Prime Deliverance (Katieran Prime Series (Book Five)) (4 page)

It was brutal and desperate. It was everything she had hoped it would be and more.
Oh yes, so much more
. “TarAK,” she moaned his name in between kisses.

Hearing his name had the opposite affect than she had intended. Instead of making him more turned on, it was like she woke him up abruptly from the dream. He jerked away from her. He couldn’t believe how easily he gave in to his feelings. Years of hardening himself to his reaction to her seemed to go right out the window. He tried to pass it off as the result of him having so little contact with females over the years. He chose abstinence, which may turn out to be his downfall. Maybe if he had allowed himself to share sex with other females, he would be able to ignore these growing feelings for AriELa. At least he would have a different outlet to release his desires.

“TarAK?” She looked at him with confusion.

“I apologize, Prima. I should not have allowed that to happen.”

“But I wanted that to happen. I have been waiting a long time for that to happen.” She tried to step closer, but he moved away from her.

“That cannot happen again,” TarAK told her, shaking his head.

“Why not?”

“You are a Prima. I am but a security officer. It cannot be.”

“Who says?” AriELa took another step forward and he backed up again.

“I say. I will not give in to this. You are meant for more. I intend to make sure that you are given that.”

“But I want you.”

“It doesn’t matter what you and I want. You are Prima. You have an obligation to the people of Katiera. I have an obligation to ensure your safety and happiness. Those obligations weigh more than our personal desires.” He didn’t say anything else. It tore his very heart to turn her away. She had been all he ever wanted. The years he spent away training had taught him his duty. He was an honorable man and he would protect AriELa even from herself. He walked away.

AriELa’s heart broke with each step he took away from her. He refused her. He denied feeling anything for her. He didn’t want her. A few tears trailed down her face. She reached up and brushed them off. She hadn’t cried since the day her family had been killed by the Morins. She refused to shed any more tears. TarAK didn’t want her. She wouldn’t push herself on him then. It was time to let him go.
If only it was that easy.

Chapter Three

AriELa helped her aunt finish preparations for the arrival of the females from Earth. What would they be like? SydEL had said that physically they were compatible, so they must look similar to Katieran females.

TarAK avoided speaking with her whenever he was around. She didn’t push him to either. She decided to let him go and that was what she would do. However, at night, he came to her in her dreams. She just couldn’t shake him. Maybe it was because he was all she really knew, or all that she allowed herself to know. She had compared every male she met against TarAK. None of them could even come close, but maybe she wasn’t being fair to them. The thought of being with anyone but TarAK made her feel sick inside.

She stood with her aunt on the large landing field as the shuttles started to arrive with the Earth females. She was grateful that her two older cousins had returned. “Welcome home, cousin.” She hugged and gave RendEL a kiss on his cheek. When she welcomed her other cousin, KydEL, he tilted her off balance making her giggle. “It’s good to have you both home safe and sound.”

She tried not to seek out TarAK, but his impressive figure was hard to ignore. He was helping a female out of the shuttle. The female appeared to be breeding. How curious. However, her heart grew heavy at seeing TarAK’s interest in the other female. She wanted nothing more than to run and hide somewhere. She refused to do that. She held her head up and pulled her shoulders back. Enough running.

TarAK was shocked. A beautiful female with red hair came out of the shuttle, but the condition she was in was what knocked him off kilter. The female was breeding. It so rarely happened on his planet. This was a special female indeed. He could picture himself having a life with her. She was easy on the eyes, sexy and able to breed. She might be just the thing he needed to help him get over his feelings for AriELa.

“Greetings, Earth female. My name is TarAK. I am the liaison for you…I mean…not for you only…for you and your group.”

“It’s okay. I know what you mean. My name is Cassie. It’s nice to meet you, TarAK.” She reached out her hand to him.

