The spectacle now lay in the past. Yes. Gone. Buried by her triumph. “You returned to me. What more can I complain about? I have my soul."
"Turn your pheromones back on, Vult. I want you to know I belong to you. That I don't mind. That you're perfect in your !Dako form. Please."
How unnecessary. “No."
"But I don't ever want you to think otherwise again."
"You've expressed your feelings enough in returning to me."
"But, what about wild-monkey sex? We need to celebrate our reunion."
Little fool. I grabbed her slim waist and hoisted her back until I could plop her down onto the bed, sprawled out in all her huv'ria glory. No need for nanite intervention. My body is as hard as stone. “We can do that without pheromones."
My full-blown erection throbbed.
She grinned enthusiastically. “Who says we need pheromones?"
Black clothing flew in every direction.
"Hurry,” she groaned, yanking her top over her head.
Souls could wear a warrior down to the last precious thought he could squeeze from his brain. Until every drop of thought pounded in his loin. I landed on my palms and stared down at her navel.
The place where my daughters would grow. Yes. The Goddess gave me a future. And the !Dakos. Daughters.
"Vult,” she whined, reaching for me.
Not yet. I planted a kiss against the warm velvet of her belly.
She moaned, wriggling her fingertips into my hair. “Come here."
Excellent plan. My huv'ria was full of them. I placed a trail of kisses up her midline to the valley between her breasts.
Her body trembled beneath my lips.
Dare I delay? Chuckle in the process? She deserved a little punishment. Didn't she? I licked up the delicious curving side of one breast.
Her fingernails dug into my scalp.
But nothing could deter me from latching onto that taut little nub topping the mound.
She hissed and rocked her hips against my aching shaft. “Oh, Vult. Don't tease me!"
As if I had teasing in mind. I raked my teeth along the length of the small bead until it stretched into a flat line and popped free of my lips. Her breast bounced with release. Tempting me with its fullness. And the flesh of its mate.
Vult made my body tremble and jolt, flop and writhe, burn beneath his hovering muscles where he gnawed on my sensitive nipples. I just wanted to roll him over, crawl along the length of him, kiss him into the frenzy he'd stoked up inside me. But he wasn't game. He seemed to only want to be in control. Fine. If he wanted to show me who was boss, I could enjoy his exhibition of power. Call it a perk of duty. Give your life for a greater purpose and wind up in paradise with a blond god making love to you on your command.
Perks.
He laid a torturous trail of kisses up my chest to my neck and settled in to lick a line following my pulse up to my jawline and across to my ear.
"I missed you, Cassie."
The heat of his breath burned away our surroundings.
All I could do was clutch at the undulating iron of his shoulders to keep from drifting off into space. But his anchoring presence wasn't about to allow me to vanish. Maybe supernova. Hell, he'd already heated my heart into a warm deluge that rolled down to pool in my groin as a flood of desire. Although a kind lover would tend to the yearning he'd nurtured instead of stoke it into raging flames. But this was all about what he wanted. Him.
Pinned in place, clinging to the supple skin and steely body that made me beg for more, I closed my eyes and gave in to the pleasure. The delight of his massaging mouth. The gentleness of his touch. The tickle of his silken hair. I breathed whatever way deemed productive each moment until his lips locked onto mine and sucked the very life from me.
Was that what happened? Did he suck the life from me? I was his soul after all. We bonded together. Why not fill each other another way? Complete each other.
Yes, he completed me.
Our tongues struggled to claim the other's mouth while we laid in a tangle of arms and legs.
His kiss released me.
Withdrew. He hovered overhead, his barely yellow hair a sheet hanging off one side of his head, studying ever corner of my face.
Why had he stopped? I'm ready. Now.
He placed a few fingertips against my lips and stared into my eyes.
"Vult?"
"Don't speak.” He rubbed my lips. “I can't believe you returned to me."
My heart sank.
Did we have to recall how I hurt him now?
He leaned down until the tip of his nose touched mine, gazing into my eyes with his silver orbs. His hand slid between us, locking the slick head of his shaft into place. “We will always be body and soul."
