Penelope Ann beamed. “Thank you both. I’m sure it’s something wonderful.”
Aquilla leaned toward her. “Don’t you think you’d better open it and find out what’s inside?”
Penelope Ann bent her attention to the task again. “Of course.”
Aria scanned the circle of faces. Even the men hung on every second of the procedure with bated breath. No one could wait to find out what was in that package.
After an eternity of waiting, Penelope Ann finally got the wrapping off and uncovered a beautiful cape made up of thousands of tiny, feather-like slivers of polished wood. They lay over one another so closely no one could see where one ended and the other began, and they shimmered with all the iridescent colors of the rainbow. When Penelope Ann draped it around her shoulders, it resembled exactly the bright feathered frill of the Avitras.
Penelope Ann couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s more beautiful than I imagined. Thank you so much.” She hugged first Chris, and then Turk.
Donen got to his feet and selected another present. “Aria,” he read, and handed her the present.
Aria stared down at the silver-wrapped gift in her lap. “But I didn’t get all of you anything. I didn’t know....”
Marissa laid her hand on Aria’s knee. “You gave us all this wonderful celebration. We wouldn’t be sharing this moment right now if you hadn’t planned it all out and made us welcome in your home. You’ve given all of us the most priceless gift of all.”
Aria smiled at her, but her eyes misted over with tears.
Marissa gave her knee a squeeze. “Now hurry up and open your present, because if you don’t, we’ll be sitting here all day and none of the rest of us will get to open ours. This one is from me.”
Aria burst out laughing for pure joy. She ran her shirt cuff under nose and blinked the tears out of her eyes so she could see the present in front of her. Coarse string didn’t hold this one together. She took ages to figure out how to unstick the paper from itself until she realized Marissa must have sealed it up with some kind of glue. Aria had to tear the paper to get the package open. Where Marissa got the paper, Aria dared not even think, let alone ask.
The more of the paper she got unstuck, the more excitement gripped her. Her heart pounded, and her hands shook. Smiling faces surrounded her in anticipation. The excitement overcame her frugality, and she vented her emotions on the paper. She gave it a tremendous tear, and it fell away from a velvet-smooth wooden box.
The paper dropped to the ground, and Aria ran her hands over the immaculate wood. The lid slid aside with no effort, and nestled inside on a bed of black velvet, she found an ornate carved horn of ivory. Forest landscapes twisted around the snow-white shaft and culminated in a majestic mountain rising over the miniature countryside. Windows opened in the mountainside, and people moved in and out through the openings on their miniature business.
The mountain resembled Harbeiz to a tee, and on the observation deck halfway up the mountain, a familiar coupled overlooked the whole tiny scene. The man loomed bulky and fur-trimmed over his slender mate. A cap of tight curly hair covered her head, and her full lips and almond eyes matched Aria’s features. Aria stared down into the box, but when she tried to speak, only a whisper came out of her mouth. She touched the magical gift, but it wasn’t bone or ivory at all, but wood sand polished to a glassy finish. Not a scratch or knife-mark marred the surface.“Did you make this?”
Marissa touched her knee again. “Taig made it, as a gift of gratitude from the Lycaon faction to you and Donen and the Ursidrean people for everything you’ve done for us. None of us could think of a way to thank you enough, so he made this.”
Aria couldn’t lift her eyes to her friends’ faces. “Thank you.”
Marissa squeezed her again, and Donen moved back to the tree. He took the next package. “This one is for Piwaka.”
Piwaka started back. “For me? I don’t need a present.”
Donen held it out to him. “It seems someone disagrees.”
Piwaka cast a suspicious glance at the present. He wouldn’t have known what to do with it if he hadn’t seen Aria and Penelope Ann open theirs. He sat down on the long seat and turned it over in his hands. “Who can it be from?”
“There’s no tag,” Donen told him.
