Burning Ceres Read online

  She scrambled back on her hands, the silk of her covering twisting around her. She cowered in the corner, waiting for the censure that was sure to come.

  He took a slow breath and let it out. “You’re a maiden.”

  “Yes.”

  “Still.”

  “Yes.”

  “How in the name of the little sister is that possible? You have been in heat over a dozen times. There must have been a male near you at least once.”

  His calling on the smaller of the moons almost made her smile.

  “I used a tank. I simply waited each cycle out. I was on my way home when I was taken.” His voice was staying put, so did she. It seemed safer than blindly crawling around the floor.

  The smile in his voice was unmistakable, “Very clever. I have never heard of a female that had enough calculation abilities when in heat to seek medical intervention. You are one surprise after another.”

  “My father has to take the credit for it. I had gone through two or three heats when he came upon the idea. The tank kept the males in the area from scenting me, and bought him time.”

  “To find a suitable mate for you?” There was a thread of anger in his tone and she kept her voice even.

  “To find a mate he thought was appropriate for me. As he never told me of his choice, I did not feel it necessary to stay to find out.” Her arms wrapped around her torso and she hugged herself as her temperature began to plummet. Her body wanted to curl up next to his, and it was letting her know by dropping her blood pressure.

  It was a biological instinct that Ceres was very unhappy with. His kiss had given her body a taste of him, and it knew that he was nearby. The lethargy and temperature swings would only grow worse when they coupled. Her body would wrap around his and demand his attention until it got what it wanted, or until the heat cycle passed. Either way, she was trapped.

  “He really didn’t tell you who he had chosen?” The curiosity in his voice was unmistakable. She heard him shift and she felt his legs extend near her.

  “No. He told me that it was his duty as my father to make the choice for me. We argued and I left. Ran actually. I needed time to think.” She took a deep breath and asked for help. “Can you guide me back to the seat?”

  “Take my hand.” Sucking in a deep breath she extended her fingers and then her arm. His warm, strong fingers closed over hers and tugged her to her feet. He guided her to the seat next to him and tucked her against him in a proprietary fashion.

  She couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Why did you buy me?”

  “Because I wanted to.” He touched her head and guided her head to his shoulder. His fingers trailed over the mating mask and she was soothed by his passive touch. “Rest, we will be at my home in an hour or so. Anything else can be dealt with after that.”

  Warmed by his nearness, her body relaxed and she slept.

  Chapter Four

  The cessation of motion brought her abruptly awake and at first she panicked at her lack of sight. Her hand flew to her eyes and she relaxed as she realized that the mask was still in place.

  “Trouble adjusting?” The voice sounded in her ear and she jumped as she realized that her body was warm due to his arms holding her on his lap.

  “I haven’t worn the mask before. It is hard to get used to.” She wanted to squirm, but his erection was still in evidence and she didn’t want to disturb either of them.

  The chuckles warmed part of her and twigged a memory deep in her mind that she couldn‘t place. “Obviously, given your maiden status.”

  “Well, yes.”

  The masks had originally been used by males to subdue mates from other towns and villages. Without being able to run, see, or unlock the mask it made the Nyal women passive between heat cycles. It also made them useless and completely dependent on the males that had captured them.

  In recent years it had become fashionable for males with wealth and status to use the masks on their mates during first encounters. The new masks were bejewelled and had DNA locks on them that would only open for the owner of the mask. She had only ever seen one in use before, when her cousin Natril had argued about the match her father had chosen for her. The male in question had taken the mask and — in front of witnesses — locked Natril into it, then carried her out of her father’s home.

  The next time she had seen her cousin, she had been five months pregnant and glowing with happiness.

  Although the vehicle had stopped, her owner was making no move to leave. “Um, are we stopped?”

  “Yes.”

  “Aren’t we going in?”

  “Well, you looked so peaceful, I didn’t have the heart to disturb you. And you won’t be getting much rest in the next few days, so I waited until you woke.”

  The darker hue of her skin hid most of her blush, but her body heated a noticeable degree. “That was very kind of you. Thank you.” She ducked her head as best she could and clutched at him as he stood to leave the skimmer. “It was on automatic?”

  “Yes. I have a dedicated path to my home. No other vehicles come out this far.”

  With a skimmer trip of an hour and a half, the home had to be in the Zenier mountains. As the door opened and chill air filled the skimmer, her suspicion was proved.

  She huddled against him as he strode from the vehicle into the warm confines of his home.

  A strange voice queried, “So, is that her?”

  Her owner replied. “It is. Is the room ready?”

  “Yes, and cook is preparing a repast for you. And her.” It seemed that the housekeeper was not fond of her employer’s new acquisition.

  “Leave it in the anteroom. I will fetch it later.” He was carrying her up a set of stairs, and the soft footfalls let her know that a carpet ran the length of the hall. The feel of the house around her gave her the suspicion that it was an extremely large residence.

  He shifted her and she heard a door open. It closed behind them and she felt him open another door. When that door closed behind them, she heard the click of a lock and a shiver ran through her.

