Ultimate Passage: New Beginnings: Box Set ( Books 1-4) (32 page)

6

T
aya sat next to Cinia
. Raiza had been concerned that the medicines she’d prepared for Cinia would be too strong and she might flip out of her bed, so they’d made a pallet on the ground for Cinia.

Corzine had extinguished the fire on Cinia. Her clothing, destroyed. Her body didn’t fare to well either. Cinia was now deep in sleep. Raiza had given her a concoction which lessened the pain. Then she’d given her a dosage of another tea, just a small sip Raiza said would make Cinia tired. And it did exactly that. Knocking out the slight blonde. Taya sat by her side in the thatched cabin made of wood. Every few moments, Cinia would moan Saraz’s name, stir, then fall back into what seemed a sleep filled with restless dreams.

Marissa stepped in the doorway, her eyes on the prone Cinia.

Taya waved her forward.

Marissa took a spot on the stump next to the boulder Taya sat on. “How is she?”

“Not great, but it could be worse.” Cinia had escaped harming her face and upper body, but a great portion of her lower body had suffered burns, a few blisters and exposed wounds were now covered in a salve that Raiza had given Taya to apply.

Marissa rested her hands over her swollen belly. “I thought that she’d gotten over him. I thought his effect, had vanished. Or at least lessened to the point where she didn’t feel this way—to act this way.” She rubbed her swelling in a slow circular motion, looked from Cinia to Taya.

“How is it with you? Are you susceptible to him as much as she is? As much as you were before?” Marissa asked.

“No. Things are different for me. I don’t feel the urge to be with him, around him. Actually, the opposite.” Taya wondered about Marissa, and how she felt toward him, after the things that had happened. “And you? How does he affect you?”

“It’s different for me than it was for you, I’m sure. I was never in his service. I did not spend as long being under his will. He only could control me that time when I was in his temple, and . . .” Marissa paused. Her jaw tightened. “When that stuff happened at the pool.”

“May I pry?” Taya hated to bother her with questions, but she was curious, and in the last few weeks she’d gotten very close to Marissa. Not only because Taya spoke English, but also because Cinia had withdrawn, and Taya couldn’t talk to Raiza. She felt uncomfortable talking to the sister of the two men that confused her. Barz confused her because she was attracted to him, and there was too much undertow, too much emotion. Corzine, because she thought it would be better if she were attracted to him.

“Has what happened with Saraz affected your relationship with Finn?”

“It did, for a bit.” Marissa glanced away, stared in the distance, as though seeing something, though the only thing there was the other end of the cabin. “We had a few things to work through. Things that happened to him and things that happened to me, while we were apart. Those are all past us now. We’re both looking forward to the future with our child. On Earth.” Marissa hugged herself. “Enough about me. What about you?”

Taya looked at her, curious. “What about me?”

“You. Corzine. Barz.”

Taya felt her skin changing color, betraying her. Then she felt it changing again, in anger. She thought she’d managed to hide it. She didn’t need this complication. Not when she was still in conflict over the effect Saraz had on her life.

“I’m sorry.” Marissa took Taya’s hand in hers. “I know it’s probably frustrating to be Asazi. Your skin, it broadcasts your emotions. And when you try to morph to a human form, then it’s even more evident, because you’re trying to hide it. I shouldn’t have pried.”

“You know what is so difficult?” Taya felt as though a floodgate was begging to be opened, releasing so much that had troubled her for so long. “In our culture, the Asazi culture, we do not hide our emotions, but at the same time, we do not have any when it comes to . . . things of the flesh. Our marriages are arranged. They are unions that benefit the Asazi as a whole. We do not have sexual drive or even procreate the way humans do.”

Marissa nodded.

“But see, then they have a certain group of young women, one of which included me, and we are the chosen ones for Saraz. We are Bound to Saraz. To keep him, our god, happy and to keep peace and prosperity amongst our people.”

Cinia stirred, pushed at her bandages. Taya clasped Cinia’s hands, held them until she’d stilled so she wouldn’t push the bandages off and create more problems with her wounds.

“Anyway, so then we go to Saraz, and suddenly we are no longer the same beings. We are sexual beings that have this exaggerated sexual drive. It’s all so confusing. Does Saraz give us the drive? I thought for the longest that this was the case. But now . . .” Taya pushed her red hair away, scrubbing her hands down her face.

Marissa cocked her head. “But now you have these desires for the Kormic brothers. And it flies in the face of everything you thought was accurate.”

Taya jumped up, paced at the foot of the raised pallet that Cinia lay on, she did not want to tell Marissa that one of the brothers commandeered her thoughts, emotions, and desires far more than the other. “I have these urges, these desires. And I don’t know if they are base, if they come from the human genes that we have, or from having been Saraz’s concubine.” She grasped the bowl that held the salve Raiza’d made. “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. I don’t know if it will end and when, if ever.”

The look in Marissa’s eyes made Taya stop. “What?”

