“Oh.” What if he’d died? She swallowed hard. “Do you think it is safe to keep those?” She waved her hand, indicating his arm and thigh appliances.
“I think so. They are different than the temple piece. These are some type of new technology, very sophisticated. I want to show them to my father.”
“Your father?”
“He’s a scientist, very brilliant.”
He couldn’t help it, he yawned. Sleeping near the lights of the console wasn’t ideal. Plus thoughts of Sara often kept him awake. Sabra noticed his yawn.”I didn’t sleep well.” He waved a hand at the console. “The lights.”
“We could take turns with the stateroom.” Sabralia bit her lower lip. She wanted more than to share the stateroom. Being constant companions with him every day, she wanted his touch. Now that she was no longer afraid of him, she craved his time and attention, and alone in her bed at night, she relived the bathing pool, except instead of the cyborg, Qy, she was bathed by Kaistril, the warrior.
Did she dare? They were only fourteen days from Katherine Hub, and soon they would go their separate ways. She would follow him to New Prague because she really had nowhere else to go. If Sirn was alive, her homeworld wouldn’t be a safe place for her.
Kaistril would go back to his Tier. She suspected he was a high-ranking officer, perhaps a commander in the military. He would join his Tier and fight to keep his world free.
He wanted her, she knew. Sometimes they brushed against each other at the control com, and a few times she saw the hard ridge of his erection under the spacer knits. Sometimes a brief touch would empty both their minds of thought and they would just stare at each other for a moment, breathing in anticipation…but neither of them made a move.
“Sleep with me in the stateroom, Kaistril.” Her voice was soft.
Kaistril’s shoulders tightened and his body froze. Then he whirled up and out of the com chair so fast she felt dizzy. He came very close, so close she had to look up, so close she could feel the heat of his body and it made her skin tingle in awareness.
“Sooner than we know, we will be in New Prague. We may never see each other again. I will return to my warriors and fight for our freedom, while you will settle in some safe place, where you will no doubt marry and produce many pretty babies.”
His hand trailed up her neck and traced the crevice of her lips. “Once I rejoin my Tier, I will not have time to be with a woman for many long days…and they won’t be sweet and soft, like you.”
Years of wanting her cyborg to be a man, not a cyborg, made her weak. He was a man—more aggressive than she’d ever imagined, but still a man. Real. Sabralia sagged against him, pressing her breasts against his hard chest.
“I should leave you alone,” he whispered close to her lips. She slid her hands up his hard chest, then around his neck.
“I may still be married to Sirn,” she whispered.
“You will never go back to that marriage. I will see it is ended in accordance with New Prague law. But…are you sure?”
She pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his, trembling with the knowledge that she was going to be so intimate with Kaistril, that it would be real, not a lonely woman’s dream.
Kaistril’s kiss was nothing like Qy’s kisses. This was an invasion, hard, insistent, deep. Electrical. Steel strong arms captured her tight, one hand cupped her head. His tongue was demanding, but still a velvet caress. So different from the kiss of a cyborg. So much better. She met his tongue with her own, shivering with delight and shock.
Kaistril picked her up with an easy swing and took her to the bedroom, where he let her body slide slowly to the floor in front of the bed. He fell with her to the soft bed, drawing her tight to his side, the length of his body molded against hers. His hand gently stroked her hair and face, then slid around her neck, massaging gently, just the way she liked. One large hand cupped her breast, and she drew in a breath at the tingling pleasure.
“I remember my mistress who slept naked in my arms, the round naked flesh glistening as I bathed her, the long hours of deep kisses.” He leaned back. “As a cyborg, I did not know what the cleansing spray was all about, here.” He drew a finger between her legs, right over her clit, and she jumped.
“But now I am a man again. I know. Those memories will not be my torment.” His face came very close and he gripped her head with two hands. “We will sate each other, put those longings to rest…” His voice was a husky whisper against her lips. The kiss deepened, and he slid onto her so they lay full length together.
