“Everyone else did,” she said, lifting her head briefly to push his robe open wider.
As her mouth closed on him again, his hand tightened convulsively in her hair. Her scent was warm, inviting, and sending all thoughts of anything but her from his mind. The heat of desire flicked through his limbs, spread through his body till with a suddenness that surprised him, he was erect and ready for her.
“Wanted you then, Tallinu, even with all my fears.” She took a step back from him and pulled his head down on a level with hers, beginning to nip and lick her way along his jawline to his ear. “Couldn’t. You’d see me wrong.”
“No, I wouldn’t have,” he protested, hands closing on her maddeningly provocative thighs. As he caressed them, he realized they were every bit as muscular and firm as they looked.
“We nearly lost you, Tallinu!”
He felt her fear as if it was his own, and the courage it had taken to be this open with him. She clutched him tighter as her mouth closed on his. Before he realized, he was responding in kind, her kiss so like Carrie’s it shocked him.
“Human kisses,” he murmured, pushing her against the door, holding her there while his free hand roamed across her hips and lower back.
“Was taught it long before the Humans were found,” she said, reaching for his tie belt and releasing it. “Thirty years and more. Only you know my past.”
“I knew you were a qwene,” he began.
“Not that,” she said, her tail twining round his leg and gently tugging him closer. “More. That’s why the Fleet took me.”
As her tail snaked higher, its feathery tip flicking against the more sensitive parts of his anatomy, he moaned with pleasure. Burying his head against her neck, he pushed her tunic skirt aside. “Tell me later,” he mumbled. Her perfume enveloped him now, robbing him of any purpose other than pairing with her immediately.
Suddenly her hands tightened like vises on his forearms, claws penetrating enough to hurt as she pushed him back.
“Not Pack way.” Her ears were lying aslant.
Letting her go, he growled deep in his throat, angry with himself. She deserved better. “You’re right.” Stepping back, he took a deep breath and indicated the waiting bed. “Will you share it with me?”
Her ears righted themselves as she stepped away from the door.
Curbing his impatience, he waited till she’d curled up in the central depression of the bed before joining her, discarding his robe on the way.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked, touching her ear gently.
She leaned closer, hair falling forward about her shoulders. Once more her scent rose to meet his nostrils. “Yes.”
As she laid the flat of her palms against his chest, he felt his nipples instantly harden at her light touch. Then her hands moved, one to lose itself in the hair on his neck, the other to play games with claw tips up and down his spine, making him shiver in delight.
Tipping her down onto the bed, he reached for the seals on her tunic, pulling it free till all she wore was the silver chain. As his hands ran through her fur, he was momentarily surprised at the flatness of her chest and belly. He leaned closer, burying his nose in her pelt, breathing the perfume in deeply. He didn’t want to remember Carrie at this moment. His tongue searched for her nipples and teased each of them in turn while his uninjured hand reached below her belly for the soft inner surface of her thighs.
Gentle, unexpectedly female mewls of pleasure escaped her as her hands began to knead his flesh. When he lifted his head, she sought his mouth, her tongue flicking between his teeth in a kiss as deep as any of Carrie’s had been. Then her hand closed round the base of his tail.
Instantly he reared back, hands held facing her at shoulder level. “I cannot submit.” His voice was hoarse, but it was the only response he could make when two warriors such as they met to pair.
The light had cast her face into a pool of shadow from which her eyes glittered up at him. She blinked slowly. “I will.” Her voice was barely audible.
This he hadn’t expected. He reached down, flipping her over onto her stomach, waiting for her to fold her legs up under her belly. As she rose to meet him, with one arm he encircled her hips while the other reached for the scruff of her neck. Pulling her firmly back against him, they joined. The relief was instant as her inner warmth closed tightly around him. He withdrew slowly, beginning to move rhythmically within her. Unable to move, T’Chebbi gave a sudden whimper of distress.
Automatically his mind reached for hers, and what he sensed was enough to make him release his grasp on her neck. Whatever she’d said, it had been too soon for her to submit to him. She’d had no lovers till nowâ her period of celibacy had been almost as long as his. They needed to pair as equals since they were not lovers.
Letting his hand slide down her chest, he sat back on his haunches, supporting her as he pulled her upright against himself. Ignoring the fire in his blood, he leaned forward, gently licking her shoulder and the side of her throat in an effort to show her he understood.
It was enough, and with a low mewl of pleasure, she pushed herself free and turned on him. Seconds later, he was on his back and she was covering his body with a barrage of gentle bites as her hands began to stroke and coax him toward his secondary arousal.
“Wait!” He tried to fend her off. “We need to be joined first. I’ll be too large!”
Her laugh held a trill of amusement as she used her not inconsiderable body weight to pin his forearms and chest against the bed. “No. Trust me. I learned this before you taught me the sword.”
His view blocked by her body, there was nothing he could do but wait. Then he felt her tongue. At first lightly, then with its coarsest surface, it flicked across his groin, his belly, then the soft area at the top of his thighs, always close to his genitals but never touching them. It was driving him wild. Unable to stop himself, he twisted and turned his body, desperately trying to meet her.