No wrapping or string covered this present. He inspected it from all sides. It was a simple woven basket with a lid sliding down over a lower section to hold it closed. “Which faction makes baskets like that?”
Piwaka frowned. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Neither have I,” Turk replied. “It certainly isn’t Lycaon.”
“It’s not Felsite, either,” Renier added.
“It’s definitely not Ursidrean,” Anna exclaimed.
Piwaka swept the group with knowing eyes. “That leaves only one faction left.”
“Who?” Aria asked. “You’re not thinking of the Aqinas, are you?”
Piwaka’s expression softened. “The Aqinas don’t make baskets like this, either. No, the faction I’m thinking of comes from Earth.”
The women exchanged glances.
“An Earthling made this basket,” he went on. “It must have been one of you women.”
No one said a word while he set the basket on his knees and lifted the lid. A mat of dried grass lay inside, with a circle of iron sitting in the middle of it.
“What is it?” Aria asked.
Piwaka picked it up between his thumb and forefinger, but he set it down again. “It’s the crown.”
“What?” Chris asked. “What crown?”
Penelope Ann spoke up. “It’s been worn by the Avitras Alpha for generations. The Alpha wears it around his upper arm. It’s the only sign of authority he has.”
No one knew what to say. In the end, Carmen asked, “Who gave it to you?”
“I did,” Aquilla replied.
“You couldn’t have made that basket,” Renier pointed out. “The Avitras don’t weave that way.”
“I made it,” Penelope Ann replied. “I learned from my aunt when I was a little girl. We had to have something to put the crown in, so I made this.”
Aria hesitated. “Shouldn’t it go to Roshin?”
“Piwaka has been Alpha of our faction for years,” Aquilla replied. “He carried the real power among our people long before he took over for me, but I always kept the crown for myself. I never wanted to give it up, even though I was no longer Alpha and he deserved it so much more. Well, he’s going to have it now. If he wants to hand it over to Roshin, that’s his business, but unless I’m mistaken, he never will. He’ll keep it. It’s his by rights.”
Piwaka touched the metal, but did not lift it out of its basket. “I’ll keep it to honor your gift, but I will never wear it.”
“What about Roshin?” Donen asked. “He wont’ resent this, will he?”
Aquilla shook his head. “I already told him what I planned to do. He agrees with me that Piwaka deserves the crown.”
Chapter 13
Harbeiz slept in darkness. Not a sound echoed through its big cavern. The door swung open on silent hinges, and Donen padded into the living room in his bare feet. The fire burned low in the accelerator, and the myriad lights twinkled on the Christmas tree. Aria huddled under a blanket on the long seat. She blinked at the tree and the fire through heavy eye lids. Her bracelet draped across her wrist.
Donen peered down at her. “Are you all right?”
Aria nodded.
“Are you coming to bed?” he asked.
She blinked into the glowing light. “Just a little longer.”
He waited, but she didn’t move. In the end, he sat down on the floor next to the long seat and looked at the tree. “Does it really mean that much to you?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she murmured.
“Explain it to me,” he urged.
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Can’t?” h
e asked. “Or don’t want to?”
She didn’t look at him. “I could explain it all day long, and you still wouldn’t understand. It doesn’t matter. This will probably be the last time I’ll have this, so just leave me here to enjoy it a little longer.”
“The others will go home soon,” he told her. “You don’t have to put it away. You could leave it out, if it means that much to you.”
She shook her head again. “I’ll put it away, but at least I’ll have the memory. That will never leave me.”
He peered into her eyes. The lights on the tree glowed bright yellow in her deep brown eyes. “The power is off. How are the lights still going?”
“Emily showed me,” she replied. “The accelerator was designed for military exercises abroad. It has an independent power source. Even Anna figured that out. You must have seen her plug the lights into the accelerator.”
Donen raised his eyes. “I didn’t see. And they figured this out on their own?”
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” Aria let out a long breath. “We forgot to put up Christmas stockings. That’s the one thing we forgot to do, and now it’s too late.”
