Maybe he’d gone mad, creating a life with an unconscious woman. His expectations of her, combined with his imagination of what she would be, caused his conversation to be stunted. He could greet any alien dignitary with ease. He could read faces and gestures even when the person was from a culture very unlike his. It was a strange sixth sense he’d been born with. It made him a great ambassador for his people. Yet here, presented with his wife who was by all rights chosen for him by the gods, he couldn’t manage to make his words flow.
“It’s true,” Riona stated, looking again at his handheld. “I was always going to die.”
“I shouldn’t have told you.” It was more of a question than a statement.
“Are you kidding? This is great news.”
That was not the reaction he’d expected from someone who’d just found out they were suddenly mortal.
“I feel like this weight of expectation has been lifted off me.” Riona breathed heavily. She shook her hands in front of her with nervous energy as she stood and began to pace. “I’m going to die someday and there is nothing I can do about it. Here I’ve been forcing myself to live for a dead planet when it turns out my existence is out of my hands.” Her beautiful face turned toward him once more. “I have lived my entire life taking risks, seeking excitement, living for those who no longer could, in what I really think might have been an attempt to take the pressure off. I don’t want to be dead, but if I died by accident having fun, then…” She took several more deep breaths. He wondered if she was about to hyperventilate. Before he could ask, she rushed on, “but in the process I’ve been avoiding what I’ve been told is one of the best things in the known universe.”
“Chocolate?” he asked, attempting a joke to lighten the mood. “I’m told by women it’s as close to bliss as they can get.”
“Oh, I’ve had chocolate. I won an entire vat of chocolate off some monks.” To his surprise, she began pulling off her shirt.
“Do you need—” he gestured weakly toward the isolation room, “—mental, ah, medical help?”
“I have wanted to press against you since I first saw you. Do you know what it’s like living with the responsibility of a dead civilization on your head? Thinking to touch and kiss and feel another person would be betraying their legacy?” Suddenly, she paused with her shirt clutched in her fist. “You do want me, right? I mean, you want to be married to me so I assumed that translated into you wanting to be in my bed.”
Unable to help himself, he stared at her naked chest. If he looked close enough he could see patches of light pink where the blisters had been. It didn’t matter. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and she was offering herself to him. His body lurched with excitement and for a moment he couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. This was not how he’d expected things to go. Mirek realized his mouth was open and licked his dry lips before closing it. He nodded, unable to form a vocal answer.
“Oh, good.” She sighed in relief. Riona pushed her pants off her hips. Then, standing before him completely naked, she commanded, “All right. Do it.”
“Do…?” He stood.
“Yes. Do the thing.”
“Thing?”
“Yes, do the thing, sex, get naked,” she gestured that he should start.
Mirek reached for the tight shirt and pulled it over his head. He placed it on the table. Every part of him wanted to surge forward, but he had paid dearly for his impatience the day they married. He would not act in haste again. “I think you may be reacting badly to the medical news.”
“I admit, my experience in these types of matters is fairly nonexistent. But it seems to me that you have a woman standing naked in front of you, ready to be sexed on and you are still dressed.” She arched a challenging brow. “I mean, if you’re not up for it, I’m sure someone will be willing to misbehave with me. I have all this energy that needs to find an outlet. I need to do something before it makes me crazy. So either we have sex, or I’m going to steal a spaceship and go for a joyride. You decide.”
Mirek felt a strange blend of excitement and concern filling him. This woman was nothing like he’d imagined. He saw the mischief in her eyes. She liked games. She liked adrenaline. She liked playing with fire.
“Come on, dragon man—” she pouted, “—make with the naughtiness.”
Mirek could only take so much teasing. He’d wanted her since he first saw her, and the months of waiting had been hell. Then there were the years of failed festivals before that. He rushed forward. She made a small noise of surprise as he grabbed her arms. His lips met hers in an instantly deep kiss. The taste of her fruit-sweetened lips drew his tongue forward.
For an instant, she didn’t respond, merely stood frozen in place as he released his passion onto her. The dragon in him loved the challenge. The man in him warned him to slow down. She may be willing, but her culture had insured she had little experience. Mirek couldn’t really care less if he had a virgin bride. It was something he’d never really thought about in his years of waiting to be blessed, for he knew when the time came his wife would be all his and sexual pasts didn’t matter.
She pulled her head back and gasped for breath. “Go easy, dragon.” Gentle hands cupped his face and the caress instantly encouraged him to slow. There was a vulnerability in her he’d never detected before. His wife had many layers, and he was eager to discover them all.
Mirek relaxed his grip on her arms and moved his fingers up along her throat. Before he felt the hard thread of her pulse, he heard it in his head. His senses were keenly aware, though he did not shift into dragon. The Draig did not make love in dragon form but they could use its power of enhanced senses. Mirek smelled her desire for him. He tasted her sweet lips like fine fruit wine. Her body trembled beneath his touch, the softness of her naked flesh against his chest and stomach. The deep intake of her breath whispered past his lips, almost tickling him.
