Warrior (28 page)
His. With nothing to fear. Anika locked her legs around his strong buttocks and moved against him. With every downward swivel and thrust, he rubbed against the sensitive bud with delicious friction. Tension spiraled higher and tighter then snapped and soared into bliss. He journeyed with her, expressing his rapture with a hoarse cry.
Long moments later, Urazi flipped onto his back and pulled her to his side. She pillowed her head on his arm and slipped her leg between his. He pressed a kiss to her damp hair, and, with soothing strokes, he caressed her shoulder, her arm, her breast. He covered it, his thumb rubbing the nipple.
“Your mammary glands seem larger,” he commented.
“Well…that is what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Your breasts?”
“And the way I have been feeling. The nausea.”
Urazi stiffened. “Is something wrong? You are ill! I had feared—”
Anika stifled his worries by clapping a hand over his mouth. “I am fine.” She took a breath. “I am pregnant.”
He said something, but the sound was muffled, and she realized she still had his mouth covered. She pulled her hand away.
“You are going to have a baby?” He sprang to sitting position. “A baby!” Urazi let out such a whoop, Anika wondered if perhaps she shouldn’t muzzle him again. But his joy was contagious, and she laughed, giggled more when he tickled her abdomen with whisperfly kisses.
“A little warrior.” He nuzzled her stomach then met her eyes. “Or
warrioress
.”
Anika laughed. “A warrioress.” Like she was.
Epilogue
One year later
Anika wiped the sweat from her brow with a drying cloth and eyed her charges, seven eager females ranging from adolescence to one who was perhaps a decade older than she. “Class dismissed! Bring your crossbows next week. We begin target practice.”
With cries of “Kianiko, instructress!” the students ran from the physical-defense training room.
Anika turned her attention to Urazi, suited in protective gear. “Are you all right?” she asked.
He removed his padded helmet and mouth guard. “Monto! Some of those females have a fierce strike. But none as powerful as you.” He cocked his head, gray eyes glinting. “Perhaps you played up your demonstration a bit?”
“Perhaps,” she conceded with a grin. “But I had to show them how to release their inhibitions. Females are reared to be tentative and submissive. If they are ever to stand up for themselves, they have to overcome that. Attitude is half the battle.”
“Their
attitudes
are improving. I may have some bruises despite the padding,” he grumbled.
Anika had noticed the improvement also. At first, the females had been as hesitant of striking a male as they were of speaking their minds. But as they practiced the physical maneuvers, buried resentments surfaced and transformed to aggression. Their punches and kicks became powerful.
“Have you found someone to replace me?” he asked.
“Marlix has assigned Zoulin to become the attack subject for the female self-defense class. He is not happy about it.” Anika giggled.
“We all have our duty to Parseon.” Urazi managed to maintain a straight face, except for a twitch to his lips.
His comment, though intended as jest, sobered her. “I am so proud of you.” She peered up at him, her chest swelling.
“You are not upset I can no longer assist you?”
Anika shook her head. “Never. I am grateful you were able to help me with the classes, but training females is
my
dream. Becoming a subcommander is yours.”
“Being reassigned
alpha
was a dream. To be promoted to subcommander to Marlix? I never thought it possible.”
“So many things have come to pass under New Protocol,” she said, sweeping her arm in arc to encompass the Parseon School for Females.
“It is only the start. Are you ready to go home for the day?” he asked. Though his new position as subcommander did not take effect until next week, in anticipation of it, they’d been granted an abode of their own. It was just a small hut, but it had stone rather than dirt floors, a raised sleeping platform, and an indoor bathing chamber.
“Not yet,” she shook her head. “Omra and Tara are waiting for me.” The three of them operated the school.
“Shall I bring Liana home with me then?”
“No, she will be hungry. I can feed her while Omra, Tara, and I finish our business. I won’t be long.”
“I’ll be waiting.“ He leered at her, and Anika knew just what he’d be waiting for. She giggled.
He kissed her and then limped from the room, muttering something about his future subcommander position being a less dangerous occupation. Anika chuckled.
After collecting her things, she went to meet her friends in the school’s nursery where breeders brought their offspring while they attended literacy and physical defense classes. Shrieks of laughter pierced her ears when she entered the bright room. Little females and males ran, danced, and jumped around
together
. The school did not segregate the genders nor limit their interaction as many did in their domiciles. In contrast to the drabness that characterized Parseon housing decor, Tara, who commanded the nursery, had insisted on painting the walls in shocking hues of red, yellow, and blue, and she’d added murals of caricature animals, among them feleens, garmels, beasts, and some Terran ones she called zebras, lions, and elephants. The children loved it. Newcomers often stared in awe.
Anika went straight to a cradle and picked up Liana. Her female offspring gurgled with happy recognition. Checking that no one watched, Anika rubbed her nose against Liana’s and cooed. “Did you miss me? LiLi?” She didn’t know why she’d tended to shorten her female offspring’s name or why she felt compelled to speak it in a sing-song voice. She only hoped no one other than Urazi ever caught her doing it.
LiLi chortled. Anika checked her diaper, and, finding it tidy and dry, carried her to a table across the room where Omra and Tara shared a midday meal.
“Kianiko.” Anika eased into a chair, released the top of her breeder shift, and shifted Liana. The baby latched onto her nipple.
“Hi!” Tara said.
“Kianiko.” Omra replied.
