Festive & Seduced

by Shelley Munro

  This time she wouldn’t let him set their pace.

  She pressed their foreheads together, heard his swift intake of breath secs before she kissed him. Instead of plunging into the kiss, she brushed his lips, nibbled on the bottom one. She kept the exchange easy and nonthreatening, pleased when the tension dissolved from his big shoulders. Bypassing the deep, drugging kisses she craved, Camryn fingered the corner of his mouth and kissed her away across his smooth jaw. Great invention—that stop-beard stuff—although part of her mourned the bristle of stubble against her tender skin.

  Caresses. Kisses. Strokes. Licks.

  The sensual touches flowed one into another until her entire body soared like a kite on the wind, plunging, swooping, cresting. Ry groaned under her ministrations, his strong arms wrapping around her until nothing separated their bodies. Camryn’s eyes drifted shut, her heart drumming against her ribs. God, she wanted him, needed the intimate connection so much.

  Warmth bloomed between her legs, the craving so intense she thought she might beg if Ry reverted to his usual behavior.

  She licked his nipple, added a hint of teeth and reveled in his husky groan of pleasure.

  “Touch my breasts.” A please hovered on her lips as she waited for his hesitation.

  Talented fingers shaped her breasts, tugged on her nipples in the way he knew she enjoyed. Their gazes met, his love for her in his green eyes. As always, the wonder of having this love filled her with happiness, made her whole.

  Without breaking their connection, he moved down her body. Her heartbeat stuttered even as her throat tightened. He wouldn’t do this to her again. Surely?

  “I love you,” he whispered, and he parted her folds. His finger flitted over her clit, then pushed into her heat. Her next breath caught, the stroke of his finger, the push deeper into her channel. His finger hit a sensitive spot, and when his mouth settled over her nub, pleasure roared through her, fast and furious, her climax out of control. Too big, too fast for her to hold back her enjoyment. The spasms of her pussy continued for long moments, squeezing and releasing Ry’s finger, the tension in her body dispersing until she floated on the bliss of the occasion.

  He lifted his head and slowly licked her juices from his lips. “Good?”

  “Yes.” Tension of a different sort claimed her, coursing through her muscles until she almost vibrated. “Fuck me, Ry. Let me return the pleasure, show you how much I love you.”

  One of the twins started to wail and Ry levered away from her. “I’ll go and see what the problem is.”

  Camryn started to follow Ry, then flopped back on the bed. That had been relief she’d seen in his expression. He’d given her satisfaction, but he didn’t want her to return the favor.

  Favor. No. Hell no. At first, he’d let her suck him off, but lately, he hadn’t even allowed her to do that. He seemed interested. One glance at his swollen cock told her that. So what the hell was his problem? She’d given him permission, and he’d told her he loved her.

  If there were clues there, then she’d missed them because she had no idea what was going on in her mate’s head.

  * * * * *

  “Sheera and I contacted my uncle to see if it was possible to recreate your Christmas traditions. We showed him the depictions and I told him everything you described.” Leeam’s pale face actually bore a shimmer of excitement and he bounced up and down on his sneakered toes. Today he wore a bright blue T-shirt featuring a wolf and a faded denim vest with his jeans.

  “I helped,” Sheera said. “The girls told me different things.”

  Their excitement was contagious, and spread to Ry. Camryn and the others would love this, and it would give Lynx, Shiloh and Ellard a taste of something they talked about often.

  “How would this work?” he asked.

  “Uncle Niran suggested we conjure a sphere or a globe and create your Christmas inside this area. To view it everyone would enter via a door. We could only power it for a short time. Maybe three cycles.”

  “I like it,” Lynx said.

  “But how would you power it all?” Ellard asked, ever practical and cautious when it came to the Incorporeal couple.

  “That’s one part that Uncle Niran needs to check, but he thinks he’ll require half a dozen of our older mated couples plus him to power the Christmas experience. If this goes ahead, the cycle eve before we start conjuring you’d all need to produce extra energy for us. We’re going to expend a lot of energy, so you’ll need to return the favor,” Leeam said.

  Ry froze at the revelation. He couldn’t make love to Camryn. What if he made her pregnant?

