Is it hot in here, or is it Tara and Yuder? Yeah, it's them. 🔥
* * * *
The celebration was a small affair in Clan Clajak’s section of the cliff home. Yuder was delighted to be among his family, but he was grateful two hours later when he and Tara entered their own apartments a few levels down.
He gazed at the greeting room, where visitors to the home were entertained. He mused at how familiar and yet strange it appeared. Tara hadn’t changed the cozy seating areas of low tables and floor cushions. The handwoven rugs featuring designs of royal purple were the same, as were the paintings and few decorative items scattered on various surfaces. Why did it appear odd, as if he saw it through a stranger’s eyes?
“Are you all right?” Tara’s gaze riveted on him, and he realized he’d been silent as he took in their surroundings.
He offered a smile. “I’m getting my bearings. Three years is longer than it sounds.”
She moved close and hugged him. “I’ve spent little time here myself since you went away. It finally feels like home.”
He kissed her and realized it was their first since he’d arrived. Her lips were soft and yielding. He hadn’t had to wait three years to kiss her, thanks to her frequent visits, but in prison he hadn’t felt capable of kissing her well.
He did so now, glorying in her lips moving sinuously on his and the warmth of her tiny body against his six-and-a-half-foot frame. Had he forgotten how fragile she felt? The need to shield her from danger rose, though the threats to Kalquor and its residents had ceased. Such was the persona of a Nobek, the breed born to protect.
Her lips parted, and he eagerly accepted her invitation to taste. His tongue delighted in her flavor as it twined with hers. She sighed and pressed closer, little fingers tracing his back, bringing chills to his spine and heat elsewhere.
My love.
He released the kiss. “I want to reclaim you in every room of our home. Starting in here.”
She giggled, sounding more a girl than a woman in her sixties. She looked far younger, no doubt a result of her routine of meditation, clean eating, a rigorous skin care regimen, and devoted exercise. If Tara had one fault, it was vanity. “My last great attachment to conquer,” she often sighed.
Yuder didn’t mind. She was beautiful, and she was his. She could bathe in skin creams five times a day if it meant waking next to her each morning.
The notion overcame the exuberant lust filling him. “The clanning laws have changed significantly since my legal problems.”
“You wish us to be official?” Her eyes widened. “When did this happen?”
“Before the Galactic Council trial.”
“So long? You never hinted you were thinking of a registered union.”
“How could I when I was certain I’d have to serve a sentence? Or while I sat in prison? It was no place to propose.”
“We don’t have to, Yuder. You have my heart without government acknowledgement.”
“You don’t want to?” His heart pounded painfully.
Tara’s smile eased the stab of fear. “Of course I do. A public declaration of my happiness and devotion to you would be a gift. What of Clajak?”
“The great obstacle. At the homecoming, he seemed…fine. Maybe he wouldn’t be upset.”
“It’s a big maybe.” Sadness tinged her serene expression. “Jessica says he keeps a vigil at Irdis’ memorial each anniversary of her death.”
As Yuder had until a couple years before the scandal had sent his life into a tailspin. A year after he and Tara had become lovers. It wasn’t because he’d loved Irdis any less, but because he’d felt it was time to let the past rest. “I’d like to say he’s a grown man whose emotions are his problem. I could point out he rules an entire empire well, and therefore his grief is his affair and shouldn’t interfere in my life, but…”
“It isn’t that simple,” Tara finished. “Don’t you think I understand? I care for him. I hate to bring him any pain, though I’m at no fault for doing so.”
Love filled his being. Tara was so good. She’d allow their relationship to remain as it was, lacking the precious public declaration of their bond. If she’d been any less the woman she was, Yuder might have done so as well for his son’s sake.
He’d made numerous mistakes where Clajak was concerned. It had no doubt been his relentless demands Clajak had rebelled against when he was young. There had been a number of others: Yuder’s inability to protect Irdis from assassins, who’d murdered the mother Clajak had worshipped. His terrible decisions as emperor that had left a broken wreck of an empire, which Clajak had inherited.
