Prime Imperative (The Prime Chronicles Book 3) (25 page)

Iolyn’s lips thinned, and he breathed heavily through his nose. She could visibly see—and when she touched his mind, feel—the strength it took to shove his anger and fear away.

When his mind had become a deep, swirling pool of icy calm, he said, “I’m sorry I yelled at you,
lubha
.” He rubbed his cheek over hers and whispered against her ear, in a mild, somewhat teasing tone, “I guess all those
yoga
practices helped. You fought well. I’m proud of you.”

Bria’s breath hitched and she looked at his face. “You knew?”

“Almost from the beginning. We’ll discuss later why you felt the need to sneak behind my back to get FHC training,” he added in an amused tone.

“Who told you?” She raised a brow. Now, she was angry. He’d told her she didn’t need warrior training, and now he chided her for going behind his back. Un-unh, he couldn’t have it both ways.

“Wulf told me when I asked him. Mel doesn’t close her mind,” Iolyn snapped against her ear. “Not as you do with me. We’ll also discuss that issue—later. It must stop.”

“Then, my
gemat
, you need to stop smothering me.” She hissed into his ear. “As you saw…I can fight and protect myself and others if I need to. I could do it better with even more training.”

“Yes, but you don’t understand. You aren’t to be in harm’s way. Ever.” Once again there was both anger and fear in his voice. Iolyn tightened his arms around her. “Which is why I assigned guards to you. If they’d been inside the room, they’d have sent the alarm, fought the invaders, and you could’ve stayed safely hidden.”

“Hidden? Seriously?”

“Safely hidden,” he growled.

“Oh lordy,” Cheri said from within the circle of Zaek’s arms.

Iolyn turned and shot her a sharp look. “What in Balcon’s Balls does that mean?”

“It means you need to trust Bria to do what’s right in the moment,” Cheri shot back.

“Yeah. What she said.” Bria jabbed a fist into his side. The cocksure, overprotective S.O.B. didn’t even flinch, dammit. But he did loosen his hold enough so she could shove out of his grasp.

Then she stomped toward the blasted-out door where a crowd of interested onlookers had gathered. “I’m going back to the lab. I have a nasty microbe to research. Don’t wait up.”

*

Iolyn stood still for several nanoseconds. Okay, he probably could’ve handled that better. His brothers’ grins underlined that thought. But Bria running away from him wouldn’t get anything settled. He refused to let the situation fester. Plus, he still wasn’t over his fear of losing her, and she, if she would admit it, was still shaking inside at the close call. She needed to let him soothe her—for both their sakes.

He growled and tore after her. His brothers laughed. He gave them both a rude gesture. Grabbing Bria from behind, he turned her to face him and then tossed her over his shoulder in one continuous motion.

“Iolyn!” Bria slapped at his ass. “Put me down. I have to go to work.”

“Silence.” Iolyn spanked a luscious round ass cheek and did it much harder than she’d hit his. “I love you. You worried me. I
need
you now—and if you’d admit it, you need me.”

She wiggled. He spanked her again. “Stop it. I don’t want to drop you.”

Her “ouch” and resulting squirm—and then a low moan—shot a frisson of sexual awareness straight to his dick. He scented her arousal on the air. He rubbed her bottom and she moaned again.
Diew
, he wanted to fuck her now, even more than before. And it would be fucking—not sweet or nice or fun. She’d frightened him. He was coming down off battle rage and his cock was hard enough to drill holes through the
Galanti
’s outer hull. His
gemate
needed to soothe him in a most elemental way.

“Iolyn…” His name came out sounding somewhere between a testy feline’s snarl and the come-hither of a mating purr.

“Little menace,” he whispered, “I couldn’t get here fast enough.” He squeezed her firm butt cheek gently. “You were in danger—again—and I was nowhere near.”

Bria relaxed into his hold. He smiled, then frowned as she murmured for his ears alone, “You embarrassed me in front of the others. I won’t hide while my guards or Nadia or Mel fight to protect me. I have to know how to defend myself and others—especially since I’m not going out and finding these fights. They’re finding me. And I’ll try to remember to keep my shields down so you can check in with me. But I also need some part of my mind to be my own, where I can keep others’ secrets and maybe even surprise you from time to time.”

