Close Obsession

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

On the short ride back, Mia couldn’t help thinking about the other couple. A human and a K, so happy together—it seemed to go against everything Mia had been told by the Resistance and everything she’d learned about the role of charl in Krinar society. How did they manage such a feat? And wasn’t Maria worried that she would ultimately lose Arman when her beauty faded and he remained the same?

Of course, Arman was as different from Korum as anyone she’d ever met. It was difficult to believe that he was a member of the same predatory species. He seemed far too kind and gentle to be a K, and Mia couldn’t imagine him holding Maria here against her will. Indeed, it seemed like Maria had been the one to initiate their relationship. Clearly, there were just as many varieties of personalities among Ks as there were among humans.

And Mia had managed to meet one who wouldn’t have been out of place in the primeval Krinar forests of billions of years ago.

Korum would’ve been a very successful hunter, Mia decided, with his blend of ruthlessness and sheer smarts. His ambition had propelled him to the top of the modern Krinar society, and she had no doubt he would’ve been successful in any type of environment—it was just the way he was. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he didn’t hesitate to go after it.

And for now, he wanted her.

Sighing, Mia looked at the floor as they landed in the clearing right next to Korum’s house. The ship touched the ground softly, and one of its walls immediately disintegrated, creating an opening for them.

Getting up, she exited the aircraft and followed Korum to the house. “Are we far from the beach?” she asked, remembering Maria mentioning it earlier.

“No, it’s actually walking distance,” Korum said as they entered the house. “I’ll show you the way tomorrow, if you’d like, so you don’t have to be cooped up in the house when I’m not around. Just don’t go into the ocean without me—the surf can be very strong here, and the currents are unpredictable.”

“I’m a good swimmer,” Mia told him. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Korum stopped and gave her a strict look. “You either promise me you won’t go into the water alone, or you don’t go to the beach without me at all.”

Mia mentally rolled her eyes. The dictator was back. “Fine. I won’t go into the water by myself.” Having grown up in Florida, she knew exactly what to watch out for in terms of rip currents and rogue waves, and the ocean didn’t scare her. Still, she didn’t want Korum preventing her from going to the beach, so she decided against arguing with him further.

“Good.” He sounded satisfied. “Then I’ll take you there tomorrow morning.”

“What about the trial?”

“It doesn’t start until eleven in the morning. If you wake up before then, we can take a walk to the beach, and I’ll show you some of the nearby sites. Later on, I’ll give you a more thorough tour.”

“That would be nice, thanks,” Mia said. “Can I observe the trial again tomorrow? It was really fascinating...”

He smiled at her. “Of course. It will be Loris’s turn to present—that should be particularly interesting to see.”

“Why does he hate you so much?” Mia asked, curious to learn more about Krinar politics. “Did you have some kind of differences before his son was accused?”

Korum’s lips twisted slightly. “Differences is one way of putting it. He had a company that competed with mine a few hundred years ago. His designs were far inferior, though, and he ultimately ended up having to close it down. His son—Rafor—worked with him at the time as one of his lead designers, and he lost a lot of his standing in society when the company went out of business. Loris had other ventures at the time, and he was deeply involved in politics, so his standing took a much smaller hit and recovered quickly. His son’s, however, never did.”

So Rafor was the Keith with the design background, the one who had provided the Resistance with K gadgets. It all made sense now. His designs had never been as good as Korum’s; it was no wonder that the Resistance had failed.

“And Loris hates you for that? For Rafor losing his standing?” Mia wasn’t sure she fully understood the standing concept, but it seemed to be quite important for the Krinar.

“He does,” Korum said. “He hates it that his son wasn’t good enough as a designer, and he blames me for Rafor never doing anything else productive with his life. And now that Rafor has also proven to be a pathetic traitor...”

“He blames you for that as well?” Mia guessed, staring up at Korum with a slight frown. “Is that why he intends to seek revenge?”

Korum nodded, his eyes glittering with something that looked like anticipation. “Indeed.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” Mia asked, trying to understand her lover better. He looked almost as if he were relishing the other K’s hatred. “That someone hates you so much, I mean?”

“Why should it bother me?” He looked amused at the thought. “He’s hardly the first, and he won’t be the last.”

