by Presley Hall
“Her name is Willow,” Raina says, speaking up beside me.
“I found her in Pascia,” Bohrir rumbles as he glances down at the petite woman with dark red hair. “She was being held by pirates. I went to their hideout searching for the stolen diamantum, and although I didn’t find it there, I did see her. She was banished to Nuthora along with them just for being their captive while they committed crimes.” His voice lowers, and although I’ve rarely heard him angry, I can hear the thread of fury in his tone. “She didn’t deserve that fate. I couldn’t leave her there.”
Droth’s gaze is still on the woman, but his lips press together as he listens to Bohrir’s words.
“You are welcome to remain with us,” he tells Willow. He gestures to Charlotte, Elizabeth, and the other gathered Terran women. “As you can see, others of your species have made a home with us, and for as long as we are on this planet, I can offer you the same protection and safety that I offered them. If the day comes when we’re able to leave Nuthora, we will bring you with us if you so desire.”
Willow stares at him for a long moment before responding, and I have a flash of worry that even though she never tried to run away from us on the journey back here, she’s still going to reject his offer.
But she doesn’t.
She doesn’t say anything at all, just nods stiffly, jerking her chin up and down once.
“We’re glad to have you with us, Willow,” Charlotte says softly, stepping forward. “Will you come with me? I can show you around the village. And Elizabeth is a doctor, so she can take a look at you and make sure you’re okay. We don’t have all the amenities of a doctor’s office back on Earth, but her mate Axen helped her build a medical facility here, and it’s served us very well.”
Elizabeth moves forward to join her friend, giving Willow a warm smile. The petite Terran women looks at both of them with almost as much fear and mistrust as she has in her eyes when she looks at me or my fellow warriors, and my heart sinks a little.
So much for my hopes that seeing more of her kind would put her at ease. She looks as wary and diffident as ever as they lead her away.
Raina watches them go with her lips pursed in a grimace, and I slide my fingers through hers and squeeze her hand. Hopefully, time and experience will teach Willow that we truly mean what we say, and that none of us are a threat to her.
Once the three women are gone, Droth turns back to us. “Clean up and settle back in. The hunters should be back soon, so we can reconvene for the evening meal. Thank you all. You’ve done a great deal for the village.”
I can feel each of my fellow warriors standing taller as they accept Droth’s praise, and I squeeze Raina’s hand again.
As difficult as the mission was, it was well worth it.
In so many ways.
27
Raina
After dropping off the other items we traded for in Pascia in the communal storehouse, Kaide and I split up briefly to return to our respective dwellings. As I walk away from him, I swear I can feel a physical tug in my chest like a string pulled taut.
This is the first time we haven’t been together in over a week and a half, and it’s surprising how strange it feels. I spent so many years accustomed to being alone, but now that Kaide is in my life, it feels odd not to have him at my side.
There was a time when that would’ve freaked me out—that attachment to another person. I would’ve thought it made me too weak. Too vulnerable.
But the way I feel about Kaide doesn’t make me weak at all.
It makes me stronger.
A smile spreads across my face at that thought, and I do my unpacking quickly, then head to the small spring in the forest near the far side of the village to bathe quickly. I’m half hoping I’ll run into Kaide there, but he either already washed up or hasn’t made it out here yet.
The water feels wonderful anyway, and I take my time scrubbing the days of hard travel off my skin. When I step out of the water, I use a piece of cloth to dry myself a little, wringing out my hair before picking up the small pile of clothing I laid out for myself.
I hold out the leather top, eyeing it up for a moment to make sure I understand how it’s supposed to go on. Once I’ve got it secured around my torso, I pick up the skirt. It’s made of leather too, just like the loincloths all the men wear. Elizabeth and Charlotte, who were the first of us to give up their old Earth clothes and start wearing modified loincloths as tops and skirts, made some extras for ladies who wanted to do the same.