“You’re right.” Iolyn swung her off his shoulder then into his arms and cuddled her against his chest. Her golden eyes were drenched in tears. “Don’t cry,
peata
.” He kissed away the silver drops as they rolled down her cheeks. “You’re part of my soul. If I lost you, I’d be less than nothing. You’re my reason for living.”

“I understand that. I feel the same way about you.” She stroked his jaw. “But, we could have had this discussion later, away from the crowd. Instead, you pushed me on the training thing and the shields and I got mad. I figured it would be better to cool down before we discussed those topics. I can’t shove my anger into a deep, icy pool of water inside me as you can.”

“I’ll teach you how to do that.” He brushed a kiss over her lips.

“That would be good.” She nibbled on his chin. “Because we both are stubborn and have tempers.” She looked into his eyes. “What made you throw me over your shoulder all Terran caveman style?”

“You walked away.” Iolyn entered the elevator that would take them to his ground transport.

He needed to get her home, strip her down in order to check for any hidden injuries. Then he’d fuck her, first, and later make love to her—join with her mind-body-soul and reaffirm their bond and assure himself she was all right.

“I made you so mad. You threw your mental shields up and left me—and I went all primitive.” He rubbed his cheek over the top of her head as she nestled it on his shoulder. “It’ll probably happen again. It’s just the nature of the
gemat-gemate
bond.”

“Iolyn—” Bria’s body molded to his and she fingered the hair at the back of his neck. “I would’ve dropped the shields and checked on you as soon as I got to the lab. One thing you’ll learn about me is I don’t hold onto anger long. I’m sorry I scared you, too.”

“When we get to our rooms, I’ll probably scare you a little more.” He nuzzled her neck and scented the heat of her arousal coming through her pores. “Or maybe not.”

“How?”

He growled. “When Prime warriors come off battle rage, we get very aroused. The sex resulting from that can be rough.”

“Uh-huh, that makes sense. High stress hormones and all that.” She licked his neck over his pulse point and his cock twitched in the confines of his uniform pants.

Diew
. “Bria, if you keep doing that, I’ll end up taking you against my ground shuttle.” He looked down at the most precious being in the universe. She looked interested. He touched her surface thoughts. She was. “
Lubha
, what I want to do to you should probably be done in the privacy of our bedroom.”

“Okay.” She scrunched her nose. He had to kiss the tip, she was so cute. “But maybe someday, somewhere isolated we can try the fucking against the ground shuttle thing?”

“I’ll add that to my list.” He rubbed his nose alongside of hers.

“You have a list?” She touched his mind and even that gossamer sensation had his cock throbbing. “Oh my!” She blushed and coughed and closed her eyes. “Iolyn…”

“Yes,
peata
?” He carried her out of the elevator and into the subterranean garage. He increased his pace.

“If Prime warriors get erections after riding the
batel rabia
wave, what do they do when there are no women around to, um, take care of their needs?”

Iolyn shook his head. Only his little scientist would ask such a question out loud. Other women would just think it. “We suffer or we handle it ourselves. And before you ask, I’ve done both.”

“I’d like to watch you handle it yourself, sometime.”

At her words, he stopped in the middle of the garage as a wave of lust threatened to take him to his knees.

“
Diew
, I
bakking
need you more than I need my next breath.” He kissed her lips, biting, licking, and sucking at them until the two of them gasped for breath. He broke off and whispered against her now-swollen mouth. “The sex will be rough at first. I’m afraid of hurting you—shocking you.”

Bria's essence twined through his thoughts—the ones where he wanted to keep her on the precipice between pain and pleasure for hours…feed on it…and then send it back to her doubled, tripled, until they couldn’t handle the sensations any longer and they both exploded, sending them into a spiraling free fall.

“Oh…” She swallowed and looked into his eyes. Her gaze held molten heat, excitement, and desire to match his own. “Yes, I want—no, need you like that, too. So, so much.”

She trembled in his arms.

“You scared?” He hurried to his vehicle and placed her gently into the passenger seat, then buckled her in.

“A little. But I trust you.” She leaned into him before he backed away to shut the hatch and kissed him, a sweet, hot kiss of sexual hunger that matched his own.

