The Naked Truth (11 page)

So why was she here?

She drummed her fingers against the heated cushions of her seat and startled when they responded with a soothing vibration. The Confederacy had a Council meeting going on behind closed doors, and despite asking her to be here, they had not included her in whatever they were discussing now.

Just as she was about to rise and pace the tiny waiting room, the doors slipped open and Examiner Salis Fiiten waved her in.

“Captain Branscombe.” Salis introduced her to the table of seated Inarrii. An empty stage like the one that Salis had used to project Asler’s memories to the Treaty officials was positioned nearby. Asler stood to one side of the stage, his brilliant green eyes intent on her.

Sue sucked in a quick breath at the sight of him, his bronze skin exposed except for where the pettan covered him. His L’inar seemed darker than ever, and he seemed to be struggling to keep them flat. The thought had her blood heating, her cheeks flushing. Whatever the reasons for his earlier actions, he desired her, at the very least.

“Ahem.” Salis caught her attention.

“Sorry,” she sent to Salis. A gasp came from one of the Inarrii, and she realized with a start that they had heard her apology. If anything, she flushed harder.

Salis addressed the gathering. “Captain Branscombe has agreed to review her memories with us. However, as you have just experienced, she has developed strong m’ittar capabilities. I feel that it will be necessary for her to continue to work with Asler Kiis on this, even though he is no longer an official Examiner.”

Sue stiffened. “Why is Asler no longer an Examiner?” she demanded.

“Despite the precautions we took at the Earth hearing, Asler Kiis has been relieved of his position for allowing his memories to be exposed,” Salis explained. “While we know that there was a very urgent reason, there is no help for it. Confederacy Law dictates he must abandon his commission.”

“What? I can’t believe it! He saved the Treaty!”

“Yes, and for that reason, he has been offered a position with Earth, in a new role as Ambassador. He will also be helping you sift your memories for clues, as well as recover from your recent ordeal.” One of the Inarrii, a gentle-looking old man, spoke mind to mind with her. “We have one difficulty. Until Asler has a sufficiently shielded area on your Starforce Base, he must work here. But as he is no longer an Examiner, he must have witnessed permission to initiate deep, investigative m’ittar contact.”

Sue hesitated. Asler had shut her out at the Treaty inquiry, and had kept silent about their relationship. Did he avoid it because he believed her reputation would be damaged? Or because he didn’t want to commit formally to her?

She looked again at him. He stood completely still and silent, only his heated green eyes and the ripples in his L’inar conveying anything to her. But she couldn’t hide her feelings for him.

“Yes, I want to work with Asler Kiis.” She said the words aloud, needing to hear her affirmation and her future spoken as any human woman might.

“Please join him on the stage and initiate m’ittar, and indicate that you agree.” Salis touched her gently on the shoulder.

Sue walked to the stage, her eyes intent on Asler. Reaching for his hand, they stepped onto the stage together. Her heart raced, and a shiver passed through her at the heat radiating from his skin. She lowered her eyes to his chest to see the L’inar ridges rising to attention before her.

“Susan, are you well? I can feel your pain. I am sorry I couldn’t free you earlier.” His thoughts caressed her and she realized she could feel the emotion behind them, nearly taste it now in a way she hadn’t before.

“You gave up your career to prove I was innocent. Does this mean you lost your clan as well? Is that what they meant at the hearing?”

“It doesn’t matter. The truth is revealed, and you are free. That’s all that matters.”

Her heart pounded. He really had given everything away for her. Elation was chased by guilt as she thought of what this meant. If she hadn’t agreed to the m’ittar densah, this would not have happened to him. But they might also have not found the correct memory that exposed the Ravager involvement.

She felt the weight of the Council’s attention on her. Now was not the time to worry about what might have been. This was the moment she had dreamed of for the last few days. She had to know how Asler felt, even if it meant exposing her feelings first. “I love you.” The thought raced from her mind.

“They can hear you, Ya’lenali.”

“I don’t care. What does that word really mean?” She leaned in, laid her face on the bare skin of his chest.

“It means ‘my heart, my love.’ I love you.” His mental voice grew ragged as she began to lick the hard ridges of his L’inar. “You must stop that.”

“No, I must not. I love you. I give you permission to initiate m’ittar, to work with me to look for clues about the Ravagers. I agree to your help, and ask for it willingly.” She worded the permission as carefully as she could, even as she licked and traced the path of his L’inar down his chest. Keeping her mind on two things was more difficult than she had thought.

“I heard that too.” Asler laughed into her mind.

Behind her, she caught the sounds of chairs sliding out from the table. She glanced back, and the old Inarrii grinned and waved at her.