  She was carefully placed on a bed and she lay there, shaking with both reviving lust and trepidation. The rustle of clothing was deafening to her ears. She counted each boot, belt and slither of trousers until he had no clothing left to shed.

  The bed dipped marginally and she felt his warmth beside her, beckoning her heat into flaring life once again.

  His fingers tangled with hers and he drew her hand to his chest, encouraging her to explore. “Feel free to touch me, Ceres, any way and anywhere. I will not have control for long, so you had better make the most of it.”

  Keeping one hand on his chest, she fought her way to her knees and began to stroke and rub at his body. His shoulders were wide, the muscles shifting under her touch as his hands came up to lift her over him until she straddled him once again. This time it was only her tissue thin wrap that kept his erection from finding its way within her.

  Her hands stroked at his chest while her hips shifted to ride the ridge of his cock, rocking back and forth in a parody of the act that she craved. Her clothing dampened with the honey that she was producing, and his own musk was gaining in strength as his hips shifted against her as she rocked.

  Her hands trailed lower and her fingers found the depression of his navel, scooting down on his thighs with his turgid length against her breasts she dipped her tongue into it. Then raised her head to lick and suck at the head of his cock. The heat and silky feel of the skin was inflaming her, matched by the musky scent of him as she took him into her mouth and sucked fervently.

  That was it. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up to kiss him, his taste strong on her tongue. His hand tangled in her hair and he tumbled her to her back as his other hand tore the fabric from her body.

  His hands ran over her feverishly. She began to twist against him, arching into his touch. A groan left her as his mouth settled over one breast and began to tongue her nipple to life. His teeth were next as he nip
ped at the sensitive bud at the tip of her breast. His attentions switched from breast to breast and she was moaning as heat filled every inch of her body and formed a molten plasma of sensation in her belly.

  His fingers moved between her thighs and one hand urged her thighs open as the other brought a finger to open her to an enthusiastic moan from her throat. Her hips were quivering as he teased around her opening and slowly thrust one of his long thick fingers into her. He withdrew it and thrust again. She was shaking with the effort to keep still and when he brought a second finger into her she moved against his hand. It was only the impact with her hymen that slowed her hips. She whimpered and sighed as his fingers tested the strength of her virtue.

  He shifted above her and took her mouth with his own, moving his tongue between her lips as the blunt head of his cock pressed against her. She whimpered and moved her hips into his thrust as he began the process of making room for his length inside her.

  Each push of his hips was matched by one of her own until he came up against the barrier. He tore his lips from hers and nuzzled her neck with his mouth, in a move that surprised her he bit down and thrust his hips forward savagely, breaking her hymen in one stroke.

  She shrieked and pushed against him, fighting his possession and his teeth. As the throbbing between her thighs subsided, he licked the wound at her neck clean.

  Tears might have fought their way to the surface if he hadn’t begun to move within her. She revelled in the sensations that he was bringing to her and his own groans of enjoyment let her know that he wasn’t acting out of any kind of duty.

  Her body began to tense as it approached orgasm. With one of this thumb strokes across her clit she spasmed around him with a scream. His roar of possession followed hers a moment later.

  Her channel gripped him tightly and his hips thrust forward to hold him deep as his seed jetted from him in harsh bursts. She could feel him tremble as he succumbed to his own biological imperative. A minute later he slumped forward and lay across her, still lodged within her passage.

  The smell of sex was heavy in the air, carrying with it the coppery scent of her blood. She was a maiden no longer.

  Chapter Five

  He was heavy, but her body was craving the warmth from his, saving her energy by stealing his. He didn’t have his full weight on her and she guessed that his arms and legs must be taking up some of the balance.

  She also knew now exactly who had purchased her. Raanan Adonai. A wealthy merchant from an old family that had no title, but demanded respect.

  The clue had been the bite. Like her own family, the Adonai family had intermarried with alien races, only in his case the Azon connection was far more recent. Which meant that the pointed fangs that had dug into her neck were part and parcel of his heritage. It was also an Azon mating reflex to hold one’s mate by the neck while trying to impregnate them.

  She moved her head and was unsurprised to find no soreness or stiffness on her neck, his tongue had closed most of the wounds. Her thighs however were definitely sore. They had never held themselves apart for that long.

  With a slow sigh of satisfaction he moved off her. He lay back and cupped her ass to turn her toward him and simply dragged her over him like a blanket. It was not a graceful manoeuvre, but it worked.

  A dull throb between her thighs caused her to shift slightly and a hand on her buttocks kept her in place. She sighed and let her body do what it would. Now that he had been inside her body, his sex drive would be increased to match hers and they wouldn’t have much rest in the next few days. A Nyal woman’s body during heat was a chemical factory designed to get pregnant. They were induced ovulators, so the more sex for them, the larger the chance of pregnancy.

  She wished that she could see his face. She remembered him from countless events at her father’s palace. The Adonai family had exceptional control of the trade routes to Nyal and a great deal of mineral rights to a vast variety of planets and asteroid belts. When other families had been making names for themselves in the royal courts trying to gain titles, the Adonai had left one member at court and sent the rest on geological expeditions to lay claim to a variety of minerals and gems.

