by Alix Nichols
“I won’t be long,” Marye said, stepping into the adjacent washroom. “Don’t fall asleep.”
Geru sat on the bed, smiling at the incongruity of her warning. As if he could!
His blood boiled. He burned to make love to her.
The question was, did she feel the same way?
She’d enjoyed their last time on the lake shore. He was certain of it. That time, and all the previous times, he’d mounted her in his Ra-dragon form. In that form, and shape dissociated, he hadn’t been subtle. But he’d been efficient. Strong. Relentless.
The Ra-dragon had been her first and only lover. Would she enjoy it if he claimed her in his Ra-human form? Or would she find him lacking?
He shifted to Ra-dragon, keeping his clothes on, just before she came out of the washroom.
She was naked. He froze, catching the scent of her incomparable aroma. He heard his own chest rumble. In an instant, he tore his clothes off and pulled his mate into his arms.
“Mmm.” She gazed up into his eyes.
His heart hammering, he gripped her nape and pressed his mouth to hers. Her lips were soft, warm, luscious, like the rest of her. The pleasure at that first contact rushed through him. He needed more.
Pulling her closer, he kissed her harder this time. She moaned. He trailed the tip of his tongue along the seam of her closed lips, coaxing her to part them. She did. His hunger blazing, Geru angled his head and slid his tongue between them. He pressed, circled and teased her tongue, keeping his strokes light and playful.
She relaxed more, opened up more. He pushed in deeper, reveling in the sweet taste of her mouth. She caught his tongue between her teeth and bit it lightly.
He shivered.
His hands shot to her full, round breasts. As he fondled them, his kissing grew rougher. His tongue dived into her mouth more deeply, more thoroughly, mating with it.
But that wasn’t enough—not nearly enough.
He slid one hand down to her belly, over her mound, and then between her legs. As he rubbed her button, she began to squirm and moan louder, her breathing picking up.
She reached down and gripped his erection.
Oh yes, she was enjoying this.
He walked them to the bed, and lowered her to the mattress, attempting to press into her lush body everywhere with every part of his body. Her hardened nipples prodded his chest. She writhed beneath him, looking exquisitely sensual. Untamed.
He pushed a finger in. She was wet. Pulling his finger out, he spread her slickness over her nether lips and her bud. Then, unable to resist the temptation, he licked his finger. So sweet!
His mate was ready for him, and he was dying to enter her.
But his instinct—or was it his Ra-human sensitivity—told him to hold off, to give her more, make her wetter, get her to beg for it.
So, he moved down between her legs. Taking a moment to admire the view, he brushed his lips against her pink flesh, spreading her folds with his fingers.
“Geru, no!” she protested.
But she hadn’t put her heart into it. When her fingers gripped his skull, she didn’t push him away. She pulled him to her.
He went wild. His strong tongue circled, bore down, circled again.
“Oh, goodness,” she whimpered. “What are you doing to me? Geru, please!”
He licked harder and then suckled her swollen pearl.
She clutched him and rocked her hips into his mouth, making incoherent, delicious sounds. She tasted as yummy as she sounded. As his tongue lapped and swirled, his desire soared to new heights, and his heart went to new places. Places where delaying, even denying his own satisfaction was easy. Where her pleasure mattered more than his. Where it was all that mattered.
Hardening and lengthening his tongue, he dipped it inside her and began to pump. She released a long, staggered moan. He slid one hand up to her left breast and cupped it, fondling and rubbing her nipple. His other hand worked her bud, while his stiff tongue did a rhythmic penetration of her palpitating channel.
I wish had more hands!
“I wish you did, too, but this is great,” she rasped. “Better than great.”
Ah—she’d heard that thought.
Soon, her moans and rocking become wilder, telling him she was close. He withdrew his tongue and shoved it back into her as deep as he could. She wailed. He rolled his tongue over the hot, slick walls of her channel, round and round, keeping it rock-hard. When he pulled back and thrust again, she screamed. Her body shuddered and her legs began to quake.
