Awakening: A Sarazen Saga Anthology (Etheric Travelers Book 1)

by Isabel Wroth

  “He teased her,” Aley placed one foot flat on the bed, twisting to grasp the other, beginning his long string of hot, hungry kisses from arch to thigh, setting her foot down after nibbling the second tie on the purple scrap of fabric apart.

  His hands cupped her hips and tugged her to the very edge of the bed, smoothing his palms up and down the length of her thighs while his gaze roamed over her splayed form.

  “Used his fingers to bring her to her first peak,”

  The air in Ilaria’s lungs stuttered out between her lips as he traced the seam of her sex with one finger, up and down, using two to spread her open, gliding back and forth in the slick fluid spilling from inside her, tracing the tender opening that pulsed hungrily before pushing inside.

  The stretch made a flash of heat arrow straight up the center of her body, small noises escaping her as Aley pumped his fingers deep, rubbing, twisting, stretching.

  Ilaria couldn’t keep still, lifting her hips to meet his thrusts, increasing the friction until stars burst gently across her vision,

  “Then again with his mouth,” Aley breathed the words across her swollen, drenched flesh, his lips repeating the same back and forth strokes, working her open, replacing fingers with tongue driving her right back up to another orgasm, then another, until she was thrashing on the sheets and sobbing his name to the ceiling.

  She felt worshiped, on fire with so much pleasure she knew she would never be able to contain it, and she didn’t even try.

  Everywhere Aley touched her, Ilaria fed him what she felt, and knew she succeeded when his hoarse shout echoed her cries of bliss. Back and forth, the ripples passed between them until she was splayed flat, boneless, quivering sporadically as the pleasure continued due to Aley’s hot breaths panting across her overly sensitized flesh, his cheek resting on her thigh.

  When he looked up at her with a rather drunken smile on his glistening lips, there were no more shadows. No more doubts, no more regrets, and his frustration was a thing of the past. His cock might be twisted by scar tissue and useless for traditional mating—for now—but there was so much more to expressing their love for one another.

  He got up after touching a dozen more tender, loving kisses to her hips and belly, leaving her for a moment, only to come back with a warm, wet cloth.

  He bathed the sweat from her skin, gently cleaning all remnants of her pleasure from between her legs, shed his clothes, and crawled up beside her.

  Ilaria snuggled into the circle of his arms, her limbs weak from such intense satisfaction, but she had just enough strength to throw her thigh over his and tangle their legs together.

  Ilaria was lulled to sleep by the sound of his heart thundering beneath her ear, and the rhythmic stroke of his fingers as they drew aimless circles across her back.

  ~No matter what lies ahead, I am yours. I will never give you up.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Satesh~

  Satesh had watched for the past week via the security monitors on the bridge as Aley patiently taught Ilaria to swim, their lessons focused on strengthening her legs while utilizing the weightless support the water brought to re-train her muscles.

  He appreciated the way Aley coached her, always pushing Ilaria for just a little bit more than last time, sympathetic to her struggles, but firm in his insistence she not quit.

  She never complained, she never whined, but it was plain to see how she fought for each movement, determination etched deeply across her flushed, beautiful face.

  It had become Satesh’s obsession to watch them, anticipating the deep massage Aley always provided for her, almost as much as Ilaria did.

  The first time she walked a complete circuit on her own around the edge of the pool, Satesh had felt an explosion of triumph, grinning like a fool when Ilaria laughed and jumped like a graceless child into the water, splashing and playing with her lover as they took a moment to celebrate her victory.

  He had wanted to run down there and join them, the all too brief hours they spent together during the evening meal not nearly enough to sate the growing hunger within.

  The difference in his behavior was now marked. When the three of them were together, Satesh felt the weight of his grief ease.

  Sometimes he forgot all about it as he laughed at some ridiculous tale Ilaria told him of her travels. But when they were apart, Satesh sank back into his sadness and felt no reprieve until he was with them again.

