Her bitterness, her reluctance to mate with a Dormrelian warrior was now explained. How the hell had Shasta dealt with even being around them all during the war? She must have been terrified as a child, and yet, she’d saved them, took care of them, as they fought for Asberek.
The fact that she was attracted to not one, but two Dormrelian males, was a fucking miracle.
Morning light streamed through his windows, and he watched the vid again, taking in every detail, researching every scrap of information about the kidnapping. It only reinforced what Shera Patel had told him. The truth had to be revealed, but in such a way that the council was protected from the backlash.
The complicated plan suggested by Councilwoman Patel didn’t account for Shasta’s mental well-being. And the woman had to know about the vid he’d just seen. He clenched his jaw. The Hadaji was in twenty-four hours, and he had to see Shasta. After the mating, there would be no chance, no time.
Though it was early, he dressed and left his apartment. The usual peace he found riding his hoverbike never materialized as he drew closer to Ambassador Majii’s home. A military contingent stopped him at the door, and Andev didn’t think he was going to get in.
Terek Majii himself came out and greeted him. “Let him through.”
When they were out of earshot, Andev whispered to the ambassador. “You must let me see Shasta, to warn her.”
Terek’s gaze held his. “You know the rules. She cannot be in your presence for a turn. But you may speak to her mother. Would that help?”
Andev tightened his lips. “I don’t know.”
“Elise Pasquel is more than her legend.” Terek led Andev into the house and left him waiting nervously in the comfortable living room.
What the hell was he going to say? He steeled his nerves. Damn it. How could he warn Shasta and still follow the plan the council outlined?
“You wished to see me?” Elise Pasquel entered the room, and Andev lost his courage. The same gray-blue eyes that matched Shasta’s stared at him. He just couldn’t do it.
“I—” He shook his head. “No. I made a mistake.”
But Elise Pasquel gripped his arm as he started for the door. “Sit down, Commander Juno.”
He sat, perched on the edge of one of the couches. Elise also sat down across from him and studied him in silence for a moment. “I do not agree with this mating.”
His head snapped up, and he met her gaze, his eyes narrowed. “Because I’m a lizard?” He deliberately used the derogatory term he’d heard used by the humans.
She tightened her lips and shook her head. “No. And we know you are human. Sierra showed us a vid of your sister. Not that it matters to me. I don’t share the bigotry of some of my fellow humans.”
A shaft of pain shot through Andev, and he shifted in his seat. He’d come to warn Shasta that the nightmare of her childhood might be relived, reenacted again to save his government and change the whole fabric of his culture. But she knew he was human, and yet, she’d still expressed bitterness at the mating.
“You’re here because of what Shasta said when she was informed she was going to participate in the Hadaji.” Elise leaned forward. “Are you going to refuse her? Force her to mate with another Dormrelian male?”
The idea of another male touching Shasta sent his adrenaline coursing through his blood stream. “No,” he said emphatically. “I discovered—“ Words came hard. “I know she was kidnapped by the Dormrela as a child. I was afraid, I am afraid she will be unhappy,” he ended lamely. Hell, he was terrified she’d have a mental breakdown. “I saw what happened. I can see why she wouldn’t want to help us.” He wasn’t saying any of the things he needed to say. What the hell was wrong with him?
“She came here for you,” Elise said baldly. “She remembers nothing about the kidnapping.” The woman’s gaze held bleak pain from her memories. “All her life, though, Shasta has been guarded, protected from harm. Unfortunately, it left little freedom for her. I believe her…exploits are her way of dealing with that.”
He waved Shasta’s past away. None of it mattered. “I have to warn her, my lady. After our mating…”
But the words dried up, and Elise cocked her head to the side, waiting. “What, Andev?”
Nervously, he shot to his feet. “Just give her this message for me. Tell her to dream. I command her to dream.”
Elise’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t think you understand. Shasta doesn’t take kindly to commands.”
