“I think he’s ashamed but too proud to ad­mit it.” The Nobek’s deep voice made Jes­sica shiver.

  She car­ried the bowl of flow­ers to the ta­ble and put it in the cen­ter. She stepped back to ad­mire it. “He’s a jerk,” she said in her own lan­guage, her tone light.

  “Hope­fully I can give you a bet­ter im­pres­sion of my peo­ple,” Be­vau said, mak­ing her won­der if he un­der­stood what she had said. She looked at him. He con­tin­ued, “In his de­fense, Cla­jak is young with a ten­dency to think with his lower re­gions. He’s also un­der a lot of pres­sure.”

  Jes­sica sat on the lounger with her guest, leav­ing a foot of space be­tween them. I’d rather sit on his lap, she thought. Am I be­com­ing one of those nympho­ma­ni­acs? All I can think about is get­ting this par­tic­u­lar prince be­tween my legs!

  She fought to keep the tremor out of her voice. “Is be­ing roy­alty so hard?”

  “It is when you fear you’re not up to be­ing the ruler of an en­tire em­pire. One of his fa­thers, the Dramok of the Im­pe­rial clan, is in ill health. Once one male mem­ber can no longer rule, the en­tire clan steps down. If it hap­pens soon, and it will, Cla­jak will be the youngest Kalquo­rian ever to take the throne.”

  “Isn’t that kind of sex­ist? What makes the Matara less ca­pa­ble so she’s not re­quired?” Jes­sica tried to be an­gry at the un­fair­ness. Lust took the bite out of her words.

  “It’s not that the Im­pe­rial Matara is con­sid­ered nonessen­tial. We no longer have enough fe­males to keep to the old ways. Be­fore the virus made the women so few, all four mem­bers of the Royal Clan had to be in place to rule.”

  Jes­sica tried to con­cen­trate. “You said Cla­jak has more than one fa­ther. Is that pos­si­ble?”

  Be­vau smiled at her con­fu­sion. “When the Matara gives birth, all the men of her clan ac­cept pa­ter­nal re­spon­si­bil­ity for the child. Even when it’s ob­vi­ous who the bi­o­log­i­cal fa­ther is, all the males as­sume full rights.” Be­vau laughed, and Jes­sica shiv­ered at the deep, warm tone. “Some­times as a child I wished I had only one fa­ther, es­pe­cially when I’d done some­thing to war­rant pun­ish­ment.”

  His smile, flash­ing straight white teeth in his dark face, only made him more stun­ning. Un­able to help her­self, Jes­sica inched closer. “You’re a Nobek, right?”

  Be­vau nod­ded and shifted slightly, slid­ing a lit­tle nearer to her. He propped his arm on the back of the lounger. She thought of how eas­ily he could touch her, even pull her on top of him­self.

  “I thought Nobeks were sup­posed to be fierce and sav­age. You seem so friendly.” Jes­sica thought of the Kalquo­rian who had at­tacked her seven months prior, the same man who’d killed her com­mand­ing of­fi­cer. She shiv­ered.

  Be­vau nod­ded and leaned closer as if to im­part a great se­cret. “Among my peo­ple, I’m as much an anom­aly as your Michael-Michaela Blake is to yours. Ac­cord­ing to the per­son­al­ity and tem­per­a­ment tests, I’m equally Nobek and Imdiko.”

  “A war­rior and a care­giver? That must be con­fus­ing.”

  He shrugged. “My first in­stinct is to find a peace­ful so­lu­tion to prob­lems un­less the dan­ger is im­me­di­ate. When it comes to pro­tect­ing my clan, I’m as dan­ger­ous as any Nobek. It’s what I was trained for.”

  “No of­fense, but you’re so hand­some and smile so much. It’s hard to imag­ine you scary.”

  Be­vau grinned. “That’s what makes me truly dan­ger­ous. Oth­ers have made the mis­take of think­ing I’m not that great a threat.” He mock-snarled at her. “Want to fight and find out?”

  Jes­sica slid close enough to him that their thighs touched. “Such a co­me­dian.”

  “Laugh­ter can be as dis­arm­ing as threats.”

  She looked up into his pur­ple cat’s eyes. She felt his breath warm on her face, min­gling with the sweet per­fume of the flow­ers. “I like you, Be­vau.”

  His smile re­mained, but the ex­pres­sion around it turned se­ri­ous. “I like you too. Is there still no chance of en­joy­ing each more thor­oughly?”

  Jes­sica thwarted the urge to throw her­self on him. “What about your fi­ancée?”

  He shrugged. “We’re not clanned yet.”

  “But you will be. That counts for noth­ing?”

