Pirate's Fortune

by Gun Brooke

  “Judge?” Reena scowled.

  “I’m getting too close.” Ayahliss swallowed repeatedly, knowing she was certainly out of her element. “I’m not used to this. I’m barely used to being friends with anyone, I mean, really friends. I’ve had comrades in arms, and the monks were my parental figures, sort of, but this…friendship thing, this family thing Dahlia has introduced me to, it’s confusing.”

  “And I confuse you too?”

  “You terrify me.”

  Reena tossed her head back, making her wild red curls tumble freely around her shoulders, and laughed, a not entirely happy sound. “I terrify you?” Shaking her head, Reena moved swiftly and unexpectedly, and Ayahliss found herself pinned to the corner between the couch’s arm and backrest. “You do more than that. Don’t you see?”

  Ayahliss did. She hadn’t until then, but now she did, with Reena hovering over her, looking like a forest creature from a fairy tale with her vivid colors and untamed expression.

  “I just can’t stay away from you, which really is too bad, because I’m too old for you and you are an innocent.”

  “Innocent?” Ayahliss didn’t understand. Surely Reena was aware of her past? “I’m hardly an innocent.”

  “Oh, but you are. I don’t mean in a legal sense. I’m sure you’ve broken more than one law working for the Gantharian resistance.” Reena ran the back of her hand down Ayahliss’s neck. “I mean like this. How many times have you been close to a lover?”

  A lover? Ayahliss drew a trembling breath. “Never.” Her body felt molten, liquid. Hot.

  “As I said. Innocent.” Reena brushed her lips along Ayahliss’s cheek. “I know you had other priorities, but I wonder why you haven’t explored this part of yourself.”

  “I’ve been busy going on missions for the resistance.” Ayahliss didn’t know why she felt so defensive.

  “That’s just it. I’ve found that being in and around danger makes for increased sexual desire.”

  “Is that what this is?”

  “Oh, darling, this is so much more.” The tenderness in Reena’s eyes seemed to emphasize the ferocity of how she pressed herself against Ayahliss.

  “Then show me.” Not sure where the courage to play this game Reena’s way came from, Ayahliss took firm hold of her waist and held Reena in place. “You seem determined to make your point, so make it.”

  *

  “Ayahliss.” Reena inhaled the clean scent of the young woman beneath her. “I can understand why you’d see it that way. I promise you, I’m not trying to make a point. You make it sound like I’m trying to win an argument. I’m not.”

  “Aren’t you?” Ayahliss gasped for air. “Aren’t you trying to prove you can win?”

  “Win what?” Bewildered at the anguish she detected behind Ayahliss’s brave words, Reena cupped her chin. “If I’m trying to win anything, it’s only your affection. Your loving affection.”

  Ayahliss blinked, a slow dip of long blue-black lashes over eyes nearly the same color. “Affection?”

  “Yes.” Reena tried for a self-deprecating smile. “I desire you, your physical affection as well.” She slipped one hand around Ayahliss’s neck and felt dampness at her hairline. Caressing the smooth skin, Reena reveled in how Ayahliss’s expression changed. She had suspected that Ayahliss was governed by her emotions, and this confirmed it. No doubt Ayahliss felt trapped by their mutual attraction, and now that Reena had her physically cornered, she was beginning to give in to her impulses.

  A small internal voice whispered that this wasn’t fair to Ayahliss, that Reena was manipulating her for her own carnal pleasure. It’s not true! I love her! Reena furiously pulled Ayahliss into her arms as she answered her internal saboteur. Holding her breath, she stopped moving, shocked by her revelation. The unspoken words had sneaked up on her, and now that she’d thought them, in a sense professed to loving Ayahliss, if only to herself, she couldn’t go back.

  “Reena?” Ayahliss looked up from where Reena held her tucked into her shoulder.

  “Oh, sweet soul, I have you.” The desire was still there, red hot, but she also felt an overshadowing tenderness. Reena caressed Ayahliss’s hair and looked into those amazing eyes. “May…may I kiss you?”

  “Yes.” Ayahliss closed her eyes slowly as Reena lowered her head and covered Ayahliss’s lips with her own. The sweetness and the scorching heat intoxicated her. Reena was as gentle as possible, given that she had wanted this woman ever since she had come to her and Armeo’s rescue on Corma months ago. Now she parted Ayahliss’s lips and slipped her tongue inside her mouth.

