Stress Relief

by

Evangeline Anderson

KINDLE EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Evangeline Anderson on Amazon

Stress Relief

Copyright © 2012 by Evangeline Anderson

Kindle Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another

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reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only,

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respecting the author's work.

Author's note: This is just a hot little fantasy I wrote after rewatching the Bourne Identity. I've always been a big fan of James Bond or any kind of spy movie, really. But I like the idea of a spy who has been conditioned to be a mindless, merciless killer turning out to be something else instead. For those of you looking for the next Kindred book, don't worry--it's on the way! I hope to have it out before the end of 2012 and in the meantime, you can enjoy a preview of chapter one at the end of this book. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy this kinky little tale of hot and scary secret agent sex.

Happy Reading!

Evangeline Anderson

Chapter One

Andi Tibideaux stared at the ominous scarlet lines spiking on her monitor. This wasn’t good. This definitely wasn’t good. He was in the red and Alpha never stayed in the red this long. He was a cool customer—the coolest the Agency had. So why was he in the red? And why did it have to be now, when none of her specially constructed “girls” was available?

She cursed the bad timing that had forced her to set up dates for both Beta and Delta at the same time. It was bad luck too, that she was short on girls. Just the week before Beta had rendered the best one she had inoperative and it wouldn’t be back from the Agency’s repair shop for another week at least. Damn it, why now?

Fumbling in her nervousness, Andi swept a strand of dark brown hair behind one ear and turned to the lead reinforced panel built into the right hand corner of her unremarkable looking desk. It took her three tries to key in the correct sequence on the hidden keypad on the underside of the desk but at last she managed. There was a small, discrete beep and the panel slid open.

Inside in a tray lined with black velvet were four multi-faceted crystal indicators, each about the size of her thumb and each connected to a microchip implant in one of the agents. The indicators for Delta and Gamma were pulsing fitfully, dim flashes of light coming from within their cores. That made sense—agents Delta and Gamma were currently working on some serious stress relief so the jewels connected to them would pulse until they were stress free. Andi pressed the pad of her forefinger to each one in turn—warm but not burning up. Again, as expected.

The indicator connected to agent Beta was cool to touch and very dim. Andi shivered in disgust. It ought to stay that way for a good long time, too. When she thought about the damage he’d done to her best girl…well, she preferred not to think about that. The results of Beta’s last "date" had been brutal.

Date, indeed. Andi shook her head. Her job was full of stupid euphemisms and she was tired of saying one thing when she meant another. The agents she worked with weren’t just faceless government workers—they were counterintelligence officers, the best and most ruthless men that the Agency’s pitiless regime of training and indoctrination could produce. Basically they were cold blooded killers with a government stamp of approval. Their minds had been broken and their bodies shaped to the Agency’s specifications—as a result they were under enormous amounts of stress. Stress that could only be relieved one way—that was where the girls came into play.

The three girls that Andi kept were basically synthetic whores designed especially to service the agents. A well kept Agency secret, they looked like women and acted like women at least to an extent, but beyond their Playgirl bunny outward appearances their heads might as well have been stuffed with cotton candy. They could walk and talk but anyone who spent any amount of time with them would know at once that they were nothing but sex dolls with extremely limited social functions.

The girls could take a lot of rough usage but even their tough, specially designed bodies had limits. The animalistic needs of the agents who fucked them on a regular basis for stress relief sometimes exceeded those limits but they were a necessary evil. No real woman could withstand the savage lusts of any of the men who worked under Andi. If she’d tried to send them real prostitutes to relieve their stress the police would have been looking for a serial killer before the week was out.

Andi looked at the faceted crystals again. Whether you called them agents and girls or killers and whores, it didn’t matter. The point was that she was responsible for them—at least the ones in her district. And right now, according to the lines on her monitor and the indicators in the hidden tray, Beta, Delta, and Gamma were all more or less stress free right now.

Satisfied that three of the four agents under her supervision were under control, Andi turned her attention to the large crystal indicator lying at the far end of the velvet lined tray. She could see at once that there was trouble. The indicator was glowing brightly enough to cast shadows in the dim, dingy little room that served as her office. And when she put out her finger to test its heat…

“Ouch!” Andi pulled back her hand and put her finger in her mouth, an involuntary reaction to the intense heat of the square cut crystal. God, she’d never felt it that hot before! What the hell was going on with Alpha, anyway? And why, oh why, couldn’t he have picked another time to need a date?

Her racing thoughts were interrupted by a warning flicker from her monitor. Andi keyed the panel closed quickly and turned towards it a feeling of dread, like a heavy lead weight, filling the pit of her stomach. As always there was no face displayed on the screen, only the logo of the Counter Terrorist Agency rotating slowing on the screen.

The CTA, known only as the Agency to those who worked for it and not known at all by most citizens of the US, was an ultra secret government organization. It had branches in all of the major cities in the world from Baghdad to Leningrad to Paris, and everywhere in between. It was the brainchild of the CIA but since being green lighted by legislation passed almost eight years before by the current administration, it had quickly outgrown the supervision of its parent agency. Now it had surpassed the boundaries laid down in the early days of the war on terror and was a law unto itself. No one knew who ran it, or at least Andi didn’t, and she was pretty sure none of the other employees of the Agency knew either. No one policed it either, or if they did, they did it from far above Andi’s lowly station.

“Tibedeaux,” a cool female voice addressed her from the monitor. Andi straightened involuntarily in her plain swivel-backed chair, knowing that whoever was on the other end could see her even if she couldn’t see them. She smoothed her shapeless blouse with nervous fingers and tried to look competent and in control.

“I’m here,” she said, staring at the gold CTA logo rotating ceaselessly on the navy blue background. “You have instructions, Central?”

“We have questions,” the cool voice rapped out.

Andi tried not to flinch. The trick was not to let them think she was frightened. If they knew she was frightened, they’d know she wasn’t in control of the agents assigned to her care. She pasted an unconcerned, almost bored look on her face and said mildly, “Ask.”

“Our monitors show an alarming surge in agent Alpha’s emotions. Why has this not been rectified?”

“Alpha’s just returned to his base after fulfilling a directive.” Andi tried to keep her voice level and reasonable. “He always runs in the red for a little while after a mission. He’ll be fine—I’m keeping an eye on him.”

“Negative.” The cool voice barked. “Agent Alpha did not complete his directive.”

“He…he didn’t?” For a moment Andi was at a loss for words. Not complete a mission? Alpha, who was her best and most competent agent? It was unthinkable. He had never failed to complete before—what the hell was wrong with him?

“He aborted with no explanation—the target it still alive. Now his stress readings are off the chart and you appear to be doing nothing about it, Tibedeaux.” The cool voice was positively icy now. Andi felt like a cold finger was being drawn down her spine.

“I…I’ll look into it at once,” she promised, staring at the spinning CTA logo and wishing, not for the first time, that she could see the person addressing her. “I’m on it, Central, don’t worry.”

“But we do worry, Tibedeaux. Agent Alpha is our most valuable asset. He must have stress relief at once and then he must be brought in for debriefing. Is that understood?”

“Yes, of course. But, well…there’s a slight problem.” Andi cleared her throat nervously, aware that it sounded like she was making excuses. “You see, Central, two of my girls are currently in use with agents Delta and Gamma and the third is at the repair facility. So I really don’t have any—”

“If no girls are available, you must go yourself.”

“What?” Andi was sure she’d heard incorrectly. “Please repeat, Central. It sounded like you said I should go myself.”

“Affirmative,” the cool female voice agreed. “The situation is too critical to trust to a mere machine anyway. You must go to Alpha yourself, Tibideaux. You were given basic training for this eventuality. You know what to do.”

“But…but it’s suicide!” Andi felt her nipples harden in fear. “There’s a reason Alpha is your best agent. He’s utterly ruthless. And huge. God, he must be six four and two forty if he’s an ounce and every bit of it’s muscle. I can’t just go to his apartment and offer myself for stress relief—he’ll tear me apart!”

“That is precisely what we expect you to do, Tibedeaux.” The cool voice was like a blast of arctic air. Andi could almost feel it chilling her as it came from the monitor. “Agent Alpha must be calmed and preserved at all costs. The mission he aborted was of utmost importance. The director of the Agency himself is waiting to debrief him. We expect you to have him ready for pick-up by o-seven hundred hours.”

“But that’s…that’s insane. I can’t—”

“You will do as you are instructed, Tibedeaux. May we remind you that if agent Alpha has to be terminated, he will not be alone?”

Andi felt herself grow cold all over. There was no quitting the Agency and there was no refusing a direct order. Directives were given and obeyed without question at all times. The only alternative was a body bag and a ride home in the cargo hold of an army plane.

“Do you understand?” The voice rapped out.