Never in his life had he felt so connected to another person. It was a primal thing, innate, beyond conscious understanding. Tiny, invisible threads joined them, pulling them together from that very first moment he looked at her. His crystal had glowed and he’d just known she was meant for him. It was this pull that had made him claim her, and now that he kissed her the feelings only intensified. She was his destiny. The gods knew what they were doing.
* * *
Riona had absolutely no idea what she was doing. As she’d stared at the medical report, years of pent-up frustration and stress had released inside her. She’d been living with a giant anvil over her head, secretly wishing that fate would take her long life out of her hands. The knowledge of her freedom from her past flowed through her. Even if the reports were wrong, maybe it was time to start her biological countdown and live out a natural humanoid existence.
When Mirek’s lips touched hers, it felt right. Actually, it felt wicked and wonderful. The shock of his warm skin to her breasts caused tiny explosions of pleasure to erupt beneath her flesh. She’d had pleasure before, but never from actual physical contact with a man.
Mirek slid his hands to her breasts, cupping them before gliding lower to her hips. He pulled her firmly against him. The hard length of his arousal beneath his breeches pressed along her stomach. Riona wasn’t one to back down from adventure. By the way her heart thudded in her chest and her blood raced in her veins this was definitely an adventure.
He stepped forward, forcing her to walk back toward the couch. When her naked ass hit the furniture, she tried to pull away. Before she could lie down, he swept her into his arms and changed directions. She bounced in his arms. A small laugh escaped her as he took the stairs leading to the bedroom.
The shades were still drawn from when she’d been sleeping and the dim light added an intimate atmosphere to the moment. He placed her on the bed. Each of his movements seemed strained, as if he held back. Despite all her brave teasing, she was glad he was gentle with her. This was new territory.
He crawled over her and kissed her lips as if th
at single act was the most important thing in the world. Mirek wrapped his arms behind her back, holding her tight as he lifted her shoulders off the mattress. “Are you sure this is what you want? This is not a reaction to shock from reading the reports?”
Her arms were trapped between them, but she managed to caress his jaw with her fingertips. “This is the one adventure in my life I thought I could never have. We’re adults. I’m willing. You’re willing.”
“We’re married,” he inserted.
“Ah, well…” She looked to the side and scrunched up her nose. “I won’t lie to you. I really have no intention of being married.”
“But…?” In his surprise, his hold loosened and she fell back on the bed. Her head bounced on the mattress but it didn’t hurt. “The gods have shown us. My crystal glowed when I saw you. Didn’t you feel the pull?”
Riona had felt it, so much so that she’d mindlessly followed him on stage. “I already admitted I was attracted to you. I think it was your eyes. They’re so gorgeous. And you are very physically pleasing to look at. If you want the truth, I think you are confusing lust with love, or at least with the will of the gods. I’m not judging you for it. You can’t really help that there are not a lot of females on this planet for you to have fun with. As for me, I have only had intimacy with transmitters meant for long-distance lovers.”
“But tradition, the gods…”
“Maybe your people made up traditions to ensure you married with little fuss, just as mine made up traditions to keep young adults from fooling around.” Riona saw her logic hurt him. This was not the conversation she wanted to be having. But he’d given her a dose of reality. Perhaps he needed one as well.
He closed his eyes and held his breath. She wondered at it but said nothing. Her body tingled where he touched her. The heat of his leg combined with the tickle of his breeches to tease her sex. When he opened his eyes, he said, “My impatience did this. I should have been stronger and waited for the next festival to claim you. This is why you doubt me and cannot feel our connection.”
The feelings of arousal built. She couldn’t seem to control her leg as she restlessly caressed his hip with her thigh. The muscles of his chest beckoned her hands to explore. There were so many emotions inside of her that she couldn’t filter them all. Relief was the most prevalent—relief that she was not immortal. Then there was lust, a hard desire as if her brain’s tight hold on her body had finally given way, bestowing its silent permission to allow her to feel. Beneath that was uncertainty and worry mixed with a tiny thread of fear that this was all a joke and the Draig had her sister under a spell and was trying to do the same to her. If a yellow plant could make her that sick, what else did these guys have on their planet that could affect her?
His body responded to her thigh’s persistence and he rocked his hips forward. Lust overtook all else and suspicions simply fell out of her head.
“Logic tells me to wait, but when I am with you, patience never seems to be an option.” He circled his hips again. “These months have been torture—seeing you hurt and unable to do anything about it.” He pressed harder, simulating the sexual act through his clothes. “And now having you here, naked, willing to take me in you.” He thrust again, gasping and shivering. “If this is a test from the gods, I fear I will fail.”
“Can we leave them out of it?” she asked, her muscles tightening. “I really don’t want to think about supreme beings right now.”
He reached for his waist, and seconds later her thighs were able to work the material off his hips. The brush of hard naked flesh created a myriad of unexpected sensations. His arousal fit against her sex, sliding in her body’s natural response. With an artful motion, he readjusted his hips to bring the head of his shaft to her opening. She stiffened in anticipation. Her heart beat so loud she couldn’t hear anything else.
Mirek slipped inside her, letting her feel the tip of him. The cords in his neck were strained, attesting to the fact he held back. Riona closed her eyes and drew her hips up to search for more. The small physical discomfort was nothing compared to the pleasure. He withdrew only to come back a little deeper. It took a few strokes, but she learned his rhythm and met it with her own.