  To his relief, his sexual desire remained focused on Ilaria, but Aley’s presence continued to help soothe the jagged tears in his soul.

  With no conclusive reasons as to the hows and whys of his feelings, Satesh had carefully arranged for a few stolen moments alone with Ilaria, needing to test which of them were responsible for the lightness he felt in his heart.

  “The pool seems to be doing wonders for you,”

  Ilaria smiled up at him as they slowly strolled around the winding paths in the biosphere. Her gait was slow, her steps purposeful, but she was walking upright on her own with only her hand curled around his elbow for support.

  She wore a deep purple skirt and the matching vest, her bare toes peeking out from underneath the wide gold band of embroidery at the hem, her belly and shoulders on beautiful display.

  It was the simplest of the dozens of outfits he’d sent to her, and yet it was one of the most stunning creations Satesh had ever purchased simply because it was Ilaria wearing it.

  “It is. You were right about it being easier to do my exercises in the water. I don’t ache so badly after, and I can feel myself getting stronger.”

  “I am very pleased to hear it. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, I was hoping I could ask you a few questions if you don’t mind?”

  “Certainly. Is there somewhere we could sit?”

  It was the opportunity Satesh had been waiting for, and Ilaria’s surprised gasp was music to his ears as he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the nearest viewing bay, which was unfortunately not far away.

  Ilaria was smiling as she shook her head at him, her arms easily finding their place around his shoulders. She was a feather in his grasp, soft and warm. Satesh was loathe to let her go when he entered the viewing room. But he did, setting her down on one of the lounge cushions as though she were delicate and fragile.

  Ilaria looked up at him with a curious tilt of her head, and for the briefest of moments, he struggled not to sway forward to capture the delicious pucker of her lips with his own.

  He was practically salivating for a taste of her now that he knew what it felt like to have held her close to his heart.

  “You wished to ask me something?” she prompted gently.

  Satesh stood up with a nod, the spell broken, leaving him feeling like a foolish boy caught staring at the object of his desire.

  His feet automatically began to carry him back and forth in front of the lounge, restlessness and uncharacteristic anxiety powering his strides. His experiment to see whether it was Aley and Ilaria both, or one and not the other who affected his mood bore fruit.

  He was markedly calmer in Aley’s presence, but it was Ilaria who lifted the burden of his grief and allowed him precious moments where he could breathe without feeling as though he was constantly trying to choke down shards of broken glass or fighting irrational rage at every turn.

  Without the pain, all he wanted was a few moments more to hold her, to touch and kiss her, to have the same deep intimacy she shared with Aley.

  “There isn’t much known about your people, save for the information shared across the uplink about your planet and it’s decaying orbit. Ever since my emo-dampening serum wore off, I have felt…strange.” Satesh confessed,

  “When I am alone, the pain of my brothers’ deaths is nearly overwhelming. But when I am near you, I can breathe. The pain is not forgotten, but the weight of it no longer makes me stagger, and at the risk of offering insult, I need to know if you’re doing it on purpose.”

  Her fingers danced on the air as
she beckoned him over to the couch, curling her feet beneath her to make room for him,

  “I am capable of easing emotional burdens, but I have not regained the ability,” Ilaria told him easily, watching him with a mysterious smile curving her lips. More confused than before, Satesh asked her to explain.

  “All young Matavei are given aptitude tests to determine whether or not they possess the potential for etheric travel.

  “It takes years of dedicated training and intense meditation techniques to prepare, but once the travelers are put into stasis and our minds detach from our physical bodies, we can go anywhere in the universe with merely a thought.

  “We call that state, the Void. It is like…floating among the billions of stars, absolutely free until our consciousness brushes against a thread of energy. Like a fish to a lure, we follow it. Most often than not, the thread leads to a planet or a specific person, and the travelers were tasked with learning all we could about the people and culture.

  “Every living thing in the universe has a specific harmony, and in that state of pure energy, we hear the melodies and can blend our own energy to the song to affect it. Change it.”

