“And the one Melinda is taking is coming to a close as well,” Liosh told him. “We will talk again later.”
“Later then,” Vorn had agreed. “Stay strong, Brother.”
“You as well,” Liosh told him and then the connection had been broken.
He thought of the conversation now, as he held Melinda in his arms. She seemed completely relaxed and much happier than she had been in the day or so after she had seen the awful vid which had brought her trauma rushing back. Could it be that tonight was the night he could try to heal her?
As though in answer to his question, Melinda reached up to stroke his cheek.
“Liosh,” she murmured. “Kiss me.”
Twenty-Five
Melli loved the feeling of her big Kindred’s mouth on hers. And also the feeling of his big hands roaming gently over her body.
For the last several nights, they had simply been cuddling and making out— taking things slowly and not going too far or too fast. The patience Liosh displayed was amazing to Melli. She knew most men couldn’t wait to get to the sex part of a relationship but the big Kindred seemed perfectly content to just hold her in his arms and kiss and caress her. And even though she felt the hard ridge of his shaft growing under her bottom while she sat on his lap, he never pushed for more than she was ready to give.
For Melli, it was like a slow re-awakening of her entire body. After the attack, she had felt as though the sexual side of her was dead—that Jason Sykes had killed it on that one awful night and she would never feel any kind of sexual desire again. But Liosh was showing her that the part of her that craved sex wasn’t dead—it had only been deeply asleep. And slowly…patiently…he was waking it up.
It started with the kissing. His mouth tasted faintly like spearmint, Melli thought—which happened to be one of her favorite flavors. Maybe it was his essence she was tasting—the pale blue liquid which came from his fangs that his body made just for her.
It was like his scent—fresh and clean and yet warm and comforting, too. She loved it—loved tasting him while he tasted her, their mouths meshing and tongues entwining. Liosh kissed her and touched her as though she was precious—priceless—and he never went further than she wanted or pushed for more than she was ready to give.
The way he treated her made Melinda feel not just loved but cherished—protected and cared for in a way she had never been before, not even as a child. And little by little, she began to want more.
After they had been kissing for a while, she had begun to want him to touch her. Not under her clothes—not yet—but Liosh seemed to understand that. For when she moved one of his big hands to cup her breast, he stroked her lightly over her t-shirt, stimulating her nipple gently through the thin cotton of her shirt and the material of her bra, making Melinda arch against him as the surprising sensations of sexual pleasure that had been so-long absent from her body began to return.
The next night she hadn’t worn a bra at all and when she invited Liosh’s big hands to go roving, the sensation of his warm fingers sliding around her sensitive tips with nothing but the thin, worn cotton between them made her gasp in pleasure. He had done that for what seemed like hours, slowly stroking her nipples as he kissed her deeply, until Melli was practically writhing in his lap in pleasure and need.
God, it felt so good to be touched like that—caressed and pleasured so slowly and carefully! It was almost as though Liosh knew exactly what speed she needed to go sexually and kept himself strictly in line to avoid frightening or triggering her.
When he had first proposed trying to heal her, Melli had assumed he meant to try immediately, and she had been rather dreading the frightening intimacy of his mouth between her legs.
Now, she found she was looking forward to it.
Only the night before, they had been talking about it as Melli got used to the idea of letting him taste her.
“Tell me,” she’d asked, after they had been kissing while Liosh slowly stroked her nipples through her t-shirt. “How are you going to, er, heal me without uh, cutting me with your fangs? I mean, not that you won’t be careful, I’m sure, but they seem so long and sharp and that’s kind of a delicate area.”
In fact, she knew how long and sharp they were—she had been tracing them with her tongue only a moment before—a dangerous but extremely pleasurable pastime.
Liosh had given her a smile.
“Don’t you believe I can be careful with my fangs by now, Talli? Maybe you need a demonstration.”
“A demonstration?” Melli’s breath seemed to catch in her throat and she felt a little surge of anticipatory pleasure. “What…what exactly do you mean?”
