Sailkeeper's Bride

by Annie Windsor

  Georgia tried to speak, but her voice failed her.

  “Tell me what you feel.” Fari rocked her back and forth with his hands on her hip and ass, raising her up and down on his throbbing cock. “Scream it when you come.”

  The thrum of his voice pushed Georgia closer to climax. Her heart kept rhythm with his skillful strokes. And still he stared at her. Into her.

  Georgia’s face flushed.

  She knew she could fuck a thousand men, and never find a better lover. Or a better love.

  Hearing her unshielded thoughts, Fari fucked her harder. “You are mine. I will wait as long as it takes for you to know that. For you to believe in me, in us.”

  “Oh—my—God.” Georgia’s words came in choked gasps. Every nerve and muscle in her body burned with her building orgasm.

  Fari’s eyes. Those eyes! His firm male body. His hot, hot cock, pleasing her like no man had pleased her before.

  Her toes curled as Fari pumped into her pussy. One more stroke. Maybe two.

  Heat rushed from her center, consuming her flesh and her senses. And still he stared into her very being. His muscles tensed, and Georgia’s involuntary spasms shook her with incredible force.

  “I’m coming.” Somehow she kept her eyes open as an earthquake of pleasure rocked her without mercy. “Come with me.”

  “Say it,” Fari demanded, keeping a tight hold, fucking her fast, then slow, fast then slow, making her orgasm last and last.

  Georgia gripped his shoulders. “I love you. I love you!”

  Fari groaned, filling her with his hot essence as yet another orgasm shook Georgia.

  “I love you, my shanna.” His murmurs sent new rounds of shivers along her spine as he eased her through the aftershocks, then settled her against his shoulder.

  Georgia squeezed her legs together, holding his spent cock in her pussy. She felt insanely territorial, and she knew she never wanted to let him go.

  Fari rolled her to her back, holding his weight above her.

  Incredibly, he was getting hard again. Georgia thought she might die from the sweet exhaustion.

  Was it possible to be fucked into oblivion?

  She wasn’t sure, but she was ready to find out.

  Fari moved against her once, and she moaned.

  “Will you…will you consider marriage?” he asked in the softest possible way.

  Georgia arched her hips, drawing him farther inside her.

  She didn’t know what to say. Or she didn’t know how to say it through the wall of fear suddenly wrapping her mind.

  Obviously sensing her hesitance, Fari concentrated on fucking her instead. This time, his eyes were closed. He leaned closer to her, and as their pa mingled, Georgia had the dizzy feeling of her sensations and his, too, and she loved it.

  She loved him.

  “You fuck me so, so good.” Moving wildly, out of her own control, Georgia bucked against him with each thrust.

  Fari growled and rammed into her quim. Georgia sensed his building frenzy, and she wanted it.

  “Yes. Fuck me as hard as you want. Faster.” She grabbed his sides, digging her hands into his sizzling pa.

  He roared and slammed into her with feral abandon.

  So deep. So perfect. Pain and pleasure blended with a sense of total possession. Georgia arched against him, higher and higher, losing track of time and space. The soft, grassy ground seemed to spin beneath her.

  “Mine,” he bellowed with each hammering thrust. “Now. Always!”

  “Take me, then.” Georgia spread her legs as wide as she could. “Take me!”

  Fari pounded her pussy then, shouting with each movement.

  Georgia shouted with him. She felt herself sliding backward in the grass, helpless against his force. She wasn’t scared. She wasn’t triggered. Just excited beyond imagination.

  “Fuck me! Fuck me, damn you!” Her head whipped back and forth as she came in a hot, throbbing explosion.

  Fari’s orgasm followed hers only moments later, and once more she felt his heated eruption filling her to the brim.

  Before she could stop him, he pulled out in a rush and fell on his face beside her, panting.

  Georgia groaned with the effort of movement, but she managed to roll to her side and trace the outline of his trunk-like back muscles.

  “About what you asked, about marriage…”

  Fari took a deep breath and held it. He felt so incredibly still, like a warrior statue, waiting for her words to free him, and—

  And the roar of a speeder’s engine shattered the island’s peaceful silence.

