Catalyst (The Kithran Regenesis) Read online

  “You are beautiful,” I purred before nuzzling my face into that soft hair.

  He went still and I couldn’t stop the grin that stretched my lips as I glanced up to find him staring down at me with a look of complete hope and need.

  “Another first?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ve been sucked before.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Have you had intercourse before?”

  He nodded, but something in his expression told me that maybe the experience hadn’t been good.

  “But you never went down on anyone?”

  “Not a woman.” He shuddered when I ran my fingers over the sensitive skin behind his balls. “I always wanted to. Imagined doing that to you a lot.”

  “Don’t worry,” I whispered, flicking my tongue into his navel. “I’ll let you do that as much as you’d like.” I held his cock in my hand, squeezed it while opening my mouth over the bony part of his hip.

  He sucked in air, bowed off the bed, and while he was partially suspended, I swallowed him down. This was something I loved to do. Loved the satiny skin of a man, loved the taste and the musky male smell when my nose was fully against his pubic bone. And I really adored the ragged groans I could pull from them. Bastian didn’t disappoint. Hoarse sounds escaped his throat as I let go of his cock, held it tight in the suction of my mouth and ran both hands up that beautiful abdomen and chest. He pressed into my touch and I let go of him with my mouth long enough to look up and catch the most intense expression of pleasure I’d ever seen.

  “The boy likes to be touched,” I murmured against his skin as I was drawn once more to that intriguing V of muscle and masculine hip bones.

  He abruptly pulled me up to his face. “I am not a boy.” Big hands slid to my hips and he maneuvered my body, surprising me with the strength in his arms as he poised at my entrance before pushing inside me with one long, slow invasion.

  I let him take the lead, let him set a rhythm with his hands on my hips, and when I spread my palms on that beautiful chest, his mouth went slack again.

  So…I touched.

  I stroked fingers over muscles and bony ridges, brushed my palms over hard, male nipples, explored the tendons of his neck and bent to open my mouth over his collarbone. Moans escaped my lips no matter how hard I tried to be quiet because he stroked me inside with strong, sure thrusts that kept me riding that luscious edge between tension and release.

  Bastian groaned, his hips picking up speed, and I sat up and lifted his hands to my breasts. His eyes flew open and he gazed at my breasts in what could only be described as awe. My breasts were nice, but I’d never considered them awe-inspiring.

  He touched them like they were made of glass, explored the texture of nipple and skin, cupped his hands under them to feel the weight. “Perfect,” he said through gritted teeth as I picked up rhythm.

  Husky noises escaped his throat, and the sound of him losing control sent me over the edge. My entire body went rigid and I sat up and threw my head back to give myself over to one of the most intense orgasms of my life. “Suns, yes!”

  Bastian’s fingers tightened on my hips as he thrust into me faster and faster, chasing his own orgasm, and when it came he slammed into me one last time, so deep it hurt a little—but I didn’t mind. Watching pleasure spill over those gorgeous features took away the sting completely.

  I slumped over him and tried to pull air into my overworked lungs. He slid broad hands up my back and cradled me to him.

  “I knew it would be like this with you,” he whispered into my neck.

  “I can’t believe we’re having sex on a pirate ship.”

  He chuckled. “We don’t know for sure it’s a pirate ship.”

  I sat up, smiling when his gaze automatically dropped to my bare breasts. “It’s definitely a pirate ship, despite what that guy Anders said. And we’re breaking out of here.”

  “With what? Look around. They left nothing in here to work with and the doors are palm coded just like on Kithra.”

  “One of those men looks as dumb as a Toquerian pack mule. I have an idea.”

  A clicking noise made us both go still.

  “Are you two finally done, then?”

  The pirate captain’s voice crashed into the room from the com, making me wince. I scrambled off Bastian and grabbed my vest off the floor, pulling it on even though it covered little. I backed to a wall, scouring the room for something that looked like a camera. The thing could be anywhere, could be microscopic. Bastian got up and stood in front of me, shielding my body with his. When my gaze was drawn to the long, lean lines of his back, the taut globes of his ass, I rolled my eyes and reached around him to snatch my pants off the floor. While pulling them on, I growled, “You sick fuck, did you have fun watching us?”

