“Yes, you are hot for me. You’re such a sensual creature.” Raven thrust his fingers into her warm, wet core. He could tell the difference between the water and her cum. “Tell me about these thoughts that you would like to try,” he encouraged as her hips began to rock against his hand.
“In my thoughts, you were sitting on the edge of the tub and I was in the tub, kneeling between your legs. Your fingers were tangled in my hair. I was kissing and taking your…um, you into my mouth. You looked as if you were enjoying it so much.” Caidi blushed, red staining her cheeks, but she kept looking at him in spite of her burning embarrassment. She wanted him too much to deny it.
Raven chuckled as he realized just what had happened. “That is my thought that you found so exciting, little one. You are getting better at picking up my thoughts. As to your belief that it wasn’t possible, it is and yes, I would enjoy it very much. I would kill for the feel of your mouth on my shaft.”
Caidi smiled arching against his hands, aching for more than his fingers. She drew in a gasping breath and a shiver tore through her body as his thumb pressed against her clit. “Oh and the other ones?”
“In one of your other thoughts, were you sitting on the edge of the tub? I was kneeling between your thighs, holding you, licking at your sweet clit, thrusting my fingers into your vagina the way that I did when you finally came home to me. I know that you find joy in that and we will do that again soon.” Raven drew his thumb back and forth over her clit and watched her eyes go cloudy.
Caidi squirmed and wiggled against him both at the sensual image he had recreated with his words and the fiery need shooting through her body, bringing her a little closer to climax, from the slow stroke of his thumb across her clit. She tilted her head back, biting her lip momentarily at a particularly sharp jolt when he scissored his fingers inside her. How did he know just what to do to her to make her body ignite?
“Yes, Raven, that was it,” Caidi panted, her hips pressing down against his hand as she sought to quench the tight, hot ache deep within her.
“Lean back, Caidi,” Raven ordered.
Caidi didn’t hesitate to lean back. She gasped as the fingers moving within her found a spot that sent a shivering spike through her entire body. Her hips rocked instinctively against his hand. His other arm was behind her back, holding her, and she leaned against it, her back slightly arched, her breasts thrusting toward the ceiling.
Raven leaned down and took the upwardly thrust nipple into his mouth, scraping his teeth over it in teasing torment. He nibbled on the peak, tugging at it, flicking at it with his tongue, before curling his tongue around the reddened nipple and sucking fiercely. Settling in to feast, he inhaled taking in her scent as well as her luscious taste.
Caidi moaned, lacing her fingers into his hair and holding him tightly to her breast, feeling every tug, every pull deep within the core of her. Biting her lip, she quivered as sensation after sensation tore through her. A part of her didn’t want him to stop, ever. It felt so good. Soon, the need roared through her. Her hips moved against his hand as everything within her tightened, her only thought to reach that peak and find the completion that waited.
“You are so perfect for me,” Raven breathed against the skin of her breast, sending shivers spiraling through her. “You are so hot and ready. Mine, only mine.”
Caidi moaned as his hand withdrew from between her legs, leaving her poised on the edge of a violent climax, aching for just that little bit more, aching for the emptiness within her to be filled by him. She reared up reaching for him. He couldn’t leave her like this.
“I want to be in you, deep and hard.” Raven’s breath fluttered against her ear as he lifted her and came to his feet in a swift motion.
He stepped from the tub but didn’t take her to the bed. He laid her on the marble floor next to the tub. Caidi drew in a shocked breath as the cold marble pressed against her heated body. She arched up and away from the floor, confused, still wanting him. Raven lowered his body onto hers and his weight pressed her fully against cold stone. The contrast was almost too much for her sensitized body.
Raven lifted her knees higher around his waist and her legs locked around his back. He kissed her deeply as he thrust within her, his hard length plunging in aggressively. He needed to feel those slick walls stretching around his cock, hear her moans as she came. His tongue stroked in her mouth in a sensual imitation of his driving hips. Caidi’s tongue followed his as he withdrew it into his mouth and he sucked on it.
She was too aroused to take much more. He moved against her hard, grinding his hips into hers. At one particularly deep thrust, she felt her mind splinter and light exploded before her eyes as a dazzling climax washed over her. The swirling, frantic torrent left her shaking beneath him with pleasure.
Raven continued to plunge his hard shaft deep into her as he sought his own satisfaction. He heard the gasps and moans of her completion and felt the muscles in her pussy squeezing and pulling at him. His release rushed over him. His head arched back as his hips drove against hers.
Caidi knew it would happen, but she couldn’t prepare for it. When he found his release with a harsh groan, holding her tightly to him as his hips jerked against her, Caidi was stunned by the thrill that washed through her mind and translated itself into a shuddering climax that had her clutching at him and moaning his name hoarsely.
“Ahh… My chalie, you are such a trial.” Raven nuzzled her neck, inhaling her scent, savoring the closeness, the mingling of their scents and the musky aroma of their love.
“I am the novice at this particular thing, remember?” Caidi protested innocently, rubbing her face against his in a caress. “I am sure now that there were other thoughts that I found very exciting that weren’t the product of either my limited experience at sex or my fertile imagination.”