  “We can do that.” Shiloh’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. “We can have a lot of fun.”

  “You can store energy, right?” Ellard asked.

  “Yes, Sheera and I can do that.”

  “Good. If your uncle gives the go-ahead, we can start straightaway,” Lynx said.

  “Can you skim energy from the surrounding residences?” There must be some way out of this situation. Ry couldn’t veto this idea when he knew how much pleasure it would bring Camryn and their friends. Tradition was important, and he wanted this for his children. Phrull it. No matter which way he moved, he couldn’t win.

  “Yes, we’ll do that as well so we’re all as strong as possible, although we’ll have to take care not to overstep our boundaries. We Incorporeal people have ethics and don’t like to steal our energy.”

  “What if we explained to the soldiers that we have a special project underway?” Shiloh asked. “What if we request them to make love to their partners and tell them Mogens is conducting energy tests and researching sexual absorption rates to make a special treat for everyone? Make it technical and their brains will halt at the first mention of sex anyway. Tell them they’re serving their city, their planet and their king, and they’ll do their best to obey.”

  Lynx snorted but didn’t disagree. “I’m in favor. If your uncle agrees, we’d love to be able to do this. Could we keep it a secret, so we can surprise our ladies? Tell the soldiers it’s a hush-hush project, and if we manage to keep it quiet we’ll offer each of them a special bonus.”

  Sheera clapped her hands together. “I was going to suggest that myself. I think they’ll enjoy a treat like this. It will give us great joy to share this tradition with you.”

  “Would it be possible for others in our community to visit as well?” Lynx asked. “The soldiers should have the option if they’re contributing.”

  “Yes, we think this can be done. I’ll be able to answer more of your questions once we make a design and discuss the things you think we should focus on.”

  Lynx frowned. “Jannike and the others are busy making the decorations for the tree. That might give us space to plan what to include. We need to find a place to discuss what we should include. Somewhere private.”

  “The Indy. Nanu and I were planning to do some routine maintenance anyway,” Ry said.

  Shiloh glanced at Lynx and smiled. “Perfect. We’ll help to speed up the maintenance and then we can plan how we’ll celebrate Christmas.”

  * * * * *

  The main castle reception room

  “Did Ry say what he was doing today?” Jannike asked.

  Camryn thought back to her morning and the aborted lovemaking. Ry hadn’t come back to bed. He’d settled the twins, helping her feed them, then Nanu had knocked on their door and asked about their regular maintenance on the Indy. “Yes, they’re working on the Indy.”

  “Why?” Kaya asked. “We don’t have any charters scheduled.”

  Camryn scowled inwardly, hoping to keep her feelings to herself. A job would be good. None of them enjoyed seeing the Indy parked at the station, idle instead of flying through space.

  “I guess Ry wants to be prepared. He said something about a test flight.”

  Jannike lurched to her feet and waddled around the room, dodging the heavy furniture and the art objects collected by the previous queen, Lynx’s mother, during her term in
office. She paused to stare at a clawed figure that seemed to be fighting its way from the prison of rock confining it, cocked her head then scowled and moved to a window overlooking the square. “I would have liked to go on a test flight. I’m second-in-command. Why didn’t Ry and Nanu mention it to me?”

  “I suppose they decided you’d be busy or wouldn’t want to go in your condition,” Kaya said.

  “I don’t have a condition,” Jannike snapped and turned to Gweneth. “Do you have a condition?”

  “Nope,” Gweneth said with a grin. Her grin died and her expression drifted then cleared. “Ellard is going to be away all day, doing something with the guards. Something to do with security. That’s strange. He’s been delegating tasks recently so he can spend part of the cycle with me. We’d planned on a picnic today. Ellard canceled.”

  “Nanu and I were going out for lunch. He’s met a woman and wanted me to meet her,” Kaya said. “He called me earlier and asked if we could do it on another cycle. He canceled his date. It struck me as odd since he’s so goo-goo over her.”

  “Nanu has a woman?” Jannike waddled past their naked Christmas tree, placed in a position by two double windows and crossed the room to stand by the gel-chair she’d vacated mere mins earlier. “Why didn’t I know this?”