He lapped a little more and then lifted his mouth from her, feeling ridiculously proud. He’d just given this beautiful woman—his woman—her first release.
Her face flushed and eyes closed, she fell back on the pillow, throwing her arms over her head in a languorous stretch.
Was this the right moment to raise the question he’d been meaning to ask her for quite some time now?
She opened her eyes. “Why didn’t you try that before? Geru, I loved it!”
“I’ll make up for it, I promise.” He grinned, sitting on his haunches.
She squinted at him. “Was that a Ra-human caress? Something you didn’t remember before, when you were dissociated?”
“My mate is very perceptive.” He gave her a wink. “Indeed, it’s a Ra-human caress, which I enhanced thanks to my Ra-dragon form.”
She bit her lower lip, looking giddy. “Ooh! Are there other Ra-human caresses you could show me? Or teach me?”
“Quite a few, my lady.”
“Can’t wait.”
“There’s this one I particularly—” he began but stopped when she sat up and gave him a funny look. “What is it?”
She smoothed the bedsheet under her fingers. “I did love that incredible Ra-dragon tongue of yours, but…”
“But what?”
“Do you mind continuing as a Ra-human?” She searched his face, visibly apprehensive. “Unless you don’t want to or can’t—”
“I do, my love, so much! And I certainly can.” He hesitated.
“But?”
“I don’t know how Geru will compare to the Ra-dragon.” He took her hand. “What if he doesn’t compare favorably?”
She blinked and burst out laughing.
He waited, unsure how to read her reaction and what had caused the hilarity.
Finally, she wiped her eyes. “Sorry. It was just too funny and absurd to find out that you felt insecure.”
He raised his eyebrows in question.
“You see, I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember.” She squeezed his hand. “You were always dashing, irresistibly attractive—not just to me, to everyone! And me, I was… Bookworm. Quiet, plump, and befittingly bespectacled. Insecure was my middle name.”
“Was that how you saw yourself?” He eyed her sultry body. “To me, you’ve always been alluring, a constant turn-on. I felt ashamed of my urges. I hid them, so they wouldn’t offend you.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
He gave her a sly smile. “Forgive me, my love. I will never hide them again.”
They stared at each other for a moment, too happy for words.
At length, he let go of her hand and scooted to the edge of the bed. “So you want me to shift to Ra-human before we continue what we started?”
“Yes.” She pushed her hair aside. “Will you bite me please?”
Oh, how he longed to do that! But he had to be honest with her. “I’d love to, Marye. Just remember that it isn’t necessary. I can shift without it.”
“That’s not why I asked.”
“Then why?”
“Two reasons.” She moved closer to him. “The first one is that I really like being able to mind-talk with you and to feel your emotions.”
“And the second?”
“I enjoy the act.” She touched the side of her neck. “When you drink from me… the pulling, the suction…”
“You find it erotic.”
“Yes.”
He
placed his hand over hers at her nape and caressed her fingers, her throat, her graceful neck. “As it happens, I have two reasons of my own to want to bite you.”
“And they are?”
“The first one is purely practical.” He gathered her hair with his other hand. “Chev Tolkeet is a seer. I remembered the other day how he’d asked me what I was doing two days before I arrived on Tastassi.” He gave her a meaningful look. “Because he’d tried to look for me and couldn’t see me.”
“You think my blood… veils you from Chev?”
“I’m sure of it.”
She pushed her shoulders back and sat taller, arching an eyebrow. “The Atiz blood is like our merchandise—premium quality.”
He laughed.
“What’s your second reason?” she asked.
“Same as yours.” His eyes bore into hers. “The erotic high.”
“I say we do this every week.” She tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes.
He trailed his tongue along her neck, dizzy with anticipation, his fangs extending. “No objections, my lady.”
He pressed his fangs to her beautiful skin and bit her.
