RESURRECTION (RIBUS 7, #5)

by Shae Mills

  She shook her head clear of her questions and glanced about, wondering exactly when Korba would be back. But it didn’t matter. She would use every second remaining to her to solve the mystery.

  She brought up a screen, hit the coordinates of the mystery corridor, and then tried to activate the scanners. But none of them worked, including the one at the junction, and it should have been fully operational.

  “Damn,” she muttered, even more questions abounding. Reluctantly, she shut the screen down. How was she going to be able to solve her mystery on her own? But on her own it would have to be. If she told Korba what had just happened, that there had been an entity or an energy source with her just now, after the ship had been cleared, he would be as inclined as ever to destroy RIBUS 7.

  She straightened slightly only to be startled by Korba’s voice. “Time to go, my Lady. The crews must resume their work.”

  Chelan stood, nodded at him, and followed him out as placidly as she could.

  BACK IN THE COMMAND Center of RIBUS 1, Chelan changed out of her uniform and then sat quietly. She called up the latest reports from the ship and squinted at them as they scrolled past.

  Korba watched her from the workout area, not sure where to start with the topic of her adventure. She had been uncharacteristically silent on the trip home, and that had him bothered.

  Finally, Chelan sensed him and swiveled around to look up at him. “My Lord?” she whispered.

  He entered the Center and then settled himself on the top stair across from her. He stared at her elegant body clad in the seductive white gown. Her deep brown eyes were fixed on him, and he returned her gaze. Her hair was now down just past her breasts, the golden brown locks shimmering in the ship’s lighting. She was as beautiful as the day he had taken her for his own.

  He glanced down. “I am sorry about my boorish behavior last night.”

  Chelan continued to stare at him. He was the most handsome man she could imagine. Though his age was many decades in Iceanean years, he looked only about thirty Earth years. His heavy blue-black hair feathered about his face, cascading over his broad shoulders and down his back. His flawless skin was a deep bronze; his piercing azure eyes glowed out from under his long, thick lashes. An angel or a devil, she could not choose. A man or a god, it was impossible to ascertain. But he was everything to her.

  “And I apologize for mine,” she returned gently.

  Korba drew in a deep breath, his massive chest expanding to unreal proportions. “I cannot bring myself to risk you again, my Lady.”

  Chelan smiled lightly. “I know.”

  He stood slowly, his shroud flowing about him. He glanced at her; he was still having trouble broaching the subject of their morning quest. “I hope your trip to the Command Center was satisfying, if not fruitful.”

  Chelan rose from her chair, ignoring his opening for a neutral conversation. She approached him and stopped just in front of him. With him standing on the top step, his seven-foot frame towered over her. She went to speak, but instead she recognized his predatory gaze. Whenever anything happened to her, no matter how small the incident, Korba’s protectiveness often manifested in a sexual manner. She stared at his lips, and then she stretched up, grabbing his shroud, forcing him to bend to her. Her soft tongue moistened his lips with invitation.

  He glanced into her liquid eyes as his gloved hand traced down her neck and out along her slender shoulder. He still marveled at her, her tiny frame beckoning to be taken by him endlessly. She was all satin skin and soft curves. He was steel-plated muscle and dense bone. Yet she fit to him as wonderfully as a silken cloud envelops a mountain.

  His finger trailed off down her arm. “I hated leaving you there,” he whispered. “For thirty of your Earth minutes, every fiber of my being was shredded. At one point my men had to physically bar me from retrieving you.”

  Without a word, Chelan reached for his hand. Grasping it, she flowed past him and led him up into their sleeping chambers. Slowly and sensuously, she began undressing him. As his magnificent body emerged, her delicate fingers began tracing the fine, almost imperceptible scars that crisscrossed his skin, every touch causing his flesh to quiver as if becoming electrified. “I came to no harm,” she finally uttered, entranced.

