Chapter 21
LYK
It was happening. There was no holding back now.
They’d crossed the point of no return, and now the moment Lyk had been waiting for, the moment he’d missed for the rest of his adult life, was there at last.
I’m claiming my mate.
She was so small, so delicate compared to his massive frame, and Lyk couldn’t bear to hurt her. Still, he had no inkling of the shock he was about to experience.
Ally was so feisty, so fearless, that she came across as older, more experienced. He was about to learn how wrong he was in that assumption.
“Hold on tight,” he growled against her skin, “because I’m going to fuck the hell out of you, little girl.”
His cock had never been so hard. It throbbed against her pussy, aching to get inside her warm sheath. Already he could feel the slickness when he rubbed himself against her there. She was wet and ready to receive him.
He positioned himself at her tight entrance, then met her gaze. Several emotions mixed in her large golden eyes. Desire. Doubt. And a hint of fear.
His stomach tightened at that. How can she fear me?
Lyk vowed to himself to make this the most magnificent sexual experience in her life. He wanted to clear away the doubt, to remove the fear until only desire remained.
Against her lips, he told her exactly how perfect she was. Lyk kissed her gently as he started to push into her lush heat.
She was tight. Unbelieveably tight. Fuck. I should have warmed her up more, worked my fingers inside her.
He started to back out, ready to extend the foreplay until she relaxed, but Ally was having none of it. She tightened her legs around his waist, using them to pull him in closer. “Don’t stop.”
“Ally, you’re too tight,” he groaned. Still, he couldn’t help himself now that his cock had tasted her delicate wetness. Unable to stop, he pushed in deeper. Then the realization struck him.
“You’re a virgin.”
He was hit with a jolt of extreme emotion. His mate was a virgin. He was the first to claim her. His Vartik instincts were screaming out in delight. But his rational mind was less celebratory. I thought she was experienced.
He’d been wrong about that. Now he was pressing his very large Vartik cock into her untouched womanhood.
Go slow, he commanded with what was left of his ability to think. And make this good for her.
Taking a deep breath, he continued his forward progress, going as slow as he could while simultaneously kissing her and teasing her ripe little nipples. Her head started to thrash against the wall, and he released a breath of relief.
Then his shaft reached the edge of her hymen and he stilled himself. Her eyes opened, a question in them. He answered it without her having to ask. “This next part is going to hurt.”
“I’m not afraid,” she said, giving him a grin.
“Of course, you’re not.” He was beginning to wonder what could scare his fierce mate. “Still, I don’t ever want to hurt you.”
“It’s okay I forgive you,” she said, her tone so matter-of-fact that he didn’t know whether to laugh or curse.
“Thank you,” he managed, then kissed her. She kissed him back, and he knew then that he loved her with all of his heart.
Without hesitation, he pushed forward, breaking the hymen and claiming her fully. She gasped into his mouth, but he swallowed her cry and stilled inside her until she could adjust to him.
His hand snaked between them to play with her clitoris, licking at her neck while teasing that bundle of nerves until she begged him for more. He could feel her relaxing around him, and finally, he started to move again.
Lyk knew there was no way he was going to last forever inside his virgin mate.
But there was no way he was going to give into his own pleasure before she took hers.
His movements quickened, but he continued to tease her nub, wanting to wring a thousand climaxes out of her until she never thought of leaving his side again.
When he bent down to capture a nipple in his mouth, she knew she was teetering on the edge. He sucked hard while circling her clit with his thumb, then pressed himself fully inside her, burying himself to the hilt.
She came, her eyes going wide, her mouth an O of delight. When she sagged against him, he smiled but did not stop his torture. This time, it didn’t take long before she was climbing the peak of pleasure again. He picked up the pace, long strokes designed to hit that sensitive spot inside her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered into her ear. “And I’ll never let you go. Now come for me. Again.”
His thumb was a blur on her clit, his cock hitting her G-spot. Ally’s whole body was shaking against his as her second climax overwhelmed her.
Lyk gritted his teeth. He was so close to exploding, he had to pause, but even then, her tight inner muscles squeezed him, keeping him on the razor’s edge of climax. One more, he told himself. I want one more from Ally before I take my own pleasure.
This time, he demonstrated exactly how he needed to claim her. His cock drove deep, his rhythm strong and quick. She was moaning almost constantly, and he realized that he was too. She felt too good, too perfect. He wanted to stay buried in her for eternity.
“Give me everything,” he whispered against her lips. “Show me how pretty you are when you come for me.”
His words sent her over the edge for the final time, and as she climaxed, he joined her, his hot seed spurting deep inside her. His cock twitched over and over, and he thought for a moment that it would never stop, that he would just keep spasming inside her for the rest of eternity.
It still wouldn’t be long enough.
At last, Lyk began to return to reality. Ally was limp in his arms. He brushed her hair back off her forehead, giving her a warm smile. Her exhaustion was palpable, so he gently laid her on the floor of the shuttle, moving in behind her to pull her against his chest.
She breathed heavily, her body flushed with passion. Ally looked so beautiful in that moment that it almost shattered his heart to look at her.
I claimed my mate. I’ll never be parted from her now.
Ally turned, resting her head against his extended arm.
She was staring at the ceiling of the shuttle, so Lyk was admiring her profile.
It was so strong, like a protective female of some exotic animal species.
He remembered thinking that about her before as well.
He was struck then by the realization that it was a certain species he was thinking of.
