The com chimed and she quickly swivelled to stare at the screen. A face appeared but it wasn’t the one she wanted.
“Terran Moon Base com centre. How may I direct your call?”
Rowen rubbed the back of her neck. “I am calling for Lori Hathaway, trainee.”
“Just a moment.” The woman looked down and then looked up again. “She is in combat training. May I ask who is calling?”
Rowen straightened. “I am her aunt. Lady Rowen Hathaway Nakkua of Irudan, born of the Alliance Protectorate of Terra.”
The woman finally focussed on her. “Rowen? Just a moment.”
It took three minutes before Lori’s face was on the screen. “Aunty! I am so glad to see you. You look amazing.”
Rowen blushed. “It is agreeing with me, though remembering to use English is hard. Once you use the languages, they get in there and want to jump out of your mouth.”
Lori was beaming. “How are the gardens?”
Rowen sighed and smiled, gushing on the gardens, some of the plants she had seen and totally skating around that initial abduction. She checked in on Lori with her training and Lori was enjoying working with the Minder. When she was sent out and about, she was going to be formidable.
“As all Hathaway women truly are.” Lori straightened and sounded pompous.
“Your mother fought hard to get you that name. She married your dad when you were three hours old but refused to put his name on the birth certificate. You were doomed to be a Hathaway from the moment you got started.” Rowen smiled.
“I know. It is a story I never get tired of, Aunty. The clock at home puts this in the middle of the night, so if you sync that up with where you are, you might be able to use that fancy com in a few hours. I have to head back for Minder training. I have your code. I will call you next week.”
Lori blew her a kiss, and when Rowen waved back, she disconnected the call.
Cool air blew through her room and she looked around to see Walking Darkness eating her snack. “Hey. I thought you were supposed to protect and serve or something.”
He gulped down water and smiled when he emptied the glass. “Firefighting is hot work.” Skorin got an intense look in his eyes and he focussed on her. “Speaking of hot…”
He didn’t have to lunge for her. Bands of shadow wrapped around her and lifted her off her feet, opening her robe and pulling her toward him.
She smacked into his armour and it made her look around. “Where is your helmet?”
He shifted with her fastened to him and the object was sitting on the counter.
Cool slithers of shadows were coiling around her legs and slipping between them. She jumped when the delicate tendrils eased inside.
He was watching her reaction, and to her embarrassment, he pulled her away from him and held her suspended while the shadows fucked her. Her hands clenched into fists and she arched and twisted when the shadows circled her breasts and tightened.
She moaned low, throwing her head back and shuddering as her body clenched on the touch that wasn’t there. He continued to stroke her until she hung limply in the grasp of his shadows.
Rowen shuddered and she was very glad that she had finished her com call. This could have been embarrassing, not to mention giving Lori unrealistic sexual expectations of aliens.
He gently set her down on the bed and leaned over her for a thorough kiss. “I have to return to base for some paperwork, but I will return later tonight. May I?”
She shivered at the sensuality in his tone. “Yes, you may, but if you open the window, close it behind you. Anyone in the courtyard could have heard that.”
He chuckled and stroked her hip. “You are vocal; I have to admit that I enjoy it.”
She sighed. “Go and do your paperwork.”
He kissed her once more, nipped the tip of one breast and he put his helmet and gloves back on. Shadows surrounded him and he left her rooms the same way he had entered.
He was barely out the window before there was a knock. She sat up and tied her robe, trying to ignore the throbbing of her body.
She looked at the door monitor and asked, “Who is it?”
“I am the tattoo artist, Lady Nakkua. My name is Devnin.”
Rowen opened the door. “Please, come in. Pardon my lack of dress. It was a long and hot day.”
He smiled. “It will make my job easier. If you don’t mind, I don’t mind.”
She cocked her head. She knew that voice, and when she looked closely at him, she jerked in surprise. It was Fire Fall. Fine. If he could tattoo, she wouldn’t complain.
