They nodded in unison.
"Are you talking behind my back in mindspeak?"
They both chuckled.
"Leave it to her to be suspicious," Mart said. "Yes, we are, Aisling."
Dammit. "Stop that. Or I'll just sleep with Ovh."
"We were simply noting how you're so different from the Queens," Lehd offered.
"I'm not a queen. And since I'm the Marshal, I should note I've heard Kruk rode off four days ago on his war beast only to return last night."
Both men stared me down.
"It's four days ride there and back to the portal." I shoved up from the table top and shot Lehd a come-hither glance. "I hope you're up for night duty because there's no way in Hell I'm sleeping alone after last night."
He followed me into the bath.
The door thumped behind us.
Alone was good with just Lehd in the room.
Lehd grabbed my waist in the pool's soft glow, pulling my back into his solid chest and his hard weapon.
Capture me. Defeat me.
"Swim with me, sweet one." He growled softly.
He knew how to get my attention. The shot of Borun's blood had taken care of the shape shifting. But the tremors had only vanished for about an hour, then progressively worsened-the amount of time it took for Morna to lovingly share details on Luvk lifeways.
Lehd slid his hands beneath the hem of my tank top, his warm fingers onto my skin.
I squirmed with anticipation of his wandering touch.
His low guttural growl gurgled deep inside his chest.
Hot need shafted from my heart to my groin.
I leaned my head back and stared into his golden eyes as his hands slid across my ribs to cup my breasts. "Lehd," I groaned.
He toyed with my bra clasp until it popped free and his warm hands were on my breasts, cupping the swells, squeezing them. He rubbed his thumbs across my tender nipples. "Turn to me, sweet one."
"Oh, I'd rather you keep doing what you're doing." I arched into his touch.
He chuckled, pinching my nipples only to brush those amazing palms down my ribs to my waist and turn me to face him.
Not what I wanted. I opened my mouth to complain.
His fell over mine. His tongue thrust into my mouth, probing, possessing.
Yes, possess me. I snaked my arms around his neck and entwined my tongue with his.
He groaned into my mouth.
Oh, I loved the sounds he made. Kind of wild. Almost inhuman. But erotic.
He descended in slow motion, a hair's width from my skin, breathing hot breath along the way, igniting a rash of gooseflesh as if he inhaled it into his lungs with his breaths, only stopping at one aching nipple, exhaling. "You're so beautiful, sweet one."
Standing there was absolute torture. To grab his hair. To force him to latch on. To insist he suck the agonizing pulse from the heartbeat throbbing in my groin up to my thrashing heart. I wanted his weight on top of me. Inside me. That mouth devouring every inch of my skin. "In my sleeping skins, Lehd."
He swung me into his arms and carried me to my bed in determined silence.
Not fast enough. I don't care how fast he got me there, he just needed to make it happen. "Hurry," I groaned.
He instantly placed me on my feet only to yank off his boots and kick his pants aside. I tried to undress as quickly. But he was faster moving like some stealthy creature in the darkness.
The luscious darkness.
Darkness of panting and roaring.
His hands shoved me down and yanked the pants off my legs, spreading my thighs, crawling to where he wanted to be.
Right back to my breasts. Thank God. I loved how he fed from them like a hungry kitten.
He laid atop me with his delicious weight of corded steel and nipped, then tugged my nipple into a long peak and kissed his way over to the other stony bead to work it in the same fashion.
I slid my ankles around his thighs and just enjoyed his lavish touch. To keep them there. Or pretend to. I slid my heels higher, up to Lehd's firm ass, spreading my sex invitingly for him, and raked my fingers into his hair. "Oh, Lehd, make love to me."
He thrust his supple hardness inside me, in one slow measured stroke, along the silken path dampened by my need for him. Only for him tonight.
He began pumping, slow and steady.
"Oh, Lehd." I threw my head back and let him touch that little clutch of nerves deep inside me where my soul melded with his.
