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  He kissed her long and hard, like he couldn't get enough. He moved from her lips to rain kisses down her neck and then to her breast. She bucked as if he'd pulled an invisible string attached to her sex. Her heart began to pound erratically in her chest and her breathing grew loud.

  When he moved lower, she remembered his words from earlier when they'd seen Wyn and her lover. I want a taste of your pussy. Tye wanted his lips on her sex. A Cadite tongue on her most private place ... she never would've believed it possible, but she wanted it.

  Wanted him.

  And she needed to watch him take her. She reached above her head to activate her reading light. He paused and grinned. His long, blond hair fell in shimmering waves around and over her. It tickled and enticed, but more than that, the sight enflamed her.

  He moved along the too-white skin of her belly, lapping like a starving man. His tongue swirled lazy circles as if he had all the time in the world to give her pleasure. They both knew better. In less than an hour the sun would rise, and they'd both needed to be at the gate to the tanco fields.

  She wanted to tell him to hurry, but she didn't want to interrupt his concentration—do or say anything that might make him change direction. At the very moment she anticipated his touch on her sex, he paused to look up at her again. His amber eyes hot with desire caused a rush of moisture at her opening. He smiled a second time, and his nostrils flared.

  He rubbed his large hand against the dark patch of hair there, petting her. When he nudged her legs further apart and placed both hands on her, she sucked air so fast it made her dizzy. He eased her legs farther apart and she stretched wider, just in case.

  He blew on her.

  His hot breath both tickled and teased, and an instant later the surrounding air seemed icy. Goosebumps raised everywhere. Her breasts ached to be touched. Her nipples tingled and all her senses heightened. She could hear the puff of wind as he blew and smell her sex as it mixed with his scent.

  When his head dipped lower and he seized her with an open mouth—kissing her—there, she nearly screamed. With his tongue flat, he lapped at her like a cat with a bowl of milk. The heat of his mouth, the swirl of his tongue and the sight of his golden head moving against the black foam of tight curls, worked together to completely annihilate her. The tension he'd showed her earlier ratcheted immediately. He'd only begun and her body sought release.

  Once again, she remembered the pained expression on her sister's face. Now she understood. While the pleasure took her spiraling out of control, her mind resisted, wanting it to last forever.

  Nothing this good could last long. She clutched the bed and tried to remain still when she wanted to hump against his face. Her insides clenched and released over and over, each time bringing her closer to the peak of pleasure she now knew awaited her arrival.

  He sucked the spot he'd used earlier with the friction of his cock to make her come quick and hard. The intense explosion his mouth produced screamed through her body.

  She grabbed his head to push him away, but he continued to suck, and she didn't know if she'd survive. Over and over the pleasure exploded, and he wouldn't relent. Pleasure, near to pain made her see stars and then it ebbed into delicious, smooth waves, so sweet and perfect she started to cry.

  * * * *

  Cradon hoped to hell he could keep his mind on protecting the workers in his care. Between the woman and his beast, he was being pulled in every direction. When the lines of harvest workers formed that morning, it became clear many wanted to leave their earlier choice. He raised his hand for attention. “I want the same men who came with me yesterday, as is my right."

  The angry voices of those who were rejected made him glad he'd spoken. Yesterday, no one had wanted him as their protector. There's always a price to pay for wrong choices. He'd made enough in his life to know that well.

  It started to mist, which would make it harder to smell the approach of an alpana for the other protectors. His earlier self-satisfaction became pity. Why were these colonists so stubborn? It they used the knowledge of the Tifcan warriors, all of this could be avoided. Not a single man need lose his life to an alpana ... ever.

  Like the day before, his team went through the doors first. Today they were eager to get to the fruit. The alpana would be waiting, but Cradon intended to do all within his power to keep them safe.

  The alpana howls that quickly followed made Cradon sorry he couldn't be everywhere at once.

