refused to turn back over.

“No wonderyou’re not sleeping—you’re frozen,” Larsson exclaimed and lay back down,

wrapping his arms around Tarr, rolling him back over to face him. Larsson moved his leg over

Tarr as well and began to rub his hands up and down his body to create some friction. Tarr

looked up at him and suddenly Larsson seemed to realize what he was doing and froze. He gazed

intoTarr’s eyes with his own eyes wide and startled.

Tar grinned back at him, unable to help himself, despite the discomfort. Larsson looked so

guilty and worried that he might be showing his true feelings, like a little boy caught with his

hand in the sweets jar. On impulse, Tarr put his hand around the back ofLarsson’s neck and

pulled him down for a kiss.

From the first moment he’d laid eyes on Larsson, when Tarr was locked in the Lycan jail,

Tarr felt the pull of this overwhelming attraction, no matter how hard he tried to fight it. Not only

was Larsson very good looking, with his thick, shiny hair, incredible eyes, and a face that on a

female might even be called pretty, but there was a strength and grace to his body that Tarr had rarely seen in other men. He had a strong will and an ugly temper, true enough, and at times he could be pushy, arrogant, and downright insulting. Still, he’d shown Tarr kindness and concern since they crashed, even if it was a little grudging. Despite their differences, despite the fact that they were totally unsuited to be together, here in this little space on an alien moon, they seemed almost outside of time. The differences between them—and they were vast—seemed not to matter quite so much, at least not to Tarr. He pulled Larsson back down for another taste of his

lips.

Larsson’s lips were startlingly warm and soft, but for a moment he stiffened, pulling back a

bit, staring down into Tarr’s eyes. Then he sighed deeply, seeming to make up his mind about

something and lowered his head to kiss Tarr back passionately, deeply, takingTarr’s mouth with

a rough pleasure. His tongue teased Tarr’s as he deepened the kiss, and his hand moved down to

cup his balls through his clothing. Tarr moaned, moving up against his hand. Larsson was

breathless when he pulled his head back. He allowed Tarr no time to pull away. His hand threw

off the mylar blanket covering them, and he grinned and eased Tarr’s pants down, careful not to

hurt him.

“You lie still—I don’t want to injure you any further.”

Tarr gazed down at him, noticing how his eyes caught the sparks of the fire, snapping and

sparkling with heat. He put one hand on Larsson’s head and twined his fingers through his hair. Larsson positioned himself between his legs, bent over and engulfed Tarr’s whole cock in

his mouth in one move. Tarr made a surprised, gasping sound, coming halfway up off the

ground, but Larsson pushed him back down and continued sucking his cock down, starting with

a soft, steady suction that he slowly increased as he moved one of his free hands to Tarr’s balls,

softly massaging the hot flesh in his hands. He began to add his teeth ever so gently to the

pressure on his cock, slowly skimming them up the shaft, deliberately manipulating his balls,

waiting for Tarr’s moans of pleasure.

He didn’t have long to wait. Tarr thrashed beneath him, his whole body rippling with need,

his hands buried now in Larsson’s hair. Probably afraid he’d hurt himself, Larsson pulled off and

gentled him with one hand on his stomach, soothing him until he quieted under his warm hand. He lowered his head again, once Tarr managed to calm back down, and hummed around

Tarr’s shaft as he pulled his rough tongue slowly up the length of it. When he came back up to

the head of Tarr’s cock and thrust his long tongue down into the slit, Tarr raised his hips off the

ground again and hoarsely yelled out Larsson’s name. He thrust his tongue into Tarr’s slit again

and again until Tarr came with another hoarse shout, and his spurts of cum sprayed into

Larsson’s mouth.

Larsson kept his cock in his mouth, gently sucking down his cum and then continuing to

suck on it until it began to become painful. He must have noticed Tarr wincing and shifting

under him because herelented with a grin, pushing up Tarr’s shirt and kissing his way up to his

chest, gently sucking at each nipple in turn. Finally, he pulled his shirt back down, tugged up

Tarr’s pants as he lay splayed out on the ground and fell down beside him, wrapping a leg over

him and pulling the blanket back up over both of them.

“There,” he whispered in Tarr’s ear. “That should warm you up and settle you down. Now

stop fidgeting and go back to sleep. Tomorrowwe’re going to find you someplace to shift.” Totally spent, Tarr huffed out a breath before closing his eyes and allowing himself to enjoy

being close to Larsson like this, without all the tension and anger between them. Taz had this all

the time with his nobyo. What would it be like to have Larsson belong to him? He slanted his

eyes over at his prickly little mate. All in good time, he thought as he drifted off to sleep. All in

good time.

