Ravager's Redemption (The Argadian Heart Book 3)

by Adrianna Dane

  He broke the kiss, his lips hovering enticingly close. “I want you for all time.” His gaze moved away from her face and she saw a smile curve his lips. “I see your radiance. How much longer do you think you can hide from me? You want me, too.”

  She tried to draw in her emotions, tried to deny the feeling he aroused in her, but it was no use. “Sexual need doesn’t mean I love you.”

  “Does it not? What about the fact that you didn’t kill me when you had the chance? What does that speak of? After that night, I made it my mission to find out all I could about you. I know what your reputation was as an Enforcer. You were considered no less lethal than Devon. There was a reason you didn’t complete your mission.”

  “I could not end your life,” she acknowledged. “But that doesn’t mean—”

  “It means a great deal for a fully trained Enforcer not to complete a mission. And you paid a high price for it as well didn’t you? That’s what those scars on your back came from. I was the mission you failed to complete.”

  Daelyn didn’t want to remember how high a price she had paid, days of unending pain at the Nanus facility, reminding her of her duty. Yet, there had not been a time when she’d regretted her actions in sparing his life.

  “I would do it again,” she admitted. She turned away. “It doesn’t matter. The past would always haunt us. Argadians will never again see me as female, only as Enforcer. I was brought here to use my skills and knowledge as an Enforcer. That is what I am doing. Eluria gave me back my emotions, my memories, and I will use what I know to help the rebellion.”

  “Is that really all you think they want from you? What any of the people here want? What about Devon? He is looked upon as a leader, a friend. Yet he was an Enforcer as well.”

  The pain of guilt assaulted her. “He is family. It’s different for him.”

  Alekos cupped her face, searching for what she couldn’t fathom. “How is he different? He is Argadian, he was an assassin, and he is now here to help our fight. He has many of the same memories that you have—do you think it any easier for him?”

  “It’s not the same,” she tried to argue.

  “Do you think the demons don’t ride him as well? Yet, he doesn’t distance himself from everyone or attempt to drive himself into the ground.”

  “He has people who care for him and whom he cares for,” she blurted out, then bit her lip at her own betrayal.

  His expression softened. “Do you really think no one cares what happens to you?”

  “How could they?” she asked in a tortured whisper. “Do you know how many people I killed? Innocent lives taken? Because I was programmed to do so? How can anyone not look at me and hate the sight of me?” Again, she tried to get away from him, but he pressed her more firmly against the wall.

  “I care,” he said quietly.

  The walls guarding her heart began to melt beneath the searing need those two words evoked inside her. Her feelings for him had never made sense—not from the beginning, when she should have experienced no emotion at all for him. But something far deeper had occurred. Could she turn her back on it yet again? Or did she dare to take a chance.

  She gazed up at him, searching Alekos’ face, the grooved lines and scars of a male who had lived a hard life without compromise.

  So much of her life had been lived without emotion, without choices. Daelyn had a choice now, and it was probably the most important decision she would ever make. She knew that Alekos Andromeda had the ability to make her experience more than she had ever known.

  “You make me feel things, want what I should not.” No longer able to fight him as well as herself, she leaned up to claim his mouth, drinking greedily from his lips.

  Alekos released her hands and threaded his fingers through her hair, pulling her to him. Then he gripped the front of her suit. He ripped it open, shoving it from her shoulders, and leaned down to sup eagerly at her breasts.

  Daelyn shuddered with need at his touch, her shax-ra exploding with her juices. For the first time in her life she felt it, her natural radiance surrounding them both within its red flare, undulating around them. Daelyn yearned for something beyond her reach.

  Alekos pushed her uniform down, divesting her of her clothing quickly, and then finished removing his own and tossed them to the side.

  He moved back to her, learning the contours of her body with his mouth and his hands stroking along her hips, her arms, her legs. He knelt in front of her and pushed her thighs open. When his tongue sank deep inside her, she moaned with need as her juices slid from her.

