Chapter 30
Walking right up to a spot that seemed to be nothing more than windswept scrabbles of grass desperately attempting to cling to life as they sprang up from between rusted metal plates of forming the outer edges of the water reservoir, he lifted his hand and waved it in front of himself. Immediately the outline of a sleek ship, in much better shape than it had once been, shimmered in the dust that blew ceaselessly from the huge turbines that circulated the air.
“I’m home,” he sing-songed.
The ramp extended from its side as the door seemed to slide back into its own body, granting Rokai entry to his ship.
The moment he was aboard the ship, he sealed himself inside and reactivated the cloaking mechanism. The only way anyone would happen upon him was if they literally bumped into the ship itself.
He sat down at the console and typed in a series of codes, which resulted in the message from Gaishon being displayed right on the windshield on the ship. Rokai took only a few moments to absorb what he saw. A map, two dimensional, with a tag on a spot days away from where he was currently sitting. And the tag said, ‘Ba Re’ band - Mirilla’.
“Ba Re’ band? The hell does that mean?” Rokai asked aloud. “And Mirilla?”
Unsure what the message meant, but knowing that it was important enough for Gaishon to have activated the implant, which Gaishon knew he hated and always had, he dutifully logged in the location and quickly calculated a route back to the port. “Already been there - twice, Gaishon. But if you say I have to find Ba Re’s band to find Mirilla, I’ll go back,” he grumbled.
“Ba Re’ band…” he said again as he strapped himself and quickly ran a check to be sure no one had messed with the ship si nce he’d left it unattended. He always left it flight checked and ready for take off, just in case. But if you weren’t trying to escape quickly, it was always a good idea to be sure nothing had been touched since.
Secure in the functionality of his ship, he fired the blasters to prepare the ship’s engines to lift it from the man-made surface of the space-port he was sitting on. As he lifted into the darkness surrounding the port, he watched as the ship slowly turned itself toward the path he’d programmed in to his navigation controls. He sat in his command chair, eyes scanning the darkness around his ship, glancing at the rear facing feeds only once more as he left the port far behind. “Could use a little nap. I am not used to drinking like that anymore.”
He kicked off his boots, and pulled his stiff leather shirt off over his head, tossing it to lie on top of the boots just beside him. He crossed his ankles, reclining his chair just enough to be able to doze for a few hours and closed his eyes, confident that his ship would let him know if anyone or anything got within striking distance of him. He crossed his arms over his stomach, and promptly felt the buckle of his credit band digging into the soft flesh there. Irritated, he lifted his head and unbuckled the band before dropping it to the floor beside his shirt and boots.
He closed his eyes again, but then they popped open wide. “Ba Re’ band! Ba Re’s credit band. What the hell does Ba Re’ have to do with Mirilla going missing?” He glanced around the command deck of his own private ship and then frustratedly reached for the communicator he kept plugged into the ship’s mainframe. He pressed the buttons to attempt to contact Gaishon, only he realized before he finalized the comm that if Gaishon was sending him coded information, for whatever reason, he didn’t want the information broadcast across any means that would make record of their conversation. Sighing, he returned his communicator back to its place, and closed his eyes again. He could easily have checked Missy’s memory banks if he still had her programs installed on his ship, but he’d removed them in the event the ship was compromised. He didn’t want anyone to accidentally gain access to Artificial Intelligence that oversaw all the technology that kept Command Warship I working. So he’d have to wait and see what he found when he arrived. He’d need some rest, because if he found Ba Re’ with Mirilla, and holding her against her will no less, there would be a multitude of bullshit to wade through. Harming Ba Re’ was not an option, so it would come down to any other way out. “The fuck are you doing, Ba Re’?”
~~~
“I can get it, Au’revele,” Zahn said, pushing himself into a sitting position on the sofa.
“But why? I’m here, so there’s no reason to get it yourself.”
