by Ravyn Wilde
Mica groaned. “Women,” he muttered. He had been so sure that Tala wouldn’t subject the two of them to the same torment she’d witnessed between Tar and Nyssa. Oh, Goddess. Eventually she would also figure out that he had been Dream Walking.
* * * * *
Tala stretched out in the shade by the brook. Both suns of Zylar were at their peak. Nothing moved during this time that didn’t have to. She relaxed as much as she could with the constant twinge from the links. It had only been a few nilts. But the links were already making her uncomfortable and her mind continued to stray to the things she hadn’t had a chance to do to with Mica’s intriguing body. Stop it! She reprimanded herself. Thoughts like that wouldn’t help. However, thoughts of the look on Mica’s face when he’d realized she gone, and could shield her mind from him—did.
She grinned. Hah! She knew he would find her soon. But in the meantime, shifting into leonar form and running had been a great idea. Nyssa had often talked of the similarity between Earth’s animals and Zylar’s. The leonar was similar to Earth’s lion except for the size and color. Earth’s lions were smaller and a brown/beige color. Zylar’s leonar’s were the size of a small Earth horse and had a spotted gray/black coat. Nyssa had enjoyed the many forms she had used to return to Tanar after leaving the Selven Refuge. She had said however, that the form of the leonar had allowed her to concentrate more than the others. Tala had needed the focus to shield her mind from Mica, so she had shifted to a female leonar, jumped from the window of her chambers, and run towards Tanar. She was going home. It would take about 3 bi-nons. Two if she traveled during light and dark, resting only during the suns’ peak. Mica would probably figure it out and be waiting for her. Fine. By that time she’d probably need him enough that she would forget how hurt she’d felt when he said he’d known since she was young. At least for a little while. A couple of quickies and she’d start getting mad at him all over again.
That’s it. Time to go. It wouldn’t be long before the suns started going down anyway. Tala stood, closed her eyes and became a leonar.
A sleek gray and black cat padded out from under the trees and leapt across the clearing heading for Tanar.
* * * * *
Mica prowled restlessly around Tala’s chambers at the Refuge. The links were really starting to irritate him. Itching, throbbing, burning, hurting. Thinking about them didn’t allow him to focus clearly on anything but his missing mate. He sighed. It almost defeated the purpose. The links’ pull guaranteed you couldn’t be separated for any length of time from your Life Companion. But when you needed to concentrate on what she would have done and how she did it, you couldn’t think. He was well and truly Schivet. Grimacing, he thought of Nyssa’s laughter when she realized that the Zylan swear word meant screwed or fucked. Yes, he was screwed.
Passing close to the window on one of his many rotations around the chamber, he paused. Closing his eyes, he could just…feel…yes. Tala had transformed into a leonar here. He had her. She had jumped from the window and left for home.
* * * * *
Shalan stopped reading the ancient manuscript when she heard the roar of an angry male leonar just outside the walls of the Refuge. Knowing it was Mica, on his way to retrieve Tala, she sent a quick invocation to the Goddess to grant Tala the strength she would need to deal with him.
Chapter 14
Mica cleared the area surrounding the Refuge and paused. Switching back to human form, he stopped to think. Tala had left several nilts ago. The male form of the leonar had more strength and endurance than that of the female. But it would still take him too long to find her for his comfort. If he just transported short distances he could miss her. Thankfully there was really only one path for her to follow to Tanar. If there were more choices he wouldn’t catch up with her until she got to her destination. No. He needed to take to the air.
Picturing in his mind the shape and substance of Earth’s dragons, Mica shifted to the form of a Zylan Peela. The wingspan was about 20 feet and would allow him to cover great distances in a short period of time. Another advantage to this form would be that the Peela’s eyesight was very sharp and he would be able to distinguish his mate from far above in either sunlight or night’s darkness. Covered in sable colored scales and breathing fire, the giant creature filled the late afternoon sky.