He pulled away from her lips and his hot breath brushed her neck. “And you will for once know what it is like to be with a man, not a selfish Emperor or an ignorant cyborg. I will pleasure you, and you will not have to tell me what to do, only if you like it.” Kaistril’s low, raspy voice went straight to her core, both electrifying and melting her.
He maneuvered her shirt off and leaned over, aggressive, overwhelming, and his hungry mouth devoured a nipple. “You do not have to school me in what to do. I probably know more what needs to be done in this situation than you do, little queen.”
His wet tongue flicked and rubbed her nipple. She moaned softly, shocked at the pleasure. He did it again, large, hard hands cupping her while his lips and tongue feasted on her nipples.
“Your breasts are so lovely. I have dreamed of tasting them as a man.”
He pulled his mouth away, grabbed one of her hands, and moved it to his crotch, pressing it to his rock hard erection under the thin knits. “This is another thing you don’t need to command into being.”
“Q-Qy—” She gasped.
“—Kaistril,” he growled, crushing his lips against hers. The kiss ran like lightning through her veins, and she kissed him back, winding her hands in his felt-like locks. He raised his head and she dragged in a breath. His eyes shimmered with pleasure and lust, his lips curved into a slight smile. He was more beautiful than in any of her imaginings.
“I’m weak and useless. Not a warrior woman like you enjoy.” Sabralia voiced her confusion. And then she felt awful, so sad. Tears welled into her eyes. “I was never trained to do anything. I was married to Sirn before my schooling was done.”
Her lack of knowledge or skills for life outside the harem was a heavy weight on her mind.
“Ahh, sweet one. You are soft and gentle. The military women of my world like to fight and tussle before they bed a man, but you are not like that. There is no harm in you, and I would never need to sleep with my weapon near, with you in my bed. And that pleases me.”
His finger caressed her lips, and his mouth gently kissed away her tears. She couldn’t look away from his eyes that looked so deep into her own. She felt open and vulnerable. He knew her so well, but she didn’t know him at all.
“Do you know that we warriors fight to protect women like you? Women who raise the children, oversee the communities and homesteads, make our lives warm and joyful, who are kind even to a brain-dead cyborg.” Sabralia could barely breathe. Qy—Kaistril—wanted to make love to her. He thought she was a worthy person, despite her lack of skills.Like she’d dreamed about for so long.
“Kiss me like you did when I was a cyborg,” he entreated, brushing his lips against hers, and at that moment she realized that there was vulnerability under his warrior’s exterior. She tangled her hands into his hair and pulled him close until she could trace his full lips with her tongue. He quickly opened his mouth and groaned deep in his throat when she sucked his tongue, as he thrust his in and out, her mind spinning. He was her anchor, she gripped his shoulders tight.
“This reminds me of something.” Kaistril’s eyes twinkled at her. He pulled at her leggings, then stood and ripped off his clothes.
She swallowed. She’d seen him naked before, many times. His body was perfect—defined abs and thigh muscles, broad shoulders, narrow hips. She’d never seen him erect. But now his cock seemed to strain toward her, an aggressive red, the head plump and round, moist at the slit.
“These need to come off.” Kaistril pulled off her boots and leggings.
Exposed in her bareness, Sabralia slid a hand to cover herself. Qy the cyborg never really noticed if she was naked or clothed, but Kaistril’s gaze was intense.
“How long was I your lady’s maid?” His voice was husky.
“Two years, almost three.” Her voice was breathy.
“Three years. I must have seen you naked a hundred times.”
“Daily. You bathed me daily.” Her boots and leggings fell to the floor.
“Yes, hundreds of times.” His voice had a raspy quality to it that made a shiver run through her. With quick, strong hands, he pulled her legs up and out exposing her. Instinctively, her hands moved to cover her most intimate parts, but his hands held hers away.
“Ah, ah now. This is something the cyborg never got to see. I plan to look my fill.” He kneeled down before her and she swallowed, barely able to breathe.
Embarrassment made her tighten her legs, ready to slam them back together.