Andi swallowed and crossed her arms over her painfully peaked nipples. “I…I understand, Central,” she said, forcing the words out through numb lips. “I’ll report to Alpha’s apartment for stress relief.”

“At once,” the voice admonished. “And Tibedeaux?”

“Yes, Central?”

“Stress relief must be extremely through. We want Alpha completely docile at pick-up time. Understood?”

“Under…understood.” Andi nodded at the monitor. “Tibedeaux out.”

“O-seven hundred hours,” the cool voice reminded her. “Central out.”

Andi watched as the CTA’s logo flickered and winked out before wrapping her arms around herself and letting the shivers overtake her. She has just been ordered to offer herself like a piece of meat to the most dangerous man she knew.

Oh, God, what was she going to do?

Chapter Two

As she stood in the elevator of agent Alpha’s apartment building Andi tugged uselessly at the tight black mini skirt that kept trying to ride up her thighs with every step. She had been forced to raid the closet of clothes she kept for the girls in order to find something provocative to wear. A career in counterintelligence didn’t exactly lend itself to a sexy wardrobe, at least not in Andi’s case since she worked behind the scenes. She supposed she could have been some kind of Mata Hari spy—if the Agency had deemed her good enough. But with her plain dark brown hair and eyes and pale skin she wasn’t nearly glamorous enough for that kind of role.

In fact, she thought as she pulled nervously at the thin red silk blouse that barely covered her breasts, she wasn’t even glamorous enough to impersonate one of her girls. They were willowy and tall with huge fake boobs and long, coltish legs—obviously designed by a male scientist to be the epitome of what men wanted. Andi was petite and wore a B cup—not exactly the male ideal. She just hoped that Agent Alpha wouldn’t take one look at her and decide she wasn’t good enough to use. No, say it, Andi, not use—fuck. You hope he won’t take one look at you and decide you’re not good enough to fuck.

Andi swept both hands though her hair, her thoughts a chaotic swirl. Oh God, he’s going to fuck me. I can’t believe this. I haven’t even had a date it two years because of this stupid job—I’m practically a virgin all over again. Agent Alpha is going to rip me in two. I’ll be lucky to get out of his apartment alive.

She tried to consider her options—but there were no options. Refusing to do as Central had ordered or running away from her post would both result in the same thing—certain death. When she had accepted a job as an agent control enabler which was the Agency’s fancy name for her position, she’d had no idea what she was getting herself into. Not until it was too late to get out of it alive.

What she wanted to do in the worst way was run, just get out of town and possibly out of the country and try to start a new life somewhere else. But she didn’t have the training to avoid the people the Agency would send after her. Come to think of it, they might even send the very agents she was currently overseeing. The thought of Alpha on her tail, intent on eliminating her gave Andi the cold shivers. Better she should take her chances fucking him than that. Better she should just get on with it and hope she came out the other side in one piece.

Lifting her chin, Andi tried to stop the negative thoughts and control her fear as she walked up the deserted hallway to knock on his door. The thick gray carpet under her feet made no sound but before she could even raise her hand a low voice called from inside,

“Come in. It’s open.”

Taking a deep breath, Andi pushed open the thick wooden door and stepped into the dim interior. Agent Alpha’s deep voice always sent a shiver up her spine whenever she spoke to him on the phone so she tried to keep their conversations brief and to the point. He wasn’t belligerent or confrontational like Beta or sullen and rude like Delta and Gamma.

Actually he was always scrupulously polite and strangely, it was his cool, correct manners that frightened her so. She knew where she stood with the other three men under her watch but with Agent Alpha, well, she had a feeling that he could tear her apart and never raise his voice or break a sweat while he was doing it. And then there was the way he looked at her during their brief communication calls…almost as though he wanted to eat her up. But that didn’t bear thinking about. At least, not now.

“H—hello?” she stammered walking further into the apartment although it was the last thing she wanted to do. Even in the dim lighting she could see that it was neat and clean—almost impersonally so. There was no art or pictures on the walls and no personal objects lying around. Of course, since the agents had their memories wiped and personalities rearranged before they were sent into the field, it wasn’t surprising that they had no individual taste. They were killing machines and couldn’t be expected to care much for aesthetic values. Still, it was disconcerting to see how very sterile Agent Alpha’s living space was. The apartment looked like no one lived there at all.

“Hello? Agent Alpha?” she called again. “I’m here for, uh, your stress relief.”

“In here,” the deep voice called to her from the living room area. Taking a deep breath, Andi walked into the darkened room. It was lit only by the moonlight falling through the white mini blinds. Sitting on the black leather sofa was a huge, indistinct shape.

Oh God, that’s really him. Agent Alpha. Andi had never seen him in person before—she kept a careful distance between herself and all the men she managed for personal safety reasons. She couldn’t believe how much bigger he looked sitting in the shadows of the living room than he had on the tiny phone screen.

“Come closer. Took you long enough.” The deep voice was rough with need. Under the black lace bra she wore Andi felt her nipples tighten in fear for the second time that night.

“I…I came as soon as I could,” she forced herself to say. “I…I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize. You know what I need and how bad I need it. Now come here.” He beckoned with one hand. Biting her lower lip, she forced herself to move forward. There was a coffee table in front of the couch and she nearly stumbled over it in the dark.

“Hey, watch it.” A hand so big it felt like a catcher’s mitt shot out to catch her, supporting her by her upper arm, and then dragged her around the table. Before she knew it she was standing between his spread thighs. “You girls aren’t usually so clumsy,” he rumbled. His face was hidden in the shadows but his eyes gleamed in the dim light with what might have been amusement.

“Well if you wouldn’t keep it so dark in here maybe I could see where I was going!” Andi spat the words angrily, her nerves getting the better of her.

The hand on her arm tightened, pulling her closer against her will. “What did you say?” Agent Alpha’s voice was a warning rumble.

“I…nothing. I just can’t see anything in the dark. I don’t have genetically modified eyesight or whatever it is they did to you guys during conditioning.”

Andi realized she was babbling and forced herself to stop. This close she could actually smell him, a spicy kind of musk made up of leather and clean sweat. It was a very masculine smell, a frightening smell as far as Andi was concerned.

But she wasn’t the only one using her nose. From the darkness in front of her came a low sniffing sound. Suddenly Agent Alpha’s voice hardened.

“You’re not what the Agency usually sends over. Who are you?” He reached for a lamp beside the couch and suddenly the room was flooded with muted golden light.

“I…I’m sorry, I know I’m not what you expected,” Andi stuttered, blinking in the sudden brilliance.

She was trying to focus on his face but she was afraid to meet his piercing blue eyes. He had black hair cut short to his scalp and features that looked like they’d been carved out of some unforgiving rock. A surprisingly full and sensuous mouth balanced out his chilly eyes and knife blade nose. He was wearing a pair of black leather pants and nothing else and she couldn’t help looking at his muscular chest. It was smooth and bare except for the tattoo of a wolf’s head on his upper right pectoral. She wondered if the Agency had put it there to identify him or if he’d had it before he was inducted into the program.

“Damn right you’re not what I expected.” The look in his eyes made her so nervous that Andi started babbling again, trying to keep her mind off of what was about to happen to her.

“I would have sent one of the girls but they were all, er…occupied and the best one is in the shop and so there was no other choice but to come myself and I’m sorry because I know I’m not what you wanted but—”

“You’re real.” The lust in his voice was unmistakable.

“I…what?” Andi looked at him, meeting his pale blue eyes for the first time. He stared at her so intently that she soon had to drop her own eyes, unable to stand the intensity of his gaze.

“I said, you’re real. A real woman. Not one of those fucking whore dolls they always send us.”

“The girls, yes. They were all busy or broken tonight. That’s how you ended up with me. I’m so sorry—”

“I’m not,” he cut her off. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been with a real woman, not some fake collection of silicone and collagen run by a microchip?”

“Agent Alpha, I—”

“Matt,” he said, still looking intently into her face. “My name—my real name—is Matt. Bet you didn’t know that, did you, Andrea?”

Andi didn’t know what surprised and frightened her more—the fact that Agent Alpha knew his own real name or the fact that he knew hers. In either case it pointed to a break-down in his conditioning. She was going to have to be very careful here.

“How…how do you know your name?” she asked, starting with the obvious question.

He shrugged shoulders that were easily twice as broad as hers. “It just came to me. I’d been having dreams…flashes of people I used to know, things I used to do. Did you know I played in chess tournaments and that I collected baseball cards when I was a kid?”

“I…” Andi swallowed and heard a dry clicking in her throat. “They didn’t really give me any background on anyone when they set me up here.”

He laughed, a dry, humorless sound. “That’s because they don’t give a shit about any of us. We’re all expendable. Even you, sweetheart. That’s how you ended up here tonight, isn’t it?”

