"You did it because I asked you to," Emily reminded him again. "And it worked, right? So it was worth it." She tried to smile at him as he pressed the cool cloth very, very gently to her wounded bottom.
He sighed, looking deeply troubled.
"Worth it to keep you alive, I suppose and to keep your Tenrah from progressing. But I will still carry the memory of what I did to you to the grave."
"Hey, come on," Emily said, trying to ignore the awkwardness of talking to him while he was gently bathing her a.s.s with the cool cloth. "I mean, you kill people for a living, right? How much worse could giving me a little whipping be?" Then she wanted to bite her lip-last time mentioning his career as an a.s.sa.s.sin had set him off in a big way. But this time he only answered quietly.
"Infinitely worse. The ones I killed-they were just targets. And I was ice inside-I felt nothing when they died." His eyes had a faraway look, as though he was remembering someone or something only he could see. "I never thought to feel anything ever again. Not after Landra and Jalex..."
"Who?" Emily asked in a low voice.
The faraway look in his eyes faded to be replaced by a closed coldness.
"No one," he growled. "I am getting off track. Sufficient to say I do not wish to beat you again."
"Well, I hope you won"t have to but if the other starts coming back, I-ow!"
"What is it? Did I hurt you?" He withdrew the cooling cloth at once, frowning.
"No, it"s not that..." Emily shifted again and again the sharp pain lanced through her. But it wasn"t her a.s.s that was hurting this time...it was her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "I have to sit up," she said, turning on her side. No matter how much her backside still stung, it was nothing to the sudden, stabbing pain she"d just experienced.
Tragar helped her up without comment and she sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, grateful that the cooling cloth he"d used on her had helped a little at least.
"Where are you hurting?" he asked.
"It"s nothing. Just, um..." Emily didn"t exactly want to say she"d felt like someone was poking hot needles into her nipples although that was certainly the sensation she"d had a moment before when her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rubbed against the bed. She tried to look down as un.o.btrusively as she could, wondering if she could see anything through her nightgown. To her mortification, she absolutely could.
The pale blue, silky material, which had been loose and comfortable when she put the nightgown on, was stretched tight across b.r.e.a.s.t.s which were much, much larger than she remembered. She"d always had a fairly large chest-a full C cup verging on a D. But what she was looking at now was in E cup territory at least. Her nipples were poking out too, pressing obscenely against the thin fabric and making her look like some kind of a p.o.r.n star.
"Oh my G.o.d!" Emily whispered, horrified. "It looks like I went and got really bad breast enhancement! What"s wrong with me?" She looked up at Tragar and saw there was a grim expression on his dark face. "What?" she demanded. "What is it-you know something, don"t you? Tell me what it is!"
He sighed heavily. "I hope I am wrong but...you may be entering Scintil, the second stage of your Shift."
"What? No!" Emily protested. "You mean I"m further along than I was? But how is that possible?"
"Because Tenrah is a natural progression that all Khalla go through."
"But you spanked me! It made the other go away and I thought-"
"Your Kit"tara might have been driven underground not by the beating I gave you, but the onset of Scintil." He looked troubled. "If I remember my training correctly, your second self is in a kind of stasis or hibernation during the second stage of the Shift."
"Well that"s good, I guess," Emily said doubtfully. "But I don"t know about the trade off. On one hand I"m glad not to have some other ent.i.ty trying to take over my body. On the other hand I apparently had to get p.o.r.n star t.i.tties to get rid of her."
Tragar frowned in evident confusion.
"p.o.r.n star t.i.tties? I"m sorry-I thought I knew your language but some of the vernacular still confuses me."
Emily blushed. What was getting into her? She felt like she was changing and not just physically. She was more a.s.sertive-less scared and shy than she had been. Was it just because of everything she"d been through in the past twenty-four hours or was it part of what Tragar had called Tenrah or the Shift?
"I, uh..." She shook her head. "Never mind. The point is, how long does this stage last? And how can I reverse the whole process and just go back to being normal?"
