Adira's Mate (12 page)

Another quick round of slaps on
her ass made her clench harder around his cock. Not that it slowed him down any
in his thrusting. It did intensify the sensations rippling through her body.
His next smack, lighter than the others, landed between her cheeks to wiggle
what was in her ass.

“
Yes!” she shouted when his hand
landed on the center of her ass and made the object inside of her wiggle even
more. “That feels so good, thank you, Sir.” She sobbed in pleasure, rocking
with the movement of his body inside of hers and urging him for more.

He gave her another light smack
to jostle the object around, thrusting into her at the same time. She was
close, so very close to the edge. “Come for me, wife. Scream for me,” he
demanded. This time he used his finger to press the object deeper while
thrusting his cock into her.

Adira
screamed his name. She gripped
the bedding tightly in her hands as she pushed back hard against him and came.
She flooded his cock with her juices, squeezing it tightly as she did so.

A couple hard thrusts of his cock
later and he came. His seed poured into her waiting body while he gripped her
hips tightly in his hands. Slowly he withdrew and fell to his side, pulling her
with him.
Fintan
wrapped his arms around her body,
pressing a kiss to her shoulder, and gave her a squeeze. “That was fantastic,”
he said in a gruff voice.

She felt the object still in her
anus and shivered. “It still feels remarkable,” she admitted to him as she
cuddled against his chest. “I think we should do that often.” She loved every
caress and touch from his cock and hands while he loved her.

“
Next time I might even remember
where the control is for it too. Had I thought this through a little better I’d
have put them together. There’s always next time,” he said. Sliding his hand
down her back, he cupped her bottom lightly and squeezed. “Roll onto your
stomach so I can pull it out. I don’t want you getting sore.”

She rolled to her stomach and
looked back at him. “What control?” she asked with a slight frown but gasped
when he pulled the object from her anus.
“Oh my.”
She
panted those two words in sheer pleasure. “Even that felt good.”

Fintan
dropped the cylindrical object
onto a towel on the stand by the bed. “It has a number of features. The control
gives me remote access to them to enhance your pleasure. It pulsates, vibrates,
and even can expand slightly in a ripple. It’s quite a versatile little device.
I found it on one of our protected worlds, and purchased it without knowing
exactly why I was buying it.”

Adira
grinned. “
I think I’ll help you find the
remote control for the item.” Once he was back in bed with her, his arms around
her body, she closed her eyes and sighed.
“My husband.”
She said those two words with a smile.

“
My wife,” he responded. Pressing
a kiss to her lips,
Fintan
squeezed her close. She
felt him press another kiss to her cheek, then her temple. “Did you enjoy our
wedding? I know I didn’t give you a lot of time to prepare for it, for which I
must apologize. I wanted it to be a surprise, and quite honestly wasn’t sure
I’d be able to pull it off with the resources we were
having
to work with.”

“
I loved it. It meant so much to
me that you would think so much of me to want this to be a surprise. Today was
the very best of days.”
Adira
pressed another kiss to
the side of his neck and yawned. “I think we should nap for a little while and
then clean up, only to get nice and messy all over again. What do you think?”

“
I think I am fully on board with
your plan,
Adira
Daykin.” He began to stroke her hair
as he did every night when she was preparing to sleep. She wasn’t sure if it
was for her, or for him. It soothed her for sure, and she was even relatively
sure it eased Fin as well. “Sleep well, wife.”

“
Sleep well, husband.”
Adira
Daykin. She liked the way that sounded.
A lot.
She relaxed as he stroked her hair and soon found
herself drifting off and into slumber with his heat wrapped around her.

Chapter Eleven

The checking of the moons and
outposts that Bracken had been ordered done had taken closer to a full month
instead of the two weeks that they had initially assumed. While that wasn’t
something she was sad about, she was becoming very nervous.
Adira’s
nerves were frayed, mostly because of her imagination. She had sadly started
getting the feeling these last two days that there was something seriously
wrong happening.
“Bracken.”
She spoke to the man as
they walked around the decks,
Fintan
once more seeing
to another call from his commanding officers. “Please tell me what to expect.
Fin keeps putting off telling me what it is that will happen. He continues to
tell me that it’s nothing for me to worry about. But with the looks I keep
getting and how everyone’s conversations stop when I enter a room I know that
there is something I’m missing, and it’s driving me nuts. Please, tell me?”

She had not failed to notice that
the men and women of the crew were talking about a
Shrev-Traka
, and she wanted to
know what it was. When she asked, no one would tell her and when she tried to
find it on the data pads that were given to her, she couldn’t. It was driving
her to distraction and the one time she had asked
Fintan
,
he had sidetracked her by making love to her against the wall. Not that she
complained, but it was still enough to bother her.

