Forever's Not Enough (Galactic League of Planets) Read online

  He grunted and enjoyed the wind chimes she made.

  “And I’ve heard of something else. I think I saw it on an ancient flat screen movie from your planet. Something about love at first sight.”

  He sighed like a love-sick puppy when she pushed onto her back and floated.

  “Well, I say that because, while your species seems to ignore the truth and fantasize about such things as love sick and love at first sight…” Her voice trailed off as she rolled mid-sentence flashing her ass and back-fall at him, and disappeared beneath the water to a chorus of gentle chimes.

  When she came up at his feet clinging to the edge, she went on, “So, while your species fantasizes those things, we, the Meline, know them to be true. We know that in all of Meline, well, and the galaxy, and probably the universe, there is only one Meline.” She stopped, stared up at him, and corrected, “One soul that is destined to be our mate. Fortunately, Bast, our goddess, was wise enough to make that mutual.”

  “But what happened to courtship? To discovery? To freewill? To, well, dating?”

  She kicked away and walked out of the pool on some stairs beneath the water’s surface, and watching his eyes, walked around and sat on the stone bench beside him, careful not to touch or scare.

  “You see, that’s where your species has made a mistake. They’ve brought judgment and logic into something that has nothing to do with either. You humans plot and think and wonder why. You try to make love a question.” Somewhere it registered that she was whispering, her breath soft on his ear. “When, in fact, there is no question in love. There is only feeling. Love is a matter of heart, not a question of the mind.”

  His cock was swelling and his heart racing. Trying to cling to reality, he fisted his hard cock in his lap and said accusingly, “But look! Look what you’ve done to me! I’ve been like that since the first time I saw you.”

  Her laugh was soft and she seemed to rush to stifle it, “But how else would you want your cock to be with the one you lov…with the one you choose to love?”

  “But I didn’t even know you!”

  “Yes, but you saw me, and more importantly, you smelled me.”

  “What?” His surprise was real.

  He felt her thigh touch his and she prodded, “Tell me what I smell like to you.”

  The warmth of her thigh made his heart race and he scooted away, “Well, you smell sweet. Spice or something. Maybe flowers. And something else. I don’t know.”

  “But it’s pleasant to you?”

  He stared at her, but refused to answer.

  She smiled, “You see, no one else can smell me. Well, they do, but I just smell like, well, a Meline. I smell like a million other Meline and humans and Zandills. I guess you could say I stink, just like they do.”

  His cock was throbbing and when he realized his hand was still wrapped around it, he let go and slid a little further away on the bench.

  “Because I am meant to be yours, you’re the only one that can smell me. It happens the moment two souls meant for one another come together.”

  “It’s perfume or something.”

  She was quick to reply, “We use none.”

  “Well,” he said and pointed accusingly at the pool, “It’s the water.”

  She laughed and said, “Go ahead, smell it. It just smells like water. Well, and maybe a little like me because I just bathed in it. But that’s just me. Nothing else.”

  “But why do you call me your love?”

  She leaned close and whispered, “Because you are. Because there is no one in the universe meant for me but you. I guess the difference is that I understand that. You’re still caught up in your doubts and questions.”

  There hadn’t been a word in their conversation that he hadn’t understood, but he had no idea what she was talking about. He guessed it showed because she leaned her face a few inches from his and whispered, “Just know this: I have done nothing to make this happen other than be me. And,” she continued, glancing down at his cock and taking his hand. “Just as you react to me…” she paused and gently curled his fingers into a fist, leaving his middle finger free, and straddled his thighs, her sex open for him. “This is how I’ve been since the first time we met.”

  He felt his finger guided in and heard her moan softly. She was soft and wet and warm and wetter, and his cock ached. When she released his hand, he pushed deeper instead of withdrawing. When she leaned against his head he could feel her soft purr on his forehead.

  His finger, a mind of its own, moved in and out slowly, and he felt her arms wrap around his head and hold him to her breasts. And as any male, when his finger dips into a wet female, he marveled at how she reacted to his presence, his touch. Or, in this case, his smell.

  Her purr subsided and she seemed to struggle to say, “So, my darling, my one true love, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, you may also discover there is nothing to forgive.”

  He heard that small squeaking sound he’d come to…yes, he thought, to love, and he wrapped his free arm around her waist and lifted her against his body as he stood. He felt her legs wrap around him and her head fell on his shoulder with a sigh.

  His finger slipped out and he found his cock. It slid in as easily as a finger slides in a glove that fits perfectly, and he brought his other arm up and crushed her to his body.

  Spreading his big hands, he lifted her gently and let her drop.

  “Yesss,” she said on a sigh.

  He struggled to open his stance more, leaned back slightly, and lifted her again. She was so wet and warm, it felt so right when he lowered her and felt her squirm, his cock filling her.

  Her arms draped over his shoulders and she pulled herself up before settling back again.

  He started to speak, “I…”

  And her lips forced the words back into his mouth.

  His muscles glistened and bulged, and she bit his shoulder.

  Then he felt it. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t want it yet and he held her up, his cock almost sliding free. He’d never been so close so fast in his life and he felt selfish.

