“I want to see you that way,” I said. I curled my fingers around his penis. He sucked in a hiss of breath and muttered something in a language I didn’t understand. “I want to see you when you come.”

“Not yet,” he said brokenly. “I will savor the rest of you first.” A heartbeat passed, a mere whisper of time, before his lips touched mine. His tongue moved over my mouth with heady slowness, exotic and consuming. I tasted myself, and it excited me, reminding me of where he’d been and what he’d done. I moved my hand up and down his length, stroking.

“Do you know,” he said, his voice growing more hoarse with every word, watching me through the thick shield of his lashes, “that you are the most passionate woman I’ve ever encountered.”

“You make me that way.”

“I am glad.” His hands slid languidly up my sides and cupped my jaw. He planted breathy little kisses and nips over my nose, my eyes, my chin.

Warmth skidded along my spine. “I wasn’t glad at first. I was pissed.” I palmed the heavy weight of his testicles.

A bead of sweat ran down his temple, and his words seemed even more labored. “If this is the way you channel your anger, I’ll strive to infuriate you more often.”

I chuckled huskily. He tugged me to my tiptoes for another kiss. While his tongue worked magic, he shifted his hands under my butt and urged my legs around his waist. I spread my thighs and hooked my ankles at his back until I straddled him and cradled his erection without actual penetration.

One of his hands flattened against the base of my throat, so warm, so inviting, a heartbeat away from dipping inside my shirt and cupping my breast. But that strong, masculine hand remained in place, teasing, taunting. Tormenting.

As one expectant minute ticked by and then another, my nipples hardened painfully. The rosy peaks anticipated his touch and strained against the silkiness of my top. I shouldn’t have been this excited. I’d already come twice.

“Kyrin…”

“Mia.” With his eyes squeezed tightly shut, he traced a path down my sternum. He traced the seam back up again, never once deviating from that path. “I told you I want to savor you. Memorize you and brand you. Later is the time for wild and rushed.”

“I want wild now.”

He only uttered a soft but strained chuckle. “In this I will have my way.”

“We’ll just see how long you can hold out.” I’d long since lost control over my body where he was concerned, and strangely, I didn’t mourn the loss.

He pressed his erection against me, and I gasped. I rubbed my chest against his, urging him on. He moaned, bit my collarbone. His hands were everywhere, all over me. Every so often he paused to simply look at me, or to whisper erotic promises in my ear, but always he left me aching for more.

“You feel so good against me, angel. I have to touch more of you.”

“Yes, yes,” I groaned, then, “No, no,” when he did. I was on fire for him.

“Did you ever imagine that a human and an alien would feel so perfect together?” he asked. His tongue licked and sucked my exposed neck and chest. He kneaded my butt. I writhed; I melted into him; I tried to force his hands where I needed them most, but he always thwarted my efforts by drawing his palms a safe distance away.

“Damn you, Kyrin. Let’s finish this.”

His laugh was a taut, desperate purr. His hands dipped inside my gown. But instead of cupping and squeezing as I so ravenously craved, he teased a fingertip around my nipple. The action only increased my frustration, my need. How was he doing this to me? Making me want, need more?

Then he grazed the tip of my waiting nipple with his teeth.

My hips jerked, and I almost came again. “Yes, there. Right there! Do that again.”

He gave my other nipple the same treatment—a light grazing, followed quickly by the heat of his tongue. My lower body arched into him. Just one more touch. One more.

“Where else do you need me?” he demanded, all touches ceased.

“Everywhere, damn it.” I reached between our bodies and wrapped my hand around the hardness of his cock. Watching his face intently, I led his hand to the juncture between my legs and guided his fingers through my dark curls. Then I rocked forward.

Contact. I moaned. His hand darted away. I growled and followed. In the next instant, I heard fabric rip, felt cool air. I was suddenly completely naked and flat on my back. Kyrin stood over me, his chest heaving, his cock ready. His hair seemed lighter than a ray of sunshine, and his eyes…his eyes were blazing with passion, bright and crystalline. He gazed down at my body, at my spread legs and wet arousal.