But life had given Yuder the unexpected joy of Tara and her love, affording a second chance to be the clanmate to a woman he didn’t deserve. Irdis had been an incomparable gift. Tara was a miracle. He wished the world to acknowledge his unbelievable fortune.
“I’ll start with a few hints and see how he reacts. If he seems open, I’ll discuss it as diplomatically as possible.” He grinned as Tara did, agreeing he wasn’t known for his diplomacy.
“And if Clajak objects?”
“Then I’ll have to be the bastard he thinks I am and clan you anyway. I love you, Tara. After three years of living apart, I won’t hide it, even for my son.”
“He doesn’t think you’re a bastard. Every special occasion we celebrated in your absence, he mentioned you should have been there.”
Yuder blinked. He couldn’t speak. Despite his shortcomings, his son loved him.
Tara kissed him. “The problem between you two is you’re so much alike, both the good and the…challenging parts. Clajak inherited far more than your silver hair. You share a stubborn streak a mile wide.”
“Which has bitten us both in the ass more often than I can count.” Yuder had recovered most of his equilibrium and reached for the remainder. After all, he had a beautiful woman to make love to. “Enough of the sentimentality. I’m in danger of becoming as emotional as an Imdiko, and you’re wearing too many clothes. It’s getting late. Did I mention I’m determined to make love to you in every room of our home before the sun rises tomorrow?”
Tara burst into laughter even as her pulse sped. Yuder’s purple eyes had gone dark, and his sharp features had taken on the predatory air he wore when he was aroused.
As a Nobek, there was always a hint of savagery beneath the civilized mask he wore most of the time. He’d never been brutal when loving her, but Tara didn’t pretend she wasn’t excited by the idea he could be. He was strong, every inch a demanding male when he chose. Her heart fluttered when he looked at her as he did now: with merciless hunger.
She believed her love for him was as pure a light as any in existence, but there was no hiding from her darker drives, which he could awaken by casting her a mere glance. She gladly surrendered to those urges under his ruthless stare as he towered over her.
“Whatever you want of me is yours.” Her whisper trembled in the air.
The cat-slit pupils of his eyes widened, eclipsing his irises. His voice emerged in a growl. “Stand still while I undress you. Don’t move.”
She trembled as he slid her dress over her head, a mouse cornered by a cat, waiting to be devoured. He did so with his gaze, feasting on the flesh he exposed as he tossed her dress aside. She stood before him in a laced-trimmed ivory bra and matching panties, frozen in anxious excitement.
“Pretty. Did you wear these for me?” He smiled, but there was a touch of cruelty in it. Tara was wet in an instant at the aura of threat.
“Yes.” It was a code they’d developed. Anything Tara wore “for him,” he was free to tear apart.
His calloused palms and fingertips slid along her shoulders and arms. They spanned her waist, almost able to circle it. She was reminded anew how much bigger he was. His fingers dove in the upper cups of the bra, his fingernails scraping her flesh. He yanked. Lace and satin ripped and fluttered to the floor and Tara’s feet, tickling their tops.
Wetness flooded the crotch of her panties, all she was left wearing. Perhaps it was because the rest of her life was lived in pursuit of mindful serenity, but such displays from Yuder brought arousal surging to the fore.
He paused, his attention focused on her naked breasts. They were small, but they were firm and sensitive. Her nipples, flushed and pink, pointed brazenly at her lover.
A soft growl trickled from his lips, and the hair on Tara’s arms stood up. He closed fingers and thumbs on the tips and slowly pinched. Tara gasped when pressure deepened to darts of pain. Yuder immediately released her nipples. His arms swept around her, lifting her to her toes as his head sank down. His mouth enclosed a breast to eagerly suck.
Heat billowed through Tara. She almost grabbed to hug him closer, but he’d told her to remain still. As he pulled determinedly on her flesh, she debated whether she wished to disobey and be put on his lap for a spanking. She’d missed him and the pleasures they hadn’t been able to share.
