by Rena Marks
Then I shout when he clamps down and sucks. He’s merciless, wringing mewling responses out of me. As I’m ready to explode, I push him away.
“I need your cock,” I mutter thickly.
He rises while I lean back on the step and he takes the wet tip of his cock and slides it up my slit. Then, hot and slick, he slides easily into me. He penetrates me and it’s just the right position.
He groans. “Best invention ever. I love stairs.”
I cup a breast and bring it to his mouth, where he sucks on my nipple wetly.
Then he begins moving, thrusting in and out, finding a rhythm. His rings are shifting around, stretching my lips as they rub internally.
“Oh, just like that,” I gasp.
“Here?” He hits a spot deep inside me and I can only moan. When he strokes in again, I arch and feel myself tighten around his cock. I’m so close to coming. Then my body ripples as an orgasm shoots through me. I scream out, and he thrusts faster. His hot seed shoots into me, filling me with instant heat and he yells out my name.
Spent, he relaxes against me until I wriggle.
“Stairs are great for sex. Not so comfortable for relaxing afterward.”
He grins. “No time to relax anyway. We need to get going,” he says. “We have to be at Adretta’s trial.”
I’d forgotten about the trial. I sit up, panicked.
“I’ll go get us warm water from the pool,” he says. He returns in record time, and we share the basin as we wash.
We dress quickly, laughing as we toss articles of clothing at each other.
Chapter Eleven
At last, we make our way back out to the main cave where the trial is being held. Adretta stands at the front podium.
Lucie and Rayhaan sit to one side, and Drakar and Niki sit on the other. Reverent mother sits with the rest of the elders in the middle. They act as a sort of jury. Someone makes room on one of the long benches, and we squeeze in.
“Adretta, are you ready to be reintroduced into society?” Drakar asks.
She should have been introduced long earlier, as we’re halfway through the fall season now. But she’s willingly stayed in the hunting cave, and I suspect she doesn’t want to leave Cio alone.
“No,” she states clearly. There are a few puzzled looks.
“What do you mean?”
“I wish to stay. Cio and I have mated.”
Whoa. I catch Ash’s eye. That was a shocker. There are bemused expressions on everyone’s faces.
“You cannot live permanently away from the village. There is no medical care and your health will deteriorate.”
“Yet my mate cannot live within the village confines.”
“Cio must take responsibility for his own actions. He has gotten himself banished by kidnapping and drugging Miranda. He could have killed her. The penalty for attacking another’s mate is death. That is still up in the air.”
Everyone looks our way. Adretta looks worried as she captures her bottom lip with her teeth.
Aschero stands. “I would like to take a moment with my mate.”
Drakar nods.
Ash holds his hand out for me, and everyone is silent as we walk from the room. Reverent mother’s healing hut is the closest, so we head there. Aschero sits on the edge of her raised bed and spreads his legs, bringing me close to stand between them.
“What do you think?” he asks me.
“I hate to think that two people have found love and it’s a death sentence for both. I can’t imagine you being banished from the village. On the other hand, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable if he hasn’t really changed and we have to worry about his drama.”
“I know. That’s exactly how I feel about it. I don’t want him to put you in any danger at all. I’d rather be banished than have you dead by his hand.”
There’s a jingle of the rattle at the door, and Rayhaan pokes his head in. “May we enter?”
Ash nods and Rayhaan, followed by Lucie, come in. I twist in Ash’s arms so we can face them.
“Do you think it’s real? Or is it Cio tricking Adretta to get back into the village?” Lucie asks.
“That’s what we were wondering. I wish there was some way to know for sure.”
“I have a suggestion,” Rayhaan says. “We allow him back for one season each year as a trial. For that season, you two can travel. Lucie and I can even take trips with you. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep Cio away from Miranda. In the meantime, Drakar and the rest of the clan can feel things out to see if the relationship is real or not. It’ll help us to take things slow before we commit.”
“Does that go against the rules of banishment?” I ask.
