Hot Toddy #3 Tales of the Quiet Kitty: Holiday Dreams Read online

  Changeling Press Presents

  Hot Toddy #3

  Tales of the Quiet Kitty: Holiday Dreams

  Camille Anthony

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2004 by Camille Anthony

  No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Changeling Press LLC.

  ISBN 1-59596-102-X

  Formats Available:

  HTML, Adobe PDF,

  MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader

  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  PO Box 1561

  Shepherdstown, WV 25443-1561

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Sheri Ross Carucci

  Cover Artist: Angela Knight

  This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  Chapter One

  From the corner of her eye, Willa watched Taelen tilt his chair back and swivel away from his console. She jerked nervously and stiffened, head coming up to gaze narrowly at him. In the dimly lit almost deserted bridge, his golden eyes gleamed, the pupils eerily fluorescent. The sight sent chills skittering down her back.

  Still suffering the results of his devastating actions upon coming aboard, she didn’t trust this new crewmember. She touched a trembling hand to her naked skull and hunched her bare shoulders, mourning her lost fronds and wings.

  “This is my first Yuletide away from home, Willa. How do you celebrate the holidays?”

  Willa furrowed her forehead, wondering why she bothered. Her eyebrow fronds had molted when Taelen stripped her of all nourishment, leaving her frowns somewhat inadequate.

  “What did I tell you about talking to me? Besides, I have no idea what you are talking about and don’t want to know, either! Thank goodness I share nothing with you.”

  “Oh, come on, Willa -- Yule. Christmas. Winter-festival. Rebirth Solstice? -- surely you celebrate one of those.”

  She slid closer to her console, turning her shoulder on him, dismissing him, muttered, “Never heard of them.”

  She heard Taelen heave a dramatic sigh and bristled. What does he have to sound exasperated about?

  “Look, this is the traditional season of forgiveness and love. Why can’t you let bygones be bygones? I’ve apologized for draining you. I keep telling you I only did what was necessary. You couldn’t go into Avron’s presence sporting full wings and feathers. He’s already suspicious about you falling off his detection grid. Your healthy state would have sent him over the edge.”

  Willa scowled, mouth tight with anger, hatred for the Landresi prince scalding her. “I don’t forgive or love you. I will never place myself back in that monster’s power, so your actions were unnecessary. I wasn’t this naked after six years of abuse. Now I’m starved enough that even you begin to look good!”

  Taelen stood and sauntered to Willa’s side, a crooked smile twisting his full, juicy looking lips. He bent over and leaned an elbow on her console, coming too close. “Just say the word. I’m available anytime you want, sweet Sprite.”

  Taelen looked a lot like the exotic Earthlings in pictures Willa had seen of Earth’s ancient Egypt. His dark creamy skin stretched taut over sharp cheekbones, highlighted the eastern cast of forehead and eyes. Beautiful.

  Instinctively drawing back, she sought distance, cringed at his smarmy smile. He probably thought his good looks would overwhelm her. She frowned. Not a chance!

  He leaned closer, ignoring her body signals. “I’ve never encountered a female able to remain resistant to my will. You’ll be an adventure…”

  Willa’s pert purple-tipped breasts beaded in helpless arousal at his sultry words. Despite her body’s normal responses, she repudiated him with all her heart. Raising her arms, she pushed him away. “I don’t say the word, you krasn-head junkie. I’d rather starve!”

  “Sprite, we both know that isn’t true.” He cocked his head, eyeing her as if she were an intriguing bit of alien candy. “If it wasn’t the Yule season, I’d make you eat…” he licked his lips “…those words. But in the spirit of the holiday, I’ll leave you your delusions and let the insult go.”

  “That’s a fair exchange, Taelen, seeing I’ve let many of your insults go these last few days.”

  Taelen jerked back, cursing under his breath. “I wish you’d timed your entrance better, brother dearest.”

