Adin's Adventure: How to Ruin a Rescue Read online

  Stay, he murmured and stepped toward her.

  She smiled. The relief he saw and felt in her melted any lingering bitterness. She lifted a hand and he clasped her delicate fingers in his, letting her pull him toward the bed.

  “Then lie down, Adin. Let me find what pleases you.”

  But—he protested, thinking she’d stolen his line.

  She laughed, a soft sound like a gentle sea breeze. “I will feel what you feel. We will learn together.”

  Since this was basically what the matrons would do for a young Ophidian in his first burn, Adin subsided with another sigh and a fleeting ache of homesickness. He was so lost here. If he was home, his people would know how to help him.

  Shelayle seemed to feel his uncertainty and soothed a hand down his chest as he lay back on the bed. “There is no rush and no right or wrong way. What feels good, we do more, yes?” Her smile was teasing, sparkles dancing in her eyes like sunlight over water.

  He nodded, relaxing a little. She straddled him, soft thighs and buttocks brushing against his cocks, and he tensed again, this time with hot hunger. But she didn’t mount him, only leaning forward with hands braced on either side of his head, curiosity and delight brightening her face and thoughts.

  “Do you kiss?”

  He nodded again, reaching to cup her face in his hands and ease her close. The tendrils on her head brushed against his fingers and coiled around his wrists almost as if alive, the texture as soft as down. It was odd and arousing at the same time, an unexpected caress. Her mouth hovered over his, breath warming his flesh in gentle gusts.

  His tongue flicked out instinctively, tasting her in the air and barely kissing her flesh. Fresh and warm, with a salty tang like brine. She leaned closer and whispered more in his mind, and he slipped his tongue into her mouth, groaning when she sucked lightly. It was his turn to demand more, fingers tightening on her fragile face as he pressed his mouth against hers, tasting her deeply.

  At the same time he slid his mind into hers, merging with slow, luscious pleasure into the core of her, beyond appearance and surface thoughts to roiling emotion and sensation. He stopped thinking and worrying about what he should do, how he should touch and please her. He simply felt and suddenly it was easy.

  He tasted himself on her tongue, felt the hard pressure of his hands on her face, the cool silk of his scales along her tendrils. He twined his tongue with hers because she wished it and slipped his fingers through her tendrils, enjoying with her the tingles of sensation that ran all the way down her spine.

  He urged her without words to touch him and moaned at the unbearably soft slide of her fingers. She stroked his jaw, throat and chest, and shared the feel of him, shared her delight in his hard yet silky texture. Learning himself through her senses was novel but he was more fascinated by her pearly flesh, softer than a feather and so sensitive his lightest touch made them both shiver.

  He could have done this for hours, absorbing her taste and smell, stroking her downy skin and feeling everything with her. But on a downward stroke over her arching buttocks, his claws pricked her skin ever so slightly. Her hips jerked, bumping against his aching cocks, and fire rushed through him in a wild flood.

  They both gasped, mouths parting as they sucked in air. “Oh,” she whimpered aloud but neither had a coherent thought, both submerged in the monstrous heat surging through him.

  She straightened with liquid grace and simply lowered herself onto him without warning. All three cocks sank into her impossibly soft, tight depths. Later he would remember she was a metamorph and could accommodate him. At that moment, he had no memories or thoughts, only a hoarse shout of shocked pleasure. Every muscle in his body went ridged, his hips snapping up into her.

  She was warm and slick, soft and tight like a fist around each organ, the sensations sending spikes of pure pleasure up his spine. But he also felt with her his own hard meat pushing up into her, the cool rasp of his scales rubbing her channels with a ruthless shock of sensation.

  He came hard, body convulsing under her and inside her with explosive force. Sharing it with her and feeling her own ecstasy, the moment seemed to last for a delirious eternity, spiraling between them endlessly.