  “I didn’t know either,” Camryn said slowly. “Things are different now.” And she didn’t like the changes. No, not quite true. Their lives were better now. Safer, which was important now that they were parents. “Do you know if they’ve left yet?” She focused on Ry and winged a mental query his way. She repeated the thought. Nothing. Radio silence. “Jannike, see if you can raise either of your men. Gweneth, you try to contact Ellard mentally too.”

  Both women concentrated and Camryn repeated her call to Ry with the same result.

  Odd.

  “Neither Lynx nor Shiloh are answering me,” Jannike reported. “Which is weird, considering they’re jumpy about the pregnancy. They’re worried I’ll pop without warning.”

  Kaya studied Jannike’s bulging stomach. “Quite possible.”

  “Shut up,” Jannike said.

  “Don’t start.” Camryn’s snappish tone drew their wide-eyed stares. Crap, her problems with Ry weren’t their fault. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

  “I thought the twins were sleeping through the night. Wonder kids, according to Mogens,” Kaya said.

  “The guys are up to something.” Camryn ignored Kaya’s comment.

  “Does it matter?” Gweneth asked. “At least they’re not here bossing us around and telling us what to do.”

  “Good point.” Camryn’s tone emerged dust-dry. “A little peace might be nice.”

  “Something is going on,” Jannike said.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of the mystery soon.” Camryn turned to glance up at the tree the men had cut and dragged into the castle. “Meantime, what are we going to use for decorations?”

  Jannike plodded up to stand beside Camryn. “Where is Sheera? We could ask her to conjure decorations. She might agree if Gweneth asks her.”

  “Did I hear my name?” Sheera asked as she ambled into the reception room and halted in front of the tree. She regarded it with a distinct air of satisfaction.

  “Where is the fun in that?” Gweneth demanded. “I’d rather improvise and make our own decorations.”

  “Like what?” Kaya asked. “We didn’t make any when we were on Earth.”

  “Because we didn’t need to when we had boxes of baubles.” Camryn thought about the things in the market, possible items they could make into decorations. “When I was a girl we used to make paper chains. The paper stuff here might work. Or pieces of replicator fabric—the flimsy grade.” She clicked her fingers. “I know. One year my mother made gingerbread cookies and we hung them on our tree. We could make something like that and decorate them.”

  “Leeam is calling me,” Sheera said without warning, and she blinked out of sight before Camryn could ask her to let them know of Ry’s activities.

  “Sheera won’t spy for us. She and Leeam have made that clear,” Gweneth said. “It’s part of their code. Just as we’re not meant to ask for things. It’s up to the Incorporeal people to gift us with items because we deserve them.”

  Jannike shared a sly grin. “That won’t stop us from interrogating her.”

  Chapter 4

  The Indy, Viros Space Port

  “You need a distraction,” Sheera reported. “Otherwise the surprise is going to be spoiled.”

  “They’re on to us?” Ry’s gaze speared to the Incorporeal woman, bright as a peacock in her turquoise top, her multi-colored scarf and tight black jeans with red boots. “Camryn?”

  “Yes, from what I heard before I entered the reception room. The tree looks perfect by the windows.” She rubbed her hands together, an air of excitement radiating from her. “I can’t wait to see the next stage.”

  “I thought the decorations would keep them busy,” Ellard said.

  Pride puffed out Ry’s chest as he thought of his mate and their friends. “Not my crew. We need something else for a diversion.”

  “You need a quick distraction,” Sheera insisted with a sense of urgency. “Think fast.”

  Ellard snorted out a laugh. “It’s easy to see who you’ve been spending your time with.”

  Sheera straightened, her pale chin lifting while her glacier-blue pupils almost disappeared in the white of her irises. Pure attitude. Ry felt his lips quiver. He’d seen that behavior before from Camryn, from Jannike, from Gweneth.

  Ry searched faces. “Any suggestions?”

  “Didn’t they stop a pickpocket the other day?” Ellard asked.

  “No. No. Jannike is pregnant,” Lynx said. “We can’t have her running after lowlives in her condition.”

