by Bailey Dark
I gasped and a shiver went through my entire body, his words ringing a cymbal in the glowing cabin, as if truth was being spoken that had never been spoken before. I was his. I was meant to be his.
And he was mine.
I tangled my hands in his hair and pulled back on his head to expose his neck, kissing all along his jawline, down his throat, nipping at his collarbone, then tracing kisses around his chest. He wove his fingers into my hair and moaned with each kiss, the telepathic connection open between us. It was as if I could kiss exactly where he wanted me to before he even realized that was what he wanted.
My heart was beating heavily and our bodies were radiating heat, sweat sliding down our chests, as I bent to kiss him on the mouth again.
“Hold on to me…”
I gripped tightly behind him and he sat up to flip us around so he was on top of me. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he pulled my hips up into his pelvis, his hard cock tight against my wet pussy. I could feel my eyes grow wide as I truly saw it for the first time, sans covers. He tapped the tip against my clit and I squealed with delight. He rubbed the clit and played with it tenderly, his other hand squeezing at my nipples and playing with my breasts.
“Come into me…”
His eyes lit up and he nodded. He gently put the tip against my pussy and I gripped at his back as he slid deeply inside me.
I screamed.
He was so big… So big…
He devoured my mouth with his and I could feel his heart beating fast, as he tangled one hand in my hair, the other hand pressing into my chest, just above my breasts. I held tightly to him, screaming into his mouth each time he thrust hard into me, clawing at his skin, my legs wrapped tightly around him, sweat slicking our bodies together.
The rock of his cock into me was filling me, hitting my G-spot.
The fading sunlight shining through the windows made a prism of rainbows spill into the cabin, arching across his face, his strong arms, his chest, and I was mesmerized by the colors, lost in the thrill, opening myself to the connection of his mind into mine, his body against mine, his soul through mine.
“I can feel you… I can feel every part of you…”
“I’m yours, Zaya, I’m yours…” The flooding of emotion was compounded by his thrusts as he pulled out and then slammed into me. “I’m getting close!”
“Harder! Harder into me.”
He leaned back, grabbing my shoulders, looking into my eyes and I saw the moment of climax, felt the emotions of his climax shudder through me, sparks erupting in the cabin, as he pummeled into me and gripped me tight and I was shattered over the edge, my pussy gripping onto him, aftershocks of aftershocks undulating ripples of glowing edges through our bodies.
Then he fell down on top of me, tethering his hand into my hair, the other hand on my hip, as he gently slid out of me, and I moaned, breathing heavily, shuddering into his body, mind blank, overwhelmed, dazed.
The fire crackled in the room and the sunlight gave its last kiss to the window, letting twilight drape the day. I hadn’t realized he had had to spend so much time keeping me safe from hypothermia…
I ran my fingernails over his back lightly and he shivered beneath their delicate tracing of his tattoos. He took a deep breath and pushed up to look at me.
“You saw the lights too, right?”
“Yes… Yes, I saw them.”
“Then, it must be true.”
“What must be true?”
“That you’re my Destin. That’s the only explanation. And that means, Zaya,” he held my hand and looked seriously into my eyes, “I will protect you from anyone. I really am yours.”
“And I’m yours…”
“Good. Now… Let me try to gather myself enough to put more wood on the fire, then we can keep each warm again tonight.”
I smiled as he took a deep breath, as if he were still weak-kneed, and then I admired his athletic, muscular body as he went to the fireplace, naked, and stoked it for the night, or at least the next few hours. Then he tiptoed quickly back to me and snuggled into the towel covers.
“I’ll protect you, too, you know,” I said. “You have to tell me more about what this Destin connection means, but I want you to know, I’m not useless. I will protect you, too.”
He smiled and kissed me lightly. “I know you will, Zaya.” Then he pulled me in tighter to his chest and we fell asleep as the fire crackled.
Fourteen
Cartari
“Try putting your hand in the snow and then thinking of me!” I shouted. Zaya stopped where she was running from my last thrown snowball and paused to remove her glove, then placed her palm in the snow.
With the rush of a Destin connection, overpowering and symbiotic, her thoughts made me stagger to the side. It wasn’t just the connection, it was the content… She sent the thought, the intense impression of my head between her legs, teasing her clit with my tongue, her thighs pressed to the sides of my head, her hands in my hair, clinging to my head as her body arched up with the thrill of the pleasure from my sucking and licking and nibbling. I rubbed my face with my hands as I dropped to my knees, gulping for breath. The wetness of the snow soaked through my pants quickly, but I hardly noticed it. I watched her smug little smile dance across her face as she pursued this flowing thought, and then she gasped, looking down at her hand.
“It’s melting the snow!” The break in her thought overpowering my mind, with overwhelming pleasure, was all that I needed. I lunged to my feet and sprinted for her. She looked over, just in time to lift her snowball and whip it toward my face. I thrust it to the side with a simple flick of my fingers and it dashed into a tree. She was giggling and scrambling backward, nearly falling over, as she climbed up the bank beside the woodshed. I caught first one hand and then the other and pulled her up to me, her laughter thrilling me, igniting my soul, making the thoughts she had impressed through the Destin connection be all the more desirable.
