Shield [New World Book 1] Read online

  Rask lay on his back. Grace straddled him. “My sex needs to stay inside so we can join.”

  “How?” he whispered, wide-eyed.

  “Like this.”

  Grace gripped his cock in her hand and moved over it. Very carefully she began to lower herself onto him. He was big and thick and she had to work at it to lower herself.

  Rask was groaning deep in his throat. His hands clutched into fists.

  As Grace settled onto him, with his entire length buried inside her, she held still. Her walls stretched to accommodate him and she bit her lip. Carefully, she began to move up again but Rask stopped her.

  “Wait,” he yelped. “It can’t be done already?”

  Grace smiled down at him. “No, honey, we’re just getting started.”

  Before Grace was off of him, his hands reached for her and tightened on her waist and he dragged her back down. He groaned low in his throat, his face filling with rapture and wonder. She was the one to yelp this time when her bottom banged against him with a hard slap. Rask pushed her up then yanked her down again.

  Good God, he is strong. She gasped; his fingers were digging into her ass cheeks. With a look of pure ecstasy he thumped her down and pulled her up. Thump—up—thump—up. Her legs were getting sore from straddling him. Before long they began to shake. His hips were solid and she felt like she was riding a wild stallion—a bucking wild stallion. With each bang, Grace could feel her teeth clack together and she knew she needed to take control of this or her insides would look like jello before long. When he slammed her down onto him again, Grace took his hands, actually pried them off her, and put them on her breasts.

  “Here, play with these.”

  “I have not played with toys in a long time,” he muttered but seemed interested.

  “They are not toys,” she ground out then realized it was her fault with her poor choice of words.

  “Why do you have these?” His fingers pulled at her nipples.

  “If I ever get pregnant, I can use them to nurse my baby.”

  His interest slowed his dramatic thrusting and Grace was beginning to enjoy the feeling of him being inside her.

  “What is nurse?”

  Grace held still. “Haven’t you ever seen an animal nurse its young?”

  “I told you, there are no females on my planet.”

  Grace was shocked. “None whatsoever?”

  “None.” His hands left her breasts to lift her then pull her down again.

  “To nurse means my breasts would fill with milk and the milk would come out of my nipples.”

  “The babe suckles them?” he asked with interest.

  “Yes.”

  “This feels so good.” He groaned.

  The man had incredible stamina. Grace was growing tired. He wasn’t experienced and she tried to teach him what she liked, but he was too fixated on the single act he was performing. Screw it. It was better to let him have what he wanted. The next time, though, they were doing it her way. She placed both hands on his chest and rode him hard. It seemed to be taking a long time for him to come, even if it was his first time. She could feel her climax building. Grace tossed her head back and cried out. She slumped against him, but he continued to lift and lower her. Grace tried to pull herself away but he kept himself buried within her.

  “Rask, we need to do it a different way. My elbows won’t keep me up any longer. My legs hurt from straddling you. I’ve never had a guy take me for so long.”

  “How?” he panted.

  “Let me roll under you so you can be on top. Just don’t crush me; you weigh a ton.”

  Rask grabbed her ankle and tossed her over. She was yanked onto her hands and knees. Grace dug her fingers into the fabric beneath her. Rask wrapped his arm around her middle and plunged in and out. Grace cried out. He was so powerful, too powerful.

  “This is so much better,” he ground out.

  Grace could feel the sweat begin to drip from her. She was panting. No one had ever taken her so hard or so fast. Rask found a steady rhythm and rocked against her. His large hand pushed on her shoulder blade and her face rested against the soft material. Her eyes closed. Rask was a man-beast all right. His soft growls and grunts were throaty. His hands were possessive. The front of his thighs felt strong when she felt them bump against her. It had been a long time since she had been with a man. Her moans increased and before long she felt another climax build. She came harder than the last time and moisture dripped down her thighs.

  “You smell so good,” Rask said, his voice was a deep throaty growl.

  She heard him inhale deeply. Grace jerked forward and screamed when she felt Rask’s fangs graze painfully over her. Just below her shoulder blade was soon in agony. She cried out for him to stop but he grumbled he couldn’t yet. It was part of his mating ritual, something so ancient it was buried in his memory. Grace could feel her blood drip down her sides. Rask lapped at it. She whimpered for him to stop what he was doing. Again he claimed he couldn’t, but he was almost done. She cried hat he was hurting her and she heard him swear.

  “Your skin must be softer than our females,” he growled. “There should be blood; a woman bleeds her first time, but not this much. I can sense it.”

  “A woman bleeds her first time but not from being bitten,” she howled.

  “Yes from being bitten,” he insisted.

  “Rask, please,” she whimpered. For the first time it occurred to her that part of his ritual could be eating her alive. She was terrified.

  “Easy, I won’t kill you,” he soothed. “Please don’t be so afraid. I smell and feel your fear. I know what I need to do. You’ll be fine in a second. I swear it.”

  Grace could feel him cut her again, then his fangs buried into her hip this time, deeper than before. Grace groaned as she felt a warm liquid invade her. Rask’s arms crushed her to him and she felt so strange. Then suddenly the pain stopped. She had no idea what had happened. She knew he was still doing something to her but there was no more pain. Her entire body relaxed until she was immobile.

