With a quick turn, he strode back to their quarters with her tucked under one arm like a sack of feed.
She squawked when he sat and flipped up her skirts, laying his hand on the curve of her ass with force. “Do. Not. Ever. Run. From. Me. Again.”
Each word was punctuated with a smack, and she squirmed and winced with every impact.
When he was done, he stood her on her feet. She rubbed her fiery ass and looked into his dark eyes. “That was it? That was what ticked you off? Not the elbow, the heel or the knee to the jaw?”
He grinned, “I have six brothers. That was nothing. We regularly beat the hell out of each other.”
“You aren’t upset that I struck you in front of strangers?” One of her cousins had been beaten black and blue for daring to contradict her spouse in public.
“No. If I did not want a wife who could take care of herself, I would never have filed acceptance of you. Your uncle was furious, but you heard him, I was to return you when I could. I have decided that I cannot return you. He was compensated and will have to live with the knowledge that you escaped a life as a professional thief. I have decided that you are suited to being a security expert and that will be your occupation at my side.”
She put her hands on her hips, her butt still throbbing. “You decided this, you didn’t ask me.”
He took her hands from her hips and held them. “I didn’t have to. Your actions with the Wendial spoke volumes. You returned the crystals to them under cover of darkness and lit their world while hiding from those you had helped. There is definitely a security specialist in you and plenty of peoples throughout the systems can use your talents.”
Ceezee tried to fight his logic, but she gave in. “Fine. You are right. Being a thief was a duty to my family. I wasn’t really thriving in that position. Are you sure that I will be allowed to tell people what to do with their security measures?”
Deven pulled her onto his lap. “Of course. If the Asku tell someone that a specialist is trustworthy, they believe it. No one would question that my wife was competent at anything I swore to.”
She sighed and shifted her weight on her throbbing tush. “What are we going to do about the Wendial and their need for a hero?”
He grinned, “A small statue wouldn’t be out of order.”
She started to trace the marks of her name on his chest. “How small?”
“Eight feet?”
“Eight inches.” She leaned down and pressed her lips to his skin, tracing the name she had been given with delicate precision.
“Pose for it, and we will let the Wendial decide.” He threw his head back and gasped.
“Fine, but I will pose in my original bodysuit and veil.”
She caressed his erection through his trousers and kept working at the markings with her mouth. It was amazing. His cock throbbed under her hands and all she had done was kiss a few tattoos.
She unfastened his trousers, pushed him to his back and lifted her skirts to straddle him. Her body was still sore, but he slid in with little trouble.
Fully clothed, she rode him until her channel clasped him and a breathless cry broke from her throat. He gripped her hips, pulled her tight to him and roared as he pumped into her.
He sighed and relaxed with a groan, giving her a wicked look through heavy-lidded eyes. “Sixteen feet of statue. A woman like you should be seen by everyone.”
Concentrating, she clasped him with the muscles of her channel, and he grunted, quickly erecting again.
She moved her hips in a slow circle and leaned forward to push the fabric away from her name. “Seven inches. They can use them as a fundraiser and sell them in gift shops.”
In a swift move, he rolled her to her back and took over the rhythm of their coupling. They negotiated feverishly as his hips moved faster and faster, finally agreeing to allow the Wendial to decide.
She shuddered and held him close as she spun away on a cloud of bliss. The Wendial would have to decide.
* * * *
One year after the return of the crystals, Ceezee and Deven stood with a group of dignitaries to watch the unveiling of the statue.
The Wendial had decided that ten feet of statue was not quite enough. An eighty-foot statue was ready to meet its public, and Ceezee was terrified.
With her pregnancy well on its way Deven hardly left her sight nowadays.
Her terror came in the form of the Verrion ambassador who had been eyeing her since he arrived.
Deven was off to one side, speaking with his brother Dohan when the ambassador managed to corner her.
“My dear lady, it seems that I am facing a most rare creature.” He reached for her hand, but she did not offer it.
“Really? How so?” she tried to play it cool, but she was really hoping that Deven got back to her soon.
“Rumour has it that you are a High Goiin, and I wanted to see one of your kind up close.”
She looked around her and straightened, “You are mistaken, sir. I am an Asku. Lady Ceezahli Velu of the Asku to be precise. I know that ladies of the Asku are rare, but we are not a kind.”
He leaned in close, and she could smell his stale breath. “You are one of the Hewara clan. Your own people have put a price on you.”
She leaned forward and shouted, “I am of the clan Velu, of the Asku, security coordinator of the Burning Night, and the hero of Wendial. Back away or they will make you.”
The Verrion turned, and he paled in shock to see a room full of men and women who were glaring at him.
He petitioned them, “She is a freak, a High Goiin. My people banished her kind for the power that they wielded.”
The speaker for the Wendial high council stepped forward. “She used her talents to take what had been stolen and returned it to those who had no hope. If not for her husband, we would never have known her name, but he wished for her to have something that was hers alone. No family, no clan, no race, just a woman with a good heart. Now, back away Verrion, and leave this world. Your kind is no longer welcome here.”
The crowd parted and Asku guards flanked the ambassador. They grabbed him by the arms and hauled him to the spaceport.
Deven took her in his arms and the crowd applauded. They unveiled the image and tears of laughter burned in her eyes.
Eighty feet tall, a woman in a bodysuit held two crystal orbs, one extended, one retracted. They had added crystals down the statue but kept it to her body shape.
At the base was a glyph that she and Deven could read. He saw the reverse of it every day in the mirror.
The statue was titled Security, and the crowd applauded wildly as the crystals on the statue were lit from within.
“I don’t believe that they did that. It still amazes me,” she whispered it into Deven’s neck as he held her close with their child growing between them.
“You are a woman worthy of much more than you have.” He stroked her spine.
“I have everything I want.” She ran a finger between them, along the edge of her name.
“I am most fortunate in my choice of thieves.” He grinned down at her.
She smiled back and thought about their rough start. “Yes, you really are.”
“Ahem, now that we have taken care of their erection.” He pressed his hips against hers.
She grinned, “You are going to have to compete with eighty feet, are you up for it?”
He laughed and kissed her, a kiss that led to touching and a search for privacy. It was a good thing that Ceezee could still call the darkness, because privacy was only an alcove away.
About the Author
Zenina Masters was born in Canada and lives in Canada. She has a regular job and does nothing particularly exciting with her life. She enjoys fishing, silence and the ability to pick and choose friends she can trust. Life is too short to watch your back all the time.
Her writing life is a teeny bit of escapism, she would probably chicken out if confronted by three naked men and looks forward to one day findi
ng out.
A Hunted Darkness Page 5
