Geared for Pleasure

by Rachel Grace

  She’d straightened her legs, spreading them wide until her sex was even with his mouth. Her heavy breasts rocked with the motion of his mouth on her most sensitive flesh. His tongue filled her, his grip lifting her up on her toes, pulling her closer so that he could give her a deeper kiss. Drink her in.

  He hummed his enjoyment and the vibration sent small shocks through her body. Her fingers dug into the ground and she bit her lip, every thrust of his tongue causing fire to lick her spine.

  She had never felt desire like this. Phina had lusted, she had craved and she had taken. She had never ached until Cyrus. She needed more.

  She pressed her sex against his mouth, small whimpers escaping her throat that he understood. He lifted his mouth and her trembling knees collapsed to the ground once more.

  “You don’t know how hard it was to stop, Phina. You are addicting. Your taste. But I know what you need.” He moved until his hips were pressed against hers. “I am yours, Phina. I won you today, but you won me long before. Good or ill, we belong to each other.”

  Phina could not hold back her cry of delight as he filled her with his thick erection. That was what she needed. Her body instinctively opened to his, recognizing him. Welcoming him. Her forehead pressed into the ground as his hips rocked against her with long powerful strokes.

  “Cyrus. Yes, please.”

  He pressed one hand into her back, his thrusts more forceful. “Phina says please,” he rasped. “No one would believe it. Say it again.”

  She shook her head, moaning in ecstasy as he continued to fill her. Deep. Moons, so deeply.

  His thumbs spread the skin of her bottom, slipping down between her folds to soak them in her arousal before pressing them in that spot, so sensitive, beneath her tail. “I have claimed your mouth. I have your ‘please.’ Your beautiful succulent breasts are mine to claim. Is this as well, Seraphina? Do I have all of you?”

  “Yes.” She wanted that. Wanted him inside her everywhere. His thumbs pushed through the tight ring of muscles while his cock continued to thrust deep inside her. “Yes. Please, Cyrus. I feel… It feels…”

  “I know.” His words were guttural, closer to a growl than he knew.

  Phina felt the fire begin to consume her, every inch of flesh attuned to him. Knowing he was close, so close. Knowing she would erupt with him. Her thighs were shaking so hard he had to tighten his grip to keep her steady for his claiming. Her tail wound around him, holding him close.

  It reached for her out of nowhere. A streak of lightning that blazed through every limb and made her scream. The sound echoed as her back arched in an almost painful manner, the muscles of her sex gripping him tightly as though they would refuse to let him leave.

  “Seraphina!” His release came with hers. In her. She felt him pumping into her. All of him. A piece of him inside her.

  Her upper body collapsed onto the ground and he followed, his teeth closing over her shoulder. She shuddered and smiled, weak and spent. More satisfied than she had ever been. Safer.

  She belonged to someone. She loved someone. Cyrus.

  He drew back and kissed the spots on her spine, his tongue caressing the sensitive markings soothingly. Lovingly. Then he groaned, dragging himself up to lean back against the rough bark of the tree. He pulled her up with him, rocking her in his arms.

  “Phina?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “I am hallucinating. Perhaps it is from loss of blood and the most pleasurable after-combat claiming I have ever had.”

  She chuckled softly, nuzzling his chest contentedly. “It better be the only claiming you have ever had. What are you hallucinating?”

  “Freeman appears to be glaring at me. Wulf is playing with those strange spectacles as if he can actually see us. And Bodhan is laughing.” He paused. “Freeman is definitely glaring. And I thought he was such a nice giant.”

  Phina jumped off his lap and whirled to face the dodge, her body still trembling. How did they all get here? She could see their distorted images through the dodge. They were all being held back by armed Felidae, but if she knew the captain, that would not hold them long.

  Captain Amaranthe appeared as if Phina had called her name, peering around Freeman’s large form to scowl sternly. “You can try to stay quiet, but they haven’t invented soundproof dodge yet. We heard your screaming as soon as we entered these booby-trapped woods.”

  Wulf waggled his pale eyebrows above his shaded spectacles. “We were told we were invited, however, we can come back later if you wish to continue. Or I can keep watching. I know it’s giving me ideas.”