I tie the skirt around my waist, bending a little this way and that to make sure I’m not about to flash someone by accident. When I’m satisfied that I won’t, I slip on my shoes. Then I lean over the clear water of the spring to try to catch a glimpse of my reflection.
“Not bad,” I murmur to myself, grinning.
It was time.
Letting go of my old clothes isn’t just a symbolic acceptance of the new person I’ve become. There’s a practical element to it as well. The clothes I brought to Pascia went through a lot, and they’ve definitely reached the point where one more wash and wear would probably destroy them.
Anyway, I’m done holding on to things from the past, whether it’s old clothes or old ways of looking at the world.
I’m done holding on to things that no longer fit me.
Turning away from the placid spring, I gather up my discarded clothes and head back toward the village. The sun is beginning to set, and as if to remind me that it’s almost dinnertime, my stomach growls loudly. The women’s lodgings are nearly empty when I step inside to drop my clothes off, but Felicity and Ivy are still inside, sitting on Ivy’s bed as they talk in quiet voices. They both look up and grin at me, and I smile and wave back.
This little village really is starting to feel like home.
I’m too hungry to wait for them, so I slip back outside and start making my way toward the fire pit, following the smell of cooking meat. Kaide meets me when I’m about halfway there, and the strange emptiness that bloomed in my chest when we were apart is replaced with a comforting sort of warmth.
His eyes light up when he sees me, and then darken again as his gaze travels down my body.
My skin prickles with awareness, and liquid arousal pools in my belly.
Fuck. He’s looking at me like he wants to eat me. Like I’m the only meal he’ll ever need.
I close the last few feet of space between us and go up onto my tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. I can feel his heart thudding beneath my palms as I rest them on his chest, and he wraps his arms around me, his large hands settling on the bare strip of skin at my lower back between my top and my skirt.
“I take it you like my new look?” I ask with a chuckle, my lips still brushing against his.
“Yes.”
His answer comes immediately, the word almost a growl as he pulls me tighter against him. I like the fact that even though he’ll banter with me and tease me, he also never leaves me in doubt of how much he wants me. Not that I’ve ever been the kind of girl who needs constant reassurances, but after going for so long without romantic gestures or sweet words, it’s nice to be with a man who gives them freely, who never holds back in expressing his feelings for me.
Our kiss deepens, and we only break apart when my stomach growls again.
He steps back, laughing as he adjusts his loincloth over his half-hard cock. “Come on. I promised you I’d take care of you, and that includes keeping you fed.”
Reaching out to take my hand, he laces our fingers together, and we head toward the fire pit side by side. The other Voxerans who went on the trading mission with us are already there, and I hear Orin and Ochar regaling a few of their fellow warriors with stories of our adventure.
I glance around, searching for Willow, and find her sitting on a log near Elizabeth, Charlotte, and their mates. She’s eating, which is good, but the stiffness of her posture makes it look like she’d rather be almost anywhere else in the universe.
Dammit. I hope she can let go of some of her distrust and open up a little so that we can help her more.
Then again, I know I’m not really one to talk about letting go of distrust and opening up. I feel like I’ve come a long way, but it took me a while to get here—and I had to do it on my own time, in my own way. I’m not sure that anybody else could’ve sped that process up for me, and I’m grateful as hell that Kaide had the patience to wait for me.
I settle onto an open seat near the fire as Kaide goes to get us both some food. A few Voxerans come up and talk to us while we eat, wanting to know more about our trip, but I let Kaide do most of the talking since I’m too busy stuffing my face.
When the edge of hunger in my belly is finally blunted, I stand up to stretch my legs. My muscles are still a bit tired from all the walking over the past several days, and I wobble slightly as I straighten. Without missing a beat, Kaide reaches up to steady me, his hand warm and solid against my back.
I recover my balance quickly and turn to look down at him, a sudden memory flashing through my mind of the night I almost pitched face first into the fire. Kaide was there to steady me then too—and that was the night we realized we’re mates.
