I jerked back. “Please allow me to demonstrate just how much you underestimate me.”
He half-smiled, clearly intrigued. “And why should I let you?”
I arched my back so my breasts pressed against him. My hand lowered to his crotch; I could already feel the hard evidence of his excitement. “Because... I want to please you.”
This won me a full grin. Putting his hands up in surrender, he sat back.
Using his muscular thighs to brace my weight, I lowered myself onto my knees and began to slowly undo the drawstring of his pants. I let my eyes follow the small trial of hair from his navel as his cock came free, thick and long with lust.
Making sure I kept eye contact with him, I ran my tongue up its entire length. His sharp hiss of breath confirmed that I had succeeded; I steadily began to concentrate on the very tip, easing my mouth around the head of his cock. His hand moved to my head, tangling his fingers in my hair, guiding me as I sucked him, his breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps.
I could feel his muscles tightening around me, as he gripped my head harder; I didn’t stop. Alternating between licking and using my full mouth, I determinedly pressed on, his own small sounds of passion stirring the desire within me.
With one last, shuddering gasp, he came in my mouth, his entire body collapsing back into the chair. When I was sure he was done, I quietly sat back, unable to resist smirking as he struggled to catch his breath.
“It seems,” he said at last, “I do underestimate you.”
“Hopefully it won’t happen again,” I said impishly.
Laughing, he pulled me up off the floor and into his lap. “Indeed it won’t. In fact… what do you say to seeing another part of the ship tonight?”
“There’s something more impressive than the library?”
“My room,” he grinned.
I blinked in surprise. “O-oh!” Quickly trying to cover my shock, I teased, “And here I thought that you were like a machine and never slept.”
“I may not tonight,” he said with heat in his voice, “So will you accompany me?”
“Yes, I think that’d be… very interesting.”
“Good,” he stood, and gently deposited me onto my feet, “I must see to my duties, but I will send Alva for you.” He bowed, and added, with a rakish grin, “And if you find that wearing just your Earthen undergarments is more comfortable than these Dionus clothes, feel free to come in just that.” Laughing at the scowl on my face, he cheerfully exited the room.
* * *
As promised, Alva came for me in the evening. I had defiantly chosen to wear not only my Earthen undergarments, but jeans and my nicest blouse; pleasing him was one thing, but letting him get away with such teasing was another.
I had, however, taken advantage of a stash of mysterious lotions I’d found earlier that day in my cavern bathroom. My hair was soft to the touch, and I smelled like an entire meadow of flowers. I secretly hoped that would make up for my stubbornness.
I followed Alva once more through the ship; the droid led me in the opposite direction of the hangar, yet as we walked, I felt the floor subtly shifting downward, as if we were moving towards the very bottom. I waited expectantly for a wall to open.
Instead, I turned a corner and was suddenly surrounded by vegetation. I stared around me in surprise. Not only did I seem to be in the middle of a wilderness, but I was outside; I could feel a breeze, and the air smelled exactly like a forest.
I looked up, expecting to see ceiling, and instead saw the sky, just beginning to darken with night. It was as if I’d stepped through some invisible wall right out into the Dionus world.
“You look a little surprised,” Zenon’s voice startled me. I whirled around to see him casually situated on what seemed to be a bed made from tree trunks, vines, and flowers of every color. He stood and joined me, gazing out into the forest.
“This…. is your room?” I stuttered.
“To be precise, this is the Crescent Oasis.”
“The Oasis we saw from the dining room window?”
“Yes. When I can, I anchor my ship close by so I may sleep here,” his arm swept the expansive wilderness, “I find I sleep better when not confined.”
“But aren’t you worried about… wild animals?”
“Do you think anything can harm you while you’re with me?” he raised an eyebrow at me, and I immediately regretted my stupid question. To cover my embarrassment, I tried to make a show of examining my surroundings. But before I took more than two steps, Zenon caught my arm.
I looked back at him in surprise, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just wanted to get a closer look. It’s even more beautiful up close.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you find it so. But I actually brought you here for a specific reason.” Sighing, he sat down on a large, flat rock covered in moss, and ran his fingers through his hair distractedly. “I have struggled with how to tell you this. But I think… it’s time. I owe you the truth about myself.”
“Zenon…”
“No,” he cut in, “This must be said, if… If you are to stay here, you have a right to know why. Please, sit with me.”
I sat down on the soft moss beside him, tucking my legs underneath me. The silence stretched on-it seemed to be very difficult for him to begin. Finally, he took a deep breath, and said, “I’m not the oldest in my family. This ship, passed down through the generations, went first to my elder sister. Sometimes, siblings make war over their family’s inheritance, but I was lucky-my sister always treated me as her own blood, letting me live here.”
He gestured to the paradise around us, “She also made me her second in command.” He shot me a small smile,” The cavern was her room.”
“Our father lost several of the family spoils in his later years as his health declined, but he taught us everything he knew. My sister was a born tactician- controlled, cautious, inventive. It wasn’t long until she was Lieutenant of Dionus, leaving conquered fuel wells and oases in her wake. She was a sight in battle-I’d never seen anyone as fierce and skilled as she was.
