Wasteland: The Wanderer

by Crystal Jordan

  A chuckle rippled out of Akilah, and she slapped her sword against Kadira’s without much power. “Your trader blood is talking, there, my friend.”

  It smarted, yet another reminder that she would never be a true Wanderer, and from her friend, it was all the more painful. Anger pumped through her, her heart pounding and her fingers clenching on her sword, slicing her weariness away. She gritted her teeth, and with a thrust and twist of her blade, she sent Akilah’s scimitar flying from her hand. The other woman’s eyes widened, then narrowed, and she waited for a beat, then charged in low, catching Kadira around the waist and carrying her to the ground. Jerking her head to the side to miss Akilah’s fist, Kadira dropped her own sword, and jabbed the tips of her fingers into her friend’s ribs. A satisfying whoosh of air escaped, and she kicked out to send Akilah sprawling. Rising to her haunches, Akilah powered forward, sand spraying out behind her, but Kadira feinted to let her fly by, caught the other woman’s arm as she passed, twisted it behind her back and slammed her face-first to the floor.

  Quickly, Kadira straddled her friend’s back, pulled her captured arm up between her shoulder blades, and pinned her down. Leaning close to Akilah’s ear, Kadira all but purred, “I am what I am. Trader blood or not, I can still best the best of the Wanderers.”

  “I know what you are.” Akilah grunted, tugging at the arm until Kadira let it go, and gingerly rolled to her back, still trapped under Kadira. Licking at the cut on her lip, Akilah made the action a sensual gesture. “And I know what you like. Perhaps you want me to use one of Ezra’s gadgets on you?”

  Kadira’s body reacted to the thought, but reacted even more strongly when she thought of Ezra watching Akilah pleasure her that way. Her sex grew uncomfortably hot and wet in her leather breeches. She wished he weren’t so set on an exclusive arrangement, but after hearing of how badly openness had gone for his parents, and understanding all the things he hadn’t said about how he had suffered for their bond degrading, she could hardly blame him for his wariness of bonding and open sexual relationships, especially when the two were combined.

  “You’re ignoring me.” Akilah’s fingernail ran up the inside seam of Kadira’s pants, and she shuddered, heaving herself away from her friend and rolling to her feet.

  Offering her hand to Akilah, Kadira hauled the other woman up off the ground. “I’d never ignore you, but you know Ezra bartered for—”

  “I was there. I remember.” Akilah twitched her shoulders, strode to her fallen sword, and sheathed the blade at her hip. “He’s an unusual man, Ezra. He must be good, or else you’d be discontent with his arrangement already. It’s not like you to enjoy just one partner.” She met Kadira’s gaze briefly, then glanced away. “I’m…surprised.”

  Not just surprised. Her friend looked worried. Kadira couldn’t fault her—she was worried herself. The longer she was with Ezra, the more she wished it could last, but that couldn’t be. What they needed was fundamentally different, and she knew herself well enough to know she couldn’t change her needs for him. She was what she was.

  It made her inexplicably sad. She liked him. More than the sex, she liked talking to him, liked hearing his thoughts on his new inventions, liked the way he listened to her when she offered an opinion about his treaties and bargaining. He respected her, and showed it in a hundred small ways. Never once had he acted as though her trader blood mattered to him, made her less than a Wanderer in his eyes.

  She would miss that. Miss him.

  The few days they had left were slipping through her fingers like loose sand. She shook her head, retrieved her broadsword, and slid it home in the sheath on her belt. “He’s unusual, as you said. Complicated. But the Spring Rites are over soon, and so is our arrangement.”

  “People used to say he was cursed.”

  “Now they beg him for his inventions.” Kadira arched an eyebrow, containing the spurt of renewed anger on Ezra’s behalf. What was wrong with her? Her temper never flashed hot this way, not so much that she lost her grip on it. “If only El and Ela would curse us all that way.”

  Akilah laughed, slapping Kadira on the back. “The drumming will begin soon, and I have plans for a pretty young Tayi warrior. He needs some training.”

  “Be gentle with him.” Kadira grinned and shook her head. She’d smiled more in the last two weeks than she had in years. It felt good.