“I see what you want, my lady, and what you want, you shall have!” I slung her up onto my shoulder as she clutched at my back, cooing with breathless laughter, ready to take her back to the cabin and blow her mind while eating her out. I dropped us down to the even ground, sinking a foot into the snow trail I had packed down to the woodshed.
Then I heard the clip clop and neighing of equinwings. There was no mistaking the hiss that came with their whinny. I hadn’t realized the winged horses lived on this planet, since it was so cold. They were flying beasts of burden or war steeds, and typically kept to greener pastures.
“Shh... shh…” I commanded, swooping Zaya around and down, ducking into a crouch, putting her behind me. She was breathless, but silent, instantly.
I reached out telepathically, to any being in the nearby area, and was assailed by thoughts. It was amazing how open the minds of Vailstorans were, but they had no knowledge of how to put up blocks. Four different thoughts were pinging clearly, at least four others a bit muffled by the first.
“Wonder if they have any food. I’m tired of this hard bread shit.”
“Still smoke coming from the fireplace.”
“No sign of tracks leading to the north.”
“If it’s Lady Zaya, I’m going to be up for a promotion.”
“Shit,” I said under my breath, then tapped my forehead. “It’s someone looking for you. At least eight of them.”
Zaya’s face went white and she clutched my hand. The look of trust in her eyes was enough to make me die for her.
The equinwings were restless, neighing into the cool air, sharing snorts and stamping their feet at being held up outside the cabin. If these men were trained in any way, they would send a couple around to the back of the cabin to see if there was a back door or escape window. Those men would see the woodshed and then Lady Zaya they were hunting.
I quickly moved Zaya into the woodshed. Her eyes roamed around it for the first time. I hadn’t told her it was a relative armory. They lit up when they noticed another little
bow, weighted strong enough to kill a man, or at least go through any heavy coat he might be wearing and pierce him.
I took it down from where it hung high on the wall and gathered another quiver of arrows from her. “You’re skilled with this?”
“I am still learning, but I am pretty good already.”
“Have you ever had to shoot at another person? Or even a moving target?”
“Moving targets, yes. People, no… But… I’m not going back with them, Cartari.”
Her eyes flashed fiercely as she spoke.
“Ok. I want you to get up on top of the roof of the cabin. Hide behind the fireplace. Don’t reveal yourself to be there until I’ve killed at least five of them, okay?”
She nodded solemnly.
I caught her hand as we exited the woodshed. I crushed her mouth with mine, making her gasp when I let her go. “Also, don’t shoot me.”
She smiled and pushed me on the shoulder, scampering away and up the snowbanks to reach the roof. I quickly whisked away any sign of her footprints with a shifting of snow.
All my personal weapons, and the extras I had gotten from the woodshed, were in the cabin still. Out of reach and therefore, useless. However, there were plenty of others in the woodshed.
I grabbed up a handful of arrows and a stack of throwing shivs. They were so slender and thin, they were practically spikes. Maybe they were spikes, I don’t know. Would pierce through a man good enough for me.
I sprinted away from the woodshed and into the redwoods just as I heard the front door of the cabin bashing inward. They could have used the handle. No need to break it down… Assholes.
Then I was on the far left side of the cabin, shielded in a snow-covered grove of bushes. The shivs lined up off my right shoulder, hovering there, ready to slice through the air.
I let them fly.
Three had pierced through throats, slicing jugular veins in a properly irreparable fashion, before the others realized they were under attack. Their equinwings dashed to the side as the men fell from their saddles, grasping at their throats. One of the others reared his equinwing up in such a way that the dart sliced the equinwing along the neck, just barely, enraging it, and then sank into his chest, straight through the heart, and the horse galloped away, dropping her dead rider as she took flight through the trees. The last man who had remained outside the cabin managed to evade all my thrown knives. He kicked his horse into gear and she lunged around the cabin, to put it between me and him.
“He’s out here! He killed some of us! He’s out--” The man’s warning cry to those in the cabin was cut off by a gurgling, wretched cry of alarm, and his equinwing rose into the air, the rider hanging from a stirrup, hands trying to pull an arrow from his throat, but it was fully-shafted through. He may have been alive when he hit the ground, but the fall certainly killed him.
I looked up at the roof. “Nice shot…”
“Sorry… I know you only killed four.” I had worried how she would respond when faced with people who would kill me and steal her, but her thought was flawless, no fear, unflinching. And her aim had been true.
“No, that was good. Now, stay hidden.”
“I will.”
I was out of throwing knives. There were three men left and now they were hunkered down in the cabin. Their equinwings stood where they had left them when they dismounted, a little on edge from the dying, gasping, or dead men around them, but still there. So I luffed up a flurry of snow and wind and flung it at them.
The animals took flight, springing into the air, and flapping their giant, batlike wings, to soar away, quickly disappearing.
“Your steeds are gone,” I called to the house.
There was a moment of rough shuffling from inside. Then, “We have your weapons, charzbos.”
