As I would die for you, Laharra. You are my love, my life. I worship you.
Brianna moaned. His mouth did such wonderful things. No man should be without a mouth like his. He knew exactly where to nibble and lick to drive her crazy. She tossed her head back and forth on the pillow, panting, unable to catch her breath.
Niklas suckled her breast, and she moaned his name, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, her fingers burying themselves deep in his ebony hair. His fingers parted the folds of skin between her legs, felt the moisture, and pushed his fingers deep within her.
He pushed his fingers further inside her tight channel, his thumb rubbing her hard nub. Brianna’s hips arched off the bed.
The scream started deep within her. It began as a small groan. His fingers pushed upward, toward her belly, increasing her pleasure yet again. “Niklas!” She screamed. Her body stiffened, jerking with small spasms, until she collapsed under him, her muscles, once tightened reaching for her climax, now spent. She touched him with a trembling hand. She wanted to give him pleasure. She reached downward.
Niklas captured her hand and kissed it. “Next time, Laharra. This time is for you.” His dark eyes gazed into hers. “I wish to worship your body.” He looked down the length of her, then back to her eyes. “The body that carries my children.” He kissed her again.
If Brianna had been about to say something, she’d forgotten what it was as she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him deeply.
Niklas placed his hand over her still flat stomach. His large hand nearly spanning from hip to hip. “It is hard to believe the evidence of our love grows right here.” He looked down at his hand, flexing it, wondering at the miracle concealed in her womb.
She spread her legs wider, giving him better access to the warm cradle of her hips as he eased into her slowly, moving cautiously back and forth, he rocked gently. He didn’t want to hurt her or the babes she carried deep within her.
Brianna moaned. The thought was endearing, but she needed more. So much more. She looked up at him. His lips were pressed together in a near grimace. The muscles of his neck and shoulders bulged from the effort he expended. She could see his pulse in the protruding vein in his neck. “Harder, Niklas.” She urged, knowing he was holding back.
“I don’t…want to hurt you, Laharra.” His breathing was labored, more of a pant. The beads of sweat on his brow confirmed that it was a struggle for him to hold back, to keep moving as slowly as he was.
She chuckled, opened her mind further to him. “Now, if you hurt me, you will know. You can hear my thoughts, can’t you? Now you know what I want, what I need.”
With a groan, Niklas plunged into her. He felt her pleasure as well as his own. His deep thrusts bringing them both closer to the edge.
Brianna wrapped her legs around his waist, giving him better access, making it possible for him to thrust still deeper into her. Their pleasure increased, magnified by the mind sharing between them.
They moved together, each of them giving pleasure, each taking until they reached their climax at the same time. Alone, yet together, crying out their release. Afterward, they lay in each other’s arms, spent, their legs entwined, a fine layer of perspiration covering them both.
“I didn’t know sex could feel like that,” Brianna sighed, sated. Her hand sifted through the soft hairs on his chest. “Had I known it could feel like that before, I may not have held out for Mr. Right.” She grinned impishly.
Niklas pinched her bottom.
She yelped. “Hey!”
He smiled and soothed it with a caress. “Sex doesn’t feel like that,” he groused. “That was making love.”
“There’s a difference?” Brianna asked, looking a little too innocent. She knew it was a loaded question.
Niklas turned onto his side. He wanted to look into her eyes when he said this, so there would be no misunderstanding. “Yes, Laharra. There is a difference. Sex can be gratifying if you don’t want or need a commitment. It can relax you, help you vent frustrations.” He closed his eyes, looking for the right words. “What we have is different. I have had sex, Brianna, I can tell the difference. We make love.”
She frowned. “How is it different, Niklas?” Her hand skimmed down his chest to his stomach. She felt the involuntary clenching of his already firm stomach muscles. He must be ticklish there. She filed that bit of information away to think about later. Right now, she had a different kind of mischief on her mind. Her hand slid lower. Oh, yes. Her husband was a very virile man.