Tragar sighed. "As for reversing the process completely, there is no way that I know of. And any of the stages of Tenrah may be gone through quickly or slowly, depending on your body"s own rhythm." He looked grim again. "In your case, we have to hope you go through them slowly or we"ll never make it to Rageron in time. I just hope you"re only in the early stages of Scintil and not the later stages."
"What? There are stages to the stages?" Emily shook her head. "This is crazy. How can you even tell what part of Scintin I"m in?"
"Scintil," he corrected. "And there is a way to tell-a small test which may be preformed."
"There is? Well then let"s do it-what are we waiting for?" Emily demanded. "I need to know where I stand and what"s going on with me!"
He looked uncomfortable.
"You may not...wish to perform it."
"What? Why not? Is it embarra.s.sing?"
"Potentially." He cleared his throat. "It would involve showing me your b.r.e.a.s.t.s."
"What? I mean, you"re already looking at them," Emily protested, feeling her cheeks heat with a blush.
"I would need to see them without your night garment in the way." He kept his tone absolutely neutral and Emily suddenly had the feeling that this situation embarra.s.sed the huge warrior almost as much as it embarra.s.sed her. It was that feeling that made her bite her tongue instead of demanding to know if he was being a pervert. Clearly he was strong enough to take advantage of her any time he wanted and just as clearly, that wasn"t what he wished. He didn"t want to hurt or embarra.s.s her-this was somehow necessary.
"All right," she said at last, taking a deep breath. "Here goes."
Grasping the stretchy lace neck of her nighty, she pulled it out and peeled it down, bringing it just under her extremely full b.r.e.a.s.t.s. As she did she brushed one of her nipples with her hand and gave a sharp little cry of pain. d.a.m.n, that hurt! And she had barely touched herself!
"Are you all right?" Tragar was looking at her with concern and Emily was surprised to see he was looking at her face rather than her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
"Yeah, I just-I had that sharp pain again when I barely touched myself. I just don"t know what"s going..." Her words trailed off as she looked down at her chest again, examining herself more closely. "Oh my G.o.d," she whispered. "What the h.e.l.l? My b.o.o.bs are huge. And the nipples are all weird and puffy."
It was true. Along with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her areolas seemed to have grown as well. They had been the size of quarters before-now they were bigger than silver dollars. Also, they were a much darker pink than usual and strangely puffed up-almost swollen. Her nipples were tight, erect points that poked out like exclamation points from the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, as though to emphasize how strangely obscene the whole situation was.
"So this is not your normal appearance?" Tragar asked, breaking her horrified contemplation of her new b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
"No...no of course not!" Emily looked up at him. "I mean just look at me! This isn"t normal for anyone who isn"t shooting an X-rated film about giant b.r.e.a.s.t.s!"
"They are larger but not out of proportion for your body," he offered.
Emily scowled. "If you"re trying to make me feel better, you"re failing miserably. This is just so weird. I mean, how could this happen all of a sudden?"
He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling. "It"s part of Scintil. I just hope you are in the early stages yet."
"Well can"t you tell by looking?" she asked.
The big Kindred frowned, looking uncomfortable again.
"Not exactly, no. As I said, there is a...test to be preformed."
"I thought looking at them was the test. What kind of test are we actually talking about?" Emily looked at him warily.
"We must determine if your nectar is flowing or not." He sighed and ran a hand through his long, black hair. "Your nipples must be pinched to see if they are producing or not."
"My what is flowing? And producing what?" Emily shook her head. This was just getting worse and worse. An unknown biological process she barely knew anything about was taking her over, changing her body completely in strange and frightening ways and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.
It was like getting her period again back when she was a kid but this time to the tenth power. To say she felt like her body was betraying her was an understatement. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.
Tragar sighed. "During Scintil the Khalla"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s fill with sweet nectar. In the early stages it remains within her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. In the later stages it begins to flow which signals that she will soon be moving into the third stage or Vlammen."