  His tongue darted quick and deep, lapping at her, stroking her, retreated and swirled at her opening, teasing her clitoris. He gripped her buttocks, kneading and releasing.

  “Silky, soft,” he growled. “I cannot get enough of you.”

  Daelyn’s legs began to quiver and she knew they would be unable to hold her for much longer. The pleasure was too intense.

  She gasped as Alekos lifted her and pinned to the wall, her legs pulled over his shoulders as he continued to suck at her clit, driving her higher and higher. She saw stars, a building of need inside her, like the boiling heat of a volcano about to explode. Her body tightened, preparing for the impending explosion she knew was close. Then Alekos’s attentions stopped just as Daelyn was about to burst.

  “No,” she cried out. “Mylonna, please, I need it.”

  “Soon,” his voice vibrated against her thigh, just before he nipped with his teeth and soothed with his tongue. Alekos licked around and over her inner, sensitive thighs, keeping her at the edge of the precipice, lingering, eager to jump, yet the pleasure he provided made her gasp for breath.

  He sucked at her flesh, licked at it lingeringly as though he savored the juicy flesh of a succulent fruit. Daelyn’s skin burned with need, her radiance glowed bright enough to light the night sky, swirling and consuming them, pushing the passion higher and higher.

  “Please, Alekos,” she begged as she tried to thrust her hips against him. Yet he had her anchored against the wall, totally in control of her body.

  “Do you know how many nights I’ve lain awake envisioning you like this?” His breath was so hot and moist against her skin. “Have you dreamed of me, na nivia?”

  His love? Her hazy mind could not fathom that he meant the words. As much as she wanted them to mean something, she knew it had to simply be the sexual heat of the moment.

  His tongue suddenly thrust deep, taking her breath away, then receded. “Have you?” His mouth on her skin demanded an answer.

  “Yes,” she screamed. “I want you to fuck me. Please, Alekos. I need to know the pleasure. I need to feel you inside me.”

  “When I take you, Daelyn, na nivia, it will not simply be a fucking. I wanted more on the ship, but I knew you were not ready and the drug colored your need.” He looked up at her from between her splayed legs, his face wet with her juices. “I want more from you.”

  “Please, Alekos.” What was he trying to tell her? Already, she burned with need for him. She would not refuse him, could not.

  “I will seal with you. Will you accept me as your taman, Daelyn Kapri? For I will settle for nothing less from you than union.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Shock held her in its grip. Alekos could not possibly mean it. How could he want to seal with her, an ex-assassin?

  “Forget the past, think only of the Beyond. Will you allow yourself to seal body and soul with me in the most intimate way a male and female can be together? It shall be all or nothing.”

  His mouth teased at her thighs, making it difficult for Daelyn to think clearly. Oh, Mylonna, but she wanted him in that way, more than she wanted anything in her life. To feel a part of something so special, her heart would burst if she did not experience the intimacy just this once, with this male, who had so indelibly impressed himself into her spirit for so many years.

  “Yes, Alekos, oh, Mylonna, yes. I want to seal with you. Only you.”

  His tongue again
pushed deep inside her sheath, sucking and stroking her. He released her arms and cupped the cheeks of her ass, traced the crack, then sank into her shax-ra as his tongue receded. Had she ever felt anything as erotic as what he was doing to her now?

  Daelyn’s mind was filled with only him, her body responding like a musical instrument to the plucking fingers of the musician. She could not stop the need, like hot, flowing lava, pouring out of the mountain.

  Again the desire mounted, hot and heavy inside her, building rapidly. A searing ball of fire burned in her loins, flames licking upward and outward throughout her body, until finally she exploded, screaming her release, gasping for air as her body pulsed and spasmed and he lapped at her juices.

  Daelyn could not catch her breath as Alekos forced her to climb yet again, to remain at the peak, burning brightly, her aura a blaze of glory surrounding them. Darkness began to descend upon her, exploding stars all around her as Alekos pulled another climax from her, her body quivering with the intense pleasure she was unable to control.