Bracken gave her a sidelong look
and shrugged his broad shoulders. “Everyone is anxious to get home. We were
gone longer than we’d originally thought. I know a couple of the crew have
expectant wives at home, one for sure that went into labor without her man at
her side. I’m sure he’s more than a little anxious to find out what sort of
reception he will be receiving upon his return.” They walked a little farther
before he added, “If you have a specific concern voice it,
Adira
.”

“
What is the
Shrev-Traka
?” There, she was
asking. “Fin keeps sidestepping the question, and your people refuse to even
look at me as they walk away. Please, tell me? I trust you, Bracken, and aside
from
Fintan
you are the only one that I really
trust.” Never as much as she trusted her husband, but she knew
he was
hiding something from her. Something that was huge
and important.

His expression didn’t change, but
she did pick up on the tic that developed along his jaw. Waving her toward a
door, he followed her into what appeared to be a storage closet. “The
Shrev-Traka
is never talked about, which is why
they are all avoiding the question. It’s an old custom, one that dates back
centuries. It’s a test of sorts, one that
Fintan
will
have to undergo because you and he are married, and you’re not
Craegin
. Can we leave it at that?”

“
I don’t like this,” she said
simply. “Will he be okay?” That was what was important to her. “This thing that
he has to go through, will he
survive
it?”
Adira
felt sick. She didn’t know if she would be able to
survive this.
“My poor
Fintan
.
I’ve brought so much pain into his life.” She still pretty much blamed herself
for the pain that he had survived at the hands of her people.

“
You didn’t bring anything unto
him,” Bracken said. “
Fintan
will most likely survive
what is to come. We don’t come from a culture that is into coddling, you know
that. The worst will be on you. I’d recommend not watching what is to
come,
because what comes after will be all the harder if you
know the condition he’s in when you can’t do a thing to assist him.”

“
How could I not watch what he
must endure for me?”
Adira
asked with a frown. “He’s
the keeper of my soul. How could I not witness the trials that he suffers in my
name?” She was crying, but she couldn’t help it. Her mind was going to horrible
places at the thought of her husband and his
likely to survive
punishment that he was taking for her.

“
As long as you’re sure,” he said.
He didn’t look all that sure about her decision. “Maybe I should warn you of
what this will entail. I would hate for you to go into this not knowing and get
him some extra punishment. And yes, they are cruel enough to stack some extra
onto him because you decided to try and save him.”

“
Oh
my.”
She felt
her knees go weak and her stomach churn even more. “Yes, please tell me. I need
to know what he must go through, and I need to know how I am expected to
behave. Please, Bracken, help me to make this as easy on Fin as possible?”

Bracken nodded slowly. Moving
around her, he pulled a chair off the stack, set it down, and pointed to it.
Only when she was sitting did he cross his arms over his chest and start to
tell her. “He will be taken from you the moment we land. He’ll be taken to the
citadel where he will be tied to the stakes there for all to see. For every
month he was in
Imarian
hands he will receive twenty
lashes. Then he will be put into one of the cells for two days for each of
those same months. He will receive minimal food and water during that time. No
medical care, no visitations, and no comfort. It’s a sensory deprivation of
sorts on top of everything else. He’ll only be able to focus on the lashes
received, and nothing else. When he is released he will be taken to medical for
attention, shots, and released into your care. At this point you will be a full
Craegin
citizen, and no different from anyone else
under the eyes of the law.”

“
How could he possibly survive
that?” She felt sick with what he was telling her. That meant
Fintan
was going to have to have sixty lashes and six days
without medical treatment for the lashes. “My poor Fin. He will need serious
medical care when he gets home. I’ll make a list of things that I will need to
have procured so that we are able to take care of him in our home.” She wiped
at her eyes and took a deep breath.
“And what of me during
this time?
What happens to me? I don’t want him to worry about me while
he’s trying to survive the hell that he has to go through. Fin will have to
have every ounce of his mental acuity with him in order to survive the trials
and tribulations of the lashes and deprivation.”

“
You’ll stay with me, and my
family. I’ll apologize now for my sisters and mother as they can be a little
overwhelming all at once. I tend to cower with my father in a room far from the
chaos when I’m on planet.” Bracken let his arms fall to his sides. Crouching
before her, he looked up into her face. “He will survive because he has you to
come home to. He knows you will be there, waiting for his return, and he will
do whatever is necessary to come out of this whole.”

“
That’s a very good thing because
if he didn’t I would follow him into the next life if only to give him utter
hell for leaving me.” She sniffled once again and took a deep breath. “Thank
you for allowing me to stay with you. I’m sure that helps Fin to feel better as
well. Knowing that I will be with you and taken care of.” She hurt; inside and
out she ached because of what her husband had to survive for her.

