by Sadie Carter
“Saffron, open the door. I wish to come and check on you.” There. That was calm. He had not ordered her or yelled at her. He could do this. All he had to do was keep his emotions firmly in check. He was in control. He was in charge. Of course, there was going to be an adjustment period. This was unexpected for both of them. That was the only reason she reacted as she had to his rules. It did not help that the mating had not been completed. Once he joined with her things would become calmer. She would learn that he was in charge, that she was to follow his rules, that he only had her best interests at heart.
Once she realized that, she would settle down. She would become a proper mate. He would see to that. Once he got her settled, everything would be fine. But he would never become infatuated with her. Would never allow her to manipulate him like Fancia had.
When she had clear boundaries and rules to follow, she would become much calmer and happier. It should only take a week, maybe two at most.
For the first time that he could remember since Fancia, the idea of a mate did not fill him with horror. She was the complete opposite of Fancia. Loud and argumentative. Short and curvy. Single-minded and passionate.
He wondered if that passion would show itself in bed.
His shaft stirred at the thought.
He frowned, worried when she didn’t immediately open the door. Was she more hurt than she was letting on?
“Saffron? Did you not hear me? Open this door.” He bit off the now. He was trying to exercise patience. Stars, he did not know how he would find enough patience to train her to be what he expected in a mate. But he did not have a choice. Since knowing her, she had disobeyed him several times and been shot and kidnapped due to her lack of caution.
“No.”
No?
Calm. Calm.
He pounded on the door. “Saffron, open up this door immediately.”
“Go away. I’m busy.”
“Doing what?”
“I’m on the toilet.”
He frowned slightly. She had been in there a long time. “Are your bowels blocked? I can formulate a cleaner for that.”
“What? No. I’m fine.”
Hmm…he got the feeling she was lying about the bowel blockage. Another thing that she would be taught was unacceptable.
At his age, he should already have a nice biddable mate with a sweet temper who obeyed him without question. But he had a mate who hid from him. That did not sit well with him. His mate would keep nothing from him, especially not when it came to her health. His mate’s health and safety were his top priorities.
He pressed the button and the door slid open. She was not on the toilet as he had suspected. But he did not expect her to be lying on the ground.
She looked up at him with a frown. “What do you think you’re doing? I’m in the bathroom for God’s sake. You can’t just barge in whenever the hell you feel like it. What if I’d been on the toilet? What if I was naked?”
“You said you were on the toilet,” he replied calmly as he knelt next to her, studying her. There were lines of pain around her face, which was decidedly paler than it had been. She was definitely in more pain than she had been before and she was trying to hide it from him.
Could he move her? Obviously, this position gave her the greatest amount of relief. Or had she fallen and couldn’t get up?
“Did you fall?” he asked gruffly, running his hands over her, checking for injuries. “Why did you not call out for me immediately?”
“Get your hands off me! And no, I didn’t fall. I just thought I’d lie down for a bit. Quite comfy on this floor. Cool. And the toilet’s not far. Think I’ll just move in here until we get off this ship. You can have the bed.”
He only listened with half an ear as he ensured that she wasn’t injured anywhere else.
“I am going to pick you up.”
“No!” she screamed.
He paused, surprised at the fear in her voice. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him.
“Please, Moroco, just let me lie here until I am ready to get up. It will get better if I just lie still.”
Letting her lie here on the cold floor of the bathing room was completely unacceptable to him. What was also unacceptable was that she thought he would harm her.
And how would she know differently considering he had caused this by grabbing her?
“Saffron, you cannot remain here on the floor.”
“Why not? Like I said, it’s comfy and the toilet is right there.”
“And how will you reach the toilet if you have the need to use it?”
She closed her eyes briefly. “Well, luckily, I don’t. And when I do, I will figure it out.”
By dragging herself over and onto the toilet. No. Not acceptable.
“I am going to pick you up.”
“I’ve had this issue with my back for years and the only thing to do is take a muscle relaxer and lie very, very still.”
“Which you can do.” He saw her eyes flare with surprise. “From the bed.”
“My God, you are hard-headed. You think you know what’s best for everyone else, don’t you?”
“Not everyone, but for you. Yes. I do.”
She gritted her teeth. “Fine. Do it.”
He studied her for a moment. “Can you relax as much as possible?”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that.”
“Good.” If only she was as obedient in all things, they might actually reach friendly terms. His life would definitely be easier.
“You guys have got to learn what sarcasm is.”
He pulled her legs up slowly, slipping one hand behind her knees, then he slid his other arm beneath her back. She winced, hissing slightly.
“One pull. It will hurt, but it will be over quickly.”
“What? Wait, I …owww.” He lifted her high and carried her to the bed where he gently laid her on her front. “Ow…crap…that hurt, damn it.”
“But now you will be much more comfortable on the bed than on that floor.” He could not believe she thought he would leave her there.
“Don’t suppose you have that pain killer handy?”
“I will look for one.” He searched through the sleeping and bathing area. Nothing. Stars.