  He hooked the straps of her gown and pulled them over her shoulders, letting the supple fabric pool about her ankles. He continued to stare at her, still struggling with the inner turmoil simmering within his blood. “When I allow things like this morning to happen, I render myself powerless. Being helpless is a curse I have only had thrust upon me a few times. But when that powerlessness is something I have invited, and it involves you...” His words broke off, his breath momentarily stolen.

  Finally, he felt his restraint begin to wane, the bomb within him about to detonate. A tremor went through him as his hands slid down her back, where they surrounded her firm buttocks. Effortlessly, his biceps flexed, drawing her up his hard body with smooth liquid power. He suddenly needed to be absorbed by her, completely taken within her... her life, her warmth infusing him with the antidote to the poison infecting his mind.

  Chelan grasped his neck as her legs surrounded his waist. His tongue flickered over her parted lips with an urgency she could feel to her core. She knew he needed to be over her, in her, and around her, his need to protect her while marking her as his overpowering him, healing him. Then he let her slip down just a bit, lowering her slightly, the hard tip of his steel shaft piercing the entrance of her velvet folds. She looked deep into his impassioned eyes. She knew he was on the verge of losing his mind, his breathing restrained while his muscles shook, every last vestige of his energy being used to maintain this fragmented thread of control. He was awaiting her final permission, and she would not leave him wanting. “I need you, my Lord,” she granted.

  His release was explosive. His lips engulfed hers, taking them fervidly as a rumble emanated from his chest. His tongue explored and probed the depths of her mouth as his pelvis tilted, his penetration taking him to her womb. Her taste was intoxicating; her scent, heavenly.

  Chelan arched back, thrusting her breasts to him. He sucked her gently at first, then took her into his mouth as deeply as he could, his tongue flickering over her hard nipples. Chelan arched farther, her fingers entwined in a mass of his thick hair, holding her fast to him.

  He withdrew momentarily from her depths and then thrust in again. Chelan writhed in his clutches as he continued to penetrate her so deeply she thought she would burst... And then he stopped.

  Chelan panted for air and pulled herself up to look in his piercing eyes. Gently he laid her upon the bed. “Why did you stop?” she asked in a strained whisper.

  He held himself over her, his harsh possession replaced with gossamer touches. “We will take our time,” he breathed.

  Chelan smiled and reached down, her hands finding his pulsing maleness. It was steel sheathed in silk, her fluid allowing her hands to slip over him as though he had been oiled. He sucked in a deep breath as her fingers found his softness. Then he threw his head back, his black mane splaying out. But before he could take her again, Chelan rolled out from under him.

  “What...?” he went to protest.

  But Chelan came up behind him. “Shhhh,” she cooed. She brushed her hands over his back as her tongue began down his spine. “Lie down,” she ordered. “On your stomach.”

  Korba slid onto the bed, his muscles tight with wariness as he watched her over his shoulder.

  Chelan smiled at him. “It is time to surrender your control, my Lord. It is time to give in to helplessness and let me carry some of your burden.” She watched him closely. “I know that even with me, to turn your back leaves you feeling vulnerable. It is a strategic weakness if displayed to adversaries, both those known and those suspected. To turn your back in your society is to invite death. But here with me, it is time to loosen the chains of decades of conditioning. It is time to let me take the lead, your vulnerability mine to cherish and to explo
re.”

  Korba had to do everything in his power not to twist around and face her. She was right. Turning his back to anyone, friend or foe, went against everything ingrained in his psyche, but he would, on this occasion, submit to her request, thus displaying the trust he had always granted her.

  “Turn your head,” she whispered. “Put your face in the pillow and give me the power.”

  Korba did as she ordered, but he was coiled so tight, he feared losing all sanity.

  Chelan smiled. If he was ever going to treat her as his true equal, he did indeed have to learn to relinquish control over to her, and where better to start than in the realm of love? As he finally complied, she leaned into him and kissed all over his firm buttocks. Her nails raked down his back as she licked the base of his spine, his body trembling beneath her gentle touches. Then she pushed his legs far apart, and reached under him, grasping all of him firmly.