“It is up to the person wronged to set the punishment. He went after Aschero’s mate, so Aschero chose his banishment. We all knew it would be a death sentence. We were a little relieved because the punishment would cause some relief for Adretta, as she wouldn’t be alone during hers. On the other hand, no one expected this between the two of them. They hated each other.”
“I’m just as shocked as anyone,” Lucie says. “And if Adretta can turn over a new leaf, it stands to reason that Cio can also become a changed man. Not that I’ll take his word for it, or even the woman in love with him. I’d rather see it for myself, so hence the one-season introduction.”
I nod. “I’d hate the idea of someone banishing Ash from me. I don’t want to be the one to cause someone else’s heartache. But I’m wary about walking into a trap.”
“Rayhaan’s suggestion is the best bet, then.” Ash decides. “We’ll bring him back for one season this year. The clan can observe their relationship. We’ll decide the rest after that point.”
Rayhaan nods. “That is a good decision, my brother.”
The four of us head back to the main hall. The room has a dull chatter, but it silences as soon as we approach.
Rayhaan and Lucie take their positions at the front of the room. Ash holds my hand and we head up to the front.
“We have decided that we do not trust Cio yet. How could we? We have had no exposure to him since he kidnapped Miranda.”
Adretta’s eyes fill with tears as she imagines the worst.
“But Cio and I were friends once. I hope that it is possible he has changed, and realizes his selfish actions could have killed my mate. So while it is still within my right to insist upon his death, we need to consider Adretta. Is it right to alter her life path and deprive her of her mate and possible children that she may have? I’d like to think I learned from Cio’s mistakes and would not do that to another. So Miranda and I have decided that for one season, on a trial period, Cio should be allowed to return along with Adretta. They can be kept at a separate wing from us until things progress naturally. At the end of the season, we can re-evaluate based on other factors.”
Drakar nods. “So it is decreed. Thank you, my brother, for your generosity.”
Everyone gets up to leave and Adretta heads for us. “Thank you so much. Both of you. I know what he’s done was wrong, he knows it, and he’s sorry for it. If he could take it back, I’m sure he would.”
“I just want you to be happy,” I say.
“I am,” she says. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”
Forgiveness is a powerful thing, but I’m not there yet. After all, I could have died.
* * * * *
Lucie and I sit watching our guys practice their swim lessons. Later, we’re taking one last dive through the ancient ruins for more glow-rocks. But the guys insist we rest first. The sand runs through my toes.
We’ve been away from the village for a long time, and it’s been wondrous. We’ve gathered salt and stored it back in the cave.
“Jezebel has figured out how to make a toenail stain in different colors,” she says. “It’s not nail polish, per se. But it’s better than nothing.”
“What colors do we have?” I ask, looking at my own bare toes.
“Red and pink. Orange. She’s working on a shade of p
urple.”
Neither of us mention the fact that Cio and Adretta are at the village right now. They’ve been there the entire time we’ve been gone. We figure by the time we get back, it should be time for them to leave. At most, we’ll have maybe a week with them in the caves with us. I’m sure the week will move by easily, as everyone will be wary with us together.
The situation sucks. I wish we could drop everything and just trust, but it’s just not that easy. A laughing Rayhaan and Aschero emerge from the water, traipsing through the sand to collapse next to us. Ash lays his head in my lap, and I smooth his wet hair from his forehead.
Lucie’s little shallga appears, dumping nuts at us and running off. He’s followed us the entire trip, as he considers her his personal property. It’s kind of cute.
We begin cracking the nuts, and I feed one to Aschero. “Here you go, my love,” I tease. “Gotta keep up your strength for the cave-diving.”
He winks at me, getting my double entendre.
“We have unlimited strength,” Rayhaan says, cracking his knuckles. “We’re aware it’s why you chose us.”
“I chose you for a different reason,” Lucie says, and leans over to whisper in his ear. She giggles when he hauls her on top of him.
We finish off the nuts.
