She caressed his cheek. “Nice hat.”
He grinned. “You have one as well. It will be given to you in a ceremony later this week.”
He turned and escorted her to the dais, pulling her down on his lap in front of the entire assembled crowd. He inclined his head to the man speaking to him, and the stunned representative of the Azon blinked rapidly before he returned to his proposal of a joint financial effort to begin a Na-Lanvin orbital archive.
Kurat asked, “So, you want to have an archive above us for education purposes?”
The representative nodded. “Na-Lanvin has provided the Alliance with many resources, as well as some of the most creative minds that this sector has to offer. We would like to not only create an archive but a school where that knowledge can be shared.”
Del whispered into Kurat’s ear. “Why in orbit?”
He replied, “We are not members of the Alliance. Our population is not large enough to allow volunteers to try and become champions. We are an adjunct member.”
“So?”
“So, it is not considered appropriate for the Alliance to send students to a planet not firmly lodged in their bailiwick.”
He nuzzled at her neck, and she pressed her hand to his chest. “Down boy, pay attention.”
Kurat sighed and turned toward the petitioner. “What about locating the education centre and the archive here on Na-Lanvin?”
The Rep blinked. “I will have to bring it to council.”
“Please, do so. With my wife here, I have little to no interest in excessive shuttle travel.”
“Wife? Um, congratulations, High Prefect.”
“Thank you, Representative Reynar. I have waited for her for quite some time.” He cupped his hand over her hip and pulled her tightly against his erections.
Kurat took pity on the other male. “You are dismissed, and I will speak with you in one week when my bride and I have had some time together.”
Delyth looked at him with an amused smile. “Where are we going?”
He whispered in her ear. “It’s a secret.”
Chapter Eleven
It was a large cabin in the woods with all the furniture scaled to the height and width of the High Prefect and the goddess host. Del was just happy that she enjoyed camping.
Kurat put their bags in the bedroom and came out to wrap his arms around her. “Have I mentioned how thankful I am that you chose me over that Companion?”
She smiled. “It was no contest. I have always been a sucker for green eyes.”
Del brushed his dark hair away from his cheek and tucked it behind his ear. As she caressed his temples, she noted something strange. “What is that?”
He blushed, “My horns are growing back. I shed them fifty years ago when it was obvious that Ulara was not going to appear. Rothu went dormant.”
“That doesn’t explain the horns.”
Kurat walked to the bookshelf and removed a huge tome, placing it on a low table in front of the couch. He flipped to a page where a man with stag horns stood proudly with a woman sporting a feminine version of the horns. “Rothu and Ulara.”
“Wow. They look…” they looked like they were in love. There was no doubt that as the male looked down at the female, he was as besotted as she was. She blinked tears from her eyes and flipped through the book, settling on the darkness of Horik. He scowled and radiated loneliness in Del’s opinion.
She flipped to Gornita and blinked at the image of the woman with completely composed features looking out over an icy wasteland. “She looks so calm.”
“She is the goddess of wisdom, but she eschewed personal experience. It has been an issue throughout the centuries.” Kurat’s voice took on the rough undertone of Horik.
Del looked at him and noted the differences that Horik brought to him. His cheekbones were highlighted by shadows, his eyes glowed black and his lips thinned. She shifted nervously.
“How has it been an issue?” Del held very still. She was in the room with a predator, and she knew it.
“She has told me that she enjoys my advances but has refused to consummate our relationship. It has been a trial to me.”
“What is it that you want from her?”
“I need her to fight. I want her to run.” There was hunger in his tone.
Del consulted Gornita, and the goddess of wisdom took control, providing that Del would be there if she needed her. Ulara simply hummed with anticipation in the background.
* * * *
Gornita rose to her feet and walked casually around the room, keeping her vivid brown gaze from Horik. When she reached the door, she flicked it open and ran through the untamed wilderness of the Harook woods.