  With a roar Rask came within her and he slumped over her. He muttered an apology.

  “What did you do?” she whispered.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you. I wasn’t supposed to. This was my first time. I don’t think my species mates with their first. I think their first female fights them off once they try to release their seed.”

  “Why?” Grace asked. Her entire body was submissive and welcoming, even though he had hurt her moments earlier. She felt no desire to move. Rask rolled her over and cuddled her body, warming her.

  “I’m sorry, Grace. Something just took over me. I didn’t know what was happening until it happened. A male needs to learn to release his hormone with his first bite into a female. For that, he needs practice. By the time a male is ready to mate, he chooses his female with care knowing his first bite will claim her. The hormone calms her and she is unable to resist him. By then it’s too late, because she is his. I’m sorry I hurt you. You are mine now. We are mated. You wear my mark on your shoulder.”

  “You mean like a date rape drug?”

  “I don’t know what rape is,” he reminded her.

  “It’s when a man forces a woman.”

  “You didn’t fight me off,” he said.

  Grace looked at him. “How could I fight you off?”

  Grace lay quietly beneath him. She wasn’t angry, but she felt confused. He claimed they were mated. She felt drawn to him. She felt like a part of him. How can that be? One look at him and she knew he would kill anything that touched her. Her blood was on his fangs. Her finger reached up to touch one. It was razor sharp and still she felt no pain when it cut her finger. Rask sucked her finger into his mouth. His lip looked cut.

  “I think our blood mixed and now flows together.”

  “What was in your fangs? I felt something go into me.”

  Rask looked like he was searching his memory.

  “A venom of sorts.”


  Rask swallowed hard like he was just as confused as she was.

  “I can smell you even better now. I can sense what you are feeling more than before. You feel like a part of me, an extension, no, not an extension. You feel like my heart beating.”

  “What does this mean?”

  “It means we are one. Forever.”

  Grace felt her tears begin to fall. “How long do your kind live?”

  Rask shook his head. “My grandfather was said to have died at five thousand years old. But some are much older.”

  “My kind only last a hundred years if we are lucky and we grow old quickly. By the time I’m thirty or perhaps younger, I will look your age.”

  Rask smiled at her. His finger trailed down her wet cheek. “You don’t want to leave me.”

  “No,” she admitted. She wasn’t certain what happened between them, but she was devastated she would have him for such a short time.

  “Castians mate for life. The hormone we share is something of great importance. I wish my father could tell me what. When the women died, they were almost never spoken of again. What would be the point? They would never be back. Why be reminded of something we could never have? Most survivors of my planet are my age, never mated, who are just now in their prime. What I do remember of my grandparents was that my grandmother died the same day as my grandfather.”

  “Then we will die together?” she asked with confusion. “Are you saying I’ll live as long as you do?”

  “Yes. And I will live as long as you do.”

  “But if your parents were mated does that mean your father is dead?”

  “No. My father didn’t mate with my mother. His seed found its way into her, but she fought him off before he could mate with her. She claimed he wasn’t ready. She died before he could mate with her again after I was born. It happens often enough when a man is full of himself, or so my father told me long ago.”

  “How old were you when she died?”

  “Almost four. I remember her hugging me and saying she had to go. She had no choice. Something had worn off.”

  “Worn off?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where is your father?”

  Rask scowled and rose from the bed. “Come with me. We can wash before it gets too late.”

  Grace rolled off the bed. “Rask, you need to warn your men if they find a human female. A human female can’t fight off a male Castian. All of the women captured will be mated.”

  Rask smiled. “Yes I suppose they will.”

  Chapter 3

  “But, Rask, what if those women don’t want to mate?”

  “Did you want to mate?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sorry?”

  She sighed dramatically. “That’s not the point.”

  Rask led her outside into the darkness. Grace stumbled and he gripped her elbow.

  “They will be happy they have mated. Their joining will give those females years of life. Thousands of years they never would have had before.”

  “Thousands? What if they decide they don’t love each other anymore?”

  Rask frowned. “It’s impossible. We didn’t just mate, we joined. Giving up each other would be harder than giving up the air we breathe. It’s never happened.”

  “What if their mates die? Something tells me that you have that shield for a reason.”

  “It is virtually impossible to kill a male Castian. It was why our women were killed; a poison infected our waters that killed off only the female line. It was done discreetly over a long period of time. Because it wasn’t harmful to males, our shields didn’t register the threat. A great deal of my home planet is covered in water. By the time we discovered the poison, it was too late. It was made to make the male of my species suffer. We mate for life. Many males died with their mates because of their connection through our mating ritual. Our shield protects us from disease, but our females had no such shield. By killing the females, they killed us. We could no longer reproduce either. I bet the Tonans didn’t expect us to find a viable replacement.”

  “So what we did was the equivalent of getting married when you bit me,” Grace muttered. “We have no idea if I can get pregnant.”

  “No we don’t, but in time, we will find out.”

  “Why use poison on the females? Why not just shoot them or stab them?”

