by Kama Spice
Sehra intertwined her fingers with Rhian’s as the woman slid the warm tip of her tongue between the folds of Sehra’s labia, sliding along the length of her pussy.
Sehra sighed, pressing against Rhian’s mouth.
Rhian brought one hand down and slipped two fingers inside Sehra’s wet opening while her tongue continued to stroke Sehra’s clit.
Something began to rumble inside Sehra, starting deep down beneath her navel. It was like the beginning of an earthquake, a small crack at first then tearing her open. She screamed as the sensations surged through her. She felt as if she were falling into an endless hole, clawing at the darkness, searching desperately for something to grab on to.
“Look at me.” Rhian was above her, her red hair falling on either side of her face. She was holding Sehra’s shoulders and shaking them. “Sehra,” she said again, “open your eyes.”
Sehra gasped as her eyes flew open. Her heart was still thudding in her chest. “What happened?”
Rhian looked at her curiously. “You melded with me.”
Sehra shook her head. “I what?”
The other woman looked away for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “Are you…are you sure you’re of full-blooded Onyx lineage?”
Sehra struggled to sit up. “What—why do you ask?”
Rhian sat up on her knees, still between Sehra’s thighs. “I clearly felt you reaching into my thoughts, Sehra…but I had the distinct impression you didn’t even know you were doing it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sehra said. “That felt like a nightmare. I felt as if I were being torn in half!”
Rhian caressed Sehra’s face. “No. It wasn’t a nightmare. Your gift is stronger than a pure Onyx.”
Sehra’s voice came now as a gravelly whisper. “One of the times I went into the darkness…to speak with the Ancients, I was told that Mother was part Yellow…”
A look of understanding came over Rhian’s face. She smiled. “Of course. Intermixing lineages makes each gift stronger. And sometimes it results in a new gift altogether. You have the ability to reach into others’ thoughts, Sehra, and perhaps more, but you have yet to master it.”
Sehra looked at Rhian with a mixture of wonder and alarm. “But I didn’t want to go into your thoughts!”
Rhian shrugged. “It must be triggered by powerful emotions mixed with sexual arousal. It’s not uncommon for latent gifts to flare up for the first time in this way.”
“I don’t want it,” Sehra whispered.
“You will. It is like a wild beast. You are riding it and it is bucking you, throwing you off. Soon you will learn to ride it, sweet Sehra. And you will become a powerful Lith’han in your own right.”
Sehra closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “How on earth does one master a gift like this?” she wondered aloud.
When she opened her eyes again, Rhian was staring at her, a small smile playing on her lips.
“I will help you,” the Violet said.
Chapter Six
“Rawa, we’ve searched everywhere. She is nowhere to be found,” Inuku said again.
They had made it all the way back to Sehra’s pride grounds, even passing the protectors and her brothers without being detected, only to find that Sehra was not there. Inuku had made himself invisible and traveled throughout the grounds to see what he could glean from conversations. All he found out was that Sehra had gone to the Eastern Territories to make her vow. Her mother had since returned and the energy of Sehra’s den was somber. He’d told Rawa Sehra’s father was livid, but that no one could locate Sehra.
The two had headed back out to wander the terrain in search of her.
Rawa knew her brothers would not give up the search, and neither would he. “She is with the Violets,” he said. “They know how to shield themselves well. I will not stop looking for her.”
Inuku sighed heavily. “I know you won’t.”
Rawa looked at his friend. “If you’d like to stop, I will not fault you, Inuku. You have been a loyal friend. I will never forget your help.”
Inuku looked off into the distance. For a moment he said nothing.
Rawa could see his friend debating what he should do. He was genuine in his statement. He would not blame Inuku for stopping his journey here. Hell, if he could just get Sehra, he would stop this nonsense as well. If her brothers and her father weren’t such damn pains in the ass… But he wouldn’t stop now. Rawa was not about to live a life without Sehra. He had tried it for seven years and it had felt empty. There was always a hole where she should have been, no matter how much he tried to fill it with other things, moving to new places, bedding new females. All of it paled in comparison to being with Sehra.
