My Wish - Time Guardians Book One (19 page)

"Oooh...that feels so good," she muttered, burying her nose into his neck.

The Guardian sighed. "I applaud your courage, Alana. It's a good plan."

She stilled in his arms. "How did you know?"

He chuckled again, a rich rumble against her body, and pulled her even tighter to his chest. "I am the Guardian. I know everything."

"Oh, yeah?" Her feminist instincts went to red-alert status.

"Yeah, honey," he soothed.

"Well...jeez...Mr. Modesty, what are you—a mind reader of some kind?" She blustered, having remembered that she was, in fact, cuddling naked on the lap of the Guardian of Time, not some jerk who'd just announced he was invincible at Trivial Pursuit.

"In some ways, yes. I sensed your feelings when you denied our honor this morning—you were doing it for the very best of reasons, weren't you?"

Alana rested her head back against his shoulder with a defeated sigh. "I just wanted to make a deal, ask a favor, whatever."

"I know, sweet delight, I know," he crooned, cuddling her and stroking her. "Your thoughts gave you away—the love and gratitude I felt inside you would have made me grant it right away if I could have."

"Then why didn't you? Why all the fuss with the Loom and the whips, and my poor aching ass?"

"Still aching?" His fingers danced magically down her cleft, caressing dark and intimate places with talented skill.

She squirmed, amazed to find herself aroused again and with no pain at all in her buttocks. "I guess not.

"I could not allow you to challenge me at that moment, Alana. Please try to understand. What you will ask of me has never been asked before. I had to demonstrate that you were willing to stand up and fight for what you wanted, and that I was strong enough to sentence you to be punished for defying me."

She thought about that. "Do you have some kind of God complex? People say no to you and you have them decapitated?"

His body shook with laughter. "How I wish I could keep you here, Alana—you are a delight to all my senses..." He broke into another laugh.

"Hey, I mean it. You may have some issues here. If your people can't say no to you, you need to revamp your managerial style, buddy, seriously..." Alana slid into her
don't-mess-with-me-I'm-a-new-millennium-woman
mode.

"Alana-delight, my people are quite free to disagree with me on any number of issues, and they most usually do. I do not 'rule' here, I am merely the Guardian. By virtue of my job, I have become sort of a President of Anyela, if you will, but I cannot order decapitations—" he stifled another laugh, "—even though sometimes I wish I could."

She wriggled slightly, enjoying the feel of his very nice cock beneath her thighs. He was partially aroused, she could tell, and yet he was stroking her body in a soothing and non-sexual fashion. It was rather nice, she decided, relaxing even more.

"So tomorrow, when I come to you again, you may ask for your boon to be granted —I shall be pleased to listen, and then the ceremony will commence. Is that fair enough?"

"I still don't see why I had to wait," she groused, but rather calmly. His voice and his hands were working magic on her.

"Because your boon will affect how we manage the Time disruptions, Alana. This is not a matter to be taken lightly. Had you not come here with the goal of freeing Hari and Sami from their duty to Anyela, I don't know how I would have been able to accomplish it."

Chapter 19

"You knew. You really did read my mind."

Her breath seemed to have left her body. The shock at hearing her plan, so carefully nurtured, casually drop from the lips of the Guardian, had knocked her for the proverbial loop.

"It was quite apparent from the feelings I sensed between you and your Genies that there was a special bond. What other reason could you possibly have for refusing our offerings?"

She placed her hand on his firm chest and absently ran her fingers through the soft whorls of hair. "So you wanted to release them too," she said.

"Indeed I did. They are the best Genies that Anyela has yet seen but I knew there would be severe opposition amongst the ancients who rely on their talents to straighten out the kinks in the space-time continuum."

"Or add a few," interrupted Alana with a little giggle.

The Guardian dropped a laughing kiss on top of her head. "Or add a few. They are a very inventive team, those two."

"You have no idea," said Alana with feeling.

"But the Ancients have forgotten what it is to love—to mate—to see one's woman grow large with one's child and to start a family that may well produce a new Guardian of Time..." He stopped for a moment and gazed into the darkness.

