Chapter Seven
When Cloudy walked home, she was fairly certain her mother had just sold her for a continent full of goats.
The mothers had debated over work, income, ownership, location, and possibly the names of the firstborn when they showed up.
A home was being arranged in the city, and it would be used as the new base for the guardians.
Cloudy’s head was buzzing, which was probably why she didn’t notice the two thugs near her doorway.
She felt a hand over her mouth, tasted sweet chemicals, and everything ceased to be.
Cloudy woke up with her hands fastened very securely behind her. She felt the beacon and hoped it was still transmitting. “Who are you?”
The large male gestured, and a thug grabbed her hair and slapped her face. The hard sting made her blink.
“I am Mr. Venmar. You have interfered in my businesses at the docks, and I want to discuss things with you.”
She flexed her face. “What do you want, you flippered twit?”
The guard stepped toward her again, but the man in charge held his hand up.
“You have business skills that I admire.”
“You have body odour I can’t ignore. Why are my arms tied so tight?”
He snorted. “We know what you can do with your hands.”
“Right. Smart. Just one little thing.”
He frowned. “What?”
“It is harder to aim with my eyes but not impossible.” She looked at the closest thugs and dropped them, finally taking out the man in charge.
She looked at her beacon and fell forward, activating it. “Ow.”
She wiggled around and topped up the stun on the thugs.
When the door exploded inward, she smiled with half her face. The other half was swelling. “Hey, Hazor. How are you doing? Sorry to wear the beacon out.”
He was leading local peacekeepers, who looked around at the twenty men who were out cold.
“Who hit you?”
She jerked her head toward the man closest to her. “That guy. He slapped me. Held my hair so I didn’t move. He’s obviously semi-professional.”
Hazor walked to him. Slapped him lightly until he woke, and then he crushed his hand.
Mr. Venmar woke and looked at Hazor turning to take care of Cloudy. “Oh, no. Nonononono.”
Hazor said softly, “Yes. Cloudy, could you shut him up?”
She looked at the man and knocked him out again, but she also got a nearby peacekeeper with a glancing effect. “Sorry. It is hard to aim eyes. They move a lot.”
The peacekeeper shook his head and stood up. “I understand. No problem.”
Hazor sheered the ropes they had tied around her from elbow to fingertip. “They were really afraid of your hands.”
“Yeah, I get that response a lot.” She smiled and pulled her arms forward, rotating her shoulders. “Oh, that’s better. Thank you.”
He massaged her shoulders. “By the way, if you think I am leaving you for the rest of the night, you are crazy.”
She checked her com and groaned. “Right. I have to get to work.”
He stared at her. “You are kidding me.”
“No. With Emgoth off, I have to be there for early prep, and your mom and dad kept everyone at the pub until two. I guess I was out for an hour or two. I head to work in an hour, so you are going to get away easy.”
“You haven’t slept.”
“I have not, but there is something I can do about that.”
“You need medical treatment.”
She raised her hand to her hot face. “You have a point there.”
He was working on his com and blinked when he saw, “Molly says she will help. You just have to show her what to do.”
“Damn. She’s going to get my recipes.”
He snorted and nodded to the peacekeepers. The commanding officer looked at her and hissed. “Are you all right?”
“My face is hot and swollen, and my wrists are raw, but it could be worse.”
The man nodded. “Do you need medical assistance?”
“Probably.”
Hazor snorted. “You have the audio, the abduction footage, and the cords with her DNA on them. Oh, and that one guy with the crushed hand.”
The peacekeeper looked at her face and the man who now had a pancake for a hand.
Hazor said, “We are leaving.”
He picked her up, walked out of the warehouse with her, and headed for the medical centre. “Cloudy, you have to stop getting into trouble.”
“Emgoth wanted to expand without consulting me. Take it out of his hide. He stirred the mekkar nest.”
“Ah. That makes more sense. You seem to be a woman who does her research before she makes up her mind.”
She groaned. “You spoke to your mother.”
“She was very forthcoming when I asked about her evening. She had a lot of fun and likes your family and the pub very much. Apparently, my father and yours got drunk.”
“Yeah, that rings a bell.”
He chuckled and landed at the centre, and a medic was assigned to them in under a minute. First, she got a gel mask, and then a machine worked her skin over with light. The medic was a little nervous, but an hour after they entered the facility, she was leaving with her face back in normal shape.