Gavor. She looks like a wild gavor, one who fits predators twice her size for her cubs.
Lyk sat up suddenly, and Ally looked at him, surprised. “What’s wrong?”
“You look like a gavor.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said sarcastically, moving to grab her coveralls and pull them on. “And you look like a snarling bowarfle.”
“What’s a bowarfle?” he asked, confused.
“I don’t know. I thought we were making up insults. What’s a gavor?”
Lyk laughed. “Sorry. It’s an animal on Vartik, similar to a fox on Territh. You remind me of one. And that means that poem is talking about you.”
“I don’t know,” she said, sitting in the chair and putting her elbows on her knees, then her chin in her hands. “What was the poem again?”
Lyk recited it from memory:
“The Raven chases the piece that shines
The Gavor avoids the trap that binds
The Fear covets what he takes
The Artist regrets what she makes
Without the shine, there is only the dark
But will they be able to undue His mark?”
Ally leaned back, lost in thought. “You’re obviously the Raven, and you think I’m the Gavor. But who is Fear?”
Lyk considered his answer. “Dredd. The big guy who helped kidnap your sister. He’s the Seeker that can make you see your worst fear.”
“That’s what happened,” Ally whispered. “That’s why I saw Evie collapse. But it turned out to be an illusion.”
Lyk nodded. “That just leaves the Artist.”
“That’s Evie!” Ally shouted, jumping to her feet. “She’s always drawing and sketching. She’s very talented.”
At last, they were making progress. “If we follow the logic of what’s happened so far, the poem says that I was chasing the necklace, which I was, sort of.
And that means that you ‘avoid the trap that binds.’” He scratched his head.
“You seem to avoid any sort of binding, if that’s a metaphor for restricting your freedom. ”
“Stupid poems with their stupid metaphors,” Ally grumbled. “Why can’t they just come out and say what they mean?!”
Lyk shared her frustration in this instance. “The next line is about Fear coveting what he takes. Do you think this means Dredd is going to try and claim the necklace for himself?”
Ally shrugged. “I don’t know what good it would do him or any of the demons.”
“And the next line is that your sister regrets what she makes. Has she made anything lately? Drawn anything of consequence?”
Ally shook her head. “She just sketches little things, random drawings of everyday life. I don’t know why she’d regret drawing them.”
Lyk sat, his excitement starting to fade. “It still makes no sense.”
Ally stared at the viewscreen. “What are we waiting for?” she asked, and he could sense that her frustration was starting to rise again.
Lyk was just about to respond, to give her some platitude to try and calm her down and teach her some patience, but before he could get a word out, the viewscreen shifted, replacing an image of outside the ship with the visage of his second-in-command. “You’re waiting for me.”
Lyk turned to the cyborg. “What’s going on, Celdrake? Have you readied the men for landing on Vartik yet?”
The cyborg shook his head. “No need. We aren’t going to Vartik.”
“What do you mean?” A chill flashed over his nerve endings.
“We’re about to break away from the rest of the fleet and haul ass back to the wormhole.
They won’t know which exit we took, and we’ll find a way to maximize this information, likely by selling it to the highest bidder.
” The cyborg laughed, causing a couple members of the crew who were visible behind him to chuckle as well.
“Very funny, Celdrake.”
“I’m not joking, Captain. Or should I say Vartik King?” He spit out the last two words. “All this time, we thought you were like us. Coming from nothing, making something out of yourself, living life on your own terms. But no, it turns out you were just running away from a mean daddy.”
“You son of a bitch,” Lyk spit, approaching the viewscreen. “That’s my ship and my crew.”
“What do you care? You can always buy a new ship and a new crew. Your family rules an entire planet of super beings apparently.” The depth of his bitterness was shocking. “Some of us have to beg, steal, and kill to get the kind of abilities you were born with.”
Celdrake indicated his own body, scowling as he continued. “Do you know how many surgeries it took? How many credits? How many days spent in pain while I adjusted to each new addition?”
“Each of those surgeries was your own choice. I never said you needed to be stronger or faster.”
“How else could I compete with you? You’re the Raven, never bested in a fight. Able to make people follow his command with only a look and the power of his own voice. And now I find you’re a king of a super race. I say that’s too many blessings for one man, even if he is the Raven.”
Celdrake looked at him, his eyes cold. “I say it’s time to share the wealth, brother.” A cheer went up behind him from the crew, and Lyk realized now that the loyalty he thought he’d inspired could be transferred to another with minimal fuss, presuming a large payday in the offing.
“Things have gotten too strange around here,” Celdrake said. “So we’re returning things to normal and going back to what we know. Robbing and selling. This time, it just happens to be information.”
“You can’t do this. You can’t expose my people like this.”
Celdrake shrugged. “You’re supermen. You’ll be fine.”
Before Lyk could reply, the channel was cut. “Fuck!” He scrambled to connect to Marek’s ship, to give his brother a heads-up on what was about to happen. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get through. “He’s jammed us.”
Ally shook her head. “Rotten pirates. Do you see now why I didn’t want to trust one?”
“Except I’m the one you didn’t want to trust, and I’m not the one fucking us over right now!” Lyk turned, heading to the locked cabinet filled with weapons and supplies. “We need to act quickly. They’re going to need some kind of diversion to be able to sneak away without my brothers pursuing.”
The console buzzed in alarm and Ally looked up, concerned. “I think they just found their diversion!”