GalacticInferno (6 page)

“Renate,” she breathed.

Another finger slid in deep, joining the other. Then he was
pressing in and out, deliberately grazing along her clit with every motion
until her entire being was flooded with sensation, with sharp needs not quite
fulfilled.

“You like this?” he growled.

“You. Know. I. Do.” Her words sounded more like a drawn-out
whimper. But she didn’t care. She wanted more.

She wanted everything.

Another finger joined in with the first two. “Just say the
word.”

Oh. God.

“Say it,” he groaned.

“I want you,” she groaned. “Only. You.”

He withdrew his hand. And with an effortless strength that was
a turn-on all on its own, he lifted her high.

The tiles were cold against her back as she tucked her legs
around his hips. His cock was all blatant heat as he guided it with a hand to
the entrance of her moist cunt. Their gazes locked. His stare drilled into
hers, his eyes all possessive intent.

Then he drove forward, filling her pussy with his hard
shaft. Pushing into her until she wondered if she just might die from the sheer
pleasure-pain of it all. He withdrew slowly, inch by torturous inch, pushing her
right to the edge.

“Renate—”

He plunged back inside her and hit her with an electric
charge, stimulating her nerve-endings into immediate gratification as she came
with an abruptness that took away her breath. Her mind.

She screamed his name, pitched heavenward into a pleasure
that rocked her to the core. And then he followed, coming into her and
hollering a pleasure that echoed her own, his liquid warm seed shooting deep.

Her muscles felt as though they’d turned to mush when she at
last untangled her legs from his hips and slumped against him, the water
pouring over them like a benediction to their lovemaking.

Lovemaking?

She squeezed her eyes closed. Impossible. She’d known Renate
for all of two days.
And yet it feels as if I’ve known him my whole life.

Renate’s breath was warm on her ear, startling her out of
such intense thoughts as he murmured, “Are you all right, kitten?”

Her eyelids flicked apart. He was watching her. Closely.
He
knows.

“I…I’m not sure.”

And as if aware she wasn’t ready just yet to face such a
profound truth, he said, “Let’s see if we can find you some clean clothes,
hmm.”

She let out a slow breath. “Good idea.”

A good ten minutes later they were clean, dry and dressed.
He in his odd, alien long pants that never seemed to get dirty and she in a
pair of too-big denim jeans and a white, oversized short-sleeved blouse.

For the time being she left her feet bare, luxuriating in
the blessed lightness as she moved through the house. She glanced at the round
wall clock that ticked in the silence. 1.15 pm. Her stomach growled as she
headed to the pantry.

Relief coursed through her as she saw the contents. She
turned to Renate. He was reclining on an overstuffed chair, the ginger cat
curled up on his lap and undoubtedly purring like an engine, Bonnie at his
feet.

A smile stretched her face. If she didn’t know better she’d
say Renate was the epitome of domesticity. She cleared her throat and
announced, “There’s enough food here to make a decent lunch. And since this
house has a gas stove and running water I’m going to cook us up a feast.”

He smoothed a hand over the back of Leopold’s back, his eyes
slumberous and possessive all at once. “You’re cooking for me?”

“Don’t worry, you’re in safe hands. In fact, I can rustle up
a mean meal when the mood takes me.”

“On my world, when a woman cooks for a man, it’s a sign of
her commitment.”

“Really? Then I better make sure I don’t burn the water.”

At his raised brow, she swung away with a repressed giggle,
retrieving saucepans and putting them on the gas stove. She paused at the
pantry doors. When was the last time she’d been so happy?

She pressed a hand to her head. A memory surfaced, hitting
hard.

* * * * *

She couldn’t hold back the grin plastered to her face as she
pushed open the front door.

Pregnant. At last. She could hardly believe it.

She’d taken the afternoon off work to see the doctor, hoping
against hope that the queasiness she’d experienced the last few weeks really
was from what she’d suspected. They’d been trying for months now to conceive.

She’d caught a taxi straight away and rode the dozen blocks
to Luke’s firm, only to be told by his receptionist that he’d left work early
too.

