him was exquisite, addling his mind and making his head spin as he
silently begged her to touch more of him. He craved it. Needed it
so violently that he was bordering on turning and trying to break
through the bars to get to her. He yearned for her.

Everything about her made
him hard and hungry for her. He had never felt such a deep gnawing
hunger and desire.

He had never wanted a
female like he wanted her.

“
Aha,” she said
and his eyes shot wide when she slid her hand into the back of his
suit and then pulled it out again. She hummed, singing a melody
that he didn’t recognise, and then made another noise of triumph.
“There.”

Intense heat spread
outwards from his back as she closed his suit. It travelled down
his spine, its hot fingers creeping around his front and then down
his arms. He sighed, content, when his entire body began to
warm.

“
Thank you,”
Tres said and turned to face her. He sat there a moment, basking in
the warmth and smiling as it seeped into his body. It was
divine.

“
They’d only
disconnected the wiring.”

The way she said that made
him feel as though he could have fixed it if he had bothered to
try. The idea of exposing himself to the cold for even a few
minutes had stopped him though. Even with the suit unable to
radiate heat, it was still thermal and had kept him warmer than he
would have been without it.

“
Tres?” she
said and his heart beat again, hard and deep in his chest, turning
his blood as warm as the suit was.

“
Yes?” he said
and was tempted to say her name. Renie. His courage failed
him.

“
What do you do
for a living?” She carefully pulled her hands back through the
bars.

“
Living?”

“
A job? Myself
and my brother are archaeologists... explorers. We travel the
galaxy studying dead cultures and abandoned planets.”

He vaguely remembered that
she had mentioned that yesterday. At the time, he had been too
enthralled by her hand on his to listen intently. It explained her
interest in his knowledge of dead languages. A skill such as his
would be beneficial in her line of work.

“
I have none,”
he said and smiled again when he realised that he was warm from
head to toe. Standing, he stretched and sighed. He removed his
trousers, revealing the bottom half of his thermal suit, and tossed
the clothes to one side. He looked up at the ceiling and then at
the bars that separated him and Renie. “Shall we go?”

She frowned, as though she
didn’t understand. Did she think that he was going to remain here
when he could leave now? He was going to save her, just as he had
promised. He wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her or her
brother.

He walked over to the door
bars of his cell and reached through them.

“
What are you
doing? I’m sure they’ll be locked down or alarmed or
something.”

Tres pulled a wire out
from the left wrist of his suit and stretched to reach the control
panel. Pushing the wire against the screen, he smiled when Renie
gasped as the small bud on the end of the wire opened and extended
out to cover the entire screen of the panel in a thin silver
film.

Turning his arm so his
palm was facing upwards, he tapped the inside of his forearm and
the display appeared, hovering an inch above the suit.

“
What are you
doing?” Renie hissed at him.

“
Freezing me to
keep me quiet wasn’t the only reason they disconnected the power in
my suit,” he said and tapped a combination of buttons on the long
display screen on his forearm. The doors in front of each cell in
the block faded. He smiled at Renie. “Stopping me from escaping was
the other reason.”

Her eyes were bright and
wide, full of amazement and awe. She tentatively stepped out of the
cell and then went to go to the main doors. He caught her wrist and
she stopped and looked back at him. The feel of her skin against
his was divine and it was a struggle not to drag her up against his
body and kiss her.

“
Not that way,”
he said and pointed at the ceiling. “This way.”

****

Chapter
6

Renie watched in
fascination as Tres stood on the bench in his cell and scored a
square in the ceiling with his claws. What was he planning to do?
She jumped back when he punched the centre of the area he had
marked and the entire section buckled under the force of the
strike. She hadn’t expected such a slim man to be so strong. He was
stronger than her brother was and Tres was half Rezic’s
size.

Before she could ask what
he intended to do now, Tres fell forwards so his hands pressed into
the floor and then disappeared feet first through the hole in the
ceiling. She stared, mouth agape, stunned and trying to figure out
what had just happened.

She added acrobatic to the
list of things she was discovering about him since fixing his
thermal suit. It was little wonder the commander had broken it.
Keeping Tres contained seemed impossible. It had taken him only
seconds to break free.

His hand reappeared
through the hole and then his head followed.

“
Come on,” he
said and flexed his fingers, as though trying to encourage
her.

She didn’t need any
encouragement to follow him. She was beginning to think that she
would follow him wherever he went. Perhaps she could encourage him
to join her and her brother. The thought of parting company with
Tres was strangely painful.

Renie stood on the bench,
reached up and took hold of his hand. A squeak of surprise left her
when he effortlessly hauled her into the dim duct.

“
We must move
fast.” He turned and began crawling along the narrow
duct.

Renie crawled along behind
him, trying not to stare at his backside but finding it impossible
as they moved further and further into the ship. He had a nice
behind and narrow hips that slowly tapered out into his shoulders.
Although he was slim, he was strong. The thermal suit he wore was
as tight as a second skin and emphasised his compact muscles in a
way that made her imagine him naked.

Her entire body ached at
the thought of him nude.