  “Didn’t watch. I just hit the com and caught the end. Decided to let you finish before I interrupted because it sounded…decent.”

  “Was a hell of a lot more than decent,” muttered Bastian as he tugged on pants.

  “Much as I’d love to hear why you think Anders is as dumb as a pack mule, we’re about to reach our destination, so I thought it only fair to say goodbye now. Hope you enjoyed your flight.”

  “What destination?” I latched my pants. Anders had not been the dumb one I referred to. “Where are you taking us?”

  “It’s an interesting location, but secrecy is the rule of the job.”

  “I have money. What if I offer you more to take us back?”

  “I doubt you have the kind of money we were offered to pick up the most famous Tracker in the universes.”

  A clicking noise let me know he’d shut down his side of the com. Another clicking noise sent fear in to freeze every muscle in my body. Bastian turned, eyes going wide as his nostrils flared. “They’re gassing us.”

  “Oh Suns, no!” I held my hand over my mouth and stumbled to the door. Two weak fist taps later, my arm dropped and I turned my gaze back to Bastian. We could do nothing. Together we staggered to the bed and held on as the world went black. Again.

  Chapter Four

  I smelled turnips. Or cabbage. Wrinkling my nose, I tried to figure out why I was on one of the Earths, then realized the smells weren’t quite right.

  “Vala, wake up.”

  I blinked open seriously gritty eyes, smiling when I felt the soft caress of Bastian’s long hair on my cheek. I reached up to touch his face, then scrambled back when my memories caught up to me. The pirates had gassed us!

  My legs were loose, watery, so I didn’t try to stand as I looked around. “We’re in a jungle.” I licked dry lips, crunched on dirt between my teeth and grimaced.

  He squatted next to me and nodded. “An Earth jungle, if the green is anything to go by. Plus, we can breathe.”

  I shook my head. “No, I’ve been to all the Earths and I don’t think this is one of them. The air smells similar but different and the vegetation… Look at that.” I reached out to touch a broad, light green leaf. “It has tiny red bumps all over it.”

  “Could be toxic.”

  I snatched my hand back. He was right. “Where are the pirates?”

  Bastian shrugged and stood. “I think they dropped us here. I woke up next to you only a few minutes ago. You scared me. Wouldn’t wake.”

  “Did they leave supplies?”

  He pointed to two tan-colored satchels. “There are food packs and another set of clothes—plus the dirty clothes we had on at capture. No guns. Are you hurt?”

  “I have a headache but I’m okay.” Glancing down, I noticed I was in denim pants that were a couple of sizes too big and held up with a thick rope belt. A long-sleeved shirt hung heavy on my upper body. Bastian had on the same. The bruises on his face had faded to yellow. “Hope they enjoyed changing our clothes. Interesting that they put us in waterproofed shirts.” I stuck my hand down inside my boots. “They put my knives back. Nice of them to arm us.”

  “I think they had good reason.” Bastian jumped up and yanked me to my fe
et.

  “Stop! Said I have a headache.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead as the sound of something large rustling in the leaves caught my attention. The loud, buzzing insects went silent. Felt like the entire jungle stilled.

  The branches above us creaked, leaves rustled and a huge, lizard-like thing crawled into view. It stared down at us with fire-red eyes as a long tongue slithered over sharp teeth that protruded out of its snout-like mouth. It slowly crawled down to another branch without taking its eyes off us. It had long front legs with clawed feet that grasped the branch like a human hand. Fear scorched my throat. The back end of the creature wrapped around the tree like a snake. As we watched, the legs started to retreat inside the serpent-like body.

  My stomach knotted, my heart pounded. “Do you get the feeling it wants us to run?” I whispered to Bastian.

  He bent, snagged a thick branch.

  I knelt, hoping my legs would hold, never taking my eyes off it as I slid both knives out of my boots. I gripped them just as the thing launched from the trees.

