He understood her reasoning. And in a way, he admired it—for any other soldier, but not for her.
“I’m sorry, Melina. We need to touch one another’s mind in some form or another at all times, and the need will only grow stronger. I need to know you live and are well—or I’ll become dangerous to any who cross my path—friend or foe.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand how you can hide your feelings, thoughts, from me. It must be the battle-mate genes. No other gemate can hide her pain or danger from a mate, especially after the initial awakening.”
“I’ve always opened and closed my mind to read sensory impressions.” She shrugged. “I just used what I’ve learned through trial-and-error over the years. Maybe I’ve built up walls no other Prime female has needed to build.” She paused and nuzzled his chest as if she needed to connect with him, even more evidence of the increasing need for them to touch, to bond physically. “I’m used to my privacy, Wulf. I’ll probably throw those walls up without even realizing it.”
Wulf tucked her head against his chest; her lips rested a mere inch from the gemat marking. It pulsed in response, seeking her touch. “We’ll have all the time in the universe to figure out how our minds—and bodies—mesh after we get off this planet.” She shivered. He wasn’t sure it was because of his words or her physical condition.
Touching her mind, he found her shields firmly in place. Damn, she was hiding from him again. He wasn’t sure he liked that at all.
“Melina…”
“Is the Alliance sending anyone?”
“Changing the subject? Little coward.” He tipped her face up and took her lips in a gentle, nibbling kiss. Her lips remained tightly closed as he sought entrance to the warmth and taste of her. Licking and nipping at her lush lower lip, he muttered, “Open your mouth, Melina. Kiss me as you would a lover.”
“I’ve never had a lover,” she whispered, her eyes closed and her cheeks blushing a warm peach color that reminded him of sunsets on his home planet.
Surprise, shock, and wonder swept through him. “Open your eyes, lubha.” Searching her face, he saw only truth. Her mind was still blocked, but he didn’t need the confirmation of her actual thoughts. She didn’t know how to kiss a lover. Therefore, she was innocent, a virgin still.
“How can this be so?” He eyed her. “You are twenty-seven standard years old.
You’ve worked and trained alongside mostly men. Are they blind?”
“No, they aren’t blind,” she hissed, punching him lightly on the chest, just missing his pulsing gemat. “I wasn’t interested until—”
“Until?” queried Wulf, trying hard not to grin. To roar his satisfaction.
“You know when.” Her green eyes blazed at him.
Yes, he did know. At the first touch of her in the tunnel on the Galanti, something broke open in both of them and had been building ever since—and would continue to do so until their minds, bodies and souls were so tightly interwoven that one could not exist without the other.
He smiled. “Then it is my happy duty to teach you how lovers kiss.” Shyly, Melina buried her face in his chest; this time her lips brushed over the gemat marking. His body hardened as his sex pulsed and throbbed. Everything territorial in him coalesced, urging him to conquer and claim in the most elemental way.
He stifled a groan. He’d tell her about the direct connection between the gemat and gemate markings and a sexual response once they’d graduated to full lovemaking. He, definitely, no matter how hot the urge to make love to her became, would not take his gemate’s innocence in a survival room in an ancient Prime site.
“Wulf, I don’t think—”
“Just a kissing lesson, love.” He peppered light kisses across her forehead and down to her cheeks. “This is not the time for intercourse. Even Prime warriors have some sense of romance.”
“Really?” She grinned. “No clubbing me across the head and dragging me off to your cave for some rousing sex by the fire?”
He laughed. “That would be the Terrans’ cavemen, lubha. We Prime warriors are much more refined in our approach to mating.”
“That I’ll have to see.” She licked her lips.
He groaned. “Don’t tease me.”
“What?” Her eyes widened, her confusion evident.
“Licking your lips excites me.”
“Really?” She licked them again and waited.
“Really,” he muttered as he swept his tongue along the seam of her mouth, tasting her. She was sweet, spicy, succulent—and pure temptation. “Open for me.” She parted her lips on a sigh. He lowered his head and captured the remnants of the soft breath with his mouth. He swept his tongue inside, claiming her as his. No other man had ever had her like this—and no other ever would. She was his. Somewhere deep within his psyche a beast roared.