His lips sucked a pathway up to my neck and locked onto the beat of my heart in my jugular. The kiss worked like a homing beacon, showing him exactly where to focus the tip of his cock inside me, in quick measured strokes, making me pant for breath as he pounded toward my heartsong. Igniting my rising ecstasy until I couldn't fathom another moment of bliss.
I cried out, shaking beneath him.
"Shh, sweet one. Hush." His strokes lengthened for his pleasure. Played along my channel, drawing me deeper into his spell.
I wanted him. I wanted to feel complete with him again. I bucked my hips and clamped my muscles down around his solid shaft.
He rose on all fours and growled a deadly sound, pumping, thrusting, grinding his pelvis against mine in a wild move that I couldn't stop watching. His strokes quickened until another wall of rapture threatened to crash into me.
"Lehd!" I grabbed his halter and matched his thrusts.
There is nothing quite like the thrill of lying beneath a tiger pounding into you with his iron body while you grip his rocking hips with your legs, dirty dancing to a song only the two of you can hear. An internal song that throbs in your heart and roars in your core, deeply hidden from others, shared only with the one burying his hard flesh inside you. And Lehd could play wild songs with the fastest beats that amplify inside me until bursting forth in my cries of passion as the ecstasy he conjures within me ruptures into the bluest light between us. I clung to him shuddering, trying to match his moves as he wildly brought me to orgasm. Again.
My muscles clenched around his firm thickness and he throbbed, filling me with his seed.
Blessed are those who just give into the darkness of Luvk.
He forced his thickness along my channel again and again. Pulsing. Pounding. Over and over. Until my thoughts swam from the threat of another orgasm building deep inside me.
My sex machine. Yes. He had been an excellent observer with his mother. He knew how to work my body.
His body suddenly went rigid, and he froze overhead. "Aisling," he ground out, "how can so many not have felt what I feel when I lie with you?"
Oh they could. If they would just listen to an Earth girl and forget this ridiculous marriage system. "I don't really care at the moment. I'm lost in feeling this way with you. Again and again."
His low chuckle rumbled through the shadows of the room.
"I shall grant your wish, sweet one, because I can't get enough of you. Release me." He wriggled his hips.
What did he have in mind? I dropped my knees away.
He shoved up on his hands and knees and slowly kissed his way down my chest, stopping to suck each nipple in one slow movement, then onward down to my navel. He trailed his tongue around the edge then down further through my tight curls.
Dear God. I don't think I have the energy in me to get eaten by Lehd. I sucked in a deep breath.
His tongue slid between my folds and sought the bud of my clit in one delicate motion.
I writhed in the furs on the tip of that respectful tongue.
He slid his warm palms along my inner thigh until he could gently spread my folds with his fingertips and nibbled my nub ever so gently.
Nothing comparable could make me ache like being eaten. Eaten by one of the biggest strongest toughest males on the planet. He made me feel safe and made me explode with completion.
His hot mouth made me dance and cry. Made me beg. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. All I could do was rock against that amazing tongue and pray for mercy.
He b
rought me to climax twice before he released me and thrust inside me, again, riding, plunging, burying himself to the balls with the frenzy of a man bent on making me his. Claiming me. Ensuring I didn't need anyone but him. As if he needed me to say I loved him.
I grabbed his head, pulling handfuls of his hair down until he looked me in the eye with those golden eyes. "I love you, Lehd. I love you," I whispered. History had shown respect and appreciation were truly enough to equal love. But there seemed to be more than that inside me.
His release came so ferociously that I grabbed his ass and held him inside me. We stared at each other, waiting, feeling his seed pump into me.
"I'll carry your youngling too, Lehd. I promise. Soon." Just don't get yourself killed before I give Borun his children.
He collapsed on me in a panting sweaty heap of muscles.
My guardian angel. I'd give him all I could of me. Although what I had would be divided among five others. I slid my arms around his limp body and pulled his ear to my lips. "You're mine, Lehd."
