His response was nearly hidden in a long, drawn-out groan. “Good. No stop.”

  His hand swept over her breasts, and she responded to the heat of his touch by clenching inner muscles around his flesh. Vax sucked in air, and his eyes widened. Interesting. She clasped her sex tighter around his again and was rewarded with a growl. His fangs appeared, sending a thrill of desire-tinged fear through her belly. Lindsey thought she might actually be getting the hang of this sex stuff.

  She rode him harder and harder, and the warm tickle of bliss began its upward spiral, heating her insides with renewed vigor. “No long, Lindsey,” Vax warned, his face working as he grew thicker and heavier inside her body.

  Good, because I’m not far from it either. Now where was that spot Bacoj found?

  Lindsey ground her hips in a circle as she bounced atop the gasping Kalquorian, searching for that elusive part that had felt so explosively sensational. Vax’s hand fell from groping her breasts to her mound. Corded muscle stood out from every scrumptious inch of his body. His thumb pressed against her clitoris, and something inside her heaved.

  “Now, Lindsey!”

  At that moment, the length of his penis slid over the tight bundle of nerves at the front of her sheath. The detonation was instantaneous, and Lindsey ground against the bucking man, lost in the rapture of orgasm. It poured over her, each wave sweeter than the last.

  Lindsey almost fell on top of Vax, remembering at the last second his injury. She held herself up on shaking arms, sobbing for air as the surges pounding her insides slowed to ripples. Vax’s manhood pulsed within her, his groans filling her ears like the purest melody ever played.

  At last they quieted. Vax stroked her long, chestnut hair, his smile as delighted as a child discovering his surprise birthday party. “Apology so fast. Happy you enjoy.”

  “I sure did. I’m going to have to do this more often.”

  “You do again now? Too tired?” Japohn’s voice was cautious, as if he expected to be turned down.

  The first stab of fear since Bacoj’s bite hit Lindsey as she looked at the looming Nobek. Perhaps the intoxicant was wearing off, because the sheer size of the man was overwhelming.

  “You’re extremely endowed, Japohn, much more than I expected when I made my offer. I’m not sure a girl my size can handle you.” She tried not to stare at his burgeoning sex, but found it hard to take her eyes away. She looked him in the face with difficulty.

  His face lit in a smile, shocking Lindsey with its sudden absence of ruthlessness. She hadn’t realized how truly savage he seemed until the predatory expression he wore was wiped away. It amazed her to recognize Japohn could actually be charming.

  The bass rumble of his voice was just as alluring. “No fear, Matara. No hurt. Much pleasure.”

  Lindsey was getting tired and starting to ache down below. But it wasn’t fair to have struck a trade, have sex with Japohn’s clanmates, and then deny him the same privilege. She had every intention of living up to her word if possible.

  “You’re sure? It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that—”

  Her voice died out as he approached her. Japohn’s mere presence was enough to steal her ability to speak. Lindsey felt every bit of strength flee.

  He stroked her hair, his touch as gentle as a father soothing a child. “Bigger Kalquorian men with smaller Earther female than you. Make good sex, no pain.”

  “There are even bigger men than you?” Lindsey was aghast.

  Bacoj and Vax laughed at her expression, but their hilarity wasn’t mean. Bacoj nodded. “Japohn big, no biggest. Japohn careful to Lindsey.”

  Well, she’d have to trust them on this, she supposed. She’d made an agreement. “Okay. If you’re sure.”

  Japohn’s arms gathered around her, pulling her carefully off Vax. “I bite, if help?”

  Lindsey thought about it. She was curious to learn if sex would be as good without the intoxicant, but with its influence waning, fear was making giving in to the Nobek hard. “That might be best.”

  Bacoj helped Vax off the bed. “Bite part normal sex for Kalquorians. Make pleasure more.”

  Japohn held her close, her back to his chest. His sexes curved up tight against her buttocks. Lindsey swallowed to feel the immense, throbbing flesh beneath her. “Yeah, I’ve had no complaints so far. It was pretty — ow, darn it, that smarts!”

  The bite came suddenly, and again the pain began to fade before she could finish her complaint. There had to be some kind of anesthetic in the aliens’ saliva, she guessed. Good thing, because the brief flash of agony was more than enough to bear.

  Her attitude about being bitten started to change within seconds. Euphoria settled its warm embrace around her, and Lindsey relaxed in Japohn’s arms. The hot flesh of his erections was more titillation than a dreaded prospect now. Oh yes, she definitely looked forward to having this man too. She squirmed against him to let him know he was most welcome to take what he wanted.

  Japohn’s fangs pulled free. His mouth closed over where he’d bitten her, sucking hard on her neck. Like the fabled vampire, he drew on her blood. She heard him swallow, and her head fell back on his shoulder. Knowing he fed on her, she eagerly acquiesced to his hunger. It gave her a strange sense of elation she couldn’t understand. And it made her fervent to be possessed sexually again. Her secret flesh pulsed with renewed need.

  His mouth left her neck. “Matara,” he whispered in her ear. His warm breath made her skin erupt in goosebumps.

