‘Gratitude, friend, but I decline.’
He smiled grimly. ‘I would not leave my Lumen or Bravest either.’
They parted with a stronger thread of friendship tying them together.
Beowyn returned to the royal wing and froze at the top of the staircase.
Sìne slipped into the one room he would have barred her from if it had been the Verak way to do such things.
Yet again he had not been invited to share with them.
At least he knew they had returned safely.
Entering his own rooms, he closed the door and leant against it, pressing his fists to his eyes and laughing bitterly at his juvenile feelings of jealousy.
Movement across the room had him straightening, peering into the gloom. ‘Lights on.’ Illumination of the intruder lurking in his private space had him sighing. ‘Get out, Ryki.’
Naked and oiled, the male offered a sultry smile, shaking his head. ‘Why?’ He approached and slid a hand over Beowyn’s stomach. ‘When I can see you want me.’ His hand dipped lower.
‘That is not for you.’ He removed his wandering hand from cupping his crotch. ‘I sparred. My blood is hot.’
Ryki breathed in his sensitive ear. ‘Then let us cool it.’
A shiver tripped up Beowyn spine. ‘Us?’
Beckoning with a hand, the male slinked ahead into the connecting room.
Jerking to a halt on the threshold, Beowyn groaned.
Ryki now lay sprawled on the bed, her nipples peaked, thighs open as she swirled her fingers in the wetness clinging to her spread lower lips.
Irritation batted aside the prickle of lust that gathered at the thought of lodging himself into a willing host. ‘Out. My day has been long. I desire rest.’ He speared the Baxnonian with a forbidding look. ‘You are supposed to be gone. I made my wishes clear.’
‘You gave me the cycle to sort my affairs.’ She pouted. ‘I know I angered you.’ She dipped a finger inside her moist heat. ‘Forgive me. Come inside me, and please yourself. You need. Let me give as I have always done.’ Her tail flicked and curled beckoningly. ‘As you have always enjoyed.’
Pausing in the action of grabbing her ankle and pulling her down the bed, intending to set her on her feet then out the door, at her words, he paused.
Why deny himself?
Even as he repressed fulfilling his natural urges Sìne bedded another. It was natural to tend to the sensual cravings of the body. Why was he fighting his as if it were something to be ashamed of or surmounted?
Ryki wrapped her legs around his hips. ‘Great One, take me.’ She arched her back, hands squeezing her beasts together in offering. ‘Give me your breeding seed. Let me bear you a son.’
As he watched the beautiful creature writhing on his bed, her musk flaring his nostrils, her lithe body a tempting sheathe for his cock, Beowyn realised while his body primed, his chest was empty. Sìne once accused him of feeling no emotion while bedding his concubines. He’d scoffed at the assertion. It stunned him to realise she was right, he felt little to nothing.
Somehow that seemed…wrong.
After experiencing the sublime heights of passion with his One and their lover during Carnival, Beowyn could now compare his rutting of the past with the exchange of pleasure between the three of them and found the former so lacking his memories began to sicken him.
He didn’t want this.
He ached for the press of a male and female body against his, but the ones willing were not who he wanted.
Never again would he want them.
He stared at Ryki levelly.
There were many hurtful things he could say, but he had never been cruel, and he had no intention of becoming so. Pity bloomed in his heart. Beneath her erotic display, he glimpsed a true fear of rejection. He touched her smooth cheek. ‘No.’ For the first time, he realised the sensual Verak way wasn’t always the best way.
She blinked, pinprick pupils wobbling. Her hip gyrations faltered, tail coiling tight. ‘No?’
‘No.’ He chuckled without humour at the shock on her face. ‘Now leave. If I must summon a Paladin to throw you out, my Commander will discover your presence here.’
That would not end well for her.
Not only was his behaviour increasingly possessive, Éorik reviled those who disobeyed.
Speechless, Ryki gaped at him.
