Thought ceased replaced by pure sensation as Tallon worked his way down, tonguing her jaw line and the pulse point at her throat. He sought that sensitive area on the side of her neck--the spot she’d never known existed before Danar discovered it the night before--the spot connected directly to her core.
“Ah!” The cry escaped as thoughts of both men, naked, touching her, mingled in her mind to enhance the eroticism of the moment. When his lips and teeth clamped down upon a furled nipple, she almost climaxed on the spot.
Reading her body language with uncanny fluency, he lifted his head to look into her eyes. “Not yet, my Oracle. I will pass this test, but I’m not quite ready for you to reach your peak.”
The breath left her body in a whoosh of thrill, and her heart beat like the frantic flutter of a hummingbird’s wings.
Tallon’s tawny eyes gleamed in triumph. In control.
Danar, as her protector, represented pleasure incarnate and security. This one did too, in his own way, yet in matters of the flesh, he would challenge her, be unpredictable and exotic. The singeing power of pure sexual energy, and the edge of possession radiated from him. Her entire body tingled with need. She lifted her breast toward his mouth, longing to have his full, sensual lips locked about her nipple, but he held her in place.
“Ankhet, that is your given name, is it not?”
“Yes.” Is that my voice, so pleading and wispy?
“I wish to hear you call me by my given name.”
Surprised by the simple request, she met his gaze, transfixed by the golden flecks in his eyes. “Tallon.” The name rolled slowly off her tongue like the sweetest fruit, rich and full.
He bent his head and took her mouth, even as the last of his name vibrated off her lips, plundering with lips and tongue. She accepted his tongue, sucking it farther into her mouth, gliding her own against his as she learned his unique taste and texture. Too soon, he moved from her mouth and kissed her neck, nipping sharply at the sensitive side and juncture of shoulder and neck. She cried out, only to have him lave at the little wounds with his magical tongue, sending her higher into the embrace of desire. He slid down her body far enough to take a nipple into his mouth and suckled at it like a babe starved for nourishment, sweeping out occasionally with his tongue to taste the tip of her breast. He pinched and rolled the other nipple between his fingers, sending waves of sensation straight to her woman’s center.
“Tell me what you feel when I do that.”
The terse question surprised her. “I…”
“The truth.”
“I feel a fluttering in my womb. I feel that I want you inside there.” She could feel her body readying for his possession. Her passion’s cream trickled down her legs and she could feel the softening, the opening of the muscles.
He reached between her legs again, thrusting two fingers inside. “Ah. So wet for me. You will call this your ‘cunny’. Let me hear you say it.”
“Cunny.” Surely, a proper Oracle should not say such a word. Yet, obeying his command and using the naughty word sent shivery tingles up her spine and straight back to her nipples and “cunny.” A fine sheen of perspiration coated her brow as she shifted beneath him in restless anticipation. “Please, Tallon.”
“Ankhet, my love. Is this what you need? My cock?” He pushed her legs apart and fit the tip of his cock to her entrance, and slid all the way in.
She shuddered in reaction to his perfect invasion. “Ahh… Yes. Oh, please…”
“Shh…There’s more, my Ankhet.”
Tallon moved within her, faster and deeper, holding her hips in an iron grip to prevent her moving. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand any more, and as her need for release grew desperate, he rose on his knees, lifted her legs up so her ankles rested on his shoulders, and suspended his thrusting. She cried out as her rising tide of ecstasy receded.
“Now, that’s better. I like to look at you and I like to control your pleasure.” He ran a firm, masculine hand over her sleek thigh, belly and breast. He gave her nipple a gentle twist, eliciting a groan she couldn’t hold back.
He traced her glittering topaz girdle with reverence, the single teardrop-shaped stone dangling warm and heavy against her skin just above the point of their joining. “They suit you. They are the precise shade of your eyes when you are in the throes of passion.”
“Why have you stopped?” The frantic question passed her suddenly parched lips. “Please, Tallon.” Though she dimly registered the compliment, she couldn’t control her greed for this man’s attentions.
