To Rhia, everything suddenly seemed so far away, as if she floated outside herself, watching someone else enjoy these luscious sensations.
Her head fell back, body trembled as RuArk’s fingers sank into her again and again. His thumb grazed her clitoris in an enticing pattern that made her sex tighten. Rhia was done for.
“RuArk, oh yes,” she gasped.
The pleasure on Rhia’s face when she fell apart in his arms was the most beautiful thing RuArk had ever experienced. Her release was explosive, like blinding splintered light or the shattering of the sun lighting up his typically-gray world. After her body quieted and the trembling subsided, his wife tumbled into sleep spread out on top of him.
The woman was completely oblivious of the blood pounding in his ears. RuArk was so stiff and hard, he dared not move, afraid he’d accidentally break off his cock by doing nothing more than rolling over in the bed.
He sighed and tightened his arms around her slumbering frame. Tonight was just the beginning. Tomorrow night, he would teach her something new. And the next eve, yet another lesson in passion. Four more days and nights to Province Springs—nights spent touching his mate without taking her. It would be the sweetest torture he would ever endure, and the hardest thing he’d ever not done.
When the time came to make love, or fuck as Rhia would say, she would come to him willingly, trusting him completely for that loving. And the mating would be more than worth the wait.
◊ ◊ ◊
RuArk was awake the moment the quiet footsteps sounded on the mossy ground outside his tent. Fingers wrapped instinctively around the dagger under his pillow just before Linc’s barely-there whisper broke the early morning silence.
“Wind Storm, I have news from Marth. He has finished hunting and is on the way to the proper meeting place with his quarry.”
Unwinding his longer limbs from around Rhia’s sleek ones was torture. The raging erection from last night was now the unholiest morning hard-on he’d ever experienced in all his life. He buried his nose in the dark, red-streaked curls tangled around her head as she slept. Her scent had him closing his eyes on a ragged moan as his head was filled with the recollection of the sounds she made when receiving pleasure at his hand.
From the soft intakes of breath as he’d suckled her dusky nipples, to the sharp gasps when she’d come around his fingers, all imprinted in his mind forever. The thoughts created a clenching in his gut as he fought the desire to slide between her legs.
Instead, he eased out of bed, careful to move quietly so as not to wake her. She would need all the rest she could get with the pace he planned to set today.
Once outside, any remaining sleep was whipped away by the crisp breeze blowing through the camp. The sun was rising quickly, revealing a crystal blue sky.
For no apparent reason, he was... happy. He would take some time to meditate later and examine exactly what was going on with the sides of his mouth as they lifted into a triumphant grin. Linc tossed a questioning glance his way, then smirked as if he knew something RuArk didn’t.
“What?”
“Nothing, sir,” Linc said, but that smirk turned into a full blown smile. Humph.
“How did Marth’s hunting go?” RuArk asked quietly, taking a few steps away from his shelter. Rhia didn’t need to overhear this particular conversation.
“Marth has bagged a wild one. Joan is giving him quite a time of it.” Linc’s green eyes gleamed and twinkled under the quickly fading moonlight. “He has also gotten word to the High Counsel with assurance that his daughter is safe.”
“Good. Tell him to issue new orders to the men keeping watch in Draema Proper. I want to know what is happening at all times.”
“Yes, sir.” While Linc appeared to look directly at RuArk, his eyes took on a familiar faraway expression as he fired up his Gift and linked his thoughts to those of his brother. RuArk was always amazed at how well the twins used their Gifts, even at great distances.
A few seconds later Linc regained his own wry expression and said, “Marth did so several days ago. He also wants you to know that his quarry made it necessary to depart the High City earlier than anticipated. There was quite a lot of activity the day we left and someone had indeed been following Rhia. Several somebodies. My brother says he looks forward to telling his story.”
A moment later Rhia ducked out of the tent in a flash, ran smack into the middle of RuArk’s solid back and grunted as she bounced off and stumbled. Her gaze caught his, clearly puzzled. He reached out a steadying hand.
