Chapter Ten
Skiden:
I let myself in through the back door using Isabel’s key. Then I head to the living room, take the blue vase from the coffee table, and place it in the windowsill on the other side of the blinds where she can see it from the front door. I see that they’ve adjusted the porch light so that it skims the door and highlights on the window. The females will easily be able to see when the vase is placed there.
And I don’t need her scared should she hear a noise and notice something odd when she first opens the door. Best to let her assume Isabel’s back.
It’s another two hours according to their kitchen clock when I hear a key rattle in the front door. I rise and stand just beyond the doorway of her bedroom—the same place I hid from Samantha—in case someone is outside and looks in when she opens the door.
When Lucy enters and closes the door behind her, I step from the shadows.
Her mouth drops but I don’t give her a chance to protest my presence—I wind my tentacles around her and pull her to me. “Hello, little mate. Miss me?”
Relief washes over her face, triggering mine. “A ton.”
She falls into my arms, and I pull her up against me, holding her close to my chest, pressing kisses to the top of her hair.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m so sorry. Skiden, I should never have said the things I did.”
“I’m sorry too. I was a brinyaik.”
“With every right to be! I should never have asked you to mate Samantha. I don’t know what I was thinking—”
“You’re not alone in the blame. I wasn’t sure if you’d even want me back.”
She pulls away to look up at me. “I did! I do. But I couldn’t call you. And when I saw Mejak and Kalrian, I thought you didn’t want to come back.”
“I will always want you, Lucy, my—mine.” I’d almost called her Lucy my love. Because that’s how I think of her, but something tells me she’s not ready to hear that yet.
And I can barely speak because she’s pressing kisses all over my face. I give her my mouth and they become deeper and longer, and a groan escapes me. It’s been so long and she tastes luscious. More than that, I’m the luckiest male in the universe because she’s interested in me.
And then she leans back, gasping. “What the hell happened to your eye?”
Mood killer.
“My—uh, brother lost his temper.”
“The same brother who’s with Isabel? Or… yikes, the one who’s with River? Either way, I guess it’s not good.”
I wince, understanding her point. “Bronan. He found out I kissed Isabel.”
“You—what?”
That didn’t come out right. My eyes widen as I realize my mistake. I just got her forgiveness and I’ve already screwed it up.
“It wasn’t romantic. Mostly disgusting,” I assure her, babbling quickly to get it all out before she tosses me out again. “And it wasn’t recently. Long before I met you. I was trying to show her that what she feels for Bronan is real. It worked, she realized kissing me was revolting. Kissing anyone but Bronan was sickening. It was so horrible she cut her lip. When they got back home, she and Bronan finally spent two days in bed. Everything was great—except my patron saw that awful kiss between us and chose last night, while we were all at dinner, to expose it. The way he did it”—I shake my shoulders in disgust— “he set it up. And Bronan felt so betrayed. He struck me before he even realized our patron was causing the same trouble he always used to between Tiran and Bronan. Setting us all up. I lost my temper and left the planet. I can’t believe he would have thought I’d really make a play for Bel.”
“Why did Bronan believe it?”
I wince. “Bel is sweetly na?ve… she accidentally confirmed it, which is what my patron was banking on. Everything just played into his hands. She said, yes, it was just once, or something to that effect. Before she could explain further, he hit me. Of all people to believe, he knows what our patron is like. He’s watched him cause trouble for Tiran our entire lives and he falls for it this easily with me.” My shoulders slump. “I know he trusted Bel, but he should have known there was more to the story.”
“He wasn’t thinking of it like that,” Lucy says. “He couldn’t think logically at all. He was blinded by jealousy—probably wondering if Isabel enjoyed the kiss.”
“I acted just as poorly. Instead of waiting around to talk to him, I confronted my patron, then fled. I would have done something to him that I might’ve regretted.”
I wonder what it would be like if I’d come here and found Lucy had kissed Mejak or Kalrian during my absence. We don’t owe each other anything—but I’d be furious. Betrayed. Maybe some of my anger with Bronan is disappointment because I let my brother down.
Maybe I should have stayed and tried to explain.
“It’s probably best to let Isabel handle it,” Lucy says. “If he loves her as much as you say he does.”
“She’s his whole world.”
“They’ll fix it, then. And he’s going to feel terrible about hitting you.”
She’s not wrong.
“I’m going to head straight over there when I return to apologize.”
“How long are you staying here?”
He shrugs. “As long as you need.”
She belts out a low laugh, one that hums along my spine. “You seem to apologize wherever you go.”
“You got that right,” I say wryly. “Can we change the subject?”
“Okay. Then guess who had a little fling?” Lucy asks. Before I can answer, she goes on. “Samantha.”
“With Mejak and Kalrian?”
She blinks. “How did you know it was both of them?”
I laugh at her surprise. “I’ve known those two my entire life. I always knew they’d settle on the same female. They’re two halves of the same soul, looking for the one to accept both of them.”
“Another thing that I can’t stop thinking about is what we did, last time you were here,” she says, her cheeks tinged with pink. “In my bed.”