* * * *
Niklas swallowed convulsively, trying to keep his voice even and his body under control while she teased him. “Sex is two people coming together to release sexual tension for the sheer pleasure of it.” He tried to shrug, but the movement was beyond him. She was driving him mad.
“There are many reasons for it. They are usually concerned with their own pleasure, their own release.” He reached up, cupping her face between his hands. “Making love is between two people who love each other, who want nothing more than to please each other.”
Brianna bit her lip. “And were you this way, Niklas? You had sex, primarily for your own pleasure?”
Niklas dropped his hand after a moment, thoughtful. She made it sound so base. Had he been that way? He frowned. If he were to be truthful, could he say he’d cared at all, for any of the women he’d lain with before her? Niklas closed his eyes and nodded. “Until recently.” He wasn’t sure if he could explain the change in himself, but he had changed. She needed to know that. He didn’t have to read her thoughts. He could see it in her eyes.
“What happened recently?” She stopped fondling him, and bringing her palm to his chest, rested her chin on the back of her hand.
“About eighteen months ago, I began to have strange dreams. Dreams of a woman I never met. I wanted her, needed her, but I could never see who she was.” Niklas looked at her, a tortured expression in his eyes. “Since that first night, I had been unable to…perform. I tried a few times, but I couldn’t. No woman could hold my attraction once I got them alone.”
“But I did,” she said with a smile, moving her chin to rest on his chest. “As I recall, you couldn’t keep your hands off of me.”
Niklas squeezed her, rocked her back and forth. Thankful she was able to tease him at least. “I think you were the woman in my dreams. I was looking for you. In more ways than I could possibly have imagined.”
“Hmm… I think I like the idea of you not having had sex for so long.”
Niklas threw her a mock glare. “You can joke about it, but my pride didn’t care for it at all. It was embarrassing, to say the least.”
She was instantly contrite and hugged him to her. “Oh, you poor baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it that way. You must have been mortified.”
He nodded. “I questioned my manhood once or twice. It humbled me. And after a while, sex no longer appealed. Until I met you.” He kissed her deeply. “Believe it or not, the black wig and hairy growth didn’t deter my libido a bit when I saw you.”
She snorted her disbelief. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. That must have really been love.”
“It was, Laharra. Now, let me continue to teach you the difference between having sex and making love,” Niklas whispered into her ear just before he kissed her.
“Oh, I’m going to show you what a good student I can be,” she said with a smile. “I intend to follow your instruction for the rest of the night.”
Chapter Eighteen
Brianna bolted upright. “What in the world is that?”Ripped from sleep, she looked up toward the ceiling. The shrieking noise that came from the speakers over the bed was almost deafening.
Niklas was already out of bed, struggling into a flight suit. He threw a smaller one at her. “Put this on. Hurry!” He rushed to the security console, pushed a button and spoke into it quickly.
He spoke in his own language too quickly for her to follow.
“We have to get t
o the bridge. Now!”
He was by her side in a flash, helping her into the jumpsuit he’d thrown at her and a pair of boots he seemed to have pulled out of midair. She was surprised to see that they fit. There was no time to ask. He was rushing her out through the door.
“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” She trotted by his side. His pace was so fast, walking was out of the question.
“We’re under attack.” His face was grim, a muscle jumped in his jaw. Niklas approached the door to the bridge, pushed it open and disappeared to the other side.
Brianna paused, watching as the door closed behind him. She placed her trembling hand on the smooth surface. What in the world was she doing here? What could she possibly do? It wasn’t even as if she actually knew how to do anything on board this monster of a ship. No one would let her do anything! She shrugged. One thing was certain, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything hiding here in the corridor like a chicken. She needed to show Niklas and his people that their Queen was no coward.
Brianna took a deep breath and pushed through the door entering the bridge. When she got her first glance at the viewscreen, her mouth dropped open. “My Gods, it’s huge!”
Niklas threw a glance her way. His expression unreadable, his mind closed to her. This couldn’t be good if he’d resorted to blocking his thoughts.
