StarlightComplete Read online

  “You want me to go back with you to Broome? Truly?”

  “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

  “It’s your home.”

  “Your home now, Sammi. If you like it.” He shrugged. “If you don’t, well, I do have a villa on Tau Ceti.”

  “With all those tentacle-shifters?” She shuddered.

  “Nothing wrong with tentacles,” John said.

  “Obviously you don’t think so. Did one really go inside you?”

  His fingers teased over her, like tentacles, probing and inserting. Samantha began to understand. Tentacles could be good…

  Flames swirled around her, totally consuming. Someone was screaming, crying—it took her a few moments to recognize John’s voice. He was the one sobbing and groaning.

  Sam started awake, her heart hammering against her ribs. Disoriented, she stared up at the ceiling.

  “No,” John moaned.

  She turned, her smile freezing. Horrified, she could only stare.

  The sheet was twisted around John’s body, wet through with his perspiration. His torso was covered in red welts.

  Alarmed, she sat upright and leaned over him. He muttered in felinus, words too fast for her to catch, except kitten-mine, repeated in frenzied whispers.

  She touched his cheek and recoiled from the heat. He was burning up. On fire, as she had been moments before in her dream.

  Sam shook his shoulder. He shuddered. “John.” No response. “Kuno? Kuno, listen it’s me, your honey-cat.”

  His eyelids fluttered. “Honey-cat. Kitten-mine.”

  What was wrong? Something he ate? Nope, the only thing he’d eaten for the past few hours was her…and she sure as hell wasn’t off.

  She grasped him by the shoulders and shook him as hard as she could. It was like trying to move a mountain. She probed her fingers into a pleasure spot, the hollow between his sacs. He moaned, but didn’t wake up.

  “Tosca-Sammi, ah!” John whispered.

  Sam reared back as if he had slapped her. John was calling for Tosca—her once internet alter-ego. He’d never call her that unless he was delirious, because he knew how painful her memories were, the connotations of that name.

  She leaned forward. “I’m here, Kuno. Tosca.”

  “Need…”

  “Need what, darling?” she asked.

  “Need her. Bite her, claw her, love her. Now.”

  “You want me, now? You’re asleep.”

  Smiling, he shook his head from side to side on the pillow. “Tosca. Answer my mail. Damn you, where are you?”

  Samantha stroked his blazing cheek. He was in the past, remembering those times when she had blocked his emails, because he had gotten too close. How she must have hurt him—frustrating his attempts to be-friend her.

  He turned his head into her palm, his tongue darting out to taste her flesh, teeth nibbling her wrist. She sat back on her heels, chewing her lip. He was more cat than man, despite his dual parentage. He needed something…someone. She guessed she was it.

  He kicked off the sheet. His lower body was livid with hives. She also saw bleeding nail-scratches in his skin, where he had torn at his own flesh. His multi-ridged cock was bigger than ever.

  “Need you,” John whispered. “Need. Need. Must.”

  Her man was hurting. There was only one thing for it. No matter what. Carefully, Sam lay down over him, covering his body.

  He reared up to her, his arms hard across her back, holding her so tightly she could hardly breathe. His legs wrapped around her, crossing at the small of her back. His mouth sought hers. He danced the oral with her, hard, fast, total exploration and consummation. He unleashed the cat.

  John growled low in his throat, then purred and kissed her again as his fingers traced meridian points. His body burned and she was consumed, caught up in his inferno.

  Sam found his sex points, and he cried out, moaned, spoke in agitated whispers against her mouth.

  His eyes snapped open and Sam gasped. His black pupils were elongated, but his irises were burnished gold—on fire, as every part of him blazed.

  “No, Sam. No.”

  “No?” She almost smiled, cupping his body. “I think you’re mistaken. You want me.”

  “I can’t have you.”

  She closed her eyes against the pain of his words. She knew it would come to this…sooner rather than later it seemed. She was not enough for him. Sam forced herself to look at him.

  John held her gaze. “It’s the Call. Home. Must go Chizan. Mate. Not here.”

  Not with me… Sam wanted to cry, but the hurt was beyond tears. “You want a felinus?” she asked. “I…I can find Kareena.”

