Sheala

Sheala

ISBN # 1-4199-0485-X

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Sheala Copyright© 2006 Judy Mays

Edited by Raelene Gorlinsky and Nicholas Conrad.

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication: January 2006

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.®1056 Home Avenue,AkronOH

44310-3502.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Warning:

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E

(E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

S-
ensuous
love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E-
rotic
love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth.

E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

X-
treme
titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

CELESTIALPASSIONS:

SHEALA

Judy Mays

“Brianna, I’d like you to meet my sex instructor, Bogarton don al’ Chevin.”

Immediately, Sheala slapped her hand to her mouth to cover her giggle as her sister-in-law halted in mid-waddle—she was so very pregnant—and gaped at her for a full thirty seconds before snapping her mouth shut.

“Your what!”

Sheala grinned. Brianna’s reactions to the relaxed attitude about sex here on Drakan were priceless.

“My sex instructor.”

Brianna blinked then slowly lifted her hand to the…man—he was actually a hermaphrodite—at Sheala’s side.

Chevin slid his knuckles under her fingertips and lifted her hand to his lips. “I’m honored to make your acquaintance, Alalakan dem al’ Brianna. Sheala told me you were beautiful but her words pale next to the reality of your breathtaking personage. Are you, perhaps, interested in instruction of various Drakian sexual techniques?”

Another hand appeared and lifted Brianna’s from Chevin’s. “I’m quite capable of providing all the instruction my wife needs,” Char said in an amused tone as he pulled Brianna to his side.

The older man smiled and nodded his head. “I understand completely.” Turning, he held his arm out for Sheala. “Walk me to my transport, Sheala. I want to discuss how you used your tongue on my penis.”

Char’s laughter at his wife’s bright red complexion followed his sister and her companion down the hallway.

“I can’t believe you hired a man to teach Sheala how to have sex!” Brianna exclaimed as Char guided her into his study. “She’s only seventeen!”

Still grinning broadly, Char kissed the top of his wife’s fiery head. “Sheala will be eighteen soon, and we want her to be prepared and educated when she finally has sex. I warned you about our ways. Sex is very important to Drakians.”

“Important my ass. You people are fixated on it.”

“On your ass?” Char asked with an even wider grin. “I admit to my guilt. You have such a lovely ass.”

Huffing with exasperation, Brianna settled into a comfortable chair next to a small table and shuffled some papers.

Char sauntered to his wife’s side and looked down. “What are you working on now? You’ve managed to align Drakan’s alphabet with Earth’s.”

Brianna glanced up.

His gaze was fixed on her breasts, not on the papers in her hands.

“You have a one-track mind.”

His grin became lascivious. “You have beautiful breasts.”

She smiled slowly. “My ass or my breasts. Make up your mind.”

He bent and kissed the exact spot where her neck and shoulder met. “All of you.”

Shivering, Brianna stared unseeing as he cupped her right breast and squeezed.

Then she blinked—and blinked again. Leaning forward, she stared at the numbers on the paper in front of her. “Drakan takes four hundred and twelve days to go around your sun.”

“So?” Char kissed the other side of her neck.

“Earth only takes three hundred and sixty-five days to go around our sun.”

“So?” He cupped both breasts.

“In Earth years, Sheala’s over twenty.”

Char lifted his head and looked into his wife’s face. “This matters to you?”

She shrugged. “Seventeen just seemed so young…”

“To have a sex instructor?” Char grinned. “I thought you were losing your prudish ways.”

She elbowed his hard stomach. “I’m not a prude.”

He chuckled and pulled her to her feet. “No, you aren’t—only some of your ideas are.”

“My ideas are—”

He silenced her with long, hard kiss then lifted his head. “We’re alone.”

Brianna looked down at her stomach. “No, we aren’t.”

Char spread his hand over her swollen abdomen, smiling as a small foot kicked it. How had he gotten so lucky?

“I do
not
like this plan!” Crossing his arms over his chest, Marljas scowled at his older brother.

Leaning back in his chair, Wendjas raked his hair back behind his tufted ears. “Mother and the matriarchs have decided trade is better than war. We have no choice.”

“Why our family and not another? Why not the ambassador on Drakan?”

Wendjas looked up into his brother’s face. “Because we’ve had contact with the Alalakans.”

Marljas snorted. “If you can call a blood challenge contact.”

The corners of Wendjas’ mouth twitched. “A challenge met, fought and settled with honor.”

Marljas continued to stare at his brother. “The
Leonine
are only one tribe. What of the others? Except for the ambassador on Drakan and a few others, theTigrewill choose war.”

Extending the claw from his index finger, Wendjas gouged a thin line across the top of the battered table that stood between them. “The Queen sides with us.”

Dropping his arms to his sides, Marljas didn’t bother to hide his astonishment. “The Queen goes against her own tribe?”

Wendjas nodded. “In the months you’ve been gone, she and Deni have been in close contact. She agrees that we can’t defeat the combined might of Drakan and Mediria. They’re too powerful and too closely allied. That’s not even taking into account those damned Medirian assassins. Any war with them would be long and bitter. And—Gattan would lose.”

Snarling, Marljas turned away. “I know. I’ve spent enough time on those two planets in the last two years to know that. But this fighting with words goes against everything I am, everything a Gattan is. The sweat and blood of combat is far more satisfying than spitting words across a table. What’s a man to do if he can’t fight?”

