Chapter Twenty-Two
Having sex in the middle of a battle zone was a big no-no. I was sent back to Tanith, after getting my butt chewed by Zarek. Sariel assigned Tihar to cleanup duty. As in chasing down the remaining rebels and disposing of them.
My punishment for disrupting the Overlord’s raid on Epsilon was harvesting the Son Doong mushrooms. All of them. Alone. Zarek said I needed to meditate on my rash behavior. Okay, I might have let my temper get the best of me, but only the bad guys died. Zarek laughed when I complained that the Son Doong stank to high heaven.
The evil jerk stuck Bree with two months of latrine duty on a remote Coletti space station. Zoey and Kaylee were sentenced to a month in the lower caverns, emptying traps of Tanezumi. The ratlike buggers left stinky piles of poop in the cages, which Zoey and Kaylee were required to clean out. Ugh.
Detja’s penance? Didn’t have a clue. Whatever task Zarek had assigned her left her covered in head-to-toe black slime.
Aunt Tess got off easy. Sort of. She was Thor, Haki, KeeKee, and Musa’s babysitter. The little guys ran her ragged.
It had been a week since we left Epsilon. Although Tihar and his father were still at the rebel stronghold sifting through the information they had gathered, my mate went out of his way to “talk” with me. He walked me through the last two years of his life, the battles he had won and lost. The atrocities the rebels had committed and the utter horror at discovering Snoor was building a planet killer. Tihar knew he had only one option. Become a spy. He’d altered his physical appearance and joined the rebels.
The heart-rending tenderness of Tihar’s mental touch as he stroked my mind and body soothed my battered spirits. “I am a warrior; my first instinct was to protect you and my people. Severing our bond was the only way I could keep you hidden from Snoor. You are my heart. I need you as much as I need air to breathe.”
“Part of me knows you did what you had to do to survive and stop Snoor. The other part of me wants to geld you.”
“Which side is winning?”
“The reasonable side.”
“I left you with the Overlord because I knew he would protect you.” Tihar focused his attention my breasts. Each caress heated my skin.
“Babe, I’m batshit crazy and quite capable of taking care of myself.” I psychically nibbled on his ear. “You know the rebels never stood a chance against me, right?”
“Your battle techniques are unusual, but Snoor is ruthless. He would have placed a bounty on you big enough to draw every hunter in the galaxy.”
A light bulb went off in my head. “I’ll be damned. Snoor put that bounty on me.”
Tihar’s roar of fury reverberated around my head.
“Easy, big guy. He’s very dead, and none of his hunters succeeded.”
“You will start wearing the battle armor I had made for you.”
Each day, I had received a gift from Tihar. A box of Earth’s best chocolate, hundreds of bloodred Tar flowers, the symbol of unity, a gold ceremonial dagger with black etching down the blade, and a sword to match. “You’re giving me my own Askole battle suit?”
“Yes, as much trouble as you get into, I thought it was necessary.”
I did a little jig. “Does it come with a horned helmet like yours?”
“It does.”
“I can’t wait to try it on.” I gave him a big thank-you kiss. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Not often enough.” Ghostly lips burned a path down my skin, and pleasure lit up my nerve endings like lightning. “I cannot wait to taste your sweet juices.”
The Askole version of seduction had my body in a constant state of arousal. “I’m going to pour chocolate on your dick and lick it off. Slowly.”
Zarek’s jarring voice intruded into our special moment. “The Son Doong will not pick themselves, Sarah.”
“Yes, sir. Babe, I gotta go.”
“Soon we will be together.”
“Not until Sarah has picked every Son Doong,” Zarek interjected.
“Fucking bastard,” I muttered under my breath.
Zarek answered back, “I can always add Detja’s chores to yours.”
“That won’t be necessary, sir.” I shuddered at the thought of going anywhere near that icky black slime.
“Good.” Zarek switched his attention to Tihar. “I have uncovered some information you will find useful. Contact me on secure communication link three.”
“I will let my father know.” His lips brushed over mine, and our mental link snapped.
I burst out of my room and ran smackdab into Rho. “My bad. Didn’t see ya.”
“Where is Tess?”
“She was taking the kids to the park. Why?”
Rho was beyond pissed. “Detja said Jand has offered to mate with Tess.”
The matchmaker struck again. “Why should it matter to you? You don’t want a mate.”
“He touches her, and I will kill him.” Poof! Rho vanished.
I linked with my aunt. “Rho’s heading your way. He thinks Jand is the love of your life.”
“What! Who told him that?”
“Detja.”
“Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Give him hell.” I spotted Jand and waved at him. “Yo! Can you give me a lift to the cavern?”
He carefully surveyed the hallway. “Is Tihar here?”
“No.”
“I would be honored.” He wrapped an arm around my waist, and a fleeting second later, I was in the cavern.
“If I were you, I’d stay away from my aunt and Rho. He’s a bit homicidal right now, and if he sees you, who knows what will happen.”
Jand frowned. “You think Rho would attack me?”
“I know he will. He’s got the weird idea that you want Aunt Tess.”
“She is a capable female, but I have found my mate.”
That stopped me dead. “Oh, that’s wonderful. Who is it?”
“Eve.” Jand teleported away.
Whoa! Eve? This could get interesting. I grabbed a basket and went to work. The cavern was eerily quiet. The only noise was the snip, snip of my shears. The gray Son Doong mushrooms grew beneath the crystals jutting from the walls. My floating light balls threw a rainbow of color over the ceiling. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes and stretched my aching back. Four more hours of hell.