“Because I’m not helpless. In just a few days I’ll be back on duty. You don’t have to wait on me hand and foot.”
“No, I don’t. But why won’t you allow me to take care of you? It’s what we do for one another isn’t it? Or at least that’s my understanding — it’s what normal mated couples do for one another.”
“What do you mean by that?” Zahn asked. “We’re normal!”
“Zahn, we are not normal in any way. I daresay that the only reason you’re even here in my home is because you got hurt and I suggested to the Sirena that I could take care of you here more easily than in your quarters.”
“That’s not true,” he said haughtily.
“Enlighten me. How is it not true?” Au'revele challenged.
“We’d have ended up here no matter my injuries.”
“I’m not altogether sure I believe that,” she said tiredly, handing him the plate of food and turning to walk away.
Zahn reached out and snagged her wrist in his hand, pulling her off balance to fall toward him. As she fell he let go of her wrist and caught her as she landed across his thighs.
“Zahn! You’re going to hurt yourself! ”
“Female, I am not a weak male. I do not need to be coddled and I am offended that you think I do,” he growled, before he kissed her with a hard demanding kiss.
She pushed him away, turning her face away from his. “The doctors said you need to rest for a few more days.”
“I’ve been in a healing unit. I’ve been lying in a bed for days. I’m about to lose my mind. Rest is the last thing I need.”
“Then what do you need?” she demanded.
“I’m trying to show you!”
“No, you’re not! You’re being argumentative and avoiding the question.”
“What question?” Zahn asked.
“How is not true that the only reason you’re here is because of me.”
He closed his eyes and squeezed them shut before opening them again. “You’re infuriating and confusing. Do you know that?”
Au'revele opened her mouth to speak, but he literally pressed his hand over her lips to keep her from speaking. “Just, let me speak, then you can yell at me all you want.”
Au'revele raised her eyebrows and glared at him, resisting the urge to bite his fingers where they still lay over her lips.
“Of course, I’m here because of you. There is no other reason that I’d be here. But I’m not here only because you spoke to the Sirena about me living here with you. I’d have been here, or you’d have been in my quarters with me, regardless. Are we conventional? No, we are not. But that is because I fought this thing with every bit of will power I had. The very last thing I wanted was a mate. So naturally, you stumbled into my life.”
“I didn’t…”
“I said, let me speak. Please!” he interrupted, pressing his hand harder against her lips.
“I fought it, as most males do believe it or not, because we’ve trained to be warriors all our lives. We’ve focused on our careers, we’ve perfected the job we dreamed of as younglings, and we’re damn good at it. Then the females wander by and we have to figure out how to split our focus. I once heard the Sirena say that having an Ehlealah made you fight more fiercely, battle more passionately, because now not only were you defending your home planet, you were defending a piece of yourself. Until you, I didn’t understand that. It made no sense to me. How could a female mean as much if not more than your home? But you destroyed that way of thinking. You shattered that thought simply by breathing and looking in my direction. I knew that day that I’d never need or love anything the way I did you. I hadn’t even spoken to you yet, and I knew it. It just took me a while to wrap my head around it. But even so, I’ve made every move possible to stay near you, to protect you, though I wasn’t ready to admit it.”
Au'revele kissed his palm and gently pulled his hand from her face.
“What moves?” she asked.
“I made sure that I always knew exactly where you were, and who you were with, which was easy because you became a friend of the Sirena’s. If you were exercising on the ship, I happened to be training at the same time. If you were eating, I would happen in at the same time. The day I heard that you had accepted the position of nanny to Sire Alexandrus, I pledged my intention to accompany the Sire and Sirena to Cruestace. When I saw where your quarters are, I claimed those across the hall so that I could guard you as I do the royal residence.”
“But you were always so angry that I was near.”
“No. I was always so angry that you were near and I didn’t have a clue of how to get closer to you. There was nothing standing in my way but me, and still I had trouble getting around myself. Until the day that Sirena Vivian sent me to escort you to the dining room, and then to your quarters. We were alone, and the longer we remained together, the more unable I became to resist.”