Wendjas smiled. “Mother only needs to find you the right wife if you want to fight.”

Marljas smiled back and glanced towards his brother’s heavy biceps and thick neck. “I thought I noticed a few new scars.”

His smile exploding into a full-fledged grin, Wendjas nodded. “Denieen isn’t afraid to use her claws. A man couldn’t have a better wife.”

Smile fading, Marljas stared into his brother’s face. “You can’t make her stay home with your sons?”

“Make Denieen stay home? How?”

Marljas jerked his gaze away from his brother’s face. That was a truly stupid question. No Gattan could make his wife do what she didn’t want to do.

Wendjas’ chuckle pulled Marljas’ attention back. “The matriarchs insist on a representative. She’s the best choice.”

“Why take your sons, Wendjas?”

“With my wife and sons along, the Drakians won’t be suspicious of ulterior motives.”

“But we don’t have any ulterior motives!”

Shoving his chair away from the table, Wendjas rose and began to pace. “I know. But neither Mother nor Denieen will be swayed from their plan.”

Marljas’ snarl echoed around the room. “Brother, we go undefended. What if you’re wrong about this Drakian? You practically gutted him. He may seek revenge. A Gattan
would
seek revenge.”

Wendjas shook his head. “He is Drakian, not Gattan, and we’ve learned he has married.”

“Women on other planets are not like ours.”

Wendjas chuckled again. “Brother, you have a great deal to learn about women. Besides, the Alalakans have always been far more interested in trade rather than war. More of our people should be so inclined.”

Marljas snorted. “Conquest is far more satisfying.”

The table shook when Wendjas slapped both palms against it. “By all the levels of hell, we’ve been over and over this. We
cannot
win that war.”

Stepping back, Marljas blew out a deep breath and held up both hands. “I know, I know. I’ve agreed to Mother’s plan. But your sons, at least, should stay here.”

A very sharp claw was pressed against his throat.

“Do you doubt my ability to protect my children, brother of my husband?”

Very carefully, Marljas swallowed both the harsh words that threatened to leap from his mouth and the temper that demanded he defend himself. A scar placed on his neck or throat by any woman other than his wife was a mark of shame rather than honor. But this was his brother’s wife, his mother’s daughter-by-marriage. At least there wasn’t anyone here but his brother to see his humiliation. Besides, his slightest move towards Denieen would have his brother leaping to his wife’s defense. The last time he sparred with Wendjas, it had taken a month for his cuts and bruises to heal.

He let out another deep breath. “I don’t doubt your ability, Deni, but you can’t keep them by your side at all times. What of treachery?”

The claw disappeared from his neck, and Deni crossed the room to stand next to her husband. “There’s more treachery on Gattan at the Queen’s court. And they’re looking forward to their adventure. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them.”

Marljas dipped his head to hide the frustration he knew was in his eyes. Any argument with Deni was one he would lose. Better to let Wendjas handle his headstrong wife. “I bow to your superior knowledge.”

Sighing with exasperation, Denieen shook her head. “It’s past time you were married, Marljas. You need a wife to guide you.” Then her voice softened. “Is everything arranged?”

Marljas nodded. “The
Scrathe
is ready. How you managed to get the queen to agree to this…” He paused. His voice became troubled. “Deni, are you sure? Must you take your sons? No Gattan children have ever left our planet. They could be used as hostages. You know both your parents and mine would give anything to get them back. How do we know this Drakian can be trusted?”

Laughing, Denieen turned to her husband.

Wendjas smiled at her and she smiled back. At least one man in this household trusted her completely.

Denieen glanced back to Marljas. She understood his misgivings. But the Alalakan clan of Drakan was as honorable as any Gattan tribe. “Hostages? Alalakan don al’ Chardadon take children as hostages? He would sooner cut his own throat first.”

* * * * *

Arms flailing as she tried to stop in middive, Vani did a spectacular belly flop into the pool. She came up sputtering. “What are you talking about?”

Sheala cupped her full, bare breasts and jiggled them. “Are they too big? Crystas said they were.”

Wiping water from her eyes, Vani splashed over to Sheala’s side. “When are you going to stop believing everything Crystas told you? She’s gone. Stop thinking about what she said.”

Dropping her hands to her sides, Sheala shrugged. “But men, a lot of men, think she’s beautiful.”

Vani wiped water out of her face. “That’s what she
told
you. She was jealous because you’re far more attractive. Almost everything she said was a lie!”

Sheala jiggled again. “But they are bigger than any of my Drakian friends’ breasts.”

Snorting with frustration, Vani cupped her own. “Are mine too big?”

Sheala shook her head. “Of course not, but you’re Medirian. I’m not.”

Vani splashed Sheala. “You’re part Medirian, and the Medirian blood makes you more exotic. There’s something different about you, and you know how Drakians love what’s different.”

Sheala smiled. “That’s true.” She slid off the side of the pool and into the water. “I can’t wait for my birthday. I’ll finally be able to take a lover.”

Vani slicked her dark green hair back over her forehead. “Talk about switching the subject of a conversation.”

Reaching above her head, Sheala stretched. “Maybe if Mother and Father hadn’t gotten me an instructor on sexual satisfaction it wouldn’t be so bad. But…” She shivered. “The things he did to my body and I did to his! And always stopping before he penetrated me.” Sheala stared at her friend. “There were times I thought I’d die of frustration!”