Spearing Niklas with a terror-filled glance, she pointed at the viewer, her hand shaking with fear. “Is this ship that big?”
Niklas sighed, running a hand through his hair. “No, Laharra, she is ten times our size and ten times our strength. There is only one purpose for a ship like that, war. She is a Leviathan.” He looked around the bridge. “The Conquest was build for speed and defense, but not for war.”
“But isn’t there anything we can do? Any way we can fight?” Her eyes were wide with terror.
Niklas smiled grimly. “I admire your courage, Laharra, but we are outmatched in every way.”
Brianna looked around the bridge, her gaze flying from one console to another. There was something, there had to be. “Why are they attacking us?”
Their eyes met. His were tortured. He looked at his crewmembers, his friends. Then his gaze turned back to Brianna. “Someone has been trying to stop us since we first left Terrna. This is just another attempt to keep us,” he shot her a glance, “to keep you from fulfilling your destiny.”
“But why? Who would want to see the destruction of your world?” She couldn’t keep herself from staring at the huge, terrifying ship.
Niklas’s eyes hardened. “I don’t know. The scroll written by Morwyyn only speaks of you and a great evil.”
“We need to find out.” She went to him, leaned against him needing the illusion of his strength.
Niklas wrapped his arm around her, grounding her to him, knowing she needed his comfort. He sent soothing thoughts to her as his heat seeped into her shivering body. “There is no way to find out without capturing one of our enemies, and they elude us at every turn.”
“Sure, there is,” Brianna pulled back to look up at him. “We can ask the faeries. They said they would help if we needed it. I would call this needing it.” Brianna chewed on her thumbnail, wondering if this was the right thing to do. Depending on Larin’s mood, he could either save them or feed them to the sharks, so to speak.
Niklas gave her an incredulous look. “The faeries? You have actually seen the Fae? Spoken to them?”
“Haven’t you? Doesn’t your world welcome them?”
Niklas nodded. “Well, yes, but there is only one left on Terrna. She resides with the witches of Nasha. The others of the FFae disappeared during the uprising. Perhaps they went to another world.” Perhaps they had gone to her world, followed Morwyyn there, to protect him.
Brianna looked thoughtful. “Or just maybe, like my world, man became jealous of their powers and immortality, and the faeries decided to remove themselves to prevent tempting the mortals.”
Niklas agreed. “Perhaps. But why would they not come now when our need is so great?”
She frowned. She didn’t have the answer to that question. “I was told that they sealed themselves away from mortals, to protect themselves and others.” She paced away from him, trying not to look at the huge ship looming on the viewscreen like the giant predator it was.
“When someone from this realm summoned them in such a manner that they could hear, they would be free to return. I summoned them. I have no idea how, but hey, what can I say?” She said with a tight smile, her hands held out to her sides.
Brianna took a deep breath, scrunched her eyes tight and thought hard. Larin, please come to me. I need you. She opened her eyes and looked around. Nothing. She turned and paced across the bridge. She hoped she was doing the right thing. Larin only came when she actually called him. So if he was going to be difficult, she could be, too. She grinned evilly just before she said, “Larin, I summon thee.”
“You don’t have to be so bossy, you know. You could just as easily say, Larin, could you come here for a minute? or Larin, I really need to talk to you. But no, you have to go and get all bossy about it,” he complained.
Larin seemed oblivious to the screams that erupted when he popped onto the bridge. He glanced nonchalantly over his shoulder, snapped his fingers and caught Minra in midair as she collapsed into a faint.
Brianna turned to see him sitting on the top of Minra’s console. His feet were dangling over the side, swinging back and forth.
“I’d be more careful calling on me in public places if I were you.” He smirked.
His right eyebrow was raised nearly to his hairline. One long braid hung in front of his left ear, tied with a leather thong. He threw her a petulant look. “Why is it you always manage to pull me from a party?”