  Georgia startled so badly she almost rolled to her back. Fari leaped up so fast he shocked her a second time. Face grim, he scooped Georgia into his arms like a kitten and carried her into the nearby trees and brush.

  “Who—” she began as he set her on her feet, but his mental command cut her short.

  Wait. Friend or foe—I cannot tell.

  Chapter 14

  Fari held Georgia behind him, shielded by the trees. Her nearness, the light scent of her womanhood—these things made his battle blood flow all the hotter. If only he had his sword.

  Damn. It was at the shuttle landing pad, with his clothes. Well, no matter. Fari flexed his muscles. If anything or anyone with ill intent came near Georgia, he would tear them apart without benefit of weapon. He would not, could not lose another family member to his short sightedness.

  The island-invading ship was definitely an Ardani speeder. It jolted down on the edge of the lagoon, back rudders first, then front.

  Krysta.

  Fari relaxed a fraction. Only his sister rode a speeder like a Chimera, rearing and bucking at will.

  In seconds, the speeder’s side hatch opened, and Krysta vaulted into the water with an ungraceful splash. Her mental curse made Georgia giggle and grab Fari’s waist. “Stand down, soldier. I think this one’s harmless.”

  “Hmph. You did not grow up with her.” Fari led Georgia from the trees and hailed Krysta with a wave and a psi-greeting. The sun felt hot on his naked skin, but not as hot as Georgia’s soft breath on his shoulder.

  There you are. Krysta’s thoughts were clipped as she wheeled around and headed up the beach. You have been psi-blind for hours. Stellar days!

  I have been occupied. Fari shook his head. Patience had never been Krysta’s strength.

  We have been occupied, Georgia added, snuggling closer to Fari. That was the goal, wasn’t it?

  Krysta approached like a charging fergilla. Her tense voice rose above the quiet lap of lagoon waves, shattering all illusion of humor or teasing. “The Fleet was delayed on Bandu-Mother. Ki is still a half-stellar day from port, and our skies have filled with Outlander vessels. Thirty. Maybe more. Most appear to be salvaged cargo ships, but a few are restored frigates and speeders.”

  The remnants of Fari’s mating fervor cleared in a rush as he straightened himself and let go of his shanna. “Have they fired? What of the Guard? And the positions—“

  “They are not in typical attack formations, and not in strategic locations.” Krysta stopped directly in front of Fari. Her drawn face communicated more than a thousand recriminations. “Most are orbiting above Camford. I have positioned a net of Home Guard ships around them.”

  “If they have even one trained gunner on the salvaged frigates…” Fari trailed off as his mind jammed with possibilities.

  “Where’s Elise?” Georgia stepped between them. “Is she safe? What about the baby?”

  Krysta’s intense stare softened. “Elise is at Camford. I have located her in the Guard Captain’s quarters next to the war room. It is the most secure location. Akad feared the psi-flow of the war room itself would be too much for her.”

  Fari rubbed his fist in his hand. “Her time draws near. Is the priest with her?”

  “No.” Krysta shook her head. “He is with the rear Guard, between the rogue ships and open space—awaiting Ki’s arrival. I wanted him off the ground in case of full assault. W
e will need our healers in the air.”

  “This is bad, isn’t it?” Georgia scuffed her foot in the grass.

  “Possibly.” Fari turned and took his beloved in his arms. He wanted to kiss her deeply, but that would only arouse him and distract him from grim purpose. He settled for a loving brush of her cheek, which she accepted without protest. “Go to the landing pad. Gather your things quickly, and Krysta will deliver you to Camford.”

  To Krysta, he said, “I will close up the cabin and go to the building yard. Have the forward Guard attempt contact with the Outlander ships—see if we can discern their demands. Meanwhile, you land in the forest, at the Tuscan Platform.”

  Krysta winced at the reference, at the thought of visiting the place where their brother was so nearly beheaded mere stellar months ago, but her thoughts indicated she understood his reasoning. The Platform was one of the few places around Camford where they could conceal and protect a speeder and still have easy takeoff.