“I want to do it again.”
“But I don’t want you to feel used. Since I told you it was my first time.”
“I don’t think that, mieka. I think we said some hurtful things to each other that needs to be set aside in the past, eh?”
“Okay,” she agrees and then her warm fingers smooth up my chest. “I’d forgotten how wickedly gorgeous you are. Those tattoos. The muscles. The power and strength. You’re so very… male,” she breathes, like I’m her whole world.
Me.
The last of my line and if truth be known, the most unworthy male of all. But none of that matters when this magnificent creature looks at me.
“Now you understand how I felt the first time I saw you through the window. I couldn’t keep my hands, my appendages, my lips… off you. Was so sure you’d be able to see into my heart, female.”
She shivers. “Ooh, rasp that again in that sexy, deep voice.”
I do one better. I lean in toward the side of her neck and say, “My. Female.” Then I find her lips and seal my mouth to hers.
I think she’s so busy kissing me she hardly notices as I smoothly maneuver her up into my arms and carry her into our bedroom. This time, no pillows line the center of the bed.
“I missed you,” I murmur near her ear appendage. I’ve gotten used to the odd pieces and love the way she shivers when I nibble the tender skin. “Let me have my way with you?”
“You do whatever you want. I’ll lay back and enjoy it all.”
“Let me know if it’s too much,” I warn, and pray to the goddess that it won’t be.
When I lift her shirt over her head, her breasts pop free. I latch onto a perfect ruby nipple; I’m rewarded with her gasp. I wet the tip of her breast and suck while I tug her leggings over her hips. She wears an undergarment that goes along with them.
I have to release her breast as I remove her shoes, but then I’m able to tug the rest of her garments down over her leg appendages.
My front tentacles grip her wrists and stretch them out wide, which makes her breasts jiggle perfectly. Two more tentacles grab her ankles and bend her legs up and outward, stretching her cunt open for me. She’s gorgeous, delicate and musky.
And with my appendages out of the way, and the view of her perfect cunt in my face makes my cock extrude from the nevra.
She sighs as it emerges. Her hand twitches like she wants to reach for my cock, but I hold her still.
“You are glorious,” I tell her. “Do you know I can use my feelers right her?” I rub the tip of my tentacles over her tender slit. “And taste everything you have to offer? I can tell when you’re turned on—and I can tell when your orgasm is about to hit.”
I let the three feelers work in tandem to create a sucking motion around her clit.
“Ooh,” she squirms, bucking her hips upward.
I use a finger to delve into her sheath, finding her warm and wet. I curl my finger upward. Like our own females, a human has a rough patch of skin that’s highly sensitized, so I stroke her.
“You’re soaked,” I mutter. “So ready for cock, sweet Lucy? But not yet, love. I have you exactly where I want you, spread-eagled and bare for me. I need to taste every inch of your skin.”
“Oh, but—” She stops abruptly when my mouth clamps onto the delicious pussy spread before me. I drag my tongue slowly through her slit and then lift my head.
“Any complaints?”
“N-none,” she says.
I lick her pussy, gently spreading the folds to spear my tongue inside. I switch to sucking while she squirms and moans, her body growing wetter as her pussy swells. She’s absolutely beautiful.
I nudge the smaller, puckered entrance behind her. “If I fill this with a tentacle slick from your own juice, everything will be so much tighter when you come. Everything will squeeze so tight.”
She whimpers.
“Would you like to try that, love?”
“Do it.”
“Is there anything you wouldn’t do with me?”
“Nothing.”
“What a good girl you are,” I breathe, her muskiness like a salve for my soul.
I lick her some more, careful not to put too much pressure on her clit. As soon as she squirms and starts thrusting into my feelers for more suction, I release the tension.
She’s going to have to wait for it.
I use one of my rear tentacles to stroke my own cock, growling into the folds of her pussy. Feels so fucking good, her taste on my tongue, her scent in my nose. I could do this for hours.
I unwind my appendage from my cock and carefully push into her cunt, gathering her slick.
When the tip of my tentacle is soaked, I pull out and rub it against her puckered entrance. She gasps and so I replace my tongue back to her cunt, thrusting in and out.
She relaxes and the narrow tip of my slippery tentacle slides in.
“Oh, my God,” she shrieks and bears down to take more of me in.
I chuckle against her lovely pussy.
“Like that, love?”
“Make me come, Skiden. I can’t stand it anymore. I want to come so bad.”
Then I’ll come with her and we can start our lovemaking all over again, together, once our bodies recover.
“Okay, but sometime tonight, I’m going to make you come on my tongue,” I warn her.
“Oh, God, yes.” Her arms wrap around my neck as I rise up to cover her body, my tentacle still plugging her. I release her ankles and she wraps her appendages around my waist. “I love your cock,” she pants.
I thrust it into her. It barely fits. With the thin skin separating her channels inside, I can feel my own cock rub against my tentacle inside her. I use the friction, thrusting my tentacle up while sliding my cock out, then pull my tentacle out while my cock thrusts up.