“Please…” Andi could feel her pulse pounding in every part of her body at once. “Please don’t kill me.”

“Why would I kill you?” His voice softened and the hand on her arm relaxed a little.

“B-because, that’s what you do,” Andi stuttered.

“Not any more.” Black eyebrows came down over his ice blue eyes and he scowled. Then he gave Andi a searching look. “I’m not going to kill you, but the damn conditioning makes it impossible for me to just let you go. You know what I need.”

“I…I know.” Andi fumbled with the buttons on her blouse with numb fingers. Have to get this over with…

“Stop.” Agent Alpha—or Matt as she supposed she should think of him now—pulled her hands gently away from the red silk blouse.

“But…but I thought you wanted…”

“I do want you. More than you know.” He pulled her gently into his lap and buried his face in her neck, inhaling deeply. He was so big she felt like a doll seated on his knee. “God, you smell so good. So real,” he rumbled.

We’ll see how excited he is about real when I lose the bra and he sees I’m a B cup instead of a double D, Andi thought apprehensively. She didn’t struggle to get away although having such a dangerous man so close was triggering her fight or flight response almost unbearably. But she couldn’t relax in his arms either. Not even the fact that his big hands rubbing up and down her back and his warm breath on her neck was surprisingly erotic could make her lose her fear of him. He was a trained killer and she’d seen what he could do.

He seemed to sense her apprehension because he pulled back from her and looked her in the eye. “Andi,” he rumbled softly. “How long since you’ve had a man inside you?”

Andi felt her face burning but she was afraid not to answer the frank question and she knew that he would sense a lie. “Two…two years,” she murmured, looking down at her hands which were trembling in her lap.

He sighed. “It’s been three times that long since I had a real woman. Look at me, Andi.” He lifted her chin with one finger, forcing her to meet his gaze again. “I need you tonight—need to fuck you.”

Andi felt a shiver that wasn’t entirely fear ripple through her at his coarse words. Not trusting her voice, she only nodded.

“I need to fuck you. Need to open you up with my cock and come deep inside your pussy. But I won’t hurt you.”

If her cheeks had been warm before they were on fire now. Two years was a long time, she realized. A long time to be without a man, a long time to go without being touched, being held and taken. She knew that sex with Matt was going to be rough but if she could really trust him not to hurt her…

“Do you promise?” she asked softly, looking at him intently. The piercing blue eyes were half hooded with lust now but she saw sincerity in them as well.

“I swear it,” he breathed, pulling her close to bury his face in her neck again. “Now can you relax and let go with me? I don’t want to fuck a block of wood—might as well be using one of those damn whore dolls.”

“Are they that bad?” Andi asked breathlessly. She had never seen the girls in action, she just saw the results afterwards.

“They’re not real. They smell like plastic instead of skin.” He inhaled her scent again as his large hands began unbuttoning her blouse. He cupped her right breast through the black lace bra she was wearing and Andi gasped and bit back a moan. “They don’t react when you touch them.” He popped open the latch at the front of her bra and pealed back the black lace, baring her breasts. For a moment he just stared at her and she felt fear rising to the surface once more.

“Look, I know I don’t have…have as much up top as you’re used to…” she began but he shook his head.

“Andi, they’re beautiful. Real. Soft.” He stroked one bare breast with his large, warm hand and Andi moaned softly as her nipple hardened under his palm. “Responsive,” he continued, leaning down to take the nipple in his mouth.

“Oh!” Andi gasped as his hot mouth made contact with her bare skin. She felt like a thousand volts of electricity had suddenly shot through her. Apparently encouraged by her reaction, Matt sucked harder, taking as much of her breast into his mouth as he could. He flicked the other nipple with his fingers idly, making Andi squirm in his lap. The hot sensation of his tongue lapping and sucking her bare flesh seemed to course from her breasts straight to the tender cleft between her legs. To her embarrassment she realized she was actually getting wet.

“God, you feel so good in my arms.” Matt’s voice was low and hoarse with need. He shifted her suddenly so that she was straddling his hips. Andi moaned as her legs spread wide. The leather mini skirt slid high on her upper thighs, revealing the black lace panties that went with her bra. Feeling slightly panicked and incredibly exposed, she tried to wiggle backwards and pull the skirt down but Matt wouldn’t allow it.

“Closer.” His voice was a low growl in her ear as he pulled her pelvis toward his, forcing the leather mini skirt up around her waist. The action spread her legs even wider and parted her throbbing sex under the lace panties. Then he gripped her ass with both hands and brought her in the final fraction of an inch so that she was plastered against him with her bare breasts against the hard planes of his chest.

Andi moaned again as he pressed her sex hard against the thick club of his cock, pulsing under his leather pants. He ground against her, his hard shaft parting the swollen lips of her pussy beneath the brief front panel of her panties and rubbing hard against the sensitive bud of her clit. God, he must be huge! For a moment she wondered how in the world she could accommodate the massive cock she felt rubbing against her spread sex and then the thought was pushed to the back of her mind by his mouth on her neck.

“Taste so good,” Matt murmured into her hair as his hands stroked hungrily over her back and ass. His tongue was hot and demanding as he lapped and sucked at the sensitive hollow of her throat. “Can’t wait to taste you everywhere, Andi.”

She couldn’t make sense of his words, could barely make sense of her own reactions. Here she was, spread out with her breasts exposed and her skirt hiked up to her waist with a man’s hands all over her. A man whom she had always feared. She had never felt so vulnerable in her entire life and yet, she had never felt so hot, so sexual.

“You like this? Like the feel of me tasting you?” he demanded, pulling back to look in her eyes.

“I…” Andi bit her lip, unable to say what she was really feeling.

Matt frowned. “Tell me what you feel, sweetheart. I want to know. Talk to me.”

“I…it’s…I’ve never felt like this.” She dropped her eyes, embarrassed.

“Like what?” His hooded eyes regarded her steadily and he thrust with his pelvis, grinding his leather clad cock hard against her open folds.

“Oh, God!” Andi closed her eyes briefly and bit her lip hard. “A little bit scared but…but also…” She shook her head, unable to continue.

“Also…?” His hand slid from her ass to press between her legs and he cupped her wet sex in his hand. She cried out softly as the heel of his hand thrust against her mound and his fingers explored the damp lace that barely covered her swollen cunt.

“Also hot,” she gasped at last when he prompted her by rubbing her aching clit with his blunt fingertips.

“Explain.” He sounded genuinely interested and it occurred to Andi in a muddled kind of way that he must have missed making love to a partner who could actually communicate her needs and wishes instead of just lying still and taking it the way the girls did.

“I…I just…two years is a long time,” she panted. His fingers had slipped behind the front panel of her panties now and he was stroking her wet inner cunt slowly, as though he had all the time in the world to touch her. His leisurely way surprised her—she would have thought that fucking Agent Alpha would be just that—fucking. By very definition it should be fast, furious, and rough. Instead he seemed to want to take his time exploring her…owning her.

“That’s right. Two years since you’ve had a man,” he mused softly. “Two years since anyone has touched this sweet, wet pussy.” He circled her clit with one fingertip as he spoke. “Two years since you’ve been fucked.” Two long, thick fingers entered her roughly and pressed deep into her core.

Andi moaned and jerked against him as his fingers opened her pussy and found the end of her channel. God, would he ever stop? Any other man would have had her by now, would have thrown her down on the couch and been on top of her, inside her. But Matt seemed content to talk and watch her reaction to his teasing touch.

“Two years since you took this job and your personal life ended, right?” he asked as he continued to slide his thick fingers in and out of her wet sex.

“That…that’s right,” Andi made herself say. “It…there was no way to date anyone without endangering them. The…the Agency frowns on…on…” She shook her head, it was impossible to carry on a conversation when what he was doing below her waist was driving her crazy.

“The Agency frowns on you having a life outside of work. The Agency wants to control every aspect of your existence,” he finished for her. “You and I could have gone on working together for years without knowing each other. Without doing this.” The blunt pad of his thumb came up to rub her throbbing clit and at the same time he thrust hard with his fingers, reaching the end of her channel.

“Oh!” Andi threw back her head, her back arching helplessly as the whipcrack orgasm rolled through her. It was short and sharp and jagged, like a lightening strike to her entire body. While it lasted she was incapable of thinking of anything, of doing anything but reacting to his hands on her.

“That’s right, sweetheart, come for me.” Matt’s deep voice was a hungry growl. “Come while I fingerfuck your sweet pussy.”

Andi panted as the pleasure ebbed. Slowly she opened her eyes which had been squeezed shut and looked at the man in front of her. She wondered if Matt had talked himself out. Surely he would take her now—would fuck her. She felt a stab of apprehension mixed with something suspiciously like anticipation as she wondered how it would feel to have that thick monster of a cock sheathed inside her to the hilt.