“Well, maybe I can show you how gentle I can be with certain…delicate areas,” Liosh suggested.
“What…what areas?” She was a little afraid—but a lot intrigued. Was he finally going to try healing her now?
“Not where you’re thinking—not yet,” Liosh had told her, making her feel both relieved and disappointed. “But what about if I kissed you here?”
His long fingers had traced the hard point of her right nipple, a questioning look in his eyes.
Melli had trembled with need under his touch but she knew she finally felt ready to feel his tongue on her.
“Yes,” she whispered and she had lifted her shirt and taken it off, baring her breasts for him.
Liosh’s pale blue eyes went half-lidded as he drank in the sight of her sitting topless in his lap.
“Gods, Talli, your breasts are so beautiful,” he said hoarsely. “Thank you for trusting me enough to bare them.”
“You…you’re welcome.” Melli had smiled at him tentatively. After the attack she had felt ugly…disgusting. But the way Liosh looked at her made her feel like a goddess—beautiful…desirable…worthy of worship.
And that was exactly what he had proceeded to do. Slowly, gently, he had worshiped her breasts with his mouth, lapping carefully around the hard points of her nipples, drawing out her pleasure until she was panting and moaning before finally sucking the ripe peaks into his mouth. And though Melli felt the sharp points of his fangs bracketing each tender peak as he sucked and pleasured her, Liosh had never once even scratched her.
He was indeed, very good at being careful and gentle. So good that Melli had almost told him she was ready to be healed that night. But though the tender way he kissed and licked and sucked her ripe nipples aroused her and made her pussy feel wet and ready for the first time, well, ever that she could remember, she still hadn’t felt quite ready to take that next step.
Nor had Liosh pushed her. He had taken what seemed like forever just licking and sucking her until she was squirming in his lap, feeling like her jeans were too tight as their seam rubbed against her sensitive clit.
At last he had looked up at her, his eyes dilated almost to black with desire.
“I can scent your heat, Melinda,” he had murmured, locking gazes with her. “Why don’t you do something about it?”
“Do…something about it?” Melli had looked at him uncertainly. “I don’t…don’t know what you mean.”
“Why don’t you touch yourself?” Liosh suggested. “Bring yourself pleasure below while I bring it above?”
The thought hadn’t occurred to Melli, who hadn’t masturbated since the attack. Self-pleasure just hadn’t occurred to her at all for years—it wasn’t even on her radar. But now that the sexual side of her was awake again, she remembered that she had enjoyed touching herself—enjoyed it very much—before the awful night of her Junior Prom.
Still, she had never done it in front of anyone before and the thought made her feel a little embarrassed.
“What just…take off my jeans and panties and start…start touching myself in front of you?” she’d asked Liosh, her voice sounding high and breathy in her own ears.
“Just your jeans,” he suggested. “Why don’t you leave your panties on if you don’t want me to see too much?”
“Well…” Melli had
shifted in his lap, a bit uncertainly. She wanted to do this, she realized. She wanted to reclaim this piece of her herself—and Liosh was offering to help her do it. “All right,” she said at last and, standing up, had wiggled out of her jeans so that she was wearing only her thin t-shirt and a pair of tiny pink panties.
“Gods…” Liosh’s pale blue eyes drank her in hungrily as she stood there in front of him only half dressed. “You’re so lovely, Talli,” he had murmured as his gaze traveled down her body and then back up again to her eyes. “Come back to me now and make yourself feel good.”
And that was how Melli found herself lying across his lap as he lapped and sucked her sensitive, bare nipples and she slid one hand into the lacy waistband of her panties.
At first she just cupped herself, marveling at how open and wet she felt under her own palm. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this when she touched herself. Back when she had attempted to use the dilators, her pussy had felt tense and cold and dry—almost like a lump of hard, un-worked clay. Now she felt almost fluid—warm and responsive. And it was all thanks to Liosh and his slow campaign of sensual pleasure.
He had stopped sucking her nipples for a moment and asked,
“How does it feel, Talli? Does it feel good to touch yourself?”