  She turned her head to look in Japohn’s eyes. Their cool depths consumed her. “What does Matara mean?”

  “Childbearer.”

  The word niggled at Lindsey’s intoxicated conscience. She’d not considered the Kalquorians could get her pregnant. But that was what the war had been about; Kalquor’s need for mates and Earth’s refusal to provide them.

  She knew she should be concerned about the consequences of sex with the men, but she’d already mucked it up with the first two. And feeling Japohn hard and ready against her incited too much lust to think her way around. She’d worry about it later.

  Japohn kissed her, his mouth more demanding than the other two had been. One arm still wrapped around her waist, holding her off the floor, and the other slid down her concave belly to search out her sex. Lindsey bucked against his knowing fingers as they found her softest flesh, and she moaned around the invading tongue. She gushed honey, and Japohn growled against her lips.

  He lowered her onto the bed, putting her on all fours. His mouth released her, and after sweeping her hair over one shoulder, he kissed a path up her spine to the back of her neck. Japohn knelt over her, covering her with his solid warmth. His arm left her waist, and he gripped one breast in his palm. He kneaded the soft mound.

  The other hand never missed a beat as it rubbed her wet folds. Lindsey moaned, lost in a haze of desire as he handled her expertly. When his thighs pressed against hers, she obligingly slid her knees farther apart, giving him complete access to her womanhood.

  Japohn’s sexes brushed her anus and vulva, and somewhere in her excitement, Lindsey realized it was the larger member homing in on her tightest orifice. She knew he couldn’t take her that way, not with his girth, but she was too aroused and intoxicated to resist. Fortunately, Japohn wasn’t as far gone as she was. His hand left off its delightful torment of her nether lips to adjust himself. His penis slid down her crevice until it found her more pliant opening, leaving the smaller organ to rub against her clitoris.

  Lindsey warbled a happy sound as Japohn pressed into her. Her inner walls expanded to welcome the thick visitor. In he traveled, deeper and deeper to claim her innermost recesses. Towards the end, her body became a little more grudging in its acceptance, yielding with an ache almost as sweet as the pleasure suffusing her lower regions. Her breath came in little gasps as he came to his end, rooted firmly within her tight niche.

  As needful as his clanmates, Japohn wasted no time in working his length in and out of her core. His second penis stroked with delicious friction against Lindsey’s pearl, making her sob with agonized delight. His hands held her shoulders, driving her back against him as he thrust forward. The pain of taking him so deep and hard somehow translated into pleasure, an anguished bliss that radiated throughout her womb. Her insides seemed to tremble, a precursor to the quaking that would soon suffuse her entire body.

  Japohn growled, his utterances as beastlike as his lovemaking. He bent over her, covering her with his magnificent body. His mouth closed over the back of her neck, but instead of a gentle kiss, she felt the scrape of his teeth on her skin. He took a mouthful of her flesh and bit down.

  There were no fangs involved in this bite, just the firm grip of his square teeth holding her by the nape. His hands moved from her shoulders to clamp around her hips, moving her harder still against his driving length. Lindsey wailed as craving suffused her. Japohn growled in answer, the sound reverberating down her spine and into her nether regions.

  The alien took her like an animal, a primal beast bent on rutting, and she gloried under the desperate attention. It was sex in its most base form, with no adornments, no false pretentions. Only the urge to couple existed, an urge as old, as brutal and unassuming as life itself. It was the ultimate act of species survival, and it felt more right than anything Lindsey had ever done.

  She screamed back at the brute riding her, losing herself in the torrential rhythm of his hips pounding hers, driving his need hard into her eager warmth. Her womb flexed with a long, muscular pulse, and bright light burst through her, turning her cries into ragged, torn things. Japohn howled into her neck to feel her clench around him, and his rhythm staggered. He managed two more thrusts before his climax ripped from him, pouring liquid ecstasy into Lindsey’s body.

  Lindsey collapsed, her arms no longer able to hold her up. Japohn released his grip on her neck, letting her crumble face-first into the softness of the bed. Only her buttocks remained aloft, held tightly in his grip as he emptied his juices into her hearth.

  Both shuddered as the last spasms rippled through their bodies. Japohn pulled free of Lindsey, laying her down fully before crashing onto the bed beside her.

  The other two Kalquorians joined them, laughingly applauding as they too lounged on the bed. Lindsey found herself sandwiched between Japohn and Bacoj, with Vax curled against Bacoj’s back. They snuggled with her like a litter of companionable puppies.

  Lindsey wondered how long it would take them to repair their ship and continue on their way. She found herself hoping it might be awhile. She wouldn’t mind hanging out with this particular clan a little longer.

  Chapter Three

  Cuddling with the Kalquorians was a joy as sweet as the lovemaking. Lindsey wished she could linger in the warm companionship of being held; her hair, face and body stroked by the men clustered around her. She’d never known such contentment as this.

  However, her parents were no doubt anxiously waiting for her to emerge unscathed from the alien shuttle. Lindsey reluctantly got her to her feet. She pulled her clothes on with genuine regret, and the men did the same. She couldn’t help but glow as they watched her, their tender gazes an invisible caress. Even Japohn looked at her with seeming affection.

  She really wished she had more time to spend with them.

  Lindsey led the Kalquorians to her family’s hideout, her percussion blaster at the ready for attack. Japohn and Bacoj were armed with laser rifles, and all three men had nasty-looking daggers with serrated edges slung on their belts. Vax carried a large sealed food container in the crook of his undamaged arm, his eyes scanning the ragged landscape of burnt buildings and stripped vehicles. Lindsey was glad the aliens had taken her warnings of hostile Earthers so seriously. The worst of the gangs had migrated south to Miami, which had not been destroyed like so many other cities. Still, the pockets of survivors left in Fort Lauderdale were dangerous in their own right, attacking anyone they thought might have food or medicine. Raids on each others’ camps were commonplace. Thus far, Lindsey’s family had escaped notice. She hoped it continued that way.

  They stuck close to the doubtful shelter of buildings, venturing off the sidewalk and onto the street when piles of rubble hindered their progress. As they drew near the office building where Lindsey’s parents waited, she shot Vax a smile. “It was kind of you to cook us a meal. We would have accepted just the emergency rations with gratitude.”

  His easy grin spoke his delight. She’d learned Vax was a chef on his home planet, and he’d amazed Lindsey with his skills in the shuttle’s tiny kitchen. “I happy cook for you. You earn real food. I hope like Kalquorian cooking.”

  She’d certainly liked how it smelled, and the idea her parents would enjoy a real honest-to-goodness meal made some of her anxieties ease.

  Bacoj said, “Apology most food we give is emergency rations. We no rescue team. Only containment.”

  “Tell me more about your containment assignment.”

  Japohn answered because he had the best command of her language. His suspicious gaze narrowed on the broken windows of a former clothing boutique as he looked for any signs of attack. Looters had torn the shop apart, and nothing but broken

  fixtures and one lonely clearance sign remained. “Containment for radiation. We keep from spread until evacuations complete.”

  “Your people are trying to evacuate the affected areas?”

  Japohn glanced at her, his expression softening briefly to one of pity. “Evacuate all Earth.”

  Only knowing the danger of being out in the open kept Lindsey from stopping in her tracks. “Why are you evacuating the whole planet?”

  “Can no stop most radiation. Containment shields no permanent solution. Air, soil, water all contaminate. Earth no support life two your years.”

  Lindsey did stop for an instant, gaping at him. “We were hit that bad?”

  Japohn nodded and jerked his arm to indicate she should get moving. She did, but she had to force herself to pay attention to her surroundings. Shock tried to steal her focus.

  Japohn’s voice tried for sympathy, attempting to soften his devastating news. “Clean up take decades. Earth recover long time for life return.”

  Lindsey tried to fathom the devastation her planet faced. She’d known a lot of major cities had been hit, but this was beyond her.

  Dogged to the end, she asked, “How many Earthers have died?”

  It was Bacoj who delivered the blow. “Estimate near 75 percent. More loss for sickness, injure.”

  Lindsey stopped again and stared at him. He was talking billions of lives. Not thousands of men, women and children. Not millions. Not hundreds of millions.

  Billions.

  The Kalquorians also halted, looking back at her, their faces compassionate.

  “Who did this?”

  Bacoj struggled to find the words. “Kalquor fleet invade Bermuda Triangle portal. Earth government make trap nuclear for portal breach. Kalquor no know this. Kalquor invasion detonate. Apology, Lindsey. Kalquor no want kill Earth.”

  Lindsey struggled to absorb his explanation. If she understood the Kalquorian’s halting speech correctly, Earth’s leaders had booby trapped the wormhole, setting up their major cities for nuclear annihilation if breached by an invading force. Rather than allowing the planet to be taken over, her government had destroyed it and most of its innocent inhabitants as well.

  Rage at the insane loss of life choked Lindsey. She could remember one sermon in the church the law demanded she attend, one of the last before she’d gone into hiding. War with Kalquor had seemed inevitable, and the priest had exhorted the congregation that it was better to die pure and sinless than to live forever in sin. That if the lustful Kalquorians, determined to have Earth’s women as sex slaves, succeeded in capturing their planet, righteous fathers should slit the throats of their wives and daughters to save them from everlasting hell.

  Apparently, the Church-run government had agreed.

  I knew it, she thought. I knew the maniacs in power would do us all in. So why am I so shocked?

  * * * *

  After a few moments in which Bacoj watched pained rage suffuse Lindsey’s face, she turned on her heel and resumed leading the Kalquorians to where her parents hid.

  He felt terrible and wished he spoke her language better so he could express his feelings to her. It had to be a shock to learn Lindsey’s leaders, those charged with the wellbeing of the populace, had been the ones to visit such horror upon her planet. The fact his people had had a hand in the demise of Earth made him ashamed. In retrospect, Kalquor had not handled its end of the conflict well either.