In addition to using his eyesight to track Tala, Mica also focused on his links. They would act as a psychic bridge to his mate. She wouldn’t remember to keep herself shielded from him once she was far enough away that she felt safe. Or at least he could hope that she wouldn’t. His anger had fled once he realized that he could find her. His only thought now was to reach her and bury his hard shaft deep within the heat of her body.
Focus.
* * * * *
The female leonar flopped down, exhausted, beside what she knew was a lilac colored pool. The three moons of Zylar bathed everything in a surreal light; they leeched color from everything, leaving the world in shades of gray. Drinking deeply, she scented the air searching for her mate. Nothing. Tala was tired and hungry. She had to fight to keep herself from turning around and running with every bit of strength she had left, back to Mica. Damn him, she thought. I really am tired of playing cat and mouse with that man. It’s his job to find me. Never mind that I ran from him. He shouldn’t have made me wait all these life cycles to claim me as his link mate. I don’t want to sleep out here in my human form. The leonar form will be better protection from the elements and any other creatures that might be roaming around. I’ll just stay in this body and catch a quick nap. Goddess, I miss Mica. I knew I would hate being linked.
The tired leonar curled up in a ball and quickly fell asleep. As it did so, Tala relaxed her mental shield, unknowingly allowing the approaching Peela to zero in on her location.
Less than a nilt later, the dragon landed in the small clearing. It cocked its head to observe the female sound asleep by the pool, started to shift and then wavered first as a large, imposing, thoroughly angry man, then settling into the form of an enormous gray-spotted male leonar.
The male crouched, ready to pounce on the resting female. It was time to teach his wandering mate a lesson in animal breeding. She had only been away from him for two bi-nons, but the separation had greatly irritated the links, causing his skin to shiver incessantly and keeping him fully aroused. Well, she was going to realize that her choice in forms was fortunate for him. When a leonar was mated and the female was in heat, as he sensed Tala was now, the beasts would have sex every five minon for a non. The male leonar’s barbed cock would ensure that it stayed fully embedded in its mate’s sheath between sessions, never allowing separation until her time had passed. They would eat, drink and sleep with their bodies joined together. Mica had every intention of bending Tala’s mind to his, keeping her in this form for the full non. That would teach her to run from him.
Stalking across the open space between them, Mica contemplated staying implanted within Tala’s hot body for a non. Oh, he would revel in their leonar forms. The links’ erotic penalty for a mate’s separation would keep them at each other no matter their form. Only in the human form did the links appear outside the body. In the form of the leonar, as it was with all creatures, they were absorbed into the body of the beast. Silently, he crawled on his belly the last few feet. Must not wake her before I’m ready, he thought. I don’t want to chase her any farther. I can’t wait any longer to have her close those tight inner muscles…Mica had to shake himself. He would get lost in the sexual haze and Tala might sense him. Slowly he crept towards her.
Tala stretched in her sleep, she was warm and semi-aroused. Her body had been on low vibrate almost from the time she’d left the Refuge. But the sensations seemed to be increasing, rippling through her body, pulsing from the hidden links at her breasts, and thrumming through her center. Tala groaned in agony and rolled on to her back. She needed Mica. Slipping from sleep, her cat body burning with sensual heat, she sensed she was no longer alone. Witho
ut fear, she met the gaze of the beast that had caged her with his body. Her mate. He was standing over her, head bent, teeth bared.
Mine. You cannot run from me Tala. You are mine. I have claimed you. You burn for what only I—and my cock—can give you.
Please, let me up. I won’t run. I just want us to change…
No. Take me this way. Let me sink my body into yours, let us find pleasure in this form. In all forms. Without hesitating, Mica moved to nuzzle at Tala’s exposed neck. He lowered himself to grind his unsheathed cock against her furry stomach, letting her feel the hot pulsing need he no longer had to control. Rubbing against her, he purred into her softness, vibrating the links, opening them in order to share the spiraling sensations. Not able to use his hands, he used his body and head to roll her to her stomach. Biting the back of Tala’s neck to force her to keep her front down, pushing against her to raise her hips, he positioned her for his barbed cock. He pushed against her, grazing the responsive area, but not penetrating. Moving, sliding, yet pulling away before it could find a home in her weeping sheath.