Face darkening to a rusty orange, she shifted into her preferred male form, rounded body flattening to toned muscle, cranial feathers shrinking from flowing to a bristled crest. ‘Great One, why are you being like this?’ Voice melting from high to low, Ryki’s rough hands rubbed his sides until they reached his waist. They skilfully unfastened his leathers and dipped inside, curling firmly around his stem. ‘Am I not beautiful? Have I ever failed to bring you to spew?’ Ryki kissed his throat. ‘You think of them, I know, but they are not here. They have forsaken you. Ignore you. If you want softness, I can give it to you. If you desire a male touch, that I can also give.’
His words were jealous poison, and recognising them as such, Beowyn huffed, annoyed. He took a moment to collect himself so he didn’t lash out and harm the concubine who had served faithfully for many solars.
Truth, he overstepped, but Ryki merely acted as he had always done, aggressive, bold. He behaved in the way Beowyn once praised him for as his favoured. His gaze touched the male’s silvery-white feathers and the golden knots of his oval eyes, set in a square jawed face the colour of rich wood.
‘I will forgive you your inability to adjust.’ It was Beowyn who had changed so unexpected and sudden. ‘The things that drew me to you, concubine, no longer do.’
Ryki was nothing but a weak imitation of the male he craved, nothing like the female who owned his heart.
‘I refuse to believe that.’ Freeing Beowyn’s hardened staff from his trousers, Ryki pumped his hand, working him from root to tip. The seed slit on his member slicked with fluid. Ryki hummed in satisfaction, thumb smearing the tacky arousal to moisten his quickening strokes. ‘You want me.’
Beowyn’s mind blanked as pleasure unspooled through his tense body. Female musk lingered thick in his nose, gradually mingling with a tangy male scent. His sac swelled and tightened.
A few words, one quick thrust, and he could sink deep into warm, welcoming wet, or order Ryki to maintain male form and bend over.
Hadn’t it always been good before?
Wouldn’t it would feel just as good, if not sweeter after his abstinence?
Pushing past the miasma of painful lust, he clamped his hand over Ryki’s. ‘Stop.’ Even if it would feel good, it no longer felt right. As the sensations eased, he began to feel ill, his heart hurting.
He did not want this at all.
The concubine needed to leave.
Disturbed air brushed his back, the creak of a door signalling a visitor.
He stiffened.
Head twisting, Beowyn’s gut clenched.
Chapter 31
‘Today was the second best day of my life.’ I sat naked in bed with the blankets at my waist, legs crossed. I wriggled. ‘Do you no think today was lovely?’
I’d had an extended, rowdy breakfast with my clan, my Verak lovers and Lumen’s nest. Beowyn had been busy in a conference with his lesser commanders, the Great House leaders, but he’d escaped to share a meal with Éorik and me at midday.
We fooled around some while Fergie took a nap, but for my part, it was blissful to sit and talk to them about silly, inconsequential things. Beowyn had returned to his duties, and Éorik rearranged his schedule to spend the afternoon escorting my clan around Grand Atoll. Tourist attractions were a favourite pastime on Vayhalun.
There were countless guided ocean dives and interactive museums.
Art exhibits were rare and horrendously expensive. I had the credits to see the collections a million times over, but I thought it in poor taste for the curators to charge so much, making the cultural expressions inaccessible to people of lesser means. So we skip
ped it. This was of course after we broke a priceless vase, Fergie screamed the place down because I confiscated her third sweetmeat, and Uncle Fergus scared the locals with his ranting while the guards politely but firmly ejected us from the premises. But yes, we decided to skip it when Éorik bandied words around like, ‘Royal visit,’ and, ‘Great One’s ire,’ to the uptight gallery owner’s dawning horror.
Street performances were gratis, popular with wealthy and working-class alike. Fergie had a fabulous time tottering from overturned hat to instrument case, depositing the crystal coins Éorik gave for such a purpose.
Rowan badgered Aled into going on a subterranean, underwater rollercoaster. An experience I gladly refused. We watched a hologram of them alternately screaming and vomiting during the ride, much to the disgust of the thrill-seekers behind them.
Fergus popped his rump on a bench as we visited the natural wonder of the rainbow geysers. A mistake on our part. He couldn’t be cajoled to move, happy to sit there and watch the waters go up and down. Up and down. Up. Down.
Patrick eventually lured him off with promises of black pudding.
