Finally, she was going to get a night alone with Eyuul.
He seemed to share her thoughts if the sly smile he gave her was any indication. Eyuul reached for her, his smile falling as his thumb rubbed at her face. The red stain appearing on his finger and the tacky feel of his hand sticking to the nastiness coating her cheek made her grimace.
Oh, right. Blood.
Sexytime thoughts were immediately abandoned.
Jenn shot a hopeful look to Shaagra.
“So... the cleansing unit?”
He gave her a sympathetic once-over and pointed at the fourth door.
“Right through there. I think we could all use a cleansing, but you, I believe, need it the most.”
Jenn laughed, wiggled her sticky red fingers at him, and was rewarded with a chuckle from the all-too-serious male. Eyuul laughed but even after his laughter died his eyes lingered on her warmly, his tail gliding over her hip as she passed in an unspoken declaration of affection.
A sigh of decadent pleasure escaped her lips as she stepped into the cleansing unit. A large bathing pool was tucked in a corner across from a cleansing stall. She wanted more than anything to explore the pool, but not until she was clean. She didn’t want to float in a soup of goo. Besides, there were others waiting for their turn to clean.
Maybe she could talk Eyuul into a post-coital soak? The idea had merit.
Humming under her breath, Jenn unfastened her belt and stepped out of her soiled robe, heavier from the added weight of the blood. She hadn’t realized just how gross she’d gotten until she got a good look at the robe. It was saturated. She fingered a braid, pulling it forward. The normal reddish cast to her hair was darkened by several shades. Damn, she must have looked a fright when they entered Evath.
Not sure if she really wanted to see, she hesitantly touched a panel over the washbasin and a reflective holographic surface shot over the wall in front of her. Jenn swallowed a cry and nearly stumbled back at the sight of herself. Her face and chest where the dress hadn’t covered her were coated with blood, making her skin appear almost scarlet where it had sprayed over her. Even her braids were matted together with it. Her hazel eyes stared back at her from the monstrous visage. As strange as the Vori themselves appeared, she wondered what they’d made of her.
She didn’t recall seeing anyone recoil, but she’d also been too tired to really pay attention.
With a muttered oath, Jenn opened the door of the cleansing stall and stepped inside. The door slid shut behind her and immediately water from numerous jets trickled down and worked up to a warm spray.
“Please increase the heat by five degrees.”
The cleansing stall complied, the water reaching a comfortable heat that made her groan as it worked into her muscles. She tried not to notice the clouds of red water running off her body, but what did it matter? She was finally getting clean. After walking half a day wearing the blood of the Ashier, because the males judged the orluyth-infested water too unsafe to even rinse off in, at that moment nothing could have felt better.
Stupid orluyth rutting season. Of course they would have to breed during the rainy season. She muttered curses upon them as she scrubbed herself with the fragrant soap that dispensed from one corner of the stall.
She scrubbed herself, applying more soap and rinsing until the water ran clean before giving the command for the dry cycle. A warm gust of air surrounded her, drawing the moisture off her skin and hair until she stood clean and dry in the center of the stall.
Eyuul was waiting for her on the other side when she stepped out, a green robe draped over his arm. In his other hand he held a bottle of oil she’d recognized from his nest. He dropped a kiss on her braids and handed her the dress as he slid past.
“Our quarters are the next door beside the cleansing unit. Rest, and I will join you shortly.”
Although part of her was interested in a bit of voyeurism as he washed himself, a yawn that came out of nowhere changed her mind. He gave her a knowing smile and helped her into the dress.
“I won’t be long.”
Jenn left, the door sliding shut behind her, and shuffled to the next room. There was no sight of anyone else loitering in the common room and she was relieved she had no risk of being caught in any small talk—not that any of the guys seemed like the small-talk sort. Quite the opposite, they were silent to the point of being unnerving. But that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t occur to someone to check in on her. She decided not to tarry and take a chance. Her palm touched her door and it slid open, permitting her entry.
Although the room was less lush than Eyuul’s quarters in his mother’s nest, the soft blue pillows were seemed just as thick. With a happy sound, she flopped onto the mound and stretched languorously. Rolling onto her belly, she tucked a smaller cushion under her head and rubbed her cheek against the silky fabric. Comfortable, she drifted in and out of sleep until the door slid open.
Her eyes cracked open and wandered over the beautiful, glossy form of the male who entered the room. Eyuul had oiled his scales and still carried the bottle in his hand. With a moan she rolled up into a sitting position as he settled beside her, his tail looping in a loose circle around her. His red eyes glittered as he pulled her dress off her body and, with the pressure of the fingertips of one hand on her chest, eased her into the pillows once more.
Pouring a small amount of oil into his palm, he rubbed his hands together and slid them over her feet, working his way from the bottom of her feet to her ankles and up her legs. He stopped at her hip and poured more oil into his hand. This time, he massaged it into her shoulders, up the column of her neck, over her face, and even stroking his slick fingers through her braids and over her scalp.
He bade her to sit up and stroked his hands down her back, soothing the knots of muscles there before his arms swept around to her front, his hands teasing her breasts and nipples with each circular stroke before skirting down her belly to her pelvis.