“You’re beautiful when you come, Andi.” Matt’s deep voice sent a shiver up her spine. Slowly he withdrew his fingers and brought them to his mouth. Without breaking eye contact, he slipped them between his lips, sucking her essence eagerly from his skin as though it was a delicacy.

Andi’s eyes widened as she watched his display. She’d never been with any man who acted like Matt. There was an almost animal enjoyment in his eyes as he sucked his fingers clean. He acted as though he was savoring her taste, as though he couldn’t get enough of her.

“Delicious,” he murmured as he finished getting the last traces of her honey from his long fingers. “Can’t wait to taste it straight from the source.”

“I…I don’t understand,” Andi protested although she was afraid that she understood all too well. “I can’t…I don’t…”

“You don’t have to. I will.” He was already pressing her back on the couch and removing her panties and miniskirt in one swift motion. The leather of the couch was cool against her bare ass and Andy shivered helplessly, feeling incredibly vulnerable. She’d never been with a man who really wanted to do this. It was always something a guy did only if he felt like he had to—not something he really enjoyed. As a result, Andi had never enjoyed it either. It felt too much like a duty and she usually tried to avoid it. But there was no avoiding it now. Matt’s big hands on her thighs, spreading her legs, let her know that he wanted to do it and that she had no choice about letting him.

“Please,” she whispered. “I…I…”

“You scared, sweetheart?” He kissed her neck hungrily and then moved lower, to the soft skin between her breasts. “Still afraid of the big bad wolf?”

“I don’t know,” she murmured, realizing it was the truth. She was no longer terrified that he might harm her. But it was hard to be this vulnerable with any man. Lying there on the couch with her legs spread she felt so open, so helpless.

“It’s all right. Told you I’m not gonna hurt you.” His voice was a soft rumble as he moved still lower, circling the cup of her naval with his tongue until the fine muscles of her stomach trembled. But when his lips traced a trail of fire down to the neatly trimmed thatch of curls that decorated her mound, Andi lost her nerve and tried to shut her thighs.

“Hey, don’t get shy on me now.” Matt’s hands on her inner thighs were warm and gentle but demanding at the same time. It was obvious he wasn’t going to be denied. “Don’t tell me you came here willing to let me put my cock in your pussy but not my tongue.” He looked up at her, one eyebrow arched in disbelief.

Andi squirmed uncomfortably on the couch. “Look, it’s just…I’ve never been with anyone who really wanted to do this. I know some guys feel like they have to but really they don’t—you don’t, I mean. So if you’re just trying to be nice…”

His deep, rumbling laughter startled her and when she looked down she could see the gleam of amusement in his sharp blue eyes. “Look at me, sweetheart. I’m a trained assassin—a killing machine. Do you really think I do anything just to be nice?”

“Well then why do you want to do it? Why not just…just fuck me like you said you were going to?” Andi couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth but she couldn’t help herself. She was so uncomfortable.

He looked at her sharply for a minute. “If I hadn’t felt how wet and hot your pussy was when I was fingering you I’d think you just wanted to get this little encounter over with.” He smiled. “But I did feel it, and I watched the way you came so hard just now. You need this bad, Andi. Almost as bad as I do. And you don’t even have any damn Agency conditioning to blame.”

Andi felt her cheeks heat at his words but there was no way she could deny them so she didn’t try. Instead she said, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

He frowned. “I didn’t think it needed answering. But if you really want to know, going down on you is something I’ve given a lot of thought to. You might even call it a recurring fantasy if you were an Agency shrink.”

“You…you thought about me?” Andi didn’t know whether to be frightened or flattered. She settled for a combination of the two. “But…but we’ve never even met in person until tonight,” she protested.

“Yeah, but I would always watch you on the phone screen when you gave me assignments. You looks so serious, so scared. Almost as lost as I was.” He leaned down and nipped one of her hip bones, making her jump. “It made me want you. Every time you sent one of those fucking fake whores to my door to “control my stress” after a mission I imagined it was you I was fucking. I wondered what you’d sound like when you came, what you’d feel like when I touched you. Wondered what your sweet, wet cunt would taste like when I went down on you… And now I finally have the chance to find out.”

Andi couldn’t believe it. “You fantasized about…about…”

“About eating your hot little pussy, sweetheart. He smiled at her, his eyes still hooded with lust. “About having your soft thighs wrapped around my head while I tonguefucked you, about the way you’d moan and thrash under me while you came all over my face…Oh, yeah, I thought about all of that. And now I’m going to do it. So just relax and let me taste you. All right?”

He wasn’t asking for permission, Andi realized. He was telling her how it was going to be. There was nothing she could do but relax and open for him, nothing she could do but spread her thighs and accept his mouth on her pussy, his tongue inside her. Well, at least I know he really wants to do this. The knowledge that he really did want to taste her, that he had actually fantasized about doing it for months helped her relax. This wasn’t a duty for Matt, it was a pleasure. With a sigh that was more than half moan, she allowed the muscles in her thighs to relax completely and let him in.

Matt kissed the top of her mound, pressing his mouth to the slit of her sex. “Such a sweet little pussy,” he murmured almost to himself. “So soft and wet.” Gently he spread her puffy outer lips and pressed another kiss inside, on the swollen inner folds of her cunt.

Andi bit her lip to stifle a moan. God, he was kissing her pussy the same way he would kiss her mouth! She couldn’t believe his patience, his persistence. Her hands crept downward, seemingly of their own volition and stroked his black, spiky hair.

Matt looked up at her tentative touch and smiled. “That’s right, sweetheart. Just relax and let me eat you. Open up and let me put my tongue in your sweet little pussy.” His mouth moved lower. Sucking the sensitive bud of her clit between his lips he tortured it sweetly with his tongue.

Andi couldn’t help herself. She bucked upward, pressing her pelvis shamelessly against his mouth and he responded by shoving both hands under her ass and holding her there as he lapped and sucked and tasted her cunt.

“God! OhGodohGodohGod…” Andi realized she was moaning out loud but she couldn’t seem to stop herself, couldn’t seem to do anything but feel the pleasure that was mounting inside her again. The rough stubble of his cheeks scratched her tender inner thighs as he pressed harder against her and then she felt his mouth shift, felt him moving downward.

His large hands readjusted her, giving him even greater access to her pussy and then Andi felt his tongue enter her, pressing deep into her tight cunt as though he was reaching for her soul. She gasped and fisted her hands in his hair, fighting not to scream. She had never felt anything as erotic as Matt opening her with his tongue, thrusting inside her there as he tasted her as deeply as he could. And he was obviously enjoying it, pulling her up hard to meet him and burying his face between her thighs. He didn’t even seem to mind the way she was yanking his hair.

The feel of his mouth on her, of his tongue inside her finally brought Andi’s pleasure to a crest. She moaned as her second orgasm washed over her, moaned and pressed herself against his mouth to get more of his tongue inside her. God, it felt so good. She’d never imagined this act being anything but painfully embarrassing but somehow with Matt it was natural, pleasurable…incredible.

By the time he stopped licking and sucking her swollen folds and looked up Andi felt as limp as a dishrag. She had never come easily and she couldn’t remember the last time a man had made her come once during sex, let alone twice. And we still haven’t even actually fucked yet, she thought. But from the smoldering look in Matt’s pale blue eyes, it wouldn’t take long.

“God you taste good. I knew you would.” He slid up the length of her body and took her mouth in a long, searching kiss. Andi moaned into his mouth as she tasted herself on his lips and he took the opportunity to explore her thoroughly with his tongue.

The entire length of his huge, muscular body was pressed against hers and she knew it should have made her feel smothered. Instead his weight was a welcome pressure against her bare skin and the feel of his leather clad cock rubbing against her sensitive naked cunt made her gasp. She couldn't remember the last time she’d felt so alive. Probably some time before I came to work for the Agency, she thought distractedly. But while his tongue and his fingers inside her had been amazing, she knew she wanted more.

“Matt,” she whispered when he broke the kiss at last. “Matt, I want…I need you.”

“Need you too, Andi.” His voice was rough with lust. “Need to be inside you, fucking you. I can’t wait any longer.”

“I don’t want you to wait.” She leaned up and kissed him, surprised at her own boldness. “So how do you want me?”

“On your hands and knees—to start with anyway.” He stroked her face gently. “You’re tight and I’m big. That way I can open you up and get you used to my cock inside you without hurting you. Okay?”

“O—okay,” Andi whispered with numb lips. Now that they had come down to it she couldn’t believe she was actually going to do this. Actually going to spread her legs voluntarily and let him sink his thick cock to the hilt into her naked pussy. And yet, a part of her, a large part of her, wanted it so badly she could barely breathe.