Mmm, the bliss.
Waves of shimmery goodness washed through his body. Marye seemed to love it, too. She arched, pushed her neck into his mouth and dug her fingers into his back. He shuddered and pulled away, having drawn just as much of her blood as his body needed and not a drop more.
And then he transformed to Ra-human.
“Marye,” he whispered, moving closer to her.
His hands wandered over her shoulders, arms, and breasts before his lips found hers. He kissed her softly, then passionately.
Long moments later, she leaned back on the pillow and beckoned to him. He positioned himself above her, his knees between hers. Gently, he nudged her thighs wider apart. Marye ran her hands over his back and down to his backside. She cupped his butt and squeezed.
It was his cue that she was eager for more.
Grabbing her knees, Geru raised them higher, spreading her wider. He paused, his shaft prodding her entrance, and his gaze riveted to hers.
“Yes,” she said. “I want it so much!”
And then he was in her, moving, bucking, driving into her over and over again. Her pleasure flooded his senses, mingling with his own. She dug her heels and fingers into his flesh and moved forward in time with each plunge to meet him, to take him.
With a small shock, he realized he’d never made love to her like this, facing her.
She was loving it.
His tempo picked up, and so did the power of his thrusts. The bed creaked loudly under them.
She giggled. “We’re too conspicuous.”
He withdrew from her, making her grumble in protest. Picking up the blanket, he folded it once and laid it on the floor. Then he pulled the pillow from under her head and threw it on top of the blanket.
She began to climb down, but he beat her to it and stretched out on his back atop the makeshift bed.
“Oh.” She arched an eyebrow. “Is that how you want to continue?”
“Do you mind?”
She shook her head. “Am I to… um…” She wrinkled her face adorably. “S-s-sit on you?”
He glanced down at himself then up at her and nodded with a feigned innocence. “Uh-huh.”
She straddled him. He held her while she lowered herself onto his length. The sensation was exquisite.
Soon, they established a measured rhythm with her controlling the depth and angle of the strokes. Her pleasure rose, billowing, snowballing.
She ground her hips every time she bore down, her neck straining and head thrashing. With their minds linked, he could feel her ecstasy layering over his own, enhancing its intensity. It was glorious.
He sensed her tiring from the effort, slacking off even as she neared her peak. With strong hands, he gripped her hips and lifted her up a little. And then he slammed into her from below, hard and deep. On a shuddery moan, something unfurled inside her, so bright it almost blinded him. He slammed in again, harder still.
Marye tensed, arched her back and screamed his name.
As her inner muscles squeezed and spasmed around him, Geru found himself unable to hold back. One more thrust, and he exploded, shooting his seed into her.
They stayed there in that magical moment for some time, enjoying their connection. Then, smiling blissfully, she collapsed on top of the blanket next to him.
Now, while she was drunk on their lovemaking, seemed like a good time to ask his question.
He stroked the side of her face, pushing her damp hair back. “Will you marry me?”
I thought you’d never ask. She beamed.
“Is that a yes?” he asked so she’d say it aloud in keeping with Ra-human ways.
And also, if he was being honest, it was for his own sake. When he’d proposed to Etana in what seemed like centuries ago, he hadn’t gotten a yes. Thank Aheya for that! Now, for the second—and, most definitely last—proposal in his life, he wanted to hear that yes, loud and unwavering. Even if he already knew Marye’s answer, knew exactly how she felt about marrying him.
“Yes,” she said. “Oh, Geru, yes!”
He kissed her lips, and opened his mind fully to her overflowing emotions.
It wasn’t long before the glitter and petals Marye’s soul was bathing in painted his hard-edged world a bright shade of pink.
Second Epilogue
Heading across the lobby to the meeting room, Colonel Keiron Yaggar kept his eyes open for any potential threat that he might have missed yesterday. He couldn’t spot any. The venue chosen for the last-ditch talks between Zeefede’s two hostile realms wasn’t so bad, after all.
