The Fighter

by Elin Peer

  “It’ll just be at work. At home, I’ll still be the boss.” I winked at her and Raven bumped my shoulder and laughed.

  “I’ll fight you for the title. If I win you have to refer to me as Boss.”

  We exited the Manor and walked to my drone, which was full of boxes with her clothes and things. “I’m not going to fight you, Raven. I still remember your porn-inspired fighting moves and now that I’m allowed to act on my attraction to you, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Uh-huh, I would be stripping you naked and making love to you as soon as we got physical.”

  Raven rolled her eyes in a playful manner. “Just for the record, I would take that as an act of surrendering and declare myself the winner.”

  “I know you would, which is why I’m not stupid enough to take you up on the bet.”

  “Chicken,” Raven teased as we got into the drone and took off.

  Putting the drone on auto, I turned my chair to face her. “As I see it, I’m doing us both a favor. You don’t really want me to go around at home and say, yes, Boss?”

  Raven’s laugh grew. “Why not? I would totally get a kick out of that.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. You’d lose respect for me in less than a day.” The drone was leaving the craziness of the Gray Manor behind as we flew over green forest. “Come here.” I patted my thigh.

  Raven unclicked her seatbelt and moved on to my lap. “We’re breaking the law, Inspector.”

  Kissing her and letting my hands weave into her curly black hair, I mumbled into her mouth, “No, we’re not. Seatbelts aren’t mandatory in the Northlands.”

  “Yes, they are. It was added a few weeks ago after your crash.”

  “What? That’s bullshit. Magni and I were both buckled in and that didn’t help. You’re not serious.”

  “I am. The captain gave a short briefing about it.”

  “Don’t tell me we have speed limits too.”

  “Only over the cities as usual; otherwise we can go as fast as we want, granted that we stay out of the no-fly zones.”

  Raven was still on my lap as I bit her earlobe with a low growl. “Let them try and arrest us if they can. I don’t think even that can stop me from taking you right here, right now. I’ve dreamed of having sex with you in my drone too many times.”

  Raven leaned her head back and gave me room to kiss and lick her neck. “Is there any place you haven’t envisioned us having sex? I’m only asking because you said the same thing about your shower, the gym, your kitchen, and my room at the Manor. Or maybe a better question would be: do you think of anything other than sex?”

  “Not at the moment, no.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Sex in a Drone

  Raven

  I don’t know why making love to Leo in that drone was so much better than it had been on his sofa. Maybe it was the relief of sharing all the details from Dina’s case and still being alive. Maybe it was because I had agreed to marry him before we left the Manor.

  We kissed like it was a matter of survival. We touched like we weren’t sure we’d ever get the chance again. Leo sucked and suckled and I didn’t care that he was no doubt leaving hickeys on my body. I would be walking to work tomorrow with his signs of possession showing on my neck. It should bother me but I found a crazy kind of satisfaction in Leo’s raw desire for me.

  “What if someone flies by and sees us?”

  Leo nibbled at my lower lip. “Don’t worry about it. There’s no one here.”

  With us both naked and me wet from all our kissing and foreplay, I slid down on top of him with a deep satisfied moan. Leo had his hands planted firmly on my buttocks and used them to control the pace while I let my hands slide across his strong chest, shoulders, and biceps.

  “Flying a drone will never be the same after this.” He grinned and bit my neck in a playful manner. “Turn around, I want to try something.”

  I bumped my head against the ceiling as I turned around on his lap.

  “Lean your back against my chest – yes, like that –and put your feet up on my knees.” Leo sunk lower in his seat and with me on top of him he began a fast pace of pumping in and out of me. We were melting together while I was looking out the windows with hooded eyes and taking in the large woods of the Northlands with the gorgeous fall colors. It occurred to me that it was symbolic of how perfect it was. Leo and I were different in almost every way. We had a different skin color, gender, nationality, and personality but, somehow, we complemented each other as perfectly as the yellow, red, and green colors beneath us. He was strong and the feeling of him inside me made me lean my head back to rest on his shoulder while closing my eyes. “You make me so happy.”

