[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Eleven
Jai did not become angry when Mieli continued to stand, tense and silent, without acknowledging him. He was too practical for that. She had not truly provoked him yet, and despite his annoyance with her attitude, he was not ready to discipline her. Besides, there was much to be done before nightfall, and he wanted it over with.
Without a second glance at Mieli, he turned back to where he'd dropped the pack, and began to set up camp. Behind him, she stood just as he'd left her, and when he caught sight of her from the corner of his eye as he moved around, she seemed lost. By the time he was done, darkness had begun to fall. The fire was just beginning to really burn, and still she stood.
For the first time, the sounds of the forest were all around them. A day away from the unnatural destruction of his crash, the murmur of the woodland life was almost loud. Jai turned to Mieli, done with the distance between them.
He was uncertain how to approach her now. Her eyes were downcast, but there was still a mulish set to her mouth, and her hands were clenched fists. If it were only the sex, he would have no problem taking her this way, but it was the yielding that Jai wanted. No, it was what he needed. Simple sex had never been a problem. He had rarely ever lost a combat-challenge.
That thought brought a memory to mind, and Jai recalled the first time he'd ever challenged. In the War Tribe, it was an inevitability, especially among the humanoid races. If one were particularly unattractive, one might avoid challenge, but most others faced it. Jai had known that only his peers could issue the challenge, and so he'd felt confident in his ability to win. He'd even considered challenging another, just to prove it. His friend Tarin had been equally sure, and they'd spent their free time speculating who would be a good one to challenge.
They had both been taken with a young woman named Yasbeth. She was soldier class but mostly for her skill with weapons. In hand-to-hand combat she was too lean to be truly powerful. Ultimately, it was Jai who called her out. He could still remember the hard mat beneath his knees and the feel of her muscled body bucking and thrashing and finally slumping in defeat. There had been quite a crowd. When he finally subdued her and pressed his hard cock into her resisting flesh, the roars of approval had been deafening. But it was one moment in particular that had been hard to forget. Above the sounds of his rough pounding and Yasbeth's angry snarls, he'd looked up into the crowd and met Tarin's eyes. There had been envy there. And desire.
For some reason, the memory was very clear tonight, and Jai had to shake off the feeling that he was forgetting something important. It was a long time ago, not the last time he'd forced another on the challenge mat. There had been many in the intervening years, women mostly. He'd had his fair share of men but found he responded best when it was a woman. Tarin, on the other hand, tended to challenge mostly men.
Jai spared a thought for his friend. Although they still served together, Tarin was often on the ground. He was a hulking brute who was most effectively employed on the land forces that set the seeds of the War Tribe civilization in place. Even now, Tarin would be somewhere in the large encampment to the west, giving orders and arranging for the safe transport of the nonsoldier class types who would set up the War Tribe colony on this planet.
The idea flashed so intensely that Jai nearly laughed. Of course. Tarin would get him off this planet. They were like brothers, and if anyone were capable of smuggling them out, it would be him. It wouldn't be free, but Tarin was an honest thief who wouldn't take his money and fail to deliver.
With the weight of that worry off his mind, Jai refocused on Mieli. His long and unnatural silence had unnerved her, and she was watching him with fearful eyes. Vivid memories of her carnal response the night before made his body harden and swell. She had shuddered in pleasure before, and by Hai, she would do it again.
EVERY MOMENT THAT passed tied Mieli's stomach into knots. The silence had become loud, filled with the hard thunder of her heartbeat and the harsh sound of her breathing.
It had been hard to watch him prepare their camp. Jai's body was a study in power—and violence. Warm, copper-toned skin was stretched tight over a frame liberally padded with muscles. Disturbing images of what that kind of strength could do to her much smaller body made her sick to her stomach.
At last he was finished and stood to face her. Mieli turned her head down, unable to look into his eyes. Several long moments passed in complete silence and stillness. Unable to stand the tension, she raised her gaze to his.
