So Temis fought man after man, eventually relinquishing her hold on the dream as true slumber began to overtake her.
She was dimly aware of the dark settling over Chula. Her father and the others disappeared and her world shimmered until only a thin light illuminated a new, foreign area.
Temis blinked sleepily at an unfamiliar world. Three moons sat suspended in an indigo sky, lighting a perfectly round dirt ring surrounded by tropical forests and to her immediate left, an inviting pool of water.
Interest in her new surroundings revived her, and her awareness returned as she found herself holding her hack-staff again, her training clothes fresh but much too thin for the cool temperatures of this strange world.
"Where am I?" she asked aloud.
"You've come to fight, have you not?" a familiar voice called from the darkness in the forest.
She waited curiously, knowing yet not aware how she knew that Gren approached.
He appeared uninjured, as if his fight earlier with the peacemakers had not occurred. Wearing only the swimming trousers she'd first seen him in, he walked lazily toward her, like a cat stalking its prey.
He stopped in front of her, smiling, his eyes lingering over her breasts and thighs before returning to meet her confused gaze.
"You like to fight."
She nodded. "But where am I?"
"In a dream."
"But I command my dreams, and this is not Zephyr."
Gren's left eyebrow rose, an arrogant gesture that irritated her. "We stand in a fighting ring." He crossed his arms, his biceps bulging. "What now, sura?"
She wasn't sure what sura meant, but on Gren's lips it sounded suspiciously like an endearment. Did he dare dismiss her as some piece of fluff on fighting grounds?
"Now we fight."
He grinned, and the curl of his lips caused her heart to flutter. A curious heat pooled in her loins and to her horror she found herself fixated on the fullness of his mouth.
"If it's a fight you want, sura, I'll be happy to oblige," he murmured sensuously. "Hand to hand?"
Imagining Gren's hands all over her made her flush, and she shook her head. "Blunt weaponry."
She didn't understand why Gren had appeared in her dream at all, but decided to accept his presence. Since meeting him she'd been unable to strike the imposing man from her thoughts and unruly imagination. Perhaps her subconscious sensed this and chose to confront the source of her recent confusion head-on.
He flexed his arms and she stared at his muscular perfection. "I like risks, but if it's practice you want, I accept. The winner chooses the prize."
She frowned. "But you could demand anything."
"And I will when I win," he said with a wink.
In his wink she saw condescension and her irritation stirred to anger. Anticipating the heady blow to his ego, she clearly imagined him drawn and defeated by her hand. She taunted him with a superior sneer and was rewarded by a fire in his eyes.
A long, gnarled staff suddenly appeared in his hands. He bowed, then waited for her to attack.
Her blood pumping with excitement, a feeling that owed as much to anticipation of the fight as it did to Gren's presence, she feigned a thrust and struck at his left knee.
Gren nimbly dodged her attack and stepped back. Waiting.
She lunged again and again, each time narrowly missing her aim. Gren continued to dodge and wait, as if toying with her.
"Engage, damn it." She glared at him, wanting him to do more than parry and evade.
"As you wish, sura," he answered with a throaty chuckle. "But do not be too angry when you lay flat beneath the victor."
His arrogance chafed and had the effect he'd intended. Caught in frustrated anger, Temis nearly missed the signs preceding his attack. Like a whirlwind of fury, he lashed at her, catching her knee. Off balance, she rolled quickly to her left and managed to avoid a paralyzing blow to the shoulder.
Returning the attack, she swept at his feet. Her staff took his ankle out from under him. While he recovered from her blow, she regained her footing and regarded him warily.
He gave every appearance of a defensive opponent, but he'd clearly just shown his true nature, a deadly predator with unusually sharp reflexes.
She crouched low with her staff held perpendicular to her body, shielding her chest. He faced her, his staff in one hand, a large grin on his face.
"Sura, I like the way you fight. But my patience is wearing. Come, let's end this."
Before Temis could blink, she found herself flat on her back, breathless from the speed of his attack. He straddled her, his staff positioned just under her chin. Had he wished, he could easily have snapped her neck.
