TICEES

by Mills, Shae

  Dar moved heavily down the corridor to Korba’s quarters. He did not relish what he had to say to Chelan, and he shuddered at the thought of her reaction. But his foremost concern was that he did not run into Ticees. He knew that he would not be responsible for the actions he would levy against the Emperor, actions that he knew would only result in his own death.

  Dar slipped into the dim room and approached the bed cautiously. He had not seen her for nearly three months, and his heart cried out for her as she came into sight. She slept peacefully, as beautiful in slumber as she was awake. He threw back his head, taking in a deep breath, and with it came her sweet scent. God, how he yearned for her.

  He sat down quietly in a chair by the bed to wait for her to awaken. The hours passed, and his eyes never left her beautiful face. He thought of their times together on RIBUS 7, and his body was shot through with warmth. He loved everything about her, and his only sorrow was that he had never been allowed to make love to her completely.

  Dar smiled as he looked down at his hands. It did not matter. It had been enough to have been in her company for so long, to have talked with her, trained her, educated her, and watched her blossom.

  Chelan stirred, and Dar leaned forward, her soft moan jolting him back to dismal reality. She rubbed her eyes and then opened them slowly. Immediately, her face registered surprise as she looked up into Dar’s luminescent eyes. A warm smile traversed her lips.

  Dar smiled back. “My Lady,” he whispered.

  Chelan pushed herself up, hugging the blankets to her. “I’ve missed you so much,” she uttered longingly.

  Dar felt his throat constrict, and he nodded to her. “As I have missed you.”

  Chelan stared into his eyes, but slowly her smile receded. Stepping gracefully from the bed, Chelan drew a sheet about her tightly. Then she moved to the center of the room, her back turned to him.

  Dar watched her, his words lodged in his throat. He stood.

  Chelan turned to him, a small smile on her lips. “Fremma’s gone, isn’t he?” she whispered.

  Dar’s heart nearly stopped. He immediately looked down. “Yes, my Lady.”

  Chelan nodded and then took a deep breath. “And let me guess,” she ventured, her voice calm and quiet. “You will leave also.”

  Dar flinched. “Yes, tomorrow.”

  Chelan nodded again. Without uttering another word, she turned and headed into the wash area. She dropped the sheet and entered the shower. She closed her eyes and tipped her face to the raindrops. She knew that she was attempting to wash away Ticees before he ever touched her, and she knew that in the future, her life would simply be a day-to-day struggle for survival.

  Chelan lingered for a while longer and then stepped out, drying herself methodically. She drew the sheet back around her and then walked into the bedroom. She looked at Dar, his back to her, his shoulders slumped. He had removed his shroud, and he was as still as death itself. She stepped up to him and touched his back gently.

  Dar turned to her. He took a deep breath, and Chelan could see that his emotions were in disarray, his thoughts mired. Slowly, as if afraid to break her, he drew his arms around her cool body.

  Chelan languished against his strong chest, his warmth spreading over her like a tropical sea of tranquility. Then she dared to look up into his troubled face, and she reached for him, her fingers gently touching his cheek. “You know that Ticees has now stripped me of all whom I love.”

  Dar went to speak, but she pressed her fingers to his lips. “When Korba left, we fought, and I lost him in the throes of anger and depression.” A jagged spear of regret lanced through her, but she remained steadfast, a small tentative smile appearing upon her supple lips. “I don’t want to lose you in the same manner, my Lord,” she whispered.

  Dar let his head drop, his long blonde hair falling about her.

  Chelan continued to stare at him, and finally he looked back at her. Her deep brown eyes pleaded with his. She ran her fingers through his beautiful, thick mane and held him firmly. “Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked, her voice soft and low.

  Dar’s eyes remained riveted to hers, and his throat constricted.

  Chelan reached up slowly and tasted his lips with her tongue, feeling him tremble at her touch. “I love you so much, Dar. And I would like to make love with you, from now until the morning rips you from me.”