There were so many enthralling options to choose from. Because she couldn’t decide, Tara remained in place for the erotic mauling. She could always misbehave later.
Yuder’s rough silk tongue abraded her softer skin, rubbing it as he sucked the entirety of her mound into his rapacious maw. Tara forgot how to breathe as his teeth scraped. She, a woman who believed ardently in peace, loved rough sex. Her salty arousal scent rose, barely discernible against Yuder’s spicier aroma as he too succumbed to desire.
He slowly released her breast, the suction of his greed stretching the small peak taut until it escaped with a slight popping noise. His attention went immediately to the other breast, leaving its reddened twin tingling.
Tara became aware she was moaning continuously under his delicious assault. Her senses were scrambling, thoughts losing clarity as he nipped, licked, and suckled. She realized her thighs were rubbing together, delivering slight friction to her clit, sending thrilling pulses to her core.
She groaned Yuder’s name.
He released her breast, uttering a snarl. His black stare rose to hers, and his lips wrinkled from his teeth. Behind the flat human-like incisors, hinged fangs had descended from the roof of his mouth. A cry flew from Tara in wordless agreement.
He struck, burying the thin fangs in her upper breast, his arms pinning hers to her sides so she couldn’t struggle, couldn’t escape. A thin scream rose from her throat at the jabs of pain.
Hurt ended as quickly as it had come, anesthetized by Yuder’s saliva. Tara sank into surrender and pillowed her cheek on his crown as he fed intoxicating venom into her.
In less than a minute, sweet bliss swirled in her mind. Her senses grew in awareness of her lover’s strength. She reveled in the warmth of his mouth, the tingling where he bit. His sweet-spice arousal scent filled the air, and she filled her lungs with it. Her skin detected the very air currents, and the brush of her chestnut hair on her shoulders was electrifying.
Arousal heightened to an incredible degree. Her pussy clenched rhythmically, anticipating the moment Yuder would fill her. The crotch of her panties was coated in wet excitement, and heat pulsed inside.
“Yuder, yes, it’s been so long, anything you want, anything…”
The bite ended, and he lapped her breast, claiming small drops of blood from the pinpricks. His grip loosened, and she ran her palms across every inch of him she could reach. His clothes were a terrible barrier. She tugged at them, desperate to feel naked skin.
He chuckled, rising so he loomed over her again. The sound was merry, but animal darkness remained in his gaze. “What happened to staying still?”
“You know the effects of your venom. Even when you don’t bite, it takes superhuman strength to keep my hands off you.” She managed to pull his shirt up to his chest and immersed herself in kissing and licking the muscled brown flesh she exposed. Her lips burned at the contact; Kalquorians ran hotter than humans.
He caught hold of her wrists and drew them over her head, easing back as he did so. She keened at the loss of contact but quieted as he examined her.
He held her stretched, nearly to the point of putting her on her toes. His gaze was weighty with an enticing aura of dominion. It was easy to imagine him as an emperor on his throne, directing his subjects. Tara had an image of herself as a concubine, existing only for his pleasure. It was an intoxicating fantasy.
A fantasy too easy to play into as he gripped her panties and tore them from her. She gasped as the restless air drifted across her womanhood, as his gaze feasted on her wet flesh. Her entire body flushed under his avid scrutiny. Had his venom not filled her with ardent need, she might have hidden from his inspection.
The undercurrent of ruthlessness fled from his expression, however. His features softened, and he gazed at her, his love naked. “My beauty. My beloved mate. I think I’d rather die than be separated from you again.”
“Yuder.” Any other words failed her in the face of such open devotion.
He pulled her to himself once more, his kiss desperate. He didn’t resist when she yanked at his clothes. Indeed, he broke the kiss to take them off, giving her free rein to touch his magnificence.
Kalquorians, as a rule, were naturally muscled. Yuder was no different, but his was a leaner look than the average man, not bulky. Tara loved the streamlined contours of his frame, which showed no sign of his nearly two hundred years. She showed her love by tracing each defined muscle she could, using tongue and fingertips, until he picked her up and draped her across a velvet floor cushion almost as long as she was tall.