  Slowly Alekoslowered her legs and lifted her into his arms. He brought his lips down over hers, not letting her drift to the ground as his tongue tangled with hers, sucked at her as she tasted of him. She wound her arms around his neck as he quickly walked across the room and lay her on the soft bed.

  She understood his intentions and as quickly as his arms left her, she grabbed him and pushed him onto the bed, crawling over his body.

  “You have given me so much. Now it is my turn to play ravager.” Daelyn felt his acquiescence as he lay back, and she explored the hard contours of his body with her mouth and tongue. His nipples peaked and she nipped and teased at them. Her hand enclosed his hard erection, thick and ready, bursting with passion.

  She licked her lips as she moved down his tight, firm abdomen, her tongue swirling over the definition of his lean hips, playing across the surface of his skin, savoring his taste, until finally she encountered his pulsing khout.

  Hot skin, the tip sheened with the liquid evidence of his desire. The tip of her tongue touched the plumed, burgeoning head, tasting exotic flavor that zinged through her body. Oh, she planned to savor the taste of him like the sweet fruit blooming only one week of the year.

  Daelyn used her tongue to stroke down the long shaft, swirled and bathed the heavy twin sacs beneath, as though supping at an elegant dinner created for her delight.

  Alekos moaned, and his body tightened. His hands fisted in the blanket beneath them. Moving upward, she again swirled her tongue over the deeply reddening shaft and enclosed him in her mouth, sucking as deeply as she could, enjoying the pulsing heat of his shaft, feeling it invade her own body, driving her desire high yet again.

  His body tightened, preparing, as she had done when he sucked at her flesh. Daelyn knew he was close, so very close, and she released his khout at the last moment, leaving him as he had left her, wanting, hungry for the release.

  He gasped, she heard his struggled breath as she nipped at his thighs, enclosed his sacs in her mouth, bathing them with her tongue.

  “Daelyn, you are torturing me with your mouth. Pleasant torture to be sure, but still torture. Come to me.”

  “Soon,” she breathed against his skin. She licked at his thighs, over his hips, along his abdomen, wanting him to experience the same high exhilaration that she had experienced. Finally, she moved back to give his khout the attention it demanded, sliding her tongue along the deeply embedded pulsing vein along its length and at last enveloping him into her mouth once again.

  She felt the desire building, sucked hard, tonguing aggressively over his shaft, until she felt him fall and her mouth was flooded with his seed. She sucked and swallowed, her hands working frantically at the pulsing khout as his semen poured into her mouth. She lapped at him as he shouted, his body tight, hands gripped in her hair.

  He pulled her up to him and she released his again rising khout. He yanked her up his body, slamming his mouth down over hers, claiming her, his arms clamping around her as he rolled with her in his arms, then driving her body into the bed as he came over her, forcing Daelyn’s submission to his demands.

  He pulled his lips from hers and looked down at her, his blue gaze glittering, dilated with lust.

  “Now,” he ground out. Using his legs he separated her thighs and his khout, which had hardened quickly once again, was positioned at the entrance to her shax-ra. “You are mine, Daelyn, always.”

  He thrust inside her and her channel expanded to accept him. His hard length filling her and it was an exquisite feeling

  Alekos ground against her, driving her higher. She lifted her legs to wind them around his hips, driving him ever deeper. In and out she felt his slippery length thrusting, as she pulsed around him, felt him recede to swirl the tip over her sensitized shax lips, then tunnel inside yet again. Over and over, she met his rhythm, feeling the pleasure swirl around them both, feeling the pulse of her sexual radiance gain depth, matching their rhythm.

  “One,” Alekos breathed the word against her ear just before his tongue traced the outer sensitive curve. “Say it,” he demanded as he nipped at her lobe.

  Daelyn inhaled sharply, her body tingling brightly with awareness, feeling the burgeoning beginning of the seal about to erupt. “One,” she responded, feeling the heat of his loins slap against her.

  “Union,” he ground out. “Union as one.” He pushed his hips against her, demanding her acceptance.

