With satisfaction, the door slid closed. We would not be disturbed. And she was here. With me.
Two against one? Ha! I wanted to howl with victory. She was here. With me. Alone.
Content, I held her gently, not rushing her. I knew if I kissed her, even once, I wouldn’t want to stop. “Hello, mate. I am honored to have you in my home.”
“Thanks.” She smiled and twisted her neck so she could look around the room from the vantage point I gave her. Her feet still dangled off the floor, but her face was nearly even with mine. I watched as she took in the traditional brown of my furnishings, the cream color of my bed, the image on the wall of my family: my parents and two brothers, now long dead—my parents to age and my brothers to the war.
I’d been alone in this space so many times that having her here healed something in me I hadn’t realized was so badly broken.
Emotions flooded me and I buried my face in the side of her neck, holding her tightly, thanking the gods that she was mine. For years, I’d held everything back. Kept myself under strict control, refusing to hope. But she was like the key in the lock. That was the miracle of a mate. She was breaking me open and there was no way to stop her.
I didn’t want to. I wanted to share everything with her.
Everything.
“Calder? Are you all right?” Violet’s question was a whisper. Intimate. Between lovers. My heart, already melting inside my chest, felt like it stopped beating. The pain was incredible, but welcome.
“Yes, love. With you here, I am perfect.” Moving one hand to her ass, I lifted her body into close contact with my rock-hard erection. “I want you. But if I kiss you, I won’t be able to stop.”
Her gentle laughter was soothing to my soul, and like a stroke of her hand on my hard length. “Anything you need, mate. You’ve taken such good care of me.”
I had done nothing to earn such words from her. Not yet. Confused, I looked down into her upturned face. “I have done nothing worthy of such gratitude.”
Her smile lit up the room. “You were the one who let me talk to my sister, who forced Warden Egara to do so. I needed that. I really did. I’m so happy now. So much better knowing that she’s okay. I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me.” Tears gathered in her eyes and she lifted her face toward mine. “Kiss me, Calder. Kiss me. Love me. Let me make you happy, too.”
Every honorable intention I’d had evaporated with her words, but I still paused.
“You are well? Rested from transport? Not sore from whatever pleasure Zed and Axon gave you while I was working?”
She shook her head slightly. “They did nothing with me.”
What?
“I slept until thirty minutes ago. Zed was already gone and Axon had me bathe and dress in this pretty gown. But he refused to touch me since he had to go work. He was afraid he’d never leave once he had me naked and in bed.”
She blushed at the last.
As for Axon, I knew the feeling. I was holding off now for the same reason, for once I stripped her of the Viken garb and she was bare to me, I would not be able to stop until she was well sated, well pleasured and my seed filled her. Mouth, pussy, ass, whatever she wanted.
“You have not been tended to since Earth? No reprieve?” I asked, stunned. How had she managed to suppress her need from the seed power for so long? But with her almost feverish, bright cheeks and eyes hazed with desire, she seemed to be at the end of her control.
She shook her head. “No. I ache, Calder. I don’t understand it, but I am so—”
“You need to be fucked, mate?” I asked, my voice now almost a snarl. Knowing I could soothe the ache her mates had put upon her with our seed, I felt powerful. Virile. Violet needed me and I would see to her. It was my job, my right, my privilege.
“Yes,” she whispered and I had her back against the wall, her dress hiked up over her hips, my mouth devouring hers before she could finish that one syllable.
She wasn’t timid, my mate, wrapping her legs around my waist, her hands fisted in my hair, holding me to her, demanding more. Needing it.
I slid my palm up her soft thigh, thrilled to find she wore nothing beneath the dress. Axon was a wise man, ensuring after her bath she was bare and her pussy easily accessible. I cupped her ass, played with the entrance I most wanted.
Her back arched off the wall, pressing her bottom into me. “Yes. Do it. Take me there. I want it to be you.”
With a groan at words I’d longed to hear from a mate, I carried her to the table in my small eating area. I never used it for more than reading or work, choosing to take all my meals in the communal cafeteria. It was the closest first horizontal surface I could find and within easy access of the drawer that contained the lubricant I would need to slide into her tight passage and ensure her pleasure.
When I set her on her feet to grab the bottle, she shocked me by toeing off her slippers and stripping the gown off over her head and tossing it onto the floor. She was naked, every perfect inch of her on display. From the eager eyes, vivid smile, tight nipples, dark curls between her thighs and the slick hint of her pussy between her parted legs, she was stunning.
“Where do you want me? Here?” Her grin was wicked as she turned away from me and bent over to lay down on the table. Her ass was presented to me like a gift, her breasts pressed flat to the hard surface. Her hair spilled half down her back and onto the table like a waterfall of silk. And her body curved like a goddess, the round lobes of her ass toward me, feet on the floor.