  Be­vau cap­tured a lock of Jes­sica’s hair be­tween his fin­gers, stroking the soft tresses. “Kalquo­ri­ans are free to in­ti­mately en­joy any woman they wish un­til the Matara is clanned. Un­til that hap­pens, there is no ex­pec­ta­tion of fi­delity, es­pe­cially if it’s an ar­ranged clan­ning.”

  “So un­til this woman for­mally joins your clan, all four of you can have sex with any­one? She’s al­lowed too?”

  “That’s right.” Be­vau brought the lock of hair to his nose, in­hal­ing. “No one will think badly of you for spend­ing last night with Cla­jak. Even if you had been aware of his be­trothal, you would have done noth­ing wrong.”

  Jes­sica slid closer un­til their bod­ies lightly touched. “Talk about cul­ture shock. I’m glad to know your fi­ancée isn’t go­ing to be break­ing down my door in a jeal­ous rage.”

  “Not Nar­pok.” His face drifted close to hers. “You’re safe to ex­plore what­ever ex­pe­ri­ences you wish with my clan. If you’re in­ter­ested…?”

  Jes­sica an­swered by press­ing her lips to his. Be­vau’s arms cir­cled around her, and his em­brace un­did her com­pletely. She climbed onto his lap, strad­dling him.

  She broke the kiss. “Your Dramok al­ready took my vir­gin­ity. Since I’m ru­ined, I may as well en­joy what other men have to of­fer.”

  He pulled her close so his lips touched hers while he spoke. “I would hardly call you ru­ined,” he mut­tered and then slid his tongue into her mouth.

  Be­vau kissed her deeply, his arms iron bands against her back to keep her close. Jes­sica’s skirt rode high, al­low­ing her to rub her aching sex against his rock-hard thigh. Her panties rubbed de­li­ciously back and forth as she plea­sured her­self against him.

  “I didn’t know Earther women would be so naughty,” Be­vau gasped as he nib­bled his way along her jaw bone.

  “Kalquo­rian men have an un­canny abil­ity to bring that ten­dency out in me,” Jes­sica an­swered. She groaned as his teeth nipped her neck near where Cla­jak had sunk his teeth in the night be­fore. “Bite me with your fangs, Be­vau. I like how it makes me feel.”

  He emit­ted a low growl and drove his sharp teeth into her flesh. She arched against him with a stran­gled cry, and clasped his face tight to her throat. The pain was over in an in­stant, and she smiled as eu­pho­ria added to her aroused senses.

  The Nobek prince bore her down on the lounger, and she sighed as his weight set­tled over her. He sucked at the wound he’d made in her throat, pulling and swal­low­ing. Feel­ing the pow­er­ful alien feed on her as his throb­bing groin pressed down on hers made Jes­sica wild to be fur­ther pos­sessed. “What do you like? What would you like to do to me?” she asked, her voice breath­less with an­tic­i­pa­tion.

  Be­vau pulled back to look down on her. He grinned. “I want you up against the wall, your clothes torn to shreds, your legs wrapped around my waist while I bury my­self deep in your body.”

  Her lower re­gions con­vulsed at the heady fan­tasy. “Oh please,” Jes­sica breathed.

  She never sensed him move. An in­stant later, she found her­self crushed be­tween the wall and the hand­some Kalquo­rian, his mouth smashed against hers. She gasped as much at his su­per­nat­u­ral speed as the vi­o­lent kiss he con­sumed her with.

  Be­vau leaned back. “Fight me,” he in­vited, his ex­pres­sion ea­ger.

  “Fight you?”

  “Nobeks like a chal­lenge, es­pe­cially when it comes to sex. Feel­ing you strug­gle against me would be ex­cit­ing.”

  “I can’t pos­si­bly have a chance.”

  “You don’t, but I want to pre­tend I’m tak­ing you against your will.” He kissed her, and the gen­tle brush of his lips was an odd coun­ter­point to his re­quest. “I like be­ing rough. Play with me, lit­tle Earther.”

  A tinge of fear crept in, mak­ing Jes­sica’s heart beat faster. With a will of their own, her hips ground against him. “Are you go­ing to hurt me?”

  “Do you want me to?” Be­vau licked his lips. “No per­ma­nent dam­age, of course. Just a lit­tle pain, per­haps? Some women like that. They tell me it makes the plea­sure that much sweeter.”

  Jes­sica swal­lowed, think­ing of how Cla­jak’s force­ful love­mak­ing had driven her crazy with de­sire. “All right.”

  She’d barely given her per­mis­sion be­fore Be­vau tore at her blouse with vi­o­lent force. She cried out and lunged to es­cape him. He caught her by the throat with a mas­cu­line chuckle and held her against the wall. His grip was enough to keep her pinned with­out chok­ing her. His other hand con­tin­ued to rip her top apart, bar­ing her bra. He went af­ter that next.