  She nibbled up the rope of muscle on the side of his neck and whispered, “It’s okay. I want you to.”

  Her purr vibrated through him.

  With a grunt he dropped her on his cock and rolled his hips. The third time his come, his very essence, shot like quicksilver up his cock, and his body quaking, his big arms squeezing her to him, he filled her with his seed.

  On the verge of passing out, he chose to unceremoniously fall back on the stone bench with a grunt. She squeaked when his cock was driven deeper. He panted and clung to her.

  She settled in his lap, her legs relaxed around his waist, and purred against his chest.

  While he still couldn’t say the words, instead he found her lips and tried with all his might to say what he felt with his kiss.

  When the kiss ended she smiled and whispered, “I love you too.”

  * * * *

  He woke with a jerk and listened. The room was still a soft hazy blue and he could hear a bird. The windows didn’t seem bright enough yet and he guessed it was early morning.

  When he’d recovered they’d gone back to bed and he’d listened to her talk about love and questions and doubts, each word accented with her soft whispered purr.

  She’d laughed when he’d called her Madame Ambassador and told him her name was Peenzan. She’d explained a little about the planet, her family, her mother the queen and her father the king.

  “The line is through the female. We are a matriarch,” she’d explained. Then she’d laughed and added, “But everyone knows that, because he is her mate, the king will never be refused and has as much power as she does.”

  “And you, Sergeant,” she’d asked. “Do you have a name other than Hillsborough?”

  “My name is Stanley, but people call me Hill.”

  She’d whooped. “Yes, or more like a mountain!”

  He couldn’t understand how something as sim
ple as his name could make her so happy. But then, he hadn’t understood much of anything for the last few days. Her explanation had been pretty straight forward, yet given the complete leap of faith and trust in feelings required, he found the whole thing hard to swallow.

  “Look, ma’am, I don’t…”

  Her finger was warm on his lips and her movements lithe when she pulled him from the bed, or as he’d labeled it his mind, her lair.

  At the wall beside the pool of amber water, she paused and an opening appeared along with night sounds and a rush of cool fragrant air.

  It had been more than four years since his last excursion into a space bigger than the confines of a galaxy cruiser, and when she pulled him beneath the blanket of stars he gasped.

  What he knew as the Milky Way on earth was brighter and appeared closer on Meline. A few degrees off center above his head hung an azure moon with wisps of white banding that mottled the surface.

  He could smell something sweet and hear strange rhythmic clicks and scrapes, deep chirps, and the occasional soulful cry.

  Following the pull of her hand, he looked down and realized the ground was covered with something much lighter in color than grass. When he stepped off a stone, he almost laughed. It felt like fur.

  She pulled him up a small knoll and they stood at the cusp of a small meadow, that even in the dark, he could tell was full of color.

  “It’s difficult for you.”

  When he looked at her, he saw a small purple object coming over her shoulder in the night sky. Another moon. It whizzed over their heads and he watched it disappear at the opposite horizon. He knew that Meline had four moons, and ignoring her comment, searched for another.

  Her body was warm when she stepped in. “It’s okay Hill, I understand. It must all seem so strange to you.”

  He tried to resist. He willed his body rigid and wished she’d go away.

  “That was the queen’s daughter,” she offered and he felt her hand on his chest. “The big moon overhead is the queen, and we have a king and a prince.

  When something grabbed his shoulder, he jumped and then smiled at her lilting laugh.

  “A waltuun,” she said and her hand brushed his shoulder, plucking something off.

  When she opened her palm, he looked in wonder at a small red bird of some kind that stood and regarded them both before jumping back to his shoulder.

  “Ah, that’s a good sign. The waltuun is nature’s lover and he’s come to check you out. I think he likes you.”

  “Look, ma’am, I’m…”

  “Peenzan, please…”

  “Well, Peenzan, I’m just a grunt. A Corporate Marine. I know nothing about waltuuns and the queen’s daughter. I was just assigned to protect you…”

  “Yes you were, my love.”

  He shifted uncomfortably and thought about having the “my love” discussion again, thought better of it, and just said, “Well, and as much as I’d like to say I understand everything you’ve told me, I just can’t.”

  He noticed how her hair shined and skin glowed, and it made him want to turn and run for a safe haven. But, he realized, there was no place in the galaxy that felt more like a safe haven than in the arms of this most beautiful of celestial bodies.

  Finally she said, “But you will, my love, my warrior. Soon you will.”

  She squeaked softly when his hands found her shoulders and pulled her to the furry ground where he kissed her and searched her eyes. The quiet rumble of her chest felt like home and he rolled onto his back, pulling her with him.

  An hour later they were back in bed where he feasted between her thighs one last time and she sucked his very life through the end of his cock. He smiled when she curled on the mattress and pulled him over her like a blanket, purring him to sleep to the sound of night birds singing outside.

  * * * *

  Blake Crenshaw, as was his custom, replied with a non-committal grunt. It made his skin crawl to be standing shoulder to shoulder with fully armed Zandill death warriors. It made no difference that they were all United Corporation Marines who, through top-secret DNA shifting, only looked like Zandill and their loyalty and purpose lay with the Corporation. It just gave him the willies.