  Ayahliss moaned and threw her arms around Reena’s neck. She clung to Reena, digging her fingers into the red curls. “Reena…”

  “Sweet soul.” Reena ran her lips down her neck, startled when Ayahliss whimpered and shifted next to her. Suddenly, Reena was on her back on the couch, Ayahliss on top of her. Her clothes were being torn and pushed to the side as Ayahliss seemed to blindly fight for access.

  “Ayahliss. Please.” Reena had herself to blame. She had disregarded Ayahliss’s tormented state of mind and only managed to add fuel to the flames. Ayahliss was just trying to extinguish them as best as she knew how. Reena was turned on and afraid, but not for her own sake. For Ayahliss’s. “Listen to me, darling. Listen.” Lowering her voice, Reena tried to reach Ayahliss, who in turn was close to her goal of undressing Reena. “Ayahliss?”

  “This it?” Ayahliss growled and nibbled her way across Reena’s chest. “This is what you wanted, right?”

  “Yes. And no.” Passive now, Reena sensed her treacherous body give in to the heated caresses, and when Ayahliss reached naked skin, Reena knew it wouldn’t take much for her to climax. “Don’t…don’t be angry with me, Ayahliss?” Searing, pulsating heat coursed through Reena, and when Ayahliss touched her breasts, she cried out and arched, shameless in her state of arousal. Still, a part of her was unable to give in to the fire raging in her belly and her limbs. She took hold of Ayahliss’s arms and shook her. “Ayahliss, please.”

  Suddenly still, hardly breathing, Ayahliss lay on top of her, her face buried in Reena’s hair. Reena waited a few moments, trying to prepare for the harsh words she was sure were bubbling to the surface within the volatile young woman in her arms.

  “Reena?”

  Ayahliss’s tear-drenched voice cut Reena to the core. She hugged Ayahliss fiercely, not caring that she was almost naked after Ayahliss’s frenzied caresses.

  “Sweet soul. I have you.” Reena echoed her words of only minutes ago. “Come here. See? Touch me. I need your hands. I need you to keep me warm. You’re so beautiful, inside and out. I can’t bear the thought of you getting hurt when we deploy.”

  Ayahliss raised her head and looked into Reena’s eyes. “You do? Need me? My touch?”

  “Everything about you,” Reena said, her voice husky. “Everything. Your soul. Your gorgeous body. Your brilliant mind. Your passion.”

  “I hurt you.”

  “Right now? No.” I hurt you. I pushed you. “I’m sorry. I went too far.” Reena ran her thumb across Ayahliss’s lower lip. “It was wrong.”

  “What if it was?” Ayahliss spoke quietly and trembled, a faint reverberating tremor that traveled over to Reena. “What if it was wrong? Now you have to make it right.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You say it was wrong, and you aroused me to a point where I nearly ended up hurting you. I still ache for you and I don’t know what to do about it. You have to make it right again.” Ayahliss’s tone was tinged with despair, yet she also sounded calm and accepting.

  Reena tried to understand. “I aroused you?”

  “Yes.” The word was little more than a whimper.

  “And it scares you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” Reena whispered, gently framing Ayahliss’s face with her hands.

  “Because I need to be with you. Be right for you. H’rea deasavh, I burn, and I don’t know how to stop it,
or what to do about it!”

  “Gods, Ayahliss.” Horrified at the torment emanating from Ayahliss, Reena disregarded her own nudity and wrapped her arms and legs around her. “Come here. Listen. You don’t need to do anything. I’ve pushed you too far, too fast. I let my own fears rule because the thought of you going into battle, of you being in danger when you go planetside…it ripped away my ability to think clearly. Ayahliss, sweet soul, please, tell me what you need. I promise you, anything you need is fine. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “I tore your clothes. I was violent. Again. Kellen…she…I obviously haven’t learned a thing.” Ayahliss tried to get up, but Reena knew that if she let her go now, something would break between them irreparably. She held on, thinking desperately of something to say, or do, that might reach Ayahliss.

  “Don’t go. I need you. I don’t give a damn about the clothes. I need you to stay. Please.” Reena pulled Ayahliss closer. “I need you to kiss me. Your lips against mine…I’ve never felt anything like it. You steal my breath away and I’ve dreamed of you, of us, like this.”

