DarkRevenge (27 page)

She glanced at Tory. What would his thoughts be like? Did
she really want to know what he thought? “But eventually, we’ll be able
to…filter out thoughts?”

“Eventually,” Jezar answered. “It’s like a muscle you’ve
never exercised. Sometimes when you’re tired, or stressed, the muscle will
fail.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Pros and cons.
Unlike with her mating, Tory gave her a choice. Her gaze met his. He gave no
indication of his own preference, his blue eyes bright, but hard to read. This
was her decision.

All her life, intimacy had been discouraged by her parents.
They weren’t an affectionate family, preferring competition and achievement to
love. Her family’s position at court made relationships more difficult to
maintain. She’d felt more loss when one of the men in her command died than
when her father was killed on his mission of mercy. When her brother was killed
on Teran Five, she’d felt outrage that, for political reasons, she wasn’t
allowed to avenge him.

But then, she’d almost lost Tory. All those feelings of loss
and outrage were nothing compared to the overwhelming panic and fear that
flooded her when she believed he might be dead. A solid certainty swept away
the churning in her stomach, the doubts in her mind. Whatever happened now, she
belonged to him. It wasn’t just the mating. And love was such a small word for
what she felt for him.

“Do it.”

“There’s more,” Jezar started and she snapped her gaze to
the Ardasian’s face. “The connection is…intense. If it is physically severed by
death, the emotional consequences—”

“I don’t care. Do it. Whatever happens, we need all the
advantages we can get.”

“Alex,” Tory said gently as he took her hand again. “I don’t
want you to do this out of duty.”

She almost rolled her eyes. Idiot. But he’d find out how
stupid that was in a minute. “Can you do it now?”

Jezar’s nod was slow. “The sooner the better. When we go to
the surface of Teran One, you’ll need those filters in place. Otherwise, you’ll
drive each other crazy.” He clasped her hand and immediately, Jezar’s thoughts
were there. He was…different from Kera. Stronger.
I am a Child of Light,
Alexandra Zeerah. I have been sent to save the universe.
She caught an
ironic tone to his thought.

The connection had been set by Jezar’s touch and now his
full powers were unleashed inside her head. Like when Kera bridged her mind to
Tory’s, she felt stretched, pulled forward. And Tory was there waiting.

Their touch was easy, almost natural. Jezar still held them,
but she followed the path of the lines between them, ethereal and only visible
in her mind. Familiar. Comfortable.

This time, instead of seeking particular thoughts, sharing a
similar vision, all of Tory’s thoughts flooded her. Every one of them.

Disjointed, yet orderly. The deaths, the blood, the
scrabbling he’d experienced all his life clicked through her mind. Like an old
slideshow of ancient pictures bright and clear, each scene bombarded her. Low
murmuring added to the confusion and suddenly his thoughts were streaming
through her mind like an ongoing background noise.

The last of my line. How can I protect what I have left?
If I die here, there is nothing left in the universe to carry on my line. I
waited too long. I should have taken Alexandra with me.

At first, many thoughts slammed into her at once. Thoughts
about Teran One, thoughts about their mating, things she’d never wanted to
know, things she’d always wanted to know. But after a few seconds, she realized
there were layers. Some thoughts were unconscious, his mental stream that
flowed beneath the surface. Other thoughts were the ones on the surface, the
ones that weren’t as deeply connected to his subconscious.

Her head strained, throbbed, the pain slicing through her.
When she lifted her hands to clutch her head, Tory’s hands caught hers and
suddenly, it all blurred. His thoughts, her thoughts, his feelings and hers,
blended until she couldn’t tell whose was whose anymore.

Little things like that his brother had carried him on his
shoulders on a sunny day. His mother had kissed him like a real mother did,
like her mother never had. Tory’s father, enraged when Tory’s brother had died,
seemed to never smile again. A day on Teran Four when he’d seen five children
shot down by a soldier for being “mixed Teran blood” and later when Tory had
killed a whole camp of those soldiers as a result. All his doubts about his
ability to read a man since Pulzer had betrayed him.