Please be home.

She didn’t want to tell him the good news over his cell
phone. She wanted to see his joy, bask in his pleasure.

He wasn’t anywhere downstairs, though she found his
tailor-made jacket slung over the balustrade. She arched a brow, plucking it on
the way upstairs to the second story. That was so unlike Luke. He was
fastidious to a fault.

He was probably in all kinds of hurry for a shower. No doubt
he came home to get refreshed before leaving for another interminable meeting.
It made sense he’d wear his jacket again.

She cradled her still-flat belly, where butterflies danced
and jived inside. What if he wasn’t happy with the news? What if he’d decided,
after all this waiting, that two children were more than enough?

Turning left at the stairs, she rounded the hallway and
headed toward the main bedroom.

She heard the shower running full tilt. Tossing his jacket
over a nearby chair, she shrugged free of her fitted, charcoal coat and threw
it beside Luke’s, then unbuttoned her silky, egg-shell colored blouse as she
headed for the en suite.

She licked her bottom lip. She felt inclined to share more
than some good news.

Toeing off her high heels, she walked on silent, stockinged
feet into the bathroom. Beside the large, shiny white bathtub, she froze,
hardly able to comprehend the scene before her.

Luke’s buttocks were pressed against the clear Perspex of
the shower stall, his spine arching out and arms above his head as he clasped
the edging of the Perspex. Sharing the shower with him, on her knees, was
blonde-headed Felicia. The CEO’s head bobbed up and down as she sucked his cock
for all she was worth.

“That’s it,” he grunted, hips surging back and forth against
her mouth, “suck it, baby. Then I’ll go down on you before I fuck you hard,
just the way you like it.”

You don’t do oral sex!

But no words formed. Nothing could get past her stone-dry
throat as the room abruptly lurched around her.

She came to on a hard bed, breathing in the dreaded
antiseptic scent associated with a hospital. Luke’s physician waited by her
side. And as her eyelids fluttered open he gently explained how her fainting
had caused her to fall hard against the bathtub, causing a miscarriage.

She turned away. She knew without a doubt what—no, who—had
been the cause.

* * * * *

“Are you all right?”

She drew in a shaky breath, brought back to the present by
Renate’s concerned voice behind her. No. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

“No you’re not.” Placing his hands on her shoulders, he
gently turned her around. When she didn’t look at him, he clasped her chin and
lifted her gaze to his. “Be honest with me, kitten.”

One of his thumbs blotted the moisture beneath her eye.

Tears?

More emotions threatened to spill over and she sucked in a
breath, choosing anger over pain. “Or what, you’ll manipulate my mind again?”

His eyes darkened. “I made a promise I wouldn’t mess with
your mind again and I meant it.”

And you’ll keep your vow, unlike my husband.

She nodded. “Of course.”

Not all men were lying bastards.

“Ally, I’m a good listener, if that helps?” he murmured
wryly.

She rubbed a splayed hand along her belly. She bit into her
bottom lip, fighting back more tears. “I was pregnant. And I…I lost the baby.”

He took her into his arms. “I’m sorry.”

She added in a choked-up voice, “I…lost the baby after I
found my husband with another woman.”

His muscles bunched around her. “The bastard,” he breathed
into her hair. “This man married you and yet still he lay with another?”

“Yeah, well, believe it or not, infidelity is not all that
uncommon,” she sniffled.

“On Carèche it is a crime of the highest order.”

She pulled back and stared up at him, overwrought with
emotion and yet somehow curious, too. “You take commitment that seriously?”

His eyes fairly blazed with righteous anger. “We do. And
even if we didn’t, I’d never abuse your love like that.”

She managed a wobbly smile, trying not to read too deep into
his statement. “I’m starting to think I really like your planet.”

Her heart stuttered.
Like you.

She stepped back. “I believe I have some cooking to do.”

He nodded, expression inscrutable. “Is this your roundabout
way of telling me to get lost?”

She released a breath. “You know, sometimes I think you
really are human.”

Chapter Five

Ally turned off the gas stovetop and leaned over the three
saucepans bubbling away. She breathed in the fragrant smells. Yum.