The ruthless, cold gaze on her did little to ease the tightness in her chest. Instead of the assault she had half expected, Jai seemed to be studying her. He stood only a yard or so away, and regarded her with a most cunning expression.
After what seemed an eternity of uncertainty and fear, he approached her slowly. Mieli tensed, but he only came a few steps, then stopped. A moment passed, and then he held out his hand, as if to ask that she put her hand in his. The surprise made her thoughts slow, and she struggled for a way to respond to the unexpected request.
Not an order after all, but a choice. What was he asking her for? What would she be accepting if she placed her palm in his? Confused and upset, she wondered what he would do if she refused.
Refuse? The voice in Mieli's head sounded incredulous. And why not? This was her big chance, the moment she'd been working for. He wanted her, and instead of just taking, he was asking for her cooperation. She was not a victim; she was a survivor. And if she put her hand in his, she would have an identity in this new and terrifying world. Not a doctor, as she might have hoped, but a lover to this man.
With more certainty that she was feeling, Mieli placed her palm to Jai's and looked up into his icy blue eyes. This was the time to cement their relationship and to prove to him how much better off he would be for keeping her around. She could not let Kyre's attack poison her mind with useless worries. Her goal firmly in mind, she stepped forward to bring her body close to his.
Careful to keep her eyes on his face, she used both hands to work the fastenings down the front of his mended suit. When she reached the front of his pants, the rigid shape of his cock was obvious. Once the last clasp was freed, the thick length sprang eagerly into her palms. Mieli gave it one slow stroke and then reached for the hem of her shift, dragging it off over her head to drop it on the ground.
There was no way to remove his clothes without his cooperation, and she didn't want to break the spell of the moment. He watched her as if he were hungry, his gaze coasting over her body from breast to hip. Emboldened by his avid attention, she ran her hands lightly over her chest. Her fingertips grazed the soft peaks of her nipples, and he sucked in a breath. Mieli watched his responses as she teased herself until the tips of her breasts were pebbled and tight.
While he watched her, Jai's breathing had deepened, and the tension in his body was palpable. The erection she had touched only briefly was thrust high, almost flush to his body, and the visible throb of blood beneath his skin was a testament to the urgency of his desire.
She half expected him to ravage her at any moment, but he only watched, as if he'd never seen a woman touch herself. Certain now that he was caught up in her display, Mieli turned and retrieved the blanket that lay forgotten on the ground. With a hard shake, she spread it out and settled down on her back, facing Jai.
He was still watching her, his hands fisted at his sides and his cock pulsing hotly. An answering throb had begun deep in Mieli's body, and she eagerly started touching herself. Both hands smoothed a path over breast and belly to the damp flesh below. No stranger to self-pleasuring, Mieli parted the silken lips of her sex and probed the slick entrance. She could feel the wetness there, accompanied by a strong ache to feel him inside.
Aside from Jai's possession the night before, she had been many long months without the feel of a man. The frustrated needs of her body, long sublimated by stress and anxiety, suddenly burst forth. Lost in the fierce ache of unfulfilled lust, M
ieli closed her eyes and sank two fingers deep into her slippery channel to rub and stroke her sensitive inner walls. With her other hand, she slid a finger around the hardened nub at the top of her sex.
She'd been lucky he'd pleased her so well the night before. Now she showed him what she liked. Mieli let her hands demonstrate what made her body shudder and pulse and hoped he was paying attention to the subtle instructions she was giving him.
The climax she craved was perilously close as her fingers moved in tandem against her overheated flesh. When the moment came, she let out a high, keening wail and collapsed, her limbs heavy with satisfaction.
HER BODY WAS a miracle. Jai had been pleased when Mieli accepted his hand, but the sultry look and her bold caresses froze him in place. The sight of her delicate body, bared when she stripped her shift, was almost enough to snap him out of it. Then she'd begun to touch herself, to use her elegant little hands on the intimate flesh he so desperately craved. He'd never seen anything like her, and he'd held still for fear of ending the erotic display.