What in blazes had just happened? She stared in astonishment at Gren. He wasn't even breathing hard. His chest rose and fell evenly, and his powerful thighs held her tightly within his grasp.
"My victory, sura," he purred and tossed his staff to the side. "Now my prize."
"Get off me, you oaf." She pounded legs as hard as steel, mortified at having been beaten so easily. Never before had Temis lost so quickly.
His legs tightened around her body in warning and he stared down at her with an unreadable gaze. Much as she wanted to deny it, his victory secretly thrilled her. Temis had never been drawn to the weak. And a man like Gren, handsome, aloof and powerful, made her heart hammer despite her mind's protests. That he had beaten her with ease only added to his appeal.
The sheer strength he possessed stoked the embers of her desire. She could feel the force in his thighs, could see the restrained power in the corded muscles of his arms and chest. Her gaze traveled again to his thighs, to the juncture between them. His erection strained at his trousers, the heat of his arousal burning against her waist.
She glanced up at his face wondering at his thoughts. His eyes darkened to a deep lake green, swirls of energy empowering his gaze so that she felt she looked into the eyes of a sorcerer. He licked his lips and she stared hungrily, any regret at losing gone under a wave of lust so powerful she felt helpless to resist.
Just as suddenly, the voracious need faded. Gren's eyes still looked impossibly dark, but not as intense.
"This is much better," he murmured, and placed a large, callused palm over her naked breast.
Temis gasped. "Where--" Her breath left her when his fingers rolled her nipple. Helpless to look away from his face, she saw her desire mirrored in his gaze. "Where are my clothes?"
He grinned and leaned forward, grinding his erection between them as his mouth touched her ear. "In my dreams you wear nothing." His tongue flicked along the shell of her ear before plunging deep.
She tensed, her loins tingling with need. She could feel moisture pooling between her thighs and chafed at his legs that kept her still. By Narok's breast, she needed to move, to ease the ache building within her sex.
"Soon, love. I'm going to give you what you've been begging for since I first saw you."
His arrogance knew no bounds, and despite her desire, Temis rebelled. "When I get free you're going to pay for this." She struggled against his hold and soon found her wrists pinned by an unseen force.
Gren rose to his feet, giving her the perfect opportunity for a well-placed kick. But her legs too were bound by something she could not see.
"Wider," Gren said, and that unseen force spread her legs wide before securing them to the ground. "Beautiful," Gren whispered as he knelt between her legs.
He gave her no warning before he buried his face in the nest of curls between her thighs.
She cried out at the sudden onslaught of feeling that burst within her. Never before had she been touched so intimately, and his lips, so gentle in their exploration, created a fire that soon had her trembling.
"Like honeyed wine," he murmured and opened his mouth. He licked at the desire between her folds, his tongue sliding along her walls as if enjoying a great feast.
Temis couldn't help her moans of ecstasy. An unfamiliar need built until she was
consumed by it. "Gren," she cried as she shook her head from side to side. "Release me!"
"Not yet, sura," he whispered and lifted his head to stare into her eyes. His lips shone with her need, his eyes glittering brightly, two gems of light in the darkness covering them both. "Not until I've had my fill."
He resumed his place between her legs, but this time he added his able hands to her torment. While his mouth worked her sex, stroking her clitoris, nipping with stinging bites that enhanced her pleasure immeasurably, his hands roamed along her thighs.
Squeezing and caressing, he stroked her muscled thighs as if committing the feel to memory. Again and again his hands would venture near her loins, only to shift away, driving her crazy.
Desire spiraled inside her, making the emptiness in her womb all the more apparent, despite his mouth. Though not ignorant of lovemaking, Temis had never before had so much experience. A few stolen kisses, some groping hands. But never such intimacies with another.
Yet she knew what she needed. She needed Gren, to feel him fully within her. She wanted desperately to feel his heavy arousal deep within her womb.