One saucepan held the contents of a can of vegetable soup;
another one a can of braised steak. The last saucepan steamed with a packet of
chicken noodles—out of date, but she didn’t have the luxury of being fussy.

She ladled a generous spoonful from each saucepan into two
clean bowls and placed them on the table. Renate sat at one of the chairs,
looking awkward and uncomfortable. Did they not use chairs on his planet? She
picked up her spoon and took a mouthful.
O.M.G.
It tasted divine. The
first hot, decent meal she’d had since her memory loss.

Renate watched her carefully. She smiled and leaned across
the table to dip his spoon into the broth. “Here.” She offered the spoonful of
hot food to him and he obediently opened his mouth.

His lips closing over it, she pulled the spoon free,
giggling at the long noodle left dangling from between his lips. “Suck it up,”
she said. At his perplexed frown, she twirled her spoon around one of the
noodles in her bowl. Deliberately allowing the noodle to dangle from her lips
like his, she drew it slowly into her mouth. “See? Just like that.”

He sucked and the noodle disappeared. “I’m starting to like
your human food,” he acknowledged with a wry grin.

They ate the rest of the noodle, beef and vegetable soup
concoction in shared silence, before she doled out the leftovers between Bonnie
and Leopold.

Placing her empty bowl on the sink, she turned and observed
the dog and cat as they ate. “Look, they’re already friends.” She felt proud
somehow, in the same way a parent would of two bickering children suddenly
playing nicely together.

She closed her eyes for a moment, joy dimming as she
unconsciously pressed a hand to her belly, all too aware of the sudden ache
inside, the void.

“So they are.” Renate’s warm chuckle filled a little of the
emptiness within. And as he placed his bowl and cutlery in the sink with hers
and rinsed them beneath the water, he turned to her and said, “Thank you for
cooking your earth meal. It was very enjoyable.”

The ache disappearing, she didn’t need to force another
smile. His appreciation left her feeling ridiculously pleased. “Technically, I
just heated the food.”

He stepped toward her, his mouth covering hers until tingles
of desire were shooting from her lips to her toes and back. When he finally
drew back he said huskily, “You fed me. All else is irrelevant.”

When she walked back to the pantry, she wondered if she just
might be walking on air, despite the weariness that had descended upon her like
a lead weight. “I think I’ll be getting me some more of that canned food.”

Renate’s voice held amusement, though the topic was all too
serious. “I’m going to search the house, see if there’s anything useful we can
take with us tonight.”

She swung the pantry door closed and turned toward him.
“Tonight?” she breathed. “What about the wild dogs outside?”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take. Nighttime means there’s
less chance we’ll be seen by my alien brothers, even with the mother ship’s
sensors.”

“Sensors?” she repeated. Though chairs—even a spoon—seemed a
mystery to Renate, she had no doubt the aliens’ technology would be far
superior. They had arrived here from another galaxy, after all.

“Yes.”

A sick feeling inside her gut told her Renate wasn’t telling
her everything. Should the alien ship have found them already? Were the aliens
playing with them?

Renate dipped his head toward the hallway. “I found a locked
cabinet in the study. I’m hoping it holds a gun or some kind of weapon to
better protect us.”

She shuddered. She hated guns, loathed them. But in the
circumstances, there really wasn’t a lot of choice. “You know how to use a
gun?”

He nodded. “We have similar weapons we use to hunt
caltronians.” At her perplexed look he added, “Caltronians are big, ferocious
beasts. They’ve been known to tear even the best hunters in half with a single
swipe of their claws. They also happen to have the most flavorsome meat you
could eat and their red fur makes for the softest bedding.”

Her eyes widened. If the alien males had a similar physique
and strength to Renate, then the beasts must be very big and powerful indeed.
“Even so, I’m pleased we don’t have anything the same on our planet.”

His expression was all fierce adoration. “I’d protect you,
kitten.”

Her chest hurt at his words that were said with absolute
conviction. “I think you just might.” Her chin tilted a little. “Although I
know how to look after myself.”