  Ellard scowled. “I’m not suggesting that. Get one of your lady friends to approach them with a case of blackmail. Tell them she heard about the way they stopped the pickpocket.”

  Shiloh frowned at his brother. “And if they ask why she hasn’t reported it to the new lawman?”

  “If she says it’s an affair with the wrong person. She made a bad mistake and now it threatens her family. Something along those lines would engage their sympathy,” Ry said. “I think it might work or at least offer the distraction we need while we finalize our plans.”

  * * * * *

  The stalls along First Upper Street blazed with color and a variety of languages filled the air. Thanks to an update in their translators, Camryn could understand most of the chatter.

  “Jeebugs! Jeebugs! Fresh from Dalcon,” a creaky feminine voice called.

  Camryn took one look, heard a gagging sound from Jannike when she spied the wriggling, slimy bright yellow bugs. She slipped an arm around Jannike and subtly guided her to the central steps, which led down to the next level. Camryn caught a glimpse of Gweneth’s face and hastened her pace. Foreign foods, and especially wriggly, slimy ones, didn’t fit well with pregnant felines.

  Food stalls still dominated Second Upper Street, so Camryn led the women down to the next level via the central stairs.

  “Look,” Gweneth said, reverence in her voice. “That furnishing store has a load of beads in their window. If we make the cookies to decorate and find out where these strings of beads come from, that should be enough.”

  A quick inquiry at the furnishing store led them to a stall on Second Lower Street. It was easy to see their destination from the central stairs because the stall glittered like a beacon in a street of beige.

  Beige clothing. Beige tiles. Beige… Oh my god!

  Caterpillars. Jannike and Gweneth would barf if they glimpsed the hairy, writhing larvae. Their bellies glistened with each wiggle and a strange smell wafted from the flat vessel corralling them.

  Gweneth clapped a hand over her mouth, gaze dancing wildly, searching for the source.

  “What is the horrid smell?” Kaya demanded.

  The petite Redd woman manni
ng the stall beamed at their interest, not at all perturbed by the gagging croaks coming from Jannike. “Barbas grubs. A great delicacy. Would you like to try one?” She plucked up one of the grubs and thrust it at Kaya.

  Kaya took an abrupt step back, retreating as the eager retailer attempted to push her wares. “Halt,” she barked, her hand straying to the weapon housed in her hip holster.

  Sensing danger, Camryn grasped Kaya’s forearm, nails—the beginnings of feline claws—digging into the soft skin.

  Kaya turned her ire on Camryn. “What the fuck?”

  “You can’t shoot her for enthusiastic marketing,” Camryn said, squeezing her forearm again in warning. “Thank you for the offer, ma’am, but we’ve just eaten, and we’re in a hurry. Let’s go.”

  The stall of beads presented some wonderful new ideas for decorations, and each of them chose ten different items to add to the tree. Camryn handed over currency and, triumphant, they climbed up the main stairs toward the square outside the castle. Their ascent was a lot slower since Jannike needed to haul her bulk upward.

  “I told you Camryn and I should have done the shopping,” Kaya said.

  “I’m pregnant not helpless,” Jannike barked. “Cease your complaints and help me up the stairs.”

  Kaya pressed her lips together, eyes still snapping in temper from her earlier encounter with the caterpillar saleswoman. “Don’t even think about asking me to give you a hoist from the rear.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Jannike said sweetly. “You can kiss my queenly arse.”

  Camryn spluttered out a laugh while Kaya muttered a rude word and elbowed past Jannike and Gweneth.

  “Give me the shopping,” she ordered, her blue hair swinging in an agitated arc with each of her stomping steps. “I’ll tote it to the reception room. Camryn, hail me on your com if you want me to send transport for these two.” With a final jerk of her head in Jannike’s direction, she sped up the stairs with nimble grace.

  “I hate her,” Jannike mumbled, although this time her words lacked heat.

  “She does seem snappier than normal,” Camryn said.

  “Ellard told me she broke up with the sexy guard,” Gweneth informed them. “Her newest conquest after the male with two cocks. Evidently, he’d been sleeping with another woman at the same time. Kaya went to surprise the guard and found him in bed with the other woman. Ellard got a call about it early this morn.”