The Ninth Orb (27 page)

Surprise and confusion filled her when she saw nothing in a single expression to give her cause to worry, nothing beyond the gleam of anticipation she’d come to expect in their eyes. But something did strike her as odd, and when she had made the rounds, she looked at each man again, more carefully and finally lifted her head to look at the two guards who stood by the door.

Unlike each time before, she saw that this was no random selection. It was Trar and Vladiv who escorted her to the bench and began to lather her body in the seductively soothing and infinitely arousing bathing ritual. Baen, Adri, and Pizan had joined them in the pool and stood watching the proceedings. Cal stood at the edge of the pool, and beyond him, guarding the room, were Pael and Miccan.

To a man, every one of them was Baen’s brother, his brood.

More puzzled than alarmed, Eden glanced at Baen questioningly as Trar and Vladiv finished bathing her. He met her gaze, held it for a long moment and moved toward her as Trar and Vladiv helped her to her feet and rinsed the foam from her and then stepped back to allow him to pass. Lifting a hand, he caressed her cheek. Murmuring something to her in his own tongue that she couldn’t understand, though she found the tone soothing, he moved behind her. Placing a hand on either shoulder, he pulled her back until she was resting against his chest and then slipped his hands downward along her arms slowly and grasped her hands. Just as slowly, he lifted her arms, draped them around his neck and then skimmed his hands lightly down the underside of her arms, touching off waves of sensation as he brought the sensitive skin to tingling awareness.

Her eyes slid closed as he cupped her breasts, massaged them, and then flicked his index fingers over her nipples until they stood erect, hard, pulsing with the blood that had engorged them. Heat curled in her belly as he released her breasts and skimmed his hands down her body, her breath catching in her throat as he slipped both hands between her thighs and parted the fleshy lips of her sex, pulling them back to expose her clitoris and then flicking a finger over the tiny, exquisitely sensitive bud until she began to struggle to breathe, sinking more heavily against him as the intoxicating euphoria of passion burgeoned inside of her from a seductive warmth to a breathless sense of anticipation.

Disappointment filled her when he stopped, but her breath hitched a little more tightly in her chest when he brought his hands upward again in the same feather light caress as before, stirring more warmth within her as he paused to massage her breasts once more and finally lifted one hand to her cheek and nudged her head upwards until she was looking up at him.

She met his gaze with a look of both arousal and confusion, but what she saw in his eyes, or thought she saw, only sent her into more chaos. The warmth in his eyes seemed to go beyond desire.

Dipping his head, he brushed his lips lightly, almost teasingly over hers, making them prickle with keen sensation even before he nipped at them, intensifying the sensations and causing her heart to slam against her ribcage as he sucked first her lower lip and then the upper, traced the point where they met with the tip of his tongue. He lifted his head slightly, met her gaze for a heartbeat and then covered her mouth, thrusting his tongue boldly inside and stroking it hungrily along her own. Her knees seemed to turn to water. She would’ve turned to face him then but he held her, one hand on her cheek, his arm tightening across the upper slope of her breasts, supporting her and imprisoning her at the same time.

As focused as she was on the sensations Baen was creating inside of her, she was also aware that the others watched and the feel of their heated gazes hitched her heart rate upward another notch.

The heat that filled her and pulsed through her veins seemed to drain the strength from her entire body. Uttering a moan, she kissed him back as he broke the kiss, lifted his mouth a fraction from hers and then covered her mouth again, over and over until desire had become an intoxicant in her blood.

Caught up as she was in the sensations he was creating within her, she jerked when she felt a hand cup first one breast and then the other, massaging it. Dragging her lips from his, she looked down in bemusement even as Trar and Vladiv lowered their heads and each sucked a nipple into his mouth. Knee weakening sensation shot through her as she felt the heat of their mouths close over the painfully taut buds. Her breath seemed to seize in her chest.