"Please," she begged, uncaring of anything but the feel of his naked body inside of her.
"Now you're ready for release," he said in a thick voice.
He bit lightly at her clitoris and inserted a finger inside her. She arched at the contact, her virgin flesh quivering on the brink of something new, something unforgettable.
"Yes, sura, take your pleasure. Ride my mouth, my hand," he rumbled against her mound.
He began thrusting his finger in and out of her, increasing the pressure on her clit, and suddenly the sensation became too much to bear.
"No," she moaned and gasped when a wave of energy flooded her entire body. Pleasure burst like flame, igniting every nerve ending she possessed. She arched, frozen in ecstasy, conscious of Gren's mouth and hands bringing her such bliss.
Energy flowed all around her, and she heard Gren's groan from a distance. On and on her climax continued, the pleasure building and building until finally she crested and quivered helplessly on the ground.
After some time she became aware of Gren's gaze on her, of the sound of their mingled heavy breathing.
She glanced up to see him crouched between her thighs, his eyes bright, his body glowing with vitality.
"What did you do to me?" she croaked, her throat reedy and her body surprisingly weak.
"I think the question is, what did you do to me?" Gren sounded strange, his voice echoing in the dark void surrounding them. "We'll study this again later. Now you need to rest, and I need to recover."
His eyes flared, unnatural and inhuman. Before she could comment, blackness enveloped her, pushing her into a dreamless sleep until morning.
* * * *
As soon as he withdrew from her mind, he knew he'd made a large mistake. Gren felt on fire, consumed with the taste of her, the need to bury his flesh and plant his seed in the untried warrior woman.
The sight of her naked body alone should have been worth the effort. As he'd imagined, she had full rounded breasts, marble-white and untouched. Her slim waist and taut belly led to the perfection of womanhood, to the blonde curls guarding her woman's treasure.
He closed his eyes, savoring the memory of her taste. Musky yet sweet, an addicting blend of innocence and experience, of femininity and pure rebellion, a goad to his own unruly nature.
Though all contact between them had occurred in the astral state, the energy had been real. Gren had wanted so badly to take her, to thrust into her warm and willing frame. His energy might have joined hers, but his flesh, still stuck in the cell, experienced every jolt of desire. While he'd been fingering her, licking her cream, his cock had been hard, full and ready to come as his body lay still in his prison cell.
Yet he hadn't allowed himself to climax while in the dreamstate, not wanting a possible tie to the woman before he allowed himself to fully heal. He sensed with a woman like Temis he'd need his full faculties to deal with her. Besides, he figured once he left the dream he'd regain control over his desire. But the lust, the all-consuming need that should have disappeared once he left her refused to fade.
Like Jahnja, Temis' incredible energy had the power of a dozen women. Yet unlike the thraia, Temis had somehow bonded with him. Even now, thoughts of her warmed him, made him ache to have her.
The experience left him dazed and more than a little concerned. But more so, it left him achingly hard and needy. He'd wanted to salve his wounds, and, he admitted, to prod Temis, to see what made her different from other women.
Now instead of answers, he had more questions and a hard-on growing to painful proportions. Cursing the woman's pure desirability, he reached into his trousers and unwillingly thought of her.
Squeezing his cock, he rubbed and stroked, imagining Temis' soft lips around his member. He envisioned her swallowing his seed, her mouth milking him of his essence. His hand moved faster as the fantasy built, images of Temis under him, on top of him, being taken from behind ... until finally he groaned and spent himself.
When his breathing evened, he used the small napkin he'd been given with his meal to clean himself as best he could.
Though his body felt relief and the beginnings of true healing, his spirit felt bereft of her presence. Hating such weakness, Gren forced their tie from his mind, worried at how hard he fought to free himself from her grasp.
He would need every faculty come the morning to deal with his imprisonment, with a cagey enemy so close to his allies and with a woman who irritated and aroused him like no other.
According to Sernal, he had to work with Temis on this mission. The lives of more than a dozen women depended upon him. He frowned. There would be time enough to deal with Temis. An idea formed and his mouth relaxed into a small grin.