  The impending seal frightened her. She looked at him as he raised his head to lock his gaze with hers, increasing the tempo of his thrusts.

  “Say it.”

  How could she resist him? She wanted him like no other, but what he asked of her…how could he demand the ultimate avowal? Why would he want to?

  She turned her head away, but he placed a firm hand beneath her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Say it.”

  “U-union as one,” she finally whispered.

  “Mean it,” he demanded. “Body and soul. I will have union with you and only with you. Give me your oath.”

  Unwanted tears seeped from the corners of her eyes. He leaned down to lick the moisture away and more followed. He continued to consume them.

  “Union as one,” she sobbed.

  He claimed her lips. She tasted the salty presence of her tears on his tongue, the essence of her pleasure on his lips, and an overwhelming need to seal with him, to trust him, to become a part of him filled her completely.

  He slammed into her, wedging deeply and stilled. Lightly, she felt the tentacles of his vibris feather against the opening to her womb. Pleasurable shudders engulfed her as she sensed her passage opening wider to him, readying to accept his seed.

  More sensation awaited as she felt the shy anstillia cord secreted in her body extend outward. Pulling at the cheeks of his ass, separating them, the slick cord preparing his anus and finally passing through into his body, linking them as one.

  “Accept me,” she whispered.

  He shuddered against her, and she felt his khout lengthen, locking at the entrance to her womb as she sealed him to her. The cord stroked at his rectum and she felt the pleasure echo inside her own body, ripple upon ripple of unbelievable pleasure. Yet when he exploded and she shared his ultimate orgasm inside her own body, it was so much more than she could ever have imagined. Her own release followed quickly. His lips fastened over hers, as the shudders vibrated through their bound bodies. His climax became hers and she felt the merging of souls, of hearts, of bodies in an unimagined melding of two beings, where the balance and combining of spirits fused them as one.

  His arms wrapped around her tightly and hers around him. Her tears refused to abate and she sobbed, flooded with joy and ecstasy as she never experienced before, tied to another in the most intimate matter possible.

  “One,” she screamed.

  “One,” he shouted as they blended into a single being for a fraction of an instant, wrapped in the pulsing radiance of her sexual core.

&nbs
p; Daelyn never wanted this moment to end, for the first time in her life, not feeling utterly alone, but tied intimately to another for the remainder of her life. There had never been this closeness with another being, never this need to climb into their skin, to become so deeply entrenched inside them, that she was no longer a separate being.

  Finally, her anstillia cord slowly retracted from Alekos’ body and he separated from her, drawing her up next to him on the bed, into his arms.

  She still shuddered in the aftermath of the experience. But as the last vestiges of hot passion receded, she had to wonder what came next. They were silent for long moments, just laying content, wrapped in each others arms. Even though not physically connected, in spirit as connected as two people could be.

  She wanted to remember this feeling, this night, for as long as she lived. It would carry her into the Beyond.

  “We are one now,” Alekos finally said into the silence.

  “I-I would not hold you to the vows made in the heat of sex,” she said, needing to offer him a way out.

  He tilted her chin up to look at him. “Did you think I made my oath lightly? We have completed union, we have sealed. We are connected in a way that can never be broken. There is no act more intimate between a male and female than what we have just experienced. None. Do you doubt what has just happened?”

  “No, I…I just do not want—” She burst into tears, unable to help herself. Daelyn had been alone and unconnected for so many years, it simply was not possible for her to believe in the reality of what she experienced with Alekos.

  “I will be leaving Ednos in a few days and I want you to come with me.”

  Shock arrowed through her. She’d never expected this. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’ve thought on it. It won’t be an easy life, but it will not be boring.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve watched you ever since we arrived on Ednos, wanted you, feared for you when you accepted mission after mission. Hungered to be with you. Eluria finally brought me to my senses. I could only hope that you felt the same as me, and I believe you do. I would never force you, Daelyn, even though we have spoken the vow. Yet no other will do for me.”