When Inuku spoke again, it was with humor. “You will not last more than a few hours without me, brother. I am accompanying you to appease my own conscience.”
Rawa grinned. “Of course.” He paused before adding, “You never were a very good Independent.”
“A better one than you,” Inuku shot back. “At least I didn’t get myself killed.”
“I am not dead,” Rawa said. An uneasiness settled over him again. It was the same feeling he got whenever he thought about the fact he had been dead. There’d been no light at the end of a tunnel, no flashing of his life before his eyes…just darkness. Silence. And then his body had regenerated itself.
“You were dead, brother. If I hadn’t dragged your sorry ass out of that cave, you’d still be there.”
“Yes,” Rawa said, shaking out the skin he’d slept on. He avoided Inuku’s gaze. He knew Inuku wanted some sort of explanation, but Rawa didn’t have one to give him. He rolled up the skin and slung it over his head so it lay over one shoulder and under the other, across his chest. “I’d be in the cave, fighting. Unlike you, who simply vanishes.”
Inuku laughed. “Better to vanish and be alive than fight and be killed.”
“Spoken like the true words of a coward,” he teased. Rawa knew Inuku could handle his playful ribbing. They had formed a bond on this journey he knew would last a lifetime.
“A coward who plans to be your right-hand Lith’han when you form your own pride,” Inuku said in a more serious tone. “I don’t know what your deal is, but you are one hell of an indestructible cat. You were meant to lead your own pride.”
Rawa looked at him in surprise before looking away. A moment of silence stretched between the two before Rawa reached a hand across to slap the back of Inuku’s neck. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, little brother.”
Inuku stared at the ground for several moments before standing up. “Which way today?”
Rawa stood up and scanned the horizon. “Let’s go to that peak,” he said, pointing to the highest mountain top in the area. “I’ll have a better sense once we get there.”
* * * * *
The sun was high as the two males made their way up the side of the mountain. Rawa stopped for a moment to grab a handful of Mun’hai berries before heading out of the cool cover of trees and into the harsh heat of direct sunlight.
But before he could pop them into his mouth, something washed over him. He dropped the handful of berries and clutched at his head.
“Rawa?” Inuku said, from behind. “Are you all right?”
“Something…” The wave subsided, but whispers remained. Words he couldn’t make out overlapped one another, and the feeling of a breeze—both warm and cold at the same time—surrounded him. He stood taller, trying to make out the whispers, looking around to see where they were coming from.
“What is it?” Inuku asked.
Rawa turned around to head back down the mountain. “It’s Sehra,” he said, picking up speed. “She’s this way.”
* * * * *
Sehra stood inside the human shield of the Violets. On the other side of the warrior women were Sehra’s brothers and the protectors. They had ambushed them somehow, coming at them from all sides.
“You’ll come back to th
e grounds so Father can knock some sense into you,” Bylon said again. His arm hung limp at his side, but his tone was menacing and his scent was aggressive, verging on violent.
Sehra moved to the front. “Why would he send you to find me? I left with Kelum’s blessing.”
“But you are not an Independent,” Cylar growled. “You are a female wandering the Territories unprotected.”
Rhian narrowed her eyes. “Does she look unprotected?”
“She is under our care by orders from the prince Kelum,” Raisa, Rhian’s sister, said. “If you do not have authority to take her, we will not allow it.”
One of the protectors, obviously the chief from the cuffs and belt at his waist, stepped forward. “We do not want the female. We are searching for the male who dishonored her.”
Rhian jerked her head around to look at Sehra.
Sehra shook her head. “What are you talking about?”
“Rawa, the Independent,” the chief protector said. “We are under orders to apprehend the Copper for violating The Laws.”