Donen waited for her to say something else. “I want to talk to you about something. I’ve been waiting to catch you alone so we could talk about it privately. It’s about Avi.”
She laid a finger against his lips before he could continue. Her fingers burned warm and inviting against his skin, and he couldn’t stop himself from grabbing her hand and pressing it to his lips. She met his eyes for the first time, and the floodgates opened.
Aria rolled toward him, and he swiveled around to face her. They extended their arms to each other, and at the same moment, gathered each other into their embrace. The passion of their earlier encounter in the bedroom flared to life. Magnetic desire pulled their lips together, and they stuck there.
Aria rolled over farther and fell off the seat on top of him. They rolled together on the floor until they stopped in front of the accelerator. The fire blazed higher on a crumb of fuel, but it couldn’t match their ardor. Aria turned her head this way and that in a desperate attempt to devour as much of his lips as she could. She would have devoured every inch of him if she could have torn her lips away from his mouth.
He stroked her forehead, and she buried her hands in the rough fur along his shoulders. For one suspended moment, they gazed into each other’s eyes. The fire infused their bodies with its warm bright glow. How long had it been since they stopped and simply looked at each other? Ever since she came to live with the Ursidreans, politics and the Supreme Council occupied every minute of every day. Then came the boys, and Aria hardly saw him from one day to the next, even when they sat across the breakfast table from each other every morning.
All of a sudden, he wasn’t Alpha anymore. All that responsibility, all the demands on his time, evaporated into the past in so much smoke. Their sons grew up and didn’t need them anymore. Even Mirin, who relied on Donen to smooth his way into power, didn’t need him anymore. Would they ever see their children again?
Now, for the first time, Donen and Aria came face to face. Nothing stopped them from looking as long as they wanted, more deeply than they ever though possible. What did she really know about this man she’d given the last ten years of her life? Was it really only ten years? She might as well have given him her entire life, for all the change she’d undergone in that time. She’d lived with him, raised children with him, accepted his people and his world as her own.
What did he know about her, for that matter? He’d waged war against the Felsite to win her as his mate. For all that, they remained strangers, yet here they lay, together in front of a burning fire and an illuminated Christmas tree. His bracelet encircled her wrist. It might as well have been his heart emblazoned on her sleeve. It might have been her heart chained to him for the world to see. They belonged to each other, for good and all.
He kissed her. How many times had he kissed her? She couldn’t remember, but she could count them on one hand. Their arranged mating involved precious little romance. They stole moments of love between meetings, military actions, emergency Council sittings, and midnight baby feedings.
This kiss didn’t resemble any kiss of his she could remember. She always considered Ursidreans rough, shaggy, burly, coarse. Yet an immutable softness translated through his lips to her soul. When she stroked his fur, it collapsed under her hand in softness. Softness infused her when he pressed his body down on top of her. Downy softness enveloped her whole life and erased every difficulty and discomfort. It erased every pain she ever experienced, going all the way back to her childhood. Nothing remained but his love.
His kiss grew stronger, firmer, but it never lost its softness. He shifted his weight, and his knee dropped down between her legs. He rocked back and forth on top of her, and his knee rubbed her groin. He brought her to life, and she rocked her hips back and forth to meet him. He rubbed harder, faster, and she matched his rhythm. Her nostrils flared, and her lips parted to let her breathe.
He cradled her thigh in one hand and lifted her leg against his hip. He flexed his body against her and never took his eyes off her face. She stared into his eyes, enthralled. The fire cast flashes of orange and yellow light against the angular bones of his face. The fur around his head stood out in stark relief. He bared his teeth and suddenly, in her eyes, he was the bear descending over her in all his bulk and power.
Just for an instant, she wanted to cower and hide. The next moment, she drank in his glorious majesty with all her passionate desire. Let him come. Let the bear take her for his own. Let him do what he would with her. She would be an animal, too. Let this passion wipe out the dainty human she’d always been.