“RuArk, I felt it again. It was exactly the same as last time.”
“What was exactly the same as last time?”
“The weird goosebump feeling that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. An awareness. Like someone near me, but in my head. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“This has happened before?”
“Yes. On the way to our first dinner together in the Citadel, remember? I’d just met Linc and Sharyn and we were walking toward the main hall. I felt this weird sensation. I stopped in the hallway and looked around to see if I could tell where it had come from. You asked me what was wrong, but I really thought I’d just caught a chill or something.”
RuArk did indeed remember. Marth had just contacted Linc as they’d been walking to dinner in the great hall. Now that he thought about it, the sensation Rhia described was exactly what he experienced whenever Sharyn healed someone while he was in close proximity, or when Linc communicated with Marth using the Gifts, including their silent conversation just moments ago—just before Rhia flew out of the tent.
RuArk had spent all his life around Gifted people, so the sensation was common to him to the point where it went pretty much ignored. But Rhia’s mother has passed when she was a little girl. Was it possible his mate could sense the Gifts in operation, but just didn’t know it? If so, she may very well have a Gift of her own. A Gift she’d never been taught to touch or control. She was, after all, half-Gaian.
But this wasn’t a conversation they could have just now. They were still being tracked. Safety first. Talk later.
“Go back inside and get a cloak Rhia. It’s cold.” She looked as if she wanted to fuss, but disappeared through the tent door instead. He called after her. “You have time for a quick bath and breakfast. We leave in one hour.”
◊ ◊ ◊
Hands full of gelsoap, towels, a brush and a change of clothes, Rhia flipped open the tent flat. The moment she stepped out she was swept up into a good morning kiss that curled her toes inside her boots. Strong arms wrapped around her, warming her inside the cloak she wore as RuArk’s mouth covered hers in a hungry kiss. Mmm, he tasted good, like mints and fresh... something. If she had to give it a color it would be bright yellow and warming to the flesh like the rising sun.
He nipped the tendons in her neck, sending a shiver through every muscle in her back. Goodness. “Mmm, I can still smell your sweet honey, almost as if it’s on my tongue.”
A single finger eased its way down and over the line of her spine, awakening the nerves along each individual bone. Breathing deepened as the lush heat of his mouth devoured, pulled her into a well of need, down, deeper.
Heat that began as a subtle warmth, spread and consumed. Sizzled. God. The nipples pressed against his chest pebbled, and she couldn’t help but rub against the solidness of his chest and recall the smoothness of the skin that covered the muscle there. Her sex bloomed, ached as his hands sank into her hair and gently tugged to angle her the way he wanted.
“Can’t wait to have you in my arms tonight. Perhaps you will ask for what you really want? Or maybe you will beg for what you need? And...”
Nip, lick.
“I am not afraid...”
Suck, nibble.
“To admit that I do indeed need it.”
Okay, she was going to melt. Right here. Right now. If he didn’t back up she would ask now rather than wait until tonight. This kiss was too much, yet not enough.
Then, in an act of mercy, he ended the torture, eased his arms from around her and stepped back just a bit.
“Lucky for both of us, we have to clean up and get ready to ride. I’ll have your gear loaded onto your mount. Go greet him. I do believe he’s missed you. See you in the clearing in a standard hour.”
With a final loud smack, lip to lip, her mate turned and went about his duties.
She’d been so consumed with RuArk, that she’d completely forgotten he’d mentioned that her horse would be here this morning. Something about having a scout bring him...?
Hell, she could hardly remember any conversation from last night, not when most of her brain has been bombarded with nothing short of a sensual onslaught. And it had been so, so good. But right now it didn’t matter. She didn’t have much time for anything more than a quick hello to Moonlight, thankful someone had groomed and watered him already.