  Satesh nodded to say he was following, watching a lovely blush paint her cheeks as she scooted closer, holding her hands palm up between them, rubbing her fingertips together with a soft hiss.

  “We travel for hundreds of years, learning new melodies, studying energy, manipulating it. We never do harm, never meddle with free will, but sometimes we are moved to intervene.

  “Save a child from falling off a cliff, an animal from being abused or trampled, guide those who are lost in the middle of a storm to shelter, drive predators or nightmares away. At least, those are things I remember being moved by.

  “It took so much effort at first to do no more than move the air across a dusty floor, but eventually I mastered many different types of energy manipulation. For reasons we don’t quite understand, eight out of ten travelers who are Awakened are unable to access the abilities they gained while in their non-corporeal form, and in cases like mine—where I was forcibly drawn from the Void, and my consciousness thrust back into my unprepared body—I am lucky to be alive. Luckier still, to be slowly but surely finding my way back to those beautiful melodies.”

  His breath caught as he watched Ilaria slowly cup her hands together and spread her fingers into a wide bowl.

  The veins beneath her fair skin started to glow a soft, pulsing purple, and pinpricks of light began to wink in the air above her palms. Smoke swirled, appearing from nowhere, and soon a tiny purple, black, and gray nebula spun lazily in Ilaria’s hands.

  It was amazing, and so was the happiness painted across her face as she stared at her creation.

  “There are many things I could do out there among the stars, and I can only pray I can re-master them. I can feel the pathways reforming—my muscle memory returning, if you will—and in truth, I don’t know why it’s happening now.

  “Perhaps it was the radiation your medical staff detected in my cells and its absence, perhaps it's being away from so much death and chaos, the evil of Myst.

  “Or it could be as simple as I am no longer terrified and trying to force my gifts to return. Whatever the cause, my memories are coming back, and I can promise you I am doing nothing to manipulate your feelings.”

  With a graceful circle of her hands, Ilaria made her little nebula disappear, reaching out slowly, giving him the opportunity to stop her should he wish it. Which he most certainly did not.

  Satesh ached for whatever touches she was willing to give him, and the stroke of her fingertips down the side of his cheek, tenderly moving a lock of hair from his brow while she searched his face, felt like a lightning strike arrowing straight through to his groin.

  “I can see the colors of your energy field. Your aura. When we touch, it is possible for me to hear the thoughts laying in the forefront of your mind, and yes, I could go deeper to read your every thought, but such an invasion of privacy is considered a physical assault of the worst kind, and against all codes of honor my people adhere to.

  “I can tell what you are feeling, simply by the colors surrounding you, and at one time I did have the ability to sort of…heal them.

  “Soften the discordant notes of pain with my own energy, but such a thing is very taxing, even in etheric form. I have a hypothesis if you would care to hear it?”

  “I would,” he rasped, drawing in such a deep breath his chest ached with the pressure.

  “When your focus is on me, your energy is very um, sensual.”

  Feeling an equal measure of surprise and fascination, Satesh didn’t deny it. “Even removed from my emotions by chemical injection, the moment I saw you I was undeniably attracted to you.”

  His admission made her cheeks warm an even deeper pink, her palm settling on his jaw. He wondered if she could hear his racing thoughts of desire, the ridiculous comparisons he made to describe her beauty and how she so viscerally made his body respond. If she did, she didn’t embarrass him by calling him out on the juvenile thoughts.

  “I noticed when you came into the infirmary, how unsettled you were,” Ilaria murmured kindly. “Your emotions were all over the place, but when you stood close to Aley, his energy reached out to yours.

  “I saw the whips of light you both were putting off, his touching yours and soothing them, like a cooling tonic to inflamed nerve endings.

  “Aley is a healer, and even when he is not actively using his gift, he cannot help but soothe the hurts he unconsciously senses in others.

  “The evidence of his curse is etched deep into his skin, bare for all to see, and still his first instinct is always to heal. To help and protect despite having been shown so little kindness himself.”

