“Does it have anything to do with Kordan? Has he treated you badly? That would be quite unlike him, but then he’s not particularly accustomed to discussing and expressing his emotions.
“He … We have an agreement.”
Moreena raised a thin eyebrow.
“Agreement?”
“Yes. I’m going to spend a month here with him, giving him the opportunity to convince me to stay. If he doesn’t manage to within a month, he’s going to take me home.”
“Hmm,” Moreena seemed to be thinking something over and Lory did not know what to say.
“May I ask you a personal question?”
“Umm … yes?”
“Has he publicly claimed you?”
“Well, yes, he said something like that. I think he did. Yes.”
“And you’ve slept with him?”
Lory blushed – something she very rarely did.
“Yes.”
“Has he bitten you?”
She nodded.
“Then you are his mate. Has he told you what will happen if he lets you go?” asked Moreena.
Lory shook her head, ill at ease.
“If he has claimed you then he cannot claim any other woman for as long as you live.”
“I … I didn’t know that,” murmured Lory in dismay.
“I just wanted you to know what he is prepared to sacrifice for you. He is a good man. I love him as a son and his happiness is very important to me. It is now in your hands, Lory. Consider everything very carefully before making any decisions.”
With these words the queen rose and Lory stood up, too. Her legs were like jelly and she felt miserable. The queen’s revelation had hit her hard. Of course she did not want to make Kordan unhappy. But what was she to do now? She was in a damned catch-22 situation.
“Thank you for the talk, Lory. I hope we’ll see you at dinner.”
“Yes,” was all that Lory could manage.
Once the doors had closed behind the queen she slumped into an armchair. Her heart was pounding furiously and her hands were shaking. She had to make a decision – the sooner the better.
Chapter 6
Y-Quadrant, Karrx7
Royal Palace of the Arr’Carthian
7th day of the month of Manao in the year 7067
Federation Time
Lory had been wracking her brains since the discussion with the queen, but she simply could not find a satisfactory solution to her problem. She felt awful when she thought of leaving Kordan and therefore depriving him of taking a woman who could make him happy. On the other hand she did not believe that she was in a position to make him happy if she were to stay here. Kordan had treated her in a friendly and considerate way, just as he had promised, but she could see that he was not happy with the situation. The nights were the worst. Kordan lay so close to her that she simply could not ignore his presence. She could feel his warmth, and his scent of sun, wind and masculinity made her want to snuggle into his arms and do things that she should actually not wish to do. She always lay awake for a long time, battling with the wish to reach out and stroke his splendid body.
“Are you enjoying the party?” Solima’s voice tore her from her thoughts.
The royal couple was putting on a party today in the palace gardens in honor of the rescued girls. They had begun the afternoon with games and a barbecue and in the evening there was a big buffet. The social part of the party had just begun and the royal couple had begun the dancing.
“Yes, I’m really enjoying it,” Lory lied, smiling at the girl.
“You’re a bad liar,” said Solima. “What’s the problem? Is Kordan not being nice to you? He can be a bit rough sometimes, but he doesn’t mean to be. He’s just afraid, you know?”
“It seems to me that you’re quite a clever girl. I realized that when we were imprisoned on Xevus3. I often thought about you and the others after only Charly and I escaped from the guards. Did they punish you for trying to escape?”
“No. They didn’t really treat us any differently from before. I’m so glad that Keela and Amber were bought by the same man as I was. That way my father could rescue them, too. Keela and I then convinced my father to fetch you both as well. I hope you’re not cross with me because of that?”
Lory shook her head.
“No! Why should I be cross with you for wanting to help me and Charly?”
“Well. I’ve picked up on a few things. You’re not exactly happy to be here, are you? And you really intended to return to your home planet, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did intend to. But if Kordan and Amano had not rescued us, things may have gone very badly for us. They say that this Ellyod is a pirate and would not have taken us to earth but would have probably sold us as slaves.”
“Oh! Well I am glad, then, that I persuaded my father,” said Solima.
“Me, too, little one.”
A sudden commotion drew Lory and Solima’s attention to the dance floor. Keela was standing there with Luvoka, one of the officers from the Cordelia, and Marruk, the eldest of the two princes. Marruk seemed to be very angry. He thumped the officer and Keela screamed in horror. Luvoka shook himself and grinned. Blood was running from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away casually with the back of his hand and took a step closer to Marruk. Both men acted as if they were in a boxing match where the two components stare at one another before throwing themselves at one another.
“I thought you weren’t interested in the little one,” Luvoka provoked him. “As long you don’t claim her she’s still available. So what are you angry about?”
Marruk snarled and sent Luvoka to the ground with a series of hard blows. Lying on his back, Luvoka looked up at Marruk, grinning.
“I herewith claim Keela from planet earth as my mate,” declared Marruk for all to hear.
Marruk suddenly picked up Keela and threw her over his shoulder. Keela shouted in protest.
‘Funny. Why does that seem so familiar to me?’ thought Lory with a hint of humor, nearly laughing out loud.