She pondered as she walked toward the spot where they’d eaten last night. She hadn’t expected RuArk to leave her to herself today. After all, they were supposed to be glued at the hip, right? Not one to question something that should have been a relief, Rhia threw herself into a routine that was surprisingly familiar—breakfast, bath, move out.
Only today she was headed to Province Springs rather than to a meeting, a training session, a Council of Seven conference or some other such task. Feeling surprisingly well rested and comfortably full, Rhia set her empty bowl on a large rock, scooped up her stuff and began the short walk toward the stream.
A hint of soreness between her legs sent a blush to her cheeks. RuArk had spent quite a bit of time... there.
By the time he’d finished with her, she’d been begging him to stop rather than take her. Even now, her sex softened, then filled until a dull throb pulsed beneath her clitoris at the memory of his hands and mouth on her skin. All of her skin.
During her single days, she’d stroked and palmed her breasts and imagined what it would be like to have someone else’s hands caress her. But since there was nothing to be done for it, she’d typically ignored her arousal. Now, things were different. She had a mate to associate with carnal longings. And now she knew one thing she’d only guessed at before—his hands felt a hell of a lot better than her own.
Chapter Eighteen
Moving quietly toward her goal, her thoughts remained on her new husband. In a rush, her head filled with RuArk and her consciousness seemed aware of him in a way that was indescribable. She pictured him with clarity as if a vid played in her head. The image was crystal clear, from the flex and bunch of his biceps to the position of his wrist as he moved a black diamond encrusted stone across a blade with sure, even strokes.
Her eyes mentally crossed when the image’s long black locks were brushed back over his shoulders like a thick curtain of silk falling over the wide expanse of his bare back to whisper against the skin. A few random strands fell forward and obscured the strong set of his jaw.
He straddled a large log near the edge of the clearing, partially concealed by a clump of evergreen brush.
Rhia blinked and looked around. RuArk was nowhere around, so how did she know he was servicing his blades when she hadn’t seen him, nor heard the zing of a sharpening stone meeting metal?
Yet she felt him. Saw him in her head. Felt the weight of his office press down on his broad shoulders. Felt his concern for those in his charge... and she was at the top of the list.
How did she know all this? Know how he felt, both the good and the bad?
Rhia turned the corner and suddenly he was there, sitting on the same fallen tree her mind had conjured. She met his gaze and stopped dead in her tracks. The strange awareness grew exponentially, slammed into her heart at the exact moment her tawny eyes met his deep grays. So strong it was almost tangible.
RuArk sat perfectly still, a black diamond sharpening stone paused over one of several blades spread out in front of him. Rhia’s head tilted to the side, brow furrowed and body tense, trying to see inside him, through him.
Warmth infused her skin, limbs, and muscles until it settled in her blood. A subtle pull somewhere deep inside her body made her want to touch him, kiss him, wrap herself around him. As if their destinies intertwined... just as he’d said he’d seen in the Seeking.
Still, this was just weird. Besides, she was supposed to be upset about this whole sham of a marriage thing. Her father meant well, but that wasn’t the point. Was it?
As abruptly as she’d halted, she changed her direction.
‘Oh, please don’t let him come after me right now,’ she implored under her breath, stomach quivering under a wash of emotion. Desperate for him, yet terrified, afraid to accept what could turn out to be the gift she’d wanted most—RuArk.
She almost stopped and turned to look back to see if he followed. Then the sound of the stone on metal made it clear he’d returned to his task instead. With a little distance between them, relief flooded her mind and body as the tight bands around her chest loosened and allowed her to breathe again.
Sitting next to the stream on a large rock, Rhia splashed cold water on her heated cheeks. Everything was a jumble—her mind, her thoughts, everything. She knew she’d eventually cease being surprised at her physical reaction to RuArk, but this wild inner whatever-it-was occurred with barely a thought, then burned out of control when their eyes met. More like when their minds met. Sure, she’d felt an insane attraction to the man. Always had even when she was a girl. But this... this was something new. Something more intimate, as if he’d burrowed a layer deeper beneath her skin, and she, beneath his.