  Korba’s fingers bit into the bed. Her tongue on his spine and lower back send shock waves throughout his body. Her hand continued to stroke his hardness, playing gently over his softness, and then up again. Korba was nearly frenzied. He felt every intimate part of his body covered with her kisses and her hands, yet, in his vulnerable position, he could not touch her. He could not even see her.

  She nudged his hips up slightly, exposing him further, her tongue tracing down the cleft of his buttocks until her mouth found his testicles. Savoring him, her hands once again surrounded his shaft, stroking him slowly and ever so tightly.

  It was such exquisite torture, and he closed his eyes. To be so exposed, so helpless, it was a volatile mix of elation and trepidation. But finally, despite his determination, the predator in him could submit no longer. He lurched forward, and in one smooth motion, rolled to his back, his chest heaving.

  Chelan smiled at his maneuver and dived for him once again, seizing his member with her mouth.

  Korba grabbed her by her hair and forced her to look at him. He growled. “I will have you now, woman. No more play.” And he hooked his hands under her arms.

  Chelan gasped as he dragged her up his body so fast she lost her breath. Then in the next instant, he twisted, and she was on her back. Korba loomed over her for a moment before sinking himself into her heat to his root.

  Chelan grabbed his hair and arched to him. “I want you so deep and hard it hurts,” she moaned.

  Korba complied with as much force as he dared. Each thrust jarred her nearly mercilessly, but she took him all, begging for more. When he finally felt her shudder beneath him, her soft voice crying out his name, he allowed his own explosive release, his head thrown back, the last vestiges of his frenzied need to possess her abating.

  He slumped over her, panting for air, his body melding to hers, slick with their moisture. Allowing his erection to recede, he pulled out of her depths and moved to her side.

  Chelan was exhausted yet rejuvenated. Her hands slithered down over her heaving breasts, her taut abdomen, and then into her own depths. She moaned. “God, you fill me so completely.”

  Korba smiled. “It is no wonder, my Lady. You are so small. Each time I fear I will break you or maim you in some way.”

  Chelan gazed at him dreamily. “With your power and strength, you can restrain.”

  “But with you I do not.”

  Chelan touched a finger to his lips. “Whether you are conscious of it or not, you must.” She looked over his concrete body. “With your fingers, your hands, with this...”—she gently touched his penis—“you could tear me apart. Yet you do not.”

  Korba ran his fingers over her chest, finally drawing small circles around her breasts, her skin pebbling to his touch. “It would go against every instinct I possess to hurt you. It would kill me if I did. But your lesson tonight, forcing me to submit to vulnerability, you pushed me to my limit. Like when you run from me, you unleash the predator, the killer that I am. As you know, you play on instincts bred within for centuries. So far all has played out safely, but you genuinely tempt disaster, my Lady.”

  Chelan smiled, her hand brushing his cheek. “You know, I would not mind somehow if you slipped.”

  Korba’s eyes suddenly betrayed his distress at the thought of such an event. “It will not happen,” he rumbled.

  Chelan stretched up and kissed him gently. “I know,” she whispered. “And that is why I can push you to your thresholds. By your controlling the beast within, no matter what I do to you, no matter how I bait you, you have in essence submitted to my wishes. You have given me the power to extract what I want, and you will always gift that ability to me.”

  Korba finally smiled as he splayed his fingers over her abdomen. Then he shuffled down by her hips and gently spread her legs.

  Chelan held her breath. “What are you doing?”

  “Just looking.” His finger parted her soft folds and he looked to the opening that accepted him so easily, so well. His finger ever so gently probed her. “I split you once, my Lady. Never again.”

  Chelan took a moment to catch her breath. “That was our first time, my Lord. It was to happen, and if I recall correctly, I forced things just a bit.”

  He closed his eyes and inhaled her feminine scent. “You did,” he whispered. “But never again.” He bent over her, his tongue exploring every velvety fold.

  Chelan groaned. “I need you again.”

