One Thousand Wishes, One Thousand Stars (The Complex Book 0)

by Katherine Rhodes

  Lifting her head, she ran her fingers through the sides of my hair, caressing me. “You just made me climax…”

  I grinned. “You are magnificent. I love the look of sexual flush on your skin.”

  “I've never…”

  I perked up. “You've never come like this before? No one realized how you were that—”

  “Ever. No one has ever made me climax.”

  That hurt my heart a little, and also made me a little proud. “You will never, ever feel bereft of pleasure with me, Min.”

  I popped the button on her pants. Her hand stilled mine, and she brought her lips to mine, careful and gentle. “My turn. Please.” She found the bottom edge of my shirt, trailing her fingers up my sides as she raised it up over my head.

  Her fingers were nimble, but shy, as she explored my shoulders, my chest, my stomach. She brushed the tips over my nipples, and sucked in a short breath.

  She pulled her hands back. “Did I hurt you?”

  “No, no, it felt good. Very good.”

  With a touch of disbelief in her movements, she put the flat of her hands on my chest again, covering the nipples. Her touch roared through me, but I stilled myself so I wouldn’t frighten her. It felt amazing, and my body wanted more. But she seemed scared.I pressed my hand over hers, flush against my skin. “What's frightening you?”

  “I was not allowed to touch.”

  I kissed her forehead. “You are welcome to touch. Anywhere you like, any time you like, as often as you desire. Your fingers are like cool fire…burning me and soothing me at the same. A perfect paradox.”

  It was like a floodgate opened. Her hands seemed to be everywhere at once, touching, stroking, feeling everything she could. I damn near unmanned myself at her simple touches.

  Then her hand found my erection through my pants, and she froze. “Pili, I didn't mean—”

  “Stop. You've done nothing wrong. Nothing.”

  “Am I allowed...to…touch?”

  “Gorgeous girl, I beg you to.” I leaned up, kneeling astride her hips. “Please. Take it out. It's there because of you, and for you.”

  Min let out a soft breath and unfastened my pants. Her touch was still apprehensive, but she didn't hesitate for too long. She drew my hard length from where it was waiting, and wrapped a delicate fist around me at the base. Her fingers didn't quite touch.

  “Do I have to suck it?” There was pain in her voice, and I had the feeling he'd made her do things she didn't want to.

  “Only if you want to. I have better plans for it.”

  Fluttering eyelids revealed a gaze that was torn. “I don't want to, but I do want to.”

  “Then another time, Min. This is not about me. This is about you learning what Eros really is.” I leaned down and whispered. “I am a patient teacher.”

  “Pili, I'm hot, burning. I ache…”

  I placed my palm between us, on her mons. “Here.”

  She nodded. It was as if she were a virgin. He’s used her to create the only thing he needed from her ever: a child. There was no need for love of tenderness.

  “It’s desire, Min. Lust. The strongest form of eros.”

  “You’re doing this to me.”

  I nibbled on her ear, lightly. “It’s chemistry. It’s you and me. Heat, fire, flames. I want to quench it for you.”

  “How did I never feel this before with—”

  My finger covered her lips. “This is us, now, Min. Forget him. He’s not here, he’ll never hurt you again. He’ll never use you.”

  “Show me, Pili. Put out the flame. Quench the fire.”

  I found her lips again and kissed her, hard. I knew I was stoking the heat more than quenching it, but my hands were busy with her pants as her fingers explored my length. She wrapped her hand tightly around me and moved her fist as if it was second nature to her—and my cock responded by getting even harder.

  Once I had her pants unfastened, I kissed my way down her body again, through the valley between her breasts, down her warm soft stomach, moving her pants down her legs and out of our way as I did so. At some point she had to let go of my hard shaft, and it ached when she did. But I knew something even more amazing was coming.

  A single kiss on her mons, covered with a tuff of blonde that matched her hair, and I could barely hold myself back. I wanted to taste her, make her come on my tongue, but it wasn’t the time. I wanted her too much.