He rocked and ground his knee between her legs until she panted and moaned for more. The next time she lifted her hips to meet him, he slid his hands down along both her hips and her pants went with them. Her slender body lay exposed to the air. The fire caught the amber highlights of her skin and made them gleam.
One more arch of his back and his pants disappeared into whatever nexus of reality as hers. They lay naked below the waist, but he didn’t dive in on her the way she expected. The delicate skin of her hips and belly and thighs made him hesitate. He studied her with a questioning expression. He stroked her cheeks and kissed her.
His slow softness drove her mad. Why, oh why didn’t he take her? She wanted in life for nothing but him to take her and consume her and occupy her. She grappled with him and flung her legs around him, but he wouldn’t budge.
Up above her, the bear growled low in its chest and puffed its steamy breath against her skin. His ardor grew between her legs. He hungered for her, but he wouldn’t give in to his own need. He kept a lid on his passion. Why? Did he want to drive her to the brink of insanity? Did he want to toy with her? His black eyes inspected her while his lips explored her mouth. She couldn’t kiss him hard enough. He wouldn’t reciprocate. He remained soft and immutable.
Then, with a flick of his leg, he tilted to one side and dropped his other knee between her thighs. Yes, oh yes! Her whole being rejoiced, and she crushed him in her embrace. She bucked her delicate flesh against his groin in a craven effort to get him inside her. Nothing she did could induce him to move any faster. He would work at his own pace, no matter what. He watched her passion from a distance. He felt the same mortal desire, but he kept himself in check until he made a deliberate decision to unleash himself on her.
When would he? She couldn’t take much more of this. He hovered over her, with his shaft fully extended and ready to strike, yet he refused to act. Her flesh unfurled its slippery petals to call him in, to call him home to her. He heard her song. He smelled the irresistible aroma of her perfume. His cock danced around the farthest reaches of her sex, but every time she bucked her hips upward to swallow him, he pulled away.
He inched closer and let the round head of his cock kiss her juicy opening. She sucked her ragge
d breath through her teeth and howled, but he only withdrew to touch her again with the weight of a butterfly. A fountain of nectar gushed from deep within her at every touch. It spread over her thighs and buttocks, and the fire boiled it hotter.
He gave himself another inch, and his burning lance nudged against her engorged fissure. This time, he didn’t withdraw. He didn’t strike deep, but stayed there, wedged against the mouth of her tight hole. She knew better now than to try any trick to make him thrust into her before he was ready. She lay quivering and ready, with every nerve taut.
Finally he did push into her with calculated slowness. She gasped at the first stroke, and scorching wet flames licked through her insides. She spread her legs wider, and he withdrew his cock again. Exquisite agony seared down her legs when it popped over the rim of her pubic bone. He watched her from his inscrutable height and slid it in again until she moaned out loud. Then he withdrew it again with a pop. She cried out and turned her head away. She couldn’t watch him do this to her.
Again and again he drove his shaft into her spongy wetness. Each time, he withdrew it and made the umbrella around his cock head pop over her pubic bone. Each pop propelled her higher into clouds of ecstasy.
He repeated this again and again, faster and faster, until she couldn’t contemplate it anymore. She collapsed back on the floor and sailed with him wherever he planned to take her. She moaned and wailed for him, but he didn’t pop in and out anymore. He stroked deeper, harder, thrusting his shaft to its limit against her heavenly body.
Now she could climb on board and ride with him. Now they would levitate together into heaven. She grabbed hold of him and caught his lips with her mouth. He returned her kiss, his reserve gone. He growled in a wild rage that shivered her very bones. He pounded against her. His softness vanished and left his whole body, his whole spirit as hard and determined as his rock hard cock.
Aria threw back her head and closed her eyes, but she never let him go. He would pulverize all softness. He would beat her in the forge of his love until she burnished like gold.
Angondra Holiday Special Page 9