  “I’m not certain. I’m afraid I don’t know much more about our females. There was something that protected them from those things you mentioned, but not poison taken internally.” Rask refrained from saying his father would get angry when he had asked too many questions. Finally, he had stopped asking altogether, even about his mother.

  “Doctors couldn’t think of something?” Grace asked.

  Rask scratched at his head. “What’s a doctor?”

  “Someone who takes care of you when you’re sick.”

  “What’s sick?”

  Grace stumbled then recovered. “When you don’t feel well.”

  Rask was confused. “I always feel well.”

  “Did the women not need doctors to give birth?”

  “There is no sick on my planet. A male shield protects him from almost everything. As for women giving birth, I have no idea. Why would a woman need help to have a tiny baby?”

  “Rask, that tiny baby comes out of the tiny hole you stick your huge cock in!”

  “Ouch.” That had him thinking. A baby comes out of there? He supposed it was something he would have to see to believe. Grace tripped again. “Grace, what is wrong with you?”

  “It’s pitch-black out here. I can’t see anything,” she snapped and fell against him. “Why didn’t you say there was a rock there?”

  “You can’t see in the dark?” That was a surprise.

  “Can you?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  Rask stopped and stood her before him. He was able to see as plain as day. His shield took energy from the two suns during the day giving him the ability to see at night. He wondered thoughtfully if female Castians had been blind in the dark. An inkling in the back of Rask’s mind wondered if they had been blind at night and the male of his species hunted for their mates at night. Perhaps that’s why a Castian’s armor is pitch-black. That was definitely something he wanted to ask his father.

  Rask waved a hand in front of Grace. Her stare remained blank. Rask knew she wasn’t lying, since mating and perhaps even before they mated, she would be unable to tell him an untruth, but he wanted to see just how blind she was in the dark for future reference. He would need to know how much protection she had to have. Rask blinked and his armor enveloped him. He purposely kept the tattoo lights on his face dark. Rask raised a huge talon and swung at her. Grace didn’t blink, much less move. Only her hair ruffled as his claws came within inches of her cheek.

  “We better hurry, Rask. I just felt the wind pick up.”

  Rask didn’t know whether to chuckle or feel concern. His armor dropped and he slung her over his shoulder. He then strode quickly to their wash domicile. Once inside, Rask called for the lights. Then he set Grace on her feet.

  “This is beautiful,” she gushed and spun around to take everything in.

  Rask supposed it was. It was a replica of his homeland where he had washed as a child. Deep green and red lush vegetation grew in abundance around a large pool of water. A small waterfall cascaded downward from above. The pool water was the color of the sky. Grace wandered over to the waterfall and looked up.

  “Where does the water come from?”

  “Grace, it’s a hologram.”

  “Really?” she whispered. She began to strip off her clothes. Rask winced when he saw the bloody mess he had made of her shoulder.

  Taking her hand, he guided her into the cool, clear pool. “Do not drink it; the water will make you sick.”

  Grace looked concerned. “Is the water here deadly to females as well?”

  “No. The rivers and lakes here are pure. Our enemies wouldn’t h
ave poisoned this planet. There was no need. It’s only about three hundred years old. By the time it formed, our women were gone. As for this pond, we had no choice.”

  “Why?”

  “The Slocks kept getting in and our shields would go up so our toes wouldn’t be bit off. It’s impossible to wash encased in armor.”

  “Slocks?”

  “Little creatures with webbed feet and jagged teeth.”

  “Are they in there now?” she asked with concern. “I think I’ve seen one of those. Their teeth are nasty.”

  “No, the chemical repels them. Don’t worry.”

  Grace followed him lower into the water.

  Rask turned her and wiped at her back, ridding it of blood. He looked at the design he had created. The pattern matched the one on his face when covered in armor. It was his own special mark. Every warrior had their own unique design. He had been born with his. Now his mate was marked as his. The water seemed to react to the blood. Curiously Rask watched as Grace started to heal.

  Human females were such perfect creatures. At least his Grace was. Rask thought it was more than that. If all of their females were this susceptible to Castian secretions and hormones, the benefits if they reproduced would be awesome. If only the humans’ space vessel hadn’t been so damaged. He and his men could have used it to spring his father from political asylum. That’s where Rask and his father’s followers had been banished—to another world of political asylum. Turned on by their own kind in an uprising of political differences. They had been strewn and abandoned across the universe as a lesson to other Castians…obey or be cast out. Fathers and sons had been separated. They had been given the bare necessities of life. After all, one never knew who would regain power and banish them to asylum. But it was now Rask who had the last laugh. Their cruelty had given him a mate. Something he thought never to have. Grace was beautiful. At least he thought so. He didn’t have another female to compare her with.

  “The water feels so good,” Grace said as she slipped lower.

  “So do you.”

  Rask turned her around and she shied back from him. He guessed his fangs were showing. He sensed her fear. She was remembering the pain he had caused her. Rask’s body reacted immediately to her weariness and confusion. He ran his finger down her cheek leaving a trail of moisture that evaporated within her. Even though his fangs frightened her, he knew she wasn’t afraid of him. Until he had marked her, she had enjoyed joining with him. Just the idea made him sweat. His manhood was huge again.