Jenn wanted to crawl out of her skin and into his; it felt so good. When his hands dipped between her thighs, she nearly came off the cushions, her hips arching into his touch. A clicking growl echoed in Eyuul’s chest, letting her know that her responses were having an effect on him. One hand caressed her vaginal folds, plucking every other sweep at her swollen clit as the other hand went back to her breasts, massaging, teasing at one before turning his attention to the other one.
His mouth sucked at the scarred flesh on her neck breaking away to trail his tongue over her shoulder and up her neck. He gently nipped at her earlobe before returning his attention to her neck, licking and kissing the length while his fingers drove her crazy. She whimpered and begged for him to stop teasing her, and on the next breath begging him to never stop.
It was too much and not enough all at once.
Jenn squirmed in her eagerness under his erotic assault, sliding against him. The brush of his hard cocks beneath her ass sent a delightful shiver through her. Reaching behind her, she gripped one of the cocks in her palm and felt it swell further as she tugged on the engorged flesh. Just as he’d teased her breasts, she fondled one cock and then the other, delighting in the feel of the veins and rubbing her thumb over the sensitive heads, making him choke and his tail snap among the pillows. She pushed forward, dislodging his loose hold and turned to face him.
Eyuul’s eyes were hooded with desire, burning like hot coals, but they widened as she dropped onto her belly, her lips inches from his members. His lips parted in question, but before he could get out a single word, Jenn slipped one into her mouth, sucking it down as she stroked the other rhythmically in time with the pull of her mouth. His muscles jumped as her tongue stroked across his head and along the underside of his phallus, a low groan rattling forth, his breath hissing out at the end as she turned her attention to the other one. Back and forth she went, his coils quivering beneath her.
She smirked around his cock and was giggling when suddenly she was yanked up, freeing his cock with a pop. She
laughed as she was swung up in his arms, her eyes meeting the burning inferno of his. Her laughter died in her throat, chased away by a loud moan as he lowered her onto his cocks.
They slipped easily into her and she wiggled against him, grinding her clit against the extended folds of his salet bunched around his cocks. Eyuul snarled and twisted beneath her, pushing himself deeper. She greedily took every inch, her body rocking with need over him. The touch of his anchoring barb at her ass made her lean forward to make her demand.
With a thump at his belly, she growled at him.
“In me, now.”
Eyuul shuddered, his breath exhaling in a rough sound as if struggling for control. The barb slid home with a jerk of his tail, sinking into her ass, forming a kind of notch against his cocks on the other side of the thin barrier. Jenn rocked and Eyuul writhed and pumped up eagerly into her. Their dance started slow, but it picked up fervor as if dancing to the drumming rhythm that their synchronized hearts beat out.
Jenn clenched around him, one tremor chased by another, her oiled body sliding against his in a way that only increased her pleasure. Her belly clenched and a rush of warmth curled through her, followed by a tingling and tightening of her channel. Her nails dug into Eyuul’s back, urging him on, his cocks swelling inside of her.
Eyuul thrust against her, chasing their pleasure like a relentless hunter. Cushions scattered around them as their bodies whipped together, his tail tightening around her, caging her body to his. Even in that tight coil, her body went stiff as her orgasm rolled through her, drowning her in its strength. Jenn tilted her head back and screamed as the world faded, her pussy spasming around his length as he stroked deep and hard into her depth through her climax.
As the world faded back in and her senses returned, Eyuul’s pace picked up again, shuttling into her body in rapid bursts against her sensitized flesh, winding her up once again. Her cunt quivered as he hardened and jerked within her, bathing her insides with pulses of his seed.
They dropped together, boneless, into the cushions, their bodies pressed against each other as they tried to regain control of their breathing. Jenn rolled over and pressed a kiss to the center of his chest, her fingertips playing with his crown coils as his own hands stroked up and down her back. His red eyes were soft and sated as he looked down at her.
He raised one hand and brushed it across her cheek.
“What are you thinking, my beautiful one?”
“I’m thinking—how about a bath in the bathing pool?”
EYUUL RECLINED IN THE wide pool, the warm water caressing him in gentle laps as he ran his soapy hands over the contours of his female’s body. She wasn’t his mate, not yet. There were things that must be done first before her mind could be eased enough to make that step.
He would wait.
He didn’t care if he had to wait forever, he would always wait for her. Jenn was everything to him.
He leaned down and drew a long kiss from her lips and then another. Suddenly, she turned in his arms and the water sloshed over the edges of the pool as his coils twitched with interest. Her questing fingers traced his salet and he shuddered as he extruded into her palm. A few soft caresses and they were breeding again, his body pounding into hers, taking her voraciously.
His hunger, like his love for her, would never end.
Chapter 23
“What do you mean he can’t come with me?”
Jenn stared at the Vori guards. Confusion and anger vied for dominance within her, but currently sheer bewilderment won out. She was aware that her voice had risen to a shrill pitch, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t believe this was happening! She hadn’t stepped more than two paces onto the boarding plank, following closely behind the Arobi who’d refused to allow her to proceed until they checked it out first, when the dock guards blocked Eyuul from ascending after her.