She stopped and began to nip him instead, her bites sharp, almost painful, making him now flinch away in anticipation of the next one. A wave of pleasure began to build, and though he tried again to stop her, this time he was the one unable to move. Suddenly, with a cry, his body arched upward, lifting them both off of the bed as his erection swelled for the second time.
He’d barely collapsed back when he felt her move. Then she was lowering herself onto him. Almost whimpering in pleasure, he lay there, claws ripping the bedding as his hands clenched in spasms. It was agony and ecstasy at the same time as his hypersensitive flesh was so very slowly surrounded by her. This was a chancy thing to do, the risk of hurt to both of them being high.
Reaching up, he clutched her by the waist, tumbling them both over till he lay on top. He could hear the blood pounding in his head as he tried to slow down, but she’d taken him so high that now all he could do was finish it.
She dragged her claws up the back of his thighs, letting them come to rest on the fleshy part of his buttocks. He reached out mentally, sharing everything he was experiencing with her, but there was no time to regret he couldn’t sense her as he began to climax. Her arms held him so tightly her claws began to penetrate his flesh. At the last moment, he flinched and found himself falling off the bed.
She gave a yowl of surprise, letting him go to grab at the bedcover as she followed him onto the floor. They landed in a heap, the cover tangled round them. As T’Chebbi fought her way free, he began to laugh quietly. She glowered at him.
Still chuckling, he reached up for her and pulled her down beside him again. Carefully he pushed her hair from her face, stroking the soft fur on her cheek. “Spend tonight with me,” he said, his touch becoming a caress. “I find I like your company.”
Her face softened. “Perhaps.”
“So you were an Exotic. I always knew you were talented,” he murmured, catching her lower lip briefly with his teeth. “But I never would have guessed at the fire you carry in your belly. Or the power of that scen
t,” he added dryly.
“Have talents of your own, Tallinu. Now I know why telepaths prefer their own kind.”
He became still. “What is my own kind, T’Chebbi? Telepath? Brother? Then there’s Carrie. I don’t know what I am.” His present problems loomed ahead of him again. Wisps of what might be memories flitted through his head. “I should be long dead by now,” he murmured without thinking.
“You’re from the past,” she said. “Guessed that when I heard you were telepath.” She touched his arm. “You’re alive. Here and now, where you belong, Tallinu. Hold onto that. Is all you need. Did you meet her as a cub back then?”
He looked sharply at her. “How did you find out?”
“Research. Checked the Brotherhood and the Retreat.”
“Damn! If you can do it, others can!” He was angry now, angry that he hadn’t foreseen it.
“No.” She shook her head. “I altered the records. Now shows you as orphaned.”
He sat up, eye ridges meeting as he regarded her. The T’Chebbi he thought he knew bore only passing resemblance to the female he found himself with.
She looked away from him, down at the silver belt that still encircled her waist. Idly she toyed with the end that lay across her knee.
Faintly he heard the cry of Kashini from the suite next door. He shivered, remembering the vision, and reached out for T’Chebbi, winding his fingers through the chain where it encircled her waist. He pulled her up till she was in his arms again. She was part of the present, and he needed that right now. “I seem to have a taste for the exotic,” he said.
As she lay in his arms later that night, her fingers twined through those of his damaged hand, she said, “When she can’t come to you, and darkness brings memories you don’t want, we could share the night.”
“Perhaps,” he said, barely aware of her as the haunting echoes of what might be memories played within his mind.
Chapter 3
Kaid waited impatiently to be put through to the Guild Master’s office. Finally the Brotherhood sigil cleared from his screen and was replaced by the image of Lijou.
“Father Lijou,” he began, but the priest cut him short.
“Kaid, when do you want to come to Stronghold? We need to discuss in detail your meeting with Vartra, and I could do with your help regarding setting up training centers for priests of all denominations.”
He sat back, totally nonplussed. Lijou wanted his help?
Lijou frowned. “You were going to ask when you could come here, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but…”
“You worked closely with Jyarti in the priesthood for a good many years, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must be aware of how he organized his teaching. I was appointed to this position, not trained to it. Your input would be invaluable.”
“You plead an eloquent case, Father Lijou,” said Kaid. “However, I have my own reasons for wanting…”
“Of course, but your own studies shouldn’t occupy all your time.”
“I’ve other work to attend to as well. I’m going to Jalna with Carrie and Kusac. I’ll be peripherally involved in the training and planning of this mission.”
“Any help at all would be welcome, Kaid. Think of it this way. You want to avoid Esken and train here rather than at the Telepath Guild. I wish I could avoid him but I’ll be fighting him uphill all the way. An aide of your caliber would make life easier for me.”
Out of sight, Kaid began to drum the fingers of his right hand on the desk. His rhythm faltered, then stopped as he realized he’d tried to tap the missing finger. The damage that Ghezu had done to innocent people was impossible to measure. Was Esken another Ghezu?
“What help I can give is yours, Father Lijou,” he said.
“Thank you, Tallinu. I’ll organize your instruction personally. Your training will be complete by the time you’re due to leave for Jalna, that I promise.”
