His gaze burned. “I believe we could make that happen if you are willing to travel in an unorthodox manner.”
“I am if you are. How do we escape?”
He grinned and steered her off the dance floor, into the night.
Once they were away from the people and no one was around, he wrapped her tightly in his arms and shadows formed around them. They lifted from the ground, and she held onto him as tightly as he did to her while he took them who-knew-where.
“What is this place?” Rowen looked around with wide eyes; her mind catalogued the different plants and inhaled the intoxicating scents of hundreds of species of flowers.
“We are at the Nakkua formal gardens. They are secure and private. This is the guest house.” He smiled and walked her toward a structure nearly invisible in the tangle of vines that covered it.
She fought laughter as he let shadows flare around him.
“What is amusing?” He opened the door with tendrils of shadows.
“An entire world to choose from and you bring me to your parents’ house? It is a funny thing to a human. Trust me.”
He pulled her to him and kissed her again, one hand stroking over her breast and hip while the other held her to him. Suddenly, funny wasn’t funny anymore.
She clawed at his shirt and wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved them into the guesthouse. She heard fabric tear and skin greeted her eager hands.
He cursed and pressed her to the cool surface of the wall, pulling up the frothing edge of her skirts until his crotch pressed against hers. He shifted and freed himself from his trousers.
She wanted to see, but when his fingers tore the seam of her undergarment in two, she got distracted again. She arched her head back as he fitted the head of his cock to her and eased into her.
She pressed her fingers into his shoulders, clawing as he slowly moved inside her. He thrust into her slowly at first and then with more force as he began to bite at her neck, shoulders and the tops of her breasts.
She moaned, cried out and rocked against him as his hips pinned her to the wall.
He snarled and held her as they savagely came together.
Tension was building and she clawed at his hands, he used shadows to pin them to either side of her head, and the long, thick slide of his cock brought her closer and closer to the edge.
She screamed and her voice echoed off the walls of the guesthouse.
He groaned and shuddered inside her, resting his head on the wall next to hers.
They remained there, panting and resetting themselves until he lifted his head and looked down at her with shame. “I am so sorry.”
She blinked. “For what?”
He leaned back. “I didn’t hurt you?”
She chuckled and flexed her channel around him causing a jerk inside her, and he thrust his hips forward. “Hurt is not the word I would use. You satisfied an ache, does that count?”
He blinked. “I thought—you bruise so easily.”
She smiled. “And yet, I was using my hand normally. I may colour but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy…vigorous activity?”
His smiled lit up the interior. Her eyes were used to the darkness by now.
“Uh, Skorin, can you let my arms go?”
He chuckled and pulled her against him with his shadows. “I don’t think I will be letting you go any time soon.”
He dropped her on the bed and flipped her to her stomach, unlacing her gown with incredible speed. When it came loose, she squawked as he picked her up and dropped her to her back, pulling the fabric free of her and discarding it to one side before he removed the shreds of his own shirt. He had to sit down to free himself of the boots and trousers, but after a few short, sharp tears, he had parted ways with the fabric.
She watched as he crawled over her, his body blocking what little light there was. She leaned up and nipped at his lower lip, drawing him into another kiss that grew out of control in seconds.
They rolled across the bedding, and his hands moved over her with rough attention. Her breasts ached, and she gasped when he explored with his mouth, his teeth rasping at her nipples in turn until her heart pounded and her sex ached.
She could feel how wet she was getting and didn’t fight it. Skorin moved up her body and once again fitted himself to her. This time, he thrust in hard and fast, moving past the resistance at her opening and sliding in to the hilt.
The darkness gave her a boldness she would otherwise have hesitated to use. She thrust her hips up to meet his, and they began to roll across the bedding.
When she was on top, he ran his hands up and down her spine, cupping her hips and pulling her tight to him as he pumped upward. She clutched at him when he added a third option to their tumbling and he elevated them both in a column of twisting shadows.
