Purity (Pure and Tainted) (40 page)

K lifted her head and nearly wailed her pleasure. Finally,
this
was what she needed.
This
was what her body had been calling
out for, demanding ever since she’d taken off the black skinsuit and given in
to the carnal needs of her cycle.

“Yes!” she heard herself crying as she lifted her hips, trying to
be more open for him, more vulnerable.
“Purity,
yes,
Boone…
yes!”

Boone thrust into her, his big hands bruising her hips, his thick
shaft causing a delicious friction that felt so good K could hardly stand it.
She closed her eyes and opened her body, giving
herself
up completely to the hard, steady push and thrust inside her, feeling more
alive, more
real
than she ever had
before. Even in the heat of battle, leading her purge squad and wielding her
plasma gauntlets she had never felt like this. It was as though she and Boone
were becoming one, bonding somehow on some primitive level that wouldn’t have
been possible any other way.

“Boone,” she moaned.
“Oh, Purity…
Boone.”

“That’s right darlin’…” His voice sounded strained. “Just open up
and take it. Let me fill you up and make you come.”

K didn’t know how long it lasted—the deep, delicious thrusting,
the feeling of being completely owned by Boone and bonded to him on a primal
level she couldn’t explain or deny. She only knew she loved it, loved being
open for him, filled by him, penetrated utterly and completely in a way that
would change her forever.

At last the pleasure that had been building inside her from the
moment he first kissed her began to peak. K felt her whole body responding,
reaching a new height she’d never been to before as Boone held her down and
took her.

Boone…” she moaned. “Coming…I think I’m
coming.”

“Come on, then,” he ordered, his voice rough. “Let me feel you
coming, darlin’. Coming all over my cock while I pump
my cum
inside you.”

He gripped her hips even tighter and pressed himself into her, the
head of his shaft kissing the mouth of her womb. K moaned as she felt a ripple
in his thickness and a hot wetness spurted from the tip to fill her up.

The feeling of him coming inside her triggered another orgasm and
she felt her inner muscles milking him, trying to get everything he had to
give, feeding the cycle that had been set loose inside her from the first
moment she removed her suit.

The moment seemed to last forever, stretched out like a warm
thread of honey. But finally K felt herself relaxing a little. She felt limp
now, wrung out. With a little moan, she slumped down on her side, panting.

Boone followed her down, sliding out of her as she relaxed and
then K felt him pulling her into his arms.

“Mmm,” she hummed contentedly. “Well, I guess your formula worked.
Boone, you’re a genius.”

“Never mind that.
Are you all right, darlin’?” He
sounded anxious and concerned. “Did I hurt you? I didn’t want to. I was so
worried…”

His voice was hoarse with emotion. When K looked up at him, she was
surprised to see that his eyes were suspiciously bright.

“Boone?” she murmured, reaching up to touch his cheek. “I’m fine,
really. But…are you?”

“I think so.
As long as I didn’t hurt you.”
He swiped at his eyes and took a deep breath. “Sorry, darlin’. I knew this was
a possibility but I thought…I hoped…with my DNA inside you it wouldn’t be
necessary. I wanted your first time to be gentle.”

“Gentle wouldn’t have helped me control my cycle,” K said softly.
Her heart swelled with emotion as she cupped his cheek. “Boone, I really needed
what you gave me. If you hadn’t…” She shook her head. “I felt like I was going
to rip you apart.”

“I know the feeling.” He sighed. “That Erian DNA is nothing to
play around with. I don’t think I could have taken you like that without it.”

“It’s a good thing you gave me some of your own DNA to combat mine,”
K said seriously. “I felt like I was going to lose control but I never really did.”

“I
might have.” Boone still looked
unhappy. “Look, are you sure I didn’t hurt you? I’ve never, uh, taken a girl
that hard before. And I would never want to—”

“You said yourself it was an animal thing. A dominance thing,” K
pointed out. “You gave me exactly what I needed. In fact…” She rubbed against
him, noticing as she did that he was still hard and throbbing against her hip.
“I think I need some more.”