"Guardian?" She raised a tentative hand to his face and brushed the prickly softness of his goatee.

"Hmmm?"

"What about you? Do you have a family? Children? A wife?"

"Once upon a time, my sweet, once upon a time."

"But not here in Anyela?" she pressed, shrewdly judging his tone of voice.

"No, Alana, not here in Anyela. Here the rules are different, and the Guardian of Time is different again. But enough of this."

He pulled her close and brought her hand to his lips. His tongue swirled around in her palm and she gasped at the bolt of lightning that zapped her loins.

"Oh my," she breathed, unable to take her eyes off him in spite of the deepening gloom around them.

"It's been a long day for you, treasured Alana. And I think tomorrow may well be even longer. You need to rest if you are to make the Ecstasy flowers bloom."

"But I want to know..."

She got no further, as the Guardian bent and gently touched her lips with his. He tasted of honey and cinnamon and man and some other wonderful things she couldn't put a name to. She just knew she wanted more.

Opening her lips she welcomed his tongue as it slid into her mouth, learning, flicking, tantalizing, seducing—she was shaking with arousal within moments. He eased away from her and dropped little soothing kisses on her eyelids.

"You are a special person, Alana; it is good that you are here in Anyela. Sleep now."

Her head dropped on his shoulder, her eyes closed, and she slept.

*~*~*~*

Trumpets were blaring in her ears. Okay, this was it—Pearly Gates, St. Peter, hosts of angels—she really was dead.

On the other hand, if she were dead, she probably wouldn't have such a pressing need to pee.

Alana groggily rose up on one elbow to see two women looking nervously at her. "Would you care to accompany us to the bathing chamber, Mistress? We have been instructed to see to your needs..."

Had she been able to, she would have leapt off the chaise and kissed them both soundly. However, her legs were still a bit stiff, her shoulders ached slightly, and she was unsure about the state of her butt cheeks.

So it was a very cautious woman that rose grandly from her chaise, glancing around for the Guardian. He was gone. She had been tucked up in his blankets and slept the night away. She sighed.

A shower and some judicious lotion application took care of the worst of her aches and pains—surprisingly her backside was almost healed. She'd expected welts and perhaps a little bruising, but thanks to the Guardian's gentling touch, she felt as good as new. She enjoyed a light breakfast that had been placed just outside for her. The women helped her into a formal robe—of vivid yellow silk, it fell to her feet and tied at the waist with an elegant golden cord. Some bathrobe, she thought, as she finished her coffee. Bloomingdale's would kill for this line.

She left the bathing chamber on their heels, following them back to what she recognized as the town square.

A crowd had gathered, and more were coming. Everybody wanted to get a look at the notorious woman who had defied the Guardian.

She straightened her spine and looked ahead, seeing the Guardian waiting for her in his usual black silk.

She neared the dais and raised her eyes to his. He seemed very formal this morning—there was little sign of the man who had aroused her and caressed her so gently last night.

The crowd quieted as the Guardian raised his hand.

"Mistress Alana. You are welcome again before the people of Anyela. Yesterday you were offered the gifts that are ours to bestow, yet you refused. Would you care to reconsider your opinion?"

His voice echoed around the shops and the flowers, the crowd was silent, waiting for her reply.

She stepped to the dais and looked at him. Something twinkled in the back of his eyes and gave her the courage she needed.

"Guardian," she began, rather nervously. "I have indeed had time to meditate on your offer, and have enjoyed the attentions of the good people of Anyela…" She waved her hand at the crowd, some of whom blushed, a couple of whom dropped their heads.

Got you, you little buggers
, she thought.
I remember you—you were the ones who got a bit whip-happy yesterday.

The Guardian glanced at them sharply.

Damn, he can read minds
.

"If I may be permitted to address these good people and yourself?" she continued, a rather evil grin lurking somewhere on behalf of her butt. Payback would be sweet.

"You are granted permission," said the Guardian.