  When he became aware of the world again, he opened his eyes. She was braced above him, panting and shaking along with him, eyes dark and lustrous. “Well,” she said, her mental voice just as breathless as her verbal one. “That was a good start.”

  He laughed, pleased with her languid delight and eager to see what she would teach him next.

  *******

  Tearing into a protein strip and savoring the meaty flavor, Neeri leaned over idly and checked O’s data readout. Then she did a double-take and almost choked on her food. “She’s still in there with him?” she snarled, grinding her teeth on the piece of flesh in her mouth with murderous force.

  “Are you referring to the metamorph and the Ophidian?”

  She stared at the Orchestrator, wondering if sinking her teeth into him would be satisfying or just break off a tooth.

  Big O turned that blank visor her way. “Apparently an Ophidian in his first burn has quite a bit of stamina and enthusiasm.”

  And hitting him would probably break her hand. She still wanted to try it. “Isn’t the lack of variety messing up your data flow?” she growled through gritted teeth.

  “Your hypothesis that the metamorph’s experience would help him over his reluctance appears to have been correct. And she has indicated several times that he is ‘learning well.’ I concluded that more time in her presence would give him more confidence, thus improving the quality of data we will collect from future participation.”

  Neeri felt her claws extend and made a conscious effort to retract them. She could not pounce on the big metal idiot and shred him. That would so get her fired. “O,” she said carefully, “I advise you to get a goddamned personality. You’re creepy and nobody loves you. Signal her the hell out of there before I shove your data so far up your ass you won’t find it with all eight of your arms and a floodlight.”

  “I don’t have an ass.”

  “Because you are one.” She leaned over and touched the controls herself, dimming Adin’s room briefly. Then she changed her display to show his room and glowered at the pair cuddling on his bed. Cuddling. It was enough to make a cat hack up a hairball.

  But Shells knew her business. The metamorph glanced up at the lights and rose from the bed, pausing to lean over and place a lingering kiss on Adin’s mouth before she headed for the exit wall. Neeri grumbled a few choice insults but couldn’t complain about Shells’ obedient departure or swift travel down the corridor to her own room.

  Neeri watched Adin roll lazily onto his back and stretch, her mouth going dry at all that sleek muscle and casual strength. His fingers splayed then curled, black claws gleaming in the light, and Neeri had a sudden image of those claws biting into her hips as he drove into her. Her pussy clenched hard and she swallowed a whimper, squirming on her seat.

  She flashed a veiled look at Big O, wondering what he’d do if she just walked down to Adin’s room and indulged her fantasies. Then she stopped wondering. O had all sorts of ways to make the subject behave, which included venting sleeping gas into the rooms. And using restraints. She had a short fantasy about being strapped down while O punished her, but her heart wasn’t really in it and she turned back to the display with a grimace.

  “Shall we chose his next partner?” Big O said in a slightly too-innocent tone.

  Neeri almost bit through her tongue. “It’s time for his sleep cycle,” she said shortly.

  “Actually, his sleep cycle isn’t for another hour and—”

  “Shut up.” She dimmed Adin’s lights and sat glaring at his darkened room, arms folded over her chest and foot tapping an aggravated rhythm on the floor. If she had a tail like her distant ancestors, it would be twitching with predatory irritation.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t left to take your own sleep cycle, Neer
i. You are aware that you are on salary and do not qualify for overtime?”

  She made a face at him for the unnecessary sarcasm. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m in heat and need a hard fuck,” she taunted, except the words sounded a little too true for comfort. She lunged to her feet and sauntered in between O and his controls. “You know, you could help with that.”

  He didn’t even hesitate, one long arm wrapping around her waist, lifting her in the air, and dropping her back in her seat with ridiculous ease. “Leave. Sleep. I will see you next cycle.”

  Neeri groaned, hating that the thick arm around her waist had sent a spike of hot lust up her spine. “If you did that between my legs, I’d cum like a rocket.”

  “You have spread enough biological contaminates over my work station. That’s why you have personal quarters. Goodbye, Neeri.”