Mia stared at him. “You don’t care if people like you? If they are your friends or your enemies?”

Korum laughed. “No, my sweet, why would I? If someone wants to be my enemy, it’s their choice—one that they will ultimately regret.”

“I see,” Mia said, another piece of the Korum puzzle clicking into place for her. She knew that there were people like that, individuals so confident in themselves—or arrogant, depending on how one looked at it—that they seemed to lack the usual drive to please others. And her lover appeared to be one of them. If anything, it looked like he thrived on conflict. She wondered if it was a K-specific trait or simply a part of Korum’s personality.

Before Mia could finish fully analyzing that thought, Korum stepped closer and lifted his hand to brush her hair back from her face. “That’s enough talk about politics,” he said, cupping her cheek with one large warm hand, his eyes beginning to gleam with familiar golden undertones. “I can think of far more pleasant things we could be doing right now.”

Mia’s heartbeat immediately quickened, and the muscles deep within her belly tightened, reacting to his touch and the unmistakable s****l intent in his voice. Such a Pavlovian response, the psychology student in her noted wryly—her body was now fully conditioned to respond to him this way, to crave the pleasure that only he could provide. The lack of control over her own flesh bothered Mia on many levels, making her feel even less in charge of her own life, her own decisions.

Bending down, he wrapped one arm around her back and placed the other under her knees, effortlessly lifting her up into his arms. Mia closed her eyes, burying her face against his shoulder as he swiftly carried her toward the bedroom.

As he’d said earlier, the labels placed on their relationship didn’t matter—at least not when it came to this.

When they got to the bedroom, he placed her down on the bed and straightened for a minute. Bemused, she watched as he placed a small white dot on his right temple.

“What is it?” she asked him warily when he leaned over her again.

“You’ll see,” he said mysteriously, with a wicked gleam in those amber eyes. And then he touched her temple as well. Startled, Mia raised her hand and felt a small protrusion. He had placed a dot on her also.

Feeling nervous, Mia opened her mouth to ask him again, but he kissed her in that moment and all rational thought left her head. His hand closed over her right breast, kneading the small globe, his thumb flicking lightly over her n****e, and Mia felt a surge of heat go through her. His other hand buried itself in her hair, holding her head still as his tongue invaded her mouth. She could taste the hunger in his kiss, and she wondered vaguely what had provoked him.

All of a sudden, she could no longer feel the softness of the bed beneath her and her ears were ringing from loud music, the pulsing beat reverberating through her bones. Gasping in shock, she pushed at Korum, and he let her go, watching with an unsettling mixture of amusement and burning lust as she sat up, gaping at the scene in panic and disbelief.

They were on the floor inside what looked like a large metal cage. All around them, Mia could see gyrating bodies, grinding and pushing against each other. Stunned, she realized they were dancing. The flickering lights above them cast everything in shades of blue and purple, adding to the surreal feel of the situation.

“Where are we?” she yelled, jumping to her feet and staring at Korum in frightened astonishment. Did he teleport them somewhere, or was this some strange and new virtual world?

He laughed, rising from the floor smoothly. “Come here,” he said, pulling her toward him.

Angry and confused, Mia tried to resist, but it was useless, of course. Within seconds, he had her pressed against his body, and she could feel his erection pushing at her stomach.

“So I learned something interesting today,” Korum said softly, his voice somehow carrying above the music. His eyes were nearly yellow in the strange flashing lights of the dance floor. “My sweet little charl seems to have a thing for touching me in public places—when she thinks no one is watching, of course. When she thinks I can’t feel it.”

Mia swallowed, remembering her actions earlier, before the trial began. She’d played with Korum, secure in the knowledge that no one would ever find out... yet somehow he knew. Was he mad at her? Did he intend to punish her somehow?

“Where are we?” she asked, staring up at him warily. “Why did you bring me here?”

“We’re in the most exclusive nightclub in Beverly Hills,” Korum told her. “And I’m going to give you exactly what you want.”

Mia’s stomach twisted with a strange mixture of fear and excitement. “Korum, please, I don’t think—”

Before she could finish the sentence, he grasped her butt and lifted her up, pressing her back against the wall of the cage, her thighs spread wide and his pelvis flush against her own. Mia gasped again, feeling his c**k prodding at her s*x through the thin barrier of their clothing. Then his mouth was over hers again, his kiss so deep and penetrating that she could barely breathe.