It was too much. And Tory was fairly organized in his
thinking. How the hell would he make sense out of the mess in her head?

I have a hell of a headache, but it’s not as bad as you
think it is.

Well, that’s something, I guess.

No, really. Once I figured out the pattern, your thinking
is fascinating
.

He really thought that. Tory was filtering, digging through
her thoughts, turning them over, testing their flavor. He enjoyed the
challenge, the puzzle she presented. His mental fingers delved into every
corner, enjoying the freedom of exploring.

Maybe he had the right idea
. I think I’ve been too afraid
to look.

Well, seeing how your life has been, dear heart, that’s
understandable.

She began to explore, tentatively at first, then with more
curiosity. The way he boxed things, filed things away, everything was there
neatly labeled. Except for her. She didn’t fit neatly into his little boxes.
But there were a few other things dangling. Conflicted thoughts about his
bloodline, his family, dominated the odd bits that didn’t fit. His father’s
words drifted into her mind.

The bloodline is more important than our own lives, son.
It’s all we have left now.
A boy. He’d been a boy when his father
instructed him in duty. But in his family, duty was tempered by love,
affection, connection. Those intense feelings of loyalty were shattered when
his family disintegrated in the face of one loss after another. He joined the
military because he thought it was something he could do. Fight and kill.

And then he’d met her, fought with her. All those feelings
of loyalty, to blood, to family, transferred to her.

She had no idea why. Clips of their time together all those
years ago snapped one after another. One wrenched her heart. She remembered
that moment. Stuck in a trench, a muddy hole really, on Teran Five, she and
Tory had spent forty-eight hours cut off from their team, alone, with their
lives hanging in the balance. The things they’d said, the secrets they’d
revealed, exposed them both.

I knew then,
Tory told her.

I was afraid.

I know. And yet, only two months later you presented a
Courtship Contract to your father. For me. I wish I’d known that.

All those years, Tory.
She was back to the place
she’d come to when they’d connected before. But this time, his mind and hers
were entwined more closely.

Alex, all things happen for a reason in the universe
.

Jezar’s mental voice intruded briefly.
It’s true. Had you
mated five years ago, you would probably be dead. This process began two
generations ago on Ardasia. Had either of you chosen a different path, this
opportunity to stop it would not have presented itself
.

Stunned, Alex reviewed all that had happened and realized
Jezar was correct. What if the plague had been transported by someone else?
What if Darius hadn’t come after her? What if Tory hadn’t stopped the transport
in an effort to save the woman he loved?

Everything happened for a reason. Those five years weren’t
wasted. To save her planet, her people, humanity, it was worth the fleeting
pain she’d experienced without Tory.

This thought made their coming mission easier to face.

Together, we are a powerful force
, Saria.

They would have to be.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Alex’s headache receded and the murmuring in the background
drifted away to silence. Jezar had been right. It would take time for her and
Tory to adjust to the closeness, the intimacy, of the permanent bridge. For two
hours, Jezar helped them, guided them, to exercise the mental control to block
each other and the constant chatter.

Tory adjusted better, blocking her fairly quickly, until she
could only read bits and pieces. She took longer, struggling to block his
forceful mental touch. The longer they were connected, the more she realized he
was more violent, more aggressive than he appeared outwardly. Years of learning
to deal with civilization spread a veneer over his real male self but the
thrusting male part of him resided in his thoughts. Thoughts that were difficult
to block.

Your thoughts are like a symphony with different parts
all assaulting my ears.

Is that a compliment? Because it doesn’t feel like one
.

He only chuckled and they kept at it. Control was the name
of the game here. She had felt it the minute Jezar had withdrawn from their
connection. Yet, he’d just been a presence, a voice in her mind, not connected
to her the way she was connected to Tory. The bridge held and the connection
went on, reflecting back on itself, like mirrors of mirrors.