* * * *
Mel had never really been interested in kissing any man. The couple of soldiers that had tried had quickly been dissuaded. After several such instances, she’d gotten the reputation as an “ice queen,” an appellation she’d encouraged. Thus, no man had ever touched her as Wulf now did.
Instinctively, she realized the imprinting probably had something to do with her lack of romantic interest in other men—and her current, almost urgent, need for Wulf.
Without touching his mind, she still registered his overweening pride and joy in the fact of her inexperience. His teasing assurances—and who would’ve thought the big alpha-male had a sense of humor?—that he would not attack her now, in this cold, sterile cavern, relieved her. She’d only have one first time. She wanted to be free of the nagging pain that currently touched the edges of her consciousness—and be strong enough to meet her mate as an equal partner.
Wulf’s firm male lips nibbled at hers. His terse whisper to open up reached something deep inside her mind. He wanted more than her mouth, but was willing to settle for her tongue and lips—for now.
Parting her lips, Wulf’s tongue surged inside and immediately claimed every square millimeter. Never one to be acquiescent, Mel mirrored Wulf’s movements and tangled her tongue with his until he allowed her into his mouth. He tasted exotic. All spice. All male. All Wulf. Her womb clenched, sending moisture to her vaginal lips, preparing her for sex. Inhaling deeply, she took in his unique scent.
The invisible ties connecting them tightened another notch.
Moaning in the back of her throat, her body sought to get as close to his as possible.
Her hand rubbed the hot spot calling to her from just above his heart. His answering groan and a not-so-subtle hardening of his body, of his cock, told her that the markings that indicated their imprinting played an even more intimate role in their lives.
Wulf’s hand stilled hers. With another low groan, he muttered harshly, “I was going to wait to explain but … lubha, if you keep touching me like that … I will not be able to keep my promise about waiting to make you fully mine.” Mel lay her head back on the crook of his supporting arm. “What do you mean?” In answer, Wulf massaged the area above her right hip—her gemate marking. She gasped as pure aching need burned in her loins. Involuntarily, she arched toward him, her hips seeking completion.
“The markings are—” She moaned with need as his calloused fingers gently stroked over her marking with a circular motion.
“My mark. Your mark. They are erogenous zones.” Her eyes were drawn to the marking on his chest. It glowed and pulsed with varying shades of yellow, red and orange. “Just another way mates have to pleasure one another.” Mel felt her cheeks redden. “Oh—”
“Yes, oh.” He smiled as he caressed her burning cheeks. “Normally, I’d want you touching me that way … but I promised and—”
“My touching would make it more difficult, and uncomfortable, to keep that promise?”
“Yes.” He touched his forehead to hers. Taking her lips with his, he gently and thoroughly kissed her. Breaking off, his voice harsh with arousal, he muttered, “Maybe we’d better wait until later to continue this lesson, little warrior. I find that I want no barriers at all to the completion of our lovemaking.” Mel thought for a second or so. “Does this mean I can’t touch you? Kiss you?”
“No, no,” he hurriedly responded. “We both need to touch—and to touch frequently.
It just means that we have to be careful how. Right now, I’m so hard that any more kissing or touching would make it impossible for me to hold back.”
“I understand,” she whispered against his lips. “I’m wet—and aching. It’s like a part of me is missing. I can’t imagine how your, um, penis must feel.”
“About the same. It seeks to find its place within you.” He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue before pulling his head away. Shoving her head gently to his chest, he gathered her hand in his, rubbing her fingers.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “Changing the subject.” She smiled. It was nice to have a strong man taking care of her for a change, especially when she could feel the extreme need pulsing from every pore of his body and soul. “You asked earlier if the Alliance was on its way. It is. Both your crew and my crew are headed this way. We’ll stay hidden in the catacombs until they orbit the planet. I’ll pop out to my ship while you rest and send out a coded message as to our position and give them my com unit frequency so they can signal when they land.”