  “I’ll bet!” Willa snapped. Turning, she offered Brant a welcoming smile as she watched him come toward her. The sleek flowing muscles of his rangy body moved with the symmetry of a masterful symphony. Golden slitted eyes met hers, the look in them exciting her already heated libido.

  “You all right?” he asked, searching her eyes for an answer. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he rubbed his palms over her skin in soothing motions. His expression hardened. “Or was my adoptive brother bothering you?”

  Willa threw her arms around Brant, rubbed her head against his chest. She loved the warmth of his furred muscles. “No more than usual.” Lowering her voice, she whispered in his ear. “His words made me hungry, but I crave another’s seed.”

  Brant ignored Taelen’s derisive laughter as he bent and licked her bottom lip. His rough tongue abraded her tender flesh. “I’m feeling a little hungry myself.”

  His hand swept down her bare back, cupped a gently rounded globe. Exploring, he eased one broad fingertip into the creamy well of her sex, pushed deep. Her muscles clenched about his rooting finger.

  “Stars, you’re wet!” Another finger joined in, stroking in and out of her drenched sex. “This little nest is so greedy it’s slobbering.”

  Willa knew he loved it when she slid up and down his hand, clasped his fingers the way she would soon be gripping his cock, and she rode his fingers, hissing at the thick, molten river of emotions rolling off him, inundating her senses. Drinking his pleasure eased her need while escalating her hunger.

  “Secure your station. Report to my cabin in fifteen minutes, Sexengineer. I’ve planned a three course meal…”

  Willa squirmed under his continued pumping, eyes lighting up. “Three courses, huh? That sounds… promising!”

  Brant leered, added a third finger. “I’ve got what feels like three full loads seething in my balls.”

  Willa swallowed past the lump of lust clogging her throat. Her stomach growled as she pressed against the fingers scissoring inside her. “You shouldn’t dump those loads just anywhere,” she crooned brokenly, “not when I’m volunteering three empty and willing receptacles.”

  With a snarl of dark need, Brant tugged her close. Keeping his fingers buried in her tight nest, he pushed his tongue into her mouth, aggressively blending their tastes as he worked her dripping flesh below. His rough tongue slid over her smooth surfaces -- rubbed against teeth and gums, flicked over the roof of her mouth and licked the tender skin behind her lips.

  A loud groan of male hunger sounded from the other side of the room. Willa sobbed as Brant slowly pulled away from their kiss, easing his fingers from her clinging pussy. Capturing her gaze, he swiped her body’s honey over the tips of her swollen breasts. Lowering his head, he licked and drew on her damp nipples, exchanging her pussy’s moisture with the slickness of his saliva.

  He added teeth and she drew a shaky breat
h, buried one hand in his fur. Delicately scraping his fangs against the sides of her jutting tips, he administered sharp little nips that set her gasping.

  She groped for his sex. His cock reacted to her sex sounds -- every moan and sigh -- by leaping under her hand, steely length flexing and twitching, blood-gorged head seeping pre-come.

  Willa groaned, writhing in his arms, responding to the eddies of his lustful feelings. “I’m starved,” she whimpered, “so hungry…”

  “I know, baby,” he crooned, rocking her gently. “I’ll make it better. Come to my cabin.” He slowly backed away, settling her back in her chair with a last tongue swipe to both nipples. “Hurry with those security checks. I’ll be waiting in our bed.”

  His low, sexy tone made her insides spark. Her toes curled.

  “I’ll be there soon,” she promised on a gulp, reluctantly gathering her composure before turning back to the numbers flowing across her screen. Her fingers shook as they flew over her input board, charting and recording the pertinent data.

  When Taelen slipped off the bridge with a murmured excuse, she ignored him. Once the doors closed, she gave a relieved sigh. The male was seriously creepy.

  Chapter Two

  “Brant, wait up!”

  Taelen drew alongside his younger adoptive brother, reached a restraining hand toward his shoulder.

  Brant turned and cautioned him off with a warning snarl, claws extended.