  Leo pushed all the way in before he stopped moving his hip. As his hands slid around me and squeezed my breasts and waist, he turned his face to kiss me again. “You make me happy too. This, Raven, this is a dream coming true.”

  I opened my eyes. “The sex?”

  “The connection between us. I have friends but this… this is something different. I can’t get enough of you.”

  “It’d better be different, I don’t want to think about you doing this with any of your friends.”

  Leo bit my lower lip and raised an eyebrow. “Very funny.”

  “But if you do, tell me, would you be on top or below?”

  I laughed as Leo pulled me around with a growl. He was cursing when he banged his foot because of the cramped space, but he soon pressed himself against me again and took me from behind in slow delicious movements.

  Looking behind me, I watched the man I was going to marry hold on to me with his eyes closed and his mouth slightly open. He was a sight to behold with his chiseled torso and beautiful features. Without thinking I licked my lips and gave in to the feeling of his firm grip on my hips and the magical friction that his large erection created between my thighs.

  My breathing got deeper and my moans louder.

  “Yeah, babe, take it. Take it all.”

  The buzzing sensation of an orgasm building made me close my eyes and push back to meet Leo’s rhythm. “Yes, yes… yes…”

  “Oh fuck, Raven, it feels so good. Can I come inside you?”

  I didn’t say yes and I didn’t say no. My body and mind were on a synchronized chase for that euphoric place that Leo had taken me to before. Placing my hand against the fogged-over window, I let my head fall down and gave a small scream of ecstasy. “Yaaaasssss…”

  Leo was pumping in and out of me at high speed now, drawing out my orgasm and making my legs feel like jelly, and then he bored his fingers into my hips and held me firmly against him while leaning his head back and roaring out his own orgasm.

  It took me a minute to recover and then I noticed that the drone had landed outside his house. Leo’s house was at least twenty minutes from the Gray Manor but the flight had felt short because of our lovemaking.

  “We’re here.” He was panting behind me. “I don’t want to pull out of you. It’s the first time you’ve let me come inside you, and you have no idea how amazing it felt.”

  We were both on a sex high and in no hurry to end what we had started. When I turned around, I playfully bit his earlobe and growled low. “I want more.”

  “Me too.” Leo retaliated and bit my lower lip. “The first time you were here, you ran naked from my house, so how about this time you run naked into my house?”

  I smiled. “I can do that. But only if you run naked with me.”

  “Deal.” He kissed my nose. “But you have to run straight to my bed, get in, and prepare to make love all night.”

  With my right hand I pulled his hair into my fist and gave him a sexy grin. “Deal.”

  Leo smacked my butt with a playful smile and pointed to the door. “Go!”

  The ground was cold as we ran with our clothes in our hands to the house. We were laughing and fighting for the covers once we got into bed, and I planted my cold feet on his legs.

 
Leo paid me back by stealing the entire cover and as a result, a pretend fight broke out between us. Just like Leo had predicted he didn’t stand a chance. As soon as I sat astride him trying to hold his hands down, he forgot about the fighting and went back to loving me. It was sweet and satisfying, and after what felt like hours I was drifting to sleep in his strong arms.

  “When are we telling your parents that we’re getting married?”

  My voice was drowsy. “Sunday, I think.”

  “No. Tomorrow, Raven. I want to tell them tomorrow.”

  My eyes were already closed, my breathing slow and deep. “Yes, we’ll tell them tomorrow.”

  The last thing I heard before I surrendered to sleep was Leo whispering into my ear. “I love you, Raven, and I can’t wait to make you my wife.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Family Dinner

  Leo

  I was equally proud and nervous when Raven took me home to her parents’ large house on Victoria’s Island.

