Icarus Rising (9 page)

the lab where Ray can help you."

"He
can't
help me!" This time the symbion flapped its

wings in anger, propelling Caleb forward toward Zara. She

cringed away from him and raised the rock, which he

effortlessly knocked out of her hand. Fearing she'd slap him,

he grabbed her wrists and trapped them over her head as he

pushed her body backward against the warm stone wall.

Terror darkened her eyes to cocoa brown as she arched

her back and tried to wrench her arms free of his grasp.

At the mercy of his alien half, Caleb could only watch,

feeling strangely detached from his actions, as he ground his

hips against Zara's.

Pressed together like this, their bodies seemed a perfect

fit, just as he'd always imagined they would be. How many

times had he fantasized about feeling the hardened tips of her

nipples rubbing his chest or tasting desire on her lips?

Instinct bade him to lower his mouth to her neck and

nibble the sensitive skin there. The scent of her arrowed to

the hyper-sensitive sex receptors in his brain, setting off a

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cascade of symbion hormones that controlled his feelings of

arousal, entitlement, conquest and passion.

"I want you," he whispered into her ear. "We want a mate.

Right now. We need it."

"Ca-Caleb..." At first Zara's response sounded like a

protest. She squirmed under his onslaught, but he couldn't

decide if she was attempting to push him away or thrust her

willing body closer to his.

His erection had peaked again and now strained against

his shorts. Settled in the inviting vee of her thighs, his cock fit

perfectly. The pressure and warmth were just enough to push

his arousal to the next level.

"Say no," he told her, grasping at one small moment of

sanity. "Say no, and I'll make myself stop. But if you don't,

I'm going to have you now, Zara. I can't be this close to you

and not be inside you."

The words Zara had dreamed of hearing from Caleb both

excited and terrified her. The look in his eyes told her he

wasn't in control at the moment.

His erection pressing into her mound was the effect of a

symbion mating frenzy, not Caleb Faulkner's desire for her.

The urgency with which he ground his muscular body into

hers had nothing to do with love and everything to do with a

chemical volcano erupting in his brain.

She did want him, despite her anger and her fear,

regardless of their carefully maintained professional

relationship, but her needs made no difference. If she gave

in, if she didn't tell him to stop, they would both regret it.

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But God, it felt so good. The growing bulge of his cock

teased her clit through her shorts. Arousal had tightened all

her muscles, and liquid desire lubricated them, so she now

felt like a coiled spring, ready to bend and stretch to his will.

The idea of surrendering to the rampant, selfish needs of

the alien that had taken him over excited her when it should

have repulsed her. She wanted to be taken hard and fast.

Dear Lord, she didn't have the strength to say no.

Each time his lips brushed over her heated skin, outlining

her jaw, teasing her ear, skimming the hollow of her throat,

her knees weakened a little more. If he let go now and

backed away, she would have slithered to the ground,

breathless and quivering.

"Caleb, please..." Those weren't the right words, not a

proper protest at all. He could easily interpret them to mean

"go on, take me, claim me".

As if he'd heard her silent plea, he thrust his free hand into

her shorts. She gasped but failed to protest when his

searching fingers found her clit and began to massage the

engorged flesh. Excitement coursed through her veins,

making every muscle contract in time to his intimate

massage.

With a hard wall at her back and hard man in front of her,

she had nowhere to go. Pushing her hips forward was the

only move she could make, and that merely heightened the

friction of his fingers in the sensitive folds of flesh between

her thighs. Warmth spread through her lower body and her

juices began to flow hot around the intrusion. He moaned into

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her ear and in response she whimpered, still searching for the

words that would end this torment.

"Caleb..."

He found her opening and without warning, penetrated.

Her body stiffened. She should have fought, should have

wrenched away but all she wanted was more, deeper, harder.

She closed her eyes and let him play her, all the while willing

herself to speak, but nothing coherent came out.

Every nerve in her body screamed for release. The

pressure of his fingers sliding against her inner flesh sent her

reeling. His palm brushed her mound, causing a spiral of

aching need to coil up into her womb. She should have tried

to escape, beat on his back with her fists, scratch him, but all

she could do was revel in his plundering of her body. She'd

wanted this for too long to make it go away. She needed him

in her and she needed to come so her mind would clear and

the relentless ache in her pussy would end.

Thrust after illicit thrust of his finger left her trembling on

the edge of release. She clung to him, afraid to make a sound

that would bring him back to himself and make him realize

exactly what he was doing. She closed her eyes and gave in

to the rhythm, the friction, the pent-up need and finally,

choking on a sob of relief, she came. Her sex contracted hard

around him and she moaned. Undaunted, he pumped his

finger harder into her, quick thrusts that left her shuddering

and blind with pleasure, then he pulled out and trailed her

cream along her thigh.

Their eyes met for an instant and she saw satisfaction in

his dark gaze. He'd won her, he'd broken her defenses and

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laid her open for his conquest. Now he could take her more

easily, while the shuddering contractions of her body left her

weak and unable to resist him.

"Say no. Please, Zara, make me stop." Low and husky, his

voice held desperation. He didn't want this.