  Tossing him a rude gesture, she rose and stalked out the door. She headed up the corridor toward her living space without much enthusiasm, though she could at least use her toys to fuck herself sore and find some relief. But she really hadn’t been sleeping well. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Adin, his jewel-like skin and hard-muscled body, his soulful glowing eyes and the anxious droop of his mouth.

  She’d lusted after subjects before but this was bordering on obsession. She didn’t understand the strange concern she had for him. Most of the subjects came into the facility afraid, angry, confused and upset. It was her job to see them through it, to get them past the trauma to a point where they responded naturally. Most did fine and some took to the program with astonishing enthusiasm.

  But some rejected the program mind, body, and soul.

  She thought of the rejecters as failures on her part, but Big O seemed just as satisfied with their data as the others. She wasn’t sure why the Cooperative wanted to know which sentient species would successfully mate with which or what they would do with that knowledge. She only knew she was good at her job and seeing the subjects relax and cooperate gave her an enormous sense of satisfaction.

  So why wasn’t she happy that Adin, whom she had been overly concerned about, was now relaxing and cooperating? She heaved a sigh, slapping a hand on her door and stomping inside when it opened. Maybe she was going into some weird withdrawal. Her species really wasn’t used to going this long without sex. She was almost as much a prisoner as the test subjects, kept confined in the facility to “preserve the program’s anonymity.”

  She grimaced in the dim interior of her living space and paced through it with restless, edgy energy. The darkness didn’t bother her—she had acute night vision. But it triggered residual predatory instincts to stalk and hunt. And find a mate.

  She bared her canines and stripped off her clothes with agitated haste, breathing a little easier when she was naked. Clothes were annoying. She would boycott them all if it hadn’t specifically stated in her contract that she wear them. Somebody had underlined it too. She suspected Big O.

  She ran idle hands over her naked flesh, enjoying the soft texture of the down covering her skin. Her double row of nipples pebbled hard on her chest and belly. She tweaked each in turn, gritting her teeth and tossing her head at the sharp stabs of pleasure. But she needed something more than her fingers or toys this cycle.

  She considered calling up a sex bot, but she had a flash of Adin’s appalled expression after he pulled out of the one he’d fucked. She could see his point. The damned things were so impersonal if they weren’t programed for a specific person.

  She shot a glance at her VR system as she paced but shook her head. The last time she’d used it she’d gotten some weird kind of shock. Probably broke the damned thing with overuse.

  She paused, planting a foot on the wall and shoving two fingers inside her sopping pussy. With a guttural growl, she ground her hips and thrust with desperate fingers, the thick scent of her own arousal dizzying. Her slick tissues were lava-hot and swollen, and though her stroking fingers felt so good they weren’t enough. Not nearly enough. She needed more.

  She needed Adin.

  With a mewling cry of frustration, she yanked her fingers free of her aching pussy and shoved away from the wall, stalking to her tech center. She’d had an idea before how to fool Big O but had never been motivated enough to risk her job trying it. Drunk on her own scent, hand dripping with her juices, and pussy clenching emptily with a lust so strong she couldn’t hold still, Neeri decided she’d found her motivation.

  She’d constructed a piece of software that would repeat the previous sleep cycle’s data stream while fooling Big O’s system into believing it was current, hiding the real events going on in a room. She’d only been messing around while fantasizing about slipping into Caveman’s room to bounce on his whopper of a cock or waking up Wildcat Bill for a little chase and scratch, things she was forbidden to do. A software version of making faces behind her boss’s back.

  But now, she was desperate enough to give it a whirl. Calibrating it to reproduce Adin’s entire corridor so Big O wouldn’t catch her on the way there or see her inside his room, she camouflaged the worm so O wouldn’t see it coming and set it loose.

