“I want to—I’d give up anything if we could be together,” she whispered. “But Saber, are you sure? Your father and mother, the clans—”
“Can all go straight to the seven hells for all I care,” he answered roughly, pulling her close. “I don’t care about any of that, amalla. Not as long as I can be with you. Not as long as I never have to let you go.”
Lissa looked up at him, her eyelashes still sparkling with tears. “You don’t,” she whispered, reaching up to caress his neck with her small, soft hand. “If you’re really sure, Saber.”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” Pulling her into his lap, he kissed her long and hard. And for the first time, he felt her kiss back with absolutely no resistance or reluctance at all. She tasted so sweet, felt so yielding in his arms that he wanted to take her then and there. To make her his forever so that they could never be parted again.
“Saber,” she whispered against his lips and then he pressed deeper, demanding entrance to her mouth. She opened for him gladly, stroking his tongue with hers and inviting him in.
“No guilt,” he told her, when they finally broke apart, panting. “No shame anymore. We’re going to forget here and now about being from the same clan. We’re going to leave our people’s antiquated customs behind us and never think of them again. You’re not my sister or my kinswoman, Lissa—you’re my bride. And I intend to claim you that way with no hesitation and no apologies.”
“You mean…” She bit her lip. “You want to give me the Deep Touch?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Saber told her in a soft growl. “Gods, I love you, amalla. Need to show you how much. Need to make you mine.”
“I want you to show me too. To…to give me the Deep Touch.” A hot blush stained Lissa’s cheeks but she lifted her chin and continued. “But after we’re mated, all right, Saber? I want…I want us to have a joining ceremony first. I know you’ve been waiting a long time but can we do that? Can you wait just a little while longer? I want to be joined in the sight of the Goddess before we take the final step.”
Saber felt his insides clench. He sighed and forced the need inside him, the urge to take her and make her his, to subside. Slowly, he nodded. “Of course. Anything you want—as long as you promise you’ll be mine as soon as we get back to the Mother Ship.”
“The minute we walk in the door we’ll head straight for the sacred grove and find a priestess,” Lissa promised. “I won’t even wait for Kat to plan our ceremony. We can celebrate afterward.”
“That’s good.” Saber kissed her deeply again and looked into her eyes. “Because I can’t wait to take you, amalla. Can’t wait to make you mine—completely mine.”
“I can’t wait either.” She gave him a smile so filled with hope and need it nearly broke his heart. “Kiss me again—I love to feel your mouth on my lips.”
“Your lips aren’t the only place I like to kiss you, you know,” he murmured, stroking her face.
Her cheeks went pink and she looked down, as though she couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. “Are you talking about earlier tonight? When you…kissed me on the stage when we were announced at the party?”
“You know I am,” Saber growled softly. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you there for a long time, you know and I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as I wanted to doing it.”
“Oh…” Lissa bit her lip. “Maybe…maybe you could practice for next time?” she said hesitantly. “I mean, in case we get invited to any more formal parties.”
Saber gave her a hungry grin. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. Do you want me to show you how I’m going to do it? How I’m going to show my love and devotion to you when they announce your name?”
Lissa licked her lips, looking both nervous and excited. “Please…please do,” she whispered.
“Fine. Here—stand against the bed.” Rising, he pushed her gently into position against the side of the high bed. Both of them had removed the black sensory patches earlier and she was still wearing the jade lace dress and the split panties that framed her shaved pussy perfectly. It made Saber’s cock achingly hard just to see her but he forced himself to be careful as he arranged her pose.
“Oh, you want me to stand?” She sounded surprised.
“We have to practice, right?” Saber cocked an eyebrow at her. “Pretend that’s the post.” He deepened his voice. “Announcing Lady R’awr.” Then he dropped to his knees before her and smiled at her, “Are you ready?”
Lissa blushed and giggled nervously. “Don’t be silly, Saber, get up. You don’t have to be down there.”
“Of course I do—you’re my mistress.” Putting his hands on her hips, he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the thigh.
The laughter left Lissa’a face. “After what we saw tonight, I don’t think I want to be the mistress anymore. That…that was awful.”
“It was,” Saber agreed calmly. “But it doesn’t have to be that way between us.”
“It won’t be—never—I swear,” Lissa promised fervently. “I would never…never do that to you. No matter what!”
“I know you wouldn’t, amalla.” He kissed her thigh again. “I think we’re getting off the point, though.”
“The point is I don’t want you on your knees to me—not anymore.” Lissa frowned and tried to make him rise but Saber stayed stubbornly where he was.
“No,” he said gently. “The point is, I don’t mind being on my knees to you. Not if it means I get to do this.” Leaning forward, he placed a soft, open-mouthed kiss at the top of her mound, just as he had earlier that night.
Lissa gasped and jumped a little. “Saber!”
“It’s true,” he assured her. He took a moment to admire her pussy, framed in the lacy split panties, and then kissed her again. This time he allowed his tongue to slip out and trace her slit, a gentle, hot caress that made her moan softly. He looked up at her. “Should I continue, Mistress? I don’t think I’ve paid you nearly enough respect yet. I need to try harder.”
