Alinna sagged against the wall. Her body, her mind—everything—felt tired. The day seemed to have stretched on forever. She had performed her duty and discovered more about the humans than even she had hoped for under these strange circumstances. She sank to the floor and lowered her head to hold it in her hands. Her temples throbbed. She was paying the price for the effort she was putting out for her people. Her stress level was too high, and there was no end in sight. She’d left David, her only hope for any kind of relief from the stress she was under, in the hallway this morning. His emotions had bubbled close to the surface—confusion, anger, frustration—but they were nothing in comparison to the nearly out-of-control emotions of his team.

Today, she’d examined two of David’s pilots. Lee and Yancy had participated in Alinna’s rescue, and their emotions constantly snapped and popped in nearly identical curiosity. Clearly they were aware that something was going on with her, although she got no sense of betrayal or anger from them. She’d run the tests required for their final approval for long-term spaceflight, easily found on the simple psychtech database. They were similar to what the Inarrii required, examining things like the level of integrity each officer possessed, and how generous and tolerant they might be when working with someone of a different race or nationality. If she had been a real human psychtech, she would have passed the officers quite readily. But the true answers to those questions and the emotions underlying their answers could only be judged by opening her empathic abilities to the fullest. No lying or hiding was possible from her at that level. And that was where her personal cost had been applied. The mental toll of opening herself to these unshielded people was high. It was difficult to remain in control when she felt what they felt, and she knew they were holding back questions about her. These people were good, and even if she was doing it for a good reason, she was deceiving them.

Alinna needed a reprieve from the pounding of emotion against her senses. She hadn’t been able to stomach trying another horrible human meal after the slop at the medlab, and hunger was adding to her strain as her emergency rations were almost finished. To add to her misery, her leg still hurt.

But Captain Branscombe was waiting in the next room. Her emotions were more complex than the other two pilots. They rattled against Alinna’s emotional barriers like angry burra beetles against a solar shield. Relentless. The captain wanted to talk to her. Wanted to question Alinna. Branscombe was eager and, somehow, her emotions held the quality of angry revenge.

Alinna straightened her spine, pulled back her shoulders. She had to get through this to complete her mission. If she could gather information from the entire team, it would be enough. Then she would manage, somehow, to get back to her people and make her report. Alinna rubbed her temples again. If she called too soon, she would risk exposure and possibly ruin the entire mission. If the humans discovered they were being spied on, they wouldn’t be happy to join in a Treaty with the Inarrii.

She stood and walked to the entrance. The swarm of emotions on the other side of the door made her hesitate before opening it. Alinna rubbed her fingertips over the edge of the L’inar on her inner arms. Inarrii were not meant for this level of extended stress on their own, but she had to make it through these interviews. She had to return with enough information, or her career was ruined. She was in too deep now to turn back.

Alinna opened the door. Captain Branscombe immediately stood and smiled at her, but it was more of a baring of teeth than a genuine smile of welcome. Alinna tamped down on her mental shields. The woman buzzed with anger.

“Please come with me, Captain.” Alinna waved toward the door to her inner office, then turned to walk toward it. Exposing her back to the pilot felt dangerous, and Alinna fought to keep calm, to keep her L’inar from tightening into their raised banners of instinctual fear.

“This series of tests is designed to last just over an hour, but we will then be pursuing a second level of the exam which should take about thirty minutes,” Alinna explained over her shoulder as she walked to the monitor. She motioned to the examination bench. “Please have a seat, and we will start a sequence of baseline questions to align your response to the monitor.”

“I’ve done a few of these. I know the drill.”

“Drill?”

“The routine.”

Alinna glanced over at the female pilot. Her irritated response to a simple statement said a lot about her feelings for the testing process in general, even if she didn’t verbalize the strong resentment Alinna could feel emanating from her.

“You’ve had the level-five tests before.”

“I imagine you already know the answer to that, Doctor.”

Alinna’s fingers flew over the controls, aligning the machine without the control questions. Her empathic skills were far more accurate than this machine, but it was amazing on a certain level that the humans had come this far in analyzing the complicated human psyche. Alinna made a mental note to read into the history of the development of the tool, and of the extensive programming it must require.

“It isn’t in your medical files,” Alinna replied calmly.

“No, but I’m certain it’s in my security files.”

Alinna nodded. “I’m sure it is.” She turned away and took a seat at her console. Her calm answers only seemed to infuriate the captain further. While this wreaked havoc on the level of stress Alinna was shunting away from her shields, the contrasting reaction would make a very interesting study—perhaps even a vital study of human reaction for her people.

“Let’s begin.” Alinna started the standard level-five questions. The captain responded grudgingly, and Alinna could feel her frustration rising. She wasn’t surprised when the captain began speaking before Alinna’d had the chance to ask the next question.