They headed to the stall, and she slowly went over her early prep. By the time Sunny arrived, things were ready to get started, and Molly arrived at the end of the dock behind him. She sprinted past him, laughing, and he saw his cousin and burst into a matching run.
Hazor held her as he sat on one of the tables. She smiled at Sunny. “I changed the grill fuel bottle. It’s good for a few days. I have had a heckuva last thirty hours and need to get some sleep.”
Molly walked up to her. “How are you doing? I heard about the kidnapping.”
“Yeah, it was more abduction with some face slapping like one of those video reels. Better aim, though.”
Hazor muttered, “And the bondage.”
“Oh, that, too.” She leaned her head against him.
He chuckled. “Sunny, do you have it?”
Sunny looked at Molly. “With her? Absolutely. Molly, do you speak manual?”
“I do.”
“Nice. Keep the signs up, but add and cousin.” Cloudy yawned.
“Is tomorrow your rest day?” Hazor asked.
She nodded.
He stood, spoke softly to her relatives, and then they went up and away.
“You aren’t taking me home.”
He chuckled. “It will be home soon enough.”
“What?”
“Mother purchased a manor on the outskirts of town. You will need personal transport or a driver to get into town, but we have a sheltered shoreline, and you can I can go swimming all you like.”
“Nice.”
He chuckled. “For now, we both need rest. You are a tiring woman.”
“Aw, you say the cutest things.”
She snuggled against him, trusting him to get her to sleep safely.
Cloudy sat up and took stock of the room around her. It was warm, but that was probably Hazor. He was radiating heat and sitting up while thumbing through the news on a tablet. He smiled. “Good afternoon.”
“Is it?”
“You are in my bed. It is an excellent afternoon.”
He handed the tablet over to her. “This is our bonding contract. Our mothers worked it out last night, but I think they had been drinking.”
“Why do you say that?”
He grinned. “Read the part about offspring.”
She sat up, paused, and pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts. She took the tablet and started reading. She read about work, an allowance, the house, transportation, the requirement for sexual energy, and then offspring. “Oh, my god. They were drinking a lot.”
“They don’t have to be back-to-back.”
She blinked. “Six? They want six grandkids?”
“Six. All genders acceptable.”
“Why so many?”
“My mother wants to have a grandchild with wings. My new aunt on Vecchin has a little boy with wing buds. Vecchin is very excited, and siblings being siblings, my mother wants to outdo her brother, even if it is one generation removed.”
“Wow. That’s... a lot. Oh, my god. They put childcare in there. And education funds.”
He laughed. “I have already signed.”
“Sure. It’s not your body on the line.”
“Read the last paragraph.”
She blinked. “Whoa. Combat training for a local defense position?”
“You know, you can rescue people in between breakfast and lunch.”
Cloudy snorted. “You are joking.”
“Absolutely not, but I think you in a battlesuit would be something to dream about.”
She looked over the contract and added one addendum. She showed it to Hazor, and he nodded. If things became difficult, she could stop after one child. She would try it and see if she liked it.
He added that if two pregnancies ended in a miscarriage, she would not be asked to try again. She could, but he would not bring it up.
She blinked. “Wow. Nice. Thoughtful.”
“It wouldn’t benefit me to make you unhappy.”
Cloudy paused. “Wow. That is actually true.” She inhaled deeply and looked it over one more time.
“Ah, a woman of business. Never sign on the first pass.” He chuckled.
She finally signed and left the drop of blood on the teeny needle. The screen locked, and she handed it to Hazor. He grinned. “My mother is probably chortling with delight.”
“Least sexy thing I have ever heard in bed.”
He laughed and set the tablet down. He tugged the sheet out of her grip and kissed her. He lifted his head. “I can see I will have to watch my mouth around you.”
She blinked, and then blushed as he moved down her body.
Her eyes widened when licking got serious, and she squeaked and twisted, weaving her fingers into his hair when he found her sex and started licking in earnest. Pleasure crested fast, and she shrieked as her body pulsed and twisted against him.
When it became too much, she whimpered, and he ceased and lifted his head.
“Are you always going to burst into flame when I cum?”
He moved up and kissed her neck, his hips parting her thighs, and insistent pressure began. He sighed against her. “It’s psychic flame.”
She made a small sound. “Oh, good. I was worried about the sheets.”
He chuckled and eased into her. He went in easily but rapidly got thick. When she couldn’t take anymore, he eased back and rocked forward, going a little deeper each time.