“I can’t believe this is the last day of our vacation.”
“Technically, we had chores to do, which negates the vacation,” Lucie reminds me. I grin. We had fetched salt a couple weeks ago, ran into Kalki and Loshi, who brought it back to the village for us while we visited the ancient’s caves. I’m sure the “running into” Kalki and Loshi was planned, but it was nice to have a couple more in the cave overnight, bringing us laughter and tales from the village. Gigi and Maynak had gotten pregnant during the winter season, and Byndi’s baby had grown from his premature status and was healthy. Both men assured us they thought the relationship between Cio and Adretta was natural and not being faked by Cio. They believed Cio was sincere in his turning over a new leaf. I imagine we’ll find out soon enough.
“Okay, who’s ready to go explore?” Rayhaan asks.
We all jump up and Ash goes to grab the raft that we park behind a tree. Lucie and I sit on top of it, and Rayhaan and Aschero push it along by kicking their legs. We reach the caves and park the raft, then dive under the water to get to the opening underground, which leads us deeper into the cave. That’s the whole reason the Blaedonians never knew there were glow-rocks in the caves called the origins of the ancestors. They’d only explored the top level.
Rayhaan goes first, since he knows the way. Lucie follows, I follow her, and Ash comes behind me. It seems the men always place us in the middle, so they can watch us from either end.
Underwater is different here. I don’t see any fish swimming around, and the water is clear enough to see through. Lucie is swimming through a small opening, and then I make my way through, after looking behind me to make sure Ash follows.
I break surface and it appears we’re in a swimming pool inside the caves. Ash comes up behind me, and wraps his arms around me, pushing me up. With one smooth sweep of his muscular arms, he pulls himself up.
“This is amazing.” My eyes are everywhere, trying to take in everything at once.
“Isn’t it?” Lucie says. “We found some tool things that they must have used for scraping. They almost look like metal.”
“Wow. Look at these walls! They’re polished smooth, like marble.” I run my fingers along the wall.
“It’s beautiful,” Lucie agrees. “We need to show them the wall where the rocks grow.”
Rayhaan nods and the four of us make our way through various rooms. We get to a room where the entire wall is lit from glow rocks.
I gasp.
“That’s nothing,” Rayhaan says. “Watch this.” He places his hand on the wall and it brightens even further, until it looks like a summer day above the surface.
“Wow. They didn’t even need sunlight.”
“No. They had it within their caves.”
Lucie and I have moved to a small table on the opposite end. Rayhaan and Aschero are talking about where to dig to get rocks out of the wall. They’ve brought empty bags to take a large load back to the village.
“These are going to be heavy,” Lucie says.
“I know.” Rayhaan grins. “Did I mention Loshi and Kalki are coming by for dinner? I figure they can take the load back.”
Lucie makes a small “O” with her mouth. “That’s horrible.”
Ash begins shoving more rocks in the bags.
“Look at this.” Lucie holds out a thick book of some kind.
“Is that paper?” It looks like paper, there’s writing on it. But it feels unlike anything I’ve ever felt. More like fabric, but it’s stiff.
“I have never seen anything like that,” Rayhaan says.
“Is it heavy?” Aschero asks.
Lucie picks it up. “No,” she says, and her voice is surprised.
She holds it up and Rayhaan squints from where he is. “That’s our language written,” he says.
“It’s something we should take back to the village,” Ash says.
“Agreed.”
“We have to take it underwater,” Lucy says.
“Miranda, go through my bag,” Ash says. “I have a waterproof skin we can wrap it in.”
“Good thinking,” Rayhaan says. “I also have one. We’ll double-bag it.”
I rummage through their bags while they begin setting aside which glow rocks we’ll bring back. I find both waterproof skins and spread them on the small table. “Their writing is pretty,” Lucie says. It is, it looks flowing, with a lot of curly pieces.
“Too bad the language download didn’t come with the ability to read and write.”
“Nah, we’ll need to learn that the old fashioned way.”