“But he’s—” Sehra bit her tongue. Why would the protectors be searching for Rawa if he was dead?
Rhian turned slowly to him. “The Copper—you know that he…is in this area?”
“Yes. Our detectives have sensed him in these parts. So far, he and his traveling companion have managed to stay one step ahead of us, but we know we will find him if we have found you. Apparently, he is searching for the lieutenant’s daughter.”
Sehra drew in a sharp breath.
The protector, mistaking her shock for fear, said, “Do not fear. We will not allow him to come anywhere near you.”
Sehra stared at Rhian. “Rawa’s alive,” she whispered.
“Find him,” Rhian said under her breath. She stepped in front of Sehra to block her from the protectors’ view before addressing him again. “The Copper did not dishonor Sehra…”
Sehra quickly shut out the voices around her. She had only one goal in mind right now, and that was to find Rawa. She knew she hadn’t even come close to mastering her ability, but she began to put everything into what she’d learned so far from Rhian. She reached out across the territories, keeping only one thought in her mind—Rawa. She scoured the mountains, flying over the treetops, searching…reaching.
When she found him, all the air went out of her lungs.
He was alive. Rawa was alive! She wanted to collapse in sobs at his feet, to devour him whole so he would never leave her again. And because of this, she slammed into him, diving into his thoughts with all the force she could muster. Until she realized he could not see or hear her. She pulled out of him slowly, reluctantly. She pressed her fingers against her temples as her head throbbed with the effort of reaching him. Rawa, she called. Come to me, my love. But her words were half-formed, falling apart like wet clay. Still, she kept forming new ones, hurling them through space and into his thoughts until she felt his presence becoming stronger. Moving steadily closer.
Rawa tore through the trees into the small clearing with Inuku barely a hairsbreadth behind him.
The protectors came at them immediately, seizing the two and pulling cuffs out.
Sehra threw herself onto Rawa. “No!” she growled. “Let him go.”
All the blood drained out of Rawa’s head at the sight of her. It took every ounce of will in his body to keep his dick from swelling. Now was not the time. But here she was, draped all over him, hot and damp with perspiration. Her face was flushed and the hot puffs of her breath burned against his shoulder as she panted, digging her fingers into his arms.
He held still in the protectors’ hold. It took two of them to hold him. If he moved around too much, rubbing against Sehra’s hot little body while the protectors held him in place, he would have a vicious hard-on in less than a second. He had craved her smell, her sweetness for so long that having her this close now, so abruptly, sent his thoughts scattering. If the blasted protectors didn’t let him go soon, he might have to kill them.
Rawa blinked a couple of times and shook his head to clear it. When he looked up again, he noticed the Violets who were now crouched, ready to shift into their cat forms.
“Let him go,” one of the larger ones said. Her voice was quiet, but there was no mistaking the seriousness of her tone. She was not messing around.
The chief protector seemed to be weighing his options as he held fast to Inuku. Rawa watched his face as the man stared at Sehra in confusion, holding firm to the one cuff he’d managed to snap on Inuku’s wrist. “But is this not the Independent who dishonored you?”
“No,” she snarled, peeling herself off Rawa. She held his gaze for what felt to Rawa like a lifetime before she stepped back and crouched alongside the Violets. “He never dishonored me, you idiots. He is my mate.”
“Lies!” Cylar exploded. “Apprehend this man at once or my father will have your heads.”
The chief protector looked from Sehra to her brothers. He shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on here,” he said, “but your sister’s reaction is not one of a woman dishonored.”
Cylar lunged for one of the protector’s cuffs and belt.
In that instant, the Violets shifted, with Sehra quickly following suit.
Rawa took advantage of the distraction and wrenched his arms free. He cursed the cuff on his wrist, which would break bones like dry twigs if he tried to shift into his cat form. He slammed the metal cuff into the head of the protector who was holding Inuku.