“Yes,” she had whispered. “I…I never thought it would again but it does, Liosh. I…I like it, even though I’m only cupping myself.”
“Spread your pussy lips,” he murmured, his eyes half-lidded with desire for her. “Stroke inside your folds, Melinda. Reclaim this part of yourself.”
Moaning breathlessly, she did as he commanded, opening her outer pussy lips with her first and ring fingers and sliding her middle finger into her own wet depths.
The tingling shock of the pad of her finger making contact with her clit made her gasp and jerk her pelvis. God, that felt good! Even better than she remembered.
“Feels good?” Liosh asked her, his deep voice a sexy rumble.
“Y-yes,” Melli admitted, stroking carefully around the bud of her clit. “I’m just so…so sensitive.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Liosh murmured. “I’ll be certain to be very, very careful when I taste you there and run my tongue all over your wet folds.”
His dirty talk and the way he was looking at her as he spoke, made Melli shiver with desire.
“Are…are you going to do that now?” she asked, stroking herself again.
But Liosh had shaken his head.
“Not yet. You’re nearly ready but not quite. For tonight, I want you to explore your body, Talli. Relearn yourself and take back your pleasure. Tonight I just want you to make yourself come.”
Melli had bitten her lip.
“I…I don’t know if I can,” she’d confessed. “It’s been so long.”
“Just try,” Liosh had urged gently. “Stroke your soft little pussy, sweetheart. Give yourself pleasure below while I give you pleasure above. Even if you can’t come, at least you can re-learn how good it feels to try and reach the peak.”
“O…okay,” Melli had agreed. “But…keep talking to me, Liosh,” she’d begged. “I…I think it helps when you talk to me.”
“You mean when I tell you how beautiful you look in my lap, wearing nothing but those little pink panties while you touch yourself?” he growled softly. “Or how hard the scent of your hot little pussy makes me? Or how I can’t wait to lap between your legs and taste it for myself…”
Melli had moaned and arched in his lap, loving the sound of his deep voice saying naughty things while she stroked and caressed her aching clit with one careful fingertip. His warm scent seemed to surround her with safety and comfort and his hooded gaze on her body as she touched herself let her know how perfectly beautiful and desirable she was. Everything about the big Kindred spoke of safety and love and commitment and desire.
Feeling so beautiful and loved allowed Melli to drive out the fear and pain that had haunted her for so long and finally give in to desire.
In a surprisingly short time, she’d felt her pleasure building to a peak. Her fingers flew faster and faster over the aching bud of her clit and before she knew it, she was experiencing the first orgasm she’d had in years.
“Oh…oh!” she had gasped, arching in Liosh’s arms. “Oh, Liosh…Liosh, I’m coming!”
“Of course you are, Talli,” he had murmured encouragingly. “Go on and come—let the pleasure take you—you worked hard for this, enjoy it.”
Melli had enjoyed it—thoroughly. Which was why she was so surprised when, after the pleasure faded, she burst into tears.
But Liosh hadn’t seemed to think it was strange or unusual for her to be crying out in pleasure one minute and then sobbing on his chest the next. He only held her close and murmured in her ear,
“It’s all right, Talli—let it out. Just let it all out.”
“I…I don’t know why I’m crying,” Melli had whispered at last, after the sobs slowed down to sniffles. “That felt amazing.”
“A physical release often triggers an emotional release,” Liosh told her. “It’s all right, Melinda—some tears are healing.”
And he seemed to be right. After her orgasm and the mini-breakdown that went with it, Melli had felt amazingly free and relaxed. She had nestled against Liosh’s broad chest as he sucked her fingers clean, clearly relishing her flavor, and then taken her to bed where he could cuddle her all night long.
They had woken up in the middle of the night and repeated the process, only this time Melli had taken off her panties and let him watch as she touched and stroked herself. It had helped that they didn’t have to turn on the light for him to see her—his Kindred night vision was sharp enough to see by the dim light of the moon coming through the crack in the shade.
