After giving her other nipple equal treatment, he continued kissing down her stomach, past her navel, to the collection of dark curls between her legs. He inhaled her musky, sweet scent and stifled his groan.
Splitting her legs with his shoulders, he leaned forward and parted her swollen lips with his thumbs. Her wetness shone in the artificial overhead light of the pod. He slid his tongue up along the center, but stopped before reaching her clit. He didn’t want her going off just yet.
“Oh…oh,” she moaned as her hips wiggled beneath his hands. Her fists clenched the bedcover.
He licked her again slowly along the same path, and the muscles in her thighs trembled. He’d bet one of his stars she would go off the second he touched her clit, and he no longer cared to wait to see her pleasure.
This time the slow slid of his tongue continued to the bundle of nerves tucked under the thicket of her curls. She shrieked and bucked under his mouth.
As he suckled and teased her clit with his tongue, she repeated, “Yes…yes…yes,” between gasps of breath. Her thighs squeezed his head as her body reacted unabashedly to her orgasm. Her breath stopped completely as she reached her highest point. Then, with a heavy gasp, she fell down the other side.
With her eyes closed and her cheeks flushed, she laid on the berth, panting to catch her breath. Gradually, her thighs loosened their hold on his head, and her hands released the bedcover.
Before she fully came back to herself, he lifted the bottom edge of his tunic, pulled down the front of his trousers, and drove himself into her untried channel. It was merciless, but he believed in starting the way he meant to continue, showing her that pleasure and pain were closely bound together and not giving her any time to feel embarrassed or to start over-thinking her next move.
She screamed and came halfway up off the mattress, trying to get away from his intrusive force. Holding tightly to her waist, he refused to let her have her way. He lifted her ass off the berth and leaned back on his heels, so she sat astride him, her weight keeping her impaled.
Her nails dug into his shoulders through the material of his tunic, as she shouted in his face. “Stop! I can’t take this!”
“You have no idea what you are capable of taking,” he managed to get out between his gritted teeth. Her hot, tight channel was squeezing the hellitude out of his cock, making it nearly impossible for him to hold his load.
She dropped her forehead to his shoulder. “It burns.”
“Only for a little longer.” He released one hand from its tight grip on her hip and stroked up her curved back. Goose bumps appeared under his fingertips. “Then it gets much better.”
As he continued to stroke her back, some of the tension eased out of her body. She turned her face into his neck and nuzzled him. “Yes,” her hot breath teased across his skin, “it’s feeling a little better.”
He grabbed her behind the head and directed her mouth to his. She met him with an equally hungry kiss, and before too long, her hips were rolling against his lap.
She swallowed his groan and increased her rocking on his cock. Gods above, she was a natural. He brought both his hands to her breasts, kneading and squeezing and pinching at her nipples. She arched into him, and he dropped one hand to thumb her clit.
With a screech, she flew apart in his arms, and he grabbed her around the waist and slammed hard in and out, bouncing her on his lap. His climax roared through him like a freighter airship, blowing him to pieces, scattering his molecules.
They clung together as they regained their breaths and reassembled their brain processes. When their breathing returned to normal, Vadim became wholly aware of the silence in the pod. He lifted his head and glanced at the two LGs. They stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Vadim and Anna on the floor.
“Holy shiitake,” Marco cursed softly.
“I can’t believe you took her that way,” Kojo criticized Vadim, “especially for her first time.”
Ignoring the two men, Vadim pushed Anna’s soft brown hair away from her face with his palm, wanting to see her response. He grew uncomfortably aware that it was important to him to know she was okay with his way. He gazed down on her flushed face lying against the dark uniform material covering his left biceps.
Finally, her eyes flicked open, and she met his with her deep brown ones. Her expression remained fixed for a moment as his heart beat faster. Then a little tug of her cheek muscle sent the corner of her mouth up, and it grew into a full-fledged smile as her eyes shone up at him.
“Is that how it always feels?” she asked shyly.
He nearly laughed out loud—a rare phenomenon for him—with the feelings expanding in his chest. “When it’s good,” he answered.
“I can’t imagine that ever feeling bad.” She shifted slightly on his lap and winced when she obviously felt him still inside her.
“Marco, fill the bathing tub,” Vadim ordered without looking away from Anna’s rosy face.
The LG bolted from the berth, and the sound of splashing water quickly came from the private bathing room.
“When I disengage us, it might burn a little, but only because you were untried,” Vadim spoke gently to Anna.
“It won’t burn every time?”
“No.” He lifted her and slipped free of her wet channel before she could think any more about the discomfort. Then he stood with her in his arms and carried her to the bathing tub. He nodded to Marco as the other man left the small room.
Anna relaxed into the hot, soothing water with a sigh and closed her eyes.
As a proper first, Vadim knelt next to the tub and washed her as she soaked away the soreness. The slide of his soapy hands over her silky skin had his cock throbbing for a second round, but it was too soon for that. He needed to give her time before he took her again. And technically, he needed to give her other mates their turn. But damn, he wasn’t ready to share her. He hadn’t had his satisfaction of her yet.
“This feels very strange,” she spoke with her eyes still closed.
“You’ve never experienced a bathing tub?”
Her lids opened to reveal her brown gaze set on his face. “No, having someone touch me so familiarly,” she covered her breasts with her hands, “being naked before you while you are still fully clothed.”
Vadim glanced down at his uniform, and a grin threatened his lips. “I can remedy that.” Standing, he shed his tunic and trousers. Then he raised a leg over the side of the tub. “Slide over, mate.”
Her eyebrows shot north. “You’re coming in…here?”