I thought, in my foolish youth, that glory in battle was all someone needed. I was so blinded by my ambition I didn’t see how lonely she was. There was no proper match for her on Dionus-no one who could properly claim her as mate. She wished to rule jointly with someone who both respected her abilities and appreciated her womanly charms, but not a single unattached man of Dionus was courageous enough.”
He paused, bracing himself, and went on, “My family has a reputation as suffering from a fondness for Earth. But my sister-her fascination extended even to humans. She was convinced things were different on Earth-that a male didn’t automatically need a weak mate to feel love. I told her-humans are foreign, alien. We know so little of their culture, and look what they’ve done to their planet. The squandering of such precious abundance could only mean that humans were greedy, short-sighted… not to be trusted. But she ignored me. She wanted so desperately to be loved for the wonderful woman she was.
“About a year ago, she switched command of the Galatea to me. She told me it was temporary, that she was only out scouting a nearby asteroid belt-fool that I am, I believed her. She didn’t return home from the mission. I feared the worst, but the data shoved there had been no crash, no accident-she just disappeared.
“After two moons, I finally found her-on Earth. I left immediately to confront her, and bring her back. She’d disguised herself as a human, and taken on a human job, even a human name… Jane Seymore.”
I nearly choked on my tongue in alarm. “Wait-Jane Seymore? Dark hair, blue eyes, glasses?” I thought instantly of the portrait in the dining room, the striking resemblance to someone I thought I almost recognized.
“I forgot about the glasses,” he smiled fondly, “She didn’t need them, of course, but she thought they looked fetching.”
“She was the receptionist for our company! I said hi to her every day on the way to my desk. She lef
t for another job a few months back. That was your sister?”
“She didn’t leave,” he replied flatly, “I begged her to. I pleaded with her to return to Dionus. But she said it was too late-she’d already fallen in love with a human. She seemed so happy-she said that he appreciated and treasured her like no one else ever had. I couldn’t bare to destroy her chance at a soul-mate… so I gave her my blessing, and left.”
A horrible twist was beginning to form in my stomach, like I could see an approaching train barreling down the track towards me. But I didn’t dare stop him-not when it’d been so hard for him to start, and not when it mattered so much to him.
“I heard from her regularly for about a month,” he continued, voice now bleak, “And then-silence. After a while, I began to worry. I traveled again to Earth, and I… I found her. I found her cut up, slaughtered, like a beast, and then buried in a shallow grave with no one to mourn her.
“It took a while to put together all the pieces. The first human I found who had any connection with her murder was a security guard. With a little… persuasion, he told me how the lab where he worked had been locked one night, not usual procedure. When he tried to open it, he was instructed to return to his desk and ignore any sounds he heard. Was paid well for it too, I’m told. His description led me to another human, and another, until finally my sister’s fate became clear.
“My sister, so blinded with love, had revealed herself to her intended mate. He was repulsed-but he decided that instead of rejecting her, he would use her. He manipulated and exploited her into letting him run tests on her… to find out the true limit of her strength and abilities.
“Over time, the experiments became crueler. He invited in others… let them poke and prod her. She was so trusting, so enamored of this worthless villain, that she let them do whatever they wished to her in the name of “science.”
Zenon paused to clear his throat. It was clear he was struggling to find the words. Hesitating for only a moment, I gently reached forward and put my hand on his, trying to lend him strength through my touch. He gazed down at our entwined hands, and found the courage to continue.
“Slowly, day by day, she weakened. The experiments were inhumane…barbaric. They drained her of all of her life force, and eventually, she succumbed.”
I swallowed down the lump of tears into my throat, trying to be strong for him. I’d never seen him look so vulnerable, so helpless, as he stared down at his own open palms.
“It took me a while, but I finally discovered the identities of my sister’s killers. There were three in all. I vowed, as I buried her here in the oasis, that I would not rest until I’d burned their souls from their bodies.
They would ten times the anguish they had inflicted upon her. I have never known pain and rage like I did that night in the grove. And so I left for Earth, to hunt down the man who had ensnared and betrayed my sister.”
“Trent,” I whispered, “Trent was your sister’s lover.”
He nodded. “That night on Earth, when we first met… When you came across us, I was consumed with vengeance. I had lost myself in my need for revenge.”
“Zenon… that’s understandable. He murdered your sister.”
But the commander shook his head, still staring down at his hands. “I turned, and saw you, and I… I feared I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from hurting you. All I could think of was my pain. I pursued you without knowing if I would kill you-you, an innocent, who had done nothing but bear witness to my violence. And then suddenly you were standing in front of me, guileless, trying so hard to be strong and brave even while you were clearly terrified.” He raised his head to look at me, eyes bright and alive with feeling.
“It pierced me like nothing else had. I was able to see clearly again… able to regain control. You were the one thing in the universe that reached me. If not for your sweet face, I don’t know if I would have ever found myself again.”
He cupped my face between his long fingers, gently trailing kisses across my nose and jaw. I eagerly tipped my chin, letting him kiss away the tears that had formed on my cheeks.
“I knew there was something,” I muttered against his mouth, “I knew you couldn’t be what I thought at first.”