She might not understand all this lifemate business, but it didn’t take a scholar from the Society of Physics and Space to tell her that this was a true connection. A deep one.
◊ ◊ ◊
RuArk forced himself to finish seeing to his weapons, shaken as the blaze of what was obviously a new bond with Rhia died down to a subtle glow. He sat and pondered her escape into the forest, and there was no doubt it had been an escape. Her need to distance herself from everyone, even her friends, when she was troubled seemed so out of place for a woman, a soldier, with such a dynamic personality. What had happened to make her believe the only way she could survive was to do it alone? The pieces of the puzzle were there, but he had no idea how to put them together.
But damn it, she was his. And if it killed them both, he would see her taken care of. Though it seemed to be the last thing Rhia wanted, he instinctively knew it was exactly what she needed.
◊ ◊ ◊
Rhia rose from the stream, dressed and turned to head back to the clearing. She skidded to a halt as an annoyed growl formed low in her throat. It was unusual for her to dislike someone, especially someone she didn’t really know, but for some reason this Sharyn person got under her skin.
Sharyn eyed her up one side and down the other, boldly measured her until her gaze came back ‘round to meet eye-to-eye. Finally, the woman offered a greeting, but her tone was as icy as the clear stream she stooped next to as she cleaned her teeth.
Was it a challenge?
Rhia did some measuring of her own. Forget being intimidated, especially by a woman who wore scarves for clothes.
“Your face says you do not like me, Rhia. Are we of like mind?” Sharyn asked, her voice calm, sure and hard as stone as she rinsed her mouth and spat.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Rhia replied with a bit of edge, but honestly it was all the edge she had left. There was too much on her mind and she just really didn’t feel like doing this just now. “Look, right now I...” her words ended on a sigh. The urge to explain vanished as she felt herself crashing, almost caving in on her own soul. Being left alone rocketed to the top of her “need” list.
Sharyn seemed to sense the shift in Rhia’s posture and let her own guard down, but just a bit.
“Let us come to an understanding, yes?”
Rhia really wasn’t in a giving mood, but it was obvious Sharyn wasn’t taking the hint to g
o away. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the rough bark of yet another huge budding tree. Resisting the urge to tap her booted foot on the loamy ground, she waited for the other woman to get the burr out of her drawers and get to the point.
“I understand you have a certain feeling, an awareness at times.”
Whoa, what? The tree forgotten, Rhia sprang to attention.
“How do you know about that?”
“I am a First Commander to the Wind Storm. Why would he not share something of importance with me?”
“This is considered important? Why?”
“Because you may be Gifted, Rhia.”
“Of course I’m gifted. All Blademasters are gifted with the natural ability to—”
“No, Rhia. You may have the ability to touch the Source that allows the Gifts, given by the Ancestors, to operate. It may also be proof of the beginning of a strong bond with your lifemate.”
“Bond? Look, I’m not into that kinky stuff.”
Sharyn laughed outright. Humph. There was obviously more to this Gaian-style mating business than Rhia had been told.
“We must explore your abilities. Perhaps you have the Gift of a Sensuan,” Sharyn drawled, a gleam in her eye.
Rhia couldn’t tell whether it was snark or good natured humor. Whatever it was, this was a side of the woman she’d never seen. Cocking her head, she studied her, sensing a familiarity and camaraderie of sorts. What was Sharyn to her? Rhia may not like her just now, but she did believe she could trust her. No idea why, but it was there all the same.
“A Sensuan? You’re crazy. All Sensuan are Gaian.”
Rhia almost flinched at the ‘duh’ look she received, then laughed at her own ridiculous words. Of course they were Gaian. Just like her, even if she was only half. Geesh. Floundering, she muttered, “Well, okay, but Sensuan don’t really have...uh, they only, well...”
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