“This is all part of the excitement. The anticipation.” He toyed with her other nipple. “So soft, so responsive, my Ankhet.” He slid his hand down to her rounded buttocks. “Such a lovely ass you have. Do you know I dreamt of it?”
“You did?”
“Yes. Oh, I love your beautiful face, your rounded breasts and your sweet, pink cunny, but I am fixated on your delicious backside.” He trailed his fingertips up and down upon her buttocks cheek, inching closer to the crease at the center.
The slight ticking sensation and the sense of forbidden flooded her pleasure receptors. “Wha…what are you doing?”
“I’m learning your body and your responses.” His silken voice, calm and deceptively lazy, washed over her like warm honey. He stroked the area between her cunny and her anus, leaving her twitching and gasping. “I see that pleases you.” Growing bolder still, he circled her tight ring of muscle with a feather light touch. Her hips bucked in spite of herself. “Ah, good. Has anyone ever touched you here, Ankhet?”
“No. No one.”
“Good. I’ll be the first.”
“The first?”
“Mmm.” He slid the fingers of his other hand back into her cunny, probing and stimulating until she shifted beneath him in anxious anticipation, willing him to touch the little nub of flesh that made her body sing. Instead, he pulled his wet fingers out and pressed one against her puckered rear opening with gentle persistence.
“Oh!”
“Shh… Just relax.” He worked one slippery finger inside her then pressed the second to her entrance. “Deep breath, my love.” Easing it in past the taut muscles, he moved both within her.
“Oh…” The alien feeling took her by surprise. She’d expected pain, but only experienced a slight sting and the added sensation as his big cock pulsed inside her body at the same time produced indescribable pleasure.
He slid in and out of her cunny, pushing deep and hard as he massaged her backside. “How does it feel? Do you wish me to stop again?” His broad, wicked smile stole her breath. He knew she didn’t want him to stop, and he’d no intention of doing so.
“No, please.” She shuddered in ecstasy at a particularly deep thrust that filled her and pulled on the magic button atop her cunny. “Don’t stop.” A gasp tore from her lips as pleasure sparkled through her being and pressure built within. In this position, he could thrust as deeply or as shallow as he wished. The very idea of his utter control enflamed her senses. “Tallon, please. I can’t take it.”
“I’ll make you feel good, sweet.” He pulled his fingers out and grasped her legs for leverage. “Touch yourself for me, Ankhet. I want to watch.” As he began thrusting into her in earnest, she did as he bid her. In an instant, she soared into her peak, and she cried out in mindless delight. Weak and spent, she watched him as he pumped into her, sweat pouring off him, and running down that perfect chest in rivulets. “You are mine, Ankhet.” His voice, his claim roared through her being as he reached down to touch her nub as he thrust into her, his own climax upon him. Thus, sending her over the edge into rapture, yet again.
Tallon collapsed upon her, breathing like a bellows, and she clasped him, this intimate stranger who would now be one of her partners for life, to her shaking body. Danar mistrusted him, but her body and her heart wished to believe in him.
Danar… She longed for him as exhausted sleep claimed her in slow increments. How could she want two men with such int
ensity? She must not question the gods’ plans or the wisdom of the Topaz. For today, during her divinations, she’d seen the sign of the triad within three gems. Their union must stand.
The future of the Oracle Standard depended upon it.
Chapter 4
The last echoes of Danar’s orgasm rocked through him as he stood behind the landscaping above the cove. He lowered his tunic and took a moment to collect himself. His duty to guard the Oracle gave him an excuse for his voyeurism, but jealousy and possessiveness also guided his actions. He wanted Ankhet all to himself, yet now Tallon had also passed the test of worthiness. According to Oracle law, he’d earned the right to be Co-Consort. Unless, Tallon declined the honor, he must share her with a stranger for life, and he found the adjustment difficult.
