• 1-"Black Fire"
• 2-part two
• 3-part three
• 4-part four
• 5-part five
• 6-part six
• 7-part seven

Twenty-Seven

~*~*~*~

… and in that one kiss, he utterly devastated her.

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t even
rationally think as he swamped her senses with the taste and sensation of him
stroking inside her mouth so hungrily. Applying a steady force that grew with
its intensity as he delved in further. Tongue scraping sensually against her
own. Suckling lightly, and sending ripples of not only pleasure, but steadily
growing shock as well.

He didn’t stop. Not even when she was in danger of fainting
from the deprivation of air. Becoming alarmed, she began to struggle anew. Arms
twisting helplessly from where he had them pinned to the mattress, as she tried
to strain away from him. The sheer curtains trailing down around the bed to
form a canopy brushing against the skin of her flushed forehead like the caress
of butterfly wings.

When nothing else she did prompted him to let her come up
for air, she bit down. Nipping him hard enough for the sudden alien taste of
his blood to trickle into her mouth for a brief moment before his healing
abilities erased any damage she might of caused. And damn it, it appeared as if
he actually appreciated her response.

Even then, all she got was a rumble of a growl in response.
Even then, he refused to pull away. Even then, his hands tightened bruisingly
on her wrists from the force applied to keep her rooted to the bed. The hard
length of his body pressing her firmly into the softness. Scalding her with the
touch of his skin upon hers.

Lungs screaming in unbearable agony and head swirling with
fear and lack or oxygen, she tried to desperately understand what use he would
have for suffocating her. She could feel herself starting to slide into
oblivion and made a small noise of protest. Knowing she couldn’t stop him from
doing this or anything else he wanted to do... And rather humiliated at just
how easy it would be for him to kill her with nothing more than his kiss alone.

But what had she expected from him? A tender, considerate
lover? Please, she wasn’t that foolish… Where the hell in all those months she
had spent fighting him and his species would she have come up with that
fantasy? He was the most ruthless, dangerous, lethal alien she
had ever had the misfortune to come across, and this is exactly what she
deserved for willingly giving her body to him in the past. Now that she was,
for lack of a better word, his, he was going to reveal his true
colors, once and for all, and make a mockery out of all the other times her
body had been joined with his.

Oh yeah… she’s asked for it. Now she’d pay for it.

Suddenly unable to find the strength to fight anymore,
Renee’s eyes fluttered closed as she went limp. Her lungs no longer in agony,
and her entire body growing numb, as she began to lose consciousness.

And that was when he breathed for her. Expelling a large
quantity of precious air directly into her mouth and lungs. Bringing her
instantly back to awareness as she inhaled greedily. Her own mouth clinging
desperately to his in an attempt to take as much oxygen into her body as he
would give her. Body trembling with relief.

It was then, that he pulled away. Allowing Renee’s head to
fall back as she dragged yet more air into her starved lungs.

“Don’t you see, Renee?” His voice rasped erotically over the
words. Causing Renee’s traitorous pulse to leap in response. “And I’ve told you
this before. I could kill you at any time I so desired, and there is nothing
that you could do to stop me...”

Renee stared unseeingly into the blackness surrounding her.
Not even able to make out the shape of his outline leaning over her. She
flinched as she felt his lips stroke over the tender skin below her right ear.
The warmth of his breath caressing the shell. Causing a shiver to race across
her flesh, and him to chuckle.

“But that is, by far, the last thing I would ever want to do
to you. Not when there are so many other intriguing possibilities presented
before me.”

Suddenly shifting his weight, he released her wrists and ran
his hands down her sides, resting momentarily on her hips and then grasping
firmly. Pulling her down a few inches and snug up against him. Causing a moan
to escape from Renee lips even as her now-freed hands pressed in vain against
his chest.

Howlyn ignored the pressure she was applying, and dropped his
lips down to run across her collarbone while grinding hard up against her,
sending sparks of pleasure shooting through her body.

“And another thing…” he growled pointedly. “Another thing
you need to allow yourself to acknowledge… it isn’t me that you are fighting,
Renee. It’s yourself, and what you feel when you are with me.”

Renee wasn’t even aware that she had been shaking her head
in denial until one of his hands left her waist and reached up to bury itself
into the silken mass of her hair. Physically halting its movement as his
fingers clenched into a fist. Holding her unforgivably still.