“We were talking about her trip to Terra.” Tara inclined her heard toward Omra. “I was giving her the lowdown on the places she and Dak should see.”
“I would love to visit as much of Terra as I can, but do not know if time will allow it,” Omra said. “Our mission is economic and diplomatic, not respite. Dak hopes to convince the Terrans to return and reopen the Bazaar now that the war is a thing of the past. He thinks that if
I
go, a female, it will convince them how much Parseon has changed,” Omra explained, but her violet eyes sparkled. “But I am so excited to see anything of Terra!”
She looked at Anika. “Thank you for taking over the reading classes while I am gone.” Omra headed the school’s literacy program and had taught Anika to read and write Parseon. When females participated in the elections, they needed to be able to read to know who they were voting for. And when they read the ancient tome as Anika had and discovered that before the Great Plague, Parseon had been a matriarchy, they might make other choices still.
From a small ember….
“I am happy to do it,” Anika said.
Under Old Protocol, as it was now called, education had been barred to females. A few—like Omra—had been taught to read secretly and had stepped forward under the new rules to teach others. Parseon had changed. Her friend was an ambassadress and would be the first breeder to ever visit another planet. The Parseon School for Females, founded and funded by Marlix, Dak, and Ilian thrived. Upon Omra’s return, they would open another school.
Much of the infrastructure that had been destroyed had been rebuilt, the skytram operated on schedule again, and the Market had reopened. If Dak and Omra were successful in their diplomatic efforts, the Terran Bazaar would be back. What would not return were the Veronians. All the aliens Qalin had retained had been deported. They were on the “No Entry List,” barred from ever setting their scaly, odiferous feet on Parseon again.
But, by far, the largest changes had occurred with New Protocol. Perce still served as interim Alpha of Province One, but soon he would enter Alpha training, and
elections
would be held to officially and formally replace Qalin and Artom.
And
females
would participate in the selection. Anika almost wished she was a resident of Qalin’s or Artom’s province just so she could join in the momentous event. But it was enough to witness it from afar.
Yes, much had changed, but even more remained to be done. She looked at her two friends. Before the war, Tara had sold textiles in the Terran Bazaar. Omra had been a vendoress at the Market and sold the best sweetcakes ever baked.
“If the Bazaar reopens, do you think you’ll sell textiles again?” She looked at Tara, and then at Omra. “Do you miss selling sweetcakes?”
Both shook their heads. “I enjoyed selling sweetcakes, and I would encourage any female to become an entrepreneur,” Omra said, “but I can do so much more here. I am teaching other females to read. I can change their lives.”
“I feel the same way,” Tara added. “I liked having a shop, but taking care of other women’s children enables them to attend school, and that is far more satisfying than selling cloth.”
“I too am pleased with what we are doing, but I confess at times I feel overwhelmed by what remains to be done,” Anika said.
Omra nodded. “New Protocol may allow females to choose their ruler and to attend school, but many sires still forbid it. The minds of the people will not be changed as easily as Protocol.”
“But who would have believed Protocol would change? Anika asked softly.
A happy shriek from the other side of the room drew their attention. Berik, Omra’s son, and Tara’s female offspring Ramona chased each other through a maze of tubes, while Miri, Omra’s little female, led a group of slightly older children in a game she’d organized.
“She is a natural leader,” Anika observed. “Commanding.”
“Like her seppa.” Omra smiled.
More because of you
. Females were the ones who spent time with offspring in the early years. What breeders murmured in little ears before sleeptime transformed to dreams and then wishes, and then action.
Anika would remember her confinement in the Breeder Containment Facility, the beatings, the frequency with which she’d been used against her will by betas and alphas, and the sanctioned dominance by males over females, and alphas over betas. To think that Parseon had once been ruled by females! She could hardly believe it when Omra had showed her the evidence written in a forgotten dusty tome Dak had acquired from an antiquities vendor just before the war. No wonder Protocol had forbidden females to read and had expunged most of their history.
Parseon had been a matriarchy.
What breeders murmured in little ears….
Anika bowed over Liana. “Someday you will be Alpha,” she whispered. She brushed a finger over Lili’s feather soft cheek then looked up at her two friends. “Parseon will be a different world for our progeny.“
Thank you
Thank you for reading
Warrior
. If you enjoyed it, please consider writing a review on the site where you purchased the book and/or other platforms.
Warrior
concludes the
Breeder
series; however, I am considering writing a spin-off series set on Parseon, involving the grown children of the
Breeder
characters. If you would like to find out about upcoming releases, you can sign up for email notification of my blog posts at
http://carabristol.com
. Or friend me on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/cara.bristol.3
.
Other Titles by Cara Bristol
The
Breeder
science fiction romance series
Breeder
(book 1)
Terran
(book 2)
Warrior
(book 3)
The Rod and Cane Society spanking romance series
Unexpected Consequences (book 1)
False Pretenses (book 2)
Body Politics (book 3)
Disciplinary Measures (book 4)
For a full list titles, visit my Website
:
Cara Bristol Bio
Cara Bristol continues to evolve, adding new subgenres of erotic romance to her repertoire. She has written spanking romance, contemporary romance, paranormal, and science fiction romance. No matter what the genre, one thing remains constant: her emphasis on character-driven seriously hot erotic stories with sizzling chemistry between the hero and heroine. Cara has lived many places in the United States, but currently lives in Missouri with her husband. She has two grown stepkids. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading and traveling.
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