  “Of me?” Ayahliss froze, but stopped trying to get up. “How, I mean, I don’t understand what you see in me. You’re so amazing, and you’re powerful. Famous, even.”

  “Fame and power don’t warm my heart, or my bed.” Reena cringed at her words, but Ayahliss smiled shyly.

  “So you’re saying, despite being hung up on the age difference, you find me exciting enough to warm your bed?” Ayahliss raised an eyebrow, but relaxed against Reena.

  “Gods, no, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that.” Reena groaned. “I just wanted to make you understand how lonely it can be, power and reputation be damned.”

  “I was being facetious.” Ayahliss pushed Reena’s hair to the side, exposing her breasts in the process. “Oh.”

  “I haven’t really asked you if you find women attractive.” Reena ignored a sudden urge to cover her bare skin.

  “No, you haven’t.” Ayahliss studied Reena slowly, her eyes roaming across the abundant hair, her face, and down her torso. “I mean, I hadn’t really thought about attraction in a sexual or a romantic sense until I met you. When we talked aboard the court ship, when you took care of me and Armeo, I was stunned, and confused, at how I felt.”

  “And how was that?”

  “I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to touch you. Like this.” Ayahliss caressed Reena’s long, curly locks. She gently ran her fingers through them, held them against her cheek.

  “Oh, sweet soul.” Reena blinked against the burning tears. “Kiss me?”

  Not saying anything, Ayahliss lowered herself onto Reena, this time slowly, deliberately, and pressed her lips against hers. Reena kept her mouth closed to begin with, but after a while that wasn’t enough. She didn’t want to rush Ayahliss, but she needed more. Slowly, she opened her mouth, letting her tongue dart into Ayahliss’s, teasing her.

  “Mmm.” Humming, Ayahliss followed Reena’s lead. She slipped her tongue into Reena’s mouth, and when Reena softly sucked it farther in, the tremors started again. Reena stroked Ayahliss’s back, over and over, as the deep, probing kiss seemed to go on forever. Eventually they parted, both panting for air. Reena, who until now had considered herself too cynical and blasé for romance, was astounded that a mere kiss could affect her so.

  “Reena.” Ayahliss slid sideways off Reena, and the cool air in her quarters made her skin pucker. “You are so beautiful. I apologize. I bruised you.” She covered Reena’s right breast with her hand. “Does it hurt?”

  “What? No. Of course not. You didn’t hurt me. I bruise easily, and it’s normal that lovers leave marks on each other in the heat of the moment.”

  “Lovers?” Ayahliss’s voice caught. “We’re lovers?”

  “Not yet.”

  “But we will be?”

  “If you want to.” Reena couldn’t believe how weak Ayahliss made her feel. And afraid.

  “I still don’t quite understand, but I want to be your lover, Reena. I want to be with you and…” Ayahliss pressed her body close to Reena’s, rubbing against her with a disarmingly innocent expression of desire and confusion. “I ache inside for you.”

  “Then let me help you.” Promising herself that this was all that would happen tonight, Reena tenderly pulled Ayahliss onto her shoulder. She pushed her hand in between them, cupping Ayahliss’s sex gently, on the outside of her clothes. The telltale gasp proved she had found the origin of Ayahliss’s ache. “Tell me if you want me to stop, but I think I know how to help you, sweet soul.” Reena rubbed Ayahliss’s hot center and the faint undulations were encouraging. “That’s it, darling.” Soon Ayahliss was trembling and whimpering against her.

  “It burns. It’s getting worse,” Ayahliss whispered. “Oh, I can’t stand it. I don’t know what to do.”

  The mere fact that Ayahliss felt inept was probably part of her true torment. Reena hadn’t planned to take it further, but Ayahliss needed more. Deftly, Reena slipped her fingers through the opening in the front of Ayahliss’s coveralls. The underwear was made of thin non-woven cotton Reena pushed aside and out of the way. When she discovered a sparse tuft of hair and drenched, swollen folds, Reena was shocked at her own reaction.

