He leaned back, taking in the sight of her, from her kiss-swollen lips and nipples to the golden patch of wet hair between her legs. Her quim was so warm, so moist and tight. His mast throbbed with the force of his passion, and he wanted nothing more than to sail into her.
When she was ready. When she wanted him, and not before.
No matter how fierce his passion, he would not take his mate by force, or cause her pain.
Elise pushed herself up in their bed and leaned toward him, meeting his lips. She kissed him deeply, sharing her mouth and tongue as only a mate does. Ki’s hands gripped the bedclothes. If not for the calming drug, he would lose all control this first time. This woman was almost too much for him.
And now her kisses were moving down to his throat, to his smooth, hard chest. She flicked across his pa-mark, sending shocks through his muscles. He gasped, as did she. Her eyes widened as she touched the mark again, this time with her fingertips.
She was sensing it, the power of his mark. His small piece of the universe’s living force. He couldn’t yet explain it to her, but later, from her lessons, she would understand.
Tracing the line of his mark with her tongue until she captured his nipples, Elise seemed to be taking his pa-mark in stride for now. And sweet fates, but she was an expert with her mouth, her tongue. His cock was fairly pounding between his legs, and still her kisses moved lower, to his belly, and lower, into the thick patch of hair surrounding his manhood.
There, she stopped and pulled back. He could read the desire in her eyes, feel it in her thoughts, but also her fear.
Ardani males were much larger than Earth males, in every way. Ki was both proud of this, and worried.
Would their coupling hurt his shanna?
Elise’s fingers teased the curled hair around his cock, and then she gripped him, wrapping her fingers around his thickness.
Ki threw his head back and groaned. Her touch was almost enough to override the drugs and send him into a rutting frenzy. He had to hold on, let her find her way and show him what she could take.
Elise seemed more fascinated than shy, and her innocent, hungry expression touched Ki’s heart. No doubt she had known some Earth lovers, but she was naïve to Ardani ways. So many surprises lay in store for her, and so much freedom. As much or as little as she wanted.
Right now, her lips wanted to push him close to insanity.
She had lowered her head, and she was kissing his mast, slowly, working her tongue from stem to stern. Her fingers cupped the tender sack at its base, and Ki groaned again. He felt Elise’s thoughts joining more fully with his, reading his desires, his fantasies. He closed his eyes as she took his cock in her mouth, as much as she could hold, moving up and down, giving him a hint of the pleasures awaiting him between her legs.
Time and again, Elise brought him to the edge of orgasm with her mouth, then stopped, letting him cool down. His teeth ground together, and when he couldn’t take another second, he sat up, pulling her to him.
He kissed her, fighting not to squeeze her too hard.
Wordless, his shanna pulled back. She lifted herself off the bed and straddled him, and he felt her wetness on the tip of his cock.
Grinding his teeth so hard his jaws hurt, Ki let her lower herself slowly onto him. He heard her gasping, felt the soft brush of her breasts on his face, and then she was eye to eye with him.
Her mouth was open, and she was breathing hard. Her thoughts and feelings conveyed pleasure and pain, but more than anything, desire. The feel of being inside her quim undid Ki completely, and he lifted her up, bringing her down once, then twice. She didn’t flinch. Instead, her slit seemed to open wide, growing wetter and more welcoming.
“Yes,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “I can do this. Yes. I want you. All of you.”
Though he couldn’t understand her words in full, Ki knew he had the invitation he had been waiting for. Quickly but gently, he lifted his shanna again, this time easing her onto her back and settling between her legs.
His first thrust was paradise. She groaned, but her thoughts told him it was from sheer pleasure. Elise’s eyes were closed, and she had her hands on her own nipples. The sight drove Ki to new levels of arousal, and he thrust into her again.
Elise’s hips rolled to meet him.
She was pinching her nipples now, her head turning slowly back and forth. Ki sensed her wish for him to give her more, faster, and he did.