  And at the building yards waited Lorelei, Fari’s first-assault frigate under construction and yet flight-worthy. It would be near suicidal for one man to attempt to pilot her, but Fari was a Tul’Mar. His gift was strong, and Ki would lend what psi-energy he could across the leagues still separating them.

  If the Outlanders attacked, if the Home Guard was outmanned and outgunned, a surprise flank maneuver might be their only hope. A slim hope, but better than none at all.

  Minutes later, still naked but with his clothes and sword at his feet, Fari piloted his speeder away from his perfect island and his perfect time with Georgia. So much progress—and yet she still had made no commitment to him.

  And yet, before Krysta came, she asked about marriage.

  Fari’s cock stiffened.

  He swore and forced his thoughts to the present, to the problems at hand. Nervousness in battle was not a factor. Fari tended to be at his best when under pressure, in hopeless situations. Speed and wit over brawn. He had his advantages.

  And yet he had never had so much to protect. Such important people to defend.

  Georgia was with Krysta now. If anything happened to them…

  No. I will not consider that possibility.

  Flying faster than any Home Guard ship should fly at surface level, Fari made a quick pass over Camford, then swooped even lower, in case the Outlander ships had any sort of rudimentary detection devices.

  Thank the universe they were not psychic, or all of this would be pointless.

  Almost clipping treetops, Fari hurtled back toward the building yard. He could sense the strange brew of misfit ships above him, and his extra senses told him they were armed and well-manned. Well-womaned, too. Many life signatures. Many engines. Many sails. Some strange energies he could not even identify.

  And yet, no urgency. And odder still, no overt malice.

  What are they doing? What could they want?

  Fari rubbed his hand over his eyes. If not for the mating fervor, he might have been more on top of the Darkyn Weil problem. Or he could have assisted Ki with the drop-off of Rescues to Bandu-Mother. That certainly must have been a complex proposition.

  What good was he to the Fleet, to Ki—to Arda—besotted as he had been?

  But it is natural, he tried to convince himself, as he once had to convince his brother, who suffered a similar fit of guilt after long days of obsession with Elise.

  Nothing can be done for the past now. Only the present, and the future. Fari’s eyes narrowed as the building yards came into view. He punched the companel to slow the speeder and eased over the ruined docks.

  The saboteurs had done a fine job mucking up the main Fleet construction site, but Fari’s sleek and efficient Lorelei had already received her pa coating. A simple explosion could not harm her. She looked fit and ready, albeit slightly under-rigged. The construction was nearly finished.

  Finished enough, he hoped.

  Fari landed the speeder as close to tree cover as he could. He jerked on his pants and tunic and strapped on his sword. After one long, slow breath, he slowly called up one long, remembered image of his shanna, naked, waiting to hold him upon his return, then he disembarked.

  Keeping all senses trained on his surroundings, he rushed across the open space between trees and remnant docks, leaped over gaping holes in planking, gripped Lorelei’s tie ropes, and climbed aboard Lorelei’s slender decks.

  As fast as he could, he released her moorings, ran to the con room, and engaged her ion engines. The immediate, smooth hum of inertial dampers and rising containment fields greatly relieved him.

  Lorelei was not only intact. She was functional. Her pa coating resonated with Fari’s pa mark like an arrow joining with target. The ship shuddered at his presence, then drifted free of her docking, awaiting command.

  Without hesitation, Fari headed for the center of the deck and climbed the rope ladder to the observation nest at the top of the center mast.

  All three sails puffed at his will, but the ship remained still. She would fly when he told her to fly.

  In position, Fari informed Krysta through a direct, focused psi-link. And you?

  Landing the speeder. Krysta’s dark, shielded tone made Fari grip the smooth, cool sides of the nest.

  What is wrong?

  Krysta remained silent.

  Fari pressed his thoughts toward hers. Tell me, Sister! This is no time for games.

  I—uh, when you sent Georgia to the landing pad to gather her belongings, she apparently did not do so. At least, she did not return to me.

  For a moment, Fari could make no sense of Krysta’s statements, and then truth struck him like a ragged wind. She…did not leave the island with you?