Brianna put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “How does Morgaine stand that smart mouth of yours?”
Larin turned red. He actually looked embarrassed.
She shot him a sagacious look. “She can’t, can she? She can’t stand your mouth,” she guessed shrewdly. “That’s why she made you hang out near me, isn’t it? She most likely wanted to be rid of you for a while.”
Larin shrugged, his smile a bit strained. “Among other things, yes.” He hopped off the console and walked around the bridge. He pulled Cholo’s cap off and turned it around backward before putting it back on him. “She gets fed up with my pranks. So she sends me on these little errands.” He gave Brianna a bored look and yawned, patting his hand over his mouth. He gave Niklas a once over, leaned over and gave her a mischievous wink. “I hear he’s a good one. You did good for yourself.”
Brianna punched him in the arm and glared at him. “Why can’t you be serious for once?”
“I was being serious!” he said, appearing shocked that she would think otherwise. “The word among the ladies is that he’s a hottie.” He looked Niklas up and down, critically. “Personally I don’t see it, but,” he rolled his eyes. “They are simply drooling.”
Niklas, finally recovered from the shock of seeing Larin, grinned widely at that statement. “Did you hear that, you guys? The faery ladies like me. I’m famous.” He turned to look around the bridge and frowned when he saw all of them frozen in place.
Larin snorted. “They only think that because you are not blonde like we are.” He shrugged. “Apparently, they like variety,” he said, his lip curling.
Brianna paused, taking the time to look around. “Did you put everyone under some sort of spell or something? The alarms aren’t even going off anymore.” Looking at the viewscreen, she noticed the warship was still there, but the ominous weapons were no longer pulsing with power. It looked more like a picture. Or something from a TV show.
Larin waved a hand and shuddered. “Those annoying things? They were too loud. I could barely hear myself think. So, I paused everybody.”
“You paused everyone?” Brianna asked, bemused that he would use the word in that context.
He frowned. “Wasn’t tha
t the correct word? I read it on some stereo instructions.” He rubbed his hands together. “I love stereos, a most marvelous invention. You don’t have to put up with the musician’s incessant nagging.” He raised his voice an octave. “I don’t like this food. Get me something to drink. Yeech! You call this ambrosia?” He made a face, then glancing at the crew, he waved his hand impatiently. “They are in suspended animation. Which is why that one over there hasn’t hit the floor yet.” He cocked his head and looked at Minra. “She looks a bit uncomfortable, don’t you think?”
Minra hung in mid air. Her head was a foot or so from the floor. If she landed like that, she would probably break her neck. At the least, she’d have a very bad concussion.
The thought barely entered Brianna’s head when Larin waved his hand. Minra gently floated up and was seated in her chair, safe from harm.
Brianna smiled. “That was a nice thing to do. Thank you,” she said, turning back to face him.
“Don’t get used to it,” Larin snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. “What did you want anyway? I know you didn’t want to chat. You never want to chat.” He wrinkled his nose and spoke in a falsetto voice. “Larin, I need to speak with Morgaine. Larin, shut up. Larin, I summon thee.”
Brianna studied him closely. What was wrong with him now? He seemed, well, hurt.
“We need to know who would want to stop us from saving Terrna.” Niklas said.
Larin looked at his hand, thoroughly examined his fingernails and looked at Brianna quizzically. He stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it, then glanced at her again. “Did you hear something? I thought I heard something, but I’m not sure. I’m here to do what you ask, not to be just anyone’s slave.” He glowered.
Brianna crossed her arms. “Do you find it easy to be this difficult, or do you have to work at?”
“I work at it!” he bellowed. His Fae voice sounded eerie as it echoed over the bridge, the picture on the viewscreen wavered and flickered.
Brianna looked on with interest. She tilted her head to the right. “How do you get your face to turn purple like that? I meant to ask you about that the last time I called you.” She smirked at him. “I would consider stopping that sort of behavior. You lose cool points when you do it.”
Briannas Prophecy Page 20