It was his turn to touch. He seized her wrists again and pinned them over her head to the floor. His other hand wandered her body, stroking her from scalp to knee and retracing the path upward. The rasp of callouses was profound on her soft skin, and she arched for better contact. His lips met hers as he kept fondling her.
Her venom-soaked brain, consumed by the pleasure of his touch, shouted for more. She tried pleading for him to touch her pussy while he kissed her, but he offered no opportunity for her muffled words to escape. He no doubt knew what she wanted, because he caressed her lower stomach and upper thighs, so very close to where she needed him most. He refused, however, to touch her clamoring sex.
She writhed, wailing in his mouth an argument. His answer was to swirl light fingertips through the wetness coating her inner thighs. He teased her mercilessly, ignoring her heels thumping the floor.
He ended the kiss when he was ready, then crouched next to her, his wicked smile teasing her for her gyrations.
“Please, touch me,” she panted.
“I am touching you.”
“Yuder! You know what I mean.”
“Your pussy? Your hot, wet pussy? Is that where you wish to be touched?”
A warning went off in the back of her mind at his devious tone, but lust pushed to the fore to answer for her. “Yes! I want your fingers on my pussy. On my clit. In me.”
“Well, if you insist, my love.”
The feather-light sensation of a finger on the tip of her clit brought a surge of violent passion. It was gone in an instant, and she gasped. “Please, Yuder.”
“All right.” Another barely-there second of contact was hers.
“Don’t tease,” she groaned. “Of all nights, don’t play like this.”
“You wouldn’t have me rush this after three years, would you?” He affected surprise as his finger drew slow, tantalizing circles around her clit, refusing to touch it any longer. “Our reunion must be a slow, measured affair, to be drawn out for our greatest satisfaction.”
“You beast. You bit me just to drive me crazy.”
His smile was the height of sensual cruelty. “I’ve planned my first chance to make love to you since the first night I lay alone in my cell. Seeing you desperate for me has been the fantasy that sustained me during those lonely months. Yes, I bit you so you’d be as eager as possible, so I could hear you beg me to fulfill you again and again.”
He kissed her gently to soften the harsh words. He continued to draw circles around her clit, and she squirmed, seeking his touch.
Instead, he traced her slit. A single finger entered her, pumped once, and pulled free. He returned to circling her clit, then repeated the same path. He kissed his way to her breasts as he teased. Her wails for more merely succeeded in gaining the lightest of touches at the tip of where she wanted him to rub her to orgasm.
He’d said he wanted her to beg. Her entreaties filled the air, but it seemed he’d never grant her relief…until he did.
Those deliciously calloused fingers abruptly rubbed her clit in demand. He left off sucking her breasts to watch her face as excitement rushed through her. She was aware of his dark eyes cataloguing her expressions while rapture billowed huge, as it reached the breaking point, as blinding white eclipsed the predatory features hovering above her.
Violent bliss took her. Waves of brutal pleasure heaved from head to toe. Tara was lost in the ecstasy only Yuder was able to grant.
Elation slowed by degrees, each pulse sweet despite the diminishing strength. Her eyes had closed, the better to concentrate on every instant of perfect delight.
“You aren’t done.”
Her lover’s threat quickened her breath, but she had little opportunity to prepare. He plunged two…no, three fingers in her and found the sensitive spot inside at once. His thumb rubbed her engorged clit with ruthless insistence. Passion spiked anew, and her eyes flew open to meet his determined gaze. She abruptly teetered on the verge of climax.
“Oh!” was the only thing she was able to say. Renewed orgasm filled her with starlight. She thought she might have screamed in the grip of shattering thrills, but she wasn’t sure.
“Again,” he growled when she could hear and see. He moved too quickly to be fathomed. One instant he hovered over her, the next his mouth had latched onto her spasming pussy. His tongue dove in, his upper lip rubbed her clit, and she detonated.