  John’s eyes narrowed. He hissed, like a cat, his nails tearing into her skin. “Want you. No other. Can’t. I’ll hurt you. Desire too strong.”

  What the hell was he talking about? Then from somewhere she remembered the whispers, the jokes, passed between humans who did not know the felinus that said cats had to go home to mate, or die. Something to do with the energy currents on their homeworld. A renewal of body and spirit, achievable only during mating. Was there truth in the gossip?

  And Chizan was a long way away.

  “Kuno, what can I do? Tell me!” She held his face between her hands.

  “I…love you. Need to love you.”

  “Well, then…” She moved her body so that his erection separated her dewy folds.

  “Different. I’m in Desire. I won’t be gentle.”

  “You can’t hurt me.”

  He shook his head. “I…not know that.”

  “I know it, darling. You’ve never hurt me, not once, even when I was new to a felinus. I’m tougher than I look.” His frenzied gaze cooled for just a moment.

  “It’s the Desire, honey-cat. A new level, deeper. I’ll be unable to control it.”

  “Then I’ll control it enough for the both of us. Trust me. You won’t hurt me. I’m ready for anything, Kuno. Anything.”

  “Need to go home. After…”

  “Okay, I understand that, but in your present condition I don’t think you could go anywhere. Maybe I can abate the need enough, so that you can get home. Is that possible?”

  “Think so. Never happened to me before. Never thought. I’m not pure felinus.”

  “You’re a cat, John-Kuno. Through and through.” Leaning forward, she kissed him, her tongue plunging into his mouth. She stroked his inner velvet with careful laps, then bit his lip.

  He purred and raised her to her knees and positioned himself behind her. Sam braced her hands against the bed.

  He took her in one hard fast thrust. She cried. With pleasure. At the absolute possession, as deep as he had ever gone. One hand beneath her lifted her up to him, the fingers of his other hand swept over her buttock, a nail caressing her ass.

  You remembering those tentacles, John-Kuno? It’s okay. You do what you need to do. Have to do.

  His finger probed. He rode her both ways, not the gentle considerate lover, but a man and a cat in deepest passion. Beyond thought, beyond control. Consumed by the moment, by the madness of desire.

  On and on he loved her, moving fast, then slow, but all the while the extreme possession. He filled her with his love, his seed again and again.

  He laced his fingers into hers and raised her arms above her head, his mouth against her neck, biting, lathing, as he thrust.

  He turned her, raised her to her knees and entered her from behind, holding her breasts as he fucked her—he was feral and Sam closed her eyes. Fear lurked in her mind that she might not survive this, but sure as hell John would die if she didn’t try…

  Honey-cat. You hurt?

  I’m okay.

  I feel pain. Yours?

  No. Do that again, it’s so good.

  His erection moved to the side, found that first pleasure point, then to the left, then the center. Her body tingled with every probe. The starlight washed through her, into her. Stars passed before her tightly closed lids. Her skin b
urned.

  Honey-cat! Star-fire.

  What’s star-fire, Kuno?

  Look.

  She opened her eyes and saw her skin awash with pulsing gold-blue light. It eddied around her, plunged into her skin as Kuno, behind her, plunged into her. More than ecstasy or rapture, he drove her to another level, their bodies joined, their minds joined, taking, taken. They had become one entity. And that entity had a name.

  Desire.

  Starlight Desire.

  Their pinnacle came and went. John loved her on her back, against the wall, on the floor—every surface and position and still it was not enough.

  He carried her to the conservatory and sitting on a bench, John brought her onto his lap. She fastened her legs around his waist and he surged into her. Scalding her, igniting deeper pleasure. Deeper desire.

  Again and again he vibrated in climax. Linked, they became one in mind, body, spirit. Ecstasy, Rapture, now Desire, engulfed them. The light spun around them, like spider webs. The Desire connected them on every level. Tattoos of pulsing blue light swept over their flesh, then plunged into them as their bodies rose and merged, straining against the other.

  Desire blazed.

  My name is Kuno and I exist for you. He sobbed. Only for you. Now. Forever.

