Part 41 (1/2)

Conversation? Ah, the combination of her needy cells plus the rumble of his voice must be clouding her thoughts. He was not here to mate. He was probably here to speak to her about the laboratory and her work. She refused to turn around. She knew the moment the receptors in her eyes detected his male shape, her hormones would elevate to the next level. In her worsening condition, he could be the ugliest male on the planet and if she stayed in his presence long enough, her will to resist wouldn't matter -she'd still find him handsome and her interest would flare into a kaleidoscope of basic need.

She spoke through gritted teeth. ”Make an appointment with my secretary.”

”I don't have time to delay. Neither do you.”

”Exactly. We agree. I don't have time.” Totally irritated by her reaction to him and how badly she wanted to climb into the flitter's cozy back seat and rip off his clothes, she practically growled, ”Go away.”

”Are you always so friendly?”

”Are you always so annoying?” she countered and took in a breath. Clean, musky male scent wafted to her nostrils, downs.h.i.+fted into her lungs and revved her olfactory nerves into third gear. By the mother lode. Why did his aroma have to remind her of sweet gra.s.ses and summer rain? Surely no other Endekian male had ever smelled so incredibly delicious.

254.

She tried not to savor his wondrous scent and to distract herself with a.n.a.lysis.

There was something odd about him. Something strange. Her mind tumbled and then settled. He smell like an Endekian because... he wasn't an Endekian.

”Who are yon?” Forgetting caution, she turned around. He was one giant of a man, one fantastic male specimen.

At the sight of bronze male skin molded over a powerful physique, her mouth, watered. With his black hair clipped short to reveal a very male neck that was supported by cords of muscle, her gaze skimmed from his bold nose to lush mouth to his dazzling cheekbones. But it was his compelling violet eyes, the color of precious nebula flame gemstones, that sought her out with male curiosity and which almost did in her rioting nerves.

Except his harsh expression stopped any inclination to move closer. He wasn't gloating with the usual I-know-you can't-resist-me arrogance that she hated from the men of her world. Actually as be retuned her stare, he appeared to attempting to conceal distaste, but be couldn't hide his reaction in those grim eyes.

He held still, not crowding her. ”Let me introduce myself. I am Xander from Mystique.”

”You're a Rystani warrior,” she accused him, still managing to keep her tone antagonistic, but barely.

Oh- Krek. He was one gorgeous hunk of a man. Even if she hadn't been entering the early stage of Boktai, he would still have been dazzling. Dealing with him now when s as in such a vulnerable condition was frustrating.

He spoke as if he had no inkling of what his presence was doing to her. ”After Endekians invaded our homeworld, those of us who survived emigrated to Mystique.”

His tone was cold, his eyes direct. Despite the clamouring-for-attention need that she couldn't subdue, she s.h.i.+vered under his austere expression. But perhaps she was reading more into his demeanor than was there, coloring it with her past.

She couldn't imagine any Rystani warrior had any love for Endekians. Her people had invaded his world fourteen Federation years ago and the rightness of their actions, the political reasons for war, had no bearing on the suffering they'd caused. Many Rystani had died in the invasion as had countless Endekian males. Her own brother had not come back from the war. When one lest loved ones-no reason was good enough to fill the emptiness, stop the pain, ease the sleepless nights. She ignored the sympathy and compa.s.sion that urged her to touch him and give comfort. Doing so would set her on an irrevocable path. It was bad enough mate with an Endekian when neither partic.i.p.ant had feelings for one another, but to mate with a man who had every reason on to hate her people would be abhorrent.

She turned of the flitter, opened the door and exited her vehicle, hoping the fresh air would blow his scent away. But course the weather didn't cooperate. When Xander unfolded his big frame from the vehicle, he revealed he was larger than she'd realized.

Inside the flitter, she'd only viewed his upper half, but his flat stomach, narrow hips 255.

and long legs with muscular thighs made him seem more intimidating, more domineering, more male. If the battle for his world had come down to hand-to-hand fighting, if all the Rystani men were this large, his people would never have lost.

Luckily for Endeki, they'd had superior technology and fire power.

Too bad there was nothing superior about her situation right now. As his scent swirled and eddied around her, her irritation with his determination to force her into a conversation warred with bubbling desire.

