Pleasure's Offering (6 page)

He came with a force that vibrated through the building, and the straining power snapped like a taut line. Down below, the crowds in the pleasure hall cried out again. No one was safe from the desperate pleasure ripping through the air. Even Zoa gasped as the force of it blew through her, bringing her own orgasm with it.

She let it come, sliding down against him as the wave rolled through her. With this much power built up, fighting it could have killed her, but the Chosen of Dezira were not fighters by nature. She surrendered, letting the pleasure wash over her until, at last, Jeric’s power began to fade.

He stayed perfectly still for one long breath and then he toppled over like a stone statue, taking them both down to the bed. All around them, the cries of the other lovers rattled the rafters as they came down from an orgasm like none they had ever felt before. Zoa couldn’t help but smile at the sound. An Avatar’s orgasm was always powerful, but none more so than the first.

As the moaning below gave way to delighted sighs, Zoa turned her attention back to Jeric. He lay on the bed beside her, body straining, eyes shut tight, breath caught in his throat. He still hadn’t unclenched from his orgasm, and as the seconds ticked by, Zoa watched him with growing concern.

This was the moment where Dezira would touch him and offer him the choice. The Lady was the patron of all desire, even those which others found disturbing. Just as the moon had many faces, so did lust, pleasure and love. Even now, the moon herself appeared before him, just as she had appeared before Zoa so long ago, her hands outstretched in offer. Which would Jeric choose?

Zoa bit her lip. This was taking longer than she’d thought. Jeric was the first Avatar she’d brought into power, but the records were very clear that the choice should be nearly instant. From where Zoa lay, holding Jeric’s stiff body, it seemed he had been gone forever. But then, just as she was about to grow truly worried, Jeric’s eyes shot open and he fell panting into her arms.

She clutched him to her chest as his breath left him in ragged bursts. He made a sound, half sob, half laughter, and his whole body began to spasm. Zoa stayed perfectly still, cradling Jeric until, at last, his twitching stopped and his breathing evened out. Only then, when she was sure he was as calm as he was going to get, did she dare to look.

As soon as she did, she let out a breath of her own she didn’t realize she’d been holding. At the center Jeric’s forehead stood a brilliant white crescent moon. It glowed softly in the dim light of the room, warm and inviting as a lamp in winter. Smiling with relief, Zoa raised her fingers and gently brushed them across her forehead, revealing a white crescent of her own, just like his. Slowly, Jeric opened his eyes and looked up at her, his gaze dilated and wide.

It took him several tries to get the words out. When they finally did come, his voice trembled like a new leaf.

“What was that?” He whispered.

“Your Awakening,” she answered, leaning down to kiss his lips. “You belong to the Lady now, Jeric Ballent, marked as the Moon’s Own forever. Welcome, lover, to our order.”

He glanced at the moon on her forehead, then raised his fingers to touch his own. “It was real, then?”

“Yes,” she said. “Very real. You are an Avatar of Dezira now, just as I am.”

He looked at her skeptically. “What does that mean?”

“It means that you are no longer alone,” she said, giving him another kiss.

As her lips met his, she felt him go limp. Zoa smiled as Jeric slumped to the bed beside his sleeping captain. The transition from semi-mortal to godtouched was never easy. She was actually surprised he’d stayed conscious long enough to question her.

Careful not to disturb the sleepers, she stood and pulled her thick curtain across the balcony. The satisfied moans from below still sifted through, but they were muffled, and the room was dark and warm. Zoa crawled back into bed and snuggled herself between the sleeping men.

Tomorrow she would have the difficult task of informing Jeric that his new powers came with new responsibilities, which included returning to the Imperial Capital as soon as possible. But that was hours away. For now, Zoa lay between her lovers and, her mission finished, let herself drift off to sleep.