“Put me down!” Keela demanded loudly. “Damn well put me down! You … You Neanderthal!”
Marruk did not let it bother him and charged from the dance floor, past Lory and Solima, with his booty. Solima was giggling and Lory could no longer conceal a grin.
“Good work, brother!” called Berka, the younger prince, to his brother.
Laughter and rude comments accompanied Marruk and Keela before they disappeared inside the palace. Lory looked round and her eyes rested upon Kordan who was standing on the other side of the dance floor. Their eyes met and her heart began to race. Suddenly it was very clear to her what she wanted. She could no longer resist. She needed this damn alien. When they went to bed together tonight she would not turn away from him again. Today she would surprise him by taking the initiative. The very thought of it made her feel very hot and her pussy tingled.
***
Kordan pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it carelessly onto the floor. For days Lory had been acting very strangely. She was always distracted and seemed to be really unhappy. He had no idea what he should do. He was nice to her and made the effort to give her the space she needed, as he had promised. Yet she was still not relaxing. Quite the opposite: it seemed to be getting worse and worse. Perhaps he was being selfish trying to keep her here. Perhaps he should let her go. He could fly with her to Moron2. There was a certain astronomer there who might help them to locate Lory’s home planet. The thought of losing Lory pained him beyond words but it hurt more seeing her suffer. He sighed.
“Are you OK?” he heard Lory ask and he raised his head to look at her.
He sighed again. She was so beautiful. Even in this ridiculous outfit. She simply refused to wear dresses, preferring instead his trousers and shirts. Even today for the party she could not be persuaded to put a dress on.
Her expectant look reminded him that she had asked him something.
“What? What did you say?”
&nbs
p; “I asked whether you were OK,” replied Lory with a questioning look.
“Yes, … yes, I’m fine. Did you like the party?”
“Hmm. Yes, it was nice. The food was superb and the music was good, too.”
Kordan slipped out of his trousers and went into the bathroom. He was aware that Lory was watching him. He still had the feeling that she felt more for him than she admitted. When she lay next to him in bed in the evenings he could smell her arousal and it nearly drove him insane not being able to touch her.
Swearing, he slipped under the shower that consisted of a rock face and a waterfall that roared down at his command.
“Water. Cold. Highest level.”
Immediately a torrent of ice-cold water poured over him. He tensed up briefly but did not move away. He really did need to be cooled down. Once he was sure that he had cooled down enough he gave the order: “Water off. Fan. Middle level.”
The water stopped flowing and two arms with fans came out of the wall. The warm current of air dried him quickly and effectively.
“Fan stop.”
Once back in the bedroom he got straight into bed. He watched Lory disappear into the bathroom. The thought of her standing naked under the shower made him hard. If only she were not so stubborn.
When she came out of the bathroom she was, as usual, wearing one of his shirts that came down to her knees. Yet she still looked irresistibly sexy to him. His cheetah growled and egged him on to forget his stupid promise and take her. She was his mate. He had a right to her and, after all, she wanted him, too. But he had promised not to touch her. He was an idiot. He would lose her just because he behaved like a fool. Sighing quietly, he closed his eyes.
Lory climbed into bed next to him and put out the light. He felt her moving beside him. He only needed to open his eyes and he would see her, despite the darkness. But he did not dare. It was difficult enough as it was to suppress his desire.
He uttered a groan of surprise as she suddenly sat on him. He could feel her naked pussy on his belly - her wetness. Was he dreaming? This could not be happening. This was much too … He groaned as her scent rose to his nose enticingly. Holy shit. She was hot. So damn hot and arousing.
“What …,” he began.
“Shhhhh!” she stopped him.
He opened his eyes to convince himself that this was not in fact all a dream. To his surprise she had tears in her eyes. He was about to say something, but he thought better of it. She would definitely think that he could not see her, just as she could not see him. Perhaps she did not want him to see her tears. His heart pounding, he watched her pull the shirt over her head. Everything inside him was screaming out for him to roll on top of her and bury his face in her large breasts, but he forced himself to remain passive. He wanted to see how far she would go – he did not want to put any pressure on her. It would be too stupid if he messed everything up again. So he kept still and satiated himself with the sight of her naked body. He saw that she had several scars on her stomach and on her left breast, and he wondered how she had got those.
She stroked his chest with her hands and he groaned quietly. Feeling her hands on his body put everything he had experienced up to now into the shadows. None of the few women that he had slept with before had been able to arouse such feelings in him. His cheetah was going wild inside him and wanted to make him take hold of her, but he suppressed his basic instinct.
Breathlessly, he lay still as she slowly bent over him. Their lips met and a deep growling made his chest vibrate. He embraced her hips. The tip of her tongue ran over his lips before pushing its way assertively between them. He opened his lips only too gladly and let her in. She played with his tongue and he responded without being too demanding.