He intended to f**k her in public, Mia realized with some semi-functioning part of her brain, horrified and yet unbearably aroused at the thought. Surely this couldn’t be real, she thought desperately, surely he wouldn’t do that to her... or would he?

She tried to twist away from his mouth, her nails digging into his shoulders, but he wouldn’t let her, biting her lower lip in warning until she had no choice but to give in. The roar of her own heartbeat was almost louder than the blaring music around them as she fought to maintain some semblance of sanity in what seemed like an utterly insane situation.

Holding her up with one arm, Korum used his other hand to grasp the skirt of her dress and lift it higher, leaving the front portion of her lower body naked. Mia whimpered in panic, frantically raking her nails down his bare shoulders as he freed his c**k too. She could feel the blunt force of it pressing against her delicate opening, and then he began to push inside, ignoring the way her muscles tightened in an attempt to deny him entry.

It was all happening so fast that Mia could barely process the situation, the flashing lights and the pounding music adding to her sense of disorientation. She felt unbearably hot, her body burning with a strange combination of searing shame and feverish desire as his c**k continued to push deeper inside her, her narrow sheath reluctantly stretching around its thick girth. With her full weight supported only by his arm, she couldn’t limit the depth of his penetration in any way, and he felt too large inside her, the head of his shaft almost bumping up against her cervix. For a few moments, pain threatened, but then her body adjusted, softening and melting around him, and the discomfort receded, leaving only a scorching need in its place. At the same time, his mouth continued to plunder her own, the invasion of his tongue mimicking the relentless push of his c**k.

Her senses completely overwhelmed, Mia couldn’t string together a single thought, could only feel as he began to move his hips, the force of his thrusts pressing her into the cage wall. The metal links dug into the soft skin of her exposed back, and the pulsing beat of the music seemed to echo inside her, the noise from the dancing crowd a dizzying buzz in her ears. Her vision darkened for a second, his kisses draining her of oxygen, but then his mouth lifted, letting her catch her breath, and the fainting sensation receded, bringing her back to semi-awareness of the situation.

Frantically sucking in air, Mia shut her eyes tightly and tried to pretend that this wasn’t happening, that he wasn’t truly f*****g her in a cage in the middle of a nightclub. It couldn’t be real, any of it; surely, she couldn’t really feel the hard metal pressing into her back, couldn’t hear the crowd screaming and whooping in tune to the blasting music. Yet the relentless thrust and drag of his c**k inside her couldn’t be mistaken for anything else, nor could the moist heat of his mouth as it traveled down the side of her neck.

A wave of hot shame rolled through her again, somehow adding to the powerful tension gathering inside her. His pace picked up, his hips hammering at her, and every muscle in her body seemed to tighten simultaneously, the pleasure so sharp it was almost intolerable... and then she could only scream as the climax crashed over her with the force of a tidal wave, her inner muscles squeezing and releasing his c**k several times.

As the orgasmic sensation faded, Mia slumped in Korum’s arms, burying her face in the crook of his neck. She could feel him shuddering as well, could hear his hoarse groan as his shaft throbbed and jerked inside her, releasing his seed in warm bursts.

Now that it was over, all she could feel was scalding embarrassment, and angry tears filled her eyes, leaking out through the corners. She didn’t want to look around, didn’t want to face the people who were sure to be avidly watching them.

More tears fell, moistening his neck. Mia wanted to disappear, to pretend this was all some horrible dream, but there was no escaping the stark sensations. His softening shaft was still buried inside her, and she could feel the cage digging into her back. And just when she thought she couldn’t bear it any longer, he murmured in her ear, “We’re not really here, darling. You know that, right?”

“What?” Mia jerked back, staring at him in shock and disbelief. She could hear the hypnotic beat of the latest dance-hop single, could feel him inside her, and he was telling her it was all happening inside her head?

His lips curled into a small smile. “Did you think it was real?”

“Let me down,” she said quietly, hot fury rushing through her. “Let me down right now.”

He actually listened to her this time and lowered her to the ground, slowly withdrawing from her. Her trembling legs refused to support her weight for a second, and he held her carefully, looking down at her with a slightly amused expression on his face. The dress fell back into place, covering her lower half again.