  “Never!” Tossing a quick wave over her shoulder, Akilah trotted toward the Badawi encampment. “He’ll thank me before I’m through, and come back at Fall Rites begging for more.”

  Turning to the Haroun tents, Kadira left the field for her own evening plans. For the first time in the two weeks they’d been together, she finished her work before Ezra did. She strode into an empty tent, stretched her arms over her head and sighed. Setting aside her broadsword, she plopped onto the plush pallet and tugged off her boots. Her body ached from the hard work, but her muscles buzzed with energy the moment she entered the place where she and Ezra had had sex so many times. Tonight would be more of the same, and with any other man, that thought would have bored her days ago, but Ezra was nothing if not inventive.

  His familiar tread came to her ears, and she couldn’t help the smile that sprang to her lips. It died when another man followed him in. She rose to her feet, the palm of her hand resting on the hilt of her dagger.

  The man was tall, a warrior, kabu markings down his left arm proclaiming his many kills. Not as tall or broad or well marked as her Ezra, she noted. Squelching the foolish thought—he was not her Ezra, and he never would be—she nodded in respect to this new male, and he responded in kind. A slight rustle sounded behind the men and a small, curvaceous woman with hair and skin the color of desert sand sidled in to stand beside the warrior.

  Ezra stepped forward, moving to Kadira’s side to face the couple. “Shaman, this is Gamal and Sahar of Clan Duaij.”

  The woman flashed a dimpled grin. “We are so pleased to meet you, aren’t we, Gamal?”

  “Yes.” He gave Sahar an indulgent smile, the expression softening his face. Kadira noticed the hammered metal cuffs around their right wrists. A bonded pair.

  Catching the direction of her gaze, Ezra chuckled. “They wished to ask you to perform the kabu ritual for their permanent bond marks.”

  “We were late to the Rites or we would have asked during the first week.” Sahar tucked a lock of her sandy hair behind her ear. “Our chieftain hired Gamal out to guard a trader caravan that was plagued by road pirates, and I didn’t wish to come without him.”

  Traders. Road pirates. Kadira felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach, and it was all she could do not to double over with the pain. She stomped down on memories too crippling to withstand, locking them where they belonged—in the deepest, darkest corner of her soul. Struggling for normalcy, for control, she willed herself to think about something else, anything else. She unclenched fingers she hadn’t realized she’d balled into fists and shook them out.

  “Clan Duaij has a fine kabu shaman.” She frowned, replaying the smaller woman’s first sentence in her mind. “Why wait for Rites? Why me?”

  “You marked my kinswoman, Ulima Tayi, last Fall Rites and I thought it was the most beautiful design I had ever seen. The goddess must truly move you.” Sahar’s green eyes went wide, her winsome smile managing to be both sincere and ingratiating. “Gamal consented to let me ask you instead of the Duaij shaman.”

  A short, breathy laugh escaped Kadira, and she ran a hand down her hair. “I would be honored to perform the ritual. How could I refuse?”

  “Indeed. Sahar is a difficult woman to refuse.” A little twinkle flashed in Gamal’s midnight eyes, but he gave Kadira a formal nod. “It is we who are honored, shaman.”

  Ezra slipped behind her, looping an arm around her waist. He spoke softly in her ear. “Sahar does look like a difficult woman to refuse, though much…softer than you. Not a warrior.” His fingers splayed across her belly, sliding down until he reached the edge of her pants.
“Would you care to see how soft she is, Kadira?”

  Both Sahar’s and Gamal’s gazes were fixed on the glide of Ezra’s fingers, and Kadira saw the naked heat reflected in their expressions. A matching warmth built within her, melting her core. She embraced the feeling, using it to hold old memories at bay. Yes, this was just what she needed. She licked her lips and forced herself to maintain a grip on sanity for a few moments longer. “I thought the agreement was for exclusivity. Would this not violate our arrangement?”

  “Ah, but I realized how selfish I was being. I do not wish to cage you.” His hand moved lower until he cupped her through the leather. “If I participated in all your love play, I would be willing to share you.” He kissed the side of her neck. “If you wanted to share our bed.”

  Gamal already palmed his mate’s generous breasts, and she leaned back against his chest, their pose mirroring Kadira and Ezra’s. Sahar whimpered, arching as she stared at them. “Please.”

