by Mel Teshco
He nodded once, a stiff motion of assent. “Very well.” He swung away, but not before she’d glimpsed his tight face. “I have fit-outs and other preparations to oversee for my craft before Trasean and Auron return.” At the hanging shields he twisted back to face her, eyes bleak. “Then I’ll be back…to escort you to your relocation.”
The distant muffled thud of a bolishta’s hooves at full gallop grew loud. Genesis raised a brow. “Someone’s in a hurry.”
She bit into her bottom lip even as something inside her shriveled.
Yeah, I won’t be at all surprised if it’s either Trasean or Auron with news of my deception.
Suddenly she had no doubt it was one of the men, why else would he enter camp at full gallop? As Genesis stepped outside to meet the rider, fear clutched at her belly, robbed her for a moment of voice. She was about to lose the man she loved in more ways than one. But she needed to be the one to tell him, not his men. She pushed to her feet and yelled, “Genesis, wait.”
But it was too late. Much too late. She could hear the murmur of male voices in their Carèchian language. This once she didn’t want to know what was being said. Though flushed with anxiety, ice wrapped itself around her heart. She pulled the red pelt around her and braced herself.
She wasn’t prepared for a smiling Genesis to enter the donya, along with one of the unattached men she’d met on arrival. She dropped her eyes, her relief so stark she all but swayed with giddiness.
“Sheehar,” the male greeted, bowing with his arms crossed at his shoulders. “I have arrived with gifts as requested by my prince.”
She lifted her dazed stare, but Genesis had apparently already taken the offerings. After he dismissed the male, he commanded softly, “Turn around.”
She did as he asked, her relief still so palpable she was unable to suppress a sharp arrow of lust thinking about the last time he asked her to turn around.
“Drop the pelt,” he ordered huskily. Her breath hitched as she released the heavy fur. She barely heard it thud to the ground. All her awareness centered on her intended.
He stepped close then shifted her hair aside. The smooth, cold weight of a necklace and pendant settled around her neck as he clasped it into place. He kissed her nape, his lips soft, sure, before he murmured, “I wanted to replace something that you valued on Earth. My wedding present to you, Sheehar.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. The necklace she’d secured around Bonnie’s neck hadn’t had any real value, but she’d grown to love it all the same. Fires had decimated much of Sydney’s houses and shops, when her father had spied the lotus pendant nestled amongst the charred remains of a building. She’d been only five or six at the time when he’d passed it to her, saying that it was meant to be hers.
At the time she’d been more interested in the half-charred doll sticking up from under a fallen roof beam, but then he’d said those words and the necklace had taken on a whole new meaning.
Her eyes fluttered open as Genesis dropped her hair back down. She lifted the pendant to better see it. Her breath caught at its magnificence. A red jewel with gold-orange flecks, exquisitely crafted into the woody, jagged lines of a gratzi.
“To always remind us how important our worlds are, how important we are to each other.” She heard the raw emotion in his voice as he finished with the Earth endearment, “How important you are to me…my wife. And even though I can’t share the next half a mera with you, I’ll be thinking of you…waiting for you.”
She swallowed hard, wanting to be his true wife in every way but feeling every bit a failure. She forced back tears. She wouldn’t cry. Not again. She’d treasure this moment and not let thoughts of the future tarnish her joy. She focused on the jewel at her throat, tracing its surface with tentative fingers. The gift was beyond exquisite, the meaning behind it beyond import.
She couldn’t possibly accept it. “I can’t—”
“You can and you will,” he interjected. His breath feathered her ear, but there was no give in his request, his demand. “You’re marked. You’re mine, Sheehar. You will wear it with pride.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I’ll have the pleasure of thinking up more personal punishment.”
Her toes curled. Was that a threat or a promise?
Before she could decipher his meaning exactly, his hands glided to her breasts, his fingers skimming over her hardening nipples, before continuing downward.
Nerves danced into life as anticipation quickened her pulse and liquid heat rushed to her pussy.
Genesis’ hands dropped lower, fingertips brushing enticingly across her hairless cunt before he dropped to his knees and repeated hoarsely, “Turn around.”
Despite her fears, her lips twisted into a fleeting grin. This was getting to be a bit of a habit—not that she was complaining.
She pivoted and saw the fabric in Genesis’ hands that would protect her feet from Carèche’s too hot ground.
“Lift your foot,” he said huskily, his eyes glinting knowingly.
He knew exactly where her mind had gone!
She was past caring. She withheld a groan, her memory filled with the image of her leg draped over his shoulder and his mouth suckling the inner flesh of her cunt.
When he smoothed the fabric around the length of her foot, the silky material shrank to fit. She dropped her foot and lifted the other, watching as her “husband” repeated the fitting.
He looked up, eyes shadowed. “How does that feel?”
Not as good as your mouth on my pussy.
She flexed her toes, pushing away all sexual thoughts to concentrate on the gift of her footwear. She peered down at them, scarcely able to believe they were so tough to be heat resistant. “They’re like the stockings I once found in a clothes store on Earth, so comfy.”