“So, still irritated that you had no choice, you kissed me.”
“I was irritated, and rightly so. Who did that male think he was? We were seated, eating together, and he blatantly lets you know he was interested!”
Au'revele smiled. “You were jealous. ”
“Of course, I was jealous. No male will approach my female without repercussions!”
“And since you hadn’t claimed me, or made your intentions clear, you couldn’t say anything.”
“Something like that. But that kiss made my intentions clear.”
“No, it didn’t. It was a kiss. There are many kisses in the heat of the moment that do not mean either participant is making a claim.”
Zahn’s expression clouded. “Who has kissed you without the intention of claiming you?!” he demanded.
“Will you make sure he understands that he can’t do that any longer? That you don’t kiss someone without intention?”
“I’ll make sure he understands more than that!”
“Good. You did.”
“What?”
“It was you. You kissed me, and then turned and walked away.”
“I told you of my intentions.”
“No, you didn’t. You asked me what the kiss indicated about your intentions.”
“Did it indicate nothing?”
“It indicated that you wanted to kiss me. And that you might perhaps be interested, but maybe perhaps not.”
Zahn sighed. “I am grumpy.”
“I know.”
“I am not very good with emotions.”
“I do not find that surprising.”
He glared at her. “But there is one thing that I do know. I don’t want to be a part of anything in this life, that doesn’t include you. When I grabbed your arm when I woke in the medical unit and said you were mine, I wasn’t delirious. I knew who you were, and I knew that I might be dying, and the only thing that was important, was letting you know that I knew you were mine and I was the worst fool for not saying so while I still had a life to live with you. ”
Au'revele smiled softly at him and cupped his cheek with her long, delicate fingers. “That’s all I needed to hear. I knew you claimed me. But I knew you were still being difficult. I just needed to know that you really wanted this and didn’t speak out of desperation or fear in the moment.”
“The only fear that I’ll ever experience is the idea that you might eventually go away from me, leaving me behind because you tire of my emotional ineptness.”
Au’revele giggled.
“I’m not trying to be funny.”
“I know. But it’s so endearing.”
“It is?” he asked.
“It is. I don’t care how cold, or short you are with everyone else. As long as with me, you’re honest. You speak your feelings. You have to be clear about whatever you’re feeling, and what I mean to you. If you do that, the rest we can work through. In fact, I find your fumbling and grumpiness kind of charming.”
Zahn grinned. “I knew that.”
“Oh, really?” she asked.
“Really,” he admitted. “But there’s still a problem.”
“What is it?” she asked.
Zahn leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, more gently this time. “You said I claimed you when I woke. I didn’t. I spoke my intention to, but there is only one way for a Cruestaci warrior to claim his Ehlealah.” His face was so near hers when he spoke that he simply adjusted the angle of his head and nipped at her bottom lip.
Her breath caught.
“I spoke the words, you accepted them. But the only way to finalize it is to become one.”
“Oh. Well, we haven’t done that.”
“We’re about to do that.”
Her eyes widened. “We are?”
“We are.”
He smiled when he sensed her heartbeat speed up, and her breathing quicken a little .
“Well, then, allow me to show you how the females on Eschina bond our males to us.”
“Will I enjoy it,” he teased.
“There is a reason that it bonds the males to us and they never want to leave.”
Au'revele, who was still half-lying half-sitting across Zahn’s lap, pushed herself up and stood before him. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the plate of food she’d handed him earlier sitting on the sofa a short distance from him. She picked it up and walked over to a small end table to set it down, then turned to face him from across the room. She looked into his eyes and slowly shook her head.
“What?” he asked.
“Why are you still dressed?”
Zahn began removing clothing without taking his eyes off hers. He quickly unbuttoned, unfastened, pushed and tore fabric from his body before tossing each piece where it might land.
