Eluria's Enforcer (The Argadian Heart Trilogy Book 1)

by Adrianna Dane

  Without warning, he lowered his head and his lips claimed hers. His heat blazed through her. Instinctively, she opened her mouth, and his tongue drove deep into her moist warmth, demanding what should have been his long ago.

  Eluria tried to pull away. She couldn’t do this. To seal with him now would be her utter destruction. She broke free of his consuming kiss. “Devon, no—”

  His expression brooked no discussion. “Yes, Eluria. Together we will heal the past and bind the future. Guardian would not have brought us together on this planet without purpose.”

  “It wasn’t Guardian,” she cried in denial. Guardian wouldn’t have been so cruel as to have brought them together this way. Not with the knowledge that she could no longer offer the balance that Devon should have in union. “It was my father who did that. I know the level you’ve risen to as Enforcer. He doesn’t like to share power. Nor does he like to be thwarted. This was his way of closing our circle in the most vicious way possible.”

  “Trust me, Eluria. You’ve been in my visions always, even after the Nanus process. The block should have destroyed everything Before. Your memory—our connection—is that strong.” Again, he captured her lips, commanding her acceptance of him. He slid his hands along the length of her back to rest at her hip, molding her to him. She felt his hard arousal and her passionate radiance broke free.

  The fire he lit surged, and denial of need could no longer be accepted. She yearned for his touch and bent to him, needing to recapture the past that should have been theirs.

  He raised his head to pierce her with the glow of his fiery passion. “You’re mine, Eluria Zydon,” he growled. “And I’m determined to make sure you never forget it.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Devon picked Eluria up and carried her into the other chamber. Laying her on the bedroll, he opened her skinsuit and quickly peeled it from her body.

  When she was fully revealed, every inch of skin open to his touch, Devon sat back, gazing at her. He lifted a hand. With his index finger he traced a line from her shoulder down, across the full mound of her breast. He lingered at the blushing areola, circled and teased her nipple, until it beaded tightly. As though satisfied with the response of her body, he slid his finger down the curve to the sensitive underside her brast, tracing its fullness. He hesitated, a look of wonder on his face.

  “I like touching you. My body responds to the sight of your form. Your skin is soft as the rozanna petals. Like silk. I’ve never felt pleasure in touching before. Not for a very long time.” His tone seemed to be one of surprise.

  “I’ve dreamed of you too, Devon. Are you shocked to find you enjoy touching me?”

  He resumed the sensual exploration with his finger. Did he plan to trace every inch of her skin? Every spot his finger came in contact with seemed to draw a path of electrical energy, arousing her more than she thought possible by such light contact. Nerve-endings sparked inside her, as though each one fired individually as his finger slid along her body.

  Devon’s gaze followed the trail of his digit as he drew a path over each new contour. His finger ignited her as he traced her curves, he studied her flesh, as he exquisitely traced, relearning, his finger a painter’s brush, as it rose and dipped through each arc of new discovery, stopping only to investigate the most sensitive peaks and valleys, noting her response. It was as though he sought to memorize and inflame every inch of her body.

  “It’s always been a duty,” he murmured. “Enforcers don’t feel passion or arousal. What I feel now, when I touch you, is new. It was aggression through which I achieved erection for sensual persuasion. Used only as a means to complete the mission.” His gaze rose to meet hers as his finger trailed over her stomach to linger at her mound. “Not the pleasure I experience at touching your skin, seeing your response.”

  The bliss she felt at the caress of his hands had her arching to know more. This teasing touch was driving her to the edge of madness.

  “Devon, please—” Eluria’s radiance fluttered and pulsed in shades of shimmering gold and creamy yellow around her, a very blatant indication of the intensity of her female desire. Restlessly, she writhed beneath him. Through slitted lids, she looked at him. “What do you feel? Do you desire me, Devon?” Symion, his fingers were driving her crazy.

  He continued to stroke her body, but never touching her feminine center. “I’ve always desired you, Eluria.” He bent closer to her. His long, ice-white hair drifted over her sensitized breasts, flirtatious, caressing.

