He measured me. My actions. My motives. Lehd was youngest. But Ovh had to be much older. Wiser. And, God, the raging torment from celibacy that he must harbor after years of or even decades of leading his mother's Royal Guard.
He stripped down to his incredibly perfect birthday suit with his back to me at the pool's edge and slowly stepped down onto the ledge. The pool's light danced upon every line, angle, and curve of his exquisite musculature.
Oh, muscles. Goro had to know they were my weakness bringing me to Luvk.
My heart sank into the cold stone floor.
"I'm not young and brash like Lehd." He stepped off the ledge, falling into the water only to burst forth in a spray of droplets. He wiped his face and black hair to the back of his head, plowed across the pool to turn, leaning back against the pool's rim with both arms stretched out to anchor him to the curved edge, his gaze locking on me. "I'm not self-serving like Mart. And I'll never be your Borun."
So much implication grounded that vague declaration. "I don't expect you to be like them." In fact, the more different the better. I'd have my various sources of information and emotional support. Luvk could suck a person dry with all its issues. And since the blood lust was calling, I could prove it to Ovh. I slipped my robe to the ground over my boots, stepped out of my panties, and dropped my bra onto the pile before turning back to his watchful stare.
What whirled behind the glowing veil he had for eyes? How old was he? How long had he been tortured with abstinence? He exhibited no sign he desired me. But any man who'd lived as long as he had under the circumstances he did would be completely capable of masking his emotions. So the truth of their war masks purpose finally surfaced. I stepped off the pool's edge into the warm lapping water of the ledge.
He didn't flinch.
Age did make a man wiser. I planted my butt on the cold hard pool's rim with my knees tightly clamped together and stared him down.
One of us would win this shootout. Albeit, he's got the gun. Hell, I'm not a Luvk. I don't even know where to begin defending myself on this planet.
"You're not like the Queens," he murmured.
"I said I wasn't. And I still don't wish to be."
He stood, shoving his elbows over and behind his head so far everyone in the other rooms could hear the sinew pop in his body. He stretched like a waking cat then crossed through the pool's shushing water to leap up to retrieve soap.
Oh my. My. My. I tried not to gape. But the orange males packed a mighty enormous gun.
My hands shook like a gun meter.
I snaked the traitorous bastards around my knees and pulled my chest down to hide my bare breasts.
Albeit, his gun was locked and loaded. If he wanted me, he didn't need do a thing to convey that message. Rushing this one on anything was stupid. He'd take what he wanted like Borun. If he wanted it.
He hopped back into the bubbling water and slid his gaze to where I obviously crouched. "Have I frightened you?"
Not really. Just intimidated me a little. "No."
He shoved the water aside as his broad chest and bulging arms headed toward me in the pool.
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Chapter Twenty-Three
Ovh headed straight toward Aisling where she sat upon the pool's rim with her feet in the water. His focused gaze and steady stride meant he thought of something. And I was offering, she thought. Yes. I was. And he could have whatever he wanted.
He halted before me, reaching, grabbing me under the arms with his big strong hands, and lowered me down to sit in the gurgling water covering the pool's seat. "You didn't seem so shy before." He pressed his hips against my legs.
All of his hips. Steely gun and all. Maybe I better come clean because this man wasn't one for playing games. "I understand now."
His black eyebrows arched.
"Why Luvk warriors do what they do. Why they protect the females." I placed a palm over his warm beating heart and stared into his eyes. "There's not one warrior on my home world who has the strength I've seen a Luvk wield." I slid my palm up across his supple skin, over the stiff leather strap of his harness, up his sinewy neck, to the softness of his wet black hair.
He never blinked, just watched me.
"But I don't want anyone else to die for me. Nor do I do want any of you to feel unwanted. Or dirty because of your stripes."
My hand trembled in his hair.
"You're shaking, Aisling. Have I done something to frighten you?"
I released my grip on his body and held my hands out between us.