Amma’s Lodge—an old inn located in no man’s land between the two realms—had turned out to be sturdier and safer than he’d expected based on his brief.
As agreed in advance, four of his enforcer cyborgs had joined the local security teams at the front and back entrances of the guesthouse. He had two enforcers patrolling the lobby and hallways. Two others, one of them Areg Sebi, had been posted by the meeting room door. Two more secured the room in addition to the local teams.
Besides, Linni had her bodyguards.
Shit! Did I just say “Linni” in my mind?
He should think of her as “Her Grace” or “Olinnie” if he really couldn’t help it. It was a slippery slope referring to the LOR superintendent—and his boss—in such a casual way. That name belonged in another life, the life she’d led before becoming Xereill’s top official. The life in which their being together would’ve been possible.
If he kept thinking of her as “Linni” or, worse, as “his Linni,” one day he’d address her like that aloud in front of other people. It would harm her. It would add fuel to the malicious rumors some were spreading about her at LORSS.
The superintendent’s haters included Cemaluria Cronk and Dodd Panrulyn, two high-ranking LOR officials who’d vied for her job. They hadn’t forgiven her for snatching it away. A number of distinguished, white-bearded diplomats from realms where women were confined to the private sphere hadn’t taken kindly to her either.
All those people refused to believe she’d been appointed on merit. They claimed she must’ve slept with the former superintendent. Or another member of the vetting panel. Or all of them.
The last thing Keiron wanted was to undermine her position. Not just for her sake, which was enough. But also because of the important work she was doing. For instance, she was Zeefede’s last hope. If she failed to negotiate a deal, the planet’s two realms would engage in a stupid, fratricidal war. Ra-humans on both sides would be killed. And the native Zeechaa community—the only other humanoid species in Xereill—would suffer.
Keiron nodded to the second Enforcer in front of the door of the empty meeting room, and motioned to Areg to walk with him.
“How does it feel to graduate from trainee to full-fledged enforcer?” he asked with a smile crinkling the co
rners of his mouth.
Areg smiled back. “Feels great, sir.”
“Not too nervous on your first mission?”
Areg shook his head.
Then again, why should he be? Areg was no ordinary recruit. An ex-army major, war hero and then prisoner on death row in his home realm, the man had seen it all. Even more impressively, he’d kept his integrity and his humility through it all.
“What’s the latest from Hente?” Keiron asked.
Areg’s smile faded away. “The Association had me record new messages which they’ll broadcast, but the repression is getting worse the closer they get to the Endorsement Vote. So do Boggond’s lies and propaganda.”
“What about your sister?”
The enforcer’s jaw tightened. “If Boggond fails to get endorsed, there’s hope that Nyssa and Jancel can come out of hiding.”
“Wasn’t your plan to get her off the planet?”
“She won’t leave.”
Keiron’s eyebrows rose. “Does she like living in a fallout shelter?”
“Incredible as it may seem, I think she does.” Areg smirked. “Despite her difficult circumstances, she says she feels content. Rooted. I believe Jancel has something to do with it.”
“I’m sure he does.”
It struck Keiron how unrooted Areg must feel at LORSS. Unlike his colleagues, Areg had never dreamed of being part of its staff, never wanted to leave his planet, become a cyborg, or live under a false identity. He hadn’t sought his current position. Keiron had arranged for all those things so he could have a future after his rescue.
“If Boggond wins the vote, I’ll have to find a way to get Nyssa and Jancel off Hente,” Areg said.
“You’ll have my unofficial support.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
Keiron gave him a sidelong glance. “Do you miss your home?”
“I do.” Areg exhaled a breath. “But Etana is by my side, my parents are gone, and Nyssa is as safe as it gets in Eia.”
He pointed to his prosthetic legs and then to his retracted wings. “This is my life now. I’m a LOR enforcer cyborg under your command. And it’s where I want to be.”