“Yes,” Lissa whispered. “I…I think maybe you should.”
“Good.” Saber framed her hips with his big hands. “Then spread yourself for me, amalla. Spread yourself and let me taste you.”
With a low, needful moan, she complied, parting her thighs much more readily than she had earlier and treating him to the sight of her swollen outer lips spreading open to reveal her pink inner cunt.
“Gods, you’re beautiful.” Saber had to take a long moment to appreciate the sight of her. Her swollen folds reminded him of an exotic flower and her clit was a little pink pearl, just waiting to be stroked and tasted. She had a warm, feminine fragrance that drove him crazy with wanting her, making him eager to bury his face between her thighs to lap and suck and taste until she was moaning his name and scratching his shoulders.
Somehow Saber held himself back. Lissa was still incredibly innocent and inexperienced—he didn’t want to frighten her by being too aggressive. Leaning forward, he nuzzled his cheek against her spread mound, both marking her with his scent and bathing himself in hers.
Lissa gave a little cry as he rubbed his scratchy cheeks against her tender inner thighs. Saber felt her getting hotter and wetter as he drew out the exquisite torture, kissing and nuzzling all around her pussy, but never quite giving her exactly what she needed. He longed to taste her honey, to press his face between her legs and thrust his tongue deep in her cunt but once more he held himself back.
“My lady,” he murmured, looking up at her. “If I might be permitted to kiss you inside…”
“Yes, all right…” Lissa spread her legs more, making herself totally vulnerable to him.
“Good,” Saber purred roughly. “That’s good, Mistress.” Placing his thumbs on her outer lips, he spread her even wider, revealing all her secret treasures, opening her to his gaze.
Lissa moaned breathlessly as he bent to place a gentle kiss on her clit and then he felt her soft little fingers carding through his
hair, urging him on.
It was all the encouragement Saber needed. Pressing forward, he sucked the throbbing pink pearl of her clit into his mouth and laved it eagerly with his tongue. Her rich, salty/sweet taste exploded across his tongue, making his cock throb with need. Lissa gasped and pressed forward, offering herself even more and another surge of lust shot through him.
“Gods, amalla,” he growled hungrily. Gripping one of her legs, he lifted it, spreading her to the limit. He placed her thigh on his bare shoulder, wrapped his arm around her leg to hold her open, and lashed her tender folds with his tongue, tasting her, making her his.
“Saber!” Her voice was a wail and her fingers tightened in his hair, letting him know how he was affecting her. He felt her slender frame tremble in his arms and then she was pressing her hips up to him in mute supplication, offering her slick, wet flesh, her pussy flowing with honey as she begged for more, begged him to never stop.
It was more than Saber could stand. He had to have her—had to be inside her even if it wasn’t with his shaft. He already had Lissa off balance; it was a simple matter to push her back onto the bed, putting her in a much better position to be penetrated.
She went willingly enough when she realized what he wanted, her thighs drifting open naturally as though it was right to offer herself so intimately to him. A tight fist of need clenched in his chest as he realized she would offer herself the same way if they were making love, if he was giving her the Deep Touch. Gods, how he wanted to take her that way. But not yet…not quite yet.
“Saber,” she cried breathlessly, thrusting her hips upward, her pussy seeking his tongue. “Saber please, don’t…don’t stop…”
A mad lust came over Saber. His cock was so hard inside the tight leather slave trousers he could have fucked a hole through a brick wall. Gods, he loved her! Loved everything about her. Her scent and her delicious salty/sweet flavor, the soft, helpless sounds she made when he pleasured and licked her, the way she moved her hips, thrusting up to him, seeking his tongue, the way her small fingers tangled in his hair…they all urged him on. But most of all he loved the wet pink folds that parted so willingly for his tongue and the slippery, sweet honey that welled up from inside her little cunt as he tortured her with his mouth.
With a low roar, he gripped her ass in both hands and pulled her up to his mouth. Then he thrust his tongue inside her, fucking her pussy in the only way he could—doing his damndest to fill her even if it wasn’t with his cock.
Lissa wailed and the fingers in his hair clenched hard. “Saber! Oh Goddess…Saber…oh, Saber…”
His name was like a prayer on her lips and it only made him hotter. Gods, she sounded so close and he wanted to make her come with all that was in him. Wanted to feel her pussy spasm around his tongue, wanted to taste the fresh wetness of her orgasm as she gave herself up entirely to the pleasure he gave her.
“Saber!” she gasped breathlessly. “Moch Daer! Please, I’m so close…so close.”
He looked up briefly and growled, “Then come for me. Now.” Then he sucked her clit between his lips again and plunged two thick fingers deep into her wet, open pussy, pumping as hard as he could.
Lissa cried out and nearly bucked off the bed. At the same time he felt her inner walls clench around him and knew she was coming, coming so hard and just for him. All for him.
He lashed her clit furiously with his tongue and continued to thrust, tasting fresh wetness as her pussy milked his fingers. And then his need was too great.
With his free hand, he reached down and popped open the black trousers. Grasping his shaft he pumped himself once, twice, three times, and came in a hot rush as Lissa pressed her open pussy to his mouth and cried his name, coming harder than she ever had before.