The calming drug was wearing off, and he felt like his skin and pa were on fire. She fit his cock like a soft scabbard, and he knew he couldn’t hold back another moment.
Elise sensed his urgency. Her hands left her breasts and grabbed his arms, digging her nails into his flesh as she lifted herself to meet him harder and harder.
Ki growled, pounding into her quim, hearing the wet sound of their sex, the loud screams of delight from his beloved. She wrapped her legs around him, holding him possessively inside her as he hammered her over and over, deeper and deeper. All sensation revolved around his shanna. All life, all breath, all pleasure.
Elise cried out as she climaxed, and Ki howled as he exploded within her, draining his seed until not a drop remained.
And still, his shanna kept her legs tightly wrapped. She didn’t seem to want to let him go.
All is as it should be, he thought as stupor settled over him. How was it that he had done without this feeling his entire life? Had he really believed he didn’t want a soul’s mate?
Elise stirred beneath him, and he rolled to his side, still cradling her. This was bliss. She was bliss. Ki allowed his thoughts to flow toward Fari, to let his brother taste of his deep satisfaction.
Finally. By the worlds, finally. So long as the OrTan scum-prince does not convince the Council of his viewpoint, all will be well, indeed.
Chapter 4
Hours later, Elise stroked Ki’s long black hair. His forehead was damp, and his sleep-breathing was rhythmic and peaceful. He was holding her like a long-lost treasure, and she didn’t know what to make of that. She didn’t know what to make of anything that happened in the last day and a half.
There, wrapped in the protective curtains of a giant bed, with a sleeping giant in her arms, Elise could almost convince herself she was back on Earth. Maybe having a fling with some eccentric millionaire who had left her pussy sweetly sore and thoroughly satisfied.
And yet, this man was an alien. A warrior. He was so wild and fierce that a priest had to drug them both to keep her from being wounded on her wedding night.
Sweet Heaven. By these people’s standards, I’m married to this god.
The effects of the drug Akad had given her were wearing off, and her thoughts were clear. Still, try as she might, Elise couldn’t stretch her mind around being this stranger’s wife. His soul’s mate.
But they had spoken mind to mind, body to body. They had shared an intimacy that Elise had never known. She had intended to do whatever it took to get home, and she had just spent hours having wild sex with an alien. And he seemed so…so…sweet. Like someone she didn’t want to leave.
Surely he was too good to be true.
“Rule one,” she murmured. “In the end, all men are boring.”
Who was she kidding? How could this—warrior ever be boring?
“Rule Two.” Elise heard the quiver in her voice. “Trust no one but Georgia.”
Ki stirred in her arms and sighed. Elise teared up, thinking about her cousin, wishing she could tell her about all the incredible things that had happened.
Sensing her distress, Ki’s obsidian eyes opened. They were soft and liquid from sleep, and before she formed a full thought, Elise kissed one, then the other.
Ki raised up on one elbow, tracing the outline of her cheek. “What is hurting you, beloved?”
“I understood you.” Elise smiled.
“It should be less trouble, with the first mating behind us.”
Elise thought about commenting on his arrogance in assuming there would be
a second mating, but she didn’t bother. This man could fuck her any time.
Ki leaned forward and kissed her. His lips felt like hot silk, claiming hers, and her heart started to beat faster even as he pulled back.
“I asked you what brought you tears while I was sleeping,” he murmured.
His gaze was so intense and serious that Elise felt unsettled. His medication had worn off, too. What if he had a temper?
“I do,” he said matter-of-factly. “But I would never harm you.”
Elise squirmed, avoiding Ki’s next kiss. “Do you read my thoughts all the time?”
He shrugged one muscled shoulder. “When you broadcast them. In time, I will read them all, yes. And you will share mine as well. We will both want that.”
“Oh, we will?” Elise stiffened. “You assume a lot.”
Ki grinned, pulling her to him, under him. He kissed her deeply, letting his tongue caress hers, moving one large hand over her naked skin until she groaned.
If that was his way of diffusing her temper, it was very effective. His fingers and his silver tattoo sang to her body, and her body answered with gasps and shudders.