  When we arrived, two of her younger siblings, Samara and Jones, were in the kitchen with their mother, Christina.

  “Raven, sweetie, what a wonderful surprise. I tried calling you all morning. We’re having a party.”

  “We are?”

  “Yes. Didn’t you hear the good news?”

  “What news?”

  Christina had flour on her shirt and her braid was coming undone, but she was glowing with excitement. “The Northland will become a democracy. It’s not official yet, but Khan told your father and he has been beside himself all morning.”

  Raven had gone around hugging her siblings and now she was hugging her mom. “Is he upset about it?”

  “Yes, but I don’t care. This calls for a celebration. I wanted to invite everybody but Pearl said it’s too soon and that they want to announce it to the inner circle themselves in a few weeks. She asked that we make it a small celebration for now so it’s just going to be the Aurelius family.” Her eyes shifted to me. “And your boss, but Pearl told me you two already know about it.”

  “Yes. We were there yesterday when Pearl suggested it.”

  Christina tilted her head. “It’s the strangest thing. As long as I’ve known Pearl she has advocated for the Northlands to become a democracy. I can’t for my life figure out why Khan and Magni suddenly changed their minds and agreed. Do you know if anything happened yesterday?”

  Raven frowned and opened her mouth but I was quicker, and answered before her, “I think it’s the situation with Magni. With him no longer being able to do his usual work, Khan must have been more open to thinking of new ways to do things.”

  Christina tilted her head. “Yes, that makes sense. Huh, imagine that something great could come out of an accident that awful.”

  “Is Magni coming too?” Raven asked.

  “No, he’ll need to stay in bed a while longer, but as I said, Pearl, Khan, and their kids are coming, and so is Mila. She’s going to be happy that you’re here.” Christina picked up a large knife to cut some bread. “I’m still bubbling over with joy on the inside whenever I think about the Northlands as a democratic country.”

  I made a pained noise just from the word.

  “Oh, Leo, your face. Don’t look like that. I know you think democracy will be the end of your world, but it’s going to be the best thing that ever happened to you.”

  I wanted to tell Christina that her daughter was the best thing that ever happened to me, but the timing seemed off.

  Christina pointed to the staircase in the entryway. “If you want, you can join Alexander upstairs. He was brooding all morning, so I exiled him from the kitchen. Maybe you can convince my husband that his world isn’t coming to an end.”

  The energy from Christina was infectious as she returned to supervise her youngest children, who were helping her cook.

  Raven smiled. “Anything I can help with, Mom?”

  “Yes, you could ask your brother to set the table. Indiana has been hiding in his room refusing to help with anything.”

  “Why don’t I just do it?”

  “Because then he gets away with his strategy and that won’t teach him to be a useful member of a community, will it? If he wants to eat, he can set the table.”

  Raven winked at me. “I should have warned you that my mom is a master at putting people to work.”

  “It’s about ingraining values. You never felt too important to help out, so I don’t know where he gets that from.”

  I smiled at the women because it suddenly made sense that Raven had such a strong personality. She had grown up around women like Laura, Pearl, and Christina, and none of them fit my initial expectation that women were delicate and fragile.

  “What are you thinking about?” Raven was standing right in front of me. “What’s that smile on your face?”

  “Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about how my mentors used to describe women to us boys. You two are nothing like that, but then I don’t think my mentors had met a woman in real life.”

  Christina laughed. “Let me guess; they told you that we women cry a lot?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that we have to nap like babies?”

  “Yes.”

  Christina nodded her head. “Alexander heard some of the same stories growing up, but then he also heard horror stories about how we Motlander women emasculated our men.”

  I shifted my weight. “Yeah, but those are true. I mean look at the Motlander men. Most of them look like women – well, maybe except Jonah.”

  A knock on the front door made Samara sprint to open it, and a few seconds later Mila came in with Pearl and her two children behind her.

