"Aisling?"
I'm not ready to talk to anyone. But he wasn't going away. Nor was my blood lust. I had to think of something fast. I looked at him sideways.
Mart wore Lehd's thoughtful expression.
My hands shook.
Crap. I pulled up my knees and locked my arms around them, tucking my hands into my elbows.
"You're angry at Borun?"
What an odd question. "Wouldn't you be?"
"He is Luvk. It's our way."
"The Luvk way to abandon a mate?" I snorted. "I left a planet full of males like that behind." Okay, maybe I was stretching the truth to a generalization. But these warriors seemed to think I was naïve. And I didn't blame Borun for escorting his sister. Borun helped a weaker female who probably faced one of the hardest things to happen to her in her life. Like me. But I couldn't afford to let Mart think I wasn't angry.
Mart's black eyebrows pinched together. "You've mentioned this from time to time. What do you mean?"
Telling him probably was cruel. Shocking. Why do I want to? Did the answer matter? I was being forced to change my worldview. "I never knew my father. He left my pregnant mother to scrounge for food and housing. To give birth to me and rear me alone. That isn't easy to forget."
Mart blinked and leaned upon the pillows at my side with enough ease to appear reclining at ease with his boots stretched out toward the fire. "This world you speak of once sounded so exemplary. But now all I hear is disconcerting. Females study war. Males do not care for their younglings? How can there be any logic if neither males nor females know where their duties lie?"
That's culture shock.
"These males you speak of have no honor." He sighed and hooked a finger at me, calling me over conspiratorially.
What did he want? What would he do? And now I was trapped with them. Alone. All five of my Royal Guards. Without Borun to cut them off at the pass. Just how do I hide my shaking hands? Or my goddamned pounding heart? Even worse, just what did Borun tell them before he left?
He kept signaling me to lean over.
Alright. What would happen? He'll be the gentleman or won't. And the way my hands are shaking, either would do. I carefully canted toward him.
He just laid there, propped upon his elbow, leather-encased legs crossed where they thrust away from his body.
That wild dark hair. Those black leather pants. He was darkness. And I was falling into him. God he was gorgeous. And I'm so damned weak. I managed to plant an elbow beside his and arched my brow inquisitively.
He moved his nose to within two inches of mine. "I don't trust Lehd," he whispered. "He's soft. Vulnerable to your smiles."
He was not going to attack poor Lehd. "You're awful. He's a big puppy. Bigger than you. He'd snap you like a twig if he knew you said that."
He snorted and extended a palm. "Give me your hand."
What in the hell for? "Maybe I'd rather give it to Lehd."
He just waited with his palm ready.
Obviously unaffected by my insult. Why not? How could the day get any worse? I placed my hand against his warm skin.
He curled his fingers around my palm. "That wasn't so bad. Was it?"
My heart took a nose dive and raced enough to answer for me.
He was such a wily pirate type.
"You're shaking, Aisling."
What went through his mind? "I'm not afraid of you if that's what you're thinking." Just afraid of myself. Of giving into the enormous fear of losing control.
"Borun explained to me what was happening to you."
Not what I wanted to hear. But his damned hand felt so good. All that warm supportive skin. I just stared at the black stripes forming exotic points down the sides of his wrist.
His finger alighted under my chin and tugged my gaze back to meet his. "Tell me what you require to be comfortable, and you will have it."
Those gentle silver eyes begged I relent. Entreated me to cross over the line and just give into my soul's quaking message. "I need my mate here with me. And he's abandoned me."
"No." He shook his head, making his loose hair wag around his dark beard. "Borun will return. If he doesn't, I'll take my life to avoid seeing I lied to you."
My heart pattered in his defense.
No. I wouldn't let him kill his adoring self.
His fingers slid around my jaw line to gently cup my face. "I'll prove to you Luvk males are not like Earth males, that our mates are our very reason for existence." His fingers tickled into the hairs behind my ear, and his gaze followed where they wandered.
He sighed so softly I couldn't breathe.
Just make that beautiful sound again. I watched him study me. Waiting.
"We have so little here, Aisling," he whispered, running his other palm over the back of my hand to curl his fingers around my wrist and stroked my skin with a delicate flick of his fingers. His gaze slid back to mine. "So little." He leaned forward.
Closer and closer. His hand in my hair cupped my head.
Holding me while he brushed his soft lips against mine.
My heart liquefied.
Every part of my body ached to touch that mouth that gently worshipped mine. The mouth opening to me. The tongue tempting me to slip into the coma of him. My soul ached to dive into his. Pleaded with me touch his hair.
My fingers wove into the kinks of his silken tresses. Searched for something to hold onto. Anything to keep him there in reverence of our kiss.
The universe shifted and whirled with the moist heat of his mouth.
But he didn't disappear. I felt his iron body stretch the length of mine as his tongue explored my mouth, sucking on my tongue.
My soul gushed out of me so quickly I dared not release his, or I'd be doomed to dissolve into nothingness. I wanted him so badly that I couldn't move. Dared not open my eyes to find all of this a sick joke. Worse than Borun's departure. I hid in the darkness behind my eyelids.