“I may have had those thoughts, my sweet flower, but I wasn’t the one who acted on them, seducing my unsuspecting spouse in a bath when we both knew that we had work to do.” Raven affected a pious air and raised an arrogant eyebrow. He drew his tongue over her skin, tempted to linger here. Never had he been tempted to ignore duty for a woman’s bed, but a minimum of persuasion would have him do so today. His chalie was everything to him.
“Um, and it was good, wasn’t it?” Caidi’s satisfied unrepentant smile flashed as she rubbed her cheek against his. “The only problem with the whole situation is the place you chose. The floor is cold.”
Raven chuckled and lifted himself from her. He deftly scooped her up and stepped back into the large bathtub. He set her away from him, settled himself onto the bench, and watched as she went under before she got her feet to the bottom of the tub. Surfacing, Caidi glared at him and took a position opposite him. He picked up the sponge and soap. Realizing his weakness, he didn’t waste any time. He washed and rinsed himself and handed the sponge to her before she got any more ideas.
“I would stay with you, but your idea of a bath is tiring and I still have many things to do this day.” Raven smiled at her, stepped from tub and ran the toweling sheet over his body in short, efficient swipes.
“And I thought that you were a tough warrior, capable of handling anything that a woman could do, certainly an inexperienced one such as I. Here I am ready for more. You do have a way of ruining all of my illusions about the Shadatai,” Caidi teased with a smile as she lazily ran the sponge over her arm.
“I can handle anything that you care to dish out, my chalie, but we both have duties and we have to set an example for everyone else.” Raven’s eyes glowed with sensual promise. “I would tear a strip off of my men for spending a day with their chalie when they were supposed to be working, regardless of how long they had been gone. Much as I’d love to spend the rest of the day held close by those magnificent legs, I have to deny us both the pleasure and go do my work. However the winter ronas will be another matter, taneen. Then, I will have plenty of time to attend to your insatiable needs.”
Caidi laughed as he le
ft in an inordinately good mood. He was outrageous. She finished her bath and let the water out of the tub as she stepped from it. She dried and dressed in the clothing she had worn earlier, because to wear anything else would definitely draw some ribald comment from her friends.
Chapter Fourteen
It had been a mere three weeks since Raven’s return from his introduction to their trade as well as all of their customers. Now, he was going to Askara to see if he could broaden their trade. This time, Caidi was going with him. She knew that this would be a very educational trip for her. Raven wanted her to meet other Zarain and Shadatai Zarain and she had learned that most of what she knew about both of them was supposition and wrong.
First, they had to stop on Esden to deliver a shipment of fabric to one of their buyers. Caidi knew that it was sure to be a short visit, taking only as long as the transfer of goods and payment required. Although Caidi had thought that she would stay with Raven during the short transaction, he sent her, along with Arron, one of his Terchal—assistants—to the market while he conducted business. She didn’t argue or point out that she had been handling the trade of her pack very successfully long before he had arrived, although the temptation to do so was very strong.
She knew that there was no way she would win that argument. They had had it more than once already. Not once had she been able to make him see her point. She heaved a sigh, raised her eyes to the heavens and accompanied Arron to the market.
Caidi wandered around the market, looking at the array of wares on display, pausing to touch a fabric to feel its texture or look at its color. She didn’t notice when Arron failed to follow her to the next booth. With blatant disregard of her surroundings, she paused to admire some jewelry sold by a set of red-haired twins. She touched a necklace made of pink stones and metal that had a purple sheen. She never knew what hit her.
* * * * *
Caidi woke with a throbbing headache, her mouth as dry as the desert. One of the few things she knew without doubt was that she had been hit on the head and drugged, although she couldn’t be sure of the order. The last thing she remembered was walking around the market on Esden.
She struggled to move and winced as blinding light shot in front of her eyes while pain ripped through her. Not a good idea. Her hands were bound with leather and because she could feel the coarse fabric of the rough blankets along her entire body, she knew she was naked. Looking around, she saw a small, cream-colored stone room with a single wooden door. She lay on a pallet on the floor and the only other thing in the stark room was an uncovered pail that she assumed was to be her toilet.
Caidi was trying to focus past the pain and the pounding of her head to call Raven when the door was thrown open hard enough to make it crash into the pale wall and almost slam back in the face of the short, fat man who stood in the doorway. The man angrily shoved the door back open. Caidi recognized him as one of the Bavaok men. Raven would destroy this man. A young woman with limp red hair, blue eyes, and an ugly bruise across her face hurried into the room after the man, stopping at the doorway. She carried a bowl with a spoon in it.
Caidi was astounded that the Bavaok would try something this stupid. Raven had said that he had discovered that this group was small, made up of only a few families. They were in no way a match for Raven and the Shadatai warriors that now defended the pack. They should have just walked away with their lives.
“You are awake at last.” The fat man ran his small, brown eyes over her and his mouth curled into a leer. “Your new man will cooperate with us as long as we have you to guarantee his good behavior.”
He looked at her and seemed to expect some reply, but Caidi remained silent. She might have been stupid and inattentive earlier. She wouldn’t repeat her mistake.