When his mouth fastened on her nipple, Elise stopped thinking clearly. All she could feel was the fire of his mouth, the exquisite pleasure of each nibble and suck. His thoughts drifted through her mind, and she saw through his sensations how soft she was, how she tasted, how much her responsive body excited him.
Heat rose to her cheeks.
She had never known herself like that, through a lover’s eyes.
Then you have never known a lover, Ki whispered in her mind.
His thoughts grew more open, and she could literally see herself—her wet, swollen nipples, the soft red marks here and there from their previous lovemaking, and her curves, which Ki explored with his sizzling tongue for long, agonizing minutes.
Elise could smell the powdery scent of her own skin, feel its softness in his mouth, and when he slid his fingers deep into her wetness, she could feel her own heat.
Ki’s touches were growing firmer, and Elise was bonded to his arousal. Wild tides coursed through her as he pulled back and seared her with his dark, possessive gaze. His fingers stayed busy, thrusting in and out of her pussy, getting her ready for his already-throbbing cock.
You are mine, shanna. Never think to leave me.
Elise could barely concentrate as he spread her legs. She was lost in her own excitement and his feral desire, and she wanted him inside her, now. Images flashed through her mind, fantasies of the many ways he could take her—and she didn’t know if they were his thoughts or hers. She didn’t even care.
Rumbling his arousal, Ki turned her over and drew her up on all-fours. Grasping her ass with both of his strong hands, he pumped his cock into her wet pussy, sinking to the hilt and drawing a moan of pleasure from her parted lips.
“You are perfect,” he said aloud, easing out, then slamming into her again.
Elise felt her breasts jiggle with the impact, and then Ki’s hands closed over them, pinching her nipples gently and letting go. She moaned again, louder, completely wrapped in the dual sensation of his pleasure and her own.
Once more, Ki slid almost completely out of her, and she whimpered.
“Do you want all of me?” he rasped.
“Yes. Damn you. Yes!” Elise dug her fingers into the sheets, pushing back toward him until he drove into her slit again. Squeezing her legs together, she held him inside, surprising him, arousing him even more. His thrusts became harder and faster.
“Don’t hold back,” Elise ordered. “Give me everything.”
Ki’s answer was a growl, and a thrust so deep Elise thought he must have filled her entire insides.
She felt herself expanding to hold him, again and again. There was no more pain, only pleasure. Only the most deep and satisfying penetration she could imagine. He packed every inch of her, his sack slapping against her swollen folds. She heard it through his ears and her own. The smell of their lovemaking rose like smoke from the ever-burning candles, sweet and salty all at once.
“Fuck me!” Elise demanded, wondering if she could have enough of his thick, hard cock.
Ki gripped her hips and rammed into her pussy, rocking them both back and forth so hard the bed shook.
Elise came with a bone-shattering scream, followed quickly by Ki’s untamed howl as he emptied himself in her wide-open slit.
Aftershocks rattled Elise as Ki threw his arms around her, cupped her breasts, and pulled her against his chest—all the while leaving himself inside her. Her nipples beaded and ached beneath his tender touch, and once more, he said, “Never leave me.”
This time, the arrogance was gone from Ki’s voice. His words sounded more like a statement of love, or a plea.
For a moment, Elise wondered at all she didn’t know about Ardani customs. Was she allowed to come and go, if she so chose? Or was she just a glorified prisoner? These things she would have to ask Ki, along with how she might contact Georgia, or bring her cousin for a visit.
But later.
When he wasn’t biting her neck like that.
* * * * *
Seven stellar days had passed, and Ki’s new-mating time was nearly finished. He did not want it to end, even though he knew Astoria and the crew needed his attention. He had felt battle docking at least three times, but he had ignored the horns. His mast had been full inside his mate’s quim, and her heat was all-consuming.
