AFamiliarFace (7 page)

“Shh, feel me inside you, my cocks seeking entry into your grace. Oh,
kina
, you don’t know how much I’ve wanted this.” His gritty voice and thickening erections told her plenty.

The intense pleasure confused her. She wondered at the absence of any pain while basking in the warm, welcoming bliss. Mal could literally feel him come inside her, something she’d never before experienced with a lover. A wash of heat stole through her ass at the same time Core groaned and shuddered behind her. And then another blaze filled her sex, the dual arousal rocketing her into a climax so intense she briefly blacked out from the sheer pleasure.

Moments later, she wakened and found he’d positioned her on her back. She blinked up at a very satisfied war leader. Core bathed himself in the water, using a nearby flower over his shaft.

“To clean myself, to offer my last tribute.” The smile in his eyes looked more like affection than satisfaction.

She couldn’t help glancing from his face to his still hard cock. Only one that she could see, and she briefly wondered where his “true self” had gone before he neared her once more. He stood at groin level to her mouth and tilted his hips closer. “Swallow me,
kina
, and let me fill the rest of you.”

Confused that she could still want him so much after what they’d just shared, she moved as if in a dream, helpless to resist. Mal opened wide and took him, feeling a brush of what felt like another phallus against her cheek. He tasted like lavender and male, the scent of life abundant around her. The erotic undulations as he thrust into her mouth had her body heating again, and the powerful rush scared her as much as it excited her. None of this was remotely normal, and the intensity of her orgasms and the powerful sense of connection to Core had her reeling, as if drunk on his taste.

“That’s it,
kina
. Accept me. Let me give you such pleasure as you’ve never known.” He panted as he thrust deeper. Her gag reflex had mysteriously vanished, and she took the whole of him in her mouth, astounded that tasting him could be so arousing.

When a burst of precum hit the roof of her mouth, she dragged her hands from their grip around the pool’s ledge to his iron thighs. So tight, so rough, she thought, stroking his flesh as she invited him to come down her throat. Wrapping her hand around his ass, she pulled him closer and stroked between his cheeks, as he’d earlier done to her.

At her touch, he shouted and came, gripping her hair when she shoved a finger in his ass. The sweet spice of his arousal filled her mouth, and she swallowed with greedy abandon.   

“
Kina
,” he breathed, still coming. “Oh, Mallory, yes. Yes,” he repeated over and over, his relief overwhelming himself and her. When he stopped moving, his ghostly phallus disappeared and his arousal finally flagged. He gently withdrew and leaned over to kiss her fully on the mouth. “You do not know how good we
smell together, how much I continue to need you.”

She tried to catch her breath. “I can’t understand how you can be so…” She pointed to his cock. “Your stamina is incredible.”

He gave her a heart-stopping grin. “With you
kina
, anything seems possible. Believe me, this is a first for me as well. I have some skill with sex, I admit. But never to this extent.” He stared at her mouth and ran his finger over a small drop of his seed. He rubbed it over her lips and into her mouth, and that quickly, his gaze turned from somewhat normal to snakelike. “I don’t understand how I can still want you after that.” He closed his eyes and leaned into the curve of her neck, breathing deeply. “But I do.”

When he opened his eyes, she saw the hunger, and not understanding why or how, she returned the feeling.

He must have seen her need. With a feral grin, he knelt in the water and spread her thighs wide.

“It seems these pools truly are invigorating.” A long swipe of his tongue along her clit had her moaning and gripping his hair. “That’s it, Mallory. Remind me that I’m not done worshipping yet. You’re not finished with me, are you
kina
?”

She should have been wrung out, finished, completely exhausted and sore, but her body cried for more of him, more of Core.

“Not yet, big guy, not by a long shot,” she moaned, captivated by the tongue that snaked out and made good on his promises.