  “Okay, men, lock and load! Everyone has the coordinates! Everyone knows the drill! Priority number one is the package!”

  “Hilo jayyee!” The Zandill Death Warrior death cry rang out.

  “Oh, one other thing ladies,” the sergeant called and waited for the embarkation room to quiet down. “Be sure to rape and pillage while you’re at it! We want the Melines really pissed off at the wrong people!”

  “Hilo jayyee!”

  It had taken ten years from concept to reality, and Crenshaw was always amazed when an Omega squad hit the surface of a planet. Only a handful of board members, the chairman, and himself knew the real purpose behind RandD187—Black—Omega.

  He thought the name fitting—Omega—the end. Yes, when an Omega unit hit the ground running it was all over but the mop-up, and with RandD’s last development, even that was taken care of.

  He wasn’t going any farther; he’d only come to watch the beginning of the end of Meline. Stepping out of the embarkation room, he found an observation port at UC Mining station 2 on the Meline moon, the Queen, and watched, as in the blink of an eye, fifty Zandill Death Warriors, one small silver package, and several tons of military equipment disappeared.

  But he knew exactly where they were. They’d just blind jumped into the middle of a very peaceful valley ten clicks south of the Meline main palace.

  He smiled at the sergeant’s final words. No matter how nasty they got, it was nothing compared to what was coming.

  Looking at his watch, he headed for his quarters. Once there he secure linked to the chairman to report. Closing the link, he turned on his 3-D and found a Meline news channel. He wanted to hear about the bloody incursion right from the victim’s mouth.

  Damn, he thought, I just love my job.

  * * * *

  Hill jerked and listened. Then he heard it. Peenzan still purred beneath him and the light from the windows had gone from pale blue to a dusty gray—daybreak, he decided.

  He waited until the sound was at the edge of the bed, and in one practiced move, sprang to his feet and planted his big hands around the neck of the intruder.

  He couldn’t understand anything the young woman was saying, but he recognized her. She swatted his big arms and struggled to get free.

  When he let go, she stumbled back and continued with a litany of Meline that he was sure included curses on his family.

  “Pran!”

  Peenzan held his arm and leaned into his body.

  “Ah, sorry, habit I guess.” He smiled, trying to smooth things over.

  He left them talking and went off to see if he remembered how to open the bathroom door. When he returned, the young woman was gone and Peenzan pulled him toward the pool of water.

  “My father has sent for us. Come, we will bathe and Pran will bring your clothes.”

  He couldn’t say the water was cold or warm. Just wet, and he marveled at the wind chimes that sounded with each splash. Somehow the water smelled crisp. Not soapy or perfumed, just different from what he knew as water. And the pool was much deeper than it looked from the edge, with steps that let him walk in. His skin tingled and Peenzan’s touches were electric. He cringed when his cock started swelling again.

  “My father would like to ask for your help. It seems Zandill Death Warriors have appeared at a small village south of here.”

  “Death Warriors?”

  “Not many. Our men have engaged them and chased them up Aannonn Mountain. Actually, they’re just watching them right now.”

  That didn’t sound like Zandill Death Warriors. They were never chased anywhere. They stood their ground and fought, taking pride in a fifty-to-one kill ratio, and with a zealot’s pride, always died with their weapons firing in the face of their enemies.

  He struggled
to cling to the thought, but as quickly as it popped into his head, it was gone and he was lost in Peenzan flipping languidly and floating a few feet away on her back. He squelched an urge to grab her and pull her onto his cock, and instead, did something much more productive. He cursed her, “Damn you, Princess! All I want to do is fuck you!”

  Her laugh mocked, and he watched her flip and swim to his side where she clung, pulling on his cock.

  “Is that such a bad thing, Hill?”

  “Yeah, well, it just, well… I don’t know!” he thundered in frustration.

  “You really must learn to trust me.”

  He couldn’t stand it anymore. Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her to the edge of the pool and sat her unceremoniously on the stone ledge. She squealed when he shoved her knees apart and buried his head between her thighs.

  He felt her fingers pulling on his hair while she spoke, “Yes, my love. Yes. I’m yours. Always!”

  He growled between licks and hated his own enthusiasm. How the hell does she do it? He had to have her. He had to eat her, to taste her on his tongue, to smell her. He had to rut her and wallow in the nectar that swelled from the gash between her legs.

  Then he had to have more. With a grunt, he slid her along the slick stone edge of the pool, stood on a step, and with one determined move buried his cock.

  When she grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself up, he could feel it. A low rumble against his chest while he rolled his hips slowly, with determination, and entertained thoughts of fucking her into submission.

  Her expression said he’d failed and he tried kissing her into submission. Her hunger spoke of another battle lost, and when she started to squirm and her breath caught, effectively stopping her purr, he knew what awaited him and didn’t resist. With renewed fervor he shoved his cock deep and waited for her to clench.

  She went rigid and whimpered, and he reveled in filling her with his come. It felt so right, yet left him drained and confused. There was no way he could resist her.

  “Princess!”

  He looked across the room and scowled at the young woman that had something draped across her arm. Where the hell did she come from?