The idea had merit. It was anti-peacemaker in nature, held a touch of bold thievery, and involved the forced submission of a Zephyr-trained warrior-woman bent on denying him.
Chapter Four
Temis sat across from Rafe and Sernal in Rafe's room, dimly aware of their heated conversation concerning the mission.
She couldn't shake the vague sensation that something odd had happened last night. She recalled dining with Rafe, then leaving him for a solid night's rest. Frowning, she tried to remember what she'd dreamt about, but could only envision a fighting circle and a luminous pool of water.
"Temis, your thoughts?" Sernal asked.
"I'm sorry?"
Rafe sighed. "Pay attention here, Temis. We've got to figure out how to free Gren without appearing to help in the slightest. If Rorn senses anything amiss, he'll cover his tracks before we can trace them."
Her eyes narrowed. "So we definitely know Rorn is involved?"
Sernal hesitated. "He's involved. But I need more proof."
"More?" Rafe's lips quirked. "How about some, any, a hint of proof?"
Temis glanced from brother to brother. "So you don't know for a fact he's involved?" she asked Sernal.
His golden eyes blazed as he stared at Rafe. "I know he's involved. He as good as told me so last night. But he's a crafty bastard, and if we want to find those women before they're sold into uncharted sectors, we need to move quickly."
Rafe shrugged. "Then do what I already suggested. Slip Gren a phaser and have one of Rorn's guards check up on him. Gren won't hesitate to escape."
"No." Sernal stood and began to pace. "Gren's working with me on this so far, but he needs answers and a direction to follow. Hell, he hasn't even seen our case file for this mission."
Temis thought about it. "I can get it to him."
Sernal and Rafe stared at her. "How do you intend to sneak him the case file when Rorn's eyes are all over his cell?"
She smiled and winked at Rafe. "I stole into Gren's room on Aflera, didn't I? A little harmless distraction in front of Rorn's men and Rafe should be able to take him anything he needs."
Rafe chuckled but Sernal looked confus
ed.
"Exactly how did you sneak past Rafe?"
"Trust me, Sernal, you had to be there." Rafe grinned. "Let's not waste too much time. If I know Gren, he's already mending from his beating yesterday and frothing at the mouth to return a few lumps to our peacemakers."
Sernal nodded. "I stopped by Gren's cell before I came here and saw at least two of Rorn's men posted by Gren's door. I'll call off our guard and post him elsewhere, and I'll occupy Rorn for the next hour or so. Make sure Gren gets the file and at least a partial explanation for what happened yesterday. Oh, and Rafe?"
"Yeah?"
"Be certain the video of Gren's imprisonment holds under Rorn's scrutiny." Sernal nodded to them both and left to find Rorn.
Rafe turned to her and explained. "We didn't want Rorn able to watch Gren in his cell, so I doctored the vid tape to show Gren sleeping with some generalized movements come the morning. With any luck Rorn won't suspect the vid's been tampered with."
She frowned. "But why did you hide Gren last night? Surely an injured mercenary has nothing to hide while recuperating."
Rafe gave her a strange look. "It's better for all of us if Gren remains a mystery. Especially if he and you have to mingle with peacemakers who know your faces." He tapped the thick file next to him on the bed. "Now let's coordinate our strategy, and fast. Sernal won't have Rorn's attention for too much longer before that drun demands access to Gren."
She nodded, feeling slightly sick. "I'm familiar with Rorn's methods. He won't be happy until he beats Gren to within an inch of his life, regardless of any knowledge Gren may or may not have."
"Obviously you know him well," Rafe muttered. "Now here's what I think we should do...."
* * * *
Temis walked in front of Rafe, her hair long and unbound, waving around her hips. She wore a low-cut blouse and tight training pants, and had spritzed a small amount of Mardu pheromone before leaving her room. Rafe had nodded in approval and followed her with a tray of food concealing the thick mission file he held underneath.
Winner Takes All Page 3