  Watching? Could he actually see through the dodge with those strange spectacles?

  Phina saw Dare pressing her face against Bodhan’s chest, her shoulders shaking. Was she crying? Disappointed? “Is Dare unwell?”

  Cyrus groaned in pain as he dragged himself to his feet. “She is laughing, too, Phina. She’s just too polite to do it to my face.”

  She turned to him and he cupped her cheek. “It changes nothing, Seraphina Lightfoot Fleet Felidae. You still belong to me. I still love you. Please remember that and tell them all how manly and Sword-like I finally was in battle, since I fear I will be passing out at your feet once more.”

  She caught him as he sagged heavily against her and kissed his forehead. “I promise I will.”

  “This is the secret you’ve been keeping from me? That you have been working with the commander for the queen?”

  Dare’s voice was expressionless. Too much so. But it was time to face her. Time for honesty for all of them. Cyrus looked around at the motley crew who had gathered around Commander Iacchus and his hammock. They were drawing excessive interest and curiosity from the Felidae. Captain Amaranthe, Wulf, Bodhan, and Dare. Freeman was causing the greatest stir. He was, no doubt, more gigantic than any human male they had ever seen. The females, in particular, were showing flagrant interest. Unfortunately, there was no time to tease the poor, uncomfortable fellow.

  Cyrus sat up straighter, adjusting his shoulder. It was currently covered in some sort of Felidae poultice. It took away the pain, but he grimaced at the smell as he answered Dare’s question. “I am a few years older than you, as is the Arendal custom. Even though I was just a small child, I remember when the commander announced he had joined with a female Wode and she was with child. You were born near Faro Outpost, outside of the barracks, and the commander was transferred to Centre City shortly after.”

  He studied the man resting in the hammock not far from them, knowing he was listening to every word. “He came back to visit me often. Helped to train me. Said what my father never had. That I was different. Special. Arendal material. He was a mentor to me and, I believe, the reason I was chosen to be your companion shield guard.”

  Dare slipped her fingers beneath the buttons of her jacket, and he knew she was touching the charm the Khepri had given to her. The connection to the queen. “And you saw him after he brought me?” she asked. “More than just his official visits, and after he left the main barracks?”

  Cyrus nodded, knowing it would cause her pain. How many times had she shared her insecurities about her father’s distance, wondering if he was proud of his unusual daughter? “He wanted you to have an easier transition. Wanted to give you a chance to truly bond with the queen, as the Chalice must, to be a true companion to her, instead of longing for family. Yes, I worked with your father to keep the queen safe. He was my teacher, and I was lucky to have him.” Hurt sparked in her eyes and he felt his own heart ache for hers. “We were wrong to keep you so isolated, but I do not believe it was ever done out of malice. Only love.”

  Phina got up from his side and started to pace. The captain looked disdainful as well. Angry. “What is it?”

  Captain Amaranthe’s jaw was clenched. “I do not believe the queen would so distrust her Chalice. Dare is one of the strongest women I know.”

  Dare sniffed and turned her head to rub her eyes discreetly. “Thank you for that, Captain. However, I
cannot deny the truths I have seen for myself. Perhaps she felt sorry for me, malformed as I was. There is no wisdom in entrusting dangerous political secrets to someone physically and emotionally unprepared to deal with them.”

  Commander Iacchus cursed loud and long from his prone position, coughing wetly as he struggled to come to a sitting position. “Demeter Senedal, you are the Queen’s Chalice as you were born to be. Wode do not feel sorry for themselves and they do not cry.” He softened, his tone becoming less militant as he continued to study every curve of his daughter’s face. “You were not malformed. You were made perfectly. You are as precious to me as Queen Idony herself, and I believe she would not fault me for saying that.”

  Cyrus sighed when Phina’s green eyes narrowed. He was in love with a woman who did not know when to stop fighting. She tilted her head. “Interesting choice of words again, Commander. You said you were going to tell her about her birthmark. Would now be the right time?”

  Dare huffed. “Why is it everyone is so fascinated by that particular mark? I am surrounded by Felidae with unique markings. Why is mine so strange?”