“Can’t find one?” She stared up at him. Her eyes were slightly glassy looking. He reached for her pulse, cursing the fact that he didn’t have his med-wand with him.
“No. I will have to ask the Sky Warriors for one.” Which he was reluctant to do. The less attention he brought to them the better. He did not want them near his mate, especially when she was in pain and vulnerable.
“You can’t ask them for one. We can’t let them see that I’m hurt. You’ve got to present a strong front to the enemy; any weakness and they will pounce.” He stared down at her in surprise. “What?”
“I am just surprised you realize that.”
She shrugged then hissed. “I know what it’s like to deal with people who would think nothing of hurting you. Although, I don’t think these guys are as bad as I first thought they were.”
“Do not mistake them for anything than what they are,” he warned her. “They are ruthless, their social morals are few, they live by their own rules. They take the most dangerous and risky jobs in the universe. All they care about is each other.”
“I guess I just have to wait out the pain then, huh?” She winced but didn’t complain. He couldn’t help but feel impressed.
“No. I think I have another way of easing the pain.” He held up a small bottle of oil he discovered in the bathing area.
“What’s that?”
“Oil. I shall simply massage the area of your back that hurts. That will ease the pain and allow you to sleep.” He sat next to her and pulled up the shirt. “Stop tensing.”
Stop tensing? Was he for real? He was pulling up her top, about to bare her upper half and he wanted her to stop tensing?
“Relax.”
“I can’t.”
“I am not goi
ng to hurt you.”
“Uh-huh, sure.” Because that’s what she was worried about. The pain in her back was pretty intense. But the ache in her back had nothing on the ache coursing through the rest of her body. He poured oil on her back and started to rub his hands along her skin.
At first his touch was light. So light it was almost ticklish, but then he started to rub a bit harder. She groaned as he pushed into tight muscles, slowly loosening them. Jesus, when was the last time she’d had a massage? Back when she’d first hurt her back and had to visit physio three times a week for six months.
Damn Ricky anyway.
“Tell me when I touch a sore part. There is a lot of tension in your body. Those stretches I talked about earlier could help with your back pain.”
Would he give it up about the stretches? She got it. She was fat and tense and lazy.
“You are supposed to be relaxing not growing more tense.” He pulled her top up a bit more. “If I had clothing for you to change into, I could tear this off you.”
Tear it off her? Oh hell, those words did not just make her clit throb. He means so he can get to my back, not so he can have his wicked way with me, idiot.
Oh, and she bet it would be wicked. She might not know much about men or sex, but even she could see that all that pent-up tension he held would turn into something hot…very hot.
And definitely more than she could handle.
She drew in a sharp breath as he hit a tender spot on her back.
“There it is.” His movements grew lighter and she eventually started to relax. He pushed a little deeper and she groaned.
He stilled. “I am hurting you.”
“If you stop I will kill you. Seriously. Do. Not. Stop.”
A moment of pause then he started again. Her whole body was soon a pile of mush as he worked on her sore muscles, knot by agonizing knot. She didn’t know how much time passed but when he stopped she was close to sleep.
“I’m going to roll you over and work on your front.”
“Sure. Whatever. Knock yourself out.” Right now, he could do a naked striptease and she doubted she could summon the energy to care. Although a naked Moroco was a sight she really shouldn’t miss. He rolled her carefully but her back didn’t even pinch. “You have magic hands.”
He snorted. “I am going to take your top off.”
He sat her up then helped rid her of her top. She lay back just in her bra and skirt and for once she didn’t feel self-conscious about her extra rolls. She didn’t care so long as he didn’t stop touching her. He moved to sit next to her head and started rubbing her shoulders and neck.
Heaven.
“Seriously. You could charge a fortune for massages like that. I’d pay. Especially if you took your top off as well.”
He paused. Whoops. Probably shouldn’t have said that. She didn’t have much control over her mouth right now. He ran his fingers up her neck then dug them into the back of her head.
Oh. God.
She whimpered.
“I hurt you.”
“Moroco, seriously, I have never felt such pleasure in my life.”
He ran his hands down her chest so the tips of his fingers touched the top of her breasts. Was it deliberate? He did it again. Maybe not. Damn, it really did feel good, though. Her nipples hardened, pressing against her bra.
“Then you have obviously been allowing the wrong sort of males to pleasure you,” he commented in a rough voice. He sounded pissed off but his touch was gentle. His fingers lingered on her breasts and she took in a rough breath.
This was probably a stupid idea. She should roll away from him. Tell him she’d had enough. Stop him from touching her.
Ohhh, but she really didn’t want to.
“I’ve never had any sort of male pleasure me.”
“You are untouched?”
“No. I’ve had sex. It was a disaster.” He ran his palms over her breasts, pressing against her nipples, and she groaned.
Clit throbbing, she wiggled her hips, pressing her thighs together to get some relief.
“Lie still.” He ran his thumbs up the tight muscles of her neck and she melted. Holy shit.