  Bastian swung and the lizard flew back into the thick, gnarled trunk of the tree before using its long tail to whip itself upright and slither toward us. I jumped to the side just as it reached me and swiped my right hand down fast, lodging the knife in a hide so thick, shock reverberated up my arm with the blow. It released a hissing scream and slithered around to attack me again. When its front came off the ground, I brought up my left hand and stabbed it under the long snout. Hot, sticky blood flowed over my hands, splattering all over my shirt and pants, and before I could rip out my knife, Bastian grabbed a huge rock and bashed the top of its head in.

  It twitched on the ground and I stared down it, breathing so hard my lungs hurt. It had to be twelve feet long and its upper body was massive—the size of a small Earth pony. The legs had come back out of the body as it had jumped at me and the claws on each foot were longer than my fingers. “I hope there aren’t a lot of these on this world.”

  We both looked up as leaves rustled over our heads. He grimaced. “I think there are. Better grab your knives. It brought friends.”

  I quickly knelt and had to use all my strength to pry my knives loose from the thick, rough hide. “We’re running this time. Grab the packs.”

  Bastian swiped up both packs and together we ran. Slithering sounds stayed with us as we swerved around obstacles. Thick underbrush filled most of the space but the ground was covered in masses of tangled root systems from the trees, some of them so large, we had to climb over them. My head pounded, the pain growing worse as we ran, and when I stumbled over a huge stone, Bastian caught my arm before I could fall.

  “Look,” he said, pointing at the ground.

  A black puddle of ooze bubbled in front of me.

  “I don’t think that’s something we want on us.” He turned, his long hair swinging around to slap my face. “We have to keep moving.”

  The slithering sound behind me raised bumps all over my skin. Another noise to our left caught my attention, and I concentrated long enough to figure it out. “Do you hear water?”

  He nodded and tugged on my hand, pulling me in that direction.

  “Wait, that thing looked like it could be a water creature.”

  He shook his head. “It was up in a tree, so I’m guessing it’s not, though that doesn’t mean those things can’t swim.” He looked up when leaves swished over our heads. “But water could mean less overhead danger.”

  “Good point.” I ran left, grimacing when we instantly hit another batch of massive tree roots. We had to slow to squeeze between them, and the entire time sweat ran down my back and chest because all I could think about was getting stuck and having one of those lizard-snake things jump me.

  The noise grew louder. “Sounds like a waterfall,” I said on a heavy oomph as I slammed into a bush. Something crawled over my hand and I caught a black and leggy insect the size of a gorvo fruit out of the corner of my eye. Shaking my hand, I scrambled to untangle myself from the foliage, leaves sticking in my hair, branches scratching my arms. Bastian reached inside the bush and wrapped strong fingers around my arms before pulling me free.

  “We’re close,” he said, raising his voice over the sound of the loud falls. We ran toward the noise and burst from the trees to find a huge mountain lake with a waterfall unlike anything I’d ever seen. It stretched hundreds of feet into the air, but what really shocked me were the ancient, manmade stone structures that flanked the falls. They were built right into the mountain walls all the way down to the ground. Thick moss draped everything. Tree roots had grown into the structure.

  “Whoever lived here is long gone.” I stepped near so he could hear me, before moving closer to the water. “I don’t suppose those packs had any water testers in them?”

  We both spun when loud noises came from the forest behind us. The lizard creatures halted at the edge of the trees, pacing, watching us. “There are so many of them, they have no reason not to rush us,” Bastian said.

  “Unless they don’t like the water. Maybe that’s why whoever used to live here built their homes around it.”

  “Then we’re staying by the water.”

  Nodding, I kept my gaze on what looked like five sets of red eyes peering at us from the trees. “There are doors back there, but it’s going to be a long trek around this lake to get to them.” Thirst was already a problem for me. Between the run, the adrenaline rush and the leftover repercussions from gas inhalation, my throat felt like something had scratched it raw. “Did you say there are water tablets in the bags?”