“Yes, my family loves me and respects my choice to be in Starforce. Now, how about I ask a question, Doctor? How about you tell me just who you are?”

Alinna’s thoughts raced. Captain Branscombe was obviously the source of information David had referred to when he said he knew Alinna was a spy. He and the captain clearly assumed she was on a clandestine mission, and that the psychtech position was her cover. If they only knew how close to the truth they really were, and how wrong.

“I think you know who I am. Let’s return to the test. After all, you do need to complete this for your mission.” Alinna kept any emotion from her voice. Lying was hard, so she would let the woman make her own assumptions. Even that deception churned her stomach. She returned to the set questions. “Are you proud to be a Starforce pilot?”

It was a trick question. They all were, even the ones she had designed to measure the human reactions to possible interaction with another intelligent species.

The captain stared at her for a moment. Her cheeks flushed red to the roots of her short cropped blond hair, and her emotions pounded out anger and resentment. Clearly she had an issue with the Security forces, or more particularly, with the undercover levels of Starforce Intelligence. How the captain handled the situation would be an interesting reflection on the human ability to cope with frustrating situations.

“I’m prouder than I would be if I were a Starforce spy.”

Alinna stiffened. Although she had expected something of the sort, the words struck her like a blow. She responded with a question on her own personal agenda. “Does it bother you to know there are things hidden from you? Hidden for your own good?”

Captain Branscombe stood suddenly, leaving the monitored bench to pace the room. “Nothing should be hidden. Lies help no one.” She turned to face Alinna. “I understand that sometimes information is passed on from one level to another on a need-to-know basis, but I don’t think most people want that. Most people…I…don’t want or need that.”

“Some information, if generally released, could prove to be dangerous to individuals or sometimes even to an entire population.” Alinna put aside the controls for the test equipment. She felt uncomfortable with Captain Branscombe standing above her, so she stood too, her Inarrii height putting her at an advantage over the angry young woman. Since the anger didn’t seem violent, she pushed harder. “Would you risk people’s lives so that you could personally know about a covert mission?”

Captain Branscombe stared at her. She visibly ground her teeth. Then she turned away and sat down on the bench. “No. I wouldn’t. Let’s finish this damn test.”

* * *

David sat on his bed and rubbed his face with his hands. The temptation to take a sleeping aid niggled at him. God knew the cool shower he’d taken hadn’t helped either the fire in his loins or the tension in his mind. It was late, and he needed sleep. He’d spent the day going over the maintenance schedule for the new ships and worrying about his pilots undergoing the psych screens, avoiding the psych lab all day. David grabbed the pillow and gave it a few half-hearted whacks. Thoughts of Alinna rolled around and around in his mind. Branscombe had assured him she was a high-level Starforce security officer—the way the files had been altered practically shouted it, along with the mysterious cargo on a Starforce airjet cleared for the top security base.

Unfortunately Alinna just didn’t meet his understanding of a confident spy. She seemed lost, in trouble. Her vulnerability could be a calculated act to go along with her blatant sexuality and those magnificent eyes. She could be using all of these things to keep her cover clear or, now that it was blown, to keep him from reporting the discovery of her stolen identity. Of course, she also held the reins when it came to his career. He needed to make this next mission; it was the kind of opportunity that happened once in a lifetime. He deserved to go, his team was the best for the job, but without the final psych clearance, they weren’t going anywhere.

David flopped back on the bed. If the woman wasn’t so mysterious, and so pivotal to his career, he’d be tempted to hit on her. Those eyes, so fantastic, and her tattoos, they made him wild. Tomorrow, he’d ask her what they meant, and to hell with propriety. He closed his eyes. The way she’d looked at him so desperately, he wanted to help. He wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to fuck her, screw her like he had in his dreams and make her forget whatever was wrong.

David slid a hand down to his already thickening cock. He flipped the elastic of his underwear back and stroked the length of his shaft and then gripped it in his fist. Her curves had been so sweet in his dream. He recalled the taste of her skin, the line of a tattoo as it curved in toward the sweet slope of her inner thigh. The image was so strong, he could taste her, feel her hot skin against his mouth.

“Please, David,” her voice seemed to whisper in his ear as he fantasized about the mysterious woman.

“Sweetness…” He concentrated on the fantasy. It was as if she were right there with him. He kept his eyes closed.

“I need you,” she begged, unconsciously echoing his earlier desire to help her.

Her hands touched him, stroked him. He could smell her mild female aroma of arousal. It was so real, he was tempted to open his eyes to check if she were really there in his room with him. Instead he kept them firmly closed so he could take the fantasy as far as he could.

