by A. C. Katt
“She’s still out?” Tonas asked, despite knowing the answer. He frowned. “She should be conscious by now. Bane and Mark released her yesterday. It’s been eight rises since Anya received the antidote and vaccine. Most of the others are already awake and out of bed.”
“She took some juice,” Jonal said. “I think her mind is beginning the journey back.” His navy eyes lit up in remembered pleasure. “She thought she dreamed. Called me a pirate or a Regency Duke. I consulted the data base. Separately they made no sense, but together, an archetype of Earthen romantic tales.”
“I’m glad you’re so amused,” Tonas grumbled as he stepped away. Tonas stretched, the muscles of his back playing along his golden skin. He felt stiff and he circled his neck and raised his shoulders up. “Some of our Warriors have very unhappy fems. Better she should think this is a dream and we are heroes. It’s preferable to a well placed kick to the sacs.” Tonas headed toward the magnon wood server that was hand rubbed to a dark sheen. He opened the cabinet and took two tumblers from a set of six, set them on a black lacquered tray and poured a double shot of Asta into each. Light refracted from the sharp edges of the hand cut glasses, and the reflections danced on the tufted golden suede material covering of the wall behind. The padding dampened the ship’s noise and with created an oasis of tranquility in the sea of tension that was a war fleet on alert.
The elusive reason for his unease came into focus. Tonas drew a deep breath. His mention of the other Warriors was not casual. Jonal would see. Jonal knew him. Would soon possess his body the way he already owned his soul. Tonas ached for the deeper connection. For ten cycles they had skirted the forbidden. Tonas needed his lover to be inside him, so deep that Jonal would feel his heartbeat on his cock. He wanted Jonal to drive hard into his passage, heavy sacs slamming against his butt cheeks, feeding him his seed, which would then combine with his own for Anya. Their future resided on the fragile shoulders of the fire-haired beauty sleeping in the next chamber. They were destined to love her. She was as essential to his happiness as Jonal was. But he was at a loss at how to express his need, his love. He was the Prince of LightClan. His mind was logical, compartmentalized, and orderly. His emotions were not carried on his countenance. He was also afraid. Only Jonal knew the depths of passion that roiled within. His Firefly wielded the match that lit his soul on fire. Anya could anchor their hearts, bring them back to laughter. Jonal had the words to woo her, the beauty to offer. Tonas had only his battered heart.
Tonas set the tray down on the ornate chest that doubled as a serving table. Jonal took a tumbler. They drank. The fiery Sarran brandy spread warmth, and Jonal could see some of the tension leave Tonas’s face and neck.
Jonal studied his partner’s face. He knew that look. Two small furrows had appeared between his beloved’s brows. Tonas’s beautiful mouth was pulled tight and his hands had an almost imperceptible tremor. Trying to ease Tonas’s tension, Jonal used their BondLink to tease. ::You’re just jealous because she was awake in my arms, not yours.:: He took both tumblers and placed them back down on the tray, freeing their hands. He pulled Tonas into his arms. ::What ails you, My Light? It can’t be jealousy.::
::Not jealous, worried. I can’t help but wonder how she will react, to me, to us and the link.::
::You belabor the issue. I’ve felt her, you’ve felt her, it will be fine,:: Jonal reassured. Jonal felt the metallic tang of fear. ::Why are you so anxious over this?::
“I fear of the strength of my desire,” Tonas answered aloud. ''The others that would steal…what I would do? I’m not making much sense, am I? I’m feeling very primal, over you, over her.”
“You fear your need? The urge to capture and hold…to survive?” Jonal asked, instantly understanding.
“Yes, no…Jonal, we were once so savage that it took two to protect and claim a fem. We were not born to Triad. We evolved to it. One mate was always at hand to protect the fem from other Sarrans who would mete out death to offspring not of their line and capture rival Warriors’ fems for their own. Are we going there again? We kidnapped these fems. Will we have to stand guard to keep the fems in as well as the rogues out? “
“It was necessary for our survival, Tonas,” Jonal replied in exasperation. He turned and sat.
“Yes, it was necessary,” Tonas said, “but also cruel. It left 4,462 fems without a choice in their destiny. How are we to convince them we offer a better life than what they’ve known if we’ve taken away all choice? It is not the Sarran way, to leave a sentient without choice.”
