by Abigail Myst
“I’m definitely wet enough.”
“Of course. We are in the shower. I’d be worried if you were not wet.”
Odette gasped as he found her clit and began to play with it. Her hands clenched ineffectually on his arms as he brought her closer to orgasm. “Athen!”
“Yes?” He paused what he was doing and had the gall to feign worry.
“Aren’t you going to claim your mate?”
“I thought that’s what I was doing.” He gave his finger a little wiggle just to prove he had found the center of her pleasure.
“I meant with this.” She took a hold of his cock with two hands and stroked him. He was more than ready before she had touched him. Now, he let out only the slightest catch breath to show his pleasure.
“Is that what you want? Me to take you like this? Standing? Like a warrior without the wit or means to find his mate a bed?”
“No. I want you to take me like a warrior desperate to please his mate. To give her his cock when she can’t stand to be empty of him a second more.”
Her words had the desired effect. Athen removed his fingers and placed his hands under her thighs, lifting her like she weighed nothing. He pushed into her, his cock sliding deep, filling her until he was completely buried.
“Like this?”
“God, yes. Exactly like—” He pulled back and slid nearly out before thrusting back home with a vigor he’d not shown before. She actually screamed as her orgasm overtook her, spiraling waves of pleasure throughout her.
“That was a good scream, by the way,” Odette said breathlessly when her orgasm subsided.
“I do not need to ask. I can feel your body trying to claim my seed. I should hear you scream again before I am done.”
“That sounds like a—” She didn’t finish the statement because Athen had chosen that moment to resume his strokes. With nearly the same fervour as before, he pushed her against the wall, grunting with the effort of every thrust.
When she howled again, he threw back his head, laughed and then let out a shout of his own before filling her with his seed once more.
He lowered her back down to the ground, washing her as he went, just as tender as he had been vigorous moments before.
After the shower, Athen put on his uniform. Odette was not used to seeing him in anything other than a tight pair of bicycle shorts. She did have to say that he looked damn sexy in a uniform.
“You should get some rest,” Athen said. “Mothers need rest.”
“Not a helpless invalid. The next person who suggests I need a nap is going to get a whack upside the head.” He opened his mouth and then thought better of it. Athen turned on his heels and left.
She was not feeling the least bit tired. Left on her own, Odette went back to check on her samples. She had, in the past few days, come very close to good results. She was down to the last few drops but last night, she had crossed her fingers and said a little prayer to her father’s spirit that she had finally found the missing ingredient his formula required.
The Mahdfel equipment was near perfect as far as following her process specifications. There was no human error in that part of the equation. The product was a clear liquid that smelled a bit like Christmas. It was like someone had baked a pumpkin pie three days ago. But she wasn’t making perfume here. She placed one of the Suhlik scales she’d brought from the lab onto a slide and took her little dropper of liquid and placed a single tiny drop on the surface.
Odette didn’t have to wait at all. The reaction was immediate. The liquid sizzled and danced like a drop of water on a hot pan. In the middle of the golden square was now a hole. She slid the slide into the magnifier. The results were better than anything she could have imagined. The scale had come apart at a cellular level. All the bonds that had held the armor into its bulletproof skin had melted like cheap cheese.
“Eureka!”
Odette looked around. There was no one to share her discovery with, at least not who would appreciate her discovery, and she was pretty sure running around naked shouting “Eureka” like Archimedes would do nothing but worry the rest of the wives.
Chapter Fifteen
Athen
Odette was right, about this issue, at least. It was time to confront his father. This time, in private, without anyone to interfere or witness any breaches in protocol. It was not something his father’s aides welcomed, but when Athen showed up to the high command and quietly told them to leave for a moment with his father, a few steely glances from both Etlon and his son sent them packing.
“Your mate is just as stubborn as you,” Etlon said.
“And I am just as stubborn as my father. I assume you have been updated on the little presents I left you.”
”Trust my son to discover a spy ring while he was supposed to be guarding an outpost in the middle of nowhere.”
“Trust my father to station a proud and capable garrison in the middle of nowhere.” Athen took a deep breath. He knew that he should have held his tongue on that particular issue, but his father didn’t seem to be in the mood to rise to anger. At least not yet.
“A safe place to raise a son or two. To train them and fulfill a Mahdfel’s second duty.” To provide more little warriors for the fight against the Suhlik. To throw more sons into battle to die for the cause. His stomach sickened. For the first time, he would have a son to put into the fight and the idea did not sit well with him.
“Odette will stay here. I have put a plan into motion and it is too late to change it,” Athen said.
“Let Kave handle that. You should stay with your mate. She will need you as the baby grows.”
“They are my men. I will not hide from danger while they risk their own necks.”
“As I have said before, there are other ways to serve. You are a tactician. There are places for warlords to plan battles, or—”
“It is already done.”
Athen was pretty sure his father’s eye was twitching, turning a bit pink around the eyelid. He was annoyed. It could not be avoided.