The slow, seductive playing of her tongue was almost killing him. He was far too aroused and most of all he wanted to take her hard and fast, but he forced himself to be calm – even when she slowly slid down his tensed body, placing kisses on his hot skin. But when she took him in her hand and slowly licked his tip he could no longer control himself. With a growl he took hold of her and buried her beneath him. His mouth pressed demandingly upon hers and he kissed her as if he were dying of thirst. To his delight she responded to his kiss with the same fervent passion.
He thrust inside her and she embraced him with her long legs. She responded with yearning to his every thrust. They were both dripping with sweat and he felt that they might end by going up in flames. Their groaning filled the darkness, as did the scent of their passion.
“Me coshima nu,” he murmured a declaration of love in his own language. He had never used these words before but now they sounded good and right. He loved her. She was his.
Her fingernails left bloody marks on his shoulders and back but this drove him on all the more. He could sense how close she was. He changed direction a little so that he could stimulate her sensitive point more. Then he felt the beginning of her climax. Her pussy was closing tightly around him. A cry came from her lips and she writhed about beneath him. The rhythmic contracting of her muscles pushed him over the edge and he roared his fulfillment into the night. Breathing heavily, he slid down and pulled her into his arms.
***
Lory was trembling from the tremors of her desire. She snuggled into Kordan’s large, muscular body, closing her eyes. It felt so good to be lying in his arms with the scent of their passion in her nostrils and Kordan’s strong heartbeat under her hand. All at once she could not understand herself, why she had resisted for so long. What was it that was waiting for her on earth? She had no family, her colleagues were dead and the few friends that she had were not really good friends. They had almost certainly forgotten her already. Why should she not try a new beginning? Obviously this dense alien next to her would have to learn that she was not a good little housewife and did not let herself be ordered around. But that could even be quite interesting - she had always loved a challenge.
“Does that mean you’re staying?” Kordan interrupted the silence and her pondering. His voice sounded almost emotionless, but she could make out a hint of hope and fear in it. Lory was confident that she would learn to read his emotions with time, even if he was not very good at expressing his feelings.
“Yes,” she answered quietly and he responded by pulling her still closer to him and kissing her on the forehead.
“I’m glad,” he stated.
“Me, too.”
They were silent again for a while but it was a pleasant silence. She felt good and did not feel the need to get up and get dressed, as had been the case with her previous lovers. Until now she had always slept alone. Even when she had had a longer relationship with a man she had always gone home after having sex. It was a strange feeling that she felt right now, but it was pleasant. She could still not describe it, could not put a name to it. But for the first time in her life she wanted to experience this. She only hoped that he would not break her heart one day – just as her father had broken her mother’s heart and in doing so had nearly wiped out the whole family. She was the only one that had, to any extent, survived the whole thing – the only one still alive. She did not realize that tears were pouring from her eyes and over her cheeks until Kordan gently spoke to her.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“What?” she asked, confused.
“What’s making you cry.”
“I … I haven’t spoken to anyone about it before. Not even the damn psychiatrists.”
“I’m a good listener and as you can see, I have a broad shoulder to cry on.”
“I don’t know,” she said, unsure.
“You don’t have to. But it might help.”
“I was thinking about my parents and my brother.”
“You miss them? Do you want to go home, after all?”
“No! It’s not that. It’s a long story. And it’s not a nice story.”
“We’ve got the whole night.”
“I have no family at home any more. I grew up with fo
ster parents but I don’t have a good relationship with them. I went to them when I was seven. In all those years they never gave me love. I hated them. But that was not the worst thing. The awful thing happened before that. I was six when my father betrayed my mother with his secretary. The classic case. He said he had to work overtime, when he was really with his secretary in a hotel. Or he went on business trips and she went with him. I think my mother must have sensed something but she didn’t stop him, maybe for fear of losing him. One day he announced to us at the breakfast table that he was going to leave us. He wanted a divorce so that he could marry Maria, as his secretary was called.”
“The men on your planet can just change their mate like that?” asked Kordan in disbelief.
“Yes, unfortunately that’s quite normal where I come from. Some people marry five times or more.”
“What happened then?”
“My mum did not take it particularly well as you can imagine. She was completely out of control. She stabbed my father in his sleep and then went into my brother’s room. She …” Lory paused and wiped the tears from her face. “She killed Danny in his sleep. Then she came to me. I was still sleeping and hadn’t picked up on any of what had happened. A terrible pain waked me. She had …”
Kordan held her tightly and stroked her back comfortingly.
“She wanted to kill you, too. But you survived.”
“She thought I was dead. She went into the kitchen and called the police. I was taken to hospital. You must have noticed the scars on my breast and stomach. I had to be operated on for several hours. After I was discharged I was taken to my grandmother, but she suffered a stroke very few months later, so I was put in a care home. When I was seven I was put with the foster family. People probably thought that would be good for me, that I’d be brought up better there than in the home …”
“But that wasn’t the case.”
Fighting Lory (English Edition) (Lords Of Arr'Carthian 2) Page 8