Chapter Two

Jeric stood alone in a wide, rolling field he’d never seen before. It was night. A clear, summer night with the full moon riding high and heavy through the starry sky. The wind blew gently, rustling the green wheat that reached his thighs. He was naked, but it was warm enough that he didn’t mind. He opened his arms to the wind, and the feel of that warm breeze on his skin left him more deeply contented than he could ever remember feeling. For several minutes he just stood there, letting the wind caress him, and then he heard the soft rustle of someone coming through the grass.

He turned to see a woman standing in the shadow of an enormous, ancient apple tree. Though the moonlight was bright as day, the tree was well leaved and heavy with tiny, green fruits on their way to ripeness, and the vast abundance cast deep shadows on the ground below. It was from this darkness that the woman emerged, stopping at the very edge of the tree shadow so that her body was half in light, half in shadow.

Jeric’s breath caught. Though he only saw half of the woman’s body, what he could see was beautiful beyond telling, the absolute perfection of female form. So perfect, actually, that it seemed to shift before his eye, adjusting itself to fit his own personal desire until his mouth was dry and his body was humming with need. The woman laughed, a beautiful, musical sound, and Jeric looked away, blushing at the nakedness that showed his arousal plainly.

“You have no reason to feel shame, Jeric.”

The woman’s voice ran through him like clear, sweet water, washing Jeric’s hesitation away as it passed. He looked up again as the woman tilted her lovely head, the half of her face he could see lit with an indulgent smile behind the curtain of her moon pale hair. “Do you know who I am?”

Jeric didn’t, but as he tried to find the words to apologize for his ignorance, his voice spoke for him. “You are the blessed moon,” he said. “Dezira, goddess of desire.”

Dezira’s smile widened and Jeric smiled back, blindingly happy to have caused that look of joy on her face.

“I am glad you found your way to me at last,” she said. “You are mine, marked as my Own since your conception, and yet you kept me waiting for so long. It was good I sent Zoa to find you or I might still be waiting.”

The words held no malice, but Jeric felt a flicker of irritation. It wasn’t like he’d wanted to live all those frustrating years lost and not knowing what he was. He’d spent his whole adult life wanting nothing more than to know the pleasure of release like any other man, and she was criticizing him for keeping
her
waiting? But before he could give voice to any of these thoughts, Jeric bit his tongue and focused on keeping his face neutral. It was unwise to offend a goddess, especially one as powerful and fickle as Dezira, who was the goddess of cruelty as well as pleasure.

“I am the goddess of desire,” Dezira corrected. “It is not my fault humans desire to be cruel.”

She reached out with her hand, the one lit by moonlight, and beckoned him closer. Jeric obeyed, walking through the swaying wheat until he was barely a foot from the goddess’s body. She was even lovelier up close, so much so that Jeric was having trouble breathing. Her snow-white skin reminded him of Zoa’s, but her mischievous smile reminded him very strongly of the captain. That brought back a flash of how he’d come to be here. The memory of their tangled bodies sent a surge of heat through him and Dezira laughed with delight.

“You will be back to them soon enough,” she said. “New Avatars are always so zealous. But you do not have your powers yet, boy.”

“I don’t?” Jeric said before he could stop himself. He couldn’t help it, her statement seemed so absurd. He remembered the orgasm Zoa had given him, his first orgasm, with almost painful clarity. He remembered as well the tidal wave of power that had roared through him, but Dezira was shaking her head.

“That was because of Zoa,” she said. “She opened your gates and brought you here, to me, as I bade her. But before I release you, I must mark you so that all the world knows to whom you belong.”

“Mark me?” Jeric said. “How?”

“Aren’t you inquisitive?” The goddess said, arching an eyebrow. “You will be marked as the Moon’s Own, my Chosen hand who does my work in the world. But I am the goddess of all desire, Jeric, and it is you who must tell me what aspect of my service you are best suited to.”