“Just tell her.” He gritted his teeth. “Please. It’s important.”
“If you wish.” Elise stood up and frowned. “I don’t think it’s wise, however.”
“Perhaps not.” He bowed low. “It has been a pleasure to meet you, my lady. I’m sorry the circumstances weren’t better.”
She crossed her arms and shook her head. “I’ll be damned if I can figure you out.”
That was for the best, he thought. He left the room as quickly as possible. Dream for me, Shasta. I’ll be there for you. I swear it.
*
The morning light glinted off of Andev’s scales as he strode out the front door and through the courtyard. Shasta watched him walk away and wondered why he’d come. Terek had explained she wasn’t allowed to see her prospective mate for seventy-two hours, that the mating would be a ritual, a celebration of cultural diversity and proof to the council that Shasta was committed to the Dormrelian people.
Sierra had given her details of her own public mating. It sounded…embarrassing. But after all, Shasta had taken off her clothes for the public before. Why would this be any different?
“You’re awake?” her mother said from the doorway.
“I can’t sleep.” She didn’t mention that she’d dreamt of a man she had to let go of, say goodbye to. It wrecked her as if he was real, as if he existed.
“Apparently, neither could your intended. He looked as if he’d had a rough night.” Elise sat on Shasta’s bed and patted the space beside her. “He said something very strange, a message he wanted me to give you.”
Shasta sat down heavily and put her head on her mother’s shoulder. At least she had her mom there. Sierra hadn’t had that when she’d been mated to Terek. “What did he say?”
“He told me to tell you to dream, that he commanded you to dream.”
Shasta’s head shot up, and she stared at her mother. “What?”
“Perhaps it will make sense later, but it made no sense to me.” Elise studied Shasta’s face.
But Shasta’s thoughts whirled. What could he mean? Did he know about her secret lover? Had he gleaned that from her mind when she’d been helpless in his arms? He commanded her to dream? It was so strange. He couldn’t know about her dreams, her connection to the faceless man. How could he? And if he did why would he encourage her to be with him? She shook her head, confused. “It doesn’t make sense to me either.”
Her mother’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t seem offended that he commanded you. I’ve seen you deck a man for less.”
“Andev is…a forceful man.” And had witnessed the death of his mother. That had to affect him, drive him somehow.
A speculative expression softened her mother’s face. “Perhaps this mating won’t be so awful for you.”
Shasta took her mother’s hand. “I’ll make the best of it, Mom. You’ve never forced me to deal with my legacy. You or Dad. But I realize this is…my responsibility.”
Elise stared at her for a moment and then grabbed her in a tight hug. “Oh baby. If I could have protected you from this I would have.”
“If they are harmed, if you continue to seek to control them, we will make sure you do not survive.” Her mother had said that. Who had she been talking to? The memory was there, just out of reach. She knew, however, that her mother would protect her. She clutched at her mother, terrified of what was coming, but certain she doing what she had to do.
The day that followed was filled with vids and interviews. Shasta tried to learn as much as she could a
bout her new home, but found most of the information sketchy and confusing.
Later, as the sun dipped down below the horizon, Shasta stared out her window and wondered what the next day held for her. In the street, a Dormrelian warrior stood in front of a hoverbike. He stared at her window, and she knew it was Andev. She raised her hand in greeting, and he waved back. Then, he straddled his bike and roared off.
Why had he come back? She crawled into bed and wondered at her prospective mate. Tired, she laid her head on the pillow and let sleep claim her, her future mate’s words echoing in her mind. Tell her to dream. I command her to dream.
The water fell over the rocks, and the sound was like music, but Shasta didn’t understand why she was here. Always her dreams of her dream lover were formless, blurry, and filled with hard to remember details.
But this? This was different.
She stepped through a canopy of trees, and a red, satin blindfold on one of the boulders captured her attention. On the top of it was a note. “PUT THIS ON.”