He shifted off of her and began stripping off the black leather pants, leaving Andi to scramble into position. She faced the arm of the couch and spread her legs, hyper aware of the cool leather against her bare breasts and nipples as she braced herself for his entry.

“That’s good, sweetheart, real good.” Matt’s breath was hot against the back of her neck and she could feel the heat from his big body as he covered her. Something moist and hard bumped against the back of her thigh and she realized it was his cock, finally free of its leather sheath and ready to fuck her.

“God,” she whispered, more to herself than him as he positioned himself at her entrance. She could feel the moist, blunt head of his cock rubbing against her open pussy, not to enter her, not yet, but to get wet enough so that he could slide into her. Had she thought she felt vulnerable before? Had she really? Well the feeling of being helpless and open was a hundred times worse now, a thousand times worse. And just how big is he, really? she wondered, wishing she had gotten a chance to see him, to touch him before she had assumed the position. Was this going to hurt? She felt her inner muscles clenching at the idea and bit her lower lip until blood came.

“Hey, sweetheart, relax. Just relax.” One large warm hand was stroking the bare, trembling skin of her back soothingly as Matt whispered in her ear. “I know you’re scared,” he murmured softly. “But we’re gonna go slow, I promise.”

“All…all right,” Andi forced herself to say and then he was pressing into her, entering her, and she couldn’t think to say anything else.

Matt was as good as his word. The slow press of his thick shaft into her open pussy made Andi bite her lip again but this time with impatience. She could feel herself stretching to accommodate him but after the first shock when she’d felt the broad head of his cock press inside her, it didn’t hurt. She wanted to tell Matt to hurry up, to put it all inside her, but the words wouldn’t come. And anyway, she sensed from the way he was guiding himself into her that he wouldn’t comply with any request to hurry even if she was able to make it. He was like a gourmand with a fine meal and he wanted to make it last.

“God, Andi, you’re so tight,” he murmured hoarsely as he pressed slowly inside her. “So tight and hot and wet. I can’t believe how good you feel wrapped around my cock.”

Andi opened her mouth to answer and could only pant. God, he was huge. And there kept being more of him. As he entered her slowly, inch after thick inch, she began to wonder if it would ever end. But at last it did. She felt the broad head of his cock pressed hard against the end of her channel and at the same time, his lean hips met her buttocks.

“There we go, sweetheart,” Matt murmured, caressing her hips and waist. “All the way in you now. Can you feel it?” He drew back about an inch and thrust forward, drawing a gasp from her throat.

“I…I feel it. I feel you,” Andi managed to make herself say. She had never felt so full, so thoroughly opened and she was grateful now that he had insisted on going slow. It had been a long time since she’d made love with anyone and she’d never had a lover as big as Matt. If he had been the animalistic killer she’d imagined on her way over he really might have hurt her, might have torn her in half. As it was she felt stretched to the limit by his girth.

“That’s good, Andi. Good because I’m going to fuck you now. I’ll try to take it slow but I don’t know…don’t know if I can. I’ve been holding back all night because I didn’t want to hurt you but this damn conditioning…”

Andi understood what he was saying at once. The Agency conditioned their agents to be ruthless in all things—in sex as well as killing. It was probably the reason why the girls were in the repair shop so often. That Matt was able to hold back and keep from ripping her apart as he fucked her said a lot about his inner strength. For the first time she was glad that he had apparently overcome his conditioning—if he hadn’t, she might not still be alive. But now she was used to having him inside her, used to feeling his thick cock deep in her pussy and she felt like she could handle a little rough treatment.

“It’s all right,” she murmured, pressing back against him to let him know she meant it. “It’s all right, Matt. Just…just do it. Just fuck me.”

Her words seemed to release something inside him, something long pent up and fiercely controlled. With a sound that was like a low roar, he pulled almost all the way out of her and slammed back in, thrusting the entire thick length of his cock deep into her tight cunt.

Andi gasped and then moaned at the pleasure of his rough entry. She’d never really liked this position before—with any other man she’d tried it with it always seemed silly and demeaning somehow. But she didn’t feel like that with Matt. As he gripped her hips hard enough to leave ten finger shaped bruises and plowed into her she felt hot and animalistic in a way she’d never experienced before. She found that she was gripping the leather armrest of the couch and backing to meet him, spreading her thighs even more to get every last inch inside her as he fucked her with a savage intensity she’d never dreamed of.

“God! Oh, God, Matt, please…please…” Andi didn’t know if she was begging him to stop or begging him to never stop. She only knew that she couldn’t help moaning, couldn’t help pleading as he continued to open her, to take her harder and faster and farther than she’d ever been taken before.

“That’s right, Andi. Say my name. And tell me how it feels when I fuck you.” Matt’s voice was hoarse and commanding but in no way out of breath. It occurred to Andi that with his superb physical condition he could probably do this all night. She wasn’t sure if she could take that much of his rough love but she was prepared to find out.

“Matt,” she moaned as he thrust into her. “God, Matt, it feels so good. Feels so right to have you in me like this. Feels right to have you fuck me. Please fuck me, don’t stop!”

“Couldn’t if I wanted to,” he murmured, speeding up his rhythm. “Love you, Andi. Been loving you for so long…wanting you for so long…”

Even in the heat of passion his words gave Andi pause. He loved her? He’d admitted to fantasizing about her but…love? It’s just something people shout out when they’re fucking, she told herself. No big deal. But if it was no big deal, why did it make her heart skip a beat? She felt one of his large hands slip from her hip down to the area where they were joined and she lost her train of thought abruptly.

“Come for me, Andi,” he growled in her ear. “Come while I’m fucking you. Want to feel your sweet pussy squeezing my cock while I get deep inside you.”

Oh, God, no more…I can’t take any more, she thought as he began caressing her clit, rubbing her in time with his thrusts inside her body. I can’t…I can’t… But even as she had the thought, she was. An orgasm so deep it felt like a tidal wave was rushing through her, making her see stars before her eyes.

“Matt,” she gasped. “Oh, Matt, I can’t…”

“Yes, you can,” he growled back. “I can feel you, coming all around me. God, it feels so good—have to fill you up now. Have to fill your sweet little pussy with my cum.”

“Yes…yes, please…” His words as much as the relentless hammering of his shaft inside her made her inner muscles spasm around him. Plainly Matt felt her reaction because he pulled her in close and thrust hard, getting as deeply into her cunt as he could. And then Andi felt him flooding her sex, coming deep inside her open pussy, claiming her, owning her completely.

“Oh, God…” she whispered and then the intensity of the sensations flowing through her body was too much. The room began to go gray and her fingers felt numb, unable to grip the armrest of the couch anymore. And then everything went black.

Chapter Three

“Andi? You okay? Andi, talk to me.” A warm hand was patting her cheek and a deep voice was speaking anxiously in her ear. Where was she? She hadn’t had anyone touch her like this, speak to her like this in, well, in years. Was she dreaming of her life before the Agency had swallowed her whole?

Andi’s eyelids fluttered and she looked up to see a pair of piercing blue eyes staring down at her in concern. Suddenly it all came rushing back to her…Agent Alpha’s stress readings, Central’s demands that she go and relieve him herself, the meeting in his darkened apartment and the way he had touched her and tasted her and taken her… Absurdly she felt herself blushing. God, she had really been begging for it there at the end, calling his name, pleading with him to fuck her…She couldn’t ever remember losing control so completely, not even during sex. Especially not during sex. But there was something about him, something about the way he demanded her total submission and did what he wanted to her body that made her feel weak. Apparently weak enough to faint.

“How…how long have I been out?” she asked groggily, looking up at him.

He shrugged. “Only about five minutes. I was, uh, just finishing when you collapsed under me. Thought for a minute I’d killed you.” The worry on his dark face and the gentle way he stroked her forehead belied his casual tone.

“Sorry.” Andi struggled to sit up and he helped her, keeping one large hand at the small of her back for support. Then she looked at him curiously. “But you kill lots of people. It’s your job.”

“I told you, not anymore.” Matt frowned. From out of nowhere he suddenly produced a large, sharp knife with a thin silver blade.

Abruptly, Andi was wide awake. She could feel all the blood draining from her face and her hands started to shake. Oh, God, he’s finally snapped. The last of the conditioning is gone and he’s going to go berserk. This time next week the police are going to be calling him a serial killer and I’ll be known as his first victim.

“Matt,” she pleaded, holding out a trembling hand. “Matt, please…please don’t do this.”

“Do what?” He frowned and then looked down at the knife in his hand and laughed. “Hey, don’t worry sweetheart. This isn’t for you, it’s for me. I can’t take this life anymore so I’m getting out the only way I know how.”