The man she'd spent months walking on the beach with,

delving into his psyche and learning what she'd foolishly

believed was everything about him, didn't want to ravage her.

That realization cooled her blood by a degree. Caleb would

never forgive himself if he allowed the symbion to rule him. If

he lost this battle of wills, he'd never win another.

Summoning what little strength she had left, Zara

wrenched her body away from the wall. She threw all her

anger and frustration into the move, which knocked Caleb off

balance and sent him backpedaling. He relinquished his grasp

on her wrists and stumbled away from her.

Bereft and mortified by her body's reaction to him, Zara

flung herself toward the exit on wobbling legs but stopped

halfway, remembering how frightened she'd been on the

exposed shelf of rock.

Panting from her unexpected orgasm and shivering from

the loss of his warmth, she crossed her arms over her chest

and turned to confront him. "No." There. She'd said it. It

seemed ridiculous to finally protest now after she'd not only

allowed him to fuck her but enjoyed it. Whether her lack of

conviction showed in her voice, she couldn't tell, but Caleb

seemed to believe it.

She held up her hand before he could speak. "Don't

apologize. Just forget it. I know that wasn't you, just now."

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God, her face was on fire. He'd been in her. She'd come in his

hand and dismissing it now as though it were nothing more

than a naughty suggestion seemed childish, but they could

never progress with this mortifying incident between them. "I

know that wasn't you in control, and I know you'd hate

yourself if things went any further."

She should have let him. A rebellious voice in the back of

her head argued the point. She should have surrendered

completely and let him have her all the way. What did it

matter if an oversexed alien bird was controlling his actions?

For a moment, she could have had Caleb in her arms, in her

body, giving her everything she'd dreamed of since the day

they'd met. Seeing him regret it would have killed her, but

losing him again would do that anyway, and at least she'd

have the memory of being with him one glorious, forbidden

time.

"Zara ... the last thing I could ever stand to do is hurt you.

I'm so—"

"I know. And that's why I'm going to tell you this." She

allowed herself to step toward him, but stopped short of

putting her hands on his naked chest like she wanted to. "I

will stay here with you and help you and your symbion deal

with this in any way I can, but you have to promise me two

things."

"Anything." His response came out as a breathless,

relieved whisper, but she noticed he would not meet her

gaze.

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"First you have to agree that the goal we're working

toward is getting your symbion to agree to go back to the

station."

Caleb nodded.

"And second..." She finally captured his gaze and held it

for a long, raw moment. "You have to understand that if you

put me in that situation again ...
I won't stop you."

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Still the aerial searches turned up nothing. Arilani

reluctantly returned to the research station at dusk after

pushing herself to near exhaustion searching for Caleb and

Zara. With the soft beach sand shifting beneath her feet,

Arilani folded her wings and wiped a crust of sea salt from her

eyelashes.

With thousands of islands stretching in all directions away

from the station, it could take weeks to canvas only a fraction

of the hidden caves and camouflaged aeries. That assumed of

course that Caleb hadn't fallen into the water and drowned

both himself and his hostage.

Namara and Jidar joined her on the beach a moment later,

their defeated expressions telling her more than words.

"No one has found him." Her blunt statement seemed to

taint the air between them.

"I'm sorry." Namara, always a nurturer at heart, offered

her hand to Arilani in a gesture of comfort. "You must be

spent."

"I am, but I'm willing to keep searching. We must find

Caleb and help him bond properly with his symbion or he

might never learn to control it."

Jidar shook his head. "That's not the main concern right

now. Dr. Danson believes Dr. Faulkner may never be able to

regulate his biochemistry because both of them were adults

at the joining. He fears the symbion hormones will eventually

kill him if it's not removed."

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Ari's blood grew cold. "On what is he basing this opinion?"

"From his observations," Namara offered. "Since they're all

he has at the moment. He believes Dr. Faulkner doesn't

possess the proper chemical channels to allow him to

establish dominance over his link with the symbion. The

uncontrolled changes in hormone levels will eventually

overload his nervous system and cause it to shut down."

Arilani swung her gaze out over the ocean. How dare

Danson make such outlandish claims without consulting her?

She knew far more about the symbion/host link than he did.

"I believe with the proper therapies and some intensive

training we can overcome the problem."

Jidar sighed. "Dr. Danson disagrees. He has issued doses

of a strong tranquilizer to each member of our search parties.

The drug will disable the symbion's cerebral cortex and

temporarily allow Dr. Faulkner complete control. It will only

work for a short time, but it should be long enough to get him

back here and under sedation so the symbion can be

removed."

Ari's wings ruffled. "I thought we had universally agreed

not to sacrifice a symbion. Their population is endangered as

well. How can we destroy a viable adult male?"

Namara put her hand on Ari's shoulder. "This decision does

not come lightly, but it was part of our agreement that the

link would be severed if it posed a danger to the human host.

We can't allow Dr. Faulkner to die."

"But I don't believe he will."

"You must discuss this with Dr. Danson," Jidar said.

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Ari wanted to argue, but she could not openly defy her

leader. She could only feign submission to his misguided will.

"I will do that."