by Donna Grant
Achates pointed out many of the animals she didn’t at first notice, since they were camouflaged in the reef. She could have stayed in the water for the rest of the day, but when Achates turned and pulled her away from the reef, she followed him.
She was saddened to see that he was taking her back to shore, but now that she had her gills, she could swim anytime she wanted.
Her gills.
It was still difficult to believe. Yet knowing that she was truly a part of something helped to make her feel whole.
Achates wrapped his arms around her and turned them over and over in the water. She giggled, and bubbles left her mouth. His rod was thick and hard between them, and she wanted it deep inside her again. She could never get enough of him.
She grasped his cock, but when she would have guided him inside her, he turned her around until her back was pressed against his chest. He rubbed his rod in the crease between her buttocks before slipping inside her sex.
Her body was still sensitive from their recent lovemaking, and when his hand came around to tease her nub, her body began to shake. And then he started to thrust, slowly at first, but gradually quickening until he was moving so hard and fast he had to grip her hips.
Livia opened her mouth on a silent scream of pure pleasure as her body exploded with a climax so intense it blinded her. Achates thrust twice more before he dug his fingers into her hips and spilled his seed.
She couldn’t help but wonder as they floated in the water if his seed had taken root and they would be gifted with a child. But before they brought a child into their world, they would first have to stop the Piratirans.
All too soon, they reached shallow water. Achates pulled out of her and took her hand. Together they surfaced and faced the beach lined with Orinjals.
“Achates,” she said nervously.
“They are here to see if you have become a true Orinjal.”
She looked at him in wonder. “What if your plan hadn’t worked?”
“That possibility never entered my mind.”
She was staggered at his confidence in her. “You’re amazing.”
“Only with you.” His eyes held a note of something deep, something strong.
Livia glanced at the crowd on the beach as she dug her toes into the sand and tried to stay upright while the waves crashed around her waist. The sun hung suspended in the sky above the horizon, as if it were waiting on her.
“We were betrothed at your birth,” he said softly. “I’ve waited many years to have you beside me. I cannot force you to be my wife.”
She realized quickly what he was doing, and although part of her wasn’t ready for it, the other part knew it was inevitable.
“If you wish to walk away from me, I will understand.”
Tears burned her eyes as she reached up and touched his face. “I couldn’t walk away if I tried. After all, Poseidon chose me for you.”
His blue eyes gleamed with stark emotion. “You’ll be mine? My wife?”
“Aye,” she answered with a smile.
“Then let us seal our marriage.” He lifted a hand toward her, palm out.
Livia placed her hand next to his and swallowed the tide of emotions that threatened to overtake her.
“I am Achates, leader of the Orinjals. I pledge my life and love to you, Livia. I will honor you and protect you and our children until the day Poseidon calls me home.”
Livia took a deep breath and instinctively knew she needed to repeat his words. “I am Livia, daughter of Orinjal. I pledge my life and love to you, Achates. I will honor you and protect you and our children until the day Poseidon calls me home.”
Achates’ mouth split into a wide smile as she finished. He lifted his other hand to her face and dangled a strand of pearls before her.
She gasped at the magnificent strand as he fastened it around her neck.
“It is done,” he said. “We are one.”
“Where did these come from?”
Achates chuckled. “Poseidon. He always gives such a gift to the leader’s wife.”
She fingered the strand about her neck and sighed.
Together, she and Achates turned to face their people, who roared their approval. The group moved off through the palms where a celebration had already begun.
“Won’t we join them?” Livia asked.
Achates shook his head. “Nay. I will finally have you in my bed, wife.”
She laughed as they ran up the hill to his home. No sooner had they closed the front door than Achates backed her against it and took her mouth in a kiss that heated her blood. Already her body longed for him again.
The need to touch him was too strong to ignore, so she moved her hand and wrapped it around his straining cock. He groaned and surged against her. She closed her eyes and learned the heat and hardness of him. His breath was hot as it fanned her neck where he had placed kisses on her sensitive skin.
Then he palmed her breasts, thumbing her nipples until she ached with desire so swift and true that her knees nearly buckled beneath her.
“I love your touch,” he rasped in her ear. “But I cannot wait for you.”
Before she could protest, Achates pulled away. She reached for his cock, but he spun her away from him and brought her back against his chest.
Once more his hands found her breasts and teased her nipples until she cried out his name. Livia leaned her head back against his chest and moved her hips along his rod, which was nestled between her buttocks.
A groan of anticipation escaped her lips as he trailed one hand down her stomach and over her hips to her swollen sex. Her hips moved against his hand, eager for his touch. His fingers parted the folds of her sex and caressed her sensitive flesh.
Livia cried out with the desire coursing through her. It was exquisite, but she wanted...needed...more.