Her white hand drifted up, brushing over her face, the half in moonlight and the half that remained deep in the tree’s shadow. “I have many faces, Jeric,” she said. “There are many types of desire. Some are simple and beautiful, like what you shared tonight. Others are darker. Power is a very strong desire.” She dropped her hand and fixed his eyes with her gaze, both the silver eye he could see and the glimmer of the eye hidden by shadow, its depths shining a deep, deep red. “You are a soldier, used to power. I can feel it in you like a fire, a need for strength.”

The goddess leaned closer, the shadows sliding over her skin, her eyes almost glowing as they focused on his. Jeric shivered as she looked through him, seeing all that he was. “The dark moon is strong,” she whispered. “There are some even among my followers that blame all our ills on my dark Chosen. But the darker desires can bring great good, while the seemingly kinder pleasures are capable of doing great harm in their own way. It is, after all, my white moon Chosen who preside over infidelity.”

Her beautiful lips tilted up at this and she leaned closer still. Jeric took a deep breath. She smelled like apple blossoms, sex and something deeper. A wild, destructive force.

“I can give you great, great power, Jeric,” she whispered. “The power to rule, the power to crush any who would dare deny you. To deny me. Tell me, Chosen, is that what you desire? Once you bear my mark, no one, man or woman, will ever be able to deny you. There will be no lust you cannot fulfill, nothing you wish that cannot be yours.” Her voice had sunk to a deep, cruel whisper, but it was her pale, silver eye that flashed as she gazed through him. “Show me what you desire,” she whispered. “And I will mark you as you were meant to be.”

Jeric paused, considering. Part of him thrilled at the idea of the power she offered. He’d been born poor, gone into the army because it was the only place he could make a good living and had been in the ranks ever since. How delicious it would be to be the one with the power, the one giving the orders instead of the one following them. But the goddess had asked what he desired, and when she’d spoken that word, the image that filled his mind wasn’t power, but what had passed tonight in the upper levels of Rosa’s between himself, his best friend and the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Just the memory was enough to make his whole body flush.
That
was what he wanted. That complement, that wild bliss. Even if he had the power of the gods themselves, what would he use it for but to seek this night again?

The goddess took a deep breath. “I thought you would choose so,” she whispered. “There is shadow in you, Jeric my Chosen, but your desire shines clear and bright. With all my power at your feet, it is love and care that you desire most, and by that, so shall you be marked.”

Her hand rose as she spoke, not the hand she held in the shadows, but the one drenched in moonlight, the beautiful, pale fingers landing lightly on his brow. “I mark you, Jeric Ballent of the Northern Legion, as the Moon’s Own forever.” Her fingers burned on his skin, searing and freezing at the same time. “My Chosen, my servant, my hand in the world. Go and live your desires in my name, and my power shall be known to all.”

Jeric gasped as her touch shot through him, and then he woke with a start to find himself in Zoa’s bed with the first morning sunlight shining through the cracks of the thick curtains.

He fell back on soft, warm sheets, gasping for breath as he tried to still his frantic body. When his breathing slowed at last, he reached up and ran his hands up his face to his still-tender brow. It wasn’t enough that he had met the goddess, he thought with a wince, he was dreaming of her now as well. He dropped his hand with a muffled groan. He had the feeling he’d be having that dream a lot. A divine encounter wasn’t something that left you quickly.

As the last of the dream drifted out of him, his senses slowly returned and he realized he was warm. Warm and lying next to a soft, supple body. A wave of lust shot through him almost before the thought had finished forming and his cock hardened instantly. On instinct, he started to turn away so that the woman wouldn’t notice before he suddenly remembered that he didn’t have to do that anymore. The woman beside him was Zoa, and she had brought him into his power. He reached up and touched his forehead again. The mark wasn’t revealed, but he could feel it there like a brand, burning under his fingers. He was a Chosen of Dezira, the Moon’s Own. He wasn’t deficient, he didn’t have to hide alone with the endless lust he could never relieve. It was over, he was free.