“Be still, sweetness. I’ll take care of you.” He looked into her wide green eyes, so full with need. He took her lips with his, kissing her softly as he pulled her on top of him. Then he slowly invaded the heat of her mouth with his tongue. She moaned against him, her response to his implication immediate. She would surrender to him, allow him to take her in any way he wanted. She would give him the power to serve her the way he knew she needed.

He slid the fingers of one hand into her hair as he rolled over, taking her with him, pinning her naked body to the bed. Her fine locks slid against his skin, and he was surprised to see that the tattoos extended into her hairline from the base of her neck. Tattooing a scalp would have to hurt. Tomorrow, he would definitely ask her about her tats, but tonight, he would get to know each line in the most intimate of ways, even if it was only in his imagination.

He kissed her neck, sucking softly enough at her skin not to leave a bruise, but nipping lightly here and there. Her scent made his mouth water, a delicious aroma of musk and citrus encouraging him to savor the taste of her skin. Alinna writhed beneath him, spreading her knees to wrap her long legs around his torso. She ground her naked pussy against his hips, and he wished he’d taken a moment to remove his shorts.

With that thought, the material between them disappeared. David grinned. Of course. This was his fantasy; he could do any damn thing he pleased. The bed grew wider, giving him plenty of room to play with Alinna. She gasped, taking in the changes, especially the feeling of his thick cock now centered against her hot cunt. He kissed her before she could say a word. He tasted her, sucked lightly at her tongue and her lips. Citrus and woman, the heady flavor echoed the scent of her skin and hair. He could feel her pussy growing wetter beneath him. Finally, before he could lose control and plunge his cock inside her, he shifted to one side and dropped his body to the bed. She moaned at his movement, the sound low and vulnerable, and turned toward him, keeping one leg over his hip, as though she never wanted him to leave her.

David ran the fingertips of his free hand down her body, skimming along her skin as he traced her curves to her nipple. He pinched the rosy bud, pulling at it until she rocked her hips against him in a silent plea. A girl who had as many tattoos as Alinna would probably like a little rough play, he thought. He moved his lips to her breast and sucked hard at her tight nipple. She threw back her head and groaned. David grinned, deciding he was right.

He levered himself up on his elbows to give himself the space he needed to reach her other breast and treated it to the same mild torture. As he suckled her, he slipped his hand down to stroke her pussy, delighted to find the naked skin there wet with her juices. He loved the fact that she had no soft curls of hair around her pussy, and marveled again at the way her tattoos extended in tendrils from her inner thighs all the way to these private inner lips.

“Tattoos here had to hurt like a bastard,” he said silently to her as he traced their path with his wet fingers.

* * *

Alinna groaned in pleasure and in frustration. She needed David—needed the release he could provide, the escape from all the tension of the mission. But he was surprising her again, both with his insight in how to please her and most importantly with his uncanny psychic abilities. He wasn’t even asleep. This time, he had reached out to her mentally while fantasizing about her. He’d drawn her into his daydream, altered the physical limitations his mind had set upon it, and was now addressing her mentally, just as though he were born to the ability. Which she supposed he was, just not in the way the Inarrii expected a human to be. The races were far more similar than simple appearance.

Alinna gasped as David stroked her sinaa. She should be pulling away, should be escaping the base to find some way back to her people to make her report. What she now knew about the humans was enough to finalize the decision on a direct approach by the Inarrii for a Treaty, she was certain of that. But that would mean leaving David, an unappealing thought considering she wasn’t even sure she could get home. Alinna’s pulse raced as he stroked her again, slowly teasing open the folds of her sinaa until he could touch the center of her longing. He was the only thing keeping her from going insane on this lonely planet. She didn’t want to leave David, and she certainly wasn’t ending this now. She needed him.

With bold strokes, he brought her to the edge, so close to orgasm that she whimpered his name. Then he stopped, only to begin a slow exploration of her L’inar with his tongue down the length of her body. She breathed deeply, inhaling his scent. His cologne added a crisp touch of spice to his natural musk, much as an Inarrii male in heat’s scent would. He was too slow, there was too much, and she needed more, now. She rocked against him as he mapped out every inch of her L’inar with his lips and tongue until he reached the innermost lines on her thighs. His skin was cool as he touched her, but his lips and tongue were hot, a surprising and delightful combination. He’d done this before, in the dream they had shared, and each touch of his hot tongue sent pulses of pleasure down her nerve lines.

Just as she was about to beg him to take her, she stiffened. He had done this before. She had allowed him to begin M’itta lensahn, the first step in the Inarrii mating ceremony, and she was allowing it again. Tracing her L’inar with his tongue marked her as his. If she let this continue, would they be mated? He had no L’inar nerve lines to taste and trace, so she couldn’t have completed the ceremony, could she? Her mind raced back to the previous night.