Kaistril looked up at her and grinned broadly. He smoothed hot, strong hands along her thighs, up to her bottom, where he massaged her, deeply. “Now, don’t be shy. You must know I find you lovely.”
His eyes focused on her exposed flesh. “Glistening petals. You are wet for me.” One long finger made a line through her curls, over her clit, and then pressed deep inside. He withdrew his finger and tugged gently on her small labia. “I think I should call you Petal.”
He leaned closer and breathed deep of her essence. “The flower is sweet. I wonder how you taste.”
She whimpered, feeling more moisture gliding, then his tongue did a long, slow lick from her wet pool, up to her clit. His finger spread her plump lips, and his lips gently nibbled the small, delicate inner petals.
Nothing had ever felt so good. Sabralia twined her finger into his locks, to keep him close. Her legs trembled with the sweetness of his touch.
His mouth latched onto her clit, and suctioned. She flew apart, with a gasping cry she didn’t recognize as her own, shattering into sparkling pleasure.
Kaistril immediately flowed up her body, one heavy thigh pinning her to the bed, hands gliding everywhere, cupping her breasts. His breath was hot and fast as he nuzzled her neck.“I’m not much like Qy, am I?”
“No.”
“Do you miss him?”
“He…I was comfortable with you. Him.”
“But you never rode him, you never had him make you come, except with the bathing sprayer.”
“No.”
“I think I know why.” He breathed between kisses that were slowly moving toward her breasts.
“Why?” she asked. She couldn’t think why. Her pussy still throbbed with pleasure, her breasts strained for his touch.
“I think you didn’t want to ride a passive cock. Not a bot you had to school in every move. I think you wanted a warrior between your thighs.” His mouth latched onto a nipple in a fevered caress that soon had her moaning. His leg was between her, and she wrapped both hers around his hips as he continued to lick and rub her nipples. One hand pushed between her legs. One finger found her clit. His touch was firm, but so slow. She wiggled against him impatiently, but still he caressed her slow, pausing at her pussy for a moment.
“Kaistril,” she moaned as he left her clit again, finger pressing deep.
“Is this what you want, little queen?” His voice was ragged. Then he was on top of her, and his cock pressed into her so quickly she lost her breath. She was stretched to accommodate his girth, but the stretching was delicious, not painful, filling her in a way that was so right and necessary she wondered how she’d lived without it.
He pulled out in such a way that his wet cock slid over her clit, then plunged back in, almost too rough, pushing her higher, then back up against her clit. The intensity of pleasure nearly took her breath away, and she gasped for air.
He surged deep, hard, over and over until she came in a glorious rush, crying out and clutching him tight with her legs and her pussy. With a hoarse cry, he rammed into her, and she felt the wash of his come fill her.
“Are you all right?” Kaistril asked after, his tone husky. “I got a little wild there toward the end.” His eyes searched her face.
“It was wonderful. I didn’t know it could be like that,” she whispered, feeling suddenly shy. She buried her face against the curve of his neck, breathing deep of his masculine scent and gliding a hand through his felt locks, which still somehow felt silky.
“Are you tired?”
She giggled. “No. I slept fine.”
Kaistril took a deep breath, his chest pressing tight to her breasts. He breathed out audibly. “Good. Because I would really like to do that again.”
Sabralia ran her lips over his shoulder, reveling in his smooth, muscled form.
“Of course we can do that again. I loved it.”
Kaistril rolled her onto her back and wedged his knees between her legs. His thick cock slid slowly between her swollen slick lips. “I mean, do it again right now.”
A rush of heat swept through her and she clasped her legs around his slim hips. Sabralia met his eyes, which were dark, intense.
“I didn’t know you could so soon.” She wiggled her hips, caressing the round head of his cock with her movements.
Kaistril pushed inside, just a little way. “You know you’ve uncaged the beast, don’t you?” he groaned.
Sabralia clutched him tight to her with legs and arms, and he slid deeper into her. “Maybe I’ll tame him,” she whispered, pulling his mouth down to hers.