“So fight me, beloved. Fight with everything you have if you
must, I won’t stop you. In fact, I look forward to disarming you bit by bit…
But I won’t stop this either. Your body tells me all that I need to know, and
that gives me all the permission that I require.”

Something clicked within Renee. Resounding upon the
frightening reality in his words as if she had been doused with water. It was
like someone had thrown a barred gate wide open and she was staring directly
into the face of truth. The face of what all of her fears and concerns had been
based upon.

And it her her own.

“No…” The line of Renee’s back arched sharply as she against
tried to push him away. His fist only tightened further in her hair as he
tilted her head back. Exposing the extremely taut curve of her throat to his
hungry gaze. Leaving her completely vulnerable.

Her fingers clenched sub-consciously upon his shoulders
where they had fallen after giving up her struggle once more. And for a moment,
she wasn’t sure if she had been trying to push him away or pull him closer. She
wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

He pressed his lips again into the taut hollow at the base
of her throat. Reveling in the feel of her throbbing pulse against his mouth.
She shuddered at the contact but didn’t try to move away. But it didn’t stop
her from reaching for her voice.

Y-You can’t… It’s not my choice.” Damn, did her voice sound
that breathless to him as it did to her?

Great. Just great.

Howlyn was quiet for a moment. Continuing his ministrations
almost absent-mindedly. Grip in her hair loosening slightly, as he slowly
stroked his knuckles over her hip. Lips and tongue continuing to caresr
tr
throat and the line of her jaw, but he seemed to be deep in thought. Pondering
something.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter Twenty Eight

~*~

One moment she was lying back on the mattress, and the next,
he had let out a hiss and snatched her upright. Releasing his hold on her hair
and her hip to latch onto her forearms. Twisting them almost viciously behind
her back as he hauled her up against him so fast that it knocked the breath out
of her body as it slammed into his unyielding one. Tossing her forehead into
the curve of where his neck met his shoulder, and her hair fanned out over his
back. Silken strands teasing his bare skin.

He was in a kneeling position on the mattress, both legs
tucked under him, with her sitting on top of his strong thighs. Both legs
securely wrapped around his waist, and his erection pressing hard into the
supple expanse of her smooth stomach.

And he still had her arms twisted behind her back. His hands
and arms like unforgiving vises as they encircled her and pressed her into his
chest.

Renee’s body jerked when she felt the heat of his mouth
suddenly descend upon her breast. Drawing strongly upon the aching flesh.
Crying out at the contact, she rocked her body into his and tossed her head
back as fireworks exploded in her veins. Shooting down to further inflame her
core. The arousal and the driving need to take him deep within her that had
been assaulting her for hours coming together in mind-shattering want.

“Your body has made the choice for you.” Howlyn commented
before directing is attention to her other nipple. Renee groaned and subtly
shook her head. Her mental resistance still striving to insert its will upon
her body that was spiraling out of her control.

She tried to speak again. “I… I haven’t… chosen yet.”
she finally succeeded to hiss out. Willing him to listen to her. Even though he
was probably beyond that now.

He pulled his lips away from her skin, and she knew he was
looking into her face, even though she herself couldn’t see into his. She felt
a few strands of the black silk of his mane brush over her cheek.

/p>

She grew still. Any remnant of resistance melting away on
the current of passion and desire that curled around them like a precious second
skin. Her body grew pliant as her tension melted away to acceptance, and this
time, when she gently arched her body into him, it was with want. Not fear.

Howlyn’s hold on her wrists loosened slightly, as his teeth
slowly released their grip on the side of her neck. She felt the teasing
butterfly brush of his dark mane of hair as it trailed over the side of her
neck and jaw line as he raised himself up. Causing his body to shift slightly
where it was imbedded so deeply within her own. Sending sparks shooting off
throughout her veins as her body coiled even tighter.

Even though she couldn’t make out his profile, or see his
features in the darkness surrounding them, she did suddenly see his eyes. They
glittered down at her with their own fire, their own light, as they studied
her. Waiting. Watching.

Renee cautiously pulled her wrists out from underneath his
palms. Feeling the slightly cool air hit the heated skin as he let her fingers
slid through his.