“Oh fuck,” she swore.

“Not yet.” He laughed at her, looked up to meet her eyes. He must have caught her shocked look. “What’s wrong?”

“We shouldn’t do this…I don’t really know you…” she trailed off as he lowered his mouth again to nuzzle the wet lips of her sinaa.

“You know me. And we both want this, need this.” He spoke against her sex, the warm breath from his words teasing more pleasure from her throbbing core.

He was right about that. She did need him, and she could read his yearning as easily now as she had read his honest desire to help her earlier. They were two different species; surely she couldn’t complete the M’itta lensahn anyway, without L’inar to follow on his body. With a hard thrust of his finger, he penetrated her and the worry flew from her mind. He sucked hard as he fucked her with first one, then two long fingers, and she felt the orgasm he’d begun earlier rush back to engulf her.

Her inner muscles rippled over his fingers, and he licked her juices, prolonging her pulses of pleasure. Before she could recover, he flipped her over, propping her up on her knees before him. He ran a hand over the curve of her ass, squeezing first one cheek and then the other. He traced her L’inar there, as well. Unlike some Inarrii women, she had several stray lines curling over her ass cheeks to trail down to her sex from behind. Few Inarrii men thought to stroke them, and David’s touch delighted her and teased her with its primal focus.

He bent to touch his lips to her nerve lines, sucking at them gently. She groaned, her body talking for her as she parted her thighs and rocked her hips, asking him to touch her again. Her nipples rubbed against the sheets, teasing them while he slid his finger back inside the lips of her sinaa. When his hot breath touched the opening of her ass, she shuddered at the sensation, but nothing prepared her for the intense pleasure he brought to her as he slowly rimmed her anal opening with his wet tongue. As he explored, his fingers continued to stroke her, and when he pushed his tongue into the tiny hole of her rear, she shouted out in shock and pleasure.

“Right now, Alinna, you are mine. Let me take you any way I please, and I will take care of you.”

Said mentally, it was so close to a mating promise Alinna almost stopped him, but she needed this, wanted him. He was so unlike any Inarrii she’d been with, and he drove her desire beyond the level of anything she’d ever felt.

“Yes.”

Her simple answer was enough. He stroked her again and slowly tongued her ass until she shuddered. When she thought she would come again, felt the orgasm growing within her, he pulled away and knelt behind her. Gripping her hips, he centered his cock against her sex, then rocked her back against him until he was deep inside her. He groaned, his control clearly on the edge. With a slow motion, he pushed her forward again until his cock sprang free from her sinaa. He pressed the wet tip against her ass.

Alinna shivered and swallowed hard. No Inarrii would fuck her here. It wasn’t formally taboo, but it wasn’t something she’d ever heard of being done. David’s fingers pulled against her hips, rocking her backward against his cock. The thickness of him had her shaking her head. But he reached around her to stroke her sinaa, the cool skin of his arm inadvertently brushing the L’inar on her hips, adding to the immediate pleasure of his fingers caressing her core. She relaxed, concentrating on the pleasure, and moaned aloud as his cock breached her. For a second, she tensed, but he continued to pleasure her sinaa, rubbing the tiny center of her nerve clusters as he thrust slowly against her.

Pleasure built, and she cried out, losing herself to it. Everything in the world disappeared except for the feeling of his hands and cock. With shock, she realized he was stroking his entire length inside her. While he wasn’t long by Inarrii standards, he was certainly wide, and it was amazing that it felt…good. She pressed back against him, no longer needing to be guided. She set the pace now, grinding back as he fucked her ass with his cock and her sinaa with his fingers.

David growled her name, his thrusts less controlled. He was nearing his orgasm. The thought of him spilling his seed inside her in this way drove her wild. She bucked back against him. It was enough to push her into a shuddering mountain of an orgasm. Her reaction drove his, and he gripped her hips hard as he pumped his orgasm into her ass. After a moment, they sank down on the bed. He pulled his cock free of her, its length still hard. He wrapped his arms around her.

“If I open my eyes for real now, will you disappear?” he whispered into her ear, his breath tickling the curve of L’inar near her throat.

“Yes.”

“Then let’s sleep.”

Alinna closed her eyes. Her body still hummed with pleasure. How could he imagine sleep would be possible? But she felt his body relaxing behind her. Slowly she settled against him. Human skin temperature was lower than Inarrii, but it felt good cradled against her back. Perhaps sleep would be possible after all. She felt her eyes drift shut.

Then she groaned as her internal command unit pulsed to life.

“Base to Unit Nine, Alinna Gaerrii, report.”