Sarai Read online

  Tears were now streaming down his cheeks — tears, Jamie thought, incredulous — tears, when he never cried, hadn’t since he was ten years old and his pet dog was killed by a kick from a horse. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself, a welter of feelings and fears ripping through him, leaving him bewildered and lost.

  He couldn’t imagine never seeing his brothers again, couldn’t imagine never walking the fields near his home again or feeling the light from the sun he was born under warming his flesh.

  Everything he’d thought his future would be was gone — changed irrevocably on one weird night by creatures he’d never thought could possibly exist. But what the hell could he do? He was so confused; his thoughts skittering and scattering like marbles spilled on the floor. It was all too much to think about now.

  He sighed deeply as Alekyn eased him away, although still holding him within the circle of his massive arms.

  “My sarai,” he said, his voice deep and compelling. “My beloved little one, I will do all I can to make you happy. I promise, you will see your pardmates again.”

  “My brothers,” Jamie rasped, and Alekyn grunted, his gaze fixed intently on Jamie’s face, pressing his body back against his muscled length.

  “Brothers,” Alekyn agreed.

  Jamie’s head settled into the curve of his shoulder, his slender form nestling against Alekyn’s. He sighed deeply. His every instinct was screaming at him to trust Alekyn — that the alien would keep his word, but he couldn’t fathom why he felt this, or where this sense of trust had come from. Mystified by his sudden submission, he tilted his face towards Alekyn like a flower seeking the sun and lifted one hand to stroke the alien’s strong smooth jaw.

  Alekyn inhaled deeply, sensuously, then nuzzled his mouth against Jamie’s cheek, tracking his way to Jamie’s soft lips. Without allowing himself to think, overcome by feelings he couldn’t explain and a desire that had arisen, it seemed, merely from Alekyn’s presence, Jamie parted his lips, allowing Alekyn’s tongue to invade his mouth.

  Head spinning, he found himself clutching Alekyn, hauling himself as close as possible, feeling the powerful ripple and solidness of muscle and bone. His fingers had become wayward beasts twisting madly in Alekyn’s mass of soft red-gold of hair. He was sucking in Alekyn’s very essence, feeling it penetrate his senses, all the cells of his body attuning themselves to a desire greater than any he’d ever known. Someone was moaning and with a shock Jamie realised it was him, and felt his cock, stiff and engorged, thrusting urgently and impudently against Alekyn’s thigh.

  That part of his brain still capable of thought was shocked stupid, the little man in his head jumping up and down screaming What the hell?, but was overridden by the other little man throbbing insanely between his legs.

  Nothing mattered but Alekyn’s body against his own, nothing registered beyond the compulsion driving Jamie to get as close to him as possible.

  His excitement was mirrored in the monstrous hardness, long and hot, pushing heavily into his taut abdomen, the stimulus making him rock his hips forward and suck even more desperately at the tongue twisting lasciviously with his own.

  He felt his makeshift toga slip to the floor but all he could think about was the body pressed against his. In one swift move, Alkyne slid one of his arms beneath Jamie’s knees, hoisting him bride-like into his arms. The world tilted precariously for a moment and then they were lying together on the large bed Jamie had so recently left.

  “Goddess,” he heard Alekyn groan. “So sweet, you are so delicious — your scent overwhelms me. I cannot resist you, my sarai.”

  He leaned away from Jamie, pulling the soft jerkin he wore over his head, revealing a body that was cut and rippling with powerful muscles. God, thought Jamie, he makes me look like a gangling kid. His sense of inadequacy increased as Alekyn divested himself of his pants. If this were real, he told himself, he was in for a helluva ride.

  And it couldn’t be real. Alekyn’s cock, rigid and bouncing off his eight-pack abdomen, was like nothing he’d ever seen before. More than anything else it convinced Jamie that what was happening to him might possibly be real, because if this were a hallucination, then he’d been slipped some awesome drugs. The subtle patterning of tabby-cat stripes across Alekyn’s face and torso, which Jamie had convinced himself was some sort of tattoo or makeup, had gradually compressed into a solid dark color at a wedge-shaped tip crowning a cock longer and thicker than anything that could have belonged to a human male. It was pulsing with engorgement; Jamie shivered as he saw it was glistening with precum. The sight made his own cock jerk frantically, and he could feel the taut muscles of his anus quivering and contracting as if anticipating Alekyn’s entry.