“We need that cloth he has decided to deny us. He will give it to us or you will die. Does he think enough of you to give us the cloth?” The man didn’t wait for her to answer him.
He motioned the other woman into the room. His eyes ran over the woman with clear lust.
“I know that you won’t be going anywhere. Your current state will ensure that, although I am sure that there are men around who would love to offer you warmth. Your clothing has been burned. Don’t think that your new man will find you and rescue you. You aren’t even close to where we took you. We kept you drugged for a long time.” The man walked to the door, shutting it, leaving Caidi alone with the young woman.
The redheaded woman slowly walked over to Caidi and sat the bowl between them as she lowered herself to sit on the ground.
“Did he do that to you?” Caidi asked quietly.
The woman’s eyes skittered away uneasily, but she nodded. “I have some stew here for you to eat. It is hot and it tastes good, even if it isn’t what you were probably used to eating before they took you.”
“I’ve eaten a lot of stew before,” Caidi replied in a hushed voice with a shrug of her shoulders, indicating that any food was better than none. “My life isn’t that different from yours.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You need to eat this.” The woman swung her gaze back to Caidi.
“I usually eat relatively simple food. You aren’t like him, or any of his people. You don’t hate. How is it that you are here with him?”
“When I was younger, my mother married him, because he seemed nice and able to give us a good home. She is dead now. She died trying to birth his second child, killed by their stupid healers.” A tear ran down the woman’s cheek as she dipped the spoon into the stew and lifted it to Caidi’s lips.
“You’re afraid of him.” Caidi could smell the fear, but it was just as easy to read in her eyes, on her face. This woman had gone through trials in her short life.
The young woman took a deep breath and shuddered as if recalling something troubling. “I have been since my mother died. The way he looks at me sometimes as I do the work in his home makes me shiver and my stomach heave with revulsion. I lock my door at night and my dreams are of running away, finding freedom and safety, but I have to stay and care for my little sister. I can’t leave her with him and she is too small to take on such an uncertain journey.”
“I am Caidi.” She watched the woman who was stirring the soup and looking into the bowl as if it might provide her with a solution. “Is your little sister here with you?”
“No, she is at our village in the care of one of the women there. She will be safe until I get back.” The woman gave a forlorn sigh. “My name is Mandi.”
“Are we really not on Esden anymore or does the man lie?” Caidi pressed cautiously. She wasn’t going to ask for any help from the woman, but would take all the information she could get.
“We’re not on Esden, that I know for a fact. The men who took you met with us on a world called Mislan. After that, I was drugged and didn’t hear or see where we traveled. I would guess that we are far from both Esden and Mislan.” Mandi shrugged. “I think that he didn’t want me to be able to tell you where you were. He knows that I don’t agree with what he does.”
“What world is your village on?” Caidi asked with what she hoped sounded like mere curiosity. Mislan she knew was on the line toward Askara. Maybe the man had simply gone to a different area on his own planet.
“Acama.” Mandi rushed to caution Caidi, “My next-father is very drunk tonight. Please, don’t do anything to incite his anger. He doesn’t need a real reason, a word spoken against him, a look. He will hit you, hurt you and you must protect yourself and the baby you carry. I can’t protect you from him. He would only hurt both of us.”
Caidi gasped in surprise at the woman’s words that she was carrying a baby. She inhaled, trying to push past the fog of the drug that lingered in her body. Her senses were sluggish, but when she focused, she could tell, could sense the slight difference in her body that heralded a new life. There was only one group of people who would be able to diagnose a pregnancy with such ease at such an early time.
“You are Indiri?”
Caidi wanted to see if the woman would admit to the truth.
“Shh…” Mandi scooped up some stew and shoved it into Caidi’s mouth even as she tossed a frightened, almost panicked look over her shoulder toward the door. “He hates anyone, anything that is different. You know that that means you should be very careful. If he catches a glimpse of those marks on your back, he will kill you without question or thought.”
“If I were to escape during the night, while he has me locked securely in here, would he blame you?” Caidi slanted the woman a glance as she finished chewing. The sight of the malkit would be more than enough to infuriate someone who hated shifters.
“No, he will check your wrists, the ties, before I leave the room, but he will follow and kill you when he catches you, because he will know that you aren’t merely a human.” Mandi gave Caidi a startled glance.
“Maybe, maybe not.” Caidi grimaced. “I can’t stay here.”
“You are on the second floor and there is only a small window high on the wall and a securely barred door. If you disappear, he might think you are a demon, witch or worse, but he will kill you. Regardless of what he thinks you are, he will know that you aren’t human and thus deserve to die,” Mandi warned fervently.
Caidi nodded and was satisfied and relieved that the woman wouldn’t be hurt because of her escape. That was one thing she wouldn’t chance. The young woman had been kind to her and given her some wonderful news. In her mind, she felt indebted to Mandi.
She ate heartily of the stew. Staying here wasn’t an option. The man would eventually notice that she was different. It would be impossible to hide it from him for long. The look in his eye warned her. Sooner or later he would try to touch her, to rape her.
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