“My back feels good now, no pain.”
“That is good.” He ran his hands down her chest once more this time cupping her breasts and circling her hard nipples with his thumbs.
“Moroco!” She arched her back.
He paused. “I said lie still.”
How the hell did he expect her to do that? But once she forced her body to relax, he continued his gentle massage of her nipples. Her breath grew faster, her arousal growing.
“Tell me about this male,” he demanded as he pushed the cups of her bra down, exposing first one breast then the other. She stiffened.
“This is a bad idea.”
“I disagree.” He moved, coming to sit beside her, facing her. Leaning down, he licked one nipple.
She closed her eyes with a whimper. Shit. How could she be so aroused already? That just the touch of his tongue on her nipple had her wanting to beg him for more. This wasn’t her. She didn’t give herself over to her needs like this. She didn’t have needs like this.
Or so she’d thought.
Frigid bitch.
“No. Do not tense up.” He lightly pinched her nipple making her gasp and open her eyes. “Keep your eyes on me.”
He gently licked the nipple he’d just squeezed, turning that small bit of pain into a world of delight. He looked up at her as he flicked his tongue over her nipple, his fingers light plucking her other nipple.
“You are very sensitive here. I shall have to be careful not to hurt you. Or to send you over before I decide you may find your release.”
“You decide? You like to be control in the bedroom, don’t you?”
“I am always in control.”
“So am I.” She tried to claw back some command of the situation but he chose that moment to reach up under her skirt and palm her mound. The heat of his hand felt like an electric shock to her clit and she cried out, arching up.
“Lie still.” He bit her nipple in retribution, but the pain only seemed to add to her pleasure. “I won’t have you hurting your back.”
The last thing she was thinking about right now was her back.
He circled her clit with one rough finger. “Moroco! Moroco, I need…”
“You need release. I can see that. Tell me, how often do you give yourself release?”
What? It took a moment for her to comprehend his words. When she did, her mouth dropped open and she gaped up at him. “You did not just ask me how often I masturbate.”
“I believe I did.”
“I’m not telling you that! It’s private!”
He plunged two fingers deep inside her and she screamed. Oh God. Oh God. She was so close. He stilled, staring down at her, his amber gaze intense, his face serious.
“Nothing is private between the two of us. You will tell me everything. Do you understand?”
She stared into his eyes, his face fierce and proud. And she knew why he demanded full honesty. She just didn’t know how she could give him that.
“It’s embarrassing.”
He pulled his fingers out and plunged them deep. Oh God! She felt so full. How was she ever going to take his cock if just his two fingers filled her up?
“Please. Please.”
“Poor marlia,” he murmured. “You are so full of need. I am guessing it is not often you give yourself relief.”
“Hardly ever,” she sobbed as he rubbed her clit lightly.
“And this male you joined with? He did not give you pleasure?”
She shook her head. That light touch on her clit just wasn’t enough to send her over. She clenched her thighs together, her pussy clamping down on his fingers.
He made a strangled noise, his jaw clenched as though in pain. “You are gripping my fingers so tight it makes me wonder what you will feel like around my shaft.”
“Then why don’
t you find out?”
He shook his head and disappointment filled her. He didn’t want her? But no, his gaze was full of arousal, his body tightly coiled.
“I do not wish to hurt your back. I will wait.”
“My back is fine. Better than it’s felt in ages. Fuck me.”
“No. We will wait. You must learn to obey me without argument.”
She snorted. “Good luck with that.” She groaned as he flicked her clit once more. So close. So close.
“Oh, I think I have some idea of how to teach you.”
Later she’d work up some outrage over his words but right now all she wanted was to come.
“Moroco, stop teasing me.”
“I am not teasing you. I am waiting for you to answer my question. You will not come until you do so.”
“You’re an asshole.” She reached one hand down to her clit. If he wasn’t going to make her come she’d just have to take care of matters herself.
He captured her hand, giving her a stern look as he grabbed both her wrists in his hand and pulled them above her head. “Do not resist me, you will only hurt yourself.”
“If you were that concerned about hurting me then you would put me out of my misery.”
“Oh, that is not misery you feel, marlia.”
Marlia. She hadn’t heard that word before. She wondered what it meant. It sounded soft. Sweet. Nothing like her. And yet, she liked the sound of it coming from his lips. It felt intimate. Something between just the two of them. No one had ever given her a nickname before.
Well, nothing pleasant anyway. She’d been called a bitch often enough that it felt like a nickname at times.
“It is need. And you will get some relief as soon as you tell me about this male who treated you so badly.” He licked her nipple then blew across it, making her shiver.
“It was nothing. Just a quick fuck in the backseat of his car.”
He raised his head, looking down at her in shock and outrage. “A car is a mode of transport, yes? And fuck is joining.”
“Yes. Could we stop talking and you know…”
“A male joined with you your first time in the back of a…a…” he couldn’t get the words out.
“Yes, and it was awful and humiliating and painful and I’d really rather not talk about it right now.”