"Aisling," he whispered against the corner of my mouth. "Do you want me to stop touching you?"
God don't. I slid a palm around his supple arm to his back and latched onto his harness strap. "No," I gasped into the darkness.
His mouth scorched kisses along my jaw to my ear. "No more fear," he whispered. "I'll take care of you, sweet one." His lips retreated.
He backed away.
What happened? I opened my eyes.
Brilliant light showered us where I laid against his body under his scrutiny.
Yes, he'd take care of me. And if he didn't hurry, I'd be the one doing the caretaking.
* * * *
Mart feared the wild racing of Aisling's heart would send her bolting for the forest if he slid his hands down the curves he'd fantasized about touching since he first laid eyes upon her. Since she'd chosen me as her consort, he gulped down a growl. But her beauty finally rested in my arms. Almost on my rigid manhood. And if she made the slightest move, she'd certainly realize the kind of care I offered.
Oh her divine mouth barely gaped at me, sucking shallow breaths into soothe her soul. The soul that had escaped my touch for so agonizingly long. What would she allow of me this first time I held her? By her grip on my harness, she wasn't going to let me get away. Not like her foolish Marshal.
Her grip tightened on my leather strap, pulling, until she slid across my body to straddle my waist.
She stared down at me.
Blessed stars, just to touch her. But touching meant she might bolt.
She yanked at her hair pulled up neatly behind her head. The mass suddenly fell into one cascading waterfall of pure white waves. Her sky blue eyes watched me through the gently curtaining hair, the silk.
Gods to touch it. I almost had to sit on my hands to control the urge. Just not to frighten her.
Her hands fell to her waist to yank her white shirt over her head.
Nothing was more beautiful than the feminine white top she hid beneath her clothing. Somehow, her people wove flowers along the edges of what appeared to be a fe
male's breeding shirt. And I couldn't wait for the news to leak out that she carried younglings. Her exquisite body in breeding garb would set the seven realms into chaos. We'd all have better things to do than sit around a guard's lodge and discuss writing.
"Mart." She grabbed my hand and lifted it toward her. "Give me your finger."
Anything she asked.
"Here." She tucked my fingertip between the curves of her breast, the sweetest curves I'd ever touch, beneath a small hard square, using her fingers to pull up my thumb and show me how the mechanism opened with a pinch, revealing the luscious bulges of the undersides of her breasts.
"You'll need to know that," she whispered.
The blood pounded in my manhood. And I couldn't breathe. Waiting any longer to touch her would be torture. To shove back that garment and cup those splendid mounds…
"Touch me, Mart. I'm yours."
The world slipped away. All that existed was Aisling. Her curves. Her shower of hair brushing my skin where she sat upon my waist as I slid my hands beneath the opening of her top. Along the rise of her sweetest curves.
Her eyes shut and her head leaned back.
Nothing was more beautiful than my mate in my hands. Except the feel of the rough beads of her taut nipples against my palms. Gods to roll her over and ravish her. But I didn't want to scare her after the days I'd spent trying to secure her friendship. Anything to reassure her I wasn't a beast she undoubtedly thought I was compared to the males back on Earth.
She arched her soft mounds into my hands, then leaned over, pushing my palms down. Down until she crouched over my body, those beaded nipples barely scraping my chest. Now who was the beast?
How could any warrior just lie here and wait for his prey? But the trap was what hunting was all about. She will be mine after this.
Her crystalline gaze locked on mine in the hungriest look I'd ever seen from a female. She crawled up to stare into my eyes, pressing the tip of her nose against mine. Her gaze raked across my face, to my mouth, where she suddenly devoured it with the heat of her own.
Hot. Ravenous. Everything about her kiss made me yearn to rip off my leathers and lie her on her back.
Her beautiful face backed away. She almost pouted with confusion. "I need you, Mart."
I'd been released from my shackles. I slid my hands down her lean back. Down the curves to her hard little ass, to press her groin into my aching manhood, and shoved up to stare into her eyes. We sat, measuring each other, until my swollen shaft throbbed against her.
Her eyes closed so slowly as if the anticipation of what I could do to her ate at her being. Her smooth hands slid up my chest into my hair where she pulled me down to stare at her, nose to nose. "I need you inside me, Mart."
No warrior could refuse her. I curled her legs around my waist. Their tightening demanded I comply. I rose, lifting her, carrying her to the sleeping skins. Borun's, yes. But the fool had left.
One of her palms slid down to my shoulder where she began to agonizingly pet my body.
Not for long. I yanked off her boot.
She fumbled with her pants.
She was more than willing. I yanked off the rest of the boots between us and unbuttoned my leathers.
She rose onto her knees and reached to pull them down. "You're built like a god." Her hot palms slid onto my waist and beneath my pants. "Strong and glorious."
She'd better get my accursed leathers off.
Slowly, she pushed my pants down with the sides of her hands, running her palms down the length of both of my legs, stopping, planting that sucking mouth on my thigh.
She could be my goddess.