Turning toward him, I catch his hand in mine and pull gently, tugging him to his feet. He follows my silent urging without hesitation, curiosity burning in his eyes as he looks down at me.
I let a smile curve my lips right before I wrap my arms around his neck and go up onto my toes, kissing him as deeply and as thoroughly as I can. The Voxerans and humans around us all react, some people whooping and hollering while others whistle or clap. My smile widens, even though I don’t stop kissing Kaide.
Let them all see.
I want everyone in the village—hell, everyone on the planet—to know how I feel about this man.
Kaide is grinning too. I can feel the vibrations in his chest as he chuckles softly, and I can also feel the press of his cock against my belly as it throbs and thickens a little. Heat spreads through me like a wildfire, and suddenly, the kiss takes on a whole new meaning entirely. My heart is beating harder, my breath coming faster, and I don’t want this to ever end.
It takes all my self-control to keep from giving our fellow villagers way more of a show than I ever meant to. Reluctantly, I pull my lips away from Kaide’s, but only so I can grab his hand and drag him away from the fire pit.
The whoops and cheers follow us, and I’m laughing as we practically race through the quiet streets of the settlement, heading toward Kaide’s hut. Before we even make it, he stops, pulling me into his arms and kissing me again. I don’t resist, wrapping my legs around him as he lifts me up, my tongue sliding between his lips as our kiss deepens.
I’m not wearing underwear, and when my skirt rides up, my bare pussy presses against the hard plane of his lower belly. I grind against him a little, moaning into his mouth, and he responds with an answering groan.
I’m vaguely aware that he’s walking, but I don’t even pay attention to where he’s going. I can’t. He’s overtaking my senses, and all my mind has room for is thoughts of him—of how good he feels pressed against me like this, of how firm and full his lips are, of how he growls into my mouth as he kisses me feverishly.
When we reach his hut, he shoves the door open with one hand, then shuts it behind us as he carries me inside.
It’s dark in the interior, lit only by the ambient light coming through the small window, and I close my eyes, expecting Kaide to lay me down on the bed and be inside me in less than a second.
But instead, he sets me down on my feet and steps back.
My legs wobble again, although it’s for an entirely different reason than sore muscles this time. I open my eyes and stare at him as he takes two steps back from me, running his hungry gaze up and down my body.
His voice is strained with desire when he meets my eyes again.
“I wanted you so badly that first night, my kira. The night I realized you were my mate. I thought I would never feel a desire as intense as that for as long as I lived. But I was wrong. Every day since then, with every new thing I’ve learned about you and every moment we’ve shared, my need for you has only grown. I want you…” He trails off, reaching down to fist his cock, which is so hard that it’s shoved his loincloth aside. His body shudders, and his nostrils flare. “I want you with every fiber of my being. I want all of you. And tonight, I want to explore every bit of my mate.”
I grin, even though it’s a little shaky. My pulse is racing, not just from arousal, but from the same need he just described. It goes deeper than anything physical, and it makes me desperate to have his hands on me.
Keeping my gaze locked on him, I reach up to peel off my top. Then I undo my skirt and shimmy out of it, tossing it to the floor along with the first garment. Kaide’s cloud-gray eyes flare wide, glinting in the dim light. Then he tugs off his loincloth and steps forward, lifting me and setting me on his bed.
He crawls onto the mattress with me, dropping his head to nuzzle between my breast before dragging his tongue over my skin. He finds one nipple and circles it, making the little bud draw into a hard peak. Then he moves to the other breast, tasting and exploring that one. While his lips and teeth and tongue are busy torturing my nipples, his hands roam over me, the rough pads of his fingers exploring every part of me that he can reach.
I give myself over to it, running my own hands over his muscled arms as the markings on his skin begin to glow brighter and brighter. I tease the nodes along his spine, making him bite softly at my nipple as we both hiss.