Those words made my heart sink with realization. He was mine to love and care for.
"I hear your heartsong, sweet one." He wrapped me in his python arms and rolled us onto our sides where he tucked his knee between my thighs and sighed. "Stop thinking, Aisling. I won't get any sleep if you keep seducing me with your heartbeat."
* * * *
Days didn't rush by while Aisling waited for Borun to return. One dose of his blood remained in her syringe before her big shift, she noted. And I couldn't find my spare vial of Borun's blood after the raid. Not that I'm afraid. I just haven't been fortunate enough to experience the new beastly me. I need a distraction. Like spending time with my loves. Yes, I love them. I realize that now. Focusing on my layered map today had been equally distracting. And then Borun arrives... Sometime. Please, universe. Is a day early even possible? Albeit, tomorrow is day nine. I'll be pushing the last minute on day ten with shape shifting. But he'd said it would take ten days. So, why am I wondering if a day early is possible?
Because I'm losing my mind on the back forty in BFE outer space. I pushed the guard's door wide to find all but Mart seated at the table.
"Blessed sunrise, Aisling," Ovh called.
I shot him a smile.
Surely he knew I'd snatch him into a corner today and give myself to him. Lehd may be young and accommodating but Ovh was just loving. All he wanted to do was ensure I was happy. Extremely happy. Who would complain about that?
Lehd and Var gnawed at meat on bones. Var nodded at me. And Lehd just ate after waking up and taking care of my morning tremors. With what he did to me each night, the warrior had to be ravenous. I sat in an empty chair and unrolled my map.
"You stare at that map too much," Ovh said.
One day I'll realize what I'm missing. "The answer's here. Maybe I just need to go over everything again with Mart. Or have him add some new historical layer?" I sighed and met Ovh's golden gaze. "But there's definitely something I'm missing. Any ideas?" I slid my gaze to each one.
"Tell me what you noted on the map." Ovh leaned toward me on his elbow.
Okay. After eight days scrawling on leather, someone is asking me about my work. Helpful curiosity is a good sign. I slid the leather toward him.
"Of course you all helped me locate ancient cities with each realm. I have noted waves of attacks. They seemed to work from one point in an ancient city early in history, outward to the closest ancient cities that I'm calling city states-"
"What's a city state?" Lehd asked.
"A city run by a noble, usually a king. It is surrounded by agricultural land that feeds the city's occupants. These city states aren't true states but have many of the characteristics. So, I'll leave you with that for city states." After all, the Luvks probably never reached state level. The Slakens saw to that.
"What do you call our realms now?"
Lehd meant what the term was for these queenships. "Chiefdoms. A chiefdom is much smaller than a city state and run by a person born into power. So are city states. But chiefdoms are smaller. Thank the Slakens for that. They strive to keep your groups small and disorganized enough to prevent you from joining forces." Or so the Slakens appeared to. And did an excellent job at it.
My gaze glided back over the layers of attacks. Everything shifted through time from focused areas moving outward, spreading to consume the entire continent. Why? The portal was on the other end. Unless there was another portal.
?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Aisling's heart clenched where she sat, staring at her map and pondering the existence of a second portal. Another hidden gateway into the Luvk world would provide the Slakens a lot of stealth factor when coming to collect their loot. And a portal in a remote location would really help with the raids. Where could it be hidden?
"What is it, Aisling?" Ovh asked.
I met their worried gazes. "There's another portal."
My guards wagged their heads in unison, chanting a silent no.
"Aisling, we've lived a thousand years since the attacks began and nobody's found another portal," Ovh said. "Certainly someone would have found one."
"Has anyone cared to look?" If they even thought to.
The men cast glances between each other. Even Var, my voice of reason beyond Ovh's wisdom.
Var placed the piece of flatbread he'd been eating upon his breakfast and met my gaze. "If you think there is one, another portal would explain many things."