  Taelen drew back before actually touching flesh. “Don’t be so testy. I only want a word with you.”

  Brant stopped in his tracks and stared at his newest pain in the ass. “I can’t believe your nerve, Taelen. The first thing you do is waltz aboard my ship and almost kill my lo -- my Sexengineer. You’re lucky I didn’t stun you and dump your uppity ass out the airlock!”

  The Landresi sighed. “Damn it! I only did what was --”

  “If necessary leaves your lips one more time, I’ll knock you on your ass,” Brant warned in a voice so gruff it rumbled through his chest.

  Taelen threw up his hands. “Chill out. I’m not apologizing again. You’ve ignored my first hundred. I will say… again… that Avron is too dangerous. His temper’s always been iffy, but lately he’s turned rabid. Seeing Willa’s healthy state would probably trigger one of his wrathful rages… the kind that almost ended in her death several times.”

  Brant couldn’t ignore the logic of Taelen’s arguments. “Damn you for making sense.” He slumped against the bulkhead and scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “All right, say it was necessary. Did you have to do it so abruptly? Frighten us -- her -- that much? I thought she was dying.”

  “If I’d taken the time to explain, would you have given me permission to do it?”

  “Hell, no, but I still deserved a warning.”

  Taelen sliced his hand in a chopping gesture. “Once you said no, I would have been bound to non-action by that asinine promise Ehoneh dragged from me. It needed doing. It’s done. End of story.”

  Brant straightened his spine, eyes burning with renewed anger. “That right there is one of the things I can’t stand about you, that ‘I’m the authority -- I’ve spoken!’ attitude of yours.”

  Taelen smirked, full lips softening in an amused moue. “What’s the matter, Captain? Don’t like your chain of command threatened?” His smile faded. “Get used to it. I am a Landresid prince, with more than double your years. I am accustomed to ruling.”

  “Not on my ship, Landresi. I rule here.”

  Taelen’s head flew up, eyes sparking, and Brant braced, ready for a fight. He wished like hell the Landresi would follow through on his threatening stance. Feeling helpless or cornered always made him mad enough to destroy something. Holding Willa’s limp, unresponsive form had left him feeling more helpless, more frightened than he ever had. A good sparring match was just what he needed. He felt the need to pound something… preferably Taelen.

  “You’re right,” Taelen admitted. “You are the captain and I have agreed to serve under your command and obey your orders.”

  Instead of accepting the challenge, the prince had backed down. Mixed emotions -- anger, astonishment, disappointment -- assailed Brant. He’d really wanted that fight. Damn it and damn that contrary Landresi. “What do you want, Taelen? If you’re not going to fight, I don’t have time to trade insults with you. I have an appointment…”

  “Yeah, I heard… and saw. A word of warning? Don’t replenish her too much. I’ll only have to deplete her again.”

  Brant glared at his adopted brother, irked at having to look up to meet his placid gaze. Taelen was a big motherfucker. “Try it! I’ll rip your guts out and let Bevel play with them.”

  Taelen threw his hands up in the air. “Where’s your Yule spirit? Didn’t your mother teach you respect for the season?”

  “You know, she did, but I haven’t celebrated Yule for over six years. Not since she died along with all the rest of my family and friends. Not since I became an unwilling resident in a Corporation zoo.”

  “Well, isn’t it time to rekindle the spirit of love around here? Scatter some brotherly crumbs, spread some inter-species pieces, uh, I mean peace!”

  Brant turned to face his new, unwanted relative. “Taelen, stop, please. You’re making me nocuous.”

  The Landresi stuck out his tongue. “Bite me. Stop evading the issue, Brant, and concentrate on the Corporation scum we both want. I’m not your enemy.”

  “So you keep saying, Taelen,” Brant returned, giving the male his shoulder as he started walking away from him. “Most days, I want to believe you. Then you pull some asinine stunt and your actions speak otherwise. There’s an ancient saying -- ‘To have friends, one must show oneself friendly.’ Take note.”

