Conri (12 page)

Sarai shifted the moment the door was closed. It didn’t
hurt to shift like she thought it would; It felt as natural as flipping her
hair over her shoulder.

“I guess the first thing I should say is
,
you are a beautiful cat.”

Sarai laughed and turned about his room. “You room is magnificent,
it’s been some time since I’ve been in here and I guess I forgot.”

“Thanks.” Sarai couldn’t ignore the tone of his voice,
it did something to her. Something her cat liked very much. She felt her stir
inside. She turned to her husband.

“I don’t have to cast my eyes away now,” Sarai said as
she took in his chiseled body.
 
His dark
hair was dark throughout, from the light dusting on his chest and lower.
Apprehension speared as she cast her eyes lower. She had never been overly interested
in a male’s body before, but now she felt herself intrigued.

“Will you think badly of me if I am not any good?” The
barrowed confidence her cat gave her faltered and she looked away.

“Sarai, I am sorry to say that our first time will be
of little preamble. Your scent is ravishing and I am on the brink of losing
control.”

“I suppose that’s a no.”

Conri shook his head, like he was trying to clear
something from his mind. “It’s a no. You could never be ‘not any good’. Because
we will experience each other for the first time together, we will learn
together and...
damn
it..” He growled and was on her
like a cat.

He crashed his body against her and in one hard yank
he had her off of her feet and in his arms. His lips slammed into hers as if he
had never kissed her before. Sarai locked her arms and legs around him and let
him hold her as he ravished her mouth.

She didn’t even notice when he had dropped them onto
the bed. He gently tugged on her arms and she let them fall to the side. He
shifted his weight and she unhooked her heels.

“How do I know what you want me to do before you tell
me?”

“Intuition, I will tell you about it later.”

Sarai knew what he was going to do before he did it.
She closed her eyes, not sure how she felt about it. But when he started her
eyes flew open. “OH!” Her fingers sought out his hair and as he worked his
mouth like magic Sarai tried to catch her breath.

“That’s my girl,” He said against her. The rumble of
his voice sent shockwaves through her body.

“Conri.”
Her voice was a
breath on the wind and as he probed and prodded with his tongue Sarai felt a
shimmer in the core of her body.
“Conri!”
He pulled
and nipped with teeth and lips, he laved with his tongue and his hands gripped
her hips as the shimmer grew to a thrum. Her legs fell open and he took that
invitation- he delved into her with his tongue, tasting, nurturing,
adoring
her womanhood.

“Oh
my gosh
, oh my... oh...”

“That’s it kitty, come on.”

The thrum reverberated like the base of a drum and
then she shattered.
“CONRI!”
Sarai rode the
percussions and her heart hammered its own beat. When she opened her eyes Conri
was leaning over her, his lips glistening with her satisfaction.

“Ready?” His eyes were blue fire. And his voice
sounded like she was under water. But she nodded, unable to find her voice. She
felt it then- him, all male, at the apex of her center. There was gentle
pressure and then there was just pressure and then she hissed.

“Please don’t tell me to stop.” Conri’s voice was
strained and his muscles twitched but he had stopped moving. Sarai opened her
eyes and looked. Catching his eyes again she shook her head, “Don’t stop now.”

He worked out a little, letting her coat him, then back
in. She felt the pressure start again and she let her legs relax and fall
wider. “Shit Sarai... shit.”

There was a brief ripple through her body and Conri
was in- her virginity was gone. He was panting and Sarai just needed a moment.
She was stretched to the max. There was no more room for him and they both knew
it.

Sarai looked at him, watched his eyes bleed from sapphire
to azure to nearly onyx and back to crystal blue. She knew, deep down in the rhythmic
pounding of her heart, that she loved him. If she were willing to admit it, she
had fallen in love with him a long time ago.
 
He started moving but Sarai focused on his
eyes. The thrusting was slow and methodical at first and through that thing he
had called intuition she knew he was being gentle, she needed to adjust.

But as her body adjusted to him, Conri adjusted his
rhythm. Sarai felt her face contort as the tingling pain gave way to surging
pleasure. “Shit Conri.” His thrusts picked up the pace and Sarai rolled her
hips, giving him more access.

“Sarai, Sarai.” His trusts became faster, longer, more
punishing. He hit her cervix and the delicious pain speared her. She felt the
thrum but it was beating harder, faster, growing in intensity. And Conri’s
thrusts were not giving at all. He slid out to the tip and pummeled back in;
his hips moving like a piston. Sarai flattened her palms against the headboard
to brace herself.

