“Good. Maybe they’ll have something figured out by then.”
“Your brother is a stern taskmaster. He has separated them into teams and is working them hard, rewarding with sleep cycles at regular intervals.”
She scooted back on his lap a little. “Talking about my brother and extinction level events is wrecking the mood.”
“We wouldn’t want to kill the mood, my precious princess.”
“I feel guilty playing while they toil.”
“Come, my little dancer. We have earned our respite. If we do not make a moment for ourselves, we will never have one.”
Pulling her down by the nape of her neck, he captured her lips in a needy, searing kiss that broke down all her remaining defenses. She didn’t know how long they were lost in each other but the proximity alarm snapped them back to reality. Ora pulled reluctantly away and began the docking procedures with their ship.
Maiko sat back in her chair, relaxing into the moment of just being with him. He was quirky, brazen, and a little hard to get close to at times, but he was also a fantastic man. She really liked the handsome alien. At first, the fact that he was an alien was off-putting. She still wasn’t fond of his smirk. As she’d gotten to know him, being an alien became something she began to appreciate, particularly the differences between them.
As of late, all that seemed to fall away. Now he was just her Ora. She tended to forget the alien part in favor of admiring him as a male. To her eyes, he was handsome, strong, playful, and just good company. Maiko could really see herself settling down with this one. She even secretly admitted that she liked his nickname for her.
Looking up from the console, he caught her eyeing him. His expression went from surprised to heated in an instant, making her smile.
CHAPTER 16
~ ORACHA ~
MAIKO MUSIC MIX SONG SIXTEEN
As soon as the doors to their quarters slid shut behind her assistants, Ora tried to grab his princess. It wasn’t one of his smoother moves, but he was desperate to have her in his arms, especially after catching her admiring his body in the shuttle.
She surprised him by dodging artfully out of his grasp. He knew she wasn’t mad. Turing towards him, her laughing was filled with mischief as she teased.
“I hope you didn’t think I would make it easy for you, my prince.”
Stalking towards her, he felt his blood rising. “The thrill of the chase will only make finally capturing you all the more gratifying, my little dancer. You will learn one way or another not to provoke a predator.”
Lunging to one side, she waited for him to move towards her, then she reversed course at the last minute, evading his grasp for the second time. Oh, he liked this game, right up until the point that she made a run for the cleansing room.
Though Ora was a strong warrior, his bulk slowed him down. Compared to lithe little female, he was bulky and clumsy. Getting to the door the moment it slid shut behind her, infuriated him. Before his hand made it to the scanning pad, he heard the locks snick into place. Roaring his frustration, he stared at the door, out of breath and annoyed.
“Ha, you shouldn’t have assumed you could catch me.” She tormented him. He could still smell her aroused scent in the room and it played havoc with his senses.
“I tire of your useless games. Come out. I wish to bed my princess now.”
“Too bad, I’m going to have a nice long soak in a hot bath first.”
“I demand you open the door.” His brain told him this wasn’t the way to woo a princess, but his body and nerves were too far gone to care.
Nothing but the sound of water answered his demand.
Hitting the door with a loud thump, he shouted louder than was necessary. “Open. I command it.”
Her amused voice filtered through the door. “I have some commands of my own.”
Irritation quickly spoiled the mood for him. “You test my patience.”
“I am an imperial princess and I command you remove all your clothing before entering.”
All the sexy playfulness surged back in an instant. She was letting him in and she wanted him naked. That’s all he needed to hear. Without further internal debate, he tugged off his clothing. The sound of splashing water told him she was in the huge shallow sunken tub already. That could only mean she had already disengaged the door locks again. Waving his hand over the scanner, he watched in triumph as the door slid open for him.
The sight meeting his eyes chased the last of his irritation away. His small female was sprawled out on one end of the tub, with her arms draped around the back. She’d tossed one leg carelessly over each side of the tub and only copious amounts of foaming cleanser hid her female attributes. Her eyes widened when she saw him standing in all his male glory. Pride surged through his chest when her expression turned admiring.
Running his hands down each hip, he gently massaged his testes. The two bumps sat right below his hip bones and could easily be mistaken for more taunt muscles by beings not familiar with the Krylonian male form. He was already extremely hard from seeing his female laid out so deliciously for his use. Rubbing himself there relieved the ache enough to get him moving towards her.
“You play a dangerous game, princess.”
She seemed quite suddenly aware of his superior size and strength when he hovered over her. “I have done nothing wrong, my prince.”
“Exciting the hunting instincts of a predator is not wise, for tiny and delectable prey such as yourself. Perhaps I will simply gobble you up.”
Staring up at him, she had the nerve to try to bargain with him. “If you stop acting like a total barbarian, I’ll let you bathe with me. I might even wash your back, if you are extra nice.”
Staring down at the quickly melting seafoam cleanser, a multitude of images floated through his mind. She wished to touch him. As that realization sank in, he imagined her small soft hands running cleansing foam over his skin. His nostrils flared, as he forced himself to suck in a cleansing breath. He wanted everything at once with the beautiful princess.