Still, he could not keep her to himself forever. There were her lessons with Akad to be completed, and her Presentation to the court and people of Arda—the official satisfaction of the Law of Keeping. The sooner those things were done, the better. Ki could go back to speaking to the pa in his sails, hunting slavers and rogues, and plumbing the sweet depths of his shanna.
How he would bear being separated from her, even for brief rescue campaigns, he couldn’t imagine.
This precious period of being totally alone, with only the intrusion of galley hands slipping food inside the door—it would never be repeated, though Ki had already vowed to himself that he would spend a lifetime trying.
Ardani lived a very long time, even by galactic standards. Now that they were mated, Elise would share his lifespan. They would have Earth centuries to know each other, and to steal long periods alone, with only food from servants to distract them.
His shanna was more exciting and intelligent than even he could have imagined. She understood the concept of pa, which was the living quicksilver of the universe. She knew that pa suffused Ardani flesh and sailcraft, and formed the basis of their society. He had already taught Elise basic Kon’pa steps, which they performed each morning, together, chest to chest and leg to leg, inside the sacred ring of candles. Often they finished with a slow coupling, never disturbing the circle.
Ki could not get enough of Elise. He was alternately aching and exhausted, starved and fulfilled, but he was loathe to close his eyes. He wanted the exhaustion. He wanted to be in his beloved’s quim every stellar minute, driving toward her very core, making her more his own with each thrust of his cock.
He longed to watch her sweet face as she climaxed. He wanted to run his lips over her salty skin. He lived to bathe her in warm water, soaping her with sweetleaves and Andromedan spices, as he had only this morning. She was his and loving it, demanding that he take her in every possible position, in every possible way.
Sometimes she called him by his name. Sometimes she called him a bastard, with her hands wrapped in his hair, forcing his face closer, pleading with him to finish what his tongue had started.
At the moment, she was draped across him, still damp from their bath, and wet from their lovemaking. She was sleeping, but he had his fingers inside her quim, slipping in and out, tracing the soft, velvet outline of her sex.
Could anything be more pleasurable than touching this woman?
Brother. Fari’s psi voice was soft and tentative, more a sigh than a call. Ki knew his brother had ent
ered the cabin, and that Fari was sharing in some of Ki’s besotted feelings as the Sailmaster slowly made love to Elise.
This was not troubling to Ki. No doubt Fari had been driven near to distraction during the new-mating time. It was common for brothers or close family members to share in the pleasures of their relative’s mates—but somehow, Ki suspected Elise would not be gratified to know this. If Elise had been Ardani, Fari might well have spent some of the week with them, maximizing pleasure for all.
As it was, both Ki and Fari had feared Ki’s warrior woman might unman Fari if he so much as insinuated this possibility. And so, in moments of ultimate climax, Ki had shared what he could with his brother. He was not a selfish man, and no matter his urges to pitch Fari overboard, he wouldn’t have denied his sibling such small gratifications. Besides, if Ki were slain in battle, it would be up to Fari to see to Elise’s needs.
All of her needs.
She had married his living family, his brother Fari and sister Krysta alike. And when Fari and Krysta married, their mates, too, would be bound to Ki and Elise.
Ki sighed.
Perhaps Akad would explain all of that to Elise in some acceptable fashion, during her first lesson today.
Elise groaned and rolled beneath him as his fingers found her slippery clit and toyed with it.
“I want you in my pussy,” she murmured, more asleep than awake. “Please. I want you so much.”
Acutely aware of Fari’s silent presence nearby, Ki rolled forward, easing Elise back on the pillows.
“Now.” She sighed, opening her legs. “Now, Ki.”
From somewhere near the main table, Fari groaned, but Elise didn’t notice.
Ki’s pa was alive with his brother’s nearness, with Elise’s thick musk, and with his own overpowering arousal. Elise connected with his thoughts as he thrust into her quim, driving hard, as far as he could go. She moaned with pleasure, with her total acceptance of his body and all that he could offer. He stroked again and again, bringing her to a frenzy, then slowed, stopped, and pulled out.
“Bastard.” She groaned and slapped his shoulders.
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