TarAK stared at the offered hand of the breeding female. He had heard during a quick brief before the females arrived that Earth had a custom to shake hands. Katierans clasped forearms as a greeting. To share hand contact was more personal. He grabbed it and lifted it to his lips. He pressed a warm and gentle kiss on the back of her hand. He kept eye contact with her as he said, “I am pleasured by meeting you, Cassie.”

He was attracted to this female. Maybe it was that he had not had much experience with females in the past.
Okay, he had zero experience with females
. He had been too busy training to even
think
about females. Also, there were so few Katieran females available; it made it more difficult to share sexual relations with them.

He glanced quickly at the young Prima. She was so beautiful and regal. She deserved much better than to be with a lowly security liaison. He was confident in the decision that he made to refuse her, but it didn’t stop him from dreaming of her. Perhaps he needed a new dream. The Earth female would be a safer bet.

AriELa stood beside her aunt while her cousin, RendEL, welcomed the Earth females to Katiera. She smiled and tried to look like she was glad to be there. The truth was, she would rather stay in the suite she shared with her aunt and hide from the world. She loved her family, but she didn’t love being a Prima. There were a lot of responsibilities and expectations put on her.

“Look, AriELa, there are a few women that are wearing clothing similar to warrior attire. I wonder what that is all about?” her aunt whispered to her.

AriELa looked in the direction that her aunt pointed in. It was curious. She couldn’t wait to ask her cousins all about Earth and about the females.

“Come, we have a family dinner planned. It is not often that I can have all of you together at one time in private.” SandELa led them off to the Prime building.

*****

For the next two hours the Primes relaxed in the small suite that belonged to SandELa. She had a meal prepared to celebrate the return of her two eldest sons from their long journey.

“What was Earth like?” AriELa asked.

RendEL responded, “The planet itself is in bad shape. We’re going to have to relocate most of the inhabitants before our scientists can begin making repairs.”

They discussed the condition of Earth’s ozone and the population problem. Her cousin, SydEL, who was now Prime Medic of Katiera, had been well informed.

“Was I mistaken? I thought I caught sight of a breeding female?” SandELa asked.

RendEL told them a little about the female’s situation on Earth. AriELa wanted to hate the female because she now had TarAK’s interest, but she didn’t have any hard feelings for her. How could she when all the female wanted to do was keep her young? AriELa would have done the same thing.

SandELa then questioned KydEL, “I also saw females in uniforms. What was that about?”

KydEL explained about the military exchange the EWG had insisted on sending.

“Female warriors? It has been a long time since we have seen any. How interesting,” SandELa said.

“There didn’t seem to be very many of them,” AriELa observed.

Her cousin, KydEL, looked very uncomfortable as they continued to discuss the female warriors. Once the talking ceased on the men’s trip to Earth, everyone went their separate ways for the evening.

The next few days she didn’t see TarAK much. She was grateful for that. When she did see him, he was looking at the breeding female, Cassie Tomlin. If only he would look at her that way. Why was she still holding onto hope? It was clear that he was planning to mate the other female. He had competition though. After several conversations with her cousin, Prime Leader RendEL, she got the impression that he was also interested in Cassie.

RendEL might lose out on Cassie because he continued to see another Earth female, Erica. He met her on board the transport ship while traveling to Katiera. They had shared many meals together, but AriELa did not pick up on any real feelings on his part. Her cousin did not show any enthusiasm for Erica at all. AriELa noticed other males were envious over RendEL’s interest in Erica. She had met the female and didn’t understand why her cousin bothered with the blond. She was always talking about how great she was. She flirted with RendEL outrageously, which made AriELa want to throw up. What was her cousin thinking when he started seeing this female?

She was glad that only Primes resided on the eighth floor. The rest of the building held the females from Earth.

AriELa grew restless and needed to find new ways to keep her mind off TarAK and his rejection. She offered to help give the tours to the females. She found it was a good way to get to know the other females and to see the people of Katiera.

She explained things such as why all the buildings were white. “The clay that we use to build with comes from the hottest parts of Katiera where there isn’t any water. The clay doesn’t take on any pigmentation so it remains colorless.”