Mirek held his weight off her by pressing his hands into the mattress by her side. She wanted more and tried to force him deeper with the thrust of her body. When he would pull away, she wrapped her legs around him and held tight. The motion had the added benefit of angling her body to compel him deeper.
His eyes rounded. She locked her ankles and kept him from withdrawing. As her sex adjusted, she couldn’t help but rock her hips in tiny circles. He stayed deep, his body filling and caressing her in a way she’d never dreamed possible. The faster she rocked, the better it felt, and the more torturous.
Mirek took her lead, pushing back to grab her hips. The motion lifted her off the bed and onto his lap. He sat back on his feet as her legs were forced to release his waist. Gravity locked her onto his shaft, helped by the forceful grasp of his hands. He kept her tight against him, letting her have only the smallest of movements inside her sex.
Riona leaned her face into his. The sides of their noses touched. She panted for air as his breath fanned over her cheek. Deep green eyes looked into hers. Though the room was shadowed, she detected the brightness of them. She loved their color, the starkness of it, the piercing intensity that shot through her and enhanced the pleasure in her stomach.
Her heart beat fiercely and she felt the familiar rush of excitement that overtook her whenever she was about to do something marvelously wild—win a tournament, sneak though security, fly a landship at lightning speeds. The rush in her veins made her feel alive.
The pleasure built. Her body jerked almost violently. She gave a weak cry and deep tremors exploded between them. Mirek’s breath caught and his head fell back. He became stiff and then gripped her hard.
Their mingled breaths filled the silence. He let go and she slipped off his lap and fell weakly into bed. Mirek collapsed next to her, lying on his back.
“That was better than a trip through the Jeyer Obstacle,” she panted, unable to help the wide smile.
“I have no idea what that is, but I’ll take it as a compliment.” He turned his head so he faced her.
Riona met his gaze. Deep relaxation turned her bones to liquid and her limbs to useless weights. “Yes. It’s a good thing, dragon man, a very good thing. And it’s something I think we should do again very soon.”
A low growl sounded in the back of his throat. She inhaled sharply in surprise as he pushed up and over her with lightning speed only to begin eagerly kissing her neck. “As my lady wishes.”
Chapter Seven
“What happened to you?” Alek eyed Mirek in concern. “Did you have to wrestle negotiate with the Syog again?”
“My wife.” Mirek stopped his slow, ambling walk and leaned against the corridor wall. Not that he would complain, but Riona had taken to intimacy with a vivacious force he’d ever dreamed possible. “She’s, ah, fully recovered now.”
Alek quirked a brow. It took him a long moment to understand what was happening. His concern turned into hard, full laughter. He clutched his stomach and bent over, struggling to breathe.
“What’s going on out here?” Bron appeared from the scroll room, holding a stack of yellowed parchments. He eyed his brothers curiously.
“Lady…learned…sex…balls,” was about all of Alek’s answer they could understand.
Mirek grimaced. He should have known better than to admit soreness to one of his brothers. Why hadn’t he lied and said he’d been getting his privates kicked in a Syog ball racking negotiation? It would have been an easy lie. Those aliens were rough on the manhood, even if they used a semi-protective plate. No one would have questioned his claim. They would have still laughed at him, but they would have believed him.
“Mirek?” Bron asked in concern.
“Riona, ah—” Mirek began.
“He can’t hand
le…his wife,” Alek interrupted in merriment. “He’s walking like this.” Alek ambled around the hall like an old man with a cane, stumbling all the more in his fit of laughter.
Bron arched a brow and nodded his head. “Nicely done. We’ll have another nephew to add to the family soon. Well done, brother.”
“If she didn’t break him,” Alek inserted. “I always suspected you were a little soft, Ambassador. All that flying in space and drinking lady wine with the aliens.”
Mirek shoved Alek into a wall. It didn’t stop the laughter as the man slid to the floor. “At least I don’t smell like a ceffyl herd.”
“I deserve that,” Alek admitted, not bothering to stand as he grinned up at them. A change had come over him since his marriage. He was happier and smiled more. Whatever Kendall had done to her husband, she’d managed to tame the stubborn man.
“You’re going to tell everyone, aren’t you?” Mirek sighed, not really worried. His wife wanted him. That was a good thing. Actually, she wanted him…and wanted him…and wanted him…and—
“Oh, yeah,” Alek nodded. “Everyone.”
“Alek,” Bron broke in. “Maybe we should keep this to ourselves. If my wife is any indication of how the women were raised, her sister will not like being talked about in such a way. She will consider it insulting.”
Alek instantly agreed. “Of course, I didn’t think of it like that. I would never gossip about my sisters if it made them uncomfortable.”
“Thank you,” Mirek mouthed. Bron nodded once.
“Have either of you seen the updated communications plans?” Bron asked, nodding at his armload. “We’re having a hard time locating some of the buried mountain lines to see if they’re salvageable. Aeron wants to get the construction plans finished before the baby arrives and keeps asking if they’re lines or transmit boosters. I honestly have no idea how they work.”
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