So, they knew I was with her. Or, they knew we had escaped prison together and I had demonstrated some telekinesis here that made them assume I was still the one protecting her.
“Want to place your bets that you have all my weapons?” If they just looked outside, they could tell I had more weapons than those lying in the cabin. And, I might be out of throwing knives, but I could whip these arrows powerfully, too. I had three of those left. Just enough.
“Just give us the girl. We just want to take Lady Zaya home, then you can go home, too.”
“I’m not ready to go home,” I said. “I like it here. Everyone has been so friendly.” As planets went, Vailstor was not making the top of my list… Other than finding my Destin… That was a certain perk that could obscure being tased (repeatedly), jailed without reason, trapped in a vicious blizzard, and now hunted down.
I reached out telepathically, trying to tap in specifically to what they were thinking of. Doing so allowed me a brief glimpse through each one’s eyes… These Vailstorans were so transparent to read! One was in front of the left-side window. The other was crouched beside the broken door. The other was further back, beside the fireplace. My weapons were gathered on the floor between them.
“You know, we don’t take kindly to off-worlders making a disturbance here. It’s not right for you to interfere with Lady Zaya.”
I whipped my hands up, concentrating, and slipped throwing knives from their sheaths. The man in front of the fireplace saw them coming in time and ran out the door, but the others had their throats sliced before they could react.
Pity, about the cabin floor…
The one who had run out the door had his bow to his shoulder, pointing an arrow waywardly, from the door of the cabin, to the woods, where I was, to the other direction. But Zaya let an arrow loose easily and struck him through the chest. I threw two more, sinking them into his heart with telekinetic precision.
He collapsed to the snow, red staining the pearly white.
I walked from the grove and waved up to the roof. “You can come down now. That’s all of them.”
I walked into the cabin cautiously, but the two who were inside had profoundly focused and panicked minds. They could only think about their own mortality as they fought to control the bleeding of their throats.
I looked down at the one who had been taunting me and shoved aside his long cloak with the tip of the arrow, watching his wild eyes look up at me in supplication. He was long past reasoning, he was just pleading: “Help me…” To anyone, anything, in particular. And nothing could.
I put walls back up all around my mind. I didn’t need to hear them die.
There was military insignia on his chest breast pocket and across his shoulder pads. I rubbed my chin and looked at the other one. Military, all of them. Had Blatson sent them? Was it the southern precinct jail? What was the reasonable explanation and custom on Vailstor? Did military go after escaped jailbirds?
Zaya stepped into the doorway behind me. Her knuckles were white where they clutched the bow, but her eyes were clear, her hands steady.
“Can you tell if this insignia means they are from the south?” I pointed with the arrow to the stripes and chevrons.
Her eyes widened with recognition of something. Something she wasn’t telling me. “That chevron does say they are stationed in the south.”
“Does it say which unit?”
“They are from General Blatson. Not General Truloy, if that’s what you are asking.” She turned aside as the man gurgled his last breath and walked out into the clear air. She ducked down to place her hands on her knees, the bow falling to the ground, the quivering of the adrenaline finally releasing into shakes that shuddered through her entire body. I walked up behind her and lifted her into a hug, wanting to ask so much what her connection was to the General, but fearing the answer way more than the question. She grabbed me tightly, squeezing her eyes shut.
“I told you I would protect you,” she said.
I pulled back from her and laughed. “I will always trust you to have my back, Lady Zaya.”
She grimaced at the Lady, but nodded and took my hand. “Come on, we need to head north. More men will be looking for me
. And, soon, they will be looking for these guys, too.”
I nodded and marveled at her. Her voice had the measure of command as she spoke and I wondered what she was the Lady of. She wasn’t telling me the truth. She was hiding who she was running from. It was tempting to read her mind, to find out… I looked into her turquoise eyes and knew the next time she opened herself to me, I could easily find the answers...
I shook my head. I couldn’t. I couldn’t betray that trust.
There was no going back, now. Even if she was somehow connected to the General, she was my Destin. That meant she was mine.
Fifteen
Zaya
I could see the questions haunting Cartari’s eyes. His lips even parted sometimes, as if he were going to ask me, then he would shake himself and look away. I had to tell him. I had to tell him that General Blatson was the man hunting me. Not only that, I needed to tell him that I was sold to him. That I was technically pledged to him in an awkward bridal servitude. And he was a man with the power and might to never stop looking for me.
What did I expect was going to happen anyway? Once we got to the north and met with whoever Cartari was going to meet with, and he finished that up, wouldn’t he take me to Astrida, as promised? I mean, it’s not like he would stay here on Vailstor. Or even more unlikely, take me home with him to Farian.
Not even some mythical connection like the Destin could possibly be that strong, right?
And, now it was clear that military were hunting for me. I could lie to him and say it was customary for people who broke out of jail to be hunted down by the military, but Cartari was too smart. Vailstor had limited resources. There’s no way a planet like this would use their military for such a reason.
But… I looked at him as he finished fixing the hinge on the front door of the cabin, letting it swing in and shut with a satisfying click. I just didn’t want to ruin this. I had been lying for too long. Rather, I had been withholding information from him for too long…