Even through her growing need she understood that he wouldn't leave until he'd said what he'd come to say. Rystani warriors had a fierce reputation. Known for their stubborn traits, she should have felt fear. She didn't. She should have felt relief that he wasn't here to shut down her facility. She didn't. She couldn't relax the tension that gathered inside her like thunderclouds before a storm, especially as she realized that the sooner they had their conversation the sooner she could depart. He wouldn't allow anything less.

”So why are you here?” she asked, deepening her voice to compensate for the breathy teasing tone that her biology so urged her to emit instead.

”I need your help.”

The only way she wanted to help was to find a private place. She imagined shadowy lighting, mellow music, hot s.e.x and his mouth and hands roaming over her flesh. With determination she shut down the fantasy thoughts.

”What kind of help?”

”Could we go somewhere more-”

”I'm not going anywhere with you.'' No matter how strong her hormones, no matter how badly her cells wept for satiation, she could not even have s.e.x with an offworlder. She was already at odds with her government. Taking a Rystani into her bed would be seen as a betrayal by her people.

He chuckled, his tone so warm and inviting that she barely restrained a gasp of delight. At the change in his demeanor, she forced herself to listen while she tried not to stare at his full mouth, tried not to wander what it would feel like to have his lips skim past her ear, down her neck.

As if he could read her thoughts, he frowned. ”Is it true that you need merely look at a person to read his DNA?”

She shrugged and folded her arms beneath her aching b.r.e.a.s.t.s, hoping the light was too dim for him to see her hardening nipples. Why was he interested in her peculiar ability, albeit one she had found useful, though her skill mattered little to the non- scientific community? ”So what if I don't need a microscope to read DNA?”

He ignored her sarcasm. ”It is said you can spot a flaw in the double helix chain at thirty paces.”

She'd be willing to bet her last batch of test samples that Xander had never seen the inside of a lab, never mind looked through a microscope. He appeared to have spent his 256.

entire life outdoors, exercising and eating and growing muscles over his well-shaped bones. Ah, what she wouldn't give to spend more time with him. His intensity intrigued her and although she put her impression down to Boktai, she suspected under other circ.u.mstances, he might still fascinate her. She'd noted a keen intelligence in his eyes, a glimmer of humor in their depths even as his voice carried overtones of compa.s.sion. Yet despite the intensity of her attraction to him, the offworlder's interest in her skill made her wary.

The war between his Rystani people and hers hadn't been over for very long.

Although the Rystani had left their homeworld and emigrated to Mystique, Endeki still ruled Rystan. The peace between their people remained uneasy, and she suspected only the most dire of circ.u.mstances could have caused him to come here.

She eyed him, wis.h.i.+ng the light was better so she could read his DNA. While chromosome combinations wouldn't reveal his motivation or his purpose for seeking her out, she had never before had the opportunity to examine Rystani DNA in a living male. Science would do her no good. She'd have to rely on her instincts and her chaotic senses.

”Why are you curious about my work?”

”I have no interest in your work. My interest is... in you.”

b.l.o.o.d.y Stars. Endekian men didn't speak with such directness. Then again, they didn't have to. They simply waited for a woman to choose and took their pleasure.

Conversation was rarely part of the arrangement, so Alara found his bold declaration of interest in her odd, yet exciting.

Reminding herself that her brain couldn't possibly be functioning on all neurons, she eyed the big warrior with renewed caution. ”What do you want?”

”I'd like for you to join me on a mission.”

Before she told him that she was not about to give up her work to join him, or leave her friends and her home, she freed her curiosity and asked, ”What mission?”

He shot her a charming, come-to-me smile that almost stole her breath. ”I'm seeking the Perceptive Ores.”

Despite his charisma, she snorted ”The Perceptive, Ones haven't inhabited this galaxy in eons. They are legends. We aren't certain they ever existed, never mind that they still live.”

”Have you no faith, Doctor? You wear a suit that was manufactured by machines the Perceptive Ones left behind.” His voice turned earnest, youthful, and she suspected he was younger than she'd first thought. ”They existed, all right. And according to ancient records, out near the rim is a system named Lapau, colonized by a humanoid race called the Lapautee. Not much is known about them. However, legend suggests their planet may be an outpost for a protector, a Perceptive One. I'm hoping that since their machines lasted through the millennia, perhaps they did as well.”

She didn't know if he was insane or on a grand quest Either way, she couldn't help him. ”I'm sorry. I must decline. I have my own work.”

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