As if he had all the time in the world, Achates let his fingers roam over her sex, teasing and tempting her with caresses that drove her mad with need.
Finally, he pushed a finger deep inside her. “Yes,” she said with a moan.
While his finger moved within her, his thumb brushed against her hidden nub, the spot that made her scream each time he touched it. That one touch already had her body shaking with need and the growing intensity of her climax. She wanted his finger deeper inside, but every time she shifted her hips, his hand would still.
“Please,” she begged. “I need more of you.”
He chuckled in her ear and nipped her ear lobe the same time he pinched her nipple. “My sweet Livia,” he whispered seductively.
Chills ran over her skin as desire pooled in her sex. She didn’t know how his voice could make her body turn to mush, but it did.
Suddenly, he moved her toward a chair that rested near the foot of the stairs. Her mouth parted in a gasp as he bent her over it and ran his hands over her bottom.
“You have a beautiful body,” he said and kissed her back.
Forming a cohesive thought wasn’t possible with Achates’ hands on her body. All Livia could do was stand there and experience the wonder of him awakening her body to the joys of sex. His hands roamed freely over her bottom, squeezing it and cupping each cheek. Her sex clenched, greedy to feel his touch again.
And then, finally, he slid his hand to her sex and dipped his finger into her. Livia groaned and moved back against him. But he withdrew his hand.
“Nay,” she whispered.
In an instant, he pushed the head of his cock against her. With his hands on her hips, he thrust deep. Livia screamed with pleasure, yet it wasn’t enough. She arched her back, and he went deeper. She bit her lip and moaned as her hands gripped the chair. When she repeated the movement, he stopped and pulled out of her until she could only feel the tip of him. Then he plunged into her. In and out he moved, quick and hard. Her climax built with each wondrous thrust of his rod.
His hand slipped over her, and his thumb grazed her nub. With his thumb moving quickly and feather light over her tiny bud, he thr
ust in and out of her, and she peaked all too soon. She shouted his name as her body spasmed around his rod. A heartbeat later, he stiffened behind her, his own orgasm claiming him.
All she wanted to do was curl up on the floor and sleep, but Achates had other plans. He pulled out, then lifted her in his arms and started up the stairs.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. “That was incredible.”
“Wait until you see what I have in store for you later.”
She smiled, and her sex clenched in anticipation. “I can hardly wait.”
“We’ll eat first so you can regain your strength.”
Once they reached the second floor, Achates moved down the dark hallway. No candles lit the space, but the moon shed enough light through the windows at each end of the hallway so they could see.
When they reached his room, he opened the door and carried her inside. Livia lifted her head and stared in wonder at the beauty around her lit by dozens of candles.
Where her room had been all white, his was the color of the ocean. The ceiling had been painted to look like the sky. Half of the walls looked like the island, with its beach and palm trees, but the lower half and the floor resembled the sea.
A giant bed covered in a dark blue material faced the windows that took up an entire wall and looked out over the water. In the corners on either side of the bed were trees that reached the tall ceiling. And on the far wall sat a table with four chairs, while a hearth and another door stood nearest them.
He set her on her feet, and Livia moved her hands softly over the walls. “I thought the room I slept in was beautiful, but this is amazing.”
Achates smiled, leaned against the doorway, and watched his new wife explore their room. “My mother loved the water so much she couldn’t stand to be parted from it for even an hour. So my father had painters come in and make this room look like the ocean.”
“It’s almost as if I’m in the water.” Livia squatted and touched a starfish painted on the floor. “Look,” she said, pointing to ripples in the floor. “It’s like the sun is shining through the water.”
“My parents were greatly loved, and once the painters realized what my father wanted to give my mother, they captured every detail of underwater life for her.”
Livia stood and faced him. “Your father loved your mother very much.”
“That he did. He would have given her the sun and the moon had she asked for them, but instead, all she asked for was his heart.”
Her wide lips tilted up in the corners. “I would have loved to have met your parents.”
“They were overjoyed at our betrothal. They would have approved of the woman you have become.”
The smile slipped from her face, and she turned away. “Am I truly an Orinjal now?”
He straightened from the doorway. “You’ve always been an Orinjal, Livia. But with your gills, there’s no question now.” He watched her move about the room. He couldn’t understand why she would suddenly fear something.
Then it hit him.
“You fear an Orinjal might claim that you aren’t one of us?”
She nodded and turned to look at him. “I want so desperately to be a part of something.”
“You are a part of Orinjal, and now you are a part of me. You are my wife.”
She walked into his arms and smiled up at him. “I like the sound of that.”
“Good. And don’t forget, you’ll lead the Orinjals with me. Always.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
She bit her lip and her blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Then there is something I want to do.”
“What is that?”
