Geared for Pleasure (41 page)

She had seen nothing like this in the settlement. She’d seen occasional fights, most of them drunken, but nothing came close to this. Their reactions were nowhere near as intense as her own. As volatile.

When Cyrus reached her he did not hesitate, lifting her up with his good arm and carrying her past the others without a word, back down the path they had come.

When they passed a copse of trees he hesitated, as if unsure where to take her. Phina slid down his body, taking his hand and walking with him in silence to the edge of the dodge. The spirit veil. There was a small clearing with trees and ground foliage to hide them from the view of the others. She led him there.

He leaned against the tree and she could see waves of arousal and
tension rolling off his body. He was vibrating with it, reminding her of the captain’s sword. But he was hers. Her Sword. Injured. She would take care of him.

Phina unsheathed her claws and slid them inside his shirt as he watched her, his beautiful eyes dilated and dark with need for her. She slit his shirt into shreds, kissing his chest around his wound gently as she turned the fabric into a makeshift tourniquet for his wound.

He hissed through his teeth at the pain, but instead of merely sympathizing, the sound caused her tail to tremble, her thighs to clench. He met her gaze with a fire that matched her own. He knew.

“Are you mine?” His words were harsh through gritted teeth that were attempting to form a smile.

“Yes.” She did not hesitate. Later she might hate herself for being so abnormally submissive, despite her feelings for him. Now it was the only truth she knew.

“As I am yours.” The smile disappeared. “Show me, Phina.”

She shuddered at his command. It was that feeling again. That she would offer everything, open herself completely for his pleasure. Only it was a thousand times stronger, feeling more a necessity than a desire.

Had this been what the Peacemaker meant? Her instinct to belong to him in all ways? She retracted her sharp nails and removed her boots and the long pants she had worn for Nephi and Jobi’s modesty since they’d come aboard the Deviant. She unclasped the front of her corset, her trembling fingers making it more difficult.

“Phina.”

She knew. But this was more than a quick thrill in the galley. It felt sacred. She knelt in front of him on the soft loam at his feet. Her knees spread and she watched his gaze lower to the small triangle of hair between her damp thighs.

Her hips were swaying, gently rocking toward him, an ancient
dance every woman knew. He licked his lips and kicked off his boots when she finally removed her corset.

She saw him cringe in pain. It felt like her pain. “Let me.”

She reached for his pants and unbuttoned the panel that concealed him, tugging the thick brown fabric down his muscular legs until he was as naked as she was. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell him how much she wanted him. How thankful she was that he was alive.

No words would come.

He knelt in front of her, looking into her eyes with the same kind of awe. With tenderness. He kissed her lips but they were too sensitive. It was too much.

What was wrong with her?

She pulled back and his brow furrowed. How could he not know? She needed something. Needed him to… “You claimed me.”

He stilled, looking much like a Felidae catching a scent on the wind. “Yes.”

Instinct and desire had her turning her back to him, lowering her arms to the dark, richly scented ground and lifting her hips in the air.

He groaned. “Damn it, Phina. You
are
trying to kill me.”

She wanted to laugh, to tease him with bawdy wit, but her skin was too tight. Her body too shaken. She lifted her tail to caress his good shoulder. His hair.

Cyrus swore again, reaching for her hips. “You want to be claimed, Phina? I can do that. But I will not rush this. Your arousal is so sweet I can almost taste it. I have to taste it. Lift up for me, love. I need… Yes, like that.”

She’d straightened her legs, spreading them wide until her sex was even with his mouth. Her heavy breasts rocked with the motion of his mouth on her most sensitive flesh. His tongue filled her, his grip lifting her up on her toes, pulling her closer so that he could give her a deeper kiss. Drink her in.

He hummed his enjoyment and the vibration sent small shocks through her body. Her fingers dug into the ground and she bit her lip, every thrust of his tongue causing fire to lick her spine.

She had never felt desire like this. Phina had lusted, she had craved and she had taken. She had never ached until Cyrus. She needed more.

She pressed her sex against his mouth, small whimpers escaping her throat that he understood. He lifted his mouth and her trembling knees collapsed to the ground once more.