The water's flurry of motion concealed the telltale movement of my blood lust tremors.
He took both my hands in his warm palms and rubbed his thumbs across my knuckles. "Aisling?" His gaze pleaded with me. "Tell me what I've done to frighten you."
He could have me forever and always at that moment. "It's from my pregnancy." God, I was so disgusting with my need. Hopefully this rational man would understand even though I had to bend the truth. "It's called blood lust. And the only way to keep me from being ill is to…" I couldn't just look into those intelligent eyes and quasi-confess. So, I stared at his consoling hold of my hands. "Is to mate."
He pulled my arms wide, into an embrace that shook my reality like an earthquake, and he latched onto my neck with his hot sucking mouth.
Damn, these men and the way they kissed. All-consuming. Possessively.
If I hadn't been so quickly swept into the circle of his arms, I would have already lost my ability to think. To perceive. So, I knew he hadn't sucked the breath out of me when I arched my neck back to offer him every inch of my skin for easy access. And when I sighed, it was in relief and not that he'd released some lever and drained me of the pressure building from my blood lust.
But Ovh got all the glory for both.
His broad hands held my back, lowering me enough to nip and suck my unruly nipples into long peaks, over and over, he worked one then the other as if fascinated by them. Or starving for something my body wouldn't give him. Then he finally covered my mouth with his soft hungry lips and thrust his fingers into my hair, holding my gaping mouth to his.
His tongue possessed me, claimed me the only way a lover's can.
I was so damned wet sitting in that water. So damned ready to feel him slide his gun inside me. To shoot my soul. I opened my knees, sliding my hands down to the curve of his iron back and grabbed two handfuls of steely ass.
He growled low and possessively, making my soul ache for his deep penetration.
Hurry.
He grabbed me into the air and moved so quickly that I don't think my racing heart managed a beat. We were on the furs. Me splayed out beneath his shadowy silhouette etched by the pool's light. His hands landed on my inner thighs, sliding down, down to where he stole my breath away. His thumbs caressed circles into where my legs joined my groin, among the tight curls of my pubic hair.
I shivered in the darkness, dropping my knees to the sleeping furs, giving my soul to him.
If only he'd seize it.
I couldn't see anything but a hunched form between my legs and those two glowing embers of his eyes. Watching me. Not my dancing hips. He watched my body writhe from his touch. Then his gaze slipped away into the darkness of the room.
Just take me, Ovh.
His dark form lowered, and his warm tongue slid between my delicate folds, tickling, tracing a path along their seam.
I'd die if he didn't get to work.
He threaded his thumbs into the seam and splayed my sex to the universe.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think about anything but what he wasn't doing.
Just devour me.
His hot mouth latched onto my clit with such sucking force I came off the furs to prop my arms up behind me and watch his golden eyes as one of the biggest warriors I'd ever seen knelt between my legs. He made my hips rock with so much force I thought I'd launch to the moon. He took me riding through the inky blackness of a need. Right up to the shining burst of orgasm where stars exploded behind my
eyelids.
I collapsed upon the furs.
A dark threatening growl rolled around the room.
I felt the heat of his body as he crawled one hand after another over my body, never gracing me with one delicate whisk of his firm muscle.
Aging apparently did nothing to the Luvk male's body.
He nuzzled my ear, his growl gurgling until a rash of gooseflesh set off another wave of my fevered desire.
Somehow I lifted a hand to his loose locks and held his head where that possessive growl could speak to me. I turned to his ear. "You'll always be mine."
One of his arms locked under one of my knees. He turned my body slightly, rolling my hips toward him where he leaned on one elbow, and slowly pushed the smooth tip of his thick cock inside my aching channel. Loudly sucking in a breath. Inch by glorious inch, he claimed me as his, with a death grip on my ass that would be as deeply engrained upon my memory as my womb would forever yearn for reliving this moment.
He rolled my hips back to the furs and shoved me with the intoxicating softness of his root against my tender aching flesh.