Take me, she demanded in his mind. I need to feel you inside me.
Mica, however, wasn’t through tormenting her. He thrust his cock forward; just enough to part her folds, dipping it into the hot, honeyed heat of her. Out, in. Again. And again. Just barely inserting the tip of his swollen barb in her tight, clenching passage.
Tala pushed frantically back against him, she was mewling, desperate. The sound drove Mica over the edge. He plunged his enormous cock deep within her, his body shaking as he buried himself fully. Tala felt his fur covered balls slap against her, pressing on a pleasure point. She started to move into the rhythm, but Mica stopped her with his teeth, clamping down hard at the base of her neck. Holding her still for his enjoyment and rendering her helpless as he set the pace.
It wasn’t fast enough for Tala, or hard enough. More. She pleaded with him silently, more.
Mica snapped, control forgotten, his trembling haunches pumping furiously against her. She arched against him, meeting him thrust for thrust, muscles clenching, milking him. He fed his passion through the link to Tala, pulling at her response and magnifying all sensations. When her climax built, and then burst around him, he demanded more. He continued to assault her senses, driving her beyond the limits of her body, beyond the limits of his own. The beast had taken over, barbed cock buried in the female’s passage—they couldn’t have stopped if they’d tried.
Chapter 15
Exhausted after a full seven moon times spent making love in leonar form, Tala and Mica reverted to humanoid form and stretched out together along the bank of the pool. Lying on her back, dipping her hand in the soothing cool water, Tala sighed.
“Unhappy?” Mica could just manage the one word question. He was too sated to contemplate stringing an entire sentence together.
“No.” Tala replied, “Just…well…confused.”
Mica smiled. Tala wasn’t doing so well in the literacy area either. Struggling to sit upright, he leaned against one hand, and gazed into his mate’s eyes. What he saw made him catch his breath. Acceptance, love, and…hurt. “Oh, Tala. You don’t understand, my love. I wanted you to have time to yourself, to study and grow. I am six life cycles older than you and to take you as my mate when you were barely of age wouldn’t have been fair. Then, when you were coming of age, you began talking about how you didn’t want to be come ‘some man’s possession’.’’ It wasn’t that I didn’t want you, love, just that I wanted you full-grown and accepting the fact that being a Life Companion…a Link Mate…was not a bad thing.” He tried to explain.
“Did you ever consider part of my problem was that I couldn’t stand the thought of any other man touching me as I wanted you to? I am not ever going to be a submissive mate, Mica, but I have always loved you. Only you,” Tala replied.
Mica grinned. “How could you ever assume I would want you to be anything other than what you have become, Tala. I have known since you were small that you would not be a traditional mate. As I have told your brother many times, I wouldn’t want one. I can’t think of anything more boring than having my every wish catered to.” He laughed and thought except for maybe occasionally in this.
Reaching out, he pulled Tala up and over him. Fastening his mouth to hers, he forgot that only moments ago he had been replete. Tala seemed to enjoy the kiss for a time, and then pulled away from him. Mica frowned. She looked down at him studying him intently and then slowly grinned.
With a wicked gleam in her eye, she drawled, “My turn.”
“Your turn for what?” he questioned.
“This.” Tala leaned over Mica, closing her eyes to allow her to completely concentrate on feeling her links, she worked to open them and to follow the thread to Mica’s. There. Using her hands, she first moved his arms above his head, giving a silent mental push to bind them in place. Then she shifted her body to the side, locking his legs with her thoughts.
“Tala.” Mica started in warning.
“No, Mica. It’s my turn. Unless, of course, you didn’t mean anything you’ve said.” she replied.
He sucked in his breath, arousal settling hot and swift in his belly. His shaft expanded and danced with anticipation as he sank back, closed his eyes, and nodded, silently giving her permission to proceed.