Though he was intent on hearing her scream his name in pleasure, he admitted to himself that hearing her beg for release would be all the compensation he required in exchange for her teasing love play. First, he would enjoy mutual touching then more of making the human kiss. Then he would ravish her body while she begged him for more.
“Stop staring at me like I’m a gingerbread girl and get into the water.”
Climbing into the tub between her long sexy legs, he asked distractedly. “What is a gingerbread female?”
“A sweet treat, shaped like a woman. You would call it a meat cookie.”
“But shaped like a human female?”
Nodding, she didn’t speak as she looked up at him.
“I would certainly eat such a thing. Do you mind if I ask what they taste like?”
“The cookies shaped like humans? They can taste like anything but mostly spices.”
Reaching out one finger, he placed it where her legs joined. The foam cleanser had all melted away, turning to water. “Here. I wish to know what you taste like on this spot.”
A soft pink blush crept up from her lovely chest to her face. “You’ve got a dirty mouth for a prince.” Her croaked words made him want to howl with laughter. His beautiful female was an odd mixture of innocent and savvy. Shaking his head, he had to smile as he thought about how much she loved being in charge even when she had no idea what was happening. Mating would be one such occasion. He could let her pretend to be in charge a little as they went along. As long as she was happy, that was all he needed for everything to stay right in his world.
Rubbing his finger back and forth as she squirmed beneath his touch, he was thrilled to find her wet in the way females were wrought to be. Bringing his hand to her face, he rubbed his fingers lightly across her bottom lip. “Tell me how you taste?”
Her eyes were as large as dark moons, as her tiny pink tongue darted out for a brief second. “I taste fine.”
>
Bringing his fingers in his mouth, he enjoyed the taste of his female’s arousal. “No. You taste better than fine. You taste mine.”
Looking indulgent but amused, she nudged him with her foot. “How is it that I managed to end up with the craziest warrior in the entire universe for a mate?”
Sliding one large hand under her buttocks, he lifted her, bending to meet her halfway. “You are fortunate to have lured a Krylon prince. I hear we are difficult to tame but eternally devoted once you mate us.”
Before she could respond, his mouth made contact with her soft pink folds. Lifting his head momentarily, he lodged a formal complaint. “I do not approve.”
Tilting her head slightly, she responded. “No one asked you to do that.”
“I do not approve of you in the water.” Standing, he took her with him. Carrying her back into the bedroom, he tossed her onto the bed and crawled up her body. Capturing each side of her head in his big hands, he clarified. “I do not prefer you in the water. It washes away the luxurious taste of your body before I can enjoy it on my tongue.”
Grinning, she chastised him. “There you go with the dirty mouth again.”
Nuzzling his way down, he murmured. “Let me see if I can cleanse it with something a little nicer.” The sensation of her wiggling against his tongue was obscenely arousing for a few reasons. She tasted amazing. He also loved that she found his touch pleasurable. The thing he liked best was how excited she got. Humans were not good at controlling their emotions, meaning her responses to him were pure and honest.
Ora teased her body with his fingers and his mouth until she crashed into a hard orgasm. His name came easily to her lips when she was in the throes of passion. He immediately moved over her and slowly sank into her moist depths. He could feel something give way as he bottomed out, and she jerked in his arms. It suddenly occurred to him that he was much like the mythical snake from her ancient lore, demanding the submission of a virgin to slake his lust. The thought should have bothered him more than it did.
Instead, he found himself distracted when she moved a little. Easing back, she tightened her legs around him, slowly fucking herself with his rod. Something about that heightened his arousal. He forced a warrior’s discipline upon himself as he stilled for her sensual assault. Could there be any better feeling in the world than his choice female pleasuring herself on his thick rod? If there was, he couldn’t imagine it.
When she seemed to tire of the exertion, Ora took over. Sinking deeply into her softness, she moaned and writhed beneath him. He gently pressed one hand down over her lower stomach to hold her in place, his thumb danced across her little bud as he stroked in and out of tight confines of her small human body.
The only thing better than the total bliss his body felt, was knowing she felt it as well. When her body seized again as she screamed his name, he pumped into her in three short bursts before emptying his seed deep inside. It felt like being turned inside out with pure white hot passion. Stilling himself above her quivering body, he rested his forehead gently against hers.
“From this day forward, you are mine. Don’t ever forget that, my little dancer.”
Looking down between them at their still joined bodies, she commented breathlessly. “You have the kind of snake I don’t mind being assaulted by.”
Ora couldn’t help the laugh that came easily to his lips as he pulled out and curled around the new light of his life. “You fill the emptiness I have always carried inside, little dancer. I would give all I am to keep you safe.”
Rather than answer, she curled up on his chest, placing one small hand protectively over his heart. It drew to his mind the image of a tiny adorable baby slin trying to protect a fully grown male dragon. The utterly absurd vision melted away as they fell into a restful sleep.
CHAPTER 17
~ REVEREND MOTHER ~
MAIKO MUSIC MIX SONG SEVENTEEN
Taking her place in the ancient Hall of Enlightenment, Maiko’s body ached. Ora slid into place beside her, slipping one hand into hers. Turning to look at her beloved husband, she felt such love swell in her heart for the man. Though lines of age marked his face along with the scars of long-ago battles, she saw only the young protector who had worked so hard to earn her love all those long years ago.
