Tempt Me Eternally (3 page)

Aleaha was almost into the woods, sidestepping the Rakans as Dallas distracted them, before she realized what she was doing. She stopped short and frowned. What . . . why?

The answer hit her with the force of pyre-fire. Mind control.

Which agent was responsible? Devyn, Jaxon or Dallas? Didn't matter, she supposed, because they were all bastards. Somehow, someway, one of them had controlled her with a thought.

Scowling, she whipped around. Trees stretched on both sides, so close she had only to reach out to hug their trunks. Their twisted, snow-heavy limbs shuttered her line of vision, so she brushed them aside.

The sight she next drank in would haunt her for years to come.

Most of the agents were lying on the ground, some writhing and groaning sounds of impending death. Others were motionless in the blood splattered snow. Dallas, Devyn, and Jaxon were slashes of white in that
violent nighttime canvas, the tallest of the Rakans stalking the outer edge of the circle. Other Rakans took turns taunting them with punches and kicks, each expertly evading the pyre-fire launched at them.

What can I do
?
What the hell can I do
? “Stop,” she called, hoping the distraction would give her friends some kind of opening to . . . what? Take off? Attack? “Stop!”

The stalking alien obeyed, stopping in a ray of moonlight, his gaze quickly finding her. Jolting her.

Aleaha trembled in shock, another honey-scented breeze suddenly enveloping her. Arousing her.
Kiss,
she thought again. The man was utterly and absolutely breathtaking. A hedonistic god fallen straight to Earth. Sensual, exotic, with kohl-rimmed eyes of gold, a strong nose, a square chin, and chiseled . . . everything.

He put Devyn to shame.

What little of his skin was visible glowed like liquid rays of sunlight poured over hot steel. His hair hung to his jawline, the same golden shade as his skin. He was mesmerizing, unimaginable power and dark savagery blanketing his expression. And God, he was a predator, the knowledge banked in every line of his big body. Yet he was also a being so beautiful, he lured with only a look. Probably snared women before they could snap out of his spell.

“Female,” he said, his voice as mesmerizing as his face. How did he know English? In fact, how had the other, the one who'd tried to molest her?

“Oh, no, you don't,” Dallas said, breaking through the circle and punching him in the jaw.

The Rakan's head whipped to the side. Quickly finding Aleaha's gaze again, he reached out, grabbed Dallas by the neck, and tossed him against a nearby tree. “Mine.”

The force he used—amazing. The speed and agility—dumbfounding. Dallas slumped to the ground, unconscious. Jaxon roared, a wild sound, and attacked. The beast reached out yet again. This time, he slammed a ghostly hand inside the agent's chest cavity and twisted.

Jaxon crumpled and like Dallas, he didn't get up. Devyn watched it all, a hard smile on his face. A smile that promised death. But he didn't strike. No, he held up his hands in surrender.

Aleaha could barely believe her eyes. That wasn't like him. He'd rather be stabbed than lose a fight. Dear God. The situation must be grimmer than even she had realized.

Instinctively, she backed up, halting only when she considered a new possibility. Maybe, hopefully, he had a plan. Maybe he was pretending to surrender while giving Mia and crew time to get here. Yes, of course. But why hadn't help already arrived? They were supposed to swoop in if something like this happened, and close as they were, they should have been here by now.

The tall golden alien strode toward her, shoving his own men aside. With every step, he appeared more indomitable. Deadly. Her heart drummed erratically in her chest as he came closer . . . closer.

Do something!
He was almost upon her. “Stop,”
she shouted again.
Good going. I'm sure he'll obey
. “Stay where you are.” If Mia needed more time, it was up to Aleaha to stall this man.

Surprisingly, he stilled at the sound of her voice. Except for his eyes. Those trekked over her, hot and blistering, as if she were his property, already naked and begging for his touch. Goose bumps broke out over her skin; her mouth dried.

“One more step, and I'll shoot.” Trembling, she raised her gun until she had a direct shot at his groin. Men tended to agree to anything when their dicks were threatened. “Let's talk about this. Maybe we can work something out. Why are you here? What do you want?”
Come on, Mia
.