Tala’s gaze was drawn to the hard penis that throbbed with life in front of her. Reaching out, she smoothed her finger along his length. The velvety texture amazed her. Astonishingly, her touch seemed to make him grow even larger. She wouldn’t have thought that possible, he was already huge. Smiling at his deep growl, she reached out and cupped his testicles; they were drawn tight against his body and she gently cradled them in her palm.
Mica’s legs shifted against her mental bond. He groaned.
His scent was strong, that of musk and male and sex. The combination of his smell, his size and the sexual heat emanating from his body made Tala’s sex swell with need. She wanted to experience everything with him, and that included her use of the links.
Remembering Nyssa’s instructions on how to use her links, Tala concentrated on using the psychic tie to send a soft vibration through the link to Mica’s nipples. His indrawn breath told her she had succeeded. She stared at his naked body, spread eagle and bound with her thoughts, his normally ice-blue eyes burning hot with desire. For her. For what she could do to him.
“Release me, Tala,” he demanded.
She shook her head. “No. I am just getting started,” she whispered huskily. Bending over him she feathered her lips along the tightly corded tendons in his neck. She inhaled deeply; inebriated with the male scent of him, as well as by the feminine power that was all hers. She used her tongue to lightly trace the shell of his ear, simultaneously increasing the link pulse at his nipples and his big body shuddered uncontrollably.
A wild groan slipped from his throat, she bit back a chuckle and continued to torment him. She moved her mouth to place a damp kiss on his jaw and let her lips drift to the corner of his mouth.
Mica turned his head, frantically trying to snare Tala’s mouth with his own.
She allowed him to capture her mouth, but turned it into her feasting on his moist heat. He moaned into her mouth as she slid her hand down his sweat slicked chest, using her fingers to carefully tease his light chest hairs and torment the chains that pierced his nipples, tugging those links and rolling the nubs and chain between her thumb and finger. She increased the vibrating power of the links with her mind. She slowly pulled her mouth away from his and used it to cover one of his nipples; she scooted down so that she was sprawled beside him, head at his breast, moving her hand down his body, across his abdomen, towards his straining cock. Before she touched him there, she added the torment of the links throbbing to his already pulsating shaft.
Mica thrashed wildly; trying to free the bonds that Tala had used to imprison him. His body was burning. Her use of the links, the vibrations at his nipples and cock combined with the
wet glide of her mouth on his body and the hot seeking hand had him ready to burst.
“Tell me about Dream Walking, Mica,” she whispered softly against the nipple she had been playing with her tongue.
“Dream Walking?” he moaned, his thinking shattered. Was that what she’d said, she wanted him to tell her about Dream Walking at a time like this? Her tongue was once again moving in circles around his nipple, tangling in the chains that where buried in his skin. He gasped loudly as her seeking hand found the jutting urgency of his cock. She encircled him, her hand unable to fully close around its girth, then she moved up, and over the head, swirling her fingers through the moisture at the tip, teasing the link’s entrance to his body. The trembling in his body increased to a fever pitch.
She moved her mouth slowly from his chest, licking and nibbling her way down, pausing to lave his navel, causing his hips to jump and his body to strain towards her. When she paused, he groaned low in his throat, “Don’t stop, Tala. Please don’t stop.”
Raising her head to look into his passion glazed eyes, she spoke, “If you talk to me of Dream Walking while I pleasure you, I won’t stop. If you stop talking, I stop moving.” Then she dipped down to lick once at the groove across the engorged plum of his penis, and then suspended movement to again meet his hungry gaze. “Talk, Mica.”
His body and mind were fighting him, his mind knowing he should stop and make sense of this, his body screaming at him to do anything she said. It just wanted her mouth. On him. Now. He looked at her as she bent over him, one hand holding his cock a breath away from her mouth, one hand propping herself in position, her bare breasts hanging on either side of his straining staff. If she moved they would brush against him he thought. Please move. He wanted to touch her. “Tala, release me. Let me touch you.”