I searched the map for clues. "Maybe a portal is where the attacks began. In the southernmost part of the Sunrise realm. Where's Mart? He should think about this. He knows the history of Slaken attacks better than I do." And maybe he'd thought about a second portal already. Maybe he's hidden that from me all along.
Lehd rose. "I'll relieve him. He can help you. But let him eat and sleep today, Aisling." He shot me a warning glance. "We're short a few warriors."
Okay, I was pretty dogmatic with my research. But somebody around here had to think about more than sex. Especially when we were surrounded by lies and video tape. Figuratively speaking. "We just need to find it and destroy it."
The room rumbled with laughter.
If they thought they were going to laugh at me, they were mistaken. I shot them daggers. "Laughing just might find you staring down a second portal. Do you want to look foolish then?"
Their laughing died quickly.
Ovh shook his head. "We can't touch or see the only portal we know exists in the Starry Sky realm. How do you think it's possible to destroy one?"
"Something had to cause the portal. Create it. It didn't just suddenly appear one thousand years ago." Or so I hoped. If we could close it, the attacks would end. And Luvks could live more peacefully. Why did that sound insane? Maybe because they are so violent. But it wasn't my place to choose their path for them. Or maybe because closing the portal meant I may never return to Earth.
* * * *
Mart helped narrow down the choices for Aisling's plan of exploration. They'd have to wait for Borun to return though, she decided. I wasn't about to set out across wild territory without my blood mate. And a fifth guard. Borun had left me once already. Not again. So, I set to planning the order in which we'd search the ancient cities for portals. After all, the cities were where the raids began. Slakens started harvesting the energy crystals from individual residences, emptying a city of its light sources, and moving on to another place to mine the Queens' orbs.
Maybe the known portal close to the Sunset realm and set in the Starry Skies mountainside was actually a decoy? Could the Slakens have been smart enough to open two for the sole purpose of surprise?
A chill feathered along my skin.
I needed to discuss this with Borun. Actually, I just needed him with me in bed. I could taste the salty metallic tinge to his blood. I could feel his pulse beating in my palm. Where was he? Just one more day.
The door swung wide.
Lehd filled the sunlit doorway. "Bo
run's arrived, Aisling."
Thank you, universe. I leapt from my chair and ran toward Lehd's body guarding the sunlit edge of the exit.
Lehd pointed me onward.
To Borun's terrifying emotionless mask where he straddled his menacing war beast in his brilliant orange stripes. He slid from Jonner's back like nothing bothered him.
He could act a little more excited. Like me. I hopped into a run and threw myself into his python arms.
"My heart drums so loudly, little one, that I can't hear your heartsong," he chuckled.
He didn't need to after I ran through his village like a pathetic puppy. "I missed you." So much that tears warmed my eyes. "Don't you dare leave me again." Yes. I missed him. He and everyone had to see in my actions that I loved him.
He lowered my boots to the ground, looked at me with those normal golden eyes I can see in the daylight, turned me toward the guards, and walked me back to our lodge.
Lehd nodded at him. "It's good to have you home, Borun."
"It is good to arrive bearing good news. Come, listen." Borun shoved me through the guard's doorway and into the shadows with both solid hands.
My days of ruling the roost were over. I had to go where he commanded. But who was upset?
Lehd strode in behind Borun. Both whipped off their masks.
My heart choked as I looked upon that face that made me love Luvk.
He must have felt my heartsong because he scooped me up into his arms and devoured my mouth. The world started spinning as he sucked every thought I had of anything away into him. Only his soft lips and probing tongue existed.
My womb quaked like jelly.
I had to grab a fistful of his soft hair to hang onto him before my body slithered away. From him. My blood mate.
He backed away and lowered me so quickly that I hung in shock, released his hair, and landed in a chair.
My other mates watched me with glowing eyes, gazes that studied my reaction to Borun. They couldn't understand there was more between Borun and I than sex and respect. Blood lust bound us at a more intimate level.
Borun knelt beside me, studied the aftershock of his kiss on my face, and exhaled possessively.
Feral Fever Page 26