She’d been alone—and alive—long enough to prove it.

He smiled gently. “You most certainly do.” His eyes narrowed
a little, examining her face. Apparently she looked as bone-weary as she felt.
“Perhaps you should get some sleep?” he suggested. “There’ll be no time for
that luxury later tonight.”

She let out a sigh, sagging a little. “I think I might.”

Bonnie’s nails clicked on the linoleum floor as she followed
her mistress down the hallway and into the smaller, less musty bedroom. Ally
stroked the dog’s head before she went in search of the linen cupboard. Then
stripping the double bed of its sheets, pillow slips and quilt cover, she
changed them for fresh ones.

Climbing under the covers with Bonnie flopping on to the
floor beside the bed, Ally’s eyes drifted closed to the sound of Renate’s quiet
tread on the floorboards in the room next door while he rummaged around—looking
for a key to the locked cabinet?

She snuggled deeper into the surprisingly comfortable
mattress. It was odd just how reassuring it was to have someone else around,
despite the fact his alien friends were looking for him…for her.

Renate had promised he’d not share her with any other alien
men. Even with her reservations, she could only trust him in that.

Leopold let out a plaintive meow from the hallway before his
orange head appeared around the doorway. His eyes widened with a feline flash
of triumph when he saw her. The next moment he raced into the room and bounded
on to the bed, his claws digging in and out of the quilt as he loudly purred.

Ally couldn’t help but smile. And as she drifted into sleep
she realized in that moment everything felt almost…normal.

* * * * *

“A divorce?” Luke sounded incredulous. He glowered at her,
as though her request was absurd and something he’d not even contemplated.
“What about the kids? You leaving will destroy them.”

Ally closed his office door behind her. Pressing outspread
hands on his polished mahogany desk, she leaned forward, the dominant position
helping to strengthen her resolve and feel every inch in control. “What about
you, Luke? How do you feel about me leaving?”

His eyes narrowed in a pinched face. In that moment he
looked older than his thirty-four years. “I don’t want you to go.”

She stared at him. “No undying words of love? No promises to
never stray again?”

He had the grace to look shame-faced.

She straightened. “Tell the kids I’m sorry—sorry I couldn’t
turn a blind eye to your fucking any beautiful woman who takes your fancy. I’m
sure they’ll understand why I had to leave.”

Ripping free her gold wedding ring, she tossed it on his
desk, ridiculously lightened by its absence on her finger. And as she spun away
and opened his office door, she couldn’t help but feel just a little bit
pleased when Luke called out her name with a note of desperation.

As the door clicked firmly shut behind her, she didn’t look
back.

* * * * *

She woke with Renate’s arms around her, his warmth
surrounding her. She sighed. Luke had never made her feel this protected,
this…loved. With Renate she felt adored. Beautiful.

She pressed closer to all his hard length, enjoying his
musculature. He was so big. And so damn handsome it almost hurt to look at him.
It seemed inconceivable that he could want her. Yet every look he cast her way
was full of longing, every touch full of wanting.

She sat with a frown, deeply unsettled. But it wasn’t
anything to do with her elated thoughts. It was something else entirely.

At the foot of the bed, Leopold rolled onto his back and
stretched with feline bliss. She hardly noticed.

Carefully extricating herself from Renate’s arms, she left
his beckoning warmth and moved on silent feet to the small window. Outside the
sky was darkening, shadows lying long on the ground. The air was silent and
unnaturally still.

Too still?

Bonnie moved from beside the bed and sat next to her and
Ally absently ran a hand over her head.

What had woken her from such a deep sleep?

The bed creaked behind her, sheets rustling. This once she
took little notice of Renate. Not with alarm pushing her throat almost closed.

“Ally, what is it?”

“They’re coming,” she whispered. She couldn’t see any craft.
She didn’t need to. Renate’s words came back to her as if he was saying them
right then.
If the other males should happen to come near, you will
experience something we call trans-alien hypersensitivity. Their thoughts are
centered on you now, and the closer they get to you the more heightened their
awareness of you—and you of them. And the easier they will find you.