Out the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Sehra as she leapt. He suddenly had a flash of her as a cub in a rage over one of her brothers’ stunts. She lunged for Cylar’s arm, sinking her jaws into his flesh while the Violets pounced on Bylon, pinning him to the ground beneath them. Even with a damaged arm, an angry male like Bylon, who felt entitled to something—or someone, Rawa thought angrily—was extremely dangerous.
There was a deafening roar. Rawa’s only thought was for Sehra. He whipped his head around until he saw that she was uninjured. She had jumped off Cylar and was shifting back.
“Enough,” the chief protector boomed.
Rawa covered the ground quickly between himself and Sehra, pulling her protectively toward him. He wrapped his arms, thick like serpents, against her compact, tight, little form and pressed her back against his chest.
She melted against him, sending his thoughts colliding once again. Judging from her scent, she wanted him as desperately as he yearned to have her. He gritted his teeth, forcing his blood to slow down.
“Soon, my sweet,” he whispered, stroking the sides of her body, right underneath her breasts.
She shuddered against him.
Rawa tightened his hold. Great Ancients. It would have to be very soon—Ancients have mercy if he had to wait any longer to sink into that sweet smell.
The chief unlocked the cuff on Inuku’s wrist and waved the metal bands in the air. “Enough,” he repeated.
The scent of raw lust and need had filled the air as soon as Rawa set his eyes on Sehra. And it wasn’t all coming from him. Rawa knew the chief and everyone in the vicinity could sense it and trace its origins.
The chief looked at Rawa with his arms wrapped around Sehra. “Clearly, there is more going on here than the king has been made aware of,” he said, walking over to Rawa and unlocking the cuff that still hung on one wrist. He then stepped back to examine the entire scenario.
Rawa saw that Inuku had moved next to the Violets. They stood behind Rawa and Sehra while the three protectors and Sehra’s brothers faced them.
The chief seemed to be thinking of what to do next. “The king will have to decide this one,” he said at last. He sounded tired and somewhat resigned. “You two will come back to the grounds and there will likely be a hearing. The king will want to know what the lieutenant has to say, as well as the female.”
Rawa heard one of the protectors mumble, “This seems more a family matter.”
“Yes, but it has become the king’s ma
tter because his forces have been deployed,” the chief barked. Irritation deepened the fine lines around his face.
“I am not a fugitive,” Rawa said. Every muscle was tense with the effort of keeping himself in check. Adrenaline still coursed through his veins and he was ready to spring back into action if necessary. But Sehra’s brown little ass was pressed against his thighs. And yet, miraculously, his voice remained steady. “I will not be cuffed.”
He meant it. If anyone tried to take him away from Sehra now, he would kill, and he would kill with relish.
The chief looked at him for a moment before nodding slowly. He glanced at Sehra. “If you have not violated any Laws, I cannot cuff you. And you should not have been apprehended to begin with.”
“You’ll leave us,” Rawa continued. “We will agree to meet you for a hearing on my mate’s pride grounds, but we will not be escorted.” He pulled Sehra even closer. “My mate and I have been kept apart for long enough.”
Ignoring the protests of Sehra’s brothers, the chief agreed. “You will have a forty-eight-hour deadline, Independent. If you and your mate are not on the pride grounds in that time, we will hunt you down. Both of you.”
As soon as the search party turned to head back, with Cylar and Bylon fuming until they were swallowed up by the trees, Rawa spun Sehra around. He lifted her into his arms and walked into the woods in the opposite direction of where the search party had disappeared.
When they were far enough away, he put her down gently and stepped back. He wanted to see her. To breathe her in. It took everything he had to not throw her down and fuck her hard and fast until they both exploded.
“That’s what I want,” she said. She reached across and dragged her fingers along the hard muscles of his shoulders and down his arms.
He narrowed his eyes. “What is what you want?”
She moved closer until her nipples brushed against skin. “I want you to fuck me, hard and fast, until we both come.”