Éorik became chatty during a tour of an archaeological dig; a preserved Verakan settlement from a primitive era.
It was impressive a sliver of the distant past survived the ravages of time, but none of us appreciated history to the degree of wanting to spend an hour staring at dusty lumps of rock scientists claimed were “sophisticated tools”.
We tried not to look bored as he droned on about apocalyptic solar storm this and extinction level event that.
I ascertained from his sullen expression my mumbles of delight hadn’t fooled him. ‘Sorry. It’s hard to be interested in something that happened thousands of years ago.’
‘We still have solar storms every five or six aeons. They were not all as catastrophic as the one that brought this extinction, but they are still dangerous.’
My clan took Fergie back to the palace after a sumptuous supper where I spoiled my daughter rotten. She ate more dessert than mains, drank sweet nectar instead of water, was garrulous and loud when she should be demure and quiet, but we’d had a blast, and she’d grinned at me the whole time.
Finished her food, my sweet-faced cherub patted her stomach, puffed her cheeks and bellowed, ‘Who ate all the pies!’ Then sang the whole song–with expletives!–at the top of her lungs.
Gasping, I turned to glare to my cousins who suddenly found other things to stare at, shoulders shaking as they repressed fits of laughter.
I allowed myself to be persuaded to have a go on a machine called a volcykle, a hovering motorbike that flew at teeth-rattling speeds. The sheer force of the wind almost knocked me clean off the padded seat as I’d zipped across the sparkling waters during the orange and pink-streaked sunset. Éorik cracked a smile, thrawn but sincere, when I shakily dismounted then promptly keeled over, wobbly legs numb from the vibrations.
His levity over the tumble took the sting out of my chagrin, and I’d rolled onto my back and laughed and laughed.
He’d joined me on the sand, kissing me until the sky fell dark and my body glowed. I’d felt a pang of loss that Beowyn wasn’t with us but told myself to stop being selfish. He was an important, busy man. There would be other special times to share with him.
We’d returned to the palace to muss the sheets on the Commander’s bed.
I’d checked mine and Beowyn’s living quarters thinking he might like to have a nightcap with us, but he wasn’t back yet, and I decided against banging down his SonCom.
What if he was in the middle of something important? I didn’t want to be the needy wife that got in his way.
‘It would be better if the cub learned to use the waste bowl.’ Éorik spoke with an arm thrown over his face. The spur tipping his elbow pointed up.
‘Aye.’ I was charmed he’d taken it upon himself to begin her potty training. ‘I’m still no sure what to make of this royalty business.’ During the day people acted curious of me, respectful, but kept a distance. ‘I’m trying my best.’
‘Then you will do well.’
‘Ryki almost ruined the feast.’ I’d held my anger at bay all day, but we were alone, and I couldn’t help myself. ‘Did you see how she looked at me? At Fergie? How she talked about Patrick!’ I shook my head and scowled. ‘I hardly believe the audacity of it.’
Éorik peeked from behind the hard swell of his bicep. ‘You expected?’
‘Something like what happened, but still, has she no shame?’
‘Rykiernoxiqan was Owyn’s favoured.’
‘You’re talking about Ryki?’
He nodded. ‘Same concubine.’
‘Huh?’
‘Rykiernoxiqan–who you met as Ryki–is a Baxnonian.’
‘So?’
‘Bax are gender fluid. They can switch between male and female within a blink.’
‘Oh. I think Lumen did mention that.’ I understood now why the bisexual Verak coveted them much.
‘What I try to explain is your presence threatens Ryki’s place.’
‘How was that my problem?’
Grunting in amusement, he rolled onto his stomach, shoving his arms under the marshmallow puff that was a pillow. As he moved, I watched the play of muscles in his back, a tight corset of ridges and valleys. The downy fur covering his dark skin was ruffled and dewy. The thin sheet slipped below the small of his back, its softness contrasting with the twin slopes of taut flesh running parallel to his spine and ending just where his firm ass began.
‘I doubt a concubine bothers you.’
‘Hm?’ I tore my eyes from the glory of his physique.