  Kadira shivered, moisture flooding her sex at the other woman’s pleading. How she would enjoy making the little blond beg. Ezra’s chuckle was pure sin. “A difficult woman to refuse.”

  “Yes.” She rocked her hips back into him, felt the hard length of his cock branding her backside. “I want to strip her and make her scream. I want to make her watch while you fuck her man.”

  Gamal groaned, a flush of lust running under his tanned skin. “I like that.”

  His hands slid up to the straps that held Sahar’s doeskin dress on her shoulders, and he pushed them down one at a time, baring her breasts and her tight pink nipples. The dress pooled around her waist, and she pushed it down to the floor, slipping her fingers between her thighs to stroke herself while she gazed across the expanse of the tent.

  “Ah, ah, ah.” Kadira’s body was engulfed in flames of longing. Ezra at her back, and two pretty new lovers to toy with. Her sex felt heavy with juices, and she couldn’t imagine anything more erotic than this. With Ezra. Always with Ezra. She crooked her finger at Sahar. “No starting without us.”

  The curvaceous woman obediently removed her hand from her pussy, her green gaze moving over Kadira. “May I taste you?”

  “Yes. Come here.” The words were guttural, and she didn’t care.

  “A moment.” Ezra froze all of them as he moved away from Kadira. If he changed his mind now, she might die of frustration. He dug around in one of his many odd-looking containers and came up with several small bottles of oil. “We’re going to need these, I think.”

  He tossed one to Gamal, whose hand shot out and caught it with swift accuracy. A small smile quirked his lips, and he slid his thumbnail along the wax seal before he motioned to his mate. Pouring a small amount of the liquid in his palm, he set the bottle on the ground and knelt before her to work oil into her skin, from her ankles to her thighs, between her buttocks and into her anus, up to her high, round breasts.

  Kadira was so immersed in watching them that she jolted when Ezra began tugging at her clothes. He was already naked, his cock a hard arc that danced just below his navel. She reached for the bottle in his hand, opened it and dumped oil into her palm. Then she stroked him while he stripped her, groaning each time she slid his shaft between her fingers. When she smoothed the liquid onto his soft sacs, he shuddered, and when she eased her slippery fingers into his ass, he cried out. “Mighty El, Kadira.”

  The ring of muscle was tight on her fingers, but she pressed closer to his big body, biting his nipple as she added another oiled digit to stretch his anus. His hands were frantic as they tore the rest of her garments away, grabbed the oil from her and used it to pierce her the same way she pierced him. She dropped her forehead to his chest, rocking her hips to take his fingers deeper into her ass. It stung, she was so full, but it was too good to stop now. Her sex clenched tight, and his cock prodded her belly.

  A little whimper drew her attention, and she turned her head to see Gamal as slick with oil as the rest of them while he suckled his mate’s breasts. Kadira wanted to do that. “Both of you, come here.”

  Sahar’s nipple popped free of Gamal’s mouth, and they moved forward as Kadira and Ezra slipped from each other’s arms. She looked up at him, just to be certain that he was still willing to do this. His gaze flashed amber fire as he looked from her to the other couple and back again. She grinned and held her hand out for Sahar, who eagerly reached for her. The only kabu visible on her unblemished form was the one that symbolized sexual maturity. Her pale hair covered the one for her clan mark. “Let me taste you now. Please.”

  Wickedness wound through Kadira, and she shook her head, drawing the other woman over to the pallet and pushing her onto her knees. “Not just yet. I believe I said I’d make you scream while Ezra takes your mate’s ass.”

  “Yes.” Gamal stepped forward and sank down to kneel on the piled furs.

  “This might help with the screaming. It’s always been effective for me.” Ezra flashed a grin and held out something to Kadira. The toy he’d made her. They’d used it many times over the last few weeks, sometimes on her and sometimes on him, but it never failed to please, and never failed to make Kadira screech like a wild animal for him.

  A laugh flowed out of her, and she felt a flush rise to her cheeks as she snatched the metal tube from his hand. “My thanks, Chieftain.”