“Where would you like the sampling to be done?”
“What would be the best match for my back?”
To her amusement, he blushed. “I have researched your species. Under your breasts would be the best match. It is close to a lymph system, sensitive skin, ribs, muscle and fat. A microcosm in a small space. If it goes wrong, a contact healer can flush it from your system if he tries.”
“Are you going to be able to do this, Devnin? I have no idea what position you would want me in.”
He sighed. “Lie on your back, hold your breast with your opposite hand and tell me when you are ready. Do you have a preferred design?”
She smiled and darted to her bag, pulling out a diagram of the Terran solar system. “Here you go. This should give you enough material to do several samples, and if they all are accepted, it is a marking that I would enjoy.”
“Well thought out. Fine, you get situated and I will prepare my samples.”
She got settled and held her breast up and out of the way as requested. It was indeed a modest pose. No nipple was visible and only the curve of her breast was obvious.
He cleaned her skin and began his work with a steady hand.
She jumped when he started but soon gave in to the hot kiss of the ink. It took two hours because he had to stop and change units for each mineral. When he was done, she was sore but the image was adorable and made her tear up. “Perfect. Thanks, Fire Fall.”
He jerked in surprise. “You knew?”
“You have a fascinating mouth and a distinctive voice. I am not good with people but even I could manage that.” She smiled.
He put the small regenerator into his kit. “Skorin was right. You do seem very alert to your surroundings. In turn, you will also meet Pleska and her husband Uadon. They are curious to meet you in a normal social setting, so be prepared. I think you might have some visitors to the reveal of your family marking when it is done.”
“It will be hard to explain to my own family, but my sister has many a stupider thing on her body, so she can’t really talk. Will you be doing the larger marking?”
He smiled. “Would you like me to? It is a long procedure.”
“I think I would.” She gave him a hug. “I know you have his back, but thank you.”
Devnin shook his head with amazement. “I have got to order one like you.”
“Ah, Devnin, there aren’t any like me. All Terrans are individuals. You deal with them as they come.”
“I look forward to one coming for me.” He winked when she blushed at the double entendre.
He took his kit and left, leaving her with a throbbing torso and an amused smile at the thought of a human woman dealing with this Guardian. She knew that it happened, but it wasn’t something that came easily. She wanted her damned gardening time.
She felt a tickling at her nose and batted at it but cool air was all that met her swatting. A delicate stroke between her eyebrows and she frowned and turned to see Skorin in her bed.
He wasn’t wearing armour; he was wearing shadows and nothing else.
She opened her mouth to tell him off, but his lips brushing against her in a building frenzy that overwhelmed her.
His shadows were all over her, touching, arousing and creeping inside her. Her senses rioted, unsure of whether the sensations were invasive or welcome. When rhythmic pressure on her clit began, she sided with welcome and blanked her mind.
She reached between them and grasped his cock, stroking it and learning the shape that she still couldn’t see.
Rowen could barely wrap her fingers all the way around it, but she stroked it from base to tip with a light caress that got tighter when shadows tied her hand around him.
It was like having sex with a man who had a hundred hands.
He rolled until she was above him and eased her hand from his cock and behind her back, lashing her wrists together at the base of her spine.
She shivered as he lifted her up and placed her on him as he sat up. He made a small noise in his throat and her arms were released from her back and instead gently eased over her head where they were tied again with shadows.
She heard him whisper, “Perfect.”
His fingers delved between her thighs where the shadowy foreplay had rendered her wet and welcoming. When he found what he sought, he lifted her onto his cock and he eased her down, shuddering as her heat clasped him.
He didn’t move inside her; he leaned forward and used his mouth on her breasts. When he licked at the healed tattoo under her breast, she felt herself flex around him. When he did it again, she reacted in the same way until she was contracting around him to the slow lapping of his tongue.
She clenched her hands together and her nails dug into her palms as tension coiled in her belly.