“
He was worried about you,
Adira
. Of course I said I’d take you in, as he knew I
would. You’re like another sister to me.
Less annoying,
though.
I’m hoping you’ll rub off on them a little, actually.” He pulled
out a handkerchief that he handed to her. “Wipe your face, and let’s get you
back to your husband before he comes looking for you. I doubt he’ll be very happy
when he sees those tears on your face.”

“
Thank you. You are a true and
wonderful friend.” She wiped her eyes and passed him his handkerchief back. “As
for your sisters, perhaps they will rub off on me and I will become more of a
nuisance to you?” She was smiling
now,
forcing her way
past the pain she was feeling so that she could get back to the person Fin
needed her to be right then.
Strong and ready for anything
that came their way.

“
Not what I want to hear from you,
Adira
. That only makes me want to reconsider letting
you stay with us.” Shaking his head he stood, pocketed the handkerchief, and
held out a hand to her. “Come along. Let’s return you to your man. We only have
a few more hours before we will be
planetside
. I
suggest you enjoy them any way you wish.”

“
I know exactly what I want to
do,”
Adira
said and allowed Bracken to pull her arm
through his. Walking along at his side, she asked, “Is that why they have been
contacting him daily, making him
have
private
conversations for so long each day?” It was her last question for now, she
hoped. Already her mind was starting to go through what sorts of damage that
Fin’s body would be put through and what she would need in order to heal him.
If only she had a handheld medical scanner she would be able to heal him much
faster.

“
Partially.
Some of it was preparation for
what was to come.
Helping to get him into the right state of
mind so he can withstand the solitude.”
He squeezed her hand lightly as
they got into one of the lifts. A little while later they were at the door to
her quarters. “
Fintan
should be inside waiting for
you. I’ll come get the two of you when it’s time to go down.”

When the doors slid open,
Adira
didn’t say anything else to Bracken. Instead she
walked into her quarters that she shared with
Fintan
.
Seeing him there and waiting for her, she could only smile. When he opened his
arms to her she went quickly into them and hugged him tightly. Outside of their
bedroom, around some of the older crew, he was very aloof with her. However,
when they were alone or with Bracken, Fin
was loving
and gave her all that she could ever need or want. He was quite simply her
everything.

“
Do I need to take Bracken into
the training rooms again?” he asked quietly after a moment. When she remained
silent, Fin leaned back, his hands moving to cup her face. “
Adira
,
did Bracken say anything to upset you? I need you to tell me, little one.”

“
What? No, you don’t need to take
him to the mats again. He simply answered the question that I had. He made me
realize that you love me. You haven’t said the words, but I know that you do.”
She leaned up on her toes and smiled. “And I love you as well, husband.”

“
You are my
wife,
of course I love you,
Adira
. Had I known you’d needed
the words I’d have given them to you
sooner.
You are
everything to me, little one.” He leaned in to brush a kiss to her lips. He
stroked his thumbs lightly to her cheeks as he drew away. “What did you ask
him?”

“
I needed to know what the
Shrev-Traka
was
and he told me.” She leaned into his touch and sighed. “I wish you had told me.
I understand why you didn’t, but I wish that you had been the one to tell me.
After this, no more secrets between us, right?” That was what stung the most.
He had kept that from her. She understood why he had, but it still hurt.

“
I didn’t want you to worry about
something you couldn’t change. It is part of the law of our world, and nothing
could be done to alter it.”
Fintan
let out a sigh.
“After this, no more secrets,
Adira
.”

“
Good. Now, I understand that we
have a few hours left until we make it to your home world and at that time you
will be taken directly from me. What should we do for those few hours? Do you
need to rest or meditate to get into the frame of mind that you need to be in
so that you can survive the trials? And you will. Survive them. You will ensure
that I am
Craegin
and we will have our life together
for the rest of time.
Right?”

“
I will survive the trials, and
yes we will have the rest of our lives together. No one will pull us apart,” he
said softly. “I’d like to lay down with you, hold you close, and just be with
you.
Nothing else, if you are willing to go along with the
idea of course.”

“
I would love nothing more.” To be
held by him, to be able to imprint that memory for the coming days that lay
ahead of them. “And you can tell me what I need to do in order to ensure that I
have everything readied in your apartment in the city for the after. I think
maybe I’ll ask Bracken if we can remain at our apartment instead of with his
family. Do you think he would be willing?”

“
To
avoid his sisters, likely.
They’re always attempting to get him to marry someone or other. They are very
persistent females that make his life more than a little difficult. He usually
stays at the apartment so he can avoid them whenever he needs to be
planetside
. I keep telling him he should get his own place,
but he thinks it will hurt their feelings if he does.” Shaking his head,
Fintan
took her hand and moved to the bed. Climbing onto it
he settled down to wait for her to join him. “He’ll ensure everything is
gathered and readied for when I’m released.”