He turned to walk back up the path toward the temple, pondering this development as he strolled amongst the gardens.
He’d meant only to keep an eye on her for safety’s sake. He hadn’t counted on the sheer eroticism of her response to the other man, or his response to watching the pleasure she found with the trader. As their encounter escalated, so had the pressure in his ballocks. A burning need for release, unlike any he’d ever known, had commandeered his good sense. He’d had his cock in his hand, pumping away as the couple below strained together, before rational thought and decorum could stop him. As Ankhet cried aloud at her second orgasm, he’d shot his seed onto the Oracle’s prized tropical flowers, gritting his teeth to avoid making a sound.
In an odd way, his anticipation of sharing her in the same bed with Tallon Sinclair, as custom dictated, filled him with shame. Duty and pleasure need not be mutually exclusive, but what of Sinclair? He knew nothing about him. Ankhet, and the Oracle Standard, now lay exposed and vulnerable to this man. Experience, or instinct—something—warned him that his new Co-Consort had not been completely honest with them. Yet the man gave his beloved such intense delight, he couldn’t wait to see what the two of them could accomplish together. He strode rapidly now, as concern weighed upon him. As he reached the temple, the crunch of a footstep on the crushed shell path alerted him to another presence.
He looked up into the mocking eyes of his former rival, now partner. “I saw you watching us, guard.” Looking with pointed interest at the lower portion of Danar’s tunic, he quirked a brow. “It seemed you enjoyed our performance.”
A red haze obscured Danar’s vision. Some combination of embarrassment, jealousy and mistrust brewed a potent rage within him. He slammed Tallon against the rough stone outer wall of the temple. “If you hurt her, I’ll gut you from throat to cock.”
“Calm yourself.” The newcomer met Danar’s eyes with steady intensity, all trace of mockery gone. “I swear by all I hold dear, from now on, I will devote myself to my Oracle’s pleasure and well-being above all else. I would defend her with my life.”
“Your Oracle?” Danar’s fierce brows narrowed as his fists clenched in rage.
“As you saw, I passed the test, too.”
“You cannot truly want to claim your right to become her Consort.”
“I do.”
“You don’t belong here, trader. When the acolytes return they will take you to your home port. You can return to your original life. To freedom.”
“Everything has changed. I will not relinquish my rights, guardian. Why don’t you get on that ship and disappear? Wouldn’t you like to be free?”
“Never. I’d never leave her.”
“Then you must face the fact that she will have two Consorts. We’ll have to find a way to share the lovely Ankhet.”
“She’s mine.”
“And mine. She is ours. I think she would not be averse to the idea, guardian. She desires us both. If we set aside our own possessive natures and think only of her pleasure, we can bring her to heights of ecstasy neither could achieve on our own. You know this.”
Danar frowned, pounding the wall next to Tallon with the side of his fist. He did know it. He just didn’t like it. “She's meant to be mine alone.”
“Clearly, that is not to be. Think of it, Danar. The pleasure and protection of two men for your Oracle. You may as well find a positive way to look upon it, for it is your law. Unless one of us concedes and walks away, and I think we both know neither of us would consider doing so.”
After a murderous glare cast at his rival, his psyche softened into some semblance of acceptance. “What if she rejects this idea?”
The trader raised an eyebrow. “After what just happened? After the way she’s responded to both of us?”
Danar flushed, the heat rolling up his neck.
“It is her duty to follow the law, but I want more than her duty. I think you do as well. She will accept both of us. We must make her comfortable with the situation and make her so eager to participate she loses any inhibitions. But, I do not anticipate reluctance.”
Danar gave a terse nod, his muscles tightening in knots, and his heart speeding. “Yes.” His cock rose in want. The idea of pleasuring his Ankhet to the limits of her endurance almost drove him to spill his seed yet again. Trust in the man before him did not come easily, but the three of them would be together. Destiny ruled the lives of Oracles and all who loved them. “With the acolytes still away, there can be no formal Investiture of our status as Consorts. Tonight we must establish our triad and consummate our relationship. According to custom, once we do this, the union is permanent and no other claimants may approach.”