Marissa shook her head dejectedly. “I watch Finn struggle with similar things. It’s sad what’s happened with your people. What Saraz did. Sad. So very sad.”

“What do you mean? What Saraz did?”

Marissa looked at her, an intense expression in her eyes. “I’m not quite sure—”

A shadow coming from the doorway made both women turn.

Barz, the larger, and the alpha of the Kormic brothers stood in the doorway. His eyes scanned Taya, assessing her as if checking to see if she was unhurt. He was large, larger than Marissa’s man, Finn.

He strode in, nodded to Marissa, stopped in front of Taya. Just in front of her, within reach, but she didn’t reach out. She didn’t want to admit to the feelings he stirred within her.

“I saw.” He crossed massive arms over and equally massive chest. His eyes rested on Taya’s lips.

This made her angry. He was too forward. How could he do this to her? And did he not know what she had been through with Saraz? She was not a piece of meat that could just be claimed.

“Then if you saw, why are you here?” She cursed herself for her outburst, for the way he affected her. She wished she’d controlled her ire.

Marissa stared at Taya.

Barz narrowed his eyes. “I wanted to be sure.” His voice was gruff. He turned sharply and left the cabin.

“Wow.” Marissa said. “What was that about?”

“Who does he think he is? Coming in here in that manner? Is he another Saraz to claim a concubine? Is he here to make sure his property is unharmed?”

Marissa glanced toward the door. “Is that what you thought he was doing?”

“What do you think?” Taya bristled. She needed fresh air, space, breathing room, thinking room. “I need to go relieve myself. Can you watch Cinia?”

“Certainly.” Marissa looked perplexed.

Taya pushed the door aside, almost smacking Finn with it, barked an apology, and left the cabin, the door slamming behind her.

M
arissa watched
Taya depart Finn came in. He looked at Cinia, then at Marissa. “What in the curses of hell is that about? Asazi women!” he huffed.

“What?” Marissa didn’t want to violate Taya’s confidence by discussing her private matters. It seemed better to ask a question than to give an answer.

“Cinia, the fire, Saraz. Now, Taya. She’s angry, or something. Shoved right by me. Hormones.”

“Watch it, Finn. I’m a bundle of hormones right now. And don’t forget the baby hormones that are in my womb are half-Asazi.”

“One quarter.” Finn corrected her. “I’m a half-breed, remember?”

“I do. But I wish you wouldn’t use that word. I don’t want our baby to hear that from his father’s mouth. A father that I find very sexy.” She leaned in, let her body rest against his, stroking his chest, running her hand up and down the muscled hardness. Beneath her fingertips she felt his plush quickening, his heart beating much faster, his breathing labored.

“Woman.” He exhaled, then took her in his arms, his magnificent skin a green color, their baby between them. He lowered his head, tangled his hands in her head and pulled her closer, claiming her lips with his, he slid his tongue in her mouth, owning it the way she wanted him to lay claim to her body. Right now.

“Finn,” she moaned his name, lowered her hand to his hardness. It jerked within her hand, its hardness solidifying even more.

She wrapped her fingers around thick velvety smoothness, caressing the mushroom head with her thumb, teasing the tiny slit with the very tip of her finger. “I want you.”

“What about her?” He whispered, indicating the still unconscious Cinia.

“She knows what sex is,” Marissa said with a smile. She sat him down on the rock that Taya had vacated not long before.

Adjusting his pants, she released his hardness, solid and ready in her hands. She lowered herself, kneeling in front of him.

Opening her mouth, she took the head in, sealing her lips, claiming his velvet skin. She tongued his slit, running up and down it, penetrating it with the tip of her tongue. He gasped, groaned. His fingers still tangled in her hair, he pushed her head down.

Marissa opened wider, taking him in, as much of him as she could before the reflex to gag took over. These days, with the baby, tempting the gag reflex would lead to a very unromantic conclusion. She rose and lowered her head, slowly, her tongue caressing the underside of his pulsing member.

With a loud groan and a surge of energy, Finn’s hands were out of her hair and pulling her up, setting her on his lap, straddling his legs, his hard cock between them.

Marissa pushed her modified skirt aside, leaned forward, feeling his hardness against her pulsing netherlips. She dropped onto his cock with a fury that defied her love, taking him deep, punishing her muscles deep inside. She moaned in pleasure, the intensity of his thickness and length pushing her close to an orgasm far earlier than she wanted to.

She threw her head back, settled in so she wouldn’t move and make herself climax.

Finn’s hands were quick and sure-fingered as he unbuttoned her top, springing her restrained breasts from their fabric prison. The cool air on her nipples gave them instant hardness. He raised his hands, cupping her full breasts. Her breasts were so much fuller than ever, her nipples distended, readying for the baby. And oh, for the sake of god, were they ever sensitive. When his mouth closed over one and he sucked, his tongue playing and flicking her nipple in the wetness of his mouth, she clamped her lips shut to keep from screaming his name out.

