by Sue Lyndon
Chapter 16
The storm had passed as quickly as it had rolled in, the dark clouds dispersing and the Tarkkuan sky returning to its normal brilliant shade of aqua blue. Nova sat on the patio that faced the forest, watching as the sun glittered on the droplets covering the trees and underbrush, while the authorities removed Hethron from the house and talked to Zylonn.
She blew out a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. A lot had happened this afternoon. She’d been attacked, had a knife pressed to her throat, and believed she was about to die. But then she’d been saved by Zylonn, who could apparently make objects, and even people, move with his mind.
In all her years of studying the Tarkkuans, she had never learned anything about them that might explain Zylonn’s unusual powers. The word Hethron had called him translated as aberrant. She wondered what other abilities he possessed and if their children would inherit them.
She looked down and realized her hands were shaking in her lap. She twisted her fingers together and focused on breathing in and out. Everything would be fine. She was still alive. Hethron hadn’t harmed a hair on her head, let alone managed to nick her throat in the slightest.
Why then, did she feel so uncertain about the future and her mate?
She’d been on Tarkkua with him for a full month now. He’d told her all there was to know about his family and his past, but he’d omitted his supernatural powers. As she’d fled the bedroom, he’d been in the process of choking Hethron without even laying a hand on the man.
“Nova?”
She turned at the sound of her mate’s deep voice. He entered the patio and sat down beside her, placing an arm around her and drawing her close. She leaned her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in his presence, even if he had been keeping secrets from her. Was there anything else important he hadn’t told her yet, about himself or about this world? During the last month, she’d begun to feel at home on this planet, and with Zylonn, but now she once again felt as uneasy as she had the moment she’d stepped off the Zenallia. Once more, she felt like a stranger in a foreign land. Would she always be an outsider looking in?
“The authorities are gone, and Hethron, too.” He ran a hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. His woodsy masculine scent enticed her to snuggle closer, and he responded by lifting her into his lap and cradling her against his chest. “I am sorry for the fright you endured, little human.”
She gulped hard and withdrew partially from him to stare up into his dark gaze. Her heart squeezed with emotion at the tender yet possessive gleam in his eyes. Despite his secrets, she felt safe in his arms and secure in the knowledge that he would protect her from any danger that came their way. But was he hiding anything else?
“Master?”
“Yes, Nova?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your… abilities? I’ve never heard of a Tarkkuan who can move objects or people with their mind.” A sudden unnerving thought struck her. What if he could read her thoughts? She stared at his chest, awaiting his answer as a ball of worry tightened in her stomach.
“An aberrant—that is what my kind have been called for generations—only uses their powers in matters of life and death. I am sorry I did not tell you of my abilities sooner, little human. I had intended to tell you when I felt the time was right—I didn’t want to frighten you—but it did not occur to me that I would have need to use my powers so soon.”
“I see.” She supposed it made sense. Had he told her on her first night here that he possessed special mental powers, she would have been even more anxious on their wedding night, and she certainly would’ve been downright terrified when he punished her. Her bottom clenched involuntarily at the memory of his hand, and then the leather strap, cracking down on her ass cheeks. “Master, how did you get these powers? Were you born with them, or did you learn them?”
“All the males in my family have psychokinetic abilities. Our sons will have them as well, though it will take them some time to develop them fully, with the proper training, of course. Once, during the time of my great-grandfather, a rogue group of Tarkkuans known as the firebloods set about slaughtering all the aberrants on the planet, but a few managed to escape their notice, before our government rounded up the firebloods and executed them.”
“You didn’t answer my question yet. About having other abilities. Can you do more than move objects and, um, choke people?” she asked, repressing a shudder at the image of Hethron, his eyes bulging and his face bright purple, that flashed in her mind.
He looked thoughtful for a second, then said, “No. That is the extent of it.”
“So, you can’t read thoughts or anything like that?”
“No, little human. Nothing like that. I can’t read your thoughts any more than you can read mine.”
She sighed. “Well, that comes as a relief.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her, his teasing serving to lessen her anxieties. “Why is that, Nova? Do you have a habit of entertaining naughty thoughts?”
She laughed and playfully tapped his chest. “Never. I’m quite pure, in fact. I came to you a virgin, did I not?”
“Ah, you did, and I must confess I have enjoyed breaking you in.” He reached underneath her to squeeze her bottom.
She peered at him, suddenly breathless and aching, despite the seriousness of what had happened upstairs. The sorrow that had befallen her when she feared she might die, when the images of the life she would never live flashed in her mind, returned and left her needing to reassure herself that she was still very much alive. She leaned up to press her lips to Zylonn’s, and he grasped her face in his hands and growled, kissing her back with the same urgency.
After a while, he withdrew from her mouth without warning and grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her head back. “You’re my mate, little human. My sweet bride. I will never let anyone hurt you. I swear on the Gods.” He released her hair and stood up to unfasten his pants, pinning her with a feral look that made her flush all over. He gave a command for the clear walls of the patio to darken, leaving the walls black all around except for directly overhead, where the sun still shined down upon them, affording them complete privacy. Her heart raced as she realized his intent.