Lucie and I manage to get the strange book into one, then wrap the other skin around the first. When we’re finished, we look over at the pile Ash and Rayhaan are collecting.
“Oh, geez,” Lucie says. “Don’t forget you have to carry that pile.”
“Yes,” I agree. “Do you think those will even fit into your bags?”
Men are the same no matter the planet. Ash eyeballs the piles, then says, “We’ll make them fit.”
It takes a bit of struggling and a few skinned knuckles, but they do get the rocks into the bags and manage to hoist them onto their backs for the swim back. It’s easy to make our way to the raft, but both men decide to leave the packs on their backs instead of wriggling out of them and hoisting them on top of the raft with me and Lucie.
When we get to the cave, we settle outside on a couple of logs used as seating. Rayhaan and Ash are packed down with glow rocks. Neither will admit they find the packs heavy, but they both look worn. The shallga is twittering excitedly. In the distance, we hear a whistle, and then two figures wave madly. It’s Loshi and Kalki again.
Between them, they drag dinner.
“I’m so glad you’re here. Poor Rayhaan and Ash wore themselves out.”
“We are still strong,” Ash says, insulted.
“Yes. But I am still glad you brought dinner,” Rayhaan says, and he looks too exhausted to move.
Kalki and Loshi laugh. “We will take back your load again, if you wish. Stay another night and rest up.”
“We may do that,” Ash agrees.
“But we’re still strong,” Rayhaan reminds with a smile.
“I know, honey,” Lucie says. “Jacques, move out of the way.” She’s starting the fire, and the shallga is trying to help. She gets the fire going, and Kalki begins prepping the meat, while Loshi wanders off to gather vegetables for our dinner.
“We brought you some trail mix for tomorrow’s journey. And fresh jerky,” Kalki says.
“I can’t wait to see Byndi’s baby,” I say.
“Me neither,” Lucie agrees.
“He is little but quite plump,” Kalki says.
“How are M
onica and Jillian?”
“Monica is fine. She works with Jezebel and a couple of the other women to make hair colors.” Loshi shrugs. “I do not know why.”
“Jillian is fine also.” Kalki is a bit more reserved, and I wonder if she’s still playing the field. I don’t ask, of course. I don’t want to stress him out the way poor Ash was.
We carefully avoid speaking about Cio and Adretta.
“Something unusual happened. We noticed a light in the sky, and several humans claimed it was a shooting star. Then Niki reminded everyone that we live in a black hole and do not have access to stars. We puzzled over what it could be. Valencia came up with the answer.”
“She did? What was it?”
“Do you remember when the Stargazer vessel said they would assign our own patrol to protect the source of the glow-rocks? She figured it was that spaceship as it travels around our planet.”
“Wow, we already have our own protection. How cool is that?” Lucie says.
Loshi returns with two different vegetables. One is shaped like a giant squash, but is purple in color. The other is round like a basketball and brown.
Lucie scratches her head. “We need to volunteer more in the kitchen,” she mumbles.
“Yeah, I don’t know what to do with those either.”
Loshi laughs. “This purple one is eaten raw. It is watery inside, and crunches when you bite into it. Sometimes you can find them when they are smaller, the size of testicles. The brown one must be cooked with the meat. When you cut the top off, you can scoop out the cooked innards. They cook up like strands of hair.”
“Eww.”
He looks hurt. “Well, they don’t taste like hair.”
Lucie’s laughing so hard, she’s holding her sides. “Stop explaining. I’m sure we’ll like it when it’s done.”
“Females are strange,” Loshi says. “Monica won’t let me cook for her either.”
“That’s because of your descriptions, dude,” I say. “Hairlike? Testicles? So unappetizing.”
Even Kalki is laughing as he slices the top of the brown thing. He covers the cut piece back over it, like a giant brown pumpkin, then pushes it into the fire to cook. It doesn’t take long and when he retrieves it, it’s sort of steamed on the inside. Sure enough, it’s stringy but soft, like buttery noodles.