  His frenzied whisper from the depths of his being, made her cry. Sam took his head between her hands, threading his hair through her fingers. His eyes burned, and sparks leapt through his hair—golden-red tips and black-streaked—his felinus hair. She kissed him, hard, her mouth open.

  “More, Kuno, more.”

  He obliged.

  Sam awoke to the pain. She felt bruised. Utterly exhausted. She lay face down on the bed, the heavy warm weight of legs thrown across the back of her thighs, a hand holding her by the hair.

  Panic lanced through her.

  He was beside her, had hurt her, to prove that he truly did love her.

  She stifled a sob of terror.

  “Honey-cat. Honey-cat.”

  John pulled her into his arms, dragging her over his body as she cried.

  “Don’t kitten-mine. Don’t cry. I can’t stand your tears.”

  His voice brought reason, banishing the pain, the past.

  “Kuno? Is it you…?”

  “Who else lies beside you? Who else has had his feena inside you for twelve hours, but Kuno? Or maybe you’re dreaming of another? Yes, another! I see the shadows!” His fiery gaze probed.

  She tried to block her thoughts, the memories. But they were joined on every level and Kuno saw. Saw!

  “He did that to you?” His hands fastened on her hips. “He did that to you, kitten-mine? What else? It’s time for the truth.”

  “Don’t look in my mind, John. No. Please—no!”

  But it was too late. Like a cat, John’s thoughts pounced. Captured and merged with hers, he would not be denied. He saw everything.

  His anger washed through her. Anger and disgust—aimed at himself.

  “I hurt you as he hurt you.”

  “No…Tony—oh!” She had been forbidden to ever speak his name.

  “I thought you said your monster-husband’s name was Andy?” John’s voice was tight, the controlled hatred behind it was utterly terrifying.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “His true name was Tony Sinclair.”

  She stared at him. “How can you know that?”

  “My spies. A Starwatch Director has resources, as does a san-Duran.”

  “How long have you known about Andy?”

  “Almost from the first moment… Don’t be angry, kitten-mine.” His arms tightened around her. “He’s dead. Gone. But he still frightens you.” John ran his fingers through her hair.

  Sam blinked away the tears. “When I met him, he was Tony. But later, when I was married…he became Andy.”

  “He was a brute. A destroyer of worlds. A coward. I know his reputation. Who in Starwatch didn’t know him as one of GTC’s most ruthless operatives? A felinus marks his enemy and Tony Sinclair was mine. Poetic justice in the end for all that he did, that you gave his fortune over to Starwatch.” He smiled grimly. “I appreciated the irony then—as now.” He paused, his gaze searching. “He can’t hurt you again. Let him go. Let me exorcise him from you.” His mind lapped hers, as his tongue lapped up her tears.

  The darkness she had carried inside slipped away, like a ghost.

  “Yes,” John said, kissing her temple. “A ghost of the past. Let me banish it properly.”

  Sam rubbed her cheek against his, as a cat rubbed against her owner.

  “You give me the kitten’s kiss?” John asked and she looked at him, saw the tears in his eyes. “Thank you.”

  “What’s the kitten’s kiss?”

  “The felinus kiss—cheek to cheek. Saved only for those we love.”

  She remembered Hari’s parting gesture. She should have known, as with all things felinus, every gesture had hidden nuances, layers of meaning.

  “Will you do it to me?”

  John’s cheek stroked against hers. She trembled. He regarded her in shocked disbelief. “You want me again? Again? I’ve loved you beyond Desire. I love you to the madness.”

  “You love me?” she asked.

  “I love you, kitten-mine. Haven’t I proven it to you these past days and nights? But I hurt you. The Desire took hold.” He swallowed. “I never knew it was so pervasive.”

  “You’re not going to die?”

  “Not today,” John said, smiling crookedly. “Not for a long, long time. But I do have to go home. I have to mate there, receive the energy, the mutatis.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s an important felinus ritual. Without it, my two selves are in conflict.”

  “I see.” She dipped her head and his finger beneath her chin raised her so that he could study her.