  Tracing a finger over the wet lips that hid her entrance, I dipped just inside and she gasped. Propping herself up on her elbows, she stared down at me, wide-eyed.

  “You...touched…”

  “I will do more than touch, Min. Right now I want to be inside you.”

  “Oh, please, please....” She was begging, but there was no need.

  Once again, I found myself hovering over her—but this time, skin was against skin. I could feel the heat from her body, and her breasts heaved with her breaths. Her wings trembled below her, and I watched them, fascinated for a moment.

  “Please, Pili, please…”

  I smiled as I placed the blunt head of my cock at the entrance of her pussy. She was wet, warm, welcoming and slowly, with utmost care, I slid myself deep inside her waiting channel. There was no resistance, but she held me tight and as I went as deep as I could, her breath became staccato, stuttering the single syllable, “Oh!”, over and over.

  We could have not have been designed as a more perfect pair. As I pressed against her innermost depth, I felt her excited lips press their sexual kiss against the base of my cock. I stilled myself, waiting for her to tell me she was ready.

  Her hands ran up my sides, and around to my back. “Make me feel this, P’iliktus. Help me know what eros is meant to be.”

  I shifted my hips, pulling myself out, and pressing back in. Min’s eyes fluttered, and her wings trembled again. I let my hips thrust in whatever rhythm her body dictated. It knew what to do, what it wanted, and there were no questions asked of me. We moved together, my hips rocking against hers, lifting and lowering, finding our own time. Her nipples were hard pearls and there was no resisting them. I dropped my head and drew her into my mouth.

  “Oh, yes, please…” The sounds were lusty, laced with desire. They were music to my ears, and as her walls fluttered around my cock, it took all I had to not come at that moment.

  I changed my position just enough to make sure that my erection stroked against her clit as we moved. Her gasps grew louder the faster I thrust, and her hips started to buck against me. “Pili, please...don’t stop. I’ve never—”

  I covered her words with a kiss. I wasn’t going to hear it. She was here, now with me, and I would make sure that she always, always found satisfaction. Min grunted against my lips, and in the next instant, she arched up hard into me. I didn’t stop—if anything I went faster, and found the other nipple to tease.

  “Oh, gods, Pili, Pili!”

  Her hands flew from my sides, out to fist the bedding. The fluttering of her pussy became a desperate beat, and at the moment of her climax, her body clamped tight around me. The velvet heat was relentless, and it was pure delight to be trapped within her.

  But what I did not expect, what made sure that I was consumed by this heaven below me, was the way her wings opened as she came. Unfurling to their widest, they stretched up and over her head, and there was no quivering—just the marvelous expanse of her white, white wings arched above her as she soundlessly cried out in climax.

  I surrendered my body to her, and spilled my own orgasm within her walls.

  Chapter Twelve

  I held Min close as she slept.

  My fingers trailer over the feathers in her wings. They were indescribably soft, and she seemed to almost purr when I stroked them. I couldn’t believe that after three hundred years, I had my angel in my arms.

  Her cheeks were pink—not a flush pink but a healthy pink. Her pallor had gone, and her porcelain skin had a new glow to it, a shine from within.

  I pressed a kiss
to her flaxen hair, and sighed.

  This was heaven.

  “Pili?”

  I hadn’t realized she was awake. “Yes, Min?”

  “Can you forgive me?”

  “For what?”

  “For being such a fool? For not seeing that you were there?”

  Shaking my head, I chuckled. “There’s nothing to forgive, Min.”

  “You truly love me?”

  “I do.”

  “It’s been so long…” She turned to me and I watched as her eyes danced over my face. “It’s pragma. Isn’t it? What I’m feeling right now? It’s a steadfast, deep love that I feel through the little things. Like the way you were stroking my wings, and the way you’re so patient with me.”

  “Pragma.” I nodded.

  “And Eros, too. No one has ever made my body sing like that.”