Oh, no—he’s suicidal! For some reason this bothered her even more than the idea of her own death.

“Don’t.” Impulsively, she put a hand on his muscular forearm even though she knew she had no chance of stopping him if he wanted to slit his throat or wrists. “We can work something out, Matt,” she whispered, looking into his eyes. “You don’t have to end it this way. Please…” She swallowed hard. “Please don’t kill yourself. I just found you, I don’t want to lose you so soon.”

“Hey, now…” He put down the knife and cupped her cheek. “You don’t have to cry, Andi. That wasn’t what I meant at all.”

“I’m not crying…am I?” Andi raised a hand to her face and was surprised to feel the warmth of tears on her cheeks. Did he really mean that much to her, even though she had really only gotten to know him in the last hour? Yes, she thought, looking up at the chiseled features and piercing eyes that were suddenly soft with emotion. He’s important to me. He’s more than Agent Alpha, he’s Matt and as stupid as it sounds, I think I may be well on the way to being in love with him.

“I didn’t know you cared so much.” He was almost whispering, his deep voice filled with intensity.

Andi let out a laugh that was more than half sob. “I didn’t either but I do. I can’t help it—you made me care.”

“I care about you too.” He leaned in and kissed her mouth tenderly, then looked at her again. “I care what happens to you.”

“I care what happens to you, too. I don't want you to die or get taken away by Central…Oh, my God.” She put a hand to her mouth. “What time is it? You have to get out of here—Central is sending a transport to take you back to the director of the Agency for debriefing at o-seven hundred. And you know what that means.”

Matt looked grim. “Yeah, I know. I figured they’d want to see me. I knew they’d want to know why I ditched my last mission.”

“Why did you?” Andi looked at him doubtfully. It seemed like forever since she’d been ordered by Central to go give Agent Alpha some stress relief. She had almost forgotten the reason his readings had been in the red in the first place. “I mean, you’ve never failed to complete a mission before. You’re their most valuable agent.”

“I was their most valuable agent. But I’m leaving tonight—going off the reservation.” He picked up the knife again and brought it up to his own chest. “I’m through killing for them. No more.”

Andi bit back a gasp as he sliced a single neat furrow in his own flesh, neatly bisecting the wolf’s head tattoo above his right pec. As a thick trickle of blood began to flow down his muscular chest, he inserted the sharp tip of the knife and flicked his wrist. Something small and silver flew out of the wound and landed on the bland cream colored carpet at their feet. To Andi, it looked like a bloody dime but when she looked closer, she saw that it was square instead of round and there was some kind of intricate tracing on its surface.

“What is it?” she asked, eyeing the strange object warily.

“The implant connected to the indicator back at your office. This way when I go, no one can track me.”

“Oh.” It made sense suddenly and Andi was filled with a strange mixture of relief that he was neither suicidal nor homicidal and regret that he was leaving just when she had found him. To her embarrassment, she found that her eyes were wet again.

“Hey, what’s with the waterworks, sweetheart? Why are you crying now?” Matt put down the knife again and cupped her chin.

Andi shook her head and pulled away. With a quick, jerky motion she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I guess…I guess it’s just that I’m going to miss you. I’ve thought about leaving too but I know I can’t. They—the Agency—has eyes and ears everywhere and I don’t have the skill to get away from them. It’s like living inside some kind of Orwellian novel and you can never leave, never go away and have any kind of a normal life ever again.”

“Well, I don’t know about having a normal life, but we’re sure as hell leaving tonight.” Matt had grabbed a swatch of fabric—it looked like a plain white t-shirt—and absently pressed it against the wound he had made on his chest.

Andi looked at him, uncertain if she had heard him correctly. “We? You mean…you mean you’re taking me with you?”

“You didn’t really think I’d leave you behind, did you?” He grinned at her, his blue eyes flashing. “Not after I finally got to know you…if you wanna call it that.”

Andi blushed but found herself smiling too. “I guess we can call it that. But I hope we’ll get to know each other a lot better in the future.”

“You can count on it.” He leaned in and gave her another swift kiss. “Look, it won’t be a normal life, like I said. We’ll be on the run but we’ll be together and I know I can keep them from finding us.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Andi said fervently. “But…but are you sure I won’t just slow you down?”

“Hell, no, sweetheart. Don’t worry about that.” He barked a short laugh. “I’ll use their own training against them. We’ll just fade into the woodwork, never to be seen again. Probably end up down in Rio or somewhere like that. So what do you say, will you come?”

Andi thought of it—a real life. Traveling the world instead being stuck in the dark, cramped apartment controlling agents and girls and slowly dying inside because she couldn’t ever have any kind of personal relationship again. Not if she wanted the person she had it with to survive, that was. And spending her life with Matt—a man who looked like the most frightening killer on the outside but was capable of patience and tenderness she’d never known before on the inside.

“Yes,” she said, smiling at him. “Yes, absolutely, let’s go.”

“All right then, it’s getting late and we only have…” He looked at a black clock hanging on the plain white wall of the apartment. “Five hours to get a head start. So you’d better get dressed.” His pale blue eyes scanned briefly over her body, and he gave her a slow, lazy smile. “Unless you want to cut that to four hours.”

Andi felt a warm, sexual flush starting between her bare breasts. In all the excitement with the knife and his offer to take her with him, she had completely overlooked the fact that they were both naked. “No, that’s all right,” she said, reaching for the red silk shirt and black leather mini skirt which had long been discarded. “I think we’d better get moving. But maybe I can get a rain check for later. You know, being on the run might be kind of hectic. So by the time we get wherever we’re going tonight, you might need some stress relief again.”

Matt laughed. “Absolutely, sweetheart. That’s exactly what I’m gonna need.” Then he pulled her close suddenly and gave her a long, demanding kiss. “I meant what I said, you know. I do love you, Andi, even though we hardly know each other. I’ve been thinking about you for years, wanting to get to know you, to get to love you in person instead of from a distance. I’m glad you came tonight instead of sending one of the girls.”

“Me too.” Impulsively, Andi kissed him back. “Now let’s get out of here. We have our whole life ahead of us and I want to start living it.”

End

Read on for the first chapter of Exiled, book 7 of Evangeline's Brides of the Kindred series.

Chapter One

“I can’t wear this! Not out in public where everyone can see me!” Lissa stared down at herself in horror. The gown her new friend Kat had squeezed her into was the complete opposite of the flowing white priestess robes she was used to wearing. It was a rich royal purple and the material was stiff and binding. But it wasn’t the cut or color of the gown that Lissa objected to—it was the fact that it was completely obscene.

“Lissa—” Kat began in a reasonable tone of voice but Lissa shook her head.

“Just look at me, Kat! I…I’m exposed.” She pointed down to the stiff molded cups of the gown that cupped her breasts in a tight embrace. The problem was, the gown only cupped the bottoms of them, leaving her nipples bare except for two tiny pieces of pale gold lace that fanned out of the tops of the cups to act as flimsy shields. They covered her—barely—as long as she stood perfectly straight and didn’t shift around too much. But what if I need to move quickly? What if I drop something and need to pick it up? Lissa was sure if that happened, she would fall out of the dress completely, baring herself to anyone watching.

“You’re fine as long as you don’t bend down,” Kat said, obviously having the same thought. “Just stand up straight and don’t wiggle.”

“But…but what about the bottom part?” Lissa motioned to the lower half of the gown. The skin tight bodice hugged her waist and hips and flowed out behind her in an elaborate, shimmering, crystal encrusted train. It was the place where the bodice split, a few inches below her belly button, that worried Lissa. The dress showed her crotch in a most provocative manner.

“I know it’s kind of…revealing,” Kat said, frowning. “But you do have decorative panties to go with it.”

Decorative was a good word to describe them, Lissa thought, because they really weren’t very practical at all. A tiny triangle of gold lace that matched her nipple shields barely covered the small thatch of blond curls at the apex of her sex. The back of the panties was a string—just one little gold string that ran up the back of her behind. Lissa had never worn undergarments like this before—Kat had called it a “thong.” Lissa called it perverted.

“Please, Kat,” she begged. “I just can’t. It’s not just that I’m ashamed to be seen in public like this. It’s…it’s that Saber will see me too.” She could barely force her kinsman’s name from her dry throat but she made herself do it anyway. He was the real reason she didn’t want to appear in this obscene get up. Lissa was naturally modest and shy but his was the only opinion she really cared about. And if he saw her looking like this…What will he think of me? Lissa asked herself and was too afraid to contemplate the answer.

She and Saber were of the same clan—the Sun Clan of the Touch Kindred—and she had been adopted into his family after her parents had died. There was no blood tie between them but according to the strict laws of her people, the two circumstances made Saber her older brother twice over and as such, completely off limits.