  She was ignited, and moisture flooded her. “You’re so wet and ready,” she said in a strained voice. Moaning, she let one finger glide into the wetness, careful not to penetrate Ayahliss. She wasn’t sure about Gantharian women’s physiology, or how painful a first insertion might be. Wanting nothing but pleasure for Ayahliss, she was relieved to find a swollen and, as it turned out, very sensitive clitoris. Reena felt her own respond immediately as she caressed around Ayahliss’s sex, and the sobbing moans and whimpers, so sexy and innocent, made Reena clench her teeth.

  “Reena. I need to touch you too.” Gasping, Ayahliss ran a shaking hand along Reena’s stomach.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!” The frenzy in Ayahliss’s response made Reena think perhaps this felt too one-sided to her.

  “Give me your hand.”

  Ayahliss readily complied.

  “Just apply pressure here, and maybe rub a little.” For some reason, these instructions made Reena’s cheeks burn as she placed Ayahliss’s hand between her own legs, on the outside of her trousers. “Ah…like so, yes.”

  “Hot.” Ayahliss rubbed against Reena with her body and her hand in unison.

  Reena wondered if she might even climax before Ayahliss. Having her arms full of an amorous, aroused Gantharian warrior, so beautiful, so brilliant in her own way, how could she resist?

  “Reena!” Startled blue-black eyes bored into Reena’s, then closed as Ayahliss’s orgasm drenched Reena’s fingers. The slick folds rhythmically fluttered and added pressure between her legs; Reena climaxed too.

  “Oh!” Reena wrapped her free arm around Ayahliss and held her tight as they crashed through the unbearable sweetness together. Wave after wave, the much-needed release took the last of her breath. Eventually, Reena got her breathing under control and found that Ayahliss had somehow managed to reverse their positions. As it turned out, lying with her head on Ayahliss’s shoulder was quite wonderful and just where she wanted to be.

  “That was fantastic, and so unexpected.” Ayahliss’s formal words would’ve been amusing if she hadn’t sounded so reverent and loving.

  “I agree. ‘Unexpected’ is the word.”

  “I felt your climax as much as my own.” Ayahliss yawned. “I apologize.”

  “Just close your eyes. Soon enough we have to get up, but not yet.”

  “Good.” Ayahliss settled against the pillows and the armrest. “You rest also.”

  “I will.” Reena knew she wouldn’t sleep. She intended to lie here and watch this stunningly beautiful woman and revel in the strong sensations that had taken hold of her. So many feelings, and so strong. Like love. Love? Reena had to close her eyes hard for a moment to not flinch and disturb Ayahliss. Love was dangerous in an armed confli
ct. If a person thought too much about love and matters of the heart, she lost her focus. She would not be able to do her job if she worried about such things. Still, as much as Reena nudged at the concept of love to remove it from her mind, it lingered. Eventually she gave in and, with a deep sigh, she had to surrender completely and admit it to herself. She was deeply and irrevocably in love with Ayahliss, Gantharian Protector in training and resistance fighter.

  Chapter Twelve

  Weiss would always remember how cold she felt when Madisyn’s words struck her like a fist below her ribs. She gasped and recoiled, as if putting more distance between them would make it easier. Twice, pirates had destroyed Madisyn’s life. Weiss didn’t dare examine why this cruelty hit her so hard, when she had been the one delivering blows and robbing people of their possessions for so long. Granted, she had never indulged in random or gratuitous violence, but she had impacted people’s lives in similar ways.

  Madisyn looked at her with dry, indifferent eyes, but the tremors in her hands revealed how affected she was. Slender, with her unruly blond hair, she was beautiful, something Weiss had credited to her inventors. Now that she knew Madisyn was made to look like her own organic body, the synthetic one seemed less artificial.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Weiss murmured. Part of her was sick inside, and another part wanted to slide over and hold Madisyn tight. This uncharacteristic impulse made her feel even more ill at ease.

  “Not much to say. This is my life. I’ve made it my business to fight piracy in any way I can. Right now, it serves my purpose to work for SC intelligence, but if I find it doesn’t, I’ll resign and do it some other way.”

  “I see.” Wetting her dry lips, Weiss tried to avert her eyes, to give herself some respite from her ache when she met Madisyn’s gaze. It was impossible.

  “I lost my mother much the same way when I was ten.” Shocked at her own revelation, Weiss tried to clench her teeth around her words, take them back.