“The Zyptz left us without choice,” Jonal said angrily, his deep voice becoming staccato.
“We bring home to Sarran fewer than forty-five hundred fems, at least a third who are already BondStirred to WarriorPairs in the fleet. We may have Sarrans fighting Sarrans as they have not for nine millennia.”
“We do have the promise of more,” Jonal replied, looking up.
“You are not serious,” Tonas said flatly. The furrows between his brow grew deeper, his breath louder. “Think. Do you see us being able to go back and take fems at will? They may not value their fems as we do, but they do value their possessions. You studied exchange systems at the academy. In a market economy a scarce commodity becomes an expensive commodity, and scarcity induces hoarding in primitive cultures—not sharing. What will be the cost of this action, to us on Sarran, to Earth…to the fems?”
Jonal’s face ticked along the line of his scar. We are arguing, good. Jonal’s mind flashed from beneath the small barrier of his private musing. Here, we lance the boil of his worry.
Aloud Jonal continued, ”We gave them the vaccine and antidote, they agreed to the trade. You make too much of this. I agree, they had no choice, but where was ours? The Bond is a biological imperative. It cannot be fought. We must Bond to survive. We have always had a scarcity of fems on Sarran. You and I both know that a WarriorPair originally performed sexual acts in public as a way to exhibit their fitness for the Bond. Warriors demonstrated sexual skills as well as their Warrior training to the fem. We demonstrate our fitness; she makes her choice. Do you doubt our ability?” Jonal continued, “Earth would have entered the Galactic Union eventually, Tonas. And with their abundance of fems, and the shortage of same, galaxy-wide, some kind of agreement was inevitable.” Jonal ended with a shrug.
“But did the fems agree?” Tonas snapped back. “Are we slavers, dealers in flesh? It never occurred to me the genetic material was such a close match. The BondStirs began as soon as we hit orbit. I just didn’t think where it could lead. What if our fem is resistant? What if she refuses us? It does not matter that we wish no harm. Their God is a harsh God. He burns his forsaken. Will we burn, Jonal? Will we never be able to belong to each other fully, as well as to our fem? Are we sentenced to be forever just short of true mating?”
“We saved lives, billions of lives. In return we took a tiny percentage of fems, who would have died had we not intervened,” Jonal whispered gently, rising from the couch he stepped around the chest and moved closer to Tonas. “Given the opportunity, we would have courted our Bonded, in a proper Sarran manner. We did not have time, neither did she. Anya will know our passion and our love. She will come to us willingly. She already feels safe in our arms. Since the first eve aboard, whenever she became agitated, you have been able to settle her by just stroking her brow. You always think too much, brother.” Jonal drew back, his eyes raked over Tonas’s form. You intellectualize that which I know in here.” Jonal drew his right fist over his heart. He grabbed Tonas’s strong hands and pulled him into his arms, bringing them both down to the couch.
His Tonas was splendid, Jonal thought. His vest stopped high on the waist and was held over the breastbone by a platinum chain. Matching embroidery trimmed both vest and trews. The bottom of the trews stopped just above the knee, meeting the high black boots. One of Tonas’s forearms was cuffed in platinum etched with a three-branched Tierest tree of such fine detail you could see the delicate leaves and fruit. The
wide cuff signified rank within clan. Tonas’s cuffs were platinum as befitted his status as LightClan Prince. Jonal’s were golden, the metal of the FireClan. Although the bands were clan, the fine etchings were of their own design. On the Tierest tree grew the sweetest fruit on all of Sarran. It was under a Tierest tree that they first kissed. They took the tree’s delicate fruit from each other’s mouths, licking along the trail of juice that escaped the corners. Under that same tree they first made love. Two other pieces with the design rested in their slumber chamber. One was an arm cuff that matched but done in platinum, red and yellow gold, entwined, one metal for each of the three tree branches. The cuff was dainty and finely wrought, like their fem. The other was a cuff for a nether lip to match the guiche rings that sealed their Bond. It too, was dainty and fine. Would she ever agree to have their band on her slender arm, or its mate on her outer lip?