Despite this taboo, Lissa had allowed an illicit love to grow between them—a love she had subsequently ended. But to her lasting shame, she still had feelings for the tall warrior with the hazel eyes. He had comforted her after the death of her family and defended her from the bullies at the school they both attended as children. He had also saved her life when she was wandering in the dessert, dying of dehydration. With so much history between them, how could she not still feel something for him? How could she not care what he thought?

A look of compassion and understanding filled Kat’s blue eyes. “I get it doll, and I’m really sorry,” she said softly, breaking into Lissa’s ragged thoughts. “But this is how they dress on Yonnie Six. In fact, this is one of the more modest designs—believe me, I searched through all of them. Those Yonnie girls aren’t afraid to show a little skin.”

“A little skin?” Lissa looked down at herself again. “Are you telling me there are worse gowns than this in the cube you packed for me?”

Kat cleared her throat and looked uncomfortable. “Just a few. Mostly the ones for more formal occasions like court balls and banquets. It’s a good thing the Mother Ship has a clothing pattern replicator—I never would have been able to sew them all myself.”

“But I can’t be seen like this,” Lissa protested, frowning.

Kat frowned. “You have to be, Lissa. You have to fit in or your mission is going to flop the minute you step foot out of the shuttle. How do you expect to recover the ancient scrolls that tell how to defeat the Hoard if you don’t blend in with the rest of the Yonnites?”

“But—”

“You look gorgeous,” Kat said firmly. “And don’t just take my word for it.” She turned toward the door, smiling. “Hi Saber. How do you like your new outfit?”

Her heart in her throat, Lissa whirled around before she could stop herself. She found herself face to face with her kinsman.

“Hello, Lissa,” he said quietly.

“Saber. I didn’t know you were here. I…I didn’t want you to see me like this.” She crossed her arms over her nearly bare breasts protectively and took a step back.

“You’re beautiful, as always,” he replied, his deep voice husky with emotion. “But I won’t look if you don’t wish me to.” Resolutely, he kept his changeable hazel eyes, flecked with gold and green, fixed firmly on her face.

“Thank you.” Lissa dropped her own jade green eyes and found that she couldn’t show him the same courtesy he had given her. Though she tried not to look, her gaze wandered up and down the length of his large, muscular body. He was tall—over six foot six as all Kindred were—and his skin was a deep, natural tan. She couldn’t help noticing that his chest was bare, revealing shoulders twice as broad as her own and rippling abdominals. Tight black trousers made of some stiff, shiny material clung to his lean hips and long legs. Lissa tried not to look at the crotch where an impressive bulge pressed hard against the fastening of the skin tight trousers. Instead, her eyes skipped upward to his throat and her breath caught in her chest.

“Saber,” she whispered, forgetting about her own state of dress—or undress—in her worry. “What…what is that?” Her hand darted up to touch the thick black collar fastened around his corded neck. Dangling from it was a long leather strip with a loop at the end.

“It’s a leash,” Kat said matter-of-factly, stepping forward.

“A leash?” Lissa looked at her, horrified. “But…you can’t expect Saber to wear something like that. He’s not an animal or a pet for the Goddess’s sake!”

“No, he’s lower than that—he’s your body-slave,” Kat said. “And you’d better get used to treating him like one or you’re going to blow your cover before you even get your foot in the door at Yonnie Six.”

Lissa opened her mouth to protest but Saber cut her off.

“She’s right, Lissa,” he said quietly. “Males on Yonnie Six are considered little better than domestic beasts. They exist only to protect and serve their mistresses.”

“And you’re willing for me to treat you like that? Like a slave? Like a pet?” Lissa demanded. Saber was a Kindred warrior—a proud male who was next in line to be the leader of their people. And she…she was just an orphaned girl with no family who had been exiled from her home world for the sin of caring for him. How could he humble himself to act like her slave?

Saber frowned, as though guessing her thoughts. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you safe,” he rumbled. “If that means wearing these clothes and calling you ‘mistress’, I’ll do it without hesitation.”

Kat nodded approvingly. “See? Saber gets it. This isn’t some game you’re playing here, Lissa—both your lives depend on it. So you act the part—really inhabit it.”

“Says the girl who spent all of one summer at acting camp.” The new voice came from Olivia, who was moving ponderously because of her advanced state of pregnancy. Behind her was Sophia, her twin sister who Lissa knew was also pregnant. She wasn’t nearly as far along in her pregnancy as her sister but she was still showing quite prominently—possibly because she was carrying twins.

“Sorry to sneak up on you,” Sophia said apologetically. “But we’re both out of peanut butter and I was hoping you might have some, Kat.”

Kat sighed. “Ah, the things I give up for my pregnant friends. Sure, help yourselves, raid the kitchen. I have a couple of jars in the cupboard.” She nodded at the food prep area of her suite but to Lissa’s discomfort, the two sisters didn’t immediately follow their friend’s prompt.

“So, is this one of the gowns you’re going to wear on Yonnie Six?” Olivia asked with obvious interest. “It’s gaudy but gorgeous—looks great on you.”

“Thank you.” Lissa still had her arms clutched protectively over her breasts. “Kat had it made up for me from some sketches she found while researching the Yonnite culture.”

“Yes, Kat’s good about that. She’ll plan your wedding, host your baby shower, even manage your undercover infiltration of an alien culture. Anything but plan her own joining ceremony.” She raised an eyebrow at Kat. “Isn’t that right, hon?”

Kat frowned. “Very funny. With everyone around here popping up pregnant and Lauren and Xairn getting married, I haven’t had time to work on my own stuff. So don’t say another word, Liv—I’m not doing anything else until I’m sure that Lissa here is ready to go.”

“Well, she looks ready for anything in that gown,” Sophia said, smiling. She looked at Lissa. “Do you like it?”

“It’s…not exactly what I’m used to,” Lissa said, not wanting to hurt Kat’s feelings by telling the truth—that she was absolutely mortified to be wearing the revealing gown.

“Well, at least it’s not alive.” Sophia patted her arm consolingly. “The tharp I had to wear when I went to Tranq Prime gave me fits. Of course, we get along just fine now but I wanted to strangle the darn thing at the time.”

“Oh.” Lissa crossed her arms tighter over her partially bared breasts. Sophia had a point—things could be worse. “I guess I didn’t think about that,” she admitted.

“It’s not something you usually have to think about,” Olivia pointed out. “Unless you’re determined to wear a creepy living fur blanket as a dress. In which case whatever problems you have are on you.” She stroked the crystal encrusted material admiringly. “That really shows off your figure—wish I could fit into something like it. I’m beginning to feel like I’ll never have a waist again.”

“You will again once the baby comes, doll,” Kat told her friend consolingly.

“Well, until then at least I can eat as much peanut butter as I want.” Olivia turned toward the food prep area and caught sight of Saber who had been standing silently in the corner of the room. “Wow—didn’t see you there, sorry.” She looked him up and down and gave a low whistle. “Is this from Yonnie Six too?”

“Of course. You think he dresses up as a sex slave for the fun of it?” Kat demanded.

Olivia shrugged. “He might—how do I know? Saber is the first Touch Kindred I’ve ever met.” She smiled at him. “And you’re a really nice guy too—despite all the weird rumors we heard.”

Saber nodded gravely. “Thank you. I’m doing my best to represent my people without giving offense.”

“Honey, you couldn’t give offense to anybody in that getup.” Olivia grinned at him and then looked at Kat. “I want something like that for Baird.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting Sylvan into something like it too.” Sophia smiled. “And I thought the Tranq Prime traditional outfit was hot.”

“No fur boots but the tight leather pants more than makes up for that,” Olivia commented and laughed. “Sorry, Saber, we don’t mean to be looking at you like you’re a side of beef. We really only came for the peanut butter. C’mon, Sophie.” She tugged at her sister’s arm and they both disappeared into the food prep area.

“Those two…” Kat shook her head affectionately before turning back to Lissa. “Now listen, hon, the gown looks great on you but it’s not going to do the whole job. If you want to carry this off, you have to act the part.”

Lissa frowned. “You said that before but I really don’t understand. What part do you want me to act?”

“God, I wish I had some time to show you around South Tampa and give you some real life examples but it’s too late for that now.” Kat sighed. “Basically you have to ditch the shy and humble priestess routine and become a rich, tyrannical bitch mistress from hell.”

Lissa put a hand to her cheek. “But…I can’t do that. I can’t be that person. And I don’t want to go out in public wearing these clothes. And I can’t treat Saber like a…like he’s nothing more than an animal. Like a slave.” Her voice almost broke on the last word and she could barely force it out. When she’d volunteered for this mission, she had never imagined it would involve such personal degradation, or worse, such abject humiliation for the male she cared for most in the universe.