  Dar squeezed his eyes tight. How ironic that he would finally be allowed to give back all that she had given him in the ultimate act of love, right before she would be cast into the depths of hell.

  He opened his eyes and swallowed hard as his hands pressed her to him. “Nothing would please me more, my Lady,” he uttered hoarsely, “than to give to you the love I have always desired to give to you. Nothing would mean more to me than to taste of you throughout the night, and to make love to the only woman that I have ever loved so deeply.”

  Chelan smiled, and Dar leaned forward, taking her lips tenderly. But his heart ached, his tremors betraying his grief, the moisture that glazed his azure eyes the ultimate confession of his torment. This was not how it was meant to be. Their ultimate bonding was to be one of joy and happiness, a transfer of love and passion born of desire and kindled by promise. This was a fusing brought about by desperation and imbued with impending loss.

  But Chelan allowed herself to experience only the warmth and devotion his contact would afford. She would revel in his touch and drink in his body. He was going to be her last oasis in an all-consuming blackness, and she would not forfeit his love for any reason.

  But suddenly, he released her and took a step back. He ran his hand through his hair as he pivoted on his heel and turned his back to her. All the air seemed to be sucked from the room at once, the void left behind straining his lungs as though he had been punched in the guts.

  Chelan hugged herself as she watched him place his hands above his head on the wall. He leaned against it as if struggling for his very equilibrium. His head sagged between his shoulders, and she watched as doubt and sorrow infected his massive body. She knew exactly where his pain came from, but allowing him to walk out of the room and into the night was not an option she could endure. And in the end, she knew, neither could he.

  She stepped up to him, noting everything that made him such a magnificent being, from his long silver-blonde hair cascading down his back, its molten highlights standing out from the inky blackness of his uniform, to his perfectly proportioned, seven-foot frame of masculine supremacy. But what really tugged at her soul was the unique bond they had always shared, a bond of fire and ice that lit the fuse between them and melded their minds and bodies. He was the catalyst that sparked a chemistry between them that nothing could quench. And to lose him now, without their ultimate union, was simply not a choice.

  She slid her hands around his waist and leaned her cheek against his back. She felt him draw a ragged breath as he straightened, his hands surrounding hers. He let his head tilt back, his thick mane tumbling about her like a weighted veil. His voice was a baritone rumble. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  Chelan closed her eyes and bit her lip. “Yes, you can,” she whispered.

  Dar’s hands clenched hers tighter. “To have all of you, to take all that you can give … and then to leave in the morning …”

  Chelan hugged him harder. “The morning will come despite all, and we will be left with nothing but our memories. I know what will sustain me, my Lord. But you will have to search your heart right now to find what will nourish you through all the barren times ahead.” Chelan braced herself for his ultimate decision. “But, as with your people, I will not take what is not freely given.”

  She paused, knowing that whatever transpired between them had to be palatable to them both, but a tide of disquietude threatened to swamp her resolve. “If nothing else, my Lord, I would wish that you lie with me. Just hold me throughout the remaining night. Nothing more must come to pass. But I need you with me, beside me.”

 
Dar was being crushed from all directions. He ground his jaw as his powerful mind sorted through the murk that was choking the life from within him. She was right. How would he face the dawn if he chose to abstain from her? He closed his eyes. He would feel utterly bereft. Yet to experience her so deeply, and then to leave …

  Chelan hands moved up his chest, and as she rose to her toes, she whispered. “A no spoken at any time halts all.”

  Her fingers drew down the center of his jacket, splitting the garment to his waist. Then she straightened from him, her fingers threading through his hair to the neck of the uniform. She began peeling it off his shoulders, watching his beautiful bronze skin emerge. He dropped his hands to his sides and allowed her to continue, and she eased it from him, taking with it his gloves.

  Chelan let the jacket drop. She touched his back, and he flinched, but she continued. She ran her hands down the powerful cords of muscles on either side of his spine, her fingers reverently tracing each and every contour. Then she parted his hair again and stretched up, kissing the skin between his shoulders. Her lips tasted him as her tongue trailed down his back, her hands grazing down his arms.