In one fluid motion he got to his feet, towering over her. He brushed a hand under her chin. “I’m pleased you like them, Sheehar. But now I really do have to go—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “It’s okay. Go. Do what you have to do. I’ve already accepted my punishment.”
He nodded once, his hand dropping. She saw a flash of remorse in his eyes, then he swung away and, a moment later, disappeared through the hanging shield.
She sighed. The two weeks by herself she could handle, even with the danger of caltronians, the time alone would be a drop in the ocean compared to the future she could share with Genesis, if only she could spare him from the truth.
She headed toward the bathing pool. She might as well enjoy a bath while she still could, because for two weeks at least, such a luxury would be nonexistent. She was only glad her dress was self-cleaning.
A good time later she was dressed and had put her footwear back on. In the process of twirling her still-damp hair into a practical knot, the hanging shields abruptly parted and Genesis strode inside, a rifle-like weapon in his hands.
His eyes took her in, travelling over her face and lingering on the twin puncture marks at her neck. “You’re ready?” he asked brusquely.
She nodded. “I guess so. But I thought you were overseeing the craft?”
“I was and I will again.” He frowned distractedly. “I had one of my men prepare your camp while the others work on the craft.” At her evidently puzzled look, he explained, “We’re meant to be together…always. I’d prefer to get your sentence over with as soon as possible.”
Funny, that’d been her thoughts exactly. If he only knew a thing or two about her deception he might well change his ideals.
She nodded. “Then I’m ready…unless I need to bring anything with me?”
“No. You have to survive on what you’re given and what you can find yourself.”
Of course she did.
He gestured for her to step toward him and then held up the weapon in his clasp. “Do you know how to use a gun?”
She nodded. “Yes. Dad taught us.”
“Us?”
She looked into his eyes, feeling so
mething shrivel inside. “Yes,” she said unsteadily, “Mum and me.”
If he was suspicious, he didn’t show it, instead his focus shifted back to the weapon. “You hold the erfos in just the same way, only there is no trigger as such.” He placed the gun—erfos—in her hands. “It’s more a close-range weapon, in that it doesn’t have a sight mechanism like your Earth guns apparently do, and its ray is much less effective the farther away you shoot.”
Her breath hitched as he stepped behind her, his big body braced against her spine and his arms around her. “Hold the handle of the erfos close to your eye to allow its internal composition to see what you see.”
She did as he asked and in just the same way the handlebars of his cercanne lit up green before takeoff, so did the erfos the moment she lifted it to eye level. “How do I fire it?”
He pushed the barrel of the erfos down and the light immediately faded. “Swipe the pad of your thumb anywhere along the lighted area.” His face was all serious. “But only your thumb. Your fingers won’t trigger its burn ray.”
“Burn ray,” she repeated weakly, thinking what a horrible a death that would be.
“Yes. It relies on the suns to recharge, which gives you around thirty seconds between each shot.” His face was dead serious. “A caltronian has no real weak spot, but if shooting from a distance, use the ray on his face to temporarily blind him and you’ll have half a chance of escape.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“If you have no other option, wait until the caltronian is almost upon you before firing a shot to kill.”
He took hold of the weapon and slung it over his shoulder, the leatherlike strap looking all too sexy against his skin. His expression was pensive as he held out his free hand to her. She placed her hand in his and followed him outside. She examined her covered feet. Wow. The heat really didn’t penetrate.
Her gaze lifted and she looked around. Funny, the relief coursing through her knowing none of his people was there to watch her leave.
But it was a relief directed more at Genesis than herself. His intended was going into seclusion. It had to be the worst kind of humiliation having a wife and queen who was already distrusted by his own people.
She pushed her shoulders back, her chin high. His people mightn’t be in view, but she felt more than a few of their stares.
But once on the back of Genesis’ cercanne, she closed her eyes and let the hot wind carry away her misgivings and anxieties. Safe for the moment wrapped around him, she allowed her thoughts to drift and a long-ago memory to resurface.
~
Eden pushed open the front door of the old farmhouse. The hinges creaked protest and immediately quieted her sister’s sobs she’d heard from the moment she stepped onto the veranda.
“Are you okay?” she called into the thick silence, trying not to notice how the dirty windows shielded much of the already waning sunlight.
She shivered, a little frightened. She and Aline had explored the house many times before they’d eventually claimed it as a kind of grown-up play house. But it was a place they refused to visit at any other time but daylight hours.
“Go away, Eden,” her sister yelled back hoarsely.
Eden ignored the request, following her sister’s voice and heading in the direction of the lounge room. She knew Aline well enough to know when she needed someone to confide in. And it wasn’t as if she had a lot of people to choose from.
Aline lifted her head from her arms, looking up from where she sat on the dusty floorboards. Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes red. “Leave me alone!”
She shook her head. “I’m not leaving. It’s your birthday, you’re supposed to be having a fun day with Mum and Dad…with me.”
Aline glared. “I’m sixteen. One year closer to abduction. Don’t you understand? It’s all I can think about!”
Terror leaped through Eden’s heart, but she stayed strong. “Don’t say that.”
“Why? It’s only the truth.” Accusation burned bright in her eyes. “It’s all right for you—you’re not the firstborn.”