She rose up, slipped her panties off, and started to remove her dress, but he turned her around, pushing her dress up to her waist and then forcing her to kneel on the loveseat. He guided her to bend over the back of it, the position leaving her bottom jutted up, her thighs spread, and her center oh so vulnerable to his ministrations. He plunged two thick fingers in and out of her pussy, and she clutched onto the sofa as the pleasure built and built, a blissful quickening of sensation that left her panting and spiraling closer to the abyss of her release. But just before the wave of ecstasy could crash over her, he pulled his digits from her core and replaced them with his cock. She shuddered and arched her ass, eager to meet his entrance.
“I need to be inside you right now,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “I want you just like this—bent over with your pussy offered up to me, wet and aching to be filled up by your mate, your master.”
He surged inside her, the force of his entry taking her breath away.
Zylonn pounded into her like a man possessed. He gripped her hips and plunged deeper, faster, the urge to claim her thoroughly and fill her with his seed dominating his every thought. He hadn’t entered the patio with the intent to fuck her, but when he’d detected her arousal and sensed her desire to be taken, it had been as if a beast had awoken inside him.
He slowed his strokes and spread her ass cheeks wide, revealing her secret pucker. He traced a finger over her asshole, enjoying the sight of it clenching at his touch. As she whimpered, he increased the pressure on her tight pucker, until the tip of his finger finally entered her.
“Master, please. You-you’re embarrassing me.”
She gasped and clamped down around his digit, and all the while he maintained a slow thrust in and out of her pussy. He didn’t understand wh
y she was protesting, as he touched her asshole almost every day. He told her as much, and she confessed to always feeling ashamed when he touched her most private hold.
“You ought to be embarrassed,” he said teasingly, adding a second finger to her ass. “You ought to be deeply ashamed at how wet you are becoming, with both your holes filled up at the same time. Naughty, naughty little human.” Once he had both digits seated deep in her ass, he commenced pounding into her pussy as hard as he had earlier.
“Master, please.” Her voice came as a soft whimper, drifting over the noise of flesh slapping against flesh, but he didn’t think she was begging him to stop. No, she was pleading for him to fuck her harder and make her come.
With each drive of his cock into her tight, wet channel, his scrotum impacted upon her clit, and it wasn’t long before she cried out her release, gyrating back against him as her knuckles turned white while she clutched onto the sofa.
“Master,” she breathed, her tone one of dreamy satisfaction.
Slowly, he withdrew his digits from her ass, once again enjoying the erotic sight of her pucker clenching and unclenching. Ah, one day soon he would fuck her ass. With this thought in mind, he grabbed her hips and slammed his hard length into her, again and again, his desire swelling with each delicious plunge into her tightness, until at last he came with a thunderous roar, his seed spurting deep into her womanly core. When he pulled out of her pussy, a trickle of his essence ran down her inner thigh, milky white against her pale flesh, a mark of his ownership.
He sat on the sofa and drew her into his arms. Second best to claiming her was cradling her against his chest and running his hands through her hair. Gods, she was delicate, but she was strong. She hadn’t broken down weeping after her ordeal with Hethron, though he wouldn’t have thought any less of her if she had. He thought she would make a fine mother one day, and he absently caressed her stomach, wondering how long it would be until she was with child.
She cupped the side of his face and stared at him for the longest while, her expression one of urgency, as if she had something important to say. But he wouldn’t rush her. Whatever it was, he would be patient and allow her to confess it on her own time. However, what she said next surprised him and shook him to his very core.
“Thank you for saving me, Master. I-I worried that I might die, and then I saw the life I would have missed with you in my mind, flashing as if the events had already come to pass. Resting in your arms as we watched another sunrise. Our first baby. Then many more children. It broke my heart to think none of those events would come to pass. I-I realized in that instant, that I am growing to care for you, even though I fought it at first. I-I am glad that you were chosen as my mate. I cannot imagine being mated to another, Master. I feel as if my heart didn’t truly start beating until I met you.”
Gods, what could he say to that? She’d laid her soul bare before his, and for a moment, his throat burned with so much emotion that he couldn’t utter a single word, let alone a coherent sentence. Finally, he leaned down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead.
“I have grown to care for you, as well, my sweet human. In fact, I’ve grown to love you, Nova.” He’d been waiting for the right moment to confess his true feelings to her, and it seemed the proper time had finally come.
“Oh, Zylonn.” She sniffled. “I love you, too.”
“We will make all those memories, and more. I promise. Now come here. I intend to claim you, but slowly this time.”
And so he did.
He kissed her all over, worshipping every little part of her body, until the sun set and the moons rose high over the distant mountain peaks, until finally, they collapsed breathlessly into one another’s arms.