They sat for a while in silence, Tonas at the edge of the couch, his face in Jonal’s glossy hair, Jonal gently stroking his arm.
::Did I tell you I kissed her today?:: Jonal asked, mind-to-mind.
::I know, I felt it,: Tonas replied.
Tonas was not yet completely calm, so Jonal’s hand circled his back in soothing motions. Tonas turned and spoke. “What happens if they reject us, all of us, and our way of life? What if the cultural conditioning cannot be overcome?” Then mind-to-mind again, ::No! Dammit—she—Anya—I don’t give laptard dung about the others, right now, we’ve given our lives for the others and I don’t want…::
So here is the meat of the trouble. Jonal pulled him closer, his heavy arms continuing to stroke and soothe. ::Yes, My Light, my love, we have something too precious to lose.:: Jonal whispered into Tonas’s ear, “Usually these positions are reversed. I preen and beg for your attention. You are the calm and determined one. Why these doubts, now?”
Tonas straightened his back. Dropping his head into his hands, his voice broke, “I’m so weary, Jonal. I’m tired of war, of fighting. We planned to just go home to Sarran, find our fem, and live our lives. Now we must fight even for that.” Tonas sighed, shaking his head, hair spilling out over his shoulders as he undid the black tether. “And I already hunger for her. We have to find a way to make her happy, to give her a choice.”
Tonas went back to the mind link, his voice full of the tears he refused to shed, afraid that spoken words would be somehow inadequate. ::I love you more than anything in this universe and know you too yearn in desperation. I felt it today, over the link, when you kissed her, the need, the enormity of the desire, and then it came to me. What if the Earthen fems, no, what if Anya cannot accept you and I, our love and physical need for each other as well as our need and desire for her? What do I do, if she chooses you and rejects me? What if she cannot, will not accept us both, as we are, in Triad? Will I never be able to hold you or kiss you? Will I never be able to feel you deep inside me or me in you? Will she let us love each other, either in Triad or alone? Can it be our fate, yours and mine, to love each other but always be denied completion? Can I live without the expression of our love? What if we become like the people on her planet, afraid of love in all its forms? Any sexual expression, other than their norm is dirty and shameful there. Have these fems enough heart, enough freedom of mind, enough love to accept us for what we are and adapt to our ways? It is not as though it is physically impossible. They were capable before the vaccine and in practice, if not in word. I’ve seen in their programs. The slight biological modification…::
Tonas stopped and looked up and over at his Firefly’s eyes.
There was fierceness there. It was mesmerizing. The promise in those eyes had made his decision so long ago. Jonal reached for him and touched his hair. He ran thick fingers inside shell of his ears and under his chin. Tonas felt his mental claim.
::Mine:: Jonal shouted, hot with passion and laced with tenderness. Tonas turned his cheek into Jonal’s hand. His tongue licked along the palm.
Jonal pulled Tonas over, moving the taller man along his length. His arms tightened around Tonas. He whispered as he kissed and tongued his lover’s ear. “Once, My Light, I almost lost you before I had you. Did you know I knew that, Tonas? I know even now, he is on this ship. He wants you still. He would challenge me, if he dared. I watched his eyes devour you while we waited at the hospital for Anya.” Jonal stroked and petted his lover’s skin. “But your eyes saw an old friend; you didn’t even notice his passion. Yet, when you look at me, you see mine and return it tenfold. I’ve always felt there was more of a chance that I would lose you. I love you so much. How could you think I could ever let you go?” Jonal switched over to the link. ::You are mine, ever mine. I swear to you now, Tonas, I will never choose anyone over you. Nor will I let anyone, even Anya, stand between us. It will be as we always dreamed, the three of us, equals in all things, loving, pleasuring. I will never be without you. You will never be without me. Whatever needs to be done, will be done. We will have it all, I swear. I will never, ever leave you willingly. My place is with you…and Anya.::
::I know, Jonal, I know. I need, I want you now.:: Tonas shivered.
Jonal grabbed Tonas’s face. “Do you know that your eyes taunted me since my first sight of you?. Just looking at you made my cock hard; watching your eyes as we spoke made it leak. I was afraid that I embarrassed myself with a wet spot on my front. I just couldn’t get enough of you. But you sent me away. I was dying inside. I thought that I was alone in the feeling,” Jonal said.