  Chapter Three

  The bridge portal whooshed open and Willa came barreling through. Taelen braced himself as her body slammed into his. His arms came up, grasped and steadied hers, stopping her fall. “Whoa, there! I’ve got you.”

  Willa jerked loose, her small body humming with anger and something else… something not disgust. Probably hunger, he decided, slowly releasing her.

  She backed away, hissing with displeasure. “Keep your hands off me!”

  “Fine!” he snarled, suddenly tired of being everyone’s whipping boy. He wasn’t used to this level of disfavor. Damned if he’d put up with any more. “I should’ve let you fall on your ass.”

  “Better a bruise than your touch,” she sniped, slapping the manual override to the door. “I can do without your brand of help. It’s death to my kind.”

  “For the hundredth time, I’m --”

  The bridge doors slid closed, leaving him alone, the bitter taste of another being’s hatred in his mouth.

  “ -- sorry!”

  Taelen sank into an empty seat, pounded his fist on the armrest. “Fuck it!”

  His mouth tightened, brow lowered. He honestly hadn’t meant to drain her so completely. Raking fingers through his thick unruly curls, he slid down in the chair. A second later, he dug in his side pocket.

  Agitation always made the need greater and his hands shook as he scrabbled for his supply of dried krasn. Removing a piece of fruit, he stuffed it in his mouth with almost frenzied greed. Three slices later, he licked his fingers clean, propped his elbow on the chair arm and rested his chin on his palm.

  He’d dulled the edge, but he badly needed to fuck. If one assigned blame, his own actions had closed off any present avenues of relief. Brant, Bevel and Willa couldn’t stand him and wouldn’t touch him or help him. They’d probably relish withholding the fucking they’d soon know he needed, opting to watch and laugh as he withered from the lack of sex.

  Well, the hell with that. He wasn’t going to spend the next few weeks being the Quiet Kitty’s resident pariah, on the outside looking in, left in the cold while they fucked each other to satiation.

  Saying sorry to those three didn’t work. He’d tried that until it stuck in his craw. So, no more apologies --
words were cheap. What could he do to show his true remorse? How could he change their minds about him? He couldn’t even reach Willa’s mind, closed off and wary as it remained.

  Ah, but even closed minds can be controlled when they’re relaxed in sleep! If I render them unconscious, induce and enter their dreams…

  Taelen caught himself. What was he thinking? He’d promised not to use his telepathic or kinetic powers against Brant. He didn’t dare. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if he transgressed, he’d have to face his father’s displeasure. He wasn’t prepared to do that anytime soon.

  A moment later, he laughed aloud. Worked right, he could keep his word and wouldn’t need to do a thing to Brant -- he’d simply influence Bevel and Willa into doing it for him. Tricking Bevel into administering a sedative to Brant and Willa didn’t forswear his oath. After all, he’d never said he wouldn’t try to influence the crew.

  With a targeted goal, Taelen felt much better. Moving to the captain’s chair, he sat and swung the console about, locking it in place. Screens lit up, depicting various areas of the ship as he directed the location monitors to find everyone.

  Willa was in her quarters. It was a simple thing to kinetically lock her portal and shut off her intercom, neatly isolating her.

  Bevel was in the main corridor, heading for Brant’s quarters. This couldn’t be better for his plans. A small mental push sent Bevel veering off toward the galley, obedient to the planted suggestion to share a glass of doctored wine with his captain.

  So far so good… now for the complicated stuff!

  Taelen nodded, satisfied with the way things were shaping up. He called a carafe of water to him, hooked a cup out of the air with his talent. He’d need the liquid to wash down the krasn he was about to consume. Crafting this type of interactive dream took concentration and a lot of internal heat. He couldn’t afford to lose control while orchestrating the sequences.

  His stash bag only held twelve more pieces of fruit. If he spaced them out, taking two slices every hour, it might afford him six hours of sexual relief. Those six hours had to be enough time to accomplish his goals.