  Bodhan came to stand behind her, his hand caressing her hair. “You told me your father warned you to keep it hidden?”

  The older man glared at him. “Advice she respected until recently.”

  Cyrus leaned forward, sending a stern look to his mentor. “Advice that no longer applies with the palace overrun and our queen in danger.”

  Iacchus nodded, properly chastened. “True enough. I had planned to tell her. In my time.” His eyes grew distant, lost in memory. “I was young when I first came to duty at Faro. I spent most of my time stationed island-side, and it was eye-opening. The cruelty of the other Wode in my regiment. The kindness and serenity, the open friendship I was given by the Felidae on the island. By the Peacemaker who leads them there.” He shrugged. “I learned some of their ancient words and rituals. I fell in love with a beautiful creature who was too polite to tell me she belonged to another, but we remained friends in spite of my ignorance.

  “Then I began to receive messages from strange little insects. It was the Khepri. He said the queen wanted to see me. I thought I was to be demoted or punished for my inappropriate attitude, but no. She asked me to tell her all about my time with the Felidae. To ask if I had heard the stories of the first Peacemaker or the myth of moonfire. She told me to trust the man who sent me messages and to go back and continue to learn from the Felidae. To protect them until I was called again. So I did.”

  He coughed. Cyrus cringed at the painful sound, but Iacchus could not seem to stop now that he had begun to speak. “I did, and I heard the stories of a hidden tribe that kept the old ways and waited for the return of the moonfire oath. I also heard about the rumors against the queen. False tales of a god king who had been banished for his love of the Felidae. I reported to the Khepri and we became friends.”

  Wulf, who had been studying the small treetop village in silent fascination, focused on that. “Friends? Have you met him then?”

  The old man started to nod, but hesitated. “In a way. Never got a look at him. But we talked. He offered me the opportunity to aid my queen for a generation. To protect her from something we could both feel coming. Though he knew far more about the specifics than I.” He turned his gaze once more to Dare, and Cyrus could see how difficult it was for him to say. “He took samples of my inheritance markers. Not long after I held you in my arms for the first time.”

  Dare had gasped, covering her mouth and shaking her head in confusion and disbelief. Commander Iacchus held out his hand toward her, as if he could stop the pain not even Cyrus had known of. Samples of inheritance markers. He’d believed Dare conceived naturally.

  “Demeter, my inheritance, my blood, is still a part of what you are, though you are not mine alone. He said you would be a special child belonging to all of Theorrey, and he was right. You have the best qualities of all of us inside you. Your gifts, the queen’s love for you—” His voice cracked. “I have always been proud of the part I played.”

  Cyrus watched the captain move closer to Dare, hand on the hilt of her sword. Phina, as well, knelt at Dare’s feet, her tail brushing against Cyrus where he sat beside them.

  Phina nuzzled Dare’s knee. “That is why her birthmark is shaped as a Khepri scarab. He, in a way, is more her father than the Wode commander.”

  He, too, felt the sting of betrayal by his mentor. For the sake of the Chalice. He had a feeling that Phina and the captain had been suspicious before now. But he could only imagine what Dare must be going through.

  Her laugh held a tinge of hysteria. “Everyone’s been right all along. Phina’s instincts weren’t off. I was fooling no one. I am not Wode. I am a half-breed. Worse than that, an experiment of some kind made, not in love, but by invention. And the Khepri, the queen’s Khepri did this? Made me… what?”

  He watched the women allow Bodhan to drag her up and turn her until she was in his arms. “Mine, Dare. He made you mine. My princess. My heart. Your inheritance, despite what the damn scientists or the Theorrean Raj want you to believe, means nothing. They can change your hair or your height, not your soul. Not who you are.”

  Freeman spoke beside them. Cyrus was surprised at the smoothness of his voice. And the sadness in it. “I do not believe the Khepri meant Dare harm. The commander is right to call her special. She is. Perhaps more than we realize. She is the only one who could not be fooled. She knew the true queen was gone and can feel her even now. I, for one, am thankful to have her on the Deviant. Proud to fight beside her.”