  "That one sounded close, warrior,” one of his men said, when a human scream pierced the air.

  "Over here, warrior,” one of his men called.

  The first time one of them had called him warrior he thought they'd guessed his true identity. Now, he'd become accustomed to it.

  "Moving,” he told his crew and headed toward the sound. He couldn't let another man be killed and do nothing if he could stop it.

  "It's Seloddon's crew,” another said.

  Cradon had heard his men talk of Seloddon at the beginning of the harvest. Many had complained they hadn't gotten into his crew. No one complained any longer.

  Cradon didn't have far to go before he heard the low growls of an alpana contemplating a meal.

  He motioned for the worker who'd followed to stay back out of harm's way.

  The alpana had a man pinned to the ground, his severed arm, from the elbow down, hanging from the alpana's mouth.

  "It's Seloddon himself,” the man behind him said.

  Cradon couldn't worry about who the man was ... he needed to find a way to reason with the beast under the spell of blood lust that didn't include allowing his own beast to show its dominant superiority. He'd only just to begun to win his workers’ trust. If his beast emerged, he'd lose them forever.

  Cradon began the ancient chant and the alpana looked up from his prey to focus its yellow eyes him. The alpana shook his head, as though trying to ward off the chant.

  Cradon chanted louder and began to wield his sword in an intricate pattern learned by the Tifcan warriors to hypnotize the beast. This time Cradon worked up a sweat before the alpana dropped the severed arm and ambled away.

  The worker rushed forward. “He's still alive."

  "Where are his men?"

  No sooner did Cradon speak than Seloddon's workers began to show their faces.

  "What do we do now?” one of them said.

  "Our warrior can protect us all,” Cradon's man bragged.

  Could he? He would win enough food for his planet for certain if he had even a few hours with more workers than the remaining teams. It was all about which team harvested the most tanco. The four teams started out equal, but as the protectors failed to keep their men alive, the production dropped. If he took on the responsibility of Seloddon's men, he might fail his own workers. Somehow he'd find a way. He intended to bring every single one of his men back alive.

  "See to Seloddon. The rest can stay with us until the Hajan family says differently."

  No one came to change the arrangement for the remainder of the day, and Cradon protected all thirty-nine men without incident—his original twenty and Seloddon's remaining nineteen. By the time he walked to the baths that evening, every muscle in his body screamed with exhaustion.

  All except for one very prominent muscle, and it wanted attention! Female attention. Tye's.

  When he caught sight of Tye, his cock sprung up to bob in his loose-fitting bagdas as he walked out of the baths. Cradon didn't enjoy the prospect of walking among the colonists with a log between his legs, waving for a certain woman's interest. The woman had bewitched him.

  * * * *

  Everywhere she turned, men spoke reverently of Cradon, making him into a hero of epic proportions. Never had a protector gone a single day without a man being attacked, let alone two entire days. And this day he'd been responsible for two teams.

  She lay in bed and wondered if he'd come to her. What would she do if he didn't?

  For the first time in a long time, the future appeared brighte
r for the Hajan family. Even their father seemed much improved.

  A look around the room made her question her impulsiveness. Why had she lit so many candles? He'd know the moment he walked into the room what she'd planned.

  In the next instant, she heard a sound at her door and turned to see it crack open.

  Cradon.

  He'd come.

  Relief flooded every pore.

  Until...

  He stood by the door, not moving into the room, appearing ready to bolt. Tye's heart sank.

  And then she saw it. Blood!

  "What happened? They said you came back without a scratch."

  Cradon shut the door and slumped against it. “Maybe I shouldn't have come here."

  "No. Stay,” she told him. “We need to call for the physician."

  "You can't. This didn't happen today in the fields. It happened just now in the garden. Silda did this. She attacked me."

  Tye raced to his side to get a closer look. “You need stitches. Are you certain we shouldn't?"