‘What bothers you?’ He twisted his head to the side, at a slight angle where his horns curled as if to hear me better. ‘It is not that vapid female. You are not shallow as that.’
I was elated and appalled he thought my character pure enough to rise above the seductive pull of jealousy. It wasn’t, but whatever. ‘The thing is on the jungle planet it was just Beowyn and me. I had the chance to know him away from everyone else.’
Eyes still closed, his lips puckered. ‘It allowed you to see deeper.’
‘He focused on me.’ Being stranded with him had been awkward and fraught, our exchanges intense. Honestly? His unwavering attention had been intoxicating. ‘I’m afraid of losing it.’
‘Lah, the elusive “it” strikes. You realise I cannot read minds?’
I mumbled at my chest. ‘His attention.’
‘You are his One.’
My mouth opened then closed. I patted the blanket and made a face as I thought, one of the hundreds.
‘If he goes to his harem it is for sport or to fulfil a trifling whim.’ Éorik’s voice was a scold. ‘You worry over nothing.’
‘Did I say I worried about them?’
His mouth twitched. ‘Hush.’
‘Know me well, do you?’ I stroked a finger down the ridged curve of his ivory horn, from temple to razored tip.
‘Perhaps.’
I smoothed the sheet crumpled in my lap. ‘Have you, ah, visited your harem since we returned?’
A pronounced silence.
‘If I have?’
‘It’s your right.’ I tried to keep my voice neutral, but it came out thready. ‘I get that. I do.’ In my mind, I was on bended knee, shaking a fist at the heavens and wailing.
‘I will give you a true answer if you give me one in return.’
Did I want the gory details to haunt me at night and twist me up inside? I was a woman. Of course I did. ‘Okay.’
‘You believe Beowyn will hurt you like your former mate, so you keep him at a distance.’
Well shit.
I scrunched my nose. ‘I don’t think I’d use those exact words–.’
‘A true answer, Sìne.’
‘Occasionally I may have often thought in such a manner.’
‘Your part of the bargain is met. Here is my part.’ He leant onto his elbows and looked me in the eye. ‘I
released my harem the day we arrived.’
Uncrossing my legs, I shifted onto my arse. I rose to my knees. My eyes widened, and I groped the air. I breathed, ‘You did no.’
‘My Vault is emptied.’
‘You did no!’ I jumped all over him and rained kisses on his face. I pulled back and tilted my head. ‘Why did you no want to tell me that?’
His amused expression disappeared into one of foreboding. He sighed. ‘I fear you will hold him to the same standard, and it would not be fair.’
‘You really do love him.’
‘As do you.’ He held me tighter. ‘From the moment Beowyn saw you, he has been besotted. Nothing I said turned his mind. There were humans that offered themselves to him as we travelled.’ He looked disturbed at the memory then shrugged it off. ‘Not one caught his interest aside from a natural curiosity of the unknown.’
A natural curiosity of the unknown.
‘It’s funny,’ I said. ‘We say a natural fear of the unknown.’
‘But this is silly. How can you fear it when you do not know it?’ It summed up how Verak were different from humans. The differences were embraced. ‘Do not change the subject. Beowyn recognises you for what you are.’
‘High-strung and desperate?’
‘Special.’
Breath hitching in my throat, I rubbed his chest. ‘Really?’
‘You are not a passing distraction. You are not a mere concubine to him or me. Why do you insist on seeing yourself as such?’
Nervous just thinking about confronting Beowyn–the most confident person I knew–on the topic of his harem, I chewed my lip.
Éorik cupped my cheek. He thumbed my chin, alien eyes soft. ‘You are his One. Do you not think if you tell him what you want, he will listen?’
‘You think it’s that easy?’
Éorik’s eyes crinkled in answer.
Optimistic Beowyn would be receptive to what I wanted–what I felt we all needed–I dropped a kiss to my lover’s smiling mouth, jumped out of bed and hustled back into my clothes.
I hesitated. The concubines always looked enticing whenever I caught sight of them. I smoothed a hand over my spiky curls, brow furrowing. ‘Do you think I should get dressed up?’
ThunderClaw: Science Fiction Romance (Alien Warrior Book 2) Page 38