She wondered if he had
imagined her naked too. He had asked whether she had ever been with
a man after all. There had to be a reason he was asking her and why
he wanted to know more about her. His reaction to her touch was
another thing. She had seen the way his pale blue pupils had
dilated when she had taken his hand and heard the stifled inhale of
breath when she had touched his ears. He acted as though her touch
was electric. Perhaps it was just because he was cold blooded, but
something inside her said that it was more than that. Did he feel
the same intense need as she did whenever they touched?

He seemed the adventurous
type and she couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him. If they
made it off the ship, maybe he would join her and her brother in
exploring the galaxy. Maybe.

She would do anything to
convince him.

She liked the sound of
that.

He turned a corner and by
the time she had made it there, he was gone.

“
Tres?” she
whispered, afraid to raise her voice in case a guard heard her. The
duct was darker here and she couldn’t see very far ahead of her.
She slowly moved forwards, her heart beating fast and her arms
trembling. What if he had fallen down somewhere? Could his ocular
implants make him see in the dark?

There was a blue light
shining up from the floor ahead.

“
Renie,” Tres
said and her heart fluttered when his head popped up from the
floor. “This way.”

He disappeared
again.

She moved to the edge of
the opening in the floor of the duct. There was light below her.
Tres was standing on what looked like a metal grate. Below him was
an eerie blue glow. Sitting at the edge of the opening, she took
short sharp breaths, trying to psyche herself up into dropping to
the floor around ten feet below her. She grasped the edge of the
opening and began to lower herself.

A flush of heat washed
through her when Tres’s hands caught her hips and she let go of the
duct when he gently lowered her. Her hands came to rest on his
shoulders and her eyes met his as he slowly brought her down to
him.

When she could almost
touch the floor, he stopped, staring into her eyes in way that made
her heart pound.

Impulse battled against
sense.

Tres blinked slowly, his
blue pupils fixed on her, strangely bright in the dim glow from far
below them.

His body pressed against
hers, cool and soothing.

His hands held her hips,
fingers pressing in and making her ache for his touch.

Impulse won.

“
Thank you for
helping me,” she said and he frowned before smiling.

“
I believe we
are helping each other,” he whispered and her gaze fell to his
mouth.

She wet her lips and
slowly closed her eyes as she inched towards him. The moment their
mouths touched, his grip on her tightened. She kept the kiss
gentle, not wanting to startle him or drive him away. It was time
she discovered whether it was more than her heat that he wanted.
Her lips slowly skimmed over his, tasting their
coolness.

The light brush of his
against hers made waves of shivers race through her. She wrapped
her arms around his neck, leaning in and stroking her tongue over
his lips. He groaned and opened his mouth to her. Their tongues
touching sent a jolt through her followed by an aftershock of
pleasure. His was cool against hers, probing her mouth as he
slanted his head and captured her lips.

He turned with her,
backing her into the wall. She buried her fingers into his long
hair as his tongue caressed her lips and then entered her mouth
again. She moaned at how cool his mouth was, his tongue brushing
hers and making her tremble with delight. He moved against her and
a shot of desire bolted through her.

He definitely wanted her
too.

His lips left hers,
trailing frantic kisses along her jaw and neck, each one
accompanied by a low groan of deep satisfaction. The galaxy
disappeared in an instant and there was only Tres, moving her back
into a shadowed recess of the walkway they were on and pressing her
against the wall there. She moved against him, her body overruling
any remaining shred of sense as it begged him to touch her. He
pinned her to the wall with his hips, thrusting hard against her.
Unable to bear the wait, she kissed his neck and caressed his
cheek, matching the fervour of his actions. Desire consumed her
until she could only think of acting upon her attraction to him and
having him inside her.

He moaned hotly in her ear
when she wrapped her legs around him and he covered one of her
breasts with his hand. He squeezed and groaned again. She arched
into his touch, pleading him to feel her, to strip her and take
her. It was insane but she didn’t care. The moment she had set eyes
on him, she had wanted him. There was no denying her attraction to
him now. He had to feel something too. The way he had looked at
her, the way he had held her hand, this couldn’t be one sided. He
had to feel something more than desire. Just as she did.

She went to open his suit
but stopped herself.

“
What’s wrong?”
he whispered against her neck, his breath warm now and
tickling.

“
You’ll get
cold.” It wasn’t the only reason she was stopping. What she was
planning to do with him in this dark recess really was insane. This
wasn’t the time to be acting on her desires for him. Yet the danger
of being caught only added to the thrill, only made her want it
even more. She wanted him. She had to have him. Her fingers toyed
with his suit as she memorised the feel of his body against hers
and the way his hands gripped her tightly.

Tres tensed against her
and then lowered her to the ground. There was a look in his eyes
that said that he didn’t care if he got cold as he opened his suit.
Her eyes widened as he revealed a white muscular torso and then she
swallowed as he reached his groin. Her own throbbed when he pulled
his erection free of the tight material and she reached out without
hesitation to touch it. He flung his head back and hissed through
clenched teeth when she ran a hand down the length of him, stroking
the soft skin. He was so hard. The feel of him sent a warm rush
through her and she wriggled her hips, feeling the slide of arousal
in her underwear.