The guards, far more massive than she was used to seeing among male Vori, made an intimidating sight. They had obvious mechanical enhancements along their arms, and even the few feet or so of their tails preceding the delicate tip was armored with mechanical plates. Even their helmets were far more than hammered and welded metal, capable of protracting to cover their head or form a metal circlet on their brow and retract at will. Seeing the barrier instantly cover the faces of the guards as they faced off with Eyuul had kicked her alarm up by several notches.
Naturally, the more alarmed she became, the angrier she got.
All the guards winced initially as if pained but all those with their helmets activated didn’t react after them. No doubt they had tech that allowed them to block out sound if necessary, of all the damned luck—she wouldn’t be sorry giving the whole lot of them migraines. The captain of the guard, who wore nothing more than his metal circlet, grimaced from where he rested near a small contingent of heavily armored aliens who’d be serving as her escort to the space station.
Eyuul’s coils twisted upon themselves in the Vori version of pacing as he bared his teeth at the guards, his tail rattling in dire warning. Shaagra had a restraining grip on his arm but looked nearly as displeased. The captain’s eyes darted between them, his disgust with the situation becoming more apparent on his face.
“My apologies, truly, but my instructions are clear. Only approved individuals may board... unless he is your mate. Is Eyuul es’Etale your mate?”
Her heart sank, but she rallied her nerve to lie her ass off.
“Yes?”
Damn, why had that come out sounding like a question? Jenn sighed. She never could lie worth a damn. The captain’s tongue flicked briefly, and he offered an apologetic smile. Before he could answer, one of the aliens standing to the side made an impatient noise and stepped forward.
The male was only slightly taller than the average human but had a sharp-angled face with strong reptilian features. There seemed to be two others in the group of the same species, varying in colors, but unlike the rest of the escort, he had gold markings on his chest plate that she could only figure were some sort of insignia of rank. Jenn made a face.
Perfect. The guy in charge.
Eyuul snarled, his rattle hissing in angry staccato rhythms from where he whipped from side to side behind the barrier as the male approached her with an unyielding expression on his face. Giving her a nod without even sparing a glance at Eyuul, he addressed her with a voice that dropped into soft sibilant tones on the vowels and sharp, stressed consonants.
“We are authorized by the Intergalactic Council to retrieve one human by name of Jennifer Stacey, and four Arobi if present. The law would permit the Vori if he were your mate, but as he is not, we are not permitting transport.”
Jennifer narrowed her eyes at the guard, her voice saccharine.
“Well, that’s fine. Just let me back over there. Eyuul and I can find a private corner to get the job done.”
The reptilian puffed his chest out, but Eyuul’s soft voice interceded, the atmosphere suddenly and strangely absent of the fierce rattling.
“Jenn.”
She snapped her head over to look at him and to her surprise he settled on his coils and was watching her with a sad smile on his face. He shook his head and reached a hand between the space provided by the guards. The Vori shifted back but not without turning their spears on Eyuul. Jenn rushed down the dock and threaded her fingers through his. She searched his face, confused by the strange change in his demeanor.
Eyuul leaned forward and touched his forehead against hers, his crown coils stroking through her hair, before leaning back to meet her eyes. Those red eyes held so much love... and resignation. He raised his other hand and stroked her cheek with the back of his knuckles.
“I can’t let you do that, Jenn.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What do you mean? I thought it’s what you wanted—you and me together. It’s what I want.”
“It is, but I don’t want to rush things to mate for convenience. I am angry that I cannot go with you, but a true mating that will be recognize
d by Vora and the Intergalactic Council takes more than a quick nip in an alley.”
Her chest tightened, and her breath came out harsh as she tried to breathe around the sudden lump that seemed to have formed out of nowhere. She blinked, refusing to let tears fall, but knowing that he was able to read her sorrow far too well. His expression turned pained and he pressed his lips to her forehead and then her mouth. His body wracked with a shudder as if trying to control his own grief as well.
“I don’t want to go without you. I don’t want to be just another person who’s left you.”
He drew back, his brow drawing down into a stern line.
“You will never be that. You are mine in all ways that matter except one.”
“I want to be your mate, Eyuul. I want for us to be together.”
“Then we will be,” he whispered, “when the time is right. Do what you need to do, see your family, give yourself time to think about it... and if you decide you still want to be my mate, I will be here waiting for you.”
She sniffled, hating that she needed to leave and at the same time loving him all the more that he was giving her that freedom.
“Maybe you can come to Earth with me?”
Someone cleared their throat. A youthful-looking man smiled at her sadly.
“I am sorry, miss. You should know that Earth isn’t issuing resident visas for aliens at the moment. One from our new starship fleet will have full authority to bring you back to Earth from the Intergalactic Space Station, but we will not be able to transport anyone else without clearance.”
“That figures,” she said. Despite her irritation, she managed to give the young man a small smile. It wasn’t his fault, and she could tell from his expression that he really didn’t like being the one to deliver the news.
Jenn pressed herself against Eyuul, and he dropped down low enough so that their chests pressed heart to hearts. She snuggled her cheek into the crook of his neck, breathing in his musk.
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