As desperate as we both clearly are for each other, Kaide doesn’t rush. I lose track of time as he explores every inch of me as thoroughly as he can, as if he’s trying to map out the topography of my body. I’m practically writhing beneath him by the time he draws back, my clit pulsing and my blood thrumming with desire. When he turns me over onto my stomach instead of settling between my legs and sliding inside me, I whimper in frustration.
Kaide chuckles, and that damn sound alone is so addictive and erotic that it makes even more wetness seep from me. I’m still writhing, shifting restlessly on the bed as I try to get more friction, more sensation.
He hovers over me once again, his lips and tongue working their way down my back and over the swell of my ass. When he bites one cheek, I yelp, my toes curling as a jolt of white hot pleasure shoots through me.
“You smell so good,” he murmurs roughly, sliding a hand between my legs to delve two fingers into me as he licks the spot he just bit. “When I do that, the scent of your arousal flares. Do you like it?”
“Yes,” I pant.
Fuck, I really do.
I’ve never had a guy bite my ass before, but I just about came from that spark of pleasure-laced pain.
He begins to thrust his fingers a little, pulling them out every once in a while to circle my clit, exploring my pussy with the same unhurried thoroughness as he explored the rest of me. Even as he works me up that way, he scrapes his teeth gently over my skin before biting me again. This time, I cry out loudly, and he curses under his breath.
“I could spill my seed right now, Raina,” he rasps. “Just from listening to you respond to my touch. Akhi, I’ve never been so hard in my life.”
“Then fuck me,” I gasp, arching my back to give him better access to everything I want him to take. “Please, Kaide. Fuck me. I need you.”
He growls, hooking his fingers a little as he continues thrusting them in and out of me. When he draws them out, I can feel how slick they are, and the sudden feeling of emptiness makes me ache. He drags them further back, grabbing a handful of one ass cheek with his other hand and spreading me open a little as two slick fingers circle my back hole. Then he presses them inside.
This time, I can’t even make a sound. All the air seems to leave my lungs as the foreign sensation rushes through my body. My pussy clenches, which makes my ass clench around his fingers too, and I can’t decide whether to press upward against his hand
or grind down against the bed to get the friction I need so badly.
“Kaide,” I pant. “Holy fuck.”
“Has anyone ever claimed you here?” he asks, his voice rougher and deeper than I’ve ever heard it.
“No.” I shake my head wildly, my eyes rolling back in my head as he presses his fingers deeper. “No, but that feels… oh god, it feels so fucking good.”
“You like it?” he punctuates his question by squeezing my ass, massaging the flesh in a way that only adds to the sweet ache inside me. “I want to learn everything you like, my kira. I want to claim you in ways that no other man ever has.”
My body is on the precipice of a mind-blowing orgasm, but I manage to crane my neck a little, looking at him over my shoulder. “You’ve already done that. I’m… I’m yours.”
Those must be the right words, because a look of adoration, pride, and hunger crosses his shadowed features. He growls softly as he thrusts his fingers deeper into my ass, and I let out a quiet scream as pleasure ricochets through me.
“Slanch.”
He squeezes my ass cheek again, his grip almost bruising, and then he withdraws his fingers slowly. I’m so close to coming that I can’t even work up the words to protest. All I can do is lie in a puddle on the bed as ecstasy builds slowly inside me.
Kaide rolls me over onto my side, nipping at my shoulder as he settles on the bed behind me. Reaching down, he drapes my top leg over his, spreading me wide for him as the thick head of his cock finds the soaked entrance of my pussy.
“If you’re mine,” he murmurs, “then I’m yours.”
With those hoarse words, he plunges in deeply, bottoming out inside me. The feel of his chest pressed to my back, of his muscular thigh beneath mine and his arm around my waist, makes me shake from head to toe, my entire body overwhelmed by sensations. His ridged cock hits delicious new spots in this position, and I’m acutely aware of every part of him.
The hand that’s draped over my stomach moves lower, finding my clit as he begins to thrust, and it’s clear he remembers every damn thing I showed him the night I touched myself while he watched.