“You amaze me,” he said. Muscles bunching, he knelt and crawled over me. We both gasped as skin met skin. “I’d hoped to prolong this, to prolong our pleasure, but you are driving me crazy with your little moans and your bold caresses.” He rocked himself against me, careful not to enter me.

“Just like that,” I gasped. “Do that again.”

He did, gliding back and forth in the slick V of my thighs while I rubbed myself against him. He kissed my breasts, dragged his teeth over my nipples, and positioned himself for penetration. He poised himself at the precipice, not actually pushing inside.

His teeth clenched. “Once I take you, you are mine. My woman. No other man can have you.”

“Yours,” I agreed on a moan, not caring about the consequences of such a vow.

He plunged inside me.

We both cried out at the perfection of it, the exquisite rightness. My nails scored his back as his lips crushed into mine, taking, giving. For the first time in my life, everything felt completely right.

He was so big and thick inside me, sliding in and out. He filled me completely. Passion uncurled with his every movement, seeking total satisfaction. I used the strength of my legs and rolled him to his back so I could ride him, so I could command the depth of his penetration, the swiftness of our pace. I moved up him, then down, increasing the delicious friction.

He maneuvered me to my back.

And I immediately switched our positions again. “Kyrin—”

“Mia,” he said. My name was like a reverent prayer on his lips, and he allowed me dominance this time. His hands slid from my hips to grasp my ass and jerk me tighter against him. We began moving faster. Faster still.

I’d never felt so alive. So free. I wanted this feeling to last forever. I didn’t want reality to intrude.

“Harder, Kyrin.Deeper.”

He ground against me, hard. Perfectly. Deeply.

He reached between our bodies and circled my clitoris with his thumb. I gasped, cried out. My inner walls tightened and spasmed against him, and he moved faster. Harder. Deeper. Just like I needed. Almost instantly, another orgasm catapulted me to the stars, this one stronger than the last. Only when he heard his name rip from my throat did he spill inside me.

When the last pulse subsided, he thrust me to my back and collapsed on top of me. A long while passed before the hazy sexual fog lifted from my mind.

When I opened my eyes, Kyrin was gazing down at me, his lips soft with tenderness. “I have waited for you my entire life,” he said. “Give me the rest of this day. Tomorrow we can deal with the outside world.”

Immediately I opened my mouth to tell him no. There was so much I needed to do. Call Jack. Search for Atlanna. Visit Dallas. I had a case to wrap, but after everything I’d learned today, I needed a bit of normalcy in my life. More pressing than any of those, however, was my need to be with this man.

“I…would like that,” I said.

He grinned and gave me a swift kiss. We didn’t bother with clothing. We didn’t need it. I allowed him to carry me inside his house—into his bedroom.

CHAPTER 20

Later that night, I awoke in a dirty alley behind an abandoned grocery store. Crickets chirped a lazy tune while I oriented myself. Cold, pungent air. Hard ground. Moonlight. I blinked. This didn’t make sense. I’d been in a bed. A soft, warm bed with Kyrin.

He’d climaxed.

I’d climaxed.

Then…What?

I’d fallen asleep, obviously. But how the hell had I’d gotten here? I shifted my gaze in every direction. The night sky winked above me, discarded papers and food cartons whirling on the concrete.

Why wasn’t I shivering? I wondered, looking down at my body. A thick coat draped across my shoulders. I wore thick socks and heavy boots, and leather pants hugged my legs. I didn’t recall getting dressed, which meant Kyrin had done it for me.

Where the hell was that lover of mine?

As if sensing my thoughts, he appeared beside me and crouched down. I sat up, noticing that we were hidden behind a stack of reeking garbage. My nose wrinkled in distaste. No one was nearby, and neither was there any noise. Kyrin didn’t spare me a glance, but kept his attention directly in front of him. “I hope you do not mind, but I transported us here.”

I would have loved to watch the whole transportation thing, but let it slide. “What are we doing here?” I whispered.

“Waiting,” he answered just as softly.

“For?” The man needed to learn I’d never settle for half-answers.