She uttered a moan even as Baen nudged her jaw upward again and covered her mouth, inhaling the soft sound. Her mind and body were instantly at war with the sensations that pounded at her from three directions at once. At one moment her mind focused completely on the mouths sucking and tugging at her nipples and sending jolts of hard sensation arrowing through her body to pool like molten lava in her lower belly. In the next, she was totally focused on the stroke of Baen’s tongue along hers, the pull of his mouth as he sucked her tongue.

If they hadn’t been holding her up, she would’ve melted into a sizzling puddle in the pool long before she felt fingers grasping her legs just above her knees. Baen lifted his head as she shifted when they tugged her feet out from under her. Almost reluctantly, Trar and Vladiv released her nipples and lifted their heads, as well, slipping a hand beneath her shoulders as she was lifted higher, her legs parted until she could feel the lips of her sex part. Dizzy, drunk with the pleasure already pounding through her, it took an effort to lift her lids to look down the length of her body as she felt yet another hand settle on her buttocks, pushing upward on her hips until her nether lips opened wide and cool air traced a chill finger over her cleft.

Cal stood between her legs, his gaze focused on her sex. She felt the heat of his breath as he leaned closer, settling one hand on her mound and using his fingers to spread her nether lips wider still. Her breath caught in her chest as she felt the tip of his tongue as he flicked it out and traced her cleft almost experimentally. She held the breath expectantly as he seemed to hesitate, expelling it in a sharp gasp when he thrust his tongue out and dragged it over her cleft. Goose bumps erupted all over her as she felt the faintly rough texture of his tongue raking over her clit. The heat of his mouth invaded her even before he covered her clit with his mouth and sucked on tiny the nub.

She panted in short, sharp breaths as she watched Cal feed on her greedily, felt hard jolts traveling upward into her belly with each sucking tug of his mouth and each teasing flick of his tongue.

Baen, Trar, and Vladiv watched him as well for many moments before one by one, they returned to their own piece of flesh. Eden let out a sharp cry as Trar caught her nipple between his teeth, nipping at it sharply and then sucking on it. Before she’d even caught her breath, Vladiv sucked her other nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue and sending another keen rush of sensation through her.

She was nearly sobbing for breath as Baen dipped his head to cover her mouth again. Her body tensed, jerked as one hard wave of delicious sensation after another went through her, one upon the other until she could no longer tell which mouth caused her more torment.

It was delicious torment, though, and she struggled to hold still and savor it to the fullest. Within a disappointingly short time, her body peaked, hovering at the brink of exploding with the building rapture. She fought the culmination, wanting nothing more than to feel the wonderfully torturous sensations on and on. Her struggle kept her teetering on the edge for so long that when she pitched over it, her body convulsed shatteringly, almost painfully in ecstasy, dragging a raw, keening cry from her throat.

And still they fed on her flesh, sucking and tugging until she began to think she would die from the pleasure as darkness filled her mind. Almost reluctantly, they stopped at last. Limp as a wet rag, Eden hardly knew when they bore her from the pool and lowered her feet to the floor to dry her. She tried and failed to lock her knees as they settled her, tried to hold herself upright.

Cal caught her as she began to wilt limply to the floor, stroking her body soothingly until she’d ceased to shiver with the aftershocks, nuzzling his face almost lovingly along her cheek.

Still dazed and confused, she merely draped her arms around his neck without protest as he leaned down to scoop her off her feet and lifted her against his chest.

It didn’t occur to her until they’d reached the bed room that they’d broken yet another tradition. Usually, four men lifted her up and carried her--probably because it generally took four strong men to carry one of their queen sized women, but still a part of the ritual they hadn’t deviated from before.

He took her to what Eden had come to think of as the sex couch. Stepping across, he sat astride the wide bench and settled her between his thighs. Pulling the arm from beneath her knees, he stroked his hand up her thigh to her waist as he tightened the arm around her back, bringing her breasts up against his hard chest.

Thoroughly disoriented by his deviation from what she’d come to think of as the ‘norm’, for them at least, Eden lifted her head as he leaned down. He met her halfway through the movement, fitting his lips to hers, mimicking the kiss he’d watched Baen give her she realized dimly as he nipped and sucked at her lips sending a pleasurable tension through her.