*
“What was all that about needing his help?” asked Kha’Qwa from her perch on the settee in the informal area of her Companion’s office.
Lijou got up from his desk and joined her. “It’s not entirely fictitious. His help will not only be useful but will shorten the time it takes me to get our proposed college up and running. However, it does make sure that he doesn’t have the opportunity to cut himself off from the world while he’s here. I want him to be kept busy, but without pressure. It’s too easy for someone who’s been through the trauma he has to cut himself off from reality.”
“And Kaid is a visionary as well. I see what you mean.”
Lijou leaned his head against her shoulder. “I’ve need of your skills, Kha’Qwa. I want you to monitor him, be aware of the state of mind he’s in. You’ll be tutoring him as well, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. From what I can gather, Kusac’s worried that he might be heading for a mental breakdown. That, coupled with Tallinu’s new awareness of his telepathic abilities, could be enough to make him dangerously unstable.”
“Surely not! He has his Brotherhood training to fall back on, and at least we know he had a good grounding there.”
“Don’t make the mistake of overestimating him. I’ve seen for myself how his self-control has become a thin facade lately. Do you know his background?”
“Beyond the fact he was born fifteen hundred years ago? No. You’ve never mentioned it.”
Lijou grunted. “He was found at Vartra’s Retreat and sent here to the temple to be fostered in the village. You know the M’zushi family? They offered to take him in as an act of charity. By the time anyone knew what was going on there, he’d become wild, uncontrollable by anyone except Noni. Always getting into trouble, disappearing for days on end till finally he never came back. A recruitment team picked him up from one of the packs, the Claws, if memory serves me.”
“What is his Talent?” asked Kha’Qwa, reaching for her mug of c’shar.
“Apart from telepathy, he has several, all of them making sense only when you realize that he’s unique, quite literally a throwbackâ one of the original fighting telepaths from the past.”
“So what are they?” She prodded him in the side with her elbow. “If I’m to get close to him, understand him, I need to know, Lijou.”
“Hunting and killing skills, basically. The Talents he used to survive in Ranz. He can sense his prey, follow their unique mental pattern till he’s caught them. He has the patience of a rock if he needs it, and can assess potential Talents quite uncannily. He’ll do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to get what he’s after. He’s capable of being as cold and calculating as the Liege of Hell Himself. We can thank Vartra he’s not ambitious with it. Ghezu was bad enough, and he was only cunning.”
“The perfect Special Operative,” she said thoughtfully, finishing her drink. “How much of it’s innate, though, and how much is a protection against his childhood and early youth?”
“That’s what you need to find out. If we have to, I’ll send for one of the telepath medics who heal the mind.”
“No. Don’t do that,” she said, replacing her mug. “He’ll see it as a betrayal, and we’re his only chance now. Kaid must be capable of trust, or else he wouldn’t have worked with Garras. Leave it to me. I’ll speak to Noni about it if we think it’s necessary.” She looked down at him, mouth opening slightly in a smile. “Sounds like he’s always been on the verge of becoming a kzu-shu warrior. I’m surprised you’re willing to let him come here at all.”
“I haven’t heard that one before. What’s it mean?”
“A red-mist warriorâ one locked in the hunter/kill state. I’m not saying he’ll become one, just that the potential is there.”
“On that I can’t comment because it’s outside my experience, but letting him come here is a matter of faith for me, Kha’Qwa,” he said, sitting up. “I’d say he’s been touched by Vartra, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring when applied to him, does it?”
She laughe
d, reaching out to pat his hand affectionately. “But he has, Lijou, and years before he actually went back to meet him again as an adult. I’ve been over your records, and you know I agree wholeheartedly with your conclusions. From the time he started training under Jyarti in the ways of the priests, he became a focus for the God’s attention. The pattern is there, believe me. We’ll cope somehow. The Brotherhood looks after its own, and Kaid Tallinu is one of us.”
*
Later that morning, Kaid sat in the kitchen with Kusac and Carrie. In front of them were several piles of papers and a map of Jalna. He pushed two personnel records in front of them.
“Here are the Human telepaths who’ll accompany us. Both of them are male, both are unexceptional when it comes to resembling the natives of Jalna. I chose them because they’re ex-military and in their late thirtiesâ old enough to have the experience we need yet young enough for the strength and stamina.”
Carrie picked up Conrad’s file, studying the attached photograph carefully. The face was rectangular; mid-brown eyes evenly spaced, the nose straight, and the mouth generous. Short, curly brown hair topped it, giving him a more youthful appearance than the age suggested. Then she checked the data concerning him.
Handing it to Kusac, she looked at the other file. He was quite different. The face was squarer with heavy brows and deep-set eyes. The nose was broad, suggesting that at some time it had been broken. The mouth was set in a hard line.
She pointed to the closely cropped hair. “They’ll both have to grow their hair longer, him especially.”
“Already seen to. Anything else?”
Quickly she scanned his qualifications. “Beyond the fact that I’d be surprised if they don’t both still work for the Human military, no. They’ll do.”
“They did for the first few months,” said Kaid. “What made you think that?”
She shrugged. “Just a hunch. And now? Do they work for us?”
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