  Jes­sica slapped and punched at the alien beast hold­ing her pris­oner. She kicked, her bal­let-style slip­pers bounc­ing harm­lessly off his tall boots.

  “Is that all you can do, lit­tle girl?” Be­vau laughed, clearly en­joy­ing his mas­tery over her.

  He ripped her bra from her body, and Jes­sica cried out in min­gled pain and de­sire. Her breasts quiv­ered free, her nip­ples hard. Honey gushed, over­flow­ing her panties to coat her thighs. The tangy sea-salt aroma of her scent mixed with the heady per­fume of the flow­ers.

  Be­vau growled tri­umph, slap­ping Jes­sica’s breasts with a meaty hand. “Oh,” Jes­sica breathed at the sting. She felt her help­less­ness keenly. She pushed against the Nobek prince’s chest with weak hands and won­dered what he would do to her next.

  His hand left her throat, and he scooped her up with his arm be­neath her but­tocks. Jes­sica knew he couldn’t help but no­tice how wet she was. He lifted her so he could bury his face in her breasts. He sucked on one mound hard, draw­ing as much of it into his mouth as he could while he pinched the nip­ple of the other. Jes­sica sobbed as plea­sure rolled hugely in her womb. She pounded tiny fists against Be­vau’s shoul­ders and up­per back. She pulled his long hair.

  He let her yank his head back, get­ting his vo­ra­cious mouth off her sen­si­tive flesh. He looked up at her face and hissed. His fangs flashed wickedly sharp at her.

  She screamed as his head darted for­ward again and his fangs sank into the round­ness of her up­per breast. He pulled back out in an in­stant, and Jes­sica moaned to see rivulets of blood seep from the tiny holes he’d made. He licked the blood away, growl­ing deep in his throat.

  Be­vau stepped from the wall and let her go. Jes­sica fell the short dis­tance into a pile at his feet. Un­hurt, she scram­bled on all fours to es­cape her beau­ti­ful tor­men­tor. With a cruel laugh, the Nobek caught her by one an­kle and picked her up to dan­gle up­side down in the air.

  Her short skirt fell to ex­pose pink lace panties. Be­vau grasped the crotch of the thin fab­ric and yanked as Jes­sica thrashed. Scraps of rose-col­ored ma­te­rial fell like con­fetti to the floor. Her se­cret flesh was naked and vul­ner­a­ble to Be­vau’s whims now.

  “Very nice,” he said, his voice full of ap­proval. His open palm cracked against Jes­sica’s bared but­tocks once, twice, three times. She wailed as her flesh throbbed with warmth. Her sex spasmed.

  The Nobek dropped her gen­tly to the floor, mak­ing sure she didn’t hit her head on the way down. Again she scut­tled away on all fours, and this time he let her. He fol­lowed her with mea­sured paces around the room, pulling his hard, ready sexes free of his form­suit as he stalked her.

  “Nowhere to go, lit­tle Jes­sica McIn­ness,” Be­vau gloated when she looked over her shoul­der to see him hunt­ing her. His eyes glit­tered and his lips stretched over his fangs in a preda­tory grin. He was all Nobek now, a brute to be feared.

  Jes­sica emit­ted a lit­tle shriek and lurched to her feet, pre­par­ing to run. For an in­stant an iron arm cir­cled her waist. Then Be­vau had her pressed against the wall again.

  She fought him as hard as she could, kick­ing, slap­ping, and punch­ing, her head whip­ping from side to side in nega­tion as he man­han­dled her into po­si­tion for his first thrust. “No,” she gasped, feel­ing the tips of his cocks at her en­trances. She screamed as he crushed against her, hold­ing her writhing body in place. “Please,” she begged as he paused, sa­vor­ing his dom­i­na­tion be­fore tak­ing what he wanted.

  “Is that real beg­ging, or are we still play­ing?” Be­vau asked. “If you want me to truly stop, say the Kalquo­rian word sholt.”

  Jes­sica re­sponded by dart­ing her face at his and bit­ing his lower lip.

  Be­vau’s hips pushed against her, im­pal­ing her moist, ea­ger flesh with his own. He shouted tri­umph in a beast’s howl as he trav­eled deep into her body. Jes­sica shrieked at the min­gled thrill and agony of the sud­den in­va­sion. They cried out to­gether, preda­tor and prey.

  Be­vau rode her, thrust­ing his con­sid­er­able sexes in hard. Jes­sica held on for dear life, her arms clutched around his neck and legs around his waist. Al­ready she could feel her senses over­load­ing, tip­ping to­ward glo­ri­ous or­gasm.

  Her legs slid down the Nobek’s waist, let­ting her calves run over his but­tocks. She tight­ened her grip there and flexed to help him drive into her harder still. Be­vau’s head fell back, his face filled with bliss at her urg­ing him on.