She was lost in the endless tumult, emerging between crests for flashes of her fingers twined in his long, silver hair; of her feet kicking the air, of the sensation of his wet fingers filling and stretching the taut entrance to her ass. He fed on her like a starved man, as if he’d never get his fill.
Tara was just coming down from the latest high…she’d lost count…when Yuder reared up and yanked his trousers to his knees. A pair of slick, gleaming cocks sprang into view, thick and ready.
They were so big, and it had been years. The venom had worn off, and a tremor ran through Tara.
Yuder’s primal expression eased. He gazed at her as he leaned close, his face inches from hers. “Have I ever harmed you, my love?”
“Never.” Anxiety notched down enough to add an exciting edge to desire.
“I never will.”
His kiss was tender, as if he didn’t tremble from raging lust. Tara tasted herself on him, fascinated at how his and her flavor mingled. It was perfect, a testament to how they were meant to be together, in every way possible.
She relaxed and opened to the questing pressure at her entrances. She wrapped her legs around his ass, her arms around his neck, and surrendered.
His tapered shafts pressed in slowly, carefully. Kalquorian men lubricated as women did, and he slid easily for the first couple of inches, until his girth brought an ache that made Tara catch her breath. On watch for the slightest discomfort, Yuder invaded a little extra before stopping to allow her to adjust. Not fully; he knew she enjoyed the endorphin rush of a little hurt.
Tara reveled in their joining, slow as it was. It was Yuder who’d returned, but it felt like a homecoming for her as well. He was her true sanctuary, rather than the apartments where they lived and slept and loved.
He scrutinized her as he continued his gorgeous invasion, filling her until her jaw tightened in pain. Then he stopped. His ardent kisses mauled her mouth, his lust coming to the fore to leave her lips feeling bruised. When her hips shifted, urging him on, he watched her and made them one.
The impossible fullness of two cocks brought lightning-strike friction when he moved against her sweet spot. Tara cried out, her hips bucking out of her control, driving her onto him. A thunderclap of hurt met the wallop of passion. They blended in a nameless sensation of both ecstasy and agony. Tara screamed Yuder’s name, her fingernails digging at the back of his neck.
His inner beast snatched control. Fangs distended, tendons standing out, he pounded her, taking her with frightening strength. Pain and rapture grew exponentially, and Tara cried out. A dim part of her mind registered her hips rose to meet her lover’s, her body welcoming the brutal thrill of harsh lovemaking. She recognized despite his bestial expression and seeming callous rutting, Yuder was holding back, refusing to let her to come to real harm.
Then orgasm broke over her, sending her deeper into the maelstrom of primal forces beyond mere lust. Somewhere in the storm, she heard Yuder shout, felt the steady throb of his release.
Joined. Made as one. In that instant, Tara found bliss too profound to describe.
She returned to find herself lying on top of Yuder. They gasped in the aftermath, the still-iron links forging them together twitching in her. She sank in the joy of his arms around her, the feeling of their hearts beating close to each other, their damp skin melded close. She emptied her mind of all but the experience of him.
She could have spent eternity in such perfection. Life, however, was everchanging, and bliss was fleeting.
Yuder spoke into her tousled hair, refuting her beliefs. “Kitchen or dining room next?’
* * * *
Yuder watched Tara rush past the open doorway of the common room as he sipped tea on the lounger. The news vid he’d tuned the entertainment system to was muted. He wasn’t sure why he’d switched it on. A lifetime of staying current on the latest events of the empire had made the need for information a habit. It felt odd to not watch several newsfeeds at once while speaking on the com to an aide and handed up-to-the-second reports from a platoon of assistants.
Those days are behind me. His stomach knotted to recognize his uselessness.
Tara flashed past again, a whirlwind in a red robe. “How many stim tabs did you take?” he shouted after her.
“Two,” came the return shout. “Many in my future today, thanks to last night’s sexual tour of the apartment.”
Yuder grinned. His days might prove to be empty, but at least he could count on full nights.