Tallon paled visibly. “Other claimants?”
“Yes, under normal circumstances, the individual consummation would be enough, but in this circumstance, the triad must be formally acknowledged or consummated. You needn’t worry, though. We are very isolated. I can’t envision yet another claimant appearing out of nowhere between now and tonight.” He nodded to the other man and gestured him to walk up the path. “Come. I’ll show you to the guest quarters and see they bring a meal to you.” A slow tide of heat crept up Danar’s neck. “You may wish to rest.”
A smile lit the other man’s face. “Yes, but what of Ankhet?”
“I’ll send her maid to attend her.”
“I meant will she be rested enough by this evening to—”
“Ah. Yes. Oracles are gifted with above-average resilience.”
A crunch of shell alerted them to another’s arrival. The petite dark-haired woman in blue robes bowed briefly.
“Ah. Here she is now. Sarri, this is your lady’s new Co-Consort.”
“Co-Consort, Sir?” The woman’s eyes widened and her mouth gaped.
“Yes, Sarri. Your lady didn’t tell you?”
“I’ve not seen her since she left her apartments for her private cove this morning. She seemed preoccupied and spoke very little.” Sarri’s brows drew together in a frown.
“She is still processing this sudden transition. I’m sure that is why she hasn’t spoken to you yet.” Danar indicated the man at his side. “This is Tallon Sinclair. He and I will be the Oracle’s Co-Consorts.”
“You, Sir?” She clasped a hand to her mouth.
“Yes.” As what he’d done—lying about his “asexual” status to secure his position—technically equated to treason, he’d no desire to elaborate. Surprise he’d expected, especially regarding himself, and Tallon as a newcomer. The fleeting dismay, even anger crossing the maid’s face took Danar aback. She’d been one of the most vocal in urging the Oracle to find a Consort, and they’d always gotten on well. Had she had another candidate in mind? What other candidate could there be after all these years?
“My felicitations, sirs.” Smile sweet, words appropriate, the maid conveyed her inexplicable displeasure with her lack of inflection and her cool, assessing stare.
He must speak to Ankhet about Sarri at a later time. Perhaps his deception left her concerned for her lady’s welfare. For now, he chose to ignore the insolence and assume she had reason for her behavior. “Thank you. Your lady is down at her cove. Please see to her needs. She’ll wish to rest
this afternoon before her evening divinations. Afterward, we’ll all be dining together in the Oracle’s private chambers and the cook must prepare a special dinner.”
“Yes, sir. Of course.” Bowing, the maid walked away down the path, jaw set.
“She doesn’t approve of me.” Tallon mused.
“Perhaps it is I she does not approve of. I did swear allegiance to the Oracle, as Personal Guard for life. Personal asexual Guard.”
“You will be her guard for life. You only deceived with the ‘asexual’ declaration and with the truest of motives.”
“Some might not see it so.”
“The Oracle forgives you. I believe she is overjoyed, in fact.” Tallon smiled at the older man.
Danar allowed himself a brief smile. “How fortunate she’d returned my feelings all this time. Very fortunate. It could have turned out badly for both of us.”
“That’s terrified you all these years, hasn’t it? That perhaps she might not return your feelings.”
“Of course, having deceived her, I feared she might hate me. Wouldn’t you feel the same in my position?”
Tallon turned with unaccustomed awkwardness and looked up the path toward the main compound. “I couldn’t say.” He glanced back at Danar. “You mentioned rest. I’m afraid my fatigue is catching up with me. Is there a place I might lie down?”
“Of course. I’ll show you to your quarters. This way, Tallon.” Danar allowed the newcomer to walk past him. “What of your family? Will they be upset by your decision to remain on our island?”
“I have no family.”
“Ah. Well, neither do most of us. I suppose that’s why we’ve become our own sort of family.”
The Topaz Embrace Page 4