Boone gave her a grudging smile. “That’s the Erian mating cycle,
all right. Luckily, thanks to your DNA, I’m more than happy to accommodate you.
Only this time…” He took K’s hands and pushed them over her head while he
rolled her under him. “This time I want to take it nice and slow,” he growled
softly.

K felt her breath catch in her chest. “That sounds…good. Perfect,
actually. As long as you’re on top of me, penetrating me, you’ll be giving me
exactly what I need.”

He gave a low chuckle. “Never would have believed I’d hear those
words out of your mouth when we first captured you.”

“I never would have believed I’d be saying them,” K admitted
breathlessly. “But it feels good, Boone. It feels
right
. Do you know what I mean?”

“I do. Feels right to me too, baby.” He took her mouth in a slow,
leisurely kiss that built the fire inside her all over again. “Lights dim,” he
called and gave her that lazy smile. “Let’s make it a little more romantic in
here.”

“What does that mean? Romantic?” K asked breathlessly.

“Just another thing for me to teach
you.”
He smiled
and kissed her again.

K smiled back. “I think I’m going to enjoy learning.”

“Then come on, darlin’, let me in.”

K kissed him and spread her thighs for him. Gently, Boone found
his way inside.

This time they took it slow.

Chapter Thirty-four

“Hate to interrupt you two love birds,” Loki’s voice came crackling
over the comlink. “But it looks like there’s an Erian ship on an intercept
course with us. Not only that, I think the Empress herself is aboard.”

“What? She came herself?” Boone demanded. “Why?”

“Who knows?” Loki sounded worried. “The real question is
,
what is she here to do? Does she just want to take K or is
she planning to wipe out our entire ship?”

“Translation—how can you save your ass, right?” Boone growled.

“Well it’s a
nice
ass,”
Loki protested. “Just ask my man Rolf.”

“I’ll have to take his word for
it.” Boone sat up in the dim room and K sat up beside him. He had lost count of
how many times they’d made love. After the first frantic time it all seemed to
blur together into one long, deliciously sensuous encounter.

One thing was for certain
though,
he had
never
had sex this incredible in his
life. Part of it was from the injection of Erian DNA, he was certain—he’d been
able to keep up with even K’s extreme needs, which was good. But part of it was
just being with the woman he loved and knowing he would never let her go.

Speaking of which…what the hell was the Empress doing here? If she
thought she could separate the two of them now, Boone had news for her—it
wasn’t going to happen. He felt a possessive growl rise in his throat and
wondered if it was the Erian DNA making him feel so primal and protective, or
just the fact that he was determined to never lose K again.

“What is the Empress doing here?” K demanded, echoing his thoughts.

“I guess she decided she needed to come get you in person,” Loki
said. “Her people are demanding entrance to the
Dream Spinner
. What should we do?”

“We’re coming out to the control area,” Boone told Loki. “Don’t do
anything yet.”

He and K got dressed, fumbling around in the dim room for clothes.
Boone put back on his black t-shirt and flight trousers but when he looked
over, K was frowning at the floor.

“What is it, darlin’?” he asked, going over to her.

“This…thing.”
She shuttered as she nudged the
shed skinsuit with her toe. “I can’t put it on ever again but I don’t have anything
else to wear.”

“Yes, you do.” Boone pulled out one of his dress shirts. “Here you
go. Blast from the past.”

K pulled the dress shirt on. “Just like when you found me. Only…”
She frowned.

“What?” Boone asked anxiously.

“Nothing.
It just seems shorter than it did
before.” She looked down at the hem of the shirt which did seem to fall higher
on her thighs. “Never mind, let’s just get going.”

“I’m ready,” Boone said. “Let’s go.”

“Wait…” K put a hand on his arm and looked up into his face.
“Boone, I want you to know that no matter what she says or
does
,
I won’t go with her. We risked too much to be together—I won’t lose you again.”

“Aww, sweetheart…” He pulled her close and held her tightly to his
chest for a long moment. K’s arms crept around his waist and she hugged him
back hard. “It’s going to be okay,” Boone told her. “I don’t know how but it
is. It’s going to be okay—I won’t let her take you away from me.”

“All right.”
She nuzzled her face against his
chest and then, reluctantly, broke the hug. “Come on, we have to go.”