Though she wasn’t driving herself onto him, though she was as still as could be, her muscles inside tightened, pushing and pulling on him, seeking his peak and her own.

She rocked on Finn, dropping one hand to her clit, touching that sensitive area that overwhelmed her, rubbing circles, bringing her closer to that point of no return.

“Oh—” A partial cry began. Finn raised his head from her breast, covered her mouth with his to silence her outcry as she screamed into his mouth and climaxed in his lap.

Just as she’d reached her second consecutive orgasm, he raised her and then dropped her back onto his hard shaft, rocking her orgasm into another sphere as he released deep inside her, shooting his desire a stream that she could feel against her back walls. His wings expanded, pulling them both airborne a short measure, before he took control, slowly placing them back.

Marissa leaned against him, his rod still buried deep within.

“Finn?” She kept her voice low.

“Hmm?” His tone was mellow.

“Stop picking fights with Saraz.”

He gently moved her off his chest, looking into her eyes. “You are my woman. You think I will let him get away with what he does?”

Finn took a nipple in his fingers, rolling it between this thumb and index finger, causing currents of electricity to travel straight to her clit and then bounce back to her nipple. Marissa bit back her frustration because she could tell he knew what she was trying to do and that he was trying to distract her away from her conversation.

“He is our ride home. Please don’t jeopardize that.” She gasped as his other hand slipped down, replacing hers on her clit. His thumb pressing, making deliberate hard circular movements that threatened to take her there again, and then to drive her over the edge.

“That’s what he says. Who knows?”

He slipped two fingers in her, leisurely going in and out, making sure to tunnel against her g-spot.

Marissa leaned back, watching his face as he watched his fingers disappearing. The lust was beautiful against the fading red and emerging green colors on his face.

She gasped as she orgasmed in his hand, clenching his fingers between her folds. Crying his name out softly. Her thoughts of returning home and Saraz the furthest thing from her mind.

M
arissa lay
against Finn’s chest, perfectly content to stay there all night. If only it were possible. But he would have to go on watch sooner or later, all the men did, for jungle cats and two-legged enemies. And Taya would want her cabin back. Beneath Marissa’s head, his breathing pattern changed, sped up a notch. She narrowed her eyes and waited for whatever created the increased heart rate was brought to light.

She didn’t have to wait long.

“Raiza said the Elders from several tribes are coming for a meeting. Norn told me just before Saraz arrived, I should have mentioned it earlier, but Cinia, the fire, and other things were on my mind.”

Marissa studied Finn for a reaction. What did he think about the news he’d just told her? “Why?”

“Because there are two former Saraz concubines here, Cinia and Taya. And because a human—you—was at Saraz’s temple. And now we have those same two Asazi concubines staying with us. Plus me—another Asazi. That’s a lot. It wasn’t a big deal—well, as much of one—when there was just one Asazi here, my father, who was married to a Kormic. I guess now . . .” Finn traced her lips with his fingertips. “I suppose they want to find out what is going on? I understand their concern. For so many years Asazi and Kormic have battled, ruthlessly. Though now I wonder if my own people were the aggressors.”

Finn’s color changed to a dark blue, almost purple.

The last time Marissa had seen that color on him was when he stood at the sink at the ranch house in Arizona. When he tried to talk her out of going to see her father’s grave. When he tried to talk her into coming to Kormia.

“You’re distressed by this.” She rubbed his arm, marveling at how muscular he still was, thinking of that time she first saw him at
Two West Two
, when he was on a mission and she was . . . wow. How things had changed. Then, she was so unhappy, trying with all her might to make the restaurant succeed only to have developers interfere. Who would have thought that she would no longer be on Earth a little over six months later?

“It bothers me. All my life I’ve trained in the military to fight Kormic. To kill them because they sought to kill Asazi. And now, so many things I thought seem to be wrong.” He scrubbed at his face, rubbing the stubble, making scratchy noises, his eyes tortured.

Marissa ran her fingers over his rugged cheekbones, his definite strong brow line, down to his jaw. His eyes were glued on hers. She didn’t want to tell him that even more of what he held to be true was very wrong.

“You are the only thing that is what it appears to be. Who it appears to be. You are the only thing that matters now.”

“And the baby?” She didn’t plan to put a questioning tone into it, but one slipped in.

“And the baby.” He kissed her eyelids. “That is what I meant. I know things seemed different, before we came here, but you know that was only concern about you being hurt, right?”

She did know that. She knew the depth of his feelings, his devotions, and his loyalty. She knew that it was his honor that gave him issues now. A less honorable man wouldn’t have struggled with the issues that Finn struggled.

“So the Elders are coming?” She tried to pull him out of his funk, to divert to the original subject.

“That’s what he said. That a messenger ran to tell her, then went back.”

“When is this? And do I get to be there? Or is this some sort of patriarchal society that doesn’t allow women a voice?”

“As far as I know they aren’t that way. I’m pretty sure they want you to be there.” He took her chin in hand, directed her gaze to his eyes. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have you anywhere else.”