She was spinning dangerously closer to out of control.
 
The thrum was too intense she couldn’t find
the release her body was screaming for. Her breath was coming in quick bursts
and she felt like she was literally about to come apart.

“Fuck Sarai, I’m gonna cum.” Sarai knew what the meant
and she was desperate for a second release but it was remaining elusive. Conri
grabbed her ass with one hand and with the other he pressed gently on her clit,
flicking it ever so lightly. Sarai felt her breath catch, stars literally
popped behind her eyes, her face contorted into something obscene and as Conri
thrust one last time, burying himself to the hilt- Sarai’s dam broke.

She detonated into a million tiny pieces as she
screamed his name. The sound she made didn’t sound like anything she had ever
heard. And in that instant Conri screamed his own release, his fangs descended
and with three hard pumps he released into her.

As they came, hard and long, Conri leaned down and
sank his teeth into her shoulder. As he bit Sarai returned his bite with her
own- knowing, somehow knowing, that now that she was already a leopard this was
a ritual marking. His bite would not do undue harm to her, but rather commit
her unto him for the rest of their lives. They were married yesterday but now
they were mated.

Tasting his blood on her tongue sparked her orgasm one
last time and her body twitched and convulsed as the aftershocks spiked and
fell. She fell back on Conri’s bed, exhausted and Conri fell on top of her.

“For the love of everything holy I have never- ever
felt anything like that.
Ever.”

“I can honestly say the same.” Sarai purred as Conri
peppered her with kisses. She was home, she had been home the entire time but
now she really truly was home.

Conri rolled, draping an arm over his eyes. “Sarai,
you have no idea what you do to me.”

“I think I have an idea.” Sarai responded playfully.

“If you were not already my wife I would ask you again
right now.”

Sarai rolled, draping her body over his. “If I go
outside in my leopard form, would I not feel the cold?”

“No, you would not feel the cold.”

“
Mmmm
, I want to test that.
I have never run in the snow without mountains of clothing.”

“If you shifted to human form you would feel the cold,
not as instantly as a human- but you can still freeze to death.”

“I’ll remember to keep in leopard form.”

Conri brushed her hair with his fingers. “Someday
soon, but for now...” Conri leaned down and kissed the crown of her head. His
hands traveled from the back of her head down her spine, over her ribs and
cupped a breast. “For now, I want to take my wife again.”

Sarai giggled and pushed herself up. She straddled her
husband and placed her lips on his. After just a moment he was rip-roaring and
ready to go for round two. “Will you teach me?” Sarai asked modestly.

“Teach you what?” Conri asked as he pushed his hips
into hers. His fingers squeezed her hips and though they were soft with the
curves of a real woman, there was muscle under there; muscle she had gained
from training with Lilly.

“Teach me to please you.”

Conri smiled at the blush that crept up her neck. “You
will not have to learn much, the sight of you pleases me immensely, but I will
teach you whatever you want to know as long as you teach me in return.”

“Me? Teach you?”

Conri ground himself against her apex and Sarai
shuddered. “I want to make sure that everything I do is seeking only to make
you happy. You are a treasure and I find even as a king I am unworthy.”

“Then we will make ourselves worthy of each other.”
Sarai whispered as she leaned down to kiss him again. She rose up on her knees
and he positioned himself below her.
 
Slowly she descended and the sheathing was a wondrous mixture of pain
and pleasure. She was already sore but secretly she hoped he always did this to
her.

Sarai licked the tiny trickles of blood from the small
wounds that her bite mark had made. The tiny punctures had already healed and
the taste of his blood sizzled through her like a sexy electric current. Sarai
now understood why Stella had disappeared for a week after her mating with
Flynn; she didn’t want to leave this room for a very long time.

She found she didn’t need much of Conri’s guidance,
the intuition they had worked where spoken words failed. It turned out to be a
good thing, because when she was enraptured by Conri words remained illusive.
She took them, this time, to the earth shattering orgasm that left them
ultimately spent and sleeping for the rest of the day.
 