She found his arms, braced up on either side of her. Her
fingers slid up their length. Taking in the different textures as she moved
from one part to the next. Feeling the way the muscles tensed and moved beneath
the skin like water cascading over stone.

She’d never get over the way he felt. So completely different,
yet so incredibly familiar.

Her slender but strong hands unerringly found their way up
to his shoulders. They rested there contemplatively for a moment. Teasingly.
Neither pushing him away, nor bringing him any closer. He was so still.
Waiting. Just waiting.

Marking the end of one very personal conflict, those hands
decisively left their current location and reached up to encircle the back of
his neck. Pulling him down to her at the same time she rose up to bring his
lips to hers. Coming together in a clash of passion and hunger as elemental and
ancient as time. Filling her mouth with the musky taste of him as she explored
his of her own accord, and with a desire and willingness that was all her own
as she let go of that part of her that still wanted to deny him. Deny herself.

She let it all go, and felt the swell of triumph it
replaced. Knowing that, in part, it was a direct reflection of what he was
feeling.

Feeling complete... Feeling whole... Feeling one...

Those emotions rushing over her suddenly had her flashing
back to one of their sexually-taut meetings on this same Mothership many months
prior…

“You’ve dreamt about me.”

“How did you know?”

“It’s to be expected. A natural part of our
connection.”

“I want no connection to you.”

“Wh-what…?” She panted out. Eyes glazed with the sheen of
fire as a frown knitted in her damp forehead as he tilted his head to the side,
and slide upwards a little bit. Dragging his body against hers, invoking a
shudder to race along her skin. His movement bringing the side of his neck up
and against her parted lips.

“Bite.” he growled out again. His voice more animal than
sentient being. “Make… the ritual… complete.” the last word ended in a hiss as
his lips found his mark on her once more. Resting there, waiting for her to
make the first move.

The pace of his body suddenly begin to slow when she
hesitated, and Renee didn’t need to be asked twice. An unfamiliar instinct
driving her to bite down hard. Holding the skin firmly between her teeth.

Howlyn let out a cry and his mouth latched onto their
target. Dragging her tender and still slightly scarred skin into his mouth and
drawing hard enough to bring blood rushing to the surface as her body suddenly
began to shatter around them.

Renee felt a scream echoing in her mind as the rapture
poured over her molten lava. Wrapping her up and running over her as he rammed
forcefully into her body. His thickness going as far into her as it could go,
and then some, as he drove her over the sparkling edge of orgasm. Her body
shuddering and flying apart as she met him thrust for thrust.

He held her there. Trapped within the shinning brilliance of
pleasure. Her body shuddering with release after release. One rising up to
replace the last each time it began to abate, like the intense waves upon a
glittering shore in the middle of a hungry storm.

Suddenly, she could feel a part of them merge. Become one.
What he was feeling, she was feeling. The intense hunger still beat at him even
as she was lost within the pleasure of her own body. And the need to experience
a completion that only she could give him was paramount in his mind. A
completion that would tie them together for an eternity.

Giving into the weight of his desire as it rode her even
harder than her own, she allowed her teeth to sink into the flesh she held in
her mouth, and didn’t stop till she felt them sink deep into skin and muscle.
Bringing their mating ritual full circle.

The following response of his body lashed through hers like
a lightening bolt, sending her up in flames, as their souls merged and their
mental barrieell ell away.

Later she wouldn’t know if it was his or her scream echoing
so loudly in her ears, or if maybe it was both…

…All she would remember was how it felt when it was as if
their skin slid away and they poured into each other’s bodies. Drowning in each
others’ sensations as their entire world shattered around them and through
them. Muscles clenching, tightening, and skin rippling, stretching, pulsing, as
they were cast out into an insubstantial existence.

Their only anchor was in each other’s arms. In his body
buried so deeply within hers as everything else fell away… and finally came
back together in one exploding climax that had him pouring liquid heat deep
inside her body, and the immediate response that triggered her being sent over
the edge of reality and into the secret depths of that black fire. A primal cry
of rapture still hovering on her lips as Renee willingly gave herself up to the
losing of consciousness as her body went up like a sacred torch in those
precious flames.

Her hands still clung tightly to his body… Holding him close
to her in the blackness that became her world even as she flew so completely
apart.

~*~*~*~*~