  Bastian knelt, opened one of the packs and began rummaging through it. “Just food packs and a few first aid supplies. Oh, a tiny med scanner.” He tucked his hair behind his ear. “They obviously don’t want us to die here.”

  “But why drop us here? The planet seems deserted.”

  “This part of it anyway. Maybe they dropped us in the wrong place.”

  “If they knew about those creatures, everywhere is the wrong place—so I’m not so sure we weren’t meant to be left as dinner.”

  “With weapons, food and a med scanner?”

  He was so young. I’d forgotten there for a while. After staying in some of the worst sectors in the known universes, I wasn’t so innocent. “There are people who get off on being cruel. Set us up with a false sense of security and bam. They could have us on vidscreens right now, enjoying the show.”

  “I didn’t get the sense the one in charge was deliberately cruel. His friend either. Now Juniper…”

  Sighing, I knelt to look in the other pack for water tablets. “Yeah, I honestly didn’t either. Though a ‘good’ space pirate is a pretty funny concept. Trust me, I’ve met some bad ones—including one I’d still like to get my hands on.” I pulled out bunched-up clothes. “Watch to make sure those things don’t run at us. I’m going to check the lining.”

  They hadn’t packed any water tablets. That meant they either planned for us to die of thirst or the water here was drinkable. I crept closer and placed my palms on the damp sand a few inches up from the water. Grimacing, I noticed the hand I’d used to stab that creature was dark with drying blood. The water trapped in the sand didn’t burn my fingers—not that it meant anything, but I crept closer and stuck the tip of one finger into it. Cool liquid washed away some of the blood. I raised my finger and stared at it, watching for blisters or a rash. “Pretty sure we can bathe in this,” I murmured after a few minutes passed without changes to my skin.

  “Hope so, because look.”

  I followed his pointing finger, my eyes going wide as I saw the mass of black clouds moving closer to us. “Shit! Come on!” I grabbed one bag, stuffed the clothes back in, and threw the other to Bastian who caught it before he nodded toward the jungle.

  The creatures were looking at the clouds too, and every hair on my body stood because it seemed like they were following what we did—like they weren’t dumb animals, but sentient creatures, smart.

  Ma
ybe they were the reason there were no aliens here, when it was obvious from the structures there once were. A shiver racked my frame even as the temperature suddenly spiked by a good ten degrees. Sweat instantly layered my skin. “Something tells me we don’t want to be in this rain.”

  We took off running again, but I knew we wouldn’t make it around the lake and into one of those doorways in time. “We have to brave the trees.” Humidity, so thick I could taste it, thickened the air.

  The rain began.

  Warm. It was uncomfortably warm. Drops came hard and fast and they pelted our clothes like small jabs. I was glad for the thick, long sleeves because the drops stung when they hit the bare skin on my hands and face. I spotted a small stand of trees a few yards ahead of us and grabbed Bastian to pull him under the canopy of leaves with me. We both bent, breathing hard, eyeing the jungle a few yards to our right.

  “I don’t think they’ll come out in the rain.”

  “They had thick hides, so I don’t see a reason for them not to.”

  “For all we know, their hides can’t handle it. Who knows? But I can see stumps between these trees and that forest, so I’m pretty sure someone cut a path and left these trees here for a reason.”

  A few seconds later, we couldn’t see anything outside of our cocoon of trees. Glancing up, I noticed a manmade tarp lashed to the tree branches with thick cords. “I think this was put here for cover,” I yelled. The rain came in massive sheets that obscured everything, the noise deafening. Sweat built on my skin so hard and fast, nausea sent me to my knees. Bastian immediately knelt beside me.

  I looked at him, saw that red flushed his neck and cheeks. My weather shirt felt like it was smothering me and I realized his must be doing the same thing. I reached for the metal connector at his neck and quickly began unfastening the row of them down his chest. He took over and I turned to my own shirt. I unhooked the ropy belt around my waist and dropped it to the sand. The baggy pants I wore sagged. Within seconds we were both naked. I breathed a sigh of relief even though it was still unbearably warm under these trees. Steam rose from the ground as the hot rain hit it.