  "He shook his head vehemently. “No, I don't want to explain this. Not just because I'm a Tifcan warrior, but because I also don't want to see Silda come to any harm."

  "A Tifcan warrior? You don't mean it."

  "Did I really reveal my secret with a slip of the tongue? You've bewitched me. What do you know of us—Tifcan warriors?"

  "It's a dreadful secret society of men who perform bizarre rituals by the light of the full moon. It was bad to enough to know you are a Cadite."

  Cradon frowned. His darker blond brows knit together into almost a single line. “We gather during the full moon. That is true. But we perform no rituals."

  She could tell he held something back. “What is it you aren't revealing?"

  "Silda wasn't acting like herself, and I didn't realize until too late. Damn but this hurts."

  She gave up trying to pry his secret from him and led him toward her bed.

  "What did you have in mind?” He gave a grin and nodded at the candles.

  "Too presumptuous?” She looked down so he wouldn't see her embarrassment written on her face.

  "No, not that. But even before Silda took a bite out of me, I wouldn't have been much good to you in your bed."

  Her disappointment was keen. “Okay."

  "I'd say I'm worthless, except for this.” He motioned to the protrusion at the front of his bagdas.

  Why hadn't she noticed that earlier? He had to wave his hand in front of her eyes, though, to get her attention once she did.

  "Let's see if we can get this bleeding stopped before we worry about doing anything that could finish me off."

  Once she'd patched his wounds as best she could, she didn't know what to expect of Cradon. Had he only come because of his injury? He'd said nothing while she tended to him. “All done then?” she asked.

  "Hardly. Let me show you how to make love to me all on your own, with only a little help ... Well, maybe not a little. Your touch has produced this.” Cradon lay back on her bed with his cock jutting into the air. “Climb up here and straddle my hips."

  "My touch didn't do that. You had it when you arrived.” However, she did as he said and tried not to smile so widely. There was no sense giving him a big head.

  "It's all up to you. I'm so sore I can't twitch without weeping from the pain. Rise up onto your knees and ease my cock inside you."

  She stared down at his heated eyes as her insides reacted with a jolt and her heart lurched. “Just like that? No kissing or touching or anything we did previously?"

  "You'll have to do all the touching."

  This certainly wasn't the romantic tryst of their first joining, but the moisture between her thighs said her pussy didn't mind. Using one hand to steady herself on the wall behind his head, she raised and reached for his long, thick cock. The silky smoothness made her linger—touching him—running her hand over the length of him. She guided him to her wet core and eased it inside, and lowered only slightly.

  His face at first seemed pained, but it changed so fast to a smile, Tye thought she imagined the first expression. When he put both hands behind his head with his elbows in the air, she began to believe he was toying with her and his injuries weren't nearly so debilitating as he'd said. “Are you enjoying this?"

  "Immensely,” he said.

  She lowered until he filled her by half. “What about now?"

  "Whatever you want. This is your show."

  She slid down him all the way. Completely full, she stayed still to allow the stretching sensation to ease. She leaned forward and placed both hands on the wall to move up and down on him. At first, she went slow, experimenting with the rhythm, but an urgency to go faster and harder overtook her.

  "This is harder than it looks,” she said, after she'd failed to find the place he took her to previously on her own. It grew more frustrating by the second and more urgent.

  "Be still a second."

  When she sat fully impaled and didn't move, he gave her a wink. “Now reach down and caress the little button inside the folds of your pussy."

  She hesitated. “I have a button? It's that easy?"

  "Haven't you ever touched yourself?"

  "It's forbidden."

  "What else will Metran males do to keep their women subjugated?"

  "I may as well do as you suggest. After all, I'm already fucking a Cadite. What else can they do to me? They can't kill me twice for touching a button I didn't even know I had."

  "Don't think about that now ... let me watch you come."

  When she touched the place he suggested, she knew immediately she'd found it. While she massaged the tiny nubbin, the walls of her sex clenched so hard he groaned. In seconds the tingling began and escalated. She moved on him as she rubbed harder.