  This time I smirked. “I can do more than that. But that’s for another day. You have storge, with your daughter.”

  Her hand found my cheek and she lay it there for a moment. “Philia. I may not have realized the love, but there was always our friendship growing up. You were always there.”

  “And, philautia?” I was hopeful.

  “I think so. I think I can find that within me. Agape will follow that.”

  Our eyes locked, and suddenly her lips were on mine. “I’ve been a fool.”

  “My fool. That I would wait for eternity for.” My whole body was responding to her kiss, and I could feel hers responding as well. I didn't want to break the kiss, but I did. “Your daughter. We need to get her…”

  “How? We're here and she's…”

  “On Lorn with Trilland. He's using her. He's a deeply psychotic man. We have a ship.”

  “We?”

  I moved us both so we were sitting. It took all I had not to touch the gorgeous body in front of me. “John came with me. He's waiting in the ship.”

  “While we were—” She put a horrified hand over her mouth.

  Laughing, I pulled her hand away. “Trust me. Once you get to know him and his mates, him sitting in the ship, playing solitaire is not the worst of it. He's fine. But we have to go. Zar Kodone was worried about what Trill’s next move was going to be, and I would like it to be away from Brami.”

  “Isn't Lorn where the Complex is?” She gasped. “You're not supposed to be here at all.”

  “Not at all.” I climbed out of bed and gathered her clothes on the floor, offering them to her. Once she had them, I gathered mine and dressed quickly. “We have to go. We've been gone just about a day so far, and we have a six-hour journey back.”

  “And I just leave here?”

  “John can settle up whatever needs settling.”

  She was dressed and I offered her a hand. Moving her legs over the side, she stood. She was still weak and unsteady. I had hoped that she would regain her strength quickly, but she had been at death's door. It would take time.

  I wrapped a careful arm around her waist and lent her my strength. “Is there anything you want from here? We won't be able to come back for at least a year.”

  “Not pressing items. Just… could we ask the staff to store my things until we can get back here?”

  “I will see what John can do.”

  The elevator let us out into the lobby, and the woman who had shown me to her room gasped when she saw me with the angel.

  “Mini?”

  “Greeli,” Min answered. “I'm going with Pili. I have to get my daughter back.”

  “Yes, of course! But there's paperwork and—”

  “I'll take care of it.” John was walking in the door. “Pili, get Min settled in the ship. I trust this won't take long.”

  “Store her stuff?”

  “Gotcha.”

  John sat across from the desk attendant, as Min and I went out the front door. I stopped her and helped her into a sweater I had grabbed. It was chilly out and she was going to be weak for a while.

  Settling Min into the seat, I helped her buckle in and secured her. She had a light smile on her lips the whole time.

  “Do you feel better, angel?”

  “Getting there,” she answered.

  “I would love you again, to show you, but we don't have time.”

  Her grin spread wider. “I trust you, Pili. You made me feel the way no one else has. I have never felt comfortable enough to lay naked after…”

  “Sex.” I supplied the word for her. “Don't be afraid of it. I plan on showing you all the wonderful things a joining between two bodies can be. Slow, fast, erotic, filthy, tender. What two people do is a bond of souls and a show of trust. And it's fun.”

  She giggled. “Fun?”

  I leaned into her ear. “Tell me you didn't enjoy me making you come.”

  A shiver ran through her. “I did.”

  “Good. There's more. But right now…” I stood and turned to look in the directions of the hospice. “We have your child to save, and murderer to stop.” I glanced back to her. “Hungry?”

  “A little, yes.”

  I dug into the one bag we'd brought, and pulled out some emergency rations. “You're looking a bit better now.”

  “You've given me back hope, and you've shown me love. I am feeling better. And food helps. Even rations.”

  John strode in the door. “They will pack everything and send it to my estate on Pinao. You'll be able to get everything there when we're finally released from the Complex. Everything you might have owed to them will be paid through my accounts. That and the outstanding bill from the hospital.”