Slowly he grinned, silently promising that he'd do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Clearly there would be no chatting. Bastard. She squeezed the trigger. Just like the others had done, he darted away from the azure beam as if it were nothing more than a pesky insect.

A second later, he was in front of her, appearing in the blink of an eye and towering over her. She gasped in surprise as heat radiated off him and enveloped her. Heat and that honey smell. Her nipples beaded again, reaching for him, and her stomach fluttered. The need for him to strip her, to slide inside of her, was potent, heady, part of her wanting to drop to her knees and beg him for it.

Who are you?
she wondered, dazed. In fact, the urges were so unlike her, common sense easily fought its way to the surface.
Kill him. Now. End this!
Mia had
told them not to kill, yes, but Mia wasn't here. At this rate, Aleaha would be dead before backup arrived.

“I told you I'd shoot you, and I never lie.” Of course, that was a lie. Her entire life was a lie. This, however, she would do. “I mean it! Back away or I start firing.”

He remained in place. “Shooting has not been favorable for you so far, has it?”

“There's a first time for everything.”

“I agree. Like the first time I disarm you.”

Before she could act, he knocked the gun from her hand. It clattered to the ground, out of reach, and he purred silkily, all kinds of erotic in the undertones. “What do you plan to shoot me with, my female?”

Instant, searing arousal. That's what Breean Nu, now leader of the Rakan army, had experienced when he first heard the woman's raspy voice drift through his fight-craze. When his gaze had landed on her, bathed in moonlight as she'd been, that arousal had only intensified and, foolishly, he'd lost sight of everything but her. Understandable, considering his past.

He'd seen, and he'd wanted. Desperately.

He'd whisked himself to her with every intention
of claiming her as his own, for every warlord deserved a prize after a victory. He was a warlord, he had won, so
she
would be his prize. Even now,
especially
now, blood roared through him, hot, hungry. And not for more fighting. For every inch of her.

“Mine,” he said again. The females of Raka had been decimated by plague after aliens began sneaking onto their planet several years ago. Those females had then begun to eat the men. Eat, as in meals. Having never encountered disease before, the Rakans had been at a loss, not knowing what to do or how to help. And then it had been too late. So many had died, hardly anyone had been left.

Trembling, his prize jerked her wrist from his hold and backed away from him. One step, two. Oh, there would be none of that. Too much did he enjoy being near her.

“Stop,” he said, as she'd said to him a moment ago.

She raised her chin, stubborn, and kept moving. “Don't think so.”

A refusal? From a war prize? He'd never owned one before, only knew that other soldiers on other planets often kept them as slaves. And slaves were to do as they were told. He would just have to instruct her.

Although, to be honest, Breean had never thought to find himself in this type of situation. He'd been a simple fisherman and Raka, as peaceful as the planet had been, had never had to utilize its royal army. Most citizens had obeyed the king without question, and otherworlders had never been allowed to enter
their land. Until the Schön came in secret. Until the Schön destroyed them, infecting the women who then took out the soldiers and everyone else.

At the time, Breean had been living on the seas that cover most of Raka, the sole provider for his mother and sisters. He'd returned one day to find them dying, and thousands of others already dead, for once the females had lost their food supply, they'd turned on each other. So he'd gathered what uninfected survivors he could and they'd started fighting back, driving the Schön away.

The experience had changed them. They were not the innocent, naive men they'd once been. They were harder, meaner, utterly unforgiving. And that's the way they had to stay.

“I told you to stop, female.” There was no room for compromise in his tone. “You will obey. I am your master.”

“How cute. The big boy thinks he's in charge.” She whipped out another pyre-gun from the holster at her side. He'd never actually seen one until tonight, but he'd seen pictures and knew what to expect from them. In the other hand, she held a knife. With knives, he was already intimately acquainted. “Now back off.”

War prize or not, she should have responded to his scent by now. “Come to me,” he said, just to see what she'd do. “Touch me.” Since building his own army, he was used to having his every command obeyed.