When she didn’t move, he lifted her as he stepped into the tub. When he sat, he placed her between his legs with her back to his chest. Her muscles were tense under his palms as he stroked her shoulders and arms. “Relax, Anna,” he ordered, but she remained tight.
“Is this normal behavior between mates?”
“Normal?”
She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. “Do mates usually share the same bath?”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what other mates do. This is what we do.”
“Every time we bathe?”
“Enough questions, mate. Lean back against me and turn off that big brain of yours.”
“But—”
“Enough!” he barked. When she flinched, he bit back his apology. He would not apologize for expecting her to obey his directives. He pressed his fingers against the trigger points in her shoulders. “Relax, Anna.” He pulled her down against his chest with her head on his shoulder.
She shuddered against him.
“Hush.” He kissed her temple, a concession to her delicate sensibilities. “You will get used to me.”
Eventually, his touch gentled her, and she dozed in his arms in the warm water, but an alarm sounding on his datapad cut short their time together. He reached over the side of the tub for his trousers, trying not to disturb Anna, but she sat up.
“What’s happening?” she asked, her voice thick with sleep.
“I don’t know yet.” He tapped in his security code and read the classified report as he climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel. “Shiitake.”
“What? What’s going on?” Anna asked.
Ignoring her, he exited the datafile and tossed on his uniform.
Striding out of the bathing room, he shouted for the LGs. “Marco, Kojo, report on boundary security.”
The men snapped to attention at his official command.
“All quiet, General,” Marco reported.
“Not for long,” Vadim said.
Anna, wrapped in a white towel, planted herself in his path. Rising to her tiptoes, she attempted to get in his face, but with their considerate height difference, it was a futile endeavor.
She placed a palm on his chest. “What. Is. Happening?” She spoke loudly and clearly.
He had no time to explain the military situation to a civilian. He grabbed her by her upper arms and set her to the side. “Get dressed. We need to prepare our evacuation.”
“Evacuation? To where? I thought we were safe here.” Anna clung to his sleeve.
“Kojo, help Anna get dressed. Marco, show me the evac tunnel schematics for this sector.”
Vadim mapped out their path to bay ten and an armored transporter, recently restocked with emergency supplies, according to Marco’s intel. Vadim didn’t know what Kojo had told Anna, but she sat docilely on a bench while the men finalized their plan.
When Vadim was fairly certain he’d accounted for all potential snafus, he gave the order to move out. Marco again took point, Kojo grabbed Anna, and Vadim kept watch on their six.
They moved smoothly as a unit through the corridors of sector ten to the nearest entrance of the evac tunnels. Marco disengaged the lock and cranked open the sealed door.
An explosion from their left had them all jumping to attention.
Anna, who had been unusually quiet up until now, let out a small shriek. “Will someone please tell me what’s happening?” she begged quietly. Her big brown eyes pleaded with the men.
“Terrorist cells are attacking every sector in First Quadrant,” Kojo answered.
Marco finished opening the door and pushed Kojo and Anna ahead of him. “Get her to the transporter.” He turned to Vadim. “General, I cannot desert my men. This is my command post.”
Vadim pointed to Anna. “She is your mate, your first priority.”
Marco shook his head, a look of regret in his eyes. “Not my mate, sir. Only my intended by Council decree.”
Vadim stared hard at the LG, not able to argue with the man’s logic and fully understanding his obligation to his men. He couldn’t deny his respect for Marco’s choice, though he didn’t like it. “So be it. We will rendezvous when the sitch is under control.”
“Yes, sir.” Marco saluted Vadim. Then he added, “Keep her safe, General. She’s one of a kind.”
Vadim nodded curtly and followed Kojo and Anna deeper into the tunnel. Ahead of him, he caught the faint whisper of Anna’s protestation about leaving Marco behind. Somehow, Kojo managed to silence her again.
Chapter Five
Kojo piloted the armored transporter through the congested airspace around sector ten. Armed units were being deployed to all sectors to provide defense against the terrorist cells’ activities. Hopefully, the terrorists wouldn’t notice this particular transporter, empty of all personnel except for Anna, Vadim and himself, as Kojo flew them on a heading toward Second Quadrant. He’d been in contact with his commanding officer and so far, the terrorists weren’t targeting any sectors in Kojo’s home quadrant. And why would they?
Second Quadrant had no large research sector, just a scattering of labs that were a part of the university sector. Students who were gifted in bio-research were sent to First Quadrant to learn alongside the leaders in the field—leaders like Anna. There were no obvious targets in Second Quadrant, at least not to Kojo’s mind, but who knew what was going on in the terrorists’ minds.
Once they’d passed the outlying boundary of First Quadrant, Kojo set the autopilot and joined Vadim and Anna on the observation deck. “How’s our six?” he asked Vadim.
The General raised his eyes from the radar screen in front of him and fixed his icy stare on Kojo. “Clear, for the moment. Don’t you think you should remain at the helm?”
Kojo stood his ground. “I wanted to check on Anna.”
Anna sat in one of the command chairs with her knees tucked under her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. She appeared to be staring out at the vast wasteland of the planet.
“Anna?” Kojo approached her. “Do you need anything?”
She turned her big brown eyes on him. “Do you think he’s okay?”
“Marco?” Pricks of jealousy scratched at his chest. First, he had to watch Vadim take over as primary mate. Now, he had to watch as she pined over her second mate. Guess that left him in third place.
She nodded.
“He’s a highly decorated security officer. He knows his job,” Kojo answered more curtly than he meant to. He met Vadim’s gaze. “I’ll be on the bridge. Call me if you need anything.” He turned on his heel and left the observation deck. He’d rather be on his own at the helm than stay and listen to Anna worry about another man.