He had held her close and murmured how beautiful and sexy she was as she caressed her pussy, telling how he was looking forward to licking her and tasting her honey right from the source…
Now, remembering the hot middle-of-the-night masturbation session, Melli felt aroused all over again. She looked up at Liosh, wondering if he was feeling the same and found that his pale blue eyes were studying her face.
“Liosh?” she made his name a question and he smiled at her.
“Talli,” he murmured. “I think you’re finally ready…ready to let me heal you. But there are a few preparations I want to make first…”
Twenty-Six
As Melli was waiting for Liosh to run her a warm bath—he said he wanted to take care of her in every way that night, before he got to the healing—she got a very strong feeling that someone wanted to talk to her.
By now she knew the feeling of someone wearing a Think-me and trying to communicate—she and Liosh had been practicing with the Kindred technology and sometimes Melli wore the thin gold wire under her long hair so they could communicate via thought during some of her longer and more boring classes. Even the dullest class could be rendered amusing by the big Kindred’s droll commentary on whatever it was the professor was saying.
Thinking that maybe Liosh had taken the Think-me into the bathroom to talk to her while he prepared the bath, Melli opened herself to the mental communication and was surprised to hear her sister on the other end of it.
“Hello, Melli? Is this thing working?”
“Jodi?” Melli sent back. “I’m here. Are you calling me on purpose or were you trying to get Vorn? And why didn’t you just text me or call me on the phone?”
“Because I don’t want any record of this on my phone,” Jodi sent back. Her big sister’s mental voice sounded decidedly agitated, Melli thought.
“Um, okay—but why?” Melli asked, even more confused.
“Because I don’t want James to see it. And because it has to do with me cheating—well, sort of cheating on him,” Jodi confessed.
Melli sat bolt-upright on the loveseat where she’d been lounging.
“Cheating on him? But Jodi, that’s so unlike you! I thought you
said after Dad left Mom that you’d never cheat—that it was the lowest, most despicable thing anyone could do to the person they loved. Also, who are you cheating with?”
“Who do you think? Vorn, of course,” Jodi sent back. “And I’m not really cheating, only sort of cheating. I mean, technically Vorn has never touched me—well, not under my clothes, anyway.”
This was almost too much for Melli to take in. The fact that her steady, buttoned-down and straight-laced older sister was cheating—or sort of cheating—on her fiancé was shocking enough. But what she really couldn’t get over was who Jodi was doing the cheating with.
“But…but I thought you and Vorn hated each other?” she sent, feeling completely bewildered. “The last time I saw you and him together, I remember thinking that if looks could kill, the two of you would be stone-cold dead!”
“I know…” Jodi sent a mental sigh. “It’s…complicated. It turns out that I was mad at him because he was making his Mating Scent for me without knowing it which was driving me crazy and which made me make, uh, scents for him and we were locked in a kind of circular thing and… Anyway, like I said, it’s complicated.”
“Oh, is Vorn making his Mating Scent for you?” Melli asked. “Then the two of you must be meant to be together. I know because Liosh is making his Mating Scent for me.”
“So the two of you are together now?” Jodi didn’t sound very surprised. “Is he treating you right?” she asked, with her characteristic big-sister protectiveness.
“Better than all right,” Melli assured her. “He’s so patient and caring and all around wonderful I…Jodi, I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”
“That’s wonderful, Melli. I’m really happy for you.” Jodi’s love and joy for her little sister’s contentment were clear in the mental link. “But, well…how are you handling, you know, the sex part of it? Did the dilators work?”
“Unfortunately not,” Melli sent. “But Liosh is being very slow and patient. See, Blood Kindred make this stuff called essence with their fangs that can help when their mate is hurt. I don’t want to get into details because it’s kind of embarrassing, but he thinks he can, uh, heal me. And if not, there’s this other stuff called ‘bonding fruit’ on the Mother Ship that we can use. So I’m hopeful we’ll be able to bond soon—and then we’ll never be apart.”
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