She shook her head, continuing her slow backward journey. Her eyes were large, luminous, and
crystalline, swirling with flecks of silver and cerulean. Underneath her cap, her hair was pale. Her nose was dainty, her cheeks rounded. But something about her was . . . wrong. The more he studied her, the more it seemed as if
another
face lurked underneath the first. A face with wider-set
green
eyes. A more aristocratic nose. Slimmer cheeks.
Dark
hair.

All together, that packaging was not as pretty. And yet it was more erotic, more sensual. The lips were more lush, redder, and made for sucking. The hair was silkier, and he could easily imagine the dark strands fisted in his hand while he pumped in and out of that delectable body.

She wasn't the reason for such strong, instantaneous fantasies, though. Any female would have triggered the same response. It had just been so long since he'd known pleasure, so damned long. He missed sex more than he would have missed an arm.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she snarled. She glanced behind her as if searching for someone else. Her shoulders slouched in confusion when she spied no one. When she faced him, she must have realized he'd inched closer because she yelped. “Get back!”

Breean didn't know what to make of this woman. Not the dual faces, and certainly not the fact that she seemed to be immune to him in every way. Granted, he hadn't been around a woman in two years, but surely he was still capable of seducing one. And what had happened to his determination to force a slave to his will?

Drop the weapons and touch me, little human.
Or was she alien? He frowned, not liking that he didn't know. Actually, there was a lot he didn't know and the answers were far more important than his hunger. “How did AIR know we were coming?” He'd visited several times in secret, hadn't talked to anyone, and had remained in the shadows. Still. They could have seen him, he supposed. But why not attack before now?

“They were good people,” she said angrily, ignoring him, once again backing away. “You shouldn't have hurt them.”

“
We
are good people.” He stepped toward her just as slowly. “Those agents should not have tried to hurt
us
.”

She swallowed. “Our guns were set on stun, not kill. You and yours, however, killed, so excuse me for not agreeing that you are good. And how many times do I have to say this? Don't you dare come any closer!”

“The warrior who killed those agents will be punished, believe me.” In a movement so quick no eye could see it, Breean swooped in and slapped the second gun out of her hand. “Now, there will be no more shooting from you.”

Shock settled over her lovely dual-features. He didn't give her time to threaten him with the knife. He simply snatched the blade out of her hand, studied its serrated tip in the moonlight, and sheathed it at his back. Could be useful.

Her mouth hung open in furious disbelief, revealing perfect white teeth that were a little sharper than
those he'd seen from the other humans he'd encountered. Her kiss would have bite.

His cock twitched in reaction to the thought, and he frowned again. Biting was no longer allowed among his people. A rule he'd instigated and a rule he would keep. Always. Anything that drew blood, the liquid poison that could very well carry thousands upon thousands of diseases, was now forbidden. Disobeying meant death.

He watched as she tossed another glance over her shoulder.

“Are there more agents out there?” he asked.

“Of course not.”

Which meant, yes, there were. With a tilt of his chin, he motioned for several of his soldiers to scour the area. Instantly they headed into the trees. Though they were dressed in black and clashed against the snowy backdrop, they moved liked midnight apparitions, barely noticeable.

“What is your name, female?”

Silent, she slid her gaze to the gun that lay several feet away on the ground. His remaining men stood in a semicircle around it, he noticed, arms crossed over their chests, waiting for his next order. The living agents sprawled behind them, already cuffed and gathered in an unconscious heap.

“I won't let you win,” she said, ignoring him. Again.

“But I already have. Your brethren are defeated. You are the last one standing.”

“That just means it's up to me to kick your ass.”

“I'll let you do many things to my ass, female, but kicking it isn't one of them.” He leaned into her, eating up the rest of the distance, in her face before she could blink. The fragrance of newly fallen snow and dark, mystic nights drifted from her, and he inhaled deeply, savoring. “I'll let you massage it. Caress it. Grip it while I pound inside of you.”