Two weeks.
Two too very short weeks.
Sarai and Conri would have wasted away if it had not been for
Cai
, the only living soul allowed
into their room. She brought food, clean linens- and changed them when Sarai
and Conri where in the shower- she fielded inquiries and passed along only what
was important. By the dawn of the third week Sarai was ready to join her
people.
Cai
gathered up discarded
clothing- which was sparse and laid out a comfortable outfit for Sarai.

“That female really does know me,” Sarai said as she
held up a cashmere sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans.

“Me too,” Conri said, raising a brow at his heavy
carpenter jeans and flannel button up shirt.

“
You going
to cut down some
trees today?” Sarai said, her brows arching.

“Nope, this is just what I am most comfortable in. All
the silk is nice, but impractical. I prefer practicality.” He winked at her,
whipped the towel from his waist and took it vigorously to his scalp. As he
dried his hair he did an impromptu dance that included a lot of hip thrusting
and some shabby footwork. Sarai burst out laughing and clapped wildly.

“Encore!”

He shuffled himself closer, all the while wiggling and
dancing provocatively, “Oh yea, you like my moves- check it out.” He started
beat-boxing like he was at a rave, something Sarai would bet he had never been
to it. “Oh yea, check it- huh-huh-huh. Woot
Woot
.”

Sarai nearly fell over with laughter. “You are…”

A loud banging at Conri’s door halted their
shenanigans. Conri reached around Sarai and threw on his pants without
underwear, shucked on an undershirt and pushed his arms through the flannel
shirt in record speed.

He stomped to the door and tore it open just as Sarai
yanked her shirt down. “What is
it!
” Conri was all
business and the switch from playful husband to commanding king was faster than
a blink.

“
Mi’Lord
,” Flynn, Core and a
handful of guards bowed briefly, “Someone harkens at the gate.”

“Who?”
Conri’s eyes narrowed
and she could almost see the waves of apprehension roll off of him.

“He calls himself Liam. He says he is here to speak to
the queen. He says he knows her and …” Flynn glanced at Core, “He is requesting,
in the name of the law, her audience.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“What is it Conri?”

“By law anyone can request an audience with the king
or queen if they and only if, they are claiming relationship.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Sarai asked the
question only because she was hoping the rules her leopard was feeding here
were wrong.

Conri looked at her, his eyes sorrowful. “The male at
our gate is claiming one of two things- He is either a relative or a former
lover.”

“Well you know he is not a former lover.” Sarai shot
back but Conri slowly nodded. She gasped; her hand flew to her mouth. If the
male at the door was any relative of hers he could stake a claim to the crown-
all he had to do was beat Conri.

“There is more
Mi’Lord
.”
Core said, his eyes meeting Sarai’s. “He is a Reprobate.”

*

Sarai refused the formal garb that was required when
royalty met with subordinates on official business. Conri hadn’t followed that
old rule very closely so Sarai was more than happy to dissolve it. She did sit
on the throne, a seat that was set equal in size and space from Conri’s. She
sat silently as fifteen guards, all the best, lead the male in. Sarai gasped as
the male stopped before the throne.

“How do you prepare to prove your relation to my
mate?” Conri asked coldly.

But the male, Liam he had said, was staring at Sarai.
His feet had been bound in heavy chains while his hands were tethered in heavy
tempered
leather ;
she could smell him, his stench was
that of a male who lived outside of comfortable residency. She leaned forward.

“State your name.” Sarai said calmly.

“Liam, I am called Liam.”

Sarai studied his features; he was indeed the large
male that had tried to snatch her almost a month ago. “Why did you attack me?”

The tension rose in the room, the guards were itching
for a reason to attack, Conri was itching for a reason to kill.
 
“I wasn’t reaching for you. You are… were
human. We have no use for human females.” The male glanced at Conri and there
was no aggression in them.

“I was looking for a journal, the journal you had in
your hand. It…” the male clamped his mouth shut.

“Speak.” Conri ordered after the male was silent for a
moment too long.

Liam growled, “I do not have to answer to you. You are
nothing to me. But her-
“ His
eyes softened as he
looked at Sarai, “I will answer to her, she outranks us all.

One of the guards nocked the male’s knees out from
under him. Another guard hit the male with the blunt end of his sword. Liam
snarled as another guard raised his sword, point facing down toward the
reprobates calf.

“Stop.”
Sarai order gently.
The guards froze in mid-swing.
 