“The cargo ship has already been turned. They will feed the Suhlik information that Noven 90 is of extreme importance and is being used as a site for the newest weapon test, something that will devastate the Suhlik in short form. It is also understaffed and guarded by a small garrison of scientist warriors.”
“They will land and you will eliminate them as you do.” Etlon nodded with approval. “It is a solid plan, but it relies on nothing more than a common commander.”
“Father, I have had enough. But if it shall make you feel better, I promise when this campaign has ended, I shall be quite content to remain on Noven 90 and make as many sons as I can with my mate. Is this compromise enough?”
Etlon sighed, shoulders slumping. “I am not a young Mahdfel anymore. I don’t know if my strength will bear me the loss of another son.”
Athen smiled. “Then it is a good thing that I have no intention of dying, a good death or otherwise.”
“I will hold you to that, and when you have a flock of children that disobey you as you have me, I shall laugh. Long and hard.”
Odette
Odette knew there was no cause to be jealous but when she entered the Harem center and found Athen lounging back against a pile of cushions surrounded by his brothers’ widows, it flashed through her like a brushfire. A Mahdfel was incapable of cheating once mated. It was all over the Earth lottery propaganda. Some chemical switch was flipped in their brain that gave them eyes only for their bride. It was a very compelling feature for those Earth women who had been twice or three times burned by Earth men who played the field. Women like her.
Athen wasn’t that deadbeat Cleveland. She had no good reason to be jealous, she told herself. But the hot flames of the jealous brushfire remained.
“You must try another,” Priscilla said, handing Athen a delicate tea cake that looked rather ridiculous in the warrior’s large hand. He bit into it. Red jam oozed out the sides. Probably made from those berries his mother said he lov
ed as a kid.
Marlin’s behavior had changed dramatically in the past week. Instead of cooing about her youngest son, she recited the childhood warrior adventures of Athen. Odette had heard how he liked to climb trees and catch some sort of animal she assumed was a type of bird. Every story portrayed Athen as the hero. He was the best of all his brothers. She highly doubted his mother’s selective memory.
Odette had enough with watching when Priscilla’s hand landed on Athen’s knee and started to creep up his thigh.
“Oi! Loverboy!” she called to him, snagging his attention.
He smiled innocently up at her and held out his hands. She knew he liked putting her on his lap and feeding her.
“You must try some of this tart,” he said. When she didn’t move, he put his arms down and tilted his head.
“Pardon me, ladies, but I’d rather like my husband back,” Odette said.
“You should join us,” Athen suggested. “Our time is short.”
“Yeah, but first I need to have a word with you.”
She’d come to the conclusion that Athen should be the first she told about her discovery, and not the other scientists in the lab. He’d probably see it as some sort of betrayal if she told someone else first. And honestly, it was burning a hole in her pocket.
“Athen.” She crooked her finger at him and then headed back to her bedroom. He followed, despite the protests from the Widows’ Club.
Once behind closed doors, she turned and found herself straight in his arms. He had apparently mistaken her invitation for an opportunity for sexy time. The man had a one track mind. It was hard to think when his finger was skimming the gap between the back of her shirt and her jeans.
“When are we leaving for Noven 90?” she asked.
“I am leaving. You are to stay here. Which is why we should take advantage of the little time that we have.”
“You are taking me with you. There will be plenty of time for fooling around.”
“Fooling? I have not lied to you.”
“It’s an expression.”
He mouthed the words. Fooling around. He smiled when he realized what she meant. Then said them again, as if filing it away in his list of euphemisms.
“I shall be happy to be fooling around with you now.” His hand reached deeper into her jeans, past the edge of her panties.
“Fine. As long as I go back with you.” His hand froze and then withdrew. His grumpy face replaced his fooling around face.
“We have already discussed this.”
“No. But I have a secret weapon.” Odette held up the little perfume vial she’d borrowed from Liloa. She waved it at him.
“And what is that supposed to do?”
“It’s a little something I’ve been working on. Really, my dad was quite close. He gave me all his notes. Even the handwritten ones and I’m the only one who can read them.”
“Mate, why is this important?” She could tell he was getting a bit antsty. She decided it was time for a bit of show and tell.
“Have you got a bit of Suhlik scale?”
Athen sighed, but reached over to a lamp with a bit of gold scrollwork all around the bottom of the shade. He pulled off a strip. Marlin would have been horrified at her son’s disregard for the decoration. Odette was horrified to learn the decoration was made out of Suhlik.
“That’s?”
Athen shrugged. “It was a gift.”
“Just so you know, there will be no Suhlik furniture of any kind in my house, gift or not.” Odette held the trim out with two fingers and stifling her gag reflex, she gave the trim a spritz. It sizzled for a moment, making little airy bubbles before suddenly becoming limp. Athen snatched it from her fingers. It tore in her hand. She definitely had his interest now.
“Get me back to Noven 90 and I can make buckets of the stuff. Imagine if you aerosol it and pipe it in as a gas. Their scales will be like jelly. It would work a little less well on their claws, but it’s like taking a razor sharp knife and turning it into a plastic butter knife. But you have to take me with you, because I’m the only one who can make it.”
“Odette, you cannot ask that of me.”