They ran out into the corridor and the yipping voxes met them at
once.

“Hey, where did you guys come from?” Boone said. “Guess they
escaped from Mom.
Must’ve decided they want to come back to
their original masters.”

He scooped up the animals and deposited the one that was his on
his shoulder as they walked. He was about to put K’s vox on his other shoulder
when she surprised him by taking it herself.

“Here, I think he wants me.” She put the little animal on her
shoulder and flashed Boone a secretive smile. The vox hummed contentedly and
its eyes glowed pure, deep blue. Speaking of eyes, was there something
different about K’s? Boone wanted a closer look but the light in the corridor
wasn’t much better than in the dim room they’d just left and there was no time.
They ran on down the metal hallway and ended up in the control area,
breathless.

“There you are!” Loki sounded agitated. He did a double take at
Boone. “Hey, what did you do to your hair?”

“What are you talking about?” Boone asked distractedly. “Forget my
hair—what’s the deal with the Empress?”

“She’s been trying to hail us and demanding we put her on screen,”
Rolf answered helpfully.

“You didn’t, did you?” Boone demanded.

“No.” Loki looked miffed.
“Of course not.
I’ve been pretending our viewscreen is broken.”

“Good,” Boone said.

“But there
is
a call you
might want to take—that hunky captain of the Tainted is also hailing us.”

“Put him on screen,” Boone directed. At once Captain Hesler’s face
appeared on the viewscreen.

“Commander K, I’m sorry to tell you but your safe period is
probably almost up. If you’re not already feeling pain, you will soon.” Then he
did a double take. “Where's your suit?”

“I don’t need it anymore.” K smiled. “Boone’s formula worked.
Remember, I told you he was working on something to help me?”

Hesler frowned. “I thought it wasn’t ready yet.”

“It wasn’t,” Boone said grimly. “We took a hell of a risk.” He put
an arm around K’s shoulders and squeezed. “Luckily, it paid off. And now K’s
DNA is changed—so hopefully the Empress won’t want her anymore.”

“I see,” Hesler murmured, nodding. “Well, congratulations,
Commander K. But speaking of the Empress…”

“Yes, she’s here. And she’s demanding to come on board,” K said.
“I fear she wants to take me back with her.”

“But you don’t want to go,” Hesler said flatly. It wasn’t a
question.

K lifted her chin. “I’m staying here with Boone no matter what. I
risked too much to lose him now.”

“You’ll need someone to back you up for that,” Hesler said. “If
you’ll allow me and three of my men to come aboard your ship as an honor guard
we can help with that. We’ll make sure the Empress’s men keep their hands to
themselves where Commander K is concerned.”

“What—you think we should actually let the Empress on board?” Loki
demanded.

“It’s the best security you have that they’re not going to just
blow you out of the sky,” Hesler pointed out. “She probably thinks they can
board you and bring Commander K away by force. “Let me and my men come on first
and she’ll have to rethink that plan.”

Boone considered.
“All right.
But just three of you?”

“The Tainted are Paladins,” K said. “Three is all you need.”

Hesler nodded. “Stand by your airlock. We’ll come over first and
then you can let the Empress aboard.”

“Looks like it’s about to get crowded in here,” Loki murmured as
the screen went blank.

“Better crowded than overrun, captured and thrown in prison on
your home planet,” Boone growled.
“Or blown out of the sky.
Hail the Erian vessel, Loki. Tell them the Empress and two of her people can
come aboard. No more than that.”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the airlock
signaled. Hesler and his men came in—well, one man and one woman, Boone saw.
They all wore the black skinsuits but their eyes showed no black at all.
Clearly they had found a way to make the suits work for them, just as K had
told him between their bouts of love-making.

Hesler gave them a brief salute and then did a quick double take.

“I couldn’t tell on the viewscreen for sure but…been making some
changes, have you?”

Before Boone could answer the airlock signaled again. The Tainted
got into formation around himself and K.

“Wait!” Boone handed the two voxes—whose eyes were whirling a
nervous yellow-orange—off to Mom and then laced his fingers through K’s.