  Tangling her fingers in the thick, silky layers, she pulled him down to within an inch of kissing. “I’ve hungered for you always, Devon. This deep ache inside me has never been satisfied by anyone else.”

  All five of his long fingers splayed across her mons, branding her with his heat, the sensation crawling downwards. Her juices flowed, making her ready. She trembled with anticipation. It had never been like this before. As a twilighter, she’d always needed enhancements in order to respond. But not with Devon.

  Touching her lips with a gentle, teasing brush, he traced their fullness with his tongue. She opened her mouth, wanted to taste him. Yanking him downwards, she drank with a ravenous thirst from his sensuous, firm lips. His piercing invasion captured her soft moan of desire.

  With one hand, he cupped her face and the other, the one that tantalized her, he separated her shax lips and at last two fingers entered her heated core. Oh Symion, so much pleasure in his touch. She whimpered and thrust her hips towards the source. Shafts of radiance flared outwards, encompassing them both within its warm center.

  He raised his head and looked at her, his fingers anchored inside her. “Your hot silk beckons me, na-nivia. Can you sense my desire for you?”

  Untangling her fingers from his hair, she reached around and yanked his skinsuit open, with an imperative need to taste of him, she nibbled at his neck, felt his pulse throb beneath her tongue. Her fingers encountered a scar at the back of his neck. She pulled back and looked up at him questioningly.

  “The chip with your information embedded with a beamer to track my movements. It will need to be removed. Later.” He bent to her, his long fingers thrust inside her, his thumb teased at her bud. “Much later,” he growled.

  Eluria pulled Devon close and wrapped her arms around him. A wave of panic washed over her at the realization of what awaited them outside this sanctuary. She trembled in the knowledge that this time with Devon must last her an eternity. With a fierceness born of desperate need, she clung to him.

  “Devon, love me, please,” she whispered frantically. “Now. I need to have your khout filling me. I need to forget what awaits us.”

  His fingers receded from her and he stood. “Don’t think beyond this moment. Think of the union we planned. This was always our path. Envision only Devon and Eluria cloaked in your female light.” He shed his skinsuit quickly. Eluria admired his lean, hard form. It felt unreal, having him here, a vision materialized.

  It seemed an impossibility he could still want her after what had happened—after what her father had done. To have Devon desire her, to see it in his eyes, feel it in his body, had only ever been a taboo vision allowed her in stasis.

  “Open for me, na-nivia. Show me your shax-ra—the petals of your desire, glistening only for me.”

  Eluria sensed the very real the passion rooted in the tenor of his husky tone. She eyed him hungrily, his khout was thick and hard, ready to impale her. She knew once he entered her channel completely and held steady, her liquid essence would cause the shaft to grow longer, thicker. Desire built, her radiance was now a steady golden fire surrounding her. It was more than lust—it was the color of bonding—a sensual, yet spiritual melding of bodies and minds.

  She sit up, wanting to caress the satin hard length of him. There’d never been a desire to appreciate a man’s body before. But now, she thought she understood his pleasure in touching her—she wanted to do the same—to savor every inch of him.

  “No,” he stopped her. His
blue eyes glowed with an inner flare of want. “Open for me.”

  She lay back and spread her legs for him. He knelt between them and watched her as she reached down, spreading the engorged lips of her shax, and displayed her pulsating, wet shax-ra. Her desire for him blazed.

  Molten fire singed along her skin as he reached out to caress the engorged, sensitive opening. He touched her hard bud and she felt more of her liquid essence release. “Yes, na-nivia, flow for me. You are beautiful. It seems I’ve waited a long time as well for this moment.”

  His fingers enter her, his thumb teased her bud of sensation, driving her passion to a higher sphere. Her body clenched with need. Devon withdrew his fingers and lubricated his shaft with the golden liquid heat of her body.

  “Seal with me Devon, please,” she begged. “I must have you inside me before I shatter. I must know completion. Only with you.”