Her sandals thudded against the moss-covered ground, and she heard a howl of pursuit from behind her. Gornita felt her heart pounding in her chest, her nipples tingled and a distinct wetness trailed down the interior of her thighs. She knew what would happen when he caught her, but now that she had a host soothing her fears, she was willing to experiment a little. After all, knowledge was power.
Gornita ran for the Arcathian cliffs, but a shadow flickered to one side of her, a sinister force in the woods moving to stop her progress. She stopped and leaned against a tree, catching her breath and working out her options.
Horik appeared in front of her, looming out of the darkness. “Hello, Gornita.”
She shrieked and ran, knowing it was what he craved.
He captured her and flipped her over his shoulder while he strode through the woods.
She fought him. Clawing at his back and pounding on every inch she could reach. Her hair came loose and fell in a long curtain that nearly brushed the ground.
He walked back into the cabin and kicked the door shut before he strode into the bedroom. She screamed again as he flipped her to her back. She moved off the bed as quickly as she could, but he blocked the exit.
She looked around and grabbed a small icon of herself, throwing it at him and scowling as it glanced off his shoulder. He grinned and lunged to catch her. They wrestled together until her wrists were caught behind her back and he was pressing fevered kisses and bites along her neck.
Gornita moaned and struggled weakly against him. He needed her to struggle, and pleasure was her reward.
He pressed his groin to hers and ground it against her. She grew wetter and hotter at the implicit threat, Del’s memories told her that any implied pain would be worth a moment’s discomfort and then pleasure would come through.
Horik released her suddenly, and she staggered, only to be caught and flipped to the bed face down. He tied her wrists to the posts of the bed and followed up with a similar arrangement on her ankles. She could bend her knee slightly, but her thighs were parted, and she was left helpless.
Horik lifted the back of her gown and exposed her buttocks, bringing his hand down lightly. “At last. Civilizations have died out in the time that you have held me off.”
She squirmed and fought the bonds. “With this kind of treatment, it is no wonder that I held you off.”
He smacked her ass again and chuckled.
Gornita could only imagine that her host’s skin was turning bright pink. It certainly felt hot in the aftermath of each strike.
“Ow!”
“Perhaps, I should give you a smack for every decade you held me off.”
He smacked her again and again until the burning fire in her backside caused her to sob uncontrollably. There was also a reaction deep in her belly as the body of the host began to turn the pain into something else.
Horik leaned over her back, stroking his hands between her body and the bedding, cupping her breasts before making contact with the armour. He tugged with his fingers, and the metal came free of her with a snap.
With nothing but the stupid gauze that Ulara insisted upon between her skin and Horik’s touch, Gornita squirmed against his hands as they squeezed the mounds before pinching her nipples.
He chuckled, and she realized that a moan had broken free of her lips.
Horik tore her gown down the centre, and with a few hard jerks, she was naked under him. He left her for a moment, rummaging through his luggage before returning.
She trembled as his weight rocked the bed beneath her. His skin touched hers as he lay on her back, overlapping her and stroking her skin with his own. He moved rhythmically against her, his cock nudging at her folds. The embroidery on the bedding abraded her breasts, and her nipples throbbed as he shifted her with each motion.
Her arms flexed as she fought to control her reaction, but having the goddess of passion and a fascinated Terran mind within her was making it hard to remain unmoved in the arms of the man she wanted more than she dared admit.
Horik groaned and moved away from her.
She felt a cool slickness being poured against her back and down to her buttocks. He massaged her back and followed the trail down to her ass, circling the rear entrance to her body with one finger that pressed into her with slow deliberation.
Gornita yelped and pulled forward, trying to avoid his touch. He pressed her hips down to the bed with one hand and continued his invasion while she squirmed and whimpered. When he removed his finger, she sighed in relief. That sigh turned to a gasp when something cold and slick took the place of his finger.
She cried out and shifted her hips, trying to dislodge it, but he pressed it firmly into her, and it was well seated when he shifted his hips and pushed for entry into her other openings.
“No wonder you tied me, bastard!” She bucked against him, but his weight held her down.