  Dar sucked in a deep breath, her moist touch sending shivers throughout his being. Then she held his wrists firmly as she started back up his flesh, savoring his skin and melting his soul. As she rose behind him, he could feel her hard nipples grazing him through the sheet, and his body flared.

  Chelan released his wrists, her hands tracing over his hips to the front of his pants. She laid her cheek against his heated back as she began releasing him from his uniform. Then, placing her palms along his flanks, she pressed down over his muscular thighs, sliding his uniform with her as she crouched. As she slithered down his body, she pressed into the tops of his military boots, urging him to step out of them, and he did.

  Chelan sank softly to her knees behind him, her kisses placed lovingly on the backs of his legs, her fingers slipping up his inner thighs. Then she licked a trail between his hard glutes as she slipped one hand between his legs and cupped him.

  Dar moaned, feeling as though his knees would give way. As her tongue tasted the base of his spine and her fingers fondled his heavy male weight, his mind cleared and his senses erupted. His life’s blood spilled into his penis, and his balls clenched. She grasped him tightly as she reached around him with her other hand and touched his swollen organ. She slipped her fingers up to his tip and then gripped him firmly.

  Dar looked down and stopped breathing. Slowly, she peeled back his foreskin, retracting him fully, ever so exquisitely. Then her hand returned to his exposed glans where she seized him and squeezed. Heat surged through him. She was going to be his, irrevocably, all of her, completely.

  Like a man possessed, he reached for her arm, almost wrenching her out from behind him. She yelped with fright at his violent maneuver, but he was far from done with her. He drew her up and stood her before him, shoving her back against the wall. With another flash of movement, he tore the sheet from her body and captured her under her arms. His powerful hands lifted her effortlessly from the floor as he pinned her against the wall, her face level with his.

  Chelan panted for air, her nails biting into his bulging biceps. His breath was hot, and his eyes glowed hotter. But he did not move further. He just stared at her as would a predator pondering his next kill.

  She breached the impasse. Touching his knees with the soles of her feet, she slid them up his powerful legs to his hips, her thighs splaying wide before him. “Take me,” she offered seductively.

  He released her with his hands as his body instantaneously pressed her forcefully against the wall. His hands wove under her thighs, supporting her bottom as his upper arms pressed in against her legs, spreading them wider still on either side of her pinioned body. Then his mouth found her neck, and he bit into her, hard.

  Chelan gasped and grabbed onto his thick hair as she braced herself for what was to come. She felt him tilt his pelvis, and she tensed. But still he did not penetrate her. Instead, his rock-hard shaft halted at the entrance to her opening, the head pulsing, teasing, baiting. She squirmed against him in desperation, her need almost painful. “Take me,” she begged. “Oh god, please … fill me.”

  Her carnal plea put him beyond hope. The heat of her silken flesh and the allure of the moisture that dripped over him like honey stripped away any last reservations he may have had. He pierced into her, one long, slow, powerful drive, sheathing himself to his base. A deep guttural rumble erupted from his chest.

  Then he froze, realizing with a shock that the small woman he had impaled had swallowed him whole, all his length, all his girth, all that his distended arousal could possibly give. And she was so exquisitely tight that he was temporarily addled. Then she whimpered, squeezing his penis with her internal muscles, firing off every nerve he possessed, and he lost it. He took her hard, thrusting into her over and over as powerfully as he dared. She cried out again, her nails raking over his shoulders, drawing blood, and he intensified his drives.

  Dar continued relentlessly, the feel of her milking his organ sending him into delirium. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, yet as he pounded into her she dug her talons deeper and deeper into him, urging him on. “Yes!” she cried. “Oh god, yes!”

  Then his body exploded, the intensity of his orgasm stunning him. With one final thrust, he pierced her so deeply he was sure he had torn her, but she writhed against him, wringing out every tendril of rapture. He kept himself buried within her as surges of ecstasy rippled over his body and through his pulsing shaft. And the sensations just kept coming and coming. He was thunderstruck.