Epilogue
Five weeks later…
Nova bustled around the house, straightening up after a pleasant morning spent having tea with Meris. She finished cleaning the kitchen, got her supplies organized to cook dinner later, and then ventured toward the stairs, intending to make the bed next. But a noise near the door caught her attention and she spun around, her heart pouding. Weeks had passed since her encounter with Hethron, but she was still jumpy from time to time whenever she heard a sudden noise.
Thankfully, it was just Zylonn.
He entered the house and strode toward her with open arms. She met him halfway and snuggled into his embrace.
“You’re home early, Master.” Then her stomach flipped…because he was home early and she’d been most disobedient this morning. She’d intentionally not worn her anal plug. Her heart pounded and a chill went down her spine. What if he checked her bottom hole and discovered her naughtiness? A quiver raced across her behind cheeks. She prayed he didn’t ask about it. Maybe she could sneak upstairs and put it in before he realized anything was amiss.
He tightened his embrace for a moment and then finally released her. “There was a power fluctuation at the laboratory today and all the workers were sent home early.”
“Have you had lunch yet?” Maybe she could distract him with food.
“It’s not even close to lunchtime.” He stroked a hand through her hair and his gaze darkened with lust.
Oh no. Her pulse spiked. If he tried to make love to her now, he would most definitely discover her naughtiness. She was supposed to put the plug in directly after he left for work and leave it in for the equivalent of two hours. He hadn’t even been gone for an hour and a half.
She was so screwed.
“Come,” he said, guiding her toward the staircase.
“Please, Master, I-I have a lot of chores I still need to complete.”
Annoyance flared in his eyes and her stomach abruptly clenched. “Are you saying you are too busy to please your master, little human?”
“No, of course not. But…” Her voice trailed off. But what? She couldn’t think of a good excuse. Perhaps she ought to confess to him right now what she’d done—or failed to do, that is.
“Nova, is something wrong?”
She lowered her head. “Master, I did not insert the plug in my bottom hole this morning. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.
“I see,” he finally said. “And if I wouldn’t have come home early, would you have confessed this to me? Or would you have led me to believe you’d done nothing wrong today?”
Tears brimmed in her eyes, blurring her vision as she stared up at her displeased master. Her throat burned and she debated whether or not to continue telling the truth. She opened her mouth and then hesitated.
“Trust me, little human, I will know if you’re lying. You don’t want to find out what happens when you lie to me.”
She felt her face crumple and she lowered her head once again. “I-I was not going to tell you I failed to put my plug in.”
“Thank you for being honest. Now explain to me why you failed to put it in.”
She swallowed hard. “I-I didn’t want to wear it while Meris was visiting.”
“I did not give you permission to miss a day of anal training, Nova. You have worn the plug while you went about your daily chores without complaint; surely you could have worn it while having a guest over. It is not as if I make you walk around naked. Fully clothed, your friend would have had no idea you had a plug seated inside your bottom hole. I am very disappointed that you disobeyed me in this, little human, and you will be punished.”
Her bravery, what little she had left, fled as he grabbed her by the arm and guided her upstairs. Once they reached the bedroom, he immediately stripped her of all her clothing. Next, he sat on the bed and forced her to stand between his legs. He reached around and cupped her bottom, drawing her closer as he spread her ass cheeks and caressed her quivering pucker. She lowered her head, embarrassed. Though he had touched her asshole many times, she always experienced a hot flush of shame, as if she had never been touched there before. She often wondered if the embarrassment would ever cease, or if years from now, she would still be blushing and fidget
ing awkwardly every time he paid attention to her most private hole.
She whimpered and tried to stand still while he pushed at her tight entrance.
“Not only did you intentionally fail to wear your plug today, Nova, but you also planned to deceive me. I believe such defiance has earned you a bottom hole punishment.”
“Master?” Alarm filled her, because she had no idea what he meant. He had never punished her bottom hole before, and she didn’t want to find out exactly what that sort of chastisement entailed. She tried to turn and escape, but he grabbed her and forced her over one of his knees, then quickly draped his free leg atop her kicking ones.
“None of that,” he said sternly, giving her a warning swat. “You will submit to your punishment, little human. You were naughty, and this is what naughty girls get.”
Before she could plead with him to simply spank her, he splayed her cheeks apart, and, with the flat of his fingers, delivered a sharp crack over her spread anus. She jerked in his hold and cried out, only for him to continue on, spanking her pucker as he scolded her for disobedience.
“Naughty girls get their bottom holes spanked, don’t they, Nova?” He swatted her again. “Nice and hard.” He must have given her a dozen more slaps before releasing her cheeks and cupping her behind.
Tears stung in her eyes—not from the pain, but rather from the humiliation of being punished in such an intimate, shameful manner. She made a mental note to never, ever fail to wear her anal plug again. She was only required to wear it for a short while every morning, and soon, once she was able to take his cock in her ass, he would not require her to wear it as often. She sniffled and buried her face in the covers, too embarrassed for words.
