Alien Refuge (39 page)

“Oh no, please,” she wailed as his hand hovered over the one on her clit.

“The tension was set not so tight here,” Jol assured her. He released the bud and set about soothing it with kisses as well. Iris hissed a little, but he noticed fresh juices seeping from her pussy.

She was so perfect.

Someone cleared his throat behind Jol. He chuckled and turned to Rivek, who had removed his clothing and stood waiting, his flesh eager.

“You must be in agony,” he told his Imdiko.

Rivek grinned. “I admit, after you placed the final clamp on her, I turned away. It was too exciting and my Matara would have to await my recovery, not something I would ask of her on our clanning night.”

Jol chuckled. Rivek might have used a cockring as he had, but the priest hated them with a passion. They were more punishment than play for him.

Jol stepped aside for his Imdiko and sat on the floor, finally letting his lax, satisfied body have the rest it wanted in the wake of the most powerful orgasm of his life. He felt the glow of love pulse from his being as he watched Rivek go to the center of their lives: their Matara.

* * * *

Rivek’s heart beat quickly as he moved towards Iris. Her skin was flushed the softest pink from the exertions of being made love to. With her body spread open, awaiting her next lover, she looked to him like a goddess of fertility. Perhaps she could be the Mother of All, the woman who had given the first Kalquorians life. Had she been revealed as such, it would not have shocked Rivek at all.

He felt like a supplicant, one not quite worthy of the honor of approaching her. Was Iris truly his, his mate for all of this life? Rivek had counted himself lucky to have been courted then clanned by Ospar and Jol. Now here was Iris, and he belonged to her as well. Never mind he had known she was to be part of his life from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her at the temple. It did not discount the joyous realization he felt right now. He could have wept in the face of such privilege.

“I am going to take you out of the sling,” Rivek told her. “I wish to make love to you in a different way.”

“Yes, my Imdiko,” she breathed.

He quickly untethered her. Iris had some trouble moving on her own after being with the other two men, but Rivek had no intention of making her lift more than her little finger if at all possible. He picked her up and set her on the padded bench. “Lay on your stomach, my Matara,” he whispered. “Relax. You have nothing to do but to allow me to bring us both pleasure.”

Iris sighed and settled on the surface, which was wide enough for her Earther frame to lay upon comfortably. One cheek rested on the bench, and Rivek smoothed her hair back from her face. He stroked down her back and buttocks, worshipping her flawless, soft skin. The muscles beneath his fingertips eased.

Rivek leaned forward, letting his body cover hers. His cheek rested on her temple, and he felt the softness of her hair against his face.
My Matara. My Matara
, his mind repeated over and over. While it was utterly right, it still didn’t seem quite real.

After a few seconds of enjoying simply being with her, of feeling her body beneath his own, Rivek entered Iris, his larger cock forging into her tighter passage. She allowed him in without a moment’s hesitation, softening to his flesh. He gathered her hands in his, lacing their fingers together. His movements inside her clinging yet yielding sheaths were slow and careful. Despite the urgent need of his flesh after watching Ospar and Jol with her, Rivek was loathe to finish this coupling that recognized they were lifemates.

He sighed, letting the sweetness of desire rise slowly, a determined but gradual tide that would eventually culminate in his body’s offering to this goddess made Matara.

* * * *

Iris had never thought of lovemaking as particularly relaxing. She had always experienced it as a great striving, a race to ecstatic completion. Bucking and straining against another, working hard to satisfy and be satisfied ... this had been what she’d known with Conrad.

Sex with the Kalquorians had proved a different matter. They had restrained her, keeping her from concerning herself with their pleasure. And now, what Rivek was doing to her ... well, this was something she’d never known when it came to intimacy. The lovemaking wasn’t like sex at all, even though her pussy and anus were stuffed full of his cocks.

Rivek lay over her, his naked warmth somehow melding into hers. The embrace felt sheltering, safe. He had stretched their arms over their heads, but it wasn’t like being pinned down. His fingers laced with hers, a sweet hand holding that spoke more of adoring companionship than raucous sexual fulfillment. He rubbed his cheek up and down against her face, reminding her of a cat looking for affection. His hips moved as if in a dream, sliding his sexes in and out with slow, sumptuous ease. The friction, while unhurried, had just the right pressure to warm her libido towards bliss once again. The climb was just more lingering than the previous times.

It was a revelation, this deliberate and tranquil lovemaking. Iris had never felt more doted on than she did at this moment. Not that she liked this any better than the more strenuous sex she’d been treated to. No, she liked the wild, sometimes bestial coupling more than she could tell as well. But this was its own perfection, a different facet of being close to someone.

I’m in love. I love these men. Except for Thomas, I’m willing to risk anything for it.

She melted in Rivek’s embrace, feeling his care to her very soul. When climax came for them both some time later, their shared joy lapped through her in gentle waves. Other colonists might decry her, might even despise her, but Iris knew she’d made the right choice by joining this clan. She knew it as surely as the clan claimed they recognized her and Thomas’ spirits.

Let the other Earthers hate her. Iris would keep them at a distance without a qualm. If this was the rest of her life, Iris could only see joy for all of her days and nights.

Chapter 12

Dramok Borl smiled at all those gathered again in the church’s meeting room. “The first real blow has been struck for Haven’s independence. Congratulations, Earthers.”