  Finally, he released her neck and peered into her bright eyes. “God, woman,” he growled as he panted for air. “What you do to me …” He shook his head slowly.

  Chelan leaned forward and ran her tongue up his chin to his lips, kissing him hard and deep. Dar shifted his hips slightly, and Chelan wrenched back. “Don’t you even contemplate leaving my depths,” she hissed.

  Dar smiled deviously. He released her legs, allowing her to wrap them about his waist. Then he straightened and walked with her to the bed. There he bent at the waist and laid her on the bed as he sank to his knees on the floor before her. He looked down between them, his eyes widening at the sight of his massive organ within her, stretching her almost impossibly. He withdrew ever so slightly, watching her silky skin caress him, his penis slick with her cream.

  “No,” came her soft order, her eyes flashing. “You are mine until morning.”

  Dar hesitated. He urged her legs from his waist, and then he pushed them back and apart, spreading her as far as humanly possible. He glanced down at the glistening folds that enveloped him, and his mouth watered. He licked his lips as he looked back into her beautiful eyes. “I will abide by your demand, my Lady, after I have had my fill of you.”

  Chelan went to protest, but he hushed her. “I will have my taste of you if I have to tie you to the bed. You have enacted countless hours of love over my body over the years, and now it is your turn. I will not be denied.”

  Chelan gasped as he began his torturously slow withdrawal. And when he finally slipped free, she watched as his engorged penis popped up against his abdomen, the length of him still pulsing with hunger. But he was right. She was well aware of his other appetite, the desire to consume her orally. Over the years she had never allowed him to touch her there in any way, and now was his time. She had always craved his body, and he had always allowed her unhindered access to him. Now it was time to return the favor.

  She relaxed back and smiled lovingly at him. “I am yours, my Lord.”

  Honestly, Dar felt like sinking to the floor before her and worshiping her for what he had already experienced. But allowing him this additional pleasure at long last was almost beyond his wildest dream. He reached for her almost tentatively, his finger just grazing her swollen clit, and she arched to him. So much for savoring the moment. He instantly hunched forward, burying his
face in her sweet folds.

  Chelan grabbed for his hair. His hands surrounded her thighs and held her fast. His tongue and lips were everywhere, and before she could hardly draw a breath, the first orgasm hit her.

  Her hands flew to her breasts, and she grabbed her own nipples, her eyes wide. Then his fingers were in her, his mouth sucking her, and she came again. God, she was in heaven. And he was insatiable. He gave her no quarter, no respite from his feeding. As her fists finally went to the sheets, grasping for purchase, she felt every fiber in her body clenching. If it was possible to die from obtaining the peak of ecstasy time and time again, sure as hell he was going to kill her.

  But Dar was oblivious to almost everything around him. All he knew was she had finally offered him all, and he was going to devour every last drop of her nectar. He wanted her scent so deep in his pores it would last him a lifetime. And most of all, he wanted to give her climax after climax as she had so generously done for him so many times.

  When finally he felt her weakening, he released her from his oral feast and rose from her. Chelan looked up at the god standing over her, and her breath caught. The site of his virility so blatantly displayed, so wonderfully eager, resurrected her energy. Her hands took her own full breasts again, and she squeezed them seductively. “Now, for my demand.”

  Dar watched her like a man deranged as she edged to the center of the bed. Once again, she parted wide for him. Then he held his breath as he followed her motions, one of her delicate hands slipping into her own hot folds, her fingers splaying herself in open invitation. “Come to me … deep, deep inside of me.”

  The sound of that epicurean voice, that soft pleading, the picture of the fine femininity laid out before him truly made him wonder if he could leave in the morning. But he quickly shelved the inevitability. He crept over her on hands and knees. He let his legs split wide apart, his full sac just brushing the bed. Then he reached between them, his eye never leaving her gaze. His fingers swept through her vaginal moistness, transferring it to his swollen organ, lubricating himself fully. Then he guided himself into her, reveling in the proliferation of wondrous feelings that once again surged over and through him.