God, I wanted him again and again.
Or the blood lust drove my hunger.
I slid my hands around his panting sides and up to his harness where I snatched up two handholds of stiff damp leather straps. And matched the rocking of his hips with mine.
He withdrew and thrust until a wave of consuming heat in my core warned I was facing the blinding orgasm without him. Not yet. He had to cross that line with me. I raked a handful of fingers into his hair, pulling his sweaty brow down to mine, to where his hot breath pummeled my skin, and I looked into those glowing eyes. "Ride me like your war beast, Ovh. Hard. Fast."
His growl rumbled to life like he kick-started his engine.
Nothing felt like Ovh unleashing his inner beast. He rocked my hips and stoked my flames with such unabashed fury that I had to snake my legs around his waist to hold onto him just so I could slip back into the dangerously delectable darkness that made me gasp and scream.
Once my bucking hips synchronized with his movements, the tsunami of release rushed toward me. I couldn't run or turn back from the smothering threat of rapture. Even Ovh's arms strained to hold him in position where it was obvious he wanted to flex his back and roar. But I had a grip on the back of his harness. So he looked into my eyes and went rigid inside me. Throbbing. Jerking. Honoring me with his singeing seed.
One day I'd nurture one kernel into the child of his heart and never let him forget he was a real man worthy of fatherhood. I ground my hips against his luscious hardness, shuddering each time he touched me there.
He began thrusting, milking himself through each pump of his groin.
I squeezed my inner muscles to hold him in place. To force him to stay inside me. To make myself tremble with each of his shamelessly wonderful tremors of ejaculation. His shaft was so damned thick I squirmed with each of its throbs. We tried to maintain our desperate thrusts but slowed to the point I could feel the base of his cock flex against my vaginal opening in his final dying throes of passion.
The blue healing light flashed between us like a notice that we'd bonded beyond sex. That we'd mated as lovers.
His hot chest folded down from where we were joined, onto my breasts.
That's where I wanted him, on top of me. With me. I slid my fingers free of his harness and massaged his trembling shoulders. "You're amazing, Ovh."
He thrust his nose into my hair and snuggled down until he found my ear. "Aisling. My Aisling."
Yes. I was his.
Tears warmed my eyes.
For a warrior who finally found solace in nothing more than sex with me. I slid my fingers into his damp tousled hair.
His mouth kissed my cheek, then sucked my lips until they were plump, and marched kisses across my other cheek to my ear where his whiskers and tongue tickled so delightfully that my nipples beaded.
He growled, undoubtedly sensing the hardness in my breasts, and crawled down to nibble and tug at one like a hungry child.
These men had been so deprived that I doubted I could keep more than a few content. The Queens were truly astonishing in that they could find happiness with so many men when all I could do was fear I'd never be able to please the five in my care.
Ovh slid his arms beneath my shoulders and knees.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To my sleeping skins."
* * * *
After Ovh had his fill of her, Aisling wriggled out from beneath his python arm and dressed. The morning's research time had been wasted, she noted. Okay, maybe not truly wasted. I'd managed to capture another sparkling star with hypnotic eyes and iron ass. Ovh was wonderful. And if I hadn't already carried two babies, I held enough of his seed to give birth thousands of times over. He was not easily satisfied. Who could be after how many years of celibacy? Alas, he slept like a babe. So, I turned to my map on the table.
The table's pile of leather documents was folded over and new tidy serving dishes were left beside them.
My gut snarled.
That's two babies ordering pancakes and bacon. Unfortunately, the probability of filling that order in BFE outer space without a food replicator was nil. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and lifted the ornately molded cover on one dish.
Something yellow and green. It kind of looked like scrambled eggs. But I doubted there was anything similar between the two other than their glob appearance.