Blindfolded? In her dream? Why would he do that? The peace around her relaxed her vigilance. Why not? It was her dream. If she didn’t like it, she’d just wake up. She shrugged and put the blindfold over her face.
Darkness enveloped her. A strong hand touched her arm and stroked her skin. “I’m glad you came back,” he said simply.
“We’ve never needed the blindfold before. Why now?” She leaned toward his voice, his scent.
“I only want you to feel me.” His fingers slid over the surface of her arm, her shoulder, up her neck, around her chin to the back of her head to thread through her hair. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.
She wanted to ask him what he saw since it was a dream and she’d never seen his face. Did he see hers? But the words didn’t materialize. She was too busy gasping for air. His other hand dipped inside her nightgown and gently stroked her nipple. Her low-cut lingerie allowed him to expose her breast by moving the spaghetti strap down her shoulder.
When his lips closed over her sensitive flesh, her knees buckled. He caught her, bending her down, down, his mouth doing wicked things to her. She wanted to rip the blindfold away, but he gripped her hands behind her back just as he pressed her onto the soft mossy ground. One of his hands bound her wrists, not tightly, but firmly, then his fingers encircled both.
He groaned when she arched her back and spread her legs to accommodate him. His mouth released her breast and she felt his hot breath at her ear. “Leave your hands behind your back, bilana.”
“But I want to touch you, I want to feel you.”
“You will feel me, but if you touch me with those hands of yours, I’ll go too fast. I want to take my time.” His lips brushed her neck, lower and lower. Her whole system tilted, and her world narrowed to the light touches of his mouth on her skin.
Unhurried, torturously, he kissed down her body, each breast cupped and stroked gently. Before, their collisions had been just that, explosions of rough sensation and frantic coupling. Never before, in all the years she’d dreamed of him, had he touched every inch of her. Her nerves sizzled, and she squirmed beneath him. But she did as he commanded and left her hands clasped underneath her body behind her back.
He fingered her underwear and slid them slowly down her thighs, his tongue dipping into her belly button as he did so. She lifted her hips, her mind spinning, her entire focus on his wicked tongue.
Lower and lower, he slid his tongue along the crease of her hip. She froze, her needs almost swamping her. He’d touched her clit many times with his fingers, but never with his mouth. She’d always believed it was because of her own reluctance to allow a man to use his tongue on her pussy. Men who had attempted this act had never pleasured her. In Shasta’s mind, it was her own lack, her own flaw.
But her dream lover brooked no resistance, even when she disobeyed and put her hands on his head to stop him. His hands yanked her fingers away and held her arms down parallel to her body. She struggled, suddenly frightened of the sensations tightening her nerves and muscles.
Powerless, she could only feel as he scraped his tongue over her sensitive nub. She jumped when he rhythmically sucked her flesh into his mouth. Her breath came in short pants, pleasure rising, threatening to drown her. He moaned against her mound, and she gasped as the vibration of his lips sent her higher, needier.
He played with her erect flesh, his tongue rolling it inside his mouth. Every one of her muscles clenched, and helplessly, she arched toward him, out of control, desperate. He released her hands to clamp his fingers around her hips to drive her closer to his ministrations. Her hands freed, she reached up, not to shove him away, but to thread her fingers through his hair.
When his teeth scraped along her clit, she cried out, wet need flushing her channel. He took his time and firmly flicked his tongue over her aroused nub. She was shaking, climbing heights she’d never seen before, desperate for that pinnacle of pleasure she knew lay just over the hump. She was close, so near she felt the wall of desire just out of reach. Then, he thrust two fingers inside her slick channel, driving them inside her while his tongue continued to torment her.
The tip of his finger scraped the sensitive place inside her and shoved her over the edge, falling, spinning. She shattered, her keening cry filling her head and her hips moving of their own violation.
She expected him to immediately loom over her, to finish this. Instead, he continued to drive her to the edge again, quicker, faster. Adrenaline spiked through her veins, and her heart pounded so hard she thought she’d die.