Now he leveled me with an intense gaze. “Atlanna. I want you to see firsthand that she is not the motherly woman you want her to be.”

I instantly went on alert and moved beside him on my knees, staring at the dark alley he had watched moments before. Eagerness thrummed in my blood. Eagerness…and dread.

We waited.

“When she appears,” he said, “you are to study her, nothing more. No matter what happens. Before we attack her, you must see how she utilizes some of her powers.”

I almost screamed a denial. Almost. I knew studying the enemy and learning his weaknesses and strengths before jumping into action was the right way to hunt—and win. I knew that. Yet my impatience was strong. I yearned for some sort of confrontation with Atlanna.

“Give me a gun anyway.” I said. “I will—”

A twig snapped.

I sliced off my words and went completely still.

At the far end of the alley, a woman suddenly appeared from the shadows. Moonlight bathed her in youth and beauty, paying nothing but tribute to her fair skin and curly mane of white hair. Black pants and a long black leather jacket draped her, showcasing her curves. She looked like a hunter. She looked like me.

Atlanna.

Kyrin stiffened.

I watched as a body floated behind the woman. She blinked, and the bulky, naked form fell unceremoniously onto the ground. Shit. Her telekinesis must be unbelievably strong to lift such weight.

As a wave of her energy hit me, she paused and frowned. Her gaze darted in every direction, searching for something—or some one.

My heart raced. I controlled the urge to stride to her. To strangle her. To hug her. Before I took my next breath, she disappeared in the shadows.

The winter wind kicked up a notch, swirling and whistling around the alley. Keen disappointment nearly felled me, and I massaged the back of my neck.

“She sensed us,” Kyrin said.

“Yes. She probably felt a hum of energy in her blood.” Like I felt every time I’m near an Arcadian. I strode to the body, preparing myself for what I’d see. A male. He was naked, his body devoid of any sign of torture. The poor bastard was even smiling. I checked his pulse, just to be sure. “Dead,” I muttered. “I wish to God I knew why she was leaving them out. You said William was to get A.I.R.’s attention. What about this one?”

I dropped my head into my hands. I’d always wanted a mother to love me. Hell, I’d always wanted a mother to love. But my mother had killed this man. My mother was a predatory alien, had done such evil things, and just thinking about them made me sick. I was duty bound to hunt and kill her. And yet…

“Amusement, probably,” Kyrin said. “There was no way to save him.”

“We’ve got to call Jack. He needs to know about—”

A familiar, pungent scent filled my nose. “Sorry, angel. You are not ready, and too much do I fear for your life.”

The last thought to drift through my mind before darkness claimed me was that I was going to murder Kyrin and his damn sleeping potion.

“Bastard,” I shouted as I awoke.

Sunlight streamed through the burgundy curtains, illuminating the spacious decadence of Kyrin’s bedroom. Honey oak floors gleamed, the elaborate vanity glistened, and the sconces and jasmine-scented candles glittered.

I was sick and tired of being drugged when he wanted to move me.

I searched the room for Kyrin, but he was gone.

As soon as I found him, he was going to give me his phone unit so I could call the station house and tell Jack everything I’d learned—except for the part about Atlanna being a blood relation. I didn’t know if I’d ever broach that particular subject. And I’d probably leave out the part about sleeping with Kyrin, too.

I abandoned the warmth of the comforter and trekked to the bathroom. There, I brushed my teeth and hair and programmed the wall console for a shower. The water burst on, deliciously waiting for me. I was just about to step into the tub when a flash of gold caught the corner of my eye. Filled with a sense of dread, I scrubbed mist from the mirror.

That rat bastard!

My fists clenched as potent fury consumed me. If I’d had a pyre-gun, I would have found Kyrin and blasted his ass to ashes. He’d done it. He’d really done it. After every erotic thing we’d done together, after promising to trust each other, he’d returned the armband to my bicep, keeping me a goddamn prisoner here.

I jerked on the fresh blue sheath folded neatly on the sink rim. “Bastard,” I growled under my breath. “I’d thought he meant to free me permanently. But no, he meant to keep me here all along.”