Eden stared at her sister, hurt knocking around in her heart. “If I could take your place I would.”
Aline’s stare softened, her eyes shimmering moments before she burst into tears. “Oh, Eden, I’m sorry, I know you would if you could.” Aline opened her arms and she stepped into her embrace. “Thanks for being the best sister in the world.” She hiccupped.
It made them both smile. As there was no one else to their knowledge on the planet with siblings, it was a joke they shared too often.
Aline pulled back after long minutes, sniffling and swiping a tear from her face with a sleeve. “Sweetie, I’ve made you serious again. It might be my birthday but I’m sure it’s you who’s growing up too fast.”
Eden couldn’t tell her she was that way because she worried incessantly about her sister—her one sibling and only friend—leaving. She gnawed on her bottom lip, then whispered, “I don’t want you to be taken from us either.”
“I know you don’t.” Her smile wobbled a little. “But hey, we’ve got years together yet, right.” She got to her feet. “Come on, Sis, let’s go home and celebrate.”
Chapter Nine
“Are you okay?”
She came back to the present with a start, realizing belatedly Genesis had already pulled up at camp—if one solitary donya made to look miniature by the red-gold mountain towering behind, could be called a camp—even as the fact he’d asked her the same thing she’d asked her sister all those years ago penetrated her mind.
Almost as if things had come full circle.
He dismounted from the cercanne and took off his weapon to stand it upright against the two wheeler. As he faced her she said in a small but strong voice, “I’ll be okay.”
He lifted her face with a hand under her chin, seemingly immune to the relentless heat pulsing down from the three suns. “I’m sorry it had to come to this.”
Not half as sorry as me.
“It’s what I deserve.”
He frowned. “Before I leave, tell me one thing. Why did you abandon the women and children to climb the mountain? Is it because of the tower’s airwave transmitter?”
Her breath left her lungs. He knew? She swallowed back the automatic lie that sprang to her lips. She should have known Genesis would join the dots…at least some of them. She smothered alarm, yet still her voice cracked. “Yes.”
His eyes burned. “Why, because you felt threatened by another Earth woman’s arrival?”
She stared, unable to speak, unable to deny the half-truth.
“Princess, what do I have to do to prove my love to you—and you alone? A hundred women could arrive and I’d have eyes only for you.”
Emotions flooded through her body then wrung her out to dry, leaving behind stark guilt, confusion and shame. And a whole lot of need.
She didn’t have time to think further on the matter. He bent and lifted her into his arms, then turned her around so that she sat facing backward. “If words don’t convince you, maybe actions will,” he growled.
He pushed the waistband of his pants down, freeing his already engorged cock.
If anything could distract her from the way she felt—that could. “Oh,” she breathed, eyeing his organ that had given her so much pleasure, and that was almost perfectly aligned to her pussy.
“Lay back, Sheehar,” he said hoarsely. “Let me give you a goodbye that will show exactly how much you mean to me.” His voice deepened. “A goodbye that will last us both until I see you next.”
She did as he asked, her spine sinking into the fur lining before he clasped her thighs to pull her to the end of the seat, her pussy spread out and undoubtedly pink and inviting.
“Gods, Eden.” His stare drank her in before he dipped a finger into his mouth then swirled his wet fingertip around her clit, causing her to gasp and squirm.
Wanting more. So much more.
With a smile he sank a finger de
ep into her channel, his stare watchful, assessing and glittering hot. As he took up a steady rhythm, then pushed another finger deep, her vision glazed, back arching and hips swiveling to meet the delicious tempo.
Through heavy-lidded eyes she watched his free hand encircle his thick shaft before steering it between her open thighs.
The touch of his cock head on her sensitized flesh was shockingly familiar, the silky-soft overlay of his shaft with its core of hardened steel.
He paused, expression intense, savage.
She mewled, made impatient by the unexpected delay. “What are you waiting for?”
He didn’t respond, instead he used his cock to stimulate the outer flesh of her pussy, rubbing her labia with his dick in a circular motion until she was all but panting with need.
“I can’t…take…much more…of this,” she said.
A muscle in his jaw tensed. “Then you won’t mind,” he centered himself, “if I do this.”
When he thrust forward it was all she could do just to hang on for the ride. He set up a fierce and relentless rhythm that sent the erfos thudding to the ground and caused her fingers to dig into the seat’s fur and her thighs to wrap all the harder around his hips.
Her eyes went round as he abruptly pulsed her with a half-shock, followed by another and then another. He was deliberately stoking the fires within, charging her little by little as though a thousand light bulbs simultaneously flicking on and off, then on again, lighting her up from the inside out. He pushed her to the edge, dropped her a little and then fired her right back up again until she was precariously balanced on the precipice, desperate to take flight.
All but desperate to scream out his name and sob out the truth.
Then he released a charge that ricocheted off her womb and flipped her off the edge, flying, floating.
She distantly heard him call out her name, was half-aware of his warm seed pulsing within, but mostly she was lost in her own exquisite fulfillment, the ecstasy of their joining.
“Oh my God,” she whispered when they at last reluctantly separated. “That was amazing.”