  “You should not have done that!”

  Min wanted to stand and object, but John was having none of it. He resolutely ignored her and sat in front of the controls of the ship. “All set?”

  “All set.” I nodded and strapped myself into my own chair. “Let's go get your daughter back.”

  The stars were bright again as we zipped around the system to head back to Lorn. It was odd that there were no patrols for the planet. Did the people of these planets really just trust the inhabitants to stay there?

  It was more a curiosity for me than a complaint. After all it worked in our favor. As Lorn started to loom ahead of us, it was clear why this had been the only unsettled planet—bleak, rocky, enormous. It was daunting, and I guessed there’d been only a passing interest in terraforming. The planet was just too big a to make it economical when there were six other good planets.

  John expertly flew us directly back into the same trajectory we'd exited from, and we dove into the landing area at a frightful speed, pulling up at just the last second.

  The speaker flared to life on the personal communicators both John and I wore.

  “—contact us immediately!”

  Aura’s voice was frightened and panicked. Even I could tell. They had the message setup to repeat. “As soon as you land, head to the auditorium. We all agree that he's lost his mind. He's up to something and soon. Contact us immediately.”

  John keyed in his code as the ship closed down and Aura’s voice came over the speaker before he could even say a word.

  “We can’t stop him!” It was easy to hear the hysterical tears in her voice. “John, they’re holding us back physically from getting to her. Please… He wants to kill her.”

  I leaned into the microphone. “Kill who?”

  “Brami! He wants to send her back to the god who gave her to him.”

  “Oh, gods,” Min murmured.

  Marin’s voice broke through. “It’s happening right now! He’s got a fucking knife in his hand and the girl is tied to a post.”

  Min’s eyes grew wide. “Pili… my daughter.”

  I unbuckled myself and basically ripped the belts off Min as John got himself unbuckled and got the ship open for us. He slung the bag over his shoulder, and we all went running.

  “How far are you?” Marin called over the communicator.

  “You’re too far.” Zar’s voice came through the speaker. “They’re just getting into
the trade area.”

  They heard Aura yelp and Ella’s voice interrupted. “Pili, John! The watch!”

  “Holy crap.” John pulled up short and both Min and I crashed into him. He stopped us and pulled out the watch.

  My watch.

  “P’iliktus, my first wish is for the three of us to be in that auditorium to protect Brami immediately.”

  The compulsion to grant his wish—the first wish he had ever made—washed over me. The unlimited power that I had as a djinn to grant nearly any wish bubbled up and with a clap of my hands and burst of blue magic, we disappeared from the underground markets and reappeared on the stage of the auditorium. It took just a heartbeat for the three of us to reorient ourselves to our place in space

  Brami was tied to a pole at the center of the stage with the light shining down on her. She was so weak and tired that the ropes were holding her up. Trill stood in front of her with a ritual scimitar in his hand, half raised to fly back and take his daughter’s head off.

  Min screamed and jumped to stand in front of Brami. She might have been still weak, but she found all her strength in that one moment. “No!” Min’s hands flew from her side to stop him, her wings stretching their whole length out from her shoulders. “No! Not my daughter, you lying bastard!”

  Trill’s sword flew down anyway as the audience behind Trill gasped in shock. The blade sliced into her side below her ribs and this time it was my turn to scream as I ran over to her, only just keeping her from hitting the ground hard and pushing the sword in deeper.

  “Are you insane?!” I pulled Min’s head in my lap.

  As if to prove my accusation, Trill reached for the sword in Min’s side, fully intending to use it again. If he pulled it out, she would bleed to death before her supernatural body could heal. I grabbed the back of the blade and held it still.

  The glare from Trill was laced with hate and murder.

  Zar and Marin barreled over and tossed him away from the two of us. Aura and Ella were next to me in a flash. As Ella bound the sword in place, Aura cut the bindings off of Brami and wrapped her in her arms.