by Isabel Wroth
Arkhan held her hands in place, which made it that much easier for her to twist her hips, grinding herself against him in determined circles, wanting every inch of him inside her.
There came the moment where he reached the end and their eyes met, that infinitesimal moment when there was nothing to do but give themselves over to one another, and once they let go, the pleasure only grew.
He let her wrists go, dragging his hands down her arms to grip her waist, pulling her up to sit astride him. It was his favorite way to love her, holding her heart to heart, so close that when she looked into his eyes, Deja swore she could see the entire universe laid out before her.
Arkhan's second favorite way to love her, was to share her with Izax.
Deja hadn't even noticed the mock-fighting had stopped until a soft brush of lips across her nape made chills race down her spine.
Warm, slick fingers slid between the cleft of her bottom, against heated skin to press past the tight ring of muscle guarding her rear passage.
Arkhan helped, gripping her cheeks to pull them apart for Izax to ease himself inside her. He was careful, the small bite of pain fleeting because of his gentleness.
"Perfect," Izax praised, nuzzling her ear as he moved in tight against her. Impatience drove her to push back, forcing them all together faster than he'd expected. "Light take me, I was trying to be gentle!"
Deja bit her lip and wiggled her hips playfully, bearing down on their cocks, making both of them groan.
"I don't want gentle."
Release was just there, just beyond her reach and Arkhan whispered words of encouragement against her lips, capturing her wordless cries in-between with teasing little kisses.
Cold sparks of electricity licked up her sides. A black cloud shot through with sparks surrounded them until her entire body was tingling, contracting in response.
Arkhan chuckled as the familiar shade slid down over her shoulders to cup her breasts. Little snaps and bites of delicate pain made her arch back and claw at Arkhan's shoulders in absolute ecstasy.
"Lower, Azurryn." Arkhan groaned, his grip on her hips so tight as to almost bruise.
Lower...he couldn't mean...oh, he did. Azurryn's shadow hands smoothed down to where Arkhan's shuttling cock threatened to split her in two, down to swirl around and around her clit.
That release that was just beyond reach was suddenly upon her. Harsh and relentless, it rolled over her with enough force that she couldn't even scream, and all she saw were the stars swirling in Arkhan's eyes.
AZURRYN WALKED INTO the crystal pool with her cradled against his chest, carrying her down through the warm gel, pausing to let her float. To let the gel go to work on soothing the lingering ache of having been well and truly had by all three of them. He massaged his hand and the gel through her hair, leaving no part of her untouched.
"What would I do without you?" she asked, turning her cheek to his palm.
"This is a question you will never need answered." Azurryn told her, bending to press a kiss to her brow. "You will never be without me. We are bound by blood and darkness."
A pang of uncertainty, of guilt threatened to bring tears to her eyes. Her mood changing as the haze of pleasure wore off, and she thought about the basket of heartstones again.
"Did you choose to be bound to me? Or did I force it on you?"
She regretted asking the question almost as soon as it left her mouth. Azurryn stopped washing her hair, stiff and still for long enough, Deja couldn't bear to risk a peek at his face.
How stupid could she be, asking something like that? Her stomach shriveled when he set her feet down, her chin just above the gel, her eyes on the hard muscles of Azurryn's lean chest.
He pinched her chin gently between his fingers, lifting her eyes up to meet his oh so serious gaze. A lock of his dark hair fell across his brow, lending a gentler cast to the hard planes and angles of his face.
"You do not comprehend the meaning of the word force Deja," he chided sternly, rubbing his thumb back and forth just beneath her lip. "Izax pressed your blood to my well, but the moment you settled my heartstone to it, any and all possible compulsion to mindlessly obey or serve was gone.
“You gave me freedom, choice, and I chose you. I chose you for your kindness, for your selflessness. I chose you because you do not know what it means to bend another creature to your will maliciously. I will choose you, my Marahi, always."
Azurryn fed his last words to her, his promise, with a kiss. He called her the word she hated, but in that moment he said it like it was the most reverent endearment he knew.
Her lips trembled, his soothed and caressed, his arms anchoring her when she felt so adrift. So overwhelmed with—
"What is that?" he whispered in fascination, his gaze tracking over her face.
"What?"
"That feeling." Azurryn inhaled like he could smell the emotion coming off of her. "I have felt it from you before, when Arkhan brushes your hair. When you climb up astride Izax to ride around the city. When I smile at you. When you lie naked and replete between all of us.