* * *

The next day Core groaned and rolled to his side, his body pleasantly sore. He rested near the warm bathing pool and watched Mallory trickle water over her naked body. The bright light glittering overhead through the hole in the cave’s ceiling told him morning had arrived. But never had he spent so pleasant a time gathering his wits.

Last night had been a dream made real. The black-haired messenger from Ratlaharan had shown him perfection, the true union of soul, mind and body, a state most Talians fought their entire lives to embrace just once. Core had embraced that state each and every time he shared intimacies with Mallory.

Now more than ever he pledged his undying service to Ratlaharan. Hell, he’d promise his soul to Zernishte and eternal damnation if it would secure Mallory’s favor. Never had a female appealed to him on all levels. She had a smart mouth, the strength of mind to do what was right, and the fortitude to see her morality justified. She had decimated an entire Phrellian spacecraft, and had killed his enemy without mercy. Damn, he felt himself growing hard again.

And her body. He wondered if she knew what they had shared last night. If she had any inkling that both times she’d swallowed his seed, she allowed for a chance of pregnancy.

By the moons, he couldn’t imagine the joy should she become full-bellied with his young. With this woman, he sensed his luck would bring him no less than twins. Mallory had that something about her, that magic and penchant for right that ascribed to the warrior and leader within him. With her, he knew his sons or daughters would breed
true
.

Never before had a female Talian been born with The Snake, but he had a feeling Mallory’s progeny would wear the mark. He glanced down at his chest and felt the contented ripple of satisfied self. He rubbed the mark and smiled when it purred its pleasure.

A glance back at Mallory made him sigh. Water sluiced over her arms as she scooped it in her palms. As the sun caressed her golden skin, he knew the time had come to ask the questions he’d feared answered.

“Mallory.”  

She started with a shriek and turned with a frown. “You scared the piss out of me.”

He frowned at the pool, aware the healing agents worked best when not unduly tainted.

“No, I didn’t pee in the pool. Gross.” She dunked herself beneath the water, rising like a Nereid through sparkling fingers of water. “I still can’t believe what we did last night.” She smoothed her hands through her hair, the color a shiny black that made him think of the last perfect eclipse during the harvest. “For a guy who’s not supposed to come, you sure did, everywhere.”

“Yes, everywhere.” He couldn’t help reliving the feel of her flesh gloving him. Her soft lips, that firm ass, and her slick, hot pussy that had welcomed him time and time again. When he met her gaze again, he noted her blush and raised a brow.

“Okay, I admit, you wore me out. I’ve never met a man with your libido.”

A good an opening as any. Though an image of Mallory with another man at all made him want to destroy something, he had to know. “How many men have you met, exactly? From where do you come, Mallory? Tell me again how you came to be here; tell me of your world.”

She continued to bathe as she answered him. The stories she wove told of a place filled with magic and the crime and prejudices that settled in any advanced society. Like the Talians and even the Phrellians, the humans of Newtown worked and loved, fought and warred.

“So you see, every time you call me a gift, I feel weird. In my world, I’m at the bottom of the food chain. I’m not wealthy. I mean, my parents are, they’re witches, after all. And had I married the man they chose, I’d be rolling in wealth. Not a care in the world.” She sounded bitter, and he took note.

“This upsets you, that you have little wealth?” He didn’t like her disquiet. If such things mattered to her, he feared he would not be able to provide what she needed.

“Yes and no. I never wanted to be rich, just comfortable. I’d like to find a man who’ll love and cherish me and all that other happy crap. But to marry for money? To tie myself to a cretin like Aaron Floyd Crowe the Third? Puhlease. I’d rather die chasing rats.”

“Rats?” What? The woman made little sense at times, and he had a hard time following her.

“Well, like I said, since I can’t afford a familiar, I act as my own. Witches can call more magic in a form not their own, but the greatest power comes from the grounding of beast and earth. Creates a hell of a zing, especially if you use transport spells a lot. Since I’m currently in the business of trapping the unscrupulous spell-set, transport spells are a must.”