  He winked at her and strolled over to settle himself behind Gamal while Kadira did the same with Sahar. The smaller woman’s pert ass pressed to Kadira’s stomach, and she twisted at the waist to offer her mouth for a kiss. Her lips were soft, and she stroked her fingertips down Kadira’s shoulder as their tongues twined together. Fire burned through Kadira’s veins, her heart thumping so hard and fast, the rush of blood was all she could hear. She cupped Sahar’s full breast in her free hand, circling the nipple until the woman bucked and sobbed, her hips already moving in carnal rhythm. Kadira hummed in pleasure at her responsiveness.

  Gliding the cool metal of the toy down the curve of Sahar’s stomach, she teased her clit with it, letting it buzz for a single moment, rubbing the creamy folds of her sex, then flicking it on again. Sahar ripped her mouth away, gasping for air. “Please, please, Kadira. Please.”

  A groan sounded from the men, and she looked, hypnotized, while Ezra gripped Gamal’s shoulders tight, using them as an anchor while he thrust his long cock into the younger man’s ass. Sahar’s hand wrapped around Kadira’s wrist, working them to the same cadence as Ezra fucked Gamal. Sliding the phallus deep into Sahar’s wet pussy, Kadira set it to vibrating and used the heel of her palm to grind against Sahar’s hard little clit.

  Sahar screamed, arching helplessly. “Oh, god. Oh, goddess. Kadira. Gamal. Yes, yes. Oh, oh, oh!”

  Biting the side of Sahar’s neck, Kadira met Ezra’s gaze. He groped blindly for Gamal’s cock, pumping it hard as he watched Kadira slam the phallus into Sahar’s pussy. His face was flushed, and it made his black kabu marks stand out in vivid contrast. Kadira’s sex fisted on nothingness, aroused beyond measure at the scene before her, at the scent and feel of this soft female in her arms. Gamal’s head fell back to rest on Ezra’s shoulder, his muscles rippling as he pistoned his hips between Ezra’s hand and Ezra’s cock.

  “Harder, Ezra. Harder, Kadira. Fuck us harder.” Sahar’s fingers gripped Kadira’s thigh, shoving her hips forward to take as much of the phallus as she could. Ezra just laughed, his stomach slapping against the other man’s ass as he obeyed the plea.

  Licking Sahar’s neck in the same place she’d bitten, Kadira rotated the vibrating toy inside her pussy. The blond woman squealed as she came, and Kadira felt the contractions against her hand. Gamal choked, a gurgle bubbling up from his throat as his come shot forward, spilling over Ezra’s fingers. A moment later, Ezra groaned, freezing behind the other man as a look of ecstatic anguish crossed his sharp features.

  Gamal fell to his hands and knees on the pallet, and a panting Ezra staggered to his feet to wash himself in the water he kept for just that purpose. Sahar sighed
when the toy slid out of her, but Kadira’s body still burned with unrequited need. She gritted her teeth when Sahar’s soft form moved against her, stimulating her tight nipples.

  “I don’t think we took care of Kadira.” Gamal’s voice was rough, his dark eyes sliding over both women. “Let Sahar use her mouth on you. She has a gift for it.”

  “Gamal!” Sahar’s hands fluttered in embarrassment, and her mate gave a rusty chuckle.

  His hand shot out and wrapped around Kadira’s arm, tugging her around until she faced Sahar. Excitement flooded Kadira, drenched her sex, and set her flesh on fire. The other woman’s green eyes gleamed, and a smile unfurled on her lips. Gamal covered Kadira’s breasts with his hands, his palms rough with calluses. He lifted her small mounds for his mate’s mouth, and Kadira’s breath stopped when those lush lips closed over her nipple. The warrior’s fingers played with her other breast and she felt his thigh push between hers, widening her stance so he could enter her pussy from behind.

  He filled her core, not quite as well as Ezra did, but that thought dissolved into nothing as Sahar abandoned her breast and licked a hot trail down her torso to her sex. Bracing herself on her hands, Sahar pressed her face deep into Kadira’s pussy, her tongue curling around the clit, sliding over the plumped lips and flicking against the cock that sank inside her. Kadira and Gamal groaned. His hands massaged her breasts, pinching the nipples hard. “Didn’t I tell you she was talented?”