“It's grown stronger from day to day, and I feel it too, it warms me while I watch you sleep, makes my heartstone trip when you open your eyes each morning and look for me. It distracts me from purpose when you smile like you are now. What is it?"
Deja didn't have to search very hard for the answer. It was right there, swirling around inside her, filling her up to the brim.
"Humans call it, love. When we feel it for another person we say ’I love you’."
Azurryn gave her one of his rare smiles, one of those that made him look almost boyish and not so much a king. It made all the colors in his eyes churn and sparkle as he tested out the words.
"I love you."
Her skin prickled, and the rush of sensation that swept through her was so wonderful it left her breathless. Azurryn made a deep sound of satisfaction, lifting her up so they were nose to nose.
"And you feel this love for me?"
"I do. I love you very much. So much."
"You feel it for all of us." He sighed, like the knowledge gave him relief.
"For you, Izax, and Arkhan. Yes."
Azurryn shook his head, his gaze searching the air just above her head before returning to her face.
"No. You feel more love for Izax, Arkhan, and I. But it is there for the rest of the Shadow valos. Softer. Different. It is why you care so much for their wellbeing. You have love for them."
Deja thought about it, twining her fingers in Azurryn's dark hair, so focused she didn't feel him carrying her out of the pool.
He took her to the balcony and set her down, turning her so her back was to his front and hugged her close, his chin resting on her shoulder while they looked out at the magnificence of the city. Their home.
Deja could see the valos moving around across the river. Some were in pairs, some alone, and as Deja watched them, she did feel an affection for them. A kinship, perhaps. Or maybe it was more selfish than that.
"Tell me." Azurryn urged softly.
Deja sighed, curling her fingers around his wrists as she watched her world go by.
"I told you how I became a prisoner?"
"You were betrayed by your kin, trying to expose their evil."
That was about it in a nutshell, but looking at the nude aliens wandering around exploring what it felt like to be free, she knew there was more.
"My uncle was selling people into slavery, and when I discovered him, I became one of the people he sold. I couldn't do anything to help them, and every time a new prisoner walked past my cell, I wondered if they had been a victim of my family's greed. I suppose that's why I care about these people, because I can do something. I can help.
"There is part of me that wants to go to the crash site and bring all the prisoners back here to be safe, knowing we have plenty of space to protect them and give them a new home.
“A part of me that knows I can finish what I set out to do on Earth and help
the people my uncle sold to be used as disposable tools for the cruelest experiments. But I'm afraid. Everything about that ship, the people on it..." she gave a rueful laugh, "you would think an alien planet filled with unknown horrors would be more terrifying to me than a ship made of steel and screams."
Azuyrrn hugged her tight enough to make her ribs ache, but she needed it. She needed him.
"There is nothing you need to fear, Deja. Not from anyone or any thing on this planet. You are in my shadow, and you are always safe there."
"We are with you." Arkhan appeared on her right, the sight of his outstretched hand blurring as her eyes filled with tears. She reached for him, the warmth of his hold chasing away the chill of her fear.
"It is not the stone in my chest that brought me to life." Izax said as he came up on her left. "It was you, little human. You are our heartstone."
Azurryn pressed a kiss to her temple. "It is so. Tell them what you told me of love."
Blushing, Deja told them, and all three of her shadows closed in around her, holding her at their center. When she finished, they were quiet for a time, pensive, holding her hands between theirs, crooked little smiles blossoming on their handsome faces.
"Love. This is word is foreign to me, but I feel the truth of it." Arkhan declared softly.
TWELVE
~DEJA
"No, don't look yet."
Arkhan sat behind her astride Izax in his horse form, his hand covering her eyes while they took her somewhere for a surprise. He said Azurryn would meet them wherever they were heading, and Deja practically vibrated with eagerness.
The three of them had been secretive for days now, up to something, and she felt silly for having been worried.
Izax's shadowy hooves made no sound but Deja could feel the difference of the ground through the way his gait changed.
Water splashed, and Deja felt it touch her toes, squealing with laughter at the cool swirl of it over her ankles, all the way up to her thighs.
"Are we going swimming?"
Arkhan chuckled, his arm tight around her waist to keep her from sliding off. "No."
"Why are we in the river, then?"
"We're almost there." Izax promised.
"Just one hint? Please?" she whined playfully.
Arkhan full out laughed behind her, his body shaking hers as Izax climbed up the opposite side of the river.
"I believe you struggle with understanding how a surprise works."
"I do not! I'm just impatient."