  His head reeled with the knowledge that he wanted Alekyn more than he’d ever wanted anyone else — more than wanted, he craved him, craved his touch. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this turned on before. He shook his head. This was ridiculous, he was reacting like a virgin confronted by the reality of desire for the first time, and he certainly was no virgin. He was no man-whore, but he’d had plenty of opportunities at college to play the field, and like most people his age, his libido was healthy and adventurous. He’d loved men and women — more women than men, he acknowledged, his mouth dry as Alekyn loomed over him, his movements increasingly urgent and determined.

  No longer caring whether this was real or not, but unable to resist the urges rampaging through his body, Jamie reached out to that enticing dark-tipped cock. Soft like silk, but underneath all steel and strength. He traced a tentative finger gently along an enlarged vein running from head to base, felt it throb and twitch, the moisture at its tip now running freely. All at once he wanted to taste it, push his tongue along the powerful length his fingers had explored, suck Alekyn’s damn cock into his mouth, tease it until he exploded and then feed on his cum.

  Without thinking, Jamie pulled away, intending to move his face closer to that beguiling scent. Alekyn evidently thought he was trying to escape and growled, the sound at once scary and stimulating. He felt himself lifted once more, his hands captured and pushed above his head. He started to protest and then, click — the bands at his wrists were locked together. Another swift movement and the bands were joined to a chain linked to the wall behind the bed.

  “What the fuck — what the hell are you doing?” Jamie reacted instinctively, thrusting his body against the chains holding him in place.

  Another powerful movement and he found himself twisted around on the bed. The bands had pulled round and his arms were now stretched out before him. A firm hand on his head pushed his upper torso down. He felt Alekyn wrap a hand around his waist, relentlessly pulling his arse upwards, the position obvious.

  And exciting.

  He was being overpowered by someone far stronger than himself, and it was making him hornier than he’d ever felt in his life. Glancing down along his own body, he saw his cock hard, red and pulsing against his abs, begging to be touched. Behind that he could see the heavy swing of Alekyn’s testicles, loaded and primed tight. That massive dark-tipped cock was hidden from his gaze, but he could feel it sliding upwards between his buttocks, probing insistently.

  He felt his hips thrusting forward and around, fucking the air in anticipation. He was consumed by an overwhelming need for Alekyn’s touch, for his cock, his cum. He whimpered. What the hell was happening to him? Was it the treatment he’d received? Had they somehow made him more receptive to being Alekyn’s fucktoy? Bloody Naferi healers.

  All he could do was grab the chain holding his arms up and hang on for dear life. He felt the tip of Alekyn’s cock at his entrance and pushed back, frantic and needy. He gasped as the tight muscles of his entrance gave way and braced himself for pain — Alekyn hadn’t slicked him up, but to his astonishment he felt moisture lubricating his internal walls, ready to ease Alekyn’s passage into his body. He pulled against the chains holding his arms forward, wanting more leverage, and sucked in a great lungful of air. It was thick wit
h pheromones, and he felt desire storming through his body, his adrenals going into overdrive.

  He moaned as the heat of Alekyn’s body, his muscular, powerful body, penetrated him, at the feel of his iron cock sliding relentlessly into him, slowly, carefully but without ceasing. He whimpered. It felt so good.

  Alekyn bottomed out within him. Jamie could feel his balls pressing into his perineum and the sensation momentarily overwhelmed him. After a few seconds he wanted more. “Fuck me, god, fuck me now.”

  Alekyn chuckled and Jamie hissed. “I mean it — move, you bastard!”

  “As you wish, my sarai.” The big cock splitting his insides slowly moved from his body, then slammed back again.