There was little comparison beyond that first, tentative foray, however. His lips and mouth, his taste and scent were as uniquely different as his face, form, and personality from Baen or any of the others. The moment she responded, kissing him back, he transformed from supplicant to conqueror, thrusting his tongue into her mouth in a bold, restless invasion of her senses that allowed no room for passive acceptance. Startled by his unrestrained passion, but sinking fast beneath the intoxicating waves of desire generated by his ravenous, demanding assault, Eden captured his tongue, sucking it. A shudder went through him. A rumbling groan sounded from deep in his massive chest. It shattered the last of his control.

Capturing her face between his palms, he made love to her mouth with a quaking need that resurrected Eden’s spent passion and churned it into a fiery conflagration that quickly matched his. Breaking the kiss after a moment, he dragged in several harsh breaths and slipped his hands beneath her arms, lifting her and ravishing her breasts as he had her mouth, nipping and sucking at the exquisitely sensitive tips as if he meant to devour her.

Moist, heated tension coiled in her belly with each tug of his mouth on her aching, distended nipples, depriving the rest of her body of any strength at all in moments. Gasping, too weak from the sheer force of his passion to hold her head up any longer, she allowed her head to loll on her shoulders, fighting the waves of darkness that threatened to snatch her from consciousness and deprive her of drowning in the wickedly delightful sensations.

The world shifted. She felt herself falling, and for a split second she thought the darkness had overtaken her. The softness of the bench beneath her shoulder blades dispelled the illusion. The heat of Cal’s mouth and tongue as he shifted the focus of his exploration from her breasts to her body emphasized the fact that she’d lost none of her awareness of his touch.

His sucking, nipping kisses on her lower belly seemed to punch the air from her lungs. Before she’d managed to fully catch her breath, he moved lower, parting her thighs and nipping a trail of kisses from knee to groin on first one leg and then the other.

She reached for him, desperate by now to feel her body impaled on his turgid flesh. Instead of gratifying that desire, however, he scooped his hands beneath her hips and buried his face against her mound, licking and sucking at her clit.

A near painful jolt went through her at his first touch that dragged a cry from her lips. Her body burgeoned in great leaps that sent her skyrocketing toward the brink of release.

He was too, too good at this, she realized dimly, struggling to fight off her release.

Tangling her fingers in his hair, she tugged gently, and then more demandingly.

“Cal,” she gasped out shakily when he either ignored the demand or simply didn’t notice in the heat of fervor.

He enjoyed kissing her there far too much, she thought a little desperately, fearing she would come before he entered her, feeling a desperate yearning to feel him inside of her.

Her tugging at him finally penetrated the heated fog of his mind and he lifted his head. She pushed herself up with an effort, grasping his shoulders to urge him to cover her. Instead, he caught her waist and pulled her upright.

She didn’t care. She just wanted to mount him, she thought, looping her arms around his neck to hold herself up as she struggled to position herself for him.

Hands grasped her, lifting her upward, parting her thighs and aligning her body with Cal’s. She sucked in a sharp breath as she felt the swollen head of his cock spreading her flesh. Arms--Cal’s arms tightened around her as the helping hands were withdrawn. He bore down on her, impaling her on his hard flesh with slow but persistent pressure until his cock was buried to the root inside of her and she was panting for breath from the frantic pace her heart set.

He went still when he could bury himself no more deeply inside of her, his teeth grinding as he savored the excruciatingly wonderful fit of their bodies.

Eden stroked her hands along his neck, back, and shoulders, nuzzling her face against his throat and then working her way up his neck to his ear with nipping kisses. He released a harsh breath as she explored the sensitive cavity. Gripping her hips almost painfully, he lifted her up slightly and bore down on her again, sending exquisite waves of pleasure through both of them that brought Eden’s focus to the need to feel him driving into her.

She shifted, trying to set a rhythm, but the position was awkward for both of them. With her legs draped over his, she could get no purchase for ease of movement.

Dizzily, she leaned back, tugging at his neck and trying to urge him to lay her back against the couch. She might as well have tried to pull a tree down for all the effect she had on moving him.