  Korba chuckled. “Then you shall have me again. And you will have the control once again... eventually,” he added mischievously. He briefly sucked her swollen nodule. “But much later. I am not finished with you yet.” And he was not.

  Chapter 18

  KORBA STOOD IN THE conference room, staring at the latest data pouring in from crews on board RIBUS 7. She was a still just one step away from becoming the latest supernova, and how long it was going to take to get her stable was yet to be determined.

  He ran his gloved hands through his blue-black hair and sighed. He needed to get on board the ship himself and take a firsthand look at some of the problem areas, but he did not want to reignite Chelan’s obsession with boarding her. He had to divert her attention no matter the cost. To have her roaming the decks of the battleship again while the vessel was so volatile was absolutely out of the question. Fortunately, he had come up with an idea for how to proceed.

  The doors behind him opened, and he turned to greet his friend. “Lord Terig. Welcome.”

  Terig stopped just short of Korba. “Sire. We meet yet again, and none too soon from a personal standpoint, in my opinion.” And he bowed.

  Korba’s lip quirked. “Yes, my good man, I agree. And all work aside, I have another assignment for you.”

  Terig’s brows rose. “I am at your disposal for whatever you wish, my Lord.”

  Korba smiled wryly. “Yes, well, you might think twice about accepting this assignment.” Korba sat down and offered Terig a chair.

  The Warlord took a moment to sort through his approach to the man. Deciding to dispense with subtleties, he launched directly to the point. “My Lady has an infatuation with that landmine waiting to explode out there, so I need her attention diverted.”

  Terig was caught a little off guard. “I know not how to help you off the top of my head, but I will do whatever you require.”

  “I want you to distract her by whatever means are at your disposal.”

  Perplexed, Terig opened his mouth, but no words would form.

  Korba leaned forward. “I know you have a unique past, one that would be of immense interest to her. I also know you for the man you are. Therefore, you are, in fact, the best solution to my problem.”

  Terig sat back in his chair stiffly. “I... I would love to be in the company of your fair mate, but as to whether I could manage to keep her mind off RIBUS 7, that I do not know.”

  Korba rubbed at his jaw. “How about we start small, with a brief trip to your domain. I am sure she would be more than a little intrigued by what you have amassed.”

  “That could easily be arranged, but a day trip is
hardly going to sidetrack her sufficiently.”

  “No, but it is a start.”

  Terig hesitated. “You honestly think she is going to be so preoccupied by my little empire that she is going to shelve the idea of spending time on RIBUS 7?”

  Korba took a deep breath, contemplating his words carefully. “I think a trip with you will pique her interest. I suspect that getting her to accompany you home for several more... uhh... field trips... will become easier with time. And god knows I need the time.”

  Terig nodded apprehensively. “Well, my Lord. I shall try.”

  Korba sat back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Then he leveled his gaze straight at Terig. “I want you to do more than simply try.”

  Terig shrugged. “I will do my best, my Lord, but if she is not interested in spending time at my home, then there is not much I can force.”

  “I will be straight with you. I want her off these decks, away from the constant stream of incoming data, and away from RIBUS 7 at all costs. My crews are up to their necks in ship repairs, with more workers descending on her on a daily basis, and I want to oversee the more sensitive areas myself. I do not want Chelan trying to accompany me. I want her fully occupied. We have had countless arguments over the last week alone, and I know she is scheming behind my back to get over to that bloody ship. That is where you come in.”

  “Okay... I—”

  “Distract her, put her to work, tie her up if you have to.” Korba took a deep breath. “Your estate will entrance her. Your part in it will transfix her. Hell, court her if you want. Just keep her thoughts diverted.”

  Terig’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Uh... Sire... I...”

  Korba frowned. “Do what you must. I grant you full freedom.”

  Terig was stunned. Had he interpreted Korba correctly? “I will do my best, my Lord. I... uh... Well, as you mentioned, I will start with a day trip and then from there...” Terig was suddenly simply mute, his thoughts splaying out before him in too many directions to handle.