“I’m not asking. I’m telling. If you’re going back to Noven 90, you better believe that I am going with you. You are not leaving me here with your mother.”
“What is wrong with my mother?” Besides keeping furniture around decorated with the skin of her dead enemies?
“Nothing much that you don’t know about, at least, but the other wives? They are totally like my mother.”
“It is too dangerous. If the Suhlik know, if they figure out what we are planning, they will come. They will come in large numbers and they will kill.”
“And if they find out about this stuff before we can make a lot of it? I need to make a second batch just to make sure this one isn’t a fluke. And you’re the one who seems to think the world is full of spies. Imagine how many leaky ears there are around here. You can’t possibly protect me if the secret gets out.”
“I will always protect you.”
Odette tilted her head up at him. Athen looked serious and drop dead gorgeous, more than he had a right to be, but Odette stood her ground. She crossed her arms over her chest and planted her feet.
“Athen.”
“Odette.” He had the audacity to copy her posture.
“You can’t protect me if you’re not here.”
It’s not like she was trying to put him in an impossible situation. But she had, after all, resorted to blackmail of sorts. Then she sunk really low, literally. She got on her knees in front of him, but not to beg. It was easy enough to free him from the confines of his uniform.
“After all, Athen, you think you can live without this for the foreseeable future?” Odette teased his cock with her hands, bringing him close to her lips without touching.
“I am not a whelp, incapable of doing his duty without the distraction of a mate.”
“Oh, no, you’re very capable. So capable that I won’t be a distraction when I’m there. I’ll be an advantage.” Odette licked the tip of him. Twice. Athen didn’t let out a moan or even a sigh. He was learning to control his urges. She took the head of his cock in her mouth, swirling her tongue as she went. Athen tried to look bored. The peachy sheen to his skin and fiery eyes belied the stern set mouth.
Odette stroked him with her hands, even as she lifted her mouth to egg him on some more. “Athen, you are going to take me with you.”
Rather than answer her statement, Athen decided on a change of tactics. One moment, she was on her knees before him, and the next, she was on the bed with her legs spread wide.
“Athen, I-”
Odette had not learned the same discipline that he had. When his tongue began to play in circles around her clit and he thrust his fingers inside her, Odette screamed and bucked and moaned her pleasure. He was as merciless as she had planned to be, drawing one orgasm after another out of her.
Just when she thought she’d die of the pleasure, he mounted her, sliding himself deep inside. She welcomed him, folding her arms and legs around him as he began to search for his own release. Odette loved the feel of him on top of her, pressing into her, mating her. She loved the way his tattoos glowed a hot white and his skin rippled with color. He increased his pace and Odette felt the pleasure mounting as he tightened, but it was his primal growl that set her over the edge. She exploded just as he did.
After a long moment, Athen rolled over, flipped them until she was on top, his cock still inside her.
“You’re still hard.”
“Your scent is strong. It has that effect. Give it time, and…”
“That wasn’t a complaint.”
Odette sat up and gave a bit of a wiggle. He gasped under her. It was a tiny gasp, but one just the same.
“What’s wrong? Does that hurt?” Odette looked down at Athen. He was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood.
“No. Just a bit… sensitive.”
&nb
sp; “Really?” Odette raised herself up and got a full stroke of him. There was the groan she was looking for. “You like that?”
“I think I like everything you do to me.”
Odette began to ride him in earnest and continued her argument.
“If you take me with you, I can do this to you every day. Maybe even twice a day. Think about that.”
“I cannot think right now.”
“Then don’t think. Say yes. Yes, oh yes.” Athen put his hand between them to play with her clit as she rode him. So thoroughly sated before, she didn’t think it possible to be on the brink again. Stars sparked in front of her eyes. Athen said nothing as he took over the thrusting that spiraled another orgasm through her. He bounced her hard, both hands now firmly on her hips. His fierce gaze met hers for a moment before he opened his mouth and roared out his own climax.
Once he tucked her back against him for their hearts to settle into a slow steady beat, Athen replied to her request.
“I will think on it.”
Chapter Sixteen
Athen
In the end, Athen had no choice. Once his father found out about the potential weapon, it became a matter of duty to take his stubborn mate into the heart of his newly created warzone. Had it not meant his own death, Athen would have wished his father saddled with another widow for his lack of concern for Odette.
The voyage back to Noven 90 was indeed pleasurable except for the mounting fear of taking Odette into danger. She did live up to her promise of exercising her claim over him at least twice a day. He would have spent more time in bed with his bride if he had not wanted to be derelict in his duty to run the ship, though taking her bent over the cockpit controls had been a remarkable experience.
His arrival on Noven 90 was not.
“What the hell did you do?” Athen sputtered as he stormed into the quad.
Athen stared at the lively disaster that was his camp. There were females everywhere. From the group sitting around the mess playing some sort of table game to the quartet he could see on the beach playing that, what was it? Volleyball. Another area was full of sheets hung out to dry. Not that sheets were a problem, but they were sporting a rainbow of colors. Sheets did not need to be colored.