In a few hours, she grasped the skill to build the wall. It
had to be a push, a powerful mental shove, to keep him out. Her head stopped
hurting and only a rush of warmth remained. She’d done it.

Tory smiled. “Now, we have to practice it.”

She sighed. “I’d really like to rest a bit. We’re going to
be on Teran One tomorrow. I want to be sharp, not tired.”

“Sure,” he told her. They headed back to their quarters,
each alone with their thoughts for the first time in hours.

Odd, but the connection still tied her to him, even though
his mind was closed to hers. The bridge had only solidified what was already
there.

Feelings, warmth, sexual energy spread through her body. It
was as if he touched her, his hands brushing over her nipples, her pussy. So,
specific thoughts she could block, but his rush of sexual need seeped through.
She’d make him pay for that.

Instead of giving him the mental shove he deserved, she
amplified his feelings with her own, delving into her sexual fantasies for
inspiration. The warmth in her body spiked to heat and a feral growl emanated
from his throat. Still, she kept his thoughts at bay and reflected his desire
back. The problem was her body reacted, her pussy dampened and her heart
pounded. The visions of Tory spanking her with her body in the rack, the sight
of his hard cock buried in her while her legs were wrapped around his waist,
the sound of the slap of their flesh all spun toward him.

His visions clarified, sharp and clear. In his, she was
bound and gagged, her screams muffled and sexy. He, too, wanted the slap of his
hand against her flesh, the hot skin turning a sweet flushed pink under his
gaze. She shuddered with arousal.

Damn it. She couldn’t block him now. The connection, the
ties, were like ropes that pulled at both of them. By the time they reached
their quarters, they were both out of breath and frantic with need.

The door whooshed behind them and she faced him. Suddenly,
she dropped all her walls between their mental connection and the need, the
desire, and the hot flood of lust slammed into her like a fist. She let it wash
over her, her mind receiving it the way her body welcomed him.

He was on her in a second, tearing at her clothes as
frantically as she tore at his. Naked, her body swayed toward him making her
nipples brush along the skin of his chest and she gasped at how close she came
to an orgasm just from that sensation. The mental connection, the flow of
disjointed words and feelings, increased the fire between them until she could
have come just from his mental command.

Her hand wrapped around his cock and she felt it jump in her
hand as well as the hiss in his mind. Everything intensified as what he felt
seemed to amplify what she felt. Their mutual senses not just doubling, but
quadrupling the arousal they both experienced. Through their connection, she
felt the way her soft skin drove him crazy, the way he needed to be inside her,
and the driving force of his passion for her.

Close. Fuck, they were both so close. All it took was a tiny
shift, the right word—but all that flew out of her mind when his fingers sought
her pussy and stroked her clit. She jerked, mind blanked, desperate to hold on.

Come for me. Come all over my fingers.
Even his
mental voice was strained, almost a growl.

He slid his fingers along her clit again and she shuddered,
shattered really, her whole body tense, her cum wetting his fingers. Her back
arched and she couldn’t control the low cry that grew louder as her orgasm
continued unabated. Finally, she drifted.

She opened her eyes, not remembering when she closed them,
and found him watching her, studying her. His thoughts were of how beautiful
she was, how every inch of her face showed her release, how he could barely
hang onto his release when she found hers.

She squeezed his cock, still hard in her hand, and moved up
and down until he groaned aloud. He pushed her hand away and shoved her back on
the bed. When she fell backward, he gave her no time to catch her breath, but
parted her legs with his shoulders, and his tongue lashed against her slit.

His fingers circled her anus, sending shards of pleasure
cutting through her. Sharp and hard, she came into his mouth, her hips
violently thrusting toward his wicked tongue. He jammed two fingers inside her
ass and his tongue rhythmically fucked her pussy. She screamed, her whole body
thrashing beneath his ministrations. He moaned, his mouth vibrating her clit
and ecstasy swept along every nerve, every muscle.