AriELa assisted with small tours with only a few females at a time. They traveled part of the tour on the small hovering vehicles that were open to the elements. It was solar powered like everything else on Katiera.

“With Katiera’s two suns, we always have an endless supply of power,” she explained.

One of the females asked about the weather. AriELa smiled as she replied, “It is always warm. It stays at 75 degrees or higher year round on Katiera. There are other planets and Lunas within our solar system that have colder and drier climates.”

“How come there is no one swimming?” a female with brunette hair asked.

“Swimming? I do not understand.”

“You know, swim in the water.”

“We would never contaminate our natural resource. In fact, we have laws in place to prevent that.”

Several of the females then began a discussion on the other four laws.

AriELa showed the females how to purchase items from the family-owned shops. In turn, the Earth females told her all about Earth. It was incredible how different things were on Earth. On Earth, they had a monetary system where they exchanged money for goods. On Katiera, they employed a bartering system. If a female wanted something, she exchanged something she had for something she wanted.

The Earth females were fascinated with the clothing the Katierans wore. The clothing usually hooked around the neck or one shoulder, loose fitting, and made out of natural fibers.

AriELa was fascinated with the differences in the two nations. Katieran women did not wear paint on their faces, but the Earth females did. Every Katieran female took pride in having long hair. Earth females sported different lengths, shapes, and styles.

For the most part, the Earth females were well informed about Katiera. They even had a slight grasp of the political system. They understood the Katieran people elected the members of the Katieran High Council. However, the Prime Leader was the ruler by birthright and had final say.

What every female wanted to know was about the Katierans’ heightened senses.

“Is it true that you can smell things from a mile away?” a red haired female asked.

AriELa laughed, “Not a mile away, but a good distance.”

“What about sex?”

AriELa blushed. For the first time that day, she wondered if maybe she signed up for more than she could handle. “What about sex?”

“I heard that Katierans have a higher sex drive than humans. Is it true? What are Katieran men like in bed? Can they really go all night long? How big are their cocks?”

Oh—dear—Goddess
. “Uh…I do not know what Earth people’s sex drives are like so it would be hard for me to compare,” she said trying to bluff. She didn’t know about the sex drive because she had never shared it with a male before.

The Earth females distracted her from her heartbreak for a little while with the rumor that TarAK had asked Cassie to be his mate, but she had refused him. It hurt to know that he preferred another female. She would do her best to keep her distance.

Chapter Four

Two Weeks Later

On this evening, her Aunt SandELa was visiting with RendEL and Cassie. AriELa was invited to come along, but she declined the invitation.

RendEL and Cassie had been through a lot the past weeks fighting feelings for each, so it came as no surprise to AriELa that soon after Cassie moved to the eighth floor, they began seeing each other. Their relationship grew quickly and they practically moved in together.

She didn’t begrudge her cousin, RendEL, his relationship with the breeding Earth female, if anything she was envious. She just didn’t have the energy to put on a happy face for them. Her own loneliness was consuming her.

So instead of sharing the meal with her family, AriELa went alone down to the Meal Room for Evening Meal. Katierans shared three meals a day with one another. The Morning Meal, Midday Meal, and the Evening Meal. She knew there would be a group of Earth females who would welcome her to sit with them. If not, one of the council members always offered to share meals with her.

As she entered the Meal room, several males stood and approached her. “Prima, if you are not meeting anyone this evening, it would be our pleasure to share a meal with you.”

AriELa looked at the two males who stood before her. They were tall and muscular. Both extremely good-looking males. Why shouldn’t she enjoy herself? “I would love to share the Evening Meal with you both. Let me get my food.”

“I will assist you. My name is AtOM.” He walked beside her as she made her way to the food tables; it was set up as a buffet. She selected a few items and grabbed a glass of Katieran Juice. The male quickly took the tray from her hands and carried it back to the table he and his friend shared. The other male pulled out a chair for her.