“You don’t know how hard it was to stop, Phina. You are addicting. Your taste. But I know what you need.” He moved until his hips were pressed against hers. “I am yours, Phina. I won you today, but you won me long before. Good or ill, we belong to each other.”

Phina could not hold back her cry of delight as he filled her with his thick erection. That was what she needed. Her body instinctively opened to his, recognizing him. Welcoming him. Her forehead pressed into the ground as his hips rocked against her with long powerful strokes.

“Cyrus. Yes, please.”

He pressed one hand into her back, his thrusts more forceful. “Phina says please,” he rasped. “No one would believe it. Say it again.”

She shook her head, moaning in ecstasy as he continued to fill her. Deep. Moons, so deeply.

His thumbs spread the skin of her bottom, slipping down between her folds to soak them in her arousal before pressing them in that spot, so sensitive, beneath her tail. “I have claimed your mouth. I have your ‘please.’ Your beautiful succulent breasts are mine to claim. Is this as well, Seraphina? Do I have all of you?”

“Yes.” She wanted that. Wanted him inside her everywhere. His thumbs pushed through the tight ring of muscles while his cock
continued to thrust deep inside her. “
Yes
. Please, Cyrus. I feel… It feels…”

“I know.” His words were guttural, closer to a growl than he knew.

Phina felt the fire begin to consume her, every inch of flesh attuned to him. Knowing he was close, so close. Knowing she would erupt with him. Her thighs were shaking so hard he had to tighten his grip to keep her steady for his claiming. Her tail wound around him, holding him close.

It reached for her out of nowhere. A streak of lightning that blazed through every limb and made her scream. The sound echoed as her back arched in an almost painful manner, the muscles of her sex gripping him tightly as though they would refuse to let him leave.

“Seraphina!” His release came with hers. In her. She felt him pumping into her. All of him. A piece of him inside her.

Her upper body collapsed onto the ground and he followed, his teeth closing over her shoulder. She shuddered and smiled, weak and spent. More satisfied than she had ever been. Safer.

She belonged to someone. She loved someone. Cyrus.

He drew back and kissed the spots on her spine, his tongue caressing the sensitive markings soothingly. Lovingly. Then he groaned, dragging himself up to lean back against the rough bark of the tree. He pulled her up with him, rocking her in his arms.

“Phina?”

“Hmmm?”

“I am hallucinating. Perhaps it is from loss of blood and the most pleasurable after-combat claiming I have ever had.”

She chuckled softly, nuzzling his chest contentedly. “It better be the
only
claiming you have ever had. What are you hallucinating?”

“Freeman appears to be glaring at me. Wulf is playing with those
strange spectacles as if he can actually see us. And Bodhan is laughing.” He paused. “Freeman is definitely glaring. And I thought he was such a nice giant.”

Phina jumped off his lap and whirled to face the dodge, her body still trembling. How did they all get here? She could see their distorted images through the dodge. They were all being held back by armed Felidae, but if she knew the captain, that would not hold them long.

Captain Amaranthe appeared as if Phina had called her name, peering around Freeman’s large form to scowl sternly. “You can try to stay quiet, but they haven’t invented soundproof dodge yet. We heard your screaming as soon as we entered these booby-trapped woods.”

Wulf waggled his pale eyebrows above his shaded spectacles. “We were told we were invited, however, we can come back later if you wish to continue. Or I can keep watching. I know it’s giving me ideas.”

Watching? Could he actually see through the dodge with those strange spectacles?

Phina saw Dare pressing her face against Bodhan’s chest, her shoulders shaking. Was she crying? Disappointed? “Is Dare unwell?”

Cyrus groaned in pain as he dragged himself to his feet. “She is laughing, too, Phina. She’s just too polite to do it to my face.”

She turned to him and he cupped her cheek. “It changes nothing, Seraphina Lightfoot Fleet Felidae. You still belong to me. I still love you. Please remember that and tell them all how manly and Sword-like I finally was in battle, since I fear I will be passing out at your feet once more.”

She caught him as he sagged heavily against her and kissed his forehead. “I promise I will.”

“This is the secret you’ve been keeping from me? That you have been working with the commander for the queen?”