  Now she had to wait. When it was in place and activated, it would send her a ping. She started pacing again, keeping her hands away from her tingling body. Touching herself was only making it worse. But her sneaky software took much longer than she’d thought. By the time it finally announced its activation, she’d had to resort to her toys after all. Yet for the first time they didn’t seem to help, only making her need more even after orgasming.

  She’d heard stories of females in full heat taking on crowds of males. She’d thought they were made up but at that moment, with her body burning and aching for a satisfaction that seemed just out of reach, she could see how it might happen. She felt like she could fuck a whole roomful of guys herself.

  But she suspected she only needed the one.

  Neeri didn’t bother to dress. She also didn’t dawdle, though she avoided the main corridors, crawling agilely through service passages only maintenance bots used. Big O wouldn’t be monitoring those unless something was wrong. She was counting on the size and complexity of the facility to protect her—the Orchestrator had his metaphorical hands full running the place and conducting his tests.

  As long as everything ran smoothly and appeared as he expected, Big O wouldn’t see little ol’ Neeri slinking in and out of where she wasn’t supposed to be.

  Grinning to herself, Neeri slipped out of a service duct into the darkened corridor that held Adin’s room. For a moment, she stayed still, crouching by the duct and waiting to see if Big O would see her or if her camouflage software was functioning properly.

  When nothing happened, she grinned wider and stood, reaching above her head and arching her back in a quick stretch before padding down the center of the corridor. She’d never been down in the testing area personally but she knew the layout and occupants well. Looking left to right, she counted rooms beyond the blank white walls and mentally catalogued the residents, smiling a little as she passed some of her favorites.

  Reaching Adin’s room, she tapped the smooth wall in a sequence that would allow her access. Registering her administrative DNA and code, the wall shimmered and Neeri stepped through with an almost painful surge of anticipation.

  She expected him to be peacefully asleep. She’d thought about all the ways she could wake him on her way through the facility and had one particularly tempting plan in mind when she entered the dark room. She did not expect him to roll off the bed in a blur of ready violence.

  WHO ARE YOU?

  Instinct drove her into a hunting crouch before she registered the panic in his mental tone. Then she relaxed a little, pressing fingertips to her temple with a wince and a mild, “Ow.”

  For some reason—she blamed hot, logic-frying lust—she’d forgotten all about his telepathy. Or rather, she hadn’t thought about how it would complicate things.
The guy could read minds. He would see who she was. When he did, she suspected her simple fuck fantasy was going to go sideways in a hurry. Hell in a hand basket.

  Adin’s nightmare lingered, keeping his heart rate at a wild pace. He’d been trapped in darkness, lost and alone. He’d heard a soft voice calling him, mournful and compelling, but he hadn’t known where to turn or how to find her. The change in air pressure had woken him to lesser darkness and a presence in his room.

  He’d panicked a little. But they’d never sent someone to him while he was sleeping before. And something about the way she’d entered the room seemed off, almost furtive.

  Pressing a hand over his thundering heart, he eyed her warily. She’d crouched when he’d thrashed off the bed, her movement almost as swift as his and her lithe body tense, but now she only blinked at him in mild reproach. Her pupils were fully dilated so he couldn’t see the color of her eyes but he could tell by the way she studied him that her night vision was just as good as his own.

  She didn’t look as though she would attack him. His heart slowed and he felt a wave of remorse as he watched her fingertips press against her temple. My apologies, he murmured with a much gentler telepathic touch. You startled me.

  “Then we’re even. I thought you’d be asleep.”

  I was. Bad dream, he responded absently, studying her with increasing curiosity. He’d never met one of her kind but he’d heard of her species. They called themselves Lyomedrin, or “big cat” in common tongue. His home planet had a species similar to their primitive ancestors, a non-sentient predator he found beautiful but a little unnerving. This Lyo female triggered the same reaction.

  Colors were different in the dark but he thought she was mostly golden with dark, long hair on her head. Her skin seemed bare everywhere else but he knew it would have the lightest coating of fine hair, barely visible, a hold-over from when their ancestors were covered in fur.