With nothing to push against, she had to let his shadows do the work. She felt tendrils wrapping her body, and a moment later, her wrists were pinned behind her back and she was being controlled and positioned above him as he knelt on the bed.
He suckled ferociously at one breast then the other, his shadows slid in a cool caress across her flesh as he moved from side to side.
The lightest of touches around her sex mocked the pounding of his hips, and when she flinched at the contact on her clit, all was lost.
She screamed out, arching against her restraints and gritting her teeth. He withdrew from her before the pulsing of her aftershocks had ceased, and he released her arms, turned her to her hands and knees, and thrust into her furiously until she felt his teeth against her neck once again.
Her body clasped his again in a strange wave of sensation as the mini-climax sent her senses up and then down again.
Despite needing to bear his weight, she collapsed with a groan onto the bedding, taking him with her.
He landed on her with a thud and immediately asked, “Are you injured?”
She chuckled. “No. I just don’t have a mobile muscle in my body. Thanks for asking. I am just going to lie here and listen to my body purring for a while. You can do as you like.”
He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, and she smiled, squirming into the firm mattress under her.
He slipped out of her, pressing soft kisses down her spine to the curve of her buttocks and back up again. “I have noted that you don’t panic when the shadows restrain you.”
She smiled and squirmed again. “Of course not. I trust you.”
He rolled her to her back, wrecking her nice warm nest. Rowen scowled at him.
“Why do you trust me?” He looked at her with an intensity that said he was hanging on her words.
“You offered me a place I very much wanted to have, you rescued me as you would any citizen of Irudan and you asked me if you were allowed to seduce me. There has been no subterfuge in you except when you didn’t mention that I would have to become a bit of a socialite and your mother would run my wardrobe.”
He smiled. “Can you blame me? You would have run. I am surprised; it takes nerves of steel to deal with my mother.”
“She isn’t so bad. You just have to let her know where you stand. Since I didn’t care about the clothing, I didn’t mind her bullying me. When I did mind about dancing with strangers, she made my excuses for me on that first night. She has been very supportive but she knows when to drop a subject.”
“That is not my experience.” He grinned.
“Of course not. She is your mother.” She reached up with leaden arms and draped them around his neck.
He pulled back and helped her sit up. She grumbled but he pulled her into his lap.
He caressed her back with an open hand. “Will you enjoy getting the family mark, Lady Nakkua?”
She chuckled. “I wonder how my skin will take to it.”
He paused. “I hadn’t thought about that. I will have the artist come and do a test on your skin in different inks if you have no objection.”
Rowen smiled. “I will try that. If I can go three weeks without a reaction, I will welcome the Nakkua mark.”
“Fair enough. What would you like to do in the meantime?” He nuzzled at her neck.
She chuckled. “I would like to either sleep here or in my own bed. Your mother got me up before dawn to rummage through my wardrobe.”
He cradled her in his arms and held her against his chest. To her surprise, she felt herself nodding off and she let the feel and heat of him carry her to dreamland.
A tickling at her nose woke her. She batted at it but the cool shadow merely moved around to tickle her ear. She opened her eyes and glowered at Skorin. “Good morning.”
He grinned and kissed her swiftly, “Good morning.”
He tumbled her to her back and bracketed her between his hands. “Apparently, my destination was not quite secret enough. That or the nine years’ growth that our activities put on the vines gave us away.”
She blushed. “How do you know?”
“My mother left us clothing. She has been in your closet again. Oh, and she brought breakfast.”
He kissed her again, starting slowly and increasing in ferocity as his head moved against hers. She gasped and wrapped her left leg around his hips, pulling him down toward her. The wilder he became, the more she rose to meet him.
Finally, he pulled away with a groan. “I have gotten a call. I need breakfast and then I have to leave you. My parents will have their driver take you home.”
She chuckled and looked around. “Is there a solar shower in here? I am a little sticky.”