Au'revele watched until he was done, and sat there on her sofa, totally nude, waiting for whatever it was she had planned. He was as beautiful as she remembered. The scars on his body were faint thanks to the healing chamber, but even if they had been more prominent, it wouldn’t have mattered. He was her Zahn, and she’d never love another. She kicked off her sandals, then reached behind her neck and untied her linen shift-like dress, allowing it to fall to the floor and pool at her feet. She stepped out of the dress, and slowly approached him, giving him plenty of time to admire her body. She was alluring, she had been all her life, which was part of the curse she’d lived through. Without a wealthy family to buy or attract males, they all wanted her for one thing only — so for survival, she’d become a servant. Because she was attractive, the female she’d worked for, had taken every opportunity to make her seem more unattractive. But it had done nothing to stifle her self-confidence. She knew she was a good person, a fair person, with a kind heart and loving soul, and that is where her beauty shone from. The physical attributes were just the luck of the draw .
As she approached Zahn, she gracefully knelt before him, placing her hands on his knees to nudge them apart.
“Au’revele!” he rasped, thinking he might now have a clue of what she planned to do.
“Shhh. Just sit there. Yes?” she said, as she reached out a hand and gently dragged her fingertips across his hip, then down the length of his already pulsing shaft to his balls, then back up the length of his shaft again.
Zahn nodded so quickly, she had to repress a smile.
“I have thought you were beautiful since the first time I saw you. And that thought has only been confirmed each time I’ve seen you since.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his thigh, kissing her way up toward his pelvis.
Zahn shifted, tightening his ass as he clenched his muscles and lifted himself up off the sofa just enough to curl his hips toward her.
Au'revele smiled as she moved to the other thigh. “And now that I see you here like this, waiting for me to touch you, I know without a doubt that you are mine.” She kissed her way up to the juncture of his thigh and his body, her nose only an inch or two away from the most sensitive part of him.
“Yes!” he agreed.
“Then you are mine?”
“I have always been yours.”
“Then allow me to show you how very much I treasure you.” She turned her head and licked the base of his shaft, causing every muscle in his body to jump and twitch. Changing her positioning, yet still kneeling, she moved herself closer to him so that she could lave and nibble, suckling the length of his cock, taking care to ensure that no bit of him was neglected. Working him with her hands, her mouth, lips, and tongue, she suckled him and stroked him from base to tip and back over and over again.
Zahn’s entire body was on alert, his hips thrusting in tandem with her licks and nibbles up and down his shaft, his shoulders pushed back against the sofa cushions behind him to try to get more traction, and even his toes curling into the thick rug beneath his feet.
Au'revele hadn’t shown him all she could do, yet, though. The women of Eschina had a special talent, or feature you might say. Getting to her feet, she stood over him, still suckling the tip of his cock, then she placed her hands on his upper thighs and began to swallow him down. He watched, amazed, as it seemed that every inch of his shaft was being slowly worked down her throat. She stretched her neck, allowing the back of her throat to accept him unimpeded as she began to work the muscles of her throat.
Zahn groaned, a sound somewhere between a gargle and a growl, as the multiple rings of muscles within her throat began to undulate in tandem around his swollen, leaking shaft. The faster she swallowed, the faster the muscles undulated around his girth.
It didn’t take long before he was lifting himself up off the sofa, thrusting aggressively into her mouth. His breath was coming in pants and on every exhale he’d snarl. His hands were clenching the sofa cushions at his side, and she had no doubt it would need to be replaced — but she didn’t care. What mattered was that her male was on the verge of releasing, and once that was done, there would be no tearing them apart. Without changing her rhythm or adjusting her position at all, she raised her gaze to watch him experience the pleasure she was giving him.
The moment her eyes met his, peeking up at him through her silvery lashes, he all but sobbed. “Au’revele,” he garbled.