  Faster.

  An explosion bowed her spine and she pitched forward, while he lifted his hips and bucked her up and down.

  CHAPTER 7

  Cradon had a premonition he couldn't shake, a feeling of impending doom. Silda had gone missing and his own beast roiled inside him, trying to take any excuse to escape. Not only did he have to worry about losing control and shifting into his alpana, he had Silda to worry about. If she went on a murder rampage, there would be no way he'd avoid exposure. His beast would come out to protect Silda.

  "Get out of the way!"

  Fucian's voice carried even through the thick foliage. Cradon couldn't worry about Fucian. With his men laboring under the heavy weight of the full bags of tanco, they needed his undivided attention. He directed them toward the gate ahead and hoped to avoid the overseer.

  "Cradon, over here!"

  No way would he leave his men. Even if they only had a short distance to travel, the alpana might attack.

  As they came closer to the gate, Cradon saw some of Fucian's workers still in the field with their weighty bags. And then, the worst happened. An alpana crept into view, its sharp fangs bared.

  The men didn't see it.

  Cradon began his chant, but he was too far away. “Move faster,” he said to the men close enough to hear him and then worked his way through the underbrush to head off the coming disaster.

  One of Fucian's men spotted the alpana and screamed.

  The predator reacted to the man's panic by charging. Cradon moved faster to intercede. He chanted louder. The beast would reach the worker before Cradon if he didn't get its attention.

  Cradon commanded the beast inside him. He needed help and he needed it fast. His beast let loose a terrifying roar. The attacking alpana skidded to a stop and turned its large head from side to side to find the source of the intruding alpana. Both of Fucian's men had dropped their bags and were running for the gate.

  "Get back there!” Fucian screamed. “Don't leave the tanco."

  Cradon wielded his sword and came within a hairsbreadth of slicing the alpana's throat.

  "Kill it,” Fucian demanded.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Cradon saw Fucian approach, but the
warrior concentrated on the alpana which hadn't decided its course—leave or attack. He chanted and continued his sword work. By now the beast had to know he could easily kill it. Why didn't it leave?

  Cradon saw Fucian's sword, but not before it was too late. Fucian thrust while running full bore and plunged his sword into the alpana's chest.

  The fucking idiot!

  If the beast hadn't been distracted by Cradon, it could've easily thwarted the overseer. It was Cradon's fault an alpana lay dying at his feet.

  "That's how to kill an alpana.” Fucian grabbed a broad leaf and used it to wipe the blood from his blade.

  Only the beast wasn't dead. Cradon watched the shallow rise and fall of its chest and knew what he had to do. He slit the beast's throat and the blood pulsed out. Even though he'd put the animal out of its misery, the act didn't sit well with the beast inside him.

  "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you kill it yourself? Even a scratch from their claws can be poisonous. Fool."

  Cradon had let his guard down and now Fucian had become suspicious. Fuck!

  What could Cradon say? It galled him, but he had no choice. “I knew you were coming to help me."

  The overseer stared at him through narrowed eyes, but he appeared to puff at Cradon's lie. He stood straight and lifted his chin before he turned toward his workers who'd stopped their flight. “Get back here and get this tanco."

  As the workers weighed and recorded their tanco, Fucian approached. Cradon saw no way to avoid him.

  "Has the bitch shown her face to see my success in the fields today?"

  The hair on the back of Cradon's neck stood to attention when Fucian's vile words grated against his nerves. But putting Fucian in his place wouldn't give Cradon the answers he needed. When he'd arrived at Metra colony to take part in the harvest, Fucian had approached him with a deal. That had been the reason for Cradon's visit to Hajan House the morning the harvest began. Fucian had promised, if Cradon won, he'd be paid in tanco instead of credits. None of the other colonies had made such a promise. And what good were credits if the supplies of tanco were often rationed?