  Cyrus lifted his eyebrows high in surprise when the captain walked over to Freeman and placed a hand, only for a moment, on his arm in gratitude. She lifted her chin. “Well said, Freeman. I am inclined to agree.”

  The Peacemaker, carrying an empty greenwood bowl intricately carved with Felidae symbols, joined their small somber group. The others moved awkwardly out of the way until she could reach Dare. “Iacchus said he would return the moonfire and restore the oath the queen made, not that he would bring us the true child of Theorrey. A story on the wind come to life. You will forgive me, I could not help but overhear… You have the mark of the blue beetle?”

  Phina had backed up onto Cyrus’s lap, watching the exchange with fascination while absently stroking his shoulders and arm. He felt his body heat and his heart begin to heal at her unconscious show of affection.

  “It is on my back. I have never seen it clearly.” Dare drew his attention once more.

  The captain, Freeman, Phina, and Bodhan all spoke in unison. “I have.”

  Cyrus sighed. He did not want to know how so many people had seen the bare back of his companion shield. Neither, it seemed, did Commander Iacchus, whose face had turned purplish and swollen with discomfort.

  The old woman nodded. “If you would grant me the honor please.”

  Dare looked around and blushed, and Bodhan’s glare touched every male, including her father, until they looked away. His voice was tender when he spoke to her. “Face me, princess. We can just lift your jacket and show her together.”

  Cyrus heard fabric rustling, Dare’s muttered, “Beneath my binding,” and then a gasp.

  “So it is true.” The Peacemaker’s voice had a strange tinge to it. Cyrus was not sure if the fact troubled her or eased her mind.

  They all turned when Dare’s fabric ceased its rustling and Dare looked down as the elderly Felidae pointed at the center of the bowl. “This is the symbol that dwells beneath your skin. Theorrey dwells in your blood.”

  He wanted to stand, as curious as everyone else, but decided he would rather keep Phina where she was. Safe beside him.

  Iacchus spoke, his voice solemn as he addressed the matriarch. “In her blood? Does that mean… Peacemaker, will you accept hers in place of the queen’s for the oath?”

  The Peacemaker dipped her head in acknowledgment, never turning from Dare. “She carries the mark of the blue beetle. She is the Chalice, th
e element of empathy that carries the heart of the queen. It will suffice. Do you have the dagger?”

  Phina’s body tensed on his and Cyrus whispered in her ear, “What is it?”

  “Moon’s blood oath. In the settlement it’s unbreakable.” She pulled from his shoulder and showed him the small healing mark on her palm.

  “Have you made one?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Not one as important as this one I think.”

  Dare reached into her belt, catching Cyrus’s gaze as she did. He nodded. This had been his mentor’s goal all along. To bring the queen’s dagger to these people.

  “The first Peacemaker held our people together. She befriended the eternally youthful queen, recognizing her as a bringer of light and knowing her people would prosper as long as the queen dwelt among them.”

  The woman swayed in front of Dare, speaking as though reciting an old story she had spun a hundred times. “To honor her ways, the Peacemaker carved out a cavern in the mountainside, gathering drops of its silver blood to create a blade.”

  Dare handed the dagger to the Peacemaker and Cyrus studied it with new eyes. Its symbols he had believed decorative were Felidae, matching many on the bowl she still held with one hand.

  “To honor our ways, she sacrificed her most valued possession.” The woman lifted the dagger to her chest, showing the similarity between her own necklace and the jewel embedded in the hilt of the silver dagger. “The symbol of the fire in her heart that had dropped from the sky into her hands. The moonfire stone. The only one of its kind, containing the true fire of the universe. She placed that inside the dagger.”

  Dare leaned in to study the dual-bodied stone and she knew she would see it. Knew she had not seen it before. Only when you are looking could you see the fire flickering inside the stone. “I can see it. So this Peacemaker, she gave the dagger to the queen?”

  The Felidae nodded. “They made an oath with their blood. The queen promised to bring no war to the people. My people. And the Peacemaker vowed to stand by the queen and her own people in battle, as she had before, should the need arise.”