“A kidnapper?” he asked in an amused tone of voice.
I giggled, “Well, maybe that part wasn’t justified. So, you captured me because you had two other murderers to track down, and you were afraid I’d warn them?”
“Yes. And, I admit,” he grinned playfully, “I was intrigued despite myself.”
My heart beat a little faster. “Oh?” I tried to appear coolly detached.
He laughed at my obvious charade, and yanked me into his lap, securely wrapping his arms around me. I happily snuggled against him, filling my lungs with his intoxicating scent.
“Before I met you, I never imagined I could encounter a human who would change my opinion of your people. Especially in the wake of my sister, I was sure that there was not one among you that had any sense of honor or compassion or bravery.”
“And now?” I asked a little nervously.
He smiled and buried his face in my hair. “Well, perhaps not all of you are completely hopeless.”
“Oh thanks very much!” I cried in feigned displeasure, attempting to push myself off him.
He easily held me, letting me struggle hopelessly against him. “You’re one to talk about honor, holding a poor gal captive.”
“For that, I am sorry,” he replied sincerely, still holding me firmly in his lap, “I regret that I took you away from your life on Earth.”
“Well, good, you should be,” I sniffed, still teasing, but something had shifted in the way he gazed at me. He suddenly pulled me close, catching my chin in one hand.
“And I regret that I may have taken you from Earth forever,” he said softly, “Tell me truthfully… do you wish to return to Earth? If you wish, I will take you back tomorrow.”
“I…” I stumbled, caught off guard by his abrupt shift in tone. I knew what my answer was immediately; had probably known since he stood before me in the mountains with a rod of fire in his hand. The implications of my feelings left me at a loss for words.
“Because I think,” he continued, blue-gray eyes locked onto mine, “that you have no wish to return. That you want to remain here, with me. That, in fact, you may have fallen in love with me.”
I swallowed. Definitely telepathic.
“Yes,” I finally managed, “I must admit… I have. I love you, Zenon of the house Rath’al. I don’t expect anything, but… if it pleases you, I’d like to stay.”
His eyes burned in the bright starlight. “It would please me greatly, Morgan Uaine… because I love you too.”
“You-you do?”
He chuckled at the surprise in my voice. “I do. Believe me, I am just as shocked.” He laughed again as I rebelliously stuck out my tongue.
“I never thought I would meet a female, let alone a human, who balances me as you do. You feel so strongly than anyone else I have ever known. You are strong and courageous, but allow yourself to feel compassionate and curiosity. That you can control yourself-” he ran his fingers along the hem of my shirt, leaving goosebumps in his wake “-makes your submission all the sweeter.”
Despite the heat of his body, I shivered at his touch. “I wouldn’t say no right now,” I whispered against his chest.
He paused, and to my astonishment, pulled back. His face was serious once more.
“Morgan… I want so much from you. I want your love, and your devotion. I want you to stay by my side through the rest of time. I wish to have your mind, body and soul. Join with me; let me claim you.”
“Claim? As in… your one true mate?”
“Yes,” the heat just beneath the surface of his skin seemed to grow slightly hotter, and I swore I saw sparks in his eyes. The look he gave me set every nerve within me ablaze. “I wish to claim you as my soul mate.”
&n
bsp; “Zenon…” I could hardly bare the happiness that was swelling up inside me. It was more than I’d ever dared hope, that this man, this embodiment of a god, with his power over fire and his iron will, would ever dare to love me this much. “Yes, I want to join with you.”
His entire body radiated joy as he stood, sweeping me up into the air, whirling me around like small clearing, his laughter echoing out over the trees. My heart burst to see him so happy, to know that I could bring him such elation, that I would have years and years to try and top this moment.
“Well then,” he said with his characteristic wolfish grin, “We have a lot of work to do.”
7: THE EVER AFTER
Zenon, I discovered, hadn’t been kidding. It turned out that Dionus ceremonies were maddeningly complex in their intricacy. Tradition dictated that not only should mates refrain from sexual contact until the conclusion of the ceremony (a stipulation that deeply annoyed me, much to Zenon’s amusement), but that he spend several nights apart from me, alone in the desert, without any supplies or assistance. He was quick to assure me, with his trademark teasing grin, that the survival rate was decently high.
The night before we parted, he for the Dionus desert, me for Earth to tidy up the loose strings left there, I found him in the dining room, thoughtfully looking out over the Crescent Oasis.
I did my best to sneak up behind him, a skill I insisted was probably expected of every commander’s mate, but as usual, he turned to me smirking before I was even halfway across the room.
“Your skills are improving,” he commented as I grumpily joined him at the window, “It’s down to just twelve feet now.”
“Oh, don’t patronize me, Commander Zenon,” I scolded playfully, wrapping my arms around him so I could lay my chin against his back. We stood in silence for a moment, enjoying the comforting presence of each other, before he asked, “Have you decided on a location for the ritual yet?”
I hesitated, wavering in my daring for a moment, then said, “I was thinking… Earth. There’s a spot, maybe about three miles from where we met. It’s a clearing, up a hill a little ways; it has a fantastic view of the lake and the surrounding woods. It’d… be a nice place to say goodbye to Earth.”
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