Finally, after years of waiting and lusting, Star had arrived.
* * *
Star entered the darkened cottage with a deliberately noisy step, tossing off her cloak with a shrug of her shoulders. If there was a woman inside being kept against her will, Star wanted her to know that help was at hand. But as she sniffed the air, she relaxed. There hadn’t been any sex going on in this rental in awhile. Her prey, however, smelled delicious. A dark, spicy scent filled the room, and she breathed it in, finding it both arousing and familiar.
Shaking off the distraction, Star forced her attention back to the task at hand. The innkeeper assured her that a Jacian male had checked in yesterday, and according to the security vid, he hadn’t left. So where was he?
He’d kept the lights out, but that was more to his disadvantage than hers. She was a Huntress. Her people could see in the dark, smell from great distance, and move with amazing rapidity. In fact, they were known so much for their physical attributes that most other species had forgotten how smart they were. A fatal mistake in most cases.
Star blinked, putting into place the thin optical membrane that made night vision possible, affording her an unhindered view of the room. A bed, still made, took up the center, with two small tables on either side of it. To the right, a door led to the bathroom. To the left was a desk, beside which stood a cooling and heating unit. From the smell of it, the ambassador hadn’t eaten since he’d arrived.
Great, he was horny and hungry.
She snorted derisively. What a shitty case. But then she always ended up with the most undesirable assignments. She was the first of the Hunter species to attain the bench, and because of that she had to work twice as hard, and hand down twice as many verdicts, just to get the same respect and the same number of judicial credits. Two of her classmates had already moved up to the Supreme Court, despite having far less experience than she. They’d both failed and had been retired quickly.
Sure, Hunters could track and kill anything, but they could also be gentle, fair, and wise—basically, they had brains to back up their brawn. And it was her life’s goal to show that fact to the universe. Her species was depending on her to prove the Council wrong.
“I hope you didn’t dim the lights for me,” she murmured, the hilt of her small dagger gripped firmly, but not tightly.
“I certainly didn’t do it for me,” came the low, velvety voice she knew from her dreams. It swirled around her, originating from nowhere and yet permeating everywhere. “I would much rather see you. You do hunt nak*d, like the rest of your species, don’t you?”
Star paused mid-step, her pulse quickening at the sound of that deep growl of sensual promise. She shook off the tingle that coursed over her skin. “Who are you?” she breathed, every nerve ending flaring to life. “Where are you?”
The room was empty.
“That depends. I’m either your prey or your lover. You have to decide which.”
She checked the bathroom. Nothing. “I don’t know you.”
“Don’t you, Star? I’ve held you in my arms, caressed you, licked every inch of your skin. You have a scar on your left hip.
A battle wound. I like to kiss it. Suckle it, like your n**ples…”
“Shut up.” Her spines shot out, a sign of arousal and fear. She was the predator here, but she didn’t feel that way. “Get out of my head.”
“Can I get in somewhere else?” he purred. “I’m rather desperate at the moment. You took longer than I expected.”
For a moment, she swore she could feel the heat of him behind her. She tilted her head back, and looked up at the ceiling a moment too late. The Jacian dropped down from a harness, and caught her up. He ran to the wall, and pinned her hard against it. The blade in her hand skittered away, but still she moved to grab him, finding instead that her spines had sunk into the wall and held her securely.
“Oh shit,” she groaned, as he cupped one breast in a familiar grasp. If she stayed aroused, she’d be stuck for awhile. “I’m so screwed.”
“Not yet,” he breathed, his tongue flicking across her nipple. “But you’re about to be.”
CHAPTER 2
Roark opened his mouth and surrounded the peak of Star’s perfect breast. He was almost dizzy from the smell of her, the feel of her, the taste of her skin. Dreams could not accurately convey all of this. She could only see herself through her own eyes, not through the eyes of a man who lusted for her, so their shared dreams could not give him this pleasure. Nothing in the universe could give him this pleasure.