Skorin growled and he scraped his teeth across her nipples again as his hips pumped upward and he shuddered.
Pressure on her clit and the sharp pain sent her into a strange climax that shook her body from head to toe in endless waves until she slumped against the shadows holding her.
Dazed, she felt the shadows lower her arms around his neck and she rested her head against his shoulder. He stroked her back slowly, and she heard low murmurs as he remained inside her with her body collapsed to his.
She finally heard, “You respond so well to being restrained. Why is that?”
She smiled against his chest. “It is nice to not have to make a decision on something. I don’t have to wonder what you want, so it becomes a more relaxed experience for me and I can concentrate on what I feel. It is a first for me. My life is usually marked by having to make decisions. This is a nice break.”
He chuckled. “It is refreshing for me to not have to engage in a slow seduction. Your body is very good at telling me when you are ready.”
She stroked the hair at the base of his neck and blushed. “Well, you seem to be paying attention.”
“We are going to have to work out your living situation. I don’t like having you so far from me.”
She leaned back and gave him a narrow-eyed look. “If you are thinking of telling me that I have to leave my job because you want me closer, you are in for a fight.”
He blinked and he gave her a slow smile. “How about a personal skimmer?”
“How about a Riot Runner?”
Skorin laughed. “How do you know about those?”
“I did my research. I used to drive something similar on Earth.”
He stroked her back slowly. “I will look into it and see what Irudan will give you a license for.”
“It had better be a Riot Runner or I am going to start working late and locking my windows.” She bit his chest lightly.
“Threats. I like it. Would you mind living at the base?” His fingers began to work out elaborate patterns on her skin.
“I wouldn’t, but I think your mother would be ticked if she couldn’t grab me for social events.”
He sighed. “You are right. I suppose you would only be able to attend events I was available for. What a pity.”
She chuckled. “You make it sound so tempting.”
“I am here to lure you into temptation. It is my duty as your husband.”
She leaned back and blinked. “Are you really? I thought it was just for show.”
He snorted. “That is what I thought until I met you. How could I let a woman with such a green touch slip through my fingers? My Irudan roots would not let that happen.”
She chuckled. “So, you want me for my touch?”
Skorin smiled. “I do.”
Rowen leaned back against him. “I suppose it would make it easier for Devnin to do my tattoo.”
“He told me that you recognized him by his mouth.”
“And voice. It was the combination that tipped me off.” She chuckled.
“Should I be jealous?”
“That I can recognize another Guardian? I think that would be a good thing. At least I know you when you creep into my bed at night.”
Skorin pressed a kiss to her temple. “I am not used to feeling protective.”
“The term you are looking for is possessive, but you are my legal husband and I will not break that contract.”
“Am I simply a contract to you?” There was something plaintive in his tone.
She leaned back and stared into his eyes. “No, but it is where we started, the base that we stand on. Everything we are now and will become in the future rests on that base.”
“So, from here we move forward?” Amusement was in his gaze. He tipped her to her back and remained inside her as he slowly rocked his hips.
“Forward, back and forth, up and down. The base is still the same. I am for you as you are for me. That is all.”
“I will have to publicly announce my identity if you are going to be travelling to and from the base.”
She lifted her knees and arched her hips into his. “Whatever. Get me a personal vehicle and I will follow you anywhere.”
He lifted her hands with his and pinned them over her head. “Promise?”
“Well, as long as I can still live most of my life in the gardens. I need to work with plants, Skorin.” It was surreal to have a serious conversation while he held her down and thrust into her.
“You will work with plants, Rowen Nakkua. I promise.” He twisted against her and began to thrust in earnest.
With the promise made and immediate matters taken care of, Rowen let him send her senses soaring with shadows moving and snapping around them as the frenzy grew.
For her first week on a new world, Rowen was impressed on how well she had adapted to the alien society. All she needed now was to find a way to convince Akadeel that evening gowns were not a wardrobe necessity and life would be on the way to perfect.