Bethany's Heart (Unearthly World Book 3) (9 page)

The first time she set eyes on Finn he had knocked a polar bear on its ass. She’d blinked three times before allowing herself to believe what she saw. This gentle giant was sitting calmly beside her, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. If he was all about dominance he wasn’t good at it. At least when it came to her.

“Why haven’t you simply made me mate you?” she asked.

His gaze became intense. “I don’t ever want to see you cower in a corner when I come near. I don’t want you to shy away when I lift my hand in your direction. The only screaming to come from your mouth is my name in pleasure. A warrior has powerful needs. My most powerful need is to keep you safe, even from me.”

“That has to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Bethany almost melted into his arms. She took his face in both of her hands and kissed his blue lips. They were full and warm and sweet. A heavy groan tore from deep within his throat filling the room.

“I am sorry, that word does not compute into any language.” Bethany heard the computer system say and she broke from Finn chuckling.

“That specific word is a language all its own,” Bethany muttered. “And I know exactly what it means.”

“My brother Kobe and my friend Zane told me being kissed was like nothing they could describe,” Finn said. He traced his fingers over his lips with a look of awe.

“Don’t you kiss your females?”

Finn snorted. “You have no idea how ludicrous the idea is. Their teeth are bigger and more jagged than males. I’d rather not have my nose bitten off.”

“Eep,” was all Bethany could muster as a sickening mental image impaled her thoughts.

Finn’s teeth were scary but she didn’t think he’d bite her. When Finn dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers, Bethany fell back on the bed with him over her. She wanted nothing more over the last few days than to touch him, to feel his hardness under her hands. His fur trailed through her fingers pleasantly tickling as she ran her hands over his chest. She could hear him growling in pleasure.

“Finn?”

Bethany laid her hand flat against his wrinkled bare spot on his belly that resembled a ten pack. The flesh was smoothing out. He was growing into battle mode, a decidedly larger and a somewhat scary being. His erection pressed against her thigh and she realized that massive part of his anatomy was soon to be inside of her.

Thank God I’m no virgin.

“A male battles while going to Holiday. I don’t have to battle you, I am the dominant, but my species has sex in battle mode, I think, to protect the female from others.”

“There are no others.”

“I’m trying, Beth-a-ny. My instincts are too strong, I have Holidayed often.”

Finn began a soothing hum she had heard before. It was a musical purr coming from deep within his throat. She knew he was lost in his emotions. His culture was both advanced and primitive. A tear sounded and Bethany was naked beneath him. She heard two heavy thumps and knew his boots were off. The heat of his cock nudged up between her thighs.

“You move too fast,” Bethany said gasping.

“I will have more restraint next time, I promise. If by chance a male is successful at dominating a female he moves fast before losing his chance, our females are quick.”

“I can’t go anywhere; you’re too heavy to budge.”

Finn sucked in huge amounts of air. A large hand spread her thighs and Bethany squeezed her eyes closed waiting for him to thrust fast and hard. The tip of his cock pressed into her and Finn shuddered. He rocked back and forth going slowly; with each dip, more entered her.

“You’re killing me,” Finn growled out.

“You’re kidding, right?” Bethany couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice. It was his badass cock invading her.

“You don’t understand. A male and female pound against one another, it’s uncontrollable, merciless. It’s how we both want it. My strength is too much for you to handle.”

Half his cock had pierced her and she wasn’t at death’s door. Growing annoyed at his sensitive carefulness Bethany took the initiative and shoved her pelvis forward. Every inch of him impaled her. Bethany cried out. Finn roared, gathered her close and seemed to lose his mind. The slapping of his motion against her bounced her all over the bed. He flipped her onto him, under him, beside him, onto her belly, then her back. The room was a blur until Bethany closed her eyes.

“Holy hell,” she screamed. “I’m on a rabid bronco.”

The sheer size and power of him had her gasping for air. She was a rag doll and definitely at his mercy. Until he muttered in his growling grunts, he was restraining himself as best as he could.

If this is restraint I’m in deep shit.

Bethany finally wrapped her legs around his waist and hung on. She clung to him and let her body feel the beauty of his strength, his thickness, his hardness. Her face pressed into the warmth of his chest and she gave her body over into his care. Not a single ounce of worry possessed her. Finn wasn’t biting her, he wasn’t hurting her; he was simply taking them both to somewhere Bethany felt building.