His hands encircled her forearms and he turned her around,
snapping her from whatever it was that had her frozen at the window. “Let’s get
out of here,” he growled.

She nodded. And it took just seconds for her to clip on
Bonnie’s leash and scoop up the cat—she wouldn’t leave Leopold to starve inside
the house.

As Renate slung the backpack over a shoulder they raced for
the back door.

Leopold hissed, aware of the tension, or perhaps he sensed
the craft heading their way. Ally put the ginger cat on to the long grass
outside, trying not to think about what might happen to him when they were
gone. He’d survived this long, it stood to reason he’d survive many more years
to come.

The still dusk air abruptly vibrated with sound overhead.

Oh. Shit.

With one hand snared in Renate’s, her other hand wrapped
around Bonnie’s leash, she ran for all she was worth, pulse pounding as she
sprinted beside Renate. Adrenaline tore through her veins with the knowledge
that this time they just might not outrun and hide from the craft closing in
above them.

Renate pulled her into an alleyway, where big buildings
loomed either side of a narrow lane and shielded them in shadows.

The aircraft that slid above the buildings emitted a
high-pitched whine. And as the sound receded, Renate said urgently, “We don’t
have much time before they return. We have to keep going.”

Chest heaving and lungs burning, all she could think about
was the deep knowing she was “felt” by the aliens promised to her. She gave a
jerky nod and he squeezed her hand in return.

They took off sprinting down the ever-darkening alleyway,
their footsteps echoing eerily and all too loud. Bonnie emitted a ragged growl
a nanosecond before Ally saw the flash of hungry eyes ahead.

She stilled beside Renate as shapes emerged from the
shadows. Feral dogs. A dozen or more of them. She shuddered. She didn’t need
sunlight to imagine their sharp fangs, their ribbed and undernourished bodies
after gorging for so long on human remains—and then nothing.

Renate pulled a rifle out of the backpack. And without
taking his eyes off the dogs he said softly, “Back away slowly. The moment even
one of them breaks from the pack, you run like hell. Get out of the alley and
find somewhere to hide. Take Bonnie, she’ll protect you.”

“I’m. Not. Leaving. You.”

He leveled the gun at the dogs. “Just this once please do as
I say.” When she stayed put, unwilling to leave, he said hoarsely, “Go!”

No! I can’t lose you!

She swallowed past the fear and grief lodging inside her
throat. “I don’t want you to be a hero.” She backed away a few steps, heart in
her throat, her pulse flailing loudly in her ears. Tears were streaming down
her face but she barely noticed, too focused on the alien who was more man than
anyone she’d ever known.

She took another couple of backward steps, all too aware the
dogs were moving toward them, step-for-step. Tears flowed harder. “Did you hear
me, Renate? Don’t be a hero. Don’t you dare die on me!”

The dogs abruptly broke formation. Bonnie whined, fearful.
Only then did Ally spin around and push into a run. Gunshot ricocheted in the
alley, thunderous in her ears. She heard a yelp, followed by another shot.

There’s so many of them. He’ll never make it.

A loud thud sounded and then another. Renate had been
reduced to striking the attacking dogs with the rifle butt? Snarls echoed down
the alley, along with an all-too-human curse.

Heart in her throat, Ally veered left at the end of the dark
lane, perceiving he and Bonnie weren’t alone. She risked a glance over her
shoulder.

Oh, hell.

Four dogs had broken from the pack and followed, their
flashing eyes revealing their intent to kill.

A warehouse loomed ahead. A handful of steps led to a small
concrete landing and a steel door.
Oh, god. Please don’t let the door be
locked.

She heard a savage growl—so close! She half-screamed as a
dog leaped and hit her from behind, its dead weight bouncing against her spine
as its canines sank deep. She kept right on running. If she stopped she’d be
dead. It was as simple and as terrifying as that.

She heaved out a sob as a chunk of her flesh gave way,
tearing free. Warmth poured down her back and the dog fell to the ground with a
snarl.

Bonnie strained against the leash, all but pulling Ally up
the warehouse steps.