“Oh, yes, that’s it, just like that,” she chants.
I growl something as I cup her breast and bring it to my mouth. I suckle her as I thrust rhythmically in and out, smooth, slick motions that ratchet the tension between us higher and higher. Her nipple pops out of my mouth, erect and wet and so swollen, and she yanks my head to her to kiss, long and sensual, sweeping kisses with lots of tongue. She’s tasting me, tasting herself on me, wanton and lusty, and then with a shriek, she pulls away. Her entire body clenches around me, gripping like a vice and a rolling motion locks her muscles tight as she comes.
She gives a wail as she orgasms, her passages clenching and releasing, milking me. I bury my face in her neck and bellow as my hot seed fills her cunt.
My forever love.
My forever mate.
“Good morning, mieka.”
“Good morning, handsome.” I smile lazily. I should be sleepy considering how many times we made love. Instead, I feel energized.
“It was nice not to have to be quiet last night.”
He chuckles. “You can scream in my ear canals whenever you wish, female. What’s on the agenda for the day?”
I grin, so happy he’s here. “We can work in the garden. My neighbors are out of town this week, so perfect timing for you.”
We shower together and it’s long and languid and leads to more lovemaking. I love this. We know every inch of each other’s bodies now, know what each response means and it’s magical to share together. We finally make it outside and I show him how to water which plants and which areas need weeding. We work side by side, like we can’t stand to be away from one another.
“Bel has slept with Bronan finally,” Skiden says.
“What? Is she pregnant?” I can’t help the huge grin. Isabel’s always wanted babies. Finally getting to meet River seemed to make that urge even stronger.
“Well, we don’t know yet. They spent two days locked up together before coming down for the dinner that caused all the trouble. Apparently, my brother had the mindset to get her into bed after that Earth trip she took.”
I snicker. “That’s usually how it works. Probably what your mother banked on when she brought the girls all this way.” And then something dawns on me. I can feel the smile drop from my face and my eyes go round. “Skiden. I need something, too. Everyone knows that Earth women are getting knocked up by your people. And I’m sleeping with you! I need some protection from pregnancy.” Good Lord. What if I were to get with child?
“It’s okay. I’ll talk to Mikhail. We’ll get you something compatible for humans, okay? Until then, I’ll pull out.” He winces, because we both think of all the times he hasn’t pulled out. He cups my face, seeing the terror in my eyes. “Lucy, it’ll be all right. I won’t let anything happen to you, love. I promise.”
“I might already be—”
His mouth on mine quiets me. Finally, when my lips are tingling, he lifts his head. “No matter what, I’ll take care of you. I promise. But there’s no sense in worrying over something that may not be, okay?”
Bemused with the kiss, I shake my head. Am I still worried that I might be pregnant? Of course. But then he does something surprising. He takes my hand and leads me back into the house, and then very carefully, over the kitchen sink, washes my hands for me.
Like he means it when he says he’ll take care of me.
He takes a towel and carefully blots, taking care to dry each finger, then rubs lotion onto my skin. When we’re done, he pushes a button on the tiny box that he calls a com, and asks for someone named Calbin, explains that he’s worried I might be pregnant and asks if Calbin can check remotely.
“I can check her HCG levels,” the voice says. “So, you’ll have some peace of mind right now. When we come that way later, we’ll bring oral contraceptives and do a full exam.”
“That would work perfectly,” Skiden says.
“Hold the laser to the soft skin under her arm. Or her lower belly. Whichever is convenient.”
Skiden takes my arm and flips it over, runs the device from wrist to elbow back and forth a few times.
“Negative levels,” the voice says. “You’re both good. We’ll do a full exam soon and bring the pills, okay? We should have someone in that area tomorrow.”
“We appreciate it,” Skiden says.
Just like that, the scare is over. I’m left blinking up at him.
“You see, little love? I’ll take care of you, no matter what.”
“B-but—” I don’t really know what I’m going to say, other than I’m completely, totally bemused over what’s happened. I’ve never had someone drop everything to take care of me. Well, Sam would, but that’s different. She’s my cousin. And Skiden?
What is Skiden? Skiden is…
Oh. My. God.
“I love you,” I blurt out, and then cover my mouth, horrified. I’m not sure how it happened, but it did. Love snuck up on me when I least expected it.
“I know you do. I’ve loved you since the first day you left me outside to battle the vicious underground sprinkler system.” Another kiss and this crazy day slowly goes back to normal.
“You’re the one who got into a fight with his brother. I’m supposed to make you feel better,” I whisper.
“I think we make each other feel better, don’t you?”
I nod. “Maybe we do.”
“There’s no maybe, pretty female.” He pulls me close. “Now, are you going to work tonight?”
“No, actually. They’re working on the rafters at the church so I’m off for the week. We do have plans for tonight, though. Sam’s coming over and bringing Kalrian and Mejak. There’s something I want you to know… something they already know. But I think it’s best to bring it up with all of us together, okay?”
He takes a step back to search my face. Whatever he sees there must reassure him, but he nods. “I’ll wait. As long as you need me to.”