  Satesh felt his stomach pitch, listening to the love that coated each one of Ilaria’s words as she spoke of Aley.

  She must have felt or heard the disappointed thought, that if she so deeply loved the Issite, there would be no room for him because her next words shocked him.

  “After you left us in the infirmary, Aley confessed to me he had been raised in a society where it was not unusual for a female to have more than one lover, but he feared you would not allow him to remain in my bed or at my side if I were to explore the connection between you and me.”

  Saliva once again pooled in his mouth, his blood driving through his veins so hard Satesh could feel the pulse of his heartbeat in his cock.

  ~Is it my imagination, or is she implying she feels the same pull to me as I do to her?

  ~Your imagination is vivid, Satesh, but I am not implying.

  To hear her voice resonate softly in his mind while her lips remained pressed firmly together was the most unusual, exhilarating sensation he had ever experienced. His skin prickled with a rush of electricity, his cells vibrating with a surge of adrenaline-fueled arousal.

  ~I can hear you, inside my head.

  ~Yes, she answered, her smile cautious. Is it uncomfortable?

  ~Gods, no. It’s amazing!

  ~I’m glad you feel that way. Our fates are now intertwined, and though I am indeed drawn to you, I am trying to address Aley’s fears before I make any decisions. I have sensed your jealousy, and it worries me.

  ~ It is also not uncommon for Dhjana to have more than one lover, and Aley has nothing to fear from me. My desire is for you alone, but it is beautiful, the way he touches you.

  I have watched you both for months, and I am envious of the intensity of your bond. I want the same. I want you to need me the way you do him, but you don’t.

  Ilaria came up on her knees, shifting from hip to hip to settle herself across his lap, rolling her lips under her teeth when he immediately wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer.

  Her slender fingers combed through his hair, the tip of her upturned nose rubbed against his in the sweetest little nuzzle.

  ~You are not wrong, she told him gently, inviting him to give into the hammering need to kiss her when
she brushed her soft lips across his.

  It felt as though Ilaria was caressing him, inside and out in places no other had ever explored. It was so maddeningly erotic he could feel the seed boiling in his shaft begin to leak from the tip of his cock.

  His stomach pitched, a million bolts of fire shot through his veins. He felt each one strike, igniting more and more of the ravenous need growing in him.

  ~I will not need you in the same way I need Aley, but that doesn’t mean I won’t need you at all.

  Satesh fed her a groan as he traced the curve of her lips and then along the seam. Her bottom lip. Her top lip. His tongue learned both before slipping between to begin a deeper exploration, and all the while she trembled in his hold, eagerly meeting him kiss for kiss until he was sure one more would destroy him, but he had no will to stop.

  His mouth moved over her face, lips tracing her jaw to feel how it quivered, her cheekbone to taste the flush of her arousal, her eyelids, the curve of her brow, drawn back to her lips as though they were magnets.

  ~I spent so many nights staring at your lips, memorizing the shape of them. Fantasizing about them.

  Ilaria~

  Aley’s kisses were sweet and gentle, love painting every touch he gave her.

  Satesh’s kisses were rough and demanding. He kissed her until all she thought about was wanting more. Needing more.

  When he drew back just far enough to let her come up for air, Ilaria didn’t know if she leaned in for another kiss, or if he did. She only knew she was lost in the whirlwind of his need. In pure feeling.

  His hands roamed her back, slid down her waist to grip her bottom, his strong hands shaping the curves before he lifted her and resettled her with her knees splayed wide on either side of his hips.

  It was so strange to feel the enormous bulge of his shaft snuggled between her spread thighs, the pounding of his heart echoing in the throb of his cock, felt even through the layers of their clothing.

  Spurred by her hunger, Ilaria mimicked his movements, slipping her hands beneath the robe he wore to learn the shape of his muscles, ropes of them crisscrossed over his arms and shoulders, heavier than Aley’s. More defined from days spent training for the defense of his people.