  The result was that they had a ton of financial support, but minimal social standing. Generations later, they had refused the titles offered to them in exchange for some of their mineral rights.

  Her owner’s stomach rumbled and she smiled. “You think it’s funny do you?”

  “Well, given my current position, it felt kind of funny.” She propped her head up on a fist and looked toward where she assumed his face was.

  “Are you hungry?” His hands sifted through her hair and untangled some of the white locks.

  “If I am not now, I will be shortly.”

  “Then let’s eat.” He sat up and moved out from under her. “Wait here.” She heard him cross the room, the inner door unlock, then open. His return was heralded by the lock again and a rattling of plates. The food was still warm, she could smell the steam, and she felt her body heat with a blush as she realized that whomever had delivered the food had heard all of their cries.

  She heard the splashing of liquid and assumed he was pouring a beverage. The hand on her inner thigh made her jump and the damp trail of a cloth touching her intimately made her flinch away from his hand. “Hold still.”

  “Then give me a warning. What are you doing?”

  “Cleaning the blood and come from you. There wasn’t much bleeding, but it can’t be comfortable.”

  “I thought it was supposed to feel like that.”

  He finished cleaning her and moved away. “No, it is supposed to take longer, with more work on my part, and your climax is only the start of our play, not the end.”

  “Oh.” Wow, more? Did she want to feel more? “You will have to explain these things to me. I don’t know much about anything but pleasing myself and what we just did. How much more can there be?”

  His dark chuckle caused another tendril of warmth to curl in her belly. He was over near the food again and preparing something. Then he came back and took her hand, leading her to a table only a few feet away from the bed.

  He tugged her into his lap and began to feed her, blowing on hot tidbits of food before offering them to her. She ate familiar stews, breads cheeses, drank watered juice and a piece of her favorite fruit before putting up her hand for him to stop.

  He ate his own meal in silence and she worked up the nerve to ask him a slightly less abrasive version of the question that was ringing in her mind. “What do I call you?”

  Quickly she went to fill in the silence that reigned after that question, “I mean, I can’t see you, don’t know who you are, and have no idea why you chose to buy me. Do I call you master? Or sir? Do you have a rank that you wish to be known by, or another title?”

  “I haven’t given it much thought. I will let you know.” His tongue lapped at her lower lip and she realized that the juice from the fruit had left a trail on her.

  Just that simply, her body began to prepare for his entry. In a few heated kissed he had reduced her to panting and clutching at his shoulders once again. He simply lifted her to straddle him and she froze at the feel of him once again preparing to enter her. His hands on her hips gently coaxed her to relax onto him and as his cock took over her passage she let herself relax.

  His mouth covered her lips and neck with feverish kisses, working his way down to her breasts as he bent her back over one arm and found the bud of sensation at the top of her sex with the other. He suckled at her breasts, one after the other as his fingers teased her clit with a circular motion and sharp flicks now and then. Her body was still, humming like a bowstring, the muscles in her channel alternately clasping and releasing his cock in time to her growing passion.

  As she gasped and shuddered in a wet torrent between her thighs, she realized that the soreness within her had been erased in that second orgasm.

  She had barely slumped against him in submission when he rose su
ddenly to his feet and turned her onto the bed, disengaging his body with a wet pop. Flipping her to her belly he stroked his hand down her spine parting the curves of her buttocks with a smooth motion.

  Her hands clutched the bedding as her mind focused on that hand. It trailed between her thighs and rubbed gently against the heated core that he had so recently occupied. She whimpered and arched her hips into his hand as his fingers skated across her opening, trying to impale herself on his digits.

  He chuckled and she felt him cover her, rubbing against her back in a slow and sensual way. The blunt heat of him lodged between her thighs, teasing her with the promise of a long and slow thrust.

  His teeth nibbled at the back of her neck, sending shivers of anticipation through her as he kept up his slow and deliberate stroking of her flesh with his. Her spine curved and twisted, seeking a firmer contact as she shook with lust.

  Ceres had parted her thighs so wide in invitation that her hips protested. When sobs began to break from her he murmured soft words against her neck and shoulder and slid his member home.

  Her sobs of frustration continued as he began to thrust gently within her, stroking against the front wall of her channel with every motion. A fine shivering took over her body as it climbed to the point of release more rapidly that she would have believed possible.

  Sweat coated her back and it dawned in her lust fogged brain that his self-control was costing him. Good. As she groaned in the grip of an endless wave of release he finally pounded into her in the manner she had craved.

  Her shaking arms pushed her into him with all the strength her body could spare as the rest of him kept her firmly in place. As she rose up, his head moved over her shoulder and his teeth sank into her again, holding her in place as his hips plunged and bucked in his own release.

  Her body reacted to the pain and another wave of pleasure broke over her. Sparks flew behind her eyes and she slowly went limp in his embrace. Moments later, she was asleep.