They were both well over a thousand in Earth years. Though a combination of sleeping in stasis and the medical technologies of his people had dramatically slowed their aging, it did little to temper their mental fatigue.
Their years together had been filled with glorious battles and the laughter of children and grandchildren as they moved from one galaxy to another. Trapped in the shadow of the anomaly’s distortion field, they’d found true happiness and learned to be totally self-sufficient.
Today, the time was ripe for yet another window to open into real time. Either they would finally coordinate with the artifacts in the mirror universe and break free, or yet another couple would repeat the mistake Ora and herself had made all those years ago. They’d sent the warning. It remained only to be seen if anyone on the outside could understand it this time.
Others took their places along the walls, forming a circle around the apex of the distortion, each silently praying for their day in the sunlight. The rip in time and space was caused by the three huge artifacts arranged far above their heads. The air was thick with excitement. For some reason, Maiko felt like this was the moment they’d been waiting for.
Suddenly, the apex popped open; instead of another apparition of them getting sucked inside, they could see themselves being pulled back by creatures with blue skin and dark hair. The two beings looked eerily similar to Maiko’s eyes. Whoever they were, she thanked the gods for them. Holding her breath, she felt herself getting tugged gently forward. The next thing she knew, she was on her knees with Ora wrapped protectively around her.
Standing, the stubborn old fool commented smugly as he helped her to her feet. “Think that I would stop being your warrior in my golden years?”
“I think your reflexes are as sharp as ever they were.”
Another version of herself had been pulled into the new dimension as well. She watched the other Maiko get to her feet with the assistance of one of the large blue males. A large grouping of Krylon scientists surrounded them. Everyone seemed shocked beyond the capacity for words.
Finally, one of the creatures with blue skin spoke. “They are both of you.”
Nodding, Maiko looked at the impossibly young couple as they approached. “How beautiful you are, child, with your handsome warrior at your side.” Waving her hand towards the unknown warriors, she spoke. “You do all of Krylon proud with your new alliance. I know not who your new friends are, but removing you from the vortex before you could be pulled into the anomaly was a stroke of genius.”
The younger Maiko spoke. “Shar Jalon realized when saw the strange static field open, that it was swirling like a vortex. He pulled us out before it could grab us. Oh, my God, it felt like my skin was getting pulled from my flesh.”
“The sobering reality is, though the vortex opens every two hundred solar years in our dimension, only a handful survived the trip.” Motioning to the other Maiko, she continued. “As you can see, we are not always fortunate enough to find our warrior before our destiny begins.”
The woman wrapped her arms around her waist. “In my timeline, we are at war with a race of insectoids. When I was pulled into the anomaly, they were swarming Earth. I fear all that was is now gone.”
Maiko explained, carefully. “There are more of us on the inside of the anomaly, along with three of the temporal machines. Since we now have one set of machines inside the anomaly and another outside, we have some hope of shutting it down.”
His younger counterpart frowned. “I thought the Guardians of Light rode the anomaly for all times, steering it around worlds.”
Smiling tiredly, Maiko responded. “It was all we could manage after being accidentally sucked inside. Come, I will show you.”
>
Approaching one of the machines, she placed her hand against a thick black glossy sensor band running around the bottom. The emotionally shattered single Maiko strolled across the vast science bay and placed her hand on the other. When the final Maiko made no move to approach the remaining machine, she clarified. “The dark ring is a DNA sensor. We must be touching all three to release photons into the activation chamber. It is not harmful and must be done to keep another vortex from opening.”
The woman cautiously approached the third machine and quickly placed her hand on the band. All three machines discharged a soft electrical discharge. Maiko could feel it traveling up her ancient, exhausted body. Removing her hand, she stepped back.
“It will take a full five hundred microns for the photon reaction to hit critical mass. We will have at least the same space of time to position them properly around the temporal distortion.”
“And activating them will shut down the anomaly?”
Looking at her younger self, she sighed wearily. “The temporal distortion is the result of testing on subatomic particles by a long-extinct race of aliens. They had no idea the dangers involved in their quest for knowledge. As far as we can determine, it has made its way around this galaxy at least twice. At the moment of its conception, a nexus was created where we were all drawn into the vortex from different points in the space time continuum. We are all intersected at the exact moment in time when the vortex swirled. Only viewing it from our individual different perspectives makes it seem as though we are meeting at different points in time.”
Her younger self shook her head and Maiko knew what she would say before the words left her mouth. They were of the same pragmatic mind after all. “Your words make almost no sense. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to. If we are three inside the temporal vortex and out and you say we can shut this planet eater down, I say we do it.”
“The planets they swallow are simply spat out on the other side of the timeline. We don’t know how, but it seems the planets get tossed on their way out, into whatever space is unused. Sometimes they come out near their counterpart in the other dimension and sometimes not. Some survive if they are close enough to a sun, others burn or freeze. We have seen only a twenty-seven percent survival rate for habitable worlds.”
Celestial Mates Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) (Alien SciFi Romance) Page 38