As soon as she could stand on her own, Mia pushed at Korum’s chest, and he took a step back, giving her some breathing room. Just to confirm what he’d told her, Mia slowly turned in a circle, staring at the dancers outside their cage.

No one was looking at them. Not a single person. The music kept blaring, the dancers kept grinding against each other, and nobody was paying them any attention. This wasn’t real after all. It was all happening virtually, just like at the trial. Or was it?

Turning back toward Korum, she asked evenly, “Did we just have s*x, or did you simply mind-f**k me?”

Instead of replying to her question, Korum lifted his hand to his right temple and pressed on it lightly. The club dissolved around them, reality shifting and adjusting, and Mia found herself standing on the floor next to one of the bedroom walls. He was standing there too, less than a foot away from her, his shorts unfastened and his now-flaccid s*x partially visible.

Blinking to clear the slight blurriness in her vision, Mia took stock of her current state. Her s*x felt swollen and a little sore, like it usually did after intercourse, and she could feel the wetness of his sperm sliding down her leg.

So the s*x part had definitely been real.

Mia couldn’t decide if that made her feel better or worse about the situation. Now that the adrenaline rush was over, she found herself shaking slightly, feeling cold despite the warmth in the room.

“I need a shower,” she told him, refusing to look at him.

“Mia,” he said softly, his hand wrapping around her upper arm when she tried to walk past him, “you’re not going to tell me you didn’t like it, are you?”

“Of course I didn’t!” Tears welled up in her eyes again as she relived the sharp feelings of burning humiliation and unwilling arousal, and she tried to yank her arm away from him. A useless effort, of course; he didn’t even seem to feel her struggle.

“Liar,” Korum said, and she could hear the amusement in his voice. “I could feel exactly how much you didn’t like it when you came, your little p***y squeezing me for all its worth.”

Mia felt her cheeks turning a bright red. “I’m going into the shower right now,” she repeated, wanting nothing more than to get away.

“All right,” he said. “I will go with you.” And before she could object, he picked her up again and carried her into the bathroom, placing her on her feet next to the jacuzzi.

“I wanted to go alone,” she told him mutinously as he pulled down her dress, leaving her standing there naked with the exception of the necklace around her neck and the soft booties on her feet. She touched the necklace lightly, finding the place where it apparently locked in place, and carefully took it off, placing it on the side of the jacuzzi. She had no intention of showering with a million-year-old piece of alien jewelry around her neck.

He smiled at her, taking off his own clothes. “Why would you want that?”

“Because I don’t like you right now,” she told him bluntly. Actually, that was a huge understatement. It was more that she felt like doing something violent to him—such as slapping that smile right off his beautiful face.

“Because I gave you what you wanted but would’ve been too scared to ask for?” he asked, c*****g his head to the side.

“I didn’t want that,” Mia told him vehemently. “And the fact that I came has nothing to do with anything. I’m more than just the sum of my physical responses—”

“Of course you are,” Korum said, coming up to her and crouching down to remove the boots from her feet. Mia stared down at him resentfully, fighting a ridiculous urge to stroke the dark, lustrous-looking hair on his head. Fluidly rising to his feet and looking down at her with a half-smile, he added, “If you had been truly uncomfortable or scared, I would’ve stopped immediately and brought us back here. I could feel your excitement, your pleasure at doing something forbidden. That’s why you played with me in the virtual world today—because underneath that shy exterior, you secretly love the thought of being just a little bit bad...”

Mia didn’t have a good answer to that, so she lowered her gaze and padded toward the shower. He came in with her as well, adjusting the settings so that the water cascaded over both of them. Pouring the pleasantly scented shampoo in his hand, he applied it to her hair, his strong fingers massaging away the tension in her scalp.

After her hair was clean and soft, he turned his attention to her body, tenderly washing each part until she forgot all about her anger in the sheer bliss of his skilled caresses. And just when she thought he was done, he knelt down and brought her to another peak with his mouth, his lips and tongue soft and gentle on her sensitive flesh.

Utterly relaxed and incredibly sleepy, Mia barely felt him toweling her off and carrying her to bed. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she passed out, not even cognizant of lying in his warm embrace.