Chapter Three

Larsson woke early the next morning, stiff and achy, both from his night on the ground and as a result of the crash the day before. If he felt this bad, he could only imagine how Tarr would be feeling. He was still sleeping at the moment, so Larsson eased himself out from under the blanket and looked around for something that would hold water. Larsson stoked the fire and looked back around the lean-to. His eyes lighted on the metal first aid kit, and he quickly emptied it on the ground and went over to the river to fill it.

Since he had no idea what kind of alien microorganisms could be floating in the water, the best notion he could come up with was to boil the water before they drank any of it, even though the water was fast moving and certainly seemed clear enough. He carried his water back to the fire and set it on the coals near the edge, then went for another armload of wood.

When he got back with the wood, Taz was sitting up, looking miserable. “Okay, time for you to shift, Tarr. You’re no good to me injured like this, and it’s going to take both of us to hunt up something to eat and keep this fire going.

“I told you…” “And I told you I can take care of myself. But if it will make you feel better and stop being such a stubborn ass, I’ll barricade myself inside the wreckageof the ship.”

Tarr looked up at him and then back over at the wreckage, some fifty feet away.“Can you do that? Isit in good enough shape?”

Larsson nodded.“I can get inside the hatch and lower it. The hull is banged all to hell, but mostly intact. The heat shields are pretty much fucked, but it’s still in one piece mostly.”

Tarr nodded.“If you’re sure. Getinside and stay quiet. If the tiger figures out he can’t get to you, he’ll probably lose interest and go try to find something else to eat. He’s pretty hungry.”

Smiling, Larsson looked down at him.“You talk about him like he’s not part of you.”

Tarr shrugged.“He’s part of me, I guess, but not the same as your wolf. When we shift, we become animals, and don’t retain any of our humanoid brain. I’ve heard stories that some people have a kind of sense memory of their families, even their nobyos, especially if the old stories are true and the nobyo is a true mate, but I don’t know, and I don’t want to take any chances with you.”

“With me?” Larsson tilted his head and stared down at Tarr, curious as to what he meant. Larsson thought of Tarr as his mate, but Tarr had never given any indication that he reciprocated the feeling. Oh, he flirted outrageously and had come after Larsson relentlessly, even putting that ridiculous bounty on his head, but that was more because he was a bastard than anything else, surely.

“Did you just imply that I’m your nobyo? Because let me tell you, I’m nobody’s love slave. Youcan just get that idea out of your head right now.”

“Yes, yes,” Tarr said tiredly, trying to stand up. “You’ve made it clear how you feel.” He’d made it to his feet and even though he looked ready to collapse again, a little twinkle sparkled up in his eyes as he gazed at Larsson.“Though last night, you were giving out some, shall we say, mixed signals?”

“Fuck you,” Larsson said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was just trying to make you feel better.”

“Oh, it worked.” Tarr grinned at him.“Wonderful first aid technique. Can you show it to me again later?”

Larsson glared at him and stalked toward the wreckage.“If you’re finished acting like an ass, you need to shift. As soon as I get inside—you hear me?”

“Yes, darling,” Tarr said, grinning broadly at the filthy look Larsson threw at him before he climbed up onto the cockpit. Larson pulled back the hatch and lowered himself inside. Hedidn’t know how long he might have to stay inside here, but he was hoping Tarr’s tiger would sniff around a bit and then take off to hunt, or whatever it was that tigers did.Tarr’s seat was mostly intact, though hanging at an odd angle. He reached up and pulled the clear cockpit cover down and locked it in place, giving Tarr a thumbs-up sign. He had no idea if Tarr would know what that meant, but he’d learned it at the Alliance academy and hoped Tarr knew it meant he was good to go.

There wasn’t enough room to stand up inside the cockpit and once he sat down, he couldn’t see Tarr’s shift. He settled himself as comfortably as he could in Tarr’s seat and picked up the compnet.He had a vague memory of it flying off his lap during the wild ride down to the moon’s surface, so he didn’t have much hope that it was still working, and of course, it wasn’t. He had just put it back down on the floor behind him when he heard a loud thump on the fuselage and a huge shadow fell over him.

Looking down at him through the clear cover was a beautiful, exotic creature, a massive, beautiful tiger, perhaps sixteen feet long and powerfully built. Larsson had seen pictures of the Tygerian tigers, but they hadn’t done them justice. It was golden-orange in color with broad black stripes. Its big claws scratched at the clear cover on the cockpit as the beast gazed down at him, locking its eyes with Larsson’s. The golden-green gaze looked familiar to him, and he thought he would have known this was Tarr anywhere.