  Jamie pushed into Alekyn, frustrated but unbelievably turned on at being unable to move his arms. He could feel tingling at the base of his spine, red-hot pressure building at his groin. Nothing mattered more than the big body pressing so tightly to his own. He closed his eyes, fighting against the swirling, jagged darkness of his approaching orgasm. He wanted more sensation, more heat, more pressure. He whimpered and heard Alekyn growl. The sound added to his excitement rather than making him afraid. He closed his eyes in ecstasy — this was so good, so very good. The pressure on his arms and torso suddenly eased and his eyes flashed open.

  A long arm reached around him and unclipped the bands holding his wrists together. He dropped bonelessly to the soft mattress beneath him, then gasped as he was pulled up abruptly, his hands hoisted over Alekyn’s head, his back pressed hard against a muscled chest. He began to mewl and jerk and then the cock in his anus thrust and thrust again, furiously pounding him. Strong hands were holding his hips — he knew he’d be bruised and limping tomorrow, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the sensations driving him, the feel of the big cock dominating him, the big body hard against his own more slender length.

  “God, oh god, fuck me…keep going…”

  The desperation in his own voice was shocking. When his frantic glance fell upon his own body, he saw his cock, precum dribbling from its red, swollen head, throbbing and bouncing against the taut muscles of his own abdomen.

  “I need — please, god, please…,” his breath hitched as he jerked back and forward. Alekyn chuckled deeply in his ear. A large hand smoothed away from his hip clasping the base of his cock, running slowly — too slowly! — up its length. Alekyn used the precum sliding down Jamie’s cock as lubrication and the sensation tipped Jamie right over the edge. He felt his entire body tense, burning for more, then he was gone — cum erupting, shooting over his stomach and over Alekyn’s hand. At the same time Alekyn roared — a fierce primal sound that shook Jamie even further — and came himself. As the hot semen surged through his tunnel, he felt teeth — fangs — pierce the soft flesh where his shoulder joined his neck. He felt something sharp wrap itself against his prostate and he screamed, the sound the last he knew until he came round minutes later.

  He was lying on the bed, Alekyn’s long body stretched out behind his. He groaned. The smell of their spending hung heavily in the air. Alekyn’s cock was still in him, still thrusting, now almost lazily, but with unmistakable ownership. Strong fingers were tugging and plucking at one of his nipples; his balls were drawing up high and tight in response and his cock was lifting expectantly. It felt so fucking good. He was shivering with need once more. Damn, how could that be?

  Deep crooning filled his ears and he sighed — it was such a comforting sound, so reassuring. It made him feel as though he was safe in his own bed at home.

  Home. The thought made him tense, his dick drooping. Home. Against him, Alekyn stilled slightly, the purring fading.

  “Sarai —”

  “My name is Jamie,” he replied, the feeling of relaxed satiation dissipating abruptly, “stop calling me sarai. You don’t own me.”

  Silence and then Alekyn sighed heavily. “Jamie, what is wrong now?”

  The exaggerated patience in his tone made Jamie testy. “Get your dick out of my arse and let me up.”

  The responding rumble in the body tucked against him chilled him slightly. He tried to move his hands but found that even though they were now at the front side of his body rather than over his shoulders — one of which, by the way hurt, like a bitch — they were still linked by those god-dammed metal bands. “And let me out of these things.”

  Alekyn stilled. “I cannot do either of those things yet, Jamie. Not yet.”

  “What the hell do you mean? Sure you can — just pull yourself out of me and let me up. Now!” he added sharply, trying to tug himself out of Alekyn’s hold. Pain stabbed through him, making his cock subside even further. “What the hell have you done to me?”

  “I am still tied to you, Jamie — still aroused. If I pull out now, I will hurt you.” He nuzzled Jamie’s neck, sniffing and nipping, sucking the soft flesh, “and I do not want to do that.”

  Jamie’s misbehaving cock was perking back up again and his balls resumed their tightening. It wasn’t possible. He’d just blacked out with the biggest orgasm of his life, surely he didn’t have any more to give. Something occurred to him. “Tied — you said you were still tied to me,” he said hoarsely. “What did you mean?”

  “My mating barb is still attached to you. I have filled you several times already but there is more.”

  “What do you mean — mating barb?” He had a horrible feeling he knew — that sudden bright flash of biting pain, the instant orgasm that obliterated his awareness and now the need growing once more in his groin.

