Page 71 of The Pleasure Contract

It had been such an odd sensation – a really pleasurable one, too. There was an initial sting, but then all I could feel was liquid bliss start pumping around my body.

We’re in the cruiser now, making our way back to Az’s apartment, and I can still feel the tingle in my veins. It’s hard to describe, but it’s almost like every inch of my skin is experiencing that moment right before you get goosebumps – like there’s electricity running over it or something.

Az keeps stealing glances over at me like he thinks I might spontaneously combust any moment now.

Maybe I will. It certainly felt like a possibility when I was strung up and coming on his cock.

And it makes sense that he’s concerned. He’s grown up being told to never ever do what we just did. Hell, his mom eventually died from it.

But I feel fine.

Better than fine, actually.

“Stop worrying,” I tell him after I catch him staring again. “I’m not obsessively infatuated with you.”

One side of his mouth lifts into a lopsided smile. “Shame,” he teases before shifting in his seat, his face turning serious as he reaches over and softly strokes the fang marks on my neck. “But you must tell me if you start to feel strange or… I don’t know… different.”

I put my hand over his and give him a soft smile. “I’m fine. And, as far as I can tell, your brother is chomping on Niska every night, and she’s still cussing him out when he’s being annoying.”

Az narrows his eyes at me. “Hm, yes. I was rather hoping my venom would make you a little less mean to me.”

“Don’t lie. You love me being mean to you,” I say, playfully shoving at him and rolling my eyes.

Az shifts again in his seat, readjusting himself in his pants as he sighs to himself. “I really fucking do.”

When we pull up to the apartment building, Az rips a section of his white shirt to wrap around my neck, covering my very obviously bitten-through lace collar, just in case any of his teammates are there when we go up.

And, as it happens – they are.

Az opens up the door, ushering me to go ahead of him, and as I walk down the plush entry hallway into the main living area of the apartment, I hear the familiar power ballad, ‘I Have Nothing’, sung by the very talented Whitney Houston – accompanied by the very off-key wailings of a bunch of Xaviann males.

Az and I stand there a moment or two, just observing the chaos in front of us.

DJ is providing the original material, blaring the classic tune at an obscene volume while also projecting the lyrics for the guys to follow.

Ral is leading the rendition, standing high on top of Az’s pristine and very expensive-looking couch, shouting the chorus at the top of his lungs like he’s six drinks deep into a karaoke night. Jorren and Zevan are joining in, complete with air grabs and singing the words directly at each other. Thax is grinning from ear to ear as he makes more drinks – Rykor is drinking one of those drinks, his head bobbing with the tune.

And Varrex just watches on with a fond smile on his face as he leans against a wall off to the back of the room.

“Again, DJ!” Ral demands as soon as the song comes to an end. He does a quick double-take when he notices us at the corner of his eye. His arms flung wide to greet us as he announces, “You’ve finally finished mating in the flesh, I see, you filthy creatures!” Grinning widely as he beckons us over, Ral still stands proud on the furniture – even if he is a little wobbly. “Come! You must hear this! I have found a great appreciation for human music. Come! Come! Sing with us! We can do the one about dancing with somebody who loves us!”

Despite being called out for fucking in the locker room, I cannot help the massive smile that spreads across my face as I step forward; the guys whoop happily as they welcome me into their drunken fold.

A drink gets shoved into my hand, and then quickly snatched away by Az. I don’t even get a first sip, or realize he’s close enough to do that. My lips are literally still pursed as he sniffs the contents and hands it back to Rykor, shooing him away.

“Hey!” I protest.

Az dips his shoulder to murmur in my ear. “I would like to keep an eye on how you’re doing without the interference of strong liquor from Quadrant Nine, thank you very much.”

I try to hide my smile by twisting my mouth to the side. “Got anything from Quadrant Eight, then?” I tease before bumping him with my hip and throwing myself into a session of Living Room Karaoke with a bunch of seven-foot muscle-aliens.

I already feel cock-drunk, and high on that man’s venom. Give me some Whitney – I don’t need anything else! Woo!

* * *

As it turns out, a team of alien professional athletes that fight holographic monsters and fly on dragons for a living really, really love a sing-along. Even Varrex – the male so grumpy they nicknamed him ‘Vex’ – was tapping his toes to the likes of Montell Jordan, Bon Jovi, and the Spice Girls.

We even had to let Ral sing ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman,’ twice because he didn’t feel like he did Ms. Twain justice the first time around. The guy loved it so much, he seems to have co-opted the song’s opening line, ‘let’s go, girls’, as his new favorite phrase.