“Wait, I thought I had to do this in public. You know,” she insisted to Asler, “like in the dining room.”

Salis laughed from the doorway. “M’itta lensahn is a private thing. Congratulations, and welcome to the Confederacy.”

Sue frowned at the closing door. “What is M’itta lensahn?”

“More than marriage. It is a permanent mating, a joining of souls. Do you still want to keep licking me like that?” Hope and desire tinted his mental voice.

“Oh, yes. I love you, Asler Kiis. Treaty be damned. This is a contract between our hearts.”

She couldn’t wait, didn’t care that this was a public room or that there was no time to find a ring. She knelt on the platform, her heart pounding as he joined her on his knees. She reached out her hands to touch his chest and the thick ridges of his L’inar. “Ya’lenali…” She stumbled over the word slightly. “My heart. I love you, and I don’t care what the future might bring, as long as I spend it with you.”

He slid his hands over her smooth skin until they rested against the nape of her neck. “Inar tel sahan yowlenaii. Ya’lenali, I will teach you all I know of m’ittar, and I will learn all I can from you as well. I will always love you.”

He pulled her to him, kissed her. Carefully he began to caress her, tracing patterns against her skin. She moaned, his touch both arousing and frustrating as he explored her neck, her shoulders, her breasts. In return she began to stroke his L’inar, following the tightening skin with her fingertips and then her lips, finally licking them. His skin tasted of the same scent she’d associated only with him.

He trembled as she licked the whorls of ridges surrounding his left breast. Encouraged she traced them farther down his abdomen. “Gods, woman, you are killing me.”

“Someday soon we will talk about your gods.” She returned his earlier words to him. “But for now, Ya’lenali, you will just have to grin and bear it.”

His soft chuckles turned to moans as she grabbed the edge of his pettan and yanked it down. His cock sprang into view, the ridges circling it defined for her viewing pleasure. She wet her lips, and he moaned in anticipation. A coil of feminine satisfaction curled through her. He was completely at her mercy.

“Lie back and let me enjoy you, Asler Kiis.”

Immediately he dropped down to the platform to comply. As his naked skin touched the platform she realized it was still active. Around her, above her, she saw and felt his memory of their last lovemaking. It was her turn to groan. His emotions, his pleasure, no, their pleasure combined pulsed all around them.

She looked back at him, saw the love reflected in his eyes. Slowly she lowered her mouth to the crests at the base of his cock. She licked them, followed them until she reached the tip of his cock and they were both panting with desire. His eyes locked with hers as she took him into her mouth.

With a long pull of suction she made her final, silent promise to him. She would please him, just as he would pleasure her, for the rest of their lives.

Asler shuddered uncontrollably and called out her name. She ran her lips over his L’inar, licking and sucking until his seed spilled inside her waiting lips.

A moment later she was in his arms again and experiencing his pleasure and love as it reflected from him around the projection platform. Surrounded by this intense feedback she gasped for breath. He pulled her down beside him on the platform and peeled her pettan from her body. Inch after inch he caressed her, touching and stroking until she could not concentrate on anything but his touch. In seconds he had her naked and spread open before him, his fingers caressing her clit, her helpless moans seeming to drive him on.

He brushed her most sensitive spots until she could take it no longer and cried out his name. Before she could fully crest the peak of her orgasm, he rolled on top of her, pressing his cock against her wet heat. Slowly, one ridged section at a time, he drove into her, thrusting until their rhythms matched, from the sounds of their panting breaths to the beat of their pounding hearts.

“Ya’lenali.” The word whispered from between their joined breaths, and they were one.

Don’t miss
Alien Revealed
and future books
in the Confederacy Treaty series from Carina
Press.

Lilly Cain is a wild woman with a deep, throaty laugh and plunging necklines. She is a great lover of all things sensual—perfume, chocolate, silk! She never has to worry about finding a date or keeping a man in line. She keeps her blond hair long and curly, wears beautiful clothes and loves loud music. Lilly lives her private life in the pages of her books.

Lilly lives in Atlantic Canada, although she spent eight years in Bermuda, enjoying the heat and the pink sands. She returned to her homeland so she could see the changing of the seasons once again. When not writing she paints, swills coffee and vodka (but not together) and fights her writing pals for chocolate.

When not living up to her pen name, Lilly is a single mom who loves reading and writing, dabbling in art and loving and caring for her two daughters. She loves romance and the freedom erotic fantasy provides her imagination. She loves the chilling moments in her novels as much as the steaming hot interludes. Her stories are an escape and a release, and she hopes that they can give you that power, too.