"I would like to say how honored I am to be here in your beautiful Anyela. Where I come from, this would be considered paradise at least, possibly even Heaven. I offer thanks to those of you responsible for my visit." She bowed slightly to the Guardian and looked for Hari and Sami in the crowd.

Dammit, they'd better be here for this
, she thought, heart rate stepping up a couple of notches.

With a sigh of relief she glimpsed two tall heads making a ripple through the crowd and within seconds, Hari and Sami were at the front with, not surprisingly, Debalhi and Pemalina at their sides.

She drew in another breath.

"I have learned much from your Genies, and also from you—kind people. You are possessed of a giving and loving nature, you welcome strangers and make them friends, and you sincerely care about each other. If I am to accept your graduation ceremony and all it entails,
I
can do no less."

Should she try President Kennedy's "I am an Anyelan" speech? Nah, they might not be Democrats.

"So, in the spirit of Anyela, I ask a boon of your Guardian."

A murmur rumbled through the crowd, and Hari and Sami remained motionless, gazes fixed on the figure in the vibrant yellow robe.

"I ask that, if I am successful in completing the graduation requirements and correcting my particular deviation in the time-line, that my tutors, Hari and Sami, be released from the Genie program and allowed to become full citizens of Anyela with all the rights that such a title entails."

Hari and Sami paled.

Their women grasped the nearest hand and clung on for dear life. The rest of the crowd muttered and mumbled and discussed Alana's request, until the Guardian raised his hand again and silence fell.

"Alana West. You have shown the strength of commitment to your goals by your refusal to immediately accept our offering, and courage in enduring the punishment that you incurred. Your request is of a loving and unselfish nature. We are proud and happy to be able to grant it."

Cheers and clapping began somewhere in the crowd, and within moments everyone was jumping, yelling, cheering, waving and shouting their approval.

Pemalina and Debalhi stood with tears flowing down their faces, and Hari and Sami were speechless.

They moved as one to stand before her.

"You did this for us?" asked Hari roughly.

"This was your plan—to free us?" said Sami, choking back his emotions.

"How could I do less?" said Alana, holding her arms wide.

They folded her in a warm hug and held her tightly, neither man trusting his voice. She felt a sob run through somebody and a sniff from the other one.

"Hey, guys, that's enough. You've got wonderful ladies waiting for you..." She eased back from their arms, uncaring that the tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Go and be happy. Have kids, let
them
torture you. Have a life now, not a series of affairs. I have but one request..." she leaned towards them and whispered something. Then she kissed them both again and said "Just don't forget me..."

Then she deliberately turned away from them even though it was the hardest thing she'd ever done.

She gained strength from the gaze of the Guardian—he was approving her and encouraging her, and probably seducing her a bit too, because those black eyes of his were making her nipples get all uppity.

With a deep breath that hitched on a tiny sob, she stepped forward. "I am ready for the graduation ceremony, Guardian."

A blast from some trumpets somewhere made her jump.

"Will the Qualifiers please step forward?"

As before, about fifteen or twenty delicious men moved into a line before Alana and dropped their silks.

Her mouth watered, her palms began to itch, and all over her body little hormones were standing up and fidgeting at this lovely presentation of some of the best dicks in the galaxy.

"Alana, any of these men would be deeply honored to share the Ecstasy Bed with you. Your passions will make the flowers bud out on the tree—and this is considered an excellent demonstration of the continuation of our high standard of sexual skills, and also a general good-luck omen for Anyela as a whole."

Alana wandered up the line of hopeful cocks. Most impressive, she thought to herself, as they were obviously rising to the occasion.

"I may select any of these men?"

"Any of the men here before you are candidates, yes."

"Hmmm."

She walked down the line again, enjoying the sight of so many different men presented for her delight. She idly ran her palm from her shoulder down over her nipple to her waist, and silently chuckled as at least eighty percent of the cocks twitched and grew even more. This was the most fun she could remember having with clothes
on
.

"Hmm."

The Guardian had no idea that when she made that sound, Alana was at her most dangerous, or thinking deeply, which often amounted to the same thing.