My knees buckled. I kicked off my leathers and knelt at her side. She grabbed my hand, laid back, pulling my hand with her, luring me along. I could either just take her quick or try to slowly suffer in making love to her.
"Mart!" she growled where her hair pooled around her head like a cloud.
The little queen. I couldn't help but chuckle.
"What is it with you warriors torturing your mates?" She spread her legs.
The word mate was all it took to land me inside a volcano where the heat squeezed at my hard shaft in such an intoxicating way I wanted to explode like the Smoking Lands. I drove hard and deep into Aisling's wetness.
She moaned and writhed, her hands gripping my ass with so much strength I almost choked.
She snaked her legs around my waist.
When did a female respond so willingly? I paused and stared down into her blue eyes.
"Mart!"
That demanding tone only made my body throb. I slid a hand along her inflexible arm to her rigid wrist. "I'm not going anywhere, sweet one. Ease up on your grip. I want to take my time." At least attempt to. We had ten days to figure out how to get used to making love like civilized people.
She sighed and her legs slid away, her palms dancing across my muscles. "There's a difference between taking your time and doing nothing at all."
Yes, there was. "I can't read your mind, Aisling. I can only fear I'm frightening you."
She rose to plant a soft kiss on my upper arm, watching me with her gaze. "From now on, remember I'm not afraid of you. I need you." She settled back onto the sleeping furs and matched my pumping with her small hips.
Need was a relative term. Especially in my case, I needed to furiously thrust along the channel of her hot vise. To drape her panting form with my completely satiated body. To… I couldn't stop pounding into pleasure.
She yanked at my halter on my back and cried out over and over.
Her body suddenly shuddered around my pulsing shaft. But she never stopped matching my movements. Never let go of me. She rode me extracting every drop of my seed from my body until I could do nothing but barely shove into her delicious heat and growl.
A blue light flashed between our bodies.
Only for the length of one breath.
And she sighed, watching me, clutching a fistful of my harness.
I dare not move. Not speak. For something passed between us. Something vaguely connected to that light.
Her fingers released the strap at my shoulder.
Blessed stars, I didn't want her to let me go. Nor would she get away. I bent my stiff elbows, sinking down atop her panting breast and tucked my arms around her.
Her hair smelled of meadow flowers where my nose rested against her ear.
She turned her gaze to me. "Thank you."
I'd never in all my days heard my mother express her gratitude. But Aisling wasn't a queen. "You don't ever have to thank me, sweet one."
"Isn't there some law about touching?"
Yes. But we were alone and she was ill. And we were mates. I nodded.
She slid a palm along my cheek. "Thank you for pushing me. I felt like I was going to die."
* * * *
Something niggled at the back of Aisling's mind while she scoured the Luvk scrolls with Mart later that night. He'd been more than adequate in bed once he'd loosened up and just run with his wants and desires. Two more times… And with the translation of the text, he'd slowly helped me reconstruct a scant lattice of Luvk history. But so many details were left to my imagination. And imaginations could get an archaeologist into trouble. I needed to look at the history a different way. "You really don't have any maps? Or do you keep those for yourself?"
"Just a moment." Mart scanned the others sitting around us, rose, and disappeared into the shadows beyond the fire pit.
Lehd stretched out upon his sleeping skins, one knee propped up with an arm rested upon it. Too sexy. He watched me with a hint of curiosity.
Or was that longing he shot my direction from the shadows? I hadn't thought much beyond lying with Mart in my furs. Mart had saved me from blood lust. He'd even proven genuine and loving. But now I faced the fact that the others would feel rejected. Especially Lehd. I'd probably always have a soft spot for him. I suppose I'd have to let him touch that soft spot. Later. When my hands started shaking.
&
nbsp; Lehd just stared a hole through me as if he dared me to deny him his turn.
My heart sank into my gut, and a chill feathered through me.
He could not be denied.
Wouldn't.
Mart stepped between our gazes.
One muscled mass replacing another. I blinked to get back to business.
Mart unfolded a few leather scrolls and stacked the curling hides upon the table. "What do you want to know?"
Jesus. He had hidden a mountain of information. "Everything."
He chuckled a sexy sound deep inside his chest.
Another chill skittered through me.
These men were so damned seductive. Maybe that's why Queens took so many consorts. They couldn't choose just one. But there has to be some logic behind self-control and one mate. Or the standard mating system wouldn't have worked so well back on Earth.
Mart pulled one hide out of the stack. "Here are the realms."
Realms were good. "Can I write on this map?"
One of his black eyebrows arched.
Maybe he didn't want me to mark up his treasure. "I just want to add layers."
He sank in the chair beside me. "Of course."
That reply resonated with reluctance. "If you have something I can write on, I'll gladly make my own."
"No. What's mine is yours." He shot me a sparkling grin.
Dark and dastardly. Or just a bit territorial as if he knew exactly what Lehd had been up to while he foraged for maps. But Lehd had a lot of work to do to walk in Mart's boots after the way Mart made love to me.
"Well, then, where are the ruins?" I asked.
"I don't have a map of them."
Ruins must hold little significance to the Luvks. "Let's make one."
He nodded. "I know the general location of most ancient cities."
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