Chapter Six
Sabralia awoke alone in bed one night a weeks later. Only a few hours of their sleep cycle had passed, so she was a little surprised she was alone. They had reverted to the way they had slept together as mistress and cyborg, spooned naked together.
All the lights were powered down. She entered the main room. Kaistril was at the com.
“Couldn’t you sleep?”
His lips curved in welcome, but he shrugged. “The encryption is finally removed. I opened my case file.”
“Oh.” He seemed so…somber. “Is there something wrong?”
He reached for her and pulled her onto his lap. Sabralia stared at him, alarmed. Normally such a move was a prelude to sex, but he wasn’t hard.
“What?”
He looked away. “There’s a failsafe.”
She was silent for a moment. “On the ship?”
“No. In me.” He tapped his temple where the appliance once sat.
Understanding dawned, followed by clutching horror.
“Will it kill you?” Nausea welled up her throat.
“I don’t think so. I got the temple device off pretty early on. In the event of missing maintenance procedures, the temple device sends in nanos that are supposed to shut the cyborg down, but not damage it.”
“Shut you down? Like kill you?”
“I don’t believe so. They don’t like to destroy something they’ve put so much research and resources into. I was an experiment. All the cyborgs in the harem were experiments. Sooner or later Sirn would have moved me to military duties. They just want to shut the cyborg down until they can collect it and recondition it, if it begins to remember.”
“Is someone coming to collect you?” she asked, horrified.
“None of our sensors indicate anyone is following us. But eventually someone will notice this ship is gone. A ship like this is worth the gross national product of some planets.”
“When do you think the failsafe will start?”
“I think it already has. I am tired, but I can’t sleep. Puregens recover quickly, so I am rarely tired. None of my activities should tire me.”
“What about the weight bearing exercises? Are you doing many of those?”
“Just the normal sequence. Nothing that would make me tired.”
“What can I do?”
“We’re going to dock at Katherine Hub in just
a few days. I don’t know how responsive I will be by then, but we can get a prerecorded message zipped to New Prague. It’ll cost, but it is a common service on the hubs.” He tapped the com and showed her.
“I have it all set. My brothers will come for you.”
“Us.”
He nodded and gave her a crooked smile. Her heart raced in fear. This was serious.
“You’ll need to find secure housing and a reputable buyer for the jewels to pay for lodging. The ship is worth a great deal, but it will be recognized if we try to sell it. We need to just abandon it so we can’t be traced to it at the Hub. Hopefully my brothers can retrieve it when they get us.”
“I think will have more physical maladies than mental ones. The purpose of the nanos is to shut me down so I can be retrieved. I think they will make me unconscious but keep me alive.”
Sabralia pulled his face close to hers. “I’ll get you to New Prague. We’ll get you help.”
“It should be all right, after awhile. The nanos will not have a power supply. I’m removing my other appliances.”
She uncurled from his lap in shock. “I thought they were fitted too deep and removing could knick your arteries. Isn’t that very dangerous?”
“We’re not going to do it unless it is absolutely necessary. Once we get to Katherine Hub, we’ll hire a medic. But we should go over the procedure tomorrow, after you’ve slept. Just in case. If there is trouble, there are medics on the Hub.”
Kaistril insisted she go back to bed.
“I can’t possibly sleep now, Kaistril.”
He captured her face in one large hand, and his mouth, open and hot, came down over hers. He crushed her against his chest, firm hands sliding down her back to her bottom. Sweeping her up into his arms, he carried her back to the bed. “Maybe we can help each other sleep.”
The next day was busy, as she learned about Katherine Hub’s docking procedures and practices. Sabralia was so thankful she’d spent the weeks in transit learning how to do systems checks and pilot.
Kaistril…she could see a difference. He didn’t sleep, but often spent long moments just sitting and staring. His speech became slower. Kaistril’s movements were jerky and hard to control. Sabralia cried, quietly, in the bath, especially when she remembered how he’d run with her in his arms, to safety. She wanted to just take him to the big bed and cuddle with him, but there was too much to do.
Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars Page 5