Finn thrust harder but slowed down, he wasn’t as frantic. “I can feel you submit,” he muttered. “I never knew it would be so powerful to have a female give her body to me with acceptance.”

“You dominated a Zargonnii female,” she whispered. Her hips moved with his, she had never wanted any man—male more than now in her life.

“She never surrendered. She accepted because it’s our way and she wanted a baby.”

Bethany’s eyes flew open. “A baby. Are we compatible?”

“Yes, but for female offspring only. Now quiet, female, and let me concentrate before I lose all of my restraint.”

Finn began his crooning tone while pulling her sideways into his arms. One leg rested on the bed, knee bent, the other was pulled around his waist while he sat on the bed. Bethany’s breasts were crushed to his chest and she struggled to hang onto him. She needn’t have bothered, there was no way Finn was about to release her. His pace increased as he lifted her up and down using brutal strength combined with gentleness. If he had been on top of her she would have been crushed after the first stroke.

Bethany was buried against him. One of his hands spanned her bottom. Each of his claws pressed into her flesh without piercing her. His name tore from her lips when she came. His roaring reply shook the bed. Bethany gasped in air as fast as she could when Finn roared again.

“I am sorry, that word does not compute.”

Exhausted, Bethany went limp, too tired to laugh.

Finn took Bethany to the eating hall the next morning. He sat with a massive plate of food and gorged. He had never felt so ravenous. Sex with a human female was no less satisfying than with a Zargonnii female, but in different ways. There would be no more biting and scratching, no more howls of rage and defeat. Finn knew there would be times he would miss the battle, but now that Bethany was his, he would never let her leave.

Bethany was eyeing the other warriors warily. He had told her the other warriors would leave her alone, but she had no clue as to the extent of what that meant. By allowing him to mate her, she gave him the fierce sense of power a dominant male had when dominating a female Zargonnii. His pheromones were off the chart. The warriors gave him a wide berth. The emotions would settle once they were off the ship; right now, surrounded by warriors Finn welcomed the edge. He used his teeth to cut tiny pieces of the sweet baya fruit for Bethany to enjoy.

“Finn?”

Finn glanced at Bethany’s strange tone to see her gaze at a far corner. The fruit remained untouched. She cocked her head in confusion. A woman to their left screamed and dropped to the ground. She and Bethany were the only human females in the room. The air reeked of death and Finn panicked, the other human female was dead. Bethany screamed and grabbed her head in her hands.

“Gorgano,” was bellowed.

Finn grabbed Bethany into his arms. “Concentrate, please. I warned you about these creatures. Remember how I explained this past week they fight with their minds? Fight little one, fight hard. Turn your thoughts into weapons, you can do it if you concentrate, become a weapon.”

“It hurts,” she whimpered.

Finn roared in fury. With one hand he picked up the heavy, massive table and tossed it at the creature. The table stopped mid-flight and floated in the air before being slammed into a warrior. Finn had given Bethany the help she needed. Without all of the concentration centered on her, Finn watched her drop her hands from her head. Her fierce expression told him she was pissed.

“Wanna play?” she bellowed. “I grew up with hunters and thinkers. My people knew what real survival was.” The Gorgano dropped like a stone. His head imploded until once again death’s scent engulfed the room.

“Good girl,” Finn said, filled with relief, yanking Bethany to his chest—for only a second, where there was one there would be more. There might also be rogue Tonan.

He scooped Bethany up and ran with her to the bridge. The warriors watched as a Gorgano and Tonan ship de-cloaked.

“Shit,” Bethany whispered as Finn set her on her feet.

“Shields are at full power,” Blu yelled. “They can’t board us again.”

“What the hell happened?” Finn bellowed. “They shouldn’t have been able to board us at all. They’ve killed a human female.”

“Fucking hell. We reconfigured after our last battle but these creatures take that into account. After they board, we can adjust the shields again to their settings. Brace for impact,” Titus yelled.

Finn gripped Bethany to his side. The burst of light exploded before them on impact and Finn heard Bethany gasp. She was struggling to look up at him.

“Finn I understand you, I understand all of you.”

She spoke his words perfectly. “It’s the Gorgano. They get into your head. Every language they know you will know, every language you hear you will now understand after a few words. I don’t know why.”