"So...you want me to squeeze my nipples and see if anything comes out?" Emily demanded.
He nodded. "Essentially."
"Well..." She shook her head. "G.o.d, this just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I keep thinking it"s all a nightmare and pretty soon I"m going to wake up."
"This is no dream." Tragar"s deep voice was sharp. "You cannot afford to let yourself believe that, Emily. What is happening to you is very real and potentially very deadly. I"m sorry to ask you to make this test but it"s important to know where we stand...to try and see how much time we have left."
"Time before what?" she whispered, almost afraid to ask.
"The final stage when..." Tragar shook his head. "Never mind. Just, please...make the test."
"Fine." Cupping one of her new, larger b.r.e.a.s.t.s in her hands, Emily took her right nipple between her thumb and forefinger but before she even started to squeeze a horrible jolt of pain speared through her. "Ouch!" she gasped, pulling her hand away as though she"d been stung. "What the h.e.l.l? I"m so sensitive. I barely touched myself but it feels like I just poked myself with a red-hot needle!"
Tragar didn"t look surprised. "It is part of Scintil-the Khalla is unable to touch the private areas of her own body. She must rely on her chosen mate to help her instead."
"What?" Emily demanded, incensed. "You knew it was going to hurt when I touched myself but you told me to do it anyway?"
"I had to let you find out for yourself." He looked at her blandly. "How would it have sounded if I told you right away that you needed a male"s touch and not your own? Would you have believed me?"
Emily had to acknowledge that he had a point. But still, that had hurt.
"Well all right," she muttered. "But what am I supposed to do? I don"t have a, uh, chosen mate."
"No, but you do have a male of your own species to help." He looked at her soberly. "I believe that my touch with not be painful to you-your body should recognize me and respond to me as though I was your chosen mate-though I clearly am not."
"So...you want to perform the test?" She looked apprehensively at his huge hands. As big as her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had suddenly become, she was certain he would still be able to palm her full globes.
"It"s not that I want to, although touching your lovely body will certainly be a pleasure," he rumbled. "But that I need to-to see where we stand."
"But..." His fingers looked very long and strong and she couldn"t help remembering how her own light touch had felt like needles and knives stabbing her tender nipple. How much more painful would it be, allowing him to pinch her in that most sensitive area?
"If you"re worried that I will take advantage, please don"t be," he murmured. "I would never-"
"It"s not that," Emily interrupted him. "It"s that...well...how much is this going to hurt? I didn"t mind the pain when you...when you strapped me with your belt because that was the only way to get rid of the other. But this...my nipples are suddenly so sore. And letting you squeeze them..."
"I don"t believe it will be painful to you at all," he said. "But if you like, I can touch you first before applying any pressure."
"But that"s all I did was just touch myself. And I..." Emily shook her head. She hated to be a coward but the pain had been really sharp and awful. "I just...don"t know."
"Emily, look at me." Tragar lifted her chin, raising her face so that he could look into her eyes. She was surprised to see the gentleness in his golden gaze. "I won"t hurt you," he rumbled. "Please trust me."
"I..." For some reason she felt strangely breathless. "All right," she said at last. "I...I trust you. You can try."
"Thank you." He held her gaze a moment longer before releasing her chin and stroking his knuckles gently over her hot cheek. "I"ll go slowly," he promised. "I"ll barely touch you at first, I swear it."
"All right," she whispered.
He nodded again and reached forward slowly to cup her right breast in his large left hand. They were facing each other and she couldn"t help stiffening at first. But her full globe settled naturally into his big palm and for right now, all she felt was the warmth of his skin against hers.
Just wait though, whispered a little voice in her head. He hasn"t even tried to touch your nipple yet. Just wait until he- "Ohhh..." The soft sound fell out of her as he lifted his thumb and traced very, very lightly around the very outer edge of her newly puffy areola.