She responded by adding to his pleasure, her hands moving from his thighs to his balls and cupping them, their heaviness adding to her own arousal. She worked them in her hands, massaging them with her fingers, squeezing just enough to cause him to leak more of his essence down her throat.
She knew the moment he lost control, his eyes rolled back, and his head dropped against the cushions, the claws that had extended from his fingertips tearing into the sofa as his Psi rushed forward, enlarging his body as he fought for control, and lost.
His shaft released the pressure building in his body, flooding her throat with his essence in hot streams that marked her as his for all eternity. Eagerly she drank him down, her throat extracting every single bit of him that was to be had. She stopped suckling only when his body let go of all its tension, falling relaxedly against what remained of the sofa cushions, his chest glistening with sweat, his entire body twitching as she gently released his still hard shaft and licked him clean.
Several minutes later he opened his eyes and peered down at her. “Mine,” he whispered.
“Forever,” she said.
He held out his hand to her and she took it, allowing him to pull her up off the floor where she’d once again knelt before him to clean him up. “Come here,” he said, pulling her toward himself, until she finally realized he wanted her to sit across his lap. Her knees came down on the outsides of his thighs, resting against the torn sofa cushions, and he placed his hands on her hips as he guided her toward his cock. “Now it’s my turn.”
He hesitated right before his cock pressed against her slit, and at the last moment seemed to clear whatever had crossed his mind and pulled her down without hesitation onto his hard shaft.
“I can’t believe you’re still hard.”
“I haven’t satisfied my Ehlealah yet,” he said as he guided her with the pressure of his hands to lift herself just enough above him to force herself down on him again.
Au'revele’s eyes closed and she moaned as she took over the motion herself, rising up and down, allowing his shaft to pierce the deepest parts of her body, riding him with abandon as his hips caught her rhythm and he pushed himself deeper into her with every down sweep she made. “Zahn.”
“You are mine, Au'revele.”
She nodded, as she let her head fall back a little on her shoulders as she lost herself in the feeling overwhelming her body .
He grabbed onto her hips again the next time she lifted up and while he thrust up toward her body, he forced her down, slamming into her. He repeated the action several more times, growling each time his cock slammed into her. Finally she opened her eyes and simply stared into his eyes as her body began to seize around his. But even then, he didn’t stop pulling her down as he thrust up. As his body began to shiver, her nipples tightened, and not only pulled her down onto his cock, he pulled her forward, forcing her clit, mounted further down than a human’s to ride along the length of his shaft, from one end to the other. After the first contact with her clit, she screamed and froze, her pussy working his shaft as it tried to force him to flood her with the only thing that her body recognized as a mark of mating — his semen. It needed to be inside her in every way that it could. And she was successful. He gritted his teeth, snarling as he held down, pressed against him, his cock buried deep inside her, as he watched her reach an ecstasy he’d only ever dreamed of until this night. He’d had no idea claiming your Ehlealah, and being claimed by her, could be like this. Her body finally seemed to reach its pinnacle and she collapsed toward him.
Zahn caught her in his arms and held her close, kissing any part of her he could reach as she struggled to catch her breath. He continued to hold her, as they simply sat in the glory that was the knowledge that they weren’t alone anymore. No matter the relationships they’d thought they’d had before, nothing even came close. They’d finally figured out where and with whom they were meant to be.
“Are you alright?” Au'revele asked, her voice shaky.
“I’m better than I’ve ever been.”
She laughed lightly. “I meant, because you’re not fully healed. Did I hurt you?”
“If you did, please hurt me again,” he said.
Au'revele laughed again, more forcefully this time.
Zahn’s chest rumbled and his eyes focused on her again.
“Again?” she asked.
“I don’t know how we’ll ever leave this room,” he said .
Au'revele smiled at him. “But when we do, won’t it be nice knowing we’ll always come back to it?”
“I love you, Au'revele.”
“I love you, Zahn. Grouchies and all.”