When she finally stopped gasping and moaning, he climbed onto the bed with her and held her tight, never wanting to let her go. Lissa buried her face in his neck and pressed herself against him, trembling with the aftershocks of orgasm.
Finally, when she could speak again she looked at him and whispered, “Are you sure, Moch Daer? Are you really sure this is what you want? That I’m what you want?”
“Amalla…” He stroked her hair away from her face and looked into her eyes. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
She looked troubled. “But I’m just an orphan, an outcast with no family or status. Are you sure you want to give up everything for me? Your parents…the clans…”
Saber put a finger to her lips to silence her. “I love you,” he told her fiercely. “I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Nothing and no one can change my mind about that. Do you understand?”
She searched his eyes with her gaze for a long moment then, finally, she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered and snuggled against him. “Yes, Moch Daer. I do.”
“Good.” Saber kissed her forehead. “Then go to sleep. Tomorrow we’ll worry about getting the second scroll from Lady Pope’nose. And then we’ll go home and start our life together—as a warrior and his bride.”
Lissa yawned and smiled happily. “I want that, too. Will we live on the Mother Ship with Kat and the others?”
Saber thought of the reaction the other Kindred had to having a Touch Kindred in their midst. But surely if he was mated and bonded to a female, they wouldn’t feel so threatened. If they could let a Scourge live among them, he was certain they could learn to tolerate him.
“Certainly,” he told Lissa. “If you want to.”
“I do.” She yawned again. “Oh, I’m so tired. What is it about this whole thing—about having an orgasm—that makes you want to go to sleep?”
“It’s because you’re so happy and relaxed afterward that you don’t care about anything.” Saber yawned himself and smiled back at her. “It’s been a long night—let’s get some rest.”
She murmured something in reply but he didn’t quite hear it. As they fell asleep in each other’s arms, he vowed again silently that he would keep her close. Now that they were finally together, nothing and no one would ever be able to tear them apart again.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Are you sure you’re all right, Kat?” Deep, the male with the black eyes and hair frowned at her as he piloted the small shuttle toward the Mother Ship. “You’ve been pretty damn quiet since we left your grandmother’s house.”
“Deep is right,” Lock, the light twin put in. “You seem different—subdued.”
L shook her head and smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way. “I’m fine, boys, really—don’t worry about me. I’m just, you know…processing.”
The words sounded strange to her, but the memories from her original assured her they were something that Kat would say. Then again, it was those same memories which had kept her from pushing the plunger all the way down and injecting the full dose of sleep venom into the real Kat’s neck.
She had tried to do it—the other girl was helpless on the floor and it would have been the easiest thing in the world to simply deliver the killing dose. But her memories kept whispering that Kat was a friend—someone who had reached out a helping hand when she was scared and alone. Someone sweet and kind who put others before herself—who had been kind to her out when she had no one else to turn to.
It didn’t seem to matter that L wasn’t really the person Kat had helped. The memories and impulses from her original were too deeply ingrained in her to break. In the end, though her finger lingered long over the syringe’s plunger, she simply wasn’t able to make herself inject the last half of the venom.
Which means instead of dying neatly and conveniently, Kat is going to wake up with nothing worse than a bad headache and come looking for her men in a few hours, L thought grimly. Possibly even sooner.
For the thousandth time she cursed herself for a fool—why had she let weakness and sentimentality keep her from finishing the job? She never had before. Yex claimed she was the most ruthless shadow caster he had ever trained but he would be ashamed if he could see h
er now.
Never mind, L told herself, watching in the viewscreen as the curving side of the vast Mother Ship appeared. It won’t take long to find the center of the ship and plant Draven’s device. And when it blows, it won’t matter if one extra human is alive or dead.
She still had no idea what the tiny silver chip she carried was going to do but she had visions of some kind of mass destruction. Maybe it would release a poisonous gas that killed the Kindred as they stood. Or even better, some kind of virus that would slowly but surely infect everyone aboard, starting with those in the sacred grove and working its way outward.
L intended to be long gone by the time whatever it was reached the outer edges of the ship, of course. She would steal one of the shuttles—maybe even the one they were riding in now—and fly back to Earth where she would pick up her own ship. Then she could go back to her life, feeling vindicated because revenge was hers at last.
She should have felt a surge of triumph at the thought. Instead she only felt vaguely uneasy and the image of Kat, lying cold and silent on the bathroom floor, kept flashing before her eyes. Stop it, she told herself angrily. Whatever is making you soft, making you weak, get over it! Remember why you’re here. They left you there, light years from home. Left you to be used and abused in a life of sexual servitude and pain. They deserve to die and all their friends can die with them!
“Well, here we are. Home, sweet home.” Deep guided the small craft into the docking bay of the Mother Ship and set it down neatly, at the end of a long line of similar craft.
“Great!’ L jumped up almost before the shuttle touched down. “I’m so glad to be back.”
“Really?” Lock frowned at her. “I mean, it’s good to be home but weren’t you happy to visit with your grandmother? I always got the impression you missed her and wished we could see her more often.”