Tension
buzzed in the air like a thousand tiny insects. Sarai stood and walked forward
a few steps. “Explain yourself Liam, Alpha of the Reprobates.” Sarai sniffed
the air and tilted her head. She looked back at Conri and nodded once, he was
confirming what she smelled. She looked back at Liam, “Or shall I call you King
of the reprobates?”

Liam smiled but there was nothing there but approval.
“Yes my queen.”
 
Liam lifted one leg to
stand but Sarai shook her head.

“Lord Liam, I did not say stand.”

Liam stopped and then slowly lowered his leg, “As you
wish.”

“Answer your queen.” Conri said but the authority had
left his tone and it was more of a suggestion.

“I am your father.” The uproar of the guards had Sarai
covering her ears.
 
Some screamed
profanities, others called it blasphemy. Sarai knew it to be untrue. She knew
her father, had loved her father and thought he had been weak and at times she
had despised his character- but she knew her mother had not been unfaithful.

“SILENCE!”
She screamed just
as one of the guards hit Liam in the head again. Liam sprawled forward, unable
to catch himself as his hands were
bound,
his face hid
the marble floor hard.
 
“The next one of
you who hit him without Conri or my authority with
suffer
my wrath!” Sarai had no idea where that came from but she felt her cat pace at
the front of her psyche and she knew her eyes had gone the color of jade, her
canines had descended and it was possible the outline of her cat showed in her
face. The guards were stock-still and then kneeled. Intuition told her Conri
both approved and disapproved; of what and in what order she didn’t know.

“You
lie
King Liam. I knew my
father, he was human.”

Liam maneuvered himself onto his knees. “Yes my queen,
but your great grandfather was not. Your great grandfather was…”

“The son of King William Guan- the
heir king to our race.
The two disappeared years ago and have not been
heard from sense. What do you know of him?”

“I am he.”

Sarai sensed the guards’ unease and growled at them.
“Have you proof?”

“You can smell
me,
you know
you recognize my scent, though in your life we have never met. I smell like
family, do I no?”

Sarai nodded very slowly. “I am to new to this; I do
not know the scent of family, only my mate and my sister.

“Ah Lilly, yes.
I smelled her
that day- a fierce fighter. Had we been able to capture her that day I would
have made her my queen.”

Someone in the back growled and without looking Sarai
knew who it was. Liam continued as if the male had not made a sound, “You know
their scent and you also know that I smell similar.
If you
would only admit it.”

“Do not forget your rank here King,” Conri said ‘king’
as if it were a dirty word directed at Liam. “She outranks you- clearly. And
that little tussle you had before was just a show before. She could rip your
throat out now if she wanted to.”

Liam’s gazed shifted from Conri to Sarai, “Yes, yes
she could. I believe she could even with my hands not bound. But she won’t,
will you daughter?”

Sarai thought on it a moment. She looked at Conri and
used her intuition, she wasn’t sure how it worked but if it worked anything
like she thought it would Conri would understand her. He titled his head, his
eyes boring into her. After a moment he sat back, his head bobbed once- she had
her confirmation.
 
Sarai closed the
distance between her and the kneeled Reprobate. She held her hand out to the
nearest guard.

“I require you dagger.” The guard didn’t hesitate
giving it to her. “Stand back.” She told the guards as a whole. They moved a
few feet back. Liam titled his head back, his eyes closed as he exposed his
neck.

“I thought wrong of you my little queen.” He
whispered. Then he started mumbling and Sarai recognized a prayer. It was a
prayer her mother had said many times under her breath when there was a
particularly bad storm out. She gently placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder.

She leaned down and whispered in his ear, “You have
not thought wrong of me. But if you attack I will kill you.” With that she
sliced through the binds holding his wrists. The room thrummed with disquiet
and Sarai stepped in front of Liam. “Show me your forearm.” She demanded as he
rubbed wrists.

“May I stand? I am old and my knees are not what they
used to be.”

“If you must.”
Liam slowly
got to his knees and every guard pulled their sword. Sarai cast her eyes up. He
was a mammoth male, standing a head taller than Conri and Conri was nearly six
inches taller than her. “
Show .
Me.
Your.
Forearm.”
Sarai said slowly her eyes
never leaving Liam’s.

Liam grabbed the cuff of his heavy clothes, animal
armor Sarai noted. He slowly rolled the sleeve up and when it was rolled to the
elbow Sarai let her eyes drift from his and down his arm. The smile that slowly
crept across her face was felt deep in her heart.