Dare’s voice was expressionless. Too much so. But it was time to face her. Time for honesty for all of them. Cyrus looked around at the motley crew who had gathered around Commander Iacchus and his hammock. They were drawing excessive interest and curiosity from the Felidae. Captain Amaranthe, Wulf, Bodhan, and Dare. Freeman was causing the greatest stir. He was, no doubt, more gigantic than any human male they had ever seen. The females, in particular, were showing flagrant interest. Unfortunately, there was no time to tease the poor, uncomfortable fellow.

Cyrus sat up straighter, adjusting his shoulder. It was currently covered in some sort of Felidae poultice. It took away the pain, but he grimaced at the smell as he answered Dare’s question. “I am a few years older than you, as is the Arendal custom. Even though I was just a small child, I remember when the commander announced he had joined with a female Wode and she was with child. You were born near Faro Outpost, outside of the barracks, and the commander was transferred to Centre City shortly after.”

He studied the man resting in the hammock not far from them, knowing he was listening to every word. “He came back to visit me often. Helped to train me. Said what my father never had. That I was different. Special. Arendal material. He was a mentor to me and, I believe, the reason I was chosen to be your companion shield guard.”

Dare slipped her fingers beneath the buttons of her jacket, and he knew she was touching the charm the Khepri had given to her. The connection to the queen. “And you saw him after he brought me?” she asked. “More than just his official visits, and after he left the main barracks?”

Cyrus nodded, knowing it would cause her pain. How many times had she shared her insecurities about her father’s distance, wondering if he was proud of his unusual daughter? “He wanted you
to have an easier transition. Wanted to give you a chance to truly bond with the queen, as the Chalice must, to be a true companion to her, instead of longing for family. Yes, I worked with your father to keep the queen safe. He was my teacher, and I was lucky to have him.” Hurt sparked in her eyes and he felt his own heart ache for hers. “We were wrong to keep you so isolated, but I do not believe it was ever done out of malice. Only love.”

Phina got up from his side and started to pace. The captain looked disdainful as well. Angry. “What is it?”

Captain Amaranthe’s jaw was clenched. “I do not believe the queen would so distrust her Chalice. Dare is one of the strongest women I know.”

Dare sniffed and turned her head to rub her eyes discreetly. “Thank you for that, Captain. However, I cannot deny the truths I have seen for myself. Perhaps she felt sorry for me, malformed as I was. There is no wisdom in entrusting dangerous political secrets to someone physically and emotionally unprepared to deal with them.”

Commander Iacchus cursed loud and long from his prone position, coughing wetly as he struggled to come to a sitting position. “Demeter Senedal, you are the Queen’s Chalice as you were born to be. Wode do not feel sorry for themselves and they do not cry.” He softened, his tone becoming less militant as he continued to study every curve of his daughter’s face. “You were not malformed. You were made perfectly. You are as precious to me as Queen Idony herself, and I believe she would not fault me for saying that.”

Cyrus sighed when Phina’s green eyes narrowed. He was in love with a woman who did not know when to stop fighting. She tilted her head. “Interesting choice of words again, Commander. You said you were going to tell her about her birthmark. Would now be the right time?”

Dare huffed. “Why is it everyone is so fascinated by that particular
mark? I am surrounded by Felidae with unique markings. Why is mine so strange?”

Bodhan came to stand behind her, his hand caressing her hair. “You told me your father warned you to keep it hidden?”

The older man glared at him. “Advice she respected until recently.”

Cyrus leaned forward, sending a stern look to his mentor. “Advice that no longer applies with the palace overrun and our queen in danger.”

Iacchus nodded, properly chastened. “True enough. I had planned to tell her. In my time.” His eyes grew distant, lost in memory. “I was young when I first came to duty at Faro. I spent most of my time stationed island-side, and it was eye-opening. The cruelty of the other Wode in my regiment. The kindness and serenity, the open friendship I was given by the Felidae on the island. By the Peacemaker who leads them there.” He shrugged. “I learned some of their ancient words and rituals. I fell in love with a beautiful creature who was too polite to tell me she belonged to another, but we remained friends in spite of my ignorance.