When the tempo of her strokes increased, her legs flexed, and her spine arched, his cock had quivered in near orgasm at the sight of her climax. As the tension ebbed visibly from her body, her eyes fluttered open, and that brilliant blue-black gaze locked onto his. Slowly Mieli curled forward and onto all fours, coming toward him like a dangerous sil cat. The look on her face was hungry and predatory, well suited to her actions.
She reached his legs and tilted her head back, looking up the long line of his body. With a sound like an animal growl, Mieli sat up on her knees and wrapped both hands around the painfully hard flesh of his erection. Jai groaned and clenched his fists tight against his hips, so sensitive was he to her soft palms. The thick head of his cock had become slick from his precum, and she used her thumbs to spread the hot fluid down the shaft.
The wet strokes were intensely pleasurable, but then she put her lips close and blew gently across the damp tracks.
Suddenly driven past the edge of his restraint, Jai gave a growl of his own and pulled her hands away. He'd underestimated her though, and as soon as her arms were spread wide, she simply leaned forward and wrapped her lips around the tight spheres beneath his upthrust cock. Her tongue flicked restlessly over the taut globes, and her mouth held a gentle suction.
Jai was lost. His knees shook, and his vision blurred. He'd had no idea how good that could feel, and he rocked his hips forward to encourage her attentions. After several moments, Mieli gave a final lick and moved her lips up the base of his shaft. Impatient to feel her mouth on the most sensitive part of him, Jai spread his legs wide to bring the head low enough for her to reach.
Then he slid his cock between her teeth, and that rapacious tongue was darting erotically over his tense flesh. He still held her arms wide, and the view he had was stunning. Her head bobbed rhythmically, and her face was upturned just enough to give him a perfect view of his thickness, glistening wet and stunningly hard, as it sank over and over into her throat.
Jai released her hands to grip her shoulders, and her eyes shone up at him as she used her freedom to fondle his balls while she sucked. The combination of sensations snapped his control. The pulsing in his sac traveled swiftly, and his cum shot out in thick, long streams. He opened his eyes in time to see Mieli pull back slightly, her lips and chin covered in the creamy fluid. Her hands were busy, though, pulling and stroking his member while he continued to jettison his seed across her chest. At last the spasms eased, and Jai let himself come to rest beside Mieli on the blanket.
He was stunned and more grateful than he'd ever been in his life. There were no words, in her language or his, that could possibly articulate how he felt at this moment. Mieli had been his fantasy come to life, her hands on herself and his body in the tender ways he had so craved. Jai was certain there was nothing he wanted more in this life than to never let her go.
AFTER SHE CLEANED up, Mieli came back to the blanket and lay down next to Jai. He was still relaxed, but his eyes were open, and he watched her avidly.
She was feeling pretty optimistic, mainly because he'd been so willing to let her pleasure him. It told her that he wasn't averse to letting her take control, at least part of the time. A seep of slick warmth on her upper thighs reminded her that there was more she wanted from him tonight. Lust for Jai was sharp and hot in her blood, and she physically ached to get all that hard thickness into her body again.
Whatever hesitation still lurked in the recesses of her mind, she was not willing to sabotage her opportunity with Jai over it. Kyre was dead; she was going to leave him and the pain he'd caused her in that clearing where it belonged. She was ready to move on.
Determined to rouse Jai's interest, she boldly met his gaze and reached out to push at the edges of the uniform he still wore. Without any hesitation, he peeled it off and laid it aside. Between his legs she could see that he was thickening and lengthening. Curious about his body and drunk on carnal fantasies, Mieli urged him onto his back and settled next to him. She sat up on her heels and ran her fingertips over the broad expanse of his shoulders and chest.
She traced the lines of definition in his muscles and marveled at the complexity and strength implied there. His tiny, flat nipples received teasing flicks and a quick lap from her tongue. When she reached his abdomen, the rigid evidence of his renewed desire rose in a straight line to his navel.