“Open the airlock,” he instructed.

Loki did and stood back as the Empress, two guards clad in vivid
purple and green uniforms and one of her advisors came crowding into the ship.

“Well, here we all are,” she pronounced as she stepped in, being
careful of her long, richly bejeweled skirts. If this was her idea of casual travel
attire Boone thought he would hate to see her formal wear.

“Yes, here we are, your Majesty,” he said, giving K’s fingers a
squeeze. “I’m surprised you came yourself.”

“The future Empress of Eros is too important to risk to the
incompetence of others.” The Empress turned to K. “Now, Krissana, enough of
this foolishness. I’m here to take you ho—” She stopped short when she got
close enough to get a really good look at K. “Krissana?” she asked in a shocked
voice.

“Empress,” K said stolidly, nodding at her. “I’m sorry you’ve come
all this way but I don’t intend to go anywhere with you. So you might as well—”

“Your eyes!” the Empress interrupted her. Coming forward, she
pushed past Captain Hesler and grabbed K by the chin, tilting her face for a
better view. “Krissana,
what have you
done to your eyes?”

K jerked away from her mother’s pinching grip and frowned. “What
are you talking about?”

Boone was wondering the same thing. For the first time, he turned
to look at K full in the face and gave a muffled exclamation of surprise.

“K, she's right—your eyes!”

She put a hand to her face. “What about them?”

“They’re not the royal purple anymore.” The Empress sounded
extremely upset. “They’re some common, nondescript color. And you’ve lost your
golden rings!
The triple golden rings that denote royalty!”

“What?” K frowned.

“See for yourself.” Loki came forward for the first time, being
careful not to touch the Empress, and passed her a hand-held viewer. K studied
herself in silence for a moment, her eyes growing wider and wider.

“They’re the color of the sea on Earth-that-was. Just like
Boone’s.” She looked up at Boone. “And your hair has changed too.”

“What?
How?”
He put a hand to his head.
“Feels the same.”

“Look.” She handed him the viewer and Boone saw with surprise that
his hair had gone from brown to the same deep black as K’s.

“Looks like you had a bad dye job,” Loki said with a smirk.

“Not at all,” Mom countered. “The color suits him. But why did you
change

it
, Boone?”

“I didn’t,” he protested. “I don’t see how—”

K’s new eyes grew wide.
“The DNA swap!
That
must
be it. But you didn’t say
anything about visible changes, Boone.”

Boone frowned. “I didn’t think there would be any. Our DNA must
have shifted a little more than my calculations suggested. Don’t worry though,”
he added trying to reassure her, “It should have reached the end of its maximum
potential for change by now.”

“Well, it definitely had an effect,” Loki said, frowning. “It’s
not just K’s eyes—I think she’s taller too." He sniffed.
"Like she wasn’t tall enough already.”

“You
have
grown a couple
of inches,” Boone said, looking at K. “No wonder my shirt didn’t fit like it
did before.”

She looked down at the hem of his dress shirt. “I
knew
it felt different.”

The Empress, who had been standing before them, mute with shock,
finally managed to say something. She turned on Boone abruptly.

“What did you do?
What did
you do to my daughter?”

“He made it possible for us to be together.” K stepped forward, looking
steadily at the enraged Empress. “By giving me some of his DNA and taking some
of mine, Boone was able to help me complete my cycle without anyone dying.
That’s why he has my hair color and I have his eye color now.”

“You didn’t…” The Empress was pale now. “Tell me you didn’t do
this. Tell me you didn’t pollute your blood and give up your one chance of
ruling just to be with this inferior giant!”

“As a matter of fact, Mother, that is exactly what I did.” K took
back the viewer and looked at herself again, a small smile playing around one
corner of her mouth. “I just didn’t expect it to be so obvious.”

“But now…how can you rule? Without the triple golden rings how can
you command the people? How can you…how…” The Empress sputtered to a
stop,
apparently so overcome she couldn’t even finish her
thought.

“K, I swear…” Boone shook his head. “When I came up with this, I
never thought about it changing you so dramatically. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” She lifted her chin. “These changes made it possible
for us to be together, Boone. That’s all I care about.”