Awakened by the Giant: Brides of the Kindred Read online

  “You’re damn right it’s delicate,” Maddy muttered. She wished they could stop but she was still burning inside. She sighed. “Look, it’s okay—go on. I’m just…really sensitive for some reason.”

  “I see,” he said neutrally. “Very well, spread a little wider so I can reach you, please.”

  Maddy did as he said, hoping he would direct the thick stream of water up into her rather than against the front of her, where her sensitive clit was still humming.

  Calden did do a better job of aiming this time—unfortunately the stream of water was too big. Though it did go into her pussy channel, it also rushed and jetted against her clit again, making Maddy gasp as her knees almost gave way.

  “Oh, God!” she moaned, and found suddenly that she had both arms braced on his broad shoulders. This had the effect of pushing her bare breasts into his face but she couldn’t help it—she was suddenly completely overcome with sensation.

  “Madeline?” Calden asked, looking worried. “Should I stop?”

  Hell yes, he should stop! muttered a little voice inside her head. If he doesn’t you’re going to come.

  It was true, she realized. Even though this was possibly the least sexy scenario she’d ever been in, in her entire life, the incredible sensitivity of her clit and the warm pulsing of the water suddenly had her right on the edge.

  She opened her mouth to ask him to stop but what came out was, “No! No, don’t stop. Please!”

  “Very well.” Still looking at her doubtfully, Calden continued to aim the warm water directly into her pussy which meant it continued to pulse against her clit. Maddy tried to hold onto her self-restraint but it seemed she had no more control over this part of her body than she did her hands.

  Suddenly, the warm flow of water into and against her sensitive sex was too much and she felt herself tilting over the edge of orgasm, whether she wanted to or not. Every muscle in her body stiffened and she found herself leaning forward, her bare breasts pressed right against the big Jor’gen Kindred’s face. But she couldn’t make herself draw back—she was too busy losing herself as the intense sensation of pleasure swept over her.

  “Oh! Oh!” she moaned as sparks of sensation swept through her. Her hips bucked helplessly as sparks of heat filled her entire body. “Oh, God!”

  “Madeline?” Calden cut off the water abruptly and looked up at her, his bronze eyes wide. “Did you just…orgasm?”

  “Of course I did!” Maddy exclaimed breathlessly, and burst into tears.

  Chapter Three

  Calden couldn’t understand why she was crying. Then again, he didn’t understand much of anything about females, he had to acknowledge to himself. He only knew he had seen Madeline go through intense pleasure and just as quickly, crash down into what appeared to be intense despair.

  Though he knew he shouldn’t do it, he somehow found himself gathering her into his arms again and trying to soothe her.

  But it seemed like Madeline could not be soothed. Though he held her to him, she continued to shiver and weep miserably against him.

  Gods, poor little female. Despite his vow to keep his scientific subjects at an arm’s length emotionally, Calden felt his heart twist in his chest at her apparent anguish. He rubbed his hands up and down her back and then sat on the shower floor, regardless of the wetness, and took her onto his lap. She fit with ease in his arms, almost as though she was meant to be there and he found himself murmuring soothing nonsense words in her ear as he pulled her close, trying to ease the ache inside her.

  Madeline cried wordlessly and hopelessly for a long time while he held her cradled against his chest. Her abject misery was so intense that Calden felt almost desperate as he watched her—he wanted so badly to ease her pain but how could he when he didn’t know what was wrong?

  At last her sobs lessened to sniffles and she wiped at her eyes with the back of one limp hand. Calden frowned to himself. He was really going to have to do something about her non-functional extremities. He couldn’t let Madeline continue to be so helpless in a situation where she was already at a disadvantage due to her size.

  She looked up at him through eyes swollen from crying and he noticed their color for the first time. They were a soft silver-green, almost like the leaves of his stunted bonding fruit plant.

  Inwardly, he frowned. Why would he make that connection? Then he pushed the thought away—it was just a random idea. He had never seen eyes that shade before, that was all. And though Madeline’s eyes didn’t glow, like those of his own people, they were still extraordinarily lovely, fringed as they were with dark lashes, still wet and spiky from her tears.

  “Are you feeling better now, nieka?” he asked softly, using the word for “little one” in his own language without thinking about it. “Can you tell me about your pain?”

  “I don’t know about ‘better.’” Madeline sniffed and swiped at her eyes again, this time with a forearm. “Maybe more like all cried out. I just feel…empty inside. Empty and embarrassed.” She struggled in his arms and Calden let her sit up. “I don’t understand how I could let myself…go like that. I mean, I don’t even know you.” Her cheeks flushed a dull red—clearly she was talking about the orgasm she had experienced while he was washing the nutrient slime out of her.

  “You were simply reacting to physical stimuli,” Calden pointed out. “Your nerves are extremely sensitive—you couldn’t help yourself.”

  “I should have helped myself—or at least stopped myself from crying like a baby all over you.” She shook her head, still plainly embarrassed by her loss of emotional control. “I’m sorry—I don’t know why I lost it like that.”

  “You had a physical release which led to an emotional release, I believe,” Calden speculated. “Waking in the nutrient bath and learning of the demise of the rest of your crew members and your mate was a traumatic experience. I am sorry I did such a poor job of breaking the news to you.”

  She frowned and lifted her chin.

  “I want to look around your station or wherever this is. I want to see for myself that no one else is here—that you’re telling the truth and you don’t have the rest of them hidden away in slime tanks somewhere.”

  Calden thought about it and shrugged.

  “I see no reason why you should not have a tour of the station,” he remarked. “In the past, I have brought other specimens out of the lab and FATHER and the Mentats have never objected.”

  Madeline sighed. “Could you please stop calling me a specimen? I’m a person, you know. Even though I’m smaller than you it doesn’t mean I don’t have thoughts and feelings.”

  “Forgive me,” Calden said. “It is…difficult to know how to treat you. In addition to being sentient and a totally different species, you are also female—I have had almost no experience with your kind.”

  “What? With females?” Hey eyebrows raised in surprise.

  “My people had no females left to mate with—which is why most of them chose to go looking for brides while I elected to come to the Mentat station. Of course I had a mother…” He sighed. “But she died when I was very young. I have only a few scattered memories of her.”

  “Well, just treat me like a friend,” she suggested. “Or at least another intelligent being. Just because I have girly parts doesn’t make me some kind of mystery or riddle to be solved or mean I’m mentally incompetent. I can think for myself—a vagina and a brain aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.”

  “Of course not.” For some reason, her words made his eyes flicker down to the vagina in question. Madeline had a soft mound of curls about the same dark color as the hair on her head there. Calden thought of how she had trembled against him, her full breasts pushed against his face as she called out in the throes of pleasure. Strangely, he felt his shaft hardening at the memory. Quickly, he looked away from her naked body.

  “Could you give me something to dry off with and then get me some clothes?” Madeline asked.

  “Oh, yes—yes of course.” Ca