  “Will you come with me, to my birth-world, kitten-mine?”

  “No human is allowed there.”

  “Except a mate. That relationship overcomes every prohibition. Besides, Harimal has gifted you the secret name of our home. He has bitten you. You are his sister. Chizan is your home now, too.” He paused his gaze serious, no mischief in his tawny eyes. “Hari has ensured your safety. Reveal to a felinus that you know the true name of our homeworld, and they’re honor bound to assist you, to take you to Chizan, to do your bidding. And that you bear the mark of the san-Duran, mine and Harimal’s, you’ll be protected to the last claw.”

  All hurts vanished. “I didn’t realize.”

  “Why few outsiders know our secrets. With secrets come responsibilities. Claw oaths.”

  Sam swallowed. “You want me to go with you…home?”

  “Of course. Do you think I’ve been playing with you, and no thought to the future? You’re my mate, Samantha! You’re my future, you are all my futures.”

  “I love you so much, Kuno, it hurts.”

  “That is the Desire. It’s bloody impossible, but once you’ve tasted of it, no other emotion runs so deep, except mutatis. I’m yours. You’re mine. Kiss me, kitten.”

  She rubbed her cheek to his and his arms tightened around her. Beneath her, she felt the ramrod hard, hot length of him. She shifted her legs and he entered her, the slightest intrusion.

  “You can do better than that, cat-boy!”

  “I was hard on you before, Sammi. There was pain and blood. Mine. Yours.”

  “Hari said I’d make you pay in body-juice. Is he never wrong?”

  John snorted. “Not often, only don’t tell him I said so. There’s nothing worse than a conceited cat.”

  Sam twisted her hips and coaxed him to her inner heat. “I know about conceited cats. Now, shut up and love me. I want you deep inside.”

  “Again?”

  “Again. Bite me, claw me, love me, one thousand and one ways, in one thousand and one days.” She kissed him, biting his lip.

  Honey-cat! I’m voracious. Such is Starlight Desire.

  That
’s Okay, Kuno. Take what you need. And if we make it to one thousand and one ways in less time, then you can start over.

  We can? You promise?

  Yes.

  “A party?” Sam looked at John, horrified. She hated parties.

  He smiled, that special smile of his that was aimed to devastate. He had learned that trick from Harimal—to good effect. Sam lifted her chin, narrowing her eyes—for effect. John grinned, spreading his hands.

  “It’s the felinus way, honey-cat. When each of us is called home, for the mutatis, it’s a rite of passage. A cause for celebration. With family and friends.”

  “Harimal was called home. He left without any fanfare.”

  “His call was more an order than a true Call. For me, I’m Called.”

  Felinus meanings and layers—how was a girl to understand? With her heart—how else? Sam squared her shoulders. “You want to reveal your…um…mating-desire to everyone? Is nothing private?”

  “Where sex is concerned, with felinus…why private? You can be so human.”

  Sam sniffed disdainfully. “You’re human, too. There are some things it’s proper to keep private.”

  “Proper?” John roared with laughter. Then growled. “I’m more cat than man, Sammi. You know that.”

  “Yes, but…”

  “But?” John raised a brow, silently encouraging her to speak.

  “You’ve never changed into a cat. Is that going to happen, when you get home?”

  “When we get home, Sammi. You and I will Recognize.”

  “What’s to recognize?”

  John smiled tightly. “Once we’re on Chizan, you’ll understand.”

  “Tell me, now! Who, or what, am I supposed to recognize?”

  “The man and the cat.”

  “You’re being deliberately mysterious.”

  “Me, darling? Me?” His grin broadened.

  “You aren’t going to explain?”

  “Nope.”

  “So, will you at least tell me why you can’t shift to cat?”

  “One has to be a pure-blood for that. I’ve tried.”

  “Does that disappoint you?”

  John lifted a shoulder. “It used to. Not any more. Shifting to cat can be complicated.”

  “And you have enough complications?”

  “Exactly.” John pushed himself away from the door of the conservatory where he had been leaning, haloed by the darkness of space and the stars. “Anyway, Kareena is arranging the party for tonight at Rendezvous.”