He thought about her world, about what she did. Did she live and fight in his world, she’d be considered a near-goddess. A woman who could fight, who wielded the power of spells and such? Hell, she’d nearly defeated an entire Phrellian ship.

“I am confused. You consider yourself not worthy—”

“No, no.
They—
the people who raised me and those like them—consider me unworthy. I think I’m a queen.” The arrogant sparkle in her greenish-brown eyes enthralled him. She grinned. “My friends like me just fine. And Rattler, your Ratla-guy, the one you call a god? He likes me too. Of course, I could be wrong. He might just really dislike you.”

He laughed. “I think Ratlaharan wished to help the Talians, and sent us His best. Though I still have trouble believing
He
sent you here.”

“He might not have. Only a select few ever enter The Lounge. The only reason Rattler sent me up there was that I’d had a hard day, and I’d saved his ass—uh, royal butt,” she corrected at Core’s stern look, “when he came up short-handed.”

Core shook his head. “You live amidst such wonders to walk among gods. We are barely getting by day to day.”

“I used to think that way.” She tilted her head and looked at him with puzzlement. He wondered if she had any inkling how beautiful she was. “But I’m starting to realize I’d never have been able to help you if I’d come from a normal family. Witches and warlocks may be rich, but they can’t fight worth a damn. It’s all about posturing and appearances. To tell you the truth, I’m glad I’m on the outs at home.” She winked at him. “Because being on the
ins
with you is a lot more fun than anything I’ve ever gotten into by myself.”

Core stood, wanting her again, and had to pause at the ferocity of need rolling through his undisciplined body. He didn’t understand it. Core loved sex, but he’d never before let it rule him like it did now. “I don’t understand this ceaseless hunger for you.”

She distracted him with her natural sensuality. Cupping her hands with water, she let the liquid slide over her breasts, beading at her nipples. “I feel a little stupid for asking, but you’re really okay, right? I mean, before we came here, you looked pretty torn up.”

“I’m fine. Yuka trees and their leaves possess healing properties that can bring back anyone or anything, even from the brink of death. It’s well our enemy is unaware of this fact. Otherwise they’d surely destroy the forest.”

“Right. Damn vamps.” She left the water and glanced around. Grabbing her shirt, she proceeded to dry herself with it, then reached for the rest of her clothing and dressed. “So tell me why the Talians and the Phrellians started fighting in the first place.”

He broke off a sigh and reminded himself he’d glutted his needs last night. After putting on his kilt and sword harness, he sat on a boulder to explain. “It’s fairly simple. The Talians have lived in this world, and in Horum Veirus in particular, for thousands of years. We knew little of the Phrellians, save for the records of their existence from years past. Only recently have they begun to invade, to fulfill their mission to destroy us all.”

“But why? Do you know?”

“Because they can. Because they want what we refuse to give them—the land we would share. We would have, at one time, lived in peace with the fanged
nefrat
. But in killing our women and children, they have brought about a war they will never win.” His heart raced, the sudden desire to shed his enemy’s blood overpowering.

“Um, Core? Your eyes are doing that snakelike thing again. Which reminds me, I want to know exactly what that snake tattoo is all about, not to mention your ‘true self’ needs a lot of explaining.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her cheeks a delightful shade of pink.

He shook off his bloodlust as desire once again returned. “You did not like my true self?

She pursed her lips, and her cheeks flamed brighter.

He laughed. “All Talians pass a stage in maturity when their spirit grafts itself into their body. It usually manifests in our warriors as a snake drawn into our skin. In the females and the males not warriors, normally a symbol, a direction in which Ratlaharan would have us live, appears.”

“What? Like a Yuka tree for a healer, an anvil for a blacksmith?”

He nodded at her mention of a healer, not exactly sure what a blacksmith was. “Not those symbols exactly, but something similar. We are all somewhat different.”