“I was waiting under the Tierest tree for my study partner,” Tonas said. “I told you I was there every rising. I wanted you to come back.” Tonas smiled and cuddled closer to Jonal. “I know I asked you to meet me the next rising, earlier, so we would have time before I had to study.”
“And the next rising I came and I couldn’t even talk. All I could do was grab you and do this.” Jonal caught his mouth in a burning kiss. He pressed in, his teeth scraping Tonas’s lips. Tonas answered with his mouth traveling the line of Jonal’s full lips, tongue exploring the molten cavern of his mouth. Jonal’s hand went lower to the platinum chain fastening the sides of his vest. He loosed the chain and pushed aside the maroon leather to rub and twist the tight brown nubs on Tonas’s chest. Slowly, Jonal removed the vest, caressing each arm as he lifted the leather away from the shoulders. His hands massaged, stroked and pinched. His mouth trailed kisses down to the tight nipples. He bit down, stroking with his tongue to bathe after causing the slight pain. Jonal was still in soft woven trews of the finest linen. His huge erection tented the material, the head spewing pre-cum. He removed his sleep trews and placed them on the floor, simultaneously rubbing his hard member with the juice leaking from the head. Jonal spread the creamy, plentiful substance over his diamond-hard cock, Sarran slick.
He reached down and lifted Tonas’s legs one at a time removing the leather boots. Jonal massaged the calve muscles, each leg in turn, long sensuous stokes. Some were feather light, some deeply kneading. He moved over Tonas and placed his lover’s legs on the chaise. He kissed and sucked lower. Turning his head toward Tonas’s phallus, his hand pressed the package and stroked outside the leather.
Tonas groaned. Each kiss, each flutter of his lover’s hands, stroked Tonas’s hunger higher. He moved his hips so that his length fit into Jonal’s hand. Tonas’s cock was pulsating. Jonal undid the belt and the front fastenings. The loosened trews slid easily down Tonas’s legs, followed by Jonal’s hungry mouth as each inch was bared. He kissed and nibbled a trail from Tonas’s brown nipples to his groin, following the faint brushing of golden hair down his stomach. His hands continued to caress the silken skin, lightly dusted with fine golden hair. The nibble turned to a bite. His teeth came down hard, and he pulled on the skin, sucking, raising up a mark.
::You bear my mark on your body, in your flesh.:: Jonal sent the thought directly into Tonas’s mind. Jonal continued squeezing the nipples with his fingers, kneading the flesh until they beaded tight. Jonal moved one of his hands between Tonas�
�s legs underneath his cock to the small strip of skin between Tonas’s anus and the scrotal sac. He pulled at the platinum ring, twisting it in rhythm with the hand that stroked Tonas’s rock-hard cock.
“I’m not going to survive this. Ease up, I won’t last,” Tonas pleaded.
Jonal’s soft nubile lips trailed behind his hand, licking, biting, pulling up skin and twisting it in his mouth. “Remember, I started to kiss you and then we couldn’t stop. Our hands and mouths were all over one another. It didn’t matter anymore that there was so little time. Your partner never came.”
“I remember, and I’ve never wanted anyone else but you since that moment; you, and now Anya.” Tonas moaned, his long strong fingers clenched in Jonal’s soft curls. He massaged his scalp, pulling and directing his mouth. He shoved his long sweet cock to rub against Jonal’s jaw. The leaking tip traced the thin scar on his Firefly’s cheek. It was pulsing with need. Each turn of the little ring caused a teardrop of his bittersweet essence to leak. Jonal continued to suck his skin. Tonas’s hips began to rotate pushing his shaft toward Jonal’s hot mouth. Ebony hair swayed back and forth, as Jonal moved, bathing Tonas with black silk. Some hairs were caught by the slick and clung to Tonas’s erection. Jonal’s lips rolled over his sweaty flesh. Tonas’s body shook. Tremors moved in waves from scalp to toes until it all centered in the turgid meat of his shaft.
Jonal put his face into Tonas’s groin and inhaled. ::I could get drunk on your smell. Sweat, musk, cinnamons, it is like no other.::