Governor Hoover stood next to him. The man was positively beaming, a sight that made Father Stephen’s stomach roil with tension. The governor nodded to Ospar’s aide. “And congratulations to your group, Dramok Borl. One less Kalquorian mixing with a sinful Earther.”

The members of the E.I.K. and the small complement of three Kalquorians who’d shown up at the meeting looked pleased with themselves. Every last face registered righteous satisfaction. The priest, who stood apart, looked at them all in horror.

Dear God, is this truly what you want? For us to become murderers in your name?

He was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was wrong to mix the two species. The final edition of his faith’s bible, approved by the last Holy Leader himself, spoke against it under no uncertain terms. Still, small innocent children could have died in the fire his co-conspirators had planted after the rebelling Kalquorians had disabled all the alarms and retardant systems. Not only that, the Kalquorian who died had done so after saving those children, children he had apparently regarded with as much love as if they’d been his own. Whatever other sins Dramok Amgar had committed against Earthers, he had absolved much with his sacrifice.

No matter how Stephen looked at it or how he tried to leave it as God’s will, it kept coming back to the babies. The guiltless ones who were no more than hostages to fortune at this juncture of their young lives. He could not keep quiet.

His voice rang out over the congratulations the others continued to offer themselves. “You said the mother and children would be in no danger. That was not the case. If the Nobek and Dramok hadn’t risked ... and given ... life to save them, the little ones wouldn’t have made it.”

The priest saw the angry looks that targeted him. He didn’t care. What had happened was wrong. He felt it strongly in his very core.

Blaine Middleton scowled at him. “We executed whores for less on Earth. Those kids are being raised by Kalquorians. They’ll adopt their ways. If they’d died, it would have been nipping the problem in the bud. They would have gone straight to Heaven then, bless their sweet little selves.”

Stephen opened his mouth, sickened fury ready to pour out. He had no idea what he might have said, but Hoover was speaking, quieting him before he could utter a word.

The governor said, “Remember that last year on Earth, Father? Do you recall what the Church told us to do in the event of a Kalquorian invasion?
Do not suffer your wives and daughters to be raped, but cut their throats to save their immortal souls.
You are a man of that Church still, are you not?”

There were mutters of agreement to that. Stephen was on the verge of hotly reminding them all that he was the religious expert here when Borl smiled at him and said, “There was never any doubt for me that the children would be fine. Dramoks take leading their clans very seriously, and Nobeks do not waver in the protection of their weaker family members.”

Stephen took in a deep breath, somewhat calmed by the reasonableness in the man’s tone. “You can’t really be sure. The house nearly collapsed on the Nobek and the little girl.”

Borl shrugged. “But it didn’t. And now, your warning has been given. Other mixed clans are on notice. The governor is on notice, not that it means much to that stubborn fool. He laughs in the face of our condemnation.”

Hoover’s expression went black with hatred. “Ospar has always been a smug bastard, but even he couldn’t turn his back on this blow we’ve dealt.”

“But he has.” Borl almost seemed delighted to share his news. “When I contacted him this afternoon to check on matters, he very happily informed me his clan now has a Matara and son. Iris and Thomas Jenson are now a part of his clan.”

Gasps and angry cries filled the room. Stephen swallowed a sudden surge of nausea. He hid his face behind his hands.

I’ve lost another one. Why can I not keep them true to our beliefs? How is it that I continuously fail?

He peeked from behind his fingers to see Blaine, red-faced with veins popping out on his forehead, jump to his feet. “That slut! But she’s still married. The sin is compounded!”

Father Stephen couldn’t help but defend Iris as best as he was able. The thought that they might target little Thomas next... “She doesn’t know her husband lives. I’m sure if she did, she would not commit this sacrilege.”

Borl nodded. “She will know soon. Then we will see how arrogant Clan Ospar is. We will see if they spit in the face of your beliefs and ours. If they turn their backs on decency and what is right, we will show them our ire.”

His oath was greeted with shouts of agreement. A spark of fear lit in Stephen’s chest. Iris’ legal husband was on his way to Haven already. Iris had told the priest of her husband’s abuse, begging forgiveness for hating the man even though she believed him dead. The priest knew she would never return to the man who by God’s and Earth’s laws, had say over her. If half of what she had told him was true, Stephen couldn’t blame her.

The situation wasn’t as black and white as his faith would have him believe. It was confusing, and he worried he would allow something terrible to happen because he didn’t know the right course of action.

He wished he could believe God was on his side, but Father Stephen feared he was truly on his own.

* * * *

After his meeting with the E.I.K., Borl visited Maf to report. Maf sat stiffly in his chair in the greeting room with Sitrel standing behind him. The councilman’s visit to the site of the fire the night before had exposed him to the wet cold air of the colony’s winter, and he felt it keenly. He refused to take the pain medications that would chase the grinding ache from his body however. They were strong, and he wanted his mind sharp. He would not indulge his hateful warped body until it was time to sleep.

Borl seemed quite pleased with himself as he delivered his report from the meeting. “I would say the rebellion here on Haven is progressing nicely. Governor Hoover took me aside and told me he’s had no less than a dozen colonists quietly tell him today that Amgar received divine retribution. He’s vetting them for joining the E.I.K.”

Maf agreed gloating was in order, though it had been his own plan that had brought such suffering to those who would pollute his race. That it had seemed to spur Ospar into clanning with an Earther himself, a move that would no doubt rally the colonists against him, was a plus.