“You knew what it would mean when you ran, Gornita. No sense trying to pretend you didn’t.”
“I didn’t know you would lodge something in my ass, idiot!” She was panting in irritation.
He laughed and reared back, sliding his cocks home and pressing the object into her ass with every thrust and retreat.
A fine trembling gripped her limbs, and she tried to hold still as each motion sent ripples of pleasure through her. He moved harder, faster and deeper each time he thrust. Gornita gasped and moaned, clenching her fists. As she raised her hips to him, the discomfort in her ass faded into pleasure as waves of it lapped at her with every passing moment.
Horik wove his hand into her hair and pulled her head to one side, biting firmly into her neck. She screamed as the pain ripped through her and pleasure swallowed her whole. Her body bucked and twisted under him as it thrashed in release.
He pounded into her with ferocity until his own orgasm struck. He roared his release and slumped against her, forcing the toy even deeper into her ass.
She sighed and enjoyed the warmth of him for a moment before she said, “If you don’t get that thing out of my ass, you will regret the moment that you do let me loose.”
He chuckled against her neck and kissed the bite mark he had left. “I do love a good threat.”
“For the god of war, you do seem to be rather fixated on my verbal sparring.”
He did remove the toy from her ass, dropping it into a container he had placed next to the bed.
She sighed in relief and slumped into the bedding. While stimulating, it had been intensely uncomfortable. She could barely believe that Del had managed to take Rothu with her body unaltered, but she had enjoyed it, so Gornita should stop mentally whining. Perhaps she would grow accustomed to it in time.
Horik untied her ankles and wrists and flipped her to her back. He licked at her nipples in turn before savaging each one, drawing her to weave her hands along his skull in encouragement.
He lifted his head and smiled at her. “I am guessing that you like it.”
She pulled him down to her with fists in his hair, tight against his skull. “How convenient for me that you let me get this close.”
She lifted her knee and caught him in the ribs, flipping him to his back. He fell back in surprise, and she pressed her arm across his neck. She leaned her bodyweight down to knock him out, and his lids fluttered closed while his body went limp.
Gornita looked for signs of waking, but he was out cold. She left him and walked into the living room.
Above the fireplace there was a spear, and she took it down. She had barely tested the balance when a furious Horik stood in the doorway. “That was uncalled for.”
“You shoved a toy in my ass without asking me. That was uncalled for, literally.”
He came toward her with intent in his eyes. “You are mine to have in eternity, Gornita.”
“And while I may enjoy the moment, the fight will be eternal, Horik. You will never have me without a battle, lover.”
A grin came to his features. “I was hoping you would say that.”
He lunged, and she countered with the spear. She swung the blunt end around and struck him in the ribs, using the wood to beat him with rapid motions but keeping the spear end clear of his host’s flesh. Del would not forgive her for stabbing Kurat.
Horik grunted and kept moving toward her until she had no room to strike. He took the spear from her and threw it to one side. He gripped her tightly and lifted her, his hands cupping her buttocks as his cocks worked their way into her.
Horik turned and pressed her against the wall, sucking at her neck as he hammered into her with heavy thrusts.
She cried out as a sharp release slapped into her, moaned as he kept thrusting. Heat built inside her again, and another wave of release ran through her, causing her to claw at Horik’s shoulders as he raised her thighs higher and moved faster until a groan rippled through him. He grunted as his cocks twitched inside her and he pressed his forehead to hers.
She smelled blood in the air and stroked the marks she had made on his shoulders. “Del is going to be pissed.”
Horik kissed her wildly. “Kurat will calm her down.”
She laughed as she returned the kiss. “Then, I think you should do something to really upset her.”
In her mind, Del shrieked in denial, but Gornita’s mind was made up. Her host had to pay some price for this loss of dignity.
Chapter Twelve
Del looked at herself in the mirror and cursed. “If Gornita thinks that I am giving her the body before these heal, she has another thing coming.”
Kurat joined her at the mirror, admiring the necklace of hickeys that the god of war left behind on his mate’s flesh.