An odd, quick thought shot through her mind. Once, in one of those drunken conversations that only happen in the wee hours of the morning, her companion that night, Trista Tarune, once described a really good orgasm as “like dying and you don’t care”. That night, she hadn’t known what the woman meant.
Now she did.
Beyond reason, she crested over the edge, her muscles wrapped around her dream lover’s fingers. She screamed, her whole body rigid with pleasure. Stars, how was it possible to survive another? Yet, her lover never let up, seemingly determined to drown her in desire.
Weakly, she spoke, her throat hoarse from her screams. “Please. I want to see you.”
For a moment, she didn’t think he’d comply. Then, his fingers slid beneath the straps of the blindfold and whipped it away from her head.
Even with the covering gone, his face was still shadowed, hidden from her searching gaze. “Please,” she whispered. “I need you inside me, to be with you.” Why it was so important that he give her that final connection she didn’t know. She was languid, both relaxed and tense at the same time. He lifted his head, and for an instant, just a nanosecond, his features didn’t seem blurred, and she tried to focus on them.
But then, he lifted his body up, his hands on either side of her head, his legs tangled with hers. With one swift move, he thrust his cock inside her. Deep and hard, he stroked her inner walls, filling her, dominating her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her hips following his lead, reveling in his possession.
All the other times she’d surrendered her body, her mind and her soul remained detached, uninvolved. But this? This was different. She couldn’t see him, didn’t know his name, but she belonged to him. It was this she’d feared when she’d said her tender goodbye to him.
How could she give herself to another in some cold, loveless mating when this being held her soul? Then, her thoughts scattered when her lover quickened his pace, demanding her response.
She gave it, her entire self yielding to the needs in both of them. When her orgasm rolled over her like a hurricane, she rode it, the guttural cry from her throat echoed by her lover. Tears streamed down her face helplessly. This was what she’d sought from her pointless liaisons.
Her life had been one reality after another, and she’d sought escape from it. And here, in the unreality of her dreams, she found truth with him. Panting, she clung to him, afraid the dream would end and she wo
uld wake up alone.
Tenderly, he stroked her face. “Tomorrow, whatever comes, remember this dream, bilana. Know that you are never alone.”
“Wait,” she said, but it was too late. He disappeared, and her arms were empty.
Despair shook her when she awoke to a beautiful Dormrelian day and all the realities the rising sun depicted. Married to Andev Juno, in some public fucking that would change her life forever.
Bitter tears squeezed from her eyes and the prospects of her future seemed bleak.
Chapter Five
The day dawned, and Andev tried to contain his nerves. In their dream, he’d tried to be gentle, to give her the tenderness that he would not be able to give her while they were mated. She’d given herself to him. He had no doubt that she loved the man in her dreams.
Regardless of the fact that he was that man, he was angry, frustrated. Today would be a test of his commitment to saving his people. For the only way to save them was to pretend that his new mate was thrust on him, not desired by him. Would his grandfather believe that Andev would stand aside as his mate was taken from him?
It was Andev’s job to make them believe it.
The council building seemed menacing to him as he strode toward the entrance. Within, he would take his mate with little, or no, finesse. Shera Patel made it clear that there were some on the council that sympathized with the Sidharta, and he must convince them that he was a man driven to fuck a human he didn’t want.
How long would it take for them to come out of hiding and touch off the very rebellion the majority of the council seemed to want?
Outside the council chambers, Elise Pasquel waylaid him.
“I wish to speak with you, Andev Juno.” The woman gazed at him with the same light-colored eyes that Shasta had. He couldn’t say no.
“My lady,” he answered with a bow.
“Rumor has reached my ears about you, and I’m concerned.” She pinned him with his gaze.
Andev, aware that other eyes watched and other ears listened, raised his eyebrows. “Do you wish to dispute the mating?” he said coldly as if he didn’t care.
Commanded to Dream Page 8