Icarus Unbound by Bernadette Gardner Page B

A need he'd denied himself for so long was finally fulfilled. He wanted to tell her, but the words faded away in a haze of uncontrollable lust.
    Coherent thought abandoned him, as his body writhed. His wings flapped, the momentum pushing his erection deeper into Lara's body. Beneath him she arched, wrapped her long slender legs around his back and clung to him. Each of his movements wrung a sound from her, a gasp, a moan, a sensuous whisper. He'd longed for this, to have her cleave to 86

    Icarus Unbound
    by Bernadette Gardner
    him. A part of him wished it could last forever, but his symbion demanded sexual release, not endless bliss.
    The animal brain of the alien bird controlled this union, and the mission it strove to fulfill was climax, a completion that when the time was right would ensure conception and the all important continuity of the Icarian race. Emotion did not have a place in the symbion's mind and so, for a moment, Jaran's actions were void of emotion as well.
    He raced to his end, clutching Lara's shuddering body to him like a possession. She cried out, a mixture of pleasure and pain as her sweet sheath began to convulse around him.
    The pressure of her inner muscles on his cock heightened his need as well as his demand for satisfaction. Without thought, he increased his rhythm and his depth until his own orgasm erupted. Every muscle hardened and his seed shot in hot, insistent spurts.
    Lara moaned, and her body curled around his. She trembled in his arms, her own sex still pulsing in time with the intermittent pulse of his cock.
    He panted in her ear as he slid out of her. "Our ancestors will remember this night." He resisted the urge to chuckle at the nonsensical Icarian saying. To hell with their ancestors.
    Jaran knew this night would live in his memory forever.
    He finally possessed Laramee, and he knew he would never let her go.
    [Back to Table of Contents]
    87

    Icarus Unbound
    by Bernadette Gardner

Chapter Nine
    A cool breeze wafting through the open windows of the bedchamber woke Lara hours later. She lay still and silent for a moment, contemplating the exquisite softness of the alor bedding, the warmth of the muscular male body sprawled next to her and the buzz of contentment in her well-used body.
    She shifted slightly to get a better look at Jaran. By moonlight his strong features appeared chiseled in silvery granite. Like a blanket, his golden-feathered wings covered his upper body except for the arm he had flung across her stomach. The weight of it began to feel more constricting by the minute.
    The symbion sex hormones had worn off, leaving her once again able to think clearly. Now, in the middle of the night, she remembered that Jaran was the man who considered her an outsider, the boy who had called her a freak because her parents had been born on another world.
    She could choose to forget those things and accept him as the skilled lover he'd become, or she could continue to carry the hurt around as a burden on her soul. The choice should have been an easy one to make, but it wasn't.
    He must have sensed her watching him because he began to stir. Lara decided she would pretend to be asleep, but Jaran's eyes popped open before she could close hers. He met her gaze in the pearlescent light and smiled. "How long have you been awake?"
    88

    Icarus Unbound
    by Bernadette Gardner
    "Not long." She worked at keeping her voice low, though it seemed odd to whisper intimately with someone she was more used to yelling at or ignoring completely.
    "Are you cold?" He stretched a wing to cover her since the white sheet from the previous night was gone.
    She should have protested but instead snuggled deeper beneath the protection of his wing. Part of her wanted to be flying home to the research station, but the rest of her was far too comfortable to move.
    "Laramee, I don't want you to worry about Odan's warning."
    "I don't understand why you chose me, Jaran. I'm the last person to make a good match for