  Devon knelt up and pulled her hands to her sides. Then he spread her thighs. She felt the tip of his hard length at her entrance.

  “Yes,” she sighed, “oh, yes.” He circle the tip, before he pushed forward. She felt her lips separate, allowing his khout to tunnel deep inside. She arched upwards offering herself, opening for complete penetration.

  Devon entered her, filling her, until stopping, fully sheathed inside her. For moments he remained still and she felt his shaft lengthen and become thicker, adjusting to her, until it touched the entrance to her tender cervix.

  Only then did he pull almost fully free, every nerve ending in her channel sensitized to each movement. She pulsed around him, each wave sending her higher and higher. He thrust forward again, and again in long, slow strokes. She screamed as wave after wave of intense sensation threaded through her. It had never been like this. Never.

  One last thrust and he stopped. His khout pulsed inside her, and she felt what she’d never felt before. The vibris beneath the hood of his khout were released and began to massage the entrance to her womb, encouraging her to open fully to receive his seed. Like feathers whispering, coaxing her responses. Eluria’s breath faltered as pleasure consumed her, as the spasms of her release gripped her. Her shax-ra pulsed, releasing the threads from her shax lips to wrap around the base of his khout, sealing them together.

  Again she screamed, a deep-throated primal sound of triumph as she felt her anstillia cord release for the first time and extend from the base of her shax to enter Devon’s anal channel. It thickened and held fast, each tiny nerve-ending in the length of her cord nestled inside him transmitting his vibrations of pleasure to her.

  She heard his growl of release—of claiming. This was completion. They were bonded, sealed together as pulse after pulse of rapture flowed and rippled through them, binding them.

  The strokes of the vibris of his khout continued to cause endless sensual vibrations to consume her, as the sensitive anstillia cord pulsated inside his anus enhancing and prolonging his release.

  Eluria felt all of it. Every ripple of completion throbbed inside her—their combined release, intensifying, merging their responses inside her as they climbed ever upward.

  As they reached the pinnacle, a stillness filled her, like a shadowed, soft whisper of death, sending her into a void, a moment of complete and utter soundlessness, then a burst of shattering colors surrounded her as she felt her soul freed from her body.

  Opening her eyes, she looked around and was shocked at what she saw. Devon stood next to her, holding her hand in a strong secure grip. Both of them were naked, surrounded by her vibrant radiance. Before them was a golden throne set on a raised dais. In her heart she knew they were in Lydion. It was Guardian who sat upon the throne, and to either side was Symion and Mylonna—the trinity of perfect balance.

  All three stood as one, and Eluria and Devon knelt as one before them. Guardian nodded and smiled. “The union is complete.”

  The scene dissolved and Eluria again felt herself falling through the black void. Sighing with a pleasurable sense of completion and balance such as she’d never known before, she fell back into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness.

  * * *

  Devon watched Eluria as she slept. He wanted her to wake, needed to know if she’d experienced the same vision he had. He was still overcome by the seal and completion they’d achieved. Whenever he’d engaged in sensual persuasion for duty, he’d always encased his khout in a protective covering, not willing to unintentionally create a seal with any other female.

  With Eluria, there’d been no question of not sealing. He wanted all of her and to claim and be claimed in the most intimate and spiritual way possible. What would she feel when she discovered what he’d found upon waking? The seal they’d experienced went far beyond anything they could have imagined. That Guardian had acknowledged the seal and bound them forever in a true balance union.

  He again looked at his wrist, and at the threaded colors of the markings running down the center of his chest. There’d been stories of true-balance unions, but to his knowledge none really existed. He’d thought of them as figment tales only for the ears and entertainment of youths. Now he knew he was wrong.

  Again, he looked at Eluria as she lay sleeping. A smile curved her full, pink lips. He lowered the blanket, noted the new markings on her body, which mirrored his own.

  It was too much temptation. He lowered his head and captured her lips. They parted for him, and he thrust his tongue deep. Eluria arched and he heard her soft sigh. So responsive to his touch. Devon inhaled, allowing her scent to tease him. Her golden radiance flickered faintly around her.