“Through that door. I will lay out breakfast before I leave.”
She gave him a peck on the cheek and patted his butt as she got to her feet. “Go save the world. I am going to have a shower, get dressed and find the driver.”
He grinned. “The skimmer is out front.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Enough. Go and be a Guardian. I will be a gardener. We will get along fine.”
“You are serious. You really don’t mind.”
Rowen put her hands on his shoulders and she stared into his eyes. “I really don’t mind. Now, get your naked butt out there and fight some crime.”
He laughed and shadows covered him, the dark whirlwind blew the door open and closed it neatly behind him.
Sighing at the weird-on-parade that her life had become, Rowen headed for the bathroom. She just had to get the cum off her thighs and she would be ready to face the day.
For the first time since she had arrived, she was glad that the greenhouse was her place of business. Her thighs weren’t up for the flexing and standing that would be required out in the gardens.
Liah came up to her, “So, you and Skorin left the party early last night.”
Rowen gave her a sideways glance. “Did we? Akadeel got me up so early that I was tired.”
Liah touched Rowen’s neck. “You seem to have some abrasions here.”
Rowen immediately flashed back to the scrape of Skorin’s teeth against her. Her nipples still ached, as did the skin over her ribs. He was a nibbler and she had no complaints. “Do I? Must be my shampoo.”
Liah snorted. “You use solar showers.”
Rowen gave her a bland look. “Sunburn? My species does get it.”
Liah threw her hands up. “Fine. How do you like your husband?”
“He has an excellent sense of humour. I do love a man with a quick wit.”
Liah gave up. “How is this pallet of plants from the research centre?”
Rowen looked back at her work. “Twenty-five percent of them are wrong. Their adaptations don’t match and they will die unless I am with them all day every day. I am guessing they are experiments.”
“That isn’t for us to know. Just do a status report and do what you can for the poor dears. If they become repeat patients, we will do a consult with the researchers. For now, first aid and life support is all you can do.” Liah patted her shoulder.
“I was guessing as much.” She frowned. “What time is it?”
Liah chuckled. “Quitting time. Ilo and I would like you to join us for dinner.”
Rowen finished assessing the plants in front of her. “I would like to, but last night was a little more of an exertion than I had expected. That dancing left me a little sore. I respectfully decline.”
“Well done. I reserve the right to invite you again.”
Rowen grinned. “Thank you. Any other night but tonight.”
She finished up her paperwork, moved the pallet for pickup on the evening research-plant retrieval and headed out.
It was funny how her mind thought in Terran terms of paperwork when no paper was involved. At night, she plugged in her data pad before she left for home and it downloaded all of her findings written in a language she hadn’t even heard of a month ago. She had been given Nyal Common as well as some High Nyal while she had been at the moon base; the downloads had not been comfortable, but she was glad for them.
Every little bit of normal that she could squeeze into her life was welcome. Tonight, she was going to call home, her new com unit had been installed while she was at work. She had two codes that she wanted to try, Lori and home.
She headed back across the grounds, her feet made no sound on the grass as she approached the manor. The thought of being able to communicate with her own people was dizzying. The unit was a gift from Drimal, as he had told her the first night they met, “No one should be so cut off from their world that they cannot call home.”
Humming to herself, she pelted up the stairs, took a shower, put on a robe and dug out the call digits that she had been given for Lori. The com told her it would be twenty minutes for a connection, so she went to her small food dispenser and grabbed a snack. She pulled up the local news and watched the Guardians work to rescue victims of a wild fire. Fire Fall was calling the blaze to him while a woman moved the local insects and another man put up a wall of stone. Walking Darkness was in the woods, lifting humans and animals alike out of the smoke-filled areas.
With slight relief, she noted that Walking Darkness was wearing his armour again. She didn’t want him singeing his bits. She liked his bits. She wanted to take advantage of their existence as frequently as he would allow.