“I want to find out who is betraying us and letting the Piratirans steal our infants. I want no more babies taken from their families, Achates. And I want to go to Piratira and retrieve the Orinjals they’ve already dared to take from us. I refuse to worry over the children we will have.”
Achates smoothed his wife’s hair from her beautiful face. “That is a fine idea, one I heartily accept. Now all we need is a plan.”
Chapter Eight
Achates was floored by Livia’s declaration, but he should have known she’d want to find the traitor. In truth, he was having a difficult time believing anyone would betray him, and yet the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was the only explanation.
And he didn’t like it.
That meant someone he had trusted, someone he had asked to protect their people, had deceived him and all the babies that had been taken from Orinjal over the years.
“I’m sorry,” Livia said.
Achates shrugged and drank from his wine glass. “There has to be another explanation for how the Piratirans know how to defeat our defenses.”
“They aren’t any more intelligent than we are, Achates. I can see where the odds might favor them guessing right on a few occasions, but not once have you been able to stop them.”
“That we know of,” he corrected. “The Piratirans never come on a regular basis. We never know when they’ll come.”
“But you do know they come after dark.”
“Aye,” he said slowly, looking into her eyes. “What are you thinking?”
“You saw for yourself last night that only four men came in two small boats. One man to row each boat, and two to carry the infants. Have you ever seen them before?”
Reluctantly, he shook his head. “I’ve set up men along the shore night after night, hoping to spot them. We’ve set traps. I’ve even posted men outside the doors of homes with infants.”
“And every time they have beaten your defenses?”
“Aye.”
She tapped her chin with her index finger. “There must be a common factor in all of this. Is there one man who was involved with all three of those plans?”
Achates grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Most of the men were involved, although I didn’t speak of the plans to everyone.”
“Ah,” she said with a knowing smile. “Then it has to be someone who knew of all three plans, someone involved who could somehow signal the Piratirans.”
He pushed his chair back and stood to face the windows. “Every family on this island has had someone stolen. Why would any of them side with those monsters?”
Her chair scraped the floor as she rose and moved to his side. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and laid her head on his back. “Have you always rescued sacrifices from Piratira?”
He blinked and wondered at her thinking, but knew his wife had a quick mind. “Rarely have we been unsuccessful. Almost always we have been able to save them.
Why?”
“Well,” she said and moved to stand in front of him. “I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time with the other slaves, and I know it’s because they didn’t want us talking. However, some of the more prominent men of Piratira had more than one slave, which allowed them to talk often.”
“What are you getting at?”
She shrugged. “It’s a guess, Achates, but what if one of the slaves you saved and returned here spoke of someone who was a slave in the same household with them? What if that slave’s parent wanted to ensure that their child was no longer a slave?”
Achates let out a long breath. “It may be just a guess, but I think you might be on to something.”
“If it helps to find out who’s betraying us, then I hope my guess is correct.”
“Have any of the former slaves spoken with you?”
She shook her head. “But then again, I’ve been with you since my return. If I suddenly start asking questions, it might look odd.”
“And ruin my chance of discovering who the deceiver is,” he finished for her. “I agree. But to find who’s doing this...”
She rubbed her hands over his bare chest. “We will. I want children of my own, and I refuse to fear for their safety each night of their lives.”
His heart constrict
ed in his chest at the mention of their future and the possibility of children. He placed his hands on either side of her head and gazed into her dark blue eyes. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll catch him, Livia. I promise.”
“I know.”
Achates lowered his head and claimed her mouth for a kiss. He couldn’t stop kissing her. Her lips were the softest, sweetest lips he had ever tasted.
Her naked body slid sensually against his. He groaned as her breasts moved against his chest. And then she slid her hands between their bodies and wrapped them around his cock.
Achates broke the kiss and dropped his head back as her fingers roamed up and down his length. Every thought, save one, vanished from his mind with each sweet caress of her hand.
His heart raced when she kissed down his chest. He watched as she fell to her knees in front of him, her mouth near his cock. His breath lodged in his chest as she looked up at him and moved his rod to her lips.
She licked him, sending pleasure bursting through him. And with a wink and a sly grin, she parted her lips and brought him into her hot mouth.
Achates thought he would spill that instant, but somehow he held back. He slid his fingers through her black locks and held her head in his hands. Her mouth felt wonderful as she took him deeper, her tongue laving him, teasing him to the point of climax without even knowing she was doing it.
He knew he was about to peak, but for the life of him he couldn’t stop her, not when it felt so magnificent to be inside her mouth.
And then she cupped his sacs. Achates moaned as she gently rolled them in her hands.
It was too much. He was about to orgasm, and he refused to do it unless Livia joined him. He pulled out of her mouth and jerked her into his arms with her legs around his waist.
She guided him into her hot sex and sighed against his lips as he filled her completely. Achates’ body was near to bursting, and he didn’t know how long he could hold off before spilling.