He turned off the system and wandered to the doorway. Tara was hurrying up the hall, five handheld computer devices stacked in her arms. Yuder held out his hands.
“Thank you,” she gasped, sliding them to him. “Are you ready?”
He nodded, killing the urge to tell her he’d been waiting for her for the last half hour. She wasn’t running late, only preparing her day as the abbess of the Buddhist ashram she’d founded. She was also the interim head of Dramok Mereta’s spiritual compound. The secretary-general of the Galactic Council, impressed by Tara’s clearheaded sense and ability to respect others’ beliefs, had asked her to supervise the daily running of his sect’s headquarters. The Temple of Life, which former priest Mereta had broken from in favor of his own revelations, had a great deal in common with Tara’s faith. Mereta’s philosophy had more, and they’d established a reciprocal connection prior to his becoming secretary-general.
She wasn’t in charge of teaching Mereta’s disciples. He had ordained priests of his sect to do so. Tara merely kept New Life ashram’s administration running smoothly as she ran hers, directing Mereta’s office staff with assurance.
“I’m ready too,” she told Yuder, her smile soothing the worst of his cares. “Will you really spend the day amongst us pious types?”
He chuckled as they entered the conveyance which would take them to the bay where their personal shuttle awaited. “Don’t I have a meditation practice of my own? Besides, I’ve grown used to sitting and waiting.”
He managed to keep bitterness from his tone, but Tara shot him a worried glance anyway. “We have qigong and tai chi classes.”
He smiled reassuringly at her as the door opened and they entered the Imperial Family’s shuttle bay. “I’m fine, my love. Being in your presence is the most important thing right now.”
She slowed as they neared their shuttle, a small vessel among those scattered in the space open to the clear blue Kalquorian sky. “I should take a few days off to spend with you away from—”
“The ashrams will be among those few places where the media won’t be shouting questions at me,” Yuder reminded her. “I don’t want to be cooped up in our quarters all day…despite the enticements it offers when you’re home.”
She gave him a playful shove at the reminder of their night, blushing and laughing. “Behave. You’ll put this old woman in her grave at the rate you’re going.”
“Old? Not from what I experienced last night. By the way, do your yoga exercises today. I prefer you stay as flexible as possible.”
“Yuder!” She was shouting laughter as they sat side by side in the shuttle’s sleek cockpit. “That reminds me, I need to make an appointment to have my eyes checked.”
Yuder gazed at the shuttle controls, reacquainting himself on the vessel’s operations before starting it. “Are you having trouble seeing?”
“Only if you call dark blobs hovering in my peripheral vision trouble. I noticed them after you landed yesterday. I haven’t seen them since, but better safe than sorry.”
* * * *
The alien force dubbed the Darks has grabbed control of key positions on Kalquor and the Galactic Council of Planets. Other leaders are still unaware of the threat among them. The galaxy is wide open for destruction by an unfathomable enemy.
Former emperor Nobek Yuder has suspicions, but due to restrictions placed on him after his prison sentence, he can only stand by and watch helplessly. A renegade Royal Councilman has designs to bring him back to the political arena, but doing so could destabilize the Kalquorian Empire, leaving it vulnerable to invasion.
Meanwhile, one man on the brink of death, the only man who can detect the nearly invisible Darks, is pulled from a lifeless shuttle by Captains Kila and Nako. His incredible story tells them they’re in a race against time to save not only the empire but the whole galaxy…but are they already too late?
On Earth II, Governor Stacy Nichol’s relationship with Clan Rihep continues to grow. So does the danger, as opponents make deadly moves against her and the orbiting Kalquorian station where the clan lives. Nobek Kuran is determined to keep his clanmates and would-be lifemate safe, but how can he stop a faceless enemy?
Relationships, old and new, are strained to the breaking point at a time when Earthers and Kalquorians need each other more than ever. The Darks are closing in, and no one is ready to oppose them.
Releasing November 3. Pre-order now at Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple, and print.
No comments:
Post a Comment