Always. Just to feel the softness of his lips with mine. I tilted my chin up against the pads of his fingers. “Yes."
He thrust his thick cock inches inside my clenching sex, his eyes pinching into slits, and hissed. “Always, Cassie."
"Yes, Vult.” Being thoroughly admonished and corrected wasn't a bad deal from my end. He must have thought of nothing but sex while I was away because he didn't take his time as he'd done before plunging into my core. As if he'd lost control. But that didn't matter. I wrapped my legs around his sinewy waist and hung on for dear life.
Yes. Life. That's what our joining was about. The rising surge of desperation to simply feel. To explode with undefinable bliss. To bury him inside me. For me to hold him here forever. He mined so deeply and dogmatically for that place, that point, that singular moment when we would meld into one body and soul that all I could do was gasp for breath, cry for air. I scratched for a handhold at his back.
Our souls exploded. United. As one.
I didn't want to stop. Couldn't stop rocking, driving him deeper. Begging him to stay with me.
He seemed to choke on air in my ear, grinding his cock's root against my groin as if he feared we'd separate again.
Not because of me. My duty lay with him now.
His driving hips slowly lost their umph and stilled against me.
Our souls exhausted after that ephemeral moment of connection. The fleeting fusion. Left us separate. At least me. Lying beneath him as the tremors in my body faded, was so damned lonely.
He rolled onto his side, carrying me along to drape his chest in a comfortable manner with my legs paralleling his hips.
The rattle of his heart thrummed against my breast. His hard shaft still inside me.
"Cassie?” He raked his fingers into my hair at my shoulders.
"Yes?"
"Are you content now?"
Who wouldn't be? But I wanted more. To do it again. Would he be hurt if I admitted it? “Yes."
He slowly stroked my hair. “I know you are a strong-willed soul, little Goddess. Please be lenient with this old warrior. I have lived a long lonely existence and only wish to spend my days in laughter and heated debate with my huv'ria."
Tears threatened to burn my eyes out.
Talk about irony. I raised up to stare into his steady silver gaze. “I'm sorry, Vult. I never intended to make you worry that I'd left. If I hadn't gone, I would still be terrified I'd kill unborn children or innocent people. How could anyone live with herself after that?"
A smile curled the corners of his mouth.
A smile strong enough to shift the planet's poles. He needed to smile more often.
"I'm truly a blessed warrior now that I have a huv'ria as caring as you."
We could argue for days about who the blessed person was in this relationship. Why bother when I was right where I wanted to be? I kissed the solid line of his jaw and snuggled my cheek back down into the pliant beating mound of his breast.
I woke with a start. Alone in bed. Where had Vult gone?
The whispering sound of water noted someone showered.
Nice place to inspire a little melding of souls. I gulped down a chuckle and trotted across the cold stone floor.
The noise stopped.
Darn. I crossed the lavatory's threshold.
Vult already toweled himself off.
Our gazes locked.
"Have you rested, huv'ria?"
"Yes.” I leaned my hip against the sink's cold stone and crossed my arms.
A grin slowly toyed with one corner of his mouth.
What was he thinking?
He sauntered toward me, pulling the towel with both hands across his shoulders in a drying motion.
Lord, the view. My mate and his hanging appendage. So much for his thoughts. Apparently, he had other things on his mind. With an eternity left to meld body and soul, we could wait an hour for sex.
He stopped inches away, towering with drenched blond hair dripping drops of water at his navel. “My soul has given me a great hunger.” He winked and wrapped the towel around my back, pulling my bare curves against his length, and planted a quick kiss upon my mouth. “Let's go eat."
"Alright."
He released me and extended the towel. “Shower?"
Why not? I quickly stepped into a steamy deluge of hot water.
Oh the wonders of hot water beating against muscles. I turned, allowing the patter to slowly hit every inch of my body.
Movement caught my eye. Vult raising his hair fisted as if he were making a ponytail. And a knife. God, he was cutting his hair! I leapt from the water, slid on piece of smooth stone, whirled my arms, righted myself, and halted beneath a gaping warrior.