More than ready, Mieli eagerly straddled his waist. The memory of the night before had lost its unhappy edge, and she only remembered now how exquisitely full she'd felt on his cock. Impatient, she struggled to align their bodies as she tried in vain to rise onto him.
Then Jai's hands settled on her hips and lifted her effortlessly over the thick head of his erection. There was a small smile on his face, and she could feel her own mouth open a little on a sharp breath. Against her opening, the bulbous crown pressed insistently. She was so wet and slippery that the only resistance was the tightness of her cunt, and it gave way quickly under the firm pressure.
Once she'd sunk down onto that hard knob, Jai released her hips, and Mieli knelt with her hands on his muscled waist. The first few inches inside her felt like heaven, tight and unbelievably thick. Below the head, the shaft narrowed a little toward the base but looked too long to fit fully.
Mieli, suddenly determined to get as much as she could, relaxed her thighs and took another couple of inches. Beneath her, Jai made noises of encouragement, so she took a little more, only to shudder in delight at the feel of him inside her. Unable to deny her body, she started a slow rhythm to rock him deeper and deeper.
Gradually her speed increased until she was riding him vigorously. Every downward stroke brought her almost flush against him, but she couldn't take his entire length. Jai's hands were on her hips now, and when her orgasm hit, he rolled her onto her back and started to thrust furiously.
Her head swam with satisfied delight, senses slow to return after the intensity of her release. Mieli gradually recovered just in time to wrap her legs around Jai's waist and feel the pulse of his cum deep in her satiated body.
WHEN THE FOG of sexual gratification had cleared from Jai's mind, he roused enough to add fuel to the fire he'd started earlier. Back on the blanket with Mieli, he surveyed her nude form with nothing less than deep contentment. The curly gold mass of her hair obscured part of her face, but he could see her eyes were closed. A small curve to her soft, sensual mouth gave the impression that she was pleased about something. He was pleased as well.
There were no words to describe what he was feeling and how much he had enjoyed what had transpired between them. After today and what they had done together, he would never be able to return to a life as a soldier. That life of deprivation and sacrifice was transparent to him now, and no reward that path would lead to could equal what he had found in his little healer. No other woman would be able to rouse his passion as Mieli could. For the first time in his adult life, he felt a stirring of warmth, and a desire to make ano
ther person happy.
And he would make her happy.
Clearly, she needed someone to protect her from what the War Tribe had in store for the people on this planet. Left here, she would either become a laborer or, with her looks and bearing, a Native. Conquered races who were not worthy of being admitted to the War Tribe essentially became slaves under the command of the emissary given rule of this planet. They would work under Tribe officials to do everything from building roads to harvesting crops. It was not a dire fate necessarily, since laborers were treated fairly enough. But they were basically slaves, and one as beautiful as Mieli would suffer sexually, whether from his people, or her own.
Of course, if she were recognized for her beauty and manner, she could be a recruited. Some select individuals would be selected to serve in other positions, namely to manage and supervise the laborers. Known as Natives, they were taught Tribe Standard and filled many skilled positions across the planet. A few even earned the right to become citizens, usually through a fortuitous relationship with a civilian. Marrying in, so to speak.
That was a rosy outlook, though. It was far more likely that in the arduous and tumultuous process of colonizing this planet, Mieli would be like all the others. Lost in the mass of humanity, she would be traumatized and victimized a hundred times over.
Jai would not let that happen to her, no matter the cost. By all rights he should have died in these woods, and Mieli had saved him from that. Whatever had motivated her care and kindness, it was a real debt he must acknowledge. He looked down at her pale form, gripped by a sensation he couldn't name. His heart burned with need to protect her, and his body yearned to possess her. Mieli. His woman.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Twelve
Jai set a grueling pace across the forest floor. How he knew where he was going, she didn't know, but it was obvious he had a destination in mind. Clearly, he was making allowances for her much shorter legs, though she was still hard-pressed to keep up. Rather than let her stop at midday, he would simply pick her up when she couldn't go on.
Mercenary's Reward Page 6