  A surge of misery preceded Krysta’s response. No.

  Then Georgia is still on the island? Unprotected?

  Another wave of ill feeling flowed across their psi-link. I do not think so, Brother.

  Fari pounded the sides of the nest hard enough to smash a structure of lesser design. “Then where is she?”

  And even as he broadcast the question, he knew the answer.

  Chapter 15

  Georgia hesitated on the rope ladder leading up to the “observation nest,” as Fari had called it. On Earth, it would have been a “crow’s nest,” or something like that. Whatever the name, Fari was up there, above her head where she couldn’t see him, and she could sense that he was more than a little ticked.

  A light breeze enveloped Georgia’s naked body. Rough ropes scrubbed against her nipples, palms, knees, and feet.

  If he ties me to this, I’m in big shit.

  Soooo, she hadn’t told him a few of the secrets she’d been learning from Akad. Like how her extra pa gave her stronger mind-shielding when she willed it, among other things. She wasn’t much good at enhanced psi powers yet. Hell, she could barely manage basic psi powers. Still, she had managed to stow away on Fari’s speeder, blocked herself from his awareness, and followed him onboard a war frigate without him detecting her presence.

  And now, she was hanging naked on a bunch of ropes, a hard wooden deck below her and a furious warrior above her.

  Brilliant idea, Steel. One of your better plans.

  “What in the name of five black holes are you doing on this ship?” Fari’s resonant bellow made the rope ladder shake.

  Georgia gripped it with both hands and climbed, even though half her brain suggested pulling a Tarzan over to the next sail, shimmying down, jumping overboard and running for her life.

  She finished the scramble to the observation nest with a few well-placed steps and tugs. When she reached over the side, Fari grabbed her by the wrists, hauled her inside, and yanked her hard against him.

  Georgia felt suddenly small against his muscled bulk, and her heart drummed against her ribs. Fari shifted his weight, and his sword hilt poked her hip. She winced.

  The man was so mad his whole body shook. Georgia had never seen his face so red, even after hours of non-stop lovemaking on the island. Old defenses batt
led with new feelings, and for a moment, she wanted to slap him. Tell him off. Suggest he go fuck himself.

  Instead, she started to cry.

  Fari frowned and eased his grip. “Why did you come here?” he repeated in a dead-quiet voice.

  Georgia turned her face away, hating the burn in her cheeks. Instinctively, she blocked her thoughts from him again. “I don’t want you to leave, to go into battle. But I know you have to. I just wanted to say—I just wanted…”

  “It is not safe here.” Fari cut her off with a sharp, commanding tone. A lancing pain between the eyes told Georgia he was trying to force through her psi-barrier. “Go to Camford immediately.”

  This time, old anger won out. “Screw you, you arrogant prick.” Georgia pushed hard at Fari, mind and body. He stumbled back as if she’d hit him.

  With a jerk, she freed herself and fell against the far side of the observation nest. “I’ve told you once already, the day we left for the island—quit playing daddy. You aren’t my father. I go where I choose, when I choose, damn it. And damn you. I choose to be here.”

  Fari shook his head and rubbed his temples, clearly feeling the effects of her unleashed psi-strength. When he looked at her again, it was with considerably less command and entitlement.

  Better. Progress. Georgia sighed and righted herself. “Look. I love you, okay? You’re a soldier, and you’re going off to war. There’s stuff I didn’t say. Stuff I need to say. And you didn’t give me a chance before, back on the island.”

  “I…apologize,” Fari muttered, unbuckling his sword belt and laying it aside. Georgia could tell he was choosing his words with caution. His thoughts were open to her, though not completely coherent. Something about being kicked in the head by a mutant tri-hoofed fergilla. “But I speak truth, beloved. It is not safe for you to be here. The battle could be joined at any moment, and—“

  “And you aren’t flying yet, so I still have my chance.” Georgia eased toward Fari, reached out, and stroked his shoulders. “If Krysta calls you to go, I’ll jump ship and head to Camford, I swear. So, will you listen now?”