  He thanked Guardian for this gift. She was his tafai, his soul-flame, and he would care for her in all ways.

  Slowly her lids lifted. A feeling of possession and satisfaction overwhelmed him when he saw the color had altered. Instead of the ruby shadow of a twilighter, they were now the rich dark magenta of a tafai. His tafai. He ran a thumb across her full, lower lip.

  She turned away and moved to stand. “I need to get dressed. We have much to plan. It’s time we left.”

  Devon grabbed her shoulders and whirled her around to face him. Eluria’s expression had become guarded. “What is it?”

  She shifted her gaze away. “Nothing. Why should there be? We need to find a way to reach Ednos. I assume you disabled my transport. What about your ship?” She tried to pull away.

  “Look at me,” he demanded. She was attempting to shield herself from him. Didn’t she realize things were different? “Do you understand what took place between us? That we are changed?”

  “Nothing has changed. You have a path to follow. I must find a way to get you to Ednos.” She went silent. Finally, she looked up at him and he saw, and felt, pain emanating from her. “There can be nothing more between us. We shouldn’t have sealed. The-the depth of what took place was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, but it can’t happen again.”

  Devon yanked her wrist up and held it before her eyes. “Do you see this?” Her gaze widen in shock. “Look at the markings on my chest, look at your own markings. My markings are the exact mirror of yours.”

  “It’s not possible,” Eluria whispered desperately, yanking her wrist free. “It’s a figment tale, nothing more.” She pulled free of him and raced across the chamber.

  “You are my tafai, the union is honored by Guardian. You know this. Your vision was mine. We would not hold the markings of higher union if it weren’t true. Your eyes are the magenta of union. Union to me.”

  “You don’t understand,” she said with frantic despair. “I can’t be your tafai. I’m unpure.” She took a deep breath. “I’m a twilighter…”

  “You were a twilighter,” he corrected her.

  “No…no. When I contracted my purity…” He saw the pain and fear of a cornered animal in her eyes. “When I contracted my purity…I was modified.” She raised a tortured gaze to his. “I’m barren, Devon. My body will never carry your children. Never, do you understand?”

  She pounded her closed fists against
the rock wall. “Oh, Guardian,” she cried, “why would you do this to him? Bind him to an unpure female who could offer no hope for Beyond. This isn’t what was supposed to happen.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  After dressing, Eluria paced the chamber, arms folded across her chest. Haydon, what a mess. There had to be a way out. She straightened her left arm and studied her wrist. It displayed a beautiful, intricate pattern of colors, similar in design to a delicate tri-colored, braided wrist adornment. True Union, the markings of Guardian’s acceptance. It was disaster.

  “Stop obsessing, it won’t give you any answers. You can’t separate what Guardian has joined.”

  She whirled around at the sound of Devon’s deep voice.

  “Then what will?” she demanded. “How do we repair what shouldn’t have happened? We never should have sealed. Never.” She shook her head in denial and began pacing again. “There must be a way to free you.”

  “What? Again?” There was a hint of amusement in Devon’s tone.

  She spun back and stared at him. “You find humor in this situation?” Of all times for his sense of humor to surface, she wouldn’t have expected it to be now.

  He walked toward her and cupped her chin. “You’ve given that to me, Eluria. The ability to feel again. To experience joy and pleasure.” She saw his eyes darken and a blaze began to glow inside her. “Guardian has brought us back to each other. Why do you continue to question?”

  Eluria bit her lip, tried to look away, but his firm grip held her steady. “Maybe because I want it too badly. It’s always been at the back of my mind, the vision of what could have been if not for my father’s intervention.”

  “You aren’t to blame for what he did,” he protested.

  “Maybe not directly, but it never would have happened if using me hadn’t been part of his plan.”

  Devon brought his other hand up and cupped her face. “You have suffered enough. You’ve sacrificed too much already. Don’t try to sacrifice what we’ve found.”