A faint whooshing noise caught my attention. I looked around and blinked in surprise. All the empty baskets were now full. How was that possible?
A black blur zoomed toward me. Joy filled me. “Tihar! You’re here!”
He scooped me up. “I could not stay away another minute. We need to start building our dynasty.”
I threw my arms around his neck. “We do. Did you find the planet killer?”
“We did. It has been disarmed and destroyed.” Tihar’s mouth fastened on mine. The sensual stroke of his tongue had my body vibrating with need. “The Son Doong have been harvested, and you are all mine.”
“Superspeed and talons do have their uses.” I wrapped a mental hand around his penis and squeezed. “Ready for another blowjob?”
Whoosh! We were in my room. Within seconds, Tihar’s armor had vanished and his claws made short work of my clothing. “Babe, that’s one hell of a boner.”
“I’ve been celibate for two years.” Tihar took my mouth in a toe-curling kiss.
My hands roamed over him, relearning the texture of his skin, the feel of his thickly muscled chest. It wasn’t a dream. He was real. I was going to use wild monkey sex to keep him close. “Ready for me to slurp the gherkin?”
“Slurp the gherkin?” Tihar’s expression of total confusion was adorable.
“That’s what my mom called a blowjob.”
“Your family is one of a kind.”
“True.” I climbed onto the bed and gave Tihar a come-hither look. “Ever heard of the hoover?”
He followed me with a low, husky growl of desire. “I have not.”
“It’s a type of blowjob. Wanna try it?”
Tihar’s scaly black penis abruptly bobbed in my face. Guess that was a yes. Taking the tip into my mouth, I sucked harder and harder and harder until I had achieved the perfect suction.
Tihar’s hips bucked wildly. “Don’t. Stop.”
“Hold on, babe, it’s gonna be a wild ride.” Drawing on my psychic abilities, I doubled his pleasure by sliding my tongue up and down his length while simultaneously licking his testicles. “Yum. You taste better than salsa and chocolate ice cream.”
A tremor shook him as I pushed him on his back. “Ready to get your world rocked?”
“Yes. More.”
For the tour de force, I stacked my hands on his package and gently twisted. Tihar howled, and his body shuddered violently as his orgasm took him over the edge.
Shit! His eyes were crossed again. Had I put him into another sex coma? I patted his face. “You in there, babe?”
“Yes. My turn.” Tihar’s tentacles slid over my breasts, delivering nipping stings to my nipples. My pussy clenched.
I retaliated by trailing my fingers across his groin.
“For a thousand nights and beyond, I will give you utter ecstasy.” Tihar’s mind engulfed mine.
Whoa! The sensation of a thousand feathers skimming over my body drove me wild.
With his mouth, Tihar taunted me, kissed me, and sucked at pleasure points I never knew existed. No one had ever been this intent on arousing me.
I rubbed my cheek against this jaw. “I will love you until the end of time.”
“You are my heart.” Tihar’s hands wandered over me greedily. He caressed every inch of my skin, heating my blood until I focused only on the sensation of his touch. Ripples of white-hot pleasure had me thrashing beneath him.
I grabbed his taut butt and squeezed. “Inside me now.”
Little spikes erupted from Tihar’s tentacles as they slithered around my neck. The prickly sensation sent tiny explosions of heat straight to my clit.
The next instant, Tihar’s thick cock pistoned into me, and his body moved against mine. I dug my nails into the powerful muscles of his back. “God. Oh God. You feel so good.”
“I will never leave you again. Where I go. You go. All will know you belong to me.”
Now he wanted to talk? How could I think when his naughty, naughty fingers were turning my brain to mush? “Shut up and finish the job.”
“As my lady commands.” The delicious motion of his thrusts hit sensitive nerves in my channel and created an exquisite torment almost too much to bear.
“Almost there.”
Tihar pulled out and then buried himself balls-deep in my wet heat. My inner muscles rippled and clenched around him as multiple orgasms tore through me.
“You have nine hundred and ninety-eight delights to go.”
Those wonderful little aftershocks still shaking me, I planted a smooch on his mouth. “Can’t wait, babe.”
The bedroom door slid open, and Aunt Tess rushed in. “Quick, hide me.”
I instinctively jerked the covers up. “What’s wrong?”
Before Aunt Tess could respond, Rho burst into the room, threw her over his shoulder, and stomped out.
A knife appeared in Tihar’s hand. “Do you want me to kill him for you?”
“No, Aunt Tess likes him. Go figure.”
Detja popped into the room. “Have you seen Rho or Tess?”
“They went thataway.” I pointed to the door.
“At last. You wear Tihar’s mark.” She rushed out.
“Mark?” What mark? I looked at Tihar. “What is Detja talking about?”
“You now carry the symbol of our love on your neck,” Tihar said proudly and held out a mirror.
I took it. Small green tribal marks encircled my neck. “Is this the Askole version of an ownership band?”
“It simply represents our commitment to each other,” Tihar quickly corrected.
I grinned at him. “Good catch.”
“It is the truth.”
Musa flew in with KeeKee riding copilot and landed on the bed. “Daddy Tihar! You back.”
Musa jabbered happily.
A sense of contentment spread through me as Tihar petted our kids. All was right in the universe, and we had an empire to build. Oorah!