Vult stood, knife poised for what had to be a cut, his brow pinched with concern. “What happened?"
Oh. Just in time. I grabbed the knife from his grasp.
He just stood, watching me.
"Don't you dare cut your hair."
"But a new phase of my life begins."
"Not with cutting your hair!” I tossed the knife behind me.
The metal bumped the wall with a clatter.
"Cassie—"
"Do not cut your hair.” The confusion growing on his face helped calm me. But wouldn't change my mind. I love that sexy hair. “Why are you cutting your hair?"
"To note our life together. To remind me that there is nothing to doubt. You and I, we are body and soul."
He couldn't possibly doubt that any longer. And what did doubt matter? He wasn't a machine. He had feelings. Emotions. “Vult, doubt isn't a bad thing. It helps us learn about ourselves. What would life be like if we simply believed in something we were told is truth? We would be the mindless machines so many people think of the !Dakos. Your doubt is proof you are like me. That you have a soul. To cut your hair means you deny this.” Oh, yes. That should be the clencher. Forget haircuts.
The furrows in his brow softened.
Well, he just needed a bit more convincing. “Don't you see, Vult? Souls make warriors question themselves. This is life. This is your future. Don't hide from it. Embrace the truth that our time together will make you question many more things. Wear your hair loose."
His silver eyes blinked with acceptance. “You are a wise little Goddess, Cassie."
More like desperate.
He shook his hair out, grabbed me, drawing my slick body against his solid chest, canting his nose within inches of mine, and gingerly slapped my ass. “I see you've been sent to keep me from dying of boredom."
We'll see about that. I giggled and snaked my arms around his neck. “I'll prove it to you. Just give me time."
"That's all we have, Cassie."
Good. Because I can't imagine having enough to spend with him.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Eighteen
Watching Cassie walk among the huv'rias in their garden always made me think of her uniqueness. Even as the day she would greet our daughters rushed closer, she smiled and listened intently to each one, a mirror image of each pregnant huv'ria in her long draping gown that allowed room for children to grow inside a soul. Her belly bulged with the life our body and soul created. But her pregnancy didn't deter her from roaming, listening for the sounds she claimed to hear—the disharmony noting a huv'ria carried a daughter who required cleansing.
It was good to see the females accepted her presence. Her assistance. With her mounded belly, she seemed anything but a threat. All the life-giving Goddess.
Cassie rose, shot me a glance, and wandered farther down the length of the reflecting pool to detect where to focus her Handler power.
She'd brought life back to Treusch. And with her care, !Dako life could remain here even though so many !Dakos took mates through the Rift with the two recently-captured Crellon slave ships. Even when they'd been called to serve in recovering slaves in Mate Quests. Everyone was content with life now.
A presence accessed my mind through the Central Node. “Eshta gives birth. Bring the Goddess,” Hirm commanded.
Cassie never looked more frightened as we waited for someone to open Eshta's door. “What if I failed with Eshta?” she whispered like her life hung on this birth.
"You are the Goddess. Do not doubt yourself.” I winked at her pursing mouth and my doubt point.
"Maybe you should tell yourself that every now and then.” She rolled her eyes.
Oh, yes. Life with my Goddess proved interesting. I choked down a chuckle.
The door swung wide, revealing Hirm's stoic presence. “Goddess.” He nodded and permitted our entry. “You honor us on this momentous occasion."
"Thank you,” Cassie smiled and strode to the green female who held a bundle where she sat in mussed burgundy bedding.
"Goddess,” Eshta gasped, “come greet the little daughter who lightens my soul."
Cassie shot me a grin.
Yes, my little Goddess’ work would change the !Dakos’ future. Her Handler powers are a thing to behold and ponder. One only need note how she'd changed this old warrior into an excited expectant father with plans for his family to know her powers were one of the rarest wonders of the universe. A !Dako treasure. Mine.
The End
* * * *
* * *
Visit www.newconceptspublishing.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
Feral Series V: Feral Foretaste Page 20