His tongue stroked softly, abrading the tight nipple. He shuddered, the burning in his veins nearly excruciating. He knew he had to arouse her swiftly. The first f**k would be quick, he’d waited too long, but he had to make it good for her or she’d arrest him as soon as he was finished.
“So that’s what you look like,” she said, her voice breathless. “You’re gorgeous. But I’m still going to kick your ass when you’re done.”
He wanted to look his fill of her, but couldn’t risk turning the lights on now. One glance at her lush beauty, and he’d be f**king himself to orgasm and leaving her behind.
But later, once the edge was off, he intended to see her in all her glory. All that silver blonde hair and pale skin. And those big blue eyes, lighter in shade than his sapphire ones. She looked like a celestial angel—until those razor-sharp claws came out and she bared those pointy canines.
“You know who I am.” He flooded her mind with images of them together, echoes of the passion they’d shared in her dreams. His hand drifted between her legs, finding the soft, smooth skin and the slickness of her desire. She gave a soft cry, a sound he loved and had heard so many times. It was enough. Lifting one of her lithe, long legs, he spread her open. Then he stepped between her thighs, and took his c*ck in hand.
“Wow.” Star’s hands touched his stomach, and then brushed across his cock. “At least it was worth waiting for.”
“Sorry,” he said, sounding anything but. “You had to be primed before you got here, or I’d be in the brig now instead of in you.”
He rubbed the head of his shaft against her, coating himself with her cream. Pausing a moment as his frame shook violently, Roark waited for the heat wave to pass before pressing into her.
“You better not leave this time.” She was panting and shifting restlessly against him, her legs locked around his waist as if to trap him to her. “Or I’ll kill you for sure.”
In answer, he rolled his h*ps and surged into her.
“Oh hell,” she gasped. “I don’t even know your name.” And then she came. Hard rippling spasms gripped his cock, stealing his breath and stilling his heart.
“Damn,” he growled, his thighs shaking with his need. “You’re so small…tight as a fist.” He worked his c*ck into her with powerful thrusts, grunting with every deep plunge.
Definitely worth dying for.
His head fell back and he howled his release, two days of misery shooting out of him and flooding into her. Clutching her suspended body tightly, he stroked himself with her cunt until he was drained.
For now. The next heat wave would hit within moments.
He rested his damp forehead against Star’s, fighting for control, their labored breaths mingling. “Hi,” he managed. “I’m Roark.”
“Hi, Roark. Nice to finally f**k you.”
* * *
Star shook her head. This was soooooo wrong. A judge was not supposed to have sex with the criminals. “This doesn’t change anything, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” He turned his head and began to lick the sweat that misted her skin.
Deep inside her, he throbbed, his erection unabated. It felt so good, it took every bit of control she had not to grind herself onto that massive cock.
He was beautiful, the ambassador. Roark. She couldn’t see colors with her night vision, but she could see everything else.
The spots that mottled his silky skin made a wondrous pattern. His hair was dark and straight, hanging almost to his hips.
His mouth, with its sculpted lips, was a work of art, and she moaned as he turned his head and pressed it to hers.
“Just give me a week, Star.” He licked her lips. “Then I’ll go with you without a fight.”
“You can’t fight me,” she said dryly, her hands brushing across the tops of his broad shoulders. He was very big. Tall, and well-muscled. Very yummy, but still… “I’d tear you apart.”
“But then you’d miss having all you want of this.” He pumped his c*ck through their cream.
She shivered. “You’re a cunt tease, you know that? A f**king week I’ve been squirming over you!”
Roark laughed, and it was a warm sound, so vibrant and full of life. His hand cupped her nape and he nuzzled his nose against hers. “It wasn’t easy for me either, you know. I’ve waited almost two years to come into my heat.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It was the only way I could reach you. The time during our heat is when a Jacian’s telepathic powers are strongest. I could not have dreamed with you at any other time, and without dreams we would not be together. You are too focused on your work. If it were possible, I would have had you sooner, and without risk to my life, but this was the only way.”