"Are you all right?" He looked up, catching her eyes as he continued to move the pad of his thumb gently around the edge of her swollen pink peak.
"Yes, it...it doesn"t hurt," Emily admitted. Actually, she was having a different kind of sensation from his light touch-one she didn"t want to admit even to herself. "You...you can try a little more, I guess," she whispered, mesmerized by the sight of her breast being cupped in his large hand.
"Like this?" His thumb moved inward, tracing another circle-this one right around the tight bud of her nipple.
"Y-yes." Emily bit her lip at the way he was touching her-almost but not quite caressing the nipple itself. His gentle stroking had started a strange, new pulling sensation low in her abdomen-and a deep ache between her thighs.
"May I touch your peak?" he murmured. "Do you feel ready to let me try?"
"Yes, I...yes, do it." Emily nodded and watched as his thumb stopped circling and skimmed lightly over the tight pink bud of her nipple. "Oh!" she gasped as a jolt of pleasure went through her.
He pulled back his thumb at once.
"Did it hurt?"
"No, I..." How could she tell him his touch had given her the exact opposite of hurt? That it gave her extreme pleasure instead? It was too embarra.s.sing. "I"m fine," she said instead, trying to make her voice sound normal instead of breathy and out of control. "I...you can go on now, I guess. I mean, you can squeeze as long as you"re really, really careful."
"I will but..." He cleared his throat. "If you"ll forgive me, the test is more accurate if performed with both peaks at once."
"Oh, you want to...to do both?" Emily bit her lip. But he was already palming one of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and tracing her nipple lightly with his thumb. She supposed it couldn"t hurt to let him touch both at once. "All right," she said at last. "Just...take it slow, all right?"
"Of course." He brought up his other hand and slipped it under the heavy globe of her left breast. "Beautiful," he murmured hoa.r.s.ely, under his breath.
Emily had an idea he was talking more to himself than to her but she still couldn"t help blushing. G.o.d, was she really doing this? Sitting here with a strange alien male she hadn"t even known a day ago and letting him stroke and caress her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s? Not only that-an alien male who was sent to kill you, pointed out a little voice in her brain. But that seemed beside the point now. Unless he was intending to kill her with pleasure which seemed like a distinct possibility.
"Oh." She couldn"t help the small moan that escaped her as he circled both nipples at once, stroking her sensitive points with his thumbs and watching for her reaction. He seemed to understand that her exclamation wasn"t one of pain because he didn"t withdraw but only looked up to catch her gaze.
"I"m going to squeeze you now, Emily" he murmured. "Very gently at first but then harder if you can take it. We need to be sure if your nectar is flowing yet or if it"s just coming in."
"All...all right," she whispered breathlessly, wishing the uncomfortable pleasure between her legs would go away. Instead it only grew as he took her tight nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. She pressed her thighs together, trying to ignore the heat and wetness gathering there and the way her p.u.s.s.y felt so hot and swollen as he began to squeeze.
Emily thought she was prepared in case the pain came back but as the big Kindred applied pressure to her tight peaks, the last thing she"d expected happened. A pleasure every bit as sharp and bright as the agony she"d felt earlier with her own touch flared through her.
"Ah!" she gasped as the whipcrack o.r.g.a.s.m raced through her body. "Oh, G.o.d!" She jerked forward, pressing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against his hands involuntarily, as though her body was begging for more. Her p.u.s.s.y was suddenly on fire with need.
The o.r.g.a.s.m was such an unfamiliar sensation that at first Emily didn"t even know what had happened. She"d been completely s.e.xless ever since the rape. She"d tried never to think about s.e.x or watch s.e.xy movies or read even mildly spicy romance novels. Touching herself-which she had sometimes indulged in during college before that awful night with Grayson-was out of the question. She just didn"t want anything to do with any of it.
But now the big Kindred had given her the first o.r.g.a.s.m she"d had in years and just from squeezing her nipples. It was a sharp, quick pleasure that was over almost as soon as it started but his touch on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had definitely made her come.