Food for thought one way or the other. Somewhere among the pile of maps and buried deep in my subconscious laid the answer to the raids. And the raid upon my lodge. Why wasn't anyone else affected? It was if I was targeted. Just me. Not Borun. The Marshal. And can only mean one thing. The Slakens didn't attack me because I'm a Marshal. They attacked where they were told to attack. Someone instructed them. From this side of the portal.
Var emerged from the shadows beyond the bath's doorway.
The last of my Royal Guards to bed me. Distant though. I so needed to connect with him. Not for sex's sake. For my own. Bonding with each one may be my only salvation given the madness unfolding around me. It's obvious why having a mate from each realm would reduce the tensions among clans and with my position among the Luvks. "Blessed sunrise, Var."
"To you as well. But it's after midday." He yanked out a chair opposite me at the table and began checking the vessel contents beneath each of the lids.
He pretty much ignored me. This wasn't a problem. Really. More like a slap at my pride. I hadn't done much other than insult them by denying their existence as my mates. Okay, I'm not a queen. But I did say repeatedly I didn't want any consorts. I guess I'll just have to ride out the wait with this one. Win his friendship.
Var settled down with scoop of scrambled egg stuff, what looked like chunks of white translucent protein, and a red fruit or vegetable.
Well we could begin our friendship over identifying foods. "What did you choose, and what else is here?" That should have left a lot of room for discussion.
He pointed at the yellow globs, "Curdled beast milk."
My gut churned at the prospect of war beast cheese.
He pointed at the white protein lumps, "Fish. Apparently, Morna found some because this type is a staple in the Ice realm-my home." Then he moved onto the vegetable or fruit. "And this is a fruit of a tree from the Sunrise realm."
The Queens traded a lot between realms. "Is this a typical breakfast for everyone? Or just the sons of Queens?"
His brow furrowed slightly for a moment. "You aren't like the Queens."
* * * *
Var almost lost his composure and allowed his stoic facial expression to slip while sitting with the Marshal. She'd managed to keep her head about her during the raid, doing anything but ranting that her crystals were gone, and chose to sleep with lower-caste Lehd instead of high-caste Mart after the chaos. She hadn't donned traditional brooding garb to flaunt her pregnancy. And now she sat pondering economics. Something was truly odd
about her. Penetrating. I'm better off eating in my sleeping skins than risking her annoying interrogation. I rose to head back to my privacy.
"Before you leave, can you point out the location of any ancient cities on my map I'm creating?"
Anything to escape from the scrutiny of a female.
She flipped through the hides and pulled one out.
I pointed to the general location of the ancient city. "It was smaller than the others. But right on the water." The Ice realm never had a large Luvk population due to the climate.
She dabbed a black dot where I pointed. "And what about these other maps? Does anything seem significant to you?"
What did she care? Warriors worked with maps. I was obligated to scan them anyway. I stepped around the table to look at the notations, unfortunately having to stand beside her.
She smelled like meadow flowers and Ovh. She'd probably never scrub off the scent of the Smoking Lands he pounded into her five times before he crashed into a deep sleep. She had seemed to enjoy Ovh's attention, climaxing seven times herself. Ovh was a fool for baiting her affections with so much interest. Females were better off being quickly satiated and left to turn to another warrior. Especially with so many Lords afoot. As long as I can keep her away, I'm safe from her manipulation. And both Ovh and Lehd would ensure she was busy in their sleeping skins.
The door swung wide, casting sunlight across the space.
Mart eyed me in his war mask and reached out with his mind. "Ishan has summoned Aisling." He closed the door and waited outside.
"We're coming." I placed my plate back on the table top.
Aisling studied my face.
"Your presence is requested in the great hall, Aisling. I'll escort you there." Whatever joyous event this is certain to be. I donned my mask and nodded toward the door.
Not long after hearing about her summons, I led the Marshal, now dressed in her home-world's garb, across her lodge's threshold into warm sunlight.
Lehd stepped across our path. "You shouldn't go alone. Kruk is still here with his queen."
"Very well." I nodded.
Lehd and I followed at the Marshal's heels.
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