  Christina lit up. “Oh, hey. Come in. It’s good to see you. I was just explaining to Leo how we Motlander women do not emasculate our men.”

  Mila walked over and hugged first Raven and then Jones, who was standing on a stool chopping cucumber. “That’s a sharp knife for a six-year-old. Careful with that.”

  Jones held up the knife and flashed a smile that revealed he had lost his front teeth. “This is nothing. Dad taught me how to skin a rabbit with his big hunting knife.”

  Christina froze. “He did what?”

  Khan came into the kitchen, and Raven and I greeted him just as Christina leaned her head back and hollered, “Alexander, Alexander, will you come down here?”

  “Uh-oh…” Jones chewed on his lip. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you that. Dad is going to be mad at me now.”

  Heavy steps from upstairs heralded Alexander Boulder running down the stairs. “You’re all here.” He gave Khan a manly hug and came to shake my hand.

  Christina stood with her hands on her hips. “Did you teach Jones to skin a rabbit?”

  Alexander’s eyes fell on his youngest son, whose lips disappeared as if he wanted to take back his words. “Yeah, I did.”

  Christina lowered her brow. “He’s a vegan.”

  Boulder shrugged. “Mostly, but not all the time. Come on, honey, you can’t blame a man for teaching his sons about survival.”

  Just then Indiana, who had to be around eleven, came down the stairs and Christina pointed at him. “Darling, do you know how to skin a rabbit?”

  Indiana’s eyes darted between his parents before he swallowed hard. “Ehm… no, I don’t think so.”

  “Tell me the truth, Indiana. Did your father teach you to skin a rabbit?”

  Khan lifted his arm, signaling for the boy to come closer. “You’d better say yes, or I’ll be very disappointed in your dad. Every real Nman knows how to hunt and prepare his own food.”

  “Of course I taught him.” Boulder walked over to Christina and wrapped his hands around her from the back. “We talked about this. We teach them our way of living and they get to make up their own minds. I’m not forcing them to eat meat and you can’t force them to be vegan.”

  “Well, speaking about that. If you, Khan, and Leo want some meat, one of you will have to cook it.”

  Boulder smacked a kiss o
n his wife’s cheek. “See, this is why we need a kitchen bot.”

  Christina walked over to cut some bread that looked homemade. “Cooking is an opportunity to come together as a family. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  Boulder opened a fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out three large steaks. “Anyone else want some good protein?”

  Samara, who was a mini version of Christina with her brown hair and blue eyes, wrinkled her nose up. “Dad, you know I would never eat another living being, that’s so cruel.”

  Freya, who was the daughter of Khan and Pearl and according to rumors highly academically gifted, looked almost bored when she looked at Samara. “They wouldn’t be alive if you ate them, would they? Besides, our being vegans isn’t very supportive of animals to begin with.”

  “Excuse me?” Pearl looked at her daughter as if she had grown an extra head.

  “The sad truth is this. Before the Motherlands made it illegal to consume animals, there were millions of cows and chickens. The minute the vegans stopped any and all consumption of animal food products they became responsible for the loss of life on a far greater scale than the meat eaters.”

  Khan grinned. “That’s right, honey, you tell them.”

  Freya nodded and continued, “There was no longer a market for animals bred for food so they would never get a chance to even exist. They would never know the joy of breathing air or running in the fields. What I don’t like about being a vegan is that we literally stripped them of their right to live.”

  I was gaping at the girl, who couldn’t be more than ten or eleven, but her parents didn’t seem surprised by her eloquent speech. Instead, Khan looked highly amused while Pearl tilted her head and narrowed her eyes a little.

  “I assume your father told you this?”

  Freya nodded “We’ve discussed it, but mostly I’ve read about it in a book by Lee Rinehart – maybe you heard of him?”

  “No, but let me guess, it was a book your father gave to you.”

  Khan confirmed it: “Lee was a fine warrior and a great Nman. His book is a classic in the Northlands.”