"I know this to be true." Arkhan told her, kissing her throat lovingly, nipping her in reprimand when she elbowed him.
"Alright, we're here. Keep your eyes closed."
Deja promised she would, missing Arkhan against her when he slid off of Izax. Her face hurt from how wide she smiled, hooting a little when Arkhan gripped her waist to lift her down.
Izax shifted. She could feel the whoosh of his shade across her legs followed by the warmth of his body coming up behind hers.
They guided her confidently, and without her sight, Deja could hear the soft murmur of voices all around her, feel more than just Izax's or Arkhan's eyes on her.
A bubble of nervousness slithered up her throat, making her swallow thickly, making the struggle to keep her eyes closed that much harder.
"It's alright, love." Izax soothed.
"Stand right here." Azurryn's voice turned her head, a shiver of a whole new kind pebbling her skin. She stood where they moved her, breathlessly waiting for her surprise. "Open your eyes."
Of all the things she might have expected, what she saw was not it, and at first she didn't know what she was looking at.
She tilted her head this way, then that, and when everything finally came into focus Deja felt like someone had simultaneously punched her in the gut and whipped the floor out from under her.
The stone was a gleaming white with ribbons and veins of opalescent color running through it.
She would have said the stone reminded her of Azurryn's eyes, save for the fact that the fifteen foot tall statue was carved to look exactly like her, standing in the spot where Astaria's statue had been.
Deja looked up into the face of her likeness to see she was smiling, her hands spread out in an offering. Thread thin silver wires arced from palm to palm, the heartstones she hadn't wanted forgotten spread out like a dark rainbow.
She had no words, no way to vocalize what she felt. Overwhelmed by the literal enormity of what the valos had done. Humbled. Embarrassed. Shocked. Moved to tears.
"Why?" she finally managed to croak.
Azurryn was smiling for all to see, lifting his chin to indicate the mass of people all around them.
"So none of us would forget how you set us free. So none of us would forget the ones who are no longer with us. So you will not forget that this is your home, and we are your people."
Deja was glad for Arkhan and Izax's hands on her, fairly sure her rubbery knees wouldn't hold her as she looked around at all the valos who had gathered.
It wasn't like last time, their gazes were bright with life, some troubled even though they smiled, but they were all here, and to her unending amusement, stark naked.
She was the ruler of a colony of nudist aliens. Nudist aliens who appeared to be waiting for her to say something.
Deja had to clear her throat a few times, choking on her emotions and laughter, struggling to find a way to phrase her impromptu speech without offending anyone.
"I am so overwhelmed by this. Truly, it is the most beautiful, extravagant gift I've ever received. Thank you. Where I am from, when someone gives you a gift, a gift is given in return to show your gratitude.
“My gift will be clothing. For all of you. If I have to make it with my own hands, I will, but I promise I am going to adorn my people in the finest clothes I can find."
Penumbra rang with the sounds of the Shadowed Ones cheering, and as her warriors held her at the foot of her own statue, Deja wondered where the hell she was going to find clothes for seven hundred plus people.
"We will help you find clothes for everyone, little human." Izax chuckled, clearly reading her expression correctly.
She supposed she could raid Astaria's extensive wardrobe and give all of the women at least one salacious outfit. Perhaps there were bedsheets enough to make sarongs for the men.
Which would mean she would be the ruler of a colony of scantily clad aliens, which Deja supposed was preferable to being the ruler of a nudist colony.
As she caught sight of more than one pair of testicles waggling past, she thought-
Yes. Definitely preferable.
Up next....UNDYING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WELL KIDS, THIS HAS been the most fantastic, inspiring collaboration I’ve ever been involved in. I’ve been so inspired, so humbled and grateful for the new friends I’ve made along the way during this journey, and I’m so excited to share it all with you.
Don’t miss UNDYING by Tiffany Roberts, book 7 in the Valos of Sonhadra!
IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE kept abrest of updates, giveaways, and teasers, follow me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/isabel.wroth.31 or sign up for my blog http://isabelwroththewriter.blogspot.com and if you liked SHADOWED, check out the rest of the books in the series!!!
Valos of Sonhadra
Alluvia-by Amanda Milo
Tempest-by Poppy Rhys
Blazing-by Nancey Cummings
Whirlwind- by Ripley Proserpina
Radiant-by Naomi Lucas
Shadowed- by Isabel Wroth
Undying- by Tiffany Roberts
Enduring- by Marina Simcoe
Unfrozen- by Regine Abel
-moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share