That thought went straight to his groin, and he almost failed to stop the moan from escaping his throat. With the knowledge that he could come came the desperate urge to bury himself in Zoa until he did. Lust coursed through him so hard his whole body was nearly vibrating with it. Desperate with need, he rolled over only to stop cold. Zoa lay next to him, her beautiful face relaxed in sleep, but on the other side of her, propped on his elbow with a sly grin, was his captain.

“Good morning,” Izar whispered.

Jeric could only blink. He’d forgotten for a moment that Zoa had sent the captain to sleep. Izar didn’t know what Jeric had become and Jeric had no idea how to tell him. Words were failing him completely. Fortunately, the captain didn’t seem to notice anything amiss with Jeric’s dazed expression. Instead, he glanced pointedly at his lieutenant’s rock-hard member, then at his own, which was straining against the sheets, and then, finally, at Zoa, stretched out between them. The captain’s sly smile grew to a grin as he leaned over, his voice a lusty whisper. “What do you say we wake her up?”

All thoughts of explanations vanished from Jeric’s mind as his cock gave a mighty jerk in agreement. Izar grinned at him one last time and leaned down to kiss Zoa’s lips. At the same time, Jeric ducked his head further, dropping a burning kiss against the delicate skin of Zoa’s stomach.

Their plan worked. Zoa woke with a pleased gasp that was promptly swallowed by the captain’s kiss. Jeric grinned against her skin and moved his hands to her hips. She trembled under his touch and the tiny motion set his cock throbbing.

But even as lust clouded his mind, something else was building in Jeric. As he pressed his lips to Zoa’s skin, trailing kisses down toward the apex of her thighs, his hands were fisted in the sheets. After so many years of shame, being able to do this, to kiss a beautiful woman without hesitation, to know he was going to give her pleasure even as he took it, it was too much. Desire and contentment were burning in him so strongly it was almost painful and Jeric could do nothing but give himself over. Yes, he thought as he nuzzled the silky hair of Zoa’s mound, this was what he desired, and as the brand on his forehead began to burn, Jeric knew he’d made the right choice.

That was his last conscious thought before he gave himself wholly over to pleasure.

Dezira be praised.

That was the only thought in Zoa’s sleep-addled brain as her body woke up to the beautiful ministrations of the two men beside her. Izar, commanding captain that he was, had positioned himself by her head. He was kissing her deeply, his talented tongue sliding slow and languid into her mouth. Meanwhile, Jeric’s hands were parting her thighs, his mouth working down her stomach with the delicious promise of a Chosen of Dezira many years more experienced than he was.

They held her gently, Izar pressing her shoulders into the bed while Jeric held her hips, leaving her helpless before the deliciously curling lust that was building like a wave between her legs. Then Izar’s hands slid down her shoulders to grip her breasts and Zoa arched, moaning into his lips. Between her legs, Jeric moaned and kissed down further, his tongue parting her dark curls to find the nub of her clit with a flick that made her want to sing. Truly, her goddess must be happy with her.

It was still early and the house below them was asleep, the raging sexual energy from last night dissipated. Without the enormous potential of that power to worry about, Zoa was free to relax and let the pleasure come without worrying about casting something she didn’t mean to in the thrall of orgasm. Considering where Jeric’s mouth was headed, that was a very good thing.

As Izar’s tongue worked her mouth, drawing her deeper into the breathless kiss while his fingers brushed over her breasts until her nipples were straining, Jeric moved lower still, his tongue sweeping down into her dripping cleft with a desperation that left her panting. She jerked against their hands with a deep moan, but Jeric held her tight, his grip strong, far stronger now than before, she realized with a start. He had gained his goddess-given strength and he was using it to hold her in place while his tongue danced across her, sliding up and down her opening, teasing her clit on every pass until she was panting against Izar’s lips.

This seemed to drive the captain wild. He moaned against her and shifted, bringing his hard, naked body against hers. As he did, she felt another hardness against her, poking into her ribs. His erection was hot and throbbing against her skin, and suddenly, Zoa was overwhelmed with the need to take him into her mouth. Movement was difficult, but she managed to get her hand to Izar’s cock on the second try.