He broke away before he pulled her out of her seat and bumped up sex-against-a-shuttle to number one on his to-do sex list. “I’ll never hurt you. Never. I’d kill myself before I hurt you.” He caressed her cheek with his hand.

“Well, that might be a bit extreme.” She rubbed her cheek against the palm of his hand like a kitten. “Take me home and fuck me, my warrior-
gemat
. You’ve got me all hot and bothered—and you have to fix it.”

* * * *

Several standard hours later, Caradoc Estate

Bria couldn’t move even if she hadn’t had Iolyn’s weight lying over her. His cock was still inside her, and when it twitched, her vaginal sheath responded with another round of small orgasmic explosions. She moaned. Iolyn bit and then licked her shoulder. She grunted when his actions sent another wave of bliss over her body.

“
Diew, peata
. You’re going to kill me,” Iolyn muttered against her throat.

“Me?” she gasped out the word. “You…you tortured me with pleasure. I thought I was gonna die from orgasming.” She tried to lift an arm to shove him off her body, but couldn’t. Her bones had turned liquid. She tried to lick her dry lips, but her mouth was arid like the Great Cetan desert on Oz. She must’ve sweated off a liter of water. “Off. Please. Heavy. Water.”

Iolyn chuckled and rolled to his side taking her with him. They were still joined. His cock pulsed rapidly inside her, and she had yet another mini-climax.

Then he looked into her eyes. “You really scared me today.”

And his words filled with fear and his infinite love for her had her eyes tearing up. This man for all his autocratic dominance was a keeper. They were still new as a couple. It would take time, but they’d find their rhythm as partners and mates. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would definitely be worth it.

Thank the One, God, and any other deity worshiped in the galaxy, they’d found one another.

“I’m sorry.” She kissed his lips gently. “So tired. But I need to work.”

“Work tomorrow.” He kissed her forehead then pulled out of her body slowly. They both moaned at the loss of intimate contact. “I’ll get us both a drink. A cloth to clean you up. Then we’ll nap. Can’t have you falling asleep tonight during the family dinner.”

She groaned. Damn, how had she forgotten about the ordeal of the meet-the-family—plus the Council Elders—dinner?

Lots of booty-banging sex does that to a gal. And one hell of an erotic spanking.
Her ass still burned, but in a way she’d never thought she’d find arousing.

“Yes, a nap would be good.” She yawned, closed her eyes, and was half-asleep by the time Iolyn had left the bed.

Chapter 16

Later that evening

Bria stood with Iolyn, Wulf, and Mel in the great room of the Caradoc family home. It was still early in the cocktail hour. They probably had another standard hour or so before the evening meal. Guests were still arriving, many more than Iolyn had hinted at. She stiffened her spine at the sight of so many strangers and took another bracing sip of her wine. The light fruity drink wasn’t doing it for her. She needed something stronger if she was going to make it through dinner and beyond without succumbing to a crisis of nerves. She hated being on display.

“I think I need to switch to scotch.”

“Why?” Mel asked, sipping on a glass of a potent Valerian scotch. “Does the wine taste bad?”

“No.” She placed the wine on the tray of a passing waiter.

“What’s wrong,
peata
?” Iolyn massaged the skin exposed by her almost backless dress.

She shivered at his touch. His casual caress brought back memories of the hours they’d spent before coming downstairs this evening. She wanted him again. Rough. Gentle. However he wanted to take her. Preferably now, so they could sneak away and she could avoid being the center of attention.

Bria would rather face a horde of space pirates than his relatives—and, it seemed like, half the Prime Elder council members and their
gemates
had decided to accept her in-laws’ invitation.

“
Lubha
, what’s wrong?” Iolyn asked once more and this time gathered her closer against his firmly muscled, warm body.

She frowned. “What’s wrong? Your mother”—Iolyn’s mother had asked to be called by her name—“um, Lorinda…has half the capital city here.”

An exaggeration but it appeared that way.

“It was bad enough when I was supposed to face all of your relatives, but this…” She waved a hand at the mass of people streaming into the great room which had at one time seemed huge, but now felt smaller because of all the bodies taking up space. “Everyone is staring at me as if I’m some freak.”

Iolyn gave her a gentle squeeze, kissed her cheek and then whispered, “Be brave,
peata
. It’ll be over soon.”