“They want all humans dead,” Bethany said and shuddered. “That ass murdered that woman because he’s evil. They want to rule the universe, all galaxies. All—dimensions. Dimensions? Alternate universes?”

“I know it’s a difficult concept. Yes, they are all evil. But you can beat them at their own game.”

All hell broke loose as yet another Gorgano ship de-cloaked and another Tonan vessel. Finn could feel his heart skip a beat. His female could only battle if in the same room as a Gorgano. No others boarded the ship, they were aware of Bethany. The ship was blasted from four sides. They were trapped, the Tonan and Gorgano wanted the females’ deaths. After a series of explosions they were dead in the water.

“Shit,” Finn whispered.

He crushed Bethany to his chest.

* * * *

The ship was rocked sideways with the next blast. Infuriated, Titus was calling, “Abandon ship!” Warriors raced to their shuttle crafts.

“Let’s blow these fuckers out of the sky,” Titus said with a fierce growl.

Bethany could see they were on a direct course to impact with a Gorgano vessel. It was suicide. “Finn,” she cried out.

“Go,” Titus bellowed. “Get to the shuttles; get the females off the ship.”

Finn grabbed Bethany in his arms off her feet and was at a dead run as the ship impacted. His shoulders curled around her, his hair cocooned her. Bethany could hear and feel the vessel imploding as the ships collided. Explosions sounded, fire erupted. It was anarchy. Adan was suddenly behind them. Bethany saw Dyani and Chiyo scooped up by warriors. Finn raced to another shuttle. The hatch closed behind them as fire engulfed the hanger as Adan reached for her. Finn never saw Adan, never heard her screams over the noise. A window a short distance away had Bethany craning her neck; she saw Blu snatch Adan out of harm’s way, last second and toss her aboard a vessel. The hue of a bubble surrounded the shuttle as fire washed over them. Bethany raced to the window when Finn released her, then froze in terror as time seemed to stand still. The shuttle was completely surrounded in a wall of flames.

“Tasia and Bertha. I didn’t see them before the explosion,” Bethany cried out.

“Bertha was Titus’s to protect.”

“But Titus was on the bridge. Bertha is awful, but she didn’t deserve to be blown up. Tasia is my best friend.”

“Titus knows what he’s doing. Your friend will be fine. As for Bertha—I feel sorry for the Gorgano. If she can mind battle like she mouth battles, we’ve won the war.”

Bethany could feel the vessel power up under her feet; she strapped herself into a seat but knew they were doomed. If the powerful ship was lost to them, there was no way a tiny vessel could escape the enemy’s wrath. Hundreds of shuttles flew from the ship. Numerous fireballs amidst the dark sky becoming visible and dimming as oxygen for the flames became nonexistent. The mother ship became a mass of flames in space. The Zargonnii’s only revenge was it had taken a Gorgano vessel and a Tonan vessel with it. The last two ships used main thrusters to escape the same fate. It was the smaller vessels’ only blessing.

“Finn, what is that?” Bethany screamed as they headed towards a black hole.

“Our salvation or our death. Cross your fingers.”

The black hole sucked them in, shaking the vessel until Bethany felt her bones rattle. The vessel shot forward, then came to a standstill, then shot forward. When Bethany tried to speak, she sounded like a record player on high or too slow.

“Ffffiiinnn.” Her words came out clumsy.

“Tiiimmme wwwaaarrrppp.”

“FinnFinnFinn.”

“Staycalmstaycalm.”

Bethany screamed as they shot forward from the hole and began spinning crazily. The vessel plummeted when it hit an atmosphere. Sparks of flame obscured Bethany’s vision as they surf boarded the tides of wind. Finn unsnapped his buckle and Bethany’s; he wrapped her in his arms. They fell and splashed bow down into water. Finn was tossed back into a wall rattling her teeth. Bethany blacked out as the swoosh of pounding waves filled her ears, the pressure was too intense, not even Finn’s body could protect her from the noise…

Finn watched the bubbles swirl around them outside their small vessel. The craft looped and spun in a swishing water tunnel. Huge animals swam near, rolling, flipping crazily, unable to resist the sucking flow, taking them up into a tornado of ocean. The water darkened with a small amount of light overhead. The warning bleeps of an imminent hull breach penetrated the quiet. If the shuttle collapsed, Finn had no idea how long a human could hold its breath. Finn could for a few hours but he doubted Bethany would be as lucky.