Saber stepped forward. “Lissa,” he said in a low voice. “Amalla—”

But hearing the sweet, forbidden term of endearment was more than Lissa could bear.

“Forgive me,” she whispered. Turning, she ran past Kat into the sleeping chamber where she had left her clothing and buried her face in the pillows.

* * * * *

Saber watched her go and had to force himself not to follow. She is nothing to you now, he reminded himself for the hundredth time. She’s a kinswoman—a member of the same clan. She’s off limits.

Still, he ached to go and comfort her, as he used to back when they were attending the same school and the bullies came after her. He wanted to fight to defend her honor, to keep her safe and protect her at all costs. If wearing the ridiculous skintight trousers and the black leather leash was the only way he could stay by her side and guard her, he would gladly do it. Why did it bother Lissa so much?

He wished he could ask her but his hands were tied—he had promised her he would keep his distance emotionally during their mission and he had to keep that promise. He shouldn’t even have called her amalla, but the endearment had just slipped out.

Even if he could have gone after her, it was awkward to try and comfort someone you couldn’t actually touch. Any kind of touching—physical or mental—between male and female members of the same tribe of the Touch Kindred was forbidden. In the past, Saber had broken that taboo but he couldn’t do it again—not now and not ever again. The thought made his chest tight.

“Oh dear.” Kat sighed, breaking his train of thought. “I’m sorry,” she said to Saber. “I was going to see if your outfit needed any alterations but I think I need to go check on Lissa.”

He nodded silently and she bustled away, calling his kinswoman’s name. He turned, intending to go back into the small guest bathroom and change back into his normal clothing, when the door to the suite opened again and two large males walked in. One had light brownish blond hair and brown eyes and the other had black hair and black eyes. Saber had never met them but he guessed from the holo-pics he saw scattered around the living area they must be the Twin Kindred Kat was mated to.

Saber was standing in the shadowed hallway that led to the bathroom and at first the two were too busy arguing to notice him.

“I told you, Lock” the dark twin said in an angry tone. “She’s ashamed of us.”

“She’s not—she never would be,” the light twin protested in a low, vehement voice. “She’s just been distracted by everything else going on lately. You know she’s become the unofficial coordinator of every special event in our immediate circle lately, Deep. It keeps her busy.”

“Too busy to introduce us to her kin? To busy to—” The dark twin stopped abruptly, appearing to notice Saber for the first time. “Hey—who are you and what the hell are you doing in our suite dressed like that?” His eyes narrowed. “Where’s Kat? If you’ve hurt her—”

“I’m Saber,” Saber said quickly, stepping forward and holding out both hands, palms up, in a gesture of friendship. “Forgive me for startling you—I’m not here to harm anyone. Your bride was simply helping me prepare for my mission.”

The light twin snapped his fingers. “You’re the Touch Kindred Baird has been telling us about. The one who’s been addressing the Council and speaking on behalf of Rast about the Hoard problem.”

“I have been charged with speaking with the Councilor’s voice, that’s true.” Saber nodded his head in agreement.

The dark twin frowned. “Well Rast may trust you but I don’t. I don’t like having a Touch Kindred on the ship—especially not around my female.”

“Take it easy, Lock,” his brother said soothingly. “Baird says he felt the same way at first but both Rast and Sylvan have spoken for Saber and he’s promised not to use his Touch abilities on any female while he’s on board.”

“A promise I have scrupulously kept.” Saber frowned at the glaring dark twin. “If you knew how intimate a mind Touch is, you’d realize I would no more use it on an unknown female than you would go around fondling females you didn’t know at random.”

Deep continued to frown. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. The stories I’ve heard—”

“Don’t apply to me,” Saber finished for him. “Look, I know you’re not thrilled to have me aboard—none of the other Kindred males are. But I’m here on a mission and I have no interest in molesting any of your females, either physically or mentally.”

“You should give him some credit, Deep” Locke, the light twin told his brother reasonably. “He has behaved honorably so far. And besides, you’re the last one I’d think would be predisposed to think the worse of our new brother. You and Xairn get along fine and he’s Scourge.”

“That’s different,” Deep growled. “Xairn doesn’t have the ability to go around Touching every innocent female he sees with his mind.”

Saber felt a surge of irritation. “Let me ask you something, brother,” he said, frowning at the dark twin. “Would you say you’re physically stronger than any female on the Mother Ship?”

Deep nodded shortly. “Of course. We love our Earth brides and they have great strength of character but physically, they’re no match for us.”

“So you could, if you wanted, go around raping every female you saw,” Saber pointed out. “I mean, you have the physical strength to do it, don’t you?”

“You sick bastard,” Deep snarled. “I would never—”

“I wouldn’t either,” Saber said quietly.

“I think what he’s trying to say is that just because you have the ability to do something, doesn’t mean you’ll do it,” Locke said.

“I know what he’s saying.” Deep shot him a mistrustful look. “I just don’t like the way he’s saying it. And I don’t like him being alone with Kat.”

“I’m not.” Saber held out his hands again, still silently asking for peace. He could understand the dark twin’s anger—after all, he wouldn’t want Lissa to be alone with a strange male, especially not one dressed as he was right now. “Lissa my…my kinswoman is here as well.”

“Kinswoman?” Locke frowned.

“Sister. My little sister.” The words seemed to stick in Saber’s throat but he forced himself to say them anyway. After all, by the laws of his people they were true, even if his heart told him otherwise. “She is to be part of the mission to recover the stolen scrolls which were sold to a collector on Yonnie Six.”

“Yonnie Six, huh?” Deep looked him up and down again. “Well that explains the way you’re dressed, at least. You know what they do to males on that planet?”

“I’m aware, yes,” Saber said stonily. “I could hardly put on a collar and leash and not have some idea of what I’m getting into.”

“You’re very brave,” Locke said quietly. “The Yonnites have the correct physical characteristics to make a genetic trade with us but we’ve never even approached them because of the barbaric ways they treat their males. Yet you’re going among them voluntarily.”

“That does take courage,” Deep said grudgingly. “I don’t know if I could do it. Don’t know if I could submit so completely.”

Saber took a deep breath. “I don’t expect it to be easy. But I have to keep Lissa safe. For her I would do anything—dare anything. Submit to anything.”

Deep cocked an eyebrow at him. “You may have to keep that pledge before long. I hope you mean it.”

“I do.” Saber thought of Lissa, of her wide jade green eyes still so innocent, of her tender pink lips which had never been kissed. They were going to an ugly place—it was opulent and extravagantly wealthy to be sure. But from what he had learned, Yonnie Six was seething with depravity and corruption. He was determined to protect not only Lissa’s life, but her virtue and innocence as well. No matter what it takes, he told himself.

“She’s more than just a sister to you, isn’t she?” Locke said quietly.

“Of course not.” Saber shifted uneasily. “We would never…I mean, by the rules of my people…”

“Uh-huh,” Deep rumbled sarcastically. “She’s just your sister but you’re willing to die for her even though you don’t love her at all. Keep telling yourself that. It’s so obviously true.”

Saber frowned. “There is no blood relation between myself and Lissa. But we are connected by more than blood—by the ties of clan and adoption I am her older brother. Nothing can ever happen between us. Nor do I want it to.”

“Are you sure?” Locke looked at him earnestly. “No one will judge you here, brother. No offense but we find your people’s laws both archaic and much too stringent.”

“Our ways of thinking may seem outmoded to you but they are the ways I have to return to once this mission is completely,” Saber said stiffly.

Locke raised both hands in a gesture of reconciliation. “Just trying to help.”

Saber merely nodded, not trusting himself to speak. As if I needed help to feel more for Lissa than I should!

“We’d better go find Kat,” Deep said, frowning slightly. He nodded shortly at Saber. “Good luck with your trip to Yonnie Six. I wish you success in your…submission.”

“Deep…” Lock threw his twin a reproachful glance. “I’m sorry, Saber. Please forgive my brother’s rudeness and accept our best wishes for your mission.”

“Thank you,” Saber said stiffly. “Excuse me, I need to change.” He turned to go but Deep’s voice followed him down the hallway.

“You might as well just leave the leash and collar on. You’re going to have to get used to it on Yonnie Six.”

Saber felt tension creep into his shoulders but he refused to rise to the bait. Clearly the dark twin was spoiling for a fight but Saber was not the one to give it to him. A lifetime of controlling his emotions and restraining his abilities helped him keep his cool. Still, Deep’s sarcastic remark burned. Exactly how far would he have to go with this ruse in order to protect Lissa?

All the way, he told himself as he turned into the bathroom and looked at the black leash and collar encircling his throat. I’ll go all the way if I have to.