  “All Naferi have a mating barb. When our sarai go into heat, we mate with them and the barb holds us to them until their heat ends. It releases when our mates are pregnant.”

  Jamie shook his head. That again. “Not going to happen, man. We just had sex. It was great — the best I’ve ever had — but that’s all. I’m not pregnant, not now, not ever. No babies out of me.”

  Another patient sigh was his response but Alekyn didn’t argue with him. Instead he slipped his hand from Jamie’s nipple, and ran it smoothly along the taut planes of his abdomen and down to slowly, sensuously, jack his cock. Jamie closed his eyes, feeling his lust reigniting. God, it felt so good! Unthinkingly he began to move in synch with Alekyn’s thrusts, feeling his strength and size. It was blissful. He could stay like this forever.

  Except he couldn’t. He thought of Theo and Matt — and what they must be feeling. The house was gone; he was gone — they were probably worried sick, and here he was, enjoying fantastic sex with an alien too gorgeous for words.

  They’d probably understand, he decided, I mean, the sex is fantastic.

  Eventually, Alekyn slid his cock free. Jamie rolled over, staring up into Alekyn’s beautiful eyes. He sighed — god, he was amazing looking. Unthinkingly he ran his fingers along Alekyn’s thickly muscled arm, tracing the tabby pattern lying under the smooth skin.

  Alekyn’s tufted ears flicked back and forward. It was so adorable that Jamie reached up and tugged one, enjoying its silky softness. “Your skin is mostly like mine, except for the stripes,” he murmured, “but your ears feel like a cat’s ears. Very cute.”

  “I am a Naferi battle thane. I don’t do cute.”

  Jamie grinned and smoothed his hand down Alekyn’s face. He’d offended somebody’s pride. “Sorry, but you are…cute, that is.”

  Alekyn shook his head, then nuzzled Jamie’s hand. Sar…Jamie, we need to talk.”

  Jamie flung his head back against the pillows, covering his eyes with his forearm. He’d forgotten about the bands linking his hands, and knocked himself in the nose. “Ow!”

  He glared at Alekyn. “Take these things off my arms and then we can talk.”

  “The bands stay on, Jamie,” he quailed slightly at the look in Jamie’s eyes and then added in a conciliatory tone, “I will unlink them, though.”

  When this was done, he helped Jamie sit up, tucking some pillows at his back. Then he went to the bathroom, walking through the virtual door without hesitation.
He returned with a warm wet cloth and wiped Jamie’s body clear of cum and sweat. Jamie blinked, amazed. He’d never been this tenderly cared for by a lover, had never offered the same to anyone himself. He felt a bit ashamed at the thought, because this was so…wonderful. He could get used to it, he thought, and sucked in a breath. God, did he just think that or what?

  He sniffed. He was just so confused. All this stuff about the Zill and the wolfy-things, his brothers, the house, being a sarai and bearing babies. Oh, and the best sex of his entire life.

  Theo and Matt would probably envy him.

  Probably.

  Theo would, at least.

  It was all a bit too much. The sniff became a quiet sob and before he knew it, Alekyn had wrapped his big arms around him, hugging him as he wept. “Sorry,” he spluttered eventually. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.”

  Alekyn kissed the top of his head. It should have annoyed him but somehow it was reassuring. “I feel like a damn girl. This is the second time today I’ve cried and I never cry.”

  The arms around him tightened reassuringly. “Everything will be all right, my love. It’s just hormones. Ow! Why do you hit me, sarai?”

  Chapter Five

  JAMIE STARED AROUND the garden morosely. It was a beautiful place, an atrium garden in the center of Clan Furis’s mountain den. It reminded him of pictures he seen of old Roman villas, airy, full of light. A Roman villa would have been easier to escape from, though.

  He didn’t get to do anything much on his own, except brood. He was bored, frustrated and still furious — at fate, at the Zill, at the Naferi, at every damn thing.

  He stared at some flowers. They reminded him vaguely of the roses growing in his mother’s garden. He wondered whether the garden was still okay. It had been pretty close to the house, and the house was probably just a pile of ashes and twisted, blistered metal.