  He let Jes­sica di­rect the rhythm of their love­mak­ing, tim­ing his thrusts to co­in­cide with the squeez­ing of her legs. She made him take her fast for a lit­tle while, feel­ing her body rush­ing ever closer to or­gasm. Then, sens­ing she was nearly there, she slowed the pace, let­ting them both hover at a steady pulse of plea­sure, calm­ing a lit­tle, be­fore quick­en­ing once more.

  All the while he kept her pinned to the wall. With her strong dancer’s legs bind­ing his hips, she im­pris­oned him, mak­ing him stay in­side and keep­ing her de­li­ciously full of his cocks. Jes­sica glo­ried in the sen­sa­tion of be­ing both mas­ter and mas­tered.

  Be­vau’s breath­ing came quicker now, and he be­gan to ig­nore her rhythm. His hands grasped her but­tocks, squeez­ing and mold­ing the rounded flesh. He worked her faster, and Jes­sica knew she couldn’t hold out much longer. A mewl­ing sound es­caped her lips, and the Nobek re­sponded with a growl. His thrusts be­came stronger, and he drove deeper into her than ever be­fore.

  Deep plea­sure bloomed in her gut, and her en­tire ab­domen con­tracted in a mas­sive spasm. The walls of her vagina grasped Be­vau’s cock as if to pull him in even deeper. His howl joined her scream, and he let go of one hip to pound his fist against the wall. Jes­sica’s womb, rolling in huge waves, milked his puls­ing pe­nis, de­ter­mined to suck ev­ery drop of seed from his body.

  Be­vau crushed against her and an­other or­gasm rocked Jes­sica. She bit into his shoul­der and tasted the tart­ness of the Kalquo­rian’s blood. They raged and twisted against each other as lust had its vi­cious way with them. There was no thought, no con­science, no sense of any­thing but pri­mal urges that had to be met. If any­one had heard them, they would have been con­vinced a fight to the death was in play.

  At last the con­vul­sions calmed, leav­ing the pair weak. Shak­ing, Be­vau car­ried Jes­sica to her lounger where he col­lapsed, let­ting her fall on top of him. They whooped for air, trem­bling from the rav­ages of their spent pas­sion.

  The heady scent of the flow­ers filled Jes­sica’s nos­trils; she looked at the bowl of the pretty posies with blurred vi­sion. I want more, right now. How much of that damned in­tox­i­cant did he pump into me? she won­dered.

  She felt faint from ex­haus­tion, yet her loins were still tick­lish with de­sire. Be­vau soft­ened in­side her. She fought the urge to move, to make him hard again. It was as if her sex­ual or­gans had a mind of their own and were de­ter­mined to fuck un­til she dropped from heart fail­ure.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. Jes­sica’s ear was against his chest, and the bari­tone of his voice rum­bled through her en­tire body. Her vagina clenched and she caught her breath.

  Be­vau laughed. “Are you try­ing to make up for lost time, lit­tle Jes­sica McIn­ness? I need a few min­utes to catch my breath.”

  “I think I must be a nympho­ma­niac,” she wor­ried. She looked up at his gor­geous, smil­ing face. “I can’t seem to calm down.”

  “Your clan will be very happy,” Be­vau said. “Thank good­ness there will be three of them to take care of you.”

  “This is in­sane.” Jes­sica tried to lift her­self off the prince, to get the thick­ness of his cocks out of her clam­or­ing body. Her arms and legs, still in ex­hausted shock from the wild love­mak­ing, re­fused to do more than twitch. “Damn it!” she swore, barely notic­ing she’d used pro­fan­ity.

  “Easy, love,” Be­vau soothed. He lifted her off him­self, and his or­gans pulled free. Jes­sica arched at the fric­tion. “My, you are over­wrought. Let me see what I can do for you.” The alien swapped places with Jes­sica, lay­ing her on the lounger and crouch­ing over her.

  He scooted back and draped her thighs over his shoul­ders. She sighed in an­tic­i­pa­tion as his gaze took in her sex. Smil­ing, he kissed her where she ached most. A bolt of hunger elicited a groan from her, and with a soft chuckle, Be­vau put his mouth to work.

  As ten­der now as he’d been bru­tal be­fore, the Kalquo­rian kissed and licked her trem­bling soft­ness. His tongue was scratchy, as cat­like as his eyes, and Jes­sica cooed with the warm sen­sa­tion slowly build­ing once again. The climb to or­gasm was a gen­tle slope this time. The lan­guorous strokes of Be­vau’s tongue, the soft suck­ing from his lips, the pull of his fin­ger­tips open­ing the petals of